It was a nice summer day in Ponyville. The birds were chirping, a nice breeze was blowing, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were hanging out in their club house just outside of town. The trio of young fillies had taken a break from cutie mark crusading for the afternoon, for two simple reasons. The first reason was that they were out of ideas for cutie mark plans, at least for the moment. The second reason was that it was Thursday, and Thursday afternoon was Comic Book Afternoon.
Though their tastes in genres and styles differed, the three friends all enjoyed comic books and graphic novels. For several months, they'd been getting together on Thursday afternoons to show off the newest issues they'd picked up, compare and share collections, and enjoy each others' company while they read. It was fun, but generally uneventful.
Until today.
"AH GOT IT!!" Applebloom suddenly exclaimed with her typical Southern twang, leaping up from the sofa she'd been reading on.
Sweetie Bell, who was sitting on the floor over near the door, didn't look up from her comic. "Got what?" she absentmindedly replied.
"The new Monster Hunter comic? Yeah, you already told us fifty times..." Scootaloo said idly, giving a dismissive wave of a wing without looking up from her own comic.
"No! Ah mean, yes! Ah mean..." Applebloom tried to explain. She then facehoofed, before letting out an annoyed sigh. "No, Ah mean, Ah got an idea from the new comic." A smirk spread across the young earth pony's face. "A Cutie Mark Crusaders idea..."
"Oh?" both the other fillies automatically looked up from their comics, their eyes wide, and focused their full attention on Applebloom.
"Yeah!" she grinned. "What if we became Monster Hunters?!"
"Wouldn't that be... dangerous?" Sweetie Bell asked warily.
Scootaloo had the opposite reaction. "Sounds awesome!" she said with a huge grin.
"Don't worry, Sweetie Bell," Applebloom said. "We ain't gotta hunt any sort of big monsters like dragons. There's all sorts of smaller, less dangerous critters we can wrangle."
The small unicorn shifted uncomfortably. "But... would we be hurting anything?" Sweetie Bell asked. "Doesn't hunting usually involve-"
Applebloom cut her off. "Nah, we ain't gonna be hurtin' nobody. We'll just be catchin' stuff." Sweetie Bell's frown was replaced by a small smile.
"What kind of stuff?" Scootaloo asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, this sounds awesome. But... what would we be hunting, specifically?"
Applebloom shrugged. "Ah dunno. Maybe we can ask around town, see if anypony has a monster problem?"
Scootaloo frowned. "You know your sisters will find out if we ask around, and they'll try to stop us."
"She has a point..." Sweetie Bell sighed. "Maybe we should try a different approach?"
"We could poke around the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Ah mean, the big scary stuff is deeper in, right? So if we're only right on the edge... the monsters and critters will be smaller an' less dangerous," Applebloom observed.
"Good point! I like that plan!" Scootaloo grinned.
"Yeah, it makes sense...." Sweetie Bell mused. She tapped at her chin a few times, thinking deeply. She then asked: "But won't we need stuff for this? Training, gear, et cetera?"
"From what I've seen in the comic..." Abblebloom nodded at the comic on the sofa next to her, "We need some armor, some camping gear, some first aid stuff... And we gotta to know about monsters and stuff, how to camouflage ourselves, and how to fight and defend ourselves ..."
For a moment, the three little fillies all sat there deep in thought, rubbing or tapping their chins thoughtfully.
Scootaloo finally broke the silence. "You know... I think we might be able to get most of that stuff easily..."
"Really?" the other two fillies asked in unison.
"Yeah. We'll ask your sisters and their friends!" she said with a mischievous smirk.
Sweetie Bell and Applebloom stared for a moment. Applebloom then tilted her head and poked at her right ear a bit. "Um, did I hear tha' right?" she asked. "You wanna tell our sisters what we're gonna go do?"
"No, no," Scootaloo innocently said with a shake of her head. "We'll just... make something up."
Applebloom and Sweetie Bell both frowned. "Lie to our sisters?" Sweetie Bell asked apprehensively. "Isn't that kinda wrong?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "Maybe. Or what if we just made it sound like we were doing something else. We could ask Rarity to make us cool armor because we want to look cool while Cutie Mark Crusading. And we do. We could ask Rainbow Dash for advice on fighting and stuff, because we want to know how to defend ourselves, just in case. Which we actually do."
"Ooooooh," Sweetie Bell smiled, "I see what you're saying. We're not lying, we're just leaving out the details."
"Yeah, I getcha..." Applebloom grinned. "That sounds like a pretty good plan!"
"So it's settled then?" Scootaloo asked with a smirk.
