The Path of Destiny (Open)

[Nightsong]

It was blissful day in the forests of Equestria. The flora was healthy and colorful, and the fauna was lively and peaceful. While some may treat this scenery as a perfect nature walk, Nightsong treated the forest as his own jungle gym. Nightsong was roaming around the forests with a satchel full of goods to help him complete his daily quests. Unfortunately, Nightsong isn’t the type to focus, and much rather spend his time having fun. His type of fun involved; swinging from vine to vine, swimming down waterfalls, and exploration. Fortunately, training his body and mind was one of his favorite activities. Though, he likes training his body a lot more, and to train his mind a lot less. Practicing martial arts was an activity he enjoyed the most. When he isn’t lolli-gagging, he keeps a sharp eye out for any trouble that might be harming the balance of nature.

“This is a good time to get some training done before I go back. Now, what should I do first?" Nightsong would like to practice his fighting skills, but there was no one for him to spar with. In the midst of thought, Nightsong notice a large cut-down tree lying on the ground. “Hey, I know”. Nightsong sits on top of the log, closes his eyes and begins to meditate. After ten seconds have past, suddenly his eyes shoot open and he jumps high into the air. Nightsong sets his sights on the log, and begins to rapidly descend. As he is about to land, flips over to his front and extends one of his hooves. “Hyyyaahh!!” Nightsong shouts as strikes the log as hard as he could, and slices the log in half. As Nightsong lands, he inspects what he has just done “Wow, I’m getting better and better every day!”

After his little demonstration, he notices a note fell out of his satchel. “A picture? It’s from Master!” Nightsong opened the scroll which showed a picture of the center of Equestria, Ponyville. “I can’t believe I forgot about this". Nightsong has a flashback about his master wanting him to go to Ponyville to learn more about the real world. "I sure hope this world holds some surprises for me." As Nightsong packs up his supplies, he runs off into a random direction.

“Okay Ponyville, here I come!” Before he leaves, he stops for a moment and asks, "Wait, where is Ponyville!?" A few seconds later, he can here footsteps and voices coming from a nearby direction. “Hey, someone else is here” he whispers to himself. Nightsong looks up to the Sun, and then looks down at his shadow. “Hm, I guess I can play a little longer.” Nightsong turns off into the stranger’s direction, hoping to see who it was.

[Red Charge]

"I could burn this entire forest, just like that... WHOOSH" He heard a filly's voice cry excitedly through the trees. "VAAM VOOSH BAM. No tree can last through my flames of fury!" As Nightsong approached he could see an ashen red mare with a bright flame colored mane and tail prancing between the trees, occasionally sending a spark or two at them from her hair.

Dancing around the spot she was in, she let out another "voosh" but this time, instead of a spark, her mane brightened up as though it was a real flame and a hefty jet of fire shot at the tree. The young mare was obviously startled by this accident and yelped, rushing over to try putting out the fire. "Ah rats, rats, rats, rats ,rats!" As she got more excited though, more and more little sparks popped from her mane, lighting up even more weeds and roots.

"Argh!" She called, now turning desperately to try and extinguish the new flames. Once they finally died down she slumped on her rear with a frustrated expression. "Ugh stupid flames! Why don't you do what I tell you?" She asked, eyes crossed up to her forehead.

[Nightsong]

"Ugh stupid flames! Why don't you do what I tell you?" A fierce, yet distraught looking mare could be seen.

“Whoa…” That’s all the young colt could manage to say after what he had just witnessed, as he has never seen anything like this before. Most would run away from such a seemingly dangerous unicorn, but Nightsong couldn’t help but stare at her. “How can she be on fire, and not be affected by it?.”

On further inspection Nightsong couldn’t help but think “I thought only unicorns could do that. She must be very powerful. Cool!” Nightsong decided to advance forward, ignoring the charred wood and burning leaves. He comes closer to this mysterious mare that happens to be mumbling about something. While she was distracted, Nightsong would inspect her without her knowing. He would hang down from a tree branch by his tail looking at her from behind, and reeling back up when she would turn around. He would even land behind her and stalk behind her in a sort of playful and animated manner.

