Evening in the Everfree [Open, RainbowDaringDash]

[DerpRavener]

Exploring the Everfree Forest had been something of a pastime of Naj's lately. As she lacked any official task, those she managed a particularly successful feeding run she then found herself nothing to do. She'd taken to exploring the forest both as an outlet for her natural curiosity, and because it was a place she could be in her natural form. Few enough ponies ventured into the forest that she didn't expect to be seen at all, and even if she was it would be next to impossible to track down a pony through the brush. By the time a search party could be assembled to track down the 'rogue changeling', she would have long since made it back home and restored her disguise, with nopony being the wiser.

The sun was just beginning to set as Naj walked through the forest with cautious steps. At this time in the evening, with nothing special going on in town most ponies had returned to their homes for the day, and Naj once again found her way to the Everfree Forest.

The changeling wasn't trying to evade anypony or anything in particular, but one could never be too careful in the Everfree. Despite this, she still found it relaxing to have a place where she could walk about in her natural form.

The sound of a dead branch snapping somewhere nearby caused her to freeze in place. Something was close to her, but not quite close enough to tell exactly what, or what it was doing.

She held still for several seconds, ready to jump away from a hungry animal, but when such thing emerged. Most of the creatures she'd found here hadn't been the patient sort, which left one likely option. Hoping she hadn't been seen yet, with a green flash she was replaced by a maroon pegasus standing on the same spot.

'Spring Breeze' called out, “...Anypony out there?”

[RainbowDaringDash]

Ragnarok was looking threw the forsest. He was searching for jewel's and gem's he could use to carve some more stuff. He was currently in his pony form, which made him shine with a Emerald green coat, a Burgundy mane and a topaz yellow tail. He looked aroudn as he saw one a little underground. It looked pretty small so he ignored it. Ragnarok always came to the everfree to search for crystal's, jewel's, gems, anythign of the sort, it was easily a hobbie of his and it was also how he made a living.

Ragnarok looked up at the sun, which was starting to set. He smiled, knowing that soon enough he could go back to his changeling form. As a rule, Ragnarok had decided to have his ponyform twenty four seven unless he was in the everfree at night. He also enjoyed the fresh air that was here. Ragnarok sighed as he thought back to the hive. He knew he had made the right choice, but that attack ruined the world's opinion of the changeling race, which was somethign he hated as he had to hide all the time though ragnarok was starting to enjoy his pony form. He looked back at the crystal he had seen, it looked like maybe a saphire. That changed his mind. He dug it up and looked at it, it was a shinign blue saphire. He smiled.

Ragnarok was about to turn back into his normal form when he heard a twig snap. He looked around only to see he had steped on a twig. He sighed in relif before hearing someone call out "Anypony out there?"

As he heard that he decided against changeing form's. He walked towards where he heard the voice. He there saw a pony there, who seemed like it had wing's. A pegasus Ragnarok thought, smileing. He had always liked pegasuses, that was the reason he had made his pony form the way it was, as a pegasus. He walked out from behidn the tree line that was hiding him.

"Hi" Ragnarok would say to the pegasus

[PyroBlaze]

Ahh, finally a chance to drop the disguise. Flux smiled as the guise of a purple unicorn fell away to reveal the changeling she was. She stood in the Everfree forest, the only witnesses to the change being her two imaginary friends. After she grew tired of standing there, she began walking in a random direction away from Ponyville. She had never really been in the forest, but she had noticed how nopony really went in there, not without good reason.

"This is great! I should walk around like this more often!" Flux said before continuing her humming. She continued walking for another minute or so before she was interrupted. The sound of a twig breaking brought her walk and her humming to an abrupt halt. Her head turned towards the noise, but she couldn't see anything through the foliage.

In a flash of green magic she was back to her unicorn form, and she approached the sound. She stopped again as soon as a form came into view, soon followed by another. Ponies, it looked like, though she couldn't quite tell the races yet. Flux tilted her head to the side, which rustled some branches and likely alerted the ponies to her presence. She shrugged before walking out into the open and giving a friendly wave. Now that she was closer, Flux could tell that both ponies were pegusi. She smiled at them before talking.

"Hey there! Always nice to see new faces!" Flux said as she got closer to the two, stopping before she got too close.

