//------------------------------// // Changeling's First Book // Story: The Cobwebs Of Ignorance // by H123G //------------------------------// “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” --Ray Bradbury ~*~*~ He had his prey cornered. The two of them had been playing a game of cat and mouse for some time now. Their game had kept him preoccupied for a while, but now the game was finished. “There’s nowhere to run,” Dead Ringer said with mirth and intimidation as he slowly approached his shaking and frightened plaything, “and nowhere to hide.” The changeling raised his hoof, ready to deliver the finishing blow. “What in tarnation are you doin’ to that caterpillar?” Until he was interrupted by a familiar voice. Dead Ringer paused as he hovered over a cowering caterpillar. Slowly steering his head to the door he found Apple Bloom staring at him in bewilderment. “Um…” he awkwardly answered, “nothing?” It certainly didn’t look like nothing to her. Giving him the disapproving look a disciplinary mother would give a misbehaving child; she walked over and picked up the frightened insect. “You leave this poor critter alone! He’s as much a guest here as you are!” Backing off, Dead Ringer rolled his eyes. He couldn’t understand what this child was getting so upset over. “It’s a tiny, insignificant creature. What does it matter?” “You watch what you say mister,” Apple Bloom waggled a hoof, “or else it’s gonna be the corner for you!” Not even knowing how to respond to that, Dead Ringer just slowly nodded. He didn’t know what ‘the corner’ meant, but it sounded like a shameful form of punishment. Walking to the window Apple Bloom carefully placed the little bug onto the nearest branch it could reach. “There you go little guy.” Slowly it crawled off of her hoof and onto the branch. Apple Bloom smiled at it, happy to help. Sweetie Belle entered, carefully balancing the box of cupcakes on her head. Turning around she called to her slowpoke friend. “Scootaloo! Hurry up with those books!” “I’m coming! I’m coming!” she cried back, annoyance in her voice. Placing the box on the table, Sweetie Belle opened it to examine the contents. Inside were the six colored cupcakes neatly lined up. How Pinkie had them prepared and sneaked them under their chairs, she or her friends may never know, but free cupcakes were free cupcakes. Seeing a shadow hovering over her, she turned around to find a hungry changeling staring at the box of goodies. Dead Ringer’s mouth slowly started to water as he stared at the tasty treats. His nose was already filling with the fragrance the colorful objects emitted. For a changeling of his status, he was acting unprofessional, but then again there were no other changelings around to judge him, so he didn’t care. He reached for one only to have his hoof immediately slapped. “Ah! Ah! Ah!” Sweetie Belle said with a disapproving tone. “You can have one for today.” Dead Ringer growled as he rubbed his hoof. He could not believe this! They were treating him like a misbehaving hatchling! He opened his mouth ready to speak out, only to stop when his attention was drawn to the sounds of grunting. The young pegasus that went by Scootaloo walked in pushing her metal… wagon he believed they called it, containing many rectangular blocks of different sizes and colors. His curiosity and confusion getting the better of him, he asked, “What are those?” Not even looking at him Scootaloo answered him as she pushed. “Books.” “And a book is?” Scootaloo stopped pushing as the wagon just rolled to a stop, causing all the books to lose their balance and come toppling down. A few hit the shocked pegasus on the head, but she didn’t care, her mind was still trying to process what she just heard. “You don’t know… what a book is?” she asked in disbelief. She knew Dead Ringer didn’t know much about ponies and stuff, but who didn’t know what a book was?! Griffins knew; goats knew; even dragons knew! Well, she assumed they did. Seeing that Scootaloo was too slack-jawed to speak, Apple Bloom decided to answer Dead Ringer for her. “They’re what we’re gonna use to teach ya.” He eyed her, and then turned his attention to the… books. He paused as he studied them, their appearance that is. Something about them seemed familiar to him. Like he’d seen one before. Wait a minute, he thought. Walking over to the piles of books, he slowly examined one of them. The small item was green with a set of words engraved on it creating a title. Slowly he lifted the cover as the book opened, revealing its pages. The pages all contained complex sentences and dialogues along with sketched drawings to fit the descriptions. The way it worked, it was sort of similar to something. But he couldn’t put his hoof on it. "Turn the page…" A voice echoed in his mind. Slowly he remembered. It hadn’t been that long, how could he have forgotten about it? It was still back home, buried right where he left it. The more he thought about it the more he started