//------------------------------// // Applejack Apple // Story: The Witch of Everfree // by Mudsymate //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Applejack Apple "I think there's something lurking at the edge of the Everfree. Like, more than usual… and pony-shaped." "The woods at the east of town are haunted I tell you! I saw figures lurking about in there." "Remember that old cottage at the edge of the Everfree? I heard it got a new resident recently. And not the benevolent kind." "There's a witch in those woods." Applejack could scarcely hear anything else besides that newest gossip at the market today as she sold her apples. Rumors around the small town she lived in were not an uncommon occurrence, but never to the degree that it was all she heard all day. And as she closed and packed up her stall, it would seem that it wasn't the last time she would hear of it. "Applejack, Sweetheart! Have you heard of the rumors lately?" An earth pony with a white coat and a dark lavender mane called out as she trotted up to the orange unicorn, after the latter finished strapping herself to her cart. "'Bout that Witch in the woods? S'all Ah been hearin' all day. Everypony was talkin' 'bout it when they were hoofin’ bits," Applejack sighed, fixing her hat. She could really use a break, and Rarity was the last pony she needed to see right about now. "Look, Rares, if you ain't here for somethin' important, could Ah have some time for myself? Ah'm real tired," Her comment didn’t seem to faze Rarity as she continued to trot alongside her. "Oh, that's quite alright, you can rest up in between what I would like you to do." "And that is…?" "We're finding that witch of course!" Applejack stopped abruptly as the wheel of her cart snagged on a pothole before she looked at Rarity incredulously. "Really? What the hay spurred this on? Why d’you wanna go chasin' after a rumor suddenly?" The Apple rolled her eyes before pulling on the cart, hooves digging into the dirt. Rarity, to her credit, trotted behind the cart before saddling beside to help. "It's not just a rumor this time, Sweetheart! Otherwise, it wouldn't have become so big! No… There's some truth to it, you see. I've been following this rumor since it started two weeks ago, but it only exploded when somepony actually encountered something. I think there really is a witch out in those woods, and I need you – the most dependable pony in town – to help me find out more about it." Both Applejack and Rarity grunted as the two ponies pulled and pushed the cart out of the ditch, with Applejack using her telekinesis to lighten the heavy cart somewhat, until it lurched forward, free of the pothole. "Anyway I still have some work to do, but I'll be waiting for you at my shop by sundown." Before Applejack could reply Rarity was already galloping down the road. "Oh! And remember to bring your blade! You never know if we'll need it!" Rarity would say last just before she rounded the corner. Applejack sighed as she turned back towards Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack knocked on Rarity's door around sundown as promised. The latter answered not long after, with saddlebags on and her father's axe in her mouth, looking a bit too eager to go into the woods. Applejack, who looked a lot less thrilled about the adventure than her companion, had her own blade and saddlebag with her, as well as her trusty lasso hung loosely around her neck. "Oh good, You're here!" Rarity said through the axe handle in her mouth before looping it through a hook on her saddlebag. "If'n Ah didn't, you would have gotten your flank stuck in those woods. Or worse yet, killed by a Timberwolf or somethin'... You know well that there’s huntin’ territory, not someplace anypony should be going alone in." Rarity simply huffed smugly before trotting towards the east of town. Applejack followed closely after.  "Are you sure this ain't somethin' that can wait till tomorrow morning?" Applejack asked one last time as she pulled her saddlebags taut. "No, Of course not, Sweetheart. The daytime would only make what we're looking for harder to find! We're much more likely to find a witch at night, or at the very least catch them off-guard." Rarity proclaimed as she ran a hoof over her mane. "Oh, so you're an expert witch hunter now?"Applejack rolled her eyes and smirked. "Oh, come now! It'll be just like a Daring Do or Shadow Spade novel. Full of adventure and suspense! So, if you want to be back before midnight, then let's hop to it." Rarity happily trotted off into the thicket bordering the town. The  unicorn glared at the woods before them as she swiftly caught up, drew her blade, and hacked a path through the foliage. It would take the two a while to clear a path through the woods which, according to an old map of Ponyville, should have been where a previously abandoned cottage lay. They listened to every sound and noticed every movement, but had no luck finding a witch. Just some owls or a stray squirrel. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a flock of birds flying away in panic, and Applejack whipped around, quickly drawing her blade. Her magic grabbed her lasso and twirled it over her head. Rarity faced the opposite direction of the sound, keeping AJ's flank covered. "What was that…?" Rarity asked, briefly looking back toward Applejack. "Let's hope it ain't nothing more than Timberwolves. Anything bigger would be a problem," The Apple's magic slowly wound down her lasso but her blade remained unsheathed. Her eyes kept their gaze towards the sound, slowly scanning the treeline.  