The Legend of Everfree Read online

  Relieved, the other girls noticed Sunset and Twilight. “You’re okay!” gasped Rarity.

  But Sunset was already talking to Timber. “That isn’t your sister. It’s someone who’s been consumed by Equestrian magic.”

  Timber Spruce nodded. “Whoever you are, you have to let my sister go! Please, Gloriosa, come back! I need you!”

  But Gloriosa stared at him haughtily as if she didn’t know him.

  The brambles were invading the campground. Kids huddled in tight clusters and tried fighting them back. They were even approaching Gloriosa. They’d wrapped their prickly vines around her legs.

  “Gloriosa!” called Timber again, hoping to pull her back from the brink.

  Applejack noticed the danger everyone was in and signaled to Rarity. Rarity enclosed everyone in a diamond dome. The brambles crawled over the surface of it. The thorns pierced the powerful substance and sent cracks rippling through it. It was only a matter of moments before it shattered.

  Rarity was straining, trying to beat back the brambles. “I can’t keep this up forever.” She gasped.

  “It’s up to you!” Sunset Shimmer turned to Twilight in desperation. “You can use your magic to pull apart the brambles surrounding the camp.”

  “You have new magic, too?” Rainbow Dash was stunned.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Applejack.

  Twilight was focused on the creeping brambles. “No. There are too many of them. It would take too much magic. I can’t.”

  “It’s the only way!” urged Sunset Shimmer. “You have to embrace the magic inside you.”

  “But what if she takes over?” Twilight Sparkle worried. “What if instead of saving everyone, I turn into Midnight Sparkle and only make things worse?”

  “That won’t happen.” Sunset Shimmer’s voice was forceful. She meant it. “We won’t let it.”

  Twilight Shimmer looked at the terrified campers. Crack. The diamond dome was breaking. She looked at Gloriosa, who was wild and out-of-control. She looked at the wall of brambles. She could do this. She had to. For her friends. This time it wasn’t about power; it was about friendship.

  Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. The brambles edged backward, but they were clearly fighting the magic.

  “Come on, Twilight!” said Sunset Shimmer. “You have to be stronger than she is.”

  Twilight’s eyes opened. They were glowing—in exactly the same way they did when she turned into Midnight Sparkle. A unicorn horn emerged out of her forehead—just like Midnight Sparkle’s. Black wings, just like Midnight Sparkle’s, sprouted from her back.

  Twilight wasn’t Twilight anymore. She was Midnight Sparkle. She cackled devilishly. “You will never control me. I will always be a part of you!”

  But when she blinked, the girls could tell that Twilight Sparkle was fighting back. “No!” she shouted.

  “Twilight, listen to me,” Sunset Shimmer commanded. “You are in charge!”

  “You are a light, darling,” Rarity told her. “A force for good.”

  “Yeah,” added Rainbow Dash. “You can kick the darkness’s butt!”

  “We’re here for you!” encouraged Pinkie Pie.

  Fluttershy looked up at her friend, her eyes brimming with tears. “I believe in you!”

  “You are not Midnight Sparkle,” said Sunset Shimmer.

  Her eyes blinked. One minute she was Midnight Sparkle. But then Twilight was back. “No,” she struggled to say. “I… AM… TWILIGHT SPARKLE! And the magic I carry inside me is the Magic of Friendship!”

  The Magic of Friendship is the most powerful magic of all. It was as if her words harnessed everyone’s magic. All the brambles flew apart.

  Gloriosa fell to the ground. “No! Stop!” Her necklace broke apart and magically divided into seven segments. Gloriosa’s eyes fluttered and were no longer glowing green gems. She was herself again. Timber rushed over to her.

  She barely knew where she was. “What happened?”

  “It’s okay,” Timber Spruce told her. “It’s gonna be okay.”

  The seven glowing rainbow-colored pieces of her necklace were floating up from the ground. They spread apart, each one headed to one of the girls. A swirl of light surrounded each of them. Instinctively, they reached for one another’s hands. They were rising into the air. They were ponying up! Powerful white light beamed from their circle out toward the remaining brambles. The brambles vanished. They didn’t grow back. They were gone.

  The campers cheered.

  The girls gently came back to earth. Their ears and pony tails were gone.

  Spike leaped into Twilight’s arms. “You did it!” He noticed her gem. “Hey! Nice bling.”

  “Awww,” gushed Rarity, seeing them together.

  Each of the girls reached up and touched her neck. They were each wearing one of the geodes as a necklace.

  “What are these?” Applejack wondered.

