Everfree Forest, the last great expanse of Equestria which hadn’t fallen to the sway of Pony control; once it had been a beautifully manicured forest with the Royal Palace at its centre and a gorgeous city surrounding the palace, but after the first uprising of the terrible Nightmare Moon, the palace has fallen into all but ruins, and the city but a faded memory in history books.
One of Nightmare Moon’s last acts had been to curse the forest to run wild and never be controllable ever again.
Here in the unkempt and untamed trees, creatures of ill intent have always lurked. Ursa Major and their Minor offspring, Manticore, Hydra… even supernatural beasties had been seen within the looming and foreboding trees such as ghosts, magical anomalies, and even the undead which were blessedly rare.
It was within this forest that the Nightmares called home.
As varied in colour and breed as ordinary Equestrians, Nightmares had manes of magical flames, also varying in colour, length and style depending on the Nightmare. They had once been a part of Equestrian civilization, welcome amongst their ranks, but since the Nightmare Moon incident, they had been painted in a bad light, being labelled as in cahoots with the dreaded Mare in the Moon. As such, they had simply avoided the rest of ponydom when they migrated en masse away from the once proud city surrounding the old Royal Palace.
The Nightmares had erected their own city, one of wood, logs, stone and carefully carved marble, one of their most valued commodities. They held grand celebrations, contests in wood chopping and other enjoyable activities, and even had a monarchy, of a sort. The Night Terrors, as their royals were called, were nowhere near as grand or powerful as the Royal Sisters of Equestria, and they held but a little power within the society. They act as figureheads and deciders; should their parliament not be able to come to a decision, as is often the case with any parliament, the Night Terrors could be trusted to step in and make the best ruling in favour of the public.
Many times they had butted heads with the more arrogant politicians, ruling against things which were in some way not in the average Ponies’ favour, such as tax increases or additional law enforcement on the streets.
I say streets, in actual fact they had about four, with numerous smaller streets which could only be labelled as alleys. Though mugging and theft would be a worry amongst a city which became as dark as theirs during the night, their magical manes gave off a gentle light, just bright enough to illuminate an area around them and make them easy to see within a dark place. Because of this, night crime was nearly non-existent.
Food wasn’t much of a worry either; while the forest was virtually untameable, parts of the old kingdom still lingered. Thorned bushes were rampant, but regular trimming kept them from overrunning their quaint little city, and the careful pony could easily extract raspberries from their thorny coils. Trees once a major part of the kingdom’s food stores, still regularly bore fruit which could be harvested with care; these trees were also usually covered in thorny vines. A careful farmer could make flowerbeds of ample size for food within the safety of their own greenhouse. Every home had its own, and they would rotate the crops amongst the residences to avoid soil degradation and allow for more variety amongst fellow Nightmares.
It is within this charming, if dimly lit, hamlet of a city where Shadow Gazer had been born.
His father had been a guard of the city, a dangerous job due to the threat which the denizens of the forest posed, and he had unfortunately been killed during the last Hydra attack. The guard had managed to fend the Hydra off with few injuries and fewer casualties, but sadly Red Rim had been one of those amongst the Hydra’s victims.
His mother, Lunar Gazer, had birthed him not long after the incident; a nearly-black coated Unicorn Nightmare with a velvet-purple mane and tail and piercing eyes with the usual dragon-like slit pupil, red like his father’s had been. His dark coat stirred no concern; while normal ponies are commonly bright, vibrant colours, Nightmare would often be a darker coat, and his mother loved him regardless.
He grew as most any Unicorn would normally, for a Nightmare Unicorn anyway, and showed an aptitude for magic not uncommon amongst his peers. Sure, he’d been bullied by the more relentless of those around him when he was little; being fatherless a popular topic to sink their cruelty into. But his mother had assured him that Red Rim had died to protect everyone, the bullies included, and that he had nothing to be ashamed about.
His mother was an astrologer, and she often spent whole nights with her telescope, staring into the starry night and jotting down notes. It wasn’t exactly a wonderfully paying job, granted the Night Terrors would pay for updates on the stars and what they foretold, but it alone wouldn’t have possibly sustained the small family as well as they would need.
Using part of what was left behind by Red Rim, Lunar Gazer had most of the house knocked off and an enlarged greenhouse put in its place. They still had two bedrooms, a family room, a bathroom, and a kitchen; but in place of a third bedroom, dining room and lounge they had a means to support themselves. They would rotate to something which the town needed grown and would sell it to others. Most households did this, but theirs was the only family doing it on such a scale.
