• Published 26th Apr 2012
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Tales from Mystika: A My Little Mages Book - Yondy



A darker epic set in the realm of Mystika re-imagined by Ryan McCarty

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Chapter 3: Apple Jack's Rage

Chapter 3

Apple Jack's Rage

Apple Acres – 2 days after the attack

Apple Jack hadn’t slept since the shadows had come that night. She’d spent all day strengthening the barrier’s power, buffering the wards, arming every room and hallway with weapons, and doubling the amount of torches lit in the temple. The moon was still empty, and she didn’t know how many stars would be out, so she made everyone move their mattresses and cots into the sanctuary for the night as an extra precaution. Apple Jack was taking no chances after what had happened.

At first there was a bunch of whining and complaining from the cousins but once Apple Jack asked them if they wanted to run through the halls if the shadows showed up again, the complaints ceased immediately and everyone got to work on bringing in their mattresses. By dusk all of the cousins and Apple Bloom were tucked in, with Big Mac in the center of the group, his massive height sprawled across two mattresses. A domed glass roof encased the sanctuary, supplying the five trees with sunlight during the day. In the corner, Apple Jack remained in a rickety old rocking chair all night looking up at the dark sky. She normally found it comforting, sleeping under the stars, but now she found solace in the open roof for another reason. Knowing the shadows disappeared back to where they came from at dawn; that was the only time Jack could finally relax. As the sky faded from dark blue to the pinkish glow of sunrise, she rested her head against her great-sword and closed her eyes.

Apple Jack swore she’d only closed them for a second, but when she awoke resting on the top of her sword’s hilt, she felt the hot sun bearing down on her. Jack squinted open her eyes, crusted with sleep still tugging on her lids. Instinctively she jumped to her feet as soon as she was fully awake, great-sword ready in her hand, but quickly calmed down and sank back into her chair. She put her hand over her brows and looked to the eastern horizon, only to see the sun was almost completely overhead.

“Afternoon already? Get it together AJ.” Apple Jack rolled her aching shoulders, finally noticing the pain now that she knew everything was safe, cracked her back, and got up to get to work. She was normally up with the sun, and made sure the rest of the house did the same. Being an early riser came naturally to Apple Jack, so much so that Big Mac and Apple Bloom used her as an alarm clock. She joked that without her they just might sleep clear through till dusk.

Her ears perked at the strange sound of laughter returning to the yard and looked out over the temple’s hill to see the little cousins entertaining themselves in a variety of outdoor activities. The girls Fritter and Gala were bouncing some kind of ball back and forth between them, counting how many times they could do so. On the other end of the yard Bumpkin and her sister Strudel were dominating the horseshoe pit and looked to be arguing over the rules. In-between all of them Cinnamon, Bob, and Caramel were with Big Mac playing next to a pile of sticks.

On closer inspection though, the sticks were actually make-shift swords and bo staffs that she and Mac had trained with when they were kids. Apple Jack reckoned that Mac had gotten them out of the barn on the notion that the kids should learn to defend themselves. Then again, Apple Jack thought it was a real possibility that the kids had asked him to. The boys Cinna and Bob were goofing around with their bo staffs, basically just swinging them wildly and trying to hit each other. Meanwhile Cara, the biggest tomboy of the girl cousins, held a makeshift longsword with both hands and was fencing with Big Mac while he towered over her, and from the look of it, was training her in proper stance.

“Big Mac” was actually just a nickname. His full name was Apple Macintosh, but when all the Apple youngins were learning to talk, they tripped over the name. Mac was always huge compared to the rest of the kids. Even when he got on his knees he was nearly twice their size and his shoulders were almost that big around too. So as it suited him, and keep from embarrassing themselves, they called him Big Mac and it stuck. With his massive stature, dirty-blonde shoulder length hair and beryl green eyes, Mac looked like the closest thing to a mountain god if there ever was one.