Afterwards, Nightsong remembered what he came here for; he wanted to know who she was? Nightsong jumped back onto a tree branch; little did he know the branch was weakened by the outburst. A loud cracking noise could be heard “Oh no no no, please don’t break!?” As Nights’ silent plea finished, the branch broke in half as he came plummeting into a bush. “Daaagh, ooof…” He fell hard, but whether he was okay or not was the least of his worries, for his cover has just been blown.

[shuteye]

Shut Eye was back on his way to Ponyville from babysitting a young filly in Canterlot as he passed through the forest. It was a little bit of a detour, yes, but he was in no particular rush to get back home since he had no jobs lined up for the day, but Whitetail Wood was such a pretty place to pass through provided nothing scary sought him out while he was there.

His eyes were starting to drift shut and a quiet yawn escaped him as he passed through the forest, silent of all but the sounds of nature. So peaceful, so serene, so

*Crack* *Plump* *Ooof*

The still air was broken by the sharp sound of a branch breaking and the distinctly familiar sound of a pony falling. Shut Eye was quite familiar with that particular sound due to how many youngsters seemed to love climbing up higher than they should and end up falling. Fortunately, there was no high pitched crying from this one so Shut Eye assumed that the faller was an adult, or at least grown up enough to not be a child.

Nevertheless, Shut Eye trotted off in the direction of the sound. Someone falling meant someone was possibly hurt and he didn't quite like the idea of leaving someone outside who's hurt and helpless. Even if they're fine, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Moving through a low row of bushes, Shut Eye's head appeared out of the plantlife to see two ponies: One with a mane of fire and the other obviously the one that had just fallen into a bush.

[Deleted]

The dark figure of a rather large black pegasus silently watched the black earth pony practicing some fight techniques. He had to admit, he was pretty good for someone without wings, but it was obvious he was still some pony's student. His mind was untamed and wild. Sometimes a few hours of meditation a day could help that. Normally, Viper's night time hours were the perfect time for that. There was nothing to do once his usually patrolling time was spent. Being awake during the day was rare for the nocturnal outcast. As it had been, the prior night he had flown from Canterlot into the forest in hopes to clear his mind. Sometimes the gardens just weren't enough. Once the sun was beginning to rise, he found cave made from a pile of old boulders, most likely a landslide that occurred a few hundred years before. The cave was well up on a small mountain that he doubted the younger stallion that had woken him up with his loud calls of attack would be able to see him. He sat and watched for a few hours and decided to travel back deep down inside the cave. Since he was up, he wanted to see if the cavern led anywhere. He knew that this was stupid since the cave was brittle and could possibly collapse, but he didn't care anymore. His life was worthless to most and he had nothing more to live for. He squeezed through some rough rocks that scraped uncomfortably against his tough, scaly hide. The ceiling crumbled slightly, but he just held his wings closer to his pelt for protection and pushed on.

Soon he had heard the sounds of a mare making equally loud sounds as the black stallion earlier. He silently walked forward to the mouth of this new-found cave and discovered it was only enough to look through. Only a foal would be able to squeeze through this entrance. Again, he didn't care. He just watched as the pony with flame colored hair was talking to herself. This was another pony he had never seen before. He suddenly heard a sound coming a few trees away. It seemed as if the black stallion from before was just as curious about the mare, but was foolishly jumping on tree branches, and hanging off of his tail like a monkey. Viper stayed silent, knowing that he was near invisible in the cave several stories high from where they were gathered. He knew he ought to find a new place to sleep, but for some reason, his attention was focused here on these two. In a way, he felt like he was spying, but then, he was never intending to do so in the first place.

