1 – Sour Apples
Heart of the Forest
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~ by Krickis ~
for Pasu-Chan, in thanks for all your support
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Chapter One
Sour Apples
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There was something unsettling about the edge of the forest. Everything was different. There were still birds singing, but few other animals could be seen or heard. Even the trees seemed wrong; they were all spaced too far apart. What kind of forest had all of its trees so far apart?
Sure, there were patches of deeper forest that were also sparse, but out here? Out here, everything looked barren. It was no wonder Granny Smith always warned Applejack to never go out so far when she was a fawn; if she were attacked out here, she’d have nowhere to hide.
But Applejack wasn’t a fawn anymore, she was a full-grown doe. If she were attacked – not that anything was likely to attack her, especially in present company – she’d be able to handle herself well enough. It didn’t make her feel any better about things, though.
Applejack was a deer; she was large as far as deer went, which wasn’t very far, and she had an orange coat. She had white fur on her underside, and white spots along her back. She had a yellow streak of hair going from the top of her head down the back of her neck.
Applejack was a deer, like so many others, and the deer belonged in Everfree. It was her home, it was where she had been born, and in 457 years, she had never once considered leaving it. She knew the forest as well as anyone ever could, and not just by sight. She knew its sounds, she knew its smells, she knew how it felt.
And this? This did not feel like Everfree. They were still within the forest, but everything felt wrong.
Not that she could show any sign of that, not to Fluttershy. Although the deer had made their home in the forest, Fluttershy was a part of Everfree. As the forest had grown, so too did its magic. And when the magic had grown strong enough, Fluttershy was born from it. She was the forest’s chosen protector, and she felt a much stronger connection to it than even Applejack ever could.
And unlike Applejack, that connection extended to all of Everfree, not just the deeper parts. Telling Fluttershy that part of the forest felt unnatural would be like Applejack telling her that she was unnatural.
And while Applejack would never want to make anyone feel that way, she was especially wary of saying something that made Fluttershy uncomfortable. As the guardian of Everfree, Fluttershy was well respected by all of its inhabitants. But as a draconequus, living in her own skin had not always been easy for her.
It was true that she was a sight to behold. Her head resembled a pony’s, with yellow fur and a pink mane. But unlike a pony, she also had two antlers, similar to a buck’s but not as large. Partway down her long neck, the yellow fur turned to brown for the rest of her elongated torso. Her front legs were a darker shade of brown, and had soft paws on the end, while her back legs were striped white and grey with hooves. She had a pair of blue wings, and a smooth fish-like white and black tail.
And, of course, she was the most beautiful creature that Applejack had ever laid eyes on. Applejack made sure to remind her of this fact often, and it had been a long time since Fluttershy made mention of feeling like she didn’t belong. But even so, the fact remained that they had never met another draconequus. And while Fluttershy loved Applejack and her family, she also knew that she was no deer.
No, she belonged with the forest, just as the forest belonged with her. Although she was not bound to it, they were connected to one another, and it was not possible to speak ill of one without insulting the other.
And if that somehow wasn’t enough reason for Applejack to keep her mouth shut, Fluttershy was far too excited for Applejack to say anything that could spoil her good mood. Fluttershy was all smiles as they walked, talking happily about the two griffons they were on their way to meet. “They’ve been all over Equestria. Rainbow Dash told me they were in Baltimare before coming here.”
“Baltimare? Where’s that again?” Applejack asked. Life outside of the forest wasn’t something she usually concerned herself with.
“Uhm, I’m not exactly sure either,” Fluttershy admitted sheepishly. “But Pinkie Pie said that they’ve been everywhere between Griffonstone and Everfree.”
Applejack didn’t know where Griffonstone was either, but she figured there wasn’t really a point in asking. “Well, that certainly does sound impressive.”
“And kind of exciting. I never realized things were so different outside of the forest.”
“I guess it really is a whole other world out there.” Applejack adjusted the bag on her shoulder as she walked. She was carrying a peck of apples that had been grown in her family’s orchard. It wasn’t heavy, but shifting the weight around was comforting – the apples were part of her Everfree, the world she knew and understood. Even these outlying parts of the forest felt foreign to her. She didn’t even want to try to imagine the world outside of it.
