//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15 
// Story: My Little Pony: A New Apple 
// by Hopeful Soul 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 15


It had only taken them half a day but after taking a train and asking for directions they finally reached the halfway point between home and the Foal mountains, they’re task still fresh in their minds just like the Elements around their necks. As they walked, Wave Crasher began to sing a little song.
Sunspot then turned to the others. “Hey, how much further do we have to go anyway?”
“We are still only half way there.” Ironhorn told her.
“Feels like we’ve been walking forever…” Sunspot expressed. 
“It’s only been half a day and ten minutes.” Orchard pointed out.
“Oh yeah… man I wish we could all fly…” Sunspot sighed.
“I doubt that would make much of a difference.” Ironhorn commented.
Alyssa then glanced up and stopped as her eyes widened. “Something tells me it will…”
“Why is that?” Sunspot inquired.
Alyssa pointed up and they all glanced up to that in front of them was a very large and very tall mountain-like hill that nearly reached the clouds above them.
“Oh… that’s why.” Sunspot said.
“Looks like we’re going up.” Johnny remarked to them.
“Right. Anyone have any climbing gear?” Alyssa questioned. They all stared at her blankly. “What?”
“What’s climbing gear?” Johnny asked.
“Never mind… does anyone have a way for us to get up there?” Alyssa questioned.
“Well… I think I know a spell that’ll let us defy gravity and walk up things like this… not sure if it’ll work…” Orchard admitted.
Johnny shook his head. “We got no choice, use it.”
Orchard Star nodded and pretty soon her horn lit up and glowed brightly, then little bolts of magic quickly zapped each of them. It didn’t cause them any pain but it did make their bodies glow with a golden aura before finally fading.
“Alright, we’re good to go.” Orchard confirmed.
“Cool, ok everybody follow my lead.” Johnny instructed.
Johnny approached the side of the hill, placed one boot on it and then the other, he closed his eyes after that and when he opened them he saw that he saw standing on the side of it completely still and not falling. Smiling, he then began to walk straight up the mountain like hill, the others soon followed, with Sunspot flying up ahead. As they walked, Alyssa continued to have a wide-eyed and scared looking expression.
“This… this I can’t describe…” Alyssa expressed. The look on her face suggests that she can’t believe what she’s doing at all.
“What? Never defied gravity before?” Johnny asked, innocently.
“Never. It defies the laws of physics!” Alyssa pointed out.
“Ah, who cares about the laws of physics?” Sunspot questioned, making Alyssa gasp and everypony glare at her. “I mean… besides the Physics Police… I mean.”
“Hey, if it makes you feel any better girl, we’ve never done this either.” Wave Crasher told Alyssa, smiling. Ironhorn nodded in confirmation.
“Yeah… that makes me feel better…” Alyssa muttered, sarcastically.
“So, Alyssa, what else can you tell me about the human world?” Johnny inquired, curiously.
“Well… what do you want to know?” Alyssa asked.
“Everything, if it’s possible.” Johnny answered.
“Everything… Whoo… that’s some question.” Alyssa remarked.
“So… what’s it like there?” Johnny questioned.
Alyssa smiled, softly. “From what I can tell and what I’ve seen it’s almost like this world pretty much. Lots of the same animals, same names for certain things, course the places aren’t the same and… ponies don’t talk, but your Mom and all the other ones remind me of folks I knew back home.”
“The ponies there don’t talk?” Orchard echoed, surprised. She seemed to be listening in on their conversation.
“Yeah, mostly they just sit around petting zoos and perplex.” Alyssa shrugged. “And they kinda smell too… no offence.”
“None taken!” Wave Crasher beamed.
“She was talking to us!” Sunspot stated, annoyed as she and her other equine friends glared at him.
“Oh. Never mind.” Crasher shrugged.
“Anyway… it’s mindboggling that almost everything I’ve believed in has been proven wrong…” Alyssa sighed.
“Is must be hard.” Ironhorn mused.
Alyssa nodded a bit. “It is in a way,” she confirmed. “But I’m learning to deal with it.”
