//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Three in two, where to now 
// Story: AJ's unexpected adventure 
// by LGHeart 
//------------------------------//

“Celestia's Mornin' light you are some type of fool Applejack!” ah shout at myself as ah bob an' weave through trees running for my life, as some strange creature is chasin' me down.

Ah barely had time to look at my surroundin's as the creature chased me down. Intentionally ah had chosen a slightly narrow an' twistin' path. Ah figured that the creature would have a difficult time chasin' me down that way. At least that's what ah thought before ah started hearin' several of the trees behind me bein' smashed while the loud thumps an' roars could be heard only a few yards off.

Not trustin' myself ta look back an' not hit a tree, ah started runnin' faster. Dodgin' trees left an' right ah knew that if ah stopped for any reason my little adventure would end before ah could ever get my memories back.

Trees passed by without much of a care. It got more an' more difficult ta run as fast as ah could, more trees seemed ta be appearin' makin' it more difficult ta get through um. That didn't seem ta be botherin' the creature.

Finally ah broke through the tree line, only ta end up facin' a stone cliff side richin' high up. On my left ah see trees so tightly packed tagether that ah know ah couldn't get through them. Just ta my right a cliff side, and the ground appeared ta be at least a hundred or two feet down.

“Oh horse apples!” ah say knowin' full well that ah was not goin' ta make it.

As if ta emphasize the point, a loud crashin' sound blared behind me. Turnin' around ah could see the sharp pointy fangs of the creature that had been chasin' me. Gulpin' ah slowly back away from the creature. Ah keep backin up until my back hits the stone wall. Ah was trapped, there weren't no two ways around it. This was the end of my life and ah knew it.

With one deafenin' roar Ah knew my number was up. Ah couldn't bare to watch the end, so ah closed my eyes.

. . .

*Thud*

Openin' my eyes ta take a look Ah saw one o' the most amazin' sights o' my life, or at least that ah can remember. Right before my eyes ah saw the creature with a huge boulder smashed on it's head. Ah let out the breath that ah hadn't realized ah had been holdin'.

Slowly ah walk up ta the creature and tap the side o' it's arm lightly. Ah jumped slightly as ah heard the creature breath suddenly. Lettin' my heart rate settle slightly, ah realized the creature was only unconscious.

Decidin' the alternative was worse then findin' myself lost in the forest, ah start headin' back the way ah came.

For a while ah walked as straight as ah could through the thick forest tryin' ta find my way back ta the others.

Suddenly somethin' caught my attention, a sound o' some sort.

“Applejack?”

Instantly ah recognized the voice. It was light and melodious with a slight accent ah couldn't quite place. Ah was about ta respond when ah head another mare calling out my name, it was much quieter but still rather sweet sounding, and just like the other voice ah recognized it instantly.

“Rarity! Fluttershy! Ah'm right here!”

It didn't take long 'fore we finally found each other. Ah was so happy to have somepony else with me, this forest was rather creepy.

“Thanks fer findin' me y'all.” Ah look to Futtershy and Rarity, then try lookin' to find the others. “where are the others?”

Rarity was the first to speak up. “We got separated from the others.” She said slightly hidin' her face behind her wonderfully curvy an' purple mane.

My jaw nearly dropped to the ground as ah stared in disbelief. Ah was about to ask how they had all gotten separated when Fluttershy seemed to notice and spoke up. “W-well some trees began to fall, nopony got hurt, but Rarity and I had ended up on one side while Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie ended up on the other. Twilight told us just to go on and find you, they would work on finding a way to get back together.”

My nose scrunched up a slight bit as ah tried to think about how that could make any sense. They had to ponies that could fly, why not just fly over the fallen trees while they helped the other by carryin' her over?

Rarity interjected 'fore ah even try an' voice my question. “She told me that we had to get back onto the path, it would be a safer way to travel, most of the creatures do tend to keep from the paths. Twilight insisted sense you were in danger.”

A slight pang of guilt hit me 'cause ah had forced the group to split up just so they could save me. They were good friends to do somethin' like that just to help me. “Ah'm sorry ah worried y'all like that.”

Rarity reacted instantly. “Think nothing of it darling. You are our friend, and we all knew what the Everfree was like.”





*Mean while*

“Rainbow Dash, Pinkie pie, something feels wrong here.” Twilight says as she attempts to teleport some fallen trees out of the way, but for some reason the trees didn't seem to be affected by her magic. “I can't affect the trees, and I get this bad feeling that I can't get my magic to teleport me passed the trees either.”

Rainbow Dash crashed near into the huge mass of trees blocking her path. With a tumble and a groan she fell just to the ground just a few feet away from Twilight's feet. “Yeah and anytime I try flying over the dang thing, I suddenly lose all ability to fly. Way uncool.”

Pinkie pie being her usual self was jumping around on the fallen trees and bouncing around in a way that made her look like she was part mountain goat or something. She was generally just being Pinkie, but that could mean almost anything. She stopped then looked over to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “Well that would be because of the rune thingies, girls.”

“ 'Rune thingies'?” Twilight asked. “What are you talking about?”

Pinkie bounced down to the ground and pointed at a tree, “These runes silly, they're designed to block magic for all creatures, duh.”

Twilight inspected the trees more carefully and found what pinkie was talking about. Looking from tree to tree, Twilight noticed that all the trees had very old looking carvings on them, most of them she recognized from her when she had to learn about older styles of magic. That had been one of Twilight's least favorite subjects years ago.

Turning to look at Pinkie, Twilight looked astonished. “How did you know that Pinkie?”

“I read about them at your library, duh.” she said with a huge grin. Taking another look at the trees Pinkie examined the markings. “These were made intensionally to prevent anything from using magic of any type near or on these trees.”

For a moment Twilight felt slightly weirded out to be on the other side of a knowledge gap, usually she was the one who knew a lot about magic as compared to most others. “so we just need to remove the markings and we can remove these trees?”

Rainbow Dash finally got up and looked at Twilight, “I doubt it, besides that could take a couple of days, and we don't have that kind of time Twi.”

With a sigh of exasperation Twilight knew Rainbow Dash was right, they would have to move all the trees manually before they could even think about removing the runes so they could be moved. Climbing was a bad idea because of how precariously the trees had fallen on each other, and because of the fact any magic they could try to use would be unable to by the trees only made it harder to get to Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity.

“I don't think we'll be able to get to do anything from here.” Twilight says as a wave of dread and gloom hits her. “the best we can do is try and tell them to move on. We're all going to have to split up like this.”

Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped open. “You mean we can't do anything? Nothing?”

Frowning, Twilight looked Rainbow straight in the eye, “With the situation the way it is yes. We just have to wait for the others to get here and tell them.”

“That is so not awesome!” Rainbow cried as she folded her front hooves over her chest.

“I know Rainbow, but we have to keep moving, and that means we're forced to split up to move forward.”