"There's the waterfall!" Victory Dance shouted.
"Ugghhhh, don't mention waterfalls around me, you jackass!" Mizu shuddered.
"According to this map, right along the side of the waterfall there's a rocky path. It's the only safe way to get down this part of the mountain; it's too steep any other way." Splitend led the way, her face buried in the map.
"Hey Splitend," Onabe called out.
"Not now, Onabe."
"Splitsy!"
"Not now- WAH!!!"
Splitend's hoof caught itself on a rock and she tripped, falling flat on her face into the mud. When she picked herself up, she looked like a reverse Santa Hooves – white fur, with a big brown beard.
Onabe burst out laughing. "I was gonna tell you to look out for the rock, numbnut!"
Splitend sighed, chuckled, and shook her head to get the majority of the mud off of it. "At least the map is still dry," she said.
The six ponies got closer to the waterfalls until they were skirting the edge of a small cliff. The water plunged down about fifty meters or so before hitting the bottom and becoming a rapid river for another hundred meters. After that, it was another waterfalls. There were three waterfalls after this one before the ground began to even out.
"Boy, the water is sooo sparkly!" Aver fluttered over it, and whinnied as the spray from the top of the falls made his fur damp. "Oh, my mane!" He alighted back onto the ground where the others were. As thin and wispy as his hair was, it already looked rather wet. "Awwwww..." he whined, shaking his head. "I spent twenty minutes styling this thing before I left. I swear, this always happens! All that effort, gone to waste." He hung his head low and continued walking.
Onabe snorted. "I swear, if it wasn't so obvious you were straight, I'd SWEAR you were a coltcuddler." She gave Aver a friendly nudge to show she was kidding.
Shadow coughed uncomfortably and sped up his pacing so he was at the front of the group with Splitend.
"Something wrong, Shade?" Splitend twitched her ear and looked at her buddy.
"No, nothing," Shadow avoided her gaze. "Let's get a move on, huh?"
The unicorn shrugged and turned her attention back to the map.
"Ugh, the sooner we get down this mountain, the better," Mizu groaned from her spot atop Victory Dance. "All this water is making me wanna barf up a hairball."
"Ummm... Mizu?" Splitend called back to the cat with an air of concern.
"Yeah?"
"We're going to be following the Rio Canterlot all the way to the Western shoreline so we don't get lost. And then we have to find a way to cross the ocean to make it to Zebrica."
"Ffffffuuuuu....." Mizu proceeded to hack up a hairball.
"The ground seems to be leveling out a bit," Hiro commented matter-of-factly.
"That it does," Splitend looked up from her map. "We just passed the last waterfall. Look up, see? We're almost at the bottom of the mountain!" The six of them looked up and were surprised to see the regal city of Canterlot looming miles above them. It had taken them about three and a half hours to get to where they were; they were making good time.
"Let's go, then!" Hiro sprang up with sudden enthusiasm and galloped along the shoreline. His friends followed suit, Splitend yelling for him to slow down.
"Wait for us, Hiro!" She yelled.
"Or maybe you hurry up and catch me!" Hiro jeered.
He did a little leap and continued running along the side of the water, gazing at the crystalline surface of the running river, when suddenly a huge scaly creature the color of pond scum reared up from the side of the water and hissed loudly at him, baring its fangs and hideously twisted claws.
"EeeyaaAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Hiro shrieked and floundered, too terrified and shocked to do much of anything.
"Dear sweet Celestia, it's a naga!" Splitend screamed, racing over to her friend to help him. The rest of the ponies followed behind her, galloping at full speed.
In a second Onabe took to the air and barreled straight towards the naga. Just as it was about to strike Hiro, she hit it full on and knocked the reptile sideways. That moment was all Hiro needed. He collected himself quickly and got to his hooves. The naga shook its head to clear its mind after the blow, and turned to face Hiro just in time for the pegasus to deliver a powerful kick directly to its ugly face.
Hissing wildly, the snakelike creature recoiled as greenish-gray blood spurted from its eye and nostrils. It twisted and writhed violently, spasming like a crazed earthworm. Gradually the hissing became quieter and weaker, and the naga sank, still writhing like crazy, back into the water.
