> Nature Of The Everfree
>  by Lord Despair
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Environmental Effort
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


        All was quiet in the dimly lit clearing of the Everfree forest. Not a single creature made even the slightest noise as to disturb the content predator that was enjoying it’s meal. A lone timberwolf was sitting in the center of the clearing, shreds of meat were hanging from it’s jaws as it paused to swallow a large chunk of flesh. A satisfied belch escaped it’s wooden maw before it continued to repeat the process until the carcass was nothing more than a pile of cleanly picked bones.

        Nearby the timberwolf was a small flower, a wild rose to be exact. It was in full bloom, it’s vibrant red petals basked in the limited sunlight that cut through the thick foliage of the towering trees as a gentle breeze shook it to and fro. Nopony had planted it there nor did they look over it. Rather, the birds and the bees helped with it’s incredible journey from one side of the forest to the other. From there, it grew from a tiny seed into a beautiful blooming rose, all on it’s own.

        Just above all of that were a collection of clouds. Cumulus clouds if you wanted to be overly formal about it. A hot summer’s day had evaporated some of the water from a nearby lake, and the water vapors had condensed itself into a simple cloud, waiting to rain when the time was right. Slowly but surely, the clouds remained aloft in the air all the while moving wherever the wind takes it.  
  

This is the Nature of the Everfree.



* * *


        Princess Twilight Sparkle was eagerly ruffling through a stack of paperwork that was all neatly piled upon her desk in the library. Random sheets of paper flew all over the place as she quickly signed and approved various forms and documents that were quintessential to perhaps the biggest environmental movement in Equestrian history. An environmental movement that was centered around getting rid of the Everfree forest. 

        It all started a few months ago. It was just like any average day in Ponyville; the sun was shining, the children were playing, and the ponies were simply out and about with their business. That was, until tragedy struck. 

        A local pegasus had been working nearby the Everfree, collecting loose clouds that had been dispersed ever since their last big rain shower. It was routine work, he would fly all over the town and collect the various pieces of clouds so that they could be prepared for any specific weather Ponyville needed when the time called for it.

Just as he was about to finished up, he had noticed that there was a random cloud just hanging around near a small clearing on the edge of the Everfree. To his surprise, he learned that he could not grab onto the cloud. He tried over and over again just to touch the cloud without having his hoof go right through it, completely unaware of the fact that he was being watched the whole time.

His bloodcurdling scream could be heard all across Ponyville as he was being devoured by a ravenous pack of hungry timberwolves. By the time everypony finally made sense of the situation, it was already too late. He was nothing but bones when they had found the poor stallion. In everyone’s book, this was the last straw.

        Ever since then, ponies all over Equestria decided that it was high time to remove the Everfree forest once and for all. Meetings were held in the royal courts of Canterlot, agreements were met, and a decision was made. By the end of the year, the Everfree forest will be no more. In its place, a new settlement shall be erected upon the grounds of environmental preservation and research. 

The very special pony who will be overseeing the entire operation happens to be none other than Princess Twilight herself, who volunteered at the very moment the position was open. No one really objected against it though, her organisational skills were legendary, and the ponies wouldn’t really have it any other way when it came to a project as big as this, bigger than the construction of the Panamare canal. 

Three months later, she is still filling out mountains of paperwork, albeit with a smile on her face. Each form that she filled out brought ponies one step closer to a brighter future, free from the law defying Everfree and its evil ways. 

Although it would be much faster if she had more ink, over the course of three hundred sheets of paper, she had gone through and astounding amount of ink. So much so that at least fifty of the sheets were written using pieces of charcoal from her fireplace. It was messy, but at least the forms were filled.

It wasn’t as simple as everyone thought when it came to removing an entire forest, as devoted scholar, Twilight knew that there were many variables to take into consideration when working on a project of such scale. Trying to tame and domesticate the local wildlife was one of them. 

There is a variety of creature that live in the Everfree, all living without the help of a pony. This mere notion has caused Fluttershy, and even Rarity to faint on many occasions. It was such a scary thought to think about. Animals living all on their own, in the cold, dark woods, caring for themselves. 

Not to mention that there were a number of predators, including dragons, of varying sizes out there that wish to make a meal out of anything that it can get it’s grizzly claw on. Plenty of relocation will have to be done for the members of the more sapient residents of the forest, residents such as Steven Magnet, the sea serpent.

Trying to domesticate timberwolves, manticores, cockatrice, or even an ursa major was going to be challenging all on its own. But both Fluttershy and Twilight were determined to see that each of these creatures can cast aside their wild ways in the darkness and walk out into the light where a warm, gentle hoof is waiting for them.

Next on the list was the flora of the Everfree. It was downright terrifying seeing an plant grow all on it’s own. Applejack has even confessed on a few occasions that she has had nightmares about her apple trees growing without rhyme nor reason. 

Zecora and Applejack’s solution to this dilemma was that they were going to harvest a sample of each plant in the Everfree for research and preservation. Plants such as wild roses, poison joke, etc. will be able to survive and flourish upon Equestrian soil with help from the ponies. Never again will these pure plants be tainted by the evil forces of the forest.

Lastly was the weather. For some reasons unknown, the mysterious phenomena that is the seemingly sentient weather of the Everfree forest has baffled even the greatest minds in Equestria, including Twilight. Although, there’s nothing that a little bit of magic can’t fix. One quick zap with her failsafe spell and the clouds with be back to normal. 

This was the way that it was going to be for the next few months. It might take a bit of time and effort, maybe more than just a year, but they intend to succeed, they intend to rid the Everfree from Equestria. Once everything was done, construction for the new city can begin post haste.

Twilight reached on over for a large set of schematics near the edge and cleared her desk of paper as she unfurled the plans. 

Written in big, bold letters was the name Scientia. These were the plans for a large city that would be the very center of learning and knowledge. It will be magnificent, an ivory tower of greatness that will tower over the darkness that was the lands of the former Everfree forest. And all it will take is some time and a whole lot elbow grease. Fortunately for the alicorn princess, she had both. 

However, as she was dreaming about how the new city would look in the future, the door to the library flung open to reveal an exhausted Spike, panting heavily as he struggled to speak properly. 

“Tw-Twi-Twilight! Tr-Trouble!” Spike shouted at the top of his lungs before collapsing on the floor. Twilight raised an eyebrow to this, she was curious as to what made Spike run such a long distance to warn her of something. She was worried, without missing a beat, she picked Spike in her magical grip and gently placed him on her back as she exited the library.


* * *


As she made her way of the library, she immediately noticed that a large crowd of ponies have gathered at the center of the square, right in front of town hall and were filling the air with fearful murmurs and whispers. Twilight flew ever so slightly just above the crowd to see what all the hubbub was about, only see gasp in horror at what she had saw.

A stallion, the foreman of the logging crew, was on the ground, with several cuts and bruises all over his body. Not only that, there was some kind of sticky yellow substance all over the other half of his body. It smelled a lot like rotten fish and stuck to his body as if it were a second skin. He was gasping for air, his eyes were dilated, and his body spastically twitched like a snake bitten mouse.

She had been wondering why the logging crew haven’t been reporting in as usual. She had just assumed that they have gotten lazy and only decided to focus with their work on cutting the trees down. She had also assumed that they were completely safe, an entire company of royal guards were present with the loggers at all times. But what could’ve done this was beyond her immortal comprehension.

“W-what h-happened to you?” Twilight fearfully asked as he descended beside the foreman. 

        “P-Princess...  is that y-you?” he raspily asked.

        “Yes, it’s me. Who did this to you?” she asked as she struggled to maintain her calm composure. The foreman twitched all over as he tried to speak, his words were slightly slurred but they were understandable at most.

        “I-I... don’t know...” he said “I... was in... inside my quarters when... when I heard s-screaming...” he coughed violently before hacking out a large glob of blood on the ground “T-timberwolves were e-everywhere... h-hundreds of them... they were all so... so angry....”

        “Angry? What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

        “They... they were thirsty for bl...blood” said the foreman “The guards... didn’t stand a chance... they were all ripped to shreds in sec... seconds” he coughed again “This... isn’t normal... I-I don’t know why... they attacked us so viciously... it’s like... they’re protecting something... and then the slime came...”

        “Slime?” Twilight glanced over the yellow slime over his body.

        “Y-yes...” the foreman replied “When I w-was h-hiding.... I hear something splashing... in the back... before I knew it.... I was covered in this stuff... it... it hurts... princess” he spazzed violently “I-I can feel it... eat... eating away at me... like lava has been thrown... over my body”

        “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine” said Twilight  “We’ll get you to the hospital. Hold on” just as she finished speaking, Nurse Redheart and the rest of the medical staff rushed on over and placed the poor stallion on a stretcher before hauling him off to the emergency room. The crowd of ponies each traded nervous stares, they were starting to feel terrified.

        Twilight was also feeling the fear in the air. She was nervous, timberwolves have never attacked so violently before. Normally they would attack in small packs of three of four, but the foreman had told her that they were attacked by hundreds, another unheard of phenomena that was only capable in the Everfree. She swallowed a large lump in her throat as he turned to face the entryway of the forest. 

Her heart stopped itself for just a second as she noticed all of the intimidating yellow eyes that were present in the shadows of the trees and the bushes. But the worst part of it all...


Was that they were all looking at her 


 



    

        

        





  

 

  

> Expedition of the Everfree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        

A few weeks has passed since the injured foreman was found crawling his way into the town square of Ponyville, barely clinging to life as he told his terrible story of his near fatal incident in the Everfree forest to the rest of the townsfolk. Since then, he has been recovering in the Ponyville hospital. While he was still very sick from whatever that was splattered over him, he was far from dying anytime soon.

Apparently, the disgusting slimy substance that was all over the side of his body was nothing more than common slime mold. A slime mold that is often referred to as dog vomit. Normally such a simple organism would not be harmful to the average pony. But in this case, the foreman had explained to the doctors about how much pain that the mold was causing him, to the point where it felt like he was slowly being consumed.

Even with the thought of several dozen workers and guards being viciously torn apart and consumed by timberwolves were still fresh in the minds of the townsfolk, it did not deter them from their goal. If anything, this was all the more reason to remove the Everfree.

