Fairy Tales of Equestria

The Crusaders and the Timberwolf

Once upon a time in a small village on the edge of the forest, there lived three fillies who were best friends and they formed a special club called the Crusaders. The fillies' names were Bloom, Scoot, and Belle and they did everything together. Bloom lived with her Grandmother on a farm near the village and the forest. Belle and Scoot were frequent visitors and they always played out in the meadow whenever they came over. Little did they know that their humble young lives would take an unexpected turn.

One beautiful morning in the spring, while Scoot and Belle were on their way through town to visit Bloom's farm as usual, they saw that everypony in the village was running straight to their homes and tightly locking and bolting up the doors and windows, as if they were afraid of something. Then, out of nowhere, one frightened mare clumsily ran into the two fillies by accident and they fell to the ground on top of each other.

"Oh, sorry about that, girls!" The mare panted as she got back onto her hooves. "I didn't see you there."

"Oh, that's okay. Don't worry about it." Scoot said.

"Yeah, but what's going on, ma'am?" Belle asked curiously. "Why is everypony hiding?"

"Haven't you two heard?" The mare said to the fillies. "There's a Timberwolf on the loose!"

Without missing a beat, a startling howl rang through the village and the mare galloped straight back to her house to hide.

Belle and Scoot were shocked and terrified at the horrible news so they ran down the road and towards Bloom's farm as fast as they could to tell their friend about the Timberwolf. When they finally arrived, they were surprised to see Bloom standing outside the gate around her farmhouse with a length of rope over her right shoulder.

"Hey, girls!" Bloom greeted as she happily waved her hoof at them as her friends ran towards her. "What brings you two here?"

"Bloom, what are you doing out here?" Belle asked in a confused tone.

"Don't you know that there's a Timberwolf on the loose?" Scoot asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm standin' out here with this rope. I'm gonna catch the Timberwolf." Bloom said.

"What?!" Her friends cried in shock.

"But, Bloom, what about your grandma?" Scoot asked.

"Yeah. If she catches you out here, we're all gonna get in big trouble." Belle added.

"It's okay, girls. Granny's asleep right now and she won't wake up for at least a few hours. And don't worry; it'll be perfectly fine, I promise. But I can't do this alone. I'm gonna need some help. Wanna come with me?" Bloom offered.

"Us?!" The two fillies exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Yeah! If we go on this hunt together and catch that thing, we'll be heroes! So what do ya say, Crusaders? You in?" Bloom offered her open hoof to her friends, waiting for a response.

Scoot and Belle thought long and hard about their friend's daring proposal. On one hoof, they didn't want to get into trouble with anypony or get seriously hurt by the Timberwolf. On the other hoof, they would probably never get another opportunity like this to be called heroes.

In the end, Belle and Scoot reluctantly agreed to Bloom's offer. And soon, the three fillies went out into the meadow beyond the farm in search for the horrid Timberwolf.

As they made their way deeper into the meadow and closer to the forest, the Crusaders heard whistling coming from up above. They looked and saw that the sound was coming from a little bird with sky blue wings that was sitting in a nearby tree.