//------------------------------// // Moving On // Story: Counselor In The Forest // by RedBlack //------------------------------// "Nope, I personally overlooked the search and we found none." Raven answered my question with a tired look. "Well, that just makes this even more mysterious." I mumbled to myself. I had Raven and few other ponies search our archives for any and all missing reports. Even during the years that took place to after the, war, only a hooffull of ponies have ever went missing. With only a single report from the last century. Since the archives have always had the highest possible preservation and tracking spells cast on them, even from when it was first being recorded back when the unification happened, it can only mean one thing. Remedy is not from Equestria, or at the very least, from a place that grew to be Equestrian land. Because he said he was a farmer, I expected something akin to a slave farm, illegally ran by some of the nobles who managed to go unfound under my clouded eye. Though, I suppose I can't rule out the possibility of somepony either destroying or stealing some of his records. But then, who from the nobles would be bothered enough by a, mudblood commoner, to make them just disappear like that. Something like that would've never went unnoticed by me, even with an unclear mind. *Sigh* Sighing tiredly, I supported my head with a hoof. At least that gives me more hope that I had not let something like that happen during my, downtime. I took a look at the copied report of Green Garden again for the nth time, hoping to see more clues from the report that I may have missed. I still feel guilty about making a copy of this without informing Remedy, but as much as he is a friend, he's a complete anomaly. Though, looking at the details, he definitely seems to be a victim more than a villain. It is as Moon said when we went drinking. Remedy's past is definitely, interesting. Traumatic, would be the word I'd use to describe it though. And having already been involved with the Nightmare incident, I can only imagine what sort of mental breakdown he went through. Heh, for me to find out more about my friend from somepony whom I had deemed as a villain. I do wonder how they managed to get so close though. "Well, I should get going before it gets too late." The purple one stated as she stood up. "Right. Be careful on the way. You shouldn't need me to explain how dangerous the Everfree is right?" Remedy spoke casually. "Bye." I just waved a hoof and continued to lay down on the platform with the pillow. I still don't really like that purple one. In fact, I don't like any of those six except Flutters of course, and the gay one, since she saved me from that fall. "Of course. See you two later." She gave her goodbye and left. Remedy waved after her with a simple smile. "I feel like I should ask this." Remedy turned to me with a smirk. "What were you calling her in your mind?" He asked with a straight stare. "The purple one." I answered nonchalantly. "I can't be bothered to learn their names." I said and stretched into a more comfortable position. He chuckled at my answer as I heard him throw a few pieces of wood into the lit fire. Seriously, this guy just likes tea too much. Then again, if I could make tea as good as he does, I might also be in love with it too. Feeling nice and comfortable, I started to feel lethargic as I stared at the sky. Well, I would have, if there wasn't a tree top in the way. Hmm, I wonder if Harkon and Daydrin are doing alright. I couldn't really approach Daydrin since she seemed to hate my guts, but Harkon was just adorable. They both suddenly left after they finished eating the manticore corpse. Remedy says that Daydrin is taking Harkon to teach him how to hunt, and other stuff. Does it really start that early though? Harkon is like 3, 4 weeks old. Nature is both cruel and beautiful, just like dad used to say. "What the?" I suddenly heard Remedy say in a confused tone. "What is it?" I rolled to the edge and asked. "I don't know." He answered and held up a small blue colored ball. Not getting a clear enough image from up here, I took the stairs down and approached him. Though, I stopped in my tracks as the ball suddenly turned and stared at me with eyes huge for its size. "Holy shit! Throw that thing in the fire!" I shouted and ran towards the bags that held our food stock. "What!? Why?" Remedy asked back. "That's a fucking parasprite. Burn that unholy abomination!" I