Rainbow Dash tore through the skies over Ponyville, a large streak of rainbow trailing in her wake. She garnered many looks from the ponies below, and while this would be a very welcome thing normally, right now, she ignored it. She had a job to do after all.
Dash had never liked the Everfree Forest, from its strange creatures to its untamed weather, it just plain creeped her out. She was very thankful that this time, she didn't have to actually walk through the forest, instead easily able to just fly above it, looking at the ground below her as she searched for Zecora's hut.
The building was hard to spot from the air, however, and while she had easily gotten to the Everfree, she was stuck trying to find her destination.
'Ugh... Come on, Dash. You should remember this! The others are counting on you...' She thought to herself, gazing down at the forest below.
Since her initial high flying pass didn't work, she decided to fly low this time, starting from the path they first took to get in to the Everfree during the Poison Joke incident. The problem was that the path was kind of fuzzy to her, as she was upside-down and crashing for most of the trip. At the very least, she knew what the hut looked like, and hoped that she'd be able to spot it this time around.
Her eyes scanned the scenery beneath her, but the canopy so thick she could only scarcely see the forest floor. She cursed the forest even more for this, hating that she might be spending more time doing this than it would have taken her to get to Canterlot and back.
So much for a shortcut.
It wasn't until her second low pass over the forest that she finally caught sight of a few familiar landmarks, specifically some of the still broken trees she had crashed through during her last trip here. The sight of any kind of sign that she was on the right track was a very welcome one, causing a smile to spread across her face. However, in her jovial excitement, she failed to notice the black mass behind her.
At least, until she heard a cacophonous choir of cawing crows coming from behind her.
Her head turned immediately, and she gave a muffled yelp as she just barely dodged a few crows that seemed to want to start pecking at her. She wanted to yell at them, but the scroll between her teeth was preventing her from saying much. So instead, she smacked one of them upside the head in hopes that they'd learn.
That just seemed to make them mad, however, as the murder of crows didn't take lightly to one of their own being hit. The flock of birds began to swarm all around her, her vision filling with more shadows and feathers than she had seen in her life. She flailed her limbs around wildly, trying to scatter the birds to get them away from her, but they remained undeterred, and started to peck at her head and flanks.
"Ow!" She cried out in a muffled voice.
Her patience was running thin, and the pain from the small pecks was driving her nuts. She had to lose the birds as fast as she could, and with a quick glance to the forest below, she knew where she had to go to get out of there. She took a quick dive towards the ground, creating a hole in the mass of crows for all of a few seconds before they gave chase.
Rainbow Dash pierced through the canopy, and pulled up just before she hit the ground and swerved through the trees that had just become her obstacles. She took a quick glance behind her for a split second, and grinned as she saw that her plan had worked. The crows were now getting stuck in the trees, and having to funnel through the narrow passages that were available. Still, her pursuers didn't let up, and she could only go so fast before it became too much and she crashed in to a tree again.
The blue pegasus ducked and twisted through the trees and their crooked and creepy branches. On more than one occasion she was struck by a wayward vine that sent her tumbling in the air, but her expertise in the realm of stunt flying always helped her to recover and keep ahead of her pursuers. But try as she might, she just couldn't lose them.
It was when she was starting to become desperate for a solution that she finally found one, or rather, one found her.
"Stay you back you swarm of crow! What you despise is something I know! Leave my friend be, or you shall suffer the wrath of me!"
Dash instantly recognized the voice, and a smile grew on her face as she saw who could help her. At least, she hoped so.
It was then that she heard the sound of a glass being smashed against the ground, the distinct noise barely recognizable over the cawing of the crows. A moment later, a horrendously foul smell assaulted her nose, causing her to stop dead in her tracks, drop the scroll, and pinch nose with her fore-hooves.
"Augh! What in the world is that awful smell! Euch... I think I just tasted some of my breakfast..." She said, bringing up her hind legs to cradle her now upset stomach.
"I do apologize, oh Rainbow Dash, for acting so very rash. To make the birds flee I used a special brew, one to make a smell that shouldn't have offended you. It seems that it is despised by all things with wings, oh what interesting discoveries your visit brings." Said Zecora, a satchel filled with who knows what draped over her back.
Rainbow coughed heavily as she continued to pinch her nose, "I guess so... Ugh, okay, one sec." She replied before suddenly spinning in place.
The wind created from her spinning blew away the noxious fumes away, leaving her nose clean of any horrible scents. "Phew... That's better... Hey! They're gone!" She said, looking around, noticing that the crows had finally fled the area.
