//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Unforeseen Consequences // Story: Legacy of Kain: Harmony's Rise // by Time Reaper //------------------------------// Ponyville and Equestria was saved, the danger of Nightmare Moon was stopped thanks to the work of Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, the new Elements of Harmony who purified Nightmare Moon and turned her back into the Princess Luna but, to the few ponies aware of it, the return of NIghtmare Moon wasn't the only thing that happened that especial day at Ponyville. Indeed, something else happened that day, something that went unnoticed by many ponies and the few that did noticed it, preferred to not say anything about it (at least until they could tell what exactly was that current "something") but to explain it better, we must first understand what they saw, or at least, what they understand to have seen: The first pony to ever notice this other event was the princess of the Sun herself, Princess Celestia, in the middle of the night and when the return of her cursed sister was close to begin. While she was waiting for the return of her corrupted sister, Celestia saw a creature like no other: its wings were broken and rendered useless, it stands in two legs, its extremities ended in claws (with 3 claws each extremity), it looked like it didn't had a skin and for some reason its muscles were blue. It certainly was something like never seen before but what she noticed the most, and what she feared the most wasn't the creatures appearance, it was what she felt around the creature: the closer she got to the creature, the more she would feel its power (high to the levels of herself or even those enemies that should not be named) and the aura it emanated expelled a sense of dread, decay and death. The discovery of this being lead a series of questions to Celestia that which answers she really needed: had this creature been lurking around Canterlot or was it something new? If it was lurking around Canterlot, for how long and why? How could it be that her little ponies hadn't noticed it? But the question that plagued Celestia's mind the most (almost as much as her Sister's return) was the entity's motives. To put it simple, What were this creature's objectives? Celestia would never know for it disappeared as fast as she discovered it and Celestia wouldn't know anything else about it until hours later. It was while Celestia was celebrating the return of her sister. While Celestia was brimming with joy for the return of her sister, while she was in ecstasy for seeing the smiling faces of her little ponies, while she was seeing the ponies being so cheerful for the new princess and the 6 heroes that saved the day. It was during that huge party that Celestia would feel again that sense of dread. It was too distinctive and specific to not remember it and, to her worries, that foreboding aura was coming from the Everfree forest. The White Princess of the Sun, ruler of the day, felt fear for this, she didn't know what was this apparition neither what could this creature be doing in the Everfree Forest or if it was involved with the return of her sister. Could that terror decide to transform the forest into its new residence? If so, in how much danger were her ponies with such creature lurking so close to them? Celestia would try to do something about it, but not right now. She was celebrating the return of her sister and the victory of her student with her new friends, she would not ruin the moment of her beloved ones neither potentially scare the town that has just come out of one fear. Granted The Alicorn Princess would keep an eye on the forest during the party and, hours later, she would later send a letter to Twilight warning her that she felt something in the Everfree of unknown danger and that, unless extremely necessary, she nor anypony else could enter the forest until she could be certain that it was safe again to the ponies or, at least, as safe as the Everfree Forest could be. The biggest sign of distrust from Celestia to this creature would be reflected through sending tickets to Twilight for the Grand Galloping Galla so at least she and her friends could be safe from that creature for a day, but until that day happens, she would have to figure out what was that creature and what were its intentions. While Princess Luna wasn't the second pony to notice the creature, she is the second most important pony that noticed him. She is also one of the two ponies (the other one being Twilight Sparkle) that knows the name of the creature, Raziel, and it's identity: "The Angel of Death" she muttered in her personal room while remembering her fight with Raziel during her moment as Nightmare Moon. In that moment, Princess Luna thought that the title "Angel of Death" was just that, a title, but seeing him while Ponyville was celebrating the defeat of Nightmare Moon (when Luna perfectly remembered having vaporized him) sent shiver down her spine. She could still remember his power and his craftsmanship during the battle. The Soul Reaver was just as strong as her in terms of raw power, Luna could still remember the pain inflicted upon her with that magical sword, and the Princess of the Night couldn't ignore the possibility that the wraith was just containing himself. This lead Luna to have a huge fear over it, to the point that she didn't want to mention said creature to Celestia just to avoid the possibility of have her sister fighting a