//------------------------------// // 51. Forest of Nibel: Continuous // Story: Locksmith // by QuartzScale //------------------------------// “How’s he doing Red?” Octavia called out as they all rested around their new encampment. It had been a few hours since they had recovered Vinyl, Gray and Ori from their encounter with Kuro at the top of the Ginso Tree. “He’s doing better now. Whatever poison was in him was diluted over time with his trek through the tree. Luckily it didn’t effect him for too long so after a bit more rest he should be up and at him once again.” Redheart checked Gray’s vitals making certain everything was still within acceptable levels. “It was those damn heartless. They got lucky and knocked him into a briar bush. He got out quickly but I guess it wasn’t quick enough.” Vinyl muttered out as she looked over her bruises. They had fallen a long way from the top of tree into one of the lakes that surrounded the area. Gray had managed to keep his wings open long enough that the fall didn’t knock him unconscious but the still lingering poison had exhausted him more than he thought. Vinyl had taken a few bruises from the fall since the blow between Kuro’s talon and Gray’s tomahawk had knocked the two apart. Unfortunately Gray, Vinyl and Ori were in front of a sheer rock wall. The impact had bruised the two while Ori remained mostly unhurt during the altercation. “We’ve been keeping track and so far none of the heartless are in the area. Apparently they thinned out around the swamplands after the waters finally went clear.” Spitfire announced as Sunshower flapped down to join her. “It’s been kind of quiet because of it. So far there have only been the monkey heartless around though when we flew too high we were attacked by some parrot heartless I think.” Sunshower mentioned off hoof. “I’m back girls!” Fresh Coat cheered as she stepped up to their makeshift camp hiding behind several giant leaves that Sunshower and Spitfire had found. “Where were you Fresh? With that owl roaming around looking for us?” Octavia motioned her voice full of worry. “Don’t worry. She doesn’t come out to the Spirit Tree anymore. I’ve been looking for which way we need to go next. While we’re near the tree Sein is more talkative.” Fresh Coat explained. “Did you find anything out?” Octavia urged her to continue speaking. “Yeah. Apparently west of here is the Valley of the Winds that would lead to the two places we would need to go to eventually. Supposedly we need to go to the Forlorn Ruins where the Element of Winds is located. Then we have to make our way over to Mount Horu where the Element of Warmth is located.” Fresh Coat smiled as she brushed off her detective skills. “Really? So I take it that you are thinking of going next?” Octavia brought up. “Yeah. I haven’t done much just yet. So maybe I should now.” Fresh Coat muttered a bit. “You’ve done a lot though. What are you talking about?” Octavia muttered under her breath bringing Fresh Coat closer to her. “I haven’t been able to really do much just yet. For the most part I just go along with things and I really want to have some time to show off.” Fresh Coat whimpered slightly. Octavia remained silent and hugged her softly patting her on the back to calm her nerves. It wasn’t very often that any of them showed a lot of doubts about how they handled things. Octavia was the most attentive of the others due to managing her way into the alpha mare role and it was something she was working on being better at. “You’ll be fine I’m certain that Gray will take you with him on his next trip so for now we just wait till he’s rested up.” Octavia whispered. Fresh Coat merely smiled as the sound of groaning called out breaking the silence that had permeating the camp. That got everypony’s attention as they crowded around the now waking up Gray. I felt sore… why did everything feel so tender? I slowly opened my eyes to the sight of six mares crowding around me looking over me. I carefully sat up placing a hoof against my head feeling a minor headache currently pounding against my head. Luckily, Redheart kept everypony from suddenly charging at me. There was only so much I could handle at this point seeing as I had been out of commission for some time already. “So how long was I out for…?” I coughed out. Wow… my throat felt dry and I felt so tired still. I shook my head and managed to focus my eyes on everypony. Redheart quickly opened my mouth and poured some water down my throat. I thought I would nearly choke but my tired mind still managed to make me drink all the water I was given. I sputtered slightly as I finally was able to think about things a bit more clearly. “Only a few hours. Surprisingly we found you with a little help from Gumo. He managed to find you after your encounter with