Applejack opened the back door to find Rainbow Dash waiting on the padio. Rainbow grinned at her friend.

"Wassup AJ? What was all that screaming in there?"

Applejack smiled guiltily. "Ya know that thing you'd talked about yesterday? About my sister?"

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. "No way - you actually did it?! I was only joking!"

"Ha! I know, but it was so worth it." Applejack turned her head inside. "Righ’, Applebloom?!"

A horseshoe flew over Applejack's hat and barely missed Rainbow Dash. "Shuddup!" yelled Applebloom.

Applejack faced back at her friend. "I reckon she took it well."

Rainbow Dash shook her head in bemusement. "Honestly, I don't get siblings."

Applejack smiled empathetically. "But why’re you here? The sun's barely off the ground."

"Applejack.. the Running of the Leaves."

"But that's not until - " Applejack face-hoofed. "Aw, right! We were gonna practice racing!"

"Don't tell me you forgot!" Rainbow Dash looked hurt. "You can still come, right?"

"Uh - yeah, yeah! There ain't much work to do this time of year. Just gimme a minute to get ready."

Rainbow Dash relaxed. "Alright, but get a move on."

Applejack slipped back inside to the living room. Big Mac and Applebloom were waiting in silence, apparently eavesdropping.

Applebloom broke the silence. "Can I go with y'all? There's nothing Ah need to do, and ya know I can beat you in a race." She smirked.

Applejack lifted an eyebrow. "Maybe in your dreams."

"Oh please; an old mare like you's got no change ‘gainst me."

"Ex-cuse me?" Applejack grinned. "You're gonna eat those words. Get up so I can kick your rump."

Applebloom hopped up with a satisfied smile. "You okay by yourself, Big Mac?"

Big Mac smiled. "Eeyup."

Applebloom nodded and turned back to her sister. "Let's go then!"

She and Applejack headed outside to where Rainbow Dash was impatiently hovering. She saw Applebloom and gave Applejack a questioning look.

"This one thinks she can take us on. Ah say we see what she's made of."

"And I say we keep a stretcher ready," Rainbow Dash snorted. "Let's just go already."

She landed next to Applejack, and the three ponies headed for the farm's border. Applebloom stayed behind the other two like a third wheel.

Rainbow Dash trotted next to her friend in silence, keeping a leisurely pace. She held her gaze forward, not looking at Applejack.

Applejack nudged Rainbow Dash with her shoulder. "So how's the Wonderbolts? Ya hardly ever talk about them anymore."

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky with a frown. "It's fine." She moved a little ahead of Applejack.

Applejack caught up to her and said, "Oh c'mon Ray. We all know something's bothering you. You've got to tell us why some day."

Rainbow Dash lowered her head and sighed. She muttered, "It's not what I thought it would be. I've wanted to be a Wonderbolt my whole life, but now that I am, I just feel like I've lost something." She sped up. "I want to be the best, but where can I possibly go from here?"

Applejack kept her eyes forward, concentrating on keeping up with the pegasus. "I don't know, sugar cube. How is being a Wonderbolt holding you back?"

Rainbow sighed. "There's no room to stand out in a team like this. I can only be as good as the worst flyer." She sped up some more. They were almost running now.

"Why don't you do some coaching like Spitfire?"

"Ha! Spitfire may love yelling at ponies, but I would rather train."

Applejack thought for a minute. "Quit, then, if you don't like it. Find something that will test you again."

Rainbow Dash grimaced. "I can't. I've spent my whole life training for this; I'm not about to let it go."

Applejack was at a loss. She understood wanting to be the best, and she understood that her friend was loathe to give up on her life-long dream. Though she didn't know what could possibly be more prestigious for a pegasus than the Wonderbolts.

"Would y'all slow down!!" came Applebloom's voice from behind them.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack dug their hooves into the dirt and skidded to a halt. They turned around and burst out laughing. Applebloom was several yards behind them, trying to catch up. As she closed the gap between them, Applejack tried to repress her satisfaction.

"Still think you can beat me, little filly?"

Applebloom was still catching her breath. “Huff - shuddup..." “Sigh - did y'all even watch where y'all were going?"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned back around. The western edge of the Everfree Forest loomed just ahead of them.

"Whoops," said Rainbow Dash, "guess not."

Applejack peered along the line of trees. "C'mon, we don't want to be here."

The other two agreed with silent nods. They faced down the path they had taken but didn't move. Two figures were walking towards them, crushing the decayed leaves and branches in their path.

