//------------------------------// // 998 Yearsm 340 Days Ago // Story: Tales From Blackwood Forest // by Robobrony //------------------------------// 998 Years, 340 Days Many years have passed now since I lost my home. It still stands, but is in shambles now, and I can’t bear to see it like that. I still go there though, to visit my parents graves. The forest itself became my home, every tree, every branch, every lake is my territory. I have grown in strength, both physical and magical. I have mastered my magic and shadow powers, so I am fully capable of defending myself from any threat. However, there was one thing I didn’t count on, but I’ll get to that later. Ever since Og’s passing many years ago, my relations with the trolls didn’t improve. I could care less about those brutes, all I cared about was following my parents wish and live on, but every day that passed, it seemed harder and harder a little at a time to continue with that wish. How could I possibly go on when I’m the last of my kind. I just did the best I could to ignore those thoughts and lived my life in the forest. But one day, something new came to the forest, something that would give me a step in the direction to improve my living situation a little. During my walk through the forest, I came across something I never thought I would see. A pony, one of those……..THINGS, that attacked my home so many years ago. It had a single horn on its head, had a green coat with a blue mane and tail and a strange mark on its flank. I had no idea what that mark was, but it looked like a gold colored circle on a brown stick. It was also wearing a blue cloak with the hood down. This…..pony…..was levitating a book in front of him. “Fascinating, this forest is so huge, and the plant life is so odd. Princess Celestia will be most pleased with my work here. I just know if I study all the plants here, a cure for many ailments can be found.” The unicorn said. At the time, I was keeping myself hidden in a nearby tree as I watched him closely. I wanted so desperately to swoop down there and stomp on his skull, but at the same time, I was afraid. Looking at that pony’s face sent me back to that horrible night when I lost everything. Besides, if I killed him, others may wonder about his disappearance and they would come looking for him. The last thing I wanted was more of those blasted creatures roaming around in MY forest, so I kept my distance. “Fascinating, these insectivorous plants seem more cognative than some of the ones in Equestria.” He said as he wrote down something in his book. “This forest is just too fascinating, I must set up a place to live here, there is just too much to examine in one trip. I’ll have to set up a place I can live while I study this place.” I did not like the sound of that. Was this pony really going to start living here? Is he just a scout to take over this forest? I didn’t know what to do. “Nightshade, It’s…..it’s.” “I know, I know what it is, but what am I supposed to do, If I kill him, others may come looking for him.” I said to my shadow in a whisper. “KILL HIM, Nightshade, this could be your chance to make peace with them.” I glared at my shadow. “Make peace with them………MAKE PEACE WITH THEM!?” I shouted in a whisper. Quickly realizing I didn’t want to draw attention to myself from that pony, I went back to whispering. “Have you forgotten what they did to me, they took everything away from me, my home, my family….” I looked away from my shadow and down to the ground. “….my parents.” I looked back at my shadow. “How could I possibly make peace with them after what they did to me?” “Well, that was a long time ago, maybe things have changed since then, you could at least talk to him and see what he knows about that incident.” My glare hardened. “I am not about to consort with one of those wretched monsters, I would rather have a thousand scorpions eat me alive then talk with those things.” I then turned around and flew off. “I am going to have to keep a close eye on him though. I have to know what he’s doing here.” I said to myself. ***** A few weeks passed. Over the time, a few more of those ponies showed up with all kinds of things, things I couldn’t really describe at the time. Ponies with wings, ponies with horns, and ponies with neither. They all set up all this stuff and started building a house on a cliff near the edge of the forest. They eve laid down these long metal tubes that went from the house to a lake nearby. After their work was done, the first pony I saw stayed behind while the others left. I figured that meant there were others who knew he was here, which meant I couldn’t kill him at all. In fact, if I didn’t want more of those showing up, I had to make sure nothing would happen to this pony. Like it or not, I would have to act as a silent body guard for this pony. I growled at the realization as I eyed the pony standing in front of his new house. A few more weeks passed as the pony gathered plants and took them to his home, so far, nothing serious happened, until one day. I was out flying around as usual, making my way to that ponies house to see when he would emerge and venture out to the forest. I arrived at the house just in time to see him exit and head down the path along the side of the cliff going from his house to the forest. I followed silently, making sure he didn’t see me. I wanted to go