Scootaloo yelped in alarm and froze in place, causing Apple Bloom to crash into her backside and Sweetie Belle to crash into Apple Bloom’s backside in turn before they all hit the dirt in a heap.
“Oof. Well Scoots,” a southern drawl emanated from the three filly pileup. “So much fer you bein’ our fearless expedition leader.”
“Please lay off, AB.” Sweetie Belle pleaded from the top of the stack. "I know we’re all starting to lose hope of ever finding a way out of here, but please don’t start a fight just cuz you're scared. To be honest, I’m... I'm barely holding it together as is, and-“
“Scared? Speak for yourself!” Apple Bloom fired back. “I bet I could lead us outta these Faust forsaken woods if either of you would let me, but nah. Scoots just has to be the one tryin’ to get her Wilderness Explorer cutie mark. I doubt either of you were keepin’ track of the turns we just took, but you can bet I certainly was.” Her pitch was climbing to near hysteria. “That was the fourth right in a row we just took. Fourth. In. A. Row! We just walked in a big square and somehow still ain’t in familiar territory. What kinda place-“
”Both of you clam the Hay up!"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle obeyed. Not due to Scootaloo’s words, but due to her terrified tone. Finally untangling themselves, the lieutenant crusaders got their bearings but immediately shrank back behind their friend when at last they saw the same thing she had: in the overgrown clearing they had just reached, a yellow-cloaked pony was regarding them quietly.
“You lot are lost,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“Well what if we are?” Scootaloo pawed the ground as threateningly as she could, which wasn’t much for someone of her size and build.
“Please don’t start a fight,” the cloaked pony echoed Sweetie Belle. “You three shouldn’t be here. This place has… wonky magic. Even more wonky than the rest of the Everfree.”
The cloaked pony’s casual warning made Sweetie Belle shrink even further to the back of the line, but Apple Bloom’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued. “Are you… some sorta spirit guardian?” she asked, looking around the grove.
The cloaked pony shook her hooded head. “Nah.” She took a few steps toward the Crusaders, nearly tripping over her attire as she did so. “I’m a regular- ACK! Dumb fabric… I’m a regular old unicorn, as average as they come. To be honest, in terms of spellcasting I’m actually a bit below average.” A pair of green eyes, the only part of her face visible beneath the hood, looked away regretfully. “I’m sorry to report.”
“I recognize that robe,” Scootaloo warned as the stranger got closer. “It’s got those same spiral patterns as the one Zecora wears. But you’re not Zecora.”
“That I’m not,” the cloaked pony confirmed in a sing-song voice as she halted and displayed one of her forelegs as proof. “I got no stripes to hold me down. To make me fret or make me frown…” She trailed off when she saw the utterly blank looks Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were giving her. Sweetie Belle however, cracked a thin smile and continued the lyric.
“My coat’s all white, as you can see…”
“There are no stripes on me!” The two of them finished in unison.
“When I was a foal," Sweetie Belle explained, "my sister had this big book of nursery rhymes she would use to help teach me reading."
“That she did,” the cloaked pony confirmed cryptically. “It’s funny how close to your heart those kinds of hand-me-downs can be, but you really don’t think about them until somepony else brings them up. This robe is the same way. Zecora gave it to me back when I came of age and its runes are safety wards against Everfree nastie-.”
“Lie!” Scootaloo accused. “We passed Zecora’s cottage on our way in here this morning, and she had that thing on a hook by her front door. That exact one, with that repair stitch on the hem and everything. Don’t say Zecora gave it to you long ago. Don’t treat us like we’re a gaggle of gullible kids!”
It was true. The unicorn’s cloak did indeed have the same patchweave near its bottom where a long ago repair had been made.
Scootaloo was quaking and her tail was tucked impotently between her legs. She refused to turn and run though. Her boneheadedness had gotten their little adventuring party hopelessly lost out here, so no matter the danger she couldn’t abandon her friends to this deceitful, faceless unicorn. Never mind the stranger had somehow robbed the toughest pony Scoots knew and was now ambushing her in the middle of the woods.
