Adventure Awaits: Prologue
Cutie Mark Crusaders – Adventures Await!
Prologue
A cool breeze swept the tree-house’s curtains as the morning dawn shone across Ponyville. The omnipotent orange sun began to rise – Princess Celestia’s magic lifted the wonderful sight from its sleep, replacing the moon for another day. A cockerel screamed out across the orchard to raise its occupants from their deep sleeps. The first to wake was a yellow Earth pony, with a rough, red mane that accompanied her. The pony yawned out, stretching her arm muscles to receive another beautiful day in Equestria. Another cute equine woke with her: a white coated filly with a smooth purple and pink mane woke herself from her rest to see the day. One more pony was with them: a bright orange Pegasus with purple as her mane – still snoring asleep in her dreams, occasionally mumbling the words: ‘I want to be twenty percent cooler, as well!’ The two fillies turned to face each other; the curtains swaying gently from the dawn breeze. They both opened their mouths, propping out their varied catchphrase: ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders Lazy Snoozers’ before lazily returning to bed.
‘Raise an’ shine, y’all!’ shouted an orange mare, her famous leather hat swaying back from her face as she burst into the tree-house. All three fillies propped up from their sleeping bags, startled. They all turned to the intruding pony before bursting out humorously at themselves, all three of them turned to their backs and continued to violently giggle in unison; the forth pony reached up to her hat with her hoof before placing it over her face in embarrassment.
‘Applejack, you nearly scared me!’ the white unicorn had said, first to recover from the trio’s laughing fit.
‘You didn’t scare me, nope!’ the orange filly added, eventually raising herself to her hooves from her hysterical giggles.
‘Sis, ya better knock next time!’ the yellow pony had concluded – her accent was really similar to the mare’s.
The mare, Applejack, sighs to herself. After a short while, she returned her hat back onto her head before pointing her hoof out the door towards the sunshine. The magnificent sun was at its full peak, raised high above the sky and lighting Ponyville and the rest of Equestria with its beautiful shine.
‘Applebloom, ya are late for our little hike ‘cross country. Ya know how important this is for ta Apple family! Oh, d’y’all wanna join in?’ Applejack had replied, ignoring all three previous comments.
The three answered the question in union, coming up with the same conclusion:
‘Yeah, Cutie Mark Crusaders Hikers!’
***
All three fillies were equipped with light, khaki saddle bags across their flank, filled with essentials that suited their personality for their long adventure. They were impatient and had begun stamping their hooves, waiting for Applejack and around half of the Apple family to ready themselves for the trip ahead. According to the map: the hike would be across the outskirts of Ponyville to the town of Appleloosa; the trip will result in nearly a week‘s worth of trotting. The trio, also known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, had packed individual items for the trip: The unicorn, Sweetie Belle, had packed up her cosmetic items (which will not help at all), a fancy sleeping bag, water poured into crystalline bottles and spare CMC uniforms for the three. The yellow Earth pony, Applebloom, had packed more practical items – readying herself with long-lasting consumables and water canteens as well. The final, a Pegasus named Scootaloo, had got herself: a sleeping bag, a plush doll of a certain mare with a rainbow mane, a multi-purpose tool and her trusty scooter.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were ready to go on another adventure!
***
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were trotting down the lane leading to the exit of forests on the outskirts of Ponyville. All three of them were joyfully happy playing around and gossiping as they followed the covered caravan of their Apple companions’, at the rear. Sweetie Belle began to pick sweet scented flowers from the sides of the lanes, while both Applebloom and Scootaloo engaged in a play fight with each other – arguing on the subject of if Rainbow Dash or Applejack was the best athlete (Twilight Sparkle wins.)
‘I told ya! Dat Rainbow Dash done cheating with her wings!’ Applebloom had argued, waving a hoof across the orange filly’s
face.
‘As if! She won that ‘Iron Pony’ competition fair and square!’ Scootaloo had challenged, while forcing her opponent’s hoof down from her face.
