It was a warm spring day as Apple Bloom ran past Fluttershys cottage, the wind in her mane as she giggled happily, running down the path towards the Everfree Forest. Most ponies would avoid going in there, however Apple Bloom was late on meeting her zebra friend Zecora who lived in the forest, not too far in deep that it would be dangerous but still, caution was needed to brave the path to her little cottage.
The smell of odd combination of herbs and spices seemed to fill her little nostrils as Apple Bloom finally arrived. Her little hoof pounded on the zebra's door.
"Heeeeeyyyy Zecora~" She yelled in her southern accent, adorable as it was.
"Hello young Apple Bloom, please take a seat, I was just cutting up some of the beats." She said in her usual rhyming way, which Apple Bloom always seemed to wonder why as she walked inside the cottage.
"Makin' some brew again, Zecora? Whatcha makin’!" The curious girl sniffed the brew in her pot.
"Nothing to extreme my silly friend, just a mix of vegetables to blend." she grabbed a carrot with her tail throwing it into the brew as she stirred with a spoon using her mouth.
Apple Bloom's mind started to drift as she got bored, rather quick. She watched Zecora add more to her stew as the filly walked about the zebra's small cottage. It was filled with odd trinkets, possibly for magical purpose, until she came upon a bookshelf filled with interesting books. Normally Apple Bloom wouldn't bother with books since her friends didn't find them appealing at first, but something seem to get her attention.
"Folk Lore of Everfree?" She said the title to herself, "What's a.. 'folk lore'?"
"Folklore is something of legend you see, a lot of mystical animals live in Everfree. From dragons to chimera - all are in this book, come now, let us both take a quick look."
Zecora grabbed the book with her tail, walking with Apple Bloom bouncing beside her, as they sat the book on the table.
"So where to begin our little text, perhaps it's best to consult the table of contents." Zecora said turning the page, "Chimera, Dragon, and more to choose from, say Apple Bloom why won't you pick some?"
Apple Bloom hopped on a seat, which wiggled a bit before it settled. Zecora giggled at the filly's can-do spirit as she let the little pony choose from the large selection the book offered.
"Hey Zecora, what’s this here?" Apple Bloom asked as her hoof pointed to the last selection on the entire list which read "The Pony of Everfree.."
"Well this is an odd story I'm sure, let’s take a look and lets hope its not a bore." She said, making a bit of fun of Apple Bloom's tendency to drift. She turned the pages until the one they desired. "The Tale of Wild Vine begins with a sad start, baby pony left here in the forest in a cart. Its’ parents abandoned the poor baby pony, to live a life of glamour and riches leaving it all lonely. No one knows what happened after that..." She turned the page, "it seems someone had torn out all of the facts...”
Zecora held the book in her mouth, revealing that the pages to the story had been torn from the hinges of the book.
"Daww!!! What, who and why!" Apple Bloom demanded answers.
Zecora giggled, placing the book down, "Calm down now child, no use to shout, I can tell you the rest if you promise not to pout. You see, the tale of the pony is sad as they say. The pony grew up with no one to play. It wandered the forest for what seemed forever, it grew wiser and more clever. For it had a talent better like no other, strong and powerful just like your older brother."
Things went awkwardly silent after that as Apple Bloom gave a glare to Zecora who was nervously smiling.
"Yall talkin' bout my brother?" She asked a bit seriously.
"What, your brother? You silly little pony...now, can I please finish my story?" Zecora tried to change subjects fast.
"No no, that's ok!" Apple Bloom quickly said, "I want to go find this weird pony! Maybe she can really use some friends, dontcha think?!"
"W..what, wait!" Before Zecora had a chance to rhyme that line, Apple Bloom dashed out of the cottage.
With the thought of a mysterious pony other than Zecora, who technically wasn't a pony to begin with, living in Everfree all alone seem to be on her tiny little mind as she hurried to the club house to meet up with her two friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, to tell them about the story.
She arrived, huffing and panting from her exciting dash from Everfree Forest to the club house as she staggered up the steps to the door, where she crashed through the door, comically falling right next to her friends.
