the thing in the dark

by nallokthecat

chapter 3 the chase

"Ya sure ya'll got everythin sis?" Big Macantosh said as he loaded his sisters pack. "Sure as shootin Big Mac. Now I'll be back soon as I can, mean time ya'll know what to do right?" Applejack said, to which her brother responded with his trademark "Eeeeyup" "Then I reckon I'll be on my way." Applejack said as she started to run back to Twilights'. Ordinarily she wouldn't have left before bucking her daily harvest of apples, but today was a special case after all. After about 5 minutes as soon as she and the others had gotten back, Twilight led her friends to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Applejack shuttered a bit. She may be a brave pony but that place would always give her the willies like nowhere else could. "So Twilight," Applejack began "how exactly are we gonna find this ... thing we're lookin for?" Twilight smiled. "Well the first thing we're going to do is search the area where Pinkie and I first met the creature and if we find anything strange, I've prepared a powerful teleportation spell in advance." Twilight held up a scroll of parchment.

"This will take us to the creatures exact location, as long as we have something that belonged to it and that object could be anything." Twilight said as they reached the spot. "Now lets spread out and search for anything out of the ordinary." Everypony nodded and proceeded to get to work. About 10 minutes later Applejack had combed every inch of the area and still had nothing, and after looking around she could see the others wern't fairing much better. Fluttershy had been searching the canopy, while Rainbow Dash had to help rarity who was afraid of getting too dirty. The very idea made both Applejack and Rainbow roll their eyes. Twilight had been searching with magic, and Pinkie Pie was trying to be a Bloodhound. Twilight sighed. "I suppose I could take a short break." Applejack mumbled to herself and leaning against a tree for a second while she took a break.The branches swayed around a little. Then for a small second a faint glimmer hit her eye, to which she immediately found the cause. It had been obscured by a few leaves and the lack of direct sunlight, but there it was. "Hey ya'll I found somthin." Applejack declared, which brought smiles to the group as they walked over to see what she was picking up. It was a small gold tube that was sealed at one end and open at the other which was slightly singed "W-w-what do you think it is?..." Fluttershy said timidly. "I'll tell ya what it is Sugarcube, it's our way to find that critter!" Applejack said happily "So lets get too it ya'll ready Twi?"

Twilight nodded and unfurled the parchment. "Okay," Twilight said clearing her throat. "now when we appear in front of the creature everypony stay calm; we don't want to scare it. Is everypony ready?" They all nodded their confirmation. "Then here we go." with that she activated the scroll and the next thing she saw, was Applejack and her friends were standing in a clearing twenty feet in front of the creature that Twilight had described to them. "For a long time there was nothing but silence which Twilight was the first to break. "Hello there my name is Twilight sparkle and-" befor she could finish the creature bolted for the tree line. "Aw horse apples." Applejack said as she and the others tore after him. After about half an hour Applejack was the only pony able to keep up with the creature, as the undergrowth had stopped the others. Lucky for her she could muscle through, but it was still going tough. "I'll give that varmint credit, it sure can run." she said in-between breaths. She kept chasing it until they came to a deep chasm bridged by an old fallen oak which the creature crossed swiftly. However as Applejack followed, mid-way through the log cracked in half and Applejack had to jump for the edge of the cliff, just barely grabing it by the edge of her Hooves. Ordinarily she'd have pulled herself up no problem, but the fatigue of the chase had sapped her strength, and to her terror she could feel herself slipping. In seconds she started to fall, closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see her doom rush to meet her but then she felt somthing cold and hard grab her leg.

Looking up she saw the creature she'd been chasing holding on to her. "Hang on I'll pull you up." it said. It proceeded to do just that before putting her safely down on the ground. Applejack was breathing heavily. "Thank ya kindly fer savin ma hide there." she huffed out while trying to catch her breath. "Your welcome." the creature said before turning to leave. "PLEASE WAIT!" Applejack screamed, stopping the creature in mid-stride. "Please all we wanna do is talk." "You sure followed me a long way just to talk," the creature said turning back "how do I even know I can trust anything you say?" Applejack thought for a moment. She hadn't condsiderd what she would say in this situation but after a moment she had the answer. "Look into ma eyes with yours and I'll tell ya the honest truth." the creature seemed to consider this a moment before walking over, and taking off the goggles on its helmet and staring straight into her eyes. What struck Applejack the most was just how different both of his eyes looked. His right eye was the iciest blue she had ever seen, while the left eye was a deep burning crimson and both were staring straight into her as she began. "The Princess sent us in here to try and convince you to come to Canterlot with us. Now I'm not the best with words but I can tell ya this, I promise nothin bad will happen if ya just go back to where we found ya and let us talk to ya." After she finished the creature put his googles back on and thought for a while before saying "I suppose it couldn't hurt just to talk." Bringing a smile to Applejacks face. Then it pointed and said "There's a natural land bridge a couple hundred yards that way, and from there we can find your friends and make our way back to my camp." Applejack smiled "Sounds like a plan to me sugercube." she said as she tipped her hat respectfully. "Names Applejack what's yours?." The creature simply said "My name is Sam Maxwell

quick authors note i've been thinking about going back and breaking up the dialoge to their own lines but i think i'll wait untill the entire story is done before i do that kind of a last minete polish thing anyway hope that answers some questions

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