Chapters It was a stormy night as always when the Zap Apples are about to grow. The timber wolves´ howling echoed above the farm of the Apple family near the Everfree Forest, but this year was something different. Not that they came around the same time every year, rather that the howling was not returned by an old lady on the farm screaming from her lungs and bashing pans and pots together.
"The Zap...", the old green earthpony coughs with a very weak breath. Her tired orange eyes looked up to her granddaughter´s face which carried a sad expression on it, "...re commin."
"Don´t ya worry, Granny. We´re gonna take care of it. Ya stay here and focus on getting hale and hearty again." The young orange mare swept away the tears in her eyes after she tucked her back in bed. Granny Smith was trembling all over while sweating like crazy. Her second granddaughter, a redhaired yellow filly, was bringing towels and a pot with cold water to ease her pain, but suddenly dropped it. The water splashed all over the floor. "Applebloom! Can´t ya...! I mean can ya be a little more careful with...", Applejack replied to her sister´s clumsiness. She wanted to rein her in, but at that moment a giant crow, that had been sitting unnotice on the windowsill for the whole time, cried out and flew away. Soon after the howling of the timberwolves stopped. The night went calm and quiet.
The next morning Applejack, Applebloom and their big brother, a big red stallion named Big Macintosh were providing baskets for the harvest of the Zap Apples. Waiting for the Everfree Storm to zap the barren zap appletrees to start the magical growth. In five days the rainbow colored apples would be grown and everything remaining on the tree would vanish in thin air. A brown earthpony stallion strutted into the orchard. He wore a tie and had a concerned look on his face, but he smiled at the Apple siblings.
"So I did not mishear things last night and the Zap Apples are coming?" He asked while looking at the barren trees. "I started wondering, because there are still no clouds."
"Howdy, Mister Rich," Applejack answered him, "don´t ya worry Granny is never wrong about this."
Filthy Rich looked around the area: "Speaking of her, where is the old lady?"
"She´s sick", Applebloom spoke out.
"Sick?"
"Don´t ya fret we are still selling ya the first hundred jars of Zap Apple Jam." Applejack replied, but starting to get worried herself. What was taking the clouds so long? As long as she could remember the clouds came in the early morning, but today... it was almost midday. Suddenly the sky darkened and the earthponies lighten up in relief.
"Eeyup!"
With the sudden work on their hooves the siblings had no time to talk to Filthy Rich any longer. Any minute not focused on harvesting was a loss in the family business. Kick. Collect. Move. Next tree. Kick. Collect. Move. Next tree. Kick. Collect. Move. Next tree. For a change, if anything worked like it used to, the Zap apples would disappear at sunset. Much less time than usual. They had to move faster and harder than ever before just to make the best out of the situation. Applebloom not used to this much hard work felt her muscles burning in pain. Big Mac and Applejack were a little better, but to work so hastily came at a toll for them as well. They missed some kicks, messed up the locations for the baskets and once in a while bucked a regular appletree that was close to the previous Zap Appletree. Heavily panting while they were shaking the last trees before the rest of the apples vanished at sundown.
"By Celestia, that was the strangest Zap Apple season ever!"
"Eeyup."
"Better head back for the barn to get the carts."
"Eeyup."
Applebloom was too tired to walk and her legs felt like pudding. Big Mac put her on his back. Like this the siblings left the orchard back to the barn. The good old building of red painted wood, their beds, everything welcomes them with a warm and cozy charm. Something to drink from the fridge would be nice as well, but did something else await them. A far less pleasant surprise. The door stood wide open, plastered with claw marks. Leaf and branches left a trail up stairs. The Apple siblings stared at the scenery for a brief second before panicky rushing towards their grandmother´s room. "GRANNY!"
Creatures of wood and magic. Wood, leaf and treesap. Wolves born by the Everfree Forest itself. Granny Smith was wrapped in the blanket. Each end was held up by the wooden fangs of a bigger-than-usual timberwolf. Lifted carefully over and through the Everfree forest. Not a single stick touched the cocoon shaped bundle. The old mare cursed the beasts all the way she got dragged deep into the the woods. As she got finally put down on a soft piece of ground, Granny Smith could finally unravel herself out of the blanket. "Darn tutin, ya vile vermin. Ya better let me..."- She stopped yelling as she recognized the place she was brought in. It was not to difficult, this was the place were the Zap Apples are growing, where she got the first for their own orchard when she was just a little filly. -"No diggity! I know this place..."
"Glad you remember. Tiny apple thief."
They had been to the Everfree forest at least a dozen times before. Also their zebra friend, Zecora, lived in the woods on her own. So the old mares tale of this forest being a deathtrap had worn off on them. But to see the woods grow a shield against trespassers was unnerving. Boughs, branches and vines knitted an almost solid wall, just flexible enough to not break by a sudden impact. Several timberwolves roamed the outskirt between Ponyville and the forest. Seven to be exact, but not the ordinary ones. Instead of being composed of twigs and branches, these timberwolves were made of whole trees and were as huge as a house.
"This is surely peculiar..." she muttered more to herself, but Applejack felt offended by the lack of frustration Twilight showed, while she felt so useless in this disaster.
"Will ya stop finding it interesting, that Granny got kidnapped by these beasts and DO SOMETHING!"
"Applejack Darling I am sure Twilight did not try to be rude." Rarity tried to calm Applejack down. The earthpony pushed her away ready to unleash her anger upon her friends if they dared to stop her in her path to rescue her grandmother.
The purple dragon was staring at the wolf putting itself together: "But why? Last time we faced such a big one it got defeated by a simple stone!"
Applejack´s ears pinned down to her head as she screamed at the tiny dragon: "THEN THROW A STONE! Who knows what happens to her while ya take yar sweet time talking!"
The old mare stared at her kidnapper as she was dragged to the biggest and oldest of the Zap Appletrees inside the Everfree Forest. As her back touched the black bark of the tree, green vines shot out of the woodworks behind it. They twined around Granny Smith´s forelimbs, curled around her legs and tightly tied her rump all the way down her hindlegs. Vines were creeping up, binding her against the tree. One of the vines tried to entangle itself around her neck.
"No!"
