The Everfree Forest seemed so different during the day. At night, it was pitch black and you couldn’t see anything. During the day, it was dark but you could still see, like when the sky is clear and the moon is full. The shadows bathed everything in a dark green colour. The trees didn’t look like they had branches but instead, they looked like they had claws, and each one was reaching out, wanting to grab the passer-by. The four fillies had gone off the path, as they knew they would have too to reach the cave. Scootaloo walked ahead of the others, remembering exactly where they all needed to go. Cherry kept looking around. She felt like they were being watched with every step.
“You… You sure this is safe?” Cherry asked, worriedly. Sweetie Belle walked along side Cherry.
“Don’t worry, we’ve all been here loads of times. Why, I remember there was this one time we were in here and we were looking for a chicken, and instead we found a Cockatrice. “
“A what?”
“A Cockatrice is an animal with the head of a chicken and the body of a snake. If you see one, don’t look at it. It’ll turn you to stone!”
“Y-You really saw one? Here?” Cherry looked around, worriedly.
“Yeah, but thanks to the stare-master, we-“ Cherry interrupted Sweetie Belle.
“The who?”
“Fluttershy!” Scootaloo called back. “She’s got the most awesome stare, and she just stared down that Cockatrice and it ran off like a baby!”
“Fluttershy did that?” Cherry couldn’t believe somepony as nice and gentle as Fluttershy could ever be intimidating to anypony. They kept walking along, and soon came to a stop. They had reached a swamp in the forest. The sky could be seen here and was lighting up the area in a grey light. A lot of clouds were floating over the sky here. The Pegasus ponies didn’t control the weather over the Everfree Forest, so it was left to move on its own. The ground was thick with brown muddy water. It wasn’t deep, but it would go up to their knees if they stood in it, and the trees hung limply with large vines drooping towards to ground.
“Umm, Scootaloo? Did we take a wrong turn?” Asked Sweetie Belle, as she looked over the swamp. “I don’t think this is the right way.”
“Yea, I don’t think this is the right way.” Applebloom said, looking around. Scootaloo thought about the route. She was positive this was the correct way.
“No, this is right. We just have to cut across it, that’s all.” Cherry looked over the swamp and saw a few bubbles coming up from the swamp water. Was something there?
“C-Can’t we just go, around it?” Cherry asked.
“Yeah.” Sweetie Belle agreed “I don’t want my sister yelling at me for getting covered in mud, again.”
“But that’ll take forever!” Scootaloo protested.
“Ah’ say we put it to a vote.” Said Applebloom. “All those in favour of goin’ around the swamp?” Cherry, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom all raised their hooves up. Scootaloo sighed then said ‘fine’ as she lead them around the swamp. None of them noticed the creature behind them slowly raise its head out of the water watching the fillies disappear back into the forest. It lowered its head again, disappointed about the loss of its next meal.
* * *
Lance had reached the forest. He looked all around for his sister but the hoof prints of the four fillies disappeared when they went off the path. He looked all over for them but at this point he had no idea where to go, or how to find them. He kept looking though. Lance repeatedly called out to his sister, but was met with silence each time.
Where are you, Cherry!? he kept asking himself.
He came to an area of the forest that had a steep drop in it. The girls wouldn’t have gone this way, he thought to himself. The fall could hurt them. He turned back, positive they wouldn’t have gone that way and soon found himself back on the path. He wasn’t sure which way was back home. He’d gotten himself lost but he didn’t care. His hooves were aching from so much running on uneven ground. He went off the path again, heading the opposite direction. He wouldn’t give up. Not until he found her.
* * *
“-And so ‘ah just started doing all kinds of things with the apples. Like playin’ with ‘em, and makin’ art. But still nopony wanted to buy some!”
The four fillies laughed as Applebloom told her story about how Applejack let her help run the Applecart at the market one time. Cherry loved hearing her friends talk about the stories of their own lives. It distracted her from her own thoughts, like being in a scary forest, for one. She looked around as Applebloom continued to tell her story and then she saw something. There was a beautiful large patch of blue flowers, sitting together in a bunch. There were hundreds of them. Cherry walked away from her friends without even realising it. She was standing right next to all of the flowers imagining how pretty they would look at her house. Cherry bent down to pick one up, so she could bring it home with her. Suddenly she felt something grab her from the side and throw her to the ground. Cherry screamed in panic, then opened her eyes to see Applebloom standing over her.
“DON’ TOUCH ‘EM!” She shouted at Cherry. “That’s Poison Joke! It’s dangerous.” Cherry looked over at the flower again. She couldn’t see how something so pretty could be dangerous. Scootaloo and Applebloom helped Cherry stand up.
