Cutie Mark Crusader Treasure Hunters, GO!

[SteelEagle]

Snips and Snails were never the smoothest of colts, but Apple Bloom had to admit to a sense of curiosity as to how their magic act would come into play against the dangers of the forest. She could only see it coming down to one of four possibilities: Either they would manage to get everypony eaten by Cerberus or some other beast, or perhaps they would use their magic to incense the creature and get themselves eaten while the rest fled, making them heroes. The third was that nothing would happen at all, but no filly would entertain that boring possibility during the pre-adventure phase. The last was that they would save everypony, which was the best of all options. Apple Bloom had to admit that she still couldn't get over what had happened in the past, and wondered with some manner of seriousness if she was worried more about having them along for the ride or if she was concerned that if they used super cool magic to find the treasure maybe the three Crusaders wouldn't get their mark.

She shook her head as she ditched that negative possibility immediately; they were destined to get their cutie marks hunting for treasure hunting!

"C'mon, we are not, like, going to let the rest of them beat us and junk, right?"

Sunrise's stretch and smile told Apple Bloom all she needed to know. No, they wouldn't let the scooter-aided pair of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle beat them, nor the magician duo of Snips and Snails. Good ol' fashioned hooves to the ground- and shortcuts- would get them to her farm faster. And who better to do this with than Sunrise? She may have had an odd manner of speaking, but Apple Bloom knew that she had a nice competitive streak in her and that was always good to see in other fillies as long as it was a playful sense of competition and not a more aggressive flavor. That usually meant they were open to games and games were always fun.

"Yeah! No wa-" Apple Bloom began before Sunrise shot out from her position like a rocket, the young Apple rearing momentarily in surprise before grinning and starting to follow Sunrise with a determined trot. Sunrise had the advantage of a head-start; Apple Bloom had the advantage of shortcuts. If they could combine the two, why, they'd be the fastest pair of 'em all!

But as she followed, it felt as though they were forgetting something and that something spoke up.

"We...We should come up with some sort of signal incase some of us get seperated or lost..."

Grim! That colt had just been sittin' all quiet like, which seemed common to colts around fillies. Why didn't they all just speak up? Something about a fillyfriend? Apple Bloom wasn't quite all that concerned about any sorta 'infatuation' as Applejack'd call it ruining the adventure, but she sure wasn't about to let any such indecision leave anypony behind or risk her not being the first to the farm. As she stopped to locate Grim, who was catching up to the ponies who had charged forward and not really making good time of it. This let up on Apple bloom's part allowed Sunrise to grow distant. Well, Apple Bloom'd need somepony else to race with!

She ran up to Grim and tugged his mane in the direction of an alley with her mouth before charging down it.

"Grim, follo' me and we'll beat all of them slowponies!" Apple Bloom said with a dastardly wide grin as she vanished into the alley- and then stuck her head and tongue out at her fellow Crusader Scootaloo, vanishing back into the alley for the final time.

She had shortcuts to take and little time to lose!

[Corsair]

Snips panted as he and Snails approached the orchard. His short legs made galloping for any distance a tiring exercise. The good news was that he was pretty sure they'd gotten out of the town unseen. The last thing he needed was his dad finding out he'd gone into the forest again... The bad news was that he could already hear the tell-tale buzzing that Scootaloo's wings made on her scooter.

"Got to... keep... moving..." he gasped out as he ran, "We can't let... some... fillies... beat us..."

But right at that moment, Snips spotted somepony trotting toward them. He and Snails couldn't afford to be seen. He dug all four hooves into the dirt and skidded to a stop. "Snails, hide!" he called to his friend in a stage whisper, then put words to action by diving into a bush beside him. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a thorn bush. He suddenly felt like a hundred needles were poking into his coat, but now he couldn't move until whoever it was moved past. And the sound of Scootaloo's wings was getting closer...

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails galloped along down the alleys and finally out onto the road toward the orchard, trying not to outpace his best bud, Snips.

The suddenly heard the chainsaw buzz of Scootaloo's wings getting closer and heard Snips urging him faster.

He panted so Snips wouldnt' feel bad about being winded "Hard ta.. beat fillies.. racin'... when we aint got... wings, An' ...she does."

Snips suddenly skidded to a stop right in front of him, sending him tumbling right into the nearest bush, then Snips jumped in right beside him.

The orange foal stifled a groan and whispered "Next time, Kin we hide somewhere that dont' hurt, eh?.."

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle hang on tightly as the two fillies zipped down the road faster than any pony could run, her little white hooves squeezing to either side of Scootaloo's orange flanks. She wasn't going to be a little scaredy-foal this time, though! She was going to have an adventure! And that had to start here!

"Faster!" she managed to squeak out.

Scootaloo was surprised. She thought it was adorable when Sweetie Belle squeezed her so hard, and made little squeaky nervous noises, but this was the first time the filly had asked to go faster! Scootaloo felt a fierce grin spread over her face. FINALLY, she was understanding what was so AWESOME about going fast on the scooter! Her wings blurred even more as she poured on the speed.

