“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAhahahahahahaha! That was just AWESOME!” Scootaloo bellowed through the forest.
“Yeah, that really WAS funny!” Sweetie Belle added with a giggle.
“Ah don’t know girls, it seemed kinda... unnecessarily dangerous this time.” It was yet another day in which the three of us tried to finally get our cutie marks. At first we thought to ourselves 'how could this week's idea possible go wrong?', but that was BEFORE we almost became bear chow. Usually Ah would have been one hundred percent into that idea, but ever since mah sis and Ah got attacked by a family of angry bears last summer, Ah had mah share of doubt.
“Oh Apple bloom, don’t be such a naysayer! We AAAAAAAAlmost got our cutie marks this time!” Of course Scootaloo would have said that, the hungry fur ball wasn't chewin' on HER ribbon after all. Ya' see, our glorious idea was it to get our cutie marks by becomin' park rangers! What does a park ranger do? Heck if Ah knew, but it sounded fun. Half way down into the forest the three of us came across a lil' cub. So naturally we wanted to park ranger that cub... whatever that meant. Unfortunately for us we didn't even get the chance to figure that out because it's mommy had a severe lack of humor, which she demonstrated by chasin' us through the whole area. Thank Celestia for Granny Smith's sandwiches Ah had in mah backpack since they distracted mommy bear just enough for us to get away.
“Well, maaaaaaybe it was a bit dangerous though.” Sweetie Belle admitted slowly.
“Oh come on Sweetie Belle! You agreed with me just a minute ago! It was so thrilling when the bear jumped out of the nowhere and started to chase us! Wasn't it?” Scootaloo ran ahead, turned herself around and went into some kinda huntin' position Ah guess. She lowered her body and bend her knees as she glared at us from afar.
“You were so lucky I was there, because if I wouldn’t have been around by then... GRROOOOAAAAARR!” With an epically failed attempt of growlin' menacingly, she leaped forward at Sweetie Belle and nailed her onto the ground.
“AGH!, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle squeaked as she hit the grassy ground, while the 'great' Scootaloo raised her body, makin' sure to stretch out her 'heroic' chest.
“Hehehe, see? The BIG and AWESOME Scootaloo saved the day once again!” Oh brother.
“Oh c'mon Scootaloo, even YOU ran away like a little chicken when the bear started growlin'!” After sayin' that, her heroic pose and grin quickly turned into a frown.
“T- that's not true! I... uhm, just wanted to...”
“Naw naw it's fine... for a chicken~" Admittingly, maybe the chicken noises and gestures were a lil' mean, but after almost gettin' mah flank bitten' off Ah didn't care 'bout it. Ah was almost half way done with mah chicken dance when Scootaloo suddenly jumped at me and pushed both of us downwards a small hill.
“AH! APPLE BLOOM! SCOOTALOO!” Sweetie Belle screamed with a lil' crack in her voice and ran to the rim of the hill, meanwhile me and Scootaloo kept rollin' down the hill. Stones, ripped grass and some pieces of dried mud were flyin' all over the place, pushin' us on a painful and uncomfortable way from on side to another.
“AGH! Scoot you stupid chicken! AH, you, OU, are, EEK, such, OOF, a, AH, DODO!”
“Stop, OW, calling, UNGH, me, MNGH, a, GAH, DODO! OU! And I'm NOT-A-CHICKEN!” Finally after what seemed to have been hours, we arrived at the bottom. The dull and painful impact made us roll apart and fly into separate directions.

"Guh... Ah don't... feel so well..."
"I think I swallowed a rock..." Still jarred and dizzy both of us decided to keep layin' there for a little while longer, mah stomach and eyes still rollin' 'round in circles it seemed.
"Uhm... girls? Are you still alive?" Sweetie hesitantly shouted down from the top of the hill. Heavily breathin' of exhaustion, the two of us slowly started to get back up and began to laugh.

“Ahahahahahaha!”
“Hehehehehehe that was AWESOME!”
“Scootaloo! Applebloom! Are you two alright or not?” The slowly impatient growin' Sweetie Belle began to jump up and down and ran down the hill takin' the narrow path next to it. Her expression grew more worried as she came closer, yet
as soon as she saw that we were actually laughin', she changed her expression from worried to angry... to confused.
