Mareless Moon Rises
Night-time in the Everfree Forest. Many beings have fear of this place in the daytime, yet here I am trouncing through the place on a full moon night. Not that the moon helps any with how thick the canopy is anyways. Granted there is danger for the unprepared, with how far I’ve traveled and the teachings of my mother it isn’t all that bad if you are careful.
“Mother…” I cut that line of thought off before it can start. I need to focus on things of more immediate importance right now, like that pack of timberwolves circling the tree below me. Yeah, being stuck in a tree all night could put a damper on my plans to get out of the forest tonight.
Sighing I go through my packs and the remains of my emergency supplies. “Hopefully I can find somewhere to settle down for a while to restock these things,” I state while pulling out one of the last packets of a red powder I have. I carefully open the packet with my magic, making sure to not to spill any unintentionally or smell it, and carefully spread it into the air below me towards the wolves.
Being careful to not let any of it near sensitive parts of myself I watch as it floats down in a haze towards the wooden beings and chuckle as they begin to start pawing at their faces as the powder begins to take effect. Soon they are writhing around in pain as the powder gets into their sensitive eyes and noses, causing immense pain. “Glad I was able to find those peppers, not really safe to eat, but boy does it make a good deterrent,” making sure my pack is secured I leap out atop one of the wolves that has left the red mist in an upwind direction and take off at a swift, yet mostly quiet, pace away from the area.
Once I get away from the pack I slow to a more cautious pace and keep an eye and ear out for more problems. Thinking on the remaining items in my pack, I realize that if anything else shows up I won’t have anything left beyond my magic to deal with them. While my control of my magic has gotten good over the years, I’d rather not rely too much on it right now as I need time to creatively plan out its use or else things can get a bit… unpredictable.
Thinking on some of the dangers I know of in the forest, I do have some ideas on what to do if I run into them. The timberwolves could have been handled differently, but starting moving fires in a forest is usually a bad idea. I’ve heard of manticores and hydras in this place, and I’d rather not have to deal with them as things could get a bit sticky. “Hmm, there’s an idea, a simple glue spell could at least slow them down long enough for me to escape, if not stop them for a while,” I contemplate while passing along a gorge.
Glancing across the gorge I see what appears to be a wall of worked stone and upon closer examination looks to be part of a castle as I can see a tower peeking over the top of it. Not seeing any way across, and with all the vines and decay along the walls I make a note to maybe check it out later and continue on my way. Back to thinking of the dangers of the place I bring my mind to two of the most dangerous, the cockatrice and the basilisk. “As long as one doesn’t get the jump on me I shouldn’t have too much of a problem. The eyes are the biggest threat so avoid any direct contact with them. A glue spell could work well enough to immobilize them so I can escape, but to be safe I think I should have a blinding spell ready as well. I think that will disable the magic of their eyes for the duration, not sure so better not make any eye contact even then.”
Stopping into a bush for a short rest I perk up my ears and use all my senses to make note of the area. I can hear various insects and other smaller animals moving around, some of them moving away from me in fear. No unfamiliar scents are in the area and I don’t spot anything through the branches of my current cover. Sighing and taking a moment I dig through my packs for my map and take a moment to examine it.
“Judging from the distance I think I’ve come, I think I should be out in a couple more hours. Too bad there hasn’t been a good mapping of this place in like, ever. Maybe I can check out some of this place later on if I get time,” I ponder this idea as I return the map to its place, and file the idea for later, preferably after setting up a home base and restock on survival tool.
Carefully leaving the bush, making sure to make as little noise as possible, I continue along the gorge edge until I come to an odd sight. Spanning the gorge is a bridge towards what looks like the entrance to the castle. What’s odd is the path that leads to the bridge the heads off in the opposite direction towards what I assume is the forest’s edge.
“Nothing is supposed to be out in this place, so why is there a pathway?” I ponder this as I try to make a decision on how to treat this new find and decide to play it safe. I make my way into the forest along the edge of the path and follow a course parallel to it. While the path may be perfectly safe, it’s better to be cautious until I know more as predators may hide along it to ambush the unsuspecting.
Glancing at the path as I follow alongside it, I notice light streaming down from above. Following the glow I catch sight of the full moon in the sky, the Mare emblazoned across it. Gladdened to see something familiar in this dark place I turn my attention to making my way through the forest.
