Chapter 1
//The hoofwriting reminds of the one ether a noble or well educated pony would have.//
Greetings to whoever might have found this book.
When you read these lines I'm probably dead already.
I'm writing this journal to hold up my sanity in my isolation here in Everfree. The only ponies I talk to regularely are my friend Fluffy and the Zebra Zecora, who has taken care of me at the age of a foal.
You can only have this book from my house. Perhaps Fluffy gave it to you or you found his body next to it....
You might want to know who I am.
I'm Zombie Stitch but you might know me under the name of Lively Springs.
// There's a warrant of apprehension stuck between the pages, its for Lively Springs.
The accusation says she killed 10 elite guards of Canterlot, who just fought off a fierce dragon, without any reason, it also shows a picture of her:
A young unicorn filly with green coat and orange mane.
The price for her, dear or alive, is enormous.//
Yes that on the picture was me at the age of seven. This was the reason I fled here and didn't leave in years.
I was born in Hollow Shades and lived there until the age of 5.
My parents were Rose Vine, a unicorn mare of a green coat and red mane with the cutiemark representing a rose surrounded by thorny tendrils, and Healing Hoofs, a dark blue unicorn stallion with a black mane and with a golden cross for a cutiemark.
I had an adoped elder brother, his name was Brazen Sword. He was the only earthpony I can recall having in my family. His coat was rusty brown and his mane like old iron. His cutiemark showed a sword and shield and there was something in his eyes that made my bones chill.
My mother was a florist. She owned a greenhouse, which was rather famous even down to Filly Delphia and Manehatten for its “Undying Roses”. She truly had a hoof for any kind of plant.
My father was the head physician of “Hollow Shades Hospital and Mental Asylum”. It was him to thank, that I survived my childhood.
My brother, at least I believed him to be that, well he allways dreamed of becoming a royal guard and I am sure he managed it.
Me? I assume myself... a healer. I have no proper medical education, nether did I ever assist my father but as you read the lines of my life, you will understand why I assert myself this title.
I am 12 years old now.
When I was little my parents explained me, that I was born with a misshaped lung. I didn't understand what they ment then, I only knew I would have to take these pills every morning and evening for the rest of my life. That was at the age of 3.
I never was physically strong, tall or rather cubby. You saw the picture of me there and let me tell you: hidden underneeth the light blue students robe of the “Royal Academy for gifted Unicorns” was the body of a dreadfull thin filly.
I must say, I don't remember much of my childhood in Hollow Shades, only picking blossoms with my mother in the greenhouse by levitation. We moved to Canterlot when I was 5 years old. Father told it was for the clean air, the better medical support and the gift I was born with. I didn't understand what he ment, until I stood infront of the application committee and approved my strong magical skills by making the egg of a phoenix hatch. I called her Philomena and until today I wonder what became of her. I worry for the poor little fledgling and wish that nopony connects her to me. They woulden't treat her well....
As a 5 year old filly I was one of the youngest students of the R.A. since the very beginning. I emedietly asked for a cheep or even free little chamber within the academy itself. Students who lived on the campus got free meals and....
Well I claimed, I wanted to live on the campus to be closer to the enormous library and the halls of the school itself but to be honest with you: It was for the sake of my family.
I noticed we moved from a big house in Hollow Shades to a tiny appartment in Canterlot and that mother wasen't working anymore, yet there was still my medication to pay. So I lived in an allmost ruined, little chamber under the roof of the libraries transmutation section. A decayed old staircase behind an overcrowded bookshelf led up there.
