“We’ll have the usual morning routine.” Sugar told the waiter. With a nod, the waiter walked to the back room. Sun had her face in the table as Soul tried to silently comfort her.

“Fmmmmp.” Sun yelled into the wood. She could feel the hope slipping out of her with every attempt. She wishes she didn’t have to go through this.

“Cheer up, Sunny! You have plenty of other things you haven’t tried yet. Like… uhm…” Sugar paused and visibly freezes in thought. Sun looks up at Sugar before planting her face back into the table.

“Sugar is right, sweetie, you have options. Just need to keep thinking and trying.” Soul said with fake hope. She knew how long Sun was doing this and how dedicated she had gotten to even figure out what her special talent was. “It’s no time to give up now!”

Muffled through the table, Sun groaned. “It seems like I should.” Then she suddenly shot up with wide eyes. Her pupils shook and iris swished with each jitterish movement. “I thought of the worst thing possible.”

Sou land Sugar bolted upright and simultaneously asked “What?” without breaking eye contact with Sun, who refused to make any movements. She had a scared look in her eyes which meant something was wrong. Sun was usually laid back, save for extreme circumstances where her emotions would take over one hundred percent. But this look in her eyes meant that something wasn’t good.

“The Everfree Forest.” Sun grimly and slowly spoke.

There was a pause between the group. Nopony spoke a single word for a good few minutes before finally…

“You’re a fucking loony, you know that, right?” Sugar replied. It was out of character, even for him. Now attention was towards Sugar for his vulgar language. “What? I’m not allowed to curse?”

After a couple blinks, Soul returned to the topic. “You really think the Everfree Forest will have your answer? It’s way too dangerous to be a place where you would search for your cutiemark.”

The waiter came back with everyone’s meals. The only thing Sun had was a cup of water and a pile of pancakes with various fruits on it. The other two had 3 plates in front of them all full. Salads, sandwiches, and even pancakes. It was quite a mouthful to Setting Sun but the other two ponies always skipped their lunch and went straight to dinner.

Sun, taking a bite out of her food, spoke after the waiter left them alone. “Yeah, it’s the only place we haven’t tried and I’m sure there’s something in there for me to do.”

“But…” Soul retorted worryingly, “There are creatures in there who will hurt you more than whatever you plan to do in there. I don’t want you hurt, Sunny. Or worse.” She dodged the obvious with trepidation in her voice.

Soul didn’t ever want to think that her girlfriend would be mauled to death or get trapped in a ravine with a rock pinning her in there. Or at all in danger. She mattered to her way more than she lets on. If it wasn’t for Sun, she wouldn’t be out of the house at all. Too scared to face the real world, she hid in her home. Using it as a shop so she can keep up paying bills. But even if her home was a shop, she had ideas of a robbery followed by home invasion. No matter what, she had something worry her. But since Sun came in her life, all of her thoughts were different. She had Sun to lean on when things get rocky in her own life. She didn’t worry if she was intruded on because Sun would be there in her head saying stand up against them. Soul found strength in Sun and it was what drove her to be open.

With a full mouth, Sun consoled her girlfriend’s fears. “Don’t worry, hon, I’ll be fine. You’ll be there with me.”

Soul almost choked on her food. “What?!” The whole restaurant filled with eight other ponies turned to the root of the sound and Soul sank into the booth. “You’re crazy.” She hissed out.

Sun turned to Sugar. “You’re coming too, you know.”

Sugar suddenly looked around in his head for a reason to not go. “I have to clean up the… stove! Yeah, it’s really messy in there. And I have a big order to fill today. It’s really big. Like, super big. Big. Yeah.” He began to shake in his seat.

“You need to work on lying.” Sun patted his head. “You’ll be fine, dude. Besides, we shouldn’t do it today. We need to plan and stock up.”

The other two ponies sigh with relief but it lasted only for the moment. “My next free day is a few days from now, so maybe then we can go in the morning. Better for the sun to be up rather than down when making this trip.”

Soul protested. “Maybe a few more days after that, I don’t think I’m mentally ready.” She continued to eat without adding another word. Sugar didn’t say anything either, just a nod of the head.

“Alright, then a week from today we’ll go. A few hours after Celestia raises the sun, I’ll be knocking on your door first, Soul.” She kissed Soul’s cheek and whispered softly into her ear that made her blush hard.

Sugar jumped in. “When will you come by my house?” Not enjoying how attention shifted all between the two mares.

Sun made eye contact with Sugar, looking only at his one eye. “I’ll be around an hour later. Alright?”

Satisfied with what attention he got, he gave another silent nod and went back to his food.

“Listen, I know this is the worst possible thing to try but it’s the one thing we haven’t given the time of day. We shouldn’t just write it off as impossible or too dumb to try. It’s a possibility. And I promise we won’t spend so long in there. Three hours at the least, okay?” Sun added to her proposal. “And we won’t be too far from the entrance.”

She was trying very hard to convince the other two that everything will be fine and her proposal worked as both ponies nodded while chewing on their food.

Nopony said another word the rest of the meal. There wasn’t any tension between the three of them but everyone at the table knew this was going to be a risky operation.

Author's Note

This chapter was a bitch to write as I didn't know what to have them all say but I got it done and I can move on.