Chapter 8: The Everfree
We arrived near the edge of Ponyville. When the chariots landed and we got off, Tia sent them back, saying she’ll send word when we want to return. The four Pegasi nodded and took off, leaving the nine of us behind.
Twilight turned to the Princess and me. “I’ll be right back. I need to get something from the library.” Tia nodded and she teleported away, taking Spike with her.
I looked at Ponyville and saw somepony flying this way. “Uh, Tia,” I said. There was a flash of light behind me and I turned to see Tia in her old form, smiling at me. Her hair was back to its old calm pink and she was now just barely taller than the rest of us. The only difference from 3000 years ago was that she was also missing her horn.
The other girls looked at her in amazement. Tia giggled. “The last thing I want,” she explained, “is my little ponies thinking something is wrong with a surprise visit from their princess.”
Everypony nodded in understanding as I turned to find Ditzy ramming into me. After the tumble, I looked up to see her sitting on me… again.
“Oops!” She hopped up. “I’m so sorry, Blast! I did it again.”
I laughed as she pulled me up. “It’s alright, Ditzy. You just need to work on your landings a bit.”
“I don’t know,” Tia smirked. “I’d give that landing a perfect ten.” I glared at her.
“Oh,” Ditzy said, looking at Tia. “Who’s this?”
I looked back at Ditzy. “I’m sorry. This is a friend of mine from Canterlot. Ditzy, meet Sunny Skies.” Sunny gave me a questioning look. “Sunny, meet Ditzy Doo, somepony I met while I was in town here.” I always liked reading about Sunny Skies.
Ditzy gave Ti- ahem, Sunny a huge smile. “Hi, Sunny! Nice to meet you!” She held out her hoof.
Sunny shook it. “The pleasure’s all mine, Ditzy,” she replied with a smile.
Ditzy turned back to me. “So what brings you back to Ponyville so soon? Is it time for Pinkie’s party already?” She put a hoof to her chin. “I don’t think I got the invite.”
Before I could reply, Pinkie Pie gasped. “I knew I forgot something! I need to get planning. If I hurry I can get it all ready by tomorrow. Oo! And I should plan one for Smith, too, in case we find him! He’ll be new here too!” Pinkie looked at Sunny. “Do you want one too, Sunny? You’re also technically new here!”
I cut Sunny off before she could decline. “Yes, she does. You can plan one huge bash for all three of us once we get Smith.”
Tia glared at me as Pinkie squee-ed. “This will be so epic! I need to start planning, so I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” Pinkie zoomed off to Ponyville.
Ditzy looked confused, so I decided to explain a few things, when Pinkie suddenly reappeared. “Only if they are reeeeaaaally slow shakes,” then she vanished again, and I laughed.
I turned back to Ditzy. “We’re actually here to look for a friend of mine. It’s a long story, but basically, we think he may be lost in the Everfree Forest.”
Ditzy gasped. “Oh my, I hope he’s alright. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Doubt it,” Dash scoffed.
Rarity bumped her flank into Dash’s, glaring. “What my rude friend means is,” she looked at Ditzy, who was unfazed by Dash’s insult, “Have you seen anypony new around here by the name of Silver Smith? He might be wearing some golden guard armor?”
She thought about it for a moment. “No, can’t say I have. The only pony new I’ve seen today was Blast.”
Dash rolled her eyes, like she was saying ‘told you so’. What’s her deal with Ditzy?
“Actually, I know the perfect way you could help us, Ditzy,” I said. “Could you fly around town and ask if anypony’s seen my friend?”
“Can do!” she said, saluting me. She was about to take off when she stopped and looked back at me. “Uh, I never got what he looks like, besides the armor bit.”
“That’s the problem,” I said, shaking my head. “We’re not sure what he looks like.”
Ditzy raised a brow. “If he’s your friend, how do you not know what he looks like?”
I chuckled. “Like I said, long story. But I will tell you that he was a short grey Pegasus pony. Whether or not he still is, is up in the air right now.”
“Oh, well, okay then.” Ditzy took off. “Good luck!” she called back.
After she had gotten into town, Twilight reappeared, Spike missing. “Oh, hey Twi,” I said. “You just missed Ditzy.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said, fumbling with here saddlebag. “I just had to run home and grab my book on track-” she stopped when she looked up to see ‘Sunny’. “P-princess?”
Sunny smiled warmly at Twilight and nodded.
“Nope,” I said, “not the princess. Just a normal Pegasus pony named Sunny Skies.”
