//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Unmasking the Past // Story: The Tale Of Two Friends // by The_Unknown_Creators //------------------------------// As the hours passed, The roars and growling inside the forest began to cease, until it was quiet once again. Currency looked in the direction deeper into the woods, with a nervous look on her face. "Hang in there Boostrot... I'm coming.", she said determined. And at that, she stood up and walked deeper into the forest towards the direction of now silent howls. As she walked, she noticed the path of destruction the beast did. Trees ripped off the ground and tons of mutilated bodies of innocent animals littered the ground. "Celestia..." She muttered, as she continued to walk warily through the forest. After walking for a while, she happened upon the body of Boost, who was lying on the ground either unconscious or sleeping. She knelt down near him, and felt his forehead. It was cold, he was unconscious after all that happened. Luckily he didn't escape the forest to cause more havoc. "Poor thing..." She muttered. She picked up Boost rather gingerly, and carried him to a place where she knew he could get better. Several minutes later Boost started waking up. The first thing he heard, was the trickle of some sort of stream. He got up while his vision started to clear out. He then began to realize that he was in some sort of cave. He put his hoof on his head. "Ugh... Whe- Where am i?" He said confused. "You're safe, don't worry..." a familiar voice said to him. Boost looked up, and there sat Currency, leaning against a rock with her eyes closed, as if she was meditating. "Wait... You- You are alive? How?" He tilted his head giving her a confused look. , "I'm more capable than you would think Boostrot." She replied. Then opened her eyes, and looked sadly at Boost. "Thank you Miss Currency. But you dont need my help anymore. Why are you doing this?" She closed her eyes again, then said, "One, because it's all I can do to return the favor of you restoring me, and two, I just couldn't leave you here alone... You're... Something special..." He stood in silence, then looked around. "And what is this place? I haven't seen it before..." The cave was relatively small, and a spring was running straight from the back of the wall, and small bluish plants were sprouting on the floor by the stream. "One of my places... from my time cursed..." Boost took a moment to look around the cavern, it was beautiful really, and a cool mist was about the place. "Look miss currency, you are free now. You can go, you've done all you could do with me", he said. "That's not what friends are for..." , she uttered solemnly. "Friend?" He said confused. " Yes, a friend..." she put her hoof on his shoulder, But then Boost took it off. "I wouldn't do that if i were you. You will only get killed", She replied, "But your not me.", and smiled. He looked at her, then he let out a sigh. "I wish i could be your friend... but i just can't. I will hurt you". "Does it look like I care about being hurt? I've seen much worse, trust me..." "You have?" He replied. "Sigh..., yes... But that's not important, what is is that your safe!" Boost looked down, then faced up to her again "Thanks miss Currency. So... you saw it all?" "Yes, i did," she replied. "You are a good pony Miss Currency. If you want i can tell you the story of how i came to be the monster i am. Currency gives boost a curious look. "Your not a monster Boostrot, your far from it. I'd like if you told me though! It would be nice to hear anything really, after all that time being confused and lost..." After pausing to find the right words, he started. "Well... First of all, I'm not from here, or Canterlot, or any other known place in Equestria." Currency replied, "Hm... I can guess that, your not a crystal pony ether for that matter. Where is it you're from then?" "I'm from a small town, Far away from here, and north from Appleloosa. It's got no more than 100 inhabitants". A confused look crosses her face. "Appleloosa? Where is that?" Clearly that town wasn't there back when she was alive. "Nowhere important. The important thing is that town was a deep hole of depression and anger. It was rare to see ponies talking to each other. Everypony was mean to each other. And fights were often." Currency is a bit troubled by this remark, but then asks, "What then? Tell me more!" With slight reluctance, he resumes. "But one pony i will never forget, its my stupid father, By all the evil ponies that lived there, He was the worst. He was the one who put the curse on me." "What? But why?" She said even more confused. She was disgusted at this very thought, and knew that Boost's suffering ran deep. "I dont know. That goes beyond my memory. I've been with this curse from as far as i can remember. But that's not all. I remember the