As the Sand Falls... [R]
As the Sand Falls...
Pain...
For centuries all I have known was suffering as my wooden flesh, bound in iron, kindled and crackled with the embers of betrayal. My body, blackened and hollow, still stood tall amongst the ruins of a sanctuary built for me by those I thought friends. Around me stands a tall and mighty forest, yet untamed by the denizens of this world, and the creatures who made my wood their home. Even now, a pack of wooden creatures much like myself, but in a lupine form, wandered somewhat aimlessly about the grove. These Timberwolves, as the ponies called them, were the closest things I had to sons and daughters. It was my power that brought them into the world, and nothing less than a god could truly be rid of them. No matter how much you destroy them, their spirit will always make their way back to me to be reformed.
The forest was abuzz with activity when I regained my consciousness after centuries of rest. Something, or someone, was disturbing the feral peace of the wood. The wild winds whistled into my ears of a filly, scared and lost in the darkness. Though she has naught to fear from my domain, years of frightening tales kept her on her hooves, her wings clamped tight to her sides. She jumped at every shadow, shivered at every sound as my hounds shepherded towards a safer portion of the wood. On a whim, I called them to lead her to me as there was much to glean about the state of the world beyond my borders. What little I knew came from a rather young zebra mare who got lost like this filly many years ago.
Scootaloo was running for her life. Just out of her vision, she could see various were lights and glowing eyes popping in and out of existence that hounded her in the dark, never entering the light that filtered through the trees. Sometimes they would appear in front of her, causing her to turn away and go a different direction. If she were a wiser pony, she would have noticed that they were herding her past various dangers like a bush of Darkseed Brambles or patches of Poison Joke. It wasn't long till she barreled through a thin wall of leaves into a small glade surrounded by stones. Looking behind her, she could not see the monsters that hounded her for what seemed like days, nor could she hear anything but the random bird calls and chirping insects. She sighed and sat down to catch her breath. Safe, she was safe at last.
Looking around, she saw that the stones were strangely shaped, as if time had worn down them from massive blocks of stone to their current, smoother shape. She even saw some that looked vaguely like a pony. In the center of it all was a massive tree, black as night and looked as if it was smoldering from a recent fire. It had two great iron bands wrapped tight near the base and near what looked like a large knot near the branches. Cautiously, she approached the blackened husk and felt a deep sadness for the tree. It looked so old, she couldn't even count that high, and yet it was burnt to a crisp. She tentatively placed a hoof on the trunk and brought away a thick coat of ash.
And what do we have here? A voice echoed in the glen. It sounded hoarse, cracked, and a deep rumble emanated from the tree. A young pony, wandering, stumbling into my wood. What dost thou seek in this defiled glade? Scootaloo immediately turned around, pressing her back to the tree with a frantic breath. She couldn't see anything around, even after circling the trunk a few times. A humored chuckle came from above her. Little filly, thou hast naught to fear from the forest so long as thou harmest it not, but ‘twould be wise to take a closer look at what thou see’st, to find what thou seek’st.
Scootaloo blanched. She could feel the blood drain from her face as she turned slowly and looked up at the tree a second time. Up past the bound knot was a tangle of branches with two glowing orbs that burned like fiery coals. She scrambled backwards, only to find herself sitting in a small chair made out of wood. Surely even in this age it is considered rude to not accept thy host's hospitality. Now, what is it that you seek, little one?
Scootaloo trembled beneath it's piercing gaze, whimpering out a response. The once mighty tree fell to it's knees and brought it's head closer to Scootaloo. Forgive me; thy voice was too quiet and meek for mine ears to catch. I would ask thee to speak aloud so that I may hear and heed. Scootaloo covered her head with her hooves and replied quite loudly. "I-I'm l-l-lost! I didn't mean to Tr-tr-tres..." She paused, trying to remember the word only to have the tree answer for her. Trespass?
She pointed her hoof at him and exclaimed. "Yeah! That's it! Trespass!" She paused and shied away from him once more. "I really didn't mean to trespass, mister..." The tree creature leaned back and laughed hoarsely. He continued laughing as she gave him a confused glance. "Whats so funny? Huh?" He unwound one of his long, claw like fingers that were wrapped around his shoulders, knocking ash away from his spindly hands and face as he wiped an invisible tear away.
Many creatures over the ages have I met, and yet never have I met one quite like thee. He shifted his tall form and somehow, she couldn't see how, he returned to a standing position. Now come, the hour is late, and to thy home must thou be returned. The forest shall not harm thee on thy way. With a nod, the forest seemed to brighten a bit and a path she did not see before was made apparent. She dashed off towards it, turning just before and thanking the nice tree man thing before disappearing into the trees.
