A Sight For Sore Eyes

Apple Bloom groaned as she scrambled up the mountain after Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Today, they were planning to get Cutie Marks in Mountain Climbing, and what better mountain to climb than Pone Neighvis. For some reason, Scootaloo said that Apple Bloom should be the farthest down, as she's the strongest out of all of them, and if anypony fell she could catch them...

Why didn't they bring safety gear?

"Com'on! We're almost at the top!" Scootaloo yelled from... somewhere up there.

"Yay!" Sweetie Belle's voice replied.

"Do y'all wanna' start an avalanche?!" Apple Bloom yelled as quietly as possible.

Silence followed. All Apple Bloom could hear know was the howling wind and the scraping of hooves against the mountain. Finally, the farm filly started to enjoy this silence. Well, until,

"Avalanche-starting Cutie Marks wouldn't be that bad." One of her friend's voices remarked.

Apple Bloom growled and continued climbing as laughter filled the air above her.

Maybe she should just throw a rock up and knock one of them down, and pretend she couldn't catch them in time.

"I'm an amazing friend." Apple Bloom mumbled as a mini joke to herself while the dark thought vanished from her mind.

"APPLE BLOOM! WE ARE ALREADY AT THE TOP!"

"PLEASE HURRY UP!"

A rock came flying in her direction.

You know, maybe that idea wasn't half-bad.

Apple Bloom panted as she tried to pull herself to the top. She was so exhausted she didn't even notice two pairs of hooves dragging her up.

Her body made a dull thud as her two friends dropped her on the rocky surface called a mountain.

"Apple Bloom, can you hear us?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom, too wiped out too speak, nodded and went back to observing the clear, blue sky overhead.

"What took you so long?!" Scootaloo asked, annoyed. She had her feathers ruffled up; to make herself look more angry, and had bits of pebble, dirt and dust all over her coat, identical to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom's.

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak before she stopped herself. What had taken her so long? Was she thinking about murdering her friends for too long (she would never do that of course, that's pure evil), or maybe time had slowed down thanks to the local 'Doctor'. Apparently, he had this big, blue box thst could travel anywhere through time and space. It probably wasn't that. What was it, though?

"Ah... Ah'm not quite sure..." Apple Bloom put a hoof to her chin and pondered some more.

"Hey, have you seen the scenery?" Sweetie Belle asked. Scootaloo followed her gaze and Apple Bloom lazily lifted her head.

Down below was a beautiful canvas of green spread across the ground. The sun tickled the leaves on the trees and the grass danced with the wind. The hastily built homes nearby just showed how amazing it was.

"Woah..." Scootaloo gasped in awe. Sweetie Belle had the same expression on her face and just nodded.

Apple Bloom shrugged and said, "Woah! It's a field of grass! Totally something you would never see in your life!"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stared at her.

"What do you mean; the scenery's beautiful!" The unicorn said.

"So? It's not like I can't look at it another time."

Now it was Scootaloo's turn to speak, "Well, what if something happens between now and then?"

"Well, what would happen? Field gets destroyed? Ah loose mah eyesight? Ah don't think that would happen."

Scootaloo huffed and turned back to the scenery, "Whatever."

It had been about a minute until Scootaloo had gotten bored and said they had to check for Cutie Marks.

"Can you not be impatient for, like, two seconds?" Sweetie Belle desperately asked.

"You wish!" Scootaloo retorted.

"Yeah, we do." Apple Bloom mused as she stood up. She looked at her flank and once again saw it blank. One glance at her friends' face told her they had the same. She slung a foreleg around each of them.

"Aw, com'on Crusaders! Let's not git all down 'bout it! Think of it this way, there's plenty of talents y'all could git on the way back down!"

Scootaloo removed Apple Bloom's foreleg from her back and shouted, "Yeah!"

There was a loud rumble and the Crusdaers froze. They waited in silence for it to stop, and when it did, Sweetie Belle glared at Scootaloo.

"What in Equestria is wrong with you?!" She whisper/yelled.

Scootaloo recoiled, "You're not any better, because we all know it's the best idea to shout 'YAY!' near the top of a mountain!" She yelled back.

"Oh, yeah? You shouted, 'WE'RE ALMOST AT THE TOP!' and just there you shouted 'YEAH!'!" Sweetie Belle shot back.

As the two fillies bickered, Apple Bloom noticed the rumbling sound again, but this time it vibrated underneath her hooves.

"Um... girls?"

"And all you do is scream and shout!"

"Girls!"

"Yeah, well so do you!"

"Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle."

"When do I shout?!"

"WILL THE BOTH OF YER SHUT UP?!" Apple Bloom yelled. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle fell silent and looked at their friend.

"Y'all hear that?"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle too noticed the sound, and both now wore terrified expressions. Only Sweetie Belle spoke.

"What was it you said about 'Avalanche-Making Cutie Marks' again, Scootaloo?"

Not giving the pegasus any time to answer, Apple Bloom quickly jumped into the converstation.

"Well, we're gonna hafta' run now if we don't want, 'Getting Squashed Cutie Marks'!" She yelled.

The trio ran, hoping to find the small pathway that had been pony-made so ponies could walk up and down it normally.

"WHERE IS IT?!" Sweetie Belle yelled, dodging a large boulder.

"THE BEST WE CAN DO IS FIND COVER!" Scootaloo shouted over the noise.

They ran for a bit more, always narrowly avoiding being flattened.

Apple Bloom looked up to find the source of the boulders, only to get a shower of pebbles, dirt and dust in her eyes. She cried out in pain, and a rock bounced on her head rather hard; making her fall to the ground, but not hard enough to knock her completely unconcious.

"Apple Bloom!" She somehow heard over the racket of the avalanche. It was Sweetie Belle's voice.

She felt a pair of hooves pull her up and steady her, and the unicorn filly spoke again.

"Scootaloo found a small cave, we should be okay there!" Apple Bloom could feel herself been dragged forwards and she started to fall completely unconcious. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes, was Scootaloo running towards them.

Scootaloo paced around. "Why won't she wake up already?!"

Sweetie Belle shushed her and replied, "I think she got hit on the head rather hard, I head her cry out in pain."

"If she got hit on the head, isn't it a bad thing she isn't awake yet?"

"Em..."

Cough, Cough, Cough, Cough

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo forgot their argument as they ran to Apple Bloom's side.

"Apple Bloom?"

Very slowly, Apple Bloom opened her eyes, which looked quite cloudy.

"Hey, Apple Bloom? Can you hear us?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yes."

Sweetie Belle sat in front of Apple Bloom and noticed how the filly's eyes weren't focused on anything. That's what made her ask her next question.

"Apple Bloom, can you see us?"