“It just ain't fair! Momma says that it runs in the family, and that she didn't get her cutie mark until she was almost as old as I am, but I'm the oldest pony in the whole town without a cutie mark, maybe in all of Equestria!” Apple Fries stomped her hoof and grunted. “Ugh! I was so sure we'd get our pirate cutie marks. We spent all buckin' week makin' them costumes!”
“Well, we didn't have a ship, and the nearest ocean is like a zillion miles away, so I'm really not that surprised,” Shinespark replied. “Plus, our parents wouldn't let us pillage Ponyville, so that kinda made it hard to plunder any booty. I guess we could try ninjas."
“Didn't we already do ninjas?” Morning Glory asked, as she flew around in lazy loops in the air just above the other two fillies.
“No, that was samurai,” Shinespark answered.
“Well, it's worth a try I guess.” Apple Fries said. She briefly considered the possibility of becoming a ninja, and wondered why they hadn't tried it before. She was just about to ask the others if they had any idea where to find some shuriken and a pair of nunchucks, when a bright flash from the east side of the farm caught her attention. “Whoa, did y'all see that?”
“Yeah, I wonder what it was,” Shinespark answered. “Morning Glory, you should fly over there and check it out, you can get there faster than us.”
“Sure thing. Be right back,” she said, and took to the air, bolting toward the source of the mysterious light.
“You know, if we do this ninja thing, we'll have to get some awesome weapons, and find an evil villain to conquer. I think that's where samurai, superheroes, and secret agents all went wrong, no villains,” said Shinespark.
“I was just gonna say we need some weapons, but that villain thing is a good point, too.” Apple Fries replied. She turned around, intending to grab an apple off one of the trees near the path, instead finding herself nose to nose with a hyperactive pink pony.
“Hey, Apple Fries! Hey Shinespark! I just got the weirdest combo! Ear twitch, knee jerk, nose itch, tongue curl! It's so exciting! I haven't had that combo in YEARS, except for that one time that it happened next month! Gotta go, I have important business!”
Pinkie Pie shot off like a bullet in the direction that the light had appeared from. Apple Fries briefly wondered how an earth pony could run so fast, but then she remembered it was Pinkie Pie, and figured it was just one of those inexplicable things. She put it out of her mind when she noticed Morning Glory was heading back.
“Did ya see anything?”
“Yeah, there is some sort of strange machine out by that old tree fort. I thought I saw a couple ponies out there too, but they must have saw me coming and hid, cause when I landed I couldn’t find them.” Morning Glory answered.
“A machine? What kind of machine?”
“I have no idea what it is, I've never seen anything like it before. It's like a copper cage with all these wires and a big engine, and it had a couch and a scooter and a bunch of other stuff in it too. It was pretty weird.”
“Yeah, that sounds awful strange. Pinkie Pie just went out there too, maybe we should go check it out.” Apple Fries said.
“Pinkie Pie? Where did she come from?”
“I dunno, I think she jumped out of a bush or somethin',” Apple Fries answered. “Anyways, we gonna go check it out or what?”
“Let's do it,” Shinespark said, and the three fillies all broke out in a full gallop.
“BLANK FLANK BRIGADE MYSTERIOUS MACHINE INVESTIGATORS! WOO HOO!”
o:O:o
“Alright, Crusaders, it's time to embark on an epic quest to rescue Apple Fries from imminent death! Once I pull this lever, there ain't no turnin' back,” Apple Bloom said.
“Ready!” said Scootaloo.
“All set!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
“Remember, Crusaders, never reveal your true name, or let anypony discover that we are time travelers. We can't tell Apple Fries that she is in danger, so we need to prevent the accident without letting her know what we're doing. Don't make contact with anypony unless it is absolutely necessary, and whatever you do, never interact with your future self. If we do anything to cause a paradox, it could mean the end of Equestria,” Apple Bloom said, proud of the short speech that she had written and practiced extensively the evening before. She pulled the lever, the engine hummed loudly, and the flux capacitor lit up brightly as the energy built up. The Epoch began to vibrate, increasing in speed and intensity, but never shaking like it previously had done.