A yellow and a cyan pegasus touched the ground close to the Applefamily. They slowly shook their heads, they had not found an entrance. The tightly knit shield also stretched among the treetops. The pegasi were hurt. Ravens had pecked on them as they were scouring the forest for an opening. Fluttershy had a terrified expression on her face and was shaking to the bones. The birds had screamed at her to leave and told her Granny Smith belongs to Everfree now.
"Uhm, girls..." Fluttershy said with her meek voice into the silienced round: "If the poison joke did all that to us because it wanted a laugh... What do you think it will do to us so the Everfree Forest can keep Granny Smith?"
Applejack gazed at the yellow pegasus. "Say what?"
"Sorry... I should have said it earlier. The birds that attacked us they... wah... wha... what?!"
Alarmed by Fluttershy stammering all of a sudden everypony turned their head to watched where her hoof was pointing. The giant timberwolves had started to eat some of the poision joke covered barrier. Between the chunks of their bodies began the blue flower to grow turning them slowly into nightblue wolves. Regenerating, untouchable, curse infested, house sized wolves.
"It is worse than I expected, Pinkie Pie." Celestia said taking the scenery unfolding in front of her into account.
"Princess Celestia? Pinkie, what´s going on?"
"It´s not like I would have been any help here, so I got us the big cannon." Pinkie giggled at Twilight´s frenzied bafflement: "You didn´t even notice I wasn´t there did you?"
The Everfree Forest is dangerous. Whoever had gone in had never come back out. Who would have thought that this also meant that ponies are unable to teleport out of it? Certainly not Twilight, who was freaking out as her little group found themselves no longer in Zecora´s hut, but in an different part of the forest. In another bright flash all three ponies had repositioned inside the forest. "Twilight..." - Applejack started in one location - "...get it straight, we´re trapped." - And was not finished in the second, before they left that in another beam of magic - "Hit the break so Zecora and Ah can remember the parts of the woods!" A last teleport, then Twilight finally stopped jumping around the place. The forest looked so different with the solid of vines and treetops. It was dark, too. The ground was soft and wet. In front of them was a large body of water. "Ah don´t think Ah recognize anything. How `bout you, Zecor... Twilight where´s Zecora?"
The zebra stood there in the middle of the forest, left behind in one of the dozen panicky executed teleport escapes. "I bet they will assume - that I head back to my room." She trotted pass the trees. "At least that makes more sense - than sitting in the wild without defense."
With stone walls by her side, Celestia walked along the canyon ground after having stood in front of the Tree of Harmony for at least half an hour. She had hoped for some reason that Evefree would appear in front of her. Eventually Celestia had moved on with a sad smile on her muzzle. What had she thought? Evefree had not come when she and Luna were captured by Discord´s vines, why would she now?
"Let me go." demanded Granny Smith, struggling in the vines. Her whole body ached from being bound up against the tree. The green magic snatched a twig from a the black tree and started to plait Granny Smith´s grey mane into a braid around it.
"I can´t let you walk around, yet. There is something I need to take care of first."
Applejack and Twilight ran away from the timberwolves that had suddenly approached them. The poison joke covered up their bad breath and the blue color made them surprisingly harder to spot in the shadow than their wooden bodies in the woods. What it didn´t cover up was their habit of growling before attacking. The sound of cracking twigs, rustle of leaves that could be the flowers on their bodies moving or the wind. Every sound made them anxious, afraid there was another wolf behind the bushes ready to attack them. Twilight had tried to teleport them away, but it had not taken the wolves long to track them down again and again.
"How do they keep finding us?"
"I don´t know..."
Applejack hated it when Twilight said that, her friend's brain always seemed to stop working when she did. So now Applejack had to keep herself and her friend safe while searching for a solution herself. She had encountered timberwolves before, but it felt different how the wolves were acting. Usually those wooden wolves did not try to surround her, they just chased her down. She grabbed a flexible branch. As it snapped back it smacked the head off one. With out the head it crashed into a nearby tree and the loose construct of twigs, branches and poison joke scattered in a big radius. Especially the pellets and petals soared through the air. An unfortunate squirrel, just a few feet to the left of Applejack´s head, got hit by the blue seed corn. The change took place immediately, unlike last time when it took all night to do anything, it turned bright yellow, fell from the branch and it´s limbs had gone missing!
"TWILIGHT, TELEPORT!"
Another bright flash, Applejack was getting sick of all that magic transportation. Changing location in an instant was irritating. The whole situation got swapped from one second to the other and you still had to proceed. On one of those teleportations were Twilight had no control over the location they had ended up right behind the wolves that had chased them.
"Didn´t I tell you to stay out of this?" she asked, more directed to Twilight than Applejack, with a voice that would have made Twilight feel sorry, but there was something that caused way greater discomfort to the former student. Enough to snap Twilight out of her absent minded state she was in since her magic failed her so many times in a row.
"Pri... Princess Celestia? You´re an earthpony!"
Celestia tried to lift her wings, but they were gone, as well as her horn, but as she inspected her body she reckoned: "More like a saddle arabian mare." This change did not seem to bother her as much as her subjects whom stared at her as she walked unconcernedly over to the timberwolf she had kicked out of the way. "Run to your Master. Tell her I will find her no matter how long it takes... if she is not so kind to show us the way, that is." The last addition surprised not only the ponies but the timberwolves as well. They had already encircled their prey again and were now clearly calculating their options, before they all ran off in a different directions.
"So what´s the plan, Princess. Ah means", Applejack looked at the pure white from top to bottom: "How are ya planning to rescue Granny Smith? Certainly not by blasting in with that magic of yours."
"I am not here to rescue Granny Smith. I am here to ask Evefree to let go..." Princess Celestia said casually, letting Applejack speechless for a moment. If her trust in the Princess would have been made of glass you would have heard it shatter. Twilight was just her friend that she slipped off her trust from time to time was kinda reasonable and no amount of titles could change that Applejack would value her as anything more than just another pony. She was bound to make mistakes from time to time. But Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria that had given the Apples their farmland, Granny herself. Okay, her father, but she was there! Princess Celestia, she was the benefactor of the Apple clan and now she...
"WHAT!? Ya hear that Twilight? Ah told ya that she had lost her mind!"
