//------------------------------//
// Late Nights and Short Tomorrows 
// Story: Heavy Burdens 
// by polygonsmasher 
//------------------------------//

Fire... Fire, fire... Burning fire, fire burns fire... Fire, fire, FIRE, fire Fire...
[The fire still burns]
"You're pathetic nightmare boy! You will never defeat me."
"You... even look... at me..."

...

FIRE



A chill went down Frowny's spine when he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night. 

"...That dream... It's just like the other one, but there was something different..."

The dreams that Frowny were getting are worsening every night. As if something is pursuing him. When his eyes finally adjusted to the dark he noticed that he was still at Fluttershy's house. With Fluttershy still fast asleep in the bed next to his.  

"What was that strange sensation I felt though?" Frowny whispered to himself.

Frowny looked out of the nearby window from his bed. The moonlight hit the trees across from the house outside the window. The trees belonged to the Everfree forest that was just outside Fluttershy's house. Although, The forest isn't as dense and doesn't inhabit dangerous creatures. It is a mere borderline, several signs warned tourists never to go inside if they value they're lives. 
Frowny turned around and thought a bit.

"It's such a beautiful night out today... !"

An idea suddenly popped into frowny. He was almost ready to shout but then quickly remembered he shouldn't wake up Fluttershy. he just whispered to himself again.

"I need to prepare some potions for the big battle next week... But I still don't have any herbs to make some... This is my chance to go look for some."

Frowny quickly glanced at the cuckoo clock across the room and saw that it was still just ten minutes before midnight.

"I only slept that short? anyway I better leave a note so Fluttershy knows I'm out for a while."

Frowny went out of bed as quiet as possible and quickly used his magic to mute the sounds he makes. He knew that Fluttershy is sensitive in every way. Even the slightest bit of sound could wake her up. Frowny walked through the door leaving the bedroom and entered the center hall of the house. Frowny concentrated for a bit and then quickly located some paper and a quill to write with. He then wrote:

"Good morning Fluttershy, I left earlier this evening to get some more resources. I'll be back around nine in the morning."

Frowny left the scroll on the table and then readied his bags. He prepared some compact extraction methods to quickly gain some elements and fluids that he needed. He then packed his bags and left the house quietly leaving Fluttershy behind. Frowny then flash teleported away from the house towards the nearest entrance of the Everfree forest. Frowny looked back once again. But then decided to just go.




When Frowny entered the forest he could hear several nighttime animals nearby. 

"I should be careful to not run into any wild animals. I could accidentally end up killing them out of self defense."

Frowny continued his search and looked around several bushes, searching thoroughly. Each bush he searched through contained different species of plants. Frowny then stopped for a minute and picked up a collection of documents out of his bag. Lists of ingredients, several notes and names of the different plants were included in the collection. He examined the documents for a while and then put them back in his bag to continue searching.

"So I need to find ingredient's for adrenaline potions, energy potions and power potions. That should be simple enough. theres nothing foreign needed for these potions I should be able to quickly gather them if I search the right way." Frowny thought to himself.

Frowny continued looking around to find the first couple of ingredients. The herbs he needed from the Everfree forest were ones that grow as a mutation around bushes, dead flowers and several fungi. After a while of searching he found one of those mutations around some bushes. Frowny looked satisfied and grabbed some glass work out of his bag from an enchanted pebble and extracted two types of ingredients: The herbs themselves and the fluids that the herbs contained. Each of the ingredients were put in different bottles of glass. He extracted the fluids from the herbs by squishing them between his hoofs and then quickly guided the fluids in the bottles with his magic.

After he was done with the first ingredient he jumped up in a tree and swiftly climbed up to the top using his agility and speed.

"Now then let's see... The next couple of ingredients are found near and on top of mountains..."

Frowny looked around him, it didn't take him long to notice a big group of mountains on the western side of the area. The reached through all the way above clouds. Especially one mountain which stood out amongst all others. Frowny remembered it to be an attraction from back when he was a colt. 

"Guess I should go check it out..." Frowny then said to himself.

Frowny was about to head for the mountains when he suddenly sensed magical activity nearby that he recognized.

"Wait... Is that... Twilight? She must still be training this late."

Frowny turned around and looked towards Ponyville. There were noticeable flashes and glowing purple lights visible coming from the near edge of town just several miles away from were Frowny was. Frowny had a clear view on Ponyville from on top of the tree on which he was standing.

"It looks like she's already busy practicing level 4?... No, level 5 rated combat spells. She's improving I can tell!" Frowny watched the purple flashes and lights for a while.

Frowny then realized he should get going to the mountains if he ever wanted to get the ingredients. Frowny activated his aura abilities and guided his aura through the black tubes on his back to recreate his wings. He then first floated softly in the air but after a short while flexed the wings and sped towards the mountains with speed comparable to many pegasi. When Frowny was near the mountainside he flew upwards to get to the top of the mountain.