horrible things he did to me. He beat me up every time he could. He chained me to the wall and forces my transformation to take place so he could experiment on me. He even used innocent ponies to test my transformation against them. I murdered so many innocent ponies. Not only in that town. In others as well!" Currency is staring at Boost at this point, horrified. "And there's another reason why i live here now. For all the horrible things i did, i became a wanted criminal. At this moment they are searching for me. To punish me for my crimes. I'm lucky this forest is huge, I have plenty of hiding spots. They can even be searching for me here!" Currency lets out a deep sigh, and remarks, "It's no wanted criminal they are after, it's a bounty for an animal... if only they knew that you never had the chance to do something about it. I'm sorry that had to happen boost... truly I am, makes my story pale in comparison." "Don't worry miss Currency... I'm used to it. If i keep hiding they wont find me. If they find me, they'll probably give me the death sentence." He let out a sigh. "Sometimes, i just want this to stop... Having to run everyday is just tiring." "I know the feeling..." She said. "You do?" He lifted his head looking at her. "Having to roam everyday is mind breaking..." A long silence follows this statement. "And whats your story miss Currency? What happened before you got turned into... That?" She hesitates. "That? Would you really want to know?" "If you dont want to tell me... Its fine." She let out a sigh "Well... i might as well." She took another deep breath, then started. "I was born in the crystal empire nearly... um... What year is it now?" "Its 2017." He replied. She sat in silence. "I...a thousand years... had it really been over a thousand years ago... So that's how long it's been. "Well, I was born in the Crystal Empire, and I had the perfect family and life any filly could ask for. A family, a home, you know..." By those words boost looked at the ground sadly. She felt guilty by saying that. "I'm sorry, I picked at a nerve didn't I..." "Its fine... Please continue." "Well, alright then... And then, it was taken from me... The empire fell, my entire family was lost... My parents fell before Sombra, and my sister..." She sighed while looking down. "What happened to her?", he asked curiously. Currency is staring blankly into space, very horrified about remembering for the first time in centuries. "I... don't know..." Boost didn't say anything at that. "The princess'es came to try to stop Sombra, but it wasn't enough, all they managed to do was save me... me of all ponies..." "Wait... You knew the princesses?" He gave her a surprised look. "Yes, I guess you can say that they raised me from then on... I was a student of theirs you know, and they thought me much about friendship, and many other wonders of Equestria." "Heh, I had all the misadventures a teenage filly had of course.." She shivered at one particular thought. Boost gathered a hint that that was a sensitive topic to talk about for her, so he refrained from delving further into it. "I loved maps, I loved relics and artifacts, coins, trinkets, jewels.. You could call me an enthusiast I suppose." Thus, he learned the meaning behind her cutie mark. He said, "Wow... That's amazing, I just love playing the guitar. But with all the things that are happening i had very Little time to play." "Guitar... is that like a lute? I'm just wondering, things have probably changed so much since I disappeared." "No. I never had a real one, or the money to buy one. So i just created mine, with pieces of wood and strings that i stole from a small store. Being a wanted criminal makes buying stuff really tough..." I would imagine..." She frowned. Then she proceeded with the story. "And then... The nightmare came... That one fateful day... The sun was blotted out by the moon... I watched Princess Luna slowly degrade into what she became.. .a delusional nightmare..." "Wait... You mean... Nightmare Moon?" Currency at this point, is wide eyed at remembering all this. She gave a faint nod. "The battle shook the ground of the old castle, it overlooks the forest you know..." She paused again. "The castle of the two sisters." He said. "Yes..." She replied. "Princess Luna... Nightmare Moon... she cast a spell right at her sister... I had to... I had to save her, and I took that blast instead of her...I sacrificed myself for her." "You saved the princess!? At the cost of your own life!?" He seemed to understand completely now. "Yes... It was my duty. And then... Darkness descending... Down... Down... And that is all I recall, at least, of my past self...". "I'm sorry for all that happened to you," Boost said looking at her with a frown. Currency looked back at Boost, lines of sorrow were etched in her face. "Don't be... I'm probably forgotten