The Sorrow of a Broken Heart.
The Sorrow of a broken heart.
The Everfree Forest, a mysterious wooded area located next to the peaceful little town of Ponyville. For years the lands of the forest have existed. Unlike the rest of Equestria, which nowadays depends on the actions of ponies in order to grow and thrive, the forest and the creatures that inhabit it fend for themselves. Over the years the plants and wildlife have evolved into mysterious and powerful entities, which is why ponies are warned of the forest's dangers and advised not carelessly venture into its depths. One such creature, or plant to be exact, was a perfect example of why ponies should not venture into these woods.
In the farthest reaches of the forest a lone flower sat within a cave. Its green thorn laced stem stood straight with a small red bud with white circle all around it. The history books call this flower Jealousy's Desire, a fearsome plant that nearly destroyed the unicorn civilization well over a thousand years ago.
This is a tale of a calamity that almost befell the town full of ponies, a tale that started on one fateful holiday.
In present day Ponyville, all the pony folk were celebrating Hearts and Hooves day. A special day where ponies celebrate being with their very special somepony, and share love and happiness with those around them. Even the little filly students in the schoolhouse were having a party to celebrate. Students were passing Heart and Hooves day cards to one another. Up in the front of the classroom three little fillies were presenting their teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, an oversized heart card they made together for her. Over in the back corner of the class one light blue purple haired unicorn filly was struggling to overcome her fear. She sat there, struggling to convince herself.
Come one Tootsie Flute, you've wanted to do this for a long time. Today is Hearts and Hooves day; there can't be a more perfect day. Just be confident. Just walk over to Truffle hand him your Hearts and Hooves day card. Look him straight in the eye and say I lo-lo…It's hopeless if I can't even say it in my head, how am I going to say it straight to him?
The fuchsia eyed young mare turns her head to see the target of her affections. Over to her left, just two desks away, she saw Truffle. The plump grey coated pudgy Earth pony with chocolate brown hair. Tootsie sat there admiring him, but something suddenly caught the eye of the light blue unicorn.
Sitting next to her, between Truffle and her, was Twist. An oldlace colored Earth pony with deep red curly hair. She had something on her desk. She was working on her Hearts and Hooves day card.
She still hasn't finished her card yet? Who is she going to give it to? No she couldn't be planning to give it to Truffle. She must be planning to give it to Ms. Cheerilee, but got intimidated when those three brought in that huge heart. That must be it.
Tootsie's dread came to fruition when she watched the red headed Earth pony turn to Truffle and offer him the card she was working on.
Okay, so she gave him a Hearts and Hooves day card. I'm sure she did it as a friendly gesture and nothing more…
Tootsie heart was instantly dashed by what she saw next. The chubby colt didn't except Twist's card with a simple smile, but instead rushed over to her and gave her a big hug. With her emotions crushed the light blue unicorn turned away from the painful sight, trying her best to not shed a tear. Her card dropped from her hoof as it hung almost lifelessly over her desk. She moved a row ahead of them, not wanting to see their faces anymore. She spent the rest of the school day feigning interest. She would probably have been fine if she didn't have to stare at them she thought, but then she saw something that really struck her heartstrings. Little Truffle walked up to the front of the class and offered Ms. Cheerilee a Hearts and Hooves day car. That little act pushed her to the edge; everypony had received something or given something to somepony, except her. She just sat there with a smile masking her true emotions.
After class ended, little Tootsie Flute ran. She was the first one out of the classroom. Nopony seemed to notice the little pony rushing through the town with tears in her eyes, not when three little ponies were creating a ruckus with their musical number. So, unheeded, the unicorn filly made her way out of Ponyville. She couldn't bare the sight of ponies together with the special somepony, not when she just lost her chance to meet her own. She just wanted to be somewhere dark, where nopony could find her, so Tootsie galloped into the woods.
The mare knew the woods were a dangerous place and she had been warned not to venture into them, but right now it didn't matter. She didn't care of the dangers; in fact she didn't care if anything happened to her, she just wanted to keep galloping.
For a place known for its danger nothing seemed to impede the unicorns path; no wild animals, no treacherous paths, it was almost as though something was making sure the pony kept heading deeper into the forest.
Tootsie didn't realize how far she had ventured; her eyes remained closed the entire time, trying her hardest to fight back all the tears that seemed to never end. Up ahead of her was a tiny clearing. In the center, a small ray of sunlight that pierced through the thick tree tops, beam its light on a lone flower. The pony would have run into it were it not for a vine that tripped her, causing her face to skid across the dirt.
