//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Anxieties // Story: Mystery Of Everfree // by FourShadow //------------------------------// "Hang on, let me see if I understand you correctly. Exactly, what did you see?" Principal Luna asked again. "A Timberwolf, an actual timberwolf." "So you saw a live animal, and your first instinct was to shoot at it?" "This wasn't a regular wolf! This... thing, wasn't human, if that even makes any sense," Flash said, rubbing his head. "It was just like what Timber described in his ghost story, it was a giant wolf made out of wood!" "A wolf made out of lumber? That sounds kind of silly," Pinkie giggled. "And we thought the idea of Sunset being a unicorn from a world where colorful cartoon horses was silly, and guess what, that was real!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Or the immortal Sirens who had been on this planet for over a thousand years?" Applejack pointed out. Pinkie's smile drooped into a terrified face. "Ohhh... Yeah, we're dead." "Now everyone, stay calm, we must not panic," Principal Luna advised. "Now, Flash I know you're not one to make things up, if you say you saw it, I believe you. But is there any chance this was something that someone could have built? Maybe a robot, or an animatronic in some way?" Flash shook his head. "This wasn't faked, I can tell. But where it came from, I don't know." "If we don't know what it is, maybe we should just get out of here," Twilight suggested, with a hint of fear in her voice. "It was just one Timberwolf, Twilight. One. I'm sure one isn't that anything to worry about," Rainbow said with pride. "But we can't just sit here and wait. What if it comes back, if it even is real?" "If it's not, then we need to know who or what made that thing and what its doing out here. But if it's real, then we'll need to evacuate the camp at once, and get some help. Maybe the Sirens can deal with this, if this is real," Vice-Principal Celestia suggested. "Only one problem; I don't think Gloriosa or Timber are gonna exactly believe us about there possibly being magical creatures suddenly coming in out of nowhere," Thunderbass said. "Even then, the cell service out here has been starting to cut out. I can barely call my bros without hearing a bunch of static popping on my phone," Sandalwood shook his head. "Well of course! Why else wouldn't it shut down on us? We're in the middle of the woods, where no one can hear you screaaaammmm...", Pinkie said, rather ominously. Everyone stared at Pinkie with petrified glances. "Well I'm not sleeping tonight," Rara gulped. Derpy just gave a sympathetic pat on Rara's shoulder, and Pinkie blushed. "Heh, sorry Rara." "But if there is a real emergency, we will return home at once. Fair enough?" Principal Luna agreed. Everyone gave agreeing nods. "Good. Now until such time, let us all try to stay calm. We will take precautions, and I don't want anyone to go running off anywhere by themselves. Okay?" "Okay." Her words were easier said than done. Quite frankly, Twilight wasn't sure what to think. Honestly, she was more scared than ever. First these nightmares about Midnight Sparkle were resurfacing. Then she noticed a strange amount of power surges. Now the Timberwolves from Timber Spruce's story were coming true? None of this could be a coincidence, it couldn't be... Dinnertime came again, and everyone was sitting in the mess hall to eat. Flash sat with his friends; Sandalwood, Micro Chips, Thunderbass, Derpy, and Rara over at a table while the Rainbooms and Twilight sat at the other table. "Okay, so apparently get this, the Sirens took their friends over to Equestria for a visit," Thunderbass said, looking down at his phone. "Octavia's message." "Wait, they actually visited the place where Sunset came from?" Sandalwood asked. "You bet," Thunderbass nodded. "Though she did leave this note... 'thank goodness, clothes came back, you do not have to strip before crossing the portal.'" And he looked back at Sandalwood and Micro Chips with a 'what the heck' kind of face. "I mean, aren't ponies the main race in that other world? I mean they wouldn't really wear clothes to begin with, so..." "Yeah, but Octavia didn't get that memo," Thunderbass shrugged. "... Well now I wanna know what it's like." "I dunno, sounds like walking on all fours with no experience would be hard," Derpy said, eliciting a soft giggle from the group. "Derpy, never change," Thunderbass grinned, shaking his head. But when he looked at Flash, he didn't say anything. He seemed like he was staring off into space. "Flash? Bro, can you hear me?" He snapped his fingers, finally bringing Flash back to the present. "Oh, what?" Flash blinked. "Sorry, I was just thinking." "About what?" Derpy asked. "Eh. About Aria, I guess. I hope she's doing okay," Flash said. "I'm sure she's fine, lover boy," Thunderbass teased. "Especially since now you're fine with knowing her big secret." "It's not that big of a secret now," Flash replied. "Besides, she's still a great girl. Just thinking back to when we went to that beach a few weeks ago..." May 15th It was nighttime at the Canterlot Beach. Everyone else had left at this point, but only two individuals had came. Aria Blaze, and Flash Sentry. By now, it was public knowledge that these two were dating, not that they or anyone really minded. But the reason they came here at all was because of something very important that Aria wanted to discuss... "Okay. So, Flash," Aria said, looking straight into his eyes. "You know that I'm from another dimension, right?" "I am aware of this, yeah," Flash nodded. "And you can turn into a giant sea Siren." Aria hissed. "About that... this, look, everything you're seeing right now, its um... why don't I just show you?" The middle Dazzling made a dash for the waters, running deeper and deeper. Soon as she was far out enough , she made a dive underneath, out of Flash's eyes. Flash couldn't see what was going on, but he did see a visible flash of red underneath the water. He waited patiently, wondering what was going on down there. It wasn't until he saw a giant purple fin snake its way across the top of the water that he finally understood what she said. How could he not have understood before? He knew she could turn into this... Siren, thing. But the fact that she actually was this thing, and not some human gifted with strange