Lost and Found

by Cloudy Skies

28. Lost

“Well, okay. Thank you, little friend.”

Fluttershy frowned, watching the bushy-tailed fox bounce away through the thin layer of snow that coated the forest. It had been almost an entire week, and the forest grew darker still. Thick and tall trees admitted little light, leaving some of the ground bare, but it was undeniably deep winter. As she had predicted, many of the forest’s denizens were asleep, but one little fox in particular kept returning to see them every day. First simply to say hello, of course. Fluttershy had no idea why, but it had always been like that. All the creatures big and small were happy to greet her, and it was ever so precious to her.

The next day, he’d shared with them of a trove of nuts. Rather, he’d offered, but when Fluttershy asked if they were his nuts to share, the fox had admitted that maybe, just maybe they belonged to some particularly spiteful squirrels with whom he’d quarreled in the past.

“What did he want now, then?” Applejack asked, arching a brow.

But today, the little vulpine had returned with far more alarming news. Still Fluttershy craned her neck to watch as the white-tipped tail disappeared around a tree.

“There’s somepony else here. We’re being followed, he thinks,” Fluttershy finally explained.

Applejack’s stride almost faltered, but she quickly picked herself up again as the two trotted on. “Well, okay, maybe it ain’t that odd, really. We did find the road,” she suggested, gesturing at the path beneath their hooves. It was barely wide enough for a cart, and hardly worthy of being called a road, but Applejack insisted it fit with the map.

“Maybe,” Fluttershy said.

“Are they far behind? Could be they know exactly where we are, and I sure wouldn’t mind some company for the road.”

“Um, that’s the thing. He couldn’t find him again, and they didn’t leave any tracks,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “It sounds weird, but foxes are very clever, and while they like to play tricks, I don’t think this is a joke.”

“The bad kind of ‘bein’ followed’ then,” Applejack said, rolling her jaw. “Don’t like that one bit. Guess we better start looking out at night, huh?”

“If we meet any owls or other creatures who are awake at night, I can ask if they mind sitting watch for us. If we ask really nicely, I bet they would be happy to help,” Fluttershy suggested, shifting the weight of her saddlebags. “They don’t eat nuts or berries like the ones we carry, but that’s okay. We don’t have a lot of food to spare anyway.”

Applejack’s stomach rumbled as if on queue, the farmpony giving her a strained grin. “Yeah, I’ve had about my fill of frozen grass and I’m sick of spending half my time digging for roots and whatever,” she agreed. “I’m just a mite worried. Were you awake when I checked the map yesternight?”

“No? Sorry?” Fluttershy tilted her head.

“The road passes close by some sort of settlement up ahead. Ain’t got the faintest clue as to why the road don’t go to meet it if it’s a town, but there’s some place called Longhall.”

“Maybe the map is old,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Might be. Just want to get to where the road turns north without any creepy stalker ponies or whatever else is in this here forest,” Applejack said, tilting her neck to the side until it gave a pop. “Can you fly?”

“Um, well,” Fluttershy began, spreading her wings until she could see the wingtips under the cloak. There was still dirt on some of the feathers that wouldn’t go away even after their last bath in a stream a few days ago, and the feathers themselves were in a sorry state. “I can always fly, but there hasn’t been much time to take care of my wings. Why?”

“Just in case we need to make a quick escape, s’all,” Applejack shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter, I think,” Fluttershy said, craning her neck to look up. The forest was as dense as ever, and it was hard to spot the sun through the dense foliage. Even during the day, the forest path was dark.

“Besides,” she added with a nervous glance at Applejack. “We’re not splitting up. You promised you wouldn’t even joke about that.”

“And I ain’t. Just checking,” Applejack reassured her.

---

They had started counting the days again, and it brought Applejack a sense of stability she hadn’t known she was looking for until she found it. It had been Fluttershy’s idea; the pegasus had latched on to the idea of Hearth’s Warming Eve, and suggested that if Applejack thought it was maybe a month and a bit away, then they could count the days, even if there wasn’t much room for celebration. Thus, it had been fifteen days since they had started counting, and twenty, maybe twenty-one days until they’d celebrate Hearth’s Warming. It probably wasn’t the actual date, but it was something to look forward to.

