The Box in the Everfree

by Jh5kPony

SHOE!

The riot that took place outside Twilight's library have subsided. The Solar Guards have ran the rioters out, but in the name of noise complaint. The falseness of the rumours were soon to follow. It was not long before the rioters' attention turned towards Troll Face and his posse. It's amazing how fast word of mouth can fly by, especially in such a small town as Ponyville.

What mattered to Twilight was that she no longer had to endure the blame. She went back into the library. Thanks to her force field, her tree was still in one piece. However it managed to drain her energy away. She just wanted to get some sleep. Twilight was exhausted. She'd go to her bedroom, and tuck herself in her little bed, and struggled to stay asleep.

The problem is...it was still sunny out.

Twilight hopped out of bed, and simply went to her desk. She needed help finding something.

"Spike?" Twilight called, looking for her baby dragon assistant.

Dutifully, Spike went to Twilight Sparkle, ready to do things. "Need something?"

"I think..." she yawned. "I think we should...reschedule the day..."

"Yeah, no kidding. That crowd looked angry." Spike said. "Just glad that Lyra stopped by to defend you."

Spike dutifully took out the to-do list for the day. It was smaller than the usual to-do lists. Spike then decided to quickly run through the to-do list.

Despite the unaccounted riots, Twilight Sparkle was able to finish everything that was on the To-do list, with plenty of time to spare. Once again, her organization skills helped her. It felt something short of a win streak for her. Assessing her situation with time itself, she realized she had some free time left.

Twilight would do what she'd always do on her free time: Read a nice book.

Twilight magically lifted a random book and began to read it.

Diary of Mane Frank

Mane Frank's diary tells of a tale during the tumultuous time when the Gryphon lands was ruled by a strange dictatorship, threatening to wipe out non-gryphons of the land. Mane Frank recalls her memories of hiding in an old factory, describing in great detail the challenges, right before she was caught.

Small world...

Then, in the distance...

"OF ALL THE WORST THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN. THIS IS THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!!!"

Rarity was in trouble.

---

Derpy Hooves was the local mailmare. She is in charge of making sure parcels arrive in the right place. Despite what most ponies think, Derpy is actually capable of her job (to make up for an incident involving unicorns and falling pianos), in spite of having a lazy eye. In fact, her good eye was capable of seeing things in a long distance. Derpy Hooves was on her way to deliver a parcel to Fluttershy. Her package was extremely heavy, as it contained a large sack of Bird Feed. Derpy struggled to flap her wings as the massive parcel threatened to burst out of the box. As she neared Fluttershy's house while passing by the Everfree Forest...

"Oh thank Celestia, I'm almost there! This box is huge!" Derpy said, letting out a wheeze.

RRRIIIPPP!!!!

"Oh Celestia why?!" Derpy said, assessing the damage.

The box was torn open. It was in no shape to carry anything. Derpy was getting really worried. She could simply drag the bag, but that would risk damaging the parcel. Her boss would have her head on a platter if she did this (which was a strange thought, considering ponies are herbivores). Nevertheless, Derpy was worried. She had to find a way to (professionally) take the parcel to her customer.

Then, she noticed something in the forest. Derpy narrowed her eye to determine what it was. It was a cardboard box. Why would a cardboard box be in the Everfree Forest? Derpy found this odd, but nonetheless approached the box, while keeping an eye on the heavy sack of bird feed. The sun was up at just the right angle to be bright enough to light the way inside the forest.

"I'm just here for the box..." Derpy reminded herself. She knew that, after recent events, she wasn't supposed to enter the Everfree. But, judging by her situation, a small breach of law would save her otherwise unstable job.

The forest, even with the brightness of Celestia's sun, was still eerie. Littered with strange-bending trees, as well as various corpses in the distance. No wonder two severed dead bodies were found here. Nopony would just waltz in here without good reason. And boy did Derpy have a good reason: Her job.

She hovered over to the box, nervously. Whether it's her own natural instincts or the strange magical imbalance, something about the forest terrifies Derpy. She grabbed the box, and flew back to the entrance to the forest. However, as she neared the exit, something had caught her tail, causing her to drop the box. She turned around to see another pegasus. Troll Face.

"Hello, mailmare..." said the pegasus Troll Face. Something didn't feel right about this pony. Either that or Derpy was terrified to see a random pony that snuck up on her. Was this an ambush?

"Uh...I...I'm sorry...I just needed to borrow the box and..." as she spoke, she noticed something about the box. It was upside down, and on the bottom of the box was a book.

"You know not to take anypony's belongings without asking, do you?" said Troll Face, his voice altering midway through into a deeper, darker voice.

Troll Face then took out a human's shoe. It was strangely ornate. It was encrusted with jewels. A human would have to pay a fortune just to purchase a pair. Troll Face swung the shoe at Derpy with great force. Derpy was now lying on the floor, knocked out, tongue sticking out, and with a big shoeprint on her face. The only sign of life in her was her wings twitching, like a dying insect.

Troll Face then left the shoe and the dead pony behind.

Chaos was to ensue.