Secrets of the Everfree

As a filly, you never understand how convoluted the world really is. Life is simple. There’s you, the ponies you consider friends, the ones you call family, and the ones you call your enemies. Aside from that there isn’t much else. I mean sure you understand that there are important things in the world like politics and wars, but you can’t see how they affect you. In fact you never realize they have an effect to begin with.

But for everpony, there’s a moment in life where everything suddenly stops, and you look around at the whole world. Slowly, you blink your eyes a few times, and in that moment it dawns on you. The world is huge. It’s complicated, and confusing. And most of all, it sucks. You realize that life is hard, that you can’t achieve your dreams nearly as easily as people had made it sound and the painful truth is that chances are, you’re not going to have even a fraction of the things you desired up until then.

For most that’s the moment they give up. They accept their fate and move on, more than happy to merge in with the majority, to become part of the norm. Some push on, struggling to achieve their desires regardless of what is thrown at them, though few actually achieve their goal while the rest fade into obscurity. Others simply run from the truth, refusing to acknowledge that such cruelty exists and in doing so, create a world of misery for themselves.

And yet there is another group. A rare singularity so alien from its siblings. These are the ponies whose lives truly begin. They are the ones who truly grasp what it means to be alive. To breathe the worlds air, to know that your existence is not just wonderful, but a miracle in and of itself. I am one of those ponies, and this is my story.

It all began long ago when I was still a young filly. Back then I was spiteful, rude, and cruel. I fed off the success of my father, believing myself to be above everypony save for the princesses themselves. I did what I wanted, when I wanted, and got anything I desired. If something didn’t go my way, I simply threw bits at it until it did. That day began like any other and I truly believed it would remain that way.

If only I had known.

Miss Cherilees eyes scanned our classroom, a slightly frustrated look on her face. She never seemed to enjoy this part of her job and frankly she seemed to wish she could just skip over it. And at the time I had to agree, it was only a silly nursery rhyme. Why the princesses were so adamant on it being mandatory for all the children of Equestria to learn I don’t think the world would ever understand and until the passing of recent events, Teachers all across the country wondered why a full month was spent teaching a few rhymes to children up to the age of twelve.

More than a few noble parents and high end instructors alike questioned Celestia over the necessity of the rhyme for many, many years. However her only reply was that it was, always had been, and would continue to remain, mandatory. There was never an explanation. Plenty of educators had pointed out how the sheer amount of time devoted to the schoolyard song was enough to stunt the childrens progress significantly.

Time and time again the instructors attempted to have Celestia remove it from the children’s curriculum but they were always shut down. I had heard that miss Cherilee was hoping that, when Luna became co-ruler once more, she would be able to see the reason her sister seemingly lacked.

A friend said she had been giddy the entire night of the court hearing. Even asking one of her unicorn pals to fire up a magical projector so she could watch the educators present their case live and she wasn’t the only one. Ponies had been talking about the event for weeks, some even placing bets as to whether or not she would approve the action.

But when the subject was brought up in the night court the princess oversaw, there had been even less discussion than when they had presented it to Celestia. “Absolutely not. Next.” the princess had said and that was it. They kept speaking but she simply ignored them even going so far as to call the guards to pull them away when they refused to move without further explanation. The princess of the night was known for her bluntness but that was harsh even for her.

“Ms Cherilee, can we please stop learnin bout this song? We keep goin over it every year and it don’t change none.” asked Apple Bloom wearing a bored expression.

“Yeah, this song is like, so not cool. Even Rainbow Dash said so.” Scootaloo replied. With her left hoof squished into her muzzle her words were a little mashed together.

“I know students I know, but the princesses have stated by royal decree that we MUST go over this. Don’t worry though it’s only one more week and then we can get back to our usual studies.”

Groaning sounded throughout the classroom and I hate to say I was probably a large part of it. “Hey Tiara,” I turned my head at the sound of my name to see a gray filly with silver hair whispering to me. Her name was silver spoon and she was my only friend. Well… if you could really call her that. It shames me to say she was more like a minion than a friend. Back then I abused our ‘friendship’ on a regular basis, using her in terribly cruel schemes and blaming her for things I clearly did. If I could use her to make my life better, I did and I did it every time without regret. “Don’t you think this song is stupid?”

