Legends Never Die: The Return of the King

by bookhorse125

Back to the Forest

“Are we lost?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know!”

“That means we’re lost, right?”

Jinx Evergreen groaned, rolled up the map with her magic, and gave Rose Blossom a playful whack on the head - but enough for the earth pony foal to know how she felt. “The map is being very confusing!” the unicorn said in a loud voice. “I can’t figure it out!”

“Here, let me,” Lofty Skies offered, soaring down and scooping the map from Jinx as the unicorn let out a disgruntled “Hey!” The pegasus flew high above the trees and studied the land for landmarks. “Let’s see, Zephyr Heights is there, which means that Old Ponyville is… there!”

The pegasus filly swooped down to her friends and pointed in the other direction they were heading. “It’s this way, guys!”

“Are you sure?” Rose Blossom called back up.

“Positive!” Lofty Skies grinned. “Old Ponyville’s just south of the mountain, right? Well, if the mountain’s right there, then Old Ponyville is right there.” She pointed through the dense trees of the Everfree Forest. “Come on! If we hurry, we can get there before dark!”

“Well, I am not spending another night by ourselves in these woods,” Jinx agreed. “Let’s go find our friends!”

The Crusaders of Harmony were trekking through the Everfree Forest, intent on finding Old Ponyville and the creatures that lived there. They wanted to go after Sunny Starscout and her friends, as all the Crusaders had a feeling that they were connected to their quest somehow, but had no idea where to start. So they began where their last quest did - in Old Ponyville. But so far, they had spent three days in the forest with no sign of their old comrades.

“It has to be around here somewhere,” Jinx muttered to herself, alternating between looking at the map and studying their surroundings. She glanced down at the map that she had borrowed (read: stolen) from the Tree of Harmony’s library, but the problem was that it was at least a century out of date, which meant that, for all she knew, they could be going in circles.

She was so focused on the map that she ran headfirst into a tree.

“OW!” she cried, stumbling back and rubbing her forehead where her horn was. “That hurt!”

“Are you okay?” Rose Blossom asked, running up to her friend and making sure the unicorn was alright. When Jinx Evergreen assured her friend that she was fine, Rose bent down and picked up the map that the unicorn had dropped. “You need to look up more, especially in a forest like this!”

“Something tells me at least one of us would have run into that,” Lofty Skies said from above, pointing to the tree that Jinx had run into. Her two friends followed her gaze. “I mean, it’s not exactly tiny or anything.”

The tree in question was massive - it was the size of a house. But unlike the Tree of Harmony, it looked completely normal - normal color, normal leaves, normal everything. Except…

Jinx stepped forward and brushed the vines off of an object that caught her eye and leaped back with a yelp of terror. Staring back at her was some kind of mask - wooden and brightly painted, it looked like an elongated pony face, with holes for the eyes and mouth, even. The places that the vines had covered it were well-preserved - the color stood out as if it had been painted yesterday. For the rest of the mask, the elements had clearly worn down the color, so even though the plants had been brushed away, Jinx could still see where they used to be.

“What?” Lofty Skies demanded, diving to the ground and landing - too much action was happening down there for her not to be a part of it. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Jinx peeped, her voice an octave higher than usual. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Just… that.”

Of course, the pegasus loved the creepy mask. “Cool!” she said with a grin. “And, look, there’s another one over there! And over there! And look at this-” she hefted up a huge ceramic pot “-it has more of those drawn on it!”

“Lofty, be careful! Don’t drop-”

“Woah!” The heavy pot slipped from the filly’s arms and headed towards the ground at a frightening speed. Lofty Skies swiped for it in vain, and it shattered upon impact with a large stone.

“LOFTY!!!” Jinx and Rose shouted together.

“Woops.” The pegasus blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Heh-heh. Guess I should be more careful next time?”

“You guess?” Rose Blossom exclaimed.

“Let’s not have there be a next time,” Jinx Evergreen suggested, and her earth pony friend nodded in agreement. “In fact, let’s not touch anything remotely breakable.”

