//------------------------------// // 327Years, 42 Days Ago // Story: Tales From Blackwood Forest // by Robobrony //------------------------------// 327 Years, 42 Days The years just rolled by as time went on, I read every single book in that library that I now called my own, I learned about how to utilize the plants in the greenhouse to make healing potions and salves, my powers only grew as time went on as well. I had lost track of time in my solitude, the days just seemed to mesh together. The words that unicorn I met said stuck with me though, I’m not sure why. Hope, that one word stuck with me, hope that I would one day find a mare that would end my loneliness, free my emotions and help me rebuild what I lost. I wanted to forget it, I didn’t see how such a thing could happen, but it still stuck with me no matter what. Eventually, I managed to just lock it away in my mind, it was still there, just not as prominent as it used to be. I still paid regular visits to my parents grave and my clans home on a weekly basis, I have been since the incident with the dragon. Thanks to the books, I also learned about certain plants that only grew in a forest called the Everfree forest in the country called Equestria, I visited that forest once in a while to find the plants there as well. Luckily, it wasn’t near any pony settlements so I didn’t have to worry too much about any of them wandering into the forest while I was there. In a forest where the only life are plants, animals, a few trolls, and myself, nothing much happened. The rest of the years that went by were uneventful and quiet…..I liked it like that. But today, something did happen. I was out in the forest looking for plants to use for potions. This became my hobby in my solitude. While I was out and about, I had ventured a little further into the forest then I usually do, I was looking for a rare plant that grew in that part of the forest. As I was looking, I heard a rustle off behind a few bushes. I was wearing the blue cloak at the time with my hood up, I had taken to wearing it every time I went out. I made my way to the bushes and saw something I never thought I would see again, it was a pony. A Pegasus mare with a yellow coat, two shades of grey in her mane and tail, and she was wearing a tan shirt with a pith helmet. The mark on her flank was like a compass. I couldn’t believe it. My anger and fear flared up, but I kept my composure. The mare had gotten herself tangled in some vines, she struggled to get out. “Gh, stupid vines, let GO!” Little did she know, she got caught by snake vines, vines with a mind, and they weren’t about to let her go while she struggled. “Hmpf, what’s a pony doing here?” I asked myself. My shadow appeared next to me. “Don’t you think you should help her?” “Again with this, look, I don’t like those ponies, all right, they took everything away from me, how many times do I have to say it. She can just hang there till the timberwolves come for all I care.” “But Nightshade, this could be the mare Starswirl was talking about.” “I don’t CARE ABOUT THAT!” I accidentally shouted. “Who’s there, hello, I could really use some help here.” The mare asked. I rolled my eyes under my hood, I might as well let her know I’m here. I emerged from the bushes and spoke to her. “What are you doing here pony?” I spat the last word out. She didn’t seem to notice as she answered. “Look, can you help me out here please?” “Why should I, I don’t know you.” “Oh come on, help a fellow pony out.” I said nothing to that comment. “Like I said, why should I help you? You’re trespassing in my forest.” She looked at me with confusion. “Your forest?” “Yes, my forest.” “How is this your forest?” I sighed in annoyance. “*Sigh* I live here, I know every inch of this forest, hence, this is my forest, and your trespassing, so why should I help you?” She gave me a pout. “Are you really going to leave a helpless mare in this mess all by her lonesome?” “Come on Nightshade, what harm could it do?” I snorted. I turned to walk away, as I did, I heard the mare speak and she seemed to panic a little. “WAIT, look, if you help me out, I’ll…..share the treasure with you.” I looked at her from over my shoulder. “Treasure, what treasure?” “I’m an explorer, I found clues that point to a lost civilization where there’s supposed to be a magical artifact. If we get it, we could get some serious bits for it.” I turned back to face her. I figured this lost civilization she was talking about was my village. “What do you know about this lost civilization, do you know what the inhabitants were called?” “If you get me down, I’ll tell you all I know.” “Fine, I’ll help you, but you better not waste my time.” “Thanks, now get me out of here please.” “Just stop struggling.” “What?” “I said, stop struggling, the more you move around, the more