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[InsanityDash]

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[Andifferous]

The everfree forest. The scruffy dust colored pegasus took a long few moments to take in the sight of the dark forest.

From up here it didn't look so intimidating, just some dense woods on the edge of town. Still the explorer in Dusty yearned to explore such a place of mystery, which is why he was headed there right this very moment. He'd just arrived in ponyville earlier that day, and was taking some time to explore the surrounding area. To be perfectly honest, the town had never garnered much interest, it had always just seemed like a quiet little town on the maps. But constant travel was bound to lead him there sooner or later, not to mention stories of odd things going on in the town as of late that seemed to be going around.

His wings beat a slow rhythm as he started his descent, planning to land in a clearing a little ways in. Then his eyes spotted something unusual, a burst of color sitting on a cloud over the forest. As he drew in closer he pulled to a stop, offering a friendly wave and a smile to the golden colored pegasus.

"Uh, Hi there, I didn't think that I would run into anypony else this far into the forest." he said, curiosity evident in his voice. "I thought most folks avoided this place like the ponypox."

[InsanityDash]

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[Andifferous]

He carefully set down on the cloud next to her. She was here for herbs. That made sense enough to him, from what he'd heard there were plenty of plants that seemed to only grow in the everfree. She did seem a little bit shy, so he made sure to give her a little distance; he didn't want to freak her out by suddenly getting up close to her. Gently he sat down, glancing over the edge at the forest below.

"My name is Dusty" He replied with a smile, offering a hoof to shake. "I uh... I just kinda came here to explore, wander around a little y'know?" he said, blushing slightly as he realized how silly that might sound.

[InsanityDash]

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[Andifferous]

He smiled a little when she tapped her hoof against his, not quite what he was going for but good enough. Then she was staring at him for a few moments, making him feel a little odd. Not that he hadn't drawn stares before when walking into a new place, but that typically had more to do with his general unkempt appearance. He offered an awkward smile, tilting his head a little. "Um..." Then she looked away, adding to his confusion.

"Oh I've heard its a little dangerous, but well, the risk is part of the fun." he said in reply to her statement about the danger, following her gaze to the forest below. He glanced back to her.

"Sorry to bother you Miss," he said. "I'll leave you alone if you want, you just seemed concerned about something when I was flying by." Slowly he stood up and stretched his wings out, starting to search out the clearing he had been headed for.

[InsanityDash]

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[Andifferous]

"Oh!" he said, turning to look back at her. He had to admit she did look rather adorable in that particular pose. "Um... well I wouldn't mind some company I guess." he said. Turning back he sat down again, folding his wings up at his side. Reaching up he scratched a little at the perpetually mussed up tangle of grayish brown hair that made up his mane.

"Did you want to come with me?" he asked, smiling a little bit. "I wasn't really going to do all that much, just walk around a bit and explore." He glanced down a the woods.

[InsanityDash]

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[Andifferous]

"Miss?" Dusty spoke up, waving a hoof in front of her. "Hello? You kinda zoned out there for a moment." He wondered if this was really that good an idea, she did say her name was Insanity, after all. She still seemed nice though, so he really hoped it was just that, a name and nothing more.

"Well I guess If you're ready than so am I." he stated, smiling a little as he stood up. "Lets be off shall we?" he said, giving her a smirk over his shoulder before casually stepping off of the cloud, wings still folded.

Needless to say he plummeted like a stone.

Despite the appearance this was actually something quite intentional, something he did mostly for his own amusement. He adjusted his fall, till he was in a dive, wings still tucked in, as the ground drew closer and closer, until finally opening up his wings and flapping hard for a few seconds, bringing him to a halt a couple of feet off the ground.

"Hmph. could've waited a little more." he muttered. It was a game he liked to play with himself, seeing how close to the ground he could get before he had to take action. True it was liable to get him hurt, but he usually managed to at least change course before touching the ground.

Looking around the small clearing he smiled a bit, This 'dangerous jungle' didn't look too scary. Curiously he glanced upward to see if Insanity was coming, before trotting over toward a patch of blue flowers on the ground. They looked fairly interesting and he wanted to take a closer look.

(hasn't actually touched them yet, just leaning in to take a whiff)

[InsanityDash]

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[Andifferous]

He chuckled a little bit, seeing her descend just like he did. Interesting; despite her shy demeanor she was just as much a daredevil as he was, although the sound of her wings cracking open like that made his own wings ache slightly; last time he had done that his wings were sore for the rest of the day.

"These are some pretty flowers over here. Never seen them before." he said, smiling as he leaned back in, obviously clueless as to their true nature. He started reaching out a hoof to touch one.

(unless she stops him from poisoning himself like an idiot)

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[Andifferous]

"Its what now?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her. "Whoah!" Her sudden push caught him off guard, but kept him from touching the dangerous plant.

After gathering himself and climbing back to his feet. "Okay, okay, don't touch the blue flowers, got it." he said, dusting himself off, although that seemed like a futile effort, as his appearance didn't change in the slightest.

"So um, which way ya wanna go?" he asked, looking around the little clearing, seeing a couple of trails leading through the woods, most likely left by animals.

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[Andifferous]

The pegasus looked around curiously clearly thinking for a bit before picking one at random, and started walking.

"How about this way." he said with a smile in her direction, He had chosen the path that led toward the water, although he had no clue what lay that way. As he trotted through the thick underbrush he hummed to himself, not even sure where he had heard the tune, but it was catchy and stuck in his head like nopony's business.

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[Andifferous]

The pegasus looked around. "Where? Oh! I see it." he said, smiling a little as he caught sight of the glimmer. "Its funny, I didn't see any lakes from overhead." That actually made him pause for a moment. "We didn't go that deep into the forest did we?" he asked, head tilted a little. With a shrug he kept walking resuming his humming for a bit.

"Y-know I thought these woods would be more... I dunno, spooky or something." he said after a few minutes. By now the lake was clearly visible, although one could see the far side was surrounded by marsh and weeds. This end looked to be mostly rocky beach.

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[Andifferous]

Dusty smiled a little as he trotted down to the edge of the water. He'd heard stories about the sort of things that lived in the Everfree though, and decided it would be prudent to not go any further into the small placid lake. Taking a look around he saw the the trail led off in another direction, following the stream that fed this little lake, beyond that the forest seemed as dense as ever. maybe the animal life was starting to wake too, he could feel eyes on him.

Or that might just be Insanity; she seemed to be watching his every move as if he'd done something wrong. Idly he picked up a small flat stone in his teeth and tossed it, skipping it across the water a couple times before it sank.

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[Andifferous]

"Yeah, it is getting kinda dark out." he says, looking up at the slowly darkening sky. His ears perked at the sound of that howl, a low and mournful sound. That didn't bode well, if they were already being followed by wolves at this hour, nighttime would definitely be less safe.

"Well... Do you think we should head back to town or something?" he asked, turning to face her. A part of him was itching to continue exploring, to see what sort of adventure could be found late at night here in the forest The rational part of his mind on the other hand was saying that was a very dangerous idea, and could end pretty badly.

"It might be for the best if we go somewhere else."

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[Andifferous]

He nodded a little bit. "Besides I'm getting kind of hungry." he said, giving one last look around. "I dunno about you but a nice meal back in town sounds nice..." he smiled at her. "Care to come with? My treat." He had a little extra money on him after his last delivery, at least enough for a couple of nice meals on top of his usual travel expenses. He flapped his wings a couple times, lifting up off the ground, hovering low as he waited for her. Flying over and out of the forest would be much easier than trying to wind their way out after all.

[InsanityDash]

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