creature that could end her. But his craftsmanship, the second thing that made him so dangerous, couldn't be ignored. Raziel showed a lot of intelligence and strategy by always managing to find a way to counter any trick or move Luna tried to do against him and he even managed to trick her in the fight, he had a very bright mind to fight under any circumstance, whether it was having the advantage or having a disadvantage on the encounter with danger, and who knew what other tricks was holding the Reaper during that battle (if Raziel was as brilliant on the battle as he was talking, then Luna was, kinda, glad to have ended the fight so fast on that first encounter) which was just another reason to not tell anything to her sister, Luna didn't wanted to risk the possibility of losing her sister on a fight against such a dangerous individual. And now that Luna knew of Raziel's immortality she was even more afraid of him. this meant that no matter how much could Luna try to finish him, the Reaver of Souls would always come back from the death. He had enough power to face her and he was capable to keep the fight until she died of exhaustion or until he could find the right tactical move to fight her, In other words, Raziel would always win any fight on the long run, he always had the upper hoof, and now Luna didn't wanted to know if the "Soul Reaver" part was actually true, just thinking about it made shivers run down her spine. But did she really had to fight or be afraid of him? He already said that he fought for the good of Equestria, and the fact that he didn't engage her in the party could have been proof enough of that, on the other hoof, maybe he just didn't recognized her due to her appearance being so different in the party compared to how she looked as the Nightmare... regardless of which part it was the reason of him not engaging her, Luna would be wary of him for now and, if possible, she would try to be on his good side the next time they met. After all, who wants to be an enemy of death itself? There were also others who, while not as important in our story (for now), they also noticed Raziel, but not directly, such as Fluttershy: The shy pegasus, while never saw, interacted, or felt the direct presence of the Soul Reaver, she did felt his presence in the forest. Fluttershy never told anypony about it, but she noticed that there was something else besides Nightmare Moon while she and her friends were exploring the Everfree Forest. She never traveled to the forest due to how dangerous it was, but the animals of the forest did came to her for her medical and food care, and Fluttershy always had an easy way to understand the animals. So Fluttershy was aware of how the animals of the Everfree felt on a daily basis and her animals were showing her great fear regarding the forest, as if something foreign decided to live in it. But this was just the assertion that she needed, the butter colored shy pegasus could still remember when she and her friends entered into the Everfree Forest and while Fluttershy felt the dread of the forest, she also felt a different kind of dread. This was the kind of dread that any animal feels when they were being chased by a predator. Of course, it was natural to detect this kind of dread being a pony inside the Everfree Forest, but what wasn't normal is that even Manticores were feeling that same kind of dread, Fluttershy still remembered the warning she received from that Manticore she helped by taking out a splinter of its paw. If Manticores were among the most dangerous creatures on the forest, then why would Mr. Manticore be so afraid that (after getting the splinter out of his paw) he would urge her and her friends to run? What would be capable of making Timberwolves to run? What would be capable of making a the Forest look so much more dangerous without even being so noticeable? Whatever it was, it was also capable of burning Timberwolves down to a crisp. And that wasn't even mentioning the chills that run down her spine in the moment she entered into the forest the day she and her friends went to confront the Nightmare or that, days after the defeat of Nightmare Moon, each day there were more and more animals from the Everfree trying to migrate to other places of Equestria. She only hoped that said animals didn't caused any problem in their new homes. "What was going on?" She wondered in her cottage that was being filled up with, each day, more and more animals. She once tried to mention this to her friends, but Pinkie Pie didn't seem to understand her worries and just told them that "a cupcake would fix the situation soon"; Applejack shrugged it off as "more reasons to get away from the everfree forest"; Rainbow Dash said that it didn't mattered because She "would handle it and, whatever it was, any danger that dared to enter Ponyville will meet the hooves of the fastest flyer in all of Equestria", Rarity said that "that's not something ladies talk about in the open, perhaps in a more... private place..." But said conversation would never come with Rarity diverting the conversation on any gossip she could find out and Twilight... well... whenever it was mentioned the Nightmare Moon incident to Twilight, she would always get very sad, Twilight would try to fake it, but it was too evident. Fluttershy wanted to help her but she didn't wanted to pressure on the matter, she would wait until Twilight decided to open up. Fluttershy wasn't sure of what to do, but she hoped