Shattered Realms

Chapter 1Once in a Bloomoon

"But it isn't late enough yet!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. "The moon hasn't risen to the middle of the sky!"Pinkie turned to Applejack, a pleading look in her eye.

Applejack stomped her hooves nervously and stared up at the dotted starscape. The moon was certainly taking its time.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack were standing together out in the middle of the eastern field of Sweet Apple Acres, a field that was currently unused by the Apples. They stood side by side in front of a small patch of upturned dirt, awaiting an uncommon event. The sight of two ponies out so late would have been strange to anypony. The full moon enveloped the landscape in a pale glow and painted eerily long shadows on the ground. The night sky was perfectly clear and the air was refreshingly cool.

"Like I told you, Applejack, we need to wait for the full moon to be directly overhead. It's the only way that the Bloomoon will grow!"

"I know, Pinkie," said Applejack as she turned to face Pinkie, "but we've been waitin' out here for hours, and I'm gettin' a mite chilly."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Now how could you, Applejack, be chilly? I've been out here as long as you, and I'm not a chilly filly."

"Well....that don't stop me from shiverin'." She shuddered.

"Really? You feel kinda chilly? How chilly can a filly really be?" giggled Pinkie. "Don't you worry your noggin! Your friend Pinkie is here to cheer you up!" Pinkie gave Applejack a little nudge with her elbow. " It's the least I can do for bringing me out to your field this late."

Applejack gave a faint smile. "Thanks Pinkie, but this whole thing is still makin' me uneasy. I mean, look," she said, gesturing to the tree line to the east of them. "Right on the edge of the Everfree Forest. I swear some unnatural magic brings the whole place to life at night. Why else do you think we don't grow apples out in this field?"

"Because we're growing Bloomoon out here, not apples! We could never grow Bloomoon under apple trees! We'd be silly chilly fillies for that!"

"Yes, but...wait, what!?"

Pinkie's skewed, yet accurate logic gave Applejack a moment's pause before she replied.

"Erm...yeah. But Pinkie, I have seen some strange things out in this here field."

Neither spoke a word for a few seconds. The apple trees in the distance rustled faintly under a breeze. Pinkie remained silent, waiting for Applejack to continue. Pinkie grew impatient when Applejack began to look around, suddenly unworried.

"Well? Don't leave me hanging on that! I've gotta know now! What kind of strange things have you seen?"

"What? Wait, you....you really wanna know what we've seen out here?" replied Applejack with a raised eyebrow. " I...I don't really feel like tellin' you about any of it. 'Taint a pleasant experience."

Applejack tried to look away from Pinkie, but Pinkie dashed around in front of her, quick as lighting.

"C'mon! Really? You give me a big, juicy tidbit of mystery, then you just drop it?"

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. She knew she wouldn't get out of this. She mentally chided herself for saying anything at all.

"You really want to know?"

"I really, really, really, really, REALLY, want to know!"

"Then ya gotta know this first!"

Even though they were all alone in the field, save for a few nocturnal creatures, Applejack gestured for Pinkie to come closer as though she was about to confide a secret. Applejack lowered her voice barely above a whisper as she spoke.

"I aint told nopony about this yet Pinkie. This whole story has stayed inside our family for some time now. We just haven't wanted ponies to think we had been....y'know....'out in the orchard too long' or somethin'. This is all real personal to us, so please don't go sharin' it with anypony. Please?"

"Yes, yes of course!" Pinkie enthusiastically covered her eye with her hoof. "Pinkie swear!"

As Applejack prepared to share her story, it seemed as if an ambient numbness had settled over them. The soft rustle of grass and cool breath of wind faded into the background of sensations. Pinkie hardly even gave a second glance at the owl whose shadow passed over them on its way back to the Everfree Forest. It gave a distinct yet unnoticed hoot as Applejack began her tale.

"Several seasons ago we tried planting apple trees here, but they never grew. We tried all the farmin' techniques we knew, but they wouldn't grow at all. We had no idea what was the problem with this land. It seemed fertile enough, and there was plenty of open space. Several months after we first planted them, Granny Smith went out once more to see if the trees had sprouted yet. She came back claiming that they had all sprouted into fine apple trees. She thought for sure that the field contained some magic to make regular ol' apple trees grow like that. So me'n Big Macintosh and Applebloom went out with Granny Smith to see for ourselves."

