"Come on girls, where are you?"

It was a fine afternoon in Ponyville. The sun was shining through the clouds, despite the Weather Team supposed to have set up a cloud coverage that could develop into a light rain later that night. A young pale coated filly sat alone in her tree house, batting her bright red mane while she waited for her friends to arrive so they could proceed with their latest attempt to get their Cutie Marks. Her name was Apple Bloom and the tree house she was sitting in had belonged to her older sister, Applejack, who had given it to her and her friends. They had, in turn, used it as the main base of their Cutie Mark hunting operations, scouring every option they could think of and plan their days accordingly.

So far none of them had even come close to discovering what their special talents were, but that never made Apple Bloom give up on searching for hers.

"Sorry we're last Apple Bloom," a voice behind her said, causing her to turn around and find Scootaloo standing at the open door, "but I had to wait for Sweetie to persuade her sister to let her come out and play."

"She wanted to put me in a dress!" exclaimed a voice from below the tree house, causing Apple Bloom to look out the window and see Sweetie Belle sitting beside Scootaloo's scooter, "And not just your ordinary everyday dress, but one of those dresses that she made for those stuck up ponies in Canterlot to wear. If not for Scootaloo coming when she did I don't think that my sister would have let me go, even though I kept telling her I was only hanging out with you guys."

"Yeah yeah," Scootaloo said, waving a hoof before turning to Apple Bloom, "So, what's on our plan of action for today? Are we leaping off a cliff and paragliding? Oh, are we getting out the scuba gear and diving into the depths of Ponyville's lake? Or, and this is my favorite one, are we going to get out our rock star costumes and start singing songs like everypony else?"

"NO! That's a terrible idea," Sweetie shouted, running up the ramp until she was at the front door, "We tried that once for the school talent show and we failed in front of everypony. There is no way that I am going anywhere near that ever again."

Apple Bloom had to agree with Sweetie Belle, donning their talent show costumes, wherever they had hidden them after the affair, and trying to sing again was a terrible idea. They had been labeled as jokers during that time, but it was painfully clear that neither of them cared much to try getting a Cutie Mark in singing again. Apple Bloom was sure that her sister had either buried her costume somewhere on the farm, where Apple Bloom wouldn't look, or had burned it one night.

Scootaloo had been the one to suggest many of the numerous activities that they had tried over the last few months, going from simple track running to launching themselves with a catapult. Often either Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle would tell her that an idea of her's was insane and that they shouldn't do it, as they usually, somehow, ended up covered in tree sap and were stuck together. Whenever they came home like that they were usually interrogated by their older sisters or, in Scootaloo's case, by her parents and asked what they had been doing.

"Well then," Scootaloo said, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, "how about we try Monster Hunters again? I know we didn't find much in the Everfree Forest the last time we were there, but I heard a rumor that there are still several monsters lurking in the forest. I'm sure that we can find something in the forest this time."

"Fine, I guess that we can try that again," Apple Bloom sighed, knowing that she wouldn't have come up with anything better than that, "I just hope we don't run into any dangerous creatures that like to eat fillies as snacks."

--------------------------

It took them some time to gather up the couple of nets and strings that they had stashed away from their first attempt at monster hunting, but once they had everything they climbed onto Scootaloo's scooter and got underway. Scootaloo led them from the Sweet Apple Acres, crisscrossing throughout the streets of Ponyville, before they got anywhere near Flyttershy's cottage. During their ride they were shouted at by the various ponies that they passed, mostly because Scootaloo knocked their back wagon into several stalls and knocked over a few of them.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had to shout apologizes to the ponies behind their shoulders, as Scootaloo sped away from them before they had a chance to help them put their stalls in order again. Apple Bloom was sure that she spotted her sister's apple stall with one of her many cousins watching over it, selling the apples that Applejack had harvested earlier that day. They neared Sweetie's house, but as they got closer Scootaloo curved around the building, approached a ramp she had set up in her spare time, and launched them into the sky. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle held on for their lives as they soared through the air, each wondering why they thought that Scootaloo would have just gone with a simple ride for once.

"Scootaloo, you are insane!" Sweetie exclaimed, just as they hit the ground and Scootaloo continued on as if nothing had happened.