Princess Celestia had tried to reason with the young farmpony, but it was of no use. Applejack was too disappointed and ashamed to ever look up towards the Princess again. As soon Celestia had asked if she had any idea why Granny Smith got abducted or where she might had been carried off to, Applejack gazed at her angrily. Accusing the Princess of thinking that her Grandma had deserved it, Applejack ran off deeper into the woods.
"I need to know why Evefree is doing this. Do you know anything?"
"Sorry, I don´t..." said Twilight her eyes wandered over towards the place Applejack had run off. "We have to go after her. It is too dangerous to be here alone." Twilight expected a scolding. This was why Princess Celestia had wanted them to go home, because they would only bring themself into danger and she had refused her order.
"Don´t worry Princess Twilight. We will follow her. Even though I don´t think Applejack is in any danger." The white mare told, but adding just in her own mind `at least if it is what I assume.´
Twigs and branches, cuts and bruises. Applejack ran as fast she could. Stupid Celestia, Applejack thought `if you think I let you hand over Granny for some zap apples she had stolen when she was younger than me then you are wrong.´
Twilight walked alongside to what was left of Princess Celestia. Lifting branches for her and removing sticks and stones so she did not break her bones with her own magic since she could not do it anymore. Clearing the pass for her with her own magic...
"Princess Twilight I am sure that I am capable of not stumbling over a pebble without my magic."
"I´m sorry, Princess. It´s just so... different."
"It´s quite alright my dear."
Twilight pulled another branch out of the white mare´s way. "Uhm, sorry." In this fashion they walked after Applejack for a short while. Like Applejack, Twilight too felt the events of the day in her very bones. She was no athlete and teleporting and fighting giant timberwolves... timberwolf... what is it after you destroy one over and over anyway? Is it the same being or is it new creature? And how many parts of it must be exchanged before it stop being itself? Does a poison joke covered timberwolf count as an other subspecies?
"Spike sent me a letter that you and your friend entered the forest to rescue another friend and hadn´t gotten out yet."
"But..."
Celestia silenced Twilight with a gesture of her hoof: "There are someponies I will always find; you, Sunset Shimmer, Luna and...", she sighed expressing sadness, "...well. Previous I thought Evefree as well. Twilight there is something you should know..."
Granny Smith was still bonded to the tree, but something had changed. For once she did not feel her body anymore. No, not in that sense more she could feel it less. Usually she had some ache atleast in one of her body parts. Swollen joints, the weak old hip and her neck; all of them had gotten better the longer she had been hanging there. The old mare had a pretty sure supposition that it had to do with all the twigs she had gotten woven into. Once again the green magic opened one of the braids and the former twig sprouted some thin roots and small leaves. A mud and earth covered green hoof dug another hole to plant the little sapling next to eleven others. Then another twig was twined into her grey mane.
"That´s close enough. We don´t want to risk that she touches you, do we?"
"Another Princess!?" Twilight was shocked. Seriously first Celestia had hidden the true identity of Nightmare Moon for at least a few hundred years after every contemporary witness of Luna passed away. Now there was another princess in the depths of the Everfree Forest?
"Just an Alicorn." corrected Princess Celestia, but she sounded a little bit sad saying it.
"What else did you hide from me?"
Celestia stopped in her track as she heard that from Twilight. Many things Twilight´, she thought,everything I wish to stay in the past.´ Was is that wrong to just address these things when it was necessary to explain them? What would she have thought of her if she knew what else was looming in the past. "Maybe that when Starswirl came to ask Luna and me to become Princesses. He actually wanted Evefree to become the Queen of Equestria..." Now it was Twilight's turn to freeze in place. "Or that Luna and I refused to take her title when she declined to wear it?"
"But why would you decline such..."
"Oh I had two good reasons, for one; Starswirl always hoped that Evefree would change her mind. For the other, I did not felt suited to take responsibility for a whole nation. As for Luna..." Celestia let out a big sigh, coming directly from her heart. "Let´s say she had different titles for us in mind once we got earned our cutiemarks." Celestia could see the young version of her sister in her inner eye, proposing the titles of Night Mare Moon and Day Mare Sun to the council. Years later she took the name by herself.
Twilight could relate to the feeling of not being suited for the crown, but she simply could not see Celestia going through the same. Not even after it was spelt out to her. "And what about Evefree?"
The white mare gave her a heartfelt smile. A smile so divine only Princess Celestia could pull it off. Soft spoken, Her Majesty announced the mind boggling revelation that broke a little piece of Twilight: "She is to me what I am to you."
"She is a goddess?!?"
Twilight stared at the white horse and the white horse stared back uncertainly, then Celestia's gaze became mournful. `Not you, Twilight, of all the ponies in Equestria, not you too.´ It was as if a total different pony stood before Twilight, she knew the melancholy voice of the princess better than anypony, but this was sorrowful:" I meant very very old..." only a glimpse of hope in her voice, "and a... friend?"
"Princess... I´m sorry... I..."
Celestia lifted her golden horseshoe and silenced the lavender alicorn. Her voice back to her regal melancholy tone: "It´s okay Twilight, I understand. I am Celestia..." She gave her a sad smile, "That´s what I do... understand."
"But I don´t want to see her." The timberwolf responded with a mix of growling and wheezing and a bark to end his sentence. "I told you to get rid of her. I don´t want that mare in my home." Again the timberwolf started to talk in its very own language. The leaf green alicorn groaned out loud and the timberwolves around this place started to howl alongside. Quite to her dismay she gave in to the demands of the wolf: "Seriously, again with the howling. Okay, okay I meet up with, Celly. But you guys are not letting"- she let her blue eyes wander towards Granny Smith "that mare close to her."
Awkward silience had lingered between them at first. Twilight tried to talk herself out of this feeling. They were no strangers , not talking to each other. Something felt off, as if they were no longer in sync with another. The discomfort of the silence crept up to her so she broke it: "Princess, what I meant to ask was, why did Evefree refused the title as"-Twilight gulped as she said the next word. "Queen." She only knew one Queen, the changeling queen; they weren´t pleasant memories.
