Returning to the throne room was perhaps one of the weirdest experiences, because the second I walked in I noticed a now normal looking Celestia smiling while Lutano sat against a pillar with his tail beating a steady rhythm on the ground, appearing to sulk. Blinking at the unusual expression, I look to Celestia. "What has him so upset? I've never seen him sulk before."
Celestia laughed. "I told him I wanted to keep an eye on you both so I would be sending a letter for the Elements to meet you at the train station when you return. This is after a trial stay here in Canterlot though."
I stare at Celestia for a while with a blank expression before speaking in a deadpan tone. "You want us to stay here... in a city? Cut off from any forests?"
With a slightly confused look, Celestia nods. "Yes, though the closest forest is the Everfree and I don't know why you would want to go there. Why is that important?"
I face palm and sigh. "I cannot go for long periods of time away from a forest or a strong source of nature magic. Cities like Canterlot, while still having a wide variety of plants and trees are still like a void to me. Prolonged separation from nature makes a druid uneasy and if a druid continues to stay cut off from nature, they run the possibility of losing their magic on top of going into a type of insanity where we attack everything around us." An example from a druid I had heard about came to mind and I quickly continue. "To give you an idea of what could possibly happen if you hold me here, there was an Elder Druid a few hundred years ago who pushed himself too far in his stay in a city and his magic forced him into the form a dragon while at the same time sending him into a blood rage. The city was leveled and turned to ash in under a day."
Celestia frowned slightly. "You do know that you are not instilling any confidence in me about your ability to be left to yourselves in Equestria."
I arch an eyebrow at her before chuckling. "So warning you ahead of time about what your actions could possibly bring about is seen as a threat? I'm just letting you know that the best place for me to be would be the Everfree. It would also serve as a constant source of mana which would speed up my search exponentially."
Surprisingly, Luna steps into the conversation in support of me. "We believe he speaks the truth, sister. Perhaps he could be allowed to stay in Ponyville with Twilight Sparkle so he can still be watched?"
Both Celestia and I blink in surprise at her before Celestia finally recovers her bearing. "That could possibly work, though I would want all of the Elements to be kept close by. It would probably be best to keep them separated anyway so that they cannot fight against us together."
I sigh slightly and look between Luna and Celestia. "However you plan on doing this, I don't care but I would really like to get back to the forest. I've never tested the length that I can stay in a city and I really don't want to push that limit. The last thing I need is to lose my mind to out of control magic."
While Lutano snorts in amusement, Luna and Celestia exchange a look before Celestia continued with what she was saying. "I will teleport you to Ponyville, I want you to inform Twilight of the situation as well and once you are settled you can begin your search. I want at least two of the Elements with you at all times when you leave for the Everfree."
I shrug slightly before nodding in agreement. "Sounds fine to me, as long as it gets me out of this city."
With that, Celestia's horn took on a golden glow and with a farewell from both princesses and a flash of light I found myself back in Ponyville in front of the library. Shaking my head to clear the sudden dizziness, I groan slightly. "Note to self, do not allow any of the ponies to teleport me. Nowhere near the same as the teleports back home." Turning to the library, I walk up to the door and knock a couple times. When there is no answer, I frown slightly and look around. For being as lively as it was before, the town was rather empty now. Shrugging slightly to myself, I pull a piece of parchment and quill from a backpack hidden under my cloak. Yet another bit of magic that I came to appreciate on my travels. Writing a short note about the situation and informing Twilight that I would be going to the edge of the Everfree, I stick it to the door using a small amount of magic to create a spike from the wood of the door.
Stepping into the wood of the door, I step out of another at the edge of the town and head towards the Everfree. Chuckling to myself at the risk I am running, I sit down at the edge of the Everfree, facing into the Shadows the trees cast. Closing my eyes, I searched for the connection with the forest and once I find it I begin drawing in the mana that the trees naturally created in excess. As I soak in the magic, I let my mind travel through the connection and search through the forest. To my surprise, everything seemed identical to my home forest but it also gave me a sense of peace knowing that despite being on another world the forests had the same feel.
For what seemed like hours I drifted through the tree before a sudden jolt from my body snapped my mind back. Grunting slightly at the unexpected interruption, I open my eyes to find Twilight standing in front of me with a yellow mare with a pink mane beside her. Arching an eyebrow at Twilight, I frown slightly. "Did you really need to break my connection?"
Twilight blinked and tilted her head in confusion. "Break your connection? What do you mean?"
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. "My connection with the forest. When I join my consciousness with a forest's, I can pull in the natural mana that is generated by the world and increase the rate at which my own regenerates. In an emergency we can pull it directly from the forest but it runs the risk of destroying our connection with nature as well as permanently burning out our magic. So to safely pull in mana we have to go into a type of meditation and meld our minds with nature."
Twilight's eyes widen and a spark appears. "Nature has a mind of its own? And you can connect to that mind?"
I chuckle slightly and nod. "The entire planet is a living being and while it isn't as complex as our own minds, it does have a will of its own. That's part of the reason Druid's exist. Since the world cannot act out on its own to protect itself, it chooses people that meet its requirements to protect it and keep the world in balance." Seeing Twilight about to continue, I cut her off. "You don't need to know the specifics of what I do or how it works. And isn't it a bit rude not to introduce your friend here?"
At the sudden switch of focus to her, the yellow mare lets out a soft eep and hides behind her mane.
Chuckling to myself, I lift a hand with a pale blue glow and with a slow wave, the aura slowly arches over to spread over the mare and she visibly relaxes. "It has been a long time since I've had to use that spell, but back onto focus, what is your name?"
The mare slowly looked up at me and gave a slight smile. "My name is Fluttershy."
