I'll Reach You

by speckledgriffon

Chapter 3: Fire Bright

There it was again - moving against the overcast sky, flying between the thick, heavy clouds above; a speck of gold that reflected the sun.

Applejack scanned around her for the most likely looking tree. Jumping on its lowest branch, she shimmied up to where it forked and clambered up to a large branch lay about two thirds of the way up. It swayed in the wind and forced her to grip the rough bark tightly to stay steady. Stopping near its end, she gazed upwards, narrowing her eyes, peering between the vast canyons of cloud above. The speck of gold darted between narrow openings in them with the shape of outstretched wings glimpsed by its sides.

Another glint of gold caught her eye in a nearby clump of clouds, and then another. There were perhaps five or six in total, all flying together, staying above or inside the cloud cover; flying together in formation exactly like she'd seen the Pegasus ponies of Cloudsdale do.

Applejack slid back down the tree, the dry leaves she'd stuffed into Rarity's oilskins for warmth rustling loudly, and landed back on the hard, cold ground. She set off at a brisk run, weaving between the trees and leaping to clear small boulders or crevasses in the rough terrain.

Tears had formed in her eyes when she'd finally been able to examine Rarity's gift. The way they'd held fast against the punishment she'd taken was a glowing testament to the care, love, and skill her friend had put into them. A few stitches with a needle of wood and some strands from her mane had made them whole again. They'd shielded her against the weather, given her a warm bed in the freezing night, and the boots had saved her hooves from the sharp rocks of the barren forest floor.

She squinted up at the blue sky and the giant mountains of cloud slowly crossing it. Glancing back down, she saw she'd arrived at her destination and ground to a halt just inside the same clearing she'd originally woken up in.

A pile of dry branches and kindling stood in a pyramid in the centre. Roughly twice her size, it had taken her all morning and most of the afternoon to gather, but the spark of hope it lit in her was worth every bit of labour. She leapt to its base and frantically rubbed a small stick into a hole she'd made in a larger one. Her tongue stuck out in concentration, and she was soon rewarded with a wisp of smoke drifting up past her cheek.

The dry-leaf kindling she'd gathered caught well, and she puffed out her cheeks to bring it from a tiny smoulder to a shooting flame. It licked the wood, blackening the edges, and Applejack stood back to admire her work.

Her plume of black smoke rose straight up into the clear air. It bent with the wind when it cleared the tree tops and began to drift northwards at good speed.

She walked around to get a good view of the sky and the glints of gold flitting between the clouds. “Ain't no excuse now, ya hear. Ya'll can't miss this.”

Minutes passed. The pillar of smoke billowed higher and higher, making her dizzy trying to follow it. The golden creatures above vanished into a thick cloud bank without a trace.

Applejack sat down beside her fire to wait in its warmth. The sky began to darken in the east. Bright orange light flooded across the world and caught the treetops in golden fire; she had to admit the place carried a kind of beauty despite how barren and hostile the forest floor had turned out to be. She pulled a small, shrivelled pine cone from a pocket in her oilskins and took a reluctant bite out of the side. It tasted like it looked. Grimacing, she crunched the dry, scratchy cone with the image of a huge, ripe Sweet Apple Acers Golden Delicious taunting her mind.

As the minutes turned to hours, tendrils of panic began to thread their subtle way through her. The sky was darkening ever further and her pillar of smoke had long-since lifted to its highest point where it dispersed into nothing. Her hopes started to fade like the dying embers at the base of her fire, but she decided to wait just another few minutes before heading back to the crevasse in the cliff and safety from the creatures that stalked the darkness.

The time passed slowly, but pass it did, and she found herself staring at an orange-lit forest filled with shadows. With her time finally up, she walked forward, but stopped at the clearings edge, and turned back towards the now tiny wisps of smoke drifting into the air for one last look.

Something was falling from the clouds above. Shooting back around, Applejack galloped back into the clearing's centre to get a better look.

Three of the golden shapes were descending towards her. Caught in the incredible orange glow of the horizon, they looked like tiny flecks of fire dancing downwards from the blaze of the clouds above.

She let out a whoop of joy, spun on the spot, and tossed her yellow hat in the air. Standing back on her hind legs, she waved her front hooves across one another to get their attention. “Ya did it, A.J! Ya really did it! Yeeehaw!”

The triangular formation descended closer with every passing second. She made out large wings to either side of their sleek looking bodies, spread wide in a fast looking glide, and what looked like four legs tucked tightly beneath them.

They were moving far faster than she'd realised. The leader, flanked closely the two others, swept overhead at such speed and height that it was impossible for her to see them clearly. They came around in wide circle, flying around the edge of the clearing, seeming to observe it from all angles.

Applejack turned in place to watch them. She cupped her hooves to her mouth and yelled at the top of her voice. “Hey! Down here! Ah need help!”

The shapes flitted lower across the treetops, staying just out of sight above them, their wings giving the occasional swift beat to stay aloft.

A tingle of doubt nudged Applejack's stomach, but she ignored it and kept waving her hooves.

