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// Everfree Roaming 
// Story: Wrong Door, Perfect Oppurtunity 
// by DuskNote 
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Had the ponies known where their human guest had gone at least a few of them would be more worried then they currently were. The newly named Striker had promptly booked it as fast as he could away from the throne room as soon as it became obvious Twilight had figured out his thought patterns. He wasn't going to stay around to see their reaction to it all. Or see what type of conclusions they drew from what she said.

As soon as their eyes were off of him he had slipped out and summoned his bag to him before running into the only place he knew they wouldn't look for him. Of course the castle just had to be as far away from the everfree forest as possible but with it being a place where most ponies feared to go it made the most sense to hide in there. Well at least for the time being. Though the creatures in the forest were potentially dangerous it was nothing he couldn't deal with.

All those thoughts and more flashed through Strikers head as he reached the edge of this worlds equivalent to the forbidden forest. Thankfully the stamina carried over as well or he would probably be exhausted. Running around the outside of a town at full speed was exhausting. If he didn't worry about being found by any of the ponies he had just left in the castle he probably would have slowed down a bit but as it was it seemed like the smartest thing to do. 

Of course multiple problems reared their head as he stepped inside the creepy treeline. Most weren't that bad, mainly 'what was there to eat' and 'what would try to eat him'. Others, that were much worse in his mind, were 'has this place calmed down too much' and 'how long until Twilight sends a message to Celestia?' Another problem that occurred to him, that could be big or small, was 'what about Mera?' He had no doubt that Fluttershy would look after her, she was too kind not to. He also knew that the shape shifting kitty would look for him eventually. She would probably find him too. The troublesome part came when pondering what Fluttershy would do then. Would she let the cat go? Thinking it would be returning to its owner? Would she follow it upon seeing it enter the forest? Heck would she be able to communicate with Mera and find out she knew where he was?

Striker couldn't quite remember the capabilities of his playful cat but if the spirit made her into a familiar then the possibility of her being able to find him easily were quite high. On that note though, if she ran into the forest from Fluttershy's cottage at night the shy Pegasus might not even know the cat had left until the morning.

With his thoughts turned back to the forest Striker had to stop. He had kept walking in deeper while he thought on how to deal with any problems, being sure to avoid any paths or such as he did so,  but that brought something else to mind. Where could he go? There were three key spots in the forest that he would need to stay far away from. The castle of the two sisters, Zecora's hut and the tree of harmony. Thankfully that third thing was awfully close to the first so all he would need to do would be avoid that and any blue flowers that seemed to grow near where the zebra made her home and he should be able to avoid any scouting parties the ponies formed. 

Deciding it was better to keep moving Striker thought more on how he was going to do this. In order to leave his story had to end. In order for it to be a good story it had to end dramatically. No letting himself be killed or jumping off of the weird cliff that was, for some reason, in here. Since he picked the dragon to come hunt him down the only satisfactory story end would be in a dramatic battle against the damn thing. Which meant he had a month to get the hell away from civilisation... Where would that be?

Groaning he leant against a tree and dropped his head into his hands. Why? Why did he have to end up here? He'd put everything pony behind him when he entered his 4th year. I mean yeah he appreciated how they helped trigger his patronus but he wasn't a kid anymore. He had gone through to much crap to still consider being a brony. I mean damn the only reason he caught up at all was to make Rose feel better. "Why am I here?" Lifting his head he threw his arms out and called out to the sky, what little could be seen through the leaves that is.

It was a good thing he did otherwise what happened next may have ended a lot worse for him. Then again it may have ended everything earlier.

The moment his arms were flung out was the exact moment he got jumped. Striker didn't notice anything until a weight crashed into his left arm and sent him tumbling to the ground with a loud crack and throbbing pain. "Son of a..." Scrambling to his feet Striker looked around. "Well damn." Seems the Timberwolves had gathered the rest of the pack and had him pinned. Well they would have had he been a regular person. "You guys don't learn do you?" Holding his right hand up he focused on conjuring a fireball. Which lasted all of five seconds before the throbbing in his arm distracted him.

