CH 37 (the big scary forest)
Patchwork
Velvet was absolutely livid, but her mother and father managed to calm her down enough to where I was able to say goodbye. I tried not to think about the consequences of leaving, as I had no intentions of dying to Chrysalis. I will make it up to Velvet when I come back.
Night Light didn’t take the news well either, but at least he was willing to go over the whole plan with me in order to see if we can improve my odds. We got a few things ironed out, but that was about it.
The academy wasn’t overly happy with me leaving either claiming that I have been too absent as of late, but Celestia assured me that I will be able to continue my study once I return. I would have to work hard to catch up or repeat the year but I would be able to continue regardless.
Leaving the city with Mantis was fairly simple and the tag-along wasn’t a bad company either.
“Thanks for the shades… you didn’t have to buy them though,” Silent Drop spoke up behind me through a yawn. Her nearly black fur, grey mane and leathery wings stood out heavily against the colourful palette of other ponies but at least that made her easy to recognise in the mass.
“I have plenty of bits and other than spoiling Velvet I had no need for them so far,” I was in a new disguise, or at least, new for this world, Big Macintosh. No pony would recognize me and Big Mac’s stature lets me walk around with something close to my height. I got too comfortable with being myself, taking the look of someone else felt like I’m hiding. I was kind of tired of doing that at this point.
“Perks of being a changeling prince I guess,” Mantis muttered next to me. He was in the shape of a griffon, with golden fur and dark brown plumage. We were to just call him Talon as that was a common enough name for griffons.
“Nothing to do with it, Talon. I just saved up a lot of bits since I didn’t need them,” We passed the large, golden gate that served as the entrance to Canterlot and made our way out.
The plan, the initial part of the plan, was fairly simple: reach the changeling queendom and join the local resistance. After that, we would coordinate with them to take down Chrysalis, hopefully without needing a direct confrontation. We have all agreed that fighting Chrysalis in head-on combat would be a very stupid idea, so that was out of the question.
Celestia wanted to come in disguise but the area around Chrysalis’s castle cancels out all magic other than changelings so she was out of the picture. Plus she had a country to run, so she couldn’t be away for long… regardless of what she said.
Even Silent Drop wouldn’t be following us inside the dome. Her task was to make sure we get to the changeling area as swiftly and safely as possible. She did carry a special quill and some parchment in order to keep Celestia informed of our progress along with travel provisions.
All three of us carried something for the trip in order to keep us fed, warm and sheltered.
I carried the heaviest stuff, namely tents, some weapons (just in case) and Silent Drop’s armour (which she will put on the moment we get some distance from Canterlot). Mantis being the second largest of us, carried food and Drop had everything else, including a map and a compass.
Drop also carried several pouches on her but when asked what was in there all I got was ‘essentials’.
The city of Canterlot, being as busy as it is, made things a bit difficult when leaving due to all the ponies coming and going at the gates, but other than sensing a few changelings in the crowd (two of which were swiftly detained without my assistance) we had no issues and we weren’t followed afterwards.
…
Normally in the pony world, entering the Everfree Forest was considered a ludicrous idea, but in actuality, a well-equipped and prepared team would have no issues being in it for a period of time.
While we had no time to go over all the dangers of the forest itself, Celestia and Shield Strike made sure that Mantis and myself had at least a decent amount of info to work with.
Removing the stuff I was carrying off my back, I watched as Silent Drop put her armour on.
“Finally,” Drop whispered donning her helmet, “I felt naked without my baby on.” Mantis just shook his head and I chuckled.
“A bit attached to your armour, are ya?” I shook my whole body like a wet dog and shifted back into myself with a burst of fire. I stretched my limbs for good measure as well, feeling great to be me again. A quick ping with my senses confirmed that we weren’t followed by any lings and I relaxed a bit.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She waved her hoof at me, “Not all of us are blessed with natural armour like you guys.”
“Fair enough I suppose,” Mantis removed his saddlebags and transformed back into his changeling self, “but I never heard someling be so affectionate to their armour before.”
