Eye of the Beholder

A new day in Equestria, Celestia’s sun was already beginning to rise, spreading light and warms around Ponyville. One piece of light found its way through the glass of the second floor window of the Ponyville library. The ray snuck its way along the floor of the room, slowly but surely, it found its mark, the ray of light came to a stop right over the face of a blond-haired mare. Applejack stirred slightly, but she had trained herself to always wake when the light of the sun hits her face. Applejack opened her eyes and repositioned herself so that she was now sitting on the bed. It took her a moment to register that the bed she sat on, was not her own.

She looked to her side to see Rarity was also on the bed, though there was a look of worry on her sleeping face. Blinking several times to get her eyes into focus, Applejack finally saw that she was in Twilight’s room, the mare in question was on her own bed on the other side of the room. It didn’t take long for her to remember why she was in Twilight’s room; she and Rarity were there because they couldn’t stand to sleep in their own homes knowing that their little sisters were lost in the Everfree.

“I hope you slept okay, Apple Bloom…” Applejack thought to herself as she looked out the window next to her. She was still worried for her sister, so much so that she didn’t have an easy time falling asleep. But right now she couldn’t let herself feel low, the sun was up, and now she and the others had a rescue mission to accomplish.

“Alright, wake up you two!” yelled Applejack as she clapped her hands loudly. Rarity woke up quickly with a sort of panic from being awoken so suddenly. Twilight had a similar reaction, but rather than sit up right she instead rolled off her bed landing on the ground.

“I’m okay!” yelled Twilight before getting up quickly, her hair was a complete mess from bed head however.

“Sorry, force of habit” for a farmer, there was no better way to wake up everypony than with yelling and loud noises to make sure they would wake up on full alert.

“Give me a moment; I am not used to waking up this early” off hand, it was most likely five-thirty in the morning, not many ponies would wake up this early if they had the choice. Even though they made sure to sleep early so they would be well rested in the morning, there was no doubt that Rarity hadn’t gotten get much sleep.

“Alright, we should get our supplies packed for the trip and get ready as soon as we can; the earlier we leave the better.” said Twilight now fully awake. It didn’t take long for Rarity to shake of the tired feeling she had.

“Right then, let’s hope the others will be ready when we are” said Rarity as she finally got out of bed. While they were getting ready to go on the rescue mission, the newer member to their circle of friends were already up and preparing to set out.

“First aid?”

“Check”

“Rope?”

“Check”

“Bottled water?”

“Check”

“Dehydrated food, lantern, and flints?”

“Check, check, and check”

“Don’t you think they’ll question why we had all this stuff prepared?” asked Silver as he placed a few more bottles of water in his bag.

“So we’ll just tell them the truth…” said Azure as he double checked his check list to make sure nothing was missing.

“The truth is we were already going to camp in the Everfree a few weeks from now…not something most ponies in this town would see as a sane idea” Silver pointed out.

“Yeah, well, why follow the crowed?” joked Azure.

“Good point, we have everything we need?”

“Everything from what I can see, pretty sure the others will bring their own supplies as well” said Azure. They had everything they needed; now all that was left was to head towards the library so they could meet with the others.

“Az, Silver, you two awake!?” Azure and Silver heard the voice of a mare coming from outside. Azure walked over to the window and opened it, looking down he saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy standing at the door to the building.

“Yeah we’re up, we’ll be down in a second, do us a favor and back away from the door” said Azure. Rainbow and Fluttershy weren’t sure on why he asked them to back away, but they did so anyway. Both were looking up at the window waiting for the two colts to show, they expected them to come out through the door, but then.

“Eeep!” Fluttershy yelped when she saw Silver jumping out from the window. Through the surprise, neither pegasi were able to react, but as soon as Silver’s hooves touched the floor he quickly rolled forward and stood up straight only inches away from them.

“Morning!” said Silver as if nothing had happened, though what he did was normal for him, it was the first time Fluttershy or Rainbow had seen anypony do that who wasn’t a Pegasus.

