Strange New World

by Conor Colton

Destination Everfree

Strange New World
Chapter Eight: Destination Everfree

Not long after Chris and Twilight’s run-in with the ghostly apparitions of Luna and Celestia had they got back to their camp to inform everyone on what they had witnessed. After some convincing and a few conks to the head to test his sanity, Chris and the others had gathered in the middle of their camp to assess the situation.

“I still can’t believe it...The Princesses...you saw ‘em?” Applejack asked to confirm her suspicions. It wasn’t like her to be sceptical of her friends but the circumstances called for some hesitation on everyone’s part.

“Yes, we saw them...I’m sure of it...” Twilight answered, “They gave us some help, right Chris?” The unicorn started for Chris so he could explain; Twilight had a hard time coming to terms with all this but she kept a brave face for her own and possibly everypony’s sake.

“Yeah...” Chris said as he set down Zecora’s tome, “They gave us a hint on where we need to go...I looked it up in here and the places we need to go to are right here...” Chris stated as he pointed to a specific paragraph, “The birthplaces of harmony.” He finished.

“Oooooooohhhhh” Pinkie stated. Everypony turned to her and glared, some confused and some just plain unamused. “....What?” The pink pony shrugged, not realizing that she had interrupted the flow of Chris’ explanation.

“Anyway...me and Chris were talking it over...and we think that if we bring the elements to these ‘birthplaces’ then maybe they can be turned back to normal.” Twilight explained her theory, hoping it would hold up.

“Pardon me, but didn’t that ruffian Discord do the same to the elements before? Made them that hideous shade of grey?” Rarity debated, wanting to get the full story and not an objective she didn’t comprehend.

“Yes, but when he did it he corrupted all six of us as well. That’s what made the elements almost powerless last time...But we’re completely fine and the elements are still like this.” Twilight retorted, pointing to a box in which the group had stored the elements. “So it must be something different this time...Hence why we thought the birthplaces would be a good option.”

“Um...excuse me...but, do we know where these birthplaces are?...Are they somewhere dangerous...are there monsters there?” Fluttershy asked timidly as she shuffled to hide behind Zecora.

“Well...no...Fluttershy...there isn’t a map or anything in this section, or any section. The only thing we haven’t been able to figure out are these weird symbols, here.” Chris stated before putting his hoof over a series of seven horizontal lines; each made up of odd symbols.

“Wait! Those markings I have seen before, during my studies of Equestrian lore...” Zecora stated as she tilted her head down to read the symbols up close. “Time to put my skills to the test...”

“Can you decode it?” Chris asked hopefully.

“I will try my best.” Zecora answered; Chris standing there, realizing he had just helped lead Zecora into rhyme. The brony shrugged it off and listened to Zecora as she deciphered.

“Hmmm... They say... Lifeless... Desolate... Betrayal... Hatred... Vanity... Revelation... Realization... Awaken... Honesty...Key.” Immediately, all eyes turned to Applejack.

“What y’all lookin’ at me like that for? I ain’t got a clue what that means...Other than my element, I gots no clue as to what that there book’s getting at....Zecora...can y’all read anymore to try and make sense of it?” Applejack asked, begging for an explanation.

“Sadly, child, I cannot, you see...These other symbols are unknown to me...The first line is all I could break...the rest will not be a piece of cake.” The zebra stated, mildly disappointed in herself.

“So...it’s gibberish?” Spike asked, wanting to have some input into this conversation.

“No...These symbols make sense...but not to me. Hard to explain, it can be. You see, these symbols do make words, but these words have yet to be heard.” Zecora added, trying to explain this as best she could in rhyme.

“So...what you’re saying is...these do make words...but nopony knows what words. They know they mean something but don’t know what?” Rainbow asked. The pegasus was honestly not quite sure and just hazarding a guess.

“Yes.” Zecora retorted. “What I said, was an outright fact. I can certainly be sure of that.” She continued.

“So...what do the words we do know...um...mean?” Fluttershy asked rather shakily. She was more than out of her element of tending to cute and fuzzy animals on this excursion so she was naturally timid.

“Borders between the words there are...grouping them near and far.” Zecora added.

“That wasn’t even a good rhyme.” Chris thought inwardly, less he make the wrong zebra angry, “Grouped? Like...certain groups of words indicate different things?” Chris asked, hoping he hadn’t fallen behind.

