Applejack galloped through the streets of Ponyville, her powerful hooves kicking up the dirt road behind her as she ran. Her emerald eyes darted around their sockets, grazing every inch of the town she called home for the slightest sign of her baby sister and the remaining two Cutie Mark Crusaders, now on their new and most dangerous quest for their Cutie Marks, hunting monsters in the Everfree.
The honest farmer kept hope, telling herself that she would protect the three fillies from the forest, whatever the cost. But that did not stop the dark thoughts that clouded her mind. The smell of fresh baked sweets wafted through the air, snapping Applejack out of the mental trance she had fallen into. Her stomach grumbled and protested from the smell, yet Applejack would continue on nonetheless.
She looked forwards through the obstruction of her Stetson hat to see the frosted roof of SugarCube Corner. Applejack gave a silent prayer, begging all and any gods listening that her sister was still in SugarCube Corner, preparing with her friends for their newest crusade. She no longer cared if Apple Bloom was going to do this stupid monster catching nonsense or not. All she wanted was her baby sister once again safe in her hooves, so she could repair the bonds that she had broken between the two.
But the dark thoughts that had clouded her mind started to gain control,, showing Applejack her darkest fears. It conjured up a horrifying image that would make any pony sick to the bones. It was of her baby sister, helpless on the forest floor of the Everfree, blood seeped from wounds that adorned her body. Her pink ribbon, now a blood red colour as it lay tattered in shreds beside her, tears falling down her eyes as she shouted and pleaded for help, for somepony, anypony, to save her from the vile monster of the forest that now made its slow approach to the small filly for its killing blow.
She felt tears at the rims of her eyes, those wicked thoughts repeatedly telling her that it was her fault, that it was what would happen because of her actions. It took all of her will power to hold her tears back. However, holding those tears back soon became her downfall. Applejack felt her hooves stumble and her legs give out underneath her as she tripped. Her body flew through the air and landed on the ground she had run upon time and time again. An audible crack was heard by the farmer and she felt the tears she had held back for so long now fall down her face and onto the dirt road she had tripped on.
Her eyes blurred as memories of what happened but a few hours ago filled her mind. The actions she had done that caused this entire mess, playing over and over again in her mind. They played again and again, twisting the knife in her heart.
“But Applejack,” Apple Bloom pleaded, she looked up at her sister with big doe eyes. Her Cutie Mark Crusaders crusading cape sprawled out next to her on her bed.
“Ah said no! Ya’ll ain’t going anywhere near that dang forest, especially trying to catch some monsters!” Applejack yelled at her sister as she scolded her for ever thinking of going into the Everfree to catch some monsters for her Cutie Mark. One of Applejack’s fore-hooves stomped the hard wood floor beneath her, “You know what’s in that forest!”
“It’s not fair! You go in it all the time!” Apple Bloom protested to her sister, the slightest hint of malice in her voice as an ember of hatred towards her sister kindled in her heart. “Why can’t Ah!?”
“Because it’s too dangerous for a filly to go into the Everfree all by herself!” Applejack answered back at her sister, as she leaned forwards slightly to look her sister in the eyes, and what she saw in those eyes, was an ember of a kindling fire.
“But Ah’m not going alone! Scoots and Sweetie are comin’ with me!” Apple Bloom yelled, as she tried to match her sister’s gaze, eventually she averted from her sister’s gaze, unable to compete with Applejack’s, instead she looked towards her pillow, the place she hid the photo of their parents under, before they…
Returning to the conversation, Applejack yelled back at her sister, “And they shouldn’t go either! None of you should do this stupid monster catching quest to see if ya’ll get your Cutie Marks!”
“It’s not stupid!” Apple Bloom shrieked at her sister, the kindle of fire in her heart turned into a raging inferno in front of her sister’s eyes. Fueled by anger and spite all towards her sister, the one pony she cared for the most and the one pony that cared for her the most.