"I saw you flying by, chased by a flock most fowl, and sprang in to help before you threw in the towel. That smell offends birds worse than it does you, something I am sorry for, too."
"It's fine... Oh! Horseapples! Where is it, where is it?" Dash asked, suddenly looking around frantically for the scroll she had dropped. "Mmm- Aha! Here it is!" She said, hovering down and picking up the parchment between her hooves.
"For why have you come here to see me? To give me an invitation from Pinkie?" Zecora asked, looking curious to the paper Dash was holding.
"Not an invitation, Zecora. Something far worse. Here, this is for you. Apple Bloom is sick and we just can't find out why. We were going to try heading to Canterlot for help, but we figured you might be both faster and better with strange diseases." Explained Dash.
"Apple Bloom is sick? Oh that simply will not do. Give me the note, and I will tell you if I can make a curative brew." The zebra replied, pointing to a patch of ground in front of her.
The blue pegasus obliged, rolling out the scroll at Zecora's hooves, allowing the forest dweller to read it over. The zebra's eyes scanned the paper, making sure she got every detail, and as she went on, her eyes widened, ending with a gasp as she saw the image drawn by Twilight.
"What is it, Zecora? Do you know what it is?" Dash asked.
"I believe I do, and I have a great fear. Come with me now, for doom might be near!"
Without another word, the two of them went in to a full gallop towards the hut. It wasn't far, and within a minute the two of them were bursting in to the forest home, and immediately Zecora went about searching through her personal books. She eventually settled on a thin volume that she opened right away and began to read. After finding the part she seemed to want, she started to run back and forth between her supplies and the book, collecting some in a pile, and biting her lip when returning to the book empty handed.
Rainbow, meanwhile, sat in the room anxiously, giving the Everfree dweller her space and silence. She seemed to know what was going on, and Dash was not about to get in the way of that, even though it left her with nothing to do.
She was just as worried as the others about this, despite her brave face. She never really knew Apple Bloom, having only interacted with her a few times, but she was Applejack's little sister, and if one of her friends were distraught, so was she.
Soon enough, Zecora stopped moving back and forth from the book, gave it one last read over, and sighed, "Things are not well, troubles I am afraid to tell."
"Why, what's wrong?" Dash asked.
"I have found the illness that afflicts Apple Bloom and yet, the ingredients I need are not in my cabinet. If we do not hurry, the green will grow, and then turn white as snow. When that happens, the disease will spread, and all of Ponyville will be... I dread." She lowered her head for a moment before reading it again, "But in my book there is a cure, for this disease known as White Demure."
"You do? That's great!" Rainbow said, feeling much better now that she knew there was something that could fix this, especially after hearing that it could take out Ponyville.
"But as I have said before, certain ingredients I have no more. Three of them I require, to fix this event most dire. I shall write what I need upon some paper, as well as where to get it sooner than later. Deliver it to Twilight and she will know what to do. Now I shall write, I need only a minute or two."
Rainbow Dash gave a nod to the zebra and watched as she started to write. Minutes later, Zecora wrapped up the parchment and brought it over to her, "Thanks, Zecora. I'll get this back to the girls as fast as I can, we'll get you what you need to fix Apple Bloom."
"I do hope so, oh speedy Rainbow. Now hurry up, you must go!"
The blue pegasus didn't need to be told that twice. She gave a quick salute and grabbed the scroll before zooming out of the hut, knocking over a few jars in the progress. This trip was going to be much easier than the last, thankfully, as all she needed to do was fly straight up, catch sight of Ponyville, and fly off unimpeded towards the library.
Moments later, she was accompanied by a technicolor steak as she burst into the library, all eyes suddenly turning towards her. She took a quick look around the room, and upon spotting her, she spit the scroll towards Twilight, "Catch! That's what Zecora gave me."
"What is it, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"From what Zecora said, that I could understand anyway, Apple Bloom is sick with something really, really bad, and in a week, it'll spread to the rest of Ponyville."
"And... What'll happen ta mah sister?"
"She... She won't make it, Applejack." Said Twilight, who had already begun to read the scroll.
The farmpony's eyes widened and started to mist over with tears, "What? But... But there's gotta be somethin' we can do!"
"Zecora said there was a cure, but, she's missing some of the ingredients. That's what that's for." Rainbow said, pointing to the piece of paper Twilight Sparkle was reading.
"Well, what in tha hay does it say, Twilight? I'll search under every stone, every mountain, and through every danged forest in Equestria if I haveta."
