Heart of the Forest

by Krickis

6 – Two Hearts

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Chapter Six
Two Hearts
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“Applejack,” Discord said in a harsh whisper.

Applejack didn’t want to rise. It is not often that… something. She couldn’t remember what her dream had been now, but there was something about rising in it.

“Get up, dammit.” Discord was nudging her, however, and she awoke with a start.

It felt like there was something in her head that snapped when she woke up, and it left her dazed. But it was short-lived, as Discord was shaking her to get her attention.

“What is it?” she asked. The urgent tone of his voice suddenly dawned on her, and she became acutely aware of her surroundings. She dropped her tone to match Discord’s whisper. “Is something wrong?”

“There’s something here, in the other room.”

Images of Queen Hawthorn danced through her mind, and how she had looked like she could wake up at any moment. “Something like what?”

“I don’t know, but I heard something creeping around.” Discord’s ear twitched. “Listen.”

Applejack did listen, and, to her horror, she heard it as well. It sounded like something was moving around just on the other side of the door, and it was moving closer. There was some brief relief at the realization that it was not the sound of hooves on wood, but that still left her bewildered at what it could be.

“Get your bag,” Discord instructed. “There’s no telling what might happen, and we may be making a quick escape.”

As quietly as she could, Applejack collected her bag. She peeked inside quickly to confirm she still had the Emblem of Anqa safely tucked away, then slid the strap around her shoulder.

It sounded like whatever was in the other room was right at the door. Discord’s horn lit up. Applejack adopted a defensive stance. The doorknob turned, then the door opened.

It was too dark to see what they were looking at, but it saw them. It saw them, and it pounced. Discord reacted first, firing off a shot of magic that knocked it to the ground.

Applejack took her turn to spring while it was down. She leaped forward and reared back. But before she could bring her hooves down, a second form came bolting through the doorway and landed on top of her, pinning her against the ground.

“Dashie, wait!”

‘Dashie?’

Applejack saw Discord’s horn light up again and her eyes went wide. “Discord, stop!”

“Applejack?” the figure on top of her said, voice full of confusion.

The light left Discord’s horn and floated into the air. It grew in intensity until it lit the room. Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had to shield their eyes from the unexpected light.

“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on here?” Discord asked.

Before answering, Rainbow got off of Applejack and helped her up. “We came looking for Applejack.”

“Yeah, you have Fluttershy worried sick,” Pinkie added.

Applejack winced. “Is she here too?”

“She’s in Sungrove,” Rainbow answered, “but she said something about needing to check something, then she disappeared on us!”

“She sounded really worried about whatever it was,” Pinkie said.

“Oh geez, I really did it now…” Applejack hadn’t expected Fluttershy to come looking for her. She had been so preoccupied with finding the emblem and getting back by the time Fluttershy returned that she hadn’t even considered leaving an alibi of any sort.

“So we have our daring rescue mission,” Discord said with a grin. “Which, I might add, we were quite alright without. I took very good care of your little deer friend.”

“So who are you?” Rainbow asked.

“The name’s Discord.”

“I met him on the way into the woods, and we’ve been travelling together,” Applejack explained, if only to stop him from rambling on about himself. “Turned out to be a pretty good idea. Not sure I would’ve made it here alone.”

Discord lapped up the praise like it was life-sustaining. “Yes, well… That is true.”

“So how’d you find us anyway?” Applejack asked.

“Fluttershy teleported us most of the way,” Pinkie explained. “But she didn’t know exactly where Sungrove is, so we had to look around for a while.”

“I found it,” Rainbow said proudly. “It was easy for someone like me. I zoomed over the trees and noticed some that looked a lot like the ones in the other deer city.”

Pinkie lit up at Rainbow, which only seemed to encourage her more. “Dashie’s so cool! Everything was just a blur at that speed, but she was still able to see it no problem!”

Discord seemed to only care about a different detail, however. “You teleported from where, exactly?”

“The other deer city,” Rainbow said, clearly irritated at not being the center of attention. “Thimble.”

“Thicket,” Applejack corrected.

“Yeah, that.” Rainbow resumed her cocky pose. “So like I was saying, I –”

“Yes yes, you’re part perigee falcon,” Discord said dismissively. “But you’re saying that without even knowing where she was bringing you exactly, she was able to teleport all three of you all the way from the Everfree Forest to White Tail Woods?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Rainbow said with a shrug.

“You’re lying,” Discord said flatly. “I’d doubt that even Princess Celestia herself would be able to do something like that.”

“But Fluttershy can do all kinds of things,” Pinkie said.

“Yeah, I don’t think you’ve seen anything quite like her,” Applejack added.

Discord looked between the two of them, and seemed to still be skeptical. “I’d like very much to meet this Fluttershy.”

“I can arrange that!” Rainbow walked over to a window and flung it open. “I’ll find her real quick then be back before you know it!”

Rainbow leaped out of the window and flew into the night air. Applejack remembered how she had wanted to come on this exact journey, and she thought about how much easier it could’ve been. But even so, Applejack had done it without them. She had set out to find the Emblem of Anqa, and she had succeeded.

“So then, was it the same idea as us that brought you to this building?” Discord asked. “Get to the highest place for a lookout?”

“Yupperoni,” Pinkie said. “Fluttershy said we should pick someplace we could regroup easily, then Dashie saw this big treehouse. Then we were checking the place out when we ran into you!”

“Wonder what could’ve gotten her so worked up…” Applejack said, more to herself than the others.

All the same, Pinkie answered. “She said that she felt like there was something big here, and that she was afraid of what it could be. But I think she’s just worried about you, and I’m sure she’ll be just fine once she knows you’re safe!”

A gust of wind blew in from the window Rainbow had left open. Applejack and Discord looked at each other, and they clearly had the same thought. Something felt wrong.

Both of them sprung up and ran to the window. It was too dark outside to see much of anything, but the wind had picked up to an incredible speed.