Sweetie Belle felt a lump in her throat, her eyes wide as they hurtled down the road... and then ... a bit of a grin spread over her lips. She did it! She was doing it! She was facing her fears, and being a proper Crusader! "Ooo, there's a jump!" she heard herself saying. WHY did she say that?! And moments later, there they were, flying through the air, and suddenly ... she was weightless! She felt like she was flying, as they reached the apex of the jump, as if, with just a little more effort, they'd fly off into the sky together! The scooter disappeared from under her hooves as Scootaloo flipped it around in a fancy little trick, and even when it came back, her hooves couldn't quite touch it. How did she get down again?!

Then gravity reasserted itself, and 'down' wasn't the problem! Ah, falling again. Now THIS was familiar. THen she felt Scootaloo's lil' wings to either side of her, helping hold her on as they came down, hard, on the scooter, and then kept zipping off down the road. Falling ... without a crash? That was new! She felt an exultant cheer pulling itself from her throat! "THAT'S why you do it!" she cried happily! "That was amazing!"

All the same, she was *REALLY* glad when they reached Sweet Apple Acres - first, of course - pulling in at the base of their Crusader Clubhouse to wait for the others. Sweetie staggered off of the scooter, sooooo glad to have solid ground under her hooves again. She swept off her helmet, gave her curly mane a practiced little *toss*, and set herself to wait for the rest of the group, unconsciously humming as a little song about flying started to build itself in the back of her head.

[brianblackberry]

((OOC Note - Sunrise isn't really lost, she just doesn't know where the clubhouse is; it's more about her fear of being last and laughed at)

If Sunrise Beach was anything, it was competitive. Her mother, Martini Paradise, often worried aloud that she was a bit too competitive, but Sunrise wanted to be the best athlete a pony could. Sure, running wasn’t her specialty, but she was sure she could still get to the farm first. So determined was she that she hadn’t even noticed that Applebloom went different route behind her - Sunrise was only focused on what was in front of her.

It was mid-morning by now, and all sorts of ponies were milling about on the village streets. Sunrise dodged left and right around the ponies in her path, enjoying the extra exhilaration of dodging such “obstacles”, especially when she got the opportunity to run right underneath a few of the larger ponies and even the occasional moving cart. She could imagine how mad her mom would be at her right now if she saw those moves, even more so than the occasional adult yelling at her for being "so foolish," but no one could stop her!

She had a few penalties to the race, which just made it all the more challenging. Her saddlebags, securely fastened, added a little weight and slowed her down, she didn't know the best shortcuts through Ponyville, and she wasn’t sure exactly where the farm was. But she knew the general location - you couldn't live in Ponyville long without hearing of Sweet Apple Acres! Once she'd spotted the barn standing tall over the trees, it was an easy target for a bit of cross-country shortcuts! She even glimpsed the duo on the scooter well ahead, moving along at quite the clip, “Ahhh, that’s like, soooo totally bogus! That’s ... like ... not fair!” Sunrise narrowed her eyes, feeling more determined, but as much as she tried she couldn’t figure out a way to keep up with, or even keep in sight of, the quickly moving scooter.

It took longer than she would have liked, but she finally made it to the barn. But where was everypony else? She couldn't have beat the scooter pair ... could she? “Like, helloooo?” This didn’t seem good, was she in the right place? “Like, what if this isn’t the right building? That would be so heinous! They’ll ... They’ll all think, like, I came in last place!!!” With that terrible though Sunrise began looking about the farm frantically, “like, Sweetie, Scootaloo, where did you all like, go?!”

[SteelEagle]

There were very few advantages Apple Bloom had over pegasi or ponies with scooters, and that would be that she and she alone- well, of this group anyway- knew of several shortcuts to the farm. They were the key to beating the others and Apple Bloom had ever intention of arriving there first. There were several changes in elevation and at times some unrefined terrain making it something of a difficult trek for the uninitiated, but Apple Bloom was more than certain that by the time all was said and done, she and Grim would stand in the front of the clubhouse and giggle as the others trickled in. Of the many options she had, the one she chose was one of the older, nearly abandoned streets that had morphed into a series of vaguely interconnected alleyways that shot through the back of town. While not the speediest route, the others required a few too many leaps and general action that Apple Bloom had no intention of taking with Grim aboard. She needed Grim to be in tip-top shape!

The two started down the shortcut at a relatively swift speed, Apple Bloom's competitive spirit inflamed by the sheer excitement of the race. She wasn't as competitive as, say, Scootaloo, but she had a healthy love of the thrill of competition that was not dulled even when outmatched. They may have had a scooter, Snips and Snails their magic, Sunrise a head start, but Apple Bloom had shortcuts and at worse that evened the field. She wasn't going to be sore of she didn't win, however. It wasn't that big a deal...even if the filly would at that moment give most things to win!

But time passed longer than she'd like, Apple Bloom having to pace herself so she didn't have Grim falling too far behind. Grim was a good pony and all and Apple Bloom may have underestimated her, but Abby had no desire to tucker her out before the adventure even began. She paced herself, moving fast but not super-fast and as they neared the farm, the ticking of her mental clock gave her no illusions as to the result of the race. Besides, maybe Grim would repay her over-caution by saving her flank during the adventure!