"We are talking about the world biggest recluse, Twilight. I was so glad that she had opened up to the world again. She had closed the doors of the Everfree Forest for so many years. After that I met Starswirl for the first time, still many years before the Windigos attacked. Evefree was always there for Luna and me. As well as all the creatures in this forest. Did you know that the manticores were hunted down by ponykind because they feared them? Only here they could hide." The more Celestia said the more Twilight painted the picture of an alicorn Fluttershy inside her mind. Such a mare had kidnapped Granny Smith? Why?
"Why not?"
"It is the secret of Alicorn immortality." Princess Celestia looked sad.
Twilight was well read, very well read if you ask Spike. The lavernder alicorn had spent almost her entire youth in libraries and training her magic. She had read many books about the sorrows of the immortals and pain of the undead, but never would she have thought that Princess Celestia could still suffer even after Luna´s return... "Am I immortal? I am an alicorn." The words of insecurity were simply leaking out of her mouth by now.
"Don´t worry Twilight, I am sure you are not immortal and hopefully you never will be."
"Seriously? And I thought that was the whole point of turning her... or any other student into an alicorn, to share your misery with somepony? Heck, haven´t you tried to turn Starswirl into an alicorn at one point?" The unknown voice echoed from the tree and seemed to come from everywhere. Twilight lit up her horn in an magical aura but she could not spot anypony yet. "Hey, little unicorn. Did you know that ANY living being has to live through roughly 1 billion heartbeats?" Twilight nodded interested where this was going. "Celestia is older than me." Okay Evefree was mocking her, first she calls her a unicorn and now she tried to make a liar out of Celestia. She had single handedly wielded the Elements of Harmony that included Honesty!
"Why are you giving me riddles in the middle of hostage negotiation?" ,Twilight forced her discontent out loud. Not knowing were her opponent might be made her screaming the line a lot louder than necessary.
"HOSTAGE! That´s it. I'll get the Ursa Major to deal with you."
"Wait, Eve. I just want to talk with you about this." shouted the white mare into the night. A few moments later a big white bird flew out of the undergrowths with a twig in its beak. "Look she sends us a dove of peace." said Celestia holding her hoof out for it to land. Only, it was no dove. It was a white raven holding poison joke in its beak. The vicious flower once again touched Celestia.
"Take this as a gift for the `negotiation´,Celly."
Evefree had always told her she was to trustworthy, that was why she had not seen the white bird for what it was. The poison jokes effect kicked in and she had her horn back on her forehead. "Take this as a gift for the `negotiation´,Celly." said Evefree finally stepping out of the shadow. Twilight looked at her in utter disbelief. The alicorn in front of her was messy. Nothing regal or important, not even spreading an aura of superiority. Her brown, scrubby mane was larded with leaves. Her all leafgreen body was covered in dust and mud, in a way that you could not recognize what cutiemark she had or if she had on at all. But of all the things to be most uncanny was that she was almost a filly! Maybe half a head smaller than Twilight she had to look down to her to see her in the saphire blue eyes, blue like poison joke, as she trotted over to Princess Celestia. "You look older than last time."
Right off the bat, insults and deceiving, this was the mare Celestia was so fond over, wondered Twilight but even more surprised was she about Celestia´s response: "Thanks, you too."
Evefree gave Celestia a smug grin: "Then you understand that I will not let you steal her away from me."
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA IS GOING ON HERE!" Twilight´s outburst followed silence. Celestia stared at a rapidly in shame blushing Twilight. Had she really just said that? In front of Celestia herself? Evefree looked from one to the other and than burst out laughing.
"Haha ha! You did not know, Celly? Haha. Ponies use your name all the time."
"I was aware of it... . I just never heard it myself. It sounds mortifying."
The green alicorn for the first time took really note of Twilight. "Listen unicorn, just don´t let anything break your... You´re the one that brought back the... what did Celestia call them, Elements of Harmony? Thank you, thank you." Twilight felt almost strangled in the tight hug, thanks to Pinkie she was well trained in endure those. The leafs in her mane made it an experience. Some were wet, some sting, some itch and hopefully none of them would be poison joke. Then Twilight could feel warm tears running down her neck. "Thank you." No way Evefree was playing this. Maybe Discords vines had done something horrible to her as the tree was no longer protecting the forest? After all Twilight had almost got eaten by them. What should she say to her? That everything is alright?, no, it was not. She still had kidnapped her friends´ grandmother. She can´t say that everything is fine as long that is looming around.
As Evefree let go of her she found her voice back, so Twilight asked: "Why are you calling me unicorn?"
"Because, for as much as I´m concernd, you are not an alicorn if you heart isn´t broken." Evefree pointed at Twilight. "You´re an unicorn with wings."
Applejack had seen things she rather had not seen, Granny was in greater danger than expected;
Applejack had found a landmark, a rock formation she knew, and soon she had found the spot where the black trees were standing. Granny Smith had shown her this place ages ago in case if something happens to the zap apple trees on the farm, not her.
;She has to rescue her quickly. She ran as fast as her tired legs could carry her before she realized that none of the timberwolves were following her. As she slow carefully approached the clearing again, always expecting an ambush. There they were still on the clearing, circling around Granny Smith.
Three Alicorns meet in the Everfree Forest... sounds like the beginning of one of the jokes Twilight despised even back when she was, by her own definition, an unicorn. She was an alicorn like... unlike Princess Celestia, who was an saddle arabian hor... unicorn now, she really should stop thinking about this things. The Princess stood tall over the green messy alicorn, but it was as if there sizes were inverted.
"I wish that you let Granny Smith go" Celestia said, but it felt less than an instruction than a plead.
Evefree´s face got stern and the expected answer was spoken: "No."
"Excuess the question, why not?" asked Celestia. Twilight could not belief it, Celestia on the receiving end usually everypony listens to her every word. It was just like the conversation they had when her filly-self wanted to enter the Starswirl the Bearded wing, just that Celestia was now her.
"You really don´t need to know this at the moment." The resemblance was so uncanny that Twilight wondered how much Princess Celestia had assimilated from Evefree´s methods, after all from Celestia´s viewpoint she was younger. One thing was missing the gesture of good will. But as she thought that, Evefree groaned: "If I lift the barrier? Will you leave?"
"For now?"
"Fine," The green alicorn groaned again. Not to happy with this arrangement. "It will be over soon, just wait."
