Unusable Story Husk

It really sucks when my world goes black all of a sudden, and not just in the figurative sense. Sure, I had a huge part of my life revealed at once. Sure, I had flown for the first time in my life. But everything had literally gone black for me; all I remember is flying for endless hours over the ocean, attempting to clear my mind of everything that happened over and over again. I’m pretty sure at one point, once the sun began rising again, I had reached land. Did I crash? I wasn’t too sure.

What was surprising for me to discover was that I didn’t wake up on a dirt or grass covered plain, but instead, a nice and comfortable bed.

A million thoughts flew into my head at once, questioning my presence here.

“Hey, look who finally woke up!”

I turned my head towards the voice, and saw a brown, middle-aged stallion smiling directly at me. He seemed like the kind of pony you’d see running a bar and inn, what with the tankard in his hand and a cutie mark of a bed.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Daze Inn, the owner of Daze bar and inn here on Eden.”

What?

“Whoa, hold up tough guy.” That comment didn’t seem to make him too happy by the looks of his furrowed brows. “Did you say this is Eden?”

He seemed a little amused by my lack of understanding, making me feel a little uneasy. I had

“You’re in my inn on Eden, the farthest north you can go before hitting The Echo. You almost went in that forsaken land, had you gone a little more to the left. You should be thankful I found you knocked out by the plains out west, or you would’ve been helplessly lost!”

I guess I might of come off a little brash.

“Sorry for that. Anyway, I haven’t actually ever heard of Eden. I come from Everfree Island, but I’m not exactly sure what I should be doing next. Could you give me some pointers?”

“You ought to tell me more about yourself before I can do that. You could be some freeloader, trying to look all innocent so you can take advantage of my hospitality. This is all free of charge for now, mind you.”

He was right, why would he be able to help me? He doesn’t know what’s going on. Now that I think about it, after what my parents said, neither do I. Maybe it was best to trust this stranger, he seemed personable enough to confide in. If I remember some of the maps of Equestria I saw as a younger filly, this was far away from any major civilization.

So I explained what had happened, from the moon empowering me to learning about my past. What confused me was when he chuckled afterwards.

“I see. So you are trying to make me believe that you’re horn is authentic? That you’re an actual alicorn descended from royalty? Please! I bet you can do all kinds of fancy spells,” he said sarcastically.

Well, if I could fly the night before, maybe I can use magic too!

...Even though I had no idea how to do so in the first place. I looked pretty silly as I grunted and tried to force my horn forwards, attempting any magic at all, even a small spark. Unsurprisingly, none came.

“Hah! I like your stuff, kid. Tell you what; if you really are trying to do as you say, you don’t need to freeload here. You need to get down in the southeast where Equestria is, I heard that a princess there is an alicorn. I’ll accompany you to the mountain range separating this place from Alir, the next landmass on your way. I’ll supply some food and whatnot if you are really going to do this, though.”

I’m not sure if I wanted to do this or not. Shouldn’t I just head back home? My family must be worried sick - no, why would they? Their love might’ve just been another hoax like my entire life has been so far. Besides, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go.

“I think I will do this. This sounds like an opportunity for an amazing adventure! I don’t think I’ll get another chance like this!” I said, growing more and more excited now that I think about it. I’ll be living on my own for the most part, experiencing the world like in my books!

“You’ve got guts, and I admire that. I’ll try and tell you as much as I can along the way.”

Did he already forget my ability to fly?

“No worries, I’ll just *nrgh!* fly my *argh!* way out of *nngh!* here! Why won’t my wings cooperate?”

“No idea. I guess you’re going by foot, eh?” he said, chuckling once again.

I sighed deeply, pretty upset that my amazing flying experience may have been the only chance I had for it; unless I get flying lessons, of course. Maybe I can do that if I ever meet my true mother!

“We should get going soon. Don’t worry about my inn, we’ll only be taking some of my extra supplies and I won’t be gone for too long. Here in the spring, it isn’t very common to see people staying at the inn, so I shouldn’t miss anyone who wants to stay. Besides, it’s always nice to get out of the old place for a few days!” he said, giving me a light-hearted smile.

While Daze went to grab the supplies and close down the inn, I left the room to go and get some fresh air. The scenery was beautiful; there wasn’t too much to see, and that’s what it made it look so good. Not distracting, just peaceful. If this was how the world looked all along, I should’ve found a way to get over here a lot sooner!

Wandering off to a nearby hill, I got a good enough vantage point to see most of Eden. Off in the distance, I saw a faint glimpse of something like a chasm. Was that what he meant by The Echo? If that was true, then right behind me is the pathway to Alir. I couldn’t see the very end, but I could see that a mountain range separates us from the other side. This might be trickier than I thought-

“Hey, everything’s ready. I even brought a little extra to give you so you can cross the mountain range with some food,” Daze said, eyes glistening in the sun, strengthening his eagerness to adventure.

