Chapters The sun was close to setting in the distance as a tall dark purple stallion slowly wandered his way through the trees of the Everfree forest. He was looking for a place to find shelter in from dark clouds that had been approaching from the East.
As he searched he thought of the last words that his master had told him."Just find your way out of this dark forest and you will be able to live with other ponies like yourself." The stallion smiled to himself wondering what it would be like if he really did make it out of this god forsaken place.
He soon found what he looking for in the side of a cliff. The cave was about thirty feet around and went deep into the cliff side. The pony made a quick check if anything was living in the cave, but didn't make too much of an effort. He had been walking for the entire day and had not eaten anything since the night before.
He sat himself down near the entrance of that cave to watch flashes of lightning flashing in the distance. His eyes were heavy and he was struggling to keep them open.
BOOM! The thunder was loud enough to make tremors run up the stallion's for hooves. It was also loud enough to wake a large beast in one of the deep chasms of the cave. It slowly made its way to the entrance of the cave not making a sound as each of its paws hit the ground.
Once near the entrance it noticed the pony sitting at the entrance. Realizing the pony was paying attention to the storm outside, the beast crouched and slowly made its way up to the easy meal sitting at the opening of its home.
Carelessly the beast stepped on a bone that had belonged to one of it's former meals. As the bone snapped in two it let out a loud CRACK .
The stallion turned quickly at the sound and found himself looking into the drooling face of a large manticore three times his size. It roared sending slobber all over the face of the pony who just opened his eyes and smiled as he slowly turned before charging out of the cave.
He didn't make it very far as he felt one of the manticore's paws smashed into his right side, its claws digging into him. The stallion was thrown ten feet before hitting a tree with a loud thud making him cough up blood. He felt the warm blood running down his side from where the beast had made three long cuts.
Playing dead while waiting for the manticore to get close enough, the stallion readied himself for a counter attack. Once it was in range he bucked his hind legs as hard as he could into the face of the manticore. He felt a crunch as its nose broke under his hooves. It reared back bellowing in pain as its paws went to its face. Seeing his opportunity, the pony quickly got back onto its hooves and ran for the forest. But the manticore soon regained his senses and made chase after its meal.
Not caring where he was running he ran deeper into the forest soon coming across a deep bog. He lost his footing as his hooves sank surprisingly fast in the mud, making him fall head first into sludge. He was quickly covered in a thick layer of mud as he slowly moved his way to the other side of the bog.
Luckily for him the manticore made the same mistake he did and ran straight onto the thick mud. If someone was watching the two they would have laughed out loud as it looked like a slow motion chase scene from a movie.
As he reached the other side and climbed out of the thick sludge the stallion looked back at the manticore trying to make its way to him. The stallion smiled as it slipped and nearly lost balance. He then turned around and continued onward.
Weaving his way back through the thick forest the stallion looked for a way to escape. Up ahead there was a large root as thick as his neck sticking out of the ground. The stallion barely cleared it as his back hoof came within millimeaters of the bark covering the root. The manticore wasn't so lucky, the root got caught under its legs and caused the beast to fall face first into the ground with a loud thud.
Without looking back the pony started heading towards what looked to be a clearing in the dark forest. But as he entered the clearing something caught under his legs and face planted into what looked to be a tree. He tried too get back up but was to exhausted from the day of walking and then having to run through the forest. Not to mention he had lost a considerable amount of blood while doing it.
He looked behind him and saw a shadow of what he guessed was the manticore looking for him. At this time he was thankful he was covered in mud because it provided him with the perfect camoflage. He watched it for what seemed to be an eternity as he prayed it wouldn't see him. It soon gave up and headed back to its cave to nurse its wounds.
The stallion tried to get up again but once he had gotten onto his front hooves they gave under him and he fell head first into what he had hit before. With his head growing another lump he curled into a ball and fell asleep.
The next morning Fluttershy was woken up by a rapid thumping on her side. She turned her head slowly to look at an annoyed white rabit standing on flank. His arms were crossed and his left foot was moving up and down as he waited for her to get up.
"Oh, I'm sorry Angel I must have slept in, it must be late if you had to wake me up." She turned to look at the red alarm clock sitting on the dresser next to her bed. It was 8:00 AM, Fluttershy had slept in but not much.
She then got out of bed and nuzzed Angel with a smile on her face. This only seemed to make him more ticked off as he hopped off towards the kitchen. Fluttershy then got ready for the day, she brushed her teeth and pink hair, making sure there no paches sticking up at odd angles.
She then made her way down to the kitchen and got a carrot out of the fridge."Now eat this slowly so you don't choke on it ok Angel." Fluttershy said with concern as she gave it to the annoyed rabbit. He didn't listen though as he downed it in four bites. She sighed as she watched him.
After eating some breakfast of her own she went to the sink and stared washing up the dishes she used.She hummed a quiet tune to herself as she concentrated on what she was doing. As she was finnished drying and putting away what she had used she looked out the window.
Fluttershy gasped at what she saw. There was a hole in the fence that surrounded the chicken coop."Oh no I hope the chickens got out." She said to herself as she rushed out the front door remembering what happened with the CMC the last time a chicken had gotten out. She stuck her head in the little door of the chicken coop and started counting. Fluttershy thanked Celestia as she let out a sigh of relief when she saw that they were all there.
As she pulled her head out of the coop she noticed a movement behind it. Fluttershy let out a loud squeek as she saw the back end of a large body of some animal lying behind the coop.
Fluttershy slowly walked up to the body on the ground trying not to make a sound, it looked as if it was shuttering. Once she had gotten close enough to see the entire body of the sleeping animal she noticed a few things about it. First off it wasn't a beast but a very large stallion, she guessed if he was standing he could easily be taller than Applejacks brother big Machintosh. He was covered from head to hoof in caked on mud and twigs. The second thing she noticed was the flowing bronze mane and tail that seemed to move on its own. With each movement it caught the early morning sun light and made it shine in the places where it wasn't covered in mud or had twigs in it.
Fluttershy stepped in closer to get a better look when she stepped in something wet. She lifted her hoof and looked at the red blood that was mixed in with the dirt. As her eyes started to look for the source of the blood. They soon found it as she let out a gasp at the three long cut on the side of the stallion.
She ran back into her house too look for the suplies needed to help the dying pony outside. She grabbed the first aid kit under the sink in the kichen, a few rolls of bandages, and some disinfectant. Fluttershy only hoped she would make in time to save his life.
Just as Fluttershy had finished gathering up the medical supplies she would need, a knock came from her front door. She quickly moved to the door wondering who it would be at this hour in the morning. Opening it she was met with the two smiling faces of Applejack and Rarity.
Rarity quickly noticed something was wrong because Flyttershy had tears in her eyes as she looked at the two for help. Rarity immediately gasped at their crying friend and asked, "What's wrong dear, did something bad happen?"
Fluttershy just looked at the two and began to cry while saying, "I found somepony back near my chicken coop and he is badly hurt." Her friends barely understood what she said because of all the sobbing. Noticing the confused looks on their faces Fluttershy said "Just follow me." as she raced to the back of her house.
Applejack looked at Rarity with concern as they quickly followed their sensitive friend to the back of her cottage, gasping as they came upon the massive unconscious stallion behind the chicken coop.
"What happen here? Who is this sleeping pony in your back yard? And what happened to his hair?" Asked Rarity
"Oh mah word he looks like he could easily be bigger than Macintosh." proclaimed Applejack
Fluttershy didn't pay much attention to what her friends had said as she started to clean and sterilize the three cuts on the stallion's side. She had done this many times on animals that were brought to her or she had found wounded on the road or in the forest, so she knew what she was doing. Her friends quickly noticed what she was doing and moved over to assist her while asking questions about what had happened.
She just shook her head saying "I don't know! I don't know!" in a voice that was a bit louder than she usually spoke with."I f-f-found him here w-w-with these b-b-big cuts in his side." Her tears coming down even faster now.
After a few minutes Fluttershy asked,"Applejack please go into my house and get some water and cloths so we can clean him off. Rarity go into town and get some help please." regaining control of her voice. They both complied and rushed off to do as they were told. Applejack soon returned with a bucket filled with water in her mouth and a pile of rags on her back."Ok now help me clean him off so i can apply some bandages."
The two of them got to work as they cleaned off the mud and grime from the stallion's coat. The color of it became apparent now that it wasn't covered in dirt and blood. It was a dark purple that could have easily been mistaken for black. As they moved to his flank his cutie mark showed, it was a picture of a crescent moon and on the inside of the moon was the sun. Once his mane and tail were cleaned, there was more than just the bronze color that had been seen through the dirt and grime. At the base, it started off as a dark brown color and as it moved onward towards the end it became a lighter and lighter shade of brown until it was completely white. It also looked as if it had an oily shine to it as it shifted colors in different lights.
"Hay Flutters ah think this here feller used to have wings." Applejack said as she pointed to the two lumps right below the shoulders of the stallions back.
"Oh my, how terrible," Fluttershy said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "who would do such a thing to a pony?"
After ten minutes of putting bandages on the three cuts, she and Applejack sat bad and looked at their work, feeling safe that the stallion wouldn't die any time soon.
"Thank Celestia yah have experience with these kinds of things Fluttershy, even if it is only with critters. Now let's see." Applejack said while looking around at her surroundings to find out what happened. She first looked at the broken fence, and saw a trail of branches that led to the Everfree forest behind Fluttershys house. Then she looked at the chicken coop and saw a rather big dent near the top of it. Putting the two together she said. "Ah reckon that this here fellah was being chased by something in the saw yer house here and ran for it. Then he probably tripped on fence and landed head first into the wall of your chicken coop." Applejack fell over laughing as she thought of what it would have been like to watch the big stallion crash into a wall like that. Fluttershy also giggled a little before noticing a lump on the stallions head.
"Hay Flutters what is with this pony's hair it won't stay still?" Applejack asked now that she could get a proper look at him."Reminds yah of the princesses ah little doesn't it."
Fluttershy responded by moving over to the head of the stallion and moving the mane out of his face. "Ummm...Applejack...come look at this, if you wouldn't mind." Fluttershy said as she grabbed another roll of bandages. Applejack came over and gasped as she looked at the two lumps on the stallions for head. One was obviously from running into to chicken coop, but the other one oddly reminded her of a horn. It was about half as tall as her hoof and looked as if it spiraled a bit.
"Yah don't suppose he is like, an alicorn like the princesses now do you?" asked Applejack
"I don't know but I think we should bandage up his head in case he has a concussion." Fluttershy said starting to wrap the bandage around his head.
"Ok but we are going to have to ask Twi about it later."
Rarity made her way to town in about twenty minutes, witch wasnt very bad considuring she spent nearly all her time designing and making dresses. The first place she thought to stop was the library but once she reached the door she saw a note stuck to the fron door.
Dear girls,
I'm off to Canterlot to escort princes Luna to Ponyville won't be back till tomorrow evening. Hope everything will be alright while I am gone.
PS. Don't tell Pinkie Pie. I don't think the princess will want to have a party once we get there.
Rarity looked up from the note and lost herself in thought for a moment before snapping back into reality. Remembering what she had been told to do, she quickly turned on spot and ran towards the hospital. On her way there she heard a voice above her.
"Hay rarity where are you heading in such a hurry?" asked a light blue pegasus as she few down towards Rarity.
"Rainbow Dash you need to get to Fluttershy's house as fast as you can"
"Why did something hap-?"
"Don't ask just get there. Applejack is there already but they may need help"
The pegasus looked at her friend with concern before saluting and flying off, heading in the direction rarity had come from.
Rarity burst through the doors of the hospital at speeds that would make Pinkie Pies ranting seem slow. All eyes fell on her as she tried to tell them what happened. "Fluttershy....stallion...hurt...uhhhhh!" she fainted from running so long.
"Well whatever sliced up his side it must have pretty big."
"Hmm maybe it was a bear that did it to him."
"No i know most bears in the area and they would never hurt somepony unless they had to. Also they aren't big enough to do something like this."
"Well ah don't like it, ah have a funny feeling about this one. Not only does it looks like he has had wings at one time and a horn, but ah don't think we will be able to trust him."
"Well I guess we will have to wait till he wakes up to find out."
The stallion began to regain his consciousness as he listened to the voices. He felt something being wrapped around his head.
"Where is Rarity she should have been back by now."
"Ah don't know Fluttershy hopefully she gets back soon though."
He tried to remember what had happen the previous day. He had been walking through the forest, then he came to the cave, and then THE MANTICORE!!!
He shot upright in an instant. Ignoring a high pitched squeal he began to look around franticly only to see a white thing hanging over his face. Starting to panic he tried to get up on his hooves only to be met with a sharp pain from his right side.
Suddenly he heard a voice "Woh there partner, now calm down." he felt a hoof touch his face as it moved the bandage out of his sight. He looked at what had moved it, it was a small pony with an orange coat and yellow hair that was tied at its ends with a red band. She looked at his eyes for the first time. They were a light tan color. She then said "Mah name is Applejack and this is my friend Fluttershy." she said pointing to her left. The stallion looked at her with confusion as she was pointing at nothing. Applejack caught his look and saw that Fluttershy wasn't standing by her any more but was hiding behind the corner of her cottage.
"Gosh Futtershy why are yah hiding over there?" She walked over to the shaking pony and dragged her in front of the stallion."Well introduce yerself."
She let out a squeak and quietly muttered her name. The stallion looked at her with confution as if to ask 'What did you say?' .She then mumbled her name again but even quieter. Applejack face hoofed and said "Sorry about mah friend here she can be a little shy, her name is Fluttershy after all." The stallion then got up on his front hooves and started pulling at the ground in front of him.
"Well what's yer name stranger?" Applejack asked the stallion only looked at her for a short while before going back to dragging his hoof on the ground. "Did yah hear me, I said what is yer name?" Once again nothing from the stallion he only dragged his hoof on the ground in front of him. "Yah know I'm about this close to bucking yah, if yah don't an-"
She was quickly interrupted by Fluttershy who had put a hoof in Applejacks mouth. Pulling it out quickly as Applejack looked at her "Oh I'm sorry, its just...well look." she pointed her hoof at the ground in front of the stallion. On the ground in front of him where four words with a line down the middle of them;
Bronze Night | Can't speak
Applejack looked at the words for a few seconds before looking up."So yer name is Bronze Night?" the stallion shook his head up and down rapidly. "Ok that's figured out but what does this second part mean, are u telling us that you can't talk to anypony?" She looked at him with confusion. He then shook his head slowly before lifting his chin up. He pointed at his neck for a few seconds. Both of the girls gasped at what they saw. A few inches under his chin was a pale scar that reached down 6 inches. They had figured out what had happened.
Fluttershy looked at him with sadness in her eyes. She then startled Bronze by rushing up to him and hugging him.
"Oh you poor thing, it must be terrible not to be able to speak. W-what happened?"
He then freed himself from her embrace and started dragging at the ground again."Don't know. Happened to long ago."
After the girls had read this Applejack asked him "Well bronze just exactly how old are you? Yah don't exactly look that old."
The purple stallion then started to clear the ground where he had put the last words. "Don't know. Live in dark place for long time. Wandering, no way out."
