Applejack stalked the three griffons through the silent rainforest. They, in turn, sought out her adoptive daughter. Winona kept her hidden from view, though Applejack thought the fury felt uneasy, somehow. She didn’t let that slow her down, and before long she was close enough to hear them speak to each other.
“Greg, how in the name of the Arimaspi are we supposed to find the pony?” asked one of them.
“Yeah,” another agreed. “He probably used his spirits to slip behind us.”
Applejack could not prevent herself from smiling to herself at the irony of that notion.
“Shut it, you two,” replied Greg. “Garry gave us his orders, and we obey. Let’s spread out. Gavin, you move north. Graham, south. Stay in sight of me, both of you. We will find that pony.”
The griffons continued into the rainforest, followed by Applejack concealed in her woodcrafting. After several uneventful minutes, Applejack was beginning to feel uneasy, but could not put her hoof on the cause. Suddenly, Graham stopped.
“Greg,” he hissed, trying to speak to his fellow griffon while simultaneously keeping as quiet as possible.
“What?” Greg barked.
“It’s quiet,” replied Graham.
Applejack stood stock still, finally able to understand her feelings of discomfort.
“So what?” asked Greg.
“What’s going on?” cried Gavin. “Are we looking for this pony or what?”
Applejack winced at the loud calls, fearing that they might be heard by somepony - or rather, something - else.
“Graham’s complaining about the silence,” shouted back Greg.
Graham flew straight at Greg, colliding with him hard. His momentum carried the pair of them to crash into Gavin, leaving the three of them entangled with each other. “Guys, shut up!” he hissed.
“Graham, you idiot! What are you - mmf!” Greg’s admonition was silenced when Graham wrapped a claw around his beak.
“We’re in a lush rainforest,” Graham said, “and it is completely silent. Think about it! There must be some kind of predator around here!”
Greg swept a claw at Graham’s foreleg, freeing his beak. “There are predators. Us!”
Applejack’s brow furrowed as she considered that possibility. She stretched out with her furycrafting, looking for signs of large predators. She thought that some of the trees felt bruised, like some very large animals had bounced off of them recently. No, there’s more than just the griffons here, she thought.
Gavin swatted Graham with his tail. “Get off us, you idiot. There’s nothing here but us, and that pony. And he’s getting away while you shake in your feathers!”
Greg pushed Graham off of him, before smacking him in the back of the head. “Get it together, griff!” He helped Gavin up before setting off again. “Now, let’s get back to -”
The three griffons staggered for a moment, Greg putting a claw to his head, before they recovered.
What was that all about? wondered Applejack.
“Uh,” said Greg as he shook his head. “What was that?”
“I dunno,” replied Gavin. “You were yelling at Graham, it reminded me of the way Garry always does that, then… Bam! Head rush.”
“Hey guys, there you are,” came a voice from further ahead.
“What?” Greg said, crouching down into a defensive pose. “Who’s there?”
Garry stepped out from behind a tree. “It’s me, guys.”
“Garry?” asked Graham. “I thought you flew off to meet up with the army.”
“Yeah,” said Garry. “Yeah, that’s right. But I found the pony. This way.” Garry set off deeper into the rainforest.
Applejack’s ears fell, before she focused intently on the griffons.
The three looked at each other before shrugging and following Garry. Applejack followed, willing Winona to continue to hide her. I’m coming for you, Apple Bloom, she thought.
Garry led his fellow griffons to a small hill, topped with the largest tree Applejack had ever seen. “In here, guys,” he said, gesturing to a narrow opening in the tree.
Greg walked to the tree, looking at Garry. “Are you feeling okay, Garry?” he asked. “You’re acting weird.”
“Just get the pony, he’s in the tree,” replied Garry.
Wait a minute, thought Applejack. He said ‘he’, but Apple Bloom is a filly. Something isn’t right…
Greg looked at Garry, before rolling his eyes and stepping into the hollow tree. “Where is the pony? I don’t see him any-” he said before shouting out. “Arimaspi, what is that? AAARRGH!”
Applejack’s eyes went wide at the shout, as did the eyes of the other two griffons. Greg appeared at the opening into the tree, crawling along the ground. He had a large gash in his side, running with blood.
“Help me!” he gasped to his companions, before he was dragged back into the tree.
Graham and Gavin ran to the tree, only for a manticore to pounce on them with a mighty roar, knocking them to the ground under its weight.
Applejack quickly willed Winona to help her climb the nearest tree, determined to stay out of the way of the fighting. Where in tarnation did that manticore come from? she wondered.
The griffons were swiping and striking at the manticore with their claws, inflicting scratches that did nothing more than further enrage the beast. Suddenly, there was a deep growl, heralding the arrival of a timberwolf. The wooden creature looked at the battle, and leaped at one of the griffons. With twice the number of opponents, the griffons quickly fell, almost torn apart from the violence of the attacks. The monsters dragged their broken bodies toward the tree atop the hill.
