Wind whipped through the leaves of the Everfree Forest, plucking the fall foliage and sending a shower of scarlet, orange, and vibrant yellow leaves swirling through the evening air.

With the onset of twilight one could be forgiven for expecting a swarm of bats to erupt from the nearby caves, but tonight only the hungriest would dare venture forth with such a powerful gale roaring through the trees.

One such little bat struggled, even so, searching in vain for some small morsel to fill its tummy. A fat moth would be best, but at this point it would be happy to settle for a tiny mosquito. As hungry as it was, the tiny bat was still cautious as it flew, aware of a sense of danger that seemed to encroach from all around.

Instinctively it was aware that it was not just the weather that threatened, but something more that seemed to lurk beyond it. Though flashes of green light strobed forebodingly in the clouds above, there was a more pervasive sense of dread that engulfed the woodland. In its own way, the bat regretted greatly having ever left the warm safety offered by the rest of its colony.

Perhaps the bats hunger would have to wait after all...

Too late, it realized that there were no insects worth putting up with whatever was coming. With a frantic flutter of its wings, it turned homeward as the first fat droplets of a rain that stank of death began to sleet down from a sky that had turned pitch black.

This had all been a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake.

A spike of pain lanced through the bats body as something hot and sticky scythed down from the sky above. It felt like something was trying to turn it inside out as it plummeted towards the forest floor.

There was a sudden, sharp pain... And then it knew no more.

"Great, that's just what we need..." Gloriosa Daisy muttered as she sat on the steps just outside the door to the main lodge of Camp Everfree. She was watching the storm roll in. The weather was a perfect compliment to her rotten mood.

It had all seemed so simple, once upon a time.

Camp Everfree had been in her family since it was founded by her great grandparents. Gloriosa had spent every summer there that she could remember since she had been just a small child. It had been a second home to her.

Since it had become harder and harder to pay the bills, it had become her first home now. Not just for her, either, but for her brother as well. Both siblings had to live on camp grounds in order to keep the camp afloat with their meager wages and their own labor.

Despite all their hard work, it was obvious that it just wasn’t enough.

The storm coming in was a reminder of that. The autumn storms weren't particularly heavy on rain, but the wind would do plenty of damage. Roofs would need to be re-shingled, fallen limbs would need to be picked up and the heavier ones chopped up so they could be taken away or used for firewood. If they were lucky, none of the branches would punch through any windows first. They were rarely so fortunate.

Gloriosa had thought finding the glowing geodes in the crystal cavern had been some kind of sign. She thought that they had meant that their luck was finally turning around. There was no doubt that they were amazing, granting her powers and abilities that were no less than supernatural... But that wouldn’t matter to the bank. It certainly wouldn’t matter to Filthy Rich, who intended to buy the camp out from under the pair of down-on-their-luck siblings.

She had thought...

No, rather she had hoped that she would have at least one last summer of fun at Camp Everfree. At least Gloriosa had until she got the phone call.

Canterlot High, which had patronized their camp for years, had burned to the ground.

The camp counselor couldn’t even process the details as the authoritative voice on the other end of the line told Gloriosa of what had happened. Apparently it had been all over the news, 'The CHS Halloween Dance Massacre'. Apparently it wasn’t just a fire, but some kind of heinous slaughter that made your run-of-the-mill school shooting look like youthful high spirits.

What it all meant to Gloriosa Daisy was that their last summer at Camp Everfree had been canceled.

Their last shot at turning things around had gone up in smoke.

All the would-be campers were in intensive care or dead.

The Principal and Vice Principal were certainly dead.

And the hopes and dreams of Camp Everfree had died along with them.

These were the thoughts that went through Gloriosa’s mind as she hauled her body, heavy with depression, off the front stoop and started to head towards the nearby forest.

If there was a storm coming in this was no time for her brother to be out chopping wood. The last thing she needed right now was Timber getting caught in the downpour and getting himself sick, or worse, flinging around a sharp metal ax in a thunderstorm.

"Spruce!" She called, not quiet having the energy to search for him and hoping he was within range of the sound of her voice. "Timber Spruce, it's time to head in!" Sometimes she wondered if her brother had sense enough to get in out of the rain. Then again, she was the one who had been moping instead of getting the camp ready for the hard months ahead.

It wasn’t as if their plans for the immediate future had changed. There was still the coming winter to get through. The camp had a rudimentary heating system and gas powered generators for when the cold would really hit, but there was still so many things she needed to do to get the camp ready to weather what was to come. Truthfully, her brother had always been the more practical one. Tending the grounds and taking care of all the minor things that needed to be done.

