I had always known that I was different. I was a useless foal and everypony knew it, I was hideously deformed. Nopony dared to gaze on me for too long, except for the few who were nice. My left side was that of a normal pony, the other side was a tangle of wood and roots. Ponies called me a monster.
I couldn't trot properly, I was starving, I didn't know anything. I never had any parents, or rather, they both abandoned me. I prefer not to think of them as my parents, they hated me, and one of the few memories I still have of my life when I was a foal is being locked in my room for a week, only being let out to drink. They both were unicorns, and they were ashamed of me.
I remember my parents being very rich, or I think they were, considering we lived in a mansion, or at least a very large house. Red carpets, large hallways, white marble pillairs keeping the roof up. I remember lavender being hung on the walls at night, when I managed to sneak out of my room.
The dining hall was gigantic, they'd never let me eat there though, I had to eat in another small room, by myself. The cooks were nice to me though, they'd slip me some extra food, they knew that my parents didn't feed me well, so they looked after me instead.
Then one day, my parents kicked me out, they took me in a carriage ride at night, and left me at the edge of a forest I now know is called the everfree forest. I wandered into it, some ponies passing by saw me entering, they were about to help, but then they saw my deformity, they ran away screaming the words "monster" over and over, and I ran to them screaming for help.
Eventually I tired out, and fell over, I woke up the next morning beside one of the trees in the forest. I saw a town nearby and I trotted toward it, asking for help, but everypony ran away screaming. I saw a tree in the centre of the town and I felt drawn to it, as though it was important, and then a purple unicorn came outside, she looked around at everypony, seeing them backing away from me... Then she started blasting me with magic.
The same thing again, I woke up at the edge of the forest. My voice was becoming harder to speak with though. Then I looked at my body again, the places which had been blasted by that unicorn were now exactly like my right side, roots had grown where there should have been holes.
I decided that if I couldn't go to the town for help, I would go to the forest. There were trees there, maybe they would understand. I walked into the woods, and I walked, and I walked, for ages. Three days it was... I think, it felt like it was years. I came upon a tree made of crystal, but it hurt to see it, it didn't like me. So I left. I found an old decrepit castle, overgrown with ivy and grass. I slept there for two nights.
When I left the castle, I found some creatures, large wooden creatures, like wolves, they were like me. I could talk to them, they could talk to me, they were my family. They did whatever I said, helping me live. They fed me, they found me water, they gave me rides, they made me happy.
After three years of living with them, I decided to go back to the town, only to discover that the town now had a giant crystal tree, and it hated me as much as I did it. I could tell that by the way it looked at me... As though it could see my soul. And in my rage, I ordered my family to kill the unicorn. They would not leave the forest though. Maybe they felt the same hatred coming from the tree.
I continued to live with my family, I helped them dig out a large cave, and in that large cave we hunted, and grew. By this point, my entire being was just wood, I was what some would call a wood nymph. A tree spirit. And I had power, not only could I talk to the timberwolves now, as I had learned they were called, but I could talk to the trees, understand their language- the rustling of their leaves. I helped the trees grow now, I helped the castle I had found to become a castle of plants and flowers, a haven for animals.
I had become understanding of the tree earlier, the crystal tree, it was harmony, but I hated the one who was a core part of it. The unicorn was a core part of the world and if I had killed her, then harmony would collapse. I could now talk to the tree of harmony too, as I had learned its name was. It wished me no ill will any longer, and instead taught me the language of the forest, how to understand the animals, how to understand the feelings of all flora and fauna alike. I began to fend off the evil ponies from the forest, to help them and the forest. There was one though, a Zebra, who the forest took kindly to. I never revealed myself to her though.
I had stopped counting the days now, what was the point? Winter would come when it did, and spring would follow, I didn't need to understand how long it has been, years could pass by like minutes if you didn't base them around the sun and the moon, so instead of devoting my time to the days, I devoted my life to the forest. I kept the trees healthy, they kept me healthy, I helped the timberwolves prosper, I helped the beautiful flowers grow into marvels of nature, a painting of colours in the wild.
My powers had grown now, I was able to travel instantly through the trees to any other tree in the forest, I could hear the chittering of the insects and understood the tweeting of the birds. I looked after everything in the forest like a mother would their child. Not like my mother, like my mother should have been. I looked after the forest like the cooks who had shown me kindness.