“That is in fact, what I say...and these two words show the way.” Zecora answered once again as she pointed to two words, ‘Lifeless’ and ‘Desolate’ , “In those words a clue there be, we crack the code and the location we’ll see.”

“Yes...I concur.” Pinkie stated whilst blowing into a novelty bubble pipe. “...I didn’t have time to bring my detective hat, so I brought this!” She stated with a smile before blowing bubbles again. Chris felt like knocking the pipe right out of her hooves, but decided against it. He didn’t want to anger the wrath that was Pinkie Pie.

“Lifeless...Desolate...that means a location...but where?....Do we have to go somewhere lifeless and desolate?...Lifeless and my mane do not mix.” Rarity stated, but then instantly took it back, “...I can handle desolate though...” She admitted sheepishly. Chris wondering how lifeless could affect anypony’s mane.

“...Wait! I got it!” Twilight yelped enthusiastically before running to her tent, motioning for everyone to follow.

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Inside Twilight’s tent there was a table and on said table was a map of Equestria. “Always handy to bring a map...and there’s more in the corner if you all want to grab one.” Twilight exclaimed as she began smoothing out the map on the table.

“Sugarcube? What’s this ‘ere all ‘bout?” Applejack asked, rather confused.

“It’s simple! What place do we know that’s lifeless...and desolate?” The purple unicorn asked, expecting anyone to have a guess.

“Everfree Forest! An outhouse! Chris’ blank flank!” Spike guessed randomly.

“Hey!” Chris exclaimed, rather annoyed at that last assumption.

“Uh...no...no...and...no.” Twilight retorted as she placed a hoof on a location on the map. It was at this point that everybody got it. She pointed to a large desert encased by mountains, “...The San Palomino Desert!” Twilight stated, rather proud of herself.

There was a collective ‘Ohhh’ from everyone other than Twilight. It all seemed to make sense, well, at least the location.

“That ain’t far from ‘ere. We just head south, follow this here river, cut through the bottom of the Everfree Forest, come out the other side at Dodge City, then catch a train to Applelossa. Once we’re there, I’m sure family I got there’ll help!” Applejack stated, also proud of herself.

“Doesn’t sound like too bad of a plan...Good job, Twi.” Chris beamed. Twilight merely nodded and rolled up her map.

“Before we do that though...I think everypony needs some rest.” Twilight insisted before yawning loudly. Everyone began to leave Twilight’s tent until she spoke up. “Uh...Chris? Can I tell you something?” The unicorn requested rather sheepishly.

“Uh, sure.” Chris retorted after stopping in his tracks and turning to face the unicorn once again. “What’s up?” He enquired.

“Well...I think you’re too attached to Zecora’s tome there.” She answered whilst pointing to said book that Chris had instinctively brought with him. “I don’t want you losing anymore sleep over it...It’s just not smart. I know you feel guilty but I was wondering if I could hold onto it for tonight...so you don’t torture yourself with it.” She explained, seemingly countering Chris’ arguments before he even said anything.

“Well...she does have a point...maybe I have become too attached. No, wait...this is my responsibility and I need to spend as much time as I ca-” Chris cut his thoughts off when he saw how concerned Twilight was. Her eyes showing great concern. Chris couldn’t say no to those eyes. He never could and he still can’t. He sighed and relinquished the book.

“...Here...just...look after it, please?” He requested. Twilight nodded and Chris began heading out of her tent to his own, or, his own and Spike’s; considering he didn’t have his own and Spike took up the least space.

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As Chris made his way to the tent he wondered. Twilight looked very concerned about something; something she hadn’t made known yet. As he thought on this however he was interrupted by a familiar noise.

“....Who?” Stated a rather familiar owl, perched on a nearby low branch.

“Oh hey. You survived!” Chris remarked with a wide smile on his face, happy that Twilight’s avian friend had returned.

“Who?” The owl retorted once again, tilting it’s head to one side.

“Yo- Oh wait...nope...No you’re not getting me caught in that infinite loop again.” Chris smirked proudly before continuing his small walk to his tent.

“Who?” It remarked once again, hovering closely behind the brony.

“Me. I won’t be caught out agai-...Dang it.” Chris stated as he was met with another ‘Who?’, “I’m done with you.” Chris retorted, not even turning around. Another ‘Who?’ was uttered, “Shut up!” Chris stated as got into the tent he was going to share with Spike, closed over the entrance, flopped down and finally got some rest.

