Apprentice of the Night

* This chapter has been edited *

Applejack hums to herself quietly, bucking the tree behind her. She looks up at the twinkling stars. Oh, how they used to be so beautiful. But now, now that the night will last forever, they're not. She bucks another apple tree, this time harder. She was furious. In order to keep their crops alive, they had to rely on Nightmare Moon to enchant their crops. For her, it was shameful to have to rely on her. Because it's how she keeps them in line. They mess up, they loose their crop to the night. No daylight means no crop. So now, no spell means no crop.

The apples fall into the basket next to her. She glances over at another section of trees, where Rainbow Dash is helping her. Unlike her, Rainbow Dash hadn't been able to receive her Element, so Nightmare Moon had let her off easy. That doesn't mean she's not strict with her. After all, they had come to realization when they got back to Ponyville that she represented the Element of Loyalty. Twilight must have been clever to figure it all out in a few mere seconds like that.

Rainbow Dash flies over, carrying a wooden basket of apples. She tips the basket over, allowing them to fall into the wagon. "I think this is enough for now, okay?"

"It's only been two hours." Applejack comments, rolling her eyes. Rainbow Dash may be in shape, but dang, she is lazy.

"Two hours of pure working. How do you work all day- I mean night?"

Applejack flinches. Ponies got in trouble for referring to the day and the sun. This causes her to look around worriedly. Sweet Apple Acres was huge, so guards could be around any corner, or tree. "I work all day because I profit out of it."

"Yeah, and how much am I making out of this again?"

Applejack thinks for a moment. "Depends on how much you work. For the time you've worked now, I would say... around twenty bits."

"What?!" She exclaims. "On the weather team I work for fifteen minutes and get paid more than this!"

Applejack straps herself onto the wagon, and begins pulling it up the mountain. "I'm just paying you what I get paid."

They were working on one of the mountains. So when Applejack get to the top that looks over the entire farm, it's not the view she wanted.

Several trees are on fire, and it's dangerously close to the barn, where her helpless family is sleeping. "Er, Rainbow Dash..."

The pegasus flies next to Applejack, and narrows her eyes. She looks all over the farm, not for more fire, but for the culprit. She sees a shadowy figure running, small bursts of magic coming from its horn. Rainbow Dash shoots into the skyline like a jet, then looks down at Applejack. "You go save your family, I'll chase down whoever did this!"

With a nod from Applejack, she flies across the sky, chasing down the figure. They're not getting away from the fastest flyer in Equestria that easily!

She eventually catches up with the running pony, determining it's a girl from its body shape. But its not the gender that confuses Rainbow Dash. It's the species. No guard of Nightmare Moon's is a regular pony. No, they're all bat ponies. So whoever did this isn't working for Nightmare Moon. She narrows her eyes, flying faster. What reason would they have then?

She tackles the pony, landing on the ground with a thud! She flips the unicorn onto their back, and stands over her. The unicorn wears a full body suit, complete with mask and everything. "Who are you?!" She demands, and rips the mask off.

Upon seeing who it is, she screams.

"Twilight?!"

Twilight charges her horn, blasting Rainbow Dash off of her. Rainbow Dash hits a tree, hearing a crack as her back collides with the hard bark. She lands on the ground, attempts to get up, but fails. She curses. Breaking her back was not in the plan.

Twilight keeps a slow pace in confronting her old friend, using magic to put the mask on. Had Rainbow Dash not known it was her, this would've been so much easier...

"Twilight, what are you doing? Why did you burn down the farm? Was it an accident?"

Twilight levitates a stone, keeping her slow pace. Rainbow Dash attempts to back up, but cries out as pain surges through her back. Twilight winces behind her mask. She doesn't want to hurt her friend. How could she, when Rainbow Dash was just trying to help?

Do it, Twilight.

She slams the rock onto Rainbow Dash's chest, causing the mare to shout in pain yet again.

Light the area on fire.

Rainbow Dash watches as Twilight's horn is engulfed in fire. Then, in a flash, the entire area surrounding Twilight lights on fire, including the trees and various plants. Rainbow Dash hops up, adrenaline stopping the pain. She begins galloping at Twilight, whom drops a burning tree right in front of her.

"Get back here, coward!" The pegasus shouts, flapping her wings to fly over the fallen tree.

Though, however, when she looks down on the ground, Twilight is gone.

All that's left is a burning farm and air thick with magic.