A Twist of Fate
“Pinky Pie, Let us know if you find any short cuts, we need every second,” Fluttershy yelled at her from the front of the wagon next to Applejack.
Okey dokey lokie Pinky pie smiled. “Just a little bit farther up, there’s a little detour, were gunna take a walk through the woods!” In teams of two, they made their way across the orchards with buckets in tow heading for the far backsides of the fields.
Like a rolling black cloud they blocked out the sky, Applejack couldn't see them yet but she knew those vampire bats were up there, waiting for them at the edge of her fields.
“Turn right! Turn Right! It’s a short cut,” Pinky Pie yelled back from the rear of the convoy and without hesitation, Applejack and Fluttershy rounded the corner of the nearest Apple tree row, throwing up rocks and bouncing through a mud hole. The excitement building as the six made their down the path, Twilight and Rainbow Dash in the mid wagon.
Twilight huffed but smiled over at Rainbow Dash, “Normal pony spends her life, avoiding, tense situations.
Dash looked back at her, “Repo Pony spends her life getting INTO, tense situations, Twilight! AWW YEAH!”
Applejack and Fluttershy crashed through a tree branch, “Pinky Pie, Wheres the path?” Fluttershy shouted.
“See that barn? Its right behind that barn,” she shouted back, “Trust me, Pinky is good! Pinky is wise!”
“Oh my, Mother of Celestia,” Fluttershy and Applejack said simultaneously, cringing at the same time.
“This is a different field Pinky!” Fluttershy said as they crashed through the overgrowth.
“I know, I know, Keep going, it’s just beyond that brush… See that brush right in front of you?”
“Yes, we see the brush, but what’s beyond the brush?”
“Beyond what?” Pinky questioned.
“The BRUSH, A brick wall? A bearded pony? What?” Applejack and Fluttershy shouted crashing through the brush and into one of Applejacks cornfields.
“Oh! Silly me,” Pinky giggled, “It’s the pathway; it’s the pathway.”
Applejack poured on the speed and broke through the edge of the field and onto the pathway skidding the wagon sideways and nearly sideswiping another wagon.
Fluttershy looked up; she could see the large mass of vampire bats on the horizon; they looped and swirled up in the sky. She could sense them, feel their vibrations, and she knew they were waiting to pounce on them when the moment was right. But she also knew she had to do this, for the safety of all ponies and Applejack, her best friend’s farm. It was all in danger if they couldn’t find a way to stop them. “Um, we need to turn here Applejack.”
“But were not even…”
“Please don’t argue, just trust me.”
Applejack did trust her, and she turned off the one path and onto another without further hesitation. Twilight and Rainbow Dash followed in behind them.
“Where are they going?” Rarity wondered alongside Pinky Pie.
“I don’t know, its like, ‘Mac’s road’, I’ll remember later, just follow them.”
Twilight looked up and spotted them. “I have a visual; they’re just up ahead, and those bats look like they’re just about to hit that last set of apple trees.
“I’m on it Twilight, Applejack shouted, I’ll get those Apples bucked, and we’ll be back in no time, the rest of you just hang back for now.”
“Aww yeah, this is the fun part,” Rainbow Dash said as they stopped the wagon at the edge of the back grove. Both winged ponies unhitched and flapped up, hovering a few yard’s off the ground “Hey Twilight, have you got a view?”
Twilight huffed but the excitement and adrenalin still pumping in her vanes watched her friends charging up the hills to save those apples. Twilight laughed, “That’s no moon; It’s an Alicorn Princess, Woo Hoo!”
Applejack poured her heart into it; she couldn’t give up now, now that she was so close. The bats started spitting apple seeds at them, they stung like hail, but she had to keep going “Were almost there Fluttershy, get those barrels ready.” She could see them clearly now; the vampire bats were everywhere; they blocked out the sun, circling above her trees in twisted frenzy, waiting to strike. Their wing beats were so loud it sounded like a freight train in the sky.
Fluttershy nodded, unhitched and flapped up into the back of the wagon. Apple tree after apple tree, Applejack, ran closer and closer to the bats.
