Nature & Ponies V.2

Chapters

The Beginning at the End
The tale of Hurricane
Visiting the Dead and a New Life to Live
Manehattan Frenzy and a Blast to the Past
The Discovery
The Void

The Beginning at the End

<??? - ??? - 2435 F.o.D.>

It was a normal day in Ponyville, the sun was shining high in the sky, the kids were in school, the adults were going about their day, whether it was to go to work, shopping or just hanging out with their friends, ponies were busy, and the animals were running about, living their lives as best as they could with ponies.

You smiled a knowing smile, with the fact that you were a factor that made this place, this small city, a reality; Ponyville, the small city of heroes, quite fitting if you thought about it, the thirteen bearers of the elements of harmony were all living or had lived here, Forest and Hurricane, two exceptional ponies who helped the world when it needed them most, and of course, you, one of the founders of Ponyville City, your new home. It was still breathtaking, knowing that you changed history so long ago, and in doing so, brought forth a new era of life to Equis...

"Hey grandpa, can you tell me and my friends a story?" you hear being asked hours later as you are reading an old white book in your family home.

Looking up from the book, you see three colts and two fillies in front of you, the closest being your grandson, they seem to have just gotten out of school, as you notice their bags by the door.

"Well… I don't see why not, what kind of story would you like to hear?" you ask as you close the old book in your hands.

"How about one with the ponies that defeated Daybreaker and ending the one hundred midday years." one of the fillies said as the others groan at the answer.

"Burst, there's no way he was there for the defeat of Daybreaker, that happened three hundred years ago." one of the other colts said before you chuckle.

"Oh i have a story about that alright, it's a long one, but it's a good one, and I was there when Daybreaker was defeated by two very interesting ponies and their animal companions." you say, quickly gaining their attention.

"Really? You were there grandfather!?" your grandson asked as they all started whispering.

"Yes, I was, now grab a seat young ones, it's about time I told you all about a man by the name of Emerald Summereyes, and his partners, Scootaloo Hurricane, Artimus the Dire Wolf and Redwood the Timberwolf… and how they alone, defeated Daybreaker." you say before opening the white book once more.

"It all started on the ninetieth year of the hundred midday years…"

<??? - ??? - ???>

I had just entered the time ridden 'School or Friendship', the once glorious crystalline building was an empty shell of its former self, it looked more like the castle of the two sisters in the Everfree forest than an actual building, and as I began to traverse inside the ruins of this place I saw a few skeletons of ponies here and there, the halls were barely illuminated by the midday sun that hung in the sky above me. From what I remember, it was the year 2125 R.o.D, there was barely anyone left in the world, and those who were still alive were living in secret bases throughout the world, staying hidden until Daybreaker was defeated. Until then people like me were scouting the land, looking for items that can be useful in helping stop the eternal sun.

I had roamed the halls of that once great building for a while now, the heat of the sun was starting to get to me, but as soon as my hope ran out I noticed a door, it was unlike the other chared or destroyed doors I had passed by or opened, this door was flame orange and shimmering with magic, the curiosity of this perfect door in the middle of the ruins lead me to open it, which it did so silently. Upon entering the room, I noticed four things, the first three were statues of four different beings, one being a stallion of average size, wielding what looked to be a shield and short sword, the second statute was that of a young pegasus filly, who came up halfway on the stallion and was wielding an intricate dagger, the last statute held two animals, one was a Timberwolf and the other looked like a larger cousin of it, both were next to one of the ponies as if they were standing side by side. To my left I noticed a small desk up against the wall, on it was this very book, pure white with a leaf and a feather catching fire on the cover, it was in relatively good condition despite the heat in the room. Opening the book I saw a note scribbled on the first page:
"To whoever finds this journal, my name is Emerald Summereyes, but you may call me Forest. I, alongside my apprentice and companions, are most likely petrified by magical means inside the very room you found this book in, meaning we can no longer help the world we swore to protect.
Inside these pages are the tales of both of our lives, what has happened, what we said, experienced, thought, and in doing so, we share our memories to you, maybe by reading these pages, you'll be able to find a way to free us, if so, I thank you, but it will not be easy to bring us back from our tombs that Daybreaker herself made, but I wish you the best of luck.
~Emerald Summereyes

What I had just learned was interesting, a possible hero and his apprentice were stuck here in stone by the sun tyrant, maybe there was an answer in this journal. Deciding to place a becon in the room, I took the journal and left, going back to the campsite in hopes to read it in peace.

I easily and quickly made it back to the camp that was in the cave under the castle of the two sisters, others were waiting there as I entered.

"Hey scout, find anything interesting?" I was asked as I saw two pegasi near the door.

"Possibly, but I need to look into it first." I replied before briskly walking away.

I make it back to my personal tent, and as soon as I did, I quickly took off the bag on my back and the cloak I used to escape the harsh sun, quickly pulling out the white journal I opened it and turned the page, to begin reading the tale of Emerald Summereyes and his apprentice.

"It's the end of the line for you villain!" I heard a female voice call out as a bolt of magic flew by my face.

It was all coming together, I just needed to make one more turn before I got hit by those crystals, after a few more minutes I finally made it to the designated area where I planned to be turned to stone, my weapons at my side and my book in hand. I turned around to face the two females that had chased me all this way.

"Any last words villian?" The taller one asked me before six perfectly cut gems started to spin around them.

"Yeah, I've just got one thing to say Celestia." I replied as they lifted off the ground. "I will be freed when you need me the most." I said before the rainbow colored beam of energy hit me in my chest making me shield my eyes from the brightness.

"Your wish has been granted." was all I heard as I fell into the dark void that was petrification.

< ??? - Camp Harmony - 2125 R.o.D.>

It was fascinating, only one page and I already knew a bit about them. That they were from a long time ago, thousands of years old if what I had just read was true. I decided that this journal might actually have the answers I needed.

Upon turning to the next page I saw another note written there; Hello to whoever found this, my name is Scootaloo Hurricane, I am the apprentice to Emerald Summereyes, my master had gotten trapped in stone by princess Celestia and Luna, but now I will try to recall the day I found one of his journals in the castle of the two sisters and I do hope you can free us, as we have a score to settle with Daybreaker.
~Scootaloo
Hurricane
It intrigued me that they knew both princesses from over a hundred years ago, knowing that i turned the page, ready to continue the story…

"But sadly, that is where I must end the story for now." you say closing the book and looking at the children who were on the edge of their seats. They quickly whine about the story being cut off like that and try to get you to tell them more.

"Now now young ones, there is still plenty of the story left, plus you all have homework to do and it's dinner time, so hurry up, and when you come back from school tomorrow, I'll continue the story." you explain as you point at the clock near you.

The children quickly looked at each other shocked before running for their bags and rushing upstairs, as they do you hear a chuckle from behind you.

"Telling them another tall tale dad?" you hear being asked from your daughter as she comes from behind you.

"Not this time my dear, this story is as old as I am, maybe even older, but it's a true one, I can say that for certain." you reply by getting up from your very comfortable chair. "So, what's for dinner tonight sweetheart?" you ask as you stretch your aging body.

"Oh, just some alfredo lasagna with Neponise rice balls and buttered green beans." she says leading you into the dining area.

"Sounds like a feast." you quip before sitting down.

"One fit for the founder of Ponyville City." she quips back, making you chuckle.

"Ah, I suppose your husband will be joining us?" you ask, only for her to shake her head.

"He had to go up to the Crystal Empire to talk about trade deals with Empress Flurry Heart, so he won't be here for a few days." she says before the children come down to the table and have a seat.

"I see, well then, let's dig in, shall we?" you say, getting a cheer from the kids before you all get served.

"I wonder… what are you doing now that you're up there Emerald… and Hurricane… what will you do next, now that the world is safe, and a new generation of heroes are here to protect us… I wonder." you think before eating your meal.

Author's Note

Welcome back and hello again my little night terrors, I'm sorry for taking longer than expected, but it was a slow process to get this story going, but i hope you do enjoy it.

Like always Stay terrifying and stay safe.
-Night Quill

The tale of Hurricane

It's the next day and you have gone shopping with your daughter. Everyone in the city waves to you as you pass, some even bow, but you just smile and wave back, happy to see everyone living their lives without watching their backs for any danger.

"Are you sure you want to do this father?" your daughter asks as you enter the open market.

"It's fine sweetheart, it's just some shopping, besides my old body could use the exercise." you reply looking around at the one place that never changed; the open market.

It truly was something else, like traveling through time, the rustic atmosphere and happy personalities of the vendors really made you feel like Daybreaker never truly existed, and this was the same old Ponyville you grew up in.