It seemed that Fluttershy did, however. “I never even knew there was a whole city of griffons until I met Rainbow Dash. I thought all the cities outside of Everfree were full of ponies.”
Although Applejack didn’t often think of these things, that was the impression she’d had as well. “It must be pretty far if Granny hasn’t ever seen it.”
Fluttershy nodded. There weren’t many creatures in the forest that could count themselves among Fluttershy’s elders, and so she did tend to take Granny Smith’s words to heart. “And judging from what Pinkie and Rainbow told me, I’d say a lot has changed since Granny and the others moved here.”
There was likely to be some truth to that, but even so, Applejack shook her head and frowned slightly. “Some things never change, Shy. I’m sure your new friends are nice and all, but you know how most creatures outside the forest are. None of them even want to give us the time of day when we try to visit their town.”
“Oh?” Fluttershy nuzzled Applejack playfully. “You never told me you’ve tried going to Ponyville.”
Applejack huffed. “I don’t have to go there to know what’s going on. I hear plenty from Zecora.”
Fluttershy flashed a sly grin. “Zecora also says ponies are more afraid of you than you are of them.”
“I’m not afraid of them!” Applejack insisted. “I just can’t respect anyone who treats us forest dwellers like we’re monsters without even attempting to get to know us. Worse yet, they pretend like we’re too stupid to even know that they’re just hiding away in their houses.”
“I know, deer,” Fluttershy said in a soothing tone. “But Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie aren’t ponies, and they do want to meet you.”
Applejack felt some of the tension leave her muscles. She was being childish, this meeting was a good thing. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She fixed a smile on her face and shrugged off her worries. “I guess they can’t all be bad, right?”
“That’s right,” Fluttershy said, clearly pleased that Applejack was done being grumpy. “I’m sure you’re going to love them. You and Rainbow Dash both love doing athletic stuff, and Pinkie Pie is always full of –”
“Surprise!”
Applejack jumped back and positioned herself in a defensive stance as a pink bird swooped down in front of them. Fluttershy, who was usually the more easily flustered of the two, only jumped a little before quickly composing herself. She cleared her throat and turned towards her lover. “Applejack, this is Pinkie Pie. And Pinkie, this is Applejack.”
Upon closer look, Applejack’s initial assessment had only been half right. The front half of Pinkie did indeed look like a bird, albeit quite a bit fluffier than a full-grown bird ought to be. Most of her body was a light pink, with darker pink around her eyes and beak, as well as some darker stripes across her wings. But halfway down her torso, the feathers turned into fur, leaving her back half more resembling a manticore than any kind of bird. She lacked the manticore’s scorpion tail, however, and in its place had a much thinner tail with a tuft of dark pink hair on the end.
“Nice to meet you, Applejack! Although Fluttershy’s already told us so much about you, so it already feels like we’re best friends. But now that we’ve met, we really will be best fr–”
“What’s the big idea, jumping out at us like that?” Applejack demanded. Fluttershy shot her a warning look to keep her cool, which Applejack ignored. “You darn near gave me a heart attack!”
At least Pinkie had the decency to look taken aback. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought it would be nice to meet you two partway.” Pinkie smiled, and her tone grew more excited. “Then I saw Fluttershy walking with the cutest little deer I’ve ever seen, and I just got so excited to meet you!”
“Little?” Applejack objected.
“Oh, I didn’t know you met other deer before,” Fluttershy said.
“Well, no, I haven’t actually met any other deer yet.” Pinkie shrugged as if that was hardly an issue worth considering. “But you two are just so adorable together that I can already tell that no other deer could ever be prettier!”
Applejack wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about someone she just met calling her ‘cute’ and ‘pretty’, but Fluttershy quickly put the concern out of her mind. “I couldn’t agree more,” she said, before kissing Applejack’s cheek.
