OUT OF FRAME

Well once again, here we are. Me writing this chapter with my co-writer, and you readers more than likely skipping past this to get to the good stuff. I won't waste any more time then

Chapter 2: Ingredients: The Gathering

The world was a bit of a blur as Stella soared through the sky, searching for Midnight. Now anypony would think it was cliché for a mare to spend the next day searching high and low for a mysterious stallion, most would say she was smitten with him. Of course, that couldn't be any further from the truth. In reality all the messy mane mare wanted to do was tease him about how he was shy when there wasn't chaos swirling all around.

She was about to give up after her third hour of searching until she laid eyes on a very familiar coat color walking down the street below her with a plain black saddlebag on his back. Flying towards the ground, Stella landed with a soft thump as she turned to him. "Well hello again," she began while walking beside Midnight, "It was kind of rude of you to disappear on me the other day."

Sensing the slight cockiness in her tone, Midnight responded in turn, "I simply ran out of bucks to give, so I left." Believing that this stallion was trying to act tougher than he actually was, the light green pegasus let out a teasing accusation, "Are you sureeeee? You seemed to care enough to give me your name, Midnight."

With a small sigh, Midnight turned to Stella as he spoke, "I believed that it would be common courtesy to give you my name at the very least." The witty mare already had a retort ready however, "Really? I always thought common courtesy would include saying goodbye to ponies when you leave and actually talking to them."

Having enough of this annoying pony, the dark brown unicorn let out in a tone that reflected such, "Is there a relevant reason you decided to bug me?" Going on the slight defensive this time, the response from Stella was, "I just wanted to talk, you looked lonely"

"Well now you spoke, and finishing speaking is the first step towards leaving." Was his venomous reply as he started moving away from her at an increased pace, which was matched a few seconds later. "You can't get rid of me that easily," was the cheeky statement from the unfortunate stallion's annoyance. However before he could respond the pegasus had cut him off with a question, "So where are you going anyway? Maybe I could lend a helping hoof."

Feeling a sense of déjà vu as he silently regarded the mare, Midnight heaved a sigh, "Considering where exactly I am going, I suppose it wouldn't harm anypony if you came along with me to assist." Smiling at the answer, Stella made no attempt to hide her happiness as she chirped, "That's great! So what are we doing and where are we going?"

Smirking as he answered her, the mare got a slightly sinister vibe as he responded, "Somewhere that ordinary ponies dare not to tread, and where even fewer of those brave souls who enter manage to leave."

"Uh...not to rain on your parade but...isn't this place supposed to be dangerous?" Was Stella's question to her companion as they stood near the entrance to the Everfree forest. The stallion she was with didn't show the slightest hesitation as he answered, while simultaneously entering the dark forest, "Only if you don't know what to avoid, you can leave if you're too scared to accompany me Mare"

Puffing her chest out, the pegasus said in a tone of bravery that betrayed her words, "Pshh, I'm not scared... just... skeptical of your plan, that I hope that you have.." Clearly being able to see her will to go with him was diminishing, Midnight kept up the pressure, "Of course I have a plan, only a fool would dive head first into potentially life threatening danger without a plan of attack."

Audibly swallowing as she began to follow, the now slightly trembling Stella spoke softly, more to herself than to the dark stallion, "Danger... I'm... sure we'll be fine...after all he has a plan so...so we'll be fine, yeah...yeah totally." Knowing that she was still going to be with him, a very foul grumble escaped from a certain pony's mouth as their attempt to escape the other's presence failed.

Midnight's horn began to be enveloped in a soft red aura as he used his magic to open his saddlebag and began filling it with seemingly random plants of various colors, red, green, blue, yellow, orange, even from the bottom of the murky bodies of water he was beside there were plants floating into his saddlebag.

Stella was busy admiring the entire spectacle, she hadn't personally seen magic being used in such perfect harmony like this. Any magic she saw was for little things like moving a book or cleaning a table, this was something else entirely. Everything had its place, everything had a reason for being there...but after snapping out of her daze the pegasus asked, "That's cool and all but...what can I do?"

