//------------------------------//
// Into The Unknown 
// Story: Beyond Me 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

“So… n-none of you have been in here before?” Fluttershy asked timidly as the six ponies walked through the dark forest.
“Oh, h-heavens, no!” Rarity replied, her voice just as shaky as the yellow pegasus’s. “I mean, just look at it! It’s dreadful!”
“Well, legends do say this is one of the most dangerous forests in all of Equestria,” Twilight responded factually. “Thousands of ponies have entered, and many haven’t come back out when they have.”
“R-really?” Fluttershy stammered. “H-how’s that?”
“Ah don’t know,” Big Mac interrupted before Twilight could continue, standing in front of them and stopping their progress as he continued, “but what Ah do know is that if this here forest is as dangerous as ponies say it is, we need ta make a good plan. Can’t harvest apples without a plan, an’ can’t head inta danger without a plan.”
“I don’t see why,” Lightning Dust argued. “It’s like she said. We just need to find whatever those Elements of Harmony are and use them to stop that witch.”
“Well, I think… ummm… that pony…” Twilight trailed off, blushing that she didn't know the name of the stallion that spoke. "The red one..."
“Big Mac is his name, darling,” Rarity reminded her.
“Eeyup.”
“Yes, Big Mac, I think he has a point. I mean, we can’t just go into this unprepared. Some time to make a plan isn’t a bad thing. Better to be safe than sorry, I always- whoa!”
Suddenly, the floor was crumbling beneath them, thanks to the work of Nightmare Moon. They screamed in surprise as the ground beneath them started to fall away. Luckily for them though, the spot where they stopped was just far enough on the edge of the cliff for them to be able to quickly back up and avoid falling. Still, they were startled enough that most of them were breathing heavily from the surprise. As they did, they saw a wisp of blue smoke curl up and fly away from them.
“She’s getting away!” Lightning Dust yelled as she used a hoof to point in the smoke’s direction, taking a step and stretching out her wings to chase after her before the white unicorn stopped her.
"Lightning, dear! What in Celestia's name do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm going after her! We can't just stand here talking about what we should do. Who knows how long it'll be before she gets to wherever she's going? We can't let her get away!"
"Ah agree, but like Ah said, we might be best off makin' a plan."
“Big Mac is right. We saw just now how dangerous she is. We need to stop and think about what we’re going to do before we do anything else. Princess Celestia is counting on us, and it won’t serve us well to-”
“Exactly! She’s counting on us! That means we should be heading out there now, not standing around talking.”
“I… think I agree with Twilight,” Fluttershy broke in. “I- I mean… this is the Everfree forest after all… I’m sorry…”
“She’s got a point, Dusty! Plus, I bet a super duper strong pony like you has a whole bunch of good ideas! You’d be helping us fight that big ol’ meanie pants if you gave us ideas!” 
Pinkie said it knowing it would appeal to her ego, and wasn’t surprised when the cyan pegasus placed her wings back to her sides, telling the group, “Well… since I am the strongest pony, I guess it would help if I helped you plan… but I’m gonna be the leader. Every team needs one, and it’s gonna be me!”
“Fine! Whatever! Let’s just figure out what we need to do!” As Twilight said it, she suddenly magicked over a stick to draw notes into the ground. She silently wished for a notebook, but figured this would be good enough.
“Okay, the first thing is making sure everypony stays safe while we’re in here. That’s what we need to make sure of.”
“Speaking of which, I’m just now remembering that I need to check on my little sister and her friends,” Rarity broke in. “I need to make sure they’re safe after everything that happened. I can’t believe it slipped my mind.”
“We don’t have time to go back to Ponyville to check on ponies and make a plan if we want to stop that… whoever that pony is!” Lightning Dust argued, Twilight finding herself agreeing with her. However, before she could say more, the white unicorn was already heading back.
“I shant be but a minute, dears!” she called over her shoulder as she hurried back to Ponyville.



“Are you sure that’s what she said?” Holiday asked me as I finished explaining the current situation to her. “I don’t think Princess Celestia would do something like this…”
“Clearly she would, because I wouldn’t lie,” I responded. “I’m telling you exactly what she told me. She planned for all of this to happen because she wants her student to… I forgot exactly what she said. Be her successor? Or learn some lesson? The point is that she’s definitely not benevolent like you think she is.”
