Chapter 8: Dangerous Discovery
After finishing her dictation, Twilight Sparkle left the library visit the spa with the rest of her friends, once again leaving Spike to clean up the mess she had left behind. Pulling the ladder around, the little dragon began to pick up books and return them to their proper places on the shelves. Some were easier to put away than others. He had been at the task for a few hours, using up the better part of the day when the door to the library swung open.
"Back already?" asked Spike, "I thought you'd be out longer."
"Um Spike?" asked a familiar voice that was most definitely not Twilight's, "What are ya talkin' about?"
The dragon let out a startled shout and accidentally let go of the ladder he was standing on and dropped to the floor. For a moment, his vision swam before the yellow and red blur hanging above him swam into focus, resolving into the shape of the small earth pony filly who had startled him.
"Spike? Are ya alright?" asked Apple Bloom, her eyes wide with concern.
"Yeah," said Spike quickly, forcing himself to sit up. He took a moment to rub the sore spot on the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I heard you come in and thought Twilight was back. So anyway, what can I do for you Apple Bloom?"
"Ah was here wonderin' if ya had a book Ah could check out. It's fer mah homework."
"Homework?" asked Spike, getting to his feet, "What kind of homework?"
"Ah have to learn about somepony's job," explained Apple Bloom, "Then Ah need to write a report on it."
"Heh," snorted Spike, "I guess that's why you're here without the other Crusaders."
The yellow filly nodded gloomily. "Sweetie's doin' a report on her sister and Scootaloo wants to write about..."
"Rainbow Dash," Spike finished for her. The two of them shared a chuckle at their friends' predictability. However, a thought occurred to Spike. "Hang on," I would have thought that you'd like to write about your sister. Why are you here?"
"Well," the yellow filly scuffed her hoof nervously, "That was the first thing Ah thought about. But fer some reason, Ah don't like that idea so much."
"Is something wrong? Are you and AJ having another fight?"
"No! No!" protested the filly quickly, "It's just, Ah've been worried about a few things lately."
"Your cutie mark again?" asked Spike raising an eyebrow.
"Sort of," replied Apple Bloom nervously.
"How is that any different from what you've felt before?"
"Well," answered the filly, "Ah've been startin' to get an inklin' of what mah special talent might be."
Spike scratched his head for a moment. "Um, Apple Bloom...call me crazy, but isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"
"Well yeah," agreed Bloom, "But Ah'm worried mah sister might not be too happy about it."
"Why?"
"Well, everypony in mah family: Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Applejack, they all have cutie marks about Apples. That's why we're the Apple family. One way or another, we have somethin' to do with apples, whether it be farmin', cookin', or sellin' Apples. We all have a callin' down on the farm. But mah special talent...Ah don't think it has anything to do with apples."
"But what about all those different things you tried out with your friends?" asked Spike, "Hardly any of them had anything to do with apples."
"It's a bit hard to explain," said Apple Bloom, "But all this stuff we've been tryin', Ah think it sunk in a long time ago that none of that was gonna get us our cutie marks. Maybe we thought it would at first. But lately, Ah've been gettin' what big sis and the others have been tellin' us about how we can't just force our marks to show up. Fer a while now, Ah think we've just been doin' our crusadin' 'cause it's fun."
"You've been terrorizing the whole town for fun," muttered the dragon under his breath. Opting not to let Bloom hear that part, he decided to encourage her a little instead. "Bloom, you're silly if you think AJ would get upset with you over this. Applejack would never turn her back on her little sister just because her cutie mark doesn't happen to be apple related. Even if it isn't, I suspect that it's still something you can use to help your family. AJ is going to inherit the farm anyway, so it's not like there's some desperate need for you to be another apple to the Apples."
The filly sniffed and adjusted her bow slightly. "Thanks Spike, Ah needed that."
Spike grinned and walked over to her. "Don't worry about it. Are you still going to do that report on somepony else?"
"Actually, now that Ah thought about it, Ah don't need that book anymore," said Apple Bloom, a slightly mischievous grin on her face, "But Ah still don't feel like Ah need to do it on mah sister either."
"Trying not to be predictable?" asked the dragon.