Kuro. It seems like she doesn’t want us around.” Octavia darkly muttered clearly pissed that this actually happened. “Right… She managed to stop my attack and knocked it back into me. We were lucky… she was much, much stronger than I am.” I didn’t like admitting it but Kuro was far off much stronger than I was. The others seemed concerned but part of me wondered if they were still in the light is good and dark is evil mindset. Certainly, a part of them all probably thought of payback at the very least for almost killing the three of us… wait… “Where’s Ori?” “Over here Gray. He’s sleeping.” Fresh Coat chuckled as she pointed to the small light spirit. He was curled up amongst a flower bed but… they weren’t ordinary flowers apparently. They were all glowing the same as Ori and seemed to grow from him rather than the ground. It was such a sight I brought out the Lexicon and took a picture with its illusionary functions. The sound unfortunately woke up the little guy who immediately leapt for joy when he saw me. As it was, we were slightly beat up from our trek through the tree still. While it wasn't as tough as the expedition we took through to Atlantis there was something much rougher about this adventure. It may have been the fact that I put limitations on our adventuring party but it was a necessity for the future. Regardless of what I wanted, I could never protect them forever from all the monsters that were out there. Each of them would be a powerhouse to deal with and no one would ever be able to take them down… I hoped. “Glad everyone is fine then. As much as I think that we should all go together from the looks of the Ginso Tree these places are too small for all of us to go. Redheart, do I have a clean bill of health now?” “For the most part. Honestly, since the waters have returned to normal so has the plant life. The poison has for the most part receded from both the waters and coincidentally the plants as well. I'm glad that I brought a general antidote with me before we left. It only took a few drops to make certain your body could metabolize the poison out of it.” Redheart explained as she placed her medical bags back on her back. I nodded slightly and realized that they were waiting for me to get up and back on my feet. I stretched out slightly feeling the soreness slowly leave my body though not quickly enough for my own tastes. I stumbled a bit before Spitfire propped me back up. “Sorry. I'm still a bit tired let's just rest up a bit before we head out. Who's next for this training session?” “Me.” Fresh Coat called out as she readjusted her green cap and giggled slightly. “K then… we'll head out after a bit more rest. I'm still feeling a bit woozy.” Valley of the Winds It took hours until I was back on my hooves and ready to enter the fray once again. Suffice to say, being poisoned sucked so much even if I still managed to work through it. The spider didn't help, seeing as it tried to drown us in its weird water silk trap.  While we rested it had turned out that Spitfire had taken Ori out into the swamp due to feeling something out there. She had found a tree which gave him more power and strangely wasn’t attacked by the heartless who seemed to thin out when the waters began to flow normally. I focused back on our surroundings since it was relatively safe and I was in no position to stop her from doing something dangerous. Fresh Coat clung to my back while I flew through the open parts of the Valley of Winds as it was called. Only it wasn't too windy, I didn't even feel enough wind magic flowing in the air. Something I found fascinating was that some pegasi could manipulate the wind slightly to move either faster through the air or create anywhere from tornadoes to typhoons provided there were enough pegasi around. Though when we landed Spitfire and Sunshower couldn't feel the wind moving at all forcing all flight to be reliant on our internal magic reserves. The wind was dead and it was the reason I was so winded and needed to rest for a while. “Gray I think there's something out there…” Fresh Coat muttered into my ear as I landed at the entrance of a small tunnel. “What do you mean?” “Well, if Kuro was still worried about us getting anywhere close to where the seals were wouldn't she be looking for us or something?” Fresh Coat pondered getting Ori to stroke his chin as if contemplating that little tidbit as well. “Probably… have you gotten more inspiration for any pieces of art since we've gone on these adventures?” “So many ideas! It's wondrously stupendous since we've been here. I managed to make a few sketches while we were at camp and I'm saving them on the ship right now. I got one of the Spirit Tree and another of the Ginso Tree. Spitfire helped carry me up high enough to see how the water was flowing