Welcome to the Forgotten
Ambiance is a good way to describe the, seemingly, endless depths of the Everfree. Despite the typical threats of wild creatures that live deep within the woods, there was almost a sense of tranquility that would wash over one's being once they realized that the forest would leave them be, so long as they did not bring harm the forest. There was a definite lack of silence on this day, a day of cloudy overcast which was blocked out by the dense branches above. The soft sound of shifting leaves filled the air while light filtered through the canopy top, just enough to comfortably move through the forest. Yet there was still that ever familiar sense of being watched from deep within the woods. Since the forest had been traversed frequently within the past few years, this led to 'safe' paths being formed throughout and many of the dilapidated construction that used to wind throughout the woods have been fixed. This was much to the enjoyment of the beasts of the Everfree, who no longer avoided bridges or the precarious buildings strewn about.
A soft rustling came from some of the dense underbrush, followed by a rather irritated sigh as a purple aura encompassed the brush and seemed to part it perfectly, yet delicately, down the center. Five sets of hooves rang out as a group passed through the brush, the soft sound of wings flapping following, and a smaller set of claws pitter-pattered after them. A rather, familiar, group of ponies found themselves breaking free of the brush, led by a purple pony whose horn glowed a soft purple and wings remained tucked against her sides. Following her was her entourage of friends, orange, pink, white, blue and yellow coated ponies breaking free of the dense underbrush behind her. With a carefree flick of her horn, the brush returned to it's normal appearance, causing a soft groan to ring out.
"Ugh, come on Twilight! This is the fifth time you have allowed a brush to close on me!" a rather irritated voice rang out, the soft shaking of the brush that they just passed through ringing out to the ears of the six ponies.
The purple leader, Twilight, swung her head around as she looked past the group of friends, her face heavy with a blush. "Oops, sorry, Spike! I keep forgetting that you are tagging along with us on this adventure." She said, her horn once again alighting with that familiar purple glow as the brush once again parted for the trapped individual within, who could only sigh as the feeling of being prodded by the bush went away.
"It's no problem," the soft voice replied, a smaller bipedal figure leaving the brush, it's claws dancing across it's own body as it brushed any leaves and dirt off of it's form. The small purple and green dragon merely stared at the group as one of it's fingers slipped within it's ear to seemingly clean it. "Just, please don't keep forgetting. I realize that this is a once in a life time chance for you to discover the undiscovered, but I would rather not have to be discovered 500 years from now, you know?" Spike joked, soft giggles coming from the group of mares while Twilight could only blush harder and avert her eyes from them.
"Sugar cubes' got a point, Twi," a southern drawl rang out, the orange pony wearing a brown stetson turned her green gaze to Twilight. "We'd have a bit of a problem on hoof if we did lose 'im."
"Applejack has a point, deary. We are just as excited as you to find out what treasures this new land has, but we have been keeping quite the pace. I dare say that my hooves may never return to their alabaster sheen if we continue at this rate." The white coated pony said, her azure eyes locking onto her, slightly, muddied hooves as she seemed to grimace in place while her face scrunched in annoyance.
"I don't know, Rarity, this is really fun!" the pink pony exclaimed, bouncing in place off of all four hooves as dirt, twigs, leaves and various other unknown objects jutted from her crazy mane and tail. The other members only looked to the hyper active pony, each one giving their own brand of 'oh you' reaction, though one of the members did clap her hoof softly against her face.
"Everything is fun for you, Pinkie. Besides, I like this pace. It lets me stretch out my wings," A voice from above rang out, all eyes diverting to the cyan pegasus whom hovered above the rest. Her rainbow tail and mane flowed delicately in the breeze that blew through the forest as she 'laid' on her back and flew circles around the group. "Besides, what is so great about some small plot of land that no one has been to anyways?" she lazily asked, a hoof taking to the air above her form as she lazily rolled it around in a nonchalant way.
"U-u-umm... Rainbow Dash, we really shouldn't treat this like it's nothing," a soft voice retorted, the yellow coated pony seemingly trying to hide behind her light pink mane as she watched Rainbow Dash circle above. "This seems really important to Twilight... The least we could do is take it more seriously, if you don't mind." The soft squeak from the yellow pegasus only caused a grunt to come from Rainbow Dash.
"You don't have to worry about it, Fluttershy," Twilight responded, her gaze locking onto the rather timid pegasus as she seemed to mull over everyone's comments for a moment. "While we have made great time, it's probably for the best if we take it slow for now and once we reach the edge between the Everfree and the unknown land, we can have lunch."
This revelation caused a majority of the group to let out of a sigh of relief that the pace they were going at was to be lowered a bit. For what felt like days, they had been heading at a straight line through the Everfree, using everyone's distinct abilities to cross any challenges that they face. This didn't keep Rainbow Dash from rolling her eyes and groaning at the idea that they were going to go EVEN SLOWER than they were before. The only other member of the group, who didn't sigh in relief, was Pinkie who seemed to jump violently in place.
"OH, OH, OH! WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A PICNIC?!" she yelled, her voice quite a few pitches higher than usual which caused the rest of the group to look at her. "CAUSE IF SO, I AM TOOOOOOTALY PREPARED!" she yelled once more, her front hooves lifting into her wild mane as she pulled out a decently sized wicker picnic basket, a blanket neatly folded under the handle, as the pink pony only beamed brightly.
"Yes, yes, Pinkie. We can definitely have a picnic once we have found a good enough clearing to set up. I'm famished myself and could go for some of your delicious food," Twilight responded, a soft smile on her face as she accentuated her point to the party pony by a swift lick of her lips in hunger. "But, we should continue on for now. We are near the edge, only about a hoofball field left in distance, at least according to the map," She mentioned, her magic yanking a folded up parchment from one of her saddlebags as it unfolded itself in front of the purple pony who only proceeded to shove her face into it. "Rather curious, though, that the mappers of the Everfree didn't extend out past the woodline on the other side. You'd think they'd had realized that area was uncharted."
"Well, you know what they say, you snooze, you lose and this girl doesn't know such words," Rainbow Dash grinned, completely overlooking the fact that she was well known for finding places to snooze away during the day and how she always lost trying to get some of Applejack's cider. She continued to encompass the group from above before she began to carelessly float ahead of the group, a single cerise eye just barely open as she gazed to the group. "If you guys want to take it slow, that's fine. I'll just continue ahead and find a clear-" Her sentence was cut short, a soft thud ringing out as the rest of the group cringed at the sight of their friend flying, literally, head first into a tree. This promptly caused the pegasus to crash into a bush below the tree, a groan coming from the bush before her head peaked out. "Ugh, this is why I hate forests."
A purple aura encompassed the bush, allowing the pegasus to work her way out as the aura pulled the bush apart, gently. This only caused another round of giggles to ring out from the group of mares, Spike clasping his claws over his mouth as he tried to control his laughter.
"Haha, very funny. Fine, I guess I'll just stick with the group," Rainbow Dash pouted, taking to remaining on her hooves instead of lazily flying about. The group of girls passed her, with a rather childish tongue sticking out from between Applejack's lips as she passed the rainbow mare, leading to Rainbow Dash seemingly puffing up and following up the trail behind Fluttershy. "Again, what's so great about some uncharted land anyway? I bet everything there is either gone or picked up already."
"Very unlikely, Rainbow Dash. Besides, where is your sense of adventure! I'd think that, out of all of us, a certain fan of a certain series would be raring to go exploring." Twilight huffed, looking back to Rainbow Dash for a brief moment who only rolled her eyes in response to the purple mare's prodding as the brush ahead of them opened with the help of Twilight's magic.
"Yeah, yeah. It's just, there isn't much going on now-a-days to warrant exploring something, you know? How do we know that the Princesses doesn't know what's there anyways?" Rainbow Dash complained, stepping through the bush behind Fluttershy as the soft patter of claws followed suit. "Don't they, like, know just about everything about Equestria?"
"Unfortunately, no, they do not. In fact, that's why Spike is trailing along with us today. I have to make sure that I send reports to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on any new discoveries in this new plot of land," she mentioned, her magic yanking free another piece of parchment from her saddlebag as they walked along. Yet, this time, this particular parchment was empty. "Not only that, but I brought along some extra parchment so we can be the first ones to map out this place!"