The place where it sank was dyed greenish-gray for a few minutes until the running water washed away the color. A stain still remained in the mud on the shore, and the air retained the smell of cold sewage.
Panting, Hiro and Onabe stared at the place where the serpent monster had come from.
"Well, that was... interesting," Hiro managed to remark.
"That's it?" Onabe shot him a glare. "That's ALL you have to say?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe a 'thanks for saving my ass'?" Onabe put her ears back.
"Please. I didn't need your help. I could have taken that thing out easy." Hiro turned and trotted back to the group. "Shouldn't we get going?"
"Don't you guys wanna rest up a little bit or something first?" Aver said with concern. "You guys just beat up a river naga – you probably killed it. Even I'm pretty shaken up after that."
"Look, I'm fine," Hiro shook his head. "My ass is a bit bruised from the fall, but other than that I'm perfectly fine."
"I'm alright too," Onabe shrugged. "That thing went down pretty quick with both of us beating on it."
Hiro huffed. "Like I said, I could've killed that thing all by myself without Little Miss Helpful over there 'assisting' me."
Onabe growled. "Take that back!"
"I won't."
"Y'know, maybe I should've just let the fucking thing eat you."
"Yeah, maybe you should've."
In this way the two argued for the next twenty minutes as the team walked along the increasingly flattening mountain base. As time progressed the argument became less and less serious, until it simply mingled in with the rest of the scattered conversation among the rest of the four ponies and the one cat.
"So, what is it you do, Victory?" Aver asked of the freckled pony.
"Oh, I used to own a pet shop," Victory Dance replied, skipping along.
"Used to?"
"It burned down," Mizu yawned, having given up her resting spot in order to walk alongside Victory. "Month and a half ago. We got all the critters out safe, but..." she shrugged. "The two of us have been out of a job for quite some time."
"And a home, too," Victory added. "My apartment was above that shop."
"That's awful!" Aver exclaimed, worriedly fluttering his wings. "Goodness, no wonder you were so eager to come with us."
Victory nodded and grinned. "This came at a great time. I had this job at a McHoofen's, but geez... I'm just too scatterbrained to have a job like that. I got canned after, like, three weeks." She scuffed the dirt with her hoof as she trotted.
Aver nodded his condolences. "Well, maybe you'll find something after this is all over. Or maybe we'll be rewarded, and you can use the bits to build a new shop!"
"Maybe."
A little over two hours later, Splitend stopped abruptly. "Hold it!" she exclaimed.
"What's going on?" Hiro and Onabe said in unison before glaring at each other.
"THAT'S going on," Splitend said, and motioned with her hoof at the river. Here it had reached a rather sharp bend, and the width of the whole thing was significantly reduced. "We can cross here."
"Why do we need to cross?" Victory cocked her head. "We can just follow the river on this side."
"Following the river on this side will lead us straight through Ponyville," Splitend said. As proof, she showed Victory the map. "We want to avoid going through any towns, considering they're probably on lockdown too."
"Ahh, I get it." Victory Dance nodded. "So how do we cross? I'm not the best swimmer... and Mizu doesn't swim at all..." She gestured to the small cat, who looked absolutely sick at the sight of the rushing water.
"Bit odd, really," Aver remarked as an aside. "considering 'mizu' is the Japony-ese word for 'water'."
Hiro shrugged. "No problem for me. I can just-" He spread his wings and took to the air, getting to the other side of the river is just a few wingbeats. "-FLY ACROSS!"
"Boy, for someone so cute, you're pretty dense!" Victory called out to him. "After all, three of us don't have wings, and my Wink spells aren't that good!"
Unbeknownst to all of them, Aver was studying the surrounding area carefully, trying to figure out a way for his flightless friends to get across the river. That's when his eyes alighted on the tree.
Ah, the tree. It was huge, an old sycamore at least eight stories tall. Branches started jutting out from the trunk at around twenty feet. And it was dead as a door knocker. The base was cracked and slightly blackened, and the top was frizzled and leafless. All the signs indicated that it has been struck by lightning. It would undoubtedly topple within the next month, the way that base was. No doubt about it. Nosiree.
