Chapter 1
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were excited at Miss Cheerilee’s comment about it looking as if it would rain as she looked out the window-just in different senses of the word.
The skies of Ponyville were filled with dark looming storm clouds and Applebloom couldn’t wait to splash around in all of the mud puddles on their way home.
Sweetie Belle as per usual wasn’t too keen on getting soaked or muddy as she liked to keep her coat and mane looking good, not to mention Rarity’s obsession with cleanliness often had her scrub her down a little too hard to prevent Sweetie from muddying up her boutique.
That, Applebloom could understand as it was perfectly normal given how much of a neat-freak her sister could be.
What really bothered her though, was how anxious Scootaloo appeared to be with her wings twitching nervously as she cast an uneasy glance outside on at least several occasions.
It seemed weird, because Scootaloo loved getting dirty and having fun outside while playing in the rain, plus she was extra lucky as Rainbow Dash almost never made her take any baths if she didn’t feel like it (except for the occasion they tried becoming ‘Cutie Mark Crusader; Skunk-Catchers.)
Then, it was non-negotiable.
The bell rang signaling the end of the school day as the classroom was filled with the chattering of students and the clatter of everyone getting ready to leave.
“Alright, have a good day!” Miss Cheerilee called out in her usual motherly tone. “And try not to get too soaked on your way home!”
“Are ya alright?” Applebloom asked Scootaloo, her voice heavy with concern as the young Pegasus began packing things up into her saddle bag.
“I’m not sure…something about the weather’s been bugging me for a while.” She replied.
“Is it because we’re going to get all wet and muddy on the way home?” Sweetie Belle asked uncertainly, glancing back out at the menacing sky.
Scootaloo shook her head.
“No, it’s…Rainbow Dash said that Pegasi have a sort of ‘sixth sense’ when it comes to things dealing with the weather, but we really only notice it if we aren’t distracted by anything else.”
“So?” Applebloom pressed, cocking her head. “Miss Cheerilee already told us it was gonna rain earlier and Rainbow Dash always tells Applejack what the weather’s supposed to be like ahead a’ time so we don’t ruin our crops.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo countered. “But, all of the weather in Ponyville is made by the Weather Factory in Cloudsdale.”
Applebloom’s dumbfounded expression indicated that she still wasn’t making the connection to where Scootaloo was going with this.
“Sometimes factory have accidents.” Sweetie Belle added. “And that means that we could have a lot of strange, unscheduled, and even dangerous weather.”
“So, what are y’all worried about?” Applebloom countered confidently. “Ah’d love snow in September!”
“But, none of us are dressed for that…” Sweetie replied, unsurely as they began to walk outside into the light drizzle.
“Yeah, but don’t you guys feel how humid it is out?” Scootaloo pressed worriedly.
“Yer afraid there might be a twister?” Applebloom asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“Well,” Sweetie began optimistically. “At least it isn’t raining that hard…”
Just then, the light drizzle they were experiencing became a heavy downpour leaving the three fillies’ coats and manes completely soaked to the point were they were drooping in front of their eyes.
“Well, at least it ain’t thunderin’.” Applebloom added to try and keep her friend calm.
Almost as if on cue there was a low rumble overhead shortly before a fork of lightning pierced the sky through the clouds.
“Will you two PLEASE just stop talking?” Scootaloo grumbled.
“Guys!” a familiar voice called out between to two buildings.
The trio looked over to see Spike holding what appeared to be a brand new hardcover book over his head in an attempt to shield himself from the torrential downpour and possible additional lightning strikes.
“Spike?” Scootaloo called back as he approached them. “What are you doing out here?”
“Yeah,” Applebloom added. “Ain’t ya supposed to be helpin’ Twilight back at the library?”
“I was,” he replied. “But, then Twilight looked at her calendar and realize a new book on ‘Unicorn Magical Theories Compendium; Vol. VII’ just came out, he recited and I guess she forget to write down the forecast that Rainbow Dash gave us for this week.”
“Woah.” Scootaloo uttered, more shocked at the fact that Spike was able to force himself to remember such a long and complicated book title; rather than the fact that Twilight could be so absorbed in her studies that she couldn’t even be bothered to take an occasional glance out the window.
“We should probably find some shelter.” Sweetie cut in, nervously.
