//------------------------------// // Enraged About Everfree // Story: Irises Identical // by Cloudswirl //------------------------------// Twilight's most recent theory resulted in looks of doubt and disbelief from every Apple (and dragon) in the room. It was as if she had just said Celestia had been replaced as Princess by Derpy Hooves, who planned on having every day be Muffin Day. Twilight continued to smile at them as if they would understand any second now, but none of them let up. "Umm, Sugarcube?" Applejack looked at her with an extremely painful smile. "What didja just say?" All the others in the room knew she was just trying to be polite to Twilight... Except for the aforementioned pony. "Snow Apple, your sister, might still be alive!" Twilight said brightly, oblivious to the awkwardness. "Did I not just say that clearly?" "Yer fine, Twi." Applejack looked at her empty plate, avoiding Twilight’s gaze. "Completely fine." "Yeah, uhh..." Spike trailed off, now staring at the woodwork of the dining table. "That's great, Twilight. How did you, uh, get that idea?" Twilight scrutinized the occupants of the room, who were trying immensely hard not to look at her. Her expression of delight then changed to one of annoyance. "Alright," she huffed, "Spit it out." "Tha' idea is plum ridiculous!" Shouted Granny Smith, who then covered her mouth with her hooves in shame. Big Mac looked at Twilight sympathetically and said, "Eeyup." "Sorry Twilight," Applejack tore her gaze away from the plate, "It just ain't that realistic of an idea. Yer sayin' that that little filly, no bigger than Winona, was able to get past cockatrices, manticores, timberwolves, and Celestia knows what else, and survived? Spike wasn't in there for two seconds without runnin' into trouble!" "She's right Twilight," Spike chimed in, looking gratefully at the country mare, "As much as I hate to admit it, I was pretty much Timberwolf meat if she hadn't shown up." "What!?" The unicorn gaped at the others in the room. "Seriously, all I'm saying is that if you never found a body or any evidence-" "There could be a million reasons why we never found nothin' Miss Twilight." Big Macintosh raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "She could have drowned, fallen off a cliff, a Timberwolf coulda gotten her and dragged her ta a cave, or tons of other things! It just don't make no sense." Applejack glanced at her brother, then her friend. She agreed wholeheartedly with him, but part of her longed to believe in Twilight's crazy theory. She wanted Snow Apple alive more than any of them. She took a shaky breath, then said nervously to her brother, "Big Mac? It still couldn' hurt, ta, ya know, take a peek around there, now would it?" The stallion gave his sister a hard, stony look. "Don' you start talkin' nonsense too." "Hey!" Twilight said, offended. "Applejack," Big Macintosh used a very serious tone, "If y'all think that there's somethin' in that forest, if Snow is alive- and Ah'm not sayin' she is." He added abruptly, "Then there's nothin' y'all can go lookin' for. And if she's dead, her remains would be long gone. Ah'm sorry Sis." "Who says Ah can't go look?" Applejack shot back, "What's the harm in lookin', Mac!?” "Ah don' want my lil' sis gettin' hurt! Yer the one who said earlier all the dangerous stuff out there! An' Ah wouldn' want ya gettin' eaten by a Manticore now would Ah?" "For Pete's Sake, Macintosh!" The earth pony shouted, "Ah'm a full grown mare! Ah can take perfectly good care of mahself!" "Y'all need ta settle down!" Said Granny, flustered. "Ah'm supposed ta protect this family!" He slammed a hoof on the table. "Even if ya been in there before- fer the Elements o’ Harmony an' all that, those were pretty close calls!" "Well," Applejack grit her teeth, "If yer so brave, why doncha go in there yerself? Ah'm sure after ya meet a timberwolf-" "Don' ya dare talk to me-" "Y'all?" Came a quiet voice from the door, "What’s goin' on?" There, in the door, stood Apple Bloom, obviously back from crusading. Her face was scrunched up, like she was very close to tears. "Why were y'all arguing?" She sniffled some, "Apples don' argue like that. Ever." The demeanor in the room instantly changed as Apple Bloom stood there, expecting an explanation. Big Macintosh, who was closest to Apple Bloom, dropped to