//------------------------------// // Can't See the Forest for the Trees // Story: In Pursuit of Happiness // by Spice of Life //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie hung her forelegs off the side of the basket, watching the enormous trees beneath the balloon move by at a sickeningly slow speed; adding the fan didn't seem to help much. Her mane hung limp as she glared at Rainbow Mesa in the distance- it was still so far away. Rarity was in trouble and her balloon was taking much too long to get them to the place where the white unicorn had been last seen. I thought I saw her running from one of the hydras into the forest. Do you think the hydras got her? Pinkie shuddered as the words from the ponies from the caravan with Rarity echoed in her mind. She stomped her hoof against the bottom of the basket. "NO, we are going to find Rarity and she will be ok..." Her voice trailed off as images of the worst kind blinked though her mind. She jumped as she felt something touch her back. "It'll be fine sug', Rarity'll be alright, you'll see." Pinkie looked at Applejack as the orange earth pony patted her back and smiled. Pinkie Pie glanced back at her then went back to staring at the trees as the balloon passed over them. "I really hope you're right Applejack. I'm sure you are, at least I hope you are, but..." She hit her hoof against the side of the basket. "I can't stop the voices from telling me we're too late and I'll never see Rarity again." Applejack leaned against Pinkie and gave her a squeeze. "Ah'm sure she'll be fine." "But what if she's not? What if the hydra go- what if she doesn't come back, what if she found somepony else?" Pinkie slid out of Applejack's hug and curled up on the floor of the basket next to the two boxes containing the cake she had specially made for Rarity. She wrapped her legs around the boxes and lifted up the lid of the top one, just enough to see Rarity's name spelled out in purple frosting on top of the cake. "I made one of these cakes for Rarity the night she first told me she loved me." She closed the lid and looked up at Applejack, tears gently dripping down her cheeks. "What if I never get to bake a cake for Rarity again?" Pinkie reached out her rear hoof and used it to jiggle a sack of flour that was sitting on the other side of the basket. "Oui, that iz correct. She has left you and she iz never coming back." Applejack did a double take and stared at the sack of flour. "Where in tarnation did that come from, that wasn't there before," she mumbled. Pinkie kept jiggling the flour sack and talking in her strange fancy sounding voice. "Parties!" Exclaimed Applejack. "Ya'll love parties, let's talk bout parties and err how much ya love em." She said, trying to think of some way to get Pinkie to focus on something besides Rarity. "Rarity never liked your parties." Tears continued to flow down Pinkie's cheeks. "Yo...your right, Madam Le Flour." She hugged the boxes of cakes tighter. This was getting worse than it had been back at Carousel Boutique. Suddenly an idea struck Applejack. She reached out and took Pinkie's head in her hooves, turning it so that the pink pony was looking up into her eyes. "What made ya fall fer Rarity?" Pinkie let go of the boxes and stared at Applejack. She sat up on her haunches and looked into Applejack's grass green eyes, slowly a smile formed on Pinkie. "Do you remember when we all went up to face the dragon who was sleeping on the mountain and his snoring was blowing smoke allllll over? "Yeah Ah do." "Well since you and Fluttershy had to come up the long way, the rest of us had to wait and the only pony who was willing to play with me was Rarity. That wasn't the first time either. I know that someponies find me annoying, sometimes even Rarity needs a break but if I really need somepony she's always there. And I know she will always be there for me since she told me so after I thought no pony wanted to come to Gummy's after birthday party but it turned out you were all planning a surprise party for me." "If ya know that Rarity is always gonna be there, then why ya letting those, errr, voices tell ya otherwise?" "I know what the voices are trying to do but when they come I'm already a sad Pinkie Pie. I don't know how to not let them get to me." "That still doesn't really answer why ya love her. Ah mean you an Rainbow Dash hangout a lot too but ya'll are just friends." "Nonononono," Pinkie shook her head. "Dashie's one of my best gal pals but I don't feel that way about her. Besides, I don't think she'll eeeeever have a special somepony. She's always telling me she'd rather focus just on friends and flying." "Ah suppose that sounds like Rainbow. So what attracted ya to Rarity?" At least Pinkie ain't focused on Rarity being missing anymore, thought