With a quick look Striker took off running holding his arm tight to keep it from jarring as he ran from the angry piles of wood right on his heels. "Great. Just great. Complete focus or no spells. This just got a lot harder." He could hear them catching up. "Well I knew it was harder. It had to be. Push back the level of mastery and all that." Muttering kept his mind off of the pain that he could no longer block. "Master a spell wandlessly? Now needs focus. Only manage one wandlessly? Now needs a wand... Wait." Stopping he turned and pulled out his wand, that had thankfully never left its holster, and held it up as the timberwolves were just about to pounce. "Protego maxima!" Each wolf slammed into the shimmering blue wall that erupted in between them and him, crumbling into twigs and branches. 

Letting the shield drop Striker started running again. It wouldn't be long until they reformed but hopefully it would buy him some time to get further away. "I should probably write this down when I get the chance...  Wandless nonverbal to just wandless. Wandless to nonverbal. nonverbal to normal. Normal to difficult. Difficult to impossible. Then of course there is the complete mastery to focus I discovered earlier... So much to remember..." Pain shot through his arm again, he'd forgotten to hold it while thinking and had whacked it against a low branch. It was enough to make him stumble and would have caused him to throw up if he had anything in his stomach.

"F-ferula." Bandages shot from his wand and wrapped his arm tight against his chest. It would do nothing to help the healing but it would at least keep it still. Provide some cushioning too should he be dumb enough to smack it... Again.

"Note to self... When Madame Pomfrey offers you medical spells accept... God I'm going mad." Thankfully he had learnt that one without the incantation. Out of necessity due to him being unable to speak through pain whenever he broke something sure but still he'd learnt it. It's not often you thank your stars that you tend to be accident prone but when it pays off? You kind of need to.

Of course this was only a distraction from the fact that the wolves were getting closer again and, since he found his way onto a path again, he was probably heading to one of the places he wanted to avoid. If it was a choice between the wolves and a search party though? He'd take being shipped back to ponyville.

More shields left his wand to try and slow down the Timberwolves. He would have preferred to banish things at them or set them on fire but without being able to stop and look it wouldn't do much good. They had already gotten to close and one had even manage to get in front of him and land a deep scratch to his leg. That one he had no qualms burning to cinders, to bad the densely packed forest made fire not an option for the others or he would have finished this by now.

With blood dripping on the ground and his lungs starting to burn Striker broke through the tree line to see a wooden bridge. Without stopping to wonder if a bridge built for ponies could even support his weight he hurried across it as quickly as he could. It creaked in places and some of the wooden planks sounded like they were about to snap but it held together. 

Making it across he wasted no time in hurrying up to the castle. Wether he would be found no longer mattered to him. He just wanted to avoid being eaten. Opening the door was relatively easy. Slamming it shut jarred his arm a bit and made him lightheaded. With a few spells he had the door shut as tight as it could be before he stumbled up towards the throne. He was planning to sit down and have a look at his leg but the exhaustion and the pain combined meant he passed out as soon as he collapsed into the chair. In all honesty that was probably the worst case scenario.

While he wasn't sure how long he had been unconscious had Striker bothered to look at the sky while he had been running across the bridge he would have noticed it steadily getting darker as day turned to night. In short passing out meant he ran the risk of getting a nighttime visitor. Something that normally would have been prevented by the shields around is mind but those either didn't apply here or weren't raised thanks to the pain. Had he known any of this he would not have been shocked to find himself waking up in the exact same place he passed out yet experiencing none of the pain that caused this to happen.

"It saddens me to see this place in such ruin. Even if it was my doing." Princess Luna was currently looking at one of the ripped tapestries as she spoke somehow knowing Striker was listening. "While I don't blame my sister for leaving it behind there was still some happiness buried in the dark."

"You can remember the good times without being where they happened. And I don't think that's the reason Princess Celestia left it like this." Striker had stood up and walked closer to the night princess while she spoke.

"Oh? Does thou believe they have an answer instead?" Luna turned a curious eye to him.

"I believe it was a reminder. By not fixing any of the damage Nightmare Moon caused she would always be reminded that she let it get that far." I honestly just made that up but it seemed right and I couldn't let her be sad thinking of the past. So I turned my full gaze onto her and spoke as honestly as I could. "Princess Luna I don't know if you've realised but your banishment affected Celestia as much as it did you. Not only did she have to seal away her sister, not only did she have to endure a celebration of the day she did it, she also had to take over your role, listen as her subjects created myths about how evil you were and all of this while looking up at you every night while wondering how she could have been blind enough to miss what you were going through. This?" I gestured around me. "It wouldn't surprise me at all if she considered this as more proof of how she failed."

