The Box in the Everfree

by Jh5kPony

Prankster Pegasi/Salt in the Wound

It was early evening. Nick was waiting at the town square for what felt like a date with Rainbow Dash. He was very excited for today. Then, out of the skies, he saw Rainbow Dash, as well as another pony. It was the same bashful yellow pony from earlier today. Not exactly what Nick had in mind. He didn't care. Nick could only stand in awe, as the two ponies glide gracefully in the skies, before landing in front of him. It was a spectacle on its own. Humans can only dream of flying, let alone with such grace.

"Hey Nick, hope you don't mind me bringing a friend of mine," she said. "Nick, this is Fluttershy. Fluttershy, this is Nick."

"H...hello..." Fluttershy said, very quietly.

"Hello. Wait. You're that pony from this morning!" Nick said. "Sorry about my buddy Ryan. He's been acting a bit strange recently. Don't worry. He's usually a cool guy. A bit uptight, but a cool guy."

Fluttershy said nothing. There was a momentary bit of awkward silence. Finally, Rainbow Dash said something.

"So, wanna know about the Sonic Rainboom?" Rainbow Dash said, enthusiastically.

"COOL!" Nick said, with a rather silly tone in his face.

The following hour or so went smoothly. Nick was able to hear more inspiring and interesting stories from his hero, Rainbow Dash. However, it wasn't all just about her. Rainbow Dash also told stories about how Fluttershy helped with the Great Pegasus Tornado Water Lift, as well as the silly stories about the Iron Pony competition between herself and Applejack.

Nick, on the other hand, told stories about Ryan and himself. The times before Ryan was the "Stick-in-the-mud Ponyphobe Nerd", including the fishing trips, a visit to a submarine, the time they met Trixie, and other stories. However, Nick cannot help but notice something. Fluttershy seemed to be extra bashful whenever Ryan was brought up.

Eventually, Fluttershy left. Rainbow Dash and Nick waved her goodbye. The sun was still up, still plenty of time for more fun. Rainbow Dash suddenly got some ideas: Shenanigans.

"Nick. Wanna go prank Troll Face back?" Rainbow Dash said. "Y'know, for that raining?"

"Um...sure," Nick replied. He answered in a doubtful tone.

Rainbow Dash and Nick went to the Carousel Boutique. Apparently Troll Face was there, leaving scrawled notes on Rarity's door (which, surprisingly do not get read at all). However, this time, Troll Face was about to get a surprise. Nick was hiding in a nearby brush. When Troll Face approached the brush, Nick leapt out, yelling "BOO!" This scared Troll Face senselessly, briefly paralyzing him. He landed in a minefield of water balloons, leaving the scared pegasus soaking wet. This caused Troll Face running away in embarrassment. Nick and Rainbow Dash laughed senselessly.

"DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON HIS FACE? PRICELESS!" Rainbow Dash laughed. "I just wish Pinkie Pie wasn't so busy with her second job."

"Yeah I gotta admit, that was pretty fu- wait..." Nick said. "Who?"

"Oh right. Pinkie Pie is a friend of mine. A bit annoying at times but she's still pretty cool. She is a pranking GENIUS. It's just that ever since about a year ago, she got really busy and couldn't do as many pranks as before."

"Yeah that sucks," Nick said.

Just then, Rainbow Dash noticed the time on the nearby clock tower. 5:00 PM. A rainstorm was scheduled an hour from now. It looks like Rainbow Dash and Nick's pranking montage would have to be cut short.

"Nick?" Rainbow Dash prompted

"Yeah?" Nick replied.

"I gotta get going now. I forgot that rain was scheduled for this evening. It was really fun! I'll see you tommorrow?"

"Sure thing Rainbow!" Nick said.

And the two waved goodbye.

---

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle head down once again to the Everfree Forest. She may have missed a few things there. On the way, she passes by Applejack's farm. Applejack was, as usual, busy bucking down apples from trees. Applejack noticed Twilight Sparkle passing by. In a rather impossible way, Applejack placed a hoof in her mouth to create a loud whistle noise. Twilight perked her head to the orange pony.

"Oh hey Applejack," she said. "What's up?"

"Yer goin' there 'bout Fluttershy, aren'tcha?" Applejack said, in her famous accent.

"How did you know?" Twilight asked.

"As soon as y'all ran outta mah Apple Cellar, Ah had a closer look inside. Ah saw a terrible thing, and ah knew it had t'do with Fluttershy."

"What wait...Pinkie had...what?!" Twilight said, noticing the strange logical fallacy in the corpses left behind when Pinkie took the corpses to Carousel Boutique. Then again, Pinkie Pie. Logic simply does not apply to her, therefore making her one of Equestria's biggest mysteries.

"Ah'd stay the hay away from them humans, ya hear?" Applejack said. "They might get y'all next. Ah worry ah might be next."

"Wait, what do you mean, about the humans?" Twilight said, suddenly curious.

"Ah told ya too much. Best not to talk about it to Fluttershy, sugarcube." Applejack said. At this point Twilight knows that Applejack was hiding something. Was Fluttershy hurt on her trip to Cloudsdale? Something was causing Fluttershy grief, she thought. Twilight, out of headstrong conviction, proceeded to the Everfree Forest anyways.

Just then, on the way to the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle comes across Troll Face once more. He didn't seem to have anything on him. Nearby were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. They were building a house of cards. Probably trying to get cutie marks in Card Houses.

Troll Face approached the purple unicorn. He had a grin on his face, like desperately trying to withhold a laughter. The unicorn looked at him in utter confusion. Finally, the pegasus let out his question.

"Guess what?" he said.

"Um...what?" Twilight replied. This was getting weird.

"SCOOTALOO BUTT" he said, with Scootaloo in his mouth somehow.

"Hey put me down!" Scootaloo yelled.

Troll Face let down the orange pegasus and flew away, laughing. Apparently this was his idea of a prank. This confused Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie would simply shrug this off as some author having a strange urge to make a vague reference to "a meme", she thought. However that would be absurd.

Finally, Twilight Sparkle arrived back at the Everfree forest. There are a lot less ponies and people around than usual. The only one standing guard is a lone Solar Guard, taking a snooze. Twilight snuck past the Solar Guard with ease. She entered the forest.

She checked back to where she found the box. The Everfree Forest was still corpse-infested as usual. Nothing changed at all. Twilight looked up in the sky. It had begun to rain. Just then, a thought passed. Why did Applejack make a connection of Fluttershy and the Everfree Forest? Twilight realized Applejack probably did reveal too much.

"Fluttershy was not even at Cloudsdale!" Twilight thought out loud. Her jump to a conclusion perked the attention of nearby wild animals. Twilight turned around. Timberwolves. A whole pack of them. They slowly approached Twilight Sparkle, snarling in an intimidating way. Then, one by one, they pounced at Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle made a run for it. It was a chase.

Then, a series of bangs were heard. One by one, the timberwolves fell. Was it a human? Only humans and some unicorns had rifles. The rifle mechanisms were too difficult for pegasi and earth ponies. Finally, Twilight bumped into something. It felt like it was alive. Before Twilight was able to examine what she bumped into, she felt a thud on her head. She was knocked unconscious.