In Search of Trouble

by Zervziel

Chapter 2

Everfree forest. For many ponies the name was synonymous with horrifying creatures, dark ruins, and a never-ending emerald maze of trees and undergrowth. To many ponies to even enter it was considered tantamount to suicide. Only the most stouthearted of them would even consider making a home near the infamous forest, but even they would not consider entering the wood unless one's life was in danger and at that point many would just stay and fight rather than deal with it's terrifying menagerie of monsters.

On this particular day, the dark wood was just as forbidding as ever, but for the six ponies frantically making their way through it's darkened heart.

Flying as fast as she could, Rainbow Dash scanned entire swaths of forest for the three missing fillies. The leafy canopy of trees frustrated her efforts. From the air, the forest hid all signs of the ground. With a grumble she finally descended towards the group of ponies.

Fluttershy, while normally deathly afraid of the Everfree forest despite living right next to it, was busy coasting above the ground. Her eyes scanned back and forth frantically searching for any sign of the fillies. On occasion one of her friends would call her name causing the timid pegasus to squeak in fright and dive for cover.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, not having the gift of flight were stuck tramping through the muddy forest. To Pinkie and Twilight's surprise, Rarity didn't raise a single objection to her hooves getting dirty. In fact the ever fashionable unicorn was on the front lines, levitating whatever Applejack couldn't buck out of the way, her once perfect mane and pristine now soiled with mud and grime.

"Ugh, this is getting' us nowhere! This forest is just too big!" Applejack vented as she bucked yet another log out of their path. "Twilight, don't you have a locator spell or something?"

The lavender unicorn looked down. "I'm sorry, Applejack, but the spell only works on certain objects and specific materials."

As she spoke, Rarity cocked her ear in interest.

"Aha! Twilight, use that spell to locate Applebloom's bow!"

After a sheepish smile at not having thought of that before, Twilight's face scrunched in concentration as her horn started to glow in preparation for the spell's casting. Upon releasing the spell in a brilliant reddish purple flash of light, Twilight's horn started tugging her in a specific direction.

"They're this way, girls, come on!" With that the unicorn darted through the undergrowth followed shortly by a small stampede of ponies. As they dove further into the forest, the darker the undergrowth became. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy kept pace, flying just above their friends.

Twilight could feel that they were closing in on the Cutie Mark Crusaders in her horn. The day before when they had gone missing, Applejack mentioned that Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle had all gone into the forest to visit Zecora. So for several hours, the friends had simply gone about their daily lives, assuming the trio was in the care of the zebra shaman.

It hadn't been until later on when the three failed to return home, that they began to fear for the fillies. Rarity had gone to Sweet Apple Acre's to see if Sweetie Belle and her two friends were there. On the way, she had encountered Applejack on her way to Carousel Boutique to do the same. From there the two had gone to check Sugar Cube Corner and Fluttershy's house for them.

Fluttershy, who had quickly joining the search along side Pinkie Pie, even flew up to check Rainbow Dash's house even though they knew that two of the three missing fillies couldn't walk on clouds and the third couldn't fly yet. Fluttershy was able to convince a dozing Rainbow Dash into helping, even though it had taken the yellow pegasus disintegrating the cloud Rainbow Dash to prove the urgency of the situation.

From there, they immediately sent Dash to Twilight's library. After making her customary entrance through the window, Rainbow Dash had simply picked the surprised mare up and flew her to the edge of the forest to meet the others, ignoring the protests of a very surprised Spike. And then the storm had shown up and ruined everything.

Back in the present, Twilight finally came to a stop. She couldn't help but feel downhearted. The lonely ribbon laying on the ground in front of her was enough to see that she had just lead the others on a wild goose chase through the heart of one of the most dangerous locations in Equestria.

"All that running for nothing. Dang it, Twilight, we need to find them and not go haring off like that." Applejack growled with a stomp and snort.

"Applejack! Watch yourself! Twilight did the best she could and it's no fault of hers that Applebloom's bow came off." Rarity was quick to defend the miserable Twilight.

The mare in question scrapped a hoof across the loam, wishing she could just dig a hole and crawl right in.

Rarity was not quite done with the farm pony yet. "Besides, her spell has provided us with the best lead we've had yet. At least we know they've been here."

"I…uh." Applejack didn't have anything to say to that. Bowing her head in submission she apologized.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Twi. I didn't mean to blow up like that." Now it was the earth pony's turn to look as if she wished she had a hole to climb into. "It's just I'm so worried about Applebloom. It's been over a day now and we haven't seen hoof nor hair of those three."

Twilight was just about to comfort her when their discussion was disrupted.

"I got it! I know how to find them!" The shout had come from the least expected source, Fluttershy. With a meek grin, she continued.

"I've been helping a pack of timber wolves for awhile now. I'm pretty sure if I ask them nicely, they could use their noses to track Scootaloo and the others down!"

Having recovered from their shock of actually hearing Fluttershy shout, the other ponies quickly pondered the merits of her plan.

