Mystery Of Everfree

by FourShadow

Chapter 12: We Will Stand

The entire room was in complete awe. Twilight Sparkle, the shy dork who kept mostly to herself, was here. She was safe, she was okay! And she had magic! And the first person to greet her with Spike who came running up to her in excitement. Twilight's hands stopped bursting with magic, and she picked up Spike just as he jumped at her. "Hey boy! It's okay buddy," Twilight giggled, getting a ton of licks on her face.

"You're okay!" Applejack gasped.

"More than okay, you have magic?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Did you just get powers?"

Twilight moved her arms carefully to cradle Spike in her arms, holding him closely. "I want to explain everything but I had to get here and find you guys, there..." Twilight was about to point to outside, but remembered. "... Okay, as crazy as I'm going to sound--"

"--If you're pointing out the giant wooden wolves that just tried to eat us earlier this evening, we know," Applejack said, saving her from having to try and explain.

"Yes, but that's not it. It's Timber, Timber made these things!"

"What!?" Everyone shrieked.

"Are you serious?" Flash questioned.

"Why would he make those things, it doesn't seem like him," Rainbow pointed out.

"Unless it was all an act! Or, OR... he has been replaced by a changeling and the real Timber is tied up in a cave somewhere while this imposter takes over!" Pinkie exaggerated with a bunch of handpuppets.

"Hold on," Twilight interrupted, putting her hands out. "He made them, but I don't think he made them to attack us. When I saw him in the woods, it looked like he was trying to make some new friends. But why these things would attack the camp, or any of us, I don't understand..."

"I think I may know," Gloriosa said, stepping forward. "Did Timber show any anger?"

"He did. And I know why. I overheard your conversation from the cabin," Twilight admitted, brushing her arm.

Gloriosa froze. "You heard us? How much?"

"Enough to know that Timber's been through enough rejections to get angry and fed up with being stuck here," Twilight said with a frown. "I could hear it from your cabin."

The other campers were confused, looking at each other with some questioning glares.

"Say what?" Applejack asked, raising a brow.

Twilight looked at Gloriosa, giving a small nudge with her shoulder, gesturing her more accurately. Gloriosa was hesitant, but what choice did she have? If they were going to do something about these monsters, they had to do something.

"Timber Spruce had been recently applying early applications to go to college. But no matter what, he kept getting rejected by every one he contacted. I tried to help him, but I can't," she said, pacing back and forth. "Nothing I did helped him, he tried to applying for some of the best colleges in the state, but with every rejection, he kept feeling trapped here. But then one day, I saw he had come back... only with some shiny geode from the quarry." Gloriosa's voice cracked when she finished her sentence, eyes shifting upwards as she thought about that day and what it would lead into.

Everyone kept their voices to a minimum, waiting for Gloriosa to finish and wondering where she was going with this.

"I thought it was just some shiny jewel or crystal, but then I saw what he could really do with it. He started getting creative, making little creatures out of trees and plants around him," she said, her hands now shaking as she spoke. "I questioned how this was possible, but then I saw how happy it was making him. He was making new friends, but I was worried about what he could do with the magic. I didn't know how to talk to him about it."

Gloriosa cupped her face, trying to keep herself together and not scream or lash out. Everyone however could clearly see the amount of pain she was in. "We had a bit of an uneasy spat, but I settled on him keeping it if only he keeps it far away from the campers so they wouldn't get scared, and so our camp wouldn't get shut down. But seeing how things have blown up now..." Gloriosa sighed, rubbing her face with her palms. "I just wish I could have helped him."

The campers looked at each other in thought, wondering things over. It was quiet... for about two seconds.

"Your brother was in possession of uncontrollable magic, and you were hiding it from us the entire time?" Fluttershy questioned, putting her hands on her hips.

"We almost died!" Flash snapped.

"You knew this the from the start, and you didn't think once maybe to warn us about this?" Rainbow asked, rather abrasively.

"How was I supposed to know it was going to spiral out of control? And for that matter, how was I supposed to know you girls had powers! I didn't exactly see you performing them!"

Thunderbass groaned and slapped his weapon down on the table. "Well this is just great. We're stuck out here, we have an army of wooden monsters ready to come and eat us for dinner, our principals are down, and we’ve got one camp counselor who's now become infested with Equestrian Magic. What are we supposed to do now?"

Everyone was murmuring, unsure of what to do or say. Twilight looked at the entirety of the room, analyzing her situation and all possible outcomes. Of course she had no idea if any of her predictions could come true, but right now they couldn't waste any more time.

"I have an idea," she blurted.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at her. And Twilight shrunk in her shoes, with her head sinking into her shoulders.

"O-Or not, I mean--"

"No, no, no, wait, what's your idea?" Flash asked, kindly.

I don't know, I'm not even sure I should even say. After all..." she brushed her arm, "I'm the reason we're even in this mess."

Frowns were among the crowd, but she was given a soft hug from Applejack.

"Twilight, you can't go blamin' yerself. None of us knew any of this was going to happen. We just have to make the best out of this situation."

"Exactly. Besides, we're no strangers to this. I'm sure we can put a stop to it. We have superpowers now!" Rainbow said with a fist pump.

