The Everfree forest hung menacingly over the three ponies’ heads as Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie stepped cautiously into the trees. Though performing a daring rescue and bringing Fluttershy back from the brink of calamity had seemed like a gallant, brilliant idea a few minutes ago, now, as the first line of overgrown trees closed in behind them, the companions were beginning to have second thoughts. Pinkie, per usual, was the least effected; she retained her standard bouncy gait, and was certainly not as jumpy as the other mares, who ducked behind each other at the slightest rustle in the nearby bushes.
After several minutes of aimless wandering, the path they had been following slowly began to dissipate into the surrounding forest. Rarity stopped and frowned, surveying the ground before her with a doubtful expression.
“Ladies… I don’t think we’ve come the correct way.” She flicked her violet hair out of her face and sighed heavily, just as upset about her drooping curls as the road that disappeared beneath her hooves. “I don’t remember having to pick our way through the forest the last time we came though here.” Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, but took several steps forward regardless.
“This has to be right! There are no other paths into the forest and this one doesn’t branch off anywhere. We just have to keep going forward.” Dash set her face in a resolute expression and plodded forward, quite depressed that she couldn’t fly in such close quarters. Without her wings, Rainbow Dash felt claustrophobic and vulnerable; the sky could only be seen in brief splotches through the thick branches above her, as if the twisted boughs of the forest were slashing the blue expanse to rough-edged shreds.
Pinkie Pie followed Rainbow immediately, humming to herself just loud enough for the others to hear. This did nothing to calm Rarity, however; she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being lead into a trap. The forest, which was normally alive with noises scary or not, got quieter as they forged onwards, until the silence pressed against their ears and seemed to weigh down their steps. Finally, Rainbow Dash stopped once again and flopped down on the forest floor. She said nothing, the absence of sound so complete that the mares could hear their own quickening heart beats. Rarity was the first to speak, keeping her voice down to a hushed whisper, as though talking too loudly would cause the noiseless, tension-filled calm around them to shatter.
“This quiet is not natural; it has to be magic. I’d bet my mane that alicorn is causing it. He must know we’re here.” This was enough to rouse Dash. Her combative instincts were never dampened for long, and the thought of the alicorn hiding in the shadows controlling them was just enough to set her off.
“Come out here, you coward! We know it’s you doing this!” The rainbow-maned mare jumped to her hooves and began shouting at the trees, her voice breaking every now and then as she let her anger flow out through her mouth. “Stop hiding like a little scared foal! Give us Fluttershy back, and stop- Oof!” The air was knocked from Dash’s lungs as Rarity tackled her, sending them both tumbling several feet into the forest. Brilliant white stars flashed in front of Rainbow’s eyes as Rarity came into view standing over her, her eyes alight with a strange fire as she whispered; she was so mad, however, that the whisper sounded more like a venomous hiss than a warning.
“Rainbow Dash, I swear if you do that again I will skin you alive! We can’t fight that thing, and we can’t get Fluttershy back by being insufferably stupid!” She whipped her hair out of her face, sending a spray of leaves and twigs away from her. Unexpectedly, Rainbow Dash smiled awkwardly.
“You look good like that Rarity. You should get mad more often.” Though unsure if this was just her semi-conscious mind speaking, Rainbow did mean what she had said, and stayed put beneath the fuming unicorn, gazing lecherously up at her. Rarity, who was quite taken aback by this statement, was speechless for a split second before spinning around and stomping away from the inert pegasus.
“I- Wha- I cannot believe you would say something like that at a time like this! Good grief, Dashie!” Though she seemed livid enough, the unicorn hid the extent of her disbelief and the faint pink blush that, to her horror, began to creep onto her cheeks. “We are supposed to be focusing on Fluttershy, now your own deluded-”
“Hush!” Rainbow Dash was back on her feet now, glancing around worriedly. Rarity spluttered in anger at being interrupted, but forgot her irritation at the pegasus’s next words. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?”
The pair immediately began galloping around, on the verge of panic as the missing mare didn’t respond to their desperate calls.
“Pinkie! Pinkie Pie! Can you hear us? Pink-” Keeping with the day’s custom of interjecting, a low, chilling laugh rumbled through the trees toward the two mares. They froze; the chuckle unmistakably belonged to the creature from earlier that day. Rarity glanced over to Rainbow, quite sure her own face mirrored the alarm plastered over the pegasus’s features.
“It seems you ponies are even more oblivious than I previously thought. You can’t even keep up with your little friends when they’re right beside you!” It was impossible to discern any emotion behind the words; they could have been amused or disappointed; and equally difficult to tell where the voice was coming from. “Keep trying, my little ponies, but you’ll have to do better than this if you want to help your friends.” The voice faded gradually, leaving the two still fixed in place. Rainbow Dash gulped audibly.
“It’s…it’s just us now.”
Rarity nodded dumbly, agreeing with the pegasus’s statement. She looked over at Dash, who met her sapphire eyes. The unicorn took a deep breath before asking the question on both their minds, though she didn’t expect an answer.
“What do we do now? How can we stop that thing alone?”