Applejack cringed backwards at her sister’s outburst, but soon regained herself and took a step closer to the young filly, “Going into that forest will only get you hurt!”
“I’ve gone in there dozens of times and I’ve never been hurt!”
“You’ve been doin’ what!?”
“I’ve gon’ into the Everfree dozens of times with Scoots and Sweetie and we’ve never been hurt!”
“You’ve been goin’ behind my back into the Everfree!?”
“We’ve been goin’ into the Everfree tryin’ to get our Cutie Marks! And Ah’m goin’ into it again to get my Cutie Mark!”
“No you’re not! Ah’m not losing anyone else to that forest! Ah’ve already lost ma’ and pa’ to it Ah’m not losing you too! You’re grounded young missey!”
“But this could be my Cutie Mark!”
A sigh escaped Applejack’s lips and she walked closer to her sister, putting a comforting hoof on her sister’s shoulder, “Ah already told you you’d get your Cutie Mark someday sis, but it’s not worth riskin’ your life over it.”
Apple Bloom swatted Applejack’s hoof away before she continued the flamed argument between the two. “How do you know!? Maybe Ah am supposed to be a monster catcher, maybe that’s what Ah’m supposed to be! If Ah don’t go Ah could be a dumb old blank flank for the rest of mah life!”
“Apple Bloom goin’ into the Everfree after some monster’s will only get you hurt or-“ Applejack swallowed a lump in her throat, as her mind wandered into darker thoughts that pained her to imagine, “Worse.”
“You just want me to be a blank flank forever don’t you!?”
“No, Ah want a living breathing sister!”
“So you want me to be a blank flank forever!”
“That’s not what Ah said.”
“It is too!”
“No it’s not.”
“IT IS TOO! You just want me to stay here forever as your little blank flank sister forever instead of being a grown mare with a Cutie Mark!”
“That’s enough!” Applejack yelled at her sister at the top of her lungs, silencing her sister.
“Apple Bloom I know getting your Cutie Mark is important to you, but you’re just not thinking straight and only hurtin’ yourself and making yourself crazy about getting your Cutie Mark! You’re thinking of riskin’ your life because you may get your Cutie Mark!” the orange cowpony grunted in agitation, her eyes looked up at the spinning fan above before she continued her tirade, “All of this would never have happened if you didn’t create that little group with your friends! Ah knew that group would only get you into trouble! So Ah’m sayin’ now that you’re banned from ever goin’ crusadin’ with your friends ever again!”
Applejack finished her rant, and saw to her dismay what her words had done to her sister.
“Wh-what?” Apple Bloom blurted out between quick breathes, in hopes to hold back the tears that started to form in her eyes.
Applejack felt like screaming at herself for what her words had done to her baby sister. She wanted to fix the situation, to listen to her heart and mend the bonds she had just broken between them, but instead she let her brain take over and hold to what she had said, even though every word she had said pained her enough to create tears of her own.
As Applejack tilted her Stetson hat over her eyes, to prevent the tears she had to be shown to her baby sister, she said in a low hushed voice at the verge of cracking up, “You heard me. You’re never goin’ Crusadin’ again.”
The tears that had started to form in the rims of her sister’s eyes now came down as rain. Staining the white sheets she sat on with their sorrow.
Applejack knew what her words had done, and for once she was unable to face the truth. The older mare turned away from her sister and walked slowly out of her sister’s room. She kept up her guise she had made to keep her calm and not show to her sister how the words that had pained her had also pained her big sister. That guise though, began to quickly slip away. The tears she held started to stream down her face slowly, much like how her own hooves slowly scraped along the wooden floor as Applejack walked out of her sister’s room. To let the small filly vent out her sorrow by herself. She deserved that much.
Applejack walked away from her sister’s room and down the old wooden stairs of their home to the lounge area down below. The quick breathes her sister had been doing, trying to stop the tears that came down her face, soon became cries of anguish. Soon those cries became wails of sadness that resounded through the entire house. It brought an aura of sadness and gloom to the once joyful residence.