//The following lines look like they were written with a shakeing hoof and the paper is wrinkled like a single tear dropped onto it and dryed up again// At the age of 6 I made the first friend I actually remember. And I will never forget her. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, she was 4 years old. //Then the hoofwriting becomes more clearly again// I had to interrupt my work on the journal for a while to calm myself. The memory of my old friend was just overwhelming. We became friends over a book we shared. Till the very last day we called ourselfs B.B.B.F.E (best book buddies for ever). The picture shows us together by the way. Its a copy. I'll take the original to the grave with me. //Theres a picture of filly Twilight Sparkle and Lively Springs attached to the page.// It takes all my concentration not to cry upon loosing her. She was like a little sister to me. A little, very smart sister. Yet I also remember her elder brother. A hunk of a stallion. Gosh I had such a crush on him, you can't imagine.
It was in those days when I first noticed an appariation of houreglasses or little lights, like the flames of candles, above the heads of ponies I strongly concentrated on. In later days this should turn out to be my greatest blessing. Also during my entire attendence at the R.A. everypony kept recognizeing me as an inhabitant of Hollow Shades and claimed to recognize my particular accent. Even tho I didn't have much money or many friends it was the most wonderfull time of my young life. I can't believe it mearly is 6 years past now.
I spent my last year at the R.A. pretty happy. I could breathe with ease, my marks were good, I had a wonderfull friend and even the situation of my family got better! Mother found work in the castle gardens and after a collegue of my father sent an attestation he was promoted to the second head physician of “Canterlot Central Hospital”. I could never have imagined, that anything could have gone bad. I was 7 when the world has proven me terribly wrong.
During the dragon migration one of the elder dragons must have become insane. It attacked Canterlot city directly!
The Royal Guard evacuated the academy in the middle of a lesson. We all were being pushed and led twards the throne room, the safest place in the entire city. They told us Celestias elite guards would be taking care of the situation and I actually saw them racing through the halls of the castle. What I saw gave me the shock of my life: Their flames looked like they were about to burn out and suddenly I knew what that ment. I used the confusion of the moment to follow them. I had no idea, what I should do or if there even was anything I could do.
//From here on the words don't align properly, as if they werent written fluently, but with a break between ever ony of them.//
It is hart for me to write about, what happened next. I followed the guards to the west garden. It was a big terrace. Unicorns, Pegasi and Earthponies. They fought this big black beast. I stood at the entrance to the castle and was frozen in fear. They had no chance. They were being torn to pieces. I had... I don't know what to call what I had in that moment. I felt powerfull and like I knew exactly what to do. Then I lost the feeling of ground under my hoofs and everything became so bright. I didn't know what I was doing in that moment, I just knew it was the right thing to do. The fallen, they just stood up again. Wounds closed the moment they were cut open. It was like the guards never got injured at all!
It took minutes but the dragon was fought off and the elite guard came back loughing and cheering and completly unharmed, being greeted by a group of recruits when //A rough line is drawn over the page, as if the writer dropped the quill.// my magic wore off with a lightflash. I just couldent move on anymore. It was too much for me. And, please excouse the messy writing, my hoof is shaking, the next moment, all the wounds came back. All of them. All at the same time. The screams were horrible. It was like //It seems like she never finished the sentence and moved on to the next line.//
I still hear them every night when I close my eyes.
After a moment of silence somepony called out: “It was her! She killed them!” And the recruits, that cheered for the elites, raced at me. A spear hit my face. A clean vertical strike. From my lipps, over my face, up to my horn. The stallion who wielded the spear was my best friends big brother. If you know him, or Shining Armor if it is you, who is reading this and you actually believe me: Please know that I don't blame you. You just did, what your training told you to.
//It seems, that the writer must have taken a break. The hoofwriting looks proper and clean again.//
I woke up on a glade. I didn't know where I was, I didn't really know what happened, I didn't know what I just did and my face felt like it was going to be torn apart.
I stumbled all over the place, crying as loud as I could. I reached a lake and saw my reflection in the water. My lips were cut apart, there was a deep gash on my face and the base of my horn was cracked. Till today I don't understand, why I did the following but I took the needle and twine from my little saddlebag and started stitching the gash. It sounds gruesome but it didn't hurt. I don't think I felt anything in that moment.
