The Everfree Forest. A place far too dangerous for the average pony. All the ponies who do dare to explore this threatening territory are anything but average however. The forest is far different from how the rest of Equestria works. Clouds move without pegasi intervention, plants grow by themselves, and the animals take care of themselves. The animals are very foreign to the ponies as well, with the forest being inhabited by cockatrices, Ursas, and manticores, oh my! These abnormal ponies venture into this eerie forest to learn more about how the forest works and to learn more about the animals who inhabit this territory. Of course, they can’t confront these creatures unless they want to end their life quickly. Nevertheless, they watch these animals, deadly as they are, in secret with precision stealth and surveillance.
But there are other things to study too besides dangerous creatures. The plants in this habitat not only serve as a food source for those who live in the forest, but also hold secrets to many diseases and sicknesses that still need or have cures for. Everfree Forest is where Zap Apples first originally grew, one of the trademark apple crops of the Apple family. Of course, there are also dangerous plants too. Poison Joke, physically affecting a pony with a “practical joke”. The large, thick oak trees, as seemingly safe as they look, house ambush spots for the animals to surprise any adventurous pony to attack them.
The forest is idle now. The animals have taken to their homes or nests for the night. The plants have closed themselves up until morning. It’s quiet. The cool autumn air blows quietly against the trees. The only activity comes from the occasional cricket chirping. Deeper into the forest, a small fire is burning near a camp set up by a careless pony who wandered off in search of more burning material. Just above the camp are low-hanging trees, supposedly to be used for an incoming rain or other weather event. The fire burns slowly. The logs used are slowly losing their ability to burn. They lean against each other, creating a formation that would look like a tent. The fire coughs, sending a few embers into the air. It burns for a long amount of time; the logs become charred with black and white ashes.
Then gravity takes over. One of the logs falls over, causing the rest to fall onto each other, the ashes, and the hot embers. A shower of these embers shoots into the air. They make contact with the low tree branch. Some of the leaves’ tips gradually turn orange from the embers getting stuck to them. One develops a small flame that burns the leaf. It engulfs the entire leaf before the flame catches other leaves. Before long, multiple leaves on different branches are burning. The fire spreads, eating the branches on the oak. Not even fifteen minutes pass before the entire tree trunk is completely ablaze.
The camp is soon lighted by the fire, burning the tent and the camper’s equipment. A large flame suddenly shoots into the air soon after the tent begins burning. The fire had found its way into lighter fluid that the camper had used to begin the campfire. The result was more tree branches ignited. The fire is spreading.
The camper slowly trots through the forest, wary of his surroundings. The Everfree Forest is not a place to ever let your guard down, even for the slightest amount of time. Any animal that may still be up at this time, looking for a midnight snack, could easily sneak up and attack. He quickly makes his way towards the campsite he built with a bag full of flammable material and an extra log. The brown colt notices light up ahead. The air is beginning to get warmer around him as he closes in on where his campsite should be. He gets closer, getting scared. Then it becomes obvious. His entire campsite is ablaze! His tent, equipment, and trees all around are engulfed in a hot inferno. The colt bolts away, dropping his bag of flammable items. They spill onto the ground, left there to add fuel to the fire.
The wind begins picking up. The bright trees begin to sway, leaning onto other trees and handing the torch to them. One by one, more trees are ignited. The fire becomes brighter and hotter. By now, nothing can stop it. With the trees closely packed together and the wind blowing both aid the fire in its uprising. The trees, however, are not the only plants being burned. Dead leaves that have already fallen quickly shrivel up into balls of ash. The brown colored grass quickly spreads the burn. Bushes turn into giant balls of fire. Poison Joke fill the air with laughter as the fire eats away at the oxygen they produce, killing them as a result. Only an hour passes before half of an acre of the forest is up in flames.
