Prolouge: Mysterious pasts
It was raining again within this strange forest. It was a soft cool rain with the droplets' steady pit-pat hitting the leaves above and onto the forest floor below. A peculiar forest green coated pegasus sat in the treetops looking over like an eagle. He had a long white mane waving over his head; he had a dark brown cloak hiding his piercing silver eyes. The stallion seemed to be monitoring the woods with the gentle wind blowing by and the cold rain dripping from his cloak. The stallion was motionless and unmoving, seeming to be waiting and watching. Then an ear perked up hearing the growls and howls below...it was clear that the strange wolves that lived in the forest were calling out to each other as they had caught prey. The stallion's wings sprouted from his back and flew gently through the woods, scanning the forest below. He landed on the treetops to catch his breath and to resume his search. Eventually, through the rain, he spotted a strange-looking creature. From what he could tell, she was the strangest looking unicorn he's ever seen. She had a white coat, long rolling locks of mane and tail mixed with a bright orange and velvet looking like a sunrise, even the fur covering her hooves had the same colors as her mane and tail, her wings were a light orange color, and her cutie mark was a spiral of orange and purple. The pegasus had no idea who this creature was, but judging from her long elegant horn, he could only assume she's some strange unicorn with wings, which he had never seen before. The stallion took a hoof and stroked a subtle, silver-colored beard under his chin, questioning whether to save her, he had a disdain for his own kind abandoning them a long time ago. He then spotted that the creature's coat was covered in dirt and blood. The mare was clearly exhausted, and from her heavy breathing and rasping sounds coming from her throat, she was dehydrated. Then the howls came again this time they sounded closer. It wasn't too late; he could save this strange creature, but he had to act fast.
The pegasus removed a spear from his back and placed it in his mouth as he flew to the forest floor. There he stood his ground planting all four of his hooves firmly unmoving he scanned the woods and could see the piercing green eyes of the timberwolves. They were strange creatures that have been recently coming into the woods full of some dark magic. But this pegasus has lived here for a dozen years and has faced many other foes much stronger and deadlier; these timber wolves would be sadly mistaken in trying to fight him. The rain continued to hit the ground as everything became quiet steadily; the air tension was quite tense as they all could sense the friction in the air. The pegasus knew he could take them all, but their main target was this strange looking unicorn with wings. The mare looked powerful, but she was in no shape to defend herself if even one wolf slips past him; she was surely to be killed. Then suddenly one of the wolves came at him it's wooden body flying through the air the pegasus leaped in the air and slammed the smacked his spear and sent it straight through the Timber wolf's head. The energy left its eyes as it collapsed into simple pieces of broken timber. The stallion adjusted the spear in his mouth and resumed his guard stance. That first wolf was just testing him; the others now have an idea of how strong he was. There was more silence as the stallion waited patiently in the rain, then suddenly, five timberwolves rushed him all at once. Pine acted fast first taking two daggers from his cloak and throwing them into two of the timberwolves' foreheads with a crunch as the daggers pierced through their wooden skulls. He then jumped and slammed the spear into the third head. He had no choice but to let go of the spear, then removed a bow with two arrows lodged in its string and shot them both right before the last two timberwolves could snap the strange unicorn's neck. Both wolves fell to the ground with the green magic leaving their bodies. There were some howls as he heard the timberwolves retreating. He then went about the forest floor picking up his weapons and sorting them back into the innards of his cloak and then looked over the strange unicorn as he grumbled, "you're going to owe me when you wake up."
The mare did eventually wake up, groaning in pain as she looked around her trying to get adjusted to her surroundings. She looked around and saw she was on soft grass with a giant wooden bowl filled with all kinds of fruits, berries, and nuts. There was even a wooden cup filled with some sort of green juice; the mare blinked with a confused look. She turned to see that there was a tarp overhead and a giant pole in the middle holding it up. Then she saw the forest green coated pegasus. He was sitting in the back of the room, his face covered in an unkempt white-haired beard with a matted mane; he had a pair of bright silver eyes she wore a brown cloak. Still, she could see his body was full of scars, and there was a giant burn mark on the right side of his face. She was stunned, both scared and unsure if she could trust this pony and asked with a worried look on her face. The mare's horn lit up, seeming ready to fight when the pegasus sighed, "just eat and drink, you're not in any shape to fight."
"I assure you I can easily destroy you even like this! Now tell me where am I!" The mare roared with her horn glowing.
Pine looked up unphased by the mare's threats and responded simply. "Even if you kill me, there are hundreds of acres of forest you're going to have to traverse, not including some rough mountain terrain before you reach civilization."
