That Which Darkness Sends

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Applejack sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

Megan rose to her feet and waved frantically at her. "Applejack! You've got to get out of here! Tirek will be here any second!"

Applejack seemed a bit startled at first, seeing the human rushing toward her, but she got the hint and started to run into the forest, only to run head-first into a wall similar to the ceiling Rainbow Dash flew into. Determined not to be deterred by this, she spun around and landed a buck on the wall, which only sent her tumbling forward into Megan.

"That was actually a pretty useless escape attempt," Tirek remarked. "What did you hope to gain by that?" Megan crossed her arms and glared. Applejack just glared, though with a hint confusion of what was going on and if she could cross her forelegs like that. "Welp, let's not waste any more time with idle chit-chat."

The moon blinked out like a light bulb turning off (even though Megan was the only one who knew what a light bulb was). Megan took a few strides away from Applejack. The nine moonbeams touched down in their respective clearings. As she predicted, one of the beams struck Applejack. She got into a ready position, like a sprinter at the starting line of a race.

In the moment the antilight stopped, Megan had already bounded toward Applejack, oddly ready to conquer whatever lay before her. She reached out to grab her mane, but found only air. Applejack tucked and rolled away. However, Megan did find something to grab. It was the trunk of a tree, and she grabbed it with her face.

Applejack recovered from her roll with the skill of a professional acrobatics champion. She pivoted on her left forehoof to face Megan. A devilish grin spread across her face. Scales folded backward through her skin and covered her fur.

"Ah'm gonna enjoy this," she said in a tone that suggested that her mind was not completely right.

Applejack lunged toward Megan and leaped at her head. At the last moment, Megan ducked and scurried under her. Applejack had expected something like this and rebounded off of the tree bark with a half-twist flip and barely lost any speed.

I can climb up a tree, Megan thought as she ran to the other side of the clearing. She has those hooves of hers still, and those scales don't look spaced out enough to snag anything, so I bet she can't climb.

Once she reached the other side, she hauled herself up to the closest branch. It was just in time to, as Applejack nearly ran into the tree soon after. The branch Megan was on was a longish one, but it was thick and sturdy. Applejack peered up at Megan, who was crouched on the end, ready to jump if anything went wrong.

"Yer such a scaredy cat," Applejack taunted. "Why don't you come down? I promise I won't hurt you." Megan shook her head. "No? Well that's too bad."

Applejack looked back to the base of the tree and turned around. She positioned her hind hooves so they were pressing lightly against the trunk, close to the roots. A mighty CRACK! sounded from the tree as the earthpony bucked it.

The wood had a deep gouge going into it more than halfway through. The tree, now severely angered by the shaking and being unable to stand with its top heavy leaves, decided to lean precariously toward Applejack. The roots were little help keeping the tree grounded, and the trunk snapped and fell. Megan jumped off and fell on her face a safe distance away (which she thought the universe was throwing at her as a recurring theme).

Applejack, however, was unlucky enough to be right next to it and wasn't fast enough to get away. The tree landed squarely on top of her. Megan cautiously approached the toppled foliage.

"Applejack?" she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Megan!" Applejack shouted. "Come quickly, Ah'm hurt!"

Megan instantly started to pull away sticks without a second thought. As she was bending back a particularly large mess of leaves, she was met with buck to the chest (at which point she thought the universe just didn't have any imagination at all). Her back hit another tree, and she felt more like a baseball that anything else.

Megan sat up as best as she could. She looked across the grass to see a bloody-faced Applejack. There was a large gash going down the side of her face. The scales on the edges around the wound looked like they replicated themselves and folded back over to cover the exposure until nothing could be seen. She cricked her head left and right, a loud pop coming from the joints.

"You can't beat me," she said. "The magic is too powerful."

Megan leapt to her feet. "I doubt that. I've done it before and I can do it again."

Applejack grinned and disappeared from view. As she did this, every tree and rock vanished too. Megan also knew that her other selves and ponies were there too, but Applejack must have known about that from Tirek, so they were gone too.

"And th' funny thing 'bout magic," Applejack continued from somewhere, "is that it spreads. In mah case, it's illusions. Which means Ah can do this."

The trees returned at full force. The clearing in which Megan was standing seemed gone. She was surrounded by thick leaves and branches. As far as she could tell, they were tangible, too. She heard hoofsteps coming her way, so she pulled herself up into a tree.

"Oh, Meeegaaan," Applejack cooed. "Where aaare yooou?" Megan stayed completely silent. "Well fine. If that's the way you wanna play, I'll just have to find you." Applejack passed under where Megan was hiding. "I know where you hide. All that time you spent with us at the Moochick's dirty place, and you wouldn't shut up! Ah might have forgiven you because of that cake you bake, but you used the same recipe over and over again and it always tasted like manure!"

Megan jumped off of her branch and hit the ground running. Applejack heard the thud and turned around, but Megan had already taken another path through the maze.

"Yer so loud when you walk! You can't cook, you can't run, you can't do anything! Ah bet you can't even tie yer own shoelaces. Yer parents must hate you and think yer a disgrace." Applejack heard a sniff and the drip of a tear hitting the ground. She grinned, as her plan had the right effect. "Ah'll also bet that you don't have any friends back in yer world. You spend too much time in yer stable, caring for yer dumb pony TJ because you know that you will never have anyone else to love."

Megan stumbled over an exposed root and fell face-first to the ground. She sat up to run, but Applejack was already standing over her. This was too much for her, and she covered her eyes and started sobbing.

"You crybaby. You know yer life is terrible, and I can end it right now."

"Why do you do this to me?" Megan cried. "You insult me, make me turn against myself, and offer to kill me? I would almost do it. Why would you say these things and spread these... these lies?"

Applejack halted. "L... lies? Ah never lie..." she said, completely baffled. She blanked out for a moment, replaying events in her mind. "Ah lied... Why would I say those things..." Memories snapped her back to the world. She didn't bother to hide her fury. "Tirek! Where are you?"

A voice sounded from the centaur, now leaning on a tree. "I'm right here. I haven't moved the whole time."

Applejack ignored that last statement. "You made me trick one of mah friends until she almost wanted to die? What is wrong with you? Ah can't just do that! It's just downright wrong!" Her eyes glowed with a furious orange.  "Ah cannot lie to anyone, Tirek! *For Ah am Applejack, Element of Honesty!*"

The stars seemed faint as a bright, warm orange light emitted from Applejack.

Megan had the sense to shield her eyes as best as she could this time. When it was over, she sat up and smiled.

"That was one of my better loops. You played your part well."

"Wat."

"What you said. It was less that creative, but I was still able to try and make it look real. Don't worry, I wasn't hurt."

"You just acted like you were crying? Ah thought it was real..." Applejack exclaimed.

"Well, the pain helped. Anyway, we have to go to that remaining moonbeam over there. Something tells me I'm almost done. Oh, hey, you don't look any different at all."

Applejack didn't even know where to start questioning what Megan said, so the two walked in silence until they reached the moonbeam.

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.