The filly chuckled. "Instead, Ah was thinkin', what might it be like to be the Number One Assistant to the most powerful unicorn in all'a Equestria." She smiled while looking at Spike through half-lidded eyes.
The purple dragon swayed a little on his clawed feet as his cheeks developed a pinkish tone. "That actually sounds like an awesome idea for a report," he said once he had recovered.
"What do ya say Spike? How about we have that interview over at the Sugarcube Corner?"
The little dragon nodded eagerly. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go!"
The two of them made their way out the door. A light breeze moved through the library as the door swung shut, only barely stirring the letter to Princess Celestia laid out where Spike had left it, forgotten.
"Thanks Fluttershy," said Twilight as they prepared to part ways after their little whole-group spa date, "I'm sure that Princess Celestia will probably have all kinds of useful information."
"I'm a little worried that Dawn might not like it," Fluttershy admitted.
"He has nothing to worry about," said Twilight proudly, "After all, Princess Celestia was the one who put a stop to the Cult Solar, so she knows better than anypony how ridiculous all that stuff about demons is."
"If you say so," said Fluttershy, "I'll let Dawn know."
The two went their separate ways. Twilight Sparkle opened the door and stepped into her library home to find it...empty. There was no one there. Looking around, she saw that some of the books were still scattered about from this morning. But Spike was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Twilight stepped further into the library and looked around. Her letter was still where she left it this morning. There was nothing to suggest that anything bad had occurred. But she wasn't happy to see that, wherever he had gone, Spike hadn't bothered to finish cleaning up the mess from earlier that morning.
With a sigh, Twilight channeled her magic through her horn, levitating all the books still scattered about. A quick scan of their titles was all that she needed before she sent them floating back to their proper places. It was the work of one, maybe two minutes. Honestly, she thought in frustration, I'm not asking all that much of Spike. This shouldn't have taken him hardly any time at all. He better have a good reason for skipping out on this.
With that, an irate unicorn set out from the library, looking for her wayward assistant. Trying to think of where he might have gone, Twilight thought about going to Rarity's boutique. After all, that was one of Spike's favorite places to go when he had free time. But then again, he had known that Rarity would be out today, so Spike would have known better than to bother. She could think of one other place the little dragon liked to go to, where he could get a treat or a snack. Twilight Sparkle headed out for Sugarcube Corner.
She was in such a hurry, that she failed to notice an orange earth pony approaching from the other direction. Applejack also failed to spot Twilight leaving and instead went straight to the library door.
Applejack knocked gently on the door. "Twilight? Are ya here sugarcube?"
Not hearing any answer, Applejack pushed the door open and trotted into the clean interior of the library. Looking around, she saw no sign of Twilight Sparkle, or Spike for that matter. "Twi? Spike?"
Applejack sighed when she realized that she was alone. She had hoped to try and talk to Twilight some more about the situation with Fluttershy's houseguest. She knew that Twilight had been invited up to Fluttershy's house and had hoped that the unicorn could tell her more about this colt. She hadn't thought it proper to bring the subject up during their day at the spa, seeing how so much focus had been on the fact that Caramel was getting out of the hospital soon, which meant that Rarity was going on nonstop about her plans for Fluttershy's upcoming date with the stallion.
Applejack had ultimately decided to sit it out, rather than get drawn in to the whole affair. After they had left, Twilight and Fluttershy had headed out together, talking about something. Initially, Applejack had been planning on returning to the farm, but then realized that this might be the best chance for her to talk to Twilight. However, as she glanced around, Applejack could tell that neither Twilight nor Spike were in. Sighing, the farmer mare turned and prepared to head out, until she spotted a leaf of paper lying on the table in the middle of the library. Looking over, Applejack saw that it was clearly another of Twilight's letters to Princess Celestia.
That silly pony, she thought, grinning with mirth, She must be goin' off and learnin' friendship lessons without tellin' us. Well, it won't hurt to take peek.
Applejack walked up and began to read the letter. But she never made it past the first full sentence. The orange earth pony's jaw dropped and she leaned in closer to stare at the letter. It can't be...Oh dear sweet Celestia, it's true!
