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[Airdra]

Berry Dream stared at the Everfree Forest and wondered if this was such a good idea. She and her friend, Caramel Twist, had come all the way out there from Canterlot in search of the legendary Bighoof. Even if it wasn't a good idea, there had been just far too many dares tossed around for her to back out now. It was a matter of pride! Of honor! Of not being a scaredy cat! Even better, maybe it would be just the sort of brave thing that would get her her Cutie Mark! She HAD to!

Berry pawed the ground with a forehoof, trying to look way more confident and less jumpy than she actually felt. "So?" she asked Caramel Twist. "Ready to go?" The forest was big and pretty scary-looking; she and Caramel would be going in deeper and deeper in search of Bighoof. Berry wouldn't have wanted to do this alone, but doing it with Caramel wasn't so bad.

[Alison]

Caramel Twist was wondering if being at Everfree Forest was such a good idea afterall. This place was looking more scarier than she had ever seen in a picture book. It had been the same book that had caused the dare to occur in the first place. Sitting in the library, reading it to other ponies. Poor Berry, being the older pony the dare had been placed and for some reason she had accepted. For her own case she had been dared for being the story reader.

Caramel glanced to Berry as she spoke. What was giving her the confidence to go into this place so 'happily'? Caramel didn't know, but was going to lie anyhow to get in there and get this over with. As much as Caramel loved stories, the chances of finding Bighoof, let alone meeting him were likely going to be slim anyhow.

"Sure am," Caramel lied, a little bit of nerves showing on the younger ponies face. It would be easy for Berry to pick up on it, yet she wanted to do it all the same. To show the older pony she could be as brave as a grown up.

[Airdra]

Caramel looked a little nervous. That wasn't good; it threatened to make Berry even more nervous as well. Berry liked adventure, true, but she wasn't quite sure if she was ready for THIS level of adventure. And it didn't help that Caramel was younger and that Berry would be responsible for whatever happened. We'll be fine, she decided, the false bravado evident even in her own thoughts to herself. "Well, let's go!" she declared, stepping into the forest.

She wondered if Bighoof really was real and if they'd see the ponylike monster with the giant hooves for themselves. She'd seen fuzzy pictures; those had been in the book. Her mom probably would have said it was just the work of some colts with buckets on their hooves, but Berry wanted to see for herself.

Besides, if they got in trouble, Berry could use unicorn magic! A little. Maybe. If she concentrated really, really hard. And if she stayed calm. But she could do it!

"It's not scary," she declared, partially to reassure herself as she took a few more steps into the forest. It wasn't quite as scary as she imagined, but she was still unsettled and fighting a strong urge to run back home.  "Come on, let's go," she called to Caramel, not really wanting to do this alone. "Bighoof's just waiting to be found!"

[Alison]

Berry was seemingly more confident than herself, therefore it prompted Caramel to feel it a little more in herself. Well at least at first it did. She took a couple of steps forward after Berry, the older filly taking the lead. Her own steps were shorter in length than Berry's, mostly because she was feeling timid in this scary place.

This wasn't like her at all, normally she was out-going, wanting fun and to make new friends. But this place was giving vibes for her to not want to be like that. Berry declaring that this place wasn't scary did nothing to shake the feeling that it was. The older Pony was ahead of her now and Caramel did not want to be left behind. As she was called once more, she did not hesitate. She was not about to be left alone here and ran a little to catch up with Berry.

"If we find Bighoof," she stated to the pony. "What do you think we should do?"

[ShadowCat]

Rose wasn’t sure what to do. The dare had been made in fun, at least to her, but now that Berry and Caramel had left for the forest she was wondering if they would be okay. They’re where all kinds of stories about ponies that went in there and never came out! She couldn’t just let the two go and disappear on them. It would be all her fault for daring them if they didn’t come back.

So even though she was scared of the forest, she made up her mind and went after the two ponies. When she got there she heard Berry calling ‘Come on, let's go,’. She saw Caramal start to run toward the forest a little and not wanting to lose them lose them she yelled, ”WAIT!”, as she started to run as fast as her short legs would go.

Sliding to a halt before the two she panted a little, “I’m… coming with… you guys. Don’t want you to.. disappear.”

[Airdra]

Berry turned to look over her shoulder at Caramel, who was following along most uneagerly. “Well,” she said thoughtfully, “I don’t know. We need to ask him to give us proof of his existence, I guess. Too bad we didn’t think to bring a camera…” She fell silent for a moment, thinking. “I wonder if he’d come back to Canterlot with us, so we could show everyone he was real!” They’d be famous then!

