1: Always the bucking Everfree
At some point between midnight and dawn, Bon Bon groaned and opened one sleep crusted eye. Rolling over, she glared pure death at the love of her life. Or at least the blanket tent said love is under, illuminated from within by the soft gold glow of her horn.
Taking a deep breath, Bon Bon sharply proded the blanketed form with her hoof. With a muffled scream, Lyra erupted from beneath the blankets, horn glowing brilliantly and an old battered book clutched in her hooves. Panting, she stared at Bon Bon.
Calmly, slowly the Earth Pony said “Lyra. I love you, you know that. And that is why I’m going to give you one chance to explain yourself before I kill you.” She slowly rose to a sitting position, still glowering. “Why are you reading under the covers when we have a perfectly good living room? That you could be using. To read. While I sleep.” She gave the unicorn another sharp hoof poke.
A sheepish look crossed Lyra’s face and the light of her horn dimmed to a comfortable starlight glow. “Sorry Bonnie. I just, you know. I was reading this historical account about..” she trailed off, mumbling for a moment, then her voice picked up “And I guess I got kinda freaked out reading down there alone. So I came up here, because,” Lyra rubbed her mane and gave Bon Bon an embarrassed look “Cuddling helps? And usually you sleep like the dea-“ Lyra shuddered, breaking off for a second as her eyes flicked quickly around the dim room “Sleep like a log.”
Bon Bon gave Lyra a skeptical look. “So you were reading a book about ‘mumble mumble’?” She peered at the offending book. “Would this ‘mumble mumble’ have something to do with humans?” Lyra’s ears laid back and she ducked her head, looking anywhere but at Bon Bon. “Umm.. kinda. It’s about something humanish?” Bon Bon just shook her head and sighed.
“Lyra, what’s in this ‘historical account’? Anything human,” Bon Bon rolled her eyes and groaned at the word “Usually has you acting like a school filly with a crush. Spill.” She nudged the book, giving the thing a glare “What’s so different about this thing?”
Lyra turned the book over and over in her hooves for a moment, thinking. “This record is different because it’s recent and local. And Celestia’s muff, is it bucked up.” The unicorn shuddered and flipped the book open, turning it to face Bon Bon. Several loose papers slipped free of the old journal, as well as several photographs.
Bon Bon picked up the photographs, eyes widening. They were old black and white photographs, the type used a century or more ago. Some of the photographs focused on the outside of an old fashioned house and barn. The rest concerned themselves with the precious occupants.
Gagging slightly, Bon Bon stared at the pictures in shock. Her hind brain had figured out what the pictures showed instantly. The rest of Bon Bon took a few moments to catch up. Madly, an old rhyme echoed through her mind The hoof bones connected to the knee bone, the knee bones connected to the leg bone.. She gagged again and flipped the pictures over, hiding them from sight.
She stared at Lyra in dead silence for a moment, before whispering “Lyra? Why do you have a bunch of pictures of a stallion and foals, so many foals, that’ve been.. been..” Her lips trembled, eyes darting down to the photographs and back up, desperately searching for the right word. Lyra looked away, horn dimming further, as she offered “Dismembered?”
Nodding ferociously, Bon Bon stabbed a hoof at the pictures, voice coming low and angry “Dismembered. Disemboweled. Desecrated. Decapitated. From the looks of one of those, possibly defenestrated. I’m sure there’re more D words, but I’ve run out and Twilight refuses to lend anyone her any of her thesauri collection. How about butchered? That’s a good word!” A shrill, hysterical giggle forced its way out as she pushed the pictures away. She hung her head and forced herself to take a deep, calming breath before she locked eyes with her marefriend “This is sick Lyra, really sick. Do you think your humans did this? This.. Why? Just why?”
Lyra hung her head, shoulders hunched defensively. “I know something humanoid did it. I think it’s related to humans in general” Her horn’s glow brightened for a moment and three more pictures slide out of the book. Each showed a humanoid figure, pale and emaciated. It was hairless and hunched over in each picture, eyes reflecting the light of the camera’s flash balefully. It had hands like those of the librarian’s pet dragon but its fingers were long, wicked claws that put Spike’s to shame. Each picture showed the creature in a different place; once in the brush of a forest, once atop the barn from the other pictures and once, most terrifyingly, crouched at the bottom of a set stairs.
