Chapter 1

“Apple Bloom?” “Apple Blooooom!” Sweetie Belle stood at the base of the tree that contained their Secret Club House.

A red-maned tawny head poked out of a window. “Aaaayup?” she replied, grinning broadly.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “Really, Apple Bloom. Anyway, Scootaloo’s still not back. She’s been gone for half an hour! I’m getting worried.”

Apple Bloom looked south, then north, then...

“I don’t think we’ll hafta wait much longer. I see somethin’ comin’.”

Sure enough, moments later, a tiny blue scooter with a bright orange pony cleared an embankment and roared towards the treehouse.

“Sweetie Belle! Apple Bloom! Gummy’s in a tree in the Everfree!”

Scootaloo spun her scooter into a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured the scene.

“The Everfree?” Sweetie Belle looked concerned. “But how-”

“The Everfree! Do you know what this means?” Apple Bloom had already retrieved their capes.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ANIMAL RESCUE TEAM! YAAAAAY!”

The Crusaders’ wagon careened down a rocky path, threatening to spill its terrified occupants as it sped behind Scootaloo’s scooter.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom steadied herself after another hard knock. “Slow down! You’re gonna tip us out!” Scootaloo didn’t seem to hear, and kept powering on.

They roared closer to the wood, tree roots causing the improvised transport to shake violently. Sweetie Belle clung to the back of the wagon, slowly turning green. She stuck her head over the rear and closed her eyes in fear. “I don’t see... why we’re so... *urp* eager to get there... anyway.”

“Gummy could be hurt, Sweetie Belle. I’d feel awful if we didn’t help him!” Apple Bloom’s lower lip trembled as her eyes widened.

Sweetie rolled her eyes. She knew Apple Bloom’s special look, and was having none of it. “I suppose you’re right, but how did he end up in the Everfree?”

With that, the wagon screeched to a halt. Its occupants, however, did not, and found themselves flung through the air, colliding with the orange pegasus filly, landing in a heap of helmets, limbs, and muffled groaning.

“Uh... we’re there, girls,” declared a very uncomfortable Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle peeled herself out of the top of the pile. She groaned, and turned her helmet back around to the right direction, frowning at the new hole. “Ugh... next time, can you tell us before you stop?”

“Y’seem to have a habit of this, Scoots.” Apple Bloom spat out a few leaves and dusted herself off.

“Yeah, yeah. Look: I’m sorry, but we’re here.”

“Gummy’s tree, already?” Apple Bloom removed her helmet, looking up with interest.

“No... just... here.” She picked herself up, and pointed ahead.

The forest loomed ahead of them, dark and menacing. Far in the distance, through the oppressive silence, they could hear a faint squeaking noise. It was suddenly drowned out by a swarm of agitated bats.

Sweetie Belle squeaked in fear, bringing both hooves to her terrified face.

“That’d be Gummy,” Apple Bloom deadpanned. “Of course.”

“Should we leave the wagon here? We might need it.” Scootaloo seemed reluctant to abandon her scooter.

“No, let’s take it. I reckon we might need someplace to carry Gummy, if he’s hurt.” She glanced at terrified filly beside her, and sighed. “Here. Help me get Sweetie Belle into the back. Ah don’t think she’ll walk inta this place, willin’.”

Loading up their frozen friend, they ventured deeper into the wood. The midday sun was high overhead, and yet its light was weak once it reached the Crusaders. After a few minutes, Sweetie Belle got out and walked alongside her friends.

“I don’t like this place, girls.”

“It’s okay, Sweetie. Ah’ve been in here before. All the way to Zecora’s, even!”

“This isn’t the way to Zecora’s, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo reminded her.

“Yeah... I know.”

They walked in silence, deeper into the wood. The squeaking could be heard further ahead, and slightly to the right of the path.

As they walked, the forest seemed to sense them - to react. Insect calls came first: Keening screeches from nearby underbrush, loud hisses from tree to tree. A horned owl hooted from the deepening shadows. In the distance, some large creature shambled through the dense wood.

They were getting closer, and the squeaking steadily increased in volume.

Sweetie Belle seized each of her friends’ free hooves. “There’s something glowing over there, Scootaloo. It looks like eyes...”

Scootaloo glanced into the shadows growing alongside them. “Y...yeah. I see it. We need to hurry, I think.”

The other two fillies nodded in silent agreement.

Moments later, they reached a large tree that hung over the path. They could hear the squeaking high above in the branches that dangled over the Everfree to their right.

“You... any good at climbing... Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom stared into the darkening sky, swallowing hard.

“I think we still have some rope in the wagon... I guess we’ll try that...”

Sweetie Belle rummaged a moment and found it. “You want to try scaling this with a rope?”

“I cain’t think of no other way up.”

