The train horn whistled as the cars barreled down the tracks. Inside one of the cars, Twilight sat across from Onyx, her nose buried in the reports she had been given. Sifting through the papers, the unicorn soaked up every iota of information she could as her eyes scanned each page.
”The pattern seems pretty clear. Whoever this instigator- or instigators- are, they come in, blame misfortunes on the Princess, and the residents of each of the towns start attacking royal officials. Although... It is weird that he happens to come in just when all of these accidents are happening. If the instigator- or instigators- wants to start an insurrection, why isn’t he-”
Her train of thought suddenly stopped when a snore ripped through the air. Twilight flung her head upward, looking at the seat across from her. The sleeping form of Onyx lay sprawled across the bench, occupying enough space for three ponies to sit on. Twilight knew firsthand that the train trip to Appleloosa was long, but it was barely ten minutes since she and Onyx boarded and the pegasus mare already collapsed on her seat. Twilight’s eyes turned back to the reports, her mind refocusing on the matter at hand.
”If these are rebellions, what do they want? They haven’t made any demands or have shown any agenda beyond ‘make royal officials leave.’ I’d bet my front right hoof that there’s something else going on here, though we would have to observe the townsfolk of Appleloosa to get a clear idea of what that something else is.” She sifted through each of the reports, placing a hoof on her chin as her eyes scanned each of the pages thoroughly, making sure that her previous assessment didn’t just come from overlooking a detail in one of the reports.
****
A whole day would pass by, and Twilight’s research (interrupted only by a 3-hour nap) revealed that she didn’t miss anything. ”Great... That accomplished nothing. At least I’m right, but that doesn’t explain much...” She looked out the window, dropping the papers. The desert landscape began to yield to an apple orchard out in the distance, though she could see that many of the trees had withered, the leaves having fallen off and not so much as a blossom on any of the branches. Their destination grew nearer, as well as the chance to see just what was the driving force of this insanity.
“Find anything interesting in there, kid?” Onyx had evidently finally awoken from her slumber, though how long ago, Twilight wasn’t sure. She paid no attention to anything around her during her scrutiny to the packet of reports. She finally responded after leaning back in her seat.
“Other than the insurrections don’t make any sense, no.”
“A rebellion against Princess Celestia not making any sense? Stop the presses,” Onyx quipped, a smirk curling on the left side of her face.
The train stopped, the whistle blowing as the conductor announced, “Appleloosa, this stop is Appleloosa!” The pegasus mare immediately stood up from her seat and stretched, grabbing a sizable bag of her belongings, along with a flowing tan cloak. Twilight caught a slight glimpse of something metal sticking out of her saddlebag, though she immediately covered the bag with her cloak as she wrapped it around her neck. Twilight stuffed a saddlebag with her own baggage, which consisted mostly of paper, quills, ink (tightly sealed), the lore books brought with her from the camp, and of course, the reports that Underhoof lent to them.
“Well, don’t just stand there, kid. We’ve got some legwork to do.”
Twilight gathered up all the papers and followed Onyx to the nearest exit on the train, Upon leaving the train, her head swiveled about and took in the surrounding area of Appleloosa. When she first arrived, Applejack’s cousin Braeburn was sure to greet them immediately and tell them all the wonders of the small town.
“Huh... This is weird... Shouldn't Braeburn be out here to greet us by now?”
“Oh, sweet Celestia... You KNOW people here?” Onyx’s voice groaned with both concern and irritation.
“Well... We met briefly a while back when Applejack was-”
“Spare me the details and let’s just hope that the fact that people know who you are won’t become a problem.”
Twilight heaved a lengthy sigh, walking off the train station, her eyes scanning the town. “Let’s just find a hotel to stay in for the night,” she groaned as she walked down the dirt road. Twilight focused on the local watering hole, the Salt Block; a scaffold was set up on either side of the saloon, each side repairing the canopy, the massive sign with the salt shaker on it set to the side, a smaller, paper sign nailed to the saloon doors that read:
“Open During Repairs. Pardon the mess. -The Management”
She then caught a glimpse of a yellow-coated, blonde-haired Stallion wearing a brown vest and a stetson, all of which could only belong to Braeburn, Applejack’s cousin and the head of the Orchard in Appleloosa. His head lifted up, his face softening into a smile as he saw Twilight walking down the road along with a tan-cloaked, blue-coated stranger.
