//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Where the Sun Died // Story: Twilight Sparkle and the Witch Baby // by Brony_Fife //------------------------------// CHAPTER 10—Where the Sun Died Zecora’s hut had taken a whole new layer of terrifying. It was almost as if the hut had been teleported into a different dimension. The oil paint on the wall, the taunt, had taken away any semblance of sanctuary this hut may have once possessed. Where the brew had been boiling, the cauldron had been tipped over, the fire still going, but the brew all over the floor. This was the only sign of a struggle—or rather, a sign of a shocked reaction. The masks on the walls were no longer sentinels or protectors. Their demonic eyes glared at Applejack, burning her with a horrendous, spine-tingling fury. The jars lining the shelves were no longer housing mundane ingredients for potions, instead containing alien organs that seemed to wriggle, demanding freedom from their prisons. Applejack wanted to leave, but her hooves were frozen to the ground in sheer terror. It was as if she were totally unable to escape. Suddenly, the door behind her slammed shut. Applejack turned around, hearing Big Macintosh shouting on the other end. (Weren’t they inside just a moment ago…?) A thump. The door was not giving way. No way, Big Mac could knock trees over with his kicks. How was that door…? A light had turned on behind her. A second shadow stood next to hers. She felt a hot breath on her back. “Why, hello beautiful.” Applejack bucked out of reflex, her hooves striking at nothing. She turned around, the light coming from a torch near the ceiling. She heard a laugh—an awful little snicker, like a schoolyard bully who just sneaked up on you. Applejack looked more closely at the masks on the wall. Their expressions had changed. One held a perverted leer, another a hateful grimace. The third’s eyes bulged as if about to explode, its sharp teeth bared. “I’ve been waiting for you, darling.” There was that voice again. It was quiet and echoey, as if she were hearing it through a dream. Its accent was slightly inner-city, its pitch masculine but wispy and icy; it was like the lifeless Arctic had been given a voice. Applejack looked back at the door— Only for the door and windows to have all somehow vanished. Applejack looked back at the masks. She gasped and backed down. The masks had bodies to go with them now, stocky and powerful. Their skin was black and oily, their anatomy resembling gorillas. They were all standing in front of Applejack, their facial expressions somehow made ten times worse than they were before. “This is our special moment together, Applejack.” “Wh-Who are you?!” Applejack demanded. “WHAT are you?! How do you know my name?!” The voice seemed to totally ignore the first two questions. “I know everything about you, Applejack. I know your past… and your future.” Applejack could feel fear closing in on her, like a hawk with her talons outstretched. The only light in the room came from the torch above, the demonic things in front of her, leering, grimacing, mock-howling. Applejack dared not look away from them in fear that they might come closer. “I know that your first word was ‘Pa’. I know how hard you took your parents’ deaths. I know you tried to escape the farm life after they’d died. I know how you felt guilty for leaving your family all alone when they needed your strength the most, and I know how, even when you speak of that time, you always leave out that embarrassing detail. “And I know what you do when you think nopony’s looking.” She heard the voice moan eagerly. The sound of this distorted monster reverberated around the hut, as if coming from every direction at once. Applejack was beginning to lose her focus, but managed to hold on by sheer force of will. “I gotta say, Applejack, you know how to put on a good show. Oh, oh-ho-ho! You just didn’t know you had an… ecstatic audience. Mmm-hm-hm-hm!” How long had this perverted freak been watching her?! She now felt even more ashamed of herself than when she thought nopony was around. Her eyes began to water, her spine becoming cold. “I’ve been watching you for a looooooong time, Applejack. Ever since I saw you that day in Manehatten. You remember? You were on your way to your uncle and aunt’s house, but you lost your way and asked me directions. Bang. Love at first sight. I thought of you, and only you, when I was… alone.” He moaned louder. Applejack’s eyes still focused on the terrifying