//------------------------------// // The curiosity of Mares, what could happen? // Story: The Witch of the Everfree Forest! // by FLUTTERxxDASH //------------------------------// The Witch of the Everfree Forest! Written By Serra Quill Ninety-six Years ago. Many years living alone without your family is very lonesome indeed, especially when you have lived for thousands of years, so, of course, there is always that familiar hole deep within that aches for nourishment. Too bad in this case it really bit her back, damn curious thoughts, wanting to find out how society has fared in the last three hundred years... Why did I forget what happened last time? The tall women sighed as she walked through her wooden door and into her familiar home. As she sat down the sound of footsteps came closer, "Mom? Are you alright?" She turned her head to see her son, his small purple chubby cheeks had an orange glow from the reflection of the fire. Twilight sighed as she sat up and levitated him onto her lap, "Yes... Now I am Spike, it’s just been a rough day. Did you know so much has changed? They now use stones so that roads are flat. The walls are alive with colours of many hues, pinks and purples and many other colours," she said as she bopped his nose with a finger. "But alas, society is quite... loud for my taste. I much prefer the forest and natural resources it brings us. Too bad that you didn't see this place thousands of years ago Spike, it was so beautiful, the rivers ran far and wide and the trees and wilderness were alive even at night time" Spike leant into his Mum as he curled up, "What happened that was stressful though?" Spike asked. He was never Star Swirl when it came to picking up traits and such, but he knows when someone isn’t quite feeling themselves. Twilight sighed again, I have to stop doing that, a horrible tick it is. "It seems I was seen on my way back into the forest, someone had caught a glimpse of me returning to cat form and casting my light magic" "Is that a bad thing?" "No, but I am sure they will have been shocked by the magic they saw and with a woman going back through a forest deemed too dangerous by the Princess herself. If it comes to it, I will just have to visit her majesty and fix the little problem, after all, we can't have anyone wandering into a place such as this without caution, I still haven't subdued all of the predators of this place" Spike nuzzled further into her fur coat as she pulled a small cover made out of woven green wool over the two of them, "Are we going to have to move from the forest Mum?" "No, sweetheart, it won't be that bad" The edge of the Everfree, twenty-four Years ago. Padded paws placed carefully as tufts of purple hair came through the tall grass, Twilight lay in the bushes as she watched the people of Ponyville talk. People seemed to wear very strange clothing; bell bottomed leggings and ghastly tops of many colors were somehow in style at this moment in time... Such ghastly clothing, I wish I had never had slipped into that clothing shop and shocked those assistants. The group of people had been coming back time and again to the same spot, one in particular with very strange hair, it was zig-zagged... Cheerilee I think the others called her. Apparently, since the night she was seen many were infatuated with the speculation of a ghost or apparition that many had seen leading into the dangerous forest. Twilight had watched them for the last few days, sometimes nights even, as they watched and discussed what they saw. They were looking for the "Faerie"; by deduction Twilight came to the idea somehow the locals were referring to her as such. It wasn't long before the few became many. People would come and sit around fires as they ate and watched the stars and wilderness for any signs that Twilight was nearby, if only they knew she actually sat eating her own prepared meal just a few yards away. It was odd though. This town was so close to the Everfree and with the strange new behaviour the populace had it was definitely curious that Celestia had not come as of yet. Small as it may be, it was still a worry that these people would stumble into the woods soon in search of her... They would not fare too well with its inhabitants. Cheerilee sat on the cool grass as the wind blew past her face, the low blue light from the moon shone down into the meadow just by the Everfree as she ate her sandwich. Rose had told her of something she had seen and had been dragged to with her, her words being what's better than a new mythical being... Sure, it was a far-fetched idea, but it was a fun thing to do, Rose would always bring an assortment of treats as Lyra and BonBon came to sit with them. They would usually just watch the stars and eventually head home, it was a nice thing to do with friends, it's not like there really can be anything like... A cat? Twilight heard footsteps coming closer, strange, no one would dare come closer to the Everfree would they? She thought as she turned to see the hands of Cheerilee grabbing her around the waist. She struggled slightly and she was picked from the bush but still ended up being pressed tightly against the women in the death vice like a hug. Why did this woman just come over and grab me? Cheerilee looked at the cat as it turned its head around to meet her, two eyes locked in a look of disdain, "What's a little kitty doing by the-" she stopped as she noticed a small feature on the cat, a horn. "That's new, I have never seen a cat with a horn before, wonder what Rose would think?" she said as she went to turn. Twilight, though, had other plans as she slightly nipped at her hand. Cheerilee dropped her and Twilight dashed away into the forest. Cheerilee looked at her hand, two small red dots were forming, she looked up to the wall of trees as to where the cat had disappeared, "kitty?" A few minutes later when Twilight had gotten far enough into the forest, she stopped and looked around, I’m not too far from home. I guess they won't come in but that girl will definitely become a problem if she sees me again. Twilight would have begun her walk home if it were not for the scream that emanated from behind her, followed by a low brittle growl that she knew all too well, a damned chimaera. Twilight shifted back into her normal form so she could run faster, trees passing by in a flurry of green and blue hues as she sped along. She was just in time to see the girl who had picked her up had fallen to the floor unconscious in front of a large snarling beast. The beast growled and bleated and hissed all at once, the noise was volatile and the sight was none the less worse off. The lion head went in for the first bite just before an arcane light with purple highlights flourished from the shadows, sending the beast tumbling through the underbrush and skidding to a halt. The beast reared its heads back up and snarled as Twilight came into view. In a matter of seconds, the creature's world turned upside down, it lay with its belly facing the skies, wondering how it went from running at the pony who stopped it from getting a meal to looking up at her. "You're quite big for a chimaera. Luckily I found you before you did something you would regret. Now, get up," Twilight said as she helped the creature turnover, it was quite confused at this moment in time until it got a better view of Twilight. Suddenly the beast went from lion to kitten in ten seconds flat as it held its head's low in submission, "We are sorry lady of the forest, we are hungry and saw the meat, we did not know meat belong to the lady of the forest," the lion head said along with nods from the other two. "She does not belong to me, but-" "So we can eatsss it?" the snake asked with glee. "No, they are still a person, you hunt animals in my forest young ladies," Twilight said sternly as the chimaera grumbled something too quiet to understand, "Now go on, get going before I call my boy to get you out of here" The chimaera turned on its claws before looking on with a sad expression at the ’possible snack’ on the ground, though one last look at Twilight had them yelping as they ran to the distance. Twilight’s cottage in the Everfree, present day. It was very strange, even back then the only time she had really met anyone was when they were in trouble, you would think the people who were warned about a dangerous forest would stay out. Twilight waved towards the three girls as they hopped through the safe path, now clean of the muck and grit that Spike had scared them into. Hopefully, they wouldn’t come back in here anytime soon. Twilight turned to have a look at the potion she was making, the last of the wood just about turning to ash underneath the large cauldron, "Well so much for Veidrenspeich, guess I will just have to wait for the next moon," Twilight said as she looked up to the just rising white orb in the sky, Isn't that right, Dear sister?