That forced the doe to take stock of the situation. What was she thinking? Sure, they had gotten off to an… interesting start, but Pinkie was a friend of Fluttershy’s. It was as simple as that, there was no way Applejack was going to be rude to Fluttershy’s friend. “Suppose there was no harm done. And anyway, I’m pleased to meet you.” Applejack smiled, determined to turn the conversation around. “Fluttershy told me a lot about you, too. She said that you and Rainbow Dash have been all over Equestria.”
Pinkie grinned and shrugged. “Well, we’ve been here and there, but we’re still working on everywhere.”
Fluttershy looked around. “Speaking of Rainbow Dash, where is she?”
“Oh, Dashie’s just taking a little nap,” Pinkie said. “But she said to wake her up whenever you two get here.”
Taking a nap in the middle of the day was one thing, but when they were expecting company? That didn’t make any sense, but Applejack held her tongue.
Pinkie motioned for them to follow her, so they did. The griffon seemed to be trying to keep herself grounded, but she also seemed to struggle with it. She would occasionally hop into the air and land a short distance away; sometimes just to the other side of the couple, sometimes somewhere nearby to look at something interesting. Applejack wasn’t sure how they were supposed to follow her anywhere when she kept hopping around like that, but Fluttershy seemed to find it amusing.
The sense of unease Applejack felt about the shallow parts of the forest only grew as they stepped into a clearing. Applejack had never seen so much open space. It felt wrong to look at, and a little intimidating to walk into. But Fluttershy was beside her, and the last thing she wanted was to look scared in front of her.
“Wait here, I’ll go get Dashie!” Pinkie said, before taking off into the air.
Not particularly keen on walking further into the clearing, Applejack was more than happy to oblige. She looked around slowly, wondering if it was a natural glade or if ponies had cleared it for some purpose.
“Nervous?” Fluttershy asked, causing Applejack’s head to snap back towards her.
Applejack pushed the feeling from her mind and adopted a smile in its place. “What, about making some new friends? Nonsense. I’m not the shy one between the two of us, you know.”
Fluttershy didn’t look convinced. “Hmm, if you say so. But you know you can tell me if something’s bothering you, right?”
“I know that, strawberry. And there’s no need to worry about me, I’m just as excited as you are.” Applejack grinned and walked further into the clearing, keeping her head high so Fluttershy wouldn’t have any reason to worry.
Telling herself that she should try to live up to her words, Applejack set down the bag she had been carrying. She opened it up and pulled one of the many apples that were inside. She smiled and held it out for her lover. “Apple while we wait?”
Before Fluttershy could answer, a blur shot out from the bushes, snatching the apple from the unsuspecting doe. Applejack jumped back towards Fluttershy. Pinkie’s surprise from before already had her on high alert, and she wasn’t going to be caught off guard again so easily.
“Well, I’m not usually one for fruit, but I’ll give it a shot,” a blue griffon said. She could only have been Rainbow Dash. Although she was clearly a griffon, she looked very different than Pinkie Pie did. Her bird half completely lacked any of Pinkie’s fluff, instead featuring much sleeker blue feathers. They were dark blue along the top of her body and lighter underneath. Where her feathers turned to fur, her body became more solidly light blue, with only spots of the dark blue color, and her back half was much leaner than Pinkie’s manticore side. Her tail was a bit thicker and lacked the tuft on the end, replacing it with rainbow stripes. The top of her head also had a crest of rainbow-colored feathers.
Rainbow Dash took a bite of the apple, which she clearly regretted as she swallowed. “I, uh, I don’t think your apples are ripe yet.”
“Rainbow Dash, I presume?” Applejack asked flatly.
Completely missing her unhappy tone, Rainbow grinned and threw the apple over her shoulder. “In the flesh!”
Applejack’s ear twitched as she looked at the apple lying on the ground. Before she could reply, Fluttershy was already placing a paw on her shoulder as she made introductions. “Rainbow, this is Applejack. And I just know you two are going to get along great, you have so much in common!”
Even though Rainbow seemed oblivious to Applejack’s annoyance, Fluttershy had certainly picked it up. Her comment wasn’t as incidental as she made it sound – she knew Applejack and Rainbow Dash were going to get along, if for no other reason that it was important to her that they do.