“What are you looking at?” Pinkie asked innocently. “Do you see them?”

“You don’t feel that?” Applejack asked.

“No, she wouldn’t,” Discord answered for her. “I can because of my training, and you can because it’s coming from the woods, or from something connected to it.”

“But you don’t know what it is?” Applejack asked.

Discord shook his head. “No. But I’m afraid that we’re going to know very soon.”

There was another gust of wind, this time strong enough to blow open all the windows that were not locked shut. Even Pinkie was starting to worry. “Uh, maybe I should check on Rainbow…”

“Now hold on –”

Before Applejack could finish, a third gust of wind broke whatever windows weren’t open. Pinkie ran to one of the open windows.

“Wait!” Discord stopped her with his magic before she could leave. “Getting any more separated is the last thing we want.”

“I can’t just leave her out there!”

Discord took another look outside. “Okay, we need a plan, but we’ll need more information to make one. Go out there, but be careful. Your curled feathers aren’t suited for these harsh winds, and we can’t risk losing you. Once you see what’s going on, come back here and tell us. We’ll figure it out from there. Don’t do something stupid, no matter what you see.”

Pinkie jerked her head around in panicky movements, but she quickly nodded. “Okay. I can do it.”

“Good.” Discord let go of her. “And remember –”

“I’m coming, Rainbow!” Pinkie leaped out of the window before anyone could do anything.

Applejack could only watch as the wind whipped Pinkie back, but she soon righted herself. She had to fly with all her might to oppose the harsh wind, but she slowly made her way back.

“Dammit… Why do I have to do everything…” Discord lit up his horn again, and a translucent red wall appeared in front of Pinkie. Without the wind resistance, she suddenly shot forward, barely coming to a stop before she hit it. She pointed to her left, and Discord moved it accordingly.

Pinkie’s beak fell open and she stopped moving forward. As she hovered in place, Rainbow flew behind the barrier as well, and Discord began to move it back towards the palace.

It felt like it took ages for them to get back, with Applejack feeling useless the whole time. And where was Fluttershy? Had Rainbow not found her, or…

The barrier broke, and Discord collapsed in exhaustion. Outside, both Pinkie and Rainbow were blown back. Rainbow recovered quickly and dove after Pinkie. She caught her and pulled up, bringing them higher and out of Applejack’s view.

She turned to Discord. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine…” He got up with a grunt and looked out the window. “Damn, I should’ve known better… Even my magic can’t hold out against this wind for long.”

There was a thud, and Applejack stuck her neck out of the window as far as she could. She could barely see them, but Rainbow had brought them to the building. She had one talon around Pinkie and the other digging into the wall, and she had stopped trying to use her wings. She guided Pinkie to grab hold of the wall as well before letting go of her.

Since it was all she could do, Applejack called out to them. “Over here!”

They moved slowly against the wind, but little by little they were able to claw their way over. Pinkie, the larger and stronger of the two, took the lead, allowing her to take the brunt of the wind.

Once she pulled herself through the window, Pinkie turned back to hold out a talon for Rainbow. Applejack wrapped her forelegs around Pinkie’s torso and helped pull her and Rainbow inside for good.

Both griffons collapsed on the floor once they were safely inside. They struggled to catch their breaths, but Applejack was too nervous to wait for them.

“Did you see Fluttershy?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow managed. She pushed herself into a sitting position. “She said to take you home.”

“What? Why?” Applejack knew better, but she still stubbornly clung to optimism. “Nothing but a little storm. We’ll be alright.”

“It was ginormous,” Pinkie said. “It was… I don’t know what it was…”

“I saw it up closer, and I don’t even know,” Rainbow said. “It was this… this thing! This huge thing, bigger than a house!”

“What kind of thing?” Discord asked. “Can you describe it at all?”

Rainbow shook her head. “All I saw was the outline of it. Just a gigantic shadow.”

If she was being honest with herself, Applejack wasn’t surprised. She had known all along. Perhaps she had even known from the moment she first saw Sungrove. “And Fluttershy’s out there with the Shadow?”

“Yeah.” Rainbow took a deep breath. “She said… she said she could hold it back, but we needed to get you out of there. She said to get you back to Thicket, and not to dare come back for her.”

Fluttershy was impressive. She was the most impressive thing that Applejack, no, that anyone had ever seen. If there was anyone who could hope to stop the Shadow, it was Fluttershy.

But that just wasn’t enough reassurance.

“No. We’re not doing that,” Applejack said defiantly, as if daring anyone to tell her otherwise.

“What do you think you’re going to do?” Rainbow asked. “You have no chance against something like that.”

What did she think she was going to? She didn’t know, but she did know that it didn’t matter. “I’m going to do whatever I can. Think you can get me down to the ground?”

As Applejack pulled out her elixir barrel and fastened it around her neck, the usual Rainbow Dash finally returned. She stood up and gave a cocky grin. “Are you kidding? Of course I can! Climb on, we’re gonna go save Fluttershy!”

“Perhaps we ought to think of a plan first?” Discord said.

Applejack was already climbing onto Rainbow’s back. “You said it yourself – We don’t know enough to make a plan right now. So we’ll just have to wing it!”

“Count me in!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “Now we can add Applejack to the unstoppable team!”

“You’re all idiots.” Discord glared at everyone, then walked over to Pinkie. “But you’ll all die without me, so I guess I better at least try and save some of you.”

Pinkie helped him onto her back, and both griffons walked over to the separate windows. “It’s gonna get pretty crazy out there,” Rainbow said. “So you two better be able to hold on tight!”

Applejack hated flying at the best of times. These, as it happened, were about as far from the ‘best of times’ as was possible. From the moment Rainbow leaped out of the window, it felt like the whole world was trying to tear her away. She clung to Rainbow with all her might, and she could still feel her body sliding off. The only saving grace was that Rainbow didn’t need her talons to fly, allowing her to take hold of Applejack’s forelegs. At times, that was the only connection she had to Rainbow’s body.