Suddenly the branch that was holding the black pony up gave way, and he had come crashing to the ground. Viper silently winced, knowing that must have hurt. He pictured it with his old, more sensitive skin, and he did admit he did not miss that pain. His attention was then directed to yet another trotting figure. This one he recognized as the friendly young unicorn, Shut Eye, from Canterlot, probably seeing what the big noise was.

[/size][/blockquote]

[Red Charge]

Magma's ear immediately twitched at the sound of the branch breaking. She was being followed, maybe by a monster! "Who's there?" Magma asked, springing away, hair sparking again. "I'm warning you, I could burn you so hard you'd be... be... toast! No... not toast, blackened toast!" She called out defensively, stepping backwards. She noticed Shut Eye's head peeking out of a nearby bush. There were ponies stalking her, more than one... but why? They wanted to capture her... bandits! "Blast! I'm surrounded..." Her hair acted up again and spat another fireball before her and she used the distraction to run off further into the woods as the fire started igniting again.

"You're not going to catch me!" She called out, her voice echoing behind her.

[Nightsong]

“You’re not going to catch me!” Nightsong saw the young hot head bolt off into the opposite direction of him.

“Wait! Where are you….oh!” Right as he peaks his head out, a fire ball comes rocketing towards him. With little to no time to react, he puts his frontal hooves forward which what looked like a blocking stance. As he braces for impact, the fireball strikes him, knocking him back with tremendous force, causing a large puff of smoke to fill the area. Nights falls on his back, seemingly unconscious from the blast.

After a few seconds, a drowsy looking unicorn approaches his body with a worried look on his face as he notices a burn on his cutie mark. His worries grow more and more with each passing second, until. “Ha Ha!” Nightsong’s eyes shoot open with an intense look in his eyes as flips back onto his hooves. “Whoa, someone takes their playtime seriously!” He was so thrilled by what happened, that he didn’t even notice the unicorn standing near him. “Ready or not, here I come!” As Nights was ran after the mare, he was stopped by wall of flame. “Aw man…” Nightsong wanted to run after the hot head, but he felt the need to take care of the fire first.

Nightsong triggered another flashback from a few days earlier. He remembers his master teaching him an advanced martial arts technique that would take some because of him being an earth pony. The problem lies with the fact that his master could do it easily because she’s a unicorn. “This would be so much easier with a unicorn, but I have no choice. I have to do something…and fast.” As he drops his satchel on the floor, he sits down in his meditative position. With his eyes closed, he had an image of ocean waves, crashing into a mountain. With his fortitude finally gathered, he performs another leap into the air, much like the one from before, but it seemed to be of a shorter height. “Here…goes…nothing!” Nightsong front flips forward, crashing down with his right rear leg extending, much like a heel kick. As his leg hits the ground, a shockwave covers the ground. The force from the shockwave caused a mixture of air and dirt to cover the fire.

Within seconds, the fire was finally extinguished. Nightsong looks to see the results of his move, and is surprised once again. “Yes! At this rate, I could take on anyone…if I...just…” Nightsong suddenly didn’t feel right. His legs begin to wobble, and then his vision suddenly waned. He tried to maintain his balance, causing him to sway from side to side. Then after few seconds, he seems to have passed out. Whatever he did, it must’ve been too much for him. Now he just lies there, with the last thing he sees being the ash marked hoof prints of his new “playmate”.

[shuteye]

Shut Eye was more than a little surprised at seeing the two ponies in the small clearing, especially the one that seemed to be on fire. The fire-headed one seemed to freak out for a moment and then dash away, shooting fire at the one who had apparently made the crashing sound from earlier. Shut Eye's eyes bulged open in shock and worrie as he hurried from his bush-based hiding spot to see if Nightsong was okay. Before he could ask anything, however, Nightsong shot open and he flipped back onto his hooves.