I giggled and nodded my head. “It’s so dumb and easy to learn! Course I can’t say that everyone here is smart enough to remember it!” I replied. I said the last part a little louder than normal, looking toward the three girls who called themselves the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. Of course they knew I was talking about them and glanced back at me. I gave them a little smirk as they stuck their tongues out in return before looking back down at my desk. Truthfully I liked the song a lot. So much so that whenever I felt sad I would sing it to myself to help me feel better. I never really understood why, but I always felt a strange connection to it, like it was a special song meant just for me. Of course I felt the same way about everything I owned, being as spoiled as I was, but even so that song was special in its own unique way.

“Alright class I’m going to drill you all again, one at a time this time. Try to sing the entire song without messing up once. Once everyone gets through the song one time that’ll be it for today and you can all go home!” Cherilee said, and the entire class burst into cheers.

“Alright alright settle down. Okay, let’s start with… ah! Diamond Tiara why don’t you go first?” I smiled, an air of perfection flowing from me. Normally I would actually be somewhat nervous about answering in front of a crowd, though I’d never let that show, but this was one thing that I was sure on. I coughed a bit to clear my throat, sneaking a glance to the CMC so I could gauge their reactions. Scootaloo wore a smirk on her face apparently thinking I was bound to mess up. Sweetie seemed curios but not hostile for once, and Apple Bloom didn’t look at me at all. I guess she just didn’t care.

Keeping my eyes slightly locked on Scootaloo, I mustered the most mature, lady like voice I could muster at the time before singing.

Oh little filly who has wandered from her home
Rest your weary eyes as I sing you my song
Struggle do you now, to breathe your final breaths
Trembling in fear of the darkness of death

If you so desire to take the final sleep
Then let this song comfort you so you no longer weep
But if your heart longs to linger in this world
Then sing with me these verses that anchor you to earth

But know this young filly who would dare to challenge death
A heavy toll must be paid to stave off ones last rest
And so if you are willing to give your soul to me
I will let you live in the forest Everfree

I gave a small bow before sitting back down properly in my seat. Scootaloo glared at me as she turned around mumbling to herself, obviously upset about my success. “Very good Diamond! Class that is a perfect example of how to sing the ballad of Everfree. Now for your question Tiara. Tell me what the song represents.”

“The song is about the spirit of Everfree forest. It’s based off the legend that says the spirit of Everfree will save hurt fillies that get hurt by the monsters that live there.”

“Very good Diamond. All right whose next? Scootaloo!” and so the class went on like that. Each pony singing the song and each being asked a question at the end. Finally when all was said and done, she waved us out so we could return home.

Of course, since I lived in Canterlot I couldn’t just run on home. I had to wait for my father or our coach to pick me up and so rather than running off with the others I stayed at the playground, waiting for my ride. This was always the hardest part of my day. I didn’t realize then, but I was actually very lonely and sitting in that playground always caused a deep tugging in my chest, like I was suddenly being brought down by weights. As a filly, and a spoiled one at that, I honestly just thought I got sick at the end of school everyday. After all, how can you be sad when you hold the entire world in your hooves?

On that particular day I was so wrapped up by my warped feelings that I never noticed Sweetie Bell walking up to me. “Hey Tiara, are you alright?”

I looked up with a start, flailing around as I nearly fell out of my swing. “What’s the matter? Get scared by Bells here Tiara? Haha!”

“Stop it Scootaloo! Hey Tiara, ya alright? Yer look a bit… worse fer wear.” After readjusting myself slowly on my seat I shifted my gaze to Apple Bloom. The heavy feeling in my chest began to ease up just a bit, and I was happy for that. I answered her question with a small nod of my head.

“Are ya sure? You look a little… sad.”

