Chapter Five: The Split
The next morning was surprisingly peaceful as Luna awoke. Thanks to her role in lowering the moon, she was naturally an early riser. A very early riser. After she lowered the moon, the sun brought light along with it to the horizon so that the sky was pale this morning. Soon enough, everypony was up and having apples for breakfast. Well, Applejack was lazily picking at hers. She hardly noticed when Pinkie nabbed the thing with a firm chomp.
Reeet-reeet-reeet-reeet!
The uneasy serenity was ended as everypony jumped to their hooves, ready to either fight or flee. The unease had been mounting since the previous morning and it had left the mares restless and jumpy. Seeing the bushes rustle, Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight and the remaining crusaders tensed themselves, silently readying themselves for a fight when the creature emerged from the brush.
A ferret.
Rainbow groaned in frustration as Fluttershy beamed at the critter. Sensing she would understand, or perhaps by sheer dumb luck, the ferret scampered to her and began chattering away.
Fluttershy's eyes widened and she squeaked in fright, where another pony might have given a gasp. “He says Apple Bloom's in trouble! She went with this other pony who didn't seem right.”
“What?” Applejack asked. Her expression turned to anger as she eyed the ferret. “Well where is she, what if something happened to her?”
More chattering, which Fluttershy translated.
“He says he's sorry, but he couldn't get through to her. He says he had to get away from there before –”
“That varmint just abandoned her with some strange pony!?” Applejack yelled.
“Applejack!” Fluttershy gasped. “Please let him –”
“Consarn it, Fluttershy!” Applejack yelled, suddenly rounding on the pegasus. “If that overgrown rat doesn’t know where she is, why waste time talking to it?”
Fluttershy shrank away, the ferret hiding behind her foreleg. Their friends looked on in silent surprise; none of them had ever seen AJ like this before. The fillies tried to hid behind Luna, each being soundly reminded of times when they had been faced with their own furious mothers in the past.
“It's okay, Applejack.” Fluttershy mumbled softly. “I know you're worried about your sister.”
Applejack's glare slowly disappeared into a look of regret. “Fluttershy, I –”
“It's okay.” Fluttershy smiled as she walked up to Applejack and flung a forearm around her neck, pulling her in for a forgiving hug. As Applejack returned the gesture, she smiled for the first time in days.
“So, where do we start now?” Luna asked.
“That way!” the rest of the ponies said in unison, each pointing in a different direction.
“Well, how about we split up?” Applejack suggested, “We can cover more ground that way.”
“Good idea.” Twilight said, “I know a spell that'll guild us back together at the end of the day. We'll all meet back up when I give the signal. Rainbow, Luna and I will fly up to the sky and search from above. Rarity, Fluttershy, you two and the crusaders go east. Pinkie, and Silver Spoon, you two head north. AJ, you head west.”
Luna, Rainbow and Twilight immediately flew up into the sky, spreading out and scanning from above. Rarity took the lead in their little group with Fluttershy bringing up the rear, the ferret riding on her back, and the two fillies between them. Scootaloo scooted lazily on her scooter, clearly frustrated at the slow pace the mares were going. Pinkie hopped up and down, beaming at an uncomfortable-looking Silver Spoon as they wandered off themselves. Applejack wandered off alone, silently thanking Twilight for having her go off on her own for a bit. She didn't want to snap at anyone again.
Back at Night Shade's lair, Apple Bloom was stewing in her anger. She no longer tried to come up with happy feelings, all she had was memories of a miserable life that she'd escaped from. Seeing this, Night Shade smiled, his hungry eyes glowing red. It had been so long since he'd absorbed so many ill feelings. So long since he'd felt so strong. It was time.
“Apple Bloom.” Night Shade said, coming up behind her. “Would you like revenge?”
“Revenge.” Apple Bloom mused, keeping a blank expression apart from a slight frown. She didn't so much as flick an ear back in question. The playfulness had gone from her eyes last night. Perfect. “What do you have in mind?”
“Stand up and look at me.” Apple Bloom did as she was told almost mechanically. She looked Night Shade in the eyes. “Good, now close your eyes.” Apple Bloom did so once again. Night Shade smiled triumphantly. “Goodbye, Apple Bloom.”
For an instant, Apple Bloom questioned this choice of words, before a white light enveloped her. Such pure white, especially after spending so much time in this dark world, blinded her. She only just started to consider the possibility that she made a huge mistake when her mind was lost to sheer pain, which left her writhing and screaming. It was like her blood was turned to ice and her muscles were stretching like they were being torn apart. First her limbs, than her torso and neck, and finally her facial muscles. Her upper back and forehead in particular seemed to catch fire.
The pain ebbed slowly, the light faded, and her eyesight returned quickly. Night Shade smiled gleefully, evilly. “Wonderful. I'll do good work with you under my hoof, 'friend', I'll become infinitely powerful within a day.”
Such thoughts overwhelmed him with glee and he through his head back and laughed. Oh, he could practically taste the sweet victory now.
A chill ran down Luna's spine at the same moment. She shuddered, suddenly halting her flight.
“Luna? Did you see anything?” Twilight called and she and Dash flew over to her.
“No, but -” Luna said, her breathing labored and her eyes darting around as though she expected an ambush. “Something's happened. I felt a surge of dark magic.”