“Good.” Ironhorn nodded.
“Let’s just get up there so we can finish this mission and go home, shall we?” Sunspot asked, tiredly as she flew past them.
“Right.” Alyssa nodded as they continued to proceed upward.
Eventually Johnny, grabbed the top of the hill and pulled himself up before pulling Alyssa up as well as the others got onto the top as well while Sunspot flew up and landed near them.
“So… now we’re on the top.” Alyssa observed.
“Do you ever stop complaining?” Sunspot remarked.
“I should be asking you that.” Alyssa pointed out.
“Enough, let’s just go.” Johnny said.
But before they could they heard an odd sound coming from all around them, bewildering them. Then, not to long after that they saw something shadowy slither right in front of them, making them gasp and jump.
“What was that?” Orchard Star asked, alarmed. They all stood perfectly still and listened as the odd sound popped up all over.
“Stay sharp guys.” Johnny advised.
“Yeah! Stay sharp!” Sunspot added, trying to sound confident. They then heard Crasher yelp and turn to him.
“That’s not saying sharp.” Orchard noted.
“Look!” Wave Crasher said, as he gestured to a thick blanket of fog that was approaching and beginning to surround them completely. 
“Oh dear…” Ironhorn muttered.
“What the hay? Where’d this fog come from?” Sunspot exclaimed, completely caught off guard.
“I don’t know… it just… appeared!” Johnny stated.
“Guys? Where are you? I can’t see a thing!” Orchard cried, as the fog began to cloud their vision completely.
“We’re right here!” Alyssa called out to her.
“Everyone stay where you are!” Johnny told them.
Wave Crasher jumped when he saw the shadowy creature slither by him again and backed away. “Yeah… easier said than done man…”
“He’s right, we must find each other and quickly.” Ironhorn agreed.
“Ok, Wave Crasher; start whistling! Everypony, follow the sound of his whistle!” Johnny ordered.
“I-I don’t think I can…!” Crasher admitted, shaking.
“Why not?” Johnny asked.
“I’m too scared!” Wave Crasher cried out.
“Oh, for goodness sake!” Sunspot exclaimed. “Mare up, Crasher!”
“Easy… something is not right here.” Ironhorn advised them. “Something could be after us.”
“Please! I can handle whatever…” Sunspot began before she heard a low growl which made her yelp and shake like a leaf. “What was that!?”
“Come on Sunspot, ‘mare up’.” Crasher mocked.
“Crasher… when I see you… I am going to buck you in the face… again!” Sunspot hissed before something slithered by and growled, at all of them this time, making them flinch.
“Johnny?” Alyssa asked, meekly as the growling noise increased while a pair of yellow eyes opened up behind her. Her eyes widen while she turned around and gasped in shock.
The others then heard a loud shriek, just as parts of the mist began to clear up. Johnny recognized it.
“Alyssa!” he cried as he and the others rushed over to the source of the scream.
When they reached Alyssa, she seemed to be frozen in fear of something, which they didn’t notice at the time.
“Alyssa, what’s wrong?” Johnny questioned. Alyssa simply pointed to the thing in front of her, they looked and quickly understood.
Floating right in front of them seemed to be some kind of mist monster with glowing yellow eyes that were glaring right at them.
“Whoa! What is that?” Crasher questioned.
“I don’t know…” Johnny voiced. His eyes widened when it started coming towards them. “Look out!”
They all huddled together for protection against the gas like creature and when it phased right through them they each found themselves separated from the others and unable to see them at all. Even Sunspot couldn’t fly high enough to get out of the fog, it was just too high and too thick.
“Guys! Guys! Where are you? Man I hope they didn’t ditch me… then it be that stupid day in market all over again…” Sunspot muttered to herself with a shudder. “Man those were a lonely two days behind that old dumpster.”
“Sunspot…"
Creeped out the Pegasus then let out a high pitched squeak pivoted for a look behind her, trying to find the speaker
“Ok… that’s creepy…” Sunspot said to herself, slowly.
“Sunspot…”
“Like I was saying,” she stated.
