Author's Note

Well here we go yet another story, however this one will be placed as a priority for a while. I have a commission I'm working on as well as a novel so this is three, The Writer and the Princesses falls into place at four, and Five is my personal favorite Changing harmony. After that I have some other stuff I started but since I haven't gotten even a chapter of those finished I won't be focusing on them.

Chapter 1: The wolf comes to Equestria.

[center]A wolfish writer in Equestria

Chapter 1: The wolf comes to Equestria. I slowly lay down in bed staring up at the ceiling. I pulled a pack of gum out of my dresser and popped a piece into my mouth. I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life. Honestly, I figured it would be easier if I just vanished. I’d hit a dry spell in my writing, I’d lost my best friends, and music wasn’t cheering me up. I sighed and mumbled “All the negative feels in the air. I wonder how I’m going to fix my life if I don’t get a chance for a new start.” I sighed and blew a bubble then popped my gum and sat up stretching and reaching for my hoodie which was on my bedside stand.

I pulled it on and got up then walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I had a slim yet athletic build, my muscles however were somewhat gone due to the fact I’d stopped my workout routine, dirty blonde hair with grey eyes that changed color, was wearing my black Pokémon hoody and blue jeans with a pair of white socks. I brushed my teeth and shaved staring at my own bloodshot eyes and muttered “Really need to get more sleep before I fall over from exhaustion.” My hair was messy and looked like someone had run their hand through it, which I usually did, and my glasses were slightly bent from laying on them. I straightened them out and walked back to my room to pull on my sneakers or boots, not sure which would be more comfortable.

I finally settled on my sneakers since I figured I’d go for a jog. I pulled them on and started for the door yawning. I quickly grabbed a banana as I walked through the kitchen and out the back then started eating it as I walked toward my personal training area. I smirked to myself as I walked deciding that even if I was alone in the world, I could at least have fun. I finished the banana as I was walking past the compost pit my family had set up and threw it in then walked to where I usually started jogging and started at a slow pace.

I jogged humming to myself then picked up the pace and mumbled “I walk through the valley of shadows. Searching for something everyone knows. I’m alone in this place. Yet still I have a smile upon my face. I walk through the valley of shadow. Finally finding the love I have always felt I know.” I didn’t notice the weather picking up as I recited my little poem, nor the fact that I was getting further and further from home. All I noticed was my own musings.

I closed my eyes running into the wind whistling softly and running a hand through my hair. I stretched as I ran opening my eyes and saw the woods at the edge of the property approaching. I shrugged and kept running as the first drops of rain fell around me. The sky seemed to be spitting right now, but I knew that it would get faster and stronger the longer I was outside. However all I felt was the urge to keep going forward.

It was almost as if someone or something was calling me. I pulled the hood of my shirt up over my head and kept going feeling like I was getting closer and closer to whatever was calling me, and hoping it would give me a new purpose. I know it sounds stupid, but I felt as if I’d lost my purpose when I lost the last of my friends a few months back. I couldn’t write, I couldn’t work, and I could barely get out of bed for a while. It was a problem I had to get over. I’d started to do so over the last few weeks, but I still felt alone. It was, troubling to say the least. I kept running forward not noticing that the forest around me was changing.

It was getting darker, and less normal. Things were starting to move around me, and the forest itself felt more alive. I just thought it was the ozone from the storm, but as time went on it seemed almost as if the very air was saturated with something from a long forgotten memory. It made me feel safe yet wary at the same time. Almost like an old pet you hadn’t seen in a while who had escaped into the wild. You didn’t know if they were going to turn and tear into you or they remembered and yearned for your touch.

It was strange. Of course all this was going on subconsciously; consciously I just kept running and thinking about how much my life had lost control of itself over the years. It started when I dated K, ended when Soph broke up with me. It was hard at first, but as time went on I moved on and put my life back together. However it still felt incomplete and I still felt like a stranger on earth. I stopped running as a bolt of lightning struck a tree nearby causing it to explode and blinding me. I swore and said “STUPID! Who runs into a forest in a thunderstorm? Well me obviously, but still.” I sighed and muttered “Must stop talking to self out loud,” then popped my neck and started walking forward again. I pulled out a piece of gum as I ran and chewed it slowly picking up my pace again, knowing somewhere in these woods was a cave system.

At least I thought it was the woods I knew and had a cave system. However the further I got it the darker everything became. I spat out my gum when it ran out of flavor, instead of swallowing, bad habit that wouldn’t recommend it, and started playing with my watch. However as I neared where I thought the cavern was, I instead found more forest. I turned around and started back the way I came, thinking this was obviously my mind playing trick s on me.

I continued jogging back the way I came until I found myself at the side of a cliff. I blinked and mumbled “Huh that’s not supposed to be here. What the flip is going on?” I sighed and figured it was a hallucination, until I almost fell over the edge. I blinked and said aloud, “Well that’s very real, or I’m just tripping balls. Since I don’t do drugs it must be real. Frack!” I sighed and turned then started walking along the ravine. I finally came across a path that led down into it and followed it down figuring it couldn’t hurt. I walked along the bottom of the ravine noticing it seemed familiar yet strange at the same time. All the familiarity was starting to give me a migraine, especially with the minor differences. I pulled out another piece of gum and started chewing it as I pulled a box of matches out of my pocket and lit one, since the rain had stopped and it had gotten dark.

I looked around for anything I could use to make a torch. There was no such thing around. I sighed and thought “Of course. If there was something I could use as a torch it’d probably be soaked by the rain anyway. Today is just not my day. First I get lost following a trail I should know like the back of my hand then I nearly fall in a ravine, then I can’t find anything to make a fire. This sucks dooky.” Before I continue I must admit that my mind goes between that of an angry adolescent and a child depending on my mood. I have yet to fully mature honestly and I think if I ever do it will either kill me, or destroy the world. I hope it’s the second one because then all the people who bothered me would be taken out in one big boom. Unless it went off without a boom, wait tangent back on track.