Soon, they were doing well enough to survive proper.
Shadow Gazer, named for his dark coat and his mother’s surname would help his mother choose what to plant in their greenhouse, and soon his special talent showed itself. Shadow Gazer, by using the magic his horn provided and enough soil to grow a plant could see the future. It wasn’t anything like seeing ten years, or even a hundred years from now, but he could easily see to the end of the season and into the next, allowing him and his mother to more readily predict what they should grow during the next season. It worked well enough until his mother retired.
He’d always been curious about the world outside of their little town, but his mother and peers warned him that it was a dangerous place beyond the city limits, there were monsters that would readily kill and devour a lost pony, and other creatures that could do even more unspeakable things. Until his fifteenth birthday, he had heeded them. After that, however, he decided to venture beyond the walls of their quiet and calm city.
He didn’t bother to wait for nightfall, simply telling his mother that he had decided to see what was out in the rest of Equestria for himself and that he would look after himself. She was worried, he knew, but… he was too curious. The soils around him only forebode good tidings, though for the near-immediate future they were vague and didn’t tell him much.
He’d walked in the direction of the greatest feeling of magic he knew of, following the feeling of concentrated magic through the forest until he came upon a mountainside, a great city perched upon one side, far above him.
Leaving the cover of the forest, he proceeded up the clearly defined and well paved path to the city gates, where he was grabbed by a pair of Pegasus in armour and dragged to a prison cell.
He was cold, the room was dark and he was alone; so very alone. Not even a guard to watch him. The fact that the lock on his cell was magic proof probably meant they didn’t need to watch him; he was stuck here whether he fought to get out or not. The lock didn’t matter; the looks the guards had given him had scared him too much, and now he trembled at the farthest corner of the cell, huddled pathetically into a ball.
Eventually he calmed a little, and he used his magic to collect dust and grit from around the cell to make a readable pile of dirt. The future, a week away in any case, told only of good things, anything more immediate than that told only of something powerful.
After a few hours he had fallen asleep, and when he awoke again he was aware of something watching him. He looked over at the door so see a Pony of rather substantial size, with both Unicorn horn and Pegasus wings.
An Alicorn..?
He gasped, realizing who was watching him sleep, and turned his face away from her. The white Alicorn mumbled something to the guard with her, and the next thing Shadow Gazer knew, she was standing by his side eyeing him critically.
“You… are not a changeling.” She said matter-of-factly.
He could only shake his head.
“I assume you have a tongue.” She hissed.
He nodded.
“Well? What are you?”
Shadow Gazer gulped, shaking in worry. She was talking to him!
“I-I’m c-called Shadow G-Gazer.” He managed to stammer. “I… I’m an N-Nightmare Unicorn.”
This seemed go give the Alicorn pause.
“The Nightmares are extinct.” She snapped.
He shook his head.
“W-we have a g-great city within t-the forest.”
“The forest,” She parroted, “you mean Everfree?”
He nodded.
“An entire city within Everfree; you expect me to believe that? No Pony city could survive within those cursed trees. The great beasts alone would be your undoing. Any magic capable of defending against an Ursa Major I would detect, and anyone flying overhead would surely see it.”
He shrugged sadly. “D-don’t believe me then,” he grumbled.
She seemed to consider his retort.
“Do you know to whom you are being so rude, stallion?” She asked gruffly.
“A p-princess of the royal line, though your n-name I do not know.” He grumbled miserably. “Alicorn are no c-common pony, only royals h-have ever been A-Alicorn.” He curled further into his corner; sure he was at least disgruntling the princess and wanting the little distance from her he could manage. “The only Alicorns I know of are the sisters of legend, Princesses Celestia and Luna, but those legends are hundreds of years old.”
The Alicorn bit her lip nervously.
“Nightmare, I am Princess Celestia.”
Shadow Gazer stopped shivering, and looked up at her in disbelief.
“I shall see to your release into more a more suitable abode.” She said, turning for the door. “Is there anything you would like in the mean time?”
He looked about the dank, dark cell which was being dimly lit by the torch outside and his own fiery mane.
“If it’s not too much to ask, may I have some water?” He asked, before adding, “A-and a pot of soil?”
She gave him a curious glance before nodding. “Of course.”
A guard soon arrived with the requested items, placing them upon a table brought in by another guard. They watched idly as he took a drink before turning his attention to the offered pot of dirt.
The loam was softer than the grit and dust he had used earlier, and it seemed to be far more cooperative with his attempts to read it. It was comforting to know that things were going to be a little smoother from this point onward.
