I'm not certain what pisses me off the more, the fact that this forest looks exactly the same wherever we go, or the fact that we got lost in the first place. I have a relic that bestows the wearer untold power! How is it possible to get lost while having that in your possession?

    Gah, I probably should've made a trail of some sort.  No matter, I've been through worse.

    The both of us traversed  through the untamed depths of the Everfree, we've encountered a few intriguing events, in example, we saw a pack of timber wolves feasting on a recent kill, to say that the Royal guard was disgusted by the sight would be a major understatement.

    That's basically it, every other encounter was either a pack of timber wolves, or a manticore, pretty much the usual.

    Inevitably, we succumbed to fatigue, too winded to go any further, luckily, we found an empty cave to set up camp in. I preferred finding the castle, but this is nice as well...

    To be honest, cutting down the entire forest to carve paths was getting dull to me.

    The cave was unsettling, it appeared to go in deeper, but we decided that it's probably best to just camp just inside the entrance.

     I was not naive, however. I'm not an idiot who goes and sleep in a random cave, hell, for all I know, a manticore could be living here, so, we ventured deeper into the cave, nothing really special within the caves, just a handful of stalactites and stalagmites here and there.

    Fortunately, we came to a conclusion, this cave was unused, no signs of anything whatsoever being here, thankfully. Just to be safe, I created a barrier to block the entrance.

    A humble campfire provides a somewhat eerie lighting to our "campsite." Normally, it would probably take hours for me to get a fire started, through the convenience of magic, I simply shot a small bolt of flames at a bundle of timber we gathered earlier engulfing the logs with flames.

    We sat down beside the fire, the warmth of the fire was appealing. The cold breeze of the night in the Everfree was harsh.

    The Royal guard stared at the campfire as it continued to burn with tired eyes as he rested in the opposite side of the campfire. He looks dead inside, probably because he's aware that he's now a walking bomb, and I have the detonator.

    Perhaps starting a conversation would kill some time? At least that would alleviate some of the uncomfortable silence, and perhaps some of the boredom as well.

    I doubt he's in the mood to talk right now. First, most of his fellow guards were massacred by me, he was captured by me, and finally, he's lost in the Everfree with me.

    Sucks to be him! Zinger!

   "So, what's it like in Ponyville? Well, I assume you're from Ponyville, anyways." I asked, attempting to at least try.

    Now that I think about it, that's a dumb question to begin a conversation with.

    The earth pony simply glares at me with eyes that gave away his present annoyance.  

   "Hey, just trying to start a conversation, no need to be all aggressive-like."

    Oh wait, he has every right to be pissed off...

   "Goodnight, I guess."

     I vanished with a snap of my finger, and rematerialized somewhere deeper in the cave. Yes, I found a much more secluded spot to sleep. Can't risk that pony killing me in my sleep.

    And there's no need worrying him escaping... again. He wouldn't escape, no, he couldn't. He would be reduced to a pile of smoldering flesh and gore if he chose to do so.

    Finding a somewhat acceptable spot to sleep in, I laid down on the cold surface of the cave, and I tried to sleep, but the cold breeze and the harsh dirt was separating me from my slumber. And even my hungry stomach prevents me from sleeping.

   "Gah, damn it all. I'm hungry..." I cursed to myself.

   "You know, I never tried horse meat." I mumbled to myself. But I wouldn't devour that light blue maned earth pony, no, now that I've come this far to recapture him, and I refuse to let hunger get the better of me now.

     Thankfully, I still have those bottles of water in my bag. Huh, now that you mention it, I am somewhat parched. With that thought in my head, I retrieved one of the bottles of water from my bag, and took a gulp.

      Once I took a swig of water, I returned the bottle back to my bag, and attempted to sleep. Somehow, I actually fell to the blissful embrace of slumber this time.

      Then I awoke to somewhere unfamiliar, a flat landscape filled with nothing but grass, and an occasional flower or two. The grass swayed as strong gusts of wind assaulted the area.

       Hm, a dream? I never had a dream this vivid before. It almost felt as if I'm in reality.

       I explored around the grassland, but all I could find was grass, boring, boring grass, and a handful of flowers that I couldn't bother remembering their names. I could identify some though, lilies and roses, but that was about it, I couldn't recognize any of the other plants.  

     "Well, this is much more boring than I thought, I assumed that dreams like these were much more thrilling than I originally anticipated." I muttered.

      "Well, most of the time, they usually are." An all too familiar voice spoke from behind me. No freakin' way, I know that voice...

        And look who it is behind me, I spun around, and I saw the blue alicorn, Luna.

      "What are you? I've never seen anything like you in my life. And I've been alive for thousands of years." She stated.

      "Me? Well, if you must know, I'm Wilson Redd, just a nobody really. And if you wish to know how I got here, I have no clue."

      "Wilson Redd? Well, Mr. Red, can you explain to me what you are?" She asked curiously.

      "Oh, me? I'm human, a homo sapien, if you wish to be more specific."

      "A human...? I've never heard of that race before."

      "Well, to be honest, I expected as such. I'm not exactly from here."

      "You're not from here?"

      "Eh, long story. I basically came from a planet called earth."

      "Well, you're currently in Equis now, pray tell, what made you go here?"

      "Hm, my presence here is unintentional, really. And to be honest, I'm not sure how I got here."

