The Everfree Forest: Where wild animals run amok and dictators never stay for too long...all in all a bit of a decent place, if you can get past the hordes of deadly creatures around every corner
The shadows that were inherent in the Everfree Forest ran deeper than those inside the library in the old castle, and the atmosphere out in the wilderness was on a whole new level. Twilight used her horn like a torch, lighting the way for the others as the group moved along as a collective huddle. The Forest was bad enough under normal circumstances, but on a night where zombies and undead warriors were springing up, it was almost impossible not to quiver and tremble as you walked along the dark wilderness paths.
"So, uh, it might be a good idea to ask before we run into anything too bad," Applejack said with some anxiety in her voice as a small group of bats flew over her head, prompting her to grab hold of her stetson and lower it, "so how exactly do you deal with an undead zombie, Dan? I'd imagine it ain't much like anything i've ever done," she added as the howl of timberwolves broke out in the distance.
Dan looked at the ponies for a brief moment with gentle and kindhearted derision before rolling his eye, but again more in a kind, mild surprise rather than contempt, and slumping down in his posture and shrugging, "Well...nothing special...generally a good few whacks and hacks with a sword will do."
"Oh dear, isn't there a more civilized way of dealing with those disgusting grave dwellers?" Rarity asked at the howl of another timber wolf and the roar of another beast that Rarity could not identify by sound, but it was obviously more intimidating and deadlier than the timber wolf.
"Fire's a bit messy, unless we're talking about mummies; best to get rid of their bodies before they get rid of your brain...if you have one," Dan explained, using his arms to emphasize his point better by having them move to the opposite side as he added in the last part of the comment. He elaborated in such a way that made him seem both eccentric and humble, but always with a hint of grace and wisdom, and the ponies all took a small instance to inch closer to Dan during the course of the next several minutes.
"If there is a connection between what's happening here and what happened back in Gallowmere can we expect many more enemies?" Twilight asked just before coming to an abrupt halt and turning right, for the road before them had ended as a cliff.
"I sure hope not," Dan quickly replied with hints of whining in his tone, and put his hands on his face as the painful memories of foes like the Mad Axeman and The Pumpkin King came back to him. However as a result of his moment of internal, and self-induced, purgatory, he did not catch the fact that Twilight had swerved right, and almost fell of the cliff and into the dark depths below, barely being caught by Applejack and Rarity, who proceeded to swiftly pull him back onto level ground.
"Uh...thanks," Dan lauded and chuckled after taking a moment to breath deeply, assuming he was breathing, and to let his eye return to normal proportions after his near fatal accident caused it to shrink within the socket, the mere sound and sight of which made Pinkie herself begin to laugh at the most unusual scene.
"Goodness, did it take this long to leave the Everfree Forest the last time?" Fluttershy asked, her body in constant motion, always looking over her shoulders and making sure nothing could sneak up on her.
"We're probably just nervous with all that's going on; I'm sure we'll be out in no time," Twilight replied with partially feigned confidence. She herself wasn't quite sure were she was leading the group, but she at least knew they were getting farther away from the castle and closer to the edge of forest. Hopefully they would find an exit sooner rather than later.
Most of the sounds of wildlife and danger grew quieter as the party trudged along through the lush vegetation of the forest and neared a large river. The waters provided a shield of sorts from the eerie noises that infested the Everfree, and the rushing current eclipsed most of the nearby sounds that unnerved them.
"We really should go on, but I think a few minutes resting here by the river would do us some good, what do you guys think?" Twilight asked, turning to face them.
"Well I'm a complete enthusiast for getting away from this forest as soon as possible, but I could use a few minutes rest," Rarity offered and looked over at some of the others, all of whom gave a more or less similar answer. Dan looked around the river nervously, placing his hand firmly on the hilt of the short sword at his side, and gave a slow and somewhat reluctant nod.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked as most of the other ponies went over to the river for various purposes.
