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Cutie Mark Crusader Treasure Hunters, GO!


Bramble Rose

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Want to move this along and up and running again. Snips and Snails should probably jump in next and offer their "wisdom" about the map or their "bravery" and go into the forest. Or know something about the "blue field". :3

Sunrise Beach blushed sheepishly as she looked at the large bucket of apples Applebloom pushed out in front of her for the taking.[colour=#33cccc] "Oh ... like, sorry, Applebloom, I guess I, like, got carried away with wanting to show my radical buckin' skills!" [/colour]Sunrise trotted over and grabbed a few apples to place in her saddlebag,[colour=#33cccc] "Like, we should all take some, ya know, just in case."[/colour]

She walked up to the map Sweetie and Abby were trying to read - all the words were pretty confusing for her. She did recognize the word "rock", "blue", and "field" but struggled with the sentences over all. [colour=#33cccc]"Ummm ... Like are you sure that said sheeee-ild? I thought that word is umm, like, field, its gotta be a blue field of some kind, like umm, gnarly blue flowers! Like you all know where there are blue flowers in the Everfree? I bet like, once we do, there will be this awesomely gnarly rock there that looks all radical and stuff!" [/colour] That had to be it, although she had no clue what a jeft or a jest was, maybe it was a special kind of flower, or something like that. Only one way to find out and that was to go in and get to that blue field!

Sunrise looked back at her five companions and smiled,[colour=#33cccc] "c'mon, it says we gotta go West from the blue field, so that means we're like, yanno, East of that! We just gotta go West!"[/colour] It made so much sense! She started to trot bold into the edge of the Everfree, only slowing once she got inside, she didn't want to trot too far ahead of her friends… It wasn't as if she was scared, not at all!

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[colour=#696969]Snips laughed a bit nervously. He totally hadn't seen the bushel of fresh apples that Applebloom had pointed out. "Oh, THAT'S what those apples are for!" he said, hoping that the yellow filly didn't notice his shifting eyes. "I'll take some of those instead!" he added, beginning to drop the the apples he had picked up back into the dirt.[/colour]

[colour=#696969]A couple of moments later, Snips was running to catch up to the rest of the group. He stopped as they all came to a halt just outside the border of the Everfree Forest. He was already getting a bit hungry, so he pulled one of the apples out of his bag with his magic. The fruit bobbed through air as the colt's unsteady magic moved it along, but Snips managed to get it down to his mouth as the fillies began going over the map again.

At the mention of "blue flowers," Snips' eyes shrank to pinpoints and the apple dropped to the ground. He vividly remembered last year's Nightmare Night when he and Snails had had more than one run-in with a certain blue flower. A flower that, coincidentally, grew in the Everfree.

"B-b-b-lue f-f-flowers??" the colt stuttered out. "I really hope it's it's not poison joke. I HATE poison joke!" Subconsciously, he reached a hoof up to his mane to make sure it was still cut short. He'd spent most of that Nightmare Night tripping over his own hair, which had grown to unmanageable, un-cuttable lengths "I'm stayin' as far away from that stuff as I can!" he told the fillies. Looking down at the map, he asked, "Can we just go around it??"[/colour]

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Snails blushed sheepishly as Applebloom pointed out there already was a whole bushel of apples ready to go and that grabbing any off the orchard now would disrupt the harvest enough to get the Apple family mad.[colour=#daa520] "Ah like apples, but ah didnt know it could get so complicated AppleBloom. Yer so Appletastic Applesmart!"[/colour]

He ambled over to join his best bud Snips and the others as they tried to figure out the map.

His eyebrows went up the more Sweetiebelle was acting fired up about dangerous stunts. Maybe it was the excitement of doing stuff like Daring Do today?

The orangy foal gulped when finding a field of poison joke came up [colour=#daa520]"Um we just have ta find a big rock beside a field of the stuff right? That don't mean we haveta' go through it.. Do we?" [/colour]

Snails closed his eyes in thought[colour=#daa520] "umm before our parents stopped us from goin' there, ah looked at a lotta' rocks fer bugs. If this map is right, ah think there's some that might be it past Fluttershy's place an' to th' left... Does that sound good?"[/colour]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sweetie Belle nodded as she listened to everyone's ideas and concerns, poring over the map. [colour=#800080] "Right!"[/colour] she nodded, [colour=#800080]"That makes sense! Some of the f's are actually f's!"[/colour] She smiled brightly, satisfied at this decision. [colour=#800080]"And yeah, that *does* sound like poison joke! Better keep your big sister away from it, Apple Bloom, or you guys will have problems making the harvest!"[/colour] She giggled merrily.

Idly, she wondered what effects the poison joke might have on her friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Maybe it'd make Scootaloo move in slow motion! But she couldn't think of anything for Apple Bloom. And she was scared to find what it'd do to her. But ... if that was the start ...

[colour=#800080]"Apple Bloom, you know where the poison joke patch is! You've been there, before! Why don't you lead us there, and we'll see if we can find a high rock nearby!"[/colour]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Scootaloo had heard of what happened to Rainbow Dash after she'd been in the poison joke patch and immediately felt a little bit freaked out. She already had to leave her scooter behind, and she wasn't risking going crazy.