She stumbled back, her mind reeling at the revelation. Her father. He had warned her about this. He had told her what this meant. He had told her what she had to do. This ain't good. One 'o them is in town. And he's with... Applejack's jaw dropped as the realization struck her, Fluttershy!
The orange mare spun around and dashed straight through the door, knocking it open so hard that it slammed shut behind her. Not wasting another second, she rushed to Fluttershy's home at a full gallop.
"Wow," said Apple Bloom after spitting out her pencil. She winced and worked her jaw for a moment. Writing for any length of time tended to give her mouth cramps. "Ah had no idea that there was so much to bein' a library assistant."
"It's not a general issue," Spike explained, "It's just that Twilight can be...uh...high maintenance at times."
The little filly quirked an eyebrow, wondering what he was getting at. "How so?" He hadn't mentioned this during the interview.
Spike rubbed his forehead. "I couldn't let you put that in your report, Bloom. I wouldn't want to embarrass Twilight like that."
Apple Bloom felt a certain fondness for the little drake creeping into her voice. "Ya really are her Number One Assistant, ain't ya?"
Spike sighed. "I try. But she's been getting a little more difficult to handle recently."
"How so?"
Spike paused to take a bite out of his cupcake as he considered the best way to answer. "Well, when we started out, she was spending a lot of time with her friends. I was a little jealous at first because I was still staying at the library most of the time. But I was glad to see her get out and meet other ponies. And Twilight actually put her magical research on hold. Aside from a few practice sessions and the occasional all-nighter, she wasn't so completely absorbed in her magical studies anymore.
"I think part of it was that Twilight felt a little insecure with her friendships after first finding out about it. She was scared to lose the friends she had just made, so she put a lot of extra effort into trying to make those friendships work. And so, where it used to be just me and Princess Celestia looking after her, Twilight suddenly had five other ponies to be there and help her, because that's what friends do. That's part of the reason I was able to spend so much time mooning over Rarity."
Apple Bloom blinked at Spike's casual admission of his crush on the fashion pony. It hadn't been a secret by any stretch of the imagination. But for a long time, Spike had pretended that it had been, acting as though the slightest admission of his affection for Rarity would be emasculating in some way. To hear him talk about it like this was jarring to say the least.
"But after Twilight really got comfortable with all her friends, she started reverting back to her old ways." Spike saw the worried look and Apple Bloom's eyes and rushed to placate her. "Don't worry, she's a long way from being the shut-in she used to be. She's just gotten back to her usual habits when it comes to pushing her magical research forward. If she's not out with her friends, she's studying magic. And when she studies magic, she keeps forgetting to take care of herself. Half the time, I think she would forget to eat at all if I didn't drag her away from her work every so often the make sure that she gets a proper meal."
"Yer feeling under appreciated, ain't ya?"
"A little," Spike admitted hesitantly, "I mean, I don't do this because I want appreciation, but..." he trailed off, "I feel like it's the only thing I have right now."
Apple Bloom gave the dragon a questioning glance. Spike briefly considered telling her about the secret anxiety that had been hovering in his heart ever since the Great Dragon Migration. But for the time being, he decided to keep it to himself.
"Here you are."
Spike nearly leapt out of his seat at the sound of the declaration. Looking over, he saw Twilight Sparkle coming in the door, the sound of her voice easily carrying over the chiming of the bell that generally signaled the arrival of a new customer. Spike noted with some degree of concern that his big sister/boss/landlord looked a little agitated.
"Uh hey Twilight," said the dragon lamely, giving her a shy wave. He wasn't sure what he had to be shy about. Sure he hadn't finished cleaning up the library yet, but he didn't think it was that big a deal.
Twilight sighed, clearly not as angry as she initially looked. "Spike," she said in her sternest lecturer tone, "I know you need to get out every once in a while. But I would appreciate it if you finished your chores first. The library was still a mess when I found it."
"It was a good bit cleaner than when you left this morning," Spike pointed out, getting a little irritated himself, "I spent over half the day working non-stop just to get that far. Maybe you should stop forgetting your own filing system when you get all excited over one of your research projects. I swear, you haven't changed from when we were in Canterlot. You always start pulling books off the shelves all willy nilly without even bothering to think about where they come from. The only reason I still don't find the books you want before you do is that the Ponyville Library is smaller than Canterlot's."
