It was hard to see my own nose in front of my face as the night grew darker the further we headed into the woods. Applejack was right beside me, following my every step while I kept looking down at the hoofprints beneath us. The forest seemed to get darker the further in we went. None of that mattered, though, because I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to those three fillies. I was thankful that my dad had taken me hunting a few times in my childhood, or else I wouldn't be of any use to Applejack now.
"Dear Celestia, please be ok..." I heard Applejack say. I had never seen her this scared before, not even in any episodes. Here she was, running down a foalnapper who took her own sister and her friends, and now we were on the hunt for them. "Johnny, are we goin' the right way?" I had to admit, it was getting harder to see the ground as we ran, but I couldn't tell her that. I just nodded as we kept following the trail.
"Huh, you hear that?" The sound of faint barking followed behind us. Applejack and I turned swiftly as we met a small dog at our feet, or hooves in her case.
"Winona?" Applejack sighed. "Gosh, ya scared me, girl." Winona barked as she circled around us. I wondered what she was doing here, but Applejack seemed to mind her company. "Winona, ya'll need to get back home. We're trying to find Applebloom and the girls." Winona stared at her as if she knew what she was saying, tilting her head at the mention of Applebloom. That gave me an idea. I took the ribbon out of my pocket and held it to her nose.
"What in the hay are you-"
"Shh." I watched as Winona sniffed the ribbon before barking madly, running around us once more. "Winona, follow the smell, girl." She barked as she darted off into the woods.
'How'd you do that?" Applejack asked me while we ran after her, darting around trees further and further into the woods.
"Back in my world, some humans can befriend dogs and teach them to track specific people or animals. Mostly dogs help human law enforcement to track down drug dealers and bring them to justice."
"Oh wow, that sounds pretty useful,Johnny." She smiled. I didn't want to tell her about hunting dogs, as that might be a little too much. What I told her wasn't far from the truth though. It looked like we were on the right trail, and it seemed like Winona was a born hunting dog. She practically knew exactly where to go.
Before we knew it, Winona had stopped at a tree and began growling at the space in front of us.
"What is it girl?" Applejack asked. Soon after we began to hear a sound like someone or somepony coming after us from the front. Applejack looked like she was ready to jump on whatever was coming. I took a step in front of her to see closer into the darkness. Before we knew it, something was panting heavily as it ran, and from the pitch it sounded like a young filly. The purple mane and orange coat finally alerted us to who was coming after us.
"Scootaloo?!" Applejack and I exclaimed as she crashed into my knees, knocking me over. "What's going on?" Applejack held her as she cried her eyes out with her head buried in her chest. Scootaloo hyperventilated, gasping for breath as she tried to form words from all the excitement.
"Apple...apple..." She gasped. "You gotta help, please." She cried.
"Scootaloo, what's wrong? Where are Sweetie Belle and Applebloom?" I asked, trying to console her. She looked at me, tears falling from her eyes.
"Johnny, you can climb stuff, right?" She asked me.
"Uh, what now?"
"You need to climb up something... get to her... be careful." She cried. "Applebloom, they hurt her really bad. I tried to fly out, but my wings aren't that good, so I fell." She showed us her broken wing. Applejack looked like she was about to cry herself.
"What did they do to my sister?" Applejack asked, horrified.
"It all happened so fast. They tied Sweetie up in a sack and stuffed her in one of the rooms. When they came for Applebloom, she fought back as hard as she could. I wanted to help her, but all I could do was stand there, frozen. They..." She whimpered. "They kicked her around and threw her against the wall. There was so much blood coming from her face, I thought she was going to die. I ran as fast as I could out the window, hoping I could fly away to get help, but... Oh Applejack, I'm so sorry!" She cried hysterically.
"It's not your fault, Scoots. There was nothing you could do. What do these ponies look like?" I asked her.
"They were pretty tall. Both were stallions, I know that. I couldn't see their faces, they kept something over their heads to keep us from seeing them. Oh, they were also unicorns, I think." She said, still sobbing. "Please help them."
I looked over at Applejack, who was practically shaking with rage. I could scarcely imagine the images running through her head right now, two stallions beating up her defenseless sister. She could only be assuming that the two had something terrible planned for the little filly.
"Scootaloo, where are they?" Applejack finally said.
"I wasn't running long, they're just up a-" She didn't finish before Applejack barreled past us, tears welling up in her eyes. It didn't take long before Scootaloo and I turned around and followed her to whatever lay ahead.
And hopefully we'd get there before something worse happened to Applebloom.