I'll Reach You

Chapters

Chapter 1: Hearth's Warming Eve Trees
Chapter 2: Distant Moonlight
Chapter 3: Fire Bright
Chapter 4: The World I Know
Chapter 5: Come Closer
Chapter 6: Lanterns and Ice

Chapter 1: Hearth's Warming Eve Trees

Pinkie pawed a hoof at the library's closed door. The brass candle-holder painted on it was nearly invisible in the dark; only the moonlight shining from above revealed anything at all. “Do you think we upset her?”

“Nope, ah don't,” Applejack said from the other end of the doorstep. “We just gotta' talk some sense into that girl is all.”

Rarity cleared her throat just behind them. “I must say I disagree. She obviously still wants to be left alone, Applejack, despite the huge length of time she has been shut in there.”

“I know, I'll throw her another party!” Pinkie bounced on the spot. “A bigger one, with bigger balloons and even bigger cupcakes! She just won't be able to resist this time!”

“That'll be your fifth one tryin' to get her outa' there,” Applejack said, her voice flat. “It ain't no good, Pinkie. Somepony's just gonna have to be more stubborn than she is.”

Rarity lifted a perfectly-plucked eyebrow at her. “And I suppose you think that has to be you?”

“Darn right.” Applejack crossed her legs and set her jaw. “Ah mean it. I ain't gonna move from this here spot until she shows herself.”

“Applejack, don't you think that is a bit extreme?” Rarity stared at her. “The Pegasus ponies have a rain storm scheduled for tonight; you'll be soaked right though.”

“Ah know what am' doin'. We ain't seen head-nor-tail of that filly in nigh-on two weeks now. I don't know about you, but I'm more worried than a tree-nestin' bird in applebuck season.”

“Spike assures me she is all right.” Rarity glanced nervously at the door. “He says he would know if something happened to her. Apparently, she used to do this back when she was studying in Canterlot.”

“Oh, I know what to do!” Pinkie stuffed her head between the two pony's faces, her cheeks squeezed against theirs. “Let's all sing a song to tell her how silly she's being. Oh Twilight, Twilight, shut away with no light, how can you be so-”

“Yeah, well she ain't in Canterlot now. Hey, Twilight!” Applejack pulled away from Pinkie and beat her hoof against the door. “I know ya'll can hear me! I aint leavin' this here doorstep till you come outa' there and see your friends! You know, the pony's that care about ya and all?”

Nothing came from inside the hollowed-out tree. The shutters were all drawn, the lanterns all dark.

Rarity sighed. “Well, I suppose I will have to go back and check on Spike. He and SweetyBell have been so cute together, but-” she raised her voice deliberately, directing it towards the door, “-he misses Twilight terribly. He says he doesn't of course, but it is plain to see.” She nodded to Applejack, and walked away, adding under her breath, “That, and my mane will get wet.”

“How about you, Pinkie Pie?” Applejack smiled encouragingly. “Wanna stay and keep a pony company for a while?”

“Oh no, sorry, Gummy needs me to help him get all ready for bed. He can't floss himself, ya know!”

“Oh. Well sure, I guess so. Ya'll go ahead-” Applejack stopped and narrowed her eyes. “Wait a gosh-darn second there...”

Pinkie pie was already bouncing away under the nearest street light. She turned a corner, humming a tune as she went, her eyes closed in happy crescents, and vanished from sight. The streets were all empty; everypony was either tucked up in bed or sat cozy in their homes.

“Shoot.” Applejack sighed, turning back to the library door. “Guess it's just you and me now, Twilight.”

A steady wind built up slowly as the pegasi prepared the night's weather. Clouds began to roll overhead, blocking the stars and the moon from view, darkening the sky even further.

Applejack sat down on her haunches. She leaned her head against the rough wood and pressed her ear to it, but no sounds came from within. She settled down on the cold stone of the step and thought back to when all of this had started.

Spike had turned up at Rarity's out of nowhere and asked if he could stay with her and Sweetybell. Rarity had sent Sweetybell to find Rainbow dash, who'd fetched the others in turn, and eventually all of them had gathered in a circle around the little dragon in the centre of her showroom.

“She told me to find somewhere else to stay for a couple of days,” Spike had said, visibly upset. “She got a letter from the princess, and then she just went all crazy, piling loads of books up in the middle of the floor and yelling at me to get out of the way. She wouldn't even let me try to help.”

“Did ya'll see what was on that letter?” Applejack asked.

Rarity cut in, “Oh no, Spike would never read any of the correspondence that Celestia or Twilight send though him unless asked, is that not right?”

Spike just nodded, looking forlorn.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash said, flying up and pointing towards the door. “Let's get down there and see if she's okay!”

They'd all marched on the library but no amount of knocking, shouting, or Rainbow Dash tapping on windows had elected a response. Just before Applejack teamed up with Rainbow to knock the door down, Rarity and Fluttershy stopped the pair of them in their tracks.

“Whatever it is, it must be important enough for her to act like this,” Rarity said, blocking AJ's path to the door with her ready-to-buck back legs. “We should trust Twilight to know what she is doing, especially when it comes to matters involving the Princess.”

“Um, I'm sorry, but I agree,” Fluttershy near-whispered. “Twilight probably knows what she's doing, and, um, we probably shouldn't disturb her.”

“Aw come-on girls!” Rainbow Dash had landed at Applejack's side. “AJ's right, we gotta find out what's up with her.”

On and on they'd argued, locked in a stalemate on the Library's doorstep, until the only pony who'd been strangely silent leapt right between them all. “Girls! I think some pony's need to turn their frowny-frown's upside down!”

The two opposing sides had turned and glared in unison at Pinkie.

“What?” Pinkie said. “You really should you know, you gotta use allot more muscles in your face to frowny-frown than you do to smily-smile!”

“Pinkie...” Rainbow Dash shook her head, lost for words. “I just don't know sometimes-”

The sky flashed white all around her and a rolling thunderclap snapped Applejack back to herself. She sidled up against the Library door, shivering with fright, her wide eyes looking up at the black, cloud-filled sky. A raindrop hit her nose, making her blink. Another hit her ear, and more began to splash down hard onto her coat. She pulled her hat forward to shield her face and curled her legs underneath herself on the cold stone of Twilight's doorstep.

She soon shivered with cold as well as fright. Water dripped from the brim of her hat, soaking her hair and her coat. Each crack of thunder made her flinch and pull her beaten Stetson further down against her ears. She pushed up against the door to get every bit of shelter the library could afford her and rested her cheek against the damp wood.

The rain began to ease off a few minutes later. It stopped quickly, leaving her huddled and wet but no longer cowering under her hat. She sighed in relief and looked out on to the rest of Ponyville.

What she saw froze her to the spot. Water hammered harder than ever on rooftops, sparking from slates and running in rivers along the edges of the streets, but where she sat it had stopped altogether. A sheet of falling water surrounded her in a circle, splashing from the ground only a few hooves of distance away.

Applejack looked up into a perfectly-clear circle of night sky in the clouds above, and broke into a wide smile at the rainbow-coloured streak shooting down towards her.

“I couldn't just watch you sitting there, again...” Rainbow Dash landed inside the dry area in front of her with a few beats of her wings, her expression grudging. “You really are stubborn sometimes, you know that?”

“Thankya' Rainbow.” Applejack smiled, genuinely touched. “Thankya kindly.”

“Yeah, well...” the Pegasus tried to avoid her eyes, “...if the weather patrol sees this hole, just tell em' you don't know how it got there, all right?”

“Ah sure will, sugarcube.”

Rainbow Dash leapt into the air. “Don't mention it, but next time there's a storm scheduled, bring an umbrella, will ya?” She shot upwards and disappeared into the clouds.

Applejack watched her rainbow trail fade away and smiled for a long time afterward. She spent the next while watching the rainstorm unfold around her. The lightening didn't scare her anymore, and she could see a few stars twinkling through the hole above.

After another while, splashing noises turned her attention to the sight of a figure approaching thought the dark. The silhouette of a large umbrella with decorative tassels emerged, and Applejack stood up to greet the unicorn huddled beneath. “Rarity, what're ya'll doing out here in this rain?”

“Goodness Applejack, what are you thinking, you're going to catch a fever out here, just let me-” Rarity stopped, staring at the dry circle of ground around Applejack's hooves. “Ah, I see Rainbow Dash has already paid you a visit?”

Applejack smiled uncomfortably. “Eh, yeah, she kinda has.”

“Well, no matter.” Rarity brought a bright yellow mound out of one of her saddlebags, and offered it to her. “These should keep you warm, if not dry as well.”

Applejack spread it out between her hooves, revealing a bright yellow oilskin outfit complete with a wide-brim hat. “Aw sugar, ya'll didn't have to go to the trouble-”

“I won't hear of it.” Rarity fished around in her other saddle, and brought out four matching oilskin boots. “I've finally found a use for these retched-” she winced, “-sorry Applejack, these robust boots from your second gala dress.”

“Galoshes!” Applejack stepped into them and let Rarity use her magic to fit the oilskin outfit expertly over her damp coat. “This is powerful kind of you, Rarity. Ah don't know what to say.”

“Then do not.” Rarity held her head high. “A gift is something given of one's own volition.”

“Uh, yeah, well, ah still want to thank you from the bottom of mah heart. You're a one-of-a-kind kinda' gal, you know that?”

“Oh, yes, yes I do.” The white unicorn smiled primly. “Thank you, Applejack. I do hope you will see reason and return to sweet apple acres soon. They must be terribly worried about you.”

“No, they ain't.” Applejack set her jaw, turning serious. “They know what I'm doin', and that ah gotta do it. Twilight needs to remember that she's got friends, and darn good ones. Seein' you and Rainbow out here tonight's just made me even surer'a that.”

Rarity sighed, but still smiled. “As you must. Take care; I will be back to check on you in the morning.”

Left alone again, Applejack settled down in her warm new outfit and sat in a circle of dry, clear air as the rain fell around her. The odd gust of wind blew some of it her way, but her new oilskins were so much of a match for it that she felt like being back under the rain would be just as comfortable.

The warmth and dryness lulled her towards drowsiness and sleep. She rested her head against the door, closed her eyes, and drifted closer and closer to emptiness.

Somewhere far on the other side of the wood, a blood-curdling scream shrieked through the halls and rooms the library's open spaces.

Applejack shot to her hooves, turned, steadied herself, and bucked hard with both back legs. “Twilight! Ah'm a' comin, sugar!”

The door split and cracked on her next hit, and burst off its hinges on the third. Applejack charged forwards, knocked the swinging door aside with her shoulder, and galloped into the centre of the library's main floor.

Her hooves tumbled over a pile of books, knocking her into a rolling mass of legs and yellow oilskins. She kicked and shoved them aside, scrambled back up, and quickly scanned the dark room around her.

The place was ransacked. Hundreds of books littered the floor. It looked like someone had stacked them at one point; several were in haphazard towers that zigzagged from the floor, others sat in small, uneven walls. A flash of lightening burst through the windows and open door, illuminating titles inlaid on hard, dusty covers; Concepts of Magical Theory Vol III, The Limits of Magic, Magic and Consequences....

Applejack charged straight for the stairs. She sent books flying left and right, knocking over stacks and bursting through one of the book walls. Her hooves beat hard on the wood all the way to the door at the top. She stopped, rounded, and burst it open with a single powerful kick from her back legs.

Incredibly bright light came though, nearly blinding her, forcing her to shield her eyes with her leg. She edged through anyway, wincing with the light, trying to peer into it.