“Don’t do that!” said Fluttershy as she wrapped her arms around Silvers torso. She held him tightly and the sound of her voice made it clear that it had upset her.

“Hey, hey, no need to be upset, I do jumps like that all the time” Silver held on to Fluttershy gently rubbing her back.

“Why would you do something so dangerous?” she wondered.

“It’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing”

“I see what you’re saying” Rainbow pitched in, it wasn’t a surprise, she’s used to preforming stunts that were dangerous if done wrong.

“Just…don’t do it in front of me, okay?” said Fluttershy.

“Okay, I’m sorry if I scared you” eventually Fluttershy let go of Silver.

“Alright Silver, heads up!” said Azure as he threw down one of their bags which Silver was able to catch. Once the second back was also secured, Azure jumped through the window landing the same way Silver did.

“Not bad, if you were a Pegasus I think I would have some competition” said Rainbow with a grin on her mouth.

“I’m pretty capable in the air too, maybe I’ll show you someday” Azure said plainly, he didn’t mean anything by it but Rainbow saw it as a challenge.

“When this is all done, I’ll be waiting” said Rainbow as she began to walk away leaving Azure with a confused expression.

“Okay I think I know what I did this time” said Azure.

“You’re learning” said Silver with a mix of mockery and pride in his voice.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just go…”

Silver and Azure weren’t the only ones prepared for a trip into the Everfree, Twilight herself had shown she was also prepared for just an occasion. “Um, why do you have so many bags prepared down here?” asked Rarity, Twilight had taken her and Applejack to her basement where she kept her supplies.

“I like to be prepared, I try to make emergency kits and or strategy’s for almost any problem” said Twilight as she levitated two bags handing one to Applejack and Rarity. “For example, I’m looking into spells that regrow crops in case Applejack’s farm and crops burn down in a fire” Twilight said plainly.

“Uh, thank you?” said Applejack.

“No problem, come on, we should be upstairs for when the others arrive” said Twilight as she levitated the rest of the bags with her. In total she had six full-sized bags and one child sized one, that one she left behind.

“Are you sure all the first-aid here is still good?” asked Rarity as she searched through the bag to see what it contained.

“Yeah, I make sure to renew it every couple of months” said Twilight. Rarity nodded before she zipped up the bag again. After making sure that each bag contained the required necessities they’d need the sound of knocking coming from upstairs caught their attention.

“Sounds like the others are here” said Applejack. Twilight nodded and the three made their way back up stairs. Once they exited the basement Twilight put the bags down on the floor and proceeded to open the door.

“Hey there Twilight, you guys ready?” said Rainbow. Twilight gave her a nod and moved away so that Rainbow, Fluttershy, Silver, and Azure could enter. Once the two colts stepped in, it surprised her surprised to see that they were wearing the proper hiking gear. That’s not to say that Fluttershy and Rainbow were not, they had both made sure to wear the proper clothing, but the two colts seemed to have gone the extra mile.

“Looks like Twilight’s not the only pony who’s prepared ahead of time” said Applejack as she noticed the bags Silver and Azure were carrying; she also noticed they were the same kind of bag as well.

“Well to be honest, we were planning a hike into the Everfree ourselves” Azure said plainly, the jaws of the five mares dropped in unison.

“You were going to hike there, why!?” Twilight was in disbelief, she had never heard of anypony other than Zacora actually want to be in the Everfree willingly. But even then, the zebra had grown up in a hostile environment before that, so she knew how to stay safe. Everypony in Ponyville was afraid of the Everfree, she and her friends wouldn’t think of going in there if they didn’t have to.

“We thought it’d be interesting” Silver said equally plainly.

“Are you insane?” yelled Twilight.

“Probably” Silver said jokingly.

“Why does it matter if they were going to hike there on their own then at least they’re ready for this” pointed out Applejack. Twilight opened her mouth to say something but saw that Applejack was right; she simply nodded with a sigh.

