The Mane Two: Contrail

by MerlosTheMad

Rating: everyone
Tags: Spike, Rainbow Dash, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Princess Luna, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 30454

The grinding gears of fate have been set into motion. One by one, the mane six are being plucked from their lives in Equestria and cast into the unknown. All except for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, that is.

The grinding gears of fate have been set into motion. One by one, the mane six have been plucked from their lives in Equestria and cast into the unknown. All except for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, that is. Now it's up to the only two remaining Elements of Harmony to uncover the dark machinations behind their friends' disappearances. Will they put aside their differences and work together?

Originally co-Written by Alex Nuage (now Ludicrous Lycan) and MerlosTheMad

This story runs parallel to the other stories in the "Madverse." Those stories are A Twilight Landing, My Little Marriage So Many Wonders, and Abhorsen by MerlosTheMad

Cover Art done by AeronJVL

Published 2013-06-26 20:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-09 01:01:36 UTC

Happy Together

Chapter One: Happy Together

Celestia’s sun was up high in the sky, bathing the rustic acres surrounding Ponyville in a warm glow.  However, it was late September, and the winter months were quickly approaching; the increasingly cool breezes the weather pegasi sent over the town were a sure sign of that to anypony that knew anything about weather in Equestria.

Applejack huffed absently while the wind blew her mane across her face. A quick flick of her head and the rogue hair was righted, the steady trot she was in quickened as her only other response. Despite the normally captivating fall colors springing up all around, her mind was set in stone on other matters.

“Consarnit girls,” annoyed, Applejack flicked her head and mane again. The blonde hair was continuously fighting to re-cover her face. “Why’dja have to go talk me into this. Pinkie, Rarity, I swear you two owe me one, er...two.” Her brow furrowed beneath the loose manedo she wore, in contrast to the utilitarian pony tail and short cropped bangs she usually kept. “Actually, make that three.” She huffed again and blew the longer forelock of mane out of her eyes once more; Rarity had talked her into keeping it longer.  Nonsense school-filly and her ‘fashion’ hoozits.

Applejack had no reservations at spending time with her friends, none. Unless it was during bucking season, the one time of the year near the beginning of fall when the majority of Sweet Apple Acres’ apples were at their ripest. It just so happened, that was the time of the year right then.

Apples don’t buck themselves, t’ain’t fair of them to guilt me into things like this, to me nor my family. Every moment she spent perusing small kiosks, spending time with her friends, and even sleeping, meant less time able to bring in the harvest.

Applejack sighed and pushed herself to go a little faster, the mountain of work on her plate at the forefront of her mind. A melancholy scowl appeared every time she thought of using up that time, even if it was with her friends at a picnic. I want to spend time with them, I do, but not at the price of mah harvest... Briefly, she considered that at least it would get done in the end. Big Mac will be bucking while I’m gone though, feller’s too kind for his own good.

If it were up to Applejack, she would do everything, harvest and fun. The days just weren’t long enough for her. Sometimes, she remorsed tiredly,it just feels like there isn’t enough time in the world.

The dirt beneath Applejack’s hooves rose in small clouds as she continued to hurry towards the near side of town, where she would find her friends. A few more stray, guilty thoughts stirred about while her mind was left to think and it led to her trying to explain away her work addiction.

“Ah mean, it’s true,” The orange mare admitted aloud. “I do tend to find myself frantically waking up at night, just to sprint out to the orchards, and start bucking apples...” She chuckled and shook her head. “Ah, shucks, I don’t do stuff like that much anymore though, do I?” She supposed she didn’t. The slight curve of her lips turned into a considering smirk. Not ever since I got so close to those crazy girls, no sirree.

The great ‘apple-bucking fiasco’ from nearly two years ago, in which Applejack had nearly worked herself to death had been the start of what would become times she was never not thankful for, good and bad. She never would have guessed about what would come from trying desperately to bring in that old harvest all on her lonesome.

I wouldn’t know what to do without those girls...horribly encouraging procrastination of my work or not. Applejack’s smirk had become a wan smile, and her hastened trot slowed back some to a canter while she made her way into town. As much as I dislike wastin’ time durin’ valuable daylight hours, I do suppose I honestly need a break.

Applejack briefly laughed aloud, “Hehe, and I should know! Ah am the Element of Honesty after all.”  She stopped and polished a hoof on her chest proudly, before looking forward again onto the road and heaving a breath of the fresh, autumn air.

Suddenly, amidst Applejack’s wandering mind and revelry, a powerful gust of wind tore off her stetson, carrying it away as fast as a fruit bat in the opposite direction she was heading.

Applejack’s stunned eyes watched her treasured hat float further away. “Wha-? Ah, horseapples!” She shouted, then turned the rest of her body around and got to chasing after the runaway head-cover.  Her hooves beat the wagon-trail while she tore after it, and almost tripped.

“Woah nelly!” Applejack ground to halt where the hat had suddenly thudded onto the ground, the wind gone. She didn’t hesitate to retrieve it before another draft could steal it away.

With a concerted look over the inconvenience, Applejack pushed the stetson back onto her head and turned around once again. What’s with all the crazy gusts of wind? That’s the third time my hat’s flown off today. I gotta talk to Rainbow about that once I get the chance. She grunted once more for good measure, then back-trotted the few meters she’d lost towards her destination. A couple minutes later, and she’d reached the top of a hill that overlooked their picnickin’ area.

Applejack paused, taken for a moment by a sight she’d grown up almost her whole life with.

Along the horizon, dark mountains towered above lush, untouched land. Beyond that, lay  the distant, shimmering dot that was Canterlot, resting snugly against the side of a mountain.  It twinkled as the gold that decorated its ivory white towers shined from the midday sun high in the beautiful Equestrian sky above them. The blue up there contrasted brilliantly with the puffy white clouds, which lazily drifted from side to side; keeping relatively close to the place where a certain rainbow maned pegasus must have stationed them.

Speaking of rainbows...  Applejack mused darkly.

A gamut of colors ranging from red to green at the bottom of the hill distracted Applejack. They belonged to the same rainbow maned culprit she'd had her mind on a moment ago. Four colorful forms crowded around beside her on a telltale checkered blanket along. The infamous Rainbow Dash snoozed lazily next to them beside a small wicker basket. All but the athlete chatted merrily to one another, and were obviously doing what they did best, being friends.

Applejack smiled as she looked at the equally beautiful sight, taking in every detail. With one last look at the horizon, she took a deep breath, and descended down the hill to the village green, filled with dozens of ponies enjoying Celestia’s sun. Her arrival did not come unnoticed.

One by one, the four mares that made up the picnic party snapped their heads up. Rarity levitated a drink with a little umbrella in it, Pinkie Pie had a mouth full of...something, Twilight had a book laid in front of her, Fluttershy seemed to have been...preening, and finally, Rainbow Dash had been snoring loudly. So point in fact it seemed Rainbow was getting a power nap in, and didn’t pop her head up.The other four mares all returned Applejack’s welcoming smile with versions of their own.

Hope I’m not too late! Applejack thought, before galloping the remaining distance to the picnic, eager to join the five mares in their mid day feast.

“Applejack!” Twilight called out and stood up, she cantered out a ways from the other and met the apple farmer halfway.  “I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it.”

Applejack responded with a smile. “Aw Twi’, you know I could never miss a get together with you gals, not if I have anything to say about.” She batted a hoof at Twilight and grinned around her at the others. “‘Sides, Big Mac is taking on mah work so it’s not like I’ll be missing much.”  There was still a whole lot to do, but she couldn’t let Twilight think she was the reason some of the orchard wouldn’t be bucked this season.  If she had learned anything, it’s to always make time for the important things in life, namely her best friends in the whole wide world.  The last thing she wanted was for them to be separated.

Suddenly, a breeze stirred through the pasture, once again nagging on Applejack’s hat in a blunt coercion to break itself away from the farm pony. Her stetson remained firmly in place, however, while she gave a disapproving grunt.

“Daggum wind,” Applejack cursed while glaring at Rainbow Dash.  “Why have you got the wind whippin’ around all willy nilly today Rainbow?” She glared at the pegasus’ oblivious, napping form. “It’s been like this all morning and ah’ve nearly lost my hat four times already. T’ain’t no reason for it at all. Why, I oughta bop her on the head just fer-”

        “What wind?” Twilight pointedly took a step between Applejack and Rainbow. “Do you mean those little breezes from this morning?” She absently asked the question with an innocent tone, grinning at her friend.  “I’m sure it’s just Rainbow’s team prepping a few clouds for an upcoming storm, nothing serious.  I think it’s been awhile since we had one.”

Twilight’s voice seemed to drip with the intention of sincerity, but Applejack knew that her friend’s mind was fields off on that point.  Ponyville’s not scheduled for a heap ‘o storms ‘till next week.   So, just what is that snake up too?

“The weather forecast said we aren’t gonna get showers for ‘bout another five or six days.”  Applejack’s head cocked and looked at Twi' with an expression of skepticism.  “What does she have that team ‘o hers doing night and day?  She better not be planning on something at everypony else’s expense, again, Twi’.”  And I hope I don’t have to be the one to clean it up...

        Twilight paused, and searched Applejack’s face in the silence. “Applejack,” She started abruptly. “Can you do something for me, please?”  Her violet eyes captivating the other mare’s attention without saying another word.

Now why do you have to give me that look, Twi'?Applejack was defenseless to her pleading stare. “Why, sure Twi’.  You can count on me for darn near anything, you know that.”  She gave a confident laugh and took a gallant stance, just wanting to escape that look.  “After all, am I not the loyalist of friends and the most dependable of ponies!”  Well, Ah guess Dash is the loyal one, but I’m a close second.  Her bravado was swiftly stolen away from her as she glanced at the unicorn staring at her.  Oh, you’re bein’ serious...

“Please... please, would you not get into another fight with Rainbow Dash?”  Twilight asked earnestly.

The request hit Applejack like a sack of bricks. What do you mean not fight Rainbow Dash?  Ah’m not the one makin’ the weather go all *cattywompus!*Twilight didn’t look as solemn to her as she once did.

Applejack noticed that the situation was starting to resemble a conversation she would have with her little sister. ‘Don’t run with scissors, Applebloom,’ ‘Get off of that stranger, Applebloom,’ and ‘Applebloom, what did I tell you ‘bout dressin’ Spike up in a skirt.’The request Twilight made of her and the way she did it was both demeaning and...not wrong.

        Applejack’s thoughts raced back to times in the past when her competitive nature had gotten the best of her.  Callow competitions, pointless arguments, and dim-witted races reminded her of the pained feeling that she got when displaying her own foalishness in an attempt to maintain her dignity.  Her mind couldn’t help but wander to something Applebloom might say in this situation.  But she started it!

Gone was any desire to speak Twilight’s requisition or bean Dash on the head.

Inwardly, Applejack let out a sigh. Sometimes when I get to messin’ around with Dash, ah’m just gone with the wind. She drooped where she stood and her ears flipped downward, brandishing the deep seated shame.  Her head bobbed up and down, acknowledging Twilight that she understood.

Applejack let out a hoarse laugh.  “Don’t worry ‘bout none o’ that sugarcube.  Ah’ll be better behaved than a filly on Hearth’s Warmin’ Eve.”  She gave an advantageous grin to her friend to reassure her of the pure intentions.  “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Twilight let out a breath of relief. “Alrighty, thank you Applejack, I’m glad to hear that. I know you guys would never fight for real, but would it kill you both to tone down the fighting? There are other ways to use up all your energy, you know.” She turned her head coyly and rolled her eyes while turning around to reapproach the picnic.

Applejack followed, chuckling a response out as they went. “No problem Twi, now let’s get to eatin’ before the grub get’s cold,” and so I can get back to apple buckin’ sooner than later, ‘specially if there is a storm a brewin’...

The faces of three of the Elements of Harmony lit up as Applejack reached the checkered blanket—her presence was after all, a must have for any afternoon picnic.  She scanned their hospitable grins as she trotted up, all of them were typical for anypony in Ponyville, except Pinkie Pie, who was always grinning enough for three ponies.

Pinkie Pie’s mood was an infectious enigma, giving off a pleasant aura to the ponies around her and brightening up the troublesome days ahead of them.  She was sitting on her haunches, beaming a bright, ear to ear smile at her cowpony friend.

Applejack immediately found herself caught in that grin’s power as always. Maybe this ain’t gonna be so bad after all.  Her revelry was interrupted, however, when a pungent aroma invaded her nostrils, causing her to cough a bit in reflex.  She smelled like a diamond dog, and one that had been bucking apples all day long at that.  The feeling of nervous embarrassment crept in from the oversight.

The farm pony’s eyes swept her friends as she searched for any sign of acknowledgment towards her unpleasant scent.  Pinkie Pie... no.  Fluttershy... no.  Twilight... no.  Rainbow Dash... asleep.  And Rarity... oh no.

The alabaster unicorn’s nose began to twitch.  Her gentle smile remained, but from her watering eyes, twitching nose, and short, concealed breaths through the mouth, Applejack could tell that she was in pain.  Oh horseapples.  Well, sorry Rarity ol’ girl.

Rainbow awoke with a snort to the sound of a certain farm pony whom had been horribly late when she fell asleep.  She looked up from her bed of grass beside the picnic, and then a smirk grew from an idea she was already formulating in the fogginess of her nap.

Applejack waited and waited for a response from the fashionista, but was interrupted by the sudden attack of a pink, fluffy flash of lightning.

“AJ!”  A voice yelled, coming from the pink blur that was once standing on the checkered blanket.

Applejack was hit with a massive bear hug and almost fell over as Pinkie grappled her in a vice grip.  Her cotton candy mane rubbed against Applejack’s muzzle, tickling it in a way that made her both uncomfortable, and feeling like she had to sneeze.  Thankfully, the show of over enthused friendliness ended as quickly as it had begun and she could soon move freely again of her own free will.

Although Pinkie had let her loose, that did not at all change the proximity between the two.  They were muzzle to muzzle, awkwardly staring at each others eyes.  Well, it was awkward for Applejack; Pinkie barely seemed to notice.

“I almost thought you weren’t going to make it!  Rarity said you were busy and didn’t have time for cake, but I said you loved cake and so had time and look, you’re standing right here in front of me!  Now that you’re here, that makes all six of us! Hooray!  I’ll go get gummy and you can get Winona, and Rarity can get that cat that always bites me when I try to play with it, oh, and Twilight can get Spike!  Oops, I didn’t mean to call Spike a pet, after all, he is one of our bestest friends in the whole wide world, and...”

        Pinkie Pie halted her constant stream of small talk.  Her eyes went wide and her nose began to sniff the air.  Oh well...

“Woo-wee!  AJ, what an incredible smell you’ve discovered!”

A shy, butter yellow pegasus uttered an “oh my,” which was barely loud enough to not be drowned out by the natural environment around her.

The only way Applejack could believe she could get as red as she did, was if she could somehow see herself at that moment.  Her blushing could have put Big Mac’s color to shame.  Oh what the hay Pinkie, at least Rarity hadn’t said nothin’ about it.“Ah was apple bucking...”  She responded honestly.  “Sorta forgot to clean up, sorry, I guess I was just in a hurry.”

        Applejack felt a strange feeling inside.  It felt akin to embarrassment, but about five times worse.  For some reason, her eyes kept drifting back to Rarity who was laying pristine and clean on her fine silken blanket.  Hmph, weird, t’ain’t like me to feel jealous of Ms. prim-and-proper. She was only vaguely familiar with the emotion.

“Oh, that must’ve been hard work for you to be smellingthis bad!  I can only imagine what your brother smells like!  How does Granny Smith stand to live on that farm with smells like that?” Pinkie Pie let out a series of giggling laughter while the others around her added in their own, albeit more hesitantly.  “I’m just kidding.  Oh, that reminds me, where’s that oh-so-tasty Equestria famed apple pie you mentioned yesterday, AJ?” The pink pony bounced excitedly on all four hooves, wild, hungry eyes searching all around Applejack, as though the pie could be hidden anywhere.

Applejack was speechless once again.  The wave of babble that passed over her was almost incomprehensible. Almost being the key word.  She facehoofed after Pinkie mention the pie.  On the way out of the orchard, she had forgot to grab her own vittles.  Perfect, this is just perfect.  So far I’ve been late, smell to high heaven, and now I forgot literally the one thing I was supposed to bring.

“Ah’m sorry sugarcube,” Applejack started, kicking the ground softly just wanting to get it over with.  “Ah must have left it at mah farmhouse.”  Her gaze fell to the ground.  This is going to be an awkward picnic.

“Oh darling, it is perfectly alright,” chimed in a familiar unicorn with an affinity for fashion, celebrities, and the indoors.  She was the only one not currently sprawled out on the checkered blanket; instead choosing to lie on her own silken cloth.  It was a bit extravagant for a picnic, but that was Rarity for you.

        “I brought plenty of Daisy sandwiches for everypony.  Now you must stop that sullen attitude of yours before a tiny rain cloud develops above your head from it.”  She pointed a hoof up at the sky then, sighing heavily.

Applejack looked as well.

        “Aww!  Rarity,” Rainbow Dash called out from above the farm pony.  “You always ruin a perfectly good prank.”  She kicked away the small cumulus cloud she had sewn together hastily for her prank. The various tufts of white she had found while the attention had been off of her, faded.

Applejack scowled up at her athletic rival.  It just never ends with that maverick, does it?  She remembered the multitude of pranks her rainbow friend had done over the past few years.  Sudden surprise afternoon rain showers, gluing her crop to the trees, and worst of all, putting chewing gum inside apples and then placing them in random barrels around the farm.  It took a whole week to search through every barrel, and even then they hadn’t found them all.  Applejack was mighty embarrassed when Ms. Cheerilee was blowing bubbles after she had taken a bite out of her fresh harvest.

“Andyou always ruin a perfectly good picnic, Rainbow Dash.” retorted Rarity.  “Now come back down here so we can enjoy our little party, in peace.”

“It’s not like it’d hurt her to take a little bath... Actually, right now it’d probably be a favor.” Grudgingly, Dash swooped down to take her place in the group.  A place that was right next to one orange mare in particular, gripped by a peeved off attitude, and snorted derisively at her. She grinned cheerily in return.

“Now now girls, I think we can all be civilized, adult mares here. As I was saying, don’t fret about the pie Applejack. I think it’s fair we take turns bringing the food, don’t you agree?” Rarity’s horn began to glow and out of her wicker basket floated crisp daisy sandwiches, moist strawberry cake, scrumptious looking tulip turnovers, brightly colored cupcakes, and muffins that seemed to give off visible steam, as if they had recently been taken out of the oven.

Applejack looked around to see the other mares (except Rarity who seemed very much in control of her taste buds) drooling like a pack of starving timberwolves.  Each eyed a treat they most yearned for, seemingly helpless to control their irresistible desire to fling themselves haphazardly onto the plates and consume them in one, big hearty gulp.

The bickering and small talk ceased, and within minutes the plates were picked clean except for a few morsels.