giants gazing at her as if she were a meal, their eyes burning a hole straight through her. She searched her mind, trying to verify if his story were true. She was, what, eight, nine years old when she went to Manehatten? The guy she asked for directions? But he was an older teen. He looked so friendly, she remembered. He fit the description of the unicorn she had seen painting the taunt on the wall (white coat, purple mane, smallish by stallion standards). But love at first sight? She shivered as though she were shaking off cold water. The Invisible Thing began to speak again. “So when I was asked to take care of Ponyville, I was sooooo excited to get to see you again. You’ve… met some verrrry interesting ponies since our last meeting.” Her teeth clenched, her fear quickly mutating into rage. “Whut—did—you—do—to—them?!” she growled slowly. “Oh, I didn’t do anything to them. Well, there was that one mare. Fiiiine-lookin’ unicorn, pure white coat, dark curly mane, gorgeous curves, the works. Not nearly as charming or beautiful as you, of course, Applejack, but she was quite choice.” He snickered. His voice developed even more malice. “Oh, the way she squealed, I tell you—!!” Her fear fully supplanted by anger, Applejack was no longer afraid of the giants before her and struck the first one—the one with the perverted leer—and crushed its face. “WHA’D YOU DO TO RARITY, YOU SUMBITCH?!” she bellowed. The Invisible Thing didn’t answer. The other two giants still did not move, as Applejack’s eyesight was still on them. “Oh, such fire!” She heard him lick his mouth, and shuddered. “Such ferocity. Oh, oh, oh-ho-ho!” Applejack screamed, her patience at its end. She broke the face of the grimacing giant, then bucked the screaming giant behind her. In a dazed rage, Applejack tore apart the bodies of the giants—breaking them with her hooves, butting them with her head, biting them with her teeth—her eyes bulging, ablaze, angry. As she demolished the giants, she screamed until her throat was hoarse, her spittle foaming as it flew from her throat. He was hiding, hiding in these shadows, hiding hiding hiding where was he he’s here kill him bend him break him SNAP HIS NECK bend his BONES BREAK him break HIS LEGS KILL HIM KILL THE SON OF A BITCH KILL HIM KILL HIM She stopped, all at once, her rage leaving her as if it were a candle that was suddenly snuffed out. She looked around. She was outside Zecora’s hut. The sun was beginning to droop in the sky, like a round, burning coffin being lowered into its grave. Applejack fell to her knees, winded. She looked down, and gasped. Her hooves were covered with blood. She looked about more closely. Her eyes filled with tears as she slowly realized what had happened. Behind her, the Creature stood with its horn glowing its sickly green. From the fading glow, Applejack guessed it had broken whatever spell that creep had cast on her. Then she saw them, and her heart froze. Big Mac, lying on his side, his broad back facing her, bite marks near his neck. Apple Bloom on the ground, bruises all across her chest, her body breathing rapidly and sporadically, as if terrified that it would run out of air. Granny Smith lay near a tree, a purple bruise blossoming on her head and blood coming from her lip. She looked to the Creature, whose deformed face seemed even more depressed. “D-Did…” Applejack began before she started shivering. The shivering matured into sobs in a matter of seconds. “D-Did Ah… Did Ah do this?” The Creature waited for a second, its dead eyes carrying a substantial kind of deep sorrow. It nodded. Applejack ran over to Apple Bloom, looking her over. “Sweet Celestia…” Applejack whispered. There were so many bruises; most of them deep, broad, and black. One of her back legs was bent in a way that suggested it was broken. Applejack sat down and lifted Apple Bloom, holding her, cradling her wounded body. She closed her eyes as she held her sister’s head close. Tears ran down her face. “’M so sorry,” she mumbled. Sister’s sorry. Sister’s sorry, baby. I’m so sorry. Apple Bloom’s eyes suddenly snapped open. She screamed. “LEMME GO!” “Apple Bloom!” Applejack cried, trying to restrain her little sister as she fought and struggled, “Apple Bloom, it’s ME!” A pause of silence as Apple Bloom looked at Applejack with her one eye (The other had swelled shut). Her little body began to shake as she sobbed. “Whah…?” she asked, the quiver in her voice enough to crush the soul of the strongest-willed pony. “Whah’d