Shattered Memories, Hidden Dreams

Apple Bloom was somewhere, and nowhere at the same time. Her vision was still locked on those eyes, but around them,  the blackness was replaced by scenes from her life. She sat in both morbid curiosity as the scenes of her short life played out before her, one after the other. The day she met Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. The day of the Talent Show. The day . . .

‘What's happenin'?' She thought worriedly, ‘I can't move nothin', I can barely breathe, and those eyes . . . they won't go away.' In her mind, she tried to look away, tried to run, tried to do anything to escape them, but the eye's followed her. She struggled to suppress an odd feeling of sadness welling up from her heart, as if everything she ever had was slowly and systematically being taken from her. She heard a soft voice speaking, "Now, Apple Bloom, I know ya miss Pa and Mama, but they ain't comin' back. Ya see-" ‘Go away!' she thought as loudly as possible. "Where did they go, Applejack?" 'Please, go away.' "It looks like you're the new head of the farm, Miss Applejack. I'm sorry for your loss, but business must come first. We need a couple dozen bushels by-" 'Please, please, please!' "And though we commend their spirits to the earth, let us not forget the good times we each spent with-" 'GO AWAY AND MAKE IT STOP!'

Then, as suddenly as it all began, it stopped. The scenes, the deep sadness, the fear, it all stopped. Only the eyes remained. Now though, they weren't as scary. Just . . . different. They seemed to be looking someplace else. She tried moving, but the same feeling of nothing answered her back. Then she heard a soft, distant noise. It sounded almost like . . . fighting. Slowly the eyes faded into the blackness, but not before they looked at her one last time with that strange look. As she pondered this, she felt herself slowly return to reality once again.

*

Applejack raced toward the spot where she saw her sister, her mind was racing through the possibilities of what had happened.

‘Oh Celestia, please don' let that thing've hurt Apple Bloom. She's just a filly, barely been alive that long. I bet she tried pokin' it or somethin' ridiculous. Or maybe it caught her instead? But then why'd she fall over. She didn' look hurt 'er nothin'. Oh, I hope I'm not too late.'

As Applejack came sprinting through the orchard, she saw her destination, the apple tree with the shadowy thing under it. She jumped into the air and, with a loud yell, bucked the thing right in the side . . . only to bounce right off it and land face first in the dirt. She shook her head and tried to stand, only to feel an intense pain in her hind legs. She collapsed, unable to hold herself up. He looked up and saw that the thing was looking at her now. She was somewhat horrified by what she saw. It was the eyes, though, that drew her attention. In them, she saw something so cracked, so broken, look back at her, she could swear she was looking at a starving animal. After a moment, she realized she wasn't looking at an animal, but a pony. A midnight blue unicorn, with a red mane that had streaks of black running through it. The scar on its left eye commanded the majority of his face, but the eyes still drew most of her attention. Even in his sitting position, she figured he was a good head taller than Mac. They sat there, sizing each other up without breaking eye contact. He seemed concerned about something, but Applejack couldn't fathom what . . .

A low rumbling sound came from the orchard, and with a loud whiny, Big Macintosh came charging in, barreling headlong at the strange pony. He slammed, hard, into the odd unicorn's midsection, but he too simply fell back. The odd unicorn winced, the normally impassive face flashing with anger. Its horn glowed its dark glow as, to Applejack's surprise, he lifted the huge, red farm pony off the ground, up to eye level. Applejack jumped up, and instantly regretted it. Her hind legs gave out almost instantly, the pain simply unbearable in her state. Still, she had to do something.

"HEY, let him go, ya jerk!" And out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash came charging in, at top speed, straight at the unicorns head. The unicorn's horn glowed intensely for a moment, and Dash stopped dead in mid-flight. The air around her glowed with a faint darkness, as if light was being sucked in to keep her there.

"Hey! Let me go." She struggled, thrashing every which way, trying to break free. "I said let me go you freak, or I'm gonna . . ." She couldn't remember what she was going to do, because suddenly pure fear filled her mind. The unicorn was looking at her, the anger replaced by blind rage, and right now it was directed solely at the rainbow colored pegasus.

As Applejack watched this, she couldn't stop herself from speaking up, "Leave her alone, she's just protecting us from you." She quickly covered her mouth, afraid of what would happen. Dash and Big Mac were dropped on to the ground, and the thing hid his face in the hood of his cloak, all the anger seemingly sucked out of him.

"Nothing has changed."

All three were taken aback as much by the fact it spoke as by its voice. It was a gravely voice, completely uncharacteristic of a normal. It's voice was like that of something that had lived for a long time, and seen more of the world than anypony should. As was expected, Rainbow Dash was the first to recover, "What are you talking about?"

The unicorn glanced at the cyan-blue pegasus, trying to keep his face hidden away. "You all believe me to be some sort of thing, and some of you think I have caused you harm. But each of you is mistaken."

The three ponies looked at each other, somewhat confused. It was Applejack who recovered first this time, "But . . . you, you hurt Apple Bloom. I saw her flop over. There ain't no other explanation." She looked over at her younger sister, only to see her stir and raise herself off the ground. She groaned and scratched her head, as if she had just woken from a long nap.