“Turn back.”
“Who said that? Whose calling me!?” The yellow Pegasus demanded.
The voice repeated the two-word instruction over and over until a path way out of the fog was revealed.
“Whoa! Look! A way out!” Sunspot cried. “Hey guys! Guys?”
She looked around but still couldn’t find any trace of the others anywhere.
“Where could they be?” she wondered, before the voice called out to her again.
“Turn back.”
Sunspot soon became entranced by the way out  and she seemed to see Cloudsdale on the other side of it, it was her home.
“Home…” she muttered, looking happy.
Close by, Johnny was also trying to find the others but couldn’t see them anywhere in the fog.
“Guys? Guys, where are you?” he called out.
“Johnny…”
The human spun around upon hearing his name with wide eyes and saw shining gap in the fog with his adopted mother Applejack standing on the other side of it.
“Johnny… come home…”
“Ma…? Is that you?” Johnny asked.
Applejack nodded. “It’s me Johnny, now please… come home.”
“Home…” Johnny echoed, entranced.
Nearby him, Alyssa was seeing a similar sight, only it was her Dad in front of the supposed exit out of the fog. He had a bit of a big gut, a beard and curly black hair.
“Dad…” Alyssa breathed.
“Alyssa, it’s time to come now. Come, and help me with my experiments.” Her father offered her as he gestured to the exit.
“Daddy…” Alyssa said, looking just as entranced as Johnny.
The others were also seeing something they wanted on the other side of the fog, for Wave Crasher for example it was a laughing and happy crowd chanting his name and wanting an encore. Wave Crasher smiled.
“A cheering crowd… for me!” Crasher remarked, happiness shining in his eyes.
While Wave Crasher saw other ponies who needed and liked him, Ironhorn saw a hurt little squirrel in the path of a herd of cows who needed him also.
“A little creature… that needs… my help!” Ironhorn said, slowly as he seemed to be trying to fight the temptations of the vision he was seeing.
Then, finally, Orchard saw what see wanted deep down; a beautiful pink gem with flowers all around it. It was almost the same size as the rock Rarity thought was a diamond AKA Tom.
“A gem… oh yes… I like very much… No! No, I shall not succumb to such fabulousness. I… must... get away… to meet… the others.” Orchard muttered with a strained voice, also trying to resist the temptations. 
They all struggled and struggled to veer away from what they really wanted but slowly they began to go towards it.
“Come on, boy… this way…” ‘Applejack urged him.
“Ma…” Johnny said, slowly.
As he stepped closer to finally noticed Alyssa and the others all moving towards various ‘exits’ out of the fog also, which confused him greatly.
“Wait… guys?” he asked, as he saw them trying, and mostly failing, to resist the things that were right in front of them. “What the heck is going on here?”
The human then noticed a pair of yellow eyes watching them all from above, eyes he didn’t notice or see until now, then it all made sense to him.
“That’s it! This creature! It’s using our greatest desires against us!” Johnny exclaimed. “Guys! Snap out of it! They’re just illusions! They’re aren’t real!”
Eventually Johnny constant cries and declarations that what they were seeing wasn’t really real slowly got to them. Ironhorn, being the most resistant to it, was the first to snap out of it fully.
“Not… real…” Ironhorn said, slowly before shaking his head and snapped out of it. The exit then suddenly dissipated and turned into the head of a hideous creature that roared loudly, making him step back. “Oh dear…” 
Wave Crasher was the next to snap out of it, he looked very confused. “Hey, what…” he began before he saw what Ironhorn saw. “Oh snap!”
The others soon snapped out of it also and began to back away fearfully as the shadowy creatures started to walk toward them and growl, with their red eyes gleaming.
“Run!” Orchard cried.
They all tried to run away from the mist creature and it’s monsters but no matter how hard they tried, the creature had blocked all the exits out.
“We’re trapped!” Wave Crasher cried.
Alyssa looked at the creature close and then got an idea. “That’s it! I know how to beat it!” she cried. “Sunspot! Fly around and around in a circle as fast you can, Orchard Star; use your telekinesis…” 
“Magic,” she corrected her.
