The Elements of Misfortune

"Follow it!" Ethelind demanded,  shoving past Spade and Sarcasm.

  "Wait, what?!" Hurricane said, confused, as Ethelind ran past.

  "Hell no!" Blaze snapped.

  "I agree with Hurricane. 'What'!?" Spade said next.

  "Yeah. Unless you said 'shallow tits', I'm not following." Sarcasm added, earning him a smack on his ear from Blaze.

  "We don't have time for this!" Ethelind snapped, turning around and glaring at the six. "If you won't follow me, then I'll go alone!" With that, Ethelind turn and began to walk away.

  "What the fuck are you thinking?" Trock yelled at Ethelind, shoving past Sarcasm and Spade as well, making Sarcasm stagger a little. "I sure as hell ain't chasing after some demon pony, and neither should you!"

  Ethelind froze and turned around, staring deep into Trock's eyes.

  "Who said you can tell me what I can and can't do?" Ethelind snorted haughtily, like a filly of the age of 8.

  Trock broke eye contact and looked at his hooves. "I just think that it's suicidal. Even Hurricane and Blaze would agree."

  Hurricane nodded in agreement as Blaze looked around anywhere but at Ethelind.

  "Trock's right, Ethelind," Spade said, trotting up to Ethelind. "Following that monster would be suicide."

  "Where's your sense of adventure??" Ethelind urged on.

  "Ethelind, pull your head out of your ass. This isn't some fairytail adventure book where the warriors get shot with arrows and remain unscathed," Asshole Spade was back.  "As far as I know, this shit is real. One trip on a fucking rock can kill a pony. Let's try not to think about some monster with fancy hair. Stop being such a fantasizing nerd and get back to reality."

  Ethelind deflated completely, sitting down hard and hanging her head.

  "Oh, Ethelind, don't be like that." Hurricane said softly, flying over to Ethelind. He landed and sat next to her.

  "I just wanted to be something more than just some nerd or teacher's pet." Ethelind said hoarsely.

  "You need to speak up." Sarcasm yelled obnoxiously, trotting noisily up to the pair. "You sound a little...."

  Sarcasm stopped and looked around, biting his lower lip to stop himself from laughing, "...horse."

  If it weren't for the panicking ponies running around and screaming, all the six would've heard were crickets.

  Blaze walked up by Ethelind and shoved Sarcasm away, smacking the back of his head and glaring at him in the process.

  "You're not a teacher's pet, Ethelind." Blaze said, shifting his glare from an embarrassed Sarcasm to an ashamed Spade.

  "Look, I didn't mean it like that." Spade said, refusing to meet any of the stares. Even Hurricane was glaring.

  "Well, what did you mean?" Ethelind asked with a pout on her face.

  "Fucking crybabies," Spade muttered to herself before saying,"I'm just trying to make a point here."

  "Your point could mean the end of our world!" Ethelind pointed out. "These ponies here don't seem like much help to us anyways. If we don't stop it, who will?"

  "Damn, you whine a lot."  Spade murmured quietly.

  "What?!" Ethelind asked sharply.

  "Ugh, nothing." Spade sighed, then rolled her eyes. "I'll go if it gets you to shut the fuck up."

  "That's... good enough." Ethelind smirked.

  She turned and began trotting off torwards the cloud.

  Spade huffed and took flight. She turned and shrugged at the remaining four before flying off with Ethelind.

  "Well?" Trock asked, beginning to follow. "What're y'all waiting for?"

   Hurricane rolled his eyes and took flight, flying after Trock. Sarcasm's writing was still scribbled all over his back, causing the red unicorn to giggle as he followed them.

  Blaze huffed. "Sometimes, I just wish you all fucking died." He muttered before following.

***

   Soon, the six followed the cloud to the edge of Ponyville.

  "Woah, woah, woah!" Trock halted the other five. "So we're just gonna run into there?" He gestured intensely towards the dark forest where the cloud ended.

  "The Everfree Forest?" Spade asked. "I don't see why not."

  "Gee, Spade, I wonder why?" Trock asked with an unhidden sarcastic tone."Well, Ethelind, you seem to know a lot about this shit. Please explain why this forest is bad?"

  "Um... Wild animals?" Ethelind guessed. "I really never studied on this forest. I bought a book about it once as a filly. Cracked it open, and on the first page was a manticore."

  Ethelind paused and looked at Hurricane. "A manticore as in an animal, not as a spiky dildo."

  "Butt-plug." Spade corrected.

Hurricane just lowered his head in embarrassment.

  "Anyways, needless to say, the image gave me nightmares. I never wanted to study it since then." Ethelind continued.

   "Let me fill you in." Trock said.

  "To begin with, there's manticores, cockatrices..."

  Sarcasm snickered a little, and Blaze smacked the back of his head.

  "...Sea monsters, dragons, cliffs, disease, and other undiscovered horrors." Trock continued.

  "Sounds like a blast!" Spade said before trudging straight through the bushes.

  "We're wasting moonlight, people!" She called from within the forest.

  Sarcasm shrugged and followed.

  Ethelind parted the bushed with her magic then followed as well. Blaze mooched off of Ethelind's trail, happy to be free of the itchy leaves.

  Trock sighed and facehoofed.

  "Why do I even try?" He muttered before following.