It seemed like only yesterday he had Cara up on his shoulders, boosting her up to pick fruit from the orchard, but Caramel had shot up like a weed in the past couple years. Her focus had shot up too, as she demonstrated with Mac in the yard. With each vertical slice she made with her wooden sword, Mac gave her a command or tapped her on the back to keep her straight. Caramel was taking it all in like a sponge, her face reminding Apple Jack of when she herself had started training. Apple Jack smiled, toying with the idea that when the new troubles were over, maybe she’d have herself a protégé. Apple Bloom was too interested in tinkering to have any sort of discipline. She wouldn’t even think about taking over the orchard without kicking and screaming the whole way. “Training,” Apple Jack thought to herself. “Not a bad idea, kids.” Apple Jack stretched her legs and moved across the sanctuary, dragging the tip of her broadsword across the dusty ground behind her.

She paused to kneel before the statue against the wall. It represented Eponi, the goddess of fertility that watched over her family and the orchard for as long as anyone could remember. The sanctuary that held it was a large stone room with four majestic trees growing in each corner and one especially large tree in the center, each one representing the five pillars of balance. In the southern corner, the fig tree for fertility, the fir tree in the north for healing, the western rowan for energy, the eastern elm tree for faith, and in the center was the apple tree which throughout the seasons represented death and rebirth. Apple Jack’s eyes were always drawn to the center tree, it’s lush branches reaching all the way to the pinnacle of the glass dome.

It was a great honor to be allowed to harvest the fruit of the sanctuary’s apple tree. Followers of the Goddess from all over Mystika made a pilgrimage to Apple Acre’s temple at least one time in their lives to taste the fruit from the sanctuary’s tree. Many believed that eating an apple from the tree would grant long life or guarantee a healthy child to pregnant women. The trees were planted and replanted as they lived and died over the hundreds of years, and these trees had been there since Apple Jack could remember.

As Apple Jack left the sanctuary, she kissed her fingers and touched the apple tree in the center. She had always done so as ritual dictated, but today she tasted the dirt still on her fingers from the funeral the day before. She paused for a moment, closing her eyes, and leaned her head on her arm against the tree, saying a silent prayer. When the shadows had broken into the sanctuary that night, she and Mac had used the trees as cover. Her mind dwindled on the battle for a moment, hearing the thunk of black daggers against the bark, the shadows’ deep, buzzing bellow vibrating through her ears. Before that night, these trees were just a symbol of her family’s faith, but now Apple Jack credited them with saving her life.

The ache in her shoulders throbbed in protest once again as Apple Jack lifted her head. She needed to get moving again, and made her way to what could be best referred to as the gym of the temple. She entered the large room and descended down the 3 tiers of wide stone steps, her footsteps echoing softly as the only sound besides a few crackling torches. The room was windowless and plain like a basement, primarily made of stone blocks with wooden planks in the center of the floor, creating an arena. Spaced evenly across the floorboards sat four roughly carved wooden figures, representing humanoid opponents. Along the walls hung large circular targets made of hay bound with twine, each one painted with a bullseye.

On the far wall was a large closet, Apple Jack’s personal armory. She made her way across the room, pulling open the armoire doors and shedding light on the intricate regalia inside. Her hands grazed the crimson suede and leather jacket before slipping it on, the gold frayed fringe at the edges falling across the back of her calves. She liked the sleeveless jacket as it left her toned arms bare for easy movement. She donned the knee-high, brass toed boots, slipping them on with ease. Her fingers then buckled in the familiar straps on her hard leather gauntlets, the black trim fitting snugly below her elbows, before lowering her polished brass shoulder guards into place. Fiery rubies glinted in the center of both plates, matching the large one inlaid on the hilt of her sword. The sword was called Eri, although she hadn’t been the one to name it. It was an heirloom, passed down from guardian to guardian and through ritual was bonded to their life force, which was how she had summoned it to save her sister’s life two nights ago. The meaning of Eri’s name had been lost some time ago, but from what Apple Jack knew, the closest translation was “rising” in reference to the sun. Eri had been with her since she inherited the title of temple guardian. Apple Jack finished buttoning the front of her jacket and retrieved Eri’s sheath from its mounting point, as well as tucking a short sword in each hand into her belt.