So there I was:
A little filly, lost all alone in an unknown forest. Without food, without orientation, wounded and shaking in fear.
I can't tell how much time passed. It was a blessing in disguise that there was this enormous pumpkin. Today it is my home and the place where you found this book. The first time I hid between the leaves of the pumpkin plant, not knowing where I could possibly go. I grew hungrier and hungrier every day. There were no edible plants anywhere on the glade and I was to scared to head into the forest. I got so panicked in my hunger that I started hitting the pumpkin and yelling at it for help. I thought it was sentiend.
Then the peel broke and this sweet juice sprayed on my face. I completely forgot everything and ate my way into the big thing like a worm into an apple. I thanked mister pumpkin for every single bite. I didn't care for how dirty I got and fell asleep in the hole I ate into it.
I was woken up by a heavy cough attack. Till today I suffer from those, when the effects of my medication wear off. My coughing attracted something. I correct myself: somepony. A shadow fell into the hole I ate into the pumpkin and a female voice greeted me with a rhyme. I can't actually recall it.
I crawled to the exit cramping and coughing, these attacks grow more painfull the longer they last, and finally managed to take a pill from the bottle once I reached it. A moment of silence later I coughed out a ball of goo. I know no better word for it. I must have been a disgusting sight: A dirty little filly, covered in sticky wet pumpkin fiber with a freshly stitched gash all over her face, coughing up this black clump of goo.
Yet the mare who found me didn't move back or turn away from me. She actually sounded caring, even if I didn't understand what she said, and picked me up. She kept switching between a pretty broken and rhyming equestrian and these strange sounds, later turning out to be her language. All I managed to say was: “Please don't hurt me!”
But I wasn't in danger at all. The mare with the black and white stripes took me home with her on her back. I must have passed out a few times, since the way through the forest to her shack felt like it only took minutes. Maybe her constant singing let me fall asleep again.
Gosh I was shaking in fear again once I saw the inside of her home: everywhere these potion bottles, strange ingredients that I've never even red of before and the masks! Dragon faces! I cowerd in the farest corner I could find. From all the things she said I only understood: “not wish to do a harm”, “You are safe.” and “What happened to you?”
Something about this last question made me snap and I told everything that happened. I must have repeated myself over and over, yet she only understood half the things I said. What she did then surprised me the most: She hugged me! She must have known by instinct, that was just what I needed. I startet crying and didn't stop until I had no more tears left. Our conversation went on till it was late at night and I just fell asleep. She was so friendly to me.
The next day we introduced to eachother: The student of magic Lively Springs and the zebra healer Zecora. She shared her food and tea with me and, as much as I understooof of her broken equestrian, even her home. She was so careing that I just started calling her “Nana Zecora” and I guess over the time that became true. We agreed, that we should let some time pass before I left the forest, that later turned out to be Everfree.
Well thats how I arrived in Everfree. I lived with Nana Zecora until the wound on my face completely healed and we were ready to pull the strings out. Strangely it didn't hurt at all or left more of a scar than the actual cut. Then came the da, when we wanted to return me to Equestria. That wasn't a good idea at all....
Just a while after my 8th birthday we both put on hooded coats not to get dirty on our way to the next settlement, Ponyville was the name of the place. When we arrived all the townsponies slammed their doors and shut their windows. I asked “Nana Zecora, why is everypony hideing?” She coulden't tell me ether. She said the ponies there allways avoided her. I guess if I woulden't have called her by the name nopony woulnd't actually know it till today.
I don't expect you to believe this but I tell you I am not lying.
The only ponies we actually found on the streets were royal guards. They accused Nana Zecora to be a witch and that she would want to eat me until they recognized me from the warrants.
They didn't even gave me a chance to explain! They started chasing and attacking us, called us witches and murderers. We ran from them deep into the Everfree Forest. I must have cryed for houres, when we finally shook them off and curled up in a cave to hide out for the night. That was when I decided not to return again.