"I never knew flying could be so much fun! I should've done this so much earlier."

When Frowny arrived at the top of one of the mountains he withdrew the wings and used his artificial road technique to remain stationary in the air. Frowny examined his surroundings to see if he could spot the next ingredient.

"Hmmm... where, where, where... It must be around here somewhere!" 

Frowny came closer to the mountain with his artificial road until he arrived at the mountain to get a closer look at his surroundings to see if he could spot the ingredient he needed. 
Frowny walked around the mountain a bit and then quickly spotted a dead tree some way down the mountain. He flash teleported to the dead tree and quickly examined it.

"If theres greenery on this mountain then the herbs might be nearby."

Frowny looked around him but couldn't see much on the misty mountain. Especially since it was pretty dark out tonight and his only light source was the moon and even that didn't serve as a good light source. 

"This is no good... I can't see anything!"

Frowny's aura then lit up again. With his aura Frowny created a small sphere and held it up above his head. While Frowny held the red sphere up the wind seemed to begin blowing harder and harder. The mist faded away because of the wind. Now that the mist was gone Frowny could see much more and noticed a trail of trees going down along the other side of the mountain. Frowny followed the trail of trees examining each tree thoroughly until one tree.

"AHA! finally the herb I've been looking for!"

Apparently the herb that Frowny was looking for grows on dead trees of a certain species that only grow on mountains. Though it rarely grows because of the dire circumstances on the mountain side and usually dies immediately of starvation. Frowny picked the herb, froze it in a bottle of water which he picked out of his bag and then made his wings reappear to fly back down to the forest.

"It looks like I'm done searching in the Everfree forest and the mountains in the middle of the Everfree forest. It looks like I have all the resources now."

Frowny briefly looked up in the sky to the moon. By measuring the moons position he determined the time.

"Oh... It's still just four o'clock. Well then let's go to ponyville's countryside."

Frowny flew with his aura wings towards Ponyville. When he was near Ponyville he noticed that Twilight wasn't training her magic anymore. Frowny figured she went to sleep. After all it is already pretty early in the morning.





In the meantime, elsewhere Princess Luna was floating around on a cloud watching over Ponyville as she was enjoying her night. The pegasi from Cloudsdale did a good job on clearing the sky up. This way the ponies still wandering around can enjoy the starry skies and the beautiful moon lighting up the area slightly. To Luna's disappointment though not many ponies were outside right now.

"*sigh* It's getting late anyway... I should go back to Canterlot palace and switch up with Celestia."

Then suddenly out of the corner of her eyes Luna noticed a bright red light moving towards the countrysides of Ponyville.

"So there IS somepony outside... Finally someone to talk to."

Luna hovered in the red lights direction with her cloud.She was curious about who it was. And if it might fill the huge blank in her free time.

The red light was actually the light coming from Frowny's aura wings as he flew to a nice big open place to settle down a bit. When he landed the wings withdrew and Frowny sat down to look at the sky. Which was filled with tiny white dots of light. Frowny watched each of those tiny white dots and recognized them to be stars filling the night sky.

"The stars... I haven't seen a sky like this in 20 years..."

Frowny remembered that when he was still in The Deeper Parts the only thing that filled the sky was the gray toned, half transparent level 10 barrier. Frowny watched the stars for a very long time. As if it was his very first time looking at a beautiful night sky like this.
Frowny then heard a soft hovering sound coming his way. He looked around and then saw a cloud that was lit up white due to the moonlight. When the cloud hit the ground Frowny's eyes widened and he stood up immediately.

"Princess Luna!? My apologies for not noticing you earlier!"

Frowny quickly bowed. After a couple of seconds he looked back up and saw a surprised Princess Luna before him. She spoke:

"Good evening, sir Shineless."

Frowny felt acknowledged:
"I must say you're highness, I'm honored to be in you're presence. Much more of enjoying you're beautiful night, Princess Luna."

Luna brightened after hearing those words and replied:
"I saw that you've used your aura in a rather surprisingly peculiar way. May I ask if it has anything to do with those tubes stuck to your back?"

Frowny glanced at the tubes for a second and then looked back at Luna who was anxiously waiting for an answer.

"I made these tubes to utilize my aura in the form of wings you're majesty."

"I see. I compliment you, Creator abilities normally don't span this far."

Frowny felt flattered but decided not to express it. It would insult the Princess' beliefs and Frowny's image towards royalty.

"Many thanks you're highness, It has taken a lot of time to increase my abilities this far."

Luna seemed a little nervous talking to Frowny. She was probably afraid that he was gonna read her mind again.

"I also compliment you on breaking through the border barrier of The Deeper Parts. It takes a lot of strength to break a barrier of the highest magical density."