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The stallion twitched in his dreams as he was yet experiencing, another nightmare. This time in his own little world, Chris found himself back in Canterlot, the throne room specifically. He surveyed his surroundings, and oddly enough, he knew he was in a dream. He kept looking around until his eyes turned to the throne. Shade was seated upon it.

“...Shade.” Chris stated rather distantly, trying to stand firm, confident in the fact that his dreams couldn’t hurt him, aside from a mild headache. Shade did nothing but stare horrid red daggers at Chris and uttered a few words.

“Chris...the human...the great savior...however you want to put it makes no difference to me.” The wolf snarled before getting to his paws and pacing towards the stallion, “You’ve haven’t even been in Equestria a week and already you’ve become an unneeded complication in my plans...Do you know I do to those who are, unneeded?” Shade asked rhetorically before stopping a good two or three feet in front of Chris.

“I don’t know where you came from...Or what you’re plan is...but we will stop you.” Chris stated, aware of how cliched and overly dramatic that sentence was, and apparently, Shade thought the same.

“Oh please...You think you’re so special? You think that you being brought here was to fulfill some divine prophecy...Don’t believe what your ‘friends’ have told you, or what the ‘signs’ indicated...The fact of the matter is that you are a mistake! An imperfection! A fault in the system! You are nothing...and your presence means NOTHING!” The wolf snapped as he suddenly appeared behind Chris, swiping upwards and sending Chris to the ethereal ground.

“Look at you!” Shade grinned, “See? Nothing!” Shade laughed maniacally as he went over closed a paw around Chris’ frontal lobe, squeezing tightly, “Listen to me very carefully...No matter how hard you try...no matter how long you fight...it will always end the same way!” Shade bellowed as a great fire ignited in the centre of the room. The wolf hastily forced the stallion’s vision towards the event as images started to appear in the flames, Shade commenting on them all.

“Do you see?! Look! Death! Destruction! Slavery! The end of this world and the blessed dawn of mine! You may try to fight, but ultimately, I will prevail! Shade will prevail! Shade is absolute! Shade is eternal! I AM DEATH!” Shade wailed as the fire consumed Chris.

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The stallion awoke with wide eyes, a slight sweat and panting heavily; scared out of his mind. His friends came rushing in, Pinkie going so far as to pop her head out of the ground below him.

“Y’all alright, Sugarcube? We heard you wake up ‘n it sounded like ya was having a heart attack!” Applejack said in a rushed fashion as everypony grew increasingly more worried.

Chris eased said worries though when he got up from his horizontal position and took a deep breath before collecting himself and replying, “Yeah...I’m fine just...a nightmare.” He retorted, wondering if he should inform his friends about what just happened or whether or not he should just leave it at that. For the moment, he decided to leave it.

“So...Everypony ready to head out...?” Chris asked rather skittishly, hoping his friends would forget about his little episode. Luckily for him, everyone in the group shrugged and went about their business, some nodding and picking up their saddlebags in response to Chris’ earlier inquiry.

It didn’t take long for everypony to get their things together and since Chris lacked any possessions to speak of in Equestria other than his clothes, he was set either way. He walked all the way through the camp, checking on everypony before making his way to Twilight’s tent to retrieve Zecora’s tome for further inspection.

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“Hey Twi, you still got that bo-” To Chris’ discontent, he saw Twilight sulking on her bed. He walked in and waved a hoof in front of her, “Twilight?” He asked cautiously as the unicorn didn’t even look up at his gesture. Chris sighed before taking the tome that was sitting next to Twilight. He went to pat her on the back but she waved him away.

“Chris, I’m fine...I’m all ready and I’ll be there in a minute...I just need a little time...” The unicorn directed whilst trying to hold back tears. Chris nodded and headed out of the tent, the fresh morning sun on his face feeling slightly less warm and comforting now.

“She ready yet? Come on...we gotta go.” Rainbow asked and stated as she hovered over beside Chris; She didn’t really taking care of what she said, unaware that she might upset a certain unicorn even more than she already was.

“Rainbow will you be quiet. Twilight needs a minute, okay?” Chris retorted as Rainbow took a step back and narrowed her gaze at the brony, slightly unamused.

