Fyre Web, a young earth pony colt- who has lived in the everfree forest all on his own for seven years, finally gets some company in the form of a little pink pegasus filly.
Fyre Web, a young earth pony colt that lives in the deepest, darkest part of the everfree forest, which is in fact much larger than you'd think, lives all on his own, and has for seven years, ever since something terrible happened to everyone else who lived there.
Then, one special day- fate is kind, and gives him some company in the form of a mysterious pink pegasus filly. Soon enough the pink filly and him become friends.
However, at this same time, something else awakens in the forest... Something dark... Something misunderstood... And something deadly.
My body jerked itself awake, bringing me back from the world of nightmares. Unlike the normal world of ponies, being this deep in the everfree forest causes anypony that falls asleep to have these… Odd kinds of nightmares. Occasionally, I would be woken up by the sound of a roaring manticore, which in my case, was far better than being tormented by a nightmare. I looked down at my matted fur that was, for now, a very pale shade of grey, thanks to the nightmare.
Speaking of my fur, it changes colour depending on my emotions although my mane and tail always stay their fiery red, orange and yellow. A pale grey meant I was terrified but it was slowly returning to my normal fur colour which was a light shade of orange, not quite yellow though. It used to be annoying, but I’m not too bothered by it anymore- since there’s no-one else around to notice it.
Trying to take my mind off the dream I had last night, I walked through the everfree cave system and into a small dimly lit kitchen. I lit a flame and cooked a waffle that I had found in a small brown box in the middle of the forest which I assumed had been dropped by a mailpony, mainly because the box had writing on it saying "to pinkie pie", I took it with me, nopony would be foolish enough to come anywhere near this area of the everfree- let alone just for a waffle.
I really hoped that this pinkie pony wasn't another starving pony and this was from one of her family members or something, But if she was, then there was nothing I could do about it. Besides I don't think that anypony that was poor would be using post to get their daily meals... Though I was confused by why anypony would ever use mail to get their food.
After breakfast
"It's pretty quiet out here huh?" I asked the wind, hoping I would get a reply... I got none. The cold wind howled on, and yet, I actually thought I heard some ponies’ voices in the distance. I passed it off as nothing, after all, the past... Week? Sure. The past week hasn't exactly been normal. By that I mean, cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk, and every time I tried drinking some water from a cup the cup disappeared leaving me with a transparent but solid cube of water. Not only that but the sun and moon acted up weirdly it was day for a few minutes then night time the next. Luckily all that had passed over the course of roughly an hour.
I was thinking about this while I was at what I liked to call, the everfrozen peak. I named it that because for some reason the ice around the edge of the small cliff hadn't melted for the twelve years I had been in the everfree forest. This was how I usually spent my days, either exploring and mapping the areas of the everfree or sitting at the few calm areas of the everfree. Some days it got boring, but today was different. I decided to make an attempt to jump over the small gap that was between the everfrozen peak and the mountain.
I took the jump and failed... Miserably. I started plummeting down, I could see the bottom of the cliff, I was going to-
Crack!
I hit the floor and yelped out in pain as one of my forehooves twisted, strangely enough though none of my other limbs were even remotely hurt, although there was a small sensation of pain from the awkward landing.
I slumped against the wall of the cliff and sighed, as well as squeaking a little when my twisted hoof touched the rugged and spiky wall. I lay there, thinking about how stupid it was to try and jump across that one small gap that lead me down here, why did I even attempt to jump that?.
Before I had more time to wonder, I heard a high pitched scream and a bright flash of green lightning struck the other side of the ravine. Quickly forgetting about my stupid mistake I walked cautiously towards where the green lightning had struck, still limping from the fall, and I found a small rose pink pegasus with a beautifully styled light blue mane lying there on the ground. I walked around her carefully, wondering if this was a trick being played on me by one of the everfree’s monsters. She looked like she was hurt, and the ground around her had been burnt black. She certainly didn’t seem like an illusion, and she seemed genuinely hurt. I lifted her onto my back and limped off through the ravine, in case whatever had caused her to fall unconscious came back. I was looking for any path that I could take that would allow me and her to get up and out of this ravine without injuring ourselves in the process, then I found it I instantly recognised the area of the everfree I was in, this was at the exit of one of the southern tunnels in my cave system. I limped over to it and travelled through the tunnel making my way to my bedroom.
Through the slightly damp musty caves I limped as I passed the kitchen with pots and pans hanging from the ceiling, I passed another bedroom, but the walls had been unstable and had fallen in on itself rendering it unusable. I passed the library and thought about how it used to be filled with ponies like me, young, active and carefree. Only I wasn't like that any more, I was alone, abandoned and ever so slightly mad. I looked at the pink Pegasus’s hoof that had fallen in front of my face and pushed it back to her body, so that she didn't get cramps in her hoof if she woke up. I began to wonder what it was that had caused her to fall down here, had she also been living in the forest, had she been flying across the forest for scenery, had she wandered off without her parents?
My train of thoughts were cut off when I reached my bedroom, the only bedroom left, it had a comfy single bed a bedside table, a glow crystal, which was my equivalent to a candle, an old oak cupboard and a desk covered in drawings. I lay the pink pegasus' body down on my bed as carefully as I could, I couldn't help but notice that she had a small blue teardrop as her cutie mark. I hadn’t gotten my cutie mark yet, I wondered what it would be.
One of her wings sticking out the bed brushed against my muzzle when I was laying myself down on the floor, my fur turned a light pink, similar to hers, which was my equivalent of blushing. I lay myself down on the surprisingly comfy, although a bit cold, floor, closed my eyes and slept, with my fur staying the light pink all through the night.
I ran quickly through the forest, dodging the numerous bushes and boulders that kept popping up. As I ran I noticed the shadows from the trees were outlined in a strange silver glow, making me confused
The further I ran the closer I felt it was, I had no Idea what I was running to, or from. All I did know was that I was running.
As I was thinking and I stumbled into a rock and fell out into a huge clearing, filled with beautiful flowers, turquoise coloured grass and a large shimmering pond.
I got to my hooves and walked slowly to the edge of the pond, reflecting the image of the beautiful silvery moon, high in the sky. There were no clouds in the sky, and the stars shone as bright as they ever had. I only now had reached the huge pond, and as I looked into the reflection... I saw the pink pegasus I dragged in yesterday, standing where I should have been.
I stood there staring at the reflection for ages afterwards, all the while having a confused expression on my face, and she stared back at me with the exact same expression on hers, I could tell she was more confused than me, because for the entire time I stood there she wouldn't have known who I was.
Just as I opened my mouth to speak to her, the pond rippled and the earth shook, When I looked back at the pond it only reflected me. I was disappointed, I had wanted to say something, but I couldn't remember what It was...
I was just turning away and was about to leave before a timberwolf leaped out the forest trees and struck me with it's claws.
I jerked myself awake and hit my head off the side of my bed, I was slightly confused as to why I was on the floor, completely forgetting what had happened in that peculiar dream. Of course I quickly remembered exactly why I was on the floor after seeing the bright pink wing above me and hearing a huge yawn.
I stood up on my hooves, moving over closer to the door so I didn't bump into her wing. She rolled over, her long blue mane falling over the side of my bed, her body following closely behind, landing in the space I had just stood up from.
Her head slowly lifted itself up, seemingly not bothered that she fell off a bed onto the ground.
“Um... Hi?"
As soon as I spoke she stood up opened her eyes and knocked me off my hooves, I think I might have squeaked when she hit my twisted hoof.
"NO, you will not capture me AGIAN!!" she yelled, her muzzle so close to my face, I could feel her breath. My fur shimmered and turned a dark grey. Her hair seemed to lose gravity for a second, maybe it was just my imagination,
"You, really think you'll manage to take me back there?" she spoke, thankfully lowering her voice to a speaking level. "You honestly think you'll be able to drag me back to the hive, NO I will NOT go back there EVER AGAIN I'm not your stupid PRINCESS." oh well, never mind she's shouting again. Her voice seemed slightly shaky and she didn't even look like she had been talking to me. You could have said that she might even have been looking through me. Her eyes seemed to be glowing green with an odd mist hanging around her eyes. Her head just hung there for a while staring through me, and breathing heavily. After a few seconds of this the green mist vanished from her eyes and she collapsed onto the ground.
