Meanwhile, in the Orchards…
“I just don’t get it,” Apple Bloom said, “Why are we back at my farm?”
Scootaloo glanced at Sweetie Belle, who shrugged. Facehoofing, Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Becauuuuse we’re trying to catch a timberwolf for Bramble to fight!”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie who shared a glance. “Couldn’t we have just travelled to the edge of the Everfree?” Sweetie squeaked.
Scootaloo blinked before staring blankly into the distance. “Oh. Right.”
“Why don’t we go there right now?” Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie Belle yelped on cue as she jumped back, a trap having sprung where she just was a second ago. Tree sap splattered everywhere and Sweetie stuck her tongue out, her muzzle scrunching.
Scootaloo sighed. “I already have these traps set up.”
“You... set up traps on my home turf... without askin’?”
Beads of sweat rolled down the purple-maned filly’s head. “Ehehehe… yes?”
“Uh… girls?”
“I thought I told you my sister would have my head after we coated a whole section of the orchard in tree sap!”
“But this time there’s only half of what we used last time.”
Sweetie Belle saw two shapes emerging through the fog that had inexplicably rolled in from the direction opposite of them. “Girls?”
“I don’t know when my sister is comin’ back. Ya hear? I dunno! She could come back right now and get caught in one. Who knows how she’ll react?!”
“I’m sorry, ‘kay? I wasn’t thinking. It’s not like we won’t notice her coming from a mile away.”
“That’s not the point!”
Sweetie’s eye twitched as she recognised Big Mac and a strikingly familiar pegasus emerge from the fog, both their faces contorted in panicked haste. “Scootaloo? Apple Bloom? I think we should-”
“What’s not to get? We can just lead her away and she won’t have to know we set up a bunch of sap-traps-”
“We? Don’t you mean you-?”
“GIRLS!” Sweetie shrieked. Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cringed as their ears folded, turning their direction to Sweetie. Feeling the heat slightly rising in her cheeks, Sweetie merely pointed in the direction she had been looking in. As the two other Crusaders’ gazes followed the path, their eyes widened.
“Oh no,” the three said in unison.
“Who are those fillies?!” Daring shouted, Ahuizotl shrieking as he clung to their speeding backs.
Big Mac looked over and saw the Crusaders watching them in sudden fear and anticipation. “That’s my little sister and her friends!”
Daring furrowed her brows comically at Big Mac as they continued to run, almost nearing the section where the Crusaders were squatting in. It was Ahuizotl that shrieked in his adolescent voice, his tiny form bouncing with each consecutive wingflap. “You better tell them to run or they’ll be good as gone!”
Gone!? Big Mac thought, and he blinked. As he was now approaching them and passing them, he threw his head back and shouted. “Crusaders! RUN!”
“But you’re going to run into a-” Scootaloo tried to say but Big Mac had already travelled past earshot. All he cared about was he now saw them rushing into the direction of town, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did you catch what she said?” Big Mac huffed to his flying partner, not losing any speed for anything.
“Something about a trap-” Daring shouted, but was cut off, staring at Big Mac incredulously.
Big Mac frowned before he realised that he had just ran into something and thought nothing of it. Glancing down quickly, he saw that he had just been coated in tree sap, and was now quickly collecting branches and fallen leaves and apples, making him look like a menacing dryad.
He looked back to Daring. “What? What’s *huff* wrong?”
Daring merely shook her tired head, making Ahuizotl swing from the movement. “Let’s just keep moving and lose track of these guys!”
“DARING DO!” Caballeron shouted, finally within earshot. “I’LL GET YOU AND AHUIZOTL IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!”
Big Mac gulped before noticing something. There were only two of them now.
“Daring Do!” Big Mac boomed. “There’s only two of them now!”
Thanks for repeating me there, Big Mac.
Daring Do shouted something and Ahuizotl turned to Big Mac. “Daring says she thinks one of them went after your sister and her friends!”
Big Mac’s eyes widened in anger and fear. “Oh no. Oh no! Granny’s gonna kill me-!”
“They’re headed back to town, Red!” Daring Do shouted. “They’ll be fine as long as they don’t stop running! Let’s worry about us for now!”
Big Mac felt his eyes moisten but he set his jaw and blinked. His features hardened and he nodded. “Well, the Everfree Forest is just beyond this next grove of trees. If we’re careful, we can make it through without-”
“Sounds good enough!” Daring remarked before bursting forward.
“Hurrrrrrrry uuuuuuuup!” Ahuizotl shrieked as he held onto the brim of Daring’s pith helmet.
Grunting, Big Mac galloped a little faster.
“Did you just see that?” Scootaloo cried, amazed, “Big Mac didn’t even slow down!”
“We’ve got bigger problems right now, Scoots!” Sweetie announced, casting her gaze back. “One of those stallions is right after us!”
“But he was covered! Perfectly covered, and he didn’t even-!”
“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom barked. “Not helping!”
“Right! Sorry! Okay, so I have a few traps that are scattered farther away than the ones all in one place so maybe we can lead him to one of them!”
Sweetie whimpered a “Mmh-hm!”
Apple Bloom cast her own glance back and widened her eyes. “Well, we better do it right quick, cuz he’s gaining on us fast!”
“Alright!” Scootaloo nodded. “Just follow me!”
Galloping a little faster, Scootaloo began to look at the trees around her, trying to get her bearings. She looked for anything; stray string, a bucket, heck- even her scooter! But what she got was even better. A fallen apple!
Leading them towards the tree with the bucket resting in it’s branches, Scootaloo grinned. “Alright, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, we gotta pull that apple from the ground with us. If he’s hot behind our tails, the bucket will fall on him instead of us!”
