"... that dark forest..?"
Author's Note
Some of the names in my story might be a little confusing because I used Latin words for their names.
Solem(Soul-ehm) Meaning star or sun.
Medeis(Meh-des) Magic. Pretty simple.
Vexillum(Veks-ee-lum) Standard or normal.
The last one isn't Latin but a pun on two words, magma and agama, a species of small lizard. The name is MagmAgama.
"... that dark forest..?"
I remember her being so beautiful, my mother. We were staying in a small cabin on a prairie, heading home from visiting a family member and my mother was helping me with my saddle. Her hair was long and black, blowing in the wind like a silk, obsidian blanket. She tried to tighten the leather straps of my saddle so it wouldn't slide from being around my small wings but her force on the colt sized saddle was pushing me to the wooden floor.
"Sweetheart," she said with the motherly warmth of her soft voice. "Please, stand still. I can't get a hold of the straps."
"But, mommy, you're too strong." I said in protest. I was only four or five around the time. I was hardly tall enough to see her mane.
She giggled as she heard my plea. "I'm sorry, Star. How does it feel? Is it tight enough?"
I stood up, wiggled my body and it stood in place. "I think it'll be fine."
A smile grew upon her face as she looked at me with her kind eyes. "Good. We're going on a long travel today to get back home so I wouldn't want you to be fussing with your pack the entire walk there. We're going through the forest."
A worried look had befallen across my face. I don't think I ever heard the name of this forest, or if I did, I was too young to remember but not a day goes by that I wish I could have just ask, "What's the name of this forest? Where is this forest located? What town is near this forest?" But none of this ever occurred to my young mind. All I asked, and now can ever call that forsaken forest is...
"That dark forest we passed the other day?" I asked with anticipation.
"Yes, sweetheart, but don't worry. Your father is hiring somepony to watch over us." She answered kindly like with all of my silly questions.
"And they'll protect us?" I pondered, worrying my mother.
She looked at me with concern. “Do you think we’ll need protection?”
I stayed quiet. I had a dream about that dark forest a couple nights before and I didn't like it. I was surrounded by darkness created by the forests’ tall trees. I was trying to get out of the entrapment but it seemed like the trees never moved. Not that they were never ending but that they were moving with my pace to keep me in the forest. Every step I took proved no avail to exit. The trees kept me there to for its hosts. But its hosts were never shown, staying hidden in the shadowed playground.
My thought was broken when I felt my mother’s warm hug embrace me. She had knelt down and wrapped her head and neck around my own. It was the only place I felt safe, not that there was ever any danger but I know she wanted me not to be scared.
I smiled at her, “No, I think we’ll be fine.”
She pulled away as we heard multiple footsteps coming into the cabin. I looked up to see my father, a tall with a dark brown coat like mine and, from what I was told, handsome stallion. Whenever I had heard him described to me, it always seems like I was learning about him but already knew the answers to him. He was tall, brave, and honorable. Maybe these were things I wanted in him or what I thought he wanted in me, I don’t know but I have always done my best to uphold these pseudo-expectations.
Behind my father stood two other stallions, a Unicorn and an Earth pony. Standing next to my father, a muscular Pegasus fastening his saddle, they were like statue. All three were tall and heroic, the embodiment of what strong stallions wish to be. Now, I’ve met with them recently but, as a child, I didn't like them. They wore dark ropes, lavender with black lining and kept their faces hidden. They were friends of my father from when he was young but, me being just as young, I only thought of them as strangers I’d never have to see again after this day.
“Hello there, Star.” The unicorn said.
He removed his hood with his magic and a light-green coloring wrapped around his hood, dropping it to the nape of his neck. He was old and worn like a veteran of time itself. I looked up at him, not straying from my mother.
In a low gruff, he said “You may not remember it, if fact you probably shouldn't but I was with your parents when they first met you.” He smiled at me but I blushed and hid my face.
“Medeis, you’re scaring the boy.” said the Earth pony.
From the shape of his robe and hood, I could see that he possessed neither a horn nor wings. I would later come to know that his name was Vexillum and that he didn't need to come on this request but they had been friends for so long and my father is never on this side of the forest so he decided to tag along with Medeis.
“Don’t mind him, little one. He scares everypony.” His voice was kind like my mothers. He never removed his hood but, as he moved closer, his face was lit up from light let in by the window. Comparing to the Unicorn, his personality was much more welcoming.
The Earth pony turned to my father. “Well, I really must be going but we have to get together soon. It’s been far too long, Solem.” My father smiled in a way I had never seen anyone smile before like a loving bond being reborn over time.
