• Published 26th Apr 2012
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Tales from Mystika: A My Little Mages Book - Yondy



A darker epic set in the realm of Mystika re-imagined by Ryan McCarty

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Chapter 9: Apple Jack's Answers

Chapter 9

Apple Jack’s Answers

Apple Jack

Apple Jack tried to yank her wrists free from the bar holding her to the wall in vain.

“Run! I’ll take the heat!” Apple Jack screamed. She watched the body of the innocent guard slide from the changeling’s claw to the floor.

“Not alone you’re not!!” Dash yelled at Apple Jack, notching a bolt of energy into her bow. Dash let the arrow fly. The changeling skittered to the right sticking to the wall. Dash’s momentum kept as she flipped the blades of her bow outwards. In one clean strike she sliced straight at the black abomination.

Through the bars Apple Jack could only watch in horror as the changling used the body of the dead guard as a shield. There was a SHINK as Dash’s hard ivory feathers sunk into the ex-human’s meat and a buzzing cackle that come from the changeling throat.

The changling drew Dash’s bow’s blades deeper into the dead human, morphing into his human guard’s face again to curl into a smile.

The faux human screamed, “No! Stop cutting him! NO! AAAGH.” He kicked the human against Rainbow Dash, knocking her small frame back against the wall.

Rainbow Dash’s head landed against the wall with a THWACK and her ankle feathers dissipated and faded as she grasped her injured head.

Twilight didn’t let the changeling recover. She shouted what sounded like swears in arcane.

Fire shot from Twilight’s hands as she screamed nonsense words in a shakey voice

“Take that buggy bastard down, Twi!” Apple Jack yelled. Twilight nodded without missing a beat when one, two, three small lines of fire cut through the air. She huffed as she kept missing. It was like trying to find a horsefly with a bat.

“Rarity!” Twilight shouted, chasing the changling back and forth from the ceiling and the wall. “Take Octavia and run interference with the soldiers upstairs! We’ll meet you in the caves!”

“But Twilight!” Rarity started, “It’s far too dangerous for you to do this alone an-“

“Your charm ability’s useless against this thing, and you can’t afford to get your hands dirty. Interference then caves! Now!” Twilight picked up Spike and threw him at the changeling. Spike followed the changeling past the ceiling like a salamander chasing a giant spider.
“Pinkie! Pick the lock and get Jack out of there!” Twilight shouted at Pinkie, cowering in the corner..

“Don’t you even think about it Pinkie P-!” Apple Jack said, but she was cut off. Pinkie appeared in front of her in a puff of smoke, beginning to work on the lock. “I hate you Twilight.”

“If I don’t kill this thing…EROG!” Twilight yelled as a fireball emanated from her hand before continuing on “It’s gonna look like you tried to break out.”

“If Pinkie picks the lock then it’ll DEFINITELY look like I’m breaking out, you dingus!” Apple Jack yelled. Pinkie continued to hum as she rotated a chicken bone around the lock.

“Being chained is such a pain so,
Pick the locks then pick our brains for,
An escape route,
Then eat a dead moose...”

“Pinkie! Stop!” Apple Jack groaned.

“You don’t like moose?” Pinkie said, slightly horrified.

“It has nothing to do with moose!” Apple Jack shot back.

“Well gosh, what else rhymes with ‘route’ then?” Pinkie said as she continued picking the wrist bar.

“Stop picking the lock because we’re gonna look just like a cr-“ The drumstick finally broke. So did the lock. A very pale and nauseously Eri-deprived Apple Jack fell to her knees.

“Couldn’t you have just blinked me out of there without making it look like I picked the lock!?”

“Yup!” Pinkie said bounding backwards.

“Then why didn’t you?” Apple Jack moaned.

“Because Twily said ‘pick the lock and get Jack out of there.’” Pinkie answered matter-of-factly.

