Chapters "So, Ms. Applebloom, can you please tell me what you remember?"
"Well, I do recall walkin' to Zecora's hut with Twilight. Then, after we left, sum trees had fallen over and Twilight was workin' on movin' 'em. Ah guess mah curiosity got the best of me. Ah wandered off into the forest. After a few minutes, ah stumbled onto a town filled with happy ponies. But, they had blank flanks like me. Then, after ah got into a dark house in the corner of the town, the ponies turned into monsters! They chased me until I ran into a pony with a magnifyn' glass cutie mark. She helped me escape. Ah couldn't be more grateful."
"And this is all you remember?"
"Yes. Well, one of them ponies grabbed me and started suckin' mah soul, ah think. But ah got away."
"Interesting. Well, thank you for your time."
"Yer welcome. See ya, mister!
Hello. I'm Tri Sight. An interviewer and storywriter for the Equestrian Chronicles. I just received word about a unusual event that occurred here in Ponyville. A filly by the name of Applebloom, of whom I just interviewed, met with some ponies that take residence in the Everfree Forest. I came here to see for myself, and hopefully, get a news story.
I opened the farm house door to exit when two other filles ran towards me and nearly swept me off my hooves. Literally.
The filly with the purple mane said, "Oops! Sorry, mister! Are you ok?"
"Yes, yes I'm fine," I replied "Where are you two headed?"
The one with the white and light-purple mane said, "We're here for Applebloom! We're going to get our cutie marks!"
Massaging my hoof, I asked, "Why don't you just be patient in getting your cutie marks like everypony else?"
"That's what everypony says!", they both yelled and ran inside the farmhouse.
"Kids these days." I said
The sticks snapped as I stepped on them. Occasional mud puddle made my hooves muddy and uncomfortable. As I kept walking, my saddlebag swung from right to left, poking me in the side. I'm not made for jungles. I wasn't much of a outside pony either. Every single sound, no matter the origin, scared the living crap outta me. I don't seem to be getting any closer to the town, that the filly told me about. She did tell that she was walking back from a pony, or zebra, as she called her, named Zecora.
She describes her house as being built into a tree, surrounded by strange masks and herbs hanging from the tree branches. Soon enough, I see the house. Maybe I can ask her about this whole "bloody hooves" ordeal. Applebloom says that she has knowledge of the Unknown world and beyond.
*knock* knock*
Hm. No answer. But the door is open. I wonder if I should go inside... Wait... There's a note on the table.
It says, "Went to Ponyville for a remedy. Please go, don't wait for me."
"Well, that's just great. How am I going to find the town now?"
*crack!* *CRASH!*
What was that? , I thought. I ran towards the sound. It was a fallen tree. I must've fallen over. We can screw finding that town. How am I going to get out of here now? Suddenly, my eyes caught a pony running away from me, or at least I think she did. I ran after her. I dashed towards the direction the pony ran to. It was a road of cleared and chopped down trees. But there were no turns or openings in the trees, which made it easier for me to find the pony.
Hours later...
It's been hours and still no sign of the pony or the town. Maybe I should give up. Wait a minute, there's a light off in the distance. I headed towards the light to reveal a small town lit by brilliant and bright lanterns hanging from ropes. A grey stallion with a darker mane greets me with a warm smile.
"Hello, stranger! Welcome to our humble little town! We are more than happy to see a new visitor here!"
He seems nice enough, but he doesn't have a cutie mark. Now that I look around, none of the towns ponies have cutie marks!
"Um, excuse me," I said "But how come you don't have cutie marks?"
He looks at me as if I have grown a second head.
"Cutie Marks? What's that?"
Oh no... It's them. I have to get out of here! I started to walk away. But I guess they can teleport, because out of nowhere, one of them was behind me. It was that same stallion from before.
"Would you like to stay here for a while?"
With a rapidly dropping voice and nervous expressions, I said, "No, no... I'm fine. I was just here to... to... uh... I was just getting some remedies for Zecora?"
I saw two other towns ponies talking to each other. With my skill of reading lips, I could easily tell what they were saying. One of them was saying "He knows. The one called Applebloom has told them of our existence. The one that escaped. We cannot let that happen again. Get him."
"I can't do anything with my magic! How do you expect me to destroy a curse?"
The stallion had a small grin. Then, he said, "I figured this would happen. So, I wanted our town alchemist, Light Charmer, to help you. Hey, Light!"
