//------------------------------// // Evil in the Everfree // Story: The Element of Concord // by Loyal Defender //------------------------------// Diamond and I stood in front of the Everfree Forest. This place was incredibly dangerous to roam in, but we had to do it. Especially if we wanted to find Silver, and rescue her. At least we told Twilight like we agreed to do. But her nearly fainting was something we didn't agree on... "Well....ready to head in?" I asked, peering into the forest. It seemed like it went on forever the more I looked. Diamond took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm ready." "Alright, let's go in." I said, carefully stepping foot inside, making sure I didn't step on some dangerous flower or whatever. "I've never actually been in the Everfree Forest before... I don't know what we might find in here... I think Apple Bloom said to watch out for blue flowers if I ever came here though." "Blue flowers?" "She called them Poison Joke I think. She said they do weird things." "You don't suppose Silver ended up finding it, do you?" I asked. I could only hope it didn't do anything to her. "Well... it's not like dangerously weird things. Just... Obnoxiously weird things. Like shrinking Applejack." "So you think it might have turned her into an actual spoon, or worse.." "I doubt it'd have turned her into a spoon. Maybe just.... I dunno, turned her tongue INTO a spoon? I don't know..." "Well, it's probably best not to worry too much about it...but did Appleloom tell you what they look like, besides being blue?" "Ummm... I think she said something about big petals?" "...We'll try to make that last bit as useful as possible." I said, keeping a close eye out for any other possibly dangerous plants. "Actually, I think I'd seen Poison Joke before, thinking about it.." "Yeah, I remember now. I actually have seen it before." "And, in case you're wondering, I did touch it." “Did you get cursed?” "Nope. Nothing happened, surprisingly. Do you think I'm....immune..?" "It's... possible, I suppose." "Have you seen what happens to those who touch it? Like, in person?" I asked, as I continued deeper into the Everfree. I was kind of surprised there was nothing trying to kill us yet. "No, I don't think I have, unless someone was under its effects and I just didn't know..." "Hey...do you find it weird that the forest hasn't tried to kill us yet?" I asked, and around that time, I began getting a bad feeling. This was seeming too easy....too easy. I didn't like this... "Well... it's kind of weird I guess.... Something really should've happened by now." After another minute of walking, we came across a large field of....Poison Joke. "Well...something technically *did* happen. But one of us isn't gonna like it." "Diamond, you may wanna take a look at this...although you might...not want to." I said. I knew I was somehow immune to Poison Joke, but I didn't want to leave the forest with a large living necklace. "What's up? Did you find something?" "Yeah....a LOT of something." I replied. "And you won't like it.." Diamond stepped up beside Loyal and stopped. "Is... this...?" "....A buttload of Poison Joke. A field of it." "There's no going around it, or through it...well, not without one of us being affected...what can we do?" "...Didn't you say something about being immune to it...?" "Yes. I can't pass on my immunity to you, if that's what you're asking." "No, no, that's not what I was getting at. Do you think you'd be able to lift me?" "Oh. Yeah, that could work!" I said, kneeling down. "Come over here. Thankfully, I'm half muscle." I was sure I'd make it across without dropping her. I couldn't drop her. "I just hope I'm not too heavy. I'm told we can be heavier than we look..." Diamond said, as she approached Loyal. Not surprisingly, I was able to lift Diamond with ease. She wasn't that heavy either. "There we go! It's not uncomfortable, is it?" I said, as I cradled her in my arms." "It's fine. Just hurry to the other side, okay?" "Yeah, okay." I said, and stepped into the blue plant. The plain seemed to stretch out farther once I stepped in. I just hoped it was the endless rows of Poison Joke messing with my vision a bit. "It's a bit odd that the Everfree would have an open area, isn't it?" "Maybe on the way back, I'll put a poison joke in my pocket for further study back at the castle." I said. "I'd have to make sure nopony touches it, though." "Well, maybe that would be a good idea..." "Then we can see if there's a reaonsable cure for it. I wonder how Twilight'd even react to that. Or any of the others. Possibly Cheerilee's reaction to seeing how I'd learned something incredible she probably would have been willing to research." "There's...already not a cure, right?" "I would assume so. Apple Bloom said