through the tree. I even managed to sketch out the owl as well. She was actually really majestic looking but her eyes were clouded by rage. I don't even think she realized that we were ponies.” Fresh Coat excitedly sputtered out as we trotted through the tunnel that led towards what I thought was the Forlorn Ruins. As we entered the next gully there was a sudden chill in the air. Kuro was perched right across from us hunched over and ready to strike out. Fresh Coat was right though. Her eyes were literally burning with rage and they focused mostly on Ori rather than us. “Guess she was waiting for us…” “See. Her eyes are so harsh. Something really bad must have happened to make eyes radiate with that much hatred.” Fresh Coat whimpered slightly hiding beneath me while Ori remained glued to my back. There was nothing between us but wide open space and if I was right even me using the tomahawk at full power would do nothing. Well it would do something but that something was pissing Kuro off. Peering around the area, I noticed several rocks hanging precariously over the area and a few areas where their shadows covered a small area. “Ori, ready for a mission.” Ori nodded and gave me a strange salute followed by two thumbs up. I pointed up at the rocks then pointed at Kuro. He instantly understood but warily pointed at her as well. I pulled out the tomahawk and let it hang off my shoulder. Fresh Coat looked worried but nodded and summoned her keyblade. Ori began the arduous task of climbing while I got the fun job of distracting Kuro. Trotting into plain view Kuro immediately took notice while Fresh stayed back beneath the shade of the tunnel. “Fresh, keep me alive.” “Yes, Gray. Can you keep her busy for that long?” Fresh Coat whispered to me before I took off. “Let's hope so…” I flapped into the air instantly setting off Kuro who dove into me claws extended. I kept the tomahawk ready to parry her talons. As our two weapons met she actually overpowered me since I had no ground to actually hold my footing. I was sent spiraling out of control while Kuro took one flap to stabilize herself. When she did she flew back up and went for another dive. I was fast, not Spitfire or even Rainbow Dash fast but I could, if I paced myself, keep up with them. Kuro was godly fast managing to rise and dive faster than that. Part of me wondered if it was the influence of the darkness assisting her. The other half brought up the tomahawk as I was sent spiraling even further due to Kuro’s relentless assault. Fresh Coat had managed to keep me locked in sight as she sent a cure spell every couple of minutes as her magic recharged. She also fired off some lightning spells which did surprisingly little but annoy Kuro. As we kept up our defense Ori managed to get further up to a small copse in the rocks which he called out to us with a cry about. It was weird hearing his shrill voice but it gave me the incentive to get out of Kuro’s reach. At the last strike I slammed the tomahawk at Kuro once more pushing us both back. Kuro was stronger but thanks to some careful maneuvering I had kept my back towards the tunnel which I was hurtling towards. Crashing at the opening I used the momentum to roll into the tunnel while Fresh fired off a barrage of random spells which managed to dissuade Kuro from attacking anymore said nice we were out of her reach. Kuro took her perch once again glaring toward the two of us. For a moment I thought she was satisfied by our loss but as her eyes widened she began looking for Ori. Within a few minutes the rock fell from their mooring and Kuro was knocked off her perch slamming into the rock wall above us. Feathers flew off and she stormed off to regain her senses. Ori fell down from the trap he set off landing kind of roughly in the tunnel skidding to a stop in front of us. A lone feather floated down seemingly bigger than Ori which he picked up and seemingly put it away… somehow. “How'd you do that?” Fresh Coat stared flummoxed by the sudden disappearance of the feather. “Let's not get distracted by that and make our way to the Forlorn Ruins.” “Oh… well alright then.” Fresh Coat mutter slightly before hopping back on my back. “Don't worry about it. There is a reason behind what he did it's just that that kind of conversation may take hours to explain and may require visual representation.” “It's that difficult to explain?” Fresh Coat pondered. “Kind of. I'd have to explain a different logic and the physics behind something of that sort, or ask Pinkie Pie to showcase the ability since she has similar abilities that are like what Ori did.” “That sounds like opening the Gates of Tartarus, interesting but dark and cruel to whomever did so.” Fresh Coat bluntly stated. “Didn't expect that but for now let's focus on getting to