She looked over at Applejack, yawned, and asked, "Applejack, wus goin' on? Is'nt a bit late ta be out'n da orchards?" Then she looked over at Big Mac, "Big Mac? I figur'd yall'd been the first one in bed, the way ya work all da time." Then she looked at the hooded figure next to her, and it all came rushing back. The sadness, the memories, the eyes. She took a step back and stared at the unicorn in fear, only to stop as she remembered something peculiar about the whole experience. With care, she looked at his eyes again. Though mostly hidden by his hood, she saw the same kind of look she saw in her mind. They were definitely different but she couldn't understand how. She took a step closer, not exactly sure how he would react. He simply watched her, occasionally glancing at the others, but did nothing else. She walked straight up to him, and looked at his eyes again. She now saw that they held a deep sadness. Sadness and, something else. Possibly fear? Apple Bloom was a little puzzled, seeing as how she had to look straight up to see his eyes, how this huge unicorn could be scared of anything. She was pulled from her train of thought by a loud, angry voice.

"Apple Bloom, get away from it." Rainbow Dash shouted, as she rose steadily into the air, "It might try to eat you, or slam you to the ground or something."

Big Mac, who had been nursing his sore legs since the fighting stopped, looked over at the big pony. He was pretty big, and he was built harder than a rock, but not once had he lashed out at anypony the entire time. He just let them come, absorbing their blows. Now, he may not have been much of a talker, and he wasn't very smart either, but he figured he was a pretty good judge of character, so he was sure he was right when he said, "He ain't gonna do nothin' to nopony." Applejack nodded in agreement. She'd noticed the same things, but was in too much pain to put a coherent sentence together. Rainbow turned on the two earth ponies.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked, still ready for a fight, "He basically picked you up off the ground like you weighed nothing. Even Twilight can't pick you up with all the magic she's got." She glared at the midnight blue monster sitting before her, "He could've thrown you across town, or slammed you against a tree, or-"

"Rainbow!" Applejack said loudly, catching almost everyone's attention, "He could've done that ta each a us the entire time we've been sittin' here, cluckin' like chickens. Now if he wanted ta hurt us, why's he still sittin' there, doin' nothin-"

Rainbow Dash and Big Mac followed Applejack's gaze, and saw that now the pony was standing. As they'd all guessed, he stood a good deal taller than all of them, and probably could have crushed any one there under hoof. But instead he was watching as the sun began to set, and the moon began to rise. He seemed lost in the sight of the moon, and the stars slowly twinkling into existence, each one entering their respective places in silent grace. The moon rose into the sky, casting dull light onto the earth beneath it. As Luna's sky finished it's silent, beautiful entrance, he sat down again, eyes locked on the moon.

As they each watched his strange behavior, Apple Bloom started walking towards him. Rainbow Dash was about to say something, but Applejack shushed her into silence. Apple Bloom walked up to the large unicorn, plopped down right next to him, and asked, "Who are you?"

He glanced down at the filly, then seemed to think before answering, "Moon Runner," he nodded, as if confirming it to himself, "Yes, that is my name."

Apple Bloom nodded. ‘Weird name.' she thought. "Ma names Apple Bloom. If ya don't mind me asking, mister, what are y'all doin' in Ponyville?"

Moon Runner thought for a long moment, "This place was near the path I was on, and I decided to stop and rest before continuing."

As this exchange was going on, Applejack was trying to find a way to move without hurting her hind legs. When she found no way to do it, she motioned Rainbow Dash over to her. When Dash landed beside her, she whispered, "Listen, ma legs aren't in the best shape to pick me off the ground. So I need ya ta fly me over there near Apple Bloom and . . . whatever his name is," she shook her head, "I don't want her alone next to him. We still don't know what he might do."

Rainbow Dash nodded, grabbed Applejack and rose into the air just high enough so Applejack's legs barely touched the ground. She flew over to them and placed Applejack carefully next to Apple Bloom, while she remained in the air above them. Moon Runner looked at the two ponies, seemingly unconcerned. Then, his horn glowed its inky glow, and Applejack felt herself being lifted in front of the unicorn, fear gripping her heart for a moment. Then he set her down, and she felt something keeping her standing. He uttered one word, "Walk."

Not sure why, she obliged, and was met with the familiar searing pain in her hind legs. She felt herself fall . . . only to be held up by the soft black glow that had been surrounding her. Now the glow intensified, and focused on her hind legs. They turned into silhouettes, and her legs felt like cold water was slowly filling them. The sensation lasted for only a moment, then it was gone.

*

Twilight blinked. ‘What was that?' She looked around the library, but she was alone. Spike was out running errands and she had closed the library a bit earlier then normal clean up. But something cold had brushed against her coat, she was sure of it. As she pondered this odd feeling, Spike came bursting through the front door.

"Twilight! Princess Celestia sent a letter!"

"Well that's odd," Twilight said, a little surprised, "She normally sends letters during the day."

She took the letter from Spike, opened it, and set it on a nearby desk. As she read the letter, her expression went from one of curiosity, to concern, to fear. When she finished reading, she looked over at Spike, a feeling of dread clearly visible upon her face.

"Spike, something bad has happened. The Princess didn't say what, but she needs us in Canterlot immediately to help."