“I still don't understand what two ducks have to do with anything,” Scootaloo said an instant before the flux capacitor flashed.
The arrival was far more comfortable this time around. Instead of sending the fillies hurtling through the air, it merely shuttered for a moment before the engine shut down, leaving the Crusaders safely seated inside the machine.
“Commence stage one! Prepare the future clubhouse to serve as base of operations.” Apple Bloom said, happy that she had read enough spy novels to know the appropriate things to say. They exited the time machine, and quickly got to work setting up their headquarters, though were soon interrupted when Sweetie Belle spoke up in alarm.
“Look, there's somepony coming, quick, hide!”
The three fillies dropped what they were doing, and darted away, concealing themselves in a patch of tall grass. When the pegasus landed, Apple Bloom noticed that she was just a filly, perhaps only a year or two older than the Crusaders.
“Wow, she looks a mite like Cloud Swisher and Flicker, don't she?” Apple Bloom whispered to her friends.
“I don't think that's their names, but yeah, she kinda does,” Scootaloo answered.
The pegasus eyed the machine for a moment, circling it a few times and occasionally poking it with her hoof. “Hey, is anypony here?” She called, scanning the area. “Hello, hello!... Huh, I could've sworn I saw somepony. Oh well, whatever.” The pale blue pegasus took one last look at the time machine before taking to the skies again, heading back in the direction from which she came.
“Whew! That was close,” Sweetie Belle said. They emerged from their hiding place, and resumed work, only to be immediately interrupted once again, only this time by a pony that they had no hope of hiding from.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my! You're here! I'm excited, are you exited? I've never been so excited in my life, well except that one time next month, but that hasn't actually happened yet, so I guess this is still the most excited I have ever been!” Pinkie Pie said, as she bounced in circles around the trio of Crusaders.
“Hi, Pinkie Pie. We were kinda expecting you to show up, just not so quickly,” Apple Bloom said. She noticed a small alligator clinging to her tail, its yellow eyes staring blankly into empty space.. “Wait, is that Gummy? I ain’t an expert on these things or nothin, but shouldn't he be bigger by now?”
“Of course this isn't Gummy, you silly filly! Gummy is SO HUGE now! I had to let him free, but I still visit him at Froggy Bottom Bog. He has a hard time catching food, with no teeth and all, so I bring him punch and cupcakes pretty much every day!”
“Who is that alligator then?” Scootaloo asked.
“Oh, this is Gumbelina, she is Gummy's daughter! You can tell the difference because Gummy is HUGE and has purple eyes, and Gumbelina has yellow eyes and is just little! Anyway, I gotta go, you girls have fun doing whatever you are doing here in the future. Don't cause any paradoxes, and make sure you come by Sugarcube Corner and get some tasty treats! Bye!” Pinkie pulled three cupcakes out of nowhere, and gave one to each Crusader, before racing away at seemingly impossible speeds.
“Gosh dang, it seems like she got even crazier over time. I'm not even sure how that is possible,” Apple Bloom said. “Well, we better get back to work.”
Moments later, the three time travelers were interrupted for a third time, before they could really get anything done. They never even noticed the three ponies that were approaching the clearing, too busy attempting to prepare their center of operations.
“Gotcha!” said the purple unicorn filly as she leaped into the clearing.
The time traveling ponies jumped from surprise, and turned around to find themselves face to face with a trio of fillies. Apple Bloom immediately recognized one of them as the Pegasus from earlier, and another as their target, Apple Fries.
“Howdy! I'm Apple Fries, this is Mornin' Glory, and Shinespark.”
“Oh, um... My name is uh... oh yeah, my name is Lemon Drop,” Apple Bloom said.
“I'm Sugar Swirl,” Sweetie Belle said.
“My name is Epic Thunder,” Scootaloo said. “Pretty awesome name huh?”