The three fillies each nodded, before hopping up to high-hoof each other and scream in unison: "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MONSTER HUNTERS!! YAAAAAY!!"
"So this afternoon was weird," Rainbow Dash idly observed before taking another sip from her chocolate milkshake.
"Oh?" Rarity arched an eyebrow. Her horn glowed slightly brighter as she set her strawberry milkshake, which had been levitating in front of her mouth, back down on the table between them.
Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack were all sitting together at a table in Sugarcube Corner. Thursday afternoon was Milkshake Afternoon for the group of friends, a tradition they'd carried on since becoming the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.Pinkie Pie was working on her own suger-overloaded milkshake in the kitchen, while Twilight had not yet arrived to their little meetup. It wasn't that she was running late. She arrived each week at the officially designated time, punctual as always. Everypony else just showed up a few minutes before her, usually.
"Your sisters and my Number One Fan managed to track me down after my shift on Weather Patrol," Rainbow Dash replied with a shrug. "They asked me an odd favor."
Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity all stared, slightly confused. "Really?" they all asked in unison, before giving each other confused looks.
Rainbow Dash blinked a few times. "Okay, that was kinda creepy. Did I miss something?"
"Er," Applejack frowned, "Finish yer story first, Sugarcube."
Rainbow Dash gave an idle hoof wave. "Not much of a story, really. They wanted me to teach 'em how to defend themselves. They figured since I was so athletic, I'd know a thing or two about wrestling and stuff - and they were right. So I showed them so basic sparring moves and stuff. I figured it'd help them feel a bit safer, and cooler. I just thought it was random..." she shrugged again. "Now why'd you gals all react like that?"
"They came to me askin' about campin' and wilderness survival," Applejack frowned. Her own chocolate shake was pushed to the side, completely forgotten for now. "I thought they just wanted to know more 'bout the outdoors, but it did seem a bit fishy. And now..."
"Um... They came to me, too," Fluttershy gently interjected, pushing her empty milkshake glass aside. "They asked about first aid instructions. They wanted to be safer and prepared, in case they managed to hurt themselves during their Cutie Mark Crusading. I didn't think much of it at the time, but..." her voice trailed off, her expression a mix of intermingled worry and confusion.
Rarity sat in silence. Her eyes had gone very wide, and her white fur seemed oddly paler than usual. "Um, Rare? Y'all alright?" Applejack asked concernedly.
"I'm... worried. Quite concerned. The girls came to me earlier," Rarity frowned, worry written across her face. "They showed me some pictures in a comic book. Ponies wearing fancy, stylish armor. They wanted outfits like that, and I didn't really think much of it. I thought it was for a project, or just to look cool. So I cobbled together some outfits that fit the style, and... they left. They said something about going to see Pinkie..." the unicorn's voice trailed off.
As if on cue, Pinkie Pie popped up from behind Rarity. "Oh, what about me? You mean the Cutie Mark Crusaders? Yeah, they were here earlier!" she cheerfully stated, before sipping on a massive milkshake that was neon blue and... glowing.
"What'd they ask ya for?" Applejack asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Camouflage!" Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully, somehow popping up from behind Rainbow Dash this time. "And sneaking around. They wanted to be able to surprise other ponies and stuff more easily, like me!"
"Okay, so apparently these fillies went around asking all of us for random advice and lessons," Rainbow Dash stated, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "The question is, what for? What does it all mean?"
And it was at this point that Twilight finally trotted in. She had a large, old book levitating in front of her face. Peeking up from behind it, she smiled at her friends and gave a cheerful wave. "Hi girls, sorry for being so late. Did I miss anything important?"
"Um... Twi..." Applejack frowned uncomfortably. "Outta curiosity... Why are ya readin' a book 'bout monsters?"
Sure enough, the tome was an anthology of monsters and legendary creatures in Equestria. "Oh," Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Well, the Cutie Mark Crusaders came by earlier and said they needed help researching 'monsters and critters,' and I had this book on hoof. Once they got done with it, my curiosity got..... um...... are you girls okay?"
The other five ponies, even Pinkie, were all staring at Twilight. Their eyes had gone wide, and their fur had become a shade paler.
In the next few seconds that followed, chaos erupted as everypony but Twilight began galloping for the door.
About an hour later, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell were all three sitting at a table in Fluttershy's college. The trio were all sporting bumps, bruises, and a few scratches, which Fluttershy and her five best friends were putting ointment and bandages over.
