The Last Magi of Karkland

A week and a half has passed by and I was able to leave the hospital. I wasn't fully recovered but I had made a fuss over it, my left arm was still beat up bad, but I didn't care. Twilight was leading me to her home, my new shelter, walking through the town with a chipper attitude.

"Oh my gosh this is going to be great!" she exclaimed. "I can't wait for you to actually meet everypony now!"

She looked back at me with a smile; I wasn't ready for any interaction with anyone, I simply gave her a forced smirk as we continued. As we walked through the center of town many of the ponies present stopped and stared. Some of them just stood there motionless and stared at me, some smiled and waved, and I could the whispering of a few.

"Who is that?", "What in Equestria is a human doing here?", "Isn't that the magic human they brought here?"

I covered my head in my jackets hood the rest of the way to the house.

We arrived at her house and I was quite shocked by what it was.

"You...live in a tree?" I asked her bluntly.

She nodded as she spoke, "Yes! It's also the Ponyville Library, but don't worry there's plenty of room for you!"

I wasn't quite thrilled at the thought of living in a tree, but I couldn't complain, especially about someone who offered to take me in. We walked in the tree home and I was surprised to see it was actually quite large, multiple rooms with book shelves filled to the brim.

"So what do you think?" Twilight asked.

"It's odd for me," I said honestly. "Karkland has metal and brick buildings, but it is quite homey."

She gave a small smile and continued showing me around my new home.

"Oh, and there's our room in the loft up there!" she said as she pointed a hoof above me.

I saw two large beds with night tables next to them, one bed covered in stars and the other with a plain tan bed sheet.

"This is going to be so nice, having a guest next to me and we can talk about all sorts of magic and-"

I interrupted before she could go on anymore and asked blankly, "Do you think I can have my own room?"

She stopped and looked at me with a hurt look and said, "Uh..yeah I guess, but why don't you want to sleep up there?"

I sighed as I knew I hurt the young mares feelings, "Listen Twilight, first thing about humans. When something bad has happened to us, especially to me, we need time to ourselves, time to recover."

The hurt in her eyes backed away a bit, she took me towards a medium sized room with only 3 bookshelves in it.

"I understand," she said, "So here's your room I guess, but let me help you take the furniture down!"

I tried to resist, my magic could easily handle it, but she wouldn't have any of it. My bed floated down from her loft in her lavender glow as I got my nightstand and box with what was found on me that day.

"Thank you, Twilight." I said as I walked into my new room, "Let me know when dinner is done. We can talk then," I said as I shut my bedroom door.

I could hear a sigh from the pony as she walked away from my door, I felt bad for brushing her off, but I needed to be alone. I laid on my new bed and closed my eyes, letting sleep take a hold of me.

__________________

A few hours passed and I awoke from my sleep. I looked out my window to see the large clock tower in the middle of town.

"5 o'clock huh, well, guess I better make my room feel like me." I said to myself as I picked up the box next to my bed.

There was not much in it, except for the clothes that I had worn that day the only other thing of value was my holo pendant. I hung up my clothes on one of the shelves in the room and stared at it, my old dark hooded jacket had rips in it from debris, my pants had fared a bit better, almost nothing wrong with them.  I decided I would keep them, as a reminder of what happened, not that I'd forget, but they also looked kinda cool, the rips and tears gave personality.

"Guess I can call this my battle clothes now." I said as I forced a chuckle out of my mouth.

I then turned to my pendant, which I laid on my nightstand. I opened it and was greeted by the projection screen blaring to life. It still worked surprisingly, this small trinket was also able to take pictures and keep them forever. I scrolled through some pictures from the past,  my heart to dropped as I saw the faces of my family and friends.

I closed the pendant and put it around my neck, it was still something I valued and I couldn't part from it. I opened my door to attempt to talk to Twilight, but was instead greeted suddenly by a tremendous hug from a pink pony with a mane that looked and smelled like cotton candy.

"Surrpppriisseeeee!" she said as she hugged me, "Hi I'm Pinkie Pie!"

I let out a wheeze as my arm was still injured but I didn't push her off.

"This is so cool! I've never meet a human before! What do humans like to do? How awesome are your parties?" she blasted me with questions as I stood there confused.

"Pinkie! Would ya stop botherin' him? He just woke up," another voiced said.

I looked over to see five ponies, Twilight included, and what looked like a large lizard.

"Oh, uh sorry!" Pinkie said as she looked at me with a huge smile.

Twilight then spoke up, "Uh haha, I know you said you wanted some time to yourself," she said awkwardly, "But I just thought it'd be nice if you could meet my best friends."

I gave her a blank stare but quickly regained thought as the orange pony who had calmed Pinkie down reached out a hoof, "Well hey there Sugarcube, my name's Applejack."

I just stared at her and then turned my gaze to Twilight who now had a worried look on her face.