something about one but I don't think she mentioned what it was." "Aww. Well, it'll still be worth studying." I said. I just continued walking forward, hearing nothing but the howling winds and the rustling of the poison joke. I noticed the land stretched for miles. "Might be some time before we reach the other side." I said. "So, best to get comfortable." I continued trekking on, not sure of how long it would take to get across. *meanwhile, back in Ponyville* Chryssi stretched her wings, then her hooves. She yawned, and crawled out of her makeshift 'room', a cocoon. Today was yet another half-day to do nothing all day. "Mmmmm...good morning, life." She muttered. She crawled along the ceiling to make room to switch onto the floor. Usually, she'd greet Loyal, unless he'd greet her. It usually really helped her morning...she wasn't sure how, but it just did. She walked down the hall, and opened Loyal's room door. Usually, he would be writing, reading, doing chemistry, or something. But he wasn't anywhere to be seen. This was usually the one place he'd be found, so Chryssi wasn't sure where he could be. At that moment, Chrysalis heard somepony walking past her. She turned around to see Twilight, holding a book in her face, as usual. She used her magic to hold her in place. "Twilight...where's Loyal? He doesn't seem to be being his usual nerdy self here." Chrysalis usually called him nerdy if he was reading, writing, or doing chemistry. "Oh, he.... he went to the Everfree Forest, looking for someone. I am a bit concerned, but... he knows how to handle himself...." "The Everfree?! Yeesh, that place gives me so many bad memories. Do you know how hard it was removing branches from my hooves after crash landing after the Wedding incident?" "Ehh, actually, I'm sure you could imagine it. Well, did he take anyone with him to make sure nothing happens to him? I wouldn't want him to get hurt.." Chryssi said. She really cared about Loyal, if it wasn't obvious. If he was gone, who would she have to (attempt to) love? "I... think he took Diamond Tiara with him, since they're going to look for her friend." "Hmm...well....all right. Just let me know when he comes back. I feel lonely without him." "Alright. I don't know where he's heading, but if he doesn't come back by sunset I'll have to assume something happened and my friends and I are going to go look for him, don't worry." "Mmh. Fair enough." Chryssi said, and with that, she headed back down the hall, and into another room. She could only hope that Loyal was alright. Spike overheard the conversation from another room while he was dusting bookshelves. He figured if there were no better words to go by, they were 'better early than never'. So, he climbed down from a small stool he had been using, and sprinted into the hall. "Uhh, Twilight? Wouldn't it be better to go a lot earlier, in case we end up being too late before or after sunset?" "Well, I suppose you do have a point, Spike, but don't forget Loyal can handle himself." "He can only handle *so* many threats, and *so* much danger with each threat! I still think it's best if we at least check on him, if not find him." "Okay, okay, Spike, I hear you." "Come on, there's no time to lose!" ------- It had been a full 30 minutes of walking through the poison joke, and there was still no end in sight. Diamond had fallen asleep, so I was...sort of on my own with figuring this one out. Where was the end? My mind was playing tricks on me. Everywhere I looked, I kept seeing what looked like the end...but when I blinked, it was still endless miles of Poison Joke. Was it really affecting me after all, making me go delirious? I couldn't even think anymore. "I...I have to keep going.." I said. "I have to....to find Silver.." And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I heard a hissing sound. I turned around to see strange blue smoke puffing out from...no, it wasn't coming from the ground..it was coming from the PLANTS. When I ended up getting a good whiff of the smoke, it was NOT good. My eyes began to water, and I could feel my chest swelling up. No, it wasn't allergies..it was a chemical reaction! I started running as fast as I could, trying to avoid the puffs of smoke coming from the plants. Poison Joke had never done this before, so why now? And why ME?! I had to keep running. I had to make it out somehow. After a little bit longer, I saw more forest in the distance up ahead. I had to make it. But as I was halfway there, the smoke began puffing up in my path, and I ended up inhaling a good portion of it. I found myself helpelessly coughing and choking on the smoke, unable to breathe. But I kept going, trying my hardest not to drop Diamond, or even fall, for that matter. I was closing in on the forest, and the smoke kept puffing out at an increasingly dangerous rate. When I was only several feet away, my legs collapsed, but I staggered onward a little bit further, managing to...