After a full day and a sleepless night in the Everfree Forest, Apple Bloom was cold, exhausted and hungry. The well known rout to Zacora's had been out of the question from the start, so she'd fought her way through thick trees, sharp grasses and scratchy thorns and brambles, making a point to keep well away from any paths she found.
A strange thought had struck her yesterday that this forest seemed to be pretty well mapped out for a place nopony had dared to step hoof into until only a few years ago. Rather amusing, she thought.
Apple Bloom was covered from head to hoof in scraps and cuts. All this was aside from the fact that by now, she probably knew the smell of a timberwolf's breath by heart, a good portion of last night was spent avoiding the stench.
She had no idea where she was, but she was bound to find something sooner or later – anything as long as it wasn't home. Her stomach rumbled. Apple Bloom wished she had planned her runaway better, those few apples had only lasted her a day.
The filly huffed in indignation as she came to a wall of brambles. The only way she could get to the other side was through a small hole that she might have fit through once, but now she was too big. For a small moment she considered going back home, apologizing for scaring her family, and living happily ever after.
Still, the image of the changelings came to her mind, and put that revelation firmly to rest. Apple Bloom sniffled and forced her way through the whole with tugs and hard pushes. She strained her arms trying to wriggle through the hole. All at once, though, she flew from the bramble wall on the other side.
Her ribbon came undone but remained in her hair, and she forced herself on her hoofs. She could feel the slew of new scratches and could still feel the sharp pokes.
A small whimper got Apple Bloom's attention before she could go on. It was a ferret, stuck in a small knot of brambles. He was desperately trying to reach an acorn. Apple Bloom's heart twinged for the critter and she moved the acorn with her hoof.
The ferret chattered what she assumed was a thank you, and munched on the nut as Apple Bloom freed him, which wasn't enjoyable seeing at the thorns poked her teeth and tongue.
“Hey, you wanna come with me? I'm travlin' alone, too.” Apple Bloom asked. She wasn't sure if the ferret could understand her, but as far she knew it did, because he climbed up on her back. Delighted to have a companion, she walked on. “I'll call ya....” Apple Bloom paused, unsure of what name to give him. “Oh well. I'll think'a somethin'.”
By the time they got a few feet from the brambles, Apple Bloom's eyes were watering. She wanted to go home, but she didn't have one. Apple Bloom was so wrapped up in these thoughts that she didn't look where she was going, and was startled when there was no ground beneath her hoof and she fell down a slopping hill, crashing into an old, dead tree at the base. Her ribcage was guaranteed to be bruised up later. She looked out to the landscape beyond.
It looked like the start of a swamp. A low growl startled her and when she looked behind her, she could see ripples, like something had ducked under the musky water in a hurry. Not willing to take any chances, Apple Bloom climbed an old log out of the water. When a vine got caught on her back leg, she had to struggle to get it free and continue climbing onto the small patch of muddy land that at least was safer than the water.
After learning the hard way the the mud stuck her hooves to the ground harder the longer she stood in one place, she decided it was a good idea to keep going. That wasn't easy with her back hoof, which was twisted from the vine.
As she lay heaving for a breath, Apple Bloom had realized in horror that the vine had come out of no where and she could have sworn that it was pulling her, almost like it was trying to drown her. That thought had Apple Bloom running at top speed, her mind too fuzzy with panic to think.
Somehow she came to a grassy clearing, once again collapsing in need for a breath. The grove was full of brightly colored flowers headed by a large tree, and Apple Bloom's first alarmed thought was that it might be like the poison joke or heart's desire, or some other terrible thing.
When nothing seemed to happen after a while, she allowed herself to relax. They were just a bunch of ordinary flowers. It occurred to her that this forest must have been a far bigger area than anything anypony had imagined before to have all these vastly different landscapes. Once she looked to the very center of the clearing, all thought left Apple Bloom's mind at what she saw.
A big, juicy, red apple.
In the back of her mind, she knew to be suspicious, what would a perfectly good apple be doing out here with no apple tree in sight? But her stomach would not listen and she raced up to the grove's center and dug into the apple. It was cool, crisp and juicy. The juice from the fruit quenched her thirst.
Her stomach full and her breath back to normal, the filly was about to start on her way. Her heart sped back up as she felt long things wrap around her body. Huge, thick green vines wrapped themselves around her body and legs, pulling her to the tree. To Apple Bloom's horror, the tree opened up to reveal a huge flower.
The peddles were striped yellow, blue and red, and an impossibly thick green vine was shooting from below the flower. In the middle of the flower was an empty space surrounded by what looked like – Apple Bloom felt ill – tiny teeth.