She couldn’t imagine how Rainbow was managing to control herself at all. They seemed to be gliding into the wind, with the result that they were actually moving backwards. It didn’t matter; they were moving steadily towards the ground, and they could work on progressing toward the Shadow once they weren’t at the mercy of the wind.

Once they were below the tree line, things got much better. It was still rough, but Applejack’s body was no longer lifting off of Rainbow’s. She was pretty sure that Rainbow had even managed to regain some of their lost ground as they finished their descent.

They touched ground in a different place than Pinkie, so the first thing they did once Applejack dismounted was regroup. It was going to be an ordeal to walk against the wind, but they would manage.

“Can you make another one of those barriers!?” Applejack asked Discord once they were together again, yelling to be heard over the wind.

“Yes, but I can’t maintain it indefinitely!”

“Alright, do it! Any extra ground will help!”

As soon as the barrier went up, things were much quieter. The roar of the wind was still strong on their sides, but it was no longer directly in their ears.

Discord pushed the barrier forward at a brisk walking pace. “This is as fast as we can go?” Applejack asked.

“With any level of sustainability, yes,” Discord answered through gritted teeth.

Applejack nodded her understanding. It was clearly a struggle for him to do as much as he was doing, and it was faster than they would be walking otherwise. “Pinkie, you’re the strongest one of us. If something happens, we’ll need you to help keep us grounded in one place.”

“You can count on me!” Pinkie said. “Also, did you know you’re glowing?”

“I’m what now?” Applejack looked herself over and saw that there was a glow coming from her bag. She opened it and saw it was coming from the necklace. “The Emblem of Anqa…”

“Wasn’t that the thing from your story?” Rainbow asked. “Wait, is this that Shadow!?”

“I think so,” Applejack answered as she pulled out the necklace.

“But you’ve got the emblem! Way to go, Applejack!” Rainbow clapped her on the back, almost causing her to drop it. “Do you know what you’re supposed to do with it?”

Applejack frowned. “I haven’t got a clue…”

But she did have it. It was the only thing she knew of that had been able to subdue the Shadow in the past, and she had found it. And it wasn’t going to do any good in her bag.

She had been hoping for some kind of revelation. Some new power that would allow her to stop the Shadow. She would have settled for it to keep glowing, as that was at least a sign of something magical. But instead, once she had put it around her neck and shimmied it under the elixir barrel, it returned to being just a necklace.

“We can appreciate Applejack’s new jewelry later,” Discord barked, causing them to remember to keep walking.

When Discord could hold the barrier, it wasn’t that bad; Applejack couldn’t be happy with the pace they were making, but they moved well enough. But when he couldn’t, walking seemed to take an eternity. They resorted to walking towards trees so that they could break some of the wind for them, which saw them sometimes moving in a zigzag pattern, further slowing them down.

Since Discord was elderly and not as strong as the others, Pinkie took to carrying him on her back. It allowed him to focus solely on his magic, but even still, each time the barrier came back up it would go back down sooner and sooner.

And all the way, Applejack couldn’t stop the barrage of horrible thoughts. Every second she wasn’t there was another second that Fluttershy was alone with the Shadow. Applejack didn’t know if she could do anything, but she certainly wasn’t doing anything with so much distance between them.

And then the lightning struck. Off in the distance, in the direction the wind blew from. For one brief moment, the wind stopped completely. When it started again, Applejack could swear it was twice as angry.

“Applejack, wait!” Rainbow called after her, but it was too late. Applejack was a deer, and these woods were hers. The others could make do, but they could never hope to move through the trees faster than she could. Not with wings, not with magic.

She ran. The wind tried to push her back, but it could not. Applejack ran in leaps and bounds, her hooves connecting to the ground only moments before they pushed off. She knew if she looked back, she would no longer be able to see the others. They could catch up, but Applejack wasn’t waiting. She was a deer, and they would only slow her down.

Again, the lightning struck, and again, the wind stopped. It was only a moment, but this time Applejack seized it, pushing herself forward with everything she had. She noted how much closer the lightning had been this time. She resolved to make it closer still.

Trees sped past her, nothing but a blur in the darkness. Her heart guided her way as much as her eyes did. The lightning struck a third time, and this time it was just ahead of her, illuminating the world in one moment of perfect clarity.

With the shadow cast aside by the lightning, Applejack saw that it was a massive bird. It was bigger than she had thought anything could be. Its head alone was as large as Fluttershy, and with the rest of its body, it was taller than most trees. It did not even spread its wings fully and they were already encompassing Applejack’s field of vision. And when it flapped its wings, the wind began again.

Rather than allow herself to be intimidated, Applejack pushed herself harder. Fluttershy was there, and all that mattered was getting to her. The rest could wait until that was done.

Applejack almost didn’t realize when she was finally there. Not because it was night; she was well accustomed to moonlight. But the Shadow lived up to its name, and she suspected even in the daytime it would be dark. It was only when the wind reached a point where even she could no longer run against it that she realized she was staring at pure blackness against the usual darkness of the night.

“Fluttershy!” Applejack called, but to no avail. She looked around wildly, but saw nothing. She wished she had Discord’s magic to illuminate the area, or Rainbow’s eyesight to pick Fluttershy out of the darkness. The feeling of hopelessness crept back in. Even though she had found her way, what could one deer do?

Another flash of lightning made her realize exactly how close she was. She finally saw Fluttershy. She had collided with the Shadow at the exact point of the lightning, then she was gone with it. Against the darkness, Applejack saw the silhouette of wings once again, and the wind began.

Applejack looked around, as if hoping to see something through the darkness that might help. There was no sign of her friends, and she had no idea when they would come. She tapped her hoof against the necklace, hoping it would do something. It did not. Without her friends or magical artifacts, what was she?

