The life and times of an Everfree mystery

I smashed through the door to my and Bon Bon's house. "Where's my hoodie!?" I called.

"On the couch, why do you need it?" Bon Bon asked as she came out the kitchen to inform me.

"No time, help me straighten my hair," I ordered.

"You have time to straighten your hair, so you have time to tell me what's going on," she told me.

"Fine, just give me a second to catch my breath," I told her.

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Meanwhile, John was relaxing on a park bench, admiring the pick that cost him half the bits he had been given. He went over what had happened to him so far, idly thumbing the pick in his hand as he did so. First, he woke up in an odd forest. Second, he fought multiple mythical creatures. Third, he was saved by a bunch of magical talking ponies. “Completely sane,” he thought. “I've just been sent to another dimension, what's there to be worried about anyway? You've got no family and all your friends either died or turned their backs on you,” he reasoned with himself. He looked up at the sun; it was a bit after noon, any minute now that unicorn should get off work.

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"So a creature tries out that guitar thing and suddenly you’ve got the hots for him?" Bon Bon questioned.

"No, I'm just intrigued by him," I said.

"So you ran back here so you could straighten your hair, just because," Bon Bon continued.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"I'm coming with you. It's not natural for somepony to be attracted to another creature so quickly," she said.

"I'm not attracted to him!" I whined.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on," she said as she motioned to leave.

"What's the hurry?" I asked, running up to her.

"You actually made me a bit curious as well, so I brought the animonitor," she informed.

"Isn't the animonitor that thing used by royal guards to look into the past of criminals?" I asked.

"Yeah, they didn't ask for it back when I quit the night guard, and I thought it would be good to know a thing or two about this guy," she finished as we turned to corner.

"That's him!" I said, gesturing with my hoof to John, who was lying on a park bench.

"Alright...," she said, pulling up the animonitor "You ready?" she asked.

"Sure," I responded happily.

The animonitor looked like a small hand mirror, and it let out a purple flash. The world around us started to slow down fade to grey. A rectangular screen shot up out of the animonitor and emitted an image of John's eyes; suddenly a song started to play..

John's face disappeared in a flurry of snow, and then the image showed him standing on a mountain, dressed in tattered clothing. The image whited out again and switched to him running threw a plain of grass, while in the distance three tornadoes were dancing over water. The image followed John and then flew up into the sun. It then showed John running through the ruins of a town, covered in sand. People were chasing him and throwing stones. It switched when a stone came flying toward the image. It then showed him on the running on the rooftops of a grande city at night. Then at last it showed him kneeling on the ground in a cell, his head down and blood flowing out of wounds on his back, as if he had just been whipped. Then John looked up, his eyes glowing, with his left eye glowing red, and his right eye glowing blue. The image stopped as soon as the music stopped.

"What does that mean?" I asked Bon Bon.

"I'm not sure, this thing shows the moments of his past that left an impact on his psyche, but I don't think what we saw really happened..." Bon Bon said, and then started mumbling something.

"Uh... Bon Bon?" I said, trying to get her attention back.

"Listen," she said to me with a serious face. "Sometimes, if a pony has suffered extremely traumatic events, the animonitor will show you something similar in scale to what said pony suffered through," she finished.

"So..." I offered, trying to understand why she seemed so worried.

"That thing," she said, pointing toward John, "has been through a bunch of crazy shit. Excuse my cursing, but all the night guards have used an animonitor on Princess Luna, and the stuff we saw during that wasn't even close to being as intense as that," she said.

"So..." I said, still confused. Bon Bon just facehoofed.

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John sat up and found himself face to face with an armored stallion. "Can I help you?" he asked, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"The princesses request your audience at Sugar Cube Corner," the stallion said shakily.

"Okay," John confirmed, and without hesitation the stallion took off, apparently scared of talking to John, leaving John confused as to where Sugar Cube Corner was.

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Meanwhile, in some other dimension, we're about to meet some beings that will drastically change life in Equestria, for better or for worse.

Author's note: I hate making author's notes, but I wanted to apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out to you. I've been busy creating backgrounds for characters that will be encountered later in the story, as well as trying to find a way to maintain the groove that's been set in this story already. And I would also like to say, do not worry about me completely forgetting about the Everfree. Oh no, don't worry about me forgetting about Everfree at all (maniacal laughter ensues)