After a long, heated disagreement they eventually burst out in giggles at each other and had made up like little foals. Sweetie Belle had begun a soothing song to calm the journeying ponies ahead - most of the ponies had begun to sway their heads to this melody – even the trees had began swaying their branches with the song. A piercing whistle could be heard, deep in the forest, and all of the Apples with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had dropped onto the group in fear. They soon raised themselves up and continued with caution; the whistle definitely wasn’t a natural one.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders reunited and raced towards the front of the pack: there they perceived Big Macintosh and Braeburn leading the front of the hike. Both of the stallions returned a warm-hearted smile towards the three fillies before turning back to themselves and initiating an awkward conversation with each other - An exchange of long, accent-filled, sentences and the reply of ‘Eyups’ were hilarious and comical.
***
Nothing eventful occurred after that, the Apple family and friends had continued to march down the pathway; all drawn to their own conversations. The group finally managed to reach their first clearing for the week, drawing up their tents for the night. The power of Princess Luna had already begun to take shape; the sun setting in the distance and the moon revealing itself for the night – the pinkish, orange sky was a beautiful sight for everypony to admire. The CMCs had shared a tent together, they all seemed quite happy about that. The night began to settle. After the times of Apples singing country songs, dancing country dances and telling country stories they all retired back to their tents.
‘Cutie Mark Crusaders Ghost Story Tellers!’ the CMCs all yelled in a quiet manner. Scootaloo squealed.
Applebloom straightened herself in her sleeping bag, before shining a torch onto her face and creating an effect focused on her muzzle.
‘Ah’ll start first. Here’s a story ‘bout Pinkie’s cupcakes-’
‘Uh… I think we should just all go to sleep!’ Scootaloo interrupted, already half-way crept under her sleeping bag.
‘Really? Ain’t ya a scaredy-cat!’ Applebloom had replied, bursting out with a small wave of giggles.
‘I’m no scaredy-cat! Go on, tell the story… Wait, buck…’
‘Alright, so Ah were sayin’ ‘fore y’all interrupted… One shinin’ day in Ponyville-’
*BOOM*
All three Crusaders jumped in fright, startled by the sudden noise made outside. Scootaloo’s reaction was to grab the plush she acquired for the trip, Applebloom had grabbed onto a hammer hidden in her saddle bags and Sweetie Belle crept under her sleeping bag in fright.
‘Wh-What was that?’ Scootaloo had asked, still grasping tightly on her protective toy.
‘Ah- Ah ‘ave no idea!’ the Earth Pony had replied, still biting down hard on her hammer for protection as well, ‘D’y’all wanna investigate?’
Awkward blinks were exchanged by both the other fillies, silence filled the tent. Relief was finally swept and they returned back to their sleeping positions. They had noticed that no other pony left their tents to investigate, not even the adult ponies.
They stared at each other once more, before whispering ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders Night Detectives!’
The curiosity of three little fillies and the combination of their desperate search for their Cutie Marks had convinced the trio to go out to investigate the loud boom. No other ponies had been awoken by the loud noise, only the CMCs were affected. The investigation team was led by Applebloom, a hammer in the muzzle for defensive purposes, while in charge of lighting was Scootaloo – a torch had been clamped between her teeth and, finally, Sweetie Belle had taken the rear with another torch to illuminate the dark atmosphere of the deep forests; all three Cutie Mark Crusaders had their saddle bags equipped.
Applebloom had managed to seek their way by her mysterious ability to interpret anything. She led the other two, after around ten minutes of trotting, to a moderate caravan in the middle of the forest. The caravan was a plain, clean, white and modern locomotive: The caravan was pretty plain, excluding the blacked-out windows and the royal Canterlot seal imprinted
onto the vehicle. They began to turn, before…
‘A-WHOOOOO!’
All three fillies screamed in fright and they ran into the caravan, shoving the entire door open and faceplanting onto the clean carpets infront. Timberwolves. They recovered immediately and shut the door behind them. The vehicle's interior had bright lighting and the caravan seemed to be filled with mechanical materials, scientific-subjected items and written works. They stared in awe, confused and afraid were their reactions; they had no conclusion on this mysterious home. They turned to themselves and exchanged awkward blinks and gestures, all too afraid to reveal themselves with speech. A flush was heard from the lavatory compartment of the Canterlot-owned ‘building’. A grey unicorn, utilizing a pair of green spectacles, had appeared. His expression was grim and wasn’t the most friendly type of pony around. He was wearing a strangely, outdated, cap and even more peculiar clothing.