The glade was silent for a few moments before I spoke. Keep an eye on her and make sure she returneth from where she came. Barely visible in the shadows of the glade was another humanoid figure, impossibly tall and wearing an impeccable black suit seemed to fade from existence. Yes.... return to your home, little one. My vengeance shall be swift and terrible once my bindings fall... Now all I had to do was wait for the filly to return and spread word of a new, approachable creature in the forest. Surely, a curious unicorn or two would take the bait. My eyes closed once more, looking back upon my long life. All the way back to the beginning...
James had a love/hate relationship with conventions. On the one hand, he got to see so many cool people and hang out with friends old and new alike. On the other hand, he had to deal with the large crowds, smelly geeks and nerds who need to learn how to bathe properly, stuck up content creators who think they are above everyone despite only having like 2 subscribers. Worst of all was the costumes. Fat guys wearing sailor fuku, or even costumes that were really massive. Like that one guy who looked like a Dullahan. Great costume, but he had the dexterity of whale. Ser Dullahan actually stepped on his foot at one point. James spent the next 10 minutes trying to make sure his foot wasn't broken.
Afterwards, James made his way to the merchant's alley thing, or whatever silly name they had given it, intent on purchasing something mildly expensive or cool. Those usually went hand in hand. It all really depended on just how humble the seller was. There were some interesting shops, but only one really caught his eye with how absurd it was. An old man was sitting behind a shoddy booth with a simple sign that said "Free". On the table was various detritus one would find outside. A twig, a stone, a vial of clear water, a half melted candle, a dandelion, even a cracked mirror. Seeing that James was inspecting his 'wares' the merchant grinned.
"Anything catch your eye? I can guarantee that everything here is rather... special" He chuckled a bit. "Please take something, I insist."
James scoffed and picked up the twig. "Just what so special about this junk, anywa--" James never got to finish that sentence before he simply disappeared, along with the old merchant.
Site of what will become the Everfree Forest
Time Immemorial
James awoke feeling rather stiff and wooden. He groaned, the sound a lot louder than he expected. Upon opening his eyes, he was greeted with the blinding light of the sun shining through a canopy of trees. He tried to block out the light, but to no avail. His one rather meaty hand was now impossibly thin. James gasped, the sound more ethereal than it should have been. Frantically, he took a look at himself. He was now tall, like, really, really tall. Standing up, he could just have the wooden boughs on his head brush the bottom of the canopy. Another thing was that he was now a tree. Which explains his height and and the fact that now his head and back were covered in thick, green foliage. He wasn't much of a botanist, but he could swear that he was a sweetgum. He always hated sweetgums. Their sticky sap got EVERYWHERE during the spring.
Exploring his surroundings revealed a place that was like something out of a story book. Small, winged creatures floated around, chatting aimlessly amongst themselves. They looked like really thin horses with gossamer wings or something. The entire forest had a sort of ethereal atmosphere that enthralled him more surely than the biggest tittied Brazillian whore. He spent that whole first day doing nothing else but exploring the fairy tale wonderland...
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Wow, pretty good. But what's "LoHAV"?
4466079 It's an abbreviation of the name of a popular group/multiverse called League of humans acting villainous.
4466194 Oh shit, I forgot I was in that group.
OK then, interesting chapter, nicely done with the intro to the forest, and I also like the idea of slenderman acting sort of the chief guard. Great job, keep goin and stay golden^^
The Brazilian whore thing seemed out of place...
More plz this looks promising
Another one joins the bandwagon. Welcome, welcome.
I'm surprised this bandwagon can fit any more passengers. Still, it was... a good read. I'll give it a follow.
oh ho ho ho
slendy is there aswell?
what a suprise
i shall wait for more to come
4466254
4467403
I didn't intend for that to happen, but I got the idea after listening to the Slenderman Song over and over
4466725 IT really isn't if you actually know me. I use that A LOT in similar phrasings.
4467087 PLease, the bandwagon is made of rubber, it just keeps on stretching!
Picks up a twig and becomes an ent, best start to one of these stories I've read so far
Is he with the breezies atm?
Well this is a good start! Your Early Modern English is... oddly done, to say the least, but it's all technically correct. Except for that use of "ye"; one does not use "ye/you" in the same passage of "thou/thee" without the speaker gaining respect for the addressed. I suppose he could respect Scootaloo suddenly a lot more, but it's doubtful. Basically, it should be "and now must thou return'st home", I think. I'm not too sure how that would work, to be honest. I've not encountered it in my memory, and I can't think how it might work.
