Mare In The Everfree Forest

by MoonLily

Chapter Nineteen

The train ride was peaceful allowing me to pull the illusion from the makeshift clothing I had. I kept the hood and the shaw up keeping my face covered as I kept the bag close. I was sitting in the back of the train keeping my back against the wall. I took a few deep breaths as this trip was scaring me just a bit. I rolled my shoulders as I watch the scenery change from the grass to snow as the moon moved into the sky. I got to my hooves placing my bag on my side as I waited at the door to disembark. As I was waiting I noticed the guard waiting towards the back of the platform. I quickly moved towards the top of the train s I could escape.

Once the train came to a stop I quickly jumped from the train and onto the platform quickly moving into the crowd. Stretching my hooves I walked along the barrier till I got to a certain point. This point was further away from the empire and the train station. Shaking my coat I pushed through the barrier and into the snow. I could feel the snow crunch under my hooves as I started to move through the snow. The cold didn’t bother me anyway. I was almost at the mountain range when I heard shouting. This caused my ears to perk up thinking something was tricking me. Glancing around I saw nothing. Turning my head I turned around and kept pushing forward.

“LILY!” my ears twitched as I heard my name being called. I stopped and turned behind me. I swear I could see something moving towards me. I started to freak out causing me to turn and run into the cave that was in front of me. I moved along the cave till I saw a set of royal blue stairs made from ice. Taking the stairs I stopped halfway while listening.

“Pinkie! You want the stairs” I heard Jr speaking. He must have told them where I was going. I let out a slight curse as I kept moving to the top of the stairs exiting to my left. I walked out onto a cliff overlooked by a bunch of clouds. Taking one final breath I jumped and landed in a snowbank below. Popping my head up out of the snow I could see the grave marker in front of me. Walking over to the marker I heard some screams behind me than silence. Pinkie was first, then Applejack and Rainbow Dash, then Rarity and Fluttershy along with Twilight and the princesses.

“Last step is a doozy” I huffed as I turned back to the grave. I sat down in front of it bowing my head. I placed my hooves together as I let out a slow breath. I had my eyes closed for a moment as I heard hooves moving behind me. I opened my eyes as I watched the crystal I had around my neck float in front of my eyes glowing. I took a breath in and let it out in a short quick puff. I watched as the crystal sent out a shock wave clearing out the clouds and revealing a large open cavern with white translucent ponies walking around while some moved clouds.

“Mulțumesc frate că ai vegheat asupra satului.(Thank you brother for watching the village)” I patted the headstone before getting up. I noticed the others were standing on the edge looking down into the valley. My village is larger than two Canterlots put together. One half was filled with fruits and vegetables while the other half was filled with many homes. Some homes were missing leaving only outlines while the other half were still partially standing. A large cherry tree sat in the middle with a large river running behind it.

“Oh my”

“Welcome to my home. Other ponies first, pegasus please no flying only Jr and I can. Unicorns no magic as we are on a different set of lay lines than what Equestria” I bowed towards them as I watched as they all entered the village before I followed them. I stepped onto the top of the stairs watching as the clouds settled over us. I walked past them down the set of stairs listening to the crystals around us hum. Once I touched down on the solid ground I looked back and noticed the others were right behind.

“This is large! How could you hide something like this?” Twilight spoke up as I pulled my hood down. I stayed quiet as I turned to walk down the road. I stopped when I came to the Cherry tree. Turning to my right I made my camp in the middle of a house that was missing its roof. I pulled out a small set of tools as I took my hood off.

“Jr you and the others have free roam. You know the rules” I turned and started to walk toward the large cherry tree. I glanced up and noticed the pink crystals hanging from the tree causing me to softly sigh.

“Lily you shouldn’t” I heard Luna shouting till her voice died down as she moved closer. I turned and noticed the rest of the group standing behind me.

“You wanted to know why I could hide this large village” I got up and slipped behind a tombstone. I glanced over at them as I jumped up onto a headstone noticing they were gasping at me.

“Each headstone represents one pony of my village who died that night. I had to bury them as the last survivor, and I have to keep them up to date till the stone falls apart. Then I need to bring in a new stone. The only one who isn’t buried here is my brother. His headstone is the marker I was talking to before entering. I let out a huff of blue smoke.

“Lily, what are you?” I watched as Twilight came closer.

“Why is something different?”

“They have never seen you glow like a glow stick!!” I heard Jr shouting causing me to nod my head.

“Glowstick” I could hear Pinkie chuckling.

“Right this is what I look like in the dark while I am in the village. It just means my magic is evening itself out while repairing any issues with my seal. But if you want to see something wait till it becomes night” I smiled as I chuckled a bit. I jumped from the headstone walking out into the light.

“How can you tell when becomes night?” I watched as Rainbow looked up at the sky.