The heat of the flames has now awoken some animals. They flee from their homes in the forest to find safety elsewhere. Some do not notice the flames unfortunately. The flames slowly creep up on a pack of sleeping Timber wolves. They do not notice the danger that is looming upon them. The fire approaches, cackling and roaring with energy. A few Timber wolves wake up from the noise of the blaze. They quickly flee, causing more to awake and flee as well. A few still remain however.
More grass and dead leaves catch the disease of the forest as it advances. The tail of one Timber wolf is caught by the fire’s hand. It spreads up the tail of the wolf, causing it to jolt awake in a panic. It starts running in circles and rolling on the ground, trying desperately to put the fire out, but to no avail. The wolf’s timber body just fuels the fire even more. The wolf rolls around more, howling loudly. Eventually, it becomes quiet. The entire body of the animal engulfed in fire, turning into ash. The last few are struck by the same fate: Death.
The next hour passes. The fire has spread outwards, now stretching out over an acre of the Everfree Forest. The forest, or what’s left, is alive with activity. Animals, both harmless and dangerous, flee from the forest. Some face the challenge of crossing the wide river in the middle of the forest to get to safety. By this time of year, the Everfree River is raging fiercely. The strong swimmers somehow make it across to safety, but others are swept away by the raging waters. The fire would dare cross the river!
Twilight Sparkle lies on her bed. It’s rather late for her to be awake, but she hasn’t been able to sleep tonight. Owlyscious is acting up, “who”ing to no end. In an effort to make herself sleepy, she practices the only thing she knows will work. Reading. She pulled out one of her favorite books from the library and began to read it. It always made her sleepy and she never got to the end without falling asleep.
Something is wrong though. She is almost near the end and isn’t the least bit tired! She closes her book and sighs. What’s wrong? She smells the air. It smelled… Smoky?! She looks out her bedroom window, out towards the Everfree Forest. A large glow is emanating from the forest. It looks like a sunset. Twilight looks over at her clock. The clock reads 2 o’clock in the morning. How is this possible?!
Twilight ponders for a moment before looking out the window again.
“Spike!!”
The fire continues. More trees and bushes are burning. The taller trees that have been burning for a longer time topple over, sending a shower of embers and ashes everywhere. The wind picks up even more, howling across the forest. The fire is spreading quicker and quicker. More and more plants are set ablaze and more animals flee for their lives. Poison Joke continues burning as well, sending more laughter into the air.
The sea serpent, despite having an underwater cave, has taken notice now. The water has somewhat increased in temperature. He didn’t like anyone messing with his river. He rises to the surface to see what is happening. He surfaces, coming face to face with the out of control wildfire. The water dragon looks on helplessly as animals are swept downstream in the raging current. He could swim after them, but the river got shallower towards the end, so they should be fine. The fire was in full bloom now, devouring all of the trees along the edge of the river. Despite the river’s width, it was threatening to hop over the river and eat the rest of the forest.
The sea serpent dove under the water, pulling water into his mouth. Surfacing again, he forces the water out of his mouth towards the fire. The water splashes against the trees and bushes, causing the fire to lose its concentration and sizzle loudly. The heat from the remainder of the fire was too much though. The water quickly evaporated into the atmosphere and the same trees and bushes were soon up in flames again.
The sea serpent raised his long tail out of the water and smacked the surface of the river with it. A wall of water careened over the fire and came down, taking out more trees and bushes. The fire sizzled louder, trying to counterattack. The sea serpent smacked the river again and again, taking more and more of the fire out. After a short amount of time, a good portion of the river’s edge was completely soaked with water. The fire is forced to fall back a little, being unable to advance against the drenched trees, bushes, and leaves. The damage was already done though and the fire had left its mark on this area of the forest. Charred trees and shriveled bushes were all that remained on this side of the river. The fire had lost its fight on this front, but still had another to seize.
More time passes. Almost another hour and the fire is advancing on its new front. The wind has yet to die down and aids the fire in its push towards the edge of the forest. The entire forest is almost completely engulfed in flames and heat. The fire pushes forward, heading straight for the edge of the forest and for the quiet town of Ponyville.