Twilight returned to the capital of Canterlot within those few weeks on a mission of utmost importance. She had to appeal to the court and renew all effort for the environmental movement. She had time to prepare now that she knew how unfit they were for the project. From there on out, she wasn’t going to underestimate the evils of the forest anymore. She and her friends were ready for whatever that the forest would throw at them.


* * *


        The entryway near the Everfree forest looked entirely different in comparison to what it was before. Instead of the imagery of Fluttershy’s little cottage and a calm field of grass, what there was instead was a large militaristic base camp of sorts that spanned for a good few acres of land.

        There were tents of varying sizes set up all over the place, construction of a large wooden wall was in progress as logs from the Everfree was being used to fence off the area in case anything goes horribly wrong. There were a staggering number of guards around the area, there was perhaps four to five battalions present at the base camp, all eager to embark into the dark woods. 

They were there to help defend the next group of loggers from meeting the same fate as those before them. Each guard was armed to the teeth, and had heavier armor than normal. Not only that, the various lumberjacks and loggers that were with them all had gone through a quick course of self defense so that they can repel attack against the hostile wildlife that they might encounter.

Twilight had used all of her resources that she had on hoof to transform a simple group of lumberjacks and guards into a full fledged expedition crew that was capable of taking on anything. 

Scientists from the university of Canterlot and Fillydelphia had also gathered there to record and research any findings that they may have found while they proceed to cut the Everfree down. Albeit they’ll probably be in the safety of the camp instead of actually being out in the field.

Everyone was fiercely determined to remove the Everfree forest. Come hell or high water, nothing was going to stop them. 


* * *


        Twilight and the rest of her friends entered the camp, each admiring the amount of progress that has gone into such a big project. Oohs and ahhs could be heard from them as they continued to walk towards the biggest tent in the camp, a tent that belonged to the captain of the royal guards himself, Shining Armor.

        As the little group walked into the tent, they could see that Shining was also handling his fair share of paperwork. Though it isn’t as much as Twilight's, it was enough to make the captain breath a sigh of relief as he noticed his sister and her friends walking in.

        “Twiley, how are you?” Shining asked as he walked on over to give his little sister a hug.

        “I’m doing fine, just showing my friends around here, that’s all” said Twilight as she returned her brother’s hug.

        “There are an awful lot of guards around here” said Rarity “Do we really need all of them if we’re just going to cut this dreadful place down?” she asked.

        “After what happened to the previous crew, we can’t take any chances” said Shining “This forest is unpredictable, and we already suffered a great loss because of that mistake. From here on out, this will be an around the clock operation”

        “We expect to clear at least half of the forest in a few months” said Twilight “Although it might take a bit longer to do everything else, domesticating the animals, collecting plant samples, and fixing the strange weather”

        “Pfft, the animals won’t be a problem with Fluttershy on our side” said Rainbow Dash “You’ll see, they’ll be just like Winona the moment they meet her and her stare”

        “Oh, my. I can’t imagine the horrible ordeal that these creatures have to go through each day without our help” said Fluttershy “I’ll do my best to help them as best as possible”

        “Thatagirl!” said Applejack who gave Fluttershy a strong pat on the back, strong enough to nearly knock the poor yellow pegasus over “Eh, oops. Heh heh” 

        “You’re enthusiasm is clearly noted, Applejack. Although when we enter the forest it must be left back” a familiar female voice rhymed from behind the group. Everyone turned their attention to the hooded individual that was behind them to see that it was there good friend, Zecora “Hello everypony, I have arrived. To talk about removing this blight”

        “Zecora!” everyone exclaimed as they came up to hug her.

        “You finally made it” said Twilight “It good to have someone so knowledgeable about the forest itself on our side”

        “Yeah, this freaky forest doesn’t stand a chance with you here!” Rainbow exclaimed.

        “Aye, but there is a problem that I must address. Though I live in the forest, my knowledge is not the best” Zecora rhymed. All the ponies in the room blinked at what Zecora had said.

“Whuah? But you live in the forest, don’t you know everything about it?” Pinkie asked with a tilt of her head “It’s like saying if I throw parties for a living but I don’t know what streamers are!”

“The Everfree is a place of great mystery. There is unknown knowledge that still escapes me” said Zecora “I will do my best to lead you through, but the rest is up to you”

“We’ll manage” Shining cut in with a stern expression “There won’t be a single beast in there that has even the slightest chance at stopping my men and I from doing Equestria a favor. They’re just mindless animals that rely on brute force. They’re nothing against us”

“I assume you know of the wolves? The ones who ate those who thought they were so bold?” Zecora retorted “The creatures in there are smarter than you think, keep alert and never blink. They’re watching you when you wait, seizing the perfect moment when you take the bait”

“Look, Zecora. If you’re trying to scare us, it won’t work” said Twilight “We’ll be able to get these timberwolves domesticated like regular animals. We have the brightest minds in all of Equestria working to devise a way to help them, myself included of course” she stated as a matter o’ factly “Think about the possibilities, Zecora! Docile timberwolves that won’t hurt anypony! Imagine how they can help us in our everyday lives!”

“I fear that we are meddling in things we do not know. Domesticating these timberwolves” said Zecora “I am merely acting as your guide, but if thing go bad, we should run, I advised” 

“We’ll keep that in mind” said Shining “Come on, it’s almost time to enter the forest. You seven probably know your way around the Everfree better than I do. This is uncharted territory, if you can lead us to the former logging camp, we can handle the rest with relative ease”

The rest nodded in approval of his choice and everyone proceeded to get ready for the journey ahead. By the time the sun has reached its highest peak in the sky, everyone who was about to embark had gathered near the entryway of of the forest. Some were stoic, others had a sliver of fear. Few couldn’t contain their excitement for whatever reason.


But regardless, they all entered, not knowing of the horrors that they will soon experience



* * *      


        The expedition team of around several hundred ponies began to descend into the dark depths of the forest. Each were split into smaller groups of forty to fifty, but they were still within close proximity of each other should any problem arise. After traveling for at least half a kilometer, the expedition crew finally made it to the former logging site. With the sun high in the sky, the carnage that had ensued there was shown in perfect clarity.

It was a horrible sight. Compared to everything that the foreman had spoken about, it was nothing when they were actually at the scene of the atrocity.

There were corpses strewn everywhere. The bodies of fifty to seventy individuals were scattered around the clearing like dust in the wind. Several were killed where they were standing, simply doing their jobs before the timberwolves attacked. Many still had their tools in their hoofs, trying to defend themselves in a futile attempt at survival as they were ripped to pieces by the bloodthirsty predators.

Their bodies were mangled beyond belief. Legs had been ripped off, necks have been torn, and midsections that looked as if they ran into a walking meat grinder. The guards still had their armor on, but that was all that remained of them. It had been weeks this camp was attacked, and the pungent stench from the rotting corpses was too overpowering to ignore.

When the timberwolves were done slaughtering everyone, it was now time for the carrions to do their job. The clearing had a murder of black crows on each body. Slowly but surely, they were diligently picking away at the rotting flesh, occasionally darting their heads back and forth in livid curiosity at the ponies that were watching them with their intimidating crimson eyes. But they paid no mind, they only continued to eat until there was nothing but bones in place of the corpses. 

The crows took their time, enjoying every bit of the food that was left for them. They were certainly in no rush. One crow even had the luxury of finding an intact eyeball, and was all too happy to devour it. Each crow had a fair chunk of flesh hanging from their beak, but table manners didn’t matter in the Everfree forest. The ponies in the background could only watch in disgust as the horrid display continued for what felt like an eternity.

Fluttershy was the one who was the most shocked at what she was seeing. She loved animals, it was her special talent to take care of adorable animals after all. But crows were different from blue jays, red robins, and pink flamingoes. They weren’t colorful, and they weren’t as tempered as most birds were. Crows also didn’t eat seeds as a main staple of their diet, they would eat just about anything, even each other if it came to it.

As she watched, she had to refrain herself from vomiting at the sight of it all. Her opinion on the animals of the Everfree were starting to waver as the sound of tearing flesh and caws from the crows racked on her already frazzled nerves like there was no tomorrow. With every ounce of her willpower, she steeled herself and walked forward to see if she could consult with the crows. Her plan went south for the winter the moment she unknowingly stepped on a twig.


*SNAP*


At the drop of a hat, nearly every crimson eye in the clearing turned to face the shy pony. Their heads tilted ever so slightly as they kept their gaze on her, they were watching her every move. Fluttershy mistook this as chance to speak with the crows, but each confident step that she took was met with a cacophony of terrifying caws and threatening flaps of their wings. 

Fluttershy did her best to approach the crows, but the caws only grew louder and louder in return. When she finally reached them, the crows stopped what they were doing and grew as silent as an eerie grove. The ponies that were watching all had a slacked jaw expression on their faces. They wouldn’t have expected her to do such a thing, let alone succeed in meeting the crows.

“What’s going on?” Shining whispered to her sister as they both watched from behind the safety of the brush.

“I think Fluttershy might actually get these birds to follow her” said Twilight with an eager look on her face “This is the first step in ridding the Everfree, and I think that it’s going to be a rousing success. Fluttershy, I knew you could do it!” she quietly exclaimed before turning back to Fluttershy “Come on, Fluttershy. Let’s bring it on home. Gain the birds trust so that we can get them out of here”

“H-hello there little birdies...” Fluttershy quietly spoke as she inched her way towards the closest crow to her “Don’t worry, I’m here to get you out of this horrible place. So that you can eat some real food for once...” she steadily motion for her hoof right above the head of the crow that was intently staring at her. With a gentle pat on his head, Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief knowing that the crows had accepted her.... then all hell broke loose.


*CAW!* *CAW!* *CAW!* *CAW!* *CAW!*


        The birds all squawked and cawed to the point where it was unbearable, everyone had to cover their ears as the murder of crows all took off and circled around the clearing in a violent whirlwind of terror. A literal hurricane of crows flew around the clearing, leaving traces of black feathers behind in their wake as they were blotting out the sun in their flight. And then they all dispersed outwards into the forest itself.