Since she couldn’t see, Applejack closed her eyes. The city revealed itself to her more clearly, not as it was now, but as it once was. And then she knew. She was a deer, and at least here, there were things that only she could do.

She opened her eyes and saw only the darkness. It was time to change that. She tapped on the barrel around her neck and poured some elixir on the ground. She knew the lights of the city were long since broken, and she knew that her own magic was not powerful enough to do much with them anyway, but still, she reached out to the woods.

And the woods answered her. The world around her lit up, as any light that was in some way touching the woods lit up. At most Applejack had expected two or three, but there were dozens, and it was still spreading. It was as if the city was coming alive once more.

In the continuous light, Applejack could see the Shadow clearly for the first time. Seeing its size from a distance was nothing compared to seeing it close up. She had to crane her neck back to see to the top of it, and its body was even longer than it was tall. Dirt and plants covered its body, and the ground below was freshly disturbed, leading her to guess that it had been lying there so long that it had become a hill in the clearing. Its feathers were dark; they seemed to be brown, but that could have been from the dirt.

But the light had another effect – it could see Applejack as well. It leaned its head down, coming close to Applejack, and stared directly at her. It lifted its wing, and the wind stopped, and all was quiet while it took inventory of her.

Then, it pulled back and let out a deafening caw before the wind started again. The wind came from the Shadow itself, not just from its wings. Faster than Applejack would have thought a creature its size could move, it lunged towards her.

It never connected, however. A bolt of lightning struck it, causing it to reel back. Fluttershy floated in the air in between Applejack and the Shadow, and Applejack realized she was not appearing where the lightning had struck – Fluttershy was the lightning.

“Applejack, run!” Fluttershy ordered. Unlike before, Fluttershy didn’t disappear. She remained hovering in the air, arms outstretched in a protective stance.

“No! I’m not leaving you!” Applejack looked around for some idea of what they could do to stop such a fearsome creature, but she found nothing.

Fluttershy raised her paw, and Applejack knew what was coming. “No, wait! Shy!”

“I’m sorry.”

But before she could snap and teleport Applejack away, a blue blur came from beside her and knocked her out of the air.

“About time we get some light!” Rainbow said as she got off of Fluttershy. “Nice going, AJ!”

Applejack ran over to the other two. “Fluttershy, don’t you think about sending me away!”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, we – look out!”

The Shadow cawed again, signalling the start of more wind. It lifted its wings and flapped, and the force doubled. Rainbow dug her talons into the ground and Fluttershy seemed to be able to withstand it, but Applejack could feel her hooves slipping. As she began moving backwards, she made a last ditch effort to grab hold of Fluttershy’s tail.

She missed, and lost the last of the traction she had. She lost control of her body as the wind whipped it back. She tried to call out for help, but the wind carried her words away as well. Something smacked into her shoulder, but it didn’t stop her. She could only watch as Fluttershy and Rainbow grew further away.

At first she thought she hit a wall, considering the amount of force she felt. Then she realized that the ‘wall’ was actually soft, and the force had just been an indication of how fast she was going.

“Gotcha!” Pinkie said, barely audible over the wind.

A red barrier appeared before them, although it was already flickering.

“Can you keep this up long enough to get me to the others?” Applejack asked. “This will be the final push.”

Discord didn’t say anything, but he pushed the barrier forward. Pinkie didn’t let go of Applejack, keeping a tight hold on her just in case the barrier didn’t last. Rather than just walking behind it, Pinkie rammed her shoulder against it, and helped push them forward.

Although the Shadow made wind without the use of its wings, it seemed to require them for forces this strong, which kept it preoccupied as they approached slowly and steadily. Fluttershy had disappeared again. Applejack knew she was planning another attack, but she wasn’t sure Rainbow would hold out long enough.

“Pinkie, you need to hold on tight, just like Rainbow,” Applejack said once they were finally side by side with her. “Discord, you can drop the barrier now.”

The barrier vanished and the wind struck again. Pinkie held onto the ground with both talons, letting the force of the wind keep Applejack pressed against her.

Applejack once again opened the elixir and poured it out onto the ground. She closed her eyes and concentrated, imagining trees growing in front of them to give them shelter. The woods provided something better.

Thick roots sprouted in front of them, but rather than grow straight up, they curled over the group. There were just enough gaps that they could see through, and exits on both sides just big enough for one of them to leave at a time. They were enveloped in their own protective dome.

Upon realizing that its wind was useless, the Shadow stopped flapping its wings. It instead struck against the top of the dome with its beak, but it was unable to break through.

It was only then, once they were in some degree of safety, that Applejack realized how badly her shoulder hurt. She fell to the ground, unable to put weight on it. She didn’t know what she had hit when she was being pushed through the air, but she had hit it hard.

Discord also fell to the ground, rolling off of Pinkie rather than even trying to dismount gracefully. Although he hadn’t exerted himself physically, Applejack knew he had pushed the limits of his magical capabilities, and that he had still kept going once those limits were reached.

“So now what?” Rainbow asked. She seemed the least beat down of the four of them.

“I… I don’t know,” Applejack admitted.

Discord pulled himself up. “Now… we think of… a plan,” he said through obvious effort. He pulled himself over to the gaps to get a better view of the Shadow. “Oh. No, we’re all going to die.”

All eyes turned to Discord, but Rainbow was the first to speak. “No way, we can take it!”

“That is a roc,” Discord said, as if that was enough proof.

“Uh, I know a thing or two about rocks.” Pinkie gestured through the gap. “And that is not a rock.”

“A roc is a bird of incredible size. They inhabit the mountains to the north of the Frozen North. They live in lands where ponies, griffons, deer, and any other sapient beings have never been. Would you like to guess why we’ve never even explored these lands?”

Applejack and Rainbow frowned, and even Pinkie was hesitant as she spoke. “Uh, is it… because it’s really really cold up there?”

