The Prince Of The Everfree Forest

Chapters

1. Fireflies
2. Strawberries and Sunsets
3. Royal Duties
4. Apples and Oranges
5. Reflection
6. Buckets of fun
7. Simple things
8. Wide Eyes and Gentle Smiles

1. Fireflies

At last, the moment had arrived, everything was perfect, all I had to do was open my mouth and utter a few, small, words. I waited for a second or two, just to let the silence simmer for a bit, countless years I've waited for this moment, and the time had finally arrived. “Do it...”

I took a new, deep breath. I'd done it. It was done, sure there was still a long way to go, but that didn't matter. I had felt the taste of victory, and it was sweet. A thunderous howl came from the timberwolves by my side, followed by more and more calls off in the distance. We broke off into a run, cockatrices scampered by my feat and dirt was kicked up by timberwolves, and I was at the centre of it all. The sun was rising over the mountains, a new dawn breaking out over Equestria, ponies would wake up and discover that their had been a change in management. Celestia's and Luna's time had come, too long had they ruled over ponies, spreading silly friendship and harmony over them. They didn't understand harmony like I did, I know that harmony can only be maintained by swift leadership and righteous rule.

Off in the distance, huge dust clouds were being kicked up by other packs of timberwolves and flocks of cockatrices. Organization was key here, we had be quick in taking control of the town, if the two sisters got here early, the trap wouldn't be ready in time. The plan was simple, encase the whole town into stone, that way, nothing could mess up the plan. Leave one pegasus so it could go to Canterlot and tell the princesses, then they would walk blindly into town. I could give a generic bad guy speech and pow, I get two alicorn statues.

The town was still asleep in their beds, no matter, we only need one pony to get them up. A unicorn, walking around in the early hours of the morning, unaware of the danger about to find her. We slowed down, walking into the town slowly and with style, the unicorn spotted us and froze up. I teleported, right next to her, knocking her onto the floor. “Darling, give us a scream,” I asked, she did and she did it well. At the sound, ponies began stirring from their peaceful slumber. All eyes fell on me from the pretend safety of their houses, watching my every breath. I beckoned over the flock of cockatrices, they surrounded me but kept all their eyes closed, all angles covered, then they opened their eyes. Everypony in the houses turned to stone, from hooves up, suspended forever in shock. Off in the distance, the screams and shouts of the other residence could be heard, nopony could escape from my legions yet I wouldn't stop them from trying.

Closing in on the center of town with speed, and I still hadn't found a suitable candidate. Maybe I'll gather some of the townsfolk in the town hall, ask them about it. The town hall was just like I remembered, a pillar of lies and false security. A mare waited, I guess she was the mayor, her hooves were stone but nothing more, the path around the hall was scattered with frozen ponies, they tried running to town hall, but didn't make it.

“What do you want with us?” she demanded.

“Oh so many things, but right now, I want to see Equestria under a unified banner, I've seen the future and have no intention to let that future happen,” I replied, the sky falling from above us and the ground making way underhoof, I can stop it but I had to have everyponies on my side first.

“You're a madman, Celestia will stop you, you won't win,” she uttered. I smiled, she was a funny mare, shame I didn't have the time to get to know her.

“Don't you realize, she's already lost, she just doesn't know it yet,” I watched as the rest of her body was turned to stone, the look of fear permanently on her face. “Ha, you're stoned,” I bopped her stone nose, I don't think she got the joke. I slid past her, making my way into the hall. With a push of magic I opened the door, inside, nothingness...

Have you ever felt yourself falling? The floor underneath you breaking apart, you can try to grab onto something, but it won't work. Then the realization, you were dreaming. Reality hitting you like a stone floor.

“Ohh shit!” I screamed, waving my hooves in attempts to break my fall, it didn't work. I had fallen out of my bed, again. I was laying on my hooves, the cold, hard stone floor broke my fall and crushed my hooves under my own weight. The mix of paraesthesia and extreme pain wasn't the nicest way to wake up.

I heard a soft, familiar chirping sound and the feeling of a bird's beak moving my hair from my eyes. The cockatrice looked me in the eyes, a look of concern on his face and the gentle chirping was his only way to ask if I was ok.

“Hey Coco, I'm alright,” I said, dismissing him with my hoof. He moved away from me, clucking the whole time. I struggled to my hooves, pain flaring but it was ignorable, pieces of the dream resurfacing in my memory. Shame it was only a dream.

Coco and me walked to the mouth of the cave, from the cave's elevated position, I could see the town in the distance. It was sunrise, a brand new day for Equestria. The town was so close, if only I was able to walk out of this bloody forest I would be able to do something, talk, walk, doing something with those ponies. Yet like a silent observer, I could watch but not interact. Celestia was very strict with my banishment, not allow anywhere near any 'civilized' ponies, but she was nice enough to let me keep the wings and horn.

I was, in her eyes, an accident. So she pushed me back into where I came from, the Everfree Forest. I was a mistake, a coincidence, not a 'true alicorn' like her or her sister. I was just a freak to her, a series of unfortunate events that I was thrown into. She couldn't handle me, so she locked me in a prison and left me to rot. She didn't look like she had much control over her kingdom any more, she had her sister possessed by a nightmare, a god of chaos taking control, evil kings, and power hungry tyrants. Just recently, a monster broke out and stole the whole kingdom's magic, but was defeated by a book smart mare and her friends. That mare had a habit of walking into my forest, she did it often to go and talk to that mysterious zebra or went to study in that old castle. I followed her inside the castle a few times, just curious on what she was doing, she would look through all the books, read them and put them back. I only followed her because she was an alicorn like me, I first I thought she was a freak like me, banished to the forest by Celestia, but she had her friends with her and I shied away.

“Look at it Coca... what I would give to just walk over there,” I muttered, Coco wasn't listening, just scavenging through the grass outside the cave. “Why do I bother talking to you?”

Maybe it was for the best, Celestia said I couldn't control my powers and was a danger to everypony I met. It my opinion those ponies deserved to have their brains painted against my wall. She didn't know what it was like to have ponies constantly laughing at you. I didn't always have my wings and horn, the forest gave those to me. I was an earth pony, my father was a drunkard and my mother died when I was very young. Ponies at the school would point and laugh, tease me. So I ran away, I ran so far away and found the forest, hoping to die and never see anypony ever again. Instead, I got these wings and my horn, an incredible magical ability and a steadfast pair of wings was all I needed to get my revenge. I killed them all, I didn't mean to kill them, but it happened and it didn't stop, the whole town felt my wrath, they all died. The next day, Celestia appears, fully suited in her armour along with her bodyguards, I don't know what she was expecting, but I know she didn't expect an alicorn, just a child. I was scared, I panicked, I ran from her to, I hid for days, leaving her a trail of magical eruptions to follow. She found me, eyes cold for all the trouble I caused, she stripped me of most of my magical abilities, leaving me with basic magical abilities that a foal could match. I was still able to cause damage and a lot of ponies got hurt by magic simple magic tricks, so she tried something else.

She was kind enough to let me live, but pushed me into the Everfree Forest until I could control my powers. I haven't seen her since, maybe she's forgot about me, I haven't been able to ask anypony, if I tried to leave my body would burn like the sun, I tried it once, didn't even get out of the trees before my body shut down, a pack of timberwolves dragged me back into the forest and I never tried it again.

Off in the distance, that same alicorn mare walked towards the forest, from the looks of it she was alone. I left Coco to do his own thing, he would normally stay in the cave or graze the grass, never did anything interesting or productive. She took the same path as she always did, straight through the forest and across the rickety bridge. I followed her into the castle, I had nothing else to do and maybe, one day, I would get the courage to talk to her. She buried herself in books, eagerly closing one and opening the next, hours past in silence. I watched from the large archway, she was too enchanted by her books to notice the pony watching her. After a few hours she began packing up, taking away a few of the books for herself and put back the others, her magical control was impressive, the books went back in the correct places even when she wasn't looking. During her frantic book organization, her head turned in my direction, and she caught a glimpse of me. I ran away quickly, hoping she did actually see me, I hide around a corner. She stood where did, looking down both hallways, “H-hello, is anypony there?” she stammered, it had been so long since I heard a pony talk, I'd almost forgotten what it sounded like.

I stopped myself from calling back, Celestia words echoing in my mind, no talking to 'civilised' ponies. I started walking down the hall, she didn't want to talk with me, she would probably only wanted to know why I was watching her.

The sound of a teleportation spell came from behind me, I turned around and there she was, only a few metres away from me. Her eyes ran up and down me, her brain rushing to process the thing in front of her. I galloped away and she began to chase me, I made some sharp turns down halls but she kept up with me. I thought I lost her but I didn't stop running, until I made a wrong turn. I collided with a suit of metal armour and it came crashing down onto me, the noise was surely going to attract the mare, so I got back up despite my dizziness and kept moving. “Wait! I only want to talk to you!” she shout down a long corridor, she didn't understand my punishment, I couldn't talk to her.

Eventually we ran out of hallway to run down and I became trapped between her and a circular room. I was bouncing off the walls, the castle was riddled with hidden pathways and forgotten secrets, I could only hope I could find one before she started asking questions. I wasn't that lucky, and I had to accept the mare's inquisitive glaze.

“H-hey...” I muttered, she appeared to be quite stunned by me, guessing she didn't know about me at all.

“Hi...” she spoke softly. Her eyes appeared to be denying my existence, she kept blinking her violet eyes, when they opened, my existence persisted. “You're real! You're really real!” she uttered. Her hoof rose to touch me, I moved it back to her side with my own. I had forgotten the warm touch of a pony, most animal in the Everfree were cold blooded reptiles, if they even had blood at all. The soft fur of a fellow pony brought back painful memories of a life I'd almost didn't believe I lived.

“Yep, definitely real,” I reassured, accompanying it with a silly wave of my hoof that brought the mare back into the room.

“I thought you were a legend, a-a story to frighten young foals,” she exclaimed. Is that what I was, 'a story to frighten young foal'?

“A story? I like stories. Care to share one?” I asked, the only thing I had to keep remotely sane was the books from the library, I grew quite fond of them, but even a whole library gets boring after countless years.

She seemed to suddenly regret her choice of words, “N-nevermind, forget I said that,” she was reluctant to tell me, whether if it her nerves of my legend or she was scared of it happening to her.

“Alright, a topic for another day I guess,” I still wanted to hear my legend, but she wasn't talking and forcing her might have serious consequences. I started getting a closer look at her wings and horn, they were definitely real. “Question, I remember there being only two alicorns princesses before, unless you're secretly Luna in which case I like what you've done with your hair,”

The mare giggled, “No, I'm not Princess Luna. I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of friendship,” she put a hoof on her chest, just in case I was getting confused.

“That's a long title,” I muttered, so she was a Princess, how many more were there? “So what do you do, ya know, being the Princess of friendship,” I asked, it seemed to be a rather obscure thing to rule over, Celestia had the sun, Luna had the moon and she ruled a mutual feeling? It didn't add up.

“I ask myself that question every day, I think its something to do with spreading friendship and happiness over Equestria, but I'm not so sure,” she admitted, it sounded like her ascension to royalty wasn't exactly thought out well. “What about you? Do you rule over anything?”

“Me? I rule over nothing, I ain't no prince,” I replied, I many have wings and the horn, but I needed Celestia's approval first.

“But aren't you the Prince of the Everfree Forest? That's what the legends call you,” Twilight pointed out, so I ruled over my prison, great.

“No, its just my place of banishment, besides, I don't think Celestia would approve,” I explained, she seemed surprised by the word 'banishment', I think she might have realised that she was breaking the rules.

“Banishment? So you're not allowed to leave, how long have you been here?” she asked, I didn't even though the answer myself.

“Dunno, Celestia didn't banish me with a calendar,” I admitted, “Must be around, 2000 years, roughly,” I ran a hoof through my maple mane, that's a long, long time, isn't it?

Twilight looked shocked by the number, “Really?! That's a long banishment, even for Celestia,” she exclaimed, honestly, I'd lost track of the days, I used to mark the weeks on the wall of my cave, but I ran out of space.

“Its not so bad, I had plenty of time to practice magic and flying, I've read all the books in the library and explored the deepest caves, just like the princess told me to,” I said, my voice had turned desperate and by the end of the sentence, it sounded like I was in denial. “Sometimes, it feels like she has forgotten about me,” I admitted, head turning down to the floor.

She raised my head up with a delicate hoof, her fur tickling against my own. “Hey, don't be sad, if you want I could sent Celestia a letter asking her about you, maybe we could cut a few centuries off of your banishment,” Twilight offered. She had the princess's kindness, she even had Celestia's kind gaze and gentle smile.

“Really, you'd do that for me?” I asked in disbelief, maybe this is what the princess meant by a 'true alicorn', the ability to repair a broken pony and to bring light to their darkened minds.

“Sure, I could sent the letter now if you want, I'm sure she would have forgiven you by now,” she reassured, “Wait here, I'll be right back,” and then she teleported away, the breeze of magical energy blowing against me. I took a seat on the cracked floor and let out a sigh, I was alone again. She was a busy princess and would probably get distracted by her duties or friends.

Minutes turned into hours as I waited for her return, she had forgotten me, hadn’t she? Maybe something worse had happened, maybe she went to Celestia asking about me and was punished for breaking the rules of my banishment, and I was powerless to help her. I stood up, ears attentively listening for any spells or hoofsteps. Just when I had almost given up, the sound of a teleporting spell echoed down the hall, she hadn't forgotten about me.

Twilight turned the corner and entered the room, relieved to see me still waiting. By her side was a very annoyed baby dragon with his arms crossed, but when he saw me his expression softened into one of shock. “I'm so sorry I made you wait so long, I had to go find Spike and he was out searching for gem with Rarity, and once I finally found him he didn't believe you were real,” she apologised, giving the dragon a scowl.

“Ok ok, you were right, I was wrong,” The dragon murmured, a smug smile grew on her lips. “He might not even be the Everfree Prince, he might just be some random alicorn or worse, a changeling!” he pointed a scaly finger at me, he accusation was fair but a bit irrational, if there were any changelings in the forest, they wouldn't last long.

I chuckled, “Don't worry, I'm no changeling and if I'm not the Everfree Prince then I don't know who is,” I informed, hoping my word was enough.

“See, he's a friend Spike,” she said, pointing a hoof at the dragon. A friend? I guess that what the princess of friendship says to everyone she meets, but it still made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

“Yeah yeah, come on, lets get this letter sent already,” Spike nagged, we didn't have any paper or quills with us, so we went back to the castle's library. Together we were able to write a well mannered and sincere letter that was addressed to Celestia herself. When the ink had dried Spike rolled up the paper, secured it with some string and burned it in his breath.

“Woah, what you do that for?” I asked, for all I knew he just burnt our letter, Spike looked to Twilight.

“Don't worry, Spike's breath can transport scrolls to Celestia, we should get a reply soon,” Twilight reassured. Before I could ask a question, Spike burped out a scroll, “Wow, that was quick,” she muttered, the scroll looked rushed and untidy, like she was in a hurry. Opening the scroll it looked like Celestia spilt a vial of ink over the paper and the ink was smudged from not properly drying before being sent. 'Get away from him Twilight' was written in shaky, scribbled handwriting.

“She doesn't seam that happy to hear about me,” I joked, Twilight looked inquisitively at the letter whist Spike looked rather shaken by Celestia's command.

Twilight picked up a new piece of paper and the quill again, in much nicer handwriting she simply wrote 'why?' onto the paper. She pasted it to Spike and he sent it off. We waited in silence for Celestia's reply.

Spike burped out a second scroll, this one looked a lot better than the last one. Before I could read it, Twilight snatched it from me and read it without me seeing. With a perfect poker face she got her new piece of paper and sent off her reply. After another long silence she got a third letter from Celestia. After reading it, she turned back to me, a smile on her face.

She levitated a book from a small shelf and put it towards me, “Put this back on the shelf please, without leaving the chair,” she requested. I wasn't stupid, I knew what this was, a trial for my magical control and capability. I decided to show off, using my magic I tore the bookshelf from the wall, hovered it inches off the ground and moved it over to the table, all the while balancing the books and stopped them from falling. Once the bookshelf was next to me, I picked up the book with my hooves and put it back on the shelf, a cocky grin on my face the whole time. I put the bookshelf back against the wall and casted a spell to repair any damage I may have caused.

I turned back to Twilight and Spike, both had their mouths agape. “Incredible!” Twilight gasped, Spike started giggling to himself.

“Hey Twilight, you might have some competition for your element here,” he smirked, she shot him an annoyed glance and he stopped talking.

Twilight began looking through the pieces of paper she got from Celestia, “How did you do that? Celestia said she limited your magical ability,” she exclaimed, she did indeed strip me of magical ability, yet I had 2000 years to practice what little magic I had.

“She limited my magical ability, that was just an echo of my former ability, and I enjoy levitation spells, their fun,” I responded, constant use of levitation spells left me an adapt at levitating objects with ease.

“An echo? I can see why Celestia limited your magic, that's far too much magical energy for one pony to have, believe me I'd know,” she said, perhaps she was right, yet I still think I should have it all back.

“I wouldn't have been given that much power if I couldn't handle it,” I argued, that magic was rightfully mine and I had waited 2000 years for it, I was not given it just to have it stolen by a paranoid princess and her little sister.

“That may be true, but Celestia knows best, I'm sure she has a plan for you,” Twilight reassured, that didn't fill me with confidence, my magic wasn't something I wanted Celestia to be able to turn off and on like a light switch. If she tried she'd learn that this bulb has a bite.

Twilight began writing another message to Celestia, probability detailing my magic and behavior, I'd made sure to be on my best behavior for Twilight. She may have been Celestia lackey but I'd seen her fight Nightmare Moon and Tirek, being on her bad side wasn't on my list of things to do.

She sent off a letter again, Spike seemed to be burnt out (Pun not intended) by being the princesses mail-man. Soon enough, Spike coughed up a final letter and passed it to Twilight. She seemed pleased with Celestia's response.

“Good news, Celestia wants to meet with you, she thinks you're ready, she'll be picking us up tomorrow,” Twilight beamed, an equal mix of bliss and dread flooded my mind. I would finally be able to leave the forest, yet was I ready to meet Celestia gaze after all of these years?

“Really? Tomorrow...” I muttered, it was a lot to take in, 2000 years had pasted. I wondered what had changed, I guess I'd find out soon enough.

“Yep, she just wants to talk, she will be taking us to the castle and showing you a few important things,” she confirmed, I was going far, far away from the forest. I guess it's not so bad, Twilight was joining me by the sounds of it.

“I guess I should go prepare, its going to be a long day tomorrow,” I said, my absences wouldn't go unnoticed, the animals of the Everfree had come to depend on me for guidance and direction. The Everfree forest was the only world I knew, I had spend so many lifetimes here, I couldn't let it go, even if was my prison.

“We should get going to,” Twilight nudged Spike, who seemed to have zoned out at some point. They both jumped from their chairs, tucking them back under the table.

“I can walk you out of the forest, if you want,” I offered, even though I'd be out of the forest tomorrow and talking to many ponies, I didn't want to face the silence again today. She smiled.