A shape began to form at the centre: a blob that was darker than the surrounding white with something that looked like two legs waving above it.

“Twilight!” Applejack ran forwards, ignoring the light, and reached forwards into the brightness with both hooves.

Applejack knew she was lying on grass. Her eyes wouldn't open, her body wouldn't move, but she still knew.

There was a smell of burning in the air. It tainted smells of pine-wood and rain; she could feel the light patter of raindrops against her face.

A groan filled her ears, and she realised it was her own voice. She tried to move her head, and was rewarded with a sharp twinge of pain. Trying to ignore it, Applejack managed to raise her chin off the ground and began to ease her eyes open.

Watery light wavered through. A dull grey sky came into rough focus, lying above a blur of tall, dark-green shapes. The image came into focus slowly, too slowly, but eventually she saw they were trees, though they weren't like any trees she'd seen before. Hugely tall, their thin trunks soared upwards into the murky sky and their short, dark green braches were angled sharply downwards, giving them the shape of thin Hearth's Warming Eve trees.

Wind pulled at the treetops all around her, filling the air with rushing sound and the gentle creak of wood. Groaning again, Applejack moved her front legs. She felt Rarity's oilskin jacket around her and the boots still fitted to her hooves. She pressed them on the ground and pushed upwards. Her head swam for a time, tipping this way and that, before clearing enough to let her look around.

She lay in the centre of a circular clearing. The ground looked barren and hard with only a light covering of wild grass and lichens over bare, grey soil. Wisps of black smoke drifted from small clumps of vegetation, and a tiny fire smouldered nearby on what looked like the remains of a small bush.

Applejack climbed to her hooves over the next two minutes. The pain in her head kept her vision dull and out of focus, but her sturdy boots gripped the ground and helped keep her footing. Standing on all fours cleared her head slightly. She looked around the small clearing, and realised that it didn't look natural.

A fan of fallen trees lay out into the forest around her. Most were blackened completely on the inward side, and were letting off wisps of black smoke. It looked like they'd been felled by something that had happened in the centre of the clearing where she stood; something violent and powerful.

“Shoot...” she said, shaking her head, wincing with the pain, “...what in the hay happened? Where am ah'?”

Applejack just stood there, staring at the burnt trees and smouldering ground, her head hurting far too much to try and make sense of anything. The smattering of rain seemed to be putting the remaining fires around her out.

Her legs started to hurt, so she put her hooves to the ground and walked towards the nearest of the fallen trees. She swayed from side to side, but Rarity's boots kept her upright with their chunky grips, and she managed to reach it.

The tree had fallen between two others, their branches catching it between them like a hammock, holding it at an angle off the ground. She climbed down beneath the trunk where it was just high enough to let her. The rain still got through, but directly under the trunk the ground seemed slightly dryer, so she lay down and curled her legs beneath her, resting her head, but only for a little while, she thought; only until the thumping stopped.

Rarity ambled through the shining wet streets of Ponyville, her umbrella held aloft despite the clearing sky above. The aftermath of the pegasus' pony's storm lay around her with broken branches and a scattered leaves lying at the edges of the path.

She turned the last corner towards the library and stopped to search through her saddlebags. A bag of neatly cut croissants and a warm flask of tea later, she brought her mobile breakfast forwards until she noticed the broken door hanging from its hinges.

Her flask hit the stone path and burst open. Rarity galloped to the door, her umbrella flying away behind her, and ground to a halt just outside. Cautiously, she surveyed the damage to the door, and noticed the tell-tall marks of hooves in the wood. Applejack.

She peered into the ransacked room littered with books and broken furniture. “Twilight? Applejack?”

No answer came. She wasn't about to stand around while they might be injured inside, but she had the foresight to know she wouldn't be much help if they were. Galloping to the nearest house, she beat the door until a cream coloured pony with bright orange hair answered. “Carrot Top, something terrible may have happened at the library, please get help!”

Chapter 2: Distant Moonlight

Applejack shuddered into wakefulness. Her legs burned with freezing cold, their heat leeched straight down into the hard, frosty earth beneath.

A stab of fear hit her. She couldn't see. Pitch blackness hemmed all around her as though she hadn't opened her eyes at all, but then the outline of the tree faded in above her, and her sight gradually began to adjust. The sound of wind moving through the trees came to her ears. She uncurled her legs, wincing at how stiff and sore they were, and slowly stood up.

Her head thumped into the fallen tree above, dislodging a spray of pine needles and raindrops. “Ah, cornapples!” Dazed, she stumbled out from the makeshift shelter and back into the clearing she'd woken up in some time ago.

The fires no longer burned. All that remained was charred earth she could barely see in the darkness. Her hoofsteps crunched loud until she reached the centre of the clearing, until she stopped still, raised her ears, and listened.

The wind rolled across the treetops in great waves. They swept from afar, rushing overhead and into the distance, the treetops swaying and bouncing with each that passed. Wood squeaked and groaned all around her into the far distance.

Applejack turned on the spot to look up at the night sky, trying to catch a glimpse of Canterlot's mountain rage or any of the other landmarks that should be there. “Ah must be in the Everfree forest,” she said out loud, her voice reassuring in the quiet. “Twilight... what in all a' tarnation happened? What have ya'll done to me?”

Shaking her head, Applejack searched again for any of the mountains that should have been visible against the horizon, but there was nothing there. Just empty sky filled with stars and the thin crescent moon. Her stomach started to clench with worry. She reared up on her hind legs, trying to see over the trees, but came down again with a clump. She forced a smile and laughed softly. “Everfree must be... bigger than ah' thought.”

The tree trunks around her vanished into pitch blackness only a few feet away from the clearing. An occasional beam of faint silver light fell through in places, lighting patches of forest like pools of distant water.

“Well, ah guess I should get walkin.” Applejack swallowed hard. She looked around at the blackness between the nearest trees. The impenetrable depth of the forest sent chills along her spine, and the faint shadows of the nearest twigs hung down over it like reaching claws. “...Or maybe I'll just stay put. Right here. Ti'll sunrise.”

Something caught the corner of her eye.

She flicked her stare to a pool of moonlight filtering down through the canopy in the distance. It lay still and untouched, lighting a small outcrop of rocks and the trunks of the nearest trees.

Applejack stared at it. She found she was holding her breath. She could have sworn something moved between her and the moonlight, breaking it for a split second.

“Get a hold'a yourself A.J. There ain't nothin' there.” Her voice unnerved her with how shaky and uncertain it sounded. She darted her eyes around, searching the darkness between the trees, her ears pricked straight up.

Something caught the corner of her other eye. Twitching in fright, she turned to another moonlit clearing in the distance. She stared at it, holding her breath, standing completely still. Nothing disturbed or broke it.

A twig snapped in the distance behind her with a soft pop just barely heard over the rush of the wind.

Applejack jumped a foot in the air, landing in a scramble of hooves, shooting glances left and right, turning on the spot. “Twilight...? Is that you out there, playin' some kinda prank on me? Cause it really ain't funny-”

Something black flitted across a beam of moonlight in the middle distance ahead of her. She caught the movement clearly and the outline of what looked like four long, thin legs.

“Oh Maryapplesauce...” she whimpered, freezing still, staring with wide, unseeing eyes into the trees. Her heart thrashed hard; her stomach clumped into a knot.

Everything went still around her. Nothing more moved; no more sounds came apart from the wind on the treetops.

“Ah gotta go,” she whispered. “Move A.J, come on now, ya gotta go. Come on, it ain't hard-”

And then she fell silent, because she felt prickling heat on the back of her neck. Something in the trees behind her. Something close.

She turned her head so slowly the seconds ticked individually by, the hairs of her coat standing on end. Her wide, stricken eyes fell on a dark gap between two thick trunks near the edge of the clearing.

Again, moving so slowly it strained her, she began to back away from the dark opening, her hooves barely making a whisper on the soil.

Another twig snapped to her left.

Applejack leapt on instinct. She bolted straight for the pitch darkness of the trees, her hooves thundering into a flat-out gallop. She caught sight of a blur of blackness bursting from the trees behind her a second before she plunged head-first into a world of flying branches, pitch darkness, and distant moonlight.

“No, Pinkie, this isn't one of my pranks!” Rainbow Dash folded her front legs, her wings beating to hold her just above the ground. “Jeeze, how can you even think that?”

“Well, you're a really good prankster.” Pinkie Pie beamed a smile up at the Pegasus. “No one out-pranks Rainbow-Dash!”

“Well, now you mention it, I have pulled some pretty fast ones...”

“Ladies!” Rarity glared at them from the doorstep of the Library. “We are here to search, not to squabble.”

“Hey, she started it!” Rainbow pointed a hoof at Pinkie Pie.

“Yep, I sure did!” Pinkie's grin beamed ever brighter.

Rarity let out a breath in despair. “Girls, we simply must stay focused on the task at hand. Twilight and Applejack are both missing; we are not here to have an impromptu slumber-party.”

Pinkie's smile grew huge, and she leaned towards Rarity. “Did somepony just say slu-”

“Yes, Pinkie, I did!” Rarity glared at her.

“Uh, girls?” Rainbow Dash said, her head turned towards the edge of town.

“~And you know what that means~” Pinki Pie pranced in a circle around Rarity, completely oblivious to the unicorn's glare.

“Uh, girls!”

They both turned to look at Rainbow, and past her to the hooded figure approaching slowly along the centre of the street.

The figure stopped ten paces away from them, her yellow eyes glowing beneath a heavy brown cowl with a glint of gold inside. “Ponies, listen true. Have something of yours, I most certainly do. You would do well to follow, so I may show you what I mean... or who.”

Rainbow Dash flew down in front of Zeccora. “Is it Twilight, Applejack!?”

Zeccora pulled her hood back, revealing her sharp striped Mohawk and her vivid patterned coat. “To see with your own eyes would be most wise, as I do not wish to mistake one for another's guise.”

Rainbow turned and stared back at Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who had just walked up behind her. “Uh, in plain English?”

“She wants us to go with her, Rainbow. She says she has someone with her, but she doesn't want to tell us who she thinks it is, in case she is wrong,” Rarity said, growing more puzzled by the moment. “Wait, Zeccora dear, surely you know what Twilight Sparkle and Applejack both look like?”

“See for yourself you must, and no more will I speak. Come with me to see if I possess the one you seek.” The zebra pushed her hood back up, turned on the spot, and began to head back in the direction of the Everfree forest.

Rarity walked past Rainbow, followed by bouncing Pinkie Pie.

Ranbow Dash muttered to herself, “How in the hay does she always do that?” She rose into the air, wings outstretched, and shot off after the trio.

Applejack's boots pounded across rocks, frozen earth, and the roots of the trees that flew by on either side. She weaved and twisted between the thick, hard trunks with mere inches to spare. They coalesced from the pitch black before her eyes, giving her only seconds to dodge, their branches whacking and scraping across her like bony, reaching hands.

The sounds of pounding footfalls, snapping branches, and claws scratching against rock chased behind and to either side, pushing her hooves harder into the earth.

A thick tangle of branches formed from the darkness ahead of her too fast to avoid. She tucked her head down and ploughed straight though: Rarity's oilskin hat and coat deflecting the sharp, scratching wood away from her.

A loud crash followed a mere second later; the things coming through straight behind her.

Applejack's vision clouded with tears. Fresh terror jolted strength into her athletic limbs and she bolted forwards at near double the pace.