[colour=#cc0066]"We've got to stay away from that patch, really."[/colour]

Scootaloo said, looking from friend to friend.

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AppleBloomATTEMPT3final.png

Apple Bloom was guilty of partially underestimating her compatriots in this treasure hunt it seemed. She had always thought well of them, even if she didn't really trust Snips or Snails with anything sharper than a plastic spoon and didn't find herself close enough to Sunrise to really know her all that well. But within a span of a few moments, they all seemed to catch what she had caught regarding the message and were ready and rearing to go. Well, Sunrise was more than ready, having trotted ahead of the pack, and Snips an' Snails weren't exactly excited.

But Sweetie Belle was excited, that much was for sure. Her joke about Applejack solicited a little giggle from Apple Bloom. If it hadn't been for Zecora curing Applejack, what would their life have been like? Apple Bloom had cracked a few joke about tiny doll clothes and bottles and such which quickly raised Applejack's ire. The image was enough to make her laugh doubly hard.

[colour=#ff0000]"Haha, well, Ah reckon that'd be a bad thing on account of Big Mac's buckin' still bein' tha buckin' of only one pony!" [/colour]She continued to giggle, now nodding her head towards Scootaloo and then at Snails. They were both right, of course. You didn't want to mess with poison joke and Snails was pretty close to the location. She started a determined trot in an attempt to catch Sunrise.

[colour=#ff0000]"Yer right, Snails! C'mon everypony, let's make sure than Sunrise doesn't go hot-trottin' off on 'er own!"[/colour] She reared up and started galloping towards Sunrise, who wasn't too far off yet. She showed some restraint, at least, which was more than Apple Bloom was going to show. She was planning on beating a path to the rock in five licks of a spoon and before you could call your chicklet a chicken she'd have her cutie mark in treasure hunting! By now, the dream that had awoken her so ruefully and with a haunting feeling was not a part of her motivation, happily discarded as images of the treasure's potential filled her mind. Maybe that would later be looked on as a grave mistake, the choice of a foalish filly.

But as Iron Will said to her on Nightmare Night, maybes were for babies!

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Sunrise Beach was ready to go, but as she trotted deeper into the forbidding forest her trot slowed some. She heard that the field of blue was now dangerous, something called "poison joke"; although she had never heard of the stuff, it gave her companions pause so there likely was some real reason to be wary. At least they were blue; that made them easy to spot, right? Well perhaps out in an open field but it was now she was in the forest, it suddenly was much dimmer, the sun just barely penetrating the thick green canvas enough to dully illuminate the path and the flora around her. [colour=#33cc99]Like, I should let the others catch up… Umm, just in case.[/colour]

Sunrise still wanted to maintain her lead though, she was an explorer after all plus she had to show her companions that she wasn't in any way scared! So she kept walking slowly forward, looking about. There wasn't any immediate signs of any danger, just the usual forest sounds: Insects, birds, and a few rustling of leaves that would indicate a small animal or two, but the growth around her was too thick to be sure. Then it struck her, they just needed more light! [colour=#33cc99] "Like, hold on, I got it!" [/colour] Sunrise shuffled around in her saddlebag, figuring she could get a light going and allow for the others to catch up and see how resourceful she is, brilliant!

There was one problem still as Sunrise placed the candle holder on the ground, how to light it up? She didn't have any matches and even if she did, what would she strike them on? Maybe she should have brought a firefly lantern instead; then, another great idea suddenly dawned on the turquoise filly, she can use magic! Sunrise giggled to herself, [colour=#33cc99]"like I almost forgot, unicorn, duhhhh!"[/colour] Sunrise focused really hard, maybe she could get the candle to light, [colour=#33cc99]like, how hard could it be?[/colour] As she sat there, her eyes clinched shut, concentrating as her horn dimly glowed, giving a pink illumination to the immediate area around her…

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sweetie Belle grinned in eager anticipation throughout the several minutes worth of travel, as the little colts and fillies made their way from the short distance between Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree Forest. She was gonna have a *real* adventure and they were gonna catch some weird critters and find some neat treasures and all sorts of stuff! It was gonna be awesome!

She didn't even hesitate as they headed into the darker shadows of the forest, even though the shadows made weird shapes in all the trees. And as the wind blew, it looked like those weird shapes were all creeping along the branches and stuff. Though perhaps her eager trotting slowed down a little bit.

Even so, she was glad when Sunrise lit up her horn. Sweetie wished she had started using her own magic ... she didn't know *why* it was so hard! But she was sure she'd learn how, someday. Her eyes went up to those stupid creepy shadows to prove that they were nothing, and that's when she finally froze in place, hardly even noticing as other ponies bumped into her tail and stacked up behind her.

Her eyes were wide, her mouth dropped open, as she looked up at all the glittering, glinty black eyes looking down from the branches above... they weren't shadows! They were ... they were...