“Okay, now we just have to wait for Pinkie—“

“You called!?” Azure flinched from the sudden shout from behind him. When he turned around she saw that Pinkie Pie had snuck up on him and Silver, Silver himself wasn’t fazed.

“Looks like we’re all here” said Silver.

“I didn’t surprise you?” asked Pinkie when she noticed that Silver didn’t react the same way Azure did.

“Nope, Sorry, but good try though” Pinkie simply pouted, she was sure that it would have worked. Twilight was about to question how Pinkie got inside without anypony noticing her, but voted against it, there was other matters to attend to.

“Okay, now that everypony is here, let’s get ready as soon as possible so we can head out” the others agreed and began to grab their bags while Twilight looked over the map she had worked on the night before.

“Hey, Silver, Az, I wanted to apologize about last night” said Applejack as she walked up to the two colts.

“It’s alright, no harm done” said Silver with a dismissing wave of his hand. Azure turned to him and arched his brow as if his friend had gone crazy.

“No harm done, do you remember what happened?” When Azure, Silver and the others accompanied Applejack so she could tell her family what had happened, it turned out Big Mac did not take the news well. Once the large stallion found out his younger sister was lost in the Everfree, he pretty much bolted for the door. Unfortunately for them, Azure and Silver were in his way and commanded by Applejack not to let him go, Easier said than done when the stallion in question was over twice their size.

“Okay so he was bigger than us”

“He knocked us over like bowling pins…”

“Yeah and he knocked me through the door, if I can let it go, so can you” Azure opened his mouth, but he couldn’t think of anything to say, he simply sighed and walked away. “You’ll have to excuse him; he hates it when his masculinity gets challenged”

“I heard that!” Silver and Applejack laughed from Azure’s reaction.

“Alright, is everypony ready?” asked Twilight catching the attention of her friends. The others gave Twilight a simple nod of their heads in response. Alright, then let’s go…”

Warmth, piece, and safety, these are the things that Sweetie Belle could feel as she slept, something she needed to feel given where she was at the moment. Less than twelve hours ago, Spike, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and herself crashed in the Everfree forest when their hot air balloon got struck by lightning. But even though she had her friends with her, she was still scared out of her mind, but she couldn’t let them know that.

She didn’t know what time it was, but she didn’t care, all she wanted was to keep sleeping and hold on to the comforting feeling around her. But she was having a hard time staying asleep when she started to hear noises around her. She couldn’t make out what it was at first, but as they went on, she was able to recognize it. She was hearing giggling, giggling coming from two different sources, and she could recognize that too.

“What’s so funny…?” Sweetie Belle groaned as she tried to tone out the sounds so she could get to sleep. The giggling continued for a while longer, she was starting to grow annoyed by this.

“Why don’t you open your eyes and find out?” she heard Scootaloo say in a laugh. She wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but she was sure that she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep now. Reluctantly, Sweetie Belle opened her eyes blinking them repeatedly until she was able to blink away the blur. When her vision fully returned, she could see Spikes still sleeping face only inches from hers. One of her arms had been wrapped around the dragon’s torso, and she had rested her head on his shoulder. It didn’t take her long to feel her face begin to heat up, less than gently, Sweetie Belle got up from the floor waking up Spike in the process.

“Huh, what?” said Spike as he sat up rubbing his eyes.

“Looks like Sweetie Belle got a little close to Spike last night” laughed Scootaloo.

“S-shut up!” Sweetie Belle’s face continued to burn in embarrassment. “I-I was just cold is all…” she added as she crossed her arms and looked away.

“Well you sure did look nice and warm snuggled up with him”

“Come on, Scootaloo, now’s not the time to start poking fun” said Applebloom getting Scootaloo to stop.

“Wait, what?” asked Spike unsure if he heard them right.

