//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24: The Discoveries Never End (Part 1)  
// Story: The (Mis)adventures of Nava: Book One 
// by Navanastra 
//------------------------------//

                                                                              Chapter 24: The Discoveries Never End (Part 1)
Edited by: Chrome Masquerade
Proofread by: Midnight Gear   




I immediately jolted awake as I opened my eyes. “What the? What was that feeling I felt in my dream?” I thought to myself as I simply stared up at the darkened ceiling above me.

By the light level -or rather, the lack thereof- around the room I was looking around it was obviously still in the middle of the night, and looking to a small alarm on my bedside table immediately confirms that.

“2 AM. Why the hell am I suddenly jolted awake at two in the morning?” I muttered to myself as I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position.

I was quite comfortable, sleeping in one of the Apple family’s guest rooms that they so generously offered me while temporarily staying here in Ponyville for a while.

As I sat there on my bed in the middle of a darkened bedroom with the light of the full moon being the only source of proper illumination through a half-drawn window I began to remember and recollect all of the events that had happened yesterday. Or more like failed to happen yesterday, to be more honest.

By failed I mean ‘failed to get Twilight as my possible teacher on how to control and call upon my magic without causing a natural -or unnatural- disaster around me whenever my horn suddenly decides to act as a light bulb. That idea, of course, got immediately crashed when a timid sounding Thestral suddenly came “crashing” in and claiming that he had found the source of something. Most likely me, if I want to be real here.

That thought didn’t really end up as upsetting as I  imagined that it probably would be, because, to be honest with myself, despite having made my final decision in approaching the bookworm mare fully regarding my problem and my true look and identity myself, I was still somewhat cautious with this plan, like some sort of inner instinct telling me that I was secretly making a wrong move and setting myself up for something that I wouldn’t be able to escape like I miraculously had with the Thestral occupation of the Clouds District back in Cloudsdale.

So overall, what it truly ended up happening was more of a small blessing in disguise than anything else, which I felt really happy and relieved for once that realization came to me.

“Who knew that dumb luck could strike twice in a row in almost identical situations?” I thought to myself as I then remembered promptly meeting Rarity after that, which -after a fashion- fixed the problem of having to find another unicorn to teach me about magical control.	

The rest of the day spent with Rares was surprisingly pleasant. Not only did I somehow manage to get her on my side and overall convince her to keep my identity a secret, but I also managed to gain not just a teacher for my problems but a possible close friend as well.

That, or she still wants to have a shot at me for being, quote unquote, “One of the most dashing looking stallions I have ever seen.”

I personally don’t mind being incredibly handsome -or at least in pony standards- but such positive attention isn’t really helping me with my situation and desire to stay anonymous from the rest of the world.

Besides that the rest of the evening with Rarity was ‘again’ surprisingly smooth, simple and I dare say 100% civil as well. She IS a lady with class, after all. You could easily confuse her with a noble if you didn’t already know her true background and origins.

With all of that out of the way, it was pretty much just her telling me that we could start my lesson tomorrow after first helping the Apple family with their harvest early in the morning. We said our goodbyes -after having roused RD up from her ‘occupation’ of one of Rarity’s couches- and headed our separate ways.

RD kindly walked with me all the way back to the edge of town before heading our separate ways as well, having told me that she actually had weather duties tomorrow before flying home herself.

I made the rest of my way back towards Sweet Apple Acres myself afterwards. After a hearty dinner made by Applejack and a quick goodnight from all of us, it was then time to hit the hay and call it a day.

Which now leads us to the here and now, waking up from a dreamless sleep after a sudden jolt of what I can only describe as electricity coursing through my nerves.

“Strange. I wonder if it was just one of my new…” I whispered before the same sensation suddenly resurfaced, which forced me to pause and go stiff from the experience.

It was also then when my horn suddenly lit up again, not as bright as the last few times, but just bright enough for me to see and to give the room a gentle glow to it.

I was once again confused and slightly terrified by this, thanks to my pretty much nonexistent understanding of magic and my new body in general.

I suddenly found myself sensing something. It was somewhat similar to the sensation I felt during Nightmare Moon's return, but this time it felt much more calm and pure than the dark and chaotic feeling I got when I was close to her.