down there so bad and tear him apart, but I knew I couldn’t, I had to make sure he would survive so others wouldn’t come. The first threat that emerged he seemed completely oblivious to was a large snake slithering up behind him. I quickly flew down and grabbed the snake in my magic aura, I then gave it a toss and sent it flying over the canopy. The fool continued on with his observations of the plants. “Most fascinating, this one seems to exhibit intellect.” He said as he examined a snake vine. I knew he would be all right as long as he didn’t make any sudden movements. Thankfully, he moved on to something else without incident. Soon after, another threat emerged. This one, the pony became very aware of. A low growl came from a bush near him as I watched from a branch overhead. The pony grew fearful. “Oh my, I don’t like the sound of that.” He slowly turned his head to the direction of the growling. A timberwolf then jumped out at him. “AAHHH, what in the name of Celestia IS that!?” He cried. Then a whole pack of them came out in front of him. He slowly started to back up. One of the wolves followed. The pony lost it and ran for it, the timberwolves gave chase. This was my chance to save his sorry flank. As much as I wanted to let those timberwolves tear into him, I had to save him. So while he ran, I placed myself in front of the pack and halted their chase. “Hello bark brains, remember me?” I looked over the pack and saw at least five of them. This was going to be easy. One lunged for me, I quickly jumped up with my wings and crashed down on it with full force, shattering it to pieces. Two more came at me, I formed my shadow tentacles from the ground and grabbed them in mid-jump, I gave them a hard toss to the rest of the pack and caused them to shatter. They soon reformed and growled at me. “Round two, fine by me.” the whole pack was now in front of me. They all charged at me, I put up a shadow wall before they got close and they slammed into it. They fell to the ground, I picked the whole pack up in my aura and tossed them far away. “And don’t let me catch you around here again!” I yelled at them. I then turned around and flew off to find that pony to make sure he was ok. After a while of flying, I caught up to him as he was sitting on a rock, breathing heavily. “Sweet Celestia, what were those things, I’m going to have to be more careful around here, but how did I lose them? I was sure they were right on my tail.” I was once again watching from a tree looking down on him. “I’d better send a report about those things to the princess.” I was starting to grow curious about who this princess Celestia was, I figured I could find out more if I kept an eye on this pony, maybe even sneak into his house and look around. I followed him back to his house and used my shadow sneak ability to hide in his shadow when he went back inside. I followed him as he went to a cage set up in the room with a pigeon in it. “Hello Alexander, did you miss me? I had a close call.” He spoke to the bird. He went over to a desk and sat on his flank. I took this opportunity to look at the inside of his house, I slunk away from him and stuck to the shadows as best I could so as not to be seen. “My dearest princess Celestia, I am reporting to you on my findings of the forest you asked me to investigate, this forest may be more dangerous than the Everfree, I had a close call with wolves made of wood. It was very strange, their entire body was made of wood with green glowing eyes and leaves and moss on them. They chased me down, but I somehow lost them. There are, however, very interesting plants here, unlike anything in Equestria. I will continue my investigation of this place for you and send regular reports when I find something new.” I heard him say as he wrote down something. He then got up and had a parchment in his magical grasp as he went over to the bird. “Ok Alexander, I need you to deliver a letter for me, are you ready?” The bird responded with a coo. “All right then, I know you can do it.” He then opened the cage and took the bird out. He then attached the parchment to the bird’s leg and went to another room, I followed him through a pair of double doors, he went to the left and through a glass door onto a stone balcony. He then let the bird fly off. I also noticed the room was full of books. There were shelves of books lining each of the walls of the room. There was a large bed there too and a fireplace. I explored more of the house afterwards in secret out of curiosity, there was a smaller glass house attached to the big one where the entrance was to the right of the front doors, the glass house was full of plants, the plants in there were ones that were found in the forest, they were all on white tables lining the walls. After a good look around there, I snuck my way to a room with a white floor that had a large black metal object with pieces of wood in it, I snuck to another door that led downstairs into a room that had stone walls, a large wooden table on it and wooden bowls. I also noticed two large metal tanks in the basement with those large metal tubes. I figured I’d seen enough, so I snuck back upstairs, went to the front doors, and snuck under them to leave. I got out of my shadow and flew off into the forest. I stayed close to the house though, in case that pony decided to explore the forest more