I was speaking to Holiday alone while the other four ponies were in a separate part of the house doing I don’t know what. I assumed she pulled me over so as not to talk about it in front of them, because as soon as we entered the house, she immediately asked about it. I didn’t know why though, other than maybe for the fact that she didn’t want Celestia’s image tainted for some reason.
“That… with everything I’ve heard about the princess, that doesn’t seem like her…” she replied, sounding unsure, like I could be mistaken.
“Well, with everything I’ve seen and heard since I’ve been here, it seems exactly like her, especially considering that she directly told me that.”
“I… hmm…” she trailed off, processing what I told her. “You did say that she said someone... err, somepony- you've got me saying it now- was taking care of all of this, so that’s a good thing, but…”
“But I almost fell to my death and was cut by glass because she wants to play games with my life! With other people’s lives, too! It’s not right!”
“Well, I doubt you would have died,” Holiday told me. “You are an earth pony after all, but I understand what you’re saying. Did you say that she was going to be here later? What if we spoke to her then? See what her reason is? I mean, she is the princess after all, and I would think-”
“I would think she’s self absorbed. It’s not right. That other pony said we were going to talk to her tonight, and I’m going to tell her off then.”
“Um, well, I- I wouldn’t do that, but… I certainly wouldn’t be able to stop you from doing that. I would like to speak to her, too, if you don’t mind.”
“You can talk to her if you want. I don’t care. I just care about-”
“Miss Holiday?” someone, Diamond Tiara, asked. “Are you almost done with Asher? We want to play with her now.”
I avoided cringing at what she called me and was about to correct her, but before I could, Holiday broke in, “Give us just another minute, okay dear?” She waited until the filly was firmly out of the room before saying, “If it’s no trouble, I’d rather not have those kids know about all of this. If this is all true, or even if it’s not, I’m not sure the princess would want all of this out in the open. Do you understand?”
“I understand, and it’s definitely true. But, um, I was kind of looking to be alone for the night after all of that… my heart is still racing from that. I know I said I’d spend time with them, but I’d rather just be alone right now.”
“I know you do, but… I’d really like it if you were able to keep an eye on them, if it’s no trouble. Actually, before we do anything, we need to get all of this glass out of you all's coats. But you’d be doing me a huge favor if you stayed out there with them, just for tonight.” Before I could respond, she quickly added, “I mean, a nice young stallion like you, I’m sure you will, right?” 
I knew she was only doing that to get me to say yes, but it made me feel a little better regardless, so I told her, “Fine, but I’d really like to have all of this glass out of my coat first… I hope I never have to see that… monster… ever again. I don’t like being picked up like that.”
She called the other four of them in the room after that, helping both me and them get cleaned up before sending us all back out, whispering privately to me that she wanted me to stay out there because of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. I didn’t see what the problem was. Yes, they argued and fought before, and it was annoying as heck, but it didn’t look like it was ever to the extent that Holiday and her partner seemed to believe.
“Wow, Asher!” Scootaloo started as we were sent back out. “Today’s been so strange! I didn’t know you’d be right about stuff happening today! How did you know?”
“It was an educated guess,” I replied, doing my best to both stay vague and not lie at the same time. “I mean, this is the one thousandth holiday, so…”
“Wow. You’re really smart. I mean, we knew that before, but-”
“But that was kind of scary,” Sweetie Belle broke in. “I thought you were gonna be hurt by her! I’m glad you didn’t get hurt though!”
“You looked scared, too, Asher,” Diamond added, a little smirk on her face like she was taunting me a bit. “I thought you were gonna cry since you’ve been doing it so much.” I could only force myself not to roll my eyes at the little jab.
“Yeah, you do cry a lot, Asher,” Scootaloo agreed, oblivious to the dig the two girls got in.
“I bet she thought she was gonna get hurt,” Silver Spoon said, also oblivious, much to her counterpart’s obvious annoyance.
“Yeah, well..." I was hesitant on whether or not to tell Diamond and Silver that I was a boy, not because I was uncomfortable or afraid of being teased, but because I knew if they did tease me, it would start a fight, which was the absolute last thing I wanted. Having children fight because of me was annoying and frustrating, and after everything that happened that day, I wanted to avoid it. However, before I could say anything, Sweetie Belle spoke for me.
“She’s a boy, so you should call her 'him'. It makes her feel better.”
