Noble and Free

Chapters

Prologue: The Last Prayer
Chapter One: A New Home
Chapter Two: The Old Village
Chapter Three: Discovery and Decisions
Chapter Four: Up and Up
Chapter Five: Before Eternity Came
Chapter Six: The First Meeting
Chapter Seven: Welcome to Equestria
Chapter Eight: When Lavender Arrives
Chapter Nine: Kindred of Nature

Prologue: The Last Prayer

Prologue
The Last Prayer

A vast forest stretched across the horizon, as it had for millennia lost. In the early morning light, the forest was aglow with the green and yellows that would be expected in such a place. The forest itself was beautiful and brought contentment to those that would walk amidst it, yet, as it was, there were no others to walk in this eerily silent glen in which rested the last denizen of the great forest. Blonde hair of an almost shining vibrancy, like that of an early morning star, cascaded upon the ground to surrounded a peaceful face of fair complexion and soft, delicate, but powerful features. In the past, many had complimented the woman on her beauty, yet none here would ever do so again. Her sharply pointed ears twitched slightly as her eyes opened to revealed a striking silver.

The last elf of the forest woke, once more, to almost pure silence save for the wind and pitter-patter of morning dew as it fell from the canopy of leaves. She did not move, and instead chose to stare at the leaves and patches of sunlight above her. Where they had gone wrong, what exactly had happened, she could not tell and did not know. She had told them, so long ago, that something had been wrong. She had felt it, but none had listened.

Perhaps this was her penance for not forcing them to realize what was happening, though she remembered it as though it had been yesterday.

First, they had stopped hearing from their cousins in the other Great Forests.

Then, the dwarves had stopped appearing.

The monsters that had once been seen throughout the lands all vanished, an unspoken blessing.

The other races had gradually stopped speaking and faded out to where she could not know. She did not know where, but now she was quite certain of what had happened to them. As had happened here, the elves had slowly given up and become one with the forest they had protected and were so loving of. The dwarves had likely done the same in their undermountain homes.

The last time she had seen another living being had been... she was not sure, it was so many sunsets long past. A lone fox had lain on the ground and whined as she had approached. The poor thing had a small thorn in its paw, and she had removed it with as little pain as she could cause. For many days, possibly years, the little fox had followed her and walked the silent woods with her. Her only and her final companion.

The young fox, if it could be called young anymore, though it was to her, had reached an old age and simply stopped. Like with everyone she had seen before, the forest had slowly taken it over. Some, long long ago, had suspected the forest was causing this, but she had always been sure it was something else. Perhaps it was an ancient magic. Perhaps, it was just the way things were supposed to go. The way they would always go.

There was one thing she knew for certain.

It never hurt, because the eyes always showed their final emotions. Happiness. Contentment. Love. The elf had a firm belief that the forest was saving them, giving them a beautiful end as they all had eventually come to desire. She knew, in the past, many would consider it a horror. Yet, who was left but her? There had never been anything she could do, they had wanted it, they had wished for it, and she would not stop them. It had always been their choice and, the forest reflected the love her people had shown it for so very long, it gave them the most loving end it could.

The elf gave a forlorn smile as she sat up and looked to the tree on her left, it was considerably smaller than the others. Perhaps, the forest gave her peace by letting her know where her last friend lay. The willow tree, it's vine-like leaves and gnarled branches hanging over the place she had lain, was exactly that. The tree was, in all ways, what had once been that young fox.

The young fox, she had given it the name Willow for it's spindly legs and arms, had been the last being she had ever known. It had come long after the last person she had seen, perhaps twice as long as it had been since the little fox had appeared. Why bother counting the sunsets when no one else was there to share them?

The last person she had ever seen had been a young human, supposedly she had been the first elf seen in... She couldn't remember what the young man had said, but it had been something equivalent to several lengths of human lives. She had, of course, asked him how the humans had been doing and the young man said that, for some time, it seemed they were going to vanish. She had become interested and inquired what he meant.

The humans, not unlike the race long past, had slowly been becoming one with their fields, with the plains they loved so dearly. Yet, one day it had seemingly stopped. She had gone silent when she heard and the young man had asked her where the other elves were. The shock on his face when she had looked up and tears stained her face had almost silenced her, but she spoke, perhaps for the first time in hundreds of sunsets. Her voice had been soft, lilting, and almost inaudible.

"Look around you," she had said, "What you see is the remains of my people, not the houses nor the tools scattered throughout this forest, not the fallen arrows, not strings, not the runestones which once protected this place. Nothing you have put together with my people in your past is their remains. They have not died, but they have not lived in so long I cannot remember. Like the other races, yet unlike you humans, they became one with that which they loved. They are no longer elves, but the forest itself. I, however, have remained an elf for so long that I do not know when or how long ago it was this happened, for, is there any point in keeping track of time when no one except nature itself is there to share it? I have watched over this forest for so very long I do not even remember my own name."

The man had gone completely silent, the shock on his face betraying his thoughts.

"I am the last elf," she said, "the last of a race older than yours by so very long. I held no power when I was younger, but there are none left to argue with me. It is, because of that, I tell you this. While my race and yours were not so favorably aligned, nor were they enemies, I wish you to not make the mistakes of my people. Find what we know, learn from it. Do not become like us and whither off into near nothingness. Do not become like the ones that came before you. Your race is old enough now, old enough for this world to finally, truly, be yours and yours alone. Perhaps, someday, we the old fools, will return and that day, a day when your people will have been around far longer than us, you will teach us. If I live to that day, I ask you make sure that your children, your children's children, and so on, carry this message."

The man's eyes widened as he realized the weight of her words, what exactly that meant. He bowed his head, low to the ground, and looked up at those silver eyes. The orbs resembled the moon, the brightest light of the night, and he mustered himself up. "I will carry your words, I will carry them as far as I can. None shall forget you, none shall forget your peoples. The last elf, the last moonset on the dawn of the humanity, your message will be heard."

A sad smile graced her face, "Thank you," she said. With a final bow, the man began to walk away and, try as she might, she could not keep her eye on him. For all it was worth, she may have very well been delusional, but her heart hoped. Her people would likely never return, but at least some semblance of their legacy would go on.

With extreme grace, she had left the ruins of the village and ventured into the woods.

Now, she looked out on the silent forest and towards the tree her ancestors had been so beloved of for so long. It was the only marker, for it was the largest tree in the forest and the easiest to spot. She had once ventured out to the village where she had met the young human, but, as far as she went, she never left the forest. She could not leave the forest, try as she might. Perhaps she had become one with the forest like those before her, and simply didn't know it. She had laughed, if she did not laugh at her own inane ramblings, then what was there to laugh at? There was no one to speak to, she did not even speak to herself.

So it was, she ventured forth to the old tree. It was, perhaps, even larger from up close. A painful smile graced her face and she rest her hand on the trunk of the massive tree. Beneath her were the cracked remains of once might have been a pedestal or something similar. A single tear slowly rolled down her face as she whispered, the first words she had said in so very very long.

"My people are gone. My home is gone. My family is one with the forest they love. I am all that moves in this forest, except for wind and water. There is no one to speak with me. No one to love. No companionship. There is nothing but the forest and I. I have loved this forest for so very long, but I've never felt so very alone," the tears streamed from her face. "Is this punishment for a deed I once did? Have I not served long enough?" She sobbed into her hands and finally choked out more. "I do not wish for this... If I have to go on I will... But how much longer? So much time has passed I do not even know my own name anymore. I am nothing more than a watcher... What is to be watched where nothing happens? I cannot rest like the rest, I have tried. I cannot take my own life, for nothing here will hurt me. What have I done to deserve eternity?"

The elf was on her knees, sobbing before the holy place of her people. It is said, in many places, that pain, sadness, and so many other emotions can be felt by others. By what others, though, for the elf was the last of her kind. She was an Eternal Watcher, and there were no others with her. So. she did not expect anything to happen.

Yet.

Her people had always placed their faith, not in deities, but in the very nature they lived in. It was that nature that responded, the very nature that was the home and soul of her people. The forest saw it's own, crying out in pain and grief, in loneliness and hopelessness, and it would not stand for it. With all the strength it could muster, with all the love it held for the Last Elf, it heard the Last Prayer and called out as loudly and as far as it could for someone to help it's child.

When the elf stopped crying and fell into a deep sleep, the forest ceased it's call.

It seemed no one would answer. No one could answer.

The child, the last child, would be forever trapped in an endless solitary silence.

The forest grieved.

The child slept for several days and the forest blessed the momentary respite it gave the poor girl. It had called out for help several times since the first and as usual there was nothing but silence. The sun rose for the third time and, as the forest started to resume its call, something washed over it. Something, the forest knew, was moving it. As the forest shook, a soothing voice spoke and a warm paw graced its trunk.

At the base of the largest tree, where the last of the elves slept, stood a young mountain lion. The feline had its paw on the tree and it, as far as the forest could tell, was the one speaking. A young voice, full of strength and power, spoke in a softened tone. "Both you and her have experienced something close to an eternity, and I will not have my children in such grief when I can help it. Where you are going," the feline said, "They will come to love her, and she will have them love you as you once were. This time, the pain will never come, for there is no reason in it."

The forest felt a warm glow, stronger than the dull and dying sun it had once known, grace it.

A single striking ray of light pierced the canopy and the elf woke. As she opened her eyes, she saw the lion. She gazed at the creature and heard the voice, "Live on, my children, and be loved as you deserve after so long." The elf gasped when the lion simply faded from view.

The forest smiled and knew. It's child would be safe, the feline had answered when nothing else had and had gifted them beyond all expectation.

Eternity was a long walk alone.

Eternity with others is not something so terrible.

Chapter One: A New Home

Chapter One

A New Home

The sun, risen by Princess Celestia who ruled the land of Equestria with her now returned younger sister, Princess Luna, slowly reached it's zenith and ponies were already moving about in a small town that was all but a short train ride outside of the country's capital, Canterlot. The small town was not overly important, except for having hosted the Summer Sun Celebration only but a few weeks back.

Such it was that one lavender mare, with her deep purple mane with it's lighter pink and purple stripes, was staring out the window of her house, which happened to be a tree. A young purple scaled dragon was downstairs cooking what Twilight was quite certain might be lunch. She had already skipped breakfast when she felt the strange thing that had happened earlier that morning. Not to say she physically felt it, no, she had felt it instinctually and with her magic. Something had changed, something quite important.

She had already penned her letter to the diarch, her teacher, and had yet to receive a response. She assumed the princess was investigating it herself and Twilight was quite content with that. At least she said she was, which she almost was. Almost. Something brand new, something that made little sense, happening in what was basically her backyard was pulling her curiosity like crazy and Spike had already calmed her down once that morning. It was at his insistence that the mare had sent yet another letter, which had helped calm her down enough she was certain she could contain herself.

Not that it wasn't concerning to the dragon cooking downstairs, in fact, to Spike it was one of the days he was practically constantly praying to the princess herself that the mare who had raised him did not go on another one of those explosive episodes she hadn't been know for, in school at least. Celestia sent a letter back, promising to tell her protégé of any developments.

As the mare paced back in forth in her home, the aforementioned Celestia, an alabaster alicorn with an ethereal mane of the colors of dawn, dusk, midday, sunrise, and sunset, was sitting calmly in a flying carriage drawn by a small squad of pegasi. She would have just flown herself, but it was the insistence of her guards that she took the carriage. She was royalty, but she did not particularly like using all the so-called privileges of being one. Luna had always been the one for dramatics, of course.