The white tall unicorn turned around as trees reverted their boughs with dull creaking to their original position. A shower of saphire blue blossoms fell like snow as the vines retracted. There were three panicking ponies in the forest right now trying to accomplish the impossible task, to evade all the poison joke, that had made the fake sky along with a few yellow flowers. Applejack grabbed a vine an used it as rope to lash at the snow fall of doom. Twilight used her shield spell, the pink dome got quickly covered by the blue plant. Made it seem purple from the other side. Zecora remembered that she had the remedy bottled up at home and stopped trying. Only Princess Celestia kept calm, more than calm actually she really enjoyed to walk in the green grass of the blue autumn. The big petals felt like leaves on her back and wings.
"How did you know she wouldn´t turn you into... I don´t know a slug", asked Twilight.
"I simply believed in the magic of friendship."
Pinkie Pie had prepared a picnic and was able to ease everypony on the outside the forest with sugary goodness as the walls came down.
After checked that her teleportation had her brought her exactlly where she wanted to be she said: "I didn´t find Granny, but Princess Celestia has negotiated with the kidnapper."
"Negotiated, with timberwolves?" asked Rainbow Dash warily.
"No, not with timberwolves. With Evefree, an other alicorn", corrected Twilight her pegasus friend.
"Seriously? Say how many previous proteges did the Princess had before you?", ask Rainbow.
Twilight didn´t knew the answer to that, but what thought was: "From how they interacted with each other I think she might have been Celestia´s mentor prior to Starswirl. Not her student." Twilight looked at many faces of disbelieve ranging from For real´ to an almost panickingThat can´t be true´. The end of the spectrum representative carried from Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. She did not knew how she felt about it herself.
"Don´t worry me and Big Mac can handle things here."
In another spark of magic Twilight teleported all her friends and herself back inside the forest to the location of the beam.
Applejack stood face to face with Evefree. "This was a warning shot", proclaimed the green alicorn. "Stay away from my apple theif you ungrateful little granddaughter."
"Her name is Granny Smith, ya creep!" She didn´t even knew her name, thought Applejack unsure how to feel about that. Should she be relieved or even more angry than she already was?
Applejack had waited in the bushes close enough to see the clearing and her grandmother, but far away enough that the timberwolves did not mind her. It had taken many attempts to find this spot, but it would be worth it if she can confront the kidnapping alicorn. As the blossom rain had come down, she had already a good idea about the distance she had to keep at that point. All she had needed was an good viewpoint for a surprise attack. As the green alicorn had stepped into the clearing and had send the timberwolves their ways, -"Your services are no longer needed."- was Applejack´s time come. She had slammed her body into the left wing of the alicorn pushing her away from Granny Smith.
"Then I will call her Anny once she is awake." joked Evefree, but at this moment two separate glisteningly magic fields appeared behind Applejack and over the treetops. The one to the left was slightly pink and out of it dropped five ponies. Two of them hold up by a magical aura. The other was blindingly bright and Evefree knew all to well who was coming out off that one, the Princess of Equestria.
"No, I thought... What is going on here? Twilight?", asked Princess Celestia, she had expected to find Evefree here, willing to talk about this whole ordeal with her in peace. Not Twilight and here friends turning into their Rainbow Power forms. Their manes and tail added new colors, except Rainbow Dash´s who already had a mane of way to many colors, and grow twice their normal length. The wings of Twilight and her pegasi friends also added colors. While unusual that never had bothered Princess Celestia. That their cutiemark changed and spread over their body on the other hand she worried her. A cutiemark is a representation of your very self. What does it say if the cutiemark just changed in a blink!? This was the power that defeated Tirek. "Twilight...!" But she was already in one of her self absorbed friendship speeches.
It was not Celestia who interupted Twilight it was Applejack: "Give me back Granny and we let ya go!"
"Anny has already sacraficed her whole life to her family! Let me have the few hours she got left!" shouted Evefree up to the six ponies floating in their multicolored sphere.
"Maybe we should listen to what she has to say", suggested Fluttershy to the left of Twilight.
Applejack on the right protested against this idea: "Are ya´ll out of ya mind. We have to get Granny back to the barn for treatments!"
"But..."
"Fire!" shouted Applejack backed up by Rainbow Dash.
The multicolored beams formed a colorful rainbow of friendship, that was fired on Evefree. "I knew it! Your farm is more impotant to you than Anny."
Showered in the multicolored light Evefree bowed down, not in defeat, but to kiss the earth. Her horn lit up green, briefly just for a few seconds. Sprouts sprung out of the ground. Rapidly growing, aging, going through the seasons. Forming leaves, loosing leaves over and over again. The sprouts grow into saplings. Their fall leaves covered the ground around the green Alicorn in all possible colors.
"That´s all you got? Typical unicorn only able to do the flashiest forms of magic." insulted Evefree Twilight. Or was it her? Even at this moment she kept staring at Celestia. As the trees grew in her line of sight she moved so she could see the princess again. The rainbow beam followed her on the hoof and new trees were born alongside her. Celestia knew this spell it had cemented autumn to her favourite time of the year. "A school for gifted unicorns and all your prized student can do is to point and shoot? I knew you have a soft spot for the weakest magic users in ponykind. Tutorship by Starswirl, falling in love with one in another dimension and then that that unicorn with wings."- Rainbow Dash could not hold it any longer, they were getting a beating but she sure loved the look on Twilight´s face as she was called weakest magic user, so she laughed out loud -"What I didn´t knew is that you only teach them unicorn magic. What a waste of time! Listen up unicorn..." Rarity looked over to Twilight asking if she meant her, but Twilight explained that Evefree was most certainly referring to her.
"This was unicorn magic flashy and open manipulation of magic streams. Like throwing stones into the river. Splashing the water. Pegasi Magic on the other side is almost subtle it is the stone in the river, permanently changing its stream. A cloud on the right time can prevent a drought." Evefree freed from the multicolored beam since Applejack was nolonger within range she walked up to the new trees. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash gave eachother an unknowing shrug. It was natural for a pegasi to bust or walk on clouds sure it took some skill to create clouds, but magic? Magic was the flashy unnatural stuff... "Supportive Magic to fulfill their users needs." ... wait how were the none cloudmade objects holding on clouds? They never even thought about that.