"Um, won't having timber wolves chasing after them make them run even farther away?" Inquired Pinkie, who for once in her life actually thought logically.

Rainbow Dash hovered in mid air, thoughtfully tapping her chin with her hoof.

"Hmmm. Even then we'd be able locate them easier. I'd say go for it, Fluttershy!"

With that and a nod from the rest of her friends, the little yellow pegasus flew above the forest canopy and quickly disappeared over the horizon.

"What should we do now?" asked an already bored Rainbow Dash.

"I'm not sure, darling, but I don't think splitting up in the middle of this forest is a good idea."

Pinkie Pie quickly distracted Rarity, waving her over to where the pink earth pony had already scratched out a tic-tac-toe pattern on the ground. Glancing at her already muddy and scratched hooves, she merely shrugged and walked over.

Twilight having already searched the immediate area in which the bow was found simply sat down. "I guess we'll just wait until Fluttershy comes back with that pack of timber wolves then."

"Ergh, I hate waiting. I mean are we really just gonna sit on our flanks until-" Applejack's rant was quickly cut off by every other pony giving her chilled looks.

"Applejack, we understand your concern, but we can't go off half-cocked now. Just sit down and relax until Fluttershy can come back with her wolves." Reasoned Twilight.

In truth she was worried for the little fillies as much as every other pony, but there were times for action and then there were times were a pony had to wait before they act. And as much as Applejack didn't want to, this was one of those times.

Fluttershy sped home, her usually languid and graceful flying now a hurried rush to get home to her animals. Her idea to use the wolf family's noses had been inspired by her mental checklist of all the animals she'd need to check and make sure they were doing well.

As she flew she spied, an object flying at her at terrific speeds. Just as she was about to start maneuvering out of its path the objects slowed it's speed and revealed itself to be a humming bird with green plumage, one Fluttershy recognized instantly.

"Mr. Hummingway!" She squeaked with delight, flying up to her flying singing buddy.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" the quiet pegasus inquired. The humming bird landed on her snout and began chirping and whistling, punctuating its reply with animated wing movements.

Fluttershy nodded her head and gave the occasional "Oh my" and "I see" in the appropriate places. Nodding her head one last time, Fluttershy put on her war face, which to any observers was less threatening and more adorable. "Right let's go save little Timmy! There's no knowing when any other pony will bother looking in that well!"

The humming bird brought its right wing to its head with an audible 'smack'. It gave a few stern chirps to Fluttershy, who blushed. "You're right, let's go get Rainbow Dash to do it, saving ponies in those situations is more her style.

Fluttershy tried to duck as the irate humming bird buffeted her head with it's wings before making motions to follow it. Heaving a sigh she followed it.

"I really wish I knew what you were saying.

The rest of her flight back didn't take much longer. However even before the house itself came into sight, having been shrouded in the slowly fading remnants of a thick heavy fog. The first signs something was horribly wrong were entire trees that had been uprooted or outright smashed by some incredible force. Fluttershy couldn't tell if it had been done by magic or pure brute force.

As she closed with her house, no longer following Hummingway, who'd borrowed deep into her mane in fear, the fading fog began to reveal more horrifying details. One of the same trees in her front yard had been shattered, the quantity of bird houses that had once rested in it's leafy crown lay on the ground, broken into pieces. Even more saddening for the pegasus, was in the remains of a few, she could make out the shattered eggs that lay within.

The timid mare wanted nothing more than to flee the horrible seen, but a sense of responsibility towards her animal wards stayed her hooves. She could see now that her beautiful home that had been so lovingly crafted to coincide with nature had been demolished. The roof had either been caved in or ripped off and discarded, revealing the interior. On the entrance side of the house the front walls had been shattered.

She timidly stuck her head inside the door, feeling somewhat foolish that she was acting scared of her own house, despite the circumstances. It was then she noticed the smell.

The inside of her main living room was covered in blood. It coated the few remaining interior walls, contrasting sharply with the pale yellow paint. Oddly enough for all the blood, no bodies remained.

"What could do such a horrible thing?" Sobbed Fluttershy, barely able to stay on her hooves, the smell of blood hanging thick in the air. Suddenly, she bolted away from her ruined house. She had to see how the rest of her animal friends were doing.

Rainbow Dash had been slowly patrolling the skies above her group of friends as she waited for Fluttershy to return with her wolf friends. The chromatic pegasus had felt restless down there on the ground and had flown up for a bit of exercise. A large part of her restlessness was due to how helpless she felt not that the cyan pegasus would ever admit it.

She had completed yet another circuit around the surrounding forest, when Rainbow Dash's ear quickly caught hint of a shrill whine coming from behind her. Curious she turned and looked. Just above the tree line something was tearing through the air at terrific speed towards her and her friends, the shrill whine being generated by it's passage.

Rainbow Dash instantly readied herself to attack whatever speeding menace might be coming to harm her friends, when she realized the object was a familiar yellow color. As the object closed, Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped open in shock. The object in question was Fluttershy. Even as Dash's magenta eyes widened in shock, she could see the telltale shock cone forming around her friend's front hooves.

