The Everfree way

It had been a while since the Chimera incident and school was about to be open again. While the group had been meeting over the weekend, they weren’t entirely sure if what had happened was just a group hallucination or if these ponies were insane. They only hoped that when they returned everything would be safe, like a normal, everyday class would be.

Well, most of them did anyways.

“Oh come on guys! It was awesome and you know it.” Nightmare said.

“No way man we almost died!” Note replied.

Zero and Flare just continued to fly ahead of the two, shaking their heads.

“Dude its been a few days now and they are still arguing. Do you think they are ever going to stop?” Zero asked Flare.

“This should work.” Flare said, turning back. “Oh for Celestia’s sake, just kiss already!!”

Note blushed at this and Nightmare teleported in front of Flare “Are you sure its not you that wants to kiss Note?” She said suggestively. Flare just stuck his tongue out.

“Me? Kiss Note? Never! No offense Note.” Flare said.

“Great now they’re at it.” Zero said to Note, who was still at a loss for words.

“Sure you don’t you weenie - Hey, there’s the schoolhouse!” Nightmare said, cutting herself off.

As the group approached the building, they thought that it looked miraculously brighter than the last time they were there. All - save for Nightmare - had started to think that maybe they were wrong and it really was just a dream. They entered the room and took their seats, noting that Ms. Blue Streak hadn’t arrived yet.

“Aww! Ms. Blue Streak’s not here yet!” Flare cried.

“Wanna perv’ out on her again?” Zero teased.

“Why don’t you just ask her out on a date since you refuse to ask out Note.” Nightmare said, leaning back in her chair with her hooves on the table.

“You...you...you know what nevermind. I don’t care to honor you with an answer.” Flare said leaning over in his seat. Note tapped Flare on the back.

“Check out Silver Pace over there. I guess he wants Nightmare. Look at what he’s staring at.” He whispered into Flare’s ear. Flare looked at Silver Pace. The Silvery-grey colt was staring at something. Flare followed the gazes path toward Nightmare’s plot. It struck Flare as hilarious and he burst into laughter. Flare’s laugh caused Note and Zero to laugh as well. Nightmare tilted her head and asked the hundred bit question.

“What’s so funny?” She asked. Flare kept laughing and pointed. She turned to see Silver Pace, and, despite knowing what he was doing, she just turned around in her chair and waved.

“Hey. These guys just told me that you look ridiculous. I think you should tell them otherwise” Nightmare said, beckoning at him to come over. Silver obeyed. Nightmare whispered something in his ear and his horn illuminated. Flare laughed himself out of his seat. The whole class looked at the laughing colt.

“Silver Pace got a horn boner! Ahahahaha!” He shouted laughing. The class started snickering while Nightmare looked at them with a blank face.

“What, I was just telling him where you all live so he can kill you later.” She said, shrugging.

“Which is, evidently, where we all live.” Zero said

Silver Pace went back to his desk and face planted it, still embarrassed. As soon as he sat down, Ms. Blue Streak came in.

“Good Morning class.” She said.

“Good Morning Ms. Blue Streak.” They all said.

Nightmare whispered into Flare’s ear. “Dude you should totally try to get her some chocolates. Witches love chocolates”

“Witches?” Flare asked.

“Yeah man. That’s why she was calm about the Chimera.” Nightmare said.

“That’s such a load of pony crud. I think we’ll find out why she was so calm today.” Zero said.

“Yeah whatever, shes still a witch cause witches do magic and she’s a unicorn ergo she does magic.” Nightmare stated matter-of-factly. Zero started to say something but stopped and just put his hoof down.

Ms. Blue Streak’s horn illuminated and levitated a piece of chalk and wrote down on the board. The words stated ‘Pony Battle Teams’ on the board. She turned around and Flare was smacked in the head again for plot staring.

“Okay. You seriously need to stop.” He said angry.

“Stop perving and I will.” Note said.

She turned back to the board and made five groups with 4 ponies each.

Green

Flash fire

Sturdy Shield

Flutter Free

Rose Red

Blue

Quick Silver

Clock work

Merry Flower

Black Flame

Black

Flare

Treble Note

Zerobeat

Nightmare Daydream

Red

Silver Pace

Lightning Strike

Flower Sprout

Golden Scroll

Yellow

Silver Wing

Night Flash

Wild Wing

Rain Crasher

“These will be your groups for what we will be doing next. A few of you may remember hearing about this from your friends or family who had already been in my class, but for those who haven’t heard, we will randomly hold games and have challenges that will require the help of teammates, which, for the sake of cooperation, are the ponies who you normally sit with.” Ms. Blue Streak said.