they’ll hold onto you and eventually start crushing you.” “What kind of vines are these?!” She asked in a panic. “Snake vines, now stop…..struggling. They’ll let you go once you do.” The mare finally ceased her moving. After a moment, the vines suddenly let her go and she just dropped to the ground. “OOF! Ow.” She looked up at me with a smile. “Thanks.” She raised her hoof, I assume she was expecting me to help her up……..I didn’t. She got the message and stood up on her own. “Ok then, well, thanks for helping me out of that.” “I helped you, now you tell me what you know about this civilization.” “Right, anyway, supposedly, many many years ago, there were these ponies that lived in a stone made city, they worshiped gods and held ceremonies to celebrate the good fortunes they believe the gods gave them.” Upon hearing this, I knew it wasn’t my clan, we didn’t worship gods, and we didn’t hold ceremonies. “Supposedly, the gods gave the ponies a magical artifact that would grant them whatever they wanted, their heart’s desire.” This got my attention. “Their heart’s desire? You mean this artifact could grant wishes?” “I know, it sounds crazy right, but if I can get it and bring it back to Equestria, every pony could enjoy looking at a piece of legend.” I cocked an eyebrow under my hood. “Don’t you think it would be dangerous to bring something like that to other ponies?” “What do you mean?” “Think about it, what if some evil pony got their hooves on it, they could end up ruling everything.” She laughed at me. “HA HA, yeah right, it doesn’t really grant wishes, it’s just a piece of old history that was left behind a long time ago, something like that is very valuable. I just want to get it so others can enjoy seeing something that was a part of a long forgotten race of ponies.” “Then it seems your wasting my time, have fun with the trolls, I’m out of here.” I was about to leave, but she called out to me. “WAIT, I could really use your help with this.” I just looked at her. “Look, I don’t know my way around this forest, it’s hard for me to find the place from the air because of the canopy of the trees are so thick, and I can’t navigate this forest from ground level, if you know this forest, then I could really use your help. Come on, we could have the adventure of a lifetime.” “I’m not interested in adventure.” “Well, I could pay you for your troubles, this thing is sure to earn us a lot of bits.” “I’m not interested in money either, everything I need is right here.” “Oh come on, what will it take to get you to help me out, I could really use it.” “Nothing you have to offer me.” “Surely there must be something.” “There isn’t, now if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to take care of.” “WAIT!” “What now!” I yelled in annoyance. “What if I said I lied about the artifact not being magical.” This mare was starting to get on my nerves. “Then you were a fool for lying to me.” “I’m sorry all right, but I could really use your help.” I glared at her. “You better be straight with me pony, cause I’m getting very tired of this, can this thing grant wishes or not?” She sighed in defeat. “Fine, I’ll be straight with you. To be honest, I’m not sure. There is a chance it could do what the legends say, but I don’t believe that stuff.” A chance, a chance to grant one’s heat’s desire, could this mare really be the one Starswirl said I would meet, could this mare really be the one who could help me restore my family? I didn’t want to, but something in me told me to at least see if this could be real, I mean…….we’re talking about a chance to restore all I lost. I spoke so she knew I meant business. “This better be for real, or I’ll toss your sorry flank to the trolls and let them turn you into a snack.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “What’s a troll?” “You don’t want know, so this better not be a wild goose chase, or you will find out. Now, where is this place supposed to be, because I don’t recall seeing any civilization around here.” She reached into a pocket on her shirt with a hoof and pulled out a small book. She looked through it. “Let’s see, according to what I’ve managed to gather we’re supposed to head through the heart of the forest and go north from there. I think the heart of it is west from here.” I didn’t like the sound of that, the heart of the forest was where my home was, where my family and clan was buried. I tried to ask if there might be another way. “Why don’t we just head North West and save on time?” She shook her head. “Because we don’t know how far up this place could be, we could end up passing by the way we’re supposed to go straight up or something.” “Fine, to the heart of the forest then, just follow me and stay close. It’s a long way there so by the time we get there, it will be night fall.” “Great, thanks for the