Tale of the Everfree Curse

Alright here’s the best hands ah could hire for the job,” Applejack presented her group of helping hands that she was able to scrounge up under such short notice. Who would have thought it’d be so difficult to find ponies willing to search for a bloodthirsty worm that burst from the chest cavity of a live pony. She couldn’t get many volunteers. Only three ponies came to help. One of them was pretty small. She was brown with light green mane and tail. Her mane was tied into a single ponytail and her tail left straight. She had a determined look in her eyes. She rarely blinked and would look straight into the eyes of whichever pony spoke to her. Her cutie mark was a rock skipping off a puddle of mud. Applejack gestured towards her.

“This here is Mudskipper. She’s helped me out a few times ‘round the farm and is a good friend of the family. She don’t talk much, so don’t be offended if she doesn’t make much fer conversation.”

Mudskipper responded, “When there’s work to do there’s no time for chit chat.”

“Ain't that the truth.” Applejack bumped hooves with her friend.

She moved onto the next pony, a rugged looking pegasus. He bore many scars on his face and legs. His wings were ruffled with some feathers missing. He was of average height but heavily built. His muscles rippled underneath his canvas of scars. Despite being a pegasus he seemed like he could take on the strongest of Earth ponies and stand hoof to hoof with them.

“Here is Feather Run. Rainbow Dash found ‘em cruisin around earlier and thought he’d make fer some good muscle. Ah didn’t think we’d really need ‘em but Rainbow Dash insisted. Ah s’ppose we could use ‘em.”

Feather Run waved at everypony, “Hi nice to meet you. Sorry if I’m not much use today. When I heard about the job I had to give it a try. It’s been forever since anypony needed me for something like this.”

Rarity interjected, “So, you have actually done this kind of thing before? Pardon my rudeness, but why on earth would you want to deal with such horrid things?”

The pegasus cracked a smile as he started to respond.

“It’s what I enjoy. That’s my calling. I earned my cutie mark doing this.” He pointed to his cutie mark, a dragon skull with an arrow going through its jaw.

“It is very.... unique indeed.” Rarity seemed very concerned about the mark. She looked over to Rainbow Dash with uneasiness as Applejack introduced the last pony.

“Anyways. Our last partner fer this here show is Desert Rose. Ah heard she is mighty good at odd jobs, particularly in carpentry. She also didn’t run away when ah told her what we planned on, so that’s a plus.”

The unicorn had a desert red mane that sprawled across her back and neck, with a few dreads the framed her face. Her dark green coat was ragged and needed a good brushing, but it was tont over the tone muscles of a hard worker. Her tail dragged behind her and was unkept. Her face showed the friendliness of a bull shark, while her ice blue eyes priced through to your very soul. Her cutie mark was a framing speed square. She looked at both Rarity and Rainbow Dash in turn and shot them a crooked grin.

“Tis a pleasure to meet you all.” Even though she had a rugged look, her voice was smooth as velvet and sweet to the ears. One that would even give Rarity a run for her bits. Desert Rose trotted over to Rainbow Dash and Rarity, which cause Rarity to scrunch her snout; trying her best not to make a foul comment on the state of her coat. But Desert Rose seemed to read her mind.

Desert Rose gave Rarity a playful sultry look as she opened her mouth. “I see somepony has the taste for the more elegant things in life.”

Rarity shot and evil glare back towards her. “Well I do try, along with personal hygiene.”

The dark green Unicorn started to chuckle. “Sweetie, I am clean if that's what you're asking. Although my coat may look like a mess I do keep up on myself. But unlike certain ponies I love to get my hooves dirty; and I’m not afraid of hard labor.”

Applejack cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. “Now, if everyone is done throwin dirt, can we get back to the task at hoof?” Applejack looked at both Rarity and Desert Rose. Rarity was still somewhat befuddled, while Desert Rose seemed not care at all about what just happened. “Right, now Ah think I saw the, ‘worm’ crawl into a grate. So Ah think it's best to start in the sewers.”

Rarity’s head turned so quickly it looked like it was going to snap off. Her eyes turned as big as saucers while her jaw dropped.

“THE SEWERS! Darling you can’t be serious! With my mane and coat. I wouldn’t be caught dead in the dirty sewers.” Desert Rose threw head back and started to howl with laughter. As she straighten her body back out she brought a hoof up to her cheek to wipe away the tears rolling down her face.

