//------------------------------//
// Pod People 
// Story: Equestria Girls: Secrets Beyond the Stars 
// by GoldenGoomba900 
//------------------------------//

Everfree Forest, unlike its Equestrian counterpart was hardly magical or dangerous. Hiking trails lead throughout all but the most wooden of areas, letting those who wanted to see a bit of nature without actually risking the mauling, and see what all the fuss was about.

Finally out of School, Spike climbed out of Twilight's bag and began stretching himself out as the girls walked into the trail.
"Maybe it's just the fact i'm thinking at an eighth grade level now, but I'm starting to wonder if you might just wanna leave me at the dog park instead." He quickly caught up with them and matched their pace.

"Rainbow, you've been through these trails during track and field, would you know of anything strange on the trails?" Sunset asked, being sure to grab a few trail maps.
"Pshaw, of course! I know them like the back of my hand."
"Good, now there's a split coming up here, you, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy go to the left, Rarity, Twilight, Spike, and I will head to the right."
"Right!" All eight shouted before splitting up.

Pinkie, Rainbow, Flutter, and Applejack soon found themselves in the thickest, most dark part of the forest, as they went deeper in, the day seemed to turn into the darkest of nights. Fortunately, an occasional motion sensing lantern would light up once they got close enough. Unfortunately, it ended up scaring the tar out of Fluttershy. Every. Single. Time.

"Fluttershy, can you please stop that?" Rainbow asked, trying to deal with a headache.
"I dunno, I think it's kinda funny!" Pinkie giggled.
"It stopped being funny the third time." Applejack said as it happened again.
"I-it wasn't the light this time..." Fluttershy mumbled.
"Come again, sugarcube?" Fluttershy pointed to the ground, illuminated in the light, and what appeared to be insects swarming under them.
"Ew!"
"What in tarnation?"
"What the-?!"





While Spike sniffed around in the dirt, Rarity, Twilight, and Sunset discussed something else, in an attempt to keep themselves from growing too worried, too bored, or both.

"So I says to the dramas I says, how come we have to wear these drab, boring clothing, darling? And they say that the play is called Les Miserables! And so I tell them, well, no wonder they're so Miserables if they're dressed like this! And they tell me how it took place in one of the french revolutions! Well, I asked if there was any royalty, because I'd much rather know about them then these people and long story short they took me by my arms an-"
"BARK!" Spike interrupted, the three turning to him. "...Oh, sorry, old habit. I meant to say, look!" he pointed in the direction of a rather unusual oak tree. As the group moved forward, the humans would recognize a terrible stench. 

"Eurgh, what died back here?" Sunset asked. "Because it's probably been rotting since I-" She immediately shut up as she saw what was behind the old oak tree.
"Oh my goodness..." Rarity muttered.
"What... is it?" Twilight asked.

Before them was a massive, metallic pod, filled with a mysterious green liquid. A flashing red light on a thin metal strip hugged the curves of the object and it sat upright in a mysterious, almost mirror-like basin. As they got closer, the smell just got worse.
"It seems to be producing some kind of toxin." Twilight concluded.
"Is it dangerous?" Spike said, holding his nose with his paw.
"I'm not sure, but it's for the best we don't touch it..." Shimmer warned. Rarity took out her phone and took a few pictures as they backed away towards fresh air.

Taking deep breaths, the girls looked at the photos and tried to put their heads together.
"A healing pod?" Rarity offered.
"A large drink?" Spike asked.
"A clone incubator?" Twilight suggested.
"I've NEVER seen ANYTHING like that back in Equestria." Shimmer said. "Call the others, they need to see this."





The other girls had had a similar idea: taking out their phones as impromptu flashlights, they began scanning the area. "Well, the bugs seem to be heading that way." Dash muttered, pointing into the woods.
"Should we follow?" Fluttershy asked.
"Should w- Fluttershy, the answer is yes. Yes, we will follow." Applejack shook her head as the four began following the unusual migration.

Minutes passed, but the girls finally found something. Problem was, they had no clue what they'd found! It was a large, metal object that felt hot to the touch. Bugs and small rodents seemed unusually attracted to it in thin, orderly rows, crawling into a small crack between it and the ground. Pinkie began looking underneath while the others held a discussion.

"Well, that settles it." Rainbow says. "It's a UFO."
"We don't know that for sure... we don't know if it can fly." Fluttershy said in her passive tone.
"I'm with Fluttershy. For all we know there could be a bunch of free food on the other side of that wall and the critters are thinking with their stomachs." Applejack nodded.
"Yeah, in thin, orderly lines like it's the Solarite Onion."
"Um, I think you mean Soviet Unio-"
"Guys!" Pinkie interrupted, but trying to keep her voice quiet. "There's something under here!"

As the girls joined Pinkie's side, they all gasped.
"It's impossible."
"Is that...?"
"How?"

On the other side was a large green screen, with a flashing panel. On the screen was a display of Flash Sentry, staring right at the camera as he sat in a restaurant, laughing and enjoying himself as a hand from the camera-runner held his. Although they could only see the gloves, they all knew who it was.

"The new girl!"