They finally made it to the farm, the old road ending at a fence rather than continuing into the farm entrance. She slide under the bars in the fence and trotted into the orchard, taking in deep, soothing breaths. The smell of hundred of apple trees ready for harvest? Wonderful! She doubted any of Rarity's perfumes could smell half as decent. It really softened the impact, as small as that would have been, of seeing Sweetie and Scoots arrive just a moment after the clubhouse came into view. Apple Bloom trotted into the clearing immediately after, laughing heartily.

"Well, ah guess yer scooter beat mah shortcut!" Apple Bloom said as she trotted next to her fellow crusaders. "How's the ride with Scootaloo, Sweetie? Ah reckon yer happeh to be back on solid ground!" She said, giggling as she cantered into the clubhouse. As was standard, she had stored a bushel of apples in there as snacks for their near-daily meetings there. She slowly but surely pulled the bushel out front.

"So, anypony else arrive? Ah got all tha apples we'd ever need!"

[SonicRainboomGirl]

(If nobody minds, I'm going to join in now)

Scootaloo loved winning, and as she slammed on the breaks when they reached Sweet Apple Acres, her little heart filled with pride. They had even beat Apple Bloom, and Apple Bloom lived here! She grinned happily, noticing that Sweetie Belle was humming once more, as if nothing had happened. Scootaloo seriously hoped that her friend had finally realised how AWESOME scooters were, especially when you go super fast on one. Scootaloo silently thanked her wings and balance for that amazing feat. Of course, she HAD shown off a bit to impress Sweetie Belle. Maybe she'd gone a little too fast. Scootaloo chuckled at that thought, how in Equestria could you go TOO fast?

Scootaloo took her helmet off and shook her head. Her wind-swept fuschia mane regained it's form, and she noticed Apple Bloom enter the clubhouse. She posed in a cool way, leaning on a wall with her arms crossed and a disinterested expression. Not only was Scootaloo a winner, she was cool, and she took pride in it. The wall creaked, and Scootaloo nervously landed back on her hooves. No matter how much work she had put into this club house, she still believed it to be a bit of a TLC.

"Sweetie Belle LOVED the ride! She was like, Go faster! Go faster! seriously. I think she finally realised how COOL it is to ride a scooter, especially when she's riding with me. You should have seen it Apple Bloom, I think we broke the sound barrier."

As Scootaloo bragged, a grin spread across her face. Yeah, she had exaggerated a little (a lot), but she wanted to bask in the glory of the moment, making Apple Bloom look like an idiot for a while. Man, did she love that!

[Corsair]

Snips slowed his pained trot as he reached the big barn at Sweet Apple Acres. He and Snails had been stuck in that thorny bush for several minutes waiting for ponies on the road to pass by. They both had scratches and burrs stuck in their coats. They were also so far behind that there was no way they were going to beat the Crusaders now.

He was cautiously crossing the barnyard, hoping to avoid Applebloom's siblings and her granny. The problem now was that he didn't know exactly where to go; he thought that the Crusaders had a club house somewhere out in the orchard, but he didn't know where.

“Like, helloooo? Like, what if this isn’t the right building? That would be so heinous! They’ll ... They’ll all think, like, I came in last place!!! Like, Sweetie, Scootaloo, where did you all like, go?!”

He heard Sunrise calling out from the barn. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was unsure where to go. "Sunrise!" he hissed, keeping his voice low. "Sunrise! I think they're out in the orchard. I've heard them talk about a club house out there, somewhere..." he explained before trailing off. "Uh, maybe if we split up we can find it?"

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails winced as he used his faltering magic to pluck some thorns from his hide.

Suddenly he jumped happily as he heard Sunrise. He whispered to Snips "We're on th' right track, eh!"

He hmmed as Snips made the suggestion to split up. "yeah that could work. We kin probably start with th' back of the orchard. We woulda seen it from here or th' road if it was close, eh? Umm, what do you think Sunrise? Wanna stick together or split up?"

For some reason, Snails did not think he would mind if the filly chose to stick together with them... Growing up sure is wierd... ;P

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle had never been thinking of it as a race - she'd just been eager to show her confident side. In fact, it never even occurred to her that anypony else would consider it a race.

No, she was just still enthusing in the feeling of having fallen but not crashed. Trying to figure out how that happened - it always passed by so fast for her, that by the time she thought about how to stop from crashing, it was too late. But with Scootaloo there helping, she'd felt ... graceful! Poised! Everything Rarity wanted her to be!

And whenever her spirit soared like that, the little twiddles started filling into her little head, the songs building of their own accord. She picked one that seemed to match the thumpa-thumpa of the rocks in the road under the scooter's heals... humming it at first as the worlds swirled around in her head, slowly linking together, creating phrases, that became lyrics... and as the lyrics formed, she couldn't help but start to sing them, quietly at first ... but this song required volume!

It was one reason she loved this clubhouse, way out here away from Ponyville... she could sing as loud as she wanted, without worrying about anypony other than her friends hearing it! And they never made fun of her silly little twiddles, they even seemed to like them sometimes.

o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~

The road keeps on passin', passin', passin', under our wheee-alllls!

