Under the Stars in the Everfree
Far beyond
These endless seas
Far beyond
The mighty mountaintops
There is the land of ponies
There lie the plains of freedom
Of peace unperturbed
Of love incorruptible
Of will and way
Of a sun so radiant
It dazzles and glints
On the shores of the kind
And I know I am not afraid
In the land of the pure
Surrounded at all times
By the graces of its sweet earth
Of its lush greens
Of its crisp skies of blue
And I shall not want nor need
Nor harbor any wrong
For my soul will be rich
And my heart will be strong
~ Under the Stars in the Everfree ~
by Wisher
~~~~
All was silent. All was restful in the small rural town of Ponyville. As every pony lay asleep in the sanctity of the night, two human men wandered through its cobblestone streets.
One of these men was the traveler. He was a roamer of these lands. He was wrapped in a large cloak of grey tweed, with a hood that somewhat obscured his face, a thin visage of sharp features. He was a good-looking young man, twenty years old at the most. His skin was fair. He had brown hair of average length, which stood messily on his head, not clean but not unkempt either. His eyes were of a piercing yet gentle emerald green. There were almost unnoticeable bags under them, and while these were usually signs of fatigue, he also seemed to be in a permanent state of tranquility. He had a gentle, serene smile on his lips. This was an elusive man who looked as if he'd come back from a great voyage. Whom after having seen as much as the mind can imagine, could sit down at a traveler's tavern somewhere to enjoy some peace, content and fulfilled by his journey.
The other man was a man simply known as the guest. Mind you, he had never been called so repeatedly by anyone. It was not a mysterious name that vagabonds blew to the wind from one to another; he was not really ‘known’ as the guest. Nevertheless, that was who he was. He was the guest. For he was here, on this most special of nights, in the land of Equestria, a vast, green country that was foreign to him. He wore casual human clothes, not at all like those of the traveler. He had hair of medium-length black curls, and in his eyes was the look of a child lost in a large marketplace. And in a way, he was; he was lost in the land of ponies. This was the traveler’s doing.
Tonight was indeed a most peaceful night. Everything around was quite still. The guest, who took in every detail of the nocturnal world around him, noticed the slow, refreshing breeze that snaked through the cool nighttime air and past his skin. All was quiet. All was motionless and at peace in this town. The scene that played out before them was draped in a navy blue shade. It was not dark enough to blur out shapes, but it cloaked the houses tenderly in a still blanket of sleep and peace.
The traveler removed his hood. “No use staying hidden out here,” he said to one in particular.
"Where are you taking me?" asked the guest.
The traveler answered him, without looking back or ceasing his walk.
"To a place where there is life at night, and beauty in the dark," he said. The guest did not reply.
As they walked without a sound down the narrow paved road, a large, pearly moon revealed itself to the two men. Its strong, mesmerizing glow made every polished stone at their feet glint softly at the edges. Clouds hung unmoving, hidden across the night sky but for where the moon was. They seemed to reach out from the darkness to caress its surface, attracted to it like dayflies to a light.
They arrived at one of the round places of the village. As the guest looked around the empty place, one of the buildings caught his eye. It was a house, built inside and around a massive tree. It stood thick and tall above the ground, like a tender giant who had sat down to gaze at the moon, its leaves now covered in a silver hue.
But there was another reason as to why it stuck out to the guest.
"I know this place!" he said happily.
The traveler turned to look at him, and gave him a gentle smile.
"Yes," he said. "That is the library of Ponyville. Endless years of knowledge rest on the the pages of its books. It is the home of the mare Twilight Sparkle."
He ran his eyes along the treehouse.
"Tonight the lights are out. She must be resting. But many a night have I seen her sit by the candlelight, no doubt studying in the peace and quiet that only the night can bring us," he said. "She is a curious pony, you know. She strives to learn and study as much as she can about this wondrous world. But most of all, she strives to share her wisdom with her fellow ponies, so as to better their lives. And for that she must be thanked."
"Do all ponies like reading here?" asked the guest. The traveler shook his head but maintained his smile.
"Unfortunately, not all ponies can be enthralled by the wonders of reading, often cut short by the tedious concentration it demands. But that is no matter to Twilight Sparkle. She is content in bettering herself by making hers as much as can be known. And she does not feel the need to impose her knowledge on those she knows have no need for it. She is a bright soul. I think there is a lesson to be learned from her wisdom."
