Scootaloo carefully moves along the dark and twisted path laid out in Clover’s book, looking over her shoulder more than once for any creepy monster who would want her for a midnight snack. Scootaloo struggled more than once to read the writings of Clover the Clever, which started to irritate her since the age of the book made the ink difficult enough to read, especially since it was in cursive. She hardly noticed her surroundings as she steps on a large black stone and walks on, not seeing what the large stone was connected to.
Scootaloo couldn't keep from thinking about the possible punishments for breaking into Twilight's house and stealing a book, along with going against her hero Rainbow Dash by going deeper into the forest. Needless to say, it wouldn't be pleasant when she returned to Ponyvile.
The Everfree was as scary as she was lead to believe, it was pretty hard to keep in mind that a town formed in the dreaded forest. Scootaloo wonder why anypony in their right mind would even consider the thought that this horrid place was worthy to call home, but she simply ignored the troubling thoughts. She knew delays would only make it easier for Rainbow Dash to find her... or any passing monster.
"Heh, maybe I can ask the Everlight ponies if I could stay a while." Scootaloo mused thoughtfully as she continued her plight on the old path. Scootaloo hardly noticed that a certain form was slowly following her at a distance, intrigued and licking it's lips at the small pegasus.
Scootaloo then flipped a page and saw a small poem written very clearly, even with the age of the book. "Cool, Clover was a bit of a poet. Let's see here..." Scootaloo trails off as she reads the poem, not noticing the form of a creature rush up behind her.
Suddenly Scootaloo feels something ... big... and furry behind her. Scootaloo slowly turns around and sees a rather big Ursa Minor, looking straight into her small eyes with it's large piercing red eyes. Scootaloo looks down and sees it's rather large and sharp claws on it's paws and also smells blood and rotten meat on the creature's breath.
"Um…hi… there big guy…" Scootaloo starts in a very small voice, trying to control the overwhelming fear that was causing her to tremble like crazy while she slowly backed up. "Uh...did... did I wake you?"
"RRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!!" The Ursa responds howling directly into Scootaloo's face, showering her in the stink of it's foul breath and little bits of rotten meat.
"YIKES!!" Scootaloo screams as she runs away as fast as she can away from the Ursa Minor. "I'll take that as a yes!" Scootaloo yells before she slams into a wide furry tree with long claws. Scootaloo rubs her head and suddenly realizes that there couldn't be a furry tree with long claws, and slowly looks up and gasps in the beauty and horror of the real life Ursa Major right in front of her.
"Heh...I'm so screwed..." Scootaloo laughs nervously as she looks at both the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major cover all of her exits and both roar, now causing the ground to tremor under Scootaloo's hoofs. "At least I died seeing a real life... Ursa Major..." Scootaloo gulps and curls up in a ball, closing her eyes for what will come.
The Ursa Minor and Ursa Major pick up Scootaloo and start to growl at each other to who would get first dibs when a random branch files like a boomerang and whacks both the Ursa Minor and the Ursa Major before flying back to an earth pony standing on a high tree's branch.
"Oy! Ye bloody buggers started the party without me?! Shame on ya!" The apparently crazy earth pony grins and yells before he jumps from the branch and lands on the Ursa Major's fur before he grasps the branch in his mouth and stabs it into the Ursa Major's fur.
Ursa Major howls horribly before it runs away, with the Ursa Minor following it dropping Scootaloo as it runs. The crazed pony grabs Scootaloo in midair and laughs wickedly as they fall before he grabs a vine and swings them down to the forest floor. They land and roll in the dirt before they slam into a tree.
"Hahaha! I sure showed those buggers what's what!" The crazy earth pony laughs crazily as Scootaloo manages to get up, somehow unharmed by the fall "By the by... what's a silly filly doing in the forest? Enjoy playing with Mama and Baby Nebula? Ye should've waited for me!"
"W-what... who.. who are you?" Scootaloo asks as she moves away from the crazy pony who frightened off two Ursa's.
"Me? Me?!" The pony yells crazily in Scootaloo's face, suddenly stops and rubs his head confused while he sits on the ground. " Ye know... I forgot.."
"Seriously...? You forgot your name?" Scootaloo looks at the bemused pony, unsure how to react to his mood swings.
"Yea... no bugger ask me for such a while.." The bemused pony stares into space before jumping up with a crazy smile, scaring Scootaloo who backed away. "Whatever! It don't matter!" He yells and suddenly starts whistling a broken tune.
"Oh dear... just what I need..." Scootaloo sighs. "Some crazy pony who can't even remember his name." Scootaloo reaches in her pouch for the brown book so she can leave the pony to his madness, only to find it gone.
"WWWAAAHHH??!! THE BOOK!! IT"S GONE!!" Scootaloo screams before she searches around her and the pony, who suddenly started to help her.
"Oooo! Are ye playing hide and seek? I love hide and seek! Almost as much as beans or meat! What we finding silly filly?" The pony crazily laughs happily unaware of the situation and looks around.
Scootaloo hesitantly replies, worried what would happen if he got her more lost. "Uh... it's a book. It's brown and looks old, I think I dropped it when the Ursa Minor found me."
"Ooooo! Ye mean by Baby Nebula? Yea! I saw it!"
"Really?! Where?!"
"...That way..." The pony points both fore hooves in opposite directions.
Scootaloo face hoofs and sighs. "Seriously? Tell me something I don't know."
"Did I ever tell ye the one about the mice who outsmarted a book? Ye see-"
"NO! I mean be more specific! I don't care about a stupid mouse!" Scootaloo screams at the pony.