Deciding to not let a bad first impression ruin her opinion, Applejack put on a friendly smile. “Pleased to meet you.”
“So Fluttershy says you’re pretty athletic,” Rainbow said as Pinkie flew over and took a seat beside her.
There, that was a much better start. “Yup. I start just about every morning with a run through the woods.”
“Really?” Pinkie looked around them. “It must be hard to see where you’re going with how many trees there are.”
Applejack had to wonder if they had been deeper in the forest before, or if they just thought this was a lot of trees. “Well, a little I guess. But I know the way pretty well, and there’s usually too much going on later in the day.”
“I hear you,” Rainbow said with a grimace. “It’s gotta be rough getting up that early every day, but if that’s the only time you have for a workout…” She shifted back to a cocky grin. “I bet it all pays off, though.”
Applejack nodded, pleased to have some common ground. “Sure does. Staying in shape is important when there’s always so much work to be done around my family’s orchard.”
Rainbow cocked her head to the side. “You go through all that just to do more work?”
Well, so much for common ground. Applejack found herself back at her first impression: Rainbow Dash clearly didn’t understand the value of hard work, and was inconsiderate as well. How she ever became friends with Fluttershy was beyond Applejack’s understanding.
But regardless of why they were friends, they still were friends, so Applejack forced herself to shrug it off. “Sure do. We need to care for the trees and make sure no pests get to the apples, then collecting the fruit is a heck of a chore by itself, and then there’s bringing them into town to trade. It’s hard work, but it’s all worth it in the end.”
“Even though Applejack and her family don’t live in the city, they’re very well respected members of the community,” Fluttershy said proudly.
“Ooh, spiffy.” Pinkie walked closer to Applejack. “Are these the apples from your family’s orchard?”
“Sure are.” Applejack pulled out an apple and gave it to her. “Figured everyone might want a snack while we talked.”
“But they’re not ripe,” Rainbow interjected. “They taste all sour.”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t bring bad apples. They’re supposed to taste that way, they’re crabapples.”
“They’re supposed to be sour?” Rainbow scrunched up her face, and Applejack was beginning to question just how much one of Fluttershy’s friends could get away with. Rainbow seemed oblivious to the tension she was causing. “Why would you want to grow sour apples?”
“Why not?” Pinkie asked through a mouthful of fruit. “These are good! You sell them in Ponyville?”
“Uhm, no,” Fluttershy answered. It was a good thing that she did, since Applejack was too busy growing increasingly frustrated at Rainbow’s dismissal of her family’s livelihood. “We don’t go into Ponyville. They trade them in Thicket, the deer city, which is deep in the heart of the forest.”
“Even deeper than this?” Pinkie asked, confirming Applejack’s suspicions that these two didn’t know the first thing about Everfree.
Fluttershy chuckled. “Much deeper than this. We’re really not that far into the forest right now.”
“Bet there’s lots of cool stuff in the forest,” Rainbow said with a grin. “Carnivorous plants that can devour you whole, old ruins haunted by the spirits that can’t rest, monsters just waiting to snatch you up when you’re not looking.”
“That doesn’t sound very ‘cool’ at all…” Fluttershy murmured.
“Aww, I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,” Pinkie said as she finished the apple. She placed the core on the ground and batted it between her talons. “You just have to learn how to laugh at them! Hey, that reminds me of a song my granny taught me! When I was just a fledgeling and the sun –”
“Pinkie?” Rainbow interrupted before she could get too far into her song. “I don’t think now’s a great time for a musical interlude.”
“Aww…” Pinkie frowned at the apple core.
“Anyway,” Rainbow continued, ignoring her friend’s demeanor, “the cool part isn’t all the dangerous stuff – okay, that stuff is actually pretty cool – but it’s what you get at the end! All that stuff is just there to guard the long-forgotten treasure, which probably has all kinds of crazy cool magical powers and stuff.”
“Like the Idol of Boreas?” Pinkie asked.
