Apple Bloom sat silently in the house she grew up in. Life back on the farm all those years ago was so simple; she would laugh, she would play, and she would be able to run around with her friends to her heart's content. Now she was older, she was alone. She had no choice to come back home after her two friends disappeared, her income wasn't enough for her to hold onto the property. Her sister Applejack welcomed her back with open hooves though, so it wasn't all bad. Who was she kidding? It's been almost a month now since she had been searching the Everfree Forest with Oliver and Scootaloo and just two weeks before that everything started to go downhill. Sweetie Belle was still missing, Scootlaoo was found dead under a large rock, Fluttershy was no where to be seen, and Oliver had simply fallen off of the face of the planet. Now she was here, alone, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee at five in the morning. All was quiet until the soft pattern of hoofsteps upstairs caught her attention. Big Mac and Applejack must have just woken up, probably to get ready to tend to the farm. Apple Bloom figured that she may as well get off her lazy flanks and make breakfast. Since Granny Smith passed, bless her heart, the two work horses had to get up even earlier just to get something in their bellies so they wouldn't have to work on an empty stomach. About half an hour later her two older siblings came down the stairs, seeming very pleased with the fact that Apple Bloom had cooked for them

Applejack walked over and embraced her younger sister. "Oh sugarcube, y'all didn't have to go an' cook for us."

Apple Bloo wore a light smile, "It's fine Applejack. After all, you did let me come back to live here."

"Of course ah did, yer family, and family sticks together no matter what." Applejack said with a smile, not noticing the big red stallion creeping up behind them.

Big Mac wrapped a single hoof around the both of them, pulling them to his chest to join in the hug and show appreciation for Apple Bloom's contribution "Eeyup." He stated simply, agreeing with Applejack that a family should always remain a single strong unit.

Once all of that was out of the way they all grabbed plates and began to serve themselves. While they ate they discussed ways that Apple Bloom could still help out around the farm while working around her other job. Because she would be working another job they agreed to keep her on light duty chores; stuff like cooking and cleaning up the barn and the house. Apple Bloom agreed, she wasn't going to turn down doing some chores here and there. She knew that family should always look out for each other, but she still felt as though she owed them for allowing her to stay. Once they were done with breakfast the two older ponies placed their dishes in the sink and Apple Bloom got started. She had some time off of her actual job to grieve over the loss of her friends and her son, so she would most likely just be working around the farm for a bit. When she had finished up with the dishes she got started on the rest of the house; dusting the cobwebs out of the corners, sweeping up the dirt on the floor, and wiping down counter tops. When she was done the whole house was practically glimmering. Apple Bloom wiped a couple small beads of sweat from her forehead. It felt nice to do chores again, helped clear her mind of everything that had happened recently. After getting a quick drink of water she went outside to grab the morning paper. She had only been working for maybe two hours and had some time to kill before starting lunch. She trotted over to the couch, sitting down and getting comfortable before unrolling the paper onto a small table in front of her. The headline read thus: Princess Twilight Missing!!! Apple Blooms air got caught in her throat from just the title and she felt her insides turn ice cold as she read on. The papers went on to talk about different theories about how or when she disappeared and that the possibility of a foalnapper is no longer in question. Somepony was clearly taking ponies away and doing something, but who would it be and what are they doing?

Apple Bloom wasted no time running outside to tell her sister about what had happened and the two mares ran down to Twilight's castle as fast as they could. When they arrived they found the castle being swarmed with ponies from the press trying to get inside and guards shoving them away. Applejack quickly caught sight of the royal sisters standing just inside of the castle and charged forward, calling out for them. However, one of the guards on patrol stopped them, believing they were part of the press. "Halt!" He yelled firmly, "By order of the Princess, nopony may enter."

The guard felt a hoof touch his shoulder and looked back to find Celestia looking down at him. "It's okay, they may enter." The guard nodded and the them through. Once they were inside the castle the doors were closed and from the looks of it the other four elements of harmony were here as well.

"What's going on?" Applejack pleaded, "Where's Twilight?"

"Is she okay?" Apple Bloom followed up.

Celestia bowed her head and closed her eyes. "We do not know, not yet. But I am certain we will find her soon."

Luna nodded. "Yes, the guard is on high alert. Searching every inch of Equestria as we speak."

Applejack wanted to say something, but she simply couldn't find the words. Celestia, noticing her struggle, walked over to her. "Do not worry, my little pony. We will fine whoever has done this and punish them for their crimes. For now, I think it would be best if you went over and spoke to your friends." Celestia suggested, pointing over to the group who waved in an unenthusiastic manner to Applejack. She nodded and walked over to join her friends, Celestia following her.