Lofty Skies huffed. “Fine. Oo, look, a door!”

“Lofty! What did we literally just talk-” Rose started, but the pegasus had already landed and was pushing the door open before she could finish. She darted inside the dark interior as Rose and Jinx ran towards the door, studying it.

“There’s another one of those creepy masks on the door!” Jinx whispered to Rose, trembling. “What if it’s some monster’s nest, and they lure ponies in and then eat them?”

“You are way too superstitious, you know that, right?” Rose said, though she, too, was scared.

“You don’t know the stories we’ve been told about this part of the woods!” Jinx protested. “There’s supposed to be all kinds of beasts - giant bears, pony-eating crocodiles, magic-stealing pegasi-”

“What about a friendly face?” said a familiar voice behind them. The two foals turned and gasped.

“Midge!” they cried at the same time, running up to hug the yellow and green changeling.

“What are you doing here?” Rose asked.

“It’s so good to see you!” Jinx said at the same time. “Do you know what that hut is? It’s really creepy, and Lofty went inside, and she hasn’t come out, and-”

“Hey, guys!” The pegasus appeared in the doorway, grinning. “Did you know this tree is hollow inside?” She said it like it was the most amazing thing in the world, as if she and the other Crusaders hadn’t literally just been to another hollow giant tree that was also magic.

“Hm.” Midge gently pushed Jinx and Rose aside as he approached the tree. “So that’s where this ended up.”

“Huh?” Jinx leaped to trot alongside him, Rose Blossom beside her. “What do you mean? What is it? Why does it have all those scary masks? Is it some kind of… of… demonic summoning ritual sight?”

The changeling laughed. “No, it’s none of those,” he assured the fillies. “This is - was - Zecora’s hut.”

“Who?” all three fillies said at the same time.

Midge stepped inside, and the Crusaders followed close behind. “Zecora was a sort of… doctor, I guess you could say. She dabbled in potion-making and discovered the power nature had on all kinds of creatures - with both good and bad results. She was a zebra that had moved here a long time ago, and she lived in the Everfree Forest where she had access to all the plants she could ever want. She would occasionally come into Ponyville, I’m told, but when magic disappeared and the town was evacuated to escape the growing forest, Zecora refused to leave her home.” Midge walked around the circular room as he spoke. Now he stopped to brush a thick layer of dust off of the cover of a book. “I had always wondered what happened to her.”

“Clearly nothing good,” Lofty Skies spoke up, her voice much louder than Midge’s, causing her friends to jump. “I mean, look at the state of this place!”

“Look at the state of Old Ponyville,” Rose Blossom contradicted.

The pegasus fell silent. “Fair point.” She looked at Midge as the changeling fiddled with something in the middle of the room. “What do you think happened, Midge?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. There was a pop, and suddenly the room was filled with a warm, golden glow as Midge activated a fire in the center of the tree, sitting underneath an enormous black cauldron that must have been filled with something that evaporated long ago. “There we go!”

“Wow,” Jinx whispered, walking around the room, her eyes wide with wonder. “This isn’t a demonic summoning ritual site after all!”

Midge chuckled.

The walls of the tree were lined with wooden shelves stocked with every kind of plant you could imagine, most of them stored in dusty bottles with faded labels on them that must say what kind of plant they were, though a few were sitting out in the open, crumbling to dust when the unicorn filly so much as brushed them. There were tiny stone bowls and weird rocks that sat in the bowls, fitting inside them perfectly, and several books, all caked in dust, but when Jinx brushed off the covers, she found that they were all books about how to use the forest to your advantage, what kinds of cures and potions you could make from them.

“This is so cool,” the unicorn whispered.

“You’re welcome for finding it,” Lofty Skies offered, tossing her head with a smug look that quickly faded when Rose Blossom playfully shoved her.

“Just imagine the kinds of things we could come up with!”

“Uh, Jinx? I hate to spoil the moment for you, but maybe we should ask about the real reason we came?” Rose intervened, gently steering her friend away from the shelves. “We can look at all the cool potion stuff later.”

