The Box in the Everfree

Chapters

Breakfast at Twilight's
Two and a Half Men
Gallows Humour
Silence of the Foals
Nick's Ordeal
Rarity's Lament
Prankster Pegasi/Salt in the Wound
The Man's Story Pt 1
The Man's Story Pt 2
The Man's Story Part 3
The Face
Turbulence
Pinkie Pie Intermission 1
Troll Face Revealed
Seeds of Distrust
SHOE!
Pinkie Pie Intermission 2
Scramble for Shoe
Storm Brew
Enter the Fray
The Last Roundup
Train of Thought
The Chaos has been Doubled!
A Rainy Night
I Told you about Humans, Twilight! I told you Pony!

Breakfast at Twilight's

"BURGLAR!"

That was the first thing she heard ever since Twilight last went to bed. It was sunrise, so it was still somewhat dark. Spike was terrified. Spike saw a messy-maned stranger who seemed to have broken in while he was asleep.

"GET AWAY FROM THESE SLIPPERS! RARITY GAVE THEM TO ME!" Spike said, swinging a rolled up newspaper, defending some slippers as the messy-maned pegasus appeared to be approaching the pile of slippers.

"umm, Spike? Is...is that you?" said the pegasus in a familiar, soft-spoken tone.

"Fluttershy?" Spike responded in utter confusion.

Twilight then groggily walked over to Fluttershy, still barely woken up. Fluttershy was also up, somewhat confused. Spike was also confused, but alert because there was still a bit of adrenaline left from Spike thinking Fluttershy was a random burglar out to steal slippers.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, in a state of half-slumber.

"Oh, sorry about that. I thought Fluttershy was a burglar, is all." Spike stammered in embarrasment.

"Oh, alright. You alright Fluttershy?" Twilight said.

Fluttershy nodded, still in a state of fear.

"Why don't we get something to eat?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy nodded again, still slightly terrified.

Twilight and Fluttershy went to the kitchen. Twilight took out some daffodils, some hay, and a loaf of bread. Using her magic, she prepared some daffodil-hay sandwiches. She also took out an emerald for Spike to eat.

As they were eating, there was a bit of awkward silence at the table. Spike nibbled on the sizeable piece of emerald, eating it with a smile on his face. Twilight finally asked Fluttershy something.

"What happened last night?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing!" Fluttershy replied, almost by impulse.

"huh?" Twilight said in confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about it." Fluttershy stammered.

Twilight gave Fluttershy a rather confused look. Twilight then finally gave Fluttershy a more reassuring look.

"Let's get you home after this."

Two and a Half Men

Twilight and Fluttershy head to Fluttershy's house. Exactly why Fluttershy landed at Twilight's house instead of her's still confused her quite a bit. Twilight spoke with Fluttershy what had happened while she was gone. Twilight said that there were a lot of humans visiting her library for scholarly purposes.

Fluttershy's house was not far ahead by this point. Twilight and Fluttershy continued towards the simple cottage. By the time they got there, however, there was a large crowd. Perhaps even larger than the crowd that followed Fluttershy around during her stint as a supermodel. The crowd consisted of both humans and ponies. The crowd was so large it was impossible to tell what was in the centre of the crowd.. Rainbow Dash was in the crowd.

"Hey Twilght! Hey Fluttershy! Long time no see, Fluttershy! What's up?" Rainbow Dash said.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Somepony found two dead, severed bodies. A human fo- I mean, Baby, and a pegasus foal. Both were severed in half. Everypony here, as well as everyhuman here, are all journalists, detectives, unicorns, and wizards." Rainbow Dash responded.

"But why are you here?" Twilight asked.

"I just wanna know what the fuss is about. Troll Face has been skipping cloud inventory duty again." Rainbow Dash said, as she perked her head around to look for the missing pegasus pony. A black-maned, white pegasus pony emerged from the crowds, and flew away.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Rainbow Dash said. She chased after the whimsical pony.

Twilight had some ideas of her own in mind. She wants to see if she can solve the mystery. It would make an excellent letter to the Princess. She decided to squeeze her way into the crowd. It was extremely close quarters, being squeezed for every turn she makes. Twilight got through the crowd. There were some yellow tape, blocking the entrance to the Everfree Forest. Twilight entered past it, despite the Solar Guards' attempts to stop her. Twilight made a run for it, escaping the Solar Guards.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash hovered herself down, onto her hooves on the ground. Fluttershy bore a worrisome face. Rainbow Dash attempted to reassure Fluttershy by changing to a different topic.

"So, how was Cloudsdale?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Fluttershy backed away a little, hesitating to let out an answer. "f...fine."

"Well, I actually better get going. Gotta get back to work. Talk to ya later?"

"Oh...okay Rainbow Dash, I'll see ya later." Fluttershy said, shyly.

"She's a really cool pony, isn't she?" a voice peeped behind her.

It was a human. A somewhat tall, blonde-haired human. He wore a green sweater and red pants. His hair was very messy. Fluttershy met him before. His name was Nick. If Twilight were here, it would be like seeing Spike falling in love with Rarity all over again.

"Oh, hello, that was a friend of mine." Fluttershy said nervously. Nick's introduction scared Fluttershy a bit.

Just then, a much taller, black haired human walked up to the blonde human. He wore a beige jacket, a white undershirt, and wore blue pants. He also wore a hat which was similar to Applejack's hat, but it had a flat top, and no notch. It was instead bound with a black strap of cloth. His hair was tied in a ponytail.

"Oh, hello Mr Jack." Fluttershy shyly said.

"Nick. Stop this now." he said. Fluttershy was able to recognize this man. He then turns to Fluttershy. He then crouches down, at a more sociable level.

"Fluttershy, keep as far away as you can from this pervert. Understand?" Ryan said. Ryan patted Fluttershy on the head. Fluttershy simply nodded with a nervous smile, then flew away.

"You're no fun Ryan. You scared that little pony away. Like you always do!" Nick said. He then mockingly made a serious face, while saying in a goofy tone, " 'oh look! I'm Ryan Jack! I am a stick in the mud because I'm a ponyphobe! HURR DURR' "

Ryan said nothing. He just stared into the air, with a serious tone on his face. He then let out a simple smile.

"I must admit, she is cute." Ryan thought.

Gallows Humour

Walking through the Everfree Forest had always been somewhat scary for Twilight Sparkle, due to its unnatural state. The forest was dimly lit, with only patches of light giving Twilight a slight clue next where to go. The trees bent in various shapes and forms, of which not even Twilight Sparkle had the opportunity to read books on. However, despite the eerie setting, she knew how to navigate through the woods. She ventured through it. Numerous times.

What Twilight was unfamiliar with was the recent sightings of hung corpses. Most of these corpses appear to be that of humans. Dangling on the branches lifelessly, as they smell of decay and death. With these corpses around, it's no surprise that these parts would have guards patrolling for tresspassers. Not to mention, a murder took place. A human baby and a pony foal. In the same place. Something had to be going on.

"Twilight!" a voice peeped from the background.

Instantly, Twilight Sparkle perked her head in attention.Someone was calling her.

"Over here!" a familiar pink hoof beckoned the unicorn to a nearby brush.

Twilight approached the brush. To her surprise, it was none other than Pinkie Pie, once again doing random things. What seemed different, however, was that Pinkie had straight hair, instead of her usual whimsical curly. It may be the darkness that permeates the woods, but Pinkie appears to be in a much darker shade. What's more curious to Twilight, however, was why Pinkie would be in these woods.

"Pinkie, what the hay are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"Oh I was just getting some special ingredients for my cupcakes!" Pinkie said. Her eyes twitched slightly.

"In the Everfree Forest?" Twilight said, bemusedly. "Pinkie, you are so random."

"Can you help me find some special ingredients?" said Pinkie Pie.

"Not right now. You realize there's been a double-murder, right?" Twilight said, with a face-hoof.

"Murder?" Pinkie said, bemusedly. "Ooh! I think I know who done it! But first step back a bit."

Twilight, utterly confused, did what Pinkie Pie said, and stepped back a few hoof-steps. As she did, however, she tripped on what appears to be a cardboard box. It seemed used, but not quite old. It looked like it wasn't there for a while. It was only slightly covered in dirt. On the side was a logo of a hat. It was similar, but not quite the same as, Applejack's hat.

"Oooooh! I wonder if that has the super-special ingredient I'm looking for!" Pinkie said.

Twilight Sparkle let out a sigh of disgust. "Pinkie, somepony obviously threw this box out because something in it was definitely not worth keeping. It's probably filled with trash or something."

As she opened the box, she found something, which released a ghastly stench. The stench of death was too strong. She took a look inside. To her horror, Twilight Sparkle found what everypony was fussing over back outside. It was the victims of the murder. One one side was the upper torso of a baby human, which was decapitated in half. The other, was a headless pony foal. This was the murder. Besides the other corpses littering the Everfree forest, this had to be the most horrific sight Twilight had ever seen.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Pinkie Pie asked, still seemingly bemused. An eye twitch.

The horror forced a thousand thoughts through Twilight's mind, mixed with copious amounts of fear and panic. Suddenly she was getting light-headed. She finally fell on the ground, vision blurring, and she felt a strange sensation, which vaguely felt like being lifted. She fell out of consciousness.

Silence of the Foals

Twilight Sparkle woke up. She was bound to a chair in a dimly lit room, with the only light source being a small lamp on a table. Was she on trial? How could this happen? Perhaps it's because Twilight tresspassed into the Everfree, which was blocked to all tresspassers.

Just then, she heard the clattering of hooves against the hard concrete floor. It was Pinkie Pie, still with her uncurled mane. She was holding a knife in her mouth. Twilight was sweating in panic and fear. She knew that Pinkie Pie would be random, but this was not even something Twilight would have imagined Pinkie Pie would do. Twilight was going to get killed by one of her own friends. Pinkie's eyes twitched. Twilight grew even more wary.

"Hello, Twilight..." Pinkie Pie said.

"Pinkie, what's going on?!" Twilight asked, in fear.

"We're going to have the time of our lives. Something to die for..." Pinkie said, slightly stuttering.

"Pinkie! This isn't you! Let go of me! NO!" Twilight said. She was rocking in her chair back and forth in hysteric fear.

Pinkie Pie approached the terrified lavender unicorn, armed with a kitchen knife. Then, out of sheer panic and adrenaline, Twilight launched a beam of pure energy at Pinkie Pie, throwing her to a nearby wall. She then hurriedly grabbed the knife using her telekinetic magic to quickly cut the ropes to get her out. She then proceeded to the door. However, in the darkness she could barely see, hence, tripping onto something.

"What's going on here?!" a thick, gruff voice was heard.

Twilight hurriedly used her magic to light up the room. There it was. She saw it. It was the two corpses, placed eerily close to each other. This was the most sickening thing she had ever seen. And from someone she saw as a good pony. Twilight got a headache, and of the feeling of betrayal. Meanwhile, Pinkie just stood there. It seems Pinkie Pie too was terrified, but of something else.

The door Twilight attempted to run for was bust open. It was a human. Wearing the hat similar to the one on the box. He had long black hair, tied to a ponytail. He donned a long, tan coat, a white undershirt, and blue pants. The man had a fearsome scowl on his face. His fearsome look left Twilight and Pinkie Pie paralyzed into submission.

"M...Mr Jack?" Pinkie said, nervously.

"You know him?!" Twilight asked, now even more confused, and slightly frustrated.

Ryan turned his attention to Pinkie Pie's horrid creation. Bearing the same scowl, he turned his attention to Pinkie Pie, and slowly approached her, fear growing stronger by the step.

"Pinkie..." he finally said.

Ryan reached in his coat, and pulled out a pistol. A human invention. He aimed the pistol threateningly at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie shrunk in fear. This was her deathbed. A stone cold concrete floor.

"I thought we made it clear..." Ryan said. "To keep this our secret..."

"Please...no..." Pinkie Pie squeaked in fear.

Twilight Sparkle then began proceeded to ram into Ryan, then binding him far enough away from his weapon. Twilight then teleported both herself and Pinkie Pie outside of the room. She had the intent to teleport to the other side of the door. To her surprise, this was not Sugarcube Corner's basement, but rather Applejack's apple cellar. Outside the entrance was none other than Applejack.

"Now what the hay is goin' on here? Twilight, Pinkie, what's with the ruck...uhh...'frackus' here, sugarcube?" she asked.

Twilight nonetheless made her great escape, with Pinkie Pie as well.

Applejack simply stood there, confused. Applejack knew that Pinkie Pie was random, and Twilight had moments of insanity, but this just seemed utterly silly. Just then, Ryan, who ascended from the cellar, held his head firmly against his palm, groaning from a headache.

Applejack, who had a distrust for humans, looked at Ryan in suspicion. Ryan stared back, with equal amount of suspicion. Applejack knew that humans were a more violent race than ponies, hence she distrusted the humans. Ryan, however, knew that Applejack was Pinkie Pie's friend, and knew that he can't let Applejack see this.

"Ah'm on to ya, mister." Applejack said, menacingly. "Now get outta mah farm."

"I've got my eyes on you too." Ryan replied. "Don't think I'm through with you."

Ryan walked away, towards not where Pinkie Pie and Twilight went, but the other way, towards the Everfree forest.

Nick's Ordeal

Meanwhile, in another part of Ponyville...

Nick was strolling down the streets of Ponyville as usual. Ever since he moved to Ponyville he had noticed some changes in the signs on the doors of most establishments. Many of them had either said "Human waiting zone" or "Equines Only". Although Nick was a fairly lovable man, humans were something of second-class citizens of Equestria. This resulted in some of Ponies' eyes looking at Nick with suspiscion.

Nick approached a carrot salespony. The little market stall was run by a pretty gold-maned pony with a pale beige coat and green eyes. She wore an apron, with a nametag bearing the name "Carrot Top". Surprisingly enough, she had carrots for a cutie mark.

Nick took a look at one carrot, lifting it up for a bit. He then set it down to examine a different one. Carrot Top stopped Nick before he could continue. She looked at Nick with a bit of a scowl.

"You touch it, you buy it." she said.

"But I-" Nick said.

"Don't make me call the guards on you." she said.

Nick then let out a sigh, as he took out some bits from his pocket to pay the pony. He took the carrots and continued down the path.

Meanwhile, several young mares were murmuring about some gossip, as they huddled around.

"I heard Lyra was dating...a human!"

"Eww! Bestiality! Look away there's a human!"

Nick simply shrugged off the remarks.

