Into The Everfree (Part 2)
“Twilight? Are you sure you’re up for this?” Fluttershy asked Twilight while pulling back from the rest of the group. “I mean, uh, you still hit the ground really hard when you fell. I just don’t want you to over exert yourself. That is, if that’s okay with you...”
Twilight smiled at Fluttershy reassuringly. “I’ll manage, Fluttershy, don’t worry. I’m more worried about getting those elements and saving Rainbow Dash…” her smile fell away and she closed her eyes. “...We’re going to have some things to talk about when this is all over, anyway.”
Fluttershy tilted her head slightly, a curious expression appearing on her face. “What about, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Twilight looked at Fluttershy before turning her gaze down to the ground. “Before we left Canterlot, I was desperately researching clues and evidence related to Nightmare Moon. I found what I felt was proof of her imminent return, but Princess Celestia… she didn’t believe me,” she explained before hissing through her teeth when the bruise on her side started acting up. She came to a stop to let it relax before speaking again. “I tried to tell Rainbow and… she didn’t seem to believe me, either. At least… until earlier, just before we all gathered in the town hall for the celebration.”
“What do you mean?”
“Before we left, Rainbow tried to say something. We were interrupted by Spike, but, looking back… I think she knew Nightmare Moon was about to come back.” Twilight sighed and rubbed a forehoof absently against her shoulder.
Fluttershy draped a wing over Twilight’s back to comfort her. “Are you sure?” she asked simply.
Twilight nodded shakily. “Yeah. I mean, when Nightmare Moon showed up, Rainbow didn’t even miss a beat or hesitate. She was the first one up there, facing Nightmare up close and personally, yelling at her and demanding answers. And…” Twilight closed her eyes. “She didn’t even bat an eye when Nightmare called her her ‘niece.’ I mean, yeah, she loudly declared that Nightmare was ‘no aunt of hers,’ but if she hadn’t known about Nightmare Moon… there would have been fewer demands and more questions.”
Fluttershy bit her lip, looking unsure of herself. “Well… I’m sure she had a good reason for not telling you.”
Twilight slumped a bit more. “...I hope so.”
“Uh, Y’all? We gotta problem!” Applejack’s voice called from a ways ahead. “Get up here!”
Fluttershy and Twilight shared a look before standing and moving ahead at a brisk pace. Once Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity came into sight, the two quickly ducked to join their friends behind the cover of trees and brush. “What’s going on?” Twilight asked nervously before Rarity pointed out passed their cover. Looking that way, Twilight gasped. Standing in the middle of the road a ways ahead, growling and roaring in rage, was a manticore. It’s lion’s claws slashed out as some nearby vines, ripping through them like a hot knife through melting butter. “...oh.”
“How are we supposed to get past that?!” Rarity demanded in an agitated hiss. “We can’t fight that thing and expect to win!”
“Why not?” Applejack asked, turning a glance on Rarity.
“You may be the most physically strong pony here, Applejack,” Rarity began in an almost scolding voice. “But without good preparation you’d be torn apart by that thing. Twilight is good with magic of all kinds I’ve noticed, but she’s hurt. I’m a fashion designer and don’t know the first thing about combat magic. Pinkie Pie is, well-”
“Hi!” Pinkie Pie waved back at Rarity cheerfully. Rarity gave a charmed smile before looking to Applejack again.
“...She’s Pinkie. Great for parties and a good time, but I don’t know about tangling with a manticore. And Fluttershy- wait, where is she?!” Rarity suddenly blurted, sitting upright and looking around. Everypony joined her in looking and, sure enough, Fluttershy had disappeared.
“She’s right there.” Pinkie finally deduced while pointing towards the manticore. Everypony looked and collectively gasped when they saw Fluttershy fearlessly marching up to the creature.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted in alarm, scrambling from her cover. “What are you doing?!”
The manticore turned upon hearing Twilight’s voice, spotted Fluttershy trotting up to it, and reared back to strike with it’s claws, an enraged, rumbling growl escaping it’s throat.
“Shh, it’s okay.” Fluttershy then cooed softly while gingerly touching the tip of her muzzle to the Manticore’s lower paw. It froze and looked at her, confused, before she looked back up with an innocent, kind smile. ‘What’s bothering you, big guy?”
The manticore looked unsure before settling back down on all fours- except for it’s front left paw, which it extended towards Fluttershy pads up. An enormous thorn was revealed to have been stabbed into the very center of the manticore’s paw. Fluttershy’s ears fell.