Her flank collided hard with a tree, but she ran on. Her hoof slammed down on a loose stone, knocking her balance off, but she ran on. A branch whacked her hard across the head, disorienting her, making her flank strike another tree, but she corrected her pace and ran on.

Twisted, horrifying cries went up into the night all around her. Wailing like the sound of things in pain, they warbled and rasped with snarling breath. Pairs of glinting reflections flashed in the blackness between the trees just beside her; too many to count or separate apart.

Applejack's neck locked straight ahead with terror. She blinked tears away with the wind on her face, the fear overwhelming, jolting her like lightening; manipulating her as its puppet.

More of the wailing cries surrounded her, but closer this time, close enough for her to hear ragged breaths panting through the pitch blackness at her heels.

She screamed out loud, forcing everything into her legs, practically feeling long, sharp claws reaching towards her tail.

The ground beneath her disappeared. Knowing they'd got her, she shut her eyes, let out a howl of terror, and thrashed with all her might, but she felt the air around her accelerate into a gale.

She opened her eyes, stared at the black circle of water below, and had a few seconds to gasp for breath before she hit the surface face-first.

The freezing water hit her like a runaway applecart. She convulsed, her burning muscles contracting painfully in the cold. Her head crashed back through the surface, coughing and spluttering, her legs thrashing to correct her in the water.

Wailing cries came from the cliff she'd fallen from above and behind her, agitated and angry.

Applejack stroked outwards with her legs, pushing towards the shore, but she stopped at the sight of a dark crack in the cliffs behind her: a crevice, a small opening that looked like it went inwards for a short way. She bit her lip in indecision.

Sounds of crashing undergrowth and ragged breathing began to move down from the higher ground she'd fallen from.

She turned in the water and swam frantically for the cliff-face. Every movement grew harder and slower, her limbs burning with pain and fatigue, her clothes dragging through the water. Eventually she reached it. Hauling herself into the tiny opening took everything she had left to give.

It was smaller than she'd thought. There was barely enough room for her to curl up in. She lay for a moment, half-in half-out of the opening, water pouring from her sodden oilskins. Cries came from outside again, and she jolted into action. She stuffed herself into the tiny space, scrambling to push herself in as far as possible, barely managing to fit. Then she tucked in her legs, pulled in just out of sight, and held her breath against her bursting lungs to listen.

Water lapped the cliff outside. The wind rushed through the trees in the distance. No other sounds reached her ears.

She was shaking. Shaking and crying. She knew they were there. In her mind she saw them on the shore, a line of monstrous eyes staring directly at the cave, knowing their prey was trapped, their claws already wading into the water.

A splash from outside made her go ridged. Silence followed it.

Applejack closed her eyes, breathed as softly as she could, curled even tighter into her tiny refuge, and tried to think of Sweet Apple Acres.

Zeccora's hut emerged from the mists of the Everfree forest ahead.

Rainbow Dash shot straight to the window, hovering in place, holding the windowsill. She gasped at something inside and then bolted straight through the front door.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie broke into a run, leaving Zeccora walking at the same steady pace behind them. They ran inside one after the other and ground to a stop at Rainbow Dash's back.

Something lay on a pile of blankets in the middle of the floor. Covered in blotches of burned black, it was almost unrecognisable save for a few hints of purple colour shining through.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash leapt forwards, her hooves reaching for the fallen pony.

“No!” Zeccora shouted from the doorway, her expression firm. “Much harm has befallen this one; do not interfere until my healing work is done.”

“What happened to her?” Rarity pushed forwards to stand beside Rainbow Dash, staring down in horror at the burned, charred coat of their friend.

“This, I do not know.” Zeccora walked inside, closing the door behind her, setting her heavy cloak down. She lifted an earthen jug from the floor, walked over to Twilight, and knelt down by her side. She pulled one of the blankets aside, uncovering Twilight's head, and brought the jug down to her lips.

“Zeccora, start at the beginning please,” Rarity said, walking forward, assuming authority. “How did Twilight come to be here in your hut?”

Zeccora dripped water into Twilight's mouth, holding her gently in her hooves. “Last day, when rain and wind did pay us all a visit, a knock upon my door I did hear. Answering this call, opening my home to the one who made it, I did take into my care this poor, unfortunate mare.”

“So Twilight just turned up at your doorstep?”

Zeccora rose to her hooves, and addressed them all. “That is correct. Now, I must ask all of you ponies to show the injured one her due respect.”

A groaning sound came from behind the Zebra. “Rarity...?”

“Twilight! Yes dear, I am here, we all are.” Rarity ducked past Zeccora, leaning down towards the heap of blankets.

Twilight blinked one of her eyes slowly, her other staying shut, her stare distant and lifeless. “All...?”

Rarity shot a worried glance at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. “Erm, no dear, not all of us... Applejack has gone missing. She is not here... we don't know where she is, we were hoping you would be able to help us with that-”

“What...? Where...”

Rainbow Dash pushed forwards beside Rarity. “Twilight? Do you know where she is? What happened to you? What happened to A.J? ”

“I... don't...” Twilight's eye closed.

A pair of hooves grabbed Rainbow's and Rarity's tails, and pulled gently back on them. “Girls, let's leave her alone, ok?” Pinkie Pie said, her smile forced. “I think she needs a nap.”

“More than just a nap this pony needs.” Zeccora motioned them towards the door. “Her recovery I will see to, and where possible, will speed.”

Rarity followed Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash out of the door; she bit her tongue, looking past the zebra at the pile of blankets and the charred purple of Twilight's coat. The door closed gently, and Zeccora gave them a nod before it shut.

“We're not just gonna let her-?” Rainbow dash stared between them. “She's gotta know where AJ is!”

“I am not so certain that she does,” Rarity said, her brows knitted in thought. “Did you listen to the few words she said? Besides, she is clearly in no fit state for an interrogation.”

“We can't just walk away!” Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, hovering in front of them. “I'm going back in there, Zeccora mumbo-jumbo or no!”

“Be reasonable, Rainbow.” Rarity looked up at her. “She is probably the only pon- erm, Zebra, other than Princess Celestia who can help Twilight right now. That is why Twilight will have went straight to her rather than seeking us out.”

“But, but...” Rainbow Dash seemed to deflate, dropping back onto her four hooves and hanging her head. “How are we gonna find A.J? She could be blown up, zapped Celestia knows where, or maybe even invisible-”

“Oh! Do you think she's here, right now?” Pinkie Pie glanced around rapidly. “Applejack, if you can hear us, draw `yes' on the ground!”

“I doubt that she is, Pinkie,” Rarity said, looking troubled. The white unicorn seemed to think for a long moment, placing her hoof under her chin. She lifted her head, blinked, and turned towards Ponyville. “Come this way. We need to pay Spike a visit.”

“Huh?” Rainbow looked at her. “He's not gonna know where A.J is any more than us.”

“No-” Rarity stopped and looked over her shoulder at them, “-but I want to check out a book, and he is the only librarian in left in town.”

Chapter 3: Fire Bright

There it was again - moving against the overcast sky, flying between the thick, heavy clouds above; a speck of gold that reflected the sun.

Applejack scanned around her for the most likely looking tree. Jumping on its lowest branch, she shimmied up to where it forked and clambered up to a large branch lay about two thirds of the way up. It swayed in the wind and forced her to grip the rough bark tightly to stay steady. Stopping near its end, she gazed upwards, narrowing her eyes, peering between the vast canyons of cloud above. The speck of gold darted between narrow openings in them with the shape of outstretched wings glimpsed by its sides.

Another glint of gold caught her eye in a nearby clump of clouds, and then another. There were perhaps five or six in total, all flying together, staying above or inside the cloud cover; flying together in formation exactly like she'd seen the Pegasus ponies of Cloudsdale do.

Applejack slid back down the tree, the dry leaves she'd stuffed into Rarity's oilskins for warmth rustling loudly, and landed back on the hard, cold ground. She set off at a brisk run, weaving between the trees and leaping to clear small boulders or crevasses in the rough terrain.

Tears had formed in her eyes when she'd finally been able to examine Rarity's gift. The way they'd held fast against the punishment she'd taken was a glowing testament to the care, love, and skill her friend had put into them. A few stitches with a needle of wood and some strands from her mane had made them whole again. They'd shielded her against the weather, given her a warm bed in the freezing night, and the boots had saved her hooves from the sharp rocks of the barren forest floor.

She squinted up at the blue sky and the giant mountains of cloud slowly crossing it. Glancing back down, she saw she'd arrived at her destination and ground to a halt just inside the same clearing she'd originally woken up in.

A pile of dry branches and kindling stood in a pyramid in the centre. Roughly twice her size, it had taken her all morning and most of the afternoon to gather, but the spark of hope it lit in her was worth every bit of labour. She leapt to its base and frantically rubbed a small stick into a hole she'd made in a larger one. Her tongue stuck out in concentration, and she was soon rewarded with a wisp of smoke drifting up past her cheek.

The dry-leaf kindling she'd gathered caught well, and she puffed out her cheeks to bring it from a tiny smoulder to a shooting flame. It licked the wood, blackening the edges, and Applejack stood back to admire her work.

Her plume of black smoke rose straight up into the clear air. It bent with the wind when it cleared the tree tops and began to drift northwards at good speed.

She walked around to get a good view of the sky and the glints of gold flitting between the clouds. “Ain't no excuse now, ya hear. Ya'll can't miss this.”

Minutes passed. The pillar of smoke billowed higher and higher, making her dizzy trying to follow it. The golden creatures above vanished into a thick cloud bank without a trace.

Applejack sat down beside her fire to wait in its warmth. The sky began to darken in the east. Bright orange light flooded across the world and caught the treetops in golden fire; she had to admit the place carried a kind of beauty despite how barren and hostile the forest floor had turned out to be. She pulled a small, shrivelled pine cone from a pocket in her oilskins and took a reluctant bite out of the side. It tasted like it looked. Grimacing, she crunched the dry, scratchy cone with the image of a huge, ripe Sweet Apple Acers Golden Delicious taunting her mind.

As the minutes turned to hours, tendrils of panic began to thread their subtle way through her. The sky was darkening ever further and her pillar of smoke had long-since lifted to its highest point where it dispersed into nothing. Her hopes started to fade like the dying embers at the base of her fire, but she decided to wait just another few minutes before heading back to the crevasse in the cliff and safety from the creatures that stalked the darkness.

The time passed slowly, but pass it did, and she found herself staring at an orange-lit forest filled with shadows. With her time finally up, she walked forward, but stopped at the clearings edge, and turned back towards the now tiny wisps of smoke drifting into the air for one last look.

Something was falling from the clouds above. Shooting back around, Applejack galloped back into the clearing's centre to get a better look.

Three of the golden shapes were descending towards her. Caught in the incredible orange glow of the horizon, they looked like tiny flecks of fire dancing downwards from the blaze of the clouds above.

She let out a whoop of joy, spun on the spot, and tossed her yellow hat in the air. Standing back on her hind legs, she waved her front hooves across one another to get their attention. “Ya did it, A.J! Ya really did it! Yeeehaw!”

The triangular formation descended closer with every passing second. She made out large wings to either side of their sleek looking bodies, spread wide in a fast looking glide, and what looked like four legs tucked tightly beneath them.

They were moving far faster than she'd realised. The leader, flanked closely the two others, swept overhead at such speed and height that it was impossible for her to see them clearly. They came around in wide circle, flying around the edge of the clearing, seeming to observe it from all angles.

