The sun was low in the sky and within an hour or two the day Luna will raise the moon to begin the night. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were spread out through out Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo was over by the barn, digging as fast she possibly could. Sweat ran down her face and her mane was becoming more messy than usual. The orange pegasus had already dug three other, four to five feet deep, holes and was nearly three feet into her fourth. She brought her shovel down, with all her strength, and there was a loud clank. Scootaloo's eyes widened, her heart raced with excitement.
She brought down the shovel one more time with great force All of a sudden, the thing in the ground broke and water shot up at Scootaloo's face.The hole quickly filled with muddy water. Scootaloo quickly got out of the flooding ditch and just stared at it for a good thirty seconds, watching the water overflow onto the grass. "Applebloom is going to kill me." Scootaloo said to herself. She grabbed her shovel and went around to the over side of the barn and began digging another hole.
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Sweetie Belle was in the orchard, digging her forth hole since arriving at Sweet Apple Acres. She brought down the shovel and instantly hit something rock solid. A small amount of sparks shot out of the ground and Sweetie Belle's shovel sent great vibration throughout her entire body. She fell backwards and hit the side of the hole with her back. The pile of dirt, just outside the hole, fell over and refilled the hole with her still in it and all but her head was covered. "Great." the white unicorn said and then started to try and wiggle her way out of the dirt, but she was unsuccessful. She grew worried and began to scream for help.
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On the other side of Sweet Apple Acres, Applebloom was digging her seventh hole, just outside of her farmhouse. "Applebloom?" said a familiar voice from behind her. She turned around and saw, standing just by the edge of the hole, her sister, Applejack. "What in the hay are ya doin'?"
"Me, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are tryin' to find buried treasure." Applebloom informed.
"Wait a tick, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are here?"
"Yeah."
"Well, where are they?" But before Applebloom could answer, a scream echoed throughout Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack quickly ran towards the barn. Applebloom jumped out of the hole and followed close behind her sister. By the time they got a hundred feet from the barn, the grassy grown became all flooded and only got deeper as they got closer.
They arrived at the barn and saw about five holes, all of which, were shooting water upward. Scootaloo was at one of those holes trying to push the spraying water back down into the hole. "What in Equestria is going on?" Applejack said with confusion and frustration.
"I don't know what happen," Scootaloo yelled. She coughed a little after some of the water sprayed into her throat. "I was digging and I hit something metal my shovel and then this happened. Pleeeease, help me." The water sprayed harder and launched the pegasus high up into the air. She came plummeting back down to Equestria and landed right at Applejack's feet.
"Where's Sweetie Belle?" Applejack asked Scootaloo, but her question was soon answered after an ear piercing scream stabbed their eardrums. As it faded they were able to make out where it was coming from. From the orchard.
"Sweetie Belle." Applebloom and Scootaloo shouted together in worry.
"Y'all go find Sweetie Belle, I'm gonna go turn off the water." Applejack ordered the fillies and then took off towards the house. For a moment Scootaloo and Applebloom just stood there, for second or two, not sure what to do. But after those few seconds they regained their train of thought and started galloping into the orchard in search of Sweetie Belle. It didn't take the two fillies too long to find her.
They found her, well her head at least, just above the dirt. She was screaming and hollering for help. "Sweetie Belle." Applebloom shouted.
"Applebloom?" She turned her head, only able to see Applebloom and Scootaloo through the corner of her eye.
"What happened?" Scootaloo asked the trapped unicorn.
"I don't know, I hit something hard in the ground and I fell back and all the dirt I dug out fell on top of me. I can't move, can you please help me. I'm getting scared."
Applejack came galloping up to the scene. "I'm here, what's going on?" She noticed Sweetie Belle's head sticking out of the dirt. Sweetie Belle told Applejack how all this happened to her. "Okay, Applebloom, Scootaloo go get the shovels back by the barn then come back." The two fillies did as they were told and quickly ran back to the barn, grabbed their shovels, and returned back to the incident. Applejack was already started digging with her hooves at the dirt around Sweetie Belle's head. She stopped and then looked over at the two fillies. "Come on you two, we got to dig her out."
Applebloom and Scootaloo took their shovels and began to dig at the dirt. About ten minutes later, Sweetie Belle was free from the dirt pile. "Thank you." Sweetie Belle said, feeling quite relieved.
"Alright Cutie Mark Crusaders," Applebloom said in an announcing tone. "back to finding that treasure."
"Now ya-" Applejack tried to say, but the crusaders took off in a flash with their shovels in their mouths. She just sighed and began walking back to the house. Once back there, she saw the three fillies digging in the hole she found Applebloom digging about half an hour ago. "Girls, what in the hay are y'all doin'. Sweet Apple Acres is trashed because of y'all's digging."
"But Applejack," Applebloom whined.
"No buts, now you and your friends come out of that hole and help me clean up around here."
"Fine." Applebloom said in aggravation and tried to shove the head of the shovel into the dirt, but it hit something hard. This caught her and everypony else's attention. The four ponies looked down and saw something red buried under the dirt. The thee picked up their shovels and began digging around the object. Once they were able to get a hoof on the object, they used all their strength to toss it up out of the ditch. It almost hit Applejack, but she was able to move out of the way before it did.
The crusaders looked at the object. It was a red and gold treasure chest. Smiles painted themselves onto the fillies' faces as their bodies and minds filled with excitement and joy. They quickly jumped out of the hole and opened the chest. The lock, that was on the chest, was broken, so they just took that off before opening it. Inside the chest were hundreds of scrolls. The four ponies were confused by this. Applebloom took one of the scrolls and read it aloud.
The wind sings in my ears
so beautifully, I'm shedding tears.
I spend my life at sea
listening to the song the wind sings for me
"What in the world is all this?" Applebloom said in confusion and disappointment. "It's just a bunch of poems." She began digging through the chest filled with scrolls and found nothing else, but more scrolls. "Where's all the treasure? Where's all the gold and diamonds and sapphires."
"Not all treasure is diamonds and gold, Applebloom." Applejack said, putting a hoof around her sister. "A treasure is something that is most important to us. Just like how you're my treasure. Black Mane obviously treasured her poems and writings more than anything else, so she buried them, so they would be safe."
"You're not going to bury me in a chest, are ya?" Applebloom asked with a smile on her face. Applejack laughed and then rapidly rubbed her hoof on Applebloom's head.
"Naw." Applejack said. "But you and your friends still need to help me clean this place up."
"Alright." Applebloom said, feeling much better about the treasure being nothing more than a bunch of papers. They filled up all the holes in Sweet Apple Acres, fixed the pipes, and the next day they took the chest filled with Black Mane's literature to the library to show Twilight. Twilight was very impressed and sent all the papers to a publisher in Canterlot. The Cutie Mark Crusaders may not have gotten any treasure, or their cutie marks, but they did learn one thing. They learned that not all treasure is gold and that even though what you're looking for isn't what you hoped for, doesn't make it any less special.