A/N: I have found two editors so thank you both and now a slightly edited version
Brynn considered for a moment that wandering into the Dragonbrand alone might have been a bad decision as a crystalline ogre swung its massive crystal club at her. Brynn gripped her staff and froze the ground under the ogre. As the ogre picked up its club for another swing, Brynn created a bubble around herself out of pure arcane energy. The bubble had stopped the club, but doing so a lot out of Brynn. The ogre punched the shield, shattering it and sending Brynn flying. By the time she finally stopped, the crystal beast was already closing the distance quickly, ready to make the killing blow. Brynn gathered most of her remaining strength to manage one last spell. As the crystal club came crashing down to the ground, mist swirled where the Sylvari once laid. The mist floated behind a large crystal a few feet away before reforming into Brynn.
Brynn let out a few raspy breaths; she hated that spell. It had saved her foliage more than once but the transformation always disoriented her. She heard the heavy footsteps Indicating the ogre walked away. The noon sun was baking down on the scarred land, the land that just happened to be under an Elder Dragon as it flew. The unfortunate creatures that were under the dragon were twisted into crystal abominations. Brynn looked up at the sun and envied her more stationary cousins that could gather most of what they needed from the sun. After a quick rummage in her bag she found a slice of bread and some dried rabbit.
This time Brynn was much more careful about the crystalline inhabitants, staying out of sight. She ducked into a cave, hoping to escape the sun for a bit; with the crystals everywhere reflecting the light there was absolutely no shade, except this cave. She had heard from Caith that the Crystal desert was dry but Brynn had no idea. With the crystals everywhere Brynn rounded a corner and then suddenly tripped over an Asuran. The rabbit eared guard yelped as it got caught up in the Sylvari’s legs.
“INTRUDER!”
“Oh crap”
The Asura jumped back drawing a pistol. Brynn rolled away as the diminutive guard fired. Brynn forced her magic onto a nearby rock, flinging it at the guard. The rock smashed into the guard and both were thrown into the wall.
“What the hell is going on out here? Prin! I thought I told you I needed silence if I was going to get this gate to The Grove working!”
Another Asura walked around the corner, complaining before spotting Prin’s corpse pinned to the wall. Brynn recognised the robes on the second Asuran as those of the Inquisition, a less than ethical krewe known for experimenting on the living.
“You people are late; I thought you said you were going to bring some kind of seed to plant at the base of the Pale Tree!”
Brynn’s eyes widened as the Asuran’s narrowed, “Wait…you aren’t of the Nightmare Court.”
“No, I will never be of the Nightmare. Now what is going on here?” Brynn pointed the end of her staff down at the gray inventor.
“Alright, alright; those petalheads didn’t pay me enough to die for them. I was contracted to make a gate that bypassed the network and went directly to the Grove. Then the Nightmare Court was going to plant some kind of corruption seed in The Pale Tree. The crystals here in the Dragon Brand are the best power sources I’ve found so I was going to use the extra power to jump the network, but it’s so much power that it’s a bit unstable.”
“By the Tree, will it still get me to the Grove?”
“Oh sure, but you might come flying out of the portal at excess speed and splatter against the first branch you hit. Or you’ll be perfectly fine, hard telling.”
“You are going to leave because your lab and this gate are about to be destroyed.”
“What do I tell my clients then!?”
“Cave in.” Brynn smirked as she walked into the center of the lab. Brynn cast three spells in quick succession. The first was something like a battery, it was a long term enchantment that took a little energy from every spell she cast and stored it for later. She funnelled the energy into an earthquake spell to collapse the caves. She had just enough energy to turn herself into a mist once more and float through the gate.
Three heart beats later Brynn emerged. But she wasn’t in The Grove, but rather an unfamiliar forest. The spell wore off and Brynn condensed into a solid form again.
“Note to self: next time, put a delay on the earthquake, then run through the gate.”
