The Shadow of Equestria

Stratus sat at the table. In front of him sat a massive plate of pancakes. They were topped with maple syrup and butter, and steam was still rising off of them. He quickly raised his fork and knife and began eating. Across from him, Twilight looked up and began to speak.

"Alright, here's how today will go," she said. "Spike will take you to Sweet Apple Acres as soon as you finish breakfast. Then, Applejack will spend the day teaching you about honesty. I think that an honest day's work should do the trick. We're running a little behind schedule, so you should hurry and...oh. I see you've finished breakfast."

In the time Twilight had been speaking, Stratus had finished off a plate of pancakes as large as he was. Spike, only a few bites into his own pancakes, stared in shock. "Well," said Twilight, "I guess you were hungry." Stratus looked at her, nodded, then looked over to Spike.

"Shall we go, then?" He said.

"Wh-wh-what!" Spike exclaimed. "I haven't even touched my breakfast yet!"

"But Twilight just said we're behind schedule," Stratus said in a sarcastically innocent voice. "How about this-You just tell me how to get to the farm, I can find my own way, and you two can enjoy breakfast. Everypony wins."

Twilight looked unsure. "I don't know," she said. "Celestia told me that I was to make sure you were always accompanied by somepony. And I'm still not so sure I trust you to wander around Ponyville."

"Honesty's a two way strait, Twilight." Said Stratus. "You need to trust me too." Twilight shifted uncomfortably.

"Well... Okay. First, you go left down Main Street..."

...

Stratus walked briskly through town. Ponyville felt much more open then Canterlot. He was well aware of how out of place he appeared. Everypony seemed to be smiling, cheerfully going about their business. Nopony seemed suspicious of anypony else at all. Perfect place for a thief. He laughed to himself. These ponies, all so gullible and innocent, completely unaware that any malevolence at all existed. It was like they lived in a bubble, safe from all the worries of the world.

He noticed a mother scolding one of her children. His expression darkened for a moment, before he turned away. No sense brooding on the past.

As he was walking, he saw a pony a little ways off. She looked very familiar. She had a bright pink mane, and a coat to match. Her head turned to look at him. As she saw him, her eyes went wide and she let out a loud gasp. Then, she rocketed off right past him, leaving his head spinning.

Then he recalled where he had seen her. She was one of the ponies on the stage that he'd saved. He wondered briefly where she was going, then shook his head. He had an orchard to get to. He turned down a street.

The apple farm loomed up in front of him. The bright red farm house stood in stark contrast to the bright blue sky behind it. He could see miles of apple trees, and he knew that they continued much farther then he could see. After taking a moment to take in the sights, he started forward again, passing underneath the swinging sign.

...

Applejack was working tirelessly in the fields. Next to her, Big Mac grunted. The two of them had been hard pressed, with Applejack having to juggle being a hero and maintaining the fields. She wiped her brow as she bucked what felt like the thousandth tree.

"Woo," she said. "This is exhausting. Don't you agree, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup," said the massive red pony. He sat down in the shade for a moment to catch his breath. Then his gaze drifted behind Applejack for a moment. Applejack frowned.

"What is it?" She asked. Big Mac simply nodded behind her. She turned around. Coming up the road was a grey pegasus colt. Applejack sighed.

"You just keep working, Big Mac," she said. "I'll handle this." She walked over to the pony, who halted his approach when he noticed her. Applejack shuddered slightly as his icy gaze fixed on her.

"If you're here on account of the Flim-Flam brothers, I already told them we ain't selling. So just head on back to where you came from." The pegasus cocked his head as he studied her.

Stratus sized up the orange pony. She was fairly well built, and clearly was used to hard physical labor. She seemed quite determined to keep off these Flim-Flam characters, whoever they were. Behind her, he noticed the larger one was still going about his work, but still keeping an eye on him. Farm ponies were always the most suspicious, he had learned. He turned back to the mare.

"Good morning, ma'am." He said in as polite a voice as he could muster. "My name is Stratus. Twilight Sparkle sent me here to help, said something about learning honesty?"