As the grief stricken cowpony reached the end of the stairs, out of sight and earshot of her sister, she finally let the emotions she had bottled up inside of her out. She crouched down to the wooden floor, her tears coming out with short ragged breaths as she leaned against the adorned wall for support.
Applejack told herself that it was all for her sister’s own good, that her words that banned her sister from crusading with her friends were for her best, that they were to protect her. Yet Applejack knew them all as lies she told herself to make her actions seems just in some way.
She stayed there for a time, she heard her sister’s cries from her spot, and she began to realize how wrong her actions were. They may have been to protect her sister, but if to protect her sister was to make her sister hate her for the longest of times, Applejack would not let it sit.
She stood from her spot. Her salty tears left her eyes red and glazed, and made her slow trek towards the kitchen. Where she would do the one thing that may fix what she had done.
Applejack opened the pantry doors and took out range of fruits and vegetables, flour, and a few other ingredients for one of her sister’s favorite meals.
She walked over to the oven and set the temperature to a good enough one to make a pair of apple fritters, known as her sister’s favorite pastries that she would devour within minutes they were set on the table. Applejack then got out a pot large enough for a small amount of celery tomato soup, and started to cook her sister’s favorite lunch; a bowl of celery tomato soup and an apple fritter on the side.
Applejack cooked carefully and with the speed faster than that of the Cakes when they’re late on an order. She continued to cook for almost two hours; finally she stopped when she took out the two apple fritters she had made for her sister and herself.
Careful not to burn herself as she took them out, Applejack placed the fritters on clean, white plates that she then placed on red trays with the celery tomato soup she had made. As she placed the two trays onto her back with some extra napkins in her mouth for her baby sister, she always was a messy eater.
Applejack walked up the old wooden steps again to her sister’s room, and finally she took notice of the silence in the house. She thought it no more than the possibility her sister had cried herself to sleep and continued her ascent without pause. The creak of the stairs accompanied and signalled her ascent, and Applejack walked beside the door to her sister’s room.
Applejack placed an ear to the door only to hear an eerie silence; she didn’t even hear the slight snore of her sister sleeping. Applejack still paid all the signs no mind, and with a shaking hoof she slowly opened the door to her sister’s room.
“Apple Bloom?” she silently called, in hope to wake the filly from her rest.
On the bed, underneath the covers, was the form of her sister. The window in her room open, the wind from the breeze outside blew the curtains around. Applejack thought it as nothing and walked over to her sister, “Apple Bloom?” she called again in a soft, gentle, voice.
Still with no answer, Applejack lifted the covers off of her sister quietly.
The trays Applejack had on her back fell onto the floor at what she saw. The bowls of soup spilled their contents on the wooden floor boards as the plates fell, fritters first, and squished the pastries flat beneath the plates.
Underneath the covers at what she thought was her sister, was a stuffed bear, around it were some of her sister’s clothes, made to look like the filly herself sleeping beneath the covers. No.
Applejack dashed over to the window and saw sheets and clothes tied in knots that trailed down the window and onto the ground below.
Applejack, stood there, rooted in place as her brain still took in what she knew her sister had done. She finally snapped out of it as she realized what her sister was now going to do.
Applejack whipped around and ran out of the farmhouse, she galloped towards Ponyville, she ran at top speed to the famous sweet selling store SugarCube Corner in hopes that her sister was still there in the store with her friends as they drank their milkshake before their next crusade, this one, however, was the most dangerous the fillies could ever do. She ran in hopes she could stop her sister from getting herself hurt.
As she passed through the apple trees, all of them soon ripe enough to be bucked off, one thought shot through her head. This is all my fault!
Applejack picked herself up from the ground. She wiped the tears from her eyes. As she lowered her foreleg, she saw everypony staring at her. Their expressions showed their question and concern to what had just happened.