help.” “Whatever.” “Since we’re buddies now, we should introduce ourselves, I’m Daring Do, explorer extrordinair, what’s your name?” “We’re not buddies, let’s just go.” I started walking. “Hey, wait up!” She started flying next to me lazily as I walked. “So why live in a forest anyway?” “It’s the perfect place to find solitude so I’m not pestered by unwanted guests.” I opted to walk because I didn’t want to expose my wings to her. “Why would you want to live alone, that sounds dull. No pony to talk to, no one to share a laugh with, it must be boring.” “I get by just fine.” I saw her cock an eyebrow at me. “So what’s your name again, I didn’t catch it?” “I didn’t throw it, can you just stop talking while we go?” She stopped flying and landed, she stood there while I kept walking a bit. “What’s your problem?” I stopped in my tracks and looked back at her. “My problem is that there’s an annoying pony asking me annoying questions, and I would like to get this little trip over with as soon as possible.” I started walking again. I heard her start as well. We managed to make the trek through the forest without incident, and thankfully, she got the hint I wasn’t much for talking. The sun was starting to set as we drew close to my old home. She stopped when she noticed the dragon bones that were once a dragon who wanted to make my village his home. “WHOA, what happened here?” “Does it matter, it’s the remains of a dragon.” “But look at its ribs. It looks like something just plowed right through it.” “It doesn’t matter, its DEAD, let’s just head into the village and set up camp for the night.” “Right….wait….village, what village?” I kept walking, she followed. Once we entered she was a little amazed at the sight. “No way, did we find the place already? AWESOME!” “Save your excitement, this village has been here for centuries, there no treasure to be found here so don’t bother asking.” She looked at me with a bit of surprise. “You know about this place? You just gotta tell me what you know!” She asked with excitement. I was surprised she didn’t know anything about this, I thought what happened between my clan and the ponies would be history. “Don’t you know about it already?” “How could I, I’ve never heard of a place like this in a forest.” I wasn’t very happy about that, I couldn’t believe these ponies. An army of them shows up out of nowhere, wipes out my entire clan, disappears, and the descendants don’t even know about it? My clan was just wiped out and forgotten, then again, why should I care if these ponies knew about what their ancestors did. “Never mind then, let’s just get some wood together for a fire.” “Ok, but you just gotta tell me about this place afterwards.” We both went off to gather wood as the sun was setting. We got the wood piled up at the center of my village and sat around the fire. It provided a warm glow once the sun was gone. “Well, there we go, a nice warm fire, now come on, you gotta at least tell me your name, I’ve got to call you something.” “If you must know, it’s Nightshade.” She smiled at me. “Nice name.” The moon soon rose up and over us, it was a half-moon tonight, the lunar lilys bloomed and started glowing around us. I just looked around at them, then back to the fire, Daring just looked in awe at them. “Whoa, that is beautiful, what are these, I’ve never seen flowers like these before.” “They’re called lunar lilies, they only bloom at night when the moon is out, and they only grow here in this part of the forest.” She looked back at me with a smile. “How come?” “That is all I know about them, I don’t know why they only grow here, they just do.” “Speaking of which, you still need to tell me what this place is, where did it come from, who lived here?” I could tell she wasn’t going to leave me alone until I told her. “Why do you care so much, it should just be an old ancient stone city falling apart to you, why do you care what it used to be?” “Because, I like learning about historical things, this place must have been something when it wasn’t falling apart like this.” Those words seemed to get to me, she seemed to see it as more than just crumbling ruins. I thought for a moment as to whether or not I should tell her, I figured there wasn’t really any harm. “Let me ask you something. Have you ever heard of a race called the shadow walkers?” “No, who were they, are they the ones that lived here?” “Yes, they were a race of peaceful creatures that could manipulate the shadows and travel through them. They lived in this place in peace and happiness.” She looked at me with a sad expression. “What happened to them?” “They were wiped out nearly seventeen hundred years ago.” “Wiped out, that’s terrible, how did it happen?” “Does it matter, it’s ancient history, something that happened a long time ago, it doesn’t matter what happened.” “It does to