“So, what are the games? And what do we do afterwards?” Flare asked. Instead of answering, Ms. Blue Streak walked to the door, telling the students to come with her. They arrived at the same clearing as before when studying the Poison Joke.

“The games will mostly be held here, where the landscape can be changed to fit the game, but occasionally they may be held elsewhere. For the game we will be playing first, we will not be here, but it does start here. Get in your groups.” She then started to hand each group a paper and a parcel. “The parcel will contain what you need. The game ends at sundown and whoever gets here first wins.” She then left in a flash of magic, signaling the start of the games.

“Dude what is up with this map. And these clues are bull.” Nightmare said, not interested in the fact that they were in the middle of a dangerous forest without any supervisors. “I think this is supposed to be a Hunt game thing. Ya know, the thing where you search for random crap. But the map looks like a month old kid drew it, ate it, then spat it out.” Nightmare turned and found only Note and Zero behind her. “Where is Flare?” She asked. Both colts shrugged.

From behind, Flare walked up with his wings stuck up stiff on his back. “Dudes, Ms. Blue Streak said that if we win we’ll get rewarded and I’ll get to stay with her after class.” He said

“Gah, he’s daydreaming!” Nightmare said. She grabbed his face “Dumdum she never said that she just said they would win.” She started shaking him.

Note and Zero ignored them and started to look at the map, which was actually a mess.

“What the hay is this thing? It’s no map I’ve ever seen. Its almost as bad as Nightmare’s hoof writing.” Note said.

“Shuddup dude my hoof writing is perfect. If you are blind” Nightmare said, then returning to shaking Flare.

Zero rolled his eyes, and returned to looking at the map. “I think its still sorta able to figure out. I mean, the clues do help and it is labeled.”

“Let me see that thing.” Flare said dashing to the map. “You guys, this is actually the first time I’m glad I’m lovestruck. I can read the map. I guess you ponies are too close minded.”

“Why? Does the love let you be able to read it or something?” Zero asked.

“Cause if it does then can’t Note read it too?” Nightmare said

“Shut the buck up! How come we can’t read it?” Note asked

“This map is made of a paper that messes with eyes. If you’re focusing on the map, it’ll distract you. I’m not focused on the map, I’m focussed on…..somepony else. So only I can read it.” Flare said

“Oh so its one of those stupid things. Well whatever Flare’s in charge of the map reading, and I think these are riddles. Some seem pretty dark too. At least we only have to solve the one with our group color by it.” Nightmare said, turning her attention to the hints given. She then read the first aloud.

“As the feathers fall and rivers run, pluck the feather and enjoy the fun.”

“What does that mean?” Zero asked

“Griffon. A griffon! We need a griffon feather!” Flare said.

“Well if thats the answer then I guess we gotta go look for a griffon. Is there anything with the word griffon or shaped like a griffon on the map Flare?” Nightmare said.

“Um….well there is this cliff called Gryphon’s Peak, but it’s not spelled right.” Flare said.

“There’s different spellings don’t worry about it. And if you’re wrong its ‘cause they were talking about this creature thats cousins to Griffons. Anyways, where is it?” Zerobeat said.

“We gotta go North of here for a while until we see a patch of Poison Joke. When we reach it we head to the left until we reach a place called Boggy Bog. After that we had North again until we see a river. We should be there when we reach it.” Flare said.

“I never thought I’d ever be lead around by a lovestruck fool.” Note said.

“Well we’d be in the same ship if you were leading Note.” Nightmare replied.

“Shut up! Let’s go!” Note said.

The group followed Flare as he slowly flew in the direction of the map. He was about to fly into a patch of Poison Joke flowers when Nightmare knocked him out of the way, pointing at them. Unfortunately, when she did that, he dropped the map smack dab into the middle of the field.

“Oh way to go Nightmare! Now how are we gonna get it?!” Note said.

“Eh whatever guy I’ll get it. I want to know what will happen.” She said, landing beside it, while picking up  few of them and placing into her bag while still holding another. “Before you say it, yeah, I could’ve just used my magic but I didn’t feel like it. And yes, I am going to keep these because I have no idea if they could be important later.”

“Well whatever. We got the map back and we reached the field. Now let’s get back on track. I really want that reward from Ms. Bluestreak.” Flare said. He then gave a lovestruck giggle.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how funny will it be when it’s not what he expects.” Note asked.

