Unusable Story Husk

by Yip

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure
Length: 4581

Unusable Story Husk

Unusable Story Husk

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-07-07 06:10:34 UTC

Finding Your Own Way

Take the baby and leave. Don’t worry about me, I will hold them off.

No, sister. I won’t let you fight them by yourself!

I will be fine, I only need to hold them off for a little while. The girl is far more important, just get her to safety. As far away from here as possible.

Are you sure? How will you find her?

Sister, I know she will find her way back. Now go! They are coming, there isn’t much time left. If you don’t leave now, you risk her safety.

I will be back as soon as it is done, sister.

I await your return, both you and my daughter’s.

Good luck, Celestia.

Same to you, Luna.

Taken Away

*******

THIRTEEN YEARS LATER

“Gloria? Are you upstairs in your room?"

"Yes, mother. And I'm not done cleaning yet."

"You know very well your father hates to come home to a messy house!”

Even though I love my mother, she tends to be a little too bossy sometimes. It’s as if she expects me to be just like everyone else on good ol’ Everfree Island - proper and polite. Is she expecting me to get a fancy cutie mark like everyone else? Ha. I’m turning 13 today, why won’t she get that I can make my own decisions now?

I swear, even if I didn’t have wings and a horn, I’d still think I didn’t belong on this island. Their colours were so boring too! Emerald is so much better. Why can’t everypony be emerald like me?

I do feel in place with my mane, though. Black with white streaks is pretty boring, and I guess that’s one similarity I have here.

“Gloria? Gloria!”

“I’m fine, mom. I’ll finish it later, don’t worry about it.”

Something I said must have hit a fuse, because her tone got a lot more stern after that.

“I’ve already told you to clean your room many times today, and you will do as you are told. Just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you can disregard everything I have to say!”

I sighed as loud and as obnoxiously as I could, exaggerating enough that I could hear my mom scowl.

Perfect.

I decided that it was probably best to clean the room anyway, since my dad probably wouldn’t be happy if it was messy. My dad seems to be the only one I can relate to on this island. He’s always encouraging me to try flying on our rooftop, even when my overprotective mom doesn’t think it’s a good idea. He’s always telling me stories about magic unicorns and wondrous tales on the mainland that he had heard as a kid. It made me feel a little self-conscious that I couldn’t use my horn for magic or fly with my wings like the ponies in the stories could, but the stories compelled me nonetheless.

It only took me a few minutes of cleaning the various books and trinkets scattered throughout my cramped room that I gave up and jumped on my bed, staring out from my window. Even though our house wasn’t very big or tall, I still had a pretty good view of the ocean from my window, which I could stare at for hours and hours.

Why imagine the tales happening past the water when I can read about it, though?

Even though most of the island, always being quiet and boring and all, labelled me as a rambunctious teen, I still loved to settle down and read like they did. Just not the old, dusty tomes they liked to study with - I loved exciting adventure books like ‘Daring Do’ or ‘Haunting Mare’. It was a great escape from the lackluster island I had been living on for years.

Just as I was about to pick up the latest edition of Daring Do I had gotten today as a birthday present from my dad, I heard my mother coming up the stairs. Well, I guess I have no excuse out of it this time. I quickly resumed cleaning as she opened the door, tapping her hoof on the ground in annoyance.

“So you decided not to clean even though I told you to do it a zillion times already. Yet again,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. “Seriously, what am I going to do with you?”

“You’ve survived me living here for thirteen years, you can’t take any more?”

My closing statement seemed to amuse her, but she seemed dead set on continuing the discussion.

“Listen, Gloria. I know you might be different from everypony else on the island...”

She got that right. Not a single pony on this island had wings or a horn, let alone both. Not to mention their personalities weren’t exciting. If it wasn’t for my dad, I’d be certain that these weren’t even my real parents.

“I know I may seem a little harsh on you sometimes...”

She got that right too. I know she loves me, and I’m certain that’s what she’s going to say next, but I’m simply too old to be treated like a child.

“But I want you to know that I love you.”

Bingo.

“Once your dad gets home, we were thinking of going to Everfree Ridge so that we could have some family alone time, maybe clear your head a little. Now, I know you might not be so willing to be stuck with your boring family, but it’s your birthday, maybe you can enjoy yourself too!”

I knew she was trying to bond, but I couldn’t find any way this could be fun.

“What would I do there that could be fun? Er, besides spend time with you, of course!” I added quickly, pulling off a big, fake smile I thought of at the last second.

My mother didn’t seem convinced.

“Right. Anyway, that’s not what I meant. Before having some family time, you could go on the big rock overlooking the ocean so you could practice flying! It'd be safe with the soft moss covering the ground, too!"

Flying? I like the sound of this already.

"How long will it be before dad gets home? I'm excited already!"

She gave a genuine smile to me, probably pleased with my response.

"He'll be back in a bit. In the meanwhile, clean up your room as I said!"

"Sure thing, mom."

As she left, I thought I'd get to work straight away, but instead found myself reading my Daring Do book again.

"Daring Do is on her latest adventure, trying to locate the… *yawn* well, I guess I can clean the room later."

Before I knew it, I was out like a light, even though I hadn't felt tired before. Maybe Daring Do bored me now?

*******

Take the baby and leave!

"Uh, hello?"

How will you find her?

"Who's there? What's going on? I can hear your voices, but I can't see anything!"

I await your return.

"Please tell me!"