Applejack turned in place to watch them. She cupped her hooves to her mouth and yelled at the top of her voice. “Hey! Down here! Ah need help!”

The shapes flitted lower across the treetops, staying just out of sight above them, their wings giving the occasional swift beat to stay aloft.

A tingle of doubt nudged Applejack's stomach, but she ignored it and kept waving her hooves.

Out of nowhere, the lead flyer shot across the edge of the clearing and slammed into a tree, bending it almost double with the force of the impact. It sprung back, but the creature clung fast to the top of it, and after a moment Applejack had a clear look at exactly who, or what, she'd summoned.

“Pinkie Pie, fetch everything you can find on location or search-oriented magic. Rainbow Dash, go and bring Fluttershy back from the search party. Spike, please begin re-ordering these books to help Pinkie's search.” Rarity whipped her immaculately curled mane behind her head, and cast her eye around them all from the centre of the library. “Come on now, we do not know how much time we have left.”

The only protest she got was a snide look from Rainbow Dash, but she'd expected it, so all was still going according to plan. The plan she'd worked out in her head five minutes ago. The plan she was mostly making up as she went along.

“Yes Rarity, anything for you...” Spike sighed, walking over to a pile of books in a daze.

“Really Spike, do be a gentlecol... er, dragon, and pick up the pace a bit?”

“Oh, yes, of course!” He jumped into action, zooming from place to place with stacks of books, rebuilding the library's shelves from the jumbled heaps littering the floor.

Pinkie Pie bounced merrily around the circular walls of the hollowed out tree, humming a tune to herself, her eyes closed in happy crescents.

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Fine, but only because I wanna let Fluttershy know about Twilight.” She vanished in a streak of colour out the front door, blowing some stray papers around in her wake.

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. Part one, check. Assume authority and make them listen to you. Now all she needed to do was work out what part two was, and everything would be fine. A few strands of her perfect mane sprung out of line, and her left eye twitched. She giggled to herself, and turned to watch Spike work.

The bottom shelves were almost full. He ran from place to place, digging through piles of books to extract the correct volumes, and rushed around carrying stacks nearly twice his height. She realised his obvious expertise was often overlooked by all of them; she was certain no other creature in Equestria could sort and index books that fast by hand or hoof alone.

Pinkie Pie seemed more interested in prancing and humming than searching. She kept bouncing around the edge of the room, embellishing her tune with nods of her head and shakes of her tail.

Reluctantly, Rarity decided to ignore her. Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie, and though she acted `so random' as Rainbow Dash put it, she seldom let them down when it mattered.

A streak of colour shot back through the door. “Found her! Hey, not bad Spike. This place is looking better already.”

“Ohmygoodness-ohmygoodness...” Fluttershy alighted carefully on the floor just behind Rainbow Dash. “Was Twilight all right when you saw her? Did she speak, could she move?”

“It is all right, dear. Zeccora is looking after her,” Rarity said, trying to soften the truth. “She seemed dazed, a bit rough around the edges, but I'm sure it is nothing Zeccora cannot correct.”

“Can we go there? Please? I'd just like to see her for myself...” Fluttershy lowered her head and hid behind her mane. “I mean, if it won't be interrupting, and it's not too much trouble...”

Rarity thought of the burned, charred form lying listlessly on Zeccora's floor and winced. “Ehm, sorry dear, but I think we'd better stick together for now. I may need your help at some point and it wouldn't do for you to be too far.”

Fluttershy brightened up. “Oh? Are we all doing something?” She noticed Spike working away, and Pinkie prancing around the room.

“Yeah, what are we doing, Rarity?” Rainbow Dash stepped up, eyeing her.

“Why, we're... sticking to my plan. That's what we're doing.” Rarity tossed her mane and stood firm under their scrutiny. “We're following my plan to the letter. My plan to find Applejack.”

“Oh good!” Fluttershy smiled. “I was worried we were all just standing around aimlessly, wondering what to do next.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, imagine that.”

Rarity's eyes twitched one after the other, and another batch of hairs twanged from the styled curls of her mane. “Yes... imagine that. How terrible that would be.”

“Ugh, you don't have any plan!” Rainbow Dash jumped forwards, hovered in the air, and glared at the unicorn. “She doesn't know what to do, and we're wasting valuable time we could be using to search for A.J!”

Rarity's eyes narrowed. She stepped forwards, set her stance, and met the Pegasus' glare with her own. “Now see here, Rainbow Dash. I most certainly do have a plan, and I intend to carry it out to its conclusion. Instead of putting your energy into bickering, you could do something constructive and help me.”

“Who put you in charge? Who said we all have to do what you say? I say A.J's probably lying somewhere around Ponyville out cold, hurt bad, or in danger, and all you're doing is stopping us from finding her!”

Rarity's voice went dangerously low. “Rainbow, dear, please don't say something you will later regret.”

“That's it!” Rainbow Dash shot to the door, and hovered in the air just inside. “I'm out-a-”

Pinkie Pie bounced from nowhere right in front of Rarity, and dropped a thick, heavy book by her hooves. “Found one!”

Rarity did her best to disguise her huge breath of relief. She picked the book up with magic and saw that Rainbow Dash had landed on the floor to watch her. The cover was inlaid gold depicting a large, ornate compass surrounded by decorative stars. She read the full sub-title aloud. “Magical guidance and location spells, including missing ponies, creatures, and artefacts. Revision four.”

“Hey, all right Pinkie Pie!” Spike said, folding his arms and smiling at the pink pony.

“Wow, that sounds perfect.” Fluttershy said, beaming even brighter.

“Yes, dear, it is... perfect. Thank you.” Rarity gazed at Pikie's smile, eyes shining, too relived and grateful to say any more.

Rainbow turned her head away in a huff.

“No problem!” Pinkie said, bouncing towards the door. “I guess we need to go see Twilight, `cause the spells in that book look really hard, so let's all go to Zeccora's, right?”

Rarity snapped out of it, regaining her senses. “Eh, yes, exactly! Well done Pinkie. Come on girls, we have a unicorn to pester!”

The tree swayed in the wind. Applejack stared straight up at the top of its trunk, holding her ground, but staying absolutely still.

A sharp, hooked, yellow beak caught the golden light of the sun. White feathers covered a lean crest and the fierce, angular face of a bird of prey. Bright amber eyes pierced straight at her, sizing her up like their owner's next meal. Powerful yellow talons gripped the trunk of the tree, cutting white scars into its bark. A pair of large, sandy-furred paws stood on a branch just behind, and a sharp pair of wings scythed out to either side.

Applejack fought the urge to back away. She'd only encountered one of these creatures before, and Gilda seemed like a downright cuddly ball of fluff compared to the fierce, wild griffon that glared at her now. She swallowed hard, glanced up, and saw the other two that had come with this one. They were circling low and fast overhead, skimming the edge of the clearing, their heads angled to keep a constant watch on her; ready to swoop in at a moment's notice.

She needed to break the tension. Convince them she wasn't a threat. Tell them she needed their help to get out of the forest. Applejack cleared her throat again, and decided she'd settle for asking not to be their supper. “Eh, howdy, there?”

The griffon didn't react.

Applejack swallowed even harder. “Uh, do ya'll speak normal? Can ya'll understand me?” She flinched. Great work, A.J. Nice an' subtle. Just douse yourself in salt and hand em' the menu.

The piercing amber eyes darted around the clearing, and the griffon leapt from the top of the tree. It dropped straight towards the ground, and broke its fall at the last second with a mighty beat of wings that sent a shockwave of dusk rolling into the air.

Applejack coughed and spat out the dry particles, shielding her eyes with her lashes. The dust settled, revealing the lean, powerful shape of the creature standing opposite her.

No, she realised. Not a creature. Not an `it'. A she. A burst of hope buoyed Applejack for a moment, but dropped again when she realised there was no way in Equestria that this could possibly be Gilda, or even her distant relative.

“Thank ya'll for coming down, ya know, at ma' signal.” A Trickle of sweat rolled down Applejack's face. She attempted a grin and forced herself to keep speaking. “Ya see, ah' don't rightly know how ah got here, an ahm' in a real heap a' trouble. I reckon I'm lost in this here forest, and there's...” she gulped loudly, “...these, things, that come out at night. Ah' barely scraped away with ma hide first time ah' met em.”

The griffon glared at her with judgement in her eyes; bare, unforgiving harshness that cared nothing for Applejack and her plight. Her beak was cracked all along on one side, leaving a narrow, ragged gap where the two halves should have joined together.

“So, uh, do ya'll think you could point me toward' Ponyville?” Applejack smiled through her fear, forcing her hooves to stay where they were on the ground. She knew from encounters with dangerous creatures from the Everfree Forest that running was the worst thing she could do in a stand-off like this.

Lifting her broken beak to the sky, the griffon let out the shrill cry of an eagle, a sound that rang far into the distance across the trees.

Applejack's heart slammed off her chest. She hunched up on her hind legs, frozen in fear.

The two circling overhead darted down into the clearing. They passed over their leader and snatched her into the air with an instant burst of speed, kicking up another cloud of dust, letting her take position back at the front of their formation. The trio beat their wings in a synchronized show of strength upwards into the orange sunset above.

Applejack stared after them for a moment, still frozen in place, and then leapt forwards. “Hey! Ya'll can't leave! Hey, I'm talkin' to you!” She galloped to the edge of the clearing, crying out at the top of her voice, “Ya'll can't go! Come back! Don't leave me here!”

She ground to a stop, gasping through a raw throat, shaking her head in disbelief at the three shapes flying into the distance. She beat her front hooves against the ground. All of the work and pain she'd went through to build the fire, the hope she'd gotten up, the thought that she might have only been a few hours or days away from seeing her friends again, her family; Applejack's breath caught in her throat, and her eyes began to heat and sting.

“Ya'll can't, ya just can't!” She shook her head and blinked through a haze of water at the sky. “Ya can't leave me alone, why'd ya have to? Just, come back, please? Ah promise ah won't say stupid stuff or act goofy no more; ah swear it!”

Their wings beat steadily by their sides. They grew smaller and smaller, gaining height with every stroke.

She slumped down, hanging from her shoulders, and planted her haunch on the dusty ground. She hung her head and closed her eyes, fighting the warm water leaking from their corners. “Why'd ya have to do that? Ah was only askin' for yer help.”

She opened her eyes, blinked them clear, and something dawned on her. She stood back up, looked around the clearing, and went very, very still.

Between the trees, beneath the cover of the canopy, black, inky darkness had returned to the world beneath the forest.

Chapter 4: The World I Know

“Twilight, dear?” Rarity leaned closer to the charred pony's closed eyes. “I am so sorry, but we simply must ask for your help...”

Twilight's nose twitched. One of her eyes slid open, but there was no light of thought or intelligence within.

Rarity cringed. “Twilight, darling, are you there?”

Zeccora tutted somewhere behind her. “Rest and quiet are what is needed for this pony's care; my word you have not heeded, and my patience you dare.”

Fluttershy crouched down beside her. She examined the blackened burns all over Twilight's coat and let out small whimpers in sympathy. “You poor, poor thing...”

“Please, Twilight. Can you tell us what happened at the library? Do you have any idea where Applejack may be?” Rarity bit her bottom lip.

Twilight blinked with dampness in her unfocused stare. “All I remember is a light, one so bright I can still see it. And then...” she looked up at Rarity, her eyes full of confusion, “...I woke up inside the Everfree Forest, like this.”

