Tales From Blackwood Forest

by Robobrony

2,000 Years, 360 Days Ago

2,000 Years 360 Days Ago

Five days had passed now since I lost everything dear to me. I went back to my village the next day to see the destruction those invaders rot. It was not a pleasant scene, every shadow walker I knew was dead, I searched throughout the village hoping to not find a dead familiar face, but it was to no avail, I ran away and didn’t look back. I did what I could to stay alive, feeding off the fruit that grew on some of the trees in the forest and eating the edible plants. Five days after that, I found myself sitting on a rock under a large leaf from a nearby bush.

It provided protection against the downpour that came from the sky. The day seemed to mirror my mood, dark and depressed. As if to celebrate its freedom and take its anger out on being controlled for so long, the sky let out a turrent of rain from the very thick dark clouds above. I sat there, sobbing, sniffling, and crying. After about an hour or so, I finally stop. “What’s the point of crying anymore, what’s the point of anything, I’ll never be happy again. I’m all alone now, I have to do what I can to survive, it’s what my mother and father would want. I can’t be sad anymore, no more feeling sorry for myself.” That’s when I got a thought. “What’s the point of feeling anything anymore, it’s not like there’s any pony around to care how I feel, I’ll just lock my emotions away and never have to worry about it again.”

I made a decision that I would lock away everything that had to do with emotion. I remember some mental training I received from one of my tribe mates, they were good at mental things, he was a magic wielder, he taught me some things about how to lock away your fear when you shouldn’t be afraid, it was only meant to be a temporary thing for one should never be without fear forever. But then, how could he foresee what I would end up going through. I decided to use that technique here and now to lock away all my emotions forever. I closed my mind and focused my thoughts, just like I was taught.

After a few moments of concentration, I felt that I had accomplished my goal. Little did I know that such an action would have a side effect. Emotions weren’t meant to be locked up forever. “Hello.”

“GAH!” I screamed in surprise at the sudden voice. I looked to my side with surprise, apparently I still had a ways to go to lock all my emotions up, but I felt I locked quite a bit of them, that would have to wait for now though. To my side, was a shadow of myself, it looked exactly like me, except it was all black and had red eyes. “Who……who are you?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, I’m you….sort of.” It responded.

I cocked an eyebrow at the shadow of myself. “Sort of, what do you mean sort of, how can you be me, I’m me, what are you?” I asked, pointing my hoof at the apparition.

“Well, I’m not sure how to explain it other than to say that……I am a manifestation of your emotions, since you chose to lock them up, they have to come out somehow, so the magic in you created me.” It explained.

“That’s ridiculous, how do I know this isn’t some kind of trick from some creature that wants to eat me?” I asked, not believing a word of what my shadow double had said.

“What if I told you something that only you knew, something about yourself?”

I narrowed my eyes at the shadow. “All right, tell me something about myself that only I would know.” I said with suspicion clear in my voice.

The shadow put a hoof to its chin in thought. “I know what mom and dad called you when you were younger.”

I waved a hoof as I turned my head to the side. “Yeah right.” I turned back to the shadow. “All right then, what did mom and dad use to call me when I was younger?”

My doppleganger sneered. “They used to call you their little night bird.”

It was evident now that I still had a ways to go to lock up my emotions, as my face flushed red with embarrasement. “HEY, they…..they did not. You’re a fake!” I tried to lie.

I don’t know why, but the shadow then started to laugh. “HA ha ha ha, oh man, the look on your face.”

I was getting mad. “Knock it off you imposter, or I’ll……I’ll do…..something.” I desperately tried to think of something to follow through with my threat, but nothing came to mind.

My duplicate then composed itself and spoke. “I’m sorry, but how else was I going to prove to you that what I said was true?”

I gave a humph in disapproval. “Humph, fine, so you know that about me.” I said as I looked to it with a frown. “I guess you’re telling the truth, so what now, am I stuck with you or what?”

The shadow smiled. “Pretty much, at least until you decide that you do need emotions.”

I was not happy about that statement. “Well, I don’t need emotions anymore, there’s no need for them when your alone, and I don’t need you around either, so just disappear already, I don’t need you, I don’t need anyone.”

My double shook his head. “Sorry Nightshade, but you’re stuck with me. Like it or not, I’m like your imaginary friend now, only you can see and hear me.”

“Great.” I muttered under my breath before letting out a yawn, I was getting tired and it must be late, the rain was still coming down though, yet in my tired condition, it was almost soothing. I laid down, crossed my forelegs, and rested my head on them. “I don’t need anyone.” I said one final time before I fell asleep. Before I did, I felt something warm snuggle up beside me. I raised my head again and saw my shadow had laid down next to me, somehow it was able to give off warmth like he was alive.