I gave her a surprised look that quickly melted away as I looked at the ground. “Sad? I don’t get sad. I buy anything I want whenever I want. The entire world is in my hooves. I don’t get sad.” I said hanging my head. I looked up seeing Sweetie about to say something, but she was interrupted from a voice not far off.

“Tiara! Tiara!” my father called. Suddenly I felt all the weight in my chest disappear. It was rare for my father to pick me up himself. He normally sent a butler or some other servant. I hopped down off my swing excitedly before rushing over to him.

“Daddy!” I shouted before jumping onto him and wrapping him in a hug.

“Hello there little lady! How was school?”

“Boring. We keep having to learn that dumb song. Can’t we just pay the princesses to stop teaching it or something?” My father just shut his eyes and chuckled.

“Believe me if I thought that would work I’d do it. Every child hates learning that song for a month but the princesses are quite clear that they have no intention of changing that.” I sighed. Well it wasn’t that bad I suppose, sure it was boring, but at least it was my favorite song. It could be worse.

“So what are you doing here, Dad?”

“I have urgent business to take care of in Manehattan. At first I thought I was going to have to leave you at home with the servants, but when I saw we were passing by ponyville at the same time you got out of school I had them bring us down so I could take you with me! We’ll be there for three days.” My face brightened up hearing that. Dad went on business ventures all the time, but I rarely had the opportunity to go with him. This time he was taking me along, and for three whole days. I mean sure, the majority of that will be spent at fancy parties and the like. But three whole days with my dad was great!

After giving me a tight hug, he set me down and we walked into our coach. The pegasi my father employed to carry us took off keeping our flight only thirty or so feet above tree level to avoid the storm clouds overhead. I watched as the sun set on the horizon, the princesses I knew to be hard at work by now. As an earth pony, I could never really grasp just how difficult raising the sun and moon had to be.

A few minutes later I looked over the side of the coach, the moon now high in the sky. There it was, the Everfree forest. A mass of twisted trees filled with horrible dark creatures. Everyone in the world knew about it. It was the darkest, most terrifying place on the planet and the main reason Equestria rarely saw war. The forest was maintained and kept at bay by the magic of the tree of harmony. But the tree itself was at the height of it’s magical strength when order was strong in the land of Equestria. Should orders hold break, the forest would feed on the chaos and the tree of harmony would weaken, causing the forest to grow exponentially. If left to it’s own devices, it would threaten to engulf the world as we know it. As such the only way to prevent such a disaster would be to launch a war and win it quickly, less you be consumed by a common enemy.

Ponies only ever saw terror and fear when looking at the forest. Hundreds of years worth of stories and warnings had given the place a reputation it would never lose. Looking down at it I couldn’t help but be reminded of the song. With nothing better to do as we rode through the sky, I began to sing quietly.

As I reached the end of the song a strong wind buffeted the left side of the coach. I hung on to the seat as hard as I could as we rocked back and forth in the air. When we finally regained our balance I looked back out over the side and screamed.

There, sitting below us, was a hundred screaming snake like heads, each as tall as skyscrapers. They roared again, slamming the coach with the gusts of wind they generated with their voice. I had heard of this beast before, this was none other than the dreaded hydra. A monster that could live for hundreds of years growing nonstop in size. In that moment I realized we had made a terrible mistake. We had flown far too close to the trees and were within range of the monsters that lived there.

To my surprise our pullers were far braver than I expected. Rather than detaching their harnesses and letting my father and I fend for ourselves, they carried on in their duty. I held onto dad as tight as I could while the two pegasi weaved in and out of the hydra’s heads. They flew quickly and with precision, narrowly dodging the rampaging beasts mouths time and again. But escape was far off. This beast was huge, easily much larger than any hydra I’d heard of. That meant he wasn’t just strong, he was old. Ancient even, and with age comes wisdom. A common technique for beating a hydra was to move around so the heads tied themselves up. But on a beast this old that trick would not work, he was too smart. Every time it seemed like we were going to make it out of the sea of heads, he made sure to keep seven or eight in reserve to force us back into the ocean of snarling teeth.

