It was a simple night of having some fun along with some drinks for Loud Mouth and his best buddy Deep Tones. The two stallions have been friends ever since they were foals and were always causing some type of trouble. On this particular night the duo had been betting each other depending on dares. One of them would dare the other into doing something stupid and if they failed or refused then they had to give up their money.
Deep Tones, the dark blue unicorn with a pure white mane, was the next to be dared. Loud mouth, the light orange pegasus with a pitch black mane, was getting quite excited.
"Alright, I dare you... to, uh... hmm," Loud mouth said while thinking of a dare, "...I dare you to spend the night in the Everfree!"
"What?! Are you kidding?! I could die out there!" Deep Tones said with a sigh, "Alright, I'll do it. But, if I'm going out there, then I dare you to go with me!"
"Ah, you suck," After thinking about it for a moment Loud Mouth said, "Sure, why not?
"You do realize that we're probably going to die out there, right?" Deep Tones deadpanned.
Loud Mouth thought for a moment before simply replying, "Yeah. Are you in?"
"...Fine, let's do this."
The two guys then gathered up some snacks and other supplies before leaving. Right before they headed off though, Deep Tones left a note on the door.
To whom it may concern,
Loud mouth and I have left to go camp in the Everfree because we are both piss-drunk and dared each other. If we are not back by tomorrow morning, then we are probably dead. Please give all my stuff to somepony that needs it. Loud Mouth just said that he wants all of his stuff thrown at ponies on the street.
-Deep Tones
"Are you done yet? Let's go!" Loud Mouth said like an impatient foal.
"Alright, alright! So, how far are we going in?"
"As far as possible! I want to try to find that old castle that the princesses used to live in."
Deep stopped for a moment, "Wait, is that why you're so excited to go?"
Loud Mouth just looked back at him while continuing, "Yeah man, of course. Who wouldn't want to go check out some ancient ruins?"
"Do you at least know where it is? I don't want to be wandering around in the Everfree for longer than I need to be." Deep Tones replied hesitantly.
"Yeah, I know where it is. Did you really think that I would lead us blindly into a dangerous forest?" Loud said with a questioning look.
"Wow, maybe you're a bit more mature then I thought," Deep said with a smile, "So, how do we get there?"
"Well," Loud Mouth replied while they approached the Everfree, "We start running this way!!!"
Loud mouth quickly dashed off into the forest and a moment later Deep Tones followed. It took him a moment, but he eventually caught up.
"Ok, I know that you're probably mad at me right now, but all I said was that I knew where it was, not how to get there."
"Forget what I said about you being mature earlier," Deep replied while they continued running, "How much farther?"
"Right about... here!" Loud said while he stopped on a dime with the help of his wings.
The only problem was that he stopped right infront of a large chasm. Deep tried to stop himself as quickly as Loud Mouth did, but ended up just sliding off. Loud Mouth rushed over and saw Deep Tones hanging onto a branch with his hooves.
"Help me!" He said with terror.
"Dude, really?" Loud Mouth deadpanned, "Just teleport up here and let's get going."
Deep looked confused for a moment before realizing what Loud Mouth had just said. Shortly afterwards, he teleported up without any problem.
"See? Now I don't have to struggle to pull you up and I can bring this up again later to embarrass you." Loud said smugly.
"Shut up." Deep mumbled while crossing his hooves.
"Hey, look at the bright side," Loud said trying to cheer Deep up. "The castle is right up ahead."
"Alright, let's go. Hopefully, this will be worth it." Deep replied while looking around for a way to cross the chasm.
"Hey dude, I found a bridge!" Loud Mouth called out with a chuckle, "Ah, this thing looks like it's going to fall apart at any moment!"
"Don't say stuff like that when I'm the one that has to cross it!" Deep Tones yelled at him.
"Oh, come on! Stop being so grumpy! We're about to camp in an abandoned castle in the middle of the Everfree forest! Just think for a moment about how awesome that is!"
"Ok, I guess that is pretty awesome. Next time though, can visit someplace that isn't as dangerous?"
The two shook hooves, "Agreed. You know, I'm a bit surprised that we haven't seen any creatures out here yet."
Loud Mouth whispered, "Run?"
Deep just replied with, "I hate you." before sprinting towards the castle doors as fast as he could.
"Hey!!!" Loud Mouth yelled at him.
Loud Mouth started running as well before lifting off into the air. He was faster when he was flying and quickly caught up with Deep.
"Need a lift?" Loud said while picking Deep up.
After he was picked up, Deep checked to see what was chasing them. He felt his heart skip a beat when he noticed that it was a manticore that was chasing them with a look of hunger in it's eyes.
"Hey, bud? I'm going to need you teleport us through the door!" Loud said with panic.
"What?!" Deep looked back forward just in time to realized that the door was approaching quite fast, "Oh, crap!"
Deep started charging his horn to teleport the both of them. Soon, within a few seconds of hitting the door he cast the spell. The two were then launched into a bookcase on the inside of the castle. Only a few seconds afterwards they heard the manticore slam into the door and holler in pain. Luckily, the door held and didn't look like it was going to break any time soon.
Loud Mouth was now taking deep breaths and Deep Tones was trying to get his heartbeat to go back to normal. They laid there for a moment so they could listen for the manticore and were very happy to hear that he had left.
"Geez... that was intense," Loud Mouth said, "But, we're here!"
"I can't believe I followed you all the way out here..." Deep Tones replied with regret.
"Alright, well let's look around a bit. After that, we should call it a night."
"That's the best thing I've heard all day." Deep finished with a sigh.
After resting for a moment longer, Deep Tones and Loud Mouth started wandering through the halls of the large crumbling building.