It was a beautiful day as always in the land of Equestria, the sky was glistening a bright and gentle blue, the grass rustling in the wind, and the mighty oaks standing proud and tall among one another. Life was perfect here.
I woke up to the birds chirping by my window as the light flooded in bathing my room in a sort of glow signaling it was morning, I slowly got to my hooves and stretched as I have done many times before; it's kinda like my tradition. Upon finishing my morning rituals which included: stretching, making food, having a shower (my favorite part of the morning), and leaving for the market.
"Maybe...I should take a different route today," I muttered to myself as I didn't normally wake up this early and I had some time before I had to work.
One time while I was working I heard this tale from someone that I hit up a nice conversation with. She had said if you follow a certain path in the Everfree forest, the canopy of the trees open up and you can see a ruin of what once was a beautiful castle. Of course I didn't believe it but never had the time to actually look for myself. I guessed now would as good a time as any to go.
As I walked through the streets of Ponyville, I didn't see as many ponies as I normally did but then again, I did wake up way earlier than usual. I assumed that the few ponies that were out and about were in the same predicament as me...or maybe they normally got up this early.
As I continued down the trail to the everfree forest, I saw less and less ponies to the point where there was only one, and she gasped as she saw me heading toward what they knew to be a terrifying place Thankfully, she made no effort to stop me. To be honest, I was a bit scared myself but since monsters attacking Ponyville was a normal occurrence, I was used to things only in a foal’s dream coming alive. I stopped at the entrance of the forest and gulped before putting on a brave face and walking in.
Almost immediately, I missed my bed and the birds chirping. I felt a chill as the world around me grew darker and harder to navigate as I walked through the forest. I nearly fell many times and the thorns scraped me every couple of feet. I was sore and I was more than a little lost. I had thought of going back but had already gone so far and felt it was too late so stop now. I was beginning to lose hope and the only thought that plagued my mind was the possibility that the mare who had told me about the place was lying. Maybe she was lying. Maybe this whole thing was a scam to get me lost or something. As a stallion living in the moment, I was not sure of anything anymore.
Ever heard a grown stallion scream? Neither had I, until it escaped my mouth as the shadows began dancing around me.
I regained control of my breathing and tried to see what around me had caused me to flip like that. Turns out the shadow I saw was my own just grown to an enormous size. After finding this out I just laughed and kept walking. Not a hearty laugh, mind you, but a sort of nervous chuckle.
I saw lots of things in here that I've never seen before: the various plants of different shapes and colors, the sheltering trees, the mysterious glow that surrounds a pony. Honestly, once you've being in there lost and just wandering, the forest turns into something miraculous. The fear edges away and you start to see the forest as it really is, beautiful. Sure the timber wolves are scary and the many other things here that could eat you alive are scary, but if you look past that and see the forest from an enlightened perspective, it truly is beautiful.
As I kept pressing forward on my expedition now hopelessly lost and a bit hungry, I pressed onward into the forest in search of this mystery castle I'd heard of. I hadn't walked too much further before stumbling a small house like thing; a hut. Nothing like I've ever seen before, it was just standing there proud, it’s oval shape beaming with decoration.
With nothing else as a marker I decided to go to the house and knock even though my stomach was twisting in knots. When the door first opened I wasn't sure what I was going to do: ask for help or just run. Instead I just stood there in horror as the door slowly slid open to reveal…
Zecora! The zebra that went to Ponyville sometimes to buy supplies from the market. Never in my life had I been so relieved.
"I do not get visitors here a lot, so I assume you must be lost?" She says in her signature poetic sentence structure.
"Yes! I am lost! Very lost! I did not know you lived here. I see you sometimes browsing the market but I've never see where u go after," I blurted really quickly. Maybe that was kind of rude of me but after being on edge through this forest, I hoped she understood.
What was odd was she only laughed and let me in. She encouraged me to sit on one of the straw chairs as she poured tea for the both of us.
"So tell me why are you here. I'm assuming you're not a sight seer," she rhymes, taking a sip of her tea. It would be rude of me not to drink mine so I did, despite the off-green color and replied, "Well, I woke up early you see. I had nothing to do so I decided to try and find a castle here I once heard of. “After chuckling I continue, “It sounds silly when I put it that way,but that's why."
She only laughed and said, "So you are looking for the castle of the two sisters? The castle that remains nothing but whispers?" After seeing my face kind of twist in appall of her uncanny ability to rhyme at any time, she laughed again and continued, "If it is the castle you seek, I suppose I’ll help you take a peek."
I was honestly shocked to have come all this way (If I even that went far, I can't really tell) and just now I'm asking for help? Why did I not come to Zecora sooner?!? I mean I didn't know where she lived... Or that she even lived here at all for that matter.
I facehoofed quietly. “If you could show me that would be great." We both finished our teas and went towards the proverbial "Castle Of The Two Sisters."
When we arrived at the castle, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. My jaw dropped at the sight. I figured anything this old would have...oh, I don't know...become nothing but rubble and become one with the forest? However, that simply wasn't the case here. Odd. I wonder why?
For some reason, what was left of the castle twisted with unnatural nature in a sort of way that would make any fashion designer gasp, if they lived to see it of course... To be honest, if not for Zecora I would probably be lost forever in this place. As soon as that thought came, Zecora said something and I forgot I even thought it.
" this is where I'll be taking my leave, I have things to do you see" She said and I almost didn't catch it from my loss of words and attention. I replied sounding kinda stupid but thankfully sincere "oh, ok. Bye Zecora, and thanks again."
As she left I also did but unlike her, I went towards the castle to explore it. I wasn't going to risk my life to get here and not look a little into the castle. There was light inside from a hole in the roof that had vines hanging from it creating these sort of pillars of shadow and light. I was dumbfounded by the beauty of the place and it only got more pretty as I explored. There was a library with thousands of ancient books, an overgrown garden, trap doors and rooms full of Armour.
At one point I stopped to read a bit of the collection of books and found out that some of these books were spells as well, still as I was not a unicorn I didn't pay much attention to the spells and rather at the layout of the room and the books piled high. I was confused at how these could of survived and why they weren't taken by somepony already. I guess some things are better off left alone.
There was one thing I didn't understand though, even after all these years shouldn't the place be dirty? You would think so as it is in ruins but for some reason it seemed well kept as if somepony came here and cleaned it recently, as well as replaced the old tapestry with new ones that looked beautiful.
I smiled more and more as I explored this mysterious place wondering how life was like here and why was the castle in the middle of the everfree forest but I kept moving on hoping to find something to top the rest of my findings so far. On my exploration I stumbled upon a door which led me to the only tower to of survived looking in pretty good condition, and decided to climb it. As I walked it felt like it could break any second but proved my wondering thoughts wrong as I climbed this endless staircase.
Upon reaching the top I made extra care to walk slowly as if it was the surprise of a lifetime and boy was it, I gasped once I reached the top and I looked upon the beauty of everything as if I was blind and only now could I truly see. It was like something had just hit me and now I could see how much this place has grown onto me like the plants to the castle. As I heard the birds chirping and the rustling of the trees, something else caught my ear....
Is that, whistling?