The road keeps on passin', passin', passin', under our wheee-alllls!

I want to fly like a pegasus, through the trees,

fly like a pegasus, so a cloud can carry me,

I want to fly like a pegasus, feel the speed,

Oooooo-ohhhh, to the horizon!

o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~ o/~

She stood on the balcony of the clubhouse, her face confidence, exultant, as she wailed out the lyrics, surprisingly strong lungs for the little unicorn foal carrying her powerful voice over the trees even to distant corners of Sweet Apple Acres.

[brianblackberry]

Sunrise Breach was getting annoyed quickly - she didn't like to lose, and she didn't care to admit she was lost, either - not even to herself. But she just had no idea where to look. When Snails popped out of the nearby bushes looking disheveled, she was actually relieved that things couldn't be as bad as they seemed. "Like, what happened to you??" Whatever it was, his lanky friend trailing along behind was just as covered in thorns, burrs, and twigs. "Like, were you rolling around in prickly bushes and junk? Most egregious!"

She was glad the pair were there - sure, they were really dorky, and a bit immature, and yeah they were definitely not the "cool foals", but she was more interested in having friends than trying to break into the "cool foals" circle. She was cool enough by herself! Still, she grimaced as she looked more closely at the pair, "Like, doesn't that hurt and junk, having those totally heinous burrs?" She reached out to grab a couple of the more annoying looking ones with her teeth and gave them a good yank to get them free.

She contemplated the idea of splitting up as she spat out one of the burrs, looking over the orchard. It was awfully big, and they could cover more ground individually, but how would they find each other again? "Like, I dunno, I think it'd be more righteous if we stuck togeth-" She stopped mid-sentence as some distant noise caught her attention. It sounded lovely, even if she couldn't make it out clearly. she knew just what it had to be, and gave a bright smile of confidence to her two messy companions. "C'mon! Like, this way!"

As she grew closer, that most bodacious tune grew clearer and clearer. "Excellent! We're so totally going the right way!" She'd only heard Sweetie Belle sing a couple times before, but her voice was easily recognizable. It was a mystery to Sunrise that her friend didn't have a cutie mark - it was obvious what her special talent was! And now, that talent was leading the trio right to her! She found herself emerging from the apple trees to see an adorable little pink treehouse, the small scooter from before propped up against the tree, and Sweetie Belle's head and hooves popped up over the railing. "Like, I knew we could find them by following Sweetie Belle's most harmonious tunes!" Sunrise bounced up and down excitedly; now the adventure could really begin!

[SonicRainboomGirl]

Scootaloo listened as Sweetie Belle's humming quickly changed to belting. She loved to see her friend sing so confidently, to do what made her happy, and Sweetie Belle was an amazing singer! Her voice was brassy, strong, bold, and sailed through the air a confidently as Rainbow Dash did. All of the qualities Scootaloo wanted for herself could be represented in the filly's song.

It was a nice song too, for Scootaloo very relatable. Despite her inability to sing anything impressive (or moderate, or...easy? Okay, she wasn't a great singer) , she did enjoy listening to music immensely. Music moved her almost as much as speeding down a hill, and it was even better when she was in the presense of a friend. A song about scooters? Scootaloo wondered if Sweetie Belle was simply singing to make Scootaloo happy!

Scootaloo remembered with a pinch of jealousy how difficult it was for her to write her very own song for the talent show. Infact, Sweetie Belle ended up writing a majority of the lyrics. She wished that she could sing and write like Sweetie Belle, and she wished she could come up with songs on the spot. Of course, she realised that would be silly. It simply wasn't her. And Sweetie Belle was in love with music, she would never take that away. As Sweetie Belle finished her little song, Scootaloo broke into applause.

"Woah Sweetie Belle! That was SUPER cool! Seriously. I loved it."

[SteelEagle]

In Apple Bloom's parlance, she'd say that Sweetie Belle had quite the pair of lungs on her. She always seemed to bust into some song and every time she did, it was better than the last, more natural and swift every time. Why her cutie mark wasn't singing was something Apple Bloom couldn't quite wrap her head around despite some days spent trying to do just that, but in the end she figured it didn't matter. And for Sweetie it probably felt great to know that despite how absolutely fantastic her singing was, her special talent was going to be even more amazing. Maybe she'd get two cutie marks! It made Apple Bloom feel somewhat inferior since for the life of her she couldn't see having a special talent in anything and here her best friend was with a talent of such amazing beauty and skill that had anypony else had it, they'd have a cutie mark for it. Sometimes when her mind was given to some dissatisfied thoughts she'd get gloomy about the one-sided comparison; now was not one of those times and she just allowed herself to enjoy the song.

Of course, the song just feed back to Scootaloo's scooter, which was the cause of her other Pony Friend Forever's slight cockiness. She was the most emotionally invested in victory and defeat more often than not and this time was no exception. It stung more than it did with most others when she won because she, perhaps unknowingly, had a habit of rubbing saltcubes into the wound. Amongst friends such behavior was commonplace and even accepted as friendly blows and taunts were as much a character of friendship as hugs and general friendliness. Still, between Scootaloo on her scooter and Sweetie's great song about the scooter, it was hard not to feel like the odd filly out. Luckily, she was in too excited a mood to tempt such thoughts for more than a fraction of a second.