Fluttershy looked up from where she'd been examining Twilight's coat, her eyes wide. “You really can't remember anything at all?

Rarity's heart fell along with her hopes; her fears confirmed in an instant. “You cannot even remember why you were shut inside the Library for weeks?”

“What?” Twilight blinked in shock. “I was shut inside... for weeks?”

“Are you serious?” Rainbow barged in beside her. “You don't remember anything at all?

“No...” Twilight looked down and away, her expression lost to confusion and doubt. “I was trying to do something, I think, but then...” She trailed off and seemed to go limp against the floor. One of her eyes drifted closed, and her other went half-lidded and dull. “I can't remember,” she whispered, her voice paper-thin and weak.

Rarity brought the book down in front of her and opened it to the page Pinkie had found. An ornate title sat above it, swirled and glided in silver: The binding and forging of the light compass.

Slowly, Twilight's other eye opened and began to focus. She looked at the page, going from word to word, her breathing laboured and uneven.

“Could you make one for us, Twilight?” Rarity heard the ridiculousness of her request even as she spoke it, but it was all she had; the one last thing between them and being lost to argument, squabble, and despair. “Could you make one of these compasses to help us find Applejack?”

Twilight's eyes began to glimmer as she read. She spoke, her voice raspy and dry. “How did you find this?”

“~It was under ccceee!~” Pinkie Pie sang from the back of the room, bouncing up and down in place.

“Never mind that, can you make one, Twilight?” Rarity pleaded, holding her front hooves tightly together. “Are you well enough to attempt such a spell?”

Twilight's eyes darted down from the page. “I could try, but I don't...” She trailed off, shook her head, and drew a breath. “No. I'll try. If Applejack is missing, I have to.”

“Well, you don't have to, I mean, if you are simply not well enough...” Rarity cringed again.

Rainbow Dash spoke up from behind them. “There's no way she can do this, I mean look at her, this is stupid, you're going too far-”

Rarity turned and lifted a hoof, silencing her. “Please, Rainbow. If she wants to try, we must let her.”

“It says you need a personal item from the pony you want to find,” Twilight said, looking up.

“Yeah, we know.” Rainbow Dash walked over and lifted something from under her wing.

The Stetson hat's brown, wrinkled brim and beaten top sat on her hoof. Rainbow bit her bottom lip, took a breath, and nodded at it. Her voice came out clipped and unsteady. “Found it in the library. You know. Upstairs.”

Twilight's eyes scrunched shut. She ground her teeth, began to concentrate, and a tiny spark of light ignited at the very tip of her horn.

Applejack's signature hat began to glow. A flicker of light burst from inside it, and for a moment they all glimpsed it; a circular compass seemingly made from light itself.

It winked out of existence. The ghost of its shape faded slowly from all of their eyes, its imprint stained red with brightness. Twilight let out a pent-up breath and lay gasping on her bed of blankets; her eyes unfocused, her tongue hanging from the corner of her mouth.

Rainbow Dash dropped the hat onto the floor and shoved Rarity aside. “Twilight, no!”

“Oh no, Twilight!” Fluttershy squeaked, moving to cradle the unicorn's head.

Rarity staggered backwards into a table, her eyes fixed to Twilight's face, too shocked to say anything. A bottle tipped over the edge and smashed on the floor, but nopony noticed.

The others pushed forwards, shoving Rarity further away. Zecora pulled her shaman's staff from the wall and brandished it at them, clearing them back from the stricken pony. “No, no! This fallacy you all must cease; leave this poor pony in peace!”

Herded out by the angry Zebra, the group of friends found themselves standing outside her house. The door shut quickly in their faces, and silence descended after the hubbub of shouting and scuffling.

Rarity sat back on her haunches and crushed her styled tail against the filthy floor of the Everfree forest. She stared straight ahead at nothing, looking into the distance, until she noticed Rainbow Dash standing in front of her.

“Well?” Rainbow said; her eyes narrowed to glaring lines.

Rarity couldn't look at her. She hung her head, still too shocked to speak.

“Was this part of your plan'?” Rainbow walked in a circle around her. “Someplan'. You just wanted to boss us all around, didn't you?”

It took several deep breaths, but Rarity managed to compose herself enough to answer. “No, Rainbow. I did not. I just wanted to help-”

“By nearly killing her!?” Rainbow jumped into the air, hovering in place in front of her. “Some friend you are!”

Rarity returned her angered glare. “What would you propose we do? I have yet to hear you voice anything but criticism and useless, irritating noise.”

Rainbow's eyes flashed dangerously. “I'm sick of listening to you! You can't lead, you can't plan, and you hurt Twilight even more because of some stupid, selfish idea!”

“How dare you!” Rarity leapt to her hooves and advanced on Rainbow. “I am not selfish! Not that I listen to any of the hot-air that comes out of your braggart, blowhard mouth-”

“Would you girls QUITTIT!” Pinkie pie jumped between them, reared up on her hind legs, holding a hoof out at both their faces. “You're making Fluttershy cry!”

Rainbow scoffed. “Oh, yeah, cause that's hard.”

Pinkie frowned at her. “She wanted to tell you something, but you wouldn't listen and just kept arguing like two grumpy-meany-pants.”

They all turned to look at the yellow Pegasus. Fluttershy wiped her eyes and cowed under the sudden attention. “Uhm, well, I just wanted to say that I might know of another unicorn who could, maybe, possibly, cast that spell for us.”

“Oh?” Rarity frowned in thought. “Who, dear? Surely you don't mean the princess.”

“Um, no, I don't think Twilight would like Princess Celestia to know about all of this just yet.” Fluttershy looked even more nervous than usual. “I... saw her near the edge of the Everfree forest a few days ago, and a few times before that. I don't think she ever went very far from Ponyville.”

“But who? Who else apart from Twilight and the princess could possibly possess enough magical talent to-”

Rarity trailed off and watched realisation dawn on Rainbow Dash's face at exactly the same time.

Scratching branches whipped past Applejack's face. She tore through the undergrowth chased by distant, chilling cries that echoed between the trees. Her heart hammered at the thought of losing her way back to the crevasse and the lake. It had become her makeshift shelter since that first night: the things that roamed the forest seemed unwilling to cross the water.

Every gap between the passing trees held glimpses of malevolent eyes, glistening teeth, and hooked claws. The part of her mind that knew they weren't real grew quieter and less sure by the second. The leaves in her oilskins rustled loudly and she quickly built up a sweat. She'd needed the extra warmth in the freezing nights, but the noise made her worry that much more.

A pool of light from the fading sky fell through the trees in the distance ahead. It looked like the one she'd marked with a set of crossed branches pointing towards the lake, so she galloped across the rough terrain to reach it.

Panting, her breath misting in the cold, sharp air, Applejack searched the clearing and found nothing but broken rocks. Panic settled in her chest, clenching her heart, but she forced it back and spoke aloud. “No sweatin' AJ. Ya'll know where that cubby-hole is. Just gotta retrace yer hooves to find it.” She peered into the trees to find the right direction, but something caught her eye in the distance instead.

Far away, so faint and small she barely noticed it, the orange glow of a fire trembled between the trees. She lifted her head up and broke into a smile. “A fire, somepony else!”

A whooping cry echoed from somewhere far-too close by and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. Applejack set her jaw. “Ah gotta find help: time to run like the wind, A.J.” She kicked her front hooves in the air and plunged off at a full gallop towards the distant light.

More chilling cries sounded from behind her and she risked a quick glance back at the clearing. A black shape flitted through the moonlight where she'd stood, its long limbs carrying it over the rocks in a single bound.

Applejack kicked more force into her hooves and beat them against the frozen earth, taking up more and more speed. She gritted her teeth, ignored the beginnings of fatigue in her limbs, and forced herself to run faster until she flew between the trunks with leaps and dives. The wind rushing by her flanks pulled loose leaves from beneath her oilskins into a slowly falling trail behind her.

It finally started to come closer. Her legs burned and her lungs ached, but she was doing it. She was going to reach it. The glow brightened, the light sharpened, and she realised it wasn't coming from the forest floor, but from somewhere up in the canopy. Picturing a warm, cosy tree-house with glowing windows in her mind, she put on a burst of speed and ran the last few minutes towards its source.

Grinning with excitement, Applejack burst through a mesh of branches into a small clearing covered with fallen leaves. She ground to a halt, sliding on the slippery foliage, and stopped to stare.

A pillar of weather-beaten stone rose from the forest floor in the clearing's centre. Thicker than any tree, it tapered inwards towards a wide stone dish at the very top. Twenty-hoof-high flames shot up into the dark sky from inside, roaring and snapping in the wind, a haze of warping heat and thick black smoke billowing all around them.

Four intricately carved stone griffons leapt from each side half way up the pillar. Their talons reached outwards, their wings lifted in flight, and their beaks were open in shrill, silent cries. The firelight from above lit their angular faces and cast their eyes into pits of deep shadow, as well as highlighting their sharp features and extended claws. Moss and vines grew on their backs and wrapped around their wings, but the effect was still as striking as it must have been the day they were carved.

Applejack panted to get her wind and walked around the base of the pillar. The whole place, the clearing, the stone; it steeped in the distant age of aeons gone by. One of the griffon's wings on the far side had broken off and left only a jagged stump on its back. She found it at the base, broken in two, half-buried beneath a layer of soil and leaves. Looking up into the black void of its shadowed eyes, she watched it glare at her through the weathered ages that had worn its talons, blunted its claws, and pitted the stone of its feathers. A shiver ran through her spine; she somehow knew it was older than anything she had ever encountered in Equestria.

Peering closer at the pillar's stone surface, she scratched at some of the moss to reveal rows of strange, beautiful symbols. “Maybe that's their language; no wonder ah' couldn't talk to em.”

She looked back up at the flames burning steadily overhead, lighting the patch of forest around her, and nodded. “If somepony lit this thing, then somepony's gonna be back to stock it when it goes out.” She looked back down to the trees, to a dark gap between them, and went absolutely, completely, and rigidly still.

There was no sound this time. No whooping cry, no crash of undergrowth. The monster between the trees glared at her from the edge of the light's extent, its eyes locked to her, the glow of the flames burning within.

Applejack ceased up. She could make out its hidden bulk, the glint of bared teeth, and the stench of something savage and animal.

It leapt at her in a rush of blurred movement with no warning or any chance for her to prepare.

She screamed. Her limbs jolted as through struck by lightning and she launched sideways into a roll across the rough ground.

The monster grazed her side, brushing past her with barely a hoof to spare.

Applejack came out of her roll, scrambled to her hooves, and turned wild-eyed towards it.

The blur of blackness turned and came straight at her, its ivory claws and teeth catching the firelight.

She moved to dive to one side, but a sick clench in her stomach told her she hadn't been fast enough; something lashed out of it and slammed into her side, raking fire across her flank, swatting her from the air like a dead leaf.

She struck the ground rolling and tumbling. Her limbs and her head hit jagged rocks and thick roots until she finally slammed into a tree and bent double across the rough bark, her legs tangled and her head laid back up to the sky.

She tried to breathe. Her chest singed with so much agony she ended up hissing through her teeth instead. Her eyes were open, but she couldn't see. Everything was dark, dark like the forest at the edge of the fire's light.

Everything went quiet. She looked down through a slow and detached haze like a dream and saw the black shadow of the monster hunching down. Its paw raked the ground in front of it; its eyes locked to her in preparation to charge.

