The annual apple festival was happening once again in Ponyville and naturally the Apple family was happy to celebrate the party. Ponies were visiting everywhere from Cloudsdale to the Crystan Empire (Pinkie Pie's parties are surprisingly popular now...) It was the Apple family's rule that they avoid working the event and simply enjoy themselves with their friends. Applejack was spent it with Twilight and the rest of the gang, not really sure what to do sense she normally coordinates the event. Applebloom was spending it the rest of the CMC and was used to not working the event, she usually was allowed to just go off and play for the most part, but this time, after burying the hatchet with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, they all started hanging together. Granny Smith was socializing with the other old folks in a manner similar to The Golden Girls (one was flirting with some men, one was making snappy comments, and the other one was not very bright...). But Big Mac was alone...
Big Macintosh never really had any friends of his own, sense he spends most of his time at the farm and tends to do most of the work while Applejack was off with her friends. Because of this, he never really had friends of his own and usually just spends time at social events being the shy awkward quiet guy. He realized that it was time he made friends of himself for once, and a day off on a day themed for what he lives for is just what he needed! There were ponies from all over Equestria visiting so maybe he could find some ponies who would like him! After walking around, he really didn't have very good luck initially, sense he never really said anything much, post ponies were just thinking he was some strange stalker (including specifically him listening over to a married couple arguing about whether their new house should be painted Magenta or Curation). Eventually he walked over and noticed two familiar faces, Mocha Jon and Caramel, who seemed to be fighting.
"Oh please, you call that a horn? It looks like you still have that big zit you had in school!" Caramel said to Jon, not really bothering him it seems.
"Very funny, you know, I heard you were in charge of delivering some of the apple seeds, when exactly were you gonna do that again?" Jon snarked back, Caramel not insulted either.
Big Mac looked over to them confused and the two looked over at him as if nothing just happened. "Hey Mac, haven't seen you in a while, how've you been?" Caramel asked, Big Mack just casually shrugged his shoulders, ambivalent to the event as he was still lonely.
"Man how come you're alone? I figured the big apple farmer would be ambushed with questions and fans at the apple party... I think Pinkie's losing her touch on themes..." Jon added.
"Nope, I don't really know that many ponies myself, I doubt anypony really even knows me here here..." He reluctantly responds.
"Why not?"
"Well I always live in the shadow of my famous sister so I never really had many friends of my own" Big Mac responded, feeling a little embarrassed.
"No friends, hey Jon maybe you know what that's like!" Caramel said as Jon rolled his eyes, "Really? I thought you became friends with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor after you helped them stop that evil alicon Marshall?"
"Eeyup, but they live all the way in the Crystal Empire, I can't go there on my salary, Twilight always pays for Applejack's tickets when she goes. I haven't seen them sense."
"Well Shining Armor's over there," Jon said pointing to Shining grabbing a caramel apple from a stand, "Hey check it out, there's a Caramel here that's actually sweet after all." Jon said looking at Caramel. They all walked over to him and they said hi.
"Hey guys, I haven't seen you guys in a while, and you, I haven't seen sense my wedding." Shining said to Big Mac and Mocha Jon then to Caramel, who all waved.
"Nope."
"Where's Cadence?" Jon asked.
"She's not feeling very well, she stayed behind with Flurry Heart so it's just me." Shining responded, eating the whole apple at once. "So Big Mac, what are you doing later?"
Big Mac looked distracted and a little nervous after hearing that question, "Camping..." He mysteriously responded.
"Camping? I love camping! I go once every two moons!" Caramel responded, as Jon grabbed six caramel apples and ate them almost instantly, "Dude you keep eating like that and you're gonna get fat... or fatter." He added.
"So? Looking at you it seems that that doesn't seem to be a problem for your self esteem." Jon responded.
"I love it too, I used to go all the time when I was a colt but now that I'm married I never get the chance to go anymore." Shining added, looking a little upset.
"Hey, maybe we could all go out with him and make it like a friends' night out, sound good Big Mac?" Jon asked, to which Big Mac looked more nervous.
"Nope..."
They all looked confused by that, Big Mac usually takes offers like that and adds a buy one get one free coupon with them, "Why not?" They all asked, but Big Mac just turned around and refused to answer.
"What's wrong? Why can't we go?" Shining asked.
Big Mac sighed, reluctant to respond, "Fine... It's gonna be in the Everfree Forest aright!" He yelled out, getting the attention of Soarin who was walking by and suddenly spit out his apple cider.
"The Everfree Forest? Dude that place has so many monsters that I've written a Daring Doo fanfiction that takes place there, why would you want to go there?" Soaring yelled out, inserting himself into the conversation.
Big Mac was at a loss there, this was kind of his little secret, he loves taking the risk of the monsters and timber wolves so much, that rush of excitement of danger, "Look, Applejack always risks her life with her friends facing all those monsters and stuff and I love taking that risk myself. I know this one area that never has anypony in it and is always safe from evil critters, I know it's weird but I like it."