[SymphonicFire]

Eclipse was supposed to hunt for something in the everfree forest. She was told the there were changelings roaming in the forest and one had escaped to flee there. She flew around looking for the entrance when she finds a group if ponies.

"Hi! Do you know where the forest's trail starts?" She asked. These ponies maybe changelings but she wanted to see first.

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' was a little more successful at drawing out ponies than she'd expected.

At first it was just a single pegasus with a green coat. He strode out from the direction of the noise, and said 'hi'. He seemed almost completely at ease, which struck 'Spring Breeze' as a dangerous attitude to have here , though not necessarily surprising. She'd only managed to get out a “Hello” in reply before there was a rustle in the bushes just to her side, causing her to jump a bit.

Another pony, this one a purple unicorn, promptly emerged from the woods and waved. She also seemed to just ignore their location, greeting the two as if they'd all just met in the town square. That made two of them.

As she'd thought earlier, unsurprising.

'Spring Breeze' waved back a little awkwardly, still getting used to their presence but having already recovered from being startled. She was still wondering about their reasons however. Most ponies avoided the place. “So uhh, what brings you two out here on your own?”

"Hi! Do you know where the forest's trail starts?"

'Spring Breeze's head snapped around as a second- third, she mentally corrected herself- pegasus walked toward the group. She idly wondered briefly if she was wearing some kind of pony magnet, or if such a thing even existed, but she ignored the nonsensical thought.

"Well, it should be somewhere back thataway," the pointed with a hoof to indicate the direction she meant, "but to be perfectly honest, I'm not the best one to ask about that." She frowned at the newcomer for a moment. "You're awfully deep into the woods to be looking for the trail's start though. What are you doing out here?" She was a little concerned about the pony without even knowing the basics.

[RainbowDaringDash]

'Crystal' was suprised when he saw the other two appear. Something about this Pegasus and unicorn, they bothed seemed a bit uneasy though he didnt care why, he was the same. Why was there so many ponies in the forset this time of day? The sun was going to go down in maybe a hour or two. 'Crystal' looked at the third pony, yet another Pegasus. She seemed different thenthe other two, she seemed like she was normal and had a goal, which was somethign that 'Crystal' wished he had.

“So uhh, what brings you two out here on your own?”

'Crystal' looked at the first one he had seen when she asked that.

"Looking for Crystal's and jewel's" He would reply with before turrning sharply. He saw something underground. He saw it looked pretty big but he ignored it, turnign back to the ponies in front of him.

"Hey there! Always nice to see new faces!"

At that 'Crystal' would turn towards the Unicorn. He responded with a simple "Hi"

"Hi! Do you know where the forest's trail starts?"

When he heard the pegasus say that, he looked at her. 'Crystal' Looked at her and responded with "Why at this hour?"

As he said that he looked back at the first pegasus he saw. He started wondering his own question, why at this hour were they all here?

"So, whats your names?" 'Crystal' would ask the whole group

[PyroBlaze]

Flux looked back and forth between the two pegusi, one stallion and one mare. She cheerfully returned the mare's wave as the stallion made his own greeting. It was a simple greeting, but she didn't really mind. She looked at the mare as she asked what they were doing in the forest.

"Oh, just a nature walk. It's been great! I haven't relaxed like that in foooooreeeeevvver!" Flux said, intentionally drawing out the last word. She closed her eyes and hummed happily until another voice called out. Flux looked towards the sound to find another Pegasus mare descending towards the group, asking where the forest trail started. The first mare answered that about as well as Flux could, so she opted for silence on that question. She looked over at the stallion as he asked for names.

"My name's Flux. Nice to meet you all!" She said before closing her eyes again and going back to her cheerful humming. Those first two she met, especially the first mare, seemed a little uneasy. That could just be chalked up to meeting others this far into the Everfree Forest. Understandable, she was feeling it herself.

[SymphonicFire]

((Sorry if I don't type much. On a phone and leaving soon))

"I'm Eclipse and I was sent to find something" she said looking at the ponies. "Can you guys tell me if you have seen something weird around here?"

[DerpRavener]

The green pegasus explained that he was here hunting gems. 'Spring Breeze' tilted her head, considering. She wouldn't have figured a pegasus for a job or hobby like that. Anywhere else in Equestria and she might have questioned it, but given what she'd seen in Ponyville it was probably par for the course. She filed it away in her head for later.

When asked for her name, she just replied, “Spring Breeze. And yours?”