She lay there, motionless, with her face in the dirt. She had neither the will nor motivation to lift herself up. Taking this pause from her sprint, the unicorn's emotions caught up with her.
Why… Why! How could Twist do that? I should have been the one to give Truffle my Hearts and Hooves day card, not her. I should have been the pony getting a hug! Why didn't I do anything sooner… He even gave Ms. Cheerilee a card. Today was supposed be perfect… Why did she have to ruin it?
While little Tootsie was lost in her thoughts, the flower bud that stood in front of her started to blossom. The blooming flower was a sight to behold; it resembled a rose, but had a very unique feature about it. A green flame hovered just over the petals. Never harming the flower itself, the odd colored flame only added to the plants beauty.
Without notice strange line of green light where coming off of the unicorn who still had her face in the dirt. The light flowed in the wind towards the flame. As the fire absorbed the streaks of green light coming off of the pony, both the flame and the flower started to grow.
How could I be so stupid? I should have told him sooner. Now he'll be with that…that...I hate her… she… took him… away…
Unaware of what was going on around her; Tootsie Flute's energy was being drained by the flower. As she lost consciousness her heart was plagued with bitter jealousy. As the plant continued to grow it carefully reached a root out to carry the sleeping pony while it continued to feed off of her.
Back in Ponyville, the towns resident librarian and star student to Equestria's Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, was making her way back home, after purchasing some new books. After a brief run in with three ambitions fillies, where she offered them one of her books, the purple unicorn started to read another of her new texts until arriving at her abode. She entered the hollowed out tree that made her home and was welcomed by her faithful assistant.
"Hey Twilight welcome back," the purple infant dragon greeted, as he took one claw off the broom he was sweeping with to wave.
The unicorn walked in and placed her saddle bags on her table. "Hello Spike, anything happen while I was out."
"Nope everything's been quiet since you left." The dragon paused his sweeping and looked over the mare. "Everypony is out celebrating Hearts and Hooves day." He turned and gave the pony a smirk. "So how about you Twilight, Got any secret special somepony you're hiding?" The young drake busted out into laughter at the thought.
Twilight looked over to her aid, giving him a disregarding look. "I don't have time for that sort of things Spike." She turned to her table and pulled her out the collection of novels from her bag. "Besides, I just got these new books that I'm dying to read."
The purple scaled assistant snorted, "Always burying yourself in your books Twilight. I know you're not much for seeking out romance but even you should try to celebrate the holiday." He walks over to a window, "I mean check out the beautiful weather. The sun is shining the birds are chirping and a bunch of strange red flowers are mysteriously popping out of the ground everywhere…wait what?"
Twilight headed over to the window to see what Spike was talking about. Sure enough, there were hundreds of flowers instantly popping out of the ground. Normally a bunch of flowers wouldn't be cause for too much alarm, but Twilight had just read something that mentioned this sort of thing. Intrigued and slightly concerned that her suspicion may be right, she went back to her desk and grabbed one of her new books.
"What is it Twilight? Is it something bad?" Little Spike questioned.
"I'm not sure yet Spike, but if it is what I think it is then all of Ponyville could be in danger."
The little dragon clutched his tail in fright.
"Don't worry Spike; I'm going to figure out what causing these flowers. I just hope it's not what I think it is."
Twilight placed her saddle bag onto her back, with the book stored in the pocket and headed out the door.
Once outside she saw the full extent of what was going on. Strange cotton like seeds were floating all throughout town. Wherever they landed a flower instantly bloomed. None of the other ponies seemed as alarmed as Twilight was; they saw it as a sign of romance on this Hearts and Hooves day. Twilight roamed around town observing all the flowers that sprouted everywhere. While she traveled to the center of town she saw a familiar face pulling an apple cart.
Twilight called out the mare. "Applejack!"
Stopping in her tracks the Earth pony looked over to the unicorn who called out to her. "Howdy there Twilight." The farm mare took a moment to observe the beauty of the falling seed and surrounding flowers as her friend trotted over to her. "Sure is a romantic looking Hearts and Hooves day isn't it."
"It may not be as romantic as you think Applejack. I've got a hunch that this might be a sign of something really, really bad."
The cowgirl tilted her Stetson hat up in confusion. "Come again Twilight? You're sayin' all these pretty lookin' flowers are a bad thing?"
"Well…"
"Now listen here Twi, I happen to know a bit about flowers and as far as I know these things look plenty harmless to me." Applejack looked out to the town and observed a few seed instantly grow into full blooming flower just seconds after they hit the soil. "Sure these things grow quick like the dickens but there's no way some flowers could cause something bad to happen.
