Life didn't get much better at Paradise Estate. All the little ponies and their friends were running around and playing, finding something to occupy their time. All that was about to change. A fleet of big, black crows came flapping towards the Estate, cawing all the way. While on their way to the Estate, some swooped down and scooped up anything that was made of gold. The crows had a thing for gold. They could sense it anywhere. As the little ponies were playing, the crows came swooping down, knocking Fizzy and Galaxy off their feet.

"What was that?" Fizzy asked.

"I don't know, but here it comes again!" Galaxy shouted. She and Fizzy ducked. They looked up and saw the crows.

"Oh my!" Galaxy shouted. "The sky's filled with crows!"

"Where's a scarecrow when we need one?" Sparkler asked as she ducked an oncoming crow.

Posey grabbed a broom and began swinging it at the crows.

"You keep away from my garden!" she shouted.

But the crows weren't heading for the garden. Four flew into the estate through an open window. They went through the kitchen. Cupcake let out a scream, and grabbed a pot from the cabinet.

"Shoo! Shoo!" she shouted. "Get out of my kitchen!"

The crows cawed, and flew off. They flew around the bend and into one of the bedrooms. They began ripping it apart until they tore open the box that held Mimic's horseshoes. They took them, and flew off. Mimic walked in, just in time to see the birds fly out the window.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Hey! Hey you pests! You wrecked my room! Oooh, be glad I can't fly or else you'd get it!"

Mimic didn't even notice that her horseshoes were gone. The crows then flew into the Show Stable, where Lemon Drop was setting up her jumping drills for the ponies to keep in shape for a track and field event she was planning. She even had gold trophies to give to the ponies who had the best times in their jumps. She heard the cawing and looked out the window. A fleet of them breezed past her and knocked her flat on her back, with her legs sticking up in the air.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Sunday flyers!"

The crows took all the trophies, and burst through the jumps, and tore up Lemon Drop's blue ribbons. Then they were gone. Lemon Drop grumbled and began cleaning up the mess.

"If they come back," she groused. "I'll make pillow stuffing out of them!"

The birds continued to fly through the sky, until they reached the daisy field. Julie looked up at the crows and let out a blood curdling shriek. She and Twinkles jumped to their feet, and took off for Paradise Estate as fast as they could. One of the crows landed on Julie's back with such force, it knocked her to the ground. Once she was flat on the ground, the crow began pecking at her neck. Twinkles let out a scared meow, and darted underneath a bush. These crows were huge! They outweighed her quite a bit. The poor little kitty was scared out of her mind! Julie wasn't a barrel of laughs, herself. The crow pecked and scratched at the back of her neck until finally, it pulled the chain of Julie's gold heart shaped locket off, and flew into the air with it. Julie staid right where she was and began to wail like a siren. Cupcake, Galaxy, Wind Whistler, and Megan ran to her.

"Julie, are you all right?" Galaxy asked.

"I was so scared!" Julie cried. "It was biting me and scratching me, and it really, really hurt!"

"Oh there, there," Cupcake said, soothingly. She gently nuzzled Julie, and let the little girl cry into her mane. "It's all right now, honey. It's all right. That mean old crow is gone now, and he's never, ever coming back."

"Those were the biggest crows I've ever seen in my life," Megan said.

"Indeed," Wind Whistler agreed. "They were quite enormous. But I highly doubt they'll revisit Paradise Estate."

Even with the comforting news about the crows never returning, Julie was still crying. Megan moved Julie's hair out of her way to inspect the back of her neck. Sure enough, she was bleeding. The crow had pecked and scratched a little too hard.

"Come on, Julie," Megan said, taking her cousin's hand. "Let's go get you cleaned up."

"And then, you can be the first to have some of my world famous strawberry shortcake," Cupcake said.

Julie sniffled and nodded. Megan and the little ponies took her inside the Estate. Duck Soup, Brandy, and Spike were staring up at the sky, wondering where in the world those crows could have come from.

"You can come out now, Twinkles," Brandy said. "They're gone."

"Thank goodness!" Twinkles shouted, crawling out of the bush.

"Oh brother, what a scaredy cat!" Duck Soup shouted.

"I am not a scaredy cat!"

"Well cats are supposed to chase birds and what did you do when those crows showed up? Some cat you are!"

"You mean I should chase birds?"

"Yes."

"All birds?"

"Of course!"

"Then start running!"

The fur on Twinkles back bristled, and she lunged at Duck Soup. Duck Soup let out a loud quack and flapped his wings, trying to get away from the angry kitten.

"Hey, whoa, wait!" he shouted. "I didn't mean me!"

"You said all birds!" Twinkles shouted. "And ducks are birds!"

"Hold it, you two!" Spike shouted, jumping in between Twinkles and Duck Soup. "We can't worry about that now!"

