Mockingbird By HopeForTheFew
"Do you think we'll get in trouble?" Sweetie Belle asked, slight worry and fear in her voice.
"Only if we get caught." Scootaloo responded in a whisper.
"Doesn't that happen every time we do something like this?" Apple Bloom responded in an annoyed whisper. "I swear if we get in trouble, you're taking the blame for it Scootaloo."
"Fine, fine, but if we really want to get our cutie marks we have to start acting like grown ups."
"After all, we've been in the Everfree several times!"
In the deep dark depths of the forest sat a man. Not much of a man but, still a man. His old ragged clothing had many holes in it and he looked as if he had been through a time of hard trouble. At least he didn't smell like he had been through one... That was something he and others could count on.
The gloomy forest groaned and grumbled as the man sat next to his campfire on the old forgotten road. "Oh don't put that on me now." The man said, slightly annoyed. The forest groaned loudly at his response and the man rolled his eyes, breaking under the pressure "Oh fine, but just one song." He said as he picked up his guitar and began to play.
The forest let off some of its gloomy light, letting small amounts of sunlight shine through the smaller trees. The tunes echoed through the forest and had an unusual ring to it. Almost as if it had a form of power in it.
The man smiled as he played and he began to sing along. Putting his heart into the song and he began to play harder and harder. Making it easier and easier for certain fillies to hear him...
The three fillies traveled through the Everfree forest, sticking close to each other out of fear. Arguments broke out and anger was rising within the three as they knew they should not have entered the forest, but fear kept them moving forward. Yet, maybe, just maybe luck was with them this time...
They kept on moving through the woods as it groaned and creak around them. Then, out of the blue came a voice, rolling on the air. It touched their ears and they froze, listening closely and intently, trying to pick something up. Their little ears twitched left and right as they tried to listen.
"Did you hear that?" Sweetie Belle asked in a whisper, trying not to break the silence around them.
"Shhhh!" The other two whispered in unison, trying to hear. Then, after a fraction of a minute of intent listening, they relaxed and kept moving forward.
For a reason unknown to them, the forest grew quiet, almost as if it was watching them judgmentally. Scootaloo shook her head and puffed out her chest, moving forward without the other two. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom yelped in fear and they ran up to their friend as quickly as they could, staying close to each other.
"Come on, lets find out what that noise was." Scootaloo exclaimed boldly, almost switching into a trot as she kept moving forward. And as they kept their pace, they started getting closer to what they heard earlier. Soon enough they heard the noise again, this time continuously. They picked up their pace, moving at a full trot this time.
The trees began to sway around them as they followed the voice. They could tell now that somepony was singing but who its was, they did not know, but they were determined to find out. They followed the voice until it was not too far from them, however, the voice, when they reached the direction it was heading, was leading them off the path.
Fear regrew in them as they stared at the wall of trees blocking them from the singer. But brave Scootaloo stepped up again and moved forward, heading toward the singing being. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other with worried glances before turning back to their brave friend.
"Don't you think this is dangerous Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle called out, she was shaking now, fear was getting the best of her.
Scootaloo looked back at them and hurried them along, saying how they might lose the voice and be in bigger trouble then they were already. And so they followed their brave friend into the deep dark of the Everfree forest...
The man strummed his guitar one more time, finishing the song before sighing. "You know, I think that did me some good." He said as he leaned his old acoustic on a nearby tree. The forest regained its old solemn look and feeling and what sunlight was shining through before, disintegrated as darkness grew around him. The forest was satisfied and so was the man as he grabbed a dead log and fueled the fire carefully with it. Once he was finished, he leaned his head back against a tree, and closed his eyes.
"Hey, I see a light!" came a voice to the man's left. Instantly his eyes shot open and he rolled to his right, almost rolling into the fire as he did so. He stood up as he heard hoof steps coming toward him. He circled around to the other side of the fire and hid in the nearby bushes, alarmed at what was coming. The forest took note of his distress and started to creak and groan once more as the ponies grew closer and closer.
The man grew tense as he waited for the beings to step out into the open. And then, out of the bushes came three little curious ponies. The man relaxed and, after a small bit of time, stepped out of the bushes, not so alarmed anymore.
When the three ponies saw him, they froze up and grew worried. the man in turn walked up to the ponies and squatted down, smiling at them. "Hi, name's Mockingbird, and you three are?"
Scootaloo puffed out her chest and squinted her eyes, trying to appear tough and responded: "We are the cutie mark crusaders!" She exclaimed proudly and boldly.
The man chuckled and stretched out his hand. The three filly's glanced at it curiously before each one at a turns pace reached out with their hooves and shook.
"Its been a while since I had company. Me and this forest get weary and alone sometimes. Lately it seems to have fallen in love with my music."
"So that was you singing?" Sweetie Belle asked, curiously.
"That would be me. I suppose I can't really complain either, it gives me something to do. So, tell me, what are your names? Besides the whole Cutie Mark Crusaders thing." He asked as he took a seat by the fire once more.
The Crusaders looked at each other before telling the man and they quickly nodded to each other in confirmation.
"I'm Sweetie Belle!"
"I'm Apple Bloom!"
"And I'm Scootaloo!"
The man nodded and smiled as he invited them to sit down. And they did so. "Might I ask, what brought you three out here? This forest is a dangerous place, your lucky its a calming day for it. Tell me, are there any adults around?"
The three looked at each other again only this time, guilty faces arose. "Well, we were out here trying to get our cutie marks." Scootaloo responded, guiltily.