The unicorn sighed. “You’re right. Midge, we’re looking for Sunny Starscout’s friends. They’re apparently wanted for treason - we’re not sure why - and Lofty saw them just a few days ago in Maretime Bay, and we think they’re up to something. But we don’t know where to start, so we were wondering if you could point us in the right direction?”

Midge looked uncomfortable. “You’re looking for the new Guardians of Harmony?”

“Woah, they get a fancy title, too?” Lofty Skies shook her head sadly. “Shame nopony knows ours. We’re the Crusaders of Harmony - I think it sounds cooler. We don’t just guard things, we take action.”

“You’ll want to be careful,” Midge warned them. “What Sunny Starscout and her friends are dealing with isn’t something you want to get involved in-”

“We have to,” Lofty Skies persisted. “We’re connected to it all somehow - we can feel it! And if you won’t help us, then we’ll just wander around until we do find them.” She lifted her head, a mischievous glint in her eyes because she had him right where she wanted him. There was only one thing left to do, and Midge knew it.

He sighed. “All right, fine. We haven’t seen Sunny Starscout or her friends in a while… and we’ve been unable to go looking for them ourselves.”

“Why?” Rose Blossom asked, looking concerned. “Is something wrong?”

The changeling sighed. “You could say that,” he said miserably. “All the creatures in the forest - they’ve lost their magic. It’s been stolen by a centaur named Tirek - one of the villains that Sunny Starscout is trying to defeat. I can’t shapeshift anymore - so we’re stuck here. But I saw where Tirek went - he went southeast. I think his hideout’s down there somewhere. But promise me you’ll be careful,” Midge added, a pleading look on his face. “If something happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“We promise,” Jinx said, and Rose nodded.

“Geez, Midge, you sound like my dad,” Lofty Skies moaned, rolling her eyes. “But we’ll do our best to stay out of trouble. We’ll answer the call of fate and come right back here to tell you how it went.”

Rose Blossom hugged the changeling. “I wish you could come with us,” she whispered, her voice thick. “We don’t think you’re a freak or anything.”

He smiled bittersweetly and stroked her mane. “I’m sorry, my little ponies,” he said. “But I’m not quite sure I’m ready to face the world yet. Maybe someday.”

The Crusaders nodded, and then they were all hugging him, wrapping their arms around him, and then he was gently pushing them away, saying, “You best be on your way. Unless… you’re having second thoughts and want to stay here a little longer?”

Lofty Skies wiped the tears from her eyes and shook her head. “We wish we could, but…” She swallowed. “Come on, guys. Goodbye, Midge. We’ll come back soon - we promise.”

Author's Note:

Do you think there will be a new CMC in G5? How do cutie marks even work without magic? That's probably the in-universe explanation for why ponies only have marks on one side of their flanks - magic was gone. Guess we'll see when the series comes out.

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[Phetiamwantip]

And we will. This new chapter is amazing, bookhorse125. I'm really enjoying it.

[Yoshifan30]

Midge stepped inside, and the Crusaders followed close behind. “Zecora was a sort of… doctor, I guess you could say. She dabbled in potion-making and discovered the power nature had on all kinds of creatures - with both good and bad results. She was a pony that had moved here a long time ago, and she lived in the Everfree Forest where she had access to all the plants she could ever want. She would occasionally come into Ponyville, I’m told, but when magic disappeared and the town was evacuated to escape the growing forest, Zecora refused to leave her home.” Midge walked around the circular room as he spoke. Now he stopped to brush a thick layer of dust off of the cover of a book. “I had always wondered what happened to her.”

She's actually a zebra not a pony

[Yoshifan30]

So it looks like the harmony of Crusaders are heading to the forest but unfortunately they got themselves lost but then they found a tree that's not really a real tree but a house and somebody is living there and it turns out it's Midge and they were pretty happy to see him and he told them what was going on with Sonny and the others and the harmony of Crusaders are determined to find them he wish could have go with them but because lack of magic he couldn't so it's just only the harmonies are on their own well I wonder how they're going to find them I guess we'll find out next time