Brynn’s head was pounding, but when she lifted her arms to rub the sides of her head she fell forward into the mud. Stupid gravity. As she pushed herself up she gasped and fell into the muck again. Brynn lifted one of the offending appendages to study it-no doubt about it, her hands had transformed into hooves, and she had sprouted short hair like leaves. Brynn tried sitting but fell over, after some adjustment she properly took inventory of her new situation. Four legs instead of her usual two and not a finger to be found.
“Mother, how am I supposed to hold my staff now?”
Brynn’s stomach growled reminding her of the large amount of magic she just expended. Brynn reached a hoof back to try and grab the pack but reached the limit of the limb’s mobility.
“Ok, ow, new legs don’t bend that way.”
She wiggled the pack off her back before nudging the flap open with her nose.
“What do I have left: one small piece of salted pork, some more dried rabbit, and two slices of bread that look older than I am. Well, if I can find some fresh water it’ll be stew tonight.”
Fortunately, she wasn’t far from a stream, though after dropping the pot twice with her hooves she decided that carrying it with her mouth was easiest. With the water taken care of she gathered enough sticks and fallen branches for a decent sized fire. She always found it odd how many humans were nervous around elementalists, claiming they were all pyromaniacs. She didn’t know much pyromancy, just enough to start a campfire, light a few candles, or turn a small patch of ground into magma. Brynn bit down on her staff pointing it at the bundle of sticks and let a small fireball go. The fireball was bigger than she wanted and the blast blew some of the sticks out of the pile.
After some quick stomping she managed to put out all the extra fires started by the explosion. And with only minor sloshing, she got the pot on the fire to start heating up, which left Brynn plenty of time to contemplate her next problem, eating. She couldn’t very well stick her nose in the stew without burning it off and she couldn’t use a spoon with hooves. She looked from her spoon to her hooves and back again.
“Ah’m tellin’ you Ah heard an explosion from over this way”
“Well I didn’t hear anything, Apple Bloom! I think you just made it up because you were losing.”
Three brightly colored miniature horses walked into the light of Brynn’s campfire.
“Oh, um. Hi?” the white one with the horn said.
“Oh, you are so cute!” Brynn ran at the three but tripped over her own legs landing face first in the mud, again.
“Miss, are ya hurt!?”
“I’m still getting used to the four legs…but I’ve never met talking horses before! I mean I’ve met lots of centaurs and they could talk, but they were trying to kill me, even though Ventari was a centaur. And you are just so adorable I just want to hug you and take you home! Oh! Where am I? Because this isn’t any of the forests I’ve been to before.”
“How can you be still getting used to four legs? You’re older than we are.”
“Oh, I doubt that very much, I only emerged from my pod three weeks ago. And until two hours ago I only had two legs.”
“But that’s impossible!”
“Colts! That’s what you are: colts! Right?”
The three looked at each other before the yellow one spoke, “Ma’am, we’re fillies”
“Yeah, colts are boys” the orange filly chimed in
“Oh, my! I am so sorry; I never get sex right on the first try, except with Norn because then the women’s boobs are right there in your face. I did enjoy my trip to Holbrek... OH! I’m sorry, I’m being a terrible host. Come, sit, the stew should be ready by now. It’s just a bit of dried rabbit but stew is about what you have on hand right?”
The orange filly suddenly passed out and the other two had tears in their eyes. The white one stomped up to Brynn, “Why would you kill an innocent bunny!?”
Brynn backed up until the white filly had her pinned against a stump, “Um, well, I didn’t kill this rabbit, I bought these bits of dried rabbit in Ebon Hawk.” The white filly continued to stare at her. “I like rabbit! Rabbits are cute and fuzzy and they taste so good! But nobody eats horses!”
The white horse turned and walked back to the other two. As soon as Brynn wasn’t pinned against the stump she let her curiosity get the better of her, “Don’t you eat any meat? The centaurs eat meat, or at least I think they do anyway…I’ve never actually sat down to a meal with one. Usually they just curse and shoot arrows at me.”
“Uh, miss, we’re ponies. We don’t eat any meat”
“Oh! I didn’t know that, I’ve never been around ponies before. Why does one of you have a horn and one of you have wings? What are your names?”
