I probably should’ve asked Celestia for a map of this place. Oh well, there might be one in the library.
Nick decided that the whole castle probably would take a few days to fully explore. So instead of trying to spend all morning exploring every inch, he was going to spend half his time exploring, and half learning about Equestria. He was lucky to just encounter only timberwolves in the forest, he hadn’t even seen the other monsters Celestia told him about.
Upon arriving at the library, he set about looking for maps and any books on Equestrian history. Since he was going to be here for the rest of his shortened life, he might as well get to know the land better. Lifting the books themselves was also good practice, it forced him to levitate each one and carefully flip the pages. After he had a stack of books that would make Twilight proud, he began to read.
In his reading, he learned about how Equestria came to be. There was a period where all the ponies did not live in friendship. The earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns each had their own kingdom, only interacting with the others for essentials. One winter, crops failed to grow and Windigos, spirits that feed on hate, had taken residence over the land. It was thanks to the kindness of each kingdom’s second in command that the Windigos were repelled. They formed an alliance which resulted in the formation of Equestria.
No wonder why the ponies are so friendly. The land they live on was founded by friendship.
Noting that fact, Nick read on. Princess Celestia and Luna ascended the throne after being approached by a great unicorn named Starswirl the Bearded. Soon after becoming alicorns they discovered the Elements of Harmony. The first villain they defeated with the Elements was the Spirit of Chaos, Discord the draconequus. Thankfully the book had an image of the creature, who honestly looked like Frankenstein’s monster. He continued to read about Discord, and was interested in why he didn’t have to defeat him as well. After Discord, the other villains seemed to be placed in no particular order.
What’s the point of writing a history book when you omit when each villain was defeated? I guess when they were defeated doesn’t matter too much. I just need to learn more about them to exploit any weaknesses.
Lord Tirek, a centaur from a nation across the sea arrived with his brother Scorpan to conquer Equestria. However, Scorpan came to befriend Starswirl along with appreciating Equestrian culture, and tried to convince Tirek to leave Equestria in peace. After failing to convince him, Scorpan warned Celestia and Luna about his brother’s plan. Scorpan returned home, while Tirek was imprisoned in Tartarus. Nothing much was discussed about his weaknesses nor about how Celestia and Luna managed to defeat him.
King Sombra claimed the throne of the Crystal Empire a thousand years ago. A tyrant who enslaved the citizens to do his bidding, he used dark magic, similar to Tirek. Celestia and Luna appeared and were successful in banishing him, but at a cost. Before he was banished, Sombra caused the Crystal Empire to disappear as well, and neither one hadn’t been seen since.
Nick flipped through each book, but was unsuccessful in locating any information about Chrysalis. He did remember Celestia telling him that she appeared out of nowhere, the only warning a threat towards Canterlot. Her species, the changeling, also had little information on them, mainly because nopony knew they existed until Chrysalis tried to invade. A reason that there was little information on this species could have been that they were hiding in plain sight, feeding on ponies’ emotions until they made themselves known.
“Well, I guess that’s enough reading,” he decided, placing the books back where he found them. His levitation magic was getting better, as he could float three books at a time back into their places. Smiling at his progress, he picked up the last book, which also contained a map of the castle, and headed towards the throne room.
“I could find the kitchen, but who knows what animals would be in there and I’m sure the food is all but rotten. The armory might be nice, but I don’t think it’ll be beneficial. It’ll weigh me down more than protect me. Plus, I’ve never trained to use armor, I’m sure I’ll be clumsier in it. Eh, I’ll just pick a path and go down it. You don’t explore by following a map.”
Heading down one of the hallways, he took in his surroundings. For being left unattended for over a thousand years, this castle was in pretty great shape. The walls looked structurally sound and debris was limited, leaving a clear walkway. Along the wall were stone hooves holding torches, an odd design, even for ponies. It would be like human hands sticking out of the wall. While it was tempting to pull on each one to see if there was a secret passage, Nick knew that he couldn’t. He didn’t know the castle well enough to get back if it closed on him. So after passing through the limb filled hall, he found himself at an intersection. He looked at the book and saw that going left would lead him to the kitchens, straight to the gardens and right to the armory.
“I guess let’s check out the armory, there might be something useful in there.”
To his dismay, about halfway through the hall, he saw that the ceiling had collapsed, effectively sealing the room. Sighing, he returned back to the intersection and headed towards the gardens. As expected, everything was dead, not even plants from the Everfree could be found here. With parts of the wall crumbled away, Nick could see more of the Everfree Forest surrounding the castle. Now that he thought about it, he needed to explore the Everfree more than the castle, after all, that was where his food came from. He wasn’t strong enough to take on all the creatures right now, but with some careful exploration, he might be able to find where they lived and could return when he knew how to fight.