Twilight was momentarily taken aback by his vehemence. "Spike," she said consolingly, "You know it's not that bad. Why it barely took me a few minutes to get the rest cleaned up."
"Maybe you should try it without your horn the next time," muttered Spike, before turning back to Apple Bloom, "You see what I have to live with," he said in a stage whisper while pointing back over his shoulder to Twilight.
Twilight Sparkle would have been angry at Spike's attitude. But she paused a moment to think about all that he said. It certainly had been easy for her to put all the books away when she was using her magic. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it would be difficult for a small dragon, like Spike, to carry heavy tomes around while climbing up a ladder to reach the high shelves. While Twilight Sparkle was the furthest thing from a stupid pony, in her enthusiasm, she occasionally forgot very obvious facts even when they were staring her in the face.
A sigh escaped her, "I'm sorry Spike. And you're right for the most part. I do tend to get carried away and when I do, I tend to forget how much of a workload I put on you. I sometimes forget some of the other things I depend on you for too."
Spike got out of his chair and pulled the unicorn into a hug. "I'm sorry too. I know the work you do is really important, but I brush it off sometimes and snap at you about it."
Twilight blushed a little. "Well, that's no excuse for forgetting my own filing system," she admitted sheepishly, "I'll try to be careful from now on."
"Ah think Ah learned somethin' else about yer job," interjected Apple Bloom with a sly tone.
Both Spike and Twilight flushed at that comment, but quickly laughed it off. "I'm going to head home," said the lavender unicorn, gently, "Don't stay out too late you two. I don't want Applejack to get all worked up because of your date."
Spike coughed, narrowly avoiding incinerating his cupcake with a jet of flame while Apple Bloom's face turned a brilliant crimson color. "I-it's not a date," stammered the dragon.
"It sure ain't," added the pale yellow filly.
"If you say soooooo," taunted Twilight in her best teasing tone as she trotted out the door.
Left to their own devices once again, Spike and Apple Bloom found themselves briefly at a loss. There was an uncomfortable silence as they both frantically attempted to restart the conversation Twilight Sparkle had so handily derailed.
"S-so...you...uh mentioned something about your special talent earlier," said Spike hesitantly.
"Yeah, Ah did didn't Ah?"
"Care to tell me more about it?"
Twilight was almost to the point of whistling cheerfully as she cantered back towards her library home. Having fixed things with Spike, she felt much better. She still needed to make sure he sent her letter when he got back, but aside from that, Twilight felt fairly comfortable, not able to think of any important errands that needed running. However, this wonderful train of thought was swiftly halted by the arrival of a concerned-looking pegasus with a familiar rainbow mane.
"Rainbow Dash? Is something the matter?"
The aforementioned pegasus looked down at Twilight with an expression approaching suspicion. "Twilight, did you tell Applejack anything about Dawn?"
"No," said Twilight, blinking with confusion, "What makes you say that?"
"Well, I was about to head home for the day, but I saw her coming out of your library and running in the direction of Fluttershy's house as like her tail was on fire." Rainbow looked over in that direction as she spoke. "I thought about trying to stop her, but I wasn't sure if you and Fluttershy had decided if it was okay to tell her anything or what."
"Well, I didn't even see her after we left the spa. I was just in the Sugarcube Corner, so she must have gone in the library while I wasn't there. But what would..." Twilight paused as horror washed over her. "The letter! She must have seen my letter to the Princess. I haven't gotten Spike to send it yet and I think we left it sitting out in the open."
Twilight Sparkle spun about and began to gallop in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage, Rainbow Dash following at a (for her) sedate pace. "What letter are you talking about?" she demanded.
"No time!" gasped Twilight, "We need to get to Fluttershy's before Applejack does something foolish."