“Hi there, and welcome to Appleloosa. Ya must be one o’ Applejack’s friends,” Braeburn greeted Twilight, though without the normal spirit and vigor with which he greeted visitors the last time Twilight had come there. His face was tired, evidently every ounce of effort being put into keeping that smile upright. He didn’t even bother with the flamboyant introduction of his town of “AAAAAAPPLELOOOSA!”
“Yes, I’m Twilight Sparkle, though we’ve met before.”
“Sorry, name kinda slipped my mind there. Sure is nice meeting ya, Twilight Sparkle, but who’s yer friend there? Don’ think I rightly met her before...”
Onyx quickly filled in before Twilight could speak. “I’m Twilight’s teacher. She’s shown such promise that Princess Celestia has seen fit to allow her to study the cultures of ponies who live outside of the main body of the country!”
”Well... Gotta hand it to Onyx, she’s a talented liar. Not sure whether I should be impressed or scared.” Twilight nodded slowly. “Yeah... Anyway, Appleloosa happened to be our first stop. We'll be studying the settler ponies and how they get along out on the frontier.”
“See how we get along, huh?” Braeburn’s face fell for a moment, his eyes shifting between the ground and the Apple Orchard. “Sadly, we've been having more problems with that than we did when we first got here...” Suddenly, a carriage barreled past the three, being drawn by a pair of rather burly-looking earth ponies. The carriage was painted red and green, blue text written across the sides that read “DESTINY.”
“Speaking of problems...” Braeburn rolled his eyes as another pony, this one with a blonde-tan coat, brown mane and a mustache stepped out of the Sheriff’s office, standing out in front of the carriage as ponies from all over town began to crowd around it. The doors on the garish carriage swung open, a unicorn stallion wearing a stetson stepping down, his coat a light brown with his hair a dark green, tumbling out of his hat. His hazel eyes scanned the crowd that was surrounding him, the ponies in it muttering to themselves, though Twilight couldn’t distinguish anything in particular they were saying.
“That fella’s Caprice... Calls himself a ‘Professional Consultant,’ whatever the hay that means... In fact, I’m pretty convinced it don’t mean anythin’ at all.” Braeburn’s green eyes shot into the middle of the crowd, Onyx and Twilight turning to each other with their eyebrows raised. The pegasus mare leaned over to her unicorn “student’s” ear, glancing quickly at Braeburn to make sure that he wasn’t looking at them. Sure enough, his hateful gaze was still fixed on the crowd surrounding the gaudy “Destiny” carriage.
“He has a massive mob surrounding him and goes by a vague, shady job title? I think this might be our guy,” Onyx whispered into Twilight’s ear. She considered for a moment, then nodded slowly. Twilight couldn’t argue with that logic, it seemed pretty clear that this Caprice guy was who they were looking for.
The pony called Caprice produced a large wooden crate and lay it on the ground, stepping on it as he surveyed the whole crowd. In the distance, the Sheriff watched the crowd, keeping his eyes peeled for any trouble that might arise, whoever it might come from in this massive, street-clogging mob. The unicorn at the center of the mob took a deep breath and projected his voice across the town.
“Citizens of Appleloosa! I come bearing news from the Capital! Your small town is still forgotten by Princess Celestia! Cloudsdale still sends you no clouds to water your crops while your orchards wither away!” The pony on the box turned his attention toward Braeburn. The orchard pony averted his gaze, his green eyes focusing on Twilight.
“But don’t be afraid, Appleloosa, for I, Caprice, come here with the ability to grant you whatever favors you need! Just line up in front of the carriage, and I shall address any need brought to me, great or small! I’ll be here for the next week and no longer, so don’t delay!” The chatter among the ponies of the town grew louder, a line starting to form immediately in front of the carriage, as per its owner’s instructions. Twilight paid special attention to each of the people in the line, seeing each of them with creased brows once they found themselves being pushed forward as people entered the carriage.
“Guess most folks’ll listen to anyone if they’re desperate enough... Can’t say I entirely blame ‘em.” Braeburn looked over to the orchard, then back at Twilight.
“Well, maybe you can tell me what’s been going on here, if it isn’t too much trouble. I haven’t heard anything from Applejack about it, and I thought she’d be in touch with you.”
