The Prince Of The Everfree Forest

“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.