Creepy, long, fuzzy legs reached over the sides of the branches, and great big head-sized spiders came crawling out from behind tree and branch, all around them. They were in the middle of a giant SWARM of giant spiders with giant legs and giant creepy eyes and giant webs and ...

A spider dropped down from a thread above the foals, and Sweetie Belle let out a shriek and turned around to run, her little hooves pounding swiftly over the ground back towards the safer areas outside the Everfree Forest. It wasn't far, she could make it! At least, till three spiders dropped down between her and safety, looking all snarly and full of teeth! All three of them stuck their legs up next to their head and flared them like weird antlers coming out of their ears, and stuck out great big purple tongues to go, [colour=#a52a2a]"nya nya nya BLEARGH!"[/colour]

Sweetie let out a new scream, spun around, and fled deeper into the forest, ducking her head to crash through leaves and bushes without a moment's thought for where she was headed.
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[colour=#696969]Snips let out a relieved sigh. The Crusaders, at least, seemed to know what poison joke was, and were no more eager to go near it than he was. Sunrise, however, had run ahead of the group, the the others had to run to catch up. Snips didn't know a lot about this filly. She hadn't been in Ponyville for long, and was staying with Miss Twilight at the library for some reason. Snips wondered if Sunrise was getting, like, magic lessons from Twilight, since Twilight was the most powerful unicorn EVER, but that didn't make a lotta sense since she seemed to be more of an athlete.[/colour]

[colour=#696969]That's why Snips was very surprised when he stumbled into a pink magical glow. Sunrise had her eyes squeezed shut, but her horn was glowing and there was a candle on the ground. Could Sunrise do a fire spell? That's something he still hadn't managed... Well, it was more like he'd been forbidden to try casting fire spells. He got in enough trouble with matches and fireworks. He watched Sunrise for a moment, before saying "Uh, I have some matches in my bag if you need them..." [/colour]

[colour=#696969]He didn't get a chance to pull them out, however, because just then he heard one of the fillies scream! Snips looked around and saw what looked like giant spiders, everywhere! Now, Snips wasn't scared of bugs or anything; he hung around Snails and his bugs all the time. But these things were HUGE! Snips tried to back away from the big arachnids, fear in his eyes. Then, the spiders started... making scary faces?? What kind of spiders were these?? "Snails! What are these things?!" he called out to his friend.[/colour]

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  • 4 weeks later...

OOC- For you, Bri Bri.

AppleBloomATTEMPT3final.png

Apple Bloom had seen many a strange critter in the Everfree, her experiences coming planned and on accident. You learned to not be shocked by the forest when you could casually wander into it with just a few minutes of your brain wandering, and that little fact had inured the little apple filly to all manner of creatures from the Everfree. And spiders were normally not all that terrifying anyway, bopping around the farm like the rascals they were. Some leaped but the majority just freaked out and tried to run, though a few of the sneaky ones weren't game-players and would lay in your covers. Those were the dangerous ones, hobo spiders, brown recluses, the whole lot of them. For all that though, Apple Bloom wasn't afraid of them, not one lick of a hoof!You captured them and released them back in the wild, where they were more apt to scuttle off to keep the farm safe from even tinier critters than everything. This was a bit too soft an approach for Applejack, but the little one didn't have the same decisiveness about her.

But the things that crowded around the small group that had struck out so vigously into the Everfree weren't the house spiders, the orchard spiders, or just the occasional hunter-spider that wandered in from the Everfree. They were huge! Bigger than anything she had ever seen. Their beady little else shone with more personality and mischief than she had seen outside of the caterpillars that had tried to do one over on sweet Apple Acres. They were making faces and even had the gall to intimidate the little ones. It certainly worked on Sweetie Belle who without a moment's hesitation beat a quick retreat deeper into the dense forest. In that split second, Apple Bloom felt, above everything else, indecisiveness as her mind came to grips. Then her mind snapped shut and silent and instinct took over. Her Apple instincts. She had to follow Sweetie Belle.

So she did, a few moments after Sweetie started running, hoof over hoof as she tried to follow the screaming filly who trailed the scent of terror behind her. Above Apple Bloom's head the terrifying spiders started to spin webs not alone, but together, as their sinister swarm started to form balls. Everypony needed to run.

[colour=#ff0000]"Run, everypony!"[/colour] She squealed, action before thought. Caught flathooved they would be simple target practice for whatever mischievous intent the cranky spiders had in mind. Garbles and ferocious giggles seemed to come from every direction regardless. Was there a way out? She didn't know. Sunrise had some spell ability, Scootaloo had some nice moves on her scooter, Snips and Snails had great skill at distraction. All of these things would be useful, but Apple Bloom had been in more than a few poor positions in her life and knew when standing your ground was simply stupid. They needed to run. She needed to run. But where? What was the plan?