…but Bighoof was supposed to be really scary. She didn’t think he’d exactly be willing to cooperate with whatever they asked. Still, a dare was a dare, and they needed proof!

Berry was actually somewhat relieved Rose was coming too; there was safety in numbers…even if she did have to wonder what three fillies could do when they found Bighoof. Of course, disappearing, that was a fun thought. Berry fought the urge to turn back around and leave right that instant. “We’re not going to disappear,” she reassured Rose. “We’re just going on an adventure, and then we’ll be back in time for dinner.” She smiled, once again trying to look braver than she felt. “But the more the merrier!”

[Alison]

Caramel had not expected any other pony to arrive at the forest, let alone Rose. Rose had been one of the ponies to dare them into coming, but at least she was thinking about their well being. It had been a shame that they had not brought a camera and there was no way in Ponyville was she going to ask Bighoof to go back with them. Sometimes the problems with books, they had scary stories and to Caramel, Bighoof's story was very scary.

The filly nodded as Berry spoke again. Now that there were three of them, Caramel felt a little better and a little more confident about going onwards. Even if it was just to try and hide behind someone else if things got too scary.

"As long as we can see where we are going," Caramel nodded with a little smile. "We should be fine. Especially now that you are coming as well Rose."

[ShadowCat]

Rose maybe felt a little reassured when Berry said they’d not disappear and even be home in time for diner. Still this was Everfree Forest. There was a reason the forest had a reputation after all. Rose didn’t know how it would be safer with three ponies rather than two going in there, but she was happy Berry and Caramel was happy she’d come to join them.

“Thanks.” She told them smiling.

Looking at the forest she felt a little daunted. She’d know it was big and scary, but had never been close enough to know just how big the trees really were or how scary it truly looked.  And they were going in there looking for an equally scary monster. Why had this dare seemed a fun thing to tell them to do before?

“So… had you guys had a plan?” Rose asked peeling her eyes away from the trees. She head Berry wish for a camera so they’d have proof and her suggestion of asking bighoof to go back with them, but wasn’t so sure that would a be a good idea. For one that would involve talking to him…

[Airdra]

Rose asked if they had a plan. They did not. They most assuredly did not. "We'll think of one as we go!" Berry declared, once more trying to mask her own fear. She couldn't tell if that was working or not. "And it should be a team effort. The best plans always come from teams!" And that right there was a way to mask her own complete and total lack of a plan for catching Bighoof. "Do you want to set a trap for him? Or we could just look and look and look until we find him that way. We've got lots of options! Do you have any ideas?" Yeah, she was getting a little nervous and chatty.

Berry looked this way and that as the fillies slowly made their way deeper into the forest. She was farther ahead, if only because she kept inching forward out of nerves. Really, it was fascinating. She'd heard the stories of the Everfree Forest all her life, and it was every bit as scary as she'd heard. But the only way to conquer fear was to move on, right? Right. So she kept going (slowly), hoping that the noises of the forest that she was hearing didn't mean something was coming and bringing certain doom.

I can't let myself get scared! she told herself. Caramel and Rose are counting on me!
It had not yet occurred to her that the deeper they went into the forest, the less certain she was of exactly where they were and in turn, what the way back home was. They weren't too deep yet, but it wouldn't take them long to get hopelessly lost. "We'll be fine," she said almost out of nowhere, not even waiting for the others to answer. "It's a great adventure!"

[ShadowCat]

Berry didn’t have a plan and yet was still rearing to go? Till know Rose hadn’t known just how brave or foolish the blue unicorn was. At the moment she thought she was really brave and nodded as she said it should be a team effort to decide what to do.

There may be a lot of things they could do but Rose wasn’t sure she like the idea of trapping it. What if that just made bighoof angry? And anyway how would they make a trap? She wasn’t sure how. She did sort of like the idea of just looking around though. "I say looking around sounds good." That way they could decide how to get proof of him once they knew if he was mean or not. She wasn’t sure what kind of proof they’d be able to get though… would some of his fur do it?

Having been following Barry as she walked Rose nodded and smile as she suddenly told them they’d be fine as this was a great adventure. “Do you think we might see anything else while we're here? Bighoofs not the only monster out here.” The thought both was exciting and scary. She didn’t want to run into anything that might want to gobble them up, but now that they were here she was looking around a little excitedly looking for amazing things.