"By dark place yah mean the EverFree Forest?"
Bronze nodded at applejacks question struggling to put together understandable sentences. "I much younger when woke up in dark place. Wandering ever since."
It was apparent to Applejack and Fluttershy that he was having trouble fitting together his sentences as if he didn't have much experience writing.
"Well that explains where yah came from but how did yah get those cuts on yer side"
"Manticore attack while resting. You mind me asking, why you so small?"
At this last question Applejack laughed "Hahahahaha yah think that we are small hahaha I'm sorry buster but it's not us who are small. Yah are just very big compared to everypony else." She then thought about his question for a second. "Wait it almost seems as if you have never seen another pony before."
Yes this first time, other than seeing reflection. Always knew more like me out there."
If Applejack had been drinking anything she would have spat it out at reading this last comment.
This time Fluttershy spoke up. "Well then umm if, you don't mind me asking Mr. Bronze but if you have never seen anypony before then how do you know how to write? And how can you understand us."
Bronze thought for a moment wile trying to recall what words to write. "After I woke in forest I was confused and scared. Three days pass, no eating and running from all things try to eat me, then came upon large cave. I sleep inside for night woke up to dragon sitting next me. Guess must have touch him, he take me in, raised me. His name was Ballahmar, taught me read, write, and live on own. He give me name." Bronze stopped and smiled as he remembered the happy memory."After three year, Ballahmar told soon he fall into a sleep that he no wake up from for long time. I no understand, but he tell me how more like me in world if I find way out of forest, I be with others like me. With that he fall asleep I have wandering ever since, to find way out of forest." A tear ran down Bronzes face as he had remembered the dragon that had had helped him so much.
Tears were running down Fluttershy's face and Applejack was deeply touched after they finished reading the words Bronze had put in the ground. They moved up to Bronze and wrapped him in a big hug. They suddenly separated themselves from him as they heard a yell coming from behind them.
"Fluttershy! Applejack! What's going on!? Who is that with you?"
They turned to see a blue pegasus speeding towards them. She landed skidding to a halt. Once she had stopped she looked at the towering stallion in front of her. Rainbow Dashes eyes widening as she looked up at him. He looked allot smaller when she was in the air. But now that she saw him up close he looked like a towering mountain. Quickly snapping back to her senses she asked "Who is this guy?"
"Oh hay there Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said happily after Rainbow had asked her for the second time. "This is Bronze Night. Bronze this is one of my best friends Rainbow Dash."
He bowed his head towards Raidnbow Dash, he started writing with his hooves. "Nice meet you Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow didn't notice what he had written. After a few awkward moments she asked "What's wrong with him? Why won't he talk? Is he hiding something?"
He then looked over to Applejack for help. She noticed how he looked at her. "Ah...Rainbow look down." she said wile pointing at the ground in front of Bronze.
Rainbow looked down and saw what was written.
"Nice to meet you too but what's wrong with you? Are you to afraid to talk or something?"She asked with confusion.
Applejack then spoke up."It's a long story but just believe us when we say he can't speak...at all. Instead he writes what he wants to say on the ground."
The sun was high in the air by now as the four ponies continued to talk. Suddenly they all heard a loud growl from Bronze. He lowered his head a little as he blushed.
"Well it looks like somepony is hungry." Applejack said with a grin on her face."Lets head into town and see if we can get yah something to eat."
Bronze seemed really excited as he heard this and tried to get up on his hind legs a bit to fast. At the quick movement his wound screamed at him as he collapsed with a painful look on his face.
"Rainbow get over here and help me get him on his hooves"
"Gosh...fine then" Rainbow Dash said reluctantly.
They both helped him up as he winced in pain from his side. He took a few steps and looked as if he was going to fall over only to regain his posture at the last moment.
"Are you alright? We don't have to go to town if you can't make it. I'm sure I can make something for us to eat here" Fluttershy said. Bronze gave her a look that said I'll be fine.
They then continued down the path that lead to ponyville.
"Now let's see what would be best to remove those pesky wings of yours'?" Luna found herself saying looking down at an assortment of knifes and hacksaws. "Its a shame really they are one of our favorite colors." She turned around and looked at the young colt strapped down to a table behind her. She giggled to herself before turning back around."Ahhh. I think this one will do just nicely."
She had picked up a butchers knife and walked over to the colt. Blood was running down his forehead already mixing with the tears pouring from his eyes. Luna took a position behind his head and whispered in his ear "Now we promise that this is going to hurt allot more than that first round we just finished Dawn Bringer." She giggled to herself again raising the knife above her head and bringing it down.
The cleaver did its job perfectly cutting through the skin and under developed bones with ease. Luna then moved to the screaming colts other side and quickly repeated the action calling forth another high pitched scream of pain. She then put the knife back on the table she had retrieved it from and replaced it with a much smaller scalpel knife.
Moving herself closer to his head again she spoke the last words in his ear."Don't worry we won't kill you nephew we are just going to make sure you cannot tell anypony of what you saw us do today, and we are not talking about this last hour we have been spending together." She then moved down to his throat positioned the scalpel just under his chin and pushed.
Luna shot straight up in her bed breathing heavily, looking around quickly. Her bed and coat were covered in sweat. She was shaking uncontrollably as the vivid scenes she had just witnessed flashed before her eyes. Looking at her hoof as she remembered the feel of the cleaver as it slipped through the wings of the colt she had tortured. Of the warmth of his blood hitting her face as it spurted out of his wounds.
Luna tried to calm down as she looked around her room. Her breathing slowed down but the tremors running through her body did not. She beat her hoof against her head trying to forget the horrible things she had just seen herself do. Feeling her last meal moving up her throat at an alarming rate she quickly dashed off to the bathroom.
After emptying her stomach she heard a knock on her bedroom door."Princess Luna a Miss Twilight Sparkle is here to see you." A guard called to her. After hearing this she felt allot better as she sorted out the mess she had made on herself. Telling the guard to let Twilight in she tried to put on a pleasant smile. She watched as the lavender pony entered the room.
"It's so good to see you again Princess Luna. Are you ready for the trip to Ponyville?" Twilight said as she entered the room with a smile on her face."I was so happy when you agreed to help me research the effects of Gallsahvien salve on the different trees of the Everfree forest."
Luna smiled at the little pony in front of her."It's good to see you to Twilight, but what did I tell you about just calling us Luna?" Twilight giggled at this looking in to the face of her mentor's sister. Luna was obviously having a bit of trouble not speaking how she used to a thousand years ago. They gave each other a short hug before moving to the door that lead out of Luna's room."Before we leave I wish to speak to my sister about something that is troubling me." She then turned to her guards before saying, "Guards, please escort Miss Twilight down to my carriage, I will be down there shortly."
Twilight said goodbye and left with the guards. Luna quickly turned and went down the halls that lead to her sister's study. They didn't have any windows in them, instead the walls were covered with the pictures of ponies that had done heroic act or great deed to help Equestria. Luna always felt uneasy when she past the pictures never looking at their eyes.
The Door to the study came into view as she rounded the last corner. Just as Luna was about to knock on the door to her sister's study, they opened and Celestia was standing there with a hint of fright in her eyes. "Umm, I take it you already know why I am here sister." Luna said in a shy voice.
Celestia looked at her sister for a moment then asked "The nightmares again?"
"Yes, but this time it was much worse."Luna said as she entered the study. She then sat down on one of the couches in front of the fire place. Celestia floated over a quill and parchment, sitting across from Luna as she wrote down what her sister could remember of the nightmare."...and that's when I woke up."Celestia then moved up to her sister who was on the verge of tears and wrapped a hoof around her.
"You know that I am always here for you Luna. Don't let these dreams eat away at you, nothing good will come of it. Now I do believe that there is somepony waiting for you down stairs." she then broke the contact between them. "Now go have some fun with Twilight, she has been looking forward t this for the last month. Oh...and don't worry about raising the moon tonight I'll take care of it."
Luna thanked her sister as she walked out of the study with a small smile, she always felt better after telling her sister of the horrible dreams that she had been getting. They had been coming to her ever since she was freed from Nightmare Moon. Every few months she would get a different dream of some past wrong doing she had done wile under the control of Nightmare Moon. But last night's dream was different she couldn't remember doing that and it was so much more vivid then all the rest.
She soon made her way out to the carriage that would carry her and twilight to Ponyville. Soon they were off and heading to the colorful town that was barely visible in the distance.
By the time they had arrived in Ponyville Celestia's sun had nearly set in the distance. As they walked around town Twilight and Luna soon noticed that something was off about their surroundings. Every house that they passed was dark and there was no other ponies walking around on the streets. Even if it was nearly night there shouldn't be such a lack of life in the streets.
As they neared the center of town they saw two ponies coming from the direction of the hospital. Luna quickly grabbed twilight and ran behind a house. Both of them looked around the corner as the two ponies came nearer. One was the unicorn Rarity, she was smiling wile talking to a dark colored stallion. Both of the hiding ponies gasped as they got a better view of him. He was the most massive stallion they had ever seen and his hair flowed like it was being blown in the wind even though there wasn't any. They also noticed three long scars on is side as he walked past them. He was smiling at the shorter pony nodding his head every so often as she continued to talk to him. But never saying a word back to her.
Twilight looked at Luna and asked if they should go out and greet the two. Luna only shook her head as she gave twilight a look that said 'let's see what happens'. They followed the two ponies till they stopped at the door of Sugercube Corner the bakery of Ponyville. Suddenly realizing what was about to come Twilight giggled to herself. The large stallion opened the door to the bakery and stepped inside slowly as he looked around cautiously. Just as he entered the room the likes turned on and the two hiding ponies could hear a loud "SURPRISE!" come from the bakery. The stallion suddenly fell back as he was suddenly startled, realizing what had happened.
After entering the bakery Rarity closed the door behind her and the two hiding ponies came out from behind the house.
"Who was that. I don't think I have ever seen a pony as big as him he is even bigger than you Luna." Twilight said looking at the princess.
"I don't know but he seems very familiar for some reason, I just can't put my hoof on it." Luna replied."But as much as my curiosity wishes for me find out I'm just too tired to find out." She let out a long yawn wile trying to keep her eyes open.
"Ok let's head over to the library then. I need to sort out some supplies for tomorrow anyway." Twilight said before getting up and heading in the direction of the library. Luna followed and they soon found themselves walking through the doors. Luna went straight up to the bed wile Twilight stayed down stares looking for the supplies they would need the next day to conduct the research she had mentioned before. She would need to buy a few things to be ready but since everpony was at the party she would have to wait till tomorrow morning. Walking over to the couch she laid herself down and fell asleep.
In the next Chapter I will be skipping back to the day before the party mentioned above, right before Bronze, Rainbow, Applejack, and Fluttershy enter Ponyville.
Bronze gasped as he was left speechless (even though he couldn't talk in the first place) as he looked at Ponyville. He and the girls were on the outskirts of town about to enter. Never had he seen so many new colors before as he looked around at the buildings. Hay, even the buildings were amazing to him having only seen trees and caves for most of his life. He couldn't believe that ponies lived in such beautiful things.
As they entered town he felt all the eyes of the ponies that were on the streets looking at him. They were looking at him for three reasons. The first was because he was nearly twice their size. The second was because of his flowing mane and tail as it reflected the sun light casting colors every which way as it moved. The third was because of the bandages wrapped around his midsection.
But Bronze didn't care, he was too stunned by all the new and beautiful things around him to feel embarrassed. Although he didn't like the looks of the carts some of the ponies pulled behind them, they seemed a bit too fast moving for his tastes. But the vegetables that the carts were carrying fascinated him to no end. Some were bright orange while others looked like little green trees. He had seen some of them but most were new to him.
As they reached around a bend, the most wonderful smell he had ever experienced hit him as they neared Sugercube Corner. He looked up at the sign hanging above the bakery that the girls had stopped in front.
Rainbow dash then got a devilish idea. Bronze looked at them wile they started whispering something to each other. Fluttershy looked a little shocked as Rainbow dash stopped whispering but nodded her head in agreement. They then looked at him with a expectant stare.
Bronze quickly started to write in the ground wondering what the problem was. "What's the matter?"
"Don't yah know it's polite for the stallion to open the door for the mares?" Applejack said with a small giggle. Rainbow and Fluttershy nodded their heads in agreement.
Bronze then turned to the door and thought about how to open it for a moment. It seemed a bit weird to him, he never had to use such things when he was in the forest. He then shrugged to himself thinking How hard can it be . He tried pushing it with his hooves, pulling the shiny metal thing on the side of it, even going as far as writing open sesame on it with mud.
Rainbow and Applejack fell over laughing with tears running down their eyes. Soon they started having problems breathing. Even Fluttershy giggled at the 'open sesame' part.
Bronze was sweating as he heard them laughing at him. He started to panic trying to think of a way to get through this immovable obstacle standing in his way. His pride refused to let him ask for help from the girls. He started to shake as their laughter finally got to him.
Noticing this Fluttershy put a hoof on his side (she would have put it on his shoulder but we was too damn tall) trying to calm him. Rainbow and Applejack stopped laughing as they saw tears forming in Bronze's eyes.
"Hey it was only a joke alright no need to cry on us big guy." Rainbow Dash moved past him, "I'm sorry alright. Now watch this is how you do it." He watched her as she put her hoof on the door handle and turned it. The door swung inward as Bronze cursed himself for not thinking of it before.
As they entered the pleasant smell of the baked goods enveloped them. Bronze would have fainted from pure bliss if it wasn't for a pink pony who popped out of nowhere and screamed at the top of her lungs as her eyes grew to an enormous size. "OHMYGOSHYOURSOHUGEANDYOURNEWINTOWNANDTHATMEANSIGETTOTHROWANOTHERPARTYANDOHMYGOSHICANTBE-" Her ranting would have continued on if it wasn't for Applejack shoving a cupcake in the pink pony's mouth.
"Calm down Pinkie yah don't have to freak out like that every time yah meet a new pony." Applejack said "Now this is our friend Bronze. Bronze this is Pinkie Pie." He would have written out 'nice to meet you' but he noticed that the floor was made of wood, so he just bowed his head in response. "Bronze can't talk so be nice to 'im Pinkie."
"Oh my gosh you can't talk, I don't think I would eeeeeeever be able to be happy if I couldn't talk, well not really, but still that is so sad." Just then Pinkie Pie was interrupted by a loud growl from Bronze's stomach as the sweet smells started to get to him.
She only giggled at him as she popped into the back of the bakery. A few moments later she came back with a platter that had a lid on it. She then put the platter down on a table next to Bronze and removed the lid. Underneath was a big cupcake that could have easily been mistaken for a small cake.
Bronze's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he looked at the incredible pastry. He looked at Pinkie Pie, wishing he could speak so he could ask if it was for him. She seemed to understand what he was thinking and nodded her head up and down with a big smile on her face. Bronze then looked at this glorious thing in front of him almost feeling guilty that he would be destroying such a magnificent thing as he bit into the side of the cupcake. Once the frosting hit his tongue he couldn't take it anymore. After all that he had experienced today and all the new things he had seen, he just fell over with a frosting covered smile on his face. While falling, the back of his head hit the side of one of the tables behind him with a thud.
