Tales From Blackwood Forest

by Robobrony

1,875 Years, 300 Days Ago

1,875 Years, 300 Days

“12…*BOOM*….13…*BOOM*….14….*BOOM*….15….*BOOM*”

“Nightshade, what are you doing?”

“16….*BOOM*. What does it look like I’m doing. 17….*BOOM*….18….*BOOM*, I’m trying to get in some exercise with my magic. 19….*BOOM*” It’s been 20 years now since I lost my only true friend and my magic teacher, I was currently lifting a large boulder as a form of exercise to try and strengthen my magic. The forest echoed with the sound of the boulder landing hard on the ground after I lifted it up with my magic.

“Do you really think lifting that boulder up will make your magic stronger?”

“22….*BOOM*, you got any better ideas, cause I’d like to hear them. 23….*BOOM*….24….*BOOM*.” Over the years, I tried to find other ways to strengthen my magic, but I didn’t know how, I figured lifting heavy objects was the best way, like how you build up muscle. I figured that because lifting the heaviest object I could find was a strain and was very similar to when I lifted something myself. So I figured that lifting heavy boulders would be the best way to do it. It was morning when I started lifting a boulder and had already had my breakfast. “48….*BOOM*….49….*BOOM*….50….*BOOM*, huh….huh….there….fifty lifts….not bad if I do say so myself.” I kept a straight face as I complimented myself. I had given up on showing emotions twenty years ago when my only friend turned me away.

I had taken to exploring the forest a bit more each day but never strayed too far away from my home village. I was also able to fend off those……timberwolves, as I called them, from me with some of my magic and shadow powers. The day went on and nothing new happened, I never found anything of interest lately. Around mid-day, while I was flying about in a section of the forest where I had accidentaly stumbled on an area with quicksand, I heard the sound of someone struggling. It sounded close, curiosity got the better of me and I veered in the direction of the sounds.

What I came to see was something I never thought I would see. Og…..before my eyes…..stuck in quicksand waist deep, he had a club in his left hand. I perched on a nearby tree and looked down at the scene, he was looking down at the quicksand squirming around to try and free himself. “Oh this is too rich.” I said to myself.

“Don’t you think you should help him?” My shadow had appeared next to me.

“What for, he’s not my friend, why should I help him?”

“Maybe you can use this opportunity to patch things up, you know, try to be friends again?”

I looked to my shadow. “Fat chance, you remember what Og said the last time we met, we are no longer friends, instead, we’re enemies, so why should I stick my neck out for someone who wants to chop it off. I’m just going to sit here and watch him squirm.”

My shadow gave me a saddened look. “Nightshade, you can’t mean that, you may be enemies, but can you really just stand there and watch him sink into the quicksand, think about all the times he helped you.”

“You’re not going to let this go are you? You’re just going to pester me until I help him aren’t you?” My shadow gave a smile. “Fine, I’ll help him, but first, I wanna have a little fun.” I then turned my attention back to Og. “HEY BLUBBER GUTS, UP HERE!”

Og looked up at me and snarled. “NIGHTSHADE, I should have known, YOU set this up didn’t you, I’m gonna kill you for this!”

“Oh please, I knew you were stupid, but come on, ME, set up a quicksand trap, HAH, you’re more dense than I thought. In case you hadn’t noticed, this whole area of the forest has quicksand pits.”

“Nightshade, that isn’t going to help patch things up.” I ignored my shadow.

“If you didn’t set me up for this then why are you here?” He asked me.

“Coincedence, I was flying around, exploring the forest, when I heard your pathetic attempts of struggling to get out of the quick sand, so out of sheer curiosity, I came to see what was making the sound, and lo and behold, I find you in this mess. So out of the goodness of my heart, I figured I could help you get out of this.”

Og pointed his club at me. “Forget it Nightshade, I don’t need your help, I can get out of this just fine on my own, you’ll see!”

