Paper Pony

by Drag Orion


Chapter 1 Part 1 - Trouble at the Apple Farm

    “There it is,” Spike told Twilight as he pointed ahead of them.  “There’s Sweet Apple Acres.”

    Twilight gazed ahead and gawked at the sheer size of the place.  Under the light of the full moon there were apple orchards as far as the eye could see and she felt certain the same would be true in broad daylight.  Following the dirty path and soon an accompanying wooden fence that indicated where the boundaries of Sweet Apple Acres, they made their way towards the opened, arched gate and made their way in.  Going straight towards the heart of the farm, there stood a big, red barn. Next to it rested a humble, two-story home that appeared quite small when compared to how massive the farm was.

As the two drew closer they saw that behind the two buildings were some fields that were filled with rows of carrots, lettuce, and other crops.  Even further back were some small animal pens, fenced in with chicken wire. There were animals like chickens, pigs, and sheep residing in them, all looking umblamably anxious while the dark sky didn’t reflect the actual time of day.

    “Wow, this is the biggest farm I’ve even seen,” commented Twilight as she marveled at the place.  “Actually, it’s the only farm I’ve ever seen, outside of pictures in books, but it’s still huge.”

    “That’s what I thought when I first saw this place,” replied Spike.  “And it’s all owned and run by the Apple Family.”

    “The Apples must have one huge family if they take care of this whole farm by themselves,” said Twilight as she looked back at their home.  “But can they all even fit in that small house or do most of them live in town.

    “While the Apples do have family all over Equestria,” the purple dragon explained.  “But this farm is just run by four.”

    “Four?” she questioned in disbelief.  “Even with magic, how can four Ponies possibly care for a place this huge?”

    “Well, they are all Earth Ponies,” Spike told Twilight, surprising her further.  “But, apparently they do handle all the labor on this farm on their own with nothing more than hard work and dedication.  Personally, if I even looked at a list of what they have to do here every day, I think I’d change careers.”

    “Just wait till I get a chance to make you a list of To Dos,” smirked Twilight with a little chuckle.  “I may not have a farm, but I’m no stranger to a good work ethic and determination and I’d expect the same from my Number One Assistant.”

    “Yeah,” nodded Spike, a bit worried where this conversation was headed.  “I’d say I got a fairly strong work ethic, myself.”

    “That’s good,” she smiled.  “Then soon as we finish up this business with Nightmare Moon and I get back to my studies, I can assign you a few tasks to help me out.  If your work ethic is as strong as you make it sound, a simple list of a hundred or so To Dos shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

    “Uh, heh,” Spike gave a nervous chuckle after hearing that.  “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?” Twilight just kept smirking as she remained silent.  “You are messing? Twilight?”

    “You won’t get away with this ya varmints!” shouted a voice from somewhere in the orchard.  “Give that back this instant!”

    “Sounds like someponies in trouble,” said Twilight, her grin turning to a look of concern as she galloped towards where the voice was coming from.  Spike held on tight, as she bobbed and weaved around the countless trees. He was just glad that their worrying talk had come to an end, but, at the same time, he still never did get a straight answer from that purple Unicorn.

Venturing deep into the orchard, it grew darker as the treetops added shade on top of the darkness of night.  Twilight used her horn, illuminating it to light their way forward. Overhead, they could see the shadowy figures of dozens of bats swooping around overhead, going from tree to tree.  Some were in the middle of biting into apples, sucking the juices out of them till they looked like oversized raisins. They then left that dried out husk of an apple hanging on the tree.  After that, they spat out the seeds they had unintentionally sucked out with the juices and then went in search of another red delicious to eat.

    The deeper the two traveled into the orchard, the more numerous the bats seemed to get, but the voice of the Pony also got louder too.  Finally, Twilight and Spike stopped as an orange-haired Pony came into view. She had a long, blonde mane and tail, both wrapped ina ponytail.  She had green eyes and some freckles on her cheeks. Her Cutie Mark was of three red apples.

By her side she had a small white dog with brown patches all over her body that was barking and running beside her.  “I’m gonna tan your hides if you don’t give it back fore I count ta three, ya hear?” she shouted again. “One… two… Hey!  Don’t you fly away from me!”

The mare angrily chased after one of the many bats flying around.  This one in particular was soaring around while it had a brown, five gallon hat clenched tightly in its maw as if it was playing a game of keep away with it.  When the bat landed on an apple tree to rest its wings, the Pony stood with her back to it and bucked the trunk with her hind legs, in an attempt to knock the winged mammal from it.  Unfortunately, only apples fell from while the bat just took to the air to flee once more. The Pony, gritted her teeth and snorted before, once more, giving chase and yelling.

    “Come on, sis,” cried another Pony.  This one was a pale yellow filly with a long, red mane and tail.  She had a big pink bow in her mane. Her flank was bare, showing she had yet to gain her Cutie Mark.  “You’re never gonna git yer hat back by threatening it.”

    “Eyup,” agreed a large, red stallion with a short length, orange mane and tail, green eyes, and freckles on his cheeks.  The stallion had a large, green apple half for his Cutie Mark. Around his neck he wore a heavy-looking harness, lugging it around like it weighed nothing.

    “Well, ifn you got any better ideas, I’d love to hear em,” she shouted.  “But I gotta git my hat back no matter what.”

    Chasing after the bat once more, she stopped in her tracks when she saw a very unusual sight.  The bat was flapping its wings in midair, but it wasn’t going anywhere. The orange pony along with the small yellow and big red one stared in awe at such a sight.  “What in tarnation is going on?”

    “I hope I’m not intruding,” apologized Twilight, her horn glowing brighter as she used her magic to grab hold of the bat and prevent it from escaping.  She then lowered it closer to the ground.

