A teenage Hispanic boy, Ross Ricardo Ramirez-Martinez, went to his best friend's tree house to kick off their weekend camping trip. His best friend, Taki, was waiting with the rope in hand when Ross arrived. Taki, short for Takiji Shinkai, was a short Japanese seventeen-year-old girl, with short, dark red hair.
"What's the password, Ross?"
Ross confusedly looked up at Taki and said, "What password?"
"The password I've told you every time I've seen you this week. You're not comin' up here without it," she said, lowering the rope for her to climb down.
"Are you ready for our camping trip?" asked Taki as she climbed down.
"Yes. I got the stuff you asked me to get," answered Ross.
"Everything?"
"Yes, I even still have your list. It's right here, in my pocket."
Ross and Taki rode their bikes out of town towards Farmer Joe's. The farmer was a cross sort, and neither Ross nor Taki wished to incur his wrath. They made careful to get on the trailhead without crossing the view from the farmhouse. The trailhead was on the top of a hill next to the Red River. The view was breathtaking; from this vantage they could see the entirety of the Ghost Forest.
The trail they took passed through a loose grove of broad-leaved trees. On the ground there were brown and orange mushrooms, small-leafed vines, blue flowers, red roses, and small, double-leaved ferns. On the trees grew a variety of vines, and mosses of green and brown and blue.
A blue butterfly, with hints of purple and yellow on its wings, distracted Taki as it flew past. She recognized it as a Jeffrey Butterfly, and moved to capture it. It landed on a rose. Taki stalked closer. It flapped its wings. Taki was over its head. It stuck its proboscis into the flower. Taki moved her hands to capture it, but it flew away before she could catch it.
"Nice catch there, Taki!"
"Oh, shut up."
"I could have caught that with my eyes closed."
"Only if it was a football moving at over forty. You couldn't have caught it if you tried."
Their argument soon devolved into "Yes I could" and "no you couldn't" as they followed the trail. The trail meandered a little as they went, though its overall motion was to the right. They eventually hit a fork in the road, one mile down the trail. Left lead to a meadow, and right deeper into the forest.
They interrupted their argument to concur: "Let's go right!"
They continued down the trail. The side of the trail to the left changed. It started level with the trail, but slowly rose up until there was a thirty foot cliff to their left. The right side did the opposite, transitioning into a forty foot cliff downward. The cliff was damp, and had mosses and lichen growing out of it.
They reached a waterfall. This waterfall had rocks that jut out of it, splitting the water fall as it fell. Ross and Taki looked down the fall, and saw a beaver pond.
"Is this the spot?" asked Taki.
"Yes. Sonia said that no one has ever went down these falls before," Ross said excitedly.
Ross and Taki set up the belay, and go down the cliff over the beaver pond. They walk out of the pond, which at its deepest was only a foot taller than Taki. They set up for lunch.
Ross said, "I'm gonna go and get firewood. Can you get the firepit ready?"
Taki nodded and started gathering rocks for the pit while Ross set out to gather firewood.
When Ross walked into Ghost Forest the sunlight quickly left, leaving him blanketed in a deep twilight. The dark brown trees were tall and bulky, and close enough to each other that their roots overlapped each other. Their leaves, varying from long pine needles to broad oak leaves, started thirteen feet up. Ross was not enjoying the beauty of these trees, nor was he scared of the shapes in the shadows. He was focused on gathering wood.
It was in this state that he was startled by a fast movement. He looked up, and saw a fuchsia blur running into the woods. His first response was to run after it, but he maintained his self control
"Taki," Ross yelled as he walked back into camp.
"What is it?"
"I saw this weird fuchsia thing run past me. I think it was an animal, but I didn't see more detail than it's color."
"Want to investigate it?"
"Yes!"
Ross looked excited, and started to pack his pack. Taki looked at him and laughed.
"After lunch, of course. What did you bring?" She said as she started the fire.
Ross looked disappointed as he rummaged through his pack.
"I have oatmeal and jerky."
"Let's eat the oatmeal since we have the fire."
They guzzled down the oatmeal, both excited at the prospect of an adventure. When they finished they threw their backpacks on and stomped out the fire.
"Let's go," said both of them at once. They left as they fell into a game of Jinx, both trying to catch the other in a jinx so they could punch the other in the arm.
