Two months into its mission, the day that Erin came to Equestria, the small drone discovered a small area of the forest, dozens of miles away from any kind of civilization, where the trees were stunted, barren and twisted. The trees here were dying, looking as if they’d been exposed to an extended drought, though immediately outside the ring of dead trees green life grew in riotous abundance. The only life that seemed to have any real purchase within the ring were small scrub brushes, and even those were twisted and yellowed. 