“Not quite,” Discord said with a smile that somehow only made everything worse. His tone shifted to anger as he finished. “It’s because rocs live there!”

“We can still do this,” Applejack said, pushing herself up on only three legs. “What do you know about rocs? There’s gotta be some weakness we can exploit.”

“Rocs are able to produce winds through some sort of internalized magic,” Discord answered.

“Uh, yeah, I think we gathered that much,” Applejack said.

Discord nodded. “Yes, but you see, it just so happens that I learned this at the same time as the rest of you, because there is no information on rocs, because nearly everypony who sees them dies!”

Applejack nodded, ignoring his pessimism. “So you don’t know anything the rest of us don’t. Got it.”

“It doesn’t move very much,” Rainbow observed. “Must be all the dirt and plants on it.”

Applejack turned to face the griffon. That sounded like a good observation. “Yeah, it’s only been flapping since I saw it. No flying or anything.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, it’d be like flying drunk. And in the woods here, it’d crash into all these trees for sure. Especially since those plants look like they’re intertwined with all its feathers. It probably couldn’t even get off the ground with all that.”

“So it’s a bird that can’t fly.” Applejack turned to Discord and smirked. “See? We have something on our side too.”

“And we’ve got Fluttershy!” Pinkie said.

Discord looked around. “So where is this alicorn-level wizard of yours, hmm?”

“She was with me when the wind picked up,” Rainbow said. “But then she disappeared again.”

“She knows what she’s doing,” Applejack insisted.

“Well, I do hope she shows up soon,” Discord said with a grin. “I’m just dying to meet her.”

Applejack rolled her eyes, but was saved from having to acknowledge his pun by another flash of lighting. The roc reeled back and cawed angrily. It struck its beak where Fluttershy had been, but she was gone in an instant.

Discord stared awestruck. “What in Celestia’s name was that!?”

Applejack beamed with pride. “That was Fluttershy.”

“More importantly,” Fluttershy said from behind them, causing everyone to turn to her in surprise, “what are you doing here? Rainbow, you told me you were going to take Applejack home.”

Rainbow looked at the ground “Yeah, I know but…”

“But I already am home,” Applejack said. “Sungrove is my home just as much as Everfree is.”

“I know that, but you know what I –”

“And you’re my home more than anything.” The pain left her limping, but Applejack made the few steps over to Fluttershy. “So don’t tell me to leave your side, because I’d hate to have to tell you no. I love you, and I’ll either leave here with you, or I won’t leave here at all.”

“Oh, Applejack…” Fluttershy lifted Applejack off the ground, cradling the doe in her forelegs.

“Ow!” Applejack reached for her shoulder.

Fluttershy gasped. “You’re hurt…”

“A little.” Applejack shrugged with her good shoulder. “I’ll be alright, though.”

A sound from above caught everyone’s attention. It was hard to identify, but then they saw the talon through the gaps in the roots. The roc knew all of its prey were in one place, and it was trying to dismantle their protection.

“I think somebirdy’s getting restless,” Pinkie said.

“Will this thing hold?” Rainbow asked, and all eyes turned to Applejack.

Unfortunately, she had no idea. But as she was trying to figure out an answer, a large chunk of the top was pulled off, leaving a hole large enough for the roc to look through.

“I’m gonna take that as a no.” Rainbow stretched out her muscles. “Well, I’ve sat around long enough anyway. I’ll keep that thing away long enough that the rest of you can figure out a plan.”

Fluttershy held out a paw. “Wait, it’s too dangerous!”

Rainbow scoffed. “Please, Shy. You think an overgrown bird that can’t even fly is gonna catch me? Give me some credit at least.”

Before anyone else could try and stop her, Rainbow was already outside of the hole. “Hey, birdbrain!” She flew directly at it and plucked a feather from its neck. The roc turned away from the others to lunge at Rainbow, who was already on the other side of it. She held out the stolen feather. “Looking for something?”

“So, any ideas, Shy?” Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy frowned as she watched Rainbow zip around outside. True, she was doing well for now, but one wrong move… “No, I don’t know what to do… Nothing I try has any real effect on it.”

“Can’t you teleport it to the mountains?” Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t think I could get anything that far, and even if I can, I can’t teleport the roc. Its magic is… incredible.”

Applejack laughed. “Yeah, but yours is the best.”

A comment like that normally would see Fluttershy either playfully agreeing or humbly disagreeing, but she offered no reply.

“Fluttershy?”

“I’m not stronger than it. I… I think its magic might be stronger than mine.”

When the magic of Everfree concentrated, Fluttershy was born to be its protector. She was a being of pure magic, so to hear that something might be more magical than her was not a good sign.

“Applejack,” Discord said. It was the first time he had said anything since Fluttershy had shown up, and he seemed to be studying the situation a lot more seriously. “This barricade you’ve created, can you undo it?”

“Well, yeah. But why would I want to?”

“Because I’ve got a plan. When I give the word, I need you to lower the barricade. If I was at full power, I might be able to kill it, or at least stun it long enough for us to escape. But I can’t now. What I might be able to do now is give Fluttershy that power.”

“What can I do?” Pinkie asked.

Discord smirked. “Pinkie, was it? Well, Pinkie, I’ll need you to make sure that our little bird friend comes straight for me.”

“What!? Discord, what do you think you’re gonna do?” Applejack asked as Fluttershy set her down.

But Discord didn’t answer. His horn started glowing, but it wasn’t its usual red aura, it was a deep purple, which seemed to bubble out of his horn. His eyes glowed green with smoke in the same deep purple color coming from the edges. As he channeled his magic, the glow on both his eyes and horn intensified.

“Now!” he commanded.

Applejack didn’t like the sound of this plan, but she obeyed all the same. She barely had any elixir left, and once she was done, there was none. She asked the woods to lower the barricade, and she could feel the reluctance. But still she asked, and the woods heeded her request.