I just sort of stared at her for while, then decided to put her back in my bed till she woke up. what happened just now? I thought.
I walked away down the corridor, trying to heading for the library, intending to find out something about that greenish mist that had been hanging around her eyes. The library was at the other end of the everfree caves from where I was walking, and at the very heart of the cave system was a boarded up room, I had never dared to try and go past it, mainly because I wasn't bothered about it, but also because sometimes I had heard... odd noises coming from behind the boards.
I carried on thinking about what might be behind that door, and due to my daydreaming I had accidentally walked right on past the library, out the western entrance to the cave system, and into the ravine that I had fallen down yesterday. I tripped over some stupid rock and got back up on my hooves, I was about to go back into the cave system but before I left I noticed a shiny object lying on the ground next to the place I had found the filly yesterday. At the necklace's center it had a crystal in the same shape as her cutie mark, a shiny blue tear-drop, while the rest of the necklace was a shiny silver colour. I figured she must have dropped it when she got to the ravine, so I picked it up and just because I had forgotten to bring my saddlebags with me, decided to wear it around my neck till I found a place to keep it or I'd just give it to her if she was awake.
I walked back into the cave system and tried to keep myself focused while I was walking to the library, so that I wouldn't accidentally pass by it again.
When I got to the library I walked over to the left wing which had a banner above it reading "Myths and Magic". I always loved reading stories from the myth section, they were always so full of creative novels and interesting books. I didn't really read much in the other side of the wing, after all, I was an earth pony. I didn't have a horn, so I didn't really find anything in that section interesting. Today, with the strange green eyes I was a little curious whether there could be anything in either side which could give me a hint to what was happening with the strange pegasus...
"Uuuuurgh" I groaned to myself as I put another book back where it belonged.
In the two hours I had been skipping through these books the most I could find on the subject of "green mist" was a book from the myths side telling the tale of a fearsome unicorn who would use green mist to place ponies under hypnosis.
I picked up the next book that I thought might have some information, but after a quick scan through of the chapters I gave up. I placed the book back where it was meant to be, and walked back to my bedroom, I wanted to make sure that nothing had happened while I was away.
I could hear someone talking once I got to my room, It wasn't too hard to tell it must have been the pegasus, after all, who else could it be?
"Where am I? What is this place... It looks like someone's room... Am I home? No... I don't remember anything about this place, did someone help me get away?"
I opened the door and saw the pink pegasus looking around my room and constantly asking herself questions, clearly confused. Somehow she didn't notice me come in the room and just kept walking in circles.
"Hello!"
"..."
Her head slowly rose up to face mine, I noticed that her eyes were a beautiful shade of turquoise now, instead of the strong green they had been a few minutes ago.
"Hello! How nice it is to meet you, quick question, WHERE AM I?" She yelled in my face, I flinched back towards the doorway, in case she tried to knock me off my hooves again.
"Err... You're in my bedroom, which is in a cave system underneath the everfree forest..." I said.
"How did I get here?" She asked
"I found you passed out in a ravine yesterday, I carried you here through the caves... What's your name?" I asked, I hoped I didn't sound like a creep, this was the first pony I had seen in four years, I didn't want to scare them away.
"...I'm Shimmering Cloud, sorry for shouting. I just... thought you were someone else." She said, smiling sheepishly.
"I'm Fyre Web, nice to meet you too." I replied
"..."
"Does anyone else live here?" She asked
I cringed as I tried to keep my memories in my mind, trying not to make her feel as though she had hurt me in some way. I was confused why she asked that but mostly I was focusing on whether I should tell her the answer...
"Sorry, did I touch a nerve?" She asked, looking at my now sea blue fur.
"Yeah... sorry, I... I live on my own now."
"..."
"..."
"So..."
"Yeah?"
"Could you show me around? I don't really know this place very well, and since I'm probably not going to be going anywhere else soon I'd like to know how to get around."
"...Sure, but, what do you mean, don't you have somewhere else that you would have to go?"
"not really... I don't... wanna talk about it..."
"Okay then, uh... anyway, this is my bedroom..." I said as I pointed a hoof vaguely around the room. "There's not much in here, I have a couple drawers for keeping things in, over there's my desk," I said pointing over to a desk littered with drawings and books. Cloud walked over to the desk and opened a drawer, taking out a few of my better drawings.
"Wow, these are really good!" She said, putting them back.
"Heh, thanks. I like to draw when I'm bored."
"...Did your fur just change color?"
"Oh, right, my fur changes color depending on what I'm feeling like," I explained, noticing that my fur had changed to a dark red, Confidence or Pride.
"huh, cool!" She replied, putting the drawings back in the drawer.
"Heh... anyway, that's pretty much all I have in my room, the kitchen's just down here." I said coming out my room and leading Shimmering Cloud down the stone caves.
"How are we able to see in these caves? I don't see any lights," She asked.
"You see the ivy on the walls?" I asked, She nodded her head. "It grows in caves and dark areas, and glows whenever something moves near it."
"Okay... Hey is that the kitchen?" she asked, pointing to a room on the right side of us.
"No... that room caved in a while ago." I replied
"Oh, so you've been here while?"
"Yeah," I said, walking through another doorway on the right, into a small tiled room. The floor was covered in a strange pattern of purple and white curls. The ceiling and walls were just a plain white. There was a single fridge, an oak table in the center of the room, a couple worktables for preparing food, a large sink and two drawers beside the fridge.
"Anyway, this is the kitchen, I don't really use this room much, the cupboards have a few recipe books inside it, plus some pots and pans, the fridge over there is full of fruit, there isn't very much else I could find that I think I'd be able to eat," I told her.
"Through here is the dining room," I said, as I walked through the other doorway and into a massive room. There was a long table that stretched out, with tons of seats at it's side. The ceiling and floor were a very vibrant red, yet the walls were... A little rugged and falling away at they corners. At the far end of the room there was a large dark oak door leading back into the hallway, There were a few large portraits hung up on the walls of the room, one in particular being a painting of a peaceful river flowing through a valley, surrounded by animals of every kind.
"Woah! This place is huge!" She exclaimed, looking around in amazement. "And the paintings on the walls are amazing!"
"Yeah, they are amazing, I can't remember who it was that painted them," I replied. "I don't usually come in here to eat, since I usually eat in my room while I'm reading a book or drawing" I said. "There isn't much else at this side of the cave system, since all the rooms that used to be here are caved in." I walked over to the other side of the room in silence as she looked around at the paintings on the walls.
"You wanna go outside the cave system?" I asked her.
"Sure, that sounds nice!" She said.
"Woah! I always thought the everfree forest was completely dark and gloomy, this is beautiful!"
We were standing in a small lush clearing in the forest. The trees had lovely bright green shaded leaves with red berries blooming all over them. There were colorful flowers littered all over the field. Some of the trees in this part of the forest even had a clear white and blue trunk making the clearing look somewhat magical. The sky was a clear blue with no clouds in sight, with the sun being at it's peak. It was very unlikely to rain today.
"Yeah, the everfree has so many beautiful places like this, despite it being in the middle of nowhere with hardly any ponies ever visiting."
We sat down in the field talking like that for a while, with her turning her head left and right looking at things and asking me questions about them. Thinking about how many questions she had asked I began to wonder whether normal ponies had ever seen anything like this. It was obvious she hadn't, so what about everypony else?
"Hey, do normal ponies see much like this?"
"Huh... Well... I haven't really seen much... I was never allowed to go anywhere."
"What... Why?"
"I- I never knew..."
We sat there in silence for a second or two, before I suddenly felt two hooves wrapping around my neck.