But what’s this? The town is anything but quiet now! All over the town, ponies are galloping around, retrieving any item that could be used to fight the incoming fire. They carried buckets, some empty and some filled with water. These buckets are transferred from earth pony to pegasus. Each pegasus is equipped with two buckets of water, ready for dumping right onto the center of the inferno.
The pegasi take flight, ascending into the lit up sky. They fly towards the fire, with each meter, the heat intensifying. Some can’t take it and stop, but others brave on over the roaring blaze. The forest has lost its Poison Joke laughter, considering all of the “poisonous” plant had been burned to smithereens. The Poison Joke laughter was replaced with the fire’s own cackling laughter as it tore away as the flesh of trees and the leaves of bushes.
The ponies are horrified by the sight, but dump their cargo over the fire. Gravity pulls the water from the buckets to the burning forest. It cried loudly as the water made contact and fought back. The intense heat worked hard to evaporate the water into the air. It succeeded in a short period of time and the same area that had been dumped on with water was soon burning again.
Group by group, three to five ponies fly over the forest and dump water upon the forest fire. It would cry out loudly with sizzles, but continued advancing anyways. No pony had flown over the front of the fire in an attempt to stop it. In fact, the water itself wasn’t going to be enough.
Unicorns throughout the town had taken to their magic spell books, searching for something. ANYTHING that could stop the incoming danger, but it was to no use as of now. Many spells came down to just creating water from the air and that wasn’t going to be enough it seemed. Twilight Sparkle and her companion, Spike, run around the library that they call home in search of a solution. It seems useless.
Now Fluttershy’s cottage is in danger. The fire had burned for another two hours. The battle with the pegasi had slowed the burn of the forest. Slowed, but not stopped. The grass in front of Fluttershy’s cottage burns slowly. Animals flee from their homes as the flames inch closer and closer. After failing to comfort them, Fluttershy herself, armed with a bucket of water, battles the grass fire on her own. She places water on the fire, drop by drop, being careful not to miss any. Fluttershy’s languidness was barely stopping the fire. The grass continues to burn, despite dropping three whole drops of water onto each of the flames!
The yellow mare is suddenly showered with water from the sky as some pony flew past. Her entire mane is soaked, but the fire is out! Well, at least near the house. Rainbow Dash lands next to her.
“Stop moving so slowly Fluttershy! If you don’t speed up, your house is going to burn down!” she scolds the Element of Kindness, taking flight again to head back to town.
Something snapped in Fluttershy at that moment. She throws the remaining contents of her bucket towards the fire. Spreading her wings, she bolts for the lake. The bucket in her mouth, she scoops up water from the lake. With her cargo now loaded, she flies back to her home. Without stopping, she dumps the whole bucket onto the fire. The grass sizzles from contact with the water. Fluttershy yo-yo’s, going back and forth from her house, to the lake, and back. Each trip brings more water to be dumped on the grass. The trips cause her to advance closer to the forest, putting more of the grass fire out. This proves to be a near fatal mistake.
Returning from the lake for the umpteenth time, she dumps more water on the fire. Something in the forest cracks. Fluttershy looks towards the burning forest and freezes. The crack sounds once more. Fluttershy looks quizzically towards the Everfree Forest, unsure of what to do. A tree sways in the heavy winds. She looks towards the tree with uncertain curiosity. The tree tips, cracking in two pieces. Fluttershy’s mouth opens, the bucket falling to the ground. Her joints lock and nerves refuse to move. All she does is close her eyes and scream. Loudly.
An unknown force then slams into Fluttershy’s side, tossing her away from the path of the falling tree. Fluttershy squealed as she is shoved away. She tumbles across the ground with another pony a short distance before coming to a halt. She whimpers a little before opening her eyes, looking towards who rescued her. None other than Rainbow Dash of course! The rainbow-maned pony looks back at Fluttershy.
“Hey Fluttershy… You okay?”
