//------------------------------// // Apple Thieves // Story: Paranoia // by Valorousspectre //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Apple thieves. Twilight frowned at the tome she was reading, suspended in magic as it was. She’d been studying this spell for weeks and no matter what she did she simply couldn’t get it right. She sighed and placed the tome upon the table before her, taking anther quick glance at it to confirm what she was doing. “Okay, nice and easy now. The spell isn’t that complex, you can do this.” Twilight was the local librarian for Ponyville and she was quite proud of it. She lived in the library nd had pretty much free access over all the books contained threrein. She rarely received visitors to borrow books, but that didn’t really bother her. She liked the quiet. Which is the complete opposite of what her spell achieved when she cast it. And explosion rocked the library, puffs of multicoloured smoke billowing out of the only open window. Inside, Twilight coughed. The smoke smelled sickeningly sweet and she tried desperately to purge it from her lungs, and her library. Her horn lit up as she tried to dispose of the fog magically, only succeeding in multiplying the amount of smoke more and more each time she used her magic. She cut off her magic and staggered to the door, hurling it open before risking more magic to open the windows. ALL of them. The tree containing the library became a beacon of rainbow coloured smoke, and many ponies stopped in their activities to look at the growing pillar of smoke before shrugging and continuing on with their days, putting it down to either Pinkie Pie, or an experiment of Twilight’s gone wrong. As the dust cleared, Spike, Twilight’s assistant, came rushing down, his little claws scrabbling across the wood. “Twilight? Twi are you okay?” He took one look at his purple friend and fell to the floor in hysterics. “SPIKE!” Twilight stood, frowning thunderously at the dragon. Her mane was puffed up into a big, multicoloured afro, her tail following suit, and her coat had turned a horribly gaudy shade of yellow, complete with technicolour polka dots. Spike tried to stop laughing, but one more look at the now gaudily coloured unicorn made him fall into another fit of laughing. “I’m sorry Twi! It’s just too funny!” Twilight huffed in frustration just as Pinkie Pie poked her head in and burst out laughing in happy, giddy giggles. Twilight whined. “Pinkie! Not you too!” Then in walked Applejack, face like thunder. A face that cracked, then broke completely as she started laughing as well, although not to the extent of the other two. “Hehe, Next time ya want to change yer look Twi, Ah suggest going to see Rarity first.” The disgruntled unicorn whined again. “AJ! It wasn’t intentional! I swear!” “Darling, I saw the cloud and-“ The white fashionista of the town, Rarity, had walked into the doorway and now looked at Twilight in shock and horror. “Twilight Sparkle! What in Equestria are you doing? What possessed you to change your coat?” Twi groaned. “Oh jeez, it wasn’t deliberate! Rarity, please, can you change me back?” “Well of course I can darling! But honestly, come to me first next time alright?” Twilight sighed again in frustration before looking around to survey the damage as Rarity returned her to her regular look. Books were lying everywhere, thankfully intact and seemingly untouched by the spell. “Ugh, great.” She sighed again and looked at her friends. Pinkie was being Pinkie, still giggling, Rarity was obviously here for the reason she said. Applejack, however, was the odd one out. “AJ, shouldn’t you be at the farm?” AJ took a moment before remembering why she was actually there. “Oh! Yer right! Ah was actually lookin’ for ya’ll. We got something of a problem at the farm.” Twi frowned, confused, and nodded. “Alright. Let’s go get the others.” Spike sighed. “Lemme guess, I’m housekeeping?” “Please Spike, thank you.” ~*~ The six mares were in Fluttershy’s living room, awaiting the final member of their little gang to arrive. AJ, Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy sat, Applejack pacing impatiently. “Darn that Rainbow! What’s takin’ her so long? She said she’d be here before us, but she ain’t here yet!” Rarity sniffed at the farmer’s impatience. “Darling, calm down! We already know that she’s a little lazy. She’ll get here, if she hasn’t fallen asleep again.” A knock came at the door and Fluttershy trotted over to it and opened it, returning a moment later with Big Macintosh, who was quite resolutely holding onto Rainbow’s tail. Rainbow looked less than pleased. “Will you quit dragging me!? I was going!” Big Mac spat out the technicolour tail and looked at her. “Ya were sleepin’ in a tree in our orchard Rainbow, Ah don’t think ya were comin’ awful quick.” Rainbow went to speak back when Applejack grabbed her tail and yanked/dragged into the living room with the rest of the mares, Big Mac following soon after. “Alright AJ, what’s going on?” Applejack sat before the group, Macintosh sitting next to her. She looked at Big Mac and he nodded. “Girls, We’re afraid that somepony is stealin’ from Sweet Apple Acres.” A stunned silence fell over the room. Sweet Apple Acres supplied most of the food for the entirety of Ponyville, not to mention theft in Ponyville is almost unheard of. In a town