She eyed the forest below them, the Everfree. It was a fairly large forest but nowhere near the size it was now. If anything, the large forest that had seemingly grown overnight was a multitude of times larger. Sure the two were connected, but the line between them was clearly drawn by the change from dark almost depressing trees to something that had stole her breath away when she had first seen it. The light cascaded perfectly through the leaves and brightened the ground beneath the canopy when she could see it. The forest was, if she could believe it, possibly more beautiful than the one the deer were so well known to live in, and that was just from above.

The carriage began to descend just outside the edge of the new forest, the wind the only sound aside from the slight creak of the wood. Celestia watched as the forest approached the carriage bumped on the ground a little before it finally stopped and the pegasi stood at attention. "At ease," she said, "There's is no need for such formalities in this situation."

The ponies nodded and Celestia moved towards the forest as they followed.

She stepped under the canopy of leaves and, for the first time in a very long time, the millennia old princess was struck quite literally, breathless. The pegasi stared. The forest itself was not something overly different, but it was the vast stillness, the silence, the feel of the air, and the feeling of a warm presence watching them that struck them with it's beauty. Celestia struggled for a few moments to recover her wits, and her guards struggled for a few moments longer. "It's..." one of the pegasi stared.

"Beautiful," Celestia said, "I've never seen anything like it. It should be eerie and disturbing, but it's tranquil, peaceful, and almost... otherworldly." The guards nodded and Celestia took a few steps, the soft crunch her hooves made on the ground almost echoing in the nearly perfect silence. The forest, if she remembered correctly, now spread from almost one end of Equestria to the other, it was massive. Yet, surprisingly, no towns were involved, the rails were fine, the roads were still there, but so was this inexplicable brand new forest.

They ventured further, the idea of danger an inconceivable notion in this tranquil forest. Were it not for the sun, the princess and her companions would have felt as if no time, or all of time, was passing. It already felt that way, for the forest had this timeless atmosphere to it. For as hard as they had tried, guards and princess alike had been stopping consistently to gaze at the sights. Had it not been for what they saw in the trees ahead of them, they would have been distracted for far longer.

In the trees were the ruins of houses and possibly other buildings, some were even amongst the trees themselves. Celestia approached the broken sign just outside of the cluster of ruins and stared. The word was completely unfamiliar, alien, and unlike any language she had seen in her entire life.

ΠρώταΛαγκάδα

"What does it say, your highness?" one of the pegasi asked, frowning at the bizarre letters. They unintelligible and quite literally, unreadable with pony language. Celestia blinked and stared before speaking.

"I honestly have no idea, but the dust and foliage tell me this place is old, impossibly old for having just arrived," she answered. Looking back at her guards, "I believe we have quite the mystery ahead of us."

With an eager sprint, Twilight Sparkle raced downstairs to the main part of her home. Books lined the wood walls from floor to ceiling, it was a library after all. She wasn't entirely sure who had run it before hand, but they certainly had not lived in the library itself considering the rooms she was using now had been full of storage, which she elected to move all into the now much larger basement. The young mare practically burst through the door and almost collided full speed with the princess, who looked quite amused at her antics.

"What did you find?" the mare asked excitedly, positively bouncing in place. The guards smiled, they remembered Twilight's antics from the past and it was clear that, while she was growing up, she was still the young mare with a passion for learning. Celestia motioned her hoof inside, and Twilight made an o with her mouth before moving out of the way as the princess walked into the library.

"Do you have a map, Twilight?" the princess asked.

"I have a map of Equestria, Ponyville, Canterlot, the Badlands-" Celestia cut her off with a smile and shook her head.

"Just of Equestria for now," she said and Twilight nodded rapidly as she lifted one of the large rolls of paper in the corner with her magic. The map unrolled on the table and Twilight placed paperweights on it's corners. Celestia hummed lightly.

"Perhaps we should make a spell for that," she commented and Twilight's eyes widened. Without seconds, the young mare was already scribbling away on a notepad as the alabaster alicorn shook her head in amusement. With a small flash, Celestia brought a quill from the air and directed it to outline the shape of the forest she had just visited. Twilight, in the mean time, kept scribbling.

"Twilight," the princess called out. The mare kept scribbling. "Twilight," the alicorn called out, yet again. After calling out a few more times, she finally wrested the small quill from her student's magic and gave her a look.

The mare smiled sheepishly, "Sorry," and made her way over to the table. Before her, on the spread out map of Equestria, Celestia had outlined a very large portion. Twilight hummed as she looked at it.

The forest encompassed the majority of northern Equestria, even going out beyond her borders. Compared to even the deer, caribou, and even some of the uninhabited forests, this forest was absolutely massive. Twilight blinked in shock as Celestia muttered over the map, "Um, princess? Is it really this big?"

"I have estimated, going by how much I could see, but that may not be the limits to it's size," Celestia finally marked a location on the map. It was inside the forest itself, just a short map length inside the forest itself. Of course, the actual distance was somewhere near a thirty minute walk. Twilight blinked.

"That's... That's massive," she muttered, looking at the circled location inside the borders of the forest. "What's there, princess?"

"Ruins, they're impossibly old and I can't read what they say. I was hoping you might be able to, so I copied the words from the sign," Celestia removed a small scroll from the saddlebag on her side and hoofed it to the lavender mare. Excitedly, she unrolled and it froze.

The young mare blinked.

She blinked again.

"What is this?" she asked.

"I was hoping you would know," Celestia answered, frowning slightly, "I've never seen it before, and I thought you might have encountered it in your studies in the past."

"I haven't, I haven't encountered anything remotely like this," the mare's eyes were wide, "the closest is the minotaur writing system, but even that is still in a similar style to ours. This one has letters and flourishes I've never seen, if it came from here, it came from nowhere we know of."

Celestia sighed, "I was afraid of that," She pointed at the circle with her hoof. "I'd like you to see if you can't find more information out at the village we discovered."

Twilight shook eagerly, a wide smile splitting her face, "I'd love to!"

"Be careful, of course," Celestia said as she moved towards the door, "We never know what might be out there."

The wind rustled the leaves as a fair figure looked around, she had been walking around for some time and there was nothing inherently new. The forest felt far more alive, the sun's warmth was stronger than it had been in so long, and the breeze practically breathed life into her surroundings. Despite these refreshing changes, which were so little, nothing new had made it's way into the forest as of yet. There were no animals nor people. Perhaps it was because of how far into the forest she was, but the elf's heart twinged.

She had been alone for a very, very long time. Could a little longer hurt her? Certainly not, it was not as if she was going to die anytime soon, for what was there to there to hurt her so, except herself. Humming quietly to herself, the last of the elves began walking towards the village she had seen that young man so very long ago. He wouldn't be there, obviously he couldn't, but perhaps someone or something else would.

The grass flattened beneath her bare feet as she silently drifted through the trees she had know for so very long, she no longer had to focus on where she was going for nothing had changed in since those days. Ethereal grace, had the people of this world seen her, they would've been surprised as how lightly she moved. She made no hurry, but she did not slow. The summer sun occasionally graced her face, now alight with the first smile it had seen for as long as she knew.

How she knew there were people here, she could not say. Something about the way that voice had told her to live as she deserved told her, and her heart had soared.

She was alone no more.

Chapter Two: The Old Village

Chapter Two

The Old Village

Leaves crunched beneath hooves for the second time since eternity had left the forest. Soft voices carried on the wind, for the second time once more. Young light scattered through the leaves, fresh winds rustled leaves, and legs younger than anything the forest the had seen in a very very long time carried the hooves. At the head of the small herd of ponies, a lavender unicorn was peering in wonder at the forest. Trees thicker than any existing in the Everfree were scattered throughout the forest, and smaller flora, blocked her view.

Twilight Sparkle gasped as she looked around her, the princess had warned her the forest was different, but she had not expected such an intense feeling of pure serenity. Her eye lids dropped and her breathing slowed as she took it all in. Her companions slowed as well and the young mare couldn't shake off the feeling. Nothing in Equestria, nor anywhere else, had ever made her feel so at ease.

The group walked on, slowly but surely, and arrived at the ruins sometime later. The mare stared at the sign, covered in vines and dead leaves, the unfamiliar words sparking her curiosity. She pressed her hoof against the lettering and the wood groaned, the deep but smooth grooves interrupting her hoof movements slightly as she moved the vines out of the way to look at the beautifully intricate, curving, and flowering design on it's edges.

She gasped as she saw the corner of the sign itself, covered in lines. Tally marks, a bunch of small tally marks. She set herself to counting them as quickly as she could, her companions wandering through the rest of the ruins, staring in wonder. After a few moments, the young pony whispered to herself.

"327?" She looked around at the ruined houses, trees and vines covering them, and noticed similar groups of marks. Whatever was being counted, she wasn't sure, but it was a huge amount. Lifting up a notepad with her magic, and a quill, she started noting the number of groups. After losing track, she moved past the sign.

The mare felt a weight, a weight of emotion, pressing down on her. Love and pure daunting loneliness. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she moved into the closest house. The floorboards were covered in grass, vines, bushes, and even saplings broke through the floor and even the walls. As she took in the sight, she noted a bookcase, half broken, and moved towards it. Halfway buried underneath a broken shelf, a dusty, yellow, and torn book lay before her. She touched it with her hoof, and thanked Celestia when the book didn't rip apart. The cover was nothing spectacular, a faded deep green. What was inside, however, was far more interesting.

Foreign words and pictures greeted her eyes as they widened in disbelief. Detailed on the page before her was some sort of creature, tall and graceful with sharp pointed ears. It looked eerily similar to one of the creatures a pony from her town was so impossibly obsessed with, however, this creature seemed to be more elegant in her eyes. The description above, which she could not read, baffled her. However, she was fairly certain of the creature's name.

Ξωτικά. Such a strange name, for an equally strange creature, she thought. The mare gently placed the book in the saddlebag at her side. Fairly certain touching it directly could hurt the book, she was thankful for her education in magic as she cast the preservation spells she knew on the book as it rested in her bag. Once she was done, the unicorn began moving the rest of the broken shelves, stowing the other books away in the same manner in the first.

Her saddlebag filled, and her curiosity burning, she began writing down every detail of the structure she was in. It was, as far as she knew, not built for ponies or anything else she knew of. The door was too thin for a minotaur, and far taller than would be necessary for a pony, deer, or anything else. The walls weren't put together like the ones in town, they looked as if the had been grown together. The windows were the only thing she could confidently argue were the same as those she had seen, aside from their height.

The mare looked up at the broken ceiling and something caught her eye. Part of the roof that wasn't broken seemed to meet flawlessly with the tree, as if the tree had grown inside the house and then grew over the wood itself. At first, she had believed the trees had grown after this place had become a ruin, but now she wasn't quite so certain. Burning with curiosity, she sketched out a diagram on her notepad and left the house.

"Have you gathered any books or any artifacts from the other houses?" the lavender unicorn asked the nearest pony, a young guard with a light yellow coat. Her turned slowly towards her and gave a brief nod.

"Yes, the princess informed us that you may want to examine as much as you can while you were here and explicitly told us to gather everything into the carriage instead of letting you 'get absorbed for hours where you stood'," the guard said, lightly chuckling as the mare's face went red and she realized she had almost done just that inside the ruined house. Looking around and then up to the sky, she coughed.

"Er, I think we should head back to Ponyville," she said. The guard chuckled again and nodded. The rest of the company gathered up and Twilight climbed into the carriage, immediately absorbing herself in the diagrams and pictures of the first book she had found.

The carriage, now heavier than it had been upon arrival, crunched through leaves as the guards pulled it along. The trees passed by and she noticed nothing, completely absorbed in her book. If she had looked back, or had one of the guards, they would have noticed a lone figure walking into the ruins behind them, nearly the exact same image the mare had seen in the very book she was now staring at.