Sunny looked at me. “Where’d you get that name, anyways?”
I shrugged. “An old story I read.”
Twilight was still in shock. “You look amazing.” Sunny blushed a bit.
“I dare say,” Rarity dared to say, “As a princess you were extremely beautiful, but as a Pegasus, you’ve nearly got yourself beat.” Everypony else nodded.
Tia smiled, her cheeks becoming redder. “Thank you, girls. I haven’t looked like this in over 3000 years.”
“Well, you know,” I said, pointing at my head, “You still had your horn back then.” I grinned. “I think you should go out like this more often, though. It suits you, and I’m sure you could use a vacation every now and again.”
Twilight shook her head to clear her daze. “Ahem, anyways,” she looked at me, “where to now?”
"I guess Spike's not coming along?" I said.
Twilight shook her head. "No. He needs his rest."
I nodded and started to walk off, motioning for everypony to follow. “I guess the best place to start would be where I landed.”
“Uh, whaddya mean by ‘landed’?” Applejack asked.
I grinned at her. “You’ll see when we get there.”
After walking the perimeter of the town for about five minutes, we finally made it to the field I was found in. It wasn’t long before everypony could see the huge crater I made. Now that I was wide awake, I could see the details of my crash. The crater was about a meter and a half wide, but barely a hoof deep. Most of the grass near the edge was still intact but the center was completely barren.
“Oh… ‘landed’.” AJ stated.
Twilight just gaped at the hole. “Blast, to make a crater this size, you would have had to of been falling near terminal velocity! You should have broken nearly every bone in your body!”
I chuckled at her reaction. “Well I was fine, aside from a headache and a sore muscle in my back,” probably from spontaneously sprouting wings. “I would hazard a guess in saying that my passive barrier spell must’ve absorbed most of the impact.”
Twi looked at me incredulously. “You keep a passive barrier spell on yourself at all times?”
“Yep. I usually have about five passive spells on me all the time.” I thought about it for a moment. “Well, except for right now, of course.”
“How did you keep that many spells running at once without causing fatigue?” she asked.
I looked at her confused, then at Tia- I mean, Sunny. “3000 years, and your magicians couldn’t come up with a Stability Thread that I managed to discover in less than two weeks?” I shook my head. “You need to fire your magic staff, Sunny.”
Sunny rolled her eyes. “Not everypony is as intuitive as you, Zack.”
“And don’t you forget it!” I laughed.
“You discovered a Stability Thread for spells?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Teach me, teach me, teach me!”
“Okay, okay. Settle down,” I said. “I will. Just not right now.” I motioned toward to the crater. “We kind of have more important matters at the moment.”
Twilight looked at the hole and grinned sheepishly. “Right. Sorry.” Her horn began to glow violet as she scanned the surrounding area.
“I’ll help,” Tia volunteered. The area around where her horn used to be began to glow gold.
I looked at Dash and Fluttershy. “I need you two to fly up and look around for anything suspicious or out of place.”
“Got it!” Dash said, and launched up in the air, Fluttershy slowly following.
“Applejack,” she looked at me, “Can you keep an eye on the forest? We don’t want anything to show up while we’re working.” She nodded and walked to the edge of the plains near the Everfree.
After a few minutes of the two mares wandering aimlessly, Sunny spoke up. “I can’t seem to find anything strange.”
“Me neither,” Twilight confirmed. “No sign of any strange magic here.”
I facehoofed as loudly as possible. Everypony looked at me. “Neither of you listened to a word I said, did you?”
“Huh?” Twi asked.
I pointed up to the sky. After they didn’t seem to get it, I explained. “I fell to the ground. So the magic that brought me here would probably be somewhere in the air!”
Dash started laughing in the air as Sunny and Twilight both facehoofed.
“Of course,” Twilight said. She looked to the sky and started scanning again. “I… I think I found something. Just on the edge of my reach, over there,” she pointed.
“I’ll check it out,” Sunny said, and spread her wings and took off. She hovered about 10 meters in the air before coming back down. “It is indeed an anomaly. It felt strange and foreign, yet somehow familiar,” she said cryptically.
“Ugh,” I grimaced. Who smells foreshadowing? “Well, now that you know what to look for, scan the surrounding air for anything similar.” Tia nodded and flew off.
“Twilight, Rarity.” I looked up at the setting sun. “It’ll be getting dark soon. Can you two keep things illuminated so we can see?”
“Sure thing, Blast,” Twilight said.