The guest stared in awe at the treehouse. It was a familiar sight for his eyes -- which he believed were sore from seeing too much of the banality and grimness that were commonplace in his homeworld. But right now he was content. He had very much longed to see this house from up close, and not just simply behind the screen of his television.
They walked past the many little houses of the pony folk, past the village limits, walking further into the calm countryside at night. The wind softly shook the grass on their passage, making shiny ripples in the plains. The traveler then took a dirt road that led to a small bridge of stone. On that bridge they stopped, and the traveler contemplated the area before him.
They had arrived at the edge of a forest. Before them stood a row of tall pine trees of a soft black, that stretched endlessly to the sides. It was much bigger and imposing than what the guest had pictured it to be. It also seemed to swallow him whole, as he stared into the mysterious darkness that lay silently between its countless trees.
"Here we are," said the traveler. "The Everfree Forest."
The guest turned to him.
“Is this where you wished to bring me?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied the traveler with a thoughtful nod.
“But why? Why are we here?” asked the guest. The traveler turned to him with his usual reassuring smile.
"There is something here that you must see," he said.
They started walking towards the treeline, where the guest stopped and shot him a worried look. He had heard some very off-putting rumors about these strange woods that were starting to catch up to him.
“I think we should wait until morning before going in there,” he said. "Isn't this forest supposed to be dangerous?"
The traveler stopped and smirked at the guest.
"Danger only comes to those who seek it," he said. "I would not call this place dangerous. It is more... malicious," he said with a wink.
The guest was reluctant, but this strangely wise man seemed to know where he was going. They both walked into the forest.
* * *
They had been walking for about twenty minutes between the trees. The guest walked at a slower pace than the traveler, taking the time to marvel at just how unexpectedly surreal and lush this place was.
All along their path, the moon followed the two men. It lay its pale light on the sides of the trees, bringing out all the unseen details of the forest, revealing its full luxury. As he treaded through the pines, a vast spectacle of nature unfurled before the eyes of the guest. He discovered a wildlife he had never seen back in his world; colourful flying insects by the hundreds, and agile nocturnal beasts and birds that travelled without a sound through the fresh breeze of the night. The leaves rustled gently, sparkling in the dark. He heard an orchestra of tiny sounds all around him, which resonated in a beautiful, chaotic symphony throughout the entirety of what he could see.
"This... This is incredible," he whispered, as a small dragonfly landed gracefully on his outstretched hand, its shiny wings fluttering ever so slowly before it took off into the air once more.
The traveler looked at him serenely.
"Perhaps you see why ponies mistake the mystique of these woods for danger," he said. "They are often deceived by their fear of the dark, and what unknown things it conceals. It is true that there is sometimes peril lurking in unlit places. But there are also many treasures to be found."
Suddenly, the guest heard a new sound amongst the ones he could hear. It was weak, but present; the sound of a woman's voice. He listened to it closely. Whoever was making it seemed to be humming a sweet melody to herself in a low but clear tune.
They arrived at a part of the forest that stood out from the trees. It appeared to be a tall bush of leaves of a light bluish shade of green, as was coloured the rest of the scenery. The gentle humming could still be heard as the traveler squatted down, and carefully separated the leaves and thin branches in front of him. With a head gesture he urged the guest to join him.
The guest did so, and like the traveler separated the leaves in front of himself to see what was beyond this wall of leaves.
He found a small clearing where the moonlight seemed to shine stronger than elsewhere in the woods. It was in an almost perfect circle, and he realised that the bush in front of them was shaped like a hollow cylinder around it. In the middle of this clearing of sharp, yet soft blades of grass, there was a small pond of clear water that mirrored the moon and the sky above. By the pond, the guest spotted the figure that had been humming in the night.
“But, behold!" exclaimed the traveler in a whisper. "There lies the princess of the stars herself.”
The guest stood transfixed at the sight of a beautiful mare in front of him. She had a coat the colour of the nighttime sky. Her mane and tail also evoked the night, both a flowing stream of bright, shadowy mist in which whole constellations seemed to be trapped.
He watched her as she lay down on her forelegs at the side of the pond. She was smiling contentedly as she continued humming to herself. The guest could see her running the tip of her hoof lightly across the surface of the pond, creating graceful undulations on the water. At one point she lightly poked the reflection of the moon in the pond. She distorted its image doing so, spreading it somewhat in fast ripples across the pond. There was a small splash, and she gave a happy giggle, that both echoed soundly through the mute air.
