//------------------------------// // The Stranger of the Everfree Forest (Rewrite) // Story: Rebirth of a Nightmare // by Raven Blackwood //------------------------------// Oh… Equestria. All my muscles feel exhausted. It feels like I was exercising for a marathon. "You did not exercise, Nuray. I've just turned you into a different form. Though you are still an alicorn you are no longer in the form of Nightmare Moon," Starswirl informs me. "Now I remember. Thanks for helping me once again, Starswirl." "It's nothing, really. Wake up, you may be wondering as to how you look now." His voice slowly fades as he talks to me. Hopefully he'll come back to me to talk again. As I slowly crack my eyes open, the encompassing haze returns to blur my vision, and at least five minutes pass before my eyesight returns. I try to raise myself up, and feel dizzy for the most part. I feel something off, as if I shrank a couple of feet. I could've sworn the throne room looked a lot smaller before. Did I shrink somehow? Another difference that I feel about my appearance is that my mane covers the right part of my face. I use my hoof to get my mane to stop blocking my view for my right eye. My mane did not seem to flow anymore. It is just a regular mane, the color of my mane having changed to be a simple dark blue, without any stars in it. Looking down at my forelegs, I can see that my hooves remain black along with the lower part of my legs, the upper part having turned into dark blue and reached the upper part of my body. Even the armor I wear is no longer present, instead are replaced by a black cloak that conceal my wings. This would be useful in the future, especially when meeting others, such as Twilight Sparkle. It seems that Starswirl’s spell worked, as I no longer look like Nightmare Moon. I need a mirror to look at myself. Surely a mirror would help me get a better look at myself. However before I can think of leaving the throne room, I look around. I can't see Nightmare anywhere. “Starswirl,” I start. “Where's Nightmare?” “When I created the spell to change your form, it resulted in Nightmare Moon to be turned into a necklace,” he explains. “The necklace is around your chest.” Looking down, I can see what looks like a silver crescent moon that also has a blue gem encrusted in the center, which sparkles like that of the stars at night. “You're telling me her spirit is locked away in this necklace?” I question. “I wouldn't say ‘locked away’. You can still talk to Nightmare Moon. However, she's currently resting. So, it will take time for her to reawaken for both of you to talk to each other,” he ends. “I see. Thank you for telling me, Starswirl.” That reminds me, I need to pick up the book Starswirl gave me. The book, thankfully remains unopened and undamaged. I pick it up and place it on my back. I seriously need to practice magic. It's getting annoying having to pick things up with my hooves… or my mouth, as things often slipe out of my hooves. Walking into the armory, I see the armor that I noticed as I entered the castle. Along with providing protection in the long run, the black and blue armor fit me quite well. Beside it, a saddlebag was situated for storing the armor, which I could later re-purpose. Well, this is great! Carefully taking all the armor off the mannequin, I put the saddlebags on my back. It wasn't that hard to secure it. Okay, perhaps if you try to make sure that the cloak does not fall off when placing the saddlebags on my back, it may prove a little more difficult than expected. Still, I am successful in making sure that both my cloak and the saddlebags do not fall to the ground pathetically. I wonder if I should take the armor with me? There are dangerous animals that still remain in the Everfree Forest, and the Timberwolves would surely try to rip me into pieces like the ones that tried to kill me when I was still in Nightmare's body. There would be a drawback if I were to come to wearing the armor in Ponyville. They would probably think I was a guard that came from Canterlot Castle, but it would be more suspicious if they saw me continuing to wear the armor in the village. This is a hard decision to make, as I don't want to cause any trouble. However, extra protection would definitely help while venturing in the Everfree Forest. Would Twilight understand as to why I would be wearing armor? After all, I could just store the armor in one of my bags later. That could work, and I would put the spell book in the other bag. Alright, I'm in charge. I'll do it for my safety. Using my hooves to grab the armor on the floor, I made sure that I got ready to go back outside to visit Ponyville. Once I'm out of the Everfree Forest, I'll just take the armor off and put it in my saddlebags. Taking one last look at the armory to grab Starswirl's book, I quickly made my way towards the exit, hoping to get more answers than questions. The forest seems to be changing drastically, and in a short span of time, too. The environment changed wholly from the last time I was here. Even if the sun was still out, the forest seems to be planning on doing something mischievous. It must have something