“That would be nice,” She let Spike climb onto her back and we began walking out of the castle, she attempted to go one way, but I insisted we go another way. Over the horizon, a orange sunset doused the sky with colour.

I knew all of the ways around the forest, the quickest and slowest, the ugliest and the prettiest. I lied to her when I said that there was a quicker way, if fact it was slower than the original path she wanted to take, however, I was in no rush for her to leave me and by that smile she wore, I knew she wanted me to take her the longer way to. We walked past the flower patches, were wild flowers of all kinds grew, cute butterflies flew through the air around us and birds sung their songs, leaves of pastel green fell to the ground or blew through the air. The whole time she talked, her mouth moving and painting pictures of heroic victories against monsters or just simple things like what she ate this morning. It didn't matter what she talked about, so long as she was talking and wearing that beautiful smile that outmatched all of the scenery around us. Spike had fallen asleep quickly, his quiet snores making background noise and filling any awkward silences we had.

Even I couldn't stop the inevitable and we reached the end of the forest, I tried walking outside but before I could break out of the trees, my curse began to burn at me and my head began to ache. Only a few more steps, I could see the clear ground, untainted by the Everfree Forest's dark magic. A town full of ponies just like Twilight waited, calling to me, just a few more steps. I couldn't, the pain was too much and I ran back into the safety of the forest. Twilight realized my discomfort and walked back towards me, she had her freedom, yet she still walked back inside my prison.

“I'm sorry, I can't go any further,” I admitted, the feeling of my skin igniting from the inside as my soul gets turned into a sun. The feeling of boiling blood running through my veins, poisoning everything in there path, muscles locking and sanity draining. The curse designed to protect the world from me, it did more than stop me from escaping, it boxed me in, like shackles that were on too tightly.

“Its not your fault, but look on the bright side, at least it will all be over tomorrow,” she said, she was right, all over tomorrow.

“Yes, I'll be able to leave tomorrow, I guess I'll be meeting you here,” I assumed, nodding her head, on her back, the dragon stirred from its nap.

“Yep, bright an' early, I'll meet you here before Celestia comes, if you don't mind,” she blinked her violet eyes at me, so full of life and hope and curiosity, eyes only a pony with lots to live for could have.

“Well I'm not going anywhere, I'll see you tomorrow, miss Twilight Sparkle,” I raised my hoof into a wave and something happened that hadn't happened in so long. A smile grew as my stoic lips curled.

“Please, just call me Twilight,” she insisted, the dragon hopped off her back and began to survey his surroundings.

“Very well Twilight, I'll look forward to meeting you tomorrow,” I turned to walk away, but she grabbed onto me and brought my attention back to her.

She back away shyly as soon as she realized what she'd done. “Before you go, can I know your name?” she asked, my name, something I hadn't had a use for in so long, I even had trouble thinking of it.

“Autumn Leaves, just call me Autumn,” I looked into her eyes, seeing my reflection in her wide eyes. That name brought pain, it tugged at my heartstrings, and I didn't know why, all I remember was a mare's voice, calling that name.

She lend in close, I could feel her breaths against my face. At first, I was sure she was about to do something we'd both regret, but she turned away with cheeks like roses. After an elongated pause accompanied with the muffled giggles from Spike, she was able to stutter out a sentence, “See you tomorrow Autumn,” and without another word she walked out of my reach, dragging along the purple dragon as she went.

Moonlight broke overhead as the sun hid away for another night. All around me, fireflies buzzed around my head, I tried touching their enigmatic light but they evaded my hooves with ease. They started gliding away from me and I chased them down, determined to feel the pretty lights. Something had changed inside of me, it all seemed so simple now, thousands of years past yet I had never chase fireflies before. Somehow, in the tsunami of guilt and regret, I'd forgotten the simple joys of life. Twilight had reminded me of the importance of the unimportant, that no matter what you were or how bad things looked, you could always chase some fireflies.

I followed them all over the forest, by the end I wondered if I was even following the same ones as before. I stopped when we went near the cave, I let them go back to their lives and waved my hoof to say goodbye. I skipped up to the cave, not a care in the world, a brand new day for Equestria and me waited tomorrow, and I couldn't wait. My fears had all washed away, how could I be scared when I had such a brave mare at my side and happy thoughts running a marathon in my head. I dived onto the hammock I called a bed and snuggled up to my torn blanket, it was cold in the cave but the warming thoughts were enough to keep me satisfied. By the floor, I heard a soft clucking for attention. I picked up Coco and let him lay on my chest, stroking his feathery head with delicate care. “You'd never guessed what happened today, I met a mare and I get to leave the forest for the first time in 2000 years tomorrow,” he clucked in disbelief, “I know, I'm so excited, as soon as my banishment is over, we'll be one step closer to fulfilling our destinies,” the second smile of the day fell onto my lips.

After a few more minutes of petting, I put Coco back down and he wandered to his nest, he was tired and so was I. Tomorrow, a new chapter of my life was about to begin, one where I'm not confined to the forest and can be among fellow ponies, just like I should be. Tomorrow could be the best or the worst day of my life, it was all in my hooves and all up to me to decide. My fate was final my own, and I loved it.

2. Strawberries and Sunsets

“Keep away!” a mare with golden locks in her hair cheered. I remember her, Goldilocks, the school yard bitch. She threw my ragged saddlebag over my head and her brown haired coltfriend caught it. When I tried to get it back he pushed me to the floor, a few ponies giggled at my misery.

“Lets see what you've got for us today Leaves,” he said, scavenging through my bag for anything interesting. I watched as my school work fell in the mud or got trampled by passing ponies, their happy smiles brought me even more pain. He dropped my bag, in his magical grip he held the last of my money. He huffed, “10 bits, thanks Leaves,” he muttered, golden locked mare fell into his hooves and stroked down the side of his face, “Don't worry babe, I'll get my daddy's card, I thinks it about time I got a new necklace,”

“You better, this one's so last week,” She pointed to the silver necklace with the fire red ruby encrusted on it. I got back onto my hooves and began picking up my fallen possession. “Eww, its moving! Deal with it you useless lump!” she pushed her coltfriend towards me, he grabbed me by my hind legs and dunged my head into the mud. All around voices cheered their approval, he was the villain in my tragic tale. The sting of the jagged pebbles and stone hitting against my face as I was lifted up and thrown back down to the ground. I could only try to crawl away between falls, but it only satisfied their snobbish egos. They took turns toying with me, anypony that wanted to look tough could wail on me because they knew I couldn't fight back. They would do this often, being thrown into the air happened on a weekly basis, I believed they called it 'Autumn Leaves fall'. Being one of the only earth ponies in the village, I was a prime target for any unicorn or pegasus that was looking to feel better about itself. The unicorns weren't so bad, I could at least run away from them, I couldn't outrun a pegasus.

Suddenly, everyone turned normal and quiet, a teacher walked out into the courtyard. “Leaves! Stop rolling around in the mud!” he commanded, around ponies began their hellish cackles.

“Don't worry sir, his an earth pony, what'd you expect?” Goldilocks sneered, never leaving her coltfriend's strong embrace. All of the ponies around pointed and laughed, I hated them all. I spun my head to see them all, their faces and voices burned into my brain, I didn't know how, but one day I was going to make them all feel the same pain I did. Today wasn't that day, so I did the only thing I knew how, run away and find a place to hide.

My eyes shot open, breaths became rapid as I jumped up, head darting around wildly. Once I'd seen everything and once I was sure I was alone, I began to calm down. I wiped the tide of sweat off my brow and inhaled a deep breath. That was a dream I wanted to forget, so many life times ago that nightmare was a reality, now it just lingers in the back of my mind and keeps me awake at night.

I left the cave, the time didn't matter, I wasn't going back to sleep. Today was an important day and I wanted to look my best, so I went down to the waterfall. The crystal water reflected me perfectly, a grass green face and a pair of ocean blue eyes stared back at me. I shattered this reflection by diving into the cool water, the blue water consumed me in its moist grip. I sank to the bottom and bounced up, my head resurfacing.

You'd be surprised what gets left behind by a pony when its running for its life, one such item was a bottle of shampoo. Hmm, smelt like strawberries. I ran a soapy hoof through my hair, the shampoo flavoured my wild hair and tamed it mystical properties. I didn't have Celestia's ghost-like mane or tail, yet it was as spontaneous and carefree as hers. Water turned soapy but sailed away due to the waterfall's constant flow of fresh water. After spreading more shampoo around my body and I was sure I smelt like a delicious fruit, I got out and did some flying laps over the water until the dripping of water stopped.

A distance howl of a hunt caught my attention, a pack of timberwolves were on the move and had found something to prey upon. Out of extreme curiosity I went over to the howling, I saw the hunted before the hunters, Twilight. I dived out of the bushes, scaring her but once she recognised it was me, she looked thankful. I unleashed a bestial growl from the back of my throat, demanding the authority of an alpha manticore with the ferocity of the largest wolf. Like children expecting punishment, the timberwolves crawled out of the bushes surrounding us, the largest and strongest timberwolf walked in front and met my glare. They knew the rules, strictly no hunting ponies, even if it would lead to starvation. Timberwolf pups ran out of the treeline and were chasing each other playfully, when they reach the alpha wolf, they collided and rolled over each other, forming a bundle at my hooves. They were destined to die without food, the Everfree Forest wasn't teaming with food and on the rare occasion we had food, it didn't last. I'd tried so many was to attempted to get more food, I had set up fishing nets in the main streams, I began cooking up some cave fungus with no success. The nets didn't catch enough fish and the streams were too rowdy or too calm for fish to thrive in. Some of the fungus made me vomit, some did nothing and some made me lay on the floor, completely out of my head. Without any food, the beasts of the Everfree turned on each other, I broke my heart to see them fight. My authority meant that the beasts won't hunt outside the Everfree or harm ponies that wandered in, yet some decided to try to sneak some pony kills past me, and some times they succeed. The pups could smell my strawberry shampoo, they began gnawing on my tail or jumping up to bite my mane.

I promised them food on my return and they begrudgingly accepted. They slowly moved away, some growled or snarled at Twilight as they pasted her, making her recoil in fear. After they had left us, Twilight turned to me with a thankful smile and moved closer to me, pulling me into a hug.

“Thank you, so much,” she uttered through my hair, after she pulled away from me, she giggled. “You smell like strawberries,”

“I know,” I whispered, I walked her back to the edges of the forest, but couldn't go any further out. The outskirts was the safest area, far away from any timberwolf packs or cockatrice nests. “Don't blame the timberwolves, it just their nature to want to eat ponies,” I said, under all the horrible acts and scary features, they were a bunch of cute puppies.

“I never thought of the timberwolves as caring parents, makes me wonder what other creatures are nice underneath,” she looked at me curiously.

“What?” I asked innocently. She looked shyly at the ground, opened her mouth, then closed it.

“Its just-” she began, but the sound of Celestia's chariot flying over us interrupted her, “Never mind, I'll tell you later,” she muttered, Celestia landed in the clearing around the Everfree and Twilight ran to greet her.

There she was, the princess of the sun. She didn't look a day older, yet far too many had past since the last time I'd seen her. I was a young colt the last time, yet every encounter with her was forged into my memory and no matter what time passed, I would remember her first words to me, “Its not your fault,”

She step into the Everfree with Twilight by her side. Her magenta eyes locking with mine as she walked deliberate steps into my dimension. I could feel the fire of the sun licking at my coat as she judged my weakened form, I knew she saw right through my façade and underneath the aged body, I was still the scared colt like before.

“Hello Autumn,” her infinite lips unleashed her angelic voice, gracing me with its warm and inspiring tone. I still had to look up at her, even after all these years I still wasn't as tall as her.

“Celestia, long time no see,” I said, just my voice was enough to frighten her, she remembered my power and magical talent and it scared her. Twilight saw this to, the look of her mentor's face was enough to cause her some concern. “You left me, for 2000 years I waited for you and you never came back,” Celestia's eyes hardened at my statement.

“It was for the best, you couldn't manage your power and I needed to protect my subjects, so I put you here, a place were you could practice to your heart's content without harming anypony,” she countered, then her eyes turned soft, “I never meant to leave you for so long, but so much happened since then, I lost track of time,”

“Is that it? 'I lost track of time',” I chuckled, “Am I suppose to forgive you, 2000 years of wasted time and you excuse yourself with 'I lost track of time'?” I glared at her, my ocean eyes extinguishing her fire.

“I know I not in the right here, yet I hope you'll understand that Equestria comes first, before me or you,” she insisted, she was right, but I wasn't going to stop being mad about it. “Anyway, I have something to show you at my castle, if you'd care to follow,” she requested, I did as I was told.

We reach the end of the forest, the burning feeling came back with a vengeance. It crawled at my skull and drenched me in liquid fire, I couldn't keep walking. Twilight noticed my pain and stopped to comfort me. Celestia looked back with surprise.

“Twilight, I thought you had already removed the curse, doesn't matter, you can remove it now,” Celestia said, she then continued to her carriage. Twilight knew the counter-curse, and she hadn't even removed it but instead watched me suffer some more. Twilight's horn tapped against my own, the feeling of an ancient weight being lifted off my shoulders and the cold comfort of freedom welcomed me. Yet my phobia remained, I took a step forward and waited for the burning to begin again, it didn't come. I took another step forward, I couldn't keep my eyes open any further. I raised my hoof to take the third step, and I couldn't put it down, my mind created a substitute for my pain, the gentle cry of all my nerves and bones.

I felt a hoof take mine, she walked me every step of the way, I quickly lost track of the steps we took. She didn't let go, our steps were slow and careful, a careful balance between hooves and wings to keep ourselves upright. My eyes refused to open still, like they were forged together in the fire of the suns wrath. Then we stopped, I was then sat down, grass under my flank and a gentle breeze through my mane. “You can open your eyes now Autumn,” Twilight reassured me, and I did.

Honestly, I was expecting Twilight to be the one who walked me out, instead it was Celestia who held my hoof and sat in front of me. Her radiance welcomed me, my mouth on the floor, beautiful couldn't describe it all. She gestured to the world around us, to my right was the Everfree forest, my eyes only bounced off of it. I looked left, I was outside, my eyes were no longer limited to the trees and confines of the Everfree, instead, my sight when as far as the mountains, rolling hills and lush grass awaited. Trees dripped sweet amber sap and water ran blue in this world of rainbows, vibrant colours danced and wind ran as free as the inhabitants did. Gingerbread houses off in the distance and candy like ponies walked between them, all calling me to them, and I could go to them at last.

“I'm out... I'm out!” I jumped up, hooves dancing in anticipation for the freedom. I dived towards Twilight, “Twilight! I'm out!” I cheered, happiness breaking my perfectly moulded face apart. She smiled at my childish antics, jumping up herself to join in.

“You're out!” she beamed at me, I turned to Celestia, her face had a smile yet the conflict of her decision evident in her eyes. Like a mother sending her child to school, she asked herself, 'Is he ready for this'

“Can't you taste the air, smell the freedom,” I inhaled deeply, the air was not tainted by the dark magic of the forest or the sickening darkness that was banished with me.

Twilight inhaled with me, “I can only smell the strawberries,” she joked, I laughed, I never laughed, even before the Everfree, laughs were rare. Screw it, laughs and smiles were common now, I have been forgiven by Celestia and I can now live my life, decision were my own to make now, and I loved it.

My life had begun, a life with friends and love, a life with money and jobs. My heart pumped fresh blood to me and adrenaline burst free. I broke out into a run, shaking the cobwebs that held onto my bones, I ran as fast as I could, I couldn't run fast around the Everfree, if you tried you'd normally end up falling down a ditch or hitting a tree. But now I could run and nothing could stop me, Twilight chased me playfully, we spun in circles and fell on the floor in fits of laughter. I tripped up multiple times and hit my head against the ground, I laughed it off and kept on going, by the end I was sure I had concussion.

With lungs burning and muscles aching, I sat down by Celestia. She looked at me with disbelief, I was the stallion who she stripped powers too dangerous to be contained and for 2000 years she waited, leaving me alone in fear of what I was going to do. I gave her a smile of a fool, she chuckled in incredulity.

“Are you really the stallion I met so many years ago?” she asked, Twilight flopped down next to me, a smile nearly as large as mine on her lips.

“Yep, I've spent 2000 years thinking of ways to get revenge and I come to realise, I don't want revenge, just a life worth living,” I explained, Twilight leaned in closer to me, her cheek nuzzling my shoulder.

“Very well, come with me, we can get this life started,” she said. Celestia got on her carriage, her guards standing blank faced and strong, waiting with a universe of patience. The thing Celestia didn't realise was that my life had already begun.

Twilight began tugging at my hooves, “Come on Autumn, we're going to the castle,” she exclaimed, I got up and hopped up the cream steps and into the large chariot. I took a seat on one of the paddled seats at the back. Celestia towered over me and Twilight sat opposite us both, Celestia commanded the guards and we took off, the carriage felt like it had stayed stationary yet we were ascending up to the clouds.

The carriage went over the houses, ponies looking up in awe at the princess's chariot flew over their town. Ponies began pointing and cheering up at us, Twilight and Celestia were waving their hooves and ponies waved back or blew kisses to them. “Why don't you wave back, after all you are a prince to them,” Celestia asked, so I was a prince, the prince of the Everfree forest. I began waving my hoof shyly, slowly trying to shrink away from the edge. I could handle a few ponies giving me attention, but a whole town was something else.

“Don't worry, you get use to it,” Twilight comforted, I wasn't sure I wanted to get use to it. The carriage began flying over to a city suspended on a side of a mountain, waterfalls were clearly flowing off the edge of the marble city, sunlight glisten like diamonds off the water. It was a breathtaking sight to behold, yet I didn't trust the whole thing from coming down, not matter how much magic may have been involved in the construction.

“Are you feeling alright Autumn?” Celestia asked me, I met her kindling eyes. Just a few days ago, I was alone, with nopony to stand by me. Now I was a prince of Equestria, living the dream so many ponies wanted. Did I deserve all this, no, of course I didn't.

“Yes, its just a lot to take in, that's all,” I responded after a pause, I hope she understood, for I was feeling lost, how could I be a prince of a kingdom I'd never lived in before. What were my duties? What was I responsible for? So many questions, and I have forever to ask.

3. Royal Duties

As the carriage sailed swiftly and smoothly onwards to the shining palace, Twilight turned to her mentor with a burning question, “Are his legends true?”

My ears jumped to attention. I continued to lean over the edge and pretended not to listen, I hadn't heard my legend yet, but from the sounds of it, it wasn't good. I let the wind whip through my hair, the high breeze refreshing my senses.

“Unfortunately, some of them are,” Celestia whispered back, I waited for her to continue, but when she didn't, something inside me snapped. Why was everypony acting so vague and cryptic with my legend, I had a right to know the stories that supposedly fabled me, even if they were horrible.

I turned away from the edge, facing Celestia with new-found interest. “Go one, tell me these legends, it seems everypony knows them apart from me,” I pointed my hoof at them accusingly, Twilight gulped as my hoof fell on her.