        Fluttershy froze in place as she was bombarded with a wave of crows in her direction. There was so much that she was knocked onto her backside as she watched in horror of the amount of crows flying past her. Literally thousands had somehow gathered there and began to cause mass panic in the ranks of the of the individual groups. Crows flocked over each pony, pecking them everywhere they could before suddenly vanishing in thin air, never to be seen again.

 Twilight had just regained all of her sense before she realized that they had just been attacked by a murder of crows. Fear was welling up within her, but she struggled to be brave in light of the current situation. She managed to grab ahold of herself, only to feel the aftereffects of experiencing such terror. There was something on her mind, something that caused her to involuntarily shuddered upon thinking, only for her to forget afterwards.

“What... was that!” Shining shouted at the top of his lungs as he stood back up “Those birds were crazy! Is everyone okay?” he asked, various nods and verbal confirmations assured him that everyone was still safe. Although that didn’t mean that they were mentally scarred from being pecked by crows.

“It.. it doesn’t matter!” said Twilight as she did her best to hide the trembling in her voice “This is just the forest's way of scaring us. But we won't let that happen again. Come on everypony, we have to get this logging site up and running again...” she said as she turned her eyes to one of the corpse, both eyes missing and with only shreds of flesh attached to his mauled face.


“And bury the deceased...”


 

 







      

> Meeting the Menacing Mushroom Men
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        A good amount of time had past since everyone had a terrifying encounter with a murder of mysterious crows. The dead had a proper burial, and the logging camp was back to full capacity thanks to the large influx of willing ponies that were coming into the Everfree. Progress was going way ahead of schedule, trees were being fell at a rate comparable to Pinkie Pie snacking in a candy cane forest. Things were going smoothly for the time being. 

The large base camp that was at the entryway later expanded directly into the Everfree itself, eventually becoming a small fortress that housed everyone that participated in the project. The outer area of the logging site had been completely fenced off for protection and had guards diligently patrolling the various gates on an around the clock basis. Not a single thing gets in without first meeting with the guards, and not a single thing got out either.

The lumberjacks and loggers were hard at work on the other side of the fence, using every saw that they had at their disposal to cut down the trees as quickly and as cleanly as they can. The audible sound of literally hundreds of saws cutting multiple trees down at once filled the dimly lit clearing not unlike a room full of sleeping guards. 

In their stalwart effort, they had cleared up at least more than ten acres of trees in the time they had all moved into the forest like they own the place, which in everyone’s mind, they technically did. In the process of deforestation, countless animals and insects lost their homes and had to fled deeper into the forest, much to Fluttershy’s chagrin. 

All she wanted to do was help the animals and to give them all a good home away from the Everfree, but the animals refused her kindness every step of the way. Every time she came across a passing squirrel, lizard, or even a hercules beetle, they only threatened her with a show of force before running away into the darkness. One can only imagine how the yellow pegasus might be feeling, especially since she’s received this kind of treatment before at a certain gala... 

Nonetheless, the walls that provided security for everyone there stood tall and proud in the dark depths of the forest. Standing as a shining beacon of hope in the Everfree, an indomitable fortress that represented the unbreakable will of ponykind, and the future site of the glorious settlement of Scientia.


* * *


In the center of it all stood Twilight, who had a yellow hard hat on and was currently occupied with directing everypony on what they should do. She barked orders like there was no tomorrow, there wasn’t a single pony in the fort that wasn’t doing something at the moment that was related to the cause. She made sure of that personally with a well thought out schedule that maximized all of their efforts without sacrificing everyday needs like eating or sleeping.

Even when parts of the schedule sounded ridiculously meticulous such as breaks that lasted precisely thirty minutes on the dot, no one objected to Twilight. Though she had only been a princess for a short period of time, she was still their princess nonetheless. She was very intelligent (although not particularly wise in many cases) and given how she has handled everything of late, there was absolutely no room for doubt that everyone trusted her with their live, just like they have with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Well, almost everyone.

Zecora was the only one who was a smidge doubtful when it came to Twilight. She knew that Twilight wasn’t born yesterday, but she does know that her rationale can quickly become clouded at times and it could affect her better judgement. Which can lead to some rather unsavory outcomes that’s left ponies with their mouths hanging more or less.  

Princess or not, Zecora had to guess that one of her reasons for the deforestation was for more than just good of all. A personal vendetta was involved, as evident in her strict and almost militant choices of scheduling. A vendetta, of course, that involved ecological conflicts regarding all things Equestrian, and all of her brushes with death with the creatures of the forest.

The Everfree forest was the very antithesis of life in Equestria. Everything that the ponies were, the forest wasn’t. Everything that Twilight believed to be fact was quashed by the mere sight of the Everfree. It mocked her at how different it was from the rest of Equestria. Mocked her to the point where her own scientific curiosity of it was eventually replaced with nothing but blind scorn. 

Though she didn't show it, she has held a grudge deep within her that she has always held close to her heart about the Everfree. The darkness that it held, the lives that it took, the nightmares that it has incited in her dreams ever since she first stepped into it with her friends. It was practically destined for the ponies to remove the Everfree, and Twilight was the one to lead her subjects towards a new age of prosperity.  

Now Twilight has been a dutiful pony whenever she needed to, similar to her brother in fact. But her shortcomings do tend show up at the worst of times, especially when stress was involved. Had this been something entirely different, she may be less susceptible to having a nervous breakdown. Given the circumstances, however, and the fact that she is a beloved princess now, the weight of her responsibilities hung upon her shoulders with the weight of the moon.

Eventually, all of this work will slowly chip away at her mental barriers until it reached the core of her psyche. Alicorn or earth pony, god or mortal, anyone can lose track of what they believe in with the right catalyst and some time.  

Zecora silently wished to herself that it wouldn't happen anytime soon during her time in the expedition. Regardless, she intended to speak with her about the current state of affairs.

“Hello there, Twilight. How do you do? I would like to have a word with you” she rhymed.

“Zecora! Good timing, you were just the zebra I was looking for!” Twilight exclaimed fervently in spite of the Everfree’s gloomy atmosphere. 

“Oh, really? For what reason is it that you need me?” she asked with a raise of her eyebrow. 

“Please, follow me. We can talk while we reach the logging site” said Twilight as she motioned for Zecora to follow her. Together, they left the massive fortress and ventured off onto the beaten path and towards the sound of loud grinding and metallic screeching.

 As they entered the woods, beady little yellow eyes the size of pin pricks from below the brush watched intently with each step that the mares took. Quiet rustlings of the leaves and the faint echoes of near silent footsteps stealthily trailed the two ponies, never taking their sights off of them even once... 


* * *


        “Now, while we’re on our way to the logging site, what was it that you wanted to ask me?” Twilight asked.

        “It is about our presence here in the woods, I’m beginning to wonder if what we do is truly good” Zecora rhymed, her eyes cautiously shifting back and forth through the thick foliage of the forest. Twilight shot Zecora an incredulous look, and merely scoffed in response for what she was implying.

“Really, you of all ponies, are having doubts about this wretched place?” said Twilight “What we’re doing is good” she rebutted “And I think that the animals here are starting to realize it as well. We haven’t had an attack or a casualty for a while now, perhaps they’re finally warming up to us, unlike those freaky crows from last time”

“I apologize, I mean no offense to you or your cause. I only question the possible consequences for all that we will soon wrought” said Zecora “But please, hear me out. Listen to what I’m talking about. This forest, I feel it’s eyes. I believe the predators have time to bide. They show no sign of giving up their home, nor do they wish to be owned. They are willing to fight to the last breath, or until they have assured all of our deaths. I warn you, be wary of this place. Should you be threatened by it, please escape!”

“Zecora, enough!” Twilight shouted “It’s already bad enough that the atmosphere here is absolutely dreadful and depressing. We don’t need to hear all of these negative thoughts, especially since so many have died because of this place! Now please, just try to think about more positive things, such as the sights and sounds of the Everfree being deforested” Zecora conceded with her friend’s request and let out an exasperated sigh as a sign of her defeat.

“Very well, I concede. Just tell me, what was it was you need?” she asked, still unable to shake off the feeling of being watch. Her question was immediately answered by the view of the nearby logging camp. 

        There were a number of lumberjacks out and about with their work in a desolate clearing that was entirely devoid of trees, each armed with a saw and hard hats to protect their noggin from being turned into nice bowl of creamy brain soup. Bright sunlight gleamed all around the area, only to be interrupted by the creeping blackness that was the shadow’s edge of the Everfree’s treeline.

A massive lumber mill had been hastily established from all of the trees that had been chopped down. With it in place, hundreds of logs from the Everfree can be quickly processed into planks of wood within a single afternoon. 

This lumber mill was the cornerstone of the logging operations in and around the Everfree. Plans to mass produce more of them had already been authenticated as they entered deeper in the forest. In only a few months, there will possibly be more than a dozen lumber mills churning out planks of processed wood at an alarming rate.

But that was not the disturbing aspect about the clearing, well, to the pony’s perspective at least. There was some sort of epidemic going around. A small medical tent was pitched right next to the lumber mill. There were at least eleven ponies who were suffering some kind of illness, and were lying on their stretchers, groaning it agonizing pain.

“Zecora, this was what I wanted to show you” said Twilight as they approached the medical tent “Apparently, some of the workers here had contracted some sort of unknown disease while they were working. I’d like you to see if can whip up some sort of cure for them. We need everypony to be at peak physical condition if we want to clear this quadrant by the end of the week”

Zecora walked up to one of patients and thoroughly examined him. The pony in question was pale, so pale in fact that his coat lost all of it’s shine. He was struggling to breath, upon closer inspection it appears that his throat had swollen to the point where it was difficult to get air through. His pupils were dilated, and he appeared to be in a daze given his half lidded eyes. He was busy mumbling something incoherent beneath his breath despite having trouble breathing.

Zecora pulled away from the sick stallion and scratched her head in confusion. No matter how hard she thinks, she could not come up with a plausible explanation for whatever this disease was. All of the symptoms were normal for one disease, but these stallions were exhibiting symptoms that would come from multiple illnesses. 