“Uh, well, ah’m Apple Bloom. The one with the wings is Scootaloo, she’s a pegasus. And Sweetie Belle is a unicorn, like you.”
“Oh, I’ve only ever read stories about pegasus and unicorns! Wait, I have a horn?” Brynn pawed around her face until she found the horn and ran a hoof up it, “Oh, that is lovely.”
“Uh, miss, the Everfree forest ain’t safe at night, we should head back.”
“Strange forest, can’t hold my staff, magic on the fritz…eh, I’ve camped in worse but no need to take stupid chances”
“And leave your stupid ‘meal’ here,” Sweetie Belle growled at her.
“Sure, just let me figure out how to put out the fire.”
Brynn once again used her mouth to point her staff at the fire and clouds formed over it. The mass of clouds expanded growing larger until the entire clearing was cut off from the sky. The two fillies that were still awake and Brynn just watched the clouds before a cold rain poured down.
Scootaloo gasped awake and the three fillies took off in the direction they came from.
“Oops.” Brynn ran after the three.
The four didn’t stop until they were at a tree house.
“I’m really sorry, girls, we got off to a bad start so, um, my name is Brynn, and I’m very happy I met you.”
“You sure are a strang pony Miss Brynn” Apple Bloom commented
“That’s because I am not a pony at all, I am a Sylvari”
“What’s a Sylvari?” the orange filly asked.
“How about we go in and get dry and I can tell you about the story of the Pale Tree! Oh, I do love talking about Mother”
After some towel tossing, the four managed to get dried off. Brynn was on one side of the clubhouse while the three foals were on the other; Sweetie Belle was still glaring at Brynn slightly.
“A long time ago, there was a human-”
“Humans are just myths!” Scootaloo accosted
“Not where I come from, I’ve met several-even been to a few human cities. Now this human, Ronan, was out patrolling to keep his village safe when he came across a large seed. He took the seed back to his village, but when he got back the village was burnt to the ground, including Ronan’s wife and children. In his grief he vowed never to fight again and planted the seed on the graves of his family.”
“That’s so sad; ah couldn’t live without mah family”
“The story isn’t done there. Along came a centaur named Ventari. Ventari had also become a pacifist and joined Ronan under the small tree. After Ronan died of age Ventari wrote his philosophy on a stone tablet and placed it at the base of the tree. For two hundred years the tree dreamed.”
“Trees can’t dream!” Scootaloo protested.
“Maybe not normal trees, but this tree was very special. Twenty five years ago, the first sylvari were born off of that tree in great pods.”
“You’re a plant?” Sweetie Belle’s curiosity got the better of her
“Yep! You didn’t think I had my... mane? Styled to look like leaves did you?”
“Some weird ponies have walked into your sister’s shop, Sweetie Belle” the orange pegasus remarked
“You take that back! Rarity’s shop has only the best clients!”
“Yeah, because Photo Finish was so normal”
Sweetie Belle raised a hoof at the orange filly but Brynn hopped up and held the strike back.
“I don’t think that is the proper way to treat a friend.”
“Get your hooves off of me”
Brynn let go of the white unicorn and backed into a corner. Sweetie Belle sat back down and looked anywhere but at Scootaloo or Brynn. Nobody spoke until Apple Bloom clapped her hooves together.
“Alright, we all ain’t thinking right so let’s get some sleep an we’ll take Miss Brynn to Twilight’s in the morning.”
Brynn and Sweetie Bell were about as far apart as they could be within the confines of the clubhouse. Scootaloo lay close to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom bedded down close to the middle.
Sweetie Belle woke just before dawn to answer nature’s call. The white unicorn stumbled her way down the ramp to a few trees away from the clubhouse. After watering the tree, the sound of crunching drew her a few more trees away from the clubhouse when she saw Brynn’s back. The tips of the plant pony’s purple mane and tail glowed blue. As Sweetie Belle got closer, she saw the same glow from under Brynn’s green coat, but she still couldn’t see what the strange unicorn was doing. Sweetie Belle tried to get even closer, until she heard a twig break under her hoof. Brynn spun around with her staff suddenly tucked under her front leg and pointed at Sweetie Belle.