"Just listen to me AJ, from what I read in this book this is a signs of a very rare, very dangerous plant. If I'm right then the town could be in danger." Twilight floated the book to Applejack.
The light orange pony looked over the book cover, "Cursed cypresses, hexed hollowroot, and other forbidden flowers." Twilight then proceeded to show Applejack the page that had her worried.
"You see Applejack, according to this book these flower are a sign of an ancient plant thought long extinct."
After getting a good read of the page the Earth pony moved the book aside and looked at the unicorn. "So you're telling me that all these here flowers are some sort of signal of one big nasty plant that's somewhere around here? And if we don't find it and stop it all of Pony is in trouble?"
"Yes!" the magenta pony exclaimed.
"I just don't know Twilight. Remember that one time you read that book about the headless horse and you thought he was here in Ponyville?"
"All the signs pointed to it being real. How was I supposed to know it was just Pinkie Pie sleep walking? Anyway, the point is this time it's real. The book I'm getting this from isn't a story this time."
Applejack looks around her once more. "You may be right Twilight. They may seem like normal flower, but I've never seen flower grow as quick as this before." She removed the wagon harness and faces her friend. "But if this turns out like last time, you're helping me with my choirs today. Since Big Macintosh got called away I got left with everything so there'll be plenty to do. Now what's exactly our first step? "
Twilight looked into the book, deciding what her next action should be."Alright first we have to find the source of all these seeds."
A pink hoof popped up in front of Twilight's vision. "That's easy it's over there in the Everfree forest."
"Thanks Pinkie Pie." The unicorn paused slightly. "Pinkie? When did you get here?"
"Oh just about when you two were talking about these flowers being a bad thing. Now are we gonna go stop this thing or what?"
Twilight still looked at her cheery friend. "But, How'd you? I was. Never mind, at least I don't have to explain twice."
Looking over to the forest, the girls saw that seeds were being shot into the sky from somewhere within the forest.
"Come on girls! We need to hurry. If this book is correct, pretty soon things are going to start getting pretty bad."
Applejack looked to Twilight. ""Pretty bad" as in how?"
Before the unicorn could ever answer the ground below them started to quake. Over towards the forest, something was happening where the seeds were originating from. An enormous flower started to rise above the treeline, its stem rose high above the trees of the forest. At the top of the gorgeous red rose with white speckles, a giant Green flame burned brightly, just hovering over it.
"Oh…like that" the blonde maned pony answered her own question.
Twilight turned around to look at all the flowers. "Actually AJ, it's about to get worse."
Pinkie cut in with a question of her own. "Gee how is it supposed to get worse Twi- Ahhhh!" screaming mid sentence, she pointed a hoof behind them.
All around them, the flowers that had sprouted throughout the town started to grow. The bizarre plants started moving as they grew. They were about half the size of a regular pony, their roots started to function like arms and legs. Using their new appendages, the flowers uprooted themselves.
Ponies around the town who at first were marveling at the massive flower that towered over the forest, now drew their attention to the swarm of walking flowers that surrounded them. A brown colt with an hourglass cutie mark approached one of the flowers to investigate. Reacting to the pony's presence, the flower wrapped its arm like roots around it. The colt struggled to break free but couldn't escape. Other ponies went to his aid, but were stopped by other flowers who wrangled up the ponies closest to them. Seeing what was happening to others, the townsfolk started to panic. Fear induced chaos spread as ponies started running for their lives.
Twilight and the others watched as pony after pony were being captured. She turned to her friends. "We have to head over to the center of the forest now. It's the only way we can stop that thing."
They all looked back to the forest and witness a horrendous sight. The seeds that continued to stream out of the top of the looming blossom began to catch fire as they passed through the green flame that sat atop. The ignited seed no longer reached the town, but instead landed in the forest, setting it aflame. The girls could only watch as fires spread throughout practically all of Everfree Forest.
"We don't have a choice girls; we have to get there no matter what." Twilight said, stamping her hoof.
Just about to make their charge towards the forest, the trio was interrupted by three walking flowers.
"Ahh! Scary Flowers!" Pinkie shouted as she hopped behind her friends.
Applejack and Twilight stared down the trio of plants. AJ gave the one in front of her a heavy kick, while her friend besides used her magic to use a nearby shovel as a weapon. While the duo was fending for themselves against an assaulting herb, the third one got its vines around the frightened pink earth pony.
"AAHHH!" she hollered as the flower wrapped it vine arms tightly around her body.
The fighting ponies looked to their hollering friend. "Pinkie Pie!"
Distracted by their friend in distress the defending mares were caught off guard. The relentless creatures captured them
"No!"
"Darn it!"