Fluttershy had already started hoarding the few nuts they found for the occasion. That was plenty of heart-warming right there, Applejack figured, even if there was some added stress in trying to find a gift for Fluttershy while she wasn’t looking.

The forest wasn’t letting up much. A week back, there had been some rough terrain that let Applejack have a better view as they crested a hill, but it only confirmed what Fluttershy had suggested the one time she braved the canopy. The Emerald Expanse was aptly named. Dark trees covered the land, now shrouded in winter’s coating. In the far distance, low mountains were overgrown and snow-capped both, but it seemed they never reached them.

So they trotted. Occasionally, they cantered, and once in awhile, Applejack managed to persuade Fluttershy to gallop for a bit to burn off some steam. When they made camp in the evening, Fluttershy would ask her animal friends to please tell them if somepony approached, and in time, Applejack had learned to trust them and rest easy. Nopony ever came, and whomever or whatever had been following them was never seen again.

The time was passed with stories, and more than once did Applejack let Fluttershy go on even if she’d heard that one particular anecdote before. She’d probably repeated herself a few times, anyway.

“—which is why she really doesn’t like to have her hooves touched,” Fluttershy finished with a little giggle. The pegasus was hovering above and behind her, giving her wings a little exercise. “I guess it’s not cool to be ticklish.”

“Yer kidding,” Applejack barked, leaping the small brook that crossed their path. They had spent a good few minutes refilling their magical bottle yesterday anyway.

“Not at all, but it is very silly. She did let me give her a hoof massage once though, when she’d taken a particularly hard landing,” the pegasus admitted.

“Just the two of you, huh,” Applejack commented. Just as soon as she’d spoke, she saw a shadow in the corner of her eye. Twisting around to try to follow it, she heard a yelp behind her.

The earth mare spun around just in time to see Fluttershy crash to the ground with a sharp cry of pain. Her heart froze solid, and she hoped very much that she would never ever have to hear that sound again. The pegasus’ wings were tangled in some sort of rope with two small balls attached to the ends, and even as the pegasus tried to stand, another set whisked in from out of sight to wrap around her forelegs, sending her down again.

From all around, ponies emerged from the shadows of the forest. Males and females of all colors, pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns all, every one of them garbed in heavy layers of dark-dyed cloth. Most of them had shaggy, unkempt manes, and some were twirling more odd ball-ended ropes in their mouth. Applejack let out a low growl, moving to stand over Fluttershy.

“Just run!” Fluttershy said, grimacing in pain. She lay completely still and unmoving, big teal eyes pleading with her, warring with her words and begging her to stay. It wasn’t as if Applejack herself wasn’t scared out of her mind too, but it mattered none. She didn’t make promises in jest.

“Told you we ain’t splitting up,” Applejack whispered out of the corner of her mouth, keeping her eyes on the approaching ponies.

Two dozen in number, they all halted a respectful distance away save for one. A deep blue earth pony mare of her own size stepped forward, a cruel grin on a weather-worn face framed by a short messy mane of grey. Layers of heavy clothing weighed her down, but she held her head high regardless.

“You’ll be coming with us,” she announced in a coarse voice obviously used to shouting. The surrounding ponies all nodded and grinned, as if though she had said something terribly funny.

“Why don’t you just come on over here and say that again,” Applejack snapped.

“I could. If I were stupid,” she retorted. “Or I could have you trussed up before you even took a single step.”

At her words, two of the ponies wielding the throw-ropes stepped forward, one a unicorn who spun his rope over his head with magic. Behind her, a particularly swarthy earth pony unfurled a net.

Applejack bit back the first reply that sprung to mind, as well as the second and the third. After a moment, she bent low to nuzzle Fluttershy. “You okay, sugar?”