That got my ears to perk up, “Didn’t you two work together for a few months? This seems like something you would talk about.”
“We did work for a few months,” Drop spoke up putting her saddlebags back on, “but this bug kept it all professional so we never really spoke much in the first place.”
Mantis just shrugged, lifting his saddlebags with his magic, and setting them on his back.
“I hope you won’t do the same thing now, Mantis,” I put my own stuff on my back, “I’m kind of used to talking to you.”
“I’ll think about it,” He stood up and turned to Drop, “now… Where to, Drop.”
Silent already had a map in her hooves so now she laid it down on the ground for all of us to see. She took out the compass and glanced at it for a moment while I ignited my horn bathing the entire area in a turquoise light. Even though it was midday, the canopy was so thick in some areas that barely any sunlight got through. Some nearby animals scurried away from us but we were otherwise alone.
“Right we entered here,” She pointed at the area we entered with a stick she picked up, “and if we stick to this direction…” she pointed to her immediate right, “we should reach the old ruins.”
“Do you both mind if we stop at the ruins for a bit?” I asked, “There is something there I would like to check out before we continue on.”
Mantis and Silent looked at each other for a moment before they both shrugged.
“I don’t mind,” Drop rolled up the map and stuffed it in her armour. “But we are going to need to get there fast. It’s a big forest and if we hurry up we might reach it before sundown. We can also make a camp there as some of the bigger threats avoid the castle itself.”
“Okay,” I nodded my head. “Mantis and I will dash ahead and you follow closely behind us, with any luck we won’t run into anything dangerous, and it should give you enough time to react to our movement.”
“I can also give you instructions if we start to drift away. Thestrals have a fantastic sense of direction after all.”
“Good, let’s go then,” Mantis got into position facing the right direction and I followed suit. He did a quick count to three with his hooves and off we went.
The gallop through the forest made me feel all sorts of excited rather than scared or worried. After all the training with Celestia, Shield as well as my ascension there was a bit of a feeling of indestructibility that I never managed to shake off… even when Celestia served me a plate of whoop-ass. We ducked and weaved, avoiding the trees and fallen logs, and I enjoyed every second of the obstacle course.
Neither Mantis nor Drop felt the same though.
I could see Mantis’s ears constantly swivel at every sound that wasn’t us, and Drop’s emotions ranged from fear to nervousness, but she never slowed down.
She did have to correct us a few times before we drifted away too much but otherwise, our dash through the forest was uneventful, so much so that I even managed to enjoy the scenery as we ran while using Mantis, who was slightly ahead of me, to maintain the right direction.
The forest itself was beautiful and almost as colourful as ponies themselves. But there was a bit of an out worldly danger to it that made it look wild and untamed.
The trees ranged from massive, gnarled monstrosities that looked downright wicked in the shadows, to familiar stuff I used to see back home when I decided to leave my pc.
There were flowers everywhere, along with wines and bushes all colourful and lush making the forest extremely thick while leaving just a few clear spots we could just run through, most of the time.
We had to make a few detours to avoid conflict with the local fauna, as well as a couple of stops for others to catch their breath which allowed me to explore my surroundings a little bit.
I got to sniff a few flowers I recognised, from what Celestia managed to show me, I even tried some berries that Mantis assured me were ok to eat (for changelings at least) and the wildlife allowed me to practice my shapeshifting. Getting my mass down to the size of, say, a squirrel wasn’t as easy for me as it was for Mantis, but I never cared too much for that.
Butterflies, spiders (Drop screamed after I transformed into a titanic star spider), birds, manticores, timberwolves and many more were added to my repertoire or improved upon making me all sorts of excited for my future travels. I made a decision then and there that I want to see the rest of this world with Velvet.
“Why don’t you shapeshift like that?” I heard Silent ask Mantis. We were taking a small break near a patch of poison joke as the flower deterred anything from getting close, and unless we actually disturbed it we wouldn't be affected. After two hours of moving and running, we decided to take a small break and eat something.
“One I have no reason to, and two I am nowhere near as good at it as Patchwork.”