Yes, I am just going to call these feelings as I am obviously still very blind to all of these new senses I know have.

I was once again very confused, but also slightly intrigued this time as I slowly started to shift and turn on my bed. As I did so I quickly managed to note that the intensity of this feeling was slowly growing or dropping down whenever I moved my gaze…or more specifically my horn to different direction with in the room, with the half shut window to my left being the strongest source of this… feeling.

“What the… heck?” Was all I could mutter as this realization swiftly struck home.

With my own curiosity once again getting the better of me, I carefully crawled my way out of bed and onto the wooden and rugged floor beneath me as my made my way over to the window.

Moving the curtains away with my hoof I was swiftly greeted with a view of the outside world at night, but more interestingly I was greeted with a direct line of sight with the very edges of the Everfree forest.

Not only that, but whatever sensation and source I was feeling got gradually stronger when I moved towards the window, which my logical mind immediately interpreted that whatever I was feeling or sensing must be coming from the direction I was looking in at the moment, I.E., the Everfree forest.

I frowned as the realization kicked in. “The Everfree forest… really? But then again, It does makes sense when you think about it. The Everfree is the most unnatural location in all of Equestria… well, unnatural by pony standards, that is.” I thought to myself as I continued to stare off at the distant tree line.

“This feeling is probably not going to go away until I march myself into the forest at night and follow whatever seems to be calling me, is it?” I questioned to myself mentally, as indeed the sensation was slowly starting to get stronger and stronger the longer I just stood there.

I eventually sighed, as there really doesn’t seems to be another option for this. I do have a bit of a trust towards my new instincts, since now all they have managed to do was good, in my opinion.

I know that normally I would think of myself as being suicidal for making such a decision, but then again I am an alicorn now, even in the face of great danger my own alicon instincts seem to automatically kick in and do stuff for me, even though I might not remember much of it later on.

“Hope Silver knows what he seems to be doing with my magic.” I again thought to myself as I finally moved myself away from the window.

I quickly grabbed all of my stuff such as my glasses, hat, scarf and my jacket as well, as I am sure that the nighttime air would be chilly outside.

With myself prepped and clothed for the occasion, I carefully and silently opened the door to my borrowed bedroom before tiptoeing (or more like tip hoofing) my way through the corridor, past the other bedrooms and eventually down the stairs.

“I hope this decision isn’t going to bite me in the ass for the first time.” I again thought to myself, slowly starting to feel nervous about it as I trotted passed the living room before opening the front door and trotting out to the cool and fresh air of the night.

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Good thing that my horn always glows whenever something seems to be up.” I thought to myself as I carefully followed a small dirt path. I managed to thanks to the soft light that my horn was casting all around me.

Funny, despite knowing that this here is an extremely dangerous forest, -especially at night- I am not feeling a lot of paranoia or fear, as I had been the last time I was here. Which was also the first time.

Another thing that was both calming and very eerie at the same time was just how… quiet the Everfree seemed to be. Beside the occasional owl or howl of some distant wolf, there was nothing else in the forest that I could identify as immediate threatening.

Carefully stepping over some large rocks and holes and jumping over a large spiky vine laid right across the small path I was travelling on, I was making my way deeper and deeper into the Everfree.


At some point I even managed to spot a small hut-like structure built into a twisted looking tree, on my left. Most likely Zecora’s hut, if my memory serves me correctly about its location and overall look. I personally would have loved to trot over there, maybe meet her and even go as far as maybe asked for her help, but my instincts alone where once again forcing me against this idea as I simply continued on.

It didn’t take long, though, for me to eventually reach a small river and clearing on the end of my path. The ground around the river was pretty boggy, but not to an extent where you would sink down and get stuck in it.

It’s a good thing that I have hooves now and don’t wear shoes anymore, otherwise they would be ruined at this point.

“Great… now how the heck can I get across this? Whatever I am following is obviously on the other side of this river and I don’t want to push my luck too far in just openly standing here in… well, the open and risk something with sharp teeth spotting me. I know for a fact that water is always an animal magnet for both herbivores and carnivores alike… especially the latter.” I thought to myself, as I began to scan the edges of the river for any good or shallow enough spot to cross over it.

