"Deep within the Everfree forest sits the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, the former capital of Equestria. Now, I say former because I discovered upon my first teleport that Canterlot is now the capital, well, not that it matters much to me however it is the setting of a recounting of how one of our more... unique members came to be with the order, although she cannot access our magic she has proved to be invaluable in teaching our members combat skills due to her heritage. I believe she will make a fine commander of our Shadowalkers after a year or two, and when she learns some discipline."

An excerpt from the journal of Starlight Sparkle,
Head Scholar of the Order of the Moon

The halls of the Castle of the Royal Pony sisters were silent these days, very few sentient creatures dared face the dangers of the Everfree to reach them and the magics left over from Celestia's banishment of Nightmare Moon kept all but the insects away, however this night faint snoring could be heard coming from one of the more intact towers in the old castle.

A brown and white form lay on a mattress that clearly had been placed there recently. New timber supports for the failing walls were wedged in haphazardly and the roof was repaired in much the same way. A single oil lamp sat in the corner, unlit for the time being as the owner had no use for it in her sleep. Ancient paintings adorned the wall, only a few containing recognizable pictures of the lunar princess in her former glory. Elegant tarnished silver sconces adorned the walls, a few missing here and there having been removed to sell for bits, for the inhabitant of the castle still needed some supplies from the civilized world.

The elegant ebony four post bed had seen better days, and so had it's occupant. Slowly, as if apologetically the sun crested over the trees and a shaft of light fell through the remaining intact window and onto the white feathered head of the sleeping tenant. Stirring from her slumber, Gilda stretched and climbed off of the quilt covered mattress.

"Another beautiful morning in the everfree..." The griffin sighed as she looked out the window, eyes devoid of any happiness. Morning dew glistened upon the boughs of the trees and scattered the light of the morning sun, causing the light to dance among the drooping leaves of the willows.

A slight smile appeared on the griffin's beak as she opened a chest in the corner of the room, withdrawing some salted meat before descending stepping out of a broken window and flying down to a fire pit in the courtyard. While there was an elegant fireplace in the tower room, she only used that in the winter and when it was raining, wood was a pain to fly up to the tower in large amounts.

The uncut grass swayed in the breeze as she flicked open a small pony fire starter, the contained spell creating a small green flame that quickly took to the dry wood she placed in the small fire pit, fashioned from an old fountain. Skewering the meat upon a metal spearshaft she had found, she began to roast it over the small blaze, singing a slow tune to herself as she cooked.

"Though far from your nest-mates and mother,
and friendly skies are but a dream,
remember these words of another,
as insignificant as they may seem.

Keep an eye to the sky for her good graces,
and remember what you learn from all the places,
that you go in your travels,
and as your path unravels,
know that your fate is yours alone,
and remember, remember those days at home.

Wherever your wings may take you,
don't let others words break your
and remember your lessons,
and remember your blessings,
for without them you'll be alone,
but always remember, those days at home

and when they fight you,
stand strong as you must do
and hold agaisnt their blows,
though they try to cause harm
do not be alarmed,
for why they do this the sky only knows.

and remember, those days at home."

"Hey applebloom!" Scootaloo and Sweete Belle called out to the other filly as they walked up to Sweet Apple Acres.

"What's up girls." The yellow filly called back, trotting up to them. "Ah just finished my chores for the day."

"Good, because I think I have a plan to get us our cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle said energetically.

"Oh? How?" Applebloom asked, her attention caught by the prospect of a chance at a cutie mark.

"Rarity mentioned an old castle in the Everfree, and I'm willing to bet that there's some kind of treasure in there." Sweetie belle said.

"Yeah, Dash mentioned it once too, it's where they defeated Nightmare Moon!" Scootaloo chimed in.

"Well, there's a path to it i'm willing to bet, I mean it is a Castle. Let's go grab some saddlebags and treasure hunting supplies from the barn!" Scootaloo said.

"CUITIE MARK CRUSADERS TREASURE HUNTERS!" The three yelled before speeding off into the barn.

Gilda sighed as she picked up the axe and got to work on a tree that was near the castle's walls, her powerful swings rending inch deep cuts with every swing, the large tree shaking with each swing. a number of other stumps attested that this was not the first tree she had brought down, although the forest was already getting to work on new trees to replace the old ones. The thuds of the axe reverberated slightly among the trees.

A few minutes later there was a loud crash as the tree fell, followed by more thuds as Gilda went to work on removing the branches, the smaller ones only taking a swing or two to remove, while the larger ones she left for later as a pile of firewood slowly stacked up in the old guardhouse. Leaning against the doorframe the griffin took a drink from her canteen.

"Yaknow... I should go back to Ponyville soon, say sorry... and thank you..." she muttered, musing to herself as she looked at the forest. "I was a bit of a bitch, but getting kicked out of Gryphus will do that to ya..." She closed her canteen and went back over to the fallen tree, resuming her work.

"Are ya' sure this is the right way scoots?" Applebloom asked as they trotted along an overgrown path through the everfree.