Um, Applejack? Fluttershy said meekly, “This is close enough.”
Applejack didn’t answer her and continued to move closer.
The bats, however, answered them by sucking up a nearby tree, stripping it of all its branches, and tossing them at the two ponies trying to stop them. A small branch headed for Fluttershy, but she deflected it with her wing “Applejack, Stop, this is far enough!”
“A little more!” Applejack cried and continued to run. She made it to the next tree when a large branch, tossed by the bats fell in front of her missing her by inches. “Okay, that’s close enough,” and pulled the cart under the tree.
Rainbow Dash swooped down and grabbed Rarity from behind hauling her up into the sky, “Come on Rarity; they’re in the bat cage, and you can really feel it from up here.”
Rarity screamed, “No… no put me down Rainbow Dash. Do you know you ponies are all CRAZY! Do you know that?
Applejack unhitched from the wagon “Are the barrels ready?”
“There all set, just help me get them down.”
Applejack set the first barrel under the tree, gave it a good strong buck, and watched it fill with apples.
“Hurry!” Applejack shouted as they got the first barrel onboard and started filling the second one.
Fluttershy turned her attention to the bats as they stripped another apple tree bare of all its fruit. “LOOK OUT!” she cried at Applejack and pushed her out of the way as the bats dropped a rather large tree branch onto the wagon, spilling the apples onto the ground. Applejack we should leave right now, forget the apples, the barrels are wasted.”
NO! Applejack cried, tears welling up in her eyes. She raced over to the broken barrels “Fluttershy… Help me,” Applejack screamed at her trying to pick up as many apples from the ground as possible, “Come on we can still do this!”
Fluttershy looked up into the sky; she could see them way up high, and she could tell this was bad. “Applejack, this is crazy, we gotta go NOW!”
“No, no… if those bats drop anywhere near us…”
“They’re not gunna drop anywhere near us… they’re gunna drop right on us,” Fluttershy shouted grabbing Applejack by the tail and hauling her as hard as she could away from the bats moments before the bats dropped in and sucked the last of the apples dry.
“No, no, no, let me go!”
Fluttershy pulled her friend back down the hillside as far as she could then let go “Forget it Applejack; It’s too late.”
“Help me Fluttershy,” Applejack screamed at her gathering up as many of the good apples that were left on the ground. “Come on, we can still do this!”
“Enough, Applejack, listen to yourself, you’re obsessed with this.”
Applejack was angry now, and she shoved Fluttershy back, “You’ve never seen what those bats can do so don’t tell me what to do,” she screamed.
“I just saw them,” Fluttershy screamed back.
“You’ve never seen them,” Applejack said more calmly staring straight into Fluttershy’s eyes, no longer holding back the tears “No, you’ve never seen them fly this way and that way, and come after you.”
“Oh my, Applejack, do you think that’s what they did?.”
“You will never understand Fluttershy.” Applejack said as she turned and started walking back up the hill.
“When is it going to be enough, when you stop every last bat then what? Come on Applejack, talk to me.” Fluttershy flapped around in front of her, “Things go wrong, you can’t explain it; you can’t predict it; Fruit bats need to eat to survive, even vampire fruit bats. Applejack, I’m sorry that your father died, but the tree that fell over was weakened long before the bats came along, and you know that. Killing yourself won’t bring him back. Stop living in the past Applejack and look at what’s in front of you.
Applejack couldn’t look at her anymore, but she knew she was right, “What are you saying Fluttershy.”
“You have us Applejack,” Fluttershy smiled.
“Your right Fluttershy, I should have listened to you, I couldn’t stop myself,” she paused, “For the longest time I didn’t feel… whole and I felt that if I could just save one more apple it would…’she paused again “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay Applejack, Fluttershy said as she gave her a hug. “We are your friends and we will always be there for you no matter what.”
Applejack sniffed back some tears as she saw each of them, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinky Pie, Rarity…. and Fluttershy. No, Applejack said to herself, they were not her friends... they were her family.
