//------------------------------// // I Complimented My Crush and Discussed Self-Introspection Over Cupcakes // Story: The Guardian Of The Forest // by StormHoof32 //------------------------------// Merlin sat quietly on Fluttershy's couch and sipped his tea as he watched the butter yellow mare go on about how much she loved taking care of the animals and how much they enjoyed living around her cottage. He wore a soft smile as he listened. To hear another speak of nature with the same love and adoration he held for it left him with a sense of kinship. He never really spent too much time around his own kind back home. They were known to lose themselves to their wanton desires. This was something Merlin preferred not to take part in, not because he did not want to. He was a living creature like any other, but he much preferred that should he decide to engage in such frivolity, it would be with one whom he shared his heart. As he and his entourage sipped their tea and munched on baked treats, he thought about how fleeting their lives more than likely were. He himself could live endless so long as he wished to. He had already lived for many years and he knew that in a world as beautiful and rich in life as this one, he would more than likely never want to leave it. "-and that's when I found my precious Angel-bunny struggling in the arms of a female bunny. It was so adorable!" Fluttershy finished as her pet bunny blushed and with an embarrassed glare he took off out a little hole in the front door. Fluttershy gave a light giggle at his reaction and Merlin felt himself light up again at the sound of it. "That does indeed sound rather funny." Luna said, a small giggle escaping her as well. "Sister, didn't you have a pet rabbit once?" Celestia stroked her chin with a hoof as she thought back, "I think so. I believe it was back when the first griffin ambassadors came to visit. It was stressful, they wanted to eat her." She laughed and stuffed a cookie into her mouth. She chewed with a profound sense of joy that came off her in waves. It was infectious and Merlin, Twilight, Luna and Fluttershy all were now sporting grins as they too dug into the cookies. "Fluttershy, you are a wonderful baker." Merlin said, taking a bite out of an oatmeal raisin cookie. They were his favorite after all. Fluttershy blushed heavily at this compliment and hid a bit in her mane as she too took a cookie. A cookie that just so happened to be from the oatmeal raisin pile. Merlin narrowed his eye's and snapped his fingers, causing Fluttershy's mane to tie itself back in a ponytail, leaving her face open to view. Her and Twilight looked at him in shock as he finished off his cookie. Celestia and Luna could be seen fighting back giggles and chose instead to stuff their mouths with more treats so as to watch the event unfolding before them. "Are you not going to eat?" Merlin asked, a slight smirk adorning his face as he gestured to the cookie that was still in Fluttershy's hoof. She blinked a few times and blushed redder than he had ever seen. She almost looked like a strawberry, and the image of that made him chuckle. "I apologize if that seemed surprising, I just happen to think that you have beautiful eyes. You shouldn't hide them." He explained before taking up a snickerdoodle and taking a modest bite. He liked all the snacks she had laid out, but he would gladly defend to the death the nation of oatmeal raisin. Maybe it could seek diplomacy with the snickerdoodle nation. They could create the most powerful oatmealdoodle nation in the world. All would fear their deliciousness. As he went about watching an oatmeal raisin cookie rise onto legs and head to the snickerdoodles, he failed to noticed the now even more shocked look on Twilight's face, and the fact that poor Fluttershy had gone nearly catatonic at this point. As Merlin watched diplomacy fall apart, he began to feel something off about the room. Looking up he now saw that not only was Twilight shocked beyond reason, but Celestia and Luna had stopped their snack binge to stare at him. He looked to Fluttershy and noticed that her blush had escalated out of all proportion and upon seeing this he became worried. Had he upset her? Did she not like his compliment? He wasn't able to tell. Unlike with animals, whom he could pick up emotions from, the equines of Equestria seemed immune to it in much the same way as humans were. He decided then that the silence had gone on too long and it was time for him to speak up again. "I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean to cause any problems." He said, watching her expression and looking for any change that would tell him what she was thinking. Unfortunately she simply sat there and didn't move. Twilight smacked her forehead with her hoof and walked over to her friend. "Fluttershy? Are you alright?" She asked, waving a hoof in front of her face. She got no response and with a