"T- Thank you so much for allowing me to stay, and not kicking me out. For showing me all this... Thank you!" She said, with her voice muffled by my fur. I could feel her tears falling onto me, matting my fur. I had no Idea how to respond.
After a few seconds she pulled away from the hug. "S- Sorry, I... I just I've never had anyone be this nice to me..."
I sat there, staring at her, she was that grateful? All I had done was allow her to stay here, and show her around. "I- It's okay," I replied. "I haven't done that much."
"But you have! You didn't just leave me there when I was passed out, You found my necklace and gave it back to me. You showed me around your home, and even showed me a beautiful clearing that you cared about enough to show me! I've only been here for about two hours but you helped me so much..." she said, weeping.
I decided that I had had enough of tears, and gently walked over to her and gave her a hug. Her fur felt so soft and light against mine, It was like she was a living pillow.
I broke away from the hug, noticing that the sun had begun to set. Had we been out here that long?
"We should go back inside now, the manticores will be waking up in a few minutes."
"O- Okay," She said, wiping a few tears away from her turqoise eyes.
"The entrance to the tunnel is back this way," I said, guiding her back through the forest and back to the caves, pointing out a few of the beautiful assets of the scenery.
On the way back to the caves, I had noticed her gem had been glowing blue the entire time. I made a mental note to ask her about that when we got back to my room. Little did I know that there was a shadow behind me, with the exact same question...
"I could show you the rest of the caves," I said. "The places I showed you were only the ones on this side of the cave system that hadn't collapsed," I explained. It had been a few hours since we had returned and had been playing around in the garden. It was a huge room near the center of the caves, filled with plants of all kinds. Thanks to a preservation spell someone had placed on it, the plants were able to live on their own for years, with no water or sunlight. In the past year the spell had begun to wear off, and a rare few of the plants were beginning to wither and die. The garden had grass covering every spot of dirt you could see. The walls were covered completely by the grass too, leaving no room for the glowing ivy to grow. The light in this room came from a small orange and black flower named the "Nightmare flower". It's nectar would glow a soft blue permanently and would burn if it was set on fire. A small river ran through the center of the garden, only a few metres wide.
"But this place is so fun!" Shimmering Cloud said, popping her head out of a bush, making me fall over backwards and land on the grass.
"Heh, but you did say earlier that you wanted to know your way around this place," I said, not bothering to get to my hooves.
"Aww, okay then."
"There's so many books!"
"Yeah, if I get bored I come here normally and read a book. Have you ever heard of daring do?" I asked her. I loved the book series, but unfortunately I only have the first six of them, I wonder how many there are now. I had found them in a small cardboard box beside a river, with the tag "from pinkie" on it. I never found out who this pinkie pony was, but I hope they didn't mind that I had taken the books.
"Are you kidding me! I love the book series, I love reading them!" she said, flying up and onto a bookshelf.
"Really!? How many are there now?" I asked.
"Well, I never managed to finish the book I was reading... I got here before I could read more."
"Oh... Hey I meant to ask you earlier, why was your necklace glowing blue all the way to the garden?"
"My necklace?" She said, looking down at it. "...I don't know why it would do that," She said truthfully.
I still wanted to ask her about earlier when she woke up and yelled at me, but I thought it would be better to just leave it.
"Anyway, the room we're going to is the next one on the left," I said, walking out the doorway. I headed down the hall with shimmering cloud following behind me, her blue mane dragging itself along the floor, the vines on the walls making her mane glow and sparkle in the light.
"Um... Hello? Fyre?" Shimmering cloud asked, looking at me with a confused expression. I snapped back to reality, mentally scolding myself for staring like that, and turning my head back to the door on the left.
"Right, yeah uh..." The door for this room had long leaves hanging down in front of it, instead of an open gateway, or a brown door, and the floor was covered in moss. There was a large pool of water in the center of the room that was steaming, that had water falling from the ceiling into it. "This is the showers, pretty much what you'd expect right?" I asked, expecting a simple answer.
"...This is beautiful! I can't believe someone would be able to make this!" She said. She ran ahead of me and jumped in the water, sending the water flying through the air towards me. In one word, I was soaked. The moss on the floor absorbed the water leaving the floor nice and dry for anyone else that wanted to walk in.
"Oh, I- I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" she started, but I wouldn't let her finish. I jumped in the pool and soaked her with a huge splash of water, leaving us both laughing and flipping water at each other. I had forgotten how good it felt to just lose yourself and play with somepony...
After we had finished playing around in the water I explained to shimmer that the moss would absorb any water in our fur acting like a towel if we just rolled around in it.
After we finished drying ourselves we just lay there for a while in a friendly silence. I closed my eyes and started thinking about how today had been the best day of my life. I had finally made a friend after the seven years of isolation. I had the most fun I had ever had in my life. I had somepony to talk to if I was ever feeling down.
"Hey Cloud?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for today, this has been the best day I've had in such a long time."
There was a small silence before she replied, "no problem..."
"Huh... Where am I going to sleep?" Cloud asked. We had just gotten back to my room from the showers, and had realised we only have one bed. There had been plenty of other bedrooms in the caves before, but all those had collapsed and mine was the only one left standing, probably thanks to the special metal I had pushed in the walls myself after I realised that the rooms were caving in.
"I suppose I could sleep on the floor again," I suggested.
"What? No, it's your bed! I'll just go sleep in the library or something."
"No! I can't do that to you, and books aren't comfortable!"
"Yes they are!.. And no, I can't just steal your bed from you!"
"I suppose... No never mind. That's stupid..."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Well... I suppose... We could share the bed?" I suggested sheepishly. My fur had turned a light pink. I could only imagine how ridiculous I must have looked.
"uh, sure... I suppose..." She said, her cheeks painted red.
Cloud climbed into the bed first, with her long blue mane trailing over the sides. She tucked her mane under her wings and lifted her head up, looking at me with a confused face.
"I snapped out of my trance and climbed in the bed, pulling the covers over me and cloud. I was grateful nopony was here to see us, though I wasn't sure if it was because of embarrassment or because it wouldn't be a precious moment just between me and Cloud. Truthfully there was a pony watching us, and it was smiling. The shadow slunk back under the door and out into the cave system.
I woke up with a small yawn, snuggling into my soft pillow. I think this had been the first time I hadn't woken up from a nightmare. There hadn't been any dreams either, so it was a bit of an empty night. I continued to snuggle into my soft pillow, and it responded by snuggling back...
I slowly opened my eyes, coming to the shocking revelation that I had been burying my muzzle in Cloud's wing. I think I might even have squealed somehow. My fur went from orange to pink in a heartbeat, although I didn't pull away, I was still trying to catch up with the fact that I was sleeping in the same bed as a filly.
I heard a loud yawn, followed by the large pink fluffy pillow turning on it's side to face me with closed eyes. I think I giggled a little when I saw her mane. She must have rolled around in her sleep, because it was all over the place. To be honest, I thought she looked kind of cute with her mane spread across the pillows.
My attention was drawn down to a glow just beneath her head. Her necklace was glowing again. Why did she even have it on overnight? Surely it would be uncomfortable.
Her eyes opened slowly and I panicked, should I jump out of the bed? Should I pretend I was sleeping? Should I-
"Hehe, you look funny when you're pink," she said sleepily, making me turn more crimson than pink now.
I was going to say something, but a noise interrupted me. It just occured to me that we hadn't eaten at all yesterday.
"Looks like someone's hungry~" Cloud sing songed, taunting me. Again just before I spoke I was interrupted by another growling.
"S-Speak for yourself," I said, with my fur turning back closer to it's normal shade of orange, but still with a tinge of pink in it.
"Hah, okay," she said. "Should we go down to the kitchen?
"Oh! We could have sun berries!" I said, running round the room in excitement. It had been a while since I had cooked up a meal with those! I never really got the chance to do this since the sun berry only blooms, ironically, only when the moon is at it's highest every year. The moon had peaked last night, and I had forgotten to go plucking them, because I was showing Cloud around, but now they might be
"...Um, what's a sun berry?" She asked.
