The smoke was pouring from inside a small patch of woods far in the distance. While Melody knew that she could turn back into a cloud, that would take both time and energy and honestly clouds didn’t move that quickly anyway. Well not unless one of the winds decided to carry her but the winds were fickle even on a good day. Worse, as a cloud she might get some of that icky black smoke inside of her and there was no telling what that would do to her. It would probably make her feel ill at the very least. Yes, it was far better to continue as a unicorn that could affect the physical world. She could always change back into a cloud if necessary.

Mind made up, she set her pace to a brisk trot, moving across the rolling green with powerful grace. Animals and insects made way for her, and she was equally careful not to crush any underhoof by accident.

As she got closer to the forest’s edge, the unicorn frowned as she saw that the outer trees were draped in curtains of dense smoke. Something’s terribly wrong.