Cloud Skipper was hopping happily, making her way back to home. The day at school had been fun, but going home was still the top moment of the day.
The path leading to her home was in close priority of the Everfree Forest. But that wasn’t a bad thing. The creatures couldn’t come out. In fact, Cloud Skipper actually liked to see occasional wild animals pass by near the borders of the dense forest.
She knew a lot about the wildlife of the forest. She could recognize if a timberwolf was lurking nearby or if a cockatrice was wandering around in search of food.
She froze on her tracks when she heard a loud crack come from the very edge of the forest. Being a curious little filly, she had to know what had caused it. So she slowly started walking towards the edge of the forest.
From the edge she couldn’t see anything interesting. Nothing was moving, save for the few leaves dancing in the afternoon wind. She stared for a few more seconds, but gave up eventually. It must have been just some boring little critter.
She made her way back to the road and started heading towards home. She looked back for the very last time, hoping that the source of the sound would have revealed itself.
That was the last mistake Cloud Skipper did.
----»«----
When ponies go missing, worry starts to grow.
When ponies go missing for longer than two days, the word will start to spread.
When little fillies go missing for times beyond one week, a slight panic will start to grow. And when panic is present, someone has to do something.
This certain someone was Twilight Sparkle. She was chosen for multiple reasons.
First off, she has some experience about panic.
Secondly, she’s the smartest pony in town. If you don’t know something, she will.
And thirdly, she happens to be the leader of a certain group called “The Elements Of Harmony”.
So, after making their very unanimous decision, the town council headed towards the library of the town.
----»«----
Twilight was happily minding her own business when she heard a knock come from the door.
“Always when I start scheduling…” said the lavender unicorn to herself, slight annoyance present in her voice.
She hopped out of her bed, made her way down the stairs, and opened the door.
“What now?” she asked without even trying to see who had interrupted her.
“Ahem. Miss Sparkle, we need to talk,” answered the mayor.
----»«----
After the council had left, the situation was starting to get clear to Twilight. Something was possibly threatening Ponyville and she would have to get rid of it. That would be easy.
But she would also have to locate a lost filly from the depths of the Everfree Forest. Not so easy.
She knew that she couldn’t do it alone. The Everfree was just too big and too dangerous. She needed help.
So Twilight dug out one of her checklists containing all the ponies in Ponyville (good thing that she always had some of those stashed somewhere), packed her saddlebag and headed out to the town square, hoping to get as many ponies to help as possible.
----»«----
“So, that’s why I need as much volunteers to help me search every inch of the Everfree Forest,” Twilight ended her speech, hoping that the ponies would already have lined up in front of the crate she was standing on.
But most of them had sneaked away when she had mentioned the forest and three of the remaining eight were a little too young to go for this mission.
“Ugh… All right girls, I guess it’s up to us once again,” she said to her five best friends who were the only grown-ups remaining. The Elements of Harmony would once again have to save Ponyville.
“All right. Rainbow Dash, you go and make a quick scan of the area from the sky. If you see anything suspicious, report back to me immediately. Don’t try to chase it down alone, ok?”
“You got it, Twi!” came the answer from the cyan mare as she dashed towards the edge of the forest.
“Applejack, could you possibly get someone to watch over those three?” Twilight asked, slightly tilting her head towards the youngest three, also known as “The Cutie Mark Crusaders”.
“Sure thing Twi. Ah think that Granny Smith and Big Macintosh can handle them for one night,” Applejack answered before trotting towards the three, a slightly nervous look on her face.
“Everyone else, just prepare. When Rainbow and Applejack come back, we are going to head to the forest,” Twilight ordered the remaining three. She got approving nods and mumbles alongside a sharp “Yes Sir Ma’am Sir!” from the most energetic member of the small group.
´Let’s just hope that this will be an easy one´ Twilight thought to herself, giving a single, worried gaze towards the dark forest.
----»«----
The forest seemed empty. Nothing was moving, save for the branches of the trees that were swinging around in the cold evening breeze. It was like all the wild animals were hiding somewhere. But that wasn’t a bad thing. It would make the search easier. You wouldn’t have to deal with an attacking timberwolf every time you turned your back.
Rainbow made a one final round around the forest and headed back towards Ponyville, making a single mistake.
She didn’t see the blank face that was observing her from the very edge of the forest.
----»«----
Applejack knew she had made a mistake. Even walking with the three fillies was a nightmare. Luckily it was for no longer than from Ponyville to the farm. A distance she would go in a few minutes.
But now there were three playful fillies bouncing around, observing everything in the way in hopes of finding their special talents.
So when they finally got to the farm, it had been good twenty minutes. She didn’t have time to explain to Granny or Big Mac, so she just told the young ones that they would be having a sleepover here at the farm while the grown-ups were looking for that lost filly.
Well, they were excited, of course. Getting to spend the whole night together. So when they had disappeared to do Celestia-knows-what, Applejack started running back towards the town, knowing that she would hear about this from Big Macintosh later on.
----»«----
Twilight was starting to grow nervous. Rainbow had returned, but Applejack was nowhere to be seen. Of course the fillies slowed her down a little, but she should have been back by now.
Trotting around in circles, Twilight began to count seconds.
After she had reached a good three hundred, Applejack finally returned. The look on her face and the slight panting told everything necessary.
“It’s okay AJ. I know those three can be annoying when they get on that mood,” she comforted the orange mare, getting a “thank you” look in return.
Now that everyone was present, Twilight could start her speech.
“So, Rainbow came from her scouting mission and she saw nothing. Nothing unusual. But nothing usual either. Dash, could you tell them?”
“It was like all the animals were gone! Nothing was moving. It was almost scary to see the forest that silent and still,” Rainbow explained.
“But that’s not a bad thing. It will be easier to search if the animals are hiding,” she quickly added, trying to cover the s-word she had said.
“So, we probably should be heading there now as the moon is still giving us some light,” said Twilight and started leading the small group towards the edge of the forest.
----»«----
It was well past bedtime, but the three friends were still awake. They couldn’t sleep for some strange reason.
Earlier that evening Scootaloo had realized why they were here. The older ones had dumped them here so they could go and have amazing adventures on their own and the fillies thought that it was unfair.
The atmosphere of the room was waiting. Two of the fillies were waiting for the orange one to say it, and the orange one was waiting for the right moment to say it. It was unavoidable.
“It’s not fair,” came the words that released the pressure. “We should be allowed to go too. We’re big enough…”
“So what are we going to do?” asked another voice. The answer was obvious. All three knew it already. But they were waiting for the brave one to say it.
“We’re going there.”
That being said, all three jumped out of the bed. The best way to get out unnoticed was to climb out of the window. In order to do that, the window had to be opened. Two gazes shifted towards the orange one.
“All right I’ll do it.” Was the answer to the gazes. Scootaloo moved to the window and opened it. Obviously she would have to go first.
She carefully reached out of the window and performed an agile jump in order to get to the roof. She then helped the two not-so-agile ones to get there.
Getting down from the roof was the hardest part. But there was nothing these three couldn’t overcome. After a few minutes they had tied their capes together to form a long rope and climbed down to the ground.
Just a quick look at their flanks and a slightly disappointed sigh and they were ready to go help the older ones.