A Dash of Excitement.

"Geta move on."

"Wait, hold it AJ. First of all you can't go twice in a row. Secondly, it's dangerous in there at night. I went in there once and got turned to stone by a chicken." Twilight knew her friend was being a bit brash.

"Bwuahaha!" Rainbow Dash had burst out laughing at Twilight.

"O.K. nevermind what I just said, you're going to the forest."

"Ha... haha...ha. Ooh that was funny Twi'." Rainbow stated wiping away tears. "You got turned to stone by a chicken, that's just hilarious!" Dash began her laughing fit again after saying it herself.

"Actually it was a cockatrice and get going, a dare's a dare." Twilight bit at her friend.

"Calm down suga'cube, no need to get upset." Applejack stated trying to coax her friend as best she could. Twilight cooled down a bit. Dash was still laughing, but slowly collecting herself.

"Yeah, I do need to calm down. Either way though you still have to go into the Everfree forest Dash." Dash's face went back to being serious very quickly.

"You guys aren't seriously going to make me go in there by myself, are you?" A slight tinge of fear was in Dash's voice. Though not enough to draw attention to the fear in the cyan ponies eyes. The other two looked at her with unsympathetic stares.

"Don't worry Dash, ah'll come to edge of the forest in the mornin' to make sure you're o.k." Applejack gave Dash a reassuring pat on the head. Twilight had walked over to the bookshelves and was searching for something.

"Umm... Twi' what are ya doin'?"

"I'm searching for a book on the Everfree forest. You know, learn anything I can about it to help Dash for when she goes in there."

"Oh... I see." Applejack was a bit disappointed. She had planned for Dash to leave soon after the dare was issued. How was she gonna get to ask Twilight anything if by the time Dash left it would already be sunrise.

Dash had gotten up to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Now was her chance. As soon as the door closed behind Dash, Applejack got up and trotted over to Twi'. The unicorn hadn't even noticed her. Apparently, Applejack could be quite light hooved when she needed to.

"Hey, um... do ya think we could hurry this up." The orange pony was less than a foot away from Twilight and was whispering. She didn't want Dash to know she was trying to get rid of her.

"I'm sure whatever you need help with will be fine for a little while longer. I'm a bit more worried about Rainbow, she's going in there alone." Twilight took a book from shelves and levitated it over to the table. "Here we go, a book on the history of the Everfree forest. Let's see what we have here."

"Hey, Dash! Twi' found a book fer ya!" The duo waited a minute or two for a response. "Um... hey Dash, ya there?" Applejack headed out to the kitchen, expecting to find Dash asleep or something. Upon entering, Applejack noted the window was open and no Dash. "Oh, that little-"

"Booo!" Applejack jumped as her friend scared the apples off her flank. Dash began another laughing fit and started rolling around on the floor. Applejack was a little angry, but at the same time it was all in good fun.

"Why, ya..." The earth pony pounced on Dash, getting her in a friendly headlock and giving her a noogie. The duo headed back to the living room, chuckling as they went. Twilight was reading different passages from the book aloud to herself. They really couldn't hear her though, Twilight was mumbling pretty bad.

They sat down a few feet away from her and waited for her to stop reading. After about five minutes or so, Rainbow Dash got a little impatient. She began messing with AJ. Stealing her stetson, poking her in the side, and other equally annoying things.

"Knock it off, ya rascal." Applejack then turned her attention over to Twi'. "How much longer suga'cube? We've been waiten' for some time now."

"Oh, sorry. I kinda forgot you two were still here." Twilight flipped the book back to the first few pages. Specifically, the table of contents. "Okay Dash and AJ, come here for a minute."

After getting up and walking around next to Twilight, they both began reading the item listed. Some to note were the Ursa Major and Minor, Cockatrice, Manticore, and the Hydra. Others like Sirens, Gorgons, and the Fury Sisters, were less common.

"What's this?" Dash was indicating to the Gorgons.

"I don't know. Let's see." Twilight flipped to the page in the book depicting the three Gorgon sisters.

The first, Stheno, was depicted as a grey unicorn with brass hooves. Long, sharp fangs were apparent and the most notable feature was her mane and tail were made of red snakes. According to the description below the drawing, Stheno was the most violent of the three and was the eldest. She had been the cause of the most chaos out of the group. Doing more damage in her days than any of the other three.

The second, Euryale, was almost identical to her sister except she was a pegasus and her coat was light green and her snake mane and tail was also light green. It was theorized that she bellowed fierce screams throughout her years. They could be heard all throughout Equestria.

The final, Medusa, was again just like the other two with the exception of her colors. She was depicted as a light blue earth pony with golden snakes. Her gaze could literally turn a pony to stone. Similar to that of a cockatrice.

"According to this, the trio were encased in stone some 600 years ago and are currently in the Royal Palace garden maze along with other villains such as Discord was." Twilight wasn't very sure with that part. You could hear it in her voice. "The only problem with that is I read in Equestria Daily, this group and a large amount of others broke out in response to Discord breaking out. Many had been caught soon after, but it was rumored small groups had made it to the Everfree forest."

"What all made it Twi'? Do ya know?" Applejack was a bit concerned. Not to much though. There had to be worse things than a small group of snake maned sisters, right?

"I don't and I won't be able to until tomorrow at the earliest. For now Dash has a bet to win." Twilight had turned her gaze to the cyan pony.

"Fine, I'll get going. Stop being so pushy about it." Dash was hiding her fear in her stinginess. She didn't want to lead on to the other two that she was scared. She turned and headed for the door, before Applejack stopped her.

"Hold on partner. Ah'm going with ya to the edge of the forest, for insurance purposes." The duo headed out the door. At least Dash wasn't going to have to head over there by herself, but she still had to stay the rest of the night in there.

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Adaptive here. I don't really like this chapter, but I got distracted all week with school and other stories. I'm sorry for the lack of overall excitement and I will try better next week. At least I can say I got the chapter out in time, right? Regardless I hope anypony who reads this has a nice day.