With that, there was a sudden halt in the progression. All members of the group seemingly looked up at Twilight, whom had stopped suddenly in the middle of their make-shift path. Her eyes locked onto a branch of a tree above and a rather inquisitive look was plastered on her face. She had sworn she had just seen something, something of a color much like her own coat, but seemed to have piercing yellow eyes. Yet, now that she had stopped to double take on where she believed she saw something, there was seemingly nothing there and yet...
"Hello, Earth to Sugar Cube... You alright?" an orange hoof waving in front of her face caused Twilight to snap out of her thought.
"Huh, huh?" Twilight asked, seemingly confused for a moment as she shook her head for a moment and once again looked to that spot on the tree, half expecting to see something there again.
"You alright, Sugar Cube? You've been staring at that tree for a hot minute. Did you see somethin'?" Applejack asked, her own eyes looking in the general direction that Twilight was staring. Yet, as she observed the tree, nothing in particular seemed to stand out to her. "Don' tell me your startin' tah see things."
"Oh, it's nothing, Applejack. I could have sworn I saw something, but it must have just been the sun poking through the tree line." Twilight shrugged, turning her head away from the spot, but not before giving another curious glance before continuing forward again.
"Well, if you say so. You had the girls a little concerned there for a moment." Applejack mentioned, nodding her head at the curious glances of their friends as they continued forward, an opening in the woodline coming into view.
"It's nothing to worry about, Applejack. You know how the Everfree can be. Just a little trick of lighting that caught my attention," Twilight chuckled, seemingly trying to talk away her unease. She ABSOLUTELY swore that she saw something that had stood out. Yet, there was nothing there. This didn't take off the uneasy feeling which seemed to hang over head. A realization, once more, that this was the Everfree and they were never guaranteed to be alone. Despite all this, they eventually came upon a clearing just a few yards from, what they could tell, was the other end of the Everfree. Twilight merely halted the group here, much to the excitement of the pink pony.
"Oh! Can I set up now, huh, huh, huh?" the pink pony asked, practically appearing in Twilight's vision who could only nod her head. This in turn caused a squeal to leave the pink pony as she pulled out her patented Party Cannon. The resulting bang from pulling the fuze causing a flurry of confetti to burst forward. Once the confetti cleared, it left a perfectly set up picnic spot for the group with plates lined encircling the basket in the middle. Strangely enough, there were eight plates for the seven of them. This only caused Rarity to raise an eyebrow.
"I do apologize, Darling, but aren't there only seven of us?" Rarity asked, using her magic to try to clean off her hooves before she stepped onto the picnic blanket for lunch. This revelation causing other members of the group to look about, only counting seven, when Spike was included.
"Oh, you silly billy. It's for our invisible friend!" Pinkie exclaimed, this causing Twilight to only shiver in place as her eyes glanced around. Pinkie, herself, seemingly unfazed by her comment on an 'invisible friend'.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash inquired, stepping onto the blanket and taking a seat in front of a plate while the other members of the group followed suit. Pinkie merely seemed to glance away for a brief moment, looking to the woods behind them before looking back with a grin on her face.
"It's a secret, but they said they will take theirs to go." Pinkie giggled, picking up the eighth plate with a hoof, plastering it with sweets from the basket and promptly slinging it into the wood line, much to the confusion of the others. Though, everyone seemed to write it off as Pinkie merely being Pinkie. What could one expect from a pony who seemingly predicts the future with mere twitches of her extremities? In fact, all of them have long since given up trying to understand the seemingly insane mare.
Yet, there was still a seemingly heavy pressure that Twilight felt. She remained silent about it, but she could still swear there were eyes glued to them. A form of survival instinct had her on edge as she watched where Pinkie had slung the eighth plate of food. Her eyes locked into the darkness, that seemed to radiate from the Everfree, half expecting to see something moving about. Eventually she found the strength to rip her eyes from that spot, looking to the other ponies and Spike. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their meal, conversing among one another while Twilight seemed to worry about nothing.
She soon enough found herself joining the group in conversation, enjoying her lunch with her best friends in the world. That pressure seemingly lifted once she reminded herself that she was among friends who would do anything to help her and this only brought a gentle smile to her lips. They were tied, seemingly by fate, but what did fate have in store for them? She pulled herself from the conversation as she looked towards the end of the tree line, a flat plains laying just beyond the grasp of the Everfree. She took a small nibble from her daffodil sandwich as she pondered something in her head.
'What lies in store for us just past the Everfree?'