"Well howdy there partner, looking to buy some apples?" you're asked as you come up to the Sweet Apple Acres vendor.

"I do believe we are my dear." you say before studying the mare in front of you.

She's about seventeen, having a light yellow coat and a dark grey mane, she wore a beat up and very worn Stetson hat on her head, and had light blue eyes.

"Now if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're related to young Apple Bloom." you say, making her eyes go wide.

"You know mah granny?!" she asks as your daughter picks out the apples she needs.

"That i do, she was a great mare, of course i didn't meet her until her middle years, but she was a nice mare, real kind to me when i needed help back in the day… tell her old man Storm says hello for me, would ya." you reply with a chuckle before sighing at the pleasant memories of your interactions with her.

"I'll do jus' that, now, will this be all?" she says before turning towards your daughter.

"Yes, that'll be it." she says getting out her bit bag.

"Nah, on the house this time, any friend of granny's is family to us." she says waving towards her.

"Are you sure?" she asks, only to have the apples bagged up and handed to her.

"Sure as sugar, sugarcube, on the house this time." She says, giving your daughter the bag.

"Thank you dear, you truly are an apple to the core." you say before continuing your shopping day with your daughter.

Nothing else significant happens during the rest of the trip and you get home to see the children all sitting in their seats, waiting for you.

"Grandpa, you're back, now we can continue with the story!" your grandson says as you enter the house.

"Did you all do your homework?" your daughter asks them, to which they just nod. "Very well, I'll trust you kids." she says before heading into the kitchen.

"So you waited for me to continue the story… very well, you have been a patient audience, so I guess we can continue." you say as you grab the white book off the shelf. "Now, where did I leave off yesterday?" you ask as you ease yourself into your reading chair.

"You just finished reading the second letter in the journal." one of the fillies replied, getting you to nod.

"Ah yes, Ms. Hurricane's letter, well i think it's best if we start there, shall we?" you say as you open the book to her letter and turn the page. "Here we go." you say before you continue the story…

"It was the year 2014, me and my friends had decided to head over to Zecora's to learn more about potions, or even help out with gathering some herbs for her. I think that was one of the only two things we ever did that hasn't ended in complete disaster yet, or tree sap. Of course, as I write this, I remember that we ended up being chased by timberwolves and had gotten separated from each other, I think Apple Bloom was going down the right path to Zecora's place, while I was being corralled away from it, I still kept a nice distance from them on my scooter, thank Celestia I brought it with me that day. Anyways, I kept getting corralled down a different path, one where I saw the castle of the two sisters in front of me, I was slightly confused at the time, because why would timberwolves bring me there of all places, but I didn't really think about it too much, as it meant getting away from them quickly. It wasn't until I had crossed the bridge and got to the door did I look back, what I saw was confusing and scary at the same time; the timberwolves were sitting in a half circle on my side of the bridge, blocking my only way out, but they seem to be waiting for something, or someone, with that in mind, I entered the castle as slowly as possible to keep an eye on them.

If I'm being honest, there wasn't much to look at, mostly just old walls with broken windows and torn banners. I had wandered about the old castle looking for another exit for a while when i stumbled across a room with a statue in it, looking around i saw an old desk with a red book on it, it was resting open right in front of the statue, as i was looking at the book, i saw a spell, but it was unique in the fact that anypony could cast it.

"Okay, I can work with this… but why is it just here?" I asked aloud, not knowing someone was watching me.

"So… you're the one who has been chosen..." I heard a voice from my right say, scaring me.

"W-who's there?" I asked as I noticed something in the darkness of one of the doorways, a pair of eyes looking at me, ice blue in color and slitted like an animal's.

"Time has come for him to be free, but it's your choice on whether or not to free him." The figure said before closing one of their eyes.

"Who are you?!" I asked loudly while looking at them, their response however...

"If you do free him, you will be taught a great power, and help save the world… but if you leave, someone else will be chosen to free him." They said before their other eye closed, and vanished from my sight.

I was slightly scared and confused, I didn't know what to do, on one hand, they said I could leave, but on the other, they said that this person trapped in stone could save the world… and I could free him, but I needed to think about it. So with that, I took the book and headed back to the entrance of the castle, after seeing that the Timberwolves were gone, I quickly left the area and headed back to Ponyville.

It didn't take long to get out of the Everfree, but when I did I was shocked by my honorary sister and her friends about to head in, we just looked at each other awkwardly until I spoke up.

"Uhh… hey everypony, what's going on?" I asked as we stared at each other.

"SCOOTS!" I heard being shouted just before I got tackled by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Oof, hey girls, nice to see you too… can I have my air back now?" I said while I was being crushed by my friends.

"Hey squirt, you aren't hurt, are ya?" Dash asked me as the Main Six came over to us.

"Not really, just some scratches from trees and whatnot, nothing serious." I replied as the girls got off me.

"So the Timberwolves weren't able to get you?" Twilight asked as I got back on my scooter.

"Nope, i was able to out sped them easily, though I did find somewhere to hide so I could catch my breath before coming back." I said before the book I had in my basket was floated out.

"What's this?" Twi asked as she was about to open it.

"Mine." was all I said before grabbing it out of her levitation. "Anyways, I'm going home, as I'm tired from all of that running from Timberwolves, see you girls tomorrow." I said before scootering off towards my temporary home.

"See ya tomorrow Scoots!" I hear Bloom call out as I rocketed away from the forest and into Ponyville.

It wasn't long before I came up to the 'Ponyville Adoption House' that I stayed at, like I said, a temporary home, and entered the building. The P.A.H. Was quite a nice place, and there were a few children there, twelve or thirteen if i remember correctly, and i was one of the younger kids, being ten years old without being adopted yet. I didn't mind though, it just meant that the right parents haven't shown up yet, now the house was taken care of by three ponies, the first being our healer, Nurse Redheart, she's nice, and even gives us lollipops for following her directions while she's tending to any injuries we have. Then there's our main caretaker; Creamy Hearts or Mrs. Hearts, she Button Mash's mom, and really nice, i think only Fluttershy is nicer than her, and Button sometimes comes over to help her, finally we have Dr.Whooves, or just Doc, he's not an actual doctor though, he just cleans the place and helps Mrs. Hearts whenever he can, though he does talk with a funny accent.

Yeah, this is where I lived for a few years now, ever since my parents died during a freak thunderstorm, which also affected me, as my mother protected me from a lightning bolt, which affected my wings to be stunted in their growth by the stray electricity hitting the nerves in my muscles.

"Hello Scootaloo, back from adventuring already?" I hear as I'm brought out of my reminiscing.

"Huh? Oh, hi Nurse Redheart, yeah, I'm done for the day, though i did find something interesting but it can wait for later, speaking of which, can i get a check up? I got a few scrapes from running away from some Timberwolves today." I say as i notice Nurse Redheart coming from the kitchen, she just sighs before nodding.

"Go up to my office, I'll be there in a few minutes." She replies with a tired expression.

"Yes ma'am." I quip before walking up the stairs towards her office/workspace.

The room looked like a normal nurses office that you would see in schools, a few beds, a small desk and a cupboard for medical supplies and what not, I think I memorized the entire room at this point, as I've been here after most of my adventures with the crusaders. It didn't take much longer for her to come in.

"Okay Scootaloo, let's see what the damage is this time." She says before I put my legs on the bed, there were a lot of scraps, but only a few that were bleeding a bit.

"Well, there's nothing too bad this time, some disinfectant and bandages should help with the bleeding ones, other than that, you're all good." She says as she examines both of my legs. "Now let's start this small process." She quips before pulling out the disinfectant and a small roll of bandages.

"Yes ma'am." was all I said before she started clearing up my legs.

It took only an hour before she let me go with another warning about playing near the Everfree forest again. Of course, I would be ignoring said warning in two weeks, but enough of that, I had a spellbook to read.

"I wonder what kind of magic is in that book… i think it's time to find out." I remember thinking at the time, unaware that those ice blue eyes were watching me again.

It had taken a while to look at some of the spells, as I didn't understand most of them, but the first spell that I did understand was one that created water, and the more experience I had with this magic, the more water I could summon. It had my attention immediately, as I could think of all of the payback I could get on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. I decided to wait until night to attempt this spell outside, as it was water and I didn't want to explain why my room was suddenly soaked to the caretakers, until then, I bookmarked the page and hid the book, I didn't want anyone to find it by accident.

"Time for dinner everypony!" I heard being called from downstairs before a stampede of hooves came rushing by my room.

I quickly washed up and went downstairs to the dining room and saw everyone already seated.

"Wow, must be a world class meal if everypony's already waiting." I remarked before heading to my seat.