that whatever it was, it wouldn't be dangerous for either her, her friends or her animals, and that, for now, she would try to spend more time with her friends while helping as many animals as she could and she would try to stay away from the Everfree Forest as much as she could (and maybe prepare for the Grand Galloping Galla). Applejack was perhaps the only pony of the elements of harmony who didn't notice Raziel's presence at all (with the possible exception of Pinkie Pie whose mind is too complex to understand) even though there were signs telling her that something was going on: she shrugged the chills that she felt when entering into the Everfree Forest thinking that, either, Nightmare Moon or the Forest itself were trying to scare her; she ignored the warnings from the Manticore and the Snake River and not even the ashes of the Timberwolves convinced her that something was going on; she hadn't thought anything was wrong when the cows told her that "something" scared them and caused them to go into a stampede; the only thing she was worried about was about her friend Twilight who was getting each day more and more depressed and she didn't knew what to do about it. Applejack already had a lot of chores on her lately (the Applebuck Season took a lot of time for her, and while she was thankful that Twilight decided to help, it would have been better if Twilight also decided to search for help) and now she had to worry about her best friend getting saddened by something, Applejack would later reunite with her friends to try and ask Twilight why she feels so bad but, for now, she would try to help her friend to feel better doing whatever she could, maybe the Grand Galloping Gala would help her to feel better. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were more in between, when it came to notice the presence of Raziel: On one hoof, they shrugged off the chills when they entered into the forest, but they did noticed that something was off in the Forest through other means: Rarity through the River Snake, who told her and her friends that "The Forest has become more dangerous than ever before", Rarity (and probably Fluttershy) took the hint while the others didn't seem to understand it while Rainbow Dash noticed it through her Ex-Friend Gilda who told her about a little experience she had when passing through the Everfree just before getting to Rainbow's house. Both of them decided that maybe it wasn't something big: Rarity thought that it probably was a new monster that decided to take a residence in the Everfree (which she wouldn't have to worry about just by not going into the Forest) while Rainbow Dash decided that any monster that tried to hurt her friends would meet her hooves. But Twilight Sparkle was the one that was the most affected about Raziel: After meeting him she started to backtrack her steps from the moment when she entered into the Everfree Forest and realized that Raziel was behind everything: He was the cause of the Forest's dread as the River Snake and Fluttershy told them in their journey. Twilight never felt chills like that in her life and, while she originally thought that it probably was either the Forest or Nightmare Moon herself, she learned that it probably was the creature that claimed to be death itself the one causing something like that. The manticore was probably scared of Raziel and Twilight was very sure that (while she didn't saw it during his fight with Nightmare Moon) Raziel was the one who burned to a crisp the Timberwolves deducing that, if Raziel was capable of using telekinesis on Nightmare Moon, then he should have known a fire spell. And now he was dead... On one hoof, it kinda sucked that the creature that claimed to be the living embodiment of death was murdered, it didn't helped a lot to his reputation. But on the other hoof, he was a good... thing... he not only tried to help her to defeat Nightmare Moon, but he even gave his life for her, a complete stranger that, along with the fact that Twilight did nothing to stop his death, was part of the lesson she learned that day: to trust others and accept the friendship of those who wants to give it. And so Twilight decided to make an oath of never judging a book by it's cover, always give anypony a second chance and to never again be useless. She only hoped that wherever Raziel was, he was in a good place. Raziel was in a very good place, this castle reminded him of Nosgoth, if only because the conditions of the castle (ruins and in the middle of a forest, a mixture of Vorador's mansion and the ancient Vampire's Citadel but with a touch of his own clan's citadel) and because of the library that it held. With said library, Raziel had something to do in his free time like investigating the past of this land, discovering locations that could hide the Elder God or just have a better idea of what creatures lived in this land and how to deal with them. In the last days, Raziel has spend his days exploring the forest so he could learn how to move around better, this helped him a lot to know the best routes to get to other towns through the forest: Ponyville was in the northwest, there was another town at the south, another one at the east and a Gorge at the west and the capital of the kingdom was at the north in the top of the mountain. In his exploration beyond the forest, Raziel managed to find a route to the northwest of Ponyville, he accidentaly caused a herd of cows to enter into a stampede and he hoped nothing