The unicorn explained that she was out for a hike, to relax, and that her name was Flux. That last bit made 'Spring Breeze' give her a bit of a look. It was an odd name for an Equestrian. It almost sounded more like- 'Spring Breeze' stopped herself. Making that assumption would have been awfully paranoid of her. Yet another thing to keep in mind for later, but she forced herself to avoid making any assumptions for now.

Besides, the mare just seemed odd. She was overly cheerful, and 'Spring Breeze' would have been more critical if her own reasons for being here weren't close to the same thing. Still, she worried about the mare a bit, the Everfree Forest was one of the worst places to be inattentive. Still a little taken aback, 'Spring Breeze' replied, “Er, yeah, nice to meet you too.”

The newcomer introduced herself as Eclipse and said that she was sent out to find something. Again, 'Spring Breeze' though this was a dangerous place to be searching by oneself, but she was still in no position to judge. The blue pegasus then asked if they'd seen anything weird in the area.

'Spring Breeze' smirked. “Yeah, I found three ponies wandering the Everfree Forest by themselves, in the evening.” She chuckled to herself. “But joking aside, nothing out of the ordinary. I haven't really been looking for anything mind, but it's actually been pretty slow by Ponyville standards.”

She turned to go back the way she came, hoping the others would follow. “It would probably be better to continue this conversation closer to town. You never know what's lurking in these woods...” She wasn't entirely sure if it was safe for most of them to be here, particularly if they were all just going to sit around making noise.

[RainbowDaringDash]

“Spring Breeze. And yours?”

As 'Crystal' Heard that he replyed with "Im Crystal, nice to meet you". He would then turn to the one who called herself Eclipse 'Crystal' Could tell that out of the whole group, including himself, that she was the only pony not acting a bit off. 'Crystal' shrugged it off as he took random guesses of why that might be, tough he didn't hold any hopes.

"Can you guys tell me if you have seen something weird around here?"

'Crystal' would look Eclipse straight in the eye "Yeah, there are more crystals then normal around here"

“It would probably be better to continue this conversation closer to town. You never know what's lurking in these woods...”

Those words would arise suspicion in 'Crystal', making him wonder, why was she in such a rush now that others had found her, he had been the first, then the others though at the time it didnt seem to worry anyone, though now, he himself was starting to get a bit worried about it.

"Is there a reason you want to head back? We have a group, its not like somepony or creature is just going to attack us unless we provoke them"

[PyroBlaze]

Flux's smile widened slightly as the introductions came in. Spring was the first mare, Eclipse was the second, and Crystal was the stallion. She gave a small snort at the stallion's name, as the first thing she thought of when she heard it was that it sounded like a mare's name. She looked around after that before looking at Eclipse.

"Nope, can't find anything." Flux said, answering the mare's question about if they had seen anything out of the ordinary. Then her gaze traveled to Spring as she said they should head back to town, which the stallion immediately questioned. Flux decided to answer this one herself, and did so after a few giggles.

"'Cause, silly. There could be meanies out here that don't care about wether you provoke them or not." She said happily. She was happy mostly because; she had found three new possible friends, and three new possible food sources. Maybe one possible food source, since Eclipse seemed to be the only one acting normal. Best not to make that kind of assumption out loud though, at least not yet. She then turned to follow Spring, since her imaginary friends were telling her to, and they rarely agreed on anything.

[SymphonicFire]

Eclipse was still suspicious of the bunch, she knew that changelings come to the everfree to hid and before she even goes into the forest, she finds three ponies who are possibly changelings. Although their reasons seem normal...ish, she still feels like something was up.

"If you guys are free, could you help me find what i'm looking for?" she asked as she looked from pony to pony

If these ponies are to be changelings, she needs to act as if she was one of them and keep her secret to what she was actually here for.

[RainbowDaringDash]

(Quick question, how does Eclipse know that?)

[SymphonicFire]

((She was sent to catch the changelings. I said that in my first post))

[DerpRavener]

"Is there a reason you want to head back? We have a group, its not like somepony or creature is just going to attack us unless we provoke them"

'Spring Breeze' stopped moving, and turned to give Crystal a hard look. He was a fool if he was safe here. She thought about responding in a few different ways, but Flux beat her to the punch. The unicorn countered that creatures here might attack without provocation, though she did so with odd terms. 'Spring Breeze' nodded her agreement, and added “There are a lot of things out here that won't care how many ponies we bring.”