    “As far as I’m concerned,” smiled the Pony as she reclaimed her hat and placed it upon her head.  “For helping me reclaim this precious keepsake of mine, you are welcome around here anytime. The name’s Applejack, by the way.  This here is my big brother, Big Mcintosh and my lil sis, Apple Bloom.”

The dog beside Applejack rushed towards Twilight, barking happily and gave Twilight a few sniffs pressing her wet nose against her.  She then stood up against Twilight a few licks while Spike patted her on the head. “Heheh, and that friendly critter is our dog, Winona,” Applejack added.

    “Wow, I knew Unicorns could use a lot of amazing magic, but that was awesome!” exclaimed Apple Bloom.  “You froze that bat in place.”

    “Eyup,” nodded Big Mac in agreement.

    “Well, technically,” blushed Twilight at the praise.  I didn’t freeze the bat in place. All I did was use a basic levitation spell, only instead of using it for its usual purpose of moving an object, I kept it stationary.  That’s why it could flap its wings as much as it wanted, but it couldn’t change its positioning.”

    “That’s amazing,” Apple Bloom stated once more before turning to Spike.  “What did she do?”

    “She froze the bat in place,” Spike simplified, getting an eye roll from Twilight.

“Well, whatever she did,” commented Applejack with a smile.  “I’m sure glad she did it. So, tell me, stranger, what brings you to these parts?”

    “We’re just stopping by on your way to the Everfree Forest,” Twilight explained.  “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I believe you already know Spike.”

    “Course we do,” replied Applejack.  “The little fella the lives in the library back in town.”

    “And now I’m Twilight’s Number One Assistant and help her save Equestria from Nightmare Moon,” he exclaimed proudly.

    “Nightmare Moon?” replied Applejack.  “You mean that cackling banshee that was in the sky earlier and making all that fuss about taking over and making it night forever?”

    “Yeah,” answered Twilight with a nod.  “We’re on our way to the Everfree Forest to gain the means to stop her.”

    “Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that I hope you beat her in a hurry,” stated Applejack.  She looked up at the night sky and saw a bunch more bats fly around overhead. Remaining on guard after all the trouble one gave her in retrieving her hat, she held a hoof over it to ensure it remained on her head.  “It’s barely been a day, but already this nocturnal nightmare’s been a heap of trouble for both us and this farm, ain’t that right, Big Mac?”

    “Eyup,” he nodded.

    “My big brother isn’t the most talkative of Ponies,” Apple Bloom explained.

    “I can see that,” Twilight said with a smile.  “And I can only imagine how much trouble this whole situation must be for you.  It’ll be impossible to work a farm this large in the dark, not to mention all your apple trees and crops will suffer without sunlight to perform photosynthesis.”

    “No doubt about that,” agreed Applejack.  “But the most dire issue we’re facing at the moment is all these daggum fruit bats flying around and drinking every apple dry they can sink their fangs into.”

    “But didn’t you have to deal with them even before all this started?” questioned Spike.

    “Yeah, but being nocturnal critters they’d be asleep in the day, while we worked,” Applejack explained.  “Now that it’s gonna be night all the time they’re constantly awake, snacking on apples as we’re bucking on them from trees.  We normally avoid the trees they sleep in so as not to disturb them, but we can barely see a thing in this dark to work, let alone avoid them.  What’s worse is that them being awake when they’re supposed to be getting their shuteye seems to be mixing them up and making them more ornery than a dog in a cat show.”

“We had sort of an unspoken agreement with them,” added Apple Bloom.  “They get the orchard at night and we during the day, but now we’re practically on the verge of a feud with em and with it being the lot of us vs all of them, I don’t like our odds.”

    “Spike did mention that this whole farm was run by only a few Earth Ponies,” stated Twilight as she looked from large Big Mac to medium Applejack and, finally, to little Apple Bloom.  “But just you three run this whole huge place?”

    “We also have Granny Smith,” continued Apple Bloom.  “But this whole “night time, all the time thing” is messing with her even more than the bats.  When we told her it was time to get up, she stubbornly kept on saying, ‘If the Sun ain’t up then neither am I.’”

    “I can’t imagine how much work you have to put into managing a place this big with just all of you, especially without any magic,” added Twilight as she looked around and could only imagine how far the orchard ran in whatever direction she gazed at.  A fruit bat then swooped in front of her face, almost scaring her to fall backward and onto Spike who was still seated on her and holding on tight to avoid falling off just now. “And especially when you have these bats to deal with on top of your work.”

    “It ain’t always easy, but we manage to get by,” Applejack said.  “Of course, it helps when we don’t have any added obstacles to deal with and this eternal night is about as insurmountable as an obstacle can get.  I hope ya can git whatever it is you need to fix this mess as quickly as you can cause I don’t know how well or long we’ll be able to manage the farm in its present condition.  The endless night is bad enough, but these fruit bats are just gonna be a constant hindrance and it hasn’t even been a full day yet.”

    “You couldn’t do what you did to the bat that took Applejack’s hat and do that to the rest of them, could you, Twilight?” asked Apple Bloom as she looked at her brother like they were having a silent conversation with one another.  “Big Mac was thinking if we could round them up, we might be able to cage them in the barn till this whole mess can get sorted out.”

    “I wish it were that simple,” replied Twilight.  “But I don’t even think Celestia could manage something like that.  It’s hard enough to levitate an idle object, but to grab something moving, especially airborne is a lot more difficult.  I doubt I could hold more than a dozen at once and probably not be able to hold them still for very long.”

    “Oh, well, it was at least worth asking,” replied Apple Bloom, a bit disappointed.

    “But I’m sure there must be a way to round up all these bats,” Twilight continued and started to think, giving her chin a rub as she looked around the farm.

