I'll Reach You

by speckledgriffon

Chapter 2: Distant Moonlight

Applejack shuddered into wakefulness. Her legs burned with freezing cold, their heat leeched straight down into the hard, frosty earth beneath.

A stab of fear hit her. She couldn't see. Pitch blackness hemmed all around her as though she hadn't opened her eyes at all, but then the outline of the tree faded in above her, and her sight gradually began to adjust. The sound of wind moving through the trees came to her ears. She uncurled her legs, wincing at how stiff and sore they were, and slowly stood up.

Her head thumped into the fallen tree above, dislodging a spray of pine needles and raindrops. “Ah, cornapples!” Dazed, she stumbled out from the makeshift shelter and back into the clearing she'd woken up in some time ago.

The fires no longer burned. All that remained was charred earth she could barely see in the darkness. Her hoofsteps crunched loud until she reached the centre of the clearing, until she stopped still, raised her ears, and listened.

The wind rolled across the treetops in great waves. They swept from afar, rushing overhead and into the distance, the treetops swaying and bouncing with each that passed. Wood squeaked and groaned all around her into the far distance.

Applejack turned on the spot to look up at the night sky, trying to catch a glimpse of Canterlot's mountain rage or any of the other landmarks that should be there. “Ah must be in the Everfree forest,” she said out loud, her voice reassuring in the quiet. “Twilight... what in all a' tarnation happened? What have ya'll done to me?”

Shaking her head, Applejack searched again for any of the mountains that should have been visible against the horizon, but there was nothing there. Just empty sky filled with stars and the thin crescent moon. Her stomach started to clench with worry. She reared up on her hind legs, trying to see over the trees, but came down again with a clump. She forced a smile and laughed softly. “Everfree must be... bigger than ah' thought.”

The tree trunks around her vanished into pitch blackness only a few feet away from the clearing. An occasional beam of faint silver light fell through in places, lighting patches of forest like pools of distant water.

“Well, ah guess I should get walkin.” Applejack swallowed hard. She looked around at the blackness between the nearest trees. The impenetrable depth of the forest sent chills along her spine, and the faint shadows of the nearest twigs hung down over it like reaching claws. “...Or maybe I'll just stay put. Right here. Ti'll sunrise.”

Something caught the corner of her eye.

She flicked her stare to a pool of moonlight filtering down through the canopy in the distance. It lay still and untouched, lighting a small outcrop of rocks and the trunks of the nearest trees.

Applejack stared at it. She found she was holding her breath. She could have sworn something moved between her and the moonlight, breaking it for a split second.

“Get a hold'a yourself A.J. There ain't nothin' there.” Her voice unnerved her with how shaky and uncertain it sounded. She darted her eyes around, searching the darkness between the trees, her ears pricked straight up.

Something caught the corner of her other eye. Twitching in fright, she turned to another moonlit clearing in the distance. She stared at it, holding her breath, standing completely still. Nothing disturbed or broke it.

A twig snapped in the distance behind her with a soft pop just barely heard over the rush of the wind.

Applejack jumped a foot in the air, landing in a scramble of hooves, shooting glances left and right, turning on the spot. “Twilight...? Is that you out there, playin' some kinda prank on me? Cause it really ain't funny-”

Something black flitted across a beam of moonlight in the middle distance ahead of her. She caught the movement clearly and the outline of what looked like four long, thin legs.

“Oh Maryapplesauce...” she whimpered, freezing still, staring with wide, unseeing eyes into the trees. Her heart thrashed hard; her stomach clumped into a knot.

Everything went still around her. Nothing more moved; no more sounds came apart from the wind on the treetops.

“Ah gotta go,” she whispered. “Move A.J, come on now, ya gotta go. Come on, it ain't hard-”

And then she fell silent, because she felt prickling heat on the back of her neck. Something in the trees behind her. Something close.

She turned her head so slowly the seconds ticked individually by, the hairs of her coat standing on end. Her wide, stricken eyes fell on a dark gap between two thick trunks near the edge of the clearing.

Again, moving so slowly it strained her, she began to back away from the dark opening, her hooves barely making a whisper on the soil.

Another twig snapped to her left.

Applejack leapt on instinct. She bolted straight for the pitch darkness of the trees, her hooves thundering into a flat-out gallop. She caught sight of a blur of blackness bursting from the trees behind her a second before she plunged head-first into a world of flying branches, pitch darkness, and distant moonlight.

---

“No, Pinkie, this isn't one of my pranks!” Rainbow Dash folded her front legs, her wings beating to hold her just above the ground. “Jeeze, how can you even think that?”

“Well, you're a really good prankster.” Pinkie Pie beamed a smile up at the Pegasus. “No one out-pranks Rainbow-Dash!”

“Well, now you mention it, I have pulled some pretty fast ones...”

“Ladies!” Rarity glared at them from the doorstep of the Library. “We are here to search, not to squabble.”

“Hey, she started it!” Rainbow pointed a hoof at Pinkie Pie.