She wasn't willing to leave them out here on their own though, so she sat down to wait, at the start of the path she hoped they'd follow her down. Flux seemed willing enough to leave, but unfortunately it looked like the others would take a bit more to convince.

"If you guys are free, could you help me find what i'm looking for?"

'Spring Breeze' regarded Eclipse for a moment. The mare seemed oddly apprehensive, despite being otherwise friendly. It made the false pegasus wonder what she was up to, out here in the forest. “Maybe,” she said after a moment, “you haven't told us what you're trying to find, yet. What is it you're looking for?”

[SymphonicFire]

Eclipse heard the stallion but knew her answer right away.

"I was sent here to find a herb to make the medicine for a patient in Ponyville" she replied

She didn't trust these ponies yet, she was never good at trusting ponies in the first place. There was a chance that these ponies were changelings and she wasn't going to risk telling them. Even if they were changelings, they were really relaxed when she came up to them

[RainbowDaringDash]

'Crystal' Could tell the Pegasus was lying, it was quite obvious with the speed she had responded with. That made 'Crystal' a bit worried, though he decided not to speak out just yet.

"I was sent here to find a herb to make the medicine for a patient in Ponyville" she replied

At that Crystal would turn, he had explored this place a fair bit and he knew where a lot of Herbs were. "What are you looking for?" He would say in a offer to help, but also as a chance for him to find the truth about why she was here. He knew the reason he was here, it was too be free from this form, and to find crystals, but why would any lone pony enter the woods at this hour.

“There are a lot of things out here that won't care how many ponies we bring."

'Crystal' would sigh, he didnt care, he just liked the feelignof being free. "Fine" He would say after a minute

[PyroBlaze]

Flux stopped when Spring stopped, tilting her head slightly at Eclipse's answer as to what the mare was looking for. That was fast, which probably meant she was lying. Flux was a little worried about Eclipse's true purpose in the forest, but she didn't show it. Spring had added to her answer about why they should leave, saying some of the creatures wouldn't care how many ponies we had in the group. Flux then looked at the mare and the stallion as Crystal agreed to come along with her and Spring.

"You coming Eclipse? Looks like the three of us are leaving the forest." Flux said, looking at Eclipse the whole time. What was that mare really looking for? Angel and Devil were throwing ideas at Flux, and some of them were, frankly, crazy and non-sensical. She giggled at a couple of the ideas her imaginary friends were throwing out there, then fell completely silent at the next idea. Devil had thrown out the idea that Eclipse was looking for changelings. Flux had no proof of this, of course, but it still bothered her. Although, if she was correct about Spring and Crystal, Eclipse was surrounded by changelings.

[SymphonicFire]

((Umm. i didn't say that Eclipse replied quickly...))

Eclipse looked at Crystal and Flux. She knew that they think she was lying but she didn't care, she just needed to hide her real reason

"Sure i'm coming!" she replied. She had a few special roses in her saddlebag so that the changelings would be distracted by the love in it's scent. The scent is strong, but it doesn't give them any energy

"I need to find Cerrok and Bildo bark for the medicine" she replied to Crystal

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' stopped for a minute and considered. She still thought it was a bad idea to be wandering around in the forest and that the smart choice was to lead the group away, but two things still bothered her. One, she got the sneaking suspicion that only Flux actually took what she'd said to heart, and Crystal and Eclipse could be back here moments after she was done talking to them. Given their attitudes toward the forest, 'Spring Breeze' thought that if they'd be here either way, she might as well stick around to keep an eye on them.

Two, she still didn't know what Eclipse was up to. If 'Spring Breeze' gave her the benefit of the doubt, somepony might need that medicine. If she didn't, the best way to figure out what Eclipse was up to would be to play along. And at this point, her curiosity was piqued.

The false pegasus grumbled to herself before turning around. “I assume cerrok and bildo bark can only be found in the forest...” She sighed, and turned back towards the interior of the woods as she said, “if you really need them, I'll help you look.” Looking to Crystal and Flux, she added, “I still think the smartest course of action is to leave the woods, but I won't be a hypocrite. If you want to help, or stick around, I won't stop you.”