Apple Bloom screamed as hard as she could, losing her mind to panic. The flower was pulling her closer and closer. She was about to be eaten by a giant, pony-eating flower! Her ferret friend had climbed out to the vines and was trying to bite them, but to know avail and in the commotion she lost her bow. She didn't care who found her or how they found her, as long as they could get her out of this.
There was a zapping noise like unicorn magic and a hiss, and Apple Bloom was dropped to the ground. The vines were still around her, but they had gone limp and relaxed their grip until she was able to wriggle out of them.
Apple Bloom looked back at the flower, hissing and waving it's savored vine clearly in agony. The little filly couldn't help but feel sorry for the thing, even if it had been trying to eat her seconds ago. The flower eventually retracted it's vine and closed up.
“Are you alright?” Apple Bloom's ears pricked at the voice and spun around to see the pony behind her. A night-black unicorn colt her own age with a long, flowing dark blue mane and tail and bright blue eyes. His cutie mark was a puff of white smoke.
“Y-yeah.” Apple Bloom said warily as the colt helped her up. He didn't seem to hear her as his horn let up and Apple Bloom's body was bathed in a blue aura. When it faded away, Apple Bloom noticed that she was healed of any cuts, scraps and her bad ankle was fixed. “Thankya' kindly.” she muttered shyly.
“No problem.” the colt said, smiling bashfully. “My name's Night Shade.”
“I'm Apple Bloom.” she returned. The ferret was silent and still, as if he wasn't sure what to make of Night Shade.
“That plant would have had you for lunch. You really outta be more careful in this forest.” Apple Bloom was about to ask Night Shade what he was doing out so deep in the Everfree Forest when he cut her off.
“I've been out here for years. I used to live in Canterlot, but the ponies there are so fake an judgmental. So I ran away and came to live here. What about you?” he asked. Apple Bloom was stunned for a while, it was as if he read her thoughts, but answered anyway. As she told her story, Night Shade looked sympathetic. “So I guess we're both runaways out here, huh?”
“Looks like it.” Apple Bloom lamented. Suddenly, she thought of all the bad times in Ponyville. Getting in trouble with Applejack and Granny Smith, getting into fights with her former friends, Twist flat out abandoning her after getting her precious cutie mark, Diamond Tiara and Silver Soon taking any opportunity to bully her. Apple Bloom fought back the tears, not wanting Night Shade to think she was a crybaby. “I really hated it there.”
They sat in silence for a couple of moments, but Night Shade broke the silence. “Hay, wanna see my house? You must be hungry if you fell for the Trap Iris's trap.” Apple Bloom beamed, happier then she'd been in days as she trotted behind the unicorn colt. It seemed that she had finally found a real friend.
Following Night Shade, Apple Bloom took routs that she never would have considered and became nervous when they had to follow a path. What if someone found them and took them back to their towns. She sighed in relief when that didn't happen. After what must have been hours, they came to a small woods.
There was a small path in the trees, but that was to be expected if it was somepony's house. But there was no house. Instead, there was something curious. A hole. No a pit. A pit that all four Equestrian princesses could have fit in. More than that, it was so completely black that it looked almost like ink. Nothing was visible except darkness.
Apple Bloom felt a small tugging at her hind leg. The ferret was trying to pull her away, scared for the both of them. Night Shade sneered. Suddenly filled with rage, Apple Bloom lightly kicked him away. He chattered frantically as if trying to warn her about something and she turned to face him.
“What? Night Shade wouldn't hurt us.” More chattering. “So after all I did for you, you're abandonin' me, too?” The ferret shook it's head frantically, but Apple Bloom didn't listen. “Just get outta here! You're like all the rest of 'em!”
The ferret scurried off into the bushes. For a moment, Apple Bloom felt afraid, she probably shouldn't go down there. Once again, she thought of the unhappy times with her so-called friends and family, and now her ferret friend had left her, too. At this, her heart hardened. If she never saw any of them again, it would suit her just fine. She hoped they were worried and scared for her, not because it proved they cared for her but because they all deserved to be as much.
Night Shade jumped into the pit and Apple Bloom followed. To her surprise it wasn't really that long of a drop, maybe a few feet at the most. The place she found herself in looked like a world wide cave. There was no sky, only a stony ceiling with sharp stalactites here and there. The ground was more or less smooth stone with a river cutting through.
“This is a weird place for a house.” Apple Bloom said.
“Maybe, but it's the best I was able to find.” Night Shade said.
Apple Bloom was about to comment on how creepy everything was, but noticed that it didn't seem all that creepy to her at all. In fact, she felt very safe with Night Shade. She couldn't remember feeling so safe with anyone else before. Night Shade was her only true friend in the world.
What she didn't notice, though, was Night Shade's eyes flashing bright red and shinning greedily.