Pinkie pie was having a wonderful time introducing the new family to every pony in ponyville. The Dark brown pegasus mare named Storm Dune and a young green earth pony colt named Stone Law. The two of them had been enjoying Pinkie Pies hospitality and were getting acquainted with the citizens. The family was pleasantly surprised at the warm and caring nature of the ponies of ponyville. It was unlike anything Storm was accustomed to.
"Really daarling, you, simply must tell me how me how you got your mane so straight." The white mare beamed as the conversation lead to her favorite subject.
"Well I use the Grazing conditioner, the straightness though is mostly genetic." The pegasus replied with a sheepish smile.
"Oh how thoughtless of me I forgot to ask what brought you to fair little ponyville?" Rarity exclaimed, the mare went silent and glanced around till it rested on a young group of fillies and colts playing pin the tail on the pony.
Storm glanced down to her son "Stone, sweetheart why don't you go introduce yourself to the other children while i get acquainted with miss Rarity, ok?"
Stone looked up towards his mother then towards the foals playing pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, "Ok, Mom" the colt replied with a melancholic voice looking back up towards his mother briefly before departing.
Storm sighed 'And caring becomes nosy' she thought. " She waited until Stone was out of ear shot before turning all the way around to face Rarity. "Look it's like this.." She started with a sad tone. "We had to leave Canterlot because me and my ex had a falling out, and we moved here to get a fresh start."
"Say no more dear" Rarity nodded understandingly "I won't pry into your affairs but if you ever need anything and i mean anything you come talk to me and I'll do everything I can see you taken care of."
Storm was once again surprised by the kindness and generosity she was receiving from everypony, it was not like Canterlot at all. She gave a wide thankful smile. "Thank you, thank you so very much" Her eyes were getting misty. "We'll I think we should go mingle with the other ponies before the night comes to an end don't you."
"But of course dear you can't go to a Pinkie party and not meet eeeveryone~" Rarity replied rolling her eyes and sighing at the end.
As Stone made his way through the crowd of ponies, he thought on what happened with his family. His mother had told him that his father and her needed space. But he new better, he knew his fathers controlling tendencies, his better-an-all attitude and he knew how his father would often hit his mother behind the closed doors. His mother thought she hid it well, but truth be told when his mother told him they were leaving he couldn't have been happier.
Stone slowly walked up to the group reluctantly. As he approached the group he was intercepted another a pair of fillies. "OH loook Silver~ its our colt of the hour and wouldn't you know it he doesn't have a cutie mark. Such a tragedy." Stone just rolled his eyes 'Great stuck ups, not like i didn't get enough of them in Canterlot.'
The newly dubbed Silver snickered. The colt gave the pair deadpanned stair as they began circling him. "And you know what that means Silver Spoon."
Silver Spoon snickered again before adding "It means he's a..."
"BLANK FLANK!!!" The two fillies exclaimed in unison.
Stone continued to stair as they broke down into a fit of malicious laughter. 'Blank flank really, that the best they could do' Stone just sighed and was about to walk away when the other fillies stepped between them. "HEY! KNOCK IT OFF! DIAMOND!" The orange pegasus yelled angrily.
"Yeh' he's new 'n town leas' ya'll can do is not bother 'em at is own party!" The yellow filly said.
"Oh and what are you~ blank flanks going to do about it." Diamond tiara said accusingly.
"Why you always gotta be so mean anyway, we never did anything to you." The white unicorn filly spoke up.
This last comment sparked a large argument between the five of them. Even though the three fillies had valid points about the negative repercussions of the actions of the other two, they refused to listen on the rediculous notion that cutie marks make a pony better than those without.
Stone had enough, so he turned around and left the arguing fillies, they were noisy, the adults were noisy, this party was entirely too noisy for him. So he made his exit. Once outside Stone looked at the village in front of him the sun was starting to set the and it looked peace full. He wasn't planning on leaving for the rest of the party but he didn't want to deal with the other ponies either. So he decided to explore the town a little before returning.
The party continued as no one noticed the missing colt. Rarity and the new mare continued their conversation.
Stone found himself at the edge of an eerie forest, and as he stared into it, it called to him, he felt connected to it, like he was supposed to be there. Before he took another step he looked back to towards the small village 'I don't have anything better to do' He thought and turned back to the forest and walked in without hesitation.
"STONE!" Storm attempted to yell over the party members to no avail. After she left Rarity and was introduced to the town she realised she hadn't seen Stone for hours and was beginning to worry. "Has anypony seen stone?" Storm asked around the party, looking for her son. She walked around the hear head on a pivot as she looked for stone she stopped at a dark blue unicorn mare. "Excuse me have you seen my little colt, i haven't seen for some time now. And i'm getting worried."
The mare put a hoof to her chin "He's the green earth pony colt right?" Storm nodded with hope in her eyes. "I think the last I saw him he was playing with a group of fillies over by the games" She waved a hoof to the other side of the party.
Storm nodded "Thank you"
"HELP!!!" a scream came from the door as a small brown and white colt ran through the door. Everypony in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at the colt. "IT'S STONE HE WENT INTO THE EVERFREE FOREST!!!"
Stone walked forward that same feeling pulling further and further into the forest. As he walked he barely registered the change in scenery. He walked past the ruins of an old castle and even bits and pieces of of a decaying village. '...ere....dom' the voice broke him out of his hypnotic like trance and he shook his head looking around "WHO'S THERE!" he yelled. There was a long pause 'ear.....me' the voice was broken and sounded like it was in pain. Stone looked around trying to find the source '...om..ser' he could barely hear the voice but for some reason it felt comforting and he walked again, this time a clear goal in mind as he tried to find the source, of the mysterious voice. "KEEP TALKING I'LL FIND YOU!" Stone yelled as he was now running toward the mysterious voice.