Now would be an excellent time to give it a little "push" in the right direction, however.
"You guys!" Aver called, and flitted over to the tree. He landed on the ground next to it and gave it a sharp kick in the direction of the water. "Who's up for building a bridge?"
The other ponies suddenly saw what he saw and quickly joined him. Victory, Splitend, Shadow, and Aver spread out and repeatedly walloped the base of the tree, right where the crack line was. Onabe and Hiro took to the air, kicking and ramming the wood near the top, attempting to convince the thing to topple.
"Grrr... c'mon, you piece of crap... fall!!!" Splitend growled, whacking the tree with all the might her hind hooves could muster. The six ponies went at this for several minutes, nearly exhausting themselves, until a creak and a CRACK! was suddenly heard.
"I think I just severed my spine!" Shadow complained.
"No, it's working! We're doing it!" Onabe whooped. "Down you go, wooden dildo from Hell!!!" she cackled, giving the wood a series of rapidfire kicks. "Woohoo!!!"
Slowly but surely, the tree began to wobble and crackle, moaning and groaning as the wood splintered and gave way. At last, with one mighty, collective KICK from all six ponies, the tree gave a series of cracks and crunches, a long, loud groan, and toppled. It made an incredibly satisfying CRASH!!!! sound as it hit the other side of the shore.
The ponies cheered and shouted in triumph, and the two unicorns and one earth pony began their trek across the fallen behemoth.
"See how easily Splitsy and Shady are doing it? It's okay, Mizu; it's fun!" Victory was trying desperately to calm the frantic feline by holding her, petting her, and gesturing to the ponies in front of her as she crossed the tree. "It's fine! Ow, Mizu, my foreleg is NOT a scratching post..."
Once all six ponies were safely on the other side, Mizu calmed down enough to let go and stand on her own. With Victory limping from the deep cuts in her right foreleg, the party pressed on.
It was beginning to get faintly dark when the seven of them rounded a corner around a grove and caught sight of Saddle Lake. Here the water had become incredibly calm, and a sweet lake breeze was blowing the evening leaves into twirls beneath the gnarled maple and oak trees that dotted the area.
"This looks like a good spot to set up camp," Splitend announced.
"Sounds good to me," Shadow yawned. "I'm tired and hungry."
The other four ponies nodded their agreement and began setting up. Splitend, Shadow and Aver had all brought blankets; everypony except Victory had brought food supplies. Of course, Victory had brought nothing at all except a tiny satchel on her left hind leg. It was too small to fit food or a blanket in. Shadow and Onabe went to gather firewood, Victory started the fire, Hiro and Splitend used several close-together trees to make a decent shelter to sleep in, and Aver busied himself cooking oatmeal for everypony's dinner. Mizu, being a carnivore, went off to do some hunting.
"Mmm," Victory grunted her approval at Aver's oatmeal while the six of them were seated around the fire, eating. "This is amazing, dude. What'd you put in this?"
"I looked around and found some wild cinnamon grass and apple nuts nearby," Aver replied cheerily. "Glad you like it!"
That night, full and exhausted, the seven friends slept soundly and peacefully in the cozy blanket shelter. Not a thing disturbed them all night, and when they awoke the next morning, they all felt surprisingly rested, refreshed, and happy.
"All right!" Hiro called out while folding up the blankets. "I've got a good feeling about today! Let's do this!"
"Agreed!" Victory hoof-bumped the stallion and gave him a coy smile, which he did his best to ignore.
Once everypony had packed up (and eaten the leftover oatmeal and some wild bluegrass for breakfast), they all headed off again. The majority of the day was surprisingly nice and uneventful; they had to spend several hours going around the wide curve of Saddle Lake, during which one exciting thing DID happen: Onabe spotted a particularly pretty butterfly the size of a raven and Victory identified it as an incredibly rare species of swallowtail. They then tried to catch it. It didn't work. The walk around the lake was rather flat and a bit tiring, and the group rested at one point for over an hour, during which time they had a lunch consisting of water lilies sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Around 4 that afternoon they passed Saddle Lake and continued down the Rio Canterlot. Through the mist, Mizu pointed.