Sunny returned a few minutes later with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy right behind her. “I’ve found it.”
---------------------
After wandering the Everfree forest for almost twenty minutes, the sun had finally set. Tia, now back in her normal form, led the group, with her magic still locked onto the second anomaly. Twilight stood right behind her, keeping the front lit as we walked. AJ and Rarity stayed in the back, Rarity lighting the area for AJ to keep lookout. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and I stayed in the middle. The forest was too dense for Dash or Fluttershy to fly.
“Are we close, Tia?” I asked.
“Almost,” she answered. “We should be directly beneath the anomaly any moment now.”
“Alright girls,” I said. “Keep a lookout for any signs of a crash or disturbance.”
Pinkie popped out of a nearby tree, causing me to jump a few steps backwards. “You mean like a big hole in the canopy, broken branches, and a small crater in the ground?”
After I took a moment to calm my heart rate, I faced Pinkie. Best not question her appearance. “Yeah. Have you seen one?”
“Yep!” she exclaimed.
We stood there for a few moments. “Well?” I said.
“What?”
“You going to show us where?”
“Oh! Yeah! Follow me.” Pinkie hopped out of the tree and started to walk off, the rest of us following behind.
We stepped into a small clearing just large enough for all of us to stand in. The center had a small hole. Not nearly as large as my crater, but he was probably slowed down a bit by the canopy. I looked up to see a hole in the leaf ceiling, exposing us to the stars.
“Zack,” Tia called. I looked to see her holding a helmet in her telekinetic grasp. I grabbed it and looked at it. It was a warn, gold color and dented enough to look uncomfortable for anypony to wear.
“Yep. Definitely Smith’s,” I said. Sweet! My best friend is here with me! …Well, if he’s alright. That's important too. I looked around for any other sign of him.
“How do you know?” Twilight asked.
I held the helmet to her and pointed at the engraving inside.
“‘S.S. waz here’?” she read aloud.
“That’s Smith’s, alright,” Tia said.
“Well I can use my book on tracking to help find him,” Twilight suggested. She pulled a book from her saddlebag and flipped through it. After a bit of reading, she closed her eyes and her horn glowed. “He… left here about eight hours ago.” She concentrated a little bit more. “He left… that way,” she pointed.
“Well, duh,” Dash said, pointing at his tracks leading out that way. “I could have told you that bit.”
“Anything else?” Tia asked.
“No, sorry,” Twilight told the Princess. “This spell is only really useful up to a few hours ago. After that all I get is a rough time of departure and general direction.”
“Just another useless book,” Dash mumbled.
“Hey! Books are not useless!” Twilight countered. “Every book has its own special use.”
Hmm… I wonder if this’ll work…
Twilight and Dash continued arguing. AJ was trying to cut them off, and Fluttershy was just sitting a ways away hiding behind her hair. I need to concentrate…
“Yeah, right. Books are only useful for Daring Doo or door stops.”
“Why I never-”
“Girls. Y’all need to calm down.”
“But she-”
“SHUT UP!” somepony yelled. Everypony was looking at me. Oh, I said it. “I’m trying to concentrate here.” Everypony stayed silent while I closed my eyes and focused.
“Zack, what are yo-”
“Shh!” I cut Tia off.
After a moment, everypony gasped. “H-how are you doing that?” Twi asked. Hmm? I opened my eyes to see everypony staring at me. Rarity and Twilight were no longer illuminating the area, but everything was glowing a faint cyan color. I looked down at my hooves to see my entire body lit up in a light blue aura. I looked up to Tia in surprise.
“Your eyes are glowing the same color as well,” she told me.
I just smirked. “Cool.” I looked over at the crater. “Well, my spell worked.”
Everypony looked over at the crater and jumped in shock. Lying in the middle of the hole was the ghostly image of a stallion. The image was a monochromatic cyan, and partially see-through. He looked unconscious and his helmet was a bit dented, exactly like the one we found on the ground nearby.
“Wh-what is that?” Fluttershy asked.
“That,” I said, “is the past.”
“What?” Twilight said, as Dash stepped closer to the stallion. “What kind of spell can take all of us to the past like this?”
Dash put a hoof out to touch the stallion, when it suddenly went through him. “Ah!” she jumped back.
“None,” I answered Twilight. “This spell just lets you view the past. Basically everything, living or not, leaves an invisible magic residue behind. After about twelve hours, this residue gets completely reabsorbed into the environment, but until then, it’s a living impression of what used to be there. This spell just pulls the residue into the visible spectrum, allowing you to view what once was.”
