After the tree incident, the walk had been without any major issue for a while. A welcome respite after two close encounters.

"Why do I get the feeling that something doesn't want us to get there?" Cloudchaser asked.

"Oh really? What gave you that idea, the thing that dropped a mountain on us, or tried to make an impromptu bird cage with giant trees?" Berry replied.

"No need to be sarcastic Berry. This is like a story, and any good story needs some manner of conflict. If we are are to be proper protagonists, then we have to be ready for whatever we may encounter." Fleur said. The trees had returned to their normal size, which in turn brought a bit more of light into the area, something that Octavia was thankful for. Between rocks and falling trees, a nice calm walk was rather enjoyable, given their circumstances.

"I wonder what it was..." Minuette said.

"Who knows? Maybe the Warlock Stallion, since we're trying to stop him and all that." Berry said. "That guy should relax a bit, you know? Maybe a little drink will help."

"Alcohol acts as a emotional stimulant. If the legends are true and he's filled with rage, then giving him a drink will not help." the blue unicorn retorted. Berry frowned in response.

"Fun killer."

"Why is he so mad anyways?" Flitter asked.

"According to the legend, he grew embittered with his sister, to the point where he couldn't think of anything else but bloodshed. His original duty of protecting the land became an excuse for war mongering." Octavia explained. "The princess had no choice but to banish him and take over his duties, lest he brought an era of violence."

"You know your mythology." Fleur commented.

"The princess used to tell me the story before putting me to bed when I was little."

"You two must be close then. Quite an envy I have to say."

"Not really ..." Octavia mumbled quietly.

The forest slowly grew quieter. The crickets calmed down and the branches above stop hitting each other as the wind stopped. The six ponies walked, undaunted and unafraid. But not for long, if a certain mist had anything to say about it. With its evil powers, it grew in size and density, morphing and changing shapes, slowly descended upon the unsuspecting ponies.

"They should close this forest." Berry said. "Or at least put some signs around, I mean, just look at this place! Its like they want somepony to get injured. I bet that its because they want their insurance money, or something like that."

"Why would they want their insurance money? Who are you even talking about?" Minuette replied.

"The government of course! You know, all those public hospitals cost money and stuff. An extra bit never comes too soon."

"Are you saying that the princess is corrupt?" Flitter asked. Octavia perked her ears at that one.

"No! The princess is the purest being on the land! I'm talking about the health department. Those guys couldn't get their hooves away from their money even if they tried." Berry grumbled. Octavia couldn't help but to smile a little at the conversation. But her attention was quickly diverted as she felt the air around her grow dense and sluggish. It was if they were walking on mud!

"What … what’s going on?" Fleur said as she barely managed to give a step forwards. The air around them went from the dark green of the forest to a dark red mist. The six mares slowly backed against each other as the mist began to get filled with monsters and visions, all too real to ignore.

"Look out!" Flitter pulled Cloudchaser from the claw that was about to cleave her head off. A large, bear-like figure stood before them, snarling and growling like the wild animal it was. Its claws were sharper than a knife and were as pointy as needles. And he wasn't the only one. Monster of all kinds, each worse than the last, surrounded the group. Snarls, growls and wrath-filled barks surrounded them.

"What are we gonna do?! We can't fight them!" Berry exclaimed. The monsters slow encroachment made the group huddle together.

Octavia's eye darted from monster to monster, widening in fear at the monstrosities in front of them. The red mist around them only served to make them even more scarier. Her mind was paralyzed with fear and disgust as one of the creatures, a large slimy slug with spikes all over its, puked some acid on the floor.

"We can't do this, I can't do this ... I can't, I can't, I can't ..." She mumbled, nearly stumbling backwards. The rest weren't any different, being just as scared as her. Minuette and Berry were holding each other in fright, while Flitter tried hiding behind Fleur, and Cloudchaser was ...

"C-Cloudchaser what are you doing!? Get away from them!"

Cloudchaser sat in front of the bear monster. The creature was snarling in her face, saliva and blood dripping from its fangs. Cloudchaser cocked her head sideways, confusion edged on her face. He carefully poked the nose of the monster with her hoof, making him sneeze a bit.

"How can you eat with those teeth?" Cloudchaser asked, pointing at the jagged fangs of the bear monster. The monsters stopped their advance, focusing their sights on the bear, who now seemed very self conscious. Cloudchaser poked his claws.