“So it’s not your special talent? Thank you.” She took the offered sandwich box from Mantis. I didn’t ask what the sandwiches were made with, but it looked like ham.
“Us changelings don’t have ‘special talents’,” Mantis snorted biting into a large caramel chunk cookie, “we practice until we get good at something. Some can just take it further.”
“That’s what’s called having a talent, Mantis,” I piped up taking a bite out of my muffin. ‘Strawberry filling, delicious.’
“I know what having a talent means, Patch, but this is different. We, changelings, don’t have talents, period. We pick what we like and push until we get good at it, and then push some more if we want to get better.”
Both myself and Silent looked at each other, “That still sounds like some of you have a talent,” I tilted my head, “but it sounds like you are like humans.”
“What’s a human?” Asked Drop and I sighed.
…
After a lengthy explanation of what humans are, what I am and how I ‘came to be’ along with a small scuffle with a pack of timberwolves before we left the clearing (horrible smell, surprisingly easy to fight against) we have reached the castle ruins at dusk.
The ruins themselves were massive and… depressing to look at.
It was obvious what happened here even from a quick glance as even time wasn’t able to erase the battle that transpired here.
The castle was covered with scorch marks and damaged stone looking like it melted from intense heat. Several pieces of old towers lay crumbled with their bases cleanly cut, blasted off or just torn apart.
Even the land around it still bore signs of battle as certain areas still felt warm or cold to the touch, or nothing grew around certain patches of dirt.
What didn’t suffer magic damage was slowly taken over by time and nature but even then it was easy to see just how magnificent this castle once was. I was actually shocked just how much of it was left still intact.
“You coming, Patch?” Drop shouted at me while I was standing in a daze looking at the old thing.
Following Mantis and Silent, we made our way into the old ruins past a surprisingly intact, and very ornate, door and into the throne room. That’s where I spotted the future of this country.
The Elements of Harmony, all five of them, waiting for their owners.
“Leave that old thing, it’s probably just a decoration,” Mantis couldn’t have been more wrong, but I said nothing.
Approaching the elements and fully opening my senses I was able to feel the power in them, still very much alive making me gasp in mild shock. One of the elements even pinged back at me, but it was so brief I almost mistook it for local mana well. I think it was Loyalty. I will have to talk with Celestia about this once we return.
Regardless I left the elements where they are and made my way to my companions who were setting up our little camp.
…
“Okay, I got to ask…,” Drop ignited the firewood she collected, “why aren’t you scared of this forest?” Mantis was setting up two tents (I had my own tent, but I wasn’t tired and was feeling lazy) and I was going through a scroll Celestia gave me to cast some simple protection over the area just in case.
Both of us changelings raised our heads and looked at her making her sigh and point her left hoof at me, stuffing the ignition gems in her pocket.
“Good question,” Mantis entered his tent, “I have been to this forest several times but it always unnerved me. This is your first time in here, right Patch?”
“It just doesn’t seem that scary to me,” I shrugged, rolling up the scroll once I was finished and stuffing it back into the saddlebags.
“What part of facing a pack of timberwolves didn’t seem scary to you?” Silent was looking at me like I grew a second head and all I could do was shrug again.
“Let’s not mention the manticores we had to avoid…” Mantis’s head popped out of the tent flap.
“Or the fact that you wanted to go ‘talk’ to them,” She made quotation signs with her hooves.
“Or the fact that you had a big, dumb grin the whole time we were running?” Both of them were now looking at me, and I tilted my head to the side.
“I’m sorry guys, but after sparring with Celestia over the past couple of weeks none of that seemed scary… Should it be?” I laid down next to the fire placing my saddlebags next to me and away from the flames.
After a moment of silence, Mantis shook his head pulling back into his tent and Drop laughed a screechy, high-pitched laugh.
“Ya know what Patchwork,” a soft ‘e-e-e-e’ giggle escaped her, “after everything you told me… I’m not even surprised.”
Rolling my eyes good-naturedly I waved my claws at her, “Just go to sleep Drop, I’ll keep an eye out tonight,” I pulled out a book from my bag and opened it where I left off. It was a romance novel; one Velvet suggested a few weeks ago and also one that was Celestia’s favourite, ‘Hooves of Love’… I am picking up some bad influence the longer I’m in this world.
