Lost and Trapped
"Please, Please, can I come with you?" asked Applebloom earnestly.
"I'm not sure about this sis. It's getting rather dark and by the looks of its probably gonna storm soon..." answered Applejack.
"There nothing to do around here and I really want to go to the amusement park!" Applebloom's eyes grew large in desperation to go with her sister.
Applejack sighed, "Okay Applebloom, you can come with me on one condition..."
"What?" asked Applebloom.
"I want you behave yourself and stay with me I don't want you getting lost over there..."
"Yay!" exclaimed Applebloom and bounced around the living room with excitement.
Applejack placed a hoof on her sister's head to keep her still, "Now calm down Applebloom, we need to stop somewhere to drop off a basket of apples at a pony's home first then we will go okay?"
"But I want to go now!" said Applebloom.
"Sorry sugar cube, you'll have to wait. After we give these apples to Mr. Thyme then we'll go to the park..." said Applejack.
The two of them went to Mr. Thyme's house with baskets of apples on their backs and placed them down by the door.
Applejack rang the doorbell.
Old Mr. Thyme answered the door and welcomed them into his home. "Come in and place them on the counter in the kitchen for me while I look through my wallet to give you my bits for them..."
After the sisters did so Applebloom became more and more impatient. After hastily placing the apples down on the counter, she then walked inside another room beside the kitchen and stared out at Mr. Thyme's window seeing the multicolor lights of the amusement park rides and hearing the distant music played in the background. Then something particularly strange caught her eye in the room beside the window...
She stares in horror at a timber wolf head that is stuck to the end of a table with its mouth opened with rotting teeth and the color of its eyes empty and lifeless.
"That's the old table my father made years ago he was an excellent carpenter..." explained Mr. Thyme that suddenly appeared behind her which made Applebloom jump-, "In their final encounter against each other my father defeated that beast with a fire-lighted torch."
Applebloom felt sick and disturbed in this small space with Mr. Thyme and quickly went to escape from the room to go back to the kitchen with Applejack who was sorting through the apples again to make sure none of them were rotten.
Mr. Thyme gave the right amount of bits to Applejack and she placed them in her pouch.
"Now we can go to the park Applebloom." said Applejack.
"Finally" thought Applebloom "Let's get out of here, this place is giving me the creeps..."
But when the sisters reach the gates of the amusement park...They then see Filthy Rich paying for the last tickets with Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon beside him. Diamond and Silver grinned at the sisters in triumph before they entered the gates of the park.
"It's sold out?!" exclaimed Applebloom in great disappointment, "If only we came here sooner..."
"Sorry Applebloom, I wanted to see my friends over there too but even if we did it would had been closed anyway eventually because a storm is coming tonight..." said Applejack. Right after she said that they hear a thunder in the distance and drops of rain landed on their heads...
"Oh no we forgot to put the sheep inside the barn! They are going to be soaked in the rain if we don't get them inside in time!" said Applebloom.
"Then let's go then..." Applejack quickly left with Applebloom to go herd the sheep with her as it began to shower outside.
"Applebloom, go get that stray sheep over will you? Come with me Winona!" Applejack and her dog ran off with the rest herd to the other side of the hills.
Applebloom chased after the stray sheep until it stopped near the Everfree forest.
She was going to ask the sheep to turn around and go back to the barn. Even if she did the stubborn sheep wouldn't hear her anyway in this storm and ran into the forest. Applebloom stared into Everfree remembering the time she and her friends went off together to find a chicken named Elizabeak and Fluttershy saved them from the Cockatrice. It's easier to be brave when you're with friends and going into the forest together. But walking alone during in the middle of a storm made her more than nervous.
Should I get Applejack come with me? Applebloom thought as she hesitantly took a step forward as the rain dripped from her red mane to the ground. Could I get my cutie-mark if I go get it myself? Besides I had been in this forest plenty of times to visit Zecora. Before she knew it she was running into Everfree forest to continue to chase after the sheep.
The trees above shaded her from the rain some but not much. She discovers a trail of fleece left behind from the sheep and follows it until she hears the amusement park music in the distance silenced by a lightning strikes. One at the Ferris wheel and another struck an old frail tree which fell down because of the flames then the fires swallowed parts of the forest whole.
At her left she heard a tiny yelp and Applebloom went toward the voice. She was surprised of what see saw. It was a helpless little timber wolf puppy trapped between rocks and tree roots. It yelped again as the flames crawl from the trunk of the fallen tree toward the roots the puppy is stuck under.
After hesitating for a moment she dived into the ditch and was able to barely save the puppy from the fire by pulling it out with her hooves and teeth. She examined it and found that the eyes of the timber wolf was burnt some with cuts on it's side from scraping against the rocks.
She placed the tired timber wolf on her back then heard the familiar hoovesteps of the stray sheep and went to go catch it then she had lost any sign of it again. Which way is back home? All these trees here look the same...thought Applebloom trying not to panic in the darkness.
Lighting flashed again in the sky which briefly showed where they were at. I remember this place. This was where the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Fluttershy found Twilight when she was turned into stone by the Cockatrice. . Even though Twilight changed back to normal, Applebloom became afraid of what would happen if the Cockatrice came back without Fluttershy's to stare it down.
Applebloom quickly followed the familiar path toward Fluttershy's Cottage and knocked on her door. There was no answer.