Growing up in Ponyville, most fillies and colts are told stories of the Everfree Forest. Stories of horrific creatures, impossible by the laws of either science or magic, who lurk within the darkness and prey on disobedient foals who venture too far on the path. Travelers lost, found deceased and mutilated. Pets kidnapped, never to be seen again, even though their mournful howls can still be heard. The majority of these stories end with a common moral: “Do not disobey your parents. Stay away from the forest.” As implied, the parents themselves do not believe these stories. They view them as silly bedtime tales, delicious horror wrapped in a predictable lesson of the day. No grown mare or stallion in Ponyville believes there is truly anything scary in the Everfree Forest, except the occasional grumpy Manticore. Or at least there was no reason for any of them to believe. Until Applejack vanished. Until Apple Bloom began having nightmares. Until Twilight Sparkle found the camera. Until all of Ponyville knew the truth. The stories they told were all just fantasy. But the reality was far worse than any bedtime story told to a foal.
It was one thing for a normal pony to disappear near the Everfree Forest. But for a strong, resilient farmpony like Applejack to simply vanish without a trace into the world beyond the trees was another story. In the weeks following her disappearance, the citizens of Ponyville were decidedly nervous. What, or who, had compelled Applejack to venture into the forest alone in the first place? Witnesses claimed she had merely, for no apparent reason, stepped off the main path and into the trees with only the slightest reluctance. A few had called to her, warning her of the danger and imploring her to at least pause. But their words did nothing and in an instant she was gone. When it became obvious she was not going to return, the bemusement of the witnesses turned to guilt. They wished they had done more than simply call to her, but it was far too late for remorse to have an impact. A search party was formed, consisting of the strongest Earth ponies and pegasi willing to brave the Everfree Forest and its various horrors. Big Macintosh was among the volunteers. However, a through search turned up nothing of note, except a few strange markings on a tree and a dark stain on the path that could have been blood. Not a trace of Applejack. Zecora's cottage was found to be completely abandoned, several of her belongings and a pair of saddlebags missing. The zebra herself could not be located. Other than the possible bloodstain and the unidentifiable markings, no clues to Applejack's disappearance could be found. The search party eventually abandoned their mission, although it pained Big Macintosh to give up on his little sister. But with no real leads, nopony had any choice.
Apple Bloom's nightmares started soon after the search party gave up. In truth, they began soon after Applejack vanished. Chilling dreams about being lost in the forest, of following the sound of Applejack's terrified screams to a dead end. The face of her big sister, often sobbing or shrieking in horror, chased her through the most twisted of scenes a young filly's mind could create. But the dreams that began after the search party gave up were different. They were more vivid and less focused on Applejack. Unlike the majority of her nightmares, Apple Bloom could recall each and every detail as if they had been etched into the inside of her skull. This especially troubled her, as the nightmares were not only scary, but eerily puzzling. Each one began the same way: Apple Bloom was eating breakfast or lunch in the house, chatting happily with Granny Smith or Big Macintosh. The absence of Applejack did not seem to bother any of them, even though there was clearly an empty seat at the table. After the meal was concluded, Apple Bloom alone would depart the house and trot to Ponyville. Occasionally she would meet Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo on the way, but usually her journey would be uneventful. It was when she arrived in town that things became unsettling. Apple Bloom would look around, her own grin fading, to find herself surrounded by smiling ponies. Normally this would not have upset her in any way. Being close to Pinkie Pie, she was used to smiles and knew they were nothing to fear. Yet the smiles of these ponies seemed….off. Apple Bloom couldn't describe it to herself, but somehow she was disturbed by them. She recognized each of the ponies gazing at her, some standing motionless in the street and others peering out from open windows. They were all mares and stallions she'd seen at least once, fellow young ponies she knew from school, and a few citizens she merely knew by sight rather than name. She even saw Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, buried in a crowd of staring townsponies with identical grins. Apple Bloom would stand in the middle of the crowd for a moment or two before she started to back away. None of the ponies would move as she did so, their smiles remaining as they watched the terrified filly retreat. Eventually, Apple Bloom would back into somepony standing behind her. She would begin to turn her head to see who she'd backed into, but at that point the dream would end. At the conclusion of the nightmare, Apple Bloom always woke up screaming.
Big Macintosh tried his best to comfort his younger sister when she told him about the dreams. He told her it was natural for a young filly to have bad dreams after such an unexpected and puzzling tragedy. However, he could tell his words did nothing to soothe her. At the very least, the dreams had taken her mind off of Applejack for the time being. Big Macintosh was not quite as fortunate. He thought about his little sister constantly, about how things might have been different if he'd been with her that day. Twilight Sparkle had called it “survivor's guilt” or something like that. All he knew was that he regretted his decision to stay behind at the farm while Applejack took care of business in Ponyville. Every night, he'd gaze out of his bedroom window and silently mourn his sister, whom he now believed to be dead.
At this critical point, Twilight Sparkle decided to take matters into her own hooves. She felt immensely sorry for Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, who'd all lost not only a family member but arguably the glue that held the farm together as one functioning unit. Twilight wanted to give them something, anything, to ease the pain a little. She decided the best she could do was offer them some closure. She herself ventured into the forest, accompanied by Spike and Rainbow Dash, in search of clues. She thought her magic might at least be able to uncover something the search party had missed. However, after a full twelve hours of relentless effort, she was forced to accept that even the magic of a unicorn could do no more than the sharp eyes of an Earth pony or pegasus. She even searched Zecora's cottage, but found nothing except a large amount of dust and cobwebs. The disappearance of the zebra worried her to some extent. There was a chance that Zecora knew what had happened to Applejack, had perhaps even witnessed it, yet she had vanished as well. At least in this case it appeared she had left of her own will, as she had obviously packed a bag. Packed one in haste, Twilight realized during her search. While many things were gone, some important herbal remedies and a great deal of food still remained at the cottage. Furthermore, nopony had seen her leave the forest and nopony matching her description had been spotted at the train station. An Equestria-wide search had turned up a few zebras, but none of them Zecora. Dejected but resolute, Twilight returned to the library and applied herself to the study of missing ponies.