"Luna..." whispered the captivated guest.
"Yes," said the traveler. "This is Luna, deity of the night in these lands. She represents all the facets of its personality. Very few know that once she has done her duty of raising the moon above the great fields of Equestria, she likes to retreat to this hidden place, to be at peace while others take their rest." He turned to the guest. "How do you find her?"
The guest continued to watch Luna as she played peacefully with her image in the pond. A strange feeling was flowing through him. Throughout the night, he'd come across many familiar places, and now stood closer than ever to the familiar pony. He knew all about Luna and the Everfree Forest. And yet, it was as he were seeing them all for the first time. He wondered if it was because of the quiet night-time scene, or because of how close to her he was, that he could not help finding in the goddess a gorgeous side that he had not seen in her before.
"Well," he replied, a little dazed. "Well, she's certainly... um... actually she's sort of alluring."
The traveler flashed him a knowing smile.
"She has that effect on every sentient creature, you know. Since she is the goddess of night, she is also that of mystery, grace, intimacy, and seductiveness. It is natural for you to feel drawn towards her."
They both watched as the alicorn continued to relish in the nightly calm of the clearing.
Suddenly, all was silent around them. The animals concealed themselves without any further noise. The wind quickly died, and the leaves ceased to move and rustle.
Luna stopped her humming. She no longer smiled. She no longer ran her hoof on the surface of the pond. She simply stared downwards at it with a grave expression.
All around them, this nighttime world had become deathly quiet.
"What's going on?" whispered the guest who was starting to feel anxious. He was hushed as the traveler put a finger to his own lips, watching the scene with a focused stare.
There was an unnerving silence as nothing happened for a few seconds.
Then, ever so slowly, the breeze began to pick up again. It grew in intensity until it became a stronger gust than the cool wind that had been blowing previously. It steadily shook the leaves, making them rustle audibly.
"Look," whispered the traveler. He pointed a finger to a point in front of him.
The guest looked at where the traveler was pointing. It was the wall of leaves directly opposite to them, and to Luna's right. He noticed that the wind seemed to blow straight towards it.
He also noticed that the leaves had changed colour precisely on the surface of that wall. They had become pitch-black. Their individual shapes could not be made out, save for a few glinting streaks of moonlight on them. From behind it emanated a sense of abyssal, ominous darkness.
Suddenly, the wind ceased to blow. But the leaves kept rustling on their own. A low, but piercing whisper could be then heard from the black leaves.
It muttered words in a foreign tongue. There seemed to be two or three other whispers speaking at the same time, but they were fainter. To the guest, it sounded like a hundred snakes hissing at their foe. It was a whisper that chilled his blood.
"What's going on?" repeated the guest. The traveler went to stand behind him. He put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with a serious look.
"There is an evil here, that taints this place," the traveler whispered. There was a second of pause before he continued. "You know of whom I speak."
At first the guest did not understand what the traveler meant. And then it occurred to him. A name flashed in his head, and it was suddenly obvious to him.
Nightmare Moon.
His attention was drawn to Luna who slowly raised her head at the black leaves. She had stood motionless during the change in the atmosphere around her. She closed her eyes, and gave a sigh of fatigue.
She then got up slowly, and started walking towards the black leaves with a solemn expression. The whispers grew quite louder as she did, and among what seemed to be a few different hisses of hatred, the guest was sure he could hear a dry, creepy cackle.
"Wait!" he said, alarmed, "Where is she going?"
"She has to fight the evil presence that lurks beyond these trees," said the traveler. "It is one that comes back every night to haunt her. And every night, she must fight it, to make sure it does not haunt our world itself."
"But... no! She can't go!" whispered the alarmed guest, trying to get up on his feet. Luna was half swallowed by the black leaves, walking into them like a prisoner marching towards the hangman's noose. The whispering and cackling that came from them grew louder, and the wind started to blow again.
The traveler put both of his hands on the guest's shoulders to make the latter face him.
"Listen to me," he said with composure. "We must leave this place posthaste. Luna will be fine on her own. But if we stay here any longer, that thing is going to sight us". He did not have to explain to the distressed guest what it entailed. "Now let us go."
They got up and walked away hurriedly. While they did so, the guest shot one last worried look behind him. In the clearing behind the leaves, Luna was gone, engulfed in the blackness she had stepped into.