*ahem* *throw* Diamond onto a large leaf nearby on the other side of the field, away from the Poison Joke. I finally completely collapsed, unable to move much. I tried to breathe, but I was unable to. In fact, trying to breathe only made things worse for me. Was I going to die? Was I going to get hurt? What was going on? I was unable to see much, as my vision began to get blurry, either from the tears, or the smoke, or something. But what I *could* see was something big and black, rising out from the Poison Joke field. And then...I lost consciousness. "Come on, in here!" Spike urged. When it came to doing something important, he would REALLY make sure everypony hustled. Especially if it was a kind of search-and-rescue mission. "Do you see him, Spike? I hope he didn't find anything dangerous..." Twilight huffed, as she continued running. "Well, it's kind of hard to see when it's--WAIT!" Spike stopped practically on a dime right in front of a large field of Poison Joke. "I know I found something dangerous! I get the feeling Loyal went through here.." "What makes you say that~?" Pinkie asked, unsure of what exactly they were doing here. "Because this is the only way forward...through this Poison Joke..." "Oh! Makes sense!" "Wait....am I even immune to it? I'd never really...figured it out." Spike said, unsure how he, or the girls, would get through. "I... don't know. I don't know if anything's immune to Poison Joke..." "Well, I did hear about Loyal's and Rainbow's adventure through the Everfree that one time! And when he touched it, it did nothing to him! So, apparently, h's immune." "You know what, I'm going for it!" Spike said, straining the last four words, as he put a claw on the plant. After about 10 seconds, nothing happened. "Seems I'm not affected, either...either that, or it'll happen later. Now, we need a plan to figure out how to get to Loyal...Twilight, any ideas?" "Well, me, Rainbow, and Fluttershy can fly...." "Not sure about Rarity, AJ, and Pinkie..." Oh, right! Well, you, RD and Fluttershy can fly over and locate Loyal, and once you find him, we could figure out how to get through the Joke and help him out! How's that?' Spike was rather good at planning, thanks to Twilight. It just goes to show that you really could inherit useful skills from the things you don't expect to learn from. "Well, that works, I suppose! C'mon, guys! Let's go!" Spike just waited with AJ, Rarity, and Pinkie, while the other three ponies soared into the sky. Because of how high up they went, it only took them about a minute to spot Loyal well hidden by the Poison Joke. But the odd thing was, the field was only a FEW miles long and wide. Loyal seemed to be passed out on the ground, not moving. "Oh dear.... is he... okay....?" Well, they had found Loyal..but he didn't look to be in good shape. This, of course, meant really bad news. He was definitely in need of help. Spike just watched as the trio stayed idle in midair. "Do you think Loyal's alright?" He asked AJ. It wasn't just for her honesty...but for her concern. She did care about Loyal, especially since he made a bit of a difference by being around. "I sure hope so, Spike... I can't say for sure he's alright over there, but... guess we just gotta hope he's fine..." "This is definitely bad, Twi....we gotta find some way to make a path towards him! Don't you have some epic and powerful laser or something..?" Rainbow said, looking around for a way through.. "Well... I do have lasers, but I don't know how good it'd be at clearing Poison Joke..." Rainbow had a feeling her lasers were their only hope. "Well, you gotta give it a try! I don't see how else we're getting through all that!" Rainbow said. "We can't risk just trotting through it!" Twilight took in a deep breath. "Everypony watch out!" Rainbow zipped out of the way, pulling Fluttershy along in the process. "Just don't hit Loyal!" Rainbow called out. Twilight focused, and used her magic as best she could to try to clear away the Poison Joke. The Poison Joke shriveled up the second the laser hit it. It shriveled out of existence, like a vacuum sucking a lintball out of existence. As Twilight aimed slowly towards the other girls, the path seemed to grow longer and longer. Eventually, the Poison Joke all shriveled away, forming a safe path to the young human. "All right! She did it! Now let's go help him!" Spike said, taking off. He couldn't run very fast, but he could run FAR. So being out of breath was no problem for him. "I think I see him! Is he okay? Does he need sugar?!" Pinkie asked, only partially kidding. Upon reaching Loyal, the girls found him passed out. He didn't