//------------------------------//
// In the forest. 
// Story: Mind and Magic 
// by Fictional Fanatic 
//------------------------------//


Mind and Magic.
Chapter 3.
In the forest.





Confirmed. I never want to dream again. Huh? You don't see the bad thing about dreaming... I guess you wouldn't. But let me tell you, for me, it's like poison. The dreams themselves are wonderful, always have been. The waking up after, not so much. You see, as I was separated from Pinkie I never had dreams while I slept. The only times I did was when Luna came to visit, something that only happened once or twice when she mistook me for Pinkie, during those times I played along like I was Pinkie to avoid being found. For some obscure reason, her visits into my mind create dreams, dreams that introduce me to hell once I wake up. Shallow breathing, puking, a fever, red eyes, and an astounding headache. Those are the symptoms I get after a night's rest connected to a dream. And of course, I. HATE. EVERY. DARN. SECOND.

I was currently lying on my side under the cozy covers of the bed. Looking at the window and making sure I was close enough to the puke bucket Pinkie had set up, in case I had to puke again. If I had to describe this situation with one word, it would be Tartarus. How could something as wonderful as dreams, that came from something as wonderful as sleep end up in this torture?





After having puked myself half to death and having nothing more to heave up from the deepest pits of my body anymore, I was able to get out of bed. My headache had settled to a mild pressure in my head, enabling me to move around without being punished by a mental strike to the head. I decided that no matter how terrible a condition I was in, I should still get myself somewhat presentable. So I went to the bathroom to drink some water and get rid of the terrible taste in my mouth.

After cleaning my mouth and brushing my teeth for four minutes, I brushed my hair and changed out of my pajamas. Feeling a lot better than I had after waking up. I went to see how Pinkie was doing at the counter.

Unfortunately, I realized I had slept away most of the day and that it was currently night. Meaning Pinkie was asleep and the establishment closed for the night. I remembered Pinkie coming into my room and saying something, probably about the fact that she was going to bed. I sighed as I realized I would have to be by myself for a while.

With the intention to use my free time efficiently I decided to sneak out and get some of my routine training in. I had after all been cooped up in an asylum for three months. Making my way down the stairs into Sugar Cube Corner, I was careful not to awake Pinkie. I also left a short note, written in runes only Pinkie and I would understand. I had decided to teach her the runes that were connected to my magic so she could use it herself. Just in case of emergency.

With that, I left Sugar Cube Corner, locked the door with my spare key, and set my sights at the outskirts of Ponyville. I did not have to worry about anyone either recognizing me or even bump into me as I was walking about during the night. It's not that there wasn't anyone else out and about, just that all the nightclub and night goers usually went into the other direction. Sugar Cube Corner was located in the less active part of town when one was speaking about the night activities. Something me and Pinkie knew from a week we both would refer to as the 'Hyper week'. A week where both of us would essentially go without sleep and refill our energies with cupcakes called the 'diabetes bomb'. We stopped once our bodies were burning calories faster than we could bake our cupcakes and still have time to move around the town. Somehow we never even came close to running the risk of getting sick with diabetes, must be because we're 'Solid class'. They do tend to be more durable. Also, to clear things up. The Hyper week was before I first met Twilight.

The memory managed to get a few giggles out of me as I reached the outskirts of town. The closest house is the one belonging to Fluttershy as is was the only one to live this close to the Everfree. Most would call her foolish to endanger herself like that, I knew better. Fluttershy was shy, but she was an amazing caretaker, whenever it came to animals or other humans she always knew how to take care of them. By living farther away from the town and closer to the Everfree forest she could easily take care of animals that lived in the forest and would refuse to get any closer to Ponyville. Some creatures would not even leave the forest. Fluttershy's good nature would mean she would go out even into Everfree forest to help a wounded animal.

She is someone to admire. She might be shy around others, but when it comes to it she can stand up for herself, face her fears and come through to help others. She might be afraid, but that's what being brave is about, to overcome one's fears and go on no matter how much you're shaking in your boots.

Now, I didn't like the Everfree forest any more than anyone else, but it was the closest isolated environment that I could use for my training. Besides, if it came down to it, I could always defend myself. This thought, however, stopped me dead in my tracks. I had forgotten to bring a weapon to defend myself with!

Good one, Diane. Getting chewed up before getting your revenge on Twilight. That would be a brilliant move! I thought to myself sarcastically. And with that, I turned back to retrieve a weapon.