Eventually, the cackling and the whispers faded and disappeared. The wind slowed down to a cool breeze.
The calm of the night, which had been disrupted, was now restored.
* * *
The traveler and the guest walked through the forest, away from the troubling scene they had just experienced. The night was quiet and deeply blue once more. But to the guest, it was no longer peaceful. All life in the woods seemed to have dispatched out of fear.
They arrived at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. The guest realised that they had taken a different route, and that they were not back at Fluttershy's cottage. What he saw in front of him were still, endless plains of grass, that moved into high hills and vast slopes as far as the eye could see. A lone house and a smaller, more isolated area of trees of a less wild kind could be seen atop a hill to the west. The guest would have enquired as to what this place was, but he was too presently shook up by what he had just witnessed to think of anything else.
The traveler sat down on a large log that had fallen at the foot of the trees. He was joined by the guest. With a sigh, the traveler looked at him.
"Be at peace now," he said. "We are out of harm's way."
The guest looked back at him. His usual serenity had returned somewhat, his eyes and smile soothing and calm once more. The guest tried to relax and took a deep breath.
"I think I need you to explain to me what all of that was about," he said.
The traveler stared into space at the line where the sky met the hills. His gaze seemed to go over them, and far beyond.
"That was Nightmare Moon," he simply said. "Attempting once more to rob the night of its very soul."
"I thought Nightmare Moon had been defeated?" asked the guest.
The traveler thought for a moment. "She may have been sealed away in the past," he said. He then turned to the guest.
"But if we submit our souls to the kind of evil and greed that preys on the weak... it haunts us forever. It creates wounds deep in our hearts, that not even the powerful magic of friendship can heal."
He looked at the silent plains.
"Which is why, every night," he said, "The dear Princess Luna must face the darkness she once sold her soul to. She knows it was a foolish decision. She reclaimed it after a terrible conflict within herself, yes. But she has dealt with an everlasting malice. Now it is furious, and it will fight endlessly to take back what was given to it. And if Luna does nothing, it will consume the entire world in its madness and evil before it can consume the princess of the night once more."
The guest listened intently at what the traveler was saying. The high stakes surrounding the soul of Luna made an impression on him.
"She has engaged in a dance with a devil that knows no relent. It needs a foreign soul to exist, like a parasite. She does not deserve to be haunted thusly by its evil. But she has made a terrible mistake, and now she must live with it against her will," continued the traveler.
The guest chose his next words carefully.
"What we saw... Was that what you intended to show me?"
The traveler replied softly. "Yes," he said.
"But... why?" asked the confused guest. "You said you wanted to show me the beauty of the night. To show me that there was still hope for the hopeless to find here in Equestria. So why would you show me such a hopeless scene?"
The traveler looked at the guest with raised eyebrows.
"Hopeless?" he asked. "By all means, that was not a hopeless moment. We can always have hope for the future once we learn something from our past experiences. And indeed, there is something vital to be learned from tonight's events. It is that our lives are subject to certain factors that defy our understanding and escape the grasp of our control."
The guest looked at him with a defeated look.
"I-I just don't understand..." he said.
The traveler looked to the horizon.
"The path on which our lives are set is not one that we walk on. Many will say so, but their illusion remains unto them," he said.
"Are you saying that we aren’t free?" asked the guest. The traveler took a while before replying.
“Yes... and no,” he said, sounding slightly amused. “Along this path, there is an unseen force. And it pulls us from the ground, carrying us through the air to an elusive end. As conscious souls, we wish for individuality and independence, and that the thread of living were not so strong.
“Yet we cherish it, for there are moments of weakness in the course. Moments when the grasp of life falters, leaving us queasy and desperate for a true hold. Without it, we fall to the ground, dusty and jagged with rocks and rugged roots, and the road becomes interminable.
“In those moments, we are often tempted by the evils that lay on the edges of our path, for they offer the kind of hold we seek. But should we give in to them, they will become heavy burdens that we shall have to drag along the ground with us forever."
He turned to the guest, and gave him a gentle smile. The glimmer in his eye had returned.
"But know this. Whatever we do, we can also choose fight these vices. To strengthen ourselves. It is the choices we make that give us or not the strength to wander beyond, to see our journey to its mystical conclusion."
He looked back to the horizon.
"I believe that it is here, in the secrecy of the night, that we face our past and make our choices most true. Therein lies its true beauty."