“Whatever. Use your magic to increase her speed and keep her going, if she veers off even by an inch then it won’t work.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Crasher asked, worried. “What then?”
“Just do it!” Alyssa ordered.
“You heard her, go.” Johnny nodded to them.
The girls nodded back and soon enough Sunspot flew up high and began to fly around and around and around, creating a mini hurricane around them that began to blow apart the creature and it’s monsters.
“Excellent.” Ironhorn smiled.
“It’s working!” Crasher smiled.
“Now we just need a big gust to bring it home!” Alyssa stated.
Johnny turned to Ironhorn. “Ironhorn, you up for this?”
The bison nodded. “On it.”
“Ok… jump!” Crasher instructed as the big jumped a few inches into the air before quickly dropping back down and creating a little shockwave that rocked the ground a bit and also blew away the rest of the black smoke surrounding them. They all panted, while Sunspot dropped to the ground, equally exhausted.
Orchard sighed, deeply. “Well… that’s that…”
“Whew! That sure was a close one, huh?” Wave Crasher remarked, relieved.
“I’ll say…” Sunspot breathed.
“At least we’re all ok…” Johnny said, pleased.
“Let’s hope that’s the last of Sombra’s surprises…” Alyssa sighed.
“I doubt it.” Ironhorn stated, grimly.
“Then we’d better get moving.” Orchard Star stated.
“Agreed.” Johnny nodded. “Come on.”
The six of them then continued on their way towards where Sombra was supposedly hiding out, not noticing a black and almost pony shaped shadow watching them from a far before slithering away without any of them noticing at all.
Soon, the whole gang, with Alyssa leading the charge as she was the one holding the map, arrived in a rocky yet grassy area with large mountains surrounding them all around, mountains that almost touched the dark and cloudy sky above them.
“Ok, I think we’re getting closer.” Alyssa informed them as she looked at the map closely.
“Whew! It’s about time! Now where’s this Sombra guy?” Sunspot wondered, looking around for Sombra.
“I’m thinking he’s gonna find us and not the other way around.” Johnny voiced, weary.
“Well, bring it on anyway!” Sunspot said, pumped as she began to move forward but Ironhorn stopped her with a serious expression.
“Hold,” he said.
“What!? What’s the problem?” The Pegasus asked, annoyed.
He gestured to something in front of them. “Look.” The bison said. They all looked up ahead.
In front of them were Floating balls of purple light, if one looks closely: they had flame shaped heads, glowing eyes, and oval shaped bodies.
“Whoa! What are those things!?” Wave Crasher exclaimed.
“Aw! There’s so cute… and sparkly.” Orchard Star gushed.
The ghostly like creature then flew over quickly and started to fly and buzz around them like bees circling honey. Then one of them brushes by Crasher and manages to burn part of his body, he held it while yelping.
“Ouch! That hurt!” Wave Crasher cried. Johnny then figured out what they were.
“Oh no… their Wisps! Scatter!” Johnny cried out.
They all did so and tried to outrun the many little wisps that were chasing them all over the place. Orchard blasted a few of them with her magic and while it managed to drive those ones away there were still a lot of them.
“There’s too many! Come on!” Johnny hollered to her before she ran over to him.
“You heard him! Move!” Ironhorn boomed as he and the others all turned and ran toward Johnny who leapt over a giant rock and landed behind it, pressing his back against it. The others skidded over to him from all the other directions.
“Alright! This rock should keep us covered up!” Sunspot said, pleased.
Wave Crasher chuckled. “Cupboard up! Ha! Get it?”
Sunspot growled in annoyance and kicked Crasher in the gut without turning around.
“Alyssa, any ideas?” Johnny asked her. “I mean what do we do now?”
“Not a lot of options…” Alyssa admitted.
“Great… we’re doomed.” Sunspot declared, cynically.
“Do not worry Sunspot, all will be well.” Ironhorn assured her.
At that moment, Alyssa saw that one of the wisps had gotten around the rock, spotted them and started flying straight for Johnny.