enchantment was just mind boggling. And breaking his thoughts was the sound of something breaking its way out of the water, rising into the air. A majestic purple sea Siren was seen out in the larger body of water, close by to the cliff dwellings (that secret cave where they had some treasures hidden). Soon she dived back into the water and was swimming to the shore, with her fin prodding its way through the coast. Soon she rose back onto the mainland and erupted from the ocean with a powerful splash. Her giant hooves pulled from under and slammed into the sand, planting themselves firmly to keep her steady. Sure she was beached, but she wanted to see what she was looking at. And lowering her head down, her face was mere inches away from Flash's body. And the guitarist was still trying to accept the facts that Aria told him without really telling him. “Aria?” The siren softly murmured, albeit in a language he couldn’t understand, what with her being a sea creature at the moment. But the little nod of her head was enough to give him a clue. "So... this is what you actually look like?" The Siren softly nodded. "So you're not a girl who can turn into a Siren, you're actually a Siren... who can turn human?" Aria gave more nods, worrying about Flash's possible rejections. Her ears flopped, and her head lowered. But Flash didn't cower. He didn't run away, or get mad, nothing. Instead he slowly walked towards her, and he opened his hand up, trying to see if maybe he could pet her. The Siren's eyes opened and she slowly closed them, moving her head closer to Flash's hand. He softly petted her, and the only sounds he could hear was a mixture of confused and happy noises. "Hey, hey... it's alright... you're still beautiful." Aria adorably nuzzled him, letting him pet her some more. Flash softly pet her ears, hearing her purr from the pets and little scratches. "I guess you're part cat as well?" Aria's only response was with some silly noises, which made Flash laugh. "Okay, okay." And he gave more pets to her ears, even petting her snoot and her head. -- "... That sounds really weird," Sandalwood admitted. "What?" "I dunno, I just think it's a bit weird you, Flash Sentry, are dating a sea Siren," Thunderbass pointed out. "I didn't know she was a seahorse!" "She's an immortal Siren from a parallel dimension, how did you not pick up on that?" "No one said that she was a pure animal, I just assumed she was mostly human with a little bit of fish in her!" Flash protested. "And what about Trixie, she's dating Adagio after all." Thunderbass shrugged. "True, true. ... So what happens when you get older and Aria doesn't?" Flash glared at Thunderbass with a bit of a scowl. "... Heh, sorry," Thunderbass's head sunk. Flash sighed. "No, its fine. That's a good question, but yeah. Aria and I still need to talk about it." "Understood. But hey, I'm sure she'll be happy to be here with you," Thunderbass said, getting Flash to finally smile back at him. The group turned to Rara who was too busy facing down at her phone. "Whatcha reading?" "Not reading anything, trying to get this phone to work, but it's malfunctioning. It's been on the fritz all day, and I can't get it to work." "Mind if I take a look at it?" Micro Chips asked. "I know how to fix and repair phones." "Well... I guess so," Rara said, giving the techie her phone. He simply tapped on the screen a few times, with several strange facial expressions following. And with a few more taps, he passed the phone back to her. "Okay, try it now." And Rara did. "Yeah, it... it works! It's working again, how did you do that?" "I'm tech savvy at Canterlot High, there's no better way to say it or explain it," he said, shrugging it off. Twilight sat at the campfire, roasting some delicious fluffy marshmallows over the fire. She had a bag that Pinkie left behind for her when the others got there. Just some nice quiet time to themselves-- "We meet again." Or not. The wind blew, giving her some chills and the flames went out. She stood up to look for the source of the sounds, and everything around her started to vanish once again. She was taken back into a dark void, and Midnight was near. She looked up and shivered in fear, looking at the metal wearing she-demon who hovered above her like a god. "You can't hide the truth from them forever, Twilight. It is only a matter of time before they realize what you're really hiding..." Midnight slowly grinned. "Why? Why do you keep tormenting me, I didn't do anything!" "Those portals were my ticket out of this putrid realm, and you cut it off!" Midnight ranted. "And if I have to destroy everything to get out of here, then I will do it!" Midnight's metal wings moaned as they bent some more, stretching as the lighting bolts continued to surge in between them. "After all... look at your destiny." "No... No! This can't be! None of this is real, you're not real!" "You know I am real, Twilight!" Midnight yelled. "And the further you embrace it... the sooner you and I can finally become one." She looked at the distance, and froze. Her skin became clammy and she began to hyperventilate. So much was happening around here, so much chaos and destruction! A graveyard of bones and smashed cars, destroyed buildings, and the only living beings around were hypnotized humans who all were standing around like mindless zombies. And she recognized all of them! Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, all of them were there! Even Trixie and her friends were there! But wait, what about the Dazzlings? She looked back at Midnight who gave her more chills than ever. "And once the magic is mine..." Her hands crushed a single red pendant in her hand, which at first glance looked like it belonged to the Sirens. Only to watch as it shattered into pieces, and streams of magic flowed into Midnight's body, making her bigger than ever. "We will be more powerful than ever! And this universe and many more will finally be ours, nothing can escape pure perfection!!!" "No... no... no..." *** "STOP!" Her head was sweaty and her heart was racing. It was just another nightmare, nothing real. Twilight looked around her. Still night time, and Fluttershy was still sleeping in the bed next to her, not woken up by her sudden cry. But Twilight had other plans; she had enough. "No. No more. I can't let this happen to anyone. I have to get out of here."