Braeburn swiveled his head back and forth, then nodded at Twilight, motioning toward him with his right hoof as he weaved past the crowd toward the Salt Block. Twilight looked over at Onyx and nodded.
“I’ll do some of my own digging around here.”
“Alright. I’ve got some preparations of my own to make...” Onyx shifted the saddlebags on her back and moved toward the town inn. “I’ll see you later, kid.”
****
Twilight and Braeburn entered the partially-repaired Salt Block saloon. The two of them seated themselves at one of the tables near the bar, the yellow orchard pony looking around. The saloon was virtually empty, save for the bartender.
“Can I get ya folks somethin’?”
Braeburn looked up at the bartender, nodding slowly. “Two ciders.”
“Hard or soft?”
“Soft for the lady, hard for me.”
“Comin’ up.”
While the bartender dispensed the drinks, Braeburn left some bits on the table for him to take. After the mugs were taken to the table, the bartender immediately took the bits and inclined his head politely, heading back behind the bar while the yellow orchard pony took his first drink of the cider. Lowering the mug, his eyes locked in contact with Twilight’s, the pupils in the center of the green irises zeroing in on her.
“So, how’s AJ been doin’?”
“Well, she was fine last time I was around... Studies have been taking me all over the place. Equinology is one of those things that has to be experienced, you know?” Twilight laughed nervously, realizing that he probably didn’t know and her lie might fall through immediately; she was never particularly good at keeping secrets.
“‘s good to hear.” Braeburn evidently didn’t care to examine it further, nodding slowly as he took another chug of his cider. Twilight shifted uncomfortably in her chair, the whole situation reminiscent of a blind date, complete with awkward small-talk and equally awkward moments of dead silence. A few minutes passed before Twilight finally mustered up the resolve to ask what she intended to.
“Braeburn, when did all of this start? All the weird accidents and this Caprice stallion, I mean.”
“Let’s see...” The yellow orchard pony took a few moments to consider, his eyes drifting off to the side as his hoof held the mug in mid-air, just inches away from his lips. After taking another drink, he gulped down the portion of liquid that entered his mouth, traveling down his throat. “All started when the town started goin’ dry...”
“Going dry? Don’t the pegasi provide regular rainfall?”
“Actually, they don’t, it’s part of what got everyone here so riled up in the first place. Appleloosa is a pretty young outlying town, and is pretty low on their priorities compared to, say, Ponyville or other towns that have had long-established crop export. Most of the time, we have to write letters to get them to even come here in the first place. It’s usually not a big deal; we send the letter, they bring the clouds, it rains for a while, and we have water to last us a good year. Course, ya can probably guess that ain’t how it went...”
“They never brought the rainfall and the orchard died, right?”
“Well... Not quite.” Braeburn gulped down more of his cider before continuing, wiping his mouth. “See, when we sent out the letter, we never got a reply from Cloudsdale about it. They never came by for months, so we sent one of our pegasi to go to Cloudsdale himself to see what was going on, though he didn’ come back either. Before we could really do anything about it, some weird stallion rode into town on the weirdest-lookin’ carriage I ever did see...”
“Caprice.”
“Yep... Caprice rode into town tellin’ everypony that Cloudsdale an’ Canterlot forgot about Appleloosa entirely, sayin’ that we were just gonna be left out to die. Course, no pony took him seriously at first, but then he said he knew where to find water...” He lifted his mug and took another swig of his cider, setting it down before he continued.
“Everypony got excited, though I naturally asked him to show us where it was. He asked for my name, I told him, and then he asked me to tell him what I wanted again. When I told him that I wanted him to show us where to find the water, he wandered around the desert for a few hours until he told us to dig. When we did...”
“You found an underground spring. But I don’t understand, why did your orchard die out if you found water?”
“That’s the weird part... When I found the water, I’ll admit I was plum grateful to Caprice for helping me find it, and for the first few days, the orchard was fine, but then, after a week passed by, half the trees just up and died!”
“Has anything else like this happen? Like, a really weird stroke of bad luck?”
“Well, now that ya mention it... Caprice found us a gold mine, and a few days later, it collapsed for no reason... A young stallion managed to court the mare of his dreams, only for her to fall down the stairs and split her skull when she hit the bottom... And not too long before ya got here, a young colt got crushed by the Salt Block sign after he won a game of Poker.”