"What happened?" inquired Pinkie excitedly, "What did you find?"

Applejack breathed deeply and exhaled steadily before she continued. "We came up to the field together, but it looked like it had when we left it; an open field of newly tilled land. Not a single sprouting tree in sight. Granny Smith swore that there had been trees here when she had come out earlier. We all thought she was a little of her rocker. She does have her moments from time to time."

"I know there's more to it than that, Applejack! "

Applejack paused warily. "Well....indeed there was more Pinkie. We seen lots of strange stuff here."

"Like what?"

Applejack  scratched her chin and thought for a moment.

"Ah! I remember now! A week after Granny Smith had claimed to seein' things, Applebloom went out to the field and came back claimin' the whole thing was flooded! I went out to see fer myself, but saw no such flood."

"Hmm, maybe Applebloom and Granny Smith just need to get their eyes checked. I don't think I could live with floods flooding my vision all the time either, " Pinkie giggled.

As she rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that evening, Applejack replied, "It wasn't just some screwy eyesight that got us all worked up about this place! And b'sides, Applebloom aint one fer tellin' fibs."

"So, c'mon then! What other kinda weird stuff happened out here?"

"Well, after that, we've just been tryin' to ignore this field."

"That's it?" replied Pinkie skeptically. "You just decided to leave it alone? That doesn't seem like a big deal." She began to look disinterested and pawed at the ground distractedly.

"Well," sighed  Applejack, "it wouldn't have been a big deal, if Big Macintosh hadn't gone missing."

Upon hearing this, Pinkie quickly shot up to face Applejack. "Wait, when did that happen? I don't remember you telling us he ever went missing."

"We found him pretty fast, but for the entire day we had no idea where he was. We found him before we ever needed to tell anypony else."

Applejack paused a moment to look up at the sky and seemed to drift off, then continued. "Though we didn't know for sure, we all figured he was out harvestin' the orchard all day. When he didn't come back that evenin' we all went out to the fields to search for him. 'Bout midnight we had searched every acre of the orchard without findin' him. Applebloom suggested we check out the east field, so we did. When we came out here the field was all basked in moonlight. In the light we could see Big Macintosh sittin' right out in the middle, just starin' at the sky. As we walked up, he didn't turn to us. He just kept starin' at the stars. When I saw his face....whew...it gave me the willies. No expression whatsoever, his eyes kinda glazed over. I waved my hoof in front of him and even shook him a bit, but he didn't budge. Then Granny Smith came up 'n smacked him. That woke him up. Boy howdy, that woke him up. He suddenly snapped up and galloped all the way back to the house. Next day he was fine, but he aint told any of us what happened out there."

"I'm still not convinced, Applejack," said Pinkie indignantly. "You've claimed that your family have all seen crazy things out in this field, but I know you. So, out with it! What did you find here?"

Applejack bit her lip nervously, a bead of sweat sliding down her cheek.

"I think I told you all you need to hear, Pinkie. Can't we just leave it at that? This field gives us all the creeps and we don't much like talkin' about it."

Pinkie's sat down firmly in front of Applejack with both forelegs crossed, her typically beaming face replaced by knitted brows and a pouting frown.

"Applejack, you've had a pretty great story going on so far. You've almost got me convinced! But, in my opinion, spooky stories are much more fun when you put yourself into them. I gotta hear about what you've seen now!"

Applejack stepped back, almost offended. "Whaddaya mean, spooky story? My family has been scared stiff of this field, and yer actin' like this is some kinda joke?" She made a bad attempt to stifle a laugh as an offended cough. She knew her ruse couldn't get much further, though it sounded as if it had already derailed.

" Well duh! Of course it's only a spooky story," said Pinkie as she rolled her eyes," but you haven't even finished it yet!"

"Oh, what's the point? Ya already know it aint true!"

"That's not the point of a good story though! It doesn't need to be true, it just needs to entertain. But a good story needs some kind of good ending, or at least a good cliffhanger. Up until this point your story has been building up small bits of tension, and it's just begging for you to release it!"