"That's one heck of a song ya got thar, Sweetie. Ah reckon between you and Scootaloo here, y'all could have one heck of a traveling show!" Apple Bloom chuckled mightily at her own obviously funny joke just as she spotted other members of the group starting to arrive, though Snips and Sails looked somewhat worse for the wear. They hadn't even started adventuring and already they'd found something to ruffle themselves up a bit. Apple Bloom approved!

She then bounced away from her apples and cleared her throat.

"Well, Ah reckon we can get ourselves ready an' get'er goin' on naw. Ah have some right delicious apples and Scootaloo and Sweetie, y'all know where our extra Crusadin' gear is. Ah think we shouldn't spend ta long gettin' ready just on the off chance mah family swings on by, so let's get ta packin' and gettin' outta here!" She said, rearing up and neighing before picking an apple up by her mouth and tossing it into the air like one might do with a graduation hat.

[SonicRainboomGirl]

As more ponies filed into the clubhouse, Scootaloo felt a rush of excitement fill her, the one she always got when it was time to go Cutie Mark Crusading. She wasn't sure what about it exactly made her feel so alive, but she had a few theories. Firstly, she got to hang out with the two most awesome fillies in all of Equestria (besides herself, anyways), Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle! They were a blast, and Scootaloo knew she couldn't live without them! Secondly, she got to try new things, and she liked branching out and becoming sophistacted, diverse, and mature. Well, as sophisticated, diverse, and mature, as she actually wanted to be. She was no fancy pantsing, hoity toity, powdered wig wearing, mascara wearing, sushi nibbling, art viewing DUCHESS who said "quite" all the time. That wouldn't be any fun, she would have fancy-pony duties to attend to! Heck, she might even have to move to Canterlot and start wearing, god forbid, DRESSES. The thought practically made her sick to her stomach! Still, what if her special talent was doing something weird like wrangling chipmunks? She'd gone down the line pretty far, but some spaces were open for other talents to learn! This, and all the scootering she would do, filled her little heart with adrenaline from the thought. She WOULD find her talent, she would! AND she would be the very best at it!

It always crossed her mind that perhaps she should feel a bit miserable about crusading, considering it was, afteral, a task. She was an outcast, a loser, totally uncool. She had to FIND her Cutie Mark. The coolest ponies all had their Cutie Marks, Rainbow Dash had gotten hers very first in her class! While Scootaloo knew that she shouldn't compare herself to Rainbow Dash, who was incredible in every way, she wished that she could be a lot more LIKE her. She couldn't even fly, and Rainbow was almost a Wonderbolt! Dash never went Cutie Mark Crusading at all! Then again, she might approve of it as long as it was crusading, and not just boring...

The gears in Scootaloo's mind began to turn in the wrong direction. Of COURSE Dash would approve of her crusading, just so long as it was COOL! That was it then. She just had to make it cool! But how could she make it cooler? Rainbows? Dashing? Daring Do? Kung-Fu? Snakes? Crime fighting? Ninjas? Pirates? Robots?

Scootaloo then realized EXACTLY what would make things cooler- ROCK AND ROLL! She began hatching an ingenious, slightly evil plan to fill the crusading with gritty music. Scootaloo figured it wouldn't be too hard, after all SHE was the one controlling the scooter, and she knew the best places to find good music. Best of all, it would be a surprise! Didn't Apple Bloom love surprises? ...Well, Apple Bloom was kind of a weirdo. Sweetie Belle probably did.

[Corsair]

"Like, what happened to you?? Like, were you rolling around in prickly bushes and junk? Most egregious!"

"Err, uh, yeah, eggsovereasy to you too..." Snips answered, uncertainly. Sunrise had a strange accent he hadn't quite figured out, and sometimes used words he'd never heard of. "We, uh, had to hide on our way here," he added in explanation.

Snips winced as Sunrise pulled the burrs out of his coat, hiding a bit of a blush from the filly's actions. That was when he suggested they split up to find the Crusaders' clubhouse.

"Like, I dunno, I think it'd be more righteous if we stuck togeth-"

That's when they all heard the singing. It was obvious who was doing the singing; Sweetie Belle had best singing voice of anypony in the school. Sunrise was off like a shot, following the sound of Sweetie Belle's song. Snips tried to keep up, but his short legs were no match for the athletic filly's pace. He fell behind, but was able to follow the song to its source.

Finally, he stumbled into a bit of a clearing. Built into an old apple tree in he middle was a nice-looking tree house. Well, nice if you liked hearts and girly stuff. He made it to the bottom of the ramp before flopping to his belly, his sides heaving. Who knew that treasure hunting would be so tiring... or involve so much running!

Seeing that everypony had arrived, Applebloom said;

"Well, Ah reckon we can get ourselves ready an' get'er goin' on naw. Ah have some right delicious apples and Scootaloo and Sweetie, y'all know where our extra Crusadin' gear is. Ah think we shouldn't spend ta long gettin' ready just on the off chance mah family swings on by, so let's get ta packin' and gettin' outta here!"