He looked to the sky and the sun was almost directly above him. “Lunch time,” he announced, heading back into the castle. His “lunch” would be light today, just a few apples he’d managed to pick. When he got back from his lesson he would need to find some more food. Nick also noticed that his fur didn’t stink, probably because wolves, or any canines for that matter don’t. Still, he wished he could have a quick shower, just because it was habit. He quickly smelled his breath and was relieved that it had a neutral scent.
“Maybe some mint that I could chew on to freshen my breath.”
Rearranging his leaf pouches on some rope, he left the castle, ready for another day of learning.
Twilight had just finished her first lesson with Starlight, and was now heading towards the edge of town where Nick entered the other day. She noticed that she wasn’t the only pony expecting his arrival as she saw Rainbow Dash perched on a cloud. Flying up to her and getting the pegasus’ attention, Rainbow Dash gave her a simple greeting and went back to staring at the Forest.
“What are you doing here Rainbow? Shouldn’t you be taking a nap or playing a prank on somepony?”
“Well, yeah, that’s what I’d normally do. But ever since that wolf came to town, he needs to be watched. There’s something fishy about his story. A wolf being the newest Element of Harmony? Going to have to try harder to fool me.”
“While his story definitely is missing some important information, it is true. The letter from Princess Celestia not only confirmed his story, but that she was the one who gave him the gem. I’m trying my best to get to know him better, but he’s not budging.”
“Want me to interrogate him for ya? I’m sure a few blows to the stomach will have him singing like one of Fluttershy’s birds.” Rainbow Dash still remembered the force field the wolf used to protect himself. While she wasn’t physically hurt, her pride was. He was able to momentarily stop her, the fastest, strongest pony there was.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight chastised her friend. “Why would you even suggest such a thing. Nick has been taken from his home to risk his life trying to save Equestria. He probably doesn’t want to tell us about himself because he doesn’t know us yet. With some time and kindness, he’ll open up.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Whatever. If he tries to eat one of us, I’ll be the only one to stop him. The rest of you are willing to trust him too easily.”
Seeing as she wasn’t going to convince her any better, Twilight sighed and went back to looking for her other student. After several minutes had passed, her ears drooped. Maybe he was just going to learn on his own or had been caught by timberwolves? She shook those thoughts out of her head. Calm down Twilight. You never said when to meet, only that it would be in the afternoon. For all we know, he may think that that’s 2 or 3.
She turned to her friend. “Rainbow how long have you been waiting here?”
“About thirty minutes before you arrived. I’m tempted to fly into the Everfree and just find him myself. That might take longer since nopony knows where he lives.”
Twilight decided that it would be better for her to stay and wait. While she trusted Rainbow to not do anything drastic, who knew what she would do to Nick when he finally showed up. Thirty minutes later, they spotted movement towards the edge of the forest. Sure enough, there was Nick, some sort of bags around him, and he looked out of breath.
Both mares quickly flew over to him, Twilight asking him in a concerned tone. “Are you alright? Did the timberwolves try to catch you? What happened?”
“It’s … fine… Princess,” he panted. “Sorry I’m late. I caught scent of some wild asparagus and decided to pick some for dinner. I also found some wild mint, some more apples, and berries. I got so caught up in foraging I lost track of time.”
Twilight was relieved to hear Nick was alright. Now that she thought about it, it was silly that she was worried about the wolf, after all, he was on his own before he met Princess Celestia. Nonetheless, he was here and their lesson could continue.
“Were you concerned as well Rainbow Dash? Aw, there was no need to, I’m a big, strong, scary wolf after all. Thanks anyway.”
With a huff, Rainbow took off, leaving Twilight and Nick chuckling. “So Princess, what will our lesson be today?”
“Well, first I want to evaluate how you are doing on what you learned yesterday. After that, I may teach you how to heal minor wounds. Seeing as you can conjure a force field, I believe you can use other forms of healing magic. I can also teach you some offensive magic as well, although my knowledge is limited.”
“Some is better than none your highness. You must have known enough to defeat three supervillains.”
“Well, I would say that the Elements of Harmony are what defeated each foe we faced. We just had to use the power of our friendship to wield the power of the Elements. From what you described yesterday, it seems you actually have to use normal magic to weaken the darkness and use the Elements to effectively cleanse it. Hopefully, my magic lessons can ease some of your burden.”