Applejack looked him over, then looked behind him. "Isn't Spike supposed to be with you?"

"Caught up eating."

Applejack nodded. It didn't seem unlikely for Spike to be held up eating.

"Come on, then." She said. "Let's get to working." They began walking toward the trees. "I don't suppose you've ever been apple bucking before?"

Stratus shook his head. "No, I can't say that I have."

"I didn't think so. It's relatively simple, but it does have a special touch to it. Just run at that tree right there, and at the last second, just turn around and buck it. Now, don't expect to get it on your first try. Most ponies just miss, or-"

CRACK!

"Oh... I guess you figured out how it works."

Stratus stood next to a tree, a pile of apples around him. He looked around, then looked back with a passive expression. "I appear to have mastered it."

Applejack grinned. "Yep, sugar cube. Looks like ya did. Now c'mon, there's a lot more trees out there."

...

A few hours later, Applejack took a deep breath. The new pony, Stratus, proved to have seemingly inexhaustible stamina and refused to take a break. She looked over, and sure enough, he was still bucking like a mad pony. She trotted over near him, and began to work on the next group of trees.

"So," she asked,"Not to intrude, but what exactly made you turn to robbery? You clearly have other talents. Why not settle for work inside the law?"

Stratus gave no reply, instead choosing to continue his work. Applejack looked back over at him, then resumed her own work.

"Got any family?"

Again, the pegasus said nothing. Applejack grew slightly exasperated.

"Sugarcube," she said, "If you want to learn about honesty, you can't just refuse to answer my questions." Stratus turned to look at her, his gaze holding traces of anger.

"We all have things we don't want to talk about," he said. "I'm not asking you where your parents are, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask about mine."

Applejack reared backward. "How did he know that?" She thought to herself. She leaned forward again, angry now.

"Now hold on a second, that ain't fair," she said. "I don't want to know private information like that, I just want to know a little more about you! Is that really intruding!" She watched him for a moment, waiting for a reply, or any hint that he even cared. When none came, she continued. "You know what I think? I think you're scared. Something happened to you, and now you've convinced yourself that if you just wall yourself away from everypony, you'll never feel that pain again. But that won't work! You're just gonna get more and more bitter, until you don't even remember what you got mad about!"

He whipped around to face her, his eyes now blazing with fury. Applejack felt a twitch of fear, and she felt that she had pushed him too far. "You don't know anything about me!" He shouted at her. "You don't know the things that have happened to me, the things that have happened to the ponies I care about!"

As Applejack prepared to deliver her retort, Stratus suddenly raised his head away from her. All rage vanished from his face, replaced by a look of concentration. His ears cocked out, and he held up one hoof for silence. Applejack, in confusion, listened too. Then she heard it. Commotion from back by the farmhouse. "C'mon," she cried, and tore off. Stratus took to the skies a second behind her.

As they neared the farm, Applejack could see the source of the noise. Granny Smith was shouting loudly at two disgustingly familiar unicorns. She began to make out words.

"And there is no way we're selling, that's that!" Granny cried out.

Applejack's heart began to race. Selling what? What were those two up to now?

Once she appeared, the two brothers turned to face her.

"Ah, Applejack, good to see you!" Called out Flam. "Perhaps you will be more reasonable than your grandmother here."

"What's going on? What do you two want?"

"We've come with a very generous offer, very generous indeed!" Sang out Flim. His brother nodded along. "That's right," he said. "We're here to buy the apple farm, and we're willing to pay nearly twice it's worth!" To prove their point, Flam pulled out a bulging sack of bits. "There's plenty more of these!" He said, motioning to the cart behind him. With dismay, Applejack noted that the cart was sunk a few inches into the mud from the weight of the coins.

"Too bad," she said. "We're not selling."

The two unicorns chuckled. "Oh, you don't really have a choice." Said Flim. "You see, we have full right to purchase shares in your farm. The first Apples couldn't afford all the land they needed, so they instituted a system with the city where they leased land to private buyers, who would keep the land in good condition in exchange for a cut of profits. Those same buyers could pay off the land, and become the private owners. So, you see, we can just simply pay enough for all the land and then own it. You may wish to contemplate our generous offer."