“Oh this is Priceless. A poor pony was just brutally murdered, and you can’t be bothered to help look for the thing that did it, just because we’re going into the sewers. Some element of generosity you are.”

Rainbow Dash started to chuckle to herself as Rarity's pristine white face began to darken to a deep shade of crimson as rage boiled inside her. The alabaster mare shot daggers to the cyan pegasus before coming muzzle to muzzle with Desert Rose.

“You look here, you degenerate ruffian! I’ll not stand here and take an insult by somepony as the likes of you! Now You wil-”

“RARITY! Will ya shut yer damn trap, please. You are gunna come with us. And Desert Rose, please stop antagonizing her. We have work to do.” Applejack sighed and rubbed the side of her head, in all of the commotion she had forgotten about her headache. But it reared its nasty head yet again amongst the arguing.

The rest of the group felt very awkward caught in the heated argument between Desert Rose and Rarity, but they pressed on. During the walk, Rarity and Desert Rose slowly gravitated to the outermost edges of the group. Rainbow Dash was quite enthralled by Feather Run’s tales of travel and past hunts. She had all the attention of a starry-eyed filly. He was happy to boast his feats, but Desert Rose was not so impressed. She wanted so badly for him to shut his mouth and jump into the nearest swamp so a crocodile can take him away.

After many minutes of walking they finally reached a deep trench that led to a worn out set of broken iron bars underneath the edge of Ponyville. Underneath a small stream of water leaked from the tunnel behind the bars. A misused lantern hung next to the entrance. It looked as if nopony had used it for years. Rarity used her magic to ignite a small flame in the lantern. The fire barely lit the entrance as it had to fight through the grime of the dirty glass.

“There. Much better. Now we can at least find the exit. Are you sure that we can’t just...wait out here for it to come to us?” Rarity gave Applejack and hopeful glance as she waited for somepony to respond.

“Gotta work for it princess,” Desert Rose walked between split set of bars and turned around. Her hooves splashing in the shallow water. Feather Runr followed her.

“This reminds me of the time me and my buddies went into the Lost Caves of Alkesh. We were chasing down a feral dragon. It was old, probably hadn’t cleaned itself in months. I still remember the stench of the corpses. Skeletons with meat still rotting on the broken bones. Horrible smell. Ah brings back good memories.”

As Feather Run took a trip down memory lane, Rarity was having trouble keeping her stomach settled.

“Feather Run. Please! Can you not talk about such vile and disgusting things in front of a lady? I can hardly stand this wretched place as it is. A lady shouldn’t be in a sewer for Celestia’s sake!” Desert Rose rolled her eyes whilst Rarity still whined about her current plight.

“Oh sorry ma'am. Guess I’m used to a rougher crowd.”

Desert Rose added, “No need to be sorry, she just needs to stop whining and get her hooves dirty for once.”
Rarity responded through her teeth, “Thank you darling. At least you are understanding and considerate. Unlike some ponies I know of.”

She flicked her hair and proceeded to stomp her way through the sewer runoff. The rest of the group followed inside and waded through the water. The path was exceptionally wide. Big enough to allow five ponies to walk side-by-side. Rarity and Desert Rose used their horns to illuminate the area with a warm glow. Their shadows cast onto the walls and stretched across the withered and broken stone walls. Slime and moss coated various spots on the cold stone. Rarity very much regretted being able to see and dared not go near the walls in fear of getting her pristine white coat muddled.

They walked for quite some time before reaching a circular hub area that branched off into different paths. In the middle of the room on the ceiling was a single grate that opened into the surface and let some moonlight illuminate the center of the room. Various small waterways led into the room from the ceiling and let water run down the walls and into the large pool in the middle. Some poured much like a waterfall, others trickled in, and others let in nothing at all. The group wandered about the hub and peeked into each path to see where it led.

Applejack looked up at the grate, “If Ah’m not mistaken, we should be underneath Sugarcube Corner, or at least near it. Also Ah believe this is where that, thing, crawled too.”

Feather Run turned back to the path they came from.
“Maybe we should mark this one so we know where to get out. Hey Desert Rose? Think you can pop some magic above this one so we can tell what’s what?”

She looked at the exit and stood thinking for a few seconds.

