The Return of the Everfree Kingdom

Chapter 5: The Declaration
“Even should both of our bodies fade away, I will find you no matter what.”

“What did he mean war? We’re only five ponies!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she hovered above the group of assembled ponies in one of their inn rooms.

“What do yah mean five of us Rainbow?” Applejack asked putting a hoof down.

“Well I mean, look at Fluttershy, she would never be able to hold herself in a fight let alone a war” Rainbow pointed towards the yellow Pegasus who was already shying away from their stares.

“Now that is no way to speak of a friend darling” Rarity trotted into the conversation, flicking her mane in the process “however true it may be” she added looking to the side.

“I just don’t think Fluttershy would be any good in this little war thing we have got going on with that King Everfree stallion, I’d really rather not have him invade my dreams again” Rainbow stated shuddering “I just get an off feeling about him.”

“Yeah I felt the same thing” the others looked to see Twilight looking up from a book in front of her with a worried expression “I can’t quite put my hoof on it though.”

“Well his voice sounded weird, he might have a frog in his throat, OH NO! that may be why he was so mean, fluttershy we have to find him and get the frog out of his throat!” Pinkie rambled while trying to get Fluttershy off the ground.

“Pinkie!” Twilight got up and gently nudged her away from Fluttershy, every other pony sighed “I don’t think he had a frog in his throat.”

“Well you’re right that there was something off about him and that his voice was weird, sixty points” they turned to see Clyde lying on one of the beds, resting his head on his front hooves.

“Sixty points? Since when were you scoring us?” Twilight asked with a puzzled face while Rainbow snickered off to the side.

“I’m the Mentor, which is a kind of teacher I guess, anyway I have to grade my students on their performance like all teachers” he jumped off the bed and trotted towards them “anyway since we are at war with him I might as well explain some things, you might want to take a seat because this may take a long time.”

The six mares each took a seat as Clyde took centre stage, Twilight hovered a pillow for her to rest her head on while Rarity pretty much did the same except she fluffed her pillow before resting her head down on her pillow. Rainbow slowly reached out to grab a pillow with her teeth and set it down behind her as she laid down on her back with Applejack doing the same and settling down next to her cyan friend. Fluttershy squeaked and stayed quiet and still as Pinkie jumped into the air and somehow defied the laws of gravity as she placed a pillow underneath her and placed a pillow next to Fluttershy who laid her head down on it lying down on her side and finally Pinkie dropped rump first onto her pillow.

“Okay, well I’ll start with his voice. I’ve read reports about your ‘experience’ with Princess Luna during the last Nightmare Night correct?” they all nod in agreement “and I’m sure you all remember her Royal Equestrian voice?” he asked while snickering.

“Yes we remember, it scared Fluttershy here to death, when she used it up close when Twilight was trying to help Luna that night” Rarity replied.

“Oh yeah speaking of Nightmare Night, where were you that night Rarity?” Rainbow asked while she was lounging on the bed “I didn’t have a chance to prank you.”

“Well me being the only designer in Ponyville, I was more than tired after making a good majority of those costumes for all the lovely little kids and a few clients.”

“Oh well I do remember you looked tired when you made my costu-“

“ANYWAY!” Clyde cut waving his hoof in the air “King Everfree’s voice was the Royal Everfree voice, so yes before Twilight says anything it is their version of the Royal Equestrian voice.”

“I guess that makes sense” Twilight commented, contemplating the thought “but why does it sound so weird compared to Princess Luna’s?”

“Oh yeah, that is because the Everfree Kingdom wasn’t that big in its early days so the royalty developed the voice to echo and changed the tone and pitch of it to make it sound like something from Tartarus” Clyde stopped and looked at them to see if they were following “the voice was primarily used for intimidating potential invader envoys and well after a few years it stuck to them.”

“I guess that makes sense” Twilight concluded while scratching her muzzle “the creatures and denizens of Tartarus are known to have been greatly feared by the ponies of old when the gate to Tartarus was weak and unstable.”

“Now wait just a darn tooting second” Applejack called out getting everypony’s attention “how come we’ve nevah heard of this here Everfree Kingdom before?”

