"Okay, Twilight, just calm down...you can do this."

If ever there was a place where Twilight Sparkle did not seem suited, it was this one; the Everfree Forest. This place had, according to what little she'd heard of it, been an environment that was here long before Ponyville, and from the looks of it, she could believe it. Ancient oaks, imposing sentinel and ironwood trees, as well as a myriad of vines and creepers connecting every growth, the whole area was just awash with old and disturbing imagery. This was not a place ponies should find themselves, that much was certain, and yet, here she was regardless of that. Craning her head upwards, she could only just make out the sky through the canopy of the forest, which now seemed to glow orange with the setting sun.

"Ugh...I've been walking for hours now!"

Stopping for a moment, she took a deep breath and sighed.

"It's alright, Twilight. Remember...you have a son waiting for you to come back. You can do this. You can find this mare, convince her to help, then return to wake up Princess Celestia."

Looking ahead, to the gloomy path through the forest, Twilight frowned.

"Yeah...just find a mare of legend with supposedly terrible and wicked powers and ask her to help against another legendary creature."

Slapping a hoof against her forehead, she let out a grunt of annoyance.

"Ugh! What am I doing?! Why did I think this was a good idea?! I'm not cut out for this!"

Lowering her hoof yet again, she took another calming breath, and when she exhaled, she looked onwards with a more relaxed expression.

"Okay...just think. Remember that time when you misplaced that first edition copy of Starswirl's levitation theorems? You made it through that, so you can make it through this."

At long last, she began to walk forward, treading carefully, lest she step on some snake or other forest creature by mistake. On and on she walked, occasionally adjusting her glasses every time it seemed to get just that little bit harder to see. Eventually, she entered a more clear spot, and so started looking around for a while.

"I'll admit...coming here without a map was...problematic to say the least. But, then again, there were no maps of this place...so..."

She sighed again, her eyes scouring the surroundings for any sign that she could use, any tiny hint that there was a path she could walk. Then, shortly afterwards, her eyes drifted down to the ground, wherein she noted a large stone near her hooves. She knelt down, picking it up, and glanced at one moss-covered side of it.

"Okay, if I remember right, the moss always grows on the north side of stones...or the south...or the...ugh!"

In frustration, she threw the thing behind her, and it sharply landed in the bushes that were back there. But when it did, they yielded not the expected sound of stone falling, but rather, a voice.

"Ouchie!"

Immediately, Twilight spun around, her horn aglow, and she aimed it in a threatening manner to the bush where the voice had come from.

"Alright! I can hear you! Come on out!"

There was silence for a few moments, and when it ended, the bush began to rustle, causing Twilight to look on with slight fear at it. Then, to her surprise, who should suddenly pop out of the thing but Applejack and Pinkie, the latter of which taking a moment to get her back hoof unstuck from the shrub.

"What the...?" Twilight began.

Now free, Pinkie looked to her with slight embarrassment.

"Okay, I know you told us not to follow you, but...we did it anyway."

Applejack looked to her with incredulity, prompting her to speak further.

"What? It was all I had!"

Sighing, the farmer looked to Twilight again, taking a step further before she began to explain herself.

"Ah'm sorry fer followin y'all like this, Twi, but we couldn't just leave ya in here!"

Twilight took on a more serious look as she glanced over her shoulder, to the trail she'd been following.

"I have to do this, Applejack. This may be the only hope Celestia, and possibly all of Equestria, has!"

Walking beside her, Applejack looked to her with concern.

"But even if...if she is real...is it really a good idea ta find her? Y'all know the stories, how she goes around at night, spreadin nightmares and snatching little foals outta their beds?"

Twilight looked to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Those are just old mare's tales, Applejack. Nopony has seen her in a thousand years, if legend is to be believed. Do you know what that means?"

Applejack shook her head, and Twilight continued.

"It means that she's been fine to stay on her side of things and not bother anypony. That doesn't strike me as the kind of pony who'd cause trouble if she didn't have to."

Looking around, Applejack continued to look fearful.

"But...but it still ain't right ta come here, Twi. This place is dangerous! Our family have been goin on about beasts and stuff from these woods fer generations!"

Twilight turned to her.

"I've been walking this path for hours now, Applejack. If one of those things were real, I'm sure they'd have found me by now."

This time, it was Pinkie's turn to stand beside her.

"Well, still better to go with friends, right?"

A pause, and then Twilight sighed.

