Hiding in the Shadows

Applejack's morning started off like any other morning. She woke up, got out of bed, washed up, then ate a quick breakfast before heading out to work. She walked over to a nearby shed and grabbed some baskets before heading into the large sea of apple trees, which were full of big, juicy apples just waiting to be harvested. The apples glistened in the sunlight. Applejack quickly trotted along a trail between the apple trees, admiring their beauty. She started slowing down when she spotted something lying under one of the apple trees. She slowly approached whatever it was with caution.

"What the hay?" she thought out loud as she trotted closer. She stopped less than a foot away from whatever it was lying there on the floor. She examined it closely, trying to figure out what it was. Then she realized what it was as she stepped even closer. She realized it was a pony, a pegusus to be exact. His grey coat was matted with mud and grass, his even darker grey mane streaked with red had some twigs and pebbles in it. He had a cloak on, but it looked very thin and had a couple of tears in it. He was laying on his side, so she could see his stomach. She could see and count every single rib he had. She noticed an apple on the ground a few inches away from his face. She couldn't tell if he was dead or not, until she noticed his stomach moving up and down in a rhythmic motion. "Oh man. Big Mac!" Applejack shouted as she started sprinting back to the farm. "Big Mac!" she shouted again, still sprinting as fast as he legs could carry her.

Big Macintosh was pulling a large cart carrying many baskets for applebucking. He stopped in front of a few apple trees and unstrapped the cart that was strapped to him. He walked over to the side of the cart and picked up a few baskets in his mouth. He quickly trotted over to the nearest apple tree and gently put one of the baskets down. He took the second one he had and placed it under the same tree, but in a different spot. He turned around and got ready to buck the tree. He faced the opposite direction of the tree, and brought his right leg up, ready to kick it. But his work was interrupted when he heard Applejack screaming his name.

"Big Mac!" Applejack shouted again. "Big Mac!" Big Mac turned in the direction of his sister's shouting to see her galloping at full speed towards him. She slid to a stop in front of him. "Big Mac... Ah... Need... Your... Help!" she managed to say between breaths. Big Mac looked at Applejack confused.

"Woah there lil' sister. Jus' calm down and catch ya breath. Now explain to me what your so worked up about," Big Mac said in a calming voice. Applejack started breathing slower and tried to calm down, but she still seemed to be panicked.

"There's somepony out there! Ah saw him lying under a tree. He looked like he was in horrible condition. Ah thought he was dead. Ah think he need medical attention," Applejack explained quickly, still breathing heavily. She had never seen a pony in such horrible condition. She didn't want to think of what he must have gone through to look like that. "We need to get him to a hospital, soon," she said with worry in her voice. Big Mac placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder and nodded.

"Ah'll empty this cart and fill it wit' hay. Then you can show me where this fella is and we can wheel him over to the hospital," Big Mac said, trying to sooth his sister. "Come on. Let's hurry," he said, taking the baskets out of the cart. Applejack nodded and walked over to help him with the task. After all the baskets were out, Big Mac quickly pulled the cart along a trail leading to the closest barn. Applejack opened the barn doors and quickly got to work filling the cart with hay. Big Mac could see a look of determination on her face. He decided to talk and try to break the silence.

"How bad did he look?" Big Mac asked. Applejack kept the same look of determination on her face, but answered quickly.

"Ah've never seen a pony so skinny in mah life. I could count every one of his ribs. His coat was matted with mud an' grass, an' his mane had some twigs an' rocks in it. He was wearing a cloak, but it didn't look like much."

"Ya think he's gonna make it?"

"Ah'm gonna make sure he makes it. Nopony should be in his condition. But... Ah would be lying if Ah said that Ah think he has a good chance of making it." Applejack looked down sadly, but resumed her work. They were both silent, until Applejack finished placing the hay into the cart, making sure it was soft enough to lie on. She quickly trotted out of the barn and motioned Big Mac to follow. He nodded his head and quickly trotted behind her. He followed her through the large sea of apple trees. Applejack stopped in front of an apple tree, looking at the base of it. Big Mac looked at what she was looking at, and he saw the figure lying under the tree. Applejack's description fit him perfectly. His coat had mud and grass all over it, his mane had twigs and dirt in it, and he was wearing a black cloak.