An hour later and a female Unicorn guard came to escort him to different accommodations. He collected the pot of soil and followed her, being led to a room up higher in the castle. The room he was led to was small, not uncomfortably so however, with a plain bed, table and chairs, wardrobe and some other bits and pieces of assorted furniture. Princess Celestia stood near the door when he entered, and he bowed respectfully before placing the pot he carried on the nearby table.
“I hope this won’t be too small, we were a bit hard pressed to find a spare room…” She said to him.
He shook his head. “This is larger than my room at home, Highness.”
She nodded faintly. “Very well; unless you intend to head out to a different town, you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need.”
He bowed again. “I thank you for your kindness, Princess.”
“I must ask, however…” She began, “for what did you want the soil..? It was a most… peculiar request.”
He smiled to her, happy to on a topic he could talk about without worrying about her already knowing all about it. “My special skill is to see the future in soil and dirt.” He informed her cheerfully. “It… comforted me for what little I could gather to be able to put my mind to use other than worrying about what might have become of me. Rather than worry, the soil allowed me to know that I would be safe.”
“That is an interesting skill; I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a Unicorn with such a talent.”
Shadow shrugged. “I’ve never questioned it myself,” he said, “it was quite handy for knowing what we needed in future crops.”
“Why have more of your numbers not left your city? This is the first Nightmare have been seen for a thousand years.”
“Have you seen the creatures which dwell within Everfree? Beyond the walls of our city, beasts which would devour one of us roam freely through the trees. I am impressed I managed to avoid them entirely on my way to… wherever we are.”
“Wherever we are? You don’t know the name of this city?”
He shook his head.
“This is Equestria’s capitol, Canterlot. The Royal Palace is within this city.”
He nodded faintly. “I suppose I have much to learn.”
“Indeed.”
They stood in an awkward silence for a moment or two, trying to avoid one-another’s gaze. Shadow was deeply nervous; Princess Celestia, the Princess Celestia, a legend was talking to him! What did he dare say? Ask? She was royalty, how should he speak without offending her? Celestia, on the other hand, was trying to figure out her next move. Someone who looked in a way like Nightmare Moon might cause a panic amongst the populous, but she couldn’t keep him locked away within the castle forevermore, that wouldn’t be fair on him. A thought struck her mind, one that grew ever more intriguing as she considered it.
But could she do it?
He wanted to learn about the Equestria outside of his city walls, and she knew someone who wanted to learn more about those around her…
“Shadow Gazer, I have an idea as to where you may call home, provided you’re willing to share accommodations with someone who is also a little… different.”
Shadow Gazer stepped off of the royal carriage out front of a well-kept house. Its manicured lawn and, to look, perfectly square foliage made it look almost industrial. He could hear some raised voices inside, and he only looked to the Pegasus who had pulled his carriage worriedly, as if asking whether they’d got the correct address. They only nodded, chuckled, and pulled away, leaving him standing worriedly in the middle of the yard. He gulped and walked uncertainly up to the door, giving it a polite knock.
It shone the familiar glitter of magic and a male Unicorn opened it. He looked rather deadpan to the arguing ponies behind him in the house. His mane, orange like the rest of his coat, was tied into a neat ponytail behind his head, and his tail also had a hair tie around its base, though possibly just for appearances’ sake. His teal eyes looked at Shadow Gazer as if studying him, giving the Nightmare the worrying impression that he was looking into him and putting red circles around those parts he disapproved of.
“You’ll be this Shadow Gazer that Princess Celestia sent a letter about I take it?” He asked, completely nonchalant.
“Y-yes.” He stammered back. It really was quite an unnerving stare. “And you are?”
“My name is Silent Quill; I’m an author and friend to the owner of this residence. I’d ask if you would like to come in, but there’s a bit of a fuss inside as it is.”
“What the hay is going on, anyway?”
Silent Quill grumbled. “Your future roomie and one of our other friends, Holly Seams, are having a bit of a… disagreement.”
Shadow Gazer blinked. “Over what?”
“Would you believe curtains?”
The two males waited for the argument to end on the front lawn, one sitting calmly, the other looking at the lawn beneath them. Rather, the soil the grass was growing from. Already he was thinking he had made a bad choice, choosing to come here on Princess Celestia’s suggestion was becoming more and more undesirable an idea. The soil, however, only said the opposite.
“What are you doing anyway?”
Silent Quill’s question dragged him from his reprieve and back to Equestria.
