Deep in the Everfree, a faint glimmer inside a cave caught the eye of an adventurous chicken. This chicken, Elizabeak, had wandered into the forest after a particularly dramatic and well-thought-out escape in which she found another hole in the enclosures' fence and snuck out while Fluttershy was busy cooking for Angel.

Elizabeak had an adventurous streak going lately. A brush with a cockatrice, a minor food shortage and a run-in with a fox that was, unknown to her at the time, dead. Understandably, she felt brash and cocky. She puffed out her chest, gave a confident-sounding cluck and made her way into the cave, heading straight for the glimmer.

"Fluttershy? That's the little yellow one from yesterday, right?" Twilight nodded at this. Goku tapped his lips thoughtfully, humming to himself for a second, before raising a finger to the air, "Oh! Found her! She's over there!" He pointed towards where he'd felt her energy, "About a mile away."

"But that's inside the Everfree forest!" shouted Rainbow, "Why in the hay would she be in there?"

"She's chasing a much smaller power level." Stated Goku, "Feels like a small bird. It's staying on the ground, so maybe it's injured?" he hummed to himself again, tapping his forehead in thought, "...But it doesn't feel injured. Flightless, maybe?"

"Ooh! Ooh! I bet it's a penguin!" Pinkie bounced around the group, "She must've gone penguin sledding!"

"Pinkie!" Twilight groaned, "Fluttershy doesn't have any penguins, remember."

"Silly Twilight!" Pinkie bopped Twilight on the nose, making a 'boop' sound, "She clearly has a stash of penguin eggs kept in a cavern in the Everfree. It's so obvious!" Pinkie had somehow pulled a deerstalker and bubble pipe out from somewhere, and had started puffing knowingly on it.

Twilight growled in exasperation, "Where did you even get that?!" she jabbed her hoof towards Pinkie, "You weren't carrying a hat or pipe!"

"She had them in a box in the kitchen." Goku said absent mindedly, gazing out towards the forest. Pinkie gasped at Goku.

"How did you know?! Nopony knows how I do that!" her eyes widened to the size of basketballs as she stood on her hind legs, lent on Goku and whispered in his ear, just loud enough so that everyone listening could hear, "Are you psychic?"

"Erm.. No." Goku looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, kinda. Does mind reading count as psychic? I can do that. But I just saw you run over to the kitchen and back, and I could sense the box. Simple, really."

"Is this the same kind of sensin' as ya did on the way here?" Applejack asked, her face contorted as she clearly tried to ignore the mind-reading comment, "The way y'all talked about sensin', Ah was under the impression ya could only find ponies."

Goku blinked at that, "Um, no." he laughed kindly, "One kind of sensing is looking for life energy, and the other is feeling the vibrations in the air and ground. I have two - well, three now - other types I can do."

"W-wait, what? Sensing energy?" Twilight blurted as she caught up with the conversation, "B-but I thought only unicorns can do that!" she thought for a second before swiftly adding, "And alicorns, of course. But still! Only highly trained unicorns! The only way to sense energy is to have an intricate connection to the magic inside of yourself!" she stomped her hoof against the floor, wincing slightly as it collided harder than she expected before her vigorous denial resumed, "And you -" she jabbed a hoof against Gokus' stomach, "- Do not have a high enough magical level to be anywhere near that point! Hay, a newborn has a higher level than you!" she glared at him, growling, "And 'feeling vibrations in the air' is completely impossible. You." she jabbed his stomach, "Cannot." again, but harder, "Do." getting dangerously close to hitting, "That." she propelled her hoof into his stomach at high speed. Goku didn't even flinch.

"Ugh! Pick up the pace, will ya?" Rainbow shouted in exasperation. She gestured with her forehooves in an attempt to speed up the convoy. Applejack trotted at the front, occasionally casting worried glances in the direction of the Everfree. Rarity kept pace with the group, albeit with many complaints about the state of the dirt paths. The crusaders made excited conversation with their sisters and idol as Pinkie bounced a slalom around everyone in the group. Twilight waddled along clumsily while attempting to keep one eye on the road and the other on Goku, who was idly jogging next to Dash.

"I don't believe him, Spike." Twilight whispered to her dragon companion, "What kind of Royal Student refuses the chance to learn!"

"You did kinda teleport the entire library on top of his head..." grumbled Spike, earning him a glare from Twilight, ruined slightly by her frazzled mane and how one eye was still focused on Goku.

"I did not!" Twilight whispered, offence evident in her voice, "It was only most of the library."

"And some of the tree, too." Twilights' ear twitched in response to that last jab, but she otherwise payed it no heed, opting instead to mumble, more to herself than Spike.

"Get a grip, Twilight!" she whispered loud enough for Spike to hear clearly, "You are going to find exactly what he's hiding and then..." she trailed off as she stared into the distance, before jumping suddenly, launching Spike three feet in the air, "Of course! I've got it! Spike, take a letter."

"Elizabeak! Can you hear me?" Fluttershy spoke in what was, to her, a particularly loud yell that wouldn't have budged a leaf sitting inches away from her mouth. Her usually silky yellow coat was matted and stained brown in places, mostly near her hooves and stomach, and a few stray twigs stick out of her mane and tail at odd angles. She stood at the mouth of a large cave, glancing quickly around before returning her gaze to the small imprints in the dirt of the Everfree.

Her chicken friend had clearly passed by here. A few small, white feathers stuck in the underbrush behind Fluttershy, and the rythmic pattern of small prints with three toes sticking forewards and one back led to the cave. Said cave was carved into a cliff-face, with a ceiling high enough to fit Twilights' library. This was nothing out of the ordinary for the Everfree.

The clearing, too, was pretty average. Clumps of mud and twigs scattered the patchwork grass, becoming more dense the closer to the tree line they got. The trees cleared slightly, yet still cast shadows across the small space, with the setting sun only lengthening the dark outlines. Again, this was all normal, or about as normal as the Everfree could get, and didn't worry Fluttershy any more than it usually would.

What did worry her was the multitude of charred stumps surrounded by blackened earth around the cave entrance, the deep pulsing sounds emanating from deep within the cave, and how there was only one set of prints. And they led into the cave.

Author's Note

Damn was that a long wait! This went through three re-writes and I'm still not particularly happy about it! My exams are over now, so you can expect more frequent updates as well, although daily may be a bit of a stretch, and I may just get writers block again. Anyway, leave feedback and suggestions in the comments as usual!