yelled and started to dig a pit. "A what-sprite?" He was still asking stupid questions. "What the fuck!" He suddenly shouted out. Needing to see what happened, I turned around and froze. We're fucked. There was practically an entire army of those things that appeared at the edges of our camp. "Remedy." I called out as I moved slowly not to aggravate them. "Yeah?" He responded with a slightly nervous voice. "Help me hide our food." I said and slowly stepped back to the bags. Even just a single one of those parasprites can eat enough to feed an entire city on their own. "Not sure if I can move right now." Remedy answered as he kept staring. A few seconds pass as I contemplate on how I should do this as the parasprites keep staring at us. Instantly turning around, I threw one of the bags into the pit as I heard the fluttering of wings of the horde and their annoyingly sweet squeaking sounds. "No, let go!" I yelled as a bunch of them suddenly grabbed the bag I was about to throw in the pit. "Gah. Fuck you!" I cussed after them and threw a bunch of dirt onto the bags I had piled in the pit. "What the fuck, are these things!" I turned around to Remedy swinging the axe at random parasprites that got too close. "Huh." I froze as I watched a bizarre scene. One of them, just bit into our soup pot. "Oh shit!" Remedy yelled out as he jumped away from the spot and sprinted towards me. "Remedy?" I called out to him. "That thing just ate my axe." He muttered in slight confusion as held up an axe handle with no axe head. "We, might be screwed here." I commented as I just stood there, not knowing what to do. "Happen to remember any weaknesses?" He asked as he tried to squash one of them under his hoof. "Uhh, catchy music." I answered and tried to swat away any that got too close. "Well, shit." Remedy cussed as we were now stuck. With nowhere else to go, we stood over our buried food stock. The other bags already devoured as the entire camp was filled to the brim those little things, constantly multiplying themselves. Then suddenly, the sound of dirt moving rings out clearly from behind us. Spinning around, I was slightly fearful as a parasprite had eaten the dirt. "Shit!" I yelled out and jumped at it. Only for it to move out of the way as I slam into the dirt. "Fire." Remedy suddenly spoke up. "What?" I asked back. "Fire! These things can burn!" He suddenly exclaimed and jumped into the air. With a chomp, he grabbed one in his mouth and ran straight towards the lit campfire. Stopping with a skid he spat the little things into the fire as a high pitched shriek of pain rang throughout the camp. All the others suddenly stopped as they slowly rotated to look at Remedy. Remedy himself, only stood tall as he took a deep breath. "Come." He spoke as the entire swarm suddenly turned savage like. I yelled in fear as a part of the swarm attacked me too. "Fuck! Let, go! You pieces of shit!" I kept shouting out curses as I ran and dodged everything I could. These things are fucking feral! Straight up trying to bite me, or drop a boulder on me. "MOON!" I heard Remedy's voice somewhere. "Yeah!" I yelled back. "WHERE DID YOU PUT THE DAGGER!" "Right next to the firewood!" Doing evasive rolls and such, I keep running at full speed. At least they're not going for our food supply anymore. Suddenly being slammed from behind, I rolled on the ground a few times before crashing into a tree. "Ugh." Groaning from pain and disorientation, I slowly raised my head to see what hit me. "Fuck!" I yelled and dodged to the side as a jaw made from rocks landed where I was. "What the-OW! Shit!" I couldn't exactly see what tried to eat me as I had start running from all the parasprites. I don't know how long I ran for, but I do know that those things have kept chasing me. "Water!" I yelled in realization as a thought occurred to me. It should be the river. And I'm close, I recognize some of these trees. "Yes!" I spoke in relief as I finally ran out of the woods and onto a small field, clear of any trees as the river was flowing peacefully in its place. Getting a burst of energy from somewhere, I pushed my body and was just about to reach the river. "Whoa!" I yelled in surprise as I tried to stop myself. Unable to stop myself entirely, I kept sliding on the ground even though I had completely laid down. A green, rocky texture leaped over me as I finally slid over the edge and fell into the river. "Uph, ow." I let out a few sounds of pain as I splashed into the