“Hey, you oversized chicken dinner, over here!” Pinkie yelled.

The Shadow wheeled around but didn’t react. Rainbow Dash seemed to realize something was going on though, and she darted over, raking a talon against the distracted roc’s neck.

That was enough to get its attention. The roc charged directly towards Rainbow, which led it straight to Discord. Both griffons flew over him, and he finally let loose the beam he had been charging.

It was unlike any of the magic Applejack had seen him use before. When it connected with the Shadow, it locked the roc in place. For a second, Applejack thought it was like the spell he’d used to move her earlier, only used to stop the roc from moving.

A moment later, however, she realized it was twitching. It wasn’t being held in place – it was being kept in immense pain.

Just when she was wondering if immobilizing it had been the plan all along, a second, smaller beam extended from Discord’s horn to Fluttershy. She shuddered when it first touched her. Her eyes rolled back and she started taking sharp, erratic breaths. Applejack was torn between wanting to trust Discord and wanting to stop anything that could make Fluttershy react like that.

But before she could do anything, Fluttershy started floating into the air. Her whole body was limp at first, but then her head rolled forward and she seemed to regain control of herself. She extended her forelegs in front of her and channeled a beam from her paws. It wasn’t dark, like both of the ones coming from Discord’s horn; this was Fluttershy’s usual magic, but it was intensified far beyond her usual ability.

And as it continued, it only seemed to hurt the roc more. Applejack had to look between the three of them a few times before it clicked in place what she was seeing: Discord was ripping the magic from the roc and giving it to Fluttershy.

Meanwhile, the beam from Fluttershy grew brighter and larger the more she channeled it. It tore the ground up, forming a crater that the roc was pushed into. There was no telling what was happening there, if it was alive or dead. Applejack couldn’t even tell if it was all in one piece.

By the time the attack stopped, the crater was left smoking. What Applejack could see of the roc was charred black. There was no movement.

Everyone looked around at one another. Fluttershy was still floating, although her beam had stopped, and Discord collapsed. Pinkie and Rainbow were watching in awe of what they had seen.

All of this was easily visible because at some point during everything, the sun had come out. Had they not noticed because the Shadow obscured it, or had they just been too preoccupied? It was hard to say, but the sun bathed the world in light, and it was glorious to behold.

Fluttershy slowly floated to the ground, where she curled into a ball. Applejack limped over to her and collapsed next to her. Fluttershy shifted so that she was curled around her doe, and she started whimpering softly.

“Hey, you got it,” Applejack said gently. “You did great, Shy. Everything’s gonna be okay now.”

“That. Was. Awesome!” Rainbow flew in a circle over them. “I thought we were done for there, but you two, with that beam thing… Best adventure ever!”

“I, uh, I think our friends may need a little time to relax, Dashie,” Pinkie said as she looked over the others.

“Aww, we’ll be just fine, strawberry.” Applejack nuzzled Fluttershy, who gave a small smile. “Let her have her fun. She’s earned it.”

“We actually pulled that off,” Discord said with wry amusement as he pushed himself back to standing. “Let’s see that overgrown lizard top this one!”

“Hey, Discord.” Applejack could hardly believe that just a couple days ago, she had been trying so hard to get rid of him. “You should come around Everfree sometime. I, uh, I might know someone who can give you that tour after all.”

Discord grinned. “Oh, my deer, you’re simply too kind.”

Applejack frowned at the pun. “On second thought, maybe not…”

Fluttershy giggled. “Aww, be nice. Even if you are adoeable when you pout.”

Applejack sighed. She knew she would be dealing with this for a long time. Then again, when she thought about how close they had come to losing one another, she knew that there were worse things. “Aww, why not. Sure, I would be deerlighted to show you around!”

Rainbow groaned, but at least Fluttershy and Pinkie laughed. Discord seemed to have something else in mind, however. He approached Fluttershy quizically. “And just what are you exactly?”

Rather than answer, Fluttershy let out a small ‘eep’. Although Applejack knew Discord didn’t mean any malice with the question, she also understood Fluttershy’s reluctance. Before everyone in Everfree had come to respect her, Fluttershy had often been made to feel like she couldn’t belong.

“Oh, come on,” Discord said, mistaking her hesitation for a greater fear, “you’re almost thrice my size!”

“Well, I’m a –”

“She’s the first friend I ever made!” Rainbow said, swooping down from above to join Applejack and Fluttershy. “And she’s awesome!’

“That’s not what I –”

“She’s a forest noodle!” Pinkie said, jumping in the pile. “And she’s the luckiest noodle in the world. Just look how cute they are together!”

“A noodle?”

“Aww shucks,” Applejack said, turning to look into Fluttershy’s eyes. “You’re acting like you’ve never seen a beautiful lady before.”

Fluttershy was blushing, but she smiled and held her friends closer. Discord sighed and seemed to give up on his question. “As long as you don’t expect me to hug you.”

It should have been the perfect end to a horrible ordeal. But as everyone was relaxing and enjoying being alive, the crater where the roc lay burst into flames without warning. It was all anyone could do to stare.

The flames died down quickly, leaving only a few smoldering embers as the roc rose. It rose slowly, glaring at the five of them all the while. Once it was fully standing, it spread its wings, revealing them to be almost gold after having been bathed in flame.

It cawed loudly, then flapped its wings. But this time, the wind it created was nothing more than the air it displaced as it took flight. It soared into the sky, flying higher and higher. Once it was satisfied, it shifted course and flew in front of the sun. All they could see as it descended was its shadow.

“Run!” Applejack yelled, and everyone scattered. She didn’t see where the others went, but Fluttershy carried her.

They had barely scraped by when they were in good shape and the Shadow couldn’t fly. Now not only had it regained that ability, but Applejack was injured and out of elixir, Fluttershy and Discord had pushed themselves well past the point of their usual magical limits, and Pinkie and Rainbow were both physically exhausted.