“Do you remember the years from before your banishment?” Celestia asked with her usual poised voice. How could I forget, the nightmares were relentless in haunting my sleep.

“You can't imagine the burning insults or horrible torments they throw at me every day of my life, to have your life stamped out by somepony else,” I replied, it reminded me of a certain princess and her banishment destroying my life.

“Perhaps your thinking too far back, I was referring to the weeks when I chased you down and the time you spent at the castle, not everypony could forget the damage you left behind,” Celestia said, Twilight looked at her fellow princess with wide eyes that leaked her curiosity and confusion. “You see Twilight, Autumn was originally going to be my student like you were before your ascension, he was going to be the prince of magic, at first I wanted to teach him the basics of magical control, until-”

“-Until you saw the power I wielded, you saw me as a danger to the citizens of Equestria so you took my powers for your own perverted motives, after you saw the wonders I conjured with minor magic, you extracted what little I had left and chucked the waste into that sickening forest,” I spat off the edge of the carriage, my sympathy to any that stood under us at the time.

Celestia scowled at me, apparently unhappy that I finished her sentence for her. “You know that's not true, I took your powers so you can learn magic without being overwhelmed by that power, I have every intention to give you back that power I took, in time,” Celestia responded, oh good, I had so many plans for that magic, to get it back will definitely speed things up.

“Do you really think that's a good idea princess?” Twilight enquired, I raised an eyebrow at her, why did she suddenly not trust me with my rightful powers. If I was given that power in the first place then I was surely meant to wield it.

“I will explain everything when we get to the castle,” Celestia assured, we wouldn't have to wait long, the castle was very close now. The crystal clear water dropped silently into the clearing below. I could only imagine the wicked and cruel dictations that were acted under Celestia's nose by power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats.

The chariot pulled into a long marble landing strip that rested on the side of the castle. We touched down with a slight bump, but I hardly felt it. The landing zone was a picture perfect scene, golden armoured pegasi and unicorn stood like acutely sculpted statues. Huge marble columns held up a river of water that poured gently from their realm of demigods to the citizens below, potted flowers hung from the columns and gave the white faced structures life. Beside one of these columns waited princess Luna, when she spotted me her eyes hardened to stone, I pretended I hadn't seen that yet.

Celestia walked off the chariot first, then me with Twilight closely behind me. My hooves weren't use to the smooth, hard surface of the marble-like floor, they flinched back despite my careful placement, but I quickly adapted. Apparently I'd done something that Luna didn't like, for she made no effort to hide her cold eyes and disgusted look from me.

“Luna! It's been too long,” I cheered, flashing her a smile. Her hate grew by each breath I took.

“That's princess Luna to you,” she growled, “Before we begin, I would like to point out that I have seen your dreams and I have urged dear sister many times to reconsider her plans for you, yet your have persisted to be a nuisance for us, even after 2000 years,”

“Now Luna, play nice, Autumn here's our guest and we will make him feel welcome,” Celestia intervened, Luna looked shocked at first, yet quickly grew back to her aggravated face.

“This isn't over,” she poked me with her metal horseshoe. Twilight and me shared a worried glance before continuing. Great, first day out and I have already made an powerful enemy. Celestia led the way, we walked through the infinite hallways of the castle, I was surprised by the amount of guards waiting around, whether it was because of me or something else, it still concerned me. We reached a long, high hallway, windows of coloured glass told stories of past victories. I spotted Twilight many times on the stained glass, with her friends they had beaten many villains and saved Equestria multiple times. The sheer size of it all, I felt overwhelmed, my hooves began slowing down and breaths became shaky. I'd never been in such a marvellous room before, to have a celling over my head didn't help either.

“You ok? You seem a bit flushed,” Twilight pointed out, I looked into her kind eyes. Celestia kept on walking, despite us stopping.

“Yeah, I'm alright, just a bit homesick is all,” I replied, she placed a hoof on my shoulder, her eyes displayed a welcoming light to me.

“It'll be ok, if you need anything just ask me,” she said, her friendship she offered so readily to me was one of the biggest comforts I had felt in a long time. I bounced back to my hooves, pretending that I wasn't missing home. Despite my harsh words against the forest, the endless trees and general silence was a kind of cold comfort to me, after all these years calling it a prison, it had slowly began to call me its own.

“Nah, I don't need anything, I'm golden,” I assured her, a smile forced onto my lips, I was pretty sure she saw past it, but she didn't say anything.

Me and Twilight caught up with Celestia and Luna, they were waiting by a oak door with swirling patterns over it, the guard that waited beside it pulled out a key and opened it. It let out a thunderous click down the hall. He returned back to his original position without a word but left the key in the door.

“Autumn, would you like to do the honours?” Celestia gestured to the door. I approached the door, there was nothing unique about it, but it sure did look old and out of place though. I pushed it with my hoof and it groaned to the side, the weight of the door was too heavy for the hinges to keep it held up so it scrapped across the floor and emitted a ear piercing screech.

The room itself was littered with boxes, it was hardy a big room to begin with but with the large boxes and chests it was extremely cramped. On top of them were flags, discarded dresses and tattered banners, it was basically a storage room. That however, wasn't the main focus of the room. In the middle, lit up by the sun breaching through the dust covered window, was a mannequin slightly taller than me. This mannequin wore copper coloured greaves on its forehooves with a matching pair of smaller boots on its hindlegs. The greaves had swirly patterns like the door had, yet these had been done with a more professional touch, they way it was done was made to make it look like a they were made of wood, yet they oblivious weren't. On the mannequin's chest was a large, jewels encrusted breastplate, all these gems surrounded a beautifully designed insignia of a tree, the jewels were present to the eyes yet not overpowering, a perfect blend. Lastly but most certainly not least, a dark gold crown rested on the mannequin's head, it was riddled with tiny diamonds and priceless crystals. It was a crown fit for a prince.

“Do you like it? I designed it myself, yet the patterns serve a purpose highly than aesthetic,” Celestia informed, I felt something, a distinct calling, telling me to grab all of it and run.

I moved in closer, but a night-like hoof stopped me. As I pushed more, the stronger Luna's hoof became, “Sister, this is a mistake, don't tell him,” she pleaded.

“Have faith sister,” Celestia responded.

Twilight moved closer to my gifts and ran her hoof over the runic breastplate, “What do this patterns do?” she asked, no doubt already come up with several theories in her mind. I didn't know if she felt the calling, but as her hoof touched it the voices screamed, slowly becoming louder in the back of my mind.

“When I absorbed Autumn of his powers, I had no where to store them, I couldn't keep them for myself,” she began to explain, turning to me and the distressed Luna, “So I had these made, they are enchanted with your magic, granting whoever wears them your powers,”

“You haven't let anypony wear any pieces of this have you?” I demanded, Twilight quickly retracted her hoof from he mannequin. “You know that magic is rightfully mine,” I tried to get past Luna meddling hooves, but she was content with being the barrier between me and my magic.

“Nopony has ever been in this room besides me, until now of course, only an alicorn can touch such enchantments anyway, it would no doubt drive the pony mad,” Celestia assured, I let out a sigh of relief, I wasn't going to be happy if any unicorns decided to play dress up and found out they had more power than the royal princesses combined.

Twilight put her ear to the breastplate, her eyes quickly widened. “How much magic is in here?” she inquired.

“More than you can imagine,” I muttered, I stopped trying to get past Luna once I knew it was fruitless. Instead I tried levitation, but Luna clashed horns with me, breaking any magic build up.

“Will you ever stop trying? I'm stronger than you!” Luna declared, pushing me back against the wall. I hit some sort of cabinet, dust falling onto my head. Luna rushed over to pin me, her hoof over my throat and slowly applied pressure. Despite my hooves wailing at the offending appendage, she didn't release me and It became more and more difficult to keep myself breathing. I locked eyes with her, as one final attempt for mercy, but her eyes shrank into a frown.

“Luna! Stop this now!” Celestia commanded, taking a stance by my side, Luna turned to her. Her hold on me decreased, only slightly but enough to keep myself breathing some quick, shallow breaths.

“You haven't see his dreams, his ambitions are as clear as day,” Luna argued, once again pushing down on me. Her eyes displayed her killer thoughts and her face was deadly serious, she wanted to push harder, to squash me like a bug underhoof. Yet she resisted, “He wants to take control, overthrow us and rule Equestria under an iron hoof,” she exclaimed, her eyes burned with hatred from my existence. “I know how it feels to want control, its in the way he walks, the way he talks, but behind the clock of lies and deception lies a knife,” she was no doubt referring to her times as Nightmare Moon, what's was worse was her words were getting to Celestia, she was looking at me with that judging gaze, trying to spot something that would give me away. I gave them nothing, not a struggle, kept a straight face, not a sign of any future plans or intentions.

“Lets confer with princess Twilight, she has the most experience with Autumn and has dealt with many tyrants before,” Celestia said, both her and her sister turned to look at the concerned Twilight, she was still standing by my mannequin when the question was asked to her. She didn't talk or indicate anything, but she moved in front of me, Luna dropped me from the wall and I flopped onto the ground. To her left was the sun, Celestia wanted to forgive me and let me have a chance to prove myself. On her right was the moon, Luna hated my existence, believing I will cause more trouble than good, she thought I should be left inside the Everfree for another 1000 years or so, maybe even a more permanent solution. Twilight knelt down to me, looked me in the eyes, and waited. I didn't know if she wanted a confession or was just waiting more me to show a sign, I just looked back. Her violet eyes sparkled.

She stood up, “I trust him, but we shouldn't give him his powers back, not yet,” she continued to look down at me, she was the true twilight in this situation, the perfect middle ground between the sun and moon.

“Sounds reasonable, though I still think that no good can possibly come from this,” Luna said, looking down at me with disgust.

“Very well, yet I must interject an idea of my own, one that we all should be happy with,” Celestia began, “If Twilight takes the horseshoes with her when she goes back to Ponyville, she can manage and watch over Autumn, when he is ready, he can be given them. The horseshoes have the weakest enchantments, meaning that if anything happens, Twilight can still overpower him,”

We all agree to this suggestion, even though I had no say in it. The thought of Twilight holding onto my magic was far more preferable, mainly because it would be close by, just in case. Even if the rest of my magic was still here with Celestia, some of it is better than none at all. I stared at my trapped magic, longing for it, only a few metres away, yet it felt like it was further than ever before. I couldn't stand to look at it any longer, I barged out of the door and into the large hallway. At last the screaming stopped, the patten on the door kept the magic contained to that room, maybe Celestia suspected someone to steal something, but without any magical energy echoing out, it looked just like an ordinary storage room.

I stared up at one of the glass windows and enjoyed the silence. The glass was of Twilight and her friends, she didn't have her wings back then, just a unicorn. In fact, none of them looked particularly special, even when I had seen them walking around the forest on adventures, they wouldn't look like the heroines of Equestria, just a group of ordinary friends. Those as time past and they kept on coming back into the forest, I slowly began to see why they were so special. They had even help me a few times, recently these weird vines sprouted out over the forest and started terrorizing it, until they did something and stop them.

The sound of hooves gently tapping against the ground broke my thoughts. “How are you doing?” Twilight's innocent voice asked from behind, she was breaking the silence, but I was happy for her to. Silence had became a close companion to me in the years, I wouldn't mind if it was replace with something that could talk back to me.

“I'm enduring,” I replied, she sat down next to me, we both didn't look at each other but stayed focused on the stained glass instead. I wanted to ask her about it, I didn't know what it meant but it looked important, why else would Celestia get a giant window to commemorate it.

“We'll be going back to Ponyville soon, I want to talk about some things on the way back as well,” She informed, guessing Ponyville was the town that she lived in. I wonder what she'll do with her new-found control over me, maybe she will push me as far as I'll go, maybe I'll never get my powers back and she will hold it over my head forever.

“Might as well start now, we've got some time to waste I'm guessing,” I mumbled, breaking the stare at the window. She flickered her pretty eyes, her head turning to meet mine.

“Every princess and prince in your case, has a role to play in Equestria, it's up to us to find your role,” She said, “Know anything we could start with?”

“The only thing I have particular talent in is magic, but apparently I can't be trusted with that,” I felt a frown grow, it wasn't only aimed at her, but I could push some of the blame onto her. Maybe I could guilt trip her into giving me the horseshoes, then push her further into getting me the crown and breastplate. There was no way around it, I needed to get those artefacts or I couldn't continue the plan.

“We'll check this later, when the time is right,” she promised, I guess I could trust her to keep her word, she hasn't done much against me yet. “We also have to get ponies to start trusting you, this might involve you helping out around town,”

“Oh great, manual labour,” I muttered, “so the greeting I get after being gone for 2000 years is 'Hey, welcome back, here's your high vis jacket and remember to keep your hard hat on',”

She giggled, “I didn't mean it like that,” she kept her smile. “You won't have to do much, and your current magical ability can help you out, I'm sure it will be nothing you can't handle,” she reassured, I guess it wouldn't be that bad, unless these ponies wanted to take advantage of my magical power. Wouldn't put it pasted them.

“I'll do it, but don't expect me to do everything for you,” I replied, her smile grew larger. I knew, under her eyes laid more villainous plans for me, fiendish plans of friendship.

“Thank you, to be honest your cooperation was one of the thing I was worried about,” she admitted. My cooperation? Did she expect me to flip out about something, she held my keys to success, I needed to cooperate.

“I'll cooperate for as long as I want to, I just want my powers, nothing more,” I spoke, getting her attention. She looked inquisitively at me again, trying to put me together like a badly made jigsaw puzzle.

“And when you get your powers, what happens then?” she asked eventually after her failure to figure it out herself, she didn't have Celestia's perceptive eyes.

“Then I can save everypony,” I muttered, loud enough for her to hear. She seemed surprised by my response, on her wide list of possible motives, saving the world was not on her list.

“Save us from what?” she asked, stuttering slightly before regaining her composure.

“The end,” I said back. I didn't say any more, I left her behind. I wanted to wander some more before going back to the Everfree, I think I could remember the way back to the carriage. The endless hallways seamed to branch off into more and more infinite corridors. I felt like I was going in circles, part repeated without me realising and rooms seemed to disappear and reappear for no reason. After a lot more walking and reluctantly asking a guard for directions I soon found a way back to the landing platform. I waited for a few minutes for Twilight to get back, admiring the view over the land from the Castle's elevated area. The view was stunning, I could see as far as my eyes could reach, just over the mountains tops in the horizon. I felt the guards and their eyes watching me, every one of my breaths were being counted and every hoofstep was predicted before I had even raised my hoof. Their caution was understandable, yet a bit drastic, sure my legends might effect my reputation, but whether it painted me a victim or a monster was debatable. Twilight will have to tell me my legend soon, I have a feeling it has some parts that I would find useful to know. From the looks I was getting from everypony I met, it was definitely not a very pleasant story at all.

When Twilight got back to the carriage, she had a bag that hung loosely against her side, it was no secret to what she had in that bag and she wasn't making any attempts to hide it from me. I hopped onto the carriage with her and the pegasi guards took off again without a word. We where heading back to the town, I was eager to get back to a close distance to the forest and she was no doubt happy to get me away from the rest of my magic. I could feel the soft hum of my greaves calling to me, not like the combined chores of my full magic presence, these were too weak to call to me fully. Celestia wasn't kidding when she said that the horseshoes had the weakest enchantment, their power didn't compare at all with the breastplate or crown, but it was a start.

Twilight saw me starring at the bag and she moved it as far as she could away from me, did she really expect me to try and take it with force? “Don't worry, I'm not going to steal them,” I assured.

“Better to be safe than sorry,” she countered, if it made her feel more comfortable then she could move it wherever she liked, I would have them sooner or later anyway. After a deep breath, she asked, “What did you mean by 'the end'?”

How could I explain this to her, in a way she could understand. “Soon, I don't know when, the sky will fall from over our heads, oceans will boil and the ground will crack,” I remember those dreams well, all the horror and panic, and I couldn't forget the screaming. “Everything we know will die,” I added grimly.

“But we can stop it, right?” she asked hopefully, I could stop it, but I needed all my powers and the knowledge that nothing would get in the way. For some reason I had a feeling that wasn't going to happen.

“Of course, but you know exactly what I need and you're not going to give me any of it yet,” I said. She looked at her bag before continuing.

“I can't just give you your powers back, even if I believe you or not. If you had any solid evidence then maybe I could get Celestia to get you back your powers temporally,” she theorized, I had no evidence, it was just a dream, but it felt real, just like most of my dreams.

“If I find any evidence then I'll get it to you, but I won't wait forever, or we'll all have plenty of evidence that the apocalypse is coming,” I retorted, time was running out, the sand was draining and I didn't know how much was left. The carriage continued to drag along, the occasional bump or sharp turning bring me back to reality. Soon enough, we would be back on the solid ground. From the look on her face my words were weighing heavily on her, yet until I figure out a way to prove the apocalypse then I wasn't getting any magic back. Until then ponies would sleep soundly in their beds and continue their normal lives like they'd live forever. They had no idea that their time was quickly fading.

4. Apples and Oranges

The day was ending, the first day of my new life had reached its end. It could have gone worse, I only had one princess hating me and the knowledge that my magic was truly out of my grasp for a long while. At least Celestia gave me the benefit of the doubt and Twilight was somepony who I could trust not to abuse my powers. I still had some doubts about her lurking in the back of my mind, she could quite simply take advantage of my weakness, hold my magic over me until I snapped back.

The chariot dropped us off on the outskirts off the town, the candlelit windows softly glowing in the distance and the rare pony moved from one building to another. It looked inviting but to make an public appearance whist everypony was asleep seemed really pointless. I guessed this is when me and Twilight parted ways for the night.

“Busy day huh?” I said whist scratching an itch at the back of my neck with a hoof.

“Yeah, I guess its a lot to take in, after 2000 years I would feel a bit rusty,” She replied, “Still, you did good for the first day, tomorrow is when the real stuff starts,” she patted me gentle on the back,

“Looking forward to it,” I smiled at her, it didn't last. I would have to return to the forest soon, and I didn't have a chance to ask Celestia for possible solutions to the food problem. I'm have to brainstorm with Twilight at some point.

“So, what you going to do with your freedom? I'm guessing you won't want to go back to the forest,” she asked.

“The Everfree may have been my prison, but its still my home,” I answered, she nodded her head in understanding. “Shame I have to go back there empty hoofed,”

“Oh, you still need food,” she muttered, a purple hoof tapped against her chin until she had an eureka moment. “Would apples work?” she asked.

Apples... those red and green fruits, “Yes, but we'll need a lot,” I replied. With a smirk on her face she grabbed my hoof and began pulling me.

“Come on, if we're quick we can get her before she finishes,” Twilight insisted, we began walking at a brisk pace. We didn't go into the town, but instead stay on the outskirts until we reached an organized orchard of apple trees. Fresh, juicy apples hung from their branches whist other laid in buckets that were left by the trees, waiting for somepony to pick them up and sell them at a market.

“Who are we looking for Twilight?” I asked, browsing over the many buckets of apples, wondering why they were just left around outside, surely that would just leave them vulnerable to any ground bound scavengers.

