"i don't need your help!"

After a whole hour of sleeping Icy woke up and she also noticed that Cherry wasn't next to her anymore so she quickly looked around and saw her with her head in a bush and it sounded like she was eating something so Icy stood up and walked over

"Cherry? what are you eating?" Icy asked which made Cherry look up and she said something but her mouth was so full that she couldn't understand her "Swallow first, cherry." she said

Cherry swallowed the food in her mouth "I found some berries in this bush, while you were sleeping I was smelling something good so decided to follow my nose and found these berries, you can have some too but I don't know how much is left." she said then she went back to eating

Icy walked to the bush and smelt the barriers then she took a bite of one and found it was actually good so she ate some more along with Cherry until all of them were gone

"That was honestly delicious, I was also pretty hungry too." Icy said then she walked to the middle of the clearing they transported to "But now I think we should find a way out of this forest, there's no telling what might be in here." she said then she grabbed her bags and slung them onto her back then walked to Cherry "Here, just like last time hold onto my tail and I'll have us out of here in no time." she said and Cherry nodded then held some of her tail in her mouth and followed once Icy began walking

Icy walked through the forest and made sure to keep her eyes out for my dangers but eventually, she stopped and looked around ad found out that she was lost but she decided to keep moving to both stay safe and to find something that pointed to the exit but after a bit more walking she soon found that it was getting dark so she stopped

Icy turned to Cherry "The sun's going down, looks like we'll need to camp here tonight." she said then she took her bags off and set them aside

"Okay, are we at least out of the woods yet?" Cherry asked and Icy laughed nervously "We're not out of the woods, are we?" she asked

"Nope, but I'm sure the exit is around here somewhere, we'll just have to keep moving but for now let's get some rest." Icy said then she laid down but noticed that Cherry was looking off into the bushes "What's wrong?" she asked

"There's something in the bushes." Cherry said which made Icy stand straight back up

"What? can you tell what it is cause I don't hear anything." Icy said and she watched Cherry close her eyes

Cherry focused on her hearing to try to tell what it is or how big it was depending on its steps but all she heard were soft hoofsteps as they walked around the bushes and they were clearly careful not to touch or shake the bush

"Cherry, point me in the right direction and I'll take them down." Icy whispered to Cherry and she nodded and continued to listen closely as the pony stepped around the bush and when they stopped is when Cherry pointed with her hoof at the bush the pony was behind then Icy took off in a full sprint right at that bush then jumped right into it and tackled the pony "I got you!" she yelled

"Hey, get off!" the pony said then she just pushed Icy right off of her without much effort and got up herself then Icy ran back at her and tackled her again

"I won't let you go that easily." Icy said but even though she was putting her full weight on her the pony was still able to push her up "Cherry, I need some help! just follow my voice!" she yelled back then she saw Cherry walk through the bushes "Good, now just jump on top of me, hurry." she said and Cherry did and combined her weight with Icy's

the pony continued to push them back "I said, GET. OFF." she said then she pushed the so hard that she made both of them tumble back into the clearing

Once Icy had gotten back up she looked at the bushes and heard ruslting so she got ready for whatever comes through them and then what she saw was not was she was expecting, the pony's mane and tail were both a navy blue, her coat was gray and her ears had a lot more fur to them that usual but the most unexpected part about them was the fact this pony had bat wings instead of normal pegesus wings and that they were another filly that's when Icy put it together

Icy gasped "You're a bat pony?!" she yelled

the filly sighed "Of course I am, how many times can you say you've seen normal pony push two other ponies off of her with just brute strength?" she asked

Icy nodded "Fair enough but why are you stalking us? were you going to steal from us?" she asked

"No, I just saw a flash of light coming from another part of the forest so I decided to check it out and while walking I saw you two so I decided to stay and see if you two were dangerous or not." she said then she looked over at Cherry "After watching you two for a bit I figured out that she was blind with how blank her eyes are." she said