Applejack. A look of tranquility came over Pinkie as her gaze drifted up into the sky. "Rarity is so generous and she wants to make everypony smile. I want to make everypony smile too but I throw everypony a super special party, she makes them beautiful dresses so they feel super special. Hehehe, I know she's a little greedy weedy when it comes to gems or beautiful things like that but I've never seen her hesitate to help out somepony." Pinkie hopped up and grinned. "She even changes her prices so everypony can afford to smile and look beautiful in one of her perfect dresses. She even made Derpy a special dress for free for her date with Dr Hooves since Derpy seems to always have trouble managing her bits." "Gosh, Ah never really though bout it like -" Applejack started to say before she was interrupted by a roar from down below. "What in tarnation was that?" Both ponies peered over the edge of the basket. Below them under the canopy of leaves they could see something moving. Something big. Pinkie leaned over the side of the basket to get a better look at the creature. She would have fallen out if Applejack hadn't grabbed her by the tail with her mouth. Applejack hauled a shivering Pinkie back into the basket. "It... it's the hydra!" She scrambled to her hooves and reached up and pulled on the ripcord. The balloon began to descend before Applejack tackled Pinkie, knocking the ripcord out of her mouth. "We can't go down there if there's a hydra down there." "But RARITY'S DOWN THERE!" Pinkie said as she struggled, trying to push Applejack off her. "WE HAVE TO GO SAVE HER!" "Calm down there Pinkie. Did ya see Rarity there?" Pinkie stopped struggling and looked up at Applejack with big wet eyes. "N-no, I didn't see her." Applejack smiled down at the pink pony and let her up. "There, ya see. It's probably the hydra that was chasin' tha caravan. They said there were two of 'em. Besides, what would we do if we crashed tha balloon here?" She reached out her hoof to help Pinkie up. "But what if she's down there?" Pinkie and Applejack both peered over the edge of the basket again. Below them the creature was thrashing under the canopy of leaves. "Ah still reckon we outta keep going till we get ta Rainbow Mesa. Ah don't see anywhere we could set down around here and ya'll said the ponies in the carriage last saw 'er round there, right?" Pinkie Pie nodded. "Then she couldn'ta gotten too far from there." "But what about the caravan, they made it back to town already." Another roar erupted from the forest and the beast knocked over a tree as it chased quickly after something then stopped. "Err yer Pinkie sense ain't tellin' ya Rarity is down there, is it?" Pinkie fidgeted before slowly answering Applejack. "Mmmmmy Pinkie sense haaaasn't reeeeally been working right since Rarity left." Applejack stared at Pinkie, Pinkie's Pinkie sense had long been an accepted barometer for weird occurrences around Ponyville. The thought of it suddenly not working was uncomfortable. "What do ya mean?" "Well usually a twitchy tail means something is going to fall but the last time something fell I had a popping shoulder and the time before that I had a loopy mane. Sometimes I don't even get a Pinkie sense before something happens. Rarity in trouble should be a doozy but I haven't had one of those in over a month and that should have been a doozy too but I didn't get one for that either." Applejack sighed. "Ah guess that explains why you've been jumpier than Winona around Granny Smith's rockin' chair, lately. Has this ever happened before?" Pinkie Pie shook her head. "I've had my Pinkie sense since I threw my first party and..." She was interrupted by a loud roar, followed by another and another and another. The two ponies looked over the edge of the basket. The tops of the trees were just underneath them. They booth looked behind the balloon and saw four big green scaly heads poking out from the canopy of leaves. Four pairs of green eyes glared at the two ponies. Applejack pressed her mouth against Pinkie's ear and whispered. "Git us out of here." Pinkie slowly stood up as two more heads joined the other four in staring at the basket. Pinkie wrapped her hoof around the cord that attached to the burner and tugged on it. The roar of the flame startled the hydra and one of its heads lunged forwards, biting into the side of the basket; the other five glared at the pink pony. Pinkie was frozen in place as the five heads surrounded her. They started licking their chops simultaneously. Applejack dove to the side of the basket and grabbed the sack of flour. She then tossed it into the air then spun around and bucked the sack right into a head that was moving towards Pinkie. The sack burst creating a thick cloud of flour. The hydra's five heads looked around, bewildered for a moment. Then each head began to sniff and snort. Applejack grabbed Pinkie and pulled her to the floor of the basket. The five heads pulled back as they snorted in air and the sixth head let go of the basket, a puzzled expression on its face as it watched the other heads curiously. "Hang on Pinkie, Ah think it's gonna..." Before she could finish, five heads as one sneezed. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The hot smelly blast of air rocketed the balloon though the sky as Pinkie and Applejack clung to each other. The basket whipped around below the out of control balloon. Eventually the basket settled beneath the balloon enough so the two mares could peek out. Behind them in the distance they could see 6 heads just poking out of the tree tops. Five of them were moving back and forth, like they were still sneezing. The sixth head appeared to be trying to hit the others, maybe bite them, thought Applejack. Applejack felt the balloon suddenly begin to shudder, she looked around and saw Pinkie bouncing up and down and pointing. "Look look look, Rainbow Mesa is right there!" Pinkie was right. Instead of just being a speck in the distance, Rainbow Mesa now loomed before them, getting bigger by the second as the balloon kept hurtling towards it. "Uhh Pinkie, ya got a way to stop this balloon before we hit it?" Pinkie tapped her hoof against her chin, her mane still hanging limply, covering one of her eyes. "Oh, I know." She exclaimed and zipped over to the side of the balloon where the fan hung. She grabbed it with her hooves and started trying to scoot it over to the other side of the balloon. Applejack watched as Pinkie slowly moved her way around the perimeter of the basket. She looked back at Rainbow Mesa. "Uhh Pinkie, ya might wanna shake a hoof, Rainbow Mesa is getting awful close." From a distance Rainbow Mesa had just looked like a brown plateau but as the balloon got closer and closer, Applejack could see the surface sparkling in the afternoon light. She shook her gaze from the mesa when Pinkie bumped into her. "Excuse me Applejack, just gotta hmph, get this... over heeere." Pinkie Pie finished positioning the fan and its whirling blades began to slow the balloon's progress. "Yay it worked." Pinkie shouted. "Whew! You were right, we would have crashed and that wouldn't have been fun." Pinkie looked around the plateau. "I wonder if there is a good spot to land around.... Oohoohooh, there." She pointed at what looked like a small clearing next to the plateau. As the balloon approached Rainbow Mesa, Applejack could see what Pinkie was pointing to. There was a rather large clearing nestled up against the plateau. Pinkie Pie reached up and pulled on the ripcord and the balloon slowly descended. When the basket touched down both Pinkie and Applejack hopped out. Pinkie began deflating the balloon while Applejack looked around. The clearing looked like it was used as a resting place for caravans going between Backwoods Glenn and Prancington. There were a few fire pits dug into the ground that were surrounded by rocks. Large logs were arranged around the fire pits, probably left over from clearing the forest and now used as benches. The only things that looked out of place were the two wrecked wagons, the large number of suitcases scattered all around the clearing and the huge hydra claw-prints. One of the wagons looked like it was just turned on its side but the other had been crushed and its rear half was ripped apart. Applejack trotted over and inspected a few suitcases that were lying in a pile next to the wreckage of the destroyed wagon. "Don't look like any of Rarity's bags," she muttered to herself and poked the pile with her hoof. It looked like they had just fallen from the wagon. One of the suitcases near the bottom had a large claw mark in the side of it that matched to a hydra footprint next to it. Applejack left the pile of suitcases and trotted over to one that was flung away from the wagon and had burst open, its contents scattered over the ground. It appeared to contain a number of outfits. They looked expensive. "Hey Pinkie," she called over to the pink pony. Pinkie Pie galloped over after she finished securing the balloon. "What did you find, Applejack? Did you find Rarity?" Applejack shook her head and pointed her hoof at the suitcase. "Any of this look like Rarity's clothes?" Pinkie bounced around the suitcase, picking up clothes and bags and flinging them away before she finally picked up the suitcase and shook it over her head causing a dress to fall onto her head. "Nope, not Rarity's" "Why don't ya look around here for any of Rarity's things and Ah'll see if I can find out what happened here." "Okey doky loky," chirped Pinkie as she bounced off to