The ponies were covered head to hoof in black robes and cowls that hid their faces. Unicorn horns protruded from their cowls, but they too were hidden within black cloth. Prominent muscles pushed against their thick robes. A strange insignia shown upon their chests. It depicted a crescent moon looping under a red sun.

Applejack felt very uneasy. Who were these ponies? What were they doing so near the Everfree Forest? She stepped in front of her sister. Rainbow Dash quickly followed suit.

"Who are y'all? It's not safe out here." She felt stupid for being so obvious.

"Obviously," said the pony on the right. He was slightly taller than his friend and spoke with a deep, powerful voice. "We've been waiting out here for weeks. It's about time some fools came out here."

Applejack frowned. She knew that voice. "Big Mac, I swear, if that's you, I'm gonna buck you into next week."

The pony flinched and looked back at his friend. He shook his head, confused. The bigger pony turned to face Applejack. He came a little closer.

"Who are you?"

Applejack was getting annoyed. "I'm Applejack, as you damn well know! What do you think you're doing?!"

The big stallion froze. Something about Applejack's name had hit him. His friend looked from him to the ponies before them. Finally, he moved slowly forward and laid a hoof on the big pony's shoulder.

"We've got a job to do." His voice was gruff, but not unkind. "We don't need her or the pegasus. Just take the yellow one."

Applejack's eyes widened and glanced at Rainbow Dash. She had the same lost expression. They must have been thinking the same thing: clearly, this wasn't Big Macintosh.

They looked back at Applebloom. She was snarling in anger.

"Hey boneheads! Do you know who you're dealing with?!" she yelled.

The gruff stallion faced Applebloom and took the hoof off his friend. "Oh yes. Believe me - we do." He took a few steps forward. "In fact, we're willing to offer a deal." He stopped about two body's lengths away from Applejack.

Rainbow Dash spoke up. "We're not interested. You need to leave before somepony gets hurt."

The stallion laughed. "You're in no position to bargain with us, pegasus." Rainbow Dash bared her teeth in rage.

"What did you-"

"Silence!" interrupted the stallion. "We've journeyed farther than your collective little minds can comprehend. Do not test me." He paused. "We require earth ponies to sustain our land. We have been ordered to capture any that we see, whomever they may be.

"However, we are willing to let this one go," he gestured at Applejack, "in exchange for that one." He pointed at Applebloom.

"No way!" said Rainbow Dash. "You're going to have to get through us first!" She jumped up and hovered just above the ground.

Applejack stared at the stallion. She couldn't believe that a pony would ever do something like this. There were bad ponies in Equestria, sure, but not to this caliber.

She faced Applebloom. Applebloom was looking less angry and more terrified.

"They want you, not me," she whispered. "When we charge them, run."

Applebloom nodded. She took a step back.

"Please," said the larger stallion from the back, "understand. We must do this. If we don't, we'll die. Our people will starve."

Applejack's mouth opened, but she couldn't speak. Rainbow Dash had no such reservations.

"Yeah right. We'll send you back in a box!" She rose up in the air.

"Applebloom! RUN!" Rainbow Dash flew at the shorter stallion.

Applejack reared up and charged the stallion with Rainbow Dash. Applebloom galloped towards the Everfree as fast as she could.

The dark stallion laughed and lit his horn with a gray aura. In the blink of an eye, he stopped the pegasus with a grip of steal and hurtled her through a great oak, splitting the wide trunk in half.

Applejack stopped in horror as her friend fell to the base of the tree. The top half of the trunk fell on top of her with the crunching and cracking of branches and hollow bones.

The stallion lunged forward with cruel malice and swatted Applejack into the dirt.

"NO!" screamed the larger pony. "Leave her! Capture the yellow one!"

The gruff pony swore and reached for Applebloom with his magic. She had almost made it to the Everfree when she was engulfed by the stallion's deathly aura. She bucked and screamed, but there was no sound to be heard.

"No..." muttered Applejack. She could hardly think through the pain in her skull.

The larger pony stared at Applejack and came forward. Applebloom struggled in agonized silence overhead. He lowered his head to hers and whispered.

"I'm sorry, Applejack."

She tried to stand, her breathing ragged. The stallion's horn glowed blood-red.

"Sleep..." he said.

Applejack's eyes drooped, her knees buckled, and she knew no more.

***

Applejack awoke beside a crackling fire. The stars glistened above a canopy of leaves. The moon was nowhere in sight. A tent stood in the corner of her eye.

Her head was throbbing. She reached up and grazed it with her hoof. There were bandages circling her head under her mane. She gasped when she touched a particularly sensitive spot.