bad happened to the nearby town of Ponyville, but such was the cost of exploration and looking like a demonic creature. Still, he finally knew how to move through the forest and his surroundings, now all he needed was a modern map to know the name of the new locations that must have spawned over the course of the centuries, perhaps the library of Ponyville may have one. The Everfree Forest A blue unicorn mare was travelling, in the middle of the night and with the Moon being covered by the clouds of the Everfree. The forest's darkness sent chills down the mare's spine, the feeling of dread, the sensation of being watched, the imminent danger of being attacked by a Manticore or, even worse, a Chimera. The Azure Blue Unicorn mare was deeply afraid of being attacked, all she had were her stage instruments and her bandwagon, all she could hope was that nothing happened while going towards her new destination: Ponyville. It has been a tough journey so far, for every town she managed to do bits she would find another 3 that gave her almost nothing, was it (perhaps) her performance? It couldn't be, it worked last year, so why it wasn't working now? Perhaps she would have to up the ante, but with what? She already claimed to be the greatest unicorn in Equestria, how to make the story even bigger? It was in that moment she heard something in the Everfree Forest that was very disconcerting, she heard the sound of a battle between two creatures, she saw in the direction of the battle roars but the darkness was clouding her sight, only allowing her to see fire, and what the fire managed to illuminate, like the Ursa Major causing said roars, and some rocks being thrown at said Ursa Major. The mare was surprised, what was capable of fighting an Ursa Major? She was very curious about it and wanted to go and look the battle for a better perspective but then, she heard a big moan (like a wail coming form a creature meeting the end of its life) and, to her surprise, the Ursa Major felled backwards in the mare's direction, landing just a few inches away from her. The mare was clearly scared of the Ursa Major and stayed quiet for a while, hoping that it wouldn't notice her when it decided to stand up, but it didn't. No matter how much the blue mare waited, the Ursa Major didn't move. The waiting got to a point that the blue mare got tired and decided to get closer to the Ursa. As she got closer and closer, step by step, and touched the Ursa Major to check if it was alive, to her surprise, it was dead. The mare couldn't believe it, an Ursa Major was dead, it was defeated by something, something that was still close to her. When the mare realized that, she decided to look at the forest in search of the creature that defeated the Ursa Major but the darkness didn't allowed her to see beyond a few inches. As the mare tried to find the creature, she managed to find two blue glowing eyes looking straight at her. As the pair of eyes were looking at the Azure Blue Mare, a chill ran down her spine, she was wondering how fast she could run from the thing, or if she knew of any spell capable of distracting it long enough to run but, before she could think of something, the creature's eyes disappeared. A few seconds later, the clouds moved and allowed the Moon to illuminate the place only to show the carnage of the battlefield where the Ursa and its assassin fought just a few minutes ago but with no assassin in sight. After feeling how the chill was leaving her body, the mare looked at the Ursa Major and took note of the teeth coming out from its mouth and she had an idea that may give her more needed bits for her lifestyle. A few hours later in Ponyville It was being a normal day in Ponyville, at least as normal as it could be in a town where something interesting was happening everyday, whether it was the Nightmare Moon incident, the Ticket madness, the apple destruction, etc. Something was always happening in Ponyville and today was no different, for a blue unicorn mare wearing a magician hat and cape appeared in Ponyville and decided to use her magic to create a show while boasting about being "The Greatest Unicorn in all of Equestria". This, of course, created alienation from Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and the rest of Twilight's friends: - "So Great and Powerful Trixie" -, said Rainbow Dash, - "what makes you think you're so awesome anyway?" - The Unicorn simply laughed at the Pegasus and responded with her stage voice: - "Well, The Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major". - In that moment a couple of fireworks shot up from her wagon and made the image of an Ursa Major for the astonished citizens of Ponyville. - "The Ursa Major was attacking the town of Hoofington and when all hope was lost, The Great and Powerful Trixie appeared and with her awesome magic she vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave, deep in the Everfree Forest". - In that moment the fireworks showed and blue cartoon of a mare using a wand to throw a barrage of magic at the image of the Ursa Major, which made it explode in multiple particles. After that, and with a smug smile, Trixie decided to bring up something that she found last night to strengthen her story -. "And if you think that The Great and Powerful Trixie is lying, here". In that moment, Trixie's horn started to shine and caused a bright light to came out of nowhere and, once it dimmed down, the ponies saw a tooth floating in the middle of