"WHAT? You've never heard of a sun berry, you know, one of the most delicious things in equestria!?"
"Er... No? She asked cautiously.
oh, right. The sun berry can only grow in the everfree... YES! I'll get to see her reaction to eating it for the first time! This'll be amazing-
"Hello? Fyre? Did I break you?" she said with a giggle, breaking my train of thought.
"Right, sorry. I was thinking about something. Anyway, we could go have some sun berries and I could mix up something with them. Sun berries are sorta like... They're small, round, yellow berries that taste like you're eating a perfectly sweet strawberry, and it gives you a really soft warm feeling."
"...Sounds delicious!" Cloud said.
"They are, trust me. Now let's go get them! The berry bushes are littered throughout the north-western are of the everfree so we'll have to take the western exit..."
"Heh... Looks like they're coming this way. Guess I'll stop hiding then. Besides, it's been a while since I got to talk with Fyre, dunno who that filly with 'im is. I'll have to ask 'em," the shadow said. His claw plucked one of the golden berries off the bushes and threw it in his mouth. The shadow rose his head to the sky and lit his horns dispelling the fog around him, allowing him to be seen again.
He was a cluster of chaos. He stood on his two hind legs, one which was a pony's hoof and the other a dragon's foot. The body was again similar to a pony's but had a few brown places where griffin fur would poke out. His right arm was exactly like a griffin's, with a couple draconic scales poking through. His left arm was... Odd. It looked almost like it was a forehoof but it had strange patterns enscripted on it. Finally, the head. It was the same as a pony but had two horns. His eyes were a pale green and looked kind, gentle and sad. It was clear to anyone that he had been through a lot, and would never recover from whatever injuries he had received. He would be a little smaller than Fyre and Cloud when he stood on four legs, but since he always stood bipedal his head would be just a little higher than fyre's.
"I wonder if he still remembers me... No matter. I'm sure he'll still be at least a little weirded out seeing a half-pony half-draconequis... They're here," he finished, jumping to the back of the clearing full of berry bushes.
"-the moonlight shines down on them and fills them with magical energy! At least, that might be it. I don't know anything about them so I could be wrong," Cloud said. We had been talking about the sun berries all the way here. Apparently shimmering cloud knew quite a bit about magical energy, and how the sun and moon both have different magical properties.
"Yeah- oh, we're here!" I said, finally realising we had gotten to the sun berry orchard. I ran over to the nearest bush and plucked a bunch of the golden berries off it, holding out my hoof and offering them to Cloud.
"Wow! They're so shiny! Thank you!" Cloud said with a grateful smile, taking a couple of the berries from my hoof and popping them in her mouth. I didn't eat any of mine because I wanted to see her reaction.
"Wow, they're so sweet! And chewy! It's like I'm eating the sun!"
...I had expected a reaction more on the lines of 'AAAARGH THIS IS SOO SWEET MY TONGUE IS FALLING OFF' or 'What is this! I feel like my entire life has been nothing till this day!'.
"Eh, I always thought they tasted a bit more like mint on a warm day."
"...Fyre, why did you suddenly change the tone of your voice?"
"...that wasn't me Cloud," I replied.
"Well of course it wasn't, also I'm kind of surprised you didn't see me when you entered the clearing..."
"Who are you?" I demanded, standing up and getting into a battle ready stance. I had fought off a couple manticores before, I thought I might as well get ready to fight. The voice speaking sounded hostile.
"oh... So you really have forgotten me," the voice said. I think I vaguely recognised it too, but it was so long ago I could barely remember. Maybe it really was him.
"Well, I can't stay in the shadows all the time now. Can I?" The creature said stepping out of the trees. I could feel myself beginning to tear up. It really was him... If he had come back... Then maybe the others have too!
The Everfree forest, all the monsters quietly hunting, the wood nymphs sleeping in their wooden forms, and the rivers running by peacefully and free. This is what ponies fear. What they can't control. What has its own concepts and own freedoms. They even fear the weather system in the Everfree. The Cockatrices, the Manticores, the Hydras and... the Ponies they couldn't control, this is where they sent them.
Still though, this one little pocket of freedom has so much to offer, because of the Isolation it has experienced so many beautiful and inspiring things have developed. These ponies I mentioned earlier, they struggled but they lived. In their fear and panic from being thrown in this place with these monsters built themselves a shelter, to hide from the Monsters that had been sent here with them. Now, these ponies... well, I've been calling them that but truthfully they're not quite. They're Equine, but they're different. At the time, ponies hadn't had a name for these Creatures, keep in mind this was over 1000 years ago. But more recently, ponies have taken to calling these "things" Changelings, Draqoneqi, Dragons, instead of just plainly calling them Demons. Every few years though, a regular pony or griffon was thrown in, just for defending these poor creatures.
These Equines, grouped together, and built a safe haven into the floor of the Everfree, the one place nothing had yet taken residence. They used the nature around them to assist in the building of these caves, they took special Ivy and let it grow all over the walls of their tunnels, to light their path as they trotted around underground. They built beds from the cotton that grew on the trees, they took the flowers and planted them into the path they walked on. They grew the trees that grew in other caves into the structure of the haven to give it structure, and to stop it from caving in. Their furniture was shaped by the friendly wood nymphs of the forest. Over time it became a beautiful place of peace and hope for the peaceful creatures of the Everfree, some of them even started thanking the ponies who threw them in here. Of course, these creatures developed... a love for each other and, well- you know.
This Haven of theirs grew for centuries becoming larger, but still keeping its beauty. The foals would run around and play between the trees outside, the Everfree was no longer a place of terror, where bad fillies and colts would go to be eaten alive, the Everfree had become something more beautiful than Celestia could imagine.
Of course the outsiders, the ponies, carried on with their normal lives but still kept chucking more and more "monstrosities" into the Everfree, while the number of forests in Equestria dwindled. All just to make more wooden houses for themselves. The "Creatures", very much alive and scared were taken in by the Everfree Solace. At least- that's what the ones who built the haven called themselves. The Everfree solace would send out patrols to find the poor souls that had been abandoned by society, and once they took them in, they built their very own place to stay, and sleep. They fed them, and helped them recuperate if they had been harmed, they were incredibly friendly.
Eventually, after only about... 600 years, the ponies that argued against throwing these monstrosities into the forest to die finally got through to the majority, and they finally stopped sending ponies into the forest to die. The Everfree solace had of course, no idea that this had happened, and continued on in their haven. They stopped sending out patrols, after a month of no-one being dumped into the Everfree. The society they had built kept growing with their everyday activities. They built themselves a library, a special underground garden, a hall specifically for eating in. But they still kept themselves hidden, they went outside, but they made sure they preserved the nature around them. They would not kill the Manticores, they did not harm the Cockatrices, they left the Hydras in their massive swamps.
Of course, it was unrealistic that the Manticores and the other beasts would not harm them, so they taught themselves and each other how to safely pacify the beasts of the Everfree. Every one of them knew how to keep themselves safe, as well as how to protect others.
It was only seven years ago that this peaceful cycle was broken...
"Come on, you're kidding right?"
"No, She actually did!"
"You asked her out, and she said yes!?"
"Yeah! She even hugged me!"
"You got Jam Bun, to hug you?"
"I'm not kidding!"
"Whatever you say."
A perfectly normal day in the underground of the Everfree. The kid who's saying they got a fillyfriend is Hex. He's a changeling, so it makes sense that he would be interested in romantic things like that. I'm the one arguing back, I'm Fyre Web. My fur is currently my normal red, since I'm not really feeling a strong emotion, it's this way when I'm casual. Casual Colours. Jam Bun is a really cute, perfectly normal filly. They're a unicorn.
"I'm honestly not kidding you, even ask her... just, please don't spread it around. I don't wanna have to explain to my parents that I like another species."
"Fine, but you can't expect me to not constantly tease you about this for the rest of your life."
"Yeah, I know..."
Right now, we're talking in the garden, There are other creatures in the garden, but the garden is huge, there's no way they can hear us. We're lying on the grass, just hanging out by a patch of Ghost Bluebells, they're transparent but glow a soft blue in the dark. It's almost midday.
