"Are you sure about this Apple Bloom? Remember what happened with Miss Fluttershy and the Cockatrice?" Sweetie Belle asks, looking warily at the darkened entrance to the Everfree Forest.
"Ah'm sure, after all, this here's the part closest to Sweet Apple Acres, can you think of a safer way to get our monster catcher Cutie Marks?" Apple Bloom ripostes, the filly simultaneously seeking her friend's understanding while also trying to calm her nerves.
"I... I don't know... we could always try catching Mister Lero..." Sweetie Belle offers nervously, not really believing her alternative would be accepted, but feeling compelled to try anyway.
Apple Bloom snorts at that, "And do ya remember what happened the last time we tried something like that, dragon catcher Cutie Marks? Granny done tanned my hide for that, something about respecting stallions, even if they ain't ponies."
"Yeah, so quit trying to get out of it!" Scootaloo said in her raspy voice, "Besides, you can't tell me that monster catcher Cutie Marks wouldn't be awesome."
"But how are we even going to catch it..." Sweetie Belle's voice trails off into a murmur.
"Don't worry, I've brought plenty of rope, and if something does go wrong we can always run back to the farm, trust me, it's fine," Apple Bloom states carefully, putting all of the reassurance she can into her answer. It seems to work as Sweetie Belle relaxes just a bit, and Scootaloo just rolls her eyes, exasperated at her friend's antics.
The forest quickly becomes darker as they travel deeper into the Everfree, the trees becoming gnarled and twisted, occasionally they see wounds on the trees that look like old scratch marks. As they march on even Scootaloo is getting nervous, the sense of being watched is almost unbearable as ancient prey instincts came to the fore.
"Ugh! What the Tartarus is that smell?! It's like somepony mixed fresh trash with old garbage, then mixed in a little manure for good measure," Scootaloo rants, hoof waving in front of her muzzle to ward off the odious stench.
"Scootaloo, language!" squeaks Sweetie Belle, expression scandalized. Scootaloo merely shrugs in response, not looking particularly repentant.
"Ah think it's comin' from over thar'," says Apple Bloom, pointing towards a nearby clearing with one hoof while blocking her nostrils with another, her face scrunched in displeasure.
"Girls, I really, really think we should leave, something doesn't feel right about all of this..." Sweetie Belle trails off, her flight instincts overriding any of the disgust she might normally feel while her herding instincts told her to stick with the group. The conflicting feelings were making the already excitable filly even more distracted and jumpy than she was normally.
"Hey, I found something!" calls Scootaloo, a hint of excitement in her voice, "It kind of looks lik- EEEWWWWWW!" she shrieks, "Oh that is just gross, you girls gotta come over and see this!"
Curiosity overwhelming both her fear and her disgust Apple Bloom canters ahead to meet her friend. Sweetie Belle stands there, dancing on her hooves in her nervousness, eyes twitching to look at the trail behind her and muttering a quick prayer to Celestia.
"What in tarnation is tha- ughhh. It looks like that one time a squirrel got trapped under Big Mac's plow," Apple Bloom mutters in disgust.
"Sweetie Belle, get your flank over here!" Scootaloo shouts, her frustration with her friend reaching a boiling point.
Realizing her Alpha was mad with her, Sweetie Belle quickly trots up, her whispered, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..." clearly audible in the quiet forest.
The source of the smell in question looks vaguely like one of the pigs at Sweet Apple Acres, the difference being that this creature is both bigger and covered in thick, matted hair, in front of it's snout are two dirty tusks. If the smell isn't enough to tell that the strange, pig-like creature is dead, than the fact that it's underside is in bloody tatters certainly makes it abundantly clear.
"What do you think happened to it?" Scootaloo asks in a stage whisper, her excitement even more obvious than the acute disgust she doesn't quite succeed in masking.
"What do ya think it even is?" asks Apple Bloom, her intrigue fading quickly into discomfort. The feeling of being watched comes back and it makes the fur on the back of her neck stand straight up.
"Oh dear... oh dear... we have to go, we have to go NOW!" Sweetie Belle shrieks shrilly, her normally submissive nature shattering as her panic boils over, every one of her senses screaming for her to bolt as quickly as possible.
Scootaloo swivels around expression thunderous, but Apple Bloom quickly cuts her off and puts in her own two bits, "Sweetie Belle's right, we should go."
Scootaloo looks shocked, her incredulity coming across clear as day in the deadpan stare she shot Apple Bloom.
"Something ain't right here and you know it," she states in a frustrated voice, narrowing her eyes and pointing her hoof to further emphasize her point.
Scootaloo rolls her eyes and lets out a frustrated huff, "Fine, if all you want to be ba-" *SNAP*! The sound of a twig snapping under the weight of something heavy draws attention from the three fillies, shortly after comes a bass, rumbling growl and the sounds of large beast lumbering into view.
"AAAHHH!" a sharp scream erupts from Sweetie Belle, soon joined by sounds of panic from all three fillies echo throughout the surrounding area.