Bon Bon hurriedly flipped those pictures face down as well. She took another deep breath. “So you’re reading about an ancient murder and looking at pictures of dismantled, there’s another D right there, dismantled corpses of long dead ponies and some freaky monkey thing. This seems like appropriate night time reading material to you?” Lyra looked away from Bon Bon and shrugged defensively.
“Its just that is the closet I’ve ever gotten, ‘kay? It happened here, back when the Apples and the Plums settled here. The house is even still there, just inside the Everfree.” Bon Bon’s eyes shot open and she placed a hoof over Lyra’s mouth “Here?! House? Plums? Explain!” Bon Bon’s breath quickened, ears twitching nervously and eyes wide.
Nodding hastily, Lyra quickly said “Okay, everypony knows Ponyville was founded by the Apples, right?” At Bon Bon’s nod, she continued “Well, it was supposed to be founded by the Apples and the Plums, a Pegasi family. They were going to work together. You know, Earth Pony farming know how and Pegasi weather.” Lyra swallowed “The Plums put their house closer to the Everfree. And according to the journal part, here..” She flipped the book open about a third of the way through “weird things started happening. The kind of stuff you’d expect from the Everfree.” A trembling smile crossed her face “Which makes it normal, I guess. But they heard stuff at first. Hissing, scratching, some freaky ticking, all night long. And eventually they caught a few pictures of that.. thing.” She shuddered “The journal is kind of all over the place near the end but the Apples eventually came over and found Ginger Plum, the missus of the house ya know, hiding in the basement and.. you saw the pictures.” She gathered the offending photographs together and tucked them out of sight.
“They had the Royal Guard down here, looking for it. The bucket heads didn’t find anything. And Ginger? She just kept going on about rakes. They had to take her to Bedlam.” Lyra shivered and glanced towards the Everfree “I tell you Bonnie, the Apples back then must’ve had some real steel in their spines to stick around after that.”
Bon Bon shook her head “Okay. And what’re you going to do?” She gave Lyra a stern look “I know you. You’re going to do something about this.” Lyra smiled and gave a weak chuckle “You really do. Well, tomorrow I’m going to go talk to Granny Smith. She was around back then, so she should have a few answers maybe.”
Bon Bon pursed her lips and then nodded. Nuzzling against Lyra, she said “Well. That sounds safe. I hope she can tell you whatever you want to know.” She sighed deeply, pressing against the unicorn.
Lyra was silent for a moment before saying, tone oddly careful “And I might be gone for a few weeks, Bonnie” Bon Bon snorted into Lyra’s coat, smiling as she playfully asked “Finally find a ‘gig’ or whatever you young hooligans are calling it nowadays?”
A nervous chuckle had Bon Bon’s ears perked up and into alert mode. She looked up at Lyra, eyes narrowed as the unicorn rubbed her horn. “Weeeell.. After I talk to Granny Smith I’m going to find the house and do some camping. Or squatting, depending on how much is left. See if I can spot this thing and find out what all that rake stuff Ginger was talking about meant.”
Bon Bon slowly drew back, eyes still locked on Lyra. Slowly, carefully, she took the unicorns muzzle between her hooves. Calmly she took a deep breath and then..
"ARE YOU INSANE?!"
2: Old people have the best stories
“You know, this would go just a little faster if you’d lend me a hoof.” Lyra complained, voice muffled by the enormous pile of books she was currently entombed beneath. In the kitchen, Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “You think I’m going to help you get yourself killed? And besides, you’re the one who told Princess Twilight that you ‘needed to check out every book about the Everfree, camping and wilderness survival’. Spike and I both tried to warn you, but did you listen? Oh no. You just went right ahead and now look at you. Smart ponies would take this as a sign that should listen to me.” She snorted to herself, continuing to expertly prepare an autumn salad, cutting and dicing with unnecessary force.
