Codex Ponera - Cliffside Eyrie

by Pepperbrony

Chapter Five

Applejack stole through the forest, mind half on the ground in front of her and half communing with Winona. She moved quickly, trusting her wood fury’s abilities to keep her hidden from her foes and hoping that Apple Bloom had thought to mark a tree or a bush, to leave some kind of sign that Applejack’s fury could find.

With a subtle whisper to her mind, Winona told Applejack of some trees that had been damaged further east. Applejack set off to investigate, easily finding the site.

She quickly found claw marks on the trunk of a tree. The scratches slightly above eye level reminded her of marks made by bird talons, while those lower down looked more like those of a large cat.

“Griffon,” she whispered. “Clinging to the side of the tree.”

The other injured tree was a few ponylengths away, and seemed to have lost a small piece of one of its branches. Applejack’s woodcrafting talents gave her the impression that the stick had been cut off rather than fallen naturally, and so she willed her fury to spread out into the forest to find the missing piece of wood. Winona reported that there was a stick some way to the north that had recently been removed from its tree. Applejack focused on the stick, willing it to flex then suddenly straighten, throwing itself to her.

Applejack caught it and inspected the broken end, finding signs that it had indeed been cut by some kind of claw. Brows furrowed, she looked to the ground. She easily found hoof tracks, just the right size to have been left by Apple Bloom. Some of them were covered by large prints, some bird-like, others reminiscent of cats. More griffons, she thought. Their tracks are on top of Apple Bloom’s. They must have got here after she did, probably chasing her. The tracks led to the tree that bore the marks of a clinging griffon, almost as though Apple Bloom had been herded into a trap.

But that didn’t explain the cut branch. Applejack focused her woodcrafting efforts onto that tree. Its fury whispered that the damaged branch was still relaxing up to its normal position. Almost like somepony has been sitting on it, mused Applejack. But how in tarnation would Apple Bloom get all the way up there? And how would she cut the stick? Shouldn’t she have broken it? She looked closely at the end of the piece of wood. No, this thing definitely looks like it was cut by a claw. It must have been a griffon that cut it. But why?

Looking northwards where the stick had been found, she saw that the griffon tracks led off that way, before they returned.

Okay then, so what happened? Applejack wondered. AB was running from the griffons chasing her, then ran into one of them clinging to this tree. But then another one hiding in that other tree cut and threw the stick to distract the other griffons. Maybe... there were two groups of griffons, one group chasing her until she was caught by the second group?

The hoofprints apparently ended at the base of the tree with the scratched trunk, while the griffon tracks suggested that the griffons left the area heading east and had not returned. Applejack decided to follow them. Apple Bloom must have been captured by the griffons from the trees, she reasoned, and they probably flew off with her. But then these tracks must be from those griffons Rainbow Dash told me she crafted a great big gust of wind at, and they’re not flying because they’re still injured. I hope they went this way because it’s the way Apple Bloom was taken, otherwise we won’t see her ever again.

Applejack swiftly accelerated to a gallop, determined to find Apple Bloom and help her no matter the cost.

As she ran, Applejack thought back on the day Apple Bloom came into her life.

“I made a promise to ya, sugarcube,” she whispered, “and I’m gonna keep it...”

---

About Thirteen Years Ago

Big Mac came into the small farmhouse, rolling his shoulders to ease the tension after hauling his wagon all the way back from Cliffside Eyrie.

“Welcome back, Big Mac,” said Applejack. “How was Cliffside? Any news?”

“Eeyup,” he replied. “Remember how that pony tried to blow up the prince’s airship about seven or eight months ago?”

“I think I remember. Weren’t there a whole lotta colts an’ fillies on board?” Applejack said.

“Eeyup. Well, he got sentenced to fifty years in Tartarus,” said Big Mac.

“Good riddance,” Applejack said. “A pony tryin’ ta kill the prince is bad enough, but to do it when there’s a bunch o’ foals who’ll get hurt too? They oughta lock ‘im up and throw away the key.”

“How about here, AJ?” asked Big Mac. “Winter prep goin’ okay?”

“So far so good,” replied Applejack. “Oh, we got new neighbours, too. They moved into that carrot farm over yonder. They got a cute little pegasus foal, only a month or two old.”

“Having neighbours is nice,” said Big Mac.

“Eeyup, it sure is,” agreed Applejack. “I was thinkin’ we should give ‘em a good and proper Sweet Apple Acres welcome once they’ve had a chance to settle in properly.”

“Eeyup.”

“For now, though, you just take a load off,” said Applejack. “After pullin’ that wagon all the way back home you could probably use a rest. I’ll get dinner ready.”

Applejack set about making a simple dinner, conscious of their limited resources. “I don’t suppose ya thought up any ideas to help tide us over for the winter months?” she asked.

“Nnope.”

“Oh well. We’ll manage. We always do.”

Applejack served up the meal, giving Big Mac the larger portion in light of his day of wagon pulling. They ate in companionable silence, before Big Mac took the dishes away and began to wash up.

Applejack reclined on the couch with a book, about to start reading, when the doorbell rang.

“I didn’t know you put in a doorbell,” said Big Mac.

“I didn’t,” frowned Applejack. She got up and went to the door, opening it. She thought she saw a flash of white light in the corner of her eye, but it was gone before she could investigate further. “Hello? Anypony there? With a doorbell?”

