Login

A Little Monster

by Shadowmane PX-41

Chapter 18: A Flower in the Everfree Forest

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

"I didn't mean for Filthy Rich to get hurt!" Timber stood with the Main Six around the tiny ball of thorns that cocooned Gloriosa. "I didn't even think that he'd be coming back so soon—or that Gloriosa would've freaked out like that!"

"Timber, there's nothing that we can do about any of this now." Sunset Shimmer turned her eyes towards Gloriosa, who was still wailing away withing her thorny dome. "None of us were expecting Gloriosa to go crazy like that and hurt Mr. Rich, but now he's gone and there's no way that we can stop this."

"Yes. A court case is hard to deal with—especially if it's a case of assault and battery." Rarity crossed her arms and shook her head gently. "Gloriosa might seem like a baby, but Filthy Rich's testimony is going to bring up a lot of things in the courtroom battle."

"You might get some points for being cute and innocent because it was a baby's doing, but still, the big, bad, chief justice isn't going to like having to deal with this." Pinkie squatted down and gave the spiked ball a gentle tap on the non-thorny parts, causing even more thorns to grow around it. "But we can deal with that later. Right now, there's a cute little ball of joy that's being a real frowny-pants right now and we've gotta help her cheer up!"

"Pinkie! Don't dodge the issue like that!" Rainbow Dash threw her arms out to the sides as she watched Pinkie stand upright again. "We've gotta stop Filthy Rich from going through with this! It could mean the end of Camp Everfree as we know it!"

"Not to mention the fact that since Gloriosa's got magic like Twilight does, she could cause some real harm to the people if they try to take this place away." Sunset held Twilight gently in her arms and felt her long hair tickle her chin as she gave her a gentle rub on the back. "Sure, she can only manipulate plantlife at the moment, but if she keeps this up, she could end up weaponising the entire forest!"

"And even if we do manage to win, Filthy Rich could end up buying out Camp Everfree and shut it down immediately." Applejack tugged at her collar and looked out towards the camp's exit. "It's a tough old situation we've got here. There aren't really many options for us in the case of making everything right for once...

The girls all started talking to each other at once, shooting words out of their mouths as they tried to figure out a way of handling the situation. But despite their ideas, none of the girls could make either of them out due to the pace of their speech and how their words were intersecting with one another to create a nonstop cloud of noise and incoherent gibberish.

"Gah! All this to take in at once. It's... it's too much!" Timber grabbed the sides of his head as his eyes began to dilute. He spluttered and stammered briefly before he let out a massive scream and ran off deep into the forest, silencing the Rainbooms instantly as they turned to see him disappear.

"Timber! Wait up!" Sunset Shimmer broke off from the group clutching Twilight close to her chest as she pursued Timber Spruce.

"You think we should go after her?" Applejack pointed towards Sunset and Timber.

"Nope! First, we've gotta stop little Gloriosa from hurting anyone else!" Pinkie Pie dashed off, then returned one second later carrying some massive garden shears in her hands. "And to do that, we've gotta get this sweet little baby out of these icky thorns and bring a smile back to her face!" And without another word, Pinkie Pie began snipping away at the ball of sharp flora.

"But Pinkie, we can't just let Timber and Sunset down!" Fluttershy stretched her arms out in the distance that Timber and Sunset had run to as she kept her eyes fixated on Pinkie. "I'm sure that Gloriosa will calm down soon."

"Fluttershy. I've dealt with Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake many times before, and I've come to a scientific conclusion." Pinkie managed to break through the thorns and retrieve a sobbing Gloriosa from within. "Babies only stop crying when they start laughing. We just need to let Gloriosa visit the raspberry monster, and everything should be fine." She bent her neck down and blew a massive raspberry onto Gloriosa's chest. But despite this, she was still crying her eyes out. "Or not..."

"Did you really expect it to work like that, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash cocked her brow and tilted her head.

"Kinda." Pinkie shrugged and sat down on the grass cross-legged, rocking Gloriosa back and forth in her arms. "She is a baby, y'know."

"A baby who just got shouted at by her big brother." Fluttershy walked over to Pinkie Pie and sat down with her. "She doesn't need fun at a time like this. If anything, what she needs now is someone to love her." She reached over Pinkie's legs and plucked Gloriosa out of them. She brought the crying baby into her embrace and gave her a cuddle. "There, there, Gloriosa. It's not all that bad. I'm here."

