//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Quest to Find Elizabeak // by Princess Cadenza //------------------------------// The sun set, leaving the sky a hot pink, bringing dusk to the Ponyville town. The sun gradually moved closer down as the sky grew darker, and the moon slowly rose up into the sky. Moonlight shone on Fluttershy's face like a spotlight as she walked slowly through the cobbled paths. She hated when there was no light, for she believed many creatures of the dark came out at night to hunt. She took steps one by one, whilst keeping herself in the twilight areas so that she could see if anything scary or dangerous came out. She wished she wasn't out in the dark at nighttime, when nopony was around to see her or save her if any creatures came out to attack her. She knew this was a bad idea, but the moment she fed her animal friends supper she'd realized Elizabeak went missing again. She wished it wasn't nighttime, her most dreaded time... She hoped Princess Luna, the Princess of the Night, did not know how she thought of her night. It would displease her so, both of them. She had not expected any of this to happen. She wished she was back home in her bed, Elizabeak safely in her chicken house. But neither one of them were safe and sound in their own houses, they were out in the wide open at night. The twilight and moonlight shimmers grew dead as Fluttershy slowly entered the Everfree Forest, while she followed the chicken tracks that lead through the dangerous, huge, enchanted woods. The Everfree was a wonder to many ponies. Unlike Whitetail Woods, the Everfree Forest was dangerous, dark, and filled with many pony-eating dangerous creatures. The Timberwolves, the Cocatrice, and all those horrible monsters resided in these very woods. Nopony traveled through the Everfree alone. But of course, Fluttershy had to. Bats fluttered through the dark woods. They made hissing sounds as they flew past Fluttershy, which made the yellow pegasus mare let out a little yelp and zoom behind a tree. She realized it was only the Everfree bats doing their own business. Crickets churped. Everything was dead silent besides the crickets singing. These very woods were her own nightmare. Fluttershy slowly came out from behind the tree, while turning her head left and right to make sure nothing was going to attack her. Once being sure it was safe to come out, she again followed the chicken tracks to continue searching for her chicken. At the corner of her eye, she could see many weird plants, and she noticed birds flying above her with bright, glowing yellow eyes. She gulped and tried her best to ignore the scary creatures and plants. She then turned her head down and stared at the tracks while still moving forward. Trying her best not to be afraid of the enchanted woods, Fluttershy looked up again. She saw no more strange Everfree birds, so she flew up. She found herself being engulfed in an Everfree cloud. She knew these clouds were not regular clouds; they were the Everfree's, they were enchanted and they moved all on their own without pegasi's help. These clouds were also not what normal clouds looked like. They were purple and yellow, like storm clouds. Fluttershy yelped and shook off all the cloud. The yellow pegasus flew back down after realizing that flying above the Everfree Forest was definitely not a good idea. She continued walking along the path of chicken tracks. She checked behind her to make sure nothing was following her. Nothing was there besides a path of chicken tracks going about a mile back, next to them a path of hoofprints going just as long back. Fluttershy sighed in relief as she turned back and continued her search. Fluttershy tufted her hair to one side, so she could see better at the corner of her eye. It was really dark, and in the Everfree it was more dark on the inside than on the outside. There were no twilight shimmers to help Fluttershy see. The only light in the Everfree at night were the glowing eyes of the owls and other Everfree Forest creatures. The pegasus mare halted once she saw a space about 15 feet away with twilight. She ran over to it as fast as she could, she missed light, and light was really rare in the Everfree at night. The yellow pegasus soon reached the light. It looked as though she were on a stage in a spotlight. She squinted and scanned the forest from that one spot. She did not see anything suspicious, so she continued searching by following the tracks. Fluttershy halted. She squinted again, to see how far the tracks would go. She could not tell from here, but what she could see was that there was a hill in the distance. She flew over on top of it and looked out to see how far the tracks would go. The tracks seemed to continue, but Fluttershy had then realized she was out of the Everfree Forest. She sighed in relief as she flew off of the hill and followed the tracks while in the air. She knew flying transported her to places faster, and saved energy. She saw that the tracks continued for at least another mile, so she continued on and flew faster. But Fluttershy herself was not aware she was not out of the Everfree, this was just a big space smack in the middle of it. Fluttershy saw in the distance more Everfree Forest. She facehoofed and groaned. She continued following the tracks into the second part of the Everfree Forest, and saw that the moon was slowly going down and the sky was turning a hot pink again. That could only mean one thing: It was dawn already! Fluttershy did not know how the night had gone by so quickly. She guessed being scared and not concentrating on the time had made the night go by fast. The sun rose up, bringing the sky a robin's egg blue, with a touch of lavender hue. Fluttershy decided to continue, so she did. She wanted to find her pet, and when she did, she was gonna... Somehow get back home... To be continued...