As he was about to leave the main street (aptly named "Mane St"), a black maned white pegasus drags a cloud above Nick, raining upon him. The pegasus laughed at the now soggy human. And then...

"HEY!"

A voice was heard from nearby. It was Rainbow Dash.

"Ugh, Cool Troll, stop horsing around with the rainclouds! You know what happened last time you did yet another one of your shenanigans! We had to postpone the scheduled rain in order to provide enough rain for the day it was postponed to!" said Rainbow Dash, lecturing Cool Troll.

"Sorry." said Cool Troll, embarrased.

"I'm going to have to dock your pay again!" Rainbow Dash said. Cool Troll flew away, shyly.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with Cool Troll. He's usually a pretty cool guy." Rainbow Dash said to Nick, attempting to reassure him.

"It's fine. I've gotten used to it." Nick replied, with a hint of hopelessness in his eyes. "Thanks, anyways."

Nick continued to go about his way. Nick walked in a depressed gait, slowly making his way home. Then, out of pity, Rainbow Dash attempted to stop Nick.

"Wait."

Nick turned around.

"Wanna hang out?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Um...okay. By the way, my name is Nick," Nick said, stuttering.

"Cool! I'll see you when my shift is over, okay?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Okay." this time, he had a bit more enthusiasm in his tone.

Then, as Nick was about to leave, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie ran past Nick, splashing him with mud. Nick had a face of disgust on his face. He did not enjoy the berating. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash saw the two pass by. Rainbow Dash excitedly wanted to join what she thought was a race.

"HEY WAIT UP GUYS I WANNA RACE TOO!" Rainbow Dash said. She quickly made a run towards and past Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie.

Nick was still standing by, with a smile on his face.

"What a cool pony."

Rarity's Lament

Rarity was working away on some clothing as usual. This time, instead of the usual clothing for ponies, she was working on clothing for humans. Unlike most ponies who saw humans with suspicion, Rarity admired the humans for their sense of taste in the arts. Fashion included. As such, she incorporates said ideas with her own, creating a new line of clothing, which turn out to be a commercial success.

Rarity's train of thought was interrupted with a knock on the door. It was most likely another guest, for Rarity. She quickly put away her tools of the trade and went towards the front door.

"Customers?" Rarity thought.

Rarity approached the door, and opened it with her magic. It was Fluttershy. She walked in, with her usual shy gait. Rarity was delighted to see Fluttershy come back from her vacation.

"Darling! It's so good to see you again! How was your trip?" said Rarity.

"um...okay..." Fluttershy said.

"Do tell all about your trip! I'd love to hear all about your trip to Cloudsdale!" Rarity said, enthusiastically.

"Well...it's about that..." Fluttershy said.

"Oh? What's the matter, dear?" Rarity said, a bit more worrisome in tone.

"Well I-" Fluttershy said, before being interrupted.

The door was slammed open. Twilight and Pinkie Pie quickly rushed inside, and closed the door. Rarity and Fluttershy looked at the two in utter confusion.

"Ugh! Have you not heard of knocking?! At least Fluttershy took the time to knock!" Rarity said in outrage, commenting on the lack of proper behaviour.

"Rarity you gotta hide us!" Twilight said. "There's a madman after us!"

"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity said, still utterly confused.

"A human with a pistol!" Pinkie Pie said. The chase seemed to have curled up her hair in ways only Pinkie Pie could understand.

"Now settle down, dearies. Let's at least try to settle down and then we can try to find out what's going on." Rarity said, trying to get everypony to recollect themselves before going any further.

Rarity proceeded to go about with her work. Meanwhile Fluttershy attempted to stop Rarity to tell her about something in Fluttershy's mind, but was unable to. She just simply stood next to her. On the other side of the boutique, Twilight and Pinkie Pie were murmuring.

"I don't even understand. Why were you working with him?" Twilight said.

"I...I didn't have much of a choice! He just came up to me and said 'RAWR! WORK WITH ME OR ELSE' and he pointed that thingy which looks like a miniature cannon, because apparently I saw a box filled with something, and it was that! He told me to pretend to know nothing, stay in the Everfree forest, and stand guard. He basically told me not to tell anypony!" Pinkie Pie blabbered in panic.

"Wait, does that mean he killed the two children?" Twilight said.

"I think he did! I mean come on! It's pretty obvious! He is a madman! All the humans are crazy! I mean, look!" Pinkie Pie said, she then tossed out the two corpses from before.

"PINKIE! WHY DID YOU BRING THOSE HERE?!" Twilight said in shock.

Rarity, growing tired of the incessant loud noise, went up to Twilight and Pinkie Pie to lecture them about noise.

"Twilight, Pinkie Pie, what on Equestria is goi-AUGHGHHGHWHGH!" Rarity said. She saw the two corpses lying on her recently cleaned floor.

"PINKIE! WHATEVER SHALL I DO! I JUST CLEANED THIS FLOOR!" Rarity said in shock, completely unaware of the fact that it's corpses dirtying the floor.

"RARITY! THERE ARE BUCKING CORPSES HERE!" Twilight said, with a facehoof.

"Oh my..." Rarity said.

Fluttershy was next to see what the fuss was about. She saw the corpses on the floor. She was paralyzed with fear. But her fear was slightly different.

Fluttershy quickly ran out the door.

"Fluttershy!" Rarity said, calling out to Fluttershy. She then turned to Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

"How rude...first you dirty the floor with rotting flesh and now you scared Fluttershy away." Rarity lectured. She simply returned to her work.

Twilight simply watched as Rarity just went back to her work. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was playing with the corpses in a rather...peculiar way. Pinkie Pie proceeded to smush the two corpses together, as her face began to show signs of insanity. Her mane also began to straighten.

"Pinkie! What are you doing?!" Twilight said, in shock.

"Hey! These pieces fit!" Pinkie Pie said, with a slight sense of insanity in her.

This was it. All those years of partying, breaking the fourth wall and physics. It had finally gotten to her head. She had now gone crazy. Pinkie Pie needs medication, FAST. As Pinkie Pie continued to play with the corpses in a playfully insane manner, a thought suddenly passed Twilight.

"Wait...Pinkie...I just realized..." Twilight said. She then took a closer look at the foal half of the corpse. It was barely recognizeable, but it was definitely a shade of yellow. The tail, however was black. It was unusually long for a foal. That was, of course, if the foal's parents originally had longer tails.

Just then, Twilight had remembered something.

Prankster Pegasi/Salt in the Wound

It was early evening. Nick was waiting at the town square for what felt like a date with Rainbow Dash. He was very excited for today. Then, out of the skies, he saw Rainbow Dash, as well as another pony. It was the same bashful yellow pony from earlier today. Not exactly what Nick had in mind. He didn't care. Nick could only stand in awe, as the two ponies glide gracefully in the skies, before landing in front of him. It was a spectacle on its own. Humans can only dream of flying, let alone with such grace.

"Hey Nick, hope you don't mind me bringing a friend of mine," she said. "Nick, this is Fluttershy. Fluttershy, this is Nick."

"H...hello..." Fluttershy said, very quietly.

"Hello. Wait. You're that pony from this morning!" Nick said. "Sorry about my buddy Ryan. He's been acting a bit strange recently. Don't worry. He's usually a cool guy. A bit uptight, but a cool guy."

Fluttershy said nothing. There was a momentary bit of awkward silence. Finally, Rainbow Dash said something.

"So, wanna know about the Sonic Rainboom?" Rainbow Dash said, enthusiastically.

"COOL!" Nick said, with a rather silly tone in his face.

The following hour or so went smoothly. Nick was able to hear more inspiring and interesting stories from his hero, Rainbow Dash. However, it wasn't all just about her. Rainbow Dash also told stories about how Fluttershy helped with the Great Pegasus Tornado Water Lift, as well as the silly stories about the Iron Pony competition between herself and Applejack.

Nick, on the other hand, told stories about Ryan and himself. The times before Ryan was the "Stick-in-the-mud Ponyphobe Nerd", including the fishing trips, a visit to a submarine, the time they met Trixie, and other stories. However, Nick cannot help but notice something. Fluttershy seemed to be extra bashful whenever Ryan was brought up.

Eventually, Fluttershy left. Rainbow Dash and Nick waved her goodbye. The sun was still up, still plenty of time for more fun. Rainbow Dash suddenly got some ideas: Shenanigans.

"Nick. Wanna go prank Troll Face back?" Rainbow Dash said. "Y'know, for that raining?"

"Um...sure," Nick replied. He answered in a doubtful tone.

Rainbow Dash and Nick went to the Carousel Boutique. Apparently Troll Face was there, leaving scrawled notes on Rarity's door (which, surprisingly do not get read at all). However, this time, Troll Face was about to get a surprise. Nick was hiding in a nearby brush. When Troll Face approached the brush, Nick leapt out, yelling "BOO!" This scared Troll Face senselessly, briefly paralyzing him. He landed in a minefield of water balloons, leaving the scared pegasus soaking wet. This caused Troll Face running away in embarrassment. Nick and Rainbow Dash laughed senselessly.

"DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON HIS FACE? PRICELESS!" Rainbow Dash laughed. "I just wish Pinkie Pie wasn't so busy with her second job."

"Yeah I gotta admit, that was pretty fu- wait..." Nick said. "Who?"

"Oh right. Pinkie Pie is a friend of mine. A bit annoying at times but she's still pretty cool. She is a pranking GENIUS. It's just that ever since about a year ago, she got really busy and couldn't do as many pranks as before."

"Yeah that sucks," Nick said.

Just then, Rainbow Dash noticed the time on the nearby clock tower. 5:00 PM. A rainstorm was scheduled an hour from now. It looks like Rainbow Dash and Nick's pranking montage would have to be cut short.

"Nick?" Rainbow Dash prompted

"Yeah?" Nick replied.

"I gotta get going now. I forgot that rain was scheduled for this evening. It was really fun! I'll see you tommorrow?"

"Sure thing Rainbow!" Nick said.

And the two waved goodbye.

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle head down once again to the Everfree Forest. She may have missed a few things there. On the way, she passes by Applejack's farm. Applejack was, as usual, busy bucking down apples from trees. Applejack noticed Twilight Sparkle passing by. In a rather impossible way, Applejack placed a hoof in her mouth to create a loud whistle noise. Twilight perked her head to the orange pony.

"Oh hey Applejack," she said. "What's up?"

"Yer goin' there 'bout Fluttershy, aren'tcha?" Applejack said, in her famous accent.

"How did you know?" Twilight asked.

"As soon as y'all ran outta mah Apple Cellar, Ah had a closer look inside. Ah saw a terrible thing, and ah knew it had t'do with Fluttershy."

"What wait...Pinkie had...what?!" Twilight said, noticing the strange logical fallacy in the corpses left behind when Pinkie took the corpses to Carousel Boutique. Then again, Pinkie Pie. Logic simply does not apply to her, therefore making her one of Equestria's biggest mysteries.

"Ah'd stay the hay away from them humans, ya hear?" Applejack said. "They might get y'all next. Ah worry ah might be next."

"Wait, what do you mean, about the humans?" Twilight said, suddenly curious.

"Ah told ya too much. Best not to talk about it to Fluttershy, sugarcube." Applejack said. At this point Twilight knows that Applejack was hiding something. Was Fluttershy hurt on her trip to Cloudsdale? Something was causing Fluttershy grief, she thought. Twilight, out of headstrong conviction, proceeded to the Everfree Forest anyways.

Just then, on the way to the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle comes across Troll Face once more. He didn't seem to have anything on him. Nearby were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. They were building a house of cards. Probably trying to get cutie marks in Card Houses.

Troll Face approached the purple unicorn. He had a grin on his face, like desperately trying to withhold a laughter. The unicorn looked at him in utter confusion. Finally, the pegasus let out his question.

"Guess what?" he said.

"Um...what?" Twilight replied. This was getting weird.

"SCOOTALOO BUTT" he said, with Scootaloo in his mouth somehow.

"Hey put me down!" Scootaloo yelled.

Troll Face let down the orange pegasus and flew away, laughing. Apparently this was his idea of a prank. This confused Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie would simply shrug this off as some author having a strange urge to make a vague reference to "a meme", she thought. However that would be absurd.

Finally, Twilight Sparkle arrived back at the Everfree forest. There are a lot less ponies and people around than usual. The only one standing guard is a lone Solar Guard, taking a snooze. Twilight snuck past the Solar Guard with ease. She entered the forest.

She checked back to where she found the box. The Everfree Forest was still corpse-infested as usual. Nothing changed at all. Twilight looked up in the sky. It had begun to rain. Just then, a thought passed. Why did Applejack make a connection of Fluttershy and the Everfree Forest? Twilight realized Applejack probably did reveal too much.

"Fluttershy was not even at Cloudsdale!" Twilight thought out loud. Her jump to a conclusion perked the attention of nearby wild animals. Twilight turned around. Timberwolves. A whole pack of them. They slowly approached Twilight Sparkle, snarling in an intimidating way. Then, one by one, they pounced at Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle made a run for it. It was a chase.

Then, a series of bangs were heard. One by one, the timberwolves fell. Was it a human? Only humans and some unicorns had rifles. The rifle mechanisms were too difficult for pegasi and earth ponies. Finally, Twilight bumped into something. It felt like it was alive. Before Twilight was able to examine what she bumped into, she felt a thud on her head. She was knocked unconscious.

The Man's Story Pt 1

Little over a year ago...

Ryan Jack used to live in Trottingham. While it is true human-to-pony intimacy is legal by royal decree, such laws are rarely enforced. Particularly in Trottingham, he grew up with a very strict conservative family, and the city's laws forbade any intimate interactions between humans and ponies, and any such cases would result in the human getting charged for rape, or attempted rape. Thus, Trottingham was given the reputation as "The most shameful portion of Equestria ever seen."

However, as a result of the Great Trottingham Fire, he had to run away to a safe shelter. He blindly ended up in the Everfree Forest, running about, relying purely on instict. It felt like a long time. Ryan Jack was lost. All he had was his gun, and a few extra bullets. After a while of running, he slowed down. It was too dark to see, so he attempted to find his way around. Then, he heard several feral growls. Timberwolves!

In a will to survive, he shot the timberwolves down. Eventually however, the savage attack had left him extremely exhausted, and was feeling light-headed. He staggered to what looks like light. Before he could make out what it was, he fell unconscious.

The Next Day...