Still not trusting this pegasus, the mare shouted back. "I can take care of myself, thanks!"
"Hmm, those wounds say otherwise if you try going out on your own, you'll surely be dead within a week." The pegasus grumbled halfheartedly.
The mare looked down to see all her scrapes and bruises had some strange green paste covering them. The stallion obviously tended to her wounds, but she was still untrusting of this stranger, so she asked, "What is this?"
"Some medicinal herbs I've collected and ground to a paste leave them on it'll keep those from getting infected." The stallion continued in his gruff tone.
The alicorn could see now that the stallion wasn't a threat as her horn stopped glowing, but she was still not letting her guard up and asked, "ok...so I'm not captured,..but why are you helping me?"
The stallion looked over straight at the alicorn and asked, "I just wanted to ask why you came here? Judging from those scars, I would say you've lived a pretty hard life. But I can also detect nobility from the way you talk...unless you were a knight of some sort, I would see no reason on why there's so much damage to your body?"
"How is that a question?" the mare asked a bit agitated at how this stallion was acting towards her.
Having other duties to attend to and wanting to end the conversation Pine rose up on all fours as he continued, "I was leading up to that, I simply want to ask why one of noble blood from a distant land end up in the woods?"
The mare simply gave him a menacing glare and responded, "why is that any business of yours?"
"As much as I despise ponies, I do rather not have some invading army come and destroy this place," Pine responded curtly.
The mare looked away as if the question hit a sore spot and responded in a remorseful tone. "I can assure you...no army is coming...."
The stallion then began to walk out of the tent, and as he grumbled," then that's all I needed to know."
"Wait!? How could you trust me so easily?" the mare snapped back.
The pegasus turned around, "If you were a scout, you would've tried to kill me already. Even if you were pretending to ask me questions and playing stupid, letting me live would only jeopardize your mission."
The mare gulped as she asked, "so...there's um...more of you?"
"I don't live with them anymore, but yeah, I can take you to them..but be warned most of my kind are rather mean spirited and cruel. I doubt you'll get a warm welcome." Pine grunted under his breath; he then spat at the ground out of spite.
The mare stood there as he was about to go through the tent flap. The alicorn feeling she could trust this pegasus didn't want him to leave and desperately shouted, "wait!
The pegasus rolled his eyes clearly annoyed as he turned his head and asked, "Yes?"
The mare felt quite embarrassed for acting so foalish, but she couldn't help but whisper," please...c...can you stay? I haven't had somepony to talk to for many years."
"Hmmm, I could...however, there are a few things I need to do." He whistled, and the mare could hear rustling and something huge stomping over. The mare's eyes widened and saw a huge Ursa minor! Its massive rippling coat was a sparkling dark blue with a star pattern printed all over its body. The creature looked rather grumpy as it began making growling noises. Pine rolled his eyes and snapped," yes, I know...I promise I'll get you a giant jug of milk if you can just watch her for a few more hours."
The Ursa minor pouted as he snarled and plopped down on the ground with his paws crossed across his chest. Pine glared at the Ursa Minor and snapped. "Don't you dare take that tone with me, mister! You do as I say or I'll go get your mother to teach you a lesson."
The giant bear began to whimper and making mournful grunting noises as Pine now had a smirk on his face as he scoffed," that's right now, stop the waterworks just sit here and watch the mare for a few more hours. I need to check on the bunnies."
Pine then adjusted his cloak, making sure his weapons were stocked as the alicorn watched with a smile as she whispered, "did you just say you had bunnies?"
He chuckled and turned to face the mare and replied, "yeah, they're pretty cute... you're too weak to move. I'll just bring one over to keep you company."
The stallion was about to rush into the woods as the mare realized she didn't even know who this pony was as she held a hoof and cried out. "Wait, who are you!?"
Then he turned, and the sun cleaned through the trees his body seemed to morph as his dark green coat
turned a bright yellow color with a pink flowing mane. He or she responded, "I'm Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy?"
"What? Who's Fluttershy? I said, my name is Pine." The stallion responded, eyeing her as if the mare was crazy.
"Oh..s...sorry, my head is still woozy." the mare groaned, rubbing her forehead. She looked away, still feeling embarrassed for her previous response and sighed, "my name is Galaxia, by the way."
"Well, Galaxia, you're dehydrated, drink that juice, and eat up. I'll be back soon." He then flew off as the mare turned around and saw the Ursa Minor that was supposed to be guarding her, taking a long nap on the ground. She crawled back into the patchwork tent and started to eat nuts and berries and drink down the juice as she chuckled, "how could a rough stallion like that be so kind?"