Fluttershy squeaked nearly getting crushed as he fell over, Rainbow Dash was back on the ground not being able to breathe because she was laughing so hard, and Applejack was asking what pinkie had put in the cupcake.
When they noticed he wasn't getting back up they quickly looked over him. He was out cold with a pain filled look on his face. After landing on the floor his three cuts had opened back up and started to bleeding again. They soon found a unicorn to help them levitate him to the hospital so his condition wouldn't worsen.
Bronze woke up as he felt his stomach growled at him. The last time he had eaten was the night before he had been attacked by the manticore.
He looked around and saw that he was in a white room that felt very clean. There were a few cabinets lining the wall opposite him and a small chair in the corner. To his left there was a window that let in the sunlight. Other than that his room was pretty bare.
He loved the fabric he was lying on it was like sitting on clouds. The last time he had laid on something so soft was back when Ballahmar would let him sleep on the soft underside of one of his palms. He sighed as he remembered the closest thing to a father that he had.
He listened as he heard trotting back and forth behind the door on the far end of the room, wondering if one of the ponies that passed his door would enter his room. He just laid there and waited for what seemed like an eternity as he waited for something to happen.
His ears perked up as he heard some ponies start to talk outside his room. He recognized the voices of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash talking with two other ponies.
"It's amazing, if anypony said to me that I was going to treat a real alicorn today I would have thought them crazy." Said a excited voice.
"It's so sad, if what you say is true then he must have lost his horn and wings long ago." The soft voice of Fluttershy replied.
The first voice spoke up again. "If you don't mind I would like to keep him here over night so we can get the results back. It will help us find out so much about him."
"Well I'm heading home after today I could do with a good nap" Rainbow Dash's voice said with a yawn.
"Me too I forgot to feed my animals this morning. What about you Rarity are you going to head home?"
"No I'm going to stay here a little longer and see if he wakes up, it's the least I can do after I not being able to get help. Anyway all of you have already seen him and from what you tell me he must be quite the looker." Said a tired voice that seemed to have a small amount of sadness in it.
"Ok then see yah later Rarity." Rainbow said with another yawn.
Bronze could hear three of the ponies trot away as a sigh came from the other side of the door. The door slowly opened as a white unicorn with a purple mane moved into the room.
"Oh you're already awake." Rarity exclaimed with a look of shock on her face."Oh...oh my, your mane is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen." She couldn't take her eyes off it, mesmerized by how it moved on its own accord.
Bronze just looked at her as she just stood there for a full three minutes before he waved a hoof to try and get her attention. Rarity shook her head trying to get back her senses. "So, I guess that introductions are in order, I am Rarity." She put out her hoof. He looked at it with confusion trying to figure out what to do. After about thirty very awkward seconds she noticed that he wasn't going to kiss it as so many other stallions would. "Uhhh, so what's your name."
Bronze rolled his eyes at this making Rarity gasp at the rude act. He then tried to explain to her, through a series of hoof movements that he couldn't speak. After two minutes of Rarity giving him funny looks as he tried to make her understand, Bronze gave up as he face hoofed. He then started drawing out each letter with his hooves as Rarity watch him. After a few attempts she understood what he was doing."I-C-A-N-T-S-P-E-A-K"
"Oh! I'm so sorry." Rarity started blushing. Mean wile Bronze just rolled his eyes, 'finally' he said to himself."Wait here dear I`ll be back as soon as I can." Rarity said as she headed for the door. True to her word after a few minutes she came back in carrying with her a pen and some paper."There," She said wile levitating it over to him with her magic "now we can at least have a bit of a civilized talk."
He took the pen in his mouth and started writing.
"Thank you, it pleasure to meet you Rarity. My name Bronze Night. How did you make these float over to me? It first time I ever see anything like it before."
"You mean you don't know about magic! Where have you been for the past I don't know how long."
Bronze then told Rarity of how he had lived his entire life in the Everfree forest and had never seen anypony till today, how he met Ballahmar, and finally how he was attacked by the manticore.
"Oh wow that explains allot. But why didn't this Ballahmar teach you any proper manners. Being a dragon and all he must have been able to teach you some form of decency. Also, no offence but your writing is worse than an illiterate cave pony." Feeling guilty as she just realized what she had said. Bronze was an illiterate pony that had lived in caves.
Bronze didn't mind in fact he started laughing which came out as a wheezing sound, at first Rarity thought something was wrong with him, but soon realized he was laughing. He had a large grin on his face as he tried to think of something that he could say in return.
After a few moments of silence his stomach started to speak up again. Rarity was a little shocked at first but soon smiled as her own stomach made a growl of its own.
"I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm going to try and find something for us to eat."
Rarity left the room and after ten minutes she had found a small restaurant not to far from the hospital. After acquiring a few paper plates and silver ware from one of the nurses, she returned to the room Bronze was staying in.
As they ate Rarity tried to explain to Bronze how to properly hold silver ware and what each utensil was used for. It took Bronze a few times but he eventually got it down. After they were done eating, Rarity continued on for the next few hours trying to teach him all the different things that ponies could do that was polite, what was considered an insult and what was a compliment, basically everything needed to be a 'high upstanding pony' in society.
Bronze just sat there and absorbed all the information like a sponge. He wanted to know all that he could about how to properly fit in, even if some of the concepts seemed strange. For instance like how he had to bathe every day. When he was in the Everfree forest he didn't bathe at all.
As the day wore on the sun was close to setting when a nurse Redheart came in to tell them that Rarity had to leave for the night. She said her good byes and that she would be back the next day.
Bronze fell asleep soon after she left. He was happy, not only had he found out that he wasn't the only one of his kind but he also made five new friends in one day.
"Now Bronze, please stop jumping around so much so we can continue on with your writing"
The young colt stopped his hopping and moved over to the big blue dragon sitting in the back of the cave.
"Good, now lets go over the vowels." Ballahmar said with his deep voice as the young Bronze sat next to him and began writing in the dirt."Yes that is very good now what are the other three vowels...no Bronze G is not a vowel." The little colt finished writing the last few vowels before smiling up to the dragon.
"Very good your progress is truly amazing for someone of your age." Ballahmar said as he showed a very toothy smile. Bronze smiled as he nuzzled the side of the dragon. Ballahmar let out a chuckle as he said. "Now come on we need to continue. What's next...Ahh yes now Bronze I want you to write out all the numbers from one to twenty and if you do it perfectly I will give you a special treat."
Bronze got excited and started hopping around again for a minute before sitting down. He stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated on what each number looked like. He slowly wrote in the dirt, occasionally looking at Ballahmar to see if he had gotten anything wrong. The old dragon just sat there and waited for him to finish, inspecting each number for mistakes.
After he had finished writing down the last number Bronze looked at Ballahmar with a worried look in his eyes. Ballahmar just sat there with a serious look on his face. He sat like this for a full minute before slowly smiling at Bronze. The little colts face suddenly lit up with joy as he started jumping up and down around one of the massive forearms of the dragon.
Ballahmar turned one of his massive hands upside down and allowed the colt to climb his way into his palm. He then lied down himself and said. "Now bronze for your reward, I'll tell you how the sphinx king Mal'mah tricked the gate keeper Sol into letting him into the last gold city of Dala." Bronze jumped up and down as he found out he was going to hear his most favorite story. "But before we begin I need you to do something for me. I need you to wake up."
The dragon kept looking at the confused colt. "I need you to wake up"
"Come on big guy I need you to wake up for me now."Nurse Redheart said again. Celestia's sun was at its peak in the sky when she had given up on waiting for him to rouse from his sleep.
Bronze opened his eyes slowly as he turned his head lazily to the small white earth pony. He looked at her with an expression of annoyance.
"Don't you give me that look." She scolded him like a mother." Now get on out of that bed so I can change out your bandages."
Bronze obeyed, and slowly got out of the bed. Once out of the bed he sat down so he wouldn't fall over as the blood rushed to his head. While the old bandages were removed he felt a shiver run down his spine as the fresh air came into contact with his wounds. He loved the feeling of finally having them off.
Once her job was done Nurse Redheart let out a small gasp as she looked at three long scars on Bronzes side. "Fascinating, I always heard that alicorns healed faster than normal ponies but I never imagined it would be this fast." Bronze had to force himself to not to squirm as she poked the scars in different locations."But this shouldn't have happened. The magic we used on you when you were brought to us was supposed to prevent scaring."
Redheart finished inspecting other parts of his body and left the room for a short amount of time. While she was gone Bronze grabbed the pen and pencil Rarity gotten him the day before and started writing. The door opened again and he looked up as Nurse Redheart came back through the door. The pen he was using fell out of his mouth as he saw what she was carrying with her.
She was carrying a glass tube as long as the pen he was using but three times as thick and on the end of the tube was a long needle. His eyes widened with fear as she filled it with a strange blue liquid. The now pale stallion gulped as Redheart started to walk towards him with the filled syringe.
"Now stay still this won't...hurt...a...bit." Redheart said smiling as she stressed the last three words, making shivers run down Bronze's spine.
Rarity was cleaning up after a long day of making dresses when a knock came from the front door. She quickly put away what she was holding before heading towards the front door. The knock came again as she tried not to trip over some rolls of fabric lying on the floor.
"Hold on I'll be there in a few moments." Rarity said as she moved aside some manikins that were in front of the door. Once she opened the door she was met by a blue hoof hitting her in the face.
"Oops sorry Rarity," Rainbow Dash said trying not to laugh. "I hope I didn't hurt you."
"No I'm fine please come in." Rubbing her head where Rainbow had hit her.
"Wow this place is a mess."
"No, really I couldn't tell." Rarity replied sarcastically as she looked back at her organized chaos. "So what reason do you have for coming here Rainbow Dash, and Celestia help me if you ask me to make another cape for you to wear while flying."
The last and only time she had made a cape for Rainbow it took her a few hours to make. But twenty minutes after she had given it to Rainbow it was returned to her ripped, torn, and covered in mud. A little piece of her died that day as she looked at what she had worked so long to make.
"No it's nothing like that, I only came over to tell you that Pinkie Pie wants somepony to bring that Bronze guy to Sugercube Corner for a party tonight."
"Well ok, I was going to go over to the hospital anyway once I had finished cleaning this mess. Would you mind being a dear and helping me."
Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a suspecting glance before continuing on. "Sorry no can do Rarity I have to move a few rainclouds over to Applejack's place in thirty minutes."
Rarity sighed as she watched her friend leave.
"Oh well might as well get back to it this mess won't clean itself" She said wile levitating a ball of yarn into a basket, on a table in the middle of the room.
Bronze was rubbing his arm feeling a little betrayed. Even if the nurse said it was to help kill off any viruses he had gotten from the manticore, it still hurt like bucking hay afterwards.
His mind turned to the dream he had gotten before Redheart had woke him up. It had happened a few months after he had woken up in the Everfree forest. He remembered just how much he loved the old dragons writing lessons, because he was always rewarded with a story if he had done a good job.
Bronze picked up his pen and started to write. He repeated all that Ballahmar had taught him starting with the alphabet. Next he moved on to all the numbers he knew, first writing them out in their numeral form then moved on to writing them out in word form. For the next three hours he continued on like this going over his nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.
When he was nearly finished a knock came on the door and Rarity came in smiling to him carrying a bag on her back . He immediately returned her smile with his own as he showed her what he had been working on. She looked over the lists of words.
"You really seem to like writing Bronze."
"Not really I'm prac-" Just then bronze ran out of room on the paper and it was his last sheet. He had a pathetic look on his face as looked at Rarity. She giggled a little while levitating a few things out of the bag she had with her.
"I thought this might happen so I decided to get you a little present."She levitated a thick notebook over to him. Bronze felt a tear forming in his eye as he moved over to Rarity and gave her a hug. He picked up his new form of communication and started writing franticly.
"Oh Thank you! But you didn't have to go through the trouble."
"It was no problem at all dear, it wouldn't do you any good if you didn't have a way to talk to us." She said rubbing the back of her head."Now it's time to get down to business Nurse Redheart said that you should be fine to leave the hospital as long as you take it easy for a while." At hearing Redhearts name Bronze flinched a little but he was happy all the same that he didn't have to stay in this room any more.
The sun had nearly set by the time they had entered Ponyville. Rarity was talking to Bronze about how she wanted make a suit for him that he could wear on special occasions. He just looked at her and nodded his head as she led them through the town. Before he knew it they were back at Sugercube Corner. All the lights were out and he could swear that he saw shadows moving in the windows.
Remembering what the girls had told him the day before, he opened the door for Rarity with few problems and waited for her to go in first. She only sat there and gave him a look that said 'you go first'.
He slowly entered the room looking around trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly the lights turned on and there was a room filled with ponies yelling 'SURPRISE!!!' He fell back startled by the sudden outburst. Then as usual Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere and started talking so fast that no pony would understand her.
Realizing what was going on he put on one of his best smiles and looked around. There were colorful streamers hanging from the ceiling, confetti all over the floor, and different colored ribbons adorning the walls and tables. Cakes, snacks, and drinks covered the tables and counters. On each table a set of balloons shooting out of the middle of all the pastries, each balloon was a different color of the rainbow and had smilie faces on them.
After the guests had dispersed into their own little groups a white pony with blue hair wearing red tinted sun glasses started up the music. It was a loud but catchy music with a fast beat and a deep bass. She put her hoof to the headphones she was wearing, nodding her head up and down to the beat of the music she was playing.
Bronze moved to the back of the bakery followed by Rarity towards Rainbow and Applejack who were talking to each other. They turned to him as he approached them.
"So sugercube how are yah likin' yer party!" Applejack yelled over the loud music.
Bronze answered her by giving her a joy and thank filled smile. Rainbow then handed him a glass filled with some sort of a yellow liquid that she called cider. He downed the whole thing and shuttered as it sent a tingle run down his back. He felt warmth spread throughout his body and he stared to hiccup every now and then.
The four continued to talk throughout the night (Of course bronze wrote instead of talking) and shared laughs. It turned out to be one of the best nights of Bronze's life.
When It was time to leave Applejack told him that he could stay at her place for the nights. The two said their good by's as they walked out of Sugercube Corner. They then headed down the road that lead out of Ponyville and into Sweet Apple Acres.
Bronze was a bit tipsy from drinking to much cider at the party. He swayed back and forth bumping into Applejack a few times as they reached the orchard.
Bronze loved the welcoming look of the apple trees around them, they were much easier on the eyes and didn't look as menacing as the ones in the Everfree forest. He also loved the red and green colors of the apples that hung from the branches. While in the Everfree forest he would rarely come across a apple tree and the apples were half the size of the ones he was looking at now.
He breathed in the midnight air and let it out slowly, it smelled as if it had just rained. He let out a content sigh, as he enjoyed a cool breeze.
As they neared the Apple family's house they heard a yell come from the road ahead.
"Look out Applejack there is ah huge monster behind yah." screamed a young filly.
Bronze quickly looked around trying to find this monster that had startled the filly. Applejack started to laugh at his reaction. She then turned to the filly that was running up to them.
