The Enchanted Library: Sidestories

by Monochromatic

Interlude ??? - Apple Crisp's Long Night [Unpublished draft]

Author's Note:

Important Note:
This was originally an interlude I was going to put into Enchanted Library, but didn't because of PLOT REASONS. I've just decided to publish this (and another thing in a bit) because idk it might be interesting for y'all. Just don't take this completely as CANON as it wasn't edited to match some canon elements of what ended up being EL's final canon. I've just decided to publish this (and another thing in a bit) because idk it might be interesting and it kinda always vaguely felt wrong to have it buried in my Gdocs.

This is also OLD. I wrote this in 2016, so it absolutely doesn't match my current writing skill. Keep that in mind as you read.

Wicked as he was, the Spirit entered the unguarded library and attacked the young princess, taking away her physical form and leaving her to eternally watch over the books she so loved. Not yet satisfied with what he’d done, he stood next to the tree and transformed the barren land around it, destroying the small village in the process.

He raised his left claw and summoned a dangerous forest to hide the oak tree, hoping to plunge the mare into darkness and despair. He raised his right paw and imbued life into the fallen branches, creating howling beasts of wood and fright to deter wandering ponies from venturing into the forest and finding the princess.

---

Apple Crisp liked the tent.

He especially liked it now that everyone was outside, and it was only him, the beds, and the bowl of apple and strawberry jam pressed against his chest as he huddled in the corner of the tent.

Then again, even if he didn't like it, it wasn't as though he had any say in what his new home would be. For two months now, that large tent was his home and would continue to be so until such a time the soldiers finished helping his father and uncle build new homes for the family.

It was mostly empty, as not much had been salvaged from the forest's grip. It was like the houses had been swallowed by the earth and with them had their belongings disappeared. His parents didn't tell him much, but he'd heard them whisper, believing that their houses had been taken by the Spirit.

He didn't want to go to his house, honestly. He preferred the tent because it was safe, away from the scary forest that had taken his home, and away from the scary wooden beasts that stopped anypony from going in. They gave him nightmares, all the time, even if he knew they never ventured out of their new home.

He heard shouting outside, his ears flicking up and towards the noise, his arms wrapping themselves tighter against the bowl. The first few times, noises had excited him, giving him hope that the Princess had been found, but now…

Now it always meant something bad had happened.

"Quickly! Put him in here!"

Soldiers rushed him, his mother leading them into the tent. She directed them towards his father's bed, on which they carefully placed a….

Crisp closed his eyes and clamped his ears against his head, trying his hardest to block out the agonized groans of the injured stallion. Why did they always have to bring him to their tent? Why couldn't they put him someplace else? Why couldn't Princess Twilight be there to make everything better?

He was scared, and with great effort did he remember Princess Twilight's instructions whenever he had nightmares. It didn't matter at what time he went to her, or what she was doing, she would always stop, listen to his nightmare, and then smiling instruct him to take ten deep breaths.

"Inhale and exhale ten times. No, slowly, Crisp. Slow, deep breaths."

He took one deep breath, then two, three, four, five, si—

"C-Captain Winter! My leg—! It hurts! I can't take—!"

Seven.

"Shard, you're stronger than this. Just keep breathing."

E-Eight.

"How many attacked him?"

N-Nine.

"Two, but there were more before we managed to get away. I almost fell into these blasted sinkholes all over the place. Celestia help us, look at all this blood."

Crisp felt tears border his eyes when he took the last breath, and more than ever did he wish Princess Twilight were back.

"Those beasts… We can't keep losing soldiers like this. We'll have to send him ho—"

"No! Princess Cadance ordered us to find them! We have to! They’re the princesses!"

Crips opened his eyes, startled by the sudden yell, and even despite the amount of ponies huddled around the bed, he was able to see the stallion's face. It was still contorted in pain, but more than that, the stallion looked distressed, even crazy. He spoke about the Princess, about his duty to her, but his eyes… His eyes looked different when he spoke about her, as if he was overtaken by something.

And it frightened Crisp terribly that it wasn't the first time he'd seen that kind of look. He'd seen it in the other soldiers too, the crazed almost magic glint in their eyes, but no pony ever believed him.

Princess Twilight would have believed him.

"I was going the right way! I was going the right way!" the stallion desperately yelled, thrashing about in the bed. "The trees were guiding me! They were watching! She was watching! I'm not wrong!"