He looked at Vexillum and said “We will. I promise. We really do live just beyond this forest and it’s not that big. You can visit anytime.”
“Good.” He smiled and turned to my mother.
“And you, little sister…” He walked up and gave her a hug. “Please take care of Solem. You know how he likes to do everything, no matter what the task when it comes to you.” My mother’s eyes glistened as they looked up at my father.
She blushingly smiled and said “I know, but there’s no changing him and I love him just the way his is.”
We all walked outside, Vexillum said goodbye to everyone, turned to the lone route before him opposing the dark forest and started to trot on his way. I watched him for a brief moment as he headed up the dirt road around a hill and he was out of my sight. I turned to see the sun coming just over the forest and showing the road leading to it. My parents and the Unicorn, Medeis waited as I caught up to them.
The cabin was more or less right next to the forest to the point where it must have been the only thing in sight. There were hills to west, behind the cabin and a field of tall grass, for me anyway, to the north and the forest lay to the east. It looked much greener than when we first got here and the dirt road gave it quite the contrast. Even the trees had seems to be shorter than the ones I had dreamt about.
As we reached the entrance of the forest, the hills started to meet the ground, and grass got shorter and pink flowers surrounded the trees like a grand opening.
“See those flowers, Star?” My mother asked. “Those are my favorite type of flowers. Even when they are fully bloomed they still look like buds, like baby flowers that never have to grow up. Do you know their name?”
My mind was a gamble. “Well, umm… Roses?” She must have been teasing me because there was no way I could guess that tulips were her favorite.
Staring at them with a loving passion, she told me that “Your father picked those flowers for me when we first met and they've been my favorite ever since.”
“Nova, please…” Father said. Medeis started to give a low chuckle. My father became flustered and looked up at her.
“What?” She blushed as she kissed his cheek. “I like that side of you.”
There was a children’s book in the orphanage that I grew up in about a unicorn that could heal anypony without the use of magic. Apparently, before he was born, his mother got into some sort of accident that chipped his horn while he was in her womb, stabbing her and she bled to death. It was a dark story and was taken out of our little library soon after I read it but it always stuck with me because his cutie mark reminded me of my mothers. I wish I could remember his name but that was such an obscure story that I only got to read once so it’s just a faded memory. His cutie mark was two four-leaf clovers resting next to each other meaning “Luck and Love” because, along with herbs and remedies, that’s what he used to heal patients. He vowed to never heal with his horn after harming his mother.
My mother’s cutie mark, on the other hand, was two pink hearts, one on top of the other and the bottom being upside down, that looked like a four-leaf clover. She told me that she received hers when she was taking care of her baby sister while her parents were away. She loved her sister and when she realized that, her cutie sparkled and flashed into existence on her flank.
As we started to walk through the forest, I began having my doubts about my dream. It wasn't much darker than being outside. The trees were short and let in so much sunlight in little beams all throughout the forest trail. Bunnies were playing in between the trees and birds would chirp cheerfully.
My father turned to me and said, “You know, Star, I grew up in a forest just like this one. My family’s house was out in the middle of nowhere so I didn’t have many friends at the time. I used to play in the forest from sun up to sun down, every single day.” He looked around in nostalgia as if this was the forest he spoke of.
“I use to scratch notches into the bark of certain unique trees as a bit of a bookmark in the forest to know where I've been or how far away I was from the house. After a few years of playing and memorizing that forest, I ended up getting a job from doing that and I was offered to escort people through for a small fee. That’s actually how I met your mother, Nova. Her family was… Uhh… What were you guys doing going through the forest?”
He looked at my mother to which she only answered in a pause. “You know, I don’t remember. I didn't really care after meeting you that I’m not even sure. I think we were… Moving? We didn’t have a lot of stuff with us. Maybe we were… Hmm…” Mother was lost in thought. She could barely walk in a straight line and had to trot from time to time to keep up with us.
My father continued. “Anyway, as a kid I never really noticed but my family growing up was very poor. When I finished my first escorting task, I gave my money to my father. We were so far out in the country side; I had nothing to spend it on. He questioned me, asking where I got this money so I told him about my job and he became ecstatic. Talking about how I was already a working man at such a young age and that-”
“Ah! I remember!” Mother shouted and echoed through the trees.
Medeis chimed in. “Geez, don’t do that!”
Everyone looked at her, startled except father. I nearly dropped to the floor but he turned calmly and smiled. “By Celestia, you’re still loud as ever.” He started to chuckle.