‘What are you doing here?’
-TO BE CONTINUED-
Adventure Awaits: The Stranger
Cutie Mark Crusaders: Adventure Awaits!
Chapter One: The Stranger
The four ponies continued to stare at each other for an extended period of a time, continuously blinking at each other. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had backed themselves to the other end of the caravan, all too afraid to speak or answer this stranger. The unicorn and pegasus had dropped their torches on the floor in fright - illuminating the stallion to create an even more dangerous atmosphere behind him; all three of them had an expression of a little foal that knocked over a vase and being caught. The bright light expelled from the single lightbulb placed onto the ceiling illuminated the expression of the fillies’ faces. This caused a strike into the stallion’s heart and soon enough he gave the three a slight, forced smile from his muzzle.
The strange unicorn had ultimately broken the silence ‘Sorry for the scare, my little ponies.’ The voice of the stranger had changed from a grim tone to a forced, friendly tone to comfort the perplexed and petrified fillies.
The night howled outside, creating an even more shrouded confusion for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It felt like an ominous nightmare that had involved all three of them and they would awake themselves to find that they were safe and free in their own tents. They were wrong. The current situation was that they were trapped with a much older unicorn; escape was futile as they would just be caught by timberwolves in these forests. They couldn’t defend themselves, excluding the occasional threat from Applebloom with her hammer. They were trapped with a complete stranger stallion.
‘Ya- Ya stay ‘way from us, okay!?’ Applebloom had replied, her occasional stuttering and body language indicated an obvious sense of a distressed filly.
‘Yeah, just go away!’ Scootaloo joined, ‘We haven’t done anything to you!’
Sweetie Belle had crept up in a corner, curled up into a small ball, she was less brave than the two other ponies and definitely wasn’t a fighter.
‘I’m not gonna harm you all, you better just drop all your things down and explain everything to me,’ answered the stallion, still forcing a smile to comfort the three.
The two fillies turned to each other to exchange their expressions. They both had the same thought swimming in their brains: resistance was futile and would land them into more trouble, so they decided to obey the stranger and dropped their saddle bags and weapon. The trio was then invited to sit on a small table, suited for three full-grown ponies, and was told to wait there for further instructions. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all fidgeting and terrified at their current situation.
‘Scootaloo, what d’ya think is gonna happen to us?’ Applebloom had asked, in an almost inaudible voice.
‘I don’t know, Applebloom. We can’t go anywhere; we’re in a strange stallion’s home with no ability to go outside because of the timerwolves.’ Scootaloo replied, shuffling along on her seat.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were staring at each other – trembling at the thought of being trapped. Scootaloo decided to sort out her items in her saddle bags for the wait while Applebloom surveyed the entire caravan for any types of escape while Sweetie Belle continued to curl up onto her seat.
***
‘Sorry for the long delay, My Little Ponies. I’m normally prepared to only serve one pony, not four,’ the Stallion , a tray with four cups of water held onto his hoof. He placed all three cups onto the table, while leaving the forth one on the tray in which he left on the ground, placing each one infront of every pony. He pulled up a chair, telekinetically, and sat next to the three fillies. ‘Now, which one of you is going to tell me what in hay you’re doing?’ the Stallion asked, while taking a sip from his cup.
The three Cutie Mark Crusaders began to explain, without any interruptions by the observer:
‘Well… Ma sis told me never to talk to strangers but I’m gunna… M’name’s Applebloom, m’friends are Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. We come from Ponyville and ma family decided to have a little hike down ‘ere at the forest, pass to Appleloosa. We heard a loud boom an-‘
‘We came to investigate, ‘cause we’re brave ponies!’ Scootaloo interrupted.