      "Ah, I see."

      "Mind giving me transport to Canterlot? I've got an injured Royal guard with me, I doubt he'd last long in the Everfree."

      "A Royal guard? What was a Royal guard doing with you?" She asked, "And why is he injured, and why is he in the Everfree?" She added.

      "Hm, to be fair, I'm not exactly so sure why he's in the Everfree, he was fending off timber wolves when I found him, if I had not intervened, he'd be dead." I lied.

      "Oh? I'd assume you're near Ponyville, why not bring him there?" The midnight blue alicorn suggested.

      "Two problems, both of us are lost, and, I'm quite certain that the locals would greet us with open arms... er, hooves."

       Good, good. Just a bit more deception and I'm out of this place, I just simply need to brief my prisoner what to do.

      "Hm, I suppose. Tell me, can you somehow signify your presence? I do believe we are capable to fly over the Everfree with slight difficulty."

      "Hm? Isn't the distance from Canterlot to Everfree a bit too far? Well, I could ignite a few of the trees on fire. That would be an effective method. Would that suffice?"

      "You underestimate alicorn wings," She stated, "Also, would that not cause a widespread forest fire?" She added in concern.

      "No worries, I've control over magic, I can simply douse the flames before it got out of hand... um, hoof, I'm also certain that I'm not too close to equine civilization, so I'm sure that I won't cause any panic of any form."

      "You possess magic abilities? I did not expect your species to possess magic by the looks of you," She replied, "Very well, I will glide over the Everfree in search for you and the royal guard."

      "Now might be a good time to wake up, Mr Redd." She said.

      "Oh, oh right." I stammered before slapping myself in the face, that actually worked in waking me up, although.

        I jolted up, and quickly wore a morbidly grim smirk, "Excellent, she didn't see the amulet." I thought to myself.

       The amulet was under my shirt, and my blood-stained grey scarf also helped conceal it. But now, I have one major problem, the earth pony will, without a doubt, rout my devious plot. It's not really that brilliant, to be honest, it basically goes like this, first, befriend them, second, plot a bomb-ass plan to take over Equestria, finally, execute the plan.

       Wait, dominate Equestria? I don't remember that being my original goal. Then again, I always liked power, power was too addictive, the amulet was giving me unmeasurable amounts of power, but, I simply need more.

       I need to think of something quickly. I teleported back to the campfire, the pony was conveniently in a peaceful slumber. Then human innovation struck me like an arrow, use an amnesia spell!

       I prepared the spell, which didn't take that long, actually. A spherical orb of white materialized from my palm, once the orb has stored enough potency for the spell to work, I aimed at the earth pony and launched the orb.

      There was a flash of white for a split-second as the orb made contact with the pony, the spell worked? Possibly, I'm not certain, I don't even know how I learned that spell in the first place. Did the amulet give it to me? Bah, who cares, as long as it works, I'm content.

       The pony woke up with a flinch, "Huh? What?" he said as he bolted upright.

      "Ah, good, you're finally awake!" I cheered in fake joy.

       He recoiled in horror as he saw me, "Ack! Monster!" He screeched in terror as he began to make a bolt for it to the not-really-that-safe safety of the forest, however, the barrier that I placed that was intended to keep creatures outside managed to prevented his escape.

       He slammed into the barrier with great speed, knocking himself out. I stared at the unconscious body of the pony in silence. Two seconds has passed, and I broke from my intent stare to a fit of laughter.

       "Oh god! That was hilarious. You know what? I think you're better off like this, mate." I exclaimed at his body.

       Right, right. I need to set the forest ablaze. So, I teleported outside, and pondered, "Which tree am I going to burn?"

       I then proceed to point my finger at a random tree, "I guess that one will do."

       Just before I was about to unleash an orb of flame from my palm, I paused and thought to myself, "You know what? The whole orb-projectile thing is really getting dull."

       Perhaps I'll try something else?

      I began to think what would be a more interesting way of unleashing flames against whatever stands your way. Beams? Naw, even the ponies use beams. Swords made of fire? Now that's simply lazy.

      I continued brainstorming, I scrapped many concepts, but I decided that I'll stick to this particular idea. Conjuring wyvern-esque beings made of fire.

      I focused, condensing magic into my palm, it took much loner to prepare, but it would be certainly be much more devastating. Once the ball of magic was condensed enough, I directed it at the ground in front of me.

      A bright, orange abyss opened up in front of me, shortly after the portal was created, three fiery beings which resembled wyverns emerged from the fiery rift, they circled the skies above me, illuminating the night sky in a display of fire.

      "Oh, this is awesome," I said to myself in awe, I impressed myself quite effectively.

      I watched them, awestruck, before muttering to myself, "Now then? How do I tell them to burn that tree down exactly?" I pondered to myself.

        I began a train of thought before concluding a method, "Eh, I guess that will work," I muttered to myself, "Sic em'." I shouted as I pointed my finger at the poor, poor tree, and the fiery beings complied, they dive bombed the tree.

        A large explosion followed by two other explosions shook the earth. What replaced the dense foliage was burning trees and mounds of ash, and infernos that would make a human, or pony, melt just by look at it.

       "I might have overdone that."

Next Chapter: Chapter 8. Sinister Intent Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes