//------------------------------// // On the Run // Story: The Mystery of a New World // by Fanthrose //------------------------------// Chapter 4 The sun was starting to rise over the hills in the distance, shining into the windows of the Sweet Apple Acers farm house. This was all the alarm Big McIntosh needed to get out of bed and start his morning routine. His first step was to wake up his sisters if they hadn’t woken up by them selves yet. He always started with Apple Bloom, knowing she would be harder to wake up, and keep up. Applejack was usually pretty good about waking up on her own, but after a day like they had yesterday, she would probably need a bit of help. “Come on Apple Bloom, wake up,” McIntosh said in his low, calm voice. The only answer he received was a groan from the little filly as she covered her head with her blanket and rolled over. “You know we have to start early Apple Bloom, so wake up.” “But Ah don’t wanna,” moaned the lump in the sheets. “Its summer vacation and Ah wanna sleep in.” An evil grin appeared on McIntosh’s face, well, as evil as McIntosh can muster. “But Apple Bloom, didn’t ya know we had a special job for ya today? Just think, it may even get ya yer cutie mark.” In less than a second, a red and yellow blur flew past McIntosh and into the bathroom to start getting cleaned up. “Works every time.” He was just about to enter Applejack’s bedroom to wake her up, when it swung open and hit him square in the face. “Aaaah, what a good day ta buck,” Applejack said as she stretched her limbs. She looked over to the red lump of pony on the floor rubbing his muzzle. “Eheheh, sorry Big McIntosh.” A sheepish grin appearing on her face. Big Mac got up off the floor and just smiled at his sister. “Think nothing of it sis. Ah’m just surprised yer up with everything that happened yesterday.” “Shoot, knowing Twi’s safe helped me sleep like a baby. Speakin of Twi, did you check on’er yet?” “Nnope. Twas gonna do that after ah woke ya up.” “Ah’ll go, you go get cleaned up and Ah’ll start on breakfast,” Applejack said as she noticed Apple Bloom running back to her room to get her bow. Big Mac nodded and started towards the bathroom, as Applejack started walking to Granny Smith’s old room to check on Twilight. She peaked her head in to see Twilight still peacefully snoozing. ‘Ah’ll just let er sleep till she’s ready ta get up,’ thought Applejack as she closed the door and headed to the kitchen. She got to the kitchen and started pulling out the ingredients for breakfast. “Horseapples, we’re all outta carrots. Ah’ll just hafta go get some from Carrot Top later. Well that changes things then.” Not having all the ingredients for breakfast, Applejack just decided to have the traditional Apple family breakfast. Apples, apple pies, apple fritters, and even apple brown betty. Big Mac came down, signaling Applejack that he would handle breakfast as she went to go get cleaned up. Breakfast was finished and the three siblings sat down to eat before a long day of work. As usual it was a quick and quiet breakfast, as everyone just wanted to get started. Plates were put in the sink and cleaned. Leftovers were put in the fridge for later, and Apple Bloom was busy bouncing around the kitchen wondering what her special job was going to be. “Please tell me what it’s going to be Applejack. If this is gonna get me mah cutie mark, ah wanna get started on it now.” “Settle down now Apple Bloom. We’re almost done here, why don’t ya go get the apple buckets ready for today and when ya get back, we’ll tell ya what we want ya ta be doin' today,” Applejack said trying to get her sister to calm down. “OK!” With that Apple Bloom was out the door and heading to the barn. “Heh, think she’ll be disappointed when we tell’er she’s just goin to go get Spike from Fluttershy’s place?” Applejack chuckled, her eyes mirthful as she looked at Big Macintosh. “Eeyup,” Big Mac said through a smile. As they turned back around to finish the dishes, they heard the pounding of little hooves running back into the house. They both turned to see Apple Bloom rushing back into the house with a look of fear plastered on her face. Big Mac was the first to her side. “Apple Bloom, What’s wrong.” “T-there’s a monster in the barn!” That was all Apple Bloom could say before she huddled up to her brother for protection. Before anything else could be said Applejack was out the door to confront this monster. ******************** She rushed into the barn where she saw the 'monster' sleeping on a pile of hay. She just watched AJ sleep for a few