The next day had soon arrived, and you were finally back to work at Sweet Apple Acres. It had felt like an eternity since you had last worked here.

In between your last shift here, there had been the apple cider ceremony, which they seemed to have cleaned up quite quickly. There was almost no trace of the event ever happening.

Thanks to your winning of the drinking contest, you could now have free apple cider whenever you wanted, and that was a luxury you greatly appreciated.

You had also hung out with Rainbow Dash, and finally saw her perform the legendary Sonic Rainboom. It was the most amazing thing you had ever seen, even if the moment didn't last long.

Despite the spectacular sight you had seen, you couldn't help but remember how tired Rainbow was. Never in the show had she seemed so worn out by flying.

You were trying not to worry about it, but you had this feeling that something was wrong. Nevertheless, you figured if she ever needed anything she would come to find you, and that you shouldn't bother her.

You went about your usual work routine, of bucking trees, having a quick break, and then bucking more trees. There wasn't too much to do after you huge clearing of trees on Monday.

You had cleared a whole field in under an hour, and now there wasn't much more to do.

"Howdy, Sugarcube!" you heard a familiar voice shout from behind you, "Ah see ya cleared all the trees!"

You looked around, and sure enough, there wasn't an apple in sight.

"Oh, I guess I did!" you replied, unsure of whether to be happy or worried that there was nothing more to be done, "What do I do now?"

She looked deep in thought for a moment, before finally coming to a conclusion.

"Ya know, Applebloom's friends have been dyin' to meet yah!" she answered, pointing over to a club house in the trees.

"You mean, you want me to go over there and just say hi, or something?" you questioned, wondering how this was work.

"Not exactly, Sugarcube. Go on an adventure with them. Ah'm sure it'd mean quite a lot." she explained with a sincere smile.

As strange as you knew the Cutie Mark Crusader's adventures got, you did kind of want to see more of Equestria.

"Sure! I can do that!" you said, happily.

"Thanks, Sugarcube," she replied, "See ya in an hour or two!"

Applejack turned and began walking towards the barn. You had been here for over a week now, but you had still never been in or even near the barn. To be quite honest, you didn't even remember a barn like that existing.

Nevertheless, you began hovering over to the shrubbery that the Crusader's club house hid behind. It wasn't like you to hover places, but you figured since Rainbow wasn't here, it would be good to get in some practice.

You had to admit, you could see why she preferred this over walking. It was quite relaxing.

You weaved between two large berry bushes, and found yourself in a clearing with a large tree in the middle. On that tree was the familiar club house from the show you had come to recognise.

You flew up to the front door, still trying to get more flight practice, and knocked twice on its surface.

"Password!" you heard a voice shout from inside. It sounded like Scootaloo.

Since when did they have a secret password, you thought.

"Applebloom, it's Storm!" you called through the wooden door.

Almost instantly, the door opened and Applebloom ran out and hugged you.

"Storm! I haven't seen you in ages!" she exclaimed, as you attempted to break free from the hug.

"It's been less than a week!" you said, as you finally escaped the filly's grasp.

"Come in!" Applebloom said as she opened the door again. She vanished into the clubhouse, waiting for you to follow. You did so, and followed her into the treehouse. The interior looked just like its many appearances on the show.

In the room was two other fillies that you also recognised. A small orange Pegasus and an equally small white unicorn.

"Hey, Storm! I'm Scootaloo!" the small orange Pegasus greeted you as you entered.

"And I'm Sweetie Belle!" the familiar white unicorn said to you.

You figured you didn't need to introduce yourself, since they seemed to already know who you are.

"I'm guessing these are your friends?" you asked, looking down to Applebloom, who was smiling happily at you. She simply nodded, causing you to look back towards the two fillies in front of you, "Well it's nice to meet the two of you."

"Eh, skip the formalities!" Scootaloo interrupted, "We're going cliff jumping!"

Suddenly, a feeling of terror dawned on you. Sure, you could fly, but cliff jumping still held some fear after what happened last time.