So I lived with Nana Zecora. I had my own bed, a part of the closet and a small bed in the herbal garden. I started collecting seeds of herbs in the deep forest, to have some rare plants on my side of the garden. On one of my trips I stumbled over something: The leg of a pony! Turns out manticors are terribly messy eaters. I wasn't shocked or so, just supprized. I took the leg with me, but I feared Nana Zecoras reaction. So I stored it at the big pumpkin. I explained my tripps to it by bringing a bit of pumpkin. Day by day I hollowed the entire Pumpkin that way, only leaving the seeds inside. Well the seeds and the leg and.... other parts of ponies I found. I have no idea why I actually started collecting them, it just felt right.
Then I startet building... just with skinn and bones, wood and wild cotton for stuffing.
You may call me insane but I built myself a friend. You propably found him. About two heads taller than a tall stallion and also twice as muscular. Well technically he doesn't have any muscles at all, it's all wild cotton that fills up the empty space between his skinn and bones. I made his eyes out of glass marbles I found on the junkjard. I wonder, what they were originally used for. His hoofs are basalt stone, carved by magic.
I'm not sure if you found him still alive or if he.... just stopped. There is no better word for it, Hes not technically alive, more of an intelligent animated object... And he definetly is intelligent I tell you. When he woke up, he was entirely sentient. And no I won't discribe the spells I used here, they are too dangerous.
I feared to tell Nana Zecora. Fluffy, thats what I called the big boy, is very sensitive to the reactions of others to him. I mean his feelings are easiely hurt, when others show, that they are scared of him, even tho he is such a gentle creature.
Well what should I say? Nana Zecora found out rather fast. She followed me on my every trip to the deep forest. She allways knew everything I did. So she also knew about Fluffy. She wasn't scared of him at all. Till today she's the most openminded pony I ever met.
We all agreed, with a guardien like Fluffy, a smart little 9 year old like me could live alone. I already had a complete house. Well the outer walls at least. If I remember it correct it took me about half a year to make Fluffy and another year until the house was built. Nana Zecora helped me whenever she had the time to. It was the time when I decided to change my name. I wasn't Lively Springs anymore. No. Lively Springs.... She died when the dragon attacked Canterlot. These days I decided to be Zombie Stitch.
All my furniture came from Ponyvilles junkjard. Fluffy might not have a cutiemark but he surely has a hoof for crafting. An old piece of furniture, some timber from the woods and the old tools Nana Zecora gave us and viola: new furniture!
Then again none of us had the slightest idea how hard living in Everfree could become..
The next years there were several doughts.
If it wasn't for Nana Zecoras secret storages and the fact that Fluffy doesn't eat or drink at all we would have starved.... no idea how many times.
//A small note is attatched to the page, obviously much younger than the page itself: “Did I loose these 3 years here?”//
I lived only with Fluffy for a long time extending our house bit by bit by bit. We kept sneaking to Ponyville junkyard, always taking everything with us, that looked the slightest bit usefull. Soon we had a respectable house built. I'll spare you with the details but this is about what we built up on our own: doors, windows (ponies throw away a lot of pretty good glass!), a chimney and fireplace, a kitchen, basement and the first floor. Well since all our furniture came from trash it smelled pretty awefull, when we found it, but a few days outside and a little tlc allways took care of that.
From the age of 10 on I put on my ragged old coat and snook into Ponyville every now and then. I spread rumors about a witch in the forest. Told horrible stories, set up slingtraps on the path to our house and danger signs. All this to keep the villagers away. I'm still terribly afraid of what they might do to us, if they find us here: a filly and her best friend. Or how they will see us: a murderer and a monster.
//The following entry is written in print letters//
I just HAVE to stop the retrospect here and write down something current:
Tonight Tunderhoofs (I'll write about him later) brought this pegasus stallion to me. He's about my age, maybe a little older. He's wearing a blue catsuit with yellow flashes on it. He's yellow with a brigt orange mane and: His right wing has been torn off! Also his right front hoof is missing and he limps a little on his right hindleg, when he's walking.
