Apple Bloom raced up to the farmhouse, desperate for information about her brother. After running all the way home from school, she stopped for a few minutes to catch her breath. The primary adrenaline rush was long gone, leaving exhaustion in its place. She’d just made it into the living room when a loud noise pierced the stillness, scaring her out of her wits and knocking her to the floor. Suddenly, the whole house started to shake, and as the vibrations grew more and more intense, the farmhouse fell into greater and greater disarray. She saw picture frames fall from their hooks and shatter. She heard pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. She felt the floorboards shift beneath her hooves as they bowed and bent under the strain. Terrified by what was experiencing, she grabbed the doorframe and clung to it for dear life until the creaks and groans subsided. Avoiding the newly-broken glass on the floor, she cautiously ascended the stairs to the second floor. She slowly trotted up to her brother’s bedroom door and pressed it open just enough to see inside when another booming sound shook the house once more. As she peered inside, however, the little filly couldn’t resist cracking a smile. Now that she was closer to the source, all the pieces fell into place and she realized what was truly going on…

Lying in his bed was an out-of-commission Big Macintosh, who unleashed another powerful sneeze and groaned uncomfortably from the exertion.

“Hey, big brother. Miss Cheerilee told me ya ain’t feelin’ well,” Apple Bloom said.

“Eeyup,” he replied with a raspy wheeze after blowing his muzzle into a tissue.

“Miss Cheerilee also said hi.”

“Eeyup,” he repeated, smiling at the thought of the fuchsia schoolmare. The massive red stallion tried with trembling hooves to lift his muscular frame out of bed, but froze in his tracks as a voice called out from down the hall.

“Macintosh! Ya better not be trying ta git outta bed again!” Granny Smith scolded.

“But Gran-,” he groaned.

“No buts, mister!” the elderly mare retorted, cutting him off, “Yer in no condition ta buck apples today! Ah sent Applejack out to fetch some fixins fer a pot o’ chicken soup, and yer not gettin’ outta that bed until ya have a bowl! Do ya understand me, boy?”

“Yes, Granny,” he muttered futilely as he slowly lowered himself back onto the bed.

“But if yer sick in bed an’ AJ’s out shoppin’, who’s gonna buck the apples?” Apple Bloom asked with a whimper. Suddenly, her eyes lit up like tiny suns. “Ah can do it, big brother! I can buck the apples fer ya!”

“Nope.” Big Mac refused, shaking his head.

“But Maaaac!” she whined.

“No, Bloom,” he huffed, dismissing the thought with a wave of his hoof. “We both know yer not strong enough ta buck just yet.”

“But…” she whimpered.

“Tha apples ain’t goin’ anywhere, sis,” Big Mac said with a sigh. “One day off won’t kill me.”

“Granny’s got ya on lockdown,” the filly said somberly. “Trust me, Big Mac. If bein’ sick hasn’t driven ya bonkers yet, bein’ bored sure will.”

The crimson stallion smiled and choked out a wheezy, congested laugh.

“Ah’ll let ya get some rest, Mac. Get well soon, big brother!” she said with a cheerful grin.

“Eeyup…” he said in a hoarse rasp.

She slowly stepped out of her big brother’s room and into the hall, closing the door behind her. Despite being angry about his stubbornness, she smiled.

Even when he’s lying sick in bed with a head cold, Big Macintosh could still say a mouthful with a single word.

But as the door’s latch clicked, Apple Bloom’s eyes lit up again. This time, however, they carried a sinister gleam. Her red-orange pupils held the hypnotic allure of devilish deeds to come: the adventurous luster found only in the scheming eyes of a Cutie Mark Crusader. Apple Bloom slowly tip-hoofed to her room, rummaged under her bed, and pulled out a box. A box marked Crusaders Only.

“This is an emergency,” she muttered to herself as she slid the box open to reveal four yellow boots: Four wonderful, dangerous yellow boots. A set of boots, which she’d lovingly dubbed ‘Thumpers,’ that Impact Hammer built for her as a gift.

“Granny Smith’s takin’ care of Big Macintosh and Applejack’s not home yet,” Apple Bloom said to herself as she slipped her hooves into them, “so that means no apples are gettin’ bucked.” She looked out her window and saw the dark clouds on the horizon, heading her way. “There’s a storm blowin’ in tonight, and that puts tha apples in danger, too.”

She climbed onto her bed and leaned out of her window, casting her gaze over the massive orchard. Next, she tapped a button on her left forehoof and the soles of her boots began to glow bright red. Finally, she crouched into a pouncing stance and froze there, biding her time, waiting for the perfect moment…

And soon enough, it arrived.

