Earlier
"YAY!!!" The Crusaders jumped into the air and high-hooved each other, then slowly floated back down until they reached the ground, and ran towards the
backdoor to Fluttershy's backyard.
"Aw, yeah! It worked!" Scootaloo flitted her wings from excitement as soon as the backyard door closed and they were alone outside. "Now, you can show us how you teleport, Sweetie Belle!"
"Ah don't know if this was a good idea after all. Ah mean, Applejack said that telling a lie is no better than not telling anything. Especially after the Flim-Flam tonic incident, I think that this is probably pretty tha' same thing," Applebloom said with curiosity, a hint of guilt hidden ln her voice.
"Nah, probably not the same. But, if your chicken, Applebloom, then you can just sit out and watch us, if you want that is." Scootaloo's fake uninterested expression blew at her hoof rather casually.
"Why you--! Ah'm not a chicken, you chicken! C'mon, Sweetie Belle lets get to it!" Applebloom glared at her Pegasus friend then walked past to her Unicorn friend.
"Uh, ok. Let's see, now. Imagine where you are. Fluttershy's backyard, right next to the Everfree Forest. It's almost dark, cool breeze, aaaand focus. Okay! Let's teleport!" Sweetie recited the steps Twilight told her, but she felt like she forgot one thing Twilight warned her about.
"Hurry up a bit, Sweeties. I think I hear Twilight and 'dem 'bout ta come out here."
"Okay, okay. I just feel weird, like there's a tingly sensation going on in my horn. You know how to get an itch that doesn't go away?" Sweetie lightly tapped the magical cone growing out of her forehead.
"Are you feeling ill. Are you getting sick, you have to teleport us if you're getting a cold or something. We could forget about the whole thing if you want," Scootaloo asked with concern, not that anyone noticed or anything.
"Uh, no. Thanks, I'm not feeling awesome, but it's nothing to worry about. I just feel like I have a lot of pent up energy. I'm sure I'll be fine, though." Sweetie waved it off with a nonchalant hoof, but Scootaloo looked unusually worried. "Geez, Scootaloo. Since when did you become so overprotective?"
"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm the same as ever!" Scootaloo puffed out her chest and raised her head high with closed eyes.
"Noo, you're being kind of sensitive and overly-caring, Scoots. It's like you're being th' opposite of ya normal personality. Ya sure ya are feeling alright?" Applebloom asked skeptically, yet somehow saying it in a cocky tone. "Ya' wanna' go home? Ya' might damage a feather, chicken!"
"What?! No! I'm not, not...acting, being... ugh , my head hurts." Scootaloo sat down on her haunches and rubbed her temples with her front hooves.
"Aww, calm down, ya big baby. Now let's git this here teleportation done and over with." Applebloom walked towards Scootaloo, grabbed her tail in her mouth and pulled her to Sweetie Belle. She looked to be in a state of consentration and peace.
Sweetie Belle looked up from her hooves and out of her reverie when she heard a thud in front of her. What she saw was a curled up Scootaloo with her hooves covering her face and an annoyed looking Applebloom who had a grimace-like-frown upon her face. "Uuhh...are you girls okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Can't say the same for Miss Scaredy-Cat over here." Applebloom looked down at the shivering Pegasus.
"I am NOT a scaredy-cat! And, um, y-yes, I-I guess I'm alright. T-thank you for asking, Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo sat up a little, leaning on her front hooves. "C-can we s-start now?"
Sweetie looked at both of them incredulously before she shook her head to herself. "Uh, sure. Just, um, I need to get grounded first," She sat down firmly and gripped the ground tightly. "Next, I have to look at my surroundings and know where I am." She looked around to see the back of Fluttershy's cottage, an opening to the Everfree Forest, where they first entered to catch Elizabeak, directly across from the Pegasus' humble abode. I wonder if she still remembers us from last time. We should go say hi to her. Maybe after Applebloom and Scootaloo stop acting so weird. "Okay, we're in the back of Fluttershy's cottage and in front of the Everfree Forest. Lastly, know where you're going to teleport." Now, where should I teleport? Ooh! Maybe, in front of Fluttershy's house. Yeah, and then I could teleport back and, just to spook them back to normal, maybe a few feet away from the Everfree? Yes, perfect! "Uh, check!"
"Now?" Applebloom looked absolutely aggravated by the long wait.
"Yeah, yeah. Just relax. Okay, now, to be able to teleport with a beginner Unicorn you must have physical contact. So, each of you, please, give me one of your hooves." Sweetie took Applebloom and Scootaloo's held out hooves and clasped her hooves around them. Sweetie scrunched her eyes together and concentrated hard, so hard to the point she started sweating.