you beat me up, Applejack?” Applejack’s face fell as shame seized her. She had no answer. There were no words for what just happened. “She was under somepony else’s control,” said Flim. Flam had picked up Granny Smith and carried her towards her young ‘uns. Flim knelt towards Apple Bloom, his horn glowing. Her bruises began to turn from black to purple to green, the swelling went down, and the bleeding stopped. Her leg, however, failed to mend, causing Apple Bloom to whimper as Flim fumbled the spell. He cursed. “Knew I should have put more effort into learning that healing spell!” Flam had gotten to work healing the senior pony. “Thank Celestia she’s still alive,” he commented quietly. “Where WERE you two?” Applejack said, angrily standing up and forcing her face into Flim’s. “Hiding?!” Flim looked at her as though she might still be under the mind-control spell. “YES,” he said (evidently not tolerating her accusatory tone), his eyes wide and nostrils flaring. “What were we supposed to do?! You walked out of that hut, babbling like a maniac, yelling for somepony named Rarity. We tried getting you to come around, only for you to scream like you were possessed and start beating up the big guy!” Applejack’s breathing slowed and she backed off, but she didn’t break her glare. Flim held his ground as Flam began to heal Big Mac’s wounds to the best of his limited ability. “Staying with your family would have been suicide. We don’t know any attack magic! We didn’t know how to break what you had! We’re lucky that the Creature was here to snap you out of it! We’re lucky you didn’t kill anypony!” Applejack’s face dissolved from a glare into a frown, from a frown into a crushing blank stare. She fell to her knees again. She couldn’t argue. She had overpowered her own family, nearly killed them. Their battered, broken bodies would have been left in this forest, for some wild animal to come across, and… Applejack buried her face in her bloodstained hooves and wept quietly, her shoulders shaking. Flim and Flam looked at each other, their faces grim and apologetic. The Creature knelt down and nuzzled Applejack to the best of its ability. Apple Bloom, standing next to her big sister, thought over what she could say. “Applejack,” she said. Her older sister dared not look her in the eye. “It… it wasn’t yer fault.” Applejack turned away. “Still, Ah… Ah coulda killed you! All-o’ y’all!” For a while, the little filly stood there, her discolored bruises, missing teeth, black eye, and broken leg proof of Applejack’s rampage. Apple Bloom couldn’t argue with that either. Instead, she gave her older sister a hug. “Doesn’t matter,” she said, her face in Applejack’s mane. “Yer still an Apple. It was that bad guy we saw.” “You…?” Apple Bloom looked into her sister’s eyes. “We saw ‘im, jus’ b’fore you attacked us.” “Didja see where he went?” Flam answered her question. “No. He was visible for only a second.” Applejack noted the color drained from his face. Flam shook his head and pursed his lips. His voice took on a tone she never thought she’d hear out of him: haunted. “Guy had the creepiest smile I’ve ever seen. It was like he was… eagerly waiting for it to happen. I’ve never felt that…” His eyes darted away, as if looking for words. “… sickened by anypony before.” Applejack blinked. A con pony was sickened by this guy? The Flim Flam brothers were unscrupulous, didn’t know how to handle money or run a business, were very good liars, weren’t above putting other ponies out of work or livelihood… but this guy was below even them. She noticed now her hat had fallen off her head. She looked about, standing back up. Before she could ask for it, she felt it put on her head. Applejack turned and was greeted by the sight of Big Mac, his strong facial features bloated with bruising. His powerful green eyes looked at her apologetically. “Nut yer fall,” he managed to say through his fat lip. Not your fault. Applejack’s face absorbed a new determination, as if from nowhere. She let out a sigh. “No,” she disagreed, shaking her head. “He controlled me. But he controlled me ‘cuz Ah let ‘em. Ah let ‘im git th’ better o’ me.” She still remembered the Invisible Thing’s terrifying implication of Rarity’s fate. She still remembered how it caused her to lose her cool. That must be how he cast his mind control spell—by breaking the patience and will of his victims. By appealing to what scares and angers them. But Rarity… Applejack needed to track this guy down. He can’t get