"...We should get going for lunch, they'll be calling us in soon anyway."
"Wouldn't it be nice if we could decide when to eat? Instead of leaving it for them to decide?" I said
"Yeah, but they'll still call us in soon. Let's get going"
Lunch is immediate at midday every day. I would have said 12 o' clock, but the Everfrenians (Yes that's what we call ourselves now, I know, the Everfree solace is way cooler.) don't use a Twenty four hour time system. We mainly time everything according to where the sun is, they haven't sorted a measurement of time other than seconds and minutes. We do have a calendar as well, but it's too different from ours for me to even explain it... although we do still use years. Oh and, I am still twelve years old. I'll explain that later.
It's a small community now, we provide for each other, we don't bother with a currency anymore, and we help each other in any way we can. We all accept each other for who they are, and most of us are friends with each other.
"Hi Fyre, Hi Hex, come on in, take your seat."
That's the cook, she's a dragon, you sort of have to be a dragon if you want to be a cook, since all the tools can't really be held with hooves. I mean, I suppose you could cook if you were a changeling, by transforming into a dragon, and draqoneqi can have claws, but I suppose if they have mismatched arms, like if they have a claw and a hoof, then it might be hard. Anyway, the cook is a nice dragon, she's called Violet Flame, her parents must have been really un-creative to have just called her the colour of her fire breath. She has yellow and brown scales, arranged in a zig-zagging pattern all the way up to her muzzle, her muzzle is just yellow. Her eyes are a hazel brown.
Where were we? Oh right, we just entered the dining hall. My seat and Hex's seat are both right at the end of the table, Violet doesn't have a seat, since she usually sits on the kitchen bar and eats her meal... she always looks like she really enjoys it, I never asked her what she was eating... must have been good.
"So, you looking forward to tonight?" I asked Hex once we'd sat down.
"Y- Yeah," he replied, blushing
Oh, I forgot to mention, tonight is Valentin night. It's sort of like hearts and hooves day, but we celebrate at night. All the foals between the ages of 11 to 15 go out into the forest and get the whole night to themselves, the beasts of the Everfree are always around the outskirts of the forest around this time of year, that's why we're allowed out on that day, especially at night. I think the holiday was started by a Draqonequis named Ben Valentin and his fillyfriend, odd name, right? Still, thanks to him we're able to get a whole night to ourselves, without the adults watching us. Thanks Ben!
Most of the other creatures are coming into the dining hall now, there goes Chaio, he's one of my other friends, but he's on the other side of the table. He's a Pony-Draqonequis. Oi! don't ask me the difference, that's his words! His parents are walking in now, The pony is Grass Blade, she's a nice pony, and the Draqonequis is Mather. Another Draqonequis with another weird name.
"You think Chaio has someone in mind for tonight?" I asked Hex.
"um... He might, not like I know anything," Hex replied, rather unconvincingly
"...Tell me."
"No, I promised him!"
"Tell me!"
"I promised!
"TELL ME!"
"It's Heather Moss, stop yelling please!"
Heather moss is a thirteen year old drake, yes, drake as in male dragon. He's really outgoing and fun to be with, he likes everyone and doesn't seem to have a... preference when it comes to who he'll date. He's pretty tall for a thirteen year old dragon, and he's completely purple. His wings haven't developed yet though, so he can't fly.
"What? You're kidding!"
"I'm not, but please, stop being so loud"
"Oh, sorry."
In the time we've been talking half of the Everfrenians have come back to the dining hall, that's about one-hundred of us. Out of all of us though, there are only about six Changelings in total. None of them are a queen though, changelings don't have a queen normally, and most hives are only made up of about six to sixteen changelings. Of course, these changelings do need love to survive, but we happily provide it, all two-hundred of us supply whatever anyone needs in our community.
Please, don't jump to the conclusion that if we have that few a number of ponies that we must have ended up somewhere along the line having... Incestual relationships. No, that would be- Ugh.
"Still though, Chaio. Him. They're gay?"
"Well, I think Heather just will go out with anyone, Chaio is almost certainly. Please don't tell anyone else about this, Chaio probably doesn't want everyone to know that about him... you don't have something wrong with that, do you?"
"No, no, I'm just a bit surprised, it does explain why he always walked away when we started joking about heather being so open, and why he always really likes when Heather ever just talks to him, huh."
Our conversation carried on and continued changing subject, my fur didn't change too much while we were talking, up until our lunch was served by Violet, you remember her? Each of our Lunches were made specifically for what we were and who we were. Hex got hugged by violet since he's a changeling, of course though, she still got him his meal, which was potato waffles and red pepper. He didn't need as much as anyone else since most of his food was love, but changelings still starve if they don't have solid food for a while. My Lunch was the same as Hex's except with something which we'd started making called "bread". It's a square food thing, you have two of them and put something between them, and then you get a "sandwich" it's really good.
Anyway, let's skip all the boring stuff, Let's skip to... Converting it to 24 hour time it would be about ten pm, that's just before we go out in the night sky. We always really loved the moon and the darkness, not in a creepy cult-type of loving the darkness, but rather just an admiration of its peace and beauty.
Anyway, we're all just leaving the tunnels, I'm walking by myself out, Chaio is looking really happy and, he's walking with heather. Nobody else seems to have noticed. Hex is walking with Jam Bun, she's leaning against him as they walk, and Hex is blushing again, his blush is blue since changelings have a different colour of blood to us ponies, or something like that and he's got this really wide grin. I'm walking by myself, and my fur coat has dimmed a bit.
We get out of the tunnels and we're in a large clearing, there's only about 12 of us that are out right now. That's Chaio, Heather, Hex, Jam, Me, Bronze, Gold, Sandstone, Swirl, Clover, Maxell and Kindle. You know the first four and me. Bronze and Gold are brother and sister, they're both pegasi. Sandstone is a Griffon, he really doesn't like talking and he's really grumpy. Swirl is a unicorn as well as Clover, they both really like each other, but if they didn't have each other they'd be spending their whole days in the library. Maxell is... A special case, he's a Kirin. That's a Dragon-Pony, his forelegs are dragon arms covered in scales and he has draconic scales as well, he's even got the draconic tail ending in a spike. He still has a pony head and hind legs. His parents both died after they tried to leave the Everfree forest. He's really sensitive and kindle really likes him, but he doesn't know it. Kindle is a dragon, she's really kind and shy.
Chaio and heather are both already running off, probably to their nearest hideout. Hex and Jam are sitting on the grass talking, Hex is still blushing. Bronze is sitting on his own, not really bothered. Gold is talking to Sandstone, he's actually listening instead of flying off in a huff. Swirl and Clover have already teleported off, probably just back to the library. Kindle is breathing fire gently on Maxell, I think it's some kind of dragon thing. And then there's me, on my own.
I decided to go off to my own special place, it's the same place you saw in my dream, the clearing, the one I was in just before I got mauled by a timberwolf. Yes, the nightmare took place in a real place. No, that did not happen, that was the dreamscape turning it into a nightmare. It really was just as beautiful as ever, with its still shimmering lake. Of course though, at the time the nightmare hadn't happened yet.
When I arrived there I was calm, I wasn't sad anymore, my fur had returned to its normal shades of red, the moon was shining off of the pool, The flowers at the side were still as pristine and perfect as they always were. I sat at the edge of the pool, admiring it, wishing I could be, it. It was alone, independent, it didn't need anything to thrive, it didn't have everyone supplying it everything it needed, it was independent, I wanted to be independent.
And then, ever so slowly, every star in the sky above me was snuffed out slowly, one by one, they stopped shining. If only I noticed sooner...
I had to get back to the caves, I had to! If what they told me during my time at the pond, I had to get back before they were gone! I'm running through the woods, there are trees everywhere but they can't get in my way. My friends are in danger and apparently everyone else is too, and unless I get there before they catch them. I'm about halfway between the pond and one of the cave entrances. All my friends, the other eleven foals that are all outside, but hopefully, they'll be close enough to the entrance to hear me telling them to get back inside.