The forest around her began to change. The dark wall of the canopy morphed into a bright blue sky; the barren permafrost beneath became a rolling field of apple trees. The sun poured down over Sweet Apple Acres just as it always did, and across the two figures standing on the doorstep of the farmhouse that day.

“But, when are ya comin' back, big sis?”

“When Twilight sees sense.”

“But, what if she doesn't? You're stillcomin' back, aren't ya?”

A roaring snarl dissolved the image away. The black blur charged straight at her across the fallen leaves, the ivory white of its razor teeth above bloodshot eyes, its speed and ferocity locking the end she saw approaching in her heart.

Applejack's eyes widened into saucers.Her hooves gripped the wood of the tree. The pain along her side pitched up into blinding heights, but she threw everything down into her limbs and let out a cry of vocalized agony as she threw herself backwards away from the trunk.

“Oh, I'm comin' back.”

A blurred slash flashed over the wood where she'd been, gouging deep claw-rakes through the bark, sending a spray of sawdust through the air.

“Ah promise you.”

An angered growl came from the black shape. It stalked in a wide half circle around her, watching her, staying outside the edge of the fire's light.

Her limbs trembled. It felt like the creature's teeth were sunk into her side, biting down harder every moment, but she locked eyes with it and climbed back up to her hooves with gritted teeth and stinging, water-blurred vision. She planted her hooves onto the frozen earth and stood her ground: the act nearly costing her everything she had left.

It stalked around her, growling; the hunger in its eyes knowing she was done.

Applejack gasped for air. The world kept trying to darken into a long tunnel ahead of her, with the far side dimming into the distance. Something pattered down onto the leaves below her; something that dripped from her side and ran down her legs. She shivered with a cold that went further and deeper than before.

The monster lunged to one side, snarled, and then lunged to the other. Its burning eyes blurred into twin patches of light that overlapped each other, going in and out of focus.

Applejack slowly turned around. She planted of her front hooves into the earth, digging them in, and limbered her back pair up. Her vision swam, the cold creeping deeper inside her with every moment. She knew there would only be one chance.

It charged. The threshing teeth and pounding claws blurred over the clearing floor.

A.J watched it come, scrunched her eyes closed, let out a scream, and bucked her back legs out with everything she had left to give.

The blow landed squarely on something that felt like sinew and snapped like bone. The impact slammed through her and threw her forwards over the ground, but not before something caught her side and raked new lines of fire along her already wounded flank.

Golden hues of leaves came up to meet her, and all at once she realised she couldn't move her legs anymore. She collapsed down onto the forest floor, landing hard and rolling several times before flopping to rest some distance away.

Yelping and mewling sounds mixed with the sound of erratic, limping footfalls that fled quickly away into the distance.

Everything went still; everything but the raindrops that had begun to fall silently from above. Except they weren't raindrops anymore. Applejack blinked against cold, wet leaves, and looked up into the beginnings of gently falling snow.

Another image came into her mind; Applebloom laughing, the snowball she'd just thrown flying through the air, Granny Smith's red knitted scarf snugly around her neck.

She went to breathe, and raw, ragged agony lanced through her flank. Warm wetness trickled down inside her oilskins. Something shiny caught her eye on the leaves beside her, and she bent her neck to look.

Dark, scarlet blood covered the dull orange of the fallen leaves all around her. Slowly, she craned her neck to look at her injured side, and at the deep, welling claw-rakes torn through Rarity's oilskin jacket. She thought of Rarity angrily telling her off, and a painful laugh escaped her.

The snow came down heavier around her, landing on the red stains on the leaves, on her head, and in her eyes. Her laughs turned to soft chuckles, and then died away altogether.

A ring of eyes glared at her through the trees. The monsters advanced in unison, creeping forwards towards the smell of blood, their teeth glaring yellow and white in the light of the fire burning overhead.

Applejack didn't scream, didn't wail, didn't cry. She just watched them and thought of home, of Granny Smith and big Macintosh, of the fresh smell of her orchards and the thud of apples landing on soft, fertile loam.

Something golden flicked across her vision and slammed into the ground in front of her. Water and leaves splashed her, making her flinch, but she looked back up and blinked.

The griffon with the broken beak stood with her back to her, facing them alone, her wings lifted and twitching with tension.

Chapter 5: Come Closer

“I don't think we should scare her,” Fluttershy said, rustling the bush they were hiding in.

“Shhh!” Rainbow hissed and pushed her back down with a hoof. “She'll hear you!”

“I think she may be asleep,” Rarity said, peering out into the meadow on the edge of the forest.

Some distance away from the trees, a small tent was pitched alone in an expanse of open grass. The remnants of a campfire lay beside it along with something that looked like a chest or a trunk.

“I'm goin' in!” Rainbow made to jump out, but three pairs of hooves grabbed hold of her and held her back.

Rarity held her tail. “This matter must be handled with care, grace, and attention to detail.”

“I still haven't forgotten what you said.” Rainbow glared at her. “What was that about blowhard, hot-air and-”

“Girls!” Pinkie pie stuck her face between them and frowned dramatically.

“Fine.” Rainbow crossed her front legs and sat on her haunches. “Look, can't we just all go?”

“Well, if you must insist. That would be the fairest option.” Rarity looked at them all in turn. She stepped delicately out of the bush, careful not to disturb a leaf or make a sound, and crept forwards until she was clear of the foliage.

Rainbow Dash burst out from the bush in a blast of noise and colour and hovered in the air with a huge grin on her face.

Rarity levelled a dead-pan glare at her.

Pinkie pie bounced out straight after. She was followed by Fluttershy slowly crawling along the ground with her eyes darting left and right.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, let's just get this over with.” She assumed the lead and walked forwards towards the tent, carefully watching for any signs of movement from within. Nothing happened though, and soon they all stood around the zipped-up opening. The remains of the occupant's last meal were scattered around the cold, blackened remains of her fire: a few wildflowers and the core of an apple.

Rarity dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned in closer to her friends. “I think we should try, very gently, to wake her-”

The tent exploded into a rain of sparkling light; its cover shot straight off with burst of sparks, erupting colour, and a high, piercing shriek.

They all scattered, running back from it, lost and dazed by the blinding brightness.

“Thieves, robbers, miscreants!” a familiar voice shrieked. Blasts of magical light exploded all around them, whizzing past like fireworks that left trails of sparks hanging in the air. “Trixie shall show you no mercy!”

“Aw haystacks!” Rainbow Dash darted around overhead, dodging left, right, and centre around the whizzing, flying bursts of magic. “Not her again!”

Rarity leapt to the ground with her hooves over her head. “My mane, my beautiful mane! Don't let it catch on fire! Oh Celestia my mane!”

“Wheee!” Pinkie pie leapt nimbly from place to place, effortlessly avoiding the hissing fireworks, a huge smile lighting her face. “So pretty and shiny.”

A silhouette leapt into the centre of the carnage. Standing on its hind legs, its hooves raised above it, the shape of a large, triangular hat on its head and the shadow of a cape billowing out behind. “You dare to rob the great and powerful Trixie of her show-stopping secrets?!”

Rainbow Dash shot straight overhead trailed by at least a dozen angry fireworks. “Keep your lame secrets!”

The smoke cleared before Rarity's eyes and she found herself in the maniacal, crazed glare of the blue and silver unicorn.

Trixie's cape and Wizard's hat sparkling with reflections from the light around them. Her eyes narrowed and she levelled her hoof straight at her. “You.”

Rarity put on her best smile, rose to her hooves, and carefully dusted off her coat. “Erm, why yes, hello again, er, Trixie...”

Trixie's glare turned into an evil smile. “Well, if it isn't rat's nest. Come back for another makeover, dearie?”

The smile drained from Rarity's face. Her eyes narrowed, and she lowered her head. “Oh, it is so on!”

“Hah!” Trixie's grin trembled on the verge of outright mania. “Trixie has dealt with you pathetic Ponyvillians once before, and she can do so once ag-”

“Yaahhh!” Rainbow shot from the sky in a streak of colour and slammed straight into Trixie's side. The pair of ponies tumbled into a tangle of hooves and star-speckled robes. The fireworks chasing Rainbow landed all around them, blowing bursts of colour into the ground, sending streaks of light and trails of sparks lancing everywhere around the campsite.

Rarity dropped to the grass and buried her head under her front legs. “Oh Celestia, what did I just say about my mane!”

The griffon crouched low to the leaf-strewn earth. Her wings scythed above her, held ridged and ready, her powerful lion's paws and eagle's talons dug into the damp soil.

A wall of unblinking eyes watched her from the black spaces between the trees. Their hunger radiated into the clearing, their drive to sate it like heat that Applejack could feel on her face.

Nothing moved save for the falling snow and the fire sputtering far above. Its light wavered and shifted with the wind, the tree-tops bending and creaking in the distance all around them.

Applejack just tried to keep breathing. Her side stabbed with fire every time she drew in air: the deep shock of being hurt so fundamentally numb and cold inside her. The griffon went in and out of focus: two images separated from one another, blurred away towards the edges of her vision, and then returned together again. Waves of heat and sickness flushed from her belly up to her head, and a pounding headache had taken root behind her eyes.

One of the monsters emerged from the trees. It crept forwards in silence, staying low, hiding most of its bulk in the shadows.

The griffon didn't move. She watched the monster come, her fierce eyes and hooked beak tracking its movements, her lean form utterly still.

The monster approached close enough for Applejack to see the ragged tufts of fur on its flat head and the shot-red veins of its eyes. It drew black lips away from jumbled, hooked teeth and gobs of thick saliva and rumbled a snarl that sent wisps of breath misting into the cold.

It leapt forwards in a flash of movement and a snarled roar, the noise rebounding from the trees at the clearing's edge.

Applejack flinched and covered her face with her legs. She pressed her hooves against her eyelids, waiting for the shrieks, the sound of feathers and fur being torn, the scuffle and the snap of bones. But she kept waiting. She waited with only the sound of the wind and gently spluttering fire in her ears. Curiosity overcame her fear, and she lowered her hooves to peer out.

The monster's open, snarling mouth was poised a hoof away from the griffon's beak, but she hadn't moved a single feather of her wings or disturbed even a leaf on the ground. Her eyes pierced into the creatures own; immovable, terrible, harder than the stone her kind had carved into the pillar beside them.

A shiver ran all the way from Applejack's spine down to the tips of her hooves.

The monster's paws slipped backwards on the soil. It began to slink back towards the trees, its teeth still bared, a snarl still rumbling from its throat. Its large paws scuffed on the dead leaves, retreating clumsily.

Applejack hung her head and kept on breathing. Short in, long out, anything to minimize the agony of moving her side. The ground seemed to sway from side to side underneath her, tipping her left and right as though riding a rickety cart. She laid her cheek against the damp soil and closed her eyes, trying to make it stop, trying to hold herself still.

When she opened them again a pair of yellow, talon-clad feet stood before her. She blinked, fought the urge to just lay still in exhaustion, and turned her head slowly to look up.

The griffon looked down at her. Her vivid eyes were striking this close, her amber irises flecked with speckles of gold. The scars on the left side of her beak cast ragged shadows in the firelight: hair-line cracks snaking from the fracture and the missing piece where both halves should have joined. Swirls of falling snow drifted from the dark sky above her, each orange-lit flake falling into reality above the treetops and landing in silence all around them.

Two shapes flew down through the black above the trees, appearing into reality along with the snow, and swept down somewhere behind her. A moment later, the heads of two other griffons appeared to either side of her; the two that had shadowed her in the clearing before. They stared down at Applejack together, examining her oilskin clothes and the gashes along her flanks.

