Trees, and more trees, rustling and cracking as the Golem made its way through, forcefully pushing aside what could be easily swayed away, with its shoulders and puffy rocky chest doing the work.

The light coming from the sun was passing through the gaps made by the countless leaves on thousands of branches making the very crowns of the old and therefore tall trees of the forest. It was as if a giant swarm of insects or one ample cloud of crows occupied the sky, cutting the straight unstoppable light. Bulky and thin and standard trunks, some covered in moss, others not so much or not at all, rose-like ancient pillars of the fallen long ago into ruin buildings he saw many times in the outer worlds. Heaps of earth forming closer to the trees, with roots closest to the top protruding from the earth, making natural traps for the intelligent agents wondering.

Birds chirped and sang cheerfully as he passed, squirrels walked out for a stroll in order to gaze at the Young Great Mage, being carried by his animated servant. A rare sight for the animals, who, the Young Great Mage eyed, with an upside-down skeptical arch made from his brows showing that he was frowning.

The golem walked slowly, shifting its bottom limbs not too fast. It made big steps, this made their progress not sluggish. The large legs of the golem crushed the bushes and ferns under the pressure. The fauna made from fungus and rotted plants squished and let out squeaks indicating that the ground was well moistened.

The duo traveled with peace, the mage enjoyed his ride, having time to think about his current position, and lack of armor and special weapon. The loss of his equipment was an unpleasant turn of events, as the armor was one of the finest ever made, his spear-wand one of the most potent agglomerating mana staffs there were.

He let out an irked sigh through his nostrils - A well-made weapon, although there were better ones. - He thought.

It cost a fortune, paid from tax money to be precise. He invested in himself as he was the people’s best weapon, and guaranteed protection against the United One. Egoistic? No, it was only logical.

Now wasted, not even used as destined.

The Young Great Mage sighed again in a scornful manner, clenching his hands into fists to release them a moment later and place them gently on the golems' back.

“Get over it, learn from it, adapt to it, and go forward.”

A self-reassuring tone accompanied said words by the young adult, still, bitterness poured out in large amounts from the mage. Was being enraged by it and proceeding to show it in an indignant way the right thing? Some would say yes, that he should follow his emotions to show that he cared, that it had meaning to him. That doing nothing was a clear message which spat into the resources lost, a show of direct disrespect. How could he stand idly? How dare he?

Yes, he dares! Why waste time and effort on something that would bring him nothing? Why be bothered and stand in place, being held by the memories of what happened? He can go forward and get it again, perhaps better?

This line, integral to his own thinking logic he had chosen to follow, was optimistic. It helped him calm his nerves as he was finding himself fazed out.

The struggle in him was cut short by the golem walking into the open, the moment was short-lived, but the sun cleared the mage’s mind, resetting him and turning his attention where it should be, on the path.

As the golem was on the border to again step into the woods, the Great Mage heard something incoming. Footsteps, a dozen if not more from all sides. The golem stopped and took a passive stance, putting its left leg slightly behind his right limb. The Golem had its fingers still spread out, the edges becoming sharper and more defined, like the edge of a knife.

Growls followed next, a soggy fog appeared incoming like a flood and washed over the feet of the golem, the cloud was slightly shimmering and hid the ground under a milky layer. The Great Mage looked around himself and cast a simple spell without moving.

His eyes shone brightly blue, but the moment it happened was so fast it wouldn’t have been noticed by someone with no level of expertise in magic. Now he could look at what was behind the trees and the thicket ahead. The spell wasn’t strong nor did he want it to be strong, therefore it had a limited area of effect.

The figures he saw were definitely shaped like dogs, wolves perhaps. The dog-like figures had unpleasant, bright, slashing eyes, glowing with a lime green color. The canines encircled them from all around the area, most coming from the front, that was where the golem stood.

The Great Mage stepped down and landed on the ground, he looked deeper into the forest and saw big clumps of lime green, somewhat beneath the ground. This made everything clear to him. Puppies. He nullified the effect of the spell he cast and saw the now coming forth wooden wolves.

He looked at them, their torso looked like made from a piece of a trunk, with the bark growing in an intricate, even cancerous way, creating the looks of the fluff of fur a dog has around the head and on the back.

The tails were made from leaves, they matched a wolf’s tail when it came to the aspect of shape quite well as the Great Mage compared it to the image he had in mind. The fangs they had were sharp and made from stones that were held by the wood, the stones integrated into the very wood-like flesh. When wood grows around artificial barriers it literally devours it and closes in around it like goo, the same image could be granted to the watery, opened mouths.

The snouts were made from a thick branch cut perfectly in half, some had them smaller with a growing out sprig with a tiny green leaf on the end of the shaft. The eyes of the creatures were lime green as mentioned, the same shade he saw them as the monocolored figures.