“If you say so,” Morning Glory said. “Anyway, what are you guys up to? And what's that crazy looking contraption?”
Apple Bloom was not prepared for this question, and from the expressions on her friends' faces, neither were they. “Well, it was suppose to be a time machine, but it don't actually work,” she said, mentally kicking herself for giving an answer so close to the truth.
“Oh, that kinda makes sense, I guess, but why did you build it on Apple Fries' farm?” Shinespark asked.
“Oh, is this part of the farm? There weren't any apple trees out here, and the clubhouse looked abandoned, so we just figured nopony was using it.”
“Yeah, its part of Sweet Apple Acres, alright, but we don't ever use this area, so I don't see no harm of y'all using it, so long as y'all let us come play with you out here,” Apple Fries said with a smile. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and her smile grew much wider. “Hey, y'all are blank flanks too! You can join our club if you want. We're called the Blank Flank Brigade, and we go on missions to try and get our cutie marks.”
“Really? We have a club like that too,” Scootaloo said.
“Cool! What's your club called?”
“THE CUTE MARK CRUSADERS!” all three Crusaders said together.
“Wow, my Momma was in a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders when she was young,” Apple Fries said. “Hey, Lemon Drop, you kinda remind me of my mom, are you part of the Apple family?”
“No, I don't think so, I'm from the Lemon family. We farm lemons... yeah, that’s it, lemons.”
“Are you sure? You sure do seem like an Apple. You better come meet my Momma, she would know for sure,” Apple Fries said.
“No, we can't do that, we gotta unpack and set up the clubhouse,” Apple Bloom replied.
“Me and Morning Glory will do it for you. You should totally go meet her mom, Mrs. Apple Bloom is pretty awesome,” Shinespark said.
Before Apple Bloom could protest, Apple Fries bit down on her tail and started dragging her towards the apple orchards. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed reluctantly, as Morning Glory and Shinespark started poking around inside the time machine.
“This could turn out bad,” said Sweetie Belle.
“I know,” Scootaloo answered. Apple Bloom gave her friends a pleading look, but they just shrugged and followed the two Apples, apparently at a loss about what they could possibly do to help.
o:O:o
A group of pegasi zipped around in the mid-morning sky, dutifully manipulating clouds in an apparent effort to set up a shower over Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo watched them intently as she listened to the conversation between Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Apple Fries.
“Anyway, like I was sayin', Shinespark's momma's name is Diamond Tiara. She is alright, I guess, but sometimes she can be a little crabby. I probably wouldn't hang out at her place at all if it weren’t for her daddy's racing snails. Woo, doggy! you ain't never seen no snail zip down a course like his do, it's pretty crazy. So I guess between her momma being born into money and all, and her daddy's money from championships, Shinespark is just about the richest filly in these parts.”
“That's awful interestin', what about Morinin' Glory?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yeah, I really like her mane, and her coat too. She is such pretty colors.”
“Her momma is named Cloud Chaser.” Apple Fries looked up and scanned the sky for a moment, and pointed a hoof at a cloud a short distance away. “There she is right there, she's head weather pony for Ponyville, so you can usually see her around when they're doin' their stuff. That one over there with her is Mornin' Glory's flight instructor.”
Scootaloo followed Apple Fries' gesture, and saw Cloud Chaser moving a large cloud across the sky, helped by a purple-maned orange pegasus that looked very familiar, though Scootaloo couldn't quite place her. Realization struck when Apple Fries next spoke.
“Morinin' Glory says Scootaloo is an awesome instructor. She was actually a Wonderbolt, can you believe that? She was one of the best too, until she busted herself in a crash. Those two have been working really hard lately, getting her ready for the Best Young Fliers Junior Division.”
“A Wonderbolt, really?!” Scootaloo said with a bit more excitement than she should have. “So uh, how did she crash?”