Snowflakes kept landing on Applejack's eyes. She closed them and let her head fall back with the wave of exhaustion that came over her; unable to fight it any more, nothing left to give.

“Get off Trixie!”

“Hey, I'm not the one who can't control her own magic!”

“Remove yourself this instant!”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked down at a tangle of star-covered purple fabric, sky-blue legs, and rainbow hair. The bundle of purple fabric was struggling to untwine itself from the latter. Trixie's cape was wrapped completely around the Pegasus, and her crumpled hat sat on the grass a few hooves away.

“Now girls,” Rarity said, her nose held high, “do be civil about this. Rainbow Dash, make certain to hurt her only a little, but definitely hurt her.”

A faint blue glow lit up underneath the tangle of purple fabric. Rainbow Dash's legs started to glow with pale blue light, and began to move of their own accord away from Trixie's cape.

“Hey, what're you-?” Rainbow struggled, kicking and waving her hooves around, but was pushed away and dumped unceremoniously on the grass.

Trixie's cape lit up with the same glow and swished around to her back, revealing her lit horn and angry glare. She climbed slowly to her hooves in front of them. “You insult Trixie, you destroy all of her possessions, you chase her from your town, and now you assault her like common ruffians!”

Pinkie Pie giggled and waved her hoof at the unicorn. “Silly, it was the ursa minor that squashed your stuff, not us.”

“You Ponyvillians are the cause of every one of my problems.” Trixie pointed her hoof at the flat remains of her little tent. “I have been forced to live like a commoner because of you and that ridiculous Ursa. Everything was going well before Trixie arrived in this miserable little backwater and attempted to grace it with her magical talents.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash leapt to her hooves, and flapped her wings into a low hover above the ground. “All I saw was a coward who ran away when that Ursa was smashing our town.”

“Trixie did not run away.” Trixie's glare smouldered dangerously. “She confronted the beast with what magic she had on-hoof after being woken so rudely and suddenly from sleep. She did her best to save your pathetic town, you ungrateful little whelp!”

“Hey, no-pony calls me a... whatever!” Rainbow Dash landed on her hind legs. She put up her front hooves up in fighting stance and jabbed the air in front of her. “You've had this coming since you zapped me, now put-em up!”

“Hey, wait a second-” Pinkie Pie walked closer to Trixie, “-you tried to save Ponyville? All I saw was you getting mad at Twilight.”

Trixie cocked her eyebrows. “Of course. The great and powerful Trixie would not abandon a town to a monster like that. The two small buffoons that fawned over her were the only ponies to witness her dramatic stand against the beast.”

“Wow, you actually tried to save us...” Pinkie turned to look at Rarity. “Maybe she isn't as bad as everypony says?”

“Yes, well-” Rarity glanced at Rainbow Dash, “-she still lied to the whole town, Pinkie, when she bragged about having defeated one before.”

“But she tried to save us, and that's gotta count for something, right?” Pinkie looked over at Trixie, her expression uncertain. “I think she deserves another chance; I don't think she's all that bad.”

Trixie's expression wavered for a single second but turned quickly into an aloof, satisfied smile. “Trixie thinks the pink one speaks the most sense of any Ponyvillian she has met so far.”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity shot a pointed glance at each other.

“No, Pinkie. She's a liar.” Rainbow landed back down on all fours and gestured at the blue unicorn. “She's making it all up; I bet she turned tail and ran when that thing smashed her carriage up.”

Trixie glared at Rainbow. “How dare you, you-”

“Look, girls, Trixie...” Rarity stepped forwards, eyes narrowed, head lowered. “We each have our differences and our arguments, but none of them really matter, because one of our friends is missing and we fear for her safety. I, for one, am willing to overlook certain transgressions-” she shot a two-dagger glare at the unicorn, “-for our urgent need to locate Applejack.”

“She can't help us!” Rainbow jumped into the air, her wings beating to hold her in place. “Come-on, you've seen how useless she is at magic; she nearly blew us up with those fireworks!”

“Humph!” Trixie folded her front legs across her chest and turned her head away. “What makes you think that Trixie will help a bunch of ponies that have done nothing but insult her and cause her trouble?”

Pinkie Pie winced. “She's kinda got a point...”

“Pinkie!” Rainbow slapped her hoof to her forehead. “You're on her side now?”

“Look, please, girls!” Rarity beat her hoof against the grass and glared at Rainbow Dash. “Right now, Trixie is our best bet. Like it or not, there are no other unicorns available who can perform non-regular magic.”

“Yes, that's right; a commoner such as you could never hope to approach Trixie's level of talent.”

Several hairs twanged from Rarity's mane. She blew steam through her nostrils and ground her teeth together, her burning glare locked on Trixie. “I will rise above such taunting, and ignore such superfluous insults for the sake of my missing friend.”

“It's just as well.” Trixie turned back and smiled wickedly at her. “Try any real magic yourself and you could end up with another rat's nest of a mane.”

“Yaaah!”Rarity leapt straight at Trixie, her hooves reaching for the other unicorn's neck.

Pikie Pie snatched her tail mid-leap. She pulled Rarity back, straining on her hind legs, leaning so far back she was almost horizontal.

“Hah!” Rainbow Dash beamed at her. “You'd stoop to violence?”

Rarity mumbled through clenched teeth. “Gladly...”

Pinkie Pie let go of her tail with one of her hooves to point up at the sky. “Wait girls, look, it's Fluttershy: She came back!”

Rainbow, Trixie, and Pinkie all turned to look up at the approaching silhouette against the backdrop of stars and dark clouds above. Rarity pulled against Pinkie's hold, her hooves still straining for Trixie's neck.

The shape flew gently downwards over the meadow, and Fluttershy's pale yellow and pink colours emerged from the dark. She alighted a few hooves away with her wings held upright and outstretched.

Rarity glanced sideways, finally noticing her, and instantly saw that something was wrong.

Fluttershy looked like she'd been crying for hours. She walked forwards, her head held high with nervous, trembling determination, and stopped in front of them all. Her wings lowered down, revealing something sitting on her back.

Rarity gasped, along with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, and all of them watched the little yellow filly climb down to the grass in silence.

“Miss Trixie?” Applebloom said, her saucer-wet eyes trembling, the red bow atop her mane pale in the moonlight. “Can you bring mah sister back?”

Chapter 6: Lanterns and Ice

Applejack shot her head upright and blinked in darkness. Jagged cold shook her. The pain and disorientation were like a thick sheet pulled over her mind, suffocating her thoughts and stopping her from remembering anything but emptiness.

A pale beam of light fell through a small, arched opening directly in front of her. Utter blackness surrounded it: blackness that held glinting claws and dripping teeth, distant echoes of whooping cries, and whispers of movement through fallen leaves.

She cowered back with her head shaking and her eyes wide with horror. Wind shrieked beyond the doorway like no wind she'd ever heard before, like a dying creature, its wails rising to shrill screams across the stone. Snow flurries blew inside, their flakes fluffy with weight, and piled up against the edges of the opening.

She went to speak, but her throat cracked with dryness and left only a whisper behind. A cough made her convulse, dampening her eyes.

Something disturbed the light coming through the doorway. A shadow moved across it, blocking it for a few seconds, and then cut it off almost entirely.

Applejack went rigid with terror. The monsters came through the blackness, claws outstretched, jaws open, teeth dripping. She cowered back, but then the shadow of a half-folded wing, the shape of a curved beak, and a glint of a golden eye came through the doorway. The shape moved into the small space of the room and went straight to the centre of the floor. A moment later a flash of light lit the interior, catching it in a still, frozen image; a circular dome made of stone blocks like an igloo. Orange flames kindled from a fresh pile of wood in the middle of the fire pit and threw wavering light onto the creature above.

The griffon with the broken beak stared at her over the flames. Ice lashed her face; her feathers frozen into white shards blown back by the winds. Her wings hung half-closed over her back, too thick and heavy with snow to fold.

All of the questions Applejack could have asked vanished at the feel of heat on her coat. Her instincts begged her to crawl closer, but her legs wouldn't move. A trill of panic rose within her, and she craned her neck to look down. Both pairs of her legs were bound with thick, rough rope below and above her knees; rope she hadn't even felt because she was so cold.

As quick as she'd arrived, the griffon leapt to the doorway and vanished back out into the shrieking winds beyond.

Applejack gasped; the fire grew quickly and blasted wonderful, incredible, life-giving heat into her coat, thawing her muscles and easing her shakes. Her legs burned with numbness and the pressure of the ropes that bound her was now obvious. Sets of heavy, rust-brown stained bandages were tied tightly against her wounded flank. She stared at them and sick realisation hit her stomach; the sight of blood on fallen leaves, scarlet and sticky amongst oranges and browns.

Something burst through the doorway. Ice and snow blasted through with it, flattening the fire and plunging the room into flickering half-light. A shape emerged beside the fire with two large wings opened to either side, and the light sputtered back to life.

A different griffon stood panting, her wings white with snow, her frightened stare directed back through the opening. She had flecks of black though her white chest ruff and looked younger than their leader. She squawked and keened towards the doorway, her voice chirping rapidly in her own language.

Another scuffle came from outside. Their leader came through first, the griffon with the golden eyes, and dragged something through after her; the third griffon from the clearing. She pulled the limp, snow-covered form over to the fire. She was breathing hard, panting, her chest rising and falling quickly. So much snow clung to her feathers and fur that it looked like she'd been buried alive.

Applejack lay still and watched the commotion with heavy, closing eyes. Despite her thirst, her hunger, and the confusion of what was happening to her and around her, the heat from the fire seeped a wonderful, soothing feeling through her that was just too strong to resist.

She awoke to the fire crackling merrily in the centre of the room. All traces of daylight from outside had vanished: the interior lit only in flickering, shifting orange that threw shadows across the curved stone walls.

She lifted her head and blinked. A wooden bowl full of crystal clear water sat in front of her, and she didn't hesitate or even stop to wonder. It tipped in her haste and splashed her neck, but she gulped everything down until her tongue lapped at the rough moisture of the bottom.

Something stirred on the other side of the fire. The griffon with the broken beak sat with her back to Applejack, gazing out of the small doorway. The scars and chips in her beak caught the firelight, their ragged edges seeming to warp and shift, to deepen and lengthen, to heal miraculously, only to reappear an instant later. What kind of creature must have made them, Applejack could only guess at; the monsters of the forest seemed every bit as frightened of this half-eagle, half-lion creature as she was.

The other two lay curled up at the back of the small space, both sound asleep. Their tails touched each other's faces, their wings tucked tightly against their sides, their chests rising and falling in opposite time.

Applejack looked back down and noticed something behind the now-empty bowl. A scattering of pine-cones lay in a small bundle just within her reach. She snapped them up one at a time, crunching hard on the tough wood-like material, too thankful to care about the pain in her teeth, the bitter, bland taste in her mouth, or the ropes binding her legs.

The three friends crested the final hill and the lights of Ponyville blazed awake and bustling before them. All of the decorative lanterns hanging from house gables and elegant wrought-iron street lights were turned up full to pool bright, splashing light across the cobbled streets, brining the town's vibrant colours back to life under the stars of night.

Rarity stopped just beyond the summit, the cool grass shifting in the breeze around her hooves, and watched crowds of ponies in the central square. The crowd stood still with their attention directed towards a single pony in their midst, a pony with a greying mane, a brown coat, and a distinctive pair of golden-rimmed glasses perched on her nose.