With the vines of their capturers clamping down on them, they could feel their energy slowly being drained. As her consciousness faded, Twilight tried one last swing of her shovel.
"Skreeeeeee!" cried out the flower.
The creature's grip suddenly loosened. With what little strength remained, Twilight looked down and noticed that the flower not longer had what appeared to be its head. Falling to the ground, she fought off her bodies urge to pass out; she looked up and saw two familiar faces that gave her hope.
"Twilight dear, Twilight are you alright?" a white hoof stuck out in front of her. The unicorn that helped her up turned to a pegasus on her right. "Rainbow Dash, go and see to Pinkie and Applejack please."
Still recovering from the attack, Twilight got back on her hooves. Her strength quickly started returning to her. She rushed over to her friends Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Without saying a word, she gave her unicorn friends a hug. Rarity, thrown off by the sudden gesture, placed one hoof around her friend.
Having recovered, along with Pinkie and Applejack, Twilight explained what was going on to Rainbow and Rarity.
The cyan coated pegasus leaped into the air and looked over to the burning forest. "What the hay are we waiting for then? Let's hurry up and get there already!"
As the five were about to head for the forest, they were stopped by the cries of the townspeople behind them. Looking behind them they witness ponies running for their lives, being captured and crying as homes where being ravaged as the plant creatures hunted them each of them down.
Applejack turned around and started walking back to town. "Ya'll get going now, I'll stay behind and help the town fight these varmints off."
"But Applejack, you cannot possible fend off all these creatures on your own!" Rarity interjected.
She turned back to the concerned mare. "Why sure I can, I just got caught off guard before is all. Now go on, if ya'll don't go and stop that thing Ponyville won't survive."
"But Applejack!" Pinkie Pie cut in.
Suddenly Rainbow Dash leaped over her friends and landed beside the light orange mare. "Don't sweat it guys, she won't be along. Equestria's best flyer will be watching her back," she said, placing an arm over the earth pony's shoulder.
Twilight approached the two of them. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, are you two sure about this?"
Both girls nodded. "Sure I'm sure; I can't just leave Ponyville like this."
"Yeah we can't just leave the town hanging, besides we trust you three will be able to stop all this craziness."
Twilight Sparkle gave her two friends a hug. "Thank you both, I'll make sure we stop this. Pinkie promise."
With their goodbyes exchanged, Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran towards Everfree forest, leaving the Earth pony and pegasus to face the hoard of invading plant creatures.
Now facing the town, Rainbow Dash looked to Applejack, sticking her hoof out to a group of attacking flowers. "I'll let you have a head start, seeing as I'll probably take out most of them."
The cowgirl smirked at her confidence. "How's bout you just try and keep up."
Smiling at each other, they charged in.
As they reached the forest's edges, the trio laid witness to a sight. Dozens of animals were fleeing from the inferno. By the trees, guiding them out was a pink haired light yellow pegasus. The girls rushed over to the flying pony, just avoiding a trampling from a herd of fleeing manticore. Twilight called out to the mare.
"Fluttershy!"
Hearing her name, the winged mare turned around and noticed her friends down below. She landed in front of them, tears flowing out of her eyes.
"Girls, it's awful. All the poor little critters, this terrible fire is going to destroy all their homes and there's nothing we can do about it. I ran when I saw those strange plant things start taking ponies. When the fires started I tried my but to put of the fires, but it's too dangerous by myself. This is all I can do to save the poor animals, but, but…"
Saddened, Fluttershy broke down into tears. Twilight and the other started consoling her.
"We know Fluttershy, that's why we're here. We might have a way to stop this."
The sobbing pony fought back her tears. "You do?"
Twilight pointed to the giant flower which still spewed out molten bits of seeds. "First we need to head to the center of the forest where what flower has sprouted."
Wiping away the tears, Fluttershy motivated herself to join her friends.
With Fluttershy joining them, they galloped into the woods. Heading for the center, they rushed to put an end to the chaos. As the girls made their way through the woods, the surroundings were making it harder and harder to continue. The intense heat from fires were taking their toll on their bodies. They just kept running, for each moment halted meant more time in what felt like an oven. Moving together, they never letting each other out of their sight. Losing somepony there would mean disaster for sure.
As they were getting closer to the giant stem the fires' intensity got worse. Charred trees began falling over. Twilight and the others now had to keep an eye out for falling logs of burning timber. Up ahead, Twilight spotted two massive trees fall. They landed diagonally along their path; the burning tree top now blocked their way. Stopping and circling around would waste precious time they didn't have. She looked at the patches of burning leaves and made her decision.