Applejacks mouth hung open. "What? We Apples never made that! Right, Granny?" But Granny Smith was shaking her head. "It's true," she said. "That's exactly how we used to run this farm." The two business ponies grinned.

"We'll give you a day to pack up," said Flam. As they turned to leave, they saw a grey pegasus. He was standing in the middle of the path, blocking their exit from the farm. They walked over to him.

"Excuse us, sir," said Flim. "But you seem to be blocking the path. Could you be so kind as to move?" The pony didn't move, instead looking at them.

"So, you two are buying this farm?" He said. His voice indicated that he wasn't asking.

"Correct, my fine sir," said Flam. "But don't worry. You'll still be able to get highest quality apples from Flim-Flam's Orchards!"

Stratus observed the two for a moment, then stepped aside. The two ponies walked right past him, taking the wagon with them. Applejack bit her lip in worry. Applebloom walked out from where she had been watching.

"Sis? We're not gonna lose the farm, are we?" Applejack sighed.

"I don't know what we can do. They're fully within their rights to buy the farm."

"There's nothing you can do."

The Apples looked up in surprise at the sound of Stratus's voice. Applejack stared for a moment, then shouted, "How can you say that! Are you just gonna give up that quick? Don't even put up a fight?" Stratus didn't even flinch at her words. Instead, he turned around and began walking off the farm. Just before he left, Applejack heard him mutter under his breath, "Just being honest."

...

Stratus walked slowly back to Twilight's tree house. What Applejack had said had cut deep. Memories he thought he'd come to terms with resurfaced. He shook his head angrily.

"What right does she have to judge me?" He thought to himself. She has everything! Family, friends, a nice home! She's never felt what I felt!"

Still, a small part of him felt sorry for her. She was close to losing all of that. As he approached Twilight's castle, he stopped. Just inside, he could hear something. The castle was completely dark, but inside he could hear occasional bumps and shuffles. Drawing his dagger, he cautiously pushed through the door. Inside, the hall was pitch black.

Suddenly, all the lights flicked on.

"SURPRISE!"

The hall was filled with ponies. All of them were wearing party hats, and had grins on their faces. Streamers and balloons hung from the ceiling. As Stratus stood in shock, the pink pony he had seen earlier bounced in front of him.

"Welcome to Ponyville!" She sang out. "I'm Pinkie Pie! I saw you walking earlier, remember! So I threw together this party, just for you! What do you think? Do you like it?"

She moved closer, a massive smile on her face. Stratus uncomfortably shifted away.

"It's nice," he said. "Where is Twilight, exactly?"

"Oh, she's here somewhere. She didn't want me to throw this party, can you believe it? She said it would scare you, or something crazy like that."

"Yeah, that's funny," Said Stratus without a hint of humor in his voice, "But do you know where she is? I need to find her."

"Oh, you don't need to do that! C'mon, we can play pin the tail on the pony first!"

"Your friend is going to lose her farm!" Stratus finally shouted out in exasperation. Pinkie stopped her energetic bouncing.

"What?" She said, a hint of concern creeping into her voice. Then she gasped, and raced off. "Oh my gosh!" She shouted. "I need to tell Twilight!" Stratus simply sighed, and took one look around him. The party was nice, but he really had better things to do. He simply walked to his room, shut the door, and decided to try and sleep.

...

"Cock-a-doddle-doo!"

A rooster called out, heralding the approach of dawn. Outside Sweet Apple Acres, The Apples stood with all their belongings. All of Applejack's friends stood nearby. After Stratus had returned to the castle the previous night, Twilight had come over and spent all night trying to find any loophole in the land agreement. But the contract was airtight. Stratus had gone to bed as soon as he got back.

"Well, y'all," said Applejack. "Looks like this is it. I never thought I'd lose the farm like this." She sighed. "Don't know what I'm gonna do know. Gonna be hard to find work."

"Nonsense, darling," Rarity reassured. "There will be plenty of ponies around town who would be more than happy to hire you."

"That's right," said Twilight. "Don't worry, Applejack. We'll help you find work."