Rarity watched in stark horror at the ravenous pack of ponies in front of her.  Apparently, making them wait to eat before Applejack showed up had been a mistake after all, hmph. She rolled her eyes and levitated a daisy sandwich to her mouth.  “Ruffians...” she muttered.

Pinkie Pie looked up from being muzzle deep in a turnover and giggled at the statement. “Oh hey, Rarity!”  She shouted enthusiastically and bounced to sit up, a thought occurring to her. “Do you want to come taste test a few eclairs tomorrow with the Cakes?”

Rarity raised her eyes to Pinkie Pie, who was surprisingly patient for a reply.  A frown graced her muzzle while she set down her untouched sandwich.  “I’m sorry dear, but tomorrow I am going to take a...lone excursion.  I’ve been putting one off for far too long I feel, and I have been planning this for some time.  I hope you understand.”

Raising the sandwich again, Rarity took a dainty bite, or it would have been dainty, had Pinkie not suddenly shouted again.

“Okie dokie lokie Rarity! I’m spending tomorrow with Dashie, pranking, so more time for us!” Pinkie Pie set about giggling again, until she spotted Rarity coughing on something. “Whoops, were your eyes bigger than your stomach there Rarity?” She patted a hoof on her friends back gingerly.

Rarity hacked greatly once more and her throat cleared. “Ahem, something of that nature.” She replied caustically. “Twilight, would you be a dear and pour me some water?” Meanwhile, she held a cloth to her mouth and continued to cough, having nearly choked on the daisies.

Twilight looked over from her book and chatting with Applejack and nodded blissfully. “Of course.”

Twilight returned a hearty smile to the request as the horn upon her brow began to glow. Next, a purple aura enveloped the picnic’s pitcher of water. Casually, it floated toward Twilight while a single glass simultaneously levitated out of a wicker basket and onto the blanket.

The pitcher began to pour the water gracefully.

Applejack frowned at Rainbow again as the wind suddenly began to stir around them. The pegasus was too busy eating to notice though. Honestly, Rainbow needs to do something about this! Darnit... She didn’t want to go back on her word to Twilight though, so began instead to think of a nice way to tell Rainbow she didn’t know how to do her job right proper.

Applejack was caught off guard when the windy gust picked up more and stole her hat in its wispy clutch, again.  “Dagnabbit!” She tried to catch it in time, but it was too late; her stetson was airborne.  The cowpony’s hat flung itself upward and soared quickly toward Twilight’s head, where it banked and smacked the pitcher.

Four mares simultaneously shouted out in surprise as water splashed everywhere from the full container.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie were absolutely soaked, having been closest when the pitcher was knocked out of Twilight’s grasp.  Rainbow Dash had been very close to the splash zone, but she was quick enough to get out of the way in time.  For a moment, everything was quiet, but soon the six mares found themselves snickering at their own misfortune.

Even Applejack couldn’t help but laugh at the fluke accident. Though she couldn’t help but think, I still have half a mind to smack Rainbow Dash across the head.

The laughter calmed down, Rarity began soaking up liquid that had splashed her sundress with a cloth, while the others rearranged the picnic.

“Sorry girls,” Twilight and Applejack said abruptly as one, then turned to look at each other, only to giggle more.

The picnic proceeded, and the mares were left to chat merrily about what they had been up to in recent weeks.  Rarity had been busy crafting saddles and dresses for a few very important clients (and she made sure to stress thevery); Pinkie had recently entered to compete in a national baking competition, which she came in second place for (they couldn’t award her first because she ate most of her own desserts); Rainbow Dash had been preparing for the winter for the most part, but flew up and showed off a couple new tricks of hers for flare; Fluttershy was busy taking care of a sick manticore (this brought a round of gasps, but she assured her friends that he—the manticore—was perfectly safe); and Applejack announced the fact that she had been apple bucking ever since the harvest season started (she left out the fact that she was quickly running out of time to finish the harvest, but decided it was for the best).

Finally, the bill turned to Twilight.

“So darling,” Rarity began from where she demurely lay with her front hooves crossed. “What is it that you’ve got yourself looking into now? Or maybe the princess has given you some interesting new thing to study?”

Rainbow Dash yawned widely at what was obviously going to be something about plants or magic hoozits. “She’s probably just been reading for all she’s worth like always...” The pegasus paused a moment, looking at the ground, before adding, “By the way Twilight, is the new Daring Do book out?”

The purple unicorn sitting on her haunches shook her head, then looked around nervously and held a hoof up to her mouth. “Well...” She started to quietly say.

“Oh, if it’s a secret Twilight, you don’t have to tell us.” Fluttershy added in quickly.

Applejack raised an eyebrow in thought while listening intently. Why is she so skittish all of a sudden?

The farm pony was about to ask about the oddity when a trio of high pitched squeals cascaded over the hillside, wrenching the group’s attention from their friend.

A bright red cart blew over the hill, carrying three screeching fillies in its confines.  They all called out with their own different versions of shock and surprise. Without another thought, the six sprung into action; all except Fluttershy who sort of eased herself into the action.

One of them, Applejack recognized as her little sister.  Her legs ached and her muscles burned, but she still galloped towards the fray at full speed.  The hard beating of her heart seemed to consume her mind as she worked harder and harder to cut off the runaway vehicle below the next hill.  “Hold on girls! We’re a comin’!”

Applejack discovered, however, that she was not alone in her endeavors at the front of the pack.

Rainbow Dash had swooped in next to the sprinting mare, flapping her wings as she tore through the sky at a low altitude.  “Hey there Applejack, that all ya got?” She said, a cocky smile plastered across her muzzle, almost as if she was taunting Applejack.

What does she think she’s doing!?She thought.  Does she really want to compete with me, right now?  AJ stared at her with the most daunting look of disbelief possible, despite the fact she was running full speed down a hill.

Rainbow continued her impish grin and beat her wings a little harder, gaining more speed.  She was up in front of Applejack, but not for long.

The orange mare matched her speed, pumping her legs even harder.  If it’s a challenge ya want, it’s a challenge you’llget!

Both mares fought for the lead, continuously trading first between one and other.  If it weren’t for the pulse pounding rush of adrenaline coursing through her system, Applejack might have felt suffered from feeling fatigued.  Instead, she galloped on, matching the puerile pegasus’ velocity.

They were in hot pursuit of the wild cart, getting closer to the frightened screams of the fillies in distress.  Both mares were neck and neck, preparing to swoop in and cease the erratic locomotion which could lead to injury.  The hoof lengths between them and their target were shrinking; Applejack prepared to leap into the cart and Rainbow went into an arcing pattern to do the same.

Applejack leaped, soaring through the air towards what she expected to be the hard, splintering of wood of a cart.  What she didn’t foresee was to land face first instead into a mixture of mud and a field of grass.

Vision obscured by mud, Applejack sat up quickly and roughly spat out clumps of earth, wiping her face off with one of her hooves.  Her eyes shot open, searching for the whereabouts of the cart and her little sister.  Panicking, she whipped her head left.  On the ground next to her was amusingly enough, Rainbow Dash, whose head was currently stuck neck deep in the muck.

The cyan body struggled and heaved to remove itself from the dirty kiss with the earthy dirt.  It took a quick tug from Applejack to set Rainbow Dash free.

“Gak-ppbbbht!”  Rainbow Dash spat dirt and grass from her mouth.  “What happened? Where did they go!?”  Appejack sighed and tapped the pegasus on her shoulder.  She pointed her hoof at the cart levitating five hoofs in the air, surrounded by a purple aura.  Rainbow Dash facehoofed.  “Egghead...”

Twilight came trotting down the hill, followed by avery muddy looking canary pegasus, a flustered and frazzled unicorn, and a bouncing ball of fluffy pink.  All four of them were busy looking over the infamous cutie mark crusaders after their harrowing adventure towards mishap.

Squishing her hooves out of the muck, Applejack began her trot to the cart which was now safely touching the ground, imagining what things she should shout at her little sister. Applebloom, just what in tarnation do ya think you were doin’ back there!  You could have gotten yourself killed!There she was, flanked by her two shivering friends; the yellow filly with a big red bow decorating her mane.  Her complexion was pale and her eyes still wide.  Her teeth were clenched and her chest rose and fell erratically.

Applebloom watched in horror as Applejack got closer. Uh oh, the filly thought. She was caught by surprise when she felt herself being suddenly embraced.  It took a moment for it to register, but she finally hugged her back into Applejack’s mane, despite the mud.

“I-I’m sorry Applejack...it was an accident,” Applebloom sniffled out.

"It’s okay, sugarcube, what the hay happened?”  Applejack took her sister’s foreleg and began rubbing small circles on her back.  It seemed to soothe her, as she stopped her sobbing and started to breathe normally.

Nearby the two farm sisters, Rarity was hugging Sweetie Belle, and Rainbow Dash was comforting a very sorry looking pegasus.  From the green tint in her face, it looked very much to everypony like she was about to be sick.

Applebloom looked horribly embarrassed and stirred a hoof in the dirt while glancing at her friends. “Well...” She murmured.

Applejack patted Applebloom on the back.  “It’s alright,” She considered the situation briefly, and came to a realization that this was as good a time as any to take her leave from the picnic.  “Let’s just get ya home, Applebloom.”

The only response she got was a muffled ‘okay’ as she was heaved onto her sister’s back.  Applejack could feel her body tremor as she carried her to the purple unicorn who was responsible for saving her sister.

“Thanks for nabbin’ them Twi’, and ah had a great time today, but I think I should take this one on home.” Applejack tipped her stetson and managed a weak smile under her tired eyes.

Twilight nodded from where she sat helping Pinkie Pie with what looked like dirt smeared down her face and front. “I understand,” she said merrily before sighing. “I was hoping for such a nice afternoon get together too... Oh well, all the food’s done for already anyway.” She looked over and grinned despite the regret in her voice.

Applejack bid her friends farewell and started out, heading toward the path back to Sweet Apple Acres.  Before she made it more than a few steps though, she spotted Fluttershy who was desperately trying to clean off a thick layer of mud that had caked onto her coat.

“Sugarcube... What happened?”  Her question caught the pegasus by surprise as she began to rise a little.  Once she realized who it was though, she calmed down.

“Oh, um, I fell... Into a hole.”  Fluttershy commented timidly.  Her jaw went into a pleading grin and a faint squeeing noise was taken by the breeze.

Applejack looked at the pegasus in disbelief.  “Uh...Where did you find a hole big enough to fit a mare in?”

“Um...by accident.”  Fluttershy replied sheepishly.

Applejack chuckled and accepted the answer.  If Pinkie Pie has taught me anything, it was that sometimes I don’t need a good explanation for every little thing I encounter around these girls.  “Well, Twi’s helping Pinkie over there, Ah‘m sure she can see to you too.”

They said their goodbyes and Applejack departed with the filly resting on her back.  Applebloom’s shaking had ceased, but her half-closed eyelids showed off how tired she was.  A soft clearing of her throat preempted Applejack’s question.

“So... Sugarcube, what all got into your heads this time?” Applejack raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at her sister.

The filly smothered her face into Applejack’s coat in response, then sighed and picked her head up. “Okay, but don’t laugh. Well... We were crusadin’ to Zecora’s hut and we saw that cart...  Yah see, it was at the top of this hill and Scootaloo wanted to go look at it.  When we got up there, we saw it was empty, and we thought it would be fun to climb in and...”

“And what?”  Applejack held her breath, the suspense that always preceded before one of the CMC’s explanations in the air.

“...Cutie Mark Crusader Chariot Racers...” Applebloom finally said, in a dismal, dreary tone.

Applejack held back her laughter. “But you only had one cart, right?”  The mare asked casually of the filly who sat dolorously on her back.

Applebloom let out a sigh.  “Yeah, me and Scootaloo pulled while Sweetie Belle rode in back.”

“...Then how in the hay did you end up in the cart to... Ya know what, t’aint important; what’s important is that ya’ll are alright.”  A reassuring smile crept onto Applejack’s face as she half-way glanced at the filly again.  You know, this face Ah’m wearin’ is givin’ you a false sense of security, which tomorrow, is goin’ straight out the window.  Hehe.  Hope you had fun with your friends.A few thoughts of what kinds of chores needed doin’ popped into her head. Cellar ain’t been swept in a bit...

Applejack returned to her faux, comforting sister’s tone. “Well, I hope you learned your lesson about messin’ with things that aren’t rightly yours or wanderin’ into places you don’t rightly belong.”

“Yes, Applejack...”  Applebloom droned back.

Applejack trotted along expediently, the filly bobbing sporadically on her back.  Tufts of dirt clouds were kicked into the air of their wake as they made their way up the small winding road to Sweet Apple Acres. The dipping sun prepared to trade places with the moon for the night.  It created a beautiful orange glow in the quickly dimming sky.

The two earth ponies were just nearing the property when Applejack cleared her throat to speak again.  “Alright, you can go ahead and trot back to the house.  I’ve gotta check the barn to see how far behind we are in clearing out the harvest.”

Applebloom nodded and dropped off of her sister’s back.  With a hop, skip and jump, she had already made it halfway to the farm house, leaving the mare alone at the entrance.

Heh, filly’s and their shenanigans.  With that, Applejack ascended the slight incline toward the family barn.  Time to see how much work ah missed to go to that delicious picnic. After that I'll need a bath, and... The dreaded images of dozens of empty barrels bombarded her mind, sucking her into the sullen realization that she had a few big days ahead of her if she wanted to make up for lost time.

The worried thoughts Applejack entertained ceased, however, once she completely pulled open the barn door that was left ajar.  Along the floor, hundreds of apples lay scattered across the ground, some unfortunately crushed by the obvious multitudes of barrels that had fallen from the barn shelves above.  A pile of barrels lay askew on one big mass towards the back. Underneath, two very familiar red hooves poked out from the side nearest to her.

“Big Macintosh!”  Applejack cried out as soon as her eyes made contact, and galloped over to her trapped sibling.  Using her momentum and raw earth pony strength she knocked half of the barrels off at once, then one barrel after another followed suit from the mountainous pile.  Finally, her brother was able to push off the remaining load and sit up on his haunches.  His face was red... even more so than usual.

"Are you alright?”  Applejack asked, scanning the stallion for any injury other than a hurt dignity.

“Eeyup.”  He replied, plain and simple.  A few ragged breaths escaped him, and his eyes were bloodshot.  How long were you trapped under there, Big Mac?

“Should I get a doctor?”  She asked frantically, waiting for a response from her enervated brother.  He let out a hoarse cough and huffed in a deeper breath.

“Ee-n-nope.”  His response came out staggered and muffled.  Applejack wasn’t buying it.

Ah know better than that, Big Macintosh.  Stop it with your bravado for just one bloomin’ second!

Applejack frowned and asked incredulously, “Are you sure...?” From the looks of the room, it was obvious what had happened.  The barrels had been stacked in a pyramid type fashion before she had left, and it probably took one wrong decision to topple the whole structure down.

“Eeyup.” Came another fatigued reply.

“Sugarcube, you gotta be more careful,” Applejack bristled.  “Remember when you warned me not to bite off more than ah could chew?  Same rule applies to you, Big Mac.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help when things get to be too much.”

“Eeyup.”  He slowly gathered his strength and rose onto his hooves. Painfully, he began to stumble his way toward the barn door, nearly slipping on crushed apples as he went.

“Hold it right there, Mister.”  Applejack’s voice was stern, demanding the stallions half-conscience attention.  “Now Ah need you to say more then yup or nope on this.  Ah need your word that you won’t go around tryin’ foalish things where you might get hurt.  Think about the example you’re settin’ for the impressionable filly in that house.  She almost got herself hurt today, and ah don’t want this to be a daily thing.”  She paused for a moment, waiting for him to respond.  “Do you think you can handle that?”

The answer was clear and concise.  “Eeyup...”

Applejack shot a glare at Big Mac, preparing to do something that might be construed as a little bit hostile to someone who was already so injured.

“Eh....  Yes’m, you don’t have to worry ‘bout me, I’ll handle it.”

Applejack glared even more, shooting knives from her eyes.

"...I mean...  I’ll ask for help when I need it... “  Big Mac paused for a moment.  “But you weren’t here today, so it isn’t like I could’ve asked you.”

Applejack was about to retort, but she realized he did have a point.Goldangit, girls.  If I hadn’t o’ gone on that stupid picnic, none of this would’ve happened. She breathed a deep sigh.  “Ah’m sorry Big Mac.  Ah never even wanted to go out today; you know how Ah feel about missin’ work.”

The stallion nodded.  “It’s fine, sis.  Ah’ll be right as rain in the mornin’.”

Applejack perked up at the sight of her brother reassuring her.  “Good, now let’s go get some grub.  Ah’m sure Granny Smith has somethin’ great cookin’ in the kitchen.”

Both brother and sister ditched the mountain of barrels and floor full of work, and exited the big red barn.  It was nighttime and the moon was casting it’s luminescence over the farm, bathing the ponies in a pale blue light.

Applejack spotted something that was awful hard to ignore. She squinted in the moonlight at her brother, trying to either confirm or deny a growing suspicion. Oh no! Her legs briskly galloped her in front of the stallion, stopping him in his tracks.  “Big Mac, ah think you might be hurt, let me see it.” One of her hooves pressed against his front to keep him from walkin’ past her.

Big Mac scowled, then turned to his right so Applejack could get a look.

One of the nastiest, darkest bruises the orange farm pony had ever seen traveled from his left hind leg and up to his ribs.  She grimaced at the dark tint it seemed to take on in between each rib, and also the sheer surface area it took up.  The wound almost looked like he had been laying in a puddle of disgusting paint.

“Big Mac, this don’t look good at all.” Applejack bit her lip, hesitant to say what she was already thinkin’ was the only course of action.  “Ah- Ah’m not sure you should be applebuckin’ anymore this harvest.”  Her eyes were as round as dinner plates.

“Quit your nonsense, Applejack,” Big Mac’s rebuttal rumbled back.  “Ah’m as fit as a fiddle, and ah sure as hay can buck a few apple trees with a bump like this.”

Applejack looked at the stallion trying his best to stand as straight as he possibly could.  He puffed out his chest, and lifted his head high.Sorry about this, Sugarcube, I want you out in the orchard, too. Ah don’t see another option though.

Applejack gently pressed her hoof against the center of his bruise, applying a heavy amount of pressure to the quivering stallion.

Big Mac grunted and grimaced in agony, inhaling a couple of deep breaths through flared nostrils before he could stop himself. He visibly struggled to maintain a semblance of normalcy.

Applejack shook her head and sighed heavily.  “That’s what ah thought.  Now you need rest that up if we ever hope to get ya back on all fours.”

The injured colt opened his mouth hastily.  “But AJ, ah-”

“No buts, Mister; all you need to worry about is gettin’ better for the next harvest.  If you really want to help, you could always go into town and sell a bit of the crop.  It’ll keep you busy, and bring in a few bits.”  Applejack’s words seemed to calm him down a little bit.  Also, she couldn’t help but see a relieved expression grace his face for a moment. Why that proud fool.  He’d be willin’ to suffer a broken rib just so his sis don’t see him back down.  Ah don’t know if that’s stupidity, or what ah love so much about ‘em. She supposed it was both.