Applejack looked forwards towards her Stetson hat, walked over to it, and with a single flick of her hoof, flipped it back onto her head. It landed in front of her red eyes, shielding them from the eyes of the other ponies that wished to know what had just happened to the tough cowpony, “Ah’m fine, Ah just tripped is all.”
With those words said everypony slowly returned to what they were doing before, some gave skeptical glances from the corner of their eyes. Others looked for a bit longer before they returned to what they were doing before as everypony else already had.
Now with no eyes focused on her, Applejack resumed her journey at a much slower pace than before, the pain from her hurt ribs slowed her down as she ran. But she didn’t care as she gave another look towards the sweet selling store, hope shined in her eyes as she saw how much closer she came towards the sweet selling store with every step she took.
Minutes passed by slowly, fear’s cold grip started to tighten around the orange cowpony, the sweet selling store fully in sight, the doors to it closed as usual, as Applejack came not but five feet from the door.
Applejack burst through the doors of the store, giving no notice to a white sign on the store’s windows as she looked around the store.
Empty tables littered the place, yet the smell of the baked goods still wafted in the air. Applejack looked towards the store counter to see the Cake parents with their two little foals, Pound and Pumpkin, who looked over at the orange cowpony, surprise clear on their faces.
As they realized who came in through the store doors, Mr. Cake put a grin on his weary face, “Hi Applejack. Surprised to see you here, if you wanted to buy anything I’m afraid to say we’re closed for the day.” He said as he turned back to the Pegasus colt he held and tickled the colt’s belly. Laughter came from the colt as he tried to squirm out of his father’s grasp.
“Have either of two seen Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked the two as her eyes quickly glanced into the open kitchen doors. Behind them Pinkie stood, she bounced up and down, her cotton candy like mane bounced with her as she jumped up and down. She seemed extremely excited about whatever it was beyond the closed oven door.
Applejack looked back at the married couple, Applejack felt her heart drop as she saw both of them slowly shake their heads, “Can’t say we have.”
Applejack looked down at the floor, more tears swelled in her eyes as she knew she had failed her task. She didn’t stop Apple Bloom from going into that forest. She may now be dead for all she knew. And she may have lost another pony she cared about to that damned forest, and it was all her fault!
Applejack felt ready to give up, she couldn’t stop her sister from going into the Everfree with her friends, and there was nothing she could do.
Oh for cryin’ out loud! Stop beating yourself up and get off your flank and go save er’! Applejack yelled at herself. The faces of her parents flashed before her eyes as she remembered them, even though it brought her pain to remember the two she had already lost to that forest. I’m not goin’ to lose another pony I care for to that forest!
Applejack snapped herself out of her depression and reared around to save her sister from whatever the trio had gotten into.
As Applejack turned she was confronted with a unicorn mare with a white coat and purple mane, looking around the shop just like Applejack herself had done but a few moments ago. “Applejack, please tell me you’ve seen Sweetie Belle. I can’t find her anywhere.”
As Rarity spoke, Applejack realized that Apple Bloom wasn’t the only one in danger. Ready to tell Rarity everything she should have already told her, she was soon interrupted by a certain cyan Pegasus who swooped through the building doors.
“Hey! You guys seen Scoots around anywhere, we were gonna have a flying practice together but she never showed.”
A gasp escaped Rarity’s lips. Applejack would have done the same if she hadn’t already known why Scootaloo hadn’t been at their flying practice.
Both of Applejack’s friends look over to her as sweat began to cover her body, “You okay AJ?”
Applejack hung her head, and then told the two about the crusaders plan and how Applejack had “handled” the problem. As she finished her tale both mares looked at her with wide eyes.
“Applejack, I cannot believe you didn’t tell us!” Rarity shrieked.
“Yeah, I mean, you couldn’t spare five minutes to get your flank over to tell us about this!?” Rainbow joined in, anger seething through her at the thought of her number one fan in danger, and Applejack forgot to tell her.