sigh, he lit her horn and Fluttershy vanished from sight. Merlin couldn't feel her emotions, but he could feel her presence, Twilight had moved her from the cozy living room to another room upstairs. If he were to hazard a guess, he would say it was her bedroom. "Sorry about that Merlin, that hasn't happened to her in a long time. Me and all my friends have told her before that she has really pretty eyes. The first few times we said it, she would lock up like that," She explained as she she lowered her eyes, "But after a while, she kind of got over it so I figured it was a done deal." Merlin nodded in understanding as he looked back toward the object of his new affection. With a wistful sigh he stood along with the group and they made their way to the door. "It's unfortunate, but I'm glad I met her. I've had a wonderful time today, so I believe I may just turn in for the night." "Of course! After we still have a lesson tomorrow! You have to get a good night's rest so you can teach!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly. Whenever she did this, Merlin couldn't help but see a little girl, so eager and promising that wished to learn his ways. He at one point had an apprentice that too wanted to learn the ways. She was the one that betrayed him before he came to this world. Something he preferred not to think of. Celestia and Luna said their goodbyes, as did Twilight and then Merlin made his way to a tree, placed his hand on it, and stepped through the doorway. A light wind blew through the tree's today, and Merlin closed his eye's as it made it's way through his long grey hair. Yesterday he had the chance of meeting the most beautiful mare he had ever laid eye's on. And for once in his life, he felt a bit self conscious of how he allowed himself to look. It was no great secret that Merlin could look however he pleased, whether it was young or old. He frowned and snapped his fingers, causing small grains of sand to crawl across the ground. They came together at his feet and made a small pile before long. With another snap, the sand became almost fluid as it formed together to create a piece of glass. He stared at it in thought before giving a light snap. The ground shimmered for a second before becoming almost silvery. He had pulled as much aluminum and silver from the earth as he could and then he placed the piece of glass over the fluid, shifting mass of metal. Once this was done, the mass shifted and seemed to fold in on itself as it's size grew smaller, wrapping snuggly around the glass that sat in it's middle. A few seconds later, and Merlin had a very nice looking mirror. It was a bit plain and had no carvings in it, but he would take care of that later. For now he studied his own reflection. He tugged at his unruly hair, stroked his beard and then gave a sigh as he noticed the number of wrinkles and bags he had given himself in pursuit of his ideal wizened image. He snapped and his face began to shift. This was at one point a very uncomfortable experience the first time he had done it. But that was years ago and he was rather adept at it by now. He watched himself literally get younger. His beard and hair shortening to be younger and healthier. If he wanted, he could change the color too, but Merlin was fond of the off white color he had worn for so long. His eye's remained the same however, as they always have. Merlin could change much about his appearance, but his eyes he left alone as he had gotten them from his mother. They were the same rich honey gold, and it was something he could never bare to part with. Satisfied, he placed the mirror away for another time. He stood with a stretch and looked down at his robes. Another thing that would probably have to change. He thumbed his chin in thought as he tried to come up with a decent outfit to wear. He wasn't exactly one for fashion of any kind really. After all, how many times had Arthur tried to get him to wear something for court? Too many is the answer to that. But for once, he felt rejuvenated. A new world that was alive and healthy. A world full of magic and wonder. Merlin felt a new sense of drive and purpose in this place. The trees and creatures of this forest loved him and in the time he had been here, it had calmed down considerably. At least according to Twilight. She explained that at one point the Everfree forest was one of the most dangerous and scary forests in Equestria. But now it was about as docile as the Western Wood. Ponies stopped disappearing here, and the weather got quite nice. There was still the threat of storm every now and again, but they were a lot less magical now. All in all, everypony and tree seemed a lot happier. Which was why he was currently sending his mind out to each tree in the vicinity of his clearing so that he could wish them a good morning. He obviously could not do this for every tree in the forest, no matter how much he wanted to. He would