"Didn't I say I wanted to be alone? Do you exactly know what happened to me? Everything that I lost? I don't want to talk to anyone, and I don't need ANYONE," I raised my voice at the purple coated mare.

All eyes were on me as I just stared, my eyes and heart empty of any emotion. Twilight's ears had shot down, hurt by words she had started to tear.

"Listen...just leave me alone alright? I want to be by myself, goodbye to you all," I said as I walked back to my room shutting the door behind me quickly.

I leaned against the door and just fell to the floor, my head filled with every possible emotion one should never feel. I heard the voices of the ponies outside, and I could hear Twilight speak through heavy breaths,

"No..no..it's not his fault. It's mine, I should have given him his space before introducing all of you...I know he's not really like this," I heard her say.

Even after that she tried to cover for me. I sat there for a long time, hating myself, hating how my life was turning, and wishing this was all a terrible dream.

I heard a knock at the door and then Twilight's voice.

"Hey Evan...I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have pushed that on you." she said in a soft voice.

The guilt that I felt was overwhelming, I wish I hadn't snapped, but I did.

"It's fine. I just really need to be alone. I need to be alone," I said.

She told me that was completely understandable and walked away after that, I just banged my head against the door and got up. I walked over to my bed and looked out the window, past the large clock tower was the beginnings of a forest. I had always wandered around the forests of Juno back home, it always calmed me and I found it peaceful. I decided I would make that my mission tomorrow as I laid down and let sleep envelop me.

___________________________

I woke early the next morning, ready to start my day for once. Getting away from everything and everyone for a few hours would calm me down, might even make me a bit social. I showered and ate quickly, luckily they had cereal here, which was a nice change of pace from fruit every day. As I was about to change my clothes I looked up and saw my 'battle clothes', a grin crept across my face.

"Well, you kinda are my lucky charm I guess," I said as I changed into my scarred clothing.

It was still comfortable and it would also keep most ponies from bothering me, at least for now.

I walked into the main room of the library to see Spike, who I had found out was a young dragon, sorting some books by himself, I guessed Twilight had gone out on some errands.

"Uh...hey Evan." the tiny dragon said to me, "Watcha up to?"

I made my way to the door as I answered, "I'm going out on a walk. Gonna explore the woods to the south of here for a bit, tell Twilight I'll be back sometime when she comes home."

I was out the door before Spike could reply to me in time, I heard him say something about the Everfree Forest or something, I guessed that was its name.  I put my hood over my head again, not wanting to draw attention, but alas I was stopped in the street by a certain orange coated pony.

"Well hey there partner," Applejack said, "where you headin' off to?"

I stopped and looked at her, her eyes gave off a naturally calming sense that almost threw me off guard.

"Nothing important. Just going for a walk in the woods to the south of here," I responded to the mare.

Her calming eyes was suddenly replaced by shock as she recoiled a bit, "What! You can't go there, that's the Everfree Forest!"

Confused I asked, "And? Why can't I go there?"

She explained that the forest had some type of unnatural energy through it, plants and animals there were different from the norm, and that the weather even changed by itself.

I gave a small laugh as I looked at her with a sarcastic stare and said, "Well that doesn't seem to different to forest back in my homeland. So goodbye Applejack. "

I continued walking after that, Applejack started following me, still trying to stop me as she pleaded "Well at least let me come with you, you don't know a darn thing about that forest an you need someone who knows the way around."

It made sense, but I was hard headed and continued on my way.

"Goodbye Applejack," I said as I made my way towards the Everfree.

Almost to the edge of the forest I caught a glimpse of a comfy looking cottage on the way to where I had to go. I walked by noting the abundance of animals around, these animals were the same as I had back home, yet they all seemed more...lifelike. Almost past the cottage I heard a fluttering above me, almost like wings. I looked up and saw the long pink mane and tail of Fluttershy as she looked at me curiously.

"H-hello.." the shy pony said.

"Uh, hi Fluttershy.." I said awkwardly, almost forgetting her name.

I stood there for a moment, expecting another conversation but she said nothing, not knowing what else to say I said goodbye and finally made my way into the forest.

_______________________

It had been about two hours into me walking through the forest, and I decided it was time to start heading back. As I looked around I could see why the ponies wouldn't find this place to appealing, it was quite dark and eerie looking, but other than that nothing really seemed off.

"Ha, it kinda reminds me of the woodlands at home, only not war torn," I said to myself.

Behind me I heard a sharp crack and thud, I turned quicker than light, magic flaring my hands with the cyan glow. But what I saw was Fluttershy, sprawled on the ground dazed from falling off a dead tree branch. I settled my magic and gave a scolding look to the pegasus.

"Were you following me?" I snapped at her.

She raised herself and looked at the ground, trotting one hoof in nervousness.

"Well uh...maybe, uh yes." she said, barely above a whisper.

"Can you explain why?" I continued questioning her.