"And what’s with the claws? They're so hooked you can't scratch anything. What are you? A sloth?"

"Cloudchaser, get away from him!" Flitter shouted. "He's going to eat you!"

"Not with at those teeth. Where did the blood even come from?" Cloudchaser chuckled. "Wait, wait, look at the snail one. How does it enter the shell!?" she laughed harder.

"How can you be laughing at a moment like this!?" Minuette asked.

"How can you be scared? They're ridiculous! Look at them!" Cloudchaser was outright laughing now. The giant bear rubbed his claws together in a shy position while a needle fanged wolf tried to hide its teeth from the ponies.

"You know … they are kinda funny ..." Berry snickered before bursting out laughing as the snail monster tried in vain to hide inside its shell. Soon enough, all six mares were laughing their faces off, the now obvious absurdity of the creatures having dissipated their fears, infected by Cloudchaser's simple humor. Octavia tried resisting the urge for a little while, but soon surrendered to the infectious laughs of the ponies around her. The monsters backed away, blushing and humiliated.

"Wow ..." Fleur said. "I guess we all needed a good laugh."

"You said it sister ..." Berry added as she got up. "Hey. We can move again!"

Octavia stood up and indeed they were free. In fact, she almost felt like she was flying after being moving at the speed of molasses. Flitter and Cloudchaser extended their wings, stretching the muscles and getting rid of any lying stiffness.

"It feels wonderful to be out of that mist thing, wouldn't you agree?" Fleur asked as they continued on their journey.

"I'm just glad those monsters backed off. Who knew they were so self conscious?" Berry answered.

"Why weren't you scared Cloudy?" Flitter asked. "Didn't you see how scary they were?"

"Who was scary?"

"The monsters!"

"What monsters?" Cloudchaser asked innocently. It was then that it dawn on Octavia. It wasn't that Cloudchaser had been brave or that she hadn't seen the monsters. What they had seen as monsters, Cloudchaser had seen as laughable creatures. She hadn't focused on what scared her, but what entertained her.

Score one for attention deficit.

"So anyways, how close are we to the ruins? We've got to be almost there." Berry said.

"I wouldn't mind getting out of this forest as well." Minuette added. "We've lost enough time as it is."

"Well ..." Octavia glanced around, as if searching for some kind of sign. "The book said that the ruins were close to Ponyville and that the forest would start to act weird as we approached the place."

"You mean weirder than it already is?" Minuette snarked. "With all thats happened, I doubt we would recognize weird if it bit us."

"Have a little hope Minuette. I'm sure we are almost there." Berry said. "Right Octavia?"

"Eh, sure ..." Octavia answered. The group closed in on her as she finished her response.

"You don't sound very confident." Minuette said. "Do you really know were we are going?"

"I … of course I do." Octavia said. Minuette didn't seem very convinced.

"I hope so. I don't want t be stuck in this forest any longer." Flitter added. Octavia gulped.

"Oh dear, that would be dreadful. Where are we now Octavia?" Fleur asked.

"Yes Octavia, where are we?" Minuette repeated the question. Octavia stammered, trying to get an answer. The five ponies in front of her stared at her, patiently waiting for an answer and making the poor earth pony more and more nervous. Octavia started to breath quickly, her mind completely blank.

"Hey, easy girls, cut her some slack." Berry said, placing a hoof around Octavia. "We're all kinda tense right now, what with the whole eternal bloodshed thing, but Octavia had the idea in the first place, and if she says that she knows what she's doing, then I trust her."

"You … you really do?" Octavia asked.

"Of course I do!" Berry smiled. "Would I lie to you? We've gotten here so far, and part of it is thanks to you, so you at least know what you're doing. I trust you Octavia. I think we all do. After all, why wouldn't I trust you?"

Octavia was stunned at the answer. Truth was that she didn't know where they were. She was following the instructions of an old book that was probably very outdated and misinformed. And yet, here they were, following her in some wild goose chase. A warm feeling filled her heart.

"Well I ... I mean ..." she stammered. "Thanks for trusting me."

"Sure, no problem. Now girls, what do you say we go and kick some warlock flank?"

Author's Note

Just a little bit more chapters and episode 1 is done.