“I’m using my magic to foretell the future.” He replied calmly. “I don’t get anything as complicated as images unless I use a lot of magic, but I get… feelings, whether or not things will be good or bad.” He looked up at Silent Quill’s curious face calmly. “Princess Celestia said she’d never seen anything like it.”
“And I share her highnesses’ sentiment.” Quill said bluntly. “I had no idea that magic could do such a thing; most fortune tellers use scrying crystal balls.”
“Crystal?” Shadow Gazer parroted curiously. “Oh, yes, spheres of crystal or glass; that’s easy. With very little magic I can see what’ll happen next month rather easily in one of those.”
“Sounds like you’ll fit in rather well here in Trottingham.” Quill informed. “We have a couple of farms around here, I’m sure their owners would be quite interested in knowing how well their harvests will go,”
“Or what the weather will provide?”
Quill blinked, as much at being interrupted as his odd statement. “The weather?”
Shadow Gazer nodded. “Yeah, knowing what the weather will be like will help them to know if they need to water their crops more or less…”
“But the weather is controlled by Pegasi, rains are controlled strictly…”
“Really?! That’s amazing!”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, we don’t have any control over the weather where I’m from.”
Quill tried to process this. “Where are you from?”
“The Everfree Forest.”
Quill stayed silent for a moment or two. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“That you survived the trek from wherever your home town is to Canterlot is what is amazing. The forest is usually swarming with dangerous monsters.”
“You become versed in avoiding them when you’ve lived within the forest your whole life.”
Quill nodded faintly before standing.
“It sounds as though the ladies have finished arguing.” He said, trotting to the door. “Come in, you should meet your housemate.”
Shadow Gazer sat in silent disbelief of the pony who sat opposite him, a light blue Earth Pony.
She seemed completely normal; he was starting to doubt what Princess Celestia had said about her being different. She was, he had to admit, a little formal in conversation, but… nothing seemed different about her at all. Her mane, tied into a loose loop behind her head, was a darker blue than the rest of her coat, bar for a single streak of silver hair which ran the length of her mane and tail. Her silver eyes seemed to pierce into him, but were more… questioning in their gaze than Silent Quill’s had been; as if they were silently asking a question she dare not ask aloud.
“I would like to show you something, Shadow Gazer,” She said standing and moving to lead him through the house, “If you’d follow me, of course.”
He did as she asked, and was led to a small room within the very heart of the house, the door of which she unlocked and opened to reveal a room full of power tools and other strange-looking apparatus neatly placed upon racks and shelves. A book at the back on a bench read: ‘Maintenance Manual for Artificial Intelligence Codename Quickstep: Phony Paige.’
He gave her a disbelieving stare.
“Yes,” she said, “I am an automaton, an Artificial Intelligence created by CL0PTech. My initial mission had been to test how believable my disguise was, but I have since been released as an official civilian, and the ponies around town all know what I truly am.”
“B-but I saw you eating..!”
“I can process food for an alternative fuel source, however it is highly inefficient, but another part of the disguise. In truth, I need not consume anything but air and electricity. I do, however, use a substantial amount of electricity, so I do have a hefty electricity bill…”
“B…but…”
“Don’t worry about the bills, I work at the local bank as an accountant, and I earn more than enough to support two.”
This little revelation had him staring at her incredulously. She was… a fake?
Well, at least he now knew why Celestia said she was different.
“I think you’re giving him the solution before the clues, Paige.” Quill said as he dawdled up to them, noting the confused look on Shadow Gazer’s face. “Shadow, a robot is a machine on a grander scale. Phony Paige is currently the epitome of robot research, something made of metal and plastic with a mind of her own.”
“But… if she’s just metal and plastic, why give her a gender, or a name..?”
“Because, on that metal and plastic, is programming and software. The software that runs Paige is very sophisticated, and as such she has developed into a consciousness. She’s as real as you or I in here,” he tapped Paige on the head, “but outside she’s no more organic than the tiles on which you stand. Her identity as a mare, though something that does raise questions, isn’t something we’ve ever really worried about; Paige is Paige, and she’s our friend regardless of what she is. You look, in a way, like Nightmare Moon, yet we haven’t asked anything about any ties between your people and that dreaded pony. Appearance is only skin deep, it’s not what we’re made of, but who we are that define us.”
There was a sound of breaking bottles from the front of the house, and Paige sighed.
“Not all have learned that lesson.” She grumbled.