"I know, but...I'm her apprentice. I just...I felt I should..."

She didn't finish, for Pinkie now placed her hoof upon her shoulder, gaining her attention.

"Hey, turn that frown upside down. You don't have to do this alone, Twilight. And if you want company, then cousin AJ and me are happy to help."

The look on her face made it clear that she'd meant that, as indeed did the expression that Applejack herself now wore. Looking to both of them, Twilight, just for a moment, didn't know what to say. Then, after almost a minute of thinking on what had been said to her, she now found that she couldn't help but smile.

"Th...thank you. Both of you."

Pinkie and Applejack nodded, and together, they looked on ahead, walking together as one as they made their way further along the trail. Then, after only a few steps, there was a loud snapping sound, most likely from a twig.

"Pinkie? Could y'all maybe not step on stuff like that while we're here?" Applejack remarked.

To that, the party lover looked to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Er...I didn't."

Instantly, all three mares stopped, looking to one another nervously. Then, in a somewhat inevitable manner, they turned in unison, to the part of the forest that was right behind them. At first, none of them could see anything, but as time went on, something all too apparent became known to them. A pair of green eyes, almost glowing, emerging from the dark of the treeline. Then, a snout, and teeth. It was like a wolf in shape, albeit far larger, and as it drew further from the tree, Twilight found, to her shock, that it seemed to be made of wood, not flesh. But most disturbing of all was the growling sound it made, it's mouth salivating at the sight of them. Before she could say or do anything, Applejack yelled out as loudly as she could.

"TIMBERWOLF!!! RUN!!!"

She span around, as did Twilight and Pinkie, and they darted off ahead just as the creature began its pursuit. On a wide open space, ponies were clear victors when it came to speed. But here, in this dense forest, they could not go more than a few steps without having to adjust to avoid hitting some tree. Thus, the beast behind them had the advantage, which was made all too clear when it began to catch up to them. The three mares were all running together as much as they could, but after several minutes of this pursuit, Twilight began to fall behind, and as she did so, she glanced over her shoulder to see the clearly-hungry monster pursuing them. Then, while her eyes were on the creature, she tripped.

"Oof!"

A stray vine on the ground had caught her, and she tumbled to the ground. The other two noticed this immediately, and soon rushed back to her side. They tried helping her up, almost panicking as they did so, but it was only moments later when they saw, to their horror, that the timberwolf was almost upon them. It drew closer, and closer, and closer, and the mares knew in their hearts that this would be the end for them, so they huddled together and shut their eyes tightly.

But the death they so expected did not come to them.

Slowly, they opened their eyes, and as soon as they did, they saw what had happened. The timberwolf was still there, still glaring at them and growling ferociously. But, it did not advance any further. It snapped its jaws at them, but kept on looking to the ground, to something that none of them could see. Then, to the confusion of them all, it turned around and started skulking back the way it came. As one would expect, this led to many questions on the part of the ponies, first and foremost of which was soon asked by Pinkie.

"Why didn't it eat us?"

Twilight shook her head, catching her breath as she started to stand herself up.

"I...I don't know."

Then, before she could get another word out, Applejack poked her in the side, gaining her attention.

"Er...is it me...or it is a touch...darker than it was a few moments ago?"

Looking up, Twilight saw that it was indeed darker in the skies above. Her expression was one of confusion.

"But...it can't be night-time already!"

Applejack and Pinkie looked to one another, but neither had any answers. As for Twilight, she instead chose to look where the timberwolf had been mere moments ago. She cast her eyes down to the ground, to the spot where the beast had been so obsessed with. Then, curiosity gripped her, and she started to take a few steps forward. The other mares saw her go, and began to follow. Soon, Twilight looked up again, and found, to her amazement, that something had occurred.

"The...the sky!"

The other two looked up with her, and soon realised what she was seeing. It was the same sunset-bathed sky as before, not the sky of the night. Naturally, this caused further confusion amongst them, and they soon walked back to their previous spot, looking up and finding, as before, that the night sky was there yet again. On and on they did this, stepping from one side to the next, seeing the change occur over and over again. In the end, it was Pinkie who spoke what was on everypony's minds.

"Okay, so...it's regular sky on this side...but night sky on this side?"

Twilight nodded.

"Yes...that seems to be the case."

Raising a hoof, Applejack scratched her head.

"But...what does it mean?"

Looking ahead, Twilight narrowed her eyes.

"It means...that our legend might be real after all."