A web appeared before her and if she had been any less alert than she was, Apple Bloom would have been caught. Luckily for her the web was a little too short as it dropped from above and left some space. She dove head first, single hairs getting caught at the bottom of the web as she made her way under the web. A half dozen frustrated mega-spiders scuttled on down a half second later, trying to clutch at Apple Bloom's tail as she crawled-galloped her way back up. Shoot. The way directly back was blocked-

[colour=#ff0000]"Y'all don't follow me!" [/colour]She yelled, action before words as she continued a swift gallop in pursuit of her fellow Crusader.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sunrise Beach focused, her eyes clinched shut in concentration, the pink aura around her horn became increasingly bright, small sparks popping around it, she almost had this… Suddenly Snips interrupted, commenting that he had matches; Sunrise’s eyes opened as she glared at him, [colour=#66cccc]"like, I can totally do this! So like, stop talkings; as if!"[/colour] Before Sunrise could refocus, her horn's soft pink glow revealed they weren't alone, [colour=#33cccc]"like, no wayyy... Pranksders! Un oh!"[/colour] She had seen them before, thanks to her and her mum's generally itinerant lifestyle and they were definitely bad news, always causing rancorous mischief just to get a laugh.

Before she could say anything more, Sweetie Belle got scared and took off deeper into the underbrush, with Applebloom following. They know where they were going? Truth was it was almost too dark to determine anything accurately. Another Pranksder spider leaped in front of Sunrise Beach, its eyes wide open and tongue sticking out, "BLEH! BLEEEEEEH!!!" Sunrise Beach instinctively swung around and kicked the irritating fluffy arachnid right in the face and sent it bouncing into a nearby bush. It gave her a teary eyed look of shock, but Sunrise had already started to move the opposite way, [colour=#66cccc]"like c'mon Snips, like this way, we can't like let the groody Prankders trick us!" [/colour] She tugged at the stocky colt and waved towards one of the paths, illuminated a dull, gray-pink by her horn. She'll have to find Abby and Sweetie later, right now they just had to get away from whatever cruel prank these spiders had planned for the adventuring foals.

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((-punts grim back in like he was just being quiet the whole time-))

He just stuck to the back of the group while the prepared for their adventure, still rather unsure about it. Sure his cousin went into Everfree all the time. At night even! But she was a full grown Unicorn and knew how to handle spooky creatures. Grim could just see them now, a bunch of foals trapped in the woods and even with a couple Unicorns with them, they didn't really know much of their magic yet. This was a possible disaster just waiting to unfold.

Needless to say the little gray colt wasn't surprised that almost right of the bat they ran into something. The teasing spiders made members of the group scatter, and he just stood there, not sure who to follow. Sunrise seemed to be leading a couple of the others one way, but Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had taken off into the brush. Looking back and forth he frowned before following after the two cutie mark crusaders who fled in fright. Surely they could find and catch up with Sunrise, and the ones who followed her; right?

[colour=#800080]"Wait... uh..."[/colour] He cleared his throat. Applebloom had said not to follow but, he could just let them run off.[colour=#800080] "Applebloom...Sweetie Belle.... wait!"[/colour] He actually managed to speak louder than his usual tone; though it was hardly a shout by any means. In any case he was determind to at least catch up with theml they would be safer in a group. And three ponies was more of a group than two.

[colour=#800080]"...Oh... Wisp is going to be mad...when she hears about this..."[/colour]

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  • 3 weeks later...

Scootaloobanresize.jpg

The Spiders made Scootaloo's eyes widen in fear "AAAGH!" She turned her scooter sharply to avoid them, but in her panic her scooter's front tire hit a rock and she got sent flying off of it, landing tight in the middle of the poison joke! "Agh! Oh no!" She shut her eyes tightly as the plants less than humorous affects started to kick in, her mane started to become a array of rainbow colours, and her coat blue...! Her eyes went from purple to PINK..And her FACE even changed shape! By the end of it she was horribly mutated into some girlish monstrosity...!

RainbowDashG3-1.jpg

Looking herself over Scootaloo let out a fear filled YELP "AGHHHH!" It was heard throughout the entire forest! WHY DID SHE SUDDENLY HAVE A DESIRE TO WEAR FASHIONABLE HATS!?

"APPLE BLOOM! SWEETIE BELLE! HELP!"

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[colour=#66cccc]"like c'mon Snips, like this way, we can't like let the groody Prankders trick us!"[/colour]

Snips moved at the filly's urging. She obviously knew what these things were, which was more than he could say. As Sunrise fled down the path, Snips bumped into Snails to get the bigger colt moving and then followed her. He briefly caught a glimpse of Grim following Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, but he'd lost track of Scootaloo in the confusion.

As they ran, Snips heard somepony cry out. He turned his head back to see, but two of the strange spiders were now chasing them, goofy looks still on their odd faces. He put on an extra burst of speed, trying to catch up to the much faster unicorn filly. The spiders were still gaining though...

Snips tried to think of some way to get out of this. He thought of the stuff he had in his bags, and suddenly got an idea. Quickly grabbing a spray can from his bags with levitation, he stopped and spun to face the giant arachnids. The two pursuers stopped as well, looking down at Snips in surprise. "S-stay back!" Snips called out, "O-or I'll use this bug spray!"