It was hopeless.

“I’m sorry,” Applejack said. “This is all my fault.”

“Shush!” Fluttershy checked behind her, and Applejack didn’t like the look on her her face. “We’re going to get through this. We’ll get back home, then you can tell me everything. But right now, we just need to focus on – aaahh!!”

The Shadow caught Fluttershy in one of its talons, and she dropped Applejack to the ground. “Fluttershy!”

Applejack tried to stand too fast, and the pain caused her to fall back down. She looked up and saw it drop Fluttershy. She couldn’t tell why, but it didn’t seem happy. It dived for her again, but missed and returned to gliding height.

It picked another target and went straight for Applejack. With her shoulder not bearing weight, she knew it was pointless to run, but she tried anyway. Within moments, it had a talon around her.

She was pulled rapidly into the air. The woods below her sped by at a dizzying speed, and she wondered what it was going to do. Would it drop her and let her fall to her death? Did it have a nest it would bring her to before eating her?

“Release her, you brute!”

Something came rushing towards Applejack and the roc, but she couldn’t tell what it was. The next thing she was aware of was falling, but she couldn’t even make out the ground below her. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

It hurt, but not as much as it should have. In fact, everything about the situation was wrong. She was still falling, but slowly, and she was cold. Opening her eyes showed blurry light above her, and Applejack realized she was under water.

Something else hit the water, and it approached her at a rapid speed. Once again, Applejack found herself being dragged along by something colossal, but this one was familiar.

She breached the surface of the water coughing and gasping for air. She was brought to a riverbank, which she held onto tightly as she tried to get oxygen back into her lungs.

“Oh thank goodness you’re alive!” Rarity bent her head down next to Applejack’s, but she had the good sense to not overwhelm the much smaller doe with her affection. “When I saw you being carried by that… that… thing! Why, I… I feared… Well, that doesn’t matter now because you’re safe.”

“Rarity…?” Applejack’s voice came out thin and raspy. “Are we in Everfree?”

“No, we’re in White Tail Woods. I brought a search party to come and find you. Er, speaking of which… I may be needed elsewhere. But you sit tight and work on feeling better!”

Applejack tried to piece together what she was talking about, but she couldn’t manage. Weren’t Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Pinkie her search party? They said Fluttershy had teleported them, so why was Rarity here? She couldn’t ask, as Rarity was already swimming away.

She traced the river with her eyes in the direction that Rarity had left and found her answer. There were dozens of deer, all running around while the roc tried to choose targets among them. She recognized Big Macintosh and Blackthorne among countless others that she knew.

Whenever the Shadow got too close to one of them, Pinkie would swoop in and pull them away. Rainbow was flying around the roc itself, making sure it was always too distracted to execute a successful kill. Discord was hobbling around, giving signals for some plan he seemed to have. Blackthorne issued a command and a wall of trees sprouted, with no less than ten deer responsible for it. It corralled the Shadow towards the water, where Rarity popped up and made a lunge for it, but only caught a few tail feathers.

And Fluttershy was there. She was amazing to witness, and difficult to keep track of. If Applejack didn’t know she wasn’t able to teleport around the Shadow, she would have assumed that’s what Fluttershy was doing. But the draconequus simply moved faster than Applejack’s eyes could track as she darted about, doing anything and everything that she could.

Everyone was there. Everyone was still going. Everyone except for Applejack.

She dragged herself up. Every part of her body hurt and she didn’t dare do anything with her wounded shoulder, but she limped forward, one step at a time.

Vines shot from the ground and grabbed hold of the roc, tethering it down. More and more deer used their elixir to add their magic to the binding.

Applejack walked forward.

Big Mac jumped onto the Shadow’s back. She didn’t find out what he planned to do, because the roc broke free from the bindings before he could do it.

Applejack’s body begged her to stop. She did not.

The roc flew straight up into the sky, but so did Rainbow Dash. She caught up with it, and grabbed hold of Big Mac. With his weight, she could barely fly.

But still, she didn’t stop. So neither would Applejack.

When the Shadow spun around to take advantage of Rainbow’s situation, she dropped Big Mac and turned at a right angle. Pinkie Pie was already in place, catching the falling stag and continuing in the opposite direction.

Applejack could only move forward. And so she did, until she no longer could.

She fell on the ground, every bit of her energy spent. She looked up at the battle and could no longer tell who was doing what. She closed her eyes.

Fluttershy must have noticed, because the next thing that Applejack knew, Fluttershy was holding her. “Applejack! Applejack, stay with me!”

“Fl-Fluttershy?”

“Applejack, please hold on!” Fluttershy was crying. Applejack hated to see her cry.

“Hey, no need for that.” Applejack smiled. She just wanted to see Fluttershy smiling too. “Heh, guess I really screwed up this time…”

“No, no you’re going to be okay.” Fluttershy reached a paw to Applejack’s face, but stopped when she realized it was covered in blood. It took a moment for Applejack to realize the blood was coming from herself, although she wasn’t sure where she was bleeding from.

“Yeah, of course I am. What, you think I’m gonna let some dumb old bird get me? Who’d harvest the apples? No way I’m leaving Big Mac in charge.”

Fluttershy’s sobs grew harder, and Applejack knew that she had just told a lie. She hated lying, but she knew she didn’t always tell the truth when she should.

“I’m real sorry, Shy…”

“Don’t. Don’t apologize. You’re going to be okay, I need you to be okay!”

Applejack wanted so badly to wipe away Fluttershy’s tears, but she couldn’t seem to move her forelegs. “You’ll be alright when I’m gone. To… well, to tell the truth, I never really understood why you ever wanted to be with me anyway.”

“What? Applejack, how could you say that? I love you, I’ll always love you.”