Rarity whimpered. "But the six of us against an entire army isn't enough!"

"But we can't just stay here! We have to track those things down and fight!"

Fluttershy quivered. "You saw the size of those monsters. You really sure you want to follow them?"

The athlete facepalmed. "You can literally turn into a bear, what do you have to be afraid about?"

"Girls!"

Everyone looked at Twilight, shutting up so she could talk. Now that she had their attention, she directed her voice at everyone in the room.

"I don't know if this will work... but I have an idea on how we can save Timber Spruce and stop those wolves."

"Any suggestion you got, we'll listen," Sandalwood said.

Twilight nodded. "Okay, so the cell tower that is supposed to offer free wifi is down, right?"

Gloriosa confirmed, "Yes, I am afraid so. If I can get to it, I know how to fix it, but I need some help."

Twilight turned her attention to the other science geek in the room. "Micro Chips, you know how to fix things?"

"Absolutely."

"Then you and Gloriosa will fix the cell tower to call for help. If we cannot fight them alone, the least we can do is call for some help. Maybe Trixie and the others can give us a hand. Some Canterlot blue on our side will give us a fighting chance," Twilight said with some hope.

Both Gloriosa and Micro Chips gave some confirming nods.

"This means the rest of us will have to head deep into the woods. But I don't know where they would have gone."

"I think I know. Timber likes to go to an old farmland; it has been abandoned for some time, but he always likes to go there if he really needs to be far away from people. Autumn Blaze has seen it, she can lead you all there," Gloriosa said.

"I can," Autumn nodded. "The path isn't too far, but the farm's very isolated, almost like a horror movie set, I almost thought of filming a horror movie there but then I got creeped out myself and then the previous campers scared the living daylights out of me and got sent home and--this isn't helping, is it?" Autumn blushed. "... sorry."

"Then if we find it, maybe we can try and help Timber Spruce. Are you with me?"

Everyone seemed to be on board, with mainly exchanging nods and thumbs up. All except for one...

"I-I'm not sure I should come... I don't know how to fight; I'll only slow you down. I'm an easy target," Rara admitted, shrinking in her shoes.

Applejack didn't show any annoyance or frustration, but she patted her childhood friend's shoulder. "You're not gonna slow us down. But if you wanna stay here, that's fine. You are gonna need a weapon to fight. If anything goes wrong, they'll need some help defending themselves."

Flash tossed a paintball gun over to her, thankfully Rara managed to grab it before it started slipping from her fingers. "Use that. It'll do some damage to the Timberwolves if they come your way."

Rara looked down at the gun. Truth be told, she had never once used one. But right now, desperate times were calling, and those required desperate measures.

"Now then, does anyone else have anything else to ask before we go?" Silence filled the room. "Excellent! Then let's go find Timber and save Camp Everfree!"

Everyone swooped into action without another word. The girls all made sure the geodes were tightly around their necks, they were going to need those, very important. The rest of the Wondercolts who were going to provide help (and Autumn Blaze) picked up whatever they could as weapons for themselves. An axe, an assortment of paintball guns (with some extra ammunition), and Derpy picked up her archery set from one of the galleries.

Everyone looked at each other with some confident expressions.

"This is all on us now. We need to stop those wolves, save Timber, and save Camp Everfree. Tonight, we will stand for Everfree. We can, and we will be able to do this. I know we can. Autumn?"

The intern looked at her with a smile.

"Lead the way!"

Autumn led the charge, taking the group out of the cabin, and they set out on a run. Micro Chips, Gloriosa, and Rara all watched as the group left the sanctuary. Hopefully they would be okay. At this point, this was the only option they had left, what else could they do?

"So, what do we do now?" Rara asked, looking at Gloriosa.

She was about to talk--

"Hey! Where did they go!?" Principal Luna yelled from the other room where she was being patched. "Get back here! I will not allow any of my students to get hurt! Get back here right now, or you all are going to be in serious trouble! Whoa-ah!" And Principal Luna fell on the floor, losing her balance.

Realizing they were gone, her head slumped and she planted her face back in the ground. Micro Chips, Rara, and Gloriosa stood awkwardly, not sure what to do.

"They're gone already, aren't they?"

"They are," Micro Chips confirmed.

"I am going to be fired for this," Principal Luna moaned into the floorboards.

Author's Note:

Admittedly I am falling behind in this story, but I'm hoping to remedy that this month. Hopefully.

Either way, I hope you enjoy. ^^

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

This was a nice chapter. Glad to see the other characters being brought up to speed, and start to make a plan for going forward.

(Also, I got a laugh out of poor Principal Luna at the end. XD)

[Aman22857]

This is awesome!

[sonicfan05]

Excellent chapter!

[Aman22857]

I am very excited for the blooper reel chapter

[Aman22857]

Is this story dead?

[FourShadow]

10617685

It is not. I'm just a very slow person. Production is still working, I can assure you.

[FourShadow]

10870898

The story IS. NOT. DEAD.

I know it's moving painfully so, but it's not dead. Until it's marked with cancelled, it is not dead.