As she moved to slip the scabbard over her shoulder, she stopped to examine the opening. Apple Jack reached into the sheath and pulled out a shredded piece of cloth. It appeared to have some kind of crest on it, two crossed blades and a half moon. At least that’s what Apple Jack could make out from the worn scrap, the rest had disintegrated with the body of the shades. Apple Jack glowered at the scrap, and after quelling every desire to burn it, placed it in her pocket. She didn’t know why, but the shade’s shirt was probably more useful to her in-tact.

At the center of the gym Apple Jack raised Eri slowly, and with one swift motion, threw it at the bulls-eye on the northern wall and watched it flick through the air blade over hilt. She hit her target dead on as she’d done thousands of times before, the blade sunk through the hay with a satisfying plink as it met the wall behind it. A thin panel in the wall across from her slid open in response to the chain-reaction started to reveal a dart throwing mechanism that shot three darts simultaneously towards the middle of the room. Jack’s hands blurred as she seized the two short swords from her belt and knocked away the darts. As she hurled her short swords into the other two targets on either side of the one she’d just struck, she simultaneously summoned Eri back to her. Both short swords passed Eri in mid-air and sunk into their targets, which triggered three more darts from their mechanism in the west wall. Jack channeled her energy into the glittering rubies on her armor, feeling her shoulders washed in heat as they flared to life along with the one in her sword, engulfing Eri in flame. With a wave of her hand, Eri changed direction in mid-air, setting the wooden darts on fire as they passed through the flames. The heat pulsing from the rubies melted away the pain in her shoulders, bringing new life to Apple Jack’s body. She was agile, deadly precise, and she liked it. She whirled, her sword following in unison, creating light trails around the room in a beautifully lethal choreographed dance.

As she flicked her head around, for a split second the shadows of the dummies on the floor were crawling towards her. She commanded the fiery sword diagonally at the nearest figure and it stuck hard into its body as shards of wood splintered away from the blow. The dummy stood smouldering, defeated. Apple Jack gripped Eri’s hilt and placed her foot against the wooden target, pulling the sword free. Normally she was centered and controlled, but this was the first time she’d really been alone since the attack. She heard the screams of her little sister. She saw the shadows chasing down her family. Apple Jack spun around and slammed her great-sword into the torso of the next target, wrenching it free and bringing it around the other side as it hacked completely through the dummy’s midsection. Her slices became even more savage as she relived the sobbing of her little cousins as she and Mac dug the graves in the orchard. Hot tears rolled down her face as she remembered her shaking hands patting the earth around the saplings that would grow from the mounds. She drove her sword through the wood again and again.

The guilt of her cousins’ deaths, failing to protect her family, and failing her goddess caused her to see a seemingly endless amount of shades closing in on her, complete with a relentless barrage of throwing knifes from all of them. She channeled her berserk rage through Eri, slicing through the phantoms, dodging and reflecting their knifes, one blazing slice after another until a small voice broke the onslaught.

“Auntie AJ?” Bumpkin called in a meek voice from behind her. The little cousins had adopted the term of endearment for Apple Jack, for as guardian of the temple she had been their caretaker as well. Apple Jack let her arms fall down against her sides, the tip of her red-hot broadsword landing on the floor with a heavy thunk as the flames dissipated from the blade. Her eyes glanced around the gym and saw the dummies, now reduced to a pile of burnt kindling. Bumpkin took a hesitant step backwards as she saw her big cousin turn slowly, still heaving.

Apple Jack saw the terror on Bumpkin’s face and quickly channeled the rage out of her face. “Sorry Bump,” Apple Jack said softly. “I got a little tunnel vision for a spell. Have you been there long?” Apple Jack asked, walking to retrieve her short swords still stuck in their targets.