In the living room, Lyra finally forced herself out of the heap and sat panting on top of it. “Ok. I will admit that you and Spike were right. I should’ve been more specific.” She sighed slid down the slope of literature, four books held in a golden glow. “And you were right about bringing Bulk Biceps. Though I think we need to do something really nice for him. I thought the poor guy was going to pop a hernia or blood vessel or something on the way back. Thank Celestia we were able to escape when she went for the basement archives.” Lyra shuddered, images of cartloads of ancient books dancing through her mind. “Maybe we can make him some of those weird bran brownies the next time he does that freaky carbo loading thing?”
Looking up at the hovering books, Lyra let out a disgusted sigh after a moment. “Twelve hundred kilos of books and five of them are actually useful.” The books fanned out in front of her and then slid into her saddle bags one by one as she named them. “Camping Cantrips. Flora and Fauna of the Everfree. Equestrian Special Forces Wilderness Survival Guide, now theres a mouthful. Applied Cryptozoology. And finally.. The Survivor’s Guide to Surviving; Angry Gods through Zomponies.” Lyra rubbed the bridge of her muzzle “Ok. Four useful books and one that’ll be fun to read for a few laughs.”
Bon Bon looked into the living room, a small smirk fighting desperately against her stoic mask of disapproval “Does it say anything about surviving angry marefriends?” Lyra chuckled and pulled out the book, flipping through it quickly. After a moment, her eyes widened and ears perked up “Actually it does. Roses, a romantic dinner, hoof massage.. There’re even form letters for apologies. And if all else fails it says..” Lyra broke out into laughter, slamming the book shut and tucking it away. Bon Bon gave her a questioning look as the green unicorn fell off the couch, chortling. “If all else fails, what?” Bon Bon asked.
Lyra wiped away a tear and said “If all fails, I should ‘keep my pimp hoof strong’.” She shook her head still laughing. Bon Bon rolled her eyes and the smile finally broke through her scowl. She went to finish the salad, saying “Oh please. I’m the pony with the pimp hoof in this relationship. Now come here and eat before you go bothering Granny Smith. “ Bon Bon’s voice turned teasing “Or, Celestia help me, you’ll feel the back of my pimp hoof.” Both mares burst into laughter and Lyra headed into the kitchen, relieved to hear Bon Bon laughing for the first time in days.
*
Chop! Chop! Chop!
The scent of apple pie filled the kitchen of the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse. The counters were lined with everything Granny Smith needed for her pies, each placed with military precision. Her knife moved with a steady speed, slicing apples apart. She smiled at her guest, sitting at the table with a tall glass of apple juice, her old hooves moving with the certainty of decades of practice. “So, ya going to go poking around the Plum place?” Granny shook her head “Ended poorly for the last silly filly to do that.”
Lyra dragged her gaze from the pies cooling on the counter and nodded. “Do you mind if I record this? For my notes, you know.” At Granny’s nod, she levitated a sturdy tape recorder from her bags and clicked it. “Somepony else investigated the Plum,” Lyra hesitated a moment, groping for the right word “Incident?” Granny nodded again “Oh aye. Some twenty or thirty years ago, a tabloid reporter from Canterlot came down here, looking to make a career from ‘cracking a decades old mass murder’.” Granny rolled her eyes. “Rude mare. Tried insinuating my pa did it. Nearly bucked her through a wall. And I probably shoulda. Woulda saved the idiot’s life.” Granny sighed to herself, hooves moving in a steady rhythm as she began assembling another pie.
Lyra’s ears perked forward “I’m sorry, she died while investigating the Plums? I looked through the records, including the incident report the Guard sent down a few years later, but this is the first I’ve heard of any deaths connected with this mess other than the Plums.” She pursed her lips and frowned “And you said she was looking in the Plum place. Wouldn’t anything from that long have been reclaimed by the Everfree decades ago?”
Granny Smith snorted “One question at a time, filly.” She flicked her ears in annoyance and continued “Ponies like to be happy, carefree gits. So things get covered up, or ignored or spun this way or that way. Keeps Equestria looking shiny and bright. Just like with that Trixie girl. Two idiot foals bring an Ursa into town and every pony blames her while the morons just get community service. ” She rolled her eyes and turned towards Lyra, delicately sugaring the pie’s crust “You read that they sent the guard into the woods? Did that report say how many came out on their own four hooves?” A certain mirthless and unnerving smile was curling across Granny’s mouth. Lyra leaned back, looking at the old mare with a sudden flicker of fear. She coughed and shook her head. “It just said a patrol of a dozen guards was dispatched and that nothing was found.”
