The foreboding wood stood before them; a tangled mess of mossy trees and brush. The only sound emanating from it was the chirp of crickets and occasional frog.
"Lovely." Spike deadpanned slightly.
"Woo-hoo! Let's go!" Pinkie cheered, starting her way towards the treeline.
"Hold on, Pinkie." Twilight cut her off, "Look, I'm not saying the offer isn't appreciated, but I'd really prefer to do this on my own.."
"Wrong, Twilight Sparkle." Spike set a hand on her shoulder, "If you think I'm letting you go in there without somepony to watch your back, you are dead wrong."
"What? But, Spike; your injured!" She pointed to his wing.
"I'm fine, Twi. It's just a welt." He chuckled, wincing a little when he moved it some "Had worse happen when I was learning to fly."
She hesitated briefly before relenting.
"And that goes double for us, Sugercube." Applejack stated, "There's no way we're letting friends of ours go into that creepy place by themselves. We're sticking to you two like caramel on a candy apple!" The others murmured in agreement with her.
"Especially if there's candy apples in there!" Pinkie added, running to catch up, "Those things are GOOD!"
Twilight looked back at him and sighed in resignation.
He simply shrugged before they followed them in.
---------------------------------
"Um, s-so none of you have ever been in h-here?" Spike asked, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.
"Oh, goodness no!" Rarity replied, "J-just look at this place; it-it's horrible!"
"Ain't natural is what it is." Applejack added, "Folks say it don't act the same as the rest of Equestria."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight looked around uneasily.
"Nooopony knows." Rainbow Dash said in a spooky tone, grinning as she stalked towards Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, "Ya know why?"
"Rainbow, knock it off!" Applejack scolded.
Rainbow ignored her, "'Cause nopony who's ever come in...has ever...come...OUT!"
If she hoped to scare them, she didn't get to see, because at that moment, the ground they were on suddenly gave out from under them. Rainbow and Fluttershy were able to go airborn, but the rest of the group were sent screaming as they slid down a steep cliff!
"Hang on!" Digging his hooves and claws into the dirt, Spike tried to use the traction to kick off into the air. When he tried to throw his wings out, however, he was hit with a cracking sensation in his wing's wrist joint, followed by a splitting pain that made him almost double over, "AH, my wing!Her spell hit me harder than I thought!" He bit back the cry of pain as he tried to extend it again, "Feel's like it's broken! Looking up, he was relieved to see the two pegasi had gotten Pinkie and Rarity out of there, but Applejack and Twilight were still going...straight towards a sudden drop; and the pain in his wing was making it impossible to focus on a teleport! With no other option, he dropped onto his back and slid after them.
By sheer luck, Applejack had managed to latch onto an exposed root. Twilight on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate, slipping almost all the way off and scrabbling to try and pull herself up. Seeing the situation, Applejack resumed the slide, "I'm coming!" Thankfully the root slowed her down enough to stop early and grab Twilight's hand.
"Applejack!" She grunted, trying to get a hoofhold on the rocks, "What do I do?!"
The farm pony glanced around as if searching for an answer before looking her in the eye, "Let go."
"WHAT!?" Twilight glared, "Are you out of your mind!?"
"No. I promise, you'll be safe."
"That's not true!"
"Now listen here; what Ah'm sayin' here is the honest truth." She replied in a reassuring tone, "Let go and you'll be safe."
Twilight was prepared to say she was nuts, but for some reason she couldn't help but feel a measure of trust at what was said. With a second glance to Applejack, she took a deep breath...
And followed the advice.
"Twilight!" Spike yelled when he saw her slip over the edge, twisting around as he reached Applejack to look down.
"YAAAHHH!" Twilight screamed as she plummeted down. (Though she trusted Applejack's word, it still didn't mean the fall wasn't scary!) She wasn't sure how long she fell, but she was aware enough to feel her descent suddenly slow down. Risking a look, she cracked open an eye to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had a hold of her.
Well, they did after Fluttershy lost her grip for a second, "Eep! Sorry girls." She apologized, "I'm not used to holding more than a bunny or two.
On the way down, Twilight watched Applejack descending with Spike right behind her, though the fact he wasn't flying gave her cause for concern.
"Twilight, are you ok!?" He asked once they were all together.
"I'm all right, Spike." She looked back at him, "But what about you? How come you didn't fly down?"
"I'll be fine. That spell just left me grounded for a while, that's all." He replied, doing his best to look normal.
She stared at him for a moment that felt like an age to him, "Well....all right. But if that really does start bothering you, say something, ok?"
"I will." He nodded. However, he had a feeling Applejack didn't quite buy it, judging from the slightly suspicious look she gave him before they moved on.
