//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Cursed Forest and Hearless Ponies // Story: The Family of Time // by Ephraim Blue //------------------------------// And I am grateful to you for that. But I think this could be the last time I ever see of you... "A-A castle?" Hope asked. "In the middle of the Everfree?" "Y- Yeah..." Silver replied. A castle... a big, gray castle." "That sounds like the castle of the Two Pony Sisters. How does it look?" "It looks... new..." "New?" she asked. "That's impossible... They haven't been there for a long time. How can it be new?" "I- I don't know... but, that's what it looks like to me." She pondered to herself. A new-looking castle in the middle of the most dangerous woods in Equestria? That was impossible. She then recalled old times of when their mother would teleport them to a castle in the forest to visit their uncle. Whenever they visited their uncle, they were always told never to play in the forest, for it was cursed. They never explained why it was cursed... only that it was. Now that she thought about it, it reminded her a lot of the Everfree. A cursed forest of untold danger that grew where the old Castle of the Two Sisters used to be. She'd never thought that her uncle lived in the Everfree... He always said he lived in the wood to stop those who would try to harm him, or those he needed to protect. "I have not been the best person to rely on for anything," he used to tell them. "I was under false assumptions and lead astray from the path I was supposed to be on." "What brought you back?" Hope and Silver asked. He always smiled back at them. "Lets just say that while I haven't been the best relative, I wouldn't be called your uncle, or even visited, if it weren't for nothing. Your father, Blue, was always there for me, even though he didn't always want to be." She opened her eyes and stared at the woods. The Castle of the Royal Sisters... Celestia and Luna lived in that castle once. Their uncle... is suddenly made sense. They had been there before. Their uncle lived there, at least, a long time ago... Why hadn't mom taken them their recently? Mom... When she thought of her, she got a little angry again, thinking only ahead. "Come on Silver. We're headed to the castle." He flew back down to her. "U-Um... r-right..." And thus, they began their trek into the forest. The way to the castle was surprisingly straightforward. The woods were scary, sure, but there were many ways around all these dangers. Hope had always been a powerful spell caster in regards to her magic, and she had practically mastered any spell that came her way. Using those magic powers, she was able to defend themselves from most of the dangers of the forest or the creatures within. Silver Streak had no eye for magic at all. He tended to be one to hang back and analyze a situation, figure out the best way to go through or about it. Whenever his sister got tired, he flew her as quick as he could into a safe tree, where they could rest. Occasionally, he scouted ahead a little to help inform his sister of what was coming and how to go about it. In the end, the only thing holding them back was how determined they were to reach their goal. One's determination tends to be the most powerful thing to them, but it can also lead to downfall. What if what they were doing now didn't lead to their father? Their determination would have been for nothing. Their struggle to get to this castle, the energy they used, how much they want to get there... if their father was not there, then they would have to do it all again to get back out of the forest, and who would know what could be done after that? They had this thought occasionally. Blade Runner heaved heavily as she fell to the ground. This fight was nothing for her to win, and she knew that all along. From the moment she saw his face, she knew that nothing could be done to prevent her fall in this fight. "Weak," the black-eyed stallion said. "Pathetic. You're nothing but tricks and predictable attacks in battle." He slowly went over to her. "Its hard to believe that you managed to slip them from my grasp." Blade weakly looked back up at him, pure anger burning in her eyes. She hated how this stallion... this monster looked exactly like him. "Tell me where you sent them, and I will let you live. They have something that belongs to my father, and he very much wants it back." "Your father?" Blade coughed as she did her best to stand up. "You don't have a father, you don't deserve one either! You're nothing but a destroyer, and a pawn to this "father's" games! If you were anything like Blue, you'd know that and leave this all behind. Thirteen years and now you show up again. I'm more or less surprised you manage to stay alive with how uncaring and reckless you are!" The stallion closed his eyes. "'If you were anything like Blue'," he smirked. "You of many ponies should know that I am _exactly_ like Blue! I am no different from your husband, and I never was. Its how we were born." "He was not born like you!" she retaliated. "He merely did not live to his potential." He suddenly appeared right in front of her and smacked her aside and to the ground once more. "He's pathetic. You're pathetic. Those who refuse to live to their potential will forever be pathetic. You lived like that once, didn't you? You're not too different from me, murderer. Now? You're just soft." She chuckled weakly as she coughed up blood. "I suppose I did become soft. But I became soft for the one who made me feel calm, now and forever. Blue... a calm and sad color... a calm and sad stallion. He will never be like you, nor this 'father' of yours. You've become heartless in your own power." The stallion didn't speak. He instead drew upon his power and summoned his weapon, a double-curved sword covered in dried blood, the curves forming sharp hooks on their ends. "Will those be your last words, little pathetic pony?" "I'll see you in Tartarus," she spat blood in his face. He ignored it, wrapping the curved end of the sword around her neck. A flash. The stallion was left alone. "Pathetic." He made his sword vanish. "I didn't stain her blood on my sword, coward. Relying on outside help," he huffed. "I suppose I should let father know I found it, but it got away." Just as he was summoning his magic, he pondered on her words again. "If you were anything like Blue." The thought made him chuckle. "A calm and sad color... a calm and sad stallion." He laughed, a dark desire filling his black eyes. "You've become heartless in your own power." He calmed down. "Oh, you amuse me, Blade Runner. You know very well I do have a heart, for I would not be alive then." He stared into the sky, looking with bloodlust. "But like my name, I let it run Black with my own power." The Twin's journey through the woods only became darker and creepier. The sounds of the beasts in these woods were nothing like they'd experienced. It terrified them. "We shouldn't have come here..." Silver said as he shivered. He was going from tree to tree like some squirrels in the park they used to play. He kept checking to make sure they were always going in the right direction. His sister didn't know much of her fear, but she was clearly experiencing it too. "W-We just have to get to the castle... y-you said it was in a clearing surrounded by a g-gorge, correct?" "Yeah.." "T-Then it really would be like Uncle's... w-wouldn't it?" Silver looked down at her. She never liked admitting it, but she was terrified of heights. It was when she was a lot younger and they were visiting at their Uncle's. The gorge surrounded the castle, and one day she got too close, slipped and nearly fell down. She was caught on a loose ledge and was stuck there for hours until everypony else realized she was gone and came to her rescue. The fall she took could have been much worse, but it was lucky that she didn't fall the whole way down. She escaped with just a couple scars, but it traumatized her, and she never wanted to go near it again. Now, she was moving right toward one.