“Yep, I sure did!” Pinkie's grin beamed ever brighter.

Rarity let out a breath in despair. “Girls, we simply must stay focused on the task at hand. Twilight and Applejack are both missing; we are not here to have an impromptu slumber-party.”

Pinkie's smile grew huge, and she leaned towards Rarity. “Did somepony just say slu-”

“Yes, Pinkie, I did!” Rarity glared at her.

“Uh, girls?” Rainbow Dash said, her head turned towards the edge of town.

“~And you know what that means~” Pinki Pie pranced in a circle around Rarity, completely oblivious to the unicorn's glare.

“Uh, girls!”

They both turned to look at Rainbow, and past her to the hooded figure approaching slowly along the centre of the street.

The figure stopped ten paces away from them, her yellow eyes glowing beneath a heavy brown cowl with a glint of gold inside. “Ponies, listen true. Have something of yours, I most certainly do. You would do well to follow, so I may show you what I mean... or who.”

Rainbow Dash flew down in front of Zeccora. “Is it Twilight, Applejack!?”

Zeccora pulled her hood back, revealing her sharp striped Mohawk and her vivid patterned coat. “To see with your own eyes would be most wise, as I do not wish to mistake one for another's guise.”

Rainbow turned and stared back at Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who had just walked up behind her. “Uh, in plain English?”

“She wants us to go with her, Rainbow. She says she has someone with her, but she doesn't want to tell us who she thinks it is, in case she is wrong,” Rarity said, growing more puzzled by the moment. “Wait, Zeccora dear, surely you know what Twilight Sparkle and Applejack both look like?”

“See for yourself you must, and no more will I speak. Come with me to see if I possess the one you seek.” The zebra pushed her hood back up, turned on the spot, and began to head back in the direction of the Everfree forest.

Rarity walked past Rainbow, followed by bouncing Pinkie Pie.

Ranbow Dash muttered to herself, “How in the hay does she always do that?” She rose into the air, wings outstretched, and shot off after the trio.

---

Applejack's boots pounded across rocks, frozen earth, and the roots of the trees that flew by on either side. She weaved and twisted between the thick, hard trunks with mere inches to spare. They coalesced from the pitch black before her eyes, giving her only seconds to dodge, their branches whacking and scraping across her like bony, reaching hands.

The sounds of pounding footfalls, snapping branches, and claws scratching against rock chased behind and to either side, pushing her hooves harder into the earth.

A thick tangle of branches formed from the darkness ahead of her too fast to avoid. She tucked her head down and ploughed straight though: Rarity's oilskin hat and coat deflecting the sharp, scratching wood away from her.

A loud crash followed a mere second later; the things coming through straight behind her.

Applejack's vision clouded with tears. Fresh terror jolted strength into her athletic limbs and she bolted forwards at near double the pace.

Her flank collided hard with a tree, but she ran on. Her hoof slammed down on a loose stone, knocking her balance off, but she ran on. A branch whacked her hard across the head, disorienting her, making her flank strike another tree, but she corrected her pace and ran on.

Twisted, horrifying cries went up into the night all around her. Wailing like the sound of things in pain, they warbled and rasped with snarling breath. Pairs of glinting reflections flashed in the blackness between the trees just beside her; too many to count or separate apart.

Applejack's neck locked straight ahead with terror. She blinked tears away with the wind on her face, the fear overwhelming, jolting her like lightening; manipulating her as its puppet.

More of the wailing cries surrounded her, but closer this time, close enough for her to hear ragged breaths panting through the pitch blackness at her heels.

She screamed out loud, forcing everything into her legs, practically feeling long, sharp claws reaching towards her tail.

The ground beneath her disappeared. Knowing they'd got her, she shut her eyes, let out a howl of terror, and thrashed with all her might, but she felt the air around her accelerate into a gale.

She opened her eyes, stared at the black circle of water below, and had a few seconds to gasp for breath before she hit the surface face-first.

The freezing water hit her like a runaway applecart. She convulsed, her burning muscles contracting painfully in the cold. Her head crashed back through the surface, coughing and spluttering, her legs thrashing to correct her in the water.

Wailing cries came from the cliff she'd fallen from above and behind her, agitated and angry.

Applejack stroked outwards with her legs, pushing towards the shore, but she stopped at the sight of a dark crack in the cliffs behind her: a crevice, a small opening that looked like it went inwards for a short way. She bit her lip in indecision.

Sounds of crashing undergrowth and ragged breathing began to move down from the higher ground she'd fallen from.

She turned in the water and swam frantically for the cliff-face. Every movement grew harder and slower, her limbs burning with pain and fatigue, her clothes dragging through the water. Eventually she reached it. Hauling herself into the tiny opening took everything she had left to give.

