Mystery of the Forest: Daughter of Gaia

by Vinetion

First published 3rd of March, 2012

The story of a lone god and her way to deal with eternity. ~the good side~

Prologue: Creation of Equestria

~10,000 B.D. (before discordian reign)~

"Every time, every bucking time." says the wood coloured pegasus to herself as she directs the forest to make homes for the ensuing migration. "I've been doing this for what? five? ten-thousand years now? and these trees still persist on being the lazy bastards they've always been." Down below hundreds of tree saplings emerge from the ground as oaks, pines, and firs all start to merge together into a massive forest. "I mean i understand this is my "eternal duty" and all but seriously, I would have thought this would get easy over time. *sigh* oh well, time to go and call in the migration".

And with that she flew over to the nearby mountain and waited for the clouds to part. As the first rays of morning began to show the mare lets out a high piercing whistle that echoed miles around and even to the valleys below to which she was answered with the roar of thousand beating wings. Across the sky came a techni-colored swarm as birds of every type appeared. "Looks like this migration is even bigger." with that she took off towards the flock and started directing them towards their nests in various order. "You pigeons go to south end, while all of the ravens head off to the western cave section." "No! you stupid bluebirds i said west lake not east lake! ARGH! why is this never simple?!" And so continued the migratory mayhem that happened last year, the year before and all of the years before. For the last ten-thousand years since the beginning of this wild world.

This beautiful world teeming with creatures and vast nature as far as the eye could see. Was only a ball of dirt in a void of space until one entity came along. A single caring soul who felt sadness looking down on the desolate rock. This beings name was Gaia, the goddess of nature and bringer of life.

Upon the planet she planted a single seed which grew into a mighty oak tree spanning miles high with branches mighty and strong that stretched far and wide as though to embrace the planet itself. From this tree bloomed golden blossoms that shined down light that brought life to the world below it. It's great roots bore through the earth upturning and fertilizing the ground from which plants emerged. From the base a hole opened and the first creature of Gaia's creation appeared ranging from the smallest of mice to grand dragons that headed towards the mountains.

Throughout all of this there was one problem Gaia had forgotten. Who would take control of this world once she had moved onto another world? And with that she created a creature of both land and sky, a child of her own you could say. She called upon the spirit of an elder yew tree to form the body of this creature. From the powerful eagle she borrowed the wings to allow flight. Vines twisted and wrap around the wooden base to coat the creature in a thick yet soft skin to which leaves and moss grew to make the coat. A white mane of the clouds and tail thus sprouted from head and tail. With a drop of morning dew and nature essence to grant control over the life of the planet. The mane changed to that of green and cyan striped.

Before her was creature so beautiful, a daughter to call her own but this creature was missing a vital component. From deep within herself Gaia drew a shard of her own soul to give life and immortality to her daughter. So that she may take upon her duties for time eternal. With the final piece in place the creature glowed a soft green the wooden base softening turning into muscle and sinew. Once the process was complete it fell to the ground with a *thump* and looked up with a confused look.

"Good morning daughter, can you speak?" asked Gaia to the small thing in front of her. It simply shakes her head and continues to look at the glowing being oddly.
"That is unfortunate but we can fix that later okay?" she asked with a smile on her face. "Would you like a name young one?"
The young creature nods furiously.
With a coy smile Gaia says "You are my daughter so i shall name you rosily?" the creature looks away in disgust.

"Oh? with an attitude like that how about thorn tail?" the creature is horrified at the thought.
"How about Vinetion than? it means nature caller" the small creature nods at the idea. Gaia than pets vinetion on the head with a motherly look about her.

"From now on you are Daughter of Gaia, Vinetion nature caller, and upon my departure of this place you shall take over my duties as the god of nature" the thought of being a god pleased vinetion at the time but was immediately saddened at the thought of losing her mother.

Gaia had picked up on this and said "Do not worry my young-ling I shall remember you always and you, I. I will make sure you will be ready to take on all that will stand before you. Tomorrow however we should work on your speech" she ended with a wink. And with that Gaia and Vinetion headed off to a hovel to sleep the night away.