“Ah’m sorry Ah didn’t tell you, but I was busy with mah sister! And it doesn’t matter now, we gotta go!” Applejack reminded them, momentarily averting the two mare’s anger away from herself and onto another more important topic.
“But where do we start? The Everfree is a big place; we could be looking for them in there for months!” Rarity asked.
Fear’s hold on the alabaster unicorn making her thoughts jumble around and look towards the darker thoughts in her mind, but she was right, the chances they had of finding the three crusaders in the Everfree was slim to none.
“Ah don’t know, but we gotta try,” was all Applejack said before she darted out of the store and back into the streets of Ponyville with Rarity and Rainbow Dash soon on her tail as they raced towards the nearest entrance to the enigmatic Everfree.
Minutes passed without a word spread among the three. They raced past numerous shops, bazaars, even the town hall.
As they came closer to the forest, the first few spindly trees of the forest just in view, they saw the cloaked figure of Zecora at one of the herbal stores she visits on a monthly basis.
“Zecora!” Applejack heard Rainbow yell as she dashed over to the stripped Zebra, “Please tell me you’ve seen Scoots!”
Applejack rushed over to join the cyan Pegasus, asking her own question as well, “Or Apple Bloom!”
“Or Sweetie Belle!” Rarity chimed in as she joined the three.
Zecora looked at the three surprised by their sudden appearance. After she took a moment to recompose herself, she answered the three mares in her calm, rhythmic voice, “I have seen the three. They were walking into the Everfree.”
“Could ya’ tell us where?” Applejack asked.
“They headed towards your home, but to the place that the Timber Wolves now roam.” Zecora answered in her usual rhythmic tune, pointing a hoof eastwards, towards the Apple Family Farm.
But Applejack knew that it wasn’t to just any part of the farm. It was towards the clearing between the apple farm and the Everfree, usually about this time of year the Timber Wolves roamed around there in hopes of catching some food before the long winter started again, and now they have three fillies walking right into their paws.
Applejack didn’t need to tell the two mares where the three crusaders were, they knew of the place Zecora spoke of, and without a word said between them they spun back around towards the farmhouse and made their way towards the clearing the crusaders had gone to.
“I’m gonna fly ahead!” Rainbow shouted to the two as she zoomed past them at sonic speed. The grass beneath her swaying to their sides as the cyan bullet torpedoed towards the clearing, she turned upwards and went into the endless blue sky above, a rainbow trail behind her as she flew out of sight.
Applejack continued along with Rarity at a breakneck pace that the cowpony didn’t even know the extravagant unicorn could maintain. Applejack was even surprised she could maintain the pace, her sides screamed and burned with pain that could only have been gained by the moving of broken bones.
Both of them prayed in silence for their sister’s safety, sweat dripped from their forms. Ponies moved out of their way before being blown away on to the ground by the two as they made their non-stop journey to the clearing. Neither of them gave indication of a breather or a slower pace. They just ran.
The fiery headed man looked towards his opponent, a gleam in his eyes that shined like the fires he controlled.
Neither he nor the wooden monstrosity that stood before him made a move, they both waited for the other to make the first move. Something that Axel would never do.
He’d never attack first, he could easily underestimate his foe and be defeated. So he waited for the wolf to move.
Minutes passed, the only sound heard was that of the wind that blew across the clearing. Axel soon became bored and stood out of his battle position he had been in for minutes since.
“Are we going to stand here all day or are we going to fight?” The flurry of flames mockingly asked the wolf in front of him.
The foul stench of the beast’s breath made Axel’s nose cringe as its yellow eyes became narrow slits as it stared back at him.
“You could at least take a mint, your breath is killing me.” Axel said as he yet again mocked the beast. He waved a hand in front of his nose to mock the beast even further, and that is when he tipped the creature over the edge.
The wooden wolf lunged at him, its paw swung through the air as it smashed into the ground that Axel stood upon.
Dust formed around the creatures paw as it gave what could only be guessed as a smile. It lifted its paw to see Axel squished under its paw, but saw no trace of him. It looked around the clearing confused as to where its foe had gone.