Applejack looked around, ensuring there were no other predators in the area, before moving across the branches away from the area. If Apple Bloom was in this rainforest… Applejack could not bring herself to finish the thought. She descended from the trees and found herself thinking of Apple Bloom’s mischievous grin, of the trouble she so often got into as she tried to get her cutie mark.
“Applejack? Is that you?”
Applejack looked up, toward the source of the voice. “Apple Bloom?”
Apple Bloom stepped out from behind a tree. “Applejack? Where are you?”
Applejack sagged with relief at the sight of Apple Bloom and expanded her concealment woodcrafting to include Apple Bloom.
“There you are!” cried Apple Bloom. “Thank goodness, I was so scared.”
“You’re not the only one, sugarcube,” replied Applejack, her eyes filling with tears. “We hafta get outta here, AB.” She stepped towards Apple Bloom, who responded by taking a few steps back, towards the hill.
“Sure thing Applejack,” replied Apple Bloom. “But there’s somethin’ ya hafta see first. It's in this hollow tree, this way!” She began to walk back towards the site of the battle.
“I’ve seen that tree, AB,” said Applejack with a shiver. “And trust me, you don’t want to see what’s in there now. Come on, we hafta get home.”
“Aw, come on Applejack. It’ll be okay,” encouraged Apple Bloom, not turning to rejoin Applejack. “Trust me, you really should see this!”
Applejack turned back to Apple Bloom. “Listen here, little filly, I said we hafta go home, now! So let’s -” Applejack stopped, eyes wide and ears low. She saw Apple Bloom’s fuchsia hair ribbon lying on the ground some way behind Apple Bloom, whose ribbon was nevertheless still tied in its usual bow in her mane. Applejack looked back and forth between the ribbon on the ground and the filly standing before her. “You’re not Apple Bloom, are ya?”
Apple Bloom eyes narrowed and flashed green. “No, I’m not.”
Applejack whirled around and bolted away, galloping for all she was worth. As she ran, there was a howl from behind her. A glance back showed Applejack that there was a timberwolf running in pursuit. Hissing in relief that it wasn’t a more mundane monster, Applejack reached for Winona, willing the fury to attack the wooden creature. She had on occasion dispatched Winona against timberwolves, and her wood fury had always excelled at the task of disintegrating the arcane forces holding the creatures together. She expected Winona to have no difficulty against this beast.
Winona, rather than dispersing itself into the pieces of wood that comprised the timberwolf, reacted with confusion, unable to find the timberwolf at all. Shoot, she thought. If that wasn’t really Apple Bloom before, then I guess that’s not a real timberwolf now. Applejack instead willed Winona into the trees she was running past.
Several of the trees suddenly reached out, grabbing hold of the surprised timberwolf. Applejack had the trees tie their branches together, before pulling Winona back to herself and tasking the fury with keeping her hidden from view. The timberwolf howled again, struggling to free itself from the trees restraining it.
Answering howls and roars came up from all directions, spurring Applejack to still faster speeds. While she ran, she tried to understand what had happened. First, Garry led the other griffons to that tree, then something in the tree attacked Greg. Applejack shuddered at the memory. Then those monsters attacked the other two - wait a minute. What happened to Garry?Well, if I didn’t really find Apple Bloom, she reasoned, then it probably wasn’t really Garry. She came to the only possible conclusion. “Horseapples. They must be some kinda shapeshifters.”
Applejack noticed that the trees were thinning out, and realised she was approaching the limit of the rainforest. “Aw, horseapples again. I hope they don’t follow me out.”
The galloping earth pony burst out of the rainforest like a blonde bolt of orange lightning. Away from the plants of the rainforest her concealment woodcraft collapsed. She crossed the open land to the ridgeline surrounding the valley in less than a minute, and didn’t slow down until she was deep in the pine forest and Winona had reestablished the concealment crafting.
Applejack leaned against the nearest tree, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh Apple Bloom. I’m so sorry.” She spent a few minutes crying, coming to terms with the loss of her adoptive daughter, before she opened her eyes, narrowed in determination. The conspiring ponies had sent the griffons after Apple Bloom. Whatever they’re trying to do, I’m not going to let them get away with it.
Applejack found the griffon’s tracks, and followed them back to the clearing Scootaloo had described. She arrived just in time to watch the airship lift off the ground and set off towards the canal, gradually accelerating as it did so.
She looked around and gestured at the nearest tree. It bent down to the ground, allowing her to step onto the branches before it catapulted her after the airship. Applejack pointed a hoof at one of the trees in her path, causing it to lean towards her. As she came into contact with its branches it flicked her onwards, launching the pony onwards in her pursuit of the flying vessel. Repeating the process, Applejack springboarded from treetop to treetop in pursuit of the pirates, following them across the canal and south towards Cliffside Eyrie.