“It hurts a bit,” Fluttershy admitted, swallowing. The pegasus twitched feebly and winced. “I think I’m okay. Please don’t do something silly. Let’s just go with them for now? Please?”

It took some work. Every fiber of Applejack’s being wanted to charge at the stupid blue mare and give her a good thrashing. Only after she’d taken a deep breath, and then another, did she manage to nod without the tension in her muscles causing her pain.

“Right. We’ll come along, then,” she said, the words stinging twice as much as any fight ever could.

That they spoke common—Equestrian, rather—was one thing. That they looked, walked and talked like ponies was another, even if they had manners that wouldn’t be appreciated even at an Apple family reunion at half past midnight, after the cider had come out to play. Despite it all, they certainly weren’t ponies if Applejack had anything to say on that matter. At least, they weren’t very good ponies.

Ponies didn’t abduct other ponies. Ponies didn’t force-march other ponies when it was obvious they were in pain, either. Walking through the deepening dusk of the forest, their captors joked and laughed in low voices whilst their leader walked right in front with her eyes ahead. They didn’t seem to be following any path Applejack could see, but they certainly seemed to know where they were going.

And with every step they took, it was painfully obvious that Fluttershy was avoiding putting weight on her right hindleg. They had bound her wings to her body, but every time she put the leg down, they tried to spread, and she hurried on to the next leg with a little wince.

“Think it’s broken?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t think so,” Fluttershy replied, grimacing.

“Quiet back there!” the leader of the pack snapped. “I won’t warn you again.”

“She’s hurt!” Applejack spat back. “I ain’t expecting you to care, but you can’t be thinkin’—”

“You’re right, I don’t,” the blue mare retorted, setting the others laughing and chuckling all around them. Applejack once again bit back her reply, but her hindlegs itched something fierce. Fluttershy said nothing, the pegasus mare unusually calm even for her as she moved a little closer to lean against Applejack. Their escort didn’t protest this, at least, though the laughter redoubled.

“Then at least tell us who the hay you folk are,” Applejack demanded. Rather than make good on her earlier threat, the blue mare grinned back at her, smug as a cat. They were finally leaving the forest’s grip, entering a large clearing. Here was part of the answer.

On the top of a gently sloping hill, a small village rested, smack dab in the middle of a huge patch of de-forested woodland layered in snow. Rather than hide behind a wall, the low wooden houses were surrounded by a great ring of sharpened wooden stakes, entire trees felled and pointing out at a low angle to deter interlopers. Smoke rose from many of the chimneys, and already Applejack could spot more ponies bustling about up ahead.

“I am Keen Eye, and we are the Split Tree ponies,” the leader of the band said, bringing attention back to herself. The mare had leapt up to stand on top of a tree stump, taking far too much pleasure in this. “And this is Longhall, our home.”

Applejack shrugged and grunted as she shifted her weight a bit to better support Fluttershy. “Great. If you’re waiting for some prize or something, you’ll be waiting for a while yet. Why’re you doin’ all this?”

“We don’t need a reason,” Keen Eye laughed. “Those who travel this road so poorly prepared are practically asking to donate to our cause.”

“Except for the part where you ain’t touched our saddlebags,” Applejack countered, again glancing at Fluttershy. The pegasus smiled back at her, but seemed reluctant to draw attention to herself.

“Well, aren’t you the sharp one,” came the reply with a raised brow.

“First time I’ve heard that one,” Applejack muttered.

“Might be that we were tipped off, little mare—” the blue earth pony continued, and Applejack decided not to interrupt her to comment that that made two firsts in one conversation. “—and you two are to be our salvation. You should feel honored that you get the chance to do so much for Longhall!”

At that, the ragged band of ponies burst into a huge round of cheers. Half of them chanted “Longhall!” while the other half made “Split Tree!” their cry. Applejack was sure she heard one or two “Keen Eye!” in there somewhere, but what they lacked in coordination, they made up for in zeal. Surrounded by dozens of loud, strangely garbed ponies, Applejack and Fluttershy were led past the wooden gates of Longhall.

