//------------------------------// // Her Name Echoes Through The Forest Part 3 // Story: She Drives Me Batty // by I Thought I Was Toast //------------------------------// The station was little more than a grungy little outhouse surrounded by wild gardens. My face wrinkled at the smell of all natural manure as we walked through the various vines, roots, and berry bushes, and as we reached the door to the teeny-tiny shack, Corporal Digger pushed it open and all but tumbled down some stairs. I rushed to make sure he was okay, following him down into the darkness. The base itself was subterranean in nature, and roots clung to dirt walls held up by wooden supports. About two stories down, the stairs opened up into an open room. The corporal waved me off towards a desk with a stool before it before he shambled into another room. There was a screep of surprise as he left the room, then yelling, and I squirmed on the stool as the shouting only got louder. The floor was covered in furs with nothing good to really count, so I focused on the desk before me and started counting all the pencils that had been shoved in a ‘World’s Best CO’ mug. There were thirty-two. I had counted three times, and the yelling had yet to stop. The voice was a rich, deep bass that spewed enough vulgarity to give Sergeant Smiles a run for her money. Whoever it was; he was pissed, and I was best finding more things to count. The in and out piles on the desk were full of standard grade triplicate. Real thick stuff—thick enough to count if I wanted—but I had seen Dad’s office enough to know there was about twenty-seven documents coming in and a measly three going out. Two letters direct from Princess Twilight were definitely not lying open between the piles of paperwork, and both of them were not rumpled and almost torn in frustration. A bottle of emergency dragon fire was next to them, along with a blank note and several ripped up and redacted responses. A small nameplate read Major Silent Hill, and when the yelling finally stopped, a giant thestral shuffled out of the back room to perch behind the desk. Big as a mountain, his hoofs fell hesitantly, and he avoided looking at me every step of the way. He sat back, and the old chair groaned at the enormous amount of muscle and heavy armor trying to crush it. His hooves stayed soft and light as he picked up his pencil to resume writing a response to Princess Twilight. Very quiet. No force behind them. Not at all like the tattered and torn responses littering the floor. “Mmmf…” his mumble was punctuated by a small peek before he looked away from me again. “Mmhmm-mmm-mff….” “Err… come again, sir?” I glanced towards the stonily silent door and gulped. “I’m sorry if I caused any problems.” “Nff…” He refused to look at me as he answered, gripping into pencil hard enough to crack it and earn some splinters. “Silent’s not really one for talking, Miss… Nightingale, is it?” A slim mare melted from the shadows behind him to smile at me. “Don’t worry. You aren’t in trouble.” “I’m more worried about Corporal Digger, ma’am.” “Oh?” Her smile widened as the mountain beside her squirmed and squeaked like an itty-bitty mole with gravel down his throat. “Well, I just finished checking him and getting him to bed. You did good work getting him back.” “That’s… not exactly what I meant.” My ears folded back at the mere memory of the shouting. “Mm’srry….” It was extra small and quiet, but I swore the CO was apologizing for doing his job. “It’s not often we get letters directly from one of the Commanders in Chief, and those two were about twelve hours apart.” The mare nodded towards Princess Twilight’s letters. “Silent’s been a nervous wreck all night about whatever’s in them—constantly muttering to himself. He’s all bark and no bite when it comes to ponies, though. He just… gets a bit carried away sometimes. Only way he’s able to actually reprimand us is by channeling his old drill sergeant.” Oh… well, that would explain why it sounded like Sergeant Smiles. “Anyways, my name is Moon Flower, and I’ll be taking things over from the corporal from here. As soon as I get my armor on, we’ll be going, alright?” “Yes, ma—” “That’s after I finish my letter, Specialist.” The difference in the major as he set down his pencil and looked up was like night and day. His scowl was chiseled from stone as he growled at Moon Flower, all signs of meekness gone. “Sir, yes, sir!” She saluted; he nodded. The instant he picked the pencil back up to write, all the fierceness was gone as quick as it had appeared. He quietly mumbled and grumbled to himself, but it was so quiet I couldn’t hear a thing. Even Miss Fluttershy was louder than him. “Just wait there. I’ll be back ASAP.” Moon Flower slipped away before I could even salute her, leaving me to squirm with the major. We sat there the next few minutes, each pointedly not looking at the other. The scratching of pencil on paper was the only noise in otherwise deafening silence. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore, and I peeked up with an audible gulp. “I’m sorry for any inconvenience I caused, sir.” Major Silent Hill grunted and finished off his sentence before leveling his gaze on me. “It’s not your fault. I was reprimanding the corporal on the Princess’s orders—something about him spilling state secrets above my pay grade. I apologize if doing so has soured your feelings for the rangers. I let my feelings get the better of me doing so; you were supposed to be home by now, not sitting here.” “Is… that what the second letter is for?” I shiftily glanced at the pair of royal missives in front of him. “Yes. Your parents are worried and I was afraid I’d have to give them The News. There’s a lot of things lurking in these woods.” Picking his pencil back up, he finished off his response and used a bottle of dragonfire to send it on its way. Oh… Oh, no…. “I’m so sorry, sir! I can skip seeing die Phantome der Nacht and head home now! I can’t believe they would—” I sucked in a breath and bit my tongue before I said something I’d regret. The Everfree was different from Canterlot. They had a right to worry if I wasn’t showing up. It wasn’t exactly worth siccing the Princess on poor Major Silent, but then again… there were a lot of things they shouldn’t do that they did for me. “Orders are orders.” Major Silent shook his head. “The first letter told us to take you out there; the second only asked where you were.” “Sir, no offense, but that’s complete guano. You know that wasn’t a real order.” “No, it isn’t, but if your parents are going to lean into their connections like that—” His already hard face sharpened into a steel blade. “—then I’ll lean into the letter of the law. Orders are orders. Unless I’m ordered not to, you’re going, and to tartarus if it makes your parents worry more. They’ve gotten far too used to that cushy captain job.” “Alright! I’m ready!” Moon Flower slipped back in before I or the major could continue. Her armor was light and sleek—the sort of suit that could be donned quickly and hastily. She looked between the scowling major and me with a far too fake smile on her face. “So, what were you two talking about?” Her CO snorted and stood. “You know darn well what we were talking about. I’ll watch the corporal while you’re gone. Did you leave me any instructions?” “Nope. Just dump a bottle of cloud nine down his throat if he starts complaining about pain and replace the bandages if I’m gone more than a day.” Her fake smile only grew as she snapped a salute. “The wound is treated as much as it can be, and it takes a few days for infection to set in. Can’t exactly prescribe stuff for a disease I don’t know is there.” “Understood. I’ll leave you to it, then. You have your orders and know what needs to be done.” With a terse nod, Major Silent left the room. “Ponyville is not a cushy position.” I immediately defended my parents as soon as I was sure he was out of earshot. “At least the Dawn Guard aren’t!” “I know, dear. I know.” Moon Flower sighed and waved me to follow her up and out of the base. “Silent doesn’t ever leave the forest, though. He barely knows half of the foes Princess Twilight has fought, and those he does know of makes him think the Dawn Guard is nothing but another version of the Solar and Lunar Guard.” Excuse me?! “And what does he have against the Lunar Guard?” With a whinny, I reared up and stomped.  “To him, they’re the best of the best, and they left posts that needed them to stand in front of doors twenty-four seven.” My guide shrugged as we reached the edge of the garden surrounding the base and ducked into the trees. “But I— He— That’s not—” My brain tumbled frantically at the thought. There was a horrible bitter irony to it—one so strong, I bit my tongue to replace it with the tang of blood. “Now me? I think that’s loony. There’s nothing more important than protecting the princesses. They’re the whole reason Equestria is where it is.” Trudging onwards, Moon Flower was either completely unaware of the discord she was sowing, or far too aware for her own good. “I do get where he’s coming from, though. The last decade has really shown we aren’t nearly equipped enough to handle certain threats.” She disappeared into the shadowy depths of a fallen tree as she continued chatting. I blindly followed in a daze; I don’t think she realized I was barely listening as word after word stabbed the knife deeper. “The Dawn Guard has been changing that, but… the Solar and Lunar Guard are still the same as far as I know. Might be better if our best of the best were still out and doing their jobs. I mean, can you imagine if we’d caught Tirek before he ever became a threat? Why was Discord allowed to hunt him down, but not the very guards meant to protect the princess? They had the know-how to track him and the strength to handle him—at least they did while he was an old geeze—” Ack! No! Stop! No more! My brain is melting! Scree-ree-ree-ree-ree! And yet she continued on. Nope! Not listening! La-la-la-la-la! Time to… focus on all of my favorite things! Drown out all the blasphemy. Yeah! Focus on the cadence call. At home I have a-waiting a flawless diamond ring!~ What once was coal now shines so bright, a star that makes me sing!~ On duty’s end and war’s reprieve, I’ll wear her night and day!~ But ‘til there’s peace eternal, I’ll chase Nightmares away!