    “Twilight,” reminded Spike.  “I can tell you want to help them.  I do too, but wouldn’t our efforts be better spent stopping Nightmare Moon?  If we do that then their problem will be solved as a result, as will everyone else’s.”

    “I know that,” explained Twilight.  “But this is just one leg of our journey and we have no idea how long it’ll take to complete it all.  In the time it could take us, who knows how much damage this eternal night could cause. If we could even help mitigate it a little, I’d like to at least try.”

    “That’s mighty generous of you,” Applejack told Twilight.  “But this is our problem to deal with. We’ll figure out some way to put a stop to these varmints and, if we can’t, we’ll still find a way to get by.”

    “I just know there has to be a way to stop them in their tracks without harming them,” said Twilight.

    “Well, eating all those muffins earlier stopped me in my tracks,” joked Spike as he rubbed his gut.  “I’m still too stuffed to move around too much.”

    “Hmm,” pondered Twilight as she looked around at the bats greedily draining the juice out of more apples.  “That might actually be a good idea. They’re already eating plenty of apples. If we just wait till they eat too much-”

    “Nope,” Bic Mac shook his head, saying only a single word, but saying more through his subtle body language.

    “I’m afraid Big Mac is right,” Applejack spoke for him.  “These bats will eat all the apples they want, but I doubt more than a few would go so far as to eat till they were too heavy for their wings to lift them into the air.  They’d just finish the apple they were on and fly deeper into the orchard to settle their stomachs.”

    “I see,” sighed Twilight as she tried to think of something else.

    “It was a good idea,” Applejack assured her.  “But it’d take bigger and juicier apples than what we got on the farm and we ain’t called Sweet Apple Acres for having anything less than the best apples in all of Equestria.”

    “So, we’d need to tempt them with even bigger apples, eh,” pondered Twilight.  “Okay, if that’s what it’ll take then that’s what we’ll give them.”

    “You know where there are bigger and better apples than what we’ve got here?” questioned Applejack with a look of skepticism on her face.

    “Oh, I don’t,” admitted Twilight, but maybe with a growth spell, we might be able to make your apples big enough to stop these bats.”

    “Can you really do that, Twilight?” asked Spike.

    “I did take some classes in Floromancy,” she explained.  “But that involved mixing potions to promote growth and I doubt we’d be able to find the ingredients or a place to mix them out here.  The next best thing would be to try magic that could yield a similar result.”

    “Here, let’s give it a try,” Apple Bloom said eagerly as she picked up an apple and placed it on the ground in between them all.

    “Well, here goes nothing,” breathed Twilight as her horn glowed and a similar aura appeared on the apple.  They all watched in intrigue as the fruit wobbled a bit before it swelled a bit bigger in size. “How’s that?”

    “I think it’s a little bigger,” commented Apple Bloom as she leaned in closer to get a better look.

    “It’d have to be a lot bigger than that if we’re going to have any hope of luring the bats into our trap,” stated Applejack.

    “I’ll try to make it bigger, but growth magic is tricky,” lectured Twilight.  “This is typically as big as I can make something.” Closing her eyes, Twilight attempted channeled her magic into the apple once more and just like before it started to increase in size, getting bigger at a quicker rate than before.  In no time at all, the apple was nearing two feet in diameter.

    “Maybe later you can make me a bit taller too,” commented Spike, impressed with the results as were the others.  However, as the apple grew larger still, it started to tremble and swell like a balloon being inflated, losing its normal shape and becoming perfectly round.

    “What in tarn-”  Applejack began to say as she watched the apple expand to critical mass and then burst, sending bits and pieces of itself all over the place, including onto all five of them.  After the mess was already made, Applejack finished speaking. “-nation.”

    “What happened?” questioned Apple Bloom looking sadly at the remains of their hope to round up the fruit bats.  “Why did the apple explode?”

    Opening her eyes, Twilight sighed at her failure.  “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I had it going well for a while, but growth spells are really tough.  You have to make the entire object grow evenly and you have to keep adding in more magic as it gets larger.  If you don’t, then the whole thing just explodes from the inside out. As you can see here, the end results of messing up are quite messy indeed.”

    “Never mind,” shuddered Spike at the thought of that happening to him.  “I’ll just wait to grow up the normal way.”

    “Oh, applesauce,” faux swore Applejack.  “For a minute, I thought we had the answer.”

    “Could you give it another try?” Apple Bloom suggested to Twilight.  “That was a real good first try and you might be able to get it right with a bit more practice.”

    “I might,” she nodded.  “But that spell took a lot of magic just to do that one apple.  Even if I managed to figure it out, and that’s a big if, I’d be too exhausted to grow any more apples for the plan.”

    “You tried your hardest to help us out,” smiled Applejack.  “We couldn’t ask for more, especially from a Pony we just met.  Still, it would have been nice if it had worked.”

    “We might have had a chance if we could make a growth potion,” Twilight replied.  “Then you could grow all the giant apples you’d need and if brewed properly you wouldn’t have to worry about what happened with this apple.”

    “If all we need is a potion,” spoke Apple Bloom.  “Then, why don’t we just-”

    “Nope!” interrupted Big Mac before his youngest sister could finish speaking.

    “But why not?” complained Apple Bloom, looking up at her brother.  “She could help.”

    “Big Mac is right,” added Applejack.  “That’d be much too dangerous.”

    “What would be too dangerous?” asked Twilight, wanting some context to their sibling discussion.

    “There is a really great potion brewer who lives nearby,” answered Apple Bloom.  “I bet she could whip up the potion we need easily.”

    “I don’t doubt she could,” Applejack chimed in.  “But she lives in the Everfree Forest and that place is about as dangerous as any place could be.  The fruit bats are a minor annoyance compared to the monsters living there.”