None of them did, nor did the figure look back towards them as it brushed it's hand against the decrepit sign, tracing the tally marks with it's fingers. The figure's shoulder slumped and it disappeared behind the trees as the carriage turned. As the carriage moved along, the sun slowly began to sink towards the horizon, the light dimming oh so slowly as dusk set upon the forest and, to the figure's disbelief, it was lit with the light of thousands of stars and swarms of fireflies.

To the south of the ruined village and the moving carriage, a castle lay upon a massive mountain's side. The tallest tower, just below the top of the very mountain itself, shone like a star as the moon began to rise from the horizon. Lights sprinkled on across the city beneath the castle itself. The alabaster alicorn smiled as a deep blue alicorn gave her a bright smile as well, Luna's eyes still hid the pain of the past, something possibly only Celestia herself could see. In hopes her sister would heal, and hopes that she would forgive her, the solar diarch said nothing as her sister departed from the room.

As the door closed behind her sister, the tall hourglass in the corner having been flipped to track the hours of the night, Celestia moved towards the balcony and gazed out upon the lands that lay before her. This was her home, the place she loved so dearly, full of ponies and creatures who lived to their fullest. She was proud, yes, but she still hurt. For the place she called home, she had to abandon her only sister. Indeed, it had cost her far more than she had ever believed it would, as young and naïve as she had been, but she couldn't change the past nor did she want to.

The solar diarch's smile never reached her eyes as she gazed forlornly on the starry night her only family had created for the first time in a thousand years. There were others like her, others who had lived a terribly long time, but none could fully understand why she decided as she had, nor why she continued going. Her sister, perhaps, could to some extent, yet none would understand how those sacrifices felt.

That night, Celestia went to bed with a heavy heart.

That night, just a short distance from the city beneath the castle, a library inside of a tree was alit the entire night. One poor young dragon's eyes drooped heavily as "his" caretaker, he inwardly scoffed at that one, kept him up far later than he felt he really should be up. The moon had risen HOURS ago, and he really couldn't understand how Twilight even managed this. Was she secretly draining cups of coffee every few minutes?

The same mare, having returned hours ago with what she had literally called treasures, was scratching away on the chalkboard in the main room of the library. Detailed on the chalkboard itself was a mildly crude reproduction of the picture from one of the books she had brought back. To Spike, he honestly had no clue what it meant, though clearly Twilight didn't either by the way she was going through both the books in horrible condition and the ones from the library itself. However, her notes had already filled numerous bits of parchment and scrolls.

Spike yawned heavily and made a mental note, which he immediately forgot when he yawned yet again a second later, to buy more quills, ink, and paper. Lots of it, to be exact. She was going to be at this for days, that much he knew, and he wasn't going to be getting very much sleep. He'd have to sneak some naps in, although he was used to that it was still a slight bit annoying to have to do it again now.

I wish we could've gone longer without doing this again, he muttered somewhat sarcastically in his head. Irritated as he was, he didn't exactly blame her for being curious, after all, how often does a massive forest crop up overnight without, as far as he knew, magic. Spike's head lulled to the side, a small amount of drool escaping his mouth as he finally passed out.

Without a single word, and while still absorbed in her book, Twilight's pink magic pulled the blanket next to the small dragon over him and he grabbed it, rolling onto his side. The lavender pony kept reading, and after some time, the sun began to rise and sunlight peeked in through the windows of the library. She copied another diagram onto the chalkboard and frowned at it.

As far as she could tell, these creatures had been amazingly apt at living with nature, well beyond ponies and perhaps beyond the deer or other species that lived in the woods. Yet, despite that, they were most evidently gone. There was no trace of an actual living one of them, at least in the forest she presumed. They could be elsewhere. Looking outside, she blinked as she realized morning had already come. The young mare scrambled as she dug a quill out from underneath her now exceedingly cluttered table.

Dear Princess Celestia,

As you asked me to, I went with the guards to the forest that appeared last night. The forest itself was gorgeous, so serene and mystical, perhaps as if it had never come from Equus in its entirety. Of course, while there I discovered a variety of different texts and artifacts amongst the decrepit buildings. If you have time today, I'd like to go over what I've found. That is, if it isn't any trouble. If it is, perhaps you could send my brother. He is a captain of your guard so I'm certain he'll give you the best and most accurate recantation of the information I have.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia smiled as the letter appeared before her. Sending Twilight was the right decision after all, though she wasn't sure she herself could take the information in person. The forest was causing a bit of a stir and she had to calm it down so perhaps...

"Shining Armor?"

The guard in question stood at attention.

"Yes, your highness?"

"I believe I have a job for you."

Author's Note

I can't update as much as I'd like, mostly because I have a lot of stuff I need to do and get. So, yeah shameless shoutout I guess? Please donate, even a dollar helps.

Donate To My Patreon

Chapter Three: Discovery and Decisions

Chapter Three

Discovery and Decisions

The sound of a hoof thudding against a solid wooden door brought Twilight's attention from the mess atop the table she had drug out. Resting beneath her hoof as she turned to look towards the door was a buff colored package of sorts, almost yellow brown and longer than the average envelope, she left it open as she raced towards the door. Peering through the top, she noted the deep blue mane, white coat, and horn on the pony. Flinging open the door, she squealed. "Shining!"

The stallion in question, Shining Armor, was in fact the lavender mare's brother. His hair mimicked hers, but in shades of blue, and was shorter atop his head, while it reached slightly past his shoulder in the back. Unlike Twilight's own marking, five smaller white stars with a large pink one in the middle, Shining's was a deep blue shield with a similar pink star in it's center. The stallion smiled, "Twily!"

Twilight suddenly whipped her head back towards the table and then back to him, "Celestia wasn't able to come?" she asked.

"No, but she said your letter mentioned me, so here I am," the stallion responded as he walked past the door she held open it. It shut with a light thud as she let go and motioned him towards the table. Grasping one of the book with her magic, she started into something of a rant.

"If you open the book," she let Shining grasp the book and bring it in front of himself, "you can see none of it is in Equus, nor any other language I've researched that I didn't already recognize. At best, it's marginally similar to the written language of the minotaurs, but not even any of the ancient languages compare!" Shining furrowed his brows as he looked at the pages in front of him. The script was completely unintelligible to him, and it seemed like it was to his sister as well.

"Is there any way to translate it?" he asked as he set the book back down. Twilight bit her lip before shaking her head.

"If I had diagrams that depicted what certain words meant, I could do a partial translation and make a start on a complete one," she sighed, "but so far I haven't found anything. Certainly some of the diagrams portrayed similar things to ours, but the differences are enough so they wouldn't be usable as a proper terminology. If I could speak with one of the..." she frowned and continued, "Ewtika? then I might be able to translate it, as they could help determine what certain words mean and how to write them."

"Ewtika?" Shining frowned.

"The spelling of the name of the creatures in one of the books, which I found were the most likely inhabitants of the ruins and forest itself," Twilight answered, "they look similar to apes in a way, but far too different to actually be a primate. Perhaps a subspecies of some sort though." Twilight opened one of the books, dust dancing lightly off it onto the floor. Pictured, as she had said, was a creature similar to an ape but with a straighter posture, taller stature, pointed ears on the actual sides of it's head, and certain amount of elegance. Shining blinked in wonder momentarily.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Shining finally admitted.

"Exactly! It's completely new and totally foreign! If I were to guess, I'd say they weren't from anywhere near Equestria or the countries we know of. There's a lot unexplored out there," she went off, shaking with excitement, "It's a fantastic day for knowledge!"

Shining held back his laugh at his overly excited younger sister, before taking the book from her magic and setting it back on the table. As he did, a few books were shuffled and the envelope Twilight had been messing with before he had arrived fell off the table and hit the ground, sending papers scattering. His sister slowly halted her bouncing and took a deep breath.

"Sorry," she muttered sheepishly.

Shining shrugged and gestured to the envelope, "it's obviously okay, Twily. I am sorry for knocking over your envelope, though."

She blinked, "Oh, that wasn't mine. I found it with the books."

They both turned their gazes to the floor, expecting the papers to be torn or yellowed, possibly even falling apart. However, amongst the papers scattered across the floor, there wasn't a single bit or hint of the ravages of time. They were flawless, as if they had just been made. Stamped at the top of one of the pages was an intricate design of the sun, embellished in gold.

"To You Who Find This Folder?" Shining read out amusedly, before turning to Twilight. She seemed to be reading over one of the other pages, muttering to herself. After a moment or two, Shining turned his attention back to the paper in his grasp. The writing was somewhat rough, as if it had been written in something of a hurry, or with little care. The paper itself was moderately thick, though the envelope had seemed as if it had nothing in it.

Shining read down the rest of the envelope and frowned as he encountered terms he had never heard of before, things he felt he ought to of, as one of the guard. Though, the concept of this envelope and possibly the forest itself having come from another world wasn't entirely too unbelievable. Certainly, it was ridiculous but he didn't think it was a complete impossibility.

However, the idea of these "Displaced", "Void Dwellers", "The Merchant", and the other names and ideas listed as well as the idle threat given by the person who had penned the letter was something that gave him a particularly ill feeling in his stomach. The threat seemed almost completely unnecessary and if the folder itself was supposed to go to ones like the writer, then why had Twilight been able to find it. Why had anypony been able to read it or see it, actually? What use was the letter? Unless it meant nothing to normal ponies?

Shining shook his head, information like this was definitely not his forte, in fact it was anything but. The titles on the other hand were concerning and honestly, he felt they were totally useless to put down. Not even the princess had that many, and the dragons already felt themselves superior so titles meant all of nothing to them. Griffins sometimes added a few, but...

If Shining had learned anything about this "Auric" from the letter he had penned for the folder, it was that he had an ego bigger than anyone he had ever met. Either that or he was overcompensating in order to scare people off. Even so, if this was the last time he heard of the mysterious "Master of Psynergy" then it was too soon. As the stallion finally looked up from the letter in his hands, Twilight was almost practically in his face. Flinching backwards, his sister spoke up.

"What did you find?" she asked.

As Shining began explaining the letter, and his sister was clearly itching to grab it from him, there was a person standing in the old ruins of the village that very mare had practically raided the day before. The ruins were speckled with sunlight cascading down from the vast canopy of leaves, and a light green glow covered the entire area and the person walking slowly into one of the buildings with silent footsteps. Hoof marks were scattered through the film of dust on the exposed planks, and the grass sprouting was pressed down.

Brushing her hand on the walls, the elf had finally discovered something had been here. However, the hoof marks made it fairly clear it hadn't be an elf, human, or anything she knew to be sentient. As she turned around, she noticed the squashed patches of grass, and the grooves in the dirt that marked the passing of something with wheels. Despite this being the first bit of evidence that something else alive had been in the forest in ages, she felt confident in the idea that the only creatures that possessed both hooves and any sort of wheeled transportation were the minotaurs, creatures of mild intelligence and violent rage.

Her decision made, the elf turned away from the tracks which were heading towards what she was certain was southwest, and made her way northwest, certain in the fact the creatures wouldn't be able to track her through her own forest. As usual, the forest itself was mostly silent aside from the quiet crunch of dead leaves beneath her feet and the whispers of fresh winds that rustled the leaves of the trees.

Picking up a somewhat hefty and large branch that lay on the ground, she turned her focus to the surrounding forest for any signs of heavy movement. Despite how out of practice she was, after such a terribly long time, she was familiar enough with the silence and forest to know when something had arrived. However, because she was paying more attention to the ground rather than the sky, she was not unseen.

