[Everfree Forest] The edge of mystery (Open)

[VacantThought]

Vacant started to feel sick to his stomach. He really wasn't one for adventures, and was really quite a coward. But if he was going to follow the others, he might as well try not to make a fool of himself and stayed quite.

[Snowshoe]

[Woops, forgot about this myself xD]

This was definitely turning out to be an adventure. Rain Maker grinned and looked over at Vacant Thought, bopping him lightly on the side with her right front hoof. "C'mooon!" she said with a giggle.

"Don't be such a wuss! It's just a forest. Don't you Earth ponies have some like, connection to the forest?" she teased. "Besides, we're in a group. Nothing bad is going to happen to us. I say let's go!" she said. Without much after that, Rain Maker walked straight up to the forest and stepped inside, looking back at her companions.

"See! Nothing to fear! Come on, let's go see what there is to see!"

[FlimFlam]

Riddle smiled. Looking around at the other ponies, he said "Well then, that just about settles that. Why don't we start? The adventure certainly is coming to us!"

With an enthusiastic trot, he strode into the forest. Realizing that it was a bit dark, his horn glowed and flashed up. A simple spell, so he could probably keep it going for a while. Looking around, the feeling of being watched came back, but he certainly couldn't see anything. Shrugging it off, he turned back to the other ponies.

"I do believe that this forest looks quite wonderful in this lighting, and it would be a shame to waste it. You ponies coming?"

[Pinecone]

"Right behind you!" Pine said with a smile, Pine was happy the adventure was starting plus its has been a week or two sence he has been in the forest at this time of night. He took a couple of steps in and look back at Vacant "Come on the forest is just fine nothing is going to happen."

[VacantThought]

The brown earth pony mumbles to himself quietly and walks inside. The moon shown clearly through the trees, which conforted Vacant, but nonetheless, he walked slowly and carefully behind the others who seemed much more excited. He did his best to keep track of any distinguishing landmarks he could find, but in the dark of night, that was a quite difficult.

[Snowshoe]

"Of course I'm coming, duh!" Rain Maker said with a grin, trotting alongside Riddle as everypony entered the forest. She looked back at Vacant Thought and grinned. "Oh, don't be such a baby. What could possibly happen? You look strong enough to defend us, and we have his magic-" she motioned with a hoof toward Mirage Riddle, chuckling. "And if things go bad, there's two pegasi to help carry you two out. What are you afraid of? Some big bad monster?" she teased. She flared out her wings and jumped at Vacant with a shout, doing it all suddenly to try and get him to jump. "It's just a forest. If it was that dangerous to ponies, Ponyville wouldn't exist." she pointed out after returning her wings to their proper position at her side.

[FlimFlam]

As Rainstorm mentioned his name, he nodded his head matter-of-factly, before adding "I hate to interupt, but we have know idea what's in here. It's very possible that in a forest this large, things might live here that don't live anywhere else in Equestria. There very well could be a 'big bad monster' as you put it."

All of a sudden, Riddle frowned. There was definitely something besides the four ponies in the immediate area. Stopping for a second, he felt something brush his leg. Looking down, he saw the squirrel, presumably the one that dashed out of the forest. Of course, being mildly terrified of squirrels, he jumped in panic and his magic immediately fizzled out. If he was any other pony, he would have been terrible embarrassed, but instead he just lit his horn back up, thinking to himself "Okay, so, same squirrel. Which begs the question, why is he back?" He looked around again, but no squirrel or anything else

[Pinecone]

Pine saw Riddle jump up "Whats wrong!?" he said wondering why he jumped up all of a sudden, looking around he didn't see anything so that left him puzzled as to why Ridle was so frightened. "Let's get moving guys so we can see alot beore sun rise." He started walking forward an heard something shaking in the bush "Probably just a rabbit or something." he thought to himself. Turning around he looked at the rest of the group "Come on the adventure isn't going to come to us."

[VacantThought]

Vacant wispered to Rainstorm,"If it was perfectly safe, It would be part of Ponyville, wouldn't it?" Vacant looks around himself. All he sees is rows of trees lit dimly by the moonlight, but doesn't see anything particularly big or threatening. Nonetheless, he digs softly at the ground nerviously.

[Snowshoe]

Rain Maker, despite her attempts to be brave, squeaked and jumped when Mirage Riddle did. When it was a squirrel she glared at him. "You're afraid of a squirrel?" she said, shaking her head. Still, it was dark, and things could look like they weren't in the dark.