"I'm as sure as Rainbow Dash can fly." Scootaloo replied earning a look from Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.

"Ah don't think that's proper grammar." Applebloom said, thinking back to the previous day's lesson.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure it would be 'I'm as sure of that as I'm sure that Rainbow Dash can fly." Sweetie added.

"Ah buzz off you two, you know I don't care." Scootaloo said as they reached a river.

"Great, now what're we gonna do?" Applebloom asked. "Ah mean Ah don't think that Ah can swim that far."

"Now I really wish I could fly... it's starting to get late." Scootaloo said looking at the sun's position in the sky.

"Relax Scoot," Applebloom said reassuringly. "Ah reckon we still got a few hours before we haveta' head back."

"Uh, girls," Sweetie belle said looking at the river. "Does water usual do that?"

"Do what?" Scootaloo said looking at the water. There was a ripple in the water heading towards the shore.

"Ah ain't ever seen it do that before..." Applebloom said, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.

Suddenly a large purple head surfaced, the sea serpent's orange hair and moustache surprisingly well maintained despite the water. "Why hello there!" It said cheerily.

Applebloom was the first to recover. "Uh, Hello." She said. "Ah beg yer pardon, but what are you?"

"Me?" The sea serpent asked. "Well I'm a Sea Serpent darling. Oh arn't the three of you just the cutest!" He rose a bit more out of the water and placed his elbows on the shore. "I'm Steven Magnet, what do they call you three precious little things?"

"Well, Ah'm Applebloom," The young farmpony said happily. "The orange pegasis there is Scootaloo and the other one is Sweetie Belle."

"Yeah, We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo said as she knocked Applebloom aside.

"Ow, what in the hay was that for?" Sweetie Belle said as Applebloom landed on her.

"What are you three darlings doing this far into the Everfree?" The sea serpent asked.

"Well we were treasure hunting, but I don't see a way across this river, we're looking for an old castle." Sweetie Belle explained while Applebloom tackled Scootaloo

"Oh, I know where you're talking about. It's not far from here once you get across the river."

"Well that won't do now." Steven said. "Here," he said as his tail rose out of the water. "Hop on you three."

"Thanks Mr. Magnet." Applebloom said as she got off of Scootaloo and helped the other filly up before climbing on.

"Yeah, thanks!" Scootaloo echoed as Sweetie helped her up. Steven then carefully moved his tail across the river and let the three fillies hop off.

"Take care darlings, meet me back here when you're done at that old place and I'll swim you to Ponyville, I can't have you too exhausted now." Steven said waving as the three trotted off down the path again.

"Will do Mr. Magnet!" Applebloom called back before they rounded a corner out of sight.

A laugh of triumph sounded through the woods as a large chunk of the trunk split off after an hour of hacking. Gilda looped a rope around it and started to pull it to where the guardhouse was. "Man, if only the rest of those loosers from Snowpeak could see me now. I bet I could beat em in a fight now... I wonder how Jackle is doing..." She thought out loud as she pulled.

After about five minutes the log was inside the castle walls. Removing the rope Gilda took off, heading for the main courtyard to refill her canteen in the spring there. As she flew over the old banquet hall she could hear voices arguing. "Who the hell is this far into the Everfree?"

"Ah'm tellin you that it ain't gonna budge featherbrain." Gilda heard as she spotted three fillies standing in front of the castle's main door. A yellow earth pony with a red bow was arguing with an orange peagasis while a white unicorn looked around the courtyard.

The hell're three kids doing here? Gilda thought swooping lower. "hey, you three, what are you doing here?" She called out.

"Eh, just a nobody." Gilda replied nonchalantly. "What are you three doing this far into the Everfree, it's dangerous here at night."

"We're looking for treasure." Scootaloo said turning to the griffin. "Hey, I recognize you, Gilda right?"

"Y-yeah, how'd you know?" Gilda said surprised. Oh please don't mention last year...

"Rainbow dash has a photo of you in her house, I visit there every now and then when someone helps me get up there." Scootaloo said. "It's from junior flyers camp."

"That's where ah remember you from!" Applebloom cut in. "You were at that party that went south last year..."

Gilda sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up. I'm not proud of how I acted back then, I was going through some tough times and overreacted."

"Ah'll say." Applebloom said. "But that's fine." the filly said as she looked up at the sky. "Uh-oh..."

"Hmm..." Gilda thought. "Tell ya what, I've cleaned up a tower here and i'm living there, If you want to stay the night i'm sure we could figure something out. Either that or I'll walk ya to the river, i know the way and Steven should be willing to swim ya back to Ponyville."

"Ah dunno..." Applebloom said. "If mah sister catches us in the Everfree again Ah'll get grounded for a month..."

"Okay, follow me, i'll take you to the tower." Gildia said, heading towards an opening in one of the interior walls of the castle.

Well, I've decided to cut away from the main story for a while, i got the idea to do this after listening to Jackleapp's song Winter. Don't worry, we'll be back to normal before long, I just don't argue with my muse when it comes to things like story ideas.

Night's Magic

by SteampunkBrony

Back from the everfree