"That was awesome!" Scootaloo replied, unaware that her friends were glaring at the back of her head, "If only Rainbow Dash had seen that, I bet that even she would have been impressed by that stunt."

After a few more dangerous stunts and a wasted hour they finally arrived at the edge of the Everfree Forest, where Scootaloo parked her scooter near the sigh so ponies would know that she, and likely her friends, were somewhere inside the dangerous place. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got off their part of the scooter and pulled off their helmets, turning to the last wagon and exchanging them for their hunting materials. Scootaloo follow suit, though she put on a vest that allowed her to carry a lot more rope and thread, items that they needed the last time they came to the forest and had only brought a small amount of. This time, however, they were more than prepared to deal with any sort of monster that they found and they each had a good feeling about this trip.

"Let's go hunting!" Scootaloo exclaimed, fueled by all the rad tricks she had done on the way there as she started walking towards the first set of trees.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sighed before following after her, knowing that if they let her go too far ahead of them they would never be able to find her without getting an adult to help search for her. Neither one of them wanted to tell their older sisters that they had gone into the Everfree Forest and lost Scootaloo somewhere inside, as they had both been grounded from ever returning to this place until they were older.

Ten minutes passed before they found any signs or tracks that would lead them to one of the monsters that were still living in the closest parts of the forest. The track they found was a huge paw print, something that made Sweetie Belle think of the Diamond Dogs and immediately made her forget about them. The Diamond Dogs would never come into the Everfree Forest to hunt for their precious gemstones, so it had to be some other creature that had large paws. Still, it was their only clue to hunting down one of the Everfree monsters and they followed it to the west, leading them deeper and deeper into the forest.

As they walked further down the path Sweetie couldn't help but notice that the forest, which was usually full of animal noises almost everyday, was unnaturally quiet. The tracks they were following eventually grew in number, making them assume that there were at least two or even three of whatever they were hunting somewhere in front of them. Despite the fact that they were in the Everfree Forest Scootaloo kept grinning, thinking of all the tricks she had done and how jealous Rainbow Dash was going to be when she told her. Apple Bloom sniffed the air every now and then, just looking for anything that would make them turn around and call it quits for the day, when something burnt hit her nose.

"Something's burning," Apple Bloom said, looking off to their right and pointing with her hoof, "somewhere in that direction."

"What do you think girls, should we investigate it?" Scootaloo eagerly said, clearly wanting to see what was on fire, "Some of our tracks lead that way anyway, so I'm all for seeing what's over there."

"Clearly it is two to one," Sweetie Belle sighed, just wanting to get their visit to the Everfree Forest over with so she could go home, "so let's head over there and see what's going on."

"Oh, I hope its one of our monsters!" Scootaloo said, nearly hopping as they turned down the new path, "Then we can set up our traps, use somepony who will act as the bait, and then trap whatever comes after us. This is going to be so awesome!"

They crept up to the clearing that their tracks had led them to and hid in the bushes, their eyes searching for whatever was the cause of the burnt smell or the tracks they had been following. Sitting in the clearing was a gray colored dog like creature that wore what they assumed was a jacket, who tossed a couple of sticks onto a campfire. So Sweetie Belle had been wrong in her thinking that the tracks didn't belong to a Diamond Dog, because that was what was sitting on the log near the fire. The Crusaders would have backed up and began their trap set up, but just as they were about to three more Diamond Dogs entered the clearing.

"There you guys are," the one sitting down huffed, his voice rough as he noticed the others, "please tell me you found something to eat in this miserable forest."

"No go boss," one of the dogs replied, laying down a spear before sitting in front of the fire, "We searched all over this forest, but there's not much around."

"I saw some filly tracks a while back," a second dog growled, clearly annoyed that he hadn't found who made them, "but wherever those fillies went I haven't been able to find them."

"Your tracking senses must be getting old then," the fourth dog chuckled, his spear resting exactly on the bush that the Crusaders were hiding in, "I'm pretty sure that they smelled our fire and came to investigate, so I'm willing to bet that they're still around here somewhere."