me, it sounded like what happened to them was unfair, why did a race of peaceful ponies get wiped out, something like that should never have happened.” I looked to her with a bit of surprise. She actually thought what happened to my clan was wrong. Was I wrong about my assumption of these ponies? I pushed that thought away. “Since you’re so interested, I’ll tell you, it was your ancestors that did it.” “What, my ancestors, what do you mean?” “I mean pony kind, it was an army of ponies that did it. They came in the night and slaughtered every last one of them.” “Whoa, I…I had no idea. That’s terrible, why did they do that?” “I don’t know why, all I know is they did, and destroyed so many innocent lives.” I saw her look away with a frown. Was she actually about to cry? I couldn’t believe it, this pony was actually sad about what happened. She looked back up to me. “How do you know all this, no pony has ever heard of something like that happening, so how do you know?” “How I know doesn’t matter, I just know.” “You had to have learned it somewhere, how can you know about something that no other pony knows about? Especially when you’re living alone and isolated from others. Come on Nightshade, you can tell me.” “It doesn’t matter. I know and that’s all there is to it.” I was starting to get annoyed with her persistence. “Come on, please Nightshade, you can tell me, if it’s a secret how you found out, I won’t tell any pony, please.” I snapped. I glared at her from under my hood. “BECAUSE I WAS THERE ALL RIGHT?!” She recoiled at my shout. I softened my voice as I spoke. “I was there when it happened, I saw the whole thing.” “But….but you said that happened seventeen hundred years ago, how could you have been there?” She was looking both shocked and confused at my words. “Can we just get some sleep? I’m tired.” I said with annoyance. “Nightshade, you seemed very adamant about not helping me until I brought up the fact that what we’re going after could grant wishes, nothing else swayed you, what is it you’re hoping to wish for?” “Good night pony.” I said in a way to try and let her know I wasn’t wanting to talk anymore as I lay down with my side facing her and my head away from the fire. “You said you were there, but that should be impossible, and if you were there, why, how?” She stopped a moment. “Are you…..are you one of the shadow walkers?” I sighed, she figured it out, she was a smart one, I’ll give her that. I lifted my head and looked at her. “Not one of, last of, my clan was wiped out by your kind and I was the only survivor, that’s why I live here in this forest, these ruins used to be my home.” She looked at me with sad eyes again. “Nightshade, I…I’m so sorry…I had no idea.” “You’re sorry? Why are you sorry, since when do ponies show compassion, none of you showed compassion as your kind tore through my home and slaughtered my clan, killing the young and old alike.” “Nightshade, I had nothing to do with it.” “No, but your kind did, they killed my family and left me alone, I’m alive because my parents sacrificed themselves for my sake.” “But…how are you still alive if that happened so many years ago? As far as I know, only alicorns are immortal. Are you an alicorn?” “Alicorns are ponies, I’m no pony, I’m a shadow walker, though I suppose I am the equivalent of an alicorn, I have magic and wings like them, but I’m much different from them.” “Like how?” I walked up to her, I lowered my hood so she could see my face, my horns were now visible and my slitted eyes shone in the light of the fire. I then spread out my wings from under my cloak. She looked at me surprised. “Whoa….I……um.” She was speechless. “If you think I’m going to let you finish what your ancestors started, you better think again, your just one pony against an angry shadow walker with magic and shadows at his disposal.” I then formed four shadow tentacles around me to show her I meant business. She looked scared then. “WAIT, Nightshade, I swear, I didn’t know anything about all that, I’m not here to kill you, I didn’t even know about what you were till you showed me. I’m truly sorry about what happened to you and your clan! No pony should have to go through what you did.” I dismissed my shadow tentacles. “If you’re truly sorry, then you’ll help me get this artifact. If it can do what you say, then I can use it to get my family back and restore my clan. Once I do, then you can just take off and leave. Understand me.” She gave me a determined look and a smile. “Nightshade, I swear I will do whatever it takes to help you get it.” I tucked my wings back down and went back to my spot. I kept my head facing forward as I spoke. “If you try anything suspicious, I will kill you.” “I understand Nightshade, and I promise I won’t, I will help in any way I can.” I laid down and closed my eyes for the night.