“One of my friends, Applejack, she'll help you with the food problem,” She reassured, she seem very sure about that, but judging from the excess of buckets she wasn't having any problems with the harvest.

After a little longer searching the fields, we found the mare we were looking for. Her brilliant orange coat and swaying blonde hair gave nothing away of her profession, but her cutie mark and name screamed 'I work with apples'. Balancing on her forehooves she raised her body into the air and gave an apple tree a powerful buck, the apples wobbled and dropped into the strategically placed buckets.

“Evenin' Twi-” Her eyes turned from Twilight to me “-Oh, Howdy partner,” She noticed that I had both wings and horn, her eyes turned back to her friend in the search for an explanation.

Twilight moved between me and 'Applejack', “Applejack, this is Autumn Leaves, he's err... new in town,” she gestured me with a hoof, “Autumn, this is Applejack,” she gestured the mare. New in town was the biggest understatement I'd heard that day.

“Nice to meet you Applejack,” I nodded my head.

Applejack smiled, “Nice ta meet ya to Autumn,” she tilted the brim of her hat towards me, “So what bring you two to this part of town?”

“Honestly, I need your help,” I began, she looked surprised. “My... Subjects, desperately need food, I have nothing to give you in return, I will do the best to return the favour soon,” I was relying on a stranger's kindness, but Twilight seemed sure she would help me out.

Applejack's eyes ran up and down me, sizing me up for something. “I can't just give away apples like their nothin', so how about a trade?” she suggested, I didn't have anything for her, but Twilight still looked confident.

“Go on...”

“I give ya as many buckets as you need right now, but ya'll promise me you will come back tomorrow and help with the apple buckin',” she said, it sounded reasonable, I guess this would be better than any jobs Twilight had for me.

I looked to Twilight for the all clear and she nodded her head. “Alright, deal,” I rose my hoof towards her and she met it with her own. After a short shake of agreement, Applejack walked over to one of the tree that had buckets filled with apples.

“Alrighty then, how many buckets we talkin' here?” she asked, I could only guess myself, I couldn't feed all the animals in the Everfree with apples, but I would hopefully be able to feed the ones that needed it most.

“I guess 10 buckets would do,” I estimated, I didn't want to take too many buckets but I needed to get as many I needed. Judging by the amount in the buckets I should be able to feed all the desperate animals, but I still needed to come up with a more permanent solution later.

“Sure thing partner,” Applejack began moving buckets of apples towards me, each one was filled with delicious apples of red and green, these were definitely well grown apples, I felt kinda bad for just taking them. “Autumn, can I ask? Who are you subjects?”

“Well... The creatures of the Everfree aren't exactly my subjects, but their under my protection,” I said, her relatively calm features changed as she looked back to Twilight.

“Everfree... as in Everfree Forest?” she stuttered, I nodded with a new sense of doubt and she moved towards Twilight, “Hey Twi, can we talk for a minute?” she asked in a worried tone, Twilight walked along side her away from me, I wasn't going to eavesdrop but I caught a tiny part. “Are ya tugging on my chain Twi? The Prince of the Everfree Forest is just a story to frighten foals, isn’t it?”

“I thought so to, but he's very real, Celestia told me that...” Twilight began, but I couldn't hear the rest over the rustling of the leaves. It wasn't the first time I had been told that I was just a story, yet it was a story everypony seemed to know but me. I gathered up the rest of the buckets while I waited for Applejack and Twilight to finish talking, a few times they turned to look at me when they thought I couldn't see them. It this what I could expect from everypony I meet, them to deny my existence as nothing more than fictitious story told by children on nightmare night.

Soon enough, the two returned from their gossiping, Applejack had a plastic smile on her face while Twilight kept her normal, understanding expression. “Sorry 'bout that, had to ask Twilight something important,” Applejack said.

“I know you were talking about me, but I understand your caution, my legend apparently isn't that fun,” I replied, I would have preferred her to be honest, but for all I knew my legend said I was a horrid monster that killed ponies. Not entirely false.

“Its nothing like that, I was just curious about ya, Twi assured me that ya'll are a completely civil stallion,” she informed, at least Twilight was helping me out.

I looked to the buckets, “I guess I should get going, I have a lot of work to do,” I picked up the buckets in my magic, Twilight still looked impressed by my levitation ability, I was still curious about how much power I would wield once I have the horseshoes on.

“I'll be seeing ya tomorrow, what time will ya be getting here?” she asked.

“When you start working, I'll be there,” I reassured, she looked a bit confused but she'll have to wait until tomorrow. Twilight and Applejack said goodbye to each other and she followed me back to the forest. She offered me some help but I refused, it would be a lot easier to do this by myself since I wouldn't have a pony to worry about. She departed reluctantly, she was persistence and wanted to keep a close eye on me, but I was going to start having problems with her if she wanted to constantly look over my shoulder.

What followed was several long hours of fishing out timberwolves, cockatrices and any other animal that wanted some free food. I knew I didn't have enough for the whole forest, but I tried to spread the limited food around as much as I could. This involved pushing away many hungry animals so I could feed the younger ones and their mothers. By the end of the night I was left with 10 empty buckets and a still hungry forest. Dealing with all of the apples made me think of my own hunger, I hadn't eaten in so long, I couldn't starve to death, I learnt that in the first few weeks in the forest. Just because I couldn't die by starvation didn't mean I didn't have to eat, if I didn't I would waste away until I was just bones walking around, which didn't sound appealing at all. The animals came first though, so I put aside my apple cravings in favour for their happiness, if they were happy then they wouldn't fight, making sure they didn't fight was a constant goal for me.

Tomorrow it would be the same story, the forest would be hungry, I would have to find some food, I wouldn't have enough for everyone so I would promise them more later. I needed to find a solution soon, or the animals would start getting rowdy and might even start to defy my commands, which wouldn't end well for any of us. Of course, once I solve the food problem, a new one would arise, the more vicious creatures like the manticores and ursas would get attracted in the influx of food. Unlike the cockatrices and timberwolves, I had no control over the larger predators of the Everfree, some would ignore me or force me away, a few even attack me but I escaped from them. The large animals kept to the deep forest at the back, away from the ponies in the town but kept me and the controllable animals on the outskirts of the forest. It didn't stop me from adventuring into the deeper regions of the forest but kept me from using it, there was good food in the rivers and growing on the trees in their part of the forest but we couldn't get any of it. A few brave timberwolves had gone over there and had never heard of again besides maybe a cry for help.

I returned to my cave once again for sleep, Coco had already gone to sleep in his mess of straw and leaves. I was exhausted, it hadn't had such a busy day in 2000 years and no doubt tomorrow was going to be even more tiresome. I dived onto my makeshift bed and quickly snuggled into it, holding my blanket tightly against my chest. That blanket was my only true possession, given to me before my wings and horn had chosen me to be their champion. It was the only thing I had to remember my mother by, the day she gave it to me still fresh in my mind, it gave me comfort. Of course 2000 years was a long time and I had to patch in up with anything I could just to keep it in one piece, it never left the cave in fear of losing it or it getting torn on a stray branch. It even had my name stitched into the fabric, Autumn Leaves in neat little red stitches by the top, I was luck to not have ruin it over the years, it was the only reminder that I wasn't alone in the forest and I had somepony somewhere looking over my shoulder.

The next day begun like the last one, I woke up with a cold sweat on my brow and a nightmare I couldn't recall. After I regained my composure I went down to the waterfall for a quick swim, it was the best way to wake myself up after a rough night's sleep. The water pools were gleaming in the early morning sun, I wasted no time diving into their watery bliss. I didn't know if Twilight was going to meet me or I was just going to go straight to the orchard. After a little waiting with no disruption from a pony entering the forest, I decided to just go to the farm. My hooves still shook as I left the forest and my body braced for pain, but I closed my eyes and ran out like a madman until I had got a good distance away from the forest.

I decided to give my wings a good test flight, after 2000 years without properly using them I had a lot to learn about safely flying. Instead of being a graceful prince flying through the sky I looked more like a newly hatched bird flying in a thunderstorm, after constantly spinning out and a few crashes I decided it would be safer for everypony if I just walked the rest of the way. I then got lost amongst the never ending apple trees, it seemed to go on forever, with apples trees in every direction. I was about to take off to get a birds eye view of the orchard, but I spotted a big red earth pony walking around, he had a sparkly green apple as a cutie mark and a horse collar so I assumed he was one of the workers here.

“Hey!” I called, catching his attention. I closed the distance to him and met him at eye level, I was the same height as him but nowhere near the size of him, years of working the farm had turned him into a brick wall. “Listen, no time to explain, do you know where Applejack is?” I asked, he pointed his large hoof over to a very obvious barn. I mentally scolded myself for not seeing it before. A gave a sheepish smile, “Oh yeah, thanks,” I left him without another word, but I heard a 'eeyup' from behind me. The barn was quite stereotypical, like the ones in picture books for young children. The large double doors were already open so I poked my head through to see what was inside. Applejack was inside, stacking empty buckets onto a cart and a small filly help organize these buckets. The filly noticed me first and tapped Applejack on the shoulder to get her attention.

“What is it Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked, she looked to the filly then to me. “Oh, Autumn, I wasn't expectin' you this early, come on in,”

“I ain't got anywhere else to be, its either this or Twilight giving me a job to do,” I said, walking into the barn and next to her. Looking over the buckets reminded me, I hadn't brought back the buckets I borrowed, damn it.

“Hey there mister, are you the stallion ma sister was telling me about?” the filly asked in a accent similar to Applejack's, I guessed Applejack was the sister the filly was talking about.

“I guess I am,” I replied, keeping an eye on Applejack for any interruptions. She kept her eyes on her little sister.

“I'm Apple Bloom, ma sister said I have to keep ya company while your workin',” the filly bounced. She didn't seem scared of my yet, her sister probably hadn’t told her I was the ruler of that place fillies aren't meant to go to because they'll get gobbled up by monsters.

“Fine by me,” I muttered, the filly bounced again. I found it interesting that Applejack trusted me not to hurt her little sister, guessing my legend didn't involved me hurting kids. Applejack had finished stacking the cart and attached it to her back.

“Come on you two, we've got work ta do,” Applejack began walking with her sister still in the back of the cart. I followed both of them until we reached some apple trees with apples ready for picking.

Apple Bloom pushed a few buckets off the cart and jumped off. “Let me show ya how we do it at Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack said, her sister had moved the buckets into the correct places around the tree. Applejack moved into place, “Its all 'bout positioning yourself correctly, then ya kick,” she gave the tree a powerful knock, the apples fell into the buckets. “Easy right? Now you try,” she indicated over to the next tree, Apple Bloom had already moved the buckets into place.

“Can't I just use magic, it would save a lot of time,” I offered, pointing to my horn. Applejack shock her head.

“Unicorns,” she mumbled whist rolling her eyes. “When ya kick the tree and the apples fall, it sorts the good apples from the bad apples, so only the best apple get sold,” she informed, made sense, but it was still really slow.

“Fair enough,” I moved over to the tree, raised my body up to kick and... fell flat onto my face. Both Apple Bloom and her sister starting giggling, I started laughing myself, I guess it was pretty funny, though their laughing brought back some painful memories.

“Don't worry partner, even the best of us mess up on the first couple times, try again,” Applejack reassured, helping me to my hooves. I readied myself again, this time aware of the sudden weight I was putting on my forehooves, I then delivered a kick to the tree, some but not all of the apple fell into the buckets. I gave the tree a second buck and the rest fell into the buckets.

“Good job mister,” Apple Bloom cheered, her sister gave a reassuring nod.

“Alright Autumn, I think you're ready to get to work,” Applejack said, she turned to her sister, “Sis, you know where to take him, Big Mac should have left some buckets there,” she ordered, her sister nodded.

“This way mister,” Apple Bloom started walking away and I followed her.

“You're acting very formal around me, what gives?” I inquired, Apple Bloom looked up at me.

“Aren't you a prince? The only other alicorn I know is Twilight Sparkle and she's a princess!” She exclaimed, I wasn't a full prince but I could understand her confusion. The wings and horn were kind of the first things that differentiate a member of royalty from the masses.

“Sort of, its a long story,” I begun, “For now, just call me Autumn,” she didn't look very satisfied with my response.

“Long story huh? Its a long walk as well,” she responded with a sneaky smile.

“Princess Celestia seems certain that I will one day become a proper prince, yet Luna doesn't seem very keen on that idea,” I explained, hoping that would sate her thirst for knowledge, it didn't.

“But you’ve already got the wings and horn haven't ya? I thought Celestia only ascended ponies when they were ready to become royalty?” she continued to search for answers. I had misjudged her, she knew what she was talking about, I guess that what I get when I stereotype. I also took note that she said 'ponies', as in more than one pony have been ascended into royalty since I was gone.

“I didn't get these wings and horn from Celestia, I got these... from somewhere else,” I said reluctantly, she didn't need to know about that gruesome day, she was only a little filly. “I was an earth pony like you before, let me tell you, you never get use to the wings or horn,”

“I've never heard of a earth pony ascension before! Do you think one day I'll be a princess!” she squeaked, it was rather adorable, the innocences of a filly. Besides, what would she be... the 'princess of apples'?

“Maybe, but I guessing Celestia is pretty strict about alicorn ascension,” I said, I think she didn't hear the last part as she started skipping the rest of the way, a large grin on her face. When we got to where we were going she hopped onto the cart that had already been left like Applejack said it would be. She moved the buckets next to the trees and waited for me to start kicking. This is my time to shine

Applejack made this look easy, while she could knock all the apples out of the tree with a single kick, I had to do 3 or 4 just to get them all to fall. After I had got them all out of the tree some wouldn't fall into the buckets, meaning me and Apple Bloom would have to collect them up by hoof. When we had used up all the buckets and had loaded them up onto the cart, we had to take it back to the barn. I walked into the barn and Bloom waited outside, she offered to help me unload and reload the cart but it seemed easier to just use magic to do it, besides Applejack wouldn't complain too much about me using my magic to move the buckets. As I was about to exit the barn, I heard the unmistakable sound of a pegasus landing outside.

“Hey Bloom, is AJ around?” the pegasus asked, I spotted a crack in the barn wall and peeked through it. The pegasus was every colour of the spectrum, but no doubt her colours were the only thing bright about her.

“She's around here somewhere Rainbow, search around and you'll find her somewhere,” Bloom replied.

“I'm surprised you're not with her, she normally gets you to help her on a Saturday,” the mare said, Apple Bloom looked into the barn door.

“I'm helpin' the new guy settle in, he's in the barn right now,” Apple Bloom informed, the mare looking into the barn as well.

“New guy?” she muttered. That was my cue, I stepped out the shadowy barn and into the sunlight. My wings were outstretched and my horn visible amongst my hair just to make sure she recognised me as an alicorn and not just a unicorn or fellow pegasi.

“Hello miss, I heard you were looking for a prince,” I greeted, she looked a bit thrown back by my alicoriness. I pushed out the cart with my magic and stopped in next to me. Apple Bloom must of thought I was trying to impress her, but the mare and me both knew that I was trying to intimidate.

“Prince? Equestria has no princes,” she pointed her hoof at me accusingly. I chuckled, she was right and wrong, my legend called me a prince. Maybe I had found the only pony in the whole of Equestria that hadn't heard my legend yet.

“He's ain't a prince yet, but Celestia's certain he will be one soon!” Bloom exclaimed, her rushing to my defence was something I wasn't expecting, and from her face the pegasus wasn't expecting it either.

“You've talked to Celestia?” she asked me. She had stepped forward slightly, making herself in between me and Apple Bloom.

“Yep, accompanied by Princess Twilight Sparkle herself,” I assured, the mare didn't seem that convinced.

“Oh really?” she persisted, I nodded. “So if I go and ask my friend, Twilight Sparkle, that a alicorn was running around, she would know exactly who you are?” she challenged, she was prepared to go through great lengths to make sure I was safe. It was admirable and a bit foolish, if I was a danger I wouldn't be working in an apple field.

“She would know exactly who I am,” I replied, knowing full well that she wouldn't just take my word for it.

Apple Bloom stepped up from behind the rainbow mare. “Twilight was the one that brought him here,” she pointed out for the mare. “and ma sister promised he's friendly,”

“Do you trust him Bloom? He seems a bit...” the mare paused, unable to think of the correct word.

“A bit...?” I pushed.

“Strange,” said the mare with rainbow coloured hair. I apparently didn't meet to some standard ponies were meant to meet. Honestly I was surprised that she hadn't figured it out yet, maybe she didn't believe in the Everfree prince.

“I like 'im, he's nice,” Bloom said with a bright grin. I had never really described myself as nice, but Bloom couldn't have said it at a better time. The mare looked down at the filly, then back to me.

“Suppose if Apple Bloom trusts you, then I guess I should give you a chance,” the mare finally said, she rose her hoof towards me. “I'm Rainbow Dash,”

I reluctantly met her hoof with my own, “Autumn Leaves,”

“Alright, I better get going, see you later, Bloom, Leaves,” she took off into the air.

She called me 'Leaves', the last pony to call me that died. “No... don't call me that, call me Autumn,” I hissed, both Rainbow and Bloom were shocked by my sudden tone change.

“Oh, sorry,” Rainbow quickly corrected. “I've gotta dash, later,” and she left, kicking up a cloud of dust over us. I watched her fly away and land not too far away, maybe she spotted Applejack working in the fields, or maybe she just wanted to get away from me. I turned my attention back to Apple Bloom, who still looked a bit frightened. I gave her a small, reassuring smile.

“We should get back to work,” I said, she nodded and I lifted her up onto the cart. We returned to where to started our work, the sun was pretty high in the sky so I assumed it was nearly noon.

Apple Bloom said I had finished all of the tree that needed to be done. My legs were killing me and the open sunlight was finally getting to me. Me and Bloom waited in the shade for a few minutes to let the sharp pain in my legs die down, it was relaxing, the gentle beams of natural light breaking through the leaves overhead, the blades of grass tickling under my stomach, wind blowing my hair delicately. Slowly the pulsing pain stopped and subsided to a slight ache.

The more I thought about it, the more the entire orchard seemed deserted, the only ponies I had seen on this farm that worked here were Applejack and that red guy. “Hey Apple Bloom, where is everypony?” I asked.

“What'd ya mean?”

“Where are all the workers? I've seen nopony out here expect for us,” I gestured my hoof to the trees, there was an uncountable amount of trees in this farm with nopony harvesting them.

“The only ponies that work here are ma brother and sister,” she said, Applejack managed this orchid with only one extra farm hand, I can see why she was so lenient to have me work here.

“Really? All by themselves?”

“Yep,” she seemed to be trying to mask the achievement, I was still trying in figure out how Applejack kept up with such a feat.

“And do you only do apples here? It seems the only thing here is endless apple trees,” I inquired, several acres of land being used only for apple farming seemed a bit of a poor choice.

“We sometimes grow some corn or carrots, but that's about it,” she replied, it made sense I guess.

“Why not 2 fruits and 2 vegetables, surely that would be much better,” I suggested, Bloom turned to look and glared at me.