"Tonight's chicken alfredo with angel cake for desert." one of the older kids said before the cart was wheeled out by Mrs. Hearts. That got my attention, as chicken alfredo with angel cake was a special meal, so this meal meant something.

"Here you go everypony." Mrs. Hearts said serving us all a plate.

"Mrs. Hearts, what's the occasion?" one of the older kids asked, she simply smiled.

"Well, it just so happens that Ms. Redheart got a promotion at the hospital today, so I thought we'd celebrate that." She explained as we all looked to Nurse Redheart.

"Heh, nothing gets by you, does it Cream." she simply said shaking her head.

"Not when it comes to those I care about Red." Mrs. Hearts replied before sitting down. "So let's celebrate the promotion, shall we?" she asked, raising a glass.

"Let's." was all Redheart said raising her own glass.

"To Nurse Redheart!" one of the younger kids exclaimed getting us all to toast the same.

It was a fun night, we ate dinner, practical devoured dessert and played a few games before heading off to bed, i of course didn't go to sleep, as soon as the lights went out, i was up and grabbing the book, opening my window and climbing down the vine wall that was growing there.

I wanted to try that spell, so as soon as I got down from the wall I went into my stash, where I kept a lantern and a few extra light crystals to help power it. I quickly took it and an extra crystal just in case and left towards the clearing near the building, it was far enough away that i wouldn't disturb anyone but close enough that I could get back quickly.

"Okay, let's try this spell." I remember saying to myself as I opened the book to the bookmarked page.

From there, I practiced the spells in the book that I could comprehend, there weren't a lot of them, maybe nine or ten that I could find that actually made sense but I did it, i practiced almost all night, there was one spell however, that I kept coming back to, it was called 'Stone to Skin', it apparently was able to reverse petrification as long as said petrification was by magical means…

"And there it was, the spell I needed to reverse the petrification that Ms. Hurricane and Mr. Summereyes went through, but I needed to find where that book was hidden, so I could practice the spell and free them from their imprisonment, and so, with that thought running through my mind, I had closed the book and started to research what we knew of Ponyville, or rather, what was left of it. It took hours to find anything on the residences, but I managed to find something, there was a small settlement in the subways of Manehattan, and apparently there were some of the Apple Family in the settlement, with that in mind, I started to pack for a good four days walk, as it would be awhile before I reached the oceanside island of Manehattan. Of course, I packed the book with some food, water, and some gear to help me stay cool in the sun, with all of my items packed, I grabbed my cloak and set off, but I was stopped at the entrance by the pegasi again.

"Hey Storm, heading out again already?" one of them asked.

"I am, I think I found something to stop Daybreaker, but I need to travel first." I told them, they looked at me shocked.

"Are you sure you found something to stop the eternal sun?" one of them asked me cautiously. "Because a lot of ponies have said that, only to be completely false." the other said looking at their partner before looking back at me.

"It's not what I found… it's who, I found a pair of ponies who have the ability to take her down, I just need to free them, and in order to do that, I have to gather information, now I must leave, if I am to make it to my destination in a timely manner." I explained to them before passing them by and heading out.

"Wait!" One of them called out to me, and I looked back at them. "Where are you going? Just so we can tell the leaders." they asked stopping at the entrance to the camp.

"Manehattan." was all I said before turning around and setting out to the coastal city…

"And that is all I'll be able to tell today young ones." you say as you close the book once again, they are in awe of the story.

"Can we hear more tomorrow sir?" one of the colts asks as they start to stand up.

"Not tomorrow I'm afraid, I'll be busy tomorrow, but the day after that, I'll gladly continue the story." you reply patting the book in thought before putting it back unto the shelf where you keep it safe.

"Okay sir, I can't wait for more of that story, can you guys?" the colt asks before all of the children leave after saying goodbye.

"I know I won't be able to, I can't wait for tomorrow to pass by." you hear one of the fillies say just before they walk out of earshot.

You chuckle as you sit down at the dinner table and have your meal, it's a nice way to spend the time, telling of you're adventures throughout the hundred midday years, but you have a friend to visit, and a few alicorns to see tomorrow, if the date is anything to go by… it'll be another year since that battle, another year gone by, and to think, you're nearing the end of your life here on the planet.

"Hehehe… time sure does go by quicker than the blink of an eye… doesn't it Artimus." you say, seeing a pair of slitted ice blue eyes near the open window of your bedroom.

"That it does old friend… I heard the story you were telling the young ones, I haven't heard you read the journal to anyone before, so what's changed old man?" the holder of those eyes asked before the mare jumped through the window and into the light.

She was old, but she doesn't show it, she looks to be about thirty-five if your eyes haven't failed you, yet you knew she was as old as you were, maybe even older, her pure silver mane draped down the left side of her neck, having been braided to that side, with her coat being a midnight black with a bit of extra fur on her, she looked a lot like a pony, but her ears told a different story, she had wolf ears sticking out the top of her head instead of pony ears. You noticed that she was wearing her old traveling outfit, which consisted of a slightly tight brown shirt with pants that seemed to be just a bit too tight on her, along with her paws, which were slightly dirty for whatever she was doing beforehand.

"It looks like you need to trim your waist a bit old friend." you remark, getting her to blush.

"Oh hush you old geezer, you're just jealous that I can still pull off the old look." she replies before puffing out her cheeks and sticking her tongue out at you.

"Hahaha… perhaps I am, but to answer your earlier question about the journal… it is because I am getting a little too old my friend, I won't be able to live much longer, maybe five, six years at most, and I wanted to pass on my story, OUR story to someone, I couldn't pass it on to my daughter, she's too old, and wouldn't believe most of what I told her, but my grandson and his friends, well they'd be able to retell this story for a long time to come, they could even tell it to their children, and even their grandchildren if they have any… yes, I believe that even though my time is coming to a close here, our legacy should live on a little longer." you explain as you look off into the distance before looking back at one of your oldest friends. "Say, Artimus, will you like to join me on a trip into the Everfree tomorrow? I have some ponies I need to meet in the castle of the two sisters and I think they'd love to see you again." you ask her as she looks at you with interest in her eyes.

"I think I will old man, after all, someone needs to be there so you don't die on the way to the castle." she replies before hugging you. "But for what it's worth Storm, I've had fun spending time with you, and I'm sure as hell gonna miss you when you're gone, but don't worry, I'll carry on our legacy, and I'm sure the novice will too, after all, she still has a bit of her life still ahead of her." she says before leaping back towards the windowsill. "See you tomorrow old timer." she says before jumping out of the window and into the night.

"See you tomorrow… old friend." you say before going to bed and sleeping…

<???, Canterlot Castle, That same night>

"Is everything prepared Spike?" I ask as I finish up looking at the petitions for today.

"Yep, that's everything Twilight, but I still don't know where you're headed." my assistant replied as he placed the small travel bag next to the door.

"I'm not doing anything important Spike, I just need to visit a place for a few hours, then I'll be right back." I say as I teleport the stack of papers away.

"I get that, but I don't know where you're going." he says crossing his arms.

"I'm not going far, in fact, I'll be in sight of the castle the entire time I'm away." I say trying to ease his nerves.

"Fine, but if you're not back in four hours I'll send the royal guards." he says, trying to threaten me.

"Oooooh nooooo, what ever shall I do if you send the guards." I sarcastically say while walking towards my bed.

"Haha, very funny, I get it, just be safe, okay?" he comments before heading towards the door of my room.

"Hehehe, don't worry Spike, I'll be safe, besides, I'm going to be with Celestia and Luna the entire time." I say laying on my bed and pulling up the blanket.

"Fine, fine, you win… goodnight Twilight." he says at the door, ready to close it.

"Goodnight Spike." I reply before going to sleep.

Author's Note

Here's chapter two, hope y'all are enjoying the new version of my story. I've been working hard on it and this came to life, anyways as usual.
Stay terrifying my little nightmares
-Night Quill

Visiting the Dead and a New Life to Live

It was cloudy today, as the pegasi of the weather team had planned a small downpour for a few hours, you could tell that you had another thirty minutes or so before the rain started coming down. Artimus is walking next to you as you begin your walk into the forest, she seems a little nervous now, like she's waiting for something to happen.

"Are you okay old friend?" you ask, getting her to stop fidgeting momentary.

"Yeah, I'm fine… it's just been a while since I stepped paw into the Everfree." she replies, her ears flicking left and right for the slightest of sounds.

"There is no need to be so nervous my dear, nothing is going to attack us here." you say as the two of you continue your trek through the forest.

<???, ???, 2435 F.o.D.>
"Another year, another meeting… let's get this over with…" I mumble to myself as I fly towards the Everfree castle.

