Collecting Flowers & Herbs

Dustheart bent her head to the ground to inspect a flower, attempting to identify it. She sniffed it, and then crinkled her snout because it smelled horrible. "Definitely not what I need for my new perfume." She said to herself and moved onto the next flower. "Despite some lovely smelling flowers that come from the Everfree forest, it sure is creepy and there sure are some horrible smelling herbs." Dustheart picked and levitated one of the flowers she needed into her saddlebag.

Frangipani normally didn't feel very comfortable wandering around without The Tea Wagon and Lil beside her, but there was no way she could maneuver through the sheer density of Everfree Forest with it hitched to her back. She didn't need any broken wagon wheels. So she had left the wagon parked at the edge of the forest and grabbed her saddlebags for an herb-gathering trip.
Everfree's inhabitants were always so interesting, though! Unsurprisingly, Frangi got sidetracked mere minutes into her errand. At the moment she was lying flat on her back in a small clearing, chatting with a particularly genial bloom of Poison Joke. She kept a cautious distance, of course.
"Really? And then you gave her a voice like a man's?" the bloom bounced slightly on its stem as Frangi broke into giggles. "You are just awful, you hear? You are no lady!" She rolled over onto her stomach and rested her head on her hoof. "I need some leaves for a new remedy I'm experimenting with. Do you mind?" There was a short silence in the air. "Oh, thank you so much!" Her horn's magic aura glowed a forest green and she plucked a dozen leaves from the plant and its surrounding blooms, levitating them into a glass jar from her saddlebag. She stopped as though she'd been interrupted, looking at the tall tree beside the patch of flowers. "What was that? There's somepony else out here searching for herbs too? How odd." a breeze rustled its branches. "What? No, I'm not questioning your observation! I was just saying it's odd! Honestly, you old colts are so sensitive..." she muttered, sealing the jar and placing it into her saddlebag. "Which way, did you say? East? It couldn't hurt to take a look, could it?" she said, trotting off in said direction.

Dustheart continued collecting plants for her new soaps, candles, and perfumes. She heard hoofsteps behind her and turned around. There was a brown mare behind her, and Dustheart waved. "Hello there. Are you looking for herbs too?" She asked looking to the mare's saddlebag, then turned back to the flowers she was collecting. "If so, what do you use them for? I make things like soap, perfume, and candles."

Frangi smiled mildly, giving the gray mare a blank stare. "I am. I use them for tea and medicine." Frangi said quietly. "Oh." She tilted her head to the side, as if listening carefully. "She doesn't want to go yet. Best leave her alone, or she'll decide to come out and spoil things for you." Frangi's smile widened slightly.

"What? Oh, you mean the plant?" Dustheart looked at the mare then back at the plant. She thought is was strange that the mare was referring to the plant as a she, and saying it didn't want to leave yet. For one thing, there was no way to tell whether it was female or male (but Dustheart did know there are different gender plants), and two, plants could not tell her they didn't want to go. Alas, Dustheart had seen stranger things. "I'm Dustheart, and you are?" Dustheart held out her hoof and smiled at the unicorn.

"Oh, no, I meant the pony that.... Ah, but never mind." Frangi cut herself off and shook her head. She'd had this conversation many times before, and when she finished that sentence was usually the point when other ponies had started slowly backing away from her. "I am called Frangipani." She awkwardly touched her hoof to Dustheart's, unsure what to do with the gesture.

Dustheart shook Frangipani's hoof gently, seeing as she was obviously unknown to modern Ponyville culture. "Nice to meet you Frangipani, I ought to stop by and get some tea sometime." Dustheart said and planted her hoof back on the ground. Dustheart sort of pulled her hoof back, digging at the ground, unsure of what to do next. "So are you new in Ponyville? I haven't seen you around. Then again I just moved in to town so I could've just not met you yet.

"You are welcome to. Lil would like that, I think. It shouldn't be too difficult to find us, we live out of our wagon." Frangi said thoughtfully. "This is indeed my first time in Ponyville. It is surprising, though I travel nearby often enough I have never stopped here for long. It's very nice, especially this forest. Speaking of, he wants you to use his petals. He believes he has the scent you are looking for." she jerked her head to indicate a large pink blossom, before realizing what she had just let tumble out of her mouth. She blinked in dull surprise, and fell silent. She hadn't spoken so much, or so freely, to a single pony for long time.

A Timberwolf howl in the distance echoed through the woods. It was followed by more howls, closer than the first. There was movement in the brush. The wolves were getting closer.

Dustheart was about to collect the pink flower, but abruptly heard howls and a rustle in the bushes. "Let's run I suppose." Dustheart said, on the brink of panic. Dustheart started to run in the direction of Whitetail Wood. Out of breath from running, Dustheart struggled to speak. "If we get to Whitetail Wood" Dustheart took a deep breath in, and continued stating her plan "we can use the metal sap collecting tools to scare the wolves away." Dustheart said, taking another deep breath in. She looked behind her and hoped that Frangi and herself would make it out of this situation alive.

Frangipani tossed her mane slightly and smiled dreamily, not quite as out of breath a her companion. Her ears twitched as she heard the howls drawing closer once again. "Ooh, that sounds troubling indeed." she said breezily. Her horn glowed a dark green as she touched it to the ground, and a rustling began in the undergrowth. "We need your help, dear things." she said quietly. The rustling grew louder as vines burst from the earth, working themselves up around the surrounding trees and twining together to form a thickening, tangled net that served as a barrier between the approaching howls and the two unicorns. "Your plan is sound. We had best get moving quickly, Dustheart. A good vine tangle is a match for any pony or beast, but not indefinitely."

Dustheart stood there for a few seconds, looking up at the vines, then realized their situation and looked at Frangipani. "Right, let's get going." Dustheart said, running back towards Whitetail Wood. "Timber wolves are scared away by sound, a mare in here scared them away by banging pots and pans together when she was a filly. The chutes and buckets used to collect saps will have to do." Dustheart said, who knew what she was getting herself into when she decided to go to Everfree forest.

"Do such wolves appear often in this forest?" Frangi asked calmly as she ran after her companion. Ponyville was turning out to be an incredibly exciting place after all! She resolved to tell Lil all about it when she got back to the Tea Wagon later; she would be so jealous that she'd missed such a chase. The thought made Frangi smile enthusiastically as the two unicorns dashed off to Whitetail Wood.

"I'm not sure, I read a book about the monsters here so I could be prepared, but I never saw anything about how often timber wolves come." She said, looking ahead to see the edge of Whitetail wood.
Continued at whitetail wood.