“Well Twi isn’t exactly…” Apple Jack started then trailed off. She realized she didn’t hear the skitter of the changling, nor the hissing of Twilight’s fireballs. “Twi?” Apple Jack called out shakily. “Y’all right?” No answer greeted her. “TWI!”

“We’re here. We’re fine.” Twilight said as she came down the hallway with Spike in her arms. Her right hand glowed a soft blue. Claw marks on Spike’s scales slowly closed around themselves, and disappeared. Spike fidgeted, squeaking in what sounded exactly like a baby dragon cursing.

“It’s ok snake-kebob. You gave it to the other guy good, right?” Apple Jack said to Spike. He stopped his scratching and whining for a second to give Apple Jack a death stare. No translation was required.

“We should move.” Twilight said with singular purpose. “Shining Armor said there’s a passage to the caves in the courtyard. Pinkie can you take Dash, slide out and meet us there?” There was no response. “Pinkie?” She called again.

“Like this?” Pinkie’s face responded from the ceiling, fully camouflaged against the stone.

“Exactly like that. Dash? You ok?”

“No…” Dash answered from over Pinkie’s shoulder.

“It’ll just be for a bit, Dash. Hang in there.” Twilight said. “Go fast Pinkie, ok?”

“Okkie, dokkie, lokkie!” Pinkie saluted, then proceeded to disappear into the ceiling. The patters of her felt shoes echoed on the ceiling as she exited.

“Somethin’ I’d been meanin’ to ask you now that we’re alone, Twi.” Apple Jack said with false seriousness. “Is Shining Armor his honest-to-goodness came-out-into-this-world name?”

“Mom and Dad had high aspirations for their first born, I guess.” Twilight said wiping the rest of the healing mana on her robe as she finished patching Spike’s wounds. “I’m sure Rarity knows where the entrance is too. Can you walk?” Twilight asked, quickly changing the subject. Apple Jack nodded, hobbling towards the stairs. “Good. Let’s go.”

“No. We gotta get Eri.” Apple Jack said firmly.

“Apple Jack, Eri’s being guarded by at least two very well-trained palace guards, and Rarity can’t hold them back for long an-”

“-and if I don’t get ‘em back I might as well be dead to y’all.” Apple Jack said firmly, even as nausea from their separation raked at her gut. “We’re gettin’ ‘im or I’m stayin’ here and takin’ the heat. Your call.” Twilight still didn’t budge. Apple Jack softened her tone “Twi, all you gotta do is talk to ‘em and while you’re doin’ that, I’ll talk to Eri and get him to come out the cage quiet like. You won’t hear a peep from me ‘till I’m already gone.”

“One thing goes wrong and we leave him.” Twilight said plopping Spike up on her shoulder. He gruffed in agreement, nodding at Apple Jack.

“You got it.” Apple Jack immediately resumed limping to the stairs.

“I mean it Apple Jack,” Twilight called after her. Apple Jack maintained her sluggish velocity, reaching out towards Eri with her life-bond.

“He’s this way.” She told Twilight, still stumbling down the hallway.

“Apple Jack, the weapon check is to the right.” Twilight corrected, absent mindedly stroking Spike’s head.

“Eri’s tellin’ me to come this way and I trust him so trust me.” Apple Jack said continuing on down the left hallway. Apple Jack closed her eyes, and she saw an outline of a hallway. Silhouettes of people in red and blue stood, hazy in her distant vision.

After four flights of stairs, rounding countless twists and turns, Twilight and Apple Jack came to a small, torch lit, enclave. Two royal guards stood watch near a heavy iron gate, behind which Apple Jack could see the ether of Eri’s runes glowing in her mind’s eye.

“Can Spike head ‘em off?” Apple Jack whispered, her eyelids still shut. Twilight growled something softly in draconic. Spike proceeded to climb the wall, up to the ceiling above the guards. He paused, checked that he was directly above the guard, and then let go.