“Nothing. Great. If I could actually use my wings other than just to create gusts of winds, with them I would not be stuck here now. Flying, or at least gliding, would really come in handy right about now.” I muttered to myself as I slowly started to trot along the shore of the river, following the stream.

“If only I could remember how I did it the first time around.” I continued on as blurry memories of my rescue and first encounter of the two pegas-sisters came to mind.

I might still very be wary of heights, but I couldn’t really deny the versatility and practicality of being able to fly. This situation now being the perfect example. Being able to fly means no more problems when it comes crossing rivers or large gorges.

I sighed. “Thinking and theorizing on how different things would be when being able to fly isn’t going to get me anywhere.” I argued with myself as I simply sat myself down on a solid and dry spot along the river to simply stare up into the star-filled night up above.

“I can understand why some peoples might find something like this beautiful. For me, though, things like these make me more or less feel indifferent, especially since I was more of a house cat type of guy before having mysteriously ended up here.” I thought to myself as I continued to stare up, despite the glare from my own horn making it somewhat pointless.

“I could just try to swim over?” I wondered out loud as my gaze once again fell on the flowing river in front of me and finding its water to be relatively calm compared to most rivers I have seen.

I was about to act on these ideas and possible ruin both the jacket and the scarf when out of the corner of my eye I spotted something slowly floating down the river.

“Wait…is that a tree trunk?” I wondered aloud, as I watched it slowly make its way towards me. Just when I somehow couldn’t imagine that I’d get even more dumb luck after the one yesterday, I just somehow managed to get yet another break as the tree trunk managed to get itself perfectly vertical, stuck on some large rocks further down on the stream, a very short distance from where I am currently.

I simple stared at it for a few more seconds in awe at my current track of good fortune, before I shook my head.

“Well… thank you… faith? I guess?” I commented aloud, with a sheepish grin on my muzzle, before eventually shrugging and carefully making my way and stepping onto the one of the rocks the trunk had managed to wedge itself on.

It was a bit shaky and slippery, but thanks to the fact that I was a quadruped with the luxury of wings extended for extra balance, it meant that inching my way across the -thankfully calm- river wasn’t as problematic as I imagined it to be from the start.

With a final hop I made it across to the other side with a satisfied smile on my face as I gave the helpful tree trunk a thankful nod before continuing on my cheerful way.

Well as cheerful as a dark and gloomy forest at night could somewhat be, until noticed something at the corner of my eye again and immediately frowned when I turned my head to look at it.

Further down the river, now perfectly visible from this position and angle towards the curve of the river further down, was none other than a small -but yet actually there- bridge.

“I could have just as easily crossed the river via a bridge that was just a little bit further downstream?” I whined to myself as I gave the large bushes and trees that previously obstructed my path earlier on the other side of the river with an annoyed glare.

“Well, at the same time I can’t really complain too much, now. I still made it across regardless, so I should just get going and not linger on this any further.” I muttered as I shook my head before following my instincts once more.

“At least now I know where the term ‘dumb luck’ comes from.”

Travelling further and deeper into the forest was still as surprisingly uneventful as the other half has been, though this time with the occasional shadow dancing around the edges of my vision as the darkness around these areas was almost unnatural. The light on my horn was really not giving much comfort in that regard.

But I pressed on, not just to finally get this over with, but to also get out of this creepy darkness and hopefully somewhere less unnerving. I think I even saw a few glowing eyes off into the distance behind some creepy looking trees.

My vigilance, though, was soon rewarded as I spotted another break from the dense jungle-like forest and quickly found myself in a HUGE clearing. A clearing which I immediately recognized as my eyes went wide.

“The castle ruins.” I muttered as I looked on into the distance at the gloomy -but still impressive looking- ruins.

Once again this here was as authentic looking as it was in the show, complete with a dark and wide gorge surrounding the ruins, with only a very suicida- looking bridge acting as its only access point to the flat plateau on the other side. Unless you are a flyer, -once again, another perfect example of the advantages of flying- which I am not.

I sighed and groaned in the end as I gave the castle and the gorge a more critical look as a sudden -but ultimately useless- comparison came to mind.

“This place strangely reminds me of the classic Castlevania games, just add some lightning strikes and bats in the background and it's perfect.” I thought to myself instead of saying that out loud, to not tempt fate.