“You aren’t still mad at me, are you?” Brynn asked spitting bits of apple at the white unicorn as she spoke.
“Those apples belong to Apple Bloom’s family!”
Brynn dropped her staff and held up her hooves, “I only ate the ones that already fell off the trees!”
“That’s still stealing!”
“I was hungry, and I was going to pay them back by killing a few spiders. I remembered how the apple farmers outside of Divinity’s Reach had such a problem with spiders and bats, that every other spider I killed they gave me a nice pie. And then I thought that it wouldn’t be a good idea until I got my magic sorted out and the fallen apples smelled so good. And because the Charr don’t eat any fresh fruit, I was really craving some, too. I’m sorry!”
Sweetie Belle rubbed the bridge of her nose, “Stop! Just stop talking!”
Brynn made a zipping motion across her mouth and smiled weakly.
“Do you have any idea how long I had to let Scootaloo sleep with me?” Brynn shook her head. Sweetie Belle sighed and continued, “Her father is bucking scum! He bought her a rabbit as a pet but never got it enchanted to walk on clouds.”
“Walk on clouds?”
“Her home is in the sky, it’s made out of clouds. So he brings it home and right before he gave it to her he just dropped it. The rabbit fell through the floor and even though Scootaloo dove down to save it. She watched it splatter in the middle of town. I was close to where it landed... it took a year before she could look at Angel without crying!”
Brynn stood, “I will kill him... slowly. I want to hear him scream, oh I wish Tia were here so that I could kill that asshole twice.”
“That’s not the worst of it. Scootaloo can’t fly. She tries, she really does, but she can’t even stop herself from falling. If Rainbow Dash hadn’t been there, she would have splattered alongside the rabbit. Her father knew this. He said until she flies, she’s not his daughter. He wouldn’t even let her back into the house. For a full year, Mom and Dad took her in. She had nightmares that I helped her through most nights.”
“Now, where does this meatsack live? I want to hurt him.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head, “No! I mean no, Rarity says that it isn’t worth the effort.”
“I very much doubt that.”
“Don’t tell Apple Bloom; she didn’t know either of us then, and I don’t want her treating Scootaloo any differently.”
“I swear on Mother. Hey can you help me?”
“With what?”
Brynn stepped to the side and showed the small pile of apple cores to Sweetie Belle, “I was going to plant these, but I’m still not very good with fine motor control. I’ll dig; I just want you to drop the cores in.”
The two walked outside of the orchard and Brynn began to paw at the dirt. Sweetie Belle mostly ignored Brynn’s digging and watched the sun begin to peek over the horizon.
“OK, drop one in!”
Before Sweetie Belle could grab one of the cores, the pair heard stomping hooves heading for them. Brynn stepped in front of the charging orange pony and pointed her staff at it.
Sweetie Belle, in turn, stepped in front of Brynn and held up her hooves. The orange pony skidded to a stop and almost lost her stetson, “Sweetie Belle, who the hay is that, an’ why is she diggin’ up mah land?”
“We found her in the forest, we were going to take her to Twilight's in the morning.”
“Hello, my name is Brynn. I’m not from around here.”
“What about mah apples?”
“I only ate a few that had dropped on the ground!”
The orange pony’s eyes narrowed, “How many is ‘a few?’”
“Seven...” Brynn blushed and looked at the ground, “... teen. I was going to pay you back by killing some spiders in the trees but my magic is too powerful and there aren’t any. But then I wanted to do something, so I thought that if I planted the cores, it might help”
“Seventeen apples? In one sitting? Are ya sure you ain’t a long lost relative?”
“I’m not a pony, I’m Sylvari.”
“A what now?”
“I’m a plant that looks human... I mean like a pony, now, but I did look kinda human.”
“Whoa there, humans are just myths.”
“And plant ponies are common here?”
“Well no, uh; look I’m Applejack. Ah don’t suppose you can pay for all those apples?”