As Apple Bloom was about to join her sister, but found herself being cut off by Luna. "Apple Bloom, I must speak with you in private."

"Uh, okay then..." Apple Bloom replied, slightly confused. She followed Luna as she started to walk away from the group and into a room. "What are we doing all the way down here? Why are we goin' about this like it's some big secret?"

Luna walked over to the window, staring out at the forest not too far from here. "Apple Bloom, what do you know of Oliver?"

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked, he confusion growing.

Luna turned around and marched over to Apple Bloom, putting the fear of god into the young mare with her gaze. "What do you know of him?"

"A-ah don't know what you mean."

"Of what he is..."

"Oh...Well I really don't know what he is. We took him over to Twilight's a few times to see if she coudl figure it out, but she was a s lost as we are. No pony could ever find out what he was." She thought back to the visits they had with all kinds of doctors, scientists, vets, you name it, they've been there. They wanted to find out as much as they could about him so they could take better care of him. "But, Honestly, I don't really care."

"I beg your pardon?"

Apple Bloom smiled for the first time in a while and this time it was genuine. "Oliver is by far the weirdest thing I have ever seen. His body is all weird, and whenever we we so much as go out swimming it would change into something weirder. But really, ah don't care what he is-" As tears started to form in her eyes and began rolling down her cheeks, "ah miss him and ah just want him back. He was mah baby..."

Luna felt touched by her sentiment, but it wasn't right. There seemed to be some strange look in Luna's eye, something that said that she knew what was going on. "Apple Bloom, I am sorry for all of your losses. However, the games must end here. Oliver was not your child and you will need to accept that very soon. He is the one behind all of these disappearances and we both know it."

"What are you talking about?" Apple Bloom asked with venom in her words. Hearing Luna accuse Oliver of being responsible for everything that had happened more than got on her nerves.

"Your maternal instincts have blinded you to the truth. You took him in and raised him as a son, your love is keeping you from seeing it, but you must listen to me. He is-"

"NO!!! Oliver would never do nothin to hurt nopony! And the fact that you're here accusin him is just disgusting! How do we know you aren't takin all of them ponies, Nightmare Moon!?" Luna gasped and stepped back, being called by that name wounded her very deeply. She had forgiven herself for everything she had done, but the guilt would never stop burdening her. Apple Bloom walked over to the door and opened it, "Princess Luna, y'all need to stop talkin about Oliver! You understand? You weren't with us helpin take care of him, so stop actin like you know 'em!" She stormed out slamming the door shut with enough force to shake the crystal walls.

Luna, after recovering from the initial shock, bowed her head down and closed her eyes. A single tear found its way down the side of her face. "If only you knew..." She opened her eyes and looked up at a nearby mirror. Her horn began to glow with her magic and the reflection shifted as the glass started flowing like water. The fluid-like motions ceased and an image appeared. It was one of Oliver sitting up in a tree, his body coated in a mixture of dirt, sticks, leaves, and blood. As she looked through the image of Oliver looked up and his head snapped from side to side as if searching for something. Much to Luna's surprise his eyes rest on looking forward, making it appear as though he was looking at her. She didn't know why, but she felt a strange desire to reach out. She fulfilled this desire and held out a hoof, placing it against the magically altered glass. The image of Oliver slowly lifted one of his hands and held it out, as if reaching out to touch her hoof. She jumped away from the mirror and deactivated the spell. Her heart was racing; she didn't want to believe it, but she couldn't deny the facts. He knew she was watching him and he felt the same connection she did.

Before Luna could continue with her thoughts Celestia opened the door and entered the room. "Sister, what was the meaning of that?"

Luna looked back at Celestia, slightly started and obviously nervous. "T-the meaning of what?"

"You brought Apple Bloom back here and now she has been triggered! As we speak she is screaming at the press and scaring them off! I'm not saying them leaving is bad, but I would like to know what caused this." Luna's expression sank as she started to break down. Celestia was slightly taken back by this. Normally Luna was not one to show her emotions so openly, however she could understand her pain. Celestia walked over and forced her sister into an embrace, which Luna greedily accepted. "It's about him again isn't it?" Luna hummed in approval, finding words to be very difficult to form at the moment. "Don't worry sister. We'll find him and see to it that he is put back into the proper care."