It seemed Nick had found his answer. First, he would have to defeat each villain and trap them in his gem. Second, he would have to convince Twilight and her friends to zap him with their magic so he could destroy the gem.
They arrived at the castle and headed directly to the library. The first thing Twilight asked was for Nick to levitate some books. Knowing that that would be easy, Nick showed off a bit, levitating three at a time, just like he did at the castle. The alicorn was impressed at his improvement and decided to see how well his shield conjuring had improved. Focusing his thoughts, Nick was able to hold the shield for almost 5 minutes before his magic dissipated.
“You have improved significantly since yesterday Nick,” she smiled, writing down the results on a piece of parchment. “I’d say in a few days you’ll have levitation down and in a week, you’ll be able to keep up your shield with ease. Now let’s start with our next lesson, using healing magic.”
The next couple of days passed by rather quickly. Before he knew it, Nick had already been in Equestria for over a week. However, with Twilight keeping him busy with his magic lessons, there wasn’t much time to reflect on this revelation. His levitation magic was always reliable and he had moved on to lifting heavier things, things he couldn’t lift physically. He became more efficient in casting his shield, able to sustain it longer and use less energy. Nick added magic bolts to his offensive magic along with manipulating his fireballs into physical attacks. Healing was a bit tricky as he wasn’t sure how effective it was, hoping that when he needed to use it, it would work fine.
Even with all these new spells, he couldn’t fully explore the forest yet, mostly because Nick had never been in a fight before. Thankfully Princess Luna was more than happy to spar with the wolf. Nick had been hesitant at first, but Luna insisted that she help him, after all, it was she who trained her own captain of the night guard. They conducted their sessions in his dreams, Luna placing a buffer so that it would feel as if Nick were fighting normally. The first few nights, they practiced stances. After getting the basic hoofwork down, they started to spar, which mostly ended up with Nick flat on his muzzle. Luna reassured him that he’d get the hang of it, and would probably be ready to explore the Everfree in a week.
In the meantime, when Nick wasn’t practicing his magic or fighting style, he decided to hang around Ponyville in the mornings, hoping to find some work. Honestly, he was tired of forging for mediocre food each night, hoping he wasn’t being followed by the timberwolves or something even worse. He found employment with Applejack, who was more than happy to help him out. The rest of the Apple family was a little shocked by Applejack’s decision, but once they got to know the wolf, his help was greatly appreciated.
Nick remained mostly silent when working with the Apples, giving Big Mac a run for his bits. Anytime Applejack asked about his past, he simply stated he didn’t want to talk about it. When asked why he just repeated the phrase, adding that there were things he didn’t want to remember. This naturally peaked the mare’s curiosity, but she knew better than to try and open old wounds.
Even with a job and his magic lessons, Nick found he still had free time on his paws (Applejack didn’t want to run him ragged and let him decide when he wanted to work). He often wandered through town, looking for anypony he could help. With each deed completed, the whole town warmed up to him, and soon after he was greeted whenever he passed through. Rarity was among those that appreciated his help, and he received a satchel from the seamstress as thanks for modeling for her, inspiring a new clothing line.
He had also been tackled by Pinkie Pie a few times, mostly to ask about the party she wanted to throw for him. She thought he was crazy when he first said he didn’t want a party and nearly flipped out when he admitted that the last time he had a party was years ago. Despite his objections, Pinkie was able to finally convince him to celebrate with the rest of her friends, even though all of Ponyville should have been included as well.
Today, Nick was helping Big Mac clean out the barn, which was made easier with his magic. After a good hour of hard work, the two went their separate ways. Nick decided to grab some lunch before heading to Twilight’s castle. With bits to spend on food, the wolf was able to stay later for his lessons with the lavender alicorn, who was still trying to convince him to live in the castle. Each time he politely refused, although it was getting rather tedious. He told her that living in safety would soften him, dull his senses, but the mare wasn’t satisfied with that answer. She argued that what good would it do if he was injured in the forest, nopony would know where to look.
Nick picked one of his favorite cafes, The Feedbag, as they made being a vegetarian enjoyable. They had the best grilled cheese sandwich and potato soup he ever had. Sitting down on the patio he ordered his meal. While he waited, he watched different ponies go about their daily lives. He saw a common theme for each pony, there was no sadness, no anger, no exhaustion. Each pony seemed happy and content, always smiling. They were oblivious to the threat that loomed over them all, their only knowledge was that he was the newest Element of Harmony and receiving training from Twilight.