Medeis stopped and a light green-aura’d handkerchief came from his pocket and wiped his forehead.
“I’m sorry, everyone.” She said as she hugged me. “We took that path because the path we normally take had a sign warning everyone that that part of the trail had a problem with the wildlife. It was either timberwolves or a chimera but we couldn't take that path and had to take your father’s.”
Father smiled in a mild self-gratification. “Well, I don’t think you can call it mine…” He trailed off. “But, from my childhood, I've always loved forests. I never would have guessed I would have met my then future wife in one.”
Medeis scoffed.
My father spoke without looking at him “Is there something wanted to add?.. You know what, never mind.” My father added, cutting himself off.
Medeis has a funny way of joking. I thought he was just being rude at the time but mother and father were never insulted. Speaking with him even as an adult, I've come to notice that he starts insulting you when he talks but he never means to be taken seriously. I've only known few to use such a crude humor.
Medeis started howling “You must be so blessed. You must feel so great to come home to your beautiful wife and adorable son. When you take flight, you sore so high, you clap hooves with the almighty Celestia herself.” Medeis looked up at my father with a smile, clearly holding back laughter.
Father asks, “Are you done?”
Smiling through his hood, Medeis responded with “Well, I had more but, yeah. I’m done.”
They paused for a second and begun to laugh. Laughing so loudly, their voices sent an echo through the forest that scared birds and made bunnies run to their little tree homes.
My mother looked at them and said, “I swear, you two never change. It’s been how many years and I still have no idea what you two are laughing so hard about.”
The sun was high at noon and my mother thought that we should stop for something to eat. The path came up to what seemed like a small clearing that made almost a perfect circle. Standing on the trail, there was dirt on the right that mixed into the trail, making it seem bigger than it actually was, and grass to the left so we all sat down to eat there. Mother reached into her pack to pull out a little knapsack covered with a thin red-white checkered cloth.
“I think I have everyone’s favorites.” She said, removing the covering cloth to reveal apples. Three bright red apples and one shiny yellow-green one tucked away to the side.
“Here’s a Northern Spy for Medeis.” Handing it to him as his face lit up.
“You remembered.” He said.
She reached and grabbed the next one. “Here is a Granny Smith for Star.” She handed it to me and I accepted it, happily. Biting into it was such a burst of sour and sweet flavors but the peel held a different taste that blended in so well, it always made my mouth water.
Medeis and I started to eat ours as mother went on. “Here’s a Gala for me.” She set that aside. “And lastly, here’s a Golden Delicious for my Golden Delicious.” referring to my father. She picked it up with her mouth in hoping that father would take it with his.
Making my father blush a second time, he said “Nova, please…”
She smiled and leaned it. Father smiled as well but he started to blush as he slowly leaned closer and clenched the apple with his teeth. Their beautiful moment was then overshadowed by Medeis’ sudden obnoxious chewing.
He started to boastfully exclaim “Mmm! This apple is so good! Mmm, yep! Pretty much nothing in the world matters when you've got an apple like this!” Her eyes still locked on my father’s, mother leaned to the side, freed a hoof and kicked Medeis in one, fluid motion, knocking him to the floor.
It was around this time that I realized the singing and chirping from the birds was still gone. The bunnies had stayed hidden and the forest’s atmosphere had taken a turn but didn't exactly do anything upon changing, as if the forest wasn't sure itself how to feel. The chirping made the atmosphere happy but, with it gone, there was another feeling trying to rival them. The warm, calming air suddenly changed direction and brought in a bitter, cold breeze, sending pins along my frail body. I shivered for a second and the breeze was gone.
I looked up and everypony had finished their lunch. I wanted to ask my mother about the why the forest felt different but I couldn't explain it well enough to come up with a question. I was barely able to call her.
“Mommy?” I asked, looking beyond the tree line.
“What is it, sweetie?” She answered.
I was trying to think of anything to describe the feeling I would later be all too familiar with. Like a mixture of dreadfulness and isolation. And with that feeling of rock bottom, it stopped. The sun shone through the branches, the birds played their melody again and flew away. I didn't understand it but it as if it was over and that’s all I needed to know.
“Uhh, never mind. “ I replied.
I didn't know what to say and the feeling was over. Everypony was ready to start traveling again so I stood up to join them. I ran up next to my dad when my pack started to slide, away from my wings. My mother saw it and called out to father so she could strap it tighter.
“Honey, wait up.” She lightly shouted.