Out of nowhere, the lead flyer shot across the edge of the clearing and slammed into a tree, bending it almost double with the force of the impact. It sprung back, but the creature clung fast to the top of it, and after a moment Applejack had a clear look at exactly who, or what, she'd summoned.

---

“Pinkie Pie, fetch everything you can find on location or search-oriented magic. Rainbow Dash, go and bring Fluttershy back from the search party. Spike, please begin re-ordering these books to help Pinkie's search.” Rarity whipped her immaculately curled mane behind her head, and cast her eye around them all from the centre of the library. “Come on now, we do not know how much time we have left.”

The only protest she got was a snide look from Rainbow Dash, but she'd expected it, so all was still going according to plan. The plan she'd worked out in her head five minutes ago. The plan she was mostly making up as she went along.

“Yes Rarity, anything for you...” Spike sighed, walking over to a pile of books in a daze.

“Really Spike, do be a gentlecol... er, dragon, and pick up the pace a bit?”

“Oh, yes, of course!” He jumped into action, zooming from place to place with stacks of books, rebuilding the library's shelves from the jumbled heaps littering the floor.

Pinkie Pie bounced merrily around the circular walls of the hollowed out tree, humming a tune to herself, her eyes closed in happy crescents.

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Fine, but only because I wanna let Fluttershy know about Twilight.” She vanished in a streak of colour out the front door, blowing some stray papers around in her wake.

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. Part one, check. Assume authority and make them listen to you. Now all she needed to do was work out what part two was, and everything would be fine. A few strands of her perfect mane sprung out of line, and her left eye twitched. She giggled to herself, and turned to watch Spike work.

The bottom shelves were almost full. He ran from place to place, digging through piles of books to extract the correct volumes, and rushed around carrying stacks nearly twice his height. She realised his obvious expertise was often overlooked by all of them; she was certain no other creature in Equestria could sort and index books that fast by hand or hoof alone.

Pinkie Pie seemed more interested in prancing and humming than searching. She kept bouncing around the edge of the room, embellishing her tune with nods of her head and shakes of her tail.

Reluctantly, Rarity decided to ignore her. Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie, and though she acted `so random' as Rainbow Dash put it, she seldom let them down when it mattered.

A streak of colour shot back through the door. “Found her! Hey, not bad Spike. This place is looking better already.”

“Ohmygoodness-ohmygoodness...” Fluttershy alighted carefully on the floor just behind Rainbow Dash. “Was Twilight all right when you saw her? Did she speak, could she move?”

“It is all right, dear. Zeccora is looking after her,” Rarity said, trying to soften the truth. “She seemed dazed, a bit rough around the edges, but I'm sure it is nothing Zeccora cannot correct.”

“Can we go there? Please? I'd just like to see her for myself...” Fluttershy lowered her head and hid behind her mane. “I mean, if it won't be interrupting, and it's not too much trouble...”

Rarity thought of the burned, charred form lying listlessly on Zeccora's floor and winced. “Ehm, sorry dear, but I think we'd better stick together for now. I may need your help at some point and it wouldn't do for you to be too far.”

Fluttershy brightened up. “Oh? Are we all doing something?” She noticed Spike working away, and Pinkie prancing around the room.

“Yeah, what are we doing, Rarity?” Rainbow Dash stepped up, eyeing her.

“Why, we're... sticking to my plan. That's what we're doing.” Rarity tossed her mane and stood firm under their scrutiny. “We're following my plan to the letter. My plan to find Applejack.”

“Oh good!” Fluttershy smiled. “I was worried we were all just standing around aimlessly, wondering what to do next.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, imagine that.”

Rarity's eyes twitched one after the other, and another batch of hairs twanged from the styled curls of her mane. “Yes... imagine that. How terrible that would be.”

“Ugh, you don't have any plan!” Rainbow Dash jumped forwards, hovered in the air, and glared at the unicorn. “She doesn't know what to do, and we're wasting valuable time we could be using to search for A.J!”

Rarity's eyes narrowed. She stepped forwards, set her stance, and met the Pegasus' glare with her own. “Now see here, Rainbow Dash. I most certainly do have a plan, and I intend to carry it out to its conclusion. Instead of putting your energy into bickering, you could do something constructive and help me.”

“Who put you in charge? Who said we all have to do what you say? I say A.J's probably lying somewhere around Ponyville out cold, hurt bad, or in danger, and all you're doing is stopping us from finding her!”

Rarity's voice went dangerously low. “Rainbow, dear, please don't say something you will later regret.”

“That's it!” Rainbow Dash shot to the door, and hovered in the air just inside. “I'm out-a-”

Pinkie Pie bounced from nowhere right in front of Rarity, and dropped a thick, heavy book by her hooves. “Found one!”

Rarity did her best to disguise her huge breath of relief. She picked the book up with magic and saw that Rainbow Dash had landed on the floor to watch her. The cover was inlaid gold depicting a large, ornate compass surrounded by decorative stars. She read the full sub-title aloud. “Magical guidance and location spells, including missing ponies, creatures, and artefacts. Revision four.”

“Hey, all right Pinkie Pie!” Spike said, folding his arms and smiling at the pink pony.

“Wow, that sounds perfect.” Fluttershy said, beaming even brighter.

