//------------------------------// // 02 - No Time for Apples // Story: The Gloom // by Makitk //------------------------------// "Whoa, whoa, slow down. What do y'all mean 'lost'?" Applejack queried, putting another full basket of apples on the cart her brother was holding steady on the uneven ground. "We ain't seen her in days now, big sis," Applebloom replied, shaking her head sadly. "We even asked Rainbow Dash to go look for her, but she's gone now too!" Applejack froze and raised an eyebrow. "Rainbow's always gone. She's either lazying about somewhere or tryin' some new fangled trick. She always comes back again." "This is different. I know it is!" Applebloom decried! Her partner-in-crime, Sweetie Belle, nodded heavily while trying to drink her apple juice at the same time, resulting in her snorting out some juice through her nose and convulsing in a coughing fit. "Careful now," Applejack muttered, shaking her head a bit as she moved in to pat the Unicorn on the back. "Don't let Rarity see ya blowing juice out yer nose." Sweetie Belle giggle-snorted at that, calming down from her coughing fit. "But Applebloom is right, Applejack! It feels like she's gone-gone. Not just gone like usual!" Applejack sighed and glanced away over the fields. "Big Mac?" "Eeyup?" her brother replied, looking like he already knew what she was going to ask. "Do ya think ya can finish up the fields without me? I got to," Applejack sighed. "I just got to. She may be a pain in the backside when it comes to tryin' to win all the dang time, but she's still mah friend." "Eeyup." "Now you two run along and tell Twilight what happened. I'll see if I can find those two irresponsible ponies for ya," Applejack told the two crusaders, forcing a smile on her face for their benefit. "Twilight'll want to know what's goin' on, so off ya two go, okay?" "Yes Applejack!" they both said in choir, then ran off toward Ponyville. Applejack waited for the two to be out of earshot before turning to face her brother. "Something's not feelin' right." "Eenope," he replied, thoughtfully chewing on a piece of straw. "It's like what they said. It feels like Rainbow's gone fer real," the orange mare sighed, shaking her head. "Eeyup," Big Macintosh offered, turning his head to look up at the sky. Applejack decided. "I have to go look for her." "Now y'all be careful, you hear?" Big Macintosh replied, and Applejack nodded solemnly to him. "Ain't I always?" she winked, running off in the direction her sister Applebloom had mentioned last seeing Rainbow go off into. "Eenope," Big Macintosh offered behind her, then started to pull his cart toward the farm house. Applejack silently cursed her irresponsible friend as she tried to find a trace of her. The fields were empty, as were the skies, except for a darker patch up ahead. Past the Eastern arm of the White Tail Woods. She knew there were hills and small mountains up behind them, of which the tallest peaks were aptly named the Unicorn Range. There were a collection of farms and fields laid out across the low hills beyond, providing food for Canterlot, but she had never actually gone there herself. "What have you gotten yourself into, Rainbow?" Applejack wondered, weaving her way between the trees until she spotted something red lying amidst the undergrowth. "What the hay?" The Earthpony skidded to a stop and trotted over to it, taking a corner of it between her teeth and giving a pull to get it out from under the leaves and branches it was covered with. "Scootaloo's scooter?" she realized, watching the thing before her. That filly never went anywhere without it! She awkwardly folded the scooter up, took its strap and tried pulling it over her head. No use. It was set to a filly's head circumference and just wouldn't fit. All she did was dislodge her hat, which blew away into the forest on a freak breeze. "Oh, apple seeds!" Applejack called out, starting after it but stopping as she couldn't spot where it had gone in the sudden darkness surrounding her. As she turned back for the scooter, it too had gone. "Now what the hay is goin' on here?" she wondered out loud, turning around herself in the small clearing and trying to figure out which way she had come from. Every tree, every bush, every bit of dirt looked the same to her. There was no indication where she'd come from, or even that she'd come from anything. No hoof prints left in the dirt. "Oh, I hope Twilight can follow this track, cause I sure as hay can't," Applejack realized, sitting down on her haunches as a feeling of dread came over her. "Whatever this is, it ain't natural." A sudden giggle in the darkness made her look up again. "Scootaloo?" A flash of rainbow passed behind a tree, and Applejack quickly rushed toward it. "Rainbow?" Another giggle, a bit further along. "This ain't funny, y'all. Where are ya?" Applejack carefully walked around the tree, her ears swiveling in an attempt to find the direction of the sounds. "There!" she realized at another giggle, galloping off past the trees and almost jumping out into the field beyond, like a mare possessed. "Rainbow? Scootaloo? Where the hay are y'all?" she cried out, seeing only a gloomy town before her with an even darker mansion beyond. Wait. Was that Rainbow Dash standing on the mansion's porch? Applejack couldn't quite see from this distance. She hurried past the town's buildings, ignoring the few depressed ponies walking around with no clear purpose, their heads hung low and their colors faded. "Rainbow!" Applejack decried as she rushed ahead, and almost smiled as the blue mare turned her head to face her. Almost. Before she could react, dark claws reached out from the building and snatched her friend up, pulling her helplessly struggling form into the dark mansion! "Oh no ya don't!" Applejack growled, jumping through the double doors after her friend without a care for her own safety. They closed behind her without a sound.