"Oh come on now, Pinkie! I didn't really think this story would go anywhere! You just kept demanding more from it! And how long did you know it was just a spooky story anyway? I thought I was tellin' a pretty convincin' tale!"

"Well, your storytelling obviously needs work. I kept asking so that you could get to the good part! The part when you're supposed to give everypony the willies!"

It was Applejack's turn to frown now. It seemed that Pinkie was the one pulling the ruse the whole time, and just to get Applejack to finish her story.

"Pinkie, I got nothin' left to say!" She stared at the ground, slightly disappointed, and kicked a nearby stone with her hind hoof. Both ponies watched as it sailed clear into the trees edging the Everfree Forest. Pinkie turned to her friend, still waiting for some kind of conclusion to Applejack's unfinished story.

Glumly, Applejack turned to face Pinkie. "Shucks, I only wanted to keep tellin' this thing as long as I could convince you it was true. Guess I didn't do such a bang-up job 'o that."

Pinkie shook her head."Oh Applejack," she said, "you need to act less like you're lying and more like you are telling the truth. You need to convince yourself that what happened is true before you can convince anypony else." Pinkie paused and scratched her chin pensively. "Well, you can't totally convince yourself that it was true. Just keep one hoof in reality and the other in a fantasy world. I do it all the time!"

"It may be easy for you to live in a fantasy world, but I aint too good at it myself. What kinda advice wouldja give me?"

"You've gotta use your own imagination, silly! Just picture it in your mind." At this point Pinkie sat down and closed her eyes, a faint smile on her lips. "Now, practice like me! Start drawing new pictures in your mind of where you are."

"Alrighty then. I'll give it a try. What should I think about?"

"For starters, you can use the picture of this field. Kinda creepy lookin' huh?"

Applejack took a seat beside Pinkie and drank in the scene. The moon was nearly to the center of the sky, basking the entire field in a pale light.

"Well, this field ain't too scary. It's all lit up by the moonlight. Only the trees out yonder are wrapped in creepy shadows."

"Right! So now you can imagine those shadows too! They're creepy and dark," Pinkie began to crawl low to the ground and spoke with her best ghostly voice. "And who knows what could be lurking around just inside them!"

Pinkie began circling Applejack, giving off a few ghostly "oooohh!"s .

"I can imagine this scene just fine," said Applejack, pushing Pinkie's wailing head back, "but it don't feel rightly creepy enough yet."

"You need to add more details to your picture. More sensations and feelings. You can make it happy or sad. Cheery or scary."

"So what do I do if I want it to be scary and convincin'?"

"Think of things that scare you personally and add them into the picture."

Applejack shivered. "Ugh. That's a place I don't want to go, no sir."

"Now you're getting it!" cheered Pinkie. "When you've thought of it to the point where you don't wanna think about it anymore, then you have convinced yourself to be afraid of it, and then you can convince others to be afraid."

"G-gosh Pinkie," Applejack stuttered, "this is all pretty darn creepy. I never thought about no ghost story like this before."

Pinkie smiled reassuringly in response.

"Oh sure it's scary, but afterwards you need to think of the fun side of being scared! All this scary stuff makes your nerves go on edge. It builds up tension and excitement.  Of course being scared is scary when it happens, but afterwards you realize the rush you got from it. That's what keeps me coming back for scares when I can find them."

Applejack looked pensive for a moment, then snapped up suddenly.

"I think I got an ending for ya, Pinkie!"

"Great! Let's hear it!"

Applejack took a deep breath before beginning.

"So, one night I came on out to this field, just goin' about business as usual, but there was something not quite right."

Before she could continue, Pinkie stopped Applejack with a wave of her hoof.

"Whoa there, you're already loosing me. Where's the details? You gotta pull your listener in, like they're in the story too! Stop acting like it's only a story! This really happened!"

"Sheesh, you got some high standards."

Pinkie's response was merely a gesture with her hoof for Applejack to start over. Applejack sighed as she pondered a new method to tell her story, then she continued.

"It was a right beautiful day. The birds were chirpin' as they flew from tree to tree, and the sun was shinin' warm an' bright. It was a kind of day that the world just seems to work out alright. As soon as I set hoof in this field, everything changed." She paused again to take a wavering breath.

Pinkie had begun to lean in, intrigued. "What? What changed? What did you see?"