“Oh, yeah about that, the Everfree Kingdom was at first a bunch of ponies that left the first Equestrians during the great Winter and before they decided to cooperate. They each left their individual tribes and somehow met along the way, at first there was tension in the group but after defending themselves from a dragon they each found out that a lot of good could come out of working together.”

“Hold on a sec” Rainbow interrupted “I remember the play we did for Heart’s Warming Eve, there were no ponies mentioned that left and how could years of arguing be resolved through a single fight?”

“Well in the heat of battle, friendship and trust forms easily with those who fight with you, it may not be the most traditional method of making friends but back then it was one of the more common ways, and if you remember correctly Twilight quickly became your friend since you did save her life when you first went to find the elements..”

“And as for the leaving part, they were all presumed dead since they left without telling anypony else about their plan, in the beginning if I remember correctly it was two families of pegasi, about three families of earth ponies and there was only two unicorn families. And that one of the unicorn families became the leaders of their little band of nomads and later, well they soon became the Royal Family of the Everfree Kingdom.”

“After the nomads found a nice and fertile land in amongst a rather large forest they decided to set up camp and just stayed there, soon other travelling ponies and even a few other races came to them and joined the community, in the Everfree Kingdom it wasn’t really weird to see a Griffin or even a Changeling back then.”

“A changeling?” Rarity called out, sounding shocked “why would those monstrous little things be part of the Kingdom?”

“Well remember Rarity, this is in the past and anything is possible really” Twilight stated, which received an approving nod from Clyde.

“Yes you are correct, but let me explain further so the rest of you can understand. The Changelings back then was actually one of the most greatest and powerful spy networks there was, their ability to shape shift and adapt to their new environment quickly made them one of the most employed and richest races at the time. And their Queen was indeed one hell of a looker I might say.”

“Bleh” Rainbow spat out while listening to him talking “seriously don’t make those kinds of bad jokes.”

“Fine, well anyway a small band of them was employed frequently by the Everfree Kingdom because they were one of the best and always produced the best possible results and because of that they didn’t mind letting changelings into the kingdom because they had a good relationship.”

“Okay fine darling, we get it already” Rarity groaned while reclining on one of the beds “the Changelings back then weren’t like the ones at Twilight’s brother’s wedding.”

Clyde chuckled and grabbed a pillow to sit on “haha, yeah I heard all about that. Too bad I was away on business when that happened.”

“Don’t you care about Equestria at all?” Twilight asked with a deadly glare.

He groaned and rested his head on the pillow “I do care, but after having so many memories of Mentor’s before me. Seeing empires rise and fall, dictatorship and tyrants, the good and bad, it just feels like if Equestria falls, then that means it was just time and pony kind will of course like usual rebuild and besides, I was away on important business at the time which I will not discuss.”

Twilight was about to open her mouth to add a rebuttal but Clyde stuck his hoof in her mouth before she could say anything “shush, I’m done talking about that, and I think we all need a good night’s rest anyway” he stood up and trotted out of the room “so everypony back to their rooms. Oh and I almost forgot to answer your question Applejack, there are no records of the Everfree Kingdom because some ponies made sure to leave no trace of it in history.”

After that Clyde crept back into his bed and so did the others as most o fth sighed and rubbed their eyes out of exhaustion.

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Rainbow Dash stirred from her sleep, the sound of yelling and screaming all around her.

“No! Stay away from me!” a young colt like voice cried out.

“But we wanna see it!” two voices called out after the first voice, one sounded like a young energetic filly and the other belonged to a bubbly mare.

Rainbow moved about on her bed, using a pillow to try to drown out the noise “I told you two that it is not that important!” The young colt voice cried out again.

A loud crashing sound brought Rainbow to full alertness as she jumped out of her bed and saw Clyde levitating near the ceiling with his hood back and a clear look of terror on his face while Pinkie and Scootaloo on the ground in a pile next to a broken vase that they must have broken during their scuffle.

“What in Celestia’s name are you three doing?” Rainbow asked in a loud voice, making them all stop and look at her.

“They started chasing me after I woke up!” Clyde pointed towards the two ponies lying on the ground in a pile.

“W-we didn’t do anything, Clyde started yelling after Scootaloo she tried to peek under his cloak.”

