//------------------------------//
// To Prove One's Worth 
// Story: Forbidden Fruit 
// by Vargras 
//------------------------------//

For once, Applejack found herself awoken by something other than roosters or the morning sun, though the source was none too surprising. Twilight Sparkle's own snoring had roused the earth pony from her sleep, and true to her word, the unicorn had held on the entire night. As much as she hated to leave the warmth of the sleeping bag, she wanted to get breakfast started for the two of them - slowly and gently, she wiggled out from underneath her friend's hold, slipping out of the sleeping bag and stepping outside once she had opened the tent back up. A fine layer of frost covered much of the ground, including their saddlebags, and she knew Twilight had made the right call in forcing them to share.

She hastily dug out the flint and steel from her bags and immediately set to work on relighting the fire, smiling to herself as it came to life once more. Setting the tools aside, she searched through her bags once more, pulling out some daffodils and bread - it was a simple breakfast, but it would suffice. It didn't take long to assemble either, considering they were just sandwiches. Applejack heard a yawn from behind her and turned to face a half-asleep Twilight Sparkle. "Mornin', sugarcube. I already got breakfast done."

"Morning AJ. I swear, I've got the worst case of bedhead ever." The unicorn looked up and gave her mane a poke. "I'll sort it out later. Did you sleep well?"

Applejack smiled and took a seat beside the fire, briefly setting the sandwich to the side. "Like a log! Best sleep I've gotten in years. I don' really know why I slept so well either."

"Oh, I think I can imagine why." Twilight grinned, her horn glowing softly as she picked up her sandwich and took a bite out of it. The earth pony rolled her eyes and began to eat her own breakfast, and the two of them ate in silence until they had both managed to finish. The lavender mare kept herself occupied with brushing out her mane, but Applejack had no such issues with appearance and instead surveyed the map. They were getting close to a gray... something. She squinted her eyes or tilted her head, but nothing seemed to really make much sense - the map was soon enveloped by a red glow, flying out of her grasp and floating in front of Twilight Sparkle's face. "Sorry, Applejack. Looks like... we're close to a ruin of some sort, and that's the only way through."

"What kinda ruin are we talkin' about, Twi?"

"No idea. It could be anything, and we don't know what's in there either. Still, we managed to get through a crypt. I'm sure we can manage this, right?"

"Heck, I bet there ain't nothin' that the two of us can' handle!" Applejack reared up on her hind legs and flexed as if to prove her point, though she quickly stopped once she heard her friend's laughter.

"Now you're acting like Rainbow Dash." She allowed herself one more giggle and rolled up the map, placing it into her saddlebags. "Let's pack up camp and get moving. I'd like to get through those ruins while it's still day."

The two of them worked quickly, with Twilight dismantling the tent just as fast as she had assembled it the day before. Applejack gathered up the rest of their belongings while her friend worked, and it wasn't long until they bid their shelter farewell and departed once more. The sun was actually out this day, and much of the frost on the ground had already been melted - consequently, it had made everything a muddy mess, and the two mares had to tread carefully. Still, they were making better progress than they were the day before. As they journeyed through the forest, Applejack couldn't help but admire some of the trees. Sure, they weren't apple trees at all, but it was still enough to remind her of Sweet Apple Acres - actually, it was beginning to remind her too much of Sweet Apple Acres. For a place that was supposedly deserted, the trees were spaced rather neatly. They weren't scattered about, like one would normally expect of a forest. These were more like... rows. "Uh... Twi? Is it jus' me, or are these trees a lil'... too prim an' proper, if ya catch mah drift?"

"Hm... it does seem a bit odd, now that you mention it. Maybe hundreds of years ago, ponies lived in this area. It wouldn't be unlikely if they had planted these trees themselves. If anything, the rows mean we should be getting close to the ruins." The lavender mare glanced about, surveying the area as she and Applejack steadily made their way past all the trees. The ground was feeling much more solid by now, which was certainly appreciated in comparison to the muddy and unstable footing they had been dealing with. Off in the distance, they could make out the ruins themselves - back in the day, it appeared to have been a mighty fortress of sorts, but now it lay in disrepair. All manners of flora had overrun the crumbling stone, and remarkably enough, some tattered banners still waved in the breeze, their colors preserved. Twilight Sparkle, eager to investigate, rushed on ahead, and Applejack was forced to play catch-up. The unicorn had proven surprisingly fast, and when the earth pony finally caught up to her, it took a moment for Applejack to notice the bewildered look upon Twilight's face. She followed her gaze upwards, and soon caught sight of it as well - the banners, even after all these years, remained a brilliant yellow, and emblazoned upon them was a sun.