Twilight just stared at me, wide-eyed. “You never cease to amaze, do you?”
I smirked and shrugged. “Special talent, I guess.” I looked at the image. Pinkie was poking and prodding at it, giggling each time her hoof went through one ear and out the other. “I think I’m a bit too early though. Hold on.” I concentrated again and Pinkie backed up as the image distorted, like when you fast forward an old VHS tape. I stopped when he began to lift his head.
The stallion tried to stand up, and after failing a few times, finally managed it. I walked around to his front to see his face. Yep, that’s Smith. Smith’s face was slightly contorted in pain. He raised a hoof to yank his helmet off. Once he sent it flying over to where Tia found it lying, his face relaxed a bit and he looked around.
“This. Is. So. Awesome!” Rainbow yelled.
“I admit, this is incredible, even for you, Zack,” Tia said.
“No kidding,” Twilight breathed, walking around the image, inspecting it.
Smith walked to the edge of the clearing and started to look scared.
“This is actually that big breakthrough I was talking about earlier,” I explained as Smith walked back to the center, his mouth moving like he was saying something.
“Is he talking to himself?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, he does that when he’s thinking,” I said.
“Why can’t we hear ‘im?” AJ asked.
“Probably because sound waves aren’t magical,” Twilight answered, still staring at the image. “Therefore, it cannot be recreated in the same way.”
“That’s right,” I said, smiling at Twilight. “The spell wasn’t finished yet. I was going to add a way to get the correct colors and sound as well, but this’ll have to do for now.”
Smith looked up through the canopy and spread his wings to fly. He immediately let out a silent howl in pain and pulled his left wing back to his side. I’m no doctor, but I think that wing is either dislocated or broken. Dash and Fluttershy both instinctively brought a hoof up to their left wings, grimacing.
“That looks painful,” Applejack pointed out. Nah, really?
After a few more moments, Smith managed to straighten up and look around some more, panic all over his face. His head jerked to the where his tracks led and his ears flicked. He moved into the forest cautiously. He must’ve heard something. After a few more steps, his image dissipated.
“Hey, what happened?” Dash asked.
“He moved out of my range,” I replied. “My spell only shows up to so far away. Come on, let’s follow him.” I took a few steps in his direction and stumbled. I would’ve hit the ground if Tia hadn’t caught me with her magic.
“Are you alright, Zack?” Tia asked, concerned.
“Y-yeah. Don’t worry about me. Just a bit of fatigue.” I thought on it a moment as Tia walked up next to me. “I think, without a horn to properly direct my magic flow, I’m using more magic than I need, hence the full body light show.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Twilight agreed. “A Pegasus wasn’t meant to cast spells.”
“Here,” Tia picked me up with her magic and put me on her back, my chin resting on her ethereal mane. Mmm, fruity. Haven’t smelled this in a while. “You just keep the spell going, we’ll follow Smith.”
I nodded, and Tia started walking to Smith’s exit. She stopped at the edge and turned to see everypony staring, Pinkie grinning ear to ear. “Are you all coming?” she asked. Everypony suddenly got up and followed Tia back into the forest.
We caught up with the blue image of Smith, who was walking really slow, probably terrified out of his mind. After a while, he stopped, ears twitching. Do my ears do that when I hear something too? He looked to his right, and our gazes followed. Shimmering into the edge of my spell, was three Timberwolves.
“Oh no,” I mumbled, “Smith’s scared of wolves more than the forest itself.”
Smith turned to run back the way he came, when he froze in fear, staring at us.
“Can he see us?” Twi asked.
“No…” I said. “He shouldn’t be able too.”
Smith backed away from us slowly. His eyes went wide and we all jumped as a fourth wolf jumped through us. “Well, that explains that,” I said to the girls. I turned back to look at Smith, as he got surrounded. “RUN, IDIOT! RUN!” I yelled, to no avail. He just sat there, terrified.
One of the first wolves pounced, and he quickly rolled out of the way. Another attacked and he turned to buck, but only clipped the wolf, getting cut by one of its claws on his hind leg. He backed away a few steps, and another wolf jumped. He tried to buck again and actually hit his mark. The wolf flew right past us and smashed into a tree, making Fluttershy ‘Eep’. Smith smiled at his accomplishment, but was quickly tackled by another wolf. Smith tumbled for a bit before smacking his head into a tree, knocking him out.