“That’s not a bad idea. I got just the thing.”

She focused her magic and shot a thin beam of green energy at the arch above the entrance. Tiny bits of stone fell and left behind was the outline of a glowing green rose.

“Very smart. Pretty too,” Mudskipper admired Desert Rose’s work and gave her a nod of approval. Desert Rose thanked her and turned back towards the rest of the group in the center of the room.

AJ laid out a plan, “Right. Looks like there’s a lot of ground to cover. So let’s split into two groups. Desert Rose, Mudskipper, and Ah will take one way. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Feather Run will take another way. If ya find the lil critter, be careful. Corner it and try to tie up its mouth if ya can. Then throw it in the bag and go ahead and bring it to Twilight. If one of us gets out first be sure to leave a sign so when we come back we know you made it out. Everypony got it?”

Everypony nodded.

Mudskipper asked, “Can we kill it? I mean if it tries to kill us I can break its neck right?”

Rainbow Dash joined, “Yea! That sounds awesome. Then we can stomp it into the ground and rub its filthy little face in the water and…,” She proceeded to imitate shoving an invisible worm’s face into the water and thrashing about in the water. Rarity jumped away from Rainbow Dash and shook herself from any water that splashed on her.

“Rainbow Dash please! Must you spread this vile filth on everypony? Not all of us enjoy splashing about in such horrid water. I don’t even know how such a creature can survive down here. Just thinking about all the disgusting germs swimming around my hooves is enough to make me want to shower for the rest of my life.” Rarity's body visibly shuddered as disgust fell upon her face as the thought ran threw her head.

“Um. Ma’am? You might wanna move over just a tad,” Feather Run motioned for her to step aside.

“Why? What is it?” Rarity looked down to see a dead rat floating by and bumped into her hoof. She screamed and started having a panic attack. She ran around the room crying while shouting various unladylike phrases. Everypony couldn’t help but snicker. Rainbow Dash started dying of laughter, Desert Rose however was not entertained. Displeasure raged in her eyes as she watched the pompis acts of the unicorn in front of her.

“For the love of Luna’s glorious butt Rarity, please. Shut the fuck up! For once in your glorious lie of a life can you act like a normal pony, and stop being the center of attention for fuck sakes! Applejack, Mudskipper! Are you coming or what!?” Desert Rose stormed off down a dimly lit and particularly run-down tunnel. Much of the ceiling and walls had crumbled away. Dirt poured from some sides and roots of trees burrowed their way through the ceiling. Mudskipper followed suit shaking her head. Applejack turned towards her friend. Her eyes were lowered and seemed like they were trying to hint an apology for Desert Rose’s behavior.

Rarity got the message and walked ahead in the other direction. She kept her head held high despite wanting to just fall and lay down on a nice silky bed and be rid of this mess. Feather Run ran to catch up and walked slightly behind her. Rainbow Dash caught up as well and kept pace with her friend. Both groups left the light behind with only a single glowing green rose as a reminder of their presence. Their clumsy walking reverberated through the hub and became quieter the further they were, until only the echoing showers of water filled the room. Occasionally a faint howl found its way through the ceiling grate. A ripple slowly made its way down the peaceful flow of the sewer as a dark figure slipped down one of the corridors, letting out a low hiss that was drowned out in the subtle noise of running water.

Twilight walked up the the heavy oak doors that stood as the entrance to her castle. Her horn lit up and her magic wrapped around the handle as she opened the door. Off in the distance she could hear the faint sound of Spike still upheaving what ever was left in his stomach. She closed the door behind her as she followed the sound to Spike.

She walked through the entryway and started down the hallway, with crystals that sparkled with the intensity of the richest diamond mines. As she trotted through the halls, reaching deeping with in the crystal structure, Spikes vile sound grew louder. Twilight approached the bathroom door that was a jar, knocking before sticking her head in.

“Hey, Spike? How are you holding up?” Twilight poked her head inside to look at the baby dragon who had his head buried in the toilet.

“Well, considering what I just saw, I think I’m doing alright.” Spike looked up to Twilight with a pale face, and sandbags under his eyes. Twilight frowned back at him, feeling truly sorry he had seen the body this morning.

“Take how ever long you need. But if you need me, I’ll be in the library. I have questions that need answers.” With that said Twilight retracted her head and made her way down another hall to a series of chambers before finally coming in front a of set of blackened doubled doors with ruby handles. She opened the doors to a room that was covered from wall to wall and floor to ceiling in books and various scrolls.

