It was noon of the following day when Twilight Sparkle, still donning her signature cloak, arrived at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, and looking around she didn't find any sight of her pegasus acquaintance.

'Figures.' She thought to herself and began walking into the ominous forest. If Rainbow wasn't going to show up when she said she would Twilight wasn't just going to sit around and waste time waiting for her. But unfortunately for her, a loud shout halted her advances just before she engulfed herself in the foliage.

"Hey! Wait up!" Turning her head around Twilight could see the oncoming form of a flying Rainbow Dash with a pair saddlebags on her back and... something else?

A couple of seconds later she came to an abrupt stop in front of the unicorn, still hovering in the air. "What are you doing? I told you to wait for me before going in there!" She reprimanded Twilight while pointing to the forest with a hoof.

As for Twilight, her gaze lingered on the back of the pegasus for a couple of seconds before switching to look at her eyes. "Actually you told me to meet you here at noon not wait for you, and since you weren't here I wasn't waiting until you were." After giving her a response Twilight switched her gaze back to the pegasus' back once more, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Groaning in response, "Ugh, fine whatever." Slowly hovering down Rainbow landed on the ground before remembering something. "Oh yeah," Twilight's eyes shifted to Rainbow's again, "I thought it would be a good idea to ask one of my friends to come with us. She might not look the part, but she's an expert when it comes to things rock-related so she'll definitely be able to help us find the tungsten we need. Speaking of her I'm surprised she isn't here yet..." Rainbow trailed off while looking around the surrounding area.

This time Twilight raised her eyebrow at the pegasus and bluntly asked, "You mean the pony that's been standing on your back making crazy faces this entire time?" Confused Rainbow twisted her head around and came face to face with a smiling puffy pink pony before quickly looking back to Twilight.

"Yep! That's her— Wait, huh?!" An astonished Rainbow snapped her head back around just in time to see the pony nimbly hop off her back and onto the ground. "Pinkie?! How the— what the— how long have you been there?!" Looking at the shocked Rainbow the pink pony, by the name of Pinkie, confusedly tilted her head.

"Ever since you left the town Dashie, didn't you know?" Receiving a shake of her friend's head, "Oh... Oh well!" Shifting her body until it was directed towards Twilight, Pinkie zoomed forward stopping just inches from her face. "Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie and Dash already told me yours! It's Twilight! Oh, speaking of Dash, when she asked me to come I was soooo excited, but when she told me a new pony was going too, that just got me even more excited and I just had to come no matter what! This is going to be so fun! Even if it is dangerous, with all of us together—" Twilight shut up the annoying nonstop record player by clamping its mouth shut with her magic.

"Look I don't care if you come, you might even be useful for all I know, but just shut up and focus on the task." Twilight commanded while glaring into Pinkie's eyes, a little annoyed by her invasion of space and highly extroverted personality.

Pinkie wilted a little under the unicorn's glare that was made more menacing by the mutilated eye of hers. Seeing that she got her point across, Twilight spun around and continued her venture into the forest not looking back to see if the other two were following.

Left behind on the outskirts Pinkie Pie was forlornly looking to where Twilight entered the forest while Rainbow Dash let out a huff of frustration through her nose. "What the heck was that about?! There was no reason for—"

"Dash, it's okay," Pinkie interrupted turning to her with a sad smile upon her face, "I wasn't actually scared of her or anything, I was scared of what she might've been through to make her sad like that." Rainbow's anger switched to a look of confusion.

"Sad? Her? What do you mean?"

"Her eye's Dash, or in her case, eye. There was something in there, something unhappy that's locked up but screams out in despair." Pinkie said in a melancholic tone. Turning back to the forest Pinkie stood up and started making her way over to it, and without looking back she threw out a couple more words to Rainbow, "I don't think she's genuinely smiled in years..."

Rainbow, who still utterly confused about what Pinkie was talking about, just shook her head to clear it before running forward to catch up to her. With that, the whole group entered the forest, ready to face any of the dangers it'll most likely throw their way.

Rainbow and Pinkie both caught up with Twilight and were now traversing the rugged terrain through the Everfree. Being a forest, there were a plethora of trees sporadically placed everywhere around the traveling trio, but something about these trees was... darker than the average one. Most of the sunlight was blocked out from their dense leaves overhead casting eerie shadows upon the lands and their trunks looked almost black in color. The buzzing of insects, the occasional rustling bush from any passing breeze, and the clopping of hooves against the coarse dirt were the only noises heard by the silent adventurers as they weaved their way through the neverending maze.