The cheers redoubled when they entered the streets, a deafening cacophony of rowdy mares and stallions. Unicorns and earth ponies stomped the ground and pegasi criss-crossed the winter sky above them as they were paraded through the town. If Applejack had any hopes of getting any more words out their leader, they were quickly dashed to the ground. Keen Eye left their procession, leaving some other pony to lead them after a few words traded under the cover of the noise.

Large and flat one-story wooden buildings dotted the village, few of them small enough to be simple houses. When they strayed near to one of the other edges, Applejack could see a few small farms through the gaps in the stakes that surrounded them, but other than that and some chickens that ran loose in the streets, it didn’t seem like the type of town to supply itself. Bandits, then.

Finally, the noise died down. By the time they reached the opposite edge of the village, a scant dozen ponies were with them, still with nets and cruel glares at the ready. The new leader of their escort was a yellow pegasus stallion with an eyepatch, and at length he stopped outside of a small wooden building by the town’s edge, a shed-like structure barely bigger than Applejack’s bedroom.

“In!” he grunted, throwing the door open. “Leave your stuff here, and don’t try anything funny. I’ll leave one of my best outside. You make a fuss, and it’s no food for you.”

Fluttershy was already slipping out of her saddlebags and making for the door, the pegasus’ head held low. Quelling a surge of anger, leaving off with a glare at the swarthy pony’s demand, Applejack did the same and followed her inside. She cast their supplies and saddlebags one last glance only to see two earth ponies snatch the bags out of the snow and march off. A second later, the door closed, leaving them in the relative darkness of a room whose only features were a pile of dirty blankets and a single glassless window barely the width of Applejack’s hoof.

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Fluttershy asked, limping over to lie down on top of the blankets.

“We’ll get through this, but we ain’t gotten ourselves ‘into’ anything. That makes it sound like it’s our fault,” Applejack countered, sinking down atop the coarse fabric next to Fluttershy. “At least they let me keep my hat.”

---

Fluttershy leaned back against Applejack and tried to close her eyes, tried to sleep. When her leg wouldn’t stop throbbing, she finally rolled over onto her side, only to find that this left her staring out the one thin window of the shack. It was more of a missing piece of wood, really. Now, more than ever, she wanted to spread her wings and fly.

They had been so close. It was absurd to think like that, of course, but perspective was a powerful thing. She still remembered when she had stubbed one of her wings while helping some badgers deep inside Whitetail Woods; it had been a journey of hours to get back home. Then, it had felt like a terribly long time, and when she got back to Ponyville, she’d nearly cried with joy.

Now, they were somewhere inside a forest that might be bigger than Equestria itself, only given a vague promise that they were maybe somewhere nearby to their homeland. Yet for all that they had no guarantees, it had felt like a sure thing, like any hill could hide Ponyville’s village hall and all their friends. Like they were close.

Instead, they got a mockery of everything familiar. The ponies who had captured them were mean and wicked, and in an instant, hope had been replaced with smelly blankets and a twisted leg. Even as she tried to rest for lack of anything better to do, Fluttershy could hear the sounds of ponies walking and talking, laughing and shouting all around them. Among all the things they had seen and heard so far, this was surely the most alien.

“Sugar, please go to sleep,” Applejack said. Fluttershy craned her neck to look up at her, the earth mare sitting with forelegs folded at her side.

“Sorry?” she asked.

“You’re hurt, and there’s no telling what’ll happen next. The way you’re staring a hole in the wall is making me anxious,” Applejack said, leaning down to nuzzle her between the ears. “We ain’t down and out just yet. I’ll keep an eye out. You sleep.”

“I’m not tired,” Fluttershy admitted with a sigh.

“Your wings hurt?” Applejack asked.

“No. Just the leg.”