seem to be hurt, but he WAS out cold. It was like something just rendered him unconscious non-physically. But nontheless, he needed help if he was like this. There had to have been an explanation for his....fate. Suddenly, at that moment, as if approaching Loyal was some kind of trap, the ground shook slightly, and something black exploded out from underground. "That's not good.." Spike commented. As it emerged, it became very obvious to some of the ponies what it was. The next thing the girls knew, they were dealing with several black, plant-like beings surrounding Loyal. From what the girls knew, they looked just like the ones that attacked Twilight before when she had to rescue the Tree of Harmony. Seemed like they were part of the Everfree, and not Discord's plunderseeds. Either way, they seemed to be preparing to pounce..... right onto Loyal! "DEFINITELY NOT GOOD!" Spike exclaimed. The beam hit one plant, causing it to 'whimper', but it recoiled. It proceeded to menacingly hiss at Twilight, and directed its attention onto HER. "It's those things from when Discord covered Ponyville in black vines! But what are they doing HERE?!" "This doesn't make any sense! I thought the Tree of Harmony wiped those things out!" Once the first plant had tried to attack Twilight, the others directed their attention onto the girls...all except one plant, who kept its focus on Loyal. Seems these plants were smarter than the last time they were fought...except they didn't seem to intend to spray their deadly gas, more on actually physically imjuring their prey. Thinking quickly, and out of panic, Spike released a flow of fire onto one of the plants' stems, causing it to shriek and thrash around, before quickly becoming engulfed in flames, and vanishing...along with the flames. "Sorry, I panicked!" "Spike, a little help with the rest of them, please?" The plants tried to pounce onto Spike, but missed narrowly. "GAHH! Mind distracting them first?" As the plants darted around, trying to attack each pony, Spike did his best to try to burn them, without frying the girls. But they, too, helped get the plants out of the way by stomping them, tying them up, taunting them in the air, blasting them, even lassoing them. But no matter how many plants were destroyed, new ones would quickly grow. After some time, I finally regained consciousness. When I looked around, I only saw blurs of indigo, black, purple, pink, orange, cyan, and cream. Something about those colors looked familiar.... The girls! They must have come to check on me, and found me passed out. But why were they darting around like mad..? My question was soon answered when I felt something crush heavily against my back, followed by a sinister hiss. I looked behind me to see one of the black things towering over me. Whatever they were, I could deduce that they wanted to kill me. "TWILIGHT, what do we do?! We can't keep fighting them off!" I heard someone say. "Someone's going to have to get Loyal out of here, at least until we can do something about this infestation!" Spike tried looking for somepony to help Loyal. Pinkie was busy hopping around on the plant stems, Rainbow was trying to punch them, Twilight was trying to dodge them, Fluttershy was skittishly trying to not get hit....the only one who could really help him was... "Applejack! You need to get Loyal out of here! You're stronger than most of us!" "Get Loyal someplace safe, and away from these....THINGS!" Spike said, trying to burn another plant. "I'm on it, sugarcube!" Applejack said, grabbing a rope that she brought for... some reason.... and preparing to tie Loyal to her back, so as to get him away easier and with less trouble. I could only feel myself being shifted around, and I felt something being tied to my waist. It was like being trapped on a river, soon to head over a waterfall. At that very moment, three of the dozens of plants dove for Applejack. "Run like the wind, AJ! They're all after Loyal, not us!" Spike advised, burning yet another plant. "Catch me if you can!" Applejack reared up and took off running as fast as she could. "KEEP 'EM OFF MY TAIL, RAINBOW!" Rainbow continued dizzying, bucking, and punching as many plants as possible, trying to keep them distracted. More plants grew thoough the canopy, and one plant tried tackling towards Applejack, but ultimately missed, snagging its stem between a Y-shaped tree. It lay on the ground and groaned. Applejack let out a hearty laugh as she ran for the forest's exit. Truth be told, she wasn't just laughing because the plants had failed to grab her. She actually found the situation rather funny. Meanwhile, I tried my hardest to stay awake to see what was happening, but ultimately failed. My vision slowly blackened, my senses numbed....and I lost all consciousness.