seconds before tip-hoofing over to her lasso. She readied the rope in her mouth and called out to the monster. “HEY, WAKE UP!” “Huh, what?!” AJ jumped up looking for the source of the noise. He didn’t get the chance to do much else as he suddenly felt something wrap around him and pull him to the ground. “Hey, what’s going on?” From his position he could see the orange mare from the previous night glaring at him with a rope in her mouth. “What are you, and what the hay are ya doin’ in mah barn?” Applejack asked in an angry yet even tone. “What’s going on? Who are you, and what do you mean your barn.” Suddenly the events of last night came back to him. Being too tired to make it back to the river and into his cave he just decided to crash in the barn next to the farm house. “Oh, that’s right. Look, I’m sorry. I was just too tired to make it back to my cave and this was the only place to sleep. If you let me go, I’ll leave and get out of your hair right away.” Applejack just stared him through for a little bit. She was good at catching somepony in a lie, and she couldn’t see a lie in what he was saying. Her face lightened up a bit as she slowly started walking towards him. “Ah still don’t know if Ah trust ya, but ya don’t seem ta be lying.” Applejack was about to start undoing the lasso when she noticed something. She could see strands of dark blue hair all over his clothes. She stepped back and once again started glaring a hole through AJ. “That’s Twilights hair.” “Twilight’s hair?” He looked down at his clothes to see that he did indeed have hair from the purple unicorn all over his clothes. He looked back at Applejack and saw her death glare. “I can explain.” “Ya don’t have ta. You were th’ one who did this ta Twilight!” Applejack snorted and scraped the ground with her hoof like she was getting ready to charge. AJ immediately started backing up into the pile of hay, knowing that he was in trouble. That’s when he remembered his knife. He had hung it from his belt before they started heading to the orchard. Adjusting his arms in the lasso, he was able to grab and unsheathe the knife without Applejack noticing. He then slowly started to saw through the back of the lasso, hiding his movements in the hay. As Applejack was about to start charging, she was interrupted by the sound of the farm house door opening and closing. She stopped to glare at AJ one more time before walking out of the barn to see Big Mac trotting to the barn. “How’s Apple Bloom?” “She’s calmed down, but Ah told'er ta stay inside while Ah check. What’s th’ situation in th’ barn?” AJ was relieved as he felt the lasso fall from his body. He stretched his arms after he sheathed his knife. He stopped moving when he saw that Applejack was standing right in front of the open barn door, talking to someone. ‘She hasn’t noticed me yet, now’s the time to make my break.’ He thought to himself. Deciding to use his big body to his advantage, AJ got into position. He waited for Applejack to start talking again before he started charging full speed, tackling her to the ground. AJ got to his feet as fast as he could, took one quick, fearful glance at Big Mac, and bolted in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Big Mac was quick to get to his sisters side and help her up. “What was that?!” “That was the varmint that hurt Twilight,” groaned Applejack as she shook her head. She was staring daggers in the direction that AJ had run off. “Big McIntosh, stay here and make sure that thing doesn’t come back. Ah’m goin to go get Rainbow and Rarity ta help track this varmint down." “Caramel should be here soon. Ah’ll send Apple Bloom ta go get Spike, and catch up with you while he watches over Twilight.” “Sounds like a plan.” They nodded to each other and Applejack ran to go wake Rainbow. ******************** “RAINBOW DASH, GIT YOUR FLANK UP RIGHT NOW!! AH NEED YER HELP!!” After a few seconds, the sleepy eyed blue pegasus poked her head out of the window of her bedroom. “Applejack? What the hay do you want? It’s too early to be yelling so loud.” “Ah need your help trackin down the varmint that hurt Twilight!” Hearing Twilight’s name jolted Rainbow Dash awake immediately and she glided down. “Twilight? What about Twilight? Is she OK?” “Ah’ll tell ya th’ story later sugarcube. Just know she’s and sleepin' safe n sound over at the farm. For now, ah need yer help. Go get Pinkie and meet me at the farm. I’ll go get Rarity, and we’ll make the game plan there.” Rainbow gave a quick salute and was off to Sugarcube Corner. ******************** ‘Come on