Chapter 1: Nocturnal Steps

The foal woke to the deep shadow of an oak creaking as it blew in the breeze. At first, he only felt the softness of the grass, the soil’s density, and the breezes wafting through the trees. His second thought was even simpler, “WHERE THE BUCK AM I?!” He decided to get up and observe. Seeing himself in a large, circular clearing, he assumed that the next logical step was to walk around it. After this trek, he had found seven places for potential hiding spots, three trees with large roots, under which he could shelter, twelve flat rocks, four large and eight small, six sharp rocks of about equal size, a piece of coal, and too many of sticks and vines to count at the moment. After designating one of the trees as his storage area, and depositing and organizing each of the materials, he realized a very simple, important fact. He had no idea where he was geographically, nor did he know his name, or anything about his past, for that matter. He knew words, and their definitions, but not how he learned them. “Well, you’ll just have to name yourself then.” He said. “I need inspiration though, I guess a list could help.” He got out one of the larger rocks, and the coal, and wrote,

List 1: How to find a name

Step 1- Find appearance
Step 2- Inspiring Surroundings
Step 3- Talent
Step 4- Make sure its good
Step 5- Double check
Step 6- Create list of names
Step 7-Triple check
Step 8- Decide

“OK, good, now for step one.” He exclaimed. Walking around the clearing a second time, and paying more attention to the surroundings, he noticed a small puddle of water behind a bush. Looking at it, he saw his reflection for the first time since he could remember. He was a dark blue foal, with red eyes, curved ears, a grey and black mane and tale, and, of course, his horn. This, he assumed, was a defense mechanism, meant to ram opponents with its sharp point. Overall, he seemed to be a darker shade, so he decided step 1 name was… Dark Shade. Not the best name, but it was better then nothing, he shrugged. Now for step 2, and as the puddle was near the opposite of inspiring, he decided to take another pass on the clearing. When he returned to the place he woke, he found few inspiring areas, namely the large oak, a large patch of stumps and large branches, a sleeping gold and red bird, and the beautiful night sky. As most of those didn’t work, his second option became Nocturne. “Now for talent, Ugg.” This one was fated to be the hardest, how is a young amnesiac supposed to learn what his talent is. He could split this into physical and non-physical talent. For the non-physical, he organized well, generated the idea for writing, and seemed knowledgeable, so Idea Draw………Oh Celestia that was bad. “Fine, let’s just keep going to physical.” First, find a huge rock, try to pick it up, didn’t work. Second, try to break said rock, get headache. Third, repeat to sapling, and fail miserably. Finally, try to stab sapling with horn, and proceed to get stuck for a good 10 minutes looking like an idiot. After that, the foal, frustrated at his “humiliation” wrote as his physical name, Weak Jab. For the next Step, the Talent names were crossed off, leaving Dark Shade and Nocturne as potential candidates, after double and triple checking the list; he was put into his decision. Either Dark Shade, referencing his image, and how other things viewed him, or Nocturne, referencing the night he woke to. He decided on Nocturne, with Dark Shade as a backup, if after a week he disliked his new name. “Well, that’s it for the name decision, time to rest.”

Going over to the stumps, he sat down and relaxed. Only one thing he found as a little odd, when he touched one of the pieces of wood, a strange static shock hit him. After a small wince at the discomfort, Nocturne looked toward the moon, just beyond the curve of midnight. In the distance, he saw a storm, looming in the horizon. “That is something that needs preparation, and quickly!” Rushing to storage, Nocturne gathered the small and large stones, some vine, and some sticks. After bringing it to his residence, he proceeded to make a basic shelter, covering up holes with rocks, tying them done with vines, covering the vines with compacted mud, and making internal framework from sticks. After jumping on the outside, and deeming it stable, he stepped back to see the aesthetics of the structure. It looked… shabby, to be kind. In fact, that might be the understatement of the millennia; it looked ugly, almost rotten. As time past, he would have to build around it, making a proper home.

Getting some more sticks and two of the sharp rocks, he decided to make a small fire in the part of the clearing he awoke in. After five minutes, the sparks created by the rocks had grown into a small flame, enough to warm the small foal to the bone. After the warming, the foal decided to wake the chick, see if it wanted to get out of the storm. After hitting the tree repeatedly, Nocturne decided instead to throw a pebble up there, hitting the bird. The phoenix woke with a start, screeching and squawking loudly, enough that the foal had to cover his ears for a second, drowning out the sound of timber slowly moving across dirt, grass, and rock.

However, Nocturne did notice the great beast known as a Timber Wolf rise out of the ground, and realized that it was the same stumps that he was sitting on just moments earlier. As he tried to sneak into the shadows, the wolf started to sniff the ground he woke up on, then walked toward his house. After sniffing there, it turned, and ran directly toward Nocturne. Fear took over, as the beast grew closer, closing the distance between them in a matter of seconds. Nocturne gave one last effort, and pointed his horn at the creature. Suddenly, a black spark emitted from the tip, expanded to about the size of his head, and flung itself at the attacker. When the two forces came into contact, the wooden beast was shot backward, the ball still pushing against his chest, and upon hitting a large stone, shattered, absorbing the ball.

Nocturne breathed a sigh of relief, thanking everything he could think of for allowing that to happen. However, he was confused, what did he do, what was that thing, and were there more of them. Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn’t see a claw, the nearest piece to him, start to vibrate and slide against the ground. Frightened beyond what he could previously imagine, Nocturne rushed into his home, and sealed the entrance with whatever he could find. Sitting completely still in the middle of the hut, he then started to hear the most frightening sound he could remember, footsteps of something large against his roof. Knowing he would die, Nocturne curled up into a ball, and began to cry, right as the rain started pouring outside.

The Timber Wolf had felt this creature’s power, when being hit with that hostile attack, he had been hurt, but absorbing it had filled him completely. He had decided to have this new thing join his pack, as a hunter of magic, and he would even let the bird in, as mascot. OOOORRR he could eat it, he liked that plan better, but better wait for entire pack, go over to shelter that the new pack member went into, and go to sleep.

Author's Note

SO second part
If you want a pic of Nocturne, go to my blog, should be there soon.

huh, need to do something down here

Aw what the heck, top 10 ponies (1 per chapter)

1. Flim and Flam (count as one)
   Rivals of Applejack and one of the only ponies seen to use tech, whats not to like? But, their plan for success is stupid and fails after a while so low place for them.