“Why? What's wrong with apples?” she demanded, I was taken back by her sudden defensive tone.

“Nothing wrong with apples, just maybe something like oranges might be good for business,” I said, oranges would be a good change of pace from apples.

Bloom looked down at her hooves and shocked her head in disappointment, “Don't ever let Applejack know you said that, she'll never forgive you,”

After a short while, Bloom's ear pricked up and her head turned. On the top of a small hill that was close by, a orange pegasus on a scooter scooted her way over to us, attached to said scooter was a bright red trailer with a marshmallow unicorn holding on tightly.

In a cloud of dust, the scooter grinded to a halt, staying just out of the shade of the tree. Apple Bloom jumped up to meet the two fillies, I stayed in the shadows of the tree, watching with artificial interest.

“Howdy girls, we ready ta get started?” Bloom said, the unicorn hopped off the trailer, the pegasus didn't get off her scooter but removed her helmet, her purple hair swaying into place.

“Sure thing, we've alright dropped off the things at the clubhouse,” the unicorn said next to her, apparently unaware of the creepy prince watching them. The pegasus – as she wasn't part of the conversation – took a quick glance around until her eyes caught the mystery. She froze when she saw me, at first I thought she was going to scream, yet she didn't, braver than I first thought.

“Good, we'll earn our cutie marks in a flash, I'm sure of it!” Bloom reassured. Of course, they were all blank flanks, I remember the struggle to find my own, hoping the day I get it would be glorious, but after that day I wished I never found my mark.

The unicorn must of noticed how silent her friend was, she followed the pegasus' gaze over to me. She didn't respond the way I thought she would either, instead of being shocked or frightened, she looked excited.

“A princess!” she pointed a hoof at me. All three's attention was on me now, their childish eyes washing away any attempted to hide myself.

I stood up and walked into the clear light, “I believe the term is prince,” I informed, the curious unicorn broke off into a run towards me. When she reached me, her hooves reach out to grab me. I blocked her with my magic, “No-no, no touchy,” the filly left out a disappointed sigh.

“Err... Girls this is Autumn,” Apple Bloom gestured to me, the pegasus continued to stare at me as if I was some sort of monster. I gave a friendly wave of my hoof to her in an attempted to make myself look more innocent in her eyes.

“Hi Autumn, I really like your mane,” the unicorn complemented, I stared, dumbfounded

by her seemingly random choice of words. I never really did anything to it (Besides making it smell like strawberries), it was just in the way most of the time.

“Thanks...”

The pegasus dropped her helmet to the dirt, her scooter stayed upright as she took a step closer to me. “Who are you?” she asked, apparently she didn't hear Apple Bloom introduce me.

“Like Apple Bloom said, I'm Autumn Leaves,” I said, she didn't look convinced.

“No, who are you, really?” she continued, I wasn't the only one not to understand the filly's persistent question, both the unicorn and Bloom shared a unsure glance.

“I don't understand what you mean, I've already told you my name...”

“I don't want your name, I want your title, princess Celestia, ruler of the sun, Princess Luna ruler of the moon, what about you?” she took a step each time she paused for breath until she was a mere meter from me.

“Prince Autumn, ruler of the Everfree Forest,” I replied with a reluctant tone. I didn't know why she was so eager to know my title, but I was sure to find out soon. Both Bloom and the unicorn didn't seem too bothered by this information, yet the pegasus seemed concerned by it.

“What, the Prince of the Everfree Forest, or just a cheap knock off?” she asked, even a filly knew more about my legend than me, it was starting to get really irritating.

“Pretty sure I'm the real deal,” I said, she knew my legend but didn't seem too thrown back by me, maybe my legend wasn't so bad after all.

The little unicorn let out a excited gasp. “Does that mean you get to boss around all the creatures, I want a pet timberwolf,” the filly once again, moved a bit too close for comfort. I pushed her back before continuing.

“That not exactly how it works, they will listen to me, but won't obey every command unless it benefits them,” I explained, the filly sighed, but didn't lose her excitable spark.

Apple Bloom looked puzzled, “Ya can control the Everfree Forest's creatures, how?” she asked. I thought they would be more frightened by me being the lord of that place of nightmares, let alone being able to control the horrific creatures that lurk within its confines.

“Give anything 2000 years and it will eventually come to accept you, even if it doesn't want to,” I said, keeping it purposely vague. Her nose scrunched but she didn't continue to ask questions. The pegasus' silence was intriguing, after her persistence in knowing my title I was expecting a constant barrage of questions, but instead she just stared with zipped lips.

“Since you know me, what about you, what do they call you?” I looked down at the pegasus, but casted eyes over at the unicorn as well.

“I'm Scootaloo,” the pegasus muttered.

“And I'm Sweetie Belle!” the unicorn chimed.

Apple Bloom, with a sudden sense of urgency, climbed into the trailer. “Come on girls, we've wasted enough time, let's get our cutie marks,” she commanded. With a group cheer, Scootaloo picked up her helmet and wasted no time planting it on her head. Sweetie got in next to Bloom and leaned over the edge of the trailer.

“Bye bye prince Autumn!” Belle yelled as the trailer shot off, kicking up dust at me. I watched them ride away, thoughts about what I should do now popping to mind. I still had a cart load of apples to bring back to the barn, maybe I'll run into Applejack on the way and I can get a idea on what to do next.

Thankful I did find Applejack working the orchard, a cart full of apples trudging behind her, when she saw me, she waved me over.

She tipped her hat, “Howdy Autumn, glad ta see you've been busy,” she greeted, I was glad she didn't call me 'Leaves', maybe Rainbow told her my displeasure about that name.

I pulled up beside her, “Very busy, already got a cart load back at the barn,” I reported, she nodded her head.

“Mighty fine work, I should get you ta work full time, you seem ta have some real talent in apple buckin',” I said, kicking trees wasn't something I thought would take talent, but the feelings in my legs were telling me otherwise.

“I'm afraid I can't feed a whole forest apples for eternity, but if I can't get a better solution then I'll happily work here again,” I replied. We began to walk side by side with our carts, I was trusting her to know the way back to the barn, because I didn't have a clue.

“Things that bad over at the Everfree?” she asked, 'bad' was an understatement, and I only knew half of it, I still didn't know how well the manticores or the ursas were doing.

“I don't even know where to start, all the animals look to me and I can't ever find a way to make them happy. When I do find a way to sate their hunger, it only returns the next day,” I explained, looking down at my hooves, my grass green tainted by the muddy brown. “I even end up starving myself just so I don't feel bad about taking something I could give away, the feeling of hunger is a lot better than guilt,” my mouth was about to utter more words, until I stop it, something about this mare made me want to spill my guts. Like she had this aura of honesty around her.

We both stopped, Applejack tossed a juicy red apple towards me, “Here, take it,” she said, I didn't need to be told twice. In a smooth motion I popped the apple into my mouth, it tasted as good as it looked, fresh and ripe.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. I wasn't fond of being in debt to somepony, but the apple was worth it, I guess being in debt for 10 buckets of apples didn't really compare to a single apple though. “I'm surprised that all you ponies are so accepting of me, being a freak that was banished to a creepy forest with only monsters as friends, I wasn't expecting such kindness,”

“Now why ya callin' yourself a 'freak', nothin' wrong with you,” she did little air quotes with her hooves, apparently ignoring my statement apart from the freak bit.

“I'm not one of your princess's pureblood alicorns, got these wings and horn straight from the forest,” I explained, I had a slight feeling that she already knew that from Twilight.

“How'd that happen?” she asked, the questions turning to a sensitive topic.

I paused before answering, she didn't need to know, I doubt she would understand either. “No... never mind that,” I muttered.

“Don't worry, we don't have ta talk about anything ya don't want to talk about,” she reassured, I suddenly started feeling like I was in therapy, only with more apples. “Do you remember life before become an alicorn?” she began to fiddle with the band in her hair, like she was feeling nervous.

I was hesitant to reply, something was wrong. “Yes, I wish I didn't, just glad its in the past,” I let out a slight hiss at the thought.

“Tell me about it, why are ya glad?” she continued to push the subject, then a thought came to mind.

“Did Twilight put you up to this?” I inquired, she bounced back slightly, her reaction told me that my accusation was right.

“Look partner, Twilight wants ta help ya, but you've got to tell us what's wrong first,” she said. I admired her honesty, it almost made me want to give in.

“You've known me for about a day, Twilight's known me for 3, you can't expect me to just open up like that,” I exclaimed, Applejack sighed.

“Twilight thinks-”

I interrupted her, “Twilight can suck a horn, as soon as she sees me as a pony and not some sort of test the better,” I closed my eyes in an attempted to vent my sudden frustration, when I opened them I expected an annoyed looking Applejack, instead she still wore her face of understanding.

“Autumn, I'll admit that Twilight can be a bit overbearing sometimes, but she means the best for ya, I promise you that,” maybe she was right, but I was right too, Twilight can wait as long as I want before I’ll tell her anything.

“That maybe so, but don't expect me to suddenly start confessing to her, if she going to make me wait then I'll make her wait for me to,” I countered, I didn't want to start an argument with Applejack, but I wasn't about to roll over for Twilight either.

We took the apple carts back to the barn, 2 carts was definitely a fair trade. I had no idea what the time was, early evening I guess. So I had the rest of the day to do whatever I liked, didn't really want to go into the town fully, I'd feel a lot better if I had Twilight or somepony else with me first. Didn't want to go back to the forest, maybe I'll wander or practices flying again, flying seemed like it would be an important thing to learn again.

“What are ya going ta do now?” Applejack asked, unhinging the cart off her back.

“Dunno, stuff...” I replied, leaving the barn without another word. Stuff, so much I can do now, with such little time to do it all.

5. Reflection

Water, always unbiased and could never lie to you. Throughout my whole life I had looked down into the damp abyss and hated what reflected back at me. When I was an earth pony, I'd look at my damaged face and despise my weaknesses, then I got my wings and horn I hated my strengths. Now I just look down into it and see if its all still there, hoping I had just dreamt it all. I wouldn't of had it any other way though, if the forest hadn't chosen me it would have picked somepony else to become a alicorn. The thought of somepony selfish getting a hold on my kind of power is terrifying.

I didn't know how it felt for Twilight and how many other alicorns there were running about, but my ascension was far from graceful. The unnatural warping and shifting under my skin from my wings tearing free as bone and muscle was pushed aside to make way for these two appendages to break free. The feeling of a headache turning physical as my skull was altered to make way for my sleek horn to turn skywards. The word to describe it, unnatural.

Honestly, it was mostly just a blur. I was young, tears flowing down my face and tired, puffy eyes darting in panic. I had ran, ran further that I thought was possible for my tiny little legs, the forest was in front of me, I wanted to go in there and never come out. To die where nothing could find me. But something found me, a mist of violent purple and sickly green seeped from the trees and earth, it consumed me and changed me into... this.

I think, deep down, the forest felt my pain and anger, it gave me a way to act out my revenge, but I just played the fool to the forest's machinations. Pain's a good catalyst, that why I was chosen, the shattered heart of a survivor in my chest and angelic tears running free down my muzzle.

The Everfree was far from done though, instead of leaving me a traumatized alicorn colt, it pumped pure magical energy into me until I could burn holes into the floor. I saw my reflection on that day to, eyes like liquid fire with the same purple mist running from the whites. The horn looked fake, like it had been glued onto my head with wings stitched to my sides, yet I could control both of them. Little earth pony me didn't know what to do, he originally wanted to go to the royal castle, it was only a short walk away, now I wish I did do that. Some magic discharge dripped out of my horn, some would call it liquid magic, magic that hasn't been processed by the soul just yet. Pure magic.

The little golden drop splashed against the water, rippling my reflection. At first, nothing, then the water started to bubble and boil. One single drop was able to get the water pool to rise in temperature until it became a hot spring, the immense power the forest gave me was incomprehensible for little me to understand.

Then the bright idea came to his head, he pointed his horn at a shrub. He thought about the shrub burning, when he opened his eyes it had turned to ash. Little me couldn't stop there though, he crushed boulders, tore down trees and made waterfall run backwards. Then his mind turned dark, crushing goldilocks, tearing down her snobby nosed coltfriend and making his friends run backwards in terror. A twisted smile etched on his face, little me went off to get his revenge. And here I was, looking into my reflection 2000 years later, paying the price of that decision.

Living a life mostly dictated by other ponies, I never had the chance to make many decisions of my own, but crusading for my own personal revenge was one that haunted me still.

A single tear spilled from my eye, ran down my face and splashed into the water, rippling my reflection.

A certain rainbow haired mare found me and told me that Twilight wanted to speak with me about 'important alicorn stuff'. Rainbow Dash wasn't keen on talking much more after she pasted on her message, leaving me alone in the peaceful sunset lit hills. I didn't really care how important it was, I was enjoying my walk and I would finish it when I was ready, Twilight could wait until the sunset had gone.

I didn't hate Twilight, it was quite the opposite in fact. But I was getting my own life and would finally be able to do the things I wanted to do, the last thing I wanted was to give Twilight the impression that she owns me. I wasn't going to dismiss her part in me getting this life, so I would have to listen to her eventually.

It seemed, no matter what I do or am, I will always have to live in somepony else's shadow. Whether its Celestia by day, brushing me under the carpet and keeping me out of her ethereal graces. Or it was Luna by night, looking over my shoulders and taking notes on all my dreams and late night machinations, remembering all my dreams of power and seeming evil deeds but never mentioning my dreams of sorrow or regret to Celestia. These two where able to keep me in the dark, never mentioning me or visiting in 2000 years, the only whisper that got out was a legend that was told by mystic witch doctors and jumpy school kids.

All of this was done for the greater good, as Celestia said, “Equestria comes first,”. She was right, millions of ponies lived under Equestria's banner and I was a threat to them all, back then. Now I worked on a higher authority, Celestia locked me away because I was a danger to the millions, but now I had to save the zillions of zebras, griffins and ponies that shared this planets, when the time comes, I wasn't going to let Celestia stand in the way. Equestria comes first.

The sun had set, Twilight time reigned over the kingdom now. Rainbow said her castle was hard to miss, close to the town, but I wouldn't have to go into it. I was interested to see what 'important alicorn stuff' we would be talking about, no doubt this will be her chance to ask me any questions she wanted answers for, and I would have to answer them for her if I wanted to get in her good graces.

I made my way to the castle, like Rainbow said, it was hard to miss. It sprouted up like a tree from the ground and inside its crystal grasp, a rather normal looking building nestled inside the crystal confines.

I reached the large, double doors and knocked. There was movement up above on the balcony that overlooked the entrance. Soon enough, after some bickering sounds and the rustling of paper, a familiar face mare looked over the balcony's edge. A smile of relief mixed with with fear grew on her purple lips.

“Autumn, so glad you made it,” she turned her head back into the room, when it returned to me it had panic etched all over it with a poor attempt to mask it. “I-I be down in a minute,” she mumbled before going back inside, without even waiting for a response from me. After more sounds of objects being thrown or pushed, Twilight made it to the door and opened it.

“A princess that opens her own door, impressive,” I muttered as I entered the main room. The room was strange, a high celling with 7 thrones in a circle around a disk shaped object, on each of the chairs were cutie marks, some I recognised some I didn't.

“Follow me, we can talk somewhere more private,” she gestured to one of the thrones, on it was a familiar sleeping dragon, snoozing away peacefully. I did as requested and follow Twilight to a smaller, cosier room. This room had a toasty fire and a surprisingly ordinary desk, on top of where books staked high along side notes and scrolls. A pot of ink and a quill rested near a empty piece of parchment. By the fire were 2 armchairs with soft paddings on both the seat and back rest, a mahogany coffee table divided the 2 chairs from each other, on the table were more books, though these were for more leisurely purposes.

“Would you like some tea? I was just about to make some,” she offered, I had no idea what tea was but it sounded nice.

“Sure, I guess,” I replied, she told me to sit down while she got the tea. I sat down and didn't stop myself from sinking into the soft padding, my hind legs drooping to the floor and my back resting against the spongy fabric. It probably didn't look professional but was definitely comfortable, I prioritized one over the other.

Twilight returned shorty with 2 mugs in magic, she rested them both onto the coffee table on coasters and advised me not to drink it yet, for it was still hot. She took her seat in the armchair opposite and watched me in silence, my eyes were focused on the gentle flames of the fire, it mysterious properties licking against the small confines of the fire place. Trying to break free.

“I got a letter,” Twilight said quietly, as if she was trying not to disturb me. My head flopped in her direction.

“From who?” I asked with little interest, my money was on Celestia.

“Princess Luna,” she informed, I sat up a bit, suddenly interested in what that letter had to say. “She thought it would be beneficial for me to know those dreams you keep having,”

“I've had a lot of dreams over the years, must have been a long letter,” I chucked to myself, I was faking my silliness, I knew exactly what dream she was on about.

“No really, she only told me two dreams,” Twilight levitated over a scroll from somewhere. “The first one was you breaking your banishment and using the Everfree creatures to take control of Equestria, over the course of several dreams you took over Ponyville, Canterlot and Manehattan, freezing the residence in cockatrice magic,” she eyed me curiously, as if she was expecting an explanation. She wouldn't understand, it was all necessary in saving Equestria, but I couldn't stop the smile from growing on my face.

“I'm sorry Twilight, but I can't tell you about that,” I said, she didn't look impressed.

“You'll tell me, or I'll throw you into the forest again for another millennium,” she threatened, she wasn't so friendly when Equestria's safety was on the line, I guess I had no choice.

“It was just a foolish fantasy, something to entertain myself, I wasn't serious about it,” I lied, she wasn't buying it.

“I'm not stupid Autumn, I can tell when somepony's lying to me,” she hissed, well at least I tried. I was going to have to explain it to her one way or another, now or in 1000 years time, it didn't matter to her.

“Fine,” I threw myself back into the chair, my body sliding lifelessly into the chair. “Remember the apocalypse I told you about, I can't stop it completely, but I can stop the damage. If everything, from the smallest bug to the biggest ursa major is turned to stone, they can survive the damage. So I can stop the planet cracking in two and stop any widespread panic about it,” I explained my reasoning, she looked sceptical but knew I wasn't lying either.

“But what about the cockatrices themselves?” she asked, of course they couldn't freeze themselves but could freeze each other.

“Cockatrices can turn each other to stone, the last one I can handle,” Simple really, basic magical deflection could bounce the cockatrice's gaze back at itself.

“What about you, you'll be unprotected,” she asked, I detected a hint of concern for my well-being in her voice.

“I hadn't thought up that part yet, I'll think of something,” I reassured, I guess I secretly hoped to never find a way to survive, I'd lived long enough and an apocalypses was a good excuse to finally end my life. It was selfish though, somepony had to look over the ponies as they reawakened and re-adapted to the world that had been changed by the apocalypse.

“What is this apocalypse and why can't we see it Autumn? If it is as catastrophic as you say it is then we should at least see sighs!” Twilight exclaimed, I barely knew what caused the apocalypse let alone if their was any sighs for it.