A voice came from behind the house. "Yeah?"
"We got a taker!"
What does he mean by "taker"?
Then, from behind the house, came a beautiful unicorn. She was wearing a black robe that covered her body and most of her face. She took off her hood, revealing a shining blue mane that flowed down her head and sapphire red eyes. I immediately blushed. I tried to hide it.
The unicorn says, "Hey there. I'm Light Charmer. What's yours?"
I was too distracted by her to realize that she asked me what my name was. I guess my staring started making her uncomfortable.
"Hey," said the stallion, "Are you ok?"
"Oh yeah... I'm great..."
That snapped me back to reality.
"Huh?"
"I think he's better know."
I knew Light asked me a question, but I forgot what it was. I asked the stallion if he knew what it was.
"She asked you what your name was."
"Oh. Of course. I'm Tri Sight. Nice to meet you..."
"Nice to meet you too."
Light smiled so sweetly at me, that I felt as if I melted.
"Light, I need you to teach Tri how to use advanced magic to defeat the wicked one."
"That's all? Sounds easy enough. Come on, Tri. Let's get started."
She grabbed my hoof and we both ran to the alchemy library. It was a beautiful moment.
Alchemy library...
Light was searching for a book about teaching lessons. I guess she's never done it before after all. I waited and waited. She never found the book that afternoon. One question ran through my head while I was sitting in a chair near a fireplace. Is she one of the Bloody Hooves too? I'm almost afraid to ask.
"Hey, Light?"
"Yeah, Tri?"
"Are you a... a..."
"?"
"Are you a Bloody Hoof too?"
She stared at the floor. I could tell she was trying not to cry.
"Oh Celestia... I'm so sorry, Light..."
"It's ok, Tri... I can accept the fact that I'm a monster. But I don't like it..."
"Who was that pony's name that placed this curse on you? I never caught his name."
She turned to me, fear was shown through her eyes. "Death."
"How long have you been like... This?"
She looks at me with sad eyes. I regret, and still do, asking her the question. "2,000 years."
My jaw hit the ground. "You've been doing this for that long?"
"We killed mostly travelers, since the locals don't usually visit the forest. It has also been very lonely out here. Only a handful of us had enough courage to live. The other didn't want to kill others to live. They all starved to death."
"You don't seem to care much for them."
"I do. But I can get over it quick."
"That's kinda cold, Light."
"I know!" *sob!* "I never asked for any of this! What did we do to deserve this horrible life?"
I wanted to try and comfort her. But I guess she wanted it too. She basically dove on me to hold on to me and held onto me like there was no tomorrow. Her tears were touching my body, leaving small cold areas on me. I never knew much about romance or love or anything like that. I just gave her a towel that I had in my saddlebag.
Light used her magic to take the towel and wipe her wet cheeks and watery eyes.
"Thank you." she said.
"No problem. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."
"It's fine. It's all in the past. Right now, we need to focus on teaching you magic."
Light grabbed a small, thick book with a sparkle symbol on it. It represented the topic that was within the book, which, in this case, was magic. She opened to the first page. Then, after a few minutes, she showed me a picture of a unicorn teleporting. Believe it or not, teleporting is the most basic, yet complicated, move in unicorn history.
"Can you do this?" she asked, pointing at the picture.
"Nope. I never tried anything beyond telekinesis."
"Well, then this is your first lesson."
Most unicorns say that telekinesis is the easiest, mostly because it's meant to be learnt at a very early age.
"Now. You ready to get started?"
"Sure." I replied.
Light explains to me how teleportation works, occasionally looking back at the book to remember what to say. I have to admit, I almost dozed off a few times. Luckily, I managed to keep myself awake.
"You got all that, Tri?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Show me then."
I focused all my thoughts and energy into the place I was supposed to teleport to, but instead, my magic just wore off, taking most of my strength with it. I almost collapsed. But I kept myself up.
"That's not right, Tri. You're footing is off!"
I looked at my hooves.
"How does my footing have anything to do with teleportation?"
"You're supposed to do it like this." she said, as she showed me the picture again.
My left fore hoof was supposed to go inward, not outward. That little mistake threw me off by so much? I still have a lot to learn about all this. But I still didn't believe that correcting my posture would help. I changed my posture and then tried again.
"I still don't see ho-"
The next thing I knew, I was falling inside a chimney. I looked down and saw a fireplace!