A rustle in the bushes to their left made both mares jump, and their blood ran cold as a chicken head with red eyes reared itself out of the bush. With quick thinking on her part, Applejack dug her hooves into the ground and kicked dirt into the cockatrice’s eyes, breaking its gaze long enough for Rarity to run for it. 'What's a cockatrice doing here? Too far from their stomping grounds in the Everfree…' Applejack thought to herself as she ran the opposite way of the dangerous chimera. But, she realized she didn't hear Rarity behind her. Her head whipped around looking for any sign of the other mare, but all she got was the darkness and trees. "Rarity?" she called out, "Rarity, Where are you!?"  But no answer came. Her yelling, however, caught the attention of other denizens of the woods.  "Oh you've gotta be kiddin' me," Applejack said in frustration as Timberwolves collected themselves from the wood and sticks around her. Leaping into action, Applejack struck the nearest wolf before it could form, splintering the wood and dissipating its magic. Raising her sword, she blocked the bite of another and rammed it into a tree. She stood her ground as even more Timberwolves came together. She kept her eyes on the four advancing beasts, the wolves tried to surround her but Applejack backed off, an escape route through the trees clear in her mind. One of the wolves lunged, and was met with a swing from the mare’s sword, which sliced through the wolf's wooden jaw, lopping it clean off. Its body backed away, and more wood surrounded by magic came to fix the wolf's head.  She slowly backed off, her sword swung at whichever one of the wooden beasts tried to take a bite of her. After she put some distance between herself and the Timberwolves, she grabbed a few stones in her reach and bucked them at her adversaries, many of which struck true, shattering parts of their wooden bodies and heads. That gave Applejack enough time to gallop away. The Timberwolves growled and snarled as they chased after her, hunger and malice in their eyes. The Apple felt her heart pound in her head. She couldn’t see the wolves but she definitely smelled them, and they were close. She looked to the moon above to get her bearings, but as misfortune would have it, she misstepped on a patch of lower ground. She lost her balance and face planted, the hole her hoof fell into sprained her front leg and she screamed in pain. The Timberwolves heard the mare and doubled their pace. Applejack strained to get back up, but the pain was too much for her to run again, so she turned her back towards a tree and dug into her saddlebags. She pulled out two fire bottles and lit them just as the Timberwolves came into view. "Alright… You got me! But Ah ain't dying here, even if it means Ah have to burn these woods to the ground!" She raised the lit bottles, ready to throw. "I value your will to fight for your life, but please don't burn the forest in your strife," a feminine voice above the mare's head called out, before a strange bottle full of strange liquid smashed in front of the four Timberwolves, its smell nearly as pungent as their breath. The Timberwolves then slowly lost the magic holding them together until they were nothing more than piles of inanimate sticks, much to the bewilderment and relief of Applejack.  "Good evening to you, Miss," The same voice snapped Applejack out of her trance as she came face-to-face with her savior. She was another Unicorn, purple in color from what Applejack saw through the moonlight, and with deeper purple eyes.  And she was upside down.  As she looked above her, she saw the mare was hanging off a floating broomstick. Applejack turned her gaze back down to the smiling mare's head and sure enough, she found the telltale pointy, if a bit gravity-defying, hat perched upon her head. "Oh pardon me, it's a bit rude to be upside down while trying to talk isn't it?" She jumped down and landed like a cat on all four hooves before bowing her head graciously as her broomstick slowly descended beside her. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. You must be one of the locals from Ponyville, correct?" Twilight said as she raised her head back to eye level with Applejack. "Uhh… Yeah Ah am- Ah'm Applejack," She reached out with her hoof, wincing as it was her sprained leg, which caught the attention of the witch. "Oh my, your leg's hurt! We better get that patched up… My cottage is just this way, I can take better care of you there." Twilight looked back at Applejack, who stood still. Getting an idea, Twilight jumped onto her broom and flew close, offering a hoof to the injured mare. "How about we fly over there? It'll take the strain off your hoof. And I promise you, it's one hundred percent safe. I'll even fly low." Twilight offered her a hoof and a charming smile.  Applejack was hesitant. This was an actual, genuine witch that she was interacting with. But at the same time, she seemed nice enough, and certainly not the malicious hag that the rumors led her to believe. So, she hesitantly hooked her own hoof (her good one this time) and Twilight pulled her up onto the broom. Applejack was surprised to find the broomstick oddly comfortable as Twilight flew off to her cottage. They flew just a little bit above the canopy, with Applejack mentally checking off the magic flying broom as witchcraft to save her brain the headache. They touched down in front of a quaint little cottage with two floors. The bottom had a chimney snaking out of it, but the second floor looked positively normal.  