"It's alright Applebloom he is ah friend of mine, and he ain't ah monster yah hear." Applejack said to her sister who was now looking up at Bronze with big eyes.
"Are yah sure he sure looks like a monster tah me."
"Now what have yah' learned about judging ponies by how they look, remember Zicora."
"Oh ya that's right." Applebloom turned to Bronze with a smile. "Ah'm sorry mister, mah name is Applebloom nice tah' meet yah."
Bronze smiled at the little filly bowing his head a little. He remembered when he was that small.
"Uhhh...sis. Ah think there might be somethin' wrong with yer friend he just keeps starin' at me."
"Oh don't worry about that. His name is Bronze and he is a mute. Bronze this is mah little sis Applebloom."
"What's ah mute sis?"
"Ah mute is somepony that can't talk Applebloom."
"Oh no that is so sad he can't talk at all."
Applejack shook her head in response as Bronze let out a small yawn as he tried to stay awake.
"That reminds me shouldn't yah have bin' in bed a few hours ago Bloom."Applejack said to her sister
"Big Mac said ah could say up." Applebloom said in defense.
Applejack sighed as she led them back to the house. She tucked Applebloom into bed before showing Bronze to the guest room.
"G'night Bronze." Applejack said as he climbed up onto the bed. She left the room and Bronze laid his head down on a pillow. He had no trouble falling asleep as he lied on the bed with a content feeling in his heart.
Hope you all liked it and thank you all who are reading this for stickin with me. I may have had a rough start but I'm starting to get the hang of it.
RIIIIIIIIIIIINNNGGGG Bronze shot up suddenly at the loud ringing. He found himself losing balance quickly as he started to fall out of the bed. He hit the hard wood floor with a loud thud. His head screamed at him as he looked around for the origin of the loud ringing that was pounding away at his ears.
Bronze soon found out what was making the annoying sound. It was a small round alarm clock sitting on the dresser next to his bed. He wondered how the hell such a small thing could make such a loud noise without stopping. Bronze picked it up and started to shake it violently to get it to be quiet as his head continued to throb. After several more unsuccessful attempts to quiet the little object he just put it on the ground and stomped on it until it stopped making noise.
Bronze sighed as he put a hoof on his throbbing head hoping Applejack wouldn't be mad at him for destroying one of her clocks. He sat there for five minutes while waiting for his head to stop hurting.
After Bronze left his room he found his way down stairs and looked around trying to decide where to go next. In front of him was a large round table with many cuts and dents in it. He guessed that this was where the Apple family had all their meals, and from the state of the table the meals must have been pretty rambunctious.
On the walls there were pictures of the Apple family's members both living and dead. Bronze looked at the pictures as he walked around the table towards a door labeled 'kitchen'.
"Now what in tar nation do yah think yer doin' in here!" Bronze jumped as he heard the voice of an old but angry green mare that had just woken from a nap. "If yah are thinkin' of robbin' us yah better think twice I`ll buck yah back tah whatever hole yah crawled out of."
He looked at her with fear in his eyes while waving his head and hoof back and forth to try and show that he had no intention of trying anything like that.
The old mare walked up to him narrowing her eyes, giving him a look of distrust. "Well if yah aren't here to rob us then what are yah here for." Bronze backed away from her as she approached him looking for something to write on. He started panicking as nothing could be found. He looked around for a way out of the house so he could get away from those eyes that seemed to throw daggers at him. Suddenly a small voice spoke up from behind him.
"Uhh...Granny Smith why are yah lookin' at Mr. Bronze like that." Applebloom was standing at the bottom of the stares rubbing one of her eyes.
"Yah know this here feller Applebloom." Granny smith said directing her glance at the young filly.
"Well ah only just met him last night. Applejack brought him home with her. She said he was goin' ah stay here for a few days, cause he is new in town."
Granny Smith's eyes turned from a cold suspecting stare to a warm welcoming stare. "Well that's good enough for me." Granny Smith said with a smile."So how bout I whip us up some breakfast."
She went into the kitchen as Bronze and Applebloom sat at the table. While waiting for their meal Applebloom told Bronze about her friends and how they were on a massive crusade to acquire their cutie marks. He just sat there and listened as she when on and on about the plans that she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders members had for the day. One of their plans included using a catapult, a record player, and a fishing rod (use your imagination).
After they had filled their stomachs Applebloom escorted Bronze back to town. When they arrived, Applebloom headed off to the school while Bronze wandered through the streets of Ponyville. He entered a few stores that looked interesting to him but didn't make any purchases because he lacked the bits to buy anything.
Bronze soon found his way to the two story library that had been built in the core of a short but very thick tree. He wondered how the hay the thing was still alive. There were even acorns growing on the ends of some of the branches.
Outside there was a lavender unicorn trying to push a overstuffed tan colored bag through the door way. He made his way over to her and put the mass of his weight against the bag as he helped push it through. With a bit of effort the bag gave in and slowly started to move inward.
When the bag had been pushed through the door, Twilight Panted a few times before turning to the pony that had helped her. "Thanks for that, I tried getting it through with magic but that got it wedged half way throu..." She trailed off as she looked up at the Stallion from the night before.
Bronze laughed in his head, he had been getting that reaction from everyone new that he had been meeting. He put on a big smile as he bowed his head towards her.
Twilight notice he had started to write in the dirt outside of the door way. "There's no need for that Bronze, come on inside and I`ll make us some tea." Bronze gave her a surprised look and wondered how she knew his name, he hadn't seen her at the party last night. Twilight picked up on his look saying. "If you're wondering how I know your name, I stopped by Rarity's shop this morning and she told me everything."
Twilight led him inside and put on a kettle to boil some water for the tea. She then sat at the table in front of the fire place across from Bronze.
Luna yawned as she got out of the lumpy bed. I don't know how Twilight can sleep on such a thing. I'm going to have to tell her to buy something more comfortable. She thought to herself as she quietly walked to the bathroom. Luna's ears perked up as she heard Twilight talking to someone down the stairs but she never hearing a response from whomever it was.
Being the curious creature of the night that she was, Luna slowly moved closer to the stairs so she could eavesdrop on the conversation.
"When Rarity told me that you were a alicorn I can honestly say that I didn't believe her at first, but now that your here I have so many questions. First off, are you ok? I heard you got released from the hospital yesterday evening."
Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing, another alicorn, was he friendly, or was he there for some heinous reason for him being here. Her heart rate slowly picked up as she continued to listen in on the conversation.
There was a long pause before Twilight spoke up again. "I guess it kind of makes sense that you don't know what you are, being how you've lived your entire life in the Everfree forest Bronze." There goes the heinous reason. Luna thought to herself.
"Now where do I begin...ah yes you already know about the three types of ponies that live in Equestria. There are the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies. A pegasus has wings and can walk on clouds, unicorns have horns and can use magic, and the earth ponies have a greater amount of strength than the other two thanks to years of working on ground.
Then there is the fourth type of pony which is what you are, the alicorns. Now an alicorn is basically a combo of the other three types of ponies but they are very rare. In fact there are only two others in existence Princess Luna and my mentor Princess Celestia. But getting back to what I was saying before, an alicorn has wings, a horn, and can use magic that is far greater than any normal unicorn could ever use. They are also taller than everypony else and can live for an eternity if not harmed physically."
There was another pause, Luna could swear she heard scribbling as if somepony was writing.
"Yes I have also been wondering why you don't have a horn or wings. You must have lost them when you were much younger."
Luna felt a lump form in her throat as she heard that he didn't have any wings or horn. Tremors shot through her body as she remembered her dream from the day before.
"I must say, you got pretty lucky considering you were attacked by a manticore, even if it ended with you running head first into a chicken coop."
Luna felt that this would be a good time if any to go down the stairs and introduce herself. She wanted to get a good look at this Bronze character to help confirm her suspicions. The lump in her throat grew larger as he came into view. With the same dark coat and bronze mane he looked exactly like a older version the young colt in her dream.
Twilight immediately noticed her as she descended the stairs. "Oh good morning Princess Luna. How did you sleep?"
At hearing the words Princess Luna, Bronze turned around and gasped at the other alicorn. Buck, I used to look like that! He thought to himself, never taking his eyes off Luna as she walked over to the front door.
"Umm...Princess...is there something wrong?" Twilight asked as she watched Luna.
"There is nothing wrong Twilight, something came up that needs my attention and cannot be ignored. I...I'm sorry to say that I will not be able to come on our expedition to the Everfree forest." Luna said as she opened the door.
Twilight just sat there confused. Was that fear she heard in her voice? What could Luna possibly be afraid of? It couldn't be Bronze he seems to nice to even hurt a fly.
Luna shut the door behind her. I'll start by going to the hospital, Twilight said that Bronze guy was there for a period of time. If anything I would bet that is where I will find my answers. I just hope they don't turn out to be correct. She thought to herself as she galloped down the road.
Nurse Redheart was behind the front desk in the lobby twiddling her front hooves. Ever since Bronze had left there was nothing to do but sit there and wait for somepony to come in with some injury or sickness. She almost wished that more things would go wrong so she could do something of interest. For the last few months the only patients that came in other than Bronze were a couple mares giving birth, two foals that had broken bones, and a old stallion who was dying of old age.
She loved a challenging medical case and Bronze's was one of the most exciting that she had ever been assigned to. Redheart sighed as she started to doze off. When she had nearly completely fallen asleep there came a BOOM from the front door as it was thrust opened by magic. Her mouth fell open when she saw who had just burst through the doors.
"P-p-princess." she stuttered out before remembering her place and bowed putting her face to the ground.
"I am here on official business and I refuse to leave till I have my answers. Now bring me somepony that can give me a full report on the stallion Bronze that was being treated here." Luna said to the dumfounded earth pony.
"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry princess but I can't do that for you because of doctor patient confid-"
"DOST THOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHOM THOU SPEAKITH TO!" Luna yelled in the old Canterlot voice. When she saw the fear in nurse who was on the verge of tears she reverted back to a normal voice. "Now please tell me all that you know about Bronze or bring me somepony that can."
"Of c-c-course P-p-princess Luna, I can tell you about him." Redheart said between sobs. "When he was brought here he had three cuts on his right side from a manticore that had attacked him in the Everfree forest. We patched him up then took X-rays to check for broken bones.
"The strange thing about the results was how the Bones that used to be connected to his wings looked as if they had been severed by some sort of a knife. But the only way for that to be possible would be if he was still a colt where his bones would still be under developed. The same goes for the horn he used to have except it looked like somepony took a saw to it. The other thing that the X-rays showed was that somepony had used magic to surgically removed his vocal cords."
Luna's heart dropped as her fears came true. She had done those horrid things to Bronze, the evidence was all there and she couldn't deny it anymore.
With her head hung low Luna walked out of the hospital, she needed to get away and be by herself for a while so she could figure out what she would do next.
I really hope you guys like this chapter it was very fun to write and the ending is...well i`ll let you find out for yourselves. Have a good time reading! =) Also I'm sorry I haven't posted anything lately and sorry if there are a bunch of grammar errors.
Bronze knocked on the bathroom door again trying to get the crying pony out. He slipped a piece of paper under the door that said. ”What’s the matter Twilight. Please come out your, scarring me.”
Twilight shoved the paper back through the crack in the base of the door. “I’m sorry Bronze but I need you to leave right now.”
He wrote something new on the paper and slid it back under. ”I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong. I don’t understand I have never seen a pony act like you are right now.”
There was a long pause before she spoke up again. “Sniff…I plan this big experiment for over a month…sniff…and when the day finally comes…sniff…the pony that’s supposed to escort me and keep me safe, cancels and leaves. I finally acquired the necessary items and for what, to throw them away right when I’m so close to learning the secret behind reversing any type of spell.”
Bronze sat there and listened to Twilight, he didn’t completely understand what she was talking about but he could hear the loss in her voice. He grabbed another piece of paper. “Well can’t you just reschedule the experiment?”
“No I cannot the Gallsahvien salve that I bought only stays in a liquid form for two weeks before solidifying and it’s only harvested once every twenty years. You wouldn’t believe how much I had to pay for it. Now if you wouldn’t mind I would like if you left me alone” Twilight said with anger.
Bronze knocked on the door again before sliding another piece of paper under the door. ”Well if you need somepony to escort you through the Everfree I could do it.”
There came an unlocking sound from the bathroom door, the lavender pony came out wiping the tears from her eyes. “Y-y-you would do that for me?” Bronze nodded his head as he looked at her with his big tan eyes. “Oh thank you Bronze, this changes everything. I’m sorry you had to see me like that I’ve just been planning this for so long and when it was nearly taken away from me I just lost it.” Her cheeks turned a little red.
Bronze gave her a reassuring nod ”So when do we leave?”
“I was planning to leave after eating some lu-“Twilight was cut off by a loud whistling coming from downstairs.”I guess the water for the tea is ready.” She said smiling.
Twilight and Bronze where at the edge of the Everfree forest, each carrying a pair of saddle bags. It felt weird to Bronze that he was going to reenter the forest he had spent so many years trying to escape, but Twilight did say that her magic would make sure they didn’t get lost.
“Ok before we enter I need you to wear these.” She said pulling a pair of blue tinted goggles out of her left saddle bag. She pulled her own pair out and put them on, letting them rest just above her eyes.”These will help us locate the trees that I want to use for my experiments. I have enchanted them so that when we look through them they will allow us to see the pollen that the trees give off.”
Bronze started to write in the ground. “What do you need this tree for anyway”
“Well the experiment that I’m trying to test is the use of Gallsahvien salve on a special tree called the exorcist tree. It is rumored in the oldest books of Equestria that whoever touches the tree while under a magical spell or curse, that the tree will consume the spell and reverse its effects. But it is only temporary and the spell will return once the pony breaks contact with the tree.
“That’s where the salve comes in. Gallsahvien salve is harvested from a rare berry called Vars’del that only comes into season once every twenty years. The salve will make any magical item it is applied to increase in power exponentially. If my theory is correct it should make the effects of the exorcist tree permanent.”
”Ok so shall we be off?”
Twilight nodded as she put her goggles over her eyes, Bronze followed suit and was surprised how the goggles didn’t dim the light. Instead they seemed to increase the brightness of his surroundings. Twilight turned and faced the Everfree forest, she sighed as she moved forward into the darkness. Bronze looked up into the sky one last time before closely following Twilight in the search for the exorcist tree.
Twilight let out a loud yawn as she sat down on a mat next to the fire, pulling out a book to read from one of her saddlebags. It was late in the day and Bronze and her had set up camp in a small cave they had found on the side of a small hill of boulders. It provided them with enough cover so that any passing animals wouldn’t notice them and if the animals had, they could easily retreat out of the cave and escape.
Bronze had left twenty minutes earlier with a saddlebag to go scout for food he would survive on when he was still lost. He knew what he was looking for from what Ballahmar had told him was edible in the forest. When both of the bags where full with, he headed back to the cave with a joy filled expression on his face.
As he entered the light of the fire Twilight looked up from her book.”You seem to be happy about something Bronze, mind if I ask what it is that has put you in such a happy mood.” Twilight said with a big grin on her face.