<???, ???, 2435 F.o.D.>
"Another year has gone by sister, are you ready?" I ask as I finish putting on my dress.

"As ready as I'll ever be sister…" my sister replies stepping into the room, ready to teleport us the Everfree castle.

"See you in a few hours Spike." I say as I pick up the bag and prepare to teleport to the entrance of the Everfree castle.

"Seeya Twilight." I hear being said before the spell transports me.

<???, ???, ???>
"Another year has passed us by… I wonder if i'll be free one more time." I think as I await the others in the Everfree castle.

"It seems we're right on time." you say as you exit the treeline and see the castle in front of you.

Standing on the other side of the stone bridge was an alicorn with lavender fur and a violet mane, that had a strip of pink and a light purple in it, she was wearing a dress skirt and a worn sweater, she also had a small crown on her head; this was Twilight Sparkle, the current ruler of Equestria.

"Storm, Artimus, it's great to see you both, and I see you're still walking Storm, I guess all of that exploration did wonders for your legs." she says as you and Artimus cross the bridge.

"I do believe you're right princess, of course, I don't think they'll fail me until my death." you reply, getting a chuckle from the youngest alicorn, you notice that Artimus was staying quiet.

As you say that you hear a pair of wings coming down towards you, looking up you see a pegasus mare landing near you.

"And I thought the party already started without me." they say as they land nearby.

"Hello again Scootaloo, how are you today?" you ask as the orange and purple pegasus walks over to you.

"I'm fine, the bolts are back in business and my kid just got into flight camp last week, giving the house to myself." she replies before looking to Twilight. "Princess, Artimus, it's good to see you both again." she says with a nod of her head.

"It's nice to see you again too Scootaloo, am I'm glad to hear that the Wonderbolts are back in action." Twilight says returning the nod, Artimus just nods as well.

"Well if I'm not mistaken, there's only two ponies missing from our little group, but they might be inside the castle already, so shall we?" you point out before pointing towards the entrance.

"It's been a whole year, let's not keep them waiting." Twilight says before the four of you enter the repaired castle.

As you step through the doorway you see two more alicorns teleporting into the castle, one was angelic white and had a multicolored mane tied into a ponytail behind her, the shorter one was midnight blue and had her mane loose, which depicted the night sky, you knew immediately knew who these two were.

"Luna, Celestia, I'm glad the two of you made it." you say walking over to them.

"Well we were a bit late in teleporting here, but I'm glad we made it in time." Celestia replies with a small smile.

"Yes, I am as well, and it seems that everyone is gathered already, so let's pay our old friends a visit." Luna says looking over at everyone before heading to the main room.

"Always business with her." you sigh as the others follow you in.

You enter what was once the throne room fourteen hundred years ago, it was now transformed into a burial room, graves of the ponies that died those three hundred years ago, on the final day of the hundred midday years. You see two sets of graves that are where the thrones once were, the first set is four graves with cutiemarks engraved on them; the first had three diamonds, it read: "Here lies the Element of Generosity, a loving sister, daughter and friend to the very end."

The next had three balloons, it read: "Here lies the Element of Laughter, a pony who could make anyone smile, and was a friend to all."

The third had a trio of butterflies, it said: "Here lies the Element of Kindness, the most caring pony to exist, may her deeds to help and heal others in their times of need not be forgotten."

The last had a lightning bolt coming out of a cloud, it read: "Here lies the Element of Loyalty, may this pony be remembered in history as a brave mare who put the needs of others before herself."

These were the graves for the four element bearers that died that day;
Rarity Belle…
Pinkamena Diane Pie…
Fluttershy Breeze…
and Rainbow Dash…

The second set of graves were two statues; the first was a timberwolf that was leaping forwards, this was the grave of Redwood the Timberwolf, Scootaloo's animal companion… the other was a stallion holding down and striking a writhing force beneath him, this was the grave of Emerald Summereyes, the Druid of Equestria. It had been another year since you, Scootaloo and the alicorns came here to pay your respects to those who lost their lives in the process of defeating Daybreaker.

"Hard to think that it's been a year, isn't it." Twilight says as she walks over to the graves of her friends.

"It is indeed Twilight… hard to think that we were only here a year ago." Scootaloo says as she kneels in front of Redwood's grave.

"I still feel regret, knowing I had hurt so many ponies in my time as Daybreaker…" Celestia says as she uses her magic to get rid of any vines and moss that were in the room.

"So this… this is where he was laid to rest…" you hear Artimus say as she sits on her legs in front of Emerald's statute.

"Yes, all who died that day were buried here, by myself, Scootaloo and Storm… it was a long and sad process." Luna says as she removes the dead lavender flowers from the ones that are growing there.

"I see… thank you Storm, for inviting me this time… I wish I had known sooner, but still, thank you." she says as you come up to her.

"I am sorry I didn't tell you of his passing that day… but we had been through so much already, and I didn't want to see you break." you reply before patting her shoulder and moving to another set of graves.

These graves you personally dug and buried each of the ponies they belong to.

"Hello again, old friends, I'm back again, it's already been a year… I know you guys would want me to let go of the past, but I'm well on my way to seeing you all again, I hope that Faust has given you all the afterlife you deserved, and I can't wait to see you all again in a few years." you say to the graves before bringing out wooden hand-crafted items, each was a cutiemark, made for each of the graves.

The first was a shooting star flying past a cloud, this was Cloudchaser's. The next also had a cloud, but instead of a shooting star, there was a butterfly, this one was Cloudflitter's. The third was a lightning bolt that was on fire, this was Spitfire's. The last was several bubbles, this one was Derpy's, you had more, and you placed them on their respective graves, taking your time in doing so.

"I hope you all rest well, knowing that you will always be remembered… old friends." you say before paying your respects to the rest of the ponies who were buried there.

You were there, paying respects with the others for five hours, when you all got up to leave you saw that all of them had cried during this.

"Let's go home… before we get too emotional." Scootaloo says before walking out.

You all follow her out of the castle, you see that the sun is getting close to the horizon now and you needed to head home quickly, so taking a big breath of rainy air, you turn to the girls who accompanied you here today and smiled a small sad smile.

"Until next year my dears." you say nodding your head before heading off into the forest once more.

"Until next year." you hear them all say before they teleport or fly off, Artimus being the last one to move.

"Until next year… old friend." she says before sprinting towards the left and leaping into the forest.

<???, Everfree burial chamber, ???>

It has been at least three hundred years since I was last free, since I last roamed the planet, it was quite boring in stone and I was ready to be free… the only problem being that it would also be free if I broke out.

"What are you thinking of this time Forest?" I heard being asked by the creature trapped in stone with me.

"Just planning my escape from this prison." I replied quickly, it hissed back.

"I know that you have been saving magic on busting out of the stone prison of ours for a while, you could have been free a hundred years ago, so why haven't you already?" It asks getting me to curse, of course it would feel the stone weakening.

"Well I just don't want you to be free too." I said gathering a bit more magic.

"I know that, but if you're free then I'm free too, so what will you do?" It asked making a point I already knew.

"Easy, this." I said before casting a spell on it.

The spell was a modified transfiguration spell that Twilight had helped me make a week before the final battle, it worked in a way that instead of making the person or object a very killable animal, it instead turned them into a child, with their memories locked away until the caster deemed otherwise, I decided to turn her into a unicorn filly.

"What are you doing!?!" it cried out as the spell took effect.

"Giving you a second chance." I replied as the spell finished.

I could quickly hear crying from inside my stone tomb, and I knew there wasn't much air in here to begin with, so without hesitating a second longer, I used all of the stored up magic to shatter the stone prison.

"There we go, one petrification spell dealt with, one being of destruction turned into a baby and of course…" I said as I picked up the baby 'Daybreaker' and stepped off of the platform that held us, quickly reforming it to its previous state. "One statue of me and Day restored so nothing looks out of place." I comment before putting my hood up and leaving the castle as quickly as possible with a slight wobble in my step.

It took a couple of hours before I made it to the train station in Ponyville without being seen, it was harder due to Ponyville now being a small city, but I managed fairly well for just breaking out of stone. I quickly bought a ticket and got on board the next train heading to Manehattan, it was a long ride and I quickly quieted Daybreaker while waiting for my stop.

"You're going to need a new name Day… and let's not forget that you're not an alicorn anymore… but what to call you…" I quietly said as she was asleep in my arms. "I know, let's call you Golden Summers." I quipped before going quiet for the rest of the trip.

It took two more hours before I got off the train in Manehattan, the city just how I remembered it, busy and full of life.

"Ah, nothing beats the big apple of Equestria." I commented to myself before setting off towards the mayor's office.