CLANG went the soldier’s halberd as he dropped it to swipe at the tiny dragon that just dropped on his head. The second one placed his back to the door and readied his spear.

“No, you idiot! You’ll poke my eye out!”

“So…what...what do you want me to do?” asked the confused other guard.

“I DON’T KNOW?! JUST GET ‘IM OFF ME!!” The guard kept screaming as Spike playfully bounded over his head, hung upside down briefly and poked him in the eyes. “AH! See?! You gave him ideas!!” The guard said before running up the stairs after the bounding purple dragon.

“That was sure a speedy recovery.” Apple Jack mused to herself as the guard exited.

“Specialized healing for dragon’s bodies. Handy to have.” Twilight said. “Now what about the third guard?”

“I’ll slip Eri out underneath the door nice and quiet like.” Apple Jack reassured her friend. Of couse, she knew there were issues with that plan. She knew where Eri, yes, but she could only move him in broad strokes. Plus, she had no idea what else was around him.

She tried to will him right. He didn’t budge. She tried to move him left. Still nothing. She tried to will him toward the ceiling, but she started to hear a shield slide off of Eri. She quickly broke her concentration in a panic, trying to avoid making any other noise.

Too late. She had moved Eri too much already. CLANG went the shield. The remaining guard whipped around, standing at ready with his spear pointing in the direction of the thunderous noise.

“Who goes there?!” The guard yelled, fumbling for his keys.

“Let’s go, Jack! Spike’ll be back any second!” Twilight whispered frantically.

“Just one sec.” Apple Jack said. She reconnected with Eri, waiting for the door to open.

“You said quietlike and that wasn’t! Let’s go!” Twilight said, tugging on Apple Jack’s armor.

“Don’t distract me Twi! It’ll just take a SECOND!” Jack screamed which was followed by the
guard’s scream as he was propelled out of the armory and knocked lifeless on the stone floor.
In Apple Jack’s fury, instead of moving Eri subtly, her burst of rage channeled directly through Eri. The guard didn’t stand a chance.

“Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead…” Apple Jack ran toward the guard, calling Eri into her hand. Even in the face of a corpse, she was not willing to be parted from Eri one a second longer.

Apple Jack removed the suede glove from her hand and held her fingers underneath the soldier’s nose. She breathed a sigh of relief as three rested breaths hit the back of her hand.

“He’s alright Twi. Let’s get Spike and git outta he-”

“You weren’t gonna slip Eri out all quietlike.” Twilight snapped, looking straight at the open gate. Apple Jack’s eyes drooped a bit as she looked for an excuse.

“He’s not dead and we didn’t break anything. How much more quietlike do you need?!”

“Knocking him out is very NOT clean.” Twilight whispered angrily, putting her glowing hand on the head of the unconscious guard. “There. If we’re going to knock him unconscious, might as well make sure he stays that way.”

“Well I wouldn’t have knocked him unconscious if you didn’t distracted me.”

“There wasn’t a hole big enough to slip Eri through.” Twilight said, shooting down Apple Jack’s argument.

“Well I didn’t exactly know that until we got here.”

“What were you gonna do when you did? Knock him out through the bars?”

“Stop it, Twi.”

“You said if something went wrong, you’d leave him!”

“You know I wouldn’t. Would you have just up and left Spike if he got caught?”

“Of course not!” Twilight shot down. “That’s ridiculous AND completely different!”

“They’re both weapons, we both talk to each other in a way that others don’t understand, and we’re both incomplete without ‘em.”

“Spike’s not a weapon!” Twilight retorted.

“I just watched you throw him at the damn changling’s face!”

“You throw Pinkie at things all the time!”

“She kicks off my sword. There’s a difference!” Suddenly, Apple Jack frowned, “And furthermore, if you hadda done your job, I wouldn’t have had to yell at Cellie and get thrown in jail in the first place!” Apple Jack spat.