Caramel yelled in excitement, "Dude that is so cool! Why would you think we wouldn't like that? I never take risks like that and that sounds like a lot of fun!"
Jon added, "Yeah, plus I'm working on a new horror comic and could use the experience, come on man, can we go?"
Big Mac looked around, they all looked surprisingly interested and excited for an adventure like that. He was worried they would freak out and think he was insane. He shrugged "Eeyup!"
"Sweet! I better go pack!" Soarin said as he flew off, leaving them confused.
"When did we invite him?" Caramel asked and they all just shrugged their shoulders.
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Big Mac was alone in the forest waiting for the others, he knew he would be the first to go because they would be reluctant, but he knew they would arrive. He was sitting by a fire and making s'mores. He was bored waiting but he thought he heard somepony coming by because he heard some bushes shaking. He looked around and pointed a flashlight around and noticed a strange looking pony. He was wearing a plaid shirt & boots and had a small beard on his muzzle and an ax for his cutie mark. When he noticed the light he walked closer and waved at Big Macintosh who waved back.
"Well howdy there, what bring you out to the haunted woods?" He asked Big Mac in a country accent similar to Big Mac's.
"I'm just camping out here, waiting for some friends, we like to take risks like this, what about you?"
The stranger shrugged his shoulders, "Oh I've been out here my whole life, been a proud woodsman for so long and I swear I will live out here my whole life risking nature and enjoying the hard work. The name's Woody by the way." He proudly responded.
"Big Macintosh, nice to meet ya, I know what you mean, I work on a farm so I work pretty hard too, but I tend to get lonely so I'm meeting with some new ponies for a night out."
"Interesting, I know how being lonely feels, it's nice to finally see somepony else out here in the Everfree forest..." He said as he suddenly walked forward towards Big Mac, "But now I know I won't need to be alone ever again..." He said as he got a strange evil looking expression on his face.
"Eeyup...?" He asked getting a little confused and uncomfortable as he walked right up in his face.
Before he could say anything else, the strange lumberjack's eyes began to get these strange swirls in them as he looked right into Big Mac's eyes as they began to take the same swirls in them... After that, there were more bush sounds and Mocha Jon & Caramel could be heard arguing again.
"Oh please if you think you're ever going to be a famous music star you're gonna need to kidnap Celestia and leave a ransom!" Caramel told Jon.
"I'd rather kidnap you, ponies will pay me to keep you locked up!" Jon responded as they all started heading towards Big Mac as the lumberjack suddenly vanished in thin air.
Big Mac's eyes were still spinning for a moment until he heard the others and he shook his head and his eyes returned to normal. Before he could say anything, he heard Woody's voice in his head, "Now you should know what to do with these ponies..." The voice said with a strong echo in it.
"Yes Master..." Big Mac said out loud, causing Jon and Caramel to stop bickering.
"What did you say?" Shining Armor asked, not really hearing him over Jon and Caramel.
Big Mac was worried a bit, "Oh, I said... Hi Misters, cause I've been waiting for y'all to get here." He said covering that up, to which they all seemed to believe.
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Later in the night, the guys were telling scary stories over the campfire, Jon was telling a disturbing story about a werewolf who had a strange craving for both pony flesh and puppy flesh, making him a dual cannibal who lived in the Everfree Forest. Shining Armor and Caramel were holding each other scared and panicking while Soarin was just excited and eating s'mores. Big Mac didn't seem to be paying attention and was just staring ahead waiting for a good opportunity.
"Hey Soarin, I was gonna go and get more firewood... mind coming to help me?" He asked. Soarin was happy to help out, not really expecting to do anything bad.
The two walked around for quite a while and Soarin was getting a little confused, "Hey, we've been walking for a while, where exactly are we going?" He asked as the two approached a strange log cabin with a strange silhouette sitting on the porch swing. Soarin was confused as Big Mac just had a strange evil grin on his face and the shadow was revealed to be Woody who just teleported in front of Soarin and looked him right in the eyes as both his and Big Mac's began to spin again and before Soarin could figure out what was going on his eyes started to spin as well...
"Don't fight it..." Big Mac said.
"You're gonna be here for a long time and enjoy it..." The lumberjack said as he just stepped back and vanished into thin air again.
Soarin just blinked and didn't even question what just happened. The first thing he did was look around the the first thing he noticed was a pair of axes sitting by the cabin and he just walked over and grabbed them. "Come on bud, I think it would be more rewarding to cut our own firewood!" He said as he handed an ax to Big Mac and they started cutting their firewood. His voice was much different now, he had a large southern drawl in it like he was a country woodsman.
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The two returned to the campfire, Shining Armor looked disturbingly uncomfortable and Mocha Jon and Caramel were fighting again, much to all their annoyance.
