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// Chapter 3: Sky Streak 
// Story: Roots of Fear 
// by ChronicleStone 
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     The trio walked quietly among the trees, which wasn’t hard.  The air was thick and heavy, and any sound they made seemed to fall dead after going little more than a few feet.  Echoes were non-existent.
So this is Everfree Forest, Sky Streak thought to himself.  It’s no wonder they were worried about this place.  It feels so....  His thoughts trailed off.  He couldn’t think of a word to accurately describe what he felt, so he attempted to reach back into his saddlebags and bring out his journal.
After several unsuccessful attempts to retrieve it, he heard Spike’s voice from beside him.  “Hey, would you like a hand?  Twilight uses magic to move stuff around all the time, so she doesn’t ask for my help with stuff like that all that much.”
Sky sighed and nodded.  “I’d appreciate it.  Unicorns are lucky, having magic and all.  The pegasi and regular ponies don’t have the luxury.  I’m after my notes journal.  It’s a black spiral-bound binder.”  A thought suddenly came to him.  “Hey, Spike, you said you were a royal scribe?”
“In training,” he said, climbing onto the pegasus’ back and fishing around in his saddlebags.  “Twilight sees fit to make sure that I remember that I’m not an official scribe yet.”
“Because you’re not,” came her voice, though there was a playfulness in her tone that made Sky smile.
“Well, could I ask that you take my notes for me?  I’m not much of a writer.  Usually, my hoofwriting is pretty horrid.  It takes me a long time to make something that seems remotely legible.”
“As long as we’re together, I’d be happy to,” Spike said, producing a quill from seemingly out of nowhere.  “This is something I’m good at.”
“You might as well make it out to Princess Celestia while you’re at it, Spike,” Twilight said.
Sky’s eyes widened in surprise, but Spike’s voice sounded doubtful.  “Um…why?”
“Because that’s who he’s preparing the notes for.  Isn’t that right, Sky Streak?”  Her expression was half smug, half compassionate.
Sky swallowed the lump in his throat and tried his best to appear calm.  “And what makes you think that?” he managed.
“Well, when we first met, you already knew my name because you had seen the paintings in Canterlot, which meant you had been there.  And since all of those are kept in the royal palace, it means that you had been there, too.  And you also told us that you were doing this for a ‘very important pony.’”  She tossed her head for a moment, then looked at him in triumph.  “Am I right?”
“Almost,” Sky admitted.  “I figure that it doesn’t hurt anything to tell you about my task.  You are Princess Celestia’s personal student, after all.”
“So, what’s the truth?” Spike asked from behind him.  The little dragon was such a natural at riding on a pony’s back that Sky could hardly feel him at all.
“Well, for one, I wasn’t sent here by a ‘very important pony.’  I said that I came on behalf of ‘some very important ponies,’” he corrected.
“Meaning?” Twilight asked.
“I’m here at the request of the Equestrian Royal Council.”
He heard Spike cough behind him.  “You’re here because the Council sent you?  The entire Council?” he asked, climbing up onto Sky’s head just to try and look him in the eye.
“Well!” Twilight exclaimed.  “Those certainly would be some very important ponies.  But what interest do they have in Everfree Forest, Sky Streak?” the unicorn continued.
“Just call me Sky,” he said.  “And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure what the big concern is.  But they all seem to think that the forest is dangerous, at the very least.”
“It definitely is,” Twilight agreed.  “But so are many other places in Equestria.  I don’t see why they would choose to single out the forest above anywhere else.”
“Is it because they think the Forest is haunted?” Spike asked, a strange eagerness in his voice.
“Haunted?  Well, no, not in the traditional sense.  But it seemed to me that they thought that there was something  that was dwelling here.  Not a ghost or anything like that, but…I dunno.  I think Princess Luna used the term ‘malevolent spirit.’”
“HA!” Spike shouted.  “See, Twilight, I told you that the forest was creepy!  It’s because it’s haunted by something!  Even the Council thinks so!”
“Just because the Council thinks that something is true doesn’t mean that it is true,” she protested.  “But I still don’t get one thing.  Why send you?  Why not send a troop of royal guards to investigate?”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Sky interjected, “your brother told me to tell you ‘hi’ if I should happen to run into you.  Which I have.”
“Oh, how is he?”
“He and Princess Cadance are doing quite well.  They’d love for you to come visit them sometime.”
“Next time you see them, tell them I’ll head to Canterlot next chance I get. But back to the question at hoof: why did the Council send you?”
Sky felt his face grow warm, and he knew that he was blushing.  “Well, to be frank…it’s kind of an initiation thing.  I’m up for recruitment into the service of the Equestrian Crown, and if I complete this assignment, then my chances will be that much better.”
Twilight looked at him as if she were looking at a totally different pony than the one she had been walking with.  “Wow…that’s really amazing, Sky.  I never would have guessed all that about you.”
“Well, nothing’s decided yet, so this assignment has to come first.  I’m supposed to investigate the forest and see if I can determine the source of the dread surrounding it,” he continued.
“I had always attributed it to the lack of ponies living in the Forest itself, but it seems like the Council thinks that it’s the other way around.  Maybe there is something else here…
“You know what, Sky?  I think I’d like to help you with this.  If this concerns Princess Celestia as much as you say it does, then it concerns me, too.  I’m sure my knowledge of magic would come in handy, and Spike can use his fire breath to send your notes straight to Celestia, so you can keep her updated on things as you go.  What do you say?”
Sky turned his head to look at Spike.  “You can do that?” he asked, somewhat incredulous.
“I’m a dragon that lives with ponies.  I’m full of surprises,” he said, smiling smugly.
“Well, my initial thought was to say something like ‘It’s too dangerous’ or something like that, but on second thought, that’s kind of a silly thing to say to a pony that’s faced down Nightmare Moon, Discord, and an army of Changelings.  Do I really have a choice?” Sky asked, feeling more grateful for the help than helpless to resist the offer.
“She’s too stubborn to take no for an answer, anyways,” Spike muttered behind him.
“It’s settled, then,” Twilight said, shaking her mane.  “We’ll go see Zecora, and after that, we can help Sky with his investigation.”
“Besides, I think I’d like to meet this Zecora.  I figure that she’ll be of great help in my task.”
“I’m sure she will be.  Zecora is very wise, and she can tell you a lot about the forest.  I’m sure she’ll know something about the ‘malevolent spirit’ in Everfree, if there even is one.”
“Let’s go find out, shall we?”
With that, they broke into a gallop, and plunged headfirst into the deepening darkness of Everfree Forest.