Gloriosa just couldn’t bring herself to join him at the moment. It all felt so pointless now.

She felt numb.

The camp counselor fidgeted with the few geodes that she wore on the necklace around her neck. Maybe she should use their power to help find her brother?

With a thunderous crack, unnatural orange lightning pierced the dark sky, snapping Gloriosa from her thoughts as the storms display shook the forest. The rumble of thunder was accompanied by a flash of green light that startled her even further. She had never seen anything like it before, despite having withstood many a wild storm over her many years in the untamed wilderness. Even more bizarre, with the oncoming storm came a thick bank of fog that seemed to be rolling in from the woods. There was something wrong about that fog and, as its tendrils crept through the camp grounds, it made Gloriosa shivered.

It was as if a pall had fallen down over the world. A deathly stillness crept over the forest, the exact kind one might expect just before a storm would let all hell break loose.

I should head inside, Gloriosa thought to herself. Yet she couldn’t very well abandon her brother to what was to come. Besides, she couldn't seem to get her legs to move from the spot where she was frozen. What was this sense of dread that washed over and through her? Was she really this frightened of a storm? She had this awful feeling that if she didn't get to Timber Spruce right away, something terrible would happen.

It was a strange sound that drew Gloriosa's attention away from her grim thoughts. At first it just sounded like the wind in the fallen leaves, a rushing and rustling that she should have been used to by now. Even so, as she listened closer, she could tell there was something wrong that had set her senses on alert. The sound was more like crickets sizzling in a pan of hot grease. The hiss of falling rain was accompanied by a sickly sweat stench of decay that was completely out of place in the fresh air of the woods.

Gloriosa’s eyes widened as she gazed at what could only be described as an onrushing nightmare.

A solid wall of rain swept through the forest, but it was completely unnatural! It had a bizarre rainbow sheen, like an oil slick falling from the sky! Stranger still, it seemed to glow in the dark, casting strange shadows and flushing the fog through with a ghastly corpse-light. As it swept over the the trees, the stately pines, maples, and oaks wilted beneath the storm. Dry leaves evaporating in puffs of smoke as tree bark charred black and curled up, peeling off and falling like the flesh of a severe burn victim.

The ghoulish rain swept into the camp grounds and the grassy clearing started to sizzle and smoke.

Entranced as she was by the unwholesome sight, it took a scream of agony to shake Gloriosa from her reverie.

Timber Spruce!

Her brother ran before the storm, just barely outpacing it as he dashed at full tilt towards his sister. His cloths were trailing smoke and holes were clearly opening in the cloth as the strange multicolored rain droplets continued to fall. “Get inside, quick!” he called to her, his eyes full of pain and panic “The rain burns! It burns!”

“Hurry!” was all she could think to shout in reply before turning to run herself.

Orange lightning cracked again, shaking the forest as the storm broke in earnest. The first fat droplets splashed onto the stairs as Gloriosa reached them, sizzling against the smooth stone. She let out a small squeak as a droplet splashed her sandal and ate through the strap.

Gloriosa threw open the double doors to the lodge and jumped inside just as the rain crashed with all the force of a waterfall at her heels. She kicked off her sandal as whatever the corrosive liquid was that had splashed her continued to eat its way through the leather. The camp counselor watched in horror as half of her footwear turned into a bubbling, glowing puddle on the hardwood floor.

Shakily, Gloriosa got to her feet and looked out into the storm, wild eyes searching for any sign of her brother. Amid the roar of the wind and rain she thought she could hear his agonized cries, but it was impossible to tell how near or far he might be.

Why was this happening? How was this happening!? She had heard of acid rain before, but she had never heard of anything like this. It was like toxic waste was being poured from the clouds above.

“Timber!” Gloriosa screamed at the top of her lungs, panicked. She was unable to see even an inch beyond the shimmering wall of candy colored water. “Timber can you hear me!? Follow the sound of my voice Timber! You have to get out of the storm!” a sob burst from her throat. “Please Timber! You’re all I have left...”

There was no reply. She couldn’t even hear her brothers faint screams anymore.

The wooden struts of the lodge groaned in an agony of their own as the rain saturated the old timbers. The roof had always had its leaks, but her brother had always patched them in the fall before the storms would start in earnest. They hadn’t had time yet this year. Oh,how Gloriosa wished that they had time now. Sadly such wishes did nothing to keep out the storm as the sickly sweet rain began to seep in, eating through the wood and widening holes in the roof. Puddles were already starting to form, and the pop and sizzle of the corroding timbers surrounded the camp counselor as a rotting stench flooded her nostrils.