for today. The days went on as I continued to act as this pony’s silent guardian. It pained me to do so, but I had to, otherwise, others would come and I could be found out. I continued to protect him in secret from the timberwolves, snakes, poisonous plants, and other dangers of the forest. The pony was growing suspicious of how he had managed to get by without at least a scratch, but he was too interested in his work. I was still clueless as to why he wanted to learn what he was about this forest. One day, while I was out, in the forest making my way to the pony’s house, I heard a scream. “AAAAHHHH!” I quickly veered toward the direction of the scream, knowing it had to be that stupid pony I was watching. I managed to find him, but he was in a bad situation. The trolls found him and were carrying him in the same way I was carried when I was first captured by them. I followed silently, I couldn’t let that pony know about me, so I had to wait for the opportune moment to strike so he wouldn’t know who saved him. I heard him trying to talk with the trolls. “Please kind sir, I’m sure we’re both reasonable creatures, perhaps we could work out a deal, you let me go, and I could…..um……give you something. I have some very valuable items I’m sure you’d like.” “Fat chance, your what we want, the chief is gonna be pleased that we found something like this.” The Troll carrying the pony said. I followed them up to the troll village where I stopped and watched them go in. I was unable to find an opportunity to save him in secret during the trek here. I was furious now, these trolls have caused me enough problems in the past, the last thing I needed was them making a meal of a creature that could draw unwanted attention with its disappearance. I had to act directly now. I trotted up to the two troll guards and spoke. “HEY, FATSOS, let me in, I want a word with your chief!” The two trolls eyed me carfully. Then burst out laughing. “BA HAHAHAHA, yeah right, and who are you to demand that, HA HA HA HA!” “Hey, do ya think the chief would want this as a side dish for that other thing the hunters caught?” the other troll guard asked. I glared at them. “Listen you two, I am in NO mood to be messed with, let me in or else!” “Sorry squirt, but you ain’t getting in.” The first guard said, he then raised his spear and charged at me. I stood my ground as he came at me. I charged my horns with my magic and fired a black bolt at him. I left a big hole right in the center of his chest as he fell over dead. The remaining guard looked at his fallen comrade in fear, then at me. “Well, don’t just stand there, open the gate and let me in.” I said to the guard. He simply nodded and opened the gate for me. I strolled in and made my way through the camp. As I did, the other troll guards inside kept trying to stop me, but I just kept tossing them aside with my magic or blasting them back without killing them. They soon realized I was too much for them and left me alone. By then, I was now standing in front of the chief. “What is the meaning of this, how dare you come in here and attack my guards, who are you anyway?!” The chief asked angrily. “My name is Nightshade, and your hunters took something they shouldn’t have, a pony, similar to me in shape, but has one horn. He has a green coat and a blue mane and tail. I demand you let him go this instant!” “And why should I, my hunters found him fair and square, he’ll make a nice snack.” “Because I said so, that’s why.” I gave a snort through my nose. The chief then eyed me curiously. “Hold on, do I know you?” “Doubt it, I’ve never seen your ugly face before.” The chief glared at me for my insult. “Now I know who you are, there has been a story going around this village for years about some creature that could manipulate shadows, he was a friend to an old chief once but betrayed him and ran off.” I slowly looked away. Then glared back at the chief. “That’s old news, something that happened years ago, now are you going to let that pony go, or do I have to beat you into the ground.” “Why do you want him free so bad, is he a friend of yours?” “No, I just can’t afford to have him dying on me, don’t make me say it again, LET….HIM….GO!” The chief smirked. “Tell you what, if you can beat me in a fight, I’ll let him go, if you lose, then you can become dessert.” I gave another snort through my nose. “Fine, you’re on.” The chief stood up from his chair and picked up a club that was leaning against it. He came down the steppes and looked down at me. “You’re gonna regret this small fry.” He then raised his club high over his head with both hands and brought it down with all his might. I quickly formed two shadow tentacles and crossed them over my head. The club came down on them and I grunted a little from the strain. I could see the determination in the chiefs eyes. I quickly forced my tentacles up which caused the chief to raise his club involuntarily. He was wide open, so I quickly launched myself forward and slammed into his gut, sending him flying backwards into a crowd of trolls that were watching. I flew over to him and landed on his stomach, I walked up to his head and looked him in the eye. “Care to try that again, I’m tougher than I look.” “So, that doesn’t mean you can’t be beat.” The chief quickly moved his right hand and grabbed me. I was surprised by this and started to struggle to get