Too Late For This Shit...
I looked out at the sky, and frowned.
Something was weird... really weird in fact.
I was settling to bed, after the possibly failed mixture, and then I realized something strange, it was now one in the morning, and the sky hadn't changed in the slightest, it was still very dark, like the middle of the night, but also, the stars are different.
... Oh, and the moon doesn't have the Mare on the Moon on it anymore, that's also rather disconcerting.
The Mare on the Moon was an old ponytail that spread out of Equestria and eventually to me in a little tattered book, it is actually what helped me learn about Equestria in the first place, the legend of two goddesses, one controlling the sun, the other the moon, then to devolved to basically the moon one living in the shadow of the sun, hahaha, getting jealous that most sentient creatures weren't nocturnal, and then decided to rule Equestria for themselves.
The sun goddess then banished the corrupted goddess to the moon, and it has been that way for one thousand years since then.
A nice story, and it would have stayed a story if it hadn't been for tonight.
I originally hoped that my potion must have had an unintended side effect, causing the moon to become blank was a stretch, but it was possible, but no, the shift of atmosphere I feel in the air is quite the bit... different, something I need to investigate myself.
And so comes out my final direction pendant, this time glowing a shade of red, it pointed towards the nearest powerful entity in range.
Unfortunately, it shined a sinister crimson rather quickly, and pointed forwards.
So much for a peaceful sleep I suppose...
I found that the path I had to take was deep within the Everfree Forrest, which I had yet to explore and take regents from, and I regret not making the time when I passed several useful looking flowers and herbs, and even a few more I don't think I have had the pleasure in collecting, perhaps I will make the time after finding what is causing this unnatural feeling in the air.
My pendant was unfortunately getting a fuzzy reading, whatever this entity may be, it was moving around the area rather quickly, I had the general location, but it was frustrating for it to blink left and right before settling back to front.
I suppose this entity would need to rest somewhere, maybe it was searching for something, so many questions and so little time.
"... none have you have been here before?" I cursed slightly at the voice and made my way off the path immediately, my secretive ways imploring me to stay hidden till they pass, but of course, my curiosity made me watch for who ever it was who would be in such a place at such a time, as dense as most ponies are to the hidden aura of magic, this one was quite powerful, perhaps they were the same as me, looking to fix the problem.
"H-heavens no! I mean just look at it, it's simply dreadful!" A rather high class accent? That is rather strange, likely a unicorn the first two, they had some bearing of formality in their speech.
"And it ain't natural, folks say it don't work the same as Equestria." My ears flickered irritably, that voice was familiar, the farmer earth pony I had met briefly, soon enough, the entire group came into sight from the trees, two unicorns, one purple and the other spotless white, the purple one was very powerful... it was clear she was well versed in magic, likely took training from a very capable teacher.
Clearly a prodigy, the other, average for the typical pony.
Another two were earth ponies, and I suppressed the urge to groan, as they were both the two that I had met personally that day, the farmer I could live with, but being within the proximity of that mare just... didn't make me feel right.
Even now she was causing my mind to frown at her very posture, being relaxed, happy and even ecstatic in such a setting, she was the complete opposite of me, taking joy in life and not taking anything seriously, I could tell because she was simply wearing her heart on her hooves, it was clear to see her personality quite clearly.
The orange one was a simple farmer, she had the right muscles and seems to be rather powerful, more so than the typical earth pony I daresay, and it was clear that she had a powerful back to her kick, but still, unremarkable overall.
The last two managed to round up the pony race as two pegasi, a cyan blue with a rainbow mane... indeed that is quite the oddity, it is likely that one is destined to be something good in the future, rarely so does one become born with such an important color set.
The yellow one looked demure and socially awkward, it was clear her pink mane was styled to cover her face and she seemed she was more frightened of the large gathering of ponies than the dark woods, however, she indeed had a rather natural aura about her, it seems she might be close to Mare Nature in some form.
Apart from a few clear signs of powerful individuality, I didn't see this as an official group to be going on a dangerous mission, and it was too much coincidence that they were here for a moon light stroll, maybe they were taking it upon themselves to find what has been causing this atmosphere once their apparent leader, the purple unicorn, sensed the entity.
It was all very theory based, but I have no interest in them at the moment, they wouldn't just jump into a forest so there must be something they are looking for, and since my pendant won't be able to track down the threat immediately, I best follow from the shadows to where ever they are going.
It was turning out to be an interesting outing.
Already I have found two instance where the Entity has meddled with the progress of these ponies, it was subtle at first, a rock-slide happening out of nowhere however was still something to note, the Manticore was something a little surprising, I suppose the ingredients I used today had something to say for the future, I usually don't rely on the Fortune of the Ingredients, they can be too subtle and only said elements of events, hardly something to divine from.
A Manticore attacking upon sight is not heard of, of course they can be easily provoked, but not out of nowhere, I was tempted to throw a crew to defuse the situation, as they were taking oh so long to try and beat their way past, the demure yellow one, known as Fluttershy from what I overheard, sure enough demonstrated a natural gift with wildlife, managing to calm a adult Manticore enraged is a near impossible task, and she didn't flinch, very impressive...