“She was doin' this trick she came up with called the Scootaboom Twister. It's like a Sonic Rainboom, only she would do a 360 roll right as it went off, so instead of just a ring of color, it would make a figure eight shape. She's one of only two ponies in history who ever could pull off the Rainboom, and the only one that could ever do the Twister, which makes her pretty buckin' cool, if ya ask me. Anyways, I guess she misjudged how high she was, or whatever, and crashed right into the stands. She was in the hospital for weeks, and afterward, she couldn't go as fast as she used to, so she retired and became a flight instructor.”
Scootaloo could hardly contain her emotions. To think she would not only perform a Sonic Rainboom, but actually improve upon it was unbelievably awesome. She hardly even gave a thought to the part about the injury, instead daydreaming about flying with the Wonderbolts, performing for thousands of adoring fans.
They walked for a few minutes longer, Apple Fries doing most of the talking, until they eventually came to an area of the farm where several ponies were working.
“Momma! You 'round here?”
Adult Apple Bloom stuck her head out from behind a tree, and gave her daughter a smile. “Howdy, Fries, what's up? Who are your... friends....” The elder Bloom's eyes widened and she reluctantly cantered over to the four fillies. She nervously glanced at each of the Crusaders before making shaky eye-contact with her younger self. “I was wonderin' when y'all would show up,” she said with a shaky voice, then looked worriedly at Apple Fries. “I gotta say, I was kinda hopin' y'all never would.”
“Hey Bloom, hey Shrimp!” A voice said from just above them. An orange pegasus with a messy purple mane landed next to the elder Apple Bloom. Her face fell when she saw Apple Fries' companions. “Oh no...”
The younger Scootaloo went into full panic mode, Apple Bloom had warned her not too interact with her adult self. Her eyes darted around the area looking for a place to hide. Her gaze fell on a couple of mallards waddling casually across the orchard.
“Sweet leaping Luna! A pair of ducks!” Scootaloo cried, and bolted full speed away from the group and back towards the time machine, leaving nothing but a dust cloud in her wake.
o:O:o
After a whispered reminder to the Crusaders about making sure not to let on who they were, or how they had got there, the elder Apple Bloom had allowed them to spend the day playing with Apple Fries and the other Brigadiers. To the dismay of all six fillies, nopony had earned their cutie marks in ninjitsu, gymnastics, bass fishing, or fire-eating. No amount of rain, and no lack of cutie mark acquisition could dampen their spirits, however, and none of them felt that the day had been wasted. Soon though, the sun was dipping low in the sky, and Shinespark and Morning Glory reluctantly had to take their leave. Soon after, Featherweight had showed up to take Apple Fries home, telling the Crusaders to head back to the clubhouse and wait.
To the surprise of nopony, Pinkie Pie was already there, having decorated the clearing near the clubhouse with balloons and streamers. She had a veritable banquet of cakes, pies, and cookies, a whole selection of sodas and punches, and numerous party games ready to go. The three fillies and the mare cheerfully snacked and played, until finally three more ponies arrived. The Crusaders immediately recognized two of them as the adult versions of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. With them was a beautiful white mare with a curly pink and violet mane, and it didn't take long for the crusaders to deduce exactly who she was.
After ensuing that all six ponies had full glasses of punch and full plates of food, Pinkie disappeared into the trees, returning an instant later with a huge pile of branches and small logs. Over the course of about ten seconds, Pinkie somehow built and lit a pleasant bonfire.
“I know you guys probably want to talk in private, so I will just be in here playing with Gumbelina. Let me know if you need anything!” Pinkie said, and excused herself to the interior of the run-down clubhouse.
The six ponies took seats around the fire, adults on one side and fillies on the other, each directly opposite from their counterpart. The elder Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak, but tears overtook her, and she was unable to begin. Adult Sweetie Belle wrapped a hoof around her friend, and comforted her with soft whispers and gentle strokes. It reminded young Apple Bloom of how Sweetie had comforted her days before in front of Apple Fries' shrine, and the earth filly couldn’t help but smile.