“Exactly.”
Fluttershy smiled a little. “Well, I guess that would be kind of cool. But uhm, that’s not really the kind of forest Everfree is.”
Applejack wasn’t sure why they’d want something like that, but she wanted to put herself back into the conversation – if only to help steer it. “Yeah, if you’re looking for somewhere like that then you want White Tail Woods.”
That seemed to get Rainbow’s interest going. “Oh yeah? What’s in White Tail Woods?”
Well, the audience wasn’t what she’d choose, but it would be fun telling someone who didn’t know the story. Applejack just hoped she could tell the tale half as well as Granny Smith. “A long time ago, us deer used to live in White Tail Woods…
“We had a great city, called Sungrove, which could put even Thicket to shame. Sungrove and all the deer that lived there were watched over by Queen Hawthorn, who was wise and fair, not to mention the most beautiful doe that ever lived. She was even loved by other races! See, back in those days, we used to live alongside ponies. They were free to come and go to Sungrove as they pleased, and we would go to Ponyville to trade and visit with friends. The ponies respected our land and our ways, and it was a golden time of peace.”
Applejack smiled for a moment as if it was a memory she had, even though that had been before she was born. It was a cherished memory, even if it wasn’t her own.
But then her tone darkened as she continued. “Then the calamity happened. No one’s sure why, but the world itself seemed to grow darker. Ponies stopped visiting Sungrove. Slowly at first, then all at once. Deer have always been self-sufficient, so we got by alright, but it was a worrisome sign. And over the next few centuries, Queen Hawthorn grew more reserved. Once the joyous light of the deer, now she barely left her manor. She became obsessed with the idea that something was coming, something bad. And she was right.
“In most stories, the great evil always comes in the night. But this one came in the middle of the day, when the sun was highest in the sky. We call it the Shadow, because that’s all anyone ever saw of it. It came suddenly, and it came from above, casting its enormous shadow over everything below it. It ripped apart buildings whole, and most of the deer never made it out alive.”
Applejack looked between all everyone in the audience. As she expected, only Fluttershy truly understood the weight of her words. Pinkie hung on Applejack’s words, the apple core forgotten in one talon. Rainbow was harder to read, but she also seemed to enjoy the story.
Applejack closed her eyes and moved to the heart of the story. “Queen Hawthorn only had two concerns. First, she entrusted her son, Prince Aspen, to one of her closest advisors. ‘Get him out of the woods,’ was all she said. The other thing she did was to get the Emblem of Anqa, an ancient relic passed down through the deer royal family, said to be older than Equestria itself.”
Opening her eyes, Applejack saw that everyone was giving her their full attention. “With the Emblem of Anqa, Queen Hawthorn went to face the Shadow alone, refusing anyone who would stand beside her. Although no one knows what happened to her, the Shadow, or the Emblem, we do know that her efforts stopped the beast’s pursuit. Because of her sacrifice, the deer made it safely out of the woods, and we eventually settled in Everfree.”
There was only half a beat of silence as the story settled in, which seemed to be all the time that Rainbow Dash needed to take in the greatest tragedy that her ever befallen Applejack’s tribe.
A huge grin broke on her face, and she exclaimed, “That sounds awesome!” She earned herself a glare from Pinkie, and even Fluttershy frowned at her tone. “Uh, except the thing about the deer getting run out of their homes and all that. But going up against the Shadow by herself! What a hero!”
That actually got a smile out of Applejack. It was not really a story of brave heroism, but she was pleased that Rainbow appreciated Queen Hawthorn’s sacrifice. “She really was.”
“And I bet it’s awesome there now!” Rainbow said. “Do you think the amulet thing is still around?”
Applejack grinned. “Now don’t go getting any ideas. This all happened right around eight hundred years ago. If the Emblem of Anqa is still there, there’s no way you two are going to find it.”
Rainbow pointed a talon at Applejack. “You have to admit, it would be pretty cool, though.”
“It’d take a fool to be brave enough to make the attempt and someone very resourceful to not die.”