"Do me! Do me!" yelled Pinkie Pie, begging for Evefree to explain Earthpony Magic.
Evefree got dreamy eyes as she, sheepishly stepping from one hoof to another, answered: "Earthponies are the most magical of all..." Now it was Twilight´s turn to laugh, receiving an angry stare from Evefree. "Their magic IS the river. Everytime they work they leave a little of their magic WITHIN their work. Animals eat their crops and become magical, stones cutted become eatable. THEY create the magical fields unicorns use for their weak tricks!"
"Oh please stop this farce"-, said Rarity, who had somehow managed to find a graceful way to be stucked in a tree, -"if what you said would be true that would mean..."
"That you unicorns are just parasites of magic!" explained Evefree, resiving a bitter glare of the white unicorn. Who felt deeply insulted by this parable. Twilight just shaked her head, she was certain this mare just wanted them to believe her lies. "What´s the matter unicorn... with wings" Evefree said adding the last part as Rarity took breath to answer. This was not a lesson for her she already worked her magic into her passion without knowing about it. Unlike the self proclaimed Element of Magic and student of Celestia.
"There is no prove for what you are saying!"
"Since when is there prove in anything you said! You just sound smart." The green alicorn kicked the tree, with loud cracking and creaking, bending and breaking all the trees formed by the rainbow power bend to Evefrees will. Applejacks eyes got widder as everypony else as she saw that. A pack of timberwolves was formed by a single buck to the trunk. "My magic is in the Tree of Harmony."
Evefree stood in front of them with a fresh created pack of timberwolves. Two dozen pairs of green glowing eyes behind the mare that simply took the strongest means they possessed. Even more claimed to be its source.
There she stood, the lavender unicorn, friend of Celestia. The pony who had brought back the mementos of her past loves. The fruits of Evefree´s masterpiece, that were called the Elements of Harmony. Evefree had certainly stronger opponents over the millennia, like Tirek´s teacher, whoms magic attacks had unwillingly helped creating the oldest parts of the Everfree Forest. But none of her earlier enemies she felt like she owed them something.
Then there was that pink earthpony, the great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaugther of Holder Cobblestone. If things had turned out different back in the days this pony might have been her great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaugther too.
Then there was the despicable farm pony granddaugther that tried her hardest to look inocent as she tried to get Granny Smith killed.
Then there were their friends unremarkable to Evefree. No previous connections or hidden bonds, roadblocks at best.
There they were Celestia´s past and the future in conflict with eachother. If Luna and Cadence would be here the chaos in her heart would have been complete. She as sole witness as the timberwolves start their chase, as Twilight swooped in her horn lit up with her unusually strong magic to safe her friends. Evefree with equally glowing magic to protect her pets. Both convinced to do the right thing for the right reasons. And Celestia wanted both sides to stop. No side to lose. She trusted her faithful former student as much as she believed in her former mentor.
Magic beams and teleportations on top of all the previous magical escapades of the day strained Twilight Sparkle. "Run, Applejack. I can´t hold them down forever."
"But Granny..."
"Is in no danger, Evefree loves her. But for some reason she hates you!"
Scattered pieces of the timberwolves floated around to reform themself and Evefree commented on that: "Unicorn, I let you know that fighting my timberwolves does not help you to fight me. My magic has become part of them. I no longer need to put any power or channel my magic into them. It is theirs now. They are no puppets. They live. Do you understand?" She had to give at least some knowledge. It was not her fault she choose to fight for that ungradeful granddaugther.
"Yes I understand! Do you think I am so stupid that..." `...I let your wolves hunt my friends?´was what she wanted to say but she was cut of by Evefree.
"For somepony that after all the times she use the Elements still thinks Magic can be channeled into magic, yes I do."
Twilight in her weaken state remembered the words in the book. -There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery.- "Then what is the sixth Element called."
"You called it Magic, Celestia called it Leadership, but for me it was always my first love."
A shivering cold ran down Applejack spine. Was that what the alicorn planned? Turning Granny into an Element of Harmony? First she had thought she had to rescue her live, than she had thought she had to save Granny´s body and soul and now... she did not even had words for this. A monster that was what Evefree was.
"Girls charge up!" shouted Twilight stepping once again in the Rainbow Power. Green magic focused Twilight and Applejack. Sparks of raw magic power flew around leaving small burn marks where ever they landed. Celestia was shocked and surprised Evefree was taking this seriously. But not as surprised to see Twilight unharmed. "With your magic inside us you can´t hurt us. The polymetric law of magi..." Two things stopped her monologue. One was a sudden flash in front of her eyes. The other was seeing Applejack jumping forward towards where the timberwolves were lurking as Twilight turned her face away from the blazing light.
"This has to stop!" shouted Princess Celestia in the tone only someone in charge of a thousands of ponies over hundereds of years could thought Twilight, but it was just the words of a pony who really believed what was going on was wrong. The white alicorn stood between Twilight and Evefree carrying a magic shield to protect herself.
"So are you now going to fight me." said Evefree, her eyes firmly stuck to the white alicorn´s body covered in small burn marks. She had hurt her...
"You know what you are doing is wrong! What would Granny Smith say to you attacking her grandchildren."
"Shut up, unicorn!" Evefree´s voice could have shattered windows as she shouted back at her: "Anny stole my heart along with my apples to feed her family. She knows that you sometimes have to do bad things to..." As she looked to Twilight she discovered that Applejack was gone.
Granny Smith had woken up and found herself, still bound to the Zap Appletree, but in front of her where previously was a clearing stood now two lines of trees. She could hear her kidnapper shouting, "Anny stole my heart along with my apples to feed her family. She knows that you sometimes have to do bad things to..." as Applejack ran past the trees, closing the distance and started to unstangle her out of the vines.
Twilight wanted to fly after Evefree as she had rushed away, but Celestia had hold her back in a golden aura of her magic. It was unsettling for the lavender alicorn. Since she was a filly Princess Celestia had never used any magic to rein her in, but now. "I said it´s over, Twilight. I also ment you with it."
"But I need to help my friend..."