A/N With this being my first fanfic i will take all the criticism you ca throw at me and will greatly appreciate it. while there may be spelling errors here and there i will take care of those when i can. If you can while the story goes on point out what my high points are and what my low points are so that i may improve upon them later for certain parts of the story. for anyone who may or may not enjoy this story, i can tell you now this will not update quickly or often. do not be surprised if a week goes bye without updates.

~Vinetion~

CH.1: Darkened earth and sunny rays

~5,000 B.D~ (First-person Vinetion)

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed as always, ready to get my daily chores done, ‘Hmmm... Today I have a rainstorm scheduled to cover the northern continent of Griffin tribal lands. After that, I need to raze the southern Equ forests to make room for the volcano of the blaze dragons. Ughh! So much work today!' I thought as I made my way out of the grand tree home in which I had lived in since birth.

I made myself a quick breakfast of berries and morning dew which I then, gave the leftovers to my familiars always ready to serve me. I grabbed my charts and launched to the skies, "Okay according to my time table, the rainstorm isn’t due till tonight so I should make my way to the forest. Says here I'm going to pass by a village called ‘Trotters’? I may be thousands of years old but, even I know that sounds stupid! Oh well let’s just get this over with," I said as I flew towards the forest. I started to wonder how far along the Equs have become since last I had met them one hundred years ago. My thoughts were interrupted as I heard the scream of a young foal.

As I looked down I saw two foals, one alicorn filly and another, a pegasus colt. The alicorn was a vibrant green with a red mane, while the pegasus was dull yellow with a brown mane. I landed down in front of them but I noticed that the alicorn's leg was twisted in an unnatural direction, "Excuse me young ones, I noticed that you had hurt yourself. What has happened to cause you in such pain?" The pegasus answered for his friend, "Our parents sent us out here to gather some supplies for the coming winters when this big dog thing came out of nowhere and attacked us! We tried to defend ourselves and managed to scare him off, but he hit Rays here hard enough that it broke her leg," the young colt was crying at this point. With a smile I ask them "What are your names, my little ponies?"

"I'm Darkened Earth and this is Sunny Rays," the pegasus said pointing at himself and then his friend respectively.

"Good, now if you would kindly move back I may be able to help your friend okay?" He looked at me scared thinking that I would hurt Sunny but moved back allowing me to do what was necessary.

I moved towards Sunny as vines slowly wrapped around her twisted limb. I grabbed a red flower and approached Sunny’s face, "Breathe this in and the pain shall go away." She then took a breath which knocked her out instantly unconscious.

‘Now this is the hard part,' I thought to myself. Once the vines had fully wrapped around the broken limb, it turned into plant material itself. Darkened was horrified when he saw this and tried to move me away, to which thus I held him in place.

'I must slowly turn the leg back to place and then turn it back to normal,' I thought to myself in deep concentration. A green aura transmitted from my hooves and onto Sunny's leg. Once the limb was back in place, I slowly reformed the muscles, sinew and finally the skin. As Darkened saw the vines drop away, he saw that Sunny's leg had been healed thus rushing over for a deep embrace ecstatic that his friend was okay.

"Ho-how did you heal her if you aren't a unicorn?"Asked Darkened.

"That is my secret young one, now tell me where do the two of you live?"

At this point, Sunny spoke up, "We live in a village not too far from here called Trotters.

"Excellent, I was just on my way there for business. Would you two care for a ride?" I offered with a smile.

"You don't mind?!" they said over each other.

"Come let’s take you to your parents."

Once the two were safely settled, I took to the skies and made my way to Trotters, "Excuse me but what is your name miss?" This had come from Darkened beaming to be in the air like all pegasi.

"Oh? I'm surprised you haven't recognized me from the stories I hear from all the villages."

"Stories?" asked Sunny.

“She who brings the harvest, she who hatched the first dragon and gave it flight. The one who controls the skies, the earth and even the celestial bodies for her own uses," I said mysteriously. Sunny's and Darkened's eye widened as they had found out who it was they were being carried by.

"But that's not possible! Father always said that was just some story to give people hope. That such a being was too powerful to exist!" Darkened protested.

I looked sadly at him "Is that what people think of me nowadays? I put all this hard work into making a world for all beings to live in peace and I just end up becoming a fictional being? Surely the way I healed your friend proves who I am no?"