The path isn’t easy as I have to use my magic to cross a river at one point which drains much of my primary stores. Once I get across I take another break to refresh myself from the river and some stored food from my packs. “I really need to practice that water walking spell more often; it shouldn’t drain me this much. I don’t want to undo the seals on my reserves for no real reason other than an emergency,” I complain to myself as I examine some nearby plants while finishing my small meal.
Noting nothing too out of the ordinary I glance towards the open sky above the river before turning back to my course along the path. “Stars seem rather bright tonight,” I note as I head back into the darker forest.
My progress is slowed a bit as the trees seem to be closer together in this area and I ponder following the path for a bit to avoid difficulty. As I struggle through the trees and am about to decide to take the idea I come across a wall of rock, with a small gorge-like path cut through it along the path, making the mental argument moot.
Making sure all my senses are focused on the task at hand, I slowly make my way through the gorge as quickly as I can while remaining silent. Luckily I decided to be cautious, as I hear a deep breathing near the end of the gorge, and as I approach the exit I identify something I would rather not see, a manticore.
Holding my breath I peer at the creature from where I am, and notice that it seems to be sleeping. I slowly release my breath and I cautiously make my way forwards with any eye on the creature, and the other on the ground for any obstacles. As I attempt to sneak by I am forced to freeze in place as it starts to move, luckily it was just rolling over in its sleep though.
With that stressful moment passed, I carefully unfreeze and make my way past it and into the forest beyond it. Once I am, what I feel is, a far enough distance have a small breakdown after I make sure the area I stop in is safe. “I did not expect that thing to be so large, and a hydra is supposed to be much larger than that? I do NOT want to meet one now, I’d have to burn all my magic just to escape, let alone stopping it for long enough to do so,” I mumble in panic.
Setting down my packs I stumble to a nearby stream to take a long drink and calm down. Once having done so I glance along the path and notice what looks like some strange blue flowers on a separate pathway. Having not seen anything like these before I return to my packs and pull out an empty vial from it and make sure it is cleaned out at the stream.
Heading over to the flowers I carefully observe them while not making contact with them. Having dealt with some nasty plant-life before I’ve learned it is best to not touch something that is unfamiliar directly and even indirectly is bad sometimes.
Extending my magic while I hide partially behind a tree I prod one of the flowers lightly. Noticing nothing happens on doing so I breathe a small sigh of relief and advance towards it while staying a distance from it still. Unstoppering the vial I carefully levitate one of the plants on the edge of the patch, along with roots and some dirt, and place it carefully in the vial being careful not to touch it and replace the stopper. Returning to the stream I wash off the outside of the vial and return it to my pack to study later.
Once I have finished sealing my pack a flash of a purplish-blue something rapidly enters the corner of my vision. Before I can react it runs into me as it passes, knocking me into a patch of bushes by the path entangling me in it. I struggle for a second before I hear the sound of voices approaching along with some kind of footfalls on the pathway causing me to freeze.
Turning my head to peer through the branches of the bush I am trapped in I see the shapes of six beings making their way along the path heading in the direction of the thing that hit me. Trying to make as little sound as possible I observe the beings as they approach.
Once they get close enough to identify, I relax a bit at the sight of a purple unicorn leading them. At least they aren’t predators I think to myself while staying quiet. Examining the others I notice the group is comprised of two unicorns, two pegasi, and two normal looking ponies, all of them female. Having heard of, but never seen, these types of creatures I keep an eye on them and notice one of the unicorns levitating some objects along with it.
Making note of this as well as the marks on their flanks, as well as the fact of the numbers I assume that these are the main species in this area. This is a lucky opportunity as I don’t have to risk exposing myself to danger to find this out I think as I put some plans into mind for use, not paying attention to what they are saying.
Once they have passed by and are what I assume to be out of sight I start to try and struggle my way out of the bush. Unfortunately they weren’t as far as I thought when I hear something call out in a soft voice, “Is somepony there?” I freeze up at this and turn my head to see the buttery colored Pegasus had turned back at the sound of the bush and was making her way over to it.
Staying still in fear as she came over to the bush and peered into it, my eyes meet her deep aquamarine eyes. I am startled at her reaction when she sees me, “Oh you poor thing, how did you get caught in there.” She starts to untangle the bush around me as I am shaking in a bit of fear and amazement. I guess they have never seen my kind before I think to myself as she clears the brush around me, I thought mother said that we would be unwelcome to them, but if they don’t know of us how would we be unwelcome.
