As I walked through Ponyville a couple of days later, I smiled. The ponies had eventually gotten used to me and no longer stared or bowed whenever I walked down the street. Well, except for a few kids that didn’t understand me yet, but other than that everything was fine.

Thanks to my training with Bastion, I was a lot tougher than I had been when I first arrived and hadn’t even touched a sword yet. Bastion told me that when the time came to take on True Force, he would provide me with any supplies he was capable of.

It was then that I began to realize it. Sooner or later, I’d actually have to take on True Force. I liked to pretend the whole thing was fake and I’d never have to fight him, but...that wouldn’t happen. I’d have to battle him, and I’d either have to kill him, or I’d die. Along with all of Equestria.

I sighed, putting my hands in my pockets. Looking around the town, I realized how much I had grown used to this world of ponies. I had only been here for a few days, not counting my week of unconsciousness, but I already felt like I belonged here. I had trouble just remembering Earth, though that was probably because I didn’t really want to remember it.

Earth just brought me pain and loneliness...but Equestria gave me a second chance. And I’m not gonna waste it.

I suddenly noticed the ground beneath my feet disappear, and quickly stumbled back. I snapped my head up and saw that I had reached the cliff edge that I jumped off a couple days earlier. Why do I keep coming back here?

After calming down, I looked around. This place looked so peaceful, yet could easily cause death at the same time. Things were always a lot different than they looked. Never judge a book by its cover. I’ve heard that aesop numerous times.

Looking around, I noticed something seemed out of place. There was a forest in one direction, but in the opposite direction there was a single tree. The tree almost looked...lonely. I walked over to it and examined it. It looked like a completely normal tree, but...something about it just emitted depression and loneliness.

“I know how you feel,” I told it, mentally chiding myself for talking to an inanimate object. You already named a sword; don’t go getting attached to a tree now!

Sighing, I sat down. Pulling off my weapons and putting them beside me, I leaned back against the tree, giving myself a perfect view of the waterfall going off the edge of the cliff. I sighed again and relaxed.

“Enjoying the view?”

I turned my head to the side in surprise and was shocked to find Princess Celestia standing there. She was smiling, but it looked fake...like she was trying to hide something.

“I guess,” I shrugged. “You okay, princess?”

Celestia sighed and dropped her smile. “Rylan Watch.”

I raised an eyebrow at her usage of my full name. “Yes, princess?”

“Something went wrong.” She sat down next to me, but did not look at me. “I thought we had a bit longer, but I miscalculated.”

“What are you trying to tell me?”

“I'm telling you...” She looked me in the eye. “It's time.”

Silence passed between us for a short while. Then I blinked.

“Wait, what?” I asked.

“Just this morning, True Force came back. He had previously been imprisoned, but he managed to escape. He is weak right now, but his power is gradually returning. We don't have long before he attacks Equestria.”

I couldn't believe it. True Force was back. Well, that explains why he wasn't talking to me today.

“So I have to go find him now?” I clarified.

“No, not right now. But very shortly.” She stood up. “You have the rest of today to prepare anything you might need for your journey. It will likely be a long one, as we are unsure as to where True Force is hiding out right now. All we can do is point you in one direction and have you follow it.”

“How long is long?” Great question, Watch.

“Long. It could be any length of time, from days to months, but Luna and I believe it will not be anything less than a few weeks. And that's if you walked nonstop, not accounting for obstacles or resting.”

“Oh joy.” I stood up, picking up Ihsoylr and my shield again. “Well, I'll see what supplies I can gather today. I'll set off first thing tomorrow. Where do I go?”

“Through the Everfree Forest.” I cringed. “Just follow the path through the forest and out the other side. From there, just continue heading east. You will know True Force's hiding place when you see it.”

“How?”

“You will feel the darkness emanating from the building, growing as you move closer. It is a feeling you will not be able to ignore.” She lit her horn. “Good luck, Rylan. You have the blessings of the sun and moon both. Be brave, and never give up.” A bright flash, and she was gone.

“Leaving so soon?”

“'Fraid so, Bastion.”

“Well, as I promised, I am willing to help you in any way you need. And I'm not alone.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have all of Ponyville at your back, Watch. The entire town is willing to help you. You just have to give the word.”

