//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Sombra: The Shadow Over Ponyville // by Blaster Master //------------------------------// Chapter 4 It seemed after a few days, however, that Twilight’s fears were unfounded. Pinkie Pie got out of the hospital with a clean bill of health and deciding to throw a “Defeated the Timberwolves” party, but she was talked out of it by her friends in favor of resting. The damage to the market and the library was cleaned up with minimal hassle and Mayor Mare gave a statement in the Ponyville Express telling the citizens of Ponyville that the local government was writing the incident off as a freak occurrence. This seemed to convince everyone. Except, that is, for Twilight Sparkle. But with nothing else to go on, Twilight had to accept that maybe it was a freak occurrence and that she was just seeing things, move on past her anxiety and return to her life as normal. If ponies of Ponyville had continued reading the Ponyville Express beyond the front page, and gone to page eight, they would have seen a seemingly unimportant story. The article was about a local gardener, Mr. Greenhooves, who was complaining about what he thought might be some kind of new tree-borne disease. Some trees around the town were displaying very strange symptoms; their bark blackened, their leaves seemed to wither and die, and yet the trees resisted all attempts to be pruned or cut down. Saw teeth wore down to nothing, fire didn’t catch, and magic of any kind was useless against them. Had these strange trees been more widespread, this might have been a more widely covered, but barely ten were counted in the entire town, with no apparent sign of spreading. And so the story was pushed into obscurity. Little did the journalists at the Ponyville Express know how close they came to discovering the truth. The horn in the Everfree Forest had buried itself deep into the tree, and soon, it was able to become the tree. This tree was old. Its roots run deep and wide. And with only a little push of dark magic, Sombra made the roots wider still. Until they tangled into the roots of other trees and through these roots Sombra poured his venomous magic. *** “This the one?” Applejack asked her older brother. “Eeyup,” Big McIntosh said simply. The siblings took in the sight. It wasn’t pretty; one of their apple trees in the east orchard had up and gotten sick, and sick in a hurry. The once sweet fruit and gorgeous leaves had started to rot right off, and the bark was blackening. “Shame,” Applejack said morosely. “Pretty fella like that getting’ reduced ta such a sorry state.” “Eeyup,” Big Mac responded again. “Well, ain’t nothin’ for it” Applejack said resolutely, pulling her hat tighter over her brow “He’s gotta come down, otherwise he might infect the whole field.” She approached the miserable looking tree, and set a hoof on its bark, “Sorry fella.” After a moment of silence, she turned herself around, and put her hind legs to work. She bucked the tree with all the force she could muster, expecting the rotting bark to splinter under her full might. It did not. She felt the painful shockwave go through her entire body, like she’d just tried to buck granite. It caught her completely off-guard and her front legs gave way in agonizing surprise. She fell face first into the dirt, her back legs crying out in pain. “Applejack!” Big Mac exclaimed in concern as he approached, “You OK? What happened?” “Dunno!” Applejack said as she was helped to her hooves, “Wasn’t expectin’ it to be so tough! That tree trunk’s like tryin’ to cut rocks with a butter knife…” “We oughta get you looked at-” “Once I bring this tree down!” AJ interrupted “It took me by surprise, but now I’m ready fer it!” “Apple-” But before he could say anymore, AJ rocketed another powerful buck into the trunk of the tree. The tree barely swayed and the Earth Pony was again knocked to the ground by her own force. “Applejack, you cut that out right now!” Big Macintosh demanded sternly. “No way!” Applejack replied defiantly, “I’m one a the strongest, and most capable ponies in all a Ponyville, and I ain’t gonna let myself get beat by no rotten tree!” Before she could send a third buck the tree’s way, Big Mac closed his mouth around her mane and pulled her away. “Now you listen here, AJ. I know you’re the most dependable a ponies and all, but I wouldn’t be doing my job as your big brother if ah let you hurt yourself teachin’ a dead tree who’s the boss,” Big Macintosh said firmly “You gotta remember what happened the last time you bit off my then you could chew.” Applejack gave a furious flush, but settled down. “I suppose you’re right,” She admitted “We’ll deal with this tree another time. Might need ta get the saw out o’ the barn tomorrow for this.” “Eeyup.” *** Fluttershy answered the gentle knocking at her door, looking down she saw a trio of raccoons waiting patiently at her doorstop. “Why hello Mr. and Ms. Raccoon!” the Pegasus said brightly “And hello to you too Little Raccoon! You’re getting so tall! How are you three doing?” Mr. Raccoon chattered away in a distressed manner. “Oh…My…” Fluttershy responded. She leaned her head out her door and looked down the road. A few hundred feet she could see the tree the Raccoon Family used to use as a home. But it had turned black and seemed to be rotting. “Oh my goodness! That won’t do at all!” Fluttershy exclaimed “I don’t blame you for leaving. But I’m very sorry you’ve lost your home…” Mr. Raccoon chattered away his reassurances, and then posed a question. “Of course you can spend the night!” Fluttershy said “And then tomorrow we can find you a new home. Mr. Greenjay said he saw a nice tree that’s unoccupied over by the river. We can check there in the morning. But in the meantime, you can stay here at chez Fluttershy.” Ms. Raccoon chattered her gratitude. “Think nothing on it” Fluttershy assured her “After all, what are friends for if not sharing a little kindness?” *** There was another knock at a different house in Ponyville, and a pink Earth pony with a lily in her hair answered the door. “SURPRISE!! Happy birthday!” Pinkie Pie yelled to the surprised Lily Valley, as she held up her birthday cake. “Oh! Pinkie Pie!” Lily exclaimed “You shouldn’t have!” “I