to wonder, was that strange item he discovered… a book? Stacking the books, Sweetie Belle nearly dropped the one in her hoof as she had a startling realization. “Uh, Apple Bloom?” she asked nervously. “Don’t teachers usually teach using books they’ve already read?” The hamster turning the wheel in the yellow filly’s head suddenly stopped. “Uh oh…” While a good teacher needed books to teach, they also needed to know the source they were using to teach the student. Joining Sweetie Belle at the pile, followed by Scootaloo, the three examined the books further. “Well,” Apple Bloom paused, trying to think, “we’ll just, start out with the ones we’ve already read.” “But none of us of have even heard of some of these books,” Sweetie Belle said, her hopes for this idea dashing further and further. “What?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, starting to read the titles to try and see if she recognized any of them, which proved difficult, as she couldn’t even understand some of the titles! Another factor the three forgot was these were, as Apple Bloom called them, ‘big pony’ books. The kind ponies like Twilight would read. In other words, educated ponies. The kind that were studied in universities and professional schools for learning. They weren’t even out of elementary school! “Please tell me there’s at least a book on Hearth’s Warming Eve?” Apple Bloom pleaded, hoping in vain that there was at least one familiar book in the pile. “There isn’t even one on Daring Do,” Scootaloo sighed in defeat. “Horseapples!” Apple Bloom threw down a book she was looking at in a fit of rage. “Ah can’t believe this!” She really couldn’t. All that time spent, for nothing. Tricking Spike, their crafty escape. All a waste! And its not like they just could go back and ask Spike for help! In fact, Apple Bloom thought it was best if the three tried to avoid the baby dragon for a while. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too furious when he saw them on Thursday. She hoped. “Look, why don’t we each take one book home, read it, and use it if it can help us,” Sweetie Belle proposed, trying to salvage this wreck. “But ah can’t even pronounce some of these things!” Apple Bloom whined. “You’re the one who wanted the kind of smarty books Twilight reads,” Scootaloo pointed out. Apple Bloom glared at Scootaloo. Picking up different sets of books the country filly tried to wrap her brain around some of the different tales with fancy titles. “Look at this,” she said holding two books, “‘The Drapes of Wrath’?” she read one out loud. “Dignity and Preji--” She squinted her eyes, trying to get a better understanding of the other title. “Uh… Predju, predid, pred--” “Prejudice,” Dead Ringer casually corrected for the filly. “Huh?” Apple Bloom asked. “The symbols inscribed on this… book, they read ‘Dignity and Prejudice’,” he answered. “How can you tell?” Sweetie Belle asked. Joining the three, he directed their attention to the cover as he started to explain. “The letters each make their own unique sound. By blending them together, the parts of the letters make another sound entirely. So by putting them together, I get one word.” Scootaloo shook her head at what she’d just heard. “Wait a minute! Hold it! Hold it!” she said trying to get to the bottom of this. Something was fishy here. Granted, what he said sounded right in how to understand the words to the book, but that was the problem! “So you know how to read?” Dead Ringer nodded. “Affirmative.” This just confused the pegasus even more. This made no sense. Earlier he didn’t even know what a book was. But he can read one just fine? Something wasn’t adding up. “So if you don’t have books where you come from,” Scootaloo slowly asked, “How do you know how to read them?” Her question made Dead Ringer pause. His eyes fell on the books, which made him think of that strange item he found. Slowly, he was lost in his memories once again. Only this time to not so far ago. The canyon was alive with energy. Watching it all from above on a cliff, Dead Ringer scanned his surroundings. Changelings were flying off to perform their duties while others were ground level. Some were trying to get a drink near their drone-made ponds; others were resting, waiting till their guard duties came. Others still filled their time by brawling with one another as others watched. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he was ready to fly off and do his rounds with the changelings down in the inner caves when a voice called out to him. “Commander!” Turning toward the source, he saw two of his soldiers flying toward him. A younger changeling named Fragment, and a older one, whose height and strength was above the average of that of a normal changeling, named Mirage. The one called Fragment was holding a large bag in his mouth. Landing, they both bowed to their leader before rising. Fragment stepped forward, dropping said bag to his leader’s hooves. “Commander Dead Ringer!” he said, his voice high-pitched and raspy. “We wish to make a report!” Dead Ringer nodded. “Begin,” he commanded. Acknowledging, the soldier told his tale. “We were guarding our post near the forest when we heard something. A sound, coming from the forest.” Dead Ringer raised a brow at this. Their home being close to the border of the Everfree Forest was an issue. To ensure the colonies’ safety, he had soldiers posted at certain areas to ward off threats or report any immediate dangers. Hearing a sound from the forest was a common thing, what with the beasts that thrived in there. “How was this sound relevant?” the Commander asked. “This sound was not that of a beast,” the soldier responded, “but of a cry. A cry for help.” Dead Ringer’s brow rose in reaction. Now he was interested. “Continue.” “We followed from where the cry originated, only to find what looked to be an abandoned campsite.” “Campsite?” the Commander asked. “Hard to say,” the changeling named Mirage responded, his voice gruff. “From the looks of things, whoever was out there either left in a hurry or was forcibly removed.” Dead Ringer nodded as he listened. With the dangers that lurked in the forest, it was never safe to remain in one location for too long. But what he found disturbing was that the entity that was out there was intelligent. If it could speak, it didn’t belong in that forest. “Did you pick up their scents?” he asked. Fragment nodded. “They led further into the forest, away from us. But,” he paused, his expression shifting to uncertainty, “there’s something else Commander. The scent was… unfamiliar.” “Unfamiliar?” Dead Ringer asked, arching a brow. “Whoever was out there Commander,” the soldier continued, “they clearly were not from around these parts. Their odor was too… ‘foreign’.” Looking away, Dead Ringer pondered things. If it was foreign and intelligent, it was most likely a creature from another land. Still, whoever or whatever was out there was gone. What they came for, he may never know. Maybe they were lost; maybe they were trying to make contact. Whatever the reason, it was irrelevant now. Which lead him back to the matter at hoof. “So what does that have to do with this?” he asked referring to the bag. Fragment stepped forward. “It was the only salvageable thing there sir.” “So… “ Dead Ringer’s brow furrowed as he stared at Fragment, “… you decided to bring it back here?” Shocked by his leader’s response Fragment took a step back, recoiling a little. “Well I--” Before he could try and defend himself Dead Ringer interrupted. “Whatever it contains is an unknown, and a foreign unknown at that.” He pointed an accusing hoof at Fragment. “You’ve already confirmed that.” “For all we know this item could contain anything. Maybe food, maybe a tool of some kind, or it could very well contain unknown horrors, the likes of which no changeling has ever seen!” The two changelings just blinked, having no idea how to respond to that. “It could happen!” Dead Ringer noted firmly. The two guards didn’t answer. They just exchanged unsure looks with one another, still not getting where their leader was going with this. Seeing this, Dead Ringer sighed. “Listen, I don’t want word spreading that an unknown intelligence was this close to our land. Understand?” The last thing Dead Ringer needed was fear of a foreign anomaly near their land. Many were on edge as it was. Understanding their leader, the two firmly nodded. “What are your orders?” Mirage asked. Dead Ringer pointed swiftly at the bag. “Leave it,” he ordered. “I will deal with it myself.” “As you command,” Mirage responded as he bowed. “But Commander,” Fragment interrupted. “What of the foreign scent?” “After I’m done with… whatever this is,” Dead Ringer answered, referring to the bag, “I will inform her Majesty personally.” “Commander, with all due respect, I don’t think--” “Do not question me!” Dead Ringer snapped. “Just do as I say!” Fragment nodded with a shaky expression. “Y-yes,” he stuttered. “Yes, what?” Dead Ringer sternly rebuked. “Yes sir!” “Good.” Dead Ringer nodded, enjoying that answer better. “Now get back to your post!” Acknowledging, the two nodded as they started heading back. Fragment dragged from behind, hanging his head in shame. “Wait!” Stopping, the two snapped their attention back to their leader. Dead Ringer wasn’t even looking at them; his attention was more focused on the foreign object in front of him. But still he acknowledged the two. “Head down and get some water. You two look thirsty.” It took a minute before their leader’s kind gesture dawned on the two. Slowly, Fragment’s expression shifted to a smile. Dead Ringer shifted his eye over his shoulder. “Did I stutter? Get going!” With a nod, the two flew off. Grabbing the handle with his mouth, Dead Ringer buzzed up his wings and took off toward the inner hive below the surface. He flew through cave after cave until finally he reached one that was unpopulated. The area was dark with