"Princess Twilight," Crisp sniffled, closing his eyes again, tears dripping into the bowl of jam. "Please come back… please..."

"Crisp! What are you doing here?!"

At the sound of his mother's voice, he looked up and realized all eyes were on him, save for the stallions trying to hold back the injured one. Captain Winter immediately signaled for several soldiers to block the view of the groaning stallion before he himself taking a few tentative steps towards the foal.

"Hello, little one," he softly said, apparently unphased by how Crisp backed further against the wall of the tent. He gestured to the bowl of jam. "Is that for you? It smells delicious."

Crisp shook his head. "It's f-for Princess Twilight," Crisp replied, gulping down. "It's her favorite… We always give her some when me and Heart Seeds make some."

The Captain smiled. "Oh? The Princess is very lucky to be friends with you, then."

"When is she coming back?" Crisp asked, wiping off a tear with his hoof. "J-jam goes bad quickly, and we always have jam when she reads me bedtime stories..."

Winter’s expression softened, and he kneeled down to Crisp’s eye-level. “We are doing our very best at finding Princess Twilight, little one. Those creatures think they can stop us, but we will not let Princess Cadance dow—” A pained groan from the stallion interrupted him, forcing him to get up and gesture to the door. “Your father is outside. Why not join him?”

“Come on, sugar,” his mother said, equally gesturing to the exit. “See if Papa needs helps. You can leave Princess Twilight’s jam here.”

Reluctantly, Crisp did as instructed and got up, putting the bowl atop a nearby table. He didn't really want to go outside where the wolves could get him, but the smell of blood was getting stronger and forced him out of the tent.

Night had fallen, but even despite the darkness, he could still see the forest in the distance. It felt as if it was only yesterday that he'd been woken up in the middle of the night, screams all around him as the forest grew all around their house.

He forced himself to look away and turned to the other tents scattered around. Dozens upon dozens of soldiers had come right after the attack, all of them under orders of Princess Cadance herself. And yet, out of the dozen soldiers, not a single one had been able to find a single trace of Princess Twilight.

In the distance, Crisp noticed his sister and father sitting on the ground, their gazes turned towards the forest. Heart Seeds was quite older than Crisp, and though they'd always had a rocky sibling relationship, it felt as if they'd never been closer.

He made his way towards them, eventually settling himself down next to his father and pulling on his foreleg.

"Papa..."

Iron Cobbler glanced down at his son. "I thought you were supposed to be sleeping," he noted, turning his sights back to the forest.

"Momma and the soldiers woke me up," Crisp lamely replied, not wanting Iron to know he'd been doing the opposite of sleeping. He looked down at his father's foreleg, wrapped up with bloodied cloths. He still vividly remembered Iron Cobble rushing into the forest to find Twilight, and coming back nearly a day later with a chewed-on foreleg.

"He ain’t back yet, Papa," Heart Seeds murmured, staring at the forest with concern. "I'm starting to worry… It's been nearly three days now, and..." She looked to her father and similarly pulled down on his fur. "What if he doesn't come back?"

The stallion smiled at her, using his uninjured hoof to stroke her head. "He is as much our family as Princess Twilight is. If he has yet to return before Captain Armor arrives, I will go look for him and bring him home."

Just as he'd finished his sentence, the sound of trumpets rang in the distance and the three ponies turned around to find a carriage flying towards them.

"Speak of the devil," Iron muttered, getting up and trotting towards the landing carriage. He glanced back at his daughter. "Heart, Captain Winter should be with your mother. Tell him Captain Armor is here."

"Yes, Papa."

Heart glanced towards the carriage before rushing off. Crisp followed his father to the carriage, feeling safer with him than anypony else. His father was the only pony stronger than Princess Twilight, so he'd never let the wooden beasts attack him.

"Shining Armor!" Iron called out. "We've been waiting for you!"

Crisp stood behind his father, watching curiously as a heavily armored stallion jumped down from the carriage. Crisp had never met Captain Armor before, but he knew a lot about him if only because Princess Twilight talked about him so much.

"Iron!" Shining Armor greeted, taking his helmet off and trotting towards the Iron. There were bags under his eyes, even bigger than the ones Crisp saw on his mother during apple bucking season.

Had he been crying about Princess Twilight, too?

"Tough night, Captain?"

Shining laughed. "Tough months," he said. He then noticed Crisp and smiled, kneeling down to a more appropriate eye-level. "You must be Apple Crisp! Twily told me all about you in her letters!"