The two prankders looked at each other for a moment. One of them shrugged at the other, then they began to advance again. Snips stood his ground, trembling. "I.. I m-mean it!" he shouted. But the spiders ignored him and continued forward. In desperation, Snips sprayed the contents of the can at the two monsters. Sticky silly string soon covered their faces. The prankders stopped, trying to remove the spray, giving Snips the chance to turn and run again.

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Sweetie Belle screeched and ducked her head, desperately fleeing the spiders. She tried to run right, and there were spiders there, tossing webs. She tried to run left, and there were spiders there, weaving a trap. There was only one way there weren't spiders, and that was straight on! She fled, Apple Bloom right behind her, and found herself racing through a field of blue leaves and blossoms. Her clean white coat got stained a light blue from the pollen of those flowers, and she stopped, panting, on the far side of the field, breathing heavily. She started brushing rapidly at her coat, letting out frantic, nervous little squeaks, but the blue colour wasn't coming out!

She turned around and looked behind her... oh, thank goodness, the spiders were't following! Her voice was squeaky and scared as she said, [colour=#800080]"Oh, Apple Bloom, what are we - "[/colour] She stopped talking, suddenly, as something caught her eye ... something bright and shiny in the sun. [colour=#800080] "Ooooo!" [/colour] she cried, excitedly, immediately forgetting her fear and everything else as she raced across to a sparkly rock. It was a simple bit of broken quartz, but Sweetie lifted it up, carefully shined it off, and gazed at it with an awestruck wonder. [colour=#800080]"Isn't it *beautiful*? What a Sparkler!"[/colour]
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AppleBloomATTEMPT3final.png

Apple Bloom slowed down as she came upon Sweetie Belle mid trot, more than pleased that she had found her fellow crusader than she likely had any reason to be. They weren't likely in any super mortal danger from these prank spiders, but the Everfree was the one place in Equestria where your life would go from being mildly vexed to being in terrible and horrible danger in a blink of an eye. And no matter what they faced, facing threats together as friends and compatriots was what being a crusader meant(well, it was about cutie marks, but that entailed a lot!). What she did so was make sure that she followed her friend as directly as she could, the blue flowers putting the fear of Poison Joke in her heart, the path she trod already worn by Sweetie Belle and meaning she had fewer blue flower pollen to sweep off. Still, like Sweetie Belle, the blue colouration didn't wipe off easy if at all.

[colour=#ff0000]"Sweetie Belle, Ah..."[/colour] She began before her friend drew attention to the quartz. It was a darned pretty little rock, shiny and...she shook her head. Rock, fields of blue-

[colour=#ff0000]"Sweetie Belle, we found tha first clue on tha map!"[/colour] She screeched, eyes darting around to make sure this wasn't some sort of trap. Maybe it was, but she couldn't see anything besides how sparkly the rock was. Maybe this was how Rarity felt when she first saw that gem all those years ago, but if Apple Bloom's cutie mark was gonna be watching someone else find stuff then she was just fine with waiting a little while longer and wait for the cutie mark roulette to come up in her favour.

[colour=#ff0000]"Good find, Sweetie Belle. Yer a Cutie Mark Crusader Clue Finder! Ah reckon that we'll be looking at some cutie marks on'r flanks 'fore the day is done!"[/colour] She exclaimed as she looked at the quartz in silence, allowing Scootaloo's scream of agony and fear to pierce the entire forest. Apple Bloom's head shot up for two reasons. First and foremost, a friend was in trouble. Secondly, such a scream would call down all the creatures of the forest for a chicken buffet.

[colour=#ff0000]"Scootaloo? Scootaloo!"[/colour] Apple Bloom's voice lowered rather than went higher despite the scream as she launched into another fierce gallop across the fields of blue, determined to find her Crusader. As she went her way, she caught a glimpse of Grim following the path the two Crusaders had blazed. She had yelled out for no one to follow but she guessed that it was a good thing somepony hadn't listened to her.

[colour=#ff0000]"Grim! Sweetie's just over thar!"[/colour] She tossed a hoof in the direction as she slowed to a three-legged canter,[colour=#ff0000] "and Ah'm gonna go see what's wrong with Scoots. We're almost there!"[/colour] And with that, she continued towards the direction of her friend's terror filled scream.

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Sunrise Beach kept galloping, determine to find a spot to hide out until the prankders went away; the troublesome spiders typically would grow quickly bored if they had nopony to scare into whatever fiendish trap they had set for their amusement. There was plenty of thick foliage ahead; the trick was to not let the prankders scare of foal one into the wrong direction. The turquoise unicorn only stopped briefly to see if her erstwhile stubby unicorn colt companion was following, only to witness his clever use of silly string! Why didn’t she think of that?! She’ll have to remember to carry a can the next time she explores, “[colour=#33cc99]like totally radical uhh, er Ships, right? Like totally radical, Snips! Way to totally surprise those lame-o pranksters! C’Mon! This way!” [/colour] Sunrise tugged on Snips to get him to follow before taking off again.