Fluttershy shy nods a little as both ponies rise. A group of three pegasi flies over and dumps water upon the burning tree. The fire yells out in agony as it is removed from the tree. Rainbow Dash spreads her wings again.
“C’mon! Let’s help out the others!”
Fluttershy nods again before taking flight with her hero.
The ponies have a breakthrough now. Twilight has found a book about how forest fires are fought in different areas of Equestria. With some water, chemicals, and proper testing of this compound on a smaller flame, the purple mare has successfully created a powdery flame retardant that can fight the raging forest fire. The problem is, she needs materials.
Ponies around town scramble through buildings once again, searching for the materials needed to make this flame retardant. They bring Twilight Sparkle water, chemicals, bowls, and other things that can be used to make this product. Other unicorns offer to help, following precise instructions commanded by Twilight.
It’s just before sunrise now. Twilight and her group of unicorns are fully operational, making homemade flame retardant and passing it on to the pegasi flyers. The flyers then fly over the fire once again and dump the chemical onto it. This process was more effective than using water, but slower. Other pegasi groups still used water in order to fight the fire. With aid from the chemical, the fire was being defeated slowly. Of course, it was still burning fiercely, despite the hard work by the town ponies.
The sun is raised now. Celestia is awake, but with the bright forest fire off to the west, the ponies are looking at what appears to be two sunrises. The ponies quickly run into a new problem now as well. The materials for the flame retardant are running short, and quickly too. It isn’t long before Twilight and her group is forced to cease making the chemical. The last pegasi group takes flight with buckets of it in tow. They make their delivery to the fire and return to town.
The chemical is working successfully to a point. Areas where it was dumped have been completely put out of flames, but other areas still burn triumphantly. Seemingly, it mocks the town as it burns. But something else happens now. A group of five white pegasi flies over the small town, heading straight for the Everfree Forest. They appear to have golden armor on their bodies, reflecting from the double sunrise. They also seem to be carrying large tanks on their back. They fly over the forest, and as they do, the tanks they carry deploy a red, powdery chemical. Gravity allows the powder to fall onto the fire. Another group soon passes, and another! Soon, groups of white pegasi are flying in every minute, deploying the same red powder the first group dropped. And the fire is dying.
High noon arrives. The Everfree Forest is now a black, desolate wasteland of trees and other plant life. Smoke billows from the remnants of the forest. A small flame still burns on a leftover area of grass. An orange hoof stomps down on it. Applejack’s.
Gathered near Fluttershy’s cottage at the edge of the forest, Twilight, her friends, and the town look on at the ruins. Everyone has a grim look on their face, even the bubbly Pinkie Pie.
“How could this have happened?” Rarity asks.
“So much plant life… So many possibilities… Destroyed.” Twilight says sadly.
“Is this the end… of the Everfree Forest?” another pony asks.
“No.” a voice calls out.
Every pony turns around, and then makes way so another pony can walk through. Princess Celestia. She steps forward, through the crowd. She passes Twilight and her friends, turning around. She then nudges a lone, red rose standing untouched from the fire.
“No. I think…” She begins. “I think this is a symbol. A symbol of a new beginning. The Everfree Forest, as foreign as it was to us, was a magnificent place for plant and animal life to live, but also a dangerous place to be as well. This fire was a tragic one, losing all of this plant life and some animal life. However, we can rebuild. As a town, we can rebuild the forest to its former glory. While it may take a long time before we can reach that status, we can start with something.”
Her horn glows and she retrieves three seeds from one of her guard’s pouches. She pulls the seeds towards her.
“We can start… with these seeds.”
She drags her hoof along the ground, moving ashes and dirt away. She drops the seeds into the hole and kicks the dirt back into place.
“We will give these seeds plenty of sunshine and water. Then they will grow into big, tall trees. Then they will reproduce and make more trees. And we will give sunshine and water to those. The process goes on! So I will say firmly that no. This is not the end of the Everfree Forest. Just a new beginning.”
And all of the townspeople cheered in agreement.