“... Alright...”  Big Mac indignantly muttered back at his.

Applejack's expression returned to its usual hospitable gaze.  “Attaboy, now let’s go get us some food before you keel over,” she prodded.  Both ponies guffawed- Big Mac cringing from the pain when he did- and returned to their home where the sweet scent of apple cider and apple fritters greeted their olfactory sense.

The apple family sat together at their bounteous feast of food, scarfing down a plethora of baked apple delights.  A cool breeze rolled in through the windows, stealing away the hot stuffiness that had culminated in the kitchen, and replaced it with a comforting chill.  Applejack breathed a sigh of satisfaction having emptied her plate of mouth watering treats made from scratch.  Maybe today wasn’t so bad after all.

Bad Moon Rising

Chapter Three: Bad Moon Rising

       Applejack wasn’t particularly sure what she should do.  No thoughts came to break through her state of paralysis, which refused to release her from its trapping grasp.  Her gaze teetered back and forth between the unrecognizable ruins of the Apple family home, and the countless uprooted apple trees strewn about the nearly barren fields.

Applejack wanted to cry, and from the soft whimpers coming from behind her, she knew a red-bowed filly was doing just that. She choked back a tear.  “Mah...mah farm...”  She didn’t know what else to say.  It was gone, all gone, her home, her trees, and with them, her livelihood. It had all been swept away by the wind. Just like that, they were gone.

A deep croaking noise festered in the depths of Applejack’s throat, struggling its way to escape her and soothe its aching burn.  She was able to silence her voice, but her eyes shook and watered as though she was caught in a raging sandstorm.

        Despite the fact that her legs were stronger than iron, Applejack’s hips hobbled and shook uncontrollably under the stress that climbed on her back.  She fell to her haunches, unblinking and still staring out into the empty field that once housed her beautiful apple orchard.  Then she began to sob.

        It was a sort of quiet sobbing, but she had become painfully aware of the burning eyes all focused on her.  She didn’t look up, but she knew they were watching.  Her brother, her sister, Granny Smith, and of course the cyan pegasus that she had been berating no less than two minutes ago.  She knew those eyes would all look the same; concerned, sympathetic, and maybe even a little bit confused at her sudden shift in demeanor.

        But quite frankly, Applejack couldn’t care less.  Her home; the place she thought was an unbreakable fortress of family value, of compassion, and of love, was torn from the hard ground it was rooted in.  She felt like wallowing in her muddy field out in the middle of nowhere.  She felt defeated.

        “Applejack?” called a scratchy, but feminine voice.  “Are you alright?”  Applejack wanted to turn around and buck her in the mouth for asking that.  Does it look like Ah’m alright Rainbow?  For goodness sake, Ah’m practically bawling my eyes out in front of ponies that have never even heard me so much as complain about a single thing in my life.

        Her voice was strained, but Applejack managed to force a reply.  “Yea-... S-Sugarcube.  Ah...”  She tried her hardest to coerce words out of her muzzle, but try as she might, it only came out a crackled mess.  “...Ah’ll be fine.”  She saw the a light blue shape come toward her in her peripheral vision, and quickly spun her muzzle away in an effort to hide her bloodshot eyes and dripping nose.

        Applejack had expected a careful tap on the shoulder or a gentle prod of the side to get her to face her friend.  What she didn’t expect was a full on embrace made by the pegasus, wrapping her around with her forelegs.Get offa me you... you...  She moved her hooves up to push off the unwanted consolation, then moved them up to hold onto her loyal friend instead.

        The farm mare felt worse than she had in a long time.  Worse than what she felt after her longest day of applebucking, and worse than after a disappointing day selling her wares to the ponies in town.  No matter how much life threw at her, she was always able to handle it through determination and an unmatchable work ethic.

        But this was different.

        Applejack felt the sting of uncertainty coupled with the pain of loss.  Though this feeling was something she rarely dealt with in her line of work, she undoubtedly recognized it.  Nothing she could do would ever brace her for it, and she hated it with a passion.

Applejack pulled in Rainbow Dash harder as she silently sobbed into her coat.  She felt naked, even more so than she was.

        She was vulnerable.

Ah- Ah... No, Ah can’t act like this in front of Applebloom.  Pull yourself together, Applejack!Her mind told her body to cease its shameful activity, but she remained clung to the pegasus.  Oh, come on!  This is ridiculous.

        Suddenly, Applejack felt the comfortable leaning position she had grown accustomed to, falter, and Dash beginning to move away.  It was all she could do just to catch herself and awkwardly slink down into a hunched position, glass eyed and sniffling. Ah must look like a big foal right now...

        “I’m sorry I was too late...” Rainbow Dash confessed to her.  “If I had been here with a few dozen pegasi, we might have stood a chance at saving your farm... It’s just the weather lately has become so...  and just... look, I didn’t mean to-”

        Applejack raised a hoof.  “Quit it, sugarcube. I-It ain’t your fault, I get that now.”  Her voice had smoothed out a little, but she continued to stutter occasionally.  “It’s nopony’s fault. This was...”  She rubbed her soggy eyes with a foreleg.  “But thank you, Rainbow... You saved mah life, and mah little sister’s too.”  She grinned at the weather mare.

        “...You're welcome.” Rainbow didn’t return the smile, instead, her face hardened further. “Applejack... We have to go now... it’s bad.”

The farm-less pony’s face contorted to a face of confusion. She snorted in the wet slime trying to escape her nostrils, and raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.  “What do ya mean?  Where could we possibly have to go right now?”  Applejack stared incredulously at the element of loyalty.

        “I-I can’t explain it right now...  Actually, I take it back. Look after your family, take what you can carry down to Twilight’s.  I’ll meet up with you as soon as I can. Just...know that it’s serious, I only came here to get you to help me, but I’ll handle it for now.”  The pegasus crouched down and opened her wings to full extension.

        Applejack raised a hoof to protest, but she stopped herself.  Just what are you not tellin’ me, Rainbow Dash?She lowered it and gave her a serious look.  “Thank you then, we will.”

        The pegasus nodded, and in a flash, she was into the sky and heading toward Ponyville at breakneck speed.

        Applejack turned around to face her family. a dour expression marring each of their usually gleeful faces with a sullen frown.  She realized she wasn’t the only one with trouble keeping her emotions under control.

Applebloom was curled up into a ball underneath Big Mac, who was gently caressing her soaked fur with his hoof.

Tears rolled down Granny Smith’s wrinkled old cheeks, and Big Mac, well, he remained stoic, but he was clearly in pain.  Applejack knew her brother, and that meant she knew when he was upset.

        Rising to her hooves, Applejack turned her attention to the wreckage of the home she grew up in.  “Alright, wait here for a minute and we can head on over to the library.  I gotta get something first...”   She didn’t get a reply, but she knew that her statement was understood.

        Shakily, Applejack trotted over to the remains of her porch, and expertly walked around various pieces of debris strewn about the ground of cracked floorboards.  She carefully stepped onto the larger pile of refuse as she climbed up onto the remaining foundation that had once supported her home.  Orienting herself at the front door, she hung a left and walked to the center of her old living room.  Casually, she began digging at the pile underneath her with a hoof, searching amidst the mountain of wood, broken furniture, and the occasional smashed apple.

        Every couple minutes, Applejack would hit the wooden floor and begin searching in a different area.  She refused to waver in her hunt, yielding only when she thought she had found the object she was searching for.

        Finally, after ten minutes of searching and ready to give up, Applejack looked down at her prize.  Underneath her hoof rested a medium sized wooden frame that had a spiderweb crack splayed across the center.  Sighing, Applejack picked it up in her teeth and lowered it onto her back.

        Sweet Apple Acres was destroyed, but the apples would survive.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed in a desperate manner, gaining speed as she zoomed toward Ponyville.  The feeling she loved most in the world: that rush of adrenaline pumping through her body when trying a new daring, dangerous stunt, was for once unwelcome.  She often found that its familiar euphoria was something of an addiction, but after narrowly escaping a grisly fate twice in the length of two hours, she had become sick to death of it.  It made her nervous and hastened the growing presence of dread associated with the urgency of the matter at hoof.

Rainbow’s wings burned from the strenuous pace she refused to mollify, and her speed only increased once she made it to the outskirts of Ponyville.  She glanced down below at the frantic ponies galloping every which way and gathering in one large group around city hall.  An older looking, sand colored mare stood on a stage, pointing towards different ponies who would immediately dart in a random direction.

Over the thatched roofs of a few ponyville houses rose her destination.  With one final push, she sped towards Ponyville Pond, the one which she and Pinkie had donned to take a dip in earlier.

        She noticed the looks on everypony’s faces were a mixture of confused to downright terrified.  They did not have much to go on; just what she had told them in very few, frantic shouts no less than one hour ago.  Since they were first rounded up though, they had managed to gather the local pegasi of Ponyville around the lake.  However, the townsponies were still at no less a loss for what was going on.

First, two ponies being dragged under a pond bya current.  Adding to that news, a freak storm had just passed incredibly close to the town; one that hadn’t been crafted by the weather team.  Missing ponies, wrecked countryside; it wouldn’t have been so out of the ordinary if the news that Pinkie and Rarity may have drowned wasn’t also in the mix.

        Their loud conversations about the strange happenings were interrupted when the leader of the Ponyville weather team crashed in the center of the hulking mass, trying to catch her breath and stretch her wings.  A few ponies tried to see what was wrong with the mare as she bent over and huffed into the soil, but she waved them off with a hoof.

        Once able to speak, Rainbow Dash stood erect and looked into the crowd.  “Alright everypony!”  She took in a few more pained breaths.  “I want all of you to follow my lead!  We’re... we’re going to need all of you to do this!”  Some of the pegasi raised an eyebrow, but most of them acknowledged the command and unfolded their wings in preparation.  “Now, everypony get ready, cause we’re going to have to suck the water out of the pond...with a pegasus powered tornado!”  There were a few audible gasps, but from the serious expressions dotting the crowd, most were ready.  “Two ponies could be trapped, and it’s up to us to rescue them!”  This seemed to solidify the groups intentions as a few ponies had already begun to circle the lake.

        Tired, fatigued, and sore, Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings and took off into the air.  Multiple pegasi joined her as they began gliding around the lake in a clockwise fashion.  It wasn’t long before everypony had joined in, and a visible funnel began to form from the combined wingpower of all Ponyville’s pegasi.

        Rainbow Dash felt that rush of endorphins return to her, accompanied by a stale queasiness in her gut.  It was a feeling that hours upon hours of stunts and dangerous feats beat out of her system, or so she thought.  She felt afraid.  Not only of creating a monster like she had just escaped from, even if it wasn’t the same, but also because of what she might find. Pinkie and Rarity had been underwater for far too long...

Rainbow grew timid in her gliding, and slowed her movement to keep an eye on how the tornado was forming.  If they succeeded and pulled the water from the lake, would there be two bodies slumped together in the mud, having run out of breath before being taken into the great beyond?  The question was the only thing that hung in her mind besides fear.

        The wind howled as the funnel gained speed.  Little droplets of water began to smack Rainbow Dash in the muzzle.  Almost there...  Just a little bit more.  She broke her trance and flapped her searing wings harder.  The water underneath pooled into the air as the rotating wind ripped it from the lake.  The stream of water became a fast current as it shot up and into the waiting sky.  Most of it either went up higher than the thin layer of overcast above them, or it dissipated into tiny raindrops that lazily sprinkled back onto the grassy ground.

        Seeing the final bit of water drain from the lake, Rainbow Dash allowed herself to be flung from the tornado, which was beginning to lose its form as other pegasi followed suit.  Orienting herself to the ground, she blazed through the air down to the muddy lakebed.  It seemed to go deeper than she imagined, but nevertheless, she could see the bottom.

“Rainbow Dash, I thought you said that Pinkie Pie and Rarity were pulled under,” a silver coated pegasus mare with a blonde mane called out.  “Nopony is down there...”

        The excited eyes and fascinated grin across her face came with the realization that her friends were still missing, and that meant, they could still be alive.  Thank Celestia!She wanted to jump for joy and shout to the skies that her failure to rescue her friends had caused them death, but now, she was focused on the million thoughts scratching at her brain, but most importantly: If they’re not here, then where in the hay are they?

        Rainbow Dash shrugged it off, maintaining a cheeky grin.  Whatever did this, I’m sure Twilight will figure it out.  Egghead probably has already...  She laughed a bit and noticed the gathering crowd of pegasi all whispering to each other and looking out into the lakebed.

        Rainbow Dash beamed a goofy grin.  Despite her positive outlook, many pegasi began to shoot curious glances, and even glaring at the rainbow maned mare.  She noticed their stares, and her expression returned to its determined look.  “I need you all to start combing the skies.  Keep a low altitude and look for anything pink and white.  My friends are still out there, and they need help.”  A few ponies began dispersing, and others formed search groups to cover more ground faster.

Now, to go find Twilight and...   Rainbow Dash facehoofed.  How could I forget about Fluttershy?Lackadaisically, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and rose into the air.  She steadily gained altitude until she had a clear view of the rest of the waning search parties.  Her eyes scanned the crowd as she searched for her target.  “Fluttershy!” she called out to no response.  Ugh, of course she doesn’t come when we round up all the pegasi...

        Three sharp bangs rapt on the heavy wooden door of Ponyville’s public library, eliciting a pained groan from a certain purple scaled assistant on the other side.  Applejack shifted uncomfortably in the night time setting with the heavy saddlebags perched over her back, each side containing pretty much the last remaining possessions the Apple family had.  It was sad that they could only save a few perishable food items from the cellar, and a single cracked picture frame.

        The door slowly creaked open and the drowsy-looking dragon poked his head out.  His eyes were bloodshot and he hardly looked like he even knew where he was.  He narrowed his eyes and tiredly studied Applejack.  “Applejack?”  His mouth widened as he let out a yawn, then he looked past the pony. “Applejack’s family?”

        Applejack gave a half chuckle.  She couldn’t help but think that the dragon’s attempts to secure masculinity often went unnoticed due to his baby-like tendencies.  Yawning only made him look cute.  “Sugarcube, you mind if we come in before Ah start explainin’ things?”

        Applejack, Applebloom, Big Mac, and finally Granny Smith trotted into the library, taking care not to step on any of the random mountains of books that still took residence on the floor.  Applejack looked around the main room. Geez, Spike.  Good job cleanin’ this mess up.  She carefully removed her saddlebags.  Ah’m sure Twi’ would be so proud that you listened to her.

        Applejack turned to the small, purple reptile. “Spike, have you left the library today?  Have you talked to anypony?”

        Spike rubbed his eyes and answered her.  “Only you, just now... and maybe earlier today, but honestly it’s all a bit fuzzy.  Hey... am I missing a tooth?”  His forked tongue began to feel around the small gap as his eyes widened.

        “Ah’d reckon so.” Applejack rolled her eyes.  “Listen sugarcube, Ah don’t know how to ask this, but could mah family stay here? Possibly for tonight?  At least until we can figure things out.”

        “Uhm, sure, wait why?” Spike scratched the side of his head, a bewildered look painted on his face.

        “Well, a few reasons, chief among them is the fact we don’t have a house right now.” Applejack waited for Spike to respond, then held up a hoof to stop him anyway. “I know it sounds crazy Spike but I don’t got time to explain, maybe Granny can a little. Me and Big Mac gotta go, I think... There’s something going on in town and I need to find out what.”

Spike blinked, perhaps finally catching on that something was wrong. “I guess that’s alright, but I don’t own the library.  Have you talked to Twilight yet?”

        “Sugarcube, we were there when she left for Canterlot... er, well you might’ve been asleep, but you were definitely there.”  I think this dragon’s been hangin’ around with Green Leaf again...

        Spike shrugged.  “Ooh yeah...  I’m sure she doesn’t care anyway.  Wait, why don’t you have a house right now?  Is your farm being fumigated or something?”  He chuckled a bit in his loopy state.

        “No... it was, um... it was leveled by a tornado...”  Spike’s silly grin was replaced by a surprised look, that became wide eyed disbelief a second after.  If he wasn’t awake before, he certainly was then. “Tornado!?  Like the weather kind?  How is that even possible?  I- I...”  He paused for a moment, finally making sense of the sullen expressions across every Apple’s face.  “I’m sorry, I just...”

        “It’s alright, sugarcube.  Ya’ll couldn’t have known.  Now, has Rainbow Dash come around here just yet-”

        Suddenly, the wooden door behind the four ponies and baby dragon banged open as a light blue pegasus flew in low.  She tried to halt her momentum, but she was unable to, crashing into a dense pile of books stacked in a disorderly fashion on the floor.

“Speak of the devil.”  Applejack said while trotting over to her friend.

        Rainbow Dash dizzily sat on her haunches until she shook her head and got a grasp on her surroundings.  She looked up at Applejack with a nervous expression splayed across her muzzle.  “Where’s Twilight,” was the first and only thing to come out of her mouth.

        Applejack blinked.  “She uhh, she left for Canterlot this mornin’.  Say would you mind tellin’ me why the ponies in town were so frantic? Or you for that matter? I get the feeling something else is the matter Rainbow.  I thought it was the storm, but I coulda swore I heard something about Pinkie Pie.  What exactly happened today?”

        Everything Applejack said seemed to go straight over Rainbow Dash’s head after she heard the words ‘Twilight’ and ‘Canterlot’.  By the time the blonde earth pony had finished her line of questioning, Rainbow was already an inch and a half away from Spike’s nose, eyeing him desperately.

        “Hey, you can send letters to the princess, right?  I’ve seen you do it before for Twilight.”  The dragon nodded.  “Well I need you to send something for me, right now.”  Spike raised a claw to argue, but after making eye contact with the extremely close pegasus who was now hovering over him, he simply sighed and fetched a clean parchment and quill.

        Applejack interrupted the two.  “Umm, Dash, you mind explainin’ what’s going on already?”  Instead of an answer, she got a hoof raised up to silence her. Why that little...

“Spike, listen to me carefully, because this is important.”  The look Rainbow gave the little dragon was hard and determined.

“Yeah of course, ready when you are, Dash.” The dragon responded by signaling that he was ready to proceed.

“Dear Princess Celestia; this is one of your loyal subjects, and one of your personal pupil’s close friends, Rainbow Dash.  Two of the other Elements of Harmony are missing, and we have no idea where they could be.  We’ve had the town scramble and form search parties, but we still haven't found them.”  She sighed.  “We’re running out of options and probably time, we need your’s and Twilight’s help right away.”  Rainbow Dash made a gesture and ceased her speaking. Spike signed the bottom, then rolled up the scroll and lit it with his green fire.

Applejack spoke up.  “Rainbow Dash...what happened?”

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

Rainbow’s determined look shattered immediately. The mare shuffled her hooves, looking for all her worth to be incredibly nervous. Maybe even a little scared. “I-I don’t know.  Pinkie and I were swimming with Rarity down at the lake, but then it was like we started getting sucked to the bottom.  I was able to fly out...but Rarity went under before I had a chance to...and Pinkie Pie... went after her.”

Applejack was having trouble getting out the specifics, but she realized it would be pointless to push something out that painful.