Gloriosa looked up into Fluttershy's face and saw a warm smile beam down onto her body. Her tears didn't stop, but they were reduced down to little snuffles and whimpers as she babbled in baby talk. She reached around Fluttershy's hips and hugged her as tightly as she could, pressing her face into the teenager's belly.

"See, Pinkie? Laughter isn't always the best medicine when it comes to dealing with babies." Fluttershy shut her eyes and felt as Gloriosa's body against hers. She patted the baby and heard her let out a small burp before her coos resumed. "Sometimes, the best thing for someone her age is love and cuddles."

"I still stand by the notion that my method is better." Pinkie Pie stood back up as she watched Fluttershy lift Gloriosa into the air. "But whatever method works to get Glori to calm down is fine by me."

"Let's just hope that we can keep her that way." Rainbow Dash patted Gloriosa on her head. "We've already got one little monster as it is. Two might just be a little too much for us..."

"Hear, hear." Rarity tickled Gloriosa's armpits, hearing her giggle loudly. "I'm all for caring for infants, but I just feel like one magical baby is enough for this life."

The other girls all clamoured around Gloriosa, smiling and cooing at her as they tried her best to keep her from having another tantrum of fit of tears. What they were doing worked as Gloriosa tried to give them all a hug, ensnaring them in a massive ring of ivy that got tighter as she pressed herself against them.

"Sunset..." Rarity choked for air. "I hope you're back soon."


"Timber! Wait!" Sunset burst through each individual bush that Timber went through, trying to keep up with him while also caring for Twilight at the same time. Because of all the roots around the trees, she needed to watch her footing most of the time so that she didn't trip up. "I'm sure that there's a way to fix this!"

"No there isn't!" Timber shouted back as his breathing got heavier. "Filthy Rich has won! There's no way we can beat him in court!"

"Don't feel so defeated! There is a way that we can make this all right again!" Sunset too began to feel the strain of her pursuit weighing her down. Her entire body felt warm and she felt herself wearing down from exhaustion, but still, she pushed on ahead. "Just give us all a chance and we'll stop him from suing you!"

"How are we gonna get him to stop when he's already left?!" Timber asked as he dived through another thick wall of leaves and plants. "Just leave me alone! I'll handle everything else myself like I always do!"

Sunset stopped at the towering barricade of leaves and twigs and only caught a glimpse of Timber sink through it and run off deeper and deeper into the woods. She tried to make out where he was going, but because the leaves were so hard to see through, it was impossible to see which direction he went, if he had even decided to move at all.

"Darn it, Timber. Don't give up on yourself because of this..." Sunset Shimmer stepped back away from the leaves and looked down at Twilight, who just sat quaintly in her hands. "Twilight? I know that you can't understand what I'm saying, but do you think that you could give me a hand with these leaves?"

Little Twilight simply nodded and looked towards the leaves. Cooing, she put her hand in her mouth for a few seconds as she tilted and turned her head. As she looked down at the ground, she saw a group of ladybugs scuttling on the ground. Upon seeing them, she squealed and reached down to grab one of them, unknowingly firing a beam of blue and black energy out of her horn that collided with the massive shrubbery and caused it to implode and burst leaves in all directions—some even into Sunset's mouth, which caused Twilight to look back up at her caretaker and giggle at the sight.

Sunset spat out the leaves and looked at the small building at the end of the path ahead of her and Twilight. They both watched as Timber Spruce ran inside and shut the door behind him. "Timber? Why would you want to run all the way out here when we're offering to help?" She slowly walked forward and gently held onto Twilight.

She walked up to the building and saw that the forest had done a number on the place. Bricks were missing from the walls and ivy climbed the walls and was creeping its' way up towards the roof. The glass on the front door, despite remaining intact, had gathered so much dust and grime that it was practically impossible to see inside. As Sunset put her hand on the door, she could feel how cold it was straight away. It was as if no-one had touched this place for years.

"Timber?" Sunset opened the door and walked through. "Are you in there? C'mon. There's no need to feel bad..."

The inside of the place was much different than Sunset had been anticipating. Despite the holes in the wall and the peeling paint, she could still make out bright and cartoon-like worlds for the wallpapers, with many different pictures on each. There were open fields with children playing in them, a city with cars going down the roads, and even a princess's castle with all kinds of fairy-tale related beings plastered on to the walls, with the front door serving as a cupboard that had its' hinges snapped off.