“100.” Nova and Nightmare said in unison.

They started to head to the next place on the map, this time with Flare paying more attention to where he was going. He stopped right at the edge of Boggy Bog. “We’re here.”

“I vaguely remember something about this place. Something about foreboding danger and how we could all die….eh it is probably just nothing. Lets go.” Nightmare said

Note halted for a second, then said “Wait, what was that about dying Nightmare?”

“Eh dun worry ‘bout it itsh cool.” She said.

Facehoofing, Note said “Well, I don’t want to find out. We’re leaving now,” dragging his friends back into the air.

Seconds after they left, Nightmare turned around, pointing at the bog. “Hey, its a hydra! We coulda been killed violently.” She said, somewhat happily with her hooves clasped together, causing her friends to question her sanity once again.

Flare turned and gasped. "Holy buck! She's right!”

Note and Zero turned around in fear, only to find that there was no hydra. Flare and Nightmare burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! Good one Yuki!” Nightmare laughed.

“You too Nightmare!” Flare said. Note and Zero facehoofed.

“You guys are just evil. That wasn’t funny.” Note said.

“Are you guys gonna do that whenever we start to leave?” Zero asked. Both ponies nodded. Zero groaned.

“Then I guess we have to continue Treble.” Zero said.

“Oh come on! Why the buck do you two want to complete this thing so badly?” Note asked. Flare and Nightmare looked at each other and then back at Note.

“Because it’s fun!” They both answered. Note groaned and flew across the bog. Zero, Nightmare and Flare followed.

“Okay. We continue up north here, then we should see the river. Let’s go!” Flare said.

The foursome continued to head towards the river where Gryphon Peak was. When they arrived, they saw that there was, in fact, some Griffons flying around. Zero started to fly out towards them, but was yanked back by his tail being stepped on.

“Dude you can’t just fly into Griffon Peak. Griffons are very territorial and probably won’t respond well. We gotta sneak in to get what we need.” Nightmare hissed.

“Well excuse me Princess. Not everyone has a general knowledge on every living and non-living thing.” Zero hissed back.

“Which they decide not to reveal to ponies ‘cause they don’t wanna seem smart.” Note said.

“Tsk...Whatever. Just, lay low and stuff until we can think of how to get a feather.” Nightmare replied.

“Why can’t we just get one from off the ground?” Flare asked

“Because Griffons don’t like having their feathers just strewn all over the place. Feathers are useful and they know it. And to get feathers from them requires either a lot of skill or a very nice Griffon.” She answered.

“Well isn’t that a load of horse apples.” Zero said. “How do we expect to get one then?”

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see a griffon behind him. “Yo.” She said. The four turned around slowly.

“Oh crud, she’ll eat us all, run for your lives!” Flare yelled.

Nightmare rolled her eyes. “Flare, just cause she is a griffon does not mean she wants to eat you.” NMDD turned towards the griffon. She was a little bit taller than the ponies and was black and white in color. Her wings were black tipped and her tail seemed to be closer to a house cat’s than a lion’s. “So, who are you?”

“Well, I’m Elsana. What are you ponies doing here? You do know you could get attacked by a Griffon or something. I mean, didn’t someone tell you how territorial we are?”

Nightmare then face hoofed. “Yeah I was actually telling them something about that earlier”

“So then why aren’t you attacking us?” Zero asked

“Well, I don’t think you guys are really trying to be a threat to my territory. Especially since you are so young. I mean, I could be wrong and Celestia and Luna are starting their guards young now.” Elsana replied.

“Eh...that’s a fair point I guess.” Flare replied.

“So what are you ponies doing here then.?” She repeated

“Well, we are on a scavenger hunt. We got a riddle from our teacher and it led us here.” Zero said.

“Yeah, our group has to get a feather or something. We don’t know why, but thats what we gotta do.” Note said

“Yeah, and if we win we get to get a prize” Flare said, going back into lovestruck mode.

“Riiiggghht.” Nightmare said with a awkward look on her face due to Flare’s reaction.

“Anyways, we have to get a Griffon feather but we know its not exactly the easiest thing to do.”

“Yeah. Especially not when its twerps like you that want it.” A new voice said.

“Junele! What are you doing here?” Elsana said, staring at the new griffon. He was taller than Elsana by a head and had a similar coloration, with his feathers being dark blue tipped rather than black, and his tail was closer to a lion’s.