inspect the scattered luggage. Applejack smiled as she watched Pinkie. "Sounds like she's feelin' better. Now let's see what we got here." Next to the over-turned wagon there were two sets of wheel tracks that lead down the path. There were deep hoof marks between them and large hydra tracks following them. "That musta been where tha two survivin' wagons ran off." The forest along the path quickly became too dark to see through. From where she was and she could see damage to some of the trees along the path, like something big had impacted them. Applejack shivered as she thought about the hydra they had encountered on the way here. She turned back and surveyed the clearing again. Another set of hydra tracks was moving to the forest. As she followed the tracks she noticed that there was a lot of damage to the trees, in fact a couple of them where even knocked down, creating a creepy looking makeshift path into the forest. As she got closer to the forest she noticed another set of tracks that looked like they were from a pony. Squinting her eyes, Applejack tried to see further into the forest, but she could only make out more damaged trees and undergrowth before the darkness of the thick canopy cut off her vision. "Pinkie! Ah think Rarity might have gone this way," Almost before she had finished her sentence the pink pony was next to her. "Are you sure?" "Ah reckon so. Ya said the last time the ponies in the carriage saw her, she was runnin' into tha woods. Well, these are tha only pony tracks Ah see going into the woods. Looks like a hydra was after em too. Did ya'll find any of Rarity's things around here?" Pinkie nodded. "One of Rarity's bags is here, I put it next to the balloon but the other one is missing. It didn't look like there were any of her bags in the caravan in Backwoods Glenn." "Maybe she forgot it in Prancington?" Pinkie shook her head. "Nonono, she wouldn't do that. Those bags have her special fashions in them, I watched her pack. She would neeever forget them." "Ya think she took tha suitcase with her when tha hydra showed up?" "I have noooo idea." Pinkie said with a shrug. "But cmon, we gotta go find Rarity." Pinkie trotted into the forest followed closely by Applejack. "Ah don't reckon this place is as bad as tha Everfree Forest but we know there are a couple hydras around. So let's try and keep close, quiet and listen for anything around us." "But we can still talk right, it's gonna get boring if we can't talk," whispered Pinkie. "Ah suppose, just try and keep it in whispers." As the two ponies moved further into the forest their eyes adjusted to the dark shadows of their surroundings. Broken tree limbs, crushed underbrush and huge hydra foot prints left an easy path for them to follow. "Golly, that hydra was mighty ornery." Applejack said as she kicked a broken limb out of the way with her hoof. "I wonder if it had a thorn in its claw." "Ah think it would take more than a thorn to make a critter this angry." "Maybe a really big thorn?" "Ah guess." Something caught Applejack's eye. "What's that over there?" she said and she galloped ahead, pushing a broken branch off of a thorn bush with her hoof. Gingerly she poked her head into the bush as Pinkie Pie trotted up beside her. When she pulled her head out she had a ripped piece of violet cloth dangling from her mouth. She spit the cloth out. "Well at least we know that a pony came though here recently. Don't look like that cloth has been there long." Pinkie pressed her nose against the fallen piece of cloth and inhaled deeply. "I can't tell if it smells like Rarity, but it does smell like apples..." Applejack coughed "Err we should keep movin'." Pinkie Pie trotted up beside her as she started walking again. The path of destruction began to twist and turn. Following the pony's tracks was becoming more difficult. The underbrush was getting thicker and it tended to hide the tracks except when the pony had made a sharp turn, leaving deep tracks in the ground. Fortunately it was difficult to mistake where the hydra had been. The two fell into a trot; periodically they would stop and examine their surroundings. Aside from a few more scraps of cloth sticking in bushes or on low hanging branches, which Pinkie made a point of collecting for Rarity when they found her, the only constant was the trail of damaged and destroyed trees left from the pursuing hydra. Pinkie's ears perked up suddenly. "I hear something." She exclaimed and galloped ahead. Applejack chased after her. She wanted to call out for Pinkie to slow down but on the other hoof she really didn't want to make more noise than they had to. Pinkie stopped suddenly and Applejack ran into her with an "Oooof." She stumbled and shook her head. "What is it Pinkie? What did ya hear?" she asked a bit louder than she intended to. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Listen." Applejack cocked her ears forward. She did hear something... sounded like it was in a hurry and it was getting louder. "Uhh Pinkie." She was about to tell Pinkie they should hide when a chicken came rushing around the next curve in the path of destruction. "Is that a chicken...?" Its head resembled a chicken's, but as it got closer they could see green reptilian scales covering its body with two dragon wings and a long tail whipping this way and that behind it. "Cockatrice!" gasped Applejack. She grabbed Pinkie and was preparing to run when the creature let out a startled squawk and quickly retreated into the forest. The two ponies looked at each other. Then they stared at the path the cockatrice had come from. Then looked at the forest where it had retreated. "Ah think we might wanna hurry." Applejack said as she sped up her trot to a canter. Pinkie Pie did the same as she took position next to her. "Uhhh why aren't we running?" "Cuz we don't know what else is around and this is quieter than a full gallop." Applejack said as she leapt over a stream going across the path. She stopped when she realized that Pinkie wasn't following her anymore. Looking behind her she saw Pinkie standing next to the stream looking though the trees. Applejack trotted back to her. As she got closer she could see a small lake behind the trees. "What is it Pinkie?" "Nothing, I was just hoping Rarity was taking a swim, she loves swimming although probably not in a lake like that. She would probably say there were too many icky things there." Light shone though the break in the trees, creating the illusion of a tranquil, clear body of water. But, Pinkie was probably right, no telling what was under the surface and if anypony would notice what was there, it would be Rarity. "Well it doesn't look like anypony has been here so let's keep movin'." Pinkie nodded and fell into step beside Applejack again. Not long after the two came into a clearing. It didn't look like it had been there very long and it certainly hadn't been cleared by ponies. The clearing was roughly circular, it consisted of knocked down trees and trampled underbrush. Hydra and pony tracks were all over. "Gosh, Ah wonder what happened here," thought Applejack aloud. Pinkie and Applejack spread out. Looking around the clearing they could see a particularly large tree near the middle had been knocked over. Applejack walked along the length of the fallen tree. There appeared to be a large gash in the side, like something big had ran into it at that point. "Applejack," called Pinkie. "I think the hydra went this way." She said as she pointed to more damaged trees and crushed underbrush. Applejack trotted over and looked at the continuing path. Clearly there were hydra tracks going down it but the destruction didn't seem as bad as the path they had arrived using, like the hydra wasn't chasing anything when it had left. Plus, while the pony tracks did come near here, none of them seemed to be going down it at all. "Ah don't think the pony came this way. Ah don't see any pony tracks going this way." Pinkie hung her head low and went back to walking around the clearing while Applejack went back to the tree in the middle. "What happened here Rarity?" Pinkie whispered to herself as she looked around. "It almost looks like some kind of fight but..." She trailed off as she kept circling the perimeter. The hydra and pony prints reminded her of a 'dance step' sheet Rarity had used to try and teach her how to properly dance. As Pinkie circled the clearing she noticed something. The hydras claw prints seemed to almost all be facing inward, toward the middle of the clearing, like something had been keeping its body pointed that direction. She rubbed her chin with her hoof as she looked at the tree in the middle of the clearing. She trotted over to where it had been knocked down and saw that above the impact point were deep marks where the bark had been rubbed away. Ohohoh, I got it!" She shouted. Applejack ran over to Pinkie and covered her mouth. "Easy there sug, try and keep it down, we still don't know what else might be around here. Now what did ya get?" Pinkie blew her mane out of her eye. "I think I know what happened here. Rarity tricked the hydra so it ran into this tree and wrapped its heads around it then she ran around in a circle till it got all tangled up." "Ah think yer right but it still doesn't tell us where she went. Don't look like it went down the same path as the hydra did." Pinkie Pie started hopping up and down. "Then where did she GO!" She yelled. "We have to find HER!" Applejack leapt and tackled Pinkie to the ground, covering her mouth with her hoof. "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." She