Rarity is Missing! Adventure in the Everfree Forest

by Aypock

Getting Started

The Everfree forest is a dark and harrowing place. Filled with all manner of hideous monsters and dangerous black magic, the danger that lurked within this vile forest was legendary. Stories had been passed down from generation to generation telling of the evil that resided within. Ponies spoke of the blood curdling screams that could be heard echoing from the deep underbelly of the accursed forest at night. Celestia herself had damned the place to isolation, ensuring that whatever monstrosities hid behind the many shadows of the forest would never see the light of day. Yes, a pony would be wise to stay far, far away from the Everfree forest, lest they succumb to the horrors that lurked within. Naturally, all of this ensured that Rarity would find herself lost in there at some point or another.
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Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood at the edge of the Everfree forest. Soon they would brave the dangers of the forest and embark on a daring mission to rescue their friend Rarity. For now though, they had enough trouble getting started.

“I can't see a thing in there! Why did Rarity have to get lost in this stupid forest anyway?”

This was why.

Twilight sighed and turned to face an irritated Rainbow Dash. She had started complaining almost from the moment they arrived, and Twilight's patience was growing thin.

“I don't know Rainbow Dash, we haven't exactly been able to ask her, have we?”

Rainbow Dash gave a frustrated grunt.“Well it's Rarity! Why would she even be in the forest? She can't walk to the end of the street without whining!”

Applejack muttered under her breath “Talk about whinin'....” and Twilight couldn't help but agree. Still, not wanting to let Rainbow Dash challenge the premise, Twilight offered up a suggestion.

“Maybe she thought there were gems in the forest?”

“Come on, everypony knows there aren't gems in the forest. Even Rarity.”

She had a point, the forest offered very little of worth to anypony, let alone Rarity. Regardless, they had to find her, valid reason to be in the forest or not.

“It doesn't matter why she's lost in the forest, what matters is that she's out there alone and needs our help." Twilight looked to Applejack for support, and the loyal pony nodded her head.

“I agree” agreed Applejack “There ain't no reason to sit around here bickerin' when Rarity could be out there surrounded by a pack uh' Timber wolves.”

Twilight was glad for her friend's assistance, but slightly less glad about her choice of words. Timber Wolves were scary creatures, and she didn't want to spook anypony before they set out. Sure enough, a wide eyed Fluttershy quiveringly squeaked out her concern.

“Oh you don't think she could really be hurt do you?”

Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie Pie popped in front of Fluttershy with a smile on her face and an answer on her lips. She deftly handled Fluttershy's question with a grace that would stun the elites of Canterlot.

“No! Timber Wolves gobble you whole, silly! Rarity wouldn't feel a thing. I bet it'd hurt the Timber Wolves coming out though. Do you think they have wide enough-”

“Pinkie this is serious!” interrupted Twilight mercifully.

“Oh I'm always serious.” replied Pinkie Pie.

That is terrifying. Ignoring the dire implications of Pinkie Pie's statement, Twilight attempted to turn the conversation back to finding Rarity. Not that she'd had much success before.

“Okay, we really need to get going if we're going to find Rarity before it gets dark.”

Applejack nodded her head in agreement. Twilight was thankful that somepony was being sensible and levelheaded.

“Yeah we do. Course' we'd have bin' gone by now if' it weren't for somepony” said Applejack sensibly.

Oh boy

Rainbow Dash shuffled defensively, and offered up an explanation for her reluctance. “Look, I just don't want to rush in there without thinking about it is all”

Twilight was floored. She doesn't want to rush in there without thinking about it?

“You don't want to rush in there without thinking about it?” asked Twilight.

“What's that supposed to mean?” counter asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight flinched, which made Applejack chuckle. Applejack walked calmly to Twilight's side with a confident smile on her face. “Don't read too much into it Twi, she's just chicken.”

Rainbow Dash's face flushed, and she prepared an elegant rebuttal. “Am not!”

Alas, Applejack seemed to be prepared for that. Without losing her not quite smug smile, Applejack offhandedly gave Twilight the explanation she had on hand. “Are too. She's just scared 'cause the last time she was out here she got her wings put on all funny. Not that it made much of a difference in her flyin'”

Pinkie Pie giggled, which made Rainbow Dash blush. She tried to stammer out a defense, but the words never came to her, making her face glow a brighter red. Twilight began to question whether they would ever be able to leave to find Rarity.

“Ha!” laughed Applejack. “See! She's mumblin' worse than Fluttershy at an oboe recital. Now let's get on with this and find Rarity, if we hurry she should have most of her bones intact.”

Before Fluttershy could ponder the specificness of Applejack's analogy, or why she thought she owned an oboe, Rainbow Dash started to speak again.

“Well how do we know that Rarity is even in the forest? I haven't anything from anypony but you guys.”

Twilight had been in her library reading when Applejack told her Rarity was missing. Almost immediately she had started to round up her friends to go look for Rarity, but now that she thought about it, Applejack hadn't actually told her where she had heard it. Curious, Twilight allowed Applejack to field the question.

“As a matter of fact, I heard it from Sweetie Belle. She was talkin' to Applebloom out behind the barn and she said, and I quote 'We have to find my sister! I saw her go off into the forest this morning and I haven't seen her since!”

Alarms were going off in Twilight's head.“Wait, so you didn't actually speak to Sweetie Belle?” asked Twilight.

“Well no, they up'n ran off before I got a chance too. Probably to go find Scootaloo.” said Applejack.

Oh no.

“How long ago was this?”

Applejack paused to think for a moment. “Maybe an hour before we left.”

Oh no no no.

Rainbow Dash seemed to catch on quickly as she groaned and threw her hooves into the air.“So now we have to rescue Rarity, and the CMC?”