“Alright. Just lay still and move this here wing outta the way,” she commanded. After a moment’s hesitation, Fluttershy complied, spreading her one free wing. The moment she’d done so, Applejack slipped a gentle hoof underneath to hold it back, her other forehoof going to work on her side. Fluttershy let out another sigh, this one of contentment, as Applejack worked her free hoof in circles.

“I can hold the wing myself,” Fluttershy murmured.

Without comment, Applejack let go and put both her hooves to work, kneading muscles Fluttershy didn’t even know she had. Under her ministrations, the pegasus’ eyes soon slipped shut, and when she opened them again, the light outside had waned and Applejack had moved on to her neck. The ever-sleepier pegasus opened her mouth to say her thanks, but it came out an unintelligible mutter even to herself.

She had the vague sense that she had dreamt. It had been nonsense, neither the nightmares and terrible things that sometimes plagued her when things had been at their worst, nor the decidedly less terrible warmth and familiarity of the more pleasant dreams she sometimes had. All she remembered was something about a clock and a dragon wearing pajamas, and even that was fading rapidly. Why had she awoken again?

Outside, all was dark, and their little jail didn’t have the luxury of any light source. That, and it was cold. Part of it was because she lay atop of the blankets rather than snugly wrapped inside them, but something was missing.

Applejack, of course. Fluttershy was cold because Applejack was missing. She rubbed her bleary eyes with a foreleg and squinted, only now aware of a soft murmur. Applejack was standing by the now-open door talking to somepony else.

“Well, all I’m saying is that I can tell a good operation when I see one, and you’re sure as sugar pulling your weight,” Applejack said. Beyond the door, a thin voice replied, but whatever he said was lost to Fluttershy.

What was Applejack doing? For a brief moment, Fluttershy wondered if she’d gotten it all wrong, if she’d missed something. Was she trying to make nice with them? Why? Fluttershy struggled to stand, and at once regretted it; her leg gave out and she fell back down with a yelp.

Applejack glanced over at her, eyes widening in the sparse moonlight. She tossed a quick smile out the door, which shut quickly thereafter. A second later, Applejack was by her side.

“Oh for the sake of—are you okay? Sugar, talk to me!” she said. Fluttershy swallowed and groaned.

“Sorry, I just forgot about the leg,” she admitted, hanging her head.

“You need to keep off that leg. Can’t you just fly instead? Granted, ain’t much to see in here, so might as well just lay still,” she added with a bemused grin. Fluttershy nodded glumly, repeating herself, twice as earnest.

“Sorry.”

“Well, good news is, they’re haybrained as can be,” Applejack said. She got up, bit down on one of the blankets, and draped it over Fluttershy. Though Fluttershy made an inquisitive noise and looked over at Applejack hoping very much she’d explain, the earth mare took her time in walking around to lie down by her back before continuing.

“They know who we are. Elements and everything. Funny how everypony else seems to care a bunch more about that than we do. I ain’t exactly thinking about that when I’m out bucking apples, and the apples don’t care much either.”

“Oh. Oh goodness. That’s probably, um, not good. I think? What do they even want with us?” Fluttershy asked, half-turning her head so she could see Applejack. She felt a little silly for even wondering what Applejack had been doing, for almost doubting her for a second. Now she could see the plates of food on the floor by the door, clearly the reason why Applejack had been talking with the guard.

“That’s the funny part, if you think stupid is funny,” Applejack said, her mouth worked into a thin line. “Talked to the feller who’s standing guard this night, and he’s about as clever as rock that’s been dropped on its head. Was very keen on telling me all about their great plan to get one-up on the other forest pony tribes and clans.”

“How could we help?” Fluttershy asked, blinking. “They have plenty of pegasi and earth ponies here, and if they wanted us for something, couldn’t they just have asked nicely?”

“Oh it ain’t about help. They’re gonna ‘extort’ Equestria. Get weapons and supplies, they reckon, except they’re never gonna give us up,” she said. “There’s a bunch of tribes around here, and they want to set themselves up as the biggest of the big. Sounds to me like they’re about ready to invade Equestria, too.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, her jaw going slack, but the fear was nipped in the bud quite efficiently when Applejack rolled her eyes.