“Oh! Yes, I have some money in my pack, back at the tree house.”
“As long as you pay for them apples ah won’t have any problems with ya.”
The three got back to the clubhouse just as Apple Bloom woke up, “What are you doin’ here, sis?”
“Brynn and ah have some business to attend to.”
Brynn dug around in her pack for her money pouch. After some counting she pushed a pile of silver coins towards the orange pony.
“What the hay is this?”
“Is seventeen silver not enough?”
“Ah ain’t ever seen money like this before.”
“Great, all of my money, useless.”
“Not useless, but ah can’t spend it on a new barn.”
“Perhaps I can make it up to you, any vermin I can drive off for you?”
“Ah drive off the vermin plenty fine mah self.”
Brynn hung her head, “I don’t have much else... Oh!” Brynn’s head disappeared into her bag again. The green mare produced a necklace, the copper links held up a single tear-shaped garnet, “Here; it’s not my best work, but it’s still pretty.”
“Well uh, jewelry is more Rarity’s thing.”
“It will make you stronger, not by much but every little bit helps.”
“Why enchant a purdy piece of jewelry like this?”
“I didn’t, well not intentionally anyway, but everything I make comes out enchanted.”
“We should get you to Twilight, but ah have work to do. Girls, could you take Brynn to Twi’s?”
After Applejack left, the remaining ponies turned their eyes to the still sleeping pegasus. As if in response to the stares, one wing twitched and the filly rolled over. The three awake ponies went outside to let the orange pegasus sleep. Sweetie Belle still glared at Brynn but not as intensely.
“Sweetie Belle, what are we gonna do after we drop Miss Brynn off?”
“Maybe massage? I’m sure Twilight has a book on it.”
“Scootaloo’s gonna complain all day.”
“It was her day to choose yesterday, today is mine.”
Apple Bloom sighed, “At least we didn’ get our cutie marks bein’ Rainbow’s towel fillies.”
Sweetie Belle made a disgusted face, “She sweats so much.”
Brynn watched the wind blowing through the trees, enjoying the cool breeze after her days in the Crystal Desert. With the wind, the trees sounded like they were singing to her. Brynn looked over at the two fillies planning out something or another.
“If Scootaloo doesn’t want to, we could always make her the practice dummy.”
“Who are you calling a dummy?” The orange pegasus in question asked, walking out of the clubhouse and rubbing her eyes. “So what are we going to do to get our cutie marks today?”
“Massage!” Sweetie Belle hoped her enthusiasm rubbed off on Scootaloo
“Ugh, so girly!”
“It won’t be so bad.” Apple Bloom said, “but we still need to get Miss Brynn to Twilight’s.”
As the four walked through town, Brynn watched brightly colored ponies wandering the streets. Brynn smiled. All of the colors reminded her of the Grove. The buildings reminded her of some of the newer districts of Divinity's Reach, but no city could boast that the people were this colorful except the Grove. The three fillies led Brynn to a large tree near the center of the town. Apple Bloom knocked on the door, and after a long minute of silence, the door swung open and revealed a sleepy purple unicorn.
“Oh, hi girls, come in and don’t touch anything until I get some coffee.”
“We promise Twilight!” The three fillies smiled innocently before entering the main room with Brynn in tow.
As soon as Brynn got inside she couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, a library!” Brynn rushed over to the first shelf and randomly slid a book off, letting it fall to the floor. As she began flipping through the pages, Brynn’s eyes started to fill with tears. Twilight chose that moment to return to the main room and almost dropped her coffee at the sight of the almost crying unicorn.
“Um, can I help you?”
“I can’t read this,” Brynn sniffled and pushed the book away.
Twilight took a peek at the book and found nothing wrong or odd with the book, “I’m sure you can learn how, right?”
Brynn looked up at Twilight and sniffled, “I guess.”
The purple unicorn turned to the three fillies, “What can I help you girls with?” Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened, “It’s not Thursday yet, is it? I’m so behind!”
“It’s only Saturday,” Sweetie Belle corrected.