Bronze looked around at the cave floor and let out a sigh, it was one solid piece of granite without any patches of loose dirt that he could write in. His happy expression soon turned into one of annoyance and anger as he unloaded his saddle bags and used the food he had gathered to spell out each word. He could only make one word at a time so he wouldn’t run out of materials.
”I…WISH…THERE…WAS…WAY…FOR…ME…TO…TALK…WRITING…A…PAIN”
Twilight couldn’t help but feel guilty for not allowing him to bring his notepad so she could fit more books in his saddlebags. But she still giggled at how he was using food to communicate with her.
“Sorry Bronze I’ll try and only ask yes or no questions from now on so you don’t have to use our dinner to talk.”
It was early the next morning when Bronze was awoken by something rapidly shaking his side. He tried to ignore it for as long as he could but it just grew more violent.
“Come on Bronze get up there is something outside.” Twilight whispered with fear in her voice as she heard another snap from a breaking branch followed by a thud. ”Come on you big oaf.” She raised her hoof and brought it across his face as hard as she could.
Bronze shot up after suddenly being slapped across the face. He worked his jaw a few times to try and get the kinks out before giving Twilight a very annoyed look.
“It’s not my fault you sleep like a stone, but that doesn’t matter right now there is something outside of the cave.”She said with a low voice.
At hearing that there was something lurking outside of the cave Bronze’s features immediately became serious. He slowly moved his way to the entrance and peered outside. There wasn’t anything there except the same old trees and forest around them.
His eyes widened as his gaze fell on one of the trees that seemed to be moving in their direction. It stood on two stubby legs and towered at least seven feet above Bronze. With each step it made came the sound of breaking branches followed by a thud. It was made up of green vines and black bark that shifted and creaked with each movement. It had two arms that hung low ending with three knobby knuckled fingers that dragged against the ground as it walked. Its head was a small mound of moss with two vertical yellow eyes.
“B-b-bronze what is out there?” When he didn’t make any movement Twilight slowly moved up next to him. She followed the direction his eyes were looking and let out a gasp as she looked at the hulking mass of foliage lumbering towards them.
It turned its two deep yellow eyes that were slow and solemn, but very penetrating to survey the ponies. ”So you are the entity that my mistress had been sensing.” It said in a deep voice that sounded like the rumble of an erupting volcano. Bronze felt like his soul was being violated as its gaze fell on him.
“H-h-hello I-I-I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Bronze Night.” Twilight’s voice was filled with fear as the eyes turned to look at her. “If you don’t mind me asking what are you?”
”What I am doesn’t matter, but what I am here for is very important.”
Twilight flinched as it spoke, the sound of its voice sent shivers down her spine. “And what is it that you are here for?”
It lifted one of its massive arms and pointed at Bronze ”My my mistress Lady Green Bark charged me with one command, to hunt down a great magical disturbance that had appeared in the forest and bring it back to her. Now I have found it I will bring it back to her.”
“Well then what are you pointing at Bronze for? What does he have to do with this disturbance that is in the forest?”
”He radiates the same magic my mistress has commanded me to find. Now stay still so I can transport us to my mistress’ sanctuary.” The creature commanded as it slowly moved its huge arms towards the sky and two orbs of bright green light floated around each of its hands.
Before Bronze or Twilight could do anything a green light enveloped them and they could feel a pulling sensation. Twilight instantly recognized what was going on, she had experienced this sensation every time she would use her teleporting spell. Bronze on the other hand had no idea what was going on, he just looked in amazement at the green lights flowing around him.
Suddenly he was thrust against the ground knocking the wind out of him, Bronze gasped as he tried to regain his breath. When the air returned to him it felt dry and tasted bitter as if it was filled with rot.
“Behold my mistress’ sanctuary, see how it whittles away at the hands of time.” The deep voice of the creature said. “How it has changed since I had left a thousand years ago.”
Twilight and Bronze looked around, they were in a massive cave with walls of rock that reached up to a small ragged opening in the top. A small beam of light fell through the aperture, illuminating a small withering tree on the top of a small hill covered with dead grass. All around them there were dead and rotting plants that gave off the putrid smell of a compost heap.
“Now come with me so my mistress can observe you herself.”
Twilight shook her head as she started to yell at the creature.” You teleport us off to some unknown location in this god forsaken forest then expect us to do whatever you ask, no we are not going anywhere till you answer some questions.”
The creature just stood there looking at the little lavender pony, it waited a few seconds before letting out a sigh that sounded like the rustling of leaves in the wind. “Fine ask what you wish, but make it quick my mistress grows inpatient from waiting for such a long time.”
“First off, why is this mistress of yours so interested in Bronze? Who is she, and more importantly who are you? Where are w-” The creature cut her off by putting one of its long fingers up to her mouth.
“You ask many questions for one so small.”He said moving his finger away from her. ”Now I might as well tell you the story of my mistress from the beginning and hopefully it will answer your questions.”
He paused and moved to a nearby rock and sat down on it.”My mistress’ story begins long before the creation of this land. She was a nomad wandering throughout this world for she did not have a home or a purpose in life. After three years of roaming through a grand wasteland she came across a sapling growing out of the ruin around her. Seeing how such a fragile thing could grow out of a place so filled with decay it filled her with hope.
“She stayed with the tree and fed it magic for the next fifty years, watching as the landscape around her changed into a lush green forest. Thanks to the continuous supply of magic, the tree was soon bound to my mistress and her to it. She stopped aging and her magical powers grew exponentially.
“When word of this new green land spread throughout the world more and more nomads came seeking shelter in her forest. The region was soon a populated utopia for all seeking help and Lady Green Bark welcomed them with open arms. But one of the nomads tried to take command of the new found land and with the help of his two followers. This Nomads name was Discord and his followers were the princesses that now rule this land.”
”Celestia would never help Discord, she was the one that had defeated him and ended his chaos filled rule!”Twilight yelled in defense of her mentor.
“Would you please let me finish the story and let me tell you what really happened?” Twilight gave him a sign to continue.
“Thank you now as I was saying Discord and the sister alicorns tried to take control of the new land. They had managed to take control of everything except the center of the forest where my mistress erected a barrier that held back the chaos that Discord brought with him. But creating that barrier damaged her magic, she could no longer regenerate it and she became unable to feed the tree.
“At the time it wasn’t a problem because of refugees trying to escape Discord came to her warped and deformed from spells used on them in the chaotic world outside of the barrier. When they came before the tree it consumed the magic and returned them back to normal. So for the next hundred years the tree had a source of food to feed off of and was granted the name Tol’kie, or in this language the Exorcist Tree. The forest also gained the name Everfree because it served as a safe haven where anything could be free of Discords madness.
“After the one hundred years had passed the alicorn sisters came to Lady Green Bark seeking redemption saying that they had only done what they had because they were bound by powerful spells to Discord. It was a risky decision to make but my Lady chose to believe them and brought them before the tree. Tol’kie stripped them of the spells that were binding them and with the help of my mistress they were able to imprison Discord in a stone prism. The land was freed and there started a prosperous age though out Equestria.
“But nothing good comes without a price. With the land freed of Discord there were less and less creatures coming to the tree seeking to be cleansed of their magical deformities. As time went by my mistress soon became a myth and then was forgotten altogether. The tree grew weak and soon Lady Green Bark had to watch as her beautiful forest turned into a wild place that only the darkest of creatures would reside in. A thousand years had passed and the tree started to whittle away.
“When the tree was on the verge of death Lady Green Bark sensed a great magic disturbance spread though out the forest. It was one of the most powerful spells that she had felt since she helped seal away Discord. With the last of her power she weaved two spells. The first was to create me, giving me the name Nardien, she gave me the charge of finding this great source of magic and to bring it to her.
“The second was to infuse her very being with the tree itself so it could continue living until I had returned. That was a thousand years ago. I have been searching ever since but whenever I would get close to the source it would move again, but now that I have found it I can revive my mistress and the tree.”
The creature fell silent as Twilight and Bronze tried to process all that they had just heard. After a few seconds of silence passed, Twilight spoke up again.
“That explains a lot, but you still haven’t answered my first question what does Bronze have to do with all of this?”
“Little Twilight can you not feel the magic radiating from the immense spell weaved around your friend here. I thought the unicorns of this world would have been able to feel such things as this.”
Twilight then turned to Bronze and directed her magic towards him. Bronze just sat there unsure of what she was doing as her horn lit up and enveloped him in a purple light. After a few minutes Twilight released her magic and sat back scratching her head as she stared at Bronze.
“I don’t feel anything from him, there are no spells on him.”
Nardien moved up from the Rock he was sitting on and moved over to her.”Here let me show you what I see.”He said as he put one of his long fingers on the back of her head. The instance it made contact, Twilight’s vision flashed as the world around her grew hazy and grey. She turned her head towards Bronze and gasped at what she was looking at. It was like looking at a massive sun of colors that filled nearly the entire chamber, and sitting in the center was the oversized stallion. It was amazing how she could not sense such a massive ball of pulsing magic beforehand.
Nardien broke the contact and moved away from Twilight. “Now that you have seen this great magic that has a hold on your friend can we please continue so I can revive my mistress.” Twilight sat there and looked dumfounded as she watched Bronze follow the creature up to the tree being illuminated by the hole in the ceiling. She was in the middle of trying to figure out why she was unable to sense the spell, when Nardien called out to her.
“Little pony is there reason why you are dilly dallying when my master calls.” Twilight snapped out of her deep train of thought and caught up with the two as they were half way up the hill. Bronze looked at her and smiled, if he could talk he would have said to her I have a good feeling about this.
Once they had arrived at the tree Nardien turned around and looked at bronze with his piercing eyes. “Now place you hoof on the trunk of the tree and my mistress will be revived.”
Bronze looked at the tree, then Nardein, and back again before slowly moving up to the tree. It looked so fragile as if it would snap in two if he touched it. He let out a sigh and put out his hoof, while Twilight and Nardien backed away slowly as his hoof made contact. All three held their breaths as they waited for something to happen.
They waited for a few minutes before Bronze took his hoof off of the tree and turned back to the two onlookers. Twilight let out her breath as a loud bellow came from Nardien.
“Nooooo my Lady Green Bark I have failed you. It took me too long to find the disturbance and now you have receded far beyond the point of being revived.” The two ponies watched as the behemoth put his face to the ground and started slamming his great hand into the dead grass. Big green tears fell on the ground as Nardien wept over the loss of his creator.
Suddenly Twilight remembered the reason that she and Bronze were in the forest. Her thoughts turned to the gallsahvien salve she had in the saddle bags back in the cave.
“Nardien there may still be a way for us to revive your mistress.” He looked up from the ground and turned his stare towards the lavender pony. “If you can take me back to the cave that me and my friend Bronze were staying at we have a salve from a rare berry called Vars’del, it may just be able to call out the spirit of your mistress.”
Nardien looked at her with doubt in his eyes as he started to cast the spell teleporting himself and Twilight back to the cave, leaving Bronze in the sanctuary by the tree. They soon returned with Twilight carrying all the saddlebags on her back.
She levitated a vial of some sort of brown liquid out of one of the saddlebags on her left, and gave it to Bronze.”Now Bronze just let me cover your hoof with the gallsahvien salve and rub it on the Exorcist tree.” She said pulling a small cork out of the top of the vial with her magic. Bronze held out his right hoof and she tipped the vial, pouring the contents over his outstretched hoof.
He turned around and faced the tree again closing his eyes as he put out his hoof. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, but then the results were immediate. He felt a surge of electricity run through his arm making him convulse. He tried to pull his hoof way but it was being pulled against it, as if the tree meant to suck the life out of him.
Suddenly a flash of images rushed through his mind. He saw himself as a young colt again but had wings and a horn again. The sight of two orbs floating around a globe, one a miniature sun and the other a moon. A Forceful hoof pushing him down as it put leather straps around each of his appendages. The grinning face of a pony as it brought a cleaver down on his side. And finally, the flashes of two alicorns colliding with each other beneath a starry night as they exchanged magical blows with each other.
Bronze fell over and lost consciousness hearing Twilight yell out his name as darkness enveloped him.
Sorry once again for any grammer errors hoped you liked it! Oh yah...C is for cookie and that is good enough for me! lol ;)
This chapter is about what happended in the past when Bronze was younger. I hope you all enjoy reading it cause i enjoyed writing it. Also sorry if it confuses you in the begining all of it will be explained in the end of the chapter. Please give me good rates and as always I am welcoming tips on how to inprove my writing stile.
“AAAAAHHHHH!”
“That’s good Princess now push.”
“EEEEEEEERRRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
“Very good I can see the head, now one more push should just about do it.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Princess Luna fell back on the pillows exhausted, breathing heavily. A smile spread across her face as a loud crying filled the room.
“Congratulations Princess Luna you are the mother of a healthy baby colt.”
She opened her eyes to look at the crying foal, the doctor had wrapped it in a white blanket and handed it to the new mother. Luna cradled the crying foal in her fore hooves, whispering to it as it continued to complain about being brought into the world.
Its coat was a dark purple that could easily be mistaken for black and had a flowing bronze mane that grew lighter as it reached its end. Protruding from its forehead was a small horn about two inches long.
The foal continued to cry for the next few minutes before falling asleep in Luna’s arms. She smiled as it cooed in its sleep. She held it close and whispered in its ear.
“Hmm…we think we will name thou Dawn Bringer after thy father Dusk Bringer.” The foal smiled in its sleep and started gurgling.
Nine months before Luna had gotten into an affair with her sister’s commanding officer Dusk Bringer a pegasus. Luna and the stallion had been secretly seeing each other over the course of a year before she had found out she was pregnant. News quickly spread throughout Equestria that one of the princesses was going to have a baby foal.
When Celestia had found out that her sister was with foal she grew angry with Luna and Dusk. To punish the two, she sent Dusk on a dangerous mission to the front lines of a war that was being waged against the gryphons. Long story short Dusk died in battle and when Luna found out that her love had died, the only thing that had kept her going was the life that was growing in her.
Four years later.
“Mother! Mother! Look Mother!” Dawn Bringer burst into the grand library where Luna was talking with Celestia. “We got it mother!” He squeaked out with pure joy.
It was a large room with all the walls covered in books. There were three mosaic windows on the far wall depicting how the two princesses defeated Discord. In the center of the room stood an eight foot tall cobalt colored globe that seemed to turn slowly on its own accord. It was levitated a few inches above a massive pedestal that was colored to match the globe.
“What is it my little Dawn, what hath thou acquired?” Luna asked with curiosity as she looked down at her son with a smile on her face.
He hopped in place for a few second before turning around and showing her his flank. On it was a cutie mark that looked like a crescent moon with a sun in the center of it.
“See mother! See, we hath acquired our cutie mark.” He said as he resumed jumping up and down. His wings fluttering up and down, giving him some extra height as he jumped into the air.
“That is very good dawn! We are so proud of you!” Luna praised her child as he jumped up and down in front of her and Celestia.
“Well this is truly a joyous time, but tell us what was it that thou did to gain thy cutie mark.” Celestia said as she watched her nephew it a look of concern.
Dawn stopped bouncing and looked at his aunt and then to his mother who gave him a nod. He then turned around and faced the giant floating globe. His face scrunched up as he concentrated his magic toward the big sphere.