“I looked, but there was nopony in the pond, it's small, too! I didn't get it, I still don't! I went into town and got as many ponies as I could to go rescue them... and that’s when I saw the storm cloud over your farm.”  Rainbow sat back on her haunches, nervously rubbing a foreleg with the other.

Applejack cringed, she knew everything there was to know about that part of the story all too well. “Alright,” the farm mare interrupted hesitantly, “well, are they...were they alright?”

Rainbow Dash looked up, her eyes wide and emotionless, then she continued.  “After I rescued you, I flew back and helped the other pegasi drain the lake.  We...we didn’t find Rarity or Pinkie Pie down there, AJ...”

Applejack drew her head back and furrowed her eyebrows, swallowing before asking heatedly,  “What? Well where the hay are they?”

“I’m not sure, but something’s definitely wrong here.  Since when do ponies get pulled into lakes for no reason?  There was nothing strange at the bottom, like a cave. Nothing that could make a rip current like that; it just doesn’t make any sense.”  Rainbow Dash shook her head in disbelief, letting out a depressed sigh, her wings drooping at her sides.

Applejack felt just as perplexed.  To her, something smelled fishy, but whatever happened was beyond her.  From what she could see or make sense of the ways everything happened all at once, this was no accident.  Dangit, this could be bad. Her thoughts were too tired to figure things out right then. She instead turned around to inform her family that it was time to unpack.

 Not a moment later did a lewd belching sound, accompanied by the increased heat of the fire from a dragon’s gut barge into the room.  As well as the faint smell of blueberries.

Applejack flipped around to see a new letter already in the hooves of her flying rainbow friend, who had zoomed through the air to catch it immediately.  The pegasus’ eyes darted back and forth across the letter as her gaze narrowed as she read.

AJ took a hesitant step closer.  “What- What’s it say?”

Rainbow Dash put down the letter and locked eyes with Applejack, shaking her head.  “I- Hm, that's weird. She says Twilight hasn’t made it to Canterlot yet.”  She flapped her wings and flew into the air, huffing in frustration.  “We can’t deal with this right now!  The town’s been searching for hours and we haven’t even gotten close to finding them.  Not to mention the weird weather that we still have no idea where it came from... Where the hay is Twilight? We need her!”

Applejack held up a hoof.  “Hold it right there.”  Her voice matched the surprised tone in her voice.  “What do you mean Twilight hasn’t made it to Canterlot yet?”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head.  “I mean the letter, Celestia wrote that she hasn’t been to the palace yet.  I think her train may have been delayed or something...” The pegasus trailed off, worry and speculation etching around her eyes.

“That don’t make no sense at all; she didn’t even take the train...”  Applejack swallowed after sharing what she knew of Twilight’s last appearance.

“So she took took a pegasus chariot?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No, she teleported from right over there.”  Applejack pointed a hoof to a burnt circle on the floor. “Uh...”

Rainbow looked down at the scorch marks with a worried look, but quickly shook her head in surprise.  “Teleported!?” She exclaimed in amazement. “All the way to- Wow, great, she probably missed then. If not...I’m sure she’s alright.  This is Twilight we’re talking about here; She probably stopped by her parents house... or maybe went shopping.  For all we know, she forgot her invitation and they won’t let her into the castle.”

Applejack was about to rebuke the last thing Rainbow had said, such as pointing out something like the fact that Twilight would never in a million years forget her invitation, and even if she did, the guards knew who she was.  She wanted to say that she would put the princess’ summons ahead of her family and take care of that after she was done with her visit.  But all she could muster up the courage to say was: “Yeah, Rainbow... you’re probably right.”

Suddenly, from behind the earth pony mare, the sound of a sleepy filly yawning interrupted their conversation.  Applejack let out some weak laughter to ease the tenseness of the  atmosphere.

“Ah think Ah better put the little one to bed... and probably Spike too.”  Applejack looked around for the dragon and let out a giggle to see him already fast asleep on a pile of books.  “Come on Applebloom, you need to get some rest.” With that, she ducked down and allowed her sister to ride on her back and made her way to the stairs.

The deep throated yawn of Big Mac shook the room too, and Applejack turned towards her brother.  “Y'all might want to get some sleep too...”  She muttered quietly back to him.

Without so much as a protest, the stallion mumbled: “Eeyup,” and trotted over to the couch.

Applejack continued up the set of stairs and went into Twilight’s room, knowing her friend wouldn’t mind if she used it under the circumstances.  She’d make it up to her all the same, anyway. Carefully, she rolled the filly onto the bed and tucked her under the covers, the little pony already fast asleep.

“G’night Applebloom, and don’t you worry about nothing.  Everythin’ is gonna be just fine...”  Applejack nuzzled her younger kin, whispering the words in a soothing voice, not much unlike her mother used to for her. She tip-hoofed out of the room, flipped the lights off, and closed the door, leaving her little sister to a night that was hopefully filled with pleasant dreams.

Lost and Not Found

Chapter Four : Lost and Not Found

Applejack’s brow slowly furrowed more, until a deep scowl adorned her face while she made her way down the stairs back into the library proper. The sounds of Rainbow talking loudly to Spike, and of Big Macintosh groaning from the couch reached her ears as she entered the room.

“Did you get all of that, Spike?” Rainbow leaned forward on her front hooves, peering around the dragon’s shoulder with her long neck to read the letter. It contained everything she needed to update the Princess about; Twilight’s apparent mis-teleportation and the potion; the pond and mysterious whereabouts of Pinkie Pie, Rarity and after a thought, the tornado that had destroyed Sweet Apple Acres, as well.

“Ah huh, I got it all Rainbow. Just hold on and I’ll send it. You should probably back up by the way, or your plumage might get toasted.” Spike inhaled a deep breath, then lit the top of the letter aflame with magic, and the correspondence disappeared into nothing.

Rainbow snorted in irritation, peering down at the dragon over her snout, then turned to look up at AJ as she came down the flight of stairs. “Applejack, I sent the letter to the Princess about...everything new, and that we don’t know where Twilight is either. I asked her if she could, umm, come here too. I’m sure she will...right?”

Applejack widened her eyes a little in response to what her friend was telling her, but nodded absentmindedly in affirmation. Ah can’t believe it’s really that serious, but it is, isn’t it? “Alright, good work Rainbow. Umm, well...” Breathing raggedly from the return of her nervousness, she stared out the window while trying to think of what to do next. “Ah guess...”

The sound of Rainbow trotting up behind her reached the orange mare’s ears. “We should get out there and help the others, Jack.”

Applejack scowled at hearing the name and ignored the suggestion. “Rainbow Dash, what did I tell you about using that name?  It’s Applejack, or if’n you’re too lazy to say all that, it’s just AJ.”  She could feel herself getting heated, but hid it.  “I’m not some stallion, Rainbow. I’m a mare, if you can recall.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes back in a dramatic fashion.  “Geez, I didn’t know it meant that much to you.  Have you been hangin’ around Rarity recently,Jack?”  She raised an eyebrow in at the farm pony questioningly.  To her, it was obvious her friend was getting agitated over nothing.

Nearby, Spike raised an eyebrow and looked between both mares, confused. Now why are they fighting? Long familiar with irrationally behaving mares, Spike chose that moment to slink away for a bit.

Applejack stomped a hoof and snorted, whirling around.  “Hey!  I am not some prissy filly.  Is it so much to ask for not to be called a colt’s name?  What if I called you...”  she looked at ground, not letting her scowl falter too much, and pondered an appropriately insulting name for the pony pushing her buttons.  “Rainbow...”  Come on Applejack, you can think a something.  What was that name that those bullies used to call her when she was young?...  Rainbow Bash?  Lamebow Smash?...  That one’s not bad.

Before Applejack could retort with what sounded like a good enough substitute, she was interrupted.

“Rainbow...Crash?” Rainbow Dash asked, wearing a smug look.

By the kitchen doorway, Spike whistled inconspicuously and pretended he didn't see the quickly escalating cat fight, instead looking the other way. Without somepony to break the two up, it wouldn’t be pretty. Unwilling to leave the couch, and knowing better than to join in one of his sister's tussles, Big Mac did his best impression of being asleep, alongside Granny Smith, who actually was asleep.

Applejack glared at the pegasus.  She felt like tackling the showy mare and teaching her a lesson about manners right then... but ultimately decided against any physical education.  “Just...keep your muzzle shut right now Rainbow,” she said, trotting past the still smirking mare and towards the door.  “We need to go search with the rest of town for our friends.  It wouldn’t be right if we made them do all the work while we sat on our keisters all night.”

        Rainbow Dash’s expression flattened, then sunk. “Oh, yeah. Right.” She stepped in line behind Applejack, following her out the front door of the Golden Oaks Library.

        “Wait,” Spike’s young voice called out and grabbed the attention of the two mares.  They turned around to catch the purple dragon assistant belching out a second stream of green flames, followed by a small, tan scroll with a golden seal and red ribbon binding it.  Spike reached over and picked up the letter that had fallen onto the ground.

        “What did the Princess say, Spike?” Applejack cantered half the distance back to him.

        As Spike unfurled it, his eyes quickly scanned the writing.  “It says that-” was all he could say before letting out a big ‘oof’ at being tackled by an overexcited weather pegasus.  The two tumbled around for a moment before the mare came out on top, and was able to grasp the letter firmly in her teeth. She allowed herself a victorious grin.

        “Now what in tarnation was that all about?” Applejack stopped moving, and sighed. She turned to shut the door and shook her head in disappointment at her bothersome friend.

        Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash took the letter out of her muzzle and unfurled it with her hooves.  “Quit fooling around, Spike.  And what do you mean AJ? The Princess wrote the two of us back.”

Both Spike and Applejack rolled their eyes in wonder at the mare, the former dusting his scales off.  “Spike here’s just as capable of reading as you, Rainbow.” Applejack chided.

“Yeah yeah… Oh, awesome!  The Princess says she’s coming as soon as she can, and-”

The gentle tapping sound of a hoof, knocking against the front door interrupted the mare.

        Rainbow Dash ceased her explanation and looked towards the door.  “Well, that was faster than I expected...”

They turned their attention to the door while Applejack trotted back over to open it.  The room let out a collective sigh when instead of seeing the brilliant rainbow mane of Princess Celestia, they saw the tired-out, gray mane of Mayor Mare.

        “Oh,” Rainbow Dash said letting out a held breath.  “It’s only you...”

        Whatever expression of sympathy the mayor had displayed upon her reveal was replaced with a glare at the local weather captain.  “What do you mean, ‘only me’?  Who were you expecting?”  Her statement seemed neutral, but her tone hinted she was at least a little offended.

        Applejack butted in.  “Er, nopony, Mayor.  What brings you here at this late hour?”

        “Well,” the sand colored mare started.  “I went looking for you at Sweet Apple Acres, but I couldn’t seem to find it-” Applejack winced, as if struck, but contained her roiling feelings.

The Mayor continued, giving the orange pony a sad look of reprisal. “And then somepony was kind enough to tell me what had happened, and that you were both at the library. I’m deeply sorry for your loss, Applejack. I can’t imagine how this could have happened.”  She gave a pointed glance at the cyan mare in the room. The air was thick with tension; enough that somepony could choke on it.  “Anyway, some of the search teams had commented that they hadn’t seen either of you since this all began, and I merely left to check up on everypony.”

        Applejack nodded, a grateful smile on her face. “That’s great Mayor Mare, more than anypony could ask for. We’re lucky to have neighbors as...neighborly as all of you.” She put a hoof on the other pony’s shoulder, an earnest gesture of thankfulness.

        The mayor returned the look, despite her tired expression. “I suppose then, all there is left to do is to tell you both what I know. You are the Elements of Harmony, after all.”  The mare’s quiet tone continued. Despite the fact that they moved over the topic, it seemed like her irritation had something to do with the deep, dark bags she carried underneath her tired, bloodshot eyes.  “We rounded up just about everypony to search the town’s outskirts and woods, even as far as Whitetail Woods, but…” She sighed, a hoof rubbing behind her frazzled mane. “We couldn’t find anything that gave us any clue to where they could have gone.”

The eyes in the room widened or saddened at her news, each experiencing their own little flash of dread or hopelessness.  Big Mac had his head resting on the back of the couch, watching quietly, while Spike, and a newly arrived Owlowiscious huddled atop the arm chair.

 Applejack was the first to shake it off, though.  “Well, we ain’t done looking, right?  There’s a ton of places we haven’t searched yet. Plus, if they just disappeared without a trace from that pond...they could be anywhere.”

        The mayor sighed and nodded at the thought. “Actually... there’s still one place we haven’t looked through.  It’s why I came here tonight.  We’re about to round up everypony willing and go into the Everfree.”  At the sound of the name, the few ponies and the dragon in the room cringed.  The eerie place didn’t bring up too many fond memories.  “But... first we’re to meet in town square once the pegasi make their last trip over Whitetail.”

        Rainbow Dash took a step closer and straightened up proudly.  “You can count us in, Mayor.  I’ll start rallying the pegasi, and Applejack can talk to the earth ponies and unicorns.”  Applejack nodded in affirmation.

        “Splendid, I’m sure everypony, the few that volunteered that is, will be nice and safe accompanied by you both.  And for the record, I am very sorry about what happened girls.  It’s... it’s been hard on the town already. I know that you all are very close. I hope that we find them before too long.”  Her expression softened and her voice became less shrill.  Her original look of sympathy returned as she trotted back out into the road. Outside, ponies were still frantically trotting every which way, occasionally calling the names of the missing.  The door closed softly behind her.

        Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash.  “Well, I think we need to get a hustle on if we’re gonna organize those folks, RD.”  Her statement was met with a head bob in affirmation before they both trotted towards the door.

         Once again, the gentle tapping sound of a hoof, knocking against the front door entered the room, though it sounded a little heavier this time.

        Dash rolled her eyes.  “What do you want this time, Ma-”  Before she could finish her statement, the door opened and everypony’s face in the room lit up.

        “Princess Celestia!”  Applejack said before ducking down into a bow.  Rainbow Dash followed suit, nearly falling over in her haste.  Over by the couch, Spike did the same, while Big Mac quietly struggled off the couch, so as not to draw his sister’s attention. Granny Smith snored once before quieting again.

The Princess of the Sun’s golden sollerets clopped softly and quietly into the library, an unexpected happenstance considering her larger than average build.  Her flawless features smiled, with just a tint of worry, at her subjects. Though she did not look it, the princess was much older than many believed her to be.  In fact, she was so old, nopony truly knew her true age.  Well, other than her dear sister, of course.

“Please, Applejack, Rainbow, that isn’t necessary.” The Princess smiled briefly and ducked her head down to meet her friends’ eyes, who looked up after a moment. “It is good to see you, all of you,” her gaze swept over the others. “Even tragic as the circumstances are.”

        The bowing ponies looked at one another for a split second, then straightened to greet the princess in a less formal manner.

“Princess Celestia, how did you get here so soon?” Rainbow Dash blurted out, but managed to bite back anymore questions. It had taken a few meetings for the Elements of Harmony to truly become comfortable around the strongest figure in the Equestrian government, but in recent times, a certain fondness accompanied their meetings.  This meeting was more dark and worrying than fond, though.

Celestia chimed her answer. “I left as soon as I received Spike’s first letter, Rainbow Dash. I received your second mid-flight, as a matter of fact.”

By the furniture, Spike briefly thought, I thought that writing looked a little sloppy…

The Princess continued. “The news was very serious. I’ve left my sister in charge for the night so that I could see to this personally.  From the sounds of things… tornados, missing ponies, lives could be at jeopardy. Is it true? Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity are missing?” Her voice was tinged with disbelief as she spoke, something Applejack and Rainbow never heard.

The room hung silent for a moment, just the shouts of ponies from outside barely making their way through the walls, and the multi-hued mane waving majestically in a wind that was nowhere, yet everywhere. You could hear the wind, just barely, if you listened.

        Rainbow Dash scrunched her face in a pained way, and finally answered, “Yes, Princess. It’s pretty bad, but I don’t think Pinkie and Rarity are...well, I don’t know what to think! We can’t find them though.” All the while she spoke, her tail lashed erratically out behind her, swiping at the air. ”As for Twilight… she just messed up another one of her egghead experiments, again. I bet she’s okay, probably...” Sitting down, and remembering her manners, she kept her wings furled at her sides, rather than hovering while speaking to the Princess. With effort, her tail stilled itself as well.

        The Princess of Day watched the mare quietly, then nodded. “I see. Thank you for staying safe yourselves, my little ponies. We will find our friends, but in the meantime, I must ask you to remain strong for them. For now we should hurry, time may be of the essence.” She shook her head back and forth as she finished, a pained expression replacing her stoic demeanor.  “Tell me in greater detail than what was in your letter, please, how did this happen? Are there any clues you may not have mentioned?”

Applejack and Rainbow frowned quietly for a moment, then the farm pony spoke up first. “Should Ah start at the beginning, Princess?”

“Yes, that is fine, Applejack.” Princess Celestia gave the smaller mare her full attention.

AppleJack coughed, clearing her throat before speaking. “Alright, well, besides the weird weather yesterday, and maybe some bad luck at the picnic we all went to… Ah think it only just started earlier today.“ She put a forlorn hoof on her hatless head, remembering that one of her only mementos of her folks was now gone. “Twilight and Ah were inside the library, and she was working on this new potion or something.  We tested it, and it seemed to work fine on me, and her too when she took it.  Ah guess something went wrong, though.  Come to think of it, her teleport did look like it went a might wonky.”

Applejack gave Rainbow a worried look, then pressed on. “Twi’ said she was going to Canterlot to see you, Princess, but with you sayin’ that she never made it... well, Ah don’t think she would’ve gone anywhere else on purpose.  Just ain’t in her nature to be late. Twilight could be... well, she could be anywhere really, I guess”…The thought that something worse may have happened to Twi’ was quickly put in a chest, locked with a key, then buried in a hole, and had a house built over it, lickity split. “That potion we mentioned in the letter could have just made her overshoot her target a little bit.  Who knows, she could have just arrived in Canterlot right now.”

Celestia regarded the straight backed, confident farm mare in front her. Beneath that confidence though, the Princess saw the worry just barely hanging at the corners of her eyes. “Perhaps... There is a chance you are right about that, Applejack.”

The Princess mulled over the information briefly before nodding.  “I will have to speak to Luna about locating the others, as well as Twilight in particular...” She hesitated for a second, as if to say more about her sister, but instead moved on. “For now, what of Pinkie Pie and Rarity?” Her voice was not the normal, cheerful tone, bright enough to rival her own sun which she always used when talking to them. The change of something so familiar was like a blow to the other ponies.

        Applejack’s voice softened a degree and continued.  She arrived to the conclusion that she and Rainbow Dash weren’t the only ones taking it hard.  “We’re certain that they’re not where Rainbow... where Rainbow thought she would find them, in that pond.”

        Celestia looked from their tired faces and glanced towards the shut front door. “Tell me, has the town been searching for them long?”