Above the trees, sitting upon a cloud, was a dark brown pony sized creature with deep brown feathers adorning it's head, shoulders, and forelegs while it's back was a lighter brown speckled with white. Peering towards the ground as it flapped it's wings as quietly as it could manage, it gazed towards the forest where patches of the ground could be seen. Just moments before it had seen something it honestly wasn't sure of, possibly some strange new monster from the new forest. It watched the creature with interest, it held the stick as if it suspected a battle or being attacked.

It's shoulders, though thin, were tensed and slightly toned muscles were perfectly visible to the birdlike quadruped floating above it, and the griffon, for that is in fact what it was, flicked it's tail. Unlike the ponies that inhabited these lands and the creatures from Equestria herself, the creature below was definitely a hunter or knew violence. For the first time since she had been sent on the scouting mission by the warlord she served, she was excited. Days of literally nothing but ponies and here was something clearly new.

She watched on as the graceful creature made it's way towards the griffon territories. While she doubted it spoke Gryphic, even though most griffons spoke Equuian, she doubted it spoke Equuian either. From what she could tell when the ponies had left the forest, neither this... she wasn't certain of what to call it, but creature didn't seem to fit, so she finally settled on something more akin to a name. Neither this Tree Walker nor the ponies knew of one another, though she couldn't say she was surprised with how quietly and quickly it moved. Musing, she was surprised she herself had seen it.

Interrupting her own inner turmoil, the griffon turned her attention back to the forest itself and managed to keep following the creature. Amused, she realized it still had not seen her, as far as she knew. Unbeknownst to her, of course, the "Tree Walker" had in fact finally noticed her presence. The elf was cautiously watching the animal tailing her, glad that it wasn't a minotaur but annoyed the griffon was doing nothing more than tailing her, as opposed to attacking outright. Was it just out on a hunt for it's young? If it was, then she was incredibly lucky as griffons were one of the creatures that had far less issues fighting in the forest. Minotaurs were strong and deadly, but griffons were agile and hard to take down before you got injured at least. Such was common knowledge in the past.

She tried hiding behind a tree before moving on, but somehow it was still tailing her. With an annoyed sigh, she turned towards the approaching thicket and dove in, thankful the thorns were not as plentiful as they had once been. Laying on the ground she quieted her breathing and turned her ear up. The soft sound of wings flapping was barely audible but soon she heard a crunch as the creature landed. Thankful for the dead leaves, the elf held her breath.

Author's Note

Full Contents Of Auric's Folder:

To you who find this folder-

If you are reading this, you are what I refer to as a Displaced. Some of us are being held here, in worlds not our own, by one known as The Merchant, a Void-Dweller of great power. If you can use these notes to find your way back to your relative home, I wish you the best of luck. Either because The Merchant is not to be trifled with, or because finding your relative Earth in all the Multiverse is like trying to find a grain of sand in a sandstorm.

Personally, I do not desire to leave. True, abandoning my life on Earth seems cowardly. But the power I now wield confers a responsibility, one that I fulfill willingly. And life in Equestria is more likely to be peaceable than life on Earth.

To those that want to return, I wish you the best of luck, and tell you that the best of results could be gathered by using something that you brought with you.

To those that wish to remain, I tell you that these notes can easily be reversed and used to shield your home from intrusions. Most notably, Discord could find them useful.

To those of you that wish to try to fight The Merchant, I tell you that he will likely not go down easy. Your best bet is to find the one known as Xante and team up with him.

And to those of you that wish to drag us all back...

Do not test me.

-Auric Fulcrum, Master of Psynergy, Wielder of the Flames of Alchemy, Slayer of the Wise One, Knight of the Eclipse, Lord of Eureka, Blade of Understanding.

Other included materials:

A Study In Displaced: Individual Sheets explainingthe general basics of the concepts.

Chapter Four: Up and Up

Chapter Four

Up and Up

There's a multitude of sayings every species has to it's race, the vast majority of which only make sense to the species itself, such as the dwarven saying of "If it's by the Soil, it's probably a rock of Galan," which basically means something akin to saying something is of amazing fortune. The elves, by comparison, have the saying "Spring in Glen, Winter in Plain," though these sayings sound quite different in their native tongues and don't have direct translations. To say she was struck by good fortune was a bit of an understatement, as far as the elf felt.

The griffon softly landed and, if were not for the utter silence permeating the forest, then it would not have been heard. The soft crunch of long dead leaves, which had in all it's oddness had never struck the elf as odd because nothing had died in the forest for ages nor had winter fallen in just as long, had come from the opposite side of the thicket than she was facing. Not breathing at all, the elf listened as talons crushed dead leaves, weeds, and grass alike. The sounds faded off for a moment and she took the moment to take another breath.

The griffon turned back, frowning. She was certain it had been here just a mere moment ago. Mentally muttering to herself about how ridiculously vast and covered the forest was, she started checking behind the nearby trees. Carefully, the elf shifted herself as far under the plants above as she possibly could. Had one looked at her from directly above, they would've seen small places where her skin and clothes were visible, but, as it was, the griffon was in fact not flying at the time and hence saw nothing to give away the hiding place. After a few more moments of frustrated searching and muttering, the griffon took back to the sky, leaving the elf to breath in relief.

As it were, the elf pulled herself out of her spot and smiled, her first encounter with a creature she hadn't seen in ages and she had successfully lived. Griffons back at her home, wild griffons at the very least, were quite vicious creatures and their domesticated cousins were still dangerous if one handled them wrong. Thankfully, griffons were anything but the smartest of creatures, a fact which remained relevant here it seemed.

Brushing the leaves off herself, she turned back the way she was heading and trudged along. Now that she knew things might be watching her, she took care to keep away from spots where she could be seen from above. Her long life in this ancient forest gave her quite the edge and she was able to avoid areas where she could easily been seen. A good decision, she decided, as she heard the flapping wings over her head and saw the griffon passing over one such spot. It was seemingly frustrated, yelling in what sounded oddly like heavily mangled speech.

The griffon passed over parts of the forest multiple times in an effort to find that creature, the one she had been sent to track. Evident, even to her, she had lost the thing earlier and there was little chance she'd find it now that it knew it was being followed. At least she could return with some information, the creature was definitely intelligent. It might not be capable of speech, but it was certainly more intelligent than the average animal by a fair margin if it had noticed her and escaped.

Cursing quite loudly, she took off towards the griffon lands, which, by chance, happened to be the same direction the creature was now heading itself. The griffon of course didn't know this and flew off straight for her home. The griffon lands, lawless lands governed not by kings or princesses but by warlords who had gained power by fighting and in some cases, killing, their competition, were full of griffons that would have killed the creature and attempted to sell it. Such was the way of the land, warlords were only obeyed by citizens to avoid death, however, those under them were typically of a brutal breed and respected their masters for what they had done.

As opposed to the others, she was working under him because he had equivalently raised her. He had taught her from a young age about how to fight, how to steal, how to do many other necessary skills in their cesspool of a country. His real daughter, whom he had trained similarly, stood by his side. In reality, she was raised to be her bodyguard. Already, unbeknownst to the lord's daughter, she had taken care of numerous attempts on the young griffon's life. And, unlike others, she knew that her lord believed a king would one day finally reign and the fighting would end, crimes would no longer go unpunished, and hopefully on that day, as the lord wished, his daughter could live a far more peaceful life.

As it were, that had been the original reason for her journey, until she had received a notice by way of one of the younger scouts, to investigate this forest and the alleged creature some had glimpsed inside it. Shaking her head, memories were not something she could dwell on, she could finally see her lord's castle. It was old, far older than the anarchy that plagued the land, and many of the other warlords had attempted to conquer or copy the castle. Unsurprisingly, they had all failed. No others possessed the needed power to conquer it, and architects were not valued in the current age.

Her lord did not have the man power either, to conquer his rivals. So a stalemate, and in some cases a brokered deal, had come up. So long as he did not attack them, they would not attack him. It had benefitted the territory for many years, so much so that the ramshackle houses were in a fairer condition than they were in other lands. She shook her head again, this was not the time for reminiscing.

Alighting atop a large balcony on the eastern front of the castle, she stretched her front legs much like a cat. Flying always made her legs and back feel somewhat off. It would not hinder her, but it was certainly uncomfortable. Popping her neck, she opened the door with her foreclaw and made her way down the poorly lit spiral staircase. Cracks loomed, broken rock covered the stairs, and some of the lanterns had been long since snuffed out. The dust swirled with each step she took, giving the air a somewhat clouded look. Having grown used to this, she was the only one who dared to use this tower, she trudged on as the soft clack of claw on stone echoed throughout the tower.

At the base of the tower was another door, in far better condition than one might have expected, and she pushed it open with her foreleg, revealing a clean room. At one side was a bed, made of hay with a sack stuffed with her own molted feathers, and a ragged blanket. She smiled and lifted the blanket to reveal, beneath it, an old silver necklace adorned with flowers. At the center where a pendant lay, was a deep green crystal. This was, as far as she knew, the only thing left from before her time here. Across the room was a small desk, old and beaten, but still in good enough shape to be used. The rest of the walls were covered in shelves, full of old books. All lit by a few small lanterns that hung from the wall.

Smiling, she laughed, "Honestly, and here I told myself I'd stop doing this every time I returned." Laying the necklace back down and covering it with the blanket, once white and now a musty gray, she walked to the door at the other end of the room and pushed it open. Outside was a far more poorly lit hallway, completely empty and devoid of other griffons. The door slammed shut with a considerably loud thud as she walked away from it.

Descending the stairs at the end, far better maintained than the rest of the wing, she glanced at the pictures adorning the walls. Dust and grime blotted out portions of them, but the paintings were still in good enough condition to see what they portrayed. Long lost queens and kings of eras since past, each with a different expression that showed staunch nobility. Where these pictures had come from, she did not know, but her lord had paid for each one when it had appeared. The last two showed not staunch kings and queens, but two different families. The first showed a griffon and his wife, in her hands a mere hatchling. Atop their head were thin golden crowns, each only wearing drab and cheap clothes, yet not one of them looked unhappy. The latter was a portrait of her lord, his wife, his daughter, and her. They were all smiling, as it had once been, but they could not and would not show this to anyone. Who could believe they valued each other so much?

She was still confused about the first picture, though a fair portion of the hatchling was almost destroyed by grime and dust. Her lord had told her that they were the last royal family, the hatchling was the last griffon prince. Both the king and queen had never been crowned, but those that had known had still pledged their loyalty until the day they had all been killed by one of the previous warlords. It was sad, she thought, but there was little they could do until the prince possibly returned.

Sighing, she took the last few steps and left the staircase. Beyond it, lay what they currently used as the barracks for the guards. Only a few were in the room but each gave her a salute as she entered. She nodded and pushed open the door. The original barracks had been destroyed in a fire and as she had been the only one using that wing of the castle, due to it's current state of disrepair, she had suggested using that room. As it were, she rarely left her room when she had the chance. While, like all griffons, she loved fighting, she loved the old stories she had gathered considerably more.

Each one held a story similar to what they were experiencing now, the royal family lost or in exile and a corrupt power took its place. However, unlike their story, these all held some sort of happy ending. Perhaps, she thought, miracles are only something allowed to happen in books, because reality has never been so kind. Humming lightly to herself, she entered the dining hall, which functioned as the throne room outside of meal times. At the head of the table, her adoptive father sat.

"Ah, Adelaide," her lord smiled in greeting, "How went your expedition?"

She bowed, "It went as well as expected my lord, but the second mission proved less successful."

