The path through the forest had overgrown in the time since she last walked upon it. The known dangers of fauna and flora seemingly absent as she kept putting one hoof ahead of the others. The path, once well-trodden now only a ribbon of bare earth weaving through the foliage and undergrowth. She had trotted this path many times. The first journey being that memorable night all those years ago when she first found her courage alongside her then, new friends. Along the dancing path she walked and reminisced. On her right there were the demon trees Pinkie had laughed pure. Their sinister silhouettes now harmless without fear to feed them. Ahead was the river where Rarity had bartered passage with her flair.
“At least I don’t have to cut off my tail to get across.” She thought as she opened her wings to leap and glide the flowing barrier. Brushing through undergrowth as the path narrowed further still in the unnerving quiet, the shadows of ruined spires stepped from the darkness to as if to announce to the traveler where she approached. Reaching the span Rainbow had repaired all those years ago, Fluttershy was not surprised to find the chasm once again un-bridged. With a hop, a skip, a jump, and a glance down the chasm that hid the Tree of Harmony; she was across. The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters stood unchanged; Its patchwork moss and vine walls standing defiant to the passage of centuries.
She had arrived.
As she entered the castle grounds proper, she felt a subtle shift in the magics permeating the air. The familiar and ominous weight that blanketed the Everfree gave way to an ambience of tranquility, and safety. The sudden boundary startled her. Even though all her senses and the instincts honed from a decade of adventuring all assured her this new magic was benign, the sudden change still put her on edge
Only as she stood taking in the sight of the familiar sentinel did she realize she did not remember why she’d come here. Surely her appointment could have been conducted in town. Perhaps the pony she was meeting chose the location. One though lead to another, who was she meeting? Why were they meeting. She couldn't remember leaving her cottage or entering the forest. Had she been lost in thought and simply followed the path by memory? As worrying as those questions should have been, she was unconcerned. Somehow, she knew details were unimportant. Only the meeting mattered. Applying the assertiveness she so rarely showed, she pressed on. At the far edge of the courtyard ahead of the main doors, a new figure stood in shadow.
“This must be who I came to see” she intoned to herself as she approached the shrouded minotaur.
As she came closer, she saw that this figure was not a minotaur. It lacked any horns and was far too thin. The clothes it wore were various shades of green and brown woven as if from leaves and weeds of the feral forest. Its forepaws long and lithe with a delicacy no taur could match. Its right hand grasped a walking stick fashioned from a still living tree branch. Shoots and saplings branched out from its height as confidently as they would from any rooted tree. At the top of the staff, hovering mere inches from the green leaves was a small flickering flame. As she tore her eyes from the entrancing staff, she noticed its left hand hung at its side, resting at its belt not far from the hilt of a dagger. Still, she was unafraid.
The moment her eyes reached the blade, the creature made a noise. She blinked, startled and looked back confused as the creature was now leaning against a tree she could swear had not been there a moment ago. As if mistaking her confusion for fear, it lowered both its stature and its gaze.
She realized with an audible sigh of relief “They’re trying to appear non-threatening.” She steeled her courage to attempt to converse but was again derailed as it spoke to her.
“Good Evening Nobel Pegasus. You have called, and I have come.”
These words confused her for several reasons. First among them that They had stated She had summoned them. Didn't she answer their summons? Before she could put much thought into the cryptic declaration, the second fact of the statement struck her full force. She understood. A mysterious creature speaking riddles in the Everfree Forest was speaking to her in a language she understood; in a language, only she understood. The words had been a series of grunts and growls with high pitched whistles punctuating staccato breath. Yet, she understood perfectly. They were speaking to her through her talent.
“I can understand your words. I usually can understand the little animals by their gestures and expressions, but you; I heard you. How?” Fluttershy began to ramble, searching for an answer that made sense.
The reply she received only raised further questions. “So you were not entirely untrained. Excellent. I give this gift to you; the same my master gave me. Find me again and I'll impart more secrets.”
All these questions with no answers began to manifest as pressure on her psyche. For the first time in the encounter, Fluttershy was afraid. The atmosphere of balming safety vanished leaving only hollow dread. Her eyes started to dart back and forth looking for a likely escape. In her rising panic she heard it speak a final message before her eyes were blinded by light.
“Aid your allies; discourage your enemies. This is the path of the Blue Mage.”
She bolted to her hooves in the filtered sunlight beneath the fabric shroud. She stumbled trying to gain her balance on the unstable ground. She felt herself lose verticality and tumble over the edge onto her bedroom floor. As she sat on the floor, nursing the ache in the wing she landed upon tiny paw beats ran up the stairs to investigate the kerfuffle. As Angel bunny bolted into the room to find his mother on the floor in pain; he shouted out in worry:
“Mom! MOM! Are you Ok? Who hurt you? When I get my paws on them I'll...”
Fluttershy opened her mouth to answer before realizing she had heard Angel Bunny speak. He had made the same chips and chitters he had always made; yet she understood his words perfectly.
She had Awoken.
Meanwhile, a on a nearby Plane:
Ari-Aki, Wildspeaker, Dreamweaver awoke from his trance and prepared his daily spells. As he checked his gear to take up the morning watch, he muttered to himself:
“I've never had a student before. I hope she finds me again.”
Author's Note
"Your Mentor has appeared to you only in visions. You have yet to meet this person, and you are not sure such a person exists in mortal form" - 'Mentors' - Druidic Circle of Dreams, Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
