//------------------------------// // Chapter 22 // Story: Shadow of the Sun // by Starwin //------------------------------// Shadow of the Sun By Starwin Chapter Applejack wasn’t sure how far out of the way they had walked. They were still traveling West but also South as well. She knew they were off course, she just hoped they weren’t too far off. For the moment they were still under the shadow of the moon. However, they were quickly approaching the edge of day. Applejack could see it, the place where the shadow ended and the Sun blazed down in the distance. Luna, or rather, Nightmare Moon, had moved the Moon, but it didn’t fully eclipse the Sun. They were getting close to being out in the open once more, even if it was still hours from where they were. Alongside them the babble of the river continued endlessly. They had been trotting along its banks for a long while now. Applejack had lost track of time once again. She could feel a dull ache in her hooves and knew they would need to rest soon. But not yet, just a little further, they could manage a little further. “Applejack, are we gonna stop any time soon?” asked Spike, voicing the very thing Applejack had been contemplating. “My feet are killing me!” “Just a little more,” said Applejack. “I want to find whatever is clogging up the river before we stop.” “But we’ve been walking forever!” complained Spike. “We might never find what we are looking for!” “Another half hour and if we don’t find it, we’ll stop,” answered Applejack. “You said that a half hour ago!” complained Spike. “I believe you are both in luck,” answered Luna, nodding her head forward, we appear to have located the problem.” Applejack had to squint to see it. There was something ahead of them, something that seemed familiar, but that she had never seen before. It wasn’t just in the river either, it just ended at the river. Thick white undulating lines rose and dove in and out of the ground. They stretched on into the distance. From where the group was they seemed tiny but they were far enough away that Applejack thought they must be huge. “What is that?” asked Spike, holding up a claw to his eyes to try and see it better. “It looks like some kind of giant snake?” Applejack quickened her pace and Spike called out for her to slow down, but she only galloped harder. It was impossible. She had to be imagining it. Those weren’t… they couldn’t be… Panting hard, Applejack’s gallop slowed to a trot as she came close and the giant white wall that rose before her. It was made of dozens of thick round strands that wove around each other before spreading out and plunging into the river. “What… are… they…” panted Spike finally coming up along side Applejack and clutching a stitch in his side. “Roots,” said Applejack, her eyes sweeping across the enormous plant structure. “These are tree roots.” “Tree roots!” cried Spike in disbelief. “How can they be tree roots! They are bigger than a house!” “Big roots, for big trees,” said Luna. She too had caught up, or perhaps, never fallen behind, Applejack had neglected to notice. In either case, she was not out of breath. “They lead off towards the Galloping Desert.” Slowly, Applejack approached the river. She looked over the edge into the water. As the river passed the roots, it all but vanished. While the roots were not blocking the water they were absorbing it. Each one of the giant roots seemed to drop the level of the water by a few hooves until, when it passed the last root, only a trickle came out the other side. “How are we supposed to unblock this?” cried Applejack in distress. She had expected a dam or a diversion, but not giant, water sucking roots. “We follow them,” said Luna. “And find the source.” “Awwhhh, does that mean more walking?” whined Spike. Applejack lay on the river bank, her eyes searching along the giant twisting roots. She had spent the past several hours watching them, like she expected them to move, or change. A few hooves away Spike snored softly. He had drifted off the moment they had lain down. Luna was on Applejack’s other side. While she too was asleep her breathing was silent. Despite her fatigue, Applejack simply couldn’t sleep. She wanted to sleep, but she wanted more to go on. Stopping felt wrong. Every moment they wasted could mean the difference between survival and starvation. As if hearing her thoughts, her stomach rumbled. She ignored it. They had brought hard bread with them from Canterlot, but Applejack was determined not to eat it unless she had to. Some other pony they might meet along the way would need it more. Twilight had convinced Applejack not to tell anypony else about how bad the food situation was. But they both knew the terrible truth. A few weeks, that was all Ponyville had left in its stores. And now, it had been a few weeks. Even if they got the elements, even if they returned the Celestia to normal, they couldn’t fix the devastation to Equestria overnight. Magic couldn’t fix everything, and it certainly couldn’t make food. “You are still troubled,” said Luna softly. Somehow, Applejack had expected the words. “Yeah,” said Applejack. “I just can’t help thinking this is all for nothing. Element’s can’t fix this.” She looked up at the Sun. “Nothing can fix this…” “So you would rather do nothing?” asked Luna. “I didn’t