Seconds passed like days and minutes passed like years as they tried their best to protect us. Even though I was a spoiled filly, I wasn’t a complete idiot. I knew they couldn’t keep flying forever. They weren’t wonder bolts, they weren’t even Rainbow Dash, they were just slightly stronger than average pegasi. Eventually they were going to get tired, and when they did… well, I tried not to think about it.

I felt the coach tip violently to the right as we went into a dive. I watched as one of the heads appeared in front of us, it’s salivating mouth more than ready for us. They pulled up quickly barely avoiding it’s snapping jaws as they dashed forward. My father started to smile and I looked up at him as though he were mad before looking in the same direction he was. I gasped as a smile widened on my face as well. That had made an opening! We were free. All we had to do now was out run the beast which was easy in the air.

The puller flapped their wings as hard as they could struggling to create as much distance as possible. One of the heads made a final snap at us taking off the roof of the coach but otherwise leaving us unharmed as we finally pulled far enough away that it couldn’t catch up. The pegasi gave each other a high hoof as my father and I sat and hugged each other as tightly as we could.

“I can’t believe it Tiara we’re alive! I’m going to make sure to award you boys with quite the generous sum of money after this! And Tiara darling, forget about the business. Let’s just have a peaceful couple of days in Manehattan, just you and me. How does that sound?” I remember how I felt just then, like a weight I had been carrying for years was lifted off my shoulders. My eyes grew wet as I nodded my head up and down. I was so happy. We were alive and I was going to spend a full three days alone with my father. Everything was great.

And in that instant, right at the height of my happiness, my world fell apart.

A roar sounded out from the distance and we looked behind us. The hydra was not yet done. I watched as all one hundred of it’s disgusting heads took a deep breath, and together they let loose a roar that shook the ground itself. The coach flipped, rocked by the shockwave. I lost my grip, accidentally letting go of my fathers hoof, and I fell. I watched as the world slowed down. A look of pure horror on my fathers face as I reached for his outstretched hoof that was gradually getting farther and farther away.

When I finally reached the ground I was terrified. Not because of pain, but a lack thereof. I my eyes were open, I could look around and see, but I couldn’t move. Not a single muscle. The only feeling I had at all was in my head. As I lied on the ground I quickly noticed a strange smell, like rusted iron just before something warm touched my face. I didn’t need to look, I knew what it was. But I did anyways. With all the strength I had I tilted my head just the tiniest ways down, and threw up. A rock. I had landed on a rock. A very sharp, very pointy rock. I put my head back to where it had been before and just lied there.

For everpony there’s a moment in life where everything suddenly stops, and you look around at the whole world. Slowly, you blink your eyes a few times, and in that moment it dawns on you. Some accept the realization and merge with the crowd, others fight it pining for their dreams, and others run away pretending they never saw a thing.

Yet here I was, one of the rare few whose life had truly begun. I knew what it was like to be alive, as soon I wouldn’t be. I knew how great it was to breathe the worlds air, as these would surely be the last breaths I ever got, and I understood fully that life was a miracle. That the chances of me ever having been born growing up to be what I became, was nigh impossible. But the world acted in the way that it did and I reacted right alongside it with the behaviors I showed. My life was truly a miracle, one that was about to come to an end.

I was dying, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I began to feel tired, like I wanted to sleep. And the fear took hold. So quick? Was this all the time I had? Couldn’t I be given just a few more seconds? I wasn’t ready to go yet. I was just a little girl! I had my whole life ahead of me! There were things I had to do, people I wanted to see. My memory flashed back to images of silver spoon and the CMC. I missed them and wished even one of them could be here. I didn’t want to die alone.

Alone… that’s right. I had always been alone. My father never had time for me, and because he wanted me to grow up with the same rustic lifestyle he had as a child I was forced to go to school in Ponyville instead of one of the Canterlot academies. Because of that I had practically no friends. The other ponies in Canterlot made fun of me for hanging out with ‘backwater’ ponies and I didn’t fit in in Ponyville because I was from Canterlot. The closest thing I ever had to a friend was Silver Spoon and I treated her terribly because I myself was so miserable. That’s what the heaviness I always felt was. Lonliness.

