Everfree Forest Supplies, supplies, supplies!

[StrawberryBlossom]

Strawberry Blossom had been in the forest for hours on her first day alone, and she loved it.

She had meant to leave by sunset of course. No sense pushing things on the first day. Then she had noticed some plants stirring as if getting ready to bloom. Night blooming plants! How exciting! She had spent hours hunkering wide-eyed, staring at and gently coaxing the blossoms as they slowly opened. Some ponies probably though the process of a flower bud opening was boring; Strawberry Blossom didn't, and it was even more fascinating to realize that nopony had planted or cultivated these. They just... happened.

They were beautiful, and the fact that she'd never cultivated night bloomers, never seen their buds open, made it even more special.

And then she heard the muttering.

Strawberry Blossom's ears perked sharply and she stood, looking around. She'd heard a few rumors about the strangeness of the forest - and it was undeniably strange - but could the tales of hauntings and headless horses and so on be true too?

Of course not.

She tipped her ears back, swishing her tail in slight annoyance at herself, and trotted determinedly toward the mutterings. All right, so she slowed and crept forward as she got close - that was just caution, right? Caution was good!

Strawberry blinked as she saw the moon-touched pegasus, spotting her just in time to hear the groan followed by the complaint. The moonlight falling on the pegasus made her look more than a little ethereal, and ghosts were ghosts because they were missing something, right?

Get a hold of yourself, Berry.

She came cautiously forward to address the stranger, voice low.

"Scuse me, Miss Ghost, but what was it you were looking for? I could help maybe."

'Miss Ghost'? Why did I say that? She lowered her head in embarrassment, just peeking up through her bangs at the pegasus and hoping she wasn't offended.

[lambs]

Lady Z

Lady Z turned her head in the direction of the voice that just spoke. She was a little surprised, it was highly unusual for other ponies to come into the forest. From what she had heard, most ponies were afraid of the Everfree Forest. She supposed they would be for good reason. The forest was wild, full of monsters and grew without the help of the earth ponies, which was most unusual. Lady Z blinked and tried to get a better look at the filly standing in the clearing with her, then realized what the pony had just said to her. "Ghost? Oh my dear I think you are mistaken! I am just as corporeal as you are!" She smiled and stood up, swishing her long tail to dust off her knees as she did. Though the notion of being mistaken for a ghost amused her greatly, Lady Z thought that now was probably not the best time to go with the idea. The poor filly in front of her hadn't sounded very confident approaching her and as much as Lady Z enjoyed being thought of as a ghoul or ghost or witch she didn't feel this was the time or place to be scary. "As for what I was looking for, don't worry yourself about it. I was searching for something that is not easy to find unfortunately."

Quickly changing the subject Lady Z said "It's not often I meet somepony else in the forest, most ponies are too scared to come in here" Then she realized she hadn't even introduced herself yet! "Oh how rude of me! My name is Lady Z."

((oh my god this is a terrible post shoot me now))

[StrawberryBlossom]

Strawberry cheered up immediately on realizing the pegasus was neither a ghost nor offended, and raised her head with a cheerful flick of her tail.

"The forest?" She looked around with an air of satisfaction, smiling. "I like it! See, I've never seen so many plant grow on their own. Meant to go in earlier, but those night-blooming flowers - I wonder what makes 'em do that? Most plants need the sun to live, don't they? So it seems strange for 'em to open up at night instead... guess I better look at 'em more, maybe go to the library... wonder how they'd do outside the forest...."

She abruptly realized she'd wandered off track and cleared her throat.

"Erm, sorry. I'm Strawberry Blossom. Kind of new in town - pleased to meet you! Heh, I didn't think many ponies lived out here... someone told me a pegasus called Fluttershy lives close to where I do... maybe pegasi just do better out here." Strawberry was dangerously close to going off-topic again, so she nudged herself back to the question at hand.

"Anyway. I plan on spending a little bit... a lot bit... of time out here looking at the plants. So maybe I can help you out a little when I happen to be here. Yanno, looking under and over and around things for plants, I might find your... whatevers."