A wind billowed through the Everfree Forest.
The tall oaks and willows creaked and groaned under the weight of decades. Vines and weeds wrapped themselves around the roots, like parasites attacking a host. Colorful orchids and a rainbow of small florets danced in the cool breeze. Color rained down from the canopy of the Everfree, sending down speckled spots of light.
Even then, the forest was pitch-black. An impenetrable darkness radiated from the center of the forest, where the Everfree Deer thrived in relative peace and harmony. Besides the occasional twittering of birds or the croaking of frogs, the forest was silent. No voices to disturb the deep rumblings of the trees, no hoofsteps to shatter the delicate rhythm of nature. None were there to acknowledge this ominous breeze, carrying a scent of ponies and the danger that they come with.
Or so it would seem that none were there to acknowledge it.
A large bush-like plant shuddered, and the twisted trunk unravelled itself in order to reveal something much more than a common plant.
Four long, slender roots pulled themselves out of the ground and rested their flat bottoms upon the dirty forest floor. The leaves of the bush drew themselves into the creature's body, revealing a thick skin of green and brown bark. The top of the body rose up, and a pair of glimmering blue eyes opened. A blue light gleamed from within the creature's abdomen, illuminating various roots and tendrils that make up its body. Several strands of vine stiffened formed a rudimentary mane of scraggly twigs. The dryad whiffed at the air as a pair of flowers bloom on its stiff mane as various grasses grow out with the long, unruly tail.
The dryad recognized the smell that had awoken it. It's a smell those few dryads that remain have come to fear. The smell of smoke. That didn’t quite make sense, considering how it was early autumn, and it was far too humid for any kind of spontaneous combustion. The dryad knew immediately that it would have to investigate.
Another dryad, a younger one, stepped up beside the elder. The younger unfurled several vines from it's back and tugs at the other. Blue lights emit from within both creatures as they acknowledge each other.
"Resin?"
The younger spoke in soft tones, like a rustling of leaves. The younger's feminine voice tinkled across the clearing, the raw magic in her words caused several trees to shudder in anticipation and a family of birds to twitter merrily.
"Alga? Why have you woken?"
The elder's, Resin's, voice was rougher, but it was calming all the same. The greater's voice was reminiscent of the subtle creaking of an ancient oak. The younger, Alga, shuffled a root-leg and looked down in embarrassment.
"You know that the sun will not rise for a long while.” Resin said, “Every sapling needs their sleep."
"Why are you up, Resin?"
"Do not worry about what I am doing.”
“But-”
“No ‘buts’. You are still under five thousand moons old. You must remain dormant until the sunrise. That is the rule."
"I'm over four thousand and a half!” Alga countered indignantly. “Isn't that old enough?"
"No, and when I was four thousand moons old, I listened to my elder. And my elder wasn't nearly as nice to me as I am to you. Need I remind you of your great-grandmother Xylem?"
"It's almost sunrise anyways! It'd be dumb to fold myself back up just to wake up again in a little bit. Can't I stay up with you?" She batted her shining blue eyes in a desperate plea, "Pleeeeease?"
"Alga, do not test me. Saplings must always listen to their elders. Now go dormant, and I'll awaken you when it is time to sun ourselves." Resin stood tall, enough to be adamant, but not enough to be menacing.
Alga scowled, a frown etching itself across the tender bark on her face. She listens, rearranging herself once again to resemble a bush. Other than the occasional grumble of irritation, she complied.
Now satisfied, Resin made his way through the woods, following the scent of smoke. Unknownst to him, Alga remained awake and watched him leave the clearing. She unfurled herself once he was out of sight and looked about eagerly.
Alga loved her uncle, don’t assume she doesn’t. Resin tended to be a little too strict in Alga’s opinion. She was an adventurous spirit, and Resin didn’t seem to want her to do anything fun. So as soon as her uncle had left her, she had leapt up and proceeded to sniff at the air like he had been doing only moments prior.
The younger dryad didn’t quite smell the smoke that had alarmed her uncle.
Instead she smelled something that intrigued her far more than some boring old fire would. It was a natural smell, yet at the same time not so. There was sweat, and there was something a bit more earthy too. And for some reason, it smelled far too floral to actually be any species of flower that Alga recognized. Unknownst to her, the scent that she had been contemplating was that of ponies.
* * * * *
* * * * *
Resin had walked for about half an hour before coming across the blaze.
He had fought his fair share of forest fires. Mostly ones that were only natural burns, for when the forest decided it was time to clear out a patch of older woods to make room for younglings. Resin didn’t exactly like destroying the forest, but it was something that had to be done. And because he and Alga were possibly the last dryads in the Everfree, there wasn’t anyone else to do it. He hated fire. But he had to deal with it. It was a part of his job.
But instead of seeing the regular red and yellow forest fire, he was surprised to see that this one was an unnatural, sickly green. There was something very unnatural about this fire. The dryad could clearly see that these were no mere spouts of flame. This was an act of arson.
Resin studied the fire from a distance and decided that this was the work of a spell of some sort. Obviously one meant to clear away the wildlife and the brush. Resin leapt into action, summoning water from the deposits within the trees. The fire died down some, but not completely.
A few creatures came scurrying out from the hellfire. To his horror, many were burned severely. Bluebirds and cardinals called into the inferno for their chicks, and were only met by the panicked sounds of many more animals trapped within.
