A New Threat
Everything should have been over with the defeat of Ivaldi and Glephnir. The war had ended. The monarchs were gone. The world should have gone back to its old, peaceful ways, basking in the feeling of freedom and peace. Reality was, though, almost everything had taken a turn for the worse.
Celestia and Luna were nowhere near the kind of rulers or alicorns that their predecessors had been. Even though they had been with them all their lives, the princesses had no actual experience in maintaining the kingdom. And they were not accepted as the new rulers of Equestria by many of the population. The extremist sides of the country refused to believe the old rulers were dead, and still held onto the ruins of the castles of night and day. Others simply thought that the country needed a more capable pony running things, and the juvenile alicorns didn't match that image.
The task of maintaining the sun and moon didn't help. The sun was a pale shadow of its former self, unable to poke its head out through even the lightest layer of clouds. The night was no longer the time of serene beauty it was with Glephnir's moon and stars. All that remained was a faded crescent of light in the middle of a bleak, black sky. New factions arose all over Equestria, each demanding a new ruler and a new era. Even with the majority of remnants from the old Solar Empire and Lunar Republic at their sides, the princesses were finding it exceedingly difficult to deal with the problems at hand.
However, politics and rebels were the least of the country's worries. With the two most powerful beings in the land gone, new threats began to arise, ready to invade and plunder after their suppressors had disappeared. Monsters and beasts grew bolder, attacking the towns and cities within reach. Slumbering behemoths, long since forgotten, slinked back out of the dark and reared their heads once more. Neighboring countries and races had already begun planning their invasions. No matter how you looked at it, Equestria was on the brink of annihilation.
This was the case three weeks ago. Through the combined efforts of the princesses and their forces, they had managed to keep Equestria intact. Wherever troubles arose, the princesses would send soldiers or fly to the locations personally to resolve the matters. The towns in danger had been assigned soldiers to protect them from lingering threats, and the new political leaders had come to a ceasefire to hold off the invaders. A ray of hope shone through the thick veil of despair, and for once it looked possible that Equestria was going to make it through this turmoil in one piece. But as quickly as that ray of hope was revealed, forces out of Celestia and Luna's control were hard at work to patch it back up.
A lone mare walked through the palace halls of Celestia and Luna. She word the new uniform of a black suit layered with white and golden armor on top. She carried a pile of papers in her saddlebags and a sheathed sword in her belt. Tilting open the doors of the princesses' chambers, the mare slipped in the crack and sealed the gate once more. She faced forwards and spoke in a deep, clear voice. "You must be wondering why I called you here today, your majesties."
Two alicorns sat before her, at a flat marble table. Beckoning for her to come join them, Luna replied, "Yes, have a seat, Riposte. What is this urgent matter that must stay so secretive that you must not let even the high council know of?"
Riposte leaned her neck backwards, grabbing the saddlebags and sliding them forward on the smooth marble surface of the table.. "These are last week's reports from my squadron, positioned near the East border patrol."
Celestia and Luna spread out the papers in their hooves, skimming over the general information. "The forest of deceit…" Celestia murmured.
"That's what the soldiers have nicknamed it. Beautiful on the outside, deadly on the inside."
Luna continued to turn pages. "I don't understand. What could possibly be so dangerous in a simple forest? This report says the forest has no beasts or bugs of any kind in it." A thought struck the princess as her eyes narrowed and she flipped back a few pages until she found what she was looking for. The alicorn pointed to the passage with an outstretched hoof. "Wait… 'no beasts or bugs of any kind'? Surely you meant to phrase this differently?"
Riposte leaned forward, straightening her front legs on the solid stone. "That's the thing here. Nothing in the forest lives, save for plants. The place has become a jungle already."
"How is this possible?" Luna asked.
"The vines, the branches, the grass, and the leaves… they've all turned into deathtraps. They lash out and kill, ensnaring and trapping the creatures deep underground after tearing them limb from limb. Back when we first discovered the forest, a wing of fifteen pegasi and ten unicorns were making their way back to base through a path that crossed it. One of the pegasi returned crippled, missing two legs, his lower jaw, and half a wing. He'll have to live the rest of his life in a constant medical care, being fed mashed up food through a tube."
The princesses winced at the vivid image in their heads. "The others… they weren't so lucky as him."
The extended silence was broken by Celestia. "Have you attempted to destroy the woods?"
Riposte shook her head. "No can do, ma'am. We've tried using everything. Our weapons don't cut it, our flame doesn't burn it. Magic only seeks to agitate it further. So many were lost trying to fight it… and we couldn't even get past the edges of the area."