The craziest thing about him is yet, that he can still fly! No I have not lost my mind entirely! This pegasus, he calls himself Half Wing, can hover, even fly with just his left wing! He says, he was born crippled, only with a tiny bit of a right wing but learned to fly anyway... Oh, and his right frontleg allways was a stump! Same thing about the limp on the right hindleg.
I understand pegasi less and less the more I watch him. He says he was a wonderbolt recruit until something happened, that he doesn't want to talk about. He asked if he could stay with Fluffy and me and I agreed. Note: have to get him a bed!
Anyway! Basicly Thunderhoofs brought him to me, because he saw the bleeding wound, where his right wing should be. Thunder said, if I could create a “thing” like Fluffy, I could fix Half Wings wound as well, and I could! I just stitched his wound like a sewer stitches a cut on cheap cloth and it healed!!! I have no idea how I did that! I just did it! I can't believe it! I finally have my cutiemark! It's a patch with needle and twine. It was just so... right to help this wounded pony, felt so good when I saw, he was better. I still can't comprehend it! My hoofs are shaking so bad I write by levitating my quill. Always hated that idea. I CAN'T FOCUS!!!
I'm so happy! Half Wing wasn't afraid of Fluffy! We found somepony else we can talk to! Fluffy was terribly hurt, when Thunderhoofs called him a thing. I'll see if I can find a propper right wing for Half Wing. Maybe I can just stitch it onto him, like the way I made fluffy. I just wish to thank him, for being here, so bad! Is it very bad I wish to find a cut or bitten off wing in the forest? It would mean another pegasus died... Then again, I would never cause or wish for anything this terrible! … I just.... well... It would be a terrible waste if there was a wing in a good condition out there, that could help Half Wing, wouldn't it?
//The style switches back to sophisticated hoofwriting//
Ok, its been a week since my last entry. //The dot was turned into a question mark with a different ink.// Since Half Wing arrived here (yay). But I started to write down the story of my life and I am willing to finish it!
Somewhen in these days was it, when I used up all my medication. I allways used to carry a huge supplie with me for emergencies. Half a pill in the morning, half a pill in the evening. When I arrived in Everfree I had 4 bottles with several hundret pills in each of them. These pills were really tiny! But so expensive. I couldn't have asked Nana Zecora to get them for me. How could she have that kind of money? Besides, nopony would even talk to her!
I ran to her in panic anyway and told her I used up my last pill! She stayd as calm as she always did, when I came to her with problems. She took the bottle and after a while she said:
“Don't be afraid my little child,
For this treatment is growing wild!”
She was right, well allmost. As it turns out, these pills are made from a certain plant, that grows wild. Just that the chemist add something to get rid of the sideffects. The plants they are made of are called “Loughing Hans”.
Half Wing said, these were used as drug. Nana Zecora showed me the yellow flowers. Their smell already made me smile. And she warned me, only to chew on them and spit them out again. Now I know why. Half Wing allso said: “Ponies get totally wasted on them!”
I guess that means, they break or something like that. Every time I chew on my new “medication” I get a cramping cough attack, spit out a slimey green and red clump and start loughing out of nothing. It scared me and still does. But at least I can breath freely from it. Still... the green of my coat grows paler and paler. I miss the fresh green I had.
When I start loughing, I feel good from the inside but it never lasts very long.
Please don't think I'm addicted to these plants. Its just, that I would choke to death coaking from spasms in my chest and my lungs filling up with fluids. I apologize for the needlessly graphic explenation.
It was the winter of that year, when I found out, that there are more ponies in the forest, than just the three of us. Fluffy and I did one of our usual trips through the forest, to see if we could find anything useful, when we suddenly heared wolfs howl.