say that,” answered Applejack a little sourly. “I just don’t like not being able to do anything about it. I don’t like having to keep it secret from everypony.” “Sometimes,” said Luna. “The lie we tell ourselves is preferable to the truth.” Applejack turned her head to look at Luna. The princess was standing, her long mane much longer than usual, streaking out behind her, filled with stars. “If you let others know the truth, they will hate you for it, blame you for it…” Blue fire began to burn all around Luna. Slowly her shape became larger, more menacing. Applejack lay transfixed, unable to move as she watched the horrible transformation in front of her. The pupils of Luna’s eyes narrowed into slits. Her wings enlarged so that they turned the sky black with night. “Sometimes,” whispered the dark terrible form, now towering over Applejack. “The truth can destroy you.” “Applejack! Come on, get up!” cried Spike. Applejack shook. Her eyes snapped open. There was sweat rolling down her brow. “Are you alright? You don’t look so good.” “They must be following us,” said Luna, stepping forward. Applejack couldn’t help but recoil. Luna’s face fell slightly and there was hurt in her eyes. She looked away, back into the sky behind them. “I am sorry. I should have stayed awake to shield you from them.” “Who?” asked Spike. “The nightmares,” whispered Applejack, half to herself and half in answer to Spike’s question. “We should get moving. We’ve wasted too much time here.” Without waiting for the others to respond Applejack got to her hooves and hurried towards the river. Her pace quickened into a gallop and without hesitation she leapt across the divide to land on the other bank. “How am I supposed to jump—WOAH!” exclaimed Spike as Luna lifted the small dragon up and carried him across the river. “Can we follow these roots?” asked Applejack. She looked down towards Spike, who stared blankly back at her for a moment before realizing that he had the map. “Oh, right, hold on,” said Spike suddenly realizing that the question had been for him. He pulled out the blank paper and it began to glow in his claws. “That’s odd…” “What is odd?” asked Luna moving forward to examine the map. “I could have sworn that…” Spike ran a claw up the map, following a series of what looked to be woven lines, “this wasn’t here last time.” “You mean the map changed?” asked Applejack. Spike nodded. “I think, it got bigger, like it’s zooming in the closer we get,” said Spike. His eyes swept across the page. “There is a lot more detail now.” “That’s all well and good,” said Applejack seriously. “But it don’t answer my question.” “Oh, yeah, right,” said Spike. “Yeah, it looks like these lead right to the desert, right to… can you put your hoof on the map?” Applejack did as requested and her golden orange dot flickered into existence. “Right to where your element is.” Applejack pulled her hoof back in surprise. Spike stowed the map. “My element,” said Applejack. Her eyes moved over the roots again. “You don’t think… my element caused this? Do you?” “Roots?” asked Luna. “Not impossible but I don’t see how or why it would.” “Well,” said Spike thoughtfully. “Twilights was stuck in a frozen lake. And Pinkie’s had those weird reflections. Maybe it’s another spell protecting it?” “Maybe,” said Applejack shaking her head. “Doesn’t matter. Standing here wondering about it ain’t gonna get us there no faster. Spike, hop on, today you get a ride.” “Uh, are you sure?” asked Spike, looking a little embarrassed. Applejack nodded, hardly seeming to notice his discomfort with riding a pony who wasn’t Twilight. “Yeah, we need to make up some time, now get on,” said Applejack. She turned sideways so that Spike could climb up. He packed the map away and approached Applejack. No sooner had he put his leg over her back did the mare break into a gallop. Spike let out a cry of surprise and only managed to stay on by grabbing hold of Applejack’s mane. Luna followed right behind. She hardly seemed to be exerting any effort at all in her gallop. For all that Applejack could tell, the princess might have been standing still, rather than running as hard as she could. The two ponies galloped along side the white wall of wood. The giant tubular roots dove in and out of the ground, like a serpent in the ocean. While there was enough space between the roots for them to walk, there was not enough to gallop safely. They had been galloping for almost an hour straight before they finally reached the edge of the shadow of the moon. Applejack skidded to a halt, sliding along the ground a half dozen hooves before actually stopping. However, it was not at all what she expected. The shadow was not motionless upon the ground, it was moving, crawling along the dirt. “What the…” whispered Applejack in disbelief. She turned her head and looked up into the sky. The Moon was still high overhead, blocking out most of the Sun from her perspective. It didn’t seem to be moving, yet, such a thing was difficult to tell at this distance. “Luna? What’s going on here?” Luna was also looking up at the Moon, her expression impossible to read. “Something is… odd,” said Luna, not looking away from the white orb in the sky. “The Moon is not moving and yet… It is not still. I cannot explain it.” “Well, at least it’s giving us more