He laughed, chortling, "Addy, you do not have to call me that, this is home for all of us."

She nodded, "Of course, Decebal."

He chortled again, "Then, do fill us in on your adventure."

She nodded, "Very well."

As Adelaide began to fill Lord Decebal Rindheart in on her excursion, in the forest to the east, the elf she had been scouting had discovered a broken and rundown ruin of a tower. It was not something that had been in the forest before this, and she was quite certain of that. The inside of the tower was crumbling, and numerous shelves had fallen to the ground, but the state of disrepair was not nearly as it was for the remains of her civilization. Reaching up, she plucked the only book that remained on the shelves still on the wall.

Flipping the pages open, as she skimmed through it, there was a single picture, old and torn, that fell from the book itself to the ground below. A griffon, his wife, and their young child in drab clothes, with simple thin golden crowns atop their heads. It was the same as the one Adelaide knew so well, but it was smaller, though still a painting. Unlike the one in the castle, this one had no dust or grime blotting out sections of the painting. Where a splot of grime was on the other, this one was clean and a necklace of silver with an emerald pendant could be plainly seen on the young hatchling's neck.

She bent down and stared at the picture curiously before picking it up and slipping it back in the book, which she slipped into a bag at her side she picked up from the floor in the tower itself, "Was I... wrong, about the griffon earlier?" She frowned and shook her head, "Likely just some human having fun with painting."

Author's Note

Sorry that took so long, but I had to work out where I was going and then building the backstory.

Chapter Five: Before Eternity Came

Chapter Five

Before Eternity Came

Have you ever wondered why? Why would a blind man walk? Why does the caged bird sing? Why does the sun rise on even the dreariest of mornings? Why does life move on when they are gone? Why? Because they must. The blind man walks, because if he doesn't he will never know the world. The caged bird sings, for that is all it has left. The sun rises because not even the loss of all hope stops it. Life goes on, simply because it must, because it does. When anyone loses hope, they wish the world would stop with them, but it doesn't. It never does.

I lived for so very long without hope, so very long without even the brightest of lights piercing the veil that had fallen over my eyes. A veil, not of rose pink and nostalgia as I think, but a black and unending hail. Like the full moon at night, so large and bright, my silver eyes could not bare the blight. For eternity I walked, for eternity nothing talked, for eternity I was stalked by the dark, as it crept along, hence then it did hark, a dreary dead song.

Whispers on the wind sailed the sea of trees, never ceasing, never leaving. Just the wind, the trees, the sky, and I, for eternity as it so seemed. I do not remember my name, theirs, or what it could have been, but I remember the songs and all we did. In the sea of trees, much as it is now, we lived. It was not this lonesome place, as it had long since become, in the time before eternity came. In those days, the forest was alive with hopes, dreams, love, and a life worth living. I remember the place I was born, one of the smallest villages of our people. Small in people and places, but not in nature and beauty, not in love and dreams. Our brothers and sisters, from the villages far and wide, would come and go with stories and laughter. It was not the forest that gave our world it's beauty, it was those around us.

I remember my last days there, before eternity came, when we were all free and happy. Then, just as dusk falls each night, that happiness was gone. I watched as, before my eyes they vanished, becoming truly one with nature itself. For as long as I hoped, I watched to see that happiness return. And, yet, though dawn always comes, it never returned and I was left alone. The moon watches a lonely world, a phrase all knew, something we all knew. I am left to wonder, was it truly the moon that watches the lonely world? It's silver moonlight gazing through the trees, watching as I now do?

Does the moon wait through the night, for the sun to return? Does the moon know that it's mithril light will never bring dawn? It matters not, for I believe the moon waits as I do, for dawn to finally break and give it's much needed break. My people prayed to the sun, to the trees, to the light. However, the lonely moon knew only silence. I believe it knows, yes, that it brings dreams and wonder to all, but does that stop it from being lonely? That, I doubt, and so, as dusk breaks, I pray to the moon that our nights will end. Forever, silver gazed upon the world, alone.

My child, it says to me, if none watch over them, what may happen?

At the end of my eternity, before I felt the magic of the forest return without them, I remembered what the last of my people had said. Amber eyes, for this was the last born child after I, had gazed at me. I could not see sadness in them, I could see nothing but... our beauty. Hope, dreams, love, and life. The child had smiled at me, for it was her name, and no other, I could remember. We had been the last for awhile, Auyn and I. I remember the last days, for she was not there for very long after the others, when we would watch sun rise and wait for our final sleep to take us. We did not talk, for what need was there? We watched the days pass, and the nights, before she went to the tree they prayed at and laid her hand upon it.

"It must be up to you," she spoke in warm velvety tones, her amber eyes sparkling in the morning sun and her unusually dark hair swirling with the soft touch of cool breezes, "I am sorry to leave you alone, but as they sleep, I must as well." With a final smile, she began to fade, as though she were dust blown away, "Watch well-" but her final words I could not remember. My name? Even that I do not know, for I have long since forgotten it, but that may have been her final word. I am sorry, Auyn, but I can watch alone no more. It has been so very long, and I am so very tired.

Can you hear me? That I doubt.

A cusp of wind blew through my hair, as though a hand were caressing my face. Even my little fox has gone now, and I am truly alone. The forest is as silent as I, never a sound from either of us. Even the wind had gone silent, it's strength no longer enough to rustle the leaves. As I sought my sleep, I could find it no more, Was I a ghost? Was I the last leaf of a dying tree? I do not, I did not know. I finally made my prayer, and it went unanswered. And then, when I finally wept, I found myself asleep. Who would watch while I was gone? Would they still know I was there? I see no reason to wonder, for there is nothing to watch.

That was when I heard whispers on the wind.

My feet moved onwards through the forest, the griffon had long since gone and I saw nothing else. Tracks were scattered here and there in my way, which was most certainly normal, as they had never gone. Yet, some were fresh, as though creatures had been here since. As I watched, a young bird flew past, and I felt a smile grace my face. They were here no more, but that did not mean nothing else was. The bird let out a few tweets before disappearing into the trees once more. Maybe my home, ourhome would once again see a life worth living. As I walked on, a few more small creatures crossed my vision and the smile never completely left my face.

I walked along to the soft crunch of dead leaves and soft birdsong, a far more merry mood having fallen upon me. My heart still twinged for my lost ones, but that no longer meant I was utterly alone. For the first time, since before eternity came, I no longer felt as if every moment were covered by the dark gray clouds of a thunderstorm. Light had finally began to worm it's way into my heart again, and this time I knew it would stay. What I had lost was beginning to return to me, things which I never knew I missed showed themselves. It was not a euphoria, it was peace.

I knew now, that my heart had found peace again. Up ahead of me, the edge of the forest began to show. Beyond the trees, great rolling plains of green grass and gentle winds gave way to a sight of mountains in the distance. A light brown, for I could not see them, was interrupted by only white snow caps and fluffy clouds adorning the sky and their tops. In nearly a run, I made my way out into the open fields where my hair was brushed and blown about by wind. The grass shifted and rustled as gusts blew through the field. I felt my feet sink into soft dirt, brown and warm.

I could not control myself as I danced through it, letting out a joyous laugh. Oh, I did so love the forest, but the plains? The open sky? They called to me, in their own way the forest could not. They spoke of freedom, laughter, dancing, and games. Another laugh escaped me, and I could not control myself as tears flowed down my face. I was a lone watcher no more. Oh moon, do you feel the way I do when day comes and you can rest? Do you feel the freedom of dancing? Of open places, where open skies and fluffy clouds greet you with joy, asking to play?

If not, I hope you do one day too.

Beyond the sea of trees and off to the south on the mountains of Canterlot, a blue mare sat on the balcony of the tallest tower of the castle she and her sister called home. The sun shone brightly over the lands of Equestria and she wondered, would they play like this at night? No, they would not, but that was a problem no longer. If she did not give them night, when would they sleep and wait for another day of play and life? That, she could not forget, and it was because of that she became their watcher. She would guard their hopes and dreams, to make sure each day would come and be as lively as the last. That she could not and would not forget.

Luna stared into the blue skies, wondering if she would ever see a day like that. Would she see a day they thanked her for the night? For sweet dreams and happy peace? She doubted that, but if she did it for them did she really need thanks? No, but that would be nice. Yet, until she earned their forgiveness, she knew they would never thank her, and some may even hate her. Her heart was pained, but this time, she would learn and be loved, just as her sister was... she hoped.

As she watched the skies, the pegasi moving the clouds to give those below shade, or rain, or any weather they need, she heard a whisper in the back of her head. It was soft, melodic, joyful, and yet at the same time it was heartbroken, sad and full of loneliness. While she was not sure who or what it could be, what it said surprised her. It was not as they dreamed, it was not a prayer, it was not even sarcastic. It was... filled with understanding more than anything else.

Oh moon, do you feel the way I do when day comes and you can rest? Do you feel the freedom of dancing? Of open places, where open skies and fluffy clouds greet you with joy, asking to play?

Unable to control herself, Luna smiled. The question seemed so childish, yet, she herself couldn't say she didn't feel childish at all. She had done many terrible things for reasons only a child would. With a wistful sigh, Luna let out a small laugh. "That, I do not know, little voice," she looked down and giggled, "But I hope to." With that, Luna stood and told herself she would see about doing just that. She knew her sister would encourage it, for she was the only one who would love her no matter what she did.

Making her way down the stairs, past the portraits, dusty but still visible, of her and Celestia, Luna wondered to herself how a voice she didn't know could bring her such a strange peace. Some would say she was crazy, or being tricked, but above anything else, she knew for certain that the little voice that had asked her meant nothing ill towards her. It understood, it wished she could feel the way it did.

"I hope we both get back what we have lost, whatever that may be."

Chapter Six: The First Meeting

Chapter Six

The First Meeting

It is well known amongst the world of the way the flying creatures of each nation alter weather, though the way they each do it is vastly different, however, what is not common knowledge is that, in the long fallen griffon lands, none manage the weather. It is unpredictable, wild, and surprisingly dangerous at times. The sky can go from bright and sunny without a trace of clouds, to dark and grey with the ominous threat of a thunderstorm looming overhead in minutes. So it was that, as she gazed out on the vast plain and the mountains in the distance, the elf watched as clouds rolled across the sky.

Mere moments later, wind whirled through the plain and a crack of thunder rolled through the air. Tensing, she looked around for a place to shelter, and found nothing. In the open, unable to protect herself, the rain fell like waves, intense, hard, and cold. Sheltering her face, she trudged through the mud. She knew this type of weather and hunched down, lightning always struck the highest object around, and at the time, that was her. Her view blocked by grass and weeds, she had no way of knowing where to go, and instead merely moved forward.

That was until a particularly strong gust of wind hit and nearly knocked her back. Forced to stand, she held herself in place, slowly sliding through the mud as lightning cracked. This was anything but a normal thunderstorm, it was far too intense. And right she was, for as hatred and malice draws wendigos, other negative emotions drew other creatures just as dangerous. Hatred and malice were cold and dark emotions. Anger and jealously? They drew something reminiscent of a phoenix, a fire elemental of great danger, a creature that burned the lands and reduced all to a desert. Heliopaths. However, that is not what brought this storm.

Thunderbirds, closer cousins of the phoenix, were the source of this. Drawn by a thirst for revenge, amongst other emotions, they would cross the land and send down intense storms to curse it. What is little known, is that unlike heliopaths and wendigoes, thunderbirds were otherwise gentle and kind creatures, and their storms seemed to alter the very course of fate itself, causing people to ignore their desire and to work together. These storms only struck once, never more, and could last ages.