Applejack smiled. She always smiled when Fluttershy said she loved her. “I know. I know you do. And you know I love you too. But, well, you’re…” Applejack shook her head and her smile fell away. “You’re extraordinary. And I’m… I’m just a deer.”

“No! You’re my deer, and… and…”

She was Fluttershy’s deer. Applejack loved being Fluttershy’s deer. But sometimes… “You know, that’s kind of what this was all about.”

Fluttershy tried to smile. She didn’t do a great job. “You’ll always be my deer.”

“I thought… I thought I had to prove something to you. To show you that I was worth sticking around for.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “You never have to prove anything to me, I always want to be around you.”

“Yeah, I know. I mean, I kind of always knew that. Because that wasn’t the real reason I wanted to come all the way out here.”

“Applejack, I don’t…”

“I know now that I didn’t have to prove anything to you, and deep down, I knew that all along. But I was lying to myself. Because really, the honest truth is that I needed to prove it to me. I needed to know that I could be someone worthy of being your deer.”

Fluttershy bowed her head over Applejack. It was kind of a shame. Applejack could’ve looked into her face until the end.

“You know,” Applejack said, “things would’ve been much better off if I had just been honest from the start. Guess I learned that lesson a little late, huh?”

There was a strange sensation in Applejack’s body. A tingling sensation in limbs she hadn’t even noticed had lost feeling. She wondered if it was what death felt like until things started coming back into focus. She was becoming more aware of her surroundings, including the fact that she seemed to be glowing.

Fluttershy noticed it too. “Applejack? What in the world…?”

There was a warm sensation right on her neck. She lifted a foreleg up to it, realizing in the process that she could move again. Her hoof brushed up against the necklace that she had completely forgotten she had been wearing.

All pain had left her body, and the world around her had become clearer than it had ever been. The light had started in the necklace, and then spread throughout her whole body, and she felt herself being lifted into the air. It was different from other times, though. She wasn’t surrendering control of herself to anyone else. She had never been more in control her whole life.

Everything was still going on. The roc was still being held at bay, but they weren’t doing any real damage to it. And they never would; Applejack could see that now. She didn’t know how, but she knew it was the truth. They were doing their best, and they were doing better than anyone could have expected, but they didn’t have the right tool.

But Applejack did.

The roc noticed her as well. Perfect. She wanted to be a beacon for it, to pull it away from the others. It charged her with a focus that it hadn’t shown before. Nothing else mattered to it, just that it get to Applejack.

Applejack let it come most of the way before she did anything.

“Stop.”

Still, it charged her. Applejack raised her voice.

“I said stop!”

And it listened. The roc landed just in front of her, almost directly on top of her. But Applejack didn’t move. Not when it landed, and not when it drew its head close to her, mouth creeping open.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” Applejack asked.

The roc closed its mouth and shifted its head.

“I know,” Applejack told it. She didn’t know how she understood, but she understood.

It drew its head closer to hers. She placed a hoof on its beak and looked directly into its eyes. “You’ve been here a long time, haven’t you? And you’ve always done your best to protect these woods.” Applejack shook her head. “But you don’t need to anymore. And you know that, don’t you? If you’d just let yourself be honest with yourself, you’d see it too. Just like your time came and went long ago, so too has these woods’. The magic is gone, you’re all that’s left. And now, you’re hurting folks that mean no harm. And I know you’re hurting too. So… it’s time.”

The roc looked into Applejack’s eyes as well. It nodded, then took a step back. It kept its eyes fixed on Applejack for a moment, then it launched into the sky.

It didn’t resume its attack, didn’t seem to care about the others anymore. It simply flew up, higher and higher. For one moment more, the Shadow lived up to its name, casting darkness over the land below.

Then it stopped. It fully spread its wings one last time, and the world was bathed in light once more. Not from the sun, however. The light came from the Shadow, the guardian of these woods, as it set itself aflame.

All eyes were fixed to it, and it burned so hot and so fast that there was nothing left but ash. And then, there was not even that, as a steady breeze blew in from the south, carrying the ashes ever northward.

Applejack smiled, although it made her sad too. Some part of her felt like she was saying goodbye to an old friend. Her hoof rose to touch her necklace, and she couldn’t help but think that somehow, that feeling belonged to someone else.

The glow faded and Applejack descended back to the ground. She let out a small sigh of contentment before turning back to face Fluttershy.

“A-Applejack?” Fluttershy stared in bewilderment.

“I think…” The worst of Applejack’s injuries seemed to have healed themselves, but what remained and the weight of everything that had happened still proved too much. “I think I could use a nap.”

Applejack fell forward, but Fluttershy caught her. She heard Fluttershy’s scream and knew she’d worried her, but Applejack just smiled. “Don’t worry, Shy,” she barely managed to get out. “Everything really is going to be okay this time. Honest.”

Fluttershy cradled Applejack, who finally let herself give in to sleep.

---

Comments

[Twilight_Crow]

Don't worry, the action was great! And the character interactions were genius.

A roc uh? Cool, I always like them giant birds; would be so awesome if we ever see one in the show.

[Krickis]

8433806
That’s certainly nice to hear And yeah, rocs are pretty cool and underappreciated. It’d be fantastic to see what the show would do with something like that

[nighters]

I wonder if there gonna be more adventure like that?

[Krickis]

8434054
Not in this story specifically. The final chapter will be published next week, and it mainly serves to close up the story and answer some questions that are still open. But I am hoping to keep writing stories in this universe, which will include more adventure stories Joining the Noodleverse group is the best way to keep up with any further stories set in this AU.

[nighters]

8434100
joining now I can't wait to see more!

[Ice Star]

Oh my gosh this has been quite the epic turn of events! There’s a lot of action and lore crammed into this novella. It’s great to see these two finally realize their feelings for each other.

[Krickis]

10502046
This chapter was quite different for me, I don't usually do these high stakes action scenes. Glad you liked it!