It couldn't have been timberwolfs, they just don't seem to exist during the winter. I was scared to the bone but Fluffy put his hoof around me and said: “Don't worry little Stitch, I'll take on every fight if it is to save you.” His slow, deep voice always calms me down.
As we walked on twards our home, when the howling came closer. We couldn't speed up due to the way I built Fluffies hindlegs. His knees are stiff. I wasn't too experienced, when I made him.
Yet if Fluffy is enraged, he becomes like a wild bull, trying to stampeed over a matador.
The howling came closer and closer then, barely a few hundret yards away from the glade we call home, a growling went through the bushes. It felt like red glowing eyes were watching us. Silly imagination of mine!
Then the first jumped at us. Fluffy hurled the creature around and threw it against a second. He yelled: “Leave us in peace!” Oh dear, when he gets loud, his voice becomes like the rolling of thunder! Then I heared a different voice. Growling and rough but definetly sentient. It said: “So hungry. Starving!” I know that feeling too well. I came out of from underneeth Fluffy slowly and asked: “You are sentient? Can I help you?” Gosh my voice was shaking with fear but I felt such pity, such sympathy for these poor creatures.
When the to thrown over ones got up, I recognized what exactly they were: The body of a pony, yet the shoulder region was bulkier, more muscular, the front hoofs turned into paws with sharp claws, the ears and jaws changed shape, their teeth were sharp and the entire bodies covered in a thick, rough furr. Those were wereponies!
As the two thrown over stood up, the rest of the pack came out the bushes slowly. Adult stallions and mares, as well as fillies and colts. All together 15 wereponies. They kept a respectfull distance to Fluffy, who was grwoling from his deepest inside.
One of the taller stallions walked right infront of us, which caused Fluffy to pull me underneeth him. I just walked back out, when I saw how weak the werepony actually looked. There was a desperation in his eyes, that I felt myself before.
He cowerd down to look into my eyes and asked: “You would, help us?” I nodded strong enough to make the hood of my winter coat bounce and my mane fly around.
Then one after another, beginning with the speaker, they transformed! They basicly shrunk a few inches, their body structure became much more like the one of a pony, jaws and ears as well and the furr changed to the coat of a pony, even if it tends to be a lot rougher. Their paws, well they transformed into hoofes, yet they look like they were roughly broken apart vertically to 5 segments.
The transformation really looked unpleasent to them. Then the speaker introduced himself to me: “I am Elder Led Eyes, leader of the Ore Pack.”, he bowed deeply down, “And we desperatly need food for our foals.”
For a moment I feared, that he might have ment flesh but then again: Why would they have given up their predator shape, making it harder to fight down Fluffy and me to eat us? So I agreed to help them. The dry years and Nana Zecora tought me allways to have as much food stored as I can possibly gather and spare.
It took all my skills and even the big puppy eyes to convince Fluffy, to take them with us. But he was never good at refusing my wishes. Come to think of it, he is like an actually caring elder brother to me. So we took the werepony pack home with us. It was nice to see a little life in the big house. I shared my winter storage with them, even the emergency ration, I keep in a hidden stash. Its supprizingly easy to find at least enough to survive during winter in the forest.
I got cought up in a conversation with a cute colt, or maybe I should say pup? His name was Thunderhoofs. He told me, what actually happened to them. The Ore Pack didn't originally came from Everfree. They used to live in a village in the Foal Mountains as a sort of family clan. They kept to themselves as good as they could, so nopony would catch a suspicion of what they actually were. They only fed on critters, when it was absolutly necessary and never on sentient creatures.
Yet on a full moon night, when they are forced to transform, somepony saw one of the foals. Panic broke loose and the townsponies chased them away.
Do Equestrians ever think before they act?
Well rumors spread so fast, the Ore Pack couldn't find a place to settle down in peace again, as long as other ponies were around. So they fled and fled and fled. Until they arrived here in Everfree.