"Hm? Nothing...just a feeling..." Dan replied, still keeping his hand on the sword hilt as he traveled over with the others to the water's edge, leaving Twilight with a look of uncertainty on her face.
Dan went over to the reflective surface of the water and inspected himself. His jaw was still missing and his eye still doing well, a fact he was very grateful for. His armor had forgotten the small layer of dust that accumulated during his time away, which though physically was suggested to be at least a good number of weeks, was for him but a few passing seconds. Caught up in the moment, he began to assume various positions and poses by the water, nothing embarrassing per se, but goofy enough to garner a giggle or two from some of the others, breaking him from his work.
Rarity herself had to suppress her chuckle from being too loud, and chose to have a moment of reflection for herself. As imagined, wandering through an unnatural forest during a zombie apocalypse took a toll on one's mane, and while Rarity understood the gravity of the situation, she refused to allow her basic standards of living, the ones she had followed and lived by the majority of her life, to be broken, even in such a crisis. She always had a fashionable tool or two with her and did the best she could with what she had, but it her mane was a bit more roughed up than she imagined. She stared intently at her own reflection in the water, pushing back everything else to attend to her own problem.
The others were mostly done and ready to get back on the trek to Ponyville, but Rarity, Dan, and Fluttershy were finishing up with their breaks when a small, swift irritation spawned in the water. Most of them didn't register the disturbance at all, and Dan himself only barely managed to react when the huge figure burst out of the water. Rarity screamed for only a second.
Dan drew his sword and ran at the huge creature, and it was 20 feet high if it was a foot! It didn't take long for this adventure to get rolling. He swung his weapon and prepared to deal some serious damage, but all of the sudden his blade stopped moving forward and was held in place by a blue glow.
"Oh dear! Whatever did I do?" The gigantic, hulking, monster, which Dan then realized wasn't much of a giant hulk-monster, cried out with a high tone.
"I appreciate the gesture Dan, but he's no threat. In fact I am quite charmed to once again make your acquaintance," Rarity told the purple sea serpent, whose name was then revealed as Steven Magnet.
"My, my, my it's wonderful to see you all again...no...not just wonderful...fabulous! But who's he?" Magnet greeted and subsequently inquired, pointing a purple finger at Dan, who stood awkwardly and stared at the sea serpent as it conversed with the group of ponies that brought him to Equestria.
"This is Sir Daniel Fortesque, the Hero of Gallowmere. He's come to help us save Equestria," Rarity explained, but before she could entirely finish her thought Magnet's face lit up and he immediately rushed down to properly introduce himself.
"Sir Daniel Fortesque, it is an honor to meet someone with such a noble cause," Magnet told the knight, energetically shaking Dan's hand, though to Dan himself it felt more like Magnet was prying his arm off, causing a look of mild distress to come across his skull.
Magnet made sure to hold the grip on Dan for a little longer than was necessary and gave a pleasant, if not awkward, wink and bright smile to the knight after he had finished. Dan merely let his eye shrink a little in the socket and looked over to Twilight with a clear look of discomfort on his face. Twilight's only response was to give a keen smile dipped in innocence as the serpent continued his greeting gestures.
"I can't tell you how much it means to me that you're here to help us," Magnet concluded, still smiling brightly at Dan.
"Thanks..." Dan replied and slowly nodded his head a few times.
"It's great to see you again Steven, but we have important matters to attend to, do you think you could direct us to the closest route out of the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asked when the greetings finally ended.
"Oh yes, I have a favor to ask of you all! You see, up ahead one of my neighbors, Zecora, has been fighting off undead soldiers for the longest time and I came to find help, after all, I'm not much good out of the water," Magnet explained, a look of true concern coming across his face for the first time since meeting the ponies again.
"What? Zecora's in trouble? Lead the way!" Rainbow answered before Twilight could say anything, prompting Fluttershy to get closer to Pinkie and the entire group of hitch a ride on Magnet's back as he carried them off towards his valiant neighbor.