The pony looks at Scootaloo with fear and covers her mouth. "It be mice not mouse, there be a difference. And ye be too loud, ye wake za buggers with a loud mouth like zat. "
"Well maybe I should!" Scootaloo yells annoyed after pushing away his hoof. "At least they would make fucking sense you crazy bat winged idiot!" Scootaloo covers her mouth in shock of what she just said to the crazy pony.
The pony looks at Scootaloo incredulously before he looks himself over. "... But I'm not a bat... nor an idiot... I just see more than ye. If ye be so upset, maybe it be me time to go." The pony gets up and starts to walk away. "Perhaps find Nebula and child for another game of fun."
Scootaloo gets in front of him and sighs. "L-look.. I'm sorry, don't go!... That was horrible to say to you... I... I'm just scared. I'm lost without that book, it was my way out of here."
The pony suddenly smiles before he reaches behind him picks up a object with his teeth and shows it to her. "Tis be it?
Scootaloo's mouth drops as she sees Cover's book in his mouth. "You had it..."
The pony lays it in front of her hooves and smiles crazily while his tail wags. "Yep."
"...You had it the whole time..."
"I thought some bugger lost it so I held it close. No fool should lose there way here!" The pony replies happily as his tongue hangs out his mouth.
"Seriously...?" Scootaloo rubs her temples hard while the pony sat and waited for her. " How can you say that when your the one with no clue?"
"Simple silly filly, I be special, know me way around this forest."
"You do?"
"Sure! Been around for a long while! You got a place, I know the pace!
Scootaloo gets excited. "Do you know a town named Everlight in this forest?"
"Sure, be about a half mile that way." The pony points towards a part of the forest. "I'll show ye, if ye want."
"Cool! But we can't just walk around without something to call you...I think I have a name for you."
"Really?! What is it little lass?!"
"I'll call you No-bark until you get you dogs... I mean head sorted." Scootaloo says weakly.
"No-bark...?"
"Yeah... by the way, my name's Scootaloo, but most ponies call me Scoot's" She replies as she starts to continue on the path where he pointed.
The pony looks at Scootaloo for a minute before he suddenly appears in front of her and scares her half to death. "I LIKE IT!!" The pony proclaims loudly. "NO-BARK! MY NAME IS NO-BARK BAT-WING!!" He laughs crazily again, happy with his new name.
Scootaloo looks away from the crazy pony and sighs.
"Oh brother... this is going to be interesting... I'll I needed was another Pinkie Pie but now this one has mental issues."
"What was that little lass? Need a tissue?"
"What? No I... never mind, just thinking aloud. You remind me of a friend, sort a lot like you."
No-Bark laughs happily. "Perhaps I can meet this friend?"
"Uh... maybe that's not such a good idea... She drives everyone else crazy, you'll make it worse."
"Huh.. if you say so lassy."
***
About half way to the town, Scootaloo wished she could spend more time with No-Bark. She heard more than half a dozen off pitch whistles and songs, brought into random dances for no reason at all, and for some reason he treated her like long lost buddies. She didn't mind the buddy part, he was definitely interesting company, but he treated her too much like a rough tough stallion than a filly with fears.
"So ye just like a quick glimpse at the town?" No-Bark brings up after a lecture about how ravens hate cats, surprisingly calm after such a heated talk.
"Well maybe a bit more." Scootaloo starts, still unsure. "I'm sort of dodging someponies, so if somepony in the town offers me a place, I may take them on it."
"Sure, sure. I understand the feeling... but could I stay with ye a while? Keep ye company?"
Scootaloo stops. "Huh? Why?"
No-Bark helps Scootaloo keep moving. "I met a mare who traveled to the town, fine lass, cared for me. She carried dreams with her and such proud knowledge! Anything ye wanted to know, she could answer with ease." No-Bark grows serious. "Never saw her again, shame, lass like that made me happy. Don't want you to leave No-Bark... alone...he don't like to be alone."
Scootaloo follows with interest and changes the topic back, knowing she probably couldn't bring him back to Ponyvile. "Was she your special somepony?"
"... Yea... she was. Nothing improper mind ya, but being around her... took me breath away. Besides, I don't expect you to treat me like that. I'll be fine with whatever you like as long as you want me around, I'll follow."
"Why didn't you go after her? Try to find her again?" Scootaloo asks, again changing the focus to learn more about No-Bark.
No-Bark looks away and frowns. "...Come, nearly there. Make haste, I'll race ya." No-Bark smiles sadly before he runs up ahead.
Scootaloo frowns and follows, both knowing the conversation wasn't close to being done. She climbs up one last hill and pushes past some dangling vines, to see something truly spectacular.
There it was... Everlight.
The town looked amazing, completely untouched by the Everfree Forest. The place shined in real sunlight, unheard of anywhere in the dark and gloomy forest. The town was real! It was real! Even Scootaloo could make out ponies from the sun's blinding glare. Little fillies and foals and also their parents were proudly shown all over the small town, barely smaller than Ponyvile.
"There ya are lassy, town o' Everlight. 'Always burning brightest in the gloom.'" No-Bark states with crazy smile
"That was beautiful No-Bark." Scootaloo replies with a smile.
"Thank ye, but the credit goes to za sign." No-Bark points to the tell tale sign to her left.
"Heh, right..." Scootaloo laughs. It was real, Rainbow Dash and Twilight would definitely forgive her if she told them about this place!
"Hey look!" No-Bark points towards the town. "Looks like we got ourselves a welcoming party!"
Scootaloo looks through the glare and sees two ponies walking toward them. After a bit, the two ponies turned into five ponies. Three little ones and two adults, all looking rather well despite their surroundings. The stallion in the group walks up and warmly states.
"Welcome to the Everlight, ranked the best place in all of Equestria!"