"Well I saw you go into the forest..and I got scared that you might get lost..so I followed you in, flying above the trees. But I stayed close to you though, this place is to scary for me to be alone...and then I fell out of a tree."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Listen, does no one understand I can hand-" my retort was cut short as Fluttershy let out a scream.

"What the KRIFE!" I shouted as something large pounced on my back.

I slammed hard into the dirt, my arm erupted in pain as I landed on it. I felt a rush of energy through my body as I chanted, more like shouted, a spell tome I had learned a long time ago.

"CAL ROYKA," I shouted.

A pulse of energy shot out of my body, knocking whatever tackled me clear off. I shot to my feet instantly and turned to see my attacker, what I saw left me startled for a few seconds. It looked like a large wolf...only it was wooden.

"Timb-timb-Timber Wolves!" Fluttershy said behind me as four more pounced out of the dark woods.

Two of these unnatural creatures lept at me, a ear piercing howl erupted from them as they did. I struck the first one away with a powerful blast of energy, its companion ran into me, sending me skidding into a tree.

"Krifing goddess." I cursed as I hit the tree hard.

Pain writhed through my body as the wolf came to finish its job. It sprinted towards me as I put up a barrier in front of the monster, slamming into it dazed the creature which gave me enough time to react. I jumped to my feet and landed an enraged kick to the creatures head, magic behind it a hundred fold. This sent the wolf about fifteen feet away and it stayed there yelping in pain. I saw Fluttershy's eyes grow in terror as another wolf lept at her, claws ready for the strike. It never got the chance as I sent a powerful strike at the wolf, hitting it directly in the head, and sending it crashing into a tree.

No time to catch my breath, I turned to face the others as I was greeted by a swipe from a claw, tearing my jacket and skin mid-waist. I let out a painful cry as I felt the claws slice through my body.

Time seemed to slow as I chanted another tome, "TULOK GANATH."

A blast of fire erupted from my hands as I sprayed the group of wooden wolves. This did the trick as the pack yelped in terror, some smoking from the fire, as they ran off deep into the woods.

I staggered towards a tree to lean against as I looked at my fresh wound, it was bleeding profusely as I examined it.

"Well...this definitely isn't good." I said to myself, forgetting that Fluttershy was close to me.

I turned to her realizing she was almost crying, no was crying, and shaking violently.

"Hey, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" I asked, not wanting to focus on my wound anymore.

"N-no, but they hurt you bad didn't they?" she was hardly able to say.

Pain was nearly the only thing I felt at that point, I winced as I responded, "Yeah, yeah they did."

She stopped shaking a little and looked at me concerned and urgently and said, "Well come on, we must get you back to the hospital!"

I was shocked as the timid pegasus lifted off and picked me up in her hooves, my arms over hers. She wasn't the strongest flyer I gathered at that point, so I lent her a hand as I gave her a spike of energy with my magic.

I rested in the same hospital bed I had awoken in when I arrived in Ponyville. Twilight along with Fluttershy and Applejack were next to me, although the first and former were berating me.

"How could you go into that forest? Especially alone!" Twilight snapped at me.

"I told you I should've came with you, but no you had to be all stubborn!" Applejack added.

I gave a sarcastic retort, "Well hey Fluttershy was with me the whole time! And I'm fine now, so what does it matter?"

"What does it matter? What does it matter?" Twilight raised her voice, "It matters because you have a deep claw wound in you! You're lucky she was there to get you back here, or you might not have made it Evan!"

I looked at Twilight and realized tears were starting to form in her big soft eyes.

I let out a regretful sigh, "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry..I'm sorry. I just really needed to be by myself, but.." I stopped and looked to Fluttershy who was standing quietly as usual, "Thank you Fluttershy, if you hadn't followed me...thank you."

She gave me a caring smile and said, "Well you protected me from those wolves, and I couldn't have left without you."

I repeated my thanks to the shy pony, making it obvious that I was genuine.

Nurse Redheart had entered the room at that point and said, "Okay everypony, I need to change Evan's bandage and check the stitching. But you can wait outside if you want, he'll be ready to leave after that."

As Applejack and Fluttershy left, Twilight came over to me, tears still in her eyes.

"Listen Evan," she started,"I don't know how human's care for others, and I know you need your space right now. I know you are beyond upset and bitter, and you have all the right in the world to be, but all my friends and I are trying to do is help you! But you are my responsibility, and you're also my friend now. Whether you see that or not, you need to realize that you are going to have to open up sooner or later, you have got to. Now, I'll be waiting outside, I expect a talk on the walk home."

She left without another word as her speech struck my head. No one had ever snapped at me like that, but I needed it. She was right, I was bitter and angry. But I shouldn't have taken it out on them, I thought to myself long and hard as the nurse checked me over and re-bandaged me.

"Sooner or later I'd have to open up.." I thought to myself, "Well...I guess I had better do it sooner."

I owed these ponies a lot, and that was a good start.