Bats! II: The Applening

Prompt: “Not everything went as planned when Twilight undid her spell on Fluttershy.”

Bats! II: The Applening

“TWILIGHT! WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!”

A blurry, orange figure began to take shape in the haze that was Twilight’s vision as she was torn from her slumber. Her hooves fumbled around under her bedsheets, attempting to bring them above her face. She wasn’t ready to wake up just yet. Just a few more minutes of sleep. Much needed sleep. That’s all she wanted.

“TWILIGHT, MY FARM NEEDS YOU!”

The purple pony princess forced her eyes open, her legs wobbling as she planted them on the ground. A weak moon bathed her room in a faint glow. It couldn’t have been more than a few hours since she’d gotten back from Applejack’s farm. What could possibly be going on at this time of night?

“WE’VE GOTTA GO!”

“Why? We just fixed the bat problem today,” Twilight said, rubbing at her eyes.

“MY APPLES, TWI. THEY’RE CURSED!”

“I— What?”

“THE APPLES!”

Applejack became more and more manic as she desperately begged for Twilight’s assistance in something apple related. Now that she was getting a good look at her orange friend, the manic and horrified look in the pony’s eyes almost frightened Twilight. She looked as if she’d just seen somepony disliking apples. Truly, whatever was getting her friend in such mad hysterics was something to look into. Wasting no more time, Twilight followed Applejack to Sweet Apple Acres.

The acrid stench of apple-carcass filled the air as the duo approached the ominous treeline. Slumped over before them, once a grand expanse of apple trees, was a thick field of sickening, pale husks. Mushed apple-gore covered the ground. If one were to listen closely, they could hear the faint apple-screams coming from deep within the orchard. Clouds were gathered in the sky, an endless slate of darkness with only a few meager beams of moonlight breaking through.

“W-What happened?” Twilight sputtered.

“It… It was terrible Twilight. Hundreds of them. They swooped in, a cloud of black death upon the orchard. All of the apples lost… Mothers. Fathers. Children. I-I-I still remember looking upon the face of that small apple, watching it give it’s last apple-breath.”

Twilight’s eyebrows raised slowly.

“Wait. Are you talking about the vampire fruit bat thing?”

“I… I still have nightmares from it, Twi…”

“That was today, Applejack. If these trees were already like this, then why in the wide, wide world of Equestria did you… Nevermind.” Twilight shook her head in frustration. “You said something about the apples being cursed?”

As soon as she made mention of the “curse”, Twilight could see a shift in Applejack’s demeanor. A shift from sadness to complete and total fear. Whatever had happened, it was worse than the vampire fruit bats. And it was probably her fault. But what was it that had happened exactly?

“The apples, Twi… They’ve changed.”

Wait.

“They’ve become something unholy.”

There’s no way.

“Something unapple. They’ve become—”

Please don’t let it be—

“Vampire fruit apples!”

The bottom of Twilight’s forehoof came into rapid contact with her forehead. Vampire fruit apples? Really? The reversal spell backfired that badly? Really?

“Look, Applejack, I can fix this. Probably. If the apples are eating themselves, or whatever it is they’re doing now, I’ll try and save as much of your crop as I can. Now let’s get going,” Twilight said with a sigh.

Before she could take a single step, Applejack hastily jumped in front of her.

“You don’t understand! They aren’t eating each other! They’re eating ponies!”

Twilight looked upon Applejack with both concern and incredulity before pressing on further into the orchard. That apples had come to life as some sort of flying hellspawn, that was a leap of logic she was barely able to accept. Eating ponies though? That was just downright impossible.

“AJ, I think the legitimately terrifying image of a sky darkened by a flock of apples has left you a bit confused. If my spell backfired, they would still only have a need for apple. Not pony. You’re safe. Apples can’t eat ponies.”

“They’re definitely trying their darndest!”

Twilight shrugged, pushing past Applejack and heading deeper into Sweet Apple Acres.

“No, Twilight, stop! You’re not getting it! They’re—”

Applejack went silent as something rustled in the bushes.

