The sensation of Celestia's magic raising the glimmering morning sun woke up the young Apple Bloom. The curtains swayed and the sun beamed over her closed eyes. And in a flash, she popped up like a spring with a bright smile. “Yay! I can jus' tell it is going to be a great day!” She yelped out in joy. The premature Apple-family filly hopped out of her small bed and jumbled out of her room. She bolted down the stairs in a naive rush and opened the bright red doors to her farm home. The lights of a pre-noon sun illuminated the entrance. She galloped as fast as her little hooves could, and with a blink of an eye she was gone, nothing but a trail of hay straggling in the wind behind her.
“Woo wee! That lil' filly sure loves spending time with her friends!” Applejack cracked out along with a giggle. "Now, time to go round up Winona for the daily chicken roundup."
As the small earth filly trotted down the dirt track, she could see the Everfree Forest emitting a very strange, unique mist that she had not seen before. Her mind sprouted different theories behind what it could be, and her curiosity reached it's peak. Many thoughts raced through her head. “Is it a big scary monster? Or maybe some kind of brew Zecora is whipping up... but I will never know if I don't look!”. Apple Bloom began to hurry to town in search of her friends to possibly help be her company on this upcoming investigation. Ponyville was in her sites, and with determination in her eyes she galloped as fast as she could down the trail.
Apple Bloom arrived in town around noon to search for the other crusaders. She thought about where she could possibly have the best chances to find her friends. At first she decided to stop by the school, So she began to trot to Cheerilee's classroom in hopes of finding Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, “Oh wait! We don't have school today, silly me!” She giggled and turned, the only other place she could think of was Mr. and Mrs. Cake's Bakery.
She stumbled in through the bakery doors to the site of ponies enjoying freshly baked cupcakes being served about by Pinkie Pie. The gorgeous aroma of fresh out-of-the-oven goods drifted through the air like flower pollen in a meadow. "Oh wow... that smells jus' wonderful!" With her large eyes, she observed the room for her friends until she saw them sitting at a booth in the far right corner. “Oh! There you guys are!” Apple Bloom shouted to her friends. She ran over to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, sitting down next to them.
"Hey, Apple Bloom! how are you doing?” Scootaloo greeted and asked.
"I'm doin' amazing! I jus' saw something really strange on the way here!"
Sweetie becomes interested for what Apple Bloom has to say, and stares up with her wide filly eyes, "What did you see? Tell us what it is!"
Apple Bloom began to advertise her idea to her friends. ”Well, you see; I had found this weird misty stuff coming from the Everfree Forest! I was wonderin' if you think the Cutie-Mark Crusaders should go and check it out!”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes, “I was going to hang out with Rainbow Dash today and Sweetie Belle has to get home early tonight.”
"Mhm..." Sweetie Belle nods in agreement.
“Ok... I suppose, maybe I'll just go by myself.” Apple Bloom pouted in disappointment.
“But Apple Bl-” Scootaloo was cut off by a high pitched voice, one that nobody could ever mistake. The trio looked over to see a fluffy pink pony, the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie.
“Hiya, everypony!” she said optimistically, hopping in place with a tray upon her head.
“Hey there Pinkie....” Scootaloo grumbled.
Pinkie Pie giggled and dropped a tray before all 3 of them. There was 3 delicious Zap Apple cupcakes on the tray. “Eat up! We have extra from the bake sale earlier you guys!”. Pinkie Pie hopped away, in need to tend to the other customers.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in confusion, then over to Apple Bloom. They were bewildered to see that their friend was no longer there. “Hey, where'd she go?” Scootaloo questioned to Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle shrugged in return, but began to nibble on her cupcake.
“Yeah... she's gone. Hey Sweetie Belle, do you want her cupcake?”
Sweetie Belle's eyes gazed upon the other cupcake. “Ew! it looks like it has rainbow fur in it! No way!” The disgusted white filly responded.
Apple Bloom ran back to her home on Sweet Apple Acres. Thoughts of fear and adventure were flourishing inside of her adolescent mind. “If yall' don't want to join me, then I'll check it out by myself." Apple Bloom gave a brave and courageous smile as she collected her things from inside of her dimly lit bedroom. She gathered together a basket of freshly picked apples, a small wooden sword she had used for crusading and a blanket. The blanket was folded and put snug inside of the basket with the apples. “I have to hurry before Applejack gets home, or I'll never get out...” she whispered to herself as she strapped the basket onto her back. She trotted off of the orchard and down the trail towards the Everfree Forest. “This is going to be a fun night, I can just feel it. Then I'll show yall' I'll find something amazing! Maybe treasure or some mystical ruins of sorts!” A shiver went down her spine. She began to think about her friends and how they haven't been crusading much recently, and if the Cutie Mark Crusaders were no more. Her thinking was ended rather abruptly when she found herself face-first in a mud puddle. Turns out the clumsy filly had tripped over a rock while dozing off about her friends. Apple Bloom looked up from her fall to see a prominent tree line against the afternoon sky. She gave a loud and frightened gulp. “W-well... h-here I go...” She shakily pronounced as she began to nervously trot into the damp, dark and gloomy forest.