Searching for Answers

As I find a semi-comfortable place to sleep, I reflect on my tree situation. Despite me not feeling tired, Nightmare had insisted that my body needs rest after everything it has been through. But to be honest, I am not really surprised. I think the reasoning behind this is the same as why I don't feel hungry, despite the only food I ate all day was a single bowl of stew. This is not normal, especially for me. I am the kinda guy that could eat an entire Thanksgiving dinner for ten and still ask for more, all without gaining a single pound; I love my metabolism. I think it may be my new kleptoplastic body. I am not stupid. When I became part tree, my hair turned green, which if I am right would mean that my hairs are essentially my "leaves". This could only mean one thing.

I am capable of photosynthesis. I can see this being useful while in the forest, or in general, and I have to wonder if this means I can take root? Being able to gather nutrients from the ground could prove very beneficial while hiding, in-fact it would mean that I could remain hidden indefinitely if I needed to.

After I finally passed-out during my pondering, it was with extreme annoyance that I found the fingernails on my left hand seemed to have been replaced with bark overnight, and you will never be able imagine how strange it is to have your feet feel thirsty. Capable of absorbing sunlight or not, I will need nutrients that right now I can only get from actually eating something, and I still need water to survive.

"Hey, Nightmare. Lets go hunting."

I can lead you to a source of water, but you may be ill prepared to hunt in the Everfree.

"Fine, the food can wait until I-"

No... This, is a change that will definitely need to be reversed. My vision is becoming blurred! This tree thing is effecting me at a much faster rate than I thought, and is spread far enough to change me in several areas at once! If I lose my sight before fixing this, than I will be doomed...

"Change of plans, fuck the food! Get me to that water, then we begin the lessons immediately!"

We move as fast as I dared to, while I did everything in my power to remain silent. We have gotten lucky so far, but I do not have time to deal with anything trying to make a meal out of me right now. Yesterday, I would have welcomed the challenge, but time is of the essence! Shame no one told the wolves that. The only warning I got was a rustling in some near by bushes, before a wolf walked out. It only just noticed me, but notice me it did. Next thing I know, there are wolves coming out of the thick foliage from all sides, and they are... made of wood, huh. What an odd coincidence.

The first wolf started closing in, so I did the most intelligent thing I could. I held still.

What are you doing!? These timberwolves will eat you alive if you do not get out of here!

'That would be my last mistake.'

What do you mean?

I hold my hand out for the 'timberwolf' to sniff, careful to show no signs of aggression.

'These things would easily outrun me, and there are too many to fight head on, I count ten that I can see, and that isn't counting the ones doubtlessly standing behind me. Pay close attention to the wolf.'

To Nightmare's surprise the wolves are showing no signs of aggression either. The one in front seemingly satisfied with simply inspecting me.

What is going on?

'Wolves have always had a bad reputation. In many books, games, shows, or random stories, they are seen as dangerous killing machines that would eat you on sight, but that could not be further from the truth. Right now, they have no idea what I am. Since they have never seen something like me before, they are just curious. In a forest of this size, I seriously doubt they go hungry, and usually the only reason a wolf would attack a human is if it is starving. As long as I don't act like a prey, as in try to run, they are actually more likely to leave me be than attack me as long as I stay out of their territory.'

Luckily, the wolves chose to prove me right. After satisfying their curiosity, the wolves simply continued on their way, likely to seek prey they already know about. The trick to this is to not act like a prey, as long as they sense neither fear nor an opportunity predators are unlikely to attack. This trick only works if the predator in question has had little to no interaction with a human before, because then we are an unknown, and unnecessarily taking risks with unknowns in the wild gets you killed or worse. Some poisonous frogs actually jump into the mouths of predators, and never get bitten. They know there has to be a reason for its confidence, so almost nothing is willing to take the chance.

I have never seen anyone attempt something so foolish before. How in the world did that work!?