Gasping, Snips groaned out "Can't... we take... a rest... for a minute??"

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails trotted along, trying not to outpace Snips as they followed the singing to the small clearing around the old apple tree "Sweeet! That Sweetie Belle kin really sing, eh!"

The colt looked at the tree house in awe "Awesome! Hay Snips! Ah think we need a treehouse too. Got any ideas on that?... Snips?"

He looked over at Snips laid out on the ground as Apple Bloom announced they should take off quickly.

Snails waved a hoof "Ah think Snips needs some water, and maybe a ride in that cool red wagon ya three zip around in, eh? He hasnt' run that fast since Nightmare Night..."

The foal reached back and pulled a couple thorns he missed from his body "We really need ta find better places to hide..."

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle blinked in surprise as everypony seemed to have something to say on the subject of her singing, her face turning bright red. Oh, dear... she hadn't realized she'd been singing out loud, so everypony could hear her! "Oh," she murmured, bashfully. "Oh, well, um ... " She rubbed one foreleg against the other. "It was just a silly little twiddle that kinda came to me on the way over. Nothing special."

Why was everypony always so focused on her singing? It wasn't that good ... she'd heard lots of better singing, all the time. Especially from Pinkie! And it wasn't like Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn't also sing a lot! She never heard anyone making a fuss over them! She hurried on to change the subject.

"Don't worry, Snips! You can rest while we gear up!" Her little hooves churned quickly as she hurried across the clubhouse to a chest against the far wall. She opened it up and stuck her head in, half-hidden inside. "All righty!" she cried out eagerly, tossing stuff out - a coil of rope, a compass she didn't know how to use, a bottle of sap-b-gone cleaning solution, a lightning bug lamp, a hammer, a rubber chicken, a few carrots... she pulled out a leather harness and looked at it, considering. She glanced over to Scootaloo. "Do you think we'll need our ziplining gear?" she asked thoughtfully.

[brianblackberry]

Sunrise Beach just rolled her eyes and siiiiighed as she walked up the plank into the treehouse. How cold that little gray colt be out of breath already?! She really hoped these two dorky colts didn’t wreck the adventure with lameness. Still wasn’t going to suggest they stay behind - she wanted to make closer friends, and ostracizing any pony definitely wasn’t the way to go about it. They couldn't be all bad, not if Applebloom and her crew thought they were alright. “Like, get in the wagon, dude and I can totally pull you, and we can even put some of our stuff in with you. Like, so long as you don't find it a total bummer to have a filly pull you around!”

She grinned to Sweetie Belle as she came in through the door. “Like that’s so totally awesome that you came up with those righteous lyrics on the fly, I bet you're a shoo in at the school- Sunrise ducked to avoid the wayward flying chicken, and found herself looking at the compass at her hooves. “Awesome, you guys, like, have a compass! Like can I be the compass navigator??!” It was one of the few things in the world she was good at reading - sure, the map of gibberish, but this she could do!

“I brought some stuff, too! Ummm” She looked back in her bags, still sad about the candy she had spilled. “Peanuts and, like, some chewy oat and hay bars, and juice, and like some umm ... Uhh ...” She pulled out a box of what once had been tomatoes, but now was a dripping paste. “Groooody! Umm, let me just get rid of this and put our foods in the wagon! Then we can, like, get out of here before anyone sees us! We’ll be, like, totally radical ninjas and junk!”

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom was constantly amazed at Sweetie's ability to downplay herself. She was almost the exact opposite of her and Scootlaoo, who often either overplayed or built-up their achievements and abilities. In Apple Bloom's case she looked at her supposed 'building up' of her achievements was just a down payment on what her future successes would most assuredly be. Sweetie Belle didn't do this. If anything, it felt as though there were times she down-played herself despite her obvious greatness at everything and Apple Bloom had to lay the blame at Rarity's hooves and her constant demands for perfection that seemed to weigh on Sweetie Belle more than it should at least from Bloom's vantage point. That was the only reason she could find why Sweetie wasn't so enamored with herself. Discomfort with praise or humility? Impossible! Had to be somepony else to blame.

She started to collect a nice assortment of their prototypical adventuring gear, their previous experiences and random thoughts propelling their acquisitions of gear. Sweetie grabbed the essentials, but quickly had a question. Apple Bloom considered the possible applications of a zipline and countered just as quickly with how much fun she didn't have on it last time. She shook her head after a single moment of thought.

"Naw, its a bit heavy, dontcha think? 'Sides, Ah don't see us usin' it much-" She started, before realizing the question was directed at Scootaloo. She promptly shut her trap, both embarrassed and a little put-off by it. Why was she all about Scootaloo all of a sudden? What did she do that made Apple Bloom not even...there? Just as quickly as the question was asked, she gave a hearty laugh and shook her head. Nah, she was still just enamored with that scooter. Silly Scootaloo and her silly, silly scooter that drew Sweetie Belle's attention so. Apple Bloom made sure to get her cape on just right before she felt truly alive and ready for the day's main event.