Of course, beyond causing the storm, thunderbirds could do little to stop it. That, was the reason why a storm of good intentions, failed to acknowledge the heart of one below it, and struck without warning or regret. The last elf, watcher of the woods, was far too distracted in her attempts to escape. A bright white strike of lightning cascaded across the sky as the air shimmered with heat, and crashed down upon the tallest object in the field. The grass was set aflame in an instant, unable to bear it, and the rain struggled against it as the fuel for fire was still dry enough to burn quickly. At the heart of the strike, the sheer force of such a bolt had sent her flying backwards, tumbling through the grass as smoke curled off her.

Raw, stinging, and wincing from pain, she was remarkably still alive. However, she was unable to remain awake and black clung to the end of her vision. Her teeth clenched as she stood, trying keep moving, yet, she was unable to fight the onset of unconsciousness. Exhaustion and pain overtook her as her vision winked out. No mercy was given by the storm as it raged on, eventually extinguishing the inferno that threatened to take her.

The storm eventually passed, though she did not wake. It was, several hours later, when a stunned and confused griffon scout discovered the injured creature, unlike anything she had seen before, in the middle of the field near an enormous burnt area of tall grass. Its clothes were burnt in several places and wet ash coated parts of her body. It was, to the griffon, still obvious this was not a creature he had seen before. He left the creature where it was and took the skies, beating his wings quickly. As dangerous at it could be, leaving the creature injured was something that he felt he could not do, some sort of sixth sense forced him to act against his reasoning.

When he had returned, expecting the creature to have moved or even left, it was far more obvious that whatever had happened to it was more life threatening than he had initially believed. However, the creature was still breathing by some small mercy. With the help of the team he had retrieved, they lifted the cot the creature had been rolled into, and departed from the open plain.

Far off, quite literally in another country, a young equestrian noble was informing the two rulers of Equestria. For once, in many years, Celestia was pleased with the nobility, even if he was yet young and inexperienced. It was rare, and not often, they were told of concerns held for their neighboring countries. The griffon lands were especially uncared for, when one considered the circumstances. As many times as she had attempted them to unite under one banner, no matter what the result was it had to be better than what was essentially anarchy, the griffon warlords had mostly refused. A select few did not object, but their number was considerably lower than the rest.

It was, due to this, Celestia nearly refused to depart to check on the situation. Actually, Celestia did refuse to go herself, there was far too much to deal with, however, she could handle it alone for a few days, and elected to send her sister. Luna had eagerly agreed, for she remembered the griffons from before her imprisonment, and was far better versed in their culture than Celestia had been. The griffons, for all their violence, had been one of the few races that had something resembling respect for the night. They had not loved it, no, but they did acknowledge it was necessary.

And that was the reason a pegasi drawn carriage had departed from Canterlot merely a few hours later, its destination set as what Celestia had insisted was the home of the most agreeable of the warlords. Luna herself had been amused when her sister had informed her that this lord resided in what had, in the past, been the very castle the monarchs of Griffonia ruled from.

Luna considered the history of what had been a proud nation in the past, Celestia had given her a basic rundown of their current history, and couldn't help but wonder what had gone so wrong for them. Centuries had passed since a king or queen of the nation had officially been crowned, though up until a generation ago it had been well known that the royal family lived. Since the last monarch, the kingdom had crumbled into little more than a collection of war-lord driven city-states vying for the most power so as to force the lands under their claws. It was, in her opinion, rather sad and disappointing.

The carriage approached the castle, home to Lord Decebal Rindheart, and alighted in the walls of the large courtyard, and in an instant the state of disrepair was notable to Luna. Parts of the wall had collapsed, and large pieces of cobble were scattered across the area. Even more obvious was the lack of green, instead dirt and the corpses of once great trees littered the courtyard itself. The doors of the castle were worn and bleached by years of sunlight, the glass windows cracked or missing large sections. To the lunar diarch, it was extremely saddening. A forlorn smile crossed her face as she remembered this place in its youth, the passage of time had been far less obvious back in Canterlot.

As she stared at the ruin left by time, the large doors creeped open to reveal a griffon whose fur was greying with age and his feathers had lost whatever color they may have once held. When he saw just who his guest was, the griffon lord's eyes opened in astonishment. There had, of course, been many legends passed down amongst the griffons of the alicorn who ruled the passing of the nocturnal hours, for in the past she had been rather good friends with the ancient royal family. Like others, he had assumed these legends were little more myth. Yet, before him stood someone who was spoken of in only the oldest of tales.

"Your majesty," he said, calming himself and following the old unspoken rule of etiquette, "may I inquire what gives me the pleasure of receiving your presence?"

Luna blinked and looked at the griffon, "Ah, yes, our sister has sent us to inquire how affected this land was by the storm, we were worried for we always had good relations with your people in the past."

He nodded, "Of course, please follow me into the hall."

Luna noted none of the guards moved, and none bothered to glance her way as they stood at their posts, "Are your guards not concerned by our presence?"

"Quite the opposite," he said, "they care little for me or any others. Their only reason for being here is payment for doing their jobs. I would not be surprised if some allowed an assassin in, even if it did hurt their living."

Luna's eyes widened as she noted the sad undertone to the griffon's words and the way his head hung heavily, though he forced it to remain upright. "We see..."

They entered the large hall and, to Luna's surprise, Decebal took a seat near the head of the table and not at the throne that loomed over all else in the room. Even in the interior part of the castle, the disrepair only years of disregarding maintenance could bring was obvious. She wanted to judge, scream, shout, do something to remark and scold the griffon, but she knew that action would be wrong, there was little this old griffon could do about the state of affairs. She took a seat across from the griffon lord and he spoke. "As for the state of affairs after the storm... we suffered some damages to the town and the castle, but little beyond what we expected. I've heard that the other lords experienced much the same."

Luna let herself smile, "That is very pleasing to hear, were none lost?"

Decebal smiled back, "Thankfully none here, though..." the griffon trailed off and frowned. He shook his head, "One of my scouts found some creature that no one we know has heard of, or can even identify."

Luna tilted her head, "What kind of creature? Perhaps it is some new kind of one we've seen in Equestria."

Decebal opened his eyes slightly wider, "That may be possible, it was near your borders that it was discovered, though it was heavily injured during the storm."

"While we are not experts, we could take a look if you do not mind our doing so," Luna offered.

Decebal tapped his claw on the table for a moment before finally giving his assent, "I would very much appreciate that, I would rather be certain if it poses a danger or not."

Luna nodded, "We should at least be able to tell you that, if it resembles any we know."

"I shall lead the way," Decebal rose from his seat and gestured for her to follow with one of his wings. Curiosity overwhelming her, Luna rose without a word and quietly followed behind the old griffon. It did not occur to her that this was a trap and later she would curse herself before acknowledging there was little else she could have done. And, so it was, that Decebal lead her into the western wing of the castle, where their closest thing resembling a hospital or clinic was.

Inside the room was a clearer younger looking griffon, who, if Luna's intuition was correct, could barely be out of adolescence. Her coat was a deep brown, far darker than any Luna could remember seeing, and was brightly contrasted by the snow white feathers of her head, still standing strong as evidence of youth. "Adelaide, is the creature awake?"

The young griffon shook her head, "Not as of yet, my lord, it barely stirs. I believe that whatever happened injured it more than we realize. The doctor did say that, while he could not diagnose or treat much of the creature's injuries, it would certainly live."

"That is excellent news," he gestured to Luna, "This is Princess Luna of Equestria, she came to inquire on our state of affairs due to the storm and has offered to attempt to identify the creature."

Adelaide, as the griffon was apparently called, pushed the tattered curtain to the side and looked at Luna who approached cautiously. "Do you know what it is, your majesty?" the griffon asked quietly.

Luna was, for all she had ever seen, awestruck by the creature. It was far more elegant than she had ever seen, and more remarkably, there was no hair on it's body, except for its mane. No fur either, as far as she could tell. The creature's skin, aside from the red areas she guessed were from its injuries, was a pale, almost glowing, white. Its mane was the same color as sunlight or hay, and its ears were sharply pointed. She stared, before speaking ever so softly, "We have never seen a creature such as this..."

The creature's ears twitched and it's eyes opened slowly, causing the lunar diarch to gasp in complete shock as eyes the color of moonlight stared back at her in confusion. The creature stared before opening it's mouth to say something she did not understand a single word of as it slide back in the bed, it's arms raised as if to defend itself. Yet, as she looked, the creature seemed to focus on only the griffons. "What are you?" Luna asked, only to flinch when the creature turned towards her. Panic, of some sort, was evident in its eyes, yet it seemed to react less violently to her. "What could you possibly be?" Luna asked.

There was no answer, no sign of understanding. The creature before her did not know what she was saying.

Chapter Seven: Welcome to Equestria

Chapter Seven

Welcome to Equestria

There are many creatures across Equestria and her neighbors, far more than most could ever anticipate. The country itself is far from the largest but not quite as small as the claimed lands of pioneer nations that have formed in the recent years of the world. Equestria, for all can be seen, is an average nation on the world it calls home. That is, from a general outside perspective. If you are well educated or high up in the government nearby, Equestria is a foxhole of collisions of utopia and dystopia.

The princesses did not elect to inform the citizens, but the lands of the country were the central focal point from when the draconequus, known as Discord, dominated the Known World from his seat of power in what is currently the Everfree Forest. Up until his defeat, the forest had been fields much like the land around it, but the amount of chaotic energy provided by the entity had created a pocket of uncontrollable magic. If the princesses hadn't enacted the Weather Control Policies, it likely would have spread.

In fact, Equestria couldn't get away with NOT controlling it's weather, if you're curious you should know of the week where the pegasi failed to control the weather and the end result was snow, then weather well past 100 degrees, followed by a series of sand storms, dust storms, and oddly enough a seven hour period where it actually rained frogs and cats. None of them occurred at the same time each day, nor in the same order.

That is one reason historians of the Known World consistently label Equestria a dystopia, not to mention the variety of other things one would know about. However, compared to that, Equestria is ridiculously peaceful, has a crime rate of less than 1% of the population, and is one of the friendliest societies across the world. Honestly, a true enigma, but by far one of the better places to live in.

However, it can be considered that there is a such a thing as too nice, too normal, or just plain too anything. Equestria, on the average, is definitely a place that feels stagnant if you aren't used to such things. This was why most creatures elected to never migrate to the country. the griffon lands even had a better diversity by comparison. That was why, despite the excessive oddness of the guest and it's inability to speak their language, that the griffons had little to no trouble interacting with it. Evidently, the creature did not have the same feelings.

Whenever a pony approached, it was cautious but relatively calm, and whenever a griffon approached it looked ready to panic and the strange language that came from its mouth sped up and rose to a higher pitch. In fact, it had attempted to run for it several times. This was a problem, and as Princess Luna could not remain as it's handler, the griffons had agreed to send it back with her. Verbal consent was most definitely an issue, but that didn't mean they couldn't tell where it's preferences lay. A few select griffons had been rather pissed off at the behavior and refused to go near the thing. Ponies, Luna had assured Decebal, knew no such issues and would prefer to press until accepted.

The old griffon had shaken his head and retorted that he wasn't worried about acceptance, he was worried about pressure being placed on the creature in general. It was, quite evidently, stressed out considerably by its circumstances and environment. So, after a long deliberation and discussion, Luna had agreed to allow the creature some space to itself once she returned home with it in tow.