Frowny thought back to that time when he broke the barrier and answered based on that thought:

"It's all thanks to my Nightmare abilities..."

silence occurred for a while. Luna then changed the subject.

"You were interested in the stars that decorate the night sky am I correct?"

Frowny looked up at the starry sky above him again and immediately his mind was set off the thought about Nightmares.

"Oh yes... They fascinate me so. I never got the chance to study them"

Luna knew what Frowny was talking about. She knew that the barrier from The Deeper Parts is very dense and don't really show whats outside the barrier. Like the stars that the two were looking at right now. Luna stepped off of her cloud and walked towards Frowny.

"This Soulbel creature... You're going to fight it aren't you?"

Frowny looked surprised at Luna and at the same time pictured the terrifying Soulbel in his mind. Another shiver went down his spine. Frowny then answered:

"I'm not only going to fight it... I'm gonna DESTROY it!!!"

Frowny's voice turned heavier upon saying that and his eyes began turning red with deep rage with the thought of Soulbel running through his mind. Luna felt the murderous intend coming from Frowny's presence. Luna was a little terrified but at the same time she could sympathize with Frowny and walked closer to Frowny.

"Calm down sir Shineless."

Frowny then woke up from his rage. His mind went completely blank for a moment and he remembered what he was doing.

"My apologies Princess Luna. I couldn't control myself there for a moment"

"It's alright sir Shineless. I would like to propose to you something."

Frowny looked surprised at Luna who now was standing right before him.
"I beg you're pardon princess?"

"When the battle you speak of has been resolved and done with, I would like to offer you a job."

"A job? What profession are we speaking of you're majesty?" Frowny answered.

"I want you to join the guard system of course!"

Frowny's mind had gone completely blank again at that point. He could hear Luna but he could not make much sense out of what she said. Frowny thought to himself:

"Me? Guard? I don't know? I am no guardian. I should answer... But how could I decline an offer from royalty? Especially since it's princess Luna."

Frowny made up his mind after a while and answered:

"Princess Luna, I... I don't know what I'm gonna do yet after this is over... I really don't know."

Luna sighed when she heard that but could also understand what Frowny was dealing with.

"I understand sir Shineless. But you may decide when you feel like it. I merely offered you a choice. Because you are most capable and the current guard system looks up to you. I'd say that you could make a great superior or at least a good example for others to follow."

Frowny thought about Luna's answer for a bit and then replied:

"I'll think about it... I first have to deal with Soulbel before anything else..."

"I understand sir Shineless. I will not force you to decide."

Luna looked at her moon. She noticed it was getting late for her.

"I have to go back to Canterlot now and switch up with my sister."

Luna hopped back on her cloud, floated upwards and then disappeared. soon after the moon descended towards the horizon and disappeared behind the trees. The sky lit up light blue and the sun appeared from the horizon to the east. 




Frowny checked the time and noticed that it was already eight o'clock.

"Uh oh... I better get back to Fluttershy's house. Come to think of it... I'm kinda hungry too..."

Frowny started walking towards Fluttershy's house. It wasn't very far away. When he arrived he quietly entered the house in case Fluttershy was still asleep. Though she wasn't. She sat beside the table and was eating breakfast.

"Ah you're back! Why did you have to leave?" Fluttershy asked.

"I couldn't sleep... So I thought I'd look for some herbs I needed around Ponyville and the Everfree Forest."

"Oh... well it doesn't matter anyway..."

Fluttershy stood up and went to her kitchen. After a couple of minutes she came back with a plate and some food.

"Heres some breakfast for you."

Frowny silently sat down across from Fluttershy and ate the breakfast that she made for him.

"It's great Fluttershy, I really like it. Thank you."

Fluttershy smiled and replied:

"It's my pleasure Frowny. So did you find the herbs that you were looking for?"

"I sure did!"

Frowny then picked up the specimen and herbs he collected in the severals of bottles that he had with him.

"I'm gonna use this for some potions that were gonna need next week."

Frowny placed them on another table in the corner of the room and continued breakfast. After the two were done Fluttershy cleaned up the table and prepared doing the dishes. But before that she quickly gathered some food and then went outside to go take care of her animals around the house. Frowny had other plans. 

"Fluttershy? I'm going to meditate for a couple of hours. Do you know any good spots to concentrate?"

"Why yes. Why don't you try the lake between here and Ponyville."

"Alright. Thanks Fluttershy I'll be back after a couple of hours."

And with that Frowny left the house again and walked towards the lake to the east. Because thats also the direction you need to walk if you want to get from Fluttershy's house to Ponyville. When he arrived he looked for a neat spot near the edge of the lake and near some boulders and he settled down.

"This should do it!" Frowny said to himself

Frowny closed his eyes, his aura reappeared and spread a red light across the area. It then looked like Frowny went unconscious. It seemed as though he was sleeping peacefully, waiting for what could bring him after he woke up.




END OF CHAPTER