Her Forest

by AliziaRoElier

Oops

Day couldn’t stop laughing at the hilarity of the situation. Here he was, in the middle of a forest, the Everfree forest, his forest on a planet he didn’t even know the name of. He was prepared to obliterate whatever might threaten his forest and the one thing he couldn’t possibly prepare for had to come meet him. He wasn’t even human anymore, he was some kind of metal elf. In the back of his mind, while he laughed hysterically in front of the bewildered, brightly colored shetland ponies, he wondered if he hadn’t really gone insane. He could feel the forest affirm that he was in fact, quite sane and rational but he couldn’t quite believe it. Everything was just too weird. His entire day was just too weird.

Slowly, the bewildered confused expressions on the small horses’ faces changed to one of annoyance and mild anger. They shuffled together and away from Day’s laughing form and finally took note that a timberwolf was laying placidly at his side. The timberwolf’s vermillion eyes watched them unblinkingly while its champion was indisposed.

“What’s the big idea!?” The blue pony’s voice cut through Day’s laughter and forced him back to seriousness. It took an aggressive step forward and leveled an impressive glare at him - for a short cute pony. They might be short and colorful but they were still a threat despite their innocent appearance. Abruptly, Day stopped laughing and rolled to his feet to give them an emotionless, appraising stare.

He still couldn’t know anything about them. As far as the forest was concerned, they did not exist. They could disrupt everything with their presence but they weren’t there in a way the forest could transmit to him. He tilted his head and studied them more closely. Two seemed like normal horses or at least as normal as brightly colored shetland ponies could be. Two were winged and from his own memories their name came unbidden - pegasi. The last two were horned, though rather than the usual two that most horned mammals had they had a single medium-length horn growing from the middle of their heads.

The ponies shuffled nervously at his abruptly changed demeanor and his too scrutinizing expression. The blue pony who had spoken scowled harder at the silence and made to speak. Before she could, Day let the wisps that had hidden in the trees glowed a bit brighter, enough that the six horses in front of him would notice them. The blue pony closed her mouth. He took a moment longer to consider how to address them and spoke.

“You scared the little ones.” He said cryptically. His words came out blandly with a slight edge of aggression. The ponies blinked at him in confusion and looked around at the wisps. “Not them.”

Their heads whipped back to him comically. The purple unicorn turned her head so quickly Day would not have been surprised to find she got whiplash. He blinked and he decided he could have some fun. He lifted a finger and pointed to his right.

The group turned to look in that direction for a moment and, seeing nothing, returned their gaze to him. He pointed up. They looked up. He blinked again.

“I can’t believe they’re falling for this...” He murmured. He was struggling to contain another round of laughter at their ridiculous actions.

The purple unicorn returned her gaze to him and looked at him suspiciously, like it was starting to catch on. He stared back in an effort not to laugh. It was a valiant effort. The timberwolf at Day’s side huffed a breath, almost like a sigh, and got up to walk away. If it could have, Day supposed it would have rolled its eyes. He could feel the exasperated amusement that seemed to roll off it. Day watched it go with a smile.

As soon as it had left the clearing, Day turned back to the ponies and his expressionless face gave way to an amused grin. He tried to copy the smile Celestia gave him. He waited for one of the ponies to speak.

After a few moments of uneasy silence, the purple unicorn stepped forward slowly and spoke, “Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Could you... um... tell me what you’re doing in the Everfree forest?”

Day blinked. The question was not at all unexpected though now that it had been posed to him, he had no idea how to answer the pony’s question. How could he possibly explain that he’d been brushing his teeth before bed only the night before, been enveloped in a green light, woken up in a forest on a dying planet, spoken to a goddess, been sent back in time by said goddess, woken up in a forest AGAIN, and been changed into... whatever he was. He couldn’t help but snort and laugh at his own inability to explain anything.

The unicorn’s expression soured at his laughter. Day quickly held up a hand and brought his laughter under control before attempting to answer.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, I’m not entirely sure how to explain that. I’m pretty sure the universe went insane about a day ago and I’m not even sure what the hell I’m doing here.” He picked up his backpack and walking stick. He looked at his axe-hammer distastefully for a moment before picking it up with a thumb and index finger and throwing it into the forest away from himself and the ponies. The forest provided him with the information of where the ponies entered the forest and he started walking in that direction.

The ponies started stepping back as he approached them. The purple unicorn quickly rejoined her friends and the blue pegasus took flight and flew straight to him to hover in front of him and glare aggressively. She opened her mouth to speak but Day quickly clamped a hand on her muzzle to prevent her from speaking. The pegasus’ eyes widened and gave him a disbelieving look. Day couldn’t help but snicker at her put out expression.