“I-I did not! I just wanted to see if he had his cutie mark yet!” Scootaloo yelled back with an embarrassed blush on her face.

Rainbow stared at Scootaloo’s flustered face, then to Clyde who was still magically floating in the air “she has a point, we don’t know what your cutie mark is”

Clyde sighed as he floated in the air “you all do not need to see my cutie mark, at least not yet anyway.”

“So when can we see it then?” Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced in the air “oh, are you going to make it a big reveal or are you just going to show it to us, ooh I’m get excited just thinking about it.”

“Calm down Pinkie” Clyde brought himself back down to the ground “we have bigger things to worry about.”

“Like what?” Scootaloo brought herself back onto her hooves and dusted herself off.

Clyde pointed to the broken vase on the ground “like that problem to be exact.”

Scootaloo gasped in shock as she realized that the vase was actually smashed to pieces “What are we going to do?”

“Oooh we have to tell the Inn Lady about this vase, otherwise we’ll be in trouble” Pinkie said in a serious voice as she continued to bounce up and down on the spot “come on Scoots I’ll help you talk to her about it.”

“Bu-but maybe we could fix it!” Scootaloo cried out as she tied reaching for one of the pieces before her hoof and then her whole body was enveloped by a white magical aura that lifted her form the ground.

“You foal, you might accidentally cut yourself if you touched one of those” keeping himself and Scootaloo in the air he picked up the pieces of the broken vase and placed them inside the nearest bin.

Slowly he brought himself and Scootaloo down to the ground before he fell flat on his belly groaning as he hit the floor with a tiny thud.

“What’s wrong?” Pinkie stared at Clyde as he tried to get back onto his hooves “got a belly ache? Are you hungry? Oooh we haven’t had breakfast yet!”

“Uh yeah sure, you girls go down ahead of me, I need to take a little breather first” Clyde climbed back onto his bed and ducked under the covers leaving the others in the room confused.

“Isn’t it a bit weird to wear that cloak under the bed silly?” Pinkie smiled and chuckled covering her hoof as she did so.

“Yeah, you never take that thing off don you?” Scootaloo asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Two things” the lump in Clyde’s bed replied “one, you all will see my cutie mark if I take this cloak off and two because I love cloaks, laugh if you want but I love and kinds of cloaks and capes.”

Pinkie and Scootaloo did in fact laugh loudly while Rainbow giggled to herself “nothing wrong with that silly filly, Scootaloo here is desperately obsessed with Ra-“ Pinkie started before Scootaloo violently nudged her with her entire body which made Pinkie laugh even harder “oops! Sorry Scoots.”

After everypony had finished lauhing Pinkie forced the little filly out the door to go apologize about the vase while Rainbow stared at the bump that Clyde made on his bed as she made her way out of the room.

“Hey kid, you okay there?” Rainbow got out of her bed and crept close to Clyde’s, wondering what was wrong with him.

“I’m fine, I….just need a bit more rest, I’ve used up a lot of magic lately and it’s taking its toll on me” she remembered from that dream what Clyde said about his body and the amount of magic he has stored inside him.

“Don’t push yourself too hard okay? I’ll see you at breakfast then” she took one more worried glance towards Clyde’s direction before exiting the room and going down the stairs to breakfast.

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The table was abuzz with talk and chatter as the ponies and Spike were having a wonderful time with their breakfast.

“Did you girls have a good sleep?” Rarity asked as she delicately cut her toast with a knife she levitated with her magic.

“Yes Rarity” all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders replied with a groan as they stared at their own breakfast.

Rainbow and Applejack were having a friendly competition between each other to see who could finish their sandwich first, Rainbow was using her hooves to hold the sandwich and trying to shove it into her mouth while Applejack dove into the plate and ate hers from there, the other watched and laughed at the two ponies while Rarity scoffed and continued trying to eat her food in peace.

Twilight stared at the empty seat across the table from her and wondered where Clyde was, although she didn’t even need to know as she spotted his cloaked form come down from the stairs and joined them at the table.

“Did I miss anythi-“ he stopped as he saw what Rainbow and Applejack was doing before he burst into laughter “oh you girls look ridiculous right now” he couldn’t hold himself back as he joined the others as they laughed at the spectacle of what was in front of them.