away. She needed to make him pay for all he did—and he had a lot to answer for. The problem was they didn’t have any clues. Their elusive and powerful enemy was always one step ahead of them. Zecora was no longer there to produce her “see invisible things” potion, as they had planned. Her family was in no shape to travel. Nowhere was safe anymore. No clues, no safety, no options, nothing. They were closer to their enemy now, but were no closer to the goal of stopping him. And now that Applejack learned of his disturbing interest in her, she knew that things quickly had become very personal. “We cain’t rest,” Applejack said. Granny Smith sat down next to her granddaughter, and put one of her forelegs around her. She buried her face in Applejack’s blonde mane. “We cain’t leave,” she continued. Big Mac wrapped his neck around his sister and grandmother. “We cain’t track him,” Applejack said. Apple Bloom sat between Applejack’s forehooves and hugged her tight. The Flim Flam brothers stood closer to each other now, too. A huge feeling of desperation, fatigue, and hopelessness bubbled up beneath the skin of every pony present. The chill of Everfree’s air was not enough to stop their profuse sweating. Applejack perked up her ears. She noticed some of the others had, too. The disturbing quiet in the air was gradually broken, with a whisper. It was… singing. As the verses continued, its volume got higher, the tone more snide before blowing into downright maliciousness. Who’s a silly pony? You’re a silly pony! Who is? You is, Applejack! Who beat your brother? YOU beat your brother! Who did? YOU did, Applejack! Who broke your sister? YOU broke your sister! Who did? YOU did, Applejack! Who bruised your granny? YOU bruised your granny! Who did? YOU did, Applejack! Who’s a silly pony, Applejack? Who’s a silly pony? Then they saw it. A smile—cruel, dominating, eerie—hovering above a tree branch. As it stopped singing, a pair of sinister ice-blue eyes rolled into existence right above it. Their terrifying gaze was fixated on Applejack. The rest of his body came into view, as if simply fading into existence. He was sitting on the branch of the tree, catlike, his chin resting on his forehoof, his horrible, horrible grin frozen in place, the hate and lust radiating from his eyes. His teeth were long, too long; the smile itself seemed physically impossible with normal pony facial anatomy. It was an unnatural thing to behold—but less from its unsubtle difference from a normal smile, and more from the viciousness it carried. “Hello again, Applejack,” he said, his cold voice no longer impeded by the sound of a dream. (It was far creepier without it.) His eyes looked over her family members, who while still holding Applejack, were just as interested in the sight of a unicorn perched upon a branch. “My, my, my, you’ve really done a number on them, haven’t you? What a bad Apple you’ve been!” He chuckled, causing the air around him to shiver. The ponies were all speechless. Finally, Apple Bloom broke the crushing silence. “You! Whah’d you kidnap everypony?! Whah’d you make mah sister ‘tack her own fam’ly?! Whah…” Her face fluctuated between confusion and anger. “Whah do you have to hurt ponies?! Wha’d we ev’r do t’ you?!” The Wizard began to slither down the tree, his body boneless and snakelike. As he reached the base, his eyes glared at Apple Bloom, their eyes locking. His icy stare dared Apple Bloom to look away—a dare she gladly took. Apple Bloom looked to her family and allies, only to see that they… hadn’t moved at all. Their faces were still frozen in fear, their bodies still in the exact same poses they were before. It was as if they were all statues. Their eyes suddenly began to dart around, as if in panic. She could hear them try to speak, to form words, but could not; their entire bodies had been locked. The Wizard had cast his spell without them knowing. She looked back toward the tree— —only to be treated to seeing his horrible blue eyes directly in front of her. “Boo!” Apple Bloom fell backward with a scream as the Wizard cackled at his prank. The little filly hid behind her family, despite not knowing if they could protect her. Suddenly, his malicious smile subsided, melting into a friendly grin; his sinister eyes becoming wide and childlike. The Wizard walked slowly behind Apple Bloom’s frozen family members. Apple Bloom tried backing away (hard to do when one leg is broken), and stifled a scared gasp as he ran his hoof over her older sister’s