“The town, not all of them. Sug’, they’re a couple’a hundred ponies with nets and whatever. They get close to any of the border forts, they’ll get nothin’ but a clout on the ear and a hoof to the flank. If it weren’t for the whole ‘not gonna give us back’ bit, I’d be happy to sit here and wait and see what happens.”

Slowly finding her breath again, Fluttershy nodded. “Okay, um, I guess that’s good, but this means two things, then.”

“Alright? Shoot.”

“We really are close to Equestria,” Fluttershy said, her heart giving a little leap at that.

“Hadn’t thought of that, but true,” Applejack agreed, giving the door a foul look, as if though she wanted nothing more than to buck it down on the spot. “That’s worth something.”

“And someone told them about us, wanted them to do this,” Fluttershy added.

“She did say they were tipped off. Figure that’s our creepy stalker? Books, sandstorms, and now this?” Applejack puffed out her cheeks and exhaled, making one of Fluttershy’s ears twitch. “Ain’t that just grand. Since these jokers can’t really do much to harm to Equestria, it’s either some silly trick to hurt these forest ponies—”

“—or it’s all just to hurt us,” Fluttershy finished for her, curling up into a tighter ball. “What did we do?”

“Can’t think like that,” Applejack said, resting a foreleg atop her. “I’ll play nice with the guards, see what else I can learn. You just mind your leg and keep your head down unless you’re feeling up to it.”

“I just don’t think we’re going to talk our way out of this one,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Probably not. If’n I thought we could brawl our way through the whole village, I’d be happy to do just that, but there’re so many things we don’t know. Besides, talk might get us something else that’s useful. Maybe something for your leg?”

“I’m fine,” Fluttershy said, one amongst a hundred white little lies that Applejack saw straight through, the farmpony’s jaw set.

“Right. Anyway, like I said, the colt standing guard right now is green as summer grass, so I’ll see what we can get,” she concluded. “If they’re wanting to keep us here, ain’t no sense in treatin’ is so terribly we up and die on the spot, so.”

Fluttershy smiled and shook her head, her mane shifting atop her back.

“What?” Applejack demanded.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to sound—”

“Words without the garnish, sugar.”

Fluttershy came to a dead stop with her mouth hanging open. Applejack was staring back at her, dead serious for a few seconds before one corner of her mouth twitched. Fluttershy giggled, and Applejack joined in, her muted little chortles mixing with hers.

“I’m sorry!” Fluttershy said, lightly poking Applejack in the side. “I just meant to say that it’s a little strange to see you, um—”

“Planning?” Applejack hazarded with a wry grin. “Not barrelling ahead?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Fluttershy poking her again.

“I know, I know,” Applejack retorted with a placating shake of her head. “Don’t get me wrong sugar, I want nothing more’n to just make a fuss, but you need to plan how you’re gonna sow before you go buy the seeds, you know? I know we’re in some wooden shack close to the edge of town, but that’s it.”

“Just let me know what I can do to help,” Fluttershy nodded.

“Of course.”

The lay in silence, Fluttershy staring out the window, and Applejack’s gaze roaming their prison, occasionally leaning out to touch one of the nearby walls. Though it was deep night, and all was quiet except for the pacing of a single pony right outside, sleep came to neither of them. Fluttershy had slumbered the day away, anyway.

“I wonder what Rainbow Dash would have done,” Fluttershy mused.

“Y’mean like, how she’d get out of this mess? Got any ideas?”

“I’m just thinking out loud. I sometimes wonder what she would have done, that’s all,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Sugar, that ain’t news,” Applejack countered. “You thinking about R.D. won’t ever surprise me anymore.”

Fluttershy’s blush was thankfully lost in the darkness. “I guess she would just try to slip out the door first chance she got, if they caught her in the first place.”

Applejack guffawed. “If she was alone, maybe. If she was here with us, or with you anyway, they’d never get that far.”

“Sorry?”