Each pony's senses were on high alert. Twilight was leading in the front scanning for any caves, clearings, or for anything that could be used as a vantage point to look across the forest. While Twilight was in the front, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were walking side by side behind her with Pinkie to Twilight's back left and Rainbow to her back right. Their role was to keep watch for any strange activity in the forest that might indicate a creature/monster was nearby. So far there was none of the sorts.

"By the way," Twilight whispered to the two ponies behind her while still looking forward, "are you two stupid?"

"What?!" Rainbow harshly whispered back, "What the hell do you mean by that?" She spat out at the end, still a little frustrated at the unicorn for her earlier attitude towards Pinkie.

"Yeah, why do you say that Twilight?" Pinkie asked in pure curiosity, clearly not offended by the question like a certain pegasus was.

"What I mean is you two didn't bring a single weapon with you into the most dangerously known forest in Equestria, hence the question, are you two stupid?" After Twilight finished elaborating her earlier question Pinkie started chuckling causing Twilight to stop walking, turn her head, and raise an eyebrow towards the pink pony and as for Rainbow Dash, she for some reason confusedly looked back to her wings before her eyes widened in surprise.

"Whoops, heh heh, one sec." Rainbow scratched the back of her head, abashed, before taking her saddlebags off and setting them on the ground. She then proceeded to open the flap for the left bag and stuff her head inside of it to look for something.

As that was going on Pinkie reached a hoof behind her and pulled out a steel pickaxe from her tail? A pocket dimension? ...Her butt? Somewhere. She pulled a steel pickaxe out from somewhere and showed it to Twilight.

Twilight, witnessing the whole thing, just blinked at Pinkie's defiance of logical logic and simply asked, "A pickaxe? You're going to use a pickaxe as your weapon?"

Rapidly shaking her head up and down with a bright smile on her face Pinkie responded, "Yepperoni! This is all I'll need!" Deciding not to respond back to the mare Twilight switched her attention back over to Rainbow Dash who finally fished out what she was searching through her bag for.

Sitting on the ground were two covered peculiar shaped pure white blades.

"Wing blades?" Twilight asked Rainbow as she picked one up and pulled the cover off revealing the sharp blade.

"Yeph!" Rainbow replied through the blade cover in her mouth. Spitting it back into her bag Rainbow proceeded to take the cover of the other blade and do the same thing. Afterward, she attached them with quick precision to the primaries of each of her wings. Her weapon now equipped, Rainbow stood up and looked over to Twilight.

"Yep, custom made refined cloud wing blades!" Rainbow boasted, "I got a buddy of mine up in Cloudsdale to make them for me. No clue how he refined and sharpened cloud, but these things are freaking awesome!" Rainbow's anger towards Twilight was snuffed out in lew of being able to show off her weapon. "Check this out. Hey Pinkie, toss a stick my way and make it a big one too!"

Pinkie Pie, looking around, located a decently thick stick and ran over to it. Leaning down and picking it up with her mouth she then chucked it over to Rainbow Dash. The second Rainbow saw the stick fly up into the air she took flight.

With a single flap, Twilight was able to see how flexible the weapon was when it bent with Rainbow's wings instead of forcing her to keep them straight. It also didn't hinder any of Rainbow's flight capabilities: the weapon, being extremely lightweight, didn't weigh the pegasus down during her flight.

Homing in on the stick Rainbow took one more flap before fully extending and straightening her right wing. Easily slicing through the stick like it was butter Rainbow finished off by doing a u-turn to drain off her excess speed then landed back next to her saddlebags, proud of her work.

"Woohoo! Go Dashie!" Pinkie cheered pumping her hoof into the air.

Twilight, who took the liberty of floating the two stick pieces over to herself, examined the slice. It was a perfectly clean cut. Tossing them to the side Twilight looked over to Rainbow and asked one more very important question. "Those wing blades are great for fights out in the open, but what about confined spaces? Like caves perhaps?"

"Oh, that? I got a pair of daggers in my bag." She simply said while taking one out and letting Twilight view it before putting it back up. Nodding her head Twilight turned back around and continued on with her trek, hoping to find a cave soon.

Rainbow Dash rushingly threw her saddlebags back onto her back and caught up with Twilight, Pinkie by her side the entire time.

