A Hollow Mask - The Perfect Disguise?

"Why are you following me?"

"I'd like to travel the world, and I'd rather not find wilted plants and a frozen wasteland everywhere I go." Forest deadpanned.

"She's got a point there, Twilight." The dragon riding the unicorn, apparently named Twilight, said before yawning.

"Spike, you should rest; I'll handle it." Twilight exuded motherly concern for this 'Spike', and Forest raised an eyebrow as Twilight quickly made her way into the library.

A library and a house inside a tree, a house-tree. 'Not sure if ironic, or just punny.'

She looked over the layout as Twilight took Spike to a more private room.

"We need to find something!" Twilight hissed as she made her way back, levitating books all around and tossing them away. "Elements, elements, elements... Ugh!" Forest stood next to her, about to ask what had her so worked up. "How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?"

The idiot pegasus from before chose that moment to break in and fly right into their faces.

"And just what are the Elements of Harmony? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a spy?" Her accusatory tone and sheer situational blindness was too much stupid for Forest to handle sitting down, and gave her a light push back.

A light push that sent her three meters into the air, of course.

"Simmer down, Sally." The sensible mare from before pulled the other down before she rushed Forest. Not that it would work or anything. "She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's going on. Don't you, Twilight?"

Twilight sighed, and began to pace.

"I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them; I don't even know what they do!"

"Well, that's useful." Forest deadpanned.

"'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide'." The oblivious pink pony from before found the book, then was promply tackled away by Twilight.

"How did you find that?!"

"It was under 'E'!" She sing-songed, bouncing while full of happiness. Her emotions were so intense, that were it not for the other five diluting them with theirs, Forest was unsure if she would be able to resist twitching.

"Oh." Twilight looked embarrassed, but just proceeded with the book. "There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now..." Twilight trailed off, and began to worry.

She shook it off, though. "Well, in any case... thank you for your concern! I'll take it from here." Twilight said, but even the bouncing mare could tell that she was nervous.

The next few minutes were a headache-inducing blur of constant chattering, at least from Forest's perspective, as they made their way across town. The stubborn, thick-headed ponies of the group kept trying to get Twilight to acknowledge them as her friends and tell them just where the castle was supposed to be... well, there were lightning-fast introductions involved, and Forest learned the names of the mares that she figured would need her help.

Pinkie, Rainbow and -surprisingly- Applejack were liable to end up dead by attempting something stupid, or due to not recognizing when something is stupid. This discovery about Applejack only took letting her speak before it was obvious that, while she could be sensible, she was way too stubborn and way too proud.

'Knocking yourself unconscious by accident just because of a dare to prove you're not chicken is not something to take pride in.' Forest stared flatly at the mare, who beamed with pride, chest projected outwards, as she spoke about how she had 'shown 'em bravery'.

Pinkie and Rainbow tried to extract information from Twilight, but a glare made Rainbow shut her mouth. Forest was glad that Pinkie had found Twilight's secret more interesting than her.

"Darling..." Right, the fashionista was speaking to her. "Why would you wear such a..."

Noticing she was eyeing her hood with distaste, Forest fastened the mask of the persona she had constructed.

"My dear Rarity, I am an actress." She flicked her head, tossing back the hood and looking at the fabulous unicorn. "I must exercise constantly to keep my figure."

A sweet tone, a knowing glance and a soft, barely-above-a-smirk smile and she had Rarity agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Oh, most definitely true, darling!" She nodded. "I would like to offer a complete overhaul of your wardrobe - nono, I insist." And now Forest mentally face-palmed, but managed to smile a little bit wider.

"Thank you."

"Alright, you want to know? It's here." Twilight spoke up, and Forest was relieved to have a distraction from Rarity.

"The Everfree Forest?!" They cried out.

The Blacklight among them could understand their trepidation when faced with the dark, foreboding entrance to the forest. Not thirty minutes in, she had found a chimera! The far... squishier ponies had every reason to worry. Though getting shivers pushed on to her annoyed her.