“It's ok. I only called you four times... I didn’t wanna interrupt, but you said you wanted to know if anyone was bothering Bloom and well…” Bumpkin looked at the ground, not sure how to say what she was going to. Apple Jack returned both swords to her belt and walked over to Bumpkin.

“Is it that good for nothing brother of yours still givin’ Bloomer a hard time? Tell him that he can sleep on the floor just fine if he keeps it up.” She went to the armoire to remove her equipment, but Bumpkin kept talking.

“It’s that reporter, again. He’s back, and he’s botherin’ Bloom about more stuff.” Bumpkin whispered.

Apple Jack stopped removing her armor and weaponry and figured it’d be a good way to tell that no good papawatzit to ‘git while she was armed to the teeth. “Bloomer talkin’ to ‘im?” Jack walked past her and up the stairs with Bumpkin following close.

“She’s tryin’ not to…” Bumpkin relayed.

“Why didn’t Mac take care of it?” Jack said, rolling her eyes.

“Because Ms. Twilight’s here, and he’s talkin’ with her about beefin’ up the defenses after that night.” Bumpkin explained.

Apple Jack chuckled. She almost wanted to make a wisecrack about Mac beefing up something else when it came to him and Twilight, but she kept her composure and just asked Bumpkin, “Mac flirtin’ up a storm with Ms. Twi again?” Apple Jack smiled, retying the bow in her messy blonde hair, now sticky with sweat. Training hard tended to loosen her ponytail.

“Flirting?” Bumpkin questioned. Apple Jack couldn’t tell if she was serious, but she fought a smile and turned it into the meanest war face she could muster as she flung open the front door. Sure enough, there was Featherweight leaning on his knee getting real close and sleazy with Apple Bloom.

“Can I help you Mr. ‘Weight?” Jack stared down Featherweight, who lived up to his name as he was a little less than five and a half feet tall with little more than skin and bones under his crisp white button up shirt, slacks and suspenders.

Featherweight immediately jumped back and snapped to attention seeing the fully armed Paladin putting on her “mama bear” voice, standing in front of him. “You know Featherweight’s a nickname, right? My real name is—” Featherweight tried to one-up Apple Jack, but she cut him off quickly.

“I don’t care. But apparently you don’t speak common, because I told you yesterday that Bloomer was done. You’re lucky we told you any of our family business, so take what you got and ‘git.” Apple Jack continued to stare down Featherweight, looming over him with a straight back as he shrunk away from the temple steps.

“The people deserve to know exactly what happened! You only let her tell half the story, and I know there’s more to it! That barrier is one of the strongest in Mystika, and according to ordinances, all temples are required to keep all supernatural creatures out unless invited. Which means if that thing came in without busting down the barrier, it would have vaporized!” Featherweight drove his point home with panache, but his body language told AJ that all she had to was just sneeze and he’d fall over.

“So if I’m hearin’ you right, you’re saying that the only way these things would get in would be my family?” Apple Jack stepped forward, Featherweight stepped back. “Which means you’re sayin’ that one of us killed my family? Is that right?”

“That’s…it’s…not that simple!” Featherweight tried and failed to justify his intrusion.

“So tell me just what it is you’re sayin’.” Apple Jack said with such offense that made Featherweight’s comeback hit a brick wall, and his face looked like he did as well. “If I see you up here without me or Mac personally escorting you by your ear, you’ll be lucky if you get a job writin’ colorin’ books. So clean out your ears, cuz this is the last time I say this with my mouth before I say it with my fist.” Apple Jack tightened her grip on Eri, causing her leather glove to creak. She brought her nose so close that if her eyes were anymore fiery, they would have melted Featherweight’s face off. “Get. Off. My. Land.” Her voice resonated through every bone in his head down through his spine.

Featherweight brushed the dust off of the knees of his trousers and straightened his bow-tie and camera strap. As his Skyborn wings appeared on his heels, he then proceeded to float very stiffly down the hill. He did however, make it a point to curve about ten yards to his left to avoid passing by Big Mac, who was also staring him down while leaning on his monster of a hammer.