He thanked his waiter for the meal, paid the bill and was on his way to Twilight’s castle. His mind filled with possible lessons they would learn, each one causing him to smile. While he loved learning about magic and how to use it, he also found affection towards his teacher. Not only was she a beautiful mare, her personality reminded him of someone that was very close. Sadly he knew he couldn’t tell her his feelings due to his “destiny”. Twilight wasn’t the only mare who had caught his eye. His other teacher, Luna, had the same effect on him, her determination and kindness very attractive. So instead of telling them how he felt, he hid his feelings and tried to distance himself, causing Twilight’s concern for his safety to increase.
As he approached the front doors, he let out a sigh. I wish I could tell her the real reason why I stay away. That I don’t want her to feel the pain of losing a friend. If I did tell her what I had to do, she’d stop me, making all this hard work for naught.
Spike answered the door after Nick knocked.
“Hey Nick,” he greeted. “Come on in, Twi’s doing some reading in the library.”
The little dragon led him through the long corridors, eventually stopping in front of the library. After announcing that Nick was there, Twilight called both of them in. She was sitting on her haunches, floating the books she pulled out back into their places.
“Hiya Twilight,” he called out, causing the mare to smile.
While he was stubborn at times, Twilight was glad she met Nick. Even though they were different species, they shared a lot in common, from a fascination with magic to doing research. She had developed a fondness for the wolf as well, how his smile could brighten up a room, or the way he looked at her with his warm hazelnut eyes. She denied to herself that this attraction to the wolf was anything more than puppy love, but there was no denying the fact that her heart sank whenever Nick left the lesson to head back to the Everfree.
“Hello, Nick. How are you?” she replied, finishing her tidying.
“Not too bad, and yourself?”
“I’m good. Ready to continue where we left off?”
“Yeah, I’m ready for you to throw more magic at me. Maybe I’ll be able to deflect it this time,” he stuck his tongue out, causing the mare to laugh.
“How else are you going to strengthen your shield if it’s not attacked? Plus I’m not even using my magic at its full power, you big baby.”
“Baby huh? We’ll see about that!”
“Alright, that’s good for now,” Twilight announced, the glow on her horn dimming.
Nick was panting hard, but at the same time smiling. He had successfully deflected not one, but several of Twilight’s magic bolts.
“I think I’m ready to start exploring the Everfree safely,” he commented, heading to where he placed his satchel.
“Maybe,” the alicorn replied, her eyes looking at him with concern. “There’s more than just timberwolves you know.”
“Yeah, but so far I’ve been lucky enough to not run into anything nastier. Which reminds me, I better start heading home. It’s almost 7.”
Twilight nodded, and while it was tempting to try and convince Nick to stay, she didn’t want to argue with him again. “Alright, just promise me you’ll be safe.”
That caught Nick off guard. “Come again?”
“When you’re in there, please be careful. I- I don’t want you to get hurt.”
She looked as if she was going to start crying. He felt bad that he was doing this for her and did something that he wanted to do ever since he acknowledged his feelings for her. Walking up to Twilight, he wrapped his paws around her and held her close. Her body tensed up slightly from the unexpected action, but soon relaxed and returned the hug. Twilight could feel her cheeks heat up, but that was nothing compared to warmth of Nick’s fur. Losing control, she nuzzled into his chest, a smile on her muzzle.
That was really adorable, so adorable that he found himself stroking her mane. He quickly realized that this was something he shouldn’t be doing. “I promise I’ll be careful, your highness,” he replied, quickly ending the hug and wishing her a good night.
As he left the castle and headed through town, Nick chided himself for his behavior. You’re not supposed to get close to her genius. Now she most definitely sees you as a friend. If you get lucky she’ll probably forget everything that happened. It sure was nice holding her, being able to offer her whatever comfort I could. I wish that we could be close, but I don’t want to lose another friend, especially not like…
He paused, noticing he was on the outskirts of town. Before he could stop himself, the dam of painful memories gave way, causing him to droop his head.
I’m so sorry Alex. It’s all my fault.
Alex was the only real friend Nick had. One reason Nick never really had any friends was that his family was constantly moving from city to city. By the time he had made friends, he would have to leave, and start all over. He grew discouraged about making all this effort to find friends, only to leave them behind. Eventually he just gave up and became a loner.
That was until 7th grade, where he met Alex. Nick was sitting alone during lunch and Alex decided to keep him company. Nick was reluctant at first, and told him straight out that he’d probably be moving by the end of the school year. Alex didn’t care, maybe this year he’ll be able to stay. Nick tried to dismiss him, saying that he was tired getting to know people only to leave them behind. Alex was stubborn and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Seeing as there was no way to convince him otherwise, Nick gave in and introduced himself. They got to talking, what their hobbies were, what they were interested in. They had many similarities, both loved to play video games, sing and go exploring. Within the week, they were the best of pals. Alex was always coming up with outrageous ways to have fun, most often getting them both in trouble. Yet when Nick looked back at all of their adventures, if he had the chance, he’d relive them all over again.