"Y'all are lucky..." Applejack growled, biting off a length of medical tape to bind Applebloom's bandages with. "Y'all coulda been seriously hurt, way worse than this. Y'all are also lucky we found ya so quickly, 'fore somethin' else got after ya!"
Applebloom looked down at the floor. "We were just tryin' to-"
"Get your cutie marks," Applejack rolled her eyes. "We know."
"Honestly, did you not realize how dangerous this would be?" Rarity snapped, her eyes focused specifically on her sister. Sweetie Bell shrank back from her sister's withering glare. "I know you want your cutie marks, but there are lines you should not cross! I thought I made that clear when you tried to get your B.A.S.E. Jumping cutie marks?"
"Wait, when they wut?" Applejack arched an eyebrow.
"Applebloom didn't tell you?" Rarity turned to her friend with a confused expression. "They tried to parachute off of my boutique!"
"We were careful!" Scootaloo proclaimed indignantly.
"And yet I still had to catch Sweetie and Applebloom when their parachutes didn't work," Rainbow Dash replied. "You were lucky I was flying by at the time."
"Okay wait, y'all did what?!" Applejack turned to stare at her sister incredulously.
"Uhhhh..." Applebloom blinked, before looking around the room for a distraction. "So, uh, Twilight... Any idea what it was that attacked us?"
"Oh!" Twilight grinned at the invitation to expound upon a scholarly topic. "Could you describe it again?"
Applejack narrowed her eyes at her sister. Her glare made a nonverbal statement: she'd won this round, but they'd still have a talk later.
"It was big!" Sweetie Bell exclaimed. She waved her arms wildly, only to wince and grab her right shoulder. "Owie..."
"Huge!" Scootaloo also waved her arms. "It was mostly brown, with a few darker and lighter spots! I think it had feathers..."
"It hit us so fast, Ah didn't get a good look. But it had claws!" Applebloom added. "Big, big claws! Talons, in fact!"
"It had a bald, ugly head," Scootaloo shuddered. "With black, soulless eyes."
"And wings!" Sweetie Bell stated, poking at Scootaloo's wings. "It smacked me with one!"
"And it made some sort of hideous battle-cry as it charged us..." Applebloom shook her head. "I never wanna hear it again."
"Hmmm," Twilight furrowed her brow in concentration. "It sounds like... a Chupacabra perhaps?"
"Chupawut?" Applebloom titled her head to the side.
"Chupacabra," Twilight repeated.
"Chapububra... Chypu... Chapy.... Chalupa..." Sweetie Bell tried to pronounce it.
"Chupathingy!" Scootaloo finally spat. "Let's just go with that."
"Yeah, Chupathingy," Applebloom nodded. "I like it."
Twilight arched an eyebrow. "But Chupacabras don't-" The scholarly unicorn paused when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Pinkie was behind her, and was giving her a nod towards the kitchen. While the fillies bickered about how who's fault it was that the Chupathingy beat them, Twilight followed Pinkie into the other room, where they joined the rest of their friends.
"Fluttershy said she had something to tell us," Pinkie told Twilight once they were in the kitchen and out of earshot of the younger ponies. She then turned to the yellow pegasus. "What is it, Fluttershy?"
"I know what it was that attacked them," the soft-spoken pegasus answered. "But... I don't have the heart to tell them."
"Oh? What was it?" Rarity asked.
"Well... I mean," Fluttershy shifted uncertainly. "He's really not that bad. But he doesn't like other animals in his territory. He's really particular about his lawn."
"Who's he?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head from side to side. "He the thing you're talking about, not him," she added, nodding to a mouse who happened to be walking by at the time. "I know that's Steve. Hi Steve!" The mouse cheerfully waved back.
"Yeah, we won't tell the kids," Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Fill us in, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy inhaled, then softly sighed: "Okay. It was... Mr. Turkey."
The six friends all stared at each other in silence for a moment. They then broke down into laughter, giggling hysterically at the revelation that the girls had been traumatized by a giant bird.
"Y'know, I think bein' whooped up on by a fowl is punishment enough..." Applejack smirked.
"Indeed," Rarity nodded. "Sweetie Bell will receive quite a scolding, but... I don't think she deserves any real punishment at this point."
There was a loud crash from the living room, accompanied by the sound of glass breaking and the chittering of squirrels. Fluttershy flinched, while the rest of her friends didn't dare to look back at whatever had just happened. "We're okay!" Sweetie Bell called out.
"On second thought..." Applejack sighed. "Maybe punishment ain't that bad an idea..."
"Agreed," Rarity murmured, before smiling sheepishly at Fluttershy and asking: "So, how much for the damages?"