“Yes, dear, it is... perfect. Thank you.” Rarity gazed at Pikie's smile, eyes shining, too relived and grateful to say any more.

Rainbow turned her head away in a huff.

“No problem!” Pinkie said, bouncing towards the door. “I guess we need to go see Twilight, `cause the spells in that book look really hard, so let's all go to Zeccora's, right?”

Rarity snapped out of it, regaining her senses. “Eh, yes, exactly! Well done Pinkie. Come on girls, we have a unicorn to pester!”

---

The tree swayed in the wind. Applejack stared straight up at the top of its trunk, holding her ground, but staying absolutely still.

A sharp, hooked, yellow beak caught the golden light of the sun. White feathers covered a lean crest and the fierce, angular face of a bird of prey. Bright amber eyes pierced straight at her, sizing her up like their owner's next meal. Powerful yellow talons gripped the trunk of the tree, cutting white scars into its bark. A pair of large, sandy-furred paws stood on a branch just behind, and a sharp pair of wings scythed out to either side.

Applejack fought the urge to back away. She'd only encountered one of these creatures before, and Gilda seemed like a downright cuddly ball of fluff compared to the fierce, wild griffon that glared at her now. She swallowed hard, glanced up, and saw the other two that had come with this one. They were circling low and fast overhead, skimming the edge of the clearing, their heads angled to keep a constant watch on her; ready to swoop in at a moment's notice.

She needed to break the tension. Convince them she wasn't a threat. Tell them she needed their help to get out of the forest. Applejack cleared her throat again, and decided she'd settle for asking not to be their supper. “Eh, howdy, there?”

The griffon didn't react.

Applejack swallowed even harder. “Uh, do ya'll speak normal? Can ya'll understand me?” She flinched. Great work, A.J. Nice an' subtle. Just douse yourself in salt and hand em' the menu.

The piercing amber eyes darted around the clearing, and the griffon leapt from the top of the tree. It dropped straight towards the ground, and broke its fall at the last second with a mighty beat of wings that sent a shockwave of dusk rolling into the air.

Applejack coughed and spat out the dry particles, shielding her eyes with her lashes. The dust settled, revealing the lean, powerful shape of the creature standing opposite her.

No, she realised. Not a creature. Not an `it'. A she. A burst of hope buoyed Applejack for a moment, but dropped again when she realised there was no way in Equestria that this could possibly be Gilda, or even her distant relative.

“Thank ya'll for coming down, ya know, at ma' signal.” A Trickle of sweat rolled down Applejack's face. She attempted a grin and forced herself to keep speaking. “Ya see, ah' don't rightly know how ah got here, an ahm' in a real heap a' trouble. I reckon I'm lost in this here forest, and there's...” she gulped loudly, “...these, things, that come out at night. Ah' barely scraped away with ma hide first time ah' met em.”

The griffon glared at her with judgement in her eyes; bare, unforgiving harshness that cared nothing for Applejack and her plight. Her beak was cracked all along on one side, leaving a narrow, ragged gap where the two halves should have joined together.

“So, uh, do ya'll think you could point me toward' Ponyville?” Applejack smiled through her fear, forcing her hooves to stay where they were on the ground. She knew from encounters with dangerous creatures from the Everfree Forest that running was the worst thing she could do in a stand-off like this.

Lifting her broken beak to the sky, the griffon let out the shrill cry of an eagle, a sound that rang far into the distance across the trees.

Applejack's heart slammed off her chest. She hunched up on her hind legs, frozen in fear.

The two circling overhead darted down into the clearing. They passed over their leader and snatched her into the air with an instant burst of speed, kicking up another cloud of dust, letting her take position back at the front of their formation. The trio beat their wings in a synchronized show of strength upwards into the orange sunset above.

Applejack stared after them for a moment, still frozen in place, and then leapt forwards. “Hey! Ya'll can't leave! Hey, I'm talkin' to you!” She galloped to the edge of the clearing, crying out at the top of her voice, “Ya'll can't go! Come back! Don't leave me here!”

She ground to a stop, gasping through a raw throat, shaking her head in disbelief at the three shapes flying into the distance. She beat her front hooves against the ground. All of the work and pain she'd went through to build the fire, the hope she'd gotten up, the thought that she might have only been a few hours or days away from seeing her friends again, her family; Applejack's breath caught in her throat, and her eyes began to heat and sting.

“Ya'll can't, ya just can't!” She shook her head and blinked through a haze of water at the sky. “Ya can't leave me alone, why'd ya have to? Just, come back, please? Ah promise ah won't say stupid stuff or act goofy no more; ah swear it!”

Their wings beat steadily by their sides. They grew smaller and smaller, gaining height with every stroke.

She slumped down, hanging from her shoulders, and planted her haunch on the dusty ground. She hung her head and closed her eyes, fighting the warm water leaking from their corners. “Why'd ya have to do that? Ah was only askin' for yer help.”

She opened her eyes, blinked them clear, and something dawned on her. She stood back up, looked around the clearing, and went very, very still.

Between the trees, beneath the cover of the canopy, black, inky darkness had returned to the world beneath the forest.