“Saving my stupid sister from getting in trouble. And apparently stopping some stupid ponies from invading our lands.” He said, seeming to tower over the group.

“We weren’t trying anything! In fact we were just leaving.” Treble Note said, attempting to scoot away, only to be pulled back by Junele.

“Right. And I’m actually a chimera.” Junele said sarcastically. “While my idiot sister may not be as willing to follow tradition, I am not one to go against our clan’s rules, so you all are going to come with me, without resistance, or you will not come back whole. Ya get what I mean?” Understanding all too well, the group rose and started to follow him.

As they entered the town they saw several griffons staring at them. When they reached the middle of town, they were led into a building, which had some cages inside along with what looked like a courtroom on the other side. At the middle of the room was a statue of some odd chimera that looked like a mix of a hippopotamus, lion, and alligator beside a balance with what looked like a feather on one side and a heart on the other.

“So what are we doing here?” Zero whispered to Elsana.

“You are going to be tried and almost definitely imprisoned. I’m sorry”

“What! What for?!” Flare asked angrily.

“Well, its complicated but our clan basically isn’t exactly too fond of ponies. Bad history. After the trial you will be placed in the cages until you are put into a battle with a group of griffons who should supposedly match you all equally and, should you win, you can be released. If you do by some miracle win then you can leave us but you can never return.” Elsana told them.

As she said, they were tried, and found guilty of any and every charge that they could find. They were given the opportunity to battle on the same day, however, so at least they could leave or lose sooner rather than later. After getting a good idea of what they were to face from Elsana, they entered a stadium. At the other side of the stadium was a group of griffons roughly the size of each of the ponies. They were all different colors, with one being a male with black with green tips, another male who was brown and gray, a white female, and sandy golden male, but they all shared the same face of hatred towards the ponies. When both sides had reached the middle of the stadium, they heard an announcer from above.

“Today we have a rare fight, a battle between the evil ponies, Flare, Treble Note, Zerobeat, and Nightmare, versus our glorious griffons, Kato, Malem, Rasha, and Takio. Let the battle, begin!”

“Hey! If anypony is evil, it’s you dumb chickens for imprisoning us!” Flare yelled. The griffons growled in response.

“Not really the best time to lose your cool Flare. Lose your temper when you’re kicking their sorry flanks!

“Okay. Well, lucky for us I’m really ticked off. Good for us. Not good for them!” Flare yelled.

Flare attacked the black one with green tips, sending him spiraling off to the side. Note, who was distracted for a split second by Flare, was tackled by the brown and grey one. Zero turned towards the Sandy one and they started to wrestle. Nightmare flew into the air after the white one. After being tackled to the ground, Note got the strength to fly.

With all his force, Flare was punching and attacking the griffon of his choice without mercy. Oh he was beyond pissed. If he could turn the internal flame he says he has into a weapon, that griffon would be deep fried. After taking one big punch to the gut, he lost it and went barrage mode. He didn’t care about what he hit, as long as he got to hit something.

With the air knocked out of his lungs, Note found what little strength he had and picked himself up.

“I’ve had...enough!” Note yelled. Note grab Flare, Zero and Nightmare and whispered into their ears. “We need to blow these freaks away. Literally.”

“Okay but how?. ...Oh I’m so slow.” Flare said facehoofing.

The four flew up and began flapping with all forms of power and force. The force of their wing flapping caused the air around to swirl into a powerful whirlwind. The sheer force of the winds were so powerful, the griffons had to dig their talons in the ground to remain in the arena. Zero opened his eyes and realized what they were doing.

“It’s not working!” Zero yelled. Flare dropped to the ground, tired from flapping. The winds weakened and the griffons were able to move freely now.

“What if Nightmare uses her unicorn-ness to remove their paws from the ground?” Note suggested.

“While that would be great my magic is disorientated because the white one hit my horn. If I use my magic, despite how much concentration I have, it is probably that I will misfire and hurt somepony else.” Nightmare replied.

“What if we lure them into the sky and try again?” Flare asked

“Are you crazy?! Those griffons would catch you almost instantly.” Zero said.

“No, hear me out. Nightmare can’t use any of her ‘unicorn-ness’ but both her and Note could use their dragon-ness instead to help us out.” Flare replied.