"She's up on top of that hill," Magnet informed the group as the drew closer, pointing at a relatively large hill in the distance with many figures atop it, "she told me it was some kind of ancient burial ground, and now all the dead there have risen up to attack the Everfree.
"We'll help her save the forest!" Applejack assured the serpent, a certain unexplainable power rising in her voice and demeanour.
"Remember girls, Dan's the experienced one, so just follow his lead and stick close. We can't afford to mess this up," Twilight reminded and gestured for Dan to come to the front with her hoof. The knight accepted it with a nod after a moment of the slightest hesitation, drawing his sword and fastening his shield.
"This is where you get off, thanks so much for your help!" Steven called out and flung the group up towards the hill, barely managing to get the non-flyers up high enough for the pegasi to help everyone else up to the top of the hill.
The ponies looked towards Dan, who met their gazes and charged into battle, sword high and shield out.
Zecora was using a combination of zebra magic and physical ability to stay ahead of the undead warriors and zombies, but she was tiring and was quite relieved to find the mane six and their mysterious guest coming to her aid.
Dan was the first to strike, cutting the hind leg of a nearby undead stallion who promptly fell to the ground as the dark blue goop that was his blood gushed out, causing Fluttershy's and Rarity's spirits to break completely and cause the two to make a temporary retreat. Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack gutted through the images and went to work with their own tools.
Twilight used her magic to create a rolling sphere around a group of zombies and sent them hurdling over the edge of the cliff and into the rocks in the stream below. By this time Fluttershy had completely lost it and fainted, and Rarity was too shocked to fight, forcing Applejack to look after them while Rainbow and Twilight assisted Dan.
Rainbow flew around the warriors and they stubbornly swung their swords and spears at her as she dodged every attack, stalling for time as Dan cut through their ranks, sending the undead warriors back into oblivion. While Rainbow and Dan went for the warriors, Twilight made it to Zecora and helped her stave off the zombies that wandered into the Everfree, or in the more grisly situations, had died in some awful way inside the forest, and had finally risen up after years of being forgotten.
Magic proved to be an effective weapon against their undead foes, but Rainbow could do little more than distract and deter until she got her hooves on a weapon, her choice being a rather nasty looking mace from a foreign land. Pinkie had a similar problem until she found a large shield which she used as a battering ram, knocking down the undead so Rainbow or Dan could go in for the final strike. Remarkably, with no experience fighting such opponents, the ponies prove quite effective, always able to outmaneuver the undead enemies or strike them down before they could do the same to the living. Dan was quite impressed, and naturally took down more opponents than the others, but still found the time to give aid when somepony began struggling with the fight or was worn down too much to properly continue.
The undead warriors continued to swarm, but their numbers had been significantly reduced and the battle was turning in the favor of the group when a war cry rang out that made Twilight, Rainbow, Zecora, and Dan freeze up. From the distance, in the sky, it came again and a large, ferocious figure flew down towards the hill. The undead warriors did not waver in their assault and forced Dan and Rainbow into a small retreat to gain a better position against the newest foe, an undead manticore. Twilight, Zecora, and Pinkie headed back towards Applejack and the others.
The hulking lion with bat wings and a scorpion's tale held within it's blue, reanimated eyes, extreme hatred and violent power, and lunged forward to attack, trampling several zombies in the process. It was a very large specimen, easily larger and stronger than the one the Element users had encountered during the Summer Sun Celebration. The manticore knocked back Rainbow, who actually crashed down onto the hill and rolled right off the edge, towards the river, barely able to take flight before smashing into the rocks below like the zombies Twilight had sent down. Dan managed to roll to the side and evade a paw attack that probably could have knocked his upper body right off his legs.
Dan assumed a neutral position several feet away from the beast, and held his sword and shield up, ready to attack or defend at any moment. The manticore snarled and jumped up ferociously, going in for one powerful and fatal blow, but Dan rolled forward and dodged the attack, even managing to stick his blade into the manticore's side. A vile, green slime leaked out from the gaping wound as Dan hurried out of range of the manticore's mighty tail.