It was about an hour or so after my talk with Celestia. I had announced to Ponyville what she told me; that True Force was back and regaining power, and I was heading out to stop him now. They either replied with cheering or running home and locking themselves in. Even the six girls had just left for home in a rush. My heart had sunk a little when I saw that, but I tried to ignore it. Bastion, however, had stuck around to offer his assistance.

Where was I? Oh right, the whole thing about all of Ponyville being willing to help me.

“That's good and all, but aside from food and a map of the Everfree Forest, I don't really need much.” I shrugged.

“Not even backup?” Bastion blinked in confusion.

“No. I'm not letting any ponies come with me. No offense, of course, but considering what I'm gonna have to face, letting anypony come along would be like strapping a sack of bricks to my back. It'll just slow me down.”

“No offense taken, don't worry. But still...not even the Elements of Harmony?”

Again, I stretched my neck like Engineer. “Nope.”

“Well...as long as you're certain. I'm still unsure about this, but you do what you think is best.” Bastion gestured for me to follow him and started walking away, taking me to his house and inviting me in. “I think I have a map of the Everfree Forest, as well as a somewhat larger map of some more of the world around Ponyville. I don't know how far you'll have to travel, but hopefully it'll make your journey a bit easier until you go off the edge of the map.”

Off the edge of the map? That sounds like a cool name for an adventure story. “Alright, thanks. I'll probably just talk to Applejack about getting food.”

“You do that.” Bastion pulled out the maps from a cabinet and gave them to me. “There you go. The map of the Everfree mainly just shows which forks in the path to take and which caves have been known to house dragons. Other than that, it isn't very detailed. The other map, however, should prove very useful once you get out of the forest.”

“Thanks, Bastion.” I tucked the maps away in my backpack, which I had on under my shield and sword (don't ask how that worked, because I don't really know either).

We bid each other goodbye, and I headed out of his house. I took a moment to remember which way was to Sweet Apple Acres (horrible sense of direction, remember?) and started walking there.

I didn't even get ten feet away from Bastion's house before I was tackled to the ground. I instinctively swung my arm up, smashing whatever tackled me in the face and knocking them off. I rolled over and flipped up onto my feet, ready to fight if I had to.

“What the hell, man!” Rainbow Dash groaned, rubbing the side of her face where I struck her. It was bruised pretty badly, and I quickly realized what I had done.

“Oh crap, sorry about that! I didn't know it was you!” I crouched beside her to check on the bruise. “You okay?”

“I'll live,” she grumbled, getting onto her hooves.

“Why'd you attack me anyway?” I demanded.

“Payback for calling your friends a sack of bricks.” She gave me a glare as she said that, though it didn't look too threatening.

“You were eavesdropping?”

“I prefer the term 'intentionally overhearing'.” She shrugged and looked away innocently. “But yeah, close enough. And you're not ditching us, you know.”

“I'm not letting you come,” I stated flatly. “Not you, not Twilight, not Applejack, nopony. I'm doing this alone.”

“No you're not.” I turned and saw Twilight walking up, the other four mares and Spike behind her. I can see where this is going, and I'm gonna end it before it begins.

“I'm not letting any of you come with me to get youselves killed!” I yelled before any of them could speak. “That is all I have to say on the subject, and nothing you say is gonna change that! You will stay here in Ponyville and wait for me to come back.”

“Why?” Pinkie Pie asked, tilting her head curiously.

“Several reasons. One, I'm not letting you get hurt, because I can't protect all of you at once. I couldn't even protect Apple Bloom...” I shook my head to clear away those thoughts. “Secondly, a party of eight is much slower than a party of one. Especially when at least two of those eight aren't really known for their speed.” I cast a look at Spike and Fluttershy when I said that, causing them to look away in guilt. “And lastly, in all honesty, I've seen enough movies to know that when people group together, they usually end up dying one at a time, until they're all dead and they've failed.”

“Rylan.” Twilight looked at me with a look of absolute seriousness on her face. “Say what you want, but we're coming anyway. Even if you don't want us to, we'll just follow you through your entire journey. Because, while you claim to have seen movies where groups always fail, I've seen enough movies to know that, when working as a group, you're going to come across obstacles that require teamwork.”