At that moment a couple of the large spiders landed on the path ahead of the pair, one almost as big as a foal itself; they jumped up and down trying to be intimidating as they attempted to scare the pair of ponies into turning towards the left; no way was she going to fall for that! [colour=#33cc99]“Like, hey Snips, like watch this awesome move!”[/colour] Sunrise pulled an apple out of her saddlebag with her teeth, turned to face away from the two prankders as she tossed the apple behind her, and reared up her right rear leg to kick with the apple with her hoof right in the direction of the larger lead spider. The apple flew along the path and beaned the lead prankder right between the two sets of eyes, casing it to stumble backwards into the panicked smaller one before the both of them tumbled down a small embankment behind them. [colour=#33cc99]“Ha! Like did you see that, sooooo gnarly! Like I totally showed them with that righteous hoofball move!”[/colour]

Of course other than Snips, Sunrise Beach had no idea where the rest of their little treasure hunting troop went, but first thing was first, they had to hide so the giant pranking spiders will leave. Sunrise spotted a nearby dense thicket of tall bushes in a low area, it was perfect! Well, sort of. [colour=#33cc99]“Like c’mon, this way, we gotta remain outta sight, then we can, like, find the others!”[/colour] Sunrise grabbed a hold of the stocky blue-gray colt and pulled him into the underbrush with her. Before the unicorn filly finishing pulling Snips in she tripped backwards over a branch, crashed on her back with her head bumping back against the earth, pulling the colt on top of her. [colour=#33cc99] “Like owwwwwww…”[/colour] Sunrise head spun as she tried to get her bearings, but at least they managed the hiding part.

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  • 2 weeks later...

There was clearly a relieved look on Grim's face when he caught up with the two. Apple Bloom pointed him in the direction of Sweetie Belle and he made a b-line for her. Though as he caught up he let out a little sigh. He'd been worried that she would have been in some sort of trouble after taking off into the woods like that. But there she was, just admiring a very nice piece of quartz.

[colour=#800080]“Wow... that's really a nice rock.”[/colour] He tried to smile but had to grimace hearing the shouts in the distance. He sure hoped the others were okay. It would be best to just wait there with the Unicorn, surely the others would join them soon.

[colour=#800080]“You're okay, right? I mean... this place is really dangerous to just run off in...”[/colour]

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Snails gamely trotted after the others, trying to catch up with Sunrise Beach. When they finally caught up to her, they saw her trying to light a candle. [colour=#daa520]"Think she can do it? Maybe she can teach us if she does, hey?"[/colour]

Snips looked sad and then he remembered that both of them were not allowed to try fire magic until they were older, by mutual agreement of both their respective parents.

Suddenly there was screaming of fillies as head sized spiders were coming down out of some of the trees.

"...Snips looked around and saw what looked like giant spiders, everywhere! Now, Snips wasn't scared of bugs or anything; he hung around Snails and his bugs all the time. But these things were HUGE! Snips tried to back away from the big arachnids, fear in his eyes. Then, the spiders started... making scary faces?? What kind of spiders were these?? "Snails! What are these things?!" he called out to his friend..."

Snails stared fascinated for a moment, then saw the spiders were making sticky balls to throw at them and likely trap them. He backed up and prodded Snips to run [colour=#daa520]"Ah never saw anythin' like them in a book. a really huge one was causin' problems in the Running of the Leaves last year when Miz Misty showed us the race on a magic screen."[/colour]

Sunrise Beach solved the mystery by saying they were Pranksders. What? a girl knows a spider before he does? Impossible! Before he could say anything that would put his hoof in his mouth, Apple Bloom yelled not to go the way she just went.

Snails gallumphed off in the "safe" direction most of the others were going, he looked back, tying to see if the others were coming too. He saw grim zip off the way Applebloom and Sweetie belle went, but a couple spiders were after him and Snips. The chubby foal grabbed a spray can of silly string trying to bluff them [colour=#daa520]"Awesome! Way ta go, eh? Yeah, th' prank is on ya now Spiders! We gots BUG SPRAY!"[/colour]

The spiders were less than impressed when they got silly stringed but it bought them time, right?

[colour=#daa520]"RUN, SNIPS, RUN!"[/colour]

He heard Scootaloo yell from the right and turned that way to go help. He slid to a stop at the sight of the blue flowers and the sight of a deformed version of Rainbow Dash. He didnt' know wether to laugh or scream at the sight, finally stammering out [colour=#daa520]"S-s-scootaloo?... is that you?"[/colour]

Rustling bushes suddenly reminded him about the spiders [colour=#daa520]"C'mon! We gotta get away from them things!"[/colour]

He turned in time to see Sunrise Beach kick an apple into the lead spider and hide in a bush with Snips.

Meanwhile, Apple bloom, Sweetie belle and Grim came back to help Scootaoo.