A clear flask floated over to the messy maned mare as her focused partner replied, "Find a body of water that appears to be slimy and try your best to collect the slime. I will focus on gathering the honeycombs and beehive husks." Without another word he began using his magic to knock down any beehives he could see, making sure to have the bees go after any bait he could use before approaching the now ruined structure.

Using the combined forces of his hooves and his magic, the dark chocolate colored unicorn was able to collect two whole honeycombs, the entire husk of the beehive, and then be able to bottle five jars of honey for him to sell after he mixes it according to his secret recipe.

Now not many would believe Midnight if he told them, but he was actually the founder and owner of the Forever Free Honey brand. Course nopony knew where they got their base honey from, and there have been many imitation attempts to try to make a profit off his brand. However everypony kept coming back to the Forever Free Honey, and with the dark brown unicorn himself being the unknown owner, it is definitely true that he always has a steady income of bits going his way.

Looking over at Stella who had just finished gathering a decent amount of slime, both on her body and in the flask, Midnight asked, "Did the task treat you well Mare?" Clearly not pleased with the amount of slime that had collected on her mane and coat, the mint green mare responded in an irritated tone while attempting to shake off any slime she could, "I regret ever talking to you..."

"I had a feeling you would say that," was the unicorn's amused reply, "Now we only have one more thing left to get then we'll be done gathering ingredients." Sighing, the pegasus spoke in an exhausted tone, "Let's just get this over with...I want to go home..."

Inwardly grinning, Midnight believed that she finally has had enough of a day in his life, but at this point he had grown used to her presence so...maybe he'd offer her a chance to do this again with him. "We will go home...after we gather some Timberwolf bark" Alarms were going off in her head now, as she shakily managed to get out, "Y-you're kidding r-right?"

In a dead serious tone the only reply Stella received was a, "Nope, hope you can fly incredibly fast with those wi-" He abruptly cut himself off mid sentence, ear twitching as he heard a familiar thumping noise in the distance that was closing fast. Much to his pegasus companion's confusion, Midnight threw a hoof over her mouth and dragged her with him as he hid in a bush, barely breathing as he kept the now struggling Stella still.

The unicorn was correct in hearing what he thought he did, those thumps belonged to a pack of the very creature they were just discussing, Timberwolves. As they grew closer, the smell of rotting wood and sap filled the air, causing Midnight's heart rate to quicken, matching the rate of the now petrified pegasus that was beside him.

The largest of the beasts was sniffing around the bush that the two were hiding in, causing the unicorn and pegasus alike to internally panic, believing they would be discovered before a snapping twig caught its attention. One growl and bark later and the pack was racing after the source of the sound, leaving Midnight able to heave a sigh of relief before he and Stella clambered out of the bush.

"I-I think we s-should go..." was her shaky statement, to which he nodded, "First good idea you have had all day, follow me."

The duo had not stopped once as they galloped their way out of the forest, manes and coats matted down with sweat as they stumbled while looking for the closest piece of soft grass to collapse on.

"I...I have never..ran so much so fast in...my life..." Stella panted out, sucking in as much air as possible to relax her muscles and slow her heart rate. Midnight on the other hoof was focusing on catching his breath alone and not on conversation as they both rested in their chosen grassy areas.

After the two ponies had recovered, Midnight was the first to break the ice, "So...since you were useful today...perhaps you'd like to assist me again tomorrow?"

OUT OF FRAME

And there we go! That's a wrap people! Hope you readers have been enjoying the story so far, and leave reviews, comments, and follows/favorites as you see fit!

Next time: A certain lavender pony's selfish spell casting has a profound effect on Stella, leaving Midnight to have to do his best to resist the spell's effects as he lends a reluctant helping hoof to the mare responsible.

Till next time, have a wonderful day!