Apple Jack watched the sleaze as he disappeared over the orchard’s trees and into the afternoon sky. She then looked past Mac, and on the other side of his huge frame, finally saw the tiny thing that was the arcane mage Twilight Sparkle. Apple Jack felt a rush of warmth flow through her veins, as her friend looked like she had walked all the way from Magiville and was examining the rune stones, causing them to glow with her staff. Apple Jack could only assume she was using her own power to find weaknesses or strengthen them.

Apple Jack then heard a rustling and growling from the nearby trees in the orchard and saw that Spike was very content, climbing the trees in the orchard with the girls Fritter and Gala. They had apparently abandoned bouncing the ball between the two of them and moved to jumping from limb to limb, playing a sort of tag with the little dragon. Spike would occasionally float out in front of them, and Apple Jack chuckled as she saw Spike stick out his forked tongue at Fritter when she almost lost her grip on a low branch. She wasn’t worried, as the whole Apple family had been climbing trees since they could walk. Worrying about one of her cousins climbing a tree was like worrying if a duck fell into a pond. Sure enough, Fritter caught herself and flipped back up on the branch, keeping after the little dragon.

“He’s right, ya know.” A little voice whispered behind Apple Jack.

“Who’s right, half-pint?” Jack turned around to see her little sister.

“I let ‘em in.” Apple Bloom said to the ground. “I snuck out and then…they came and then…” Apple Bloom said, eyes wet with tears. Apple Jack tilted Apple Bloom’s face so she could look her in the eye.

“I know we went over this yesterday, but you couldn’t have known,” Apple Jack said with a warm gaze, which quickly turned more serious. “But I hope now you understand that I didn’t put a lock on your door just to be mean. I say you can’t go out after dark because I can’t protect you, see?” Apple Jack stroked the red strands of hair behind Apple Bloom’s ear.

“They came in through the curtain when I went to the barn.” Apple Bloom said with trembling lips.

“Now, now, we don’t know that for sure, and even if they did, it wasn’t on purpose, right?” Apple Jack continued to run her fingers through Apple Bloom’s hair.

“It doesn’t matter!” Apple Bloom started to sob. “Ruby and Nugget are...It’s mah fault Jackie! It’s all mah fault!” Apple Bloom buried her face into Apple Jack’s rough leather armor.

“You shot that paper whatsit and woke me up so I could save Gala and Fritter.” Apple Jack reminded her.

“If I coulda shot it further I coulda woken you up sooner, we coulda gotten ‘em while they were outside. Ruby and Nugget’d be alive if we didn’t havta go through the tunnel.” Apple Bloom said, her sniffles calming down.

“If you’d shot sooner, they’d have seen you out at the barn before they got in and come after you.” Apple Jack said into Apple Bloom’s head. Apple Bloom didn’t say anything as her sister’s words sunk in. “You sneakin’ around and wakin’ us up while they were in the walls saved all of our lives. Then you saved mine with that thing of yours. The simple truth is, if you didn’t do what you did when you did it, we might not be talkin’ at all.” Apple Jack continued to rock Apple Bloom back and forth and kissed the top of her head. “And I don’t know who to thank for that, but I’m gonna be thankin’ ‘em everyday from now on.” Apple Bloom’s sniffles had all but gone. “Now go inside and clean your face up, then come back out and play with your cousins, alright?” Apple Jack suggested, trying to play the responsible adult card.

“Are you mad at me, Sis?” Apple Bloom asked honestly.

Apple Jack gave Bloom’s hair a tussle and said with a smile, “Right now, I’m just thankful you’re not dead, but don’t push yer luck. That only lasts for a week or two, so enjoy it while ya can.” Bloom gave a chuckle too and it was probably the first one she’d given since the attack. Apple Jack had been so busy with everything that they hadn’t had a chance to really talk until now. Apple Bloom climbed up the temple stairs and went inside like her sister asked her, leaving Apple Jack to Twilight.