“Good idea,” Spike agreed, scanning the area. “Hey, how about that wooden box…it’s big enough to fit all four of us, right?”
He pointed at a wooden blue box with a sign posted on the door that they couldn’t quite make out through the blur of the falling rain.
“Spike, I don’t think a wooden box is gonna stand much of a chance against a tornado.” Scootaloo commented, skeptically.
Spike shrugged.
“Maybe not,” he conceded. “But it’s gotta be better than nothing, right?”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders all gave each other a look that was a nonverbal agreement that the baby dragon had a point, and unlike standing out in the open like they were-they would have some form of shelter.
The four of them then rushed over to the box before Spike let go of the book with one claw, while still holding it over his head with the other and balled it up into a fist before knocking on the door.
“Uh, hello?” he called out uncertainly. “Is anybody in here?”
Almost immediately the door swung open as they were greeted by a brown Earth Pony stallion wearing a red neck tie with a blue suit and matching eyes.
“What are you kids doing out here?” he asked rhetorically before ushering them inside. “Are you completely mad? There’s a storm on!”
The Doctor already knew about the town’s little ‘Tartarus-Raisers’ as they were affectionately called by a few members of the community and Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack had undoubtedly regaled them with tales of their adventure as bedtime stories.
“Well, there isn’t supposed to be.” Scootaloo muttered. “There must have been an accident up at the Weather Factory or something…”
“Ah…well, I suppose I can let you stay here until this whole thing blows over-so to speak.” He replied, leaning against the TARDIS control panel.
The three fillies sat on their flanks as Spike tried wiping the book down with his claw, knowing that Twilight would not be happy to have him brought to her in less than mint condition.
All of a sudden, the TARDIS began shaking as it started to dematerialize, causing Spike to drop his book on the ground.
“DOCTOR, WHAT’S HAPPENING!?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed in a panic that made her already high-pitch tone become a squeak.
“I DON’T KNOW, I DIDN’T TOUCH IT!” he shouted back as he tried to examine the control panel.
Looking at the screen, he could see that they were caught in the vortex of a funnel cloud forming into a tornado.
There was also a cart that appeared to be coming right at them.
“EVERYONE BRACE FOR IMPACT!” he shouted before squeezing his eyes shut as the others did as instructed.
They landed with a deafening thud before The Doctor’s eyes shot open and he looked at the screen to get an idea of their whereabouts.
It was difficult to tell where they were as everything looked pitch black, there were sounds of insects and other small creatures, however.
“I’m going to take a look around outside to-” he began pushing the TARDIS door open before the Cutie Mark Crusaders flew past him.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER; EXPLORERS-YAY!” They all shouted in unison as Spike approached him with Twilight’s book under his arm.
“There they go again…” he sighed.
The Doctor held a hoof in front of them to prevent them from going anywhere.
“Before you do anything, we have to establish some ground rules.” He stated, authoritatively.
“Now, I’m going to go scout the area to assess the situation, where we are, and why the TARDIS spontaneously decided to bring us here.”
“To get our Cutie Marks!?” Scootaloo exclaimed, excitedly as her wings fluttered lifting her a few feet off the ground.
“Doubtful.” The Doctor replied with a deadpan expression.
“Now, the first and only rule is this; do NOT wonder off.” He continued. “Now, I’m not just saying ‘don’t wander’ off, because I MEAN don’t wander off.”
“W-what happens if we wander off?” Sweetie asked timidly.
“When you wander off, very BAD things happen and before you know it somebody will need to rescue somebody.”
The Doctor then turned back to Spike.
“Now then, what’s your issue?”
“I need this book to be in perfect condition before I bring it back to Twilight.” He replied.
“Ah, I think I can handle that.” The Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver as the blue node at the tip lit up and it whirred to life.
It began emitting hot air as the droplets of water began evaporating and the pages flipped backward and forwards depending on how he maneuvered it.
“We ain’t lost,” Applebloom whispered as the Cutie Mark Crusaders brought themselves in for a huddle.
“Yeah,” agreed Scootaloo. “This is the Everfree Forest…I bet we could find our way outta here in like, ten seconds flat!”
“I don’t know…” Sweetie Belle muttered uncertainly. “Didn’t The Doctor say not to wander off?”