Neither of them said anything for a long time. While the traveler's gaze rolled along the grassy slopes to the east, the guest mulled over everything the mysterious man had said.
His words rang pure and true to him. Back in his world, the young man had spent many hours looking at the sky, reflecting on his past mistakes. Decisions he made that had led to the wrong outcome, people he had hurt, friends he had lost to selfishness... All of these things weighed down cruelly upon him. He had sought pardon and had dreamt of any sort of escape. To be free of his troubles, to run away in desolate places where none would find him.
But now he saw things in a new light. He realised that running away in itself was a vice. He had been weak-willed, ready take the coward's way out.
As he brooded over how weak he had shown himself, the traveler looked up to the sky. His face bore a look of wonder. He broke the silence between the two of them.
"It appears we are not alone on this eventful night," he said.
The guest looked at him, not understanding what he meant. For a split second he was worried. Was there another evil force they would have to face?
But then he saw the traveler look up to the skies. He did the same.
The guest discovered an ocean of stars floating high above him. Spread like droplets of paint across a large black canvas, countless twinkling dots all of sizes and colours shone their beams of light onto the world below.
"Tonight we are blessed with the company of the stars," said the traveler in a soft voice. "On lonely nights, I feel lucky to have the glow of my friends to shine on me. For you see... these are not but mere shiny speckles in the sky. They are vessels, harbors of life and intelligence. They are the souls of those we hold dear; they are friends, family, loved ones, great men and even the dead."
The guest enjoyed the thought that he was not alone in this dark unknown. He turned to the traveler.
"Who do you see up there?" he asked with a smile.
The traveler took his gaze away from the stars. He set it at an undefined point in front of him. The guest could have sworn that he saw the traveler's smile falter a little, a hint of melancholy in his eye.
"For me, they are mostly the dead," he said wistfully. "But it is all right," he continued. "The path of my life seems sweeter under their graceful watch.”
The guest gave the traveler a puzzled look. "I've asked you this before," he said, "But... Who are you? I mean who are you really?"
There was a long while as the traveler kept his empty stare on the space before him. He seemed to be absorbed in reflexion.
"I was once a person of your world," he finally said. "Many, many years ago. One day my people discovered that they could go to this place. It was a peaceful realm untouched by man, where nature covered all spaces and flowed into all things. It was long ago... long before the first birth of ponies." He took a small breath. "I am one of those that chose to stay," he said.
The guest looked at him. "I knew you couldn't be that young," he said.
The traveler laughed cheerily, drawn out of his daydreaming. With a smile he turned to the guest.
"I will always be as old and worn as I appear to be," he said. "Through the years, it is not the times that change and crease our skin. It is our wisdom."
There was a moment of silence.
“Isn’t it hard to live like that forever?” asked the guest.
The traveler cocked his head to the side, staring into space as he formulated his answer.
“I have to confess it has brought me many years of sadness and doubt,” he said pensively. “Oft have I come here by the woods as a younger man. I spent many sleepless nights wondering... wondering about death. The one mystery we can never solve. What is left of us, once our body is naught but ashes scattered by the flow of the wind? What lies past the last great field, on which we shuffle the grass with worn boots of leather? What is it that we see, when we reach the top of the last barren hill of our passing, and we gaze at a horizon we can no longer turn our backs to?
“I, like all men, have been puzzled endlessly by these thoughts. But eventually, my friend, you see it. What lies beyond... is a place amongst an ocean of stars. A bed of eternal rest at the sides of the fathers of old. Once I had understood this, I started to wonder about something else.”
“Which was?” asked the guest. The traveler turned to him.
“Why I had lost so much time worrying about death in the first place,” he said. “Why fear death, or pity those who have left us? You do not do such things, when you understand at last that those who have met death at the end of their path have shaken its hand in good spirits. I do not fear death. I await it once I am tired and can travel no longer. But I will not rush to it, for whatever makes us walk our road does so with intent, you see. We are given a purpose to walk to, one we must never run past. And so I shall bide my time, carrying on no matter how long my path, simply to fulfill my duty and earn this last moment when I finally sit at the top of the final hill, lay my bags to the ground, and watch the great light of the horizon make dust out of my bones and a star out of my soul.”
There was a long silence between the two men. The guest thought about these last words. He thought about his sense of purpose. Was this what he had tried to run from? Were his problems a step he had to take towards a purpose he had?
He was still troubling himself over these questions of death and purpose when the traveler spoke once more.