"First thing I noticed was that I couldn't hear the birds chirping any more. It was real sudden, like the sound had just been.... I don't know.... turned off.  There just suddenly weren't no noise. Then I began to feel all cold and saw that the sun wasn't a bright or warm as it had been. The light was almost grey, like the light of a bright full moon." She pointed up to the moon hanging in the sky. "It was a stale light that gave the apple trees behind me impossibly long shadows. Then I noticed that the shadows of the trees themselves were stretchin' in the wrong direction. The sun was up to my left with the trees to my right," Applejack gulped, " but their shadows still came in towards me."

Pinkie was fixated by the tale, not blinking or moving a muscle.

" I remember seeing those shadows swaying back in forth like the trees were in some sorta humdinger of a storm. I looked up at the trees themselves, but they weren't movin' at all. Their shadows kept getting longer, stretchin' across the field until they curled themselves around me. After that I lost my cool pretty darn quick."

Applejack paused for a moment to take another deep breath. Pinkie sat listening silently, eyes and ears wide open.

"I tried to yell or run or somethin'. It felt like the ground had caught hold of my hooves and had rooted them. When the shadows fell over me it suddenly got ice cold. My breath came out in short gasps, and I still couldn't cry out. The cold seemed to push all the air outta me and I began to feel dizzy. With all my will I told my legs to start movin' to get me outta here, to get me anywhere but here. My head was spinnin' and my whole body was numb. After that I don't remember much, but I remember the fear I had. I was terrified. Terrified of what would happen. Terrified that it may never end. Every second I felt that fear, and I was trying to escape it. Eventually, somehow, I was able to move my legs, and once I got 'em going, I didn't stop 'em fer nothin'. I ran as hard as I could back through the orchard to the farmhouse."

Applejack turned slowly, her eyes wide and white as the full moon.

"What gets me most is how each of us saw or experienced something different here. It's like the field knows when somebody different comes and shows something different in response. I don't care if you believe me or don't, but this field just aint natural. It's....alive somehow."

The only sound that could be heard was the rustling of the trees in the orchard and the occasional chirp of a cricket. Pinkie had not said anything in a long while. Applejack looked up to see Pinkie staring back at her, incredulously.

"Oh come on! Really Applejack?"

Applejack grinned sheepishly in response. "Ok, I know there are kinks I need to work out, but I made some progress, right?"

"Oh, don't worry Applejack," said Pinkie cheerily, "your story was really cool and scary, just not quite convincing enough. Don't beat yourself up too much."

"You did that plenty enough for me already," Applejack huffed.

"I beat you up? Not a chance! If anything it's the other way round! I think your story almost bored me to tears!" Pinkie giggled.

"Oh really?" Applejack stared back at Pinkie with a grin. "As I recall, halfway through my story, you were leanin' so near me that you woulda fallen flat on your face if I moved back any further. Not only that, but if your eyes woulda gotten any rounder and wider, anypony would mistake 'em for cabbages during harvest season. I had you caught and reeled, at least for a while there!"

Pinkie rolled her eyes back at Applejack. "I suppose it did at least do one thing for us that was useful," said Pinkie gesturing at the sky, "It helped move the moon to the center of the sky for us."

"What in the hay do you mean?"

"I mean that it helped us pass the time!"

"Oh...yes. I guess it did at that."

Both ponies turned to look at each other, grins on their faces. Both began to chuckle together, which gradually built up into full blown laughter.

"Hehe! So Pinkie, what in tarnation is 'sposed to happen with this here plant now?" Said Applejack as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.

Both stopped laughing momentarily. They had been so caught up in storytelling that they had forgotten the purpose of their late night escapades. This realization started up another fit of laughing and their mirth was redoubled.

"Whew," puffed Applejack, "but seriously, what is supposed to happen with this thing?"

"I honestly don't have a clue!" Pinkie said, suddenly bolt upright and serious. "This is a very, very, very, very, very, rare flower from Zecora's homeland. She told me it would only bloom in direct and full moonlight on a moonlit night as bright as tonight. We don't always get such a bright moon as this, that's why the flower is called 'Bloomoon.'"

"It can only bloom in full moonlight? Doesn't it need to sprout first?"

"Look, it already has!" said Pinkie as she excitedly gestured at the ground.