“You won’t sleep?” She asked while entering the other free tent.
“Not for another day at least, I don’t need as much sleep as you guys do,” I frowned while reading the first paragraph (‘Betrayal! Why Rose!?’).
I didn’t hear any reply from her so I assumed that she went to sleep. Raising my head and looking at her stuff next to the tent I shook my head.
“A thestral that’s awake during the day, and she sleeps with her armour…” I muttered, “yet she thinks I’m impossible.”
…
The crisp, cool morning of the Everfree made me shiver lightly but that did not deter me. After telling to my two companions that I wish to check something (and that they should stay put (I made it an order after a complaint)) I made my way to what I thought was the cavern housing the Tree.
It took a few minutes to find it, but I managed. There wasn’t even anything protecting it from what I’ve seen.
I was taking slow and measured steps down the stairs that led to the tree, making sure that I avoided some of the plunder vines that were particularly sticking out. I wanted to explore the castle as well but I didn’t wish to waste too much time.
Stopping for a moment and looking around me I tried again to sense any protections that would guard the tree itself but finding none I refocused back on the vines themselves with a grunt. There weren’t as many of them as I feared, and most of the thicker ones were near the tree itself but I still wanted to keep away from them as much as possible. Their presence felt wrong somehow.
I still had some way to go to reach the tree, but I wanted to take my time with this.
Making a decision I instead opened my elytra and jumped the rest of the way slowing myself down with a gentle buzz. Landing I immediately jumped back avoiding a vine that slithered and wrapped itself around a rock jutting from the ground.
Igniting my horn, I burned the vine with a small fireball just to see what would happen. Surprisingly enough a decent length of the exposed vine immediately ignited and withered into ash.
That got me to raise an eyebrow as the vines themselves should be if not immune then at least resistant to magic. Approaching the part of the vine that didn’t burn I noted that not only was that part of the vine undamaged, making it look like it was cut rather than burned but it was also coated with a thin layer of viscous-looking fluid.
Firing another fireball at the undamaged part I wasn’t surprised when the fireball fizzled out the moment it touched the covered vine. I also made note that the part that was touched by the fireball was dry and void of the liquid cover.
Nodding my head, I decided to ignore the rest of the vines and I made my way toward the tree itself.
The blue, crystalline tree was massive, easily reaching the top of the cavern itself and taking over most of the free space with its roots and branches.
Even covered in places with vine-like tumours the tree itself was beautiful, emanating a soft blue glow and enough heat to make the area around it pleasantly warm. It also made me feel at peace, calming down my thoughts the closer I got to it to the point where I let out a content sigh when I got directly under it.
Sitting under the tree, in an area cleared from any vines, I looked up at the trunk first spotting the two cutie marks of Celestia and Luna. Raising my head further up I looked at the branches. I frowned when I saw that none of the branches themselves carried any of the future cutie marks, but instead five of the largest branches had a colourful socket for each of the elements.
I guess the tree modified itself after the new bearers were chosen. The centre from where the branches sprouted did have a socket for the element of magic.
I don’t know how long I spent there frowning at the tree, examining it, and trying to figure out how to help it, but eventually, I felt some prickling at the back of my mind. Focusing on the prickling sensation the words ‘Not yet’ started to play in my head for a few seconds.
Shortly after, an image entered my mind showing me Chrysalis, powerful and terrible beyond my expectations only to be replaced by a strong feeling of… righteousness. Encouraging words began to fill my mind making me feel far more optimistic than I had any right to be. I shook my head, dispelling the thoughts and the feeling.
I frowned “I don’t know if I’m ready or capable,” I spoke up, my voice creating a weak echo, “but I will do my best, nonetheless. Thank you for believing in me.” With a quick bow of my head, I stood up, feeling grateful for some reason.
Still frowning I nodded my head and turned around to leave. On my way out I made sure to burn as many of the unprotected parts of the vines as I could. A quiet, barely perceptible but sincere ‘thank you’ echoed in my head most of that morning.