"Ow," said Ross as he rubbed the spot Taki punched him in, "this is going to bruise, you know."
"I know. Where did you see that blur?"
"I saw it about here."
"Jehoshaphat!" exclaimed Taki at the sight of a giant green beetle on Ross's head. She threw off her backpack and with one swat her backpack smashed the beetle into a greenish goo.
"What was that for!"
"A bug was on your head. Now stop lollygagging and let's find this thing!"
They headed deeper into the woods, the trees growing taller and wider the farther they went in. After about an hour they saw an enormous redwood tree. This tree was huge, nearly fifty feet in diameter and five hundred feet tall. A large hollow in the tree was visible from where Ross and Taki stood.
"Should we go in?" asked Ross.
"Yeah. It might be whatever-you-saw's home!"
They walked into a large hole in the tree. When they looked up they could see no ceiling as far up as they could see, which was not far with their flashlights.
Ahead they heard a small growl. They walked towards the growl and a fuchsia fox ran up to them. It had big ears, fluffy fur, and small feet. It walked towards them, and sniffed them.
"It's so cute! We should name it," squeed Ross
"Fuchsia!"
"Aw, no fair. You sniped me. Good name, though."
They ooed and awwed over it, before noticing that it was walking towards the center of the tree. A swing of their flashlights lighted an unanchored ladder at the center.
"I think it wants us to follow," said Taki.
They followed the fox up the ladder, still curious about what this fox was.
"What do you think this fox is?" asked Taki
"I think it's a nature spirit of some kind. You know, like the ones we learned about in humanities. Where do you think it's leading us?" asked Ross.
"Her home, or somewhere near there."
"How do you know that?"
"I don't. I just feel that it's leading us somewhere that is important to her."
Ross and Taki had lost sight of Fuchsia hours before they reached the top of the ladder. There was a trapdoor overhead.
"How did Fuchsia get through this trapdoor?" asked Taki.
"I dunno. It climbed the ladder, maybe it can open doors," answered Ross.
They went through and closed the trapdoor. The trapdoor had led to a cavern. The roof of the cavern was covered in constellations of glowworms. Unadorned columns 500 feet tall connected the floor and ceiling. The floor was wrought stone bricks the size of semi trailers, with mosses and lichens and cracks on and in them. This floor was interrupted by a large oaken compass rose fifty feet in diameter, which is where Ross and Taki were setting up camp.
"This place is awesome! How did we get down here?" asked Ross
"I don't think we should question that. This is obviously supernatural."
"How is it obviously supernatural?" Ross asked sarcastically.
"We climbed up a tree into a cavern! Of course, we should sleep before exploring. I for one am exhausted," said Taki.
They went to bed and had dreams of infinite worlds.
They had woken up, though whether it was morning was impossible to tell without a sky. They got ready for the day, changing behind the massive stone columns. Their morning camp routine was interrupted when an Asian woman with fluffy, fuchsia hair appeared in their camp.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?" asked Ross.
"You named me Fuchsia, though others might know me by other names. I came from Ghost Forest," Fuchsia said, her voice light and airy.
"Why did you bring us here? You're the fox that led us here?" asked Taki.
"You both are the first humans I've seen in a long time. You both desire adventure? I can lead to a great one."
"How did you know that?" asked Ross.
"You followed me. The last to do so desired to be a hero, and now I know that the two of you do as well."
Ross and Taki looked at each other, and knew that they could not run away from the chance of a lifetime.
"Where do we go?"
"East, until you find a compass rose divided into six colors."
They went east for miles, passing over two compass roses before arriving. This compass rose was divided into six colors: lavender, red, orange, purple, blue, and pink.
Ross and Taki went down the ladder, finding themselves climbing down a ladder along a bookshelf. They got down and looked around. They saw a staircase that led to a second floor, and a door that led outside. They walked outside and saw tens of ponies, in a variety of pastel colors. The ponies went about their day, ignoring the two humans that had walked out of the library.
As they they stood, watching the multitude mingle, a lavender pony with a horn walked past them, its nose stuck in a book covered in runes.
"Hi!" said Ross.
The unicorn looked up, said something unintelligible, and ran inside.