Their limbs looked more bizarre than the creatures themselves as it didn’t make any aesthetic sense. Their limbs looked too angular, as if you took a piece of wood from a construction site and magically applied the bark to envelop it. But this wasn’t that bad in itself, the true profanation of the looks was their feet. Circular with a piece missing where the heels were. The claws were made from stone like their teeth, little and looking like glued by nothing to their feet.

From the gathering before him, as the pack approached, he moved one of his fingers as they came closer.

One of the creatures was lifted into the air, with its body straightened, the head pointing towards the sky. The other wolves did a step back in reaction, their response was a mutual release of their voices, barking, and growling.

He looked at the creature that hovered before him, with the paws close to the body, and the tail folded to the side. It was the first time in his life that he saw something like this. He never heard of such wolves even existing. He wasn’t keen on biology or knew much about animals, so it could be that he missed the time it was taught to him.

A strong stench came from the creature’s mouth, the Great Mage had to move away in order to feel comfortable again after accidentally inhaling the extremely bad smell. The fresh air really made a difference.

He didn’t intend to kill the animal or the ones around when he had the power to avoid it and make it so that they go away without any conflict.

He swiped his hand, from one side to the other where the location of the pups was. The palm of his hand pointing towards the clouds with the index finger. From the inside of the forest, not so far as it seemed at first glance, there was a quick and bright flash of white light. The Wolves stopped and turned their attention to what happened. The wooden canines in front of the golem were the closest and ran back to inspect the dens.

The Young Great Mage looked the opposite way, looking where they came from. The same flash of white light followed. With a smirk on his face, he made a step back.

He placed his foot on a smooth thin surface, made from white light, sparkling and glitching with different shades of the color. Like as if he climbed stairs, with each step a magical plate appeared under the sole of his hoof, he retreated back onto the golem, and sat on its back. The golem moved forward as the mage drummed his fingers on the thing’s head.

The wolves ran past the golem, running towards the caves that the great mage teleported.

Spike needed something more than just his standard clothing. Before heading out, he came back to the armory. He picked up a leather jerkin, under it he wore an extra thick woolen protective vest. Normally such a light outfit was made for archers that made the civilian cohorts of the garrisons in a small town, like Ponyvile.

After thanking Small Arsenal once again, he finally went to the Everfree forest. He quickly found himself at the borders of the woodlands. He chose as always the standard way to Zecora’s home.

The young dragon immediately got covered by the shadow that was cast by the trees. He already felt strange, as the sunlight got blocked making the surroundings darker and in turn also grim.

He had nothing to worry about, the Everfree forest wasn’t that dangerous anymore. Luna had banished her old nightmarish influence that corrupted the forest by an extent after her return with the help of Celestia.

Celestia cast powerful spells that cleared the Everfree Forest. However, he still feared the creatures who lived, as some were still present.

He feared an encounter with one of them. Twilight, while battling Tirek, met one and had to destroy him. Thankfully with the power of all three princesses, the monster was nothing more than a normal weed a gardener rips out every day.

But the fact that Twilight had an encounter only proved there still may be some in the forest. Twilight’s case was extraordinary, and for that reason, nopony has asked for a recleaning of the forest.

Spike marched steadily, not stopping at anything, he wasn’t scared by any means, he was just cautious. Other creatures were present too in the Everfree forest. Like Manticores, these creatures were savage and only pure aggressiveness drove them. Having an encounter would be a huge problem.

“No need to change a fly into an elephant.” - Spike thought.

Not much did it last until he got a tight grip of himself. He faced worse. The walk was quiet after all, without much to worry about, after a few more minutes as he was getting closer to Zecora’s home, his fright had left. Now left alone with only nature around to be indifferent with his presence.

Spike was never used to be, to put it lightly, without Twilight in the Everfree forest. It wasn’t the first time too, but it still was scary to think he was alone in the forest. But it didn’t come from pure cowardness, it came from his own instinct which kept his adrenaline levels high.

He walked automatically, without even looking around and just following the path he had memorized in his head.

“ Just a few more turns...”

The girls with Morning Dew together walked close to each other. They were walking a different path to Zecora, it started at the village's southern parts, west of Fluttershy’s cottage.

“I hope you guys know where we're going…”

“Don’t worry, the path to Zecora we are walking goes directly to her, we have to basically follow it strictly and in no time we’ll be there!” Applebloom assured him, being the one in the lead of the four.

The three and their companion were walking the path, while remaining silent the whole time, rather strange, as Morning Dew noted himself. The girls however broke the silence and started to talk about their girly stuff, mostly regarding their club.

He listened, he had nothing better to do. He learned that there are three more ponies that want to have a meeting tomorrow, one of which is a colt that has a similar problem to his. The difference being the colt is interested in sports and is a pegasus.