The weather pony barely had time to dodge her almost supersonic friend, as the meek pegasus barreled by.

"F-Fuh-Fluttershy! Wha-how did- What the heck?" She stammered, her face contorting as feelings of amazement, disbelief, and anger warred inside her.

Flying after her friend, who was back winging as hard as she could to kill her speed, Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the tail and spread her wings. Once Fluttershy was brought to a stationary hover, the irate mare grabbed her oldest friend by her shoulders and spun her around.

Her mouth already open, ready to either start telling Fluttershy off for almost running into her or complementing her on almost achieving a level sonic rainboom, Rainbow Dash gave out a strangled squawk as her weeping friend latched on to her with a bear hug that pinned her wings to her side as well as knocking the wind out of her.

"L-let me go! We're gonna fall!" Rainbow Dash gasped knowing her friend wasn't capable of holding them in the air. Sure enough, the two pegasi started falling towards the forest floor. Rainbow Dash's life flashed before her eyes. Even in that crucial moment, some small part of her mind crowed about how awesome it was.

The impact never came as a familiar reddish purple glow surrounded the two, slowing their fall and bringing them gently to a stop on the ground below. Applejack and Pinkie Pie rushed over to the tangled pegasi and helped their cyan friend free herself from Fluttershy's crushing bear hug.

After a mumbled word of thanks from Rainbow Dash, the five ponies tried to consol the crying pegasus who was on the ground, streams of tears flowing from her face.

"Fluttershy, my dear, what's wrong?" Rarity was beside herself with worry at what put her friend in such a state. Placing a hoof around her shoulder, the unicorn drew her friend into a hug. "Please tell us so we can help you?"

"Yeah and tell us why you didn't bring back those wolves you went to get!"

Everypony present shot Rainbow Dash a stern glare.

"What? We were all thinking it. Besides we do have fillies to find."

Finding no arguments after that, Rainbow Dash walked up to her oldest friend who was still crying into Rarity's now filthy fur.

"Fluttershy, we need to know what happened." Dash's voice was uncharacteristically soft, her eyes filled with compassion for Fluttershy. "We got fillies to find and you were going to get some of your animal friends to sniff them out."

Still sniffling, the shy pegasus murmured something inaudible while staring at the ground. Cocking an ear, Applejack stepped up. "Pardon?"

"I said they can't!" Fluttershy wailed. "Something ate all of them! All the birdies and the little critters are gone and there was blood everywhere!"

All the ponies recoiled at this news.

"Maybe the wolves ate them?" Reasoned Twilight.

Shaking her head, Fluttershy sniffled again before answering. "Even a hungry wolf pack couldn't eat all of the animals at my home. Besides I know they were eaten too!" Collapsing on the ground, she cried out "Even Mr. Snuffles was eaten! I found his tail!"

"Mr. Snuffles?" asked an incredulous Rainbow Dash.

Rarity's eyes widened. "Wait, Mr. Snuffles…The manticore!"

A resounding "what!" echoed through the clearing. Seeing all eyes on her, Rarity cleared her throat.

"Mr. Snuffles is the manticore we encountered when we went after Nightmare Moon. During one of our spa trips, Fluttershy told me that she encountered him again later on. Apparently he was so grateful to her, he started acting as a guardian for her home."

The assembled ponies looked at one another. More than one snuck a look at the surrounding forest, wondering fearfully just what could eat Fluttershy's legion of small animal friends, a wolf pack, and a full-grown manticore in one go.

Even the uncharacteristically quiet Pinkie Pie was looking around nervously.

"I think we're going to need a bigger party."

"Like maybe the Royal Guard?" Supplied Twilight. The unicorn walked up to Fluttershy, who was still sobbing. "Fluttershy, did you see any evidence of the creature?"

"Um, well. I saw a bunch of broken and uprooted trees and…." With a yelp, she leapt up. "There was a trail heading in this general direction! That's why I was flying so fast!"

"Wait you mean whatever awful, scary monster that ate your pets is heading this way?" Pinkie asked, feeling a lump of fear in her throat. Scary trees were easy to laugh at. Hungry, flesh-eating monsters capable of feasting on wolves and manticores and smashing trees were less easy.

"Maybe we should head back to town and round up a larger party. I want to find those fillies, but I don't want to get eaten by some unknown monster."

Holding up a hoof to quiet the outburst that Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash would raise, Twilight continued on. "This forest is just too big for the six of us to search on our own. We need more help and preferably some guards to help protect us from whatever attack Fluttershy's house."

"Wouldn't that take a couple days to organize Twilight?" accused Applejack.

"Well, yes." The unicorn reluctantly admitted. "But what are we supposed to do? Wander around this forest and risk getting split up and eaten by some hungry monster? Do you have any idea how huge this forest is?"

Applejack had no answer to that. She bowed her head in defeat only to have it snap back up in surprise, as did several others at the deep bass rumble that echoed through the clearing.