“If you say so.” I then leaned my side up against the tree on the branch I was on and just watched as Og sank a little more.

“Nightshade, do something, he’s going to sink in.” My shadow said with worry.

“Didn’t you hear him, he said he doesn’t need help, he can get out of it on his own.”

“Nightshade, you can’t just stand there and let him die, DO SOMETHING!”

I looked at my shadow and rolled my eyes. “*sigh* Fine, I’ll help. Hey Og, just stop squirming or you’ll sink faster!” Satisfied, my shadow then disappeared.

Og looked back up to me. “I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP, now get lost!”

I just shook my head. I flew down and got behind him, placing myself at the edge of the quicksand pit. “Just hold on, I’ll get you out.”

Og looked at me over his shoulder. “I don’t need your help, how many times do I gotta say it before you get it through your thick skull.”

I ignored him as I looked around for an idea on how to haul Og out of the sand. I saw a large, thick branch overhead that looked very sturdy, it was then I got an idea. I formed two shadow tentacles at my side from the ground and reached them up and over the branch, then brought them down and wrapped them around Og’s arms. “HEY, what are you doing, I said I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP!”

“Would you just be quiet already, you’re never going to get out of this on your own, so just shut up and let me help.” Once my tentacles had a good grip, I lifted with all my strength, I strained and grunted as I lifted, Og slowly began to lift up out of the sand. I stepped backwards for more leverage and lifted og out, I then managed to swing him to the edge of the quicksand pit and set him on solid ground, his entire lower half was now covered in the mucky sand.

I dismissed my shadow tentacles, Og turned around to face me and looked down at me with a snarl. “You…..you.” His gaze softened a bit. “Thanks, I guess.” He actually thanked me, perhaps we could get to be friends again. “But don’t think this changes anything, I still want you dead for what you did to me, but since you did just save me, I’ll let you go this time, but the next time we meet, I won’t be so nice.” Or not. Og then just walked off to wherever.

“Nice to see you too.” I said to myself.

“Weird, I wonder what he was doing out here by himself?”

“Who cares, he’s gone now, and besides, I doubt he would have told us anyway.”

“Well, you may not be friends again, but at least you’re on the right track of patching things up.”

“Give it a rest, we are never going to be friends again, he hates my guts and I hate his, I only saved him because you weren’t going to let it go, so keep your ideas of friendship to yourself.” I then took to the air and continued my exploration. I traveled around the forest throughout the day and soon it started to get dark.

I wanted to look around some more but it was going to be hard to see anything, even with my night vision, so I resolved to head back the way I came. But before I did, a strange glow caught my eye. I looked to my left and saw a group of plants glowing softly, I stopped in my tracks and swooped down for a closer look. “What in the name of the moon?” It was a few flowers and plants, nothing special about them, but as I looked beyond them, I saw more plants glowing, I grew very curious about this and began to follow the trail of glowing plants. As I headed further and further, I noticed the glowing plants got brighter and brighter, eventually I came to a group of bushes that were glowing very brightly, I pushed passed them and saw an amazing sight, it was a lake letting off a bright white glow.

The water itself was glowing white, I stepped closer to the edge to get a better look and saw I could see clear to the bottom of the lake and see all the fish and water creatures swimming around. I couldn’t believe it. “Whoa, this is incredible. Wait, this can’t be…….can it?” it was then I remembered something, something my parents told me about, a glowing lake that glowed like the moon in the with water so clear, it looked like the fish were flying. I remember them saying that one day they would take me to the lake so I could see it for myself, and here it was before me. I remember what my parents called it. “Moon Lake, I don’t believe it, it looks even more beautiful than my parents said.” I looked to my left and noticed the water fall, even the water fall itself was glowing, so apparently, the glowing water had a source. I grew very curious as to what could make the water glow like this.