the journey rather than the side quests that await us.” “Is Pinkie one of those side quests?” Fresh Coat shuddered. “Sweet god I hope not…” Misty Woods “Fresh… this does lead to the Forlorn Ruins right?” “Kind of. We need something to open the door you see. These woods have one of the seals which is why Kuro was watching over this area.” Fresh Coat explained as she tapped her hooves together. I’m beginning to see that it is a universal tic that everyone has for nervousness. “Ah that makes sense. Did Sein tell you all?” “He told me and I told everypony. Seems like as long as we're near the spirit tree or one of those light trees he can speak to us for a while. Also got a great shot to paint later of Ori absorbing the light from those trees so there's that as well.” Fresh Coat smiled happily as she thought of her opportunities growing. “Well that's something good then. I'll be looking forward to seeing your paintings.” “I got something else you could paint instead…” Fresh Coat muttered under her breath so Ori couldn't hear but I could. “When we get back home we'll paint the entire room, floor to ceiling.” The only answer I got was her vigorously nodding her head into my back. When we reached the very edge of the Misty Woods I noticed that unlike everything else on this planet these woods resembled their namesake very well. Mist swept through all corners of the forest enveloping it in its embrace forcing us to squint just to see through it. Even with me using my wings to sweep it away was met with heavy resistance. The most kept rolling in ignoring my attempts and it was getting very obvious that it would take multiple pegasi working nonstop just to make a permanent dent and keep it open. On a small platform was an unlit lantern surrounded by strange light that was being suppressed by the mist and kept dim. We each trotted up to the lantern after I placed Fresh Coat on her hooves. As soon as our job started I couldn't baby any of them and carry them unless there were sheer cliff walls that they couldn't climb. Unfortunately, I realized close on that this world favored vertical climbing a lot, almost to the point it could be considered a fetish. Alternatively it was because the world was made for climbing species and those with flight in mind. “Ah, this is the Shrouded Lantern, the emanating force of all the mist continuously flowing into the forest. We need to dispel this mist in order to find the seal that will open the Forlorn Ruins. Perhaps if you two use your flame you can avoid going through the forest for the true flames we need.” Nodding to the small light, Fresh Coat and I set our keyblades pointed as the lantern and fired a small barrage of fire spells in hopes of lighting the lantern. While the spells took effect the mist seemed to snuff out the fire just as quickly as it was lit. Even adding Ori’s spirit flames did nothing to assist lighting the lantern. “I suppose it would be too easy to just light the flame and be done with it. We will need to traverse the forest then and find Atsu’s Flame. That is an everlasting fire created by one of the spirits that inhabit the tree. Still be careful while within the forest. So long as the mist flows the forest enjoys playing tricks on whomever enters until they are lost for an eternity.” “Let's get started then. The sooner we find the flame the better off we'll be.” Fresh nodded and Ori jumped on her back giving another tiny salute as we trekked into the forest. I had seen no regular creatures at all through my time on this planet. I hoped it was because they were hiding from the heartless because the alternative was that they were all dead… morbid thoughts were the furthest thing I wanted to think of. The first couple of areas were very obvious on which way we needed to go and for the most part we were left a straightforward path to follow. Powerwilds and bouncywilds were very prevalent using the trees to gain more ground and several new vantage points. Fresh made quick work of those particular heartless pulling them off their perch with her telekinesis and firing off several spark spells bathing them in light. I focused more on ground combat issuing up combos for any that decided Fresh Coat was doing too well. Ori climbed the trees and with the feather he got floated around before diving down on his unsuspecting prey stomping them back into the darkness. We had each found good ways to fight against the heartless and it seemed as though the training we had all done back then had paid off. We continued on our war path striking down whatever heartless got in our way until we hit a dead end. All around us were trees covering any escape route and no clue as to where to head next. Fresh Coat made an effort to break the trees and force our way through but they would not break to