“This is very... weird, I don’t know what is going on here” said Zecora “Where did these workers get sick? Maybe there I can figure out what makes this disease tick”

Twilight nodded and began to guide Zecora to the site of the outbreak. A few dozen yards away from the mill was a section of the woods that had only just recently been reduced to to a sea of stumps. The stumps will soon be uprooted from the ground soon but for now, but that wasn’t the focal point of the view. There was an astounding number of bolete and amanita mushrooms that huddled around each stump like a close knit community of fungi.    

“This is the place, although I don’t exactly see what they could’ve contracted this disease from. There’s only tree stumps and toadstools here” Twilight spoke as she wandered around the sunlit area “At least it feels nice to be in the sun” she commented. 

The two walked around the clearing, thoroughly examining the stumps and the grass to see if there was anything out of place that would cause some kind of mysterious disease to break out. 


* * *


So far, there had been nothing to peculiar to look for, there was only mushrooms, tree stumps, and small patches of grass. Nothing was out of the ordinary, and even if there was something hidden in plain sight, Twilight would’ve probably found it already using her magic. 

Just when they thought that their search would bear no fruit, one wrong tilt of her legs and Twilight unknowingly struck something that let out an adorable high pitched grunt. 


“OW! Hey, what was that for!?” 


        Twilight and Zecora jumped at the disembodied voice and jolted her head back and forth in an attempt to find the source. They looked all around themselves, checking to make sure that there was nothing hiding in the treeline, but they found nothing.


“I’m down here” 


        The two looked down to the ground with their eyes wide in disbelief as one of the mushrooms began to shake back and forth. Eventually after a few good seconds of shaking, the mushroom hopped off the side of the stump with a light *POP!* sound and landed on it’s stubby little feet. 

The mushroom in question was around two inches tall, and was humanoid shaped, complete with five digit fingers on both hands and glowing yellow eyes. The top of it’s cap was brown while the rest of it body was a dusty white. It had no mouth, yet somehow it was able to communicate with Twilight and Zecora. Without missing a beat, the tiny little mushroom being quickly rushed to the side of the stump and climbed all the way to the top until he was as eye to eye with the mares as much as possible.

“What’s the big idea, kicking a fungus like me around while I’m asleep!” the mushroom man yelled angrily “Didn’t your parents teach you any manners?”

“My parents did teach me manners” Twilight retorted toward the mushroom “What they didn’t teach me was that there were sapient mushroom like you living around the Everfree” her own words sounded crazy, even in light of the current situation. It was hard to believe that she was communicating with a sapient mushroom, one that can scold her in a language that she understands no less. 

“Wait, what am I saying? What are you? Some kind of living, walking, talking... mushroom... thingy?” she asked, recoiling from saying something non academic as thingy.

“Me? I’m a bolete, one of the many guardians of this great forest” he answered as a matter o’factly “And you!” he pointed one of his accusing, spindly digits at Twilight “I know all about you! You’re that pony who's been destroying my home! What drove you to do such a thing? Destroying the last pure place in the world!”

        “Excuse me? Pure? I’m sure you’re mistaken you poor misunderstood fungus, but this unnatural place is evil, everything around here is tainted with black magic, and we can’t have it around any longer” Twilight explained it to the bolete with a saintly air around her, she was clearly adamant with her words and her decision. 

“Listen, if you’re still worried about losing your home and everything, I’m sure that I can work out some kind of deal with you” she switched to her diplomatic sense of thinking “You see, I’m leading this environmental effort, and we, the ponies, are trying to give everything that lives here a new home in Equestria so that they don’t have to live in this place anymore” 

“If there are any more of you then we can help find you a brand new place to live. Think about it, living away from all of this chaos in harmony with the rest of us. Now I’m sure you can understand all of that, right?”

“Oh, I understand alright” the bolete said as Twilight’s eyes lit up. She genuinely believed that she managed to get through to a new being in with her plans “I understand that you’re insane” and just like that, the bolete threw cold water on all of her happy thoughts.

“WHAT!” Twilight exclaimed “How dare you! I’ll have you know that I’m the most sane pony here” she sharply rebutted.

“You’re talking to a mushroom” the bolete bluntly pointed out “Not only that, you’re talking about destroying this forest and subjugating everything lives here to an unnatural lifestyle”

“H-how can you call our lifestyle unnatural!?” Twilight was positively fuming at this point.

“How? You control every aspect of nature, of life itself. Who do you think you are, some sort of god?” he asked “My other brothers saw what you ponies do. You control the weather, governing when it is that you need rainfall or droughts, how disturbing. You even go as far as to fabricate the very essence of nature itself, creating false clouds and rainbows to paint your world of illusions”

“And the plants and the trees, they never grow by themselves. They constantly have to be watched over by you like a voracious den mother guarding her pups. Even when the cold season comes around you have to control how and when the trees begin to change”

“The animals that live amongst you have been needlessly coddled to the point where they can’t even fend for themselves anymore. If they were to return to the forest from whence they came, they’ll be food for everything else that lives here before days end”

“And then there is the sun and the moon, perhaps your worst atrocity. Tell me, is there anything that doesn’t require your supervision?” he chided.

“ENOUGH!” Twilight snapped at the bolete “You’re just blind to everything that we Equestrians have worked for all these years. What right does a insignificant talking mushroom like you have to openly mock us! We have been around longer than you have!”

“Wrong” the bolete’s response was like a slap to the face for Twilight “This forest has been here long before you ponies even came into existence, and we have had time to evolve because of our environment. The animals that lived here grew strong because of that. We learn, we adapt, we survive, all on our own. Nature has always been here from the start, and in the end, it will always outlive everything” he pointed his finger to the mares again “Even you ponies”

Twilight was at a lost for words, she was losing an argument about moral values badly, and to a talking mushroom no less. She was infuriated, absolutely outraged that she had been told that she was wrong about everything up until now. Not only that, she has just been told off by a sapient bolete fungus about her way of life. He might as well have had a mouth just so that he could spit right in front of them.

“Grrr.. If you want to live here in this forsaken place like some sort of barbaric mongrel then fine! It doesn’t concern me. Consider yourself and every other like you an enemy of the ponies now. This forest will be destroyed, and nothing your precious nature can do to try and stop us” she practically screamed at the bolete “We have the tools, and we have magic. By the end of this year, this will become Scientia, the greatest accomplishment that ponies will ever achieve!"

“Wrong again” the bolete spoke out “I told you that I am one of the guardians of this forest. What makes you think that you’ll be able to destroy my home so easily?” he taunted “There are others, others that aren’t nearly as kind as I am, nor are they as tempered. This isn’t like your happy home where everything is alright. Everything here won’t hesitate to kill each and every single intruder in the Everfree without giving a second thought. Keep that in mind as you foolishly continue your mad endeavor, pony” he spat “Remember that. Everything, everything....everything” 

And just like that, the bolete said no more as he audibly yawned and crawled back onto the ground where he rejoined the rest of his brethren for some much needed sleep. He wiggled back into the cluster and faded back into nature seamlessly, it was almost as if he wasn’t even tiny being to begin with.

Twilight had half the mind to just kick that mushroom cluster right off the side of the stump, but she was beyond that. Her face was a bright red from the utter humiliation that she had suffered at the hands of the mushroom. Being insulted, and then threatened by a fungus would make anyone's day go sour just like that. She didn't care anymore, the mushroom had made it’s choice, and she made hers. There was no going back now. 

With every ounce of willpower that she had, she managed to shake off everything that has happened in the last half hour of her life. It wasn’t until she came back to her senses that she finally remembered that Zecora was with her the whole time. She only gave a pleading looking before turning away and leaving the stump filled clearing. Neither spoke to each other, a quiet trip back to the camp would be far better than talking about being put on blast by the bolete.

In the back of her mind, Twilight felt cold fear creep up behind her. This forest was starting to get to her, she was actually contemplating whether her talk with the mushroom was real or not. Theoretically speaking, she could’ve been suffering the side effect of some sort of psychotropic trip when she was walking around the mushrooms.

Her head felt light, all the anger that she felt earlier dissipated faster than when she was actually provoked. Back and forth the words of the bolete bounced around in her head, it was like poison to her. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, she just wanted some sleep to clear her head. 

She turned back one last time to see if she really was hallucinating the whole thing. However, the view that she was granted showed to be a small army of sorts. 

There were mushrooms just like the bolete, but there were also amanitas standing next to them. On each tree stump was all the mushrooms that were clustered upon it’s side. Some of them were long and spindly, with multiple caps on their head. Others were large, squarish and stocky, with a large umbrella like cap. But regardless, there must’ve have been hundreds of them. 

Hundreds of beady little yellow eyes locked onto Twilight and Zecora with the intensity of a starry sky. They were armed with makeshift weapons that were built from sticks and basically anything that you can find in the forest. They continued to stare at the ponies, barely moving or even twitching. 


Not once did even a single eyes blink.         


 

 
  









   




 

  
	
	

> What's Cut and Dried
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Base camp, the next day, early morning...

        
“Mushroom... men?” Shining asked with a raise of his eyebrow, and a hint of disbelief in his voice “You’re telling me that you and Zecora found a colony of sapient mushrooms, shaped like these mythical humans creatures I might add, and that they threatened you to leave the Everfree forest otherwise these so called guardians of the forest will force us out?”

“It’s true, I met with them and they outright insulted everything that we believe in!” Twilight argued “These mushroom men refuse to come with us peacefully, no matter how hard I tried to convince them. They think that what we’re doing is evil! The nerve of them!” she snapped.

“Easy there little sis. I’m still having trouble believing that you actually met these mushroom men. In fact, I’m starting to think that you may have...”

“May have what?” Twilight poked, her hoof tapping the ground impatiently.

“You know... with you hanging around a patch full of mushrooms... some possibly associated with psychotropic drugs... you may have hallucinated about everything, don’t you think?” he concluded with a nervous grin. Twilight’s cheeks burned red with embarrassment before her eyes flared with anger. Anger that she unfortunately directed towards her brother. 

“I did not hallucinate about any of it!” Twilight exploded “This is serious, Shining! We are practically at war with this forsaken forest. It’s doing everything that it can to undo all of our hard work! This evil and a plague and we are the cure, never forget that!” she fumed, feeling her neck strained as each word came out as if it were covered in barb wire. 

