Chapter 3

"If I were bad-derpy where would I be?" asked Apple Bloom, after their attempts to decide what to do next had resulted in several minutes of silence. Particularly awkward silence.

"Carousel boutique?" suggested Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo shaking her head.

"How about the forest, or the hills, or the abandoned mine?" she suggested instead.

"We have an abandoned mine?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Ponyville could do," said Scootaloo.

"Maybe she'd be at the farm?" suggested Apple Bloom. Scootaloo shook her head once more.

"You don't think she'd really go into the Everfree forest do you?" asked Sweetie Belle with a nervy tone.

"What's the matter? Chicken?" asked Scootaloo.

"I'm not a chicken, I'm just smart," said Sweetie Belle grumpily. "I just know better than to go into the forest."

"Maybe we should ask for help?" suggested Apple Bloom hopefully. She suspected that this wasn't something that they could solve by themselves. "I could ask my sis to help out- she has some time off this afternoon."

"Rarity might be able to help find her," added Sweetie Belle.

"No!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "We don't need any help; we can solve this by ourselves!"

"Twilight might know what to do," said Apple Bloom. Perhaps relying on their sisters might not get them far, but the young filly was certain Twilight Sparkle might be able to help- with all those books she should have some idea of what was happening-right?

Scootaloo merely shook her head. Apple Bloom again felt they were going to regret this.

"Let's just try and find Derpy first, then maybe we can ask for help," said Scootaloo. Apple Bloom noticed a faint tone of pleading in her friend's voice. Against her better judgement (and gut feeling) she spoke:

"Fine then, let's try and find Derpy first."

"Apple Bloom are you sure?" squeaked Sweetie Belle, who sounded even less convinced than Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom hesitantly nodded her head after a brief look from Scootaloo.

"Let's split up first," said Scootaloo, sounding bolder again. "And meet back up at um…"

"The farm!" suggested Apple Bloom.

"The farm in an hour's time," said Scootaloo.

"Yeah, let's go find Derpy," added Apple Bloom. Neither she nor Sweetie Belle looked overly enthused at the plan.

Now separated from the other cutie mark crusaders Apple Bloom made her way down the main street of Ponyville. She caught a brief glimpse of Scootaloo vanishing out of sight, having taken off in the opposite direction of the farm. Sweetie Belle meanwhile had set off in the direction of her older sister's shop.

As the faint breeze rustled Apple Bloom's mane and bow she already knew where she was heading. Though she wasn't planning to go deep into it, she was heading for the outskirts of the Everfree forest. Strange things always seemed to happen out there, who was to say a personality changed pony wouldn't end up out there?

"Ok Apple Bloom, this is gonna take all your cunning," said the diminutive filly as she psyched herself up.

"Say have you seen Derpy Hooves around?" she asked of every pony on her way to the forest. Everypony replied with a nope.

"I knew it weren't gonna be that easy," she grumbled to herself.

And so Apple Bloom found her journey taking her beyond Ponyville. After a few minutes it suddenly occurred to her that Derpy was indeed a Pegasus pony, and so every few minutes she found herself glancing up at the sky hopefully. The first time she did so she almost walked straight into a snooty sounding stallion.

"I'm sorry about that mister," she said.

"I say, I hope you didn't get mud on my shoes," he grumbled in reply.

"Nope, don't look like it," said Apple Bloom and she promptly walked off, leaving the stallion saying "Well I say!"

Soon with the colourful buildings of Ponyville behind her, the trees that showed the start of the Everfree forest rose into view. Despite being a crispy bright sunny afternoon the forest still managed to look intimidating. Somehow it managed to have a large scary looking black cloud linger over it.

"Well at least that don't look scary," she joked to herself. She tensed up for a few seconds, almost expecting a dramatic thunderclap. It didn't come.

"Well at least it ain't too clichéd," she commented to herself.

She allowed one last quick glance up to the skies above- no Pegasus pony was foolish enough to be flying above the forest. Which was lucky in the case of Derpy.

"Well here goes nothing then," she gulped, taking one small step forwards. Her hoof touched a single blade of grass from the forest when she heard:

"Beware young filly Apple Bloom,

Going forward will bring you gloom."

"Oh hi Zecora, I wasn't really going into the forest," said Apple Bloom. The zebra didn't need to say any words to show she didn't believe that.

"Tell me Apple Bloom what brings you to this place,

And please tell no more white lies to my face."

"Well I was just looking for a pony," said Apple Bloom. "I thought she might come out here."

"Why would anypony choose to come here,

Surely the forest would cause great fear?"

"Well this pony might have had something a bit strange happen to her. She went on a teensy little rampage and then she vanished."

"Which pony do you seek?

I may have caught a peak."

"It's uh Derpy Hooves, ya know the mail mare? Nopony saw where she went, but 'cos she's having something weird happening to her I thought she might end up coming here."

Zecora shook her head. Apple Bloom gave a sigh. She doubted Derpy would go far into the forest- and if she did it was so gigantic she was certain she wouldn't be able to find the missing pony. Perhaps if Scootaloo, or Rainbow Dash or her sis was here they could go in and look…

"Thanks Zecora, I guess I should be going back to Ponyville. And please don't tell my sis I was out here…"

"Apple Bloom I wish you the best,

May good fortune meet you on your quest."

"Yeah I hope I get some of that fortune stuff too," said Apple Bloom as she sighed and turned to return to Ponyville.

With a shortage of ideas of where to look, and with time almost running out Apple Bloom felt herself trudging back to the farm. She caught no sign of Applejack, but she could see the faint shape of Scootaloo getting larger and larger as she moved closer to the pathway to the farm too.

"Did you have any luck?" asked Sweetie Belle who had managed to hop up behind the red maned pony.

"Nah…how bout you?"

"Why would I be asking you if I'd found her?"

"Oh yeah," said Apple Bloom. "Whoops."

"Did you have any luck?" called out Scootaloo from across the pathway leading to the farm.

"Nah!" called back Apple Bloom.

Sweetie Belle gave Apple Bloom a tap on the shoulder.

"What is it Sweetie Belle?" she asked.

The unicorn filly pointed skywards. Above the farmhouse flew Derpy, going around in circles as she slowly destroyed the solitary cloud in the sky above, pouring rain over the building below. Only now, closer to the farm could they see Granny Smith shaking a hoof and complaining to the Pegasus pony above.

"Aww I knew we shoulda checked the farm first!" moaned Apple Bloom.