Suddenly with a great flash of light two small orbs appeared and floated in the opposite direction that the globe was turning. One of the orbs was a small sun that shined with a bright light that cast shadows throughout the library as it moved. The other was a moon that glowed with a pale blue light. They orbited around the cobalt globe mimicking their larger counter parts.
The sisters stood with their mouths agape as they watched the young colt perform magic far beyond his age as if it was nothing.
“That’s amazing Dawn! Thou art truly a prodigy in the arcane arts, we have no doubt in our mind that soon thou will be able to raise the sun and the moon by thyself.” Luna said commending her son.
“Really mother!” Dawn turned around and looked at his mother.
Just then he lost control of the magic and there came a BOOM! as his sun exploded sending the miniature moon into a nearby book shelf at speeds faster than the eye could follow. The explosion caused the cobalt globe to fall from where it was hovering, bounce off the pedestal underneath it, and crash through the wall that held the three mosaic windows.
Dawn watched in horror as the globe broke through the wall and made a loud crash as it hit the ground below, hearing a few screams from ponies below. The library was three stories up in the palace and right below it was the Royal Gardens.
He turned around slowly with a smile on his face and fear in his eyes.”Oops.” He said as he met Luna’s eyes. She just giggled at him and told him to come over to her.
“We think that thou should not do that again unless Celestia or I are present to make sure thou doesn’t blow things up.”She giggled again as Dawn blushed a little and looked away.
Celestia sighed as she walked up to the two. “Sister thou should not encourage him to do such things. We think that he should not use such dangerous spells till he is much older.”
“Oh come now Celestia how can thou be like that when he obviously has a talent for it. Hay he might even be able to take over our positions one day.” Luna said enjoying the thought of her son ruling Canterlot and raising the sun and moon.
“Do as thou whishes just make sure that he cleans up this mess that he hath created.” Celestia said as she turned to leave the library. She was very concerned about Luna’s last words.
“Mother did we do something wrong?” Dawn asked after seeing how his aunt left with a weird expression on her face.
“No dear thou did nothing wrong, thou just have to be able to keep better control of thy magic. But thy aunt does have a point, thou did create quite a mess.” Her eyes wandered over the piles of rubble and books lying all over the floor where the globe had smashed through the wall. “Now we will help thou clean up this mess if thy promises ask for permission next time thou wants to try that spell.”
“Ok mother we promise.”
It was nearly time for Bronze go to bed as he hopped through the halls of the Canterlot palace. He giggled to himself as he observed the funny looking old ponies that were in the pictures hanging on the walls. His mother always said to respect those who were older than he was but he couldn’t help but to laugh at some of the older ponies. After words Celestia would always punish him severally for committing such an insulting act, but that didn’t stop him.
He skipped up and down as he headed towards his bedroom humming a tune as he moved down the halls. He stopped in front of Celestia’s bed chambers when he heard her talking loudly to herself. He peered through the crack of the door and watched as Celestia paced back and forth.
“It doesn’t help how Luna is constantly praising him after each mess he creates. Why can’t she just listen for once in her life? It was bad enough when she had him, the shame that she had brought to the family, making it seem like she was a whores that would sleep with anypony. Her mistake continues to bring shame upon me, the little brat insults the royal court officials and then today he blows up our library and puts a gaping hole in one of the walls.
“Luna is too soft on the brat, she never punishes him when he does these wrenched acts. If he was in our foal we would wring his neck if he did such shameful acts. He has inherited his mothers bucking personality to not do as he is told.
“At least we won’t have to put up with this nonsense for much longer, if the plan goes off without a hitch we shall have the throne all to ourselves, and we will finally be rid of these damned nuisances. If Luna thinks I will give up my crown to that little bastard then she has another thing coming. If everything turns out according to plan she will be banished to the moon and her son exiled to the furthest reaches of Equestria.”
Dawn backed away from the door shaking his head as he heard her let out a loud evil laugh. Never had he heard such words come from his aunt and her voice was filled with so much hate and madness. ”I don’t understand, I thought Aunt Celestia loved Luna and I. Why would she want us gone?” Dawn thought to himself.
As he backed up in shaking his head in denial of what he had heard he bumped into a stand with a large vase on it. He tried to catch it as it fell, but he was to late and it came down with a loud CRASH sending glass shards flying in every direction.
Dawn fell on his back in surprise as the doors to Celestia’s room shot open, causing him land on some of the vase shards sending pain though him as they pierced his back and wings. Dawn didn’t notice the pain though, he was too afraid as he looked into the angry eyes of Celestia that seemed to be throwing red hot daggers into him. She looked down on the scared little colt, her eyes burned with anger towards him. She had had enough of him and something in her just snapped.
But suddenly her features changed as she got a nasty idea in her head. A grin ran across her face making Dawn cringe in fright.
“Why hello nephew, we didn’t know that thou were there, hehehe. Would thou like to spend some quality time with thy dear...Aunt...Celestia.”She said slowly turning her head to the side making the insanity in her eyes all the more evident.
Her smile grew even wider as she took a step towards him. “Come closer so we can play a game with thou. We promise that thou will like it.”
Dawn was way past the point of scared and just ran. He didn’t make it far because he stepped on a large piece of the vase he had shattered. He screamed in pain as it shot up in his hoof causing blood to smear across the stone floor. He staggered away as fast as he could, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
“Where art thou going nephew.” Celestia’s horn started to glow with magic forming a magic bubble around the fleeing colt.”Thou know that thou cannot escape.”
Dawn awoke with a blistering head ache trying to make heads or tails of what happened to him. His mouth was dry and his back and fore hoof screamed in pain as he got up to observe his surroundings. He was in a small cell with no cot or windows. Light poured in from a small opening near the top of a great wood door, it had three iron bars across it to make sure no pony could climb through and escape.
There came hoof steps outside the cell and stopped before the door. Dawn crawled into and corner and curled up into a ball. The great wood door opened and Celestia stepped through casting a shadow over the whimpering foal.
“Good your awake, now it’s time to start that game we were talking about earlier.”She giggled as she levitated him out of the room.
She spread out his legs as she pushed him down on a small table on the far end of the room. Dawn watched as Celestia tied down his hoofs and wings with leather straps. He struggled trying to break free from the restraints binding his arms and legs, but soon stopped as a wave of pain came from his back where he had been cut by the glass pieces of the vase.
He tried to use his magic to cut the leather that was around his hooves, but when he tried to release the spell nothing happened. Celestia saw this and giggled to herself.
“Dost thou like it?” She said tapping a metal ring around his horn. “We made it our self, it’s called a suppression ring and its purpose is to make sure pesky little ponies can’t use magic.”
She then moved towards a door in the corner of the room. “Now where did I leave them?” she said as she entered it.
Dawn looked around realizing where he was. He recognized it as the dungeon below the eastern watch tower of the Canterlot palace. He had found his way down here a year ago while exploring the castle grounds. When he asked his mother about it later that day she said it was a place he should never return to because a bad pony named Discord used to do evil experiments in it.
“Ahhh here they are!” Celestia exclaimed as she left the room levitating a rolled up leather blanket behind her. She set it on a table sitting opposite of Dawn and unrolled it. She smiled with glee, looking down at an assortment of knifes and hack saws being held down with strips of leather before her.”We are amazed they are in such a good condition after all this time. The last time we had used them was when Discord still had control over us.”
“Now it’s time to start the first round of our game Dawn, aren’t you excited?” She said only getting an anger filled glance for a reply. She picked a medium sized saw from the end of the blanket and slid it out of the leather strip holding it down.
“Why are thou doing this Aunt Celestia?” He cried.
“Why! Why!" Celestia said getting inches away from his face. "We are doing this because we refuse to give up what we had worked so hard to acquire.” She then moved back positioning the saw at the base of his horn. “Ok now here we go! Round one start.”
She started moving the saw back and forth making it slowly move downward through Dawn’s horn. He screamed in pain as it fell to the floor making a loud clacking sound as it bounced a few times. Dawn could feel the hot blood run down his forehead, in between his eyes, around his nose, and off the end of his chin. He was crying profusely, the tears mixing in with the blood.
Celestia levitated the horn off of the ground and showed it to him. She then placed it in a metal pan next to the assortment of knifes.
“Wasn’t that fun nephew? Now let’s see what would be best to remove those pesky wings of yours?” Celestia said looking down at her assortment of knifes. ’Hmm we can’t use any of the smaller ones they wouldn’t be able to get through his bones and the saws would just be too messy. She thought to herself tapping her hoof against her chin. Bronze could only watch in fear as her eyes slowly wandered over the knifes.
”It’s a shame really, they are one of our favorite colors.” Celestia said before her eyes fell on one of her old favorite tools. It was a big butcher’s cleaver that was eight inches tall and four inches wide.
“Ahhh. We think this should do the job nicely.”She said as she picked up the cleaver and walked over to dawn his eyes widening as he saw what she was carrying. She positioned herself behind his head and lowered her mouth down to his ear.”Now we promise this is going to hurt a lot more than that first round we just finished Dawn Bringer.”
She then moved back raising the cleaver above her head giggling before bringing it down upon the purple wing. The cleaver slid through the skin and underdeveloped bones with ease only to be stopped by the wood table underneath. The room filled with Dawns screams of pain as the wing was severed from his body. Celestia then moved to his other side repeating the same movement and taking off his other wing calling forth even louder screams from the colt.
She then removed the blood covered cleaver and set it back down in the collection of knives. She then picked up the last tool that she would use in this cruel game of hers, a small scalpel knife. She moved over to him and put her mouth back next to his ear.
Dawn was starting to black out from blood loss, but before the darkness overtook him he heard Celestia whisper in his ear. “Don’t worry nephew we won’t kill you, we are just going to make sure you cannot tell any pony of what you saw us do today, and we are not talking about this last hour we have been spending together.”
The last thing Dawn felt before blacking out was the feel of cold metal being thrust into his throat.
Luna finished raising the moon before heading off to her son’s room to tuck him into bed and tell him good night. She giggled to herself as she looked at the pictures covering the walls remembering how Dawn laughed at the old ponies. He reminded her of how she used to be when she was younger.
Luna felt a crunch under her hoof as she rounded the corner leading past her sister’s room. She looked down at the mixture of blood and glass that covered the floor. She stepped forward carefully making sure not to step in any of the blood or vase shards as she investigated what had caused the mess.
Following the trail of blood that led out of the mess she started to hear a clattering sound coming from a nearby door that lead to a room filled with the blankets and necessities needed to take care of Celestia’s room. She opened the door and looked down on a servant pony that was holding a broom closely and shaking uncontrollably. The top of the broom was tapping against one of the nearby shelves that held some cleaning utensils.
The servant pony had a look of fear in her eyes as she stared in to empty space. She didn’t even notice the door opening when Luna walked in.
“Servant pony what is it that has happened here?”Luna asked taken aback when the little mare didn’t respond. She then spoke up using her proper Canterlot voice. “WE SAID WHAT HAPPENED HERE!”
The servant pony snapped back into reality before letting a torrent of tears run down her face.
“I-i-it was t-t-terrible. I-I-I was putting away some supplies w-w-when a crash came from outside. I-I-I dared to look out at w-w-what had cause the sound. I-I-I saw m-m-master Dawn Bringer lying on his back and he was bleeding. P-p-princess Celestia was standing over him with a h-h-horrid smile on her face. She then used her magic and p-p-put some sort of a bubble around him as he was t-t-trying to escape, then they both just d-d-disappeared.”
Luna felt fear rush though her body as she listened to the servant’s story. She always knew Celestia didn’t like Dawn but she never would have guessed that her sister would go this far. The Fear quickly turned into pure unbridled rage that only a mother could feel while trying to protect her child.
Luna left the poor servant pony in the closet and started to search for her little Dawn Bringer. She ripped entire rooms apart literally with her magic in her search for her son. With each room that didn’t have him in it her rage grew.
After the entire palace had been torn apart, Luna broadened her search by teleporting herself on top of the mountain that was behind Canterlot and connected herself with the moon. She moved the moon to its highest point in the sky and held it there.
She peered down from the moon using it like a giant telescope to search for her sister or her son. If they were not in any type of building or cave she would be able to see them. She searched all of Equestria ending with the Everfree forest. She then saw a flash of white move across the tops of the trees immediately recognizing it as her sister.
Celestia was flying very fast and was carrying a dark mass on her back. Luna focused her magic on the object letting out a gasp as she saw what it was. Dawn was draped over her sisters back unconscious and he was missing his wings and horn.
Luna’s anger flared up uncontrollably as she yelled infusing her voice with magic so that all of the world would hear her rage. ”DAMN THEE CELESTIA!” She then disappeared from the top of the mountain in a flash of light and made chaise after the evil mare that had stolen her one pride and joy.
Celestia had just dropped off Dawn in a clearing in the forest when Luna appeared before her in a flash of light. Her mane and tail had turned into a burning blue fire and her eyes were glowing white with rage.
”WHERE IS OUR SON DAWN BRINGER YOU DAMNED BITCH!”
Celestia was about to answer her sister by telling her ’I don’t know’ but Luna saw the lie in her eyes and didn’t give her sister a chance to speak, sending a white blast of rage infused magic towards Celestia.
Celestia created an attack of her own that flew forward as a yellow disk of light cutting Luna’s attack in half. The now two balls of magic flew past either side of her, each creating a massive explosion as they hit the forest below.
Celestia was prepared for this fight by the time Luna had gotten there. She was alerted of her sisters coming when she heard Luna's voice spread throughout the world. When the blast had receded Celestia used her magic and changed herself into the armor she would fight in during the days of Discord’s rein.
“Dear sister what makes you think that you can beat me.” Celestia said with malice in her voice and a maddening smile on her face.
Dawn Bringer was awoken by the sounds of explosions and the great flashes of lights that followed the booms. He lifted his head to the sky and saw flashes of light as the two alicorns exchanged magical blows. Suddenly a massive BOOM came from above followed by a massive shock wave that pinned him to the ground.
He recognized both of them as his aunt and mother but there seemed something wrong with them. Celestia was dressed in some sort of a strange armor and his mother looked like she was practically on fire. Dawn tried to call out to his mother but when he opened his mouth nothing came out.
Another BOOM came from above pushing the colt against the ground again as another wave hit him. All he could do was sit there and watch as the two gods dealt blows to each other. He could feel the heat from some of the explosions that lit up the night sky.
Suddenly after one of the groundbreaking explosions that filled the sky with light, Dawn could see Luna falling. He could hear Celestia let out a laugh of triumph as he ran over to where she had hit the ground. When he was thirty feet away he stopped and watched as Celestia had landed next to her sister. Dawn could feel a great amount of magic swelling up from where she stood as her horn began to glow.
“Bwahahaha…good bye sister I hope you have a fun time on the moon!” Celestia yelled as she released the spell.
Time stopped right there and then for Dawn as he heard his aunt’s words. He suddenly tapped into his own magic without even thinking about it and poured all his feelings into the spell he was about to cast, not caring what it was as long as it saved his mother from her imprisonment.