"By ganging up against my friend? Twilight, is that your finding in the Magic of Friendship?" ask Princess Celestia´s eyes began to form tears, "Having friends as resources that you can pull for power? When you need them? I..." said Celestia with tears in her eyes. "I always believed in Friendship. The magic to support somepony close to you. The might to, with a single word, just be there or even just their memory of you, make them do better choices. To let them find their mistakes in their ways. To make another´s live just better because you exist. That´s the Magic of Friendship Starswirl offered me, that Clover the Clever offered me, that oh so many ponies have offered me and I have returned to them. That lifted me durring my darkest times. A gift I hoped we share Twilight. A gift that time and again got Discord away of his evil ways without force. But it looks like I was just something that gave you power. That you could use." Finally the tears were running down Princess Celestia cheeks.
"Princess I have to go and stop Evefree."
"Please, Twilight let me help Evefree to overcome her grieves. She is a good pony."
Twilight was silent. Wait, was she the bad pony here? The bully in school that had everyone back her up because she was popular not because she was right? But Evefree she has kidnapped somepony. Princess Celestia had to admited that that was a bad thing to do and still she insisted to not punish her.
"Let me heal her, damn it! Let me make her younger! Let me make her inmortal. She is your grandmother! Why do you want her to die?!" Applejack starred at the green, angry face. This had to be some sick joke. "If you hate her so much just let me keep her here. The farm can be yours." Was she really thinking that Applejack hated her grandmother. Was she delusional, or something!?
"Why would Ah leave Granny here with ya, ya creep! Ya wan´ed to kiss her while she slept."
"She whaa?" asked Granny Smith dangling in the vines.
Evefree blushed all over her face, stunned by the words of Granny Smith she lost her grip on Applejack. Within seconds the farmpony wrestled the alicorn to the ground. "Also make her immortal? Then what was the horseapple talk about letting ya have her last few hours?"
At this point stood Princess Celestia behind them and asked politely, that Applejack would take her grandmother and leave the rest to her. Evefree declined this option, arguing that Applejack was trying to kill Granny Smith for a brief moment, but the angry words of Granny Smith over these accusations silenced the green alicorn for good.
Twilight Sparkle was to weak to teleport so they moved the old fashion way through the woods, when Applejack asked: "Ya sure we should just leave her?"
"No, I am not." Twilight let her head sink. "But I think I owe a friend."
"Ya mean Princess Celestia? Right?"
"Of course I mean Princess Celestia. I don´t even now Evefree."
"I am not going to say I am sorry, Celly. I was just trying to help her." said Evefree, but her eyes told a different story and Celestia needed her to be honest. Not to her, but to herself.
"And just how many years have you suck out of her body into your trees?"
"About five or six."
"And would you like it if I did that to you?" asked Celestia, trying to sound confident.
"Ha you can´t. You are almost as weak in true magic as that unicorn."
"Her name is Twilight Sparkle."-Celestia needed to hold her grin back. Just a temporary age-spell would be enough to make her reconsider these words. -"And that was not the point, would you like it if I would do that to you?"
"There is a difference. It took me six years to get one year older. My heart only hops when I see her happy."
"As did Clover the Clever" said Celestia, reminding her of her fith love and also onesided. Clover the only unicorn she ever had a crush on. She had been here for just a month. She really understood her and the memories of Clover had helped her to age to adolescence. Even now her heart made a leap. Sweet memories the only way to get old alone. But she was also the pony that had made being alone so much more painful."Or Holder Cobblestone" Celestia stopped for a brief moment. "Did you know that..."
"Yes, I knew that the pink pony was his offspring. The Pies." Cobblestone, he wasn´t to happy when she tried to clone him for herself. His anger was partly because he almost drowned, partly because he was about to get married to Pie Recipe and partly because Evefree had never expected to fall in love with a stallion. The mirror pond was a stupid idea. "I kept watching everyponies families with my crows." All three that still exist, that is. Bloodlines lost to the ages. Six times she had endured the loss of a loved pony. She had the means to stop it from happening again. Still it would just lead Granny Smith to the same pain as her.
Celestia had a compassionate smile, folding her wing around the small green body. "If you look for companionship. Luna and I would be happy to see you with us in Canterlot. We always looked at you as a big sister." It would be nice to see little Luna again, but Canterlot, Equestria for the matter...
Evefree brushed aside her wing and start to vanish into the woods: "Sorry I can´t live in a land where not even the clouds move on their own. Maybe next year if Anny has forgiven me. For know I´d like to be alone."
Author's Note
In the earliest drafts of this story there was no Evefree just a "Waldschrat"(A wood ghost) and the story would have been over in two chapters with Granny Smith leaving the forest as a young mare with no memories, but ones the idea of writing a Mary Sue as the antagonist took form there was no holding back in making her a sterotypical Alicorn OC.
Celestia stood in the fields of Sweet Apple Acres watching the Everfree Forest turn blue. The outlines off the woods had become blurred with the night sky. In front of this backdrop it was even harder to make out the movements of the watchdogs. The royal princess pressed her wings to her side and took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult. "Everypony go home!" She told the Applefamily and their friends. She should have known that these ponies would not listen. Only her former student even considered her order for a moment, but in the end even Twilight Sparkle put her hoof down. This was too personal for them to step down. These poor little ponies...
"Are ya out of yar mind? No pony gonna stop us from getting Granny back!"
"Gehehehe you are so funny." Pinkie giggled, this had to be a joke. Right?
"With all due respect, Princess. We can´t let these wolves get away with this."
"With all due respect, Princess." Celestia looked down on Twilight. "I really want all of you stand DOWN!" The last word echoed in a booming voice from the white alicorn. The manes of the ponies flowed in the wind due to the surprisingly strong lungs of Celestia. "You have no idea what you are up against! The Everfree Forest is dangerous whoever has gone in has never come back out!"
Twilight flicked her ears. She had to be hearing things or did Princess Celestia just said..."Ifrit?" Twilight asked out loud, wondering if this beast was indeed real.
"It´s Eve-Free, Twilight." Celestia watched over her shoulder with an apologetic demeanor towards her former student: "You are not completely off, thought. Everfree and Ifrit have their names roots in her. Go back to your castle."