A small, dark form shot out from the darkness, zipping by Twilight’s face. She yelped. Another orb flew by, letting out a gruesome hiss as it passed. The two ponies threw themselves to the ground as apple-terrors buzzed above them. Twilight felt as if her heart would beat straight out of her chest. Opening her eyes, she was confronted by the jagged maw of an unapple abomination.

Swatting it away from her, Twilight sprung to her hooves. She spun around, frantically looking for Applejack in the darkness. Her vision filled itself with more and more apples, a violent tornado of fruit fury, with no Applejack to be found. The cacophony of beating wings and pomaceous apple-howls deafened her. They savagely rammed themselves against Twilight as she ran through the apple-haze, her instincts kicking in, trying to take her anywhere but here.

Suddenly, her body crashed into a wall of wood paneling. The farmhouse!

Twilight groped for an entrance as the apples battered against her, finally laying her hooves on what she thought was a cellar door.

Throwing herself against it in a hurried attempt to escape her delicious pursuers, Twilight went crashing through the wooden hatch. Tumbling down the stairs at high speed, magic flared to her horn as she stopped herself inches from the floor. Gently letting herself down, her body bruised and tender, she stood up on all four hooves. It seemed the apples had not followed her down here.

Lighting up her horn, Twilight moved forward into the darkness of the cellar. Cobwebs adorned the walls and the air smelled of mold and apples. A soft murmuring emanated from a nearby hallway. A slight smile crossed Twilight’s face. Some of the Apples must be hiding down here.

As she approached a door towards the end of the hallway, the murmuring became louder and louder. It sounded like it was… Chanting? And not in any language she could understand. And the voices… She couldn’t recognize them. The shrill, tinny chants hardly sounded equine.

Twilight pressed her ear against the door.

“...Omena mansanas Ap’Fel măr sagwa yabloko!”

Insidious apple-chants in an alien tongue? Probably bad. Probably very bad. Whatever dark Applemancy was occurring, it chilled her to the core. Going against her better judgement, Twilight slowly pushed the door open to peek inside.

She spotted three oversized apple-atrocities, wearing ornately decorated robes, huddled together near the center of the room, whispering to one another in what must’ve been an ancient apple-tongue. Towards the end of the room, she spotted Applejack inside a ring of candles, squirming, trying to free herself from some apple-shackles. The three apple-priests began to converge on Applejack, and without a second thought Twilight burst into the room.

“APPLEJACK!”

“Oh, howdy Twilight! Glad you got away from the Vampapples,” Applejack chirped.

Twilight paused motionless in the room, wings flared, looking rather perplexed. As the three apple-beings turned towards her, she could clearly see that they were metal suits. Through the slits in the front of each, she could make out the eyes of what was the rest of the Apple family.

“Okay, will somepony please tell me what’s going on?”

“This is an old Apple family ritual performed if ever our apples come to life with a hunger for pony flesh. It’s even older than I am!” Granny Smith said, her voice distorted from within her apple shell.

“No. I refuse. I demand another explanation! How can you possibly have protocol for this kind of thing?!”

Granny Smith chuckled.

“Missy, this here’s just the kind of trouble you get into when you go at vampire fruit bats with magic! I remember the tales my Pappy would tell about about the vampire fruit bats. Apples turn on the Apples. It’s just the way things are. Like how a bunch of twigs in the forest just turn into wolves sometimes and you gotta chase them with pots and pans to beat ‘em!”

“I… I guess?”

“Apparently this is normal, so c’mon, Twi! You can join in. I think we’ve got an extra apple suit somewhere ‘round here,” Applejack said.

Twilight let out a groan.

* * *

Dear Diary,

I think the lesson I learned is that sometimes I should let my friends deal with their problems the way they want to, rather than always jumping in with magic. Also, every time I see an apple now I can’t help but scream, and I’m filled with unfathomable dread.

I think that’s a bad thing.

XOXO,
Princess Twilight Sparkle

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