But it became too much for him to handle and he lost control over the massive torrent of chaotic magic after he released the spell. Whether it was because his horn had been broken off, or the fact he didn’t have the experience in controlling magic, wouldn’t matter at this point. The spell had been cast and there was no stopping it as it did its job.
The first thing it did was switch some of Luna’s and Celestia’s memories and personalities. Luna became Nightmare Moon and was whisked away to the moon, while Celestia gained Luna’s love as a mother, which she directed towards all living creatures that walked Equestria. They also gained their views of each other. When Luna would awake on the moon she would have a loathing hatred towards her sister that came from jealousy. When Celestia awoke in the forest the moon was still in the sky even though it was way past the time to raise the sun. She would remember the fight they had and that she had banished her sister to the moon because Luna wouldn't let her raise the sun.
The second and most important thing it did was completely erased Dawn Bringer from the all minds in Equestria as if he had never existed. It also turned on the young colt and erased everything he knew including how to speak. When he would awake he would find himself lost and scared in the middle of the Everfree forest with no recollection of what had transpired the night before.
The third thing it had done was bind their minds in such a way that it would not allow them to remember any of the memories. If by any chance the spell would be removed or broken, all the memories would, of course, come crashing back into their minds.
I know its a bit confusing at the begining how Celestia turns out to be the psychopath and Luna is Bronze's mother and I hope you liked that little twist. I really did try to explain it as best as I could...Anyway I hope you all liked it and for those of you that did plz give me good ratings. Thank you for reading and thank you for sticking with me.[color]
It was late in the day when Luna had approached the main doors that lead into the palace. Her head was hanging low from the shame of what she had done. The guard ponies that passed her could see bags under her eyes and dried tears on her cheeks, but none of them made a move to see what the problem was. They just stood there watching Luna as she passed them with serious looks on their faces.
Luna felt as if they knew what she had done as she passed through the big doors, never lifting her head for anypony. She walked through the palace slowly making her way to the study where she knew her sister would be. It took her a good five minutes to finally reach Celestia’s study.
As she neared the doors a fresh batch of tears started to run down Luna’s face hitting the polished stone floor below her. She stopped in front of the wood doors and put her hoof on them letting out a sob before opening the doors. Celestia was sitting on a couch near the fire place reading a book. She looked up at the movement of the doors opening.
“Luna you’re back early, how did it go wi-“Celestia stopped when Luna was close enough that she could see the tears running down her sister’s face. She dropped the book and ran over to her sister. “What’s the matter Luna!? Did something go wrong with you and Twilight?”Celestia said wrapping her sister in a hug.
Luna just dug her face into her sister’s chest causing Celestia’s coat to get matted down with her tears. They stayed like this for a full ten minutes before Celestia pushed her sister back and looked her in the face. She wiped away the tears on her sister’s face with one of her hoofs.
“Luna I can’t help you unless you tell me what is wrong. Now what is it that has put you in this horrid state?”
Luna just looked at her sister for a few seconds before letting out a new wave of tears. “I-I-I found him sister. I found the pony from my last dream.”
Celestia looked at her sister with confusion. “What do you mean you found him, how can that be possible.”
After Luna had finished she let out a loud sob. Celestia was trying to process what she had just heard. It was unbelievable, Luna had actually done those things, she always knew that Nightmare Moon was evil but not that evil. Also the fact that the young colt turned out to be an alicorn all along puzzled her to no end.
She was about to say something to try and comfort her sister, but as her mouth opened Celestia felt an immense surge in magic rising in the distance. She looked in the direction of the Everfree forest as the magic seemed to be heading towards them at a rapid pace. Luna had sensed the magic as well and her head turned to face the direction it was originating from.
Suddenly it hit the two princesses, their eyes started to glow as images of their pasts flashed through their minds. Luna was rolling on the floor screaming in pain holding her head in her hooves. Celestia just stood in place grinding her teeth together as her memories returned to her.
At the sound of Luna’s screams guard ponies burst into the room rushing up to the princesses. They only made it within five feet of the two before an explosion came from in between the sisters sending the guard ponies flying into the walls of the study. Luna and Celestia were also sent flying back into opposite walls making loud thuds as they fell to the floor.
Celestia was the first one to recover, getting up shaking her head. She looked around the room dazed and bewildered as she tried to find out what happened. There was a black crater in the middle of the room where she and Luna had just been.
A large grin spread across Celestia’s face as her eyes fell upon the midnight blue alicorn slowly rising on the other end of the room. She let out a giggle. “Why hello sister…long time…no see!”
A blast sent Bronze flying back from the exorcist tree and the shock wave of the blast sent Twilight onto her back. He flew for what seemed forever before Nardien caught him in one of his massive knobby hands. Bronze let out a silent scream as his newly regained memories ravaged his mind.
He bucked his legs forcing Nardien to hold him down on the ground so he wouldn’t hurt himself. Tears ran down his face as he wriggled under the massive hands, the pain he was experiencing was unbearable for him. It was like a migraine headache on steroids that you could only get from being strapped to a chair and forced to listen to Pinkie Pie’s rambling for hours on end through a system of speakers turned up to the setting “Bleeding ears”.
He then felt something touch his head and the pain was replaced by a warm soothing feeling. Nardien had let go of Bronze as he looked up at what stopped the thrashing pony.He fell on his backside in shock of who it was before stuttering out three words.
“M-m-mistress Green Bark!”
Bronze looked up at what had rescued him from the hell that was just rampaging through his mind. It or should I say she was a creature that he could hardly believe he was looking at.
She stood tall on two hind legs much like with Nardien but in much better proportion to her body. She also had two arms similar to Nardiens but nowhere near as thick and they hung at her sides just below her hips. Her body was made up of light green vines that had a dark blue light coming from in between them. Her face was similar to a ponies but with a shorter nose and smaller eyes that radiated with a kindness that could tame any wild beast. Instead of having hair she had a mess of colorful flowers that shot out on either side of her head each ending with a single pink rose in full blossom hanging from a thin vine making them face downward.
Bronze couldn’t move as he watched her back away from him with such grace and beauty it would make Rarity and Fluttershy jealous. She smiled at him filling his being with warmth as she offered him a hand up. He gladly took it moving up on his hooves never taking his eyes off her, not even to blink.
Twilight was just now getting back on her hooves from the explosion that had pushed her away from Bronze. She gasped at how her surroundings had changed having a hard time believing that she was still in the same cave.
The sanctuary was now filled with life. The once dead grass underneath her was now green, there were rose bushes around the base of the hill, and a small moat filled with clear blue water behind the bushes. A small path made up of white marble stones ran down from the hill and ended at a little red bridge that stretched over the moat. Around the walls of the cave were an assortment of trees she had never seen before, their bark was pure white and the leaves they bore were like small gold coins. Hanging from the top of the cave where long vines covered with large teardrop shaped leaves. A small light blue wisp circled around the end of each vine filling the sanctuary with light. The air was no longer dry and filled with a bitter taste, instead it was moist and tasted sweet like honey dew.
The biggest change to the sanctuary was the Exorcist tree itself. No longer did it look like a dried up little sapling, instead it was a huge full grown tree that reached all the way up to the ceiling. Its bark had turned into a deep shade of purple and its maple shaped leaves were as white as snow. On each branch there was an assortment of glowing blue acorns that made it look like it was covered in party lights.
Her mind then turned back to Bronze and looked around for him. He was standing next to what she guessed was Lady Green Bark and they seemed to be waiting for her. She quick made her way up to the two and sat next to a smiling Bronze.
Green Bark then looked the two over before saying, “Thank you both for not only reviving me but also saving my beautiful Tol’kei,” Her voice was like a calm and cool slow moving brook but still had all the authority of a god in it. “and thank you Nardien my most faithful servant for bringing them to me.”
Nardien bowed putting his head to the ground as she spoke to him. ”Mistress I am not worthy of your praise, I took too long to find the source of the magic and if it wasn’t for Miss Twilight here you wouldn’t have been revived.” Lady Green Bark walked over to him and raised his head off the ground so she could look into his eyes.
“Do not fret about what you did and did not do, that is in the past now and you deserve a gift for your loyalty.” Her left hand lit up with blue light enveloping him in a tornado of rose peddles.
When the peddles fell to the ground Nardien had a new form much like his mistress'. He was slightly shorter than her now and the vines that made up his body were a dark gray color and his chest radiated with yellow light. On top of his head were two branches that shot out from either side that were shaped like the antlers of a deer. His face was narrow and looked as if it belonged to a feline of some kind.
He looked down at his new body. “Lady Green Bark, I am not deserving of such a gift.”
“Nonsense you have been wandering this for over a millennia and have earned this. Anyway I will need someone to help me retake my beautiful forest and purge it of the evil that has made home in it.”
Nardien was speechless as he looked at his master. Tears of joy started to form in his eyes before he quickly forced them away.
Green Bark then turned to the two ponies. “Do not think I have forgotten about you two. Both of you shall receive gifts for your service towards me and the forest around you.” She looked down at Twilight who was unable to move.
“Miss Twilight Sparkle for your service to me and the forest I give you the seed of Tol’kie.” She said lifting one of her hands up to pluck one of the glowing acorns from the tree, giving it to Twilight who put it in her saddlebag with care.”Plant it in a place where many ponies will be able to come to it so they can be cleansed of all harmful spells put on them. But remember it will only feed on magic so to get it to grow you will need to feed it constantly.
She then turned to Bronze with sadness in her eyes. “And for you poor Dawn Bringer, or as you are now called Bronze Night, I shall give you three gifts for your service to me and the forest. Now I shall restore unto you was taken from you so long ago.”
Her hands lit up with blue light making Bronze start to float in mid air. Suddenly a great flash of light came from him, illuminating the sanctuary. Bronze felt a throbbing sensation coming from his back and head.
When his hooves touched the ground again he staggered a little as he began to lose balance, it felt like there were massive weights on his back. When he looked back to see what was causing the difference in weight, his eyes saw a long purple thing protruding from his forehead. He looked at it for a few seconds before realizing it was a horn. His eyes then lowered to look upon two massive wings that had appeared on his back.
Bronze walked in circles to try and get a better look at his new wings before Lady Green Bark spoke up again.
“Now Bronze try stay still so I can give you my second gift.” He immediately stopped walking in circles and sat down in front of her. “Now lift you head so I can see your neck.”
Bronze obey her order and lifted his neck so that the scar under his chin was exposed. Green bark looked it over and slowly moved her long index finger towards it. The scar glowed with light as the finger came into contact with it. Bronze felt an itchy sensation in his throat and began to cough uncontrollably.
“Now speak so we may listen to you new voice”
At hearing this he looked at Lady Green Bark with disbelief, then he felt a hoof at his side. He looked down at the lavender pony who gave him a smile. “Go ahead Bronze I can’t wait to hear your voice.” Twilight said in a very reassuring voice.
He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, “I don’t know what to say.” Twilight face hoofed before noticing how pleasant it sounded. His voice was deep and rich like a silky chocolate.
“Well how bout you start with a thank you silly.” Twilight said giving him with a nudge with one of her hoofs.
“Oh sorry…oh I mean thank you Lady Green Bark, I love my new voice and I can hardly express my joy.” Bronze was blushing at this point but he still had a large grin on his face.
She smiled at him before her face grew very grim. “I’m happy that you like it so much but try and suppress your excitement for a moment. This next gift I shall give you is because your journey is not over yet, when the spell around you was broken so to were the spells placed around Luna and Celestia.”
At hearing this Twilight’s ears perked up. “What do you mean the spells around the Princesses were broken? I though Bronze here only had a spell put on him.”
“My dear Twilight Sparkle that is a story for another time that only Bronze here can tell you, but for now just listen. When the spells were broken Celestia’s and Luna’s old personalities returned to them I’m sure you know what that means Bronze. Luna will fail as she did before and that is where this third gift comes in.”
Lady Green Bark moved up to Bronze and embraced him by wrapping her arms around him. “I grant you all my knowledge in the field of magic so you will be able to do what needs to be done.”She whispered in his ear before moving one of her hands to the back of his head. She then extended one of her fingers and plunged it into the base of his skull where his brain stem was.
Bronze gasped in shock as the finger penetrated his neck. He tried moving back from Green Bark but she held him tight as she started to course magic through her finger. Suddenly a massive amount of information poured into his mind.
Learning all the spells that were coursing through his mind at the moment was like remembering something he had forgotten. It was like he already knew the spell and he was just being reminded of how to use them. Included in the mess of spells he was learning was a basic instruction on how to fly, what weather patterns he should avoid, and how to do a limited amounts of tricks while flying.
When Lady Green Bark was finished giving him this new information, Bronze doubled over and vomited. He couldn’t help it his body was in too much shock at the moment from all that had happened in the last five minutes. He then cast a spell that he had just learned to settle his stomach.
“Rise Bronze and return to your rightful place in this world. Now go time is running short and soon it will be too late.”
At this point Twilight was completely lost about what everpony was talking about, but she didn’t have time to ask questions because a green light had enveloped her and Bronze followed by a familiar pulling sensation. The two of them found them standing back at the cave where they had been at earlier in the day, the sun was low in the sky and was about to set.
Nardien walked up to his mistress after teleporting the two ponies back to the cave and gave her a very concerned look. She was smiling while looking up at Tol’kie.
“My Lady if you don’t mind me asking, why did you give the alicorn all that information about magic?”
She looked down from the tree and looked at her servant. “Because my dear Nardien I have a plan to make sure my Tol’kie never goes hungry again.”
“And what plan would that be My Lady?”
“You will see in due time, but for now we must prepare for another guest.”
Dun...dun...DUN! Hoped you guys like the cliff hanger, and i hoped you guys liked the chapter. The next one was a bit hard to write but I think I did pretty good at it hopefully it will be out soon. As usual thank you for reading and thank you for sticking with me.
Twilight looked up at Bronze, he was staring out in the distance with a concerned look on it.
“Uh Bronze do you mind telling me what’s going on, You look scared of something.”
He turned to look down into her violet eyes, his expression was very grim. He then let out a long sigh closing his eyes. “Twilight this may be hard to hear but I need you to listen and not interrupt me as I speak.”
She gave him a small nod giving him the ok to continue on talking.
“The spell that was on me was keeping me from remembering a horrible past. You see my aunt cut off my horn, wings, and vocal cords when I was just a young colt after I had found out one of her horrible plots to rule Canterlot by herself. She then brought me here to the Everfree forest and left me for dead, but as she was flying away my mother confronted her. The end result was my mother being banished, but before she was I tried to use a spell to save her and lost control of it. The spell went haywire and erased me from the memories of everypony in Equestria." Bronze let out another long sigh before saying a few more words."The name of my mother is Princess Luna.”
Twilight let out a sharp gasp as she heard he was Luna’s son, but then that would mean Celestia…”NO! I refuse to believe Princess Celestia would do those things to you! She is the kindest pony in all of Equestria!”
“Believe it or not I tell only the truth. I must leave now to confront her and bring her to justice for what she has done. I will drop you off at Pony-“
“NO! I’m coming with you to prove that you are wrong about her.” Twilight yelled trying to defend her mentor.
Bronze looked at her for a few moments before saying, “Fine I’ll take you with me, but I guarantee you will not like what you see.” He then lit up his horn and formed a small tan colored bubble around her.