"Yes. The pegasus mentioned earlier managed to scrawl what little he remembered of the forest onto a piece of parchment. He says there is a strange tree in the middle of the forest, where the plants no longer move. His notes said it was fashioned into a house. This is the only part of the woods that differs from the rest, and the plants did not attack."
"Have any of our forces ever gotten into that dome?"
"That's impossible now. The forest is growing, and it's growing fast. A week ago, upon discovery, it was roughly the size of this castle. Now, it covers the entire northeastern front. At this rate, all of Equestria will fall in a month."
The sisters' jaws fell open, hanging in the air as Riposte continued. "We've already evacuated the ponies around the area under pretenses of war, but we can't do that with the rest of the country's population. If word were to spread of a rising land of death that nopony could stop, mass panic would break out. Equestria would be deserted within a month, and the country's future would vanish with its people."
"This is too dangerous. Until countermeasures can be developed, let no one approach the forest, not even the military." Luna commanded.
The lone pony snapped back, "Then what are we to do here until then? Just sit around and wait, knowing our land's being eaten by killer plants?! We have to stop it NOW, or all of Equestria is endangered, possibly even more."
"I won't have my subjects die pointlessly." Luna replied. "My sister and I will head into the forest to deal with it. You should prepare the evacuation of the citizens, in case we fail to return."
Riposte was taken aback. "You mean to jump right into the middle of that forest, just the two of you?"
"We are alicorns. Our magic is far superior to that of a unicorn's, and I assure you we will not die so easily." Luna smirked. "And what's more important, the lives of two stubborn alicorns that the country doesn't accept, or the future of all the ponies in Equestria?"
Raising her front left leg, Riposte brought it up to the side of her brow in a salute. "Godspeed, your majesties. Godspeed."
"Godspeed," replied Celestia and Luna, as the royal sisters exited the room, leaving behind the comfort and safety of the palace walls for a forest where life and death were uncertain.
The Forest of Deceit spread out before the alicorns, covering the horizon in a shade of green. “It looks... so normal, so peaceful,” Celestia commented as they flew towards it.
“Beware, sister. This was named the Forest of Deceit for a reason,” Luna replied, as they came ever so close to the edge of the woods. As soon as they passed over the border, the vines and branches of the trees whipped up without warning, snapping at their hooves. The sisters flared their wings, ascending into the sky where the plants fell short.
Bolts of magic shot forth from both Luna and Celestia’s horns. They burst in flashes of white and purple, striking the plants head on. The tendrils were knocked back by the sheer force of the magic, but other than that they seemed unaffected. “This isn’t working,” called out Celestia. “See if you can spot the tree house from here.”
"Riposte said it was near the center of the forest," Luna replied, rolling and weaving her way through the green tendrils grasping for her blood. Her voice was partly lost, carried away in the high speed air currents. "We have to fly further in! Come on!"
Drawing closer to the center of the center of the great forest, Luna caught something out of the corner of her eye. "There it is!" she called out to her sister. "I see the house!"
They stopped in midair, hovering over the location of the house. "All right, let's dive." As Luna signaled, the sisters flapped their wings, pushing themselves down to the forest. The forest couldn’t keep up with their speed, vines and branches shooting out only to grasp thin air. With the wind pressed against their faces, Celestia and Luna broke through the layer of branches, flaring their wings immediately after for a close landing.
"We're here," said Luna. "Riposte's soldier was telling the truth. The plants around here are perfectly harmless."
"What I want to know is," said the other alicorn, "Who would live in a place like this?"
"Well, we're about to find out." The sisters met each others' gaze. With a single nod from Celestia, the two fired a bolt of magic straight at the door of the small house. The wooden frame didn't stand a chance, as concentrated magic reduced it to nothing but ashes with a loud zap. Cautiously, the sisters walked in through the smoldering remains of the entrance.
The interior of the tree was dark and quiet. "Do you see anything?" whispered Luna.
"I can't see anything in this blasted darkness," replied Celestia.
"Well, I see two unfamiliar faces standing in front of my former door," came an unfamiliar voice from the dark, who seemed quite irritated by this turn of events.
The alicorns both cried out in unison. "Who's there?" Jumping back and flaring their wings, both of them stood, ready to fight.
"Well," said the voice, drawing the curtains back from the side of the room. The light pouring in revealed a strange creature that neither Celestia or Luna had seen before. A hybrid of many different creatures, from an eagle's talon to a goat's beard to a lion's paw. "Name's Discord. Though, shouldn't I be the one asking these kinds of questions? You are intruding on my property, after all. Let's start with this: would you two possibly be so kind as to tell me who the bloody hell you are and why you felt it was necessary to vaporize my front door and let this awful draft in?"