To her left was a small wooden desk that had books stacked high on either side of it. On the desk laid a stack of blanks pages with an inkwell and quill beside it. Twilight walked over to the desk and sat down on the padded pillow that laid behind it. As her romp touch the floor a harsh sigh escaped her mouth.

“Hmmmm, where to start.” Twilight’s eyes slowly wandered around the room as she was searching for a section she could start pulling books from. Her hoof tapping her chin rhythmically as she pondered what to pull first. She decided to stop trying to overthink it and just let something jump out at her. She found herself staring at her section of Invertebrate Books when a book title caught her attention. Invertebrates and What You Need to Know.

Twilight pulled the book off the shelf and placed it on her desk. She also spied a book called Dragons, Serpents, and Worms. She pulled it down and set it next to the other book on her desk. Twilight materialized a teacup to her as she opened up Invertebrates and What You Need to Know, and started to read the first chapter.

For the rest of the day Twilight was buried in her books, by mid-day her desk had a new stack of books surrounding it. She hadn't even noticed Spike wondering in at one point to curl up under the desk and take a nap next her.

The more she flipped through the books, the more she was losing her temper. She had spent the better part of her day going through her entire catalog and hadn’t been able to come up with any solid leads. Just more questions regarding her mysterious creature.

Twilight screamed out in frustration and anger as she started at the page. Her horn ignited and the book was engulfed in her magic as she hauled in through the window in her library, along with several other books that had not given her the answers that she needed.

Meanwhile Lyra and Bon Bon where having a beautiful day as they walked past Twilight's castle. Bon Bon was looking in her saddle bag as a book landed on Lyra's head.

“OW! What the hey Bon Bon!” Lyra looked back to confront her friend for smacking her, when she noticed the book laying on the ground. Bon Bon looked up from her saddle bags to witness Lyra looking up and having five books keep bouncing off her face.

Twilight stared at the now broken window, while she listened to the two ponies outside fuss and whine about the raining books. She looked back at her desk that had a blank parchment on it. Her ears drooped in disappointment at the lack of notes written on it. Never before had Twilight felt so defeated and disappointed in herself. How can she not find something, anything about this creature. As Celestia’s star pupil she owed it to herself to learn about it. She would have to conduct her own expedition. She must find out where it came from. Golden Harvest will show her the way.

Twilight trotted out of the Library and down the hall to her room, where she scooped up her saddle bags. She ran back into the Library and dropped her saddle bags on Spike; startling and awakening him in the process.

“Start packing what I give you. I have questions that need answers!” Spike gave Twilight a puzzled look, but didn’t think twice. For Spike it wasn’t unusual to see Twilight in this state of mind. She always took studying too seriously. Twilight frantically grabbed book, quills, and blank parchments and hurled them at Spike. As he was struggling to keep up with everything thrown at him Twilight bolted out of the room.

Spike neatly arranged her supplies in her saddled backs when more things hoovered through the door and started piling up on top of him. He had just managed to get everything packed away when a purple glow wrapped around Twilight’s saddle bags. He held on as they dragged him down the hall to Twilight. Without a word she shook him off them and walked to the front door as she put them on. Leaving Spike to stare at her flank as she walked out the door.

From what Twilight had gathered from the whispers and hushed conversations of her fellow ponies earlier in the day, Golden Harvest was seen running around town seeking help and screaming madness before her final moments. Many believe she had ran from the Everfree Forest. A place filled with magical power and strange creatures many ponies had never seen before in their lives. The ground itself seemed alive with something that followed you everywhere you went. You could feel as if your very presence was a trespass. Something wanted you to leave. To turn back and never return.

Twilight dared to trespass. Laiden with saddlebags filled with books and any necessities to navigate the forest and survive its hostile environment, Twilight stepped through the veil of leaves and vines that hung like a curtain around the forest. As she walked through she felt like she was walking into a new world entirely. Through the alien world she felt a call. Pulling her, pushing her, forcing her in a role only she could fill. Though she did not like the stage, she knew she fit the role; after all it was made for her. Nopony else performed like she did.
With a smirk across her face, she pressed on into the heart of Everfree. Searching for the clues that laid before her.