“Oh no,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I can’t look.” She laid down and covered her eyes with her hooves.
The remaining three wolves encircled Smith. One started to pounce… when a staff flew into it like an arrow, pinning the wolf to a tree a meter away. The other two wolves looked toward where the staff came from and prepped for attack. A zebra with an old robe stepped into view, ready to fight the wolves.
“Zecora!” Twilight yelled. Fluttershy peaked out from under a hoof.
Zecora and the last two wolves circled each other for a moment before one wolf jumped at her. She quickly rolled out of the way and bucked it in the side, instantly smashing it. The wolf stuck to the tree finally got down, dropping the staff. It leaped at the zebra. She quickly jumped higher, landing on its head mid-flight, and jumped again towards her staff. The wolf’s face skidded on the ground from the change in momentum and quickly stood back up to face Zecora with its only remaining partner.
Zecora picked up her staff and laid it along her back. Before the wolves could make a move, she reached into her robe and pulled out a familiar glowing flower. One wolf backed away a step but the other just snarled and pounced.
The zebra jumped and grabbed her staff, whacking the wolf on the head. While the wolf was down, Zecora rubbed the flower on the Timberwolf’s snout. Before it could stand back up, it trembled violently and disintegrated into a pile of useless sticks. The remaining wolf took off into the woods.
“Wow,” I said, “Who knew Zecora was such a badflank?” Twilight glared at me. “What? She is!”
“What kind of flower was that?” Fluttershy asked.
I looked at Zecora as she rushed to Smith’s side to inspect his wounds. The glowing flower was back inside her robe. “I think it was Poison Joke,” I said.
“Poison Joke?” Twilight asked. “How do you know? I’ve never seen Poison Joke do that!” She pointed at the pile of sticks, which was there in the present as well as the past. The sticks from the other wolves were only there in ghostly form. Those must’ve regenerated later.
“It’s just a guess from something I read once,” I explained. “I think it’s actually deadly to Timberwolves.”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. Zecora was wrapping up Smith’s leg and wing in gauss.
“But, wait,” Dash said. “Wouldn’t she be affected by the Poison Joke too?”
I shook my head. “Not immediately. Not if she takes the herbal bath in time.” I looked down at the girls. “You should all know that it takes nearly a day for it to have an effect on somepony,” I looked back at Zecora, “or zebra, in this case.” I wonder what would happen to her. Would she only use unrhymable words? Would her colors invert? Wait, that’s not funny...
I stopped thinking about it when Zecora picked Smith up onto her back and carried him off. She’s stronger than she looks.
“She’s heading back towards Ponyville,” Twilight said. “She must’ve taken him to the hospital to get his injuries properly treated.”
“Well that answers that.” I dropped the spell, making it dark again before Twilight and Rarity lit everything back up. “Phew. Now let’s get out of here before,” I yawned, “more wolves show up.” Everypony nodded and followed Tia towards the exit, with me still on her back.
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I'm enjoying this. As far as I could see there was nothing wrong with the action either. Write faster.
3020876
Thank you!
I'm trying my best. If I write any faster, the quality and story will probably suffer, so 3-4 day updates are here to stay for a while. Sorry.
hurry good story write faster
I'm suing you. I'll accept payment in the form further updates.
I agree with Crimson_skies that this is a good story and I hope to see a new chapter soon. Keep up the good work.
My god i love this story!
Man this story so awesome
Just recently found this story and now i need MOAR!!! -add flutterrage here cause im on my ipod-
Good god man! You are one awesome writer
great chapter once again!
keep up the good work!
Just found this story! And it has been glorious thus far
Moar pweez :3
I'm liking this. Keep it up. And don't sacrifice quality for speed. I will take good writing over fast writing any day. Though a combination of the two is best. Anyway, keep it coming!
3020962>>3021039
3021139>>3021169
3021479>>3021639
3021662>>3022205
Hehe, uhh... Wow. Thanks! That means a lot.
I guess I'd better get writing, then, huh?
3014835 Yes indeed!
3022338 yes!
3022866
Well how about this for news:
The next chapter is already half way complete!
It should be out by tonight or tomorrow morning if nothing goes wrong.
Granted, it's pretty brief at the moment (~2200 words), but it's coming along!
3022882 Awesome! Can't wait.
So many fanfiction references!
ZEBRA POWAAAAAAA!!!!!!
Have you read the book pathfinder because that spell he just cast was a mirror image of what someone in that book could do
Wait, I found how he turn into pegasus. Poison Joke.