//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: We Go On a Quest(And It's FUN-A-FUN-FUN!!!) // Story: The Goddess Inside Us All // by That_G3_Obsessive //------------------------------// Hi! Pinkie Pie here! Dashie finally let the rest of us narrate! Ooh! I can't wait to hear my voice on this thing! *tons of strange noises in the microphone that the author doesn't know how to spell* Everypony's telling me to move on and stop screwing around. [You guys are no fun.] Anywho, Celestia had Spike pack our stuff, and then sent us to the edge of the Everfree Forest. I remember when we first met, and AJ made that remark about candy apples. Candy apples are good, aren't they? So are chimmy cherries. [Alright, alright, I'll stop goofing around. Sheesh, lighten up.] I didn't really know why we were going into the Everfree again. Why would anypony want to live in there(except for Zecora, but she's a zebra, so she doesn't really count as a pony.)? Celestia obviously knew what was going on, but she wouldn't tell us one itzy-bitzy little thing. Maybe she was keeping a secret for somepony and made a Pinkie Promise? If that was the case, then I didn't want to hear anything. Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise. Nopony. Back on track, we were walking towards the big, scary forest. I heard tons of little noises coming from the woods, but I wasn't scared. I had been in there before tons of times! Twilight kept asking Celestia to explain more about who the new bad guy was, but she kept her mouth shut. The princess seemed troubled by this guy. [I'm tired of calling him that. Can I just say his name?] Twilight says that I will ruin the story if I give away his name too early. I'm going to call him Mr. Evil-Black-Smokey-Guy instead. Anyway, Celestia seemed troubled by Mr. Evil-Black-Smokey-Guy. She kept looking into the shadows, and insisted Luna stay behind at all costs, though she really wanted to come. I thought the bad guy was the guy who caused Luna to turn into Nightmare Moon. As we got to the edge of the trees, the sun was right above our heads. "Are we there yet?" I asked. "For the last hundred times you've asked, it's been no," sighed Rarity. "This time, however, it's yes!" "Good!" I bounded to the edge, but Risumna's voice stopped me. Stop! she said, and her voice sounded a lot like mine. You can't go in there! "Why not?" I asked out loud. "Pinkie, who are you talking to?" Twilight looked bewildered. I pointed my hoof at my forehead. "Her." "Oh," she muttered. I could tell that she still wasn't okie-dokie-lokie about all this. HE lives in there, Risumna warned. Who? I asked. We do not speak his name, she said. No matter what I did, I couldn't get her to spill the beans. And I was hungry! Right, getting off track. Sorry. I waited for the others to catch up while I argued with the goddess. Dashie zoomed ahead and was about to go into the forest, but Applejack nipped her tail. "Woah, nelly. Slow down there," she said through a mouthful of kaleidoscopic tail. "Applejack's right," Twilight intervened. "We should all go in together." "Aw, I could take 'em!" Rainbow held up her hooves like a boxer's and punched the air. Twilight rolled her eyes. But then Rainbow Dash said something that made her freeze. "At least I'm not chicken!" the pegasus glared at Twilight, daring her to back down. Kind of like what Daring Do would do, only Daring wouldn't dare disagree with a princess, because that's one of Do's don'ts, and... [Guys! Give it back!] *scuffles* Rainbow Dash thought it would be okay to snatch the microphone away from me while I was distracted. Back to the story. Rainbow Dash made that snooty remark, and now Twilight was fuming, and everypony was looking confused. "Rainbow Dash," Twilight said in a dangerously calm voice. "There is no need to let this little feud descend into insults." "Oh?" Dashie's smirk kept getting wider. "Well then, I'm sorry, I won't hurt your little egghead-" "Hey, guys?" I cut in nervously. "Uh, we should really get going..." "Pinkie's right," Rarity whinnied, pawing the ground. "That thing is still out there, and it won't stop being a nuisance unless we defeat it!" Celestia flinched at the word defeat. She obviously had some sort of connection to Mr. Evil-Black-Smoky-Guy, but wasn't willing to share it. Instead, she looked us all in the eye, and gave my friends The Stare, Fluttershy style. "Now is not the time, nor is this the place," she said sternly, like a mare scolding her fillies. "You must begin your quest, or Equestria will be destroyed by the one that created it." "Who?" Twilight dared to ask, looking sheepish that she had acted like a spoiled filly in front of her mentor. Celestia only shook her head. She gazed at us all, wished us luck one last time, and flew off before Twilight could interrogate her any further. "Well, she's Captain Sunshine," Dashie grumbled, and we set off into the Everfree Forest. The Everfree was boring. [Well, I'm sorry if that sounded short-sighted. That's how it was to me.] There was nothing but darkness, ferns, and insects swarming us. Twilight and Rarity lit their horns to penetrate the blackness, but it didn't do much good. Having a goddess in your head has it's pros and cons. Risumna guided me past sinkholes, tree roots, and patches of Poison Joke. As we went past that, she kept cracking up. Do you remember when your tongue swelled up? she giggled. And you couldn't sing the Evil Enchantress song? Like I said, it has its pros and cons. Anyway, as we navigated through the underbrush, Twilight tried to keep up a conversation. "I think we should start at the castle ruins," she explained as she ducked under a moldy tree branch. "From what I'm getting, this villain probably has something to do with Princess Luna, since Celestia made her stay in Canterlot. It should be this way..." she rambled on, even more than me! "Yeah, yeah," Dashie yawned. "How could we forget the way? We've been in this forest a million times!" "But the Everfree Forest is different from, say, Whitetail Woods. It's magic," Twilight sighed. "So it's always changing, growing, expanding." "What are you, a dictionary?" the pegasus groaned. "Look, it's right through-" Her hoof went slack as her jaw dropped. We were faced with the exact same clearing as we were when we first started this trek! "Like I said," Twilight said matter-of-factly. "Magic." "Enough gloating," AJ butted in. "If what you're sayin' here is true-that this here forest is magical- then how do you know where we're goin'?" "I... I don't, actually," Twilight hung her head while Rainbow stuck her orange tongue at her. "Y-you mean we're... lost?" Fluttershy stammered. She squeaked and hid behind Rarity's legs, while Applejack tried to coax her out. "I-I have to say... yes, we're lost," Twilight said in a small voice. Lost. We were lost, maybe forever. Lost.