    “But Twilight is gonna go through there,” Apple Bloom reminded them.

    “And Twilight probably has some of the fancy Unicorn magic ready to lead her down the safest route to her destination and some magic bubble to keep her from any harm,” her sister added as a counter.

    “Actually,” Twilight admitted.  “I don’t have any spell of the sort that can help me avoid danger.  And, while I can create shields, there’s no way I can keep one up the entire way through the forest.  Spike and I are just going to have to hoof it through just like anypony else.”

    “Oh, well, I hope I don’t offend, but are you plumb loco?!?” exclaimed Applejack.  “The Everfree Forest ain’t some place you can just take a leisurely stroll through.  It’s crawling with all sorts of creatures that wouldn’t give a second thought to snacking on any Pony foolish enough to venture into their domain.”

    “Uh, do they feel the same about small, but, nonetheless, fierce dragons?” wondered Spike.

    “If she’d be the main course,” Big Mac told Spike, speaking the most he had since he and Twilight had arrived.  “You’d be dessert. That or maybe an appetizer. Depends on who they decide to eat first.” Hearing that, Spike swallowed hard.

    “Dangerous or not, my goal lies in that forest,” replied Twilight, remaining adamant about venturing in.  “If I don’t then there may be no hope at all for defeating Nightmare Moon or restoring the light of day.”

    “And nothing I say is gonna change yer mind,” Applejack figured.

    “I appreciate your concern, but we’ll be just fine,” she assured her then turned to Spike for added confirmation.

    “Do you think the monsters in the forest will choose to eat you first or me?” asked Spike, his mind still wrapped around what Big Mac just said.  “What? I just wanna know if I’m going to be an appetizer or dessert. You know, if worse comes to worse, but we’ll be fine. If anything comes our way I’ll send them packing with a lil dragon fire.”

    “Stubborn as a mule,” sighed Applejack, smiling.  “Well, far be it from me to get in your way when you’re this determined.  Good luck out there the two of you.”

    “Thanks, Applejack,” Twilight told her as Spike climbed onto her back once more.  “And don’t worry. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that we will succeed.”

    The three siblings watched as their two new friends made their way out of the orchard and back on the path towards the Everfree Forest.  With a heavy sigh, Applejack turned to her siblings. “Well, let’s head back to the barn. We’ve got a heap of work still to do on top of trying to figure out what we’re gonna do about these fruit bats.”

    “If you wanna go with them you’d best hurry before they reach the forest,” said Big Mac, looking at her with a knowing look.

    “What are you going on about?” she asked her brother.

    “Come on now, AJ, I’ve known you your whole life,” he went on.  “And when you want to help somepony you’d charge through a herd of stampeding buffalo if you had to.  Why’s this time any different?”

    “Well, for one thing,” she answered him.  “The farm’s in a pretty big crisis and I can’t just go running off when y’all need me.”

    “Apple Bloom and I can pull a little more weight around here and with our problem also being an Equestria-wide one, I get the feeling there will be a holdup on things for a while.”

    “And if you are going into the Everfree Forest,” added Apple Bloom.  “Then you could visit the potion brewer and come back with the growth potion for our bat problem too.”

    “That I could,” Applejack admitted.  “And I’d only be gone a day at most helping them get whatever it is they need in the woods.”  Applejack smiled and gave her big brother a hug. She followed that up by rubbing her sister on her head.  “Alright then. I’ll go and be back in a jiffy.”

    “If you run into trouble, you show them why you don’t mess with apples,” Apple Bloom stated cheerfully.

    “Heheh, I will,” chuckled Applejack as she trotted after Spike and Twilight.


    “Well, here we are,” announced Twilight as she and Spike reached the edge of the forest.  “The Everfree Forest.” It was thick with trees and bushes all around, save for a single opening between a pair of dead trees that stood, with their branches out, as if warning all not to foolishly enter into it.  The effect was even more apparent with how the moonlit pathway they had been walking on turned completely pitch black right past them.

    “This place looks even creepier than it normally does,” commented Spike, feeling a chill run down his spine.

    “Some more lighting should help with that,”  Twilight said as she focused and caused her horn to glow brighter till she shined like a purple star in the night.  “How’s that?”

    “Better,” nodded Spike as he hopped off her back and looked through his backpack.  “And I’d bet I’d feel even better with two lights.”

    “How would you feel about three?” asked Applejack, her sudden appearance scaring Spike into jumping up in fright and dropping some of the supplies from his backpack in the process.  “Oops. Sorry.”

    “Applejack, what are you doing here?” questioned Twilight.

    “I wanted to come and help you two,” she answered.  “And Big Mac helped talk me into doing more than wanting to.  Also, I can try and get that growth potion you were talking about, for the farm.”

    “He did?” replied Spike, scratching his head, surprised that a Pony as soft spoken as him could talk any Pony into anything.

    “Big Mac is typically a Pony of few words, but when he needs to say something he will say it,” Applejack explained as Spike placed two candles onto a candlestick each.  Then puckering his lips he blew some tiny flames to light them, keeping one for himself and handing Applejack the second.

    “Well, we’re happy to have you on board,” stated Twilight.  “I don’t suppose you know where exactly the castle is, do you?”

    “To be perfectly honest,” admitted Applejack.  “I didn’t even know a castle existed in this place till ya just said there was.  But, going as far as I’ve been willing to go, I’ve never seen hide nor hair of one.”

    “I’m certain that it must be here,” stated Twilight as she moved a bit quicker, determined to find it.

    “Whoa, slow down there,” Applejack warned her new friend.  “The last thing you wanna do is get too hasty. One misstep could be fatal in these woods.”