"I see Ponyville!" she cried.
They all looked, and it was true – Ponyville was right across the river from where they were walking. In fact, it was across the river from them fr forty-five minutes until they passed it. As relieved as Splitend was to not be in the town's sights anymore, she wasn't happy at all about the miscalculation she had made when she assumed it would be easier to go own the river on the left side rather than the right.
"What the HELL is that??" Victory asked frantically, staring up at the big, black forest that loomed in front of them.
"That's... that's the Everfree Forest." Splitend gulped while trying to say the words.
"I h-heard it doesn't work the s-same as the rest of Equ-questria..." Shadow stammered.
"Yeah..." Onabe said in a hushed whisper. "Like, the plants grow..."
Aver nodded. "...animals take care of themselves..."
"And the clouds move..." Hiro hissed. "...all on their own!!!"
"Well..." Splitend heaved a sigh. "We have no choice. We have to go straight through it."
Reluctantly, the group entered the forest. As soon as they set hoof inside the forest, it seemed to close around them like a flytrap. The air went from pleasant and warm to damp and cold. The trees overhead obstructed the sunlight, so it was automatically darker. The chirps and various sounds that were so obvious thirty seconds ago were sucked out of earshot and replaced with eerie hisses, growls and hoots. From the start, it was obvious that this place was not a pony-friendly area.
Splitend urged her friends forward, and they picked their way through the trees. They had to be extra-careful here; dodge a twisted root here, a spiderweb there, a big slimy bug here, there, and everywhere. They kept going at a steady pace, except for Hiro. From the moment he had walked into the forest, he had had this... feeling. It wouldn't leave him alone.
Have I... been here before? I'm having the strangest feeling of deja-vu, he thought to himself.
"Yo, Hiro! Come on, we don't wanna lose track of anypony here, of all places"
Hiro shook his head to empty it. "C-coming, Splitend!" he called and quickened his pace to rejoin the group.
As they marched on, Shadow became all too aware of the distant sound of howling coming from all directions. "Guys, timberwolves..." he muttered, moving closer to Splitend.
"Relax, Shadow," Splitend gave him a friendly nuzzle to calm his nerves. "We'll be fine."
Shadow groaned inwardly and stuck close to her.
"AWHOOOOOO!!!!" The sound came from directly behind Shadow. He leapt up and turned around.
"Timberwolf!!!" He screamed.
Instead of a jaw-snapping timberwolf, however, he merely saw Mizu the cat, laughing so hard she had fallen on the ground and was rolling around.
"Oh...my... GOSH..." Mizu gasped with tears in her eyes. "Man, you should have seen your FACE! Hahahahaha, with your eyes as big as they were, it's a wonder you couldn't!!!"
"Hey!" Shadow stamped a hoof. "That wasn't funny at all!"
Mizu snorted. "Hehe, yeah it was!"
Victory whacked the cat on the back of her head. "Mizu, no it wasn't. You just scared the crap out of the poor guy. Besides, you know how many timberwolves are in these woods – and you don't speak Timbertalk. What if you just fucking summoned a whole pack of them here?"
Mizu laughed. "Yeah, right, Vic. I doubt I said anything in Timbertalk, let alone a call that indicated I wanted them to come he–"
She suddenly paused. Three things had caused her to stop talking. The first was the fact that everypony else had stopped talking, and were now staring at her with wide eyes. The second was the feel of something hot and humid on the back of her neck. The third was the additional feel of something sticky dripping onto her tail.
Mizu turned around very slowly.
When she did this, she came face-to-face with two glowing green eyes and a mouth lined with sharp thorn-teeth that was dripping tree sap drool onto her fur.
The hulking timberwolf opened said mouth and gave a deep, low growl.
"...Fucking son of a shit."
With those words said, Mizu took what could easily have been her last steps, twisting and shooting away from that mouth and far the hell away from the wolf.