"Twi, is that... that can' be what I think it is, can it?"

"It... looks like Princess Celestia's cutie mark. They only ever had two castles, though - the one in the Everfree Forest, and the one in Canterlot. So what's her mark doing all the way out here?"

"I got no clue, but it's givin' me a bad feelin'." Just like with the graveyard, she found herself warily looking about the ruins of the fortress. She had the oddest sensation she was being watched, yet she could find no proof of it. "Jus'... I dunno, Twilight. I'm gettin' an awful bad vibe from this place."

The lavender mare sighed and placed a hoof on Applejack's back. "You're way too superstitious for your own good... I'm sure it's nothing. C'mon, AJ. Let's see what's in here." She slowly made her way through the dilapidated gateway and into the fortress itself, and the orange mare reluctantly followed. It was surprisingly dark inside - though the fortress lacked an actual roof, the plantlife within had grown large enough to blot out much of the sunlight. Twilight found herself forced to summon another orb of light to help guide them through, and they soon found themselves at a wall, with a single doorway leading through. Applejack was about to step through when she felt herself hoisted up into the air and flown back to Twilight's side. "Not so fast, Applejack. There's glyphs all over these walls, and it might be a message or something. Let me see if I can translate it."

The earth pony huffed and took a seat upon the ground. "I'll let ya try, but given how old all this stuff is, I ain't gonna be surprised if ya can' find a way to translate-"

"Ah, got it!" Twilight giggled as she heard Applejack sigh in the background, and the unicorn soon began to read off the translation. "Let's see... there's mentions here of trials to 'hold back the unworthy'. I've also found a reference here and there to a tree, so I'm almost positive that we're on the right path."

"Great, so let's get go-"

"Hold on, there's more. Whoever built this place or the trials themselves designed three specific trials - the Trial of Earth, the Trial of Sky, and the Trial of Arcane. I... guess those three refer to the different pony breeds?" The unicorn tapped a hoof to her chin as she thought. "Based on that, we can definitely handle the Earth and Arcane trials, but... I might have to bust out that flight spell again for Sky."

Applejack peered at her with a raised eyebrow. "Ya mean th' one ya used on Rarity?"

"Yep, that's the one! It looks like this first trial is the Trial of Earth, so that'll be all you, Applejack. Guess we should get started." The two mares stepped away from the glyphs and approached the lone doorway, cautiously opening it before stepping inside. From a distance, a figure watched them both, curious as to who these new arrivals might be. Visitors hadn't come to the fortress in so very long - perhaps it would be worthwhile to watch these two. It liked the idea of that.

Visitors.

-----

"So uh... what in tarnation are we even lookin' at?"

"It looks like an obstacle course, AJ." Indeed, the room that lay out before them had all manner of obstacles in the way, but curiously enough, a second path branched off to the side and upwards. It almost seemed like an observation deck of sorts, but neither was entirely sure what purpose it could possibly serve.

"Hah, obstacle course? This is the fancy schmancy Trial of Earth? This is gonna be a piece of apple pie!" Applejack took a running start and leaped into the air, only to find herself halted by Twilight's magic once more. Slowly, the orange mare was pulled back and set upon the ground. "Aw, c'mon! What is it now, Twi? It's just an obstacle course!"

"Looks can be deceiving." The unicorn picked up a rock with her magic and flung it towards the spot where Applejack would have landed - upon making contact with the ground, a pike shot up from the floor, shattering the rock and eliciting a frightful yelp from the earth pony. "You would have been an Applejack-kebab if you had made that jump. Just... settle down and let's see what we're dealing with here."

Applejack gladly did as told after that brush with death, taking a seat upon the floor and removing her hat to wipe her brow, and Twilight Sparkle took the time to investigate the room itself, heading up to the observation deck to give herself a better vantage point. It was fairly nondescript, and yet something caught her eye - the entirety of the obstacle course was composed of several tiles, and each of these tiles had a symbol upon it. There was a leaf, a feather, and a squiggly... thing. She wasn't sure about that last one. Still, it gave her an idea of what each meant, and she hurried back down to the waiting earth pony. "Okay Applejack, I think I figured it out. Just let me test something real quick."