“Nothing, we’re just joking around is all” said Apple Bloom, she decided to wait until they were in the clear before bringing up what she and Scootaloo had seen. Due him having just woken up, Spikes mind wasn’t up to code just yet to question anything else.

“Okay, at least we’re all up.” Spike got up from the floor and moved towards the opening that was slightly blocked off by the rock he had moved back into place. Once Spike pushed the rock back, more light entered the cave causing the others to shield their eyes. After a few seconds their eyes adjusted to the light and they were able to lower their hands.

“Sun’s still pretty low, so it’s still early” Spike and the others were outside now, the Everfree looked a lot different in the light, it was a lot less scary and the howls of hunting creatures could not be heard. “We should start heading out now, we have a lot of ground to cover before it gets dark.” said Spike as he started to make his way forward.

“Actually, we might have a problem to take care of first” Spike turned around to see Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle holding their stomachs, a second later he could hear them growling.

“Oh, right, um…” Spike placed his hand under his chin as he began to think about what to do. When he turned his gaze to his side he saw the bush of berries that he had used the night before. He didn’t get a good look at it last time so he walked up to the bush and inspected them closely. “We can eat these, they’re not poisons” said Spike before eating one himself to show them how sure he was.

“Looks like it’s our best option, we can make bags out of the balloon and use the rope to keep them closed.” Apple Bloom walked up to the balloon and began to tear at the fabric until she had a sizable cloth. Apple Bloom then took the rope and tied it in a small noose before tying the four points of the cloth to it. Apple Bloom then tested the noose to see that it opened and closed perfectly.

“Here yea go!” said Apple Bloom as she tossed the bag at Spike who then began to fill it with berries while Apple Bloom made three more bags. The process was simple and quick, soon they each had a bag full of berries for the trip. After eating their fill from the remaining berries on the bush, the four finally went on their way.

“So Spike, what exactly should we be expecting to come out during the day?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Well a lot of the creatures in the Everfree don’t attack unless you provoke it, like let’s say a Manticor, or if you enter their territory of something like a pack of Timberwolves. Then there are some others that might be some trouble, the best we can do is try to keep hidden so nothing spots us” Apple Bloom wasn’t new to the stories about the Timberwolves, she had heard plenty of stories from her grandmother about them. She knew she didn’t want to run into any of them out in the open.

“Then let’s take a path with more cover” Scootaloo said plainly.

“Not the best idea; Celestia knows what could be hiding in the tall grass” the three fillies stopped in their tracks giving a grunt in frustration. It seems that no matter what they did they could end up in danger.

“Then what in Celestia’s name are we supposed to do?” asked Apple Bloom.

“You just have to trust me; I promise that I won’t let anything hurt you.” the feeling of trust in the dragon washed over the three fillies, they couldn’t explain it, but they knew that Spike was true to his word. All three fillies nodded to each other before following Spike again, each keeping an eye out for something that might be keeping an eye on them.

About an hour has passed since the group of friends entered the Everfree forest, they were making good time, but they also had to walk slower than they normally would so they could keep an eye out for any potential dangers.

“You know, take away the fact that it’s probably the most dangerous place on the planet, I’d say the Everfree forest would be a great place to chill” said Rainbow Dash, she was hovering a couple of inches off the floor with little effort. The view around them was lovely to say the least, but they all knew what was could be lurking behind the trees.

“Can’t be that bad” said Azure thinking that Rainbow might have been over exaggerating. Though he did hear that the Everfree was in fact a dangerous place, he was sure that there were other places that were more dangerous.

“No she’s right actually, there are even plants in this forest that can run using their roots” Azure paused for a moment; there was no way that could be true.

“She’s right, there are a lot of things in this forest that can hurt you, animals, arachnids, plants; the list goes on” explained Fluttershy.

“You don’t say…” said Azure as he cracked his knuckles.

“Easy there, remember this is a rescue mission” said Silver which made the other mares glad at least one colt had his priorities straight. “Unless something brings the fight to us, then we can have some fun” Silver added right after.