After Rainbow had lost to Applejack in the eating contest she was ready to go another round but Twilight stopped her and reminded Rainbow what happened last time Applejack and her wouldn’t quit in a contest.

“Aww, fine!” Rainbow huffed as she crossed her front hooves “but next time I’ll win Applejack, I swear it.”

“Sure Rainbow, ah hear ya” Applejack laughed as she cleaned her mouth and wiped away all the crumbs on her area of the table.

Rarity giggled to herself at the sight “finally learning some table manners Applejack? But I must say that display before was awful to watch”

“Nah, ah’m just doing this so you won’t be complaining about mah manners Rarity” Applejack grinned as she continued eating her meal.

Rarity scoffed as she flicked her mane back “puhlease Applejack, I do not complain that much, only when it is necessary.”

“And when it is ‘necessary’ is nearly every other time” Rainbow whispered to Applejack making both of the mare giggle which left Rarity confused as to what they were laughing about.

Clyde ate his food rather slowly as he gulped down his milkshake and rested his head on the table “Clyde darling, we were just talking about table manners, please use some manners and sit back normally” Rarity advised in her motherly voice.

Clyde mumbled something but it was inaudible due to his face being in the table “umm can’t hear you sugarcube.”

“I said” Clyde brought his face off the table and wiped his eyes “I’m so tired today, so I won’t be doing any of my Mentor duties today and I’m just going to sleep, so you all have fun, I’ll be in my bed if anypony needs me oh and if anyone tries to sneak a peek at my cutie mark while I am asleep they will face the consequences” and with that he excused himself from the table and climbed back up the stairs.

“Tired? Just a second ago he was laughing at Rainbow Dash and Applejack” Twilight commented as she read her book while eating her breakfast.

“Best not to dwell on the subject Twilight” Spike said after eating a mouthful of hay fries “I’m sure that he’s just tired from doing whatever he possibly did last night or whatever, although I really wish this place had maybe just a few gemstones for me to munch on.”

“Spike how many times do I have to tell you that you won’t be able to find a place that is selling gemstones for you to eat” Twilight set a hoof on the table with a little smile.

“aw, fine! But I still want gemstones for breakfast.” Spike crossed his arms and leant back in his stool which prompted him to fall off it and crash on the ground below him, the others laughed at the sight but Rarity was quick to her hooves and helped the baby dragon back onto his legs.

“Are you okay darling? Are you hurt anywhere?” Spike dusted himself off and checked himself over.

“No, nothing wrong” he smiled before his eyes were filled with hearts as he stared at Rarity “thank you Rarity, you’re really kind.”

Rarity giggled and took her seat again “anytime Spike” Spike sat back onto his stool with a bright red blush on his face, Apple bloom and Sweetie Bell both angrily sighed at the sight and when back to their food.

“Something wrong girls?” Spike asked as he stared at the yellow and white crusaders.

“N-nothing, it’s none of your business Spike!” Sweetie Bell crossed her front hooves while Apple bloom just stared at her food, Spike shrugged and finished the rest of his food.

Applejack giggled and leant towards Rarity “are yah sure those two will be okay?”

Rarity returned the giggle and whispered back to Applejack “oh I am sure it’s just a little crush, those girls will be alright.”

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Everyone at the table had finished their meal and were all busy talking and laughing when the innkeeper Insi arrived at their table with a pleasant smile, “hello everypony, and little dragon how are you all doing today?”

“We’re doing great, and the food was wonderful, thank you so much Insi” Twilight and the others nodded as they all shared they thoughts on the food.

“Glad to receive such positive feedback, by the way, where is that Clyde colt?”

“Oh that colt? He’s upstairs sleeping still” Rainbow replied with a look of pride “everypony needs a nap every now and then, trust me I know.”

“Oh yah know alright, yah know that the perfect time for a nap is when I ask you for help at the farm” Applejack commented with a glare.

“Exact- I mean no, it’s just a coincidence, anyway he’s upstairs but why are you looking for him?”

“oh, there’s this cute little filly looking for him, said her name was Crystal Shine or something like that, thanks guys but do any of you think you can take her to see him?”

“I’ll do it” Twilight answered as she rose out of her seat “I need to take a good walk anyway.”

