Equestria Route Zero

Act Two, Scene Five – Everfree Forest

I opened the door to the cabin. Surprisingly warm, the front room seemed to invite me in, the scene looking homely. The centrepiece on one of the walls was a fireplace, with two large armchairs sitting at opposite angles towards it. A green, circular rug lay underneath the chairs. Opposite that scene was a kitchen, the wooden cupboards & green fridge looking eerily familiar.

Moving upstairs, an open door caught my eye. I opened it, an empty room greeting me. With just a single window, the room was featureless. I looked out of the window, getting a better view of the museum. It was definitely bigger than I had thought it was. There were more dwellings of various shapes & sizes than I had imagined that they could house in such a place.

Turning around, facing the door again, something on the back of the door caught my eye – a picture of some kind. Taking out the pins that held the piece of paper onto the wood, I examined it closely. It was a child's drawing, I think of their self & their parents. Flipping it over, my eyes widened.

BIG MACINTOSH, AGE 6

This was not possible. This was my drawing, from all those years ago. Was this my house? The exact house? A copy? Too many questions ran through my head the moment I saw those words. I dropped the picture, despite the sentimental value it held, & made my way back downstairs, as quickly as I could. Before long, memories of my parents came running back to me. How Dad would always sit at the fireplace after a long day's work up at the shop, relaxing by the roaring fire, & how Mum would begin cooking supper, the tasty smell of an apple pie that would fill the air in an instant.

Investigating further, I moved towards the cupboard, where the entrance to the basement should be located. If this was my old house, or indeed a replica, then they should have the stuff that is down here. Pulling away the carpet revealed the wooden floorboards, a door knocker exposed to the open air. Pulling it up took some effort but the stairs to the basement were revealed. & I descended.

Except their was no basement. I reached the foot of the stairs, & fumbled for the light switch to the right of me. A single bulb lit up, exposing nothing except a hole just in front of me. Attached to the edge was a large stake, a rope hanging from it into the hole. Someone must be here in order to have put that there. I began the climb down, the stake straining to stay in the floor.

After a few minutes, I couldn't see anything but the light filtering in from the bulb up top. Looking below, all I could see was darkness. I continued, but only for a second before an almighty snap & twang could be heard. I fell, further than I thought, & further than I had ever fallen before in my life. I landed on some dirt, landing hard on my other leg. Last thing I needed – another damaged leg. I lay there on the ground, the light of the basement bulb only just peeking in through the hole, catching my breath & trying to adjust to my new surroundings.

I couldn't see anything but the light from the bulb, & neither could I smell anything. I could only hear. & the thing I heard was running water. I crawled as fast as my legs would allow me, moving towards the sound. I made it to the bank of the river, & made to reach for some water. Instead of grabbing a handful of the stuff, it dragged me in, almost as if it had physically grabbed me with a hand or two in order to pull me in.

Without the use of my legs, I was hopeless in the water. I couldn't swim back to shore. The current picked up, the water pulling me under the surface. As much as I tried, I could not re-surface. This was it.

I don't know how long it had been since I had passed out on the roof of the museum but when I awoke, I was on flat ground, the grass tickling me face. Flipping myself over onto my back, towering sea green trees stood high above me, the moonlight filtering in onto the ground around me. I sat up slowly, still feeling woozy despite the passage of time.

“It's OK. Just take it easy.”

I looked about. Shining Armor was running over to me from a large log, where the young girl, Winona & Julian sat. I don't remember Winona following us around the museum so I can only assume Shining requested for her to be picked up. By the time Shining Armor had reached me, he was already helping in getting me off the floor, & taking me to join the others at the log. As I was helped over, I got a better look at Julian, our griffin taxi. He looked absolutely majestic in the moonlight. When a beast that size isn't swooping down at you, & is instead preening itself on a large log, you get a better sense of what they're actually like. Calm &, like I said, majestic. & the young girl was busy jumping about the place in front of me, introducing herself as Misty. I can only assume the others had to go through this as well.

Shining Armor sat me down against the log, my head resting upon it's curvature.

“I think I'll just... close me eyes” The walk had tired me out considerably. Shining took to a kneeling position next to me.

“I don't think that's a good idea. Just take some strain off your leg for a minute, & then we'll keep going.” He ran a hand through his hair before continuing. “Why is... Why is this delivery so important to you?”

I laughed quietly. “It's my job.”

“Yeah, OK. I get that. My dad used to say I was born with a soldering iron in my hand. It's just always been who I am.” He looked me over before he grabbed my arm & began picking me up again. “Come on, let's get you to that doctor.”