As I was saying before I got side tracked, my mind constantly switches between three modes, caring adult, rebellious teen, and innocent child. It causes me no end of torment when my mind suddenly changes tracks. Anyway I continued walking through the ravine muttering about the lack of a torch and noticed that the valley was getting mistier and mistier. I blinked and mumbled “Wtf? Why is the valley suddenly full of mist?” I shook my head and looked for a way to either get to the other side or climb out of the ravine. Finally I saw a path leading up and started walking along it humming.

I finally found a spot that was rising and started following it upward, figuring that once I was out of the ravine I could probably find some sign of civilization, though things still looked vaguely familiar. I didn’t know why, the trees looked nothing like the ones around my home, but they still reminded me of something. I shrugged and jogged up the ravine wall to the top and blinked as I saw a rope bridge not twenty feet in front of me.

I swore up a storm then walked over to the bridge before walking across it as the weather turned worse again. A new storm broke out overhead and I started running along the path from the bridge finding myself in front of a huge building. I ran inside to get out of the rain and sat down at the base of a column and closed my eyes shivering. I felt my teeth chattering and started looking around for anything to use to warm up. Eventually I found a path leading further inside and torches on the wall. I took the torch and started walking further into the building looking for anything I could use to warm up better, and not wanting to use the torch for fear it’d burn my body or clothing leaving me in worse shape than I already was.

I sighed and followed the passageway to a large room with a stone ceiling and a fire grate. I grinned and quickly lit the grate then sat in front of it feeling my shivers start to subside. I sighed and breathed deeply inhaling the smoke and coughing slightly. I yawned and curled up by the grate as I heard the sound of movement around me. I stretched and popped my neck then closed my eyes pulling my hood up and pulled the strings on it closing it in.

I started to fall asleep, only to feel as if someone or something latched onto me. I opened my eyes to stare into a lone draconic eye that was level with my face. I blinked and said “Oh look a dragon.” The owner of the eye snorted and I said “Or not.” I looked at the body and blinked then said “Holy Heck Batman it’s Nightmare Moon.” The now identified nightmare moon stared at me and twitched her starry ethereal mane flowing out behind her and her eyes looking straight into mine. I blinked and waved at her as she studied me carefully and condescendingly.
She smirked and said “Hello Servant.” I snorted at that and waved my torch at her causing her to fall back as I sat up.

I stared into her eyes and said “I am no one’s servant, mare. Try to control me and it will backfire. Work with me and you may become a good friend in my book who I’ll defend.” She stared at me surprised and I continued “You awakened my inner adult in case you’re wondering, so prepare to deal with me being serious and skeptical of your reality.” She stared at me clearly confused and I sighed then said “When I was twelve my mind split into three parts, one matured with me, one remained a child, the third however remained as that of a teenager when I entered puberty. Afterward I found myself trying to put the pieces back together but sadly it never worked. If you have a way to put me back together I’d be grateful.”

Nightmare Moon stared into my eyes and said “Three things. First, how do you know of me and why do you not cower in fear? Second what makes you think you can challenge me when I have magic? Third why do you wish to ‘put yourself back together’?”
I shrugged and said “One I think you’re a beautiful mare who got the short end of the stick being trapped on the moon, even if you’re no longer tied to Luna. Two IF you could blast me with magic you would have for my ‘Insolence’ when I was acting childish. Third if I can put myself back together my mind will be whole once more and I can tap into all of my abilities not just my sarcastic wit.”

She snorted and said “Yes I can help you, but what will you do for me in return?” I grinned and ran a hand through her causing her to shiver then raised an eyebrow. She said “Unless you know a spell to make me a physical body, you can’t help me so why would I help you?”
I snorted and said “If you can help me I’ll try to help you. I should be able to tap into magic when my mind is healed. However until then I’m useless if not worse than useless.” She raised an eyebrow questioningly. I sighed and explained “When I’m in an adult mind set I mostly can function, but I’m still hindered because I hear the other two’s voices. Now if you’re going to help me so I can help you, we should get started.” Nightmare Moon nodded and touched her horn to my forehead then we both appeared inside my mind.

It was a mess. Off in the distance was a city that looked like a young kid’s dream come true. Candy, video games, and toys were everywhere making up the walls, the buildings, and even the streets. Then you had an anarchist’s dream city where there were no rules just signs stating which street was which and dark clouds hanging overhead. Finally there was a modern ranch setting with a nice house and a nice yard. It was the most normal of the three premises but even it had signs of strangeness like an ethereal glow. I yawned and said “Welcome to the battlefield that is my mind.”

She looked around and said “I take it the more common of the three is yours?” I nodded and watched as the other two approached. The teen was wearing a black leather jacket, a sleeveless shirt, combat boots, and black pants with chains on the legs. The child was wearing a t shirt and jeans with a baseball cap and a hand held game in his hands playing it. They walked up and the teen raised an eyebrow while the kid glanced up curiously from his game. She glanced between the three of us and said “Well you definitely are all the same person.” We nodded and she continued “So, what happened to cause you three to split in the first place?”

I stretched and said “Losing a few of our friends when we turned fourteen. Before that it was having my girlfriend break up with me from me being to childish. I separated those two from the core of who I am because my friends told me that if I continued acting a certain way they’d leave. I realized it was a mistake much later and now we’re to this. I need you to open the path for the three of us to connect, and then you’ll meet the real Jake Wolf, that’s my name by the way. I’m a writer, or at least I was once upon a time. Anyway have at it Lady Nightmare.” Nightmare Moon charged up her horn and blasted the three of us.