As her mind drew away from her fellow crusaders, she started to realize that Snips was in some manner not up to speed. He was completely out of breath and looked as if he had an adventure just getting to the starting point of their adventure, which was not a very good sign. Still, he had already gotten this far and it would be a spoiled apple if she had to toss him away, even if he couldn't take a rest. They had to get moving before her siblings were in range or else there wouldn't be a treasure hunt and that meant no cutie marks for the cutie mark crusaders. And that would be meeting with a bad end. Thankfully, Surprise reacted quickly to Snails' idea of putting Snips in the wagon. It was a pretty decent idea that came from a colt that she didn't know produced such decent ideas and that was at least a good sign. Before her, the disparate groups moved to prepare and she felt silly standing still.

She jumped over a bucket that was just lazin' about and trotted out ahead of the group, the Everfree forest a small gallop to her back as she turned around. She defiantly struck her hoof out, shattering the air around her- it couldn't even handle her right now!

"Everypony ready? Good, 'cause the treasure hunt starts...NOW!" She reared up and neighed in excitement before turning around and starting a determined gallop to the edge of the forest.

[SonicRainboomGirl]

[colour=#CC0066][/colour]

Scootaloo grinned, looking around the group as they took off after Apple Bloom. Scootaloo didn't feel like following anypony, instead she felt like leading the way. She looked at her beloved scooter, then back at Sweetie Belle, who she hoped was still up for some fast speeds.

Scootaloo tossed a helmet to her friend, and placed one atop her head as well. She stretched her wings out, making sure they were fully prepared for the speeds she wanted to go at. She jumped delicately onto her Scooter, and watched in anticipation for Sweetie Belle to join her.

[colour=#CC0066]"Alrighty, come on Sweetie Belle! It's time to lead the pack!"[/colour]

She ordered, in a way as friendly as she could. She couldn't wait to take off and feel the breeze on her face once more. Better yet, she couldn't wait to share the fun with her close friend! It felt like she had converted her.

[Corsair]

Snips had just enough time to catch his breath before the group was ready to move out again. However, he turned down the offer to ride in the wagon. He'd seen how fast the three fillies went in that contraption, and wanted no part of it. Besides, they were going into the forest, weren't they? There'd be roots and sticks and stuff, and the wagon would just bounce around.

So, with a sigh, he shrugged back into his saddlebags and trotted after the enthusiastic fillies. Seeing all the stuff... the 'gear' the Crusaders were bringing with them made Snips think about what he had in his own bags. He had scissors, of course. He always had scissors with him since he'd found his talent. There were more of the smoke bombs he and Snails had used to escape Ponyville unseen. There was a short length of rope for doing rope tricks, a couple of packs of cards, a few bottle rockets, and a partial box of matches to light them. He also thought he had the cups for the 'shell game' trick in there, but he couldn't remember exactly.

Hearing Sunrise talk about the food she had brought, he realized he didn't have any, and Snails probably didn't have any either. Looking up at the fruits hanging from the trees all around them, he called out "Hey Applebloom, ya think we should take some apples?" But the yellow filly had already galloped off. Snips quickly grabbed a couple of apples from the ground that didn't look too bruised and tossed those into his bag as well. He then quickened his pace to catch up, his excitement making the pricks and aches fade away.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails grinned goofily as the fillies got ready to go on the hunt. "All this gear ya all got t'geter is sweeeet! This is gonna be Awesome! Right Snips?"

He bounced happily as Snips declared he was feeling well enough to keep up without riding in the wagon, and asked about apples.

"Ah yeah, that's a swell idea Snips!"

With that, Snails scooped up some fallen apples too and plopped them in his saddlebags too. and scampered to catch up with everypony.

"Hay Snips! We'd better run eh? That Scootaloo really goes fast, even with a load a ponies with her!

[brianblackberry]

The crew of treasure hunting ponies definitely looked like they were ready to go in and find whatever mysterious fortune awaited them. Sunrise, though, wondered why bring the scooter? "Like, wouldn't it be better if we, like, kept the scooter here, since we'll be in a dense forest and junk?" At least the odd gray colt, Snips, had decided he didn't need hauling around anymore. It would have been totally heinous to try and move a heavy wagon around a forest! Like, maybe he isn't so totally lame after all. He wasn't so bad, a bit of a dweeb, but otherwise alright ... some of the time. The other colt though, he was off on another planet most of the time, the planet of lametastic dweeb-os.

Snips' apple idea was good, Sunrise figured they would work well with the nuts and stuff she brought, plus she could show off a little of her totally awesome athletic skills getting some down! She ran enthusiastically up to one of the nearby trees, swung around, and gave it a swift, solid kick with her little hind legs, dropping a couple apples which she tossed into her saddlebags. "Like, these should help us in our rad adventure!"

Sunrise pulled out the compass she got from the clubhouse and ran towards where Applebloom stood, "like, I am sooooo ready, got the compass any everything! We can use it to like read the direction we are going with the map! Like so cooool! Look, it is, like, pointing North, so this path is going West! So if we get lost, we just go East and we'll get out! So, like, what does the map say?" She was so proud that she could figure it out, hoping to sound smart even if she had to depend on the others to really read the map.