[Alison]

Caramel wasn't sure why Rose was happy. But at least she wasn't about to ask and spoil the ponies mood. It wasn't until Rose asked if there was a plan did Caramel realise that the pony may not be so happy about this afterall. Yet she couldn't say for sure. There was no plan and Berry confirmed it. With how the pony went on, it was good to see that the older pony was more confident in what they were doing.

Berry's talking was distracting her rather well from their surroundings as they went deeper. Her mind started to think on what they should do. It finally settled on the they should just look around. Trapping bighoof sounded hard and could hurt him if they did it wrong. Not something she wanted to do at all as it would be mean.

Caramel's eyes went wise as Rose spoke of anything else that maybe out there. Now that was a thought, what if there was anything else out here? Bighoof was scary enough, but could there be anything scarier than him?

"We...we should likely just look for him," she squeeked. "Do...do you really think that there could be other scary monsters in here?" Her eyes were still wide with the mere thought of it.

[Airdra]

Rose just wanted to look around for Bighoof, which was fine with Berry. Caramel agreed with that, which was also fine. "Looking it is!"

But then they both brought up the thought of OTHER monsters running around in the forest, too. They didn’t just have Bighoof to worry about. “We’ll be fine!” Berry declared, her eyes growing a little wide at the thought. Adventure was a good thing, but could you have too much of a good thing? “It’s been pretty quiet so far. Maybe they’re all busy somewhere else. Or they’re sleeping or something. Anyway,” she continued, trying to keep a sharp eye out for anything that might jump them, “they probably all don’t come out until it’s night, anyway, and it wasn’t like it was night when we left, so we’ll be fine!” This reasoning seemed to satisfy her…at least until it got dark. But they’d be out before night fell, no problem!

By this time, the three fillies had been walking for a little while, and Berry had been so distracted with everything other than the way they’d come, she was no longer certain she knew the way out. She didn’t say anything, figuring that it would come back to her when it came time to leave and that saying anything would only upset Caramel and Rose. She was the oldest! She was responsible! And when they finished this up, she’d get her Cutie Mark if she was lucky!

[ShadowCat]

Rose hoped Berry was right in her thinking that as it wasn’t night yet they’d not run into any monsters wondering about. She thought the blue filly was likely right in thinking they ‘be fine’ as it really was quiet in here so far. That could change of course, but Rose didn’t want to think of all that could go wrong, it was a lot better to be on the bright side of things like Berry seemed to be. Rose didn’t find that too hard as she was seeing all kinds of interesting things around. At least to her the tree’s looked cool, if a little scary.

“Do you think we should each take back some kind cool thing? That way even if we can’t prove we found Bighoof, we’ll still have something cool to show from coming here.” Rose asked the others. 

[Alison]

Caramel didn't like the look of Berry's eyes as the pony said they would be fine. Caramel was starting to doubt they would be fine. Even if  the monsters were all busy elsewhere, there could still be other monsters. This made Caramel shake a little. She was almost a little sure that she saw a tree move it was starting to un-nerve her that much being here.

"Y-Yea," she fillie replied to Rose. "All i'm seeing are scary trees and darkness beyond said trees at the moment though. What do you think we should take back?"

[Qu33n0f1c3]

Starburst had few pony friends to speak of, for few ponies were brave enough to traverse the Everfree Forest and call it home; he did, however, have many monster friends, and word had reached his ears of some young ponies having come inside in search of Bighoof.

Bighoof was a legend among most ponies, but Starburst knew all about Bighoof. Bighoof was an irritable minotaur with a fondness for knocking down trees and the defensive streak for her territory. Bighoof meant few harm, but she was not one to be messed with.

Normally, Starburst was just fine with letting a couple stupid ponies come on in and mess with her. It was fun to watch and gave the old brute her exercise. But these weren't just any old ponies. There were little fillies. There was no way they could know any better. After all, Starburst had never heard of little girls so mean that they'd deliberately go into a spooky forest to torment a wild animal.

So Starburst was on the hunt, slinking through the forest quietly, straining his ears for sounds of hoof-fall or the voices of the fillies. There were only three of them, or something like that, and he couldn't image that they'd stray far from one another. It was only a matter of time before he tracked them down and--

And then what? He'd have to worry about that when it came to it. Starburst knew he wasn't exactly the more friendly looking of ponies. Normally he loved giving another pony a good scare, but this could be a tender situation. He would need to tread carefully and hope they wouldn't spook when he approached.