“Ah-ah-ah-CHOO!” Big Macintosh sneezed and the house began to shake once more.

Seizing her opportunity, Apple Bloom sprang forward with all her might. She leapt out of the second-story window and hit the ground hooves-first. The kinetic energy of the fall and the subsequent impact was channeled into her Thumpers and distributed into the ground as powerful energy pulses. Pulses which, to Apple Bloom’s delight, were now indiscernible from the aftershock of Big Mac’s mighty sneeze.

“Ah might not be strong enough ta buck apples like mah big sis and mah big bro,” Apple Bloom said to herself, as the farmhouse settle and the evening winds began to whistle through the limbs and leaves of Sweet Apple Acres.

“But with these thangs on mah hooves, Ah don’t need ta be.”

As the four friends left the market, the skies over Ponyville began to turn dark. Lightning flashed across the sky with thunder booming close behind; two critical signs that a storm was brewing. Over time, the storm clouds rolled in closer, turning the afternoon sky from blue to gray. Finally, as the four came within sprinting distance of Sweet Apple Acres, Impact shivered as a cold chill ran down her spine. She turned her gaze skyward and noticed that the skies were black; not gray like stone or cement, but pitch black.

“This feels strangely familiar…” Impact asked, her eyes gazing heavenward as a smile spread across her face. Her three friends looked up and couldn’t resist cracking a smile as well.

“Eeyup,” Applejack said in a perfect mimic of her brother’s catchphrase. “It’s tha mud hole fiasco all over again…”

Spike nodded in agreement. It was the same shade of inky darkness as the storm clouds that changed everypony’s lives for the better.

“As disastrous as that storm was,” Twilight concurred, “it brought us one of the best things to ever wander into Ponyville.”

“And what was that?” Impact asked with a dribble of feigned sarcasm.

“Who tha hay do ya think it was, ya featherbrain?” Applejack said with a chuckle, gently jabbing the alicorn in the ribs with a hoof. Eventually, they started laughing out loud… just as another thunderclap echoed overhead and heavy rain began falling from the sky. Out of nowhere, they were caught in the middle of a torrential downpour.

“Alright, alright!” Impact said, “I’m enjoying this trip down memory lane as much as the next pony, but let’s get out of this rain before I start to rust.”

The foursome shared one more bout of laughter as they galloped through the gates toward the farmhouse.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom was busily bucking away at a row of apple trees in the northeast corner of the orchard when she felt the first raindrops hit her nose. She ignored it and kept on working.

“A little rain never hurt anypony,” she reminded herself. “If Big Mac can weather tha storm, then Ah can do it, too!"

The four friends raced into the farmhouse and quickly tried to dry off.

“Whoo!” Impact said with a smile as she wrung the water from her tail. “Another drencher!”

“Yep! Applejack concurred, twisting her ponytail in a similar manner. “That’s just what tha trees needed! Let me set these in tha kitchen and Ah’ll go grab some towels fer everypony.” She strode off for the kitchen.

“That sounds ni- WHOA!” Twilight started to say before noticing the chaos in the Apple family living room. “What happened in here?” she asked in shock.

A response came in the form of a powerful shockwave that shook the house, knocking Impact off her hooves as Spike leapt onto Twilight’s back and clung to her mane for dear life.

“Like Ah said… Big Mac has a head cold,” Applejack reminded. “Granny Smith! Ah’m home!” she called out as she walked away.

“Welcome back, darlin'!” Granny Smith said with a smile as she hugged her granddaughter. “Did you get tha goods for tha soup?”

“Sure did, Granny! Let’s git started!”

Back in the living room, the dragon, unicorn, and alicorn were aghast at the destruction one sick stallion could cause without even leaving his bed. Suddenly, Applejack’s head popped back into the door frame.

“Y’all stayin’ fer dinner?” she asked with a smile.

The three shook their heads to break themselves from their trance.

“Sure! Thanks!” they said in unison.

“Don’t mention it!” she replied, disappearing back into the kitchen.

“Come on, Twilight.” Impact said with a polite wave of her hoof. “Let’s clean this mess up while we wait.” Her horn began to glow and she cast her aura on the broken picture frames, reassembling the shattered glass and hanging them back on their nails.

“Good call,” Twilight replied, igniting her horn and summoning a broom and dustpan. “Hey Spike! Why don’t you go play with Apple Bloom until dinner’s ready? We’ve got things handled down here.”