Apple Bloom, who couldn't quite muster up the same open hostility that Scootaloo could, gave a look of deference to Sweetie Belle. To her surprise, Sweetie was smiling at the hooded unicorn with a knowing twinkle in her eye.
“Hey. Miss… um… I’ll just call you Miss.” Sweetie Belle decided. “When you said the three of us shouldn’t be here. Did you by any chance mean that we shouldn’t be here yet?”
A giggle escaped from under Miss’s hood. “That I did. You three are ahead of schedule right now. By almost fifteen years, if you wanna know. And you’re a smart cookie for catching on, Sweetie Belle. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Sweetie’s response was sarcastic but still playful. “Gee, thanks Miss. But any complement you give me is a bit self-serving. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Wait, wut’s happenin’ right now?” Apple Bloom piped up helplessly.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo concurred. “Can you like, pump the brakes for a minute? The rest of us need to catch up.”
“Actually,” Miss declared, “you‘ve caught up to me about as far as you can. But for all our sakes it’s probably time for you three to go back the way you came.”
“That it probably is,” Sweetie Belle agreed, turning around so she was now the front of their line instead of the end. “We were looking for a shortcut through the Everfree, but it seems we ended up taking a shortcut through… something else.”
Miss nodded knowingly. “For reasons that I hope are obvious, I knew when you and your friends were going to stumble into this exact time and place. And I knew I needed to be around to point you all home.”
“Thanks for looking out for us,” Sweetie Belle curtsied. “We’ll be on our way of course, but before we go, can I see your...” Sweetie rubbed her knees together, achingly aware of how unmarked her flank was. “Can I maybe see what our...”
The unicorn still going by ‘Miss’ smoothed out the section of the cloak covering her hindquarters, double checking that not an inch of her backside was visible. “Sorry, but no peeking at presents before Hearth's Warming, Sweetie Belle. Some things need to be discovered on their own time.”
“Oh come on! At least give me a hint.”
‘Miss’ didn’t answer immediately, and her oversized hood made it impossible to guess what she was thinking.
“Heh heh. Okay,” she finally relented. “You’re lucky I’m a soft touch. My advice for you… for all of you… is to keep an open mind about Diamond Tiara.”
“The rich twit at school?!” Scootaloo cut in. “Pardon my Prench I guess, but what does that prat have to do with us discovering our special talents?”
‘Miss’ waved the trio off as she turned to head back into the woods on the other side of the grove. “No more hints,” she called firmly. “Trot the path you came in on, then hang four lefts in a row. I know those directions don't make much sense, but like I said: The magic here is pretty wonky. If my memory is right, that fourth turn will dump us back out near Sweet Apple Acres, where AJ outta have a fresh pie conveniently out on the window sill. She’ll insist it still needs time to cool, but like the impulsive foals that we are, we’ll dig into it and burn our mouths anyway. Then Apple Bloom'll reflexively cuss from the pain and just barely dodge AJ's disciplinary smack."
The youngest Apple's cheeks went as red as her mane.
'Miss’ gave a playful, encouraging laugh and a flick of her cloak as she crossed the border of the far side of the grove and seemed to vanish into the æther.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders remained where they were for a few moments, taking in the silence that surrounded them. Long grass swayed in the breeze and then fell still. A cloud passed overhead, shading everything before continuing onward to allow the meadow some sunlight once again. Nothing was stopping the three of them from following Miss even further into the future than they already had. Nothing except for the understanding they’d be cheating themselves if they did.
No looking at presents before Hearth's Warming indeed.
“So...” Scootaloo finally ventured. “Pie?”
“Pie.” Apple Bloom agreed.
Sweetie Belle’s throat was too choked up for her to chime in anything herself, so she just wiped her eyes and began trotting home as her friends followed. She expected they’d arrive back right on time.
And not a minute too early.
Author's Note
It's starting to feel like a nice night.
Hold close to the highs and the white light.
Hold close to the good you are drawn to.
These woods were grown to disarm you.