'..Lease...Hear...me' the voice continued to call sounding weak and helpless. 'Help..me' the voice was still weak but getting clearer as the colt sprinted through the forest, leaping over logs, swerving through to avoid trees. "I'm almost there! Just keep talking" Suddenly the ground beneath him opened up and he was swallowed by the earth it's self. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" He yelled as darkness over took him.
"PLEASE!!" Storm pleaded with the lavender alicorn "find my son."
Twilight gave the pegasus a reassuring smile "Don't worry we've traversed the everfree many times we'll find him I promise." Twilight turned to her friends "come on girls we've got to move fast." The element bearers sprinted off into the everfree. Fluttershy spoke to the animals in the area to aid in their search, while Rainbow Dash soared through the tree tops. Twilight and the rest frantically searched for any trace or sign of the colt.
"Ow..." Stone groaned struggling to his hooves.
'Are you okay?' the voice spoke again this time a much clearer than before. The voice light and most and definitely female.
Stone shook his head as he got to his hooves "Where am I?" he strained his eyes again to try and see something. He looked up from where he fell the moon and stars being the only light provided. He looked around straining his eyes to see in the dark. There was a faint blue orb glowing dimly, just ahead of him. He steadily moved towards it, once he was directly in front of the glowing orb he asked "Where you the one calling me?"
'Yes your presence woke me from my slumber an I've been trying to contact you with my power.' the orb answered.
"Well umm... you sounded in trouble, anything i can do to help?" he said cautiously.
'Not hurt just weak' the voice became hesitant
"We'll I'm Stone... Stone Law, um... Who are you miss"
'Me, I lost my name long ago but i suppose you could call me Everfree the Guardian.' The orb shimmered slightly in the dark as claimed the tittle. 'You are only the second in 5 millennia to have even heard my voice. And your the first to actually seek me out. For that i applaud your courage'
"Well thanks..." The young colt bashfully scratched his head and looked away. "Um what were you guarding, that is if you don't mind."
'For that you will have to listen to my story, is that okay with you?'
"OH i'd love to hear it, I love stories" he excitedly proclaimed.
The light vibrated from the orb as the voice giggled. 'Very well then. Let's see were to begin how about the present today you know that ponies control and govern nearly everything in the natural world correct?'
"Yeah!" the colt said not hiding his enthusiasm "The pegasi control the weather, the earth ponies control and influ.... infue..."
'Influence'
"Yeah that's it the earth ponies influence the plants to help grow crops. And the alicorns princess Celestia and Luna raise and lower the sun and moon."
'That's absolutely right, your very smart for your age.' Stone blushed at the complement 'So since you have a good understanding of the present lets talk about the past. Long ago there was something else that was in control of nature. And that was Everfree the Guardian of nature, a tittle passed down to those who are accepted by nature and charged with guarding the natural order. That's where I come in I was the last guardian though there can only be one the mantle is passed from pony to pony when one dies they pass the mantle to another. I carried the mantle proudly and since I was in charge of such things I made a system that would work on a cycle so I would that the natural world would develop in it's own way. You see to be an Everfree you must believe in freedom of all things.'
The system I created was near perfect, but every system has flaws. Because I believed in freedom, I allowed animals to develop of their own accord which caused them to become competitors. The animals would fight among-st themselves for territory, mates and often for dominance. Because I didn't interfere with weather cycles some environments didn't have enough water to sustain life and as such became barren. And because I allowed plants to grow unabated, crops would sometimes become scarce and ponies would starve.'
'The ponies at the time grew desperate and pleaded with me to take charge of the natural order instead of guard it. Naturally I had to deny them because I would not forsake it's freedom for personnel gain. The ponies grew furious and even more desperate as natural world threatened to consume them. Soon the unicorns came up with a plan to take control of the natural forces and bend them to their will. With the help of the alicorn Faust the unicorns copied my power and shared it with the other races so they could forcefully manipulate nature. I could not stand for this so i confronted them I told them that it was wrong and unnatural but they wouldn't listen to reason and made another choice. They chose to seal me away and confine power. So they did and here i am sealed in this glass orb unable to do anything at all.'
'The years passed and eventually with the help of discord's chaotic seeds i was able to trickle my power outward and create this last bastion of a natural way.' With that the room fell quite for a moment 'Can I ask for your help Stone?'
Stone shook his head trying to wrap his head around this information but thought long and hard on what he had been told. "Um... I don't know..." he hesitated "How can i help you?"
'I want freedom young colt a release from my prison and my pain and you are the only one that can.' The voice was silent at first stunned that even after all it had told the colt it was still willing to help. 'All you have to do is destroy the orb and I will be freed and the mantle will pass to you. So I am asking you Stone Law will you please take on this mantle and set me forever free.'
Stone was caught off guard and didn't know how to respond he knew he couldn't just leave things as they were the voice needed closure. After several minutes of contemplation he rose to his hooves and stared intently at the orb and with determination and he answered "YES"
'Thank You' Stone flipped around and bucked hard on the glass orb. The orb pulsed yellow and tendrils of light crept out and ensnared the colt. Stone's eyes lit up as the billions of years of knowledge flowed into him and he could feel the magic building in him. As the magic met its climax a massive shock wave could be felt all across the everfree as the magic that once seeped out from it's core was pulled and absorbed by the colt.
As the light encompassed him, he felt like taffy stretching and expanding. His muscles tightened and expanding with his ever stretching skin. Without warning massive antlers sprouted from his head. Pain soon encompassed him as his entire skeletal structure shifted grew and changed continuously, until finally he blacked out.