"I'm coming, I ain't missing this adventure for nothing." she said with a chuckle. She looked over at Vacant Thought and stuck her tongue out at him. "Hush your logic." she said with a giggle.

[FlimFlam]

Well, Riddle was thoroughly embarrassed now. He hadn't really been expecting to be ambushed, and so he was hard pressed for his next comment.

​"Well, I'm not afraid of them per say, but those little fluffy devils are just unnatural. What kind of animal has a tail that twitches around that much?"

He re-lit his horn and continued walking, this time much more on the lookout. He did hear the other ponies chatting and he through in his two-bits.

"If the Everfree isn't dangerous, what fun would this expedition be?"

[Solaria]

Colgate nudged a few promising-looking leaves at the base of one of the nearby trees, looking closely at them before beaming and tugging them free with a quick burst of magic. Another hoof-ful for the saddlebags! The dental pony had come out to Everfree to find more herbs for pastes and polish, and was doing rather well. Already she'd found a lot of mint and even a few huckleberries to make some sweet-tasting mouthwash flavoring! Of course some of these could be bought in the shops and stalls in Ponyville, but the unicorn much preferred to pick them fresh herself. After all, knowing what was in the stuff you were putting on other ponies' teeth was just good business.

There were a few squeals and gasps through the copse of trees to her left, and Colgate immediately doused the light sparkling at the tip of her horn. In this forest, those sounds could belong to anything! With a very sneaky crouch, she crept forward to poke her head through the underbrush. It was other ponies! What they were all doing out here the blue pony hadn't the foggiest idea, but at least it was nothing to be afraid of.

"Hello!" she called amiably before wrinkling her nose. "I uh.... achoo!"

As the dentist rubbed the back of a hoof along her nose, she looked back to see that she'd crept right through some very fragrant flowers. Flowers with lots of pollen apparently. She sniffed and turned back to the group.

"What are you ponies doing in the forest after nightfall?" she asked with a gleaming smile. "It's a little scary, don't you think?"

[Pinecone]

"Hello!" Pine Cone said to the rather sickly looking pony who just let out one of the bigest sneezes he had ever heard "We are going on an ADVENTURE! deep into the Everfree Forest." Looking around Pine did not see anypony else with her. "May I ask what your doing out here all by your self?" Turning around it seemed as if he was the the only one to jump a bit after hearing the loud sneeze.

[VacantThought]

"Hello ma'am," Vacant voice was shaky from fright, the sneeze had startled him severely. With the sight of the blue unicorn, Vacant hoped silently that she would better know the way around the forest than the he. If there was anything Vacant was most worried about, it was getting lost.

[Snowshoe]

For all her posturing about being brave, it was clear Rain Maker wasn't exactly as comfortable with the forest as she said. She was used to her companions by now, so when an unknown voice spoke and sneezed, she jumped. With a squeak of surprise, her wings flared out and Rain Maker jumped back, landing somewhere behind Pine Cone and using him for cover.

When she realized it was just a unicorn, Rain Maker composed herself and stepped out, her wings back to her sides. She smiled back at the other pony, still a little frightened looking. "Yeah, we've all decided to take an adventure through the forest! It's not as bad as people say." she said, pointedly ignoring the fact she'd jumped as bad as she did.

[Solaria]

Colgate smiled, then snickered, then finally burst into laughter at the reactions of the other ponies. One looked uncomfortable, another scared, and a third flat out jumped when she sneezed. If all they had to worry about in the forest was her allergies, however, they were pretty safe.

"I'm out here picking some herbs and other ingredients for some mixtures back at the office," she said amiably, indicating her saddle packs. "I'm a dentist back in Ponyville." The unicorn tapped a hoof to her chin. "And not so bad huh? What about... the timber wolves?!" She let out a loud howl toward the dark sky above. "Or... the Ursa Minors and Majors? Or DRAGONS?!"

With a chuckle and a grin the azure pony trotted closer to the group. She sniffled once more before seeming satisfied that she was free of the pollen.

"Would you mind if I joined you? I used to love adventuring, and I might find more of the plants I need too!"

[FlimFlam]

As the new mare approached the group, Riddle reacted with a rather low key turn around. He had already been jumped by a squirrel, so he was a touch prepared the second startle around. He watched as his group reacted with various tones of surprise, then take turns greeting. It wasn't until after the newcomer spoke again that Riddle felt the need to speak up. "Dragons indeed! Now that would be a sight to see! I've always wanted to see a full-grown one, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon... Anyways, I'm Mirage Riddle. If I might be so bold for a second, how does one ever stop loving adventuring?"