  “I’m not sure,” said Sunset. “But clearly we have some kind of connection to them.”

  “I almost don’t care what they are. They’re gorgeous,” enthused Rarity. “And will totally go with the other collection I was working on for the camp fashion show.” She noticed the broken dock, the exhausted campers. “That’s probably canceled, isn’t it?”

  But maybe it wasn’t after all.

  A Crystal Ball

  There was a lot to clean up. But everybody was ready to help—especially Gloriosa. She was devastated with what she’d done. “I am so sorry,” she apologized to everyone. “I only wanted this to be the best week Camp Everfree has ever had, and instead I’ve made it the worst.” She hung her head. “Maybe it’s for the best that I’m losing the camp to Filthy Rich.”

  “No, it’s not,” said Principal Celestia. “This camp has meant so much to so many people. My sister and me included.”

  “Why do you think we wanted our students to come here?” Vice Principal Luna added.

  “It’s an absolute tragedy that future generations won’t get to experience it,” said Celestia.

  Twilight heard what they were saying—but she couldn’t accept it. “No!” she blurted out. “We can’t let Filthy Rich take this place away!”

  Everyone looked to Twilight.

  She took a big breath. “If camp meant so much to you two, maybe it meant as much to the other campers who came here in years past.”

  Sunset Shimmer’s eyes lit up. She got it. “And maybe we can get them to help save it!”

  “Like a fund-raiser or a benefit?” asked Applejack.

  “Or a ball!” Rarity exclaimed.

  “Our band could play,” suggested Rainbow Dash.

  “I could write a song just for the occasion,” said Fluttershy.

  Pinkie Pie started jumping up and down. “I could make cupcakes with sprinkles! Just regular sprinkles, not the exploding kind.”

  Gloriosa couldn’t believe it. “Those are all good ideas, but where would we hold it? The mess hall isn’t big enough!”

  Sunset Shimmer grinned. She had just the solution. “We could hold it in the Crystal Cave!”

  “A Crystal Ball?” punned Rarity with a grin. “I love it!”

  Still, Gloriosa wasn’t sure. “I admire everyone’s enthusiasm. Really, I do. But I just don’t know how we’re going to plan a ball by tomorrow and invite everyone.”

  The girls glanced at one another, smiling. “We got this!”

  And they did. It was just going to take a little extra Friendship Magic.

  “I used to think that stories were just that.

  Set in stone, concrete as a fact.

  It didn’t come to that I could change history.

  Now I know I write my own,

  Fight my way to the ending that I want.

  I’ll turn a tragedy to an epic fantasy!

  Hey, hey, hey.

  You can be a hero, too.

  Take my hand; I’m here for you!

  Come, come away with me.

  Be the legend you w
ere meant to be!

  You are and always will be Everfree!

  There was a time when fear held me down.

  I let it chain me to the ground.

  But now I’m soaring. Life is never boring!

  I’m as awesome as I wanna be.

  But I’m more than I believed.

  Faster than lightning and more exciting,

  We’ll be a sight you can’t miss,

  Just trust in us ’cause we got this!

  We’re always sure to win. If we harness the power that’s within.”

  Back in the mess hall, Pinkie Pie was dancing from here to there getting campers to help her with the baking and snack-making. She couldn’t resist charging up a few sprinkles with magic and having them explode like fireworks. They were so pretty, and they rained down on the cupcakes, decorating them perfectly. Everyone clapped. Pinkie Pie took a bow.

  They each had their special talents, and they were learning how to use them. Sunset had empathy—she understood what people were thinking and feeling. Fluttershy could connect with the animals and talk to them. Rainbow Dash was like a superhero. She had speed! Rarity was a force of protection, and Applejack was mighty! Twilight could move anything with her mind, and Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie! She was explosive! Together they made a team.

  Soon the stars were out and the moon had risen. Lots of people had heard about the Crystal Ball. They began arriving in their ball gowns and tuxedos. Everything looked so magical. Just outside the cave was a donation box (that looked a lot like one of the fish-food boxes from the dock).

  A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling of the cave, lighting up the crystal and the gems and the pillars. At the back of the cave was a stage. The Sonic Rainbooms were tuning up their instruments and getting ready to play.

  Rarity thrummed her keytar. Fluttershy shook her tambourine. Applejack let loose with some power chords from her bass. They were ready to rock!

  “Come, come away with me.

  Be the legend you’re meant to be!

  You are and always will be Everfree!”

  The audience clapped wildly. More people dropped donations into the box. Gloriosa took the stage. “Thank you all so much for coming. And for helping us raise enough money to save Camp Everfree!”

