Exalt in Equestria

Scootaloo was having the time of her life! The little orange pegasus was watching her idol, the awesome Rainbow Dash display her incredible skills as a flyer. The filly's eye followed the prismatic mare through every loop-de-loop, corkscrew, rise, and dive. She was so into the little demonstration, Scootaloo barely registered her two friends coming up alongside her.

"Hey, Scootaloo," Sweetie Bell greeted her. No response.

"Uh..." Apple Bloom waved her hoof in front of the orange filly's face. "Scoots? You there?" Apple Bloom followed the blank gaze to the skies. "Oh, Rainbow's doing stunts again."

"SCOOTALOO!" Sweetie Bell yelled into the pegasus' ear, finally catching her attention.

"Ow, ow, ow," Scootaloo rubbed her hurt ear. "What was that for, Sweetie Bell?"

"You weren't listening!" the unicorn answered. "You said you had an awesome idea for Crusading today!" She gestured to the small shovels in the wagon she had been pulling.

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom added. "What's the idea this time?"

"Oh, right!" Scootaloo face-hoofed. "I was thinking... Diamond Miners!"

"Ooh!" Apple Bloom was excited. "That sounds pretty cool!"

"Yeah," Scootaloo added. "We can even help Rarity by collecting a ton of gems!"

"But," Sweetie Bell interrupted the other two's excitement. "Rarity said the mines were dangerous! The Diamond Dogs are probably still there!"

"But we're not going to those mines," Scootaloo waved her hoof at the unicorn filly. "There's a secret one near the Everfree Forest! We can follow the central path in town to the long path to the forest."

"Oooh," Sweetie Bell recalled one of the longer paths to the forest; it was the path to Zecora's hut. "Ok, I guess that's alright."

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: DIAMOND MINERS!" The three fillies cheered as they high-hooved each other. "YAY!"

With that, the three made their way through to town to reach the path. The other ponies in Ponyville occasionally glances at the fillies as they traversed to their destination. Many rolling their eyes or smiling; the girls were known to go out on wacky adventures so that they can achieve their Cutie Marks. Yesterday, they'd gone an caused an overflow of taffy at Sugarcube Corner, backing up several orders for the establishment. The three fillies were already at the end of the town's center street when somepony called for them from afar.

"Hey, you three!" The Crusaders collectively looked back at the familiar voice, and much to their surprise, it was Pinkie Pie. "Where are you girls heading today?"

"Zecora's hut." Scootaloo lied. "We're gonna try potions making again, now that Sweetie Bell's gotten better with magic." The other two fillies nodded.

"And we're sorry about yesterday" Apple Bloom added. "We didn't mean to overflow the taffy machine."

"Oh, no it's fine!" Pinkie assured them. "The Cakes managed to fix up the orders this morning!"

"Oh, that's nice," Sweetie Bell spoke up. The Crusaders were starting to slowly step away from the pink mare and towards the aforementioned path, which was only a few yards away.

"And why potions?" Pinkie began. "You could always try to bake a cake, baby sit, mow a lawn, play, draw, paint, cook- OOH that reminds me of cookies! And when I make cookies it's so fun, but I'm pretty sure Gummy's favorite part is eating them, but I tell him 'No, Gummy, that's for the customers!' but then I end up trying some cookies myself and before ya know it - they're gone! Then Mr. and Mrs. Cake get mad at me and make me bake another batch, but that's okay, 'cause I always have fun doing it and... wait," Pinkie finally looked up to see that the fillies were gone. Was she not paying attention? Where'd they go? More importantly, did she remember to actually make that second batch of cookies? "Oh well, better get back to work." Pinkie Pie started bouncing back to Sugarcube Corner.

Now on the path to the Everfree Forest, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stopped to take a breath. They had just escaped the Pink Menace, and now were able to make their way to the mine. Sweetie Bell, however, was having second thoughts. Stopping at a peculiar bush, she finally spoke up.

"Um, girls?" the unicorn called out, the other two were a little ahead of her. "Are you sure this'll be safe?"

"Totally!" Scootaloo said, buzzing up a foot into the air. "I went into it yesterday. I could see a ton of gems just in the entrance!"

"But it could be dangerous!" Sweetie Bell exclaimed. "Rarity said-"

"Rarity isn't here to boss you around, Sweetie Bell!" Scootaloo argued. "Do you want to get your Cutie Mark or not?"

"Y-yeah," Sweetie Bell answered. "But not in a way that can get us hurt or killed!"

"We've done much worse," Apple Bloom butt in. "We could handle a cave." That much was true.

"I guess it would hurt to give it a try." Sweetie Bell finally gave in. "But let's not stay in there too long, ok?"

"Fiiiine." Scootaloo replied impatiently. "Now c'mon! Let's get some cool gems and our Cutie Marks!" The pegasus led the charge into the Everfree Forest. Little did they know, there was something watching them.

~~~~~~

From inside the bush, two humans sat awestruck at what had just transpired. Lucina was dumbstruck, whie I was just plain confused.

"D-did those horses..." Lucina was still trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Talk?" I finished for her. "Yeah. They seemed pretty young though. They sounded like little girls."

"Talking horses?" Lucina was still trying to get that in her head.

"What, they didn't have that in the future?" I attempted a jest, which was answered by a sharp glare. "Sorry."

"But you're right," Lucina said. "They did sound like young girls. Maybe this is just some weird world where the horses can talk back to their masters?"

"Could be." I said, unsure of answer. "We should go after them, and make sure they get back safe to the village. That should give us a positive look for them."

"Good idea." Lucina nodded, standing up and patting my head again. "I expect nothing less from my tactician husband."

"It's Grandmaster!" I correct her, fixing my hair. I also stand up and start jogging after my wife back to the forest, to follow and possibly save these little horses.