The tan pony watched as Nightshade started to run after the fireheaded mare then stopped as a wall of fire appeared. The pony did some meditating, flipped, kicked the ground and put out the fire. Shut eye was about to just leave when he spotted, out in the distance, almost not visible through the trees, Nightsong passing out.

"Uh-oh" Shut Eye said, trotting after the now unconcious pony quickly but cautiously. When he came to Nightsong's body he looked around to see if anything near by might have caused it, then prodded Nightsong with his hoof a couple of times. "Are you okay?" he asked befre bending his head down and listening for breathing from the unconcious stallion. As long as he was breathing, Shut Eye could stay reasonably calm and try to get Nightsong out of there. Otherwise, it would be time to panic.

Fortunately, Nightsong seemed fine. He was breathing regularly, at least. Now to keep him awake so he didn't bleed-out or anything like that. Closing his eyes, Shut Eye bent his head down and touched his horn to Nightsong's forehead. He focused and a green aura from his horn spread to Nightsong's head. The spell would wake the stallion up; Shut Eye used it whenever a patient had a particularly terrifying nightmare and Shut Eye needed to wake them up rather than possibly make the nightmare worse through his alterations.

[Deleted]

He was feeling strange watching the other ponies, knowing there was nothing he could do to help the possibly injured young stallion. He backed away from the mouth of the cave, trying to force the situation from his mind. What he wouldn't give to have his daytime sight back! He felt so helpless confined to the darkness all of the time. He shut his eyes in frustration, taking a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. No. He should make the best of what he had. Most ponies wouldn't be able to see like this in the dark. Maybe the chariot steeds of the night, but again, that was just a temporary spell. When he opened his eyes again, he was more relaxed and focused on where he was going. He hadn't noticed this before, but the cave had another path as well as the one he had taken to get to this location. He decided to do a bit of exploring. He was trapped here for a bit until night time anyways, and the chaos of the other ponies stole all need for sleep from his body.

He walked silently through the tunnel, looking intently at the ceiling above him and the walls. Sharp, dagger-like crystals hung from the roof, glistening with the moisture hanging at their tips. The walls were slick and looked like waterfalls frozen in place, yet the ground was dry. Part of him wondered what it would taste like to place his tongue on one of these natural wonders, but the smarter part of him told him that it wasn't a very bright idea. His body didn't exactly need anymore damage. Instead, he whipped out a wing toward a crystal, breaking it off the ceiling and watched it clatter to the floor with a 'clink' sound. He stepped over it and continued to the light at the end of the tunnel. The muffled sound of hoof prints coming up caught his ears. Another pony? How many chose to spend their time in these parts anyway? Confused, he walked a bit faster, still not making a sound as he moved. When he got to the mouth of the cave, he saw the firey pony again. He was at ground level this time, and not too far from her. He saw behind her, there were flames erupting from the bushes. There was a loud boom and dust covered it, smothering the flames into nothing.

"Destroying the forest are we?"

he spoke as she flew by him. He wasn't sure if she heard him, but he knew she might not have seen him. He stood in the shadows of the cave where he could see without harming his eyes, but his black scaly pelt made excellent camouflage against the black walls of the rock. [/color][/size][/blockquote]

[Nightsong]

“Where ever the nights’ stars shine brightest, is where you must go. Never let anything get in the way, of saving those who you love.”

These words echoed in Nightsong’s mind as he has a dream. It seems to be a vision of him being held in the frontal hooves of some pony’s grasp.

As the dream subsides, he finally comes too. “Doh!” Shocked from the dream, he jerks himself up. He head butts someone in the forehead. He comes to, wandering what happened, but then he remembers the technique he narrowly pulled off. “Aw man, no wonder master told me not to try it yet. Huh?” Nightsong, still a little groggy from his ordeal, noticed some pony right in front of him. “Who…Who are you, and where’s the fire lady?”

[shuteye]

Shut Eye had to focus hard to help this strange pony wake up. Unconsciousness was not as easy to aide as regular sleep was, especially if too much physical trauma caused a hardware problem. After straining for a few long seconds, Nightsong woke up and inadvertently- or so Shut Eye believed- headbutted Shut Eye.

