We trekked through the Everfree Forest in utter silence. After our little...introductions, I could only imagine that neither one of us wanted to start another fight. Regardless of the circumstances, we were in, and that he was responsible for them, he also showed a passion for rectification and attacking each other wouldn't have solved anything. Sounds constantly echoed throughout the forest, and considering I couldn't see any creatures that made the sounds, I finally understood why this place was always considered scary to the ponies in my dreams. I was trembling a little and staying alert for action, any action.
"Are you feeling okay?" Discord's considerate question caused me to unintentionally jump high in the air and into a tall tree. "I guess that answers my question." He said, mostly to himself. "Don't worry, I'll help toughen you up eventually - wouldn't want your girlfriend to see you look pitiful, right? Now get down from that tree. Do you think you can fly down without hurting yourself?"
At first, I thought he was trying to mock me, but then I realized he was genuinely concerned if I could get down. "I don't know, but I guess I'll see if I can at least glide down. It would probably do me good if I learned to fly anyway." After a few moments of flapping my wings for a warm-up, I figured I would begin. "Okay, I'm coming down now. Watch yourself." I leaped into the air and tried to open up my wings, but they didn't release. I was plummeting to the ground at a rapid pace, yelling my lungs out and closing my eyes, bracing myself for a painful impact, but it never came.
As I opened my eyes, I was relieved to discover that Discord had caught me and I hugged him like a happy little foal. " And I guess that answers my other question." He quipped, so as to lighten the mood. "We'll definitely need to work on your flying, little pony. I want your future wife to see just how cool you got because of me when we see her."
His statement caused me to blush a bit. The idea of looking so cool for her and impressing her did sound nice. I also imagined that she probably turned into a pony too. Regardless, I was sure she looked just as pretty as always. I playfully hit Discord's lion arm and he put me down. "Cut it out, Discord, it's a little early to imagine she'll say yes. Oh, and by the way, you don't have to call me a little pony. My name's Angelo - Angelo Rojo."
"Angelo Rojo?" Discord questioned, slowly stroking his goat beard. "That doesn't sound like a pony name. You look like a bat that came out the desert. I feel that Desert Bat would be more suitable. In fact, now that I think about it, it might be a good idea to keep your real name a secret anyway. We wouldn't want a changeling spy to get the upper hand on us in the possible future. That's it, my mind's made up. From now on your name is Desert Bat or some kind of nickname relating to it. Sound good, Des?"
"Uhm..." I couldn't help but blush again. I never had a nickname before, but then, I never had any friends to do that. Regardless of how embarrassed I felt from it, he had a point. It would be wise to keep my real name a secret and used for some kind of secret code in case we ever needed assurance we're who we say we are. Yeah, it sounds good. Desert Bat it is then."
"Splendid. Now come on little Dessie, we still have a long way to go."
As Discord began to walk on, I could help but get completely red from the last nickname. It sounded like something Violet would call me. “Will you please stop with these weird nicknames. It's embarrassing, and sounds like someone will get the wrong idea about us."
After countless hours of traversing through the thick forest, we had found a cave to camp out for a time - I would have said the night, but the side we were on was Daybreaker’s day instead of Nightmare Moon’s night.
I watched as Discord used two sticks to start a fire with the firewood I collected. It was nice to feel useful, especially since the majority of my time here seemed to feature me being rescued. As we both began to sit by the flame, one thing did worry me though. "Are you sure we won't be attracting anyone's attention, like an army?"
"You don't need to worry, if there's one thing all the factions tend to avoid, it’s the Everfree Forest. Gia Everfree hates them for killing her brother while they attempted to escape from the growing war - back when she was just a pony. She'll personally go for them if they set foot in her domain, but the two of us, she doesn't bother with that - she lets the creatures of her expanding forest kingdom take care of that. Though the fire tends to scare off most of those creatures, especially the timberwolves."
All I could do was stare dumbfounded by the continued knew information I received. If I was to survive in this world I would need to keep calm and learn as much as I could. "You seem to know a lot about surviving here. How long have you been in this forest anyway?"
Discord stroked his beard, obviously trying to recall. "I think it's been about three years now - ever since I lost most of my powers in that fight with Tirek. I decided to stay here and at least help any ponies, escaping the war, make it safely out of here. Well, for a long distance anyway - they do hate me, so I mostly give them advice and a safe direction to go."
"But why didn't your powers return to you after you beat Tirek like in the other world?"
"Well, you see, little Dessie, I don't possess the same powers as the six and had to resort to an alternative method of beating him - a method that didn't return the majority of my powers but did ensure he would never return. But it's not all bad, I am still stronger than a unicorn and, if I focus hard enough, I could fight one of the two sisters or a creature equivalent - though I'll completely tire myself out in the process."
"How did he get strong enough to take you on? Didn't he need to take lots of magic in order to get his strength?" Despite wanting to know, I felt I would regret asking that.
"True, he was very weak after his escape from Tartarus, so for a while, he merely collected the magical essence left off the fallen soldiers. Outside of this forest, Equestria is nothing more than a scarred battlefield full of ponies to salvage, so he got strong really fast. Soon he even had enough strength to absorb the top weapon of Nightmare Moon's army - Tantabus.
I was sabotaging the Storm King's armory when I felt the massive magical disturbance. Tirek had managed to steal a large amount of magic from Stygian, the Pony of Shadows before I confronted him. I teleported his meal away and we fought for three days and nights - neither one of us with any signs of letting down. Of course, I eventually got the upper hand and put an end to him, but not before he attempted to drain all my magic. The attempt obviously wasn't fully successful, and Tirek was dead.
After the fight, it was the first time I truly felt vulnerable. In your eyes, I might still be very strong, but until that day, I always felt like a god. All the plans I had to save Equestria fell flat as I attempted to do my usual tactics with this fraction of the power. Eventually, I felt defeated and decided I would remain in the Everfree Forest to help any refugees that wanted my help. There were times when I thought about going to my old house in the distorted dimension. There was also a time I thought of something a little more...depressing, but I guess I felt I deserved to live in this ruined world I created - I shouldn't have the luxury of leaving it behind when no pony else could."
I started to feel a little gloomy about the end of that story. Made me wonder what he expected to happen when I was reunited with Violet, and I meant when - I refused to imagine she was dead, especially since I needed something to fight for at that point. "I still don't get it. What do you think will happen when you reunite me and my love?"
"I don't know." Discord stated, bluntly. "Truthfully, I have no idea if you can do anything to help this violated land. Call me a delusional fool if you want, but all I really have left that's strong enough to do what I was once capable of is faith. I merely have faith that you coming here is a sign that salvation will arrive."
We stared at the fire in silence for a time, until I broke that silence with a yawn. Discord pulled out a brass pocket watch to check the time. "It's about one in the morning. I suggest you get some sleep, Desert Bat. The Everfree Forest is much larger than in your dreams and you'll need your rest if you want to leave safely."
While walking to the cave, exhaustion hit me - I didn't realize how badly I needed to rest. The cave was dark and cool, but I noticed a bed of large leaves - something Discord probably made while I was out getting firewood. I was a bit confused though when I noticed that he only made one bed, and I knew it wasn't for him because it was too small. "Hey, Discord. Where exactly are you going to sleep?"
"I’ll be staying outside the cave, Discord responded. "Sleep has always been optional for me. I think it would be better if I stood to watch and kept the fire going. Besides, I hate my dreams. Sleep as long as you need and then we'll keep going, okay?”
I nodded my head in agreement and began to lay on the comfy bed of leaves - using one leaf as a blanket. Even with everything that happened on my first day here, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.