---------------------------------
"And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe, WHOOSH!" Rainbow boasted, doing a barrel roll right above Twilight as she did, "Me and Fluttershy loop-the-looped around and wham! Caught ya right in the nick of time!" She added, landing with a flourish.
"Yes, Rainbow, I know." Twilight had to resist the urge to deadpan that sentence, "I was there. And I'm very grateful, but we..."
*THUMP*
She was cut off by the sight of a large lion-like beast in their way, sporting wings and a scorpion tail, "A manticore!" She gasped before it let out a fearsome roar! "We gotta get past it!"
With that, six out of the seven charged.
Rarity struck first, dodging its swipe and hitting it in the face with a back kick, "Take that, you ruffian!" She yelled triumphantly.
It quickly retaliated with another roar, point-blank in her face and turning her mane into curled up wad on her head.
"My hair!" She screamed, running before it could do anything worse.
"Wait...!" Fluttershy called out, but it was too soft for anyone to really pay attention
It started to give chase, until it felt something land on its back.
"Ye-haw!" Applejack yelled from on top as it tried to shake her off, "Get along lil doggie!"
"Wait!" Fluttershy tried again.
After a few jumps and shakes, the manticore managed to toss her off with a hard buck. "All yours, Dash." She commented, sailing past the speedster.
"I'm on it!" Rainbow saluted, blasting past Fluttershy--who, again, tried to call out "Wait!" But to no avail.--to literally fly high-speed rings around the creature, attempting to dizzy it.
It almost worked...until it got in a lucky hit with its tail to knock her out of the air and skidding to a halt in front of the others.
"All right! That's it!" Twilight said, "One-on-one with this thing isn't working at all!"
"She's right." Spike stared the monster down, "We're going to have to hit him all at once! On three; ready!?"
"WAIT!" Fluttershy screamed, jumping in front of them.
The others looked at her in confusion as she walked up to the manticore, who quickly reared up.
"Fluttershy!" Spike yelled, readying a spell to blast it...
"Shhh, it's ok." They all heard her coo gently.
Only to stop dead, his jaw dropping, "Wha..??"
The rest looked on in slight amazement as she lightly nuzzled its paw. The manticore looked her, then its paw before holding it out to her, showing a large thorn embedded in it.
"Oh! You poor little thing!"
"Little!?" Rainbow Dash and Spike responded in unison.
"Now, this might hurt for just a second." She said, taking hold of the thorn and giving it a quick pull.
The manticore quickly picked her up, letting out another loud roar as it did...then proceeded to lick her face, purring happily.
"Ooh, you're just a little kitty, aren't you? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!" She giggled.
"How is she DOING that!?" He whispered, "That's a frigging MANTICORE! A large, cranky chunk of fauna! Just...I mean...it's...HOW!?"
The other girls took this moment to quickly move past, pulling a still slightly dumbstruck Spike with them.
"Fluttershy, how did you know about the thorn?" Twilight asked once they were all by.
"I Didn't." Came her answer, "Sometimes we all just need a little kindness."
Twilight furrowed her brow in though briefly, then simply smiling before following.
---------------------------------
"Any idea how far we've gone?" Spike asked as they continued their trek, "Feels like we've been going for miles."
"I wish I knew. The Everfree's never really been measured." Twilight answered him.
"Either way, I hope we get there soon." Rarity threw in her two bits, "My eyes need a rest from looking at all this awful muck." Her wish was answered when the forest canopy quickly became too thick for the moonlight to pass through, leaving them in complete darkness, "Well...I-I didn't mean literally!"
"Ugh, we could be right by the ruins and not even know it!" Twilight muttered as they all began feeling about blindly.
"Oof!"
"Hey! Watch it!"
"That tickles!"
*squish*
"Wait, Ah think Ah stepped in something."
It was then that Fluttershy let out an ear-splitting scream.
"It's just mud..." Applejack said, until she turned and saw exactly what made the pegasus shriek:
Right in front of her stood a monstrous, fang-lined maw.
"Ah!" She yelped, jumping back.
They quickly realized there were more; all around them were malevolent, snarling faces, every one of them baring jagged teeth and mouths large enough to fit a pony.
And they were all surrounding them.
"No one said this place was HAUNTED!" Spike screamed, joining the others in their fright.
Well, most of them. The screaming died when they began hearing laughter of all things: Pinkie Pie was standing in front of one the faces...
Giggling her head off and making silly faces back at it, "Rawr! Blblbl! Hehe!"
"Pinkie! What are you doing!?" Twiligh hollered, "Run!"
She simply laughed, "Oh girls, and Spike, Don't you see?"
Suddenly, a surprisingly upbeat tune began to play.
Spike looked up, "Does anyone else hear that?"