Tears welling up in her eyes, a scream burst from Gloriosa’s throat as something flopped through the double doors out of the storm and collapsed on the floor. She fell backwards and kicked her legs frantically, trying to back away from whatever the thing was that was reaching it's claw like appendage for her.

Naked, shriveled, and smoking, it took a moment for her to realize what exactly it was that she had shrunk from in such terror. The monstrous thing crawling weakly towards her was, in fact, what was left of Timber Spruce!

Timber's hairless, skinless head rose from the floor slowly, painfully. One ruined eye oozed from its socket while the other orb had grown clouded and blood red from burst blood vessels. “Glori...osa...” He croaked in a voice choked with pain. “You have to... run. The caves... get to... the caves. You'll be... safe...” That was all he could muster before the tendons in his face gave way with a snap and his jawbone clattered to the wooden floor, his teeth clattering as they scattered in every direction. A weak, agonized moan wheezed from his throat before his corpse finally collapsed into a sticky glowing mess on the floor.

Gloriosa shrieked and cried, reaching a hand towards her brothers remains, but not daring to touch his corroded form. There was no way any of this could possibly be real! It was like something out of a nightmare! How was she supposed to deal with his?

The lodge shook, and planks of wood began to fall around her. The lodge wasn’t going to last much longer. Thwew was no time to panic.

No time to grieve.

She had to get it together.

“I got this. I got this. I got this,” Gloriosa whispered to herself, in a steady mantra as if she were willing it to be true. She tried to ignore the horror of her brothers demise. She tried to ignore her life’s work melting into puddles all around her. Her brother was right. She had to get to the caves. If she did that, she could collect the rest of the geodes. Maybe then, with their power, she could fix this somehow.

She could rebuild the camp. She might even be able to do something for her brother...

It was possible. The geodes held such tremendous power Gloriosa had been afraid to wear all of them at once. There was no need to fear that any longer.

The truth was, their power was her only chance.

“I’ve got this!” Gloriosa screamed as she ran out into the storm.

At first she thought that she was dead. She didn’t feel any pain, but the roar of the rain was all around her. As she ran, dry stones rose from the ground to keep her out of the bubbling puddles. Overhead, the stones magic caused tree limbs to bend and sway, shielding Gloriosa from the downpour even as they crackled and charred. A few droplets made it through, singeing her hair and eating holes in her clothing, but that didn’t matter! It was working! She could do it! She could make it if she just ran fast enough!

Despite the how her heart was lifted by this realization, it still felt like it took ages to finally reach the caverns. It was terribly difficult to run with only one shoe through the treacherous fog, but Gloriosa had roamed these woods since her childhood. As disoriented as she was, she finally found the cave she was looking for, and ran screaming inside. As soon as she crossed the threshold into the caverns, she tore off her blouse, shorts, and remaining sandal and tossed them into a smoldering heap which quickly melted into a glowing puddle of ooze. Fortunately none of the caustic rain had gotten on her undergarments, but that was little comfort in the chill of the cavern.

Despite her discomfort, Gloriosa paused to catch her breath. Though the storm continued to rumble and roar, and the forest continued to burn under the acrid downpour, Glorisa was safe.

For now at least.

Only now did she allow her emotions from earlier to resurface, and the tears to take her in earnest.

She had loved her brother dearly. Seeing him die like that, gruesomely and in torment, had been bad enough. That his last thoughts had been about her and her safety made his loss all the more painful. Gloriosa shook as sobs wracked her body, and she hugged herself tight as much against the caverns chill as to keep herself from falling to pieces

“I’ve got this,” she lied to herself as hot tears tumbled down her face. “I’ve got this...”

The only sounds were those of the pouring rain and hiccuping sobs. Gloriosa’s knees ached after awhile, and there was still things she had to do. Eventually, she stood and began the trek deeper into the cave. At first her eyes had difficulty adjusting to the gloom. Th at didn't last long, however, as the slightly glowing fog from before had seemed to have drifted deep into the caverns, though thankfully the storm itself seemed to be shut out. Gloriosa was thankful for that at least, since she hadn't had time to grab a flashlight, but she was still disturbed by how strange the luminous mist was. She wondered if it was as toxic as the rain that seemed to cause it. She tried to breath as little of it as possible, just in case.

As time went on, the thick fog seemed to grow thicker. Thick enough, in fact, that it's illuminating properties became more of a hindrance than a help. What was worse was what the fog seemed to do to sound down here. The caves were usually fairly quiet, but the fog seemed to muffle the shivering camp counselor's own foot steps, making her suddenly aware of other, stranger, sounds which were amplified by contrast.