in store for me. Just like I remember: this place is like a living animal. It's watching my every movement. The wind is blowing, making the trees sound like they’re breathing. I don’t think many ponies would want to be here for any period of time, and I'm positive when it's dark here, that the creatures from the deepest part of the forest will come out and kill anything they see as a source of food. A chill goes down my spine. If these creeps want to play a game with me, then it's a game they'll get. I'll be the one who towers over them, and I'll be the one who shows them who's the most powerful figure they'll ever mess with in Equestria! Wow. Did I really just go that far in trying to send a mental message like that? Despite my big talk, not one animal has been roused so far by my tromp through the forest, which is a bit unsettling. Suddenly I hear something from the left. There is a small, audible crunch that comes from the trees. At first I thought it sounded like a squirrel that climbed into a tree. Before thinking of walking again, a large figure from the tree came down to face me with the eyes of what I could imagine were death itself. I recognize the animal as a manticore from my earlier studies, and is definitely more dangerous than the other animals I have fought before. It has saliva coming out of its mouth, licking its lips with its tongue and showing me its canine teeth. It's teeth could probably rip the flesh off my bones in seconds. Reminds me of a great white shark's teeth, only sharper and deadlier. Come on, Nuray. You can do this. I close my eyes and try to manifest as much magic as possible to attack the manicore. I charge my volatile spell, and the manticore gives a ferocious roar as it begins charging at me. I feel a surge of power, as magic flows through my entire body. My body shakes as my horn charges itself, and I try to focus on the wild manticore. The beam of raw magic strikes the manticore, ripping a hole straight through the beast, stopping it in its tracks. It fumbles an extra foot towards me before coughing a final breath and dying. "Ugh..." I groan while rubbing my temple. I think I used too much magic this time. No wonder that book said alicorn magic is unstable. I can't even cast a spell without feeling exhausted. I need to get out of here before something else tries to stand in my way. Need to get to Ponyville. I get back on my hooves, and slowly walking out of the Everfree Forest. It's easy to get in, but exceedingly hard to trace your steps to exit one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. At least I still have the armor to keep me safe for the time being. My horn picks up a rigorous ache as it throbbed, making me exclaim in a bout of pain. I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from using up so much energy to fight that no good manicore. If I don't g-get outta this place, I'm going to... c-collapse or worse," I stutter in my speech. "You need to find a good place to rest. Leaving can wait." Starswirl's voice shows concern over my health. "Alright, f-fine." Before I cab even think of continuing, my ears start twitching on both sides. I hear the sound of hoofsteps against the ground. I can't quite make out if it is just one or more "ponies" that have decided walk in the Everfree Forest, however. I feel my head throb again as I am reminded of my headache. Determined to find the source of the hoofsteps, I set out in a brisk trot. “Hello? Anypony there?" I say. No answer. I continue to walk in the approximate direction of where I assume the hoofsteps might be coming from, a rustle from behind reminds me of the dangers of this forest, and I pick up the pace into a canter. Right behind that bush is where I hear the noise. I burst into a clearing, only to make the acquaintance of a rather thick locking branch that seems to have a rather large grudge from when I blasted it’s tree apart two nights ago. Thunk. A pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Branch. The throbbing in my head has finally disappeared, although I am left with a rather dull pain from the impact from the branch. Placing a hoof to my head, I notice my helmet has been removed. Raising my head up once again, I also notice that my chest plate, saddlebags, and my cloak that I wore have also removed from my body. They are placed on a table just to my left, the spell book on top of my saddlebags, unopened. Looking around, I see from my rather soft bed that I’m in some kind of cave, that is furnished with only the basics, and a small carpet as a centerpiece under the table. Guess whoever found me at least had some sense of hospitality. My mane is all messed up. Using my hooves, I fix my mane back to its original state. Though my mane covers my right eye, I decide it isn't a problem. I can still see perfectly fine. Hoofsteps come from the other room, attracting my attention. Turning my head to the right at the door, which are actually curtains acting like double doors, revealed an earth pony. She has thin, blue jewelry on her bright white body, and a warm light yellow mane. Her long mane is wavy, but is tied together on her neck to where it falls to the