Rarity, open the door,’ Applejack thought to herself as she continued to knock on the door to Carousel Boutique. “Coooomiiiiing!” Rarity called out in a sing song voice. Though Applejack could hear her quietly cursing that she was being woken up so early. “Hello, what can I…Oh Applejack darling, how are you this morning?” Her mood immediately changed when she saw who was at the door.” “No time for small talk Ah’m afraid, Ah need yer help” “What ever is the matter darling?” Rarity was starting to become concerned. “It concerns Twilight. Now before ya say anything, she’s fine. She’s sleeping over at the farm right now. What I need yer help with is catching the varmint that hurt her.” “Oh darling of course I’ll help. Just let me get spruced up a bit and I’ll be right out,” Rarity said as she started walking back into her boutique. “Rarity there’s no ti…” Applejack stopped when she noticed Rarity looking at her with a pouty face. Applejack sighed heavily, unable to resist that face. “Ah just can’t say no ta ya. Just hurry up OK?” Applejack said as she followed Rarity in to wait for her. ******************** It was a half an hour before Applejack and Rarity made it to Sweet Apple Acers. There they saw Rainbow Dash hovering in the air next to Big McIntosh with a bored look on her face. “Where the hay have you been? I’ve been waiting here forever.” Applejack shot her a look and just ignored her. Applejack turned to Big Mac. “Is Caramel here already?” “Eeyup. Apple Bloom’s already on 'er way to Miss Fluttershy’s ta give them th’ news,” Big Mac drawled Applejack smiled and turned to Rainbow Dash. “Where’s Pinkie? Ah thought ah told ya ta get’er?” “She wasn’t home. I don’t know where else she could be,” Rainbow said as she shrugged. Applejack cursed under her breath. “We’ll just have ta make this work then. Rainbow, Ah need you to fly over head and scout the area. Big McIntosh and Rarity, yer with me. We’re lookin' for a big hairless ape thing with a green sweatshirt.” Rarity looked horrified with the description. “Ugh, that sounds just awful! It has no sense of fashion.” Applejack and Rainbow dash just rolled their eyes. “Alright y'all, lets get a move on! YEE HAW!” With that, the hunt was on. ******************** AJ was exhausted. He had been running for the past half an hour and he found no good place to hide yet. He reached the edge of the forest, but couldn’t find anything that looked remotely familiar. “Where…the hell…is my…cave?” he said between breaths. He decided to take a short break to catch his breath. He sat under a tree in the shade as he thought of ways to get out of this mess. After about 10 minutes, he felt good enough to start running again. As he was getting up, a chill suddenly ran down his spine as he felt like someone was watching him. He started looking around only to see nothing. He turned around to only to find his vision filled with pink, pink, and more pink. “Hi Mr. Ape Man. My name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s your name?” Pinkie Pie had a wide smile on her face as she bounced up and down. “AHH, GET AWAY FROM ME!!!” Fearing the pink bouncing pony was with the one at the farm, he wanted to get away from her as fast as he could. He started running in a random direction. AJ turned around and saw she wasn’t following him. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down. A giggle reached his ears and his eyes widened in fear. “This is fun Mr. Apey. Is this a new game I haven’t heard of before?” Pinkie Pie asked him. He froze up and slowly turned around to see the pink pony, once again, bouncing right behind him. After screaming again, he started running in another direction. What he didn’t see was a certain blue pegasus flying overhead watching everything that was happening. ******************** Twilight woke up to the site of Caramel placing a glass of water and some apple pie on the night stand next to her bed. “Caramel, what are you doing here.” A slight blush appeared on his face as he answered back. “Oh, I started working on the farm full time a few weeks ago. Though right now I was told to watch over you and make sure you’re comfortable while Applejack and Big Mac take care of some business.” “Business? What kind of business are they doing?" Caramel just shrugged as the bedroom door flew open to reveal a crying baby dragon. “TWILIGHT, YOUR OK!!” Spike flung himself onto the bed and started hugging Twilight around the neck. She gladly returned the hug and started stroking the back of Spikes head to calm him down. Shortly after, Fluttershy and Apple Bloom