I quickly entered the building and saw a mare at the desk, she had a light brown mane and white fur, she was wearing reading glasses that were pink in color.

"Excuse me, but I need to talk to the mayor." I said as I approached the desk.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked, not looking up from her papers.

"No but I have something else that they'll need to see." I replied, getting her to tisk.

"No appointment, no meeting." she said, still not looking up from her papers.

I knew she needed proof so I pulled out the badge I got from princess Luna back during the hundred midday years and placed it on her papers, making her stop.

"I would suggest making that appointment for right now." I said as she looked up at me, I just smiled.

"You have the royal badge, but this hasn't been given to anybody in over-" she starts to which I just cut her off.

"-Two hundred and sixty seven years, I know, I was the last person to receive one, during the hundred midday years three hundred years ago." to which she looks at me flabbergasted. "So about that appointment?" I ask getting her to nod slowly.

"He's not busy at the moment, so go on in sir." she says handing me the badge.

"Thanks sweetheart." I quip before heading upstairs to the mayor himself.

The office wasn't that great, only having a few items that really stood out, but the mayor was a stallion of about average size and had a slightly messy black mane with cream colored fur, he had just finished up some papers when I entered.

"Greetings mayor… Nearsight." I say looking at the name plaque he has on his desk.

"Hello to you too Fritz, how much paper do I have to sign off this time?" he asked in greetings.

"Only mine and my new daughter's papers mayor." I chuckled out a response as I sat down in front of his desk.

He looked up from his desk and went wide eyed at the sight of me.

"You're Emerald Summereyes! You defeated Daybreaker three hundred years ago, how are you still alive?!" he exclaimed as he sat up straight in his chair.

"I see my reputation precedes me, even to this day." I say smiling. "Relax mayor, I'm here for new identification and a new home." I say putting my hands up, Daybreaker sleeping in my lap.

"O-of course, should I put your name or-" he started saying while pulling out the papers.

"No, if word gets out that I'm alive then I'll have ponies and who knows what else pounding down my door, I'll be going by a different name." I say calming him down slightly.

"Very well sir, what's the name you'd like to have put on record?" he asks, readying his pen.

"I'll go by the name of Silent Dawn, and this is my daughter, Golden Summers." I commented making sure that she was still asleep.

"Sir… is that who I think it is?" He asks only to get a nod from me.

"I decided to give her a second chance at life, one where she could be herself rather than an evil side to somepony else." I explained getting him to nod in response.

"Very well sir, and I'm guessing you have something to make it look like you're related." he says to me before going about the paperwork.

"I do, illusion magic is very easy to come by in items." I say holding up my left hand, on it was a simple golden ring with two onyx gems inlaid into it.

"Very well, now just fill out this paperwork and I'll get you the rest of the items you'll need." he says before going to the cabinet drawers to my left.

It took another hour and the sun was setting on the ocean when all of the paperwork was said and done.

"Thank you for helping me mayor." I said shaking his hand, my new official daughter sleeping after some food and water calmed her down.

"It's not a problem, you have the place to yourself, so please enjoy." He replied as I began to walk off.

"I'm sure I will, and I'll vote for you next election." I say before teleporting close to my new home.

It wasn't much, just a small apartment on the west side of town, I lived on the third floor, left hall, fourth door on the right.

"Let's see our new home." I said to no one as I walked towards the building, paperwork in my bag of holding.

<???, Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse, 2435 F.o.D.>

"So he's out hmmm… very well, we'll see how long it takes before they find 'im this time." I say sitting in the old rocking chair my granny had, looking into a small crystal ball.

"Granny, mama made supper, you commin'?" I hear my granddaughter ask as she stepped outside on the porch just as I put the orb away.

"I am youngin', just thinkin' 'bout somethin' is all." I said before getting up from my chair. "Let's go enjoy some supper, shall we?" I ask walking towards the door to the old home.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see what ma cooked up tonight." she says holding the door open for me, I just chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"The apples are really getting back up to what they were like in the old days… I wonder if y'all are smiling down on us now… ma, pa, granny, sis and Mac." I think to myself as I sit at the table and enjoy the meal my daughter cooked up tonight.

Author's Note

Chapter 3 is up and wow was this one a doozy, it took a while to put what i wanted for this chapter down, but im happy i finished, and as always.
Stay terrifying my little nightmares
-Night Quill

Manehattan Frenzy and a Blast to the Past

"Hey grandpa, can you tell me more about Ms. Hurricane and Mr. Summereyes?" your grandson asks the next day, it was the weekend and his friends would be here in an hour or two.

"I don't see why not… What would you like to know kiddo?" you say getting him to sit beside you.

"Well, I wanted to know what they were like… like how they were personality-wise." he says getting you to think back to how they were.

"Well… I don't really know how to describe them with just their personality but I do remember one day that I think fit them perfectly." you say think back to the particular day.

"What happened?" he asks, getting you to drift deeper into your memories.

"Well, from what I remember, it was about two months after they were released from stone, they had just started training again, I had watched as I was curious as to their training……

"Again!" you hear Emerald call out as Scootaloo got up.

"Ah come on, we've been practicing for two hours now sensei." you hear her complain as she slowly gets off of the ground.

"That is true, but you are still no closer to being back in your natural rhythm." He responded before striking at Scootaloo again, making her quickly scramble away. "You still have your mind focused on a goal we have much to do in order to achieve Scoots, stop thinking about Daybreaker and focus on getting back into nature." he said before attacking her again.

They had gone on like this for the last month and a half, training their bodies, their magic and their minds in order to defeat Daybreaker, but what Emerald said got your attention.

"Ah, Mr. Summereyes?" you call out, he quickly stops attacking and nods his head for you to continue. "What do you mean by you have a lot to do in order to defeat Daybreaker?" you asked getting him to sigh and bow to his student before turning to you.

"What I meant by that is we can't just go into Canterlot and expect to fight Daybreaker then and there, she will most likely have guards, golems, and who knows how many traps and enchantments lining her castle halls. We need allies, and in order to do that we need to go out and search Equestria for anypony who's left, not to mention that the dragons and the griffions would be great allies in fighting off Daybreaker's forces." he explained before ducking under a kick and striking his student.

"Damn it, just let me hit you already!" Scootaloo exclaimed backing up again, making Emerald shake his head in denial.

"But why would we do that when the two of you could sneak in and take her on yourselves?" you had asked, not seeing the logic yet.

"Mr. Storm, while that is an excellent question, that can be answered simply in the fact that we'd be overrun by her forces that would back her up, however, if said forces are distracted by say, a large group of people bashing through the gates and attacking the castle, she would have less reinforcements to aid her when we attack her directly." he said making you nod in agreement when the logic was put in front of you. "Not to mention, the more people we have, the better we will fare in the overall battle, it will be like playing chess, only the board being Canterlot Castle." He explains before attacking his student again, who blocked it and attacked back. "There you go Scoots, now you're getting back into the rhythm of it." he said before they started blocking and striking at each other.

"It will take awhile… I hope he knows what he's doing." you think as you watch them continue to train for the rest of the day…

"Wow, is that really what they were like?" your grandson asks as you come out of the memory.

"Most of the time yes, but there were times when Ms. Hurricane would act just as calm as Mr. Summereyes, and I remember seeing Emerald in battle, he was like a entirely different stallion, gone was his calm and collected behavior and replaced with a determined rage that sent any who looked him in his eyes into a panic, for they only saw their death within them." you say remembering the one time you looked in his eyes, and the fear you felt when you did.

"Woah, he must have been scary in battle then." he says, making you chuckle.

"You have no idea kiddo." you remark patting his head gently…

It's three hours later when your new listeners arrive, they chat and play around for a bit before eventually sitting down in preparation for some more story.

"Ready to continue young ones?" you ask as you open the page to where you left in the journal.

"Yes sir." they all say with excitement in their voices.

"Very well, now I believe I last left off on me just starting on my four day trek to Manehattan, is that about right?" you say getting comfortable in your chair.

"Yep!" one of the colts said making you nod as you drift into the memories of the hundred midday years.

"Ah yes… now I remember." you say as the memory starts playing in your mind. "The trek wasn't anything special, and nothing truly extraordinary happened during it, but I do remember my walk through Ponyville, and how desolated it looked back then…"

As you walk out of the Everfree forest, you notice the destroyed town of Ponyville, now you've walked through this town before, but you never took a chance to really look at it. You remember what it did look like before the midday years, you lived there after all, but it didn't look anything like that small little town you knew.