    “Sorry, but being surrounded by all this darkness is making me a bit anxious.”

    “It’s fine, but watch your step.  If memory serves we should be coming up to some marshes and the last thing you want is to get your hooves stuck in that muddy ground.”

    Peering a bit ahead, Twilight saw the swampy ground just as Applejack warned.  “You weren’t kidding,” stated Twilight. “A Pony could probably get stuck but good if they blindly walked into it.”

    “Stuck till a hungry cragodile found them,” Applejack corrected her.  “Now, we’d best go around it to be safe.” Following Applejack’s guidance, the trio started to make their way the best they could around the marshes.  However, they came to an impasse as the murky blocked their way forward and thick forest blocked their way from the sides.

    “What do we do now?” asked Spike approaching the edge of the water with his candle held out in front of him.”  I don’t see any cragodiles. Do we try to cross quickly?”

    “Not a chance,” answered Applejack.  “These scaly beasties are really good at blending in with their environs.  I wouldn’t doubt that a couple are within a few meters of us right now, chomping at the bit for something tasty to snack on.  The best we can do is see if there’s a fallen tree nearby we can use to make a bridge across.”

    “Actually,” commented Twilight as she peered into the murkiness.  “I can see a large rock we can hop across from.”

    Getting close as she could to the rock, Twilight performed a short leap to it, safely landing atop of it.  “Dagnabit, Twi!” warned Applejack, not expecting her to act so quickly. “I told you not to be so rash.”

    “It’s fine,” Twilight assured her as she stomped a little on the rock.  “See. It’s nice and solid.”

    “Uh, Twilight,” gulped Applejack as she watched the rock start to rise up out of the water, revealing itself to be more than a mere stepping stone.  It was actually a cragodile, and one not the least bit happy to have someone standing on its back, let along stomping. It rocked it’s body back and forth, attempting to knock Twilight off of it.  In a panic, Twilight jumped, managing to reach the other side of the marsh, tumbling on the ground in the process. As she tried to pick herself up, the stone-like reptilian creature was in hot pursuit of her, already getting out of the water.  Turning to it, Twilight saw it open it’s large maw to bite down on her, but before it could snap at her, a rope lassoed around it’s upper jaw to keep it from shutting.

    “Hang on Twilight!” called Applejack as she pulled with all her might on the rope to hold back the cragodile.  Spike was helping too, holding on tightly with his little claws. This allowed for Twilight to get back up and put some distance from the dangerous predator, however, it’s powerful jaw muscles managed to win out in the end as it snapped its mouth closed, yanking Applejack and Spike across the marsh, and sending them flying right into Twilight, knocking her back to the ground.

    “Ugh, are you okay, Twilight?” groaned Spike, sandwiched in between the two ponies.

    “Yeah, but we better get up and out of this marsh quickly,” she told him.

    “No fooling,” agreed Applejack.  “Let’s vamoose.” Getting up to help the others do the same, Applejack suddenly realized her mane was uncovered.  “My hat! Where’d it go?” Looking around frantically, she spotted it in the direct path of the pursuing reptile and about to be trampled.  “Oh, no you don’t! Stay away from that hat!”

    “Applejack!” cried Twilight.  “Just forget it. That hat isn’t worth getting killed over.”

    “No can do,” she replied stubbornly.  “I can’t let go of this hat ever.”

    Rushing to its rescue, Applejack grabbed her hat and then the farmer horse attempted to quickly turn and beat a hasty retreat from the gator.  However, the wet ground made such a maneuver result in her slipping and flopping down onto the ground. Looking up, she saw the cragodile was right on top of her, ready to trysnqcking on her instead.  Biting her lip, Applejack could only watch as it was ready to chomp. Fortunately, Twilight was quick with her magic as she used it to pull Applejack back towards her and away from the cragodile, though it was far from giving up and raced after her.

    “Get ready, Spike,” instructed Twilight.  “When the cragodile gets in range, give it all you got.”

    “All I got?” he sweated.

    “Yeah,” she nodded.  “I can’t levitate Applejack and attack at the same time.  “It’s gotta be you.”

    “S-Sure, no problem,” he worried.  “Some dragon flames, coming right up.”

    Taking in as deep a breath as he could, Spike stoked the furnace in his belly.  Meanwhile, Twilight managed to catch Applejack as she flung her back over. Though she was now safe, the cragodile was stammering over to them, more determined than ever to make them into a meal.

    “Give it to him now!” cried Twilight helping get Applejack out of the way.

    “Here goes nothing!” shouted Spike, drawing on all his courage to stand up to this beast.  As he went to exhale, the massive reptile roared fiercely, scaring away all of Spike’s bravery.  In reaction to this, Spike clammed up, shutting his maw, preventing the flames from escaping.

Spike just stood there, knees shaking and cheeks bulging with flames waiting to be released.  With the cragodile bearing down on him now, Twilight and Applejack had to move to save him. Grabbing his gut, they both gave it a squeeze, helping force more air and flames up his throat till the pressure building up in his maw grew too great to be contained and he had no choice but to open wide and unleash a blast of flame at the looming lizard.  The beast roared fiercely at being blocked yet again, but this time it seemed to have finally given up on its prey and retreated back into the marsh.

    “That was a close one,” panted Twilight as she picked Spike onto her back and they ventured a safe distance away from the marshy ground.

    “Cause you had to act so rashly,” stated Applejack.  “That darn thing would have had you for dinner if I didn’t save you.”

    “You acted just as rash going after that hat of yours,” pointed out Twilight.  “Is it worth risking your life over?”

    “Course it is,” she nodded.  “It’s my precious keepsake after all.  Sure, I could replace the hat, but never the meaning and memories it represents.”