"Long ago," he said, "When ponies appeared for the first time in the land they had named Equestria, we attempted to coexist with them. I remember we were very much afraid, for peaceful living with strangers is not one of man's specialties, as we know. We were worried that violence and grief would come torment our peaceful lives. But as it turns out, our cohabitation with the equines soon revealed itself to work very well. My people were delighted, and we wrote a song to celebrate our new brothers. Now that song is old and lost in the wind along with the ashes of those who sung it. But it still comforts me to this day. Would you like to hear it?"
The guest nodded. "Please," he said.
The traveler shifted his gaze back to the land, staring into space in a trance once more. He started speaking in a slow, dream-filled voice.
"Far beyond these endless seas... Far beyond the mighty mountaintops... There is the land of ponies."
* * *
They stayed by the forest throughout the night. At one point the guest had fallen asleep, exhausted by the happenings of the night. He was woken up by a noticeable shift of light in the sky.
When he opened his weary eyes, the guest saw that it was morning, but that the sun was not up. The trees were no longer dark, but of a soft emerald green. The sky was of a light blue, on which were sprawled massive streaks of a peachy colour, at the edges of which hung thin white clouds. As the sun's rays rose above the hills that hid them, he could see their light shining on the viridian carpets of the land.
He looked at the traveler. The man was still sitting on the log, taking in silently the soothing sight. The guest wondered if he had slept at all. He was about to ask him when the traveler spoke.
"It is dawn," he said gently without looking at the guest. "See how all of life awakes from its blissful slumber. The flowers will be blooming in its new light, and the birds chirping." He set his gaze to the western hills. "The first of the ponies will be getting ready to work in the day ahead."
The guest followed the traveler's line of view. He spotted the house he had seen the night before. It was now revealed to be a bright red. He also saw that the ground on which it sound was not a field of grass like those surrounding it; it was a ploughing field of raw earth. Atop the hill, the guest spotted the silhouettes of two ponies, trotting slowly towards the small trees near the house. They had familiar frames that begged the question to the guest.
"Is that...?" he asked, lost for words.
"Over there lies a farm known as Sweet Apple Acres," said the traveler.
The guest was woken up by the excitement he felt at seeing yet another familiar place.
"The ponies you see are Applejack and her brother," continued the traveler, "They must be commended for their hard work, for work is one of the only sure values in both our worlds. All ponies and men enjoy the comforts of sleeping. But it is those that shake off the delightful grasp of the night first that may witness sunrise, rather than those who sleep through it. It is a sign of good tidings to come, which we must work hard to obtain."
The traveler turned to the horizon from under which the sun could be felt. He grinned at what he was seeing.
"And we are about to bear witness to it as well."
The guest turned to where the traveler was staring. He watched in awe as a mighty sun of the most flamboyant orange he’d ever seen rose slowly above the horizon. It traveled much faster than the sun would do in his world, and after a few seconds stopped its course, halfway above the line where land met the sky. The plains were now covered in a new coat of light, and the guest felt warmth on his face, that he had to shield with a hand from the sun's strong glare.
The traveler stood up when the sun had risen. He looked straight at it, and flung his arms wide open as he spoke.
"Bravo!” he shouted with joy. "Another colourful sunrise that we live to see!"
He turned to the guest with a beaming face. "See how, like the princess of the night, her sister raises the flaring sun to warm us and grant us life!" he exclaimed. He then turned to the sun, and bowed low towards it.
"My dear princess, I salute you," he said. He seemed to be talking to an old friend. And the light of the sun, though devoid of any logical self-control, seemed to focus its shine in his direction.
After a moment the traveler got up and walked over to the guest, still laying on the ground by the log. He extended a hand to him.
"Come," said the traveler. "Now that it is day, we must move on."
The guest grabbed his hand and got up. Together, they walked back into the forest. The guest followed the traveler as they made their way through the forest, lit by blades of sunlight that struck them softly between the pines.
They arrived at the other end of the woods, passing Fluttershy's cottage around which flew and crawled many small beasts in the light of day. They walked back towards the village of Ponyville, on the same route that they had taken the night before. The guest noticed that even though the sun was up, there was not a soul to be found. The village was still sleeping at this hour, and the silent peace of the night here had lingered on through to the day.
As they turned a street corner, the traveler stopped before a small house. The guest recognized it as a tavern or bar of sorts.
The traveler opened the door, and closed it behind himself and the guest as they stepped inside.