Thunderhoofs told me, they got lost in the forest work weeks and the only food they had was the little, they managed to take with them. Oh dear, they had no idea, how lucky they were, that they found me to help them. None of them knew how to survive in the wilderness of Everfree.
Fluffy, Nana Zecora and I spent the winter showing the wereponies how to find shelter and food and tought them the dangers of Everfree such as timberwolfs, magical beasts and spirits and to keep away from the old castle ruins.
Today they are true inhabitants of the Everfree forest, dear friends of mine and, if I ever see them, welcome guests. Their hunting ground, as they call it, is an area further west of our home. Its a shame. I like to spend time with Thunderhoofs. He's like a big puppy!
One time I couldn't resist and started scratching him behind his ear. The face he made was just too adorable. Minutes went on, he just enjoyed and I kompletly forgot he actually was a pony for a second. So it ended out that I gave him a belly rubb. Oh dear, the looks his pack gave us were akward.
If you ever have the pleasure to meet the Ore Pack, please be kind to them and they will repay it with kindness.
Well we I allmost cought up to the current date. To be honest: I don't actually know the current date. I have no calendar of any kind and Nana Zecora only reads the signs of nature. But I am sure it's now the second year, that I know Thunderhoofs now.
Theres one more important entry about the past to be made yet.
Last year, about the middle of summer, it was an awefully hot, yet moist one, Fluffy woke me up very early. His expression told me, he was awefully worried. Not everypony might be capable of reading his facial expressions but I made the big boy.
He couldn't say a word. He just motioned me to look out the window. There were colorful waggons at the lake! I had no idea where they came from. Yet I got all excited. I thought a circus would have come to visit. Silly isen't it? Fluffy was so scared of the possible threat. He wanted to block all the windows, so everypony would think our house was abondened. He knew my story from the very day he became sentient, so Fluffy was always worried for my safety. I really love him. He's the best friend a filly could wish for.
Well but from what I experienced, the ponies that come to live in Everfree have one thing in common: They are not welcome in Equestria and are in desperate need for some friendly company. So I put on my cloak, which was pretty ragged by then, to cover up my dreadfully thin body, put the hood up to hide the scar, not to scare the new visitors and went outside closely followed by Fluffy.
They were a pretty lively groop. Stallions building up a little camp, mares in traditional dresses preparing a meal and foals playing around between them. Gypsie ponies, almost like in the picture books for foals.
Oh dear... They were more scared of Fluffy, than he was scared of them. First a mare saw us approaching the camp and started screaming when she saw Fluffy: “Help, a monster!”
Everypony looked quickly and the mares and foals gathered behind the fearful looking stallions. They didn't dare to make a single step twards Fluffy...
Instead of raging at them, like at timberwolfs, when they try to attack me, Fluffy stoof there like frozen and then turned around and ran away, making a noise I never heared from him before. A deep dry sobbing. That was the first time I heared Fluffy cry.
I couldn't help but to yell at the gypsie ponies from the bottom of my misshaped lungs: “Look what you did there, you've hurt his feelings!” Emedietly followed by a heavy cough attack. The gypsie ponies rushed over to aid me but I pushed them away with magic. “I don't want the help of anypony, who hurts my best friend so bad!” I could barely speak between the coughs.
For the future I need to find out a spell to enhance my voice insetad of actually yell.
I ran back to the house and found Fluffy all curled up and crying in the basement. Oh dear... He is a strong creature and so intelligent, yet I have never met a pony as sensitive as him. I cuddled up with him in the darkness for houres. Even if his wheeping sounds stopped rather soon, I still felt the need to be with him, to solace him.
I fell asleep hugging his neck and woke back up in the late evening from the sound of the knocker. I went upstairs alone. I didn't want to put Fluffy through another shock. And indeed, as I assumed, the gypsie ponies were at my door. Yet not because they found the courage to “fight the monster” but to apologize. They made a wreath of wild flowers for him.
