//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Apple Bloom // by Noratcat //------------------------------// Smack! The pain coursed through his body. Wack! It came again with a slap. His little body skid across the ground. He tried to lift himself up with all of his strength. The ground trembled as she approached him, her hooves were gave off a sound like thunder. At least from his point of view. "Tell me my little doll." She hissed. Before he could move he felt her hand wrap around him. Her cold button eyes met his as she held him up to her view. "Why did you help her escape? HMMM!?" before he could answer, she threw him at the wall. Another spike of pain ran up his spine as he fell to the floor. Goodness, it hurt so much. Yet he didn't have a scratch on him. He supposed he was durable like that. All of them were. It wasn't as if he had any real organs or bones to think of. "S-s-she's my friend, I wanted to help her." Came his honest response. She looked down at him in apparent surprise. Then from within her came a laugh. A cruel mocking laugh that echoes througough the room."Friend? Oh my poor little dragon, you are simply nothing more than a doll I made," she explained. "all your feelings of friendship towards that filly are simply ones I put into you. You were simply to play your role and lull her in." her voice dripped with venom as she glared down at him. The dragon curled himself up into a cowering ball. Was that it? Was everything he felt fake. Maybe it was, she had created him after all. That was it. He hadn't been born. He was simply created. Stitched up by her to do her bidding. He broke his balled position looking at one of his claws. IF he wasn't real, then what were the scales made of? What of the rest of his body? "Well, you did perform your job admerably," He heard her coming again. "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you now." His eyes looked up and what he saw made him cower even more. Within her hand she held a needle and thread. Her smile grew into an insane wickedness. It wasn't just the escape. He had broken another of her rules. It had been broken before and it was broken now. He wasn't smiling. XXX Apple Bloom felt numb. If numb could be considered the correct term. But she didn't now how else to describe her emotions. She had looked high and low, covered every inch of the barn and orchards. Nothing. With nothing else to do, she trotted to Ponyville. She asked everyone in town, including the fellow holders of the elements of harmony. She had asked the same question to them and everyone she came in contact with. Each and every time she received the same answer "They hadn't seen them." So Apple Bloom trotted up the path to her home. But she knew one thing was for certain. Her family was gone. Slowly she trotted along the path. There was no other place besides home. An empty home wasn't any home at all. During her questioning search, she had left out one detail, a detail that weighed heavily on her mind. "Hey Apple Bloom!" She heard the cheerful tone from above. Sitting high upon a tree branch was Spike. And of course, sliding upon the tree branch with him was Wybourne. Apple Bloom's melancholy expression was interrupted by a brief mask of disgust at the appearance of the slug. "Hey Spike. What are you doing here?" Apple Bloom's depression etched in her voice. Taking his slug upon his shoulder, he slid down the tree landing without any trouble. "Oh Twilight has some new "house rule"." Spike frowned. "Apparently she didn't think Wybourne was so cool and Owlicious tried to eat him." Spike covered Wybourne protectively. "Poor guy was so scared. So I'm trying to find someplace to keep him." The affection Spike displayed towards the creature never ceased to confuse the filly. "Why don't ya just keep him outside?" Spike's face flashed in horror. "And expose him to the elements! No way!" he started to scratch Wybourne underneath his slimy underside. "Like Rarity, Wybourne is a delicate creature who deserves the best." With a grin that he only reserved towards the aforementioned mare, he held up Wybourne to his face. "And I can't deny this guy anything. Who's the best slug in the world? You are! You are!" Within this out of character display, Apple Bloom widened one eye, and narrowed the other. Suddenly her depression was far off. "You know I was thinking of using that abandoned building Snips and Snails mentioned." Suddenly Apple Bloom's narrowed eye widened to match to the other one. "You know turn it into our own special hideout or something." Spike was jolted from his fantasy when Apple Bloom tacked him. While covering Wybourne he glared up and was met with Apple Bloom's own gaze. "No! don't go in that place! It's dangerous!" Now Spike was starting to get confused. "You mean like rotting boards or something?" His response was only more ranting. "First she lures you in with all this great food and stuff and gives you whatever you want. It all looks perfect but it's really all a trap." Spike attempted to worm his way from under the filly, but was met with another force of the hooves. "Oh mah gosh the ghost ponies! Their still trapped in there!" The dragon cocked a confused eye. "Ghosts?" Apple Bloom didn't bother with