“Hey we’re all stressed out here...I was just asking a question, no need to get all snappy.” Dash stated as her gaze narrowed even more, forcing Chris to take a step back.

“Okay, I know, sorry.” Chris said in an attempted rush to defuse the situation, only some of his words being actually genuine. “Twilight just needs a minute...She’s probably still worked up about the Princesses.” He continued, keeping his voice low on his last word.

Rainbow shook her head and responded promptly, “Nope, that’s not what’s eating her.” She stated as Chris just turned to her with a confused look, practically begging for an explanation with his facial orientation. “Let me explain. After you went to sleep, we all started talking...Y’know, the six of us...We were all pretty bummed out ‘cause we were talking about all the things we left behind...Fluttershy’s animals, Rarity’s fru fru stuff...Applejack’s land and her family and...when it got centered around family...Twi just sort of got a little down.” Dash finished as Chris nodded in understanding.

“So she thinks her family in Canterlot’s...?” Chris asked, leaving out the last part mostly for his own sake.

“Well...I think the fact that she has no idea is tearing her up more than anything...Leaves her mind open to assume the worst, y’know?” Rainbow asked, Chris once again nodding in understanding.

The brony sighed before going to look at the floor, “This is all just so messed u- Pinkie?!” Chris exclaimed, as when his eyes went down he didn’t see hard brown dirt, he saw a pair of blue eyes staring back with a flurry of pink surrounding them.

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“Roadtrip! Wooooohooooo!” Pinkie shouted as she jumped up in the air, knocking Chris backwards to land in a conveniently placed wagon that Pinkie almost immediately started wheeling away with him on it. Chris just stared blankly, unamused.

“Pinkie, I have hooves for a rea-” Chris led into before being cut off by Pinkie putting a hoof over his face.

“There there, just let your auntie Pinkie Pie take care of it.” The party prone pony stated proudly.

“Pinkie, I’m pretty sure I’m older than you...What age are yo-” Chris’ words were once again cut off by a peculiar sound, of thunder.

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Everypony turned and ran up the hill out of curiosity to see something truly terrifying. They could make out the shape of Ponyville in the distance and above the charming little town a storm cloud was forming. At first it just seemed ominous and not very threatening. However as the group continued to look they saw that the cloud, had began to drift, towards them.

“...We have to move...Now!” Chris exclaimed as he and everypony else, along with their dragon and zebra companions, and owl, to Chris’ discontent grabbed much as they could and ran with their literal tails between their legs towards their next destination, the southernmost part of the Everfree Forest.

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“Hehe...I have them on the run now...” Shade stated as he looked out the still shattered castle window, “Soon...they’ll have nowhere to run...” He continued as Ruby came over and ran her side along his, closing her eyes and rubbing cheeks with him

“And thank you Ruby...you truly have redeemed yourself...You dived into the human’s mind and found a weakness...one I intend to exploit...” He ended as he turned to Ruby.

“Yes...he seems to have an aversion to fire...It made him lose loved ones...and now...it will be his undoing...” The female wolf stated in her same sultry voice, happy that she had pleased Shade.

“It won’t be long...Equestria will burn...The human will be driven before me on his knees...and then Equestria will bow to her destruction...and her new king...and queen.” The red eyed wolf stated as he continued to look out into the destroyed city and dark horizon. Nox, having not been heard entering, exhaled deeply and left as quickly as he came.

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The company of impromptu heroes were already heading directly west to cut through the southernmost part of the Everfree Forest to hopefully find the river that would take them out of said area.

After about a hour or so of traversing through the thicket, the group took a moment to assess the situation. They would have just stopped to take a quick breath and headed out again but something held them up to a further degree.

“Everypony...Look...” Fluttershy stated as he pointed through a gap in the treeline, and through that gap everypony could see none other than, the Moon Palace; The same place in which Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow discovered their elements and defeated their first adversary, Nightmare Moon...

There was no words from anypony, even Chris knew the significance of this place, unbenounced to his friends of course, so he kept quiet as to not disturb everypony’s reminiscing. After a few minutes, the six mares all looked at each other, and hugged, a few of them teared up.

“C’mon y’all...we’ve faced everything together...and we’ll face this together...right?” Applejack stated, to which every one of the mares nodded. Chris was trying not to get teared up whereas Spike had let it all out, and his shoulder, or in this case, side to cry on was Chris’.