"That's right," Brandy said. "The ponies didn't even notice when those crows took Lemon Drop's trophies!"

"Or Mimic's horseshoes," Spike said.

"Or Julie's locket," Twinkles said. "But what could they want with those?"

"I don't know," Spike said. "Maybe we should tell the ponies."

"Good idea!" Duck Soup quacked, and the animals started towards the Show Stable to tell Lemon Drop about her trophies. She and Gusty were fixing up the place. The crows really made a mess of it. Brandy barked to get their attention.

"Not now, Brandy," Lemon Drop said. "I'm busy."

"But it's important, Lemon Drop!" Spike shouted. "Those crows . . . ."

"Really made a mess of things," Gusty finished Spike's sentence, and she began hammering a shelf to the wall (with the hammer in her teeth). "We're gonna need all the concentration we can get, guys. Can you go play somewhere else? We'll play with you guys when we're done."

Brandy growled. He wanted to take a nip of Lemon Drop's tail, but Spike pulled him away.

"Come on," Spike said. "Let's go tell Mimic about her horseshoes."

The four animals went to Paradise Estate and walked into Mimic's room. Mimic, Locket, and Gingerbread were busy putting it back together.

"Mimic!" Spike shouted. "Hey Mimic!"

"Not now, Spike," Mimic said. "We're a little busy."

"Those crows really made a mess of things," Locket replied, putting a piece of cloth in a trunk.

"We know," Spike said. "But there's something we have to tell you about them!"

"Personally, I don't want to see another crow for a very long time!" Gingerbread shouted, as she picked up a big, black feather, and threw it out the window.

"Me neither," Mimic said. "I don't even want to hear the word 'crow' for even longer!"

Obviously, Mimic, Gingerbread, and Locket weren't going to listen to their little animal friends. So there was only one last place to go. The four animals went to go see Megan. She, Cupcake, and Julie were sitting in the kitchen, having a snack of strawberry shortcake and milk.

"Megan," Spike said. "We need to talk to you about those crows."

"Are they coming back?!" Julie suddenly shouted, panicking that those crows were coming back again.

"It's all right," Cupcake said, soothingly. "Don't you worry about those crows, Julie. They won't come back."

"I can't talk now, Spike," Megan said. "I've got my hands full."

"I think it would be best if we just forgot all about those crows," Cupcake said.

"I agree."

And with that, Megan, Cupcake and Julie walked out of the kitchen. Once they were out of sight and ear shot, Duck Soup let out a frustrated quack.

"Well that was a bust!" he shouted.

"What do we do now?" Brandy asked.

"It's up to us!" Spike shouted.

"Us?" Brandy, Twinkles, and Duck Soup said in unison.

"Sure!" Spike continued. "We have to trail those crows and get the gold back that they stole! You know they only stole what was gold!"

"Lemon Drop's trophies, Mimic's horseshoes, Julie's locket," Brandy said, listing the things the crows stole from the Estate. "Yup. They were all gold all right."

"And we gotta go after them and get the gold back!" Spike shouted. "Are you with me?"

"See ya!" Brandy, Twinkles, and Duck Soup shouted in unison again, and they started to walk off.

"Wait a minute, you guys!" Spike shouted. "The little ponies aren't going to pay attention to us, and we tried to tell them. It's up to us, now!"

"But Spi-ike!" Twinkles whined. "I'm just a little kitty!"

"And I'm just a little puppy!" Brandy shouted.

"And I'm just a little ducky!" Duck Soup quacked.

"Aw, come on, you guys!" Spike shouted. "We have to help! Mimic's horseshoes once saved her life, you know!"

"That's true," Brandy said, nodding. "And Lemon Drop worked hard to win those jumping trophies. She trained day in and day out."

"And Julie really likes her locket," Twinkles said. She thought it over, making trilling noises in her throat. Finally, she stood up, and marched towards Spike.

"I'll go with you, Spike!" she shouted.

"Me too!" Brandy shouted, running over. "I'll show those crows. Rrrruff!"

"You guys are nuts!" Duck Soup shouted. "Those crows are ten times bigger than we are! And we don't even know where they come from, or who they work for, or anything like that! For all we know, they could work for a big, mean giant at the top of a beanstalk who likes gold! I'll betcha he has a golden harp too, and he'll probably think I'm a goose that lays golden eggs if I go up there!"

"Duck Soup!" Twinkles shouted, quite exasperated with the little duck and his "fowl" temper (pun intended). "That's 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' and I seriously doubt the crows work for a giant that lives at the top of a beanstalk!"

"Come on, Duck Soup," Spike said. "We need all the help we can get."

"Oh all right," Duck Soup said, and joined the dragon, the kitten, and the puppy down a trail. "But if I end up skewered on a rotisserie, I'll never speak to any of you again!"