Ryan Jack was found in a bed. He was saved. He took a look around. It was a simple looking house. Next to him was...a pony. The poor thing. Ryan shared a tiny bed with a tiny pony. He got off the bed, and let the little yellow pegasus sleep, covering her with the blanket. He began to sneak out of the little cabin.

However, before he was able to leave, he heard a small peep.

"Good morning..." the little pony said.

"Oh. Hello. Thank you...for saving me." Ryan said.

"You're welcome." the little pony peeped. "Would you like something to eat before you go? I mean...if you don't mind..."

"Okay." Ryan said. "But first, where am I?"

"You're in Ponyville. I'm Fluttershy, the local pet-sitter." she said. "What's your name?"

"Ryan Jack." he said, plainly.

Days Later...

Ryan Jack took up residence with, at the time Ponyville's only human resident, Nick. It would be some time before more humans moved to Ponyville. Nick enjoyed watching Pegasi fly. He's been always mesmerized by their flight, particularly by Rainbow Dash. However, Nick was often berated by Ryan for "being a pervert". His upbringing in Trottingham rubbed off on Ryan Jack. Nick, however, was more easygoing. The same could not be said for the ponies of Ponyville, who still had humanphobic tendencies.

However, Ryan had a soft spot for the pony that saved his life. He felt that he owed her a great debt. He was willing to do anything for Fluttershy. However, Fluttershy often didn't ask for much. She was extremely shy that way. He made frequent visits to Fluttershy, often exchanging small-talk and occasionally doing small favours. However, Ryan generally tried to stay away from her other pony friends, out of fear of being antagonized by them.

The visits, however, became more intimate as time went by. Ryan felt an attachment like nothing before. He had grown attached to Fluttershy, and Fluttershy back. Suddenly Ryan felt the line was crossed when one evening, Fluttershy gave a small, meek kiss on Ryan's cheek. Ryan's face grew a lovely shade of red. A PONY, giving a HUMAN, a KISS?!

Ryan ran off into the forest. He needed privacy to clear his head. This sudden turn of events have left him with conflicting thoughts. He needs quiet to sort them out. NOW.

"W...wait! Fluttershy peeped. She was too quiet at this point.

The Everfree Forest was the one quiet place Ryan Jack was able to run off to at the time. He sat down on a box that was left there. On the box was a picture of a hat. Inside was the actual hat. Ryan Jack took out the hat and put it on. Fluttershy was in the background, attempting to approach the human, but shyly. Ryan Jack was sitting on the box. The box was surprisingly sturdy for something that looks like it's made of cardboard. Enough to support a 200lb man.

"Sorry..." Ryan said. "...for running off like that."

Fluttershy was silent, but let out a heartwarming smile. She leaned against Ryan Jack.

"It feels so wrong. A human, in love with a pony. It doesn't feel right." he continued. "It's taboo, but I feel it anyways. You're the only pony I have ever felt an actual attachment to. Ever since you saved my life."

Fluttershy was silent, but still giving a smile.

There was nothing but silence for some time.

"Well...we can keep it a secret..." Fluttershy finally said.

Fluttershy gave Ryan a more intimate kiss. The intimate kiss grew to a sloppier human/pony makeout. Ryan Jack embraced the timid yellow pony. Her wings spread, with arousal. The making out grew into something more intimate. Something they'd never forget in a long time.

A week later...

Ever since the turn of events prior, Ryan Jack did not visit Fluttershy. He grew very bitter as a result. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him constantly. He had done what was taboo, and vowed to keep it a secret. This led to a conflict in his mind. He may have hurt Fluttershy. Delicate little Fluttershy.

No. He needs to go back to Fluttershy. He wants to make everything right. He'll set things straight. If he keeps avoiding Fluttershy, there will be no answer. He had to do something about it. However, he had to make sure he avoided the attention of the local ponies. Nick is too immature to understand the situation, and, as more humans came to live in Ponyville, he had to avoid the attention of those humans too.

On the way to Fluttershy's house was Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack, the current owner of the farm, was busy knocking down apples with her powerful hind legs. However, Applejack noticed the human, and stopped him.

"And whaddayer think yer doin?" Applejack said. It was evident she xenophobic. As Applejack continued, Ryan Jack backed away, mostly to avoid having his feet trampled over. "Ah see, yer visitin' sweet lil' Fluttershy aren'tcha? Well I ain't lettin' ya. Yer visits made her very sick. Ah knew you humans were up ter no good! Spreadin' yer human disease doo-hickeys! Now git!"

And Applejack kicked Ryan Jack in the stomach, knocking him down to the ground. Applejack looked at the human with fierce eyes. Ryan stared back, equally fierce in looks. Ryan Jack got back up, and then proceeded to go to Fluttershy's house. Applejack charged at Ryan again. He dodged the headbutting, and tripped her, causing her to fall into a nearby ditch. Ryan approached the ditch, and aimed at the orange pony, who was short of being fully immobilized.

"Get out of my way, bitch." he said. However, he didn't fire. He simply left. It was a warning.

"Nopony will get hurt."

Fluttershy was outside, tending to the chickens at her chicken coop. The chickens were eating the grains Fluttershy gave them. However, she was feeling a bit light-headed, and found it a bit harder than usual to maintain balance. Applejack wasn't lying. Word has it that she's the Element of Honesty, which now makes sense.

Finally, as Fluttershy was about to fall, Ryan helped her stay balanced.

"Oh thank you! I haven't been feeling myself tod- Oh my..." she said. She noticed Ryan Jack. He came back after about a week.

"Fluttershy, are you alright?" Ryan asked.

"y...yes. I'm okay." she replied, bashful as ever.

Ryan let out a sigh of relief. Fluttershy was okay. Perhaps feeling a little light-headed for some reason, but okay nonetheless. However, Ryan's train of thought was interrupted.

"Ryan..." Fluttershy muttered.

He turned his attention to the little pony.

"I'm pregnant."

Quick Authorial Note: I'm terribly sorry for the very lacking backstory of Flutterjack, causing it to border around a mere clopfic. I just wanted to see if I can make this chapter short enough to keep it as simply part of a story, instead of an actual story. Perhaps I can make another story describing the turn of events in greater detail?

The Man's Story Pt 2

"I'm Pregnant." said Fluttershy.

Just like that, Ryan's worry transformed into a different form of worry. Everypony would eventually find out about the sin. Ryan had to think of something that could be used to cover-up the situation. However, for now Fluttershy did not appear to have much of a foal-bump. In any case, he had to do something eventually.

Ryan had considered telling Fluttershy to go to an abortion clinic, but there was a risk of finding out who the father of the unborn foal...baby...thing would be. Ryan did not want to take the risk. He'd be caught. For now, however, he'd have to suggest Fluttershy to do nothing.

But what of Fluttershy? If she was caught with the baby of a human, she'd also suffer from the ostracism. No. He loved her too much to allow this to happen. By this point he was well aware of Fluttershy's fear of crowds. But a crowd of NEIGHsayers would be much worse.

"I don't know what to do..." Fluttershy murmured.

"I'll try to get you out of this. I promise." Ryan replied.

But how...

A few months later...

The foal-bump was becoming more evident at this point. He was getting desperate at this point, as well as more aloof. Fluttershy too was avoiding much social contact, even with her closest friends, as if she didn't do so already. Fluttershy and Ryan were both at Fluttershy's house. Ryan Jack was pacing around quite nervously, his intimidating façade completely shattered. Whatever her foal was, it would claim the attention of all ponies of Ponyville, being a small town and all. All of a sudden, a knock on the door interrupted Ryan's train of thought. Fluttershy approached the door and opened it. It was the xenophobic earth pony, Applejack.

"Howdy Fluttershy! Ah came to see if yer feelin' any better." Applejack greeted. "Ah see you took mah advice, eatin' a little more apples and-...what in tar-nation?! WHAT IN THE HAY IS HE DOIN' HERE?!"

"Um...well he..." Fluttershy stammered.

Applejack's face became pale. "F...Fluttershy...Ah hope this ain't what I'm thinkin' it is..."

"OH I'M SORRY APPLEJACK! PLEASE DON'T TELL ANYPONY!" Fluttershy broke into tears.

Applejack stood there in utter confusion and disbelief as she attempts to find a way to deny the possibility of the human being the father of the unborn...foal? She wanted to utter a word, but found it difficult. A human, the very object of her suspicion, impregnating one of her closest friends. Her world had become distorted, as if it were the workings of Discord the Chaos God himself.

"Oh dear Celestia, Ah think ah'm gunn'be sick..." Applejack said. She nearly vomited, but quickly held her mouth shut. She gasped for a quick gasp of air.

"Applejack is it?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah. Y'better know it. What's it to ya?" Applejack responded.

"Please, you have to help Fluttershy. She's pregnant with my baby. I'm not sure what would happen if she were born. In fact, we're afraid to take her to the abortion clinic. They might find out. Is there anyone who can do discreet abortions?" Ryan said. At this point he was kneeling. He'd do anything for sweet, sweet, Fluttershy.

Applejack stood still for a moment. The fact that she'd be helping a human still irked her, and the fact that the human was the same human that impregnated her friend didn't help. At the same time, not helping the human also meant not helping her friend Fluttershy. She could not bear the thought of seeing Fluttershy being severely discriminated for her actions with a human.

"Fine. Ah'll help you. ON ONE CONDITION." Applejack said. "Ah better not catch you touchin' any others of mah kin, ya hear?"

Ryan nodded.

"Now, pin Fluttershy on the wall, belly facing me." Applejack said.

"Um...Applejack...I don't know if this is a good idea..." Fluttershy said, nervously yet again.

"Ah know what ah'm doin, sugarcube. Yes it'll hurt a bit, but ah promise that'll be all." Applejack said. Fluttershy gulped, as Ryan pinned her by the two front hooves. Fluttershy looked away in nervousness, bracing herself for the incoming pain that was going to ensue. Applejack then aimed her two hind legs towards the scared pony. And then she released a back-kick, famously used to knock down apples from apple trees with full might. This would crush the unborn fetus. Fluttershy yelped in pain, bracing herself. Quickly, both Ryan and Applejack hurried to check on Fluttershy.

"Aw nuts. Ah'm sorry Fluttershy. Ah didn't know ah overdid it. Y'all alright, sugarcube?" Applejack said.

Fluttershy was still wincing in pain, trying her hardest to recover from Applejack's powerful kick.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO FLUTTERSHY?!" Ryan said, as he now pinned Applejack to the wall.

"...It's okay, you guys...I'll be...okay..." Fluttershy said, still trying to recover, as she coughed blood.

Applejack was no abortion doctor, and felt guilty for almost killing her own friend using second-rate methods. Under the circumstances, however, she had no choice. Ryan, on the other hand, was growing even more angrier. His sweet little pony, Fluttershy, was in great pain.

However, another thought passed. If it weren't for her powerful kicks, Fluttershy would have been followed by angry NEIGHsayers. The timid pony would be terrified. It was over...or so it seemed.

Authorial Note of Authority

I feel like anytime I write something that imparts information that would otherwise be impossible to find out in the main story, I end up botching up that part altogether. Either that or my lack of self esteem is kicking in...again...

The Man's Story Part 3

A few months prior to present...

Despite the various efforts and despite what was supposed to be the end of Fluttershy's...foalby?...the fetus continued to develop. In a last-ditch effort to hide what was going on, Ryan realized there was only one last thing he and Fluttershy could do to avoid the persecution: he had to hide Fluttershy. Reluctantly, but willingly, Fluttershy agreed.

Dear Twilight

I am going to visit Cloudsdale. I promised to see my family in Cloudsdale, and I will not likely to be able to answer back for some time. Please I hope you will understand. I have asked Pinkie Pie to be my pet sitter. Please tell everypony else that I won't be around for some time, if you don't mind, that is.

Sincerely,

Fluttershy

So, for the next few months, which felt like an eternity, Fluttershy and Ryan avoided public eyes. They mainly stayed close enough to go back to the cottage whenever it's necessary. Of course, making sure Pinkie Pie was not aware of Fluttershy's presence.

Enough time has passed to finally see that Fluttershy would finally give birth. To both their horror, but mostly to confusion, yet strangely joy, was...

...something.

It possessed an upper torso of a human baby, with the lower torso of a pony foal. It had wings, so it meant the...foalby...was at least part pegasus. The foalby was placed into a little box. The same box Ryan found his hat in. The same hat he hid his shame-ridden face with. And now he was hiding his firstborn son...in hopes that he would not be discovered and, once again, suffer the same fate Ryan Jack went through back during his days in Trottingham.

Ryan took a quick look at the sky. It was dark and grey. It was going to rain.

As Fluttershy carried her child in her arms, still trying to catch her breath, a rustle was heard in the background. Someone spotted them. This meant trouble. It would not be long before a whistleblower would intice an angry mob. Ryan Jack was paranoid about that.

The Pink Pony. Pinkie Pie. She found us. She was quite unaware of what was going on it seemed. That's good. She seemed to be the fairly gullible type anyways. Her mood was nothing short of welcoming and upbeat. It seems Pinkie simply thought Fluttershy got back home.

"Hey Fluttershy! Welcome back! I missed you so much! Don't worry I took good care of the animals like you wanted me to! I've actually been looking for Troll Face because Applejack said he borrowed her ropes, so now we're both looking for him! But I come across YOU! Lucky me! Oh that reminds me I gotta set up a welcome-back party! Oooh! And it looks like you made a new human friend! I guess he can have a welcome party too! A double party all the way! Wait a minute! That's Ryan Jack! He's the other human!" she said. Pinkie needs to settle down.

"Umm...hi Pinkie," Fluttershy said.

"Oooh! What did you find there? A pet rock? A bag of flour? Oatmeal?" Pinkie Pie said, still unaware of what just happened. "You look really messy. I'm not surprised. I guess you had a lot of fun! Like a party! I wish I could be there but you were on clouds! And you know how earth ponies can't stand on clouds unless-"

A small cough was heard. Ryan's face turned pale. This was it. She would find out about everything.

"Oooh! A foal! Wait. Whose foal is it? It can't be your foal. I guess you found somepony's lost foal! Oh oh oh! I know! I'll make some 'lost foal' posters and place them across town! I just gotta get a pencil and paper..." at that, Pinkie Pie took out a little sketch pad, and began to examine the foal.

To her surprise, however, it was not what she expected.

"A centaur? Why do you have a baby Centaur? I..." Pinkie trailed off.

A pause.

"Fluttershy..."

Fluttershy simply gulped. She too realized she was caught.

"I see now..."