rump. He did not even look in her direction as he did so, his eyes never once breaking contact with Apple Bloom’s. “I think our game is reaching its climax,” he said quietly. His hoof caressed Applejack’s flank lovingly, going from one side to the other, then up her spine almost to her neck. His foreleg seemed to stretch like a snake as it went up and down her back. His eyes were still on Apple Bloom's. “You know where I am, girl; you’ve been there before.” Suddenly, Apple Bloom heard noises, familiar ones—noises she had wanted to forget, but never could. Noises that had kept her up late at night for months after it happened. She looked around in this dense forest, and the noises began to increase in number and volume. Suddenly, the red eyes began to appear between the trees. Apple Bloom remembered them, these demons of Everfree; how they had once tried to catch her and make her theirs. “Yes, you remember,” chided the Wizard. “You remember the town where the sun died.” A horrible wheeze left him, and it mutated into a high-pitched laugh. Apple Bloom looked from the red eyes and to the Wizard. He was leaning into her sister, now: rubbing against her side, breathing into her neck, smelling her mane. All at once, an intense rage flared inside the little filly. Even though she was merely a foal and not old enough to understand the idea of sexual attractions, she understood that what this creep was doing to Applejack was unacceptable. All this wicked magic, the demons of Everfree, the inappropriate touching—she’d had enough. She leapt forward, without thinking, and bit the Wizard’s tail. He yelped in surprise and bucked Apple Bloom off. “You little pest!” he shouted. “Who do you think you are?!” Apple Bloom had gotten up, surprised by her newfound strength. “Jus’ who d’you think YOU are?! Nopony touches MAH SISTER THAT WAY!” She charged him again, only for him to vanish. The red eyes among the trees disappeared, two by two, gradually until all that was left was the oppressive atmosphere of Everfree. However, a huge pair of blue eyes—the Wizard’s—appeared above the group. His voice echoed through the trees, shaking their leaves. “The town where the sun died. That’s where you’ll find me, Applejack. Let’s play again… soon.” The eyes faded out of existence. The trees ceased to shake. Apple Bloom looked behind her to see that everypony was able to move again. Flim and Flam looked about ready to freak out, and were holding onto each other as if letting go would make the monsters get them. The Creature had gone down on its knees (Well, except for the fat leg that had none) and bowed its head. Applejack was on her knees again, shivering as if cold. Granny Smith held her, scared as well. Big Macintosh wore an expression Apple Bloom never thought she’d see him demonstrate—anger. He shook and breathed hoarsely, his eyes darting about as if looking for something to smash. “Ah have t’go,” Applejack declared, getting up. “Ah have to go an’ end all this.” “We’re comin’ too,” Granny Smith said. “Nopony touches mah granddaughter like a pervert!” She looked about the ground and spotted the shotgun she’d dropped. Before she was able to retrieve it, Applejack said, “No, Ah cain’t let y’all ‘ndanger yerselves like this. Y’all need t’ seek shelter—” “WHERE?!” argued Granny Smith. “Applejack, we’ve all figgered out there’s nowhere t’hide! Nowhere t’run! We gotta go fight that—that—” Granny Smith’s voice broke as she remembered how he—that awful and soulless brute—touched her granddaughter. She shook with all the holy fury an indignant grandparent could muster. “We gotta fight that rat-bastard!” Apple Bloom nearly giggled. All those times she’d get onto everypony else for bad language, and there she was, using it herself! But she could understand: the situation got so much worse, and watching somepony that creepy torment your yung-‘uns like that would set anypony’s mind on fire. Granny Smith’s apple-bronze eyes began to swim with tears. “Ah—Ah cain’t…” Her shriveled lips began to tremble. Her face fell, and her voice became quiet. “… Do y’all know what it’s like, watchin’ yer own babies lowered in the grave?” All at once, everypony present forgot their own feelings and were struck by Granny Smith’s statement. Applejack remembered how her heart felt like it had shattered into a million irreparable slivers when she saw her Ma’s coffin slowly descend. She recalled how that same heart shattered again as she watched the light fade from her Pa’s eyes. Breathing