Luna didn't respond for a while. "Thank you Striker. It helps to be reminded that I have been forgiven. Perhaps my sister requires a reminder as well."

"No problem at all your majesty. It's my pleasure. Though if I may ask? Why are we in the castle? Shouldn't my dreams have taken us somewhere else?" It was a curious thing to note considering how all the other dreamscapes act like actual dreams.

"Had you fallen asleep normally I have no doubt I'd have found you in such a place. Perhaps reliving your memories. I confess to wanting to find out more about you." She began walking back towards the throne so I followed her.

"You mean you were interested in me? I'm flattered your highness. But you could have asked."

"I highly doubt that to be true. Considering when I went looking for your mind I found you unconscious and injured in this castle. Despite my sister telling you to stay put." Oh no. Serious Princess Luna. I'm in trouble. "Would you care to explain why?" Turning she sat down on the throne and looked at me. Yep. Big trouble.

"Would you believe me if I said I wanted and adventure?" I asked nervously.

"Not at all. You left Twilight's castle and have found yourself injured in the forest mere hours after we spoke to you. So I must ask. What are you running from?" Oh good. Counsellor Luna. Even better.

"Besides the Timberwolves?" Her frown told me that she wouldn't accept anything but the truth. So, sighing deeply, I closed my eyes and began to think. "I know you. I know your sister. I know Twilight and her friends, her brother and his wife Princess Cadence." I just let the words flow as I admitted what I had refused to ever since I got here. "I know all of you. Your strengths and weaknesses. Personality traits and flaws and..." I took deep breaths and opened my eyes to look at her feeling like a little kid as emotions jumbled up inside me. My memories synching with reality made this hundreds of times more difficult than it could have been.

"Speak your mind. You have my word that not one thing you choose to divulge to me here will be mentioned outside. It is part of my job to not speak of what I learn from other ponies dreams or from the ponies themselves."

"Thank you..." I swallowed. "I know so much about all of you. Stuff I know because I've essentially been spying on your life..." Tears started running down my face now. I was no longer the adult I had grown to be in the Wizarding World and I wasn't the adult from the real world either. It felt like I'd been reverted to a teen dealing with his hormones and the struggles of his life.... Put that way it made me feel slightly better about breaking down but I would be incredibly embarrassed when I was done. "How can I possibly get close to anyone without weirding them out by how attached I have gotten to them? Since in their eyes, whether they are aware of my past or not, I've only really known them for a day."

"How attached are you?" Whether Princess Luna was shocked or simply curious I was in no state to be able to tell. I couldn't even look up at her as more tears came and my chest began to hurt.

Full disclosure now."There are times...." I took another breath and tried to swallow the lump building in my throat. "Times where it varies." Another shuddering breath. "Where I consider you friends and maybe even a family to..." I turned away and curled in on myself slightly. God I was acting like a pathetic hormonal 15 year old right now. "To times when I can convince myself that if you were real I'd be in love with you.... All of you." I wiped at my eyes and tried to rush past that. "Well besides Cadence of course. As she is taken. Along with most of the residents of ponyville. Sure there are a few I'd have no problem entering a relationship and some Id just love to hold and comfort." I was in a full ramble now. Nothing good happens when I ramble. "But the real 'I love you' feelings only really apply to you and the main 6 since they are the ones we learn the most about through the show and who the pathetic people get attached to the most. Of course I'm pretty sure I'm the only one this pathetic and that their must be something seriously wrong with me."

"And you want to keep this bottled up?" I'd shocked her. I could tell. I still couldn't bring myself to turn around and face her but I just knew I did. 

"I'm going to move on in a month anyway. Heck had I thought it would have gotten me to move on I would have let the Timberwolves kill me. It's how it worked last time and how I hope it'll work in a month. How can you even form a decent relationship in a month?"

"You're planning on dying?" It wasn't until Princess Luna spoke that I realised what I had said. When I did I froze. I had just told someone, err, somepony that I needed to die to move onto the next story. Somepony who had the power to stop me from doing it. Oh no....