Then, Ryan began to shake in anger. A strange mix of fear and anger clouded his mind. All he could think of now was making sure nopony hears about this. He began to approach the little pink pony.

Pinkie Pie's curly mane started to unfurl. It became straight.

Suddenly, bursting with anger, he stood up and began to threaten Pinkie Pie. He then pinned Pinkie Pie against a tree, suffocating her.

"YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, MULE!" he said. His eyes had the threatening gaze of a wild beast.

"...why?" Pinkie wheezed, with sadness in her tone. "What's going on?"

Fluttershy gave Ryan Jack a knock on the head, causing him to drop, both himself and Pinkie Pie. That knock on the head finally snapped him back to reality. He was attacking a random bystander. All to save himself. Suddenly a wave of guilt washed over him. Fluttershy quickly reverted to her usual soft attitude. It was time to explain everything.

"Fine. I'll explain everything." he said. "But promise me you'll keep quiet..."

At that, Ryan Jack and Fluttershy both explained everything. From the very beginning to eventually conceiving what Pinkie Pie called a "Centaur". Pinkie Pie, still feeling somewhat betrayed, nodded throughout. Pinkie Pie never really thought much about Pony/Human sloppy makeouts, considering the only human Pinkie Pie knew was Nick. Ryan Jack was never really there during Pinkie Pie's usual shenanigans.

That doesn't mean she's completely oblivious to anyone who would be of danger.

"Hey guys, have you found Troll Face?" Pinkie Pie said, remembering what she was initially here for. She seems to be getting her cheer back, as her mane started to curl up again. "He's been causing a lot of frackus nowadays. He and his weirdo friends. They've been bullying Nick ever since Troll Face came by."

"He's right here," said a nasaly male voice. "And I knew you were up to no good, tainting the pure Pony race..."

"...wait...you're not him..." Pinkie Pie said.

"No. You're right. I'm just a Chicken." he replied.

"Scootaloo?" Pinkie Pie said.

"I was trolling you. OF COURSE I'M TROLL FACE."

Finally, a group of ponies emerged from the bushes. Troll Face, with a slightly deformed face, a black mane, with an ivory white coat, and a small, red downward-pointing human thumb for a cutie mark. With him were two other ponies. A green-maned red unicorn with a "34" for his cutie mark, as well as having a fairly disproportionately tiny horn. And finally an earth pony, with a similar colour scheme as Troll Face, but with a strange mask as a cutie mark.

The unicorn and the earth pony snuck up behind Fluttershy and Ryan, knocking them both to the ground. By now it had begun to rain. As the two began bludgeoning the two helpless lovebirds, Troll Face walked up to a now terrified Pinkie Pie. He took the baby foal by the tail, and right in front of her cut the baby in half. On the spot. Pinkie Pie was only able to watch in horror.

"What in tarnation?! What's goin' on?!" a voice peeped. Little short of a miracle, it was Applejack. Then, a rope lassoed the three out of the way.

Quickly, the two ponies picked up the two victims on their backs and made a run for it. Fluttershy's cottage was too close, so they had to stop elsewhere. Applejack carried Fluttershy to somepony she could leave with : Twilight Sparkle. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie left Ryan Jack at Nick's house. She knew just about everypony, as well as...everyhuman?

Having no time for hesitation, she quickly dropped Fluttershy onto Twilight Sparkle's door, then quickly made a run for it. Fortunately for her, by then it was a downpour, so her hoofsteps would be muffled by rain. Fluttershy was barely conscious, nearly fading out of consciousness. Twilight Sparkle then came out of her house, only to notice a semi-conscious Fluttershy...

...and that's where it all began.

The Face

Rarity was busy as usual working on her dresses. She had to fill out a large order of female human clothing. It was a challenge, but nothing Rarity could not handle. Thread by thread, stitching it together, a human's dress. Cutting out a pattern. It was hard work, even more so than the time she made the dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala for her friends. What more, they were human aristocrats from their native land. She needs an assistant. Spike was definitely helpful, but because Spike oftentimes had to go help with Twilight half of the day, she'd need others to help.

A knock was heard from the door.

"I'm going to be a while~ The store is momentarily closed~" Rarity sing-songed.

Outside the door were the three brute ponies told in Ryan's story (see previous chapter). They were attempting to go in. Finally, Troll Face began slamming himself into the door. This was seen as a rude interruption to Rarity, and out of frustration left her work behind to see what the fuss was about.

"Have you ever heard of being patient?! Slamming a door like that." Rarity said as she approached the door. She opened it to see the brutes from before. "Some ponies just want a bit of quiet to-"

The brutes walked in, pushing her out of the way.

"The nerve! How dare you simply push a lady out of the way?" Rarity scoffed in disgust. "I cannot see why anypony would want to barge into a store that is clearly closed!"

"Nopony yells at Troll Face!" Troll Face said.

The three humanphobe ponies pushed down the human dummies, tearing the clothes on them. Rarity could not believe her eyes. It was a burglary. An act of sabotage. She had to do something.

"WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS GOING ON HERE? YOU WALK INTO A LADY'S HOUSE WITHOUT PERMISSION, AND THEN DESTROY HER WORK?! I cannot have this!" Rarity said. With that, Rarity pinned all three ponies' tails down, preventing them from causing further damage.

"You oughta be thanking us!" Troll Face said.

"I beg your pardon?!" Rarity said, still in shock and anger.

"We're cleansing this store! You had humans here!" Troll Face said with a serious face. "They've got a plague, and you'd turn into one of them!"

This had got to be one of the most bizzare things she heard. Destroying her home, because of humans? She just cleaned this place! How can it be dirty at all?

"nahh we're kidding. We're just doing this for shits and giggles." Troll Face said, with a far less serious tone.

At that, Rarity's anger reached uncontrollable levels. Her house was a target for no reason whatsoever. This had got to be the worst treatment she had ever received ever since being kidnapped by diamond dogs. And this time simply annoying them would not do any good.

"IT. IS. ON." Rarity said, ready to attack.

After a severe series of being bludgeoned by a seemingly harmless Fashionista pony, the trio left, barely able to stand up. This was humiliating to them.

"This idea was stupid, Corno Graphic..." Troll Face said to the unicorn.

"Don't look at me! It was Fox Guy's idea." Corno Graphic said, pointing to the Earth Pony.

"Shut up, fag!" Fox Guy snapped at Corno.

"Hey you're the one that still lives with your mother!" Troll Face yelled at Corno, even if it was supposed to be towards Fox Guy.

"Shut up and let's just go back to Edwards Hillside Bonfire." said Corno.

Some hours passed after Rarity cleaned up her boutique from the incident. Rarity was now some hours behind in her schedule, thanks to the trio. She made a mental note never to allow anypony in, unless it was someone she knew. Even then, she wouldn't have much time for conversing.

Reluctantly, Rarity approached the door. She took a peek outside outside, in case of possible brutes. She was part right. She did have a somewhat brutish attitude, but nonetheless she's a good friend of Rarity. It was Rainbow Dash. Rarity opened the door for Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Rarity! Have you seen Troll Face around?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Actually I did. He just left." Rarity said. She then exploded into a massive rant. "THE NERVE OF THAT PONY! I HAVE NEVER MET A PONY MORE DISRESPECTFUL THAN HIM! THAT PONY THINKS HE CAN JUST WALTZ INTO A RANDOM PONY'S HOME, WRECK THEIR STUFF, AND LEAVE A BIG MESS! THE NERVE! IT'S LIKE HE'S INTENTIONALLY CAUSING GRIEF TO EVERYPONY HE SEES!"

There was a short pause.

"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaay..." Rainbow Dash said, somewhat confused. "Well let me know when you see him. He's been creating a lot of cloud graffiti today. He even made a giant...well...y'know..."

Another pause. Rainbow Dash whispered into Rarity's ear, and Rarity let out a bit of an embarrased and shocked blush from what she had heard.

"Oh my. What nerves." Rarity said.

"Let me know when you find him and his friends, alright?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Of course. I'll let you know." replied Rarity.

Turbulence

Dear Princess Celestia

Friendship is a wonderful thing. However, sometimes a relationship between two very different ponies is very much misunderstood, and can sometimes lead to prejudice. However, it is best to examine who they are, instead of simply judging by the book by the cover. Prejudice will only continue to create more hatred, and in turn, disharmony. In some places, when the majority is prejudiced, I learned that it is also best to defend your friends as much as you could, standing up for them, and being there when they need you.

I also learned that some ponies would not understand it, and will even try to undermine the friendship. Some will even try to take drastic measures to see this disharmony through. I am petitioning that someday nopony, and nohuman, will have to suffer from this.

Your faithful student

Twilight Sparkle

A week had passed since the rude interruption of the trio of ruffians. She was able to get the dresses done just a few hours prior to the Grand Galloping Gala. That was the last order she had to fill for the remainder of the week. The Grand Galloping Gala was yesterday, so business would be slow for some time. Perhaps she'd go visit the spa to relax. It had been a stressful several days, working on many dresses, not to mention cleaning up the messes Pinkie Pie and Troll Face made. It's official. She'd reward herself for a job well done and visit the spa. Maybe she'd gather a few friends to join her?

Rarity trotted her way to the closest house; Twilight's home. It was just past the spa. To her surprise, however, the spa building was covered messily with strangely written notes, written on top of newspapers, all over the building. She can't help but notice them, so she took a look at one of those papers.

"FUKIN ffilthy humanz wes heer. run awai or els"

On the newspaper had something interesting too.

PRINCESS CONSIDERING DECLARING HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
CANTERLOT RAVAGED BY ANTI-HUMAN-RIGHTS RIOTERS

Rarity found Twilight's house, surrounded by an angry mob. Twilight was able to set up a protection spell to deter the riot. Whatever was going on, Twilight seemed to have upset Ponyville.

Rarity saw a lavender hoof beckoning to her from behind the tree. Rarity approached it. It was Twilight. Twilight briefly opened the force-field to let Rarity in.

"Twilight, what in the world is going on?" Rarity asked. "It's not one of your experiments gone wrong, is it?"

"No it's not that!" Twilight whispered. "I sent a letter to Princess Celestia as usual, and somepony was yelling some false things to the crowd, and yet they believed him! I DID NOT PLAN TO ASSASINATE PRINCESS LUNA! I DID NOT ATTEMPT TO DESTROY CADENCE'S MARRIAGE! I DID NOT UNLEASH DISCORD!"

Then, a unicorn, Corno Graphic, used his magic to let himself and two others in the force field.

"You three again?!" Rarity said.

"You know these guys?!" Twilight said.

"Hardly! I only know them because they barged into my boutique and wrecked all my human-related creations!" Rarity replied.

"Heh. It looks like you remember us!" Troll Face said.

"Why are you doing this?! What in Celestia's name is the point in all of this?!" Twilight said.

"Do you know why I'm doing this?" Troll Face finally said, in a serious tone.

"...why?"

"THERE YOU ARE!" a raspy voice yelled from the heavens. It was Rainbow Dash.

"Oh balls..." Troll Face said.

Pinkie Pie Intermission 1

Nick did not have a chance to see Rainbow Dash in a while. Her weather job seemed to leave the Rainbow-maned pony quite tired, especially with the rough weather that had been scheduled for some time. He wanted to see if there was a way to meet her again. But first, he wants to see if he can get himself a little pastry snack for the trip home. He walked down the streets of Ponyville, contemplating all these things.

On the way, Nick found a familiar pastry shop: Sugarcube Corner. A family-owned pastry shop, and oftentimes doubles as a party room. The frequent parties don't seem to affect their business. If anything, it bolsters it. Nick enters the colourful building. Currently, the only pony running the store was a pink pony. Nick recognizes this pony. She was the pony that suddenly broke out into song, singing about smiles. It was Pinkie Pie.

"Hello! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.

"Hello. I'd like a cupcake please." Nick said.

"Alright, what kind? We got cranberry, blueberry, redberry, berry-berry, Flower Bouquet Surprise, apple, strawberry, chocolate, Zap Apple, Vanilla, and my personal favourite: Dash-O-Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie said once again.

"I'll have the large chocolate one." Nick said, a bit thrown off by the last one. He had a strange, scary, train of thoughts on that last one, but shrugged it off as nonsense.

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie Pie said. "Y'know, it's funny. Only a few chapters ago I was so depressed, and even mad. I think the author made a bit of a plot hole here. And I don't mean the plot-hole on a pony's behind. NO WAY. That would mean that-"

"Wait, what?" Nick said, bemusedly. He was unaware of the fact that Pinkie Pie just broke the 4th wall.

"Oh sorry. Anyways I've met your friend, Ryan. He's a scary guy. I know I've always said to laugh at the face of scary, but this time he was REALLY scary, like he wanted to kill me or something, can you believe that?! Oh right the cupcakes!" Pinkie Pie said.

She quickly checked the display case for any more chocolate cupcakes. There was none. Nick simply stood there, thinking that Pinkie Pie had too much...caffeine? She also seemed a bit...delusional. Chapters, seriously?

"Oh right! I've ran out of chocolate cupcakes again!" Pinkie Pie went into the kitchen and began making another dozen. As she was in the kitchen, she continued to speak.

"Anyways, that was his favourite before he became scary. But I can understand why he was being scary. I mean he had a secret that nopony would understand if it got out."

"Secret?" Nick said.

"Yes. Although I'm not supposed to say it. It's a secret after all!" Pinkie Pie said. Pinkie Pie suddenly changed the topic.

"Oh look! It turns out I already baked a batch before! Oh silly me!" Pinkie Pie said, before bringing back some chocolate cupcakes. "That'll be 2 bits!"

Nick reached for his pocket, and took out two bits, and placed them on the counter. The Bits had an apple tree on one side, and Princess Celestia on the other. Nick thought for a moment, and decided to simply eat at the restaurant, instead of just walking home with the cupcake. Pinkie Pie then got out of her work station, went up to Nick at his table, and left him a little letter.

"Open it! I'm inviting everypony, and even everyhuman, to an upcoming party!" Pinkie Pie said. She was one of few ponies that actually LIKED humans. Most ponies either did not care, or outright hated them. Nick took a look inside the envelope.

"It's a friend's birthday party I'm setting up!" Pinkie Pie said.

You have been invited to Rainbow Dash's Surprise Birthday Party!

Sugarcube Corner!

6:00 PM

Just bring yourself! It's about fun with friends not getting lots of stuff!

See you then!