The girls shared a laugh once or twice, he just went on and didn’t comment, until Applebloom mentioned him.

“Tell me, what is your dream job Morning Dew? We talked about your interests, but didn’t quite grasp the topic of what you’d like to do.”

“Exactly” Scootaloo added “Might help when we arrive”

“Well” He started “I really don’t know, I think that being a simple scientist is something I’d like to become in the future.”

“How do you see yourself as a scientist?” Sweetie Belle threw in.

“You know, experimenting, taking notes, observing. I’d try to change their behavior by adding or taking a thing or two from their environment and see if my predictions were right. That sort of thing”

“This doesn’t change much” Applebloom said “Can you be more specific?”

“Well…”

He was cut off by Sweetie Belle “Shouldn’t we have taken the left turn?”

“What turn?” Morning Dew asked worried, but nopony bothered to answer.

“No, It's ahead, besides, if we went the old route the lumberjacks used, we’d already know it, as it would be less clear and bushier.”

Scootaloo looked around, and in fact, the way they went seemed to be clear, but the surroundings were more dark than usual. The bushes around seemed rather recently touched as branches were snapped and crushed laying together one on the other.

She looked down, the dirt seemed to be uneven, something big walked this way leaving deep footmarks.

“Applebloom, I think we might have made a mistake”

The Apple family member turned to her “Why?” She asked, herself already feeling how anxiety was creeping on her.

“Look at the ground!”

They all did, and both saw the strange marks. Morning Dew noticed that a young tree grew just beside them, which allowed him to easily climb it and go down, as it split into two. He did that, and got asked what he was doing by the girls.

“Get down, we don’t have time for this!”

As he climbed the tree, a chilly cold wind blew lightly, making the girls shiver, carrying dead leaves and dust making them choose between protecting their eyes and wrapping their arms around themselves.

“We couldn’t have chosen a better time to go to Zecora, could we?” Sweetie Belle argued.

“Ummm”

They turned their attention to Morning Dew.

“What is it?”

“Something walked this way...Something big”

The greenery around slowly got lit up by a dark blue tint, as if something like paint started to replace the green color with blue. The wind became stronger and came from behind the girls, while Morning Dew was looking deep into the dark abyss ahead, seeing something like a light shining through the plants.

All four of them felt a disturbance, as if something hit the ground hard and made it shake. Right after this, birds that had their homes on the tops of the trees, flew away in an ample crowd and sang loudly.

“Guys, I think we should go,” Scootaloo said first.

“We need to run!” Morning Dew was the first to go down the tree and started to run in the opposite direction, completely ignoring the pathway they came with.

“Wait, maybe it's nothing!”

But he didn’t listen. They only heard him saying something, but he said it more to himself than to them.

“Nothing?! There definitely is something there!”

“Don’t yell” Sweetie Belle spoke strongly. “You’ll attract it.”

The girls heard branches breaking and the steps, heavy and menacing, became quick. The blue light now became one with the dark green, making the surroundings appear dark and shiny, fake, as if made like from plastic, and even nightmarish, just like Nightmare Moon and her mane depicted in history books.

“We need to go after him, or he’ll get lost!”

“Morning Dew! Wait!”

Unwillingly the girls started to follow.

A horrendous roar, harsh and dry, belonging to some monstrosity ripped through the sweet sounds of the forest reaching the ears of the young mares.

“AAAAHH”

Their high-pitched voices could be heard a mile away, as the sound of it behaved like thunder, and didn't stop at anything to alert anything around of danger the trio sensed.

The Young Mage stepped down his stone golem and landed on the ground like a feather. Before him laid a strange sight.

Something seemed to have torn entire trees down, some even were ripped halfway out. A trace of fireflies was left going along the path of destruction, and that alerted his senses.

A forest, although not a living one, but grim and dark, definitely not the healthiest he’s seen, kindly presented him with a chance of meeting a particular enemy he really doesn’t like to deal with.

This trace of fireflies only reinforced his judgment, but what he found weird, was the blue color on the leaves and the ground, as if it was night and the light from stars itself shone at the greenery.

To see this at day, mixed together with the forest's natural daily contrast, was positively spectacular in its simplicity and fact that it was out of the ordinary.

“It can lead me to its lair, and from there I can take one of its paths around the forest.”

Not to mention that if the enemy he suspected to encounter, for his level, was easy to manage. Plus, he has his golem.

However, what must have happened that it chose to damage the environment?

Before departing once again, his horn flickered with white light, and he ascended into the sky, with the branches of the trees and vines making way for him. He spun as the wind carried him up.

The light blinded him at first, but he quickly got accustomed to it. He landed on the top of the crown of a tree, and the leaves held him up, not bending under his weight, as if he didn’t have any mass.