the stage -. "This. Is the tooth of the Ursa Major." - She waited until the audience stopped the oooohhh and proceeded -. "In the middle of the fight against the Ursa Major, one of its teeth felled off from it, and The Great and Powerful Trixie decided to keep it as a proof of her might". - At this, Twilight's friends had their mouths hanged, they couldn't argue with that, but when two unicorn colts decided to call her the greatest unicorn in Equestria, a little dragon decided to step in -. "No way, Trixie may have defeated the Ursa Major, but Twilight has also faced dangers just as great-" - but before he could finish his sentence, a purple aura shut his mouth and Twilight took him back away from the crowd. It was at this moment when Trixie decided to use her newest card. - "Oh, really?" - asked her with a sly smile. - "Did she survive an encounter with..." - At this moment she decided to pause to give a dramatic moment -. "The Everfree Beast?" Many ponies froze when she said this words. - "Don't you know of the Everfree Beast? It's a creature that has recently decided to take residence on the Everfree Forest. All the beast of the Everfree, including the Ursa Major, has become its prey, and The Great and Powerful Trixie happens to be the first pony that has ever encountered and survived said beast." Rainbow Dash was about to roll her eyes when Trixie decided to challenge everypony (while boasting about her amazing skills) to determine who was the most talented pony in Equestria, unfortunately Twilight' friends decided to accept the challenge. Sadly, or luckily depending on how you looked at it, and what none of them realized (except for a little chill that was confused with the wind), was that "The Everfree Beast" decided to enter into Ponyville, right under the ponies radar by staying invisible, and took advantage of The Great and Powerful Distraction known as Trixie to enter into Ponyville's Library to search for a modern map of Equestria. After finding said map, The Everfree Beast would sneak away just in time before certain purple Unicorn and her dragon went back to the Library. The only pony that would realized this intrusion in Ponyville would be a pink pony who felt something entering Ponyville and she didn't greeted nor gave it a surprise Party because she also felt that her that it was a bad idea to get close to said intrusion at this moment. The pink mare, to her shame, would have to wait a while longer to make said party. Of course, she would be very sad for not making a party to somepony new to Ponyville, but she also wondered why it would be so bad to find it, then her mind started to ramble in how well can you spook and greet a newcomer at the same time, almost forgetting what had just happened. A few hours later in the night, a couple of colts were exploring the forest, they were searching for the cave that housed the Ursa Major, not realizing that in any given moment, they could have been pounced by a dangerous creature. Luckily for them, the most dangerous creature in the Everfree was actually protecting them. - "uhm, Snails" - said a chubby, light blue unicorn colt. - "Yes Snips" - responded his taller and less bright partner, also a unicorn. - "Where do you think the cave housing the Ursa Major is?" - "Uh?, I thought we were searching for the beast of the Everfree Forest Snips". - "No Snails, we're searching for a cave that houses an Ursa Major, we'll bring it up to Ponyville so The Great and Powerful Trixie can vanquish it again, that way, Spike will have to shut up". In that moment, they heard a voice coming from the forest, they tried to find it's source but the task was almost impossible for it was too dark that night and they couldn't see anything beyond their faces. - "Excuse me" - Said the voice. The colt known as Snips decided to respond to the mysterious voice, with a big hint of fear. - "Yes, uhm, who are you?" The voice, never losing its calm state, simply responded. - "I'm a traveler in the forest who couldn't stop from listening to your conversation, explain me, why are you so interested in finding a creature that could so easily destroy you?" The two colts looked at each other with utter confusion at the voices words, at which the voice simply explained (again, never losing its patience) - "Why are you searching for the Beast of the Everfree Forest?" While Snips and Snails understood now the question, they were a little bit confused at this voice's concern, but decided to comply: "Uhm, well, there's this amazing unicorn in town named Trixie, and she is the best Unicorn of all Equestria" - said the chubby Snips - "Yeah" -. Complemented Snails while having his eyes shining in the remembrance of her beloved Trixie. - "She is so awesome that she vanquished an Ursa Major and survived an encounter with the Beast of the Everfree Forest" For a while the voice didn't said anything but before the two colts could begin to think that said voice was gone, it responded: - "I see, and tell me, how does this Trixie looks like?" Snails then got excited and started to tell as fast as he could. "Oh, she is the greatest Unicorn mare in Equestria, she has the most beautiful purple eyes, the best blue color coat and a silver hair." - "yeah, yeah, just what he said" -. Complimented his overly tall an excited friend but at all of this, the voice remained calm and continued on his research, - "and she claimed that she defeated an Ursa Major? What are those?" - The two colts decided to open up a bit