The mare woke up again after a long nap, the sun was going down, and she turned to see that Pine was back holding a bushy bunny with black spots on it. He somehow knew that the mare was awake as he looked up and commented in a snarky tone. "Hey, you're finally awake."
"Yeah, well, it's hard to sleep with your Ursa Minor snoring outside." Galaxia yawned as she stretched her body and saw the bunny in Pine's hooves bounced over into the alicorn's lap. She giggled as she gave the bunny's head a pat and cooed, "so what's this little guy's name?"
"Spot."
Galaxia couldn't help but burst out laughing as Pine looked down and sighed, "yeah, I know it sucks, but it's what I called him as a kid."
The alicorn cheeks flushed pink as she cooed, "Oh don't be embarrassed, I think it's a good name…" The mare then gave the bunny a pat on the head as it went off to nibble on some of the leftover food she couldn't eat earlier.
Pine then walked over and asked, "So...why did you come here? if you don't mind me asking?"
Galaxia looked down at the bunny with a painful look in her face as she thought about her past and whispered. "To be honest...I have no place to go...i'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do anymore."
Pine scratched his chin deep in thought, seeing that Galaxia's past was probably hard and painful. An idea came to him as he responded, "Hmm, well...to be fair, I also don't have a home, you can stay here in the forest if you want, but this is a hard life. Especially when winter comes."
The mare looked up with a surprise look on her face and asked, "you don't control the weather here?"
"Not really possible, this forest has a will of its own. I'm just a guest." Pine chuckled simply thinking that managing the weather here by himself would be nearly impossible.
Galaxia sighed as she rubbed her mane and sighed, "just great...well... it's better than that dessert I just crossed."
Pine was a bit curious about this mare and asked, "how do you know pegasi control weather? Did you grow up with ponies?"
"What! Oh…" she turned her head feeling so stupid for revealing the fact she knew about ponies already, so she decided to give a vague answer to Pine to give some explanation for how she knew. "I...well...did a lot of traveling in my younger years...in fact...I was hoping maybe the ponies could've been different by now?"
Pine eyed her as he continued to press for answers and asked, "you saying that as if you've been up north?"
Galaxia paused before she responded but couldn't think of how to explain why she went to see the ponies. The mare gave a deep breath as she whispered. "Well...yes...I have, but it's been quite some time. It was mostly just out of curiosity."
She then looked up as the mare wanted to steer the questions away from her she decided to ask. "How is pony society now?"
Pine knew Galaxia was trying to steer the conversation about herself but decided to humor her, seeing that she wasn't ready to open up. "Yeah, well, the three tribes kind of united though only because we need each other to survive. The pegasi have created a military-like society known as Pegatopolis that also controls the weather, and the unicorns created a society structured around magic known as Unicornia and are generally known as establishing the law of the land, Then there's the domain Earth pony they feed everypony, till the fields, raise crops and do a lot of the hard labor like building. Sadly they're looked down on the most and are treated pretty terribly."
Galaxia looked upwards as if reflecting on something as she responded in disappointment. "So it's more like their living off each other than actually uniting?"
"Right, been that way for as long as I remember." The stallion responded, seeming to be reminiscing about his own past and sighing, "I'm not sure if things will change…"
"Right...maybe I'll be better off staying here," Galaxia whispered as she scratched behind the bunny's ears on the ground.
Pine looked over and asked, "Alright, well, when you get better, I'll give you a tour."
Galaxia smiled as she looked outside beyond the napping Ursa Minor, the lush trees, and the deep green grass. The forest looked so vibrant with birds flying through the sky and the smell of Pine flowing through the tent. The mare couldn't wait to leave this tent, and she simply had to ask, "so...what's this place called? If you don't mind me asking."
Pine scratched his chin as he pondered something for a second as he replied, "Hmmm, when I came here, I was told it was called the Evergreen Forest."
In a dark office with bookshelves that lined the room filled tomes, a dark purple coated unicorn with a long wavy blue and black striped mane, sporting thick glasses looking quite scholarly under his dark blue eyes, was working late in his office one quiet night. He was clearly quite tired with bags under his eyes with a single candle lit in the darkness. He had a journal opened on the desk and was busy writing something down with a quill. The stallion seemed to be deeply entranced by what he was writing when he was suddenly awake as he heard a knock at the door. The stallion was quite startled, hearing his heartbeat and quivering a bit as he squeaked, "who is it!?"
A young stallion's voice spoke out. "Master? You sent a raven wishing to speak with me?"
The tired mage looked up and blinked, trying to remember if he had summoned anypony. Then his eyes suddenly went wide as it dawned on him that he did ask for Starswirl, his former apprentice. Evening Star gave a sigh of relief as he responded, "yes, come in, Starswirl?"
