Us and Them

Chapter 12

Everfree Far

You know what the worst sound to hear waking up is? No, it's not an alarm clock. Giggling. When you hear giggling, something bad will, or already has happened, and you're about to get it. Badly.

I was slowly waking up, but I could hear the sound of giggling from above. What is it that they find so funny? I lifted my head off my “pillow,” and- suddenly finding myself much more awake after remembering what (or rather who) my "pillow" was- shouted at Twilight, who had broken out into a full-on laugh.

"That is NOT what it looks like!"

Twilight struggled to make a comment that I was sure I didn't want to hear, but she was still laughing. Luna was still asleep somehow, so I stormed off to go confront Twilight.

When I finally reached her balcony, she was just beginning to calm down. Then she saw me again and started laughing all over again. I used my magic to force her mouth shut.

"Finally. Jeez." I held her jaw in place until she got over her laughing fit. After a minute or so, she calmed down to a point where I felt I could explain my piece. “That was all Luna. She’s the one who cuddled with me.” She started giggling after I said the C-word. I charged my horn to show that I was willing to use force again. She stifled her laugh quickly.

“Alright. You pretend that this never happened, or so help me, I will make a massive mess out of your room. I will make it so that no cleaning could ever sort it all out.”

“You wouldn’t. You couldn’t.” Twilight growled through gritted teeth. Hah. Weak point discovered.

“I can and I will. Don’t make me prove myself. So, is this staying secret?”

“Alright.” I may be a killjoy, but when it’s at my own expense, I’m willing to be a jerk.

I went downstairs to escape Twilight and to get ready for the day. One thing I could not stand in the least about being a mare was that I had long hair. Back in my days as a human guy, I just had to make sure that my hair wasn't too messy. Now if my hair was out of place, I had to brush it back into place. A pain and a waste of time, but it's something I had to deal with.

As I ran the brush through my mane, my mind began to wander. How have I gone this far? I thought. Just a week ago, I was a normal human. No hooves, no snout, no stupid mane to brush. And look at me now; I've got a lavender coat, a blue mane, and a horn. I'm not even the same gender anymore! I mean, this is great and all, but I should be on Earth, with humans. I placed my hairband back on my head, the only way I could keep my hair out of my face. I'm sure that there's some easy way to do it, but as someone who never has hair past his eyes, I'm afraid I've never learned.

I went out to see that everypony else was awake. I walked in, only to hear Twilight point out something that- honestly- was not my fault. "Historia, your tail's a mess. Did you forget to brush it?"

I responded with a groan and a turn. I can't help it if I've only had a tail for a week now! How am I supposed to remember these things? It probably didn't help that I got way too little sleep last night, or that I slept on the ground.

After I returned, we shared a somewhat awkward breakfast, though the heavy sleepers couldn't understand why Twilight and I were refusing to talk to each other. It was getting late in the morning, so we gathered our things and left for Fluttershy’s cottage to meet the others.

Fluttershy and Dusty were out front, tending to animals. They were looking bright and chipper as ever. Fluttershy was singing softly to herself as she poured seed into a bird feeder. Dusty was having a playful race with some of the bunnies in the yard. Applejack came from behind the cottage, with Rainbow’s tail in her mouth. From the other side of the tree (can I call it a treehouse?), I saw Tycho float into sight, without moving his wings. When I saw Rarity following behind him, I realized that Tycho and Rainbow must have gotten into another one of their trademark fights, and AJ and Rarity were in the midst of breaking it up.

“Don’t tell me we missed the excitement! Twilight, I told you we should’ve left sooner.” I pretended to whine as we walked over the bridge into Fluttershy’s yard. And I had tried to get Twilight to go faster, but she insisted on bringing a saddlebag full of paper, quills and ink. She even made me carry a saddlebag with one of her books about the Forest in it. Honestly, I kind of expected it to get completely soaked in water or mud along the way, but she was adamant. After she had spent an eternity and a half packing, we finally left.

“Ah, Twilight! Historia! How good to see you! I’m ever so glad to have assistance dealing with these two!” Rarity exclaimed after noticing the four of us approaching. Her loss of concentration also caused her to drop Tycho suddenly. Hopefully his flank wouldn’t be bruised after that fall, not that I would really care one way or the other (I just didn’t want him complaining about it along the way).

“Those two up to their usual shenanigans?” I asked with a slight chuckle as I peered past Rarity to see Tycho rubbing his cutie mark. He looked to where his captor went, and took flight as he saw me. He approached us and butted into the conversation.

“Finally you guys show up. We’ve been waiting forever. Let’s get going already!” Tycho said without the slightest attempt to hide his boredom. This drew the attention of the others, who gathered up with us.

“We going?” Dusty asked. Short and sweet as always. And he, unlike I, actually seemed to have gotten a full night’s rest last night. I’ll admit, I was jealous.

“I think so. Everypony ready?” I called out. They all nodded their heads. It was a slow and somber walk to the edge of the Forest. Fear and responsibility weighed heavily on our thoughts as we trotted along the dirt road. Except for Lyrica and Pinkie Pie, who were both equally thrilled to be going on a "fun" adventure to save Equestria. I think they were made for each other.

Finally, we reached the entrance to the Forest. The trees stood ominously before us. The Forest had a feel to it, a dark, terrifying feel. I could tell why most sane ponies wouldn’t get close to the forest without a good reason. But we weren’t most ponies. And we had a good reason. And, arguably, a number of us weren’t even sane.