“Excellent, she’s at the counter waiting” and with that Insi left to go cater to the other inn guests as Twilight left the others to go find this filly.

Twilight arrived at the counter to spot a filly unicorn with a green coat and a black mane sitting nearby, the little fillies face lit up when she saw Twilight “hey! Aren’t you Twilight Sparkle?”

“Why yes I am, I’m guessing you know of me” Twilight smiled at the tiny filly before her.

“Cool! It’s really nice to meet you, do you know where Clyde is?”

“Sure, follow me Crystal Morph” Twilight turned and made for the stairs with Crystal next to her humming happily.

‘So since you are looking for him I take it you know Clyde then?” Twilight inquired as they started climbing the stairs.

“Yes! I’ve known him for a very long time, we’re best fwiends” Crystal beamed as she replied, her adorable expression making Twilight smile.

As they reached the door to the room Clyde was in Crystal opened the door slightly and walked halfway through when she stopped and looked at Twilight “I’m sorry miss Twilight, be I need some time alone with him you can go back to your friends now.”

And with that she closed the door and Twilight was left confused as to why a little filly would know of Clyde since he is the Mentor, but she shrugged it off and thought he must have helped her somewhere.

___________________________________________________________________________

Clyde returned to the table where everyone else was sitting at and watched them as they laughed and messed around, he hid a small smile on his face as he watched.

“Oh Clyde, you’re back?” Twilight asked clearly only now noticing him at the table “how was your meeting with your filly friend Crystal Morph?”

“Filly friend?” the three little crusaders asked with surprise and glee.

“Clyde and Crystal sitting in a tree” Applebloom started as she and the other crusaders were about to tease Clyde but Applejack put a hoof on her little sister’s shoulder and stopped her which made all the crusaders sigh in unison.

“It’s alright Applejack, it wouldn’t have bothered me much if they continued anyway” Clyde chuckled “besides they’re only kids.”

“What do ya mean ‘only kids’?” Applebloom blurted out “ya are a kid too!”

“Sure whatever you say” he continued to chuckle “I totally believe you.”

“I think he’s being sarcastic” Sweetie Belle whispered to Scootaloo.

“Of course he is, you didn’t need to point it out captain obvious!” Scootaloo remarked in reply to Sweetie Belle.

“Calm down, no need to get so worked up” Clyde finally stopped laughing and breathed in heavily “oh now my cheeks are hurting from all that.”

“Well uh anyway” Twilight cut in trying to change the subject “what shall we do now?”

“I say we go Crusading!” Sweetie Belle yelled out while waving her fore hooves in the air.

“No, not now Sweetie Belle” Rarity interjected “you can go do that when we get back to Ponyville.”

“Speaking of which” Pinkie started while rubbing her chin “when are we going back to Ponyville?”

“We’re going back tomorrow” Clyde stated “cause we only gave the innkeeper enough for two nights.”

“Oh okay then, how about we just enjoy ourselves today then?” Twilight asked before cracking a huge smile “oh I have this wonderful book about fun activities outdoors, we should totally try some.”

“You have a book for everything don’t you Twilight” Rainbow Dash joked while nudging Twilight with an elbow.

“Hey!” Twilight blushed as she was being nudged by Rainbow “not everything, cut it out already.”

“Well you girls go have fun, there’s something I have to do” Clyde jumped off of his chair and left them alone as they rest of them shrugged and went off to enjoy themselves.

“What do ya think he’s going to do?” Applejack inquired as they left the table and went outside.

“Why do you care? Let’s just leave him be for now, let’s just enjoy ourselves” Rainbow said as she stretched her wings “besides I bet you still can’t beat me in a game of tug of rope anyway.”

“Thems fighting words” Applejack chuckled as the two of them eagerly got things ready for their game while the others sat down and watched.

“Woohoo, you both can do it” Fluttershy cheered as the game of tug of war started.

As everypony cheered at the match between Applejack and Rainbow Dash they didn’t notice a lone figure standing behind the corner of the inn watching them from afar and as he spoke to himself his voice slightly echoed with a menacing tone “haha, how funny it is to see them having fun, soon all the pieces will fall into place and everything will start.”