“Oh easy the spirits start appearing” I smiled as I sat in front of a headstone.

“We're going to die” I heard Fluttershy speak up as I roll my eyes. I turned my head noticing the spirits of the ponies starting to appear from the headstones. Each of them was either standing on top or they were sitting beside the stone. Each of them looked exactly how they died.

“Princess, what is going on?” I heard Twilight shake in fear.

“Necromancy”

“Nope, not that type of magic. Grandpa is the one to create this. This is what he calls geomancy. The use of crystals allows spirits a place to rest as well as gives them a body to use. He set this all up for me when I was younger. Didn’t like the fact I was alone when he had to travel to see his family” I huffed “Never understood why. He always came home bloody and broken” I watched as the spirits walked out with a skip in their step. I stepped out onto the dirt road with the others following behind. The crystals above started to die down casting us into darkness.

“What’s happening?” Rarity spoke up.

“Its night time. The day really doesn’t last long here. That's why I have a few torches lying around.” I smiled as I walked out in front of them.

“Lily your full-on glowing” Luna spoke up as I glanced down. I noticed that my fur was glowing a soft white as I started to chuckle.

“Yeah, if you want to see something to blow your mind follow me” I started to move down the dirt road towards the river where the water was glowing a soft blue. I pointed to the field of food where you could see each crystal glowing.

“The crops glow along with the cherry tree” I pointed back to the tree showing the glowing pink crystals lighting the area “Oh and look up” I pointed to the sky noticing the sky full of stars dancing around. You could see stars dancing while some shot across the sky.

“When it gets dark here it's always a spectacle. Since you have no lights from the towns and cities you can really see the night sky here” I smiled as I noticed they were all staring in shock.

“So this is why you like the night?” I turned and looked at Twilight.

“When you get nothing but bullied over your own magic, you turn to something. The stars were always dancing and making me laugh. If I couldn’t talk to them I would talk to the crystals that are around. No one could understand that the crystals had their own voices” I huffed as I turned and walked to the river.

“Sug don’t you have a bridge?” Applejack spoke.

“You don’t need one. You can walk across” I smiled as I kept moving to the fields. I picked up a basket and walked into the fields. I started to pick the crystals that were glowing as I noticed the others were jumping around on the water. I could only chuckle as I kept moving through the fields.

“Which ones do you pick sug?”

“Oh, the ones that are glowing. The others aren’t ripe yet” I could hear the ice shift around us.

“What was that!”

“Oh, the ice that makes up the walls. It's shrinking slowly causing the village to shrink every year. But don’t worry it won’t fall in on us” I smiled as I placed the basket on my back full of crystals. I was whistling as I noticed Jr was working on a fire and placing sleeping bags out.

“I swear every time I see you like this mother you look as if you had fallen from space”

“I get that a lot from you and your father” I huffed again as I placed the basket down.

“So this is what the famous village looks like” I turned and noticed Discord walking around.

“Discord what are you doing here? You are supposed to be helping Cadence with the sun and moon while we are gone” Celestia snapped. I watched as Discord waved his hands.

“I am not physically here Celestia. It's a little spell that I placed on an orb. It's to let us here see what is going on and boy do you sparkle” I noticed he was glancing at me shocked. I picked up a strawberry placing it in my muzzle before walking away from the fire.

“Lily is changing colors” Pinkie snickered.

“She looks just like the stars but if she was a pony” Rarity smiled as she was gitty. I noticed Discord staring at me in shock as I tilted my head.

“Is something wrong Discord?”

“You need to ask your parents”

“I can’t their spirits and they don’t have a voice” I pointed to two ponies standing behind him. They all turned and noticed a unicorn with a wrap around her eyes standing next to a pegasus.

“What is she saying?” I looked over at Twilight and shrugged.

“Not sure most of the ponies here are saying something. I am not sure and my grandfather won’t tell me” I looked around noticing others were standing around on the broken walls and rocks staring at us.

“They're staring” Pinkie hissed.

“I’m normally not with other ponies. They will go about their own” I smiled as I walked to the tree picking the leaves from the branches. Once I felt like my basket was full I turned and noticed the others were huddled around as the spirits were sitting around them.

“I did a few clicking sounds with my tongue causing them to stare at me. I shook my head causing them to walk off. I picked up my basket and walked over to the group.

“Mother they're acting weirder than normal” Jr spoke up as the others were agreeing.

“I think it's because of the princesses. Remember Jr no one here has ever seen an alicorn except for grandfather. They're just probably shocked to see two of them standing here”

“So they can see us?”

“Grandfather says that they can see your magic. Your magic runs through your veins making up a silhouette. They can see the silhouette to know who is who and what they are. He did this so they could tell if I was changing forms while practicing magic” I huffed as I walked over to Jr smiling. I started working on chopping the crystals into pieces before placing them into their own bowls.

“Dinner”