"RUN!!!" Victory shouted, tearing after her cat. With a round of terrified cries and a bloodthirsty snarl, the remaining five ponies raced away from the timberwolf, who followed them close behind. In retrospect it might have been a good idea for the seven of them to split up and confuse the animal, but they were all terrified of separating and getting lost in the Everfree Forest. As it was, they all ran as a group until they miraculously lost sight of the wolf, a good half-hour of running later. They stopped in a clearing, huffing and puffing and on the verge of collapse, which is exactly what Mizu did.
Shadow saw her fall and snorted. "That's... what she... gets!" he huffed.
Onabe and Splitend had been the heads in the race, and were now leaning on each other for support. Being white-furred, the red in both their faces was very visible.
Not another word was spoken for several minutes as all of them got their breathing back to normal.
Splitend was the first to speak again, being the unofficial group leader. "I guess... we should start... setting up... camp," she panted.
"Are you... crazy??" Hiro shook his head. "We can't possibly sleep in here! This place is a d... damn death trap! We just now almost got killed!"
"We don't have much of a choice," Aver said, eyeing Splitend's map. "We aren't even halfway through this place and it's already getting even darker. By nightfall, it will be absolutely impossible to see in here."
"It's true," Splitend nodded.
"Damn... well, we need to get a fire going, then," Hiro stood and stretched his wings. "Timberwolves ARE made of wood, after all."
"Alright, you get firewood then. The rest of us will set up everything. Just... stay close. It's seriously dangerous out here,"Splitend cautioned.
The pegasus stallion nodded and trotted out of sight of his friends and back into the frenzy of twisted trees and vines that might or might not actually be poisonous reptiles. As he walked searching for dry wood, he looked all around him contemplatively. It all seemed so familiar...
Pleasant in an unpleasant way... like a nightmare he liked.
In this grove especially the feeling was particularly strong. He KNEW he remembered this place... there was a distinct memory tied to it. But...
The memory wasn't his...
"Ha!" Ivory sneered at him. "You can't do a thing to me. I know your sec-ret!~" She said it in a snide, sing-songy voice that only pissed him off more.
Hiro's head hurt. His mind was swimming with a memory that wasn't his...
And he knew whose it was...
He leaned aginst a tree and rubbed a hoof against his temple.
He snarled and grabbed the knife. With a flick of the pastern, he had it stuck straight into th tree's trunk. She was pinned there by the wing. He grinned. Bitch was stuck now.
"Quit..." Hiro moaned and leaned his head against the tree trunk. His eyes fluttered open.
There was a gash on the trunk.
Like some kind of blade had stuck into it...
He soared up to her and used the blades that tipped his wings to slice her skin open in a hundred different places and make her bleed. Ah, the sound of her screams...
Delightful music indeed.
"No.... Agghhhhhh!!!!" Hiro backed up several paces. "Quit! Don't... do this!"
She managed to rip herself free and tried to run. Oh, stupid little filly...
He grabbed her by the wings and rammed his head into her back.
The CRACK was such a satisfying one...
She fell to the ground, her wing barely attached anymore. They physical shock had rendered her unable to mke a sound. Pity, that meant he couldn't hear her screams fade away when she died.
Hiro's vision blurred. He saw red. Theyn he saw green. His eyes, normally a pale, nonthreatening red, suddenly fadd to gray, then flared a radioactive green.
He wrenched the knife from the tree and used it to pin her body there. He then sat to watch her struggles slowly cease as each passing moment the life slipped from her...
Pity there's never a popcorn machine when you need one.
He grinned. Not the normal, cheerful, happy grin he was known for, but a cold, cruel smile that showed off the sharpened, glistening fangs.
He blinked his green eyes and stretched. He shuffled his wings, tipped with razors thin as paper and sharp as wit itself. The shadows that emanated from his body like horrid tentacles melded with the shadows deepening the color of the Everfree Forest.
With a wry chuckle, Jad set off back to the clearing. He checked to make sure he had his favorite knife with him.
He did. Time to put it to good use.