the dragon's emotions; she was too lost in her own. So much pondering played out in her mind. "Mah granny's sister. She had to be one of them." "One of who?" Spike's confusion continued to grow. Suddenly he felt another thud against his chest. "The doll! That's how she spies on ya!" Apple Bloom's realization grew as she came to that conclusion Through the little doll's eyes. At last Apple Bloom removed herself from Spike. The dragon still kept a protective claw over Wybourne. "Um yeah Apple Bloom. I can see you are a little stressed out, so I'll leave....leave you alone." Spike slowly began to turn away back towards Ponyville. "Wait! Spike you have to listen to me!" Apple Bloom charged towards the dragon pleading with her hooves upon his chest. Her emotions were starting to run wild. Spike definitely could see that and in all honestly it frightened him. "Uh yeah Apple Bloom I gotta go. Oh what's that? I think I hear Twilight calling me bye!" Spike announced before running off. The dragon ran off without ever looking back. Apple Bloom on the other hand wasn't finished. Depression, anger, confusion. Every one of these swirled around together into a deadly bitter shake. "None of this would have happened if ya'll hadn't given me that stupid doll!" Spike was far beyond ear shot when she said that. Apple Bloom found herself alone once more. XXX The Apple family home was eerily silent. Save for the trots of one. Apple Bloom went through every room. Starting with the kitchen, then with the living room, and finally the bedrooms, she stood there for all but three minutes each, soaking in the solitude. Celestia's sun soon fell underneath the hills giving way for Luna's moon. Apple Bloom didn't bother with dinner that night. Instead he curled up underneath her covers. Images became so vivid she could almost see them right before her eyes. Big Macintosh working hard in the fields, Granny Smith sleeping in her rocker, and Applejack being her usual self, bossy yet caring, always treating her younger sister like a baby, but somehow Apple Bloom missed that. Apple Bloom cried herself to sleep that night. Her tiny body shook and her tears drenched her pillow. Her family admittedly annoyed her at times. But she didn't want this. XXX Wipe Wipe Apple Bloom shot awake at the sound. Darkness surrounded her. Wipe Wipe There it came again. One by one she trotted. Wipe Wipe Where was it? Wipe Wipe Something was there. Then right before her stood a mirror. Frost covered the glass. An icy chill spread around the filly causing her to shiver. Wipe Wipe. Something appeared in the mirror rubbing against the glass. It was a hoof. Wipe Wipe The fogginess cleared up revealing an orange leg, furthermore an orange body. Behind it was a yellow mane topped off with an ever present hat. Behind it came coats of red and green all faded with the cold that surrounded them. Their eyes looked pleadingly at the young filly. And then Apple Bloom woke up XXX A sweat ran down her forehead as the dream ended. Panicked, Apple Bloom leapt out of bed. Her tiny head looked frantically around. Then she stopped as she noticed something peeking from underneath. Kneeling down she saw a pair of eyes staring back at her. Button eyes; no not just that, doll's eyes. It wasn't just any doll. It was the little doll version of her staring back at her. She spied on us through the doll's eyes. And saw that we weren't happy. So with treats, toys and games, she lured us away. Lured us away Lured us away Apple Bloom's formally frightened eyes filled with rage. Her family wasn't just missing, they were stolen. With a cry she grabbed the doll tearing it apart bit by bit leaving nothing but filling upon the floor and torn fabric. With a look of determination, Apple Bloom stormed out of the house. She had places to go. XXX Going to Ponyville would have been the smarter choice. After all, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, were the fellow wielders of the elements of harmony. Just like her sister. They would certainly want to know the full story. Apple Bloom nearly told them it. But something inside her wanted to keep it silent. Okay, that went against her better judgment. But in a way this was entirely her fault. She opened the door, she fell into the Other Sister's….the Beldam's trap. She had been the one who almost willingly abandoned her old life. A part of her wanted to escape from the responsibility. The responsbility of being the one to seal her familie's fate. Perhaps it was for these reasons that she choose to tread into the Everfree Forest. There was one other she knew could help her. Well honestly she didn't know, she just had a very good hunch. From her encouter the following day, she knew that this one would help her. She just hoped she was awake. Apple Bloom pounded her hoof against the wooden door. She did it severla times when no immediate answer came. When she was about to do it once more she heard a clip clopping. The door creaked open and a black and white face stared back at her. "Why little one, why are you here when there is no sun?" Zecora asked. The night especially in Everfree Forest was definently unsafe for a young filly. The zebra ushered the pony inside. "So tell me little flower, what