Twilight looked back to her friends. "Girls we're gonna jump straight through it!"
Both Rarity and Pinkie Pie gave her a determined nod, but Fluttershy expression was that of utter terror. There was no time to discuss. Twilight looked to the approaching set of flaming tree tops. Taking a deep breath, she took a leap of faith. As her body went into the ignited collection of leaves, her coat and mane got singed as she brushed passed the fires, finally emerging on the other side. She looked back to see her Rarity had also emerged from the blazing leaves, her singe mark were more noticeable due to the color of her coat. Twilight and Rarity looked back as they kept their pace, becoming more concerned over their timid Fluttershy. Worried over her and Pinkie's safety, the two stopped and started heading back. That's when they heard their friends yell out.
"Hop, skip, and jump!"
Emerging from the roaring fires of the fallen tree tops, were their friends. Leaping through the fire together, they gave the girls ahead of them affirming nod. Together once more, they continued running. Their goal was just a few hundred feet away.
Closer than ever, the girls started to notice the number of fires around them had decreased; even the temperature in the area had dropped. As they got closer, they realized the more untouched the forest was. At the point where it looked look like the fires were not existent, they reached their destination.
"We're hear girls." Twilight informed.
The four mares looked up to the tremendous stalk as they approached.
The purple pony extended one hoof out. "This is-"
"Jealousy's Desire." Rarity continued.
Twilight looked over, surprised that she knew such a fact.
"What? You're not the only pony who enjoys reading up on these sorts of things Twilight? Now we just need to find a way inside."
Fluttershy looked up the long stem becoming more frightened the higher she stared. "It's so…big. How are we going to stop it?"
A couple of feet away Pinkie called out to the girls. "Guys over here, I found the entrance!"
Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, they trotted over to their puffy haired friends. Poking their head around the corner, they got a full glimpse of the massive flower interior. Strangely for a flower it was actually completely hollow. There was just a big open area with what looked to be a hammock made of vines floating off the ground.
Twilight pointed her hoof to the vines. "There! Whatever's up there is the cause of all this." Twilight turned to her winged friend. "Fluttershy I need you to fly up there and tell us what you see."
The nervous little flyer's body trembled at the request. "Uh...me f-fl-fly up there? Is that such a good idea?"
Pinkie placed an arm on her shoulder. "Don't worry Fluttershy we'll be right here watching, we won't let anything bad happen to you."
"O-Okay." The calmed pegasus said.
She slowly made her ascent, steeling herself as she covered her eyes. She removed her hooves covering her eyes. She gasped.
Back in town Applejack and Rainbow dash continued to fight off the endless wave of plants.
"You alright over their AJ?"
Applejack was swing a plant creature around on her lasso, striking a group of the pest. "Shoot, I haven't even broken a sweat. What the matter RD, falling behind?"
Rainbow Dash looked back to her fighting partner. "Hah! You wish."
Both ponies were making their way around town fighting off hoards of attacking flower like creatures. Together they were making short work of the invaders as the two moved further into town, freeing ponies that had been captured.
"Alright ya'll get going it ain't safe round these parts," Applejack advised a saved group of the town.
They continued fended off the attacking flowers. Applejack used her back legs to knock the bud right off the creatures' stems as well as her lasso to rope them up and whip them into each other. Rainbow Dash zoomed by groups, using her strong wings to cut the flower creatures heads off like a razor.
As the two mares were battling the mass of assaulting plants, a lone young colt made his was to them. He moved closer. Strangely though none of the invaders seemed to notice.
Applejack, noticing the young colt, leaped over to his side, bucking away two nearby creatures in the process. "What are you still doin' here young'un? I thought I told everypony to run to safety."
The sad little pudgy grey earth pony didn't say anything; he had a card in his mouth, gesturing for her to read it.
As she took the card and started reading, the young colt spoke. "I can't find…my friends. I found this by her desk at school…but now I can't find her."
Applejack, reading the card and hearing the colt's story, suddenly recalled what she had read in Twilight's book.
Rainbow Dash flew over to see what was the matter. "Applejack! What's going on? This is no time to be taking a break, and who's this kid?"
An Idea came to her as she saw Rainbow Dash approach. "Rainbow, there's something very important I need you to do."
"Fluttershy what do you see up there?" Twilight called.
"It's, it's a unicorn," The pegasus stuttered. "It looks like she's asleep."
"Oh, I was afraid of that," the purple unicorn fretted.
Pinkie looked to her friend, puzzled. "Why's that a problem Twilight? I mean can't we just get her off that thing?"
"It isn't that simple Pinkie Pie," Rarity explained.
