//------------------------------// // Interval 1: Chapter 1: New Life in the Everfree Forest... // Story: The Everfree Chronicles: The Alchemist // by Roran Dreamon //------------------------------// The Everfree Forest, 10 years ago All alone in the Everfree forest...stories told that this place is haunted and unnatural, that no pony controls the weather here, and that nature is in complete control. I have been moving deeper and deeper into the forest, and i realize that it is still winter. The snow is deep and thick, and I rarely fall into the soft snow, wondering how something like this place be called haunted...if only I knew. "So...rest of my life here...I can manage...as long as I find the juniper berry bushes...and wild cranberry bushes..than i can survive...but...I will die alone...with no pony..." my voice started strong and confident, only to end in misery and sadness. "Don't be sad little one...you are not alone...I am here with you...and in 10 years...you will return, with me by your side...we will show the others what we are capable of. came the voice from inside my head. I look around, hoping that the voice is just an illusion, but I know that it is coming from within my head. "Reveal yourself! Stop Hiding and show yourself!" I shout. "Because of you I lost everything! I lost my home, my family, my town and my friends...because of you....I lost everything!" my voice now filled with venom and hatred. The voice now laughs, its laughing, sounds so evil, but oddly soothing at the same time. "Come now little one...in due time...I will show myself to you and everypony." "It is all your fault....their is nothing you can do to change my mind...nothing...I now want revenge against Ponyville and you...whoever you are..." "How Rude of me, my name is Nightmare Moon...the true Queen of Equestria...and you my mortal friend will be rewarded for your kind act...of keeping me inside your head during my exile on the moon. You and me...are going to be very close friends for the coming years." "Really....close friends....you just costed me my life...my friends...family....everything else I held dear...why should I even consider being your friend?" my voice dripping with venom and hatred. "Because little one...if it wasn't for you...I would not know if this dreary land has changed over the 990 years I have been banished to the moon...and now I see that it has indeed changed." "Yea...whatever...I am still mad at you for ruining my life...and until you can come up with a proper way to apologize for basically killing me...don't bother talking to me at all." my voice cracking with barely held anger. For the past 2 hours, not a single sound can be heard except for the sounds of my hooves on the snow and the occasional twig cracking in half. And during those two hours was utter silence and the occasional wind moving the tree branches overhead. "So...did you come up with an apology, or did you give up on me already?" "I will not apologize for something that you have done, I just gave you a simple push." "Well...your push got me banished, and I know that this forest will be the death of me...it has been the death of every other pony that tried to make it out here on their own." As I keep on walking, I notice that the air has gotten colder and was moving faster. "So...Nightmare Moon...since you are in my head...why did you choose me? How am I special, besides me being a somewhat moderately good alchemist...and my eyes being like yours....besides those, what makes me special in your eyes?" I stop walking, waiting for a definitive answer. "Well? I am waiting, and I will not move another step unless you tell me who I am to you." my voice filled with restrained rage and anger. Suddenly the wind picks up in speed and ferocity, almost making me cover my face to stop the wind from knocking off the already torn scarf around my neck. And just as quickly as the winds came, it slowed down and stopped, leaving me with an eerie feeling that I was being watched. That was when she spoke to me, not in her royal voice or her angry tone, but of one that knew defeat when it saw it staring you in the face, the cold hard truth. "To me...mortal, you are the only closest friend I have..." her voice filled with sadness, which was unheard of in the legends that speak of her, that she is a demon of the night that almost plunged the world into an eternal night. When she said that, those words struck a cord in my head, making me think long and hard to what she said. How was that possible that I was her only friend? How is she even here when she was banished to the moon? And also, would she ever really speak to me like that, she is a Queen, she should be speaking to me as if I was dirt, instead she speaks to me like we are on the same even ground. "So, you really think of me as your only friend? I thought that you had plenty of friends back then, you know since you are royalty?" my voice somewhat teetering on the edges of both worry and compassion, my own feelings telling me that this is a ruse, that she is just trying to manipulate me into thinking that she was my friend, but I knew that she was telling the truth, I couldn't put my hoof on it, but I knew she was, I just know it. "Yes, you are my only true friend, back than the nobles tried to win me over with such trivial objects and false affection, thinking that they can wiggle into my heart, but those fools only got my scorn when I found out they were doing it for favors and other braging rights. But not you, no, you are my friend because you and I have so much in common, and what we have in common, you will soon find out." her voice sounding both wise and threatning at the same time, I decide to quickly change the subject before I end up doing somethat that I will soon regret. "So...erm, maybe we should find some place to camp out for the night, since it is the dead of winter and it is night time, wouldn't you