"Jon I swear the only reason you are still out here is because they felt sorry for you and wanted somepony to be timber wolf bate!" Caramel told Jon, though this time instead of a snappy comeback this time, he actually felt hurt by that and got a tear in his eye. Caramel realized he want too far there and apologized, "Okay that was too far, look we may fight but you definitely aren't that bad, I'm really sorry!" He said as he hugged him.
Jon pulled away and started laughing, "Haha! You bought that! I got you good!"
"There you are guys, where've you been?" Shining asked, clearly a little scared about getting attacked by something. The two just looked at each other vacantly.
"Oh we had trouble finding good enough wood." Big Mac responded.
"Hey guys, check this out," Soarin said in his new country accent, "We found this old abandoned cabin not far from here, it's old and empty and creepy like a haunted house! You gotta check it out!"
They were all confused, "Did you always sound like that?" Caramel asked, not really sure because they didn't really know each other before.
"Haunted house... I don't know.. AHH!" Shining reluctantly said until Jon snuck up behind him and yelled 'BOO!'
Come on, it's really neat and it's got a great view of the moon and I swear y'all love it..." Big Mac eerily said as they started to walk back there, the others reluctantly following.
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They all walked over towards the cabin and this time the lumberjack was nowhere to be seen. They all walked into the cabin but Shining Armor stayed outside for a moment to look at the moon. He was still freaked out by this place, every time he saw an owl, its head always spin all the way around... But when Shining looked at the large glowing moon, he just felt safe, like it was a large light guiding his way to safety. After a while Shining started to feel relaxed and all his fear of the forest seemed to fade all together. But before he was ready to enter the cabin himself, he saw a strange shadow near by but couldn't tell what it was. Morbid curiosity got the best of him and he went over to see what it was. He walked by a tree and the first thing he saw was the shadow turning into an evil looking lumberjack...
"Wha...? Who are...?" Shining tried to ask until Woody just looked him straight in the eyes and they started spinning and Shining was in his power...
"Don't just ask questions... Just embrace the country woodsman life..."
"Yes Master..." Shining Armor responded in a country accent like Soarin and before he knew it, the lumberjack was gone.
In the house, the stallions clearly could tell that the place was not well kept. There were flannel shirts and boots laying around everywhere and they were all clearly unwashed and sweat scented. Big Mac and Soarin didn't seem to mind but Mocha Jon and Caramel were clearly grossed out.
"Dude this place is less organized than Caramel's delivery system Plus these clothes smell worse than my pet badger!" Jon noted as Caramel rolled his eyes and tossed a boot at his behind, making him chuckle.
"They smell like a man's hard work and there's nothing but pride in that." Soarin responded, making Caramel and Jon suspicious.
Suddenly Shining Armor walked in staring blankly and clearly didn't seem to mind the disorganized place. Soarin and Big Mac can tell he's also under the spell just like it was instinct. Shining didn't show any fear anymore and now felt at home in the Everfree Forest like a proud worker like himself should. "You know, these duds look mighty fancy and what not, maybe they fit me." He said as he picked up an old sweaty shirt and boots and just out them on, and Big Mac & Soarin followed the idea, much to the disgust of Caramel and Mocha Jon.
"Alright what the heck is going on with you all? You've been acting strange all night, now Caramel and I don't agree on much but I know we both think you guys are acting crazier than Pinkie Pie!" Jon yelled out in rage, Caramel joining in.
"Seriously! I'd expect this stuff from Big Mac sense hes a farmer but what's with those country accents with you two?"
At that moment, after they all put on the flannel shirts and boots, they all looked over and got these strange angry expressions on their faces as their eyes all got the strange hypnotized swirls in them again... They all started walking closer to the two and were talking in slow unison, "Y'all can't fight it... just embrace the Everfree Forest and be proud woodsmen slaves..." And at that moment, Woody appeared out of nowhere in front of them both with an evil/smug grin on his face...
"Like my new lumberjacks? See it gets lonely out here, most ponies don't belong here... Now they'll never leave my side... Right boys?"
Yes Master!" The three said in unison as they saluted their leader.
Mocha Jon and Caramel looked at each other nervously as they regret all their arguing, "What did you do to them?" Caramel asked.
"Well considering the spirals in their eyes, I'm gonna say he promised them tickets to see an Ice Hockey game, what do you think he did?!" Jon sarcastically yelled at Caramel.
Suddenly before another fight would start, the lumberjack just stared at the two with his eyes spinning again, they tried to look away but t was inevitable, they caught eye contact and fell under his hypnotic spell... At that moment all their snarky quips just faded and the two instantly felt much better about each other. Without warning, Woody tossed the flannel shirts and boots towards the two hypnotized stallions and they put them on just like the others.
"Now it's late, y'all better get some shut eye, we got a lotta work to do tomorrow cutting down trees, so hit the hey!" He ordered and all the stallions bowed their heads in submission as they followed him towards the bedrooms, eager to serve their new master and get ready for their next day as proud woodsmen who love to work hard, never to think about their old lives again.