“Alright, I guess I'll start,” adult Scootaloo said. “We know why you are here, of course, we were once in your position, although things were... different then. That actually isn't that surprising though, considering what happened when were were foals.” She spread her wings, and gently fluttered over to the small scooter leaning against the Epoch, looking it over with a sad smile. “We tried and tried to change what happened, but nothing worked. We could change a few things, alter the circumstances, but the end result was always the same.”
“Y'all have to understand, girls,” adult Apple Bloom said between sobbing breaths, “I've had a quarter century to come to terms. It's a burden I've carried almost all my life, a heartbreak that has become a part of me, even defined who I am.” She dipped her head as a tear ran down her muzzle, and dropped to the ground, then raised her glance and met her younger self's eyes. “It's a burden you will have to carry now, too. I spent my life hoping to change it, I did my best not to fall in love with Featherweight, did all I could to prevent becomin' pregnant.”
“It isn't just you, Apple Bloom, all three of us have struggled with the knowledge of what is to be. We have come to realize that the time line will fight change, it will resist all attempts to master it.” Sweetie Belle met the eyes of each of the Crusaders, lingering the longest on her younger counterpart as she spoke, her face laden with regret and sadness. “It is as if some powerful outside force guides certain aspects of our lives, and the life of poor little Apple Fries, pushing us all relentlessly in a predetermined direction. I really don't know of any other way to explain it.”
The elder Scootaloo nodded in confirmation as she took her place by the fire again. She looked at the adult Apple Bloom with a concerned expression before speaking. “The three of us have always had an agreement that if this day came, should you three ever appear, that you don't tell us anything about of what you know.” She looked at the elder Apple Bloom, who gestured for her to go on. “None of us know exactly when it will happen, or how, but we do know that it can never be prevented. We have to insist that you return to your own time, and try to forget you ever came here. You need to go back, and destroy the machine. No good will ever come of it, all it can do is bring things to light that can't be changed.”
“No!” The younger Apple Bloom sprang to her feet, anger, sadness, and defiance all apparent in her voice and expression. “No, I ain't gonna just accept that, I spent all day with Apple Fries, and she is my friend! No, she's more than that, she's my family! I love her, just like I love Applejack and Big Mac, maybe even more. I can't explain it, but it's like she's part of me or somethin'. I ain't just gonna let her die.”
A thick silence hung in the air, and all six ponies gathered together around the younger Apple Bloom, and soon there were comforting hugs and mournful tears shared by all.
o:O:o
Pinkie Pie was the first of the seven pones to wake, and she busied herself with preparing breakfast for her friends. She noted with a heavy heart that she had awoken with an arrow-straight mane and tail, though she felt no hint of the insanity that often accompanied it, only a deep sadness. She couldn't help but overhear the conversations that had taken place the evening before in this clearing, and the knowledge that she now bore weighed on her soul as if she carried the whole of Equestria on her shoulders.
The meal that the pink pony prepared hardly resembled her normal sugary fare, consisting of sliced apples, orange juice, and salads made from fresh romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, and diced cucumbers. She set five places at the picnic table, and six more on a picnic blanket in the nearby grass. With great care, she added the finishing touches, then retreated to the clubhouse balcony, and watched her sleeping friends as Celestia's sun slowly rose, threatening to breach the cover of the trees and bathe the clearing in the bright morning light at any moment.
Three pairs of ponies slept soundly in the grass, a filly and a mare in each set. Pinkie was not surprised in the least by who had paired with who, noting with a smile that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had both slumbered with the other's filly counterpart, each mare on her side with a forehoof wrapped around their filly companion. The pair of Scootaloos both slept on their backs, with their hooves jutting towards the sky. The young Scootaloo's head was propped on the older's belly, using her adult self as a pillow, her wings and hooves twitching intermittently, as if she was dreaming of running or flying. The older mare's wings were spread wide across the ground, and her mouth hung open, a stream of drool running down the left side of her face. Pinkie believed that the whole scene might be the cutest thing that she had ever witnessed, and the feeling in her heart from seeing the peacefully sleeping ponies gave her mane a tail a hint of it's previous bounce.