be here all day if he did. So instead the trees passed the message along to all the rest. In fact he developed an idea as he went about his morning chores. He was suppose to teach Twilight another lesson today, and he had an interesting idea as to what he could do. But that would be in a little while, for now he finished his work and then took a seat on the side of his hammock. Grabbing a rice cake, he laid back and allowed a single leg to swing freely. Nothing was more relaxing than looking up at the sky or a canopy of treetops while snacking on tightly compacted rice. If he was lazy he probably would have taken a nap but there was no need for that today. Instead he waited for Twilight to arrive so that they could start on her learning to speak to trees. After all, if she could speak to the trees like he could, then it would stand to reason that if she were to find a particularly amicable tree, she'd be able to use it to relay messages to him. Like wood mail. He chuckled at his own joke and was surprised out of his humor by a burst of lavender light. Twilight was now standing in the clearing and she ran over to him with a big smile. "So what are we learning today!" She exclaimed. Merlin chuckled at her enthusiasm as he guided her to the forest. After a few hours, Merlin and Twilight left the forest and came out near ponyville. After so long trying to reach out to trees, Twilight's stomach was making such a ruckus, you would think it was staging a coup. She blushed in embarrassment as she lead the way to Sugarcube Corner. When they entered, they noticed it wasn't Pinkie at the counter today. Instead it was a blue mare with what looked like frosting for a mane. It was such a peculiar but fitting sight that it made Merlin want to laugh. "Oh Twilight! Hello dear. What can I getcha today?" she asked before looking over to the man standing next to her. "And this must be the new friend Pinkie was talking about. I'm Mrs. Cake and I own this shop with my husband." Twilight lit up with a grin as she made her way over to the display window. There were quite a few new selections of confections that they could choose. But one stood out to him. "It's lovely to meet you. If I may, I'll have the oatmeal raisin cupcake." Merlin said, his mouth already watering in anticipation of the splendid treat to come. Mrs. Cake nodded and got his ready as Twilight began listing off a dozen different cupcakes. She looked at him sheepishly as their food was prepared. Merlin chuckled and made his way to a table where Twilight took a seat opposite him. "You seem embarrassed with how much you eat. May I ask why?" Merlin said, bringing his head to rest on his hands as he gave her a soft smile. Twilight blushed again and gave what could possibly be the most adorable glare on a pony ever. "It's rude to bring up how much a mare is eating you know." She said, "But yes, I am a little embarrassed by it. Ever since I became an alicorn, it's like my metabolism got stronger." Merlin nodded and happily accepted his cupcake from Mrs. Cake as she came by their table with their goods. He motioned for her to continue as he nibbled. Twilight giggled and dove into her own cupcakes. When she had finished half of her haul, she looked up and brushed any crumbs from her muzzle. "Sorry, anyway, I'm guessing you want me to be less embarrassed about being myself right?" she said, her smile turning into a light smirk. Merlin chuckled and placed his cupcake wrapper with the rest of Twilight's before he made them sort themselves into a wrapper quilt. "Yes. Moreso I want you to bring those parts of yourself more to the forefront. Take this little quilt I've made, each individual piece is important in it's own right and has it's own use. But when stitched together, you get something new and this new creation has entirely new and different uses. You can look at yourself the same way." He explained, gesturing to the wrappers as he did. "When you try to hide parts of yourself, whether it's from embarrassment or shame or any other reason, it obscures the bigger picture. It hide's who you truly are. What I want you to do after today is to look at yourself and identify things in the way you are, the way you act, and the way you feel. Try to bring them to the forefront and fit them into the quilt that is you." He smiled and took another wrapper from a muffin as Twilight ate it. He seamlessly stitched it in with the others. "When you have a mastery over yourself, then nothing can unseat you from a calm state of mind. You seem easily frazzled and I believe this may very well help with that." Twilight nodded and finished her muffins as she teleported a piece of parchment in with her quill. She continued to take notes down and almost immediately she seemed to begin her self-introspection. As she did so, Merlin looked out the window and watched as a few butterfly's flew by, Reminding him of a beautiful butter yellow pegasus.