    “I remember you mentioned that before,” recalled Twilight.  “It’s a keepsake from who?”

    “My parents, of course,” she explained.  “We lost them quite a while ago, back when Apple Bloom was still a foal.  This hat was my father’s and the parting gift he gave me back then. I promised to always keep it with me and I intend to follow through on that.”

    “I’m sorry,” apologized Twilight.  “I didn’t know.”

    “Course not,” Applejack replied.  “We just met after all, but the important thing is I’ve got my hat and none of us are in the belly of that beast.  Let’s just keep going. We’ve still got plenty more ground to cover, I reckon.”

    “Man, if that was too much for you,” spoke a voice in the darkness.  “Then capturing you will be a piece of cake.”

    “What about the other two?” asked another.  “Think we’ll get a bonus for bringing them all back with us?”

    “She didn’t say, but it couldn’t hurt to try,” a third one commented.

    “Who in tarnation is out there?” Applejack demanded to know.

    “It’s got to be more of Nightmare Moon’s minions, her Dreamers,” answered Twilight as she stood back to back with Spike and Applejack to expand their field of view all around them.  Twilight expanded her light to help them see better, but their foes remained out of range of sight.

    “Like this place isn’t dangerous enough?” groaned Spike.

    “Yes, this place is dangerous,” agreed one of the Shadow Bolts as they flew over the trio’s head faster than they could react.  “And it’s completely foolish for you three to think you can make it to the castle.”

    “Heh, not to mention a complete waste of time,” another said, swooping down in front of Spike and then flying over him, terrifying the little dragon into curling up fearfully.  “Do you seriously think anything you do will be able to stop Nightmare Moon?”

    “Do you three think you can be happy just being Nightmare Moon’s puppets?” questioned Twilight.

    “First off, there’s four of us,” she retorted.  “Secondly, if we can finally get to be Wonderbolts, or, even better, Shadow Bolts, being loyal to our princess of the night is the least we can do.”

    “Ok, so there’s four of them,” analyzed Twilight.  “Undoubtedly Pegasi. Also, they appear to have no trouble maneuvering in the dark when we can’t see our muzzles in front of our faces without maintaining a light source.  We don’t stand a chance in these conditions.”

    “So, just come quietly and we won’t have to rough you up,” one of them threatened.

    “If you think we’ll just give ourselves up to you,” snapped Applejack.  “Then you all are dumber than a sack of taters. You’d best go right on back to that princess of yours and tell her to give us back our sun this instant, if she knows what’s good for her.”

    “Don’t provoke them,” Twilight told Applejack.  “We’re outnumbered and outmatched like this. We’ve got to retreat, but that’s easier said than done if they can see us clear as day.”

    “Then what the hay are we gonna do?” questioned Applejack.

    “Give up,” answered one of the stallion Shadow Bolts as he swiped Applejack’s hat right off her head.  “You’ll have to if you wanna get your precious hat back.”

    “Give that back!” snapped Applejack, quickly running after him.

    “They’re baiting you!” cried Twilight, swapping from illumination magic to levitation to grab Applejack and restrain her.  She managed to halt her in her tracks just as a couple of the Shadow Bolts attempted to rush her from the side. They missed her just barely and then vanished back into the darkness.

    “Oh, so close!” they said as they flew back up and circled the trio overhead.

    “Let go of me, Twilight,” demanded Applejack.  “I have to get my hat back!”

    “You won’t get it charging blindly into the darkness like that,” she replied.  “We have to stick together. If we fall apart now, we won’t stand a chance.”

    “I think it’s a little late for that,” cackled another of the Shadow Bolts as they grabbed Twilight from behind and carried her off the ground.

    “T-Twilight!” cried Spike, getting up as he saw her get taken up into the darkness.

    “Spike,” called out Twilight, struggling to get free, but a couple of the other Shadow Bolts joined in to help restrain her.

    “We got her, so let’s get going,” one of them told the others.

    “No, no, no,” worried Spike, running through the darkness, hoping he was running towards them.  In his haste, he bumped into something and fell backwards. Looking up, he saw a pair of frightful, yellow eyes gaze down at him.  He would have been petrified with fear if he wasn’t so agitated by yet another danger appearing in their way. “Oh, come on! What now?”

    “Fiends, begone!  Begone, I say. Or face the might of the light of day!” spoke a voice with a unique accent in her dialogue.

    “That voice,” commented Applejack.  “That’s gotta be her.”

    The creature belonging to that pair of eyes grabbed something on her person, revealing a bottle containing something that lit up the whole area around them.  With this newly acquired illumination, Spike was able to see the creature he had bumped into was a Pony unlike any he had ever seen before. She was white all over with black stripes even on her long mane and tail that were uniformly cut.  She had several golden rings around her neck and on her front right leg and she had large gold earrings on both of her ears. Without the dark to hide her, the Pony’s eyes were not glowing yellow, but a royal blue hue instead. Her mane was done in a mohawk style and her Cutie Mark was of a spiral surrounded by arrows that all pointed outward from it.

    Throwing the bottle to the ground, it shattered and the light inside escaped, expanding and brightening the whole area so unbelievably vibrant that everyone had to cover their eyes against it.  “Too bright!” cried the Shadow Bolts, barely managing to remain airborne, and hold ontoTwilight and Applejack’s hat.”

    “It is her,” realized Applejack, struggling to see as her eyes slowly adjusted.

“Ugh, she wasn’t kidding about the light of day,” groaned Spike, struggling to see too.  He then felt himself lifted up by the mysterious Pony and placed upon her back.

    “Such tricks will buy us only a short reprieve,” she rhymed some more as she helped carry Spike to safety.  “For now, we must use this chance to leave.”