“Is fighting all you can think about?” asked Rarity, Silver and Azure shrugged.

“Not necessarily, but Azure and I aren’t ones to back down from one. I surly wouldn’t want to risk somepony getting hurt” Silver gently grabbed on to Fluttershy’s hand which earned him a light blush from her. Normally the others would have commented about how they can protect themselves, but after seeing Silver and Fluttershy’s moment, they decided to let it go.

“I’m actually with them on this one, I’m not letting anything get in my way” Applejack said with a sturdy tone, understandable when one remembers that she was out to rescue her little sister.

“Don’t worry, there’s nothing in this forest we can’t handle” said Rainbow as she puncher her left palm with her right fist. The others nodded their heads, they were all in this together, and they weren’t going to let anything stop them from their mission. They continued on in silence after that, everypony keeping an eye out for any dangers. They weren’t sure what to expect, but they expecting anything. It was almost another thirty minute until Silver broke the silence.

“Keep walking forward and keep calm, but we’re being followed” Everypony could feel their hearts skip a beat, but they did what Silver said and continued to walk.

“A-are you sure?” asked Twilight trying not to turn to look back at Silver.

“Yeah, there’s only one, but it’s big” Silver’s tone turned serious, as did his facial expression. Azure slowed his pace until he was walking next to Silver and Fluttershy.

“H-how do you know that?” asked Fluttershy, she was having a hard time keeping calm as she gripped tightly to Silvers arm.

“It’s a skill I picked up over the years, I’ll explain it later, but right now we need to get out get to the opening up ahead.” The others looked down the path, it was hardly visible, but they could see an opening in the thick trees. They were marveled by how Silver was able to spot it before any of them were. “Fluttershy, I need you to walk up to the other, I need you all to run when I give the signal” Fluttershy was reluctant to separate from Silver, but the look on his face told her that things were going to get serious. She was still a little hesitant, but Fluttershy let go of his arm and walked up to the others.

“Any idea on what we’re dealing with?” asked Azure, he was already prepared to go on the attack the moment he needed to.

“Not friendly obviously, I’d say bigger than a bear, can’t say more than that” they were getting closer to the opening, everypony waiting for the signal to run, but also hoping that they didn’t have to. For a moment, everything was completely silent; their footsteps were the only things that could be heard. A few minutes have passed since Silver revealed that they were being followed and nothing happened, they were beginning to think that Silver was wrong; however their hopes were shot when they heard a loud growl.

“Everypony run!” the moment Silver yelled that out, a large creature jumped out from the trees towards Azure and himself. Both unicorns were ready and jumped out of the way before it could land an attack on them. Once they were out of the way, Azure was able to get a good look at the creature.

“What is that thing!?” asked Azure.

“How should I know?” replied Silver. All they could do was see what the creature looked like. Its body shape resembled that of a gorilla, only about fifty-percent bigger. The hair on beast’s head stretched down to his back in a Mohawk fashion. Its body and hair was brown and black in color, it had razor sharp claws coming out of its knuckles, it’s had two fangs coming out of its mouth, and its eyes were blood red. “It’s not important right now, we just need to subdue it so it can’t get to the others” said Silver as his horn began to glow a dark blue hue indicating he was prepared to fight.

“Right!” yelled Azure as a cyan hue surrounded his horn. The beast looked at them both, he was searching for which target would be the easier kill. However, he could sense that both were dangerous. Turning further, the beast spotted a target that wouldn’t be able to fight back. The creature charge towards Azure, the unicorn planted his hooves ready to attack. However, as soon as the creature was close enough, the creature jumped over Azure.

Azure turned around to see the creature running, only it wasn’t running away from him and Silver; it was running towards something else. “The girls!” Azure yelled, the moment he did, a blur had already zoomed passed him. Azure didn’t need to say another word; quickly he sprinted after the blur which he knew was Silver. The two were fast, a lot faster than most earth ponies, but the creature in front of them was faster still. It was only a matter of time before it would catch up to the others.