I traveled to the town one day again, in a teenage form, still a tangle of roots, but more stallion like. I met the people of the town but I could no longer understand them, I spoke the words of the forest, not the words of ponies. I spoke to the crystal tree, and it spoke to me once more, the ponies of the town were curious this time, not scared. It could have been because I was fully tree, before I must have looked horrifying. Now, covered in leaves that had grown on me, and looking far more like a pony, they did not scream.
The purple pony came outside, out of the doors of the tree, and looked at me in amazement, before when she had killed me, she was scared and she acted on impulse. Now, she had wings and a horn... I remember vaguely seeing somepony like that, a pony of all three tribes, they were in my old home, wherever that was. The alicorn tried to speak to me but like the others, I couldn't understand her, the tree however translated for me.
"You... You're the tree monster that scared everypony, I thought I killed you!"
I tried to reply, but I couldn't speak the words of ponies any more, the tree could not speak to the ponies either. It was a one way speech. She could see me try to reply. She spoke again.
"I'm sorry, I acted on impulse back then, it was stupid of me. Do you think you could come to my lab so I could try to understand you? Nod for yes."
I nodded once, it was something which I was still able to do, in the language of ponies. I followed the purple unicorn after she yelled to the townsponies that everything was fine and that they should continue doing what they were doing before. I went through the crystal doors, the entrance to her home, and she led me to one of her rooms, with lots of science equipment as she said, she put a helmet on me and I could feel it trying to understand me, it felt weird. Meanwhile the purple alicorn blabbed on about some sciency thing. Then, I suddenly felt that I could speak to her, the machine was working.
"It has been a while since I have spoken to ponies," I said to her.
"Yes! It works! I mean of course it would, I made sure the calculations were perfect, who knew using the equipment I used to try and understand pinkie's pinkie sense would work on translating wood nymph words! This is amazing I could publish a novel about this I could-"
"Ahem," I coughed, to get her attention.
"Ah, my apologies. I digress. What is it that you came here for? As a princess of Equestria I have a duty to keep my lands safe, state your intention."
"I came here to ask you a question. Why do ponies run?"
"Pardon?"
"Why do ponies run from us, the children of the forest?"
"I... Most ponies don't understand who you are, they see something strange so they run from it. I wish they would be more understanding but they aren't. The first time I saw you, I was just like them, I was scared, so I tried to get rid of you. But of course, I don't feel that way anymore."
"My mother and father weren't scared."
"Well, they wouldn't be, would they? If they're both wood nymphs too-"
"They weren't wood nymphs, they were unicorns. Like you were once. They were rich, spoilt, disgusting. They did not fear me, they hated me."
"Your... Your parents were ponies?"
"Yes. They abandoned me, and just like everyone else, they ran. Why did they run?"
"I... I'm sorry, I don't know."
"...Okay."
"Oh, I forgot to ask, what's your name?"
My name? I... I remember the cooks calling me something. I- I've forgotten. My parents always called me monster, but the cooks were nice, they let me be myself... I wonder if they're okay.
"I don't have one, Princess Twilight."
"Oh, please just call me Twilight, I don't care much for titles. But surely you must have something that ponies call you?"
"Monster," I responded truthfully.
"O- oh... Well, do you need anything to eat?"
"I don't eat. Not anymore."
"Um... Anything you would like to talk about?"
"I don't have anything interesting to speak of."
"What about when you were a foal? You must have some interesting stories from then?"
"My parents locked me in my room for a whole week, only letting me out for food once."
"Uh... Any happy memories?"
"...When I found my family, when I saw a timberwolf for the first time. They were like me, shunned by ponies- and starving, they helped me, they didn't run."
"That's... Wow, so timberwolves have families! They can experience emotion! This brings a whole new side of their existence to life! Do you mind me asking you a few questions about them?"
"No, not at all," I replied. Having little idea of how many questions 'a few' would be, and how long a day that was going to be.
I and Twilight became friends, I visited when I could, so that I didn't forget that I was once a pony myself. I grew in strength, eventually becoming what the Tree of Harmony called 'the soul of the forest'. I kept protecting the flowers, the timberwolves, the manticores, and all the other various creatures, good or bad. Nature was cruel, but if nature weren't so, magic would cease to exist. Or at least, the magic of the earth and the sky. The Everfree forest was a magic node, a place where the boundaries between worlds was at its weakest. Magic came flooding through it and fuelled the world.