[RainbowDaringDash]

(Whops, my bad )

'Crystal' walked towards the crystal he had seen earlier, he was tired off it being hidden where he kept getting distracted of it. As he started to dig it out he looked back at the group they were with. So far, Spring Breeze has wanted to leave more then the rest, and it seems Flux was just in the agreeing circle, wanting to leave as well, and then there was Eclipse, the Pegasus hiding somethign from the rest. As 'Crystal' sniffed in some air, he smelt the strong scent of love . Over his time of living in the area he had seen many things like this, and he had learnt how to not be attracted by a powerful source like this. 'Crystal' just ignored it comeplety, shutting his mind off to it completely though it did prove something was up with the group, someone here was definitely not who they seemed.

"I need to find Cerrok and Bildo bark for the medicine"

"Those are not the easiest things to come by" 'Crystal' would say back to Eclipse as he started to dig again.

“I still think the smartest course of action is to leave the woods, but I won't be a hypocrite. If you want to help, or stick around, I won't stop you.”

'Crystal' Would stop digging and look at Spring Breeze. His response would be "Im staying"

[SymphonicFire]

Fire turned to Crystal and nodded her head. "This trip would make them show their true colors, my training won't fail me" Eclipse thought as she sighed.

"Yes, the patient was diagnosed with the Ular fever" she said to Crystal.

It was good that she asked to those ingredients, after she was done she could give those to the hospital for future cases. She also needed to tell the department about the suspects and their disguises, if they are really changelings the department should be informed about them

[PyroBlaze]

(Sorry.)

Flux was standing there, her head tilting back and forth in time with her humming. Soon, a powerful scent of love interrupted her humming, her head turning imperceptibly towards the source. It seemed to be coming from Eclipse. Flux wasn't hungry though, and she doubted that Eclipse would have such powerful feelings for what were essentially strangers. As such, she ignored the scent and returned to her humming.

"I'll just stick with you, Spring. You seem nice." Flux said, smiling at the Pegasus in question. Crystal seemed to be digging something up, likely one of those gems he said he was searching for, and Eclipse still seemed like she was hiding something. With the scent of love in the air, it was obvious even to her that something was up around here.

[SymphonicFire]

"It would be nice to have others to help me" Eclipse said as she looked around. Eclipse needed to read the expressions on the ponys' faces and confirm their identity. The love berries did seem too strong since she could smell it too. She needed to find a way to die down the scent so that it wouldn't raise suspicion from the ponies

"The herbs are deep in the forest and this is my first time here"

[DerpRavener]

Crystal firmly stated that he'd be staying in the forest. 'Spring Breeze' nodded at that. He seemed content enough, and she didn't feel like pressing the issue. Instead, she just said “Alright, well we'll be around, shout if you run into anything, or anything runs into you.”

She planned to keep an eye on him, but otherwise was going to leave him to his own devices.

"I'll just stick with you, Spring. You seem nice."

'Spring Breeze' couldn't help but smile at that. Flux's attitude a sort of pleasant simplicity to it. While 'Spring Breeze' had some doubts about how useful the mare would be given her, curious state of mind the false pegasus appreciated the thought all the same. Plus, it would make keeping an eye on her that much easier, not that that would be hard. So far, Flux had been agreeing with her entirely. Which was also sort of a nice change, even if it made her wonder what in herself attracted the unicorn's interest. Unsure entirely how to respond, 'Spring Breeze' simply nodded.

That left Eclipse. The pegasus was currently something of a puzzle to 'Spring Breeze', and that made her want to investigate further. Looking at the mare now, 'Spring Breeze' noticed an overwhelming 'scent' that, if she hadn't encountered it before, she would have mistaken for an overwhelming scent of love. As it was, she know that love that couldn't be eaten was caused by a type of flower, due to a flower shop she walked by almost daily in Ponyville. It took an awkward couple of weeks of hovering around, wondering where it seemed like all the love was coming from, but eventually she'd figured it out.

She could only conclude that Eclipse was either wanted to attract changelings, or roses were a part of the potion. The former could explain a lot, if you're going to go looking for changelings calling them to you. She couldn't comment on that without giving herself away though, and at this point it was just speculation anyways, just something for her to keep in mind.

'Spring Breeze' wasn't familiar with with the ingredients Eclipse needed, so as she turned away from the mare and started to look around the forest she asked. “So I'm not really an expert on plants, what to these things look like that we're looking for?”