agree?" my voice now stuttering, the cold starting to get to me. "I think I see a large fallen tree...maybe we can use that for shelter until the morning..." I quickly try to avoid any form of her anger if I caused to her let loose her wraith onto me. "No, keep going, we are almost to our destination, and our new home for the next few years, until you are strong enough to be able to take care of yourself without the need for my assistance." her voice now back to its old superior self. "Well...at least I know have a general direction...I hope its not a cliff edge and you expect me to jump...cause that is not happening." my voice now lacking any hint of emotion, seemingly bored now. After 5 hours of walking in a partial straight line, I(or is it we now?) have reached or destination, for what it appears to be the ruins of an old castle, vines and other plant matter already reclaiming the land the settled stone has taken over. Most of the castle looks like an ancient battle has taken place, and that battle looked rather one sided based on all the damage. "So...is this our destination, or are we meant to keep going deeper and deeper until we are lost?" I somewhat say with a small hint of annoyance. "Yes, this is our destination, and you should be glad that we are here, by the looks of things from your eyes, it is clearly night, which also means I can finally do this with your help of course Nightshade." her voice now has the tall tell signs of victory and achievement, as if she has finally overcome something large blocking her path. "And...just what might this new thing be? If it is to control my body, I don't think so...I like being in-control of my body." my voice filled with partial confusion from what she said and fear that she might try to hi-jack my body and use it. "No not that, why would I even want to control you, all I need is some of your magic to let me take a spectral form so I can finally get used to moving on my own when the time comes for my body to return." her voice filled with confidence. "Alright...but please try not to control me, I like being me, even though I still hate you for ruining my life." Even though she does not have her body, I still felt that she was glaring at me, which also gave me that thought of 'What will she do once she has a body? Will she kill me once she has it? Will she let me live as her servant if not worse a slave?' All those thoughts going around my head like a hamster running away from a hawk. As Nightmare Moon finally leaves my thoughts, my horn slowly glows a very faint silver, and almost immediately the glowing disappears, but instead gets replaced by a dark purple cloud of starry lights grabbing onto my horn, siphoning off my magic, and the surrounding area's lingering magical energy, creating a first small purple cloud, but as the night goes on, the cloud grows double in size, becoming the size of a rose bush. As the tendril keeps leeching off my magic, I slowly start to teeter on the edge of dizziness and exhaustion, feeling as if my life force was being sucked out, and as quickly as my faintness came, the feeling ended abruptly, giving me enough time to quickly back away from the cloud, fearing that I just sealed my own death warrant with Nightmare Moon for all the times I was talking badly and insulting her. At first, the cloud slowly formed into a small pony, but as the cloud grew, so did the body, eventually in a matter of minutes, their was Nightmare Moon, back to her former glory, well almost back to her former glory, she was instead of being solid, she was see-through, and was also missing her signature armor and helmet, leaving her with nothing on. "Well...that could have ended better, but alas I have my body back, but only temporarily seeing that I am still lacking a solid form, only having this spectral appearance...but you my friend...you gave such a contribution, that I hear-by pardon you of your petty insults and other foul words you have spoken of, and also, since we are friends, come inside and make yourself home, since we will be stuck together for 10 years." as soon as she is done speaking, she slowly starts laughing, the laugh started off small, only to grow louder in intensity and eventually ending in a mad-mare's cackle of insanity. "So I take it that you are happy that you have somewhat of your body back...but I am wondering...was the crazy laugh really necessary? You have your body back partially yes, but what if somepony heard that laugh?" now concerned that Celestia herself heard that laugh and is now on her way to most likely kill me and dispel the illusion that is Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon just looks at me, not the look with the glare that says "I am going to kill you slowly" or the look that says " Shut up weakling, I am your Queen, I do what I want to do and you can not stop me." instead it was a very strange look, one that set off many alarm bells inside my head. "Erm...your...your highness...are you, alright? You seem to be in a daze...or..uh....staring off into the distance? If you don't mind me asking..." trying not to anger her in anyway, even though she is still a spectral illusion of herself, she still has partial control of my mind, making me fear and worry that she will use that to her advantage in torturing me. Just as I ask her, she looks at me, and that look made my blood run cold with fear. "You speak to much...maybe you should just relax...and by relax, I mean sleep." As soon as she finished her sentence, my head immediately began to feel like it was shutting down, my body swaying a bit, feeling exhausted as if I ran a marathon at full speed without taking a break, I fall over, landing head first into a pile of soft snow, passing out in the process. Castle Ruins, Everfree Forest, 9 Hours Later As I wake up, I realized I was not sleeping in the pile of snow I passed out in, no...this new feeling was that of