    “But they still have Twilight,” Spike called out.  “We have to save her.”

    “Don’t worry, I got her,” Applejack assured him as she started to swing her lasso, aiming it at her Unicorn friend to pull her from their foes’ grip.  However, as she was ready to toss it, she saw the Shadow Bolt with her hat in his clutches.

    “Come on,” he told the others as his vision was starting to adjust.  “Let’s forget the extras. We got the one Nightmare Moon wants. Time to get out of here.”

    “Yeah, let’s go,” agreed Firestorm as all four started to take their leave with their ill-gotten gains.  However, before they were able to get too far, Applejack managed to skillfully snag the three Shadow Bolts with her lasso and with a firm yank, pried them away from Twilight.  The flightless Pony dropped to the ground, a bit sore from the fall, but otherwise unharmed.

“Come on, Twilight,” Applejack told her, helping her to her feet as she helped lead her to where the mysterious Pony and Spike had gone off to.  “Let’s get out of here.”

“But what about your hat?” asked Twilight.

“I’ll get it back later,” she sighed sadly.

“Ugh!  We had her!” snapped the Fire Storm angrily.  “But somepony else just had to get in our way.”

“Well, let’s just go after them again,” suggested Sunny Day.

“Negative,” decided Firestorm.  “We don’t know what that other Pony could be capable of and we lost our element of surprise.  For now, we’ll fall back and go with plan B and wait for them at the castle.”

“Fine with me,” smirked Gale Force.  “It just means we get to have some more fun on this job.”

“Let’s get going then,” Nightshroud told the others, placing Applejack’s hat on his head.  “I can’t wait to see the look on their faces for what we’ve got in store for them.”

“Alright, Shadow Bolts,” instructed Firestorm.  “Let’s fly!”

The four dark Pegasi took off through the forest, heading straight for Celestia’s old castle.  The area they left behind started to fade back into darkness, doing so just as the pink Pony, Twilight briefly met in town approached.  Looking around, she then continued her way through the Everfree Forest.


Following their striped savior further into the Everfree Forest, Twilight and her friends were soon led to a large tree that had been hollowed out into a house.  All around it, there were a myriad of colorful plants she had growing all around her home, surrounding it on all sides. “Please friends, come on in. You’ll be safe inside,” she told Twilight and the others.  “The scent of my garden makes predator’s access denied.”

“Uh, what’d she say?” asked Twilight as they watched their step to avoid stepping on any of Zecora’s flowers.

“I think she’s talking about all these plants,” answered Applejack.  “There’s wolfsbane over there. Timberwolves can’t stand the smell of it and those green, stringy plants discourage cragodiles.  I’d say she has a plant to ward off just about every dangerous creature that dwells in these woods.”

“I’d imagined she’d have to in order to live here,” replied Twilight.  “That’s actually very impressive to be able to use the forest to keep you safe from it.”

“Safe from the creatures that dwell here, at least.  These plants won’t keep away those Shadow Dolts or whatever they called themselves,” Applejack stated with some venom on her tongue.

“If they haven’t caught up with us already,” assumed Twilight.  “Then there’s a good chance they retreated to somewhere. I doubt they’d go all that way back to Nightmare Moon after almost succeeding in capturing me.  More likely, they hurried over to our destination to try and ambush us again.”

“If they are, then I’ll look forward to seeing them again,” she stated with a thirst for vengeance in her stern glare.

“Applejack,” Twilight started to say with concern on her voice, but she was interrupted by a fiery sneeze from Spike.

“She sure is prepared,” sniffled Spike, his eyes red and puffy.  “There’s even got a few dragon sneeze trees around.”

“My apologies that my precautions trouble you so,” she said, offering Spike a handkerchief to cover his mouth with.  “In the future, I’ll have to make sure that those trees go.”

“Ok, but I should be fine once we get inside,” Spike told her as he blew his nose on the handkerchief, torching it with his flames and turning it to ash.  “Uh, my bad.”

“It’s alright,” she told Spike as they entered her home.  “There’s no need to fret. I have plenty more where that came from, you can bet.”

Looking around the inside, the tree had a cozy feel to it, though it also was unlike any place Twilight had laid eyes on before.  It was filled with all kinds of unique decor like a number of tribal masks made of wood that was carved into bizarre faces and colored with paint and feathers.  In the center of the room was a large, black cauldron filled almost to the brim with a glowing and warm green, bubbling liquid.

Dozens of shelves were carved into the walls of the tree, holding all sorts of jars, pots, and bottles, all containing different types of ingredients.  They varied from colorful liquids, types of powders, or parts or plants or animals that ranged from intriguing to gross and even to so unsettling that Spike, and Applejack did their best to avoid giving them another look.  Twilight, on the other hand, was beaming with delight at all of this. She got up close to check everything out with a look of delight on her face. Even the sight of a huge, old toenail floating in a preserving fluid did nothing to damper her raised spirits.

“Even Celestia’s school doesn’t have a stock of ingredients as varied as this,” commented Twilight, taking a few peek in the jars to examine the contents.  “You could probably brew any potion you could ever possibly need with all this stuff at your disposal.”

“It’s only natural she would,” Applejack told her.  “She’s the potion brewer my lil sis mentioned earlier.  Twilight, let me introduce you to the Zebra, Zecora. Zecora, this is the Unicorn, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Don’t forget me,” added the purple dragon.  “I’m Spike.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Zecora,” Twilight greeted her with a smile.  “And thanks for coming to our aid.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Zecora replied.  “I’m glad I could thwart that attack. If there’s anything else you need, know that I’ve got your back.”

“Wow, we’ve only just met,” commented Twilight.  “You hardly know anything about me and you’re going out of your way this much to help.”