The orange pony yelled, “Hey! let ‘er go!”

Both unicorns’ horns lit up and the orange pony took a length of rope tied into a lasso out of her saddlebags. Day quickly let go of the pegasus’ muzzle and took a step back. Before he could say anything a blue hoof, curiously a matching shade to his own blue metal skin, swung out and punched him in the face.

A metallic clang sounded out through the trees as hoof struck unyielding metal. Day blinked in surprise. It was one thing to observe that he was shiny and seemed to be made of metal, it was quite another to have the fact confirmed in such a definitive manner. He didn’t even feel the punch. It wasn’t even enough to move him. He blinked belatedly in surprise completely forgetting the fact that he’d just been assaulted.

“Wow... I... honestly didn’t expect that. How can I POSSIBLY be made of metal?” He asked out loud with a note of incredulity. Meanwhile, the pegasus that hit him was cradling her smarting hoof and glaring at him.

The pink pony spoke up, “Well, it’s probably because you picked up that super-rare, super-duper advanced alien technology a dying god decided to give you and you activated it because of your supernatural connection to the forest that will survive a supernova.”

Day had no idea how to respond to that while the pink pony’s companions turned to look at her with looks ranging between resignation and amusement. The blue pegasus hover in his face again, “Listen you jerk! I don’t know what you are but you’d better leave if you know what’s good for you!”

She poked him in the chest to punctuate the last few words of her threat. Each clang of hoof against metal seemed to undermine her threat a little more as she seemed to do her best to ignore the fact that she hadn’t even dented him before.

Day decided that he should open negotiations with the only pony that hadn’t seemed afraid of him or hostile - the pink one.

“Umm... not to be rude, pink Shetland pony, but is she for real?”

The blue pegasus seemed to take offense at being ignored and began to try to push him with no success. The two unicorns and the other pegasus seemed to be watching the scene with a look of extreme confusion and disbelief. Day couldn’t blame them.

“Yeah, but Dashie’ll calm down soon. And it’s rude to say someone’s from Shitland.” The pink pony smiled innocently at Day when he snorted at her slip of the tongue. Her smile grew. Day narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“You have a knack for saying things you shouldn’t...” Day said neutrally. The pink pony hopped towards him in a way that should have been impossible to accomplish and ignored his statement confirming to Day she knew exactly what he was saying.

“I’m Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?” The blue pegasus, Dashie, finally gave up her futile attempts to push Day around and true Pinkie’s prediction gave up with a frustrated growl. She glared at him and returned to the group of ponies now watching with cautious interest.

“Day... Day Roark.” He looked around and decided he really did need to mention something about the forest. “Um, again, not to be rude or anything but the Everfree doesn’t really like you all... could we take this somewhere else?”

Behind Pinkie, the yellow pegasus gave a small almost inaudible gasp. The purple unicorn gaped, “Wait. You know what the forest is feeling?” The unicorn’s earlier caution went out the window. She was looking at him with open curiosity. It made Day a bit nervous.

“Yeah. Sure. Can we please take this somewhere else?” He said evasively.

“No.” The strong negative came from the blue pegasus and the orange pony simultaneously.

“We ain’t lettin’ ya’ anywhere near Ponyville. We can talk here.” The orange pony was looking at him with mild hostility. Day considered for a moment and consulted with the forest for a moment. It disliked their presence greatly but it could understand their need to protect their homes. Day retrieved the location of a clearing close to them that would lighten the irritation the forest felt at the six ponies’ presence.

Day sighed and nodded, “Fine. There’s a clearing about a quarter mile southeast of here that we can go to.” He turned around and started walking away. It was a few moments before he could hear the sound of hooves following him. As they walked, he winced whenever they forced the smaller forest creatures to flee before their path and away from their homes.

After a short but guilt ridden walk through the forest the procession of metal elf-thing, six ponies, and a handful of wisps entered a placid clearing with a calm lagoon surrounded by tall grass and a few willow trees. It was almost the most ideal scene of peace and calm that Day could picture in his mind. He walked to the edge of the lagoon and sat down right before the shallow decline that led to the water’s edge. The six ponies followed his into the clearing slowly and a bit suspiciously, all except Pinkie who just bounced to his side and boldly laid down next to him. She smiled up at him innocently.

He snorted but didn’t comment. Her companions gave her exasperated looks but didn’t seem too surprised or upset by her friendliness. Absently, Day pet Pinkie like he would a cat and she surprisingly started purring. He blinked and looked down. Innocent smile. He should have expected something like that.