She felt a tingling sensation spouting from her horn just the same as the last time. That's weird. My horn doesn't feel like this when I'm levitating something, and Twilight definitely didn't tell me about any first-time teleporting symptoms. I'm probably just coming down with something, I'll sleep it off later. Sweetie cracked her eyes open and saw darkness; the full moon was flashing exponentially bright that night, seeing the Everfree standing boldly in front of her, she thought to herself. How did we turn towards the Everfree? That forest is so weird, and creepy. Mostly both. Wait, what was the place I was supposed to be teleporting to? The--the, um..I-I forgot. Wow, the Everfree Forest is so beautiful under the bright light of the full moon. Wait a minute, why can't I take my mind off of the Forest. Sweetie scrunched her eyes together again, then, just as quickly as she closed them, they opened to the sound of a pony's shout somewhere behind.
"STOP! NO, DON'T!"
The voice sounded like Twilight's, but it faded away into a fuzzy and distant vibration. The Unicorn filly relaxed as a feeling of warmth spread throughout her entire being. She saw bright green light glow all around her. She felt like she saw being pulled in all directions, spinning around, she also was getting a terrible headache from it. It was all beautiful, nonetheless, and as soon as the light and spinning, the pulling and the warmth occurred, vanished just as quickly as they had come.
Now, all Sweetie BeBelle saw was near-darkness, and felt a cold breeze flow through her mane. She looked to her side to see Applebloom looking around kind of confused, she looked prepared to fight off anything that tried to attack them. Sweetie looked to her other side to find a scared-out-of-her-wits Scootaloo curled up in a little ball, her tiny wings extending from her back and twitching every now-and-then, with her hooves wrapped over her head and eyes scrunched shut. "W-where are we? Applebloom? Scootaloo? Any idea?"
Applebloom snorted, then stomped a hoof in the ground and turned towards Sweetie Belle with a more gentler expression. "Hmm, I'd say we're right smack dab in the middle of the Everfree Forest."
"How could you guess?" Sweetie tilted her head to the side a little.
"You said that you have to concentrate on a specific place in order to teleport d'ere, right?" Applebloom waited until she received a small nod, then continued. "Well, when you started the teleportation you were taking a long time to focus, so I looked up and saw you were squintin' at the Forest, don't know how we turned to it, d'ough. Now, I know you probably didn't mean for d'is ta 'appen, I saw ya, it looked like you were tinking mighty hard 'bout something, but d'at don't madder now."
"Yeah, uh, yeah, we should be thinking on how to get back. Sorry for this happening, girls. I'll take the blame when we get back." Sweetie dropped her head and poked small holes in the ground with her front hoof, until she felt a comforting hoof on her shoulder. Sweetie Belle turned around to see Scootaloo smiling encouragingly down at her, then she hugged Sweetie.
"No. It's not your fault. It's mine, Sweetie Belle. And, partially Applebloom's."
" 'Ey!"
"Hehmhm. Relax, Applebloom. Anyway, I shouldn't have influenced you to do something you clearly weren't trained enough in. So, don't be sorry, when I should be apologizing, I'm sorry." Scootaloo tightened her embrace, then let go.
"Thank you, Scootaloo, but, it's all our faults, not just yours." Sweetie smiled back at Scootaloo and took a step a back when she heard Applebloom 'shhh' them. "What's wrong?"
"You hear 'dat?" Applebloom said it hushed, like she was afraid of what she heard.
"W-what?" Scootaloo was sounding scared again.
"Grrrrrrr. Rrrrrrrr
It was a terrifying growling, it bore deep into their ears, letting the Crusaders know that this was an animal, no, not only an animal, a predator.
Applebloom was the first to figure out that they should stand their ground instead of standing there like bait for whatever this thing is. "Stand completely still, Do. Not. Move. It's okay. Don't panic, it's probably just a Tasmanian devil or something." She said strained, through her frozen lips.
Another loud, menacing growl resounded throughout the Forest, closer, hungrier.
Suddenly, a pair of piercing, glowing, bright yellow eyes appeared from the bushes before the Crusaders. And connected to those intense eyes was a face, with a wooden snout with huge, intimidating, sharp teeth with the largest canines, too. A snarl came from the feral beast and then a horrifying roar. The Cutie Mark Crusaders did the only thing they could do in a situation like theirs. They panicked.
"AAAAaaaaahhhhHHH!!!!!!!!!!"