Granny nodded to herself. “Seven. Seven guards walked back out. And these were guards from the old days. They wore real armor, instead of that petty, pretty gold armor that the Princess likes. Earth pony steel, unicorn enchanted. Veterans from the Diamond Dog war.” She sighed and popped her neck loudly, sliding the new pie into the oven. She chuckled, beginning to assemble another pie “See if you can find that mentioned in the schoolbooks.” Granny shook her head, scowling. “Twelve went in. Seven walked out, with the other five in bags.” She paused a moment, then added flatly “I saw the bodies. Looked just like the Plums.” Granny looked at Lyra expectantly.
Throat suddenly dry, Lyra took a drink of apple juice before asking. “What did they look like?” Granny stopped for a moment, thinking contemplatively. One hoof held her knife, the other an apple. She placed the knife’s edge against the apple after a moment and then, with a single stroke, cut it cleanly in two. Lyra flinched, eyes shooting wide. “Clean. The wounds were clean, like somepony just took them apart with Equestria’s biggest razor blade.” She picked up half the apple and crunched into it, swallowing. “And they were untouched. The Plums, the guards, the reporter filly. Cut to pieces and all them pieces was still there, just perfect. Nothing ate offa ‘em . Nothing took a bite. Whatever killed them just sliced them apart and left them to rot.”
Granny flicked her ears towards the Everfree. “Ponies say the Everfree is unnatural. But I been here long enough to know that it has a cycle of its own. If something in there kills you, even if it’s just to defend its territory, it’d eat ya too.” Lyra was staring at the old mare now, a mixture of horror and disbelief on her face. As she thought, a slight spark of excitement began to flicker in her eyes.
The unicorn took another drink as she thought about Granny’s words. “So the thing in the pictures,” she hastily levitated them out and set them on the table. Granny grimaced at the sight and shook her head “This thing is unnatural even for the Everfree?” Granny nodded silently, and Lyra continued “So it might have come from somewhere else?”
The elder mare gave the younger a puzzled look, but shrugged “Might have. Might have indeed.” She nodded to the pictures “And that’s the thing right there, yes it is. Just the way Ginger described it, before they took her off to the nut house.” She sighed and turned back to her pies. Her hooves were still precise but her movements slowed by age and worry. “You’re going to go in there and start looking for it, ain’tcha? Even after all I told ya.”
Lyra finished off her apple juice a look of determination on her face “I am. I have to. I’ve had this,” she shook her head “This fascination with things like this since I was a filly. I need to know.” Granny Smith nodded “Aye. A pony has to do what a pony has to do. I hope it works out better for you than it did for everypony else.”
Granny turned back to the table and sat down slowly, hip popping. “You wanted to know if there was anything left of the Plum place. There should be. They were a bit of an odd bunch, for pegasi. Built their homestead out of stone, right inside the Everfree borders.” She pointed with one hoof. “Just head down to that Fluttershy filly’s place and head north. You’ll find a stream, just follow it into the woods until you come to the well spring. Old man Plum decided to settle there because the spring would be good for clouds.” She smiled faintly “Or maybe he was just crazy.”
Lyra nodded and stood up, pausing as Granny waved at a pie “Be a dear and take one of the pies down to Fluttershy. Tell her that Big Mac sends his regards.” She gave the unicorn a bawdy wink. “I swear, I’d be knee deep in great grandchildren if either of those two were able to hold a conversation.”
Lyra nodded, scooping a pie up in a golden glow of magic. “Right, I’ll get it to her asap. Just need to grab my gear and find a rake.” She gave a half shrug at Granny’s questioning look. “The report said Ginger Plum kept going on about rakes so I figured I’d bring one along. Maybe the thing is attracted to them like bait or something.” She shrugged again and made her goodbyes, trotting off towards town.
Granny watched her go, slowly shaking her head. “There goes another one. I jess hope they can find all her pieces when they go looking for her.”