out. “HAH, not so tough now, are you?” The Chief asked smugly. He got up and picked up his club in his other hand. I then stopped my struggling and smirked at him. “What are you smiling at?” I then focused my magic in my horns and disappeared from his grasp, I teleported myself to the roof of the chief's hut. “HEY WART FACE, YOU LOOKING FOR SOMETHING!” I called down to him. He turned around and looked up at me, he snarled. “GET DOWN HERE YOU LITTLE PEST!” “You asked for it!” I jumped in the air, formed my four shadow tentacles around my neck, and had the points connect in front of me. I dove at the chief while the shadow cone I made spun. The chief raised his club in defense, I plowed right through it and shattered it, however, it threw my aim off and I only managed to graze his right shoulder. I did leave a good size gash though. “GAH!” The chief cried out as he dropped to one knee and held his left hand over his wound. “You ready to give up yet?” I asked He glared at me over his shoulder. “Not a chance.” He stood back up and another troll came up to him and gave him a large sword that he had to hold with two hands. He took a stance with the sword pointing up at an angle. “I’m gonna make you regret coming in here.” “Bring it on bubble gut.” The troll chief raised his sword as he gave a battle cry and charged at me. “RRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!” He swung down, I dodged left, he raised his sword to try and get my head, I ducked, he swung down again, I dodged right, I flew up and gave an uppercut to his jaw with my left hoof. The chief stumbled back a bit. He looked at me with one eye as I gave a glare. “YAAAAAHHHH!” He charged at me again, he swung his sword from left to right, I flew up to dodge, the chief swung from right to left, I flew down, he swung down again, I dodged right and quickly turned around and bucked him in his chest with all my might. The buck caused him great pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. I took the opportunity to go for a finishing blow. I flew up and came down hard with my left hind leg for a kick to the face. I sent him flying backwards into a weapon rack set up in front of the hut. The rack shattered and the chief had spears and swords laying on him. He groaned as his eyes spun around in his head. “OOooooohhhhh.” He then fell unconscious. “Looks like I win.” I then looked around at the surrounding trolls. “Well, I won, so one of you better go get that pony and let him go, or do I have to get rough with the rest of you!” I heard the trolls chatter in agreement. One of them stepped forward and headed for the chief’s hut. Before he got to it, I had to say something. “HOLD IT!” The troll stopped in his tracks and turned to face me. “Wait for me to get on the roof, then go in and get him. And whatever you do, DON’T say a word to him about me. Just take him to the gate and let him go, I’ll be watching you. If you even think of trying anything, I’ll take your head, GOT IT!” The troll gave an audible gulp and nodded. “Good.” He then went inside and I flew up to the roof. I watched as the troll carried the pony out of the hut. “Um, excuse me, but where are you taking me?” The pony asked. “Today’s your lucky day fella, you get to leave.” The troll told the pony. “Really, but…..well, thank you.” “Just keep your mouth shut.” I followed silently as the troll carried the pony through the village and to the gate. The gate opened and the troll just tossed the pony out, then went back in with the gate closing behind him. The pony landed flat on his stomach. “Goodness, that was rude, still, I suppose I should be grateful they let me go. But why, I was sure they were going to cook me up. And what happened to their leader, I saw him unconscious in that heap. Maybe somepony IS watching out for me.” I just watched as the pony walked away from the troll village, I kept following him for a while until he stopped. “Oh dear, I just realized something, I have no idea where I am now, how will I ever get back to my house?” I facehoofed. It was then my shadow appeared next to me. “Well Nightshade, it looks like you WILL have to make you presence known, you’ll have to lead him back to his house.” I groaned as I realized this. Letting this pony know I was around was the very thing I was trying to avoid. But now I had to, so I could lead him back. “I just know this is going to come back and bite me in the flank.” I glided down and landed right in front of the pony. He gave out a yelp and fell to the ground, covering his head with his hooves. “GAH!” “For the love of…….GET UP, you stupid pony.” I was really annoyed with this one. He raised a hoof and peeked out from under his forelegs. “Who…..who are you, you don’t want to eat me too do you?” He asked in fear. I gave a sigh. “*Sigh* Look here, if you want to get back to your place, then follow me.” He then removed both hooves from his head and looked at me curiously. “You…..you’re going to lead me back, but why, who are you?” “Does it matter, all you need to know is that I’m here to lead you back to your place, so I suggest you get up and follow me.” He then stood up. “Now hold on, I am very grateful for your assistance, but I simply must know who you are. Please kind sir, I must know who my helper is.” I gave a snort of frustration. “If you must know, my name is Nightshade, now get moving, I’ve very