“What are we going to do?” Pinkie Pie asked, her voice quiet and subdued. “They're all still searching for her. What will we tell them?”

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “We tell everypony the truth. We have to tell the Princess; I bet Celestia could zap A.J back here in one second flat.”

Rarity fixed her stare on the tiny figure of Mayor Mare addressing the gathered crowds. “Do you have any idea of what the Princess may do to Twilight if she finds out she is responsible for this?”

Rainbow and Pinkie exchanged glances. Rainbow thought for a moment and frowned. “Oh, gee, I dunno, like, maybe zap her somewhere totally random and far away and make all her friends worry their guts inside-out over her? Look, Twilight screwed up really bad this time, and if telling the Princess means getting A.J back...”

Pinkie nodded, but bit her lip with indecision. “I don't want Twilight to get in trouble, but I'm scared for Applejack, and if the Princess can bring her back...”

Rarity shook her head slowly. “We do not know for certain that she can.”

Rainbow scoffed. “Oh come-on, she's the ruler of all Equestra; a goddess for Pete's sake.”

Rarity kept her eyes on Ponyville and the milling crowds. “There have been times in the past when the Princess was unable to intervene directly. She was unable to confront Nightmare Moon, or Discord, without us.”

“Yeah, but that time Twilight enchanted her doll and the whole town went crazy? She came and fixed it in like, two seconds flat. I bet she could do it again, you know, just un-do whatever Twilight did to A.J.”

Rarity shook her head. “Unicorn magic does not always work that way. While no expert myself, I know that whatever magic Twilight used must have been exotic and powerful; so powerful she was unable to control it. I fear that such magic stands little chance of being undone, even by the Princess herself.”

“So what, you think Trixie is going to help us, when even the Princess can't? She wouldn't even agree to Applebloom's face, she's never gonna help us! You saw the state Fluttershy was in after visiting Sweet Apple Acers do you want to go with her next, so you can tell Big Mac and Granny Smith why A.J isn't coming home?”

Rarity lifted her chin up higher. “No, Rainbow. I would tell them she has the best friends in all of Equestria; friends who will stop at nothing to find her.”

“So tell Celestia, tell the town!”

“Go ahead.” Rarity glanced over her shoulder at them. “Both of you, if you must; just remember what you may be condemning Twilight to. She has made a grave mistake, yes, but we are her friends. If we can put this right ourselves, I believe we should.”

Rainbow Dash stalked away several paces. She stopped, hung her head, and kicked up a clump of grass. “Aw, Cornapples!”

“Maybe...” Pinkie Pie stepped forward with a hesitant smile, “...maybe the princess will understand it was just a mistake? Maybe she'll go easy on Twilight, you know, just give her detention or something?”

“No, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash turned on her. “This is serious: like, dead serious. I bet the Princess won't let Twilight use her magic ever again if she finds out.”

Rarity nodded and looked back out to the lights of Ponyville. “We can't let anypony discover that Twilight is responsible. Not until we have exhausted our own options to find Applejack.”

Rainbow turned and glared at the back of Rarity's head. “So that's it, then. We're gonna cover up for her, aren't we? Even if Trixie turns tail and runs, we're still gonna lie to everypony that's searching for A.J.” Her voice grated harsher. “Aren't we? That's what you're saying, right?”

Rarity just kept watching the crowds below.

“Hide, stuff, from...” Pinkie trembled, wide eyed, “-the Princess?”

“What if Trixie won't help us?” Rainbow gestured behind them at the expanse of open meadows and the shadow of the Everfree forest far beyond. “She could be half-way to Hoofington this time tomorrow. We know she's a liar, we know she's a coward, what chance do you think we have?”

“I don't know.” Rarity's voice was small; smaller than they'd heard in long, long time. “I can only hope, Rainbow.”

“-guys, I'm scared of the Princess, I don't want to lie to her-” Pinkie's knees shook together, her stare fixed straight ahead, “-what if she finds out, what if she already knows.” Pinkies's eyes went huge and darted from side to side, her knees trembling. “What if she's on her way here, right now, to-!”

“Pinkie,” Rainbow snapped, “that's really not helping.”

“I'm serious guys; she could banish all of us from Equestria!”

Rainbow waved a hoof and rolled her eyes. “Come-on, she'd never do that-”

“Guys, I don't wanna do this, I'm too scared, I can't lie to the Princess.” Pinkie shivered all over, crouched low to the grass, her eyes saucer-wide. “I can't, I can't lie to her...”

“Hey, come on,” Rainbow began, and walked closer to her, “I don't wanna lie to the Princess either, but right now, Twilight needs us.” She stood taller and regained some of her confidence. “Rarity's right, we can't turn her in. Not yet. We've gotta try to find A.J on our own first.”

“But what if we can't, and the Princess finds out we lied, and everypony else...”

“They won't,” Rarity said: her voice back to its former strength. She sat in exactly the same way as before, her eyes on the lights of Ponyville below. “Applejack will be back before anything of the sort has to happen.”

Pinkie looked up at her. “But, how can you be so sure?”

Rarity climbed to all fours and turned to face them. “Because we're going to find her.” She looked back the way they'd came and walked between both of them. “And I am going to make Trixie help us, whether she likes it, or not.”

Trixie glared at them, her eyes narrowed. “The small one convinced Trixie that she should help you, but she still demands fair and appropriate compensation for all of the wrongdoings visited upon her.”

“Such as?” Rarity lifted her brows expectantly, standing forward from Rainbow and Pinkie.

“A new carriage, a new stage, every item in her possession that was destroyed, and all of the bits she has lost by her inability to travel.”

“What!?” Rainbow shot into the air. “You slimeball, we don't-!”

“Name your price.” Rarity stepped forwards, lifted her head up high, and flicked her mane behind her head.

Trixie turned her nose up and closed her eyes. “Fifty thousand bits for Trixie's lost possessions. Twenty thousand for her lost time. Thirty for due compensation and recompense.”

“A-HUNDRED-THOUSAND-BITS!?” Rainbow Dash dropped out of the air and landed on her behind, stunned, her jaw hanging.

“Uh, how much is that?” Pinkie glanced at Rarity. “I have a piggy bank under Gummy's basket that I haven't ever broken into yet.”

“The whole of SugarCube Corner isn't worth that!” Rainbow got up and shook her head. “No pony this side of Equestria has that many bits.”

“Five thousand.” Rarity kept her stare levelled on Trixie; she didn't even flinch.

Trixie's smirk oozed confidence. “Ninety five.”

“Ten.”

“Ninety two.”

“Twelve.”

“Ninety one.”

Pinkie and Rainbow sat down on the grass together, their heads flicking back and forward like at a fast-paced tennis match. The sums of money seemed to jump up and down on both sides, Trixie increasing it whenever Rarity offered too little, and Rarity rising more slowly in return, but one thing remained constant throughout: Rarity was slowly but surely whittling her down.

Trixie seemed to realise she was losing ground and abruptly stamped her hoof on the grass. “Trixie will bargain no more! Fifty-five is the lowest she can bare to go.”

Rarity closed her eyes and lifted her nose in a snub. “Well, in that case I will simply have to adjourn until you are in a more reasonable mood.”

The unicorn's eyes narrowed. “Trixie grows impatient with your tactics. She was left with nothing by your wretched little town. Fifty thousand is the lowest she will accept.”

Rainbow groaned in despair and rolled her eyes. “For the last time, we didn't smash your stuff, it was the ursa minor that you bragged about defeating, remember?”

“Trixie cares not.” The unicorn folded her front legs and turned her head side-on to them. “Either you pay her, or she does what she should have done weeks ago; leave for a town where the ponies are not out of their tiny little minds.”

“Ugh!” Rainbow rounded on all of them, “-that's it, I'm sick of her, she can't even cast this spell anyway; she's a useless liar and a fraud!”

“How dare you-” Trixie's glare trembled, her eyes alight.

“Shut-up!” Sparks of water glinted in the corners of Rainbow's eyes. Her voice thickened and went hoarse. “Our friend is lost somewhere, and all you care about is money? I hate-!”

“Fine! Fifty thousand it is.”

Everypony went still. All eyes turned on Rarity, and her look of determination. “To be paid when we find Applejack using the spell you will cast for us. My final offer.”

Trixie looked her over with suspicion. “And how will you pay that, exactly?”

Rarity didn't even blink. “Why, with Carousel Boutique, of course.”

Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow's jaws all unhinged at once.

Trixie cocked her eyebrows. “What is `Carousel Boutique'?”

“My fashion boutique; famous throughout Equestria, prized in Canterlot, unmatched by any.” A flicker of pride lifted Rarity's features into a smile, but there was nothing happy in the gesture. “The deed and all of my possessions should cover-”

Rainbow sprang forwards and landed between them, “There is NO way-”

“You can't,” Pinkie jumped beside Rainbow, her facing pleading, “you can't give away your boutique, you just can't, I mean, you can't.”

Rarity looked down her nose at the other unicorn. “Make no mistake. I will stipulate that you will be paid after we have located applejack and returned her to Ponyville, and not before. I will provide the deed to my boutique and a signed concession of its contents, but only after all conditions are met.”

“You're not doing this.” Rainbow walked directly in front of her, staring her down. “I'm not gonna let you give your home to this good-for-nothing slimeball: not in a million years.”

Trixie stared at Rarity. “...your, home?” For a moment it was as though another pair of eyes looked at her, filled with surprise and shock, but then she blinked and the uncaring detachment returned. “Hmph. Trixie does not care how she is paid, as long as the bits are all accounted for.”

“I'm not gonna let hertake your home.” Sparkles of light reflected from Rainbow's eyes. “I'm not.”

“...Trixie could accept this, boutique, as collateral.” She watched them carefully over her nose. “If you can raise the bits by other means, then there will be no need for you to part with it.”

Rarity nodded. “Very well. I will draw up a signed contract of our agreement, and you can start work on the spell right away.”

“No way!” Rainbow stepped in front of her. “Don't give in to her! How can you possibly think this is a good idea?”

“Because it is the only one I have.” Rarity looked back at her: the truth bare in her eyes.

Rainbow glanced behind at Trixie, grabbed Rarity by her shoulder, and led her away a short distance out of ear-shot. She leaned in close, her voice a harsh whisper. “To hay with this! I'll go and fetch Celestia before I'll let you sell your house to her.”

Rarity whispered, but with the same determination. “If there is a chance that we can do this ourselves, we must take it, Rainbow. I will not condemn Twilight to a life without magic, or worse, a life banished beyond all of Equestria.”

“But, you can't-“ Rainbow shook her head, “-you can't give her your home-“

“Leave this to me.” Rarity's eyes never left her. “We can worry about the details after Applejack is home, and safe.”

Rainbow turned her head and looked at her side-on, their eyes locked together. “You'd better know what you're doing.”

“If it means that we can bring Applejack home, then I do not care.” Rarity stared back, defiant. “What is a tower of wood, a bundle of possessions, when-”

“Look, I get it.” Rainbow sighed heavily: the air deflating out of her, her shoulders slumped. “Fine. I'm not gonna stop you-” She shot a look back up at Rarity with some hardness still in her eyes, “-but I am gonna keep my eye on her.”

“Thank you.” Rarity nodded and stood up taller. “But remember, Trixie is at an important disadvantage.” She swept her mane behind her head, her nose held high, and despite the tired lines marring her face, smiled with a sparkle of familiar confidence. “She still does not realize quite who she is dealing with.”