Several ponies stood down on the street glaring daggers at Paige as she stepped out onto the front porch. Glass littered the front of the house, and the little gang still held more to throw. Quill tugged Shadow Gazer to where he could see, but would be shielded from any flying shrapnel.
A bottle was thrown.
It collided with Paige’s face, smashing into millions of little bits. Shadow Gazer gasped worriedly, she hadn’t even closed her eyes, but another bottle was hurled at her, followed by another and another. With the screen door closed, the house would remain glass free, but Paige just stood there and took the hits as the bottles rained down on her. Eventually the ponies ran out of bottles to throw, and she sighed.
“Are we quite finished?” She asked idly. “Don’t think you’ll get away with this, by the way, I know your faces and names.”
The ponies worriedly took a step back.
“Robot, remember?”
The ponies on the road bolted, running for all they were worth away from the house. Paige sighed and stepped back inside, moving to the house phone and idly dialling.
“Hello? Trottingham Guard? Yes, it’s Paige again. No, no; bottles this time. Marky Red…”
She listed off a few names, evidently the names of those who had been hurling bottles, before thanking the guard for their time and hanging up.
“I take it this is a regular occurrence?” Shadow Gazer asked worriedly.
“Sadly yes, since I revealed my true nature to the town, opinion has been divided. For now I’m not worried, if I can survive being in an explosion, then these ponies have nothing that they can throw at me that will do any lasting damage.”
“Paige, you have a cut.” Shadow Gazer pointed out, before putting a hoof to his cheek. “Right here, it looks deep.”
She looked at her reflection in the hall mirror before giving a disgruntled huff and turning towards the heart of the house.
“I will be fine, it is only superficial; it’ll take but a moment to repair, then we can go out and get some lunch.”
After Paige returned from repairing her face, she led them out the front door, locking it behind them dutifully, and led them to the Heavy Hoof tavern. Inside they sat and ordered lunch, before idly chatting to one another.
“It’s been a while since I was here last,” Paige mumbled, “nowhere near as much fire in here today.”
“Fire?” Shadow Gazer probed worriedly.
“And Roof Raiser did quite a nice job rebuilding, looks better than then too.”
“What fire?”
“Hmm?”
“What fire?”
“Oh, few weeks ago the Heavy Hoof was host to a drinking contest, and after a particularly humorous drunken brawl, the place was alight. I ran back into the building because the daughter of the mare who runs this place, Roseheart, had hidden in the basement. We were sort of trapped inside, and the fire sort of boiled the cider in the basement’s barrels.”
Shadow Gazer, having only just turned old enough to even partake of cider, still knew one universal rule about it.
“Cider doesn’t boil,” he pointed out, “at least, not for very long.”
“Remember when I told you I was in an explosion?” Paige asked.
“Yeah?”
“Now you know what I mean by sort of boiled the cider.”
Their lunch was brought over by a green filly with red hair and a heart-shaped rose cutie mark; she smiled at Paige happily after putting their meals on the table and hurried back to the kitchens. Quill grumbled.
“For a pony learning to be a horticulturalist, she’s doing very little of it.”
“She’s still a filly; her mother holds some sway over her.” Paige replied. “She’ll go back to her garden and look after her roses when her mother lets her.”
“Hope so, I had to get rid of the aphids on them yesterday because she wasn’t around to do it herself.”
“Aphids can be handled with a simple remedy I know, there’s a tree that runs rampant in Everfree whose roots, while hard to cut, can be ground down into a powder and applied with spraying that’ll get rid of them, it reacts badly with their carapace. Goldwood I think it’s called.” Shadow Gazer said helpfully.
“You know this how..?” Paige asked.
“In Everfree we don’t exactly have perfect weather or conditions for growth year-round, so we’ve had to adapt. Almost every house has gardens in which crop is grown and shared with the rest of the city. I may be a seer, but I know my way around a garden like noponys business.”
Quill smiled. “Well, we might have to try it, would you like to join us for a trip to the forest later?”
“Sure, though we shouldn’t have to enter, it more than likely grows on the outer fringe of the forest. We only need a little bit depending on how large her garden is; and I might even be able to get a cutting to grow in a pot if I’m careful.”
“Does it control pests other than just aphids..?”
Shadow Gazer nodded. “Yeah, all sorts of nuisances; aphids, spiders, caterpillars…” He drifted off faintly to indicate the list was, indeed, rather long, “And it doesn’t harm the plant, at least, I’ve never seen it harm a plant. I would just advise washing any crop harvested before consumption or use, it tastes really bitter.”
The two local ponies smiled faintly, each taking a bite of their respective lunch.