A log cracked and the sound of crunching leaves closed in on Applejack. The silhouette of a pony draped in dark robes came before her and the fire.

The events leading to Applejack's incapacitation came flooding back to her.

"YOU," she shouted. She attempted to stand, but her legs were too weak. She buckled forward.

"Whoa there," said a familiar voice. "Don't try to move. You're still very weak."

Applejack rolled on her back and looked up at the pony. She sounded just like…

"Twilight?.."

The pony stepped back. "How do you know my name?" she asked.

Applejack was confused. Of course she knew one of her best friends' name. How could she not?

But that was not her biggest concern.

"Twilight, have you seen Applebloom? We ran into two ponies... they attacked us, but Ah can't remember much after that."

Twilight turned her head down and to the side.

"I'm sorry... I was too late."

“W-what?” Applejack gaped. She felt her heart thumping in her chest; she could feel it's pressure through her teeth as though she were being forced to chew rubber. Her mind went blank, and her eyes watered.

"No... no! NO! YOU'RE LYING! You're a fucking ALICORN! How could you let... my sister-" She choked on her tears.

Twilight faced Applejack.

"...I'm not an alicorn." She stated. Applejack stood up in anger.

"LIAR!"

Twilight backed up, not expecting the earth pony to have regained so much strength. As she did so, the flickering light of the fire fell upon her face.

Twilight's mane was disheveled. It was long and unkempt, sticking out at odd angles. A scar ran from her left eye to the corner of her mouth like a sickly smile. She was on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry! I tried what I could, but I'm not powerful enough to take on two fully-trained unicorns, okay?!"

Applejack looked through the clouds forming in her eyes and searched for Twilight’s wings. Twilight noticed and blushed.

"Stop looking at me like that! Look, I'll show you..." She unfolded the robes covering her torso and turned to the side. "You see?"

Applejack was silent. Indeed, Twilight did not have her wings.

She sat down and closed her eyes. What did it matter? Her sister was gone, and she had no way of finding her.

Applejack sobbed openly. Her breathing was choked and forced. She didn’t care what this pony thought of her. Right then, she hated everything.

She opened her eyes and looked around. She had to do something. She had to save her sister. She stood up and paced around the clearing, searching for even the slightest bit of hope. After several minutes of aimless wandering, however, she screamed in agony, running her hooves through her mane. She had never felt so helpless.

Twilight seemed to guess what she was thinking and sat next to her. "I may know.. how to find her.. your sister, I mean."

Applejack looked up at the pony, her eyes wide and desperate.

"I can take you to her," she said. "But I'm not sure I can bring you back."

"I don't care," said Applejack. But did she? Granny and Big Mac were surely looking for them right now. And Rainbow Dash... she had just remembered.

"W-where's Rainbow Dash?" she asked, hesitantly. The last she saw of her was under a maze of branches.

"She's alive," said Twilight. Applejack sighed with relief. Twilight’s voice wavered, "She's not, well.. come and see."

Twilight was visibly shaking. She was afraid of this moment, however inevitable it was. She got up and headed for the tent. Applejack followed after her.

Twilight stopped outside the tent, staring into the surrounding forest. Applejack moved past her and into the shelter.

What she saw nearly made her faint again. She closed her eyes and backed out as quickly as she'd come. Her stomach lurched.

Rainbow Dash was alive and breathing softly, but she was not well. Her left wing was completely gone, the stump surely hidden beneath layers of bandages.

Twilight looked upon Applejack with pleading eyes. "I tried everything I knew, but I couldn't save her wing. Please... forgive me..."

Applejack looked at the pony with disgust. She didn’t care what she had to say. Her anger had at last found the outlet it had been searching for. "The Twilight I knew didn't make excuses. She certainly never gave up on one of her best friends." Applejack glared at the pony and went back inside the tent to be with her friend.

Author's Note

And thus the story truly begins. I'm much happier with the way this one turned out, and I hope all of y'all are too.

I find there's an interesting dilemma with Rainbow Dash's character. She's the element of loyalty, but what is she loyal to? Her friends? Her dreams? From the beginning of the show, she has wanted to be a Wonderbolt; however, her biggest flaw is she doesn't understand the "no 'i' in team" principle. Even now that she has fulfilled her dream, she struggles with simply fitting in. Teamwork just isn't in her character.

This seems to conflict with her being the representation of loyalty. How can someone who is so obsessed with her own self-image be the Element of Loyalty? Clearly, she must value a different kind of loyalty - a special kind - loyalty to herself.

Again, comments and critique are appreciated.