Shining backed up a bit from his younger sister’s unexpected outburst. This wasn’t the first time that she has exploded like this, but given how stressful it may have been to not only encounter a new species of sapient creatures but to be insulted and berated by them as well, it seemed inevitable. However, this was also about supposed mushroom, and threats towards their cause. In summary, Shining thought that it was all just too crazy to believe.

“Well, what do we do then?” Shining asked “If these mushroom men are real, which I’m saying they’re not, and if they really are what you say to be, being one of the many guardians who protect this forest, which I’m saying it’s not, what are we suppose to do about them?”

“What do you think? They threaten us, that makes them our enemies!” Twilight shouted “I want you to go assemble some of your best guards and send scouting parties out there. If they find anything suspicious, we’ll personally take care of it”

“What!? You can’t just have me order some of my best guards out into this untamed wilderness hoping that they’ll run into some make believe guardians just so you can reason with it!” Shining protested.

“Oh, I am beyond reasoning at this point” Twilight stated “Those mushroom made it clear to me that this is cut and dried situation. These so called guardians will stop us, no matter the cost. So we have to take the initiative and strike first while we still have the advantage!”

“How about we just leave?” Shining suggested “ If they don’t want us to intrude on their way of life, then that’s fine, we’ll leave on more... peaceful grounds. The Everfree forest will be left alone, and we can just build your new city somewhere else”

“Shining, listen to yourself. You’re honestly suggesting about running away when we’re months ahead of schedule. If we leave now, then the dream of Scientia is dead and we lose this fight! Equestrian history will be forever stained by the Everfree blight!” Twilight shot back “Think about the ponies! Think about the future generations!”

“I am thinking about the ponies!” Shining raised his voice, something that he rarely does against his own sibling ”Do you know how many guards and loggers we sent here when we first started? We sent around one hundred loggers, and one hundred guards to defend them. That’s two hundred individuals in total, Twilight! And do you remember how many survived!? One! Just one! We’re still finding bones and remains of the others who got dragged into the Everfree weeks after the logging operations resumed!”

“What does that have to do with anything! And don’t you dare bring up the fallen anymore in this conversation, do you hear me!” Twilight spoke through gritted teeth.

“I’m saying that what if everything turns out to be meaningless! If these guardians truly exist and they succeed in repelling us, do you know how many lives that we are putting at risk here!?” Shining snapped back “We’re dealing with an unknown variable here, Twilight! I still don’t believe you about these guardians but I won’t give up on this operation either. We’ll continue this operation like normal unless I’m convinced otherwise!” 

“B-but...” Twilight babbled as her vigilance deflated.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, but I am not going to divert an entire division under your command and have them blindly rush into an environment that we know next to nothing about. For now, just go and lie down or something. This whole forest has been riding on your nerves ever since we arrived here” Shining replied calmly “Just take a nap of something, let me handle the logging operations”

“B-but...” Twilight babbled again, trying to find some way to convince her brother to give her some control over his soldier. And then it hit her “What if I prove to you that they exist, then will you help me?” she asked wearily.

“I do what is best for Equestia, you know that. Even though I co rule the crystal empire now with Cadence” said Shining as he looked up from his paperwork with a long winded sigh “But this is not about Equestria, it’s about the Everfree. It’s not like there are any evil deities or villains that wish to cause mayhem and destruction just for the fun of it” he paused to catch his breathe. 

“If these guardian’s title implies anything, then it’s plain to see that their job is to protect the Everfree. Kind of like how it’s your job to look over political matters as princess”

“But it’s also my job to think about the welfare of my little ponies” Twilight argued “And I believe, no, we, as in the ponies of Equestria, believe that getting rid of this forest will be beneficial for everyone. Even Princess Celestia and Luna back this operation one hundred percent”

“Then what about the mushroom men?” said Shining.

“What about those freaky little things” Twilight spoke with venom in her words “Besides, I thought you didn’t believed in them” she shot a piercing glare at her brother.

“I don’t. But theoretically speaking, what’s going to happen to them if you build Scientia here?” Shining asked with his eyebrow raised.

“It’s simple, they move on” Twilight replied as if nothing were wrong.

        “Move on? Move on where?”

“Well, I don’t know. And more importantly, why should I care?” Twilight asked.

“Because it’s both our responsibilities as rulers to think about the other parties that get involved with everything we do” Shining spoke sternly “Mushroom men included”

“Whuah!? H-have you lost your mind!?” Twilight stammered with eyes wide in disbelief “Unbelievable. A moment ago you were all skeptical about them. And now you actually care for their well being?”

“Plants or no-”

        “They’re not plants, they’re fungi” Twilight corrected her brother.

        “...Right. Fungus or not, if they live here, and are honest to goodness natives to the Everfree, and they don’t like us raiding their home, then it’s up to us to respect their demand and acknowledge them for the betterment of both collective parties” Shining stated.

        “Shining! I will do nothing of the sort! Demeaning myself by acknowledging the wishes of these worthless weeds, unthinkable!” Twilight rebuked.

        “I thought they were fungi?”

        “They are! It’s just... gah! I don’t have time for this. The future is at stake here!” Twilight shouted before angrily stomping out the tent with a dark cloud hanging above her head. 

“Twiy!” Shining called out “Twily, get back here! Just... ugh, forget it” Shining slouched down before letting out an exasperated sigh. He rubbed his hooves on his temples, trying his hardest to alleviate a massive headache he acquired from hearing about mushroom men “Honestly, that anger isn’t even cute anymore. I swear for someone so smart she has a one track mind sometimes” he said quietly to himself. 

“I’m starting to think that she isn’t cut out for being a princess. She cares about her subjects, that much is good. She cares about her friends, she cares about Equestria, she cares about me. But does she care about everything else?” he asked no one as he got swept up back with the papers on his desk “Huh, twenty seven plus three... carry the six...”


* * *


        “Hey, what’s going on?” Rarity asked as she noticed a particularly large group of royal guards gathering nearby the gates of their base camp. Approximately three full battalions of guards had been assembled nearby and were awaiting command by their superior. Rarity decided to trot on by and see what all the hubbub was about. Surprisingly, she spotted Twilight at the helm of the battalions “Huh? Twilight? What on Equestria are you doing?” she asked.

“Rarity, there you are” said Twilight as she took notice to her friend “I’m assembling a scouting party to find the guardians that threaten us” she replied coolly.

“Uh... guardians?” Rarity asked with a perplexed look on her face “Twilight, darling. Are you feeling alright?” Twilight pretended that she didn’t hear that last part and keep her collected composure.

“I’m fine” said Twilight “But we’ve got trouble. Trouble that requires the elements of harmony. The fate of the world is at stake here”

“The fate of the world? Are we talking like when we encounter NIghtmare Moon or Discord?” Rarity asked “If so, then where is everyone else?”

“They’ll be here eventually, I already told them about everything. The mushroom men, the guardians...” Twilight trailed off.

“Mushroom... men?” said Rarity “Do I have to ask?”

“Believe me, it’s no joke. Me and Zecora encountered them when we were investigating the cause of a mysterious outbreak at one of our lumber mills” said Twilight “They told me that the Everfree forest has guardians and that they’ll tear out base apart if we keep up the logging operations”

“And you believed these hallucinations?” Said Rarity. Twilight, again, did her best to ignore that last part.

“They were not hallucinations!” Twilight cried “Look, I already had this conversation with my brother already so please, just humor me for about five minutes”

“If you insist...” Rarity sighed.

        Twilight went on to explain the whole situation with Rarity, no matter how far fetched it may have been. She went through incredible details just to get her point across, from when she first encountered the mushrooms that have been causing her such grief from the moment she met them, to the threats that were made by a two inch bolete and his entire colony of fungi brethren. 

        “My, you certainly know how to spin quite the tale. It must be from your overactive imagination after reading all of those books” Rarity joked, much to Twilight’s chagrin. 

        “Ugh... it’s all true” said Twilight dejectedly “Anyway, we’re going to be covering the eastern end of the forest. That’s the only place that we don’t have plans for a lumber mill yet. We need to scout it out to see if it’s safe or not. And if there is a guardian there, we’ll use the elements to get rid of them”

        “Well, that explains all of the guards that you’re bringing” Rarity stated “Did you get your brother’s consent to gather this many guards?”

        “Of course I did” Twilight lied “He gave me full command of as many guards as I needed on this scouting party” 
        
        “Uh huh, are you sure it’s not because you’re exerting your power as princess of Equestria over them?” Rarity shot back with an incredulous glance “I’m going to talk to Shining just to get everything clarified...”

        Just as Rarity was about to head towards Shining Armor’s tent, a pinkish bubble was formed around her, impeding her path. Rarity turned to face Twilight, her expression of unamusement burned right the bubble like a laser directed at Twilight. She tapped her hoof impatiently at Twilight, demanding an answer through her fiery glare.

        “He’s not here right now. He’s assessing something at the western lumber mill” Twilight fibbed again “He’s on a very tight schedule and so are we” she said as she forcibly yanked Rarity away and brought her toward the gates “Now are you ready?”

“Twilight, I may not be the best when it comes to laws and rules, but what you’re doing is going against regulations placed to limit your control as a princess. You cannot just sweep up several battalions of guards and send them into unknown territory looking for make believe creatures without your brother’s consent. Even if it is for plans of another lumber mill” Rarity argued “And get me out of this bubble!” Twilight released her hold and Rarity dropped onto the ground.

“I know it does, but just trust me on this. It’ll all work out in the end, I promise” said Twilight “We have to do this behind my brother’s back until I can prove to him about the evils that lurk here”

“You mean the awful humidity and lack of sunshine” Rarity sharply retorted “Or these guardians you keep bringing up. How do you know if they even exist? What if those mushrooms you thought up lied to you just to get you all riled up?”

“We used to think that Nightmare Moon and Discord didn’t exist either, and you remember what happened afterwards, right?” said Twilight “Look, my hunch on this is good. Believe me on this, please” Twilight pleaded.