I tried to hold one side of my pack while she tightened the strap on other. And that’s when we heard it. I've had nightmares about this agonizing cry alone from how much it scared me. It cried again and I looked at my dad only to see Medeis’ terrified expression as bright flames lit up the nearby trees were then soon followed by another foul cry of agony. When what sounded like dozens of footsteps started to get closer to us, my mother shouted to me to stay close to father.
Medeis commanded, suddenly. “We need to leave!”
Before I could even think about running, a monstrous force burst through several trees, knocking my mother in one direction and I in another. I felt cracks in my rib cage as I was flung through the air, landing hard near my father. I screamed at the pain and called out for my mother, looking for her. What I saw was different.
Blocking the path and the way to mother was a beast not of this world. It was long and stood low to the ground. Its skin looked hard and dense like stone. It stood with six legs and two front arms, sharp and enormous, to grab and hold onto its prey. It had eight eyes, black as Luna’s night, at the front of its body and a colossal tail, curled up into the air with a spear-like tip at the end. All over its body were black scorches.
In a raging thrash of pain and confusion, it swung its giant arms and knocked my mother further away from me.
I screamed, “Mommy!” through the pain of my cracked ribs but the monstrosity continued.
My father cried out in fear, “Nova!” His wings pushed off his pack, his feet gripped the soil beneath him and he launched himself into the air, gliding to rescue my mother…
…And was struck down in one, murderous whip of the monster’s tail. I don’t know much about what this thing was but its tail was filled to the brim with venom that locked up all of my father’s muscles. It forcefully burned its way through his bloodstream. Venom-filled tears poured out of his eyes and down his face all while he crashed to the floor, landing next to his beloved wife. Her ribs caved it. Her breathing was short and swift as her lungs were pooling with blood.
It let out another piecing scream, “MAAHHH-DEEE!”
We started to hear shouts coming from the fire as people started to surround the monster. These people were bipedal lizards that stood up right, ran very fast and could blow breaths of fire like a dragon. In a bit of research, I found that they are a sophisticated culture that lives in or near volcanoes and take pride in being cousins to dragons. In their efforts to kill this unholy beast, they were setting fire to our surrounding, making it even harder for my battered lungs to flex and accept air. Medeis called out their names in confusion.
In a weak, worried voice, he whispered, “MagmAgama?”
And, as if the air stopped in the blazing-skinned lizards wake, three turned in Medeis’ direction and exhausted huge columns of raw, flaming power. It set his cloak ablaze, shoving him away from me and, as soon as they launched their assault on him, they quickly turned away to continue their unclear purpose in kill the giant arachnid.
I lay on the floor, bruised and broken, as the chaos of flame and enemy angrily danced around me. I tried to crawl to my parents, crying from my pain, their pain and the distress of the forest around me but none answered. The fighting was getting dangerously close to where I was laying. The beast walking and stomping wherever it pleased and the MagmAgama attacking or trying to suppress it were all well within five feet of me. Scorch marks covered so much of the beast that its eyes were unnoticeable.
As they drew closer, I cried, “Mommy!” but she didn't move. I tried again, “Mommy, please! Help me!” but still, she lay motionless. Tears streamed down my face as I stared at her limp body and my father, trying everything in his power to do anything at all. But there was nothing he could do. He couldn't save her when she was two feet in front of him and he couldn't save her when the fire had spread to the shrub my mother was laying in. The flame slowly made its way from bush to bush and branch to branch all so it could give my already dying mother an irreversible fate.
The fire consumed her in an instant but she lived through it all. She lived through my father watching her and the beast bring his attention to me. Apparently, crying only made the beast angrier for it turned to me, picked me up with its mighty pincer and threw me into a broken tree. The wood was sharp and jagged, making a gruesome cut through the right side of my face and across my eye. I lay there; very dazed and scared. My mind was fuzzy, clouded, and my ears were ringing.
It was cold down there on the ground, lying in a puddle of blood. My face stung and I was surrounded by the inferno but I felt cold and alone. I could hear my mother trying to scream. I could hear my father crying from absolutely failing as a husband. I could hear him quietly apologizing to her as she burned in agony. I wish I could have apologized as well. My tears were mixing into the puddle of blood before me. It was all I could think of and there was nothing I could do.
Suddenly, as if he weighed all the options in his absence, Medeis stood up roaring and used all of the magic his horn could handle, launching a fully grown tree at the beast and his assailants, knocking them away. He then picked me up and started to run. His magical grip that lifted me onto his back crushed my broken ribs and caused me to cry out in pain.