Twilight’s brow creased in on itself, her eyes widening while her pupils shrunk in shock. She started running several possibilities through her mind. Just as she was told, strange accidents have been occurring here, and the last one certainly explained the state of the Salt Block. Twilight, however, fixated upon the first problem.
“Getting back to the Orchard... Did someone poison the soil or the water?”
“If they did, I don’t see how. We had some of our resident unicorns check the water and the soil, said they were fine. If there was somethin’ wrong with the water, they said, it’d affect the townsfolk too since they’ve been using it for drinking. As for the soil, they never found anything in there that wasn’t there a week before.”
Twilight’s brow creased as she considered logical explanations, then one crossed her mind that, admittedly, before she was recruited, she wouldn’t have thought of it. Now, it seems to be the only likely conclusion; magical sabotage.
“Braeburn, can you take me to the orchard? I’d like to do some digging around of my own.”
“Well... Sure, I guess. Not sure how ya’d find anything no pony else has found yet, but I suppose ya ain’t the Princess’ personal student fer nothin’.” The yellow orchard pony gulped down the rest of his cider, then walked out toward the doors of the bar. Twilight, having barely touched hers, gulped down several swallows before she got up to follow him.
”I really hope I’m wrong,” she thought to herself.
****
Onyx had already reserved the room at the inn, relaxing on one of the beds. While it was mildly irritating that the filly she was charged with keeping a watch over already knew ponies here, she didn’t care much. Just meant other ponies would look after her. Besides, this town was in the process of an insurrection, and the Starlit have the first and foremost duty of ensuring loyalty to the Princess.
”Let the kid do the detective work... Seems pretty clear to me that this Caprice guy is who we’re looking for. Once the kid gets that fact confirmed... I get to do the fun part.” She set down her saddlebags, the sound of metal jingling with metal crashing as she dropped it on the mattress. A grin spread across her face as she reached into the bag, interrupted suddenly by the sound of hooves slamming on the door.
“HEY, PERDY LADY!” shouted the voice from the other side of the door with a distinctive, raspy slur. Onyx pulled the saddlebags down, pushing them under the bed as she approached the door. After her steady approach, she looked out the peep-hole, her face grimacing at what she saw; a brown-coated earth pony with a graying mane and a lopsided hat wobbled back and forth in front of the door. His face was covered with grains of a white substance, no doubt the source of his inebriated demeanor.
“Hey! C’mon, don’ be like that! Yer the perdiest mare I ever did see-HIC!” Onyx ground her teeth together, turning around and looking at the saddlebags under the bed.
”No one would have to know... It’d be quick and- No. A sudden disappearance like that with no plan would draw attention...” Onyx looked down, ensuring the door was locked, even going so far as to slide the chain into the door. She quickly ran to the windows, opening them up and tossing her cape to the side. Extending her wings, she leapt out the opening to escape her pursuer for some fresh air.
****
Twilight hadn’t fully appreciated just how withered the orchard was when she came on the train ride, but seeing it up close had made the magnitude of this disaster clear. The trees had long since lost all of their leaves, the branches bare and brittle. The ground beneath both her and the orchard pony crunched with both leaves, the dry ground, and apple seeds that never so much as settled in the earth beneath them.
“How did it happen?” Twilight asked Braeburn, bending down to take a closer look at one of the trees. Her hoof swept the leaves to the side, inspecting the roots more closely as the Apple Family pony responded.
“A week after Caprice found the water and I started using it for the orchard, all the trees started to wither away. I tried to keep them alive, though the more I watered them, the worse they got... Eventually, they all just died off.” His voice sank at the end, his eyes turning away from the trees to look at anything else.
Twilight perked her ears as she considered closely what might cause something like that.
”Whatever it is, it’s probably choking the roots and keeping the trees from absorbing the water. It may be some sort of underground creature chewing the roots, but more likely than not, Braeburn would’ve done something about that before it became a problem, and someone would’ve noticed. Magic is the only way something would get under the ground without leaving any evidence, but what would be able to do something like that? Weeds came to mind, but I would’ve seen weeds. I need to see the roots myself to be sure...” Twilight then turned over to the yellow orchard pony, her eyes stern with authority as her investigative instincts kicked into high gear.