right. "Who are you?" She doesn't say anything, instead just looking down at me, smiling. “Cursed Charm. Heard of me?” "No, never heard of you.” “I’m surprised. You must be new, everypony in these parts know me,” She tells me with a cocky tone in her voice. “What’s your name?” "I go by two names. You can call me either Ada or Nuray, but I prefer Nuray," I answer. “Are you the one who knocked me out?” “Err, no! O-of course not! I uh, just found you like that.” I have my doubts, but I don't press the issue. Charm looks at me and I can sense her looking at my neck. She points at it with her forehoof, shaking her head slightly, “I don’t think so. Why do you have the necklace of Nightmare Moon?” She looks back at me with a smile, “Know her?” Her voice is curious yet inquisitive. How in the world could she know? Looking back at Charm, I have to make sure I don't fully release my secrets to her. “I honestly don't know why I have this necklace on me. I was venturing in the Everforest and stumbled upon the old castle where the Royal sisters once lived in. While I was inside of the castle for about a couple of minutes, I felt sick to my stomach and passed out in the throne room. After waking up, I left the castle, but I didn't know that I had this necklace on me since that happened.” Is she going to believe in what I have just told her? She continues to look at me, listening. I give a nervous chuckle to break the silence. “Riiiight.” Charm smiles warmly at me with a slightly disbelieving smile, then tilts her head to the side slightly. “However...” Uh oh. “Why Nightmare Moon’s necklace?” She gets off from her chair and goes to one of the bookshelves to grab a book for me to look at. The book she takes from one of the shelves has a stitched picture, a circle that has half the moon and the sun on the other half. Charm promptly sat down with the book on an armchair, seemingly ready to show me something. “Nightmare Moon is just a spirit. She only took form after the Princess of Night after her sanity vanished. However, another spirit exists, but currently only in legend,” She turns the page near the beginning, depicting a pink-maned white mare on one side and a dark-blue mare with a lighter, fading blue mane on the other side. Below them, like a mirror, are two others. Charm flipps the book over to where the mirrored mares are right side up, facing me. One I immediately recognize as Nightmare Moon, and she is under the blue mare’s reflection. The other side is the same pony, except larger and having raging flames as her mane and tail, even sparks of fire coming from her burning, red-orange eyes. Turning the book around again, she continues with the tale. “‘When the new dawn arises, a new era is brought to us to shroud the night in the Sun’s glorious rays.’” The way she says it is making it sound like she definitely knows what she is talking about. She places her hoof right above the flaming mare’s picture, “Solar Flare, alternate Princess of Sun, like Nightmare Moon is to Princess of Night. Many believe they don’t exist or are gone forever.” "You don’t believe me? I don’t blame you, many didn’t believe in Nightmare Moon at first.” "Well, I... this is just new to me," I manage to say, trying to avoid revealing my obvious bluff. “I think you know more than you’re letting on,” A coy smile forms on her face. “Oh yes, I believe you know quite a bit more, Nightmare Moon’s puppet.” “I’m not her puppet! We’re rather fond of each other!” I defend, only realizing my blunder shortly after. “Err... oops?” “So I’m right! You do know her!” “Yes. How did you know?” “Well you’re not exactly doing a good job of hiding it, miss alicorn. You’ve got wings and everything!” Realization struck me, as I look at my wings to remember my cloak had been removed before I woke up. “So, what do you know about this, Nuray?” “In truth, I only known a little about the Princesses. I only know about Luna being turned into Nightmare Moon and being banished to the moon for a thousand years, and it goes on from there. Never have I heard about Solar Flare.” I may have read a few books in the castle, but there was no information that told me of another demon that was different from Nightmare. That's something that is making me worry. How will this solar demon come to Equestria? Luna was turned into Nightmare Moon due to Celestia's negligence for her, and the fact she was given more recognition than Luna from the commoners. Charm nodds slightly, "Alright. Anyways, she’s new to many, and then just a legend. Elder's tale, foal's play-fantasy. She is essentially the same as Nightmare Moon, until recently. Not much is known, about her, as Solar Flare exists in myth only currently. However if Nightmare Moon is real..." She pauses. "Then it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say she is, too." Oh god. Oh this is not good! If Celestia sees me in Nightmare's form, then... there's going to be unprecedented destruction occurring in Equestria!! It'll be my fault if this occurs, so I should probably try to avoid Celestia at all costs. A chill goes down my spine. I gulp slowly, just processing all the new information. Now I'm worried! This