~ “Hold now!” Moon Flower’s order was enough to snap me from my daydreams. She moved ahead into some brush without me, leaving me there to stand and obey as she… scouted? Maybe? I had been on autopilot, and I honestly couldn’t recognize where we were. The trees were different—less gloom and doom, more life and strife. Lots of vines, moss, mushrooms and more. Even the air was thicker, full of warm, sticky humidity. Most ponies said the Everfree felt like it was out to eat them, but this… Just looking around at the vines choking the trees and the mushrooms eating the vines… I got the strangest feeling that nothing was safe and everything was on the menu. It tickled a side of me I usually did my best to ignore—made me lick my lips as Moon Flower came back. My stomach was growling, and I was all too aware that plants weren’t gonna cut it for me. “Uhhh… Moon Flower? I think something might be—” “Catch!” She tossed me a juice box, and I bit into it like my life depended on it, schlurping away at the beets, bees, and savory, delicious blood. “Don’t worry about it. It’s normal in these parts. Just part of the ambient magic!” “It feels like a completely different forest.” I grumbled as I looked around. “It is? Kinda?” Moon Flower blinked in bemusement at me. “Weren’t you listening as we passed over the threshold.” “Uhh…” I looked down, ears folding back. “I was singing a cadance call in my head. Sorry….” “Oh, well… it’s better to show you at this point, really. There’s a really great waterfall near here!” She leapt into the brush again before I could even open my mouth. Left to follow her, I did so at my own pace. She was easy to track, not even making an attempt to hide her tracks. The sight made me frown, but I decided it better not to question it as I had Corporal Digger’s silence. She must have her reasons… …probably. I still had other questions, though, and those questions only got bigger and bigger as the rumbling of the waterfall came into earshot. Calling it loud was like saying the sun was peckish. The noise became deafening the closer we got, and my brow furrowed even as my ears folded back. Whatever this waterfall might be, it was huge—big enough to force open a clearing in the forest from the sound of it. It was not just some little creek tumbling over some rocks, and that was strange since I’d seen maps of the Everfree and while a waterfall like that would be perfect as a land marker, there weren’t any super big waterfalls on the ones I’d seen. “Hurry up, soldier! Moonlight’s waning!” I hurried at Moon Flower’s call, not wanting any predators to hear. As I cleared the trees the noise came together and crashed against me hard enough that I fell back a step. To call it a clearing was an understatement. The trees had stopped not ten trots from a sheer cliff that split the forest like an elder wyrm had cleaved it in two. Follow the edge of it, and there was a river pouring off and into an enormous drop. The sparkling lake at the bottom was not on any map I’d ever seen;it went on for miles and miles with more than a few islands. Far off in the distance I saw more trees, and yet, they were different than the ones I had come from. Multiple forests; multiple trees. In one spot, there were trees that were the shade of blood—leaves like fresh droplets, trunks more like dried and crusted. In another, there were bone white trees devoid of leaves that clawed at the sky. For the Nightmother’s sake, the lake was full of a forest of kelp, algae, and mushrooms. “Where… no, what?” I shook my head, far too confuzzled to make sense of it all. “How is this even possible?” “Well… would you believe me if I said we aren’t in Equestria any more?” Moon Flower dropped beside me. “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” I couldn’t help rolling my eyes; too many secrets were testing my patience. “Now, where the buck are we?” “The Everfree isn’t just a forest. It’s the forest.” Gesturing out and around, she giggled. “Every dream… every imagining… every reality brought together…. What we see in Equestria is just one piece of a whole.” “So the Everfree is an invader… from the Dreamlands?” “No. It’s honestly more like a hostage. It’s one last curse from the Nightmare, ripped right from the Dreamlands to bury the old capital as she was banished.” I blinked at the news before scowling. “And am I supposed to know this?” “Does it matter?” Moon Flower’s sly smirk told me everything I needed to know. “Die Phantome der Nacht all live here. The instant Corporal Digger spilled that secret, he basically spilled this one.”   “No! No, he didn’t!” My voice scattered more than a few birds as it carried over the lake. “He said absolutely nothing about this! We wouldn’t be here if my Dad hadn’t—” I bit my lip before the heathenous words could be said aloud. “Why not just bring them to the station? I already know way too many secrets.” “They haven’t set foot in Equestria since the war.” Moon Flower snorted as though that should be obvious. “When Luna died, they had nothing left but each other, and now…” She shook her head. “They have even more reason not to come back. A reunion would be far too painful.” “What’s that supposed to—” “Moonlight’s waning, soldier! Come on!” She didn’t let me finish, jumping off the cliff and over the lake. She banked in a circle, looking up and down the cliff before flying alongside it for a bit. Then, with a shrill screep, she folded her wings and dropped like a rock and shot into a cave further down. I sighed at her flagrant disregard of discipline, but dutifully followed as ordered. Large, damp, and a welcome respite from the light outside, the entrance was perfect for brooding and staring out over the lake. The cavern quickly widened into an incredibly large bowl that housed yet another enormous forest. This one was made of luminous mushrooms rooted in damp and bitter smelling pools. What parts of the ceiling weren’t blocked by the wide caps revealed countless stalactites constantly drizzling water to the point that it felt like I was getting rained on. The path we followed was well traveled. It was hard to miss where to go when there was the occasional giant rock with an arrow and the words, ‘This way, lunkhead.’ What wasn’t clear was just how many thestrals were stalking us. Echoing screes were accompanied by jumping shadows and glinting eyes; it felt like an army. When a single, monstrous mare dropped down to land without a sound, the rest of the forest went silent and still. “You brought company, Moon Flower. Silent didn’t tell us about any new recruits on the horizon.” “She’s a recruit in the works—a promising one.” Moon Flower’s praise made me blush and fold my ears. “Silent’s giving her a little treat in meeting you.” “Is that so?” The mountain of a mare looked down at me and for the first time in years I felt small. She was a shaggy beast with a coat that melted into flowing shadows where her mane, tail, and fetlocks should be. Even her eyebrows wavered slightly, though they didn’t drip with darkness the way everything else did. “It’s… more that I found out about you accidentally, and my Dad weaseled the Princess into letting me visit.” I looked down, unable to bear the weight. “Oh!” Was she smiling? It was hard to tell with her voice. It was very deep for a mare’s. Maybe that was a side effect of the spells. “Moon Flower! You didn’t tell us that Luna had finally taken another! Huzzah!” Her voice blasted through the woods and echoed back loudly. There were others who called out huzzah in kind, but each cry bled into the next until my head was spinning from the sheer energy packed within their shouts. The cave may have quaked. I wasn’t sure, but I did see a nearby pebble jitter from the force. “Wrong princess, Meridian.” Moon Flower kept on and past the massive wall like she wasn’t there. I only dared to follow on seeing her succeed. “I do hear rumors from time to time, but… no. Both her parents are captains of the Dawn Guard.” “Ah, my mistake, but you can’t blame me for hoping, Moon Flower.” Meridian turned to bare her fangs in a very pointy smile. “’Tis a fine calling to serve that one. Princess… Dusk Shine, was it? She saw the signs unlike a certain Princess.” As her mostly smooth and husky voice crunched like gravel, I made a note not to mention Princess Celestia by name. “Meridian…” Moon Flower, on the other hoof, was either very brave or very foolish. “We’ve talked about this.” “You are not the first, and you will not be the last. The rest of you may forgive her, but I refuse to touch a land defiled by that witch’s sun.” Wow. That growl was at least as deep as Dad’s. “Are you sure it’s not for other reasons?” Moon Flower smiled with so much mischief it triggered my flight or fight instincts. Time to change the subject! “The rumors were true!” It was the first thing I thought to blurt out, and probably the worst given I was suddenly the focus of Meridian’s hungry gaze. “Ummm… Princess Luna may have had a crush on Dad when she got back. He told her no…. Mom’s a day dweller, you know? He wanted to keep things simple.” Oh star’s the fury burning in those eyes. I scrambled to try and quench it. “But she makes a great aunt! She took me and a few others under her wing. I don’t actually know that she wants somepony like that at this point.” “And how could you possibly know that? You presume much, little knave.” The fire in Meridian’s eyes was only matched by the sparks flying off of Moon Flower as she gestured for me to shut the buck up. “Because…” Welp, I’d dug my grave. Might as well lie in it and die of embarrasment. “…I was asking her for advice right before I came here? I wanted to know how she balanced duty and love.” Meridian’s stony scowl twitched, but I dared not show any more weakness before the storm. “It’s not my place to share what she told me, but—” “Enough.” The fury in Meridian’s eyes died as she stomped and snorted. Her voice carried the weight of a thousand years. “I can already imagine what she told you. Come along, then. You are welcome here. If Luna sees you as her own, we would be foals not to accept you.” Okay? That was weird. Meridian screeched into the darkness. Head cocked, she waited for several screeches to come back in response, then turned to Moon Flower who was staring at me slack jawed. “You too, Moon Flower.” Not that much farther in, we entered a large clearing beneath the mother of all mushrooms. Scaffolding dangled a massive house from the cap, and beneath it was one of the driest spots in the cave. A channel had been carved to bring water to the mushroom itself, while a short wall about as tall as my shin kept all the other puddles from trickling in. Several fires crackled and burned in the clearing, and the smell of meat was strong. Two thestrals as large and monstrous as Meridian went around turning spits and roasting creatures I had never seen; the other ten were seated at a table fit for a feast hall and digging into enough food to feed a village. “Look everypony! Our great and glorious Luna has given us a niece to coddle!” I had a moment to process the words. Another to stare at Meridian in utter bemusement. After that, I was buried in shadows as the Die Phantome der Nacht all cheered and stampeded towards me. Names were exchanged, not that I could remember them all with my batty brain fried and on the fritz. The dots were starting to connect—the constellations were forming before me. Luna had said the herd she’d had before falling to Nightmare Moon had been her most devoted. Of course, they would have followed her into damnation.