That’s when I remembered, the thing that always made me feel better when I was lonely. That song they taught us in school every single year. It always managed to lift my spirits, to make me feel just the tiniest bit better, just the slightest bit safer. And so I closed my eyes, and sang.

It was hard. My body didn’t want to listen to me at all. But with a great deal of effort I managed to form the words. It wasn’t my best performance that much I knew. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have a beautiful voice like Sweetie Bell so I was never amazing at singing, but I certainly never sounded this bad. Still though I had the strength to sing it and that put my heart at ease, if only a little. As I reached the end I opened my eyes and had I the strength I would have gasped in surprise but what I saw.

Standing in front of me was an Alicorn, but it wasn’t one of the princesses, no. This was a stallion, not a mare, but even so he was no less beautiful. He stood looking down at me, his entire eyes glowing gold like the sun. His coat was black as midnight, his ethereal mane and tail glowing a brilliant shade of green. Balls of light like fireflies flicked on and off in his mane and tail, adding to the soft green glow already covering the forest floor, showering it in specks of light like the white spots on a baby deer. He walked towards me slowly, his posture perfect and regal as grass and flowers grew from his hooves with each step. My eyes were drawn to his cutie mark and my mouth opened ever so slightly. It was the planet, and it was moving! His cutie mark wasn’t a still single picture like all the others. It glowed and shifted, giving off a soft light. I could see clouds moving over different places. Storms raged in Grifficus, while the oceans thrashed violently near Goldoa, for a moment I thought I could even see a faint crack appear near Terranorma as it writhed and shook. It was beautiful watching a live forecast of the world all at once. Seeing it spin and change as in congruence to what was going on in the world. I saw fireworks shooting off what looked like the sky scrapers of Manehattan and cherry blossoms falling off trees in Pandara. It took my breath away and I decided that if this was the last thing I ever got to see then death wouldn’t be quite so bad.

Do you wish to live?

My eyes shot back up to his face as he spoke.

Little filly, do you wish to live? He said, though his mouth never moved. In fact, I realized I didn’t hear a voice at all. It was more like a feeling, something that was reverberating throughout my whole body. It didn’t say a single word yet… somehow I understood. I nodded my head.

Then sing with me.

He raised his head into the air, horn glowing, and opened his mouth. I watched as the whole forest seemed to come alive, the once dead and twisted trees regained their color, flowers burst into full bloom showing their vibrant colors to the world for the first time in ages. Dying grass came to life and everything around me began to glow. I realized I was in a glade, a glade that now seemed more alive. I had heard that long ago the Everfree forest was beautiful, so much so that some ponies had even called it the Garden of Eden. If the legends were true, and the forest truly did look like this all those years ago, then I had no doubts as to why.

Then he began to sing, but it wasn’t proper singing. Like before no sound came from him. Instead it was a feeling but this one was stronger and seemed to come from everywhere. I realized then that it wasn’t just him singing, it was the forest itself! The whole forest began to sing, filling me with the words as it worked an ancient magic. Everything around me was alive and was working desperately to help me. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I realized that for the very first time, I was not alone. With joy in my heart I sang as loudly as I could, my voice growing steadier and stronger each time we reached the end. After the third time I noticed the feeling beginning to return to my body and it felt so nice and warm. On and on I continued to sing at the forests side until finally the song came to an end. The trees withered and died once more, and the beautiful glow was replaced by darkness once more. I shakily stood up and found myself to be completely healed. My celebration was short lived though as I felt the exhaustion catch up with me. I began to fall, bracing myself for impact only to be caught by the strange Alicorn. He set me down and lied next to me, covering me with his wing as he tucked me into his side. I could feel myself growing tired, sleep was ready to take me this time. But I couldn’t sleep just yet. I still had one last question to ask.

“Who… are you?”

Everfree.