"I'm reading it over now, Applejack. Just give me a... Ah. Here we go. Okay, from what I'm reading here... Apple Bloom seems to have caught something called White Demure. It's a very deadly disease with a very specific cure. It's highly resistant to magic once it has infected somepony, but the zebra eventually found a natural cure for it. It's very rare, which explains why it's not in any of my books, either. Let's see... She needs three more ingredients in order to make the cure." Explained Twilight Sparkle.
"Well? What are they and where are they?" Asked Applejack.
"It says here that we need three plants. One is a flower that she drew with some colored ink, found in the Everfree Forest, another is a plant called Mandragora Sonales, which she actually buys here in town. And the last is a special kind of flower that grows where the air is thin and the temperature cold. She suspects some can be found on... Oh boy, Mount Marebrum."
All of the ponies in the room started to look towards one another, knowing just how far away and how tall Mount Marebrum is.
"Well... That last one will be no sweat! I can fly over there and back in less than a day! And she said we had a week, right?" Rainbow asked.
"No, five and a half days. She started ta get sick over a day ago... So that's some time wasted now." The farmpony said glumly.
"Well... Still! As I said, only a day. And the trip in to the Everfree Forest shouldn't take much longer. Then, we can all take a trip to the store and buy that Mandra... Uhh... That one plant, and we'll be in the clear!"
"While I agree with you, Dash, I'm afraid you aren't thinking this through all the way. Mount Marebrum is far away, and while I believe you can make it there and back in less than a day, there is a massive problem with the cold. It's freezing up there, enough to give you hypothermia in minutes if you're unprotected. Not to mention all the searching you'll have to do. Then, the flower from the Everfree... The only instructions I have here is that it's at the very edge of the forest, way, way farther than any of us has ever gone. That could take days all on it's own..." The purple unicorn explained, bowing her head lightly.
"Well then darling, what do you suggest we do?" Rarity asked, speaking up for the first time in a while.
"I'm think that we should split in to teams. Specifically, teams of two, so that nopony is left behind." Twilight said.
"Hey! That means only the six of you will go. What about us? I wanna go with Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo piped up, speaking for the first time since coming to the library.
"I'm sorry, girls, but you're too little to go. And besides, you should stay here to help take care of Apple Bloom with Granny Smith." She said, looking to the aging mare, and getting a nod in return, "And Big Macintosh can keep watch over all of you as the responsible adult he is. Right, Big Mac?" She asked, looking to the large red stallion.
"Eeyup."
After a bit of thinking, Scootaloo sighed and acquiesced to the concerned request.
"Perfect. Now le-" The studious unicorn began, before being interrupted.
"Well, why do I have to take a anypony else with me. I can do this on my own!" Dash said heatedly.
"Simmer down there, sugarcube. None of us are sayin' ya can't, but it could be real dangerous up there. Havin' somepony ta watch yer back might be a good idea." Said the farmpony.
Dash glared at her athletic rival for a moment before giving up, crossing her hooves over her chest and sitting down upon her flank with a loud thump.
"Okay... Let me work this out. We need one team for Marebrum, one team for the Everfree, and then one for the trip to the store. Now, that might not be as easy as it sounds. Zecora put in her note that her monthly shipment didn't come in, which means you might have to go outside of Ponyville to find it." Twilight explained.
"Well, as I cannot fly, and I would very much prefer to avoid getting covered in who knows what in the Everfree forest, I would like to volunteer for the trip to the store." Said Rarity, raising a hoof.
"Alright. So that's one for the store, and one for the mountain. Umm... Fluttershy?" The purple unicorn asked, turning to the shy pegasus.
Fluttershy let out a small squeak as she was singled out, but she swallowed her nervousness and replied, "Yes, Twilight?"
"Considering how far away it is, and how high it is, I think that you should go with Rainbow Dash. You're the only other pegasus here, and Dash needs a partner. While Dash is good at getting there and back, you'll be better at actually harvesting the plant we need, as well as dealing with any critters that might be up there. Do you think you could go with her, Fluttershy?"
The yellow pegasus retreated back a little, nervously shuffling her hooves on the floor, "Oh, I don't know... I mean... It's soooo far and so very high... I'm... I'm sure I... Umm..." She said, fumbling for an excuse.
"Please Fluttershy. We need ya fer this... Mah sister needs ya fer this." Applejack said, walking over to the scaredy pony and placing a hoof on her shoulder.
"Oh... Umm... Alright then. I'll go..." Said Fluttershy, giving in to the request to help her friends.
"Great, thanks a lot, sugarcube." The farmpony said before giving her a hug.