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie had been hoping for an answer on the ziplining harness from Scootlaoo, as their resident ziplining expert, but it was Apple Bloom who'd put forth that voice of common sense, as Apple Bloom often seemed to do, to Sweetie's way of seeing things. The fact that few others would consider Apple Bloom's ideas 'common sense' bothered Sweetie not at all. "Good point, Apple Bloom!" she cried eagerly, "We don't want to slow ourselves down!" She glanced to Scootaloo, then. "And Sunrise is right! We might need to climb *dangerous* cliffs, or swim mighty rivers!" she pointed out! "You don't want to damage your scooter out there!"

Her eyes brightened. "Ooo! Ooo! We might even face some sort of dangerous creature or an unknown pony tribe out in the Everfree! Wouldn't that be exciting?!"

She took a moment to once again get their bearings ... but it was sure awkward trying to hold down two old half-maps at the same time. With a flash of inspiration, she got out a big sheet of paper that they used for their own maps, and laid it out on the floor, slapped a generous coating of glue on it, and then put the two half-maps onto it, lining them up carefully to make them one map again! "There! All righty, now we just need to find the first part!"

She squinted at the map, locating the start of the treasure path. Her tongue stuck out as she carefully read the twisty and weird script. "From the rock looking over the field of blue jeft ... but if f's are s's, that must be sield and jest! What'a sield? Is it a shield? Are we looking for a blue jester's shield? Do jesters even *have* shields? Ten timef ten, ftretching hoovef towards weft to ftart your queft. OK, so if effs are actually esses ... That's ... um ... "

She paused, frowning down at the map. "Wow, this is confusing..."

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom smiled, for the most part inwardly. She loved her friends dearly but it felt especially nice when in a small but inconsequential contest between the three she could sometimes pull out ahead. Every group of friends was like that; no victory was sweeter that amongst friends, as the 'struggle' was often without losers. So as Sweetie came over to Apple Bloom's way of thinking, she chalked one point up in her favor. It may not have counted for as many points as Sweetie Belle riding on the scooter and then blasting out a song about the experience, but who was keeping score? Well, actually, Apple Bloom was and she was behind in the count. No matter: Nopony knew the Everfree as well as she amongst her friends and she was sure to score a few points there. And even if she didn't score, it wasnt a big deal as long as Scootaloo didn't get to bring that darn scooter!

She heard some nasally voice off in the distance as she prodded the perimeter of the Everfree and it took a full second for her to gather that somepony had mentioned apples. She turned around and found Snips picking apples up off of the ground for reasons she could not truthfully discern. She had made an announcement about apples earlier and had pulled out a full bushel that was just sitting right there! She had packed some with their gear, there was a full, beautiful bushel- why for land's sakes was Snips picking them up off the ground? She could only guess that wherever disaster had propelled his flank to the wagon before had addled his brain and made it impossible for him to see giant bushels of apples in front of his face. For not the first time, or second time, or third time, Apple Bloom was worried about bringing the duo along for the ride. The Everfree was going to be dangerous enough without a bunch of foalishness! Sunrise too- why was she bucking apple trees when there was a bushel just sitting there? In fact, oh no!

"Sunrise, don't buck them trees! Those apples ain't-" She took a closer look and sighed. Half of them weren't right yet, weren't fit to be eaten, at least by Apple family standards. How was she to explain to Applejack and Big Mac that one of her friends had sliced and diced their plain and simple harvest schedule? Apple Bloom gave a frustrated sigh as she walked slowly over to the bushel of apples she had placed out in front of the clubhouse and pulled it so it was now ahead of everyone. Surely they'd see it now.

"Ah don't wanna be mean, but you can't pick apples off tha ground or buck'em trees since that might ruin tha harvest schedule. There's a bush'l of apples right here. Here. Heeeerrreeeeeeee," Apple Bloom emphasized with increasingly dramatic hoof movements towards the bushel. She didn't want anypony to feel bad, but it was Apple Bloom who was going to have to explain missing, unharvested apples to her folks, not everypony else. She sighed just as Sunrise started talking about the compass and she almost immediately shifted gears, jumping over the bushel and approaching her. She liked what she saw.

"That's pretty good, and Ah'm certain it'll be super useful! Gettin' lost in tha Everfree ain't no fun, not a lick," She said, patting Sunrise on the back as Sweetie Belle contemplated the map. It needed some good, solid contemplation, too, as when Apple Bloom walked on over and took a look her brain went for a spell.

"Wow, that pony sure didn't learn how ta spell very good, not like us modern ponies," She observed, history be darned. She read it over a few times as her brain started to piece it together.

"Rock ovah-lookin' a field of blue jeft? Ah don't know what the hay that means, but any rock overlooking anythin' would need ta be higher and have a clearin' to overlook at...ten times ten, stretching hooves towards tha west to start your quest, so we go west once we find that rock. So we need ta find a rock overlookin' a field of blue-something. Jest as in jester, or like a joke? If it's a joke, it might mean poison joke?" Apple Bloom both offered and asked as she looked over at her friends for a sense of agreement. She wasn't used to having good ideas or thoughts and any confirmation would do wonders. Besides, she could score some points.