now..." He stepped closer to the mare. "Terrible fates fell upon us... Maybe if we stay together we can overcome them." Currency gives a small smile, "Perhaps..." Then, he gave her a hug. slightly surprised, she hugged back, and eased into it. The hug lasted only for a moment. Suddenly, Boost noticed something. "Crap!" He said, Immediately taking Currency by the hoofed pulling her behind a rock. "Wait, what!? Boost? What are you-" "Shh!" He said to her. Then he peeked outside, she peeked too. They are two ponies of the royal guard outside. "Royal guards.. Help has arrived!" She whispered. "Currency. They are searching for me!" He whispered back to her. "Hm..." She started to think. "If they see me, I'm over!" Currency's face slowly turns into a smile. "Hm, I have an idea, just stay here..." "Please dont tell them i'm here!" "Of course I won't, you'll see, look, there's only two of them!" She pointed at them slightly. "They are professionals. They know what can happen to me if i transform!" But when Boost turned to Currency, she was gone. "Crap! Crap! Crap!" He began to worry. "Well, I dunno... This would be an ideal hiding place for it." One of the guards said. "But we need to be careful. You know what can that thing can do to us." The other guard said. "Pff, relax! It's not like we aren't prepared for it, and the rumors of this forest are ridiculous. Haunted... Heh..." "I know. But we aren't searching for haunted things. The rest of the Guard searched all over Equestria for him. This is the last place to search. And we need to be prepared when we find him." "I know we aren't searching for haunted things you dolt, it's that-" Then suddenly , a limb falls off a nearby tree and hits the ground with a sickening crunch. "What was that!?" The two guards jumped at the sound of it. "I told you he was here!" He looked at him with seriousness in his face. "B... but that was in that tree up there... Heh... it's nothing... yeah, it's nothing..." Boost can hear giggling coming from the tree "What is that mare doing there..." He asked himself. The guard slapped the other guard. "Control yourself! You knew you will see these things here!" "Well yeah, but I've never been in here before, so-" A wailing cry emerges from behind some trees, almost like a ghost. "What the..." The other guard said. The first guard jumps into the arms of the other, like a certain duo of mystery solvers would do when scared. "M- Maybe its just a tree creaking..." The other guard started getting nervous. "Yeah! Or a wolf..." "We fought a lot of them while getting here!" "Pff, Yeah!" A creepy foal's voice issues from behind them. "Are you looking for someone?" The voice said. They slowly turn around to the origin of the voice, only to find nothing is there. "Wha- how? but!" He started stuttering. "Let's just find our bounty and get out of here!" "Good idea!" The second guard said. They rushed away from the spot, and kept running until they disappeared into the woods. Currency, suddenly besides Boost, says, "Well that was fun." Jumping at her sudden reappearance, he exclaimed, "How did you do that?" He looked very confused. Currency blushed. "Heh, I can use mind tricks to a decent effect.", She said with a smile."Wow... doing that again was liberating..." She leaned against the rock again. "Wow... That's incredible! Thanks for helping me." "Heh, its the least i can do. Well, now what?" "So... you knew the princess'es right?" "Of course I do, I was their student! I'm glad to hear that Celestia survived that battle... I had no idea of knowing what happened after." "Yeah. So, Currency, Can you please talk to her and explain all of this? And finally get this over with?" "Your curse?" "Yeah, Its be imposible for me to getting to her." She let out a sigh and then said, "Yes.. I'll make sure of it... I know that you've suffered for far too long... We will find a cure for it... It's never been done before though, but we will find a cure for the werewolf curse..." "Thank you Currency. It seems that now everything will be better." "It's just that... I don't know.. I haven't seen her since I saved her..." "Please... I need this to stop..." He said while looking at her sadly. "I know Boostrot, I swear on my gravestone, if I had one that is... i swear that I'll help you be cured..." "Thank you Currency." They decided to get out of the cave. The sun was shining through the leaves of the trees. Boost took a piece of cloth and put the hood over his head. Currency looked up, and covered her eyes. "The sun...i don't believe it...it's been so long... Boost smiled at Currency, happy that her senses have been restored. Currency started again, "Let's find a way out of this forest... I've never been out of this place in centuries..." "But we will find a way.", Boost replied. They left the forest. Now it seems like a brighter future was just ahead of them.