“Oh, you poor little guy… here, let me help you. This might hurt for just a second.” She assured gently before reaching out with her teeth and pulling the thorn from the paw. A loud roar of pain tore it’s way from the manticore once the thorn was loose. It reached out and yanked Fluttershy forcefully from the ground, glaring at her.
“FLUTTERSHY!” the rest of the group cried out in unison, ready to leap to her aid before they all fell still, looking utterly perplexed. The manticore was now purring happily while it’s long tongue bathed Fluttershy in enormous, thankful licks. The yellow mare in question was giggling happily from the affection.
Getting the idea, the rest of the group began to make their way past the manticore. Twilight was the last one to advance and the first one to stop, waiting for Fluttershy. Eventually, the big creature put Fluttershy down and bounded off into the woods. Fluttershy came trotting after the rest of the group then, her mane now thoroughly ruined from the excessive amounts of saliva and tongue-brushing that had been applied to it.
As she went by Twilight, Fluttershy let out a lout yip of surprise when, suddenly, she was yanked into a tight and relieved hug.
“Oh my gosh, Fluttershy! Don’t scare me like that ever again, you hear me?” Twilight said in a shaky voice, holding Fluttershy close.
“Um… I only showed him a little kindness, Twilight.”
“I know… I know,” Twilight breathed, not letting go. “But I’ve already lost one friend tonight. Don’t become a second, okay?”
Fluttershy blushed from the attention and words, but returned the hug all the same. “Um… okay, Twilight. I won’t.”
“The canopy’s gettin’ thicker, y’all,” Applejack said with a hint of frustration in her voice some time later. “We won’t be able to see much. I don’t suppose either of you two has a light spell?” she turned to Rarity and Twilight.
“Oh, I do.” Rarity said with a smile, a ball of blue light appearing on the tip of her horn. Twilight went to protest, to say that she could do it just as well, but Rarity shot her a look and shook her head. Twilight nodded and kept moving.
Applejack wasn’t kidding. The canopy overhead was growing thicker as they went. In only a minute it had gotten to the point that Rarity’s illumination spell was literally the only source of light. Twilight shivered slightly, the sounds around her becoming that much more noticeable with most of the area around them shrouded in perfect darkness. She thought she could hear something moving in the trees.
Applejack abruptly grunted when her hoof stepped on a soft patch on the ground and sunk in. There was a wet squelch and splash before Applejack yanked her hoof back up. It was now covered in a thick layer of mud. She was about to keep moving when an ear-piercing shriek came from Fluttershy. Applejack rolled her eyes while looking at the pegasus in question. “It’s just mud, Fluttershy. No need to panic-” her words were cut off when her front connected with an unseen obstruction.
Applejack, too, let out a frightened shout while backpedaling away from what she had bumped into. It was a tree, but a horrifying face was starting to push it’s way through the bark, twisting the surface and painting the seams around it with a crimson glow. The branches twitched and spasmed in the wind, looking more and more like vicious claws the more they all looked. The group collectively screamed, expecting an assault of sharp claws at any moment.
Then they heard Pinkie laughing. Twilight opened one the eyes she hadn’t realized she had slammed shut to see Pinkie, sure enough, giggling in the face of one of these terrifying trees like it was nothing. “Ha ha! Oh, that’s a good one! Too bad it’s not Nightmare Night.” she chortled.
“Pinkie, what are you doing?! RUN!” Twilight shouted, spotting the patch behind the pink pony.
“Why?” Pinkie asked innocently before reaching out with her hooves and grasping the edges of the mouth of the tree and pulling. “They’re just trees, silly.”
“But… but…” Twilight tried, but soon fell silent when she looked closer. Sure enough, while the trees had some new holes and graffiti on them, they were still just trees.
Pinkie then hopped inside the mouth hole on her tree, reached out with all four of her hooves and started moving. The tree looked like it was talking, no. “Heya!” it chirped happily. “Does anypony want a cupcake?”
Twilight couldn’t help the amused snort that came out of her. “Okay, that just looks ridiculous.” she muttered with a mirthful smile.
“Yeah it does!” Pinkie agreed before poking her head out of the tree. “It’s just like Granny Pie used to say. A lot of things may look scary and dangerous, but if you know what to look for…” she pushed the frowny face of the tree into a big, happy smile. “You’ll see that they’re actually really funny looking! And when you do find them; just laugh. Laugh and be happy and that fear goes away lickity split!”
