//------------------------------//
// Zebras and Unicorns 
// Story: Breaking Cute 
// by GoldenState3 
//------------------------------//

"She knows! How could she know!" Scootaloo shouted as soon as they were out of the hospital. 

"She knows nothing!" Apple Bloom replied. "She made a guess. She didn't say anything about Ricin. She was thinking that Babs ate a plant that she shouldn't 'a. That's a long way from Ricin."

Sweetie Belle wasn't so sure. Something told her that Zecora would be able to identify the signs of Ricin poisoning immediately. They'd gotten the Ricin from the beans themselves, and they hadn't done any magic to produce it. That seemed to mean that the Ricin was a naturally part of the plant. If there was one thing that Zecora knew, it was plants. 

"We can't go to Zecora's!" Sweetie Belle announced. 

"If we don't, Twilight will know something was up!" Scootaloo said. 

"Not if we get lost in the Everfree Forest." Apple Bloom replied. 

Apple Bloom was right. Although Twilight Sparkle had told them to just go to Fluttershy and have her get Zecora, that wasn't how the Cutie Mark Crusaders rolled. If they hadn't have been behind Bab's infirmity, they'd have blundered into the Everfree by now. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had already taken off at a gallop down the path leading into the forest. Sweetie Belle hoped that they didn't get into too much trouble. 

Once they entered the forest, it immediately got dark. Even on a good day, with an experienced woods pony like Fluttershy, it was fairly easy to get lost in the forest. But, judging by the Crusader's luck in the past, they wouldn't be able to get lost when they wanted to. 

Up ahead, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had found a safe looking hollow tree. They hadn't come that far off the path, so they'd easily be able to find rescuers when the right time came around. 

"I didn't think it would be so scary." Sweetie Bell said. 

Now that detection was no longer the primary concern, the enormity of what had happened had come bubbling up. The hospital was the scariest thing she'd ever seen. Sure, there had been worse things on the video with the monkeys, but that hadn't involved ponies. It was one thing to see a monkey batter another monkey to death, quite another to see a dying pony. 

"You said we'd only use a little." Scootaloo said. 

"I did! You heard Applejack! Babs is going to be fine." Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie could tell that even Apple Bloom didn't quite believe that Babs was going to be okay. Sweetie had seen sick pony's before, but never that sick. Part of her wanted to run back to the hospital, and confess to Applejack, and beg for mercy. They couldn't. If Babs died, that would make them, well she didn't know the word to call someone who knew killed another pony. She wasn't even sure if there was a word for it.  Something told her if that they were ever discovered, Celestia's statue garden was going to be getting three brand new statues. 

Outside in the growing night, creatures roamed about, looking for food. For some reason, the animals of the Everfree were able to feed themselves. Sweetie had always found this the creepiest part about the Everfree. It somehow managed to care for itself without the involvement of any pony. For a pony who was used to the managed and regulated world of Ponyville, this was almost as scary as the dark, or timber wolves. 

Sweetie felt a gentle touch on her shoulders. It was Apple Bloom. She was hugging onto to them. Now she felt safer. The dark and it's creatures were no longer the main concern. But, this was a mixed blessing. With the dark out of the way, the real horror could settle in. 

They'd killed Babs. Even if their original use of the Ricin hadn't done it on its own, their current disappearance into the Everfree would have sealed her fate. Ponies were a peculiar folk, prone to panic at the puniest predicaments. With two life and death crises competing for attention, most ponies would move to the most recent predicament. That would be the Crusaders. Even the hospital staff that had previously caring for Babs would probably end up searching for the Crusaders before the night was out. That was just how pony kind worked. 

Outside on the path, there were ponies passing at regular intervals. That meant that the search of the Everfree was well underway. 

"How long should we wait?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't know!" Apple Bloom said. "I've never had to do this before. No pony has!"