It was the luckiest day he ever had. For the first time he was invited to Rainbow Dash's birthday party. She was his idol. He had already met Rainbow Dash before, but he'd meet her again. This was the greatest day of his life. Just then, he let out a manly squeal, only to be quickly embarrased shortly after. Pinkie Pie was right next to him, after all.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." Pinkie Pie said, then she mimed a variety of different actions, all of which apparently spell that she'd keep the secret and never let it out to anypony.

Nick continued to eat his strangely oversized cupcake. Pinkie Pie struggled to put a large banner with the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAINBOW DASH" written on it. Then, by unexplainable methods, she somehow put the banner up on the top. Most ponies would find this to be insanity, breaking the laws of physics. However, the ponies of Ponyville know Pinkie Pie well enough to know she's...Pinkie Pie.

Nick then remembers something.

"Hey, Pinkie..." Nick said.

"Yes Nick?" Pinkie chirped.

"How would you go about helping someone out of the dumps?" Nick said. "Recently my friend Ryan had been acting strangely. It's like he despises ponies more. I mean, yeah, we humans are treated as second class citizens and I hate that, but this is getting too ridiculous."

The usually perky pony was suddenly quiet about this. She knows too much. She also Pinkie Promised the man not to reveal the secret, and only thinking about it suddenly made her feel uncomfortable...in a bad way. In an effort to not reveal the secret, she had to quickly think of a way to change the topic.

DING-A-LING-A-LING-A-LING

"THAT SOUNDS IMPORTANT" Pinkie Pie rushed to the counter. She was serving a random unicorn customer.

Nick simply shrugged, not aware of Pinkie Pie's secrecy. He simply continued to chew down on his cupcakes. He noticed that it was slightly chewier than usual. It felt meaty. WAIT MEATY?! No. Not meaty. More like...oh. Dried berry-berries. Berry-berries were unusual like that. If they were dried, they'd simply be chewy. Ripe berry-berries were simply bland. Because they were grown in the Everfree forest, they too had unusual properties. They'd actually be tasty when dried up.

Nick left Sugarcube Corner, and in the distance was Rainbow Dash, pursuing three other ponies. The three ponies were not gonna make it far. No way.

Troll Face Revealed

Troll Face, Corno, and Fox Guy were running away from Rainbow Dash. Running through the streets of Ponyville, weaving through the crowds. Many disgruntled ponies yelled at the chaos-causing ponies. Rainbow Dash was able to dodge the crowds, as she simply flew over the crowd. Left and right, through and behind, it was a chase.

Troll Face then stopped at Applejack's apple stall, quickly bucked it into Rainbow Dash's wake, and quickly flew off.

"GET BACK HERE YA SABOTAGIN' VARMINT!" Applejack yelled, raising her hoof in rage. In hindsight, she appeared to get smaller to the two pegasi.

Suddenly it became more of a dogfight. Two pegasi were locked in a chase. Rainbow Dash was chasing after Troll Face. Eventually their chases went higher and higher up in the air. Rainbow Dash and Troll Face eventually passed by Rainbow Dash's house, which was covered in graffiti with the words "RD SUX" and "GAI SLUT" written in rainbow all over it, with Troll Face's signature written as well. This was the reason Rainbow Dash was chasing after Troll Face.

The chase continued to fly towards Everfree Forest. This was Troll Face's opportunity to evade Rainbow Dash. He nose-dived into the thick foliage of the forest. Rainbow Dash pursued him into the forest. The chase was rough, and no doubt Troll Face was growing tired. He was dealing with a strong flier. She even won "Best Young Fliers" competition twice in a row. FOR PONY'S SAKE, SHE DID A SONIC RAINBOOM.

Troll Face nose-dived into the Everfree Forest. Incidentally, they landed right where the foal-baby was found. Rainbow Dash followed Troll Face, but as she landed, she lost him.

"DAMMIT!" she said. "Lost him again!"

Rainbow Dash signed and began to fly back home to clean her house...again...

THUD

Something caught her tail, and caused her to fall on the ground. Rainbow Dash quickly turned around and looked at him angrily. She was ready to attack. He had a black mane, a white coat, a slightly disfigured head, and a large red downwards-pointing thumb.

"Troll Face?!" Rainbow Dash said in shock. Then her mood changed from shock to outrage. "Seriously, Troll Face! What the hay is wrong with you?! You're causing all of Ponyville and Cloudsdale a lot of ruckus these days! And I'm always the one forced to do all the paperwork repairing YOUR wrecks! What the hay is wrong with you?!"

There was a bit of silence. Troll Face, bearing a suddenly very serious look to his face, then began to speak.

"Y'know. Some ponies just want to watch the world burn." he said. Only, it wasn't quite his voice. It was...oh no...

"Wait, what's going on?" Rainbow Dash said. She was getting very much worried now.

Piece by piece, Troll Face began removing pieces of foliage. Eventually it revealed something she thought she'd never see. Unfortunately for her, she had begun to see it. It was a statue of someone whom she thought she'd never see ever again.

"D...DISCORD?!" Rainbow Dash said in utter shock. "YOU'RE BEHIND THIS?!"

The statue of Discord had only one moving limb : his lion paw limb. As his lion arm moved, he used Troll Face to continue speaking.

"Loyal Rainbow. It's so good to see you again!" said Discord. "How is Ponyville? I heard there's been a lot of chaos lately!"

"What are you doing with Troll Face's body?!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Ohh Rainbow Dash. Brash as usual I see." Discord chuckled. "Yes. I've got Troll Face's body under my control, you see, after you put me into stone, I appear to have been left to rot in these woods. Fortunately the Everfree's natural chaotic state would allow me to have some of my abilities to take control. That's how my arm still works, you see.And now, I am back! All I had to do was wait for the right time..."

"JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "WE'LL STOP YOU LIKE WE-"

"I'm afraid that won't do much." said Discord. "Even if something should happen to me, my little disciple here, Troll Face, will cause the chaos I wanted to create. Soon I'll rule the world in a chaos state, and I wouldn't have to lift a finger! I may not be able to use the same chaotic magic I used before, but anything to cause some chaos, and humans are the perfect scapegoat."

"WHY YOU-"

"Enough chit-chat. Time for you to go. You're in the way of precious chaos time." Troll Face began to approach Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash attempted to fly away, but Troll Face caught her tail (again) and proceeded to pummel her. Rainbow Dash was unable to defend herself, being pinned down. Things went black, as she suddenly felt like being lifted.

Seeds of Distrust

A sudden splash of water was felt at Rainbow Dash's face, causing the now conscious pony to bolt up into a sitting position as she quickly observed her surroundings. It was dark, but not the kind of dark she'd be afraid of. Rather, it was...night time. It was still fairly early. The sun was still up, but barely. Dusk. She was on a dirt ground, right outside of Sweet Apple Acres. The source of water: a now empty rain barrel. Derpy Hooves was hovering around clumsily, looking at Rainbow Dash while smiling nervously, realizing what a silly mistake she made.

"Oops, my bad!" said Derpy. Nopony can really blame her. She has a hard time seeing, considering her oddly-positioned eyes. Well except maybe...

"Derpy! Not again!" Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash looked up to see Applejack.

"You alright? Sugarcube?" said Applejack.

"Wh...where am I?!" Rainbow Dash said.

"This here human dragged ya here." said Applejack, pointing to a somewhat beat-up Nick.

"Nick?!" said Rainbow Dash, in shock.

"Oh, hey Rainb-OW!" said Nick, writing in pain. "Applejack! What the hell was that for?!"

"Still tryin' ta lay yer filthy hands on RD here?" Applejack barked.

"I was-OW trying to-OW...help..." Nick said, still suffering from the effects of being bucked in the back, chest, and just about everywhere.

"Now c'mere. Help her up." Applejack said. It was ironic that she'd have Nick help her out, but Nick helped anyways. Applejack and Nick helped Rainbow Dash back to her legs, which were still aching due to the previous beatings. Applejack and Nick supported Rainbow Dash and helped her enter Applejack's house.

Inside, the Apple Family were minding their own business. Apple Bloom, Applejack's younger sister, was laying on the floor, homework scattered everywhere, listening to the radio instead of doing her homework. Granny Smith, Applejack's grandmother, was sitting on a nearby rocking chair, snoozing. Big Macintosh, Applejack's older brother, was simply drinking a large tankard of apple beer, presumably to reward himself after a hard day's work.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Nick went upstairs to a spare room. There Rainbow Dash would rest up as her wounds healed. Nick stood by her, as Applejack went to get her first aid kit. After all, accidents do happen at Sweet Apple Acres. Nick, on the other hand, simply sat there, next to Rainbow Dash.

"Oh right. Pinkie Pie gave me this to you." Nick said. It was a present box.

"Oh right, it was my birthday today." Rainbow Dash said. She opened the box. It was a slice of cake. From her birthday party. The one that she missed. Rainbow Dash felt terrible now. It was made with Berry-berries, which was Pinkie Pie's secret ingredient to much of her own recipes. It tasted funny, but it was also really good.

Applejack walked in as Rainbow Dash ate her cake. Applejack carried a small, white box, with the words "First Aid" written in bold, green letters.

"Now what in tar-nation?" Applejack said.

"Applejack, chill. He's just giving me cake." said Rainbow Dash, attempting to calm down the antsy pony.

"Now wait just a darn minute! Ah am NOT gonna let THAT do anythin' to mah friends!" Applejack snapped.

"Applejack! Relax! He didn't mean any harm! He DID help me up after all!" Rainbow Dash snapped back.

"Y'all didn't know that it was the SAME HUMANS causin that beat up pinkie pie?!" Applejack yelled furiously. "Y'ALL DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS HUMANS THAT NEARLY KILLED TWILIGHT. Y'ALL DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS HUMANS THAT RAPED FLUTTERSHY?! Y'ALL DIDN'T KNOW THEY ALMOST KILLED ME WITH THEM GUNS?! Y'ALL DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS THEM WHO...almost killed you too? Y'all didn't know...they forced me to hurt an' almost kill Fluttershy?"

Applejack, still remembering how it was her that caused Fluttershy to cough blood in a failed abortion, began to sob. Even if it were successful, she almost killed her friend in the process. She didn't want Fluttershy to endure the pain of being ostracised for having sexual relations with a human. She cared for Fluttershy too much. At the same time, she felt horrible for having taken a life. But this was not the way she wanted to help her friend. She began to sob with the horrid memories coming back to her.

"Applejack..." Rainbow Dash said, trying to calm her down. "I don't get it."

"Them two corpses. Of the human and the foal..." Applejack said. "Is Fluttershy's and that tall human's baby."

Everyone was frozen in shock. Nick was especially shocked. All this time, Ryan Jack had kept him in the dark about this. Ryan Jack, biggest ponyphobe in the world, had sex with a pony. He kept this secret this whole time. It was a shocking truth. He learned why Ryan Jack was so secretive.

Finally, Rainbow Dash spoke.

"Applejack. You're wrong." Rainbow Dash said. "Nohuman beat me up. It was a pony."

Applejack cleared a tear from her eyes. "A...pony? Ah don't understand. Ah saw a black maned white pegasus carry you all the way here, to Sweet Apple Acres. He left as soon as THIS human got here."

"That was the pony. It was Troll Face." Rainbow Dash explained.

"Wait! That was the pegasus that poured rain on me!" Nick asked.

"I even saw Discord! He was the one controlling Troll Face the whole time! I swear!" Rainbow Dash said.

Silence.

"Alright, fine. I believe y'all." Applejack said. "But don't expect Pinkie Pie to forgive y'all as easily."

"Wait what?" Rainbow Dash said, in confusion.

"Ever since y'all missed yer own birthday party, ponies began to grow weary of waiting for y'all to visit Sugarcube corner. Ah never saw the poor thing so sad in mah life." Applejack said.

"Sad? Pinkie Pie? Really?" Nick asked, unaware of the situation.

"Ah tried to get her t'sit and reas'n, but she simply began gatherin' all sorts a stuff and made a surprise birthday party fer a bucket of turnips." Applejack continued. "Ah never got weirded out more in mah life. Ah'm afraid she's not too happy to see y'all anymoh."

And right outside, was Troll Face, stalking the three from outside the window, flashing an evil grin. The seeds of distrust have sprouted, and now chaos is to ensue soon.

SHOE!

The riot that took place outside Twilight's library have subsided. The Solar Guards have ran the rioters out, but in the name of noise complaint. The falseness of the rumours were soon to follow. It was not long before the rioters' attention turned towards Troll Face and his posse. It's amazing how fast word of mouth can fly by, especially in such a small town as Ponyville.

What mattered to Twilight was that she no longer had to endure the blame. She went back into the library. Thanks to her force field, her tree was still in one piece. However it managed to drain her energy away. She just wanted to get some sleep. Twilight was exhausted. She'd go to her bedroom, and tuck herself in her little bed, and struggled to stay asleep.

The problem is...it was still sunny out.

Twilight hopped out of bed, and simply went to her desk. She needed help finding something.

"Spike?" Twilight called, looking for her baby dragon assistant.

Dutifully, Spike went to Twilight Sparkle, ready to do things. "Need something?"

"I think..." she yawned. "I think we should...reschedule the day..."

"Yeah, no kidding. That crowd looked angry." Spike said. "Just glad that Lyra stopped by to defend you."

Spike dutifully took out the to-do list for the day. It was smaller than the usual to-do lists. Spike then decided to quickly run through the to-do list.

Despite the unaccounted riots, Twilight Sparkle was able to finish everything that was on the To-do list, with plenty of time to spare. Once again, her organization skills helped her. It felt something short of a win streak for her. Assessing her situation with time itself, she realized she had some free time left.

Twilight would do what she'd always do on her free time: Read a nice book.

Twilight magically lifted a random book and began to read it.

Diary of Mane Frank

Mane Frank's diary tells of a tale during the tumultuous time when the Gryphon lands was ruled by a strange dictatorship, threatening to wipe out non-gryphons of the land. Mane Frank recalls her memories of hiding in an old factory, describing in great detail the challenges, right before she was caught.

Small world...

Then, in the distance...

"OF ALL THE WORST THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN. THIS IS THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!!!"

Rarity was in trouble.

Derpy Hooves was the local mailmare. She is in charge of making sure parcels arrive in the right place. Despite what most ponies think, Derpy is actually capable of her job (to make up for an incident involving unicorns and falling pianos), in spite of having a lazy eye. In fact, her good eye was capable of seeing things in a long distance. Derpy Hooves was on her way to deliver a parcel to Fluttershy. Her package was extremely heavy, as it contained a large sack of Bird Feed. Derpy struggled to flap her wings as the massive parcel threatened to burst out of the box. As she neared Fluttershy's house while passing by the Everfree Forest...

