(A young man walks into a room and sits on a small stool. He pulls out a few note cards and begin to stack them neatly, then clears his throat and holds up the first note card to read it) Ponies. That is all. (Tosses the note cards away and walks off without another word.)
-o-
"Uh, Scootaloo? Are you sure about this?" Sweetie Belle gulped nervously as she, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom made their way through the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo had told them that she had come up with a surefire way for them to earn their cutie marks, but she didn't go into great detail. The forest was just as dank and eerie as ever. Small animals scampered around just out of sight, and larger creatures bellowed deep, growling calls that made the Cutie Mark Crusaders shudder. The slowly darkening sky didn't help any.
Despite her own obvious fear, Scootaloo pressed on. "Of course I'm sure! This is definitely gonna work! I just know it!"
"Ah don't know," Apple Bloom said uneasily. "Ah've never been further into the Everfree than Zecora's place. And even then, most of the time, Ah got family with me." She jumped at a sound that only turned out to be a wild rabbit hopping out of a bush and into another.
"Oh, come on!" Scootaloo turned and faced her two friends. "Look, remember back when we had our first sleepover at Fluttershy's place, and we talked about becoming creature catchers?" The fillies nodded. "Well, I heard that there's a wild beast somewhere out here in the forest, and we're gonna catch it!"
"Need Ah remind you that we were almost turned to stone by a cockatrice that same night?" Apple Bloom stated rather bluntly.
The pegasus filly sighed. "Don't remind me…" Suddenly, she perked right back up. "But this one's different! They say that this creature looks like a pony, but acts like some kind of Everfree animal. It mostly only comes out at night, which is why I told you both to come just before sunset!"
"This sounds really dangerous," Sweetie Belle pointed out. "I think we should just stick with the basic stuff. You know… hang gliding, bungee jumping, operating heavy machinery. That all seems way safer than this."
Scootaloo scoffed at that. "Come on, you guys! Nopony got their cutie marks without taking risks!"
"She's got a point," Apple Bloom said in reluctant agreement. Hesitantly, Sweetie Belle nodded as well, and the Crusaders moved onward.
-o-
Twilight Sparkle hummed a light tune as she did some last minute studying before bed. She was reading a book on proper aerodynamics during flight, a book that Princess Celestia had given her after she became an alicorn to help her with her flying. It was much more difficult than she had initially thought. There were more motions involved than just flapping her wings. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had been pretty good instructors so far, and she was making decent progress.
She wrote down a few notes and closed the book, giving a yawn as she did. She had just decided to go to bed when, out of nowhere, her door was kicked in and Applejack ran in, looking distraught, with an equally fretful Rarity and Rainbow Dash right behind her.
"Twilight!" Applejack shouted. "Have you seen Apple Bloom and her friends? We've been looking everywhere for 'em!"
"They're missing?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, my, yes!" Rarity exclaimed worriedly. "We've searched high and low for little Sweetie Belle and the others all this evening! It's as if they've just up and vanished!"
"We were thinking you could help us," Rainbow explained. "You have to have some kind of spell around here somewhere that can help us find them!"
Twilight took a step back at their insistence. Shaking off her initial shock at their arrival, she got to thinking. "I might have something," she said as she went around the library, pulling out books and flipping through them one by one. Soon enough, she stopped and put away all but one of the books, which she quickly read. "This is a tracking spell used to find magical creatures. Mostly ones that the caster is familiar with. Rarity or I could use it to find Sweetie Belle, and where we find Sweetie Belle, we're likely to find Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, too!"
"Well, what're you waiting you waiting for?" Rainbow said impatiently. "Do it!"
Twilight nodded and concentrated her magic, focusing on the magical aura that Sweetie Belle gave off just by being a unicorn. Her horn glowed brightly, and she opened her eyes. "I've got her! Follow me!" With that, she headed out, her friends following her closely.
And much to each of their individual horror, the trail led them into the Everfree Forest.
-o-
It had gotten much, much darker since the trio entered the forest. The cold, bleak, emptiness pervaded throughout the woods, making each of them feel lost and alone. Even Scootaloo didn't seem so certain of her own plan at this point. The three of them kept huddled close together out of fear of being separated.
"A-Ah think w-we should just head on back home," Apple Bloom suggested fearfully. "M-maybe we could try an' get our cutie marks in herdin' animals."