Golden Oaks, Ponyville

A book tumbled to the floor with a dull thump as it collided with wood, how the book had fallen was a different issue. Twilight Sparkle was, for once, not directing her attention at the pile of books in front of her and instead was attempting mimic one of the spells, as she thought it was, on the old scroll she had brought back from the ruins. However, for as much as she tried, she couldn't manage to get it to work. What the spell did, well that much was at least clear, but how the spell worked was most certainly not clear. As far as she could tell, the spell allowed the user to essentially communicate with nature.

It might be the amount of nature nearby restricting her, but she lived in a tree that was actually still alive. If that wasn't enough nature then this had to be an exceptionally tricky spell for the creatures that had made it. It was relatively clear they lived in houses similar to that which ponies had, although with the few select differences. Nonetheless, she was certain she could cast the spell, there were very few she could not, but she could not figure out how it worked or what it needed. The pictures did not help in that regard and she was fairly frustrated already.

Her wonderful assistant, Spike, a small purple and green dragon shorter than her shoulders, but just barely, had meandered over and was looking at the scroll as well. "Twilight, are you sure this is even magic?" he asked, frowning at the paper.

"Of course it's magic, how could it not be?" she huffed.

"it's just, the picture makes it seem like they're talking to the trees. There's not much in the way of casting, even if this thing is different from a pony," he answered, pointing at the first picture which indicated a raised claw, although the depicted appendage was not a claw that was the closest word, pointed towards a tree. There was little else in the picture in that regard, merely the creature and the tree.

"So, you think they might just speak tree," Twilight said, giving Spike one of the most dull and tired looks he had ever seen. The sarcasm, Spike thought, was not needed but leagues better than Firelight Sparkler. he pointed at the next image on the scroll before shrugging.

"You said they're unlike anything you've ever seen, so why not consider it?" he looked at his companion, extremely glad he had probably prevented another episode. Those incidents were never fun and cleaning up the burn marks could get tiring. Half the time he had to replace something. She went silent and stared at the scroll for several minutes before letting out a long sigh.

"Might as well," she finally said. With that she laid the scroll down on the table and directed her attention towards a different scroll, this one was vastly different from the first. In fact, the biggest considerable difference was that she could actually read this one. It seemed as old as the books and other scrolls she had, but she could read it. It wasn't in old Equuian either, it was modern and even the writing was smooth. When she prodded it with magic, the scroll flashed. The text sharpened and the words, "Read the spell already!!!" appeared before her.

The mare bit back a scream before flipping the scroll over several times, marveling over the fact everything had disappeared except for those words and the spell beneath them. Feeling as if she had signed her death warrant, which was not normal at all, she finally decided to read the spell. The strangest part was that, when she spoke it out loud, the words sounded foreign coming from her lips. Whatever she was saying was not in a language she actually knew herself. Praying to her princess, she finished the spell and closed her eyes.

When she opened them the scroll had an image on it, and when she locked eyes with it, the image began speaking. "The Ξωτικά of the Forests, Chosen of the Goddess, greet a child on this day. As we know not who reads this, we speak not of our ways and our people, but instead offer greeting and wishes of peace. Come to us and we learn of one another. Speak, the trees listen, listen, the trees speak. May spring come hence to you and yours."

Twilight's jaw practically fell off her face, not only were these creatures peaceful, but they were exceptionally intelligent if they had created a spell that allowed them to jump the language gap for their greeting. However, if this scroll had been left and was used as a means of greeting, why did she find it? Where were the creatures, why had they not greeted any ponies? It had been a week since the vast forest had appeared and not a single pony had come to her or the princesses in regards to bipedal creatures. In fact, nothing at all had happened with the forest. Nothing new had come out, not even birds or creatures of any sort. It was completely bizarre that a species that had most certainly existed and evidently was friendly, had not made any efforts for contact.

With that, Twilight looked towards the quill at the other end of the table and grasped it with her magic, deciding to pen her second letter of the week to her teacher. Dipping the quill in her favorite ink, she began writing.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have, in the vast pile of things I discovered and retrieved from the village, found a scroll that seems to act as the greeting for the creatures that lived in the forest. At first, I wasn't entirely certain what to make of the artifact nor was I willing to cast the spell given to me by the same artifact. Yet, after some persuasions, I found myself speaking the spell in a language I knew not, despite that casting is always silent, and the scroll spoke to me in Equuian! The spell translated the words and allowed momentary communication! It was an amazing discovery and I've already tried analyzing the spell placed on it with no success.

If you would like to see it, or know anyone capable of assisting me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia, the solar diarch of Equestria, blinked at the two letters before her. One from her student and one from her sister. The latter had been gone several days in the griffon lands and she had grown concerned only for a letter to arrive informing her that she would be returning and with a guest! According to Luna, the guest was strange but she should definitely not freak out. The princess was not going to lie, she was kind of insulted her sister thought she would freak out over somepony. Ridiculous. She had dealt with Discord, the Yaks, Scorpus, Tirek, Ya'ltv'nir, and so many other abnormalish creatures.

So of course, she had decided to prank her sister back. Nothing major, just a mug that turned her coffee into a vibrant green color which stained, easily, when she drank it. That was how a true princess pranked, you see. Anything major was, by agreement, out of the question unless they agreed to allow one. Of course, as the carriage arrived, Celestia was amused and ready to see her sister's reaction. What she was not, was prepared for the guest in any way. What greeted Celestia, alongside her sister, was a tall and elegant creature exactly like that which her prodigy had spoken of and described to Shining Armor, and through him, her.

That was why, for the first time in quite awhile, Princess Celestia was rendered completely and utterly speechless. Princess Luna, by comparison, was laughing hysterically at the unintentional prank she had just pulled on her sister. Celestia was, definitely, normally well collected but the shock of this current coincidence was clearly a lot more than she could handle as a surprise. Luna walked up and tapped her on the shoulder with a grin.

"We believe this is a case for the Sparkle!" her eyes twinkled in amusement.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long, but as a treat it's a little more comedic in approach.

Chapter Eight: When Lavender Arrives

Chapter Eight

When Lavender Arrives

With the soft clip clop of hooves came the excited chattering of one lavender unicorn mare to her assistant. They were currently in Canterlot Castle, where her teacher and the princesses of Equestria lived, and that was not the reason she was so excited. According to the letter she had received, one of the creatures from the books she was reading had made an appearance. Where it had been or why it had been there she had yet to be told, which she wasn't sure entirely mattered considering this discovery.

No, her excitement was practically palpable in the air around her and she wasn't even trying to contain herself at this point. This meant, currently, that Spike was entirely unable to follow whatever she was saying. The guards escorting them looked particularly irritated.

"I can't believe it," she gushed, "to think that one of them was still alive! Are there more? I wonder what it can teach us! Can it read the books I have, they seem so old." She continued to chatter despite the fact the doors in front of them, leading to the very throne room itself, were now opening and Spike was essentially dragging her. Her excitement failed to falter.

Amongst the elven people, there is a prophecy, one Twilight had read but failed to understand. The prophecy itself means little as many divinations of the future do until the time comes to pass. Elves, unlike other peoples, would often put weight on words spoken by the fates through whispering wind and twinkling stars. Not all prophecies came to pass, for the future is uncertain, but here one seemed to finally be unfolding.

When the Sun finally sets and things now slumber,
it will come the Moon's Watcher will find her respite,
so too must she as shine stars of the night
Only once it is found, will Dawn come once more.

And so it was with a start the wheels of fate began to turn, spinning to life a great untold tale before it began as a certain lavender pony was dragged into a room. The room itself was rather well lit by sunlight and a large window on one side provided the light. Stone and wooden beams adorned the walls, evidently very well kept. Sitting upon a large bed was a creature with golden hair that shimmered in the sunlight. It draped down past her shoulders and she turned to Twilight as she entered, a graceful and strangely beautiful face staring back.

Silver eyes gazed into vibrant violet and a whispered word echoed though the room, unfamiliar and unknown to the ears of those in the room. It was strange and oddly melodic, "Monókeros?" she called out. The shock in her voice was evident and she looked towards the blue alicorn. Luna stared back and smiled warmly at the being before her as it shifted back in the covers, overwhelmed by the situation.

"I believe we should let her be," Luna suggested, "She cannot understand us still."

"But there's so much we can still learn! Does she actually look like-" Twilight's tirade was interrupted by a fierce glare from Spike who shook his head in exasperation as she looked away sheepishly. Soft wind stirred their manes and all the ponies made to leave the room, leaving the small dragon to stare at the elf for a moment before he too nodded and followed. Were in not for the soft giggles of little voices, the wind would have seemed to have been nothing but a draft in the castle. The breeze disappeared and the giggling stopped as the door shut behind them.

Dark oak stared back at Twilight Sparkle as she stared at the room with her mind spiraling through a thousand thoughts, a million questions running through her mind. "Where did she come from?" Twilight finally spluttered out as Spike rolled his eyes and took a seat to read whatever he had brought with him. Celestia blinked and eyed the small dragon for a few moments before sighing.

"I'll leave you two to it, Luna knows far more of the creature than I," Celestia said, a minor amount of annoyance evident in her voice. "I shall take care of my duties for the time being, though I would appreciate updates as they come." With a quick nod to Spike as well, she turned on hoof and walked out of the door, allowing it to shut behind her softly. With the clopping of hooves slowly fading out, Twilight turned to Luna.

"Where did it come from?" Twilight blurted out in her excitement, practically vibrating.

"From what we are told by the griffins, they found her some distance from the forest border in one of the fields, badly injured by a storm," the moon princess answered, putting her hoof to her chin, "So we would presume that likely means she had left the forest."

"But how can we be sure, it's not like there's undeniability she came from that new forest," Twilight waved her hoof about before pointing to the door with it. "I mean, it's certainly the biggest likelihood but we can't dismiss any other possibilities! I really wish I could ask her."

"She does not seem to understand Equish, written or spoken, nor Gryphon," Luna answered, shaking her head, "it is indeed difficult. Pictures seem to work to some degree, but we have spoken with her in a sense. She seems to have definitely come from the forest." The lunar diarch lifted up a small chalk slate from the table near the door and showed it to her sister's student.

In white powder there was a strangely eloquent drawing of the forest with a massive tree far larger than the rest of them at the center. Beneath the picture in elvish words it said something neither of the ponies could understand, though it was clear the script of the creature was far, far more graceful than any Equian counterpart. Wherever the creature had come from, Twilight determined, had either put far more worth in calligraphy or simply grown to the point it was natural. Nevertheless she grasped the slate with her magic and started committing the picture and symbols to memory.

There was no magical response from the script, however when she channeled her magic into it the soft and elegant songs of an evening forest permeated the room. The princess and unicorn protégé gasped as drawing seemed to come alive; the trees swayed with an unseen wind as the scents of damp dirt and forest fauna soon joined the bird song before it faded out. Both ponies gawked at the slate as the drawing finally calmed, no indication that anything had happened was evident and nothing had changed in the picture.

"I've never seen anything like this," Twilight whispered, her feelings of awe made her words nearly breathless and she looked at Luna, "Have you?"

The slightly larger mare shook her head, causing her mane to sway about, "That we have not, though the Elk and Deer work with nature they have never managed to replicate any of the senses of their homelands with magic. Certainly sight is easy, but sound and scent? Neither of those are mere simple matters." Twilight looked back down at the slate and Luna seemed to be in deep thought.

"These creatures may have been more in tune with nature than any Equian," Twilight finally muttered, "I wonder where they came from originally. Everything I found infers they were everywhere in the forests yet we've only seen her! There has to be more!" The young mare was practically vibrating with her excitement at the prospect of new and unheard of magic being discovered. The new creatures took a back seat to this magic in her mind as she started studying the slate.