the assault. Ori climbed as high as he could wall jumping his way around only to find no hidden openings or secret ways to go. We were stuck in an empty dead end. “Where to now then?” “Uh, Gray. Wasn't there a straight path behind us before? Now we're in a tree bough… I'm confused.” Fresh Coat muttered. “Wait, what? Did we get turned around somewhere or… wait a minute. That might be the case…” “What is it?” Fresh Coat started to breathe heavily trying to push the anxiety away. “The reason for why we seem lost is that the mist is kind of shifting us where it wants us to go. We're in a pseudo labyrinth in the forest.” I wanted to say it was like the Lost Woods from Ocarina of Time but I felt that would make it more confusing than it already was. Thank god my childhood was wasted on frivolous things otherwise even I might have panicked. I mused as I looked for the next pathway we were going to be shunted along. For the next few minutes we were herded into dead ends as the mist played tricks on our eyes. Flying offered no salvation due to the constant low hanging branches and several thorn patches covering the area. It got so bad that I was forced to slowly carry us through claustrophobic tunnels lined with thorn patches. While they no longer looked poisonous I'd rather not fall into them. “Gray!” Fresh Coat cried out almost directly into my ear. “Yeah!” “I don't like small spaces!” Fresh Coat screamed out as she slid off my back and clung underneath me gripping my legs with hers. It would have been slightly kinky had we not been in such a dangerous location. “Ok I know you're scared but I need you to calm down and fire spells off should we get attacked by heartless. Don't worry I'm right here with you.” She nodded her face into my chest and slowly climbed onto my back once again. With careful maneuvering I managed to keep Fresh from freaking out too much even though heartless were swarming us. Ori did his best to keep them from getting out of control using his abilities to grab the aerial knockers and use them as projectiles against the other heartless. When Fresh Coat was finally able to focus she fired off several spark spells to take care of both the darkness and the heartless. Further down we traveled until we came to a spirit tree in the middle of nowhere. I was concerned by how gnarled everything around the tree looked. Surprisingly the tree itself was healthy and seemed to flourish under its own power. “How unfortunate… this tree belongs to the free spirited being known as Tatsu who climbed through the rocky walls of Sorrow’s Pass. When Atsu passed Tatsu fell into despair. Ori absorb her light and carry her torch for her as she is unable to do so now…” The somber tone managed to break Fresh Coat’s fears, if only slightly, and forced me to focus more on the forest. Death was something I have dealt with before, both on the job and when the world decided to go end. She didn't look as confident and I could tell that no matter how much they trained or how much they controlled themselves there was no way for them to truly escape their emotions. I was actually no better since I had nearly given up my emotions a long time ago. Ori absorbed the light and we continued through the labyrinth. Several times I found myself playing noble steed in very cramped passages which left Fresh Coat clinging tightly to me. The passages were starting to get worse as the ceilings walls were covered in spikes and I wasn't even sure that we were going on the right direction anymore. Sure the Lost Woods was pretty straightforward but that had sound cues telling me where to go. Here though, was the constant droning of wildlife we hadn't seen and the constant cries of heartless trying to rip our hearts out. It was unsettling. “Gray, I think the aerial knockers are back.” Fresh Coat muttered as, indeed, several of the heartless parrots, I think, showed up to block our flight. Before we could strike Ori jumped up which caused a flower to hide. When the flower hid a laser shot up causing a laser beam to shoot from somewhere on the ground and vaporize all the heartless that were coming straight for us. I think I felt Fresh Coat’s jaw drop while my eyes were bulging out in confusion. I peered back at Ori who was clinging to a wall now looking very confused. “Why are there lasers around here…?” Fresh Coat mumbled out loud still reeling from the impossibility surrounding the laser. “Honestly I don’t want to know. I’ll take not fighting heartless over heavy aerial combat any day. Especially with how tight these confines are. Ori come on we have to dodge lasers now!” Ori nodded and using his acrobatics and Kuro’s Feather which he fashioned into a glider he kept to my back while Fresh hung on underneath me. I was very certain she knew what she was doing but