"Ah think we better be careful when putting him in the cart. He looks fragile," Big Mac explained as he examined the pony lying in front of him. Applejack looked at her brother, then looked at the figure again. She slowly walked up to him, as if she were walking on thin ice. She placed a hoof under the pony's head.

"Ah'll carry him by the head. You get his back hooves," Applejack explained. Big Mac nodded. He unstrapped his harness and walked around to the back hooves of the grey pony lying on the ground. He gingerly placed his front hooves under them.

"On three," Big Mac said. "An' make sure to lift him up carefully." Applejack nodded her head in understandment and placed a second hoof under the pony's head. "One... Two... Three!" On three, both of them slowly lifted the unconscious pony off the ground and lifted his body towards towards the cart. They carefully placed him in the cart, making sure not to drop him and risk hurting him. The pony's body was laying limp in the cart, his stomach rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. Both Applejack and Big Mac looked at him with concern.

"We better hurry," said Applejack already starting to walk towards Ponyville. Big Mac nodded and strapped the harness around himself. He started walking in the same direction as Applejack, following her closely.

Applejack and Big Mac walked into Ponyville, the sun rising high into the sky. Ponies were walking around, attending to their daily business. Nopony really noticed Applejack and Big Mac, until a familiar lavender pony approached them.

"Good morning Applejack!" she exclaimed happily. "Good morning Big Mac! What's in the cart?" she asked curiously.

"Mornin' Twilight," Applejack said, faking a smile. "It's nothing y'all would care about."

"Why not?" Twilight asked with a puzzled look. She trotted over to the side of the cart and peered in. Twilight's eyes grew bigger than saucers. "Who's that?!" she exclaimed, getting the attention of a few ponies walking by. Applejack sighed.

"I don't know. Ah found him under one of the apple trees over at Sweet Apple Acres. Ah think he wanted a few apples to eat, but had no energy to do so," Applejack explained. "We were taking him to the hospital."

"His condition looks horrible," Twilight said concerned. She slowly levitated the pony's body out of the cart and hovered it carefully in front of her. "I've never seen a pony in this kind of condition. It looks really serious." She started trotting in the direction of the hospital, the grey pony surrounded by a pink aura was floating in front of her. Applejack turned and looked at Big Mac.

"Go back to the farm an' tell Granny Smith an' Apple Bloom where Ah am," she told him.

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied. Applejack gave a nod of appreciation and started running to catch up with Twilight. Big Mac turned around and started walking back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight burst through the double doors of the hospital, followed by Applejack.

"Nurse! Doctor! Somepony please help us!" Twilight shouted. A white mare with a pink mane walked over to her.

"What seems to be the problem?" she questioned. Twilight looked at her and levitated a pony in front of her.

"THIS is the problem Nurse Redheart. He needs medical attention." Nurse Redheart stepped forward and looked at the body floating in front of her closely.

"Oh my. His condition looks horrible."

"Which is why he needs help." said Applejack. Nurse Redheart took another step closer and examined him again. She simply nodded her head in agreement. She turned towards the hallway and motioned for them to follow.

"Follow me. We need to clean him up," Nurse Redheart explained. Both Applejack and Twilight nodded their heads in agreement and followed the nurse. "After that we'll get him to bed.

Applejack watched as Twilight carefully levitated the unconscious pony's body under the covers of the hospital bed. Nurse Redheart was standing next to the bed, making sure nothing was wrong with him.

"Is he all right?" Applejack asked, and hint of curiosity and concern in her voice. Nurse Redheart shook her head.

"It's hard to tell. I can't tell when he'll wake up either," she explained. She looked at both Twilight and Applejack. She could see the concern in both of her eyes. "We'll watch over him and make sure he recovers. Ummm... What IS his name anyway?" Nurse Redheart looked at both Twilight and Applejack, hoping for an answer. But they both just shook their heads.

"Ah don't know his name. Ah just found him lying unconscious under one of the apple trees at Sweet Apple Acres," Applejack explained to Nurse Redheart.

"Well. I guess we'll get answers when he wakes up," Nurse Redheart said. "Don't worry too much about him. He'll be fine."