“Y’know, I think you might fit right in here.”
After finishing their lunches and paying, the trio wandered out of town to the nearest edge of Everfree. The tree line squatted before them like a massive dark beast, and what few trees were here were covered in tangling vines, and nearby patches of ground in blue flowers. Quill moved to examine one when Shadow grabbed his tail and tugged him away.
“Don’t touch that!” He hissed. “That’s Poison Joke; it’ll leave a random, but very humiliating ailment on you! And watch the vines will you, those barbs aren’t for show!” He gave Quill an exasperated sigh. “Everfree isn’t dangerous just because of its weather and wild beasts, the very foliage can, and will, fight back. Trekking through Everfree isn’t like going for a forest walk; it’s an uphill struggle against everything nature can throw at us.”
“…Alright.” Quill mumbled, stepping back. “Can you see the tree you need? If not, are you willing to guide us deeper into the forest?”
Shadow looked about at the nearest trees, before smiling and hurrying over to one with an orange-black bark that peeled oddly.
“The bark is useful when pulped as an ointment.” He said, scraping some off with a hoof and collecting the larger fragments. “But the leaves are poisonous. If I can get a small cutting…” He used his magic to clip a small branch from the tree higher up, and carefully tucked it into his saddlebag before looking down. “Right, now we need a root cutting. Not too much or we could harm the tree, but…” Using his magic again, he shifted the soil and tore up a root ending, snapping it short at about four inches long, and buried the rest back where it had been. He tucked the root into his saddlebag. “There, that should-”
Paige grabbed him by his tail and tugged him from his footing, throwing him a few metres away as a large paw slammed the ground where he’d been standing. He struggled to his feet to see what she had done it for when his eyes fell on the large, angry beast glaring at them.
“A-a Manticore!”
The beast reared up and roared furiously, before dropping back to all fours and starting to slowly pace towards them. Paige stepped in front of him and turned her back.
“See you later.”
She reared and bucked her hind legs, the kick forceful enough to launch the Manticore back into the forest and well out of sight.
They stood in silent worry for a moment or two.
“Think he’ll be back?”
Shadow Gazer shook his head. “That would have really annoyed him, and he would roar furiously if he could; I think you’ve knocked him out cold. Even so, we should get back to Trottingham before something else shows up, like a Lupus or, Princesses forbid, an Ursa.”
The others nodded and together they headed back to town.
On their way back to the Heavy Hoof, the trio stopped at the town markets and bought a fair-sized pot for Shadow Gazer to plant his cutting in, as well as some prime potting mix. Paige stopped at a store for a moment, hiding her purchase from Shadow, but carrying the box for it in a bag that hung from her side. Paige could carry an impressive amount, and she had a rather healthy account as well, but the only one to get odd looks from ponies was Shadow Gazer. He knew he was rather out of his element, but some of the looks were frightening.
“W-why do they glare at me like that..?”
Paige stayed quiet, but Quill sighed.
“You remind them of Nightmare Moon.” He said matter-of-factly. “We remember the two-day night she inflicted upon Equestria when she returned.”
“But… but I’m nothing like Nightmare Moon!”
“You share her flowing magical mane and tail, not to mention her darker colouration and dagger-shaped pupils; I’d say you are a lot like her.”
Shadow Gazer looked at the ground as they walked sadly. “In that case, none of us would be welcomed outside of Everfree…”
“Hmm?”
“All Nightmares have magical mane and tail, dagger-shaped pupils, and our coats are naturally darker colours. We’ve been alone for so long, we weren’t sure if there was even a world beyond the forest. If it weren’t for the last return of Nightmare Moon, we would have continued to be hidden, and the belief of our extinction would have remained intact.”
Quill and Paige shared a glance as they walked alongside the glum Nightmare.
“If this is the way we’d be threated, maybe it would have been better for everypony if we did stay within Everfree…” He mumbled, “If I… went home.”
“Home is where your heart resides, you belong where you wish to, not where others say you should, be. My doors are open to you, Shadow, my home now also your home. Don’t be afraid of what others think of you because of your outer appearance; your true value lies within.” Paige said to him, before tapping his head and his chest. “Here and here.”
“Besides, they don’t know you at all yet,” Quill added, “give them some time, they’ll warm up to you.”
Shadow Gazer sighed. “Yeah, I guess…”
They stopped at the Heavy Hoof and found Roseheart tending to her garden, spraying water against the aphids she could see on her roses irritably.
“Hay, Rose!” Paige called, getting her attention.