A grey coated stallion wearing a blue cloak walked into the office with a slick silver mane and a simple kempt silver-colored beard around his muzzle, his sky blue eyes had this demeanor of regal authority as he bowed, "master Evening Star? You wish to speak to me?"
"Yes, come in…" Evening Star then slowly closed his journal and stood up. "Congratulations on graduating today! You clearly are my star pupil."
"Yes, Master, and I need to thank you for my teachings." The stallion bowed again as the Evening Star held a hoof with a blush on his cheeks. "Oh come now no need to be so formal!"
"Right master...You always were unorthodox even around royalty." Starswirl snapped with this regal air of authority surrounding him.
Evening Star blushed thinking of the many times he's been scolded by his parents, and teachers on his rude behavior and chuckled. "Yes, I'll keep that in mind; however, I must confess something...I am resigning as headmaster of the Academy this morning."
"What!?" Starswirl exclaimed, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yes, I have...something that I need to do, and I can see your potential as a powerful mage one day...in fact, I have no doubt you'll surpass me." Evening Star yawned as he stretched his aching back.
Starswirl eyed his master and asked in a suspicious tone. "Master...what are you saying?"
"I think that the Academy for gifted unicorns needs a new headmaster and you have surpassed almost every teacher in this school. You were the obvious choice for the job." Evening Star responded back, facing his former student staring right back at him, showing that he wasn't joking.
Starswirl's eyes were wide as he stepped back as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Y...you're making me headmaster!? Wh...but I'm only eighteen!? I...I have so much to learn!"
Evening star adjusted his glasses as he sighed, "Starswirl, I'm serious I'm not making this decision lightly. You don't have to take it either; this is merely an offer. I wanted to do this tonight to avoid suspicious teachers. They've all known I was going to resign soon and have been begging for my attention. If one of them found out I was going to give my poison to a former student...well... let's just say things might not end well for me."
Evening Star went about collecting papers, journals, and books as he sighed, "You're still going to have to deal with the fallout I apologize for that."
Starswirl paused and let himself catch his breath. "Okay, so...why are you doing this? There has to be a reason."
Evening Star sighed as he got up. "Don't take this the wrong way...but it wouldn't make sense to you or anyone else... it's not logical in any sense, and to be honest, I'm not sure if I'll come back."
"Master...yo...you're going after Vita…" Satrsiwrl whispered as the name seemed to carry an air of pain and loathing. There was a long lingering pause with the only sound being the flickering of a candle. The tension was broken by Evening Star looking right at the candle and simply replied. "Yeah, I'm going to find him."
Starswirl was now seething in anger as he slammed a hoof on the ground and shouted, "Vita's a criminal he was experimenting with necromancy for Faust's sake!?"
Evening Star shot his student a glare and growled under his breath, "be careful what you say next."
Starswirl looked down as his master's fury was well known, and it was best not to argue with him on such manners. He looked to the ground full of raw emotion and unsure of what to say or do. "Master...if you go, that's fine..but...th...the offer...this is too sudden…"
Evening Star now had all the books he wanted to keep as he hoisted the satchel over his back and simply responded back. "Look, you either take the job or I'm leaving it for the other teachers to fight for. It's your choice."
Starswirl felt all fidgety shaking all over with both excitement and worry, unsure if he should take on such a massive responsibility or if he should decline. The stallion stopped shaking as this was something he sought after his whole life, and this was his chance to seize it. Starswirl turned towards Evening Star and shouted, "Fine! I'll be the headmaster! And when you get back, you're going to be amazed at how I run this school!"
Evening star laughed out loud, seeing his usually stuck up student all excited as he replied with a smile. "I'm sure you will! Now don't be alarmed, but you're going to have to write an acceptance speech, and if anyone tries to dispute your new position, you just show them the letter at the desk."
Evening Star then headed out the door as Starswirl turned towards him and suddenly exclaimed, "master good luck! I hope your journey turns out successful!"
The older stallion turned his head back with a smirk. He knew this unicorn for quite some time and knew that he probably would become the greatest mage in all of Unicornia. Deep down, Evening Star needed to believe that he was leaving the future of magic in good hooves. The older unicorn then simply replied, "thank you, Starswirl."
Evening Star then headed out the door as Starswirl looked around the giant office with the single candle still flickering in the dark, looking among the rows and rows of tomes that lined the shelves. The stallion's eyes were full of wonder like a foal ready to open his birthday presents with a smile. "So this is my office, huh? What book should I read first!?"