They still progressed despite this, and I finally managed to get a sight of the perpetrator behind them.
The pendant glowed it's ruby tone quite brightly, the creeping cloud of dark night and stars had been behind those acts to thwart their journey, meaning they were going in the right direction. I was confused at it's attempts at subtlety, it was clearly powerful, why not confront them directly?
Of course, one can not live a life trying to predict the acts of powerful beings, they are quite strange in behavior and motives.
"Urrrrrhhh, my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck!" I had quickly learned that the white unicorn was quite the fussy personality, she would fit in with a number of unicorn nobles, it was amazing she wasn't wearing any clothes however, nobles believe to always year the best of fashion and hardly ever go natural.
However, her wish was granted quite quickly, as the forest thickened and their path was dark without the rays of the moon lighting their way.
"Well I didn't mean that literally..." I held in a snort at the statement, I was not immune to the humor of contradicting situations.
"That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn't even know it..." The one known as 'Twilight' spoke up, ancient ruin hmm, well that is the location, but what is the target?
Soon enough they were tripping over each other, I had no problems myself traversing the dark, I took a Carrot Eye Drop for a reason when it became an unnatural night, it helped to be prepared.
"AHHHHHHHH!" I was on guard immediately as a scream sounded off, and then several protrusions appeared from the nearby trees, gruesome faces beyond any sight know, the eyes, the eyeswerestaringintometheTEETHOHBYCELESTIATHE-
Hold, close my eyes.
I breathed in, and out, in, and out.
Celestia, that was the name of the regions goddess, why would I call out her name in panic? Something was falsely implanting suggestions of fear into my mind.
It was another ploy from the Entity, when physical threats were trumped, it went for a more mental approach, it was rather ingenious, unfortunately for her, only tied to visual sight.
I didn't have any mind block remedies in my saddlebags however, I would likely be walking blind until-
"*Snrk* HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
...
Sorry, what am I hearing?
I pulled in my nerve and opened my eyes.
Sure enough, the laughter was from the pony know as Pinkie, who was right next to one of the numerous trees that had been affected by the Entity, she was laughing, snorting and all other forms of enjoyment, without a care in the world.
It was then I knew, that Pinkie was abnormal
She was a simple earth pony, how could she override the alteration across this forest? It just wasn't...
Urhhg, she's now pulling faces at them I mean- WHAT?!
"Oh, when I was a little filly and the sun was going DOWWWWNNN!"
Ah... a Song Shift hmm?
That happened hardly at all in other parts of the world, I suppose the peace in Equestria causes them to become much more frequent, sure enough, the world helped the song along and music started playing out of nowhere.
Moments where strong emotion and need to express are pushed out into the harmonious synergy's of the air, and cause an increase of productivity, unity and mood.
"She isn't..." Twilight asked wearily, normally I would agree with her, however this situation is quite the bit in need of a Song Shift, if anything it will get them to stop fearing this spell.
"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me FROWWWWNNN!
"I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw,
But granny pie said that wasn't the way, to deal with fears at all...
Hold on a second... could it be that simple?
Any spell that tried to implant a feeling of fear is meant to keep that effect as soon as ponies trip a sort of trigger to have it affect their minds directly, and would stop after they stop stepping on the trigger, or get out of range, however, if one has a positive enough mind...
"... Just laugh to make them disappear!"
"Ha, Ha, HA!"
In an instant, the gruesome face disappeared from the tree and was blank once again.
A clear vocal contradiction to the implanted steps placed on the trees such as a laugh is sure to dispel it!
Soon enough, everypony of the group joined into the Song Shift and laughed at each tree in the area, all of them smoothing out to clearly show an ordinary tree, I meanwhile watch from the bushes, ultimately surprised at the spectacle.
Soon enough, all was finished and they collapsed on the ground, still laughing from their work.
I merely kept staring at Pinkie, a great iota of respect now in her direction, she treated a spell that nearly thwarted me and dispelled it just as quickly, it is almost incredible how strong her fortitude is.
I looked towards one tree they had missed, it was turned away from them and far back down the trail, so it wasn't their fault.
I just stared at the demonic eyes that threatened to swallowmewholeand-
I blinked slowly and looked at it again.
I then kept my mind on a single thought, the pink mare that had annoyed me to no end, came up with the most unorthodox way of defeating a spell set by a powerful Entity, all by a little song and laughter.
A grin appeared on my face, and I couldn't help a little giggle that came unbidden from my mouth, with a flash, the tree was it's normal self again.
It seems that all of these ponies are rather unique in a number of ways, I suppose I relied to much on what they appeared to be.
"I KNEW you had a cute laugh!"
I then felt every strand of fur on my body rise and a choked gasp caught in my throat, for a mane of wild pink hair, and bright blue eyes came into my vision, as she clearly didn't realize the concept of personal space.
And she was looking at me, with a wide smile and I couldn't help but do you reasonable thing in this situation.
I shouted in surprise, and fell to my back from overbalance on my back hooves as I tried to back away as fast as possible.
Any finesse you expected? I have a theory anything around that pink pony breaks something for the split second she appears.