The morning light reached filly Sweetie Belle's eyes first, owing to her position relative to the sun and the tree line, and as a result, she was the first to stir. She carefully tried to slip from under her partner's hoof, though her effort was unsuccessful, and adult Apple Bloom soon became the second to rise. One by one everypony awoke, except the elder Scootaloo, and had gathered at the breakfast area for light conversation. Soon enough, Featherweight arrived with the Brigadiers, and Morning Glory wasted no time in waking up her sleeping mentor with a vigorous shake. Finally everypony was present, awake, and alert, and the meal began in earnest.
Once the meal was done, everypony said their goodbyes, Featherweight left the Brigadiers, and Pinkie left with the adult Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, leaving the elder Apple Bloom alone with the Crusaders.
“Alright, girls, I am only gonna say this once, so listen up,” the elder Apple Bloom said. “Y'all are gonna head straight back to your own time, and dismantle that infernal machine, you understand?”
“Yes, ma'am,” they all said in unison.
“Good, now give me a dang hug, and then y'all gotta go.”
One by one they hugged the yellow mare, first Scootaloo, then Sweetie Bell, and finally Apple Bloom. “It's awful strange huggin' yourself, you know”
“Yeah, I guess it is ain't it? Now off you go! I ain’t telling y’all again!”
The Crusaders double checked that they had packed up everything that they had brought, and once satisfied, took their seats in the Epoch. Apple Bloom saw that her older self was waiting at the edge of the clearing, presumably planning on staying until they had gone.
“Well, we didn't do what we came here to do, but at least we got to find out what our cutie marks are gonna be,” Apple Bloom said. All three fillies had, of course, made it a point to check out what their adult version's cutie mark was, as well as finding out what it was for the other two. None of them understood what their own was supposed to mean, but they all understood the meaning of the marks belonging to the other two Crusaders. “Alright, y'all ready?”
“Are we really going to just give up on Apple Fries, like this?”
“Of course we ain't, Sweetie Belle, I have a plan!” Apple Bloom pulled the lever, and away they went.
o:O:o
“Did we even go anywhere? It looks the same,” Scootaloo said.
“This is actually the next mornin', today is the day that it happens. From what the newspaper said, it happens in the afternoon, but sometime before four o'clock, so we got somewhere between four and eight hours, I figure.”
“That makes sense I guess. So you still think we can change it, even after what they told us? I mean what we told us? Ugh, this is confusing!”
“We gotta at least try. This time around, nopony can know we are here 'til after it's done, no matter what happens. We can't talk to Apple Fries, Morning Glory, or Shinespark, we can't talk to our future selves either. Not even Pinkie Pie if we can avoid it.”
“Pinkie might be unavoidable,” Sweetie Belle remarked.
“Well, we'll see how that goes. Seems like she's on board with our plan, though, so if we gotta, we'll just tell her Pinkie Promise not to tell nopony we are here.”
They spent the next few hours avoiding contact with other ponies, even managing to keep away from Pinkie Pie, despite one close call. Apple Bloom thought that Pinkie probably actually knew that they were hiding in that hay bale, but played along when she realized that they were trying not to be seen. At around one-thirty, they finally caught sight of Apple Fries walking the path near the east orchard, accompanied by adult Apple Bloom. It was both in the area of where they had found the memorial, and nearing the time that it should happen, so the Crusaders followed a distance behind.
“It looks like your adult self is leaving,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Good, now is our chance to get close, lets hide in that row of bushes across the path from Apple Fries,” said Apple Bloom.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Rescue Mission is go!” they all whispered, and began darting from one hiding place to another each time Apple Fries turned her back, until they were right across the path from the orchard where she was working.”
“Apple Bloom, isn't that tree right there the one we saw? The one that had fallen down and had the flowers and stuff?” Sweetie Belle gestured towards a large golden delicious tree directly across from their hiding place.
