The Princess is a Filly

by Art Inspired

Chapter Seven: Everly Free

Rays of light gleamed through the wet leaves of the tall standing trees marking the entrance to the Everfree Forest. Although Celestia would've hated to admit it, she was getting cold hooves about going in there. "Spike?" She asked while following behind him.

"Yes?" Spike asked while turning around, and stopping. "You've barely spoken this whole time. What's up?"

Celestia tried to hide how scared she really was, but it still showed with every word she spoke. "This... forest just doesn't sit well with me." She gulped, and then said, "You say there might be timberwolves in there?"

Spike nodded, but then he said, "But, hey, no worries! That's why I'm coming along. So that you and Twilight don't have to worry."

He then spat some of his green flames into the open air, and as it sparkled into smoke above them, the intensity was more than enough to make Celestia feel much safer about going in there. Still, there was this ominous feeling about this forest than any of the other places she had ever heard of before. Considering how much she enjoyed studying, too, she had already known of many places, but this location felt different. The closer she got to it, the more it seemed like it was calling out to her.

"That's... very impressive, Spike..."

Her vision trailed off from Spike to the entrance behind him, and she frowned with fear. That's when Spike decided to grab hold of Celestia's hoof, and get this over with. In they went, and Celestia discovered the inside of the Everfree Forest to be just as calming as it was intimidating.

"Wow," she commented. "This is exactly as I imagined it, only a lot more welcoming."

The corridor of arching trees made the way, mostly. There was a spooky aura about the environment, but years of visits to and from Zecora's hut from everypony by then had left a path filled with wonderment. To the left of them was a tiny waterfall, and it was Celestia's height. It was coming down from a pillar shaped rock that seemed to blend in with the trees. The water was running all the way along the side of the path. Pink butterflies looped within the tree branches back and forth, and even though there seemed to be abnormal sounds every once in a while such as wolves howling, Celestia could also hear birds chirping, and insects humming peacefully.

She lost herself in wonderment thanks to the sudden exposure of the mystical forest, and said to Spike, "The Everly Free Forest is simply breathtaking."

Spike had been smiling the whole time. It was right up until Celestia had gotten the name wrong that he stopped smiling, and asked, "Huh?" He looked at Celestia, completely confused by what she had said. "No, no," he said with a chuckle. "It's the Everfree Forest."

Celestia just looked at him vaguely, and said, "I... remember a name, though. It's Everly Free, Spike. H-have you ever heard of that name before?"

The look in her eyes made Spike feel bizarre, as if this might be a prank or something. "No," he said with a smirk. "Have you?"

Celestia looked away, and although she wanted to say that she did, she answered, "No..." She began to look away.

"Then," Spike said, catching her attention. "Maybe you just misheard me the first time I said it. Plus, this place isn't named after somepony."

"What's it named after, then?"

As they began to walk through the forest, Spike told her what he knew. "Apparently, this was a clear meadow at one point, and no trees ever grew in it. Then, one day, it just... became the forest that it is today. It grew vast, strong, and quickly, but it only got so big. I think there was something about... it making a nearly perfect circle? The tale itself is said to be the oldest folklore in history that's still told in Equestria."

Celestia nodded, and asked, "So, not Everly Free, huh?"

Spike shook his head, still holding onto her hoof, and said, "No. It's called the Everfree Forest, Celestia."

She nodded to herself as they walked together slowly. "Right... Everfree..." She grunted, but then said, "Got it."

Eventually, Spike let her hoof go, and continued to scout ahead. Just as he did, Celestia began walking along more slowly, admiring the beauty that was surrounding her. Soon, she'd find herself looking at the rows upon rows of tree trunks to her right that ascended to the sky. Her head tilted ever so slightly while she continued watching them go by, and as the spacing between all of the trees flickered in her sights, she even began to smirk a little bit. She focused more towards the beams of light that were escaping in between all of the bark, but then, she saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

She stood stock still for a second, her head focused straight, and forward, and her lip was quivering. Celestia looked again towards where she had been gazing at previously, and steadily began to back up. Just like before, but this time in the opposite direction, she saw it peering at her again, right through the trees. Celestia saw what could only be described as a single, giant, oddly shaped rock of some kind with moss and ivy covering it completely, and it was just sitting there, right beyond the trees that had originally been hiding it perfectly.

She tried to make a sound, but nothing escaped her lips despite them still hanging ajar. She actually wasn't sure what she was seeing, but it scared her more than anything else before that day. She began trotting back along the path hastily, shaking her head, and saying to herself suddenly, "N-no... No way am I going over there!"

While she began to gallop away, she heard spike yelling for her, and this brought Celestia to another stand still. "Celestia? Where are you?" the dragon called out.

She acted quickly, and carefully used her magic to silently carve a gigantic "X" on one of the nearby trees. She wasn't even really sure at the time why she had done something like that except to hopefully make sure that she could find that spot again, just in case she needed it for in the future. "Perhaps, someday, I'll come back and see what was up with that rock, or whatever that was back there," Celestia thought to herself as she trotted off in order to regroup with Spike.

As she ran into him, Spike sighed with relief, and said, "There you are!" He grabbed her with one of his claws again. "This time, I'm not letting go."

Celestia nodded, and said, "S-sorry for getting separated."