I looked at the bag he had slung over his shoulder, even though I couldn’t see inside. It was a simply patterned bag, but the thing that caught my eye was the hilt of a shortsword sticking out. Did he think there would be danger? I thought nothing of it, deciding instead to grab the other bag of supplies and head off.

The first half an hour wasn’t really anything special, as we say no one at all, not even a squirrel or a rabbit. There was just open plains and the two of us, at least before we reached a forest line.

“Daze, this island seems so empty. How do you make a living here if there isn’t anypony staying in your inn?”

“Eden is at a pretty convenient spot most of the time, as we are located right next to The Echo, where dark creatures tend to go, and there’s a dock out west for merchants and traders heading out to your little island. Before they embark on the next leg of the journey, they stay at my inn and have a few drinks of cider if they wish. In spring, it isn’t common to see many folks pass by, probably since the summer and winter are the times when everything happens,” Daze explained.

“There is another way I make money, and people seem to like me a lot for it.”

He didn’t say anything more, which I am assuming was the point. If it was some dark side of him or something, I didn’t want to press on. After all, he was helping me out a lot, here.

Instead, I focused on the forest lying directly in front of me. It wasn’t too dense, but it was dense enough to cut off most of the light trying to go through. It was very ominous, and it stretched out for as far as my eye could see both east and west.

“This here is the Forest of Eden. This covers the southern end of the island, ending at about where the mountain range is. It isn’t particularly dangerous, except for a few wolves or whatnot you might encounter.”

That doesn’t sound too bad. After all, it’s just a forest- wait, wolves and other whatnot? Like the creatures from my stories?

“Not very dangerous? If there’s wolves, then that sounds pretty dangerous to me!”

Despite the clear danger of wolves present, who could rip your insides out, the concept of putting danger and wolves together seemed to amuse him. He was laughing! Over wolves!

“You really think that’s dangerous? Sure, they can be deadly if you bother them. But if you think that makes this forest dangerous, you should see how bad the rest of the world is. If this is what you call scary, then this adventure is going to be cut pretty short for you,” Daze chided.

He was probably right, he seemed to be one of those kinds of ponies that had seen his share of the world.

“I can take ‘em, just give me that sword you have in your bag!”

“Kid, did you even listen to me?” Daze said, starting to get more and more aggressive by the minute. His furrowed eyebrows and assertive stance almost made him seem scary. “You’re inexperienced with a sword, you could possibly take one wolf down at the very most. If there is only one, it won’t attack you. It’ll just make noise and look for small prey on its own.”

Hmm, if that’s true, maybe the monster in Everfree Forest was just a wolf all along. If I ever go back, that’ll be a short story to tell; if I survive this tale, that is.

“Even in a pack, they won’t bother you unless you bother them first or they’re really hungry. They wouldn’t risk attacking something with a visible weapon normally, unaware of how experienced or inexperienced with them you may be. So just listen to what I have to say and you won’t get killed! Sound good?” Daze said, toning down his aggression. I know he was trying to help, but I couldn’t help but get a little bothered at his assertiveness.

“Calm down, old man. I know you’ve been on your share of-”

“My share? There’s a side to me you don’t even know about. I’m not going to tell you, but I’ve been through more than any character in any story you’ve read had done. I know about this sort of stuff, and I’m trying to keep you alive. There’s a side to this world you have no idea about either, and if you can’t deal with this side first by listening to me, you aren’t going five steps into that mountain range without dying. Hell, the forest would be difficult enough without my advice.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but I still don’t understand why you’re helping me. You seem pretty agitated to want to keep giving me advice,” I responded.

“Well, kid- what’s your name, anyway?”

“The name’s Gloria. Gloria Luneheart,” I said, hesitant to tell somepony my full name. As far as I know, my parents were the only ones who knew my last name, probably given by whomever that alicorn was that delivered me. But Daze seemed like the kind of pony I wanted to get along with as much as possible, and he did tell me his full name already.

“Well, Gloria, I see something in you. Even if I haven’t seen you use magic- which I’m still skeptical about, mind you- you just might be an alicorn as you claim to be, and I feel the need to help a young mare like that out. You also remind me of myself... about 30 years back, that is,” he replied, gazing off into the eastern sky. Was he thinking about his ‘glory days’? I wasn’t sure.

“We might as well get started now. Hopefully you listened to a word I said.” He began grumbling to himself, probably believing I didn’t hear anything. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us, and the forest will be teeming with life at night.”

Staring into the forest, I didn’t know if I was going to pull this journey off judging by what Daze said. I didn’t even know if I was going to finish this alive. But I did know that this was going to be an adventure I will always remember, and it was going to be the most exciting thing I will ever do.

That’s one thing I do know about adventures, Daze.

END OF CHAPTER TWO