"Okay. So, we have the mountain team all set. Okay... With the Everfree forest, since we don't have anypony who can fly going that way, I'll have to go, to teleport me and my partner over gaps and the like. Besides, I know the forest... A little. I've been in there more times than anyone in this room. Except for maybe Fluttershy."
"Oh, well, yes. I do go in a lot, but never very far... Only to catch up with bunnies or chickens that try to explore a little too much." Replied the pegasus.
"Okay. So I'm going to the forest and... Pinkie. I still don't know how they work, but those predictions of yours should be able to tell us whenever a monster or something pops up. Plus, you're pretty fearless, and can keep a relatively cool head regardless of the dangers involved, which would be a huge help for me." Twilight said, looking to her hopeful companion to be.
"Okie dokie lokie! I can't really control my Pinkie Sense, but I'm sure it'll be going off like crazy when we go in there!" She said, smiling brightly and giggling happily, like she always did almost all the time.
After a moment of thinking, Applejack finally pieced together what that arrangement meant, "Hey! Now wait a gosh darn minute here. That means Ah'm goin' with Rarity to tha blasted store! I should be goin' in to tha forest with ya instead of Pinkie Pie! No offense, Pinkie."
"It's okay!" Chirped Pinkie Pie.
"Applejack, look... I know you want to go and do something hard and dangerous to save your sister, and maybe save myself or Pinkie Pie from danger, which we both appreciate. But, you've only been in the Everfree Forest once before, and I for sure need to go because of my magic. And I would feel safe with Pinkie Pie around and her Pinkie Sense, to warn us of danger. I'm sure you could fight off anything that came our way, but if we could avoid them altogether, that really would be for the best. And... and who knows? The trip to the store or... whatever might come after might be something more your speed?" Twilight offered, trying to placate her friend.
Deep down, she knew that while Applejack wanted to help, her despair and worry might cause a lot of problems down the road. Not to mention she'd rather not see any kind of creature in the forest, and Pinkie's strange ability should be able to help with that. She also figured that the farmpony might benefit from something light to do to ease her mind. She'd probably be the first back and first to find her ingredient, which should give her a boost of hope that she probably needed.
"But... but... oh shoot, sugarcube. Fine... Ah... you win." Applejack said, giving a sigh. She had already realized what Twilight was thinking, but she still hated the fact that she wasn't going to be doing much in the way of hard work. This was her sister, after all, and she wanted to do something, but, this time, she would bow to the wisdom of her friends.
"Thank you, Applejack. I know that it'll be hard for you, but in the end, I'm sure that it will work out for you. Don't worry. We'll get through this, together." The studious pony said, trying to cheer up her friend.
One by one, the others gave their support in their own ways, all of them telling her to keep her hopes up, and that none of them would let her down. All together, they wrapped her up in a big group hug, each doing their part to comfort her.
"Ahh shucks, girls... thanks a lot fer this. Ah still want to go and do somethin', but, I think it might work out better if Ah listen to all y'all."
"Perfect, then. We have out teams planned out!" Twilight Sparkle cheered. "Now we just need to get our supplies together. I'll stay here to start gathering my things. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, wait around for a minute, I'll draw up the description of the herb you need according to Zecora's letter. You shouldn't need much else, just about a day or two worth of food, and some very, very warm clothes." Said Twilight.
"Oh, I have just the thing! I've been working on some winter clothing ahead of time for the rush I just know will come. I'll go get it ready now! Oh, and Applejack, darling, just come meet me at my boutique when you finish here. The both of you as well, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash." Rarity said, a big smile on her face as she thought about what kind of dress to fit her pegasi friends with.
"Alright, Rarity. Ah'll meet ya there. Just wanna look over my sis one last time before we head out." The farmpony said.
"Certainly Applejack. Take your time." Replied the white unicorn.
"I'll be right over, just as soon as I get that note from Twi." Added Rainbow Dash, who was now hovering above the door to give her friends room to move in the crowded library.
"I'll umm... I'll be there too, after Rainbow gets the note." Said Fluttershy.
"Alright. So it's settled, ladies. All of you; do what you need to do to prepare, you too Pinkie Pie. Try and get some food to take along with us, if you don't mind. I'll get together some basic survival gear for the trip, stuff that should help us get to where we need to go." Said Twilight.
From there, they all gave nods and sounds of agreement, and everypony, except for the studious unicorn and those watching over Apple Bloom, split up and made their leave. With only five and a half days left to find the cure, they all worked as fast as they could to get prepared for their respective journeys.
It was going to be tough for all of them, but for Apple Bloom's sake, and for the sake of all of Ponyville, they were ready to face anything.