Twilight stepped back from her friend. Her eyebrow crinkled in pain from her friend’s harsh words. “You think I don’t know that?” Twilight replied flatly. Apple Jack stopped.

“I’m sorry Twi, I didn’t mean ta-”

“No. You’re right. It’s our fault that we’re in this mess and I didn’t want you to make it any worse.”

“Whelp. We already looks like we tried to break out and steal my sword.”

“Worse. We broke out, stole your sword and Dash stabbed someone.”

“After he was dead.” Apple Jack reminded.

“They won’t know that.” Twilight said, silencing Apple Jack.

“We’re in trouble.” Apple Jack finally admitted. Not two seconds after she did, Spike’s shrill growls were heard coming back down the corridor. “Sounds like Spike is too.”

“No. He’s singing.” Twilight corrected. “But it’s the nervous song so get ready.” Twilight said, grasping her staff and telekinetically flipping through the pages of her tome. Apple Jack let Eri’s ancient knowledge and strength flow through her body, returning her to full capacity with a sudden rush of clarity.

Sure enough, the guard came tearing down the hallway from the stairs above, picking at the stone floor with his halberd like a gardener on a mission to kill gophers. Yet, to Apple Jack’s surprise, Spike was nowhere to be found.

“Twi, maybe my eyes ain’t what they used to be, but is he pickin’ at a whole lot-o’-nothin’?” Apple Jack said, keeping her eyes trained on the soldier. A low and confused sounding growl came from Twilight. Apple Jack whipped around to see Spike on Twilight’s shoulder, sitting as if he was there the whole time.

“He just plopped down from the ceiling.” Twilight said, equally perplexed by the guard stabbing at nothing. “I didn’t cast any sort of illusion or time-dilation spell so he can’t be doing that because of anything I did. Though that isn’t a bad idea…”

“This way, Avatars,” a voice hissed in Apple Jack’s mind, seeming to eminate from down the hallway.

“Hell no.” Apple Jack responded, tightening her grip on Eri. “I’m not in the business of doing what creepy voices tell me to just cuz.” But as Apple Jack added this, the runes in Eri dulled in lumiance.

“Seems like Eri trusts whatever that is.” Twilight said. And after saying so, Spike bounded off of Twilight’s shoulder, tearing off back down the hallway. “Spike! Don’t run off alone!” Twilight called after him, trying to keep pace.

“Looks like Spike trusts it too.” Apple Jack said, following him up the stairs. Her grasp still tightened on Eri as she rounded each corner. Better safe than sorry, right?

After climbing four flights of stairs, Twilight and Apple Jack were startled by a solider standing at attention with his back to them. They stuck themselves to the wall hoping he’d pass them by.

However, he instead remained with his back to them and occasionally shouted “Sir! Yes, sir!” down the hallway. He was then in turn greeted with another “sir, yes sir!” from a separate soldier one hundred yards down.

“This is getting weird, Twi. I hope the garden’s close.” Apple Jack said unflattening her face from the wall.

Three years in my service and you still don’t know where our garden is, Sister Apple Jack,” an icy voice hissed directly into Apple Jack’s ear. Apple Jack whipped around, easily falling at the ready. The face of Princess Luna stared back at her, merely a reflection in the window. Her face pale and dry, just as she had looked in dusk court just hours before.

“Princess Luna.” Twilight averted her gaze and started to drop to her knees, but Luna stopped her with a word.

“Twilight Sparkle, you must keep moving to the garden as you originally stated.”

“But how did you…” Twilight started.

“Your friends have already arrived and are safe within the walls of the caves. We must get you there as well. Then we must get you out. Come.” She turned and started moving towards the next window.

“Not before you tell me what the hell that was all about in court,” Apple Jack said, planting her feet firmly in the hallway. “You got a lotta nerve, lettin’ me burn for tellin’ the truth.”

“There isn’t enough time, sister. Blanketing the entire palace guard in illusion is not a minor task. Even for me.”