The witch brought Applejack inside and sat her on her couch before trotting off to get medical supplies.  The ground floor was split into two sections, the tiled laboratory and the wood-floor living room. The laboratory, besides having what you would expect from a witch – a cauldron, jars full of ingredients, books and bottles strewn about – also had a very modern chemistry set that wouldn’t look out of place in a university chemistry lab. On the other end of the big room was a recreational area, complete with a couch beside an end table with a reading lamp and a small radio. Along with various other pieces of furniture that made the side of the room look homely. The stairs were in between the two halves, separating the room  with an imaginary line. Applejack stared at Twilight as she darted about the laboratory side of the room grabbing a first-aid kit and a clay bowl of salve off the shelf. She rolled the case near the couch before dashing to the other side of her lab. “There should be morphine in there, and some disinfectant you can start cleaning your wound with. I just need to find something… specific.”  Applejack looked down on her foreleg and realized she was bleeding over the floor, her injuries being much worse than she thought. Grabbing the case, she opened it and procured a bottle of the painkiller and disinfectant, quickly using both to the best of her knowledge as Twilight came back with the salve and a flask of thick green liquid. “Allow me,” Twilight whispered as she put down the salve and the flask next to Applejack before cleaning and dressing the rest of her wound.  "This salve is to make sure your skin heals properly. Apply it once you can freely take your bandages off… This other one is a potion of my own concoction, it should help with healing everything else. It's made with a lot of mint, so you might taste that for a while. After that, we just wait till the potion does its thing and you should be able to walk again in an hour or so." Twilight looked sheepishly while she wrapped Applejack's leg in the bandages and gave the potion flask over.  Applejack held the flask in her magic and swirled it around, an overpowering smell of mint evident even as she held it half a foreleg away from her nose. She hesitated to drink the potion; it was an unknown liquid with unknown effects from a mildly dubious source, after all. Her eyes darted between the flask and Twilight, who was intently focused on bandaging her leg, her tongue sticking out in concentration. Applejack took a deep breath and put the lip of the flask to her own, drinking as much of the potion as she could fit in her mouth, before swallowing. Applejack shuddered, the cool spiciness of mint overpowered her taste buds, but she could feel the magic course through her before it settled in her damaged leg. “Now that that’s over… Applejack, was it?” Twilight hummed, looking at her as she finished wrapping Applejack’s leg. The latter nodded slowly. “You fascinate me,” the unicorn said with a smile that Applejack couldn’t quite discern the meaning behind as the former got very close to the latter’s face. "A- and why's that?" Applejack replied nervously.  "Isn't it obvious? The scales, the leonine tail, the mane, and the single branching horn… You're a Kirin! Not too common around here," Twilight replied eagerly. Applejack stared at her with a mix of surprise, confusion, and apprehension at the sudden change in tone. "Ahem, excuse my behavior, it's just that… I've only ever seen Kirin in books before! Oh, I have a lot of questions!" Applejack planted her good hoof on the excited unicorn and gently pushed her away for some space. "Alright, hold on. You ain't makin' a lick of sense right now. What are you talkin' 'bout with this whole… 'Kirin' thing? You mean to tell me I ain't actually a unicorn?" Applejack raised a brow at Twilight, who shrugged in response. "Well… no. But actually yes? It's a bit more complicated than that. Kirins do tap into the same branch of magic as Unicorns do, but most of their spellcasting is very different- ah well, but that's a lesson for another time," Twilight smiled sheepishly, which disappeared soon after as she realized something. "You… you didn't know that you're a Kirin," She shook it off and smiled, though wistfully. "I suppose that's understandable. They – Kirin I mean – don't usually travel outside of their territories." Twilight coughed into her hoof. An awkward silence befell the two mares as Twilight trotted to the other side of the room to her lab, reorganizing everything she displaced when she ran around. The sounds of Timberwolf howls pierced the night outside the cottage, reminding Applejack like a barrel of apples to the head that she lost Rarity somewhere out there. "Um… Twilight? Do you know what happened to my friend, Rarity? Earth pony, white coat and purple mane. She came with me into the woods but… we got separated after we ran into a cockatrice." Applejack fidgeted in her seat and looked at the closed door of the cottage, her gut telling her that she should bolt out the door and go looking for her friend. "Oh, don't worry about her. I had my trustworthy assistants discreetly