is bad. "Nightmare, why didn't you tell me any of this?" I put my hooves on both sides of my head. "You're my sister. Please, Nightmare, answer me. Say anything! Something that I can do to prevent something like this from happening!" There is no answer coming from her. "I need you Nightmare.” "Are you afraid of Solar Flare?" Charm asks curiously, probably waiting for me to speak, but I find that it is weird of how she knows what is going on. “I should go tell Twilight Sparkle about this-" Her head perks up slightly to look at me after I said Twilight's name. "Twilight... Sparkle? The Princess of Friendship? You know her, too?" "I merely heard of her from Nightmare Moon. Nightmare said Twilight and her friends were the ones that helped Luna be free from her grasp, but that was three years ago. I don't know much about what Twilight does now since then," I explain. "She’s the Princess of Friendship, ascended. Lives in the Crystal Palace in Ponyville, and she’s the Leader of the Friendship Council with five others, the Elements of Harmony." Her voice dips into a sadder tone, trailing off as she looks away from me, staying quiet for a moment. "Hey," I start. "Is something wrong, Charm?" I feel concern as her voice just turned sadd after her last words about Twilight’s group of friends. She looks back at me and shook her head. "I’m fine." Charm says reassuringly. "Do you... maybe want to talk about it?" I ask her. "Sometimes it's better to tell others about what happened back in the past to feel better. I listened to Nightmare's darkest secrets about her regretting taking away Luna from Celestia all those moons ago." I'm starting to think I'm learning more and more about how to speak differently in this world than the world I left behind. “I’m fine, trust me. It’s nothing too bad. So, you’re going to be visiting Ponyville soon then?" she changs the question, again her curiosity peeking through. "That's correct, Charm." I nodd. "I'm probably going to stay there for a couple of days. I'll probably go to Twilight first and maybe even talk with her friends while doing so. In addition, talk to other ponies in Ponyville,” I reply with a smile. Her smile grows, "I can escort you to Twilight. We... have a bit of a history." She slightly perks up, but I can tell whatever she is thinking about earlier is tied to Twilight. "Let's go then, Charm." Smiling more, I go to where all my belongs are located. Getting my cloak on, putting my book and armor in my saddlebags and putting the saddlebags on my back, I go back to Charm. "Want to go now?" I ask her. Charm nodds happily, "Sure! One moment," She quickly made her way to a coat rack and puts on a dark black cloak, similar to mine and starts walking towards me, grabbing the book she shows me and balancing it on her back. "I can carry your book if you want, I have plenty of space in my saddlebags. If it's alright with you. You seem to be having a hard time trying to balance it on your back." I tell her. She nods her head, “Sure. Go ahead.” After she hands me her book, I watch her go to a wall behind me, which seems to have no door. She looks up at it, then raise her fore hooves and hits hard against the wall. All of a sudden, part of the wall in front of her falls down, revealing a hidden door that leads straight up to the surface. There is a platform in front of us, the sunlight filling the room from a rather large hole. "Come on!" Charm jumps up and hurries to the center of the platform, and the way this is set up makes me wonder if this is some sort of underground elevator. Hurrying up, I run up to Charm and get on the platform. It must've taken a long time for her to make something like this. She looks at me and then stands up straight, her ears twitching. Charm might trying to here is there is anyone from above. She then looks at the ground. She stomps her left foreleg twice, "All clear!" She looks back at me, "Stay still, follow me." Not even a few seconds later, the platform launches like a rocket, the walls going from compact dirt and rocks to... wood? I glance at Charm, who is looking up, focusing. The sky is coming closer as we zoom up. "Now jump!" Nodding my head, I jump off the platform right as it reaches it’s apex. I notice that we are still in the Everfree Forest, but it would seem that we are not in the deepest parts of the forest. This area seems to be a lot calmer, as I don't need to fight against another manticore again anytime soon. The sky is all I can see above me, as I look out in the distance. A sea of treetops floods the horizon, mostly around me, as behind me stood Ponville. The platform stops at the top, and Charm presses her hoof on it, pushing down. The platform clicks and goes down slightly, as the hole where it used to be is replaced by leaves and twigs. She looks at me and promptly declares, "My secret lab. Pretty great, isn’t it?” “Well, yes.” Charm has a lot of secrets, it seems. I give a small chuckle. "Let's keep on moving, Charm. I hope Twilight is still available," I inform her. She nods. I proceed to follow her over the field to the road to Ponyville. Looks like I will finally going to be making some progress.