“Only way I’m walkin’ is if you’re talkin’.” Apple Jack retorted.

“Apple Jack!” Twilight growled, followed in suit by Spike.

“She owes me, Twi.”

“If we can do both the walking and the talking simultaneously, I don’t see how I can’t give you as many answers as time allows.” Luna offered. “I’ve nothing to hide from you, sister.”

“…Fine.” Apple Jack started moving down the hallway, just to hear another ‘sir, yes sir!’ come from down a different path. “What the hell are your shadow blades doing poppin’ up, raidin’ my place and messin’ with my sword?”

“Those aren’t my children.” Luna said flatly.

“Don’t make me ask you again through a broken window.” Apple Jack growled, cracking her knuckles.

“I can do without the threats, sister. I don’t know how else to say it any more clearly.” Luna snapped. Apple Jack paused, taking a deep breath.

“Sorry. But time’s tickin’. What are they?” Apple Jack asked.

“I don’t know. But based on Twilight Sparkles report, the best I can say is that they move as my children would were they at a fifth of their speed.”

“And the buzzing noise?” Apple Jack asked as she walked past another fully garbed soldier in a heated debate with a mop and bucket.

“They don’t make buzzing noises. They’re human.” Luna said, pausing as she moved between windows.

“What if their powers are taken away. Is anything left over? Like say a corpse that makes buzzin’ noises.” Apple Jack added sarcastically.

“No. They die.” Luna said, voice cracking, just a bit.

“So what do we do?” Apple Jack asked again.

“Follow Twilight Sparkle’s research.” Luna said. “I’ve been cut off from my children for two hundred years But I can assure you, you’ll know one of them when you see one. They move through the shadow as light moves through the sky.”

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks.

“Do they tend to call other humans insect names?” Twilight asked with a shaky voice. Luna paused.

“Insect names. You’re certain.” Luna asked again, as if she already knew the answer.

“It’s what Dash said.” Twilight confirmed.

“And it sounds like we don’t even have to ask who that is.” Apple Jack said. She and Twilight stepped gingerly around a sergeant on all fours

“He was one of mine, but I haven’t heard from him since The Purge.” Luna answered.

“So it’s a bug guy and these other baby blades who are tryin’ to mess with mah sword. Why?”

“The magic in that sword is very powerful Apple Jack. If one likens magic to water, in the hands of a powerful sorcerer a large ocean can be turned into a pond to quench the thirst of a city. Or a crush it with tsunami.”

“You’re sayin’ he wants to take my sword and beat the pulp out th’ innocent with it?”

I don’t know what their plans are. Nor how far ‘they’ goes. It could be this small battalion Twilight Sparkle reported. Or it could stretch far deeper, to far more powerful magic.” Luna said, the last sentence carrying with it a deeper sense of foreboding. “Stop here.” She said, and opened the window. A cool breeze in from the starry night washed over them. “You should find hand holds on the wall to the garden below.” Luna’s ghostly portrait pointed two stories down. “The entrance to the caves is beneath the statue of Starswirl the Bearded.”

“Wait your highness.” Twilight stalled.

You have to go now Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said. A couple of guards shakily rose to their feet, blinking and looking around in a bleary daze.

“But Eri’s not an everyday item. Apple Jack’s life-bonded to it. What happens to her if the blades corrupt him?” Twilight asked. Luna paused. She motioned for the girls to go outside, casting nervous eyes in the direction of a stumbling guard.

In the Dark Times,” Luna started softly. “When magic was turned, everything it was attached to turned with it. I don’t know what that would do to Sister Apple Jack, but it’s in your best interest to not put yourself in that situation.”

“No kiddin. I thought it might be fun.” Apple Jack added sarcastically.

“And what about the changling. You know it wasn’t us who broke Apple Jack out.”

“Of course.” Luna confirmed.

“That changling was waiting for us and we’ve got a nasty bit of evidence against us now. Who’s to say there aren’t more of them waiting for us?” Twilight asked, visibly shivering from the cold from the outside.

