An eerie wind whistled and moaned through the unnatural trees surrounding the secluded path to Zecora's hut as if there were a hundred souls writhing and crying in torment. The blotted out light of the afternoon sun leaked through the treeline like dirt slipping through a thick film designed for sand, barely keeping the path illuminated for the two ponies moving through the anomalous forest.
According to legend, the Everfree Forest used to be a place of ascension, the birthplace of the first alicorns who had gathered enough magical power to transcend their species and unite the three magics together. Consequently, a magnificent castle was built, the same castle that had previously held the almost forgotten Elements of Harmony, to commemorate this spot. However, over time, the effects of such rampant and volatile magic manifested in strange plants, mythological creatures and an unnatural soul that held a firm grip over the wild forest to this day. The castle had been abandoned once the ponies began to notice the creatures crawling out of the deep.
A thousand years ago, the forest had been but creeping vines and twisting roots that jumped and moved out of the ground of their own accord, holding no true hostility, only unique in the fact that it lived on its own and created its own inhabitants. The magic of the forest was already laced with instability, but it had been predicted that it would eventually subside with time.
However, the first endless night took hold of the world as immortals clashed and fought, and the magic of the forest responded to this hatred in kind, transforming its nature to match as the trees grew thorns and thick thistles, the animals became carnivorous and bloodthirsty, and the soul itself was corrupted. The forest was forever dammed to be a place of evil, suffering and blinding darkness.
And here it stood a thousand years later, unconquered and feared.
“I'll never get used to this place...” Fluttershy whimpered as she tiptoed behind Twilight, cowering at every single snapping twig and rustling bush, “Even if we've been here so many times...”
“Well you live right next to the forest Fluttershy,” Twilight responded as she ambled further along the worn path, “Shouldn't you be somewhat accustomed to it by now?”
“Oh no, no, no,” the butter-colored pegasus answered while rapidly shaking her head, “The Everfree Forest is just too scary. I don't understand how Zecora can live in here! It's so...creepy.”
“C'mon Fluttershy. Have some confidence. You've faced a dragon before for goodness sake. This shouldn't be anything for you now,” the purple unicorn insisted, pausing to make sure the coast was clear and that there were no hidden poison joke patches waiting for them.
“No..even if I've done that. You never know what's going on in here. It's not safe at all,” Fluttershy said as she moved closer to the slowly advancing unicorn.
“Indeed. She's right. This place is not to be taken lightly, no matter how many times you have traveled this path,” Nightmare added, keeping her senses alert and extended for any possible assailants, “This forest is hatred, and it acts as such. Stay vigilant. I wouldn't want a simple timberwolf to take a bit out of either of your cute flanks...before me that is.”
“Twilight? Are you alright? You sort of tripped,” Fluttershy asked, suddenly combing over the purple unicorn's entire form, checking for bruises or cuts, “Your face is sort of red.”
“Fine. Fine,” Twilight waved off with a rapid hoof wave while mumbling darkly under her breath. “And why do I feel like I have a more dangerous predator around with me all the time anyway?”
“I'm sure that's just your imagination,” the black alicorn answered with a little, twinkling chuckle. Even now when she was warning her about being careful in the face of danger, Nightmare was still making jokes. Twilight sighed, but walked on, spotting the exotic hut up ahead that greeted the approaching ponies with strange tribal masks and suspended bottles that held strange, fermenting concoctions of extraordinary power.
Ignoring the normally outlandish appearance of Zecora's house, Twilight cantered up to the heavy wooden door and knocked three times. However, the mysterious zebra did not greet her with a traditional two verse rhyme. In fact, nopony answered her calls at all.
“That's strange,” the lavender mare stated, looking into the windows, noticing that the inside was pitch black. Not a single candle or torch was lit. “Maybe she's out on an errand in Ponyville?”
“I didn't see her come out of the forest today...” Fluttershy muttered, still looking around to make sure that everything was safe. Twilight slightly pushed on the door to find that it was unlocked. Slowly, it creaked open, and gingerly, they stepped in while calling for their zebra friend in case she had taken to an early bed time.
Magically lit flames suddenly manifested to light the ancient wicks of the torches and candles lying around the room, casting warm and clear light. Everything seemed to be normal. The black, iron cauldron sat in the middle of the room, cleaned and pristine as usual. However, the bed sitting in the back of the house was void of one zebra.
“Huh?” Twilight said, scratching her head in confusion, “Where could she be? She usually leaves a note on the door if she goes out to do something.”