where everypony knew everypony else, Theft wasn’t really productive anyway, you’d be caught much too fast. Big Mac spoke up softly. “It ain’t somepony AJ.” Applejack looked at her brother. “What do ya mean? What is it stealin’ our apples then?” “Welp, Ah followed the tracks an’ it led to the old clubhouse Applebloom an’ her friends use fer their little meetin’s. It was hard gettin’ close though. Ah’m afraid it’s been overrun.” Twilight and the others looked at him curiously. “Overrun? How so?” Big Mac grimaced. “Manticores.” Silence fell once again, stunned shock replacing the previous aura as the ponies tried to comprehend this. A soft, nervous voice spoke up. “I.. um… But, the manticores d..don’t stray from the Everfree… W..What would they be doing here?” Fluttershy retreated behind her mane as all eyes in the room locked onto her. Big Mac, completely unfazed, shrugged. “Don’t know. Ain’t knowin’ much about Manticores.” Fluttershy nodded almost imperceptibly. “O… Okay…” Applejack shook her head. “Don’t matter what the reason is, Ah just want ‘em off mah farm. Stealin’ the apples is stealin’ the only thing that makes us who we are, and our bits. Ain’t much we can do without bits.” Rainbow harrumphed irritably. “Well what are we waiting for? We should go get rid of ‘em!” Big Mac shook his head again. “Nope. Ain’t much good with only us. There’s too many. An’ Ah don’t think they’re just there fer kicks. They’re guardin’ that tree house.” Twilight frowned. “Guarding? But there’s never been any incidents of manticores doing such?” Big Mac shrugged. “Ya mean there ain’t a recorded incident of ‘em doin’ it.” Twilight grumbled at him and fell quiet. Applejack made an annoyed sound in her throat. “Well, we gotta get rid of ‘em somehow!” Fluttershy hesitated quietly. “Um…” The room once again looked to Fluttershy and she cowered behind her mane. “I… I’ll help if I can… if that’s okay with you…” ~*~ The six mares and Big Mac soon found themselves heading for the old, rebuilt treehouse that the Cutiemarks Crusaders had taken up as their clubhouse. AJ walked ahead with her brother. “Macintosh, what is it that makes ya think theyre guardin’ the old house?” Big Mac shrugged mid stride. He was walking significantly slower than he could in order to allow the other ponies to keep up with him. His stride was quite a bit larger than the mares, and even now Applejack had to take two strides to keep up with every stride Big Mac made. “None of ‘em could stand in the house AJ, they’re too big, so they musta’ been guardin’ somethin’. They’re all standin’ round it. Ah had to get a little creative to get into the glade. ‘Fraid they’re definitely guardin’ the place. Locked up tighter than a mare’s door when she’s in heat.” AJ found herself blushing and looking away from her brother at the last remark. As usual, Big Mac seemed completely unfazed. It was heading into late afternoon, early evening now and the sun was making its way down the horizon, looking to embed itself within the infinite, unreachable distance to make way for the moon. Walking through the orchard in the dark could be an interesting experience, disorienting to many who don’t know the direction to the farmhouse. But to Big Mac and AJ, it was a walk in the park. The fact that it was only dim added to that. Big Mac suddenly stopped and a low growl could be heard in the air. The others accompanying him stopped as well. “We’re here. Ya hear all that? That’s the sound of them Manticores. Not many places ya can get in Ah’m afraid. Ain’t sure how we’re goin’ to get them to leave neither. Them manticores are big.” Fluttershy mumbled something quietly and all eyes turned to her. “Sorry miss Fluttershy, Ah’m afraid Ah didn’t hear ya.” “I um… I think um…. I could um… t-talk to them.” Rainbow shot into the air, grinning. “Yeah! Like she did with that Manticore in the Everfree when we took down Nightmare Moon!” The yellow Pegasus eeped and recoiled from Rainbow’s outburst. “S..Something like that.” ~*~ So the group of ponies ended up turning from their current path moving around to the main entrance, or rather, the most well known entrance, to the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse, boldly walking straight up the path and into the manticores line of sight. The result was instantaneous. The group were surrounded by the massive creatures, a solid wall of growling ferocity around them. Fluttershy stepped forward nervously. “Um, hi? I um, My name is Fluttershy… I… We don’t mean you any harm, I promise.” A low growl went around the wall of manticores and one of them, standing before the nervous Fluttershy, stepped forward. A low and threatening growl emanated from him, a serious warning. Twilight felt herself swallow, her nervousness, nay, her fear practically dripping off of her. Yes, she had fought back against Nightmare Moon, The god of Chaos Discord and the Changeling Queen Chrysalis. But she still felt fear. And Manticores were certainly no exception to this rule. Fluttershy smiled at the Manticore. “Oh, we promise we won’t be any trouble. W… We wanted to know why you’re taking our apples is all.” The Manticore cocked his head, his mane shaking slightly before settling back in place. The series of purrs, mewls and sometimes partially aggressive sounds that came from him next almost completely escaped Fluttershy completely. She