Staggering backwards, Shut Eye's eyes spun around a bit before he rubbed his head and horn and steadied himself. He looked at the black maned pony as he asked him about some master. Shut Eye had no idea how to answer that first part, but then he continued with questions that the tan pony could help him with.

"Um, well, I'm Shut Eye," he said, "The mare you were chasing kept running but you fell and, um, I stopped to make sure you were alright." He dug his hoof into the ground nervously. "Er, are you okay? You kinda passed out."

[Nightsong]

“Er, are you okay!? You kinda passed out.” Shut Eye bashfully asked Nightsong as he tries to recover from daze. “The mare I was chasing?” Nightsong was still a little groggy from his ordeal, until his consciousness slowly returns. “The fire lady!”

Nightsong exclaimed as he hopped back onto his hooves. “Did you see her!? I knew unicorns were powerful, but she was different story. She could probably burn down an entire tree just by touching on it.” Nightsong can’t help but be intrigued by the unicorns fiery powers. As Nightsong's excitement simmered down a bit, he notices Shut Eye staring at him confused. “Hey, you’re a unicorn too. What’s your power?” Nightsong sharply circles around Shut Eye, inspecting pretty much every inch of his body.

[shuteye]

Shut Eye was more than a little alarmed as Nightsong seemed to get more than a little antsy despite his apparent grogginess. He was seemingly obsessed with the fire-headed mare. Shut Eye was confused as to his comulsion to find her. He was so compulsed that he performed an odd martial arts looking move and knocked himself out in the process.

"Er, maybe you should calm-" Shut Eye began to say when Nightsong's focus shifted from the pyromaniac who had fled to him. He looked at Nightsong warily while the pony questioned and examined him, asking about his power. "Well, um, I'm fairly good at sleeping spells, and waking up spells, and dream altering spells." he admitted, "You know you passed out, right? You should probably go see a doctor...or something." he added, trying to urge Nightsong to cease his chase for the flaming mare and seek medical help. Shut Eye only knew basic first-aid due to his experiences with foals injuring themselves and couldn't provide anything better than that.

[Nightsong]

Nightsong's excited and frantic inspection made Shut Eye feel a little uneasy by his gestures. It's as if Nightsong didn't know anything about personal space. Shut Eye tells Nightsong about his magical role as a mage, thus stopping Nightsong in place. "You know you passed out, right? You should probably go see a doctor...or something."

Nightsong scouts the area around him before answering back. "Don't worry about me drowsy one!"Nightsong says happily. "Lots of ponies tell me I should see a doctor, but don't worry, I'm kind of used to this sort of thing happening." Nightsong still realizing his simple screw up. "Looks like my body's chi couldn't handle that technique very well. I did some nice damage though." As Nightsong packs up his things and finally gets his senses together. "By the way, nice to meet you Shut Eye, I'm Nightsong, martial artist and future iron hoof. Also, thanks for waking me up, who knows how long I would've been out for. Ya know, you have what it takes to be an amazing healer some day, I can feel it..." As Nightsong stretches his limbs and joints, he finally sets off towards the fire mane. "Bye, Shut Eye. We'll meet again, I know it!" Nightsong's voice grows lower and lower as he runs further away into the forests of Whitetail.

[Red Charge]

Magma screeched to a halt as she heard the mocking voice, mane bursting into fire again. "It's not like I did on purpose! Why don't you be a big pony and show yourself! Come on you chicken-pony!" She taunted, beating her hoof against the ground angrily. Sparks continued to emerge from her hair, igniting more dry leaves nearby, but luckily not starting another fire. "Just leave me alone, okay? All I wanted was to be left alone!"

She turned and started running again, leaving flaming streaks wherever her hooves landed. Obviously even more lacking in control than she was before.