Outside Apple Bloom had to be dragged away from the screaming ponies by her sister. On their way back home Applejack had demanded that she explain her sudden outburst, but Apple Bloom held her tongue. She was angry, infuriated, livid beyond all belief. How could she accuse him of being the one who was taking all of those innocent ponies, of being the one that murdered her friend? It couldn't be possible, it wasn't possible...was it? Her mind wandered back to when he had killed all of those ponies when they first moved into their new house. No, that was different. He only attacked them because he was trying to defend his family, he was trying to protect them because he isn't a monster. He's different, but he's sweet, he's loving, and he's protective of his family. That's what family was there for, to love and protect each other.

"Apple Bloom!" Her older sister shouted, finally snapping her out of her thought.

"What?" She asked with an attitude.

"You are going to tell me why you were yellin at them ponies and you're gonna do it now!"

"Because Luna said Oliver did it!"

Applejack was surprised that she actually answered. She half expected her sister to continue being silent about the whole ordeal. "What in Equestria are you talkin about, girl?"

"When Luna pulled me aside to chat, she accused Oliver of takin all them ponies! Even said hat he was the one that killed Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom started tearing up again, the memory of finding her friend's body half crushed by a large boulder filled her with pain and the image itself would never stop haunting her.

Applejack remained silent for a moment, thinking about Oliver and all they had to deal with when it came to his upbringing. "What if he is the one behind all of this?"

Apple Bloom stopped dead in her tracks, giving her older sister a stare that could strike fear into the hearts of grown stallion. "How could you say that!?"

"Well it aint exactly hard to believe. And, if Luna thinks he did it then ah wouldn't doubt it for a second. She's the Princess of the Night, ah'm pretty sure she has a feel when it come to situations like this."

"Stop it..." She begged silently between sobs.

Applejack,not hearing her sisters please, continued. "Don't ya remember how he used to o out and kill little animals and eat them, that in normal-"

"Applejack, please..."

"and then there was that time when he bit Big Mac, then then he-" Applejack was suddenly cut off as she felt a hoof smack her against the face, hard. She stood their silently from the shock before putting a hoof to her face and looking back to Apple Bloom, who had tears streaming down her face.

"If you really think it was him, then you obviously don't care about Oliver...Or me!" Apple Bloom turned around and took off, running away from the farm, refusing to look back or listen to the calls of her older sister. After a few minutes she finally turned around, finding nopony behind her. She came to a complete stop, greedily sucking air into her lungs to quench her thirst for oxygen. She waited to catch her breath for no longer than a minute before continuing her trek. Having nowhere else to go, she made her way to a place that he hadn't been for many years. Pushing through the trees was a bit harder than she remembered, but when she made it to her destination her mind started combating itself. The sight of her old clubhouse filled her mind with pleasant memories, back before any of these horrible things started to happen. She remember how they had worked together to fix it, how they had meetings to plan out how they would get their cutie marks, and once when they let Scootaloo create a 'Rainbow Dash' fan club. Their were so many great memories here that immediately became ruined as the thoughts of her friends being gone started forcing their way back into her head. She stopped and ignored the pain. There was nothing left for her here. Her friends were gone, her son was gone, her family didn't lover her. All that was left was one question; What will you do now? She asked herself this over and over and no matter how long she sat there and thought about it she couldn't seem to come up with an answer. The sun began to set and the moon was rising. She forced any and all thought outside of her mind, the constant nagging of it was becoming too stressful for her attention. Once her mind was cleared out enough she climbed the stairs up to the clubhouse and entered. There was more than enough room for her to sleep here tonight and she planned on taking full advantage of that tonight. Apple Bloom walked to the center of the room and laid down, letting herself drift off to sleep.

After searching for a few hours with the help of her big brother, Applejack was forced to call it a night. She wasn't proud of it, but her body was demanding rest and she wouldn't be able to fight much longer. She had already explained the whole story to Big Mac and he was as surprised as she when he heard that Apple Bloom had not only snapped and started screaming at ponies left and right, but had also slapped Applejack. She knew that it was her fault for her sister running off, she was going on about a subject that caused her sister a great deal of pain. She was being insensitive and, honestly, she would have done the same thing if their positions were switched. She felt absolutely horrible about the whole thing, but Big Mac reassured her that everything would be alright so long as they stick together and find Apple Bloom. Sadly, that last part would have to wait until tomorrow. Applejack and Mac said their good-nights and went off to bed. She climbed up and slipped under the covers, her body wasting no time in putting her right to sleep. What seemed odd though, was that just before she finally nodded off, she could have sworn she smelled smoke.

Author's Note

Wow guys. I cannot believe how far we've come. Chapter 5...We're so close