“What’s dangerous about them?” Cherry asked. Applebloom then, as they continued walking, told Cherry about the time that Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all touched the stuff. It changed all of them over night. Fluttershy had a deep stallion’s voice, Rarity’s hair grew in massive tangles that hung to the ground, Rainbow Dash’s wings were upside down and she kept crashing into everything. Applejack shrank to the size of a doll, Twilight’s horn became all soft and spotty, and Pinkie Pie’s tongue swelled up so much she couldn’t talk. Cherry laughed at this at first, but then though about what the plant would have done to her. She couldn’t think of anything worse than her ears becoming huge, like a bat. Or maybe having all her hair fall out! She shuddered and thanked Applebloom for saving her. They carried on through the forest then Scootaloo called back.
“We’re almost there!”
* * *
Lance had reached a large swamp. He stood looking over it wondering if Cherry had really come this way. He saw a few hoof prints on the soft mud right on the edge. They seemed to lead in huge circles and then disappeared back onto the hard ground.
They must have been here. But I don’t think they actually went into the bog.
Lance called out for his sister across the swamp, but as normal, he got no reply. He thought about crossing over the swamp, to the other side. Maybe they went around it and he could catch up to them. Lance slowly stepped onto the soft mud, his weight making it sink down a little bit. He carried on forward, he wanted to hurry and not take too long. He was a little worried about the creatures here. Frogs he didn’t have a problem with, but other small things, like bugs, mosquitoes, parasprites. They just creeped him out. Lance began to cross the swamp and tried to keep out of the water. He moved quickly and found himself at the end of his dry path. He could turn back and just look for another way, but he was wasting too much time as it was. Lance put a hoof down in the water and heard a crack from behind him. He jumped, looking back, but there was nothing there but smog. A green smog that hung heavy behind him.
Where’d that all come from? Lance thought to himself.
He looked around for the source of the noise.
“Ch-Cherry?” He barely got the words out, and then a bird flew out of the smog, right past Lance’s head. He fell backwards and landed in the swamp water. “Ugh. I’ve gotta stop falling over when I jump like that.” Lance stood up and shook the water off his flank. He felt a drop land on his head and wiped it off with a hoof. It was thick and sticky. It smelled really bad too. He felt another drop land on his head, he then looked up and saw a gigantic, brown scaled, four headed Hydra stood over him with drool falling out of its four hungry mouths. Lance took a few steps backwards slowly. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. How could he have missed something that big? There was nowhere for it to hide.
Unless…
Lance looked at the swamp water. Some parts must be extremely deep. But there was no way of knowing. He’d have to stay out the water completely. Tree’s covered the swamp, along with vines. He’d have to cross the water to reach solid ground again, but it was just too far. The Hydra then leaned forwards, its four mouths open, looking to swallow Lance whole. He dodged the heads, rolling into the water and then leaping onto an uprooted tree. Lance ran across it and jumped down to a patch of raised dirt. He ran across it and jumped onto a rock. The Hydra attempted to snap down and take a bite out of him but just missed. Lance had to jump quickly and landed in the water, luckily it wasn’t deep and he headed to the next tree. Lance ran a few feet forwards then he felt himself fall forward into the water and go under.
A large deep pool ran all the way down and stretched on forever. Lance kicked himself up above the water just in time to see the hydra coming at him. Lance went under the water again to try and hide from it, but that was a mistake. The hydra lived in the water so it could easily see under it, as well as move swifter. The Hydra jumped into the water and then gave chase to Lance. He couldn’t see very well and had to reach the surface quickly. Just as lance breached the water, he barely took a breath before being dragged under again. The Hydra had bit down on his leg and was planning to pull him to the bottom. Drowning him. Lance panicked and screamed. A huge mistake. His lungs were now desperate for air. He bucked with all his might, but the thick swamp water stopped him from having any real impact against the monster. His lungs began to burn, begging for air. Soon he’d have to breathe, and the only thing his lungs would take in, is thick lumps of slimy swamp water.
Lance did the only thing he could think of. He jammed a hoof into the eye of the hydra and it let him go enough so he could get free and swim to the surface. Lance took in a gasp of air and another and another, then swam for the edge. The hydra was right behind him again. One of the four heads was half blinded, but was now the most vicious, wanting to no longer toy with his prey. It lunged forward and Lance felt hard ground below his hoofs. He jumped up and rolled forwards. The hydra slammed head first into the ground, just under the water’s surface. Lance saw the neck buck and wriggle. It was stuck. Lance ran as fast as he could over the water. The Hydra tried to give chase, but with one of its heads stuck in the ground the other three heads couldn’t move. Lance made it to the edge of the forest and disappeared amongst the trees. The Hydra’s roar could be heard for miles around as once again, it would go hungry tonight.