Fluttershy wasn't exactly sure what to make of the sight that greeted her when she arrived home. Dawn stood out in the yard, his body completely still. The only sign that he hadn't been replaced with some incredibly lifelike statue was the gentle expansion and retraction of his chest, showing that he was still breathing at least. Otherwise, he didn't move a muscle. His eyes were closed and the colt looked to all the world like he had fallen asleep on his hooves.
His stillness was such that even Fluttershy's shyer animals had come out to him. Birds of all shapes and sizes had alighted on the leading edges of his wings, while a squirrel climbed about on Dawn's back. On top of his head sat Angel Bunny, contentedly munching on a carrot and enjoying the view from his perch.
Fluttershy couldn't help it. The sight was just too silly. A soft giggle escaped her as she walked slowly up to Dawn, who opened his eyes at her approach. "Miss Fluttershy," he said politely. In spite of him speaking, none of the animals made any effort to abandon their various perches, having obviously grown quite comfortable with the colt's company.
"Um, what are you doing?" asked Fluttershy. She had occasionally seen Dawn doing this before. But this was the first time she’d had a chance to speak with him about it.
"Meditation," the colt said, still not moving an inch, "Practicing stillness in the mind and body."
"Stillness?" Fluttershy didn't know what to make of that. Pegasi were all about motion when they weren't asleep. Fluttershy herself was one of the rare exceptions to this, mostly by virtue of her own special talent. She was surprised that a pegasus martial art would include any focus on a concept like that.
"For the most part, stillness is more integral to earth pony arts, but it can still be used to teach awareness of the mind and body to better refine one's physical technique," explained Dawn.
"Oh," said the yellow mare, not really understanding, but figuring that this was probably the best explanation she would get. She circled around the colt, seeing that a bluejay and a hummingbird had settled onto his left wing. She paused for a moment to speak with them and ask them about their day so far. As she did so, Dawn remained perfectly still and the other animals remained in their places, more joining them now that their primary caretaker had returned home.
Fluttershy was so enraptured by the conversations she was having with her animals that she failed to notice the rumble of approaching hooves. Dawn was not caught unaware, however. His right eye spotted the approach of an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and tail, wearing a Stetson hat. The look in her emerald green eyes was not a pleasant one as she charged headlong at the pair.
Fluttershy looked up to see Applejack slam her front hooves into the ground, spinning round and launching a mighty buck straight at Dawn's barrel. The birds settled along Dawn's right wing took to the sky with angry chirps and screeches at the disturbance. Fluttershy barely saw a flicker of motion as the colt's wing seemed to whirl in a tight circle before coming to a rest a short distance away from his side, between his ribs and Applejack's hooves.
Applejack was surprised to feel her hooves hit something that wasn't the body of a pony. Looking back, she got the barest glimpse of her rear hooves hovering scant centimeters away from the feathers of Dawn's wing, held at bay by some invisible force. In a sudden motion, Dawn's wing moved outwards and something exploded underneath the hooves of Applejack's failed buck. Her back hooves were launched over her head, sending the orange earth pony into a wild flip that knocked her onto her back. The impact would have knocked the wind out of a normal pony, but Applejack turned her momentum to her advantage, continuing the roll until she rolled right back onto her hooves, twisting around so that she came up facing straight at Dawn, pawing the ground angrily. Her trademark hat had been knocked off her head in the tumble and had come to a rest on the ground behind her.
Fluttershy stared, her eyes wide with horror as one of her most trusted friends tried to assault the colt she had taken under her roof. Her mane was barely stirred by the faint breeze coming up from Dawn's right wing, the motion of his defense and counter not even slightly disturbing the animals setting on his back and left wing.
Dawn turned his head ever so slowly to regard Applejack as she directed her most menacing glare at the colt. His expression and gaze were disinterested, regarding the orange mare like one might a random stone on the street. There was no anger at being attacked, no fear at the hostility Applejack was currently sending his way, only complete and utter detachment, as though none of this mattered in the slightest. The effect was ruined somewhat by the fact that Angel remained perched on top of the colt's head, now directing an agitated glare at Applejack in his place.
Fluttershy stood paralyzed with indecision. She had rarely ever seen Applejack this angry and never without good reason. "A-Applejack? What's the matter?"