shade,” said Spike, pointing ahead. “The shadow isn’t moving as fast as a gallop but it’s still moving.” “I guess it is better than nothing,” said Applejack. “We could push ahead,” suggested Luna. “I can still shield us from the Sun.” Applejack thought about Luna’s words for a long moment, her eyes watching the shadow slowly crawl forward, its pace as slow as a trot. At last Applejack shook her head. “No, we don’t know what danger is waiting for us ahead,” answered Applejack at last. “Best to have you able to defend us if we need your magic.” Luna nodded, seeming to agree with Applejack. The slow shadow seemed to stay just ahead of them, moving with each step. They couldn’t go much faster than a trot. Their destination was still out of sight in front of them, blocked by thick trees ahead. The trees appeared to still be in good shape, despite the Sun’s wrath. “Spike, how far past the forest is my element?” asked Applejack. She wondered if these massive roots beside them had come from here. Except Spike had said the roots went all the way to her element. Had he read the map wrong, was the line he had pointed out not the roots? It seemed like an odd feature to have on a map. “Uh, Applejack, your element isn’t past the forest, it’s in it!” cried Spike. “What?” exclaimed Luna and Applejack together. “Come again?” asked Applejack. “I thought it landed out in the middle of a desert. Did it move or something?” “No,” said Spike. “Well, I mean it could have, but, no that is the desert!” Spike was holding out a claw and pointing at the forest. “That can’t be right,” said Applejack. “Those aint desert trees, those are… no they, can’t be, that’s impossible. Apple trees?” Applejack made to gallop forward, but she stopped only a dozen hooves into her sprint, the edge of the Sun still blocking the way. “Just what in the hay is going on here!” “I do not know,” said Luna. “But I expect we shall find out soon.” The slow crawl towards their destination was almost unbearable. Applejack felt an incredibly strong urge to reach those trees. Her mind kept jumping around to the possibilities. Where had they come from? Why were they here? And most importantly, was there enough food to save Ponyville? Enough to save Equestria? Applejack was so lost in her focus she didn’t notice at first that the hard dirt ground had given way to loose soft sand. What’s more, the trees seemed to be getting closer a lot faster than Applejack would have expected. The ponies weren’t galloping yet the trees were getting big really fast… too fast… too big. Applejack was still struggling to comprehend what she was seeing as night rolled over the edge of the forest and they wandered inside its grove. She had no words for it. The trunks of the trees were so large around that a house, maybe two, could have fit inside them. Giant trees. Giant apple trees. Giant apple trees, in the middle of a desert. “This is unreal,” said Spike. He was walking again, as at their slow pace riding no longer made sense. His head was turned upwards, looking into the branches high above as the group moved slowly through the forest. “It’s like we shrunk down to the size of little bugs… OH NO! WE’VE SHRUNK DOWN TO THE SIZE OF BUGS!” cried Spike in a sudden panic. “Calm down, we haven’t shrunk,” said Applejack, still looking up into the trees. “But how do you know!” cried Spike. “Giant tree roots, giant trees…” a woosh from overhead was all the warning Applejack had, she leapt backwards a moment before an enormous red-skinned apple crashed into the ground, sending up a spray of sand. “… and giant apples!” “Big enough for a whole family,” said Applejack wistfully. She moved up to see her distorted reflection in the glossy red surface of the fruit. “This forest might have enough food to save everypony.” “If we can get the food to them,” added Luna, skirting around the giant apple and continuing forward. “For now we should focus on the task at hand. We must find your element.” “Right, of course,” mumbled Applejack, moving around the apple and continuing forward. She glanced back at it somewhat longingly as they moved on. Spike’s words brought her attention forward once again. “It looks like we’re almost there, your element should be…” said Spike, coming to a stop. Spike looked up from the map and Luna and Applejack both halted behind him. They followed his gaze upwards. The group was at the very heart of the forest. Standing before them, five times around and five times as tall as the largest tree they had seen so far, was an even bigger tree. “It’s like a mountain,” said Applejack, looking skyward. High up, near the very top, Applejack caught a glimpse of the faintest sparkle. “Of course,” mumbled Applejack. “Why wouldn’t my element be at the very top! Now how the hay are we supposed to get up there?” “I believe I can assist with that,” said Luna. Applejack suddenly felt light as a feather. A pale black glow shimmered around her body, making her weightless. Luna opened her wings and flapped. As she rose into the air, so did Applejack and Spike, carried by the levitation spell. Up and up and up they went. Around them the canopy of the forest fell away and Applejack got her first glimpse of the size of the forest. It was massive, stretching out over a huge amount of land. She could make out four or five