Most of the buildings were charged from the fire that raged through here all those years ago. Almost everypony died in the magical heatwave that took the town, and as you look around you see the skeletal bodies of ponies who were running away from the flames, some of the buildings did catch fire, you could see a few that you had visited when you were younger either with your friends or your parents, the burned and destroyed Sugarcube Corner which had part of the roof caved in, then there was The Carousel Boutique, the entire top had been ripped apart and thrown away in the chaos of the flames, and even the regrown Golden Oaks Library, it was a surprise to see it still standing even after it got engulfed in flames, but you could see that it was ready to collapse.

"Such destruction happened so quickly… I have to find that book, and if I'm right, Apple Bloom will know where it'll be." you think before trudging forwards and following the train tracks to the east.

Nothing truly happened during the trek to Manehattan, you paused every now and then to eat and drink, making sure you found a shady place to rest every so often, but after four days, you made it to the coastal city, the big apple of Equestria, the now desolate iron city that's called Manehattan. You could tell that the flames reached here too, for every window of every building was shattered, almost all of the buildings had burn marks painted upon them, it looked like one of the Dragon Land volcanoes erupted and Manehattan got covered by the ash that fell, as you entered the city, you could already see the bone corpses of ponies and griffions laying across the streets and hanging from windows, none of them could have made it to safety, none had a chance to escape the wall of death that approached them, some were probably caught within the flames unknowingly, asleep until their deaths.

You walked the streets of this once great city, looking for any sign that you could be near the camp, until you heard shuffling coming from one of the stores near you, approaching it you saw a figure inside looking through what was left by the dead in their attempts to flee.

"Hello? Can you help me?" you ask loud enough to hear, they had stopped searching and turned around.

You couldn't see much, but you could tell that they were looking for food by the pile near them, they slowly moved closer until they were about to be in the light when they spoke.

"AnD wHo aRe yOu lOsT oNe? You dOn't lOoK LikE tHoSe sEaRcHeRs fRoM tHe SuBwaYs." they said, their voice shaking as they spoke.

"You know of the encampment? Well good, I was looking for it, do you know where it is?" you say as you move slightly closer, just so you could talk normally.

"YoU're nOt fROm hEre… wHIch meANs no bAck up… wHiCh MEans… FREE MEAL!" they said before leaping at you, having not expected this, you fall backwards. "COME ON YOU LITTLE MORSEL, I WON'T BITE YOU THAT HARD!" the being said as you try to fight them off of you.

"Not happening!" you say before pushing them off and quickly getting up.

Now that they were in the light, you could see it was a pegasus stallion, but his stomach was very sunken in and his ribs were showing, he had a disheveled mane and tail, both cut slightly short and were extremely dirty, his coat was dull from no water, cuts were marking his body, his clothing consisted of a very torn pair of shorts that barely held themselves together and some underwear, his eyes told you that he had gone insane some time ago, but was only barely still a sentient being.

"You will not eat me, just tell me where the camp is and I will leave you alone." you say getting him to chuckle briefly.

"BuT wHy do tHAt wHeN yoU'Re gOiNg to Be my nExt meAl, mAYbe I cOuLd saVe pArTs of yOu for lAtEr… yEs, thAt wOuLd be niCe." he said before pulling out a slightly rusted blade and attacking you again.

You continue to dodge and weave the crazy stallion's attempts to harm you, he eventually sliced your arms and managed to stab you in the gut when you tripped on some rubble that you didn't see.

"It's tiMe to Dig iN!" he said as he was about to bring his blade down upon you once more.

Just as he was about to strike however, an arrow pierced his chest making both of you look at it, the arrow was around where his heart would be.

"Ouchie…" he says before a second arrow hits him square in the head making him fall back off you and slowly stop breathing.

"You 'kay there stranger?" you hear a feminine southern voice ask as a shadow looms over you.

"I'm slightly injured, but otherwise doing fine… who are you ma'am?" you ask as they block out the sun enough for you to see them properly.

"Names Applejack, what's yours." she said as you could see her clearly.

Applejack Apple, you remember what she used to look like, and you could see the difference as clear as the midday sun, her sun bleached mane was now sporting a lot of grey in it, it was also cut short, just above her shoulders if you saw it correctly. Her clothes were tied up showing her midriff and a lot of her legs, she still had her steton on, but it was slightly burned around the back edge, if that black mark was a burn mark at least, she had a few scars here and there, but the most prominent was the one one her side, where you could see a slash mark going from her waist to the middle of her left side, her eyes held sadness in them, sad determination that you would know from an Apple that lost a family member.

"Well miss Applejack, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Storm, I came from a camp near Ponyville in order to talk to your sister about someone." you say as you push the dead body of the stallion off of your legs and stand up to face her.

You could tell she had a slight hunch in her back now that you were standing up, you quickly applied pressure to the stab wound before something too bad happened.

"Ah see… very well, follow me Storm, mah little sis is a medic back at camp, might as well talk to her as she's fixin' ya up." she said before grabbing the arrows out of the corpse and start walking toward the camp.

"Thank you miss Applejack." you say as you follow her as best as you can with a stab wound.

It takes another ten minutes before you walk down a set of stairs and into the subways of Manehattan Square, you quickly are shown where the medic tent is and are brought in.

"Hey there Bloom, got a newcomer that's needin' a bit of a stichin' and he wanted tah talk tah ya too." Applejack said as you entered the tent.

"I'll see tah 'im in a sec sis, just patchin' up Sweetie here real quick." you hear being said as you sit on an open bed.

"Aight, just do it quick now, this fella got stabbed by one of the loose folk up top." AJ replied before nodding to you and leaving you in the tent.

It takes about five more minutes before Sweetie thanks Apple Bloom and walks out of the tent, Apple Bloom walks over to you, you could tell that she was an Apple already, her bright yellow coat and cherry red mane and tail said it all, she was an Apple, and one that you needed to listen to.

"Aight, let's see the damage." she says making you lay down and removing your hand. "Well, it's nothin' too deep, I can easily patch ya up, but sis said ya wanted to talk, so talk." she says before grabbing a needle and some stitching thread.

"Well, I was wondering how much you knew about a pony by the name of Scootaloo Hurricane." you say getting her to stop and look at you, you could see emotions just under a mask of calm in her eyes.

"How do you know that name?" she asks before slowly going back to work on you're wound.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I saw her recently." you say making her go ridged, before taking a deep breath and relaxing. She heads over to the tent flap and opens it quickly, you don't know why she did so until she shouts very loudly. "SWEETIE BELLE!" she shouts, making those you saw near her cover their ears, the mare that left earlier returned quickly.

"What's up AB?" she asked, only to get dragged into the tent and placed at the end of your bed.

"Tell her what ya just told me." she says before quickly and efficiently getting the needle ready to stitch up your wound.

"I'm assuming that both of you know the mare by the name of Scootaloo Hurricane well then?" you ask, making Sweetie go wide eyed.

Now that you could see Sweetie Belle clearly, you could see that she was an angel, a slim body with slightly dark well fit clothes that contrasted against her slightly dirty white coat, her duel colored mane was done up in a ponytail behind her.

"We… we do, she was our best friend, why do you ask?" She replied before Bloom started stitching the wound.

"Well, I happened to have come across her and a journal that had a note written by her inside." you say making Sweetie shake her head.

"That's impossible, she died, I know she did, I saw her burn alive in front of me." she remarked before looking you dead in the eyes. "There's no way you're telling us the truth." she says, making you chuckle a bit.

"The proof is in my bag, the white book, fourth page." you say gesturing to your bag, she quickly looks inside and takes out the book before opening it and turning to the fourth page, before stopping.

"What's it say Sweetie?" Bloom asked as she continued stitching you up.

"It says: 'Hello to whoever found this, my name is Scootaloo Hurricane, I am the apprentice to Emerald Summereyes, my master had gotten trapped in stone by princess Celestia and Luna, but now I will try to recall the day I found one of his journals in the castle of the two sisters and I do hope you can free us, as we have a score to settle with Daybreaker'… it's even signed in her name, and it's written in her writing style… he's telling the truth." she says reading off the letter before looking at you.

"I've read up to the fifteenth page, but I wanted to ask you something about Miss Bloom." you say as you look from Sweetie to Apple Bloom.

"What's the question?" she asks looking at you really quick.

"Did Miss Hurricane give either of you a red book, one with an emerald on the cover?" you ask just as she finishes stitching you up.

"None that I can think of, what 'bout you Sweetie?" she replied before looking over to her friend.

"No, no book with that description, but maybe AJ or my sister knows something." she replies, shaking her head.

"Maybe… let me finish ya up before we go and check." she says before tending to the rest of your wounds and bandaging you up…

"And that is where we will end the story today children." you say closing the book and looking up to the kids.