"Get away from it Fluttershy," snarled Applejack, the rage in her voice making the butter-colored pegasus flinch, "Ya ain't safe anywhere near that thing."
Dawn idly turned his eyes back to Fluttershy. "I take it that by 'thing,' she means me," he said as casually as though he were merely making an observation about the weather.
"Yer damn right Ah'm talkin' about ya, vermin!" snapped Applejack, "Get yer tail outta this here town. Ponyville ain't any place fer demons like yerself. If ya don't go, Ah'll make sure ya leave mahself."
Dawn slowly turned his eyes back to Applejack. "You can't make me do anything of the sort. So please leave me alone."
"Not a chance demon. Ah ain't lettin' ya hang around mah friends and puttin' them in danger."
"Applejack, please stop," plead Fluttershy, "You're wrong. Dawn isn't a demon. He's a very nice colt who just happens to have strange eyes."
"Is that what he told ya?" demanded the orange mare, "Them's the words of a lyin' snake just waitin' for ya to let yer guard down so he can do Celestia knows what to ya."
"It was actually a very knowledgeable unicorn who dismissed the idea that I was a demon," answered Dawn, "I believe that she is a mutual acquaintance of yours. Besides, if you wished to protect Miss Fluttershy from me, haven't you already failed?"
"Howzat?" asked Applejack, taken aback by his question. Even Fluttershy looked confused by the colt's words.
Dawn actually lowered himself to the ground, lying down. "I have been here for over a week already. Miss Fluttershy is, more or less, the only pony around here regularly. In other words, she and I have spent a great deal of time together here; time that I could have used to do whatever I wanted to her, while you, with all your assertions about the threat to her safety, were nowhere to be found."
"Dawn!" admonished Fluttershy, seeing the taunt for what it was, even as she recognized the true meaning of his words, namely that he had never done anything to her in all that time, even though he had limitless opportunities to do so. Yet he had chosen to phrase the method in the most provocative manner possible in order to further agitate Applejack.
"Why you filthy varmint," hissed the earth pony. Her body tensed as she prepared to charge.
Dawn's eyes rolled upwards to regard Angel, who was still perched on the colt's head. "You might want to get off for this part."
The rabbit evidently took his warning at face value and chose to transfer his perch to Fluttershy's back, where he was joined by the other animals that had been stationed all over the colt's body. And not a moment too soon.
Applejack charged again, thundering towards Dawn with a rumble of hooves. This time, when she turned to buck, her hooves only encountered empty air, passing harmlessly through the space Dawn had been occupying and narrowly missing a collision with Fluttershy in his stead.
Applejack whirled around, looking frantically for the colt. She spotted him standing a few pony lengths away in the meadow that stretched out towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. Huffing with anger, she charged again, only to grind to a halt as Dawn vanished before she could even cover half the distance between them. Looking around, she saw Dawn again, this time standing in front of the trunk of a nearby tree. This time, he actually waited until Applejack bucked at him before disappearing again. Her hooves actually split the trunk of the tree with an almighty crack.
Applejack again cast her glance around, looking for any sign of her elusive target. A shadow on the ground alerted her to the fact that her quarry had taken to the air. Looking upwards, Applejack saw Dawn suspended, motionless, in the air, hovering almost directly over her head. With an angry snarl, she leapt upwards, actually trying to catch the colt with her teeth. But Dawn drifted further upwards with contemptuous ease, staying just out of her reach.
"Get down here and fight ya damn coward!"
"Why should I?"
"Ya might be a filthy demon, but at least ya wouldn't be a coward."
Dawn's expression remained disinterested. "And what makes you think that I care one wit about that. Your disapproval does not exactly fill me with overwhelming shame."
"What's that?"
"In other words, I don't care what you think and you aren't worth the effort it would actually take to give you a good thrashing."
The orange mare ground her teeth and glared up at him. She was unable to find a decent answer to his statements. There was practically nothing she could say or do that would draw the colt down out of the sky. But...
"Fine then. All Ah have to do is wait here for ya to come down. Ah ain't lettin' ya near Fluttershy, so clear out and never let me catch ya in Ponyville ever again. In fact, get outta Equestria while yer at it." To emphasize her point, Applejack sat down and stared stubbornly up at the colt, who showed no real concern.