Darkened and Sunny slowly nodded, "That's true, I'm sorry for making you feel sad Goddess," murmurs Sunny.

"Thank you young one but, do not feel sorry for my predicament as it was not your fault as it was mine, I have kept my self away from the populous far too long and as such have fallen into the myths. Once I drop you off maybe we should remedy this yes?" This brightened everyone's mood as we neared the northern fields of Trotters.

As I came in for a landing, two guard looking earth stallions headed towards my direction, "Excuse me miss I'm sorry to trouble you but due to the coming winter we cannot grant outsiders shelter in our village," said the first stallion with a black coat and emerald mane. The second Stallion had a blue coat, accompanied and donned with an emerald mane.

I addressed the second stallion, "I am not here for shelter good citizens, I am only here to drop off two foals. I found them in a clearing not too far from here, their names are Sunny Rays and Darkened Earth. Where may I find their parents?"

The first stallion responded "Sunny and Darkened?! The entire village was worried when they hadn't returned! Thank you so much for bringing them back, you can find their parents near the southern fields, they live right next to each other," I smiled to them both and made my way down to the fields.

I noticed that Trotters was somewhat of a friendly town, everyone waved at the newcomer and continued on with their business smiles abound. You could feel the happiness radiating from everyone you simply couldn't smile walking through this town. I arrived at the southern end as I noticed an alicorn stallion and a unicorn stallion talking to one another frantically until they looked my way and rushed me, "MISS!" The unicorn yelled from afar.

I stopped and looked his way, I could tell from their looks that these were Sunny’s and Darkened’s fathers so I allowed them to hop down and head towards them. Once I made my way there, the unicorn addressed me, "Miss thank ya’ ever so much for bringing back my son, and his friend. We were worrying heads over haunches for their safety. Please, you should have dinner and stay the night with us. It's the least we can do to make up for it."

I looked at him and agreed, 'My work can wait a day, and nothing too bad can happen now can it?' I thought to myself as I headed inside their household.

A/N again criticism is always wanted, I especially want to know what you all think on how I did the first person view.
~Vinetion

CH.2: Miracles and Disasters

~5,000 B.D. Rays' family household~

"I hope ya' don't mind the small space miss, we do get visitors often in a small town such as ours." Said Blade rays sunny's father as we entered their simple abode.

"Do not concern yourself with such frivolties. Let us just enjoy the night together" I respond with a warm smile.

"That's mighty kind of ya' to say miss" said Earthen clay Darkened's father who was already seated at the table.

"Always first to chow down aren't we Clay? Even when we have pretty lass accompanying us?" Blade chuckles.

"You know the work I put in those fields requires the amount of food i eat! So instead of standing around lets dig in." And with that we took our seats and started eating. It was magnificently prepared much better than all of those berries and wildflowers i get every morning.

'Just because its easier to get doesn't mean its tasty' I think to myself between bites. We continued eating in silence like this until we had our fill. When we finished Sunny took Darkened up to one of the guest bedrooms for the night.

"So tell me miss why might ya' be travelling to these parts with the winter storms coming in soon?" Clay asked with an odd tone.

"I have business to be done in a forest past this town, i was on my way there to get it done tonight when i found your foals." I respond flatly.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about the Iron-Oak forest to the south of here would ya'?" Clay responded accusingly.

"Yes I am. Why? Is there something wrong with that?" I ask confused.

"Well for starters-" clay began before blade interrupted. I was at a lost at what was going on. Clay looked like he was ready to kill. Blade whispered something in his ear and he went for a walk.

"Please excuse him, he's a little sensitive to the subject of that forest. As ya' can probally tell by the size of our farms you saw on you way in we can produce more than our fair share of food to sustain our families. However, in recent days we've been having a unusually large amount of timberwolf raids making amount stocks dwindle by the day. We've sent hunting parties out to try and reduce their numbers but so far every one attempt we've made has failed. Clay lost a dear friend of his in one of the attempts. Those woods are bad news to anypony who goes near them and whatever business you have can't be important enough to risk your life for." he ended with a few tears in his eyes for those the town had lost.

While i was listening i was trying to figure out why the timberwolves would attack.