"We're what?" you asked. When Applejack asked you to hang out with the crusaders, you weren't expecting to have to jump off a cliff.

"Cliff jumping! And we're gonna get our cutie marks in jumping off of cliffs!" Sweetie Belle explained enthusiastically. You weren't sure that was how it worked, but you couldn't really say much. You didn't even know what your cutie mark meant, let alone how you got it.

"Come on, Storm! Follow us!" Applebloom commanded, before sprinting out of the door at full speed. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed just as quickly.

You let out a faint sigh, wondering how you had gotten yourself into this, before following after the trio.

The four of you walked into the forest that was behind the clubhouse. The trees were not as dense as the Everfree Forest, yet there was still a large amount of them.

The walk was long and boring, and you had to fight the urge to use your wings. None of the three crusaders could fly, even Scootaloo, who was a Pegasus like you.

Before long, you came across a cliff edge, with a lake at its base which somewhat resembled a quarry. A beautiful sparkling waterfall poured down a cliff face, splashing into the pool at the bottom.

It wasn't very high up, but you were aware of the dangers if somepony missed the water.

"Well who's going first?" Applebloom asked, looking over the edge with an almost fearful expression on her face.

"What about Storm?" Sweetie Belle suggested, pointing a hoof at you happily.

A feeling of fear quickly welled up inside you. You knew you could fly easily now, but after what happened last time, you felt like you had gained some uncontrollable fear of cliffs.

"Nah, I think I'll pass. I've already got my cutie mark!" you said, despite not knowing its meaning.

"Are you scared?" Scootaloo teased, in an attempt to make you jump.

"No, I can fly. But if I can fly there's no point in jumping into the water." you explained, a dead-pan expression on your face.

The three fillies looked uncertain, before Applebloom finally came to a decision.

"Scootaloo, why don't you go first, if you're so 'not scared'" she suggested, laughing slightly.

A scared look quickly appeared on Scootaloo's face, before it was quickly replaced with a look of false confidence.

"O-Ok... Just watch!" she exclaimed as she neared the edge of the cliff. Was this what Applejack meant when she told you to hang out with them, or would she actually be wanting you to stop this right here?

As Scootaloo neared the edge, you couldn't help but notice a pair of sharp rocks jutting out of the lakes glistening surface. If anypony fell onto them, they wouldn't be surviving. Much to the lack of your better judgement, you just hoped that Scootaloo wouldn't stay too close to the sharp spikes.

"You can do it, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle cheered, as the orange Pegasus' front hooves reached the very end of the ledge.

"Here I go..." Scootaloo said, with a gulp, before finally jumping off of the cliff.

You kept an eye on the falling filly at all times as her screams of both terror and excitement pierced the air. Thankfully, she dodged the jutting stones by a mile, and landed in the water with a splash.

The orange filly didn't resurface above the water for a few seconds, and you got in a position that was ready to fly. You had been working on your take offs in your spare time, and you could now begin flight without hovering.

Much to your relief, however, Scootaloo re-emerged above the water, gasping for air.

"It's not that bad, guys!" she called up to the other two members, who simply stared with slight disbelief.

"You're next, Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom said with a worrisome grin as she pushed the white unicorn towards the cliff edge.

"Why not you?" Sweetie Belle asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice. You didn't really want to get involved with an argument, so simply stood in the side lines, maintaining your sight on Scootaloo who was quickly paddling towards the shore of the lake.

"Because you're closer to the edge!" Applebloom retorted, pointing a hoof at the ledge she was to soon jump off.

Sweetie Belle huffed in a manner similar to her sister, Rarity, before turning around and marching towards the cliff edge. Without a second thought, she leaped off the cliff, causing you to brace your wings for flight in the event of a missed landing.

Her screams pierced the air, but this time the excitement was lacking. Once again, the filly landed safely in the water, resurfacing almost immediately.

