This is a tale that tells of how one that was dishonesty and cruel to be treated with kindness and honesty. In a certain barn, just outside of Ponyville, an earth pony with golden mane and green as emerald gems had just roamed about in the fields. She comes across a tree with delicious apples that were ripe to eat. With one hard kick from her hind hoofs, apples started to fall towards the ground and landed on the baskets below. She is known to the ponies as Applejack, the honest pony in all of Equestria. Though she was a sight to behold, especially at the Grand Galloping Gala they have every year, to most she's one of the hardest pony no stallion has ever won over. She never expected to do anything in her life since she loved the farm she worked at and her family. One day, Applejack was doing one of her chores as normal to prepare for cider season coming up. When she glanced at one of the apple trees, she bend her hind and front legs to be able to buck the apple tree at the right time.

*Kick!*

Applejack turned aside to see the apples fall towards the basket.

"Yee-haw! Cider season's going to be great this year," Applejack replied with a smile. "With all these new batches here fresh and clean, I'm sure we would be able to share more cider to all the ponies than ever before."

To most ponies, cider season had been an Apple tradition for several generations. It is said that all ponies in Ponyville would go towards Sweet Apple Acres and be able to serve a drink that the Apple family makes. With the amount of apples that Applejack has been bucking, it would be enough for other kinds of apple treats apart from Cider. However, as she went towards the next tree to buck, Applejack noticed her sister and two of her friends were walking inside the barn, intending to do something crazy. Not knowing what was going on with those two, she followed behind towards the barn. Applejack peeked inside and noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders were preparing their entry for a contest coming up in Ponyville.

"Did you get the paint, Apple Bloom?" asked the pegasus filly.
"Sure did, Scootaloo. Have you seen Sweetie Belle?"
"I'm coming, girls." a unicorn called out as she ran towards the group.
"What took you so long?" Scootaloo asked.
"Sorry about that. I wanted to make sure if my sister would allow me to use this."

As she revealed the white silky fabric, Sweetie Belle also grabbed sprinkles from her bag and tossed them in the air.

"This is from Pinkie Pie as well since she knew that an apple needs to be shined as pure gold."
"Seems like y'all have a lot of work to do for tomorrow's contest." Applejack spoke, sneaking up from behind.
"We sure do." Apple Bloom agreed. "We want to drive the best cart that Ponyville has ever seen."
"Then you best get moving. I won't stop y'all from your work and it's not gonna finish by itself. Let me know if y'all need anything.

Applejack left the barn and continued working with her daily chores.

"Okay, crusaders," Apple Bloom encouraged, "we got a cart to build! Maybe when we're done, we may find our cutie marks in construction!"
"Yeah!" the other two agreed.

With such agreement, the three fillies worked together and built their best cart. Apple Bloom was Applejack's younger sister that dreams of getting her very own cutie mark, though she was impatient for a mark to appear when she's ready. She met Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at Diamond Tiara's party and they too wanted to get their own cutie marks. From then on, their mission was to do as many as they want to be able to discover their true talents in life, even if it took them all night. The next morning, Applejack noticed their accomplishment and boy, did they do a pretty good job.

"What do you think, sis? Pretty neat, huh?"
"Y'all did a nice job making this overnight. I can't believe you guys had the chance to finish this without being ever so tired."

As soon as Applejack mentioned the cart, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo fell asleep on the ground.

"I figured. Don't be late for the contest, you hear?"

Applejack left them to sleep, and as she walked away, she accidentally tripped over the piece that held the apple cart, and it started to roll towards the Everfree Forest. A few minutes later, Scootaloo was the first to wake up from her nap. Though she was a bit exhausted, she was able to notice that the cart was missing.

"Uh, guys" she asked, "Do you guys know where the cart went to?"
"It's where it is: back in the barn." Sweetie Belle replied in her sleep.

Scootaloo went to the barnyard to take a second look, but noticed that the cart wasn't there. She then returned to her friends who were still resting.

"It's not there."

When Scootaloo mentioned that the cart wasn't there, both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle woke up suddenly.

"What?!"

All three of them went towards the barn to look about. Confused of the situation, the girls then noticed cart wheel streaks were marked all over the ground. When they followed the marks, it stretched all the way through the Everfree forest. To most ponies, the Everfree forest is just unnatural to walk through the area. They say that most things grow and move all on their own and mysterious animals care for themselves.

"So much for having a cart making cutie mark." Sweetie Belle whined.
"Not quite, crusaders." Apple Bloom inquired.
"What do you mean, Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo asked.
"The cart competition is only within an hour and we still have time to go and get the cart back. Plus, if we win the cart contest, we can finally get our cutie marks in winning the best cart! Come on!"

Apple Bloom then started to run towards the forest and follow the tracks that was led behind. Within that moment, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then ran along with Apple Bloom into the Everfree Forest to find their lost golden cart.