The Equestrian Inferno

Various tones of shrieking and crying filled the air, but upon looking round, it seemed as if we were alone. "Where is everypony?" I asked.

"Ah, the Neverfree forest" said Galaxy rather matter of factly, "this place is creepy. I'll bet you don't have forests like this one on Earth."

"Ummmm, actually we don't have anything on Earth like anything I've seen here so far. What's so weird about this place?" I asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" replied Galaxy, "break a branch off a tree."

I walked over to the nearest tree, a tall oak with a dull trunk and even duller grey leaves. Grasping a small twig, I snapped it off only to jump back in horror as the tree screamed. Looking in horror, I watched as blood oozed from the spot I tore the twig from.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I scared you" said the tree in a soft voice, "but you really shouldn't go around hurting us like that you know."

"Fluttershy?" I asked incredulously, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm a tree!" she said in an excited whisper, "Yay! I've always wanted to be a tree!"

"Cool" I said. "But why are you in hell. Can't you be a tree in paradise?" I asked.

"No" replied Fluttershy, "in life I was always horrible to myself. I blamed myself for everything, wouldn't stand up for myself, and catered to the needs of others. Since I didn't respect myself enough during life, I got sent here."

"That's horrible" I said, "What's it like being a tree?"

"I like it very much" replied Fluttershy, "but most don't. When you break off a limb, it hurts as if you broke off a hoof or leg from our bodies in life. We basically wait around forever. That is, until the end of time, when our bodies our hung from our limbs. We don't get to return to them like the others since we rejected them."

"Oh, but how does a pony soul fit inside the body of a tree?" I asked, "Isn't that like fitting a round peg into a square hole?"

"Do you remember when Celestia said she had a use for Discord's magic?" asked Fluttershy, "This is it. The Draconequi use their chaos magic to do it somehow. Since Discord is my friend, he let me have this nice large oak, so I'm not cramped forever in a tiny bush or shrub like some others. In addition, since my sin was passive and it's not like I was actively harming myself, I'm not harassed by Queen Bumble's army of bees"

"Oh, they're here too?" I asked, "Pah mentioned Queen Bumble earlier."

"Yeah, she and her minions are terrible" replied Fluttershy, "They build their nests all through the forest and attack us trees for fun."

"Wow" I said. I felt bad for her and wanted to say more but couldn't think of anything. I didn't have to. Suddenly, a series of shouts rang through the air to our right. I turned and saw Jet Set and Upper Crust running toward us. It was unclear to me what exactly they were running from. Jet Set was more fit than his wife and was considerably ahead. His wife shouted at him to wait up but to no avail. Panting, she stopped and threw herself into a nearby bush. I heard the sound of some large group of creatures approaching. Suddenly, several pairs of green eyes appeared in the darkness of the deep forest. Moments later, timber wolves burst out of the thicket, dragged Upper Crust out of the bush, and tore her to pieces.

Galaxy rushed over to where the carnage lay. I followed. Blood was everywhere and the bush Upper Crust had hid in was crying, having also been damaged by the timber wolves. "What happened to you?" I asked.

"Oh, if only I had moved when I still had the chance" said the bush, "I was an earth pony in the outskirts of Fillydelphia once. I had a farm but it was overrun with parasprites. In my rage, I did myself harm."