Twilight was now on the other side of the temple, fiddling with another rune stone with Big Mac crouching beside her. Apple Jack snuck up behind them smirking and cleared her throat. The pair immediately jumped to their feet, and Big Mac was beet red. Even though Twilight was already of a darker complexion, you could still see her blush. Apple Jack was used to the awkwardness between her friend Twilight and her big brother, but she never got tired of teasing them about it.

“Oh hi!” said Twilight forcing a huge smile. “Um…me and Mac I mean, Mac and I,” Twilight rolled her eyes and backpedaled at her terrible grammar, “were just…actually Mac was showing me your rune stones and I was just buffing them up best I could. They all look great! Ancient magic is really something and they don’t make ‘em like they used to but every little bit helps…right?” Twilight babbled like her mouth was a wind-up toy and was spinning on overdrive.

“Yup.” Mac agreed, trying to seem calm but his eyes darting about.

Apple Jack smiled again and remarked, “It’s alright you two. Just don’t do nothin’ in front of the kids, alright?” This sent Twilight and Mac into another fit of blushing and silent rage. Apple Jack figured they wouldn’t pick up conversation anytime soon so just continued saying, “Speaking of youngins, Mac you should probably go back to keeping an eye on them. Twi and I have some catching up to do.”

Mac nodded and stepped away but not before he stole another gaze of Twilight. Satisfied, he went back to the now four cousins fighting with sticks as Bumpkin, presumably inspired by her big cousin’s display of swordsmanship, had also taken up arms.

Twilight stammered all over herself looking for a way to approach the subject of the tragedy but only blurted out, “I promise Apple Jack, there’s nothing going on with me and your brother, it’s totally not like that, and I understand if you assume that but we’re just really g—”

“Twi.” Apple Jack paused, then smirked, “How many times do I have to tell you to not call me by both names?” Twilight relaxed for a spell and pulled Apple Jack in for a hug.

“I’m so sorry.” Twilight said into Apple Jack’s shoulder, gripping it tight with her fingers. Apple Jack patted her on the head, almost catching her fingers in Twilight’s knotted hair.

“It’s alright, Twi. It’s just that when you say the whole thing, it makes me think my mom’s mad at me or something.” Apple Jack placated her.

Twilight broke the embrace. “Nononono.” Twilight stammered as she re-constructed her previous statement, “I mean, I just read the paper this morning and it was the first I heard and…Jack, c’mon! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Apple Jack turned to the side and said, “Sorry, Twi. I really wanted to but we had to get everything situated before we brought anyone else in on it.”

“I would have helped.” said Twilight.

“I know darlin’, and I appreciate that, but between calmin’ the cousins down, getting Apple Bloom outta shock, makin’ the temple into a fort, and dealing with Pencil Pants pokin’ around, before anything else could cross my mind, I was already asleep on my sword.”

Twilight took her index finger and poked Apple Jack’s forehead. Jack staggered back as it hurt a little bit, but stopped when she noticed Twilight’s sheepish look. “There’s a red spot, isn’t there?” Apple Jack checked. Twilight bit both of her lips to stifle a laugh, but it couldn’t help her forehead from crinkling in about a thousand places and a small hiccup coming out through her nose. “It’s not funny,” said Jack. Twilight’s lips were trembling trying to keep it down.

“I know, bu—,” she began then Twilight couldn’t hold it in, and Apple Jack, with a grin on her face, tackled her friend and forgot there was a hill to roll down behind them. So roll they did, and it went from a friendly tackle to an out of control tumble.

“Watch the horn! Watch the horn!” Twilight shouted, referring to the purple gem sticking out in her forehead. Twilight was less scared that it would break than it might stick into the ground and leave her face first in the mud.

“Not my fault you need that gaudy thing to do somethin’ cool!” Apple Jack said jokingly as they finally came to a halt at the bottom of the hill.