"Oh thank Celestia, I'm almost there! This box is huge!" Derpy said, letting out a wheeze.

RRRIIIPPP!!!!

"Oh Celestia why?!" Derpy said, assessing the damage.

The box was torn open. It was in no shape to carry anything. Derpy was getting really worried. She could simply drag the bag, but that would risk damaging the parcel. Her boss would have her head on a platter if she did this (which was a strange thought, considering ponies are herbivores). Nevertheless, Derpy was worried. She had to find a way to (professionally) take the parcel to her customer.

Then, she noticed something in the forest. Derpy narrowed her eye to determine what it was. It was a cardboard box. Why would a cardboard box be in the Everfree Forest? Derpy found this odd, but nonetheless approached the box, while keeping an eye on the heavy sack of bird feed. The sun was up at just the right angle to be bright enough to light the way inside the forest.

"I'm just here for the box..." Derpy reminded herself. She knew that, after recent events, she wasn't supposed to enter the Everfree. But, judging by her situation, a small breach of law would save her otherwise unstable job.

The forest, even with the brightness of Celestia's sun, was still eerie. Littered with strange-bending trees, as well as various corpses in the distance. No wonder two severed dead bodies were found here. Nopony would just waltz in here without good reason. And boy did Derpy have a good reason: Her job.

She hovered over to the box, nervously. Whether it's her own natural instincts or the strange magical imbalance, something about the forest terrifies Derpy. She grabbed the box, and flew back to the entrance to the forest. However, as she neared the exit, something had caught her tail, causing her to drop the box. She turned around to see another pegasus. Troll Face.

"Hello, mailmare..." said the pegasus Troll Face. Something didn't feel right about this pony. Either that or Derpy was terrified to see a random pony that snuck up on her. Was this an ambush?

"Uh...I...I'm sorry...I just needed to borrow the box and..." as she spoke, she noticed something about the box. It was upside down, and on the bottom of the box was a book.

"You know not to take anypony's belongings without asking, do you?" said Troll Face, his voice altering midway through into a deeper, darker voice.

Troll Face then took out a human's shoe. It was strangely ornate. It was encrusted with jewels. A human would have to pay a fortune just to purchase a pair. Troll Face swung the shoe at Derpy with great force. Derpy was now lying on the floor, knocked out, tongue sticking out, and with a big shoeprint on her face. The only sign of life in her was her wings twitching, like a dying insect.

Troll Face then left the shoe and the dead pony behind.

Chaos was to ensue.

Pinkie Pie Intermission 2

INCOMING TACTICAL UNUSUAL WRITING METHOD.

Pinkie Pie's room was a mess of party favours, as well as various random objects, posing as "Party Guests" to make up for a previous party that went awry. Ever since the failed surprise party for Rainbow Dash, her usual chipper attitude was (once again) swiped clean. Throughout the entire "party", Pinkie Pie kept twitching.

"I can't wait for Rainbow Dash to get here!" said Pinkie Pie

"Yeah! This is going to be awesome!" said Nick.

"Hold on y'all. Ah think ah hear her comin'" Applejack said, hushing everypony.

They were at Sugarcube Corner. Everypony and Everyhuman were waiting, hiding in their designated spots, as the lights remain dim, in an effort to fully surprise their party guest. Pinkie Pie sat eagerly, waiting to surprise her friend. She loved surprising people in surprise parties, after all.

"Any minute now..." Pinkie Pie said.

"mORe teA, mADaM leFLOuR?" Pinkie Pie said.

"oUi, maDAmmE. MerCI beauCOUp" Pinkie Pie said, moving a sack of flour.

Pinkie Pie trotted over to a pile of rocks. "ThEy DiTcHeD yOu AgAiN, dIdN't ThEy?"

Derpy Hooves, who was a relative of Rainbow Dash, started to get somewhat antsy. Ten minutes has passed since everypony waited in their positions. Everypony else was also starting to get a bit bored. Nick, however, was remaining eager, as was Pinkie Pie.

Finally, Derpy said something.

"Uhm, Pinkie. I have to get back to work..." said Derpy.

"Oh okay. Can you tell Dashie to come here?" Pinkie Pie replied.

"Sure thing, Pinkie. I'll see you around." Derpy said, laughing nervously. She went for the exit, hovering awkwardly out.

"WhO NEEds tHosE gUYs aNYWAYS?" Pinkie twitched as she moved a bucket of turnips.

"You KNOW what? yoU're RIGHT." Pinkie Pie said, talking to an inanimate bucket of turnips.

Pinkie Pie took a swig of Hard Apple Cider, wiping her mouth after taking a swig. Her balance was briefly lost, but she continued to have her party.

"thEy'rE a bunch of losErs! TH3 N3RV3!" Pinkie Pie said, moving a small pile of lint.

"Wait everypony! Where are you guys going?" Pinkie Pie begged.

"Ahm sorry, but ah can't stay fer much longer." Applejack, one of her closest friends, said to Pinkie Pie. Regretfully, she left the building. Other ponies began to leave the building as well. Pinkie Pie was beginning to get very sad. Her hair started to slowly unfurl.

Then, she felt a pat on her back.

"I'll stay." said Nick. "I know she's coming."

Pinkie Pie proceeded to take another swig of Hard Apple Cider. She struggled to maintain her balance. She then let out a seemingly chipper, yet absolutely insane, smile. After all, Smile smile smile, as she once sang.

"cOME On EvEryPONY! ThER'S sTIL a L0T OF PartY to DO0O0O!" Pinkie Pie said in an uneven, durnken toen.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Who cOULD that BE?" Pinkie Pie pondered. She trotted over to the door.

Nick, after about 2 hours of waiting, finally left. She was now all alone, in the dark. A party she made specifically for her friend Rainbow Dash.

"Does...nopony...like my...p...parties?" Pinkie Pie said, barely holding in her tears.

Pinkie Pie began to sob. She was left alone. She felt betrayed by everypony. And now everyhuman. Her hair was fully straight again. She curled up into a ball, for an indefinite period of time.

After an indefinite period of time, which felt like an eternity, she finally turned to a sack of flour.

"M...Madamme LeFlour?" Pinkie Pie muttered.

Pinkie Pie opened the door. It was Troll Face.

"Whaddaya want?" Pinkie Pie groggily said.

"I'm really sorry about the party." Troll Face said. "It's a shame really."

"Everyphony just left. I HATE THEM!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Yes. I understand your pain." said Troll Face, letting out a small, sinister snicker. "Let me tell you something..."

Pinkie Pie's attention perked towards the slightly-misshapen pegasus. She was now all ears to Troll Face. Troll Face, throughout this time, began to pace around the place, looking outside the window.

"She's more interested in humans than ponies." said Troll Face, as he faced away from the window, to Pinkie Pie. "In fact, she likes that Nick human the most."

Pinkie Pie was at a state of disbelief, staggering a little. "I...I don't get it..."

"Face it Pinkie." said Troll Face. "These humans are nothing but trouble." If Troll Face had a pair of glasses, he'd move them slightly down, indicating a serious and sinister tone.

"You know what..." Pinkie Pie said, recalling her past with Ryan Jack. "You're right..."

"Yes, it's good we're on the same page..." Troll Face said, letting out a sinister snicker.

Scramble for Shoe

"OF ALL THE BAD THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN!!!" Rarity yelled in devastation. "THIS IS THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!!!"

Rarity broke down into mental breakdown. She was a victim. Of theft. Seemingly on cue, Twilight Sparkle walked in. Twilight saw the devastated pony rolling on the floor, mourning for the loss of something. Meanwhile, her shop looked like a mess.

"Rarity! What happened?!" Twilight trotted over to Rarity, attempting to comfort her. "What happened here?!"

"MY JEWEL-ENCRUSTED HUMANSHOE! IT'S GONE!!!" yelled Rarity, apparently unaware of the fact that her shop was a total mess...again. Twilight Sparkle let out a disappointed face.

"Oh." Twilight said, somewhat disappointed at Rarity's scream of agony. She then took a brief look around the boutique. It was a mess. It didn't look like the mess Twilight would make over an extended period of time from studying. Rather, it looked like the type of mess Rainbow Dash could make in 10 seconds flat. Things appeared to be toppled around. Scattered everywhere, there were crudely drawn drawings with spelled poorly captions with badd grammr..

"I WAS GOING TO HAVE IT SENT TO THE HUMAN PRINCESSES." said Rarity. "WHY MUST THEY BE STOLEN TODAY?!"

LOCAL MAILMARE SHOED TO DEATH

Or at least suffering from serious head trauma

Pinkie Pie went back to the Everfree Forest to gather more Berry-berries. They had a peculiar taste, yet added onto pastries and it gives out a flavour which humans appear to enjoy. Pinkie Pie herself didn't quite find them very tasty, and neither did most ponies.

She scavenged through the Everfree plants. She came across something she thought she'd never have to come across again. That same cardboard box. The memories came back. Pinkie Pie found it hard to believe that the two corpses were actually two halves of a single corpse. Of a foal...baby...thing. Fluttershy's offspring. What was weird, however, was that the box was upside down. It had a book. Human Sciences and Magics by Lyra Heartstrings. Only problem, it had scrawls written all over the pages of the book. The scrawls look too legible to have been done by foals however.

She then noticed a tag on the book.

"IF FOUND, RETURN TO LIBRARY"

She stowed the book away in her saddlebag, mixed with the berry-berries. She continued to scavenge for more berry-berries. On her search, however, was a left shoe. Not the kind of shoes worn by ponies, but rather by something that looks like it could fit on a human's feet. It bore a familiar theme. It looks just like something Rarity would make. Pinkie Pie, because she "knows everypony in Ponyville", knew this had to belong to, at the very least, Rarity's customers.

She stowed the shoe into her now heavy saddlebag. She still managed to leap her way out of the forest.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the Everfree Forest...

"C'mon Fox Guy...we don't have all day!"

"Well buck you, you're not helping! Now gimme that, Corno!"

"Who keeps stealing mah rope?! Ah need 'em to lasso things!" Applejack said, as she examines her Rope Wall. Normally she'd have a collection of a variety thicknesses of ropes. There were labels describing which length of rope is meant for what, including "Work Rope", "In Case of Stampedes", "scaffold work", and the ambiguous "Secret but fun".

Only this time, there were no more ropes.

Applejack noticed a note on the wall.

"A hooman dun stol it"

Applejack, even with her distrust of humans, knew that this was too ridiculous to be true. At least until she saw painty hoofprints. Only these hoofprints don't look like normal pony hoofprints. No, they were that of humans. It WAS a human. A human had come here and stole the rope.

Nopony, and Nohuman steals from Applejack while getting away with it. There were only two humans she knew of. And one of them knew where she lived and worked.

Mr Jack...

Ryan Jack, now being even more secretive, snuck his way to Fluttershy's home. He kept his appearance hidden, but this time wearing a cloak and hood, instead of his usual hat and coat. He was hiding a few objects underneath the cloak and hood. He approached Fluttershy's little cottage door. It doesn't seem anypony is home. He left behind a letter and his pistol.

He then noticed something on his foot. He apparently stepped on mud on the way here.

"Dammit..." he muttered, as he carried a variety of things into the Everfree Forest, leaving behind a trail of mud-coated footprints.

Storm Brew

Surprisingly long chapter. I could not be prouder.

Everything was quiet today. It almost seems these sudden events happen sporadically, and not very often. Twilight finished reading another book of magic. She noticed that, surprisingly, magic stains that seem to have developed over time seem to disrupt her concentration. As such, she was reading a book on magic stain removal, which she hoped would clean the stains faster, allowing her to concentrate at full while saving a few extra minutes.

As Twilight closed her book, she put it in her bookcase, or at least attempted to. It was revealed that somepony covered her real book-case with a large sheet of paper resembling her book-case. Not only that, but a pony was hiding behind the papers. It was Troll Face.

"Wait who are y- were you spying on me?!" Twilight stammered in a mix of confusion and anger.

"Ah, hello there, Miss Sparkle..." said Troll Face, with a sudden change into a deep, yet familiar voice.

"How did you kn-" said Twilight, until she realized she heard the voice somewhere.

"Fiddlesticks! Hypnosis magic is severely weakened when you're mostly stone." said Troll Face, back in his usual voice.

"D...DISCORD?!" Twilight said.

"You broke my cover. So what? I can still use this body to cause some chaos." said Discord. "It's funny really. You turned me back into stone, and yet here I am, causing chaos! Looks like I'm still in the game!"

"You're not going to get away with this!" Twilight said. She then proceeded to magically pin down the Discord-hypnotized pegasus onto the ground. She then launched a memory spell at Troll Face, causing a bright flash to fill the room.

Nothing interesting happens.

"Um...can I go cause some chaos now?" said a completely unfazed Discord.

"But my spell...it FAILED?" Twilight said in confusion.

"What you...I AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Discord laughed. "Oh my stars, you should see the look on your face! Priceless! This is even better than that time I made you lose your horn! Priceless!"

Discord, in Troll Face's body, proceeded to headbutt Twilight, knocking her out of the way long enough for the puppet pegasus to fly out of the way. Whatever slight facial mutation he had, it certainly can take a bit of punishment.

"Goodbye, my little pony. I have some chaos to wreak." Discord left, laughing. Not the evil kind, but as though he played a hearty prank on someone.

Back in the Everfree Forest, Fox Guy and Corno was able to lift the statue of Discord at last. To them the statue appeared to simply have a gold lion paw attached to a stone sculpture. It took a lot of hard work, but in the end, the two ponies finally got the statue raised. Fox Guy and Corno admired the strange statue.

"Troll Face told us to drag this to City Hall at night fall, right?" said Corno.

"Best. Prank. Ever." said Fox Guy, unaware of the fact that Discord himself is encased in the statue.

The duo then began to imagine what would happen if the statue was found.

"Oh my stars! A statue just appeared out of nowhere!" said one mare.

"Yes. It's a statue. It came from the human planet!" said Corno, where, in his imagination, he's a lot bulkier and manlier looking, with a larger horn, than he would be in reality.

"Human planet? No way!" another mare said.

"Yes, human planet. they're here to..."

"...take over Equestria! We gotta stop them! I'll save Equestria, but I have to be covered in mares first!" said Corno, still stuck in his imagination box.