“Maybe...maybe something happened to her!” the timid pegasus cried out as she dove to hide underneath Zecora's bed, imagining a stray cockatrice slithering up behind Zecora or a pack of hungry timberwolves hunting for her.
“That would be really strange. She knows this forest extremely well,” Twilight said as she began to look around for any possible clues that would lead them to a better conclusion.
Scattered vials and uncleaned bottles lined the shelves, carrying residue from past potions and stray petals from uncooked herbs. It looked like the zebra alchemist had been here recently.
“Fluttershy. You stay here. I'm going to have a look around real quick,” the purple unicorn ordered, and the timid yellow pegasus happily agreed, only warning Twilight to be careful out there.
Making sure to secure the door, Twilight walked out, examining the immediate surroundings for further clues.
“Hmm...If I were a strange, mystical zebra with alchemical, witch powers, where would I be?” Twilight questioned out loud as if actually voicing the question would help her solve it.
“The natural answer would be gathering herbs, but I have a bad feeling that something else is going on here. Look at those tracks on the floor,” Nightmare said, having noticed the pattern of hoofprints when they had first approached the house.
Twilight looked down at her feet, separating the new horseshoe prints from the natural zebra ones. They seemed to be leading to the back of the house, deeper into the forest. The purple unicorn followed the trail to the back until she was a ways away from the house. She noticed that the tracks seemed to get further and further apart as if Zecora had been running for something...or perhaps from something.
“What should we do?” Twilight asked, feeling a bit apprehensive about just jumping straight into the strange forest where tales of horror were often born. “Something really could have happened to Zecora.” Twilight was thinking about running back for help, but the longer it took, the possibility that something bad could happen increased. There was only one choice. “I'm going in.”
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It was suffocatingly dark, especially with the afternoon sunlight finally fading into night. There's a certain truth to the dark; when in it, everything becomes close, whether it be from the actual loss of sight that amplifies the other senses or the psychological feeling of entrapment that snares the mind and heart. Few have learned to completely trust the dark, and that is its nature. It is an unknown, a veil that hides the most beautiful sights or the most horrendous monsters.
Right now, Twilight felt that it was the latter of the two, and unlike how it usually is in the dark of one's room, there was noise everywhere from every possible direction: the snarl of a beast or the pitter-patter of a passing butterfly.
“It was nerve-wracking, and no matter how much she wished to laugh away her fears, the joy would not come. She was here in the middle of the most dangerous forest in Equestria looking for a friend in the dank dark, surrounded by a forest that exhumed evil.
“I really would not recommend this place for any romantic getaways mistress,” Nightmare quietly joked, drawing the first, soft chuckle from Twilight.
“I would have to agree wholeheartedly. This place is really giving me the creeps now,” Twilight admitted as she continued following the trail, her path lit by her dim hornlight. She had no clue how far in she was, but judging by the dense underbrush and lack of proper trails, the lavender mare could safely guess that she was nearing the outside perimeter of the old castle ruins.
“Shesh...what was Zecora doing so far out here?” Twilight complained as she crawled over a fallen and decaying log, grimacing at the unpleasant smell.
Suddenly, a low growl rippled through the natural ambiance of the forest, easily standing out among the sharp bird calls and clicking insects. The purple unicorn froze in place.
“Really mistress? Dinner isn't for a good couple of hours. How gluttonous of you,” the dark goddess teased, but her mistress whimpered only in response.
“That...that wasn't me,” she murmured, scrambling to her feet and picking up the pace. The faster she found Zecora, the better after all right?
Then, a venomous hiss abruptly sliced through the forest noise, setting Twilight's hairs on end, the electric shock traveling all the way to the base of her tail.
“At least tell me that was you...right?” Nightmare said with an increasingly nervous laugh. She didn't like where this was going at all; her mistress' body was hers too.
Twilight didn't even oblige the resident goddess an answer and surged forward, only looking ahead where the tracks could barely be seen. She was beginning to breath a little harder, the stress combined with her heavy running slowly exhausting her. The purple mare hoped that whatever was following her would give up.
All of a sudden, she found herself bumping in a warm body, and Twilight tumbled down to the ground in a mess of tangled limbs.
“Twilight, why in Equestria's name are you here? Surely you know that there is much to fear,” a characteristic voice rhymed, and the lavender mare gasped as she jumped to her hooves.
“Zecora! Are you okay? We came up to your hut, but you weren't there. So we got really worried, and then I started looking for you. And then it got really, really, dark...”
“Calm yourself dear Twilight for I am mostly fine. A gash or two and an hoof sprain are the injuries I define,” the zebra answered, struggling to her feet, prompting Twilight to quickly lend her support.
