A soft "thud" echoed through the room as Applebloom hit the desk with her mallet.
"Hereby, this emergency meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders is opened! I have gathered you here because of th-"
"Aye, we already know that, you told us on the way here. Discord crossed your farm and got into the old, musty fun park. Thing is - what do we do about it?" Sweetie Belle interrupted.
"Well, I think we should wait for him at the same spot as yesterday, and then follow him. A troublemaker always returns to where he made trouble!"
"You sure about that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"But of course!" Scootaloo exclaimed enthusiastically, „we are troublemakers, and we always return!"
"I... I think you may have a point. But shouldn´t we asked someone, like, Princess Twilight to help? I mean, it is Discord we are talking about here." Sweetie Belle mentioned, "I don´t want to sound like a coward or something, I just don´t want to be sent into another dimension, or covered in goo, or turned into a platypus!"
"Ah, you are right. We may end up in some other dimension, covered in goo, trapped in the form of a platypus. But think of this: How many times have we tried to get in there? Remember how we tried to climb up there, but ended up covered in tree sap - with literally no firs around? Or how we tried to dig a tunnel underneath it, and it spit us out? This is a single opportunity to get in there!
Also, Discord is reformed now, I don´t think he will do anything nasty to us. He may send us home with sticky notes telling what we did covering our flanks, but I think we can avoid that."
"By not letting him see us? I don-"
"Also, we may get our Cutie Marks!"
"Fine, I will come."
"Scootaloo?"
"Do you really think you need to ask? I´m not chicken!"
"Hey!"
________________________________________
It was hard to find anything in the Chaos that was Scootaloo´s room: Posters of Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts, some bands and movies hung all over the walls, the desk was piled high with school stuff, paper, pencils, empty glasses of water, and other stuff, the floor littered with magazines and clothing. Luckily for her, she always kept a fully packed bag for adventures behind her drawer, so she took it out, added a few random items, and then walked to the kitchen. She chuckled as she rummaged through the fridge looking for something she could take as a snack. Applebloom probably still used those blank checklists the Princess gave her, and Sweetie Belle would take a whole lot of time to get some cape or something.
"Dad?" she called, poking her head into his garage[1], "I will be at Sweetie Belle´s over the night."
"All right. Do you know where that coach wrench is?"
"I think you left it in the fridge."
"In the fridge? Again?"
________________________________________
Moving around her scrupulously clean room, Sweetie Belle put the assorted items she would probably need into her bag, as she hummed the tones of a song she recently heard and immediately loved. When she was finished, she walked over to her sister’s hat room. After a long time of careful examination, she went down to her sisters sewing room.
"Sis, can I borrow your adventure hat? The olive one with the many pockets."
"Uh... Oh, well, take that old one. But make sure you bring it back in one piece, darling."
"Sure! Is anything left from the tea party you had with Spike earlier?"
"I think there should be some scones left, I don´t really like them and Spikey just ate all of the crystal-filled ones...
And where are you going, exactly?"
"Camping over at the Apple´s."
"Ah, good. Also, could you please take down a tone while doing something in your room? Your singing is lovely, don´t get it wrong, but I need to concentrate while sewing."
"Okey-dokey!"
________________________________________
As she checked of another thing on her adventure-packing-list, Applebloom thought of how she never really understood why Scootaloo always laughed about Twilight using checklists for absolutely everything. They were darned useful, those lists. Sitting on her bed, she skimmed over the backs of the books on her bookshelf. One she could take with, more wouldn´t fit in the bag.
Birds and Bird-like creatures of the lands surrounding Everfree Forest? Not much of use, probably.
Earth Pony Magic: A comprehensive Essay? Far too heavy, both for body and mind.
When the Frog met the Sun: Fairy Tales in and around Ponyville? No, there is nothing about the old fun park in this one, otherwise she would...
After a short time of contemplation, she settled for the potion notebook Zecora gave her. This may come in useful - if she had to make potion, and also had the needed equipment and ingredients coincidentally lying around between the ruins...
Shrugging, she put it in her bag, and headed down.
"Applejack?" she called, as she put her bag on the kitchen table, "We´re having a sleepover at Scootaloo´s. Can I take some Pie?"
"Of course, sweetie. Make sure you call if anything is wrong. And remember we want to make apple gelee tomorrow, so don´t be late!"
Wrapping a nice, big piece of apple pie in some paper, she said: "Aye, won´t be!"
"And, most importantly: Have fun!"
"Oh, I will!" Applebloom exclaimed as she put the package in her bag, and walked out.
________________________________________
So when the evening dawned, Celestia lowering the sun towards the horizon, tinting the whole world in a warm, soft red, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, each equipped with a their own bag full of supplies, met on an apple tree overlooking the pasture in front of the fence.
"Chamois knifes [2]? Check!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Rope? Check!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Torch? Check!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Binoculars? Check!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Snack? Check: Apple-pie!"
"Check: Buttered Scones!"
"Check: Some Cheese!"
"Everything else ready?"
"Ready!"
"Ready!"
"Why exactly are we shouting this? Discord could hear us!"
"You´re right. Sshhh."
"OK!"
"OK!"
A few minutes later, Discord oscillated out of the orchard, and sloped over to the fence. As he did the day before, he stood there, perfectly still, and waited, his paw lying on the fence. Through the binoculars, they could see him glancing to the sun from time to time. A small rabbit sniffed his motionless tail. After a few seconds of close examination, it bit into it, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In its place, there sat a highly disorientated pigeon. The Spirit of Chaos apparently didn´t notice at all, and so the former rabbit hopped away, slightly worried.
When the sun touched the horizon, the piece of fence in front of Discord...
melted, but not like molten steel, but rather like shadows retreating when the sun comes up. It moved out of the way, leaving a hole for him to walk through. Behind, there was a wall of mist - although through the other parts of the fence, the park could be seen normally. As Discord walked through, he vanished into the mist, and the fence started closing again.
"Now!" Scootaloo shouted, and they jumped down the tree, landed lightly, and, after making sure they had everything, bolted for the hole. Running, sprinting, rushing, speeding, dashing they reached the hole, and just before it closed completely, they managed to slip through. They were...
inside.