“I guess we have time now for an explanation...” Day started when the ponies stood in front of him. Pinke was the only one who had opted to relax in front of him. His eyebrows scrunched up as his manners bugged him to offer them a seat. He motioned in front of him, “You might as well sit. I don’t think this is going to be a quick explanation.”

They hesitated for a few moments before the first sat - the purple unicorn that was still looking at him with her disconcerting curiosity. The two pegasi sat next followed reluctantly by the orange pony the still had her lasso out and the white unicorn that looked at the ground distastefully. When the group was comfortably situated, Day started.

“Before I begin, would it be fine if I had all your names? You have mine, after all...”

The purple unicorn spoke up when she saw Pinkie was too busy purring. “Well, like I said I’m Twilight Sparkle. You know Pinkie Pie now. The white unicorn is Rarity. The blue pegasus that... um... punched you... is Rainbow Dash. The orange pony with the lasso is Applejack and finally, the yellow pegasus is Fluttershy.” Day nodded to each in turn as they were introduced to him, though his nod to Fluttershy caused her to make a small meep and hide behind her pink mane.

Day remembered his wisps were still floating around them and decided that as long as they were being civil to each other they didn’t need to be out and about. With a thought, a panel appeared to his front left away from Pinkie Pie. He flicked his fingers around the panel for a moment and the wisps winked out of existence. A moment later the panel faded out of view. He returned his attention to see the two unicorns gaping at him. If Twilight’s curiosity was uncomfortable before, then now it felt like she was stripping him with her eyes. It was disconcerting coming from a being not of his own species.

He decided he needed to say something, “Um... I’m not going to lie. You’re looking at me really creepy-like, Ms. Sparkle...”

The unicorn seemed to ignore his discomfort and just launched into questions, “What was that? Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you mean the Everfree doesn’t like us? How do you know? Why do you know?”

Day wilted under the barrage of questions and looked down to Pinke for guidance. He pleaded with his eyes for her to intervene. She continued to smile at him innocently.

Day threw up a hand as if to ward off her verbal barrage, “Hold it. Too many questions at once. And stop looking at me like that.”

Her eyes were still studying him like he was something to pick apart. He sighed, “Okay. Okay. Fine.”

“I guess I can start with the simplest question. The Everfree doesn’t like you because it can’t see you. You’re like a... void... a black hole or something. It’s like you don’t exist to it. Oh, and you scare all the smaller animals.”

The yellow pegasus gasped again and her eyes filled with tears. Day wasn’t sure how to handle that so he continued, “Uh. From what I can tell the Everfree covers most of the continent. It’s... annoyed... that you six are invisible to it when most of everything isn’t.”

Somehow without him noticing, Twilight had pulled out parchment and a quill and was diligently taking notes. He shook his head incredulously but continued, “Um, I know this because somehow or another the forest likes me.” Instinctual knowledge once again filled into Day’s mind and unpacked itself. He cocked his head and closed his eyes while the knowledge filed itself away in his mind. “And I’m the forest’s son? Champion? Something, I guess. I’ll get back to that when I understand it better. Uh. I’m not entirely clear on the technical why for all this but I’m guessing it had something to do with some clichéd combination of fate and good luck...” He trailed off when he felt a hoof poke his ribs with a dull thunk.

He looked at Pinkie’s meaningful look before adding tentatively, “and alien technology given to me by a dying god?”

Pinkie nodded and went back to purring. Day restrained himself from reacting.

Day looked back to see that Twilight had a stack of parchment a foot high. Her friends were starting to give her odd looks. Day didn’t want to ask how she could possibly have taken so many notes. He hadn’t even said much.

“Uh... the holographic panel you saw was... um...” He examined the information he’d received earlier in greater detail than before. He’d been reacting and using what seemed to be the quickest and most powerful way to defend himself before when he’d first brought them up but hadn’t had time to adequately study the information he’d learned. His head slowly turned to the side and his eyes closed slowly over the course of a minute as he learned. All the ponies except Pinkie started to get impatient at his lack of response.

Before they could speak, he forced himself to pay attention to them and leave the fascinating panel documentation for later. “The panels are structured conduits for magical power to be shaped at higher than 100% efficacy. They amplify and digitize the natural magical output of a being until it manifests as an individualized interface with the users’ subconscious.” He recited the opening line to the manual he’d found in his head. He noticed everyone but Twilight seemed to be lost. “In other words, it’s a tool to make my magic work.”

