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The morning was bright and clear in my Equestria dreamscape, but Stone Mane couldn't help but feel there was a veil of shadow that hung over the forest that him and Applebloom were now heading into.
The colt had been aware that the Apple family lived near the edge of the Everfree Forest, but it's one thing to talk about around the dinner table of the farmhouse. It was another thing to be now trotting into depths of said forest. A place where the shadows seemed unnaturally dark under the boughs of trees that seemed to only grudgingly permit their passage.
For her part Applebloom seemed to be unfazed by the gloomy nature of the forest. "Just stay on the trails, and don't go a wandering off inta the woods. If ya do that ya will be fine. I reckon I've been ta Zecora's hut dozens of times now. That said it ain't wise ta be out in the woods after dark. Or when them Timber Wolves are acting up. Or in cases when…"
The filly then proceeded to spend the next few minutes telling the colt about the numerous critters, dangers, pitfalls, and general perils that the Everfree Forest held. By the end of it the colt found himself staying much closer to his guide.
After heading down numerous trails that got progressive smaller and less traveled the 2 foals found themselves on what looked like to Stone Mane to be nothing more than a glorified game path. In fact he colt was starting to wonder whether Applebloom's warning about staying on the trails really mattered when it seemed like the forest was effectively devouring the one they were currently on.
Finally their journey ended when they stepped out of the forest's gloom and into a small clearing. After the constant shadowy gloom of the forest Stone Mane found the glare almost blinding. When his eyes finally acclimated to the increased luminosity he was amazed to see in front of him one of the most fanciful and alien of homes. There in the bulging, swollen trunk of willow tree