"Yeah. He'll be fine," Twilight repeated, looking over at the pony lying in bed, the blanket rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. "I hope..." she added silently to herself. Both Applejack and Twilight looked at each other.

"We should probably check up on him everyday," Applejack suggested. "Ah think we can visit for a little bit during visiting hours. We can take turns." Twilight nodded her head in agreement.

"I think that's a good idea. We can check up on his recovery," Twilight added. She looked over at the cloak that the pony had been wearing. "Maybe we can bring his cloak to Rarity and she can fix it up."

"Ya sure 'bout that sugercube? Ya think he'd appreciate us touchin' his stuff? Ah mean, he don't even know what we're doin'."

"It's simply an act of kindness. It looks very thin, and it has a few tears in it. I'll just ask Rarity to fix up the holes and make it a bit thicker for warmth."

"Hmmm... Ah guess that's okay, but Ah'm not sure if he'd want any kind of weird patterns or anything like that on it, so tell Rarity not to do any of that."

"Of course. I'll take it to Rarity's place after we leave here."

"All right. Well, Ah gotta get back to the farm. There's still work to be done an' Apple Bloom is probably lookin' for me."

"Okay. I'm gonna head out too. I'm gonna bring his cloak to Rarity, then go back to the library to look up that symbol he had as his cutie mark." Both Twilight and Applejack remembered seeing his cutie mark. People who knew what it was would describe it as a red and black yin yang, but neither pony knew what it was or what it meant. Both Applejack and Twilight headed out of the room, Twilight was carrying Shadow's folded cloak on her back.

"Ah'll visit him tomorrow after Ah'm done applebucking for the day," Applejack told Twilight. Twilight nodded her head, showing that she understood.

"I'll visit him when I get free time to," Twilight told her. "Hopefully he wakes up soon. I want to learn more about him. There are so many questions we can ask him." Both of them continued walking away from the hospital and into the middle of Ponyville. That's where they went their separate ways. Applejack waved good-bye to Twilight as she headed back to Sweet Apple Acres, while Twilight started walking towards Rarity's boutique.

Rarity was working on a few orders she had received from Canterlot, when she heard the bell above her front door ring, signaling that a customer entered the store. She stopped her work and exited her room on the 2nd floor. She descended the stairs and walked into the front part of her store.

"Welcome to Rar-. Oh! It's you Twilight!" Rarity said as she noticed her friend standing in her store. Then she noticed something on Twilight's back. "Twilight, if you don't mind me asking, what is that on your back?" Twilight levitated the folded up cloak off of her back and in front of Rarity.

"Oh this? It's just a little something of somepony I know. I need you to fix it up for me," Twilight explained. Rarity examined the cloak closer as it unfolded before her.

"Hmmm... I believe I can fix this up. I can add some patterns to this side that might-."

"Actually, no patterns," Twilight interrupted. "I just want you to fix some holes in it and maybe make it a little warmer without altering its look."

"Why on Equestria would you want me to just do that? You know I can do much more."

"I don't think the pony wants the appearance to change."

"Well, if you say so then I'll do just that. I believe I can finish this sometime today. It looks very basic."

"That's good. Can I pick it up tomorrow?"

"Certainly." Twilight started trotting to the door when Rarity spoke. "Ummm... Twilight. Who is this pony that wants their cloak fixed?" Twilight turned and looked at Rarity.

"That's what I'm still trying to figure out," she replied. With that, she turned and trotted out the door and towards the library.

Both Applejack and Twilight visited the mysterious pony everyday. He was still asleep, but he was living, much to the relief of both ponies. Twilight wasn't at the hospital today though. She was still busy searching for the symbol she had seen on the mysterious pony's flank. Applejack was sitting next to that same pony's bed. It had been a few days since she had found him, and he still wasn't awake. She was concerned for him, but knew he was being taken care of. She was lost in her thoughts, wondering why he was in such a condition in the first place.  She thought about why he needed to take her apples. Did he not live in a home? Did he not have a job to pay for food? Her thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly heard a groan coming from the pony laying the bed in front of her. She was in shock when she saw that his eyes, or one visible eye, was open and darting in different directions, probably trying to figure out where he was.

"Oh goody! Ya finally woke up!" Applejack exclaimed excitedly. Applejack saw one crimson eye look at her, the other hidden under his mane.