“Give me your staff, Twilight.” Luna demanded

“My staff...” Twilight asked softly.

“What’s it with you and askin’ for dumb things! No! She ain’t!” Apple Jack.

“This glass works as a two way door to my chambers. The twin star staff has absorbed all of your actions both mind and body. My sister will believe your staff.” Luna reassured.

“Twi. You’re not seriously thinkin’ of handin’ half yer over to the person we just called out for genocide three hours ago are ya?” Apple Jack whispered. Their tension was short lived. Twilight pushed the purple and white star of her staff through Luna’s reflection. It made the sound of water lapping as it went through to the other side. “Yer not gettin’ mine too, ya know.” Apple Jack added.

“If the unit attacked me directly, I’m not sure I’d be able to properly defend it without you.” said Luna.

“But it’s ok to throw me to the dire wolves?” Apple Jack challenged.

“You’re more capable of fending off an attack, yes. Now go! He’s almost here.” Luna said hurriedly

“He?” Twilight asked.

“Not until you at least tell us bug guy’s name.” Apple Jack said, not budging.

“He’s-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Luna’s reflection put her head in her hands and shook violently. Apple Jack looked back into the castle and saw that the scream and the head movements were mirrored by the guards still in her thrall.

“GO!!” Twilight screamed pushing Apple Jack off of the roof. Apple Jack heard Twilight shouting something in arcane. Apple Jack felt the air around her slowing her fall to a halt.

Spike crawled down the wall then took to the ground like he’d been walking on it the entire time.

“Spike! Go to the caves! We’ll meet you there!” Twilight yelled sending the dragon skittering onward.

Apple Jack tried to follow suit, but felt too light as her bones tried to run.

“What did you do, Twi?!” She yelled as she floated forward.

“I’m sorry! A levity spell was the only thing I could say from memory in time!” Twilight apologized.

“Now I can’t run!!” Apple Jack complained.

“I don’t know, Apple Jack. You were too busy trying to intimidate a demi-god to get more detailed directions!” Twilight cried, feeling the sides of the statue.

“The guards are gonna be here any minute!” Apple Jack said circling the statue. “Is there a button on this thing?”

“This isn’t a mystery book Apple Jack! They’re not gonna just have a button on it.” Twilight scolded. “And I already checked all the statues when I was a kid, so no.” She added slightly embarrassed.

“Well it’s not like we can abra kadabra them open or something.” Apple Jack said feeling gravity’s pull come back to her.

Without warning, a force much faster than gravity took hold of her red jacket and yanked her into the statue. Apple Jack’s hands instinctively covered her face to protect her from the incoming stone.

Instead of the stars a total body blow, the back of her eyelids were greeted with sudden darkness. Her nose, the smell of mildew and old quartz.

“Alakazam!” Pinkie said into Apple Jack’s ear. Startled, Apple Jack scrambled for Eri.

“Dammit Pinkie! How did you get down here?”

“Luna told us. It was fun listening to you and Twily argue. Didn’t she tell you the back of the statue too?”

“Yeah.”



Twilight and Spike plopped down from above that Apple Jack presumed she also came down through. Twilight’s feet touched the ground, and the hole in the ceiling sealed up, plunging the cave into total darkness.

Pinkie clapped her hands twice, and the pompoms on her hat emanated a bright glow. She skipped down the pass lighting the way as a bouncing torch.

“You guys took forever to get down here. Even Spike beat you down here. You’re dinner’s probably already cold.” Pinkie said, now skipping backwards down the cavern.

“You packed dinner?” Apple Jack asked.

“Of course not!” Pinkie said obviously. “Dinner was totally waiting for us down here. Luna’s the best planner ever!”

“Best planner?” Apple Jack said skeptically. But as she rounded the corner, she saw a picnic blanket strewn out for the avatars. There was even a candelabra and roast chicken that Rarity was cutting with a fork and knife, enjoying with a fine wine of something or another.