The girls all huddled together as Twilight placed the book before them and explained.
"You see girls; Jealousy's Desire is a magical plant. It needs to feed off an emotion in order to grow. Jealousy, being its source of nourishment, is also where it gets its name from. The more jealousy its host feels the more it grows until its flower blooms and the green flame ignites." Twilight turns the page, revealing more about the flower. "Long ago, before Equestria was established, this plant nearly wiped out the unicorn tribe. It was thanks to Star Swirled the Bearded and a band of Earth ponies that discovered it abilities and managed to stop it."
The girls all looked up to the vines where the sleeping unicorn lay.
"Now that we know what's causing it, the real problem is finding the pony that can stop it." Twilight said.
Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at the mare, a little confused.
"What do you mean "finding the pony that can stop it"?"
"Yeah," Pinkie added.
Rarity looked over to the two. "The problem is that because jealousy the flower feeding on came from that revolving around a loved one. The only manner in which to stop it lies with the one the victim has strong feeling for. In order to stop Jealousy's Desire you must give its victim what they desire in their heart."
Now realizing their predicament Pinkie slumped down. "Great! Now what are we supposed to do."
Fluttershy flew back up to where the unicorn mare slept. "Well I guess we should first get her down from here." Fluttershy moved her hooves underneath the mare and lift her up.
"Fluttershy, wait!" Twilight yelled out.
"Gerooouuuun," A loud growl bellowed from the top of the hollow stem. Everything trembled in the wake of the voice.
"That certainly can't be good," Rarity commented.
Meanwhile back in the town, Applejack was doing her best fending for herself against the swarm. Kick after kick sent waves of the green and red plant creatures soaring. She was now all alone, giving Rainbow Dash an important task and sending her off. She faced off against what seemed like an endless supply of rose shaped monsters.
Applejack spat into the dirt as the plants were circling around her. "Alright you overgrown weeds, come get some!"
The walking flowers moved in one by one, Applejack faced the approaching plant and bucked the bloom right off its stem. Green and red began splattering on her coat from each creature she bashed; her body ended up colored red and green from grass stains and petal smears, but no matter how many she blew away with her kicks more just kept on coming. She was reaching her limits.
Fatigue started to set in and Applejack got caught off guard. One of the creatures landed a vine whip, knocking the mare off her feet. Too exhausted to get back up she laid there awaiting their next move.
The swarm moved in, wrapping their vines around each of her legs. Applejack was hoisted above the mass. Looking down she saw all of them, their corollas' were looking straight at her. Suddenly she felt an immense sensation, like all of her energy was being sapped away at once. Without even being able to cry out, her world went dark. As she started to fade away she heard one final cry.
"Nope!"
Something had happened, she was released and was falling to the ground, but something caught her. Whatever saved her placed her gently to the ground. Still too weak to even open her eyes all she could do what hear what was going on.
"Come on youn'uns; let's show these overgrown boutonnieres what happens when you mess with one of the Apple family!"
"Yeah!"
"Eeyup!"
Those were the last words she heard before she fainted.
It wasn't that long before she started to come to again. A familiar voice she'd heard many times before was calling to her.
"Applejack, hey Applejack, wake up all ready!"
She opened her eyes to see the bright worried faces of her family looking down at her.
The elder green Earth pony smiled. "It's good to have you back safe and sound deary."
Applejack got back to her hooves and looked to her family. "Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, I thought you all made it out to safety?"
Big Macintosh tilted his head over to the old pony as walked over to Applejack. "You think I'm gonna run from some bunch of pesky weeds? This is my town and I'm gonna stick around and protect it. Beside we had to stay and make sure you were safe. You know us Apples stick together."
"Eeyup." Big Mac added.
Applejack looked around her. Hundreds of rose petals and stems were sprawled before her. She looked back to her family and took pride to be a member of them. She moved in close and they all shared a hug.
Breaking up the family moment, was a loud growl coming from the large blossom in the center of the forest. The Apple Family looked over, waiting for what was going to happen next.
Apple Bloom noticed something going on behind them. "Everypony, look!"
Turning around the three grown pony witnessed an unbelievable sight. All the remaining plant creatures throughout the town had begun to amass. Their vines started connecting with each other, building up, until they all formed a giant version of themselves. The gargantuan stood taller than any building in town.
Applejack, along with the rest of her family stretched their neck up to look at the newly formed giant. "Oh my…" she uttered.
"I think we're gonna need a whole lot more weed killer, granny." Apple Bloom shuddered.
"Eeyup," Big Mac's faded voice answered.