the only source of light being the gempods that littered the walls. What his kind referred to as ‘gempods’, were little green gem-like crystals that were found in the lower reaches of the hive. They served no real purpose other than providing illumination in the dark caves. Although his kind was accustomed to the dark, something to provide light made working down below much easier for his kind, especially the drones. Dropping the bag to the ground, Dead Ringer conducted his examination. While before he said whatever was in it was dangerous, his curiosity was eating away at him. He had something not of this land before him. He couldn’t pass this chance up. But he wouldn’t put the rest of his kind in danger, hence why he chose an unpopulated area. Beginning, he started sniffing the bag, trying to see if there was anything that carried an odor. The only scent he could pick up, to his displeasure, was the odor from the forest. Whoever was out there, they were out there for quite some time. With that done, he found himself facing a new dilemma: opening the bag. To the average changeling this might seem like a difficult task. But Dead Ringer was anything but average. Using his brilliant military mind, he found the quickest and simplest answer to his dilemma: Tearing it open with his teeth. Ripping a good chunk out of the bag, Dead Ringer carefully removed his helmet before sticking his head in to investigate the contents. However, to his displeasure, there wasn’t much of interest. All he found were strange white cloths of some kind, and a metal cylinder with strange writing on it. Shifting his head closer, Dead Ringer examined the strange cylinder. On top of it was a red circle mechanism. Sticking his hoof in he placed it on the button and pressed down. It was an action he immediately regretted as a spray of some kind of toxin showered upon his face. Retracting, Dead Ringer fell the ground as he rolled in the dirt in a vain attempt to remove the substance from his face. Had he known how to read, he would have seen the can he activated was titled, ‘Bug Repellant’. Standing up he groaned to himself, angered at how pointless - and painful - this endeavor has been. “This is the last time I ever let my curiosity get the better of me!” Looking at the bag he stared daggers at it. “Dumb, foreign, whatever, thing!” In anger he backhoofed the bag sending it and it contents cascading across the cave. Dead Ringer was ready to just give up and go, when something caught his eye. The items from the bag were spilled out before him, but one stood out from the rest, other than the deadly can of pain (which he planned to avoid) that is. The object was small and square. The cover of it read, ‘Foal’s First Book’. Although to him it looked like gibberish. Wrapped around it was a now torn red ribbon with a tag attached to it reading, ‘To my lovely niece, from Uncle Con’. Carefully, the curious soldier bumped his hoof against the object. “Turn the page,” a mechanical but at the same time soft voice from the object spoke. Dead Ringer quickly leaped back assuming a fighting stance with his legs spread out and wings extended, teeth bared. “Who are you?” he said interrogating the strange item as he slowly encircled it. “Are your intentions peaceful, or hostile?” He paused as he waited for a answer. To his confusion, there was none. “Can you understand me?” Again there was no reply. Carefully he bumped his hoof against the object, only this time it caused the cover to open, revealing the first page. It was an image of a green reptilian creature jumping in what looked to be a swamp, on to a nearby log. Above were words describing the scene. At the bottom of the page there was a circular button poking through it. Seeing this Dead Ringer lowered his hoof toward the button, pressing firmly on it, praying to Queen Chrysalis he didn’t get another face full of painful whatever spray. “The frog hopped on a log. Now you read it.” The commander furrowed his brow in anger. This… whatever it was, comes to his land and starts giving HIM orders?! “I am Commander Dead Ringer of the almighty Asphodel Legion for the Changeling Empire! I take orders from her Majesty and no one else!” He waited for the object to finally acknowledge him. Now that it knew who he was the changeling figured the object would finally respond to him. It didn’t. “Hello?” he asked. Seeing no other way, he decided he would try and comply with this object’s rather strange demand. Perhaps then he could get some sort of a response out of it. Squinting his eyes he looked at the words above the image. He remembered what the voice said, and it went with the image, but the words were another story to him. “The fr-o-g,” he slowly sounded out with difficulty, “h, h, h-opped! On a l-o-o-g...” He paused. The way it sounded, the way they looked. Was this… reading? Was he actually… reading? “Very good,” the voice finally acknowledged. “Turn the page.” The voice confirmed it. He really