“ *Sigh* fine, I’ll trust you for now. Only because of defending Equestria and to further the removal of the Everfree” Rarity conceded “But if this turns out to me nothing at all, then you know what me, and everyone else, have to do”

“Don’t worry, you can count on me” Twilight replied. 

Without uttering another word, the entire scouting party made their final preparations before all of the other element bearers showed up as well. Out of the few, only Rainbow Dash and Applejack seem to be the ones who are actually anticipating the encounter with supposed evil. While Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie seemed to just go with the flow. Before long, they collectively headed east. 


All six element bearers and three full battalions.



* * *


        The eastern area of the Everfree forest was surprisingly different from the rest of the forest. This was probably the deepest that they had descended ever, and were astounded by the sheer diversity of the, thankfully non hostile but still less than agreeing, flora and fauna that inhabited the eastern end.

While the places that they had explored were more or less woodland, the east was more rocky and mountainous than the others and had less trees, allowing more sunlight to properly shine through. Albeit, slightly. The wild river that they had encountered back then had split up into various separate streams here, turning it into a small river delta. 

It was muddier than than normal. The delta turned the clearing into a bog that made it feel like you were walking in Pinkie’s super thick cake batter. It was so sticky and hard to traverse that various members of the guard’s horse shoes and boots got sucked into the quagmire, never to be found again. 

As if it weren’t enough, the many insects that lived there acted a little too friendly to the mares and stallions by pestering them every step of the way. If there was anything that could break the stoic faces of the royal guards, it would probably be a whole swarm of bloodsucking mosquitoes making a meal out of them. For that day, the mosquitoes were fat and bloated with the buffet of ponies presented to them.

Eventually, after several hours of strenuous and exhausting trekking, they came up to a reasonably sized river whose clear waters and bug free environment invited them to take a break. A break that everyone was far too happy to take. Though Twilight insisted that the group goes further into the forest, her growling stomach prevented her from doing so. Reluctantly, she agreed and issued a break for everyone.

At the drop of a hat, the sound of nearly every guards armor and equipment dropped to the ground and they all let out a relieved sigh. Within seconds, a small camp was formed. For the next hour, everyone sat down and enjoyed a much needed break after walking for so long. As of now it was noon time. The sun was high in the sky, something that put Twilight in a calmer state of mind. But that just meant she was focused when it came evaluating her surroundings.

While everyone else ate, laugh, and told stories, Twilight alone next to a tree with her sheets of parchment and some quills. She wanted to take her mind off the Everfree. So in doing so, she began plotting the location of the new lumber mills, calculating the numbers of workers required to run it, and wrote down any possible obstacles that they have to overcome. 

As she was enveloped with her work, a looming shadow reminded her that she wasn’t alone. Greeting her was none other than Rainbow Dash, who was hovering right above her.

“Heya, Twilight” said Rainbow Dash “Working on some egghead stuff” she joked.

“Egghead stuff that’s crucial to removing the Everfree” Twilight replied “What’s on your mind, Rainbow?”

“Can’t I just come over to say hi anymore” said Rainbow Dash “Ever since we started chopping this place down you haven’t spoke to me or the others as much as you used too”

“That’s because I’m busy” Twilight replied “Speaking of being busy, how is progress on taming the wild weather?” she asked.

“It’s not going anywhere” said Rainbow with a grimace “I just don’t get it. No matter how hard we try, the clouds don’t respond to any magic that we use on it. Pegasi can’t grab it, we can’t manipulate it, and more times than not, some of the workers get zapped with a bolt of lightning that ends up frying them”

“What about the unicorns?” said Twilight “Didn’t they come up with a solution?”

“They tried, only to find out that their magic did nothing at all” said Rainbow “Anywho, are you sure that there are guardians here?”

“I’m positive, we just haven’t found them yet” said Twilight.

“But we’ve been walking and exploring for close to six hours now! I’m pretty sure if an ancient guardian bent on our destruction is here, then we would have ran into it by now”

“It’s probably scheming, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack us” 

“I guess, but what do these guardian’s even look like?”

“I’m sure we’ll find out when we encounter them” said Twilight.

“Well I hope it’s soon. I want to kick its butt for trying to hurt everyone I care about!” said Rainbow with fire and vigor “Oh yeah! I’m ready for anything!” she proclaimed loudly.

“Oh really?” a deep, growling with a strange scottish voice spoke out from out of nowhere, which caused the two ponies to jump. Everyone in the camp immediately snapped to a defensive stance, doing their best to find the source of the voice. 


“What can a weak little worm like you, do to me?”



 

> The King of the Forest- Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Picking up from where we left off...
	

Everyone present within the clearing had had their pleasant, albeit brief, moment of relaxation broken within an instant. From seemingly out of nowhere, a disembodied voice, powerful and commanding, spoke out without warning and rattled the nerves of the element bearers and the guards. It wasn’t so much that it sounded threatening that put everyone on edge, it was more in that it sounded smug and incredibly confident with what it had just said. 

“Heh heh heh” the voice chuckled condescendingly “Look at all the wee lil’ ponies in the big scary forest! You all look like lost little toys that got swept under a child’s bed! AHAHAHAHA!”

“Hey! Who are you calling a toy!” Rainbow Dash snapped at the voice “Are you the guardian! Show yourself! If you want to insult me and everyone else then come out and say it to our face you featherbrain coward!” she challenged. Just as she finished, the royal guard battalion quickly assumed a defensive stance and formed a protective barrier around the mane six “Grr... don’t pretend that you didn’t hear me! I know you did!”

“I don’t think that would be such a good idea lassie” said the voice “One sight of me and it’ll be the last that you’ll ever see”

“Oh yeah? And why’s that!” Rainbow shouted.

“Because if I show up, then I’m suppose to do my job. And when I do my job right, you’ll just be a rainbow colored stain on the forest floor once I’m through with you” the voice threatened, followed by another chuckle when he notice Rainbow Dash and the rest swallowing a lump in their throat.

“Listen, it’s been a while since I’ve bashed some skulls and I’m raring to get in a good scrap or two before dinner today” said the voice nonchalantly “Ahem, anyway, as a guardian of this forest I recommend that you and your band of suicidal lackeys leave while you still have the chance. I take it one of you had a ran in with my buddies the mushrooms?” he asked.

        “I have” said Twilight “And I will say that you guardians don’t scare us one bit!” she stated with fire “We are the bearers of the elements of harmony, the most powerful magical artifact in all of Equestria! My colleagues and I are here to rid the Everfree forest once and for all! So hear me, stand aside and let us continue our goal or you will be struck down! You know not of the powers that you are meddling with here you blind fool!”

        “Heh, as much as I like to hear you describe yourself and your band of idiots, I rather not” said the voice, unfazed by Twilight’s own threats “Hollow threats is all you got then eh, girlie? You think just because you got fancy wings, a horn and a little tiara on your head and control over some fancy schancy magic that gives you the right to barge into my grove, my home, my forest and act all high and mighty when you don’t even have the slightest clue of what you think you’re doing!” his voice grew gradually angrier.

“Well I’d it looks like a pompous little dolly and her entourage needs some setting straight!” the voice stated. 


“Face a guardian of this forest and tremble before the might of his power!” 


A loud ear splitting roar was let out once the voice finished. It was so loud and ear piercing that half of the guards found themselves falling to the ground, ears bleeding and head practically splitting into two due to the sheer intensity of the roar. Trees shook violently, leaves scattered all around, calm rivers carried torrential waves that splashed and shifted without abandon. Before long, the entire group found themselves stumbling around and landing on their own flank because of the shockwave.

It took a while but everyone’s hearing managed to return to normal after being subjected to such horrible audio torture. But the feeling of dread didn’t stop there. Slow rumbles, rhythmic in nature, caused terrible tremors with each waking second. It was as if something large was coming, and Twilight had a pretty good idea of who or what it was that was approaching. 

Standing before them was a massive specimen whose shadow eclipsed the group like a mountain overshadowing an ant. Whatever it was it appeared to be bipedal in structure, with a wide and bulky frame to boot. The flow of the wind shook the edge of the creatures silhouette turning it rather fuzzy, indicating that it had fur. It had claws, short and stocky but pointy none the less. If there was ever the need for an image to represent intimidation, this imposing figure would have the very honor of doing so. 


With one last step, the creature revealed itself in the light.



* * *


He was a bear, but not like those the ponies have been accustomed to. He was gargantuan, triple the size of a regular bear both in length and width. His fur was light brown in color with white highlights and was incredibly shaggy. Painted onto the fur around his his arms, legs, chest, and face were cryptic runic tattoos of sorts that glowed softly with a turquoise hue. 

Parts of his furs were braided and were held together by disturbing decorative accessories that were carved out from the bones of some poor creature. Gripped between his jagged teeth ladened maw was a small branch acting similarly like Big Mac’s sprig of wheat. This beast had the look of a savage warrior with an intent to kill so strong that it was palpable. 

“My name is Cratus, I am the unyielding avatar of force. I represent the raw instinct in all animals that drives their every action. But everyone else refers to me as the king” said the bear with a smug smile “I will protect the Everfree forest, the last bastion of nature and its entirety, from your kind’s ignorant meddlings” he snarled. 

No one did or said a thing. They were far too awestruck and were frozen with fear that their body, no matter how much their mind pleaded for them to move, simply refused to respond to them. In spite of it all however, the element bearers searched within themselves and found the courage to break free and confront Cratus.

“Like Twilight said before, we ain’t afraid of ya!” Applejack proclaimed loudly “I bet you that you’re all talk anywho!”

“Now, Applejack. I’m sure that we can settle things in a calm manner without resorting to needless violence” Fluttershy quickly cut in, causing all of her friends to raise an eyebrow in wonder. She then stepped out of the group and bravely walked straight up to Cratus with a diabetically sincere smile on her face ”Excuse, mister Cratus, was it?”

“Call me mister again and I’ll force feed you your own wings, got that you little butterball?” Cratus snarled. Fluttershy noticeably recoiled from another unnecessarily graphic description of her possible demise, yet she soldiered on, doing her best to reach through to Cratus for whatever it was worth.