Finally making out of the trees and out in the open, the girls each felt as though they were in the clear, their only worry was what could have happened to the colts that stayed behind. Both looked physically fit, that added with the fact that they had magic on their side only backed up their belief that they would be fine.

“I think I see something heading this way!” the others turned around quickly; they all hoped that what Rainbow Dash had spotted would be Silver and Azure. However, that idea was dashed the moment they saw that it wasn’t. It was a beast, the very thing they assumed Silver said was following them, and it did not look friendly.

“W-what is that thing?” said Rarity as she took a step back, watching it running towards them put an unsettling feeling in her stomach.

“It’s a Razor Ape!” said Fluttershy “They’re omnivores by nature, but their tempers are worse than most carnivores” they didn’t know how Fluttershy knew things like this, but right now that was the least of their concerns. The Razor Ape rushed into the clearing with no intent to stop as it charged for them. Jumping into the air, the Razor Ape was prepared to come down at full force and attack whoever wasn’t fast enough to get out of his way. The girls were ready to move out of the way, and ready to fight if they needed to, but they didn’t have the chance.

A loud boom filled the air, and suddenly it seemed as though something struck the Razor Ape from behind sending it off course. The others watched as the Razor Ape flew in the air until it crashed hard on the ground.

“What was that!?” yelled Rainbow, not that she wasn’t glad, but she still wanted to know what had hit the Razor Ape and what had made the sound.

“I don’t know, but I think it came from” the others looked towards the direction which was directly behind it when it was airborne. From the trees they saw Azure and Silver running out, a small hue fading out from Silver’s horn indicating he had just used a spell.

“Silver, you’re okay!” Fluttershy said happily.

“Glad you’re okay too, but it’s not over yet!” Silver and Azure ran passed the six mares dropping their bags as they did so. He was right; a quick glance over to the Razor Ape revealed that it was already on its feet. Rainbow Dash and Applejack glanced at one another for a moment and gave a quick nod before running after the two colts. Azure and Silver came to a stop a few hooves away from the Razor Ape, a few seconds later they were joined by Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“Mind if we jump in?” asked Rainbow, though her tone suggested that she didn’t have any intention of taking no as an answer.

“The more the merrier.” said Azure, by now the Razor Ape had fully recovered and was charging towards them. Azure, Silver, and Applejack each split in different directions while Rainbow Dash took to the air. The Razor Ape was confused for a moment trying to figure out which one to go after. The beast was struck from behind his head by a rock, turning around he spotted Azure taunting him. Letting out a snarl the Razor Ape charged for Azure who was waiting for it to get closer, no signs of him planning to move from his spot.

Just seconds before the best could get any closer a lasso wrapped itself around the beast’s neck stopping it. The beast grabbed on to the lasso around his neck with his hand, turning slightly he say Applejack and Rainbow holding on to the other end. The Razor Ape began to pull on the rope, even with Rainbow and Applejacks combined strength it was able to pull them. However with his attention divided he didn’t see Azure closing the gap between them before it was too late. When the Razor Ape turned his head back to Azure he couldn’t stop the powerful uppercut delivered to his chin. The sound of the punch echoed around, the force just enough to throw the beast off balance.

When Applejack and Rainbow saw that the beast was off balance they both pulled on the rope as hard as they could sending him further back. With no way for the Razor Ape to regain his balance he continued to fall back until making contact with the ground. Now that the others gave him an opening, Silver charged in jumping right on to the beast’s chest. Silver’s horn began to glow as he prepared to cast a spell. Although the ape was dazed from his head hitting the ground in the fall, he was able to shake it off. Once he saw Silver standing on his chest the beast grabbed on to the unicorn with both massive hands. Although Silver could feel the beast preparing to crush him he didn’t stop focusing on the spell.