“Braeburn, can you dig up the area around the trees?”
“Here I thought ya were gonna do yer own diggin’.” Braeburn snickered, kneeling down in the dirt and digging his hoof into the ground, pulling the soil away from the tree roots as Twilight watched. Braeburn suddenly stopped digging, grunting in pain as blood trickled down his foreleg.
“Ow!”
Twilight’s head shot up as he cried out in pain, looking at the ground where he was digging, looking closely at what he found underneath.
“Thorns...?” She gingerly shifted some of the dirt out of the way, finding branches of thorny bramble that wrapped around the tree root, winding deeper into the ground, evidence of more of the anomalous plants strangling the roots as they went deeper in.
“Well that’s just crazy... How would a plant like that grow underground? Bramble’s green ‘n’ leafy, how would it get by without sunlight?”
“Magical transmogrification, probably using dead plant matter to turn it into the bramble that’s choking the roots of the trees. There are probably thousands of these things underneath the orchard.” Twilight stood still, staring at the thorny vines that burrowed their way into the ground.
“I think I can narrow down who did it. Magic has a resonant frequency that’s left behind as an electromagnetic signature on what they used the magic on-”
“Um, Miss Twilight, I have no idea what ya just said there after ‘Magic.’”
Twilight coughed as she looked to the side, giggling nervously as she realized that she was saying what she was thinking out loud. “Eheh... Sorry. Basically, everypony’s magic leaves traces behind on things they use magic on in the form of a color. I can cast a spell to power up the magic that was last used on the object. It’ll show me of course that magic has actually been used there in the first place, and when it appears...”
“Ya can figure out who magicked up the thing you use that spell on by figuring out their magic color!”
“Now you’re getting it!” Twilight smiled and nodded, taking a brief moment of gratification that not only was she able to explain it clearly, but that she got somepony else to finish her sentence concerning her thought process. “I just need to get the spell started and...” She shut her eyes, her horn glowing a bright magenta and glowing brighter with each passing second. Her teeth clenched together while the light around her horn grew brighter, focused into a beam and fired into the vines. After the magic was released, Twilight released a heavy breath she had been holding as she knelt down, some of the hairs on her coat seeming to stand on end as though getting a sudden chill.
“Alright! That should do it, the spell worked! Braeburn... What color is the vine glowing?” Twilight’s voice was lined with confidence, believing that she was now one step closer to solving this mystery, though Braeburn hardly shared the same optimism.
“Uh... Ya sure the spell worked?”
“Of course I am! I can feel the magic being radiated off the vines!”
“Well, I’m only askin’ ‘cause I don’t see anythin’.”
“What?!” Twilight finally looked at the bramble and, sure enough, it wasn’t even glowing a color. Her jaw dropped in shock as her spell seemed only partially successful in revealing to her that there was, in fact, magic present, but for one reason or another, she couldn’t see the color.
“I dunno what to tell ya, Miss Sparkle... I know it can’t be much else other than magic, but ya did say that all unicorn magic has a color, and either yer spell didn’t work-” Twilight glared at Braeburn for just a moment, forcing him to avert his eyes and complete his thought. “...Or there’s somethin’ about this magic that makes it so ya can’t see a color.”
Twilight’s brow creased together while the words that the orchard pony spoke echoed in her head. ”All unicorn magic has a color... All UNICORN magic has a color...” Her eyes drifted back to the bramble in the ground, still feeling the magic that pervades the vines emanating off it. ”...Not a color, an electromagnetic frequency, which means that there’s a chance there’s magic that has a signature outside the visible electromagnetic spectrum that-” Twilight’s eyes widened as her mouth opened up, her voice whispering her thought out loud.
“That wouldn't come from a pony.” Twilight stood absolutely still, staring straight forward at nothing. She finally gathers her composure and stands up tall, turning back to Appleloosa and walking toward it. Braeburn calls out to her as she moves past.
“Where’re ya goin’?”
“Back to town. You get together an effort to clear out the bramble underneath the trees. That should solve the orchard problem.”
“What’re ya gonna do?”
Twilight stopped for a moment before turning her head back to Braeburn. Her eyes fixed on him with an unwavering gaze that pierced straight into his own eyes.
“I'm going to find the source.”