filed into the room “Oh Twilight, we were so worried about you. No pony knew where you were.” Fluttershy said as she started looking over the bruise on Twilights head. “I’m sorry for worrying everypony, but I’m fine. And I wasn’t alone. Oh, that reminds me. Spike, could you take a letter? Something happened that the Princess will want to know about. Caramel, after this could you help me get back to the Library?” Caramel blushed again and nodded his head. Spike just smiled that everything was going to go back to normal as he pulled a scroll and quill out of a pocket he apparently has. ******************** AJ’s game of cat and mouse with Pinkie went on for about 20 minutes. He was running on empty. “I…knew I…should…have gone…on that…diet.” He was getting desperate. This pony had managed to follow his every move, running here and there, and she looked like she could still go for hours. He came to a road, and in the distance he could see what appeared to be a small town. He was angry. He was pretty sure it was the town that was next to the farm. He was about ready to give up. Then he heard something in the distance. It sounded like...trumpets? He looked up in the distance and his jaw dropped at what he saw. He saw a chariot being pulled by 4 armor clad pegasi. Flanking the chariot were 4 more armor clad pegasi. Riding in the chariot were two regal yet imposing figures. They looked like winged unicorns, one tall and white, the other shorter and midnight blue. AJ noticed the taller white one motion to the pegasi and they started to descend, landing in front of him. He was legitimately scared now. He was pretty sure he was being chased by some angry farm pony who was probably close by now, and now he was just approached by a bunch of armor clad ponies, and two other regal figures. As they dismounted the chariot, AJ started backing off slowly. Knowing his luck, they were after him too. He was about to turn and run, but was stopped as a blue blur came out of nowhere and torpedoed him in the gut, sending him to his knees. Clenching his gut in pain, he slowly looked up and was greeted by two hooves connecting with the side of his head, knocking him unconscious. “Applejack, what the hay? We still have to interrogate him. Why’d you go and kill him?” Rainbow Dash said as she stood over their prey. “Don’t worry sugarcube, Ah just knocked him out. Once he wakes up, we’ll question him. Now where’d Pinkie go? Ah thought ya said you…” That’s when Applejack noticed the princesses standing there looking completely confused. “Princess, what are y'all doin here?” She asked as she quickly went down to one knee. The others following suit. “I was on my way to meet Twilight Sparkle at the library to talk about something very important. I assume this creature has something to do with it. What’s going on here? Why were you chasing it?” Celestia asked, trying to figure things out. Rarity stepped forward to answer the Princess’ question. “Well your majesty, as you may or may not know, two days ago Twilight had gone missing. We looked everywhere but just could not find her. Then last night, she just appeared on Applejack’s doorstep, a little injured, but very much alive. This morning little Apple Bloom found this thing sleeping in their barn and upon closer inspection, he had Twilight’s hair all over him. He must have been the one to hurt poor Twilight and was coming back to finish the job.” “That’s not the story we heard,” Luna said as she stepped forward. “According to Twilight’s letter, this thing helped her.” The group of ponies in front of her all looked as confused as the two of them had minutes ago. “Apparently he found her unconscious, brought her into his cave, and watched over her until she woke up. Then he graciously took her to your orchard. From the sound of it, he went out of his way to help her.” Luna walked over to AJ’s unconscious body and started to prod it with her hoof. “Heheh, he’s squishy.” Celestia just smiled as she watched her sister. “So it looks like there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding.” She turned to her guards. “Put him into the chariot and take him to the library. Luna and I will walk the rest of the way with them.” She motioned to the group of four ponies standing by the body. **************************************** ((I probably should have mentioned this last chapter when Luna had her first lines, but I will not be having her speak in the archaic manner. In this story she learned to speak in a more modern way.)) My little pony © Hasbro Friendship is magic © Lauren Faust