Lance felt the adrenaline drain from his body. He was shaking all over. His lungs hurt. He struggled to catch his breath, his back leg hurt from where the Hydra had bite down on it. Head to tail he was soaking wet, filthy and stank of the hydra. He wanted to lay down and sleep, but if he did, who knew what would happen to him? He felt like he was on the verge of passing out anyway. He had to keep moving. It hurt to walk, but he had to. He thought of Cherry being in this forest and remembered that she was still out there and needed his help. He pushed forward, and kept looking for her.
* * *
“-And she got covered in ink!” The fillies all laughed together. They were talking about Diamond Tiara’s most embarrassing moments, which they all got a good laugh out of. Cherry would have loved to have seen these moments. Especially when she was forced to dress like a rabbit and hop over watering cans, singing. The walk in the forest had been pretty uneventful for all of them. Cherry had been scared a few times, sure, but as long as her friends kept her mind from wondering and she just focused on their stories, there wasn’t a problem. Cherry listened intently as Scootaloo started telling a story about how Rainbow Dash earned her cutie mark, which is something she had retold a few times, but Cherry enjoyed hearing it, all the same. She’d have loved to see a Sonic Rainboom herself. But Rainbow Dash didn’t do them unless there was an extra special occasion, or by accident. Scootaloo stopped suddenly, looking around. They all stopped behind her.
“What’s wrong?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We aren’t lost, are we?”
“You didn’t hear that?” Scootaloo asked, looking at the others. They stood in silence. They heard nothing but their own breathing. Cherry’s imagination was running wild, she thought she saw a bundle of wood moving towards her. Then she heard a growling noise, but she wasn’t the only one. They looked all around them, but saw nothing but trees, bushes and bundles of wood. Then the wood did move! One by one, they rose up, taking on the form of wolves.
“T-T-Timberwolves!” Applebloom stuttered. She knew how to scare them off but she had nothing large enough to make a loud sound with. They were surrounded. There were at least six timberwolves, each looking at the fillies, circling them. Waiting for the slightest movement. Cherry couldn’t find her voice, she took a step back and bumped into Scootaloo, they both screamed loudly, which made the other two scream as well. One of the wolves leapt right at them and was struck down in mid-air. A hooded figure had stepped out from the bushes and had bucked the timberwolf in the face. The hooded figure was hiding its face in darkness and with each step it made a jingling noise, like metal on metal. It tossed a cloud of green dust around itself and the fillies. The dust took the forms of huge Alicorns which jumped at the timberwolves, exploding again into dust. They each yelped and ran away into the woods. The hooded creature turned to face the fillies, its yellow eyes glowing from under its brown hood. Cherry trembled all over. Had this creature saved her and her friends, just to devour them itself?
* * *
Lance heard the scream. He ran as fast as his legs would take him. He knew it was Cherry and she was in trouble. He jumped over a log and tumbled on his bad hind leg. He looked up and saw Cherry and her friends, they were stood frozen before a hooded figure. It was staring at all of them. Lance saw Cherry was the closest and he jumped up. Lance charged at the hooded figure then jumped on top of it.
“Get away from here!” He yelled! Lance pinned it to the ground. It’s hood fell back and Lance saw it was a zebra, covered in gold jewellery. She looked like some kind of enchantress. Pinkies voice echoed in Lance’s mind.
The wicked enchantress of the forest will take your soul and use it to put on a puppet show, and the only guests are the monsters of the forest!“
Was this the enchantress that Pinkie had talked about? Lance looked back to his sister and then shouted.
“Girls! Run away quickly. I’ll hold this witch back!” The Zebra then bucked her legs up and kicked Lance away!
“What’s this you say, you think I’m bad? I save these fillies and you then go mad!”
Lance stood up, ready to fight the zebra, he hadn’t heard a word she said. Then Lance stopped when he saw three of the fillies standing in front of the zebra, blocking him.
“Please wait, Mr. Angelswift!” Sweetie Belle pleaded.
“Don’ hurt her!” said Applebloom.
“She just saved us!” Scootaloo added.
“What?” Lance stood still, the adrenaline he had picked up drained quickly from his body and he fell to his knees. Cherry ran over to him.
“Big brother! What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Cherry looked all over her brother. He was coved in dirt, his fur was all wet and she saw teeth marks in his hind leg, but it wasn’t bleeding. “What happened to you?”
“What happened?” Lance was tired. He hurt all over. He had fought against a hydra and almost drowned. He had mistaken the situation and just attacked an innocent zebra. The pain and frustration all boiled out of him at this point and he couldn’t hold back his anger. “What happened?! I came here to SAVE YOU! That’s what happened!” Lance stood up, his legs wobbling. “I was almost killed today coming in here to save you!”