“... W- what's going on? Is any pony hurt or not?" Followed by a disappointed lookin' stare and raised eye brow.
"... did you girls hit your head or something?”
“Hehe don’t worry Sweetie Belle, do you really believe such a small pity hill could harm me?” The great Scootaloo bellowed yet again as she jumped up and tapped the dirt off her fur.
“Oh and what about you Apple bloom?” Sweetie asked hesitantly.
“Don’t worry Sweetie Belle, Ah'm aaaalright... just a little bit dirty maybe.” Ah stood back up aswell and stretched mahself a bit. Dirt wasn’t such a big problem for me, Ah mean, Ah WAS livin' on a huge apple farm together with mah big sister Applejack, mah big big brother Big Macintosh and mah granny of course. Honestly though... our family was much bigger, like, much, MUCH bigger than that. But whatever, it was a fact that workin' in the mud or helpin' buckin' apples from the trees wouldn't keep ya that clean all the time anyway. Sweetie Belle on the other hoof was Rarity’s lil' sister so she was much more familiar with tidiness than me or Scootaloo for example. Yet even Sweetie liked to make her hooves dirty from time to time, especially when we go on adventures together! Other than her big sister of course. Scootaloo was a pure adventure filly herself, makin' her hooves dirty was basically her life. She was always searchin' for danger and an adrenaline rush, although she was kinda... anxious some times. Although we were different in some ways, we had one big goal in our life: 'We wanted to find our Cutie Marks!'

“Hehe, alright girls it's getting dark, lets go home. We have to be physically fit if we want to go surfing tomorrow!” Scootaloo said. Gettin' our cutie marks by surfin' was plan B. Plan C would have been free climbin' and to be honest we ran out of ideas before we ran out of letters, but that never stopped an adventurer before!
“You're right Scootaloo." Sweetie yawned.
"Are you coming too, Apple bloom?”
“Huh? Yeah, but... uhm, Ah have to take the short cut this time. Ya see mah sis wanted me to help her bringin' the today’s apple harvest into the barn.”
"Aren't those like... a billion apples?"
"No Scootaloo, but it sure feels like it. Hehe, a looot of work!" In the end that was not entirely true. Applejack was mad at me 'cause ah smashed the last harvest a few months back with a... cow. Yeah Ah know it sounded kinda strange, but Pinkie Pie once told me that it’ll bring you luck if cows may fly, or maybe it were pigs? Anyhow Ah tried and Ah had to admit that buildin' a catapult wasn’t the best idea to make that happen.
“Working at dusk? That’s really stupid! Are you still able to sleep enough? It would be such a bummer if we had to blow the trip off tomorrow.” Scootaloo asked with a raised eyebrow. Ah on mah hoof took a deep breath and answered straight out, hopin' Ah was actually right this time.
“Yeah of course! It surely won't be THAT much work.” Which honestly... was another lie.
“Oh okay then Apple bloom." Sweetie smiled.
"I hope you will have a good rest and-” Before Sweetie Belle was able to complete her sentence, Scootaloo already cut her short and yet again bellowed in her semi scratchy 'hero' voice: “Blah, blah, blah! C'mon Sweetie Belle! First filly home wins!” Aaaand so Scootaloo dashed away, leavin' the confused lookin' Sweetie Belle far behind in a tiny cloud of dust.
“W- wait Scootaloo! That’s not fair! YOUR HOME IS CLOSER THAN MINE ANYWAYS! I WANT AN ADVENTAGE! SCOOOOOTALOOOO!” And so the chase for Scoot began, makin' both of 'em soon disappear at the horizon, leavin' me all alone out here in the field somewhere at the border of Ponyville. There really wasn't much 'round me except for a bunch of trees and tall grass... and Ah guess a sleepin' mommy bear somewhere nearby.
“Heh poor Sweetie Belle. Oh well let's go home before sis goes berserk again...”

It wasn't much of a short cut rather than a detour in the end, since a part of me really didn't want to go home yet. Reason for that was that, if mah sis would have seen me with mah friends, she would have just gotten mad, lecturin' me about me needin' to be more dutiful. 'After your work is done, ya have all the time in the world to play 'round Apple bloom. And ya can do all that with the satisfyin' feelin' of a job well done on ya back!' ... or somethin' like that. Yeah Ah know Ah was basically doin' just that in the end and tryin' to win time. This way Ah could still say Ah got lost on mah way home ya know.