"Ok, Applebloom! Your turn!" Sweetie Belle shouted up to the cliff. Fear was written all over the filly's face, and you couldn't help but feel bad.

"You know you don't have to, right?" you said in an effort to make her feel better.

"I know, but..." she paused, before looking over to the ledge, "I want my cutie mark, and I want it now."

Applebloom approached the edge of the cliff, took a deep breath and finally jumped.

This time, you weren't too worried about a missed landing, as the other two were fine. But as you looked at the falling filly, you noticed something. She was falling straight towards the jagged rocks.

Instantly, you took flight into the air and prepared to grab the endangered pony.

Quickly, you grabbed Applebloom mere moments before she would have hit the rocks. Her eyes were squinted shut with fear, but before she knew it, she was back on the ground with her two friends.

"Woah, Storm! That was awesome!" Sweetie Belle congratulated you.

"Yeah! It was almost as cool as Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo added. That made you think, Rainbow Dash hadn't appeared at all today. But you figured if she had came to the farm looking for you, Applejack would tell you.

"Thanks for saving me, Storm." Applebloom thanked you sadly, her head tilted towards the floor.

"Hey, it's ok, but... Let's not tell Applejack about this, ok?" you asked, worried about how she would react to this.

The three crusaders nodded happily, before all agreeing they should head back. None of them had gotten their cutie marks from this event, but at this point you were used to it.

You walked the three ponies back through the forest, all the way up until you reached their clubhouse. They each said goodbye to you, and thanked you for hanging out with them, followed by a hug from Applebloom.
You also said goodbye before at last making your way back to the farmhouse at the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres.

For some reason, work had felt like it had taken a lot longer today. Maybe it was to do with having to hang out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but you didn't want to dwell on it. Either way though, you had to go tell Applejack that the three fillies were safe and that your work was done.

Applejack was already outside, moving some items from a small white shed into the farmhouse.

"Well, howdy, Storm!" she greeted you, seeing you approaching, "How'd it go?"

"Oh, I just took them down to the lake in the forest. They tried getting a cutie mark in swimming!" you lied, hoping it seemed believable.

"Well did any of them get their marks?" she asked, enthusiastically. Now that your thought about it, a cutie mark in swimming probably wasn't unheard of.

"No, but they had a lot of fun!" you said, not mentioning Appleblooms near-death experience. For some reason, you seemed to have incredibly bad luck when it came to cliffs.

"Well ah'm glad to hear that, Storm! Here's ya pay." Applejack said as she gave you a bad of bits. You thanked her before slinging the brown bag over one of your wings.

"Applejack, I was gonna ask you something." you said as she began lifting a box of house decorating supplies. You assumed the Apple Family was redecorating the inside of their house, but you probably shouldn't get involved in their business unless they asked.

"Shoot, Storm!" she replied, happily, as she raised the box and began standing on her hind legs. You still had no idea how she did that.

"Did Rainbow Dash stop by at any point today?" you asked, a worried tone in your voice. Applejack looked deep in thought for a moment, as if the whole day was flashing by in her head.

"Not as far as ah know," she answered, regretfully, "Last ah heard she was with Fluttershy."

At the mention of that name, you instantly knew where you were going next.

"Fluttershy. Thanks, Applejack!" you called as you quickly soared off into the air. You didn't hear her reply, as by the time she did, you were already high in the air.

You were most likely worrying over nothing, but the fact that she wasn't feeling great last time you saw her, and she was last seen with Fluttershy, put a sinking feeling in your stomach. Rainbow had told you Tank was practically better, so why would Fluttershy still need to visit?

Nevertheless, the quicker you reached Fluttershy, the quicker your worries would be put to rest.

Author's Notes:

It's been a while since a chapter without a Rainbow Dash appearance. I focused on the Cutie Mark Crusaders in this chapter as it won the vote, and I also wanted to properly introduce Applebloom in person, rather than just a mention.

Rainbow will be back in the next chapter, and I might be able to get the chapter out in a single day. No promises though, so don't get your hopes up.