I looked back down at the water, then at the glowing plants surrounding it, it was then I figured the water must be making the plants glow. I then got a though, I figured if the water made the plants glow, what would happen if I drank it? I lowered my head to the water and dipped my muzzle in, I took a long sip, lifted my head up and gulped down the water. It tasted fresh and cool, it was very good. I then looked over myself for a second and saw that I started to glow the same color as my coat, I was literally glowing. I couldn’t believe it, I just had to find the source of this water.

Before I took off though, I noticed a white glow moving around from behind a few bushes on the other side of the lake. I paused and watched, wanting to see what it could be. Bright Horn emerged from the bushes and walked up to the edge of the water, lowered his head and took a drink. “Bright Horn?” I said quietly to myself.

Bright Horn lifted his head and noticed me looking at him. “Nightshade?” I heard in my head.

“Bright Horn, what are you doing here?!” I called out, it was kind of far from one side of the lake to the other.

“Hold on, I’ll come over to you.” To my surprise, Bright Horn started walking on the water and made his way toward me. Once he got right in front of me, he spoke again. “Hey Nightshade, how you been.” He asked nicely.

“Just fine, thanks for asking.” I kept a straight face.

“Nightshade, what happened between you and Og that got you so upset?”

“That is none of your buiseness, I’ll thank you to stay out of it, what are you doing here?”

“I always come here at this time for a drink. The water here is the best.”

“Is this water what makes you glow?”

“No, my glow is all me, it’s part of being a spirit. Nightshade, I’m worried about you, you may not wanted to admit it, but we were friends too.”

“No, you were a glorified body guard and magic teacher, that is all. Your job was just to make sure I would be safe, and take care of me until I could take care of myself, well now I can, and have been since that day I told you to leave me alone. I’ve been doing just fine on my own and I will continue to do so.”

“Nightshade.” He said sympathetically.

“Save it Bright Horn, I don’t need you, I don’t need friends. Now if you’ll excuse me, I would like to see where the source of this glowing water is coming from.” I looked to the water fall, spread my wings and took to the air. I flew over the cliff and followed the river the water fall came from. As expected, all the plant life along the river had a luminescent glow. I looked on in wonder at all the glowing plants as I followed the stream.

It must have been two hours that passed by the time I came to the source of the glowing water, the river I followed just led me to another lake where the water came up out of the ground. “Well that’s disappointing, I was hoping for something more impressive. But what is in the ground that’s making the water glow?” All that traveling and it just led me to a disappointing dead end to a mystery I wanted to solve. I was too exhausted from flying now to head back home so I decided to sleep here for the night, I found a comfortable spot up in a tree on a large branch and closed my eyes.

Morning came, I awoke and stretched out a bit. “By the stars, trees do not make a good bed.” I said, I was feeling a little sore from sleeping in the tree. I found some fruit on a nearby tree and ate up before heading back to home. I followed the stream back to the lake and headed back to my village.

It took a while since it was a long flight but I made it. However, I was not greeted with a pleasant sight. Standing right in the middle of my home was a large yellow scaly beast with orange spines, a dragon. “Hmmm, this will make a fine place to make a home for myself.” Said the dragon.

I wasn’t about to let a dragon take over my village. I glared at the beast as I drew closer to it. “HEY, SCALE HEAD, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?” I yelled at him.

The dragon turned around and looked down at me. “Beat it small fry, I found this place first.”

“FAT CHANCE, this is my home lizard lips, you need to beat it! I’ve been living here for years.”

“Not anymore small fry, I’m making this place my home now.” He said with a smirk.

“You think that just because your bigger than me you can come here and take it over? Forget it, you want a place to live, find somewhere else, this is my home, and I’m not about to give it up to an over grown gecko like you!”

The dragon snarled at me for my insult. “You little pest! I’ll fry you for that!” He then shot out a burst of flame at me. I managed to put up a magic shield around myself to protect me.