'You have never seen it before because most of the beings you have dealt with are prey, as such they instinctively react in the appropriate manner. But as a fellow predator they know nothing about, I can get away with bluffs like that. They would rather hunt something they know won't kill them after it is digested.'

You... You tricked them into thinking your poisonous?

'I'm not sure what they thought, but the idea is that they have no clue what would happen should they attack me and remaining confident convinced them that they would rather not find out. Now lets get going shall we.'

I don't even have a body, and you are still going to find a way to give *me** a heart attack.*

On our way to the source of water, I found some weird chicken-lizard with glowing eyes. After killing it, Nightmare explained to me that this puny (and rather silly looking thing) was supposed to be a dreaded cockatrice. This thing looks nothing like the one in Witcher. I am actually kind of disappointed. All I had to do to kill it was kick it against a tree a few times. It seems that I was actually saved by my new time-limit, as its gaze should have turned me to stone. This thing must have had worse luck than me, its greatest weapon would have saved it and killed me, had I not lost my ability to see clearly.

Welp, looks like I have lunch.

You're not seriously going to eat that are you?

'I wanna know what it tastes like! I'll need to cook it first but-wait... Nightmare, did I forget the books back at the castle.'

No.

'Oh good, for a second there I thought-'

I burned them.

'What? WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO THAT!?'

I read through some of them while you were asleep, and they were useless. Only some of the books you grabbed had anything to do with what we wanted, and the rest were for children or about this 'Daring Do' mare... Or both

'What about the ones that were relevant!?'

They were useless too. While unicorns know how to manipulate magic, they understand very little about it. What I will teach you is far superior to anything that was in those pitiful spellbooks. Why do you even care now? You wouldn't be able to read them anyway.

As we were having our little discussion, I finally came upon the source of water we discussed. It was a beautiful place, like an oasis in the forest filled with exotic plant-life most of which I could not recognize, but the source of water was a matter of concern. It was a large pond... Fuck, now I need to build a water purifier. That thing is likely filled with contaminants and parasites.

You are never satisfied are you?

'Never drink from still water! I have no idea what could be living in that!"

And yet, you are willing to eat a cockatrice. You are so confusing.

'Thank you.'

Fine, I'll take care of the purifier if you give me the plans for it, but we need to get started soon.

'How are you going to make the purifier if you can't-' Before I could finish, she... literally steps out of me, looking the same as when I saw her in my dream.

"You mean you could do that the whole time. You lazy mooch, you could have been helping me!"

She goes to smack me, only for her hand to pass right through me.

"I can't do much myself, but being able to give a visual aid could help in your lessons. They, on the other hand, can work on the purifier."

As she says this she points behind me, and I look to see the Nightmares that nearly trampled me before I met... Nightmare. I really need to think of something to call her followers other th-wait.

"You have minions?"

"Yes, why?"

"Why haven't they been helping!?"

"Because, Shut up! Now we can begin teaching you."

"On that subject, why do you think you know more than the ponies?"

"Because unlike them, the one who taught me thought to question things."

"Who was he?"

"The same human that created me in the first place!"

"Hold up! You were made by a human? How!?"

"I asked him the same thing, but all he ever said on the subject was something about "drunk science" and "mine turtles".

"Alright, you keep bringing up this former demon-lord guy, I think it is time for a bit of an explanation."

"Very well. as I said, he created me. If what he said is to be believed, then I was supposed to be an assistant and student. Someone to pass on his knowledge. He had no one he could trust with such an important role, so instead he created someone he thought would be perfect for the job. I somehow doubt it, because he was drunk when he said this."

"You asked for an explaination... while he was drunk?"

"In my defence, he was always drunk."

"Do you know how he got here?"

"He told me he was summoned by the dark king Sombra during his final stand, and had been at war with the princesses ever since."

"Yeah, about that. You said that the princesses ruled the sun and moon before, but I couldn't focus on the account of being asleep. What did you mean by that?"

"I meant what I said. They have control over the rise and fall of the sun and moon."

Okay, out of everything I have heard since I got here, this is the single most ridiculous so far. I fell over, and started laughing. Nightmare face-palmed and continued.