Bronze opened up his massive wings and started moving them up and down making great torrents of wind hit the ground below him. Dust flew outward as he began to rise off the ground, it was slow at first but after a few moments he was up in the air flying at speeds that Rainbow Dash would have a hard time keeping up with. He shot over the trees of the Everfree forest keeping Twilight five feet behind him as he levitated her in the bubble.
Ponyville came into view after ten minutes of flying, Bronze slowed down when he saw the cyan pegasus chasing after him. When she caught up with them her mouth dropped open at the sight of Bronze.
“Twilight what’s going on? Why does Bronze have wings, and why is he flying like a crazed maniac?”
Bronze looked over at the baffled pegasus “She can explain everything later Rainbow but for now I need you to go back into town and stay there. Twilight and I are going to Canterlot, we will send send you and the rest of your friends a letter filling you in on what is happening.” Bronze then sped up and left Rainbow Dash who was now totally confused behind him.
The sun had completely set by the time they arrived over the path leading to Canterlot, but for some reason the moon wasn't rising to take its place in the night sky. There were Ponies covering the road as they tried to escape the city. As Canterlot came into view it was evident why there were so many fleeing ponies.
Nearly all of the once beautiful buildings where on fire. The ones that weren’t were either already burnt down or blown to bits. But the most obvious thing that was wrong was the palace itself. The entire top half of the white castle was missing as if a giant dragon came by and decided to pick it up and fly away with it.
Bronze and Twilight could see flashes of light coming from the center of the city followed by the occasional explosion.
”LUNA THOU ARE STILL A PATHETIC LITTLE FILLY THAT CAN’T DEFEND HERSELF.” Celestia yelled at her sister in her old Canterlot voice as she sent another massive fire ball at Luna’s magic shield. As it made contact it blew up sending fire onto the surrounding buildings. Luna was growing weak and was fighting a battle that she could not win, so she used her last trump card.
She answered her sister by lowering her head and started charging up a ball of purple energy. It slowly grew in size sending blue bolts of lightning out from its edges. Her eyes brimming with rage as Luna put everything she had into this ball of magic. When it was fully charge she released it with a loud BOOM , it whistled as it flew through the air towards Celestia.
Seeing the potential danger of the oncoming attack Celestia put her hooves in front of her and made barriers around them. She caught the ball of energy with her now protected hooves making her slide back from where she was standing. Not being able to completely stop the ball she was forced to redirect it throwing it into the mountain side that Canterlot was build next to.
The ball flew off towards the mountain and for a few seconds there was silence as the whistling died down. BOOOOOOOOMMMM! The ball of energy made contact with the mountain exploding in a great flash of white light. The blast continued on after making contact sending a massive white beam of energy through mountain. It made its way through to the other side and continued onward for a few miles before fading away.
Luna collapsed seeing how Celestia had thrown her last attack, she was too exhausted to stand having put all her energy into it. Celestia only laughed as she looked through the glowing red hot hole that Luna had made.
“Is that all you’ve got sister. I was hoping that I would be able to have a little more fun with you before you gave up.” Celestia said as she flew over to her sister. “Oh well I guess all good things have to come to an end sooner or later. Good bye Luna, and don’t worry I won’t banish you to the moon this time.”
Bronze was flying towards where the two alicorns were fighting when a massive white beam of light shot through the mountain side. The shock wave from it threw him off balance and he fell out of the sky. He had just barely regained control of his wings before the hitting the ground below.
He regained altitude and looked at the newly formed hole in the mountain. It was perfectly symmetrical and glowed red in the darkness caused by the end of the day. It stretched a hundred meters in all directions amazing Bronze that the mountain didn’t collapse because of it.
Bronze’s attention was turned elsewhere as Twilight said “Look I think I see the princesses down there!” When they were close enough to properly see the two princesses she let out a gasp not wanting to believe what she was seeing. Luna was lying on the ground with a grinning Celestia approaching her. The white alicorn was wearing a gold and red armor that resembled the armor Luna would be in when she was in her Nightmare Moon form.
Celestia’s horn lit up as she charged up a spell to end her sister’s life, laughing as it slowly gained power.”Do say hello to Dusk Bringer for me.”She said as she released the spell.
Luna just closed her eyes waiting for the bolt of energy to hit her. “I’m sorry Dawn Bringer that I couldn’t see your face one last time and say I love you.” She whispered to herself as tears started rolling down her face.
She waited and waited but nothing came, she slowly opened her eyes to look at a tan colored barrier that had been erected around her. Celestia looked equally confused about the barrier that had formed around her sister but that confusion quickly turned into frustration as she shot bolt after bolt of deadly magic trying to break the barrier. Suddenly a massive dark form crashed into Celsestia causing her to go flying off into a nearby pile of rubble that had once been a building.
The dark form was a pony that was as tall as Celestia herself, he turned to look at the princess in the bubble before saying.”I love you to mother.” He then turned towards the pile of rubble Celestia had been sent flying into and walked up to it.
Luna watched as the dark pony moved over to the rubble before something jumped in the way of where her line of sight. It was the lavender pony Twilight Sparkle and she looked at Luna with concern.
“Luna are you alright?” Twilight yelled. ”Bronze open up the barrier so I can enter it.”
Luna looked at the lavender pony confused about what was going on as a small rectangle opened in front of Twilight allowing her inside.
“Twilight why are you here and who is that pony who just attacked Celestia?”
“Don’t you recognize him he is you son after all.”
Luna turned her head back towards Bronze in disbelief but it was all there. He had the same flowing mane and dark purple coat from the colt in her memories.
Bronze cautiously made his way to the pile of rubble he had bucked Celestia into. There was no movement as he approached the pile of stones and wood beams that had once been a street side coffee shop. He knew in the back of his mind that his kick would not be enough to beat his aunt.
The rubble started to rumble as a magic started to push its way up through the stones and wood before it suddenly burst sending shrapnel flying in all directions. Celestia was hovering in a ball of magic that she had created around herself, her eyes had the same insane look in them that they had the night that she kidnapped Bronze.
“I see nephew, you’re all grown up now. Did you come back to play another game with me? I don’t know how you got your wings and horn back but I will enjoy cutting them off again.” She said while her evil grin spread back across her face.
“Do not think I am defenseless as I was back then you damned witch, I will have revenge for what you did to me and my mother!”
“Oh will you now? Let’s just see if the dog has the bite to back up the bark.”
Celestia’s horn lit up as she sent three crackling balls of yellow energy at Bronze. They separated and came at him from three different angles, one straight at him and one for each of his sides. He just stood there as they came closer not moving an inch.BOOM
Celestia let out a loud laugh as the attacks made contact with her target. “Your pathetic you couldn’t even defend yourself from that measly attack. I was hop…”She trailed off as there was no pony in the clearing smoke from her attack. She looked around frantically trying to find Bronze.
“Like I said I’m not the same defenseless little colt I was before!” Yelled a voice from above her.
She looked up at a massive ball of swirling energy rapidly approaching her. Celestia was barely able put up a barrier to protect herself before the attack crashed down on her.
Bronzed hoped to finish this fast so the city wouldn’t take any more damage. But when he felt his attack being pushed back up towards him he knew Celestia still had some fight in her. He redoubled his efforts and pushed the ball back downward.
Suddenly he saw a flash of light come from underneath him and before he could react something came racing around the ball of energy and struck him in the side. He was sent flying out of the sky and into a half destroyed house nearby. Celestia took this chance to push the ball of energy off of her and send it flying off into the night sky.
Celestia let out a sigh of relief as the ball few off her before starting to laugh.”I underestimated you Dawn Bringer but that won’t happen again.” She flew over to the building that she had sent Bronze flying into.
As she got closer he came bursting out of the house wings flared sending a beam of energy the size of a freight train at her. Celestia countered by sending her own beam of energy at him. The two attacks collided creating an explosion with enough force to put out the fires engulfing the buildings around them.
Celestia and Bronze flew around exchanging attacks like this for the next thirty minutes causing the city to be filled with multiple caters and holes. They soon grew tired and were force to the ground cause their wings could no longer carry them.
Their breaths were heavy as they touched back down in the center of what was left of the city where they had started. Celestia, no longer smiling, had a look of anger and frustration on her face, Bronze on the other hoof looked completely calm and had a determined.
They looked at each other for a few moments not making any moves. Bronze then took it upon himself to resume their fight by charging up to Celestia and bucking at her left side. She easily avoided the attack and stabbed at him with her horn. She came within inches of one of his wings before he sent her flying away with a magical push.
Celestia knew she wouldn’t be able to continue on for much longer as she slowly got up slowly from where she had landed looking around to find some sort of leverage that she could use against Bronze. Her eyes then fell upon the two mares sitting in the tan looking barrier. She snickered to herself as she came up with a devilish plan.
Bronze noticed where she was looking and before he could make a move to stop her Celestia shot a ball of bright light towards him. It didn’t hurt him, instead it blinded him giving Celestia enough time to move over to the barrier containing Luna and Twilight. As she approached the barrier something grabbed onto her back hoof. She looked down to see green root as thick as her horn wrapped half way up her hind leg.
”ENOUGH!” Shouted a voice loud enough to make the air crackle with energy. A deep rumbling followed the shout as the ground began to shake violently. Suddenly roots like the first one sprang out of the ground and latched themselves onto Celestia pulling her to the ground. She fought with all her might but the roots pinned her to the ground in a matter of seconds.
Celestia was about to cast a spell when a root wrapped itself around her horn. the voice spoke up again. “Don’t even think about it, or I`ll snap your horn off.” The root gave a slight tug making Celestia scream out in pain.
A massive ball of roots shot out from the ground in front of her causing everyone to gaze in amazement at the tangle of moving roots. They started to unwind themselves revealing a colossal unbloomed red flower that had three yellow stripes running up each peddle. It opened revealing Lady Green Bark sitting on a chair made of up of the stamen and pistils of the flower.
“What do you want Green Bark?” Celestia spat out with anger in her voice “This has nothing to do with you so-“
She was cut off as Lady Green Bark waved one of her fingers causing a root to wrap around Celesia’s muzzle “Just whom do you think you are speaking to you little brat. Have you forgotten all that I have done for you, have you forgotten the things I had taught you? Yet you still speak towards me with such venom in your voice.”
No one made a move as Green Bark got up from her chair and continued to scold Celestai. “You have changed in these past few millennia since I let you govern over the world that I had created. To think that you would revert back to your old self when Discord ruled over you. Celestia you have done unspeakable things to your family and you will be rightly punished as I see fit.”
Fear filled Celestia’s eyes as Lady Green Bark started casting a spell sending blue sparks around Celestia and the roots that entangled her. She then disappeared as the roots formed a tight ball around her before slowly moving back under ground with a low rumble.
The three ponies looked in shock as Celestia disappeared underneath the ground. Lady Green Bark then returned to her seat and made the roots holding up the flower move towards the three.
“My Lady.” Luna said bowing her head Bronze and Twilight soon followed suit.
Bronze then looked up at Green Bark with a very solemn expression. “Did you kill her?” He said in a plain and simple voice.
“No Bronze I did not, I merely transported her back to the sanctuary so I could deal with her later. I’m going make sure Tol’kie never goes hungry again by binding Celestia to it so her magic will constantly be sapped away by the tree. I would never be able to bring myself to kill her.”
“What now? With Celestia gone Eqestria is without a ruler and there is no pony to raise the sun anymore.” Twilight asked causing Lady Green Bark to look at her. She was about to speak up when Bronze interrupted her.
“I will take charge of rising the sun in the morning and if my mother so wishes I will raise the moon as well.” To prove that he was serious he focused his magic grabbing hold of the moon and slowly raising it into the night sky causing the three too give him looks of amazement. After raising the moon he staggered a little as a wave of fatigue rushed through his already tired form. He let out a few hard breaths before regaining his composer. “I will also rule if I have your blessing Lady Green Bark, I don’t know how good I will be but I can always turn to my mother if the need arises.”
She smiled at him. “I have no objection to you ruling, just remember don’t let the power get to you head I don’t want to forcefully dethrone another pony. But I am curious about what name you will rule under?”
This question caught him off guard as he contemplated on which of his two names he should use. He thought for a few more minutes before giving them his answer.
“I think I will use my old name, but that doesn’t mean I will want ponies to stop calling me by the name my master Ballahmar gave me.”
At hearing the name Ballahmar Lady Green Bark’s eyes widened. “You can’t be talking about the Great Blue Dragon Ballahmar could you?” She asked getting a nod in response. “So the old kook is still alive, I can honestly say I am amazed that he is, and even more so that you were his student...Unfortunately you will have to tell me about it some other time. I must return to my sanctuary for now, it seems Nardien is having a few problems with Celestia.”
She waved goodbye to them as the great flower she was sitting on closed up. It slowly returned under the ground with a low rumble, leaving behind a large circle of loose dirt where she had been.
Luna then looked at her son and embraced him in a big hug while tears started running down her face. “I missed you so much my son.”
“I missed you to mother.” He replied having tears in his eyes as he put his hoof around her.
Twilight just looked at the two as the hugged before breaking the silence. “Uh…not to ruin the moment or anything but can you tell me what you meant when you said your old name Bronze?”
He separated from Luna and looked down at the lavender pony before letting out a loud laugh. “I`ll tell you all about it later Twilight but for now I think we need to try and sort things out with all the ponies fleeing the city.”
She giggled at him before nuzzling his side. Luna also nuzzled his side as they looked up to the starry night sky before heading out of the city to calm everypony down.
After the battle was decided Bronze took over ruling Equestria. Many ponies had died that day and many more were injered. It took a few months but the ponies of Canterlot and Ponyville soon rebuilt the city to its former glory.
It took a few weeks but the ponies throughout the kingdom accepted Bronze as their new leader. He had few problems raising the sun and he would often raise the moon at night. Whenever he needed help dealing with political problems he would turn to his mother for assistance for matters that he could not handle.
He would frequently visit Lady Green Bark and Celestia at the sanctuary and sometimes would bring one of the mane six with him. Celestia was bound to the tree and wasn't allowed to leave the sanctuary but that didn't mean that she hadn't tried. But after her third attempt Lady Green Bark fused Celestia's wings to her sides so she couldn't open them.
The forest slowly began to revert back into a place where ponies could safely walk in again. There were even rumors spreading of a tall plant like creature walking though the forest hunting down the evil beasts that made the forest their homes.
Twilight Sparkle Became Luna's student after Celestia was banished. She would send her weekly reports on friendship to Luna along with everything that she had been studying.
She had planted the seed of Tol'kei that Lady Green Bark had given her in the massive hole that was blasted into the side of the mountain by Luna's attack. It was named the Sanctuary of Lost Rain do to the fact that the tree and all the plants around it seemed to grow without the need of water. Twilight gave the duties of feeding the tree to Luna and Bronze because she wanted to return to Ponyville.
Bronze ruled over Equestria for the rest of his life, and it was called the Rule of the Second Sun.
~=)~End~(=~
For those of you that did like my story thank you and that makes me happy =) I hope you all enjoyed this story and I enjoyed writing if for you guys see ya'll next time![color]