"Oh my Celestia!!!!"
Then, I was in the alchemy library again. I was covered in soot and my flank was slightly burnt. I looked at Light, who has a huge smug smile on her face.
"Oh."
Lesson #2: Advanced Telekineses
There was bandages on my flank because of earlier, which I think you already know about right? Anyway, after a quick brake, we began my second lesson, advanced telekineses. I didn't know there was an advanced version.
Based on what Light told me, advanced telekineses allows the caster to lift anything, including themselves. I thought that was awesome. But I wasn't allowed to thrust myself any faster than a few miles an hour, as any faster and I'll send myself flying.
"Is your flank healed enough?"
"I think..." I said, poking at my flank a couple of times to test it. It only stung once. That was a good sign.
"Alright then. Now focus all your energy into your horn, not the object you're carrying."
"How does that work?"
She gave me a sour look.
"Do I look Star Swirl the Bearded to you?"
"Sorry..."
I did as Light told me, focusing all my energy into my horn. Then, before I knew it, I was rising above the ground, heading for the ceiling. I couldn't drop down though. I was too high above the ground to land without fracturing something. That took me off focus. Suddenly, I sped towards the ceiling, banging my head. I fell and broke my hoof. If I just let go, only my hoof would be broken.
I looked up at Light, who had concern written all over her face.
"Maybe that's enough practice for today."
"Yeah... T-that would be a g-good idea."
The Hospital...
"Doctor!"
"Light! What can I do for ya?"
"Tri here got a broken hoof and bumped his head pretty hard on the ceiling. Is it serious?"
"Not at all. Ah can fix that there hoof and head lickity split!"
"Thank you, Doctor."
"Anytime."
A few days later...
They finally let me out of the hospital. It's sad really. These pony folk are so nice. They never deserved this horrible fate. All this has got me more motivated to face death itself and fight for them. I wonder where Light went. She's probably back at the alchemy library.
The Alchemy Library...
"Hey, Light! You in here?"
Then I spotted a book sticking out of one of the bookcases. I took it out. It has an ancient pony mark on the front. These symbols were used in the very first years of pony-life. But... Then that meant...
"Tri!"
I turned.
"You're a god, aren't you?"
I had to run. But as I passed the stallion, trees that previously weren't there, were suddenly in my way, blocking my only way to escape. Oh crap... Oh crap... I am so screwed... So much for getting a story... I thought. As I turned around, I began to hear a hissing sound. I turned, to see that the stallion had turned into a horrible black-skinned monster! His mane was droopy, his eyes were missing, and his insides visible due to the glowing red color coming from the monster.
The monster spoke, saying, "Stay with us... We will protect you... Forever..."
"Please! Don't kill me! I just wanted a news story!"
"The origin of your visit is of no importance to us... I am sorry... We must do this..."
"Wait!"
"What is it!?"
"What do you mean by you must do this?"
"Why do you care of us? We are just monsters... We aren't even ponies anymore..."
"Is there a reason why do you do this?", I asked.
The monster replied, "Yes... It's because... Because... We have to to survive..."
"Huh?"
"We need to suck the life force out of other ponies that travel through the forest to live... It is our food... We have no choice... That bastard..."
"Who?"
"Well, it is a long story... 2,000 years ago, a pony moved here. He was a very mean and disrespectful pony... Later, it was found out that he actually killed others... He was kicked out of the town... He placed a curse on us... He turned us into... This...", said the monsters as he motioned his hooves on his body, implying to himself.
"So you're under a curse? You need to kill others to live? Can't you do anything yourselves?"
"No... We are his minions, regardless of if we are happy or sad, we must do this."
I thought for a second. It is so sad. These ponies have to kill to survive...
Without even fully thinking about it, I snapped saying, "I want to help."
The monster's eyes widen. He then looks at me. "You want to help us? Even after we tried to kill you?"
"Well, sure."
"Hmm... Eve-"
"I'm sorry, but would you mind changing back? I'm getting freaked out by you right now."
He looks down at himself. "Apologies..." Then, a red glow surrounded him. Seconds later, he was the happy stallion I first saw.
"Thank you."
"You surely want to help us?"
"Yes... I am sure..."
"The first thing you must learn then, is to study magic... Only the most advanced magic can break this curse..."
Oh no... I don't know anything about magic! I can't do anything over holding a camera or pencil!
