The life and times of an Everfree mystery

The sun was high. The breeze was gentle. It was the perfect weather for a courier on the run.

A man, about 187.96 centimeters tall, was sprinting across the rooftops of some skyscrapers. He was being chased by a battalion of cops. He didn't necessarily know why he was being chased; I mean he knew why, it was obviously the package he was delivering, but he didn't know what was in it. All he knew was that it was his job to get the package where it needed to go. The helicopters annoyed our little courier with constant pleas along the lines of "Stop now or we will open fire!" or "Resist further and we will not show mercy!"

The courier put in some headphones when there was a fairly large gap between him and the nearest cops. He turned on his Mp3 player and hit the shuffle button, then he took off on his merry way when the song started. The realization of what the song was, and the combination of his current situation made him laugh. "Karma's a bitch," he claimed as he vaulted an exterior ventilation shaft.

His pursuers got closer to him, but it didn't last as he made a twenty foot jump between two buildings. Eventually the rifleman in the helicopter started taking pot-shots at him. Our courier knew that he would have to get on ground level soon, or risk taking a bullet. He knew the city well, and knew that there was a large river coming up. It was an opportunity that he needed to get down ten stories in a short time. He checked over his shoulder, sure enough, there were more cops, and they were close.

He made his way swiftly across another roof top, and came to his stop, a hundred foot free fall into a deep river. He contemplated continuing the chase for sake of the package, but a bullet flew right by the back of his neck, leaving a scratch mark on his sky blue hoodie, and he quickly decided that self-preservation was more important than a pay check from a shady organization. He leaped off the concrete roof, and plunged through the air. He turned around mid-flight and flipped off the onlooking cops right before he flipped around and prepared to plunge into the water. He didn't have anything against the cops, in fact he donated quite a bit of money to the city police force, but they cost him a week’s worth of cash, and that put him in quite a negative mood.

He plunged feet first into the deep water of the rushing river. He opened his eyes and saw a blurred out version of his city, then his entire body tensed up, and colors started fill his vision. There was some pain, but it slowly faded as the colors grew brighter. All our little courier could do was think to himself 'Fuck me,' right before his vision faded, and his body disappeared into an orb of colors.

Meanwhile, in a magical land of intelligent ponies and ancient creatures of myth one might tell a child that was too excited to go to bed about, a team of ponies were preparing for an expedition into the unrecorded wilds of the massive Everfree forest. A scientist, who also happened to be a map maker, Princess Luna, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were all going to do their best to map as much of the Everfree as they could, and identify any unknown creatures that were lurking through the woods.

They gathered their gear and were all preparing themselves for the journey that lay ahead; they would leave at noon.

Remember our little courier? Of course you do. If you didn't, I recommend finding the nearest medical facility in your area and scheduling an appointment for a brain scan.

Now as I was saying, you remember our little courier. Well, he was just waking up from a dream about a cat made of watermelon. He got up and wiped away the dirt that had accumulated on his hoodie, which was when he noticed that he was dry. A few seconds later, he understood that he was no longer in his city. He looked over his surroundings: forest, as far as the eye can see. The trees were tall, but had plenty of branches to climb upon should the need occur. He also found that there was no path visible to him at the time. He then decided it would be wise to check the machine that might have sent him too this unknown land, for he reasoned that there were no more forests with trees like these in the state he lived in anymore. He opened the satchel at his side, and he found that the package was gone, but in its place were two stereo speakers that he could hook into his Mp3 player, should he wish. This confused him, but he wasn't about to question it; he could see and feel the objects, so he knew they were real. Just then, a gust of air blew hard against our little courier’s cheek. The courier turned in the direction the wind was blowing; he always followed the wind, it always seemed to point him in the right direction. He gazed upon the leafy expanse of wood and grass, and found that he could see movement, but just barely. The wind blew on his back once again, urging him to investigate the movement, and so he took off, jogging lightly in the direction he saw movement, curious as to what adventure he might be getting himself into.

It was now about three, and the group of ponies found themselves deep in the umbrella of leaves that the Everfree provided. They encountered little resistance from the timberwolves, or any other inhabitants of the forest. They all decided to double their efforts so they could get as much data recorded as possible before the sun set, and the predators of the night came out to hunt.

An hour of time passed since our little courier set off in search of the movement from earlier and he grew extremely tired; he may have slept a bit before awaking in this forest, but his muscles still had not healed from his recent chase, and his energy was certainly not replenished. He found himself in a large opening in the forest, and decided he would set up camp for an hour or two. He chose a tree to sleep in, rather than go through the trouble of making a shelter, and found a tree that bore fruit, apples to be exact, and grabbed one before returning to his chosen resting spot. He laid across a large branch, about fifteen feet of the ground; for my listeners from anywhere but the U.S., that's about 4.6 meters. He sunk his teeth into the fruit, savoring the flavor, as he took in the sweet air that surrounded him. He soon found himself drifting off into a deep state of meditation known as sleep. This sleep took him through the rest of the afternoon, and the night as well.

It was sunrise when the princess woke from her slumber, an odd sensation since she was so used to waking at sunset. She nudged the rest of the exploration crew awake, and they set off, unaware of what they are to find ahead.