The dryad stepped boldly towards the flames, only to cringe away as raw heat licked at his leaves. There was little chance that he could fight off a blaze this severe all by himself. He couldn’t just leave the flames as well. A naturally-occurring forest fire is good, it clears space for young plants and new sprouts. But this magical fire was the very opposite.
Resin looked up at the wall of fire and contemplated his very limited options. He was worried that he would have to evacuate the forest if the fire couldn’t be controlled. Maybe the Deer Tribes could help him. Or even a few dragons. Resin know for certain that he would definitely not be going to the ponies for help.
A rogue wind blasted through and sent several plumes of smoke into Resin. He gagged at the taste, but still drank up the toxic soot in an almost futile attempt to protect the forest surrounding the fire.
A small fawn stumbled out of the blaze; it had a few scratches and slight burns, but was otherwise okay. Resin continued to absorb the smoke, giving the fawn a small path to escape the fiery prison.
“Get over here!” Resin choked, gesturing with several vines towards his underside.
The fawn skittered over towards Resin and leapt underneath his roots. Resin grew his vines around the young deer, becoming something like a protective bubble of wood and greens.
The fire wafted over onto Resin, and he winced in pain. His glowing blue core shone even brighter, coating him in a thin layer of raw magic. The layer then exploded outwards, and the fire was extinguished in a large circle around him. Resin quickly uprooted himself and dragged the crying fawn along with him as he galloped out of the blaze. Sure, he could stop a fire in that way, but he was nowhere near powerful enough to stop this inferno.
“Are you okay, kid?” Resin asked the baby deer after they had gotten a safe enough distance away.
“I’m not a kid… I’m a fawn.” The little one, a buck, whined. “I want my momma!”
“I’m sure you do. What Tribe are you from?”
“Whitetail?”
“Are you certain?” Resin asked, raising his brow as he tended to the charring that was beginning to form on his bark. He hoped that he hadn’t damaged his sapwood, which was practically the blood vessels for a dryad.
“Uh huh.” The fawn nodded his head weakly. The stress was probably catching up to the youngling as the effects of adrenaline wore off.
Resin lifted up the fawn with several vines and placed it gently on his back.
“Let’s get you home, then. Do you know where your Tribe is?”
“Uhhhh… no, sir.”
“Great.”
* * * * *
* * * * *
"And so you see, Princess Twilight! Something lurks out here in the night!"
The melodic tones of the zebra mare resonated across the woods.
The scent of burning wood still hung in the air, and a thin blanket of smog clouded about between the remaining trees. The Everfree Forest had never felt so empty to the ponies accompanying the zebra. They weren’t accustomed to seeing the forest damaged. They were more used to seeing the forest dealing the damage instead. But even the ponies could feel the forest’s pain.
The pair of ponies looked altogether out of place in such a harsh wilderness such as the Everfree Forest. The taller pony mare was a lavender Alicorn bearing a cutie mark in the shape of a shining star. The smaller mare was a soft yellow Pegasus, who seemed content to hide behind her pink mane. Together, the three stood in the dusty ash staring at the smouldering remains of a hut.
"It is a creature that I seek, one who may no longer be so meek. A creature of legends I have always found mad; Princess have you, pray tell, heard of a dryad?"
"A dryad?" the Pegasus squeaked in alarm, "I thought dryads were nice! They seemed so nice in the stories... Th-They don't hate ponies, do they Twilight?"
"No, no," the Alicorn, Twilight, answered. "Dryads are just protectors of the forest. They used to live here in multitudes. But when ponies moved in, the dryads were forced into what little forest we left standing. It's understandable that some adult dryads would be resentful of ponies, but none are aggressive. But nowadays they're pretty hard to come by. It’s kinda hard to believe that a dryad would want to burn down your hut, Zecora. It kind of goes against everything they stand for. Are you sure it wasn’t an accident?"
"No. If what you say is true," the zebra muttered icily, "then what of these weeds that just grew?"
The zebra pointed an angry hoof at the ground near the ruins of her home. Twilight looked at the peculiar vines that were waving about crazily, many of these vines were slowly inching their way towards the unaware Pegasus. Twilight shot a magic spell from her horn and the plant recoiled. The Pegasus, meanwhile, shot up into a tree and out of reach of the vicious plants with a squeal of fear.
"I'm not sure, Zecora. Could they just be an undiscovered species? Or maybe they’re plunderseeds. You know, the stuff that attacked Ponyville a long time ago?"
"No, for mischief was had," The zebra, Zecora replied. "This is the handiwork of a dryad!"
"I understand why you're angry that your house burned down, Zecora. But we really shouldn’t jump to conclusions like this. Maybe I can go back to castle and read up on dryads. I don’t know all that much about them, and I’d like an unbiased view on them, no offense." Twilight smiled at Zecora, who did not return the gesture. "So Zecora, if you feel like remaining in the forest is too dangerous, you can always come to stay at my castle. My doors are open for anypony."
The zebra only nodded.
"So," Twilight said, looking about the forest, "dryads, huh? That's fascinating. I've never met a dryad before. Have you, Fluttershy?"
The pegasus shook head.
"No, never! I've heard stories about them ever since I was a filly, though. My grandmother always told me that they were tenders of the woods and guardians of the wild. They've always sounded so beautiful..."
Zecora snorted but said nothing.
"Well, let's get back to town. I don't like staying here for too long. We don’t want to be Timberwolf food... or plant food, for the matter."
Twilight beckoned for the others and they followed the princess as they trotted together down the path back to the town of Ponyville. Behind them, a pair of glowing blue eyes watch them leave.