“Hey!” Pinkie turned to Rainbow and grinned. “I’m a fool and you’re resourceful! This sounds perfect for us!”
Fluttershy laughed. “Pinkie, you’re not a fool. And please, both of you, don’t go putting yourselves in any danger. It would mean a lot to the deer if someone ever found the Emblem, but it’s not worth risking your lives.”
“Eh, it sounds like too much of a long shot anyway.” Rainbow stretched out her limbs, only to then find a more comfortable way to lie down. “Maybe if we had something else to go on it could be a cool adventure, but I am not scouring the entire woods for something that we don’t even know is still there.”
“I guess you have a good point there,” Pinkie said as she scratched her head with a hindpaw. “It would’ve been fun to go on an adventure with all four of us, though.”
“Count me out on that one,” Applejack said. “I’m happy right here in Everfree.”
“Aw, come on.” Rainbow stood up and joined Pinkie beside Applejack. She nudged the deer playfully. “So maybe White Tail Woods is a bust, but we should all totally go somewhere else. There’s a cool race going on in San Palomino that me and Pinkie were going to see. You two should come along!”
“San Palomino? Is that a big city?” Fluttershy asked.
“It sure is!” Pinkie answered excitedly. “I haven’t been there yet, but Rainbow has. She’s been everywhere!”
Rainbow grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, it’s a real crazy place. Course, I haven’t been there in years, but I know it like the back of my talon.”
“Thank you for the offer, but the two of us are more than happy here,” Applejack said. Even if somehow they were interested in leaving Everfree, a city that was both ‘crazy’ and ‘big’ was definitely out of the question. “But I hope you two enjoy yourselves, all the same.”
“Uhm, well…” All eyes turned to Fluttershy, who looked embarrassed. “I think… well, it might be fun to see what else is out there.”
“Really?” Applejack and Pinkie asked at the same time, albeit with completely different tones. Pinkie seemed like she could hardly be more excited to have another travelling companion. Applejack was in shock that Fluttershy would actually want to leave the forest in the first place.
Fluttershy smiled. “You know what? I will go. I would love to see more of Equestria than just the forest. And who knows? Maybe I’ll really like the big city.”
“At least someone knows how to have a good time.” Rainbow turned to Applejack and grinned. “Sure you don’t want to tag along?”
Rather than answer her, Applejack addressed Fluttershy. “You sure about this, strawberry? You know that city ponies aren’t exactly friendly towards us forest dwellers.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Fluttershy smiled and nodded toward the griffons. “Pinkie and Rainbow will be there, and they’ve met plenty of ponies before.”
It was easy to see that Fluttershy really wanted this, even if Applejack didn’t understand why. But what really surprised the deer was how little she was surprised. Somehow, even though Fluttershy had never made any indication that she might want to leave Everfree before, Applejack just felt like she somehow should have seen this coming.
She looked down at the ground as she spoke. “Well, alright then. Just be careful out there.”
Fluttershy giggled and nudged her lover. “I’m pretty sure the big bad ponies won’t get me, deer.”
The others continued talking, but Applejack found herself having difficulty keeping up with their conversation. Fluttershy had met Rainbow Dash six years ago, when the injured griffon had wandered into Everfree. The two of them were fast friends, and Fluttershy took care of her until she could make it back to her home. And then in return, she had told Fluttershy about Griffonstone and all the other places she had been. In the years that followed, Fluttershy never quite got those stories out of her mind.
For six years, that was all it was though. Stories about a world outside the forest that sometimes Fluttershy would talk about. But then one day, just a week prior, Rainbow Dash returned with Pinkie Pie. The pair of griffons regaled Fluttershy with even more tales, rekindling her interest.
After that, conversations all seemed to turn back to the rest of Equestria. When asked about it, Fluttershy had said that it was just because it was new and exciting. How often did exciting things happen in the forest, after all?
Not very often. Every day in the forest brought more of the same. They didn’t have grand adventures. They didn’t have events that would attract crowds from miles around. They didn’t have endless possibilities of new experiences worth exploring. And, it seemed, they may no longer have whatever it was that Fluttershy wanted.