Applejack quickly turned to see for herself. What she saw sprouting before her eyes had certainly not been there a few moments earlier. A strange, pale shoot was probing its way up through the dirt at a surprising rate. At its tip, a visible bud was already rapidly expanding. The shoot continued to rise from the ground like a string of scarves from a magician's sleeve. As it rose it also thickened to accommodate its own weight as well as the weight of the bulb, which was very nearly the size of an apple. The stalk rose nearly four feet before it stopped growing vertically, but it continued thickening a little longer. At this point, the bud also began to peel away to reveal a delicate and  beautiful bloom. The blossoming flower was very soft white in color and looked like fragile gossamer. In it center was a star shaped bell which contained bizarre white pollen spores. This was all surrounded by round, lace-like petals which would catch the slightest breeze like miniature sails. The frail blossom seemed to reflect the moonlight as it gave off a faint glow, but Applejack was unsure if the light really came from the blossom itself. Both beheld the beauty of the flower with wide, approving eyes.

"Golly Pinkie. That sure is some flower you've got yourself there. It grew faster'n anything I ever laid eyes on. Even our zap apples take a few days to ripen"

"Yep, but just like your zap apples, the Bloomoon has some kinda magic in it. It's related to the moon, of course."

"Did Zecora tell you what she needed it for?"

"Actually, Zecora didn't tell me that she needed it. Twilight was the one who gave it to me."

"Well, what did Twilight need it for then?"

"Dunno. It seemed important though. She looked super-duper nervous when she gave it to me. She just wanted me to learn more about it from Zecora and then plant it. I guess she's doing some research on its properties."

Applejack yawned drowsily, her eyes reflected the pale glow emanating from the flower. "Now how are you plannin' on gettin' this back to Zecora or Twilight? It looks delicate enough that a fly's sneeze could blow it over."

"It's a magical flower, silly!" replied Pinkie. "It may not look it, but it's pretty sturdy. See?"

"Ah...w- wait a sec....!"

Applejack bit her lip nervously as Pinkie leaned her full weight against the Bloomoon. To her great surprise, not a leaf, petal, or stalk was broken. When Pinkie stepped back, the Bloomoon sprung back to its initial position, its seemingly delicate petals fluttering as it waved back and forth.

"It won't stay like this forever, though," said Pinkie as she watched the flower spring back energetically. "It can only be like this for a few days, which is why we won't be able to take it to Zecora or Twilight just yet. It would be really really tough to remove the entire plant right now. Believe it or not, this thing has rooted itself like a tree and won't budge."

"So again I ask, what are we goin' to do with it?"

"I was about to tell you! Sheesh!" Pinkie replied, slightly irritated. "The magic that makes it strong will wear out in a few days. When it has worn out it really will be as delicate as it looks, so we will need to work fast and gently." As she spoke she let out a stifled yawn and her eyelids began to droop.

"So it should be fine for a couple days then, right?" asked Applejack, supplementing Pinkie's yawn with her own.

"Yep, but I'm not going to wait here until it is. It's really late and I'm bushed."

"Oh now you decide it's really late," mumbled Applejack.

"I never think it's too late for anything," Pinkie said cheerily, another yawn escaping her mouth. "But my body likes to make up my mind for me a lot."

Applejack nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I agree with your body and mine right now. Why don't you just stay over at my place tonight? It's too late to be trottin' back to Sugar Cube Corner."

Pinkie paused and thought for a moment. "Hmm, I don't know," she said hesitantly, "I wouldn't want to be late to help the Cakes tomorrow morning..."

"I'd ask your body what it thinks. I'm pretty sure it will accept my invitation. Don't fuss over tomorrow mornin'. I'll just come with you to Sugar Cube Corner and explain the situation to the Cakes. I'll even bring some of our fresh Golden Delicious apples for 'em to makes some treats with. Whaddaya say?"

Pinkie sat and thought a moment longer, then looked up with a faint smile. "Okie dokie. My body and brain just had a chat, and they'll both accept your offer."

"I'm glad," said Applejack with a resolute yawn, "I would hate to leave one or the other out alone tonight."

On the inside both laughed uproariously, but were too tired to manage much more than a few chuckles as they walked back across the field to the Apple's farmhouse.