Day sighed, “And your first question. I’m not entirely sure how exactly to explain this part. Um. You wouldn’t happen to be satisfied with me just saying that the universe went temporarily insane yesterday and leave it at that would you?”

Pinkie poked him in the side and glared. Day sighed, “Alright fine.”

“Last night, I was in my apartment on Earth.” Day held up a hand to stall Twilight’s inevitable questions. He was glad that her companions seemed to leave all the questioning to her. He at least knew how to shut down a single person. He would be completely lost trying to stem a tide of questions from all of them at once.

“Let me finish.” Day said firmly, “I was about to go to bed when my walls started glowing green. I didn’t know what was going on and I have no idea what happened. All I know was that I was knocked unconscious sometime before the green light disappeared. I woke up in the middle of a forest, from what I could gather this forest, with some minor... fuck it... some MAJOR differences. Somehow I had a backpack and my walking stick. I wandered around for a while until I found this clearing...” Day paused, “Um... not this this clearing, I mean a clearing.”

“Anyway, there was this white horse sitting on a pedestal. Actually, it was a telepathic horse but who cares. She started telling me about how the world was about to end and that the forest needed me and that it wasn’t my time to die or something like that. Anyway, the horse... she called her self Celestia she s-”

“Wait. You know Princess Celestia?” The purple unicorn’s uncomfortable gaze turned positively alarming. Day panicked.

“Uh... No! Noooo! I don’t know anyone like that. She called herself the Light-Bringer too and something about Scorching and Destroying. Totally can’t be her! Princesses don’t destroy things!” Day looked anywhere but at the unicorn’s rather lewd/bookish expression.

The orange pony’s eyes narrowed and she made to speak but somehow Pinkie Pie popped up behind her and clamped a hoof over her mouth. She smiled at Day. Day blinked. He looked down. Pinkie was smiling innocently at him again. He looked up. The same innocent look was on that Pinkie’s face. His eyes narrowed but he had a feeling that his sanity, as solid as it was after his... change... would be best served by not questioning.

“Aaaaanyway, she sent me back in time. And I woke up in the forest again... where I was clawed in the face by that timberwolf and turned into this...” He finished lamely. He knew he’d skipped a lot of stuff with that story but he honestly didn’t understand it himself all that much. Despite his calm demeanor he still didn’t know where to begin processing the last day emotionally.

“That’s it?” Twilight questioned skeptically. Day refused to look at her, “Not really, but the rest of it I don’t even understand yet. This...” he motioned to himself, “Isn’t natural. I wasn’t metal when I got here. I was flesh and blood. I was shorter and... human... not elfin.” He wasn't sure she really understood his description without context. He realized he could show her though.

His panels came to life and he deftly directed his magic to reflect his will. Without much ado, his metal body shortened and filled out. The metal skin was replaced with soft flesh once more and the impossibly sharp detail of the metal softened to the more organic lines of his original body.

The panels faded and he looked at them with his fully human eyes.

“This was who I was before.” Day looked up and noticed the sun was starting to set. “You all might want to leave. It won’t be long until nightfall. The Everfree has waited long enough for you to leave. I won’t be able to stop it if it decides to kill you if you remain at night.”

Pinkie stood up. He noticed her clone had disappeared. “But what about you?”

Day smiled slightly, “Well, I could sleep in the forest, but that would suck... so I was going to stealthily follow you in the shadows until you reach the outskirts and sneak into... you called it Ponyville right?... to rent a room for the night.”

Twilight spoke up and Day’s stomach flipped, “You could stay with me. I’d even let you stay for free...”

A scary daydream passed through his mind where Twilight had him strapped to a table. He was unsure if she was studying him for science or for something else. He shuddered, “Uhhh... haha... no thanks Ms. Sparkle...”

“Oh! Oh! You can stay with me and the Cakes! It’ll be so much fun! We can play Dungeons and Dragons and eat Doritos and drink Mountain Dew and oooooh we can play Xbox!” Pinkie Pie bounced around him excitedly. The other ponies stared at her in confusion while Day attempted to hold in his laughter. She was a better troll than anyone he’d ever met. He was sure that had he still been human his head would have exploded by this point.

“Alright. Thanks Pinkie Pie.”

Comments

[Cadmium]

Well that part with being turned into into a cyber metal elf with holographic magic panels came out of the left field but the rest i was kinda expecting.
Now i'm even more interested to see where you plan on taking this all.

[TheTownCrier]

Man! Gotta love that Pinkie Pie.

[MicroUltraMad]

Yisss