more to the voice and continued on their recollection of Trixie's words, - "Don't you know sir? an Ursa Major are this BIG bears" -, said Snails while stretching his arms as big as he could, - "and they're very dangerous." "Yeah" -. responded the chubby colt. - "But The Great and Powerful Trixie defeated one" -. The voice then asserted his question on why they were still in the search of one and not this Trixie, the Chubby colt then looked irritated. - "Well, since Spike doesn't believe her, me and Snails are searching for one so Trixie can defeat it again" -. And for the first time, not that the colts could notice it, the voice talked with a hinge of anger. - "Oh" -, it responded the voice and then said on a very low tone. - "So that's why that unicorn pulled out the tooth from that bear". - the little colt did manage to hear the murmur - "You said something sir?" - asked Snips. The voice quickly responded, - "nothing important little pony, you and your friend don't have to worry about that. Now tell me, what do you know about this... Everfree Beast..." 1 Hour later, Ponyville Trixie was having a good day: She finally had a good amount of bits to live for a while, she showed how good she was to the public and now she may be able to live in this town for a while. Of course, those ponies were a bit insufferable (especially those two colts) and she had to make up that lie with the Ursa Major and the Everfree Beast to make a big enough impression to earn her stay, but it wasn't that bad. It was only a white lie, there was no way anypony could get hurt with that, right? *knock* *knock* *knock* - "TRIXIE!" "TRIXIE!" Agh, it were those two colts again, what do they want now?, couldn't they see that Trixie needed her beauty sleep? Trixie opened the door of her wagon, looked down the two colts (who looked kinda excited for some reason) and told them: - "Trixie thought she said to wait to tomorrow to see more of The Great and Powerful Trixie." - "Yes you did" -, said Snips, - "but something came up" -. In that moment Snails decided to continue. - "You see, since nobody believed your story about the Ursa Major, we decided to go to find one in the Everfree so you could vanquish it in front of everyone" -, he then got saddened, - "but we couldn't find one." At this little revelation, Trixie widened her eyes and almost screams at the two colts. - "You what? Don't you know how dangerous the Everfree is? It's a good thing that nothing happened to you. You would need, at least, Trixie's protection if you ever decided to go into that forest." "Yeah" -. Said Snails. - "But we found something else" -. The Powerful and Annoyed Trixie raised an eyebrow. - "Yeah" -. said Snips, - "we found someone in the forest who told us where to find the Ursa Major you vanquished." This information made The Great and Powerful Trixie into The Great and Fearful Trixie, who quickly asked: - "What?" - Those words were all Trixie could think off right now, in the moment she heard those words, she started to feel how her world was starting to shatter. Meanwhile, the two colts continued to talk with happiness and not noticing the concern on her idol. - "Yeah" -, continued Snips. - "He said that he knows the location of the Ursa Major you vanquished, all we have to do is guide you and those who didn't believed you there." Trixie was starting to get very nervous, the only thing that possibly knew where was the Ursa Major that she 'vanquished' was... crap... the revelation of who talked with the two colts made Trixie's spine to shiver and quickly tried to avert any possibility to go into the Forest. - "Uhm, I-Trixie is very tired to do that now, maybe tomorrow-"-, in that moment Trixie was interrupted by a very familiar Pegasus mare. - "What's the matter Trixie? Too scared of being shown as the fraud you are?" Trixie turned around and saw Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and Spike looking at her. All of them, except Twilight, were making a very smug smile. Trixie started to shine from the nerves she was getting. She couldn't go there, it would be the end of her, but she couldn't let them call her a fraud. She would have to face them. - "Of course not, The Great and Powerful Trixie is not afraid of anything, I will go with you and show you how great Trixie is." Snips and Snails shouted in happiness and started to move into the forest. Twilight's friends started to frown (since they hoped that Trixie could have stopped pretending here and now) and decided to follow Snips and Snails into the forest, they would later tell their parents of the big trouble they got into. Meanwhile, Trixie would start to see the Everfree Forest with a sense of Dread that she never felt before in her life. As the little ponies went into the entrance of the forest, Trixie started to question if the fake reputation she made was worth enough to face a creature capable of defeating an Ursa Major. As she saw the beautiful and safe Moon and the peaceful life it brought to her, she remembered how dark it was that night in the Everfree Forest when she saw the Beast, there was no safe light, nothing out there that could make her feel safe and as she got closer and closer to the Forest, the more The Great and Powerful Trixie wanted to avoid any chance of going back there. When the group of ponies were close enough to the entrance, Trixie stopped right below the entrance of the Everfree Forest, knowing full well who, or rather what, was waiting for her. If she entered