didn’t!” Pinkie clarified “I’m only delivering it. Rose and Daisy commissioned the cake. Your favorite! Red velvet with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled orchids on top! Buuuuutt… The SONG was my idea!” With that, Pinkie handed Lily her the cake and pulled her ten instrument ensemble from behind her, and began to belt out a joyful birthday song, specially written for Lily. Once she was done, she headed off back towards Sugar Cube Corner, a smile adorning her face in the knowledge knowing she had made others smile. “I love my job,” she remarked to herself, “And my home, and my life, and I love aaaalll my friends!” She did a ballerina spin for fun and rested her back against a tree, sighing contently. “I don’t know what I’d do without all my friends and their smiles,” She said, again, to herself “They just make my life… Complete…” She took a moment to enjoy her own contentedness. Suddenly a chill ran up her spine and she sprang to her feet. She looked back and saw her tail twisting and turning as if somepony was wringing water out of it. “Twisty tail!” She cried. Her eyes darted to and fro, up and down, looking for something. But everything seemed normal in Ponyville. “That’s strange,” Pinkie mused, “Twisty tail usually means somepony is watching me…” She continued back towards Sugar Cube Corner, wary for prying eyes. *** Rarity was at a terrible crossroads. Levitating in front of her were two letters she’d just received. On one side was a letter of praise for her work on several expensive outfits from one of her buyers in Las Pegasus, along with her compensation check of one hundred bits. In the other one was a letter inviting her to a party to be held in Ponyville’s Town Hall; it was a charity ball, with all the proceeds going to help the town cover the damages done to the market after the Timberwolf attack. The only stipulation for the party was an entrance fee of… One hundred bits. All of which would go directly to the town. “Alright Rarity,” She said to herself as she began to pace “I just need to lay it out. Pro: the money will go towards helping my hometown and everypony in it. Con: I won’t have the money to boost my own business.” The white Unicorn continued her pacing, letting her eyes wander her beloved store. “Pro: The ponies who see me there will appreciate my input into the local economy and remember my goodwill. Con: I was hoping to use this money to get more expensive materials and try to cater to a richer clientele outside of Ponyville. Doing this will enable me to get even more money to boost my business even further.” She looked from one to the other for a number of minutes, before hanging her head. She knew what to do. “Oh Rarity… It’s only money” She assured herself as she put the letters on the table and looked out the window to the row of trees outside. “There will be other checks, other chances. After all, every lady knows that a little generosity goes a long way.” *** “AND RAINBOW DASH COMES WHIZZING AROUND THE LAST TURN!” Rainbow Dash was flying faster than she had ever flown in her life. Wind whistled past her ears and stung her eyes, but she couldn’t let that stop her, the Wonderbolts were in the audience and whoever won would be trained by them personally for a whole week! She zipped over a pack of black clouds and could see the finish line. In her haste, she never had time to wonder why the race track had so many black clouds hanging around. She flapped her wings as hard as she could, saw the checked line… And then her left wing disappeared. Without explanation, in the blink of an eye, her wing was gone. Her body listed and swayed, her right wing trying desperately to compensate. But suddenly her right wing vanished to. She fell a few dozen feet and slammed into the soft cloud below. She was horrified by this turn of events, but she knew she had a decisive lead; if she could just cross the finish line, wings or not, she would win. So she ran for it, galloping as hard as she could. She was just getting her confidence back, when suddenly her back left leg popped out of existence. Rainbow screamed and tried to run faster. Then her front right leg. She struggled, sweat pouring off her face. Willing herself to move, but the finish line seemed tantalizingly close without ever coming within reach. Back right leg. She fell to the cloud surface and used her lone hoof to crawl along the ground, desperate. Then her front left leg vanished, leaving her as little more than looking like Equestria’s strangest snake. Tears were stinging her face as she tried to wriggle to the finish line, but what was the use? Without her wings, what good was she to the Wonderbolts? What good was she to anyone? “Ahhh!!” The multi-color manned Pegasus screamed as she snapped awake. Rainbow Dash took a few deep breaths, and then wiped her eyes to clear them. She looked at her hoof and discovered tears. She wiped them away quickly, in case anyone saw her. At that point, she felt the twinge in her back. “Man! This tree sucks for napping in! I think I slept on a knot!” RD stretched her back out, hearing her spine pop in places. “Alright, Rainbow” She said to herself as she double checked her weather schedule “Time to go show a little Dash!” And so, leaving the blackened tree behind, she flew off to attend to the local weather. *** Applejack. Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie. Rarity. Rainbow Dash. King Sombra had their names, but he had even more then that now. The trees were extensions of him now, his eyes and ears in Ponyville. And he observed his enemies throughout the days, seeing their strengths and their weaknesses. He saw their hopes and dreams. He saw their fears. He knew that they were strongest together, and so he had to pick them apart. Divide and conquer. But… Who to start with? *** Inhaling the incense in her hut, Zecora readied her mind for her journey. The darkness in the forest must be made to cease Zecora thought to herself, But to fight it, my awareness I must increase. I must venture deep into the heart of the curse, and see if the evil at work I can reverse. Her mind focused and alert, she took her saddlebag of tools and potions, and ventured deeper into the forest; set on exorcising the shadow that lurked in the Everfree.