“Second they got within five strides a’ you, she’d go ballistic on them, and you know it,” Applejack said, staring up at the ceiling. “Almost makes me wonder if we shouldn’t have just run for it. Maybe fought’em. Two dozen on two? We can do that.”

“Um,” Fluttershy intoned, having lost track of what exactly she was protesting, but her cheeks stung still, and her heart was fluttering.

“You ain’t noticed?” Applejack asked. “Back before the spell and everything, I was talking to Rainbow Dash about you, and she thought I’d said something that made you sad or whatever. She looked about to fly in my face in half a second.”

“Oh,” was all Fluttershy could say to that. “I guess she’s being a good friend. She would never abandon any of her friends.”

“Sugar, I ain’t talkin’ about no loyalty nonsense. Us six, we’re close and we’d do anything for each other, but she’s downright protective of you.” The farmpony looked almost surprised at that herself, frowning. “Huh. That makes a bunch of sense just thinking about it.”

Fluttershy’s heart made another little leap, and she was just about to reply when they were interrupted by a hammering on the door from outside. “Keep it down in there!” a stallion’s voice snapped.

Applejack and Fluttershy exchanged glances in the darkness, and the smile died on the pegasus’ lips.

“Good night,” Applejack whispered.

Comments

[Karrakaz]

I know that protective instinct AJ is talking about, just reading this makes my blood boil

[JAG]

So, the anti-Equestria pony tribes Celestia mentioned. Sweet. I'd completely forgotten about them, figured the forest's residents would be deer or something. And they're trying to be extortionists. Dash alone will probably wreck them if they actually go through with this plan. Poor idiots.

That said... there's still the mystery stalker. If they can weaponize sandstorms, they might be a problem. I'm going to guess who-or-whatever it is has some connection to Nightmare Moon. Maybe the teleportation fiasco released some of her power from the armor fragment, and it's trying to keep the Elements separated.

[LongshotLink]

I'll be honest, I think whatever is harassing them, sending the book to the Prince or King or whatever he was back in the desert town, sending a sandstorm at them that stayed with around them, and then with the whole stalking and not leaving a trace? I think it's the unicorn AI from the tower, still trying to do them in for escaping with knowledge they shouldn't have.

[JAG]

^ That would be my second guess. He said that "my service is at an end" or something before self-destructing the Dreamspire, but I suppose he could've been lying.

...wait. Brighthoof! We never did get a definitive answer as to what happened to him. Maybe Castellan brainwashed him, magically extended his lifespan, and is using him to keep the secret safe. It's an option, anyway.

[Kapuchu]

I kinda imagined Twilight completely blowing those 12 wild-ponies off of their legs in a single sweep of her glowing horn.

Applejack alone would be plenty to take down every one of them if not for the damned Unicorns though.

[mrmayortheiv]

“She’s hurt!” Applejack spat back. “I ain’t expecting you to care, but you can’t be thinkin’—”
“You’re right, I don’t,” the blue mare retorted, setting the others laughing and chuckling all around them.

Is it weird that when I read this I REALLY wanted to go through my laptop screen at her... and I may have fantasized wringing her neck a couple times before I caught myself

[Zuka]

This is just speculation, but it seems that so far whenever this 'unknown presence' has thrown something at them, things have turned out for the better because of it. I doubt this was the original intention of the 'unknown presence', but nonetheless, I thankful for it. In the case of the book, Applejack and Fluttershy would never have gotten captured. This means that they would have likely never received anything from the Prince's storerooms, especially that magic bottle. If they hadn't of dealt with the Prince and just continued on through the desert, then they would have likely run out of supplies (mainly water). In the case of the sandstorm, they would have found the tower thing whether the sandstorm was going on or not. However if it hadn't been continually raging then AJ and FL would have likely just stayed there for the night and then moved on. They would have never discovered the underground passage that shielded them from the harsh effects of the desert. Which brings us to the most recent thing, the Longhall residents being tipped off. I am curious to see where this leads.