became more difficult the more she remembered. “Ah… Ah jes’ don’ wantcha goin’ an’ gittin’ yerself kilt, Applejack…” Granny Smith’s face was overflowed with tears, her voice quivering. “Ah’ve already los’ so many in mah old age.” She looked straight into Applejack’s eyes—those green eyes her Ma had given her. “An’ Ah sure as hell ain’t losin’ YOU!” There was a deep pause. Big Macintosh cleared his throat. “N-Nut th’t Ah don’t concur witcher feelin’s, Granny Smith, but, uh, this…” The big pony’s courage began to waver a little as all eyes fell on him. It was difficult for him to speak clearly with his fat lip, but he cleared his thoughts and tried again. “Applejack’s th’Element ‘f Honesty. She an’ her friends fought gods—an’ they won. If’n anypony ‘kin take awn this wick’d wizard feller, ’s her. Ah vote that, whether we fight ‘r flee, we should ’llow her t’lead th’charge, an' make the decisions.” Apple Bloom felt like saying something, but as she stepped forward, her body reminded her about her broken leg, and that it still hadn’t been taken care of. Flam immediately noticed. “Flim,” he said to his twin, quietly, “why didn’t you focus more on learning that mending spell like I told you?” Flim tried to argue, but found he couldn’t. Flam was always the better healer, and despite Flim’s effort to be as good as his brother, his healing magic lagged behind Flam’s. Flam walked over to Apple Bloom. “Hold still, now,” he told her. His horn glowed, and Applejack could feel her bones mending back together, the internal bleeding stopping as he took the time to reconnect the punctured flesh. All throughout this, she strangely felt nothing. Flam turned to his twin. “You need to put the victim under an anesthetic enchantment, Flim. THEN, you cast the Inside Eye enchantment on your eyes so you can see what you're doing. Finally, you THEN use your telekinesis to reconnect broken bones and burst blood vessels. Got it?” Flim nodded, hoping he could remember his brother’s instructions. And the anesthetic spell. Apple Bloom moved her leg a bit, since the anesthetic spell caused it to become numb. She wobbled a bit before Flam caught her. “It’s still gonna need a splint, the magic might not hold and the bone might break again.” His brother produced some nearby sticks on the ground and some string from his coat pocket. Together, they put the makeshift splint around Apple Bloom’s leg. She walked over toward her older sister, who nuzzled her. Applejack looked up at the con-ponies. She was… confused. On the one hoof, they had tried to scam them out of their livelihood before, and weren’t particularly heartbroken for doing so. But on the other… It was probably the situation: things had become rather desperate now, and everypony realized what kind of enemy they were up against. It was them versus him. When this was all over, Applejack expected her old enemies to try something else, any of their old tricks. But for now, there was only one thing to say. “Thank you.” ***** The sun had finally set, the red sky becoming a burnt purple. All the ponies (plus one Creature) had gone into Zecora’s hut, although all were creeped out by the decorations, especially due to recent events. Applejack took down each of the tribal masks and set them aside, not bearing to look at them. “OK,” Flam started, “What do we do? What’s the plan?” “We kill ‘em,” Granny Smith said flatly. “That’s… that’s the goal, not the plan,” Flim said. “We need to go over what we know.” “Right,” Applejack concurred. “S’far, we know that this Wizard is mostly…” She gulped and gathered her courage. “… is mostly int’rsted in me. So Ah think Ah should go.” The group nodded. “Ah know where he is,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah ‘kin lead you there, sis.” “Absolutely not!” Granny Smith denied. “Not in yer shape! Ah’ll not have you gittin’ lost in th’woods where those red-eyed… things are gunna try ‘n gitcha.” Apple Bloom tried to argue her case, but all present adult ponies sided with Granny Smith. “But Ah know where he is, Ah don’t think any o’ y’all do!” They could see her point. Flim offered to draw a map with Apple Bloom’s input, which everypony seemed to support. Applejack hoofed her map of Everfree forest over to Flim, who produced a red pencil and motioned for Apple Bloom to show him where everything was. Meanwhile, the rest began to debate who should back up Applejack and who should stay behind. While Granny Smith had wanted to march to the wizard’s lair and shove her