Still, sensory abilities like the viral sonar and thermal vision, indispensable when surviving in an infested city, would do nicely to keep the group alive. Or Twilight, since the others are rather scared and might-

"Whee! Let's go!" Save for Pinkie, who was bouncing towards the forest before Twilight interrupted her.

"Not so fast. Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own." Though she was moderately afraid of the forest, Twilight seemed more afraid of letting others get hurt. What a noble sentiment.

"No can do, sugarcube." Applejack let out a burst of loyalty, laced with concern, utterly devoid of pride - well, the ugly part of pride. "We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple."

Everypony agreed, feeling strong camaraderie. Useful and reassuring, since ponies were tougher than it would appear at first glance, had she been oblivious to the world.

"Especially if there's candy apples in there." Both Twilight and Forest stared at Pinkie. "What? Those things are good."

Twilight sighed, but smiled. She was glad...

"Let's go Twilight." Forest said, smiling. "Better not keep your friends waiting."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why is Fluttershy doing this?" Forest asked back, careful to not let the group hear. "I figured that these 'Elements' of yours were the best shot we had."

"Besides, with Pinkie in our merry group, you are going to need all the help you can get." She pulled her hood back up, and began to scan the surroundings. When asleep, it takes specific focus on the target to read their emotions, since they are directed inwards - towards the subject of the dreams... explaining why the changelings were ambushed so easily despite having no trouble avoiding the usual nocturnal predators.

Her viral abilities would take care of that.

"Ha!" Dash scoffed, flying above their heads and backwards. "What can you do?"

Kill and consume a chimera in ten seconds flat, for starters. Turn Ponyville into Ponyville Zero, should she suddenly go insane.

"I will have you know..." Forest said, imitating Rarity's usual hoof movements. "That I have a particular affinity for emotions and their detection; reading the audience is the crux of the showpony business. As such, I should warn you that there is a very irritated snake woken up from its nap in the tree you are about to crash into."

Indeed, Dash banged her head on the tree, and hissing could be heard.

Fluttershy surprised her by flying up to the branches where the snake rested and cooed to it. The snake was very irritated.

'Must be from waiting for sunrise to sunbath in peace. And Fluttershy proves she has an animal handler talent.'

"I never thought there would be a day I would willingly come here, or at all." Rarity said, shivering.

The others agreed.

"So, none of you have been in here before?"

Wait a second... that feels familiar.

"Ugh, Heavens no! Just look at it - it's dreadful." Rarity grimaced.

"And it ain't natural. Folk say it don't work the same as Equestria." Applejack was looking everywhere, wary of surprises.

Something moving fast, but kind of 'incomplete'.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Forest asked, not quite sure of what they were talking about; beyond ugly trees and beasts of myth, it appeared to work as any forest... back... home... where weather is untamed and nature runs her own show...

"Nopony knows." Dash came from out of the shadows, making Rarity and Fluttershy tremble with her spooky voice. "You know why?"

"Rainbow, quit it." Applejack's words barely registered over Forest's desire to single out the feeling from the 'background noise'.

"'Cause every pony who's ever come in...."

That's rage coming in!

"Has Never. Come. OUT."

"LOOK OUT!" She jumped back as the cliff crumbled underneath their hooves, sending the others on a slide towards a sharp drop. The rage was crushed under regret and despair enough that Forest's knees gave out when she landed, drastically reducing the time she had to act.

"Fluttershy! Quick!"

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness."

The amiability directed specifically towards her was enough to store the power needed to pull one pony - Fluttershy managed to get Rarity, while Dash got Pinkie out of trouble... she cast out her magic, a tendril of azure energy that caught one of Applejack's forelegs. She felt the pull - an adult pony had enough passive magical resistance, even untrained, to feel many times heavier than an inanimate object of the same mass, so she tried to mitigate it by choosing a smaller area of effect. Applejack relaxed, trusting her magic, and the weight became lesser.

Twilight barely held on to the crumbling cliff, and Applejack turned to look at Forest and nod.

"Hold on! I'm a-comin'!"