more root clusters twisting across the countryside, reaching out towards rivers too distant for Applejack to see. Then the forest was far beneath them, little more than a sea of green. Applejack looked up. They were nearly to the top of the tree now. Their ascent slowed and Applejack’s eyes widened slightly. The top of the tree was not at all what she had expected. Here the branches twisted outwards, forming what looked like an open air amphitheater. And at its center, waiting for them, calling to them, was Applejack’s element. The gem sparkled and glowed, floating silently up and down just above a pillar that had grown up out of the tree. Gently, Luna lowered Applejack and Spike down onto the branches before landing herself. “This is amazing,” said Spike. Unable to contain his excitement. “Would you look at this tree-hitecture. Twilight would have really liked this, it’s a lot like the library, except without, you know, the books.” Applejack gave Spike a quizative glance. “Tree-hitecture?” asked Applejack. “I believe we have located your element,” said Luna nodding towards the pillar in the center. “We should retrieve it and be on our way as quickly as possible, something… is not right here…” “You mean like the fact that we are in a giant apple tree?” asked Spike, waving his claws around. But Applejack had to agree with Luna, the sooner they had the element and were on their way back to Canterlot the better. Not wasting any more time, Applejack galloped forward. She stopped in front of her element. It shown with a golden light that twisted and flickered as it moved across the surface of the metal. And there was something else, something Applejack hadn’t been able to see until she was right beside the element. A thin, nearly invisible line of light was projecting out from the gem. Applejack’s eyes tried to follow it but the beam was so faint that she lost track of it before the edge of the tree. Yet, as she looked onwards, her eyes found Canterlot in the distance. She had the distinct feeling that the element was facing Canterlot, pointing towards it. “Applejack, come on,” cried Spike when Applejack hadn’t moved. Spike seemed to be in a state of unease. He was clutching his tail as he waited beside Luna. His eyes flicked around nervously. Snapped out of her thoughts, Applejack nodded and steadied herself. She reached out a hoof, but stopped. A terrible thought ran through her head. What would happen when she took this? She remembered back to Twilight’s element where the ice had melted and the lake had boiled away. And Pinkie’s element, where the cave had collapsed around them and nearly caused them all to fall to their deaths. Or Rainbow’s element which had… Well, okay, so nothing bad had happened with Rainbow’s element. Except for being chased by nightmares, but that hadn’t really been the element’s fault. The nightmares had been after them even before they took the element. And the nightmares were after them now… “Applejack, what are you waiting for!” called Spike. “Grab it and let’s get out of here!” “Right,” shouted Applejack. Yet she still didn’t take it. She had a bad feeling about all this. Reluctantly Applejack at last touched the golden necklace. She flinched away as her hoof clinked against the metal. She half expected the necklace to explode or something. Yet nothing happened. After a moment she pulled the element off its pillar. And still nothing remarkable happened. This had been almost too easy, compared to the other elements. No traps, no monsters, no lost friends. “What is wrong?” asked Luna, her voice calm as she and Spike approached Applejack. “I dono, I just got this feeling like… ah I shouldn’t say it,” said Applejack. She clicked the element around her neck. Beneath her hooves the tree shuddered violently. “I shouldn’t evena thunk it, dang-it!” The sound of splintering wood echoed through the air. Shards of wood were suddenly flung up all around them as huge cracks opened in the tree. “We have to get out of here!” yelled Spike. He hopped away, just as the trunk below his claws began to open. “Quick, climb on my back!” instructed Luna, turning so that Applejack and Spike could reach her. Applejack hurried forward, as did Spike. She flung herself over Luna’s back. The wooden ground suddenly collapsed away and Spike leapt for them, claws outstretched. Applejack reached out a hoof and Spike narrowly grabbed it, sliding a little before finally catching her leg and stopping before slipping off. He dangled, swinging slightly, from Applejack’s front leg as Luna began to rise upwards into the air. Below them, the enormous tree was tumbling downwards into itself. Giant fragments of wood were flung out, ripping huge swaths of the forest away as they cut through the smaller trees like twigs. “No, no, no!” cried Applejack watching as their last hope for food was quickly being devastated below them. “We have to do something! We have to save the food!” “I am not sure there is anything we can do,” said Luna, her dark eyes watching as tree after tree toppled over. “We have to put it back!” shouted Applejack, knowing already that such a thing was impossible. “Be calm Applejack,” said Luna. “It appears the damage is done and much of the forest still remains. Hopefully much of the food is salvageable. While you and Spike return to Canterlot I can began moving the food to…” “Uh, guys, I think we have a problem!” interrupted Spike. He was still dangling from Applejack’s hoof. With his free claw he pointed out into the sky. Applejack felt her eyes widen slightly. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” cried Applejack angrily. A sudden terrible screech cut through the air as a cloud of fire advanced on them. “It’s a horde of nightmares!” “Actually, a gathering of nightmares that large is called a terror, not a horde,” corrected Luna. “Not important!” yelled Spike. “More flying, less defining!” “Yes, of course, hold tightly,” instructed Luna. Her wings suddenly drew in. Applejack felt weightless as they turned sideways and toppled out of the air. A rush of fire and a cacophony of screeches swarmed overhead, like a cloud of extremely angry birds that were on fire. With a tug, Applejack pulled Spike in and he landed behind her. Both of them held on tight to Luna as they dove downwards towards the ground — towards the raging chaos of the crumbling forest below. Spike was shouting for Luna to pull up but Applejack was frozen with fear as the green of the treetops rush up at them. They burst down through the canopy, carrying a great many leaves and branches with them. Luna pulled up hard and they stabilized into leveled flight a dozen hooves above the ground. Chancing a glance back, Applejack saw the swarm of nightmares flood through the hole in the branches. Many of them struggled to slow down, before crashing into the sand below. Unfortunately, a great many more did indeed manage to follow. The massive trees loomed high all around them. Expertly Luna wove her way between the trees, dodging braches and trunks almost effortlessly. Yet still the nightmares were gaining on them. “They are going to catch us! Fly faster!” cried Spike. “They are not carrying two passengers,” protested Luna. “I am flying as fast as I can!” “There are so many of them!” shouted Applejack. “From what Twilight described to me, this looks like it is only a small group,” replied Luna. Applejack glanced back again. Everyplace there weren’t trees, there were nightmares. If by small group she meant hundreds of them, than yes, that was the case. “What do they want with us anyhow? The element?” asked Spike. “They cannot take the element,” explained Luna. “It is protected from being claimed by a nightmare. But that will not prevent them from making Applejack into one of them.” Applejack’s stomach did a summersault as Luna swerve sharply to the left. It was not the maneuver but the words that made her uneasy. “They are after… me?” asked Applejack in surprise. “More than likely,” answered Luna. “They have no doubt pursued the others as well. Hoping to catch you just after you have claimed your element.” “Why! What do they want with the elements! What are nightmares going to do with them?” shouted Applejack. Luna did not reply. Instead they dropped sharply and a branch whooshed past overhead. “I think we lost them!” shouted Spike, looking back. Applejack glanced behind them as well. The nightmares did indeed seem to be gone. Then her eyes looked upwards and saw the smoke. “No!” shouted Applejack. “They are burning the forest! We have to go back and stop them!” “How exactly?” asked Spike. “I don’t know but we have to do some…” Applejack’s words were abruptly cut off as the forest in front of them suddenly exploded. Rainbow colored fire spread out like a wave, cutting through the trunks of the trees like they were nothing. Luna spun her body protectively, but Applejack still felt the heat and the impact. She and Spike were tossed off Luna’s back, and the three of them were sent spinning through the air. The world became a blur of tree trunks, sky, green leaves, sand and finally, blackness, filled with pain. . . . . When Applejack opened her eyes, she had no idea how much time had passed. Her head was buzzing and everything seemed slow. There was dry, hot, sand in her mouth and her vision was blurry. All around her, she could see dancing red shapes waving in and out of existence. Suddenly, Applejack was snapped out of her daze and the world came into sharp focus. She was lying on her side in the sand. Desperately she looked around, trying to find Spike or Luna, but she couldn’t spot either. She worked her way to her hooves but felt a sharp pain in her front leg. She fell back down with a yelp, followed by a cough and then another cough. Something was wrong with the air here. Applejack finally realized what was going on around her. The forest, the whole forest was burning down. Hazy gray smoke lingered in the air, pressing down on her. “SPIKE!” shouted Applejack before she broke into a fit of coughing. She put a hoof over her muzzle though it did little good. “LUNA!” “They cannot hear you,” said a voice that turned Applejack’s blood to ice. Slowly, Applejack turned her head and found the most terrible sight behind her. Towering over her, dark and menacing and burning with black flames, was Nightmare Moon. “But do not worry, for soon, you will not care. Soon, you shall be one of us.” She reached out a blazing hoof and touched it to Applejack’s chest. Applejack’s body filled with fire and the world began to burn away before her eyes as her thoughts slipped into dreams of madness.