“I don't know, but keep your eyes on the sky,” I replied, it comes from above, that all I knew. It was my destiny to stop it though, my one purpose it this world, to reunite with my powers and save Equestria from complete destruction. That's why I was an alicorn and that's why I'm still alive.

Twilight sighed loudly, this topic being mostly guesswork was annoying her, so we moved on to a different topic. “What's the second dream Luna told you about?” I asked, fairly curious about it, I doubt she talked about my time when my face was thrown into mud or me getting pinned into a corner by school yard punks.

Twilight's eyes turned apologetic. “She said you have constant nightmares about your past, I'll spare you the details, I'm sure you already know them all anyway,” her voice was a whisper, a sensitive topic required a sensitive voice. My head was lowered to the floor, my body no longer leaning over in comfort but up straight.

“Just a nightmare, nothing more...” I muttered, lips quivering. I crossed my forehooves awkwardly, never rising my head to met Twilight's eyes.

“But it all happened in real life, didn't it?” she eventually asked the killer question, I wondered how much she knew, how much detail did Luna go into? I hoped for her to already know everything, but I knew she was clueless and I would have to explain everything to her in detail that would bring it back to my reality.

“Yes... but instead of being the better pony, I got my revenge, justified vengeance...” A violent shudder rippled down my spine. The room turned cold and quiet, the wooden flooring reminding me of the schoolhouse from so long ago.

“What happened Autumn? Both you and Celestia keep mentioning it, something bad must of happened if you got banished for so long...” she enquired, I braved my head up and locked eyes for just a second, that second turned into a minute as I silently challenged her with my gaze.

“I... I killed them all... every... single... one...” I uttered, sounding like I was coming to terms with it myself. Twilight shuddered away and shrunk into her chair, eyes wide at me in terror. I don't know what she was expecting me to say.

“Murderer... you're a murderer...” she mumbled, her eyes never leaving me, whether from fear or shock I didn't know. I honestly expected Celestia to warn Twilight about this, that somewhere along the line she would at least mention that her new friend was a killer.

“I know I can't change the past, but just so you know I have regretted killing them for every second of my life, even after 2000 years I still don't think that's enough payment,” I remarked, making sure she understood my side of the story. I knew she could never see past my murderous pasted, I just hoped she wouldn't be scared of me.

“Why did you kill them, innocent ponies, how could you!?” she cried, her eyes burnt at me, burns of sadness and a sense of disappointment. I couldn't help to feel like I had let her down, and I didn't know why.

Words didn't seem to describe the hell I felt back then, everything I could say turned to dust in my mouth, I couldn't tell her. I couldn't tell her with words, but I could show her. “Do you want me to show you?” I asked, hopping out of my chair and taking a step towards her.

She to, jumped out of her chair, but stepped back and away from me. I couldn't blame her, she was finally seeing the monster I was. But I couldn't let her go either, not until she saw what happened that day. “What do you mean?” she demanded.

“I can't explain it, you're going to have to trust me,” I replied, it was not going to work, she had no reason to trust the pony killer.

Like I thought, she wasn't buying it. “No, Why would I trust you?” she said, taking another step back. Criminals were rare, a life of crime wasn't appealing to many ponies at all, only the lowest of the low would steal or bring harm to a fellow pony. Murder was something unheard of to most ponies, something kept inside books and history lectures, on the rarest of rare occasions and a pony finds itself with blood on its hooves, imprisonment in the darkest dungeons is an instant sentence, maybe the pony would find its own life taken from it as future punishment.

So when I looked in Twilight's fearful eyes, I understood her fear, “Celestia trusts me, and do you think she would leave me alone with you if I was a danger to you,” I stood a second step around the coffee table.

Twilight's head turned to the floor at my words, I'd hit the nail on the head, her trust in Celestia's judgement was one of her soft spots. “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing that will harm you,” so long as it all goes to plan, I'd never tried this on a pony before. Her head looked up, we were closer now, my eyes looking slightly down at her. She let out a sigh, then nodded her head, giving me the all clear.

“Now I don't know how well this is going to go, so be ready with some fancy magic,” I informed, but before Twilight could call out her protest, we tapped horns. The room around us dissolved into a blaze of white light, the walls melted away like hot candle wax and the floor was painted a thousand colours as we fell past every memory I had until we fell upon one exact minute, on one exact day.

At least the memory I was emulating was compressed into one room, Twilight face was etched with many different emotions, the most dominate one though was surprise.

She gasped as her eyes darted around the room, “A memory spell comprised of past experiences!” she exclaimed, it was a badly casted spell, the windows were colourless and grey, flickers of white light occasionally broke through my severely limited magical grasp and I almost lost my control several times during transfer into the memory. “Autumn, this is incredible, how are you able to do this,”

Honestly, I felt like I couldn't, my magic was weakening and failing. Ears rang and a headache tore in my skull, few things could make a unicorn feel worse than magic fatigue. Twilight must of saw my distress, she enveloped my horn in her magic, giving me access to her magical energy as well.

With the addition of Twilight's magic, the rest of the memory began to surface. Ponies, going about their normal school-day. They sat in chairs or lead against tables or walls, laughing, smiling and talking with their friends, no idea that they would all be dead in a few minutes.

“What going on Autumn?...” Twilight asked, I was transfixed on the room around us, it had been so long since I'd last seen it, it still made me feel sick. “Autumn?...”

Somepony screamed outside, catching everypony's attention, they all fell silent. The old door handle rattled, all eyes turned to look at it, all wondered who was on the other side, except me. The door opened with a creek, through the white light of the outside eluded the figure of a unicorn, except he had his wings outstretched. Tied around his neck was a familiar looking blanket, blowing in the wind.

At the sight, everypony broke out into a fit of laughter, hooves pointed at the alicorn in the door. One pegasus with gelled back black hair stepped forward, hoof pointed at the door, “Hey look everypony, Autumn's turned into a pretty princess!” he summoned up more cackles. Young Me stepped into the room, posture readying my body to ponce, my young eyes closed and when they opened, they burned a purple and green flame.

The pegasus achieved flight, but not from his wings, instead with hooves flaying he was chucked towards me and Twilight. We both moved out of the way, despite not being real in the memory. The pegasus collided with the wall head first, the crunch of bones breaking along with the sound of pony meat hitting the floor made the room fall into a ghostly silence. The pegasus never got back up.

“Autumn, what have you done?” A unicorn asked in disbelief. Some ponies moved towards the dead pegasus to see if anything could be done. I had no intention to kill him, past me looked around as ponies started muttering, a few saying they were going to get help. Little me slammed the doors shut and secured the windows.

“Shut up!” Little Me yelled, a few ponies closed their flabby mouths but some still yammered on. He put his hooves to his head, closed his glowing eyes and begun muttering a pray to Celestia. I knew that inside my little head was a choir of voices, all telling him different things, 'Kill them' or 'Run away' were the two most dominate voices.

“I'll go get help!” a pony shouted, beginning to smash at the glass windows. She had climbed onto a cabinet to get to the window and with a book in her magic, she was wailing on the window with all her strength. The sound of the book hitting against the window along with the grunts of the mare holding it was doing the one thing Little Me hated, noise. When the glass inevitably broke, the shards surrounded by a sickly mix of purple and green coloured magic found her face, she screamed and tumbled back onto the floor.

With the death of a second pony, everypony started to panic, screams and shouts for help and the hammering of hooves at the door made more and more noise. Little Me couldn't handle it, “Shut up, Shut up, Shut up!” he roared, nopony listened, lost in their blind panic.

Little Me put his head up and closed his eyes, “SHUT UP!” he voice created a blast of energy that knocked everypony off their feet. My rage didn't end there, I poured every sliver of magic out of my body, creating a sizzling ball of energy that scorched the floor. It lifted Little Me's body off the floor, suspended me in the air. All around, ponies that I hated crawled away in fear, my reflection in their eyes was the last thing they saw.

The ball of energy spread out in a quick blast, dropping me to the floor and I landed with a thud. The whole time Little Me didn't dare to open his eyes. For a moment nothing happened, everything was on mute. Then a piece of the celling fell, then another, then another. The walls snapped, splinters of broken wood flying in all directions. Soon enough the whole building collapsed on our heads, crushing everypony. It wasn't just the school house though, it was every building in the village.

Little Me opened his eyes, he darted his head around as he's tiny mind tried to process the chaos around him. For the first time since the memory started, I turned to Twilight. She had started crying at some point, whether she was weeping for the dead or for me didn't matter. “Are you alright?” I asked her.

“I-I had no idea...” she stuttered, I guess it was a lot to take in, I would be confused to if it wasn't my second time in this memory. “You were just a foal, with no control of your magic, I thought you were older when this happened,”

I turned my attention back to Little Me, who had crawled up into a ball by the only standing piece of wall left. Covered by his faithful blanket he cried into his hooves. “Might as well show you the rest,” I mumbled.

The world turned into fast motion, me and Twilight watched as hours pasted without Little Me moving a muscle. It was around evening time when Celestia's chariot arrived escorted by armed guards and her sister's darker blue chariot. Time returned to normal as they began searching the ruins for survivors. They had no success.

Luna and Celestia approached the broken school house, the final building to check. “But Sister, what could have caused such damage?” Luna inquired.

“I have no idea, but keep alert, it could still be here,” Celestia advised.

“I doubt that the monster that done this is still here, if it had any sense it would have ran for its life,” Luna replied, upon hearing these words Little Me stirred up, new-found panic and fear washing over him.

Before he could stand though, Luna had spotted him. The blanket covering up his wings for Luna's sight. “Sister, a survivor!” she informed, Little Me panicked and ran, tripping over on the rubble and falling to the floor. The blanket blew away in the wind.

Luna moved closer and closer, she noticed the wings and horn quickly, immediately becoming suspicious. I picked up my blanket again and knotted it around my neck, covering up my wings again

“Good find sister,” Celestia moved past Luna and towards Little Me.

“Be careful sister, his an alicorn!”

Celestia paused, “Don't be silly sister, we're the only two alicorns,”

Luna stood over Little Me, “See for yourself sister,” she attempted to part Me with my blanket, a big mistake. Without thinking my horn blasted Luna with a magical beam, it deflected off her magic barrier, barely.

Little Me was between two alicorn princesses, the fear I felt was indescribable. Luna had succeed in moving the blanket enough to let Celestia see my wings, if only for a second before she saw my magic. “Attacking a princess! Foolish move!” Luna barked, using a voice louder than necessary. Her horn ready to strike Little Me down, but Celestia blocked her with a hoof.

“Calm down sister, he's only a foal,” Celestia knelt down towards me, our eyes locked and instantly Celestia knew everything. Little Me couldn't hid the guilt and the strike at Luna showed her that I was more powerful than I should be.

“A-Are you going to h-hurt me?” I mumbled behind my blanket, trying to crawl away but I was stuck on my back like an upside down tortoise.

“I promise that you will never get hurt again,” Celestia comforted, “Can you tell us what happened?”

Little Me winced away, “I'm sorry, I didn't want this to happen, I'm so sorry,” I cried, shuffling away from the princesses.

“Wait, you're responsible for this!” Luna exclaimed, she didn't have the perceptive eye her sister had.

A wave of panic washed over Little Me, I wanted a escape and my horn provided one. I teleported up, then again into the distance. Celestia and Luna were left to look around dazed.

“Sister, who was that?” Luna inquired.

“I don't know, I'll chase him, you stay here and clear this mess up,” Celestia commanded, then she sniffed the air, picked a direction and began walking.

“Wait, you can't go alone, its dangerous!” Luna voiced her worry, Celestia turned back with a smile.

“He's just a scared colt, deep down his just a scared and lonely pony,” Celestia said, then turned back to her seemingly random direction and started walking. Twilight tapped real me on the shoulder.

Her eyes were red and puffed up and her voice was shaky. “Can we go back now? I can't watch any more,”

I nodded, ending the spell and again the world dissolved and reshaped until we returned back to reality.

6. Buckets of fun

Both me and Twilight stood in her castle with tears in our eyes, I was reminded of the monster and she witnessed death for the first time. We both took our seats silently, I picked up my tea and put it to my lips. It had turned cold. I glanced over to the clock that rested over the fire place and became alarmingly aware of the time that had pasted.

“So... what happens now?” Twilight asked behind her porcelain mug. She then recoiled back, tongue sticking out in disgust. She put the mug back on the table.

“Dunno... move on, I guess,” I mumbled.

“How can you 'move on' after that?” she remarked, a frown on her face.

“A long time ago, Celestia told me to let go, that my good deeds of the day would wash away past mistakes,” I was like a stained shirt, what I didn't tell Twilight was that the next day Celestia banished me, I guess the stains of the past were too hard to wash out.

“Maybe you're right,” she said, standing up and collecting our mugs. Her eyes caught a glance at the clock, she snapped her head back to it as if she didn't believe that was the true time.

“We were out a while,” I remarked. Twilight's attention turning to the balcony, it was already dark and Luna's moon reign over the night sky.

“We were,” she agreed, then a idea sparked in her head, “Say, I have a spare room around here somewhere, you can stay here if you like,” she offered. Leave the forest for a whole night?

“But what if somepony walks into the forest, no one will be there to protect them, or the timberwolves might get a sense of wanderlust, or -” I begun to panic, yet before I could continue the list of worries, she planted her hoof on my yapping lips.

“You've served for 2000 years, surely you can take one night off,” she said, removing the hoof from my mouth, “And if you stay, with can come up with a solution to the food problem and I can show you around town tomorrow,”

“I have been interested to have a peek around town, I suppose I can stay just one night,” Twilight tapped her hooves together like a little filly.

“Great, this will be fun, I promise...” she wasn't lying. Since Spike was fast asleep, we decided to leave him and try to make some food for ourselves. Both of us didn't have good culinary skills, we burnt the everything we tried and we woke Spike up anyway due to our fits of laughter, so Twilight made him get some take-away. We ate that instead, it was nice to have some food in me after so long without a bite to eat. After washing up, (Which took way longer than it should of done) Spike went off to his room and me and Twilight decided to get down to business.

We laid out a map of Ponyville and its surrounding area, with pieces of blue tack with marked the areas and sources of food. Eventually we narrowed down possible food sources, leaving us with the Ponyville river and several fruit farms. Going even further we found out that it was migration season for many different types of fish and that the river would be teaming with food. All that we needed now were some fishing nets and the time to set them up. After that I would be able to end the food shortage and I could set up a more permanent food system.

I leaned over Twilight's balcony, off in the distance the Everfree Forest waved to me in the wind. The silent call of rustling leaves and splashing puddles, the forest still needed me. It was for the best though, if I didn't stay I couldn't feed the animals, then everything would fall apart. Wouldn't be much of a prince if I didn't have the admiration of my 'subjects', unless I became some tyrannical king. I didn't want to do that, I just wanted to be normal, I had a taste of normal life, and I wanted it more and more, though my purpose in the world told me otherwise. I can't be normal, I have to be a silent protector, even if I have to tear a mother from her foal or rid ponies from the world, it would all be for the greater good. Fate didn't care about me, it care only for the big picture, and the big picture was the survival of Equestria and beyond.

“Are you alright?” the sweet, innocent voice of Twilight called from behind, breaking me from thought.

“I'm fine, just thinking...” I mumbled, she perched next to me and followed the trail my eyes took until she to was looking at the Everfree.

“What does that place mean to you? Its a forest infested by vicious monsters and vile plants, you owe it nothing,”

“Its a forest infested by 'my' vicious monsters and 'my' vile plants, I owe it everything, they kept me company when the world wouldn't,” I snapped back, though not sounding too harsh, “Its not just a place, its my place,”

“I'm just saying, there's nothing stopping you from leaving it behind, starting a new chapter of your life might be the best thing to do,”

“Are you kidding, I couldn't do that even if I wanted, not with these-” I pointed to my wings, “-and this-” tapped my horn, “-you know that to be true, once an alicorn, always an alicorn,”

“Then travel further, go to Saddle Arabia or the Zebra Lands, where having both a horn and wings doesn't matter,” she continued, her persistence was interesting, maybe she didn't want me here, stealing her spotlight or Celestia's attention from her. Or maybe she just wanted what's best for me. For some unknown reason, the thought made a fire in my heart, inspiration guiding my tongue to speak truth.

“No, my place is here, to protect the citizens of Equestria from the dangers that lurk in the shadows, be it dragon, or plant, hydra or bird it would fall to me should it be a danger to the ordinary, or best still, be turned to help us,” I dismounted the stone railing, forcing Twilight to do the same as I held her hooves in my own, “Princess Twilight, you seek to bring harmony to all ponies, but please, let me help you bring harmony to the small critter and largest ursa major, pony and animal working in peace, together we can make this happen,”

Twilight giggled, “So this is what Celestia meant when she said you still had harmony inside you,” she took her hoof away from mine to cover her smile, “Whist it is a lovely thought, there are just too many complication to consider,”

“We can find a way, the combine strength of you and your friends have saved the world from things despite the odds being stacked against you, if we use that along side all my and the princesses powers, who knows what we are capable of!” I tempted, this could be a new dawn for Equestria, a way to leave my mark on the world whist improving it as well.

“Do you really think we could do it?”

“I know we can, you just have to believe,” I held up my free hoof for her to take.

She took it, we both stared into each others lives, sharing the thought of a truly united Equestria where animal and pony would work together. Dragons sharing their wealth, serpents taming the wildest waves, bats spreading seed according to pony organization, timberwolves pups running and playing with ponies like an ordinary dog would.

Then, in the heat of the moment, when everything, no matter how big and menacing it was, seemed insignificant in comparison to the moment. She moved in closer and I followed, lips pressing together in a twilight of passion, for those moments the world was pointless and unimportant, all that matter was that kiss.

Of course, it didn't last. She was the one to move away, hooves scampering away backwards in embarrassment and eyes glued to the floor. Cheeks that burned and eyes that fluttered in shook, opening and closing in disbelief. I took a seat on the marble stone and watched her like a silent guardian, showing no emotion or action that could give away my feeling for that kiss.

“I'm sorry, that was a mistake,” she muttered through deep breaths, I scraped my role of the watcher and moved to her side, pulling my wings over her to cover her in a feathered blanket.

“No need to say sorry, its ok,” I reassured, “Though it was a pleasant shock, I didn't know you had proper feeling for me,”

“It seemed a good idea at the time,” she admitted with adorable shyness.

“Twilight, it was a good idea,” I said, pulling her into another kiss but on my terms this time. My head was faced down while her's was upwards, in the back of my mind an angelic chorus played, it was definitely a good idea.

With unexpected force she pushed me away, breaking the kiss and dropping me onto the floor. “No it wasn't, I hold valuable objects that I have been trusted to give to you when the time is right, if I have feeling for you then I can't be trusted to keep them,”

“So, your royal duties are keeping you away, I understand,” I lied, why was fate so cruel, it torments me with my duties then keeps the ones I love away with theirs, it wasn't fair!

“Yes... I sorry, I just can't be another way...” she bit the bottom of her lips, hooves shuffling awkwardly until her emotion burst out of control. She dived for me, pinning me to the ground in a fury of uncontrollable love.