I don’t feel like having to fight a pony version of Dracula.

Shaking my head, I quickly moved on, making my way towards the rickety hanging bridge. I looked down in between it's somewhat wide-spaced boards and shivered a bit in discomfort as I saw the looong drop underneath it. My acrophobia once again kicked in as I quickly back peddled from the edge.         

Or that is what I wanted to do, but my horn actually had other ideas, as it suddenly got brighter. That idea being pulled onto the bridged just as filly Rarity in that one of those few episodes I actually watched from the show.

And let me tell you, it looks and feels allot more terrifying that the episode made it out to be. Especially when there is dark and seemingly endless looking abyss involved.

“What the… STOP! NO, STOP! STUPID HORN, I DON’T WANNA GO OVER THIS INDIANA JONES STYLE BRIDGE! SILVER IF THIS IS YOU, STOP IT!!!” I shouted in utter panic as I was forcefully pulled onto the bridge.

I began to flail my limbs before quickly grabbing onto one of the posts that connected and kept the bridge suspended on either sides. Or at least I tried, before I undershot and got simply dragged alone onto the bridge, to my absolute horror.

A bridge that looks more unstable than my home world’s political system over a black endless looking abyss. My acrophobia is having a field day.

“NO STOP, SILVER, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! CAN YOU HEAR ME? SILVER?” I tried to call out once more as the force pulling on me was slowly straining my neck. That and I was on the brink of... leaking after I so horribly made the mistake of looking down at my dragging hind legs and basically eeped in the same way Fluttershy would.

Good thing I was alone, I guess.

I once again tried to hold on onto something, quickly grabbing a hold onto the ropes acting as guardrails on either side on with both of my forelegs. The problem with this idea was that hooves don’t really have a really good grip on ropes to begin with. The other problem was that the magic pull on my horn was ever so slightly increasing the closer I got to whatever my horn was pulling me to, which meant even less chance of keeping my already negligible grip on the ropes even further.

Which only left my teeth then, which I used as I forcefully -and very hard- bit onto support ropes to my right in hope that this would finally bring this second instance of magical insanity to an end. The first being the Cloudsdale incident, of course.

At first it worked, though that realization didn’t survive that long as my horn just straight up started to pull even harder… and then the rope I was holding onto broke, most likely because of the force of my bite and the constant pulling via my horn.

“I should have stayed in bed.” Was all I was able to say before the entire thing simply capsizes to the right, with me now falling into the awaiting blackness of the abyss with a silent scream and allot of mental scolding to Silver.

My dumb luck streak had to end somewhere, ironically it was done by my own magic…again.

Magic, you are a real bitch. I would have been better off as an earth pony instead.

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Hey…hey Nava, you’re ok?” I heard a very familiar voice say within the darkness. A very, very familiar voice in fact.

“What the…where…what?” I groggily said out as I slowly opened my eyes and was first greeted with an image of a very blurry light brown and black blob.

“Hey, you’re finally up. I have never seen you enter the subconscious dream realm of your mind in such a way. I mean… you literally dropped from the sky and I was immediately worried when you hit the ground hard and didn’t get back up immediately.” The same voice commented again as my vision was slowly clearing up and I was looking up at the familiar face of me… or rather, Silver, since he no longer wore either the hat or the glasses for the sake of less confusion.

I immediately shot forward and punched him, landing squarely on his face with my hoof. He stumbled back and fell on his flank with a daze as the right side of his face was pulsing red from where I hit him.
He quickly shook his dazed mind off as he hissed in pain after he tried to touch the sore spot where I punched him before glaring at me with in both surprise and anger.

“DUDE…what the heck was that for?” Silver demanded in which I quickly stood up on all fours while snarling at him.

“Don’t be stupid. You know EXACTLY what this is for SILVER!” I answered as I loomed over him, glaring daggers at him.

“You and your stupid magic. I thought you were supposed to help me not drag me out from my bed, force me to walk into a dangerous forest at night and then literally pull me over a very unstable bridge, which eventually collapsed and caused me to fall into a dark gorge!” I shouted at him, my muzzle was inching closer to his, while he was still busy rubbing the sore spot.