river. Taking a breath as deep as possible before going down, I looked upwards as the swarm of parasprites suddenly stopped. "Ha-!" I facehooved underwater as I quickly closed my mouth back. I think hanging around Remedy all day is messing with my brain. Staring upwards as I mentally prepare myself to resurface, I stopped myself as a shadow suddenly covered me. Moving as fast as I could, I swam away as something heavy splashed into the river. A few dozens of parasprites were flowing either around me or falling from the sky as I resurfaced for air. "What fell?" I muttered and looked around, only to get pulled underwater as something clenched around my hind leg. Not entirely knowing what was happening, I kept repeatedly slamming my hooves onto whatever was biting as I slowly lost feeling with my leg. Yet the pain still coming stronger than ever. Still, despite my hooves hurting, I continued to punch and slam into whatever was biting me. Until I finally felt it loosed a bit. Getting a good grip on whatever was biting me, I wasted no time as I pulled it away from my leg. Surprised that I actually had enough strength for it, I resurfaced as I coughed up water and took deep breaths. "Argh." My leg had a stinging pain that I suddenly felt as the adrenaline started to wear off a bit. "Ooh, that hurts like a bitch." I muttered as I crawled out of the river. Ignoring the pain as much as I could, I limped as I started to make my way back to the camp. Which way is it again? I went too far with the current. I can't tell where it is. Looking to the sky with a sigh, I drop down as since I don't know where to move. I can just go a random direction and find my way from there because of the barriers, but I'm just too tired right now. *Sniff* I caught a random smell. "The fuck is that smell?" I muttered and tried to find the direction. "Oh." I stood up, extremely tired. "Fucking Remedy, really hope he didn't burn the entire camp down." I spoke to nopony in particular as I headed towards the rising smoke. "Last one." I muttered to myself as I pulled the last bead out of the dagger. It's a miracle in itself that it still works, even if its performance isn't half as good as back then. Putting the bead in my mouth, I gently bit down on it as my mouth was filled with a smoky taste. Grabbing the lit torch, I blew into it with as much force as I could as the flames spread through the air, completely turning the pests into ashes. "Gah." I coughed and took breaths as I stared at the last of those, something-sprites disappearing out of the camp. "Finally." I muttered and threw the torch into the campfire and sat down, placing the dagger on the ground. I do wonder if the sheathe for the dagger is still there. I didn't bury it, but I still left it at that church. "Now, where the fuck is Moon." I spoke to myself as I stared around the camp. I could feel my anger rising as irritation almost took over. Everything is either gone, or destroyed. The few bags me and Moon tried to protect, gone. Our fucking treehouse, that we made so much damn progress on, crashed to the ground as most of the wood we used became devoured. Really makes you want to quit. And night is coming too. We could make a fire, but nothing to drink. Let's see. There were a few leftover pieces from our pots and pans. Handle, useless. I need large, flat pieces. This one, could work. This one is too thick. About ten minutes pass as I finally collect enough pieces. "Where the hell is Moon?" I muttered as the sky started to darken. "Well, not like she'd die." I mumbled and moved to the river with the pieces of metal in my hoof. I need some water. "Moon?" I asked with an intrigued face. She was lying on a rock, a bite wound on her left hind leg. It looked to be deep with blood flowing out of it. "Remedy?" She asked weakly. "Yeah, it's me." I answered and put her on my back. "What bit you?" I asked as I placed the metal pieces on the ground. "I don't know. It had a rocky skin, and it was green." She spoke with a tired voice. "Alright. You just rest now, I'll take of the aftermath." I reassured her as I hurried towards the camp. A green, rocky skin? The possibilities aren't that much. It's most likely a cragadile. Coming back at the camp rather quickly, I chopped down a tree and threw pieces of it into the weak fire. With the heat problem taken care of, I quickly gave my attention to Moon. Placing my hoof on her neck, I felt her increasing heartbeats. She was sweating heavily and breathing