Icy looked over at Cherry then back at the filly "Did you see anything else?" she asked and the filly shook her head and Icy nodded "Alright, I guess since you mean no harm then I might as well apologize for tackling you, sorry." she said

the filly waved her hoof "Don't worry about it, you were just making sure I wasn't some sort of monster." she said then she thought for a moment "Wait, your plan was to tackle me? what if I was actually a monster who was planning to eat you?" she asked

Icy laughed nervously "I have to admit, it's not my best plan, I'm just not that good at making plans on the spot so I just went straight for it." she said and the filly facehoofed

Cherry finally walked over "Hey Icy, who is this pony?" she asked

Icy turned to her "She's just a bat pony, there's nothing to worry about anymore." she said and Cherry nodded then she walked forward and held her hoof out

"Hello there, my name Cherry candy, what's your's?" Cherry asked

the filly shook her hoof "it's Midnight amber but you can just call my Middy, my friends do." Middy said

Icy walked forward as well "My name is Icy jewel, it's nice to meet you Middy." she said and Middy nodded "Say, do you think you can help us get out of this forest, we're kinda lost." she said

Middy nodded again "Of course, I'll fly up and point you in the right direction." she said then she spread her wings and that's when Icy saw that Middy's right wing wasn't a normal bat pony wing, it was mechanical but before Icy could ask about it Middy flew up and over the trees "The way out is this way, follow me." she said

Icy allowed Cherry to grab onto her tail again as they followed Middy to the exit of the forest and during the walk they had to call out to Middy because the trees were blocking their view so Middy had to fly a bit lower but still pointed them in the right direction until they had finally made it out

"We're finally out and I can spot a town, we'll be able to get something to eat there." Icy said then Middy flew back down and landed next to her

"Well I'm happy to help you and Cherry get out of the forest, now I guess I might as well take my leave, see you." Middy said

"Wait." Icy quickly said which stopped Middy in her tracks then she turned back around and faced Icy "Your wing, I couldn't help but notice that it's mechanical." she said

Middy brought her mechanical wing out "Yeah, I lost my wing a long time ago, it's nothing to worry about though, this metal wing works just as good as a real one." she said then she brought her wing back in

"I also couldn't help but notice that you didn't say you had to hurry home, are you by yourself?" Icy asked

Middy nodded "yep, I've decided to be alone a while ago." she said

"Can I ask why?" Icy said

Middy sighed "It's because of my friends and family, they do nothing but baby me ever since I lost my wing but I kept telling them that I'm way tougher than that and I can still take care of myself when it comes down to it, but none of them ever listen to me and it got to the point where I just couldn't take it anymore, so I decided to run away and prove to them that I can be fine on my own." she said and Icy nodded

Cherry let go of Icy's tail "You're just like us!" she said and Middy was confused for a bit "You see, Icy and I both believe that we can take care of ourselves without nopony's help and since we had the same thoughts we decided to form our own independent group where we only rely on ourselves and no other outside help." she explained

Middy nodded "I see, that's so cool, can I join the group? you'll need a independent flyer like me if you want to get out of trouble fast." she said in a cocky tone

Icy thought for a moment but nodded "Alright, you'll be our newest member of our independent group." she said and Middy cheered at being accepted into the group which made Icy and Cherry giggle "So, we have a unicorn with a broken horn." she said as she moved her mane out of the way and showed her horn which made Middy gasp then Icy moved her mane back "A blind earth pony and a bat pony with a metal wing, I saw this group is looking good." she said which made both Middy and Cherry nod then Icy turned to the small town "Now, let's get something to eat, we'll need lots of food for our journey ahead." she said then she had Cherry grab onto her tail as she walked to the town

Middy flew over Icy "So, where are you and Cherry headed?" she asked

Icy shrugged "No idea." she said which surprised Middy

"So, you're both just traveling across equestria without a solid idea of where you're going?" Middy asked and both of them nodded "Alright, I'm okay with this." she said as she followed them into town