"Uhh, Corno..." said Fox Guy.

Corno finally snapped out of his imagination box and back into reality. Standing in front of him was Ryan Jack. He seemed more confused than angry. He didn't have his gun, fortunately. Otherwise, at least to Corno and Fox Guy, he would've shot the two ponies in ten seconds flat.

"...human planet? Are you guys serious?" said Ryan Jack. "Sounds like something a foal would say."

"Shut it human. You're going to ruin the prank!" said Corno.

"A statue? How is a statue going to prank anypony?" said Ryan Jack. He felt a bit weird saying that. It was the first time he actually said it.

"I dunno. Troll Face told us it was part of his Grand Prank or something." said Corno, shrugging. "I dunno."

Ryan Jack simply left them to their own machinations. After all, he went to the Everfree Forest for a different reason. He was going to do something very reckless. He trekked through the forest, as a tear ran down his cheek. He wasn't sure about this trail, so he marked his trail with red paint.

He also brought a rope.

Pinkie Pie was heading towards the library, with her berry-berries, a mysterious book, a mysterious shoe, and, for the strangest of reasons, a carrot which, besides pastries, is Pinkie Pie's favourite snack foods. The only snack food that did not have any sugar she actually likes. Pinkie Pie hopped her way towards the library.

Rainbow Dash then briefly passed by, quickly waving hello to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie looked away in grudge, still feeling betrayed from the failed surprise party for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash crashed into a thundercloud because she didn't watch where she was going. The thundercloud let out a loud thunder, which scared a nearby Fluttershy and a large group of baby bunnies. The rabbits then ran off wildly in multiple directions, causing an explosion of cute to wreak havoc into Ponyville.

And all because Troll Face pushed a thundercloud in front of Rainbow Dash at the right place, at the right time. Troll Face was laughing uncontrollably, to the point he fell to the ground, as all other ponies either ran off hiding into their homes to evade the explosion of furry cute, or have fainted as a result of the sudden expansion of adorable inferno. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, however, was able to stay conscious and standing despite the rampaging adorable.

"Troll Face!" said an angry Rainbow Dash, "What the buck was that for?!"

Troll Face already left.

Pinkie Pie had hurried off towards the Library. Rainbow Dash hurried towards the skies to look for the troublemaker Troll Face. The explosion had died out (It lasted a good 10 seconds from where the two were standing).

"SPIKE! HELP!" said Twilight, as she tried to magically lift the bunnies out of the library. They were not causing a big mess, but they were causing chaos nonetheless. Spike attempted to scare the bunnies out of the library, by lifting his arms upwards, while roaring and letting out a green flame. It did very little effect. Not even the fire scared the baby bunnies. Pinkie Pie then barged through the door, apparently in the nick of time.

"PINKIE! Thank Celestia!" said Twilight. "Help me get rid of these bouncing baby bunnies!"

Pinkie Pie put on a serious face of seriousness, and took out a carrot. She bit off the leafy portion of the carrot (that was the part she liked on the carrot) and tossed it out of the library, in the same fashion one would throw a grenade. Various baby bouncing bunnies soon followed the carrot-grenade.

Aside from a toppled-down (fortunately unbroken) statuette, there wasn't much of a mess made. Twilight picked up the toppled statuette and placed it back where it belongs: on top of a table. They all let out a sigh of relief. The rabbit explosion was over for the most part. Pinkie Pie remembered something.

"OH OH TWILIGHT! I JUST REMEMBERED." Pinkie Pie chirped. "I FOUND A BOOK OF YOURS!"

Twilight levitated the book. It was covered in dirt, but it was easily recognizeable. It was a book that had gone missing since a long time ago. Twilight was under a state of euphoria of knowing she found a book she'd been searching for a very long time. The euphoria quickly died away when she found scribbles all over her book. Twilight let out a sigh.

"Sorry Twilight. That's how I found it in the Everfree Forest. I'm surprised it's still in one piece." Pinkie Pie chirped, only partially aware of Twilight's grief.

"Pinkie, I need to concentrate a bit." said Twilight, somewhat darkly. "I'll meet you at sugarcube corner later?"

"Sure thing Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said, now fully unaware of Twilight's grief. Pinkie Pie left the library. Fortunately, Twilight learned the stain removal spell. She set down the book on top of the large sheet of paper Troll Face left behind. Twilight began to work her magic, her horn glowing in response. A stream of poorly-written scrawls seeped out of the book.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!"

Rarity's shriek of horror destroyed Twilight's concentration. A large mess of scribbles rained down upon the large sheet of paper, therefore she had less mess to clean up after this.

"Oh pony, not again..."

Enter the Fray

Canterlot, the glorious Capital City of Equestria, stands proudly perched on a mountainside. It can be seen from a mile away from Ponyville. Its glorious towers looming over the mountains below, inspiring a sort of awe and patriotism. The towers themselves seem to brim with magic and knowledge itself.

Residing in the castle are the Royal Sisters: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Ever since the Great Empress was killed by Discord eons past, the two sisters claimed a dual-regentship together to maintain harmony in Her place. To this day, the two Princesses rule over Equestria with wisdom and grace, leading the nation to peace and prosperity.

Today, however, was to be of grave news. Not only did the palace courtyard become crowded with anti-human protestors, but something larger, and darker was ahoof.

Princess Celestia was pacing in her throne room. She knew that there was a great terror that have re-emerged. This time she did not have the prophecies to see it coming. No. This time it was completely unexpected. It made no sense whatsoever. Princess Luna had walked in.

"Tia, is something the matter?" said Celestia's younger sister, Luna.

"Yes, Lulu," responded Celestia. Her tone makes her sound very worried. "I need to write a letter to Twilight Sparkle."

"PINKIE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" yelled Rarity in horror.

Pinkie was holding onto a dirty gem-encrusted shoe, which was covered in a mixture of blood, mud, and crushed berry-berries, and was dripping onto the alabaster floors of the Carousel Boutique. Pinkie Pie spat out the dirty shoe she was biting on from her mouth and dropped it.

"This looked like a shoe you made, and I figured you might know who this belongs to." said Pinkie.

"B-b-but this shoe was meant for human royalty I..." Rarity stammered, barely able to create words.

"I think I know who knows how to make the shoe good as new!" said Pinkie Pie, unaware of Rarity's plight.

Rarity let out a sigh. "I suppose I'll have to fix it, don't I? I'm sorry Pinkie, I vant to be alone."

"Okie dokie lokie..." said Pinkie Pie, less enthusiastic about being told to leave the house a second time today.

Rarity magically lifted the dirty shoe and took it to a back room. There she dunked the shoe in the water, and magically scrubbed it with floating soap and sponges. It would take too long for her to simply make a new jewel-encrusted humanshoe, after all.

After vigorously cleaning the shoe, it was mostly clean, but still had a large berry-berry stain on it. Rarity sighed, and then attempted to use her usual stain-remover potion, which had a nauseating smell. She'd have to cover up the putrid scent with flowers later on. Upon opening the bottle of stain remover, however, it was revealed that she had ran out of the stain remover. She'd have to go pick one up from Twilight.

Rarity approached the tree library. Inside she heard magic happening. Twilight Sparkle was experimenting with a new form of magic it seemed. She knew Twilight well enough not to break her concentration when she was busy with new spells. Still, Rarity needed help. She figured she'd at the very least be quiet about it. She opened the door and walked in slowly and quietly.

Twilight was magically writing a letter. Only this time she was...removing the words? Twilight once told Rarity that Parasprites did this. Apparently it was possible to remove words from paper by magic. It looked like Twilight was fixing a spelling error she had made, placing the misspelt word off to the side.

"Hey Rarity! I just learned a new spell!" Twilight said. "It's my 'Spellcheck Spell' spell. Neat, huh? I learned it while learning to do a stain removal spell."

"Oh, right." said Rarity. "That reminds me Twilight. Can you do me a small favour? I'd like to use some of your stain removal potions- did you say...stain removal spell?"

"Oh sure." said Twilight. "Here, pass me the humanshoe."

Rarity set down the stained humanshoe. Twilight aimed her horn at the shoe. Energy was formed around the horn, and the shoe followed. The stains were removed seemingly effortlessly, and the stain was placed onto a large sheet of paper.

"Here you go Rarity." said Twilight, as she hovered the now clean shoe to Rarity.

"Thanks Twilight." Rarity thanked. "I must find a way to thank you!"

"It's not a problem, really."

"You don't understand!" exclaimed Rarity. "This humanshoe was meant for Human Royalty! If I get the seal of approval of the human lands, I might be able to visit their lands as a travelling businessmare! So exotic!"

Twilight chuckled. "Well, I'm glad I could help."

Spike, Twilight's dragon assistant, then walked down the stairs into the main room.

"Hey Twi. Just finished cleaning Peewee's cage." Spike said. "Oh, hey Rarity!"

"Spike! How's my little Spikey-wikey doing?" Rarity cooed, teasingly. Rarity liked to tease Spike, sometimes.

Spike blushed. Then he randomly belched a fire, which then formed a letter. It was a letter from Princess Celestia. Spike opened up the letter that had the Royal Seal on it. A sudden letter from Princess Celestia. Rarity, Twilight, and Spike knew that this meant it was an emergency. Twilight Sparkle took the letter and began reading it.

To my faithful student Twilight

I apologise for this short notice warning, but Equestria is in a dire situation. Discord, whom I thought was defeated not too long ago by the power of the Elements of Harmony, had risen once more. Only this time he is operating while still in his statue form, so the powers of the Elements of Harmony would be useless. Instead, he is using an agent to wreak havoc and chaos, starting in subtle ways. Recently, however, things started to stir up faster than I had anticipated. It is highly imperative that you and your friends come to Canterlot immediately, under the dire circumstances.

HRH Princess Celestia

It was time for Twilight to round up all her friends. They were headed for Canterlot.

The Last Roundup

The following chapter is brought to you by: Shameless OC-to-nonOC Quasi-Shipping, as well as weird conversational things. You have been warned.

Rarity and Twilight both agreed to gather up all her friends. Whatever was to happen, the abrupt letter sending was a warning sign of sorts. If it came from the Princess, then it was of utmost importance. Rarity agreed to gather up Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, while Twilight went to look for Applejack and Fluttershy. Spike joined Rarity. Anything to be with Rarity. Rarity simply rolled her eyes, smiling a bit (Rarity saw this as cute, and thought Spike was adorable, but did not have feelings for Spike at all), as all three left the library.

Rarity and Spike were busy looking around town for Rainbow Dash. The flea markets were littered with ponies at their market stalls selling a variety of things. Strangely, Applejack was nowhere in sight. Twilight would be the one gathering her anyways. Rarity then bumped into someone. Someone very tall. A human. Nick. He fell to the ground, as did Rarity. Spike struggled to free himself from underneath Rarity. Rarity simply got up, letting Spike get up too.

"I'm terribly sorry, dearie." said Rarity, while thoroughly examining the rather attractive young human. "I was looking for a friend and I'm terribly sorry."

"Sorry miss." Nick said. "I didn't see you there either."

"I was just looking for a friend of mine, as it were," Rarity said. "I'm looking for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie."

"Rainbow Dash is trying to make amends with Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner." Nick replied.

Suddenly she realized that trying to gather up Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash together would have almost caused more drama. However she was now curious to see what the fuss was about.

"Thank you very much sir." Rarity said, trying to be as plain as possible, as she left the human, blushing a bit.

Twilight Sparkle headed towards Sweet Apple Acres. At Sweet Apple Acres was a large, burly stallion. He was a red stallion. This was Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh. He got back from bucking apples, and was carrying several baskets full of apples.

"Hey Big Macintosh!" Twilight greeted. "Have you seen Applejack?"

"Eeyup," he responded plainly. Then he pointed down the road, towards Fluttershy's cottage. Applejack was heading towards Fluttershy's house. This was great. They'd meet at the same place, at the same time.

"Thanks Big Mac!" she said, as she trotted towards Applejack. Big Macintosh simply waved goodbye, then proceeded with his chores of carrying baskets full of apples.

Twilight caught up with Applejack.

"Applejack, I just got a letter from the Princess and-" Twilight said.

"That's nice." Applejack replied, not paying attention to Twilight Sparkle.

"Um...Applejack?" Twilight asked.

"Yeh, you got a letter from the Princess. Ah heard ya." Applejack said.

"This is important and-" Twilight added, right before she was interrupted.

"Twilight. Ah'm afraid ah can't help y'all right now." Applejack said. "Fluttershy wanted me to visit her alone. Come back later when I'm done."

"But Appleja-" Twilight said, before getting a bucking to the face. She was instantly knocked out.

Applejack, now realizing that her rage had hurt one of her closest friends, was now shocked.

"Um...sirs..." a teal unicorn asked.

Corno and Fox Guy were both dragging the stone draconequus Discord into town. Everypony was staring at the duo doing a very strange and random thing. Pinkie Pie was the town random, so it felt even weirder. Only a few recognized Discord. Although the paw of Discord was the only part that remained unfrozen, he was able to maintain a sort of illusion that made it look like his paw was stone.

"Go away, we don't need you and your freaky human fetish around here," snapped Corno.

"Says the freak with the tiny horn." the teal unicorn snapped back.

Next to Corno was Fox Guy, he was giggling at Corno because of the sick burn the teal mare said.

"Lyra gave you a sick burn, bro." he said, hardly able to suppress a giggle.

Rainbow Dash was at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie had to be there. Rainbow Dash approached the counter. Only Mrs Cake, one of the owners of Sugarcube Corner, was present. She was simply wiping the counters clean, while happily humming. Currently, business is slow, so she'd be able to speak to Pinkie in silence.

"Hello Mrs Cake!" Rainbow Dash said. "Have you seen Pinkie Pie?"

Mrs Cake suddenly stopped smiling.

"I'm afraid she's busy." she said plainly and sternly.

At that moment, a flush sound was heard, and Pinkie Pie was walking down the stairs. She just got back from the bathroom from upstairs. She was ready to get back to work, until she noticed Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie's mane instantly straightened, almost as an emotional response. She simply went to the Kitchen.

"Can I just go talk to Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash said, as she approached the kitchen.

"I'm sorry but employees only." Mrs Cake said. Even though clearly she's only saying this to prevent Rainbow Dash from seeing Pinkie Pie. The insecurity had got the best of Pinkie Pie, and Mrs Cake is aware that Pinkie Pie needs a bit of time to get over said insecurities, ever since the failed party.

Either that or Pinkie herself has something else to say...