Spike shook his head at her, and pointed out, "Actually, it was my fault. I shouldn't have let go of you... What's wrong?" He looked at Celestia awkwardly, and said, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Celestia blinked shrewdly at Spike for that remark, and said, "Of course I didn't see a ghost...! This forest is just creepy, okay? Can we please get going now, Spike?"

He nodded hastily, and continued walking. Soon enough, they had arrived at Zecora's hut, and Spike entered while Celestia stopped for a second to look at the masks that hung from the thatch roof. Coming inside finally, Celestia observed her surroundings, but she didn't come any closer than the entryway at first. Everything seemed taboo enough, especially the cauldron sitting in the middle of the room, but then, in came Zecora from the hallway.

Celestia hadn't actually seen a real, life Zebra yet, so of course, she just stared with wide eyes. As for Spike, he stood next to the zebra, and said, "Zecora, meet the new Celestia!"

Celestia simply said, "Wow... so that's what a zebra is? Cool..."

Zecora laughed, and said, "Goodness, Spike! Look at this! She really is a filly, and here I thought you were just being silly."

Celestia laughed, and asked, "You only talk in rhyme?"

Spike answered her, "Yep."

Then Celestia asked Zecora, "Umm, so, what do you do here?"

Zecora said while placing a hoof on her cauldron, "I tend to use plants to help Ponyville. At first, they failed to accept me, but Twilight remained my friend still. Now, they accept me, and treat me like a fellow townspony.

Celestia smiled at Zecora's story, and watched as she made her way into the other room for a second. When she came back out, she held onto a white dress by her maw. She gave it to Celestia, and said, "Here, this is yours."

Celestia observed it modestly. The bottom of it had pretty, sparkling sunflower designs, and it seemed to be just her size. "Wow," she said, smiling, and putting it on.

Zecora then finished her rhyme with, "I doubt you'll be able to find anything like that inside the ponyville stores."

Celestia looked very nice in her new dress, and found herself a nearby mirror to use. As she continued to twirl herself around and around while looking at her reflection with absolute admiration, Celestia said, "I love it! Thank you so much, Zecora!"

Then, Spike came up next to Celestia, and said, "That's really all we needed to do here. I was also told to inform Zecora about what kinds of special ingredients Twilight needed today, so with that out of the way, we can head home if you'd like."

As they began to head out, Celestia curtsied at Zecora, and then noticed that they were taking a different route out of the forest this time. It would still land them right back inside Ponyville, but it was nowhere near the mysterious rock that Celestia had seen earlier. Although, for some reason, Celestia was feeling much more calmer about them going up this alternative path the more she traversed it. While the time went by, Spike made sure to hold onto her hoof the whole way. Although nothing dangerous ever happened during their visit to and from Zecora's hut, he still felt it necessary since they had already gotten separated once.

---

They came out of the bushes together, and even though Spike managed to move most of the greenery out of her way, he noticed Celestia had some how gotten a lone twig stuck inside of her mane. He stopped her, and while he pulled it out carefully, he asked, "So, which one did you like the most?"

Celestia looked up at him oddly, and asked, "Huh?"

"Oh, sorry," Spike apologized. "I meant... which pony did you like more? Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie...? Or Rarity?"

Celestia inhaled deeply at that question, and modestly said, "Oh, that's a toughie... I suppose Pinkie Pie was the best, because she was so bubbly, and happy all of the time... Her mane is all over the place, and... She, uhh..."

Spike stopped walking, and looked at Celestia as she stopped, too. "What?"

"You weren't there, so you didn't know, but..." She glanced off to the side, and curled her eyebrows furiously. "The others treated me as if I was the old Princess Celestia." She looked down, and continued, "They didn't even read the newspapers, but Pinkie Pie did..."

Spike giggled, and said, "Pinkie's cool like that... a-and, I'm sorry about what happened, but that'll wear off on ponies in no time."

Celestia smiled again, and looking up at Spike, she said, "Yeah, maybe sooner than you think. When I was at her boutique, I told Rarity that my honest opinion of her new dress was that it looked like barf. When she heard that, she said that the old me would never say something like that!"

Spike laughed, and asked, "What? You actually told her that?"

Celestia laughed along, and began running while saying, "You bet! You should've seen it! It was all green, and red!"

Spike began running, too, and as they raced towards Twilight's castle, Celestia marveled at how amazing the silk of her dressed felt as it rubbed against her coat. Twilight didn't know it yet, but thanks to that dress, Twilight was in for a real headache when it came time for Celestia's bath.

Comments

[Inucroft1]

impending bath time~

[Resadur164]

9588454
no, its impending bath time battles

[badninja]

So I wonder if this Celestia has an allergy to something in silk? That would be very interesting.

[Clear_Skies]

9588790
Probably a case of "NO I DON'T WANNA TAKE IT OFF!"
The joy of parenthood!

[Frosty_Rainbow]

Now since Celestial is a filly, I ship her with Spike

[9543]

9873990
nooooooo thats wrong stop shipping whats wrong with shippers

[evtrax]

Zecora said while placing a hoof on her cauldron, "I tend to use plants to help Ponyville. At first, they failed to accept me, but Twilight remained my friend still. Now, they accept me, and treat me like a fellow townspony.

wait, that didnt ryhme.

[Art Inspired]

10950338
It's an advanced rhyme. Ponyville - still, and accept me - townspony.