the glow from her horn told me she was focusing on keeping her hat on. I’ve come to realize something very obvious about the mares I’m with. With the exception of Spitfire and Vinyl, all of them are closet perverts. They try to be subtle but I can tell when they are and I think they are unused to the dynamic of a stallion being both unbothered by it and downright more into that aspect than they are usually subjected to. I’ll have to test my theory when we get back to Equestria. “Ori jump.” The flowers shifted and we continued that pattern for several moments hoping not to get hit by the raging lasers which seemed to appear out of nowhere and blocked our path. Eventually we finally reached a small area that finally didn’t have spikes covering every part of it and I could finally set everyone down. Fresh stretched her legs out from the lack of using them while adjusting her hat. Ori merely sniffed the air and seemed to be excited if his frantic waving for us to follow him was any indication. Off in the distance was another tree… only it was dead. There was no light that was enveloping it but there was an orb that seemed to radiate heat from below it. Ori seemed mesmerized by it and eventually touched it. Within seconds the forest creaked and shifted as the mist dissipated from the area around us. A path had opened right next to the tree in front of our very eyes. “Gray…” Fresh Coat muttered though she sounded slightly pissed. “Yeah?” “I hate this forest now…” She mumbled as we trotted out of the opening back to where the lantern was in the background. Ori carried the orb with us. As much as I wanted to say that I found it interesting, I couldn’t. The spike filled passages had made me feel trapped and I think it might have been caused by the thestral genes I now had. I was fine with caves but with nowhere to hang from I felt some oppressive weight appear in my gut and I hated every moment of it. “Don’t worry about that Fresh. Let’s head back to the others. You’ve done well getting through this with me even if we didn’t have much to do but get lost together.” “R-r-really? So I wasn’t a burden?” Fresh Coat grabbed me and looked into my eyes imploring me to answer her. “I don’t think that of any of you. You should have some confidence in yourself about these things. I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t and even then I wouldn’t let you do anything too dangerous unless I had absolutely no choice in the matter.” “It’s just that… I haven’t done much yet. I’ve fought alongside everypony but I haven’t really stood out and showed that I was capable.” Fresh Coat groused. “You’ll have your time. It’ll happen when it is time and no sooner. Just like your cutie mark your path will appear when it is ready. No sooner and no later.” I cradled her into a hug which got her to stop moping. I really need to check on everypony and make sure that this doesn’t happen even if I have to do it one on one just to make certain that they get it through their heads that I want them around. Honestly, the only problems I see are that Vinyl and Fresh have low self esteem when it comes to being loved in any capacity, and Spitfire and Redheart are both career focused with one losing faith in her work if her mumbling is anything to go by. Sunshower and Octavia seem secure enough in their own paths but that might be me not seeing the problem. Ori had carried the orb over to the lantern placing it in the pedestal inside. The lantern immediately went ablaze filling the area with fire and light and forcing the mist to dissipate and something on the head of the lantern to open up. “Ah the Gumon seal. The key needed to enter the Forlorn Ruins deep to the south in the Valley of the Winds. We should head there soon and restore the winds to their rightful place.” Sein once again went quiet. His power had grown but it seemed as though he didn’t have much time to talk or very little to talk about. He was an exposition fairy at this point and I briefly wondered if there would be more time to talk later and more in depth about things. For now we made our way to a save point that had appeared outside the entrance to the Misty Woods. It would be easier to get back to base through it than by flying back. “Shall we?” I offered my hoof to Fresh Coat who grabbed it gingerly with her hoof and smiled. Ori jumped on my back as we warped into the ship and then warped back to the Spirit Tree base. Everypony was sitting around making dinner from some of the supplies we brought. “There you three are. What took you so long?” Octavia pointedly asked concerned when she noticed that we were still covered in the remnants of all the plant detritus and flower pollen from our flight through the Misty Woods. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it over dinner.”