his knees in front of the filly. "Apple Bloom," He said quietly, "We're, Ah'm- it's just- Ah'm so sorry, Ah'm so sorry. We didn' mean ta start arguing like that." The small yellow pony's tears started to subside. "What were y'all arguing about? I've never seen ya look that angry Mac." Everyone in the room gave each other a very nervous look. Finally, Granny Smith smiled kindly at the filly and said, "Have a seat darlin'. Ah reckon we've got some explainin' ta do." "Wow," Apple Bloom said about ten minutes later, "So, Ah've got another big sister? And she's twins with Applejack?" Big Macintosh swallowed hard and gave his sister a smile, "Eeyup." "That's so cool!" She squealed, a huge grin on her face, " Ah can' wait ta tell Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle!" "Actually AB," Applejack said nervously, "Why don't ya just keep it ta yerself for right now okay? Ah mean, she's probably not even alive." At this, Twilight shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "Um, yeah." "Oh," The filly looked crestfallen, "Alright Applejack. Ah understand." An awkward silence followed, but was relieved when Twilight stood up from the table. "Well, this has been a fantastic lunch," she paused, slipping on her saddlebags, "but Spike and I better get going. Thanks for letting us stay, Granny Smith." Granny Smith waved a hoof at her modestly, "Anytime darlin’. Our house is yer house." Spike spoke up, "But Twilight-" "Spike," the lavender mare said sternly, "We have things to do." "Oh," Spike looked very confused,"Okay then?" He hopped down from his chair. "Thanks for stayin', Twi!" Applejack said brightly, in a good mood again. "Eeyup," Big Macintosh nodded politely, all traces of the earlier argument were gone. Spike was already out the door. Twilight turned, about to follow him, when suddenly she heard Applejack from the dining room. "I forgot ta tell her something 'bout cider season, Ah'll be right back." The dragon glanced at the librarian expectantly, to which she replied, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." He shrugged and continued down the Apples’ road. Meanwhile, the unicorn frowned thoughtfully as the country mare came into view. "Listen Twilight, can ya do me a favor?" She looked oddly uncomfortable. "Sure, I guess, but if it's about cider season then-" "Gosh darn it Sugarcube!" Applejack hissed, frustrated at her friend. Her expression softened as she saw Twilight’s reaction. "Ah mean," she cleared her throat. "It's about Snow." "Oh, what about her?" "Couldja do a little pokin' around in Everfree?" "What!? But your brother, if he knew he'd-" "Flip out, Ah know," The earth pony glanced back toward the kitchen, "that's why Ah'm askin' ya now. I just would feel a whole lot better if Ah knew fer sure what happened ta her." Her expression was one of concern, "You understand, doncha?" Twilight stood there, pondering the subject. She'd be more than willing to go to The Everfree Forest for her friend. But after the way Big Mac reacted to the situation, she wasn't sure the stallion would take kindly to the adventure. He was, after all, certain Snow Apple was dead. But if it was just Twilight going in there... "I'll do it AJ." Applejack beamed at her, "Thanks a bunch Twi! Ah owe ya one. When ya do, just lemme know whatcha find out, okay?" "Spike and I have some cleaning to do at the library today, but I'll probably be able to check it out tomorrow morning. I'll look through some of my books to see if I can find anything I can use that would be helpful." Applejack gave her friend a warm hug, "Be careful out there." "I will. This time I'll be well prepared." She chuckled to herself, "No more getting turned to stone by cockatrices. And I'll leave Spike at home, I don't think he wants to see any more timberwolves for a while." She stepped out the door, "Bye, Applejack. Tell Granny thanks again for me." "No problem Twilight. Hopefully ya manage to find somethin' in Everfree." The two ponies waved goodbye and Twilight rushed to catch up to Spike. She was panting by the time she reached the baby dragon. He looked at her skeptically. "Sheesh, what took you so long? I thought you'd never catch up." "Applejack- wanted- a favor." The unicorn panted, dragging her hooves. "What kind of favor?" Spike asked casually. "I have to go to The Everfree Forest."