shotgun where the sun don’t shine and pull the trigger, the rest knew that she would probably tire out before they managed to get there. Big Mac volunteered, which Applejack considered. She knew her brother was very dependable and strong, but she also knew he was a total crybaby in the dark. She explained to him (taking care not to mention his childhood fear in front of strangers), that his strength would be better off here, protecting those who stayed behind. Flam began to argue, saying that Big Mac wasn’t able to do anything against the Wizard before, what good would it do? Apple Bloom argued that the Wizard said he’d back at Sunny Town, coupled with his sick obsession with Applejack, meant he’d stay there. But that didn’t guarantee he wouldn’t send any of Sunny Town’s spooky residents to go attack anypony left behind. There was, as Flim pointed out, also no guarantee he’d be effective against the Nightmares. Applejack considered this. “’Kin they be ‘ffected bah magic ‘f they cain’t be taken down wit’ force?” Flim explained, “Well, yeah, but it’s not like we have any attack magic, remember?” She looked to the Creature. “How ‘bowtchu, big fella?” The Creature tried to shake its cockeyed head, only for its entire upper body to join in. Applejack groaned. Planning was so hard. She wished Twilight Sparkle were here; this was more her talent than Applejack’s. Suddenly, Flam piped up. “Hey, I have an idea. What if, what if these ghosts… hate light?” Flim looked at his twin. “Hate light? What do you mean?” Flam waved his hooves. “HATE. LIGHT. They’re ghosts, right? And none of the ponies who got abducted, were abducted in the daytime, right?” Applejack rubbed her chin as she remained laid out on the floor. “Well, most of the kidnappin’s took place at night. The ones durin’ the day coulda been his doin’, ‘specially if he had goons of his own t’ help him.” “Exactly!” Flam crowed. He paced about the group. “If he had those creepy zombies doing most of the kidnapping, then he could only send them out at night! Plus, what did he call the place where he’d meet you?” Applejack thought for a second before responding. “’Th’ town where th’ sun died.’” Flam said nothing with his mouth, but spoke with his eyes. They lit up brilliantly as he motioned with his front hooves, as if trying to lead Applejack down a path. It clicked. “Th’ town where th’ Sun died!” she repeated. “Where it’d be completely dark!” “So if we stay in the light…” Flam began. “We stay safe from the zombies!” Flim finished. The group then decided on a definite plan: using Apple Bloom’s map, Applejack would go to Sunny Town (ironic name), accompanied by the Creature, whose horn could produce enough light not just to keep the path lit, but to scare off the Nightmares. Big Macintosh and the Flim-Flams would stay at the “base” in case the Wizard felt cheatsy, and sent some goons. “Evr’pony else, stay put,” Applejack instructed. “This ‘s a dang’rous mission, an’ Ah aim to keep casualties to th’ bare minimum.” She looked over her family and kinda-enemies one more time, drinking in their presence, their faces. “In case Ah don’t make it back, Ah want y’all t’know tonight Ah’m goin’ down swingin’.” She walked over to Granny Smith, held her tight, and did the same for her siblings. “An’ Ah love y’all, very much. More than Ah could ev’r say an’ more than y’ull ev’r realize.” She stopped in front of the Flim-Flam brothers. They shared an awkward silence. “You…” Applejack’s eyes darted away, then came back. She spoke in a quiet and unsure voice. “Y’all take care o’ yerselves, aright? We may not think that highly ’f y’all, but when it comes raht down to it, yer brothers. An’ yer all ya got.” To the surprise of them both, Applejack had gotten up on her hind legs, and held them in a tight hug. “So both-a’ y’all take good care ‘f each other, OK? Ya promise?” The feeling of being hugged by one of their enemies was a bizarre experience for the Flim-Flam brothers, but they supposed it could be worse. (After all, they’d made a lot of enemies over the years. At least they were getting hugged by one of the cute ones!) “I promise,” Flim said. “Me too,” said Flam. She let go and went to the door where the Creature was waiting, its horn aglow. Applejack took one last second to look back at her family. She smiled, a tear in her eye, nodded, then left, the Creature following close by. The two went into the night, that treacherous darkness, and began the journey to the final battle. The Battle for Ponyville.