'Timberwolves are supposed to be neutral creatures. They wouldn't go out of their way to disturb another creature unless they were desperate. Which would mean something is messing with the timberwolves food for them to come steal the towns folks. I'll need to deal with this when I head over there or else I'll be neglecting my duty of "caring for all iving creatures" '

"I can assure you that my business will not harm the citizens of your fine town. In fact I may just end up fixing your problem along with mine. Now if you don't mind i believe we should get our sleep while we can. Again i thank you for allowing me to stay with you." I responded sincerely

"And we don't mind having you miss, and if you can take care of the timberwolf problem the entire town will be indebted to you. By the way, i never caught your name?" he responded

"I'll tell you tomorrow" I said as I enter my room for the night.

~The next day~

As I made my way downstairs i was greeted with the site Sunny and Darkened playing in the corner while Clay and Blade were discussing problems over breakfast. When the noticed i had entered the room grew silent.

"I hope you explained my situation to clay here." I asked blade

"With reluctance yes, he's agreed to trust you for the time being but he's asked me and 4 guandsponies to watch over your actions until your "business is over." he responds

"That's perfectly understandable and i'll gladly allow it. In fact I was about to ask if the two of you would accompany on the trip." At this the two of them looked at me confusedly but just shrugged and went with it. "Now if you don't mind I would like to leave as soon as you are able so that i may get on my way to my other bit of business elsewhere."

"If you'll allow me to gather the rest of the squad we can leave immediately." responds Clay who I noticed was wearing metal armor. He quickly got up and sped out the door heading for the town barracks.

'squad? Huh, he must be the guard captain' I think absentmindedly.

Blade and I met back up with clay and his squad near the south end of town. Clay's squad was made up the 4 burliest looking pegasi ever. Each of them stood a good 5 feet off the ground with wings rivaling that of the royal alicornian family's wings. Each one was suited in thick leather padding around the shoulder blades and most of the neck. These stallions were built to go in and finish things fast. While each seemed to be in a relaxed state of mind you could tell they would be ready for battle at the snap of a twig.

"These raids must have been terrible to have need of such warriors as these. I am sorry for your loss." I said mournfully.

Clay looked depressed at the mention of the raids. "It was not your fault they happened and i am sorry for snapping at you last night but, if you wouldn't mind may we stay off that topic until if you fix the problem?"

"Of course i apologize for bringing it up."

And with that we took to the skies. The Iron-Oak forest was a few good miles from the town and the flight there was spent in silence. As we aproached the forest I immediately sense something was wrong. It was as though dark creeping force had descended on the area stealing away at the life energies of the plants. The trees themselves were showing signs of the decay nearly all of the forest was turning a sickly brown and their dead leaves had been blown miles away from the forest itself. Amongst all of this that wasn't what had given me the dark and evil feeling, what had was the one tree in all of the forest that wasn't dying. What looked like one massive oak tree rivaling that of the original gaian tree stood giving off a dark aura that, only to the trained eye, was siphoning of the life of everything around it slowly killing the forest off.

I looked over at Blade and asked "Tell me, do you know how long that massive oak has been standing there?"

"For nearly 100 years now if i remember correctly why? Do you think it might have something to do with the timberwolf raids?" Blade responds.

"I don't know, but what i am sure of is there is something very sinister and very powerful in those woods." I say with a hint of fear in my voice as we touch down about a quarter of a mile from the forest. "I've been going over how I'm going to take care of this problem of yours and the only way i can think of is going in and taking care of the direct source. That means however that you'll have to come along to keep an eye on me."

"I will follow." responds Blade surprising the rest of the guards. "The rest of you set up camp to await our return." he orders. Clay and the rest of the guards begin to make a make-shift fort as we head for the forest.

"So tell me miss, what is this plan of yours for dealing with the timberwolves?"

"Quite simple really, I hope to go in and find the timberwolves Canus tree and uproot it killing off all of the timberwolves at once. While it sounds simple they will try and defend the tree with their lives. The tree itself, going off of the number of timberwolves you say come in these raids will be pretty big to have created that many of them." I explained.

"That sounds rather suicidal, but than again we've playing cautious and look where it got us." he reponded.

And with that we started to make our way into the dying forest.

A/N I would like to say that the idea that timberwolves actually coming from a certain tree came from the author "blackwing" Also thanks to "killjoy" for editing and and story tips. ~Vinetion