As a wood nymph, I was also fuelled by this magic that came through, if I left it for too long, the magic binding me together would run out. I would fall apart and become a bundle of sticks on the ground. In protecting the Everfree, I kept myself existing.
A few years after I went to Twilight for the first time, I began using Florakinesis. The use of magic to grow plants. Before I had been using such magic, I was basically the forest's gardener. I watered and fed them, but now I would be able to conduct the Everfree's magic through myself and into them to help them flourish. And thus began the start of the Everfree's golden age.
I littered wildflowers everywhere. Purples, reds and yellows filling every patch of sunlight, bluebells growing in the small places they chose. The trees that had never bore fruit before grew large ripe shiny apples, pears, and oranges. Nature was at its height, the waterfalls seemed to shine even more than ever making large pools of a shimmering blue colour. Ponies of course, never came here. I kept the beauty in the centre of the forest, to keep the greedy ponies who would make this into a tourist spot. The Hydras in their swamps began to brighten up even more. The moss that grew on the swamp now colour themselves a bright green. Of course the predatory end of nature, was not quite as beautiful, but the Everfree was a far more kind place, undisturbed by the machinery of ponies.
I occasionally saw ponies come by with pink crystals that flashed at the forest, Twilight told me they were called Cam-Crystals and that they took an image and replicated it, so that you could capture a moment and view it later. I let them take pictures of the outside but of course, never let them in. Ponies cannot be trusted. They could get a glimpse of beauty, but then I'd alert the timberwolves to scare them off. Can't have them getting too cosy.
One day, something happened. I was doing the same as every other night, making sure the animals were comfortable, but then I could sense it, a pony. A pony had wandered deep into the woods. I quickly traveled to where I felt the disturbance, and there, I saw a small pristine white foal with a copper mane. They were walking through, seeing all the beauty I had built. They weren't noisy, he respected the silence that the night brought. Their blue eyes were wide with wonder, staring at everything and remembering every image. I let him stay. They didn't mean any harm.
I came out of hiding to confront them and, unlike I had expected, they hugged me. Their foal arms barely making their way round my wooden forelegs. If it was possible, I would have cried. To have a single pony not be afraid around you, I had Twilight, but the first time she saw me she killed me. This foal, they were happy to see me? I was a monster, but they liked me.
A year later, the foal could talk to us all. He was an earth pony, and he could speak to the forest, just like me. He understood what the forest wanted, and the forest understood that it wasn't to harm him. The timberwolves did not hunt him, the manticores continued to rest. His name was Fallen Soul. I looked after him, like a brother. I created a grove of trees to provide him shelter, the trees grew all sorts of fruit, the timberwolves dug a small lake through the grove, providing him water. He played with the forest, having fun playing tag, hide and seek, even making his own games to play. We, the forest, always played fair. I did not use my sense to tell where he was when he hid, and I did not tell the timberwolves where he was when they played tag.
He never seemed to grow up though, physically he never changed. Fourteen years had passed and he was still the young carefree foal that walked in. I guessed that somehow he was immortal. I would have asked Twilight, but she wouldn't approve of having brought a foal into what she still considers is a dangerous place. So instead, I kept looking after him.
Him and I kept guarding the forest, we had fun too, growing trees and flowers. He had a knack for Florakinesis. Even as an earth pony, you can conduct the magic of the earth. We both made the Everfree more and more beautiful. Centuries passed, neither he nor I aged at all. The princesses fell to darkness, The return of Nightmare Moon, the rise of Daybreaker, the passing of the princess of love, and the forming of Eventide. It was hard for me to see Twilight become a fallen alicorn, but it was inevitable. The sun and the moon however, still kept going round. The two sky-bound satellites were no longer controlled by the sisters. Ponies fell into chaos, but the Everfree kept living on.
The forest stayed till the end.
The sun, high in the sky above a fallen civilisation. Me and Fallen Soul both knew what was going to happen. We could both feel it. Fallen soul was scared, I comforted him. I wanted him to be happy, like he had always been. The forest was just as lush and bright as ever, but something felt dark, something terrifying.
And then, a bright light shone. And the Everfree forest was no more. The last wood nymph died.
But who said names were important?