Apocalypse Rising [See Description]

===The Ponies' Perspective===

Rainbow Dash flew out the door of the library to find and gather her friends for the so called 'Treacherous Trip'. Rainbow severely doubted that the journey would actually be treacherous or dangerous at all, in fact, she bet she could take on anything that stood in her and her friends' way. She then remembered the times that she and her friends took on the God of chaos, the Nightmare, Chrysalis... She could go on, but it really just ended there. Either way, she knew they could handle anything. Though the Everfree Forest was a pretty unpredictable place, there was no doubt about that.

Rainbow shook her head to stop her train of thought, when she realized she had been aimlessly flying the entire time, though she didn't strafe to far off track, she was fairly close to Fluttershy's cottage, in fact, she was right above the building. She flew down a bit lower to see if she could spot Fluttershy anywhere. After about 5 minutes of searching, she couldn't find her. So Rainbow flew down to Fluttershy's front door, and started knocking.

Almost instantly, the door slowly opened, and small light blue eyes peaked through the bottom half of the doorway. But after noticing who it was, she opened the door fully, smiling at her visitor.

"Oh, hey Rainbow Dash. How are you?"

"Good, but hellos can wait. I need you to come and help me gather the others, Twilight got a letter from the princess. I am not sure exactly what it said, but she said we have a treacherous trip ahead of us." Rainbow said very quickly, but slow enough for the timid Pegasus to understand her.

"Oh, o-okay..." Fluttershy said, a bit unsure, but to Rainbow it was good enough.

"Okay, you get Rarity and Apple Jack, while I get Pinkie and let Twilight know that we are ready." With a barely audible 'okay' as a response, Rainbow flew off to the bakery, while Fluttershy went to Sweet Apple Acres, and then the boutique.

=================10 Minutes Later=================

Twilight was searching her library for anything that could be useful on the trip, though she didn't know entirely know what the trip held, she knew it was a good idea to learn those defensive spells a few years ago, but would it be enough for the trip that literally 'Radiated Evil' ? Well, that is kind of what Princess Celestia said... But while searching for necessary items, she heard a loud knock on the door. After shaking her head to get rid of her train of thought, she quickly went to the door and opened it. Rainbow Dash was the first one to talk,

"Hey twilight. we are all ready when you are." Rainbow said, getting a nervous look from her purple friend.

"Um, yea, hold on I need to get a few things, come on in." Twilight said quickly so she could get back to searching for supplies. Her friends started to make their way into the library and found places to sit and get comfortable. When they were finished, an orange mare with a Stetson decided to start conversation with the others.

"What do ya'll reckon this trip is for? I didn't get very many details on the subject." After she said that, a white mare with a purple mane that looked like she had spent hours working on, spoke up.

"Well, I personally think that it is just one of those small disturbances in that forest, that get us all hyped up for, then finding out it is just nothing. That good-for-nothing forest has caused quick a bit of false emergencies." After the English accented mare spoke, it was then a Pink Fluffy maned mare's turn.

"Well I hope it is actually something this time, because the last few times, nothing of interest happened. But this time seems different! OH OH, hopefully it is somepony new! I would ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY love to throw them a welcome to ponyville PARTY! If it isn't then its fine, hopefully next time we get to meet somepony new! THAT WOULD BE-Mffhgfhfshgsf!" The pink mare loudly said, with the fashioned mare cutting her off.

"Darling, sorry to rain on your parade, but I doubt it is somepony new, if it was then they would already be out of that dreadful forest! But If they aren't then I do hope they get out safely."After that,  Fluttershy spoke up, but barely did

"Oh, I hope they get out of there as well, I wouldn't anything bad to happen to them..." Fluttershy said, with Rainbow speaking as soon as she finished talking,

"Oh come on! I bet this trip won't hold anything good. The last few times we were called to that place, there wasn't anything there! I mean there were trees and grass and air, but I mean nothing of interest!" Rainbow said, getting a laugh from her friends.