there, she would be at the mercy of the Beast of the Everfree, a beast strong enough to kill her. Trixie was starting to doubt if all of this was a good idea to begin with, perhaps she should drop the facade. - "What happened Trixie? Scared of the forest?" - Taunted that annoying Rainbow Dash. Trixie then remembered who were the ones trying to ruin her life and frowned (keeping her facade) while responding: - "Trixie isn't afraid of anything, just look how The Great and Powerful Trixie enters this forest without any problem whatsoever" -. Trixie then started to enter into the Everfree Forest, and the more she entered, the more she started to hear something. She wasn't sure what it was, but she was sure of hearing something. *BUMP* *BUMP* Trixie advanced each time more and more with the rest of the ponies, - "Are you sure that you're going the right way?" - asked a Powerful and not Scared Trixie. At this, Snips responded jovially. - "Sure, those indications were very specific, we almost get to see the Ursa Major, but then he told us to go back and retrieve you guys" - Said Snips. This didn't comforted Trixie - "Yeah" -, continued Snails, - "for some reason that voice said that Trixie may not come if she had to be alone and that she would need a support group" -. Added Snails. The fact that the 'Beast of the Everfree' managed to predict Trixie's moves were putting her very nervous. - "That reminds me" -, said a very concerned Twilight, - "you went into the Everfree Forest searching for an Ursa Major (which could have caused a lot of damage for Ponyville), listened to a stranger's voice and you may be bringing us into a trap" - Remarked Twilight Sparkle, - "the only reason I haven't told your parents yet is because we must find this mysterious pony and question him". - "Yeah, and to show Trixie how wrong she is" -, added a very cocky Rainbow Dash to which Applejack and Rarity added respectively. - "Well, while ah' want to see Trixie getting embarrased, ah' do think that this may be a bad idea". - "Oh, I agree AppleJack, the Everfree Forest is a very dangerous place" -. Complimented a very worried Rarity. Trixie could barely listen to them. All she could do was to look at her sides from time to time, trying to see if the Beast was close, to run away from it if she saw it and the more she advanced into the colts's direction, the more she would hear that sound. *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* - "Oh please, are you saying that for the story of the Everfree Beast?" - Asked a very skeptical Spike. - "Please Rarity, don't tell me that you believe those stories". - "I'm so sorry Spike dear, is just that you weren't here when we went against Nightmare Moon, there were very clear signs that something was off in the forest. Which is why I don't want to be here for too long, the only reason I'm here is because I don't want to leave you alone in such dangerous place... and I would really enjoy to see Trixie being shown off." Did they said something? Trixie was starting to feel the anxiety running on her body, she could barely breathe, she could barely see (it was getting darker or it was just her?) and that sound... *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* That sound... *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* How could they not hear it? - "I'm not scared of any beast, if something appears, I will show them how fast I am with my hooves" - said a very confident Rainbow Dash while doing the common 1-2 gesture for fighting. But Applejack was started to get tired about that story. - "Rainbow, Rarity, could you please stop sayin' about that 'Everfree Beast'. That's jus' another story that Trixie here invented, right Twilight?" Applejack was appealing to Twilight in the hopes of her finally bringing logic to the place, but she was disappointed with her response. - "I don't know Applejack, I suppose I should tell you about what I saw when I faced Nightmare Moon" -, when Twilight said this, all her friends started to listen to her in the hopes of her finally going to talk about what was troubling her but all of that was interrupted by two colts that everybody almost forgot about. - "We're here!" - Said Snips and Snails at the same time. Trixie can't breathe, Trixie can't think, Trixie must run, Trixie must find silence. *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* What nopony expected was to find an eaten Ursa Major on the ground with a destroyed battleground a few hooves away form it. Rarity and Applejack quickly shut Snips and Snails's eyes respectively and looked away from the Ursa to avoid trowing out from the disgust. Spike almost see the carnage but Twilight quickly used a spell to shut his eyes. The battlefield was astounding, the destruction in the place made it very hard to tell what actually happened. Only Twilight managed to detect a few details, like the amount of charcoal around the ground and woods, some rocks were smashed or were broken in very weird shapes that wouldn't be possible if they were by accident, but the one thing that worried her the most was how the Ursa looked like if parts of it's body were constricted to such levels that the bones almost become dust. Twilight was really wondering what kind of creature could have the abilities to use fire and to cause so much damage to an Ursa, Twilight was very worried about it and she would have to do something about this, but that wasn't the only thing that Twilight picked up. - "This isn't an Ursa