"Applejack!" The orange mare swung her head around to stare at Fluttershy, who looked as irate as Applejack had ever seen her, barring that one time with the dragon. "That is enough. You will leave Dawn alone right now."
Their eyes met and Applejack had to force herself to keep upright beneath the full impact of the Stare. Her entire body shuddered as the full weight of Fluttershy's disapproval descended on her with the force of Luna's moon. For a moment, all Applejack wanted to do was collapse into a crying heap at Fluttershy's hooves and beg forgiveness.
No! Ah can't give in. She doesn't know what they're capable of. He may look like a colt, but he's a monster through and through. Ah won't let him hurt her, even if that means Ah have to hurt her feelings. "Ya can say what ya want Fluttershy, but Ah ain't backin' down on this. Mah pa would turn over in his grave if he knew Ah backed down and left one 'o mah friends to that monster. As long as Ah have the hat he gave me, Ah ain't lettin' that freak set one hoof in this here town, and that includes yer house."
"So, it was your father who told you about the Eyes?" asked Dawn softly.
"That's right," replied Applejack, "Ah know the rest 'o mah family never believed him but now that yer here, it's obvious that he was tellin' the truth, not that Ah ever doubted him."
"Of course you didn't," muttered the colt, "Because questioning him would require you to think for yourself. And it's clear that isn't happening anytime soon."
"Dawn?" Fluttershy was beginning to worry, for reasons other than the obvious ones. There was an edge to the colt's voice. Before he had been calm, relaxed even, regarding Applejack with a complete lack of concern. When Applejack had mentioned her father, there was a new tone, weariness, as though he had heard Applejack's arguments countless times before (which he probably had) and was sick of them. But now his tone carried an edge of anger, something Fluttershy had never heard in Dawn's voice before.
"And as long as you have the hat he left you, you're going to do as he said?" asked the colt.
"That's right," answered Applejack mulishly.
Fluttershy winced when she heard that. As naive as she was, even she realized that Applejack had left herself wide open with that statement. "Dawn, please don't..."
But the colt had already moved. Acting with that same incredible speed that made him appear to teleport, he appeared directly over Applejack's hat where it lay and slammed all four hooves down on top of it. "You mean this hat here?" His voice was a snarl now. Fluttershy could clearly hear years of pent up frustration held within his tone, an indication that Applejack had given him the ideal outlet.
A gasp escaped from Applejack as she whirled around to see what Dawn had done. "Mah hat!" she exclaimed. She leapt forward, bearing down on Dawn, her eyes streaming tears of rage as the colt calmly awaited her approach, most likely planning to flit away at the last possible second, once again.
Both ponies froze as an irate Fluttershy leapt between them. Without the slightest hesitation, she faced Applejack, who stiffened under full force of the yellow mare's Stare. "Stop right there," ordered Fluttershy. Applejack found herself completely unable to move a muscle.
"Dawn Lightwing!" The black colt was struck dumb by the firmness in his caretaker's voice. He had never heard such a stern voice from the mare in all his time with her. What was more, the tone of disapproval he heard in the utterance of his name filled him with a feeling that he hadn't experienced in a long time, shame. It wasn't the cheap shame that other ponies had tried to incite with their accusations and insults over his eyes, but genuine shame at betraying the trust and expectations of a pony, whose opinion he honestly respected. His ears flattened and he slowly stepped off of Applejack's hat.
"Go inside," ordered Fluttershy, without taking her eyes off Applejack and in a tone that brooked no argument, "Now."
Head lowered, Dawn trotted through the door of Fluttershy's cottage, closing it gently behind him. When she heard the door close, she turned the full force of her disapproval onto Applejack. "Just what did you think you were doing, attacking an innocent colt like that?"
"That ain't no colt," protested Applejack, still held in place by the force of The Stare, "That there creature's a monster wearin' a pony's skin. It ain't a thing fit to walk the face o' Equestria and..."
"That. Is. Enough." Against her will, Applejack's mouth snapped shut tighter than a steel trap. "Dawn has never given me any reason to distrust him and I have spent a great deal of time trying to help him get over the pains of his past. I am disappointed that you would believe such blatant lies. Go home and think about what you've done."