Before anypony else said anything to continue the conversation, the door upstairs opened with a frantic looking Unicorn running out. She then ran down the steps to the main room where her friends were waiting.

"S-sorry girls, I had to... get some... t-things..." Twilight said through heavy breathing. The others were looking at her oddly, but then dismissed it when Twilight cleared her throat to let her friends' know that she was ready.

"Jeez, twilight. You don't need to freak out like that."

"Sorry, It's just it has been a while since one of these trips were actually important..." Twilight said, but then realized that the others didn't know anything about the vision that she had.

"What do you mean darling? How do you know that this one is actually different than the others?" Said Rarity, getting a sheepish look from twilight.

"W-well, it... It just feels like it is going to be, no reason!"

"But you said-" Pinkie said, before she got interrupted by Twlight.

"N-no! It's... Ugh, it is very gruesome. I don't want to frighten any of you!" Twilight said as she looked down to the floor with tears forming in her eyes.

"It's okay Twi, if you don't feel like telling us, that's fine! Hopefully this trip will be worth while." Rainbow said, trying to cheer the unicorn up,

"If there ain't anything you can tell us, then that is perfectly fine sugar cube." Apple jack said, also trying to cheer Twilight up

"Thanks girls. It is just something that I don't want to think about. Ever." Twilight shakily said while rubbing her eyes

"Well, let's get on with the trip then!" Rainbow said as she flew up into the air. But just after she did, there was the loud sound of lightning along with the heavy beat of rain on the top of the library. And almost instantly, Twilight said,

"Don't worry girls, there is a spell that I know that can create a basic ceiling above us, so we don't get rained on. Now, since it is only a basic one, I can hold it up for however long we are gone." Twilight said reassuringly.

The girls gave very sarcastic 'Woohoos' at twilight's response, besides Pinkie, she was still joyful and happy about it.

So with that, Twilight opened the door of the library and started to walk out side, then she cast that...(Umbrella Spell?) to shield her and her friends. Once all her friends were all out of the building with the door now shut, twilight nodded at them and then turned the opposite way to lead them to the Forest. Now, since the library was close to the middle of town, it took them about 10 minutes to get to the entrance of the forest.

When they got there, twilight remember that Rainbow had found those Night vision goggles near the side of the forest. So she decided to ask rainbow which side she found it on.

"Rainbow, which side of the Everfree did you find those goggles on?" twilight said slightly louder from the sound of the rain hitting the magical barrier above them

"Oh it was..." Rainbow started, but then face palmed (hoofed?) when she realized that she found it waaay on the other side of Ponyville.

"Whats wrong?"

"It's on the other side of Ponyville..." Rainbow said, getting complaints from the group. Twilight was the first one to speak up,

"W-well okay. We can just walk to the other side of Ponyville I guess..."

Even though the others really didn't want to walk that distance just to start they're journey, they did anyway. Half way through the walk, Rarity decided to just go back to her shop. With a few Goodbyes from the group, rarity then started her way back to her boutique.

"Well then..." Rainbow said, not really expecting a response.

==========25 Minutes later==========

It was now fairly dark outside, along with the rain, making it kind of hard to see further than 35 meters. The group made small conversation while they walked towards the other side of the forest. After a while, they finally reached their destination. Massive trees and vines covered the view into the forest, along with tall weeds on the ground, making it hard for the ponies to travel into the forest.

"Well, this is it. Any info on what we are suppose to be looking for twi?" Rainbow said to the purple unicorn

"Actually, the Princess didn't really specify on what we were suppose to be looking for..."

"Oh, great! We are just suppose to go into the Everfree and expect to find anything that seems out of the ordinary? Well, I mean like, not normal to the forest." Rainbow said, annoyed at the idea of having to search the entire forest, which by itself isn't normal, for something 'out of the ordinary'.