“Holy Celestia, that is it. We gotta get as close as we can without being seen.” Apple Bloom watched her future daughter for a few moments, and when she dropped a bushel of apples, decided to use the distraction to make her move. In a flash of yellow and red, she bolted like an arrow across the path and under the fence. With a mighty leap, she dove up to a branch in one of the smaller trees, and hid among the branches. She motioned for her friends to wait for her signal, watching Apple Fries intently. A few moments passed before she saw another chance, but when Apple Fries turned away to pull the cart to the next set of trees, she gave her sign. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo rushed to Apple Bloom's tree. Scootaloo easily scaled it, but Apple Bloom had to reach down to assist her Sweetie Belle in the climb.
They sat in silence among the branches, watching every move that Apple Fries made, their hearts racing in suspense and bitter anticipation. For a long time, nothing of note happened, the filly seemed to just be preforming routine farm chores, the same kind Apple Bloom did nearly every day. Finally, Apple Fries finished her work, and began trotting down the hill towards the path. Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the filly was in the clear, but that relief was short-lived.
From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the rolling cart. She jumped from her perch, and galloped as fast as she could towards Apple Fries. She glanced from the rolling cart to the oblivious filly, and back again, and Apple Bloom realized it was going to be close, the cart was rolling extremely fast, Apple Fires was directly in its path, and Apple Bloom was still several yards away.
“Look out, Apple Fries!” She leaped with every ounce of strength she had at the endangered filly, and grabbed her around the neck with both front hooves. They tumbled several times alongside the runaway cart, coming to rest a few yard from the foot of the large tree, just as the cart struck it with a loud crash. Splinters of wood and chunks of apples rained down on the two fillies. Apple Bloom caught her breath and sat up, and she saw that Apple Fries was doing the same. They were battered, bruised, and covered in sticky gobs of apple, but both very much alive.
Featherweight swooped down towards his daughter, scooping her up on his hooves and hugging her tightly, as he hovered just above the wreckage. “Oh, thank Celestia! I though you were... oh, I thought I had lost you. Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“Yeah, Daddy, I'm fine. Lemon Drop saved me, she pushed me out of the way. Ugh, you can put me down now, Daddy.”
“Apple Fries, you're okay!” The elder Apple Bloom rushed to her daughter, and scooped her up, just as her father was putting her down.
“Yeah, momma, I'm fine, I'm fine!” Apple Bloom let go of the filly, and Apple Fries pointed a hoof and gestured towards her savior. “Lemon Drop helped me.”
“Lemon Drop? Oh you mean...” She followed Apple Fries' hoof, and locked eyes younger self. The two other crusaders rushed past her from behind a moment later, and pulled Apple Bloom into an adorable three-way hug.
“You did it, Apple Bloom, you saved her!” Scootaloo cried.
“I knew you could do it!” yelled Sweetie Belle.
Apple Fries' face bore a look of confusion, and she looked up at her mother. “Momma, why did Epic Thunder just call Lemon Drop by your name?”
Before she could answer, there was a ear-splitting snap. Apple Fries' eyes went wide, and she began to run wildly away in panic.
“Apple Fries, no!” Featherweight screamed, but it was too late, and the damaged tree fell just as Apple Fries crossed it's path. There was nothing any of them were able to do, and all five onlookers were forced to watch in horror as Apple Fries was crushed beneath the heavy trunk.
TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE FOUR
IN DEFIANCE OF THE FATES
Thanks for reading, and as always, if you notice any mistakes, go ahead and let me know in the comments so that they can be fixed.
Images created using the following:
CMCs by smlahyee
Sweet Apple Acres background by Gameguy001
Blank Flank Brigade background by Scootaloooo
Pony Creator by generalzoi
All other logos and image edits by me, using screen shots from the show, fonts from DaFont, and images found on Google. Images created using Photofiltre.
Cutie Marks are my design, though I did use some clip art I found on Google to help make them.