The two smaller mares met each other’s eyes, then looked out of the window into the darkness of nightfall.  Ponies were still frantically ambling about, holding firefly lanterns or levitating them. All the while they still shouted at each other and the names of the missing.  They noticed a few new additions to the search parties, however, when multiple golden-armored guards galloped by, forming organized teams.

Rainbow answered the Princess. “We’ve been at it ever since late afternoon, Princess, but we haven’t found them yet. I don’t even think anypony is looking for Twilight, either. We just figured out she was missing at all from your letter.”

Princess Celestia’s expression darkened some, and she stood up to walk to the window, staring out of it quietly. “Rainbow Dash, I know it may be difficult, but please, tell me everything about your friend’s disappearances. It may be our only hope of finding Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Any detail, large or small.”

“Pinkie and Rarity…” Rainbow muttered the names, still struck by the fact they were even missing, and for so long. “Okay, I can do that, uhm… Pinkie and I were just swimming with Rarity when something dragged them under.” She swallowed, and a dark air overtook the normally upbeat pegasus. Her explanation went on to cover everything she could think of, from Pinkie’s wagon sinking into the pond, to Rarity’s ruined feathery hat. After the little stuff, she spoke about the riptide, and how strong it had felt. “I-I tried to save them, but... I just...” She trailed off. Two memories drifted by, of Rarity staying under the water so long Dash and Pinkie had become scared, and the other of Pinkie disappearing next. “I’m sorry Princess.  I’m so, so sorry. It’s all my fau-”

        Celestia, now beside the distraught pony, lent her subject a consoling hug, and then a grateful look. Softly, she said, “It’s alright, my little pony.  I’m sure you did everything you possibly could have done.  It is difficult, but you mustn’t blame yourself for things that are out of your control.”

        Rainbow’s head sunk low.  “Yes, Princess.”

        “You have already searched the pond where you last saw them, as you said in the letter?” Celestia looked between the two present Elements of Harmony, still eager to find answers.

        Rainbow answered first, some of her pep returned, false as it was. “Sure did.  I looked, and looked but... I couldn’t find them, Princess. It wasn’t that deep though, like I said in the letter! It didn’t make any sense at all. Anyway, I had to give up, but... I even gathered the pegasi myself and we drained the pond that the three of us were swimming in... There wasn’t anypony underneath the water, Princess!”  Her speech was becoming more and more frantic until she finished shakily. Calming some, she went on. “I was happy at first, I figured maybe they had gotten out after I left, or something else. Maybe Rarity managed to pull off a teleport spell?”

        Applejack gave Rainbow a doubtful frown. There ain’t no way Ms. Prissy-Pants managed to do something other than stick two pieces of cloth together with that horn of hers. A pang of sadness hit her heart, and she added another thought. But I really hope she did, consarnit…

        Celestia’s eyes hardened as she listened to the explanation. “There was no sign of anything else? Magic used, perhaps?”

Rainbow looked up and shook her head quickly. “N-not that I saw.”

        Celestia nodded once again, although it was quicker this time. The other two mares did not pick up on it, but even she was beginning to become flustered with worry. “Applejack, Rainbow,” she began, less balanced than before, “what can you tell me about the tornado you wrote of?”

        Applejack scowled at just the mention of the calamitous thing that had taken her home from her, and had almost taken her family, too. She answered right away. “Not much, Princess.” She spoke more flatly then she’d meant to, so she softened her voice before continuing. “Rainbow and the pegasi weren’t responsible though, so I think it came out of the Everfree like she said it did. It’s the only explanation that makes a lick of sense. Though, I can’t say I know why, nothing like this has happened that I’ve ever heard of in the history of Ponyville, and I listen to Granny Smith’s stories every night.” She swallowed from the memory of one particular detail that came back to her, something she felt she could never forget. “It was enormous, Princess, biggest twister I’ve ever seen. It had to have been wider than a whole kilometer.”

        The diarch’s eyes grew darker as she listened. Her muzzle opened to speak, then closed again slowly.

        Applejack waited a second, then added, “Rainbow said she could have tamed it with a few dozen Pegasi, but honestly, to put it into perspective your highness, I don’t think a hundred pegasi could’ve stopped it, maybe not even...a thousand.”

        Rainbow’s brow furrowed, and she scowled at the ground. Not because she was upset at AJ for declaring that, but because that sounded about right. The weather had never scared her before this, but it did now. “Do you think it’s connected, Princess?” The pegasus looked up, face squinted in dismay.

Celestia took in a deep breath, and put on a sad, but calming smile. “I do.” Not letting the statement sink in negatively, she went on hurriedly.  “You did the right thing by contacting me, though I’m afraid I must admit I am yet at a loss.”  She looked towards Rainbow.  “Judging from what you have told me, Rainbow, this does not strike me as something natural. There may be foul play ahoof, I fear. Especially if so many of you were targeted. We can’t be for certain of anything yet.”

“You mean somepony’s behind this?” Rainbow’s eyes widened to their fullest. She hadn’t even considered the idea as of yet.  If there’s some jerk raining on our parade and coming after us… We could all be in danger.  “But who could be responsible for this? All of this stuff is...well, totally unrelated, it doesn’t make any sense at all, Princess! Uhm, ma’am.” She grinned a little sheepishly at the end, but straightened up, her look becoming serious.

“I cannot say, Rainbow.”  The Princess sighed.  “Yes, I think something of that nature could be at work.  I will tell you both all I know as soon as I learn something.  For now… it could be that somepony... or something is trying to separate the elements. If there is, they’re succeeding.”

Another eerie, heavy silence hung in the room, punctuated by the sound of Spike’s teeth chattering from the other side of the room. He quietly dismissed himself, and scurried away into the kitchen on his short legs.

Applejack worked up the will to speak again first. She flickered her gaze from the Princess, to around the room, then spoke her mind. “Well, we can’t know about that until we at least look. Princess, is there a spell you can cast to find them? Twilight and the others?”

Celestia looked to the Element of Honesty, her expression shifting to a trepidant look. “...Perhaps, not readily, but perhaps. Unfortunately, there is not always simply a magical solution to every problem. My sister and I do have some tools at our disposal, though. If our missing friends are near, we will find them. If they are far...we will find them slightly slower.” She gave both of the other mares a motherly smile as she finished speaking. A followup question came quickly though. “Tell me, had anypony left to search the Everfree yet?”

        Applejack thought of the stallions and mares that had been forming up outside, but had yet to leave. She shook her head.  “No, ma’am, not yet. I think we were going to, though. It seemed a logical place to look.”

        “I see.” Celestia paused a moment, thinking. “I will summon more of the guard then, and we will investigate ourselves. I did see ponies outside shouting about doing just that… I had them stick to searching elsewhere. There is no need for them to endanger themselves. Though it is very noble, I cannot allow that sort of recklessness.” She looked towards the shut door behind herself with a serious expression. “Of the many places across the land, the Everfree has proven to be one of a few, dangerous oddities.  Harmony is resisted there as you know, and the wild thinks for itself.  It may even share the blame for the disappearance of Rarity and Pinkie. Now, we should be on our...”  Celestia stopped for a moment and furrowed her brow, still facing the doorway. She abandoned getting ready to leave and turned to face the Elements of Loyalty and Honesty once more.

        “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, where is the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy?” Celestia wore a calm expression, but her brow was drawn tight.

        Applejack stared back silently, before flicking her eyes over to Rainbow, who spoke up after a slight hesitation.

“Uhm, she’s searching, probably.” Rainbow replied with a measure of doubt in her voice.

The Princess nodded, and after watching her subject for a moment hesitantly asked, “Probably, Rainbow?”

Applejack turned to face her friend, expression widening some from what everypony was thinking already, but had not yet said.

Rainbow Dash stammered at first, but regained her focus. “I- I haven’t seen her yet today, but it’s just like her to avoid large crowds, or stay hidden in them.  She might be out there with everypony or the other pegasi right now.”

        Celestia broke her gaze for a moment as if she were contemplating something, then spoke.  “You’d better check to make sure, Rainbow.  I’m afraid that these events may be more than what they seem, as I said.  Two disappearances is a coincidence... but three is a trend, my little pony.”  She looked back to Rainbow Dash who seemed jittery, her front legs dancing and giving away her worry.  Perhaps it was just occurring to her that the yellow pegasus may be in trouble.

        “Yeah… Yeah I’ll just go get her right now, if she’s at her house… then we’ll join you both.” Rainbow hardened her look, putting on a mask of confidence.

        “Very well. Hurry, my little pony.”  Celestia straightened her back in a regal manner after speaking.  Her horn lit up, getting the door for the pegasus.

With an affirmation, Rainbow reared up, saluted and practically knocked the open door behind the Princess off its hinges in the wake of her speedy departure.

Once the air had settled, and her ears popped, Celestia turned back to the orange mare.  “That leaves us.  Before we join the search effort, tell me, Applejack, do you know anything else about what happened?  What happened this afternoon?”

        “Well,” the orange farm mare started.  “After Twi’ teleported out of the library, I went back home to finish harvestin’ my crops.  After that, things started to get a little... dark, Princess.” She swallowed a lump in her throat, recalling everything that had lead up to… possibly the scariest moment of her life.

        The Princess tilted her head, catching the word used with hesitation.  “Dark, Applejack? In what way?” She thought it had still been daylight during that time, unless she was mistaken.

        Applejack shook her head.  “Ah mean, the sky turned black, pitch black, Princess.  I’ve never seen a storm like that before in all my life.  Also, before I knew it, it was raining cats and dogs, and the wind started to pick up a might.  And that’s not even the strangest part.  Ah was nearly killed by that tornado that tore through mah farm, and my family was caught up in it too.  If it weren’t for Rainbow, I- I really could have died.” The realization of that threatened to make her legs shake.

        The Princess looked a bit taken back by the in depth explanation of the weather related phenomena.  Her expression creased more, continuing to stare out into space.

        Applejack shuffled her hooves beneath herself anxiously. Never before had she seen the Princess look so shocked from just words. When the Princess finally spoke, it nearly made her jump.

        “Come, Applejack, we should join the hunt for your friends. If Rarity and Pinkie were underwater… That complicates matters, but I fear there is worse yet to consider-”

        A timid, slightly juvenile voice of a young dragon vied for attention, pulling the two ponies from walking out the door. “Uhm, excuse me, Princess?” Spike stood by the wall, looking for all his worth to be horribly nervous.

        “Spike,” Princess Celestia’s eyes widened. “I apologize, I nearly forgot you. You will be alright on your own for a little bit, won’t you?” She leaned down and nuzzled the dragon’ cheek reassuringly.

        “Oh, yes,” Spike wrung his tail in his claws, weathering the motherly treatment the diarch gave him. “I’m not worried about that, besides, AJ’s family is staying here right now so I’m not alone… Anyway, it’s just, about Twilight. It sort of sounds like you all thought she might be in trouble or something, too. Twilight’s...Twilight, though! She’ll be fine…right?” The little lizard trailed off, not looking at anypony, just the floor, and the scorch mark his adoptive sister had left.

        Celestia follow his eyes, staring at the charred remnant. “It will be alright Spike, you must stay strong, for her, and your friends.” She smiled, sadly, down towards him. “Can you do that for us? We may need your help, after all.”

        Spike’s uncertain face strengthened, and he looked up brazenly. “I can do that, yeah Princess.” He grinned, claws planted at his sides and puffing out his chest.

“I am glad.” Princess Celestia chuckled and straightened up. “Take care, we will return soon.”

With that, Applejack followed the Princess out of the library, both of them trotting quickly, and Spike waving farewell from the doorway.

The Princess waited politely until his goodbyes to Applejack were finished, then curtly spoke to the orange mare. “We’ll make our way to Rainbow Dash and stay together, my little pony. I should have sent guardsponies with her.  I am more uneasy than I had thought to make such a mistake. I don’t want you girls out of my sight, tonight.”

Applejack stared up at her. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about Rainbow, Princess. She’s slipperier than a rattle snake swimming in a grease trap at the sunday fair.” She let out a nervous chuckle from her comparison, but nonetheless the words spoken by the Princess had shaken her. Holy cow… Just what in the name of tarnation is going on? In her mind, she hoped quietly that her friends were all alright, all of them.

…

Granny Smith’s head shot up, and a snort punctuated her sudden complaint. “Huzzah-wha? Darnit, Applejack, keep it down, I’m tryin’ to sleep!” Barely a second later, she was drooping her head once more in the chair.

Big Mac exhaled a tired breath, then looked back up at the unfamiliar ceiling from the couch. “Eeyup.”

        The wind tousled Rainbow Dash’s currently shadowed multi-colored hair while she tore through the clouds over Ponyville.  She passed several other pegasi, a few of which tried to stop her and ask various things; how they could help, or if somepony had been found, in most cases. In her haste, she ignored them entirely, only taking the time to feel a little bad about being rude.

Rainbow just kept flying, low, fast, and with a cause. Despite her extremely tired wings, she rocketed towards Fluttershy’s cottage.  If the Princess sounded so dire, then... Her thoughts trailed off, unable to comprehend something that serious. The last time anything had made Celestia speak so to them had been Discord.

        Rainbow Dash felt troubled from the thought, and flew faster.  Over the next road, she could see the little bridge that led up to a small, out of the way cottage. A few animals were still awake, and walking around the yard in the bright moonlight.  That was her first sign that something was wrong.  If the animals were out this late, that meant Fluttershy hadn’t put them to bed.  And Fluttershy never forgets to put her critters to bed.

        With a quick whip of her wings, the weather mare flew onto the front porch, landing with a dull thud.  As fast as she could, she grabbed the door handle and swung it open.  She ran inside.

        “Fluttershy!” Rainbow shouted, voice full of worry. She had meant to sound angry that she hadn’t shown up, but it hadn’t stuck. She galloped into the living room.  “Fluttershy, where are you!?”  Her voice was raised, but no reply came.  Not waiting, the pony clambered up the stairs to her left and went into the only other room in the house.  “Fluttershy, come out!”

        Rainbow’s eyes glazed over as she looked into the empty bedroom.  The bed was made, the floors were clean, and there was no evidence that anypony had been there in a while. “Dang It,” she hissed, turning around and sprinting back down the stairs.  “She must be with the searchers.... yeah, that must be it.”

        Princess Celestia gestured to her side with one wing. “Applejack, you’ll be riding with me tonight.”

        Applejack nodded and quickly hopped up beside the Princess in the golden chariot.  Interestingly enough, it had only just arrived as they left the Golden Oaks library.

After leaving Twilight’s home, the two had ventured out into the lantern-lit streets, a plethora of armored guards standing at attention.  The ponies ranged from all shapes and manner of descriptions, but every mane was cut and hung in the same fashion through the helmets resting on their heads.

Amidst the stallions that made up Canterlot’s own guardsponies, were several of the darker toned, mysterious bat-winged ponies. They mingled with guards speaking to citizens of the town, helping as much or more than everypony else.

One mare, tall and dressed in an armor indicative of being at the top of Equestria’s military, cantered up to the Princess, just then reaching them both.

The Princess inclined her head ever so slightly to acknowledge her approach. “Captain, please report.”

“Your highness,” the powerfully built mare spoke respectfully, bowing beforehoof. “The search teams from Ponyville are organized and are looking across the farmlands and eastern forests, and the Whitetail Wood, as you’ve ordered. Each group has at least two guards, and nopony was sent to the Everfree, as commanded.”

The Princess nodded, “Very good, thank you my little pony.”

The captain straightened further, staring ahead at nothing as was protocol. “What are your next orders, your highness?”

        Princess Celestia regarded the pink coated earth pony, and responded curtly. “Form large groups of scouts with the ponies present, not too small, it may be dangerous, then send for more guards from the capitol.  I want the entire border of the Everfree surrounding Ponyville to be searched for the missing ponies.  Ensure everypony is aware they are the Elements of Harmony, and that they know their descriptions.  I want everypony to know that we are looking for Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy. On the double, Captain.”

        The straight backed mare held up a hoof in salute before turning around and barking orders at her fellow guards.

        Applejack looked up at the Princess. “Fluttershy? But she might just be at home.”

        “Perhaps, but until we know, at least now her group may bring her back to us, if she is with them.” The Princess spoke softly, almost not loud enough to be heard over the military surrounding them both.

Orderly and swiftly, the guardsponies all divided and marched or flew toward the edge of town. One team, entirely made up of Pegasi, remained by the princess, with only a smattering of guards milling in the square still.  A ways away, the captain began loudly telling a pegasus orders to have sent back to the capitol.

“Everypony,” Princess Celestia called out over the heads of the armored stallions and mares.  “I need you all to keep watch over this pony, Applejack-” she pointed at the orange mare for emphasis, “-as well as her friend, Rainbow Dash, at all costs.  They are your top priority, the second, yourselves, and thirdly, me.  Understo-?”

Applejack was caught off guard by the last sentence and opened her muzzle before she could stop herself to speak out against such an order, interrupting her in the process. “Now wait just a second Princess, you can’t just put yourself at...”

Both the Princess and remaining guards, all stallions, regarded her. The attention got the best of Applejack, given the situation. “Er, nevermind… sorry.”

Celestia looked back at her guards. “That will be all.” Leaning down some to Applejack, she raised the part of her mane pulled over her face, and gave the shorter mare a wink. “I can take care of myself, Applejack.” She smiled coyly.

Applejack grinned sheepishly up in return. “Of course, Princess.”

        The stallions gave a quick salute in their long line, then dispersed in a band around the two mares present.  Together, the group set off, following after Celestia’s chariot, which in turn was directed to follow the other guards that had already left.

        Applejack, however, had begun feeling a little less safe than she had before.  Despite having an entire... squad of the best trained royal guards in Equestria, the sudden realization of danger was brought to mind.  Before, it was just a case of missing ponies, but now... now she knew that somepony may be out to get her.  After all, tornados don’t just make themselves, and lakes don’t try to swallow ponies whole while they’re just having an afternoon swim.  At least, she didn’t think they did.

        Still, Applejack stayed side-by-side with the princess in the chariot, hoping that somehow they would find Rarity and Pinkie Pie and put an end to all of this.  Maybe everything is just a coincidence, and maybe all of this worrying is for nothin’. I can’t imagine anything being worse than that storm coming so close to Ponyville, after all.Who knows, by the end of the night, Pinkie could be throwing a “We were found!” party for all the searchers.  She’ll set up games and there’ll be cake... Oh, and the Apple family cellar survived, so I could even break out a little bit of my ‘special’ apple ciderto sell.  After all, she considered, her family had to get money to raise another house, barn, and replant all of the orchards.

While thinking over just how many bits that might cost to preoccupy herself from worrying, she peered over the edge of the chariot, watching the fields slowly pass underneath her. Applejack heaved a heavy sigh and sagged a bit, then straightened quickly, eyes looking up at Celestia. She didn’t wish to distract her highness from finding a solution by making her think she wasn’t at one hundred percent.

        All of the optimistic thinking had only reminded Applejack of all the work that needed to be done.  An entire orchard gone.  Poof.  Just like that.  Most of those trees had been older than me.  Consarnit, a whole darn century of work, destroyed… I’m going to be owing Apple Strudel and everypony else a huge I.O.U. after this… Apple trees took a long time to grow, and it looked like Sweet Apple Acres would be selling more corn than anything in the near future.