“Well, as fascinating as all that is, darling…” Rarity began before clearing her throat. “Ahem… how did you know that these were just normal trees with, uh, some vandalisation?”
Pinkie poked it and looked at Rarity like she was a moron. “It’s a tree. Tree’s don’t usually move, Rarity, much less attack you with big, scary claws. These funny things can’t hurt you!” she then disappeared back into the tree and made it talk again. “Yeah! I’d never hurt a fly!”
The whole group giggled and laughed in amusement. Applejack was the first to speak again. “Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better. But Ah think we should get a move on. How much farther, Twi?”
“Oh, um…” Twilight looked around for a moment, recalling what she had read in that book. “I don’t think it’s too much farther. The castle is supposed to be on the other side of a big river and… I think I can hear it.”
“Then get a move on, little ponies!” The tree announced before Pinkie hopped out and started bouncing down the trail. “Yeah! Let’s go!”
Sure enough, they found the river and crossed with no problem whatsoever. Rarity briefly seemed alarmed, claiming she saw an enormous sea serpent down the stream a ways, but it turned out to be nothing and the group kept moving. Now moving through what was left of their journey, the signs of old civilization were starting to appear. They had found what was once a beautifully paved stone path, logn since reclaimed by nature, but all the same they followed it. They saw what looked to be a few old farmhouses covered up in the bushes and foliage, but none stopped to explore them further.
Finally, the forest began to give way to a massive clearing. From their somewhat elevated vantage point, they saw where they were trying to go. An old, ancient castle, once beautiful and formidable, now nothing more than a hollowed and broken shell of it’s former self. Most of the roof had caved in centuries prior, towers had toppled and windows had shattered. Moss and viney growths covered much of the old structure.
There was just one problem: The deep chasm separating the entire castle from everything else. Still, they had made it. All they had to do was figure out a way across.
Fluttershy peered down into the chasm before standing upright. “Um, it looks like there’s an old rope bridge.”
Twilight looked and confirmed Fluttershy’s assessment. “Yeah, there is. It fell on our side, though. Re-attaching it might prove difficult.”
“Hmmm…” Rarity hummed while giving the offending and broken creation a thorough look. “Fluttershy, do you think you can pull the other end back to those posts on the other side of the chasm? Twilight and I can use our magic to tie the rope to the posts once it’s up.”
“And we can lessen the load of the bridge with our magic, too, so it shouldn’t be too heavy.” Twilight added with a confident and eager smile.
Fluttershy gulped but nodded. “Alright, uh, I’ll try.” she said meekly before turning and lifting into the air on her wings.
“Be careful!” Twilight called after her as she went. Once the group saw the bridge shifting from Fluttershy’s efforts, Rarity and Twilight nodded at each other before lighting their horns with magic and helping Fluttershy with the weight of the bridge. Slowly but surely, with a lot of grunts, sweat and effort, the bridge was re-extended once more.
“How does it look, darling?” Rarity called out once she and Twilight let go, having helped with the ropes as well as they could from this distance. Fluttershy gradually drifted back to them, looking at the bridge uneasily.
“Um… it looks… lovely?”
Applejack facehooved. “Ah think she meant ‘how sturdy’ does it look? Will we fall if we walk on it?”
Fluttershy blushed lightly. “Oh. Then, uh… I don’t think so?”
“Only one way to find out!” Pinkie said enthusiastically before setting off down the bridge while humming to herself. Carefully, the rest of the group set off down the bridge after her. It swayed and creaked dangerously under their weight, making them all stop more than once, worried about a collapse. Fluttershy slowly flew alongside them, hooves off the bridge to decrease the load.
“Come on, you slow pokes!” Pinkie called near the front of the bridge. “We’re almost- AAAGH!” her playful taunting turned into a scared scream when a wisp of black smoke shot past her.
“It’s Nightmare Moon!” Twilight shouted in fright, breaking into a gallop. “Everypony! MOVE!”
Her words came too late. From the cloud of smoke, Nightmare Moon’s face did indeed emerge, baring her fangs threateningly. Then, she dug her teeth into the rope of the bridge, severing it instantly. The whole bridge jerked and fell somewhat, now dangling precariously at an angle. Applejack let out a shout as she lost her footing, just able to hook her forelegs through the rope in time to keep herself from falling. Rarity was in much the same position next to the farmer, screaming in fear.
“Applejack! Rarity!” Pinkie Pie shouted in alarm, turning and retreating back towards her friends along the bridge. Twilight passed her and skidded to a stop, looking back.