They stared at you wide eyed for a few moments before exploding into a ton of questions, you however can't hear a single one as they're all asking their questions at the same time.

"Children, children, calm down, I won't be able to answer anything if I can't tell what's being asked." you say gesturing for them to calm down.

"Were you really stabbed by a crazy guy?!" one of the colts asked, making you sigh.

"Yes I was, I was a naïve adventurer at the time, I barely knew how to fight, much less keep myself protected." you answer before another speaks up.

"What was the Manehattan subway camp like?!" one of the fillies asked, making you chuckle.

"I will tell you that next time, but I suggest you all head home, before your parents worry about you all." you say motioning for them to leave, they do so after saying goodbye.

"Another rousing story time with grandpa Storm sweetie?" your daughter says as she enters the living room.

"Yep! I can't wait for him to continue." your grandson says before hugging you. "Love you grandpa!" he says before rushing to the bathroom to wash up.

"Still a nonbeliever sweetheart?" you ask as you stand up from your chair.

"I know it's just another made up story, just like all of the other stories you've told me when I was younger." she says before heading into the kitchen.

"True… but none of those were made up my dear." you quietly say as you look towards the shelf. "Sweetheart, I won't be eating tonight." you say as you move towards the bookcase.

"Are you sure dad?" she asks from the kitchen.

"I'm quite sure dear, I'm going to be a little busy." you say placing the white book back on the shelf before moving your hand over the books. "Four over, two down and one to the left." you think as you pull on a book that seems to get stuck halfway through pulling only for the bookcase to slide up, revealing a secret entrance, you chuckle a small deviously knowing chuckle. "Yes… quite busy indeed." you say to yourself before entering the passage and closing the entrance behind you.

"Hey grandpa, mom said you weren't eating with us tonight, is that… true… grandpa?" your grandson asks entering the room a few moments after the bookshelf put itself back in place.

The everburn torches light up as you traverse the secret hall behind the bookcase, their purple flames dancing without the presence of wind in the place. You take your time reaching the end of the hall before it opens up into a large room with large bookcase lining the walls, book on every single shelf. In the center of the room was a large U-shaped desk with a few books bottles and even a few magical focus runes inlaid in stone or some metals that hold fire magic in them.

"Right then… let's get back to work… just like the old days." you say stretching your body before activating a pair of runes that connect to certain spells. You start to get to work on making potions and other magical items for future use, unchanged by the time outside of this room.

Author's Note

Chapter 4 and this time its a quick blast to the past, i cant wait to write more for you guys, and i hope you all enjoy, and remember.
Stay terrifying my little nightmares.
-Night Quill

The Discovery

It has been two weeks since our small group's annual gathering at the castle, it's still hard, knowing that I played a part in killing those buried there, and probably more that I don't know of, so it's probably for the better that I'm not ruling Equestria anymore. Thankfully I don't have much to worry about anymore, no royal duties, no raising the sun every morning, just cooking for me and my sister and enjoying the days go by, or at least that was the plan today, but an old… acquaintance of mine just had to pop in.

"K.K.!" A voice called out just as I started relaxing on the porch swing.

"Hello Discord...'" I said with a sigh knowing my day is in for a wild ride.

"I've got neeeewwwws~" he said, popping into existence next to me.

"What kind of news?" I asked, knowing I was going to talk for a while.

"Well, I was spreading a little chaos here and there today when I noticed something interesting, how this slipped under my radar until now, I will have NO idea, but there was somepony gathering magic, and a lot of in the Everfree forest." he started explaining, and while that was interesting he wasn't getting to the point.

"What's the point of this Discord?" I asked, making him sigh.

"I was getting there Tia, if you had just waited another line or two I would've told you already, anyways, my point is that all of that magic that was being gathered in the Everfree suddenly erupted last week, and the source was from within the castle." he said making me roll my eyes.

"Discord, the only beings that know the castle still exists are me, you, Luna, Artimus, Scootaloo, Twilight and Storm, so unless they were there last week, which I know they weren't except for the annual meeting, then it was just the Everfree's magical area." I explained shaking my head at his point.

"Now I thought that too KK, but it was the type of magic, and how much of it there was that got me to look into it." He said snapping a glass of chocolate milk into existence. "What I found was both surprising and slightly worrying, even for me." he said before taking a long gulp.

"And what would that be?" I asked him, now more interested in what he was talking about.

"Well, it was natural magic, as in the magic little Scootaloo has kind of nature." he explained as the glass filled back up on it's own.

"Okay… go on…" I said letting him know to continue.

"I'm going to be completely honest here Celestia… someone has been gathering nature magic for nearly two hundred and fifty years in the Everfree forest, and released it all in one giant burst, the amount of magic that was stored had the same amount of force behind it that i would compare it to you setting off a fully powered 'Sunlight's Wrath' in the center of Canterlot." he explained in what I knew as his serious voice, and what he said scared me.

"Are… are you sure it had that much magical force behind it?" I asked him as a precaution.

"I'm positive, someone very powerful that we don't know just let loose something very magical inside of the castle." he replied nodding his head only once, I sighed.

"And here I was hoping for today to be peaceful… go inform Scootaloo, I will talk to Twilight about this." I said as I prepared a teleport to Canterlot.

"Got it K.K.." He said puffing into a cloud form of himself, which dissipated just as I teleported into the throne room.

"Ah, hello Celestia, what are you doing here?" I hear just after the teleport spell ends, I saw Spike looking at me.

"Hello Spike, I need to speak to Twilight, I was just told some very concerning news." I said before seeing Twilight open the doors to the throne room.

"Spike, where are, oh, hello Celestia, what brings you here?" she asked, looking at me in surprise.

"Twilight, you're here, good, I was just told by Discord that we have a problem." I said, making her sigh.

"What kind of problem is it this time?" she asked with her head slightly drooping.

"A very big magical problem that concerns Ms. Hurricane as well." I replied, making her look at me in shock before preparing a teleport spell.

"I'll talk to you later Spike." she said before we're teleported to the Everfree castle. "Where are they?" she asked only for us to see Discord and Scootaloo teleport in a flash of light.

"Right here princess." Discord said before he shivered. "Either the Everfree is getting colder or that was from the magical residue of the explosion." he commented once he stopped shivering.

"Just being near the castle is alerting your senses… this could be bad." I said before looking at the castle.

"You're right, I can feel the natural magic already, there's a lot of it… someone has been here without us knowing, but the question remains… who was it?" Scootaloo says shivering a bit as well.

"Will the two of you be able to find the source of the explosion?" Twilight asks while she started walking towards the castle.

"I will, but I don't know about Discord." Scootaloo replied as we followed.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I won't be much help, there's too much magic here for me to get a good read on the location." he said, making me sigh.

"Then it's up to you Scootaloo." I said looking at the mare, she just nods as we enter the castle.

"Here goes nothing." she remarked as she closed her eyes.

I noticed that the air around her began to shift, as if it was encircling her before she took a step forwards, deeper into the castle, we followed, looking for anything out of place, anything to show that someone was here after us, but there was nothing, no chipped walls, no doors open, not even any torn fabric or a piece of mane or tail to be found. We eventually followed Scootaloo into the burial room, which surprised me, as why would anyone be here of all places?

"It's near… almost…" Scootaloo said as she traversed the graves slowly.

It wasn't until she came near the back of the room that she stopped and took two steps back.

"It's right next to me… on my left." she said looking at the statue of Emerald and Daybreaker.

"But that's impossible… it's a statue." Twilight said before Discord walked up to it.

He poofed a stethoscope into existence and placed it against the statue before tapping it, he did this five more times before looking back at us. "I can confirm that this statue is hollow." he said before taking a chisel and a small hammer and tapping it.

The statue split perfectly in half, letting us see that the inside was indeed hollow, meaning something was inside of it… or someone. "Discord does this mean what I think it means?" Scootaloo asked, I could hear the desperation in her voice.

"If you think it means that Emerald is still alive and well, then yes it does mean what you think it does, but it also means Daybreaker is still alive too." he said snapping the two pieces of the statue back together.

"This could be a problem, as Daybreaker could've taken Emerald over and used his magic to escape." Twilight said pacing back and forth on the floor.

"No, it's not that Twilight." Scootaloo said looking around the area, we looked towards her.

"What do you mean Daybreaker didn't take over Emerald?" I asked as I looked around too, searching for what she saw.

"Easy, Daybreaker wouldn't have left the statue standing, it would've been completely destroyed, but instead we found it as if it never broke apart. Emerald broke the statue then put it back, but that then begs the question: If Emerald and Daybreaker are alive and free, where did they go?" she explains placing her hand on the statue.