“Hiya Paige!”
“Something wrong, kiddo? You seem a little irked.”
Roseheart grumbled. “Ooh, these aphids just keep coming back, no matter how much I spray them; they’re going to ruin my roses at this rate. Mum won’t let me get anything to control them with, saying that we’ve better things to spend our money on.”
“We might be able to help?” Paige offered.
“How?”
Paige nudged Shadow Gazer forward. “My Friend here has a natural remedy that he says should work.”
“Really?!”
Shadow Gazer nodded. “Yup, but I’ll need a mortar and pestle, or at least a slab and a grinding stone.”
The filly blinked, confused for a moment, before moving over and nudging open the garden shed.
“In here maybe?”
Shadow Gazer moved over and looked through the shed, before finding a mortar and pestle hidden in a box and fishing it out and levitating it over to a bench. “This should do.” He said, before using his magic to retrieve the Goldwood root. He snapped off a rather small amount, about a third of an inch, before putting the rest back into his bag. He dropped the small fragment of root into the mortar and started to pulverise it.
“What is it?”
“It’s called Goldwood, the roots of the tree can be powdered and mixed with water to make a solution which most insects don’t like. Some flying insects, like bees and such which will pollinate plants aren’t irritated by it, but Aphids can’t stand it.”
“Really? That’s great!”
Shadow Gazer nodded, levitating an empty squirt bottle over and tipping the powdered root in before filling the bottle the rest of the way with water and shaking it.
“Not much root is needed, though, only about the amount I used before.” He said before spraying a likely-looking cluster of aphids on a nearby rose. Much to his credit, they all seemed to panic and leapt off the rose, fleeing the milky-white liquid. “Coat your roses in this stuff and you’ll not have aphid troubles for a month or so.” He said, letting her take the spray bottle. “However, I advise washing any edibles you spray with this stuff before you eat or prepare them; it leaves a slightly waxy coat that doesn’t agree with tummies.”
She nodded enthusiastically before coating the rest of the nearby rose and scurrying off to treat the rest of her garden. She looked back for a moment before she got out of earshot.
“Thank you!”
Shadow nodded faintly, and Paige stepped over to him and nudged him.
“See, things are getting better here already.”
They returned to Paige’s house, and Paige opened up to allow them in, only for Shadow Gazer to stall at the door worriedly. Paige gave him a concerned nudge.
“Something wrong?”
He nodded faintly. “I… I’m going to continue getting stares and angry looks from the others in town, and I’ve no familiar faces to rely upon; do I… I don’t know if I can make it here.”
She smiled at him and gave him a playful push. “You’ve already helped one filly with her special talent, and you hold, in your saddlebags, the future tree from which you’ll continue to provide our town with ‘miracle’ cures for our farmers. You can do it, I promise you.
“After I revealed my true nature to the town, I also worried that I would be ostracized, but I stuck around, not because I have a job here, or because Celestia told me to, but because I wanted to be with my friends. I like it here, it’s a quaint little town once you get used to it.
“Please, give these ponies a chance; I know they’ve got good in them.”
Shadow Gazer nodded faintly and stepped inside, moving to the living room where he put his saddlebag down in front of him and carefully removed the small clipping he’d taken. He spent a couple of minutes carefully planting it, ensuring it had enough soil to grow correctly before putting it on a likely-looking windowsill.
“Shadow, can you come to the kitchen please?” Paige’s voice called.
He turned and followed the origin of her voice, finding her, indeed, in the kitchen. The dining table had a globe of carefully carved crystal sitting on a stand in the middle, and she looked at him hopefully.
“It’s for you.” She said. “I figured we could get you a stall at the stores, and you could provide your horticulture future sight to our farmers for a living, or selling your root-derived remedies to gardeners?”
He shrugged faintly. “I’m… not sure if it’d go anywhere.” He mumbled before Quill wandered in with another pony in tow.
He looked like a working pony, grizzled and sturdy, and he eyed the Nightmare sceptically.
“This is Citrus Squeeze, he’s one of our local farmers,” Quill said, introducing the pony to Shadow Gaze, “Citrus, this is Shadow Gazer, the pony I told you about?”
The farmer nodded.
“Citrus has been a bit down on luck on the farm this year, his trees are constantly being assailed by pests, and he’s having trouble with their growth.” Quill explained.
“I’d take any help at this point.” Citrus grumbled. “I just… I need to get rid of them pests, and Quill has told me you’re good with plants.”
Shadow Gazer nodded. “If you show me your field, I’ll see what I can do.”