On the other hoof maybe Ah wasn't all that wrong about that....
A looked mahself 'round a bit. Since our apple farm was not far away from the border to begin with, Ah should have ended up gettin' there anyhow sooner or later. All Ah basically had to do was to just keep walkin' along the border past the Everfree Forest. From afar the forest was very intimidatin' already, especially since Ah couldn't look deeper into it than maybe a few inches. Nothin' but trees and weird noises, birds flyin' through the treetops and into the cloudy orange sky above. The empty and silent dirt road to Sweet Apple Acre Ah was on, didn't make that experience any less scary. It was pretty much a no-pony land out here and the Ponyville town hall alone was pretty far away, a quiet and isolated road between the ponies and the spooks of this ominous forest here. At this point Ah was askin' mahself if any pony could live in that forest, yet alone survive. Not countin' Zecora of course. She was... scary in her own way sometimes.

The sun was slowly settin', stainin' the sky into a beautiful orange-red color. Rainbow Dash and the other pegasus ponies were really doin' a great job today, not even a single cloud was hangin' in the sky. Since it was 'round night night some of the clouds started formin' again, at least 'round the forest area. Ah wonder if it was true and the Everfree forest really WAS takin' care of its own weather... however that would work. Ah didn't try to let that confuse me, in the end Ah was lookin' at a marvelous sight! The grass around me had a wonderful deep and juicy green color, the sweet mid-autumn breeze of the wide open country side was blowin' softly through mah mane and the last few birds were chirpin' as they flew through the trees. Even the leafs on the trees themselves slowly started to turn into all sorts of yellow-red-ish colors and slowly sinkin' to the ground. While ah was keep marvelin' at the scenery some more and with mah head sunk in thoughts, ah was slowly recappin' 'bout today and our adventures as Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Every pony in Equestria and beyond has a cutie mark on his or her flank. A special magically symbol-thingy which appears when the time is right and you've found your very own special talent in life. Naturally it was hard for a young filly like me, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to find their special talent, 'specially since some of the fillies at school could be really mean 'bout that, callin' us blank flanks all the time. Ah mean sure, we could've just sit and wait 'till it popped up on its own one day... eventually, OR we could've tried as hard as possible to FIND it ourselves! By this time It seemed as if almost every other filly in Ponyville already got their cutie mark... except for us. That was kinda depressin' to be honest, but if Ah thought about it some more... our friendship and our adventures were much better than every cutie mark in Equestria all together! Ah couldn't imagine a world without Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo... and well, mah sis and family of course.
“Wait... AH! Darn it! Ah forgot that Applejack was waitin'!” Ah was so drifted away that ah didn’t realize at all how the time literally ran away! The sun almost disappeared behind the mountains and Applejack was surely already waitin' and more than angry because Ah was too late... again. Or... Ah guess she would be worried since, well, if she met mah friends along the way lookin' for me, tellin' her Ah walked off, maybe she would think Ah was lost and injured?
"AH! No matter what, Ah will get in so much trouble!" Ah picked up the pace and ran down the long plane path untill Ah arrived at a T-shaped crossroad. Now all Ah had to do was go right and get ready to get lecture and put over the knee...

“Oh, good evening Applebloom~”
"Huh?" Ah was a lil' startlet when Ah suddenly heard the familiar voice of one of mah sisters best friends callin' out for me. When Ah looked down the right path Ah was even able to say who that certain somepony was as she walked torwards me in a rather quick tempo. A tall light-purple unicorn with dark-purple eyes and a very dark blue mane, lined with both pink and yet another purple strand... there's just so much purple. It was Twilight Sparkle! Accordin' to mah sister and what she told me herself, she came directly from Canterlot and was even Celestias personal student! Ah have barely seen the princess mahself, but it was still excitin'. She started to smile as she quickly came closer to the crossroad.
“What are you doing out here all on your own?” She started.
“Hey Twilight! You’ll never guess what we did today! So this morning-” Seein' Twilight made me actually really happy at that moment. It was a relief, sorta, since she could've talked with Applejack and maybe even save mah flank in the end. In pure excietement Ah began to tell her about mah day, the CMC adventures as park rangers! ... without mentionin' the almost bein' eatin' part. At that moment ah remembered the adrenaline shock Scootaloo mentioned before, after we've been chased by that bear. Ah had to tell her what happened, it tickled in mah hooves when Ah thought of all of that again!