Nearly three months after Applejack's disappearance, Twilight found something on her doorstep. A very innocent object, most likely placed there in the early hours of the morning. She picked it up in her magic, examining it with bemusement. It was…...a camera. Not wrapped in the manner of a present or decorated with a bow. A simple camera, somewhat dented and showing obvious signs of wear. Curious, Twilight took the object into the library. Noticing it smelled of foliage, she wondered if it belonged to Fluttershy. But when she asked everypony about the camera, none of them had any idea where it came from. Even more curious, Twilight decided her only choice was to develop the pictures in the hopes they would reveal a clue to the owner's identity. However, she soon wished she hadn't.
The first picture was an unremarkable scene: Some trees, some bushes, and a couple of wilting flowers. The next few were of the same type. Nature, photographed in its purest state without professional care. A few of the photographs were blurry or distorted by movement. One or two of them seemed to be attempts at capturing a quick-moving animal of some kind, but the photographer was always too late to get more than a blurred blob.
The last few photographs were more interesting. One was of the entrance to a cave, the darkness within concealing anything it might have held. The next photograph was of a blue hoof with a lantern hanging from it. The next couple of shots were of the cave walls, dimly illuminated by the lantern. The first few shots were nothing spectacular. However, steadily the walls began to change. In later shots deeper into the cave, dark stains could be seen splattered across the rocky surface. At first these stains were tiny, even subtle. But as the photographs progressed, they became larger, more distinct. The deeper the photographer journeyed into the cave, the more stained with some dark liquid the walls became.
At last, the pony appeared to have reach the end of the tunnel. The next photographs were of the walls and floor, each adorned with a few scattered instances of the dark liquid. Proceeding this was a picture of something hanging from a hook somehow fastened to the ceiling of the cave. At first glance it appeared to be a slab of meat. But the second picture, under more intense illumination from the lantern, revealed it to be something far worse. It was…...a head. The head of an equine, to be precise, carefully preserved as to prevent the normal process of decay. Regardless of the preservation, several patches of fur were missing from the pony's head, especially around its mouth. The mouth itself had been distorted, the lips pulled up at either side and held in place by what appeared to be stitches. In death, the pony's mouth had been forced into the gruesome mockery of a smile. The next photograph revealed yet more heads, each grinning artificially in the light. There were heads of all conceivable shapes and sizes, the heads of stallions, mares, fillies, and colts. All dead, their mouths twisted into horrible smiles.
However, the last photograph was the worst. It was the one that would haunt Twilight Sparkle's nightmares for the rest of her life. The final picture from the camera was of a pony. Or at least something that could be mistaken for a pony at a glance. A more intense look revealed a creature with four hooves, one head, and a muzzle, yet a creature that was most certainly not a pony. Its pink fur was a mass of scars and badly patched wounds, its hooves stained with what appeared to be blood. The creature's body was just a little too long, a little too snake-like, to belong to a common equine. It was crouched on all fours, its face turned towards the camera as if observing the photographer. It had no ears and the edge of its muzzle where its nose should have been was completely smooth. The creature did not have any eyes to speak of, but its face was not smooth as its muzzle was. Instead, its eyes had clearly been sewn shut, leaving behind nothing more than stitches. Still, it stared directly into the camera as if it could see whoever was behind it. But the worst part was its mouth. Completely devoid of a tongue or teeth, pulled back into an unnaturally large smile.
Twilight Sparkle's immediate course of action was to trace the camera's owner. After hours of searching Ponyville and asking questions, she at last traced the device to a pony who went by the name of “Screw Loose”. She was apparently a long-time resident of an asylum in Canterlot who had, as a filly, nurtured a love of photography. Twilight, mainly utilizing the name of Princess Celestia, managed to obtain an audience with her despite being told many times that Screw Loose was not allowed to have visitors. However, despite her efforts, there was no real point in Twilight meeting with Screw Loose. She was completely out of her mind, barely able to speak coherently. She did not recognize the camera, nor did she have any response to the disturbing photographs. She merely sat there, bound in a straitjacket and barking like a dog as Twilight attempted in vain to question her. In the end, Twilight found out nothing from Screw Loose and was forced to depart. Her attempts at tracing Screw Loose's family turned up much the same. Her parents had died a long time ago and she had no siblings. When Twilight tried to get in contact with the pony's friends, she discovered that none of them had known Screw Loose beyond school and most had forgotten she existed.
The photographs were given over to the Equestrian Society for the Outlandish, a group of ponies dedicated to investigating anomalies and strange occurrences. However, Twilight only gave them most of the photographs. The final one, of the creature, she kept for herself. She couldn't explain why she decided to keep it, rather than giving it to the ESO. After nearly a year of keeping it in her house and having recurring nightmares, Twilight finally took the photograph and burned it in her fireplace. No physical copy of it exists in all of Equestria.
The moral of this story is a little bit different than the usual ones included in tales of the Everfree Forest. It has nothing to do with obeying your parents or being wary of dark places. Instead, the lesson of this story is very simple: Don't go in the Everfree Forest. There is something in there. Something that wants very much to see you smile.