After having gone back to Sugar Cube Corner and gotten my trusty weapon, The Party Slicer, from a secret compartment in the kitchen, I had returned to stand before the Everfree forest.

The Party Slicer was a custom weapon I had crafted myself. I might not be a blacksmith or anything of the sort, but I still knew many things and had eventually (with the help of some magic) gotten the thing I now held in my grasp. A beautiful pink, kitchen knife with a light blue handle and my cutie mark on both sides of the blade. Now, the pink color did not come from any kind of paint or such, it was, in fact, the metal itself that had a pink tint to it. It was an alloy of combined metals and magic meant to respond to my soul, to resonate only with me and to make sure my weapon would not harm me. The cutie mark, however, was just simply painted on. And the handle was of blue colored wood, polished so that it would feel right and pleasant to the touch when held.

Entering the forest I had no particular destination in mind. I was looking for any place with enough space so that I could train without attracting unwanted attention, or so that I had a clear view of my surroundings. I didn't want to be surrounded and not have any way to escape if I was found by a pack of timberwolves.

I had made plenty of trips through the Everfree on several occasions, and only a few of them that let me explore the forest as I pleased. Most of those being when I was looking for a place to train so I could defeat Twilight one on one and get my revenge. Most of these searched ended up in temporary training grounds. They were only temporary as I usually found out that they were hunting grounds for timberwolves, a Chimeras sleeping grounds and once I even stumbled upon a field of flowers that would start to spew poisonous gas during the night. So I once again had to find a new place to train. A few times I had to backtrack as to not lose my sense of direction and my whereabouts of where I was in the Everfree, I was mapping everything in my mental map so that I wouldn't get lost. Something I had realized I was good at after a few runs in the forest.

After about forty-five minutes of scouting the forest, I came upon a big clearing next to a cliff, free from anything but hard-packed ground. It looked like a perfect training ground. With the cliff cutting off one of four directions, I could easily keep my eyes on my surroundings while training. This would indeed make for a good training ground. With such a perfect training ground I might spend more time here than first intended, good thing I didn't specify the amount of time I would be gone on the note I left. I wouldn't want to worry Pinkie.

Let's get this over with. I thought before diving straight into my training.





As the moon was setting, I fell down to the ground, completely exhausted. I would definitely require a bath after this. Resting only for a few seconds, I got up once again and took a good look at myself. My clothes were dirty and wet from my sweat. My skin could almost be described as red from the blood racing under it faster than usual and my hair would require quite a lot of brushing. My muscles however had visibly bulked up and I had gotten rid of any extra fat I had been storing on my body. I think most girls would be jealous of me right now. Loosing all my extra fat in mere hours. I would make a fortune starting my own gym, no doubt.

But I had no other options if I was to take down Twilight a few pegs, I wouldn't kill her as Pinkie and I had a long discussion about that. Still not entirely sure how she convinced m, but, in the end, her final statement had made sure I would abandon that path for all eternity, the fact that if I killed one of Pinkie's friends she would become very sad and not want to be my friend/sister anymore. That is something I want to avoid at all cost, so I'll have to settle on giving her a good beating.

I went over to behind a big rock where I had left my trusty Party Slicer and picked it up before looking around the clearing, making sure I didn't forget anything. As I set my sights for Ponyville, ready to leave I was suddenly struck down.

It was no physical blow, it was mental. The mental blow was enough for me to lose hold of my weapon and make me fall over. I had been downed and no longer had the energy to get up. In a moment of panic, I tried to crawl deeper into my own mind to flee from the assault of my mind. It didn't work. As I dove deeper into my own mind I realized what was going on. It wasn't a mental attack by someone else. I was having another one of my episodes. As soon as I realized this my panic was gone, but it was replaced with worry. My episodes came within a certain time span, this one had come about a week earlier than the rest.

Fighting the waves of pain pounding on my mind I tried to stay focused and to keep my limbs from hurting themselves in random spasms on rocks or anything else lying around nearby. I managed to get my right arm under myself, keeping it pinned down with my own weight. The left one managed to grab something I couldn't see, but it was something that kept it still as long as I held on. I knew the worst had yet to come, I would soon black out from screaming in pain, although, I had yet to begin doing so. I was focusing as much mental power I could to stop myself from screaming. I didn't want to attract the attention of something lurking in this forest. I cursed myself for being defenseless during such a dangerous situation.

I must have been fighting my own body and mind for no less than ten minutes before I let out a terrifying scream of pain and finally blacked out. I was not looking forward to waking up.