Ashen Hooves

Ashen Hooves lived with her father for as long as she can remember, she has no recollection of her mother and her father refuses to speak of her. She hardly saw her father due to his lumber job. Ash was always made fun of for her height, but that gave her the determination to show others that height doesn't dictate what a pony can do. This determination however, led to a horrible accident that she's reminded of everyday. Ash was climbing trees in the Everfree Forest to show off to the other young ponies that her height can't stop her. As they climbed higher, the branches became more unstable until one eventually snapped. Ash had plummeted from the tree and landed in the dirt, her coat full of cuts and scrapes. The commotion unfortunately awoke a sleeping bear nearby, which led to the bear attacking Ashen. Luckily her home was close by, as her father heard the other foals and fillies crying out for help. Her father fended off the bear using his magic. Ash could not remember anything past that, as she was fainting from the wounds she received. She had spent a few weeks in the hospital recovering, but she was left with large scars along her chest.

Ashen Hooves was residing in her cottage near the forest, awaiting for her father to return home from his job. He was assigned to go deep into the Everfree Forest to gather special lumber, he was only to be there for a week. As the evening passed she grew worried as her father was supposed to be home by now. Ash retrieved a lantern and set out to find her father, worried that a tree had fallen on him. As she wandered deeper into the forest her anxiety grew, being reminded of her own accident. All her worry went away as she saw her father, and she began galloping towards him. The moment he turned his head, she stopped in her tracks. Her father looked ill, and appeared to be coughing...blood? No it was too dark to be blood, it almost resembled ink. The same inky liquid oozed from his nostrils and tear ducts. Ash's father pleaded with her to take him to the hospital, as he felt unwell. As hesitant as she was, Ash obliged and guided her father back into town. As the weeks passed his condition only grew worse, and so did his aggression. Similar cases begun popping up all over, and afflicted ponies were placed in quarantine. Their illness was observed by researches, who discovered that most of the cases had a common factor. Inky cap mushrooms. Although the cause had been discovered, the outbreak grew and spread before a cure was made.

Ashen Hooves now wanders from town to town, avoiding the forest as much as she can. Most towns have been over-run and abandon, and very few are considered safe to reside in. Ash prefers to scavenge from abandoned buildings than barter with traders. She keeps to herself as much as she can, only interacting with others as needed. She keeps a journal, tracking her supplies and how she spends each day. She had turned to journaling when her father was in the hospital and kept it up after the full outbreak.