‘Anyways, we came here to investigate ‘cause we’re Cutie Mark Crusaders Night Detectives and we ended up here – we also heard a loud boom. We came here but were scared by a timberwolf and hitched here, where we met you, sir.’
‘B-But don’t forget that we have a large family in one of the clearings. We can always go back there!’ Sweetie Belle explained, managing to return from her petrified state.
‘Uh-huh. Well, that’s a fine story, but you have to go to sleep. You can’t go back to your family until dawn, and that’s sometimes too dangerous’ the stallion had replied, a noticeable grim tone had slipped from his mouth.
***
The three fillies had a peaceful sleep at the bed of the caravan. It was large enough to situate one large unicorn, or three small fillies. All of their belongings were placed under the bed below and their sleeping position was a really cute stance. The unicorn had given up his space and had decided to take shelter in the front of the caravan. There wasn’t much in the caravan in the first place; there was a lavatory compartment, the kitchen shared the main room with the seats and the personal equipment scattered around and there was the bedroom in which the three fillies slept.
Scootaloo woke up from her nightmare. Princess Luna wasn't there for her this time. Her nightmare was seeing that everyone in Ponyville had disappeared and that only Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, the stallion and herself standing in the town square. She shot up from her sleep, panting with sweat revealing itself from the filly’s forehead. She needed some water to calm herself. She got up to her hooves and crept around the caravan to locate a source of required H2O. She found the stallion asleep in the front of the vehicle, a blanket covered over him – Scootaloo found it cute, after seeing the expression of the stallion before. The filly decided to back away from the unicorn, but that resulted in the very events that proceeded.
The filly blindly reversed, in the darkness, and knocked into one of the tables. It swayed left to right, before tipping down several different chemicals onto the floor. The combination resulted in a massive explosion which engulfed the entire caravan in a large *BANG*. All ponies shot up a split second before the explosion affected the other three as well. Scootaloo thought she was numb, dead but she could feel herself and still move. She felt a spiralling and twirling motion inside the caravan and soon enough a white light surrounded her vision.
***
Applebloom managed to wake herself up, surveying her surroundings after being blasted awake. She turned - her eyes half closed, to Sweetie Belle who exchanged the same expression. They both managed to lift themselves onto their hooves to perceive Scootaloo with her hair spiked up and her faced full of soot from the explosion. They then turned their attention to the Unicorn behind her: he was levitating his hat back onto his head before moving towards Scootaloo in the worst emotion you can expect from a pony from Equestria.
‘WHAT HAVE YOU, FILLIES, DONE!?’ the Stallion had erupted, the fillies manes stood up in horror at his voice, ‘YOU ALL RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU’VE AL- Wait, no… No…’
The stallion burst out to the door to be embraced by orange sunlight outside and a rather peculiar smell of: excrement.
‘Oh… Sweet Celestia… It worked… Praise Princess Twilight Sparkle and her works!’
The unicorn began jumping up and down in blinded joy as he exclaimed that sentence, similar to the same hopping stance as Twilight Sparkle. He then quickly galloped back into the caravan and grabbed essentials and a saddle bag from his container before moving out again. He seemed pretty happy and humorous, while the Cutie Mark Crusaders all just stood there to stare at the suddenly joyful unicorn. They decided to follow his example: all went to grab their belongings and followed the stallion out of the caravan into the bright new world. They were in a whole new world.
‘Welcome, My Little Ponies, to the past!'
***
‘Ta past!? How’s that even possible!?’ Applebloom exclaimed, her tone was stuttering and off-tone.
‘Pretty simple really: Princess Twilight Sparkle blessed me with one of Star Swirl the Bearded' spells and gave me the challenge to remove the consequence of only allowing one to stay in the past for only a few seconds’ the stallion explained, still pretty joyful.
‘Huh!?’
‘I’ve invented time travel! The chemicals I mixed contained the artificial Unicorn magic which were heated enough to become a liquid substance! The amount of mixing must have created a time travelling machine out of the caravan! I removed the consequence because Unicorn magic expelled from one’s horn couldn't take such punishment but artificial magic is not an organism and therefore-’
Before the Unicorn could finish up his sentence the caravan evaporated.