brings you here at this hour?" Zecora used the term flower due to the fillie's name. After all, a flower bloomed. Apple Bloom didn't know where to begin. But she tried. She poured out every little detail starting from the bare facts to just about everything else. It all came out similar to how she had ranted to Spike. Although now she had time to calm herself to a degree. Zecora took it in rather well. As Apple Bloom finsihed her tail, she stared intently towards a boiling pot filled with a brew she had been working on. "Your tale so sad and full of woe. And alas, you have no where to go." Zecora spoke in her tongue. "But when I stepped foot on that unholy ground, I knew things were not sound." Apple Bloom blinked. "Wait ya knew about everything?" she asked. The zebra shook her head. "Not everything child. But the evil I suspected there has gotten wild." Once more it was amazing that the zebra could rhyme so flawlessly. "But I may ask you, what will you do?" The question immediately fell upon the filly. It was so sudden yet appropriate. Something in Zecora's eyes told she knew more than she let on. Apple Bloom thought hard on that. Indeed this all was on her. If she hadn't gone in that house none of this would have happened. While at first glance it seemed as if the zebra was selfish in placing all of this on a child, but something in her eyes told the filly she knew more than she let on. But if anything Apple Bloom knew she had to do this herself. It wouldn't sit right with her if someone else cleaned up her mess. She knew what she had to do. "Ah'm" her words hesitated in her mouth. There was a small selfish, childish part that told her to just sit back and let someone else go through with this. But being the strong willed pony she was, she cast that aside. "Ah'm going after mah family!" the filly boldly declared. This surprised Zecora somewhat, but it seemed to be appropriate. "Well then I shall say this quest shall be your test." Zecora went to the back of her hut digging within. In her mouth she pulled out a saddlebag. From the way the bag drooped in her muzzle, it held something within. "Perhaps on your journey, you will be helped from some items of my native country." Again the rhyming amazed Apple Bloom. Curious about these items, Apple Bloom peeked inside. All she found however was a strange triangular shaped jewel. The other was a glowing glass jar. Looking closely at it, Apple Bloom could have sworn it held a ……no it couldn't be. "How are these supposed ta help me?" Apple Bloom turned her attention away from the jar. Zecora opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Apple Bloom. "On second thought nevermind. Ah'll just figure it out for mahself." Although this seemed like a random interval of progression, Zecora had one thing to say. "The creature of whom you speak, a word of caution if you please." Apple Bloom stopped at the zebras speech, "You may very well be able to break her chain if you were to challenge her to a game." "A game?" Apple Bloom repeated. The zebra grinned. "The kind of creatures of similar breed would seem very keen to such a thing." That advice absorbed into the filly's brain. She wasn't sure how it would affect anything, but it would be a useful gambit. Everything seemed settled. It all was prepared. Apple Bloom stared out the open doorway into the darkness of Everfree Forest. Turning back with a smile, she said. "Thank ya Zecora." Without another word she strode outside. Zecora remained looking at the little filly with an accomplished smile. She had sensed great evil within that house. Yet the evil wasn't her's to slay. No it would seem fate favored the young filly. The spirits told her so. Her kind was taught to belie in such things from a young age. And she certainly believed so; Along with fate. XXX Apple Bloom stromed through the Everfree Forest with a goal in mind. The goal centered upon the house before her. Dilapitated, old, worn and evil. Apple Bloom fought back a gulp as she entered. Stepping through the old doorway, down the hallway, and into the living room. The room held a cold feeling as she searched for the tiny key. It was right where she had left it. On the ground right next to the accursed doorway. Taking it in her mouth, she opened the door and was met with the familiar feeling of warmth. Yet it felt cold in a way. Taking the key, Apple Bloom situated it in her mane. She wouldn't let it out of her grasp so easily. The path itself had lost its sheen. Treading down it didn't fill her with joy as it had before. But something she saw did fill her with joy. "Apple Bloom?" She stopped. The voice was familiar. So familiar she didn't need to ponder on who it was. "Applejack?" "Apple Bloom can ya hear me?" The voice was coming from the end of the path. "Applejack!" Apple Bloom cried with excitement. The little filly ran down the path as fast as she could. Soon she made it towards the end stepping into the Other Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom looked about for any trace of her sister. "Applejack?" she called again. Suddenly the door slammed behind her. A dark shadow cast over her. "So glad you could make it sugar cube." Apple Bloom turned around, staring into the gaze of the Beldam.