He looked at me confused, which only enraged me even further. I was about to hit the bastard of a double again before he stopped me by holding a hoof out.

“Wait, wait… what… what do you mean?” he asked, but before I could respond he continued. “I… I know what you are talking about the whole… sensation you have been fallowing… because I felt it too, but I swear that I have nothing to do with it other than the time when I felt your fear and simply helped -or tried to help- you cross whatever you were afraid to step onto.” He explained to me, while looking up at me with a bit of panic in his eyes.

“Wait a minute… you said something about falling off of something, right?” He asked while looking at me, confused.

I nodded while still glaring down at him, my anger slightly lessened thanks to his somewhat useful explanation. “Well yes, you dragged me off onto a rickety, old hanging bridge - even though you know full well that I am acrophobic!” I shot back, my anger slightly rising again, which seemed to register in Silver.

“Hey, hey… I had no idea that the bridge was faulty, ok? I just sensed fear from you and I thought that maybe giving you a little push would help you cross it. If I would have known that it was in a poor state I would have never attempted that stunt in the first place.” He explained to me in haste while again holding his hooves out in front of him.

“I swear I didn’t know, ok? I might not have told you yet, but my influence on the outside world is pretty limited. I can only get bits and pieces of it at a time. Mostly from you, or personally sensing magic fields or anomalies around you or close to you.” He continued to explain as my anger once again lowered.

“Remember, if you die, I will cease to exist as well. I could never place you in harm’s way on purpose, not just for your sake but mine as well.” He finally finished, which had the immediate effect of draining all of my anger toward him completely.

My expression softened and I sighed before stepping off of him and giving him space to get back up on his own.

He promptly did so as he continued to rub his sore face from where I hit him, making me feel somewhat awkward and also somewhat guilty as well.

“Well… sorry for, well… hitting you back there. I guess I was a bit too quick to judge.” I apologized as I looked to the grassy covered ground with my ears dropping to the sides.

Silver simply shook his head before giving me a small smile. “Nah, it’s fine, really. In fact I actually might have deserved it nonetheless for blindly pulling you into danger in the first place. I should have really been more focused with your own surroundings and situations first before I even considered jumping in. I was being narrow minded as well.” He confessed with a sorry tone and look in his eyes as he looked off to the side with the same dopey looking ears.

An awkward silence dominated the space between us afterward with neither of us saying or daring to look at one another faces. Only the gently sound of the wind and rustling of leaves being the only silence breakers.

This is the same landscape of endless fields of golden wheat as it had always been since I first saw it, though this time much more detailed and complete, as it had been previously, with now visible mountains and hills off into the horizon, and even with some very vivid and complex looking clouds up in the sky instead just a sea of endless blue.

Silver really does put a lot of work into his own realm of existence. It really shows by just looking around it.

“Again, I am sorry.” I repeated myself after a while as I looked back at him, still looking and feeling somewhat guilty from my uncalled for outburst.

Silver again shook his head before looking back at me as well, with a sad smile on his muzzle. “Nah it's fine. We're both at fault here.” He simply answered.

I was about to say more when Silver stopped me by raising a hoof as his ears sudden shot up in ‘standby’ mode.
“We can maybe talk more about this the next we see each other.” He casually announced, which caused me to tilt my head at him questioningly as I raised an eyebrow.

“Why?” I simply questioned.

“Well, it’s because you’re in the middle of waking up again, that’s why.” He quickly answered before giving me a genuine smile. “And don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you this time. Let’s NOT repeat that almost fatal mistake. But… well I can still give you light of course, you are in a very dark place, from what I can tell and sense around you.” He quickly added.

“Oh… well… ok then. I guess this will be ‘until next time’ then.” I answered while scratching the back of my neck as i could slowly feel the very distinct tell-tale sign of getting myself pulled back into the conscious world.

Silver nodded while waving a hoof at me in ‘goodbye’ and ‘see you later’ gestures. “You just be careful out there in the real world, alright? And stay away from anymore drops or ledges this time.” He stated jokingly, to which I simply rolled my eyes as the world around me started to fade from existence.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You really don’t need to remind me of that.” I simply replied for the final time before the world around me completely disappeared in a white flash.


“Always has to get the last word, if he can.” Silver said, shaking his head.