He’d not seen a farm of this scale before Shadow Gazer noted to himself as he stood amongst the slightly drooping orange and lime trees. There were dozens, if not hundreds of trees in well-kept lines almost as far as his eye could see, lawn growing between the trees to cover the ground. He walked to the nearest one and gave it a look over.
“Bark Diggers…” he mumbled as he eyed the tree, before pawing a little dirt away from the base to expose the roots, “and Root-Wart…”
“I’ve had minor cases of these problems for a while now, but they’ve never been this bad.” Citrus mentioned irritably.
“Yes, they can be quite the nuisance.” Shadow Gazer replied. “Well, I know how to cure these problems, but they might be a little bit costly. At least, the Root-Wart; Bark Diggers I can help you with personally, I believe I have enough for a field this large, I just need a grinder.”
The farming pony nodded and led him to a windmill-powered grinding stone, at which Shadow Gazer took out his Goldwood root and put it onto the stone, before using his magic to start the mill.
“Goldwood root is a natural pesticide when ground to a powder and mixed with water, I’d advise spraying the bases of your trees so they absorb the solution into their bark, it should get rid of the diggers.” He made a mental note to ask Paige for another trip to the forest, to gather more root.
“And the other problem..?”
“Root-Wart is a little bit trickier; your soil has all but devoured its drier components, and as a result is sluggish and, well, boggy. Root-Wart is caused by rot growing in the roots; you can kill it by adding, say, sand to the soil in copious amounts. Unfortunately there’s no cure for it for your current crop; it shouldn’t hinder your fruit, but I would advise adding something to dry out the soil a little more. Salt could do, but only in very small amounts; wouldn’t want to destroy your land now would we?”
The farmer nodded faintly, and Shadow Gazer stopped the mill to collect the powdered root.
“Do you have something in which we can mix this to spread to the majority of your crop quickly?”
The farmer thought for a moment. “Not really…”
“Sadly then, your next task is going to be quite tedious.” Shadow Gazer said. “This needs to be sprayed, about one teaspoon of root to five litres of water, around the trunks of your trees. Not too much, or you might overdose the tree, and that won’t end well.”
The farmer nodded and allowed Shadow Gazer to put the powdered root into a clean container in the corner.
“Is there anything else, Mr Citrus?”
“I… I was told you might be able to help me see if I’d have a good season or not..?”
“For that,” Shadow Gazer began with a smile, “All I need is dirt.”
They stepped back into the field, and Shadow Gazer looked down at the soil, his horn aglow. Some of the dirt lifted into the air in front of him and started to shine, and his eyes glittered like diamonds.
“Hmm, you’ll have a healthy harvest, I can see that much…” He mumbled, before looking a little deeper. “Let’s see now…”
Images popped into his head; winter, food stores…
“Your food stores shouldn’t be too bad this year, about two thirds full. I’m not sure how you’ve done in the past, so I can’t exactly gauge that…”
“Two thirds is better than last winter, I guess your miracle cure’ll work.”
Shadow Gazer smiled faintly. “I also see… a filly.” He mumbled. “It’s hazy, too far in the future for me to be certain, at least eight months, but I certainly see a filly.” He gently lowered the soil back to the ground, allowing it to rest in its own hole before stamping it back in snugly. “You married?” He asked.
The farmer nodded.
Shadow Gazer grinned cheekily. “You trying?”
Shadow Gazer arrived back at home cheerfully humming to himself, his saddlebags slightly weighed down with an ample supply of oranges and coin. He’d earned half of his load by helping Citrus Squeeze’s problems, but the other half, and the oranges, had been his prediction of the farmers’ to-be foal.
He entered the house and moved through to the kitchen, where he found Paige to be preparing dinner. She noted his cheerfulness.
“Went well I take it?”
Shadow Gazer nodded. “He said he’d tell the others about me and to bring their problems to me and see if I can cure them.”
“See, I told you you’d fit in.”
“I’m all out of root though…” He mumbled. “And until my sapling grows at least a foot tall, I cannot take any cuttings, is it alright if we take another trip to the forest tomorrow..?”
“Of course.”
He smiled to her and began unpacking his bags, tucking the dozen oranges he’d been given into the refrigerator before shifting his earnings to a money bag within his saddlebags. He only noticed Paige had moved closer when she nudged him faintly with her nose.
“Hmm?”
She smiled at him warmly. “I told you you’d be fine.” She said. “And I was right.”
“Yeah,” he mumbled happily, “thank you.”