couldn’t understand animals, regardless what others thought. She had a very good affinity for them, and understood them better than most, but her abilities didn’t extend to actually comprehending their language. Suddenly the Manticore stepped back, leaving the path to the tree house clear. Fluttershy smiled in delight and pranced forth, the others following her, only to have a feral growl, close on roar, cut them off in a flurry of movement as the lead Manticore stood his ground once more. The other six ponies gulped and took a step back before looking over at Fluttershy. She smiled. “It’s okay, I’ll go alone. Just wait for me okay?” Twilight and the others nodded, Big Mac spoke. “Eeyup.” Into the house went the shy, fearful Fluttershy. The only Pegasus known to fear the heights upon which she grew up. “This is going to be a long night.” Said Rainbow exasperatedly, glaring around at their escorts. “Oh calm yerself Rainbow, she’ll be fine. And stop glarin’! They’ll probably take it as a challenge. Ya want to fight a Manticore with those teeth, claws and that tail?” Rainbow took a quick glance at the mentioned features before paling and looking at the ground. “Ah thought not. Pipe down and wait. She’ll be alright.” The six ponies watched as the door was opened by a rather surly Manticore and Fluttershy trotted into the pitch black of the clubhouse, the door closed rather quickly behind her. Whatever it was in there, it seemed to have the creatures spooked. Or, that’s what Twilight was thinking. You better come back okay Fluttershy. ~*~ “Um… hello?” Fluttershy eeped as the door was shut behind her. The dark was not something Fluttershy enjoyed being within the confines of, double that with the idea that she was hopelessly enclosed with whatever was in here with her didn’t help. As a Pegasus, she naturally loathed being confined. She was silent for a moment and it took her ears a moment to recognise the sound of slow, regular breathing. So, whatever in here’s asleep? “Um, I don’t mean to disturb you but um… could you please wake up?” The soft sounds of breathing continued and Fluttershy felt a stab of annoyance. Why do they never listen the first time? A little louder than before, she spoke again. “Um… Excuse me? Please wake up.” The breathing continued for a moment before the sound of something heavy upon wooden boards floated to her ears, seemingly from everywhere at once. It scared her once more and she retreated back behind her mane, trying to shield herself from whatever was out there. There was a long, drawn out intake of breath and a long sigh that Fluttershy took as the entity with her possibly sitting up, then the sound of a yawn and a flash of red from her right. She spun to face it, only to have it vanish in a flash of white teeth. Then came the eye. It opened slowly, like its eyelids were still too heavy for its liking. The irises were a soft, almost luminous purple and spoke volumes of weariness. Fascinated, she found herself leaning forward slightly, flinching back as there came a voice. “Mm… Who is it who would disturb me..?” The voice was rough, hoarse. Like somepony had swallowed gravel and was trying to speak through it. To be honest, it grated at Fluttershy’s ears something terrible. But that wasn’t going to stop her. Was it? “I… um… I was um…” She stopped, the darkened enclosed space proving too much for her as she cowered away, hiding behind her mane with both eyes shut tight, trying to will the darkness away. A fearful wince was added to this as she heard the hiss of frustration from the entity before her. “Even here…” Those two words carried weight to them that no two words should ever have to. Even through the gravelly aspect of this voice, the words carried the sorrow and despair of years, years of pain. So much emotion that it jolted Fluttershy out of her cowering reverie and she looked up, instantly panicking because she could no longer see the eye. “I… Wait! Don’t go…” The eye appeared again, slightly confused. Fluttershy mentally berated herself for being so silly. He’d just closed his eyes is all. She firmly believed that, whatever she was talking to, it was male. It was also clearly taller than she was and spoke her language, meaning it had to be native to Equestria. It took her a moment to realize he was speaking once more. “But… I thought… you were afraid of me. I can smell you fear, I know you’re scared.” Mentally berating herself again for her cowardice, she shook her head, not sure if he could see her, but making sure to keep her eyes open, for she was sure he could see them. “N..No. I’m afraid of the dark… and I don’t like enclosed spaces is all… I… I didn’t mean to make you think you were scary…” The purple eye peered at her quietly, silence falling over the clubhouse. Fluttershy all but held her breath, terrified that he wouldn’t believe her, that he’d think she was lying. She was surprised when the eye tilted groundward and the entity sighed heavily. “… You should go. It’s not safe to be here with me… Too dangerous.” Dangerous? “D..Dangerous?” “I… I don’t want to hurt you…” Fluttershy screwed up her face in determination. Oh no you don’t! You’re not getting rid of me that easily! Screwing up her courage, what little there seemed to be to her, she spoke once again, not wavering and confident. "I'm not going anywhere. We need to talk."