Twilight felt the need to help, but the undead swarm was still going after them, and Zecora, Rainbow, Pinkie, and AJ needed her help more than Dan did, at least for the moment.
Dan did not wait for another attack, rather this time, he attacked the manticore as it turned to face him, crashing his shield into the powerful swiping paw of the beast to create an opening. As the beast retracted it's foreleg and prepared to strike with the other, Dan jumped forward onto his knees and made a clean cut near the underside of the manticore's elbow. The creature lashed out with its other paw and found Dan's shield waiting for it, but this time the power of the manticore was too much for Dan, and the undead knight was knocked to his back. He managed to roll away and get to his feet before the tail came crashing down, rupturing the very earth itself.
Another swing of the tail forced Dan to duck, which he managed to do, but when the tail lashed out again immediately afterwards, Dan wasn't able to dodge, and though he defended himself with his shield, it was splintered and throne several feet away. In order to follow up successfully and hit Dan, the creature had to sacrifice some its power, but the force of the blow from the manticore's paw was enough to throw Dan a good ways backwards, and he landed on his back with a thud, and he could not keep a hold of his sword.
The zombie ranks were finally thinned out enough for Twilight to give Dan aid, and she left the group to deal with last remnants of the small army as she transported over to Dan, grabbing him and teleported a safe distance away from the manticore just in the nick of time.
"Are you alright?" She asked as Dan fidgeted with his skull, snapping it back into place and nodding as he was pulled up.
The undead manticore was facing the two already, its eyes analyzing the prey and deducing the best mode of attack. Dan was swordless and shieldless, but still had a few tools left, and pulled out several daggers as the monster before them snarled. With no warning it dashed towards the two, claws exposed and teeth ready to tear flesh and bone apart. Twilight almost teleported them both away, but was stopped by Dan, who shoved her out of the manticore's path and waited for the perfect shot to line up. As the beast made its final lunge for Dan, the skeletal knight let fly a dagger that stuck right into the creature's eye, causing it to crash into the ground and skid on the soil a few feet.
Dan wasted no time and ran for his sword a ways off as Twilight watched the manticore pull itself up.
"Keep it down!" Dan yelled out as she snatched his sword up and ran back towards the beast with more of a hurry than when he had left it.
Twilight's horn lit up and she levitated several large rocks onto the monster. The manticore growled and resisted the large stones that fell onto it as best it could. Twilight's plan was unsuccessful, however, and the manticore did manage to get up and try to take Twilight, but the lavender unicorn was able to teleport back to her allies, who had just dispatched the last of the zombies.
"We have to get it on the ground for Dan," Twilight told the others who prepared to play their part in the battle with the undead beast.
"Shouldn't be too hard," Rainbow said before shooting up into the air.
The manticore roared out in frustration and rage before staring down the group as Applejack and Pinkie took Rarity and Fluttershy to a safer location, leaving Zecora and Twilight to stand against the beast, with Rainbow still up in the air.
Just as it pressed down on the ground to begin its pounce, the manticore was stopped by Dan, who swung his sword as hard as he could into its tail, the green blood squirting out as the sword managed to penetrate the tail about half way through before Dan was knocked back again.
Capitalizing on Dan's move, Twilight fired a magical blast at the beast that didn't do much damage, but caught its attention enough for Zecora to blow a silver mist into the manticore's face.
"How long before that stuff works?" Twilight asked nervously.
"On a living soul my potion works right away, but this is the undead, the difference is night and day," Zecora replied as the exanimate manticore largely overcame the potion that was designed to knock out and paralyze for long periods.
"No worries, cavalry's here!" Rainbow called as she finally descended with such speed that she could hardly be seen.
Rainbow's flying kick to the head made the manticore fly back into the air and land roughly at the edge of the cliff. Rainbow landed and ran towards the beast, Twilight and Zecora close behind her. The kick was devastating and probably would have demolished a living being, but the manticore still had a little life left in it, and attempted to get back up and destroy the ponies and the zebra, along with their funny looking bone man.