“Apple Bloom, can you try to lasso that branch?”

“I... I dunno, Scoots. My sister’s been givin’ me lessons, but...”

“Try it, Apple Bloom,” insisted Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom tied the end of the rope into a lasso, careful to leave it loose enough to slide long the knot. She stared into the tree, squinted, and then spun the rope about. One circle... two... and three! The loop soared into the tree, and snagged something deep within.

“Wow, nice throw...” Scootaloo looked on in awe.

Apple Bloom blushed. “‘tweren’t nothin’. Here, help pull on it, ah wanna make sure it won’t break when we climb.”

The three fillies seized the rope in their teeth, and pulled with all their weight, lifting their hooves off the ground. The rope held tight, but something seemed... wrong.

Sweetie Belle noticed it first. Looking down, she mumbled through the rope, “Girls, shood we be dis hi aw de groun?”

The other two glanced down in terror. They were a good five feet off the ground. Apple Bloom cautiously extended a hoof, feeling only air below. In unison, they slowly looked back up, to stare further into the tree. At that moment, they were pulled swiftly into the branches, screaming through clenched teeth.

“Hi, girls!” Pinkie’s unmistakable voice rang down from above, as the girls dangled precariously from their rope. “I didn’t expect to see you here! I was just looking for Gummy!”

Clinging for dear life, the fillies swayed back and forth beneath Pinkie Pie’s flying contraption, blinded by the sudden sunlight. Their lasso had caught on to one of the runners, and now they hung a dozen feet above the canopy of the forest, goodness knows how far above the forest floor.

There was a large nest in the tree below them, occupied by some weathered eggshells and an adorable green alligator, who was chewing contentedly on a rubber ball.

Pinkie Pie carefully lowered her craft, bringing the rope closer to the girls. “Tie a circle in it, Crusaders! You can all sit on it like a swing! And bring Gummy with you!”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem, Miss Pinkie,” deadpanned Sweetie Belle. Gummy was happily attached to her helmet, gnawing away.

The pink party pony pedaled her impossible contraption in a perfect hover, waiting on the girls to get comfortable, and then, moments later, deposited them beside their wagon and scooter. “You girls need any help getting back out? You’re only a few hundred yards from the edge of the forest.”

“No, Miss Pinkie! We’ll be fine,” Sweetie Belle answered. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hooked back up the wagon, and the girls clambered aboard their transport, Gummy happily moving to Sweetie Belle’s lap for the ride.

Scootaloo drove her scooter out of the forest more cautiously than she had on the way in. Minutes later, they had left the dark, frightening wood and motored past Fluttershy’s house, on the way to Ponyville. Scootaloo slowed to a stop.

“D’you girls think we should have him checked out?”

“I don’t know, Scootaloo. Miss Fluttershy looks awfully busy.” Sweetie Belle squeezed the alligator tightly. “Besides, he doesn’t seem hurt.”

It was true. Fluttershy dashed about her home and the surrounding yard, concerned but not panicked - yet - as she made sure each of her recovering animal friends had their mid-day meal. Meanwhile, the alligator happily enjoyed the company of the ponies, as expressive and talkative as ever.

“I... guess. Let’s get him home to Pinkie Pie.”

The three fillies dropped off their precious cargo at Sugar Cube Corner. He shuffled inside to a cheerful squeal that felt pink. Moments later, two pink hooves stretched out of the door, grabbed all three fillies from where they rested, and zipped them into the shop where an impromptu “Rescue Party” had been thrown.

“Thank you girls SO MUCH!” Pinkie squeezed them all tightly. “Now, this is sort of an emergency party, so I only have three different kinds of cupcakes and one kind of punch, but that’ll be okay! Let’s PARTY!”

The party lasted well into early evening, with Applejack and Fluttershy stopping by as it went on, praising the girls on their heroics. Embarrassed and blushing, the Crusaders made their way out of the shop, punch-and-cupcaked out, eyes glazed. Suddenly, they all stopped, and looked at their flanks.

Nothing.

Sighing, they headed in different directions.

“I... I’ll go check on wind speed,” mumbled Scootaloo.

“I’ll go get my sister’s cat,” offered Sweetie Belle.

“Right. Ah’ll change tha direction of tha catapult... and its traject’ry,” answered Apple Bloom.

“Rarity. Rarity! Calm down. Tell me what happened.” Twilight rubbed futilely at the tension growing between her eyes. The sudden intrusion of the panicked fashionista had woken her up from a well-deserved early bedtime.

“It’s Opalescence, Twilight. I can’t find her anywhere, and it’s getting dark! The poor dear!”

Somewhere in the distance could be heard the unmistakable cheer of three tiny fillies:

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ANIMAL RESCUE TEAM! YAAAAAY!”

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