I'm almost at the clearing, the one beside the entrance, but something's not right. Everything has a... Shiny sort of look to it. As though they're made of crystal. The ground I'm walking on, the trees, the leaves on the trees, everything just doesn't look quite right. I haven't stopped running yet, I can't, I'm too scared to stop, in case I lose my friends.
I'm back at the clearing. I open my muzzle to yell, but just before- I take a look around, and suddenly yelling doesn't seem so appealing. The ground around me is green and purple crystal. Pristine, perfect, flawless crystal. It's shining so brilliantly I can see my reflection in it, my fur is completely devoid of colour, I’m absolutely grey. If you were to check every hair on my body, you wouldn't find a single atom with colour in it, the colour represented my fear, my being was overwhelmed with an impulse to run. And yet, beside my reflection, I saw the moon, still sitting there gracefully hanging above my head looking down, as all the stars beside it had been snuffed out. It was the only thing I could look to for familiarity right now.
I want to yell for my friends, but I can't. For some reason, my mouth won't listen to what I'm telling it to, I want to scream for help but my voice won't come, I'm frozen and I can't tell anyone. My friends are probably somewhere out there, completely oblivious as to what is going to happen, but I can't do anything for them now. I slowly back myself towards the entrance to the cave system, I'm facing away in case they're here. I'm inside the cave now, the Ivy is glowing, and I notice suddenly. The ground isn't crystal anymore, there's a border right where the clearing turns to cave. I turn around and run as quickly as I can, no-one seems to be around. I hope it's not too late, for everyone. For all the adults and the foals. Everything seems abandoned, so either they've gotten here first or my family have managed to group themselves together, if they have managed to group themselves together, the only place large enough for everyone would be the garden or the dining hall.
I'm just passing my bedroom, I take a glance in at it as I gallop past, and see the mess it's in. it's a familiar mess, my mess. I understand it and no-one else does, everything has its own place as well as purpose. My bed and desk are really the only two furniture items in there. I'll miss it if we have to run away. Us everfrenians were always so very paranoid that eventually someone would come here to hunt us down that we had an entire system in case of such an emergency. Basically, we would gather everyone up, and then the one's with magical prowess would create a portal to somewhere else, where we could set ourselves up again. I'll miss this place, but we need to get away. But first I'll need to get them to bring in the others. Jam, Chaio, Hex, Heather, Swirl, Clover, The twins.
I've just arrived at the kitchen, I dash through and into the dining hall, but nobody's there. Everyone will be in the garden then... Hopefully. I dash back out and continue my running, my legs are getting tired but I won't stop. I don't know what to do but I know that step one will always be the same, find the family.
Whatever it is exactly that is turning everything to crystal out there won't be able to bother us once we're all out of here.
I can hear voices in the distance, it has to be the family, I'm getting close to the garden too, the garden doesn't have a door so I can hear them much more clearly... I think I can hear mom. She's mixed in with a lot of other voices too, but I can tell that my mom is definitely there. I'm running past the library now, all the books in there that I loved to read. I'll really miss those too, they were like my friends as well. I'd imagine that the characters in the books were beside me and I would talk to them, I'd give myself magic powers and play with them. They were a part of me, and they were just as alive as everyone else was. I wish I could have taken them with me, I'll be all alone... alone... That's my worst fear. To be alone. To be completely forgotten, to have nothing to hold on to. I'd go mad.
"We can't leave yet! My son is still out there, and so are the other eleven poor souls you would have left behind! They're only Teenagers! By leaving them you're killing them, leaving them to whatever monster it is that's out there! Is that what you want?!"
That's my mom. She's near the entrance, but she hasn't noticed me yet, probably because of all the other creatures walking around in the garden, all having their own fights. The magically skilled creatures are at the end of the garden, making their portal. They've set up a barrier at the entrance to keep the monster, or whatever it had been, out. Unfortunately, it also kept me out.
"Oh and you think I don't know that? Miss Web, my son is also out there, do you think I want to leave him behind? We can't stay behind! And you're not either, not unless you want that shiny blue carapace on your back being skewered by whatever was out there!"
That's Grass Blade, I mentioned her earlier, she's Chaio's mom.
Oh, and yes. My mom's a changeling.
My mom ran away from her old hive, she didn't like the way that her queen was acting so she left one day, and fell into the everfree forest as she was flying over it. Uh- oh, she's looking at me.
"...Fyre, Fyre's at the entrance! Let him in! Open it quickly!" Mom yells at one of the draqoneqi working to make the portal. He does it immediately, as soon as he sees me. The barrier lifts for a moment and lets me in, I walk forward and past the entrance just before they
"Oh thank goodness you're alive!" My mom says as she runs over and gives me a death hug. I'm struggling to breathe, but at the same time I return the hug. Once the hug ends, which felt like forever, even though it was probably only two seconds, she takes my face in her hooves and stares at me. "Are you okay, you're completely grey!".
"I'm fine mom, but everyone else is still outside, we need someone to go out and help them!" I asked. We needed to help them before we left.
"Honey, I want to do the exact same thing, but everyone's too afraid to go, your father went out a while ago though, alone. He's brave but he's still an idiot, I should have gone with him..."
Everyone's in too much of a commotion to notice that I'm back, everyone's pacing around and talking, but there's one thing they all have in common, they're all afraid. Some of them are looking at the entrance where I just came in, I turn around and look, before I notice why they're all so scared. The cave system outside the barrier has already been turned to crystal, the same colours as earlier, green and purple. The ivy kept its colours, the regular green, but they're not lighting up the system anymore.
"Fyre, are you okay, you look a bit dizzy."
That was the last thing I remember, before I woke up, and everyone was gone.
"Fyre, are you okay? You look a bit dizzy."
As soon as this sentence had been said, the twelve year old foal known as Fyre web collapsed, his coat turned pitch black, and his eyes snapped shut. His mother looked helplessly at him, not knowing what to do. The colour of his coat was not just the night sky black, but the black of the void, the black of emptiness, the colour of death.
The foal, stood up, and lifted his eyelids. His eyes were devoid of colour. They were pure black as he walked forward towards the entrance, unaware of all the creatures asking him if he was okay, and what he was doing. He took one last step toward the door, and with a single tear dropping from his eyes, he broke the barrier, and let everything in. The monster outside.
Just as the barrier was broken, the portal was finished. The creatures all run into the portal, all of them ran towards it except one. Fyre's mom stayed behind for him. She ran towards her little colt, but the monster got to them both. The colt survived, the mother vanished.
When the little colt woke up, the cave system had returned to the way it was before anything had happened. But all the residents had vanished. The little colt's worst fear, came true.
"...and that was the last thing I remembered before I woke up- and everyone was gone. You know, I've never actually thought back on it but I never found out what happened to the family... I just- forgot about them," I laughed, a hollow laugh. I never did and I probably never will find out whether they got away or if they didn't.
"I'm sure they're fine," Chaio said. "They always manage to find some way out."
"I know, I'm not worried anymore," I replied.
"...Fyre, you're blue," Chaio pointed out.
"Oh... I forgot about that."
While me and Chaio had been talking- sorry, Chaio and me had been talking, Shimmering Cloud was sitting beside us, on my bed, muttering away to herself comletely missing what me and Chaio were talking about. Did I forget to mention that we're in my room? At the moment, her muttering was becoming louder until she finally looked up and exclaimed-
"YOU'RE A HALF-LING?!"
I blushes and scratched the back of my head, before answering with, "Ummm, yeah... I might have left that out. From what I've been told most ponies from the outside don't really take kindly to changelings, or hybrids. Sorry?"
"AND YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE WHO ATE MEAT!?"
"Wait what? Who?!" Both me and the tiny draqonequis asked. From what we knew, no-one I used to be friends with ate other animals... Although-
"...Niether of you know that dragons eat meat?"
