After stopping at the candy shop and getting a bag of chocolate covered peanut butter balls, Snips and Snails continued on their way. Leaving the town limits of Ponyville behind, they made their way across the open country before reaching the edge of The Everfree Forest.
"So, what are we doing out here?" Snails asked as they stepped into the forest.
"You remember what Spike said?" Snips asked, looking back at his friend.
Taking one of the peanut butter balls, Snails popped it into his mouth. He chewed slowly, feeling the thin chocolate shell break apart and the smooth peanut butter coat his tongue. It was sweet with a hint of salt, gooey with the occasional crunch, covered his entire mouth in its peanut butter goodness.
"No," he finally answered after swallowing.
Snips let out a sigh, rolling his eyes. Snails was his friend, and he liked the colt most of the time, but times like this, he wondered what went through his friend's head. If anything. It was like Snails' was only half-aware of the world around him or something.
"Okay," Snips said as he turned to face Snails. "Lightning Blast is an awesome pony, right?"
"Right," Snails agreed, giving a nod.
"And we want everypony to know how awesome she is, right?"
"Right."
"Well, Spike said that the best way to do that was for ponies to see how awesome she is for themselves."
"Makes sense."
"And the best way to do that is to have her face and fight a monster where everypony can see it."
"...okay..." Snails said as he grabbed another peanut butter ball.
"And there are always plenty of monsters in The Everfree Forest."
"Not to mention the witch, the old castle--"
"Yeah, yeah," Snips cut in. "All that stuff. Anyway, that means that there are plenty of monsters for a pony to fight if they wanted, right?"
"Right."
"So, if we can bring a monster from the forest to town, Lightning Blast can beat it up, and everypony can see it. So they'll all know how amazing she is. That way, she'll be a hero, everypony will know she's awesome, and she will know we are her biggest fans."
Snails stuck the candy in his mouth and chewed. Not just to enjoy it -- although he did -- but to give him a moment to think. He was not sure what it was, but something about what Snips came up with did not quite seem right to him. Snails could not quite say what it was, though. He thought over it as best he could, but could not really find any flaws in Snips' logic. Besides, Snips was the smarter one, and Snails always trusted him before.
"Okay then," he said.
The two of them continued on, working their way deeper into The Everfree Forest.
"So...how are we going to find a monster to take back?" Snails asked.
"This place is crawling with them," Snips answered. "I'm sure we'll run into something sooner or later."
The two of them continued on, making their way through the forest. Reaching a place where the path (in the vaguest sense of the term) split, the pair of colts headed off to follow the left. As they continued, the path grew darker and darker, until they could only make out the outline of each other. Soon even that became impossible to see.
"I can't see my hoof in front of my face," Snips grumbled as he looked around.
There was a smack and an "ow" from Snails.
"I can't see mine either. Can still feel it though."
Despite the lack of sight, the two tried to continue on, stopping after Snips hit something big and rocky face first.
"Should have brought a light," he grumbled, rubbing his now tender snout.
"Oh, wait," Snails said. "I think I can help."
Closing his eyes, he concentrated, focusing on his horn, and his magic. A small speck of light flickered from the tip before disappearing. Trying again, he managed to make the horn glow brighter, lasting a full second before disappearing again. Jaw clenching, he pushed harder. The tip lit up, flickered, then grew blighter before stabilizing.
Snails had done it. He had cast a spell. A small, simple one, but a victory all the same. Now they could see where they were: which seemed to be some sort of cave. There were rough stone walls, glistening with moisture. One, however, seemed to be covered in some sort of shimmering blue hair. There were also some of those pointy things that grew up from the floor. What were they called? Stallion-something or other? He was pretty sure they went over it in school at some point, but he had not really been paying attention. Why would he care about cave stuff? Not like he was ever going to be in one.
The fuzzy wall shifted, big yellow eyes opening to look at the two of them. The wall itself suddenly seemed to glow with its own light, little white stars appearing all across it. As he and Snips looked around, Snails could not find any way deeper into the cave. They would have to turn around and...
Wait a second.
"Hey, Snips?"
"What?"
"How are we going to get the monster back to town when we find it?"
"I don't know," Snips answered. "We'll figure it out after we find something."
"Okay."
Snails looked at the wall that was now glaring at him.
"Hey, Snips?"
Snips let out a sigh before turning to look at Snails.
"What?"
"Do caves normally have furry walls with big eyes in them?"
"Why would--"
The rest of Snips' question was lost as the furry wall roared. Foul, hot air poured from the gaping mouth that had opened, revealing razor sharp fangs that must have been as long as Snails' legs. The wall then moved, revealing that it was not a wall, but some sort of massive, bear-like creature.
With screams, the two fled from the cave and ran as quickly back to Ponyville as they could manage.