"I know it sounds ridiculous. My creator taught me what he knew of physics and astronomy, but for some reason they are truly capable of altering the very solar-system!"

THAT killed my laughter dead in its tracks. Our enemies are beings capable of flinging the sun around, what an uncomfortable thought.

"Do you have any idea how they can do that?"

"My creator said he was close to a break through, but they managed to defeat him with their ultimate weapon before he could complete whatever he was working on. The "Elements of Harmony". I would have read his notes to try and continue his work, but he predicted he own defeat and burned all of his work claiming, "These ponies are not ready to have access to such knowledge yet. If they get their hooves on these notes, the following war would mean the end of the world."

"Alright, I have to ask. What was he like?"

Oddly enough, in response to my question she had one of her minions start drawing in the dirt.

"What are you doing?"

"This will be apart of your first lesson; Ponies think that the horn is the key to accessing their magic. In a way they are right, but that is only a part of it. The way it works is the substance of the horn is a powerful reagent, while the power is generated by emotions, but the final piece is the shape. The horn's spiral commands how the magic flows."

But emotions are just a chemical reaction in the brain, how could they generate that much energy? The horn must amplify it somehow. As I pondered, she had finished her drawing. It wasn't a spiral though, instead it was a circle with smaller circles inside of it, all evenly placed with four lines going through and connecting them all, yet stopping at the smallest and largest circles without going through.

"What is this going to do?"

"While the spiral is good for directing the flow of magic, that just means it is a general purpose symbol. Different symbols can be used to do specific jobs more effectively. This one creates vibrations."

This is starting to sound kind of like alchemy.

"What did you make that for?"

"Because he always insisted I play this song when he is introduced."

"A song?"

One of the nightmares started shifting, and became the funniest thing I have ever seen. This is the dreaded demon-lord! standing half-naked in nothing but white boxers with little hearts on them, is a tale, flabby, yet tanned man standing at six feet and six inches wearing a purple cloak and matching (yet much too small) pointed hat, all while holding a pink wand with butterfly wings on the end. That wasn't what sent me into a laughing fit! He had a pointed hat that rested lopsided on... a horse mask with what looks like a broken-off unicorn horn taped, yes literally taped, to the forehead! As if it couldn't get any better, Nightmare actually said:

"Introducing "Emperor Jack-Ass Mc.Awesome-Sauce, The Fabulous Reverse Centaur!""

And the song that started!

Youtube Video

They got trolled so hard by this guy! It is simply amazing! We ended up having to take a break. I laughed so hard I started coughing up blood again, but on the bright side the water purifier was done. It just needed some fire to boil the water. I looked at the blood on my hands (I cover my mouth when I cough, unlike you savages). I just got a wonderful idea.

Nightmare's POV:

We had just decided to give Sanguis some time to recover. That was always the result the "Emperor" wanted to see. His enemies were always too busy laughing to put up much of a fight. My servants started gathering wood for a fire, with all the blood he is losing his name is unfortunately fitting. But after the wood was gathered, he started smearing his blood on the tips of his fingers before clasping his hands in an odd manner. While the rest of his fingers where wrapped together, his first two fingers on each hand were pointing forward, and placed just below his mouth. Wait, that looks familiar. Is he-

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"

With that said, he let loose a sudden blast of fire from his mouth that would have made adolescent dragons jealous. The flames were hot enough that the wood was instantly set ablaze.

"Yes! I have always wanted to do that!"

I could only stare in shock. He had already started cooking the cockatrice on a stick by the time I could speak properly again.

"I only just began to teach you the basics, and you have not only revived an ancient and forbidden type of magic, but have even created a new method of casting that requires no artifact or prepared-in-advance symbols... You really are a demon aren't you."

"I dunno, every keeps calling me one though."

"Your bark is on fire."

"AAAAHHHH! Put it out!" He screamed as he ran to the pond waving his flaming hand through the air.

This is going to be very interesting indeed!