When I thought back on it, it made sense. None of the adults would tell us what it was and Violet did seem very protective of her food. Honestly though, I'm not that disturbed by it- is that bad?
"And also, if that all happened seven years ago, then wouldn't you have been seven?"
"Ah... Well, I don't really understand it either, but after everyone vanished I stopped ageing. I kept count of the days, but when I noticed that I wasn't getting any older, I decided to just leave my age at what it was... Now that you mention it, I don't suppose that makes sense does it?" I asked, getting a shake of the head from Shimmer.
"Well... That's all my questions... Although, if you're a half-ling, then does that mean...?"
"Mean what?"
"Nope, never mind! Everything's fine!"
Shimmer was being odd, but I didn't really bother about it at the time. Normal things were boring, odd things were fun.
"Wait, no I just thought of another question! Chaio, what actually happened to you?"
"Oh... Well, I was just sitting in a tree-"
"-kissing heather." I added, I found it fun to be able to tease Chaio, it had been so boring all on my own. Chaio responded by blushing and continuing as though I hadn't interrupted.
"-and then just out of nowhere, this big black cloud just appeared around me... My hooves and arms were turned to crystal and I was practically a statue... Then everything went dark, I couldn't tell where I was, and it was so boring. I was stuck there for ages, now I know it was seven whole years! Till finally- there was a huge outburst of chaos energy and I was able to break free! Then I could see properly, I was in one of the natural caves in the forest. I started walking back to the cave system, and I saw you walking shimmer back to the caves!" Chaio had been saying all this at rocket pace, and once he had finished he took in a huge breath.
"But that was yesterday, why didn't you talk to us till now?" I asked.
"Because, you two were being adorable, and I didn't want to interrupt."
That was nice of him, although I'm slightly concerned about his mental health, since you know. Being locked in place as a statue for seven years, that has to have driven him some kind of mad. Then again, draqoneqi have always been crazy, they don't make sense. After all, they do embody chaos.
Of course, me and Shimmer were both blushing- although for me my entire body turned pink- as well as shying away from the conversation.
"If what happened to me happened to the others though, that means they've all been trapped as crystals too. For seven whole years, and since none of them are draqoneqi, they'll probably have all gone mad."
"Wait, you mean that they might all be alive?!" I asked, having gotten over the embarrassment and my coat returned to its normal shade of red.
"I've already checked and there are at least sixteen sentient creatures this deep in the forest, only thirteen though, that are between the ages of 11 and 15, that'll be us and our friends."
"Well lets go find them then! They can't be that far, after all the everfree forest isn't that big!"
Both me and Chaio stared at Shimmer, not believing what we just heard. There was a three second pause before Shimmer responded with "What?" as her answer.
"...You do know that it would take over nineteen days to get from one side to the other, right?" I asked Shimmer, whose eyes widened in disbelief.
"No... That can't be right, before I got here it only took me an hour to fly over it!"
"The everfree forest is home to chaos- it could take just an hour to fly over it, but to walk through it could change drastically, it plays with your mind- makes things not add up. And keep in mind- nineteen days was the fastest anyone's managed to get through it," Chaio replied.
"Well, we could start searching tomorrow, first though, the sun berry roast will probably be done by now, I'll go get it," I volunteered. As I stood up and walked out of the room, the Ivy lit up to guide me along.
While I was on my way to the kitchen, I started thinking about where everyone would sleep, we can't all share my bed- that would be awkward. We'd have to rebuild the other rooms, which would be nearly impossible since they had all caved in. I suppose we could all sleep in the garden, it's pretty large and the grass acts like a really comfy pillow. Anyway, we'd sort that out later- right now was sun berry time!
I look up, the stars are bright, The ground beneath my hooves is white, The darkness that I will become, Is almost ready to return.
A prophecy of what is to follow, A monster they shan't find more hollow, A little lost soul will meet its end, My power will feed from their friends.
...Something is watching.
I wake up violently, shivering from fear and looking around, before realising it was a dream. The first thing I notice is that I'm sitting on a bed of leaves, an actual bed of leaves. Not a large mound of leaves but a bed made from leaves. I remember yesterday once we had dinner, we decided that we should set up our sleeping arrangements, so that we all didn't have to sleep in Fyre's bed. Chaio made himself a bed of clouds while Fyre decided to... Basically knit me a bed from the tree's leaves. It was surprisingly comfortable to sleep on- and it didn't fall apart as soon as I lay down on it- Probably from the Chaos magic Chaio used on the bed.
The bed's leaves were a dark green and had a very interesting pattern on them. It was a similar pattern to the walls of the room I was currently in. I mean the garden, the pattern was probably something for preservation, since I remember Fyre saying about a preservation spell being used so the flowers don't age or die.
The bed and I were underneath a tree with pure white blooms on them. I knew what this tree was since I had always loved seeing it growing in the ponies' gardens. It was called Odium Plume, which I think is a really nice name for it. The tree branches reach over and create a veil like effect, or a curtain, which sort of sheilds you from the outside world. When the branches flower though, it's beautiful. The light filters through the flowers and when you're undermeath the branches it looks like they're glowing- from the outside it looks like it's one large pristine crystal, that doesn't belong in this impure world.
I stepped through the veil revealing to me the garden, beautiful green everywhere- large bushes and colourful plants litter the area with an exquisite quality like something out of a fairytale. I walk over to the entrance and leave, following the bright yellow light provided by the Ivy, it really is beautiful how Fyre's ancestors were so creative and... It's inspiring how they managed to survive- unlike my kind. Always cowering in fear, constant starvation, killing others just to feed. It's truly pitiful- and even so, Fyre's mother... She was a changeling? She ran from her hive! That was amazing, I thought that it would be impossible for any changeling to run from their queen! I guess I've been proven wrong.
I finally reach the kitchen where I look in and see Fyre cooking. It smells really nice, better than anything I've had before I came here, although I suppose that's not too hard to beat.
"Hiya Fyre!" I chirp at him, he jumps in surprise as his fur turns yellow... I could swear his fur chooses a random colour for everything.
He blushes by turning pink all over, honestly- he's adorable when he does that, before he replies. "Hi Shimmer, so... You want an 'energising honeyed apple delight' or a 'Herb Sauté'?"
"Herb Sauté sounds nice, did you come up with the names yourself?" I ask, it really does sound like he made them up.
"Umm... No, I found them in a book from the library labelled 'Human Food', still they smell really nice so they'll probably be good."
"Well, uh... Should I go sit in the hall?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'll bring your food through when it's ready."
I walked through to the hall, where Chaio was sitting on a giant chair shaped marshmallow, with his back to me, while he ate a giant marshmallow shaped chair. I didn't question it, I had experience with draqoneqi before, this wasn't the maddest thing he could've done. I walked over beside him and sat down.
"Hi Chaio, so... You eat chairs?" I asked. Okay earlier, when I said I didn't question it, I did- he hadn't seemed to be mad yesterday, and I wanted to know why.
"Yep, they're surprisingly good- want a taste?" Before taking another bite out the giant marshmallow shaped chair.
"Um, no thank you- Fyre's making me food." I replied, I didn't want to catch a splinter.
"You sure you don't want a bite?" Chaio asked me, before eating it whole. It really didn't look edible, it was just a big lump of wood.
-then again, Chaio made eating it so easy- just one bite couldn't hurt... Could it?
Bad idea! Bad idea! BAD IDEA!
It feels like there's a ton of tiny needles sticking into my throat, Chaio's fallen off his marshmallow laughing and watching me suffer. What on earth was I thinking! Stupid- Stupid me! Chaio whistles then the pain dissapears, as though it was never there.
"I didn't actually expect you to eat it! I was just teasing you, I'm part draqonequis- you should have known not to trust me like that, it's literally written into my nature!"
"Well you could have told me that before I had a lump of wood in my mouth!"
Seriously, it hurt.
"Sorry, sorry- it's just too hilarious."
"I've only known you for a day and already I want to kill you."
"That's normal."
"You weren't this annoying yesterday."