Meanwhile Luna stared at the unicorn as she became absorbed in her analysis before shuddering. Something told her that there was... No, indeed, she knewthat there was something inherently off about this situation. The forest had been in Equestria for several days and yet there were no signs of intelligent life like that of the creature beyond the nearby door. In fact, from what she had heard, all evidence said nothing had existed in the forest for far longer than she had been alive. The gryphons had provided this evidence from their scouts and while the race was naturally more violent, they had no reason to lie here.

That was why she suspected the creature beyond the door might even be the only one. What sort of horrors could do such a thing to an entire species and cause them all to disappear except for one? had they simply died off? Had they killed themselves? Nothing spoke of this, not as far as she knew, and they could not read that which they had found. For her home and her kingdom she had to learn what the creature knew and they had to prepare for whatever it may, in case it came for them.

Her sister believed in the good of other creatures, but she knew that such darkness could exist everywhere. Ponies might naturally be good natured, but experience told her they might not hold to their nature. She had not, that meant others might not as well. Luna decided to hold her tongue, she would say nothing, but she would prepare. It was the night's duty to bring rest and watch the nightmares of the realm and so it was hers as well.

The diarch had made an important decision and the fates had pushed her to it. As it was, one string was cut to make way for another, and the future had changed in ways that would remain unseen. As this happened, back in the gryphon lands a certain griffon lord looked down upon the scorched photograph the creature had brought in with it. Thankfully the doctor that had looked in on her was her own personal and none had seen the necklace depicted on the photograph except for him and the doctor, now sworn to secrecy in fear of death.

The picture was the same as the painting in the western wing, the regal portrait of a since deceased griffon king with brilliant white plumes and a golden crown next to his queen whose stark red plumes contrasted the white of her husbands greatly and a silver diadem sat above her mischievous eyes. However, in place of what was the destroyed hatchling was an almost flawless section of the painting. The child was most certainly laughing, but on it's chest was a silver pendant with ornate flowers and a vibrant emerald at it's center.

They smiled, the picture was indeed old but it's importance had never dropped. The search he had long been conducting was now over, and who could guess that the very thing he had been looking for all these years had been right under his beak. A joyful chuckle left him and he covered his eyes with his claw as the tears flowed from the utter mirth he felt. Such a ridiculous thing, and the solution was even more so. He laughter was driven further by the realization that the other lords would never figure out who the royal heir was! All this time they had thought it to be a prince and it had been a princess! The king and queen had tricked them all!

The guards outside the room looked at each other as the lord's laughter echoed through the halls, "I think he's finally gone mad," the rough tones of the older griffon said.

"I wouldn't be surprised," the younger guard shrugged, "He's been looking for the so-called prince for over a decade now."

The first griffon barked with laughter, "That would do it!" The two griffons had little clue at what was happening on the other side of the heavy wooden doors and they would not for some time. Decebal Rindheart now had a secret protect and fate said he would do so with his life until the kingdom was ready.

Author's Note

I apologize for the delay, it was difficult to decide on where to go with this.

Chapter Nine: Kindred of Nature

Chapter Nine

Kindred of Nature

As Luna left Twilight beside the creature's room, the lavender unicorn continued to stare at the magic before her. It was unfamiliar and quite impressive for all that it was. While she did not specialize in creating illusions or reproduction of things she knew, she had studied it like many other things and could recognize the amount of effort something might take. She pushed magic into the slate once again and watched closely for several moment. She finally, after watching the scene many more times, noticed something.

Dawn, as it is in Equestria, is all but simple. The setting of the moon to make way for the sun is something that Equestrians have been doing for as long as the creatures of this world knew. History told of no times before and nothing could say what would happen were the sun and moon to remain untouched. Despite this, and despite the sudden rising of the sun to it's xenith with every day, nature itself takes a strange amount of time to awaken.

Nocturnal creatures remain active for a part of the morning while many diurnal creatures take a few hours to rise. The oddness of this was, for the most part, not noted by any ponies or creatures in particular. It was however, a question that scholars had examined for years. This was the most curious part of the drawing Twilight had received. After having messed with it several times, she noted that the sun seemed to crest in the background and rise slowly into the sky.

The only reason she had been certain that it had meant a full day was the moon slowly replacing it in the background. It was, for the most part, similar to what happened on Equestria, if not for the lack of the stationary stellar bodies. Now of course, this could have been simply an artistic choice but considering the effort and magic put into it, she did not think that was the case. The creature looked, for the most part, terrified when ponies were in the room. Well, terrified might not have been the proper word to use, as it wasn't screaming.

Cautious. It was particularly cautious, she decided. It wasn't such a strange thing considering the forest had been devoid of anything alive, especially with how far in they had gone. Furthermore, griffons did look particularly dangerous and they as a general rule had a tendency to be a bit more avid in their anger. Nonetheless, this piece simply had to be the creatures attempt at communicating, Twilight decided. Most ponies likely wouldn't have gathered much from a simple creation on a chalk slate but she wasn't most ponies.

The first step was to try and recreate the magic it had used. If she could do that, chances were it might see her as a friend or at least not a threat. To many creatures in Equestria, unicorns were actually quite threatening. It was, she couldn't remember who had brought up the motion, illegal for a unicorn to participate in any battles with the other races. This wasn't an Equestrian rule either, it had been decided by a congregation of world leaders. This meant that, if the creature's original home had been anything like hers, magic would be considered a huge threat to safety.

Twilight, in particular, only knew a few self-defense spells. Celestia had actually locked many of the offensive spells away and nearly expelled her for looking at one particularly nasty one. Despite that, she had been forbidden from participating in any diplomacy talks. This wasn't a rule that had always been in place, rather, it was only recently established after an incident with some deer.

The magic in the slate was in it's most basic form, similar at best to some of the more ancient and outdated forms of nature magic she knew of. All of the most effective or impressive modern magic failed to use that particularly complex helix base structure. Some of the more outlandish and distant caribou still practiced it, though they had many issues keeping their farms running. This structure was exceeding more complex than that, however, because she could sense some more intricate details woven into it.

The problem was that she didn't have the proper equipment to help her check the smaller details. Magic worked well enough as she was using it now, to replicate an image of the magic used, but trying to magnify the image even further distorted it. At home she could replicate it in a solid fashion and then use her tools to further analyze it, but none of that was in the castle. The best she could do was imitate the basic form and try casting with it.

Taking a deep breath, the lavender unicorn closed her eyes. As her horn began to glow, sparkling light shimmered in the air and flashes of green and the soft scents of grass and dirt filled her nose. The air crackled for a few moments and the light exploded. The unicorn yelped and blinked painfully several times. It had been quite awhile since she had felt some sort of backlash like this. The magic she had used was strong and had felt incredibly pure, like grasping onto flowing water from a stream.

Despite that she was certain the spell had failed, when she finally recovered her sight and the roaring headache had faded, before her was one of the last things she had expected to see. In the center of the hallway, lit by sunlight through glass windows, in a small crack in the stone floor was a small tree. A sapling of some sort, as for the species she was clueless. However, clear as day, it was most definitely a small sapling. Small branches and bright green leaves were still for the lack of wind. As she approached the smell that had essentially seared itself into her nostrils faded and the stale scent of castle air returned.

Her horn lit up once more and pink light grasped the sapling. With a yank, the small tree came free of the ground and she placed it on the ground. Studying it closely she noticed nothing off about it, just a normal plant. That being said, nature magic wasn't capable of doing this. It could accelerate growth to a point and could help recovery but not produce a living thing from nothingness. The strangest part was that, typically, teleporting an object into something resulted in it fusing with the other object. However, this tree had displaced it.

That was the part she didn't understand, the sapling had to have come from somewhere, yet she knew there wasn't a seed for it have come from. The other explanation was impossible as well, it simply didn't fit with the natural order of magic. In a nutshell, Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, Protégé of Celestia herself, was completely and utterly stumped. After a few more moments of staring at it in confusion, she finally picked it up and stowed it in the bag on her back. The other issue was that, as opposed to practicing in her room, she had done so in the hall.

Her hoof collided with her face before she let out and exasperated sigh and lit her horn once more. The floor fixed and the experiment complete, she made to report to her teacher. Perhaps Celestia would know something about this, she thought to herself as she left the empty hall. Where the unicorn had stood, in the place of her hooves, sat four small flowers. Sprinkled throughout the rest of the hall were various smaller plants.

Shortly after Twilight had departed, another mare, with a broom floating beside made way into the hall absent mindedly and began sweeping. After a few moments, she looked down at the floor and gasped in shock at the sight before her. Blinking in shock, she finally closed her mouth and turned back the way she came. She was not losing pay just for this.

Outside of the castle in the courtyard gardens, a group of foals and their teacher were viewing several of the stone statues. At the back of the group, three small fillies were arguing furiously as cracks appeared on the surface of one of the statues. The creature it held was exceeding strange to say the least and, quite possibly, one of a kind. At least as far as is known, and asking it is not an option either as the creature is solid stone.

The wear of many many years had built up on the statue and several smaller cracks already adorned its surface. Several spots that had likely been corners or far more defined were now rounded and the creatures fang now looked no more deadly than a broom handle might be. Upon it's back were two wings, both quite different from one another and the creature followed that for every part of it's body. Beneath the two legs, a claw and a hood at the end of them, and in front of the pedestal stood a plaque. Despite it's majestic pose, the creature did not give a dignified air.

Discord
Tyrant of the Old Age
Spirit of Chaos

The arguing of the three fillies seemed to grow in volume and several of the cracks grew wider before a large piece of stone seemed to shatter, yet nothing fell to the ground. In the place where the statue had been, a lively creature stood up and stretched, the cracking noise of bones and joints popping was far quieter than the argument before it. Once it had finished stretching, it chuckled.

"To think, even after a thousand years she'd still have me on a pedestal! How she must admire me, why I'd almost swoon!" the creature put it's paw on it's head as it drifted upwards of the stone. Before the fillies could notice, or anyone else either, it snapped it's claw and a new statue appeared where it had been as it flew off quickly into the sky. Beneath the statue a glowing circle, with various shapes within, formed momentarily before vanishing.

Inside the castle as she listened to her student describe what happened when she attempted to cast the same magic that the creature had, Celestia suddenly froze. Her eyes widened and she turned towards her sister. The younger alicorn stared back and frowned as Twilight continued speaking. "What is it?"

With her voice nearly shaking, the alabaster alicorn spoke. "He's escaped." As soon as those words left her mouth, the smaller alicorn immediately retorted back as she stood.

"We said it was a bad idea to keep him in the open," she turned away and motioned for one of the guards to come to her as her sister's mind raced. Though Celestia was, most certainly, a fantastic ruler, she was not the best in regards to a crisis. In fact, it was well known to Luna that her sister actually outsourced or approached others most of the time when a crisis came up. Now that she was back, she could handle such things. It was her part and her job as a princess of Equestria. Just because he was the threat did not mean anything changed.

After she and the guard in her tow exited the room, Luna turned to the guard. "Bring Shining Armor to us," she commanded, "we will be in the War Room." The guard scampered off the moment she finished speaking and Luna began to move down the hall. She was quite certain, before her incident, she had told Celestia multiple times that a prisoner such as him should not be left open and visitable by the public. They knew how he was and certainly escaping wouldn't be a problem if the right incident occurred. In fact, if he had been out in the open, it was surprising that he had not escaped much sooner.

Luna entered the dark room, it was towards the center of the castle and windows did not adorn it. This was why it was her War Room now, it was far more difficult to enter it or overhear such things. Magic could be protected against quite easily, but that was never enough. After a long sigh, she began to wait for the captain to arrive.