The band of adventurers trotted on in silence for a while longer: the sounds of bugs had disappeared and the occasional breeze ceased. It was a bit too silent for Twilight's liking. She examined her surroundings and noticed there were no signs of small life scurrying about. Thinking to conclude her examinations when a bit of time passed and nothing else noticeable was found, a foul stench suddenly wafted up Twilight's nostrils.

"Ugh, geez Dashie I told you to lay off the bean burritos." Pinkie said in a nasal voice because of her hoof now plugging her nose.

"Hey! This smell ain't coming from me!" Rainbow rebutted.

"Will you two shut up?!" Twilight harshly whispered to them ending their debacle prematurely.

As soon as Twilight said that the feeling of heavy steps began reverberating throughout the ground. Perking up her ears and closing her eyes Twilight focused on the sound and feeling of the steps in an attempt to deduce their location.

*Thump*

'A bit to the left.'

*THUmp*

'A bit more to the right now.'

*THUMP*

'Directly in in front of us.'

Opening her eyes Twilight tensed her legs and positioned her body so her good eye was facing more towards the oncoming beast. Now standing in a battle-ready position, behind her Rainbow and Pinkie were doing the same thing with Rainbow straightening out her wings ready to take off whenever and Pinkie wielding the pickaxe with the handle firmly gripped in her teeth.

Waiting with bated breath, the trio were all intently focused on the brambles, bushes, and trees in front of them.

*THUMP* *THUMP*

The foliage parted ways unveiling the mysterious beast. A manticore. A plain old manticore.

"All the suspense for a manticore?! Come on!" Relaxing herself Rainbow flew around Twilight and right up into the manticore's blank face. "Pshh, just look at you! Everything about you screams weak!" Turning back to the others, "Don't worry guys I'll take ca—"

"Dash! Watch out!" Pinkie screamed out, interrupting whatever Rainbow was about to say.

"Huh?" Rainbow was about to turn around until Twilight wrapped her in her magical hold and threw her to the side, just barely getting her away in time as four pairs of teeth harshly clamped down where she previously was.

Quickly recovering and turning on Twilight with annoyance Rainbow was about to yell why she did that until she caught sight of the abomination.

Where the manticore's head was supposed to be was instead four petal shaped slabs of meat outlined with razor-sharp teeth spread out like the petals of a flower in the blazing sun making the beast appear bigger than it actually was. Droplets of drool were dripping off the teeth and if they looked where the four slabs of meat connected they could easily peer down the open-holed esophagus of the beast and see the walls of convulsing muscles.

Twilight was watching the 'meat petals' of the beast casually sway as she began channeling an attack spell through her horn to obliterate it in one go. About to release the spell, unknown to Twilight, Rainbow quickly flew up from her blind side and grabbed her. Hefting her into the air, the unicorn was forced to cancel her spell and wait as Rainbow dropped her down onto the ground a good distance away from the beast.

Annoyingly glaring at the pegasus and biting back the venom in her voice, "And can I ask as to what the hell you are doing?"

"Uhh, you're a Rank-B adventurer this is clearly way outta your league. Just let Pinkie and I take care of it. Come on, let's do this Pinks!" Rainbow yelled to Pinkie as she tossed her saddlebags off and flew over to her.

Twilight, who was sending the pegasus an unseen death glare, decided that if they wanted to struggle and fight it themselves, she'll let them. Laying herself down on the ground and tucking her legs underneath herself Twilight lazily searched the area. Finding a nicely lengthed stick she floated it, as well as a dagger from Rainbow's bag, over to herself and began chipping away at one of the ends of the stick. Now occupying herself, Twilight lifted her head to watch the battle.

It had already commenced with Rainbow flying around distracting it, slicing it every now and then when she had a chance. And Pinkie was dashing in and out stabbing the beast with the head of her pick when the opportunity arose as well.

Knowing such things were a worthless endeavor Twilight continued honing the stick.

The battlegrounds were unfavorable for Rainbow Dash, the dense forest not allowing her to fly as fast as she wanted. As for Pinkie Pie, there were no major disadvantages besides her choice of weapon.

Completing her makeshift spear Twilight began weaving a complicated enchantment through it.