deeply. Losing too much blood. Ah shit. "Moon, you're losing too much blood. I can't close the wound since all our stuff got devoured. You can either struggle like this, or you could die." I spoke clearly. Her eyes, completely unfocused and disoriented, opened up to stare at me directly. "I don't wanna die." Her words were almost silent. "You won't. We both know that." I replied. "No, no. It hurts. I don't like it when it happens. It's too cold." There were slightly wet spots near her eyes. "Moon. This will hurt. And you'll have a pretty ugly scar." I warned her. "It's better than dying." She barely lifted a hoof and clutched unto mine. "Promise me, asshole. You won't let me die again." I sighed as I looked at her pleading eyes. "You idiot. I think I'm spoiling you." I spoke with a tired tone. "I promise." I said and walked away. The giant ass tree that we previously started to build our treehouse in. For some reason, it didn't have any bite marks on it. Which means, there could be a chance our whiskey survived. Previously, I decided to store the barrel behind the tree because of the shade. "Good, it's untouched." I mumbled and grabbed the three cups on top of it. Rolling the barrel, I placed it next to Moon and put the three cups on the ground. Gathering as many leaves as I could with a few vines to hold them together. "Alright, Moon, take a sip." I put the cup filled with whiskey to her mouth. She drank it slowly as her face grimaced from the taste. "A bit more, you'll need it to dull the pain." I commanded and poured the rest into her mouth. As she gulped down the last of it, I took a deep breath as I held the dagger. The blade turned a reddish yellow as I pulled it from the fire. Putting a small piece of wood in Moon's mouth, I started. "Three. Two. One." I pressed the blade on the outside wound as Moon shrieked from pain. As she held herself by slamming her hooves into the ground a few times, I continued as blood flowed down her leg. Alright, that should be enough. Splashing a bit of whiskey on the wound, I wrap it in leaves and use the vines to hold it tight. "We don't have disinfectants, so this'll have to do." I informed her as her screams turned to heavy breathing. "Just rest for now" Letting out a relieved breath, I held my head in my hooves as I looked around the area one more time. Today has really turned into a shit show. With a stretch, I got up to get some water if I could. *AAAAAAAAAAAAH!* I froze a bit as I heard screaming. Glancing between Moon and heading there, I grumbled and started sprinting. "Who the fuck is running around the Everfree at this hour." I spoke to myself and made my way through the woods. "Run! You'll find Remedy at the middle!" Twilight yelled and shot a burst of magic at the cragadile that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I quickly took the girls into my hooves and flew towards Remedy's camp. Since it was quite late, Twilight recommended that we take the Crusaders here because it was generally safer. Unfortunately, the stare didn't work on the cragadile. "Fluttershy! We can't leave her alone!" Apple Bloom quickly yelled out. "Yeah! We gotta help her!" Sweetie Belle added in. "Yeah! We can beat it!" Scootaloo boasted. "We're not leaving her. We're just getting help." I spoke to try and calm them. If I can get to Remedy quickly, he can easily take care of that cragadile. I've seen him defeat that hydra after all. "Fluttershy?" I stopped mid-air as I heard the familiar voice. "Remedy!" I quickly flew down and put the fillies on the ground. "Are you the one who screamed?" He calmly asked. "Um, yeah." I replied, a bit scared. Remedy seemed to be just, scarier than usual today. Though, I haven't spent that much time with him. "We don't have time for this!" Apple Bloom suddenly yelled out. "Twilight is in danger! You gotta go help her!" "Which way?" Remedy asked stoically as he cracked his neck. "That way." All three fillies pointed back to where we came from. "Got it. Fluttershy, you take the kids to the camp." He ordered and ran off towards Twilight. I meekly nodded after him and took towards the camp with the fillies. I think he's in a bad mood. He just seems so, darker than last time. "Who was that?" Scootaloo started a conversation. "His name is Natural Remedy. He lives here inside the barrier we just went through, along with somepony else." I answered a bit nervously. "Are you ok Fluttershy?