a bed, but I was banished from Ponyville and everyother settlement, so how did I get in a bed? I look around, noticing that this bed was old, very old, every movement I made on it emitted a creaking noise, almost sounding like it would snap at a moments notice underneath my weight. It had a dark violet hue sheets, slightly eaten by the moths that was once here, cobwebs near the headrest, purple silk pillows, and a single large purple wool blanket, untouched by the moths, but covered in a thick layer of dust. As soon as I get out of the bed, my bones pop from the sudden movement and I let out a sigh of relief as I regain my posture and try to get my bearings straight. I survey my surroundings, I notice that the walls are old, seeing cracks along the stonework, the tapestries along the wall are tattered and slightly decaying, giving it that ancient and rugged look, a few pieces of furniture that did not fall apart or decay with the extreme ages they have been through, and a single vanity mirror rests in the corner, and the floor itself, seems extremely sturdy, a dark purple carpet lies on the floor, thick and covered in dust, and a single symbol lies in the carpet, a large darkgrey cresent-shaped moon, and from the way the light from the window hits the moon, it gives off a faint odd greyish glow. "So...I am in the castle...but this room...it looks more like an old royal bedroom...but why would I be in the bed room, I am not even remotely close to being royal, unless what Nightmare Moon said about being close friends...that I was given an old room, but this room is her's most likely...and I am still wondering why she put me in here....spirits this is making my head hurt..." as I say rubbing my temples with my hooves, trying to massage the pain out. I suddenly get this feeling that I am being watched, "So it seems you are finally awake from your little slumber...that is good. Now, let us begin your tour of 'our' home. And also, try not to pass out again, it is hard to move your body when I am in this weakened state." Her voice sounding in a mother's tone, but also with the tone of higher authority. I turn around, and I see that she was laying down on the bed I was in, a smug grin on her face and her eyes half-shut in a sultry gaze. "Erm...uh....were you...sleeping in the same bed...as me?" my voice cracking in both embaressment and straight-up fear. My face turning red and my body shaking in place, almost at the same time I am sweating uncontrolably. Nightmare Moon just keeps staring at me with that gaze, than suddenly breaks it of and somewhat laughs to herself. "Yes, I was sleeping in my bed, while you were knocked out cold from my sleep spell, I decided to see what you were carrying with you, and behold that you were hefting around such items...you amaze me little one...you know that right, you lost everything to an alchemy experiement, and yet you keep working it. Why do you persist on such a pursuit, unless you are thinking of a way to take revenge through such an act, otherwise you are simply wasting your time." her voice still filled with authority and steel. "Also in your sleep I also decided to put you into my bed because If you die than I lose my only friend and my connection to this world, also during the day it is a wonderful sight to see from another being's perspective." I look at her both puzzled and confused at the same time, Nightmare Moon, the Queen of the Night, caring deeply for a peasent, an exiled colt, not only does that mean that the old stories saying that she is a cold heartless mare wrong, but also made me think that all of the other stories about her were also wrong, that she was not a threat to Equestria, only a threat to Celestia's rule. "You...you actually...care about me? But...I am just a lowly exiled peasent, why do I deserve your care...all I did was be your vessel for this world." my voice still cracking. "Yes, I do care about you, since you are my only friend and you speak to me at a level to which only means that we are friends, also if it was not for your caring assistance and your own actions, I would still be alone on the moon, I still am but now I have somepony to talk to so I won't lose my sanity." her voice now back to its original royal tone. She looks out the window and I notice it is still dark out there, the full moon is still mid-way in the sky, giving off a pale blue glow. "It is still night my little friend, come back to bed and rest, and do not worry, I will not harm you...much." her voice somewhat in a joking manner, while I on the other hand, still shaking with fear that she will use my body as way to relieve her stress and anger, or use it as a punching bag when I am out cold. I give in, knowing that if I anger her to much or to often, she might just send me to the moon when she leaves it behind. I slowly climb back into the bed, leaving small hoofprints into the sheets. "Are you sure that this is a good idea? Well...being that I am sleeping in your bed that is...and sleeping with you, which to me is well...lets just say doing this is making me very...very nervous." voice still cracking. "Yes, it is a good idea because I get to watch you rest after such a heart-wrenching event, and I also get to know you better by being inside of your head while you sleep, so stop worrying before I make you sleep again like what I did earlier...infact, I will do that again since you keep questioning my every move." her voice carrying that motherly tone while at the same time with a hint of anger. Before I can say anything, the same wave of weakness and exhaustion passes over me, once again forcing me back into unconsciousness. "Sleep well my friend, by sunrise your new life and your training will begin, and soon...all of Equestria will be mine...along with you." she says with a small grin on her face, already plotting her move against Celestia and everypony else that will stand in her way.