The massive collection of plants started making its move, traveling faster then what its size belied. The family braced themselves, but to their surprise the creature wasn't going for them. Instead it ran past them and started heading towards the giant flower in the forest.
Applejack gasped as she got a hunch at what might be happening. "Oh no, the girls! I sure hope Dash has made it by now."
Applejack and her family could only look on, as the beast made for Jealousy's Desire, and where her friends were.
Making her way towards the stem, Rainbow Dash along with the little unicorn riding on her back, were making their approach. The thick smoke rising out of the still burning forest made flying above the tree treacherous, adding that were the chunks of burning seeds that still came out of the top of the plant.
Rainbow Dash looked back to her passenger. "Alright Truffle, hang on tight. This is gonna be rough."
She dove down and entered the forest. The two ponies saw all the charred and burning trees that still stood as they blew past. Rainbow used all her agility to navigate through the inferno, but her wings were started to hurt. They couldn't handle being in that oven of a forest for much longer. Unable to bear the searing pain of being down below, she veered up, breaking through the burning leafy ceiling.
Visibility was low and it was getting hard to breath, but it was cooler than being down below. Rainbow Dash knew if she didn't get out of there soon they weren't going to make it. A ball of molten seed flew by almost hitting them.
"Whoa!" Rainbow yelled out, seeing the chunk hit the forest floor. The seed burst on impact causing its burning shrapnel to spread more fires.
Flying as fast as she possibly could the little colt on her back, Rainbow Dash finally made it out of the thick smoke. The sky had now darkened thanks to the endless stream of smoke that filled the sky. Taking a moment to get some fresh air, the pegasus looked back. That's when they heard a growl coming from behind them. Over in the town, Rainbow Dash saw a giant flower similar to the one she fought together with Applejack emerge. Her head started to fill with worry over the friend she left behind, but those worries were quickly replaced when she saw the giant flower monster rapidly moving towards her.
"Uh oh," she uttered, as the giant flower rapidly made its way closer.
Quickly turning around the mare started flying as fast as she could towards the stem. The huge plant had already made it in the forest, its roots plowed through the ground, knocking away trees and kicking up a wave of dirt. Before Rainbow knew it, the creature had caught up was passing her. Ignoring the two ponies completely, the plant arrived to the giant stem and started striking it.
Back inside of the hollow plant tower, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight were panicking over the commotion going on outside. They huddled around the sleeping blue coated unicorn, their eyes focused on the source of the banging on the wall.
"Girls, whatever is coming, we can't let it take her away." Twilight looked at the passed out unicorn. "If something happens to her there's no way we can put a stop to this!"
The wall of the giant stem started to crack. Eventually a massive green vine broke in, ripping apart the wall so it could fit through. The head of the plant peered in and saw what it was after.
"Holey moley that's a huge flower!" Pinkie yelled out.
Outside of the stem, Rainbow watched as the beast broke in. Looking into the hole she caught of glimpse of her friends inside before being blocked by the beast's head. She didn't see any other way in. Rainbow thought to herself, if there's no way around that thing, then I'm just gonna have to go through it.
Rainbow looked to her passenger. "Ok Truffle I've got a plan, but you have to do exactly what I say when I say it. Got it?"
The little colt nodded his head as he wrapped his hooves tightly around her neck.
Flying high into the sky, she reached where the massive flower bud rested. They both caught a close view of the green flame hovering over the blooming before Rainbow Dash started making her decent, drastically picking up speed as she fell. She then folded her wings and straightened her body out.
"Okay Truffle, let go!"
He skeptically at the mare, she wasn't serious was she?
"Trust me, you'll be fine. Now hurry up and let go."
Truffle was a little hesitant. Here was a pony he'd just met, and now he's supposed to trust her doing something crazy like this. He took a second to think about it, she was putting herself in danger to help him find his friend. She was either a crazy, or the coolest pony he'd ever met. Truffle decided that he'd put his faith in Rainbow Dash.
Truffle released his grip and started plummeting. To his surprise, he didn't fall straight down. The pull from the Rainbow's slipstream was tugging him along the same flight path as her. He straightened his body and pointed it in the same direction Dash was going.
Back inside, Twilight and her friends stood their ground as the massive plant started leaning towards them. Its arms slithered inside moving closer to the sleeping blue unicorn. All of a sudden a voice called out to her.
"Twilight!"
They all looked out the opening to see Rainbow Dash. She was flying at them going ridiculously fast. She barely managed yelling out something.
"Catch!"
With her last words, Rainbow Dash flew straight into the flower colossus. Following her disappearance was the familiar explosion of her signature aerial maneuver.