The Everfree Forest was part of Fluttershy, as she was part of it. That would always be true. But even so, she was not bound to it, and she could leave it if she pleased.
But Applejack? Applejack was a deer, like so many others. She was just a deer, nothing exceptional or exciting. She lived in an orchard with her family, where she helped grow sour apples. She was a deer, and the deer belonged in Everfree.
For the record, those are deer tracks in the header of the chapter. Yes, they do look like bunnies.
Character descriptions presented through Applejack vision rather than more accurate descriptions of the animals they're made up of. A picture of the mane six as they appear in thus AU can be found here (artwork by Pasu-Chan, naturally).
And if you missed it in the description, here's a link to the Noodle AU that inspired this story 
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Wow
your writing style is great 
That was really fun to read, can't wait for the next chapter
i'm curious to see what will happen 
Sadly i have to pass this too
When will you continiu with my fav. drama dream team of all time? so i can read you're amazing stuff again :D
7984700
I'm looking forward to getting to it too 
Thank you
7984706
But since I've got to finish current projects, and I've got another novel length story before I can get back to them, it'll probably be like a year or so 
Eventually
7984738 okay i am just gonna get back to my tumblr cave and wait
I enjoyed this. I hope we get some time to get more info on Pinkie and Dash and how they met, how they are friends, how close are they, and other such things.
7984756
I plan on making a separate story to focus on each of the mane six, with this one being mostly about Applejack. That's a long term goal, though. In the meantime, there will be more Pinkie and Rainbow in this fic, but I won't be exploring their history until Rainbow's story.
As for how close they are, I'm just gonna leave this here
7984784
Nice I will definitely be following this story.
Ok, this is nice.
Honestly, I am intrigued by the deer, we don't have much canon information about them. I've heard they are like elves in a sense, I am guessing you are using that idea?
Sure, I will read this. I did mention I like your Applejack a lot.
Hey, if you are making a series out of this AU, can I has Sunset Siren someday?
Looks great so far!
7985069
Yeah, the deer have some definite elfish qualities, which is why Applejack is several centuries old in this story. We'll learn more about them as the story progresses.
Glad you're enjoying it
My plan is to first go through the mane six, with the final story (Twilight's) covering Nightmare Moon's appearance in this AU. Once that's done, who knows? Since Who We Become will remain my more active series, it'll probably take me a long time before I even get through those six, and I don't want to make plans too far out. But I'm sure I'll continue writing in the Noodleverse, and I'd be surprised if Sunset doesn't pop up (especially since I'm the godparent of her child
)
7985085
Thank you, hope you enjoy the rest of the story as well
7985108 So, there's a big chance.
You keep writing ponies for as long as you want, I keep reading; because you are good.
This was simply lovely. Nicely done.
7987162
Thank you, glad you're enjoying the story
I love it... Very well done.
Keep up the good work
8409088
And I'll certainly do my best 
Thank you
Man, sea serpent Rarity is just so based.
10496697
Finally... finally someone reads this story.... thank you
10496704
I said I was only caught up on one universe!
"You're both voiced by Ashleigh Ball!"
Anyway, there were some nice touches in the worldbuilding. I'd never thought about this before, but it makes sense why a deer wouldn't like wide, open spaces: they live in the forests, while equines live in the plains.
The most surprising part was deer living for centuries, and I'm guessing that the Shadow has something to do with Nightmare Moon or Stygian.
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This is a favorite story of mine, so happy to see you reading and commenting on it!
I'll say is nothing to do with Stygian, which I'll only confirm because he didn't exist when I wrote this lol. But as far as what The Shadow is and what its connection (if any) to NMM is, I'll leave that vague lol
The deer living for centuries was Pasu's choice. She wanted to have them be elf like. I don't remember what was said where in this fic's description and author's notes, but this is a shared universe between us. She made it and handles the art, I did a lot of world building and handle the writing (which so far is just this one fic but I do have plans for more...)
Images appear to be broken.
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Damnit, okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll try to make some time to fix the images soon, but may not have the chance until after the weekend.