Riddle looked around, and gestured at the trees as he asked his question, as an emphasis.

[Pinecone]

"Not at all" Pine said to the dentist pony "The more the merrier!" Looking around it seemed everypony was here "Lets get going, I wanna get this adventurer started before sun rise! he said with a grin. He figured we could all introduce our selfs on the way "Well now that we are finally getting this thing started might as well tell you guys a little more about my self im Pine Cone but you guys already knew that and im from Fillydelphia!"

[VacantThought]

Vacant groans silently and rolls his eyes. For a group of brave ponies going on a grand adventure, they weren't doing very well in showing it."Your welcome to join us miss, we would greatly appreciate having a guide"

[Snowshoe]

Rain Maker felt as if her surprise was being mocked a little by the mare with her talk of timber-wolves and dragons. So, in a stunning display of maturity, she stuck her tongue out at Colgate. It was a common thing for her to do, either when teasing someone or being the butt of someone else's teasing.

"Yeah, you can join us." she said after bringing her tongue back into her mouth, grinning a little. "Dragons though...That might suck. I hear they can get kinda vicious." she commented. Sure, on her occasional trips over to Ponyville she'd seen the little one, whatever it's name was (it always slipped her mind), but that dragon seemed tame...and obviously, smaller than her. But a full sized one? That'd be cause to run.

At the pseudo-introductions, she smiled and flared her wings out proudly. "I'm Rain Maker. Author from Cloudsdale." she said, making an attempt to memorize the names of her companions. Mirage Riddle and Pine Cone...from Fillydelphia?

"Wait, Fillydelphia? What are you doing all the way out here?" she asked Pine.

[Solaria]

Colgate was happy that the others seemed welcoming, as three had already introduced themselves. She began to walk with them as the stallion who'd introduced himself as Pine Cone moved on, keeping toward the back of the group and looking for more ingredients. After, she didn't know where they were headed anyway. The pegasus Rain Maker was apparently an author, and looked to have a competitive streak as well. It was something the unicorn always enjoyed, it made things less boring.

"I'm Colgate," she added to the introductions as she turned her head toward Mirage Riddle. "And I guess I still like adventuring, but the loving stopped when I was chased out of a temple in the middle of the Badlands. We never found out what was in there, only that there were some really crazy ponies living inside. They threatened to pull my teeth out!"

[FlimFlam]

Riddle Mirage practically facehoofed himself. Had the group really not fully introduced themselves among each other. Adventure was nice and all, but how could he have let himself become so distracted as to skip over such a fun piece of conversation? Quickly regaining composure, he allowed Rain Maker's question to go uninterrupted, but he did reply to Colgate."Threatened to pull you're teeth out? Sounds like a charming bunch. Maybe when this escapade is all said and done you can give me directions. There must be something there worth seeing."

After speaking, Riddle gave a quick little look around. Really he just didn't want to be jumped by anymore squirrels, but he managed to convince himself he was looking at the scenery.

[Pinecone]

"I was born in Clousdale but moved to Fillydelphia at a young age. Now i'm a student at the University of Canterlot but right now im taking a break from my studies and traveling in and out of different towns and cities meeting new pony's" Pine said awnsering Rain Maker's question. "And also might I add the time I had in ponyvile so far has been wonderful you can never find such down to earth pony's in Canterlot, over there they are so up tight."

Pine then looked over to Colgate "Pull your teeth out!? Sounds like quite the adventure, I vote that the next adventure we all take is to that temple! Haha"

[VacantThought]

Vacant just frowned silently, he really didn't know what was so funny that made everypony laugh. The laughter itself seemed to echo through the forest, and Vacant worried silently that they might be attracting unwanted attention, or at least, attention Vacant didn't want.

"ahem, I think it would be best to deal with the matter at hand,"He said as he began to walk ahead of the group.

[Snowshoe]

"Yeah, Ponyville is nice. I really like it down here." Rain Maker agreed. She liked the friendliness of everypony in the town, compared to the often busy Cloudsdale pegasi. She smiled and looked over at Vacant Thought. "Alright then, grumpy guts. Why are you coming along anyways, if you hate fun?" she teased, playfully bumping into the green pony as she caught up to him and beckoned the rest of their adventuring crew on the catch up. Vacant seemed to be hating this...so why had he come along, anyways?