  There were cheers and more clapping. No one noticed when a scowling Filthy Rich turned on his heels and slunk out of the cave.

  Gloriosa looked with gratitude at the Sonic Rainbooms. “Thank you. For everything. If I’d just asked for help in the first place—”

  “Don’t sweat it,” interrupted Rainbow Dash cheerfully. “It’s kind of what we do.”

  Later on in the evening, DJ Pon-3 spun some discs and people danced the night away. Twilight used her magic to restring some twinkly lights that had fallen. Timber came up beside her.

  “Not to brag or anything,” he said, “but it’s pretty cool how I saved all the campers from those Rubus fruticosus.” He noticed Twilight’s blank expression. “Blackberry brambles.”

  Twilight smiled. “I’m familiar with the genus. It’s just a little weird you’d say you saved the campers. I thought I saved them.”

  “Yeah,” said Timber playfully. “But I saved you from falling on the dock so that you could save the campers. So, technically, it was all me.”

  Twilight burst out laughing. “I’m really glad I met you.”

  “Uh-oh.” Timber sighed.

  “What?”

  “That sounds like a good-bye, and here I was hoping we’d still be able to hang out. Maybe get dinner and catch a movie?”

  Twilight’s face lit up. “Yeah. I’d really like that.”

  “Oh good,” said Timber. “I was hoping that’s what this meant.” He pointed to the string of lights—they were all floating in the air! Twilight blushed.

  “This is awesome!” Timber reassured her.

  “It kinda is, isn’t it?” admitted Twilight.

  Gloriosa interrupted them. “Oh, uh, sorry. I need to borrow Timber. There are some donors I really want him to meet. They were good friends with Mom and Dad,” she explained to Twilight.

  “Save me a dance, okay?” asked Timber.

  Twilight nodded happily.

  “Adorable!” gushed Rarity, who’d seen everything.

  “He does seem like a pretty cool guy,” Sunset Shimmer said.

  “Know what else is cool?” Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash. “Our awesome new superpowers. I handed out, like, four hundred fliers, set up the stage, got all our instruments, and still had time to pick up a pizza. I love my super speed!”

  Sunset Shimmer nodded. “About that. I think the crystals are the source of those superpowers.”

  Fluttershy reached up and touched her necklace protectively. “You’re not gonna ask us to give them up, are you?”

  “No. In fact, I think maybe we were meant to have them all along.”

  “Me too,” agreed Twilight unexpectedly.

  A flash of anxiety crossed Sunset Shimmer’s face. “There is one thing I’m still wondering about, though…”

  “What’s that?” Twilight asked.

  “Where did the magic that hit this cave come from?”

  But nobody knew the answer.

  Nobody knew that after the Friendship Games, the portal between the worlds wasn’t really shut all the way. A tiny sliver was open between Equestria and Canterlot High—and through that tiny, almost invisible thread of a portal, colorful wisps of magic were pouring into the world of the Equestria Girls.

  Every day Canterlot High was becoming more and more magical. What would happen next?!

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  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Dedication

  CHAPTER 1

  A Midnight Nightmare

  CHAPTER 2

  Bus-ride Daydreams

  CHAPTER 3

  Sunny with Scattered Clouds

  CHAPTER 4

  Magic Gets Off the Ground

  CHAPTER 5

  Down at the Docks

  CHAPTER 6

  Campfire After Dark

  CHAPTER 7

  Spooky Stories

  CHAPTER 8

  The Mysterious Case of the Crash Landing

  CHAPTER 9

  All Alone in the Woods

  CHAPTER 10

  A Natural Nature Guide

  CHAPTER 11

  Magical Mayhem!

  CHAPTER 12

  Hiking After Sundown

  CHAPTER 13

  Sparks in the Dark

  CHAPTER 14

  A Superpowered Afternoon!

  CHAPTER 15

  Flash Forward

  CHAPTER 16

  On the Mystery Trail

  CHAPTER 17

  Out-of-Control Geodes

  CHAPTER 18

  A Fashion Show Fiasco

  CHAPTER 19

  A Thorny Problem

  CHAPTER 20

  Embrace the Magic!

  CHAPTER 21

  A Crystal Ball

  Copyright

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  HASBRO and its logo, MY LITTLE PONY, EQUESTRIA GIRLS, and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission.

  © 2016 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

  In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book wi
thout the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  lb-kids.com

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  First ebook edition: September 2016

  ISBN 978-0-316-39538-0

  E3-20160725-JV-PC