raised her head and slowly scanned the forest around the clearing, her ears flicking this way and that. When she was satisfied that nothing was watching them she leaned her head down to Pinkie's ear and quietly but firmly whispered. "Keep it down, Ah know yer worried bout her but if a hydra comes after us or that cockatrice shows up again then we can't keep lookin' for her since we're gonna be on the run." She gave the forest another quick scan then looked back down at the pink pony. "Now are ya gonna keep it down?" Pinkie nodded. "Good," with that she removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth. Pinkie looked up at her with wet eyes. "Sorrysorrysorry but I don't want to be here anymore, I want to be looking for Rarity. I want to find Rarity." She hopped up to her feet and shook herself, her limp mane and tail flapping all around her. She stopped shaking and stood with her legs spread and her head lowered then she let out a long sign. "I'm sorry, I'm just getting really worried." Pinkie felt something warm against her side, Applejack had pressed herself against Pinkie's side and wrapped her leg around Pinkie's neck. "Ah know sugarcube, Ah'm worried bout Rarity too but this place ain't like Canterlot where we can just ask somepony for directions. If we get lost here, even if we do find Rarity, we could all end up in trouble. Let's keep looking around here and try and figure out where the pony ran off too. Sound good?" Pinkie nodded. "Good, ya take that side" Applejack pointed to one side of the clearing, separated by the fallen tree in the middle. "An Ah'll take this side. Don't worry, we'll find where she ran off to." Applejack smiled at Pinkie then moved over to her side and started examining the tracks on the ground. Pinkie sighed again and started looking for pony tracks. They wrapped around the clearing a few times but it was difficult to tell where they went. She walked back and forth along the forest looking for tracks, hoping that the pony tracks didn't just disappear since that meant... She shuddered and tried to push the thought out of her head. After her fifth or sixth time walking next to the woods Pinkie thought she saw a hoof print going through the trees. She poked her head into the forest but didn't see more hoof prints. There were two trees close together just ahead of her and one of them had a piece of violet cloth hanging off its bark. "Applejack... APPLEJACK, OVER HERE!" She called, trying to be quiet but still loud enough to get the orange pony's attention. "What did ya find?" asked Applejack as she trotted up behind Pinkie. "Rarity came though here! Look." Pinkie pointed at the piece of cloth hanging from the tree. Applejack examined the ground around the tree, she could see evidence that somepony had moved though here recently. Broken low hanging branches, tramped bushes and a scrap of violet cloth hanging from a tree created a faint path for them to follow. "Ok Pinkie, let's go." The path was only really big enough for one pony at a time. Pinkie took the lead and Applejack followed. "Ohhh, I hope we find her soon, I also wish she left a better trail to follow, it's hard to see with all this dark around." It had been hard enough to see when they were following the path of broken trees left by the hydra, but now the forest was undamaged and the leaves created an almost impenetrable shield against Celestia's sun. Stray shafts of sunlight illuminated the forest just enough so that Pinkie and Applejack could follow the path left by the pony. A noise like something dragging came up from behind her, Pinkie looked to see Applejack walking funny. "Are you ok Applejack?" "Ah'm just fine but I wanna make sure we can find our way back so Ah'm making a better trail than... 'ugh' Rarity left us." With each step Applejack was dragging her rear hoof along the ground, making a very noticeable indentation. She still wasn't convinced the pony they were following was Rarity but the one thing she did know was that there was a pony lost in this forest. "Ohhhhhhhh, thats a really good idea, maybe I should make another trail, that way we have two to follow." "Nah, Ah think one will be fine, Pinkie." The two fell silent as Pinkie tried to follow the path left by the pony. Occasionally she would lose the trail and the two would have to back track a short distance to find it again. Periodically Pinkie would find another scrap of cloth, which she would add to her collection for when they found the pony they were pursuing. Eventually the forest grew darker as the few rays of sunlight that made it past the leaves above them became fainter. Applejack managed to scoot up beside Pinkie and whispered "it's gettin' dark. We oughta find someplace to hunker down. If we keep