"Gloria? Gloria, are you all right? Wake up, darling!"

I was woken from my dream with a start, seeing my parents' worried faces staring right at me. I guess I was talking in my sleep, and it would've been frightening to onlookers. It was frightening to me too, but something inside me couldn't shake the feeling that this was more than a dream.

"You must've taken a nap while cleaning. I should've seen that coming," my mom said, probably trying to put me at ease after that dream.

"I just got home, and I'm all ready. It's pretty late, but I can already see the full moon coming out past the sunset. It'll give us lots of light!" my dad explained.

I was eager enough to forget about the ominous dream, happy to get a parent-approved opportunity to try flying. Too bad I didn’t know a way to try and start up my magical abilities, because that would be pretty cool.

“Come on, let’s head down now before the sunset is over!”

When we began heading to the ridge, I noticed that something didn’t seem right with the town. Even though it was late... wait a second, how long was I out for? Did I miss dinner too? I guess I’ll feel the starvation later.

But even though it was late, nopony was outside to watch the sunset. Oh, wait, I remember now! They’re all scared of the supposed ‘monster’ that lives in these woods on full moons, coming to eat them all up! They’re nuts. Monsters aren’t real, and even if they were, where would it live the rest of the year?

Despite my logic, the setting sun did make the forest a lot darker and a little scarier. If the moon wasn’t full, it’d be nearly pitch black, and that would be frightening to anypony. Maybe the darkness scared the other residents of the island hear things coming out from the forest out of their imagination.

Thankfully, we were able to get to the other side of the forest before the sun finished setting, giving us direct light from the brilliant moon above us.

Something about the moon made me feel empowered. I’ve never been outside on a full moon night, and it felt amazing.

I felt I could fly.

“Now, darling, be careful. Just try flying once, and if you do, don’t-”

I couldn’t hear another word she said, I had already dashed up the largest visible rock, preparing myself for flight.

This time, it would work. No more disappointments.

Extending my wings as far as I could, I pounced off of the rock hard and fast. I felt the wind fly past my face as I continued on, watching my parents look at me from below. But I didn’t feel as though I was accelerating, just going at the same speed. No, I was descending down and decelerating.

I guess I’ll have to put up with gliding for the rest of my life.

My parents had already caught up with me, eager to reassure me that I’d be a great flyer someday.

“Today wasn’t your day, sweetie. You’ve got a lot more birthdays to try it out!” dad said, comforting me with a nice, light-hearted smile that couldn’t help but put my nerves at ease as the corners of his mouth glisten from the moon’s light. “Although, there is one thing we promised each other we’d tell you on this birthday in particular.”

My mother nodded her head, looking too solemn for a normal parent-to-daughter discussion. Was this going to be very serious?

“Me and your father know you want to choose your own way, and we understand if what we are about to tell you would make you want to leave the island to find your own way.”

What? This is making no sense.

“Mom, what are you talking about? Why would I leave you guys already?”

My mom couldn’t take it any longer. Something inside her must’ve set her off, letting loose a stream of tears from her eyes, contrasting with her usual stern and serious expression. It almost made me want to cry, even though I hadn’t heard the news yet.

“Listen, Gloria. We’ve been a family for 13 years, and we’ve loved and cared for you every minute we have been. But surely, you know that you are different from other ponies on this island, someone special.”

I nodded my head, still unaware of where this was going.

“You are an alicorn, and based on news I’ve gotten from the local tradesman who heads to the mainland, there are only two other ones like you. And with information from tomes from my book collection, only four alicorns can exist at once. I don’t know what happened before, but we met one of these alicorns who visited the island 13 years ago, entrusting us with what she claimed was her sister’s only daughter.”

I knew what he was implying, but it couldn’t be true. It was impossible! I had no magic abilities, so the horn was just a defect. I couldn’t fit into this equation, could I?

“We aren’t your biological parents, despite everything we have done for you. You were that daughter given by the alicorn to us, but we were told no more,” dad finished, inhaling and exhaling deeply to relax himself.

“No, this isn’t true. It’s impossible! You wouldn’t lie to me for 13 years, that’s not what you would do, right dad? Mom?”

My mother looked away in shame, bringing out another batch of tears to shed. My father maintained his composure, but I didn’t know if I could do the same. It seemed all so believable.

“We didn’t want to tell you because we wanted you to just enjoy your childhood, not having to worry about your lineage. You’re becoming a grown mare, and we thought it’s best if you make the best decisions about yourself.”

I backed away from my dad, climbing up the rocks absent-mindedly. I couldn’t grasp the situation, it hadn’t sunk into my head yet. It wasn’t until I reached the top that I really understood what was going on.

Extending my wings again, I thought about my life. All a lie, a shadow of what it really was. Because of the two ponies standing below me, beckoning for me to come down and talk.

“No, I am not speaking to two liars! You kept me in the dark! Are you ashamed of who I am? Do I scare you? I sure hope-”

I didn’t get time to finish my accusation, because I realized that I had slipped on the top of the rock, falling down closer and closer into the icy waters below. Faster and faster I approached the hostile looking waves, until I noticed my wings slowly generating enough lift to raise myself. I was flying, but it wasn’t the thing on my mind right now.

Flying away from the island, I never turned back. This wasn’t where I belonged if I wasn’t born here. Now that I know that truth, I need to find out the rest on my own.

I needed to find my own way, and it wasn’t here.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

The Other Side

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