As if to answer the question in my head, my double spoke. “It’s part of the magic that made me, you can feel me too, I can give you warmth like this so you won’t be too cold in this weather.”

I just ignored him then and rested my head back in its previous position with it facing away from my shadow. I didn’t want to admit it, but feeling warmth from another source provided some comfort for me as I let sleep take me. “Don’t worry mom, dad, I’ll survive on my own just fine, just like you wanted.” I said quietly to myself before blacking out from sleepiness.

***

I awoke the next day to the sound of birds chirping, the rain had stopped as the sun shone through the trees, I could see through the canopy that some of the clouds were still there, but were now white instead of grey. I decided today would be the day I got to the arduous task of burying my clan. I knew it would be hard, but it was something I had to do. I could remember where everyone lived, so I thought it also appropriate that I bury them in the ground under their houses. I yawned as I stretched my forelegs, followed by my hind legs, and gave my wings a good stretch.

I decided the first thing I needed to do was find breakfast, I then noticed that my shadow double was gone. “It must have been a dream.” I thought to myself. I shook the thought from my head and decided to let it go, if it was a dream, there was no need to dwell on it. I climbed down from the rock I was on and went about to locate the nearest fruit tree. It only took me a minute to find one. I craned my neck up and spotted the food I craved. A funny shaped fruit with two shades of green in the form of stripes, a forest pear. I figured I could easily fly up there and retrieve it, but I knew that since I was on my own now, I needed to start strengthening myself. So I decided to exercise my shadow magic first.
I concentrated like my parents taught me and formed a black circle under me, I was straining at first as I groaned and flexed my shadow walker powers. “Come on, come on.” I egged myself on.

“That’s it, you almost got it.”

I suddenly lost my concentration and let out a surprised yelp and fell to my side. “AH!”

“Oops, um, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I was just trying to give moral support.” My shadow had returned. To my dismay, what happened last night was not a dream.

“Oh great, it’s you, so you weren’t a dream after all.” I said as I rolled my eyes at it.

My shadow smiled as it responded. “Nope, I’m real all right.” His smile quickly disappeared in place of a straight face. “Well, sort of.”

An idea formed in my head. “All right then. If your real, then get that fruit for me.” I said with a sneer of my own.

My shadow then shook his head. “Sorry, but I can’t interact with anything but you, I’m not real, I really only exist as a manifestation of your emotions, remember?”

I frowned and narrowed my eyes. “Then what good are you, just leave me alone so I can eat.”

My shadow turned his head slightly and raised an eyebrow. “You sure you don’t want me to cheer you on?”

I turned my attention back to the tree and faced the trunk. “I don’t need cheering, I need food, so just leave me alone and let me do this in peace.” I faced my double again and gave a glare to get my point across.

My double closed his eyes as he spoke. “All right, but if you need me, you know I’ll always be there for you. You know where to find me.” With that, my double then just faded out.

“Whatever.” I said as I turned my attention back to my task at hoof. I focused my shadow magic and created the black circle again, straining like before. The form appeared under my hooves and I strained to shape it into a shadow tentacle to reach up and grab the fruit. “Come on, come on, almost got it.” I said to myself as I held my eyes closed in utter concentration. To my delight, a tentacle started to form, I chanced a peek with my left eye and saw a shadow tentacle reaching up in front of me. I closed my eye again, and kept it up. After a moment, I had to see how I was doing, so I opened my eyes while trying to keep my concentration up.

I saw the tentacle slowly reaching up the trunk of the tree and heading right for my goal. I couldn’t help but feel a little pride in myself that I was succeeding in my difficult task. The tentacle reached the fruit and I concentrated on what I wanted the thing to do. It wrapped around the fruit and I focused on pulling it down. The fruit was being stubborn as I strained even more to get the tentacle to pull it off. It took everything I had and finally managed to dislodge the fruit from the tree with the tentacle I made. It was a little easier to make the tentacle come down with the fruit in tow.

Once it reached me, I took hold of the fruit with my mouth and released my concentration. Once the shadow magic dissipated, I collapsed to the ground in exhaustion and the fruit fell out of my mouth, thankfully, it didn’t roll away. I managed to collect it in my right foreleg and brought it to my mouth. I managed to push myself up off the ground onto my haunches and held the fruit up. I took a bit with a satisfying crunch. After the exertion I put into obtaining it, it was the sweetest tasting fruit I ever ate. But I knew one wasn’t enough.

“Way to go Nightshade, you did it.”