did read it. A rather rough translation, but he got the sentence out. Plus, the voice responded to him. But judging by its tone, and its lack of context, Dead Ringer determined whatever entity dwelled inside this object was not very intelligent. “Yeah, that’s not happening,” he responded, swatting the book away uncaringly. Turning around, he started to leave only to stop as he stared back at the strange item, as if hypnotized by it. Leaping toward the book, he picked it up as he started turning to the next page followed by hitting the button for it to read the words for him to repeat. He couldn’t stop; he had to continue! Maybe it was the words, or maybe it was the colorful images that came with them, but he couldn’t stop reading. The excitement of what the next page held was too much to bear. Before long, he was reading the words all on his own without the strange voice to help. “The cat goes meow,” Dead Ringer read out loud. “Hmm…” he brought his hoof to his chin as he studied the image for a short while. Satisfied, he turned the page. However what he saw next made him freeze, he nearly dropped the book with a gasp. So far, the strange object had shared with him many different creatures he had never seen before. Some strange, some unique, and some that almost made him crack a smile. Almost. However, this creature… this one left him in awe. He couldn’t even read. He was at an absolute loss for words. He had to hear it from the object. Upon hitting the button, the strange voice spoke for him. “The butterfly flew through the sky. Now you read it.” “Butterfly…” he echoed softly. The soldier had never seen anything so beautiful and majestic before. The creature… its colors… its wings… it hypnotized him. Lifting his hoof toward the image, he slowly petted the image. “What Commander doing?” a curious voice asked from behind, breaking his concentration. “Wha-what?!” Dead Ringer screamed, nearly dropping the book. Quickly grabbing it he stood up straight while hiding the book behind his back. Before him stood another changeling, a rather… ‘unique’ kind of changeling. It wasn’t its skills that made it a standout. If anything it was its lack of skills that made this particular changeling different. Every changeling in the Hive was part of a given class since birth. The only exceptions were made for the Queen’s personal Praetorians. All were given their class because they shared the traits that fit them. This one however was too weak to be a Soldier and too clumsy to be a Drone. Dead Ringer didn’t know who or what dubbed him, but since this changeling wasn’t fit for a fighter class, or a worker class, it was given the only job fitting any simple creature with wings could perform. “Courier Scatty!” Dead Ringer cried catching his breath. His demeanor more or less enraged over being startled. “What are you doing down here?!” Despite his Commander’s attitude toward the young messenger, the changeling kept a rather calm expression. An obliviously silly expression, but clam nonetheless. “Scatty sent to look for Commander. Used nose, followed scent. Look for hours. Find you here.” Scanning the cave the young messenger caught sight of the discarded contents that littered the area. “What those?” he asked. “Uh… nothing!” Dead Ringer responded with haste as he blasted the remains, reducing them to nothing but ashes. The confused Courier tilted his head quizzically, trying to fathom why his leader was acting so strange? And why he was down here by himself? Seeing this Dead Ringer responded with rather annoyed sigh. “Why were you looking for me?” “Commander must head topside! Must speak with Queen!” Scatty hastily nodded with affirmation. “She say, it urgent. Very, very, urgent.” Dead Ringer softly nodded. “Understood uh… Good work. Tell her…” his eyes shifted toward the item behind him, hoping the changeling didn’t see much, “…tell her I will be up shortly.” The Courier gave an awkward salute before turning to take its leave. It stopped however and stared at Dead Ringer, raising a somewhat bewildered brow, looking concerned almost. “What you do down here by self?” The nonchalant Dead Ringer shifted his eyes from side to side. “Nothing important,” he simply answered, trying to not sound suspicious. The changeling listening looked less than convinced. Dead Ringer scowled at him before shouting, “Get going!” Not wanting to anger his superior further, Scatty flew off in a hurry. Dead Ringer exhaled, catching his breath. That was too close for comfort. Looking at his item, he concluded it was not safe out in plain view. Looking around, he tried to find a safe place to hide it. It was for the best if he kept this to himself. The last thing he needed were the others thinking he was going soft. Or worse, his Queen thinking he was doing something treacherous. Digging a small hole he dropped the item into it, covering it back up with dirt. Charging up his horn he marked a nearby rock with an ‘X’. Now he would know where to