The wind whistled beside the wolf, it looked to its side to see the fiery haired man it had tried to crush in midair. His chakrams glowed with energy as he threw them towards the beast. Pillars of flames formed to and fro between the chakrams as they bashed the Timber Wolf on the side. Flames licked and spread across the wolf’s body. “Get Back!”
The wolf soared through the air for a few seconds before it crashed into the trees of the gloomy forest beside it. It rose from the crater it had made and shook off some of the wood and vines it had gathered on itself from its rather destructive landing.
Axel saw the creature rise from the crater it had made and smiled. It was tougher than he thought.
He dashed towards the beast at one of his fastest speeds, as he came in front of his foe he bashed its head to the side with one of his Eternal flames. He threw the one he held in his other hand at the creature’s open chest and smiled in glee as a howl of pain emitted from the wolf as its wooden flesh was ripped off and flames from the blazing chakram took its place.
Axel jumped back so he was far away from the creature. It thrashed about as it tried to put out the fire that had grown on it. It rolled on the grass as it still tried to stop the fires that wouldn’t relent its assault on the creature until either the wolf or the fire’s master had been destroyed.
The coated man looked at the creature that rolled around in the grass and slumped out of his battle stance. “That was too easy, even the Dusks put up more than a fight than you. Oh well, I guess being made of wood has its down sides.”
The wolf looked at Axel, its eyes pleaded for him to let it go, yet both knew that wouldn’t happen.
“But I guess you won’t have to worry about that anymore.”
The wolf stood from where it lay, the fires on its underbelly still burned brightly as it continued to eat away at the wood wolf. The wooden monstrosity looked back to the forest it hailed from and back at Axel.
“You’re off the hook.”
The three fillies who watched this whole ordeal looked towards the fiery haired man, fearful at what he will do next.
The Timber Wolf lunged towards the forest in hopes of escape, and almost stopped in midair as it heard Axel’s fingers snap.
Flames consumed the wooden wolf, it howled in pain one last time before the flames turned what was once one of the greatest predators in the Everfree forest into a pile of ash in the span of a few seconds.
Axel looked back over his shoulder at the pile of ashes and laughed slightly. “That never gets old,” he whispered to himself as he turned once again towards the three little fillies. The three of them holding onto one another out of fear of the Nobody assassin.
Axel walked towards them, his steps the only sound in the whole clearing. With every step he took the three fillies held onto each other tighter and tighter. He stopped a few feet from the fillies and asked his question, “Could you three tell me where I am?”
He waited for a response from the fillies, but only received mumbles of words that he could barely make out. Must have over done it. Oh well. Looks like I’ll have to find out for myself.
Axel then stood there in the clearing, the three fillies still looked at him with fear in their eyes as to what he would do next, something he did not even know himself.
As Axel began to formulate his plan, an odd but almost familiar presence appeared behind him. He guessed that whoever it was, was trying to sneak up on him, so the man decided to do something that they would probably not expect.
“And who would you be?” The Nobody asked as he turned around to confront his man of the shadows.
But what he saw as he turned made the once cocky Nobody turn into a speechless drone.
In the crater that the wooden wolf had made where it landed, now stood no pony, but a hooded figure wearing the coat of the Organization. The one thing that had surprised Axel was the height of the figure… he was the exact same height as Roxas.
Axel stood there stunned at what he saw, could his best friend really be back, could he have also been dragged into this weird world along with Axel?
Unable to bare the silence anymore Axel called the name he believed the person owned, “Roxas?”
The figure said nothing, with his face hidden by the drawn hood he wore. He looked at Axel for a moment longer before he turned around and went into the eerie forest the wooden wolf came from.
Axel stood there for a minute, before he dragged himself out of his stupor and ran after the figure into the forest he had entered.
Behind him, out of his sight, the three fillies he had so scared, fainted as his form became lost in the dark forest.