Before anypony could arrive to keep it down and before the creature itself could get back to its feet, Dan rushed in with his sword and stuck it through the monster's throat. It was over, the fight was finished and a good portion of the undead masses in the Everfree Forest had been defeated, heck just maybe the entire undead army in the forest had been eradicated. It was a great relief to all involved.
"Your help is much appreciated indeed, please allow me to look after those in need," Zecora thanked Twilight after she introduced Sir Dan and the group dumped the body of the massive creature over the edge and into the rocks below. Twilight in turn thanked Zecora for taking in Fluttershy and Rarity, with Pinkie opting to stay with them as well to greet them when they awoke and were feeling better.
With that, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, and Dan once again headed back towards Ponyville, continuing in their grand quest to find Princess Celestia and stop the evil force that was destroying Equestria.
...
The group was worn out and tired, save for Sir Dan, who didn't really feel fatigue as much since being reanimated, but sweet victory was within their reach as the border of the Everfree Forest appeared within their lines of sight.
"Phew, I'm starting to think we should've just taken it easy today Rainbow," Applejack commented before yawning.
"You mean yesterday," Twilight corrected as the first rays of the sun came up and bled into the first few trees of the forest, also yawning after completing her statement.
"You guys tired? Pfft, I could go another trip through the Everfree!" Rainbow bragged playfully.
"Yeah, 'cause you take so many naps a day you get twice the amount of sleep anypony else does!" Applejack replied with a very similar tone; Twilight chose not to say anything else to them, but did smile at the antics of her friends. She did, however, want to talk with Dan, who was running his fingers over the break in his shield.
"Hey, Dan, can I ask you a question?"
"Hmm? Sure," Dan replied, turning his focus from his tool and to his ally.
"Well, you took a beating last night nopony could have, and we really thank you for being so noble, but...you still have a limit right? If you're hurt enough, will you...die twice like the manticore?"
Dan's view went from Twilight's concerned face down to his own body, a few new scuff marks sitting as badges of honor on his knight's armor.
"I suppose so...I'd prefer not to, though. I tried dying once...it didn't turn out so well," Dan replied motioning to his body and what he had become.
"Well then that makes you even more of a hero. Anyone can do something for others if there's no risk in it for that person, but to help others with the potential to lose everything is the mark of a real hero," Twilight complimented with a bright smile, to which Dan let a smile of his own, though not really a big one, come across his face.
At last the darkness of the Everfree Forest was behind them as the four stepped out into the light of Celestia's bright, morning sun and prepared for the next leg of this grand adventure of theirs.
"Thank you for being a hero, Dan...thank you for being a friend," Twilight told the knight as they saw Big Mac and Applebloom run out to greet the group from Sweet Apple Acres.
Well this quest started up lively, so to say. It was actually filled with a lot of dead people...ponies...whatever. After leaving the old, abandoned castle in the old, dark, woods we trekked through many a bush, stream, and animal droppings to finally arrive at a river. I used to think Gallowmere had some crazy critters, but after meeting a certain purple sea serpent (who i couldn't help but feel had a fancy for me, to which I am flattered but far from amused), I can safely say Gallowmere has nothing on this place; it's crazy here! Anyways, soon after we were carried off to an old graveyard where a zebra friend of theirs was giving a bunch of undead underlings the ol' what for. (This one definitely has Zarok written all over it) We joined in and I was just a little shocked that none of the ponies threw a spanner in the works. And to top it off they've got no opposable thumbs, what nifty bunch! Fought an undead manticore who proceeded to throw me about some after a well timed string of attacks. Thank goodness for these ponies; they might hurt the peeper a bit with their bright colored coats, but they sure can take the heat away when you're rubbing the dirt out of your teeth. Ended up sticking the manticore through like a pig at the butchers. Thankfully no one was interested in trying that particular cut of meat, the smell alone was so appalling I darn near fell into the river. That would've been fun...anyways, eager to see what happens next on this pony-filled adventure.