find it whenever he returned. Ready to go he fired up his wings and… nothing. His one wing wasn’t working. In fact, it was actually starting to hurt. It almost felt like someone was pulling on it… “Hey! You in there?” Scootaloo asked, trying to get the spaced out changeling’s attention. She and the others didn’t know what happened. All she did was ask him one question, and suddenly he just spaced out for a minute. Slowly coming back, Dead Ringer turned his attention to the cause of his unpleasant feeling. He found himself staring at the young orange filly, tugging on his wing. His broken wing. "ERRRRRRRRRAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" he cut loose with a savage roar of pain. Startled and frightened, the two fillies dove behind a quivering Scootaloo. Clutching his wing in agony Dead Ringer instantly furrowed his brow as he stared daggers at the scared and guilty looking pegasus. “Uhm… sorry?” was all the worrisome pegasus could respond. Dead Ringer opened his mouth, ready to give her a verbal thrashing, but he stopped as he looked at her, looked at the two children behind her. They were scared, he could tell. But whether it was of him or the loud noise he made, he couldn’t tell. They just stared back with their big pleading eyes. He didn’t know what it was, but the words just weren’t coming out. He just couldn’t see the point in yelling. Looking away, the hurting changeling let out a heavy sigh, his anger subsiding. Feeling it was safe, the three Crusaders breathed a sigh of relief. “You okay?” Apple Bloom asked the hurting changeling. “Just great,” Dead Ringer answered, sarcasm in full. “I love it when others pull on my injured body parts.” “You really oughta do somethin’ about that wing o’ yers.” She was correct; Dead Ringer knew he couldn’t go on like this. However, he only had two options. One was too risky and took up time, and the other was rather… unpleasant, and it would leave him with only one working wing. “There isn’t much I can do for it,” Dead Ringer finally answered, hanging his head. “Can’t you heal it?” Sweetie Belle asked. Shifting his attention to her he answered, “Yes, but the measure to do so would take time. Plus, it would leave me exposed and vulnerable.” Apple Bloom drew her hoof to her head, tapping it in ponder. “Well maybe there’s somethin’ we can do,” she proposed to the others. “Like what?” Scootaloo responded with a shrug. “Try out for our Doctor cutie marks?” In response, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both brandished head mirrors and stethoscopes along with excited grins. Slightly frightened, Dead Ringer grasped his wing, not liking the way they were looking at him. Scootaloo looked as equally frightened as him. “Uh, no…” she said. Scootaloo might have agreed with Sweetie Belle that they had to try everything for their cutie marks, but even she had her standards. “Aw…” both fillies groaned in unison. Tossing her doctor gear aside, Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin. “What if we took him somewhere?” “Where?” Scootaloo asked. She paused, then shot a shocked look to the unicorn. “Are you crazy?! You can’t mean into town?! I can’t even begin to count the number of things wrong with that idea!” “Well, at least I’m trying to do something!” the white filly snapped, crossing forelegs in frustration. “Well, you're not being very cunning!” Scootaloo berated, getting nose to nose with the white filly. “Alright then, give me a plan that’s oh so stunning!” Apple Bloom just rolled her eyes while watching her two friends argue pointlessly with their strange rhyming. “Wait a minute,” she gasped to herself. “Rhyming…” She slowly grew a smile. Her friends cheesy rhyming gave her an idea! “Ah got it!” she cried out. The two fillies stopped their arguing and gave the farm filly their attention, Dead Ringer too. “Girls, Ah think there’s someone who can help us!” “What happened to 'never tell anypony else about him'?” Scootaloo pointed out. “On that I agree with you, pegasus,” Dead Ringer responded. Despite their disapproval, Apple Bloom still held her smile strong, which soon formed into a cockier smile that said, I know something you don’t know. “What if Ah told y’all she ain’t a pony?” Her peers all tilted their heads all while exchanging confused glances with one another. Dead Ringer had no idea where she was going with this, but his attention was caught. If there was someone out there who could aid him with his wing, then maybe he could execute his plan a little sooner than he hoped. He took a step towards Apple Bloom acknowledging her. “I’m listening…” “Mah friends?” she asked, looking at her peers. “Saddle up! We’re gonna have us a little ol’ field trip.” Turning towards the door, she started heading out. “Where?” Sweetie Belle asked, her confusion growing ever more, along with that of the two flyers next to her. The answer Apple Bloom gave nearly made everyone in room fall over in shock. “The Everfree Forest!”