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I'm fine. It's just that the person living with Remedy is a bit, different than usual." I tried to downplay the issue as best as I could. "Don't worry, she won't hurt you. She's just, not somepony you'd see everyday" They looked between each other before shrugging. "Is it really ok to leave those against that rock monster?" Apple Bloom asked. My mind went back to when we first met him. Covered from top to bottom in hydra blood as I shuddered a bit at the memory. "Remedy is quite strong, so they'll be fine." I reassured them and made our way. Walking for quite a bit, we slowly made our way through the woods as the fillies started to become droopy. It is quite late into the night. Carrying them on my back, I slowly walked as I spotted a few spots of blood stained grass and trees. Huh, those two seem to be getting attacked a lot more than I had thought. Finally arriving at the clearing after pushing a branch away, I walked towards the lit fire under the huge tree. Moon is, sleeping, I guess? Where's all their stuff? And what happened to the treehouse they were building? Walking closer while questioning the state of the camp, I was shocked to see Moon. Putting the fillies down as gently as I could near the fire, I ran up to Moon who was shivering with a skin that looked paler than usual. "Oh dear Celestia." I muttered and examined her leg. "This is quite rudimentary." I commented at the smell of drinking alcohol coming from her. *Bam* Suddenly breaking through trees, Remedy was riding the cragadile with Twilight running after the two. Remedy raised his head and stared at us in surprise before jumping in front of the cragadile and getting a grip on it. Keeping its jaws closed with his hooves, Remedy slammed his hind legs on the ground as the two left a trail in the dirt. "Eep!" I put my hooves in front of me as the two got ever closer. Tightly shutting my eyes unconsciously, I waited for. Though, the pain never came. Slowly opening my eyes, I witnessed Remedy holding the cragadile down on the ground. "Fucking, move." He said through gritted teeth. "Right." I spoke on reflex and grabbed Moon before jumping out of the way. Good thing I put the fillies on the others side of the fire. "Remedy! My spells can't go through its defense!" Twilight yelled out as she finally reached us and started to hold it down using her magic. "Ugh." Remedy grunted in response as he struggled to keep it in place. "My dagger! Did you pick it up?!" "Yeah!" She replied and threw a knife using her magic. *Clang* As it flew in the air, the cragadile hit in the air using its tail. "Fuck!" Remedy yelled as the knife landed right in front of me. "Fluttershy! Kill it! I can't hold it in place for much longer." I didn't know what to do. I grabbed the knife, but I couldn't move closer. It was so scary. I couldn't do it. I looked to Twilight for help, but she only returned a nervous look as her horn was lit, clearly struggling to hold the cragadile in place. Looking at the cragadile, I completely froze at the glare it was giving me. A murderous glare, filled with intent to hurt me. Unknowingly, I took a step back. I was gonna run. It wasn't a conscious decision, but I knew it was going to happen. I felt my breathing getting deep. I couldn't do it. "Give it here." I suddenly heard somepony say, almost whisper. Before I could turn around, a black hoof came from around me and grabbed the knife. "What?" I muttered and turned around, to see a tired Moon on the ground. I had fallen, I didn't realize it. "This is how you throw something." I heard Moon say in her boasting tone. And with a grunt, she flung her entire front leg as the knife quickly made its way through the air. With a sharp sound, it dug its way straight into into the forehead of the cragadile. Giving an annoyed grunt, Remedy raised a hoof as he slammed it down on the knife, finally stopping the movements of the cragadile. With the threat out of the way, I practically collapsed from lack of adrenaline. Heavily breathing, Moon suddenly pulled from behind me. "Whoa!" I was surprised as I found myself lying on the ground. "Good night, Flutters." I heard Moon mumble before going to sleep. "Well, that's still a bit weird to see." Twilight commented as she stepped forward. "Just wait until you see her drunk." Remedy added with a chuckle. Unable to really move, I couldn't do much except listen as tiredness slowly crept up on me. "Is it possible for you to help me make a pot of some sorts?" Last thing I heard before passing.