walkin' around, we'll get just as lost as Rarity." "I want to keep looking." "Ah know, sug, but if we get lost then who is gonna find her and us?" Pinkie's head hung low. "I guess you're right." "Buck up there Pinkie. We ain't gonna leave her behind. Now keep an eye out for a cave or under a tree or someplace we can bed down. Ah'd rather not have to sleep in a bush." The two kept walking as it got darker. Pinkie stopped and pointed at a large tree just a little ways away from the path. "I think I can see a den or something under the roots of that tree, maybe we can sleep there." Applejack trotted over to the tree and examined it. The tree was growing on the side of a hill and something had dug into it, creating a small crevice under the tree. It looked sturdy enough. The roots from the tree were thick and the dirt walls were compacted tightly. "Yer right, it looks like its big enough to fit a couple a' ponies down there." Applejack crawled under a thick root that made up the top of the entrance, followed closely by Pinkie Pie. "Do you think maybe Rarity was here also?" "Don't rightly know sugar cube, maybe. Ah can't imagine her in a place like this, but if she was then it would be this clean." Something had made the effort to ensure the den was clean; there was no loose dirt, dead leaves, or sticks on the floor at all. Pinkie Pie curled up on her side of the den and Applejack laid down on the other side. The sounds of crickets and frogs slowly began to fill the air as night crept over the forest. The symphony of the forest reminded Applejack of warm summer nights back at Sweet Apple Acres and gently-lulled her to sleep. ----- Something woke Applejack up. She didn't know what it was or how long she had been asleep but she was sure she had heard something. Her ears twitched as she listened for it again but all she could hear were crickets and the gentle rustling of leaves as a calm breeze blew over the forest. She lifted her head up and tried to see if anything was out of place, but the forest was almost pitch black. The best she could do was see a vague outline of the entrance of to the den. Fear slowly began to build in her stomach. What if whatever had made this den had decided to come back? She was about to wake up Pinkie so they could prepare to fight when she heard a whimpering come from beside her. Applejack could just manage to see the pink pony curled into a ball on the other side of the den. It looked like she was shivering and she kept whimpering like a wounded animal. Applejack thought she even heard Pinkie say 'Rarity' but that might have been the wind. Applejack lay there for a long moment, listening to the forest and the sounds of her friend. What would Rarity do if she saw Pinkie like this? Eventually she decided and scooted over to Pinkie. She wrapped her forelegs around her friend. Pinkie shudder against her touch. "Shhhhhhhhh," she gently whispered into Pinkie's ear, "it's gonna be alright sugar cube." She could feel Pinkie relax and fall into a peaceful slumber next to her. She sighed and laid her head on Pinkie's neck as she drifted off to asleep again, this time with her forelegs around her friend. ------ Applejack woke with a start when she felt movement against her. She blinked in the light of the early morning as shafts of sunlight stabbed down from the forest canopy. She looked down and saw Pinkie snoring away against her. Applejack carefully extracted herself from around the pink mare. She just finished when Pinkie suddenly hopped up, spun around once and then fell stiffly forward onto her face. Applejack watched her for a moment then suddenly heard snoring. "Ugh, Pinkie," no reply. "Pinkie!" she said and poked her friend in the side. Pinkie fell over onto her side then suddenly she hopped back up onto her hooves "Yes Applejack?" She said with a smile across her face as her hair poofed into its usual pink puffiness. "G'mornin Pinkie. Somepony sure seems to have woken up in a good mood." "I know," Pinkie said as she trotted out of the burrow and started looking for the trail they were following. "I was having nightmares... Ahh here it is," she started walking along the forest again with Applejack close behind her. The two walked in silence for awhile, Pinkie Pie carefully following the trail and Applejack dragging her hoof to make an easier path to follow back. "So what kinda dreams did ya have? Ah wouldn't expect ya to wake up so perky after having nightmares." asked Applejack, breaking the silence. "Hehehehe, well it didn't stay a nightmare. It started out with all my imaginary friends surrounding me and telling me I was a bad Pinkie for loving Rarity and that she was never coming back and had found somepony else. Rocky was especially mean and kept saying that Rarity was... gone forever," she