“Johnny, look out!” Alyssa cried as she pushed Johnny out of the way and let herself get hit by one of the wisps.
“Alyssa!” Johnny screamed. He quickly rushed over to her. “Alyssa, are you ok? Alyssa? Alyssa! Speak to me!”
The aforementioned girl groaned as she finally came to. “Oh… Johnny?” she asked, weakly.
“You’re alright!” Johnny said, relieved.
Alyssa nodded. “Yeah, just a scratch…” she said, holding her arm, which was hit by the wisp. She groaned in pain as it throbbed. “Still hurts though…”
Orchard looked her over. “Don’t worry, I can help bandage you up.”
“Thank you, Orchard…” Alyssa said, gratefully.
They all shared a warm smile before a dark and creepy laughter was heard. It caught their attention and scared them, greatly.
“Oh… how sweet…” A voice said, mockingly. “I hate sweet!”
“Huh?” Sunspot responded, surprised and confused.
“Whose there?” Wave Crasher questioned.
“Sombra!” Johnny said.
“Your half right.” The voice stated. This made the group even more confused.
“What? What does that mean?” Johnny inquired, confused.
“Take a look, you fool!”
Just then the shadows quickly swirled as they came together and soon formed a shadowy being that seemed to resemble a horse from ear only with red eyes, a flowing mane but no solid form. The being laughed at them as they gasped in shock.
“Wait… you’re not King Sombra!” Johnny realized.
“Very observant, human. But not entirely wrong…” The dark being hissed.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Johnny asked, confused.
“I do not have to explain myself to you insects! Now be gone!” The being yelled as a large wind blew in their direction fiercely.
Eventually the wind knocked them all off their hooves/feet and sent them rolling backwards. They rumbled tumbled across the rocky ground and through some of the bushes before Johnny managed to grab a large boulder and then grab Alyssa’s hand before she could fly back any further. Then in turn, Alyssa, grabbed Sunspot’s hoof who then grabbed Orchard’s tail with her teeth. Orchard finished it but using her magic to pull back Crasher and Ironhorn and soon they were all hiding behind the giant boulder.
“Yeesh, what a blowhard…” Wave Crasher remarked.
“Not the best time, Crasher.” Ironhorn said, seriously.
“He’s right, we have to stop him!” Orchard added.
“Yeah, but who is he?” Sunspot questioned. “He sounds like Sombra, but he looks like a shadowy monster!” 
“I don’t know, but still we got to stop him.” Johnny stated.
“So where he now?” Alyssa asked.
Johnny peaked his head out of his hiding place and checked. “Huh? There’s nopony here…”
“What!?” The others said as they came out of hiding also and they were even more surprised when they saw that there was no sign of the shadow creature that sounded like Sombra anywhere.
“He’s gone!” Orchard gasped.
“But he was just here!” Sunspot exclaimed.
“Apparently not anymore.” Ironhorn observed.
“Totally, dude.” Wave Crasher agreed.
“So, where did he go?” Alyssa asked, surprised.
“I don’t know but…” Johnny began, looking around. They then began to hear a low breathing sound that startled them. “What’s that?”
“Sounds like a timberwolf breathing…” Orchard muttered.
“Timberwolf!?” Alyssa yelped, remembering her terrifying encounter with them. “Oh… not again…”
“Don’t worry Alyssa, I’ll keep you safe.” Johnny assured her. Alyssa smiled while Sunspot gagged.
“Hmm, it sounds to me like it’s coming from every direction…” Ironhorn observed as the sound got louder and louder while the area around them became darker and darker.
“Yeah… but what does it mean?” Johnny wondered.
They then heard a deep, haughty laughter above them and saw a demonic creature made out of a dark aura loom over them up ahead, it was the other Sombra. His eyes glowed bright red as they all looked up at him with wide and narrow eyes with expression that were a combination of shock, fear and seriousness.
“I have harvested your fears, now I have enough power for my final stand!” Nightmare Sombra declared. “The age of harmony is over! The time has come for chaos to rule! Let the war for Equestria begin!”