"Now hold on there Rainbow. I doubt that the Princess would just send us into the Everfree forest for no reason!" Apple jack said, getting a glare from Rainbow

"Hey! I'm just saying!"  Rainbow said, the Pinkie spoke up

"Oh come on! It doesn't sound that bad, I mean sure it may take a while, but it could be like a scavenger hunt! Oh oh! I spooky version of Scavenger hunt!" Pinkie said enthusiastically,

"Girls, I could just use a tracking spell. It could make it a lot easier." Twilight said, getting the attention of Rainbow and Apple Jack, who both looked at her with surprised looks.

"Well... okay."

"Hmm, how does it work?" Apple jack asked, having no clue as to what the 'tracking spell' does

"Well, you have to think of something that is in your memory, or in your thoughts, and it basically casts a small path towards the general location of that said memory, and or thought. If either one of them do not exist, or has been demolished, OR to far away from your position, it just won't appear." Twilight said, trying to make it so her friends could understand what she meant.

"Well what are we waiting for?! Use the spell so we can finally find out what this disturbance or whatever is!" Pinkie said, sounding like she was slightly frustrated, though also sounding like she was very excited for the 'hunt' she was partaking in.

Nopony else said anything, they just stared into the depths of the forest.

"In order for the spell to work, i am gonna have to use something that will kind of track down what that disturbance was..." twilight started, trying to think of of something that she could use to kind of notify her of any thing unnatural in the forest. Then she remembered those Night Owl Optic Goggles that rainbow found. They were in her saddlebag that she had been carrying that is full of supplies that she thought that they would need if the journey was long. She then sat down, took off her saddlebags and then started searching for those goggles. It didn't take very long, since they were one of the biggest items in her bags, they stuck out like a... a... Big, thing...

Once she took it out, she got weird looks from her friends, besides Rainbow Dash, because she was the one who found them.

"I rather you girls not ask any questions about what this is. Okay now I just need to do this, and then that..." Twilight said as she concentrated at casting the tracking spell on the goggles, and then casting the spell into the world's magic. Making the spell spread out a few miles in search for anything magically or historically related to them. Within seconds, the spell came back to her giving out signals in her mind as where it was. She then saw ethereal blue path hovering above the ground, leading straight into the forest. Now, this was a spell that only effected the vision of the caster, which means only twilight can see the path.

"Well, here we go-" twilight started to say, until pinkie cut her off. Twilight expected the pony to say something along the lines of, 'Why can't I see the little path thingy??' but she was surprised to hear the actual response from her friend.

"But Twilight! I don't really like the color blue!" Pinkie said, smiling at a baffled Twilight.

"H-how?" Twilight said, getting a simple response from the pink mare.

"Well duh! I'm Pinkie Pie!"  Pinkie said as she smiled very widely at the Unicorn.

"Oh! Umm, right! I, er, forgot about that..." Twilight shook her head at the thought.

Without any other response or comment, the other four followed Twilight into the forest.

Before they got far, Twilight noticed how dry the forest was. She thought it was just from how dense the upper part of the place was, but then dismissed that thought when she couldn't even hear any rain either. And when she thought it couldn't get any more confusing, it did, when she noticed the sun barely peaking through the leaves above them.

'Push away all the facts of how dangerous this place is, you also realize how this forest seems like it takes care of itself as if there was a mother to nature, well, nature. Like the mother took care of it.' This thought intrigued her greatly, but she shook her head realizing that she was going on and on in her own head. But she just noticed that the blue path was now leading to the left of where she was.

"Oh, uh, this way, girls." Twilight said as she pointed to her left,

The others didn't say anything, they just nodded and followed Twilight to where she pointed. Gradually making their way through the thick weeds that stood tall on the ground, and the vines that hung over the path that obscured long distance vision or sight of anything that might be peaking through at them.

After about 10 minutes of traveling through the thick overgrowth, they finally made their way into a large clearing, it expanded about 75 meters into a a big circle and the grass was reasonably shorter than the other grass that they were traversing in. Twilight saw that the path ended at something that was in the middle of the clearing.