The body of the beast was still a manticore's— was a piece of information Rainbow seemed to forget about because when she dove for another attack, she was careless. The beast's scorpion tail flashed forward like a bolt of lightning smashing into the pegasus' face. Careening to the side Rainbow's body smashed into a tree and ricocheted off it onto the ground. Groaning she pushed herself off the ground and went straight back into the fray, a purple bruise now forming on her cheek.

Pinkie was furious at the beast for hurting Rainbow, so stepping it up a notch she zoomed around the beast puncturing holes all across its body as she went. In the fit of the battle Pinkie wasn't paying much attention to the injuries she inflicted upon it, but if she did she would've noticed they gradually closed up registering her attacks null.

Twilight finished crafting her enchanted wooden spear and was just casually hovering to the side of her head, waiting...

Rainbow Dash was enraged at herself for her reckless oversight. Not worrying about the restricting foliage Rainbow flung herself at the beast with reckless abandon aiming one of her wings towards the beast's tail. With her high speeds Rainbow easily severed the tail from the base, but not given any time to react Rainbow suddenly found herself hurtling towards the solid trunk of a tree.

A determined look graced her features as she crazily pushed herself faster. Doing a midair somersault Rainbow grit her teeth and cracked her hooves against the tree causing two small craters and shrapnel of wood to come flying off the trunk. Through the strain such an action caused, Rainbow pushed as hard as she could against the trunk and launched herself off the tree right back towards the beast.

Flying upside down Rainbow deftly spun right side up and stretched out her forelegs aiming to land a devastating blow on the torso of the beast. Her eyes spread open in shock when the beast suddenly whipped its body around with the teethed slabs of meat now spreading out ready to catch the incoming rainbow projectile. Even scarier is when the small esophagus expanded, meaning Rainbow was now speeding straight for the gaping entrance to the inside of the beast; unable to stop.

'This is it, it's all over. All because of my stupid recklessness, way to go Dash...' Rainbow resigned and accepted her abysmal fate and just watched as the hole came closer and closer until... a sudden object blurred past her vision and forced itself into the beast.

The velocity of the thrown object was so severe that when it embedded itself to the beast's insides it was brutally flung off the ground and into a bystanding tree. The tree was unable to survive the harsh impact as it shattered and fell to the ground, the beast falling in a heap with it.

Rainbow, still befuddled about the whole thing, was suddenly picked out of the air by Pinkie Pie who casually set her on the ground acting like she didn't just catch a rapidly moving object.

Before Rainbow was able to ask what happened Twilight spoke up to them in her still prone form, "I advise you all to get away from the Parist's host as soon as possible." Rainbow was once again about to speak up until Pinkie set a hoof on her whithers and shook her head before walking over to Twilight. Rainbow sighed and walked over as well.

Standing next to Twilight Rainbow asked a quick question involving something Twilight just said. "So, what's a Parist?"

Not taking the time to look over to her Twilight just pointed one of her hooves towards the beast's form struggling to get up on its wobbly legs.

"That thing's still not dead yet?!" Rainbow was shocked a creature could survive whatever it was it just went through. She was still a little iffy about what happened, but she knew it didn't just take a hard punch to the head. It was more like it got hit by a cannonball that was shot out of a cannon at point blank range.

"Just wait." Turning to look at Twilight then back to the Parist Rainbow rose an inquisitive eyebrow wondering what she meant when. It didn't take long for her to get her answer.

Rainbow spotted bright red spots appearing on multiple parts of the somehow shakily standing beast. It's stomach, back, and most sections of its torso were now colored with those mysterious red spots. Just as suddenly as those red spots appeared they started rapidly expanding.

"What's happening?" Rainbow asked glancing to Twilight out of the corner of her eyes not wanting to fully look away from the spectacle. When Twilight stayed silently looking forward Rainbow decided to glance at Pinkie and saw that she was just as transfixed to the spectacle as she was.

Putting her full attention back on the Parist Rainbow saw that the red spots looked like oversized disgusting bubbly pimples. When they kept growing bigger and bigger Rainbow was surprised they hadn't burst open yet, but what happened next caught her even more by surprise.

The Parist ceased all movements and the bubbles stopped expanding before it's torso suddenly... imploded.

Chunks of flesh and muscle rained across the area getting caught in branches, bushes, and leaves setting a very gruesome setting. A huge puddle of red gloop under the giant toothy slabs of meat was the only remaining portions left of the Parist.

Rainbow and Pinkie became a bit green in the face while Twilight impassively looked on.