Scootaloo didn't like where the Diamond Dog's conversation was heading so, instead of quietly talking to her friends and plan their escape, she did the next best thing.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Escape Artists!"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle should have known that Scootaloo would have revealed their location to the Diamond Dogs, but they hadn't expected her to do it that fast. The moment the dog's eyes were upon them the three of them turned around and bolted for the forest path they had strayed from not a few minutes ago. Unfortunately when they returned to where the pah was supposed to be they found nothing that had led them to their current position, so they turned to the right and kept moving. They were lucky that they hadn't stopped for more than a few seconds, as a few spears passed by where they had been standing and hit a couple of trees.

"This is not how I envisioned this day to go," Sweetie Belle said, not bothering to look back as she heard the dogs gaining on them.

"I am never returning to the Everfree until I'm older," Apple Bloom replied, too scared to even listen to what her friend had said.

They came to yet another clearing in the forest, but where the last one had been big enough for four Diamond Dogs this one was large enough to build a small building in. The only thing in the clearing was a large white cloud that hovered a few inches off the ground, though it took the Crusaders a moment to realize that somepony was sleeping on it. The pony could have only been a pegasus, as those were the only ponies that could control the clouds or even sleep on them whenever they wanted to.

"There you are," a voice behind them said, causing them to look back and find the Diamond Dogs staring at them, "and what's this? We've found yet another pony to capture so we can eat him later as well. We shall eat like kings for a few weeks!"

"Ugh...whose there?" the pony on the cloud said, sounding as if he was waking up from a nap they had interrupted, "Sounds like some moronic Diamond Dogs."

"Nice try ponies, but Diamond Dogs are smarter than you," the lead dog said, raising his spear and pointing it right at Apple Bloom, "Now get your friend off his cloud and come quietly, otherwise we'll have to poke you with our spears."

"Maybe if we threaten the fillies the adult will follow our orders," another dog said, turning to Scootaloo, "though I am dying to eat the filly that made us run after them. We should eat her first."

"Mister stallion help us," Sweetie cried, just as she and her friends ducked under the stallion's cloud, "they're going to eat us!"

The stallion, annoyed beyond belief at this point, sighed and got off his cloud, allowing his hooves to touch the ground in front of the Diamond Dogs. Sweetie Belle looked up at him and where she expected to see a pegasus prepared to deal with the dogs she found that the stallion also had a horn on top of his head. Not only that, but the colors of his mane and tail looked like they were simply made of fire, despite the fact that there was no smoke coming from them. Sweetie, having seen Twilight and a few of the other princesses, knew that the stallion could only be an alicorn, but she had no idea who he was or if he was a friend of the princesses.

"Why can I never have a moment's peace?" the stallion asked, taking a burning stick from his mouth and blowing a puff of smoke out, "And shouldn't you dogs be underground, mining for precious gemstones and whatnot?"

"Nice try pony," the lead dog replied, pointing all their spears at the stallion, "but we are still going to capture and eat all of you."

"Yeah, so I have heard." the stallion sighed, "Tell me something original and I might let you go."

"We are going to eat you!" the dogs shouted, running towards the stallion without a care in the world.

A flash. That was all that was needed to install fear into the hearts of the Diamond Dogs. The stallion sat in the same spot, staring at the frozen dogs as they envisioned being burned alive, before they finally dropped their spears and ran away. Once they were gone the stallion dragged the Crusaders out from under his cloud and climbed back onto it, rolling over and wanting to drift off to sleep again. The Crusaders were confused about what had happened, but Sweetie felt that they needed to thank the stallion for saving their hides regardless.

"Um...Mister stallion?" Sweetie said, getting nothing in return from the pony, "I just wanted to thank you for saving us."

"Kid, this place isn't safe for little children," the stallion replied, not even bothering to look back at her, "If I were you I would never step a hoof in this forest for the rest of my days."

Sweetie waited for him to say something else, but when the stallion remained quiet she sighed and followed after her friends. They might not have gotten anywhere near their Cutie Marks during their visit to the Everfree Forest, but Sweetie knew they needed to tell somepony about the alicorn stallion they had seen. She knew of one pony who would at least listen to their story without outright grounding them, though she would put it past the mare to tell their sisters what they had done.

They needed to tell Twilight Sparkle about the alicorn they had seen as soon as possible.