From a distance, it didn't look like much, but the closer she got, the more detailed it got.

She was now about 5 meters away from it, moving very slowly towards the object. She was now close enough to touch it, didn't mean she did touch it, but it does mean she noticed that it looked like a very complicated mechanical... thing. She couldn't wrap her mind around whatever the hay this thing was, so she started to circle it slowly, studying every little detail. When she was completely on the other side, she saw something that made her gag.

A massive blood splatter on what looked to be a cushioned seat made of... some material that she couldn't identify at the moment, but the blood was covering the entire side of the machine.

The group kind of spread out, as if looking for something. Rainbow was flying around the edges of the clearing. Looking back at where they entered the clearing, on the side of her vision, she noticed Twilight sitting next to something that looked like it was wedged into the ground. She then noticed the disgusted face on her friend, so she decided to make sure she was okay.

"Twilight? Are you o-" She was cut off by twilight nervously saying,

"You may not want to see this, Rainbow..." Twilight shakily said, getting a laugh from Rainbow.

"Pfft! Like it could be that bad!" Rainbow said, as she landed on her hooves, and then started to walk over to where Twilight was sitting.

"I am serious Rainbow! You really don't want to see this!" Twilight frantically said, trying to convince Rainbow that it wasn't a big deal.

"I doubt it's anything worse than... a... a..." Rainbow started to say but then slowly stopped when she saw what Twilight was trying to stop her from seeing.

"U-uhh... That is, um... A lot of b-blood..." Rainbow said while nervously swallowing from the sight.

Twilight just nodded while looking back at the machine. Besides the amount of blood on it, she thought of what the thing was actually used for. Which made her extremely curious as to what the thing actually looked like. She had a debate in her head, whether she should levitate the machine to see it at every angle, or she should just leave it alone... but as always, curiosity always wins...

Twilight stood up and moved back about 2 meters away from the machine, and then tried to use a levitating spell on it...

It didn't move an inch. She tried harder, trying to focus her magic onto the machine. But no matter how hard she tried, there wasn't any sign of a purple haze around it, which would normally happen if she used a levitation spell on anything. But when she tried to use the spell on this, something that seams so lightweight, something that seems so insignificant, it just wouldn't move at all. She has levitated an Ursa minor that would fill the entire clearing she was in! She was the Element of Magic, which meant she was capable at doing very difficult, if not impossible spells! Yet, this one, single, pony sized machine, wouldn't be effected by her magic at all!

"Gosh, how is this even remotely possible?! It won't budge at all!" Twilight said, obviously very angry at the machine in front of her.

"Maybe we could just push it right-side up? It can't be that heavy." Rainbow said, trying to offer a solution.

Twilight sighed at this idea, but she thought it may be the only way of moving it.

"Ugh, fine! We'll move it the old-fashioned way..." Twilight said, getting a laugh from Rainbow.

Twilight and Rainbow walked up to the side of the machine, doing their best to ignore the blood on it. They got into position on either side of it, and then counted...

"1...2...3!" They both shouted as they did they're best to push the machine the other way.

It was slowly pushed to a standing position, but then fell to the other side, making the dirt behind it be kicked up, along with the blood under it, that made small dripping noises from the gravity of which the red liquid was falling switch sides, and started to drip the other way onto the non blood-stained grass.

Rainbow, being disgusted at the sound and the smell quickly flew backwards to keep herself from smelling the amount of blood. Twilight, in other matters, ignored the sight and the smell when she spotted, what looked to be a rather large camoflauge saddlebag that was strapped to the back of the machine. She quickly went over to the back side of the machine to get a better view at the bag. When she got there, she noticed that it seemed to be able to carry a lot of things, even more than an average saddle bag. She then became curious as to what is inside of the bag. As nosy as it was, she thought it wouldn't hurt just to take a small look. Knowing that it most likely would not be effected by her magic as well, she decided to to just reach her hoof out to open it.

Until her friend Rainbow said there was some sort of laser being pointed at her head...