Crisp didn't reply, instead only hugging his father's foreleg.

"You'll have to excuse him, Shining. Everythin' that's happened hasn't done well for him," Iron said, affectionately stroking Crisp's head. "Been having nightmares every night."

Shining Armor smiled sympathetically, drawing himself up. "He's not the only one." He sighed and offered Iron a weary smile. "Sorry about all this, Iron. I know it isn't the best retirement, but—"

"Retirement? A royal guard is never really retired, Captain," he said, his smile proving to brighten up Shining's expression for a moment. "Did you get my letter?"

Shining Armor nodded. He then looked towards the forest, and in a hushed voice asked, "Have you… Is there any news on…"

Iron shook his head. "I'm sorry, Shining. Soldiers have been going and going into the forest, but not one has found anything about her, and it feels like there's more and more of those beasts every day," he replied. "She… She was as much my family as Crisp here is, but I'm startin' to think that fiend really did move..." He suddenly looked down, noticing Crisp and never finished his sentence.

Really did move what? Crisp wanted to ask, but Shining Armor spoke first.

"Where's Spike?" he asked, looking back to Iron.

Without a word, Iron lifted his hoof and pointed to the Everfree Forest. "Hasn't come out for five days now, and it'd be two straight weeks if I hadn't pulled him out the other day."

Crisp stared at the forest, clutching his father closer and trying hard not to think of his friend wandering around with those scary creatures. When would he come back? Would the forest take him away too?

“Crisp,” Iron said, brushing his hoof on Crisp’s head and nodding towards a distant tent. “Why don’t you go play? Papa needs to talk with Captain Armor.”

Crisp gulped, clutching his father tighter. “B-But the monsters…”

“The monsters won’t get you if you don’t go into the forest. We won’t be long,” Iron said, moving away and walking off with Shining Armor towards a larger blue tent.

Crisp watched them go, unsure of what to do next. He looked back towards the forest, carefully scanning its edges for signs of monsters or creatures. The soldiers had already left its vicinity, probably because nopony wanted to be the next to be bitten by the wooden monsters.

It felt like something was watching him from within it. Like amidst the darkness of the trees, they were waiting for him to move, to look away and then they'd come and take him away. He imagined them coming under the blackness of the night, rushing into the tent and dragging him away with their sharp fangs.

What if they'd eaten Princes—

Apple Crisp closed his eyes and shoved his forehooves against them, trying to block out the images his thought drew out. Princess Twilight was fine, fine, fine, fine, fine because she was Princess Twilight, and she was strong, and brave, and she was safe in her library.

"TWILIGHT!"

He opened his eyes and looked to the forest from whence the sound had come. Distant though it was, he was sure he'd heard it, a far-off call lost inside the forest, as lost as Crisp's favorite princess. He knew who it was, though he did not know what to do about it.

Or maybe he wouldn't have to decide.

Somepony trotted past him, and Crisp looked to see his sister heading towards the forest, a saddlebag on her back. He blinked at first, not knowing how to react, until his instincts kicked in and fear filled his being.

"H-Heart!" he called out. "Where are you going?!"

Heart did not stop or answer. She simply moved forward towards her destination.

Crisp looked towards his father's tent, but what if Heart was gone by the time Crisp returned with their father? Gulping down the fear and burying it away, he galloped after his sister, pulling her by the tail when he reached her.

"S-Stop! You can't go in there! It's dangerous!" he pleaded, and was dragged along the ground when she did not relent. "H-Heart! I'm tellin' Papa on you!"

It wasn't until they reached the edge of the forest that she stopped, whipping her tail and detaching her brother from it. She turned around, and he did not rise from the ground but instead cowered under her burning stare. There was something different in her eyes, in her expression, and though he wanted to figure out what it was, he was compelled to look away.

"H-Heart, please..."

"Go home, Apple Crisp," she said, before turning and stepping into the forest.

"I d-don't have a home!" he called out desperately, because it was true, because home was inside that forest, and he wanted to be in his bed, in his home and not in a tent.

He got up and rushed after her into the forest, and found her standing still near the entrance. Her ears were flicked up and alert, and when he grabbed onto her tail, she only glanced back and shushed him. He stood closer to her and did as commanded, waiting quietly for… well, he didn't know what exactly they were waiting for.

No sound reached his ears for the longest time, and eventually Heart Seeds moved again.