Hearing a gurgling giggle from somewhere around her hooves, Applejack looked down. She stepped back in surprise. There was a tiny little newborn foal on the doorstep, wrapped in a fuchsia blanket. She had a mane of red and a coat of yellow, with wide golden eyes.

“Well, hello there little one,” Applejack said to the foal. “Where did you come from?”

She picked up the child and went back inside. Big Mac blinked in surprise at the sight, before raising an eyebrow at Applejack. “Somethin’ I should know about?” he asked.

“Don’t look at me,” replied Applejack. “I have no idea where this little fella came from.” She put the child down and unwound the blanket to check that the foal was unharmed. “Oops, you’re not a fella, you’re a filly.”

Applejack thought the filly seemed perfectly healthy. She was reaching for the blanket, so Applejack held a piece of it where the filly could reach it, who giggled as she swatted at it.

“Where’d she come from?” asked Big Mac.

“Dunno,” Applejack said. “There was nopony else out there. And this sure ain’t the foal the neighbours have, that little filly’s got a purple mane and an orange coat. And wings.” Sure enough, this little filly was an earth pony, as wingless as she was hornless.

Applejack played with the filly while checking the blanket for any clue as to where she might have come from. The filly seemed to very much like the blanket, cuddling it to herself whenever she managed to get ahold of it. Applejack, however, made little progress.

“There’s nothin’ in here but the filly herself,” said Applejack. “I have no clue where she came from. Any ideas?”

“Nnope,” answered Big Mac.

“How about you, little one.” Applejack spoke to the filly. “Where’s home? Where’s your mummy and daddy?”

The filly seemed to fixate on Applejack at those words before looking around the room. “Mama? Dada?” Her lip began to tremble, before Applejack wrapped her up in the blanket and cuddled her close as the filly started crying.

“Oops,” said Applejack. “Well, until we find your parents, I guess we’ll have to look after ya.”

“Eeyup,” agreed Big Mac.

Big Mac climbed into the attic, and came down with a crib. He tilted his head at Applejack, who nodded in reply. He then took the crib into her room and set it up for the filly to use.

The filly finally calmed down while Applejack carried her to the crib. “I don’t know where you came from, little one,” she said. “But until we figure it out I promise ya that we’ll keep ya safe.”

“Eeyup,” nodded Big Mac, with considerably more force than he usually spoke with.

Applejack set the filly down into the crib, where she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

“Look at her,” said Applejack. “As pretty as an apple bloom...”

---

Present Day

No griffon on the ground was as fast as a galloping pony. Applejack caught up to her chimeric quarry in short order, holding back before she blundered into them. Willing Winona to keep her hidden, she shadowed the griffons as they moved east, stopping at the limit of the forest.

“Garry,” called one of them, “I found something.”

“Found what, Greg?” asked another.

“The grass here looks flattened,” replied Greg, “like somegriff was sitting on it briefly.”

Garry moved to see for himself, while Applejack communed with her fury, checking to see if Winona could tell her anything useful. The grass was indeed relaxing after being pressed down, in two close but distinct patches. Applejack frowned, trying to understand what it might mean. Why would they have stopped here? I suppose even a pony as little as Apple Bloom must be a lot of weight for a griffon to carry. They must have rested here for a bit, and I bet they’re taking turns carrying her.

“Yes…” said Garry. “They waited here a moment, checking to see if there was anygriff watching. Then they ran out, over that ridge up ahead.”

“Uh-oh,” Applejack whispered. There’s no plants out there; Winona can’t hide me. Then she frowned, processing what she had heard. Wait, ran out? Not flew? What’s going on here?

Garry fluttered his wings, before lifting himself into the air.

“Urgh,” he groaned. “Okay, I think I can fly again, no thanks to that blasted pony’s spirit-calling. I’m going to rejoin our forces to prepare for the attack. You three follow the pony. Catch him! If he gets back to Cliffside Eyrie, we’ll have a much harder time of it come tomorrow night.”

Garry flew off to the south-east, slowly at first then faster as his flapping became smoother. Greg and his remaining companions set out toward the ridgeline ahead, while Applejack made her way to the limit of the trees.

She pondered the ridge while the griffons disappeared over it. It ran north-south, at the apex of the rising terrain. Applejack could not see anything past it, and she worried that the griffons might be waiting for her. She decided to wait a moment before approaching the ridge herself.

After a minute or so, she dropped her concealment crafting and moved to the ridgeline. Lowering to her belly, she peered over the top, ready to pull back if she was spotted. The griffons were stepping into a surprisingly lush rainforest, disappearing into the dense vegetation.

Applejack took a moment to appreciate the rainforest. It was quite small, limited to the bowl-shaped valley that itself was ringed by the ridgeline Applejack was peering over.

“Beautiful,” she whispered. “But I better not spend all day sightseein’, I’ve got a filly to find.”

She crawled over the ridge and galloped for the trees, vanishing into the rainforest when she willed for Winona to once again hide her from view.

Comments

[CTVulpin]

Suggestion: do something to differentiate the flashback section from the present. Italics, or a header like "years ago..." AJ's line leading into the flashback was a bit too subtle, so I was confused for a bit when AJ and Mac were suddenly both back at the farm and at-ease.

[Pepperbrony]

8317872
I've added a line to make it clearer that AJ is flashing back, and added in a header to indicate both the flashback and the return to present day.