Applejack smiled. "Thanks, y'all." She said. "I really appreciate it. It's nice to know I have such good friends."

Just then, they all heard commotion on the road leading in. Looking down the path, they saw a furious Flim and Flam running toward the farm, panting. Their faces were red, and they turned to face Applejack as they got closer.

"All right. Where is it?" Flim practically shouted. Applejack's face turned puzzled.

"Where's what?" She asked.

"You know what!" Screamed Flam. "The money! It's all gone!" The two brothers began to seethe with rage.

"Now hold on, y'all," said Applejack. "What happened? What do ya mean it's gone?"

"Last night, we locked it up in our safe. This morning, when we went to take it out, it was all gone!" Shouted Flam. "The safe was still locked, nothing had been disturbed, but all the money was gone! We know that you stole it to save your farm!"

"Now hold on just a moment," said Applejack. "I was here all night, and my friends can testify. I didn't steal nothing, I swear. I don't know what happened to your money."

Both sides glared at each other. After a few moments, Stratus spoke up and everypony jumped. It was easy to forget he was there.

"You know," he said, "There's this belief that originated in the east. It says that whatever you do to others, you'll have done to yourself. They call it karma. I never really believed it much, but I find that the more I travel, the more it seems to be true."

The two brothers stared at him for a moment in silent shock. Then, without a word, they turned and stalked off down the road. After a moment, Rainbow Dash let out a cheer.

"Yeah!" She shouted. "AJ get's to keep the farm!" At that, all the ponies began cheering. Stratus simply smiled. Twilight turned to face him.

"Stratus," she said, "Did you by any chance break into the Flim-Flam's safe last night?" Stratus gave a look.

"Why, Twilight," he said, "Why would I do that? I barely even know Applejack." He turned away for a moment. "But I'm quite flattered that you would think that I was able to do that. I mean, to pull off that somepony would have to break into a locked house in the night without disturbing the residents, and pick the lock to a sophisticated safe. Then that same pony would have to haul out heavy bags of coin, without making any noise and without disturbing anything in the room. Then they'd have to repeat the process several times, all within about an hour." He smirked. "They'd at least need a lookout."

Twilight looked at him in confusion, then her gaze swung to Spike. She glared accusingly at him. Spike looked away sheepishly.

"And just what were YOU doing last night?" She asked in an accusing tone.

"Um... Reading a comic book?"

Twilight stared at him in exasperation, then groaned and swung away to join her friends. Spike looked up at Stratus.

"So, how did I do on my first heist?" He asked excitedly. Stratus looked at him, then smiled.

"Not bad," he said. "Almost as good as..." Then his voice trailed off. Spike looked at him in confusion.

"Are you all right?" Spike asked. Stratus shook his head.

"...Nevermind. Hang on, I need to go clear my head for a moment." Stratus quickly walked a little ways off. Spike watched him with concern, then turned back to Twilight. Pinkie Pie was in the middle of throwing a surprise party for Applejack, and the cake was just being sliced.

...

Stratus stood a little ways off in the forest. Back at the farmhouse, he could hear the sounds of the party. He knew that he should go back to the rest of them, but at the moment he just wanted to be alone. Holding his head in his hooves, he sighed.

"What's the matter?"

He looked up at the familiar voice. Standing in front of him was a pegasus mare, with a brown coat and a green mane. She smiled at him.

"It's not the same anymore," he said. "Not since you... you know."

The mare sighed. "Stratus, you can't keep punishing yourself over that. It wasn't your fault."

"But it was!" He shouted. "I'm the reason that-"

"Stratus?"

Stratus's head whipped around. Spike had come over, and was now staring at him with concern. "What's going on?"

Stratus looked around. The mare had vanished, with no trace she had ever existed. "I'm fine. Just... just talking to myself." Spike nodded, clearly unconvinced.

"O-kay," he said. "Why don't you come back into the farmhouse? You can have some cake before your lesson for today." Spike began leading Stratus over toward the barn. As they walked, Spike looked at the pegasus.

And for the first time, he realized just how haunted his expression really was.