"Way to make a entrance Apple Bloom." joked Scootaloo.
"Yeah, you ok? You look like you saw a ghost or something." worried Sweetie Belle as they helped her up.
"No time for explanations! We got a mission, Crusaders!"
"A mission? For a chance at our cutie marks?"
"Mmhm...there's a lonely pony in Everfree Forest who needs our help!"
"Zecora?" Both ponies said looking at each other.
"Um, no, she's a zebra...I said pony." Apple Bloom corrected them.
The trio walked out of their club house, as they listened to Apple Bloom's version of Zecoras’ story, which a few details seemed to escape her mind as she told them. Eventually they wandered into town and, with what little money they had, started shopping for supplies. They went to the bakery first as they saw Pinkie Pie doing what she does best, being ...Pinkie Pie.
"Hello Cutie Mark Crusaders!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.
"H-hey Pinkie...what are you up to?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"What am I up to? What am I up to? What are you up to!?" She seemed to turn the question around back at them. "You three seem like your going out today... oh oh oh oh are you going on a picnic?! You gotta have cake!" Pinkie Pie disappeared in a flash, reappearing as fast as she disappeared with a plate of cupcakes.
"T-that's mighty kind of you Pinkie but, um, we're on a mission to go see a pony.." Apple Bloom tried to say before Pinkie interrupted.
"Pony? What pony? Is it someone I haven't met huh huh huh huh?" She asked.
"Well yes.."
"Eeeeeeeeeeee~!" Once again she disappeared and returned with her famous welcome wagon attached to her as she wore a party hat, "Cmon, lets go ~!"
"B-but…!" Apple Bloom tried to say as Scootaloo nudged her.
"It's Pinkie Pie...there’s really no point in reasoning." She said as they decided to let Pinkie tag along; at least there's someone older to trust, needless to say.
The warm breeze of the spring wind brushed them by as they trotted towards the forest, passing Fluttershys place as, of course, Pinkie Pie had to stop the crusaders from proceeding onward as she went to say hello to Fluttershy, who was tending to the woodland animals.
"Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie yelled, scaring the poor pegasus as she fell to the ground.
"O-oh...Hello...Pinkie...girls..." she responded in an innocent voice.
"Hey, wanna come with us to the dark deep parts of Everfree forest to find us some sad pony without a friend until we find him, of course, he will have friends but if we don't he wont so we are going so he will!" once again Pinkies personality shined through.
"E-ever.. f-f.. f-f.. free? W-well I would love to... but-"
Before she had a chance to finish, Pinkie grabbed her and threw her on her welcome wagon, as well as the crusaders themselves and trotted off with them all in her wagon to the forest.
"Cmon! We're not letting this pass us by~" She said with a happy tone.
"Just as long as she doesn't sing a song.." whispered Scootaloo.
"Oooooooooh~" began Pinkie.
---
The song seemed to last forever as they finally reached the Everfree Forest. The ponies looked around for awhile; they weren't far from Zecoras cottage as Pinkie turned to Fluttershy.
"So how far do we need to go to find such a lonely pony?" She asked her.
"I...I don't know…the poor thing must be scared, so it might be hard to find her." Fluttershy answered, she was flapping her wings to keep afloat as she searched from the air, but kept near the group.
"Zecora said we need to go to the deep part of the forest where most of the plants grow… seems the pony has a thing for plants." Apple Bloom said as they kept to the path and went in deeper.
"A…are you sure we should...it looks dark..." Fluttershy mumbled.
"Don't worry so much! Pinkie's here, after all, with my band wagon of random fun to keep us company. Who wants to sing a song?!"
"Oh goddess.." Scootaloo groaned.
Night shortly fell upon the forest as Zecora watched the ponies going deeper. She quickly grabbed her cloak and decided it would be best to follow and keep them from harms way. The night was going to be long, as the ponies were determined to know if the legend of the lonely pony of Everfree was real. Somewhere nearby, a pair of red eyes was watching the determined ponies march through the path, they blinked once before disappearing into the leaves, following along with them.