Major, it's an Ursa Minor". - "WHAT?!" - Screamed everypony but Trixie, Spike then asked. - "But then, how big is an Ursa Major?" A few miles away A Bear of the size of a mountain was crying, her child was death and she couldn't do anything about it. All she could hope was that her child was resting in peace while swearing to destroy the creature that dared to mess with her child. Dead Ursa Minor Location - "Trust me Spike, you don't want to know" It killed an Ursa Minor, not an Ursa Major, that's good, it's not as strong as Trixie thought... but it can still kill Trixie... it can still kill me... it.. can... Snips managed to put his eyes out from Applejack's hooves and managed to look at the Ursa's jaw and claimed - "Wow, look at its tooth, it's missing one" - said Snips before Applejack managed to put her hooves back to cover his eyes. - "That means that Trixie defeated it, yeah!" - completed Snails, still having his eyes shut by Rarity. At this everypony got annoyed, they wouldn't stop hearing the end of it. By this point, all of them wanted to leave but there was something that Twilight needed to know before that. - "Trixie, how did you defeated this Ursa Minor? What kind of spells did you used to cause this kind of damage on something as massive as an Ursa Minor? I mean, just look at this fight scene, how could you defeat this without getting extremely tired?" When Twilight and her friends looked at Trixie and how zoned out she was, how scared she looked like, how worried she looked like, they started to worry about her. I must run... I must Run... I... Must... run... *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* - "Trixie? are you alright?" - Asked a concerned Twilight to a Trixie that didn't look good. Trixie looked exhausted, she was sweating, she looked... afraid?... but from what? - "Trixie, what's going on?" In that moment, Trixie felt a chill behind her, a very familiar chill. The Scared and Weak Trixie slowly turned around behind her and saw 2 glowing blue eyes. Looking at her. Waiting for her to run. She could feel it, it was waiting for her, taunting her, asking for her to run so it could go and get her... *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* *BUMP* And it was in that moment, that Trixie broke herself up. - "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! TRIXIE CONFESS! TRIXIE DIDN'T VANQUISH THE URSA MINOR! SHE JUST FOUND IT DEAD AND TOOK THE TOOTH, TRIXIE IS SORRY FOR BOASTING BUT PLEASE TAKE TRIXIE OUT OF HERE, TRIXIE DOESN'T WANT TO DIE PLEASE!!!!" Everypony was shocked at this piece of development, so shocked they were that they decided to take Trixie back to Ponyville and (to Twilight's petition) they would only say that she didn't defeated the Ursa Minor, but they wouldn't mention how she suddenly broke to anypony. The biggest sign that Trixie was really scared could be seen for how fast she ran from the entrance of the Everfree to her wagon and sped out of town as fast as she could. - "What was that about?" - Asked Rainbow, too confused to act as usual (like boasting of how brave they were compared to Trixie). - "I don't know Rainbow, but I feel that Trixie's story about a Beast in the Everfree wasn't as false as we thought it was" -. Responded Twilight. - "You sure about that Sugarcube?" Twilight looked at her friend with big certainty and determination - "Yes, I'm Sure of it. For now I will make some research on the Everfree and later tell you about what I can find" -. Her friends nodded, they said their goodbyes and departed. - "Spike" -. Said Twilight in her way home, - "I want you to write a letter to Princess Celestia, I have a lesson of what happens when boasting gets on top of you and how that can affect your friendship". - "Sure Twilight" -. Answered Spike. After getting home, Spike started to search for a scroll and a quill to write the letter. Meanwhile, Twilight would give another research to her book of the Everfree Forest. The section with the Ursa Major was interesting and if it could give her so much information about one creature, then she would find out what was inside the Everfree Forest that could fit as the "Everfree Beast", she only hoped that, whatever it was that Trixie found on the Everfree, it wasn't as dangerous as she made it sound like. Meanwhile, on her road to the next town, Canterlot, Trixie was starting to calm down. She learned her lesson, not to boast again nor invent a huge story like that one, maybe her last story wasn't as good as the newest one, but she was very sure that at least the other story wasn't going to get her killed by a dangerous beast. In that moment, Trixie felt a chill followed by a very sharp claw on her jugular. As Trixie was starting to shiver and wonder what was beyond life, she heard how the presence surrounding her decided to speak to her ear on a very clear and low but still menacing tone of voice. - "You're lucky that I'm trying to avoid any unnecessary murder, but next time you do something that could endanger the life of others, I will give you a real reason to scream." And as soon as she felt that presence, it disappeared. Trixie looked back and saw nothing on the distance... only plains and (a few kilometers in the distance) the Everfree Forest under the light of Equestria's Moon. Perhaps this showsmare business was getting too dangerous for Trixie's taste, perhaps it would be better if Trixie search for another job... maybe the Royal Guard, Trixie heard that they give a good pay...