Chris merely patted the dragon on the back a few times, watching himself around the pointy scales. The brony found it amazing, that these six mares, despite all that has happened in such a short time span were still at each other’s sides and ready to take on anything; Chris has seen this type of tenacity from all of them whenever he would watch the show, but now the difference was that Chris was with them, he smiled at that fact.

All the mares smiled at Chris, Spike and Zecora, still packed in a tight group hug and waved the others over. As Chris took a step forward to join said hug he accidentally stood on a twig protruding out of a nearby bush. Chris wouldn’t have cared if a loud howl hadn’t followed his stepping on the twig, further followed by a loud rustle of the bushes and trees next to him.

Everypony stared for a moment as the rustling subsided, but as quickly as it left, it came back louder than before. It was then that Chris and everypony else started putting the pieces together. What confirmed their suspicions was when they saw numerous pairs of yellow eyes staring at them hungrily.

“...Applejack...Please tell me it’s just Zap Apple season...” Rarity pleaded quietly and skittishly.

“...Nope.” Applejack replied meekly. As she stated that, a pack of Timber Wolves jumped out of the thicket and towards everypony. Chris was the first to be mauled as one of the beasts tackled him and was about to sink it’s splintered jaws into the brony’s neck.

Just as Chris closed his eyes, believing this to be the end, he heard a whine similar to that of a freshly disciplined dog. He opened his eyes to find the wolf on the ground and Applejack offering him a hoof up. He took it promptly and stood up. He surveyed the area and saw that they were surrounded by the wooden abominations, so there was only one option, to fight their way out.

Everypony sprung into action, Chris included. Brutally brawling with the beasts. One headed for Rainbow and she simply backflipped and quickly kicked it in a fashion similar to a field goal, to which the pegasus raised her front hooves in that air and shouted, “It’s good!”

Pinkie and Twilight were pinned up against each other’s backs as they were being circled by a horde of the ravenous inhabitants of the forest. The unicorn and earth pony held each other’s hooves and Pinkie began spinning Twilight around, using her as a makeshift polearm, promptly knocking away all opposition.

Chris was sprinting away from a trio of the beasts. He saw a rather slim tree and remembered back to how he entered this world in the first place, he grinned and tackled the trunk, pulling it back. When the Timber Wolves pounced for him he released his grip, the tree swung back and pounded the monsters into the ground, leaving only their heads above ground, “Awww yeah!” Chris stated proudly before turning to see a bunch of other wolves glaring right at him, “...It was fun while it lasted.” He groaned before heading back to the group with a small army of rather angry magical beings after him.

“Somepony, throw me something!” Chris yelled before running up to Rarity who promptly gave him a large bulky stick, in a club like shape.

As soon as he got said stick he was pounced by another wolf, Chris held the small log sideways in the creature’s mouth. It bit down on said stick and opened it’s mouth with newly longer and sharper teeth, leaving a collection of holes in the small log. Chris’ eyes widened at that sudden event before knocking the beast off him and cracking it around the head with the impromptu club.

Applejack and Rarity were beating away their attackers with relative ease, the blonde earth pony beating them down with her applebucking technique and Rarity with various kicks that bared a remarkable resemblance to that of a martial artist.

Zecora and Spike stood to the side, the zebra having to occasionally beat back an attacker, “It’s awesome when they do this, right?” Spike asked the alchemist.

And Fluttershy, she was petting one, “Aww who’s a good boy, who’s a good boyyyy? You are!” She stated happily as one of the beasts sat wagging it’s tail happily. This ‘touching’ display was cut short though when Chris took a step back and stood on said wolf’s tail, it turned and growled at him; Chris looked at what he just stepped on and saw two hoof marks on it.

“Oh...so that was you.” Chris stated before bonking the monster on the head and it subsequently fleeing. It was soon followed by the remaining pack of beasts who howled and whined and retreated into the forest as quickly as they had come.

Everything was silent for a time, the only sound being the wind, the retreating monsters and everypony gasping for breath, “...Well that was good.” Chris stated.

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“Hmm...Perhaps there is more of a threat to them than I thought...” Shade grimaced as he paced back and forth in the throne room.

“My Lord...if I may?...They were merely Timber Wol-” Nox was cut off by a straight smack across the face by his master.

“Shut up, Nox.”