“Do you want your ‘Explorer’ Cutie Mark or not?” Scootaloo shot back.
“Okay…” she replied hesitantly before the three took off into the forest.
“There, that should just about do it.” The Doctor proclaimed, confidently. “Luckily, I don’t think we’re too far from Ponyville and given how relatively dry this area is I’d say we can’t be more than a few hours from when the TARDIS was caught in that tornado.”
“Uh, Doctor?” Spike asked, pointing behind him. “Where are the girls?”
“WHAT!?” he turned around to see that the three fillies were indeed absent.
“Well, we better find them quick…I think we might be in the Everfree forest…”
---
“It feels like we’ve been walking in circles for hours…” Sweetie Belle whined.
“Have you been takin’ lessons from Rarity?” Applebloom shot back.
“Besides,” Scootaloo added. “It’s actually been more like twenty minutes.”
A low snarl caused them to stop dead in there tracks.
“Did y’all hear that, too?” Applebloom whispered nervously.
“Yeah…” Scootaloo replied, quietly. “You don’t think it could be…?”
A pair of glowing green eyes appeared directly ahead of them as a creature approached them creating various clacking sounds as it did so, it’s breath visible as it emitted a low growl.
“TIMBERWOLF!!!” They all shrieked in unison before turning back the way they came and breaking into a full gallop to desperately find The Doctor again.
Sweetie Bell tripped over a tree root, sticking up from the ground as the Timberwolf advanced on her.
Thinking quickly, Scootaloo picked up a small rock before chucking it at the creature.
It bounced off of its head and chipped a piece of bark from just above its eye, causing it to emit a dangerous growl as it focused its sights on her instead.
“Uh-oh.” She uttered before a familiar whirring sound pierced the air as the Timberwolf whimpered and brought its head down to the ground.
They all looked up to see The Doctor with his Sonic Screwdriver and Spike standing behind him.
“Doctor, how did you do that?” asked Spike.
“Easy, Timberwolves are largely based on lupine anatomy and just like other relatives of the canine family’s they have sensitive hearing, so it stands to reason that high frequency sounds would have a similar effect.” He explained.
“Besides, it’s called a ‘Sonic Screwdriver’-‘Sonic’ means noise by definition.”
“I-is it dead?” Applebloom asked cautiously.
“No,” The Doctor replied. “It’s just in an excruciating amount of agony. Spike, I’ll need you to incapacitate it long enough for us to get back to the TARDIS.”
“How am I supposed to do THAT?” he demanded.
“You’re a baby dragon.” The Doctor replied, increasing the intensity of the sound.
“So?”
“Dragons can BREATH FIRE!”
“Oh…oh, yeah!” he realized before running over to the Timberwolf and taking a deep breath before releasing an emerald flame that quickly spread over the supernatural creature’s body.
The Doctor turned off his Sonic Screwdriver as he once more ushered the Cutie Mark Crusaders back towards the TARDIS.
Once Spike was confident that he that he had done a good enough of ‘incapacitating’ the Timerwolf as The Doctor had put it, he crossed his arms watching his handiwork as a cocky grin spread across his face.
“Ha! Take that!” he exclaimed triumphantly. “Try and mess with MY friends, huh?”
The Timberwolf released an agonized howl as the foundations of its wooden legs collapsed beneath it.
This startled Spike enough that he ran ahead of both The Doctor and the Cutie Mark Crusaders like a bat out of Tartarus.
---
“Well, I’ve determined that the TARDIS had sent us into the Everfree forest just a few hours after the storm had passed as a means to protect us…and I suppose she also wanted to give you girls a sort of adventure while she was at it.” The Doctor concluded, once they were back inside.
“Won’t we get in trouble for being gone so long?” Spike asked, worriedly.
“Ha! So quick to forget,” The Doctor laughed. “This is a time machine! But, if it would make you all feel better I suppose I could accompany each of you home and explain the situation.
“Good,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “I think I’ve had enough adventure for one day.”
“Me too.” Spike sighed.
“Me three, y’all…” Applebloom agreed.
“Oh, come on!” Scootaloo protested. “That was totally awesome! I wanna do it again!”
“Not today, I’m afraid.” The Doctor replied as he returned to the TARDIS control panel.
THE END.