“PINKIE!”
“Twilight!” Applejack called back, looking up and meeting Twilight’s gaze. “GO!”
Before anything else could be said, Nightmare’s fangs sunk into the last of the rope, severing it and sending the bridge in two halves into the chasm. Twilight yelped and tossed herself back, her hooves grasping the ledge of the chasm and holding on for dear life. The cries of Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity vanishing into the thick fog that filled the canyon below, their cries echoing into silence.
“PINKIE!” Twilight cried out in despair. “APPLEJACK! RARITY, SAY SOMETHING!” she got no response. For a moment, Twilight hung there, a horrible feeling filling her before she pulled herself up onto the ledge. A few seconds later, Fluttershy settled down next to her, her eyes blank and distant.
“I… I’m so sorry… I-”
“Fluttershy,” Twilight cut her off gently, looking her friend in the eye. “You can fly, I can’t. Get down there and see if they’re okay. If they are, find a way to get them up here…” she then turned her gaze up to look at the imposing castle. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the cloud of smoke flow into the castle. “...I’m going to find the elements and finish this…”
Fluttershy gulped slightly, her eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. “Are you sure about this, Twilight?”
“...Positive.” was all Twilight said before reaching out and hugging Fluttershy one more time. She then let go and set off into the caste.
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8533411
Next.
Well. Can't say I was expecting that. But maybe I should have, since a certain Element was missing for her trial. That's just an open invitation for things to go wrong. Still, I was expecting Dash to swoop in at any moment during the other's fall, maybe saving them at the last second with a Rainboom or something and thus defying Nightmare Moon's ultimatum.
Way to topple my expectations. Good job!
8534491
To be fair, Rainbow is trapped in a magic cage right now, remember?
The suspense is killing me! Where is the next chapter!
Once again, VERY good job on this chapter. Excellent recap of the other trials; particularly on the exchanges and characterizations. I particularly liked the scenes with Twi and Fluttershy - VERY emotional stuff, indeed.
Rainbow: You see? Your overconfidence is your weakness, "Nightmare Moon"
Nightmare Moon: Your faith in your friends is YOURS.
Rainbow: I wouldn't be so sure about that. They made it THIS far, didn't they?
Nightmare Moon: Only because I will admit I underestimated them. But I'm through going easy on them!
Rainbow: Oh, you're through, all right.
Sorry, about that. Got off on a tangent there. I know that scene probably won't happen, but it was just too good an image to keep in my head
Anyway, on to the next chapter.
Poor Steven Magnet, he's the Tom Bombadil of MLP.
Ability gained: basic perception
Is in her element? (both harmony type and otherwise) Yes. Yes she is.
"Do not steal this from me!"
Unless it's an Ent.
Well... it's fuck you Steven Magnet I guess...
"long"
This is probably the most satisfying retelling of the pilot that I've yet read. Just the right balance of familiar and new.
8536670
The carriage crash that killed Rainbow's parents was supposed to be stopped by Rainbow Dash, but she was too distracted thinking about Alicorn Twilight. The carriage crashed directly into Steven Magnet, killing him instantly. Rarity only thought she saw him because of her hallucination. I don't know if any of that is true or not, but it's my head cannon until the story says otherwise.
8758325
You know, as far as dramatic head canon goes, that's really not bad. It adds an extra bit of explanation of how Rainbow's parents dies, and it adds extra drama. Also, I don't think any MLP fans ever cared much for Steven Magnet, anyway. Heck, even the writers seemed to treat him as a cheap plot device.
9105411
No. Steven was not present here because they were late in getting to the river because twilight was K.Od. As a result, he got a grip and moved on.
9105412
Well... I guess the part about Rainbow being too distracted to save her parents could still stand. Maybe Steven learned a valuable lesson about vanity or something.
BTW, you should consider editing your comment, so it looks like you're also responding to way_2_spooking_4_u as well, since we're discussing his head canon. Otherwise I don't think (s)he'll be notified. (Then again, (s)he's already going to be notified about my comment... so meh?)
9105432
Rainbow being distracted by thinking about Alicorn Twilight isn't even headcanon; that's how it happened. If she weren't so distracted by that, she could have saved her family, and in the context of this story, she did in the original timeline. Although I have always left how they died vague on purpose. All I made clear is that it happened in Baltimare and she was removed by the authorities with magic, thus leading to her developing her PTSD when subjected to magic.