It was smaller than she'd thought. There was barely enough room for her to curl up in. She lay for a moment, half-in half-out of the opening, water pouring from her sodden oilskins. Cries came from outside again, and she jolted into action. She stuffed herself into the tiny space, scrambling to push herself in as far as possible, barely managing to fit. Then she tucked in her legs, pulled in just out of sight, and held her breath against her bursting lungs to listen.

Water lapped the cliff outside. The wind rushed through the trees in the distance. No other sounds reached her ears.

She was shaking. Shaking and crying. She knew they were there. In her mind she saw them on the shore, a line of monstrous eyes staring directly at the cave, knowing their prey was trapped, their claws already wading into the water.

A splash from outside made her go ridged. Silence followed it.

Applejack closed her eyes, breathed as softly as she could, curled even tighter into her tiny refuge, and tried to think of Sweet Apple Acres.

---

Zeccora's hut emerged from the mists of the Everfree forest ahead.

Rainbow Dash shot straight to the window, hovering in place, holding the windowsill. She gasped at something inside and then bolted straight through the front door.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie broke into a run, leaving Zeccora walking at the same steady pace behind them. They ran inside one after the other and ground to a stop at Rainbow Dash's back.

Something lay on a pile of blankets in the middle of the floor. Covered in blotches of burned black, it was almost unrecognisable save for a few hints of purple colour shining through.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash leapt forwards, her hooves reaching for the fallen pony.

“No!” Zeccora shouted from the doorway, her expression firm. “Much harm has befallen this one; do not interfere until my healing work is done.”

“What happened to her?” Rarity pushed forwards to stand beside Rainbow Dash, staring down in horror at the burned, charred coat of their friend.

“This, I do not know.” Zeccora walked inside, closing the door behind her, setting her heavy cloak down. She lifted an earthen jug from the floor, walked over to Twilight, and knelt down by her side. She pulled one of the blankets aside, uncovering Twilight's head, and brought the jug down to her lips.

“Zeccora, start at the beginning please,” Rarity said, walking forward, assuming authority. “How did Twilight come to be here in your hut?”

Zeccora dripped water into Twilight's mouth, holding her gently in her hooves. “Last day, when rain and wind did pay us all a visit, a knock upon my door I did hear. Answering this call, opening my home to the one who made it, I did take into my care this poor, unfortunate mare.”

“So Twilight just turned up at your doorstep?”

Zeccora rose to her hooves, and addressed them all. “That is correct. Now, I must ask all of you ponies to show the injured one her due respect.”

A groaning sound came from behind the Zebra. “Rarity...?”

“Twilight! Yes dear, I am here, we all are.” Rarity ducked past Zeccora, leaning down towards the heap of blankets.

Twilight blinked one of her eyes slowly, her other staying shut, her stare distant and lifeless. “All...?”

Rarity shot a worried glance at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. “Erm, no dear, not all of us... Applejack has gone missing. She is not here... we don't know where she is, we were hoping you would be able to help us with that-”

“What...? Where...”

Rainbow Dash pushed forwards beside Rarity. “Twilight? Do you know where she is? What happened to you? What happened to A.J? ”

“I... don't...” Twilight's eye closed.

A pair of hooves grabbed Rainbow's and Rarity's tails, and pulled gently back on them. “Girls, let's leave her alone, ok?” Pinkie Pie said, her smile forced. “I think she needs a nap.”

“More than just a nap this pony needs.” Zeccora motioned them towards the door. “Her recovery I will see to, and where possible, will speed.”

Rarity followed Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash out of the door; she bit her tongue, looking past the zebra at the pile of blankets and the charred purple of Twilight's coat. The door closed gently, and Zeccora gave them a nod before it shut.

“We're not just gonna let her-?” Rainbow dash stared between them. “She's gotta know where AJ is!”

“I am not so certain that she does,” Rarity said, her brows knitted in thought. “Did you listen to the few words she said? Besides, she is clearly in no fit state for an interrogation.”

“We can't just walk away!” Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, hovering in front of them. “I'm going back in there, Zeccora mumbo-jumbo or no!”

“Be reasonable, Rainbow.” Rarity looked up at her. “She is probably the only pon- erm, Zebra, other than Princess Celestia who can help Twilight right now. That is why Twilight will have went straight to her rather than seeking us out.”

“But, but...” Rainbow Dash seemed to deflate, dropping back onto her four hooves and hanging her head. “How are we gonna find A.J? She could be blown up, zapped Celestia knows where, or maybe even invisible-”

“Oh! Do you think she's here, right now?” Pinkie Pie glanced around rapidly. “Applejack, if you can hear us, draw `yes' on the ground!”

“I doubt that she is, Pinkie,” Rarity said, looking troubled. The white unicorn seemed to think for a long moment, placing her hoof under her chin. She lifted her head, blinked, and turned towards Ponyville. “Come this way. We need to pay Spike a visit.”

“Huh?” Rainbow looked at her. “He's not gonna know where A.J is any more than us.”

“No-” Rarity stopped and looked over her shoulder at them, “-but I want to check out a book, and he is the only librarian in left in town.”