//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Monsters of Everfree // by Jongoji245 //------------------------------// CampEverfree, Spring of 1993 Every spring, a group of seniors take the opportunity to go on the week-long retreat to Camp Everfree. They couldn’t be any happier; some of them paddle around the lake, a few fish at the edge of the lake, and others walk around. One, in particular, carves a Roman numeral on a stone disk, the fifth one out of twelve surrounding a triangle. “Phew.” Celestia huffs before wiping her brow, “Guess this calls for a little cake break, right Luna? … Luna?” Deep in the woods, a baby possum scrounged for whatever insect it could find. It spots a butterfly perched on a fallen tree branch, and catches it without giving it a chance. After munching and swallowing the insect, it remains motionless, relaxed, ready to- “Hi, Tiberius!” The possum springs from the log land on its back and remains motionless. In its petrified state, a dark figure blocks the sun. An honorary guest, Luna wasted no time exploring the camp; “Tiberius” is one such result. “Come on, Tiberius, do you want to play?” Luna pleads, poking the marsupial, rolling it over, to no avail. In a huff, the girl sits on the branch, her arms crossed. “Well, I can play this waiting game all night if I have too.” Unfortunately, Luna doesn’t have time to wait, for her ears pick up a deep, purring sound. She turns around and screams. A mountain lion crept from the foliage, looking up at the child with a malicious hunger. With a lick of its puffy lips, it crouches down when a larger shadow looms over them. A hairy arm stamps at the right of the cat, followed by another scooping it up. The search party left no stone unturned as they searched for the future vice principal. With someone with a color scheme of dark blues, it's no surprise that Luna would be tough to find in the forest. Their ears pick up a screeching sound and look up in time to see the mountain lion in mid-flight across the canopy. One danger down, one to go. And a much larger one at that. Luna stood petrified at the beast looking down casting its shadow. The view comes closer to her sapphire eyes, the faint reflection of the beast she sees growing larger. As the beast lets out a low growl, all we see now is the dark void of her pupil. GlenviewSprings, Colorado, Today The dark void becomes a starry night about to give way to the dawn. All are asleep, every man and every beast. Even Sci-Twi, the Twilight Sparkle native to the world of Man. But this night, she had trouble sleeping, tossing and turning. “No, no.” Twilight groaned, not even waking her companion on the chest in front of her bed. “It can’t be, it isn’t true.” “Uhm, Twilight?” Fluttershy whispered behind the door. Spike awoke to a series of knocks and trotted up the door. Twilight awoke, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Twilight!” - Rainbow roared - “The bus for Camp Everfree leaves in ten minutes!!” “No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Twilight grabbed her glasses and rushed to her closet. Spike opened the door, letting in the other Rainbooms. “I can’t believe I overslept!” “Me neither. That’s not like you.” Sunset added, watching the Techie grab her suitcase. “Don’t you ha ave super annoying alarm clock that goes ‘Agh! Agh! Agh! Agh!’” Pinkie Pie lifted the pillow. The alarm clock was buzzing for four minutes straight. “Let me just get changed.” Twilight went to her closet. Rarity spots a copy of Princess Twilight’s Fall Formal dress and giggles. “We’re gonna be out in the woods.” Applejack huffed. “When is she gonna need that?” “If we are going to the moon, I insist she packed an evening gown.” Rarity started waving her finger at the farmer. “One never knows, darling.” As Twilight tried on different shirts, she notices three familiar figures. Women with wings like angelfish fins come into view. She turns around and sees the figures floating in the air. “The Dazzlings!?” The group shouted in surprise. “How is this possible?!” Sci-Twi leered back, dropping her shirts. “You’re dead!” ”Yes. They are." A slow, seductive voice whispers behind Sci-Twi. She turns around. Before here is another Twilight Sparkle of a darker purple with violet robes, a glowing blue horn and “visor,” and massive wings. “But-!?” Sci-Twi shuffles away, “Sunset Shimmer helped me to defeat you!?” “You and your friends can never truly defeat me!” Midnight cackled as the true Twilight’s room pixellated and deleted like a virus. Even her friends aren’t spared. Alone, Twilight floats helplessly in space. “You… You monster!” Twilight yelled into the digital world. “Monster?” Midnight soars over to her kinder counterpart, towering her. “You killed Adagio and Aria! I am a part of you! I’ll always be there in the darkest shadows of your mind. I’ll be back, Twilight! And this time, I won’t stop until I have all the magic!” Midnight transforms into a raven and phased herself into her counterpart. Twilight gasps in horror as horrid features grow in her body. As her skin became darker, Twilight curled into a ball. “No! STOP!!!!” “Twilight, wake up!” Sci-Twi’s eyes shoot open, gasping like a hooked fish. She was inside a moving school bus, along with many of her classmates.  They wore shirts with sleeves of a different color, cargo shorts, and tennis shoes. Likewise, Twilight wore her hair in a ponytail. Relieved it was all a dream, Twilight slumped in her seat before feeling a few taps on her noggin. “Hey,” Twilight looks up and sees Sunset looking down at her, “are you okay?” Not wanting to tell of her recent nightmare, Twilight gave a small chuckle, “Heh, I’m fine.” “We are gonna have so much fun!” Pinkie Pie chortled before Sunset could ask any more questions. “We’re going to roast marshmallows, and eat marshmallows, and sleep on marshmallow pillows!” Rainbow Dash, knowing Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, turned around. “Yeah, probably not gonna do that.” “Maybe you’re not...” Pinkie Pie beheld before them a large bag of marshmallows then snuggled it like a teddy bear. Though she enjoys the conversations, Principal Celestia became bored. She turned her eyes to the window, finding a rugged signpost that got her hopes up. "Attention, students!"  Celestia called out to the back of the bus. "We’re almost there, but before we arrive, we’d just want to say how proud we are of you raising enough money to go on the class field trip!” “When we were your age, we made some of our favorite memories in these woods,” Luna added, waving her arms at the landscape around them. “And we’re sure you will too.” “Now who’s excited for Camp Everfree?" Cheered Celestia, rallying the entire company to cheer, making the driver cringe as the noise echoed in the bus. Twilight had this at first but returned to her current thoughts. They do deserve a break after going on a suicide mission to a tropical island, but if not the Dazzlings, or the monsters, what else? Applejack reached for her guitar and started strumming while the others started clapping. Far over the forest, the tone and mood are different, far different. Storm clouds loom over the forest and strike the ground like mad. A most unusual creature, a shrew the size of two elephants, scurries over to a strange glowing cave. A bat with a thirty-meter wingspan already occupies the cave drops from the roof and lets out a sharp hiss. The shrew, having no more of this, bites the bat on the wing and pulls it out from the cave. The two tussle, biting and clawing at each other. A loud roar causes them to stop. Before them is a common enemy as a shadow looms over them and lets out a howl in tune to another rolling thunder.