A sonic rainboom burst forth from the center of the beast, it shattered back into smaller versions of itself as the wave of light and sound passed through its entirety. While inside the plant, Rainbow made a quick turn upwards and flew out of the collapsing flower's head. Exhausted from her travel, Rainbow Dash was spent. She no longer had the strength to turn and collided with the bottom of the Jealousy's Desire's flower head.
Still following behind the slipstream of the she left behind, Truffle hit the area where the sound barrier had been previously broken. With his body not traveling as fast as Rainbow dash, the weaken barrier served to slow his decent. He continued to fall inside the hallow stem of the Jealousy's Desire.
Smaller version of the giant creature scattered everywhere as it fell apart as a result of Rainbow Dash's attack. Twilight noticed the colt approaching fast and prepared to catch him with her magic.
"Whaaa!" Truffle yelled as he got closer to the ground.
To his surprise, a purple aura had surrounded his body. Twilight had managed to catch him, but the force of his fall pushed her back. It took Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity pushing against her together to stop prevent Twilight from being pushed back.
After he was safely on the ground, Truffle rushed over to the four mares and addressed the one who caught him. "Are you Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yes, I am." she answered.
He handed her a card. "Applejack told me to give this to you. She said you would understand." Before Twilight could begin reading, Truffle noticed the filly lying behind the mares. "Tootsie!" he called out as he rushed over.
As he ran over to his friend the girls went over to Twilight to see the card she had received.
"What's it say? What's it say?" Pinkie questioned.
Together they read the card, and had the same reaction.
"Aw."
"So that's what this is about." Twilight realized.
"To think he braved all that to come here for her. That is simply romantic." Rarity commented.
"What a brave little colt." Fluttershy added.
"He even made a super heroic entrance." Pinkie complemented.
Twilight approached Truffle, who was by unconscious Tootsie. He looked up at her.
"What's wrong with her Twilight? Why won't she wake up?"
She lowered her head down, placing the card besides him. "Well she's wanted to give you this card on Hearts and Hooves day Truffle. Now, she's just waiting for your answer."
Truffle understood what he was supposed to do. Meanwhile the fallen mass of walking plants had started to recover. They started to charge over where the sleeping unicorn was.
Twilight looked over to the approaching hoard. "Truffle you know what you have to do, we'll make sure these things don't interrupt you. Right girls?"
"Yeah!" they shouted.
While the girls charged to fend off the wave of enemies, Truffle began what was probably the hardest thing he had to do. He nervously looked over the still sleeping mare, unsure of himself.
"Truffle hurry!" Twilight yelled, as she struggled with the oncoming flowers.
Rarity jumped to Twilight's aid knocking away the plants with a graceful kick. "Now Twilight, you can't rush these sorts of things."
"Normally I'd agree with your Rarity, but this time I'm gonna have to side with Twilight on this one," Pinkie Pie chimed in, as she knocked the bud off one of the creatures.
While things were getting worse behind him, the colt made his move. He leaned his head in and gave the blue mare a peck on her cheek, blushing madly as he lifted his head up.
The creatures reacted to the Earth pony's actions, becoming more aggressive. They reached their vines out, wrapping up the four mares.
"Aaahh!" they all cried out as the flowers held them up preparing to feed on their energy.
Truffle looked over to the girls in peril. There was no more time; the plants were making their way towards him. He leaned in again and whispered something into Tootsie's ear. A cry echoed down from the huge flower up above.
"REAAAAGUUUUUAHH!"
Truffle looked over to the approaching plants; they had all stopped in their tracks.
"Look!" Fluttershy called out, pointing one hoof up the petal tower.
As they all looked up, they saw a white light that steadily grew brighter and brighter. It spread, shrouding them in its blinding glow.
"Ugh…what happened?" Twilight asked as she scratched her head.
As she got up, Twilight noticed her friends were all just waking up as well. She then realized that something was missing. She looked around and didn't see any signs of it; the Jealousy's Desire had vanished.
As her friends started to get up they noticed the same thing. Pinkie Pie, noticing something else, ran over to her friend.
"Rainbow Dash, you're ok!" Pinkie hollered as she bounced over to the pegasus and gave her a big hug.
They all looked over to the forest; it was still burning. But with no more chunks of burning seeds falling from the sky, weather patrol pegasi were placing rain clouds over it to douse the fires.
A thought raced into Twilight's head, "Where's Truffle and Tootsie?"
A white hoof landed on her shoulder. Twilight turned to see Rarity who placing a hoof on her lips. "Shhh." She then pointed over to the two fillies.
Sitting together, just across from the four older mares, was the young Earth pony and unicorn, leaning against each other, holding on to the other dearly.