I bow my head slightly and smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Fluttershy. I am assuming you are another of the Elements that is going to be watching over me?"
Fluttershy nods slightly though seems a little hesitant. "Yes, I am supposed to make sure you aren't going to cause trouble... if that's ok?"
I blink slightly at the question and glance at Twilight. "Asking if it's ok to keep an eye on me despite the orders?"
Twilight shrugs. "She's the Element of Kindness and really shy."
I shrug slightly and just decide to accept the explanation since I really wasn't all that interested in the reason. Closing my eyes again, I reach out for the connection that was broken earlier but just as I am about to meld with the forest again, Twilight taps my shoulder. Eye twitching in annoyance, I look to Twilight. "Yes?"
With a sheepish smile, she holds up a quill and scroll. "Would you mind if I asked you some questions?"
I shake my head. "Later." Closing my eyes, I re-connect with nature but before I can do much more there is another tap on my shoulder. Mentally growling, I ignore the distraction but it comes again. Sending a small current of electricity through my body, I wait a second and there is another tap on my shoulder. This time though, there was a loud pop and a pained yelp as Twilight was shocked. Mentally grinning, I return to my exploration of the forest and gathering mana as I go. This time I was undisturbed as I finished and opened my eyes, releasing the electricity. "Now than, what did you find so important that you thought you needed to interrupt my meditation?"
Twilight frowned slightly, her mane still sticking up at odd angles. "I wanted to know if you had anything you were going to be bringing with you to the library."
My eyes narrow slightly and I grumble to myself. "I almost wish you were Lutano so I could zap you with significantly more power." Pushing myself to my feet, I glance at the two ponies. "Now would probably be a good time to see where I am staying since I have recovered all of my mana."
Twilight nods slightly and starts leading the way back to Ponyville. "How long does it usually take you to recover all of your... mana?"
I shrug slightly. "It depends on how low I allow myself to get. If I run completely dry of mana than it takes me about an hour. otherwise I usually only take about fifteen minutes. Going through nearly the entire royal guard and blockading the throne room doors nearly ran me dry so I took a little longer than usual to recover."
Twilight and Fluttershy's eyes widen before Twilight whirls to face me, stopping dead in her tracks. "You fought the royal guard?!"
I shrug slightly and chuckle. "It wasn't that difficult to be honest, they were actually easier to incapacitate than most of the creatures back home were to kill. It was a little frustrating with their numbers though and took a heavy toll on my mana before I was able to find the princesses to answer their summons."
Both Fluttershy and Twilight stared at me in shock before Twilight finally shook her head. "I'm going to have to write Princess Celestia about this. I can't understand how one pony was able to get through the entire Royal Guard."
I smirk slightly. "Two people actually. Without Lutano I would have been taken out fairly quickly as I couldn't catch all of the guards. He knocked out the ones I couldn't wrap in roots." Continuing before Twilight could, I had to hold back a laugh at her expression. "Anyways, I need to get settled in so can we get to the library?"
Twilight blinks a couple of times before nodding and trotting towards Ponyville with Fluttershy and I close behind. Shifting into my wolf form again, I notice the feeling that something is wrong is back again and a little stronger than before. Shaking it off though, I glance over to Fluttershy. "So Twilight is the librarian and student of Celestia, what do you do around here?"
Fluttershy jumped slightly and gave a slight sheepish smile when she looked at me. "Well... I take care of animals around Ponyville and any I find injured. Some of them even come to me if they need help."
I pause in my steps and look at Fluttershy in surprise. "Do you do anything with plants or the forest as well?" When Fluttershy nods, I can't help the laugh that explodes from my mouth. "I can't believe it, an un-blessed druid. I never thought I would see the day where one existed."
Fluttershy frowns slightly in thought. "An... un-blessed druid? What is that?"
I chuckle happily to myself. "It's someone that is extraordinarily gifted with nature, both plants and animals almost to the same point that a druid is. In essence you are a druid without the magic or the blessing from nature." Looking up, I notice we are at the edge of Ponyville and I give a slight smile to Fluttershy. "I will talk to you more about it later. I'm interested to see how you deal with the animals you take care of."
Fluttershy nods and a few minutes later we stop in front of the tree library. Taking a second to look it over as Twilight opens the door, I smile slightly and follow her in. Immediately upon stepping in, I was greeted by a small purple dragon and I freeze, eyes widening a fraction. To my surprise though, Twilight smiles at him. "Hey Spike, this is Sarikasin. He is going to be staying with us so I can keep an eye on him for the princess."
I shake my head and blink a couple of times. "You live with a dragon?!" In my surprise, I didn't notice that my hackles had risen, nor that the two ponies and dragon were now staring at my back in shock. Finally I notice that they were shocked themselves and staring at me and I frown slightly. "What are you staring at me for?"
Slowly lifting a hoof to point at my shoulder, Twilight answers. "Your neck... it wasn't like that before..."
Blinking, I walk over to a window and look at my reflection. Even with the see through image, I could see that golden flames were flickering from the back of my skull to just between my shoulder blades. "Well that's new... It also explains why my shape shift has been feeling off lately." Returning to my normal form, I gather mana for the shape shift but this time focus on the feeling that the form isn't right. Releasing the magic and using that feeling to guide the form, I found myself in the form of a white equine that stood twice the height of the ponies.
Taking a second to look myself over, I couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess the magic here chose to force my wolf form to change to something more appropriate for the world. Qeynosian Protector Pegasus, not the form I would have expected but I won't complain." Instead of the small flames, I had a mane and tail made from golden fire with the same flames around my hooves. Turning to Twilight and Fluttershy, I chuckle at their looks of shock but before I could take the time to enjoy my new form, there were several screams from outside.