Twilight calmed down a bit, thankful she didn’t lose any whole days again. “Then what are you girls here for?”
“We found her, “ Apple Bloom pointed to the sad unicorn, “in the Everfree forest, an’ she said says she’s not a pony”
Twilight took a sip of her coffee, “I can clearly see she’s a pony, though”
“I’m not a pony, I’m a Sylvari. I’m also beginning to endlessly repeat myself, so let’s get the rest out of the way, shall we? I’m a plant. I fell off The Pale Tree three weeks ago. I can’t seem to control my magic. Until yesterday I had two legs and two hands. My hobby is making jewelry. My name is Brynn. Pleased to meet you.”
Twilight just stared at her for a moment, “Well, that certainly is an interesting story.”
“And she eats meat!” Sweetie Belle was still glaring at her.
Brynn smiled nervously, “Well, I used to anyway; I don’t know, now.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I just changed bodies. I had some stew that had meat in it but Sweetie Belle wouldn’t let me eat any, not that I could have managed anyway. I can’t hold a spoon with hooves.”
“Why don’t you use your magic?”
“Did you miss the part about not being able to control my magic? Besides how am I supposed to hold my... EVERYONE RUN! DRAGON!”
Brynn grabbed her staff with her mouth, pointed it at the purple dragon, and sent a jet of water at it. The water shot the little dragon back up the stairs it was descending and into the ceiling. Twilight and the fillies stared in horror as the dragon was flung from the stairs. Twilight rushed upstairs, her coffee crashing to the ground, forgotten.
The three fillies stood there in shock, “I said ‘RUN!’” Brynn urged. The three fillies ran upstairs after Twilight, “I meant AWAY from the dragon!” Brynn ascended the stairs after the ponies.
The four were sitting around the dragon, Twilight’s horn glowing. The purple dragon was enveloped in a purple aura floating less than a foot off the ground. Brynn could practically taste the magic floating in the room. The excessive magic was making the green unicorn lightheaded. Brynn shook her head and alerted the four to her presence. Sweetie Belle tried to glare a hole into Brynn.
“Ok the scan is done, no major damage just some bruising and a sprained tail,” Twilight relayed. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. The purple unicorn continued, “Girls go to Rarity’s I want to talk to Brynn.”
Brynn audibly gulped as the three fillies left leaving her, mostly, alone with Twilight.
“Why? I want to know why you hurt Spike.”
“Short answer is Mother told me to.”
“You said you fell off a tree.”
“Not just any tree, The Pale Tree.”
“So an aspen?”
“This is going to take a little bit of explaining, but Mother connects us all through the Dream. Through the Dream, we are given the knowledge, skills, talents, and even our life’s calling. I was given a Wyld Hunt for the elder dragons in Tyria.”
“We are not in Tyria. We are in Equestria.”
“Mother is regularly assaulted by undead under the control of a dragon! Forgive me for being a little overzealous.”
“That doesn’t make sense, dragons can’t raise the dead.”
“Zhaitan can, and does.”
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“It sends its undead minions against my people daily, and those it doesn’t kill it tries to corrupt. The Nightmare grows stronger daily, even breaking apart love.”
Twilight quietly gasped, “That sounds horrible.”
Brynn’s gaze locked onto Spike, “I couldn’t save Ysvelta from Nightmare. Tiachren says he forgives me, but I killed his lover. I still feel his sadness when I visit, if I ever visited. I have to kill my own people to save them.”
Twilight looked at the unconscious dragon, “Can you heal him?”
“Absolutely. Just not inside.” Twilight tilted her head “I don’t want to ruin the books. Just take him outside and I will heal him.”
Twilight levitated Spike onto her back and the three went outside. Brynn pointed her staff at the sky and concentrated. Black clouds began brewing above the square just outside of the library. The clouds boiled and grew, covering half of the square before the downpour began.
“The rain will heal.” Brynn panted. She tried to get her staff on her back but she just couldn’t get it to stay. The wood clattered to the ground, followed closely by the green unicorn, “Whooo that was fun. I’m just going to sleep for a bit.”