“I... uh... What I mean to say is... mist-” Fluttershy stopped herself just enough to realize her mistake, breathing a sigh of relief in return “Cratus” she said “You don’t have to fight us” This time, it was Cratus who rose an eyebrow at Fluttershy. He furrowed his brow and stroked his chin as he went in semi deep thought.

        “Really? And why is that?” he asked with a hint of obvious sarcasm in his voice.

        “Well, I’m sure that you don’t really want to fight us. Bears aren’t like that” Fluttershy said with such innocence. 

        “Hmm? Really now? Care to explain to me?” said Cratus with more sarcasm.

        “Sure!” Fluttershy beamed, her mind rushing with exciting ideas to share “Well, bears are cute and cuddly and oh so very fuzzy wuzzy! Plus, they’re so sweet and very caring to all of my other animal friends! If we could become friends instead of fighting, then maybe I could teach how a proper bear should act instead of living here all along and fighting all day” she concluded with pleading eyes.

        Cratus simply stood stock still and locked eyes with Fluttershy, his facial expression depicting incredulity. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, then a few minutes before finally breaking the silence by falling onto his back, causing everyone to hop up, and laughing jovially at the top of his lungs without a care in the world. He couldn’t breathe, he was enjoying the joke some much he found himself slamming his massive paws into the ground leaving potholes in its wake.

“BWUAHAHAHAHA!” he boomed “Did anyone else hear that?” he said as he wiped away a tear from his eye “The little butterball here thinks that bears are suppose to be all kind and fuzzy like a bunny rabbit! Can you believe that!” he paused to catch his breath. When he finally caught his second wind, he towered over poor Fluttershy and flashed his rows of sharp jagged teeth “There’s something seriously wrong with you ponies if you think that animals are suppose to be obedient little housepets! I swear, are all ponies dropped on their head when you come out of your mother’s-”

“Don’t go there!” Rainbow Dash snapped “What do you know about us!” she tried to fly up to Cratus’ face, only to be pulled back by Twilight’s pinkish magical grip.

“Don’t even try Rainbow. I already had that same conversation yesterday. These guardians are beyond reasoning” said Twilight “I was pushing it when I thought Fluttershy could ever try to talk some sense into you barbaric savages. But you’ve only assure your own defeat for insulting my friend’s kindness” she scowled.

“The fact that I haven’t killed you lot yet is pushing it for me!” Cratus retorted angrily “Me being this patient with something like you is very, very, veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery, rare for me, so be grateful!” 

“Normally I would’ve gone and turn everyone who's faced me into fertilizer by now. But being the ancient and wise being that I am, it wouldn’t be very fair to just crush everything without giving you some proper insight first to let you know the errors of your ways”

“Hmph” Twilight scoffed “Speak all you want, but as princes-”

“As princess of Equestria you have no power here before the undisputed king of the forest!” Cratus roared “My patience is wearing thin. If you refuse to look at the big picture and decide to stay self righteous then by all means, go ahead. But choose your next move carefully, little girlie...”

“Hmm, since you’re offering...” Twilight retorted with an obnoxiously victorious looking smile.

What happened next was since a familiar moment that the mane six have gone through time and time again in order to defeat countless villains during Equestria’s most dire situations. Wordlessly, they all rose together into the air, emanating a radiant and polychromatic glow that was almost too hard to look at. With will alone, everyone’s respective necklaces and tiara appeared and was rejoined with their bearers. With eyes of pure white light and pure intents of harmony, their power circulated together to form the power that stopped Nightmare Moon and Discord. 

A vibrant rainbow stirred from their elements, culminating together into a massive swirl that utterly dwarfed Cratus in size. Cratus did not say nor do anything other than stand still as the rainbow swirl of harmony engulfed his very being, leaving not a single hair behind as the swirl violently churned like a powerful hurricane. Finally, it all ended with a bang. A massive boom shot out from where Cratus was standing and echoed past outwards, shaking everything in the vicinity. A single flash of light later and all that was left of Cratus was dust in the wind. Or presumably a tasteless statue in place of where he once was.

The mane six slowly descended towards the ground, the power that they controlled slowly slipping away once the job was done. The bright glow from their elements dimmed out and returned to being nothing more than fancy jewelry.

Everyone turned to face each other, victorious smiles were held all around. Even the guard had joined in with a big cheer and hollering for such a breezy victory. Then again, it’s not like they didn’t see that coming. Every single time that they were used, the element would end it at the drop of a hat. Plain and simple. 

“Well it looks like truth, love, and justice saves the day once again!” Pinkie happily proclaimed.

“I believe you mean to say harmony darling” Rarity replied with a curt wave of her lavish mane “We sure taught that brute a thing or two, wouldn’t you say everyone? I’m sure that not you wouldn’t be having anymore trouble with the others now, will you, Twilight?”

“Definitely. It was all predictable, anyway. Nothing with such horrible killing intent could ever resist the powers of harmony. Anyone with eyes could see that” Twilight said smugly with her head held high “Well, it looks like thing really will be smooth sailing from now on. I doubt any other guardians will even think about attacking us after what happens today”


“I... wouldn’t be so sure about that... little girlie....”  






           

> King of the Forest part 2 edited
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile back at camp

Captain Shining Armor was a fair stallion and perhaps the most easy going and leveled headed captain Canterlot had seen in the last six hundred years. 

He gave his ponies longer leaves in order to spend time with family something, something he wished he had back when he was a recruit; he opened the door for fillyfoolers and coltcuddlers to join the guard corps as long they kept that kind of business to when they were off duty. He even gave Princess Celestia a boon in the number cakes she could have at each and every meal. But for such a kind captain as himself, there was a limit.

There was only one thing you should never, and that’s go around his back after he tells you no. It was something the nobles had very harshly learned not to do.

''TWILIGHT!!!!!''

At hearing that one single shout, the camp’s inhabitants made themselves scarce and pray to Celestia and Luna that the fates were merciful to them on this day.

''SOMEPONY GET ME CONNECTED TO THE CAPITAL!!!!...... NOW MAGGOTS!!'' 





“I... wouldn’t be so sure about that... little girlie....”  growled Cratus, standing defiantly with not a single hair on his hide out of place. The only visible change on the bear was his raised eyebrow. ''Was that suppose to do something?'' he asked mockingly. 

The gathered ponies could only stare at the great bear with their mouths agape. They all turned to Twilight who herself was rubbing her eyes, not trusting what she was seeing while her friends looked at each other in shock.

''Twi? What the hay just happen?'' asked Applejack. 

''I don't understand it the Elements... they hit him... we seen them hit him!'' said Rainbow Dash.

''How is that possible?'' shirked Rarity. ''The elements hit that brute! Why were they ineffective!''

''Girls, we have other things to worry about!'' said Pinkie fearfully.   

''No?'' the great bear spat out his branch then took a charging proposition. ''My turn,'' he snarled. 

Twilight's mind raced with itself trying to accept and explain why Equestria's greatest defense failed to even affect the guardian. Ignoring both her friends and guards, she ran simulation after simulation on the Elements failure until she snapped out of her thoughts when she heard one of the guards shout, ''Shield Wall! Protect the Elements!''

True to their word the guards circled the Elements in a protected wall of golden solar armor and spear determined to keep them safe. At seeing this, Cratus laughed like a mad pony while charging. ''What, you think a miserable wall can keep me out? Bwahaha! Oh, this is going to be fun!"

And true to his word Cratus busted through the shield wall like it was nothing but paper, sending dozens of armored ponies flying through the trees. Some of the ponies that suddenly became pegasi found themselves impaled by sharpen tree branches far from the ground while other were trapped in the mud, their hooves sinking in it's greedy grasp. 

The remaining guards in the now pointless shield wall speared the great bear, only to find that their spears had shattered and splintered on the bear's thick hide, serving to annoy the beast even further. With a great swing of his clawed paw he sent an another newly christen flock flying, but this time it was filled with deep terrible cuts, many more fatal in nature.

''There are gods inside my fists today little ponies!!! You should've left MY forest when you had the chance!!!'' guffawed Cratus crushing the remnants of grounded guards beneath his feet. 

Twilight and company could only watch in pure unadulterated horror of the massacre that was taking place before them. In the back of their minds, they remember all the foes that they defeated over years. There was a nagging sensation told them that the only reason why they defeated the likes of Nightmare moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, and Tirek was that while they were all evil, they didn't really hurt anypony.  

Nightmare moon had many chances to kill them, but didn't. Discord as well since he's was nothing but a prankster. Chrysalis was just trying to feed her people. Sombra had wanted to enslave ponies and Tirek only stole magic instead of lives. Just maybe the reason why they won was not because of the elements of Harmony or that they were underestimated, but perhaps that the villains were too afraid to harm them. 

Celestia and Luna were very close to the group of friends, way too close for rulers. Twilight was understandable since she was Celestia student, but why the others? 

The group of mares weren't given the time to ponder on the matter as Cratus's roar shook them out of the spell, revealing that nearly every royal guard laid slain leaving only three between them and the Great Bear. 

One of the guards, an older one if his graying mane was any indication, looked back at the mares. ''Princess Twilight, get out of here.''

''What?'' said Twilight, blinking owlishly. 

''Run my Princess, take your friends and GO!! Don't worry about us, we'll hold him off,'' said the elderly guard, striping off his armor reveal his equally gray form.

''What? NO!! I am not leave you here not any of you!'' said Twilight, stomping her hoof down into the mud. 

''Princess with all due respect, get the buck out of here!'' said another guard, causing Rarity to gasp at his crude language which in turn caused Applejack and Rainbow Dash to roll their eyes at the prissy unicorn.  

''Oh, what this? If yer think I'm going to let ya get away then yer got a another thing coming,'' Said the great bear, preparing another charge.

''No time to argue Elements,'' yelled a rather small guard, holding a broken spear as a staff. ''GO!!! call for reinforcements!''

Twilight looked at each of the last remaining guards she led to this part of the forest. She knew the faces they wore, faces of ponies who knew that they were going to die. She closed her eyes, submitting them to her memory. They knew the risk when she started this project. It would be disrespectful to deny them this chance of keeping the dream of Scientia alive. ''Girls, grab on to me. I'll teleport us back to camp.''