"Maybe you can," Scootaloo replied, "but Sweetie Belle and I have no idea how to herd animals. Besides, I'm sure we're close now! I can feel it!" Just then, a low, throaty growl was heard. Scootaloo jumped backwards a few steps and gulped. "I hope. Think."
"Can we please just go home?" Sweetie Belle pleaded. "Rarity must be worried sick about me by now."
"Applejack, too," Apple Bloom added in.
Scootaloo looked at them like they were crazy for a moment, then heard that deep growl again. "Uh, yeah, okay. We can try something else. Tomorrow. In the morning. During the daytime." With that, the Crusaders turned around and proceeded back the way they came. Until they saw somepony standing in their path.
The pony ahead of them towered over them greatly. He was even taller than Big Macintosh, and definitely brawnier. His coat and mane were wild and unkempt, and his eyes seemed to glow a vicious shade of yellow. Other than that, they couldn't make out any of his features. It was simply too dark.
"Um, h-hello?" Sweetie Belle greeted with a nervous grin.
The light of the moon managed to shine through then, revealing the stallion's appearance. His coat was a steely gray, and his mane and tail were dark. He had no visible cutie mark. But his most frightening feature was his teeth. They were long, razor-sharp fangs that were bared constantly.
"Uh…" Sweetie struggled to think of something to say, since both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were too busy cowering behind her. "D-don't worry, girls. Maybe he's friendly?" The stallion roared right in her face, saliva hitting her almost as hard as his breath. When he finished, she just stared at him with wide eyes. "Not friendly."
That prompted the other two to gallop as fast as they could, screaming their heads off, running right past the huge stallion, and inadvertently leaving Sweetie Belle behind. She sat there on the ground, paralyzed by sheer terror as the stallion snarled at her. She was completely and utterly terrified of him. She had no idea what to do. Her brain had practically shut down completely. The stallion took a step closer to her. He raised one hoof as if he were about to strike her.
Just then, out of nowhere, a beam of purple struck the stallion, sending him hurtling into a nearby tree. The unicorn filly shook her head in disbelief at first, then realized that she had just been rescued. As she came to this conclusion, somepony suddenly wrapped their forelegs around her in a bear hug.
"Oh, Sweetie, darling!" Rarity cried overdramatically as tears of both joy and concern poured out of her eyes as Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash arrived, followed by Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. "Oh, I was so worried! I was completely distraught! Are you okay? Are you hurt at all? Did that big bully harm you in any way?"
Sweetie squirmed in Rarity's grasp, trying to get free. "I'm okay, Rarity, really. You can let go now." As if on cue, the stallion jumped back at them, landing just a foot away. "Don't let me go! Don't let me go!"
The mad stallion charged at them again, but was once more struck by a magic bolt from Twilight's horn. "AJ, Rainbow, Rarity!" she called. "Get the girls to safety! I'll hold this guy off!" He friends nodded, grabbed the fillies, and hurried off. The wild stallion was about to give chase, but was blocked by the young alicorn. She narrowed her eyes at him as he began prowling around her. He was clearly not a pony, despite having the form of one. "Who or what are you?" Twilight asked, her horn glowing with a spell ready.
The stallion snarled at her, continuing to simply stalk her. His savage yellow eyes betrayed a brutal cunning that she recognized from a few predators that she had seen before, but those eyes of his were most similar to timberwolves and other wolf-like creatures. It was more than a little intimidating if she had to be honest.
Suddenly, the stallion charged at her faster than she could react, tackling her painfully to the ground. She felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder when he hit her, cringing in reaction. She hit him back with a burst of magic that sent him flying into the forest and crashing into a large boulder. She panted heavily when he was off of her and reached to her shoulder. He had sunk his teeth into her flesh fairly deep. Not deep enough to be a true concern, but just enough to hurt a lot. She looked back at the stallion, who had gotten up shakily and glared angrily at her.
They locked eyes at that moment. His savage eyes narrowed threateningly at her. After a few moments, he turned and limped away, but Twilight had gotten the message that he sent through just that glare: he wanted revenge.
Twilight rubbed her wounded shoulder, the fresh injury stinging painfully when she touched it. She sighed and made her way down the path by which she and her friends had entered the forest. When she found the others, they all panicked when they saw that she had been injured, but she assured them that it was nothing that a visit to Nurse Redheart couldn't fix. As they left the forest, she gave one last glance back at the Everfree. Hopefully, they wouldn't encounter that… thing again.