“You know, that could work.” Note added

“Well fine, we’ll get them to stay in the air after you two lure them up, we’ll try the tornado again.” Nightmare said

Flare and Zero dived down to the griffons and taunted them, drawing them back into the air. After seeing them twirling around again, the griffons tried to land again, only to find fire beneath them. The griffons, having no other place to go were captured by a flaming tornado. After a few minutes, hearing no sounds, the group stopped the tornado and flames. What was left over was were the severely burned and broken griffons, too hurt to even move. The smell of burnt flesh was everywhere. Immediately, the crowd hushed, and medic griffons were sent in to retrieve them.

“The winners of this battle…..are the ponies!” Flare loudly huffed.

“Yeah that’s right! Don’t mess with us, or you’ll end up like them!” He yelled.

“All this for a stupid griffon feather?” Zero asked facehoofing.

“I don’t get it either.” Note and Nightmare said in unison.

Around an hour had passed since the battle, and the ponies had been released, though the griffons made it clear that they were to leave to as soon as they could. Elsana did return with word of the four griffons’ conditions.

“The majority of their feathers were blackened if they weren’t gone, their wings were almost all broken, and their bodies were covered in cuts, bruises, and burns.” Elsana said.

“We didn’t know that we hurt them that bad.” Treble Note said.

“C’mon Note, it was either them or us and you know it!” Flare said

“I still hope they will be ok… Is there any chance of us seeing them before we leave?” Nightmare asked

“I doubt it.” Elsana replied.

“And it would probably be for the best if we just got the dumb feather and left anyways. It’s obvious that most of these griffons didn’t like ponies in the first place, and now we just made it worse. I think the only one who is even willing to remain civil around us would be Elsana” Zero mentioned

“Most of our clan wants you dead, and I’m no exception. But was that really all you came for?” Junele said, appearing from the doorway.

“Yeah, we told your sister this just before you found us, but you didn’t want to listen to us, ending us up in this situation!” Flare yelled.

Junele interrupted him “Chill dude. I don’t particularly like ponies, ‘specially not after what you did, but I wasn’t really fond of that group anyways so you do have some of my respect. I will help you guys out of here without being killed and give you your dumb feather, but if you come back, there is probably no way that you’ll find us. Elsana here was harassed because she didn’t follow that same belief, and I was thinking of moving us on out of here. I was even willing to go to pony country for her.”

“So you guys are leaving then?” Zero inquired.

“Yeah, thats why I was up there at the peak when you first met me. I was trying to find out which way we should go.” Elsana said

“Well, why don’t you guys come back with us to the village? It may be weird at first, but you guys could stay with me until you can think of someplace else to go if you want to leave again. Plus, I’m pretty sure that the other griffons aren’t exactly happy that you guys are even talking with us.” Nightmare offered.

“Could we? That would be awesome! We couldn’t really think of how we would support ourselves anyways when we moved and that would be perfect!” Elsana said

“Sure, plus, that way we’d have more than just a feather. We’d win by a mudslide! Think of the prize.” Flare said, thinking again of the reward.

“Well, I guess if we wouldn’t be too much a hassle we can grab our stuff and go.” Junele replied, leaving.

After leaving Gryphon Peak, the group soon returned to the clearing. They saw that neither the other groups hadn’t returned, or they had already left. They started to head back into town, going to the schoolhouse to see Ms. Blue Streak

“Hey! Is anyone inside! ‘Ello~” Nightmare said, entering the building, with her friends close behind. “Guess not! Oh well, poor Flare.”

“Oh, sorry, for not replying earlier. I was in the back tending to some plants for a future lesson.” The teacher said, entering from the door behind them. “So, did you find the feather?”

“Not only did we get a griffon feather,” Flare said as Elsana and Junele walked in. “But we also brought two back with us.”

“Well, as the first group to return, you get the prize. Let me just get my stuff.” Ms. Blue Streak said

“I hope the prize is what I think it is.” Flare said, daydreaming again.

“Get your head out of the gutter Flare” Note said.

She returned with her hooves behind her back. “For winning at the Scavenger Hunt, your group wins...free treats for a year at the parlor” She pulled out blue and red cards, which had the name “Raspberry Streak’s Everfree Smoothie” on it.

“That..thats it?” Flare said, stupefied.

“My sister just started her own business, so she told me that I should help her out with it by giving away these four cards.” Ms. Blue Streak said, handing each pony a card.

“WOOHOO!!” Nightmare said, forcing Zero to jump around with her.

“Awesome!!” Zero yelled.

“Oh, and Flare. I need you to stay after class.” Ms. Blue Streak said.

“Well, see you later sucker” Nightmare said, pulling Elsana, Note, Zero, and Junele out of the school house. Flare stayed behind as instructed.