Twilight, why must you be more savvy than me? I mentally bemoaned. “I don't-”

“Too bad.” Twilight smirked. “Consider this payback for that remark yesterday.”

...oh come ON. I threw up my hands. “You know what? Fine. Come along. If any of you die, though, I'm not gonna stick around for your funerals.” I sighed. I probably sounded really cruel, but I was really annoyed.

“Deal,” Rainbow said with a grin, doing a spin in the air. I sighed. This is not gonna end well...but they're not giving up, so I don't really have a choice.

Early the next morning, the eight of us stood outside the entrance to the Everfree Forest. The six mares each had on a set of saddlebags to hold our supplies, and I had my pack underneath my shield.

Rarity had put her crafting powers to use and made some more arrows, since just three likely wouldn't be enough. They looked rather different from my regular arrows, but still worked perfectly fine. I had stashed the arrows in my pack, along with my bow. I also slipped my knives into my shoes and strapped Ihsoylr and my shield on. We were ready.

I looked at Spike with a raised eyebrow. “Why are you coming again?” I asked, plain and simple.

“Because I'm tired of being left out of saving the world,” he replied.

“I'm not even gonna argue anymore.” I sighed and turned to Twilight, who was looking over the map of Equestria. “Know any of the places, Twi?”

She shrugged. “Only a couple.” She used her front hoof to point to a small town not too far from the Everfree Forest's exit. “That's Fillydelphia, I believe.” She moved her hoof to a large mountain just past Fillydelphia. “And that's Mt. Griffon. It's a dormant volcano where a lot of griffons live. Hopefully we'll be able to get by without much trouble.”

“From the volcano or the griffons?” I grunted sarcastically.

“Both.” Twilight rolled up the map with her magic and gave it back to me, and I tucked it in my pack. “I don't know any of the other places, but we'll likely find out eventually. Everypony ready?”

The other five girls and Spike nodded. I turned to face them all. “Listen, all of you. This is your last chance to back out. I know how dangerous the Everfree Forest is, and I'm willing to bet you do too. But this isn't just the forest. Unless True Force decided to be really dumb and hide out right near Ponyville, we'll be entering places nopony from Ponyville has ever gone. Unless we're really, really lucky, which I'm positive we won't be, we're not coming out of this without huge injuries, and possibly a death or two. Unless you're really set on doing this and risking your life, go home now.”

Twilight shook her head. Applejack shrugged. Rainbow crossed her front hooves in annoyance. Rarity flipped her mane. Pinkie bounced obliviously. Fluttershy pawed the ground nervously, but made no move to leave. Spike yawned. I facepalmed.

“You're the most stubborn group I've ever met. I don't know if that's good or bad.” I sighed and turned to the gaping mouth that was the entrance to the Everfree Forest. “Come on, let's go do that hero-y thing that heroes do.” I feel like I'm stealing that from something...

“That was a horrible one-liner,” Rainbow commented. I shrugged and started walking forward.

Together, we entered the Everfree Forest. The temperature seemed to drop a small bit as we entered, but I tried to ignore it. This wasn't the time to get cold feet, figuratively or literally.

We walked for a short while, conversing very little. Most of us walked on the ground, but Rainbow flew in the air and Spike rode on Twilight's back. Lucky bastard, not even needing to walk.

Eventually, we came to a fork in the path. I pulled out the map of the Everfree Forest and looked it over. We wanted to go to the right. I took that path and the others followed me. I gave the map to Spike, so he could tell us where to go without one of us needing to stop to look at the map.

After about an hour, I heard something and quickly stopped. “Everypony, shush,” I warned them quietly. They all stopped and looked at me. Getting paranoid, I moved my arm towards Ihsoylr's handle.

However, the noise disappeared as quickly as it came. I relaxed slightly. “Never mind,” I told them. “False alar-”

And then out pounced the Timberwolves.

Next Chapter Preview:

"Puzzles? Why in the bloody name of Nayru does a natural forest have puzzles?!"

"It's not exactly a natural forest, you know..."

"I get it, I get it! Ugh, this place sucks! It's more annoying than the Forest Temple!"

"The what?"

"...inside joke."