Snails bounced up and down, waving[colour=#daa520] "Scoots is over here! We gotta hide like Snips and Sunrise Beach is doing!"[/colour]

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Scootaloo was freaking out! She wanted to be like Rainbow Dash! But this was some weird deformed monstrosity! She hid her face in her hooves, only peeking up hearing Snails, growling "IT'S NOT FUNNY SNAILS!" She felt all different emotionally and wanted to cry, hearing AppleBloom... "I'M OVER HERE!" She called out..getting her scooter free... They were all going to need to go see Zecora by the end of it, this much was certain! It wasn't bad enough that Scootaloo was blue, but her face was a strange elongated and strange... her eyes were also uncomfortably big, and seemed to make everything appear in a pastel-y colour... "Guh We need to get to Zecora! " She flapped her wings...which were proportional for once..and she yelped, being lifted off the ground..before promptly falling flat on her face.

"ACK!"

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Sweetie Belle smiled happily up to Grim Tales, the lil' blue filly giving a happy lil' wriggle where she sat. [colour=#800080]"Hi, Grim!"[/colour] she chirped happily, and then promptly took off her saddlebags and upended them, dumping all the useful adventuring gear out onto the ground. [colour=#800080]"Don't worry, I'll be fine! I have a shiny rock!"[/colour]

She put the bit of quartz into her saddlebags, and then sorted through her equipment, leaving behind the useless stuff like food and rope, but keeping the important, SHINY gear that glinted so nicely in the light! Like the carabiner clasps to hook onto the rope! After a long, long moment of consideration, she included the map, too - but only so that she could find whatever shiny stuff was at the end of it!

With the now much-lighter load, she hoisted her saddlebags onto her back again, and grinned at Grim Tales. [colour=#800080]"Comon! Let's go!"[/colour] She paused, then ... torn. The yells of her friends were behind her, and they were her friends! They might need help! But right in front of her was the big rock! The rock they needed to count ten times ten steps from! And that led to shiny stuff!

She turned one way... whimpered... turned the other way... whimpered... turned around the first way... back and forth, back and forth, she turned in a circle, torn between friends and shiny stuff! [colour=#800080]"Oh, Grim, what do we do?"[/colour] she asked in an agonized voice, [colour=#800080]"Do we go find the others? or do we follow the map to find more Sparklers?"[/colour]
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Apple Bloom's blood was racing ahead of herself as Scootaloo's rattling cries of terror ran around in her head like one of Granny Smith's records in a horrifying loop. What had happened to her fellow Crusader, the can-do, never say die, nearly fearless little pegasus that fluttered about like a chicken on the farm? She'd heard Scootaloo scream out of fear once or twice before but nothing like this. Apple Bloom had known fear on a personal level but at least she knew she could handle it if it was happening to her. if it was happening to a friend though there wasn't much that Apple Bloom could do but worry and help and that near helplessness was unbelievably terrifying. This sped her up and it was only a few more seconds before she burs into view of Scootaloo...

scootaloo__s_butterfly_by_glamourkat-d396t7u.jpg Credit to glamourkat

...Who looked completely normal in every way. Same orage pelt and light purple mane. She didn't look hurt either- in fact, she was standing perfectly still and smiling crosseyed at a butterfly that had landed on her nose...and other changes. Scootaloo's wings were longer and she had a cutie mark! It was a pink butterfly and it looked so cute!

[colour=#ff0000]"Scootaloo, you got yer cutie mark! It's soooo adorable! What's yer special talent?" [/colour]She asked excitedly as she circled around her friend, so caught up in it that she didn't notice Snails, whom she wandered right into.

[colour=#ff0000]"Oomph!"[/colour] She fell to the ground, shook her head, and looked at Snails...

a_new_friend_for_snails_by_tim015-d5mmk34.png credit to tim015

[colour=#ff0000]"Snails?"[/colour] She asked, dumbfounded. He seemed bigger somehow and...well, very adorable, like a well-weaned filly. Her- his pelt seemed softer, the mane and tail were simply divine, even the eyes were different. Also, there was a random cat brushing aside her- him.

[colour=#ff0000]"S-snails...? Well, dang, yer a pretty looking filly. Where'd ya get tha time ta do all that? Why, if Ah didn't know better, Ah'd swear you were a filly. Well, good for ya, live yer life the way you want to," [/colour]She patted him- her- him?, on the shoulder and turned back to Scootaloo.

She then shook her head as the others who were maybe in a bush nearby rustled. She couldn't say and she'd already wasted enough time.

[colour=#ff0000]"Alright everypony, we found tha first clue, but we gotta move fast!" [/colour]She reared up and pointed in the direction she had came from.

[colour=#ff0000]"Let's go! Yeehaw!"[/colour]

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  • 1 month later...
Snips was amazed that that trick had worked, but he'd never say that to anypony. Especially after both Snails and Sunrise had commented on it. He took off at a gallop after the two taller ponies with a smile on his muzzle, and a bit of a blush from the filly's complements. Breathing heavily, he looked up to see two more of the huge arachnids (Arachnids? He must have picked up that word from Snails...) He skidded to a stop, and began looking around frantically for another escape route; the trick with the silly string probably wouldn't work twice. It was then, though, that Sunrise pulled an apple out her her bag and expertly kicked it right into the face of a prankder. The two multi-legged monsters tumbled over one another down a slope.

Snips froze for a moment at that. Wow, how had the filly done that? If had had tried something like that, he'd have missed the apple completely, or fallen on his behind, or both! It was during that stunned moment that Sunrise grabbed Snips and pulled him off the path. He had just a moment the think Oh no, not another bush, before he found himself tumbling over the filly. After they stopped rolling, Snips shook his head to get his bearings. They were off the path in the underbrush, and somehow had made it without any further scrapes and cuts from the branches. He quickly realized that he was lying on top of the other unicorn. Snip's eyes went wide at that, and he rapidly backed away, a much more noticeable blush on his cheeks. Finally, he managed to say "Err, are you OK Sunrise?"

The pair stayed there for a few more minutes until it appeared that the prankders had left. Snips wandered out of the brush and started walking toward voices he heard in the distance. He carefully skirted the field of blue flowers before finding the rest of the group. At least, he thought this was the right group. Sweetiebelle was staring intently at a rock on the ground. Applebloom looked disoriented somehow, and there was no sight of Scootaloo anywhere. There was however, a blue pegasus hauling Scootaloo's scooter out of the poison joke field. It wasn't until the Pegasus cried out in pain after trying to fly that Snips figured that that is was Scootaloo!

Snips walked up beside Snails as Applebloom was talking. The farm filly's eyes didn't seem to focus right somehow, and the things she was saying didn't seem to make sense. He did a double-take at the transformed Scootaloo. Nope, still no cutie mark. What was Applebloom seeing? But when she started talking to Snails, Snips couldn't help but break down laughing. "She thinks you're a filly, bro!" he said pointing a hoof at his friend.

Snips straightened up after a moment, looking at the 'joked Crusaders. He was caught between laughing at the trio, and cringing, remembering the effects the nasty blue flower had had on him. "Uh, its great we found another clue," he said, "But what do we do now?" Before he could get an answer though, Applebloom took off running. Was she even going in the right direction?
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"C...cutie mark..?" She glanced at her flank which was ofcourse...blank! "I don't see it AppleBloom!" She was starting to get frantic..all she saw was that blue coat! Everywhere! And obnoxious rainbow mane in her face!..Then she started to talk about Snips oddly"A..Apple bloom Snips looks exactly the same..!" Oh no something was wrong with AppleBloom! "We..we need to get to Zecora! Forget the treasure! Forget everything! We need to get to Zecora!" She didn't want to be obnoixous and BLUE the rest of her life! Not to mention the shape of her new face was uncomfortable!

"Oh man oh man!" She pranced up and down on her hooves looking around "Where is Sweetie Belle!?" Oh no Sweetie was gone! Rarity would have them for lunch! And one of her best friends was gone! "We need to..we need to regroup!" She was trying to not panic, there was no reason to be afraid..but Scootaloo was scared! Despite her tough appearance and her tough attitude? She was a little filly, and this physical change, not to mention the darkness, the unfamiliar surroundings, and the fact that AppleBloom was acting odd? They were all scaring her..she wanted to just curl up and hide..but Rainbow Dash wouldn't do that! No she'd tough it out and do her best!...Scootaloo decided it was time to act like Rainbow Dash! (after all she already had the mane for it!) And stomped a hoof "We need to regroup..!"

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Sunrise Beach could hear the Prankders snickering in the distance, the only question was - why? That usually meant they'd managed to successfully pull off good enough pranks to fill their little dark hearts with malicious glee. Laid out in some bush with some embarrassed and chubby colt on top of her - humiliating, but not enough for a prankder. Something must have happened to the others! [colour=#66cccc]"Uggggh!"[/colour] Sunrise looked annoyed with her situation, but didn't want to give away their position. Quietly but sternly she whispered, [colour=#66cccc]"dude, like, get off me, I'm, like, totally fine, you dweeb!" [/colour]

After a few minutes in the bush, the laughter disappeared into the distance, no doubt looking for poor little animals to prank. Sunrise followed Snips out, tracing his path around the field of blue plants only to find Applebloom acting weird and Scootaloo looking even weirder, [colour=#66cccc]"like, whoa ... you look like one of those girly fashion model ponies but, like, with more colours."[/colour] At least the tall, lanky colt looked alright. Well, normal. Well, normal for him, and not the filly Applebloom claimed him to be.

Before she could say or do anything, though, Applebloom took off like a shot back in the other direction. Was she, like, blind or something?! [colour=#66cccc]"Like, wait! Where are you going! Stop! Ugh! I hope we don't have to carry her back. How heinous is this!? Applebloom is seeing things, Sweetie and her colt friend is missing, Scootaloo's babbling nonsense words ..."[/colour] Zecora? What kind of name was Zecora? [colour=#66cccc] "OK, Snips, Snails!"[/colour] She drew an X in the dirt with her hoof. [colour=#66cccc]"We'll meet here! Remember, here! You two go find Applebloom and bring her back! I'll look for Sweetie Belle and her coltfriend with umm.. Scootaloo! Then we can find the Zecora".[/colour] It was a great plan! well not really, but it was something! They'd have to try something, but by Celestia, Sunrise was going to find that totally radical treasure if it took all day and night!

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