My eye lids fell to a half lidded position as my smile turned to a frown, my mouth full with some of the fruit. “Ugh.” I quickly turned my head for a quick peek and saw my double there giving me a smile as if to congratulate me on my victory. I just ignored him and turned my attention back to my breakfast. After I finished with it, I went the easy route to get another piece and flew up to the branches.

After eating two more of the forest pears, I decided now was the time to start the task I set for myself, it wasn’t going to be pretty, but it was something I felt had to be done. I made my way back to the village with my shadow double next to me. I came to a stop at the edge of the village.

“Are you sure you want to do this, it’s a lot of work, especially for one so young.” My double asked with concerned eyes.

“Of course I’m sure, I can’t just leave them like this, they’re my family.” I said as I looked over the village, the bodies of my tribe lay scattered in disarray. I was starting to get a worried look as well as I looked over the grizzly scene. I audibly gulped and steeled myself as I narrowed my eyes. “All right, I can do this. I can do this.” I then turned to my double again. “I don’t suppose you’d be able to help?” I asked with my eyes narrowed.

“Sorry, but like I said, I am only able to interact with you, I can’t move or touch anything else.” He said with sympathetic eyes.

“Then I guess I’m on my own, like I knew I would be.” I said sourly. So I began with the closest body, it was not pretty like I thought, but I had to steel myself. I recognized who it was and realized I had to move the body to near the center of the village, that was where his home was. I saw one of his legs were broken in a few places with a bone sticking out. I did my best not to vomit at the sight, but I knew there was bound to be more gruesome things to see. I decided to exercise my regular magic this time and took hold of the body in my black aura as my horns lit up, I tried to drag it. I strained again like before, letting out grunts and groans as I managed to move the body a ways, I even tried using my wings for extra leverage.

After a few minutes of straining myself to move the body, I finally managed to get it to its destination. I then figured it would probably be best to move the bodies to their homes before I started digging the holes. I had a LOT of work to do. I figured I would save my parents for last since their bodies were outside the village.

Only half the day gone now, and I managed to move only a few of the bodies to their rightful resting places. I still had a few more to go, then I could start on the holes. And, as I thought, the deaths I saw that were inflicted on my tribe were more gruesome than the first one I saw, but I need not get into the horrors of it. I didn’t notice the position of the sun when it hung in the middle of the sky. My double emerged and spoke to me as I was busy trying to move another body to its rightful resting place. “Nightshade, don’t you think it’s time you took a break, it’s lunch time you know?” He informed me.

“I’m…..doing……just……fine.” I said between strains. “I……don’t need……a break.” I finally gave out on the body I was moving. I collapsed to the ground, that was when my stomach decided to disagree with me by letting out a rebellious rumble as if to tell me to eat something. I let out a defeated sigh. “*sigh* Fine, I’ll take a break.”

My double gave me a sympathetic smile.

Near the end of the day, I finally managed to move all the bodies to their homes, I was exhausted by then and knew I wouldn’t be able to dig the holes in my condition, plus, the sun was starting to set. With the first half of my task complete, I only had to get my parents bodies and move them to the castle at the other end of the village. I decided tomorrow was when I would retrieve their bodies and bring them to the castle, then I could start to make the holes. For now, I needed sleep. I decided to rest in the castle, I walked along the cobble stone road that lined my home up to my own place. I walked through the front doors that were now in shambles, one of them just hung on by a single hinge. I looked at it with sad eyes, I continued on into the castle where the throne room was.

From there, behind the thrones my parents used, and my own, was a large door that lead to my parents room, next to that was a smaller door that lead to my room. I walked up to the door and opened it up. It was still the way I left it. Everything was there, a few toys made of wood, a doll my mother made me that looked like a pony from old tales my father told me, a brave stallion who wasn’t afraid of anything and always did the right thing. It was resting on my bed, it was really more like a nest made of twigs and green leaves, my father used a spell on the thing so the leaves would stay green and comfortable longer than they normally would. The doll I owned was resting in my bed.

I walked up to my bed, picked up my doll with my left foreleg and looked at it with sad eyes. “Dad, mom.” I whispered to myself. I cradled the doll now and nuzzled it as a tear managed to escape. I opened my eyes in shock. I quickly pulled myself away from the doll. “NO!” I shouted. “I can’t afford to feel anymore, I have to be strong, I have to.” I threw the doll away to the wall opposite my bed. I huffed in anger as my nostrils flared. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm myself. I then turned to my bed and crawled in to rest for the night. Tomorrow, I would bring my parents here and begin the task of burying my clan.

Author's Note:

And here you have the next chapter of Tales From Blackwood forest. be sure to leave comments down below to let me know what you think of the story so far.

Comments

[theultimatebrony]

I like the full explanation for the shadow double.