“Sleep tight!” Silver grunted as he cast his spell sending what looked like a pulse of air towards the apes head. The first pulse caused the beast to stop, a confused look on his face, as one pulse after another truck the beast’s head his grip on Silver began to weaken until he let the unicorn go. Silver continued to use the strange spell until the beast’s arms fell to the ground as did his head. Silver paused for a moment to see if the beast was going to move again, but when he didn’t the unicorn let out a sigh and jumped off its chest.

“You alright?” asked Azure as he walked up to Silver.

“Yeah, no harm done.” replied Silver as the others walked up to the two.

“D-did you…?” Fluttershy began to ask before the beast let out a loud snore.

“I just knocked him out, he should be fine.” said Silver making Fluttershy glad he didn’t do anything lethal.

“How’s you do it, a sleep spell?” asked Twilight.

“Something like that, although some ponies don’t know it, there is a sound frequency that when heard can cause the hearer to pass out. That’s pretty much what I did to him.” explained Silver. Having shown that he seems to have a high understanding towards sound, a question was raised.

“So that sound we heard when something hit that thing was you?” asked Rainbow.

“Yup, I used a high frequency sound wave, and I knew that it was following us because I use echolocation.”

“Like a bat?” asked Rainbow to which Silver nodded.

“Exactly, pretty much all the spells I know are sound based seeing as that’s my specialty.” said Silver before lifting his sleeve to show he had a tattoo. A popular trend for older ponies was to get a tattoo of their cutie mark in a less revealing location in order to show their friends. Silver was going to explain further but the beast rolled over in its sleep catching their attention.

“We should get out of here before he wakes up.” suggested Twilight to which the others agreed. Applejack got her rope back first and then they all continued their way deeper into the Everfree forest. The group continued their way into the Everfree until they were sure they were a safe distance from the beast they fought. Once they were sure the area they were in was safe they all decided to take a quick break before moving on.

“So how far have we gone so far?” Applejack asked Twilight. The lavender unicorn pulled out her map and traced their progress so far.

“If we keep going at this pace we’ll be one third of the way there before sunset, which is good because we need to find shelter before the sun gets too low.” said Twilight as she put the map back in her bag. After a few more minutes of rest they will continue their way, but Rarity couldn’t bring herself to relax.

“Rarity sit down, you’re making me dizzy.” said Twilight to the pacing Rarity.

“I’m sorry but I can’t, you saw that thing that attacked us and there are bound to be beast’s worse than that thing out here. If the children run into something like that how will they be able to protect themselves!?” asked Rarity almost begging for an answer. Nopony knew what to say, in their group they had several ponies that could fight if needed.

“You don’t have to worry, Sweetie is a tough girl.” Applejack tried to reassure her, but it didn’t work.

“No, your sister is a tough girl, and so is Scootaloo. But Sweetie Belle isn’t like them, even though she tries to she always tells me about how she can’t keep up with them.” although this caused everypony to become silent, Applejack knew exactly what to say.

“But she does have them with her, those three have always had each other’s back and this is no different.” seeing where Applejack was going with this, Twilight decided to join in.

“And Spike is with them too, he might not be able to fight off everything in this forest, but I did teach him everything he knows. He’ll keep them safe, all of them.” Rarity couldn’t help but smile as a small tear ran down her cheek. She knew how close to crusaders were, and she also knew how much she trusted Spike.

“Yeah, and then when we get back we can throw them a ‘Your first successful adventure’ party!” Pinkie Pie added with glee which caused Rarity to giggle.

“Are her party names always that specific?” Azure asked to Rainbow who was sitting next to him. Rainbow simply replied with a ‘Mhmm’ as she was taking a drink from her canteen of water.

“You’re right, I should have faith that they can take care of each other.” said Rarity after feeling a load of stress lifting off her shoulders.

“Attagirl!” said Applejack as she patted Rarity on the back.

“Alright, everypony rested up?” asked Twilight to which everypony else nodded in agreement. “Then let’s keep going.” with no arguments from the others they each got up from the ground and continued their way.