Applejack shook her head and answered Rainbow Dash in a dismissing tone. “Naw, I know my sister. She wouldn't do something so foolish as running off into the Everfree Forest without tellin' anypony.”

“She's done it twice!” shouted Twilight. She couldn't believe her ears, Applejack of all ponies had completely dropped the ball. “Applejack! How could you be so thoughtless? Of course they're going to run after her! It's what they do!"

“Aww it's not her fault” said Pinkie Pie “How could anypony have realized that three reckless little fillies, whose history includes reintroducing the cutie pox, concocting a love poison, and unleashing God of Chaos, would ever run off into the spooky, forbidden, super secret forest without asking for permission? Again.” Fluttershy quietly informed Pinkie Pie that she wasn't helping.

Applejack bowed her head and looked back at the forest, her eyes heavy with worry. She sighed and turned back to her friends. “Look, I'm sorry y'all. I guess I had gotten so caught up with worry when I found out Rarity went missin' that, well, I put sense in a place where sense don't exist. But now, if my sister and her friends are lost in there too, then we definitely to go in there and get 'em.”

The others nodded their heads in agreement. If they had an option before, they had lost it now.

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash said reluctantly. “Yeah, you're right. I guess we do have to go in there.” She glanced at the forest apprehensively. “I was just worried. We don't know what's in there, and last time it didn't work out too well for us.” Catching herself, Rainbow Dash stopped and looked directly at Applejack. “I'm not scared though, understand? Don't even think of calling me a chicken.”

Applejack gave Dash a wry smile.“I wouldn't dream of it.”

Twilight felt relieved. She appreciated Rainbow Dash's honesty, and now they could finally get back to what they came here to do. Wasting no time, she laid out the task ahead of them.
“Okay, now that that's settled, we need to think of a way to cover the entire forest quickly, and without splitting up. Does anypony have any suggestions?”

Crickets and tumbleweeds answered Twilight. After a few more minutes of silence, Rainbow Dash spoke up.
“Maybe we can get Spike to burn up some parts of the forest so we can get around easier. I mean, technically he's a dragon right?”

“NO!” Fluttershy exploded forward, ramming into Rainbow Dash and knocking her off of her feet. She towered over the terrified Rainbow Dash, and stared threateningly into her eyes. If Dash had been wearing pants, they would have been soaked. “Rainbow Dash if you harm a single bug in this forest, Celestia help me, I will turn those wings of yours upside down myself!”

Rainbow Dash nervously squirmed under her glare. “Okay, jeez Fluttershy relax, it was just a suggestion.”

Fluttershy stared at her for a bit longer until she was sure that Dash posed no threat to the wildlife. Mollified, Fluttershy eased off of Rainbow Dash and turned to see her friends awash in pure unadulterated terror. She blushed, and seemed to shrink several sizes as she returned to the place where she had been standing.

Now more afraid of Fluttershy than she had ever been of the forest, Twilight was thankful as Applejack awkwardly changed the subject. “So, uh, where is Spike anyway? I'd have thought he'd have run off into the forest as soon as he heard that Rarity was missin'.”

She was right, if Spike had heard Rarity was missing there would have been no stopping him from charging into the forest. Maybe we'd have actually been able to leave with Spike around. But Twilight doubted even that. Something told her that their trip would've stalled no matter who had joined him.
“That's why I didn't tell him, I didn't want to risk him getting getting lost in the forest. Rescuing Rarity was enough of a challenge, and I didn't want to make it even harder on us.”

Applejack looked at her hooves, her cheeks turning a rosy hue. Smooth Twilight. Attempting to change the subject yet again, Twilight tossed out another question. “So how long have we been out here anyway.”

“Too long.” said Rainbow Dash. Funny you should mention that. Rainbow Dash paced back and forth, starting to grow restless. Twilight wasn't sure whether she was eager to rescue her friends, or just eager to end the conversation. “Enough waiting around. We need to take action.”

“We need a plan first.” reminded Twilight.

“Well I say we-”

“No fire.”

“Right no fire.” assured Rainbow Dash. “I saw we go check out Zecora's hut. She always knows what's going on in the forest.”

“Plus Applebloom's been there plenty of times before, I'm sure she'd have gone to see Zecora if she went searchin' in there.” said Applejack.

Twilight could feel the hope rising in the air. Progress is magic. Not wanting to let any details slip between the cracks, Twilight asked about Rarity.

“Rarity sticks out, like, well, Rarity. I'm sure Zecora would've seen her.” answered Rainbow Dash.

Was this it? Could they finally leave? Twilight looked up at the sky, the sun was starting to set, but they still had enough light for this to work. She addressed the gang hopefully. “So are we ready? Can we finally leave.” The others nodded their heads. It was time to go.

Twilight gestured for her friends to follow her, and they marched into the forest.

Comments

[Gem]

"This was why"

Thumbed up and favourited, who needs exposition?

My Predicted Ending (Probably Wrong, but meh):
Rarity : "My goodness! Where have you all been?"
Twilight : "We were looking for you in the Everfree Forest!"
Rarity : "What would I go in there for? It's all... dirty and icky, ugh. I've been *INSERT MUNDANE REASON FOR ABSENCE HERE* all day!"
Everypony Else : *facehoof*

THE END
*Waits for award*

[Richardson]

Rarity had better come out of this alive (even if she does spend a few days/weeks/months doing her best impression of a statue)

[Theinnocent]

Your flow is quite good although you should have put the part of Applejack explaing the situation as a first clencher

[tallestbrony]

I don't know why, but when I read this I heard Morgan Freeman's voice...
I liked it. A fav and a thumbs up