"Go home, Apple Crisp," she repeated, after a couple of minutes or so, leaves crackling under her quick hoofsteps.

"I-I'm scared of going back alone."

As they made their way through the forest, the colt couldn't help but be reminded of the terrible night from months ago. He wished he could remember the way back to the library, but every tree looked as identical and as terrifying as the next.

Heart Seeds came to a sudden stop, and so did Crisp come crashing against her, nearly toppling down to the ground as a result.

"Look!"

Crisp rubbed his eyes and looked to the tree his sister was pointing at. His gaze shot up initially, expecting to find something frightening on the bark of the tree. He found nothing, however, and lowered his gaze until he finally understood what had surprised his sister.

The ground around the tree had been messily dug up, like somepony had expected to find something buried around it.

"And that one!"

Crisp looked again towards where his sister gestured, and just as she'd said, another tree had similarly been dug up, and as he looked around, he realized several trees had met the same fate.

Before he could question it, a strangled cry interrupted him, and he rushed next to his sister in a panicked frenzy.

"Wh-What was that?!" he asked, tears bordering his eyes, his similarly frightened sister holding onto him.

"I-I don't… I think it was..." Heart drifted off, gulping loudly and detaching herself from her brother.

The cry came again, closer now, enough for Crisp to make out what it was saying.

"Twiiiiiiiiliiiiiight!"

In the distance, a figure emerged through the trees, and though it was dark, Crisp could make out the shape of his draconian friend. Again Spike called for Twilight, desperation ringing in his voice, apparently having failed to notice the two foals looking at him.

Without warning, he rushed towards a tree and fell to his knees, using his claws to dig up the dirt in an almost trance-like frenzy.

The siblings looked at each other, unsure of how to act, and Crisp followed his sister as she cautiously made her way towards the baby dragon. He didn't look up when they arrived, and continued his frantic digging, muttering under his breath.

"Spike?" Heart slowly said, failing to rouse his attention. She lifted her hoof towards him, but hesitated at the last second.

"Twilight!" Spike called, still looking down towards the ground and pulling on the roots from the tree that were starting to appear. "Twilight! Can you hear me?!"

Crisp frowned. Why was he looking for her under random trees? None of those were the princess’s.

“Spike!” Heart said, louder now, a hint of nerves in her voice, nerves that doubled when he turned to her, tears in his eyes.

“What?!” he bellowed, his anger quickly dying at the sight of the frightened foals. He looked back to this hole, his claws balling into fists. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe.”

“Wh...When are you coming back?” Heart asked. “You’ve been out here three days…”

“Not hungry,” Spike said, starting to dig. “Get out of here. It’s not safe. Haven’t you seen the sinkholes he left all over?”

The siblings looked at each other. Sinkholes? They saw none.

Heart swallowed. “Papa said Discord moved the princess’s tree somewhere else, Spike. Why are you looking for her here?”

“He was lying. A trick.”

Heart stood her ground. “...What if it wasn’t a trick? What if he really did move her tree somewhere else?”

Spike stopped his digging. “That’s fine,” he said. “I’ll just uproot every tree in Equestria until I find her, then”

Comments

[NebulaNyx]

Thanks for sharing this mono.

[Lingo]

Wew. Intense

[JMP]

I'm glad you published this since I did find it interesting.

[SigmasonicX]

Neat to see a story from that time period. That was pretty intense. I admit I couldn't remember when Apple Crisp was alive until Shining Armor came in.

[Harwick]

Yay, Shining Armor! I miss him...

This was a great, tense little snippet of amplified helplessness seen through the eyes of a child. The devotion on display is touching, as is the tragic realization that none of them will live to see success.

[Kapuchu]

10245254
You're very much the Architect type of writer, then. I'm more of a Gardener (Brandon Sanderson author lingo... Basically architects plan, Gardeners just kinda go with the flow ) It's still impressive that you planned so much so many years ago. You have my respect... Well, even more than you did before!

[Monochromatic]

10245426
Admittedly, I think I'm both? I know the main plot points and the core themes, but how to get there I make up on the go lmao

[Kapuchu]

Poor Spike...

[RDT]

10245533
That is definitely an architect. (I think Sanderson himself is one.) A Gardener would write a story without knowing the major plot points. A prime example of Gardener is the Game of Thrones, where Martin still hasn't finished the books even though he was consulted for the final season of the show.

I think Architect writing opens up a lot more options, such as crazy foreshadowing. Dammit Mono!