It was early afternoon, and the ponies at the Akion River were trying to have a relaxing time. Some ponies were eating their lunch while most of the younger ones played around on the riverbank and in the river. Some of the fillies and colts were even playing in the trees. One of the pegasus fillies, a cyan-colored pony with a blue mane, was playing hide-and-seek with a few other pegasi children. The pegasus' name was Blue Skies, and she was the one who was "it". She was looking for the other pegasi kids hiding amongst the foliage, but they were evading her well.
One of the pegasi colts, who was light brown-colored, had a dark brown mane, and whose name was Fig, was hiding underneath the roots of a tree. As he looked out from under the tree, he could see Blue Skies searching around the hiding ponies. "She's getting too close," Fig thought to himself. "I don't want to be caught! I have to find a better hiding spot!" Fig looked around at what he could see from beneath the tree. He noticed that Blue Skies wasn't flying too high, so he decided the best place to hide would be high up in the trees. First, he waited for Blue Skies to move to a point where she couldn't see him, then he quickly moved out from under the tree and flew up towards the trees. He went up higher until he came out over the tops of the trees. "She'll never find me up here," Fig chuckled to himself. He then landed on the top of a palm tree and sat down to wait. As Fig looked around, he saw something in the distance. He leaned his head forward, squinted his eyes, and put his hoof over his eyes to block out the sun so he could see better. It looked like two figures coming towards him, "Hmm...that looks like two pegasi," the figures then got a bit closer. "That one on the left looks like Fern, but who's that other pegasi she's with? Hmm..."
"Found you!!" Fig then yelped in fright as he fell over on the tree he was standing on. He turned over onto his back and saw Blue Skies sticking her head out from under another tree next to the one he was on. "You thought you could hide from me up here, but I found you!" Blue Skies gleefully cheered for herself.
"Okay, fine! But look over there!" Fig pointed towards Fern and Daring-Do, who were still flying towards Fig and Blue Skies.
"Who is that?' Blue Skies asked as she leaned forward and squinted her eyes.
"I know that one on the left is Fern, but who's that other pegasus?"
"I'm not sure...I don't believe I've seen them before."
"Me neither," Fig and Blue Skies looked at each other in puzzlement.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until they get here," Blue Skies said.
"Yeah.," Fig then thought for a few moments. "Oh, wait! Aren't we still in the middle of 'hide-and-seek'?"
"Oh, right! I forgot! I still have to find all the other pegasi!" Blue Skies then flew down from the treetops to begin searching.
"I'll just wait by the river!" Fig shouted. He then flew off towards the Akion River.
"We're almost there," Fern said to Daring-Do as they continued flying.
"Are you sure your friends will want to help?" Daring asked. "You said Griison was dangerous, after all."
"Trust me, everypony around here will be willing to do anything to get rid of Griison so peace will finally return to this land," Fern replied, sounding very determined to get rid of Griison.
Daring-Do could tell how much Fern disliked Griison, although she still didn't like the idea of not getting the goblet by herself. Still, she decided to go along with Fern for now just so she could learn more about Griison's mountain.
Fern then looked ahead and saw a clearing in the trees. "That's it!" she said as she pointed at the clearing. "That's the area near Akion River where the other ponies live! Let's go!" Fern then flew off as fast as she could towards the river.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Daring shouted, and she flew after Fern to try and catch up with her.
At the riverbank, the other ponies were gathering around Fig, who had told them what he saw. The other ponies talked amongst themselves about who this new pegasus could be, but none of them could figure it out.
As Fig was talking to the other ponies, Blue Skies had just returned, having found all of the other pegasi children. The others had returned once they were found, so Blue Skies returned after she had found the last pegasus. Blue Skies flew over to Fig and landed next to him. "It looks like you've got everypony talking about whoever that new pegasus is."
"I know!" he replied as he turned his head towards Blue Skies. "I thought it would be important to let them know ahead of time, so they won't be surprised when the new pony shows up."
"I guess so," Blue Skies looked around at the other ponies. "But I just hope that the new pony won't feel too bothered by all these ponies who want to meet her."
"Well, it looks like we're about to find out about that!" Fig said as he pointed up towards the sky. Blue Skies turned towards where he was pointing, and she saw Fern and Daring-Do, who had just flown above the clearing in the trees that was above everypony. Everypony looked up and saw the two of them, and they all started talking to each other about Daring and pointing at her.