"Oh, there you are, Hiro!" Splitend said to Jad as he stepped into the very edge of the large clearing. "Was getting a bit worried. You've been out there for a while..." She looked him over a second time. "Wait a second... where the hell is the firewood??? Don't tell me you actually forgot the whole damn reason you went out there in the first place!!!"
Jad didn't respond. He looked around the clearing with cool calculation. The one with the starry mane was being awfully annoying at the moment, it was true. Hmm, the white pegasus simply irked him, but boy, would she put up a struggle. No, he needed somepony he could kill easily. His eyes landed on the cute little unicorn tending the fire. What a precious little thing... how he HATED her.
Okay, then. She would die first.
Victory Dance made sure that the fire was going well before she stepped away. It was alright, but it needed more firewood. She turned and saw Hiro, who was supposed to bring said firewood. Why didn't he have it, she wondered a bit absentmindedly. She turned toward him, wondering if she should ask.
In a split second, he shot forward and tackled her, pinning her roughly to the ground, and not in the way she liked. She barely had time to yelp before the wind was knocked out of her. She looked up at Hiro confusedly – and didn't see Hiro. Hell no, this wasnt Hiro. Who WAS this? Would she live to find out? This imposter-Hiro grinned evilly and quickly drew a knife, raising his foreleg at an angle that made it evident he intended to slit her throat.
Oh Luna, I'm going to die...
She shut her eyes and prepared for the end, when suddenly the weight was lifted off of her with a WHAM! as Onabe barreled towards Hiro and kicked him in the head, sending him flying several yards.
"... I've always wanted to do that," she remarked.
"What... what just happened?" Victory asked, feeling slightly dazed.
"Grab him!" Aver cried, and he, Onabe, and Shadow pinned Hiro to the ground the minute he began to stir.
Hiro struggled under their weight and let out a muffled, "Wait! Lemme go!"
"Not after you just fucking tried to KILL Victory!!!" Aver shrieked.
Hiro managed to get his head free. "Gah! That wasn't me!!!"
"Bullshit!" shouted Shadow.
Victory sat up suddenly when she saw the red in Hiro's eyes. "Guys, let him go! He's telling the truth!"
The three ponies were so shocked to hear this coming from the victim that they relented at once. Hiro coughed and picked himself up, shaking the dirt from his fur and wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Victory, I..."
"That wasn't you," Victory said coldly. "What the hell was it?"
Hiro sighed and looked down. "THAT... is a very long story."
"We have all night, Hiro," Splitend said, tentatively stepping towards Hiro.
"Well... okay." The pegasus sat down and put his ears back. "You know what multiple-personality disorder is, right? Yeah? Well... I kinda got that. Except it's more than that. I have this pony... inside me. His name is Jad, and..." Hiro shook his head. "I sound fucking crazy... but Jad is a killer. And when he comes out... ponies suffer. I try to keep him bottled up, but something about this forest just makes him come out. When he does, I change. I know what's going on, but I can't control what happens." He sighed. "And now he just tried to kill Victory. Victory, I'm so so so sorry..."
He moved towards the smaller pony, but Victory instinctively shrank back.
"Not that long a story," she said.
"But you get that it wasn't me doing that, right?" Hiro pressed.
"I get it..." Victory gave him a slightly frightened look "But what did do it is still in you..."
Hiro slumped to the ground in despair. "I'm so sorry..."
Splitend stood. "I'm tired. We need to get food and get to bed before it's too late to see. Come on."
Slowly the ponies got up and finished preparations in near-total silence. Dinner was honey bread with applesauce. There were only five slices of honey bread. Hiro went without.
That night was nowhere near as peaceful as the first. Everypony had to stay up in shifts to tend to the fire that kept the animals away, but nopony slept anyway.
The next morning was also spent in uneasy silence. Breakfast was dried daffodils with butter. Hiro got the same as everypony else this time, but the other ponies were still very uneasy around him.
There was a bit of small talk exchanged as the seven of them went through the forest together, but not much. Nopony wanted to discuss the alicorn in the room. Eventually, though, it got to Hiro. He couldn't stand not discussing this. These were his FRIENDS, for pony's sake. And if he was wrong about that, well... better he leave the group early.