Oh dear, they really didn't know, they actually hurt a sentiend being... They neither expected me to have a huge scar on my face... Scared the hell out of them, when I took the hoof off...
Well, in the end Fluffy accepted their apologies, even if he still was very hurt.
We came to talk a little and one of the mares explained their situation to me. Her name was Sybill. Since gypsie ponies aren't allowed to own land by their tradition, they travel the land in their waggons and carriages. Since this is assumed to be weird, nopony actually trusts them. So it happens, that they are not allowed to camp out close to “regular ponies” settlements.
They are modern nomads, who survive by accepting every kind of work they can find (if anypony trusts them enough to give them a little work) or gathering all free food they can scavenge. All two years they come to Everfree on their tour through Equestria and each time they camp out at a different beach of the lake.
They are not too different from flying merchants! What makes these bloody numbsculls in Equestria treat them so bad?
We actually traded a little. Since most of them can't read at all, books are pretty much worthless to them, yet pefectly cut timber for a fire, medical herbs, even the petals of the poison joke are like a fortune to them!
This is actually how I got this blank book to write my yournal and a lot of the books and scrolls you might have found within my little library.
I made a contract with Sybill: Every time they come to Everfree, they camp out near my house, I will have a bag of medication and other usefull things prepared for them and they keep every book I might find interesting and bring it to me. One of them, who's actually capable of reading will have to make a list of titles, to ensure they don't gather books I already have over and over.
//A nota is attached to the pages: “Stopp editing and taking notes in the old yournals! Never change them again!”//
And now I sit here and levitate my quill. A 12 year old mare treated like dirt by fortune, living with two stallions in a pumpkin in the middle of the most dangerous forest of the known world. Only visited by her nana and now and then by a young predator pony. Yes I am talking about Thunderhoofs. He's a nice colt.
If you read these lines and tended to complain about your life in Equestria, try to remind this: I'd give a hoof for the easy life you have! But I rather gave my heart away than to leave my friends alone.
So from here on I'll make entries whenever something apart from our daily routine happens or when that routine actually changes.
I'll start by telling you, what my average days look like.
I get up early in the morning and take my “medication”. That means to take a little twig of loughing hans, chew on it, spit it out, cough up a ball of goo, fall to a lough attack and turn back to normal.
I put on my ragged coat, so I won't freeze and cover my thin body in case I might see new visitors. I woulden't want to scare anypony with my dreadfully thin body and the huge scar on my face.
Then I have a little breakfest together with Half Wing. He always wants me to eat more than I actually do. He likes to say: “You need a little meat on your bones girl.”
I spend my mornings working in the little garden we built up, while Fluffy chops wood for the fireplace or does repairs on the house and Half Wing trains his flying skills. You wouldn't believe how fast he flys between the trees! Slalom training he calls that. Our garden consists of a few tiny beds filled with medicational herbs, a little wild cotton and some wild lettuce and oats, that grow naturally in Everfree.
We have our lunch all together. Even if Fluffy doesn't eat at all but he likes the conversation and presence of his friends. Half Wing tends to tease him a little and emedietly catches a little slap on the back of his head from my magic. My parents used to do that with me, when I misbehaved.
I spend the afternoon ether reading, preparing the harvested goods, bathing in the lake (its supprizingly warm), just spending time with my friends or making trips through the forest with ether Half Wing or Fluffy. Sometimes we meet members of the Ore Pack. When Thunderhoofs meets me, he sends my “guardian” home and spends his time with me. I really like him.
OH! He told me, they met other wereponies in the forest. And he guids me home in the evenings as well.
Then we have dinner together. Thunderhoofs joins us, when he comes to guide me home. Sometimes he even sleeps with us, if he gets the chance to tell his pack, where he is.
The last thing I do before I fall asleep in my bed of hay and patchy blankets, all cuddled up with my big boy Fluffy and turn the last lights out is to make a new entry in my yournal. So as today.
Good night dear reader.