        “Is something bothering you, Applejack?”  The voice of Celestia interrupted the orange mare’s train of thought, and it was only then that she realized they had been flying in complete silence ever since they left the library.

Applejack looked up, prepared to confess that she was stuck thinking about how her home had been destroyed.  That the place where she grew up was just a leveled field of smashed apples and broken trees.

        Rather than bring up the fate of her home once again, she answered with something simpler.  “Nothin’,” she said.  “Nothin’ at all, Princess.”

        Celestia gave a sentimental look to the mare but decided not to press the pony. If she needed to speak her thoughts, Celestia knew, then she would.

        One of the pegasi whistling overhead and around them came closer than the rest. A couple of the guards moved to bar the newcomer’s way, but flew aside when it became clear in the luminous moonlight, that it was Rainbow Dash.

        Celestia and Applejack immediately took note that she was alone.

        “Rainbow, you have been gone a long time, did something happen?” Celestia regarded the pegasus with a consoling look, failing to hide her concern. She already suspected the worst.

        Rainbow panted, sucking in heavy breaths, her mane was matted against her brow from exertion. “I-” She fluttered alongside them, her forelegs resting on her hind ones while she caught her breath. “I looked in every group I could find, P-Princess.” A cough escaped her. “She wasn’t at home, either, I couldn’t...find Fluttershy.”

        Applejack felt her face and expression sink as if on cue. Every part of her honestly wanted to cry a little, or a lot right then. It wasn’t just from the wind blowing in her face, either. Her thoughts flashed across everything that had happened in such a short amount of time, namely, her world tumbling down around her.

        Celestia took flight and moved for the exhausted speedster. “You’ve done very well Rainbow, please rest.”

        “B-but Princess, Fluttershy!” Rainbow protested, while she was at the same time hovered into the chariot by the royal equine’s magic. Applejack and Rainbow both stared up at her.

        The Princess’ wings flapped slowly, a sharp contrast to the smaller pegasi mares and stallions around her. The sensation of the magic keeping her aloft could be felt by everypony present, even the lone earth pony. “I already sent word to the search parties, Rainbow, and the guard searches for her even now along with the other Elements. There is nothing more we can do but continue to look ourselves, and you need your rest.” A final smile punctuated her words, signifying clearly that that, was that.

        Rainbow’s worried expression softened some, and she nodded reluctantly. “R-right.” She turned to her friend after the Princess faced forward again, their party still soaring towards the Everfree. “So, AJ, how are you holding up?”

        Applejack looked down from the Princess flying beside them, whose radiance inherently brightened the night around her. “I’m doin’ just fine, Rainbow,” smiling reassuringly, Applejack put a hoof on her friend’s still heaving shoulder. It was clear the pegasus had been going all out while flying. “What about yourself?”

        “I’m scared.” Rainbow spoke, too quickly from her perspective. She winced and leaned away some, putting her weight on the wall of the chariot. “I- I don’t know what to- Four of our friends- Where are they!?” After several attempts at starting to speak, she finally pushed out the simple, panicked question.

        Princess Celestia peaked at the two mares from the corner of her eye, struggling to keep her own expression straight. She remained quiet.

        Applejack frowned and looked at the chariot floor in thought, unable to come up with something to say just then.

        A pegasus guardspony shouted that the Everfree was fast approaching.

        Both mares looked up and ahead of themselves. “Ah dunno, Rainbow, but we’ll find out, together, alright?” She looked over, managing, somehow, to put on a confident, brazen look; the type that they always wore when facing the worst of the worst that chaos or anything or anypony else managed to drum up for them to fight. “Wherever those girls might be, we’ll find them.”

        Rainbow stared back a moment, despondently, exhaustion still ringing her eyes and sagging her muzzle’s expression. She took in a deep breath of air though, and her trademarked, cocky grin appeared as if by magic. “You’re right AJ, we’ll find them, together.”

        Their hooves slammed together, a gesture the two had perfected over the last two years, and could now do purely on instinct.

        The search continued on, an hour passed, and then another, until Luna’s night was nearing its end.  It seemed like the whole town of Ponyville was out looking. Everywhere, lights from unicorns not satisfied with the moonlight lit the greenery. Pegasi zoomed through the air at break-neck speeds, stirring up winds while searching on.

The calls of Rarity’s, Twilight’s, Fluttershy’s, and Pinkie’s names echoed across the landscape, only serving as a painful reminder that they were missing.  For hours they flew, scanning the ground. After meeting up with another of the guard squads, they entered the Everfree and walked, instead.

The guards protected the party against anything that dared to threaten them, which wasn’t much.

After all, Celestia’s magic and light illuminated the forest for what was likely the first times in centuries. Her horn stretched the magic far, bathing every shadow in a magical glow. The ponies looked diligently, calling out, casting spells if they could, and not leaving a single stone unturned. Some of the guards even requested to look deeper.

At one point, Celestia’s party nearly walked into a patch of poison joke. Thankfully, Applejack spotted it before she took that one, nasty step that might have ended badly.

A pack of timberwolves had been heard, howling far off in the distance, and during that distanced howl three had attacked from their stealth. The howl had been a clever distraction, while the massive creatures sought to kill and rend the ponies treading through their territory.

What they faced off against was something akin to overkill, as the guard and Celestia all blasted them apart, dispelling the chaotic magic that held together the spiteful foliage.

        Time wore on, and not so much as a yellow feather or tuft of pastel colored hair was anywhere to be found.

Before Celestia stopped to raise, she turned from the search and looked toward her immediate companions.  Their voices were growing hoarse, and their throats sore from the several hours of tireless searching. “Applejack,“ The Princess turned from where she was seated upon a downed log, belonging to a tree long since dead.

The earth pony bit back the call for Twilight she had been about to try again. “Uh, yes, Princess?” She blinked her eyes, working out the bothersome weighty feeling they had.

“I believe it is in yours and Rainbow’s best interest to retire for the night, Applejack. In addition, after you both have rested, I wish you to accompany me back to Canterlot. Your family needs accommodations as well, and they will have them if they choose to come as well.” She held the obviously tired earth pony’s gaze in silence a moment, speaking again before the very easy to notice objection could come out. “Do not worry about the search. I do not tire like normal ponies, and I will be searching diligently well into tomorrow. Soon though, I will leave, and I wish you to accompany me. We need to get to the bottom of things.” Now, she let Applejack reply.

“Bottom of thi-?” Applejack began, nearby, Rainbow fluttered out of the trees, then spotted  them. “But Princess, I thought we hadn’t figured somepony’s behind this yet. We don’t even have any clues. Can’t they still just be missing?” Her thoughts felt like sludge, running over the coarse ground that made up her memories.

“Yes,” the Princess spoke softly. “However, it is better to err on the side of caution. You’re right, we don’t have any clues, nothing. Were these simple disappearances, I believe there would be something, my dear Applejack.” Standing up from the log, the Princess strode over to a pair of the guard and began whispering to a guard.

Applejack furrowed her brow in thought over the words, concentrating on Celestia’s back. A hoof poked her side, turning, she met Rainbow’s magenta eyes, glowing in the ambient light of Celestia’s glow spell.

“What did the Princess say?” The pegasus turned her head, the mane atop it full of leaves, twigs, and in even more need of a brushing than usual.

I’m willin’ to bet my mane needs it even worse Applejack frowned, and faced forward again. “She wants us to leave soon, and after we get some sleep, go with her to Canterlot. My family, too. She says it will be safe there…”

Rainbow blanched, jaw dropping. “What!? What the hay, Princess!? We can’t leave the forest yet! Let alone Ponyville!”

The Princess in question was just approaching them both again, looking down with a concerned look at her subjects. “Rainbow, listen to me, please. You’ll do them both no good out here if you are at risk as well.  You will be safe at the capitol. Meanwhile, the search will continue. Two more sets of eyes won’t make the difference.”

Rainbow bit her lip and sat back on her haunches, unable to keep her face from showing more sadness than she wanted. Her hoof came up and scraped at her eyes.

Celestia calmly looked between the two mares, and spotted the orange pony of the pair nodding off. “Applejack... I believe it’s time you returned to Ponyville, along with Rainbow. The guard will continue the search, and soon we’ll have fresh soldiers, specialized unicorns and trackers to help our efforts-”

        Applejack’s jerked awake and shook her head. “But Princess, Ah can’t do that!  They’re still out there!  They could be lost... lonely... hungry, and in need of a heap of help.  Ah can’t quit just yet...”  Her eyes seemed to gain weight as she looked at the white princess in front of her.  How long have I been awake for? Got up before the crack of dawn and… and...

Rainbow wasn’t keen on leaving just yet at all. “Princess, I’m fine to keep looking, really! I napped all morning before I went pranking with Pinkie Pie, honest. I’m good to go!” For good measure, she stood up on her hind legs and jabbed at the air a few times with her front hooves. Unfortunately, after the third jab, she nearly fell backwards, just a little unsteady.

        Deftly catching the pegasus with her magic and setting her back on four hooves, Celestia held her worried look between the two mares. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash... you both need rest.  I’m sorry, but you have to go back home. I will collect you before long, so please, rest.”  She turned to the guards that had followed her, one in particular standing up tall.  “Please, carry out what I asked, and escort them back to Ponyville, take the chariot.  Be diligent, and be very careful.  We still don’t know what could have caused this incident.”

        “Yes, your highness,” the gruff stallion answered, saluting.  Quickly, he trotted over to Applejack and whispered in her ear that it was time to leave.  She gave a curt, half-asleep nod, and followed him, along with the hesitant weather mare.

        Rainbow gave a final, conflicted look back at Celestia, then turned to go as well, hooves dragging.

        Celestia stood by, watching them disappear into the thick of the woods which led to the township of Ponyville.  She sighed, turned to the remaining few ponies there, and motioned them to keep searching.  Quickly, her attention to the sky overhead, and she began readying herself to raise the sun. It was going to be a long day, but hopefully, they would find something.

        The chariot flew Applejack towards the town, and landed in front of Sugarcube corner. A mass of guards were formed in the village square a little ways from it, which seemed to be their target.

Applejack was tired, and near the point where she herself was about to lose it.  She had seen a few ponies lose their composure over the course of the search, but she remained steadfast... or so she hoped.  Regardless of her appearance on the outside, on the inside, she felt like curling up into a ball and letting loose a torrent of sorrow.  They had barely scraped the surface of the Everfree and they had searched for hours on end.  She imagined that eventually, they would have to put the search on hold, and after that, she just didn’t know what would happen.

All the farm mare could think about was how terrible her friends must be feeling, what they might be going through on their own.  They could be off in danger, hurt and scared in who-knows-where.  Every moment she wasted was another moment she saw her friends suffering.  And if Applejack was honest, that was the worst feeling she could ever get: watching as her friends drowned in misery.

“Ah’m sorry, what?” Applejack raised her head to look at Rainbow and the stallion that was apparently her ‘bodyguard’ for the night. The stallion was walking away slowly.

“He asked us to wait here just a sec-” Rainbow let out a massive yawn, practically stuffing her hoof in her mouth to try and quell it. “-second. Nuts to that, I’m gonna get a cupcake. I kinda... I just need something.” With that, the other mare trotted quickly into the nearby Sugarcube corner, overall looking worse for wear than usual.

Applejack stared after her in a daze, the weight of things making her pause and just stand still, hanging in the buzz of extreme tiredness. Rainbow… She thought.

        Heaving a sigh from past the point of exhaustion, Applejack followed, and pushed open the door to be greeted by the friendly chime of a bell; welcoming fluorescent lights began attacking her sight from above.  Despite the overall cheerful scenery of the store, nopony inside seemed to be in all that great a mood.  Most were appeared to be resting up from the as of yet failed search, one that had gone on until the early morning hours.  One mare in particular seemed more distraught than the others, and stood out.

        Sitting in the corner with eyes black from crying with mascara on, the mare Applejack recognized as Rarity’s mother sat sullenly, staring hopelessly at a cup of coffee at her table.  Applejack’s heart sank at the sight, realizing that somepony was taking it much harder than she was. And she herself was feeling pretty awful about the whole thing.

        Before she knew it, Applejack had walked up to the crying mare, sitting across from her as delicately as possible. It took a minute for her to be noticed, but eventually, the mare lifted her head a little.

        “Hey, sugarcube...” Applejack said.  “Are you doing alright?”

        The mare didn’t respond; she only shook her head slowly.  Applejack realized that if she would speak, she would likely break down into an uncontrollable sob at the loss of her daughter.

        “Listen,” Applejack started.  “I know things look bad right now, and I completely understand your fear about all of this.  But you have to stay strong for your daughter.  You owe it to her to do that.”  Rarity’s mother teared up as she stared at Applejack.  “And nothing is for certain.  For all we know, we could find the missing ponies within the day, and you could have your daughter back, making dresses and calling ponies “uncouth” until they all take showers on the spot.”

        Rarity’s mother let out a small, weak laugh.  Her voice was scratchy, but Applejack thought she might be a little bit better.  Maybe she just needed a pony to talk to.

        “And don’t worry about your daughter. I know Rarity better than most ponies know their siblings.  She’s tough whether or not she wants you to think so. I’ve even seen her hold her own against a full grown manticore!”  Rarity’s mother’s eyes widened.  Oops, maybe I shouldn’t have told her that...

        “Er, I mean, she can take care of herself... and you know that even if she couldn’t for some reason, she still has Pinkie Pie with her, hopefully.  At least they were together last time anypony saw them.  And if I know Pinkie Pie, then I can be absolutely certain that nothing bad is going to happen to them.”

        The crying mare’s gaze softened, and a wave of relief seemed to pass over her.  Before she knew it, a light smile graced her muzzle.  “Thank you...” she said.

        “No problem,” Applejack replied with a smile.  “But honestly, I was just telling the truth.  Your daughter is going to be okay, alright?”

        “My-my daughter?”  Her face paled and her eyes returned to their widened state.  “MY DAUGHTER!”  Instantly, she got up, knocking the cup of coffee she had been sipping to the floor.

        Applejack reeled back.  “Uh, what?  Wait, what’s going on?  What about Rarity?”

        Rarity’s mom turned back to her, her face absolutely struck with horror.  “Not Rarity,” she said in a panic.  “I forgot all about Sweetie Belle! I need to go and check on her!”  As quick as her hooves could carry her, the pink unicorn galloped out the door, which swung back and forth from the force of her leaving.

Applejack stared after her. Oh. Summoning up some remaining strength, she followed suit on instinct.

By the counter, a certain distracted cyan pegasus continued to eat a chocolate cupcake with passion fruit pink frosting.

In the street, Applejack quickly caught up to the unicorn mare, tired as she was, and galloped closely behind her.  Despite the fact that they weren’t really close to the destination in mind, and she thought she heard that guard shouting at her from behind, they were there within two minutes.  A record breaking time if Applejack ever saw one, all considering.

Upon arrival, Rarity’s mother burst into the front door of her daughter’s store/home.  “Sweetie!? Are you here? Mommy’s here! Please say something!” The Carousel boutique was pitch dark, only the light from firefly street lamps illuminated the doorway.

Applejack searched the wall for a light switch, then clicked it. Gems illuminated in the ceiling, while Rarity’s mother continued to call out with no replies. “Mrs. Belle! I’m gonna check..the kitchen.” Applejack shook her head, barely even managing to say the words she had summoned up. Her hooves clopped into the neighboring room, and she immediately stopped dead in her tracks.

        “Ooooooh” a moan came from in front of her, seemingly from...inside what looked to be a small container.  Applejack furrowed her brow and stared at what seemed to be the source of the noise. In her exhausted state, she stood and listened, trying to figure out what it was.  “Oooooh,” the voice called again.

        “Sweetie Belle!” The shout from Rarity’s mother came from behind the farm mare.

Applejack had just enough time to sidestep before she was bowled over by the panicked mother.

“Sweetie Belle, oh thank Luna’s stars you’re alright.” Rarity’s mother dug her hooves into the container, and pulled out the hidden front half of a small, white coated filly. “What’s wrong? Sweetie Belle?” her mother asked the mass of white fluff held in her forelegs.

Applejack could see she was in pain, but it seemed to have something to do with her stomach.  It was three sizes too big for the little filly.

        “Ugh,” she said, her voice punctuated by a loud belch just a second later.  “Too much... ice cream...”

Staying in the Loop

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Dust in the Wind

Chapter Two: Dust in the Wind

Rainbow Dash’s lips creased back as a mischievous smile beamed from her muzzle.  She could hardly contain her giggles while imagining what Pinkie Pie was about to do.  This is gonna be…so…awesome.

Dash’s hiding place behind a large green bush gave her the perfect view of a wide, lush pasture near one of Ponyville’s many farms.  It also gave a perfect view of the unfortunate cow that had chosen the wrong time to take a nap.

Out of the corner of Dash’s eye, she could see her party animal friend tip-hoofing her way onto the field.  She let out snort as Pinkie took another stealthy step forward towards their prey.  The other pony got closer...then closer... Her own eyes widened and she smothered her muzzle with a hoof to contain an outburst of laughter.

Pinkie Pie glared back at her loud mouthed friend before shaking off the disturbance and returning to the task at hoof.  Step by step, she crept up towards the target; who remained oblivious to the pair’s scheme.

Come on Pinkie…come on, Rainbow Dash chanted in her head and grinned wildly. Behind the pegasus, her trademark rainbow trail, a rare thing in ponydom, flicked erratically in anticipation of the glorious prank she had planned the night before. Her eyes widened as the planning seemed about to come to fruition.

Pinkie Pie was finally standing side by side with the bovine, starting to chuckle a little herself.  In a meticulous manner, she reached a hoof into her saddle bag and pulled out something out of it.

Wait a second… what is she doing? Still grinning, Dash turned her head and tried to puzzle out her friend’s unplanned action.

Pinkie Pie lowered the bag in front of the cow with the most careful touch she could, releasing it on the grass.  Reversing her steps, Pinkie slowly made her way back to the bush, where her friend’s jaw was resting on the grassy floor.

“Pinkie, what was that?!”  Dash hissed softly so as not to rouse their victim.  “What were you doing?”

The baker’s apprentice beamed at her friend.  “Pulling our prank, Dashie!  What did it look like I was doing?”  She guffawed and waited for her pranking partner to respond.

“Pinkie, I thought you said that you’ve been cow tipping before.”  Rainbow Dash deadpanned at the other pony, trading stares with her and the bag that she had left sitting in front of the cow.

The pink mare rolled her eyes back at Rainbow.  “Of course I’ve tipped a cow before, silly.  Just last week I had one wait on me at a restaurant.”

Rainbow’s expression shifted to a glare as a dark cloud seemed to hover over her, a worried realization clicking into place in her Rainbow-maned head.  “…Pinkie, where’s your bit-pouch?”

Pinkie grinned at her pegasus friend and swiftly raised a hoof toward the small coin purse laying on the grass in front of their prankee.  Rainbow Dash facehoofed.