Granny Smith kept staring at her kidnapper standing in front of her. Her grey hair bun was opened by limegreen magic, carefully but clumsily. "This must be very inconvenienced for you. This stupid vines have sometimes have an mind on their own." The elder pony did not believe her eyes as the same green aura pulled a rainbow colored apple from the tree. "You like them, don´t you? Here, have a bite, my little..." Princess Celestia´s message echoed from the trees as the zap apple touched her lips. Her majesty herself had come to rescue her? "Princess?"
The white alicorn had just passed the other ponies when one of the poison joked timberwolves started moving in front of the forest. When it had reached halfway to the group it started to scratch trails into the ground. When it was done with its work it returned to the woods. Soon stood Celestia over this place. `Leave us alone´ was written in an ancient rune language. "WE ARE ENTERING." In another blazing flash was she gone.
"She teleported in, Twilight! Teleported INSIDE", shouted Applejack, her emotion somewhere in between anger and disappointment. "How could none of us think of that?!? Take us in there, right now!"
Twilight watched her hooves in shame: "Maybe we should let Princess Celestia handle this?"
The front gate of the castle of the two sisters, her old castle. How long had it been since she was here for the last time? Yes, the one time she and Luna had searched for remains of their time before Nightmare Moon. They had found a few molded boardgames and books they liked. Vines from treetop to treetop covered in poison joke with big yellow flowers few and far between. Even here on giant clearing the castle resides was this blanket outspread. A nightsky made of flowers. Hanging so deep. It would be wise not to fly in here. "Okay Evefree where are you hiding?" Celestia asked herself stepping down the staircase of the canyon surrounding the castle.
"No, you don´t understand, Applejack! Princess Celestia has never ordered us to stay down before! Discord. Tirek! She trusted us to handle things she could not do on her own! This... this is different!" Twilight refused the request of taking her friend into the forest.
"Yeah, ya re right. It is different! Ma grandma is in there and Celestia has lost her freakin mind!" The stubborn earthpony pressed her head against Twilight's. Her stetson flopped onto the grass. Staring her sternly in the eyes. "Get me in there! Ya can chicken out if ya want, BUT GET ME IN THERE, FIRST!"
"No!"
"No?"
"No."
Applejack pushed Twilight so hard she almost fell beside the hat. "Screw ya! Rainbow, the Rainboom!", she demanded, but the usually so bold pegasus was a lot more hesitant about a second breakthrough.
"What? You want me to crash head first into that?" She inquired pointing her hoof to the `Everfree Fortress´ and its blue armor-clad guards
Applejack was outraged. Did none of her so called friends see what needed to be done? "Ya are backstabbing me too!"
"Applejack, do you even know the stories about Ifrit? The stories about the Everfree Forest that had kept ponies out of this woods until we had to go inside them to stop Nightmare Moon? If only parts of those..."
"Ya remember we didn´t know anything about most of the enemies we battled, ah say we got a way better edge to fight something we kinda know!"
While the mares were arguing, tiny Applebloom approached them with Fluttershy by her side. Both were letting their ears hang. In a very sad voice the filly asked, "Uhm, Princess Twilight?" Hearing the filly using the formal title got their attention right away. "Ah know Princess Celestia is going to help Granny... ." Her big orange eyes gaze right into her soul. "But what about Zecora? She´s gonna be okay, right?"
"Twilight, we have to check how she is... if that´s okay, that is." The meek yellow pegasus reinforced the request of Applebloom. Everypony around them knew that Zecora had almost become a mother figure to the youngest apple sibling. She had spend many days in the zebras' hut and even learned potion making. Somedays Applejack feared that Applebloom would start to rhyme every words she spoke like Zecora did or leave the farm to live with her - like she did after mom and dad died - ; yet how could she not like somepony that filled the void for her little sister?
"Fine", Twilight agreed, "I'll get in there and teleport us out."
Calm and steady boiled the brew in the big black cauldron in the middle of the hollow tree, covering everything in a soft green glow. The walls were hung with cupboards filled with potions and traditional masks of her tribe. On her bed laid Zecora snuggled inside her leopard blanket. Suddenly was the peaceful night over.
"Hitch-hiking a snitch."
"Applejack and Twilight Sparkle why do you two fight - in my home at the middle of the night?" Zecora sat upright in her bed, clearly holding back her anger about the violation of privacy and trespassing of her hut. But the ponies did not react to her at all. Instead the farm pony tossed Twilight against the desk and moved to the door. It was impressive how far the former unicorn had mastered her new pair of wings since she had become an alicorn, a princess of Equestria. She had caught the force of the vicious throw to glide pass the cauldron and blocking the entrance for Applejack. "I don´t know what caused this rage - but would you stop this rampage! You have destroyed my work - by going berserk!
"Get Zecora and leave the forest, Twilight!" Applejack wanted to pull her hat in her face, but as she as touched her mane she realized that it was still on the ground outside of the forest. Great she has to face Twilight´s disproving gaze. Why does she have to make things so difficult? Rescue the Zebra and let her safe her Granny. Simple. Applejack sighed. "Get out of my way, before Ah do something Ah would regret."
"That´s why I am standing in your way!" With a leap Twilight tried to suppress Applejack, but all that happened was that she was hanging over her back like a big lavender saddle bag. Applejack was rocking and kicking as if it was a rodeo. It took the young alicorn a lot of strength to not topple of the orange back. "Zecora! Come here, we have to go!"
Zecora stepped closer with a questioning look on her face and a rhyme to go along with it: "When we reach our destination - I expect an explanation. About why we have to flee - from the forest of Everfree."
Applebloom had been walking nervously in circles since her sister had tackled Twilight while teleporting inside. "Shouldn´t they be back by now?"
"Eeyup."
Rarity complained behind the worried siblings back about Applejack´s attitude while everypony watched the forest. The timberwolves still roamed the forest edge without any attempt to attack the ponies. It really looked like they were safe at a few yards away from the wooden wall. But then one of the blue coated timberwolves started howling. It fell apart and new twigs, sticks and poision joke floated to its former position. The three normal sized poison wolves had now formed, retreated into the woods. "This can´t be good", muttered Spike more to himself than to anypony else.
"Eeyup."