ROOAR went the great bear, the ground trembling as he charged the last royal guards whinnied one of own as the mares teleported away to safety with a loud pop.

When Twilight open her eyes, she found the site of glaring fury that was her brother and the disappointed look on her fellow princesses. Unable to bare the looks, she cast her gaze to that of her friends, flinching at what she saw. Her precious friends whom she would sacrifice her very life for... Pinkie's mane was flat and dead. Both Applejack and Rainbow kept on looking back at the forest with uncharacteristic tears and a clear want to go back and fight Cratus. Fluttershy, she didn't looked even alive. She stood there in silent horror while Rarity look ready to drown the whole camp with tears and runny makeup.

''Twilight where are my ponies,'' demanded Shining. The rage and fury in his voice made Twilight recoil as if slapped.  

Then right there in the gloom of the camp, Twilight, the princess of friendship, wept. She wept for the dead, she cried who all the guards she had lead to their deaths.

>  Trust part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                   
 Later That Night


In the gloom of the camp, the remainder of the guard ponies stood in silence watching the darken forest waiting and watching with their hooves holding an nervous grip on their spears and bows. Three battalions..... Three fully stocked battalions went into that forest and none returned, the tale that was told by Princess Twilight and her friends were horrifying one hundred and fifty guards were slaughtered by one single bear and the fact that the elements of harmony failed only destroyed their spirits further even a blind pony could see that any notion of morale was nonexistent. And there was nothing that could be done to remedy that. Even with both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna did little to encourage the fearful guards knowing it was only a matter of time before they will have to enter the wood. Many began to doubt the Princesses and the reason why they were there in the first place the damned project Scientia, many more wanted to simply leave and never returned to the wood but they knew that was impossible, the beasts will not let them leave for they had hit the hornet's nest with a ton of bricks and if they ever did manage the nobles would just throw them back into the Everfree.... the only way for them to able to leave now was death or the royals themselves abandon the ideal of the settlement Scientia.

Either way there is little they could do now, so they waited and watched... waited and watched for death to come for them.

Then right then they saw movement. Darken Shapes in the wood moving about silently the natural sounds of the woods at night masking the sound of their moments leaving the pony blind as to many was watching them. With a nod from their commander the Pegasi leaped in the air with bows in hoof while Earth ponies bore down their shield wall protecting the unicorns was they worked their spells.

The Beasts may had caught them off guard before but this time the ponies were ready. 

''Where are ye girlies? we haven't finished our game'' Laughed a voice hidden in the wood.




A few moment ago 
The Captain's Tent 

Celestia's PoV 

With an solemn sigh, I gently petted the sobbing Twilight's back, for hours now since we had arrived to see a furious Shining Armor  and confronted the young alicorn she cried. As I did this Luna and Captain Armor busied themselves with questioning the elements... for the tenth time seeking each and every detail they could about this 'Cratus' and the guardians of the forest only to reach the same conclusion nothing.... nothing outside Twilight's discussion with mushroom men and the great bear Cratus who destroyed three battalions of my guards as if they were foals playing at soldier. It was daunting of how little they could tell us but not surprising searching my own memories of the time I and Luna dwelled in the Everfree I could not recall anything about these guardians and that scared me. As an immortal I knew many things I wouldn't dare to share with my little ponies not of some seemliest of moral superiority or overbearing authority but from fear of the what the knowledge could do in the wrong hooves. So out of love I must hid some things from them... I am not the first ruler to do so even when Discord and his chaotic rule there was things he hid such as the Changeling and Windigo armies that haunted Equestria at the time before he drove them out by destroying much of their food sources.

Perhaps he also knew of these guardians....

Nevertheless they are a threat to my ponies, taking a moment to share a look with my dear sister I dismissed the Elements for the night it wouldn't be right to keep them here all night for needless questioning that will led to nowhere. Shining stared at his sniveling sister with a mix of stern yet kind eyes before taking his leave of us to return to his ponies to give some seemliest of morale, leaving us mares alone in his tent.

'' Sister, what you make of this 'Cratus'? '' asked Luna with what seemed to be a emotionless expression on her muzzle to the untrained eye but I could clearly see she too was afraid.

'' I dunno dear sister but it's clear that we need to speak with Discord he may know about the bear and these guardians''  I said before removing my hoof from Twilight's back as her snores start to fill my ears. The poor thing cried herself right to sleep '' Luna can you make sure that she won't have anything nightmares, what happen today would torture for her for the rest of her life the least we can do is see that she'll sleep soundly.''

''Discord? you sure that is wise? we both know what would happen'' said Luna lighting her horn with cyan magic sending the magic into Twilight own horn causing the young alicorn to sigh sweetly

''Yes... we'll never hear the end of it but what else we could do Discord is one of the last of the Ancients'' I said with a slight frown, Discord is often difficult about sharing what wisdom he possesses unless there was something in it for him and a payment that often ends in disaster for those that make deals with him but we have little choice he is far older than Equestria or myself the oldest of the alicorns.  We must know more about the Guardians of the Everfree.

''True yet we can't trust him'' said Luna with simple logic in her words.

''Trust? Sometimes trust is another word for faith and in the end the only thing we have is faith'' I countered with my own wisdom

''and each other''

''Luna.... have you been reading cheesy romance novels again'' I deadpanned

'' Hm maybe'' said Luna sheepishly before setting her lips in a cute pout giving the blue alicorn an adorable (and somewhat foal like) look instantly reminding me of when we were younger. Ah those were the days prancing about in grassy meadows filled with wildflowers... Oh what I won't give to go back to those days.

''Oh Wona'' I sighed with a teasing look

''Celly!'' said Luna incredulously puffing out her cheeks which strengthen her cuteness ''we told you to not call us that we're a grown mare-

''WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!
> Trust part 2 unedited
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
Beast and pony alike laid on the hard ground still and surrounded by red rolling mist as their friends and beloved companions danced with one another, fang and claw digging deeply into golden armor with the kind of ease of cutting though paper. Arrows and magical spells flew overhead slaying the weaker of the Beasts while only annoying those with thicker hinds and made of firmer stuff, yet even then the ponies did manage to hold an battle line in the loosest of terms and by that in the simplest of terms they were completely overrun. More pony that beast laid dead and those that held on were slowly cut off from the rest of the herd, Timberwolves on the flanks and Manticores forming the center leaving the other parts of the battle line relatively free for more of the exotic of Everfree monsters which was led no other then the great bear Cratus to play with undoubtedly became lunch.  

"Where ye girlies!" sang the bear crushing pony guards underfoot " Ah ain't gonna hurt ya much now! Just leave me yer pretty 'eads!" then the bear felt an annoying poke at his rear, turning his massive head he saw a pony in purple armor whose blue mane was more red then blue thanks to the red mist. "Who are yer suppose to be eh?"

"Are you Cratus" growled the pony with his horn glowing pink with magic. 

"Aye that is me name" growled the bear.

"I am Captain Shining Armor of Equestria-

Seeing that this pony wasn't one of the girlies, the great bear simply flicks the pony away with single finger, sending the captain head first into one of the now burning tents and the bear starts singing again " Oh girlies where can you be! 

In seeing how quickly their captain was bested, many of the surviving guards gave into panic and fled into the surrounding forest where many more beast waited for them, screams filled the air as the those guards found the very hungry mouths. This is the sight that so lovely met the eyes of the two sisterly Alicorns, most of their guards dead or being eaten alive, much of the camp in flames and the source of their ponderings sang openly enjoying the bloody slaughter.    

The bear was as great and massive as the Elements had said he was yet there was one thing odd about the so called king of the forest, something familiar about him but that the same terrified them to the core. Turning his head towards the frighten Alicorns, he gave them an smirk and wink as he popped an screaming mare into his mouth, the two sisters quickly shielded their eyes from the sight. Hearing him swallow the mare was something nightmares yet before this horrific event was done the Elements scampered out from one of the burning tents with an unconsciousness Shining armor in toll. At this the great bear smiled darkly, finally he had found his prizes. 

With an great leap, one that another creature of his size shouldn't be able to do even in their prime, the bear loomed over the group of friends whom scooted to an stop to avoid his massive paws which cut them off from the panicking herd. Chuckling darkly the bear sang "
Found ya girlies"

Then he slowly starts to close to gap between his paws, causing for the mares to scream while trying to buck at the bears fingers but alas it only annoyed him and caused close the gap a bit faster.   

"Please stop mister Cratus!" cried Fluttershy hoping to find something in the great bear that was like in the bears she played with for years  " you don't want to do this!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack bucked at the closing paws as hard their little legs could yet couldn't stop the closing. 

"SHY!" went the rainbow mare " what are you doing! help not talk!"

Ignoring the rainbow and apple ones the bear smiles at the shy animal lover "Oh but I do", " no hard feelings girlie but I do what I must to protect my home"

"But-but" went the pale yellow mare.

"As I s- RAAAAAAA

An lavender bolt of magic from Twilight hits the great bear in the eye causing him to cradle his face to ease the pain, seeing their chance they quickly galloped away and just as quick they met up with the two sisters. Celestia cast a shield over them and held Twilight tightly and Luna took the limp Captain Armor from the Elements and placed with in her back. The other mare smiled knowing that for the moment they were safe behind the solar matriarch's magics yet it was not a time to celebrate their blessings for to their horror, all the royal guard were now dead and the beasts had them all surrounded, each looking between hunger as if they haven't eaten for days despite the meal they just had and pure hatred for all things pony. If the shield should fail... 

"Princesses!" the mares "what are we go to do??

Before the sisters could answer them, another voice rose from the bestial horde.

"Die that's what yer gonna do" growled Cratus lumbering though his horde of fellow Everfree monsters, there's was not even an mark on his eye where Twilight's magic hit. " There's no brave and foolish guards to save ya this time girlies... what's ya smiling at?"

An sudden flash of light filled the ruins of the camp effectively blinding the horde for an moment yet as quickly as it came it faded leaving the spot where his prizes coward empty. The great bear seeing that his prey had escaped him again he let loose an rumbling roar, one the shook that whole of the forest.

"I HATE MAGIC!!!