escort her out of the forest safely," Twilight looked back at Applejack and flashed the mare a wink, a gesture that made the Kirin blush. A loud yelp and the sound of a crash outside one of the windows stopped Applejack from asking further about Rarity. An Owl flew in, silent as the night, and touched down on a perch at the edge of the room. Another figure climbed in through the window, a purple baby dragon with a small satchel around its shoulder, who waddled over to Twilight and gave a stern salute. "Mission accomplished, Twilight! We got that other mare out of the forest safely and without a hitch!" The owl hooted in agreement at the dragon's declaration. "Good job, Spike! And thank you too, Owlowiscious." Spike turned towards Applejack and gave her a look of acknowledgement, before he dragged himself upstairs with a yawn. As soon as the dragon left the room, Twilight came back to the couch with a bowl of almonds, offering them to the other mare. "Here. Sadly I can't offer you anything more elaborate or filling, but it's something to snack on," Twilight mumbled as she sat down on the couch with Applejack.  "That's quite alright, thank you," Applejack replied. She then cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "So, Twilight… you're a witch huh?"  "By profession and aesthetically, yes. But I also dabble in alchemy and item enchantments as is evident." Twilight smiled while gesturing to her lab and the enchanted flying broom which swept the floors on its own. "Do you mind if I know more about you, then?" Applejack asked. "I don't mind, but it must go both ways, 'tis only fair. I've said 'you fascinate me,' so my curiosity's in the air." Twilight fired back with a cheeky smile which made Applejack laugh. So for the next hour or so, the two talked. Various topics came – about themselves, the town, their professions and so on – and both mares found the other's company refreshing, to say the least. The clock in the corner of the room struck nine, catching Applejack's attention. Twilight noticed and gave the empty almond bowl to her owl and stood. She called her broom to her side and offered a hoof to Applejack. "We had best get you home before your loved ones get too worried. Come, I'll fly you to the edge of the forest." Twilight smiled, though Applejack hesitated to take her hoof. "Ah um… Ah really enjoyed our time together and uhh… Ah'm mighty sorry 'bout all the bad stuff we thought 'bout you. You're a real nice pony, and now Ah don't think that you really deserved all that crap." Applejack said sheepishly, her hat held in hoof. Twilight simply smiled and nodded, a silent thank you to the mare, a light blush dusting both their cheeks as they both laughed. Applejack donned her hat once more and slung her saddlebags back on her back before she took Twilight's hoof with hers, the latter excitedly pulling the Kirin outside. The flight back to town was uneventful. Nevertheless, Applejack enjoyed the ride. As they touched down at the edge of town, Applejack thanked the unicorn again. "Ah really enjoyed your company Twilight, think maybe Ah could come visit again?" In reply, the unicorn giggled before she reached into her satchel and pulled out a candle. "Timberwolves prowl these woods as you know, this ensures safe travels sans dangerous foe. The path to follow is faded and old, but one only needs to be perceptive and bold. Dragon fire, the candle exudes, repelling timberwolves, it includes." Twilight winked at Applejack as she handed her the candle, the latter gratefully accepting the gift. "You're an odd one, Miss Twilight Sparkle… but Ah mean that as a compliment," Applejack replied, just as Twilight gave the mare a tip of her hat and took off again. Applejack turned towards town, but not before noticing her injured leg had already healed a considerable amount and she could put a bit of weight on it again, even if she had a bit of a limp. She trotted towards Ponyville, finding a small crowd gathered at its square. Among them was Rarity. "Applejack!" Rarity screamed the second Applejack came in sight, pouncing on her with enough force to knock them over. "Oof! Rarity! Ah have a hurt leg, watch it!" The Kirin exclaimed, but was ignored by the bawling mare whose hooves wrapped tightly around her neck. "I thought you had perished! You were gone for hours! I'm so sorry for dragging you into this!" Rarity cried into the other mare's chest as a crowd gathered around the pair. Big Macintosh, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity's parents were among the townsfolk who congregated at the square. "What's all this?" The Kirin motioned to the small crowd gathered as she tried to pry Rarity off of her. "We was about to go and look for ya before ya arrived,” Carrot Top said as she trotted into Applejack's line of sight. “Rarity gathered us here a little while ago, tellin' us you might've gotten yourself turned to stone or mauled by Timberwolves."  She proceeded to pry Rarity off of her fellow farmpony, something the Kirin greatly appreciated. "You're almost right 'bout the last part," Applejack held up her bandaged leg, "But Ah… somepony was there to help, thankfully." She laughed, trailing off as her eyes looked towards the edge of town. "Applejack? What happened to you?" Rarity asked. "She's really nice… and pretty too," Applejack mumbled as she looked back at Rarity with a wishful smile. "Who?" "Twilight Sparkle. The Witch of Everfree."