"It's possible that Daybreaker tried to take over Emerald's body, but was defeated by him while she was weakened and he used his magic to burst out." Twilight said as she looked to the hollow statue in curiosity.

"Possible, but if they were broken out, why didn't he come to us? We could've easily dealt with Daybreaker." Scootaloo asked, giving a counterpoint.

"Ah, but that's the thing, we don't know if they broke out… or if they were let out, now do we." Discord said as I walked closer to the statue, I noticed something along the back wall.

"He broke out, I know he did, cause there's no one outside me and my kid that has nature magic, so unless you're saying there's another druid out there somewhere, then the statue was broken from the inside." Scootaloo argued as I saw what seemed to be shrapnel puncture holes in the wall.

"Ms. Hurricane is correct Discord, otherwise these markings wouldn't be here." I say moving my hands over the wall.

"What markings?" Twilight asked coming up to me.

"Shrapnel puncture markings, they're all over the wall, and they're all angled towards the statue." I say going over the entire wall with my magic, the holes being highlighted.

"I see, so he did break out… but why did he use so much magic?" Twilight asked looking back at the statue in curiosity.

"Well, even with his magical power, he had to overload the magic containing him, which considering that the girl's last wish was to seal Daybreaker away for good, wouldn't have been easy, so he must have been gathering magic, but because he was petrified, it was a slower process." Discord explained popping a small analysis chart into existence next to him, he even had a small lab coat with goggles.

"Okay, but where did he go? We would've been notified if anyone new had taken residence in Ponyville, especially since everyone knows everyone." Twilight said bringing up a good point.

"Hold up, there's something here." Scootaloo said, kneeling at the statue's base.

We came over and saw a small black cube with a dent in the middle on top, it had two buttons, a green one and a red one, Scootaloo instantly pressed the green one and a small image of Emerald came into existence from the indent.

"Hello to whoever activated this holo-projector, I am Emerald Summereyes, and yes, I mean that Emerald Summereyes." The image said as we all looked at each other perplexed. "I suppose I should start by saying that I am quite alive and well, if just getting out of Harmony's petrification is considered 'well' nowadays." he said before coughing into his elbow.

"Master…" Scootaloo said in a worried but hopeful voice.

"Did he just say harmony as in a name?" Twilight asked out loud but was ignored.

"Anyways, enough rambling, I have gone a long time in stone, therefore I will be leaving this here, in the hopes that my former apprentice finds it. If you are listening to this Scootaloo, I hope that you're doing well, I've heard your prayers, every year when you and the others came to pay their respects, I know that you want to see me, but I have been directing you down a path I created for you… and I knew that you wouldn't need my guidance after the last battle, that you had grown into your power and I had nothing left to teach you…" he continued making Scootaloo tear up just a bit.

"Emerald… I will always need you, even if you aren't my teacher anymore." she whispered, I just barely heard her next to me.

"Now I know that others will want to know my current location, and it's with some reluctance that I placed my location in this device, all you have to do is hit the red button." he said pointing towards said button, Scootaloo pushed it immediately.

"Self destruction protocol initiated, ten… nine..." a robotic female voice announced as the projection went red.

"Shit!" Scootaloo said before the holo-projected Emerald chuckled.

"That's just like you to be impatient my old apprentice, goodbye, for now at least." he said before he disappeared and a red five showed.

"Five… four… three… two… one… self destruct activated." the machine said before glowing white and melting before our eyes.

"Damn, that would've been useful in finding him too." Scootaloo commented as she stood up.

"Perhaps, but I get the feeling that he will reveal himself when he wants to." I say, making her nod in agreement.

"If there's one thing that he'll always have, it's the element of surprise." Twilight chuckled before getting ready to teleport. "I guess all we can do is wait for now… until next time everyone." she commented before disappearing in a flash of violet light.

"I guess we can only wait… but I'm going to keep my eyes out, just in case." Scootaloo said before she and Discord teleported away in a puff of multicolored smoke.

"I wonder what you're doing right now Emerald… I do hope that you are able to survive." I think to myself before teleporting back to my home.

"I was beginning to worry Tia, where were you?" I hear as I appear in my living room.

"Something important came up Luna, I'll tell you about it later at dinner." I said before heading to my room and falling into my bed, ready to relax for the rest of the day.

Author's Note

Chapter 5, hooobooy, was this difficult to write, but still i hope y'all enjoy this and remember.
Stay Terrifying my little Nightmares
-Night Quill

The Void

A pitch black space, almost void in color surrounds the area, a basketball sized, glowing orb, that is glass in nature floats in what seems to be the center of the area, inside the orb one would be able to see Equis, the land of the Griffon Kingdoms and the Dragons Lands look mostly unchanged, with their brownish or charred black colors, the lava or snow that blanket the highest points. Equestria however looks very different, it's usual lush green lands are now a dried orchard yellow, the Everfree forest is smaller than it should've been, even some of the Frozen North's tundra had receded back towards the Crystal Empire, with small areas of snow here or there and large boulders pocketing the landscape, but the biggest change was Canterlot Mountain, the top of it, from where the great white city last stood, all the way the the very peak was gone, blasted off in what seemed to be a large magical blast, what was now the top of the mountain looked charred beyond belief, as if a large bomb exploded within it.

"So the ponies have recovered after Daybreaker… good good, this will be easier then." a soft female voice says in the void black space.

"Thinking of allowing the items through already?" a deeper male voice called out.

"Not all of them yet… but I do believe that one or two will be beneficial to the druid, and his new daughter." the first voice said as a small bag was held above the ball. "Good luck little druid, you'll need it." the voice said before dropping the bag into the orb, letting the image ripple for a moment before stilling once more.

"Are you sure that this world is ready to receive such battles, you are awakening the gods after all." the second voice said as a pair of red eyes appeared on the left side of the orb.

"They adapted to Daybreaker didn't they? Besides, they can handle a few new opponents, either way their evolving, and it's wonderful to see a species so close to being killed flourish in the face of hardship." the first voice said as a pair of white eyes appeared on the right side of the orb.

"I guess i can argue with that logic... so how shall we play this game? Through the gods or through the mortals?" the red eyed being asked as a board appeared next to the orb.

"Actually, i was thinking of having two champions, one for you and one for me, the little druid and his daughter can join either side, but i want to see what would happen when light and dark truly clash, without all of the Shadows influencing either side." the white eyed being said creating a small white orb and dropping it into the image.

"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!" The red eyed being started to laugh. "Oh im going to love this game! Let the best side win." he said once he calmed down, sending a red orb into the image as well.

"Indeed, let the best side win, though i fell i will win." she said looking at the board.

"Probably, but i still have the creatures and monsters at my disposal." he said bringing out a chest full of dark grey pieces that all looked like some kind of monster.

"And i will have most of the mortals on my side... we may be evenly matched, especially if young Hurricane trains her daughter in their magical ways." she comments as Scootaloo and her daughter appear on her side of the board.

"True, but i have a feeling the her daughter is going to be a wild mage, but we'll see what happens when it happens." he said as the Changelings and Chrysalis appear on his side or the board.

"Oooh, bringing out the Changelings already? You must be serious then, very well... hmmm, who should i... ahha, i know." she says before the Kirins take shape on her side.

"The Kirins, a strange decision, but they will no doubt be a crucial piece somewhere in your plan." he said before looking at the board.

"Shall we prepare in private? So we can surprise each other." she askes pulling up a grey screen.

"You know i love surprises, very well, lets scheme and plan, old friend." he says before the screen raises, separating the two beings.

"Let the best watcher win, old friend." she says as she starts to bring pieces out of a chest in front of her. "Now let's see here, who to choose, so many pieces, so many allies, who to choose..." she whispers as she looks at the pieces in front of her.

"So many monsters, so many old enemies, so many to choose from... who to bring out with the Changelings... maybe a new foe... yes, that could work, or maybe an old foe from a thousand years ago, i mean, we still have a few left..." he whispered as he looked over his side, trying to choose his pieces carefully.

The two beings began to choose their pieces, choosing their allies to fight their enemy, their pawns to have their entertainment, the same entertainment they have been having since the dawn of time. It was how they shaped their world, for they are The Watchers, the Shapers of Equis, the first beings, the Forgotten Deities, the parents of the gods, the red eyed Chaos and his oldest friend, the white eyed Order, they keep Harmony, their first child, in balance by playing their games, and Harmony watches as the world shifts, as light and dark clash, with great amusement, for she kept in world safe from danger, so everyone wouldn't immediately die.

These battles has gone on for a long time, and now a new game has started, a game to see who shall finally win, one final game, lets see how they play it, shall we? For it shall be glorious, within the Void, and the blood that shall be spilt upon recovered ground.