The unicorn picked up and levitated three rocks in front of herself - the first was thrown upon a feather tile, with the second landing on what she presumed to be a tile about magic. Both rocks were promptly skewered, and Twilight proceeded to the final test. She threw the last rock upon a leaf tile, and waited for the result. Nothing happened. Grinning, she clapped her hooves and turned to report her results. "AJ, there's three different kinds of tiles throughout the entire obstacle course. The leaves represent earth ponies, feathers for the pegasus ponies, and the squiggly... thing is for unicorns. With this being the Trial of Earth, the only safe tiles are the leaf tiles. Just step on those, and you should be fine. I'll try to help you out from the observation deck."

"Bah, 'course it ain't that easy. I 'spose we should get this over with." The orange mare sighed and placed her hat within her saddlebags, with the unicorn soon taking them and adding them to her own - it would be best for the earth pony to be as unencumbered as possible. Twilight made her way up to the observation deck, and began to survey the course more closely as she attempted to plot out the best path for her friend.

"Okay, Applejack! I'll try to call things out for you! Just um... pretend you're competing against Rainbow in another Iron Pony competition!"

Applejack was initially feeling nervous, especially after the incident with the pike, but that last statement had changed things - she narrowed her eyes, nostrils flared, and stomped a hoof as she prepared to start. "Oh that girl ain't got nothin' on me when it comes ta obstacle courses..." Her muscles tensed, and she soon took off, racing through the obstacle course in expert fashion. She easily made it past the first group of obstacles, a series of raised stones that forced her to jump, and she remained ever mindful of the tiles as she made her way through.

"Weaving up ahead!"

The earth pony briefly glanced up at her friend before focusing on the course once more, a group of stone pillars in her way. It reminded her an awful lot of the barrel event from the Iron Pony competition, making for a surprisingly natural feeling as she raced through - she felt her hoof briefly slip onto an adjacent tile, however, and a pike whistled past her as she quickly moved out of the way before continuing onwards. Her body lightly brushed against each pillar as she weaved between them, and it wasn't long before she had cleared it and made her way to the next group.

Twilight looked up at the next obstacle, and her jaw dropped for a brief moment - bladed pendulums. "Applejack, pendulums next! Duck!"

Pendulums? Applejack had no idea what the unicorn was talking about. After all, pendulums were just those big things in clocks - there couldn't possibly be anything bad about those, right? She was soon proven otherwise once she spotted the gleam of sharpened steel and heard the howl of it as it swung downwards. The earth pony instinctually dodged it and was fast, but not fast enough, letting out a sharp gasp as she felt it barely graze her back. It wasn't a deep wound, but it had still been enough to cause bleeding. Determined, she pressed onwards, dodging the rest of the pendulums and rounding the corner to reach the final obstacle. Between her and the exit was a large pit, filled with a sickly green liquid, and it was fairly obvious that whatever it was couldn't be good for your health. She backed up and charged forward, taking a running leap and kicking off from the ground. She soared through the air, much further than she thought possible, and she wondered if this was what it was like to have wings - before she had time to think much else of it, Applejack was already making her descent. The orange mare landed roughly, her legs giving out from under her and sending her into a tumble, causing her to slide along the stone floor. Thankfully, the end was completely devoid of tiles, and she slowly got to her hooves and wandered over to the exit. 

Beside the doorway was a button of sorts, and she gave it a press - behind her, another stairway to the observation deck opened up, as well as an additional entrance, and Twilight Sparkle made her way back down beside her friend. The unicorn frowned as she hastily pulled a bandage from the bags with her magic, wrapping it around the earth pony's torso as she took care of the wound. "Are you alright, AJ? I mean, I knew you would make it, but that still looked like it hurt."

"Yeah, I'm fine sugarcube. I've had worse anyways. Gimme those saddlebags back and let's get ta th' next trial." The lavender mare did as told, levitating them over and placing them upon her friend's back - together, the two of them pushed the doors open, and walked through the doorway, heading off towards the next room.

After they had departed, the figure from before rose from the floor and cocked its head. Such frail and curious little creatures had passed the first trial with relative ease, and certainly required much more attention. Maybe these two would actually prove worthy in the end. It smiled at that.

Worthy.