“What happened to you?” Twilight asked, noticing the haggard expression that hung on her friend's face, “It doesn't look like you're fine to me.”
“Ahh yes. My defeat I must admit. The beast I sought I could not outwit. A few days time, I have searched hard, but I'm afraid Ponyville I could not guard,” Zecora groaned out, shifting her weight onto Twilight who finally got a good look at the condition of her friend.
“What does this crazy zebra do? Slay monsters? Look at her!” Nightmare exclaimed in shock, “It's not just a gash or two. There are probably a couple dozen of them! They are all pretty deep too. Her mane looks like it's been singed and burnt, and there are a few bruises on her side too.”
“Zecora! What in Luna's name have you been doing out here?!” Twilight cried out in worry as she began to slowly trudge back towards the healer's hut where there would be medicines to treat the injured zebra.
“An ancient beast here has nested, a dangerous foe until bested,” she muttered, her voice wavering as she coughed violently. Twilight frowned. It had to be something pretty strong, but what could do this sort of damage to Zecora, especially since the zebra herself was pretty strong.
Suddenly, a sharp snapping sound struck them, halting their slow retreat, and Twilight could feel the sudden temperature drop in the area around them.
“Um...what did you say this beast was?” the purple unicorn squeaked as she began to crawl silently towards the house, squinting into the darkness, trying in vain to catch a small glimpse of any approaching enemies.
“A mixture of nature with claws of steel. More than one head, all are real. A venomous end that hisses and bites with a head in front that burns on sight,” Zecora answered cryptically, not really answering Twilight's question outright. The purple unicorn sighed, forgetting that Zecora liked to speak mysteriously.
“Claws? Venom? Burning? Don't tell me...” Twilight began before an abrupt and somehow sinister “baaaa” cut her off.
“Heads of four, one in back, three in front. It hides in stealth during the hunt. A lion. A dragon. A demon goat. And the back blackened snake that aims for the throat,” she finished.
“A chimera,” Nightmare concluded in shock as two roars, one hiss and a bleat echoed around the trees. It was here. “Run Twilight! Run!”
The purple unicorn didn't need telling twice, because she was already speeding away, crashing and smashing through the thick underbrush and surging through the dense jungle. Yet, the sounds never stopped as the heavy beating of leathery wings followed the panicking unicorn through forest, rock and water. This was its maze, and she was the mouse.
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Faster. Faster. Faster. That was the constant mantra that Twilight chanted in her head as she ran blindly through the Everfree Forest, levitating the now unconscious zebra behind her. However, her stamina was failing her; she wasn't a stellar athlete after all, only just healthy enough to be medically approved by a doctor. Thus, she didn't have the endurance or speed to outrun such a dangerous predator for long.
Twilight had one last burst of speed to use, and she desperately hoped that she had run far enough to burst out of the forest.
With a running leap, she crashed through the trees, utterly spent, hoping that she had thrown the beast off her trail.
Groaning, Twilight barely managed to open her eyes, and despair filled her as she noticed that she had only made it to the famous Nightmare Moon statue that lay only a few minutes away from Ponyville by walking.
“Of course...” the purple unicorn groaned as she tried to gather any last dregs of energy that hid within her. The adrenaline was wearing off now, and the after effects were really showing. Nothing in her body would respond to her, and she was literally unable to move.
Then the air picked up as the heavy sounds of beating wings filled the air; it had found her. The mythical beast burst out of the foliage, its four hungry heads eyeing the two helpless mares that lay on the ground like an offering to a god. Twilight weakly turned her gaze towards their attacker, silently screaming at the ghastly creature that was about to gobble her and Zecora up.
It stalked closer, savoring the thrill of the chase, its appetite only increased by it. All four mouths opened in anticipation as the large leathery dragon wings twitched and shuffled in place. Twilight got the feeling that this beast would not be like the manticore and give her a friendly lick. It be more of a gigantic bite.
All of a sudden, it lunged, four pairs of sharp teeth primed and ready for dinner.
By reflex, Twilight conjured up a small shield at the last possible moment with the rest of her power, causing the chimera to smack all of their faces on the barrier, repelling them back. It was the only defense she could conjure up. Attacking a chimera with magic was unwise, its draconic, mixed blood shielding it from most magical attacks. However, it didn't matter. Twilight's world began to spin and blacken as the backlash of casting such a powerful barrier ripped through her body. The strong pink barrier flickered and finally dissipated as the darkness began to take her underneath the statue of the dream goddess.
But before surrendering to unconsciousness, Twilight's ears jumped to one last sound, a declaration, a promise.
“I will protect you Twilight.”