All of us began to walk, leaving Julian to stay at the log. Following Misty who knew her way around the forest, we passed many different kinds of flora, some new even to me. Blue flowers sprouted around one tree that Misty actively avoided for whatever reason. Before long, we soon passed a few houses, houses that Misty claimed she & Julian had taken from the museum a few weeks back.

“Shouldn't be much further now!” I could hear her shout. I motioned to Shining to put me down against a tree.

“These woods go on forever.” I took deep breaths as I sat down against the tree.

“Well, no forest goes on forever. At some point there's always a road, or something. A parking lot. Don't act so defeated, OK?”

I shook my head. “I just need to rest.”

“We're almost there. Doctor Whooves will have a nice couch or something you can rest on. &... some medicine or something, I don't know. Come on, up you get. Stay with me.”

We continued on, my leg was pretty much useless at this point.

“Do you have any family you're close with? Brother or sister? Kids?” Shining kept me focused.

“Just my family, I guess. The Apple family.”

“Oh yeah? Wife?”

I shook my head again. “Just me & them.”

“Oh. Well, family is family, right?” Shining smirked a little before continuing. “I guess I was always closest with Twilight. As close as someone can be with a girl like that. She was always on her own wavelength, but we were a similar age growing up, & everyone else was so busy. When she disappeared, I got pretty angry, & I guess I just stayed that way. I never really understood her, but I knew her. It's lonely without someone like that around.”

He paused himself, both in speech & movement. He shook his head & threw a loud chuckle. “Look at me. I'm sorry, it's... you're a good listener.”

I sat a small wooden chair, in a kitchen-like area. Behind me on a couch was both Shining Armor & Misty, staring at a TV screen. I looked back towards my front where an older man now sat in front of me. Doctor Whooves was a thin man, with short hair & glasses. For the time I had been sat here, I hadn't realised he had been talking to me.

“... & yeah, I think during that exit interview is when I realised how badly they had me. But how else can you pay for medical school? I have college friends with debts that... you can't expect to pay back unless you're planing to sell painkillers on the side or something. Or, you know, some kind of administrative thing? I don't know. Having seen what arthritis did to my grandmother, & my best friend in high school destroy his wrists building synthesisers – I mean he was, like, seventeen... ailments of the joints & limbs just seem important to me. I hope that answers your question.”

I asked a question? The doctor continued.

“Getting a scholarship with that pharmaceutical company had a lot of strings attached, but at least I have somewhere to practice, even if I have to follow their market trends a bit. &, hey, thanks to all those seminars I'm an expert on the medical uses of Neurynol TM. It's not so bad. So, how about that leg? What happened exactly?”

I grimaced as he pulled it up, laying it on his lap for inspection. “My leg was crushed by falling rocks.”

“Ah, crushing injury. Yeah, those can be pretty bad. Everything gets all compressed & there are a lot of little pieces to...” He waved a dismissive hand in my face. “You know what, nevermind. Let's take a look – how bad could it be, right?”

He began rolling up my trouser leg to get a better look. I moved my attention over to the group that had accompanied me from the log to this place. They were busy talking about the show they were watching. Glad to see that normality can be found in times of need. I turned my attention back towards the doctor, again finding him mid-sentence.

“...but it's nothing we can't handle. You might have a few things to look out for: be a bit gentler with the leg or the way you walk. But you'll be OK, I've dealt with similar cases before.” He grabbed a small bag from beneath his chair & starting pulling some small jars, vials & needles of it. “So, the anaesthetic we'll use is called Neurypnol TM. It's pretty experimental, but it's more appropriate in cases like yours. The way it works is: I'll count backwards from five & start the process, & then we'll just have a normal conversation as the Neurypnol TM takes effect. Then I'll get started.”

He stuck in the needle in my arm, & began the countdown from five. By the time he had reached 'one', the room was starting to spin.

“So, let's talk about billing for a moment. The pharmaceutical company I'm contracted with was recently acquired by an energy company that has some different standards for billing & revenue, so it's a bit complex now...”

His voice was replaced by a very loud ringing noise. I blinked a few times, & the walls of the house began fading out of existence. The floor began to start expanding lengthways, across the forest floor. Everyone else had now disappeared & all was left with now was the chair I sat on, the chair across from me, the rest of the furniture & the surrounding forest. I closed my eyes & opened them once more to find the tress had no started to disappear as well. I swayed from side to side before darkness enveloped me completely.

END OF ACT TWO