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I like the tree encouraging him to know that he has the capability.
and this amazing chapter gives us a small peak of things yet to happen.
11298506
It certainly helps pay karma forward by stopping by these two massively important locations and giving respects-- and helping out where he can in the last location.
11298506
Considering the number of times in show that Equestria has been saved when it should have been dead to rights beaten, I dare say the tree knows
That's actually really strong ability from the tree, considering it hasn't yet attained sentience. Wonder if it too knows the potentials and inherently understands its time must wait to come?
Silent Drop, eh? Cute.
Was kinda hoping Velvet would provide a bit of a top-up before they departed, but being furious would likely have spoiled the output anyways.
Well, all the excrement is poised and ready to hit the air circulation device, everyone tread carefully so it holds back for as long as possible!
Patchwork has a Crystal Thumb. Its like a green thumb for trees,
just for Crystal onces
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And the little "ping" it gave him is ominous indeed. Ominous in the "indicative of an omen" which may not necessarily be "bad" of course. 😇
Ah the wonderful tree of harmony. Such a beautiful and peaceful place.
Nice chapter
11298506
Always nice to see the tree root for someone else and offering that branch of support rather than to leaf them alone.
It was great!
Hm... Maybe he will now take a walk in the gardens of Canterlot and accidentally find a statue... Discord! And they might have a conversation!
Well, or at least he will hear the distant quiet laughter of a madman in his head...
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Stop
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The main thing is that he remembers a few rules:
Rule #1 - NEVER TURN INTO A PINKIE PIE!!!!! Seriously different... something's going to happen. All that is known is that Dr. Whooves walked for a whole month after that detached and did not even approach the Tardis.. and ran away from Pinky screaming
Rule #2- don't try to make friends with Discord and Pinkie. See rule 1
Rule #3- Never ask Pinkie about her past. that is, about her REAL past... She hides a lot of dark secrets...for HIS bell is ringing
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What are you on about? 🤨
11298862
…
What?
Is-
I-
hUh?
Wines and bushes? Is he also looking for, 'nuclear wessels'?
Love the end of the chapter with the tree.
Good to know he has harmonies blessing, even if he doesn’t get an element or anything concrete against Nega Chrysi.
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And think for yourself what will happen if Pinkie Pie makes friends with Discord or if there are several Pinkie Pie, and real and not cheap fakes like from a crystal pond
Seriously there are several stories that describe the end of the world for Equestria
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Plus unlike Harry he wasn't a child being forced into adulthood faster than normal. With each adventure his childhood was farther away. Patch is an adult and this is his life.
I for one think Patch would make a much better element of loyalty then rainbow. And personally I can’t find any logical reason why not!
1: The timeline is already messed up as it is, what’s a little more?
2: The ELEMENT OF FREAKING LOYALTY has already shown that he’s a suitable host!
3: I’m almost certain he’d be a better fit then rainbow.(ps not a fan of her character)
4: The TREE of HARMONY has shown a liking to him!
If that doesn’t give him a full endorsement, I don’t know what will. Am I alone in this thinking?
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I don't think he needs to be the element to do the right thing. Besides, he already ascended. That alone is a huge power boost. He can be Loyalty, but so can many others.
Dash got it because she is loyal despite her shortcomings and she was part of the group of friends. Basically, right time, right place, right group of ponies. Would Spike came instead of her he'd get it instead.
I personally don't like her character either, but you should realize that she's like that for a reason. Do you remember the abomination that her parents are? She may look tough, but she's insecure and vulnerable on inside. She lived in a shadow of her own self made up by her parents and she was afraid to not live up to it. That's the source of all this boasting and arrogance in early episodes. I can admire the fact that she actually owns up to her boasting most of the time by actually being able to do what she saying she's going to do or at least being very close to that. Usually people like this are liars, but instead of choosing this route she worked hard to live up to that perfect image.
Ohh, blessing from Harmony itself. Interesting stuff. So tree already figured out a way around the loss of Twilight. X)
Pretty neat.