So he stopped in his tracks. At first he thought the other ponies were going to go on without him, the way they kept walking for several seconds after he stopped. Eventually they realized he wasn't walking among them, and one by one they turned to face him.
"I'm Hiro, dammit," he stated. "Not Jad. Hiro. I'm the same pegasus you guys have been with the past two days. There's absolutely nothing different about me! Just because I have this... other pony... in my body, doesn't make the REAL me any different. And if you can't believe that, then..." he sighed. "... then I don't belong here."
Hiro turned to leave and spread his wings. "Wait!" The voice behind him made him stop long enough for Splitend to speak.
"You can keep this... other side of you in check most of the time?" She said.
Hiro nodded.
"The Everfree Forest does strange things to a pony."
He nodded again.
"I don't have any kind of problem with you staying."
Hiro smiled. "Thanks..."
"We're cool, Hiro," Aver said with a casual shrug.
"I'm okay with you," Shadow nodded.
Onabe grinned. "I'm just looking for another excuse to kick you in the head. That shit was fun!"
Hiro smiled and rejoined his friends. "And... Victory?"
Victory Dance had been looking down at her hooves this whole time, but flinched slightly when Hiro drew near.
"I... I guess we should all go," she said flatly. From atop her back, Mizu flicked her tail over the pony's ear in an attempt to comfort her.
With that, they did. The next several hours were far less cloying than they had been, with the air cleared and the ponies able to smile at each other again. It was still the Everfree Forest, and they walked with caution until they managed to reach a space where the wicked trees recoiled to reveal a patch of beautiful creamy blue sky.
"He-hey, there it is!" Aver did a little hop when he saw it. "Gosh, I was starting to forget what this thing looked like. Splitend, where are we?"
Splitend consulted her trusty map. "It says we've crossed Everfree-"
There was a cheer.
"-and now we're entering Froggy Bottom Bog. Huh, cute name for such a putrid place..." She eyed the slimy swamp with evident distaste.
"Ugh, swamp sludge is even worse than WATER!" Mizu yowled and jumped onto Onabe's head. "It tastes soooo awful and never comes out of your fur...
"GET OFF OF ME."
"Sorry..." Mizu leapt down, hissing when she stuck her paw in a slime puddle.
"We can get through here," Shadow stepped over to a spot where there appeared to be a raised area. "The slime won't be near as thick."
With a collective grimace, the team went over to the spot where the raised area began.
"The ground is so awkwardly lumpy here," Victory commented.
"Yeah," Splitend pawed at the ground under about six inches of yuck. "It must be peat or something. It's squishy, but I can't dig into it."
"The raised ground is the widest over here," Shadow motioned his friends in one direction. "We can get to the other side from here, and back to dry ground."
"This is almost a direct tributary off of the Rio Canterlot..." Aver grumbled. "So why in the world is it so thick and goopy?" He suddenly tripped and nearly slid into a deep spot. "Oh gosh!"
"Hey," Onabe called. "The ground isn't so raised anymore..." She puttered around one side of the area. "Feels like there are some tree trunks or rotten logs or something here. They should reach to the other side."
"Cool," Splitend stepped onto one. "Gosh, it's slippery. Careful, guys!"
The six ponies split up so as not to break one log with combined weight. Onabe, Splitend, Aver and Victory each took a log and started walking.
"Ah – hey! Mine ended!" Victory cried.
"Yeah so did mine." Onabe shuffled her hooves. "Feels like I'm standing on a rock."
Splitend felt the lumpy surface beneath her, and started getting a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Feels weird..." Aver started jumping on the rock he was on.
Splitend whirled around. "No Aver, don't!"
It was too late. The rock beneath Aver's hooves suddenly lurched and raised up. Victory, Onabe and Splitend all felt their rocks raise as well, slowly moving back and forth as the slime dripped off of them.
Shadow gasped as he watch a patch of crud drip away from one to reveal a huge eye. "What is going on here???" He yelled.
"Don't you see, you idiots???" Splitend reared up as the head opened its mouth and roared.
"WE'RE STANDING ON A HYDRA!!!"