As the mare clears the last of the branches trapping me and starts to reach for me her head jerks to the side as one of her friends calls to her in a gravely sounding voice, “What are you doing back there Fluttershy, hurry up before you get left behind.” Taking this chance I bolt out of the bush and back towards my pack but hiding before I reach it. Glancing back I notice the now named ‘Fluttershy’ looking around trying to see where I had vanished to before sadly hurrying back towards her friends.
I feel a bit sad at her seeming disappointment and make note to try and repay her sometime, something about her just makes it feel like the right thing to do. Making sure they are fully out of sight, but not before noticing the buttery one look back one more time, I head over to my packs to make sure they are still safe. Once I have secured them on my back again I ponder what to do now that I have some idea of what to expect in this area.
“While the one didn’t seem to recognize me, and I think she saw me more as an animal instead of a being, that doesn’t mean others might not know. It’s been a while since I’ve had to use my disguise abilities, but it’s probably safer to do so, though need to be careful about my diet,” I ponder things out as I make plans while heading towards the forest edge. As I near I notice something odd, “Shouldn’t it be nearing daytime by now? Why does it still seem like the middle of the night?”
Pondering this I come to the edge of the forest and conceal myself before finalizing my plans. Looking into the now clear night sky I spot something that alarms me a bit, the moon is now Mareless. “That… can’t be a good sign,” I say to myself while digging through my bags for the round and clear crystal I keep with me.
While not the best at it, I have learned a couple things about reading the future. Nothing too extraordinary, but it has been enough to help me avoid some bad weather and find my way to water and food when I needed. Channeling a bit of power into the crystal I focus on trying to feel out what the weather will be like in a few hours. I breathe a sigh of relief when the image of the sun appears in the crystal, meaning that this extended night should only be temporary.
Replacing the crystal in my bags I then set them aside for the next step of my plans. Glad that this doesn’t consume much magic at all now as it is natural to my kind, I start to shift my form into one that is similar to the ponies that had passed, but different enough that I can be identified as a separate pony, and not a copy of another.
Blending traits from those I saw, and adding others I’ve seen on other creatures I slowly shift into a unicorn form as that seems to be the most obvious user of magic of the types I saw. Growing out a main from my head I form it down into a braid behind my head, while recoloring my tail into a long flowing shape. The colors of them shift into a black and white color while my coat stays an orange with brown ‘socks.’ I can see the same brown on my muzzle but would need a mirror to get a clearer view of everything.
Turning to my packs I lengthen the straps on them for my now taller body and lift them onto myself. While glancing back to my flank while doing this I note that it is still blank. Not fully sure what it is supposed to mean, but knowing it is important as all six of those I saw had them, I smile as I create one that will identify me well enough for now.
This done I turn my way towards the lights I can see in the distance. Assuming that this is the town that the six came from I start to make my way towards it. Along the way I notice that what I though was just a giant tree stump, was instead a cottage that is cleverly camouflaged to look like a part of nature. Looking closer I also notice the chicken coop behind it and the fence around it and wonder how I could have missed seeing those.
Making my way across a bridge towards the town I steadily plod along while getting a feel for my current shape. It feels odd to be bigger than normal and I feel a bit clumsier than usual. This should pass I know as I’ve been in odder form before, but it’s still annoying. Approaching the outer limits of the town I start to see others moving around in the lamplight, though the lamps seem to be few and far in between, many carried by the figures in the town.
Seeing the lack of light I use my magic to pull out a length of cord and one of my more precious gems that is wrapped in a dark cloth. Unwrapping it, a warm glow comes from the gem as I loop the cord around it and then place it around my neck so I can better see my path. Having done so I make my way into the town and try to see what is around.
Many of those I see are rushing around, though I spot a large number in a large open area near the center of town. Making my way towards the area I hear something galloping behind me, turning my head I see a pink mare with blond mane and tail galloping around in a seeming panic. As she nears I can hear her shouting, “Doomed! Doomed!” to any within hearing distance. Well this seems like an interesting town already I think while turning back and searching the surrounding buildings, hoping to find an open shop that I can unload some stuff at for some local currency.
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sight
not he but i
it not at
Rude
Oh you have no idea
Something about the spell descriptions makes me conclude that the character, or author, is more than passingly familiar with Ogres & Oubliettes
I just wanted to come back to the beginning of this story and say thank you for this wonderful work of fiction, you were part of what inspired me to write my own story and one of the first kitsune in Equestria stories I ever read. kitsune and foxes have been inspirations of my favorite stories since I was a child, I'm happy that I found this one. PS: this is the fourth time reading this story and its sequels.