I was able to hold off the flames. After a moment, the dragon ceased it’s flames and I heard it chuckling, apparently he thought he fried me. I lowered my shield and found myself in the cover of the smoke from the flames. I decided to use this to my advantage, I used my shadow sneak technique and sunk into my shadow, I quickly made my way behind the dragon and re-emerged. I decided to form my shadow tentacles around my neck, I produced four of them and merged them to two sharp shadow blades. I flew up and readied my left blade for a strike. I swung hard against the dragons back and managed to leave a large cut. The dragon cried out in pain. “GAH! WHAT?” He then turned around and saw me hovering there in front of him. “YOU LITTLE INSECT!” He then took a swipe at me with his left claw, I managed to dodge it by quickly dropping down, but I failed to see his right claw coming at me.

He struck me hard and sent me flying backwards, causing me to crash into one of the stone homes and making it shatter and fall apart. I groaned as I pulled myself out of the rubble. I was hurt, but not bad enough to stop fighting. I had to make this dragon pay for invading my home. I shook off any remaing rubble, reformed my shadow blades and took to the air again.

The dragon breathed out a stream of fire at me, I was forced to take evasive action as I flew to the right and dodged the flame, the dragon didn’t let up, he followed me with his stream of fire. He quit then yelled out. “HOLD STILL YOU LITTLE WORM!” The dragon the continued with his flames.

I took shelter behind one of the stone houses. The dragon concentrated his flame on the building I was hiding behind. He stopped again. “Come on out you coward, face your death!” I used my shadow sneak technique again and made my way next to the dragon’s right foot. I raised both my shadow blades and struck them down right on the dragon’s foot. He howled out in pain and stumbled back. “OOOOOWWWW!” He fell backwards and crushed a few more stone houses.

“NO!” I cried out. I didn’t like that this fight may very well destroy my home, I had to try and chase that dragon off…..or kill it, either way, I had to end this fast before more of my home was destroyed. I took to the air and flew straight for the dragon as he got up. He saw me coming and shot a fireball at me. I ducked down and avoided it, he fired another one and I went up, he fired again and this time I produced a shadow shield shaped like a cone, I plowed through it and went straight for the dragon’s heart. The dragon was stunned that I plowed through his fireball and struck him right in the chest, I went straight through him with as much force as I could muster.

The dragon fell back on his back…..dead. I had succeeded in ending the fight, but now I had the problem of moving a massive dragon out of my home. I figured I could at least see if I could lift him up. I focused my magic and my black aura surrounded the body of the dragon. I strained and grunted with all my might, I managed to lift the dragon up with a great deal of effort. I slowly moved the dragon out of my village and set it just outside my village for now. I panted heavily once my magic grasp was released.

I sat on my haunches and breathed heavily, trying to catch my breath. “Nightshade, are you all right?” My shadow asked upon his appearance.

I looked at him with tired eyes. “I’m fine, I just need a minute to rest.”

“You sure, you did take a heavy hit from that dragon.”

“Does it matter, it’s not like there’s anything you can do to help me anyway, you’re nothing more than a nuisance to me. So why don’t you just disappear permanently and leave me alone, I don’t need you.”

My shadow looked at me sympathetically. “I know your just saying that cause your upset that dragon destroyed some of your home. I’m not going anywhere Nightshade, like I said when we first met, you’re stuck with me.”

“Fine, whatever.” Once I caught my breath, I got up and headed back to the village. I was very unhappy about what I saw, so many of the houses were wrecked, left as a pile of rubble, only a few of the houses were left standing, and even they had a few holes in the walls and roofs. It was too hard to look at for me, it just didn’t look the same. “No, the village, it’s completely ruined.” I said.

“Well….not completely, some of the houses are still standing….sort of, and look, the castle survived.”

I glared at my shadow, I looked back over the village, seeing it in such a state was too much. My home…..my beautiful home….was now in shambles, I just couldn’t bear to see it like this. “I…..I can’t stay here. This is just too much.” I just turned and slowly walked away. “Where am I going to stay now?”

Comments

[theultimatebrony]

Awsome chapter, as usual