That one took everything in me to not roll my eyes hard. It was a long string of feminine pronouns she used to say I’m a male, and it just got on my nerves. 
There was an uncomfortable silence for a second as Diamond processed what Sweetie Belle said while she stared right at me before breaking it with, “Scootaloo was right. You really are a weird filly.”
"I've been told that," I responded, finally rolling my eyes and deciding to let it slide, "but I'm in a weird spot, so it's not really my fault that I am."
They said before they wanted to drink more tonight, but they seemed tired from what we were doing all day, and whether it be from that or the lack of cider, decided to call it a night. Despite no blanket being laid out and there only being hard floor beneath them, they quickly curled up without a problem, and I figured I would do the same. Before I could though, Sweetie Belle approached me.
“Hey, um, Asher? I was wondering…”
“Yes?” I asked as she trailed off, looking a bit nervous.
“Um, you know how you said there was that pony that could do anything?”
“God? He’s not a pony, but yeah.” I wasn’t expecting her to ask about that, but wasn’t bothered by it and sat up to give it my full attention.
“Um, can you ask him to make sure my sister is safe? I don’t know where she is and I’m scared about her, and you talk to him all the time…”
I had to smile a little bit at the thought that she wanted to pray for her sister, even if it wasn’t exactly phrased that way. I enjoyed the thought that some of these ponies might believe in God, too, and quickly sat up to talk to her.
“We can pray about it if you want,” I told her as I scooted next to her. “Grab my hands… err, hooves, and close your eyes.” She didn’t question it and did what I asked, quickly gripping her hooves into mine and giving me a look for a second before closing her eyes.
“Lord,” I started, whispering so as not to bother the other fillies, “we ask that you keep us safe in this time, and that you bring Sweetie Belle’s sister, Rarity, back to her safely. We ask that you use your hand to guard her, and that you bring the sun back to us tomorrow. In Jesus name we pray, amen.”
Just as I finished, the door knocked, and I heard someone, Rarity, calling through the door, “Sweetie Belle? Are you and your friends in there?”
“Rarity!” the filly got out excitedly, hurrying to open the door and jumping up into her hooves. “Are you okay? Where did you go?”
“I’m quite alright dear, although I must ask what you’re doing at Miss Holiday’s house again. I thought you said you were spending the night with the Riches?”
“We were going to,” she explained, “but then all that stuff happened, so she told us to go with her. I hope I didn’t make you mad because of that…”
“Certainly not, dear. In fact, I would’ve suggested it myself. Anyhoo, I just wanted to stop by to check up on you and make sure you were alright, and seeing that you are, I do need to head out again. I can trust you to stay safe here with your friends, correct?”
“Huh? Yeah! But where are you going?”
“Don’t have time for that now, Sweetie. I do have to get back to Twilight Sparkle. I’ll see you again soon after she and our friends sort out this whole mess.” With that, she turned to leave again, giving her sister a quick wave before heading back out.
“Wow. I didn’t think that would work! That’s so cool! Do you think we can ask for more stuff?”
“Well, it’s not really ‘asking’ for stuff so much as it is talking to God, but we could pray more if you wanted. But not right now. Right now, it’s time to sleep.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, thank you Asher. I’m glad she’s safe.” With that, the girl lay back down and closed her eyes to go to sleep a smile on her face as she did so.
“Your welcome,” I told her before copying her and laying down myself, silently adding, “And thank you, Lord, for always answering my prayers.”



Celestia stood in her invisible prison atop the Castle of the Two Sisters, taking in the view of the Everfree Forest. Although quite dangerous, it was also beautiful, the many plants and animals that grew and lived here after she and her sister went to Canterlot. She was glad she had a moment to appreciate it after all these years, especially given what was to come.
“Oh, Luna, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you,” the alicorn sighed. “I can’t wait to spend time with you again. It’s been quite lonely without you in my life…”
She closed her eyes for a moment, reliving the memory of her sister before opening them again and going back to watching the Everfree. She did wonder what was taking Twilight and her friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity so long. She expected them to be here by now, and was a bit anxious that they weren’t. Not that it was an issue. If worst came to pass, she would wield the elements herself and banish the Nightmare from Equestria. It wasn’t an outcome she wanted though. She wanted her student to save the day. It was what she had planned, and if it didn’t come to be, she knew who the pony to blame would be.