“Dark times have fallen upon this land we all live,” she explained.  “And I can tell you are someone of my support I should give.”

“Besides being a wiz with potions,” translated Applejack.  “Zecora does dabble a bit in fortune telling. She probably knew we’d be coming into the Everfree Forest long before we even knew we had to.”

“It is true I foresaw your arrival,” admitted Zecora as she picked up a jar containing the same glowing substance from before.  “I also saw my part to play in your survival.”

“In that case,” wondered Spike.  “Can you tell us if we’ll really succeed in stopping Nightmare Moon and saving Equestria?”

“Of course we will,” Twilight assured her Number One Assistant.  “Without a doubt…” Despite saying this, she didn’t sound as confident as she wished she was.  “But, I’ve always been curious about the precognitive abilities of fortune telling, so a small fortune couldn’t hurt.”

Zecora chuckled a bit, seeing the curious look on her guests’ faces.  “Then gaze into my cauldron and into the bubbling green,” instructed the potion brewer, as she grabbed a pouch from her table and some scissors and tweezers.  “And prepare to see what is yet to have been.”

Twilight and Applejack looked into the cauldron while Spike climbed atop Twilight so that he was high enough to see as well.  However, all they could see in the big, black pot was the liquid within it bubbling. As Zecora approached, she snipped a bit of hair from Applejack and Twilight’s manes and plucked a loose scale from Spike’s shoulder.

“Ouch,” groaned Spike, rubbing at the descaled spot.

“What was that for?” asked Twilight as she examined her mane where the few hairs were cut off.

“A bit from those whose journey I need,” answered Zecora.  “Now watch closely to see where your destiny shall lead.”

Dropping the clippings of hair and the dragon scale into the pot, they all sank into the murky liquid.  The zebra then opened her pouch and poured some of its powdery contents into her cauldron, causing steam to burst out in a dramatic fashion.  Twilight and Applejack took a few steps back from shock, while Spike hugged the former to keep from falling off.

As the steam faded, they then reapproached the pot to gaze into it and see if anything had changed.  This time, they could see the powder was swirling around on the surface of the no longer bubble liquid.  At first, the powder moved around in a seemingly random manner, but then it started to combine together, merging into shapes to form an image.  Right away, they saw a moon and a sun with the former growing larger until it consumed the later into itself.

“When the balance of Sun and Moon tilts to the night,” interpreted Zecora while the trio continued to watch.

Next, six circles appeared.  They started out apart in different spots in the cauldron.  Slowly, all six started to converge in the center of the liquid.  When they came together, they took on a new form, a six-pointed star just like the one that was upon Twilight’s flank.  “Six will combine to bring the twilight.” After that, the image of an Alicorn appeared, before the star, but before Zecora was able to interpret anything, the powder dissolved and sank in the cauldron.

“Now that is a sight so very rare,” commented Zecora.  “Yours is a fate that must remain unaware.”

“Unaware?” asked Twilight.  “What does that mean?”

“To tell you right now would be to change the flow,” answered Zecora as she took a ladle and stirred it clockwise, making the liquid move that way too.  She then started to stir counterclockwise to reverse it into flowing the other way. “And warp the way your story should go. Forge your own path forward and take great heed.  Neither success or failure can be guaranteed.”

“That’s it?” questioned Spike as he scratched his scaly head.  “Our future is that we don’t have one?”

“Not the most reassuring thing to be told,” admitted Applejack.

“Well, from what I’ve read, most Pony experts question if fortune telling is real or not,” Twilight informed them.  “In most cases it is merely a con to swindle gullible Ponies out of their bits, but some manage to be surprisingly accurate.  However, in those cases, it’s very debatable whether they were faked, self-fulfilled prophecies, a coincidence, or the real deal.”

“And before I forget, this potion is for you,” Zecora said, offering a bottle to Applejack.  She then gave a trollish grin to Twilight. “It is what you came for, a special growing brew.”

“Wow, with all that’s been going on, it completely slipped my mind that I came to see if you could whip me up a growth potion,” Applejack admitted.  “I’m much obliged.”

“You were saying, Twi,” Spike inquired to Twilight.

“Of course there are some cases that simply can’t be explained,” she confessed, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Just a drop or two and any object will grow ten times its size,” instructed Zecora.  “This may prove more useful than you even realize.”

“If it can help with our bat problem then it’ll be plenty useful,” Applejack stated.  “I’ll put it to use right away, just as soon as we get done with our business in this forest and I kick the flank of the scoundrel that swiped my hat.  I don’t suppose you know how close the castle is from here?”

    “Head just a little further north to reach your destination,” she replied to Applejack’s curiosity.  “And I’d suggest you go now, to avoid procrastination.”

    “Good, we’re almost there,” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that.  “Okay, everypony, let’s get going.”

    “Thanks again for everything, Zecora,” Applejack told her once more.

    “Yeah, thanks,” nodded Twilight.  “Oh, and would it be okay if I write to you if I have any questions about potion making?”

    “I’d be happy to help you if it’s knowledge you need,” she replied with a small chuckle.  “But answering while rhyming is difficult indeed.”

    “Does she seriously have to even write in rhymes?” whispered Spike as they left Zecora’s cottage.

    “I don’t know if she even has to rhyme at all,” admitted Applejack.  “She’s the only Zebra I’ve even met so I don’t even know if it’s a Zebra thing or just her thing.”

    “Whatever the case, we can move on thanks to her,” stated Twilight.  “Now let’s get to the castle. We’ve got the Elements of Harmony to find.”

    “And I’ve got my hat to reclaim,” added Applejack.

“And I’ve got, uh,” Spike said, trying to include a goal for himself.  “Well, I guess I can find out if thousand year old gems go stale or mature in flavor with age.”