“So there is something up!” Rainbow scowled.
Twilight glanced down at the trees below. “Everypony needs to get back together, but I need to find a decent meeting spot.”
“Make haste, my friend.” Luna told her. “We don't know how much time we have.”
Back on the ground, Applejack was grateful for the silence. It had given her time to think. She shouldn't have been mad at the weasel, it was probably just trying to survive. But...survive what? Surely Apple Bloom remembered not to go alone with strangers for anything, so what had gotten into her head? Had she been that lonely and desperate? Was she okay now? Was she scared? Hungry? Cold?
A fair distance away, things were anything but silent, as Pinkie prattled on and on to a so-far quiet and awkward-looking Silver Spoon.
“So after Maud moved out, it was just me, Marble and Limestone for a while.” Pinkie said, her eyes darting around merrily to and from tree to tree. “They weren’t very good playmates, though. Limestone was always a big grumpy-pants and Marble doesn’t talk much. It's a lot better to have more friends to play with! That's why I spent so much time in Ponyville after I got my cutie mark.”
“I-I...wouldn't know.” Silver mumbled, not intending for Pinkie to hear. This apparently failed. When Silver noticed the moment of silence, she peered at the pink mare to find her giving her an odd look. She looked...pensive. Knowing anyway out of this was pointless, Silver sighed in defeat. “Diamond Tiara was the only friend I ever had, and all she ever wanted to do was flaunt our wealth around.”
“Only one friend?” Pinkie asked. It wasn't a question of shock or even surprise, but of confusion. But Silver seemed like a nice enough pony on her own – how did she have no real friends?
“Well, I can't remember my time in Manehatten too well. We moved to Ponyville when I was little. Tiara was...the first filly to even talk to me...I think. I wanted to get her to stop being mean, but I didn't want to risk losing my best friend.”
“Well, that's okay.” Pinkie said, giving the downtrodden filly a sunny look. Appreciating this, Silver was surprised to find that mustering up a small smile for Pinkie's sake was...actually quite easy. Silver's smile grew and her spirits lifted along with it. She knew Pinkie was popular back home, but she never imagined anypony would be this easy to talk to.
“So...” Silver started, finally looking Pinkie in the eye. Pinkie smiled at herself proudly; it seemed that she'd finally gotten through to Silver Spoon. Hopefully, that meant no more frowny-face. “What's it like having sisters?”
Not terribly far away, the remaining four ponies were...well, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were searching tirelessly for Apple Bloom. Fluttershy was keeping close to Rarity, who was instead keeping watch for danger. She knew they were to keep an eye out for Apple Bloom and she was, but it wouldn't do anypony any good if the other fillies went missing too.
The sunny clearing the four came to seemed out of place. Rarity and Fluttershy were both captivated by the sheer beauty of the glove. The place was dotted with lovely, bright flowers and a large majestic tree stood tall in the middle. Scootaloo and Sweetie, though, only saw the huge apple in the center. Big enough to share.
“I guess it's no use going hungry, huh?” Sweetie said to Scootaloo. The young pagasus smirked at her in agreement. The ferret on Fluttershy's back was jumping up and down on her back in panic.
“Nope.” she said, revving her wings up. Actually, she seemed more excited to finally be able to go fast than to have lunch. As she scooted up to the apple, it only vaguely occurred to Fluttershy that there were no apple trees around.
Nopony knew what was happening the next moment. One instant, Scootaloo was reaching for the apple, the next she was being constricted with vines and dragged towards the tree, which now sported a huge flower. Scootaloo screamed louder than her companions.
Though the fillies had lost their minds to terror, though Rarity and Fluttershy recognized a familiar rainbow steak, plummeting from the ground and slamming into the plant. Rainbow Dash punched and kicked the vines so that they dropped Scootaloo, who scurried back to the huddle where she was hugged and asked if she was okay by her friends.
Rainbow few quickly and tactfully so that in seconds, the vines where in confused knots. That threat being dealt with, Rainbow punched the petals. With each blow, she let out a word. “Don't – touch – my – sister!” It wasn't long before the plant gave a cry of defeat and retreated back to the tree.
Rainbow huffed as she landed and trotted over to the group. “Scoots, you ok-” she started, but she was cut short when Scootaloo and Fluttershy both hugged her. Rainbow shrugged, supposing this was good enough.
When Fluttershy and Scootaloo let Rainbow go, the ferret was quick to get Fluttershy's attention and she carefully slunk into the clearing to him. The critter chattered as Fluttershy followed him to a small cluster of flowers. Her eyes widened at what the ferret pulled out of the stems.
“Girls!” Fluttershy called and the four rushed over to them. The ferret was once again on Fluttershy's back and I her mouth was...a pink hair ribbon.
Rarity's tail wrapped instinctively around Sweetie Belle, who's mouth went dry. Scootaloo's thought process completely stopped and Rainbow got a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Don't worry, the ferret said that the plant didn't get her.” Fluttershy said, and the other four seemed to relax at this.
All at once, each of the ponies felt the urge to go to a single place. This must have been Twilight's hoof-spell, telling them where to go to meet up.
Twilight had found a pretty safe-looking cave for the night and she and Luna awaited their friends. Applejack, who had been the nearest, had been the first to arrive, than came Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity and the crusaders, and lastly came Pinkie and Silver.