Sunflash was cooking in the kitchen with Applejack and Granny Smith when Rarity came in through the door. "Have you seen my sister Sweetie Belle? She didn't come home when she was supposed to."
"Come ta think of it, Ah haven't seen Apple Bloom since lunchtime," said Applejack. "Maybe she went out somewhere with Sweetie Belle an' Scootaloo."
They went outside and called for them, but there was no answer.
Sunflash saw Rainbow flying around in the sky. "Hi!" he called. "Have you seen three little ponies about lately?"
"If you're talkin' about Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, they probably went out into the Everfree Forest to try to find rare animals," said Rainbow Dash. "They're always saying how they want to find another badger or other unusual creatures."
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Rarity. "The Everfree Forest is much too dangerous for three little fillies on their own!"
She stared up at Sunflash beseechingly. The big badger radiated calm and confidence as he patted Rarity gently on her unicorn horn. "Never fear, marm, I'll find 'em. Rainbow Dash, you can fly over the forest and circle around from the east. Applejack, you take a wide loop west and I'll go south. They can't have gotten far."
High sun lanced down through the leafy greenery of still woodland depths. Unaware of the upset they were causing, the Cutie Mark Crusaders trekked through the Everfree Forest. Apple Bloom carried a stick, which she fondly imagined was Sunflash's mace, while Scootaloo was pretending to be Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle was pretending to be Princess Celestia, "Because she's a good leader."
"Ah'm Sunflash the Mace!" Apple Bloom shouted as she waved her stick. "Alaylee!"
"It's not 'Alaylee,' it's 'Eulalia,'" Scootaloo said irritably.
"What are you, a dictionary?" retorted Apple Bloom.
"I'm hungry," mentioned Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom tied a thread to her stick. "Okay, Ah'll catch us a big fish in the river."
"But we don't have any way of cooking it!"
Apple Bloom thought about this a moment, then tossing aside the thread she lay down. "All right, we'll go ta sleep then. Warriors gotta have sleep!"
"But I'm not tired," complained Scootaloo.
"Course yore tired," Apple Bloom snorted impatiently. "Everypony gits tired."
"I'd like to go back home, then I can sleep in my own bed if I get tired," said Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom sat up, throwing a comforting hoof about Sweetie Belle's neck. "Mm, Ah wanna go back home too. We'll sit here 'til they come 'n' find us, okay?"
Sweetie Belle shook her head despairingly at this announcement. "Great seasons!" She had learned this expression from Sunflash. "You've gotten us lost, haven't you."
Apple Bloom fidgeted moodily with a dandelion. "Ah'm not lost, Ah just don't know a way back."
Sunflash weaved through the forest on either side of the faint path, searching wherever he thought the three little fillies might have strayed. The tranquility of nature was lost upon the badger as he strode anxiously about, his great mace swinging from one paw.
Suddenly a welter of cries and shouts broke upon his ears. Sunflash went thundering and crashing through the trees and came out in the clearing. His quick eyes took in the dangerous situation at a single glance. There were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, frightened speechless, clinging on to each other. A short distance away, two huge adders coiled and reared menacingly.
Sunflash sprang into action. He charged at the reptile closest to the ponies and dealt it a blow with his mace. Immediately the adder was after Sunflash, who ran leading it away from the Crusaders. The other snake turned away from the ponies and raced to intercept the badger, its coils bunching and stretching.
"Run friends, escape, get away!" Sunflash called over the panicked screams of the three fillies. But while he was distracted, one of the adders buried its sharp fangs in his side. Sunflash dropped his mace with a groan. The other snake wrapped itself around one of his footpaws. Roaring his battle cry, the badger grabbed the snake that was biting him and began to whirl it around over his head.
"Eulaliaaa!"
"See, I told you it was Eulalia," said Scootaloo.
Sunflash flung the adder far and high, and it sped through the air straight out like an arrow from a bow. Sweetie Belle looked up and saw it strike an elm tree limb. The snake's body wrapped round it several times, then it was still, resting draped across the high bough like a soggy piece of rope.
The second adder had uncoiled from Sunflash's ankle, and now it reared up on its tail and struck the badger in the back of the neck with its fangs. Sunflash fell to the ground.
Just as the snake was about to finish him, there was a colorful flash in the sky above. Rainbow Dash came hurtling out of nowhere and delivered a mighty blow to the serpent's head with her strong hooves. The Cutie Mark Crusaders cheered.
Rainbow Dash turned Sunflash over on his back and shouted as the badger's eyelids began flickering shut. "Where did the snakes bite you?"
Sunflash was sinking into a black pit; he heard the words coming from far away. Making an effort, he answered, "Bitten… twice… side… back…"
Then darkness overtook Sunflash the Mace completely.