“Medeis, stop!” I pleaded.
He shouted at me, “No! We have to get as far away as we can from that thing!”
“Mede-“ I tried to say but I started to cough. I covered my mouth and coughed harder. I looked down at my hoof to find blood from my coughing.
That started to worry me as well.
“Medeis…” I said as softly as I could. “There’s blood when I cough…”
He came to a full stop and looked at me. He contemplated staying there. He started to look back at the path we had taken and saw that either the fire had died down or we had traveled far enough away from the conflict. His magic picked me up once more and again, I screamed in agony.
“I’m sorry!” He said in a panic, lost his concentration and dropped me on the floor.
“Ooowwwiiieee!!!” I screamed. I looked up at him with my eyes starting to tear up.
“No, no, no… “ He said as I started to cry.
He hugged me and said, “Shh. I’m sorry. Don’t cry, little one.”
“My face hurts…” I said, speaking through my sobs. “I want to go back to mommy and daddy.”
He took a long time to do anything. He looked up and the commotion had stopped. The forest was heavy with smoke but the fire had settled. He tore some of what was left of his robe and pressed it onto my cut. I don’t think he knew how to comfort a crying child. He probably still doesn't now because it didn't take much to persuade him.
“We… can’t…” He said, softly and somewhat ashamed. He wouldn't look me in the eye.
“Why not!?” I screamed. Why couldn't we go back? It was right up the road, I thought.
His voice was shaky. “Okay, okay…”
He tried tending to my cut face but there was only so much he could do. It burned and I remember wanting to scratch it, thinking it was itching really badly. He kept stalling for time with my face and, when I pulled away from him, he looked up the road again and then back to me.
“I’m going to pick you up again, okay?” He asked
.
I nodded. His magic was much gentler this time and didn't jerk me upward and towards him. He lifted me and lightly placed me onto his back where bits of his robe still clung to his neck while the rest was blackened at the burned and ripped ends. When he started to trot towards the direction that we came, I should have noticed how scared he actually was. It took us a lot longer to get back to my parents than it ever did getting away from the monster but once I saw them still lying in the dirt, I forgot all about Medeis. I just off of his back and landed hard on hooves, knocking the air out of my already fragile chest, and ran to their bodies. I didn't expect them to look at me or talk to me. I just wanted to see them again and be near them.
“Medeis…” My father said, shocking us both.
“Daddy!” I exclaimed.
I didn't know what to do. I looked at him closely. He had lost all of the color in his body. His bold, brown coat looked pale and cold. I hugged him and started whimpering but he groaned in pain. He felt hot, like he had an extremely high fever.
Medeis spoke up. “Solem, what is it?”
“Please, come here.” He said.
Medeis leaned in close and I backed away. They started to whisper while I looked over at my mother. The only thing decent about the way she died was that when she did, her eyes were closed. Her mane had burned up, leaving her bald. Her tail was a complete mess of charred skin and cartilage. Along her body, there were burns that took away entire pieces of muscle. Her legs probably looked the best only from the lack of anything else on them. They were just bone and scorch marks, nothing more.
When I heard the whispering stop, I looked back at Medeis and my father but fathers’ eyes were closed. I looked up at Medeis to see tears running down his face.
“I’m sorry, Star,” he apologized. “But your father…”
He choked on his last few words but he didn't have to finish. I looked down at the ground, absolutely lost at what had happened. My eyes were red and dry from how much I had cried. I didn't know what to do.
“Medeis, what’s going to happen? I can’t go on without mommy and daddy.” I said.
I was just a child so I never would have picked this up but Vexillum once told me that Medeis has a bad poker face. Whenever he has bad news, he can’t look at you but when he knows he’s going to let you down, he ends up using too much eye contact.
“Medeis?” I asked again.
“I’ll tell you what kid.” He said, suddenly. He kneeled down to my eye level, looking directly at me. “You wait here and I’ll go find us some help. How does that sound?”
“And you’ll come back for me?” I asked him with a worried look. His eye sight never broke mine.
“Of course I will.” He said.
He gave me a hug and started to run down the path that led back to the prairie cabin. I watched him run until he was out of sight and, presumably out of the forest. I sat for a while in the calm, dead forest. I looked around and saw my mother’s picnic basket. The red-white checkered cloth was lying next to it so I picked it up and tied it around my neck as best I could like how Medeis’ robe looked after he tore it to stop my bleeding face.
With it fastened and hanging next to my chest, I walked over to my mother and father. I curled up in the middle of them, rested my head on my arms and I started to cry.