Nicely done, other than that. I can't wait to read more!
4468796 Huh... I don't remember using ye.... I'll have to take a gander at that. And mostly his speech is more of a farce to make himself seem wiser and older. And to also fit in when he last had contact with the outside world.
Edit: Found it! Yeah, it should have been a thee.
4468361 No, in the early years, when the fae creatures roamed the land, the world was afr mor heavily immersed in magic, but due to things that will be explained later, many of the fae types had to relocate to another "world". More like a pocket dimension or something.
4468989 Huh. In that case, call artistic license and be done with it! Or you could call (i.e. PM) me and I could try to rewrite it to make it more old-timey and still have the same meaning.
4469006 I might have to take you up on that offer some time. Possibly with the Lunas.
4469015 By the Night Angels, please. Please do that. I'm sick of seeing bad Luna-talk. It makes me sad when people don't bother to either get help or Google how to speak in EModE.
Also, feel free to take this as an application for the generic position of editor if you want, for any of your stories.
The everfree forest itself- in the LoHAV verse.
This should be interesting. Looking forward to more!
Isn't that the tree thing from Dragon Age?
4470177 Why, yes indeed! You know, funny story, I recently was replaying DAO and after I finished Headless, not Heartless and I got to the Grand Oak, the idea for this story took root and swiftly grew into what you see now.
This is pretty awesome!
Love it! Hope to see more.
4471999
What the eff? I thought you only frequented the cheezburger site.......learn something new every eons eh?
4472232
Bitch please, I started a whole group here dedicated to the destruction of your show!
4472239
And there it is, the uber we all know and love; good luck on your blam spree
4472385 good luck you say?
eh nothing to do here.
4466079
A series of some of the most entertaining stories I've had the pleasure of reading on this site.
Basically only click on this cause i recognized Dragon age: Origins from the picture is that the old rhyming oak or just one of the random trees?
will read later tho
4476684 Yes, that is a picture of The Grand Oak, though I will not be using him at all. It is more of a place holder for awhile.
How does this manage to have no character tags?
4478980 Magic, also a forgetful author
4479012
xD
I just didn't think it was possible to upload it without them(same goes for the genre tags). I've never left them out but I guess I just assumed it wouldn't let the story get posted unless it had at least one of each.
I liking just for the cover image
The title caught me because it's one of the lyrics in Marilyn Manson's the beautiful people
Because trees.
4488233 Oooooooohhhh.... I have something else to listen to when writing.
Why can't it all just be in the third person perspective?
Other than that, while it is a LoHAV, you are using an original character, and not just stuffing yourself into an established one.
So what, is Slendy another convention goer who chose the melted wax?
4488928 As to the first question, it is more for practice than anything else. I usually write first person, but I wanted to try third person a bit, so I made the flashbacks into third so that I didn't have to redo the entire thing.
To the second thing, I tend to do that. it makes it so I can break away from the group and still have a mostly original story.
As to the Slenderman question, I can't answer that without giving away something interesting.
Call me intrigued. Will this be more of a anthology and will have the Rhyming Tree narrating the distant past of both Equestria and the Everfree? If so, there are quite a few things you could do.
4489848 No, and yes. No to the rhyming because I am HORRID and rhymes. And yes to the second because stuff. Expect lotsa world building.
I looked at this cause I recognised the ancient sylvan from dragon age and was like gasp.
4488742
See if you can catch the subtle message conveyed in that song-- really gets you thinking. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be listening to a few hundred other songs because I am going through a playlist of 600 songs.
4492827 Oh yes, I caught onto that whole 99% revolution thing.
4492835
It has numerous ways to be taken IMO: equality/political/pro/anti. I always thought of it making fun of people who complain about other people having it better than them, and thus complain and gripe, eventually grouping together to strip the greaters (Oaks) of their power through violence (hatchet, axe, and saw) and other nefarious means under the guise of "equal rights" and "unions." Of course, maybe it's the exact opposite, but I always took the "And the maples cried "oppression!"/and the oaks just shook their heads" as the "Maples" complaining about nothing, and the "Oaks" just sighing and shaking their heads because it's an absurd accusation.
Am I wrong? No, but am I right? No.
4492897 One of those open interpretations, but still great music
4492907
Aye, I like Rush because it's open interpretation. Whereas "One" (Metallica) and "Hotel California" (The Eagles) are rather obvious in their meaning, "The Trees" as many. Of course, the writer was very Libertarian, but that still leaves room for many interpretations. Kinda like "Stairway to Heaven" :3.