“That’s okay Applebloom, I just-” She tried to interrupt me, but ah continued anyway.
“But then Scootaloo was all like 'CMC Park Rangers!'” Twilight nervously looked around and tried again to stop me from talkin'... which didn't work.
“Well, I’m sure you had-”
“And then she said 'That’s NOT what a bear sounds like!'” Ah kept talkin' for another few minutes 'till Twilight suddenly started to raise her voice.
“Applebloom! I... uhm, I’m sorry but I REALLY have to get going! Take care now okay?” Twilight turned away from me and went down the left path leadin' right into the Everfree Forest, while Ah was still floatin' in mah dialogue.
“Every-single-one! Huh? What? Ooooh, where are ya goin' Twilight?” Ah couldn't let her run away, not before she would have talked to mah sister at least, mah flank was on the line! She looked back at me and sighed.
“I promised Zecora to bring her some books and local herbs. I wanted to go earlier but Spike messed up a special delivery to Celestia... guess who had the honor to correct that.” Ah was a lil' confused at first, only now noticin' the saddle bags on Twilight's back, one bag each side. From where Ah was standin' Ah was able to see a bunch of green, red and other colored plants and some scrolls stickin' out of them. She nervously looked up at the sinkin' sun. The sun was now almost gone and Applejack surely would have killed me for that by now. One thin' was for sure: Ah had to go with Twilight and make her give me an alibi for my tardiness!
“I better hurry. I rather get home before it's dark.” She said before turnin' back 'round. That was mah chance!
“Oh! Oh! Can ah come, too?” Twilight's face turned back over to me, carryin' a simple frown that should probably tell me 'Uhm, no Apple bloom? Ah am NOT takin' you to an amazin' adventure?' ... or somethin' like that. Ah tried mah very best to convince her, usin' the sweetest and brightest smile mah cheeks could offer.
“I- I’m sorry Applebloom, but the Everfree Forest is no place for a young filly like you!”
“Ah'll be extra careful! Oh please, please, please?” It was time for my secret weapon... the sad puppy eyes! Ah opened mah eyes as far as ah could and made mah cutest face, flappin' my lips into a pout and made them shiver a lil'. Twilight on the other hoof started to get more nervous, yet tried to block me off again, but Ah remained tenacious!
“Apple bloom I- I don’t think-”
“Pluuuuuuueeeeeeeeee...”
“It's just too-”
“... eeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...”
“There are many-”
“... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...” And then, thank Celestia, she FINALLY gave up.
“Hmpf, aaaaalright, aaaalright! BUT you MUST promise me to stay close at ALL time... you hear?” Twilight was just the best! In a sudden rush of glee and excitement Ah began to jump circles around her.
“YES! Thank you Twilight! Come on, lets go! Lets goooo!” Ah was so excited! This would've been mah second... maybe third visit to the Everfree Forest! The first time was way back then when Zecora once again appeared in Ponyville and Twilight and the other ponies got ill because of some weird flowers. To find somethin' to help Applejack Ah then followed Zecora deep into the forest and she invited me into her home, which is just as creepy as the forest itself... even if Ah would never admit that in front of her. Oh! And the second time together with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle when we were searchin' for one of Fluttershy's runaway chickens! Hehehe that’s where Ah got that nickname for Scootaloo: 'Chicken'. Ah was so amazed and lost in thoughts that Ah didn't even notice Ah ran far ahead of Twilight, 'till she shouted out for me.
“Applebloom! APPLEBLOOM WAIT!” It didn't take long for her to catch up with me, after all she was taller than me and had more endurance... or maybe it was because she bit into mah tail and pulled me back.
“Slow down! Remember what you've promised me!” Twilight grumbled down at me with a frown.
“Oh right, hehe... sorry Twilight!” After Ah apologized to her, her frown started to light up and a smile began to decorate her face instead.
"Let's go Apple bloom." And so the two of us began to walk down the lonely road that lead into the depth of the Everfree forest. Ah couldn't wait to tell Sweetie Belle and Scoolatoo about this in the mornin'! ... if Ah would survive 'till then.