"Check...mate..." thought Discord, still encased in stone.

Train of Thought

The ride to Canterlot was rife with awkward silence. The events that took place that eventually got the entirety of the mane six on the train was a convoluted series of inner-circle drama. It was as if harmony was crumbling right before their eyes and they did not even notice it. It was like the time Discord had hypnotized the mane six into a group of bickering ponies. Only this time no spell would save them.

Discord's Mother would be proud...

As Applejack looked in horror what she had done to Twilight, Fluttershy was in the background. She looked in horror what had happened between two of her closest friends. This terrified the already terrified pegasus. Her emotions were at a peculiar state of horror and rage. With a strange mixed emotion, she darted towards Applejack.

"APPLEJACK!" Fluttershy yelled. "How could you do something like that to your own friend?!"

Even if Applejack knew that she was the last person to burst into a fit of anger, if Fluttershy ever did become angry, she KNOWS that trouble is ahead for whomever made her angry. And this time, Fluttershy's cannons of pure rage was aimed at the earth pony. Even SHE knew she had to run at this point.

And that's exactly what she did.

The awkward silence persisted throughout the train ride. Pinkie Pie was, ironically, sitting next to Rainbow Dash. Even if she tried to avoid her for a long while. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash attempted to open up to Pinkie Pie, but Pinkie Pie refused to reciprocate, simply snubbing Rainbow Dash with a look that says "buck you."

Rainbow Dash began to wonder if it was her fault. If not missing a party of Pinkie Pie's (according to Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie hates rescheduling), then it was of pestering Pinkie Pie to attempt to apologize. The very thought made her feel bad about herself. She called Pinkie Pie annoying, when all this time it felt it was her that annoyed Pinkie. Still, she had to say something.

"Pinkie?" Rainbow began.

Silence.

"Look...I got caught up in a mugging by Troll Face and-" Rainbow continued, before being interrupted.

"I'm not stupid, Rainbow Dash..." Pinkie Pie said, suddenly very serious. Her hair straightened in response to the serious tone. "You only left so that you can make out with humans!"

Rainbow Dash looked at her in utter confusion. What the hay was she talking about?

"Listen, Pinkie Pie..." Troll Face began. "Rainbow Dash prefers to spend time with humans...than with FRIENDS...."

Suddenly Troll Face began to stare into Pinkie Pie's eyes. Pinkie Pie was only able to stare back. It was hypnosis. Like the time with Discord.

"Oh good. It still wORKS. Huh. Not quite as well, but it'll do." Troll Face said. For a second Discord lost control of the voice and his true voice was revealed for a split second. "Now to find all the other ponies..."

Rainbow Dash recoiled back at the backlash Pinkie Pie gave her.

"Pinkie Pie...I...what?" she said.

"You hurt me. You just left me there." Pinkie Pie said.

"I told you I was mugged I-" said Rainbow Dash, before being interrupted again.

"Will everypony just BE QUIET?!" yelled, of all ponies, Fluttershy. There was a hint of sadness in her tone.

"Twilight?" a voice peeped.

Twilight woke up to find a familiar face. She was in Fluttershy's house...again. The repeated head-smashing was beginning to be tiresome. Twilight went up in all fours. She looked around for anything else interesting. Fluttershy was simply standing there, as usual. Twilight then noticed something on the ground.

Ryan's gun.

Twilight Sparkle was dumbfounded by the presence of the firearm in Fluttershy's house. Fluttershy was confused, but noticing Twilight's gaze, she now knows why.

"We'll worry about the gun later. Right now we have to-" Twilight said, right before being bucked in the face...AGAIN...by Fluttershy, as she quickly made a (quiet) run for the Everfree Forest. Twilight recovered (surprisingly) quickly, however.

"Ow! Not again!" said Twilight. She then noticed a note underneath the gun. Using her magic, she picked it up, and quickly skimmed through it.

It was a suicide note. By Ryan Jack.

"What's gotten into you, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Fluttershy was simply trying to hold back tears, then ran off down the train aisles. Meanwhile the train came to a slowdown, readying to stop at the station. Twilight went after Fluttershy. There was little time to waste.

"Fluttershy! Wait!" Twilight yelled.

"Arrived at Canterlot Station! Canterlot Station! Exit to your Right!" a conductor yelled.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie unboarded the train. Rarity, meanwhile, was doing multiple double-takes, trying to decide between helping Twilight and heading towards the palace to see the Princess. A nearby conductor was looking at Rarity impatiently.

"Look, lady, make your decision." he sneered. "Either get off here, or wait till we stop at Trotonto Station."

Reluctantly, Rarity chose the former choice over the latter. She unboarded the train, and the conductor quickly closed the train so that it would head towards the next stop, which was roughly 4-5 hours away from Canterlot. Rarity then realized she was lagging behind the rest of her friends that did leave the train on time.

"Ohhh..." Rarity said to herself, overwhelmed with worry.

Fluttershy was in the Everfree Forest once again. She was careful not to disturb any of the wildlife. The amount of corpses in this part of the woods creeped her out considerably. The scent of rot and decay was around her relentlessly. However, she knew where to go to find her lover.

And there he was.

...dead.

The Chaos has been Doubled!

Twilight noticed that the doors were closed on the train, and the train had begun moving. Twilight was now beginning to worry. She knew that the next train station was a long distance away. Even longer than the trip between Ponyville and Canterlot. Right now, however, is finding out what's going on with Fluttershy, and why she just randomly ran off. More importantly, however, is where Fluttershy ran off to.

Twilight Sparkle ran down the train, in spite of the conductor telling her to stop. Finally, after many cars, she finally found the yellow pegasus in the farthest back train car. She is curled up in a corner, sobbing to herself, while hiding behind several crates.

Twilight simply sat next to her, comforting her, while saying nothing at all, in a state of both worry and, ironically, calmness.

The train ride was unusually long, but by evening Twilight and Fluttershy stopped at the end of the Friendship Express train line. They stopped at the Trotonto Station. It was not a very stunning town. It resembled Appleloosa in a number of respects, except there are more woods around the area. It's not as vibrant as Ponyville, and noticeably smaller too.

"Excuse me, but this is the end of the line," said a conductor. "I'm afraid both of you will have to leave the train."

"Wait WHAT?!" Twilight Sparkle objected. "How are we supposed to get back?!"

"Well you should've done that before," the conductor said. "There won't be a train for a while."

"When is the next train coming?" Twilight asked.

"Next train will be leaving in..." the conductor said, as he reveals a train nearby.

"10 seconds flat."

As if on cue, the train headed for Canterlot already left. Twilight Sparkle stared in disbelief.

"Now get out."

Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie all headed towards the Palace. Pinkie Pie, instead of her usual goofy expression on her face, she kept a look that looked like she was hurt and disillusioned. Rainbow Dash simply tried to stare away from everypony. Applejack constantly ended up staring into space. Only Rarity was able to keep the rest relatively unified.

Upon arrival at the palace's front gates, two guards "greeted" the three ponies with intimidating looks, blocking the three ponies with large wings. Rarity could swear she heard a clang of metal, as though the wings are made of metal itself. Rarity backed up in intimidation.

"Halt who goes there?" one of the guards demanded.

"So sorry to have bothered you, sir," Rarity said. "the Princess sent for us and-"

"Do you have any proof?" the second guard asked.

"Well I-er-um..." Rarity said, as she tried to come up with a lie as to cover up the fact that Twilight was her proof.

"No proof, no entrance."

"Well I never!" Rarity said. "I'll have you know I have made business deals with Fancy Pants!"

"No proof, no entrance."

Rarity paused to think for a moment. Meanwhile, three uninterested or otherwise oblivious ponies avoided eye contact with each other. Applejack was the only one to attempt to keep everypony unified, but bickering with them all the while. Meanwhile, as the ponies all argued, Spike snuck past the guards and into the castle courtyard.

Then Rarity had an idea.

Rarity approached the guard in a suggestive manner, with flirtatious eyes that, if done right and done by the right pony, could probably allow just about anypony to fall to her will. It worked with an asparagus vendor, after all. Only this time, she'd be going up against less awkward pony.

"Perhaps you'd make an exception for..." Rarity said seductively as she lightly smothered one of the guard's face with her tail. "...little ol' me?"

"No proof, no entrance."

To that, Rarity facehoofed. These guards are like blocks of wall. It was downright impossible to even MOVE these ponies. The guards still stood there, not even remotely aroused at all. Perhaps they were secretly gay, but most likely they were taught extreme discipline, which only a bird could fix.

Rarity sighed.

The wait for the train headed back towards Canterlot was a long one. At this time, there were not many ponies waiting for the train, save for Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, and a few other ponies. It was very quiet at the Train Station.

The silence was broken by a cloaked mare, who was pulling a carriage selling pine-scented candles. The cart looked rather hap-hazardly made, as if it were made of debris. Her tattered cloak indicated that she had little money to her name. Despite the fact that it appears as though most of the ponies here were earth ponies, this one seemed like a unicorn.

"Candles...get your candles..." the peddler-pony said, rather weakly.

A stallion approached the blue pony. The mare refused to look into his eyes, as the stallion gave a fairly smug smile. The stallion simply handed her a few bits, and the mare levitated a candle to the stallion.

"Thank you," the stallion said plainly. At that, the salesmare continued with her usual grind.

The mare then passed by Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. That caused the mare to wince a bit. Twilight and Fluttershy looked back in confusion. There was a brief moment of silence, until she asked her usual question.

"Would you like to buy a candle?" she asked.

"Um...no thanks," Twilight responded.

Throughout the entire conversation, however short, she refrained from making eye contact. Meanwhile, Fluttershy pokes Twilight to get her attention, as she points towards an oncoming train. Meanwhile, the peddler mare, stopped at her place a fair distance away from Twilight and Fluttershy, to board the incoming train, unbeknownst to them.

A Rainy Night

Twilight Sparkle and Spike were busily cleaning up the library. Things have become much more hectic ever since humans had inhabited Equestria. However, most of these visits (of which there were only a few, but much more so than before the humans arrived) are purely for scholarly purposes, as the library held many books regarding unicorn magic, which humans have also started to learn, amongst other things. Twilight Sparkle re-shelved the books, by levitating many books at once, directing them with her magic. Spike was busy mopping the floor. The floor was a muddy mess of footprints and hoofprints before he was done. Just then, Spike remembered something.

"Twilight..."

"Yes, Spike?" Twilight said.

"I haven't seen Fluttershy in a while," Spike said.

"She said she'd be visiting Cloudsdale to see her family," Twilight responded, returning to her portion of the job.

By the time they were done, it was late night. Today there was an even larger amount to clean up than ever it seemed. The scholarly visits seem to expand more and more so as time went. Spike was finally done dusting. He was feeling quite sleepy. He was the first to go to bed.

Twilight was still not quite done, however. She still needed to place several more books. After about 10 minutes after Spike went to sleep, Twilight was finished. She let out a sigh of relief. She finally got the re-shelving done. Most of the time she'd be interrupted by, of all of anyone who would, Spike. Twilight then took a look outside her window. It was a downpour. In the distance, there was a thunderstorm heard. Twilight already spoke with Rainbow Dash not to spook anypony, or any human for that matter.

On the other side of the library, she heard a large thud. Twilight quickly galloped outside in the heavy rainstorm. She quickly went around the tree, and saw a hooded pegasus, near unconscious, on the side of her tree. Twilight then quickly noticed her cutie mark. Three butterflies. Speak of the Devil. It was Fluttershy. Twilight quickly carried her inside.

She removed Fluttershy's cloak. Her mane was extremely messy and was barely recognizable as Fluttershy's usually long and flowy mane. Whatever had happened at Cloudsdale was very rough, it seems.

Twilight dried Fluttershy up with a towel, then carried her to her spare bed in the bedroom. While all of this was going on, Fluttershy was muttering something quite weakly, even for Fluttershy.

"The Everfree Forest..."

Mangroves? It seemed quite unusual to mention. Perhaps it was just a dream she's having. Rainbow Dash told Twilight that Fluttershy had "...a bad habit of sleep-talking, enough to drive a pony crazy."

Throughout the night Fluttershy kept saying those words. It was going to be a rough night.

I Told you about Humans, Twilight! I told you Pony!

"Oh goodness! Are you alright?" a familiar voice peeped. She could also hear Pinkie Pie's familiar bouncing, and raindrops outside. Meanwhile, Twilight's head was aching terribly. The knockout caused her to be momentarily paralyzed. However her sense are starting to come back. Twilight struggled to open her eyes. She was in Fluttershy's house. More specifically, in her bed. Twilight was glad to be in Fluttershy's care. Fluttershy looked back at Twilight in worry. Next to her was Pinkie Pie. Her hair seemed to have curled up.

"Uhhhg...my head..." Twilight groaned. "What happened?"

"Oh my gosh Twilight! While me and Fluttershy were talking, we heard a loud thud, and...and...and then I checked out what was at the front door, and you were there, out cold. We couldn't just leave you there, so we let you in and let you borrow Fluttershy's bed and now you're awake!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Oh, I hope you understand..." Fluttershy said.

"Oh it's not a problem. In fact, I'm quite grateful." Twilight said, letting out a slightly nervous smile.

"Oh goodness. What happened out there?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight had told them her story (see the second half of the previous chapter). From Applejack stopping her to the moment she was attacked by timberwolves, up until she was knocked out by something. By then all three ponies were sitting on the floor in a circle. Twilight looked outside the window for a moment. It was night-time. She had been knocked out for some time it seemed. It was early evening when she entered the forest, but it is now sundown.

Twilight then remembered something. What exactly did Fluttershy do anyways? Just then, she heard a groaning in the distance. It was the same madman from earlier today. Only this time his jacket was hung somewhere, and his hair was let loose. The man was also just about getting up.

"Ohh man..." Ryan said. "Wha...YOU!"

Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed, ready to attack, with Ryan's gun locked and loaded, ready to fire. Fluttershy held back Ryan, and Pinkie held back Twilight Sparkle. Both Twilight and Ryan had fierce looks on their faces, like ravenous beasts ready to pounce their prey.

Then, suddenly, Ryan Jack lowered his gun. His head hung in grief. He sat down, covering his face in grief. He let out a sigh. "Now you know..." he said.

Twilight was now more curious than furious. What was this man about to say? Was he involved with the murder of those two foals? Twilight then simply waited for Ryan to continue saying what he had to say.

"I'll tell you what's going on..." he finally said.

Everyone sat down once again, to hear the human's story.