“Apple Jack,” Rarity slurred. “you must try this green island. The three hundred years was comPLETELY worth it.” Rarity said with her mouthful, absent mindedly stroking a sleeping Spike in her lap.

“Sounds like you’ve got enough for the both of us Ray. Which one’s mine?” Apple Jack said, motioning to the tents.

“Well I’m not sure about the sleeping bags, but I do know that one there was meant with you and Twilight in mind.” Rarity said, mid-swig of wine, “But darling you must come back and at least sample the salted pork. It’s to die for.”

“Thanks.” Apple Jack said. “But maybe when I’m not havin’ a hard time standin’ up.” She moved towards the red suede tent past the picnic blanket. Regardless of how good the pork or the wine were, there was nothing that could beat the feeling of freedom and a fluffy pillow.

Apple Jack ducked through the tent, and paused. The room was nearly double what the outside of the tent looked to be. To the right was an ornate chest, atop it, a letter labeled “Sister Apple Jack.” Slowly, never taking her eyes off the letter, Apple Jack removed Eri’s sheath, her boots, and placed them to the side of the chest. Only then did she reach from the top of the chest and plopped down onto her sleeping bag to open it it. Apple Jack was very surprised when she realized that the letter she expected to be from Luna was actually signed Archmage Celestia at the bottom.

Dearest Sister Apple Jack,

Words cannot express how deeply sorry I am for the events transpired earlier this evening. The people have grown angry and beg you to believe that my decision to incarcerate you was not out of any sort of malice.

I’ll be telling Twilight in my own words this, but I owe it to you personally to explain my actions. Throughout the years I’ve been able to intervene and play the role of the All Powerful God Queen, and in any other circumstance I’d have been happy to swoop in and be a shield for your family.

The only reason I had to silence you was there are in fact threats in all corners of the kingdom now and I can’t handle them myself.

I’m almost four-thousand years old, Sister Apple Jack. My power has been fading exponentially in the past few years. This coupled with the powerful mages that now reside within my kingdom, if an uprising were to take place, I seriously doubt if I could handle a head on attack.

My sister and I are the last and only of our kind and we’ve never seen what we look like when we die so I fear the worst. This is why we must also assume the worst.

I hope the travel expenditures are to your liking. Thought I had to denounce you publicly, know that whatever may transpire in the coming days that what I do is for the greater good.

Good luck sister, and Gods’ speed.

Faithfully yours,

Archmage Celestia

Apple Jack finished reading the letter with a bit of a lump in her throat and looked over to the other side of the tent to see that Twilight had a similar letter. It was safe to assume the rest of the Avatars had their own apologies as well.

“That explains why Rarity dove into the wine there, I guess.” Apple Jack mused, almost going back outside and asking for some herself. But the feeling of the goose feather pillow under her head coaxed her eyelids closed, and she swiftly drifted off to sleep.

Apple Jack opened her eyes occasionally every couple hours, one of the times seeing Twilight asleep in the sleeping bag across the tent. Her third time waking up, it was from a nightmare. Apple Jack couldn’t remember the details of the dream but she shot awake screaming,

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Apple Jack stayed sitting up in her red sleepwear she’d changed into during the night, her chest heaving as she tried to remember the nightmare.

Shadowblades were closing in on Fluttershy.... The crystal in her oak staff turned from purple to black....

“Twi!” Apple Jack shot to the other side of the tent. “We gotta get Fluttershy. She’s in as much trouble as I am!” The only thing that answered her was the sight of an empty sleeping bag, and a baby purple dragon curled up at the foot of it.

Apple Jack darted for the tent flap. Her bare feet connected with the cold cave floor as she bolted out of the tent.

She refrained from calling out for Twilight again in fear of waking her friends. But it was safe to say that by the light of the lantern in the middle of camp, Twilight was gone.