She groaned and fell away from the party animal to lay on the ground in defeat.  “Pinkie, that’s not cow tipping…”

“It’s not?” Pinkie asked in a earnest manner.

Rainbow facehoofed again, then looked up.  “No, and you just gave her the rest of my paycheck from last week.”

As if on cue, the lone bovine in the pasture jerked awake from her slumber, smacking off the leftover sleep from her jaws.  She let out a big yawn and stretched out her large beefy back.  Her gaze then shifted to the ground.

Rainbow Dash watched in sadness as the cow realized there was money in her hooves, then widened her eyes in disbelief as the cow fainted, possibly from the shock of it all. “Well...” She cracked a small smile and looked over at her comrade in crime.  “I guess that...kind of works.”

Pinkie Pie was busy rolling on the ground with laughter. “That was great Dashie, you were right!” She continued her victory giggle long after she was joined by Rainbow Dash, until abruptly springing up to cut things short.

“So Dashie,” Pinkie piped up.  “What are we gonna do now?”

Rainbow Dash thought aloud for a moment, massaging her chin trying to conjure another brilliant idea.  “Hmmm… I’m not sure Pinkie, it’s kind of hard to top that prank.”  Her hoof was beginning to get more familiar with the features of her own face since she started pulling pranks with Pinkie.  “Ugh… Well, what’s Twilight doing today?”

“Twilight?”  Questioned Pinkie Pie, who sat on her haunches and shrugged.  “I dunno, I think she said she had some work to do or something, and didn’t want to be disturbed. Seeing as how last time we didn’t listen to her you ended up losing all your fur, we probably should leave her be...” Her hooves folded in front of her while she gave the grass a thoughtful frown.

Rainbow Dash shuddered a little from the memory, she hadn’t been able to go outside for weeks until Twilight had helped her grow it back quicker. “Well, what about Applejack then?” She asked, hoping their favorite farm pony target might be a better conquest.

“Working I think, reeeally, really, really hard too, and she’s been sore at us about the pranking lately yah know.” Pinkie looked up and gave Rainbow Dash a defeated look, one that also held some uncharacteristic understanding behind it. “I think she was upset about the weather, too.”

Rainbow Dash snorted and frowned. As if that’s my fault. Well okay, I guess you could argue the weather is, but she’s the one that won’t lighten up about a good joke.  She gave the sky a frown, the last few days had been difficult to keep the weather controlled; gusts and rain kept trying to sneak in from the Everfree as of late.  And I paid her for those bushels of apples after all...and then some!  One of her hooves dug at the grass irritably all the while she thought things over.

Without looking down from staring up at the sky, Rainbow address Pinkie again. “How about Big Mac then? We could put itching powder in his bed sheets maybe...”

Pinkie’s mouth twisted in a doubtful look as she glanced to one side and made an eeeh sound, then her face lit up like a star all of a sudden.  “I know, we could go watch a movie!”

        “Yeah, that’s a great idea! The new theater thing just got a brand- Oh, wait...” Rainbow Dash halted the agreement mid-sentence after a realization dawned on her.  “Pinkie, you just gave away the rest of your money...and I’m broke.”

        Pinkie Pie’s face melted from jubilant to sadly thoughtful in seconds. “Oh yeah...” She shuffled her hooves, then pouted her lip, then squinted her eyes and then stared up at the grey clouds that were gathering aimlessly overhead.  “What’s there to do that’s free?”

        Rainbow shrugged.  “We could always improvise I guess.”

Applejack heaved the container of apples up onto her stall’s counter and grinned across at her latest customer. The girl was new to town, and not at all the sort she was usually the type to be friends with, but after some time she usually warmed up to anypony. It helped when they ate as much as this particular pony did. “Thank ya kindly, and come again soon!” She smiled and waved to the green earth pony, who waved back smiling, already walking away with an apple jammed in her gob and the bushel hoisted onto her back.

My new best customer or not, I doubt I’ll ever get used to the habits that pony has. Applejack stared at the pony’s blonde mane until it was swallowed by the teeming crowd around her. She refocused a smile on her face and brightened up. A good appearance was crucial to being a good salespony, after all.

The smile wavered a tad, however, as a sense of fascination swept over Applejack while looking at everypony milling around her cart. She couldn’t help but gawk momentarily, stunned by how crowded the wide, main avenue of the Ponyville market tended to get these days.

A lot of new faces in town these last few years, Applejack smiled and reflected on the population explosion her quiet, tiny little town had undergone in recent times. She wasn’t sure if it was how she liked it yet, but things seemed alright so far. A chuckle escaped her while scanning for more customers. If nothing else, it’s good for business.

“Eh’fuse ‘eh,” another blonde mane popped up suddenly in front of her stand, or rather, plopped out of the sky. The mane belonged to a gray pegasus, who tumbled more than landed, and interrupted her own train of thought.  Applejack fixed her attention on the mare, locking eyes in the process.  She stared into their golden irises until she noticed the unopened letter in her muzzle.

“‘re hyu Apple’ack?  I ‘ave a ‘arcel ‘or hyu!” The strange mare said around the letter with a muffled tone.

“Huh?”  Applejack raised an eyebrow, not understanding a word that was said.

The mare pointed a hoof at her muzzle and made a motion for Applejack to take the letter.  “Oh, sorry, sugarcube.”  Using her teeth, she took the letter from the mailmare.

“‘hanck hyu.”  Applejack called out.

The gray blonde maned pegasus gave a confused look.  “Huh?”

Applejack facehoofed and spit out the letter over onto her applecart.  “Thanks, sugarcube.”

“Oh! Why didn’t you say so?”  The grey pegasus giggled, then pawed a hoof in the air.  “I’m just kidding, no problem at all ma’am! Have a nice day!”  With that, she took flight, soaring straight up, then off into the distance over the tile and thatch roofed houses of Ponyville.

Applejack stared after the mare until she was out of sight, then looked down at the mysterious note that had come into her possession.  Now, who would send me a letter?The parcel was small, and she quickly recognized it as one of the signature letters that Twilight often sent to Princess Celestia whenever she would learn a lesson about the magic of friendship.

As soon as Applejack realized who had sent it, she ripped it open and unfolded the letter.

Applejack,

I’ve had a breakthrough in my research and I want you to come to the library as soon as possible!  I’m sorry for coming to you without warning like this, but, well, Rarity is off who knows where, Pinkie is...well, Pinkie. And Rainbow is...not much better than Pinkie. I also don’t think I could ask Fluttershy to help with this, and you’re the closest, too!  Please hurry, I’m on the precipice of a monumental breakthrough and I need your help.

Your friend,Twilight Sparkle

Applejack closed the letter.  Well ain’t that ominous. She stared out into space a moment, carefully considering and wondering what exactly it could be this time that had the unicorn so excited. Oh well, whatever it is it’s probably important, she doesn’t usually ask for help; I’d better go there pronto. One of her hooves dived over the top of her apple cart and flipped the ‘Open’ sign backwards.  She trotted away from the cart quickly, content with leaving her property for a bit despite the business she might lose by not being there to hawk her apples.

As Applejack trotted, her legs burned from the strenuous activity she had performed that morning.  Six straight hours of applebucking earlier had not leave her feeling well.   “Ah think ah overdid it this mornin’... Ah feel shakier than a jug of jelly on a three-wheeled cart.”  After stopping a few times to stretch achy muscles, she finally reached the front door of Twilight’s home.

The Golden Oaks Library stood proudly as an accomplishment of earth pony skill and artisanry. Applejack couldn’t help but again admire the old treebrary that had been shaped by careful hooves into the happy home that Twilight Sparkle now lived in.  There weren’t too many treehouses in Ponyville, and Twilight’s was one of the nicest...after everypony’d helped to clean it up that is.

Raising a tired hoof, Applejack made to knock on the door, engraved now with Twilight’s cutie mark.  She recalled briefly the old candlestick it had born, the cutie mark of Ponyville’s old librarian.

Before Applejack’s hoof made contact with the door, it cracked open and a pair of purple eyes locked with hers.  What in the…  Caught off guard, her thoughts did nothing to explain what she was looking at.

Twilight stood before her, a strange metal helmet on top of her head.  Various wires hung from the device, and ran behind the purple mare and into the library’s depths. Her eyes were a mixture of intense focus and complete surprise, but strangely she looked well rested. It was well known habit of the purple mare’s to make breakthroughs after an all nighter and hours of book diving.

“Great, you got my letter!  Quick, get inside!”  The bookworm immediately ushered Applejack in and slammed the door shut behind them.

Applejack looked around the library and the obvious state of chaos and disarray it was in.  Geez, Twi’, you ever heard of cleanin’ up after yourself?Piles of book littered the floor, leaving the majority of the shelves barren of more than a few lingering tomes, more than usual anyway.  Where in tarnation is Spike?

Twilight stepped in front of her workbench; an area that had been severely neglected for what looked like weeks.  Vials of various shapes and colors were connected by a spider web of clear tubing, but for every few standing up two or three more lay tipped on the table or strewn on the floor.  Her magic was currently busy turning knobs and mixing liquids, when she abruptly spoke up.

“Excuse the mess, I haven’t had much time to clean up yesterday’s failures and Spike is…well... Actually where is spike?”  Twilight quickly glanced every which way around herself while levitating various pieces of lab equipment and books.

To Applejack, it looked as though the unicorn had shifted from working and had begun trying to form some sort of order out of the mess.  Until that is, the other mare quickly stopped all together with that to call up the stairs for her assistant, instead.  The orange mare cringed as several of the articles clunked and clattered back to the floor, released from Twilight’s unicorn magic.

“Spiiiike!” Twilight cocked her head and listened intently with one ear, then growled in frustration. “Oooh, just like him to be asleep. Oh well, this can all get taken care of later. What’s important is that you’re here and I can proceed now!” She stood up on hind legs to clop her hooves together happily and let out a few filly-like teehees.

“Ah see...” Applejack said warily, beginning to have doubts about what exactly she had volunteered to do or help with.  This better not turn out to be like that time she was trying to reproduce whatever made that fluffy pony’s hair grow so much.

Twilight regained Applejack’s attention, she had taken up a seated position just in front of her friend. “So, are you going to ask me what precisely the reason is why I called you here?”

“To take care of Spike?” Applejack asked sarcastically, an eyebrow cocked back.

Twilight laughed and rolled her eyes.  “No.  Spike will be fine, he just needs his rest, I did ask him to stay up last night now that I recall...” She wheeled about and briefly began tending the vials and bubbling apparatus she had tinkered with when Applejack had first entered.

From the frazzled mane and unkempt coat, Applejack could tell something was amiss with her fellow Element of Harmony.  Her jitters made her feel uneasy, and Twilight’s uneasiness gave her the jitters.  “Ah’m not sure ah followin’ you Twi’.”

Twilight looked back and ceased her dabbling. She smiled coolly, then approached her friend and gave her a meaningful look of concern. “Applejack, you look tired.  I take it that you’re still harvesting the apples in your orchard around the clock?”

“Well… yeah, Ah’ve been workin’ all mornin’.”  Applejack shifted uncomfortably on her hooves.  She suddenly became aware of her own flustered appearance.  “Is it really that obvious?”

“No, not at all…”  Twilight’s words sounded convincing, but her eyes gave her away to the farm pony.  “Well, maybe just a little bit,” she admitted, grinning. “But that’s not the point.  I meant are you feeling fatigued?  Exhausted?  Jaded?”

Applejack’s nose scrunched up at the last word.  “Ah don’t know about that there last one, or what it means for that matter, but the first two for sure.  Mah legs feel shakier than Fluttershy around a crowd full of stallions.”

        Twilight giggled a bit, it was hard to tell if it were at the analogy or was simply because of the all too usual excited state she was in.  “Well then, allow me to help you…” A ding from her workstation made her ears perk as she oooed and turned about to stir something.

Applejack raised a hoof in a waiting gesture.  “Twi’, please Ah don’t-”

“Applejack, just hear what I have to say, please?”  Twilight spun around in a flash.

Applejack watched her friend’s look of anticipation melt and became a pleading one before she could even react. The cowpony deflated a bit and sat down from the sudden change of things, her legs quivering as she did so. Well, she thought, Ah guess a little help at the farm wouldn’t...hurt.  “W-well, alright, ah’ll hear you out Twi’, I do want to help after all.”

Twilight smiled calmly again, then made her way once again over to her messy workbench, where she slowly reorganized various papers and mixing tubes with her hooves.  “This morning, I was hanging a clock over my kitchen sink when I slipped and hit my head.  It was the strangest thing; for a moment, everything became clear to me.  It was as if I had woken up for the first time in ages.  And that’s when I figured it out!”

Twilight became engrossed in her work, almost as if she had forgotten that Applejack was in the room.

Eventually, the earth pony piped up.  “...Figured what out, Twi’?”

Twilight’s reply was quick and almost mechanical.  “For the past few months, I’ve been working on a formula to help improve a pony’s natural born talent. Imagine, a drink that could allow a pegasus to fly faster and higher than they ever thought possible; or a potion that could increase an earth pony’s stamina tenfold! Why, you could buck apples all day without feeling even the tiniest bit fatigued!”  Her eyes stared at the purple mixture that was suddenly levitating up slowly in front of her.  “Imagine…more magic than you would ever possibly have a use for.”

The room fell silent as Twilight seemed to dwell in the realm of her own thoughts.  She stared blankly at the vial, unblinking.

“Uhh… Twi’?” Applejack took a couple careful steps towards her friend.

“…. Huh?  What?”  Twilight snapped out of her trance-like state.

Applejack waved a hoof in the air to attract the unicorn who seemed to be somewhere else completely.  “You were sayin’ that you were gonna help me?”

        “Oh yes, well since I’ve only discovered this yesterday, I haven’t had ample time to test it on a pony.  I almost gave up a few weeks ago when I let slip to Rainbow what the potion was for, and she drank my test vial!” Twilight huffed and stamped a hoof, “You’ll recall how bad she had gas a while back, yes? After that I put the project on hold, yesterday Spike volunteered to test the new batch, and it worked!  His fire breathing was spectacular!  Almost up to 25 hooves in the air!”

Applejack suddenly became aware of the black char marks festooning some of the library’s main room.  A few ash piles lay scattered here and there, a sign of a careless dragon, no doubt.

From the charred remains of Ponyville library, one could infer that there was indeed a dragon who took residence there, but a quick glance around and Applejack couldn’t locate the reptilian assistant.  “So he was alright then?”  Applejack inquired.

“Spike?  Oh, yes, he’s been snoozing since his episode last night I imagine.  I’m afraid that the potion I gave him wasn’t quite optimized.  It did give him more energy, but after a while he was out like a log.  It could be the fact that he’s a dragon, but either way I tweaked it to get rid of that nasty crash… er, I think I did.” Twilight rubbed her muzzle with a hoof and scrutinized one of the vials hanging in her magic.

Applejack raised a cautionary eyebrow and asked, “I’m sorry Twi’, ah didn’t quite catch that.  What did you say?”

“Oh nothing, don’t you worry about it.”  Twilight cleared her throat and diverted her attention to various parchments tacked to the wall.  “Now, as I was saying; this will not only make you feel rejuvenated after a hard day of work, but it will make you feel like you were a foal again!  A very strong, applebucking foal at that, but nevertheless a foal.”  Applejack shrugged off the bad analogy, instead focusing on the concept of Twilight’s request.

Applejack eyed the vial of purple fluid carefully while the other mare looked through her papers.  Ah don’t know about this… things could get mighty hairy if this don’t work right.She refocused her attention to Twilight who had turned from the work bench to...Darnit Twilight,don’t give me that look.

Twilight was giving Applejack doe eyes, the vials she still held floating beside her head.

“Fine,” Applejack muttered defeatedly.  “Ah’ll drink it, but only because Ah trust you Twi’, and don’t think that every time you shoot me that look or ask me to drink some Celestia knows what, that Ah’ll bend over backwards, cause ah won’t,” she lied.

Twilight’s face lit up with the glee of a filly waking up on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Now I have a control!”  Twilight let out a shrill noise that sounded a bit like somepony saying ‘squee’ really loud, then began jumping up and down.  “You won’t regret this Applejack, just you wait!”  Her horn lit up with a purple aura, and vials of every color began to mix and churn once again.  After a few moments, two pink vials presented themselves to the waiting mares.  “Cheers...”  Twilight mumbled and then chugged down the liquid.

Applejack grimaced and then regretfully took it in her muzzle.She gulped it down, swallowing every last drop of sweet tasting elixir.Wow… that tastes mighty good for medicine…

Twilight took a step closer, scanning Applejack.  She forced open the mare’s mouth open with a hoof, checking her muzzle for any peculiarities by shining her horn in the earth pony’s eyes, then prodded and pushed her test subject’s hind legs with a fore hoof to test their strength.

Applejack was blinded by the sudden light from her friend, and let out a protest after being examined with no warning. She signed and let it happen though, not wanting to go through another explanation. When touched, she shifted uncomfortably, still quivering in fatigue from a hard day’s work, not to mention to the invasiveness of it all.

Finally, Twilight sighed, looked her over one final time trotting around, then returned to her workbench. “Something must have gone wrong,” she explained.  “You don’t seem like you’ve changed or been affected at all.  Are you still tired?” Her horn was alight and scribbling fiercely at various scrolls.

“As a sloth…” Applejack drawled back, then sat down, thankful to be free of the unicorn’s probing.

“I don’t get it…that was the correct formula.  Maybe I didn’t put enough cyanide in the mixture…”  Twilight quickly made herself busy again, inspecting each and every last step of the process until she could find the culprit.

‘Ah’m sorry Twi’, but maybe you just need to keep at it until you’ve figured it out?  After all, you know it already worked on Spi-.“  A sudden rumbling echoed through the library, its deep monotone interrupting Applejack’s country accent.  She didn’t just feel it though; she really felt it.  What in tarnation…

Another groan escaped into the environment as the orange mare realized the source.  She flipped her head around and investigated her stomach, which broke into another chorus of fits.  “Twilight, what’s goin’ on?”  Her answer was given in the form of Twilight rushing over and placing a stethoscope on her undercarriage, who listened intently for the next belly fissure.

A moment of silence passed between the two.

Whatever it was seemed to be over, and Twilight eyed Applejack curiously.  “...How do you feel?”

“Ah feel...”  Applejack was about to restate the fact that she felt the same, but that would have been a lie.  “Ah feel... great!”  Sweet Celestia, this feels fantastic!  Ah could buck apples all day like this!The earth pony beamed at her friend who was rapidly scribbling down notes on a levitated clipboard.  Even if she had been working since the crack of dawn, she felt more alive than she had in weeks; months even.

        Twilight’s expression lit up to equal her farm pony friend’s and began to prance around the room.  “It worked!  It worked!  It worked!”  She chanted.  “I can’t believe it worked!”  Abruptly the joyous hopping stopped cold and she froze in her tracks.  “Err, I mean... Yes, I knew it would work, hehe.”  Her eyes blinked over towards Applejack nervously.

Oh hay... The comment quickly went through one of Applejack’s ear and out the other faster than twenty Rainbow Dashes put together.  Wait a second... what did she just say?  Did she just... aww, who cares.  Ah feel too good to care!The bags under Applejack’s eyes receded and her hind legs were once again as hard as stone.  She was ready to work.