"I know I've killed monsters before, but this is probably the most, uh, bloody kill I've seen yet." Rainbow said while trying to hold back the disgust in her voice.

Pinkie, on the other hand, already recovered and was standing next to the prone Twilight. "Were you the one that did that Twilight?" Nodding her head, Pinkie did something that tensed up the usually stoic mare: she wrapped her forelegs around her neck in a hug and whispered into her ear, "Thanks for saving Rainbow Dash."

Untensing herself rather quickly Twilight curtly pushed the pink pony off of her and stood up. "You two had no clue what type of creature you were fighting, did you?" She asked both of them, brushing off the hug as if it never happened.

"Nope!"

"Not really."

Shaking her head Twilight said, "It was called a Parist, I pointed that out to you earlier Rainbow Dash."

Racking her brain Rainbow suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah! Guess I kind of forgot about it after all... this" she finished by waving to the gory scene in front of her.

"If somepony let me fight instead of looking down upon me maybe it wouldn't have come to this." Twilight pointed out to the pegasus with enough tact to now look sheepish. "Anyway, the Parist isn't a monster or creature on its own, it's actually a parasite that infested its host's body, which in this case was a manticore. It slowly eats all the organs of its host overtime before taking over its brain, allowing it to control the body. That's why there are no organs strewn around the place just flesh, muscle, and blood. The specifics of how it can live and operate in a body only consisting of a brain is unclear, and what it does to any living thing that winds up in its hollowed-out body is unclear as well." Twilight ranted on.

Of course, Pinkie and Rainbow only worried over a single detail about the rant while everything else just flew right over their heads.

"Can the parasite infect us?!" They both shouted out with Rainbow looking a little nervous while Pinkie sounded... eager?

"No, they can't infect ponies." Rainbow let out a sigh of relief while Pinkie, strangely enough, looked a little sad.

"Awh, it would've been cool to have a little buddy in my head." Twilight just blinked— now becoming her go-to reaction towards Pinkie's antics— while Rainbow ignored her comment and flew over to her opened saddlebags.

"Huh? Where's one of my daggers at?" Rainbow questioned confusingly looking into her bag. Hearing the questions Twilight floated the dagger directly in front of Rainbow's face, causing her to go crosseyed looking at it.

"I used it to sharpen that stick I threw at the Parist earlier." Twilight said.

"Wait... you threw that blurry thing I saw while flying? That same thing that caused all of this?" Rainbow asked while storing her dagger away and shuffling the bags back onto her back.

"That blurry thing was most likely the stick, and yes, I threw it, causing all this."

"But... how?" Rainbow said now facing Twilight with her bags secured to her back.

"I don't know, I'm just a Rank-B after all." Twilight replied as Rainbow's features grew crossed.

About to turn and continue on with her expedition Twilight caught the sound of somepony sniffling really loudly. Looking around she caught Pinkie with her nose pointing to the sky taking in large wafts of air.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?" Twilight decided to ask. Pinkie ignored her question as she started to move out of the area sniffing as close to the ground as she could get without touching it. Looking towards Rainbow, she just shrugged and followed after the pink canine. Groaning Twilight followed as well.

After some time Pinkie burst out of the trees and into a small circular clearing, Rainbow, and Twilight walking out soon after. The pink pony wasted no time as she circled around the clearing sniffing everything out before sitting down and coming to a stop directly in the center.

Seeing the active pony stop her constant sniffing and stare at a spot on the ground, Rainbow and Twilight walked up behind her and glanced over her head to see she was looking at nothing in particular.

"Uhh, Pinkie... what are you looking at?" Pinkie answered Rainbow's question by lifting up her right hoof and smashing into the ground in front of them. Unexpectedly to the pair the ground she just slammed shook and crumbled away falling into a dark abyss.

"I found our cave!" She gleefully pronounced before jumping straight into the pit without any hesitation.

Looking over to Rainbow, "The only thing I've learned about this friend of yours Dash, is that her nonsensicalness is the only thing about her that makes sense."

Shrugging in response all Rainbow said is, "That's Pinkie Pie for ya." before diving down the hole after her.

Looking down the hole where the two ponies dove in without a care Twilight thought to herself, 'Why am I putting up with these two?' And then she herself walked to the edge and stepped off, getting engulfed by the shadows of the abyss as she fell.

Author's Note

Thank you everyone for the support so far! I'm so glad to be making something a lot of people enjoy, and I hope to keep that up as the story continues!