Scattered around the floor were toys of various different shapes and sizes that also suffered from a lack of care and were beginning to fade and lose their colours. Despite all of this, they were still usable after all of these years with only a couple of fractured and broken items that people had forgotten to throw away. All of these rested on an even dustier floor, with some blankets and pillows clustered up by the walls. In the middle of it all, Timber Spruce merely sat with his legs crossed and his back turned towards Sunset and Twilight.

"Y'know, when I was a little kid, my parents dealt with debts of their own that almost cost them Camp Everfree." Timber sighed but still didn't turn towards Sunset and Twilight. "With inflation, location, and how there were less and less people coming in every so often, it was hard to find a suitable amount of cash to keep the place up and running." He brushed his hand against the floor, collecting a large quantity of dust. "And when my parents gave birth to Gloriosa, things only got much harder for us. Now they had to feed two babies and keep the place from being bought out.

"I can still remember this place, even though it's been years since this place had any sort of use." Timber looked around at the toys laden around the room. "When my mom and dad got the idea to open this building up to the public as a small day-care, Gloriosa was a bit concerned. More and more kids came in and they were using all of her favourite stuff. She always hated it when everyone kept taking her toys for the whole day. At least, that's what I heard from my parents.

"Then, as we grew up, my parents decided to downsize a bit and decommission this place to try and save some money." Timber slumped his shoulders as he stood back up. "We just left it here to stand for years on end in this part of the woods. We left it be, silent, alone, and with no purpose. And now, this is what's going to happen to Camp Everfree. Once Filthy Rich converts the place into a leisure resort to line his pockets more, the rest of the forest is going to become neglected and silent. The energy and purity that this place once had is going to just disappear. And now, it's completely unavoidable."

"Timber. Don't think for a second that we can't turn this whole thing around." Sunset Shimmer walked up to him and gently squeezed his left shoulder. "We've dealt with magical problems before. Back at the Battle of the Bands and Friendship Games, magical occurrences happened that almost ended up doing much worse things than people trying to sue us."

"Yes, but Filthy Rich was physically assaulted by Gloriosa and her magic." Timber turned to face Sunset and tipped his hand. "It doesn't care whether or not he's going to be able to prove it with his words. The bruises on his chest are going to be all of the evidence that he needs to get Camp Everfree closed down for good. And now that he's already left, we're finished." He pulled Sunset's hand off of his body and turned to face the walls again. "I might as well just send you and your Canterlot High friends back home now, so that you're not here to see the lawyers when they confirm that there's gonna be a court case."

"Timber Spruce," Sunset started, puffing out her chest. "I've faced stuff beyond whatever your imagination could come up with. If Filthy Rich wants to take this whole thing to court, then I'm not going to back down. We'll fight by your side as witnesses in your favour if needs be, but I can't just let you run away and wallow like this while your sister is crying and the other campers are suffering because of it." She set Twilight down onto one of the pillows and squatted beside Timber. "Even if the odds might seem against you, that's no reason for you to throw in the towel like that. Even the most impossible odds can be beaten. I know this because I was there. Even when my friends were squabbling and arguing, I was able to keep them from killing each other and actually helped them come to their senses and save the world. And I know that I can do the same for you, Gloriosa, and Camp Everfree." She held her hand out towards Timber. "Just give me a chance. Would you do that for me?"

Timber Spruce looked down at Sunset's hand and turned his head up to see the smile on her face. He thought about everything that had befallen Camp Everfree and what had happened to Gloriosa Daisy. Every event danced through his mind one after the other as he visualised it and the possible futures that could have arisen from taking Sunset's hand. In the end, he finally conceded and let out a big sigh as he slowly reached out a shaky hand and grabbed on to Sunset's.

"Alright, Sunset," Timber said. "I suppose that it can't get any worse from here on out, right?"

"Yeah. We've already gone through the storm, so we should have a better chance of making this all right." Sunset turned towards the door and picked Twilight up just as she was about to toddle off and play with some of the pale old toys in the room. "And who knows? Once this all comes to an end, you could use this room for Gloriosa again. I'm sure that she'd love it."

"Yeah. Provided that we clean the place up a bit first." Timber let a weak chuckle escape his lips. "I'm pretty sure that even as a baby, she remembers this place being much brighter and happier."

The two of them shared a little laugh as they walked out the door and began the long trek back towards the campsite, to brace themselves for the future. Neither of them knew what was going to happen, but they both knew that they would face it together.

Next Chapter: Leaving Camp Everfree Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes
Return to Story Description

Login

Facebook
Login with
Facebook:
FiMFetch