“Auntie AJ!!” A voice from the sky called out. Both girls looked up and saw a dot in the sky which grew into a small girl about Apple Bloom’s age with tan colored skin and short purple hair coming in hot from the clouds above. Scootaloo, propelled by the wings on her ankles, flew towards the earth at an alarming speed, as playing chicken with the ground was one of her favorite pastimes. Even though she was one of the Skyborn from the floating city, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom went to the same school in Magiville as part of Cumula’s study abroad program created to teach Skyborn about the Earthborn humans they rarely interacted with. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had become such good friends that Scootaloo was now one of the family. She slammed into Apple Jack, and they proceeded to spin around.

“Your re-entry’s gettin’ better! You’re gettin’ almost as fast as Dash,” said Apple Jack, playing to Scootaloo’s idolization of the flying Avatar of Loyalty.

“Really?! Awesome! She’s been training me pretty hard when she’s not doing Thunder Blades stuff. I can’t wait to tell her it’s working!” said Scootaloo with glee, as her ankle wings disappeared. Apple Jack wanted to ask more details about her training with Rainbow Dash, as she hadn’t seen her friend for months, but Scootaloo wanted to know where Apple Bloom was. “I came as soon as I heard. The paper takes a while to get up top.”

“She’s in the house, Scoot, and thanks for comin’ by. Bloom’ll be real happy to see you.” Apple Jack motioned to the house, and Scootaloo hovered up and flew off for the window and right into the kitchen to see Apple Bloom, which reminded Apple Jack she hadn’t eaten all day. “All this business and I think I forgot to eat. You hungry Twi?” Apple Jack asked her friend. Still tired from the long walk up to the temple, Twilight stopped to notice her stomach grumbling too, so they made their way to the kitchen as well. When they arrived, they noticed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo conspiring about something as they immediately halted their conversation when the two young women entered the room.

“Alright, you little devils. Spit it out.” Apple Jack said, folding her arms. Scootaloo reluctantly opened her satchel and revealed an armful of cloudcover, the material that held up the floating city of Cumula. It was very rare to the ground, but to the cloud city, it was like picking up a handful of dirt.

“Please let me go out to the shop, sis? I’ve been workin’ on something for Scoot, and she brought the last piece of it! I’ll be quick and I promise I’ll be in before dark.” Apple Bloom practically begged. Apple Jack looked at her little sister and her practically adopted sister, and it looked like they were forcing smiles so big that halos could appear over their heads.

Apple Jack let out a sigh. “Don’t be gone long and don’t burn the barn down.” She could barely finish her sentence before Apple Bloom grabbed Scootaloo and made a beeline for the front door. “And don’t forget to close the curtain!!” Apple Jack called after her. “Don’t know if those things are gettin’ braver in the daytime and we don’t want a repeat of two nights ago...” Apple Jack mumbled to herself.

Jack, knowing Bloom’s genius, didn’t doubt that something fantastic that she wouldn’t understand was going to be made in her barn in the next few days. Twilight was more concerned about Apple Jack’s parting comment.

“She really left the barrier open?” Twilight asked cautiously as she took her place at the table.

“Shadies have probably been casin’ this place for weeks, watchin’ her sneak in and out. It was bound to happen to one of us.” said Apple Jack, offering reasonable doubt.

“I thought you put a lock on her door last time.” Twilight continued as she looked at Apple Jack skeptically.

“If you were ten and someone told you not to read a forbidden book, would you let that stop you?” Apple Jack countered as she raised an eyebrow.

Twilight nodded, “So, Bloom doesn’t know?” Twilight danced around the question while Apple Jack continued to straighten up the kitchen.

“She does. No sense in me sayin’ it too.” Apple Jack said, closing the pantry and brought a bowl of dried apple slices to the table for them to nibble on.

“Way to live up to your name Ms. Element of Honesty.” Twilight joked in between bites of apple.