Seeing her friends nod, Scootaloo nodded back. In no time, they reached the apple… and Apple Bloom bucked it backwards with expert speed.
“What the heck, Bloom?” Scootaloo cried. “I thought I said-”
“Scoots, look!” Sweetie said, stopping to turn around and get a better view.
All three Crusaders came to a full stop and turned around to see the henchpony had just been dazed and had fallen under the trapped tree. They held their breath as they watched the bucket on top teeter precariously while the thug was quickly recovering. Just as they saw him rubbing his head and glaring at them menacingly, the bucket tipped, coating him in sticky, icky tree sap and bonking his head with metal.
The henchpony shouted in alarm and anger as he wiped his eyes and spat, now ravenously staring at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. As he cracked his neck, he pawed the ground and the three fillies could visibly see the air pushed out from his nose.
There was silence as he began to charge them once more before Apple Bloom gulped.
“We dun messed up.”
“Amen.”
“Uh-huh!”
As he was nearing them once more, Sweetie shrieked “SCATTER!”, and just as he pounced forward, the Crusaders dove to the side, causing him to land on his chest.
“Let’s go!” cried Apple Bloom
As the henchpony struggled to get up with his coat now partially fused to the grass around him, the Crusaders made a break.
To say they were surprised when they broke the treeline and began running along the dirt path to town was only a slight understatement, as they truly weren’t expecting to have run so far in a few minutes. Shrugging to themselves, they made haste for Ponyville proper. Behind them, their chaser bumbled through some bushes, covered head-to-toe in leaves and branches.
“GraughhhhhhghghhhH!” he yelled in frustration.
“We better make it quick!” Sweetie Belle piped up, the trio beginning to run out of breath, “He seems really mad!”
Suddenly, Apple Bloom’s face brightened, and she turned to her fellow Crusaders. “What if we make it to the train station? Then we can catch a ride! And I know for a fact that a train is still here!”
Scootaloo frowned, huffing. “What? How could you possibly know that?”
“Smoke. Duh.” Apple Bloom ran on three legs for a spot while she pointed in the direction of the train station where smoke that had been approaching had stopped for the time being.
Scootaloo’s eye twitched. “When did you become a detective?”
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s get goin’!”
They raced through the streets of Ponyville, going through alleys and obscure streets. They weaved in and out of the marketplace, running around in circles to throw off their pursuant. When they believed they had finally thrown him off, they bolted to the now smoking sky as it began to slowly move away.
“Hurry!” Apple Bloom cried, “We’ve got seconds before it gains speed and leaves us behind!”
“Where would we even go, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked. “And we might get kicked off anyways ‘cause they might check for tickets!”
“It doesn’t matter as long as we’re able to get away from that stallion- OOF!”
“HURK!”
“KAFF!”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders tumbled and fell to the ground as they wheezed, preparing to apologise to the pony they had run into. As they coughed, brushing the dust off of themselves, they found some of the parts of their fur were suddenly sticky… with sap.
The three craned their heads in unison with fear as they saw the silhouette of the stallion that had been chasing them in the sun.
“I’ve got you now…” he whispered, ears twitching crazily.
As he began to approach them, the Crusaders glanced fearfully at each other before hugging the others tightly and closing their eyes, awaiting their fate. Caballeron’s henchpony grinned from ear to ear as his hoof reached out to grab them before…
“...Apple Bloom...? Where’s Big Mac?”
“...Scoots? What…?”
“S-Sweetie Belle? Are you ...alright?”
Silence.
A quiet voice spoke with silent rage. “Get away from them. NOW… if you want, that is…!”
The Crusaders opened their eyes fearfully, seeing the stallion’s hoof mere centimetres away from their faces. They watched his twitching figure as he twisted his head to look behind him. The Crusaders did the same by looking around him.
Their mouths dropped slightly, their impossible saviours right in front of them, with Pinkie Pie still somehow cartwheeling out of the moving train in the distant train station and inexplicably appearing beside the rest of the Elements.
“Don’t move!” Twilight announced, pointing her glowing horn at him. “As sovereign of Ponyville and a Princess of Equestria, I order you to stand down!”
“Say hello to mah little friend!” Pinkie yelled in a comical accent, whipping her party cannon out of nowhere and rubbing it lovingly.
“Get behind us, Apple Bloom,” Applejack began, gesturing to the safety behind all six Element Bearers.
“We’ll show this ruffian exactly what happens when somepony threatens with my sister,” Rarity continued.
“And just what happens when they try to pick on the coolest filly in town!” Rainbow finished, bouncing from hindleg to hindleg and punching air. Without hesitation, the Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed to their respective attachments, each of them nuzzling their guardians and saviours.
“By the power invested in me, I order you to cease and desist-”
“Hooves up, scrub!” Rainbow challenged. “We’re gonna turn you into paste!” Twilight looked helplessly at Rainbow, who merely shrugged. “What?”
“We came just in the nick of time!” Pinkie Pie cried. “What does that make us?” Pinkie Pie only grinned wider as Twilight facehoofed.
“Big darn heroes, Pinkie, and I’d be gol darn condemned if I did nothing to somepony who be threatenin’ mah sister. Say hello to Bucky McGillacuddy and Kicks McGee!” Applejack growled, kicking her respective hindlegs and pawing the ground, completely ignoring Twilight’s tries for order.
“For a stallion like you… I think manners are the last I’ll have to worry about,” Rarity scoffed, slightly wilting under Twilight’s incredulous stare as she glanced over.
Fluttershy… well, nopony could really hear what she said.
So there they all stood, ready to take on a single one of Caballeron’s henchponies...
And then the Everfree Forest exploded into flame.