All four of them sat there in the forest as it creaked and groaned. "You came out here alone, didn't you?" He asked knowingly. And the three ponies nodded in unison.
"Oh my lord, you do realize you could have gotten yourselves killed doing this, right?" The man asked, his tone picking up. The trees started to groan loudly now and the fillies attention was brought to them.
"Oh be quiet." The man said, taking his eyes off the ponies to glance at the forest. Immediately after he said that, the trees grew silent. The ponies were surprised when the forest listened to him and immediately questions began to spurt from their mouths. The man hushed them down and repeated his question. Their guilty looks returned as they nodded toward the ground.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Your family will be looking for you soon wont they?"
They nodded but Scootaloo replied: "Yeah, but we did tell them we would be gone for a few hours, and it hasn't been that long." She said.
The man laughed at this. It wasn't really much to laugh at, but conversation was hard to find deep in the Everfree and he couldn't help himself. "Alright then, why don't I get you back home aye?" The man said and the ponies whined in response.
"Wait, do you think you could play us a song first? You did have a nice voice after all." Apple Bloom asked.
He shrugged his shoulders as he picked up his guitar. "One song." The man said sternly and he received cheers from the three young fillies.
Once the man started playing the song, the ponies began to sway with it and started to tap their hooves to it. The sound rolled around and seemed to bounce all over them as he played and sang. Every beat and plucked string was in tune and timed just right to make it sound as beautiful as it could coming off a guitar. His voice rang out to the hearts of the ponies as they began to sing along. For as long as the song lasted they sat there, enjoying themselves as the music rocked their souls.
And when the song ended it felt like an eternity had passed, and they enjoyed every second of it. Smiles were plastered on the ponies faces as they looked up at the man as he stood up and stretched. "Alright, you heard your song. Now lets get moving." He said as he put his guitar in its case. The ponies 'awwed' in a whiny reply but they listened to him none the less.
The man covered the fire with dirt and made sure it was all out before he left the old road he was camped on. He went in the direction the fillies had come from, with them close by his side. It didn't take long at all to reach the main road that lay in the Everfree forest. He breathed deeply before looking both directions. And then, he took a right turn, heading toward the small town of Ponyville.
The man hummed a quiet tune to himself as they walked, guitar in one hand and freedom in the other. There were few things that would bother the man, the forest would listen to his words, he was given that gift. But yet, from time to time certain beings that resided in the forest would turn from their hearts and go savage. Much like the world outside they would turn wicked and attack.
And this was one of those times...
The beast brought its nose down toward the recent fire pit, the smell of smoke filling its nostrils and the scent of something, different... It raised its head in the direction of where the scent was heading and the beast began to follow the trail. It knew its target, all it needed now was some good luck in hunting and everything would be just fine...
As they pressed on through the old forest, a sense of curiosity filled the ponies minds. "Say, you never told us what you were." Apple Bloom said, matter-o-factly.
The man smiled down at them. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you now would it? Well first off, I, am what is known as a 'Human.' There's not a lot of us out there, in fact few know we even exist. If I'm correct, none of you ponies know we exist."
They 'awed' in wonder when they heard the term 'Human.' They had heard many stories of them but they always believed they were old legends not actual beings. "Then, why do you not let anyone know you exist?" Sweetie Belle asked the question this time.
"Well I let you know we existed, didn't I? It all comes down to the fact that we like our privacy and don't have many opportunities to communicate with other species. Basically were boring old farts who like to keep to ourselves and live boring old lives."
The ponies laughed at this, causing the man to smile.
But his smile was wiped off immediately as they heard the stomping of a large beast behind them. He spun around quickly only to stare dead into the eyes of a manticore. "Follow the path, get out of here, quick!" The man yelled to the ponies. He tossed his guitar to the side of the trail and took into a battle stance.
The ponies stared speechless and fearful as they stood back and watched the fight. "Get out of here!" The man yelled, snapping the ponies out of their trance. Immediately they turned around and galloped back down the trail, heading toward Ponyville.
The man faced the manitcore, his raised fists, ready to fight. "Stand Down." The man ordered but the beast would not heed his words. The manticore swung its paw toward him. He ducked under the attack and ran up closer to it. The beast roared at the man as he raised his fist and focused on one of the beasts teeth, knocking it clean out as he sent a jab its way.
It roared in pain as blood filled its maw. And it scrambled backward, sucking the inside of its mouth. "I told you to stand down." The man said ironically as he walked over and picked his guitar up off the ground. He then walked back up to the manticore, picking up its broken tooth that lay on the ground as he did so. He opened its mouth and placed its tooth back where it belonged. A haze of green light left the man and entered the manticores mouth. Soon enough the tooth was in its place, solid once more.
"Best of luck to you old chap." He said, giving it a pat on the shoulder. He then proceeded to pick up his guitar once more and continue on down the path.
Quite the crowd had formed at the entrance to the Everfree. The town had gotten wind of the so called 'Human' and now it seemed everypony was curious about the situation. When the crusaders came out, they had come out to find the mane six about ready to enter the forest. And now they were about ready to enter it again when the man came out.
He stared at the crowd, wide eyed and speechless. The same was for the crowd and they all stood there, at a stalemate.
The Crusaders all looked at each other before trotting up to the man and whispering something in his ear. A smile grew and he put his guitar case down and brought the guitar out, he gave the old acoustic a quick tune and then began to play.
And once more the song rang out into the hearts of the ponies. Although more of them were here this time, the effect was the same and soon every single one of them was dancing to the tune.
And there was old Mockingbird, playing the same old tune.
Good ol' Mockingbird...