“And I’m honestly not gonna make it any worse for her,” Apple Jack said so sternly it almost made Twilight jump. Apple Jack, seeing the look on Twilight’s face, backpedaled a bit. “Sorry Twi, I just hope you’re comin’ here with good news.”

“Jack, the only good news I have is we’re almost positive it’s the Shadow Blades,” Twilight said, trying her best to inform her friend.

“No ‘almost’ about it, Twi. So what about reinforcements, Thunder Blades mobilizing or somethin’ helpful?” Apple Jack said, disappointed.

“Nothing yet…but I think we’ve got enough evidence that we can finally bring it to the Archmage!” Twilight said, trying to be cheerful.

“Sounds good to me! When do we leave?” Apple Jack asked as she sat down opposite Twilight and helped herself to a slice.

“We?” said Twilight, tentatively hopeful.

“Not to toot my own horn or nothin’, but I’ve got a first-hand account, first eyewitness, and as far as I know, first blood on these things,” Apple Jack said, straightening her back and counting off her fingers. “Throw my Honesty Avatar thingy in the bucket, why wouldn’t ya take me?” Apple Jack presented an airtight case.

“Well, I wasn’t going to ask with all the issues at home but...I was really looking forward to some company. It’s been pretty lonely with just me, Spike, and the incidents.” Twilight paused, a bit bashful. “And I miss you.”

“It’ll be like old times, Twi. We’re gettin’ pretty good at this whole takin’ care of bad guys stuff.” Apple Jack gave her best not to let out an “aw shucks”, but instead gave Twilight a little tussle on her head. It was just her way of showing affection.

“There’s only one more thing.” Twilight said.

“It’s ok,” Apple Jack said, going back into the pantry. “We’ve got plenty leftovers for a few days.”

“The Archmage might not want to admit it’s really the Shadow Blades.” said Twilight.

“Ha!” Apple Jack said, brushing it off and going back to her supplies. “Why in the heck would she do that?”

“Well, they’ve been gone for centuries...”

“And now they’re back. So we tell miss high-and-mighty to do her princessy duties and go get ‘em,” said a very hyped up Apple Jack. Twilight tried to interrupt, but Apple Jack continued to offer a solution with a mouthful of dumpling. “And hey! If they want me to show ‘em how to get ‘em, I’ll stay up all day all night and all week until the whole army’s trained. I’ll feed ‘em too!” Jack finished off.

“The Shadow Blades were Luna’s royal guard. Celestia’s not going to take this lightly.” Twilight said, getting even more academic.

“So she probably knows how to kill ‘em better than anyone. Dust her off and get her to work, too.” challenged Apple Jack.

“Right Jack, but if they figure out these things are Luna’s fault it’s going to put her in danger. I know you love your sister as much as Celestia loves Luna, and I know you’d never throw your sister under the wagon on a theory unless y—”

“That theory was in my damn house, Twi! You need me to tap dance too, or can we go save the world now?” Apple Jack was done playing around, but Twilight wanted to make sure all of her bases were covered.

“I believe you, Jack, of course I do. It’s just that the Archmage’s confident that the Thunder Blades hunted them into extinction. And if we go to dusk court without any proof from these incidents, we’ve got no leg to stand on, an—“

Apple Jack cut Twilight off by slamming her fist into the table. When she unclenched her hand, there lay the half of the insignia that could only belong to the shadow blades. Twilight reached for the dark embroidered cloth and examined it. As soon as she laid eyes upon it, Apple Jack could tell that Twilight knew it was irrefutable evidence that was going to make her world of due process very complicated. Apple Jack still had her stiff hand on the table, and even though her eyes had trouble focusing she managed to speak quietly.

“If Princess Sunshine-and-Rainbows tells me nothin’ but fossils murdered my cousins in my temple, I’m gonna take that ‘incident’ and shove it right down her throat.” Twilight had no response. She just sat in her chair and stared at the cloth while Apple Jack moved to the keg, holding a single mug. She began to fill it without a word.

“Cider?” Apple Jack offered in the silence.