As soon as I took my first step into the Forest, I knew whole-heartedly that this wasn’t going to be a fun hike. The Forest emanated pure terror. My hair stood on end, I felt a bead of sweat dripping down my snout, my heartbeat sped up, and I began to feel it pulsing in the back of my throat. This place was bad news.

“Twilight, tell me you remember how to get to the ruins. I really don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.” She responded by opening my saddlebag and pulling out the book. She opened it right to the page showing a path to the ruins. Apparently, there was a time when Everfree Forest was less dangerous, and ponies would make pilgrimages to the old castle and the Elements of Harmony.

The path was largely the same as how the gang had reached Nightmare Moon, but I figured it would involve far less issues. Or, well, one could at least hope. Somehow I doubted that we would have to deal with the Shadowbolts.

Instead of falling down a cliff, we found an easy slope to descend, but at the top, we could see the ruins in the distance. Despite its semblance of civilization, the ruins felt even more unnatural than the woods themselves. At the bottom of the hill, a manticore lumbered out of a nearby cave and went straight for Fluttershy. Tycho reacted as soon as it came out of the cave, but Twilight and I reacted just as fast, holding him back with magic.

The manticore hugged Fluttershy tenderly, letting out a purr uncharacteristic of most feral beasts its size. Fluttershy responded with her typical words of love and care, treating an animal ten times her size as though it were a kitten. After a few minutes of this, the manticore returned to its cave, leaving us to continue through the Forest. I began to hear the sound of running water from ahead of me, which could only mean one thing.

“Oh my goodness! Rarity, could that be you?” Came a high-pitched voice downriver. Yep, it was him.

“Oh Mr. Magnet, could that be you? Oh it’s been far too long!” Rarity yelled back as the purple sea serpent came into view. It appeared as though his moustache had returned in all its glory. And I must admit, he did look pretty impressive with a full moustache.

“Oh it is you! How have you been doing? Oh did you do something with your mane? It looks simply fabulous!" Her mane looked the same as always to me. But then, I'm a guy, so I really shouldn't be able to tell.

"Oh, you noticed? The fine women at the spa taught me a trick to keep my hair even more beautiful. I simply must teach it to you." How much longer would this last?

"Oh, that would be marvelous! Ever since I met you, I've been looking for new ways to style my hair. You are quite the inspiration, my good lady. Do you like how it looks?" Okay, this could last much longer. Time to pipe up and put an end to this.

"Mr. Magnet, I think your hair looks amazing. Now, we've got to go past this river, so if you'd just excuse us, we should really get going."

"Oh, but of course. You need only ask. Anything for a friend of Rarity."

He lowered his body into the water, creating a living bridge for us to cross. What a nice guy. Rarity bid him farewell, and we were on our way once more.

Finally, we reached the bridge before the ruins. Once we crossed the canyon, we'd be on Epoch's doorstep. The bridge was even shakier than it seemed. We were afraid to send more than one pony across at a time.

As we approached the ruins, the oppressive feeling of the Forest I was finally adjusting to was magnified tenfold. Something in there was very evil, and very, very powerful. Epoch.

"Alright, let's go" Tycho encouraged with a wave of his hoof. Apparently he really wanted to fight. We slowly approached the ruins, but we were stopped by a sudden earthquake.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" A deep voice boomed from all around us. "A group of ponies, come to stop me? And is that you Dear Sister?" The voice hissed.

"Epoch! Reveal yourself!" Luna shouted. The earthquake intensified, knocking many us off our hooves.

"Be careful what you wish for, foal!" The ground opened up with a deafening crack, like a hundred thunder crashes at once. The chasm consumed the old ruins with ease, the spires of the decrepit castle falling endlessly into the black abyss. Seconds later, waves of magma began crashing against the walls of the chasm. The massive pit was filling with scalding,, crimson magma.

Once the massive hole had been filled to the brim with magma, the ground began shaking again, as a new structure began to emerge from the pool of magma. A massive stone tower, covered in terrifying spikes rose from the magma. It began to slow down as an entrance leveled off with the ground, letting out a terrifying sound, loud enough to knock branches off trees nearby, to show that it had finished moving.

“Do you foals see this? This is but a small fraction of my power! Behold, the Bastion of Eons! Enter if you dare!” Epoch's disembodied voice gloated.

“Guys, I think we should go. Like, now.” I wasn’t ready to go in there. A tower sitting a hundred feet tall, with a moat of magma, inhabited by an alicorn who opened up the ground and raised the tower up seemingly effortlessly? Thanks, but I’m reworking the strategy of “go and stop him” before I take another step closer.

They agreed without any hesitation, and we ran until we were at what we thought to be a safe distance from the Bastion. The top was still visible above the treeline. No doubt Princess Celestia had already seen it. We needed to get in contact with her.

“Ah, my pony friends! Is this Equestria’s end?” rang a heavily accented voice through the Forest.

“Zecora! Oh thank Celestia it’s you!” Twilight responded. “We need to go to your hut. Now.”

“You are always welcome to visit. But I feel that this is not to talk and sit.”

“We can explain when we get there. But let’s get there first.” I responded. I really didn’t feel too good hanging around in the thick of the Forest, especially since Epoch had just shown that he was a force to be reckoned with.

And so we began a hike to reach Zecora’s hut. It wasn’t fast-paced, but that was out of necessity, rather than concern. Zecora knew a path that was far more direct than any Twilight or the others knew of, but it cut straight through the woods. The path was tight, jagged, and filled with hazards for the group. Finally, Zecora’s hut came into view, a welcome sight after everything we’d been through today.

Our job hadn’t begun, it was just beginning. We needed a new playbook though, and Zecora would be helping us with that.