“But Twilight, what about your duties?” I asked though it was mostly muffled by her mouth.

She broke away long enough to respond, “Screw it, I deserve a break,” before diving back in. I shrugged, fair enough.

After Twilight felt her feeling for me were justified by near suffocation. I departed for the spare room, at some point between the chaos of scrubbing plates, Spike told me the directions to the room and I followed them, finding every other room before opening the magic door to the one I actually wanted. From a simple glance I saw that the room was vastly bigger and better than my cave, a hint of jealously grew inside me, I've wanted my own castle since I was a little colt, though hopefully one that looked less a giant crystal tree.

I moved straight for the bed, paying no attention to the rest of the room. It was so soft and springy, my body just sunk further and further into the mattress. When my head nestled into the pillow it broke any illusion of energy, bring on a tide of sleep deprivation. I was out cold.

I was awoken by the enchanting smell of cooking pastries. At some point my door had been opened during the night, probably just the wind from some open window in the castle or Twilight decided to watch me sleep during the night... creepy.

After some quick realization and events refreshing in my mind, I felt like a cloud had been removed from my head. Movement seemed easier and thoughts felt more purified than before, lack of good sleep must have affected me even more than I first thought. I made a mental note to get a proper bed or even better, a proper place to live. Maybe I could convince Celestia to send some bits my way, just enough to get my life going, she owed me that much.

A slight knocking at the door made my head turn. Her knocking forced the door to move away, no longer dividing us. In her magical grasp she held a tray of food, including the soft, succulent looking pastries and a glass of orange liquid.

“Good morning Autumn, sleep well?” she greeted, walking in despite lack of communication on my side.

“One of the best night sleeps I've ever had,” I replied with a smile, a smile grew on her lips to. She placed the tray on top of my body, the heat from the food burning through the plate and tray to my legs, but it was bearable. She gave me a peek on the lips, hardly a match to her enthusiastic self from the night before.

“Good to hear, now I have the whole day planned out, though before that I have to ask you,” she said.

“Go on...”

“Can we keep the huggy kissy affection to a minimum, and by minimum I mean none at all?” she requested, “Not that I'm afraid of what ponies might thing, its just it might raise too many question that I'm not ready to handle,”

“I understand,” I picked up the knife and fork, trying to remember how they worked. Twilight let out a sigh of relief.

“I'm glad you understand, it's just I don't think I could handle the scandal,” she murmurer, “now we can start the day off by...” She then proceeded to explain in great detail the plans she had, mostly it was just showing me around town and introducing me to all the ponies I saw on the stained glass window. I intervened by saying I already met Rainbow Dash, I couldn't mistake the mare with a mane like that. Whist she spoke never ending plans I chowed down on my 'pancakes' and drank down my orange juice, by the time she done speaking I was done eating.

I followed her down to the castle kitchen, she was answering any questions I had, there wasn't many since her in depth explanation didn't leave many holes in my knowledge.

“Twilight, before we go, can I do one thing?”

“Of course, what is it?”

“I would like to pay a quick visit to the Everfree, just to make sure I didn't miss anything important,”

“Oh, sure, I can do some more preparations before we begin. I'll met you outside the Everfree when your ready to go,” she said, I checked if the coast was clear before giving a quick kiss goodbye. Walking out the door revealed the town to be very much alive, I tried my best to act casual, wasn't very noble of me to panic at the sight of townsfolk. They all watched me with wide eyes, whispers of disbelief and wonderment echoing between them. None tried to speak to me or go near me so I just ignored them and went to where I needed to be. I soon made it to the forest.

“Autumn! Autumn!” called a familiar, country accent from just outside the forest. Apple Bloom stood with a cute little red cape over her shoulders, with her was her two friends with similar capes, on the backs of all of them was a stitched on foal high hoofing the air.

I snuck up on them all, they never expected me to come from outside the forest. With a scream and a good laugh from me, I made my entrance. “What are you girls doing here? Surely you have better things to do besides stalk a prince?”

“Err... well we wanted to check around the Everfree Forest, we just wanted to make sure it was ok with you before we went in,” Scootaloo explained with a foal's innocences, despite how ridiculous her statement was.

“Woah woah woah, you can't go in there, its far too dangerous for young fillies like you,” I moved to be between them and the forest, just in case they got any ideas.

“Well, it was before, but now were friends you can tell those big meanies to leave us alone, for we have adventurers cutie marks to earn,” Sweetie Belle said.

“It doesn't work that way,” I begun pushing them away gently, but they were too stubborn for that.

“But your in charge ain't ya, you control them?” Bloom assumed with a cocked head.

“No, they do their own thing, I just advises them not to do things,” I explained, continuing my vain effort to push them away from the forest.

“So we can't go in?” Scootaloo asked with a coy smile on her lips, it concerned me, what did these fillies have planned.

“No,” I huffed, bunching them up into a group to push them away easier, though none of them lost the smile. The then faced away from me, forming a semicircle as they exchanged whispers, something about a 'plan B'.

They then just turned back, smiles of innocences on their faces. Apple Bloom faked a cough to get my full attention, she took a deep breath before speaking, “A.J wants her buckets back,” my face sunk, I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass.

“Fine, wait here, don't move a muscle,” I pointed to all three menacingly. As I moved away, I felt a tugging at my tail. When I turned back, the three fillies had plastered faces of irresistible cuteness.

“Since you're already going in, can we come with?” Sweetie asked with heart-melting sweetness. Every instinct told me to say no, but the cuteness was like two unstoppable forces colliding, one had to win.

I huffed, “Fine, stay extremely close to me though and never leave my sight for a single second,”

The three fillies cheered, alarms of regret sounding in my head. The fillies ran in despite my warning. “Hey, what did I just say!” I began chasing them down, into the darkening forest we went.

With each one in front of me, I led them down the path towards the cave. Their eyes darted up at every bird taking flight and they jumped at every cricket croak. All curiosity had left them, replaced by fear, fear of my forest.

Calling upon the inner tour guide within me I stopped the group, “Do you want some berries girls, their tasty,” I indicated to a small row of bushes with small red berries growing on them.

“Are they safe ta' eat?” Bloom asked, I chuckled.

“Of course, their only mildly hallucinogenic,” I joked, the fillies eyed me curiously.

“Hallucin-what?” Scoots raised her eyebrow, I walked them closer to the bush and began picking some of them for them. As I plucked the last berry from the bush, a chicken's head popped out and began squawking uncontrollably. We all screamed, the fillies clambered underneath me as I put a hoof to my chest to calm myself down, in my panic I dropped all the berries to the ground.

“Jees Coco, you couldn't have picked a worse time could you?” I asked, he just began scrapping the ground and clucking randomly. The three fillies shuffled out, curious why we all weren't turned to stone.

Scootaloo sized herself up to the cockatrice, “Coco?” she looked at him and he looked back, both stared into each others eyes like it was a staring contest.

“He's my pet, his harmless ever since a yellow pegasus traumatize him, never been the same after that,” I shock my head in thought, never did figure that one out.

The fillies looked to each other in worry, “Err... we don't know anything about that,” Sweetie reassured. The two others nodded swiftly in agreement. I urged the group (Including Coco) onwards, the quicker I got these fillies out, the better.

As we walked, the feeling of eyes watching us tingled at the back of my neck. Worse still, the thing watching us wasn't following any normal predator pattern, if it was timberwolves they would have tried to surround us, cockatrice was just charge us, so this was something different...

With a roar the made trees sway it terror, the predator reveal itself to be the one thing I feared would find us. A manticore, complete hostile and uncontrollable. “Girls, get behind me, now!” I ordered, they didn't argue.

Me and the manticore circled the ground before us, the fillies staying behind me the whole way. At the sound of the roar, Coco fled into the shrubs, his lack of loyalty was understandable, the only thing he'd be was a snack. Since neither of us backed down, the manticore resorted to a show of force, he roared again, attempting to challenge me to a monstrous debate.

“Cover your ears girls,” I advised, before I could check if they did I responded with a feral roar of my own. The ground trembled as we fought nature's argument, each roar was louder that the last as I slowly reached the end of my voicebox's rope. I could compete with timberwolves any day, but a manticore was a different story, this creature was born to fight and roar unlike timberwolves that still had some sense of loyalty and companionship inside them.

The beast stepped forward, breaking the duelling circled and attempting to do the worst possible thing. He wanted to fight it out. I couldn't refuse, unless I wanted the deaths of three fillies on my conscience. “Girls hide in the bushes... now!” I broke eye contact with the manticore to look at them. Fear etched on their innocent faces, faces I was ready to die for.

The ground rumbled like a several hundred tonne creature was charging at me, because there was. I dived away, the fillies scampering away into the bushes. My hindhooves brushing against his mane as I dodged his wild attack. Attention returning fully to the manticore as a pair of sharp razor like claws streaked through the air towards me, missing me by the hairs on my hooves.

His relentless assault stopped me from landing any strikes of my own. Eventually my luck ran out, a single claw down from one ear to the opposite jawline. My shock leaving me open to a more vicious attack, a full paw from cutie mark to mane tore down me in a fury of pain, thankfully my wings were extended so he didn't lob it off. It didn't stop there, the second claw down my chest as he attempted to strike my neck.

A stick the speed of light knocked at the manicore's head, looking over to the bushes was a very angry looking Scootaloo holding more sticks. “Scootaloo... what are you doing!?”

“Saving your tail, what's it look like,” she was brave, very brave. And she paid the price, a single razor like scorpion tail found the place were her cutie mark would be, she cried out in pain as venom was injected inside her. Her sacrifice did one thing, brought me time.

Time that I wasted, I rushed to her side in a attempt to get the manicore's attention, instead I got what I can only describe as a manicore bitch slap. Knocking me down to the ground near the filly.

The shadow of two fillies running caught the manicore's attention better that I did. He turned and chased the two as they hid again in more bushes. I forced myself to my hooves, blood dripping from all over my body as I pushed myself further than i thought possible.

A blast from my horn impacted the back of his head, “Oy, look at me you big bastard!” he huffed, scratching at the ground to prepare for the final charge. He began to run at me, all the while getting peppered by my magic, it was more of a light show rather than a offensive spell. I accepted my fate, he rammed into me and crush countless bone in my body. Whipping his tail around to pump venom into me to, I was done, finished, end of the line. “Autumn...” the weak cry of Scootaloo from behind.

“Hey...” I held out my hoof for her, I felt the manicore's breaths against my side, readying to eat me alive.

“Is this... the end?” she asked, taking my hoof.

The sound of timberwolves howling and snarling blocked out any response i had. They had come to my aid like the loyal 'subjects' that they were, protecting me and the fillies in our time of need. With strength in numbers the snapped and tore at the manicore's hide until he was forced into a retreat. Instead of chasing him down, they stayed to watch over me.

"Autumn, Scoots, stay with us!" Bloom cried, rushing over to our sides. The poison was too much, i blinked and my eyes couldn't reopen, outright refusing to respond. My mind was also starting to slip away, i couldn't hold on.

"Girls... Tell Rainbow Dash... that... no... it doesn't matter," Scootaloo's hold on my hoof loosened until it was like holding a cloud.

"Scoots?" Sweetie asked, she wasn't getting a response, "Scootaloo?..."

7. Simple things

My eyes flickered open, trying to adjust to the bright light and the white walls. My whole body felt numb and I couldn't quite muster the strength to move any part of my body.

Did I die, my memory was hazy, all I could remember was the large amount of pain I felt and the cold floor against my bleeding wounds. My head was rested on a pillow and directed upwards towards the boring white celling, so far everything was white. Maybe this was heaven...

A caramel unicorn with brown hair and spectacles slowly crept into my vision. A look of shock growing on his face as he noticed my eyes were open. He then thought it was necessary to begin shinning incredibly bright lights into my eyes.

Forget heaven, this was hell.

“Can you hear me?” he asked, his voice talking very slowly.

“No,” I replied, a frown growing on my face even though I couldn't feel it. He let out a small chuckle, as if it was a response he got a lot.

Turning to a pony out of my vision, he to fell into the void that existed outside my eyesight. “He's awake,”

A hoof touched my own. Using whatever strength I had left to tilt my head sideways I saw Twilight with her hoof over mine. She looked so tired and stressed, black rings looped around her eyes and her eyes themselves were all red and puffed up from crying. She smiled at me and I tried my best to bend my lips into a smile for her.

“Hey... how you doing?” I asked, voice weaker than I thought it was going to be. My words were nearly enough to push her over the edge into tears again.

“I'm glad your ok,” she chocked out, I must have been giving her a really hard time, being in hospital for... however long I'd been in there.

My attention turned to the others in the room surrounding my bed. Head turning to face each one weakly, I recognised them all, but I hadn't met them all yet. All of the elements of harmony were here, the cutie mark crusaders were here to on their sister's backs. All their eyes on me, all filled with sadness.

Poor little Scootaloo, she had her stomach wrapped up in bandages that covered over her wings and she looked like she wasn't doing to well. She looked happy enough sitting on Rainbow with her head resting on her's, her rainbow mane acting as a colourful cushion.

She must of noticed my worried look, “Don't worry Autumn, I alright, you saved me,” she reassured, she was a tough filly, I knew she'd live.

The doctor cleared his throat, bring all attention to him. “Might I say congratulations Prince Autumn, you're the first pony I ever treated with so damage, to be honest I wasn't expecting you to wake up at all,”

I chuckled, unlike everypony else in the room. “I'm a 2000 year old immortal alicorn doctor, cut me some slack,”

“You may be immortal Autumn, but you're not invincible,” the unmistakeable voice of Princess Celestia commented, turning my head towards the regal voice reveal she was right next to my head, opposite Twilight and her height advantage making me have to look up to her.

“Celestia? Why are you here?”

“I came as soon as I heard you were hospitalize, you may be a alicorn Autumn, but your still one of my little ponies,” She said, her motherly nature showing. I don't know what other ponies hear when she calls us all 'My Little Ponies', but all I hear is her acting the princess of princesses.

“Don't you have a kingdom to rule?”

“Princess Luna is more than capable to rule for a while, and I'm allowed to take a break every once in a while,” she smiled down at me, a glimmer of sadness in her eyes. I turned my attention back to the doctor, who seemed eager to continue lecture me.

“Alicorn or not, this is ridiculous,” he gestured to his clipboard. “Heavily damaged wings, a few torn ligaments, shattered ribs and a fractured skull,” he read directly from the clipboard. Strange, I don't remember my wings getting hit at all.

“Well, that's not so bad...” I sheepishly smiled, to the doctor annoyance.

“I haven't even began to list the injuries from your manticore fight,” he deadpanned. I felt everypony in the room flinch. I bit my lip in embarrassment.

“What's wrong with my wings?” I mumbled, sitting up and looked over my shoulder to see the two of them in heavy casts.

“You have a impressive ability to hurt yourself, your wings appeared fine on the outside however the bones on the inside were crumpled and deformed, probably due to never receiving treatment from an earlier injury,” I began thinking back to when my wings were hurt, the only time my wings were really hurt was when I was first into the forest.

I opened my mouth to talk, but was interrupted by Twilight, “We can probably sit here all day talking about Autumn's injuries-” she frowned a disappointed look at me, “-but how long will it take for him to get better?”

“Well... I don't know for sure, he will be in and out of surgery for many weeks at least, then he will have to go through physiotherapy so he can walk and fly again,” he reported. “And that's just the physical damage, his biology will have to be brought back from the lack of any nutrition or a stable diet, he won't be able to leave the bed and any permanent damage won't be visible until the day his ready to walk,”

Everypony looked down at their hooves, each holding onto a piece of guilt. “I'll leave you now... call me if you need anything,” the doctor dismissed himself. Everypony looked down in silence, slowly going over their guilt in their minds.

“It all ma fault!” Apple Bloom cried, breaking the silence with her frustrated and guilty tears.

“What makes you think it's your fault?” I attempted to move closer, but she was by the foot of the bed, too far from my reach.

“You warned us, you told us the forest was dangerous but I didn't listen, you only got hurt cus you were protectin' us,” she confessed, Applejack took her off her back and began to comfort her with a hug, which Bloom rejected and struggled against. “Those stupid buckets!”

“Hey, its ok, we're all fine now...” I reassured, she wasn't having any of it.

“No it's not all fine, you're in hospital and Scoots is hurt to!” she gestured to the orange filly, who tried to hide away from all the eyes that fell on her, especially mine.

“No... I'm alright, don't worry about me Autumn,” she assured, making me more curious. I shrugged it off, no point in pushing her, if something was bad then she'd tell me, right?

“Don't blame yourself Bloom, you heard the doctor, I was broken before my mantiacore fight so if anything you did me a favour!” I exclaimed, giving her a small smile.

“I...guess your right,” Bloom said, I knew she wouldn't be able to overcome the sense of guilt, but she would feel better when I get moving again.

A bell rung throughout the hospital, stopping as quickly as it came. Most of the ponies surrounding me knew what that bell meant, but a nurse poked her head through the door to explain it to the rest of us. “Visiting hours are over I'm afraid,”

Ponies gave their farewells and filled out the door, the nurse recommending me to get some rest. As I rested my head back into the pillow, a golden glow enveloped the quilt and began tucking me in. Celestia had stayed seated in her chair, watching over me with her benevolent gaze.

“Princess, I think you have to leave to, hospital's locking up for the night,” I informed, she smiled down at me.

“I have a special arrangement with Doctor Stable, I'm allowed to stay here and keep you company,”

“Stay here, for how long?”

“Until you get better... now rest,”

*****

Time pasted rather quickly, I was under aesthetic for most of the time. Rushing in and out the surgery at least once a week to set my bones back or anything else they needed to do. Celestia stayed there, each time I woke up she would be there. For the first few times I thought she was be gone, to go back to Canterlot and rule over Equestria again. She never did, occasional reading or writing a scroll from Luna or somepony else, but never gone.

Other ponies visited to, Twilight came every week to visit me. She would read me books and share a kiss or elongated hug when Celestia wasn't watching. Always looking happy for me but I could see she was upset.

The crusaders would visit to with their sister's, Scootaloo had to come into the hospital anyway for her medicine and check-ups. She was lucky enough to get away with only a few broken ribs but the poison was nearly enough to kill her, she was a lot smaller than me and a lot younger, her body wasn't as survivable or resilient as mine. Apparently manticore attacks were common, so a antivenin was on hoof to give to both of us, though she was kept in for a few days after the attack just to be safe.

Constantly fading from conscious to unconscious made time go by randomly. Sometimes I would wake up after a few hours or a few days, even weeks would sometimes pass. I had given up asking Celestia each time I awoke, the time didn't matter I guess.

This time I awoke, my brain reactivating before my eyes, I could hear Twilight and Celestia talking. I couldn't hear them but I noticed my name so often. I slowly stirred, fidgeting and turning over slightly towards Twilight's voice.

“You love him, don't you?” Celestia asked in her calm, gentle way. I couldn't hear Twilight's response, but I could feel it. A kiss against my lips was all the answer Celestia needed I guess.

I finally opened my eyes, looking at a blushing Twilight and then to Celestia, she didn't seem upset or disappointed in either of us. A good start.