More than once Gloriosa broke into a run when she heard a strange gurgling moan just behind her. When she looked she couldn't see anything, but her minds eye played the image of her dead half-melted brother, still crawling after her. It was unfair to Timber Spruce that his sister would think of him as an object of fear, even unconsciously, but such was the horribleness of his visage upon his death that Gloriosa couldn't help it. His ruined face would likely haunt her nightmares until the day she died.

But it was't just the noises behind her that frightened Gloriosa. The sounds seemed to come from all around her now. What should've been a short walk had turned into a harrowing descent, as Gloriosa turned this way and that in the fog... Lost in a place that should have been as familiar as her families camp grounds.

The damp chill of the cave was seeping into her bones. She ached, not just in her scraped knees, and tears started to trickle unbidden down her face once more.

She was so exhausted, physically and emotionally.

Gloriosa just wanted to rest. To lie down and sleep forever.

She couldn’t do that yet though. Not until she found a way to escape from this living nightmare.

It took much longer than it should've, but at last she arrived in the chamber of the geodes. The fog didn't seem quiet so thick here. Perhaps it was held at bay by the magic that had dwelled here for so long?

In a shaft of light that inexplicably spilled from the cavern roof, there lay the plinth that had held the magical stones, a truly welcome sight! The remaining geodes called to Gloriosa, as they had when she had first discovered them. They wanted her to pick them up. They wanted to be used. They wanted to be useful. Sudden clarity dispelled her sorrow and fatigue, and it was then that Gloriosa Daisy knew exactly what she had to do.

She would protect Camp Everfree. She would shield it from everything. Everyone. She had been foolish to think this power could be used to help her brother or anyone else. It wasn't for him, or even really for her, but it was for protecting this forest! If these campgrounds were to be her brothers final resting place, then she would guard it from anyone or anything that would dare trespass upon it. She would not let anything harm the Everfree Forest ever again!

Before she could so much as lay a finger on the other stones, however, a droplet of glowing multicolored liquid dripped down on her hand. She cried out, wincing as the caustic fluid ate a hole in her skin.

Gloriosa looked up.

Of course. The light had to come from somewhere.

With an unnatural gurgle, a blob of pinkish goo started to seep down from the ceiling. Malformed and grotesque, Gloriosa could see the carcasses and bones of many woodland creatures floating in the spreading balloon like mass suspended above her head. Tiny wings flapped all over the slime's surface as long pink tendrils plucked unfortunate bats from the cavern roof.

Of course, her brother was somehow a part of it too. She could see him now, his bones exposed beneath his half dissolved flesh. She could swear it looked like he was still breathing in that warm pink balloon. Still reaching one gnarled bony hand towards her.

The whole thing looked and smelled just like a wad of chewed bubblegum.

Gloriosa couldn’t fully process what she was seeing as the shapeless amorphous blob began to ooze down from the ceiling towards her.

She could have sworn that she saw something like a smile spread across the long slimy droplet that loomed over her. She didn’t even have time to scream as the abomination of steaming flesh and corrosive fluid crashed down, engulfing her and the entire room in one unceremonious gulp. Then the sensation of floating and warmth... Gloriosa was even able to open her eyes.

She immediately wished that she hadn't.

The unfortunate young woman was submerged in the vast sea of primordial goop. The animals she had taken for corpses before were still very much alive, just as she was, struggling with flesh-less arms and legs to try to swim to safety. To try and claw their way out Trying desperately to break the pink wobbling surface for even a mouthful of air, but to no avail.

That was when the burning started. Not with Gloriosa's eyes, but with her skin. It spread all over her, and she was alive with fiery pain as the sensation of tiny mouths gnawing every inch of her body washed through her senses. It didn't stop there, but flowed into her every orifice; up her quickly disintegrating nose, down inside her ears, through shredded lips and past bleeding gums. She opened her mouth to scream but that only allowed more of the gelatinous mass to force its way down her throat, from whence it flooded the rest of her body, making her feel hot and cold by turns as she was literally being devoured from the inside out. She had the awful suffocating feeling of drowning, but without any of the eventual release.

For all her agony, Gloriosa couldn't help but notice that the filthy mass tasted bizarrely, cloyingly sweet. It was the last thought she had before the living slime finally, blessedly, oozed its way into her eye sockets and engulfed her still living brain. Even so, she thrashed and struggled instinctively, trying and failing to escape from the mass that was slowly dissolving her without letting her actually die.

In the dim light of the cave, seven motes of different colored light drifted in a sea of soft pink jelly. Two human skeletons drifted together as well, as if they were performing some macabre dance, their skeletal fingers interlaced as they held each other in a grim embrace. Outside the cavern, the storm was spent...

But the night was only just beginning.

Camp Everfree was gone.

Something new rose in its place.