"Lies?" Anger welled up within Applejack, powerful anger. "Are ya callin' me a liar? Are ya callin' mah pappy a liar?"
Fluttershy's stern demeanor evaporated like the morning mist as Applejack threw off the effects of the Stare and directed a glare of her own. The angry earth pony pawed at the ground and snorted. "Ya can call me names if ya like, but nopony calls mah father a liar. Ah was bein' nice before, but Ah've lost mah patience, Fluttershy. If Ah have to go past ya the hard way and make sure that monster leaves Ponyville, Ah will. It's fer yer own good. Ah'm gonna get that colt and Ah'll go through ya if Ah have to."
Fluttershy reared back as Applejack began to charge. The orange mare only got two or three paces before a rope draped itself around her neck. On contact, a tug from the holder of the lasso drew it tight, bringing Applejack up short and tugging her over onto her back. Before she could recover, a massive red stallion moved in with lightning speed. Before either of the mares could blink, all four of Applejack's hooves had been tightly lashed together.
Standing up straight, the big red earth pony blew out a long stream of breath before turning to regard the yellow pegasus. "Miss Fluttershy," said Big Macintosh, tipping his head slightly, as though he were merely greeting a passerby at his apple cart, rather than stopping his younger sister from assaulting one of her best friends.
"Oh...um...hello Big Macintosh," replied Fluttershy, slipping back into her habitual shyness, ducking behind her mane. Despite his size, Fluttershy found Big Macintosh to be considerably less intimidating than most stallions (excepting Caramel). The two of them shared a shy and quiet nature that resulted in them developing a connection and strong friendship (though nothing more, to the disappointment of both Big Mac's sisters).
Several seconds of frantic wriggling allowed Applejack to direct a withering glare up at her older brother. "Big Mac, what in blazes are ya doin' tyin' me up like this?"
"Ah did it to stop ya from doin' somethin' ya'd regret," answered Big Macintosh in his usual stoic monotone.
"Untie me this instant ya great red lump!" yelled Applejack.
"What's going on here?" Three pairs of eyes turned to see the arrival of Rainbow Dash, with a panting Twilight Sparkle not far behind.
"Twilight!" exclaimed Applejack, her voice heavy with relief, "Ya've gotta back me up on this. Ah saw the letter ya were writin' to Princess Celestia. Ya've gotta tell them how dangerous that thing is."
Twilight sighed as all eyes turned to her. "Obviously you didn't read much of my letter or you would have read that I determined that the Eyes of Nightmare are most certainly not a sign of demonic possession and that the folklore surrounding them is a whole lot of phooey." Twilight Sparkle winced at her own decision to use a most certainly unacademic descriptor.
"You too?" Tears welled up in Applejack's eyes as she stared in shock at Twilight Sparkle. Her expression pleading, she looked up to where Rainbow Dash hovered, the sky-blue pegasus still dumb with shock at the heretofore unknown vitriol Applejack was capable of. "Ya've got mah back on this Rainbow. Ya wouldn't turn against me, would ya?"
"Applejack?" Rainbow simply stared in befuddlement, "What's wrong with you? The AJ I know isn't like this. You wouldn't just attack somepony like this. And the things you're saying...
"I won't turn my back on you. But Dawn saved Fluttershy. I've never had any reason to doubt him. He's even teaching Scootaloo to fly for Celestia's sake. There's no way somepony like that could be a demon like Nightmare Moon."
"Ah don't believe it," whispered Applejack, "It's that demon! He's turned all o' ya against me; mah friends and even mah own flesh and blood. Don't ya see? This is all his doin'! He's too cowardly to fight like a real pony, so he manipulates everyone and turns them against each other. We've gotta stop him!"
Big Macintosh sighed. "Sis, we've gotta talk. Ah'm takin' ya home." Ducking his head, he pressed it against Applejack's stomach and lifted her up, sliding the hogtied pony down around his neck, much like he yoke that was his constant companion. "Evenin' ladies." He trotted off, carrying a sullen Applejack away.