“But-“
“A giant four headed hydra dragged me underwater and almost drowned me!”
“I-“
“And then after I escaped, I heard you screaming! So obviously you were in danger! If this zebra hadn’t arrived, I might have been too late and you’d be the one hurt! OR WORSE!!” Lance couldn’t stop himself from shouting. Even as he saw Cherry starting to cry he didn’t relent. She had been stupid coming in here.
“B-Big brother, Please I-“
“No! None of that! Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through by coming in here? After you PROMISED ME!? You promised you wouldn’t come here again!”
“But I-” Cherry couldn’t get anything out. Her brother just kept shouting at her.
“Stop this right here!” The zebra interrupted. “Can’t you see your hurting the poor dear?” Lance looked at Cherry, she was trying so hard not to cry, but silently her tears fell from her face to the ground. Lance’s heart had seemingly turned to stone though. He hated that his sister thought so little of him, that she would disobey him so quickly. Even now he thought her tears were only because of the fact she was in trouble. But truth be told, it was because her heart was breaking. Her brother had never yelled at her before. He’d never so much as raised his voice. He’s always been so kind, loving and generous. He’d given her everything he could to make her happy. But had she made him so angry that he stopped loving her? Cherry couldn’t hold back any longer.
“I’M SORRY! PLEASE I--”
Lance turned away from her. She couldn’t believe it. The world seemed to stop right there.
“We’re leaving!” Lance turned to the zebra and as calmly as he could “I-I’m sorry if I hurt you. Do you know which way Ponyville is?”
“Hurt me, you have not. But there will be more damage, if you do not stop. The path to the exit, you’ll find that way, but do not let more anger come out today.”
Lance didn’t care much for her rhymes, nor her advice on family issues. He headed the way she had indicated with Cherry following slowly behind. She kept her face down and hidden, not wanting to look at her brother. The other fillies, Lance assumed would be fine with the zebra since they knew her, but he was taking Cherry home immediately.
“I’m disappointed in you. You promised me you wouldn’t come in here again.”
“Bu-But I wasn’t alone! I was with my friends.” Cherry protested.
“And that makes it alright?! You thought nothing would happen to you if you stuck together?” Cherry said nothing. “I heard your scream. Something happened before I arrived and if that zebra never showed up. What would have happened to you?” Cherry continued to look at the floor. They came to the path after a while of walking in silence. Lance struggled to walk on his back leg but his anger kept him going forwards. Cherry looked up to her brother, seeing him like this hurt her so much.
“I’m sorry.” She said with all her heart.
“Well, I guess that makes everything better doesn’t it? Look my leg is all better too now! Oh wait, it’s NOT!” Cherry flinched as he shouted at her again. Lance didn’t notice it but Cherry hadn’t been so scared since this last time she was with her father. When he was standing over her with his hoof raised, ready to hit her. Her big brother would never hit her. Would he? Lance was shaking all over. A small voice in his mind told him to calm down, but he completely ignored it.
“I- I thought it would b-be okay, with my friends.” Cherry was really feeling heartbroken. She didn’t know what to say or how to make it better.
“Well, maybe you need some better friends who aren’t so stupid as to bring you into a forest full of MONSTERS!”
“B--B--“ Cherry couldn’t get the words out. And nothing would have prepared her for what he said next.
“From now on, you are not allowed to see them ever again? You got that!” Cherry thought she misheard him.
“W-What!?” Lance stopped and pointed back into the forest where they came from.
“Those three! You are not allowed to talk to them. Play with them at school or afterschool or see them ever again! GOT IT!?” Cherry couldn’t believe it. This hurt her far worse than anything. They were her friends. Her best friends!
“Y-You can’t! YOU CAN’T!” Cherry shouted back at him.
“I CAN!! In fact, I think you’d be better off, if I just pulled you out of school all together.”
“WHY!?!” Cherry screamed at her brother. She couldn’t figure out why he had become so horrible!
“Because you need to learn to do, whatever you're told to do!”
Cherry had tears streaming down her face as she saw her brother in a whole new way. His anger, the way he was trying to control her, ruining her life. He was just like her father! She turned and ran down the path as fast as she could. Lance shouted at her to get back immediately, but she was gone before he had a chance to try and chase her. In anger, he bucked the tree next to him and then collapsed from the pain in his hind leg. The pain snapped him to reality again as he realised that he had just taken out all his anger on the one he loved the most. He felt his own heart tearing as he realised what he had said to her. He laid and the dirt path, after everything that had happened to him, this was by far the worst.
And it was his fault.