“I suppose its' obvious really, so what's going to happen now?” I asked, hoping Twilight wasn't going to get in trouble on my behalf.

“That's is not my decision Autumn, its' up to you and Twilight,” she replied. I gave a mental sigh of relief, glad that all the fuss that Twilight went on about at the castle was just her overreacting.

“Right... Right, of course,” I mumbled as I turned back to Twilight with a smile. She moved in for a proper and heartfelt nuzzle with me.

*****

I awoke to the familiar feeling of nothingness, everything feeling rather hazzy and my body was unresponsive. My eyes opened like on routine, the normal sight of Celestia calmly watching over me as I slept.

“Keep resting, your out of your final surgery and need to rest,” she gave her wisdom, re-fluffing my pillow with her magic.

“I'm surprised your still here, I was thinking you wouldn't have the patiences to wait here for the past month,”

“I guess patiences comes to all alicorns naturally,” she replied in her gentle tone.

“Don't talk to me about patience princess,”

“I know you had to wait a long time, but its' all over now, once you leave this hospital you'll be brand new,”

“Brand new?” I frowned, “We both know that's a lie, I still have the responsibilities and the memories, 2000 years my be a long time for mortals but for us it isn't all that long,”

“It was the only thing I could do Autumn, I was hoping you'd understand that, for the safety of the Equestrian population I had to lock you away,”

“From what I heard the kingdom had some rough times without me anyway, you'd had tyrannical kings, gods returning to bring chaos to the lands and even your own sister was possessed by a demon,” I summoned the strength to lean in closer to her sitting position, “Imagine how much easier it would have been if you had my magic by your side, shame you locked it in a forest and threw away the key,”

“If you want an apology, then I'm sorry, but I did what I thought was right and I still believe it was the best I could have done at the time,” she looked me dead in the eyes whist saying that, she could be intimidating when she wanted to be. I moved back to my pillow, no point pushing her about something that was way back in the past.

“You still haven't told me why you're waiting here,”

“I was alone for 1000 years, the only alicorn who was immortal, I watch entire generations of ponies passing by and could do nothing to save them,” she looked down to her hooves, her voice choking back tears. “Then I saw you, a pony I knew from so long ago when he was a foal and now a fully grown stallion, it was good to see a pony I knew still alive,”

She had a point, I guess I never got attached to anything in the forest, but she must of. Other students and other friends, all gone now...

“Fair enough...

*****

I awoke once again, this time with both Twilight and Celestia watching over me. Twilight looked a little more rested than normal and had a relieved grin across her face. “Hey, do you know what its' time for?” she asked.

“No...”

“The doctor given the all clear to start your physiotherapy! You'll be walking soon,” she cheered, just how long had passed with me going in and out of consciousness and surgery?

“Good, when do I start?”

“If your up to it, then we can start now! Just have to wait for the doctor to come back,”

Soon enough, the doctor came back like she said. After running through several final checks and medical guff, I was gentle taken from my bed and onto the floor. With medical braces and supports holding me up we just tried to get me to stand on my own four hooves. First a little wobbly, though Twilight let me lean on her until I regained my balance so eventually I was able to stand and support myself.

“You did it Autumn, you'll be able to walk really soon, I'm sure of it,”

*****

I was always eager to see what was on the other side of the door. I saw it every time I woke up, always closed and the only way in and out of the room.

My first goal was to get there and back, maybe take a peak out to just for curiosity’s sake. One hoof, two hoof, next hoof, last hoof, repeat. Those were the simple steps to walking that everypony followed without realising it, so simple yet for me so hard to follow.

As I struggled to get away from the safety of my bedside, Celestia watched me try and try again. Then for the first time I saw since I got here, she rose from her chair and stood next to me.

“Take it slow, I'll be here to catch you if you fall,” then she put one hoof in front of her as if she was slowly walking. I followed her example, putting my hoof in front of myself like she did. She moved her opposite hindleg forward, I mirrored her action.

After what felt like hours (Though was probably just a few long minutes) I reached my goal. With a faint flicker of my horn, the door opened up. Leaning against the door frame I took a peak outside my room. It was just a long hallway with other door like mine scattered, disappointed I tried to walk backwards out the doorway and was quickly reminded that my hooves weren't working like they should.

The ever vigilant Celestia caught me and spun me around in her magic. Letting me walk back to the bed. I shook my head.

“I don't want to go back,”

“You have to go back,”

“Not yet, direct me over there,” I gestured over to the square window. She understood and spun me to face the window, then with slow steps walked me to it.

“Thank you...” I took a look out of the window. It was sunset, or sunrise, I couldn't tell. Everything looked like it did before, only the leaves were browning and falling. It was autumn time, my favourite time of year. Off in the distance was the town that I still hadn't gone into yet, those houses and ponies were always too far away from me.

“You'll be out soon enough, you've made good progress considering your injuries and state a few months ago,” Celestia reassured.

“I shouldn't be in here anyway. I'm a prince, I should be better than this. Who'd ever seen you or Luna in hospital?”

“You expect too much of yourself, royalty or not, your still just one pony,”

“I'll get better, I get out of this place soon,” I vowed, sucking in the final glance at the sun before retreating back into the dark room. I was going to get better, as Celestia said I'll be out soon enough, but it was up to me to decide when 'soon enough' was.

And it was going to be closer than she thought.

8. Wide Eyes and Gentle Smiles

“Twilight, you don't need to do this, I'm fine,” I insisted, sitting helplessly in my wheelchair despite their being nothing wrong with my legs. Twilight was mercilessly pushing me along towards town anyway.

“I don't want you getting hurt again, you just got out of the hospital and I don't want to have to take you back in because you fell over,” there was no reasoning with her. She had her mind made up, I was staying in the chair, whether I liked it or not.

I attempted to stand up despite her worries, and I was gently but firmly pushed back into the chair with her magic. Before I could voice any complaints she swung around in front of me and gave me her best puppy eyes.

“Please Autumn, I know you don't like it, but please, for me?”

I crossed my hooves like the stubborn foal I was and grumbled something that almost sounded like a 'Ok'. That was enough for her, she gave me a quick peck of the cheek and when back to pushing me along in her magic.

She was still too shy to tell anyone (Besides Celestia) of our little relationship. Apparently if her friends found out that we were together she'd never hear the end of it from some of her friends.

Twilight kept on pushing me along, seemingly like she knew where she was taking me. When the doctor told me it was safe for me to leave, Twilight was overjoyed and went off to tell her friends the good news. I hadn't heard anything else about that since.

It occurred to me that this was the first time I'd going into Ponyville properly. Twilight's castle was the furthest I ventured into the town and she was taking me deeper and deeper into the town. Looking around, there weren't many ponies out and about, sure it was evening when I last check but I expected more ponies to be wandering the streets. The few I saw all smiled and gave me little waves, a few even came over to talk, saying that I was nice to see me all better. Such a nice little town.

Twilight homed in on one building in particular. It was quite a large building, judging from the signs I suspected it was a business rather than a home. It wasn't the style of the building but the fact that all the lights were out, plunging the interior of the building into complete darkness. Despite this Twilight pushed on.

“Hey Twi, I don't think it's open?”

“No, I'm sure it is, they don't close until late,” she informed, still, I didn't want to eat in a place that was completely pitch black. We reached the door, confronting the biggest threat I'd seen since my fight. A small set of stairs.

“Oh no, a set of stairs, looks like I'll have to just walk in-” I began to sit up, confident that I finally be able to walk around on my own free will. Until she pushed me back down and levitated me up the stairs. I grumbled under my breath and she just smiled over her victory of me.

Opening the door, letting the outside light flood into the dark abyss as Twilight pushed me further in. “Twi I'm really sure that-”

“Surprise!”

All the lights came on instantly and the collective cheer of at least half the population of Ponyville nearly sent me tumbling back. They got one thing right, I was definitely 'surprised'. They all stay standing, with wide eyes and gentle smiles directed at me.

A single pink mare who I recognised instantly bounced her way out the crowd and towards me, a smile wider than every other plastered on her face. “Surprise!” she continued to beam at me whist confetti from seemingly nowhere burst out into the air around her.

“Welcome to your super duper party Autumn, when I first heard you were ready to come out of hospital I was like *Gasp* 'I need to throw him a get well soon party, but then I was like oh my gosh I never threw him a welcome to Ponyville party in the first place so I thought I combine the two and make it a super amazing party to party out all parties!'” she nearly screamed out, I forced my mouth closed from the sheer speed she spoke at.

“But enough about that, lets get this party started!” her words were accompanied by the cheering ponies from around the room. Music kicked and a friendly chatted began as ponies either spilt up into their little social groups or went for the snack table that was in the centre of the room. Pinkie Pie hooped away towards the crowd and disappeared into the mix of ponies.

“What, just happened?” I asked Twilight, my mind still reeling in the events.

She just shrugged, “You get use to it,” I pushed my mind away from trying to understand that mare. Twilight pushed me over to a small table tucked away in the corner of the room, already sitting their was four ponies that I was already familiar with.

“Howdy partner, it's good to see you out and about again,” Applejack said, welcoming me with open hooves as always. Twilight tapped my shoulder as she passed, wandering off somewhere.

“Hey, it's good to see you again,” my mouth bent into a small smile. Turning my attention to the two mares I hadn't had the pleasure of speaking to yet, “Hello, I'm Autumn Leaves, just call me Autumn, though I'm sure you already knew that,”

“I'm delighted to finally make you acquaintance darling, I'm Rarity and this is Fluttershy,” Rarity nudged the buttery pegasus with her hoof, prompting her to speak. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I recognised the pegasus from somewhere...

“Hello Autumn...” Fluttershy whispered, only hearing her speak once and already seeing the shyness her name implies. I hope she wasn't scared of me.

“I wish my first impressions were under better circumstances,” I mumbled, recalling seeing both of them before in the hospital a few times though never speaking to them.

“Indeed... Though I must say I'm happy to finally meet the stallion that saved my sister from that ferocious mantiacore,” Twilight returned again, levitating a nice jug of fruit punch over for me.

“Oh, don't worry about that, it was nothing,” I attempted to shrug off her praise, though she wasn't having any of it.

“Nothing!? Darling I can't imagine the bravery it takes to fight such a creature,” she exclaimed. I moved my drink to my lips to quench what little thirst I had growing in the back of my throat.

“I'm just glad nopony... ya know,” I shuttered slightly at the thought of more blood on my hooves. Before the conversation could go on the sound of hooves bouncing across the floor distracted us.

“Oh Autumn!” Pinkie said in a sing-song voice. “Guess what time it is? It's time to cut the cake!” she cheered. Wheeling me over to the snack table I was confronted by a cake taller than me.

Time went by as Pinkie introduced many games for us to play and other party favourites that made everypony laugh and smile. Never had I been surrounded by so many happy faces, it made me smile knowing they were happy to be here with me.

Eventually the games died down back into the social chatting and food munching. I saw a opportunity to slip away from being the centre of attention. Spotting Fluttershy nearly hugging the back wall away from the other ponies, silently drinking from her juice box as she attempted to stay away from conversations.

Seeing a perfect opportunity to speak with her, I wheeled myself over to her. “Hey...” I said, nearly making her jump out of her skin.

“Oh, H-Hello Autumn,” she whispered, I perk my ears just to make sure I could hear her over the music and talking ponies around us. One thing we both could agree on, this wasn't either of our favoured environments.

“I just wanted to say, thank you,” I began, my brain finally realising where I recognised her from.

“For what?”

“You help heal the woodland critters don't you? Over the years I noticed more animals with bandaged wounds and things like that, I just wanted to say that I appreciate it,” I explained, she was also the mare that occasionally left food outside the forests that help stem the tide of starvation. It wasn't much, but it was the thought that counted.

“Oh, it's nothing,” she said, starting to sound a lot like me.

“I just wanted to say thanks, I know it's not easy and it tends to be a thankless job,”

“I wouldn't call it thankless, the look of the happy animals is thanks enough,” she countered, her voice become louder as she slowly emerged from her shell of shyness.

“I just wish I could do more to protect them, to just be that little bit stronger,”

“So long as you try your best, then nopony can ask for any more from you,”

“But I should be better, I'm the prince of the Everfree Forest... I should be able to help them, you don't see Celestia failing to protect her subjects,”

She had to pause before answering that. “You'll get better, in time,” she reassured.

“I hope you're right...”

After a few more minutes of small talk, Fluttershy was soon stolen away by Rarity. Though I wasn't alone for long, soon enough a certain rainbow maned pegasus saw this was the perfect time to get me whilst I was by myself. She gently tapped her hooves to me, as if she didn't want to be spotted talking to me.

“H-Hey dude, can we talk for a second?” She asked, I nodded my head in response. “I just wanted to say, thanks... for saving Scootaloo...” she spoke reluctantly.

“Don't worry, you'd have done the same in my position,”

“Actually, I'd probably grab the fillies and run,” she actually winced at the dent she did to her ego by saying that. “Fighting the creatures of the Everfree Forest is almost unheard of, as most that try don't get to brag for long,”

I was about to reply, but a voice interrupted me. “Am I hearin' a proper thank you over here?” Applejack appeared from seemingly nowhere, resting her hoof on rainbow's shoulder.

“No, I was just telling Autumn that fighting a manticore puts him second on my awesome list, right under yours truly,” she put her hoof to her puffed out chest.

“Right...” Applejack said whist nodded her head slowly, I wonder if Rainbow realised she was being mocked. “Anyway, I think Pinkie's openin' up a new barrel of cider!” In a rainbow colored flash, she was gone.

“So how ya doin' Autumn...”

Me and Applejack talked for a while, but the peace didn't last. The crazy pink party pony soon roped me in for more fun and games. I'd be lying if I didn't enjoy embarrassing myself on the dancefloor or losing a cider drinking competition to Rainbow. Despite how much fun was had, it couldn't last forever, and ponies had to leave, each one saying their goodbye to me and sending their best wishes. I had to have picked the friendliest town in Equestria, for none of them were scared of me. I was expecting at least one to be reluctant at meeting me or just a tad fearful of my ability to control the beasts that lurk in the back of a child's mind, but no.

They welcomed me with open arms and even wider hearts, and I could be more thankful.

As more and more ponies bided farewell, the party dwindled into the single digits quicker than I expected. Soon enough it was just the ponies that decided to suck the snack table of all its goods, taking each cupcake and candy apple until it was just an empty plate. I was surprise they hadn’t licked the plates clean. I didn't blame them, I was one them, snatching up any survivors of the candy massacre.

Eventually Twilight prided me away from the table. Claiming it was time to go home. I wanted to offer to help clean up, the mess of confetti and split drinks was all over the place. Pinkie was rather persuasive, saying it was perfectly under control.

Not that I had much choice in the matter, with Twilight in control of my chair again I found it hard to do anything besides accept as I was carted out the door. I hadn't realized how dark it got, nightime had sneaked up and stolen the day away. Most ponies were off to bed, they had their lives to wake up to after all.

“Twi, can I stop by the Everfree? I want to check if everything's ok,” I asked, I hadn't heard anything from the locals, if any attacks or unusual behaviour were known of, ponies would have told me, right?

“It's too dark Autumn, we'll go in the morning, besides I have a gift to give you,” she replied. A gift? Gifts were fun, but I couldn't get intrigued when Everfree butterflies rampaged in my stomach, or maybe that was the cider? I couldn't decide.

“But the creatures need me, I been away for Celestia-knows how long and they might be in danger! Or worse-” I was cut off by a purple hoof covering my mouth.

“Stop worrying Autumn, nothings happened,” she reassured, moving her hoof again.

“You seem pretty sure about that,” I crossed my hooves, redoing my stubborn foal technique.

“I am sure, I may have visited a few times while you were in hospital,” she explained, at they sight of my absolutely terrified look she continued swiftly. “Nothing bad happened, I guess they recognised me from the few times they saw me with you,” she went on dreamily, “I must say it was fascinating to watch all the little Timberwolves and Cockatrices playing, I thought the animals wouldn't like each other,”

“Oh it was never always like that, they use to fight all the time, slowly as each generation passed, trust was made between the two predators, delicate, but trust nonetheless,” My head sunk down, “I only hope it sticks, or that I can get all the animals to like each other,”

She perked my head up with her hoof, “Of course we can make it stick,” she planted a quick, sweet kiss on my lips, “We're here,” she guestured to the castle

She wheeled me into the main room, nothing had changed during the time I was away, despite how much Twilight complained about it she still hadn't done anything about it. “Alright, you stay here, I'll go get your present...” she rushed off down one of the crystal corridors, leaving me along to fiddle with my hooves.

She soon returned, a box wrapped in green with red ribbon securing it. Placing it on my lap and sitting down, waiting patiently for my reaction to the contents inside.

After a long duel with the ribbon, I managed to part it with the wrapping paper. I tried to be gentle, I didn't know if the objects inside were delicate but if my inkling was correct, they were.

Under the green wrapping was a wooden box, neither what I'd call heavy nor light, but perfectly in the middle. Opening the box, the small worn out hinges putting up some resistances to my touch but I caught sight of the content and pushed passed the small hinges.

I could hear their soft thrumming, like a angel's choir to my ears. Their copper colour hadn't changed since those long days since I last saw them. My only souvenirs from my visit to Canterlot were now mine. Those four shinning greavers held my long lost power, and I had them now.

“Me and Celestia both agree you should have them, and I hope we can just ease you into them, take your time with them, don't rush into them,” she said, sounding more like Celestia than herself.

I delicately picked one up and held it in my right hoof. Balancing it and holding it up to the light for a better look at the runes engraved on them. Seeing myself in the reflection, looking at myself, the stallion who wished time and time again to be where I am now. It was clearly made for my left forehoof, I could hear it talking to me, begging for me to put it on and be reunited with my powers.

I sighed, lowing it back into the box and snapped the lid shut. Handing it back to Twilight.

“What are you doing?” she asked, almost like she was disappointed that I didn't put it on. I guess she was eager to see the effect it would have on me.

“Not right now, the time isn't right, besides, I think we both could do with some rest,” I smiled at her.

I guess she was thrown back me not just throwing them on my hooves like it was nothing. I was thrown back to, I'd been waiting for that moment, and shrugged it off. What had changed? No matter how much I thought about it, all my fantasies on claiming my powers seemed foolish. I soon realised what changed, for it was right it front of me.

Twilight, she was what changed.

It wasn't just her, everything around me changed for the better. Though it was her, the bright eyed mare that wandered into the forest in search of a new book and found a new friend instead. She was the herald of my new life. The light at the end of my dark tunnel, the flame to my candle.

It almost made me want to grab the box and smash it, break the final link to my old life and start anew. But life's cruel, I had to have my powers, whether I like it or not. To protect the citizens of Equestria and beyond from the danger ahead. Once that's done, I can final do the thing I want to do so badly.

Start again, with her by my side.

I know what must be done. United the Everfree Creatures and save the world, then like a ghost I'd disappear, taking her along with me. I had 2000 years of living to make up for and it would start with her holding my hoof.

“Come on, lets go to bed, I'm shattered,”