“She’s upstairs, sweetie!” Granny Smith said from the kitchen. “Can’t miss her!”

“Alright. I’ll see everypony at dinner. Later!” He toddled off up the stairs to Apple Bloom’s room.

Twilight and Impact spent several minutes tidying up the living room when

“Twilight! Apple Bloom isn’t up here…” Spike called from the top of the stairs.

“What?” she replied, puzzled by the response.

“She’s not here!” he repeated, panic growing in his voice, “Big Mac hasn’t seen her, either!”

“What?” Applejack cried nervously as she trotted into the living room to praise the clean-up work they’d done. “Where’s mah sister?” the earth pony ran through her home, checking every room for her little sister, but finding nopony. “WHERE IS SHE?!” she screamed in a panic.

“I don’t know,” Spike shouted, now thoroughly worried, “but I found this empty box on her bedroom floor!”

The three mares began to fret, but Impact spoke first.

“What empty box?” She asked with a dead-serious tone.

“This box!” He held it up for Impact to see and her stomach dropped. The wooden panel bore the words Crusaders Only, painted on it in fairly elegant hornwriting. HER OWN hornwriting.

“No,” she whispered as she bolted up the stairs, her barely audible moan rising to a scream, “no no NO NO NO NO!!!”

“Impact, what’s wrong?” Spike asked, completely puzzled.

“Her boots are gone. Her special boots. Her apple-bucking boots.”

Through Apple Bloom’s open window, Impact heard a loud “HYAH!” followed by an even louder BOOM. They were muffled by the shrieking winds, but she still heard it, and her ears shot up as the truth crashed down.

“She’s outside…” she gasped in disbelief.

“WHAT?!” Twilight shrieked in horror.

“IN THIS STORM?!” Applejack shouted furiously.

“I told her she could only wear them on two specific occasions: a supervised Crusader mission or an actual emergency.”

“So let’s go get her!” Spike hollered impatiently.

“Absolutely!” Impact said, without hesitation, racing to the door.

“Impact, wait! Your bionics!” Twilight interrupted. “You’ll get shocked, too!”

“Oh please, Twilight!” Impact replied with a wave of her hoof, “I hard-wired a lightning-proof charm into the circuits when I designed it! Now let’s go!”

“Alright… Ah’ll search tha northeast corner of tha orchard. Impact, take tha northwest. Spike, southeast, and Twilight, yer on tha southwest. Fan out! If ya find Bloom, get her ta safety, and fer tha love of Celestia, don’t get too close ta tha trees!”

“I’ll link our minds so we can stay in touch.” Twilight said, igniting her horn.

“Twilight…" Spike spluttered nervously, "this isn’t gonna make us switch bodies like last week, is it?”

“No.” she replied.

“Or the week before that?”

“Come on, Spike,” Twilight said with a frown. “Once is accidental, twice is coincidental, but three times? Don’t be ridiculous! Besides, I’ve been practicing!”

She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Suddenly, three strings of pink magic began to flow out of her horn, each one making contact with one of her friend’s heads. Once she was sure the connection was secure, the magic disappeared and she opened her eyes.

“Is everypony linked up? Testing, testing, one, two, three?” she asked from within her mind.

“Ah’m here.” Applejack replied from inside her head.

“Me too.” Spike sounded off.

“Online.” Impact responded psychically.

“Alright, then,” Twilight said, opening the door to the brutal storm, “Let’s go find that filly!”

“Granny Smith?” Applejack called into the kitchen, “Ah’m going out fer a bit! Ah’ll be back in a jiffy!”

The four friends raced out the door into the storm.

“What was that, Applejack?” Granny Smith replied, “Ah didn’t quite hear ya, darlin'! Ya need ta speak up!”

As the four friends stepped out onto the porch, Twilight suddenly felt very uneasy.

“Applejack?” she asked, “This doesn’t seem very safe.”

“Of course it ain’t safe, Twilight!” Applejack replied, “It’s never safe ta be outside in a storm!”

“But are you really sure about this?” she added with a slight frown.

“All Ah’m sure of is gettin’ mah sis home safely!” she replied, slightly angry.

“Just stay low to the ground and you should be fine,” Impact assured Twilight, resting a hoof on her shoulder.

Spike stopped suddenly. A strange tingle bounced across his body.

“Twilight? My scales feel funny…”

“What do you-?” she started to ask. Her question was cut off by a flash of lightning striking a nearby apple tree, followed by the ear-splitting sound of a thunderclap. Everypony was startled, but Spike nearly jumped out of his skin and leapt onto Twilight’s back for comfort.

“I don’t think I can do this!” Spike shouted, scared out of his wits.

“You have to, Spike!” she replied over the rain, “Apple Bloom’s out there! She might be in danger! We need everypony we can get to bring her home safely!”

Spike was still cringing and cowering on her back. Twilight lifted him up in her aura and looked into his eyes with a warm, compassionate smile.

“Spike, everything is going to be fine.” She nuzzled his cheek to comfort him further. “I need you to be a big, strong, tough dragon for me right now; the chivalrous knight who fought to rescue Rarity from the Diamond Dogs.” She set him down on his feet. “Be brave, Spike. I know you can.”

Impact and Applejack looked into his face nodded in unison.

He mumbled and stammered and shuffled his clawed feet for a little bit, but as thoughts of Rarity crept into his mind, he steeled his resolve.

“Alright, Twilight,” he replied, “Let’s do this. For Apple Bloom.”

“That’s my dragon!” she cheered, giving him a hug.

“OK, y’all! Git ready!” Applejack warned.

“After tha next thunderclap, we move. Remember: stay low, stay alert, stay alive.”

“Right!” the three responded.

“Ball’s in our court, everypony,” Impact said with an excited grin. “Game on.”

Another thunderclap rang out overhead.

“MOVE!” she shouted. The four friends split off to find the missing filly. Racing through the trees as fast as their legs could take them, they began to call out to her.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack hollered repeatedly from the northeastern sector as she ran between the rows of trees. She heard no response but the rain.

“Apple Bloom!” Twilight shouted over and over from the southwestern area. She tried using a locator spell to find the filly, but couldn’t cast it. There were too many external stimuli: the cold, stinging rain, the savage, biting winds, and the anxiety of the situation itself were interfering with her magic.

“Apple Bloom!” Impact yelled incessantly from the southeast corner, searching the immediate area for signs of life with an electronic scanner in her bionic hoof. She’d detected several small woodland animals, but no ponies. Suddenly, a rogue drop of water found its way into the circuitry and shorted out the scanner. She swore under her breath, initiated a hard reboot, and kept on running through the trees.

Spike was running through the southeastern section of the orchard when he started to run out of breath. He turned a corner and stopped for a moment. He needed to take a quick break and catch his breath… and then he looked up.

There she was...

Apple Bloom was hard at work, completely ignoring the rain. She was bucking apples and piling them into wooden buckets, leaving them beside the trees so Big Mac or Applejack could pick them up once the storm passed.

“OVER HERE!” he screamed out in his head as he ran toward her. He dropped to all fours to boost his speed as some long-dormant primal instinct took control. The others heard the call and raced to his position, but he knew they wouldn’t get there in time.

He didn’t scream her name. He didn’t have time to. He just ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Closer…closer…closer… He felt that scary tingle across his scales again and leapt into the air, hoping to push her out of danger before it was too late. Suddenly, a powerful lightning bolt descended from the sky.

In an instant that can only be described as some sort of cosmic skill shot, the lightning struck the tree Apple Bloom intended to buck, at the exact moment her hind legs made contact with the bark, which was also the exact moment Spike leapt into the air to push her out of danger. As his left side collided with her right shoulder, the momentum of the young dragon’s charge knocked her bow right out of her mane.

One million volts of electric fury coursed through her fragile frame, tripping the overload circuits in her boots and powering them down without further risk of malfunction. As the thunderclap echoed through the cold Ponyville night, her eyes widened in terror as she endured the most torturous, excruciating agony she’d ever felt in her life. A searing pain stabbed at her chest. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. The only sensation she could feel that wasn’t extreme pain was Spike’s tender, yet powerful embrace. His momentum had freed her from the electrical circuit, but he was still clinging tightly to her body, his scales pressing firmly, but gently, into her coat. As she lay sprawled in the dirt, her body began to shut down, and the final thoughts that popped into her brain were those of her loving friends and family, especially her big sister warning her about being outside during a lightning storm.

“Applejack… Big Macintosh…” she groaned in a hoarse whisper, “Ah’m… sorry…”

As her heart stopped beating, the little filly’s world faded to black and she collapsed to the ground with a wet thud.

“SPIKE!!!” Twilight shrieked.

“APPLE BLOOM!!!” cried a horrorstricken Applejack.

Less than fifteen yards away, the three mares could only stare helplessly as their friends… their family… dropped to the ground like dead weight, having just been struck by lightning.