turned her head and looked at Applejack. "But then just as I started to believe they were right I felt Rarity give me a big hug and she told me everything would be ok. She even called me sugarcube." Pinkie said with a huge grin on her face. Applejack pulled her hat down to cover her face as she felt a slight warmth creep along her cheeks. "Well that does sound mighty sweet of her." "Oh yeah, its super sweet of her but I can't figure out why she called me 'sugarcube.' I've never heard her call me that before, sometimes she does call me her 'frisky spinel' do you think she is gonna start calling me sugarcube now? It does kinda have a nice ring to it, suuuuuuugaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr cuuuuuuuubbbbbbbbbbe." "Yeah real nice, oh look is that another lake," asked Applejack, still covering her face with her hat as she pointed her hoof at a shimmering body of water just between some trees "Ya think it's the lake from before?" Pinkie stopped and poked her head though the trees. "Mmmmmmaaaaaybe it's hard to tell, the other lake didn't look this big buuuuuut..." She gave an exaggerated shrug. "I don't know." She bounced back to the trail and started following it again. Applejack couldn't help but smile as she watched Pinkie hop along. It was good to see her happy again. She trotted after Pinkie while still keeping her hoof dragging along behind her. She heard Pinkie begin to hum and was tempted to join her before she remembered where they were and that they had been following the tracks of a hydra. She reached out with her hoof and tapped Pinkie's flank. "Ya might wanna keep it down. Much as I like yer hummin we are sti..." She was cut off by a loud roar that echoed though the forest. Both ponies stopped. Applejack quickly scanned the forest. "What was that?" She asked, an undercurrent of panic in her voice. Pinkie was standing stock still, not even her ears were moving. She was just facing straight ahead. Applejack poked her flank again. "Pinkie," she whispered. "Pinkie..." Pinkie kept staring into the forest ahead of them till she finally said, "It's coming from this direction," and pointed her hoof at the forest in front of them. "Is it close? Maybe we should head back to the den and lay low for a bit," said Applejack as she slowly began to back away. Pinkie Pie suddenly darted forward. Applejack hesitated, "Ah hope Ah don't regret this," she said as she chased after the pink pony. As they ran to their unknown destination the forest seemed to open up. The underbrush dwindled and the trees spaced out more. They didn't have a chance to enjoy the new openness before another, louder, roar erupted from somewhere close, just ahead of them. Pinkie Pie raced forward leaving Applejack behind, galloping full speed to catch up. Applejack dodged around a tree and saw that Pinkie had come to a stop just ahead of her. She skidded to a halt next to Pinkie and saw what had caught the pink pony's attention. Just ahead of them was a chimera, its goat head hung limply from its side, its snake tail swished around behind it and its lion head was staring with a maddened look in its eyes, at a pony standing opposite it. The pony was facing away from Applejack and Pinkie. It appeared to be a mare but it might just be a small stallion; it was hard to tell since the pony was covered in dirt and mud with sticks and brambles in its mane and tail. Not even its cutie mark was visible. Applejack and Pinkie both gasped as the chimera suddenly lunged at the pony. The pony waited till the last moment then jumped up. The chimera sailed under it and tried to raise its lion head, chomping at the pony. The unknown pony was faster. It thrust down with its rear hooves, connecting with the back of the chimera's head sending the creature crashing into a tree. The pony spun around, ready for another attack by the chimera, but it appeared to be knocked out. Only the snake head was still thrashing around; by itself it didn't appear to be much of a threat. Applejack was the first to catch her breath. "Dang, that was amazin," she said quietly, "but Ah guess that ain't Rar..." "RARITY!" Pinkie shouted as she zoomed out of the forest and tackled the surprised pony. Both ponies rolled over each other then fell into a heap on the forest floor. Applejack trotted forward so she could pull Pinkie off whoever that pony was when she hear a familiar voice say. "P....Pinkie!?" "OH RARITY!" Pinkie wrapped her legs around the stunned pony and kissed her all over. "I missed you so much, I was soooooooo worried something had happened to you. I knew you would be..." Rarity suddenly shrieked and pushed Pinkie off of her. "ACK GET AWAY!" She shouted and scrambled behind Applejack. With those three words all the color drained out of Pinkie Pie's world.