little patience.” He gave me a smile. “Thank you Nightshade, I am Keen Eye, a pleasure to meet you. Tell me, do you live here?” We began walking as I answered. “Every rock, every tree, every branch and plant, every inch of this forest is my home, I know this place so well, I could navigate it with my eyes closed. So yes, I live here.” “Fascinating. And are there others like you?” I hung my head. “There used to be.” I said quietly. “I’m….sorry, what happened…..wait, something about you seems familiar.” I froze in my tracks. My head shot up at his words. I quickly turned around and faced him. “What do you mean there’s something familiar about me?......did you see others like me?” I asked, hope was evident in my voice, could it be that there were survivors of the horrid event that took everything away from me that I missed, I was sure I saw all my family dead. “Um, no.” My eyes fell to half lidded. “Wait, how could you not know whether there were others like me or not?” He gave me a confused look. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, how COULD I know. I’ve never seen anything like you before.” I glared at him. “Because, it was YOUR kind that destroyed my world, it was YOUR kind that killed my family and took everything away from me.” I said as I started stomping toward him, he started backing up with fear on his face. “I….I….I’m afraid I don’t know what you’r talking about…..please calm down.” “Don’t know what I’m talking about…..DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT?! HOW COULD THE EXTERMINATION OF AN ENTIRE RACE GO FORGOTTEN SO EASILY, MY ENTIRE WORLD WAS DESTROYED BY YOU CREATURES AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL MY YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!?” “P-p-p-please…..I-I swear I don’t know…….WAIT, I-I-I just remembered something……y-y-you w-wouldn’t happen to be a shadow walker, would you?” I got in his face and spoke through my teeth. “How do you know that?” “I-I do have something that tells of a clan of creatures called shadow walkers.” I backed up and looked down at him through narrowed eyes. “Show me.” “Of-of course, come, let us make haste to my place and I will show you.” After a long arduous walk, we made it to Keen Eye’s house. He went up to the door first and opened it for me. “Welcome to my humble abode, where I live while I’m studying this forest.” “I don’t care about that, just show me this book you mentioned.” “Yes, of course, right this way.” He led me to the room with the walls of books. “Before I show you, I would like to ask something.” “What?” “Do you know how your kind first came to being, I do have a book that seems to tell of the origins of the shadow walker.” “All I care about is this book you mentioned. Now show it to me.” “Very well.” He then walked up to a shelf on the far right wall, pulled on a book, and the shelf came forward a bit, then moved to the side. A small alcove was reveled with a black book on a stand. “Here we are. Take a look.” I walked forward and levitated the book out of the alcove, I held it in front of me and began to read. I couldn’t believe it, this book told of the tragedy I had gone through, it had no mention of me, but it spoke of how my whole tribe was wiped out by some beast king. Once I was done, I quickly turned around and faced Keen Eye. “Where did you get this?” “It was a gift, from a friend of mine.” “WHO….WROTE……THIS?!” Keen Eye was cringing. “St-Starswirl the Bearded, he said I could have it as a gift for my hard work and studies.” “Where is he, where can I find this Starswirl the bearded.” “Now hold on, if you go after him, you should know that he is VERY talented with magic, he is very powerful, he even managed to create spells that could manipulated time, or send one through time.” That caught my attention. “Are you saying that this…..Starswirl the Bearded could travel through time?” “Um……yes?” Another spark of hope emerged in me. But I kept my feelings in check. “Where can I find him?” “Now see here, you may have helped me get back home, but with this attitude of yours, I’m not sure I should tell you, what do you plan to do if you should find him?” I glared at Keen Eye. “Listen here you one horned freak, I have been keeping your sorry flank safe this whole time you’ve been here, I fought off those timberwolves, kept you safe from snakes, kept poisonous plants back, AAAAND, I’m the whole reason you’re not a trolls main course. So you owe me a lot. Now tell me…..WHERE IS HE?!” “Y-You, YOU’VE been keeping me safe this whole time…..but why?” “Because I figure if anything were to happen to you, others would come looking for you, and the last thing I want is more of your kind in MY forest. Now are you going to tell me where I can find Starswirl or not?” “A-A-All right, I’ll tell you, he is princess Celestia’s personal advisor, he lives at Canterlot castle, the capitol of Equestria. Just south of here.” “Listen you little waste of space, it took all my energy not to rip into you myself after what your kind did to my kind, so I suggest you stay here while I’m gone so you don’t get yourself killed. Stay out of my forest and don’t leave this house…do I make myself clear?” He nodded. “Good, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, so just stay put.” I then left and made my way out of the house. I took to the air and headed south for this Canterlot place.