Carefully letting her slide closer, the distance aggravating the strain on her simple levitation spell, Forest shifted her weight. Why couldn't the changelings have trained in the wonders of self-levitation? That would make getting a good grasp of another pony much easier! She was Blacklight d-dang it! Holding a single pony shouldn't make her grit her teeth from the strain!

Releasing Applejack so that she may take Twilight's hooves on her own, she took a moment to regain her bearings.

"Applejack! What do I do?" The poor girl was terrified, but a quick pulse revealed that her best move...

"Let go."

"Are you crazy?!"

"No I ain't. I promise you'll be safe."

"That's not true!" The poor pony was on the verge of tears.

"Now listen here. What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe." The sheer confidence that Applejack projected was enough to convince Twilight, and, with a scream, she fell down.

Only to be caught easily by the pair of pegasi that had followed; smart, having Twilight trust her instead of the braggart and the cowardly lion (credit where it's due, Fluttershy is more scared for her friends than the forest).

Flying close to sharp corners was a big no-no of flight safety, because, as awesome a pegasus's spatial awareness might be, eyesight was still needed to avoid getting confused and get a wing to clip the corner. Unless they manage to get some sort of ability to sense wind currents or the like. The briefing was short on that regard, only saying that some rather exemplary pegasi didn't need eyes to tell what happened around them and could fly blindfolded through harsh weather in an unfamiliar course and not miss anything - Elite guards having that ability won't be fooled by plain invisibility. There were also rumors about echolocation, but such a rare pony 'disappearing' might cause an investigation, so she'd have to make do with consumed bats and such.

As for her own descent, one of the changelings had an invisibility spell. A quick cast through her remaining energy, and a quick shift to retract her horn and make wings appear... muting the horn's magic circulation system and reinforcing the wings'... a shift in biomass and a jump!

The impact, though not producing a crater this time, jarred the invisibility spell's... matrix or something (jeez these guys needed to pay more attention to the technical stuff), in any case, it broke and she was visible again, and just in time - she could feel the strange presence of Nightmare Moon coming from the front. A fraction, a tiny piece, like just before the collapse - it had enough consciousness to register, but lacked the sheer, overwhelming power of the full personality.

She was drained, so shifting would have to wait a little... but foresight was a blessing, since her loose clothes hid her wings and lack of horn.

Applejack was very grateful for the assist, and the warm feelings coming from her restored her energy for an adjustment to her disguise; she just had to wait for the right distraction. All the while, Rainbow was gloating, again, and Twilight seemed to share her opinion; Dash was being very annoying. Tracking the piece of Nightmare revealed...

"Incoming!" She yelled and pointed, a roar breaking the peace of the forest.

"A manticore!"

As Rarity bucked the manticore in the face (girl was brave, no denying that), the tracksuit blocked the bluish light of her disappearing wings, and the blue light in the middle of her forehead could be taken as a spell being cast.

Curious, the manticore was angry, but the piece of Nightmare felt like it was coming from its paw...

Fluttershy tried to get their attention, but they were too busy aggravating the manticore to hear her.

Forest rolled her eyes yet again, but figured it would be better to see what kind of idea the meek pegasus had. They might not be too comfortable around her if she caved in the beasts skull, so discretion it was. Taking a deep breath...

"WAAAAAIT!" Fluttershy and Forest yelled at the same time, cutting in in front of their charge. Forest was, obviously, much, much louder, and even the manticore cringed despite Forest facing away.

Then Fluttershy tamed the manticore - heck, it was close to charming him without magic. That would be an useful spell, but the tells made sustaining it a risk to her identity.

Oh well, safe passage, and nopony had to see the brutality Forest Benedict Riddle was capable of.

"I didn't." Fluttershy spoke with Twilight, as the others kept going. "Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness."

Twilight felt a... something fuzzy and warm.

There was a feeling of rage and relief, coming from the shard.

Forest allowed the others to keep going on ahead, calling Twilight's attention.

"Twilight." She whispered. "I noticed something off."

She couldn't just spill everything, but she could very well inform her that they were being sabotaged... and half-heartedly, at that. Or maybe she should keep that part to herself?