For Christmas of that year, Nick got the best gift he’d ever received. His dad had been promoted to a supervisor, meaning that they wouldn’t have to move schools again. When classes resumed, Nick told Alex the great news and Alex simply said, “I told you so.” They finished middle and high school together, and despite them taking different academic paths, nothing could tear them apart.
Well at least they thought so. After graduating, Alex decided to work at a local repair shop while Nick was pursuing his Bachelor’s degree at an out of state university. Nick had tried to convince Alex to pursue a college degree, even an Associate’s would be better than a high school diploma, but Alex was happy where he was at. He loved tinkering with things, and he already had a good rapport with the owner. Despite Nick going out of state, they stayed good friends, always keeping in touch. It was during spring break of freshman year that they were separated forever.
Nick decided to return home for spring break, missing his family as well as Alex. The campus was pretty large, and making some new friends was tough, considering that the program he was in had a small class size. He had made plans with Alex, to go on a campout at the local lake, what they had always done when they were younger.
Packing all of their stuff, they hopped into Alex’s pickup and drove off, ready to have a good time. After setting up their tents, they decided to go out to the lake. It was a pretty warm day, and the lake water looked great. Off to the side they found a cliff they could jump off of into the lake.
“Let me check to see if the lake’s deep enough to go diving” Nick told Alex and started to swim out to the area below the cliff. He saw Alex already at the top of the cliff, waiting for his signal. For what he could tell the lake seemed deep enough to jump in, but he wasn’t too sure. It would be best to err on the side of caution
He yelled up to Alex. “I don’t think it’s safe enough to jump. Let’s go find another place”
Sadly Alex only heard the words “Safe … to … jump” and proceeded to do so.
Nick’s screams were too late. By the time he told him to stop, Alex’s body was already off from the cliff. Nick panicked as he saw his friend hurtling towards a shallow area of the lake. Frozen with fear he watched as his friend hit the water and heard a loud crack.
“ALEX!”
He quickly swam over to where Alex had landed, desperately looking for him. After a few minutes he found his limp body on the lake bed.
“No, no, no. This can’t be happening” he cried carefully lifting the body out of the lake. He carefully, but quickly carried his friend to their campsite and called 911. While he waited for the ambulance he tried everything he could to keep his friend alive. He couldn’t feel a pulse and proceeded to do some chest compressions to get his heart beating. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours, until he heard the sirens approaching his location.
He ran towards the paramedics and informed them of what happened. They got a stretcher out and Nick lead them to the campsite. He helped them carefully place Alex on the stretcher and allowed him to ride with them to the hospital.
Come on Alex, you’re gonna be alright, he prayed, unable to look at his friend.
Nick waited in the lounge, hoping that everything would be all right. After what seemed like hours, the doctor appeared. Nick’s heart jumped, impatient to know how Alex was doing. The doctor dropped his head and broke the news. They weren’t able to save him, he had snapped his neck, instantly killing him.
No. That can’t be right. This is all a bad dream. I’m going to wake up and everything will be normal.
But Nick knew that this wasn’t a dream. It was all too real, and his friend was dead. The cops were there to get all of the information on what had happened. Nick was barely able to tell them all of the horrific events that had happened, but managed to do so. After hearing his story, they told Nick that there would most likely be no charges that would be pressed against him, Alex’s death was simply a tragic accident. That brought no comfort at all. He wished they pressed charges against him and threw him in jail. It was his fault his friend was dead. He should’ve never suggested they go cliff jumping.
He spent the whole week in his room, not wanting to eat or see anyone until his parents were able to convince him that Alex wouldn’t want him to stop everything he had worked so hard for. Nick finally was able to return to college and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, wanting to make his friend proud. Alex’s death had changed him though. Instead of avoiding making friends, he avoided human contact as much as he could. His current job, doing research in a lab, ensured he would be alone for the most part. His family was all that he had left, but when his parents died, he had lost that as well.
He was truly alone. His heart all but frozen. That was until he met Celestia on that fateful day. Something about her had warmed his heart, and he was able to smile for the first time in years. Now that he was in Equestria, the ponies had seemed to thaw out his heart further, especially Luna and Twilight. Not only had they warmed his heart, they captured it as well, making his quest even more difficult. Should he continue to try and hide his feelings from them, or should he come clean and hope that they understand?