        “Well,” Twilight started again,  “This is excellent news! Actually, I nearly forgot why I had wanted to finish the project in the first place.” Celestia’s star pupil began to shuffle around the library in search of something.  “Now, I hate to gallop off like I’m about to Applejack, but I was summoned to Canterlot late last night before my breakthrough this morning.  It’s somehat urgent apparently, and I’m going to be gone for a few days as a result. Thanks so much for helping me, this is the perfect opportunity to test out the potion’s effectiveness! You have no idea how exciting this is!”

Still caught up in the rush she was getting, Applejack grinned while staring off into nothing, “You’re welcome Twi’,” then shook her head and returned Twilight’s thanks with a nod. Canterlot? Well that’s kinda sudden. “The princess just asked for you? Not the whole lot of us?” Applejack tilted her head speculatively.

        Twilight levitated a located suitcase that had been sitting idly across the room. “Oh, I don’t think it’s anything sinister or something like that Applejack. Princess Celestia mentioned strange magical fluctuations in the letter, I suppose she intends for me to investigate them. If something does come up though Spike will let you all know right away I’m sure.” She gave Applejack a beaming face, overjoyed from both getting to study an anomaly and being valued so by her teacher. “I’m bringing a couple more of these potions too!” A purple hoof patted her side satchel, “So don’t worry, if I really needed you all, now I can poof you all to my side in seconds!” An excited teehee escaped her, before she coughed and straightened her face.

“Alright! Well I’m off then, if Spike can’t remember where I went, just ask him to clean up my mess while I’m gone. I would, but I’m in a hurry. Tell the girls I’ll be back in a few days and not to worry!” Twilight continued to smile, and waved across the room to her cowpony friend before finally taking off.

        “Will do, Twilight,” Applejack waved back and replied while thinking, That’s just like Twi’ to do some kind of lengthy hoodad research just to revolutionize moving from point A to point B. She watched as Twilight trotted to the middle of the library floor, the other mare’s smile never wavering.

        “Phew okay, here we go.” Twilight set herself into a state of absolute concentration, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply.  With no pretense for modesty, the tip of her horn burst brilliantly aglow like the magical conduit it was, emitting stray sparks of violet light into the air every few seconds.

The stream of magic grew brighter and brighter, soon blinding the earth pony who watched the happening in awe.  Twilight’s eyes sprang open the feeling of power she suddenly had access to, a little overwhelming.

Applejack gulped at the sight of her friend, her eyes entirely aglow and whited out. “Twi’ are you alright?” The words were still audible, but mixed with the buzz and hum of the magic filled air.

“Yeah!” Twilight called back. “It’s amazing, everything is fine!” The other mare’s hooves shuffled out some, as though she were supporting a heavy weight. “I’ll be back soon Applejack! I-”

Applejack took a step towards from the sparkling mare, but was cut off by a flash of light brighter than the sun.  With a sudden roar of noise, Twilight poofed away.  The sudden flare blinded her momentarily, and in its wake she quickly readjusted her eyes to the seemingly darkened room.  Besides the occasional flutter of loose parchments, the library had fallen silent.

There, right in front of her was the empty air that Twilight had just occupied.

A relieved feeling swept through Applejack.  Guess it worked like a charm.  Darn you Twilight, you had me goin’ there for a second.

The stillness of the library collided with a strange yearning in Applejack’s hind legs. Ah...Ah s’pose Ah should get back to work!With a quickened step, she was on her way out the bulky wooden door between her and her buckin’ job.

        A voice rang out, its tone a craggy rumble, as if strained from a cold or too much cider.  “Wait!”

Applejack stopped in her tracks, tensing up from the surprise.  “Spike, that you?” She turned around to face the source of the sudden outburst.

From underneath a large pile of books there in the library, rose the shambling wreck of a baby dragon.  His face was meshed in a half-cringe, half-scowl as he righted himself, teetering back and forth as he did so, one claw clutching his head.

From the shaking in the stubby legs of Twilight’s adopted sibling, Applejack could tell that he was in rough shape.

        “Well howdy, Sugarcube.  Are you feelin’ alright?”  Applejack asked it in the way a nurse might ask an injured patient.  At the same time she thought, What in the hay happened to you little guy?

Spike looked towards her, his face as pale as a ghost.

WowSpike, did you lose a fight with a minotaur?  You aren’t lookin’ so good...  Applejack took a couple concerned step’s towards her friend, already wondering about just what could have happened.  Likely another bookalanche and nopony around to help him.

Twilight’s dragon assistant rubbed his adjusting eyes with his claws, and stared blankly at Applejack.  “Wh-what happened last night?”  His eyes were having a difficult time adjusting to the natural light seeping in through the library windows.  He smacked his lips loudly and audibly sucked at his gums.  A pinch of confusion dashed across his face, displaying discomfort to Applejack.

        “...My- my thooth!  It’s gone!”  His jaw snapped open, revealing a jagged layer of sharp teeth once concealed by his purple scaled muzzle.  His forked tongue lashed rapidly at the empty gap where a canine once sat with pride.  “This is just perfect!” he said, throwing his arms up in a sarcastic manner.  “Applejack, what are you doing here?”

The orange earth pony was trying her very hardest to suppress the mounting laughter fighting to escape her own muzzle.  Her eyebrows creased in a blatant attempt to guise her amusement, but it fell flat.  She laughed.  “I’m…” she snorted and a giggle escaped.  “I’m not sure, Sugarcube, I just got here…”

Spike glared at her.  “Yeah, hyuck hyuck.  Laugh it up.” He rubbed his face and added,  “It’s just a baby tooth, but still...”  Another claw rubbed his temples, trying to get a grasp on his situation.  “Where’s Twilight?”

Applejack hummed and let out a deep breath.  “Twilight left for Canterlot, said you knew about it, and she said she’ll be back in a few days.”  The reply hardly seemed to phase the poor dragon who still fought against the obvious migraine sucking on him like a parasite.  That poor sweetie, she thought, he looks like he’s in all sorts o’ pain.

“Oh yeah,” Applejack added, “she gave me a message to give ya once you woke up.”  The dragon raised his head and looked at her with drowsy eyes.  “She said to clean up the library.”

Spike glanced around, his expression remaining a constant dull as he did so.  Eventually, he came to a halt, glaring at Applejack.

 “…”  Spike fell over, losing consciousness almost immediately.  The library echoed with loud snoring.

You have my sympathies, Spike.With that, Applejack departed the mess that was once called a library, nearly galloping back to her farm.  Here Ah come Sweet Apple Acres, and Ah’m gonna buck the apples off of ya!

The spring in her step had returned, and a euphoric energy was attacking her senses with nothing but pleasant feelings and sensations.  Ah don’t know what was in that strange elixir, Twi’, but Ah feel better than I have in years!

 Before Applejack knew it, she was walking past Sugarcube corner and well on her way home.  Though, something felt odd…  She couldn’t put a hoof on it, but something felt off about her surroundings.  For the busiest street in Ponyville, it sure seems…quiet.  Yeah, that’s it.  Where is everypony?

A couple of ponies here and there dotted the streets, but it seemed to Applejack like they were in a rush to get somewhere.  Hay, where’s the fire at?For the first time in a while, a relative calm had fallen around the town; a sight that Applejack had rarely seen.  It was really only when… A sudden wet feeling on her muzzle suddenly made her realize why she was currently one of two ponies trotting along the main road of Ponyville.

A single raindrop made her aware of the looming storm in the distance; the tip of which was just now reaching town.  Oh ponyfeathers, Ah hate the rain.  The sudden beginnings of a slight drizzle only made her mission to reach home all them more imperative.  Giddying up, she took a right, travelling down the familiar dirt path back to the orchard.

With every few steps Applejack trotted, the rain beat harder, evolving into a steady rain.  She watched in horror as the wind howled through the branches of her apple trees, violently shaking them until it was rewarded with the release of its precious apple stash.  Darnit Rainbow Dash!  We’re not even supposed to get rain today!Torrents of water splashed down on the earth pony, drenching her hat beyond any hope of keeping her head dry.  What does she think she’s doin’!?  This is more rain than we’ll need for a month!

A realization dawned on Applejack.  We never get this much rain…  Something’s wrong…something is definitely wrong.  The suspicion turned her trot into a gallop, as she sprinted back to her home as fast as her legs could carry her.  The wet stetson clung to her head, while the frigid rain and irascible gusts of wind attacking her from all sides chilled her.  Every step she took brought her closer to the farmhouse; a sanctuary from the depression above and a place where possible answers lay.

The large wooden door swung open to her home, bathing Applejack in the warmth of a slowly crackling fire and the Apple family.  She dripped water into a puddle on the floor as she caught her breath; getting the attention of a worried Granny Smith and a very tired looking Big Mac.  A sigh of tired relief escaped her.

        A boom of rolling thunder echoed into the home.

Applejack’s nerves caught immediately, reacting to the intent stares that her two family members were giving her. Realization struck her like snare drum, she counted the heads of her present family and her face paled.

“Where’s Applebloom!?”  Applejack shouted over the increasingly noisy clatter of the outside shutters and rainfall.

The two other apples looked at each other in a panic of their own.

Big Mac stood up and asked,  “We thought she was with you!”  He limped his way to the door nearest to Applejack, preparing to fight to bring his younger sister back to safety.  He almost made it too, had it not been for a stern mare blocking his path into the unknown.

“No dice sugarcube, you’ve still gotta few days ‘fore you’re set to go anywhere, especially out there right now,” she paused for a moment, thinking of a quick plan.  “Ah don’t like the looks of this storm one bit.  It’s raining dogs and cats out there, and this wind is mighty stronger than anything Ah’ve seen.  We need to take shelter until it passes over, ya hear?  You take Granny on down to the cellar and Ah’ll go look for Applebloom.  Ah think Ah know where she went off to.”

 Applejack watched as the stallion prepared to argue against her judgment, but he faltered.  His stomach was in an incredible amount of pain even though he didn’t show it very much.  “Okay, AJ.  Go, and be quick about it.  Bring Applebloom back ‘fore that filly gets into any more trouble.”  A confirmation nod was passed between the two, and not a moment later Applejack was scrambling through the rain toward the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse.

The distant flash of lightning preceded the deafening crash of thunder, making Applejack shiver more than she had previously been in the cold rain.  Come on Applebloom, she chanted.  Please be safe!Her strengthened legs slipped and slid in the viscous mud that had begun collecting along the path.  She nearly tripped multiple times before finally coming within sight of her target.

The tree containing her little sister’s clubhouse shook violently, more so than any other tree nearby.  Another flash of light illuminated the nearly pitch black area.  She came up to the structure’s plank entrance, carefully crashing into the front door and into the flimsy structure.

A single candle illuminated the room, revealing a wet eyed, soaking filly trembling on the floor. “Applejack!?” Her red bow was as limp and drenched as the rest of her.  The sisters bonded together in a tight embrace, Applebloom smothering her face into Applejack’s coat.

“It’s okay, Applebloom.  You’re gonna be alright.”  Applejack tried to soothe the shocked filly, but the constant teetering of the treehouse and banging of rain made it near impossible to even hear her own comforting remarks.  In the distance, a low rumble violated the moist air, gaining volume as the ground began to vibrate.

        The noise made the urgency Applejack felt all the more pressing. “Come on, we’ve gotta get outta here!”  She screamed, barely audible over the steadily growing bedlam.  Her hoove’s scooped up the filly in and tossed her onto her back just like the day before.  Without another moment’s hesitation, she was already out the door and into the torrential downpour.

The sight that met Applejack almost didn’t register as something that were real.

        Across the orchard, the behemoth black funnel of a tornado floated towards them, ripping whole apple trees from their roots and rotating them around in the air as if they were feathers.  The thing glided across the nearby pond and inhaled its waters, like Pinkie eating pastries, then proceeded towards them. It wasn’t very close at all, it was simply gigantic, massive, several times the length of a barn across.

Immediately, Applejack backtrotted into the clubhouse and slammed the door shut, latching the tiny bolt lock as if it would have made a difference.

Tornado?!  What in tarnation is a tornado doin’ all the way out here!?Towering down from the sky, the massive, rotating funnel crushed anything and everything in its path through the exposed orchard.

It was a sight that Applejack had never—even being the friend of Ponyville’s lead weather pegasus—ever seen.  She slowly backed away from the small portals to the outside.  Her heart was beating faster than she ever thought possible, and judging from Applebloom’s wide eyes, she could tell her sister felt the same.  What do Ah do?  What do Ah do?She chanted in her head.  Her eyes darted back and forth for an answer, any sort of way to protect her sister from the treachery that lay in wait.

        The rumbling turned to thrashing as Applejack soon had trouble staying on her hooves.  The best she could hope to accomplish was to grab Applebloom with all her might, and slunk down over the filly, forming a protective barrier for whatever sort of evil reared its ugly head.  She closed her eyes, trying to forget her situation but failing to do so.

...Ah’m sorry Applebloom...

That’s when Applejack felt it.  Or rather, she felt the absence of something.  As what was left of her remaining comfort was drained from her, a wild sense of weightlessness replaced it.  Weightlessness, and the terrible soul crushing awareness that she was not touching the hard wooden floor of her sister’s treehouse; nor was she feeling the satisfying sensation of a dry coat.

Applejack’s body whipped back and forth, barely clinging to the one thing that she refused to let go.  The eardrum splitting noise was almost too much to bear.  A bitter sting of pain attacked her flank.  She cried out in agony, but was silenced by the roaring winds cascading around her.  Again, she felt a welt of pain, but this time against her back.  Her eyes teared up; not only from the pain of her own apples being swung at bone breaking speeds toward her, but also at her helplessness.  Right then and there, she could only do one thing.  Hold on.

She dared not open her eyes, fearful of whatever terror lay behind her thin eyelids.

Suddenly, her body jerked forward.  She felt the impact, but didn’t feel the pain.  The wind seemed to be pushing in one direction.  Her body was moving; more so than previously so.  She felt something else.  Something that wasn’t there before.  Two somethings actually.  She almost couldn’t believe it, but somehow they felt like... hooves.

        After the barrage of wind and water came the hard, cruel feeling of ground.  Fear and relief vacillated throughout her mind as she understood that her figure was no longer flailing through the air with nothing but her sister to hold on to, but instead, rolling violently along the ground.

        Applejack’s body was sore, her muscles ached, and her joints cried out in relief, but her determination remained steadfast.  The painful tumbling had ceased, and she lay on the muddy ground, breathing harder than she had in as long as she could remember.  She couldn’t decide if it was from the shock of it all, or simply the straining it took to hold on to Applebloom.  Her eyes creaked open, revealing the tattered fields that had once been Sweet Apple Acres.  Her family's livelihood had vanished into thin air with the countless un-bucked apple trees that had remained in the orchard.

        The sight almost made Applejack want to start sobbing even more so than she already was.  Applebloom was shaking too, the filly in her forelegs was shaking.  And she could only hear a single sound break through the chilling silence.

“....”

It echoed louder.

“AJ!  Get up, we need to go!”

She could almost make out words...

“AJ!  WE NEED TO GO!”  The scratchy voice brought Applejack back to reality.  She flipped her head around to find the source of the voice.  Behind her, stood a cyan mare with a soaked, rainbow mane; she had a terrified, but stern look on her face and her mouth moved as she barked orders.

It took a moment for Applejack to process exactly what happened, but soon she found herself in a woozy gallop toward her home, right behind Rainbow Dash.  Before they knew it, they had made it to the Apple family cellar and slammed the cellar door shut.  A couple lanterns lit up the cider storage facility, barrels lining the walls.

        Applejack took a moment to catch her breath, but soon the adrenaline rush began to subside.  Though, not quick enough for her own good.  She found herself muzzle to muzzle with the weather pegasus, glowering and huffing as she pushed her closer and closer to the wall.

        “What in the HAY is goin’ on here, Rainbow!?”  Anger dripped from Applejack’s mouth like poison from a rattlesnake’s fangs.  The rage bubbling inside of her felt awful, but she was too mad to stop.  “We almost died!  How could you be so reckless RAINBOW DASH!?”

Applejack waited for a response, but none came straight away, the slunked over form she watched angrily stayed still.  “...Well?  Why is that THING tearin’ up MY FARM!?”

The pegasus was seated on her haunches, but not for long.  In a flash, she was up on her hooves and advancing on Applejack, her lips brought back in a ferocious growl.  “Hey, chill out!  I just saved your life!”  Her shot was met almost instantly with hostility.

Their heads butted together as they glared into each others very souls.  “Yeah, a life that ya put in danger when you decided to screw around with the weather!”

“Reckless!?  You think I was the one who did this?”  The other Apple family members watched silently as the two mares battled it out.

The droning of the rain outside beat louder and louder.  “Well it certainly didn’t happen on its own, now did it?”

“Stop it!”  The squeaky, girlish voice broke through the low rumble outside.  Applebloom stood underneath Applejack, displaying an angry expression of her own.  “Stop fightin’. Can’t we all just-.”

        The ground shook and rumbled as the ear-splitting growl choked the fillies cries into submission.  It enveloped the small, dark space; encasing the terrified ponies in a cocoon of speechless fear.

Applejack could hear the awful groan of bending wood coincide with the shrieking creaks as they splintered in half.  The doors of the cellar exhausted every resource they had to expunge themselves from the tight iron hinges, barely unable to free themselves from their protective prison.  Flakes of stone and dirt chipped themselves away from the ceiling, delicately falling onto the trembling ponies below them.

        Not many thoughts were going on in Applejack’s head other than the nagging voice that continued to yell, run, get out of there!  Grab the filly and go!She knew it was not an option and quite frankly, her legs refused to move anyway.  She was glued to the same spot, too shocked to move.

Applejack’s gaze darted back and forth to each pony in the room.  Applebloom laid down, hooves protectively arched over her head.  Big Mac stood motionless, watching the ceiling for a reason only he knew about.  Granny Smith clung to her lantern, jittering at every loud boom and low groan that found its way into the shelter.  And finally, Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack, refusing to mollify the daggers she shot in bitterness.

        The incessant drumming of rain and quiver of the ground subsided.  A lantern above the them shook from side to side, casting its beam from one pony to the next.  Applejack was sure that the same thought crossed the mind of everypony in the room.Is...is it over?The remaining sounds died down, carrying with them the stark silence that made Applejack’s ears ring.

        Rainbow Dash made the first move toward the cellar door, trembling a little even though it looked to Applejack like she was desperately trying to hide her anxiety.  Applejack almost reached out to stop her, but waited.  Whatever was on the other side of the door, she had to see.  She followed the other element of harmony to the door.  The pegasus carefully unlatched the iron bolt that had kept the door secure during their bombardment.  With a push of the hoof, the door swung open and the saturated air flowed into the cellar.  The pleasant breeze brushed against Applejack’s face as she climbed the steps into the slight drizzle that remained.

        Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood in awe for a moment as they peered out onto Sweet Apple Acres.  Or rather, what used to be Sweet Apple Acres.