[Silver]

“Do you think there are tigers?” Prism asked. She was excitedly bouncing around from tree to tree, showing off her best moves in case any tigers were watching.

“Gosh, I sure hope not.” Whisper said. She imagined a tiger jumping out and grabbing her friend which made her shiver with fear.

“Man, sure would be exciting though,” Prism said. She floated to the ground next to Whisper and flopped down dramatically. It was so boring out here. She had hoped that this ‘adventure’ would be more exciting than this. However, had she remembered correctly, she would have known that Whisper never said it would be an adventure. That was something that existed only in her head.

[Silver]

“Let’s… try not to fight any animals,” Whisper said. She didn’t know what was up with Prism, but she really didn’t want her hurting any precious wildlife. She could get a little fiesty sometimes. That’s actually why she was asked to come along, but Whisper did always worry about stuff anyway.

“Right, right,” Prism said, rolling her eyes. She knew better than to kick a tiger in the face, probably, but she was just so bored of walking around this stupid place that it was starting to sound like a good idea. “Do you think we’re any closer?”

[Silver]

“I’m not sure,” Whisper said. She looked around at the trees and tried to remember all of the signs her book had pointed out might indicate that they were close to their target. She didn’t see anything particularly obvious, but she also didn’t want Prism to think that they were totally lost.

“Maybe if we go this way,” she said as though she hadn't just made that up. She was sure that they would find something if they looked for long enough, but she had absolutely no clue which direction they would find it in. She thought if she looked somewhat confident (a real feat for her), Prism would be less agitated about everything.

[Silver]

The change of direction did manage to keep Prism quiet for a while. The two of them traveled under the canopy of trees and listened to the sounds of the jungle. There were plenty of animals around, though they hardly saw any of them. Most of them were high in the trees or expertly hidden from view.

Every now and then, Whisper would comment about a sound they heard, and mention some facts about the animal that made it. Prism found that kind of thing mostly boring, unless it was about how cool they were. She especially liked the comments about daring and powerful predators.

[Silver]

“Wait!” Whisper said in a quiet but urgent voice. She held her hoof up to her mouth as to indicate that she wanted Prism to be extra quiet. “Do you see this?”

“See what?” Prism first looked around, then squinted in the direction Whisper was facing.

“It’s a rare sticky stick bug,” she explained. She pointed at it with her hoof. “They’re very hard to find because of how well they blend in.”

“I don’t see it,” Prism said, squinting harder.

“It’s right here!” Whisper said, a bit louder than before. She was clearly exasperated. “It’s the one that looks like a stick!”

[Silver]

The sudden loudness of her voice caused the stick bug to fly off of its perch to find another where it wouldn’t be disturbed. Whisper looked defeated, but Prism looked impressed. “Wow! How did you find that? It was so small and… sticky!”

“Oh, well, you have to look for the wing casings, then it’s obvious it’s not actually part of the tree. It works really well for them in the wild, though, as almost no predators manage to eat them.”

“That’s really cool,” Prism said. “How did you know that?”

“Just… you know, reading and stuff. I have some books about jungle animals if you want to borrow them some time.”

[Silver]

“Ah, no thanks. I think I like it better when you just tell me the highlights.”

For a second there, Whisper thought that they might be able to bond over her favorite nature journal, ‘Fantastic Animals and Where they Live,’ but that didn’t seem likely. Still, she was pretty pleased that her friend seemed to enjoy the stick bug so much. It was much less threatening than a tiger, which seemed to be the only thing she might be interested in before.

“Is that where you read about this… bird or whatever?”

[Silver]

“Yes, it sure it. The book says the Rainbow Phoenix is actually pretty common in the right part of the forest, but some people never find one. They only allow them to be seen by people they really trust. I hope they trust me,” Whisper said, looking down at her hooves.

“Why wouldn’t they?” Prism asked. She smiled at her friend, “You’re one of the most trustworthy ponies I know!”

“Do you really think so?” Whisper blushed.

“Of course I do! Especially when it comes to animals. I wouldn’t ever think of asking anyone but you if I had a question about ‘em. Just because I don’t usually have any doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re the best.”

[Silver]

“Thanks Prism,” Whisper said, mostly to make her stop talking. She really appreciate the sentiment, but she found it difficult to accept praise.

“Wow look,” Prism said, pointing toward the sky. They both looked up and watched as a single, rainbow feather floated out of the forest’s canopy and landed right in front of them. “What do you think it is?”

“It must be a Rainbow Phoenix!” Whisper exclaimed with a squeak.

“Do you think they heard us talking?” Prism asked.

“Oh gosh, I sure hope not,” Whisper said with a blush. She’d much rather not be the subject of praise, especially when somepony… or somecritter could overhear it.

[Silver]

“Well, let’s fly up there and find out,” Prism said. She took off without another thought.

Whisper, on the other hand, took her time to get into the air. She cautiously floated around the branches of the trees, not wanting to bump into anything on her way up. She was more than happy to let Prism lead the way. As excited as she was to finally find what she was looking for (maybe), she also liked it when Prism was there to protect her when anything went wrong.

"Well, go on," Prism said, giving her a little push up toward the top of the tree. Whisper looked doubtful, but she was encouraged by Prism to give it her best.

[Wild Pet Found]