He was met with a calm sight of the forest extending further. He could try to fly, or even conjure himself some large birds to carry him, but he didn’t want to be spotted by anyone until he was sure he’s safe.

The sight was breathtaking, a lonely white mountain and a mountain range shorter than the lonely mountain were the only things he could spot from his position. He didn’t know or had any courage to guess what part of Ardania this was. It didn’t resemble anything he remembered.

This was made him feel worried, but not for long. Ardania under the United One must have changed in some way for sure. He’d be a fool not to experiment with the world when it was at his disposal.

One particular tall tree seemed to hide a part of the large lonely mountain in the distance, but he didn’t pay much attention to it as probably there was nothing there.

A few more seconds passed like entire minutes, the wind was warm, and the sun didn’t give much heat. The temperature was perfect, the air felt clear and fresh, giving him energy. It sure was a nice change from the smell of food, old paper, ink, and city life he experienced almost daily when not on the battlefield.

As he was looking at the simple image he saw with his eyes, it invoked melancholy in him, he felt lonely up there, so he returned down to his golem.

The leaves on which he stood just let him fall, and he landed straight on the golem, again, without any damage.

“Let's get over this, “ He tapped the shoulder of the stone construct.

The stone golem then proceeded to sprint alongside the path, crushing the remains on the ground and burying it deep in the ground.

And here he was. All in one piece.

Spike knocked on the door as he stood before Zecor’s home. Not much changed, other than perhaps a different than before tribal mask was now hanging above the entrance. The stench of chemicals of different kinds she cooks in her cauldron filled the air before the doors, and also because the window was half open so it came out that way.

The doors opened and revealed the mare in all her demeanor, dressed in her casual hide outfit while she also wore a white tunic under it to the knees.

“Spike, now that is a surprise I didn't expect, but non the less, it is perfect!”

“Zecora! I’m glad to see you as well “ He started but was cut off.

“Please come in, you’re welcomed as if you were my kin”

Spike however put his hands up “No, I must return soon, Twilight will get worried. I’m here only for the potions.”

“I noticed too, that Twilight was absent, and that no guardian had been sent to protect you. Strange.” She opened the doors wider.

“You know how it is, as we get older, we get more dependable on ourselves. “ He said proudly.

“Now wait here a minute, I’ll fetch you the potions.”

Spike did as commanded and waited, he put his back against the side of the doors and watched what happened outside while conversing with Zecora.

“So “ The sound of bottles accompanied her talk “How is she and her friends doing so far? I heard that she fears her festival will be a faux pas!”

“She overworks herself, like always. You know she is a workaholic. Nothing new here, and the others are doing their part as passionately as Twilight. Except for Rainbow Dash, she has the least to do. “

Zecora brought up a package and started to put the potion's side by side “ What of the princesses and their role in preparations? Or are they concerned only with the other nations?”

“The usual, giving contacts to Twilight, making sure that everything will be done by guaranteeing the quality of work with their authority and stuff. They’re a good support, but not more than that, they run the state.”

Zecora closed the package and took it in hands, she walked towards Spike with it.

“ And Twilight does not?”

“She shares the duty of taking care of internal affairs and foreign affairs with Luna, so yes, but not as much as the two sisters together. When there’s an important decision to make, she is summoned to Canterlot and shares her views etc. “

“It was a jest, I understand.” She handed him the potions.

Spike took them underarm “Thanks, sorry I can’t stay for longer, but I really don’t want her to be worried.”

Before Zecora could say her goodbye, both of them were surprised to hear an awfully loud and frightening roar in the distance. Spike turned immediately in the direction it came, and it was on the path home.

Zecora already knew what was happening, and she wouldn’t let Spike go, she wouldn’t allow herself either to travel.

“Spike, it will be better if you wait here.”

“What was that?” He asked in a hurry.

His question was soon ignored by a more important matter, as both Spike and Zecora heard screams, belonging to somepony young. Zecora’s heart immediately started to beat faster, her pulse increased. She recognized the voices which created one solid sound, even when the scream was muffled by the distance.

Spike’s eyes widened as quickly as Zecora’s heart raced. His dragon ears were sensitive, and just like a dog has the ability to recognize anyone with their scent, no matter how much of a change they had, so could Spike hear almost as well and distinguish different tones in seemingly homogeneous sound.

“The cutie mark crusaders…”

Author's Note

Well damn,
a chapter it is after a long time of waiting. I hope you guys like what I do and will point out every error I make, for my own sake to improve and your's to get better quality chapters. In the end, all of it is for fun.

Please have in mind that things in the official book written by John Helfers was read by me, I'll use it as a reference to many things. Green text means that the following part is true about Ardania and can be found in the book.