* * *
Now that they were in the tavern, a strange feeling took hold of the guest. There was no one in the bar, and not a noise to be heard. All was clean and there was no trace of anyone having been here. Yet, the telltale smell of smoke and liquor hung in the stale air around him, offering quite a change from the free air of the wild in which he had spent the last hours. All around, candles were still lit, their flames standing still on their wick. It was a most strange sensation for the guest. It was morning outside, but in here it still felt as though the midnight hour was upon him. He felt as if the world outside the large wooden door behind him had vanished, and that he had stepped in an isolated dimension.
The traveler went to the counter, followed by the guest, and they both took a seat. The traveler sighed, and turned to the guest.
"I have now showed you everything I wished you to see," he told him. "And unfortunately, it is now that our time together must end."
The guest suddenly felt a little sad. He had learned a lot from this kind man.
"I have brought you here to this world for one reason," he said. "I heard you wish in the night for a place to go to. A sanctuary you could escape to, far from your many worries and troubles. I have shown you this place, and it is Equestria. It heralds freedom and joy in its winds and in its very soil. It is now, as a new day dawns, that you must make a choice from what you have learned in the night. I am offering you, my friend, a single chance at living in this world of peace." He stopped talking for a second.
"But know this," he said. "You cannot live in both worlds. No matter where you choose to spend the rest of your days, you must abandon all things from your past existence, never to be recovered. I would advise you to take as much time as you wish to consider this. The choice is now yours," he said solemnly.
The guest stood deep in thought as he went one more time through the many things he had seen and felt last night.
He remembered the library. The feel of joy in his soul as he saw it before him. He remembered the traveler speak of great ideals that the ponies here reflected. How Twilight Sparkle bettered herself through the pursuit of knowledge and curiosity. How Applejack, through effort and labour, made a living for herself.
He remembered the beauty of the forest. He remembered Luna, graceful and pure, and how she was made to fight with the evil she had brought onto herself through the error of her ways. He remembered thinking about his own mistakes. And how he had sought never to flee them again, but rather to confront them to improve his life.
Yes, he'd learned a great deal. He'd learned more about himself in one fateful night than in perhaps his entire life.
And now, and the end of what seemed to him as an eternal journey, he was ready to meet its end and choose the direction that he would walk in henceforth in his life.
"I choose..." he started. It was difficult to put into words. He was reminded of many things.
The happiness of the ponies. The nocturnal peace he'd felt. The lush forest, the soft glow of the moon, the company of the stars, the radiant warmth of the sun...
All of these...
He was ready never to see again.
"I'm sorry," he said to the traveler. "I will not stay. I wish to return to my world."
There was a grave silence in the tavern.
"Are you sure of this?" asked the traveler in a kind voice. The guest nodded.
"Yes," he said. "I cannot thank you enough. You have made me see that I was on a path of error. I was afraid of what I had done before. I was unsure of myself. I wished to escape the path on which my life was set from the start. But you have taught me many great things.
“I must face the shadows that lurk on my road. I must not try to flee who I am, but rather be proud of it and fight for it. I cannot run away, or else I will only be wasting my life on what cannot be done. Instead, I must walk, and look around. Like in the Everfree Forest, our lives are complex and may seem darker than the night itself. But there is much life, and brilliance to be found hidden within them for those who look for it. And for that reason, I will return to my old life, and walk unafraid on its path, hand in hand with a strong soul."
The traveler looked for a long while at the guest. Then, he gave him a warm smile.
"You have made a great choice," he said serenely.
"I'm sorry I cannot accept your invitation," said the guest. But the traveler shook his head.
"Not to worry," he said. "My purpose is to observe, on behalf of her majesty the ruler of these lands, that her guests make the choice of the wise, the choice that is best for their hearts. And I am glad to have met a wise soul like you."
With a smile, he stood up and walked to the door of the tavern. He opened it slowly. The guest saw in amazement that the village outside had disappeared. A brilliant white light shone through the door, illuminating the tavern and defining the shape of the traveler.
The man turned to him and extended his hand.
"Come," he said.
The guest stared in a daze at the light before he got up and joined the traveler, shielding his eyes from the harsh light.
He stood in front of the traveler. The latter looked at him with a kind smile.
"We must both be going," he said softly.
The guest looked one last time at the traveler. Many emotions ran through him.
They shook hands, and both stepped out into the shimmering light.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
— Henry David Thoreau