"I didn't have as much Chaos energy yesterday, I'm feeling much more up to it now."
"how did you get that much Chaos energy overnight?"
"I slept, it's what all animals do to get their energy back."
"...stop being sarcastic."
"No."
"Why not?"
"It's fun, because it annoys you."
I grumble and fly off to the kitchen to see how Fyre's doing, taking notice that the wallpaper wasn't falling off anymore. How did that happen, the paintings weren't as dusty as they were before now too.
I stop beside the small archway that leads to the kitchen, it smells like Fyre's almost done cooking, Fyre's standing bipedal so that he can use the frying pan to cook something green, with some kind of powder over it. Despite it not looking too appetizing it smells fantastic.
Fyre lifts the pan up and tips the contents onto a plate, before drizzling some sort of sauce over it. He picks up the plate in his left forehoof and turns around- almost jumping when he sees me, he loses his balance and the plate starts sliding off his hoof, but he manages to shift the plate onto the bar beside the cooker before he drops it. He looks at me with a sheepish grin and light blue fur.
"Um... You're drooling," he says. It takes a moment before I realise he's talking about me- then I wipe the drool from my mouth and give a sheepish grin back.
"Well... Is that the herb sauté?"
"Yes, 'made from hoofrule herbs and Gornon Spice stewed together in perfect harmony, the aroma is completely unmistakable as well as the wonderful flavour that graces your taste buds. Truly a wonderful dish that no outsider will ever have the privilege of tasting.'" Fyre quoted, putting on a ridiculous accent.
"Well, this "outsider" is going to be the first one to ever have the privilege to taste such an exquisite dish!.. Can I eat now?" I asked, although I didn't wait for a response- I couldn't resist it any longer.
"Once you're done we can start searching for the others," Fyre said, giggling a bit at me.
The one of six points will be rescued first, While one of the twelve bubbles will burst, My power shall be restored, From the love of their adored.
The soft white ground crunches beneath my feet, I can feel it holding a hatred toward me. I'm still cold.
In the cold of the frost, One finds their friend, A little poor bug, Very near its end,
The kindling warmth, Of a lover near, Will save the poor bug, From its own fear.
...they're watching again.
I wake up for the second time today, I look around to see that I'm outside- in bright daylight, quickly forgetting the dream. Fyre's on one side of me while Chaio's on the other. They both look very worried about something, did I pass out?
"What happened?" I ask.
"You randomly fell asleep when we were walking to the everfrozen peak!" Fyre replies.
"Then your necklace started glowing!" Chaio said, almost immediately after Fyre had finished his sentence.
My necklace. It was one of the few things I had ever actually owned- as well as it being the only gift I ever got from my parents. It was made specifically for me by the royal jeweller- designed to ward off nightmares and bring good luck. Although, I don't think the 'good luck' part of it ever actually activated.
"Oh, right..." I said. "How long was I asleep?".
"Only a few minutes, still though- it looked like you were having a really bad dream," Chaio said.
"It wasn't too bad- just odd. There was a lot of snow- and I was speaking in riddles and rhymes." At least, I think that's what I was doing, I'm not too sure though. I can't help but feel like these dreams might be important.
"Well anyway, it's over now- so. You wanna get going?" Fyre asked, with enthusiasm on his face. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have lost all his friends, his family- and then suddenly be told by one of them that they might all be fine. It must have been torture for him. I can understand his impatience- after all, it's got to have been the best thing that's happened to him for these seven years!
"Yeah, don't want to keep your friends waiting anyway," I say, with an enthusiastic voice. I honestly am looking forward to searching the forest, and if the rest is just as beautiful as the stuff Fyre has shown me already- I'm not going to keep him any longer than we have to.
We begin walking- Chaio and Fyre talking with each other- while I look at the scenery. The trees aren't as clumped together as they are normally so I can see much more clearly than earlier. There are flowers of all kinds growing in the spots that the sun reaches, mostly ones that I don't recognise. Whatever path Fyre and Chaio are following, is one I can't see- or maybe they're just following from their memory- from what I can tell, the path we're taking is one familiar to them anyway.
I wonder how long it will take for us to reach this 'everfrozen peak', I know that we've only been walking for a few minutes but it's already starting to get cold... Oh- right, I'm an idiot. It's getting cold because we're getting close to the everfrozen peak.
"Hey Shimmer, since you're a pegasus- why do you fly so little?" Chaio asked.
"Hey, don't ask her that- she might be sensetive about it!" Fyre defended me, quietly- but violently aimed at Chaio. That was sweet, but he really didn't need to.
"It's okay, I don't mind. Really the only reason I'm not flying is because I like living on the ground, nothing more- nothing less. There's so much that you miss when you've got your head in the clouds." Pun intended.
"Thanks for the answer, and I appreciate the pun!"
"Oh god no..." Fyre said, hanging his head inches from the ground, had I done something wrong?
"What?"
"So, did you have that pun prepared or did you just wing it!"
"Whenever he starts with the puns, he never stops, run while you still can!" Fyre said to me, whispering the last part- before turning back to Chaio and trying to stop him from continuing with his puns.
I actually found it rather amusing seeing them get in a fight to the death that resulted in the half-ling throwing the semi-draqonequis off the icy cliff and into a ravine.
Oh, we're here.
Luckily, neither of them were severely hurt, Chaio whistled as he was falling off- teleporting him back to the edge of the ravine. They are both almost untouched, but Chaio still healed them both up, before making another pun- resulting in Chaio falling off the cliff again- and teleporting back, before apologising and laughing his head off.
The everfrozen peak wasn't exactly a mountain, since it had a ravine running through it- but it still lived up to its name. It seemed to be completely glazed over with ice, making it hard to walk on. I actually did end up choosing to fly since it was that slippery, Fyre seemed fine walking though, and Chaio summoned a pair of skating boots that he put on- that somehow allowed him to walk perfectly fine up the slope.
"You know, this is actually where I first found you too. I tried jumping over the ravine and I fell in- before I heard you a while away." Fyre said. Huh, so we were visiting the place I fell in... Oh right- because of them. My 'mother'. I almost feel obligated to thank her, since without her I would have never been able to see all of this, to meet Fyre- even Chaio despite how annoying he's proved himself to be.
Further up in front of us was a snowstorm cloud resting there and shielding the rest of the peak from view, it reminded me of a snowstorm that I had once been in with father, he and I had set up camp in the frozen north when we were travelling looking for a place we could stay. When we were there a snowstorm hit, making us stay there longer than we had hoped- almost three days- just about starving us to death. Luckily once it ended, there were some ponies who found us and were willing to help us recuperate, before we set off again... I miss father. He was kind to me, mother would only ever think of herself. That's why father vanished- mother made him vanish- why mother killed him!
"Shimmer, are you okay? You're looking very... Lost," Fyre asked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I said, with a smile and an energetic voice. Smiles cover up everything. Everyone believes you if you wear a smile. It was one of the very few things mother had taught me that came in useful- everyone trusts a smile.
"You sure?" Fyre asked again, his fur a deep yellow colour for skepticism, I nodded, again with a smile. "Good, well anyway- do you want to come with us to find one of my old friends- or are you going to be sitting out here waiting for us?"
Good, his fur returned to his normal red- he bought the smile. It would only go badly if I had to explain who mother was- Fyre would run, and Chaio would go with him, and I'd be all alone again. I couldn't have that happening. "I'll go with you, I want to be as helpful as I can." I wasn't really lying, I did want to help Fyre get his friends back.
"Well, Chaio will need some time to set up an enchantment to protect us all from the snowstorm, so we've got plenty of time to waste. You want to help me set up a campfire?" He asked, his coat rapidly changing to a turquoise colour, probably to represent curiosity.
"Sure, sounds like fun!" I said, as we trotted off back to get some sticks and wood for a fire. Chaio was sitting at the side with his eyes closed and strange red symbols coating his body, I thought it best not to question it.
And with that, we went back to the woods.
The bug's patience wears thin, His sanity thrown away, The love from another will heal him, But that day shan't be today