My Little Pony: Blackened Hearts and Polished Boots

by Alphony Omaregon

Chapter 5: The Serpent Beneath

Chapter 5: The Serpent Beneath

“I see you are all awake.”

The five bed-bound ponies looked towards the doctor as he stepped into the hospital room. He was a brown pegasus pony with spectacles and a coat. Two nurses, Twilight and Spike followed him in immediately after. “How are you feeling?” their friend asked them.

“Lousy.”

“Simply awful!”

“… not so good.”

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY WINGS?!” Rainbow Dash flailed in her bed, her voice shrill with panic.

Twilight hurried over to her side, the doctor following. “It’s okay, Dash. It’s not permanent.” She said, resting her hooves on her friend’s shoulders. “Hydra Venom has an unique effect unlike any other member of the Medusozoa Family: when ingested into the body of a pony, his or her racial abilities are neutralized.” The doctor explained.

“That is to say that you and Fluttershy’s wings are in no condition for flying just yet. Rarity’s horn can’t cast spells, and Pinkie and AJ are much weaker.” The Doctor concluded.

“How long until we’re back to our usual selves, Doctor?” Asked Rarity, who stared longingly at the glass of water on her bedside table.

“It could be anywhere from a week to 14 days, Rarity.”
Twilight answered, earning an annoyed glance from the Doctor.

“You will need daily endurance training to regain use of your wings, horn, and strength.” The Doctor told them.

“Ugh, you mean I gotta learn how to fly again?!” moaned Rainbow Dash pitifully.

“Not exactly.” The Doctor said, taking out a corkscrew notepad. “By tomorrow, you should be able to fly; barely. That’s when your training will begin.”

“And I’ll be there with each and every one of you.” Twilight promised.

“And I’m not leaving her sight.” Spike added, standing protectively beside the purple unicorn.

The Doctor flipped through the notepad with his mouth. “I have your schedules here, if any of you would like to see.”

Rainbow Dash grabbed the notepad from him. “Hmph. First thing in the morning. Works for me!” she handed it back.

The Doctor handed the notepad to the others, As Pinkie Pie handed it back to the Doctor, Applejack grabbed it, reading it slowly.

“Ah Don’t see Big Mac’s name in this schedules.” She flipped the page. “No Apple Bloom… No Granny Smith…” She dropped the notepad on her lap. “Nothing.” She glared at The Doctor, who had slipped behind Twilight.

“I’m Sorry, Applejack.” She said, stepping up to the edge of the farmer’s bed. “You see, After you were all taken to the hospital, I remembered what Partridge had said about Hydra Venom, and how rare the cure was. So, Spike and I headed for the Everfree…

---

… How much further is it?” Spike asked, laying across Twilight’s back with his eyes half closed.

“I think we’re almost there.” Twilight reassured him. The forest was black as ink, the path beneath Twilight’s hooves melted into existence under the light of her illumination spell. They had set off after a brief explanation to the guards at Sweet Apple Acres, and the sun had set entirely since they left.

Twilight was fully aware of the dangers of the Everfree at night; It was the Hydra’s Venom that Twilight didn’t fully understand. She did not know how long an antidote was viable for; she did not know how you would feed a petrified pony. Even the possibility- no matter how slim, of losing one of her friends had set her on this dirty, wild path, that became more overgrown with roots and plants by the second.

“I think I see light!” she told Spike excitedly, peering into the distance, where sure enough, a perfect circle of orange light flickered invitingly in the blackness. Galloping through the bushes, Twilight emerged into the ash covered clearing where once a great hollow tree stood. The window she had seen from the forest was a piece of the burnt hut, and a torch stuck into the ground behind it.

Twilight nudged Spike off her back. “What happened?!” he cried as his feet hit the warm ash. “Partridge.” Twilight whispered, Her hatred for the despicable stallion growing by the second. It was a daunting task to earn Twilight’s contempt; not even the Great and Powerful Trixie had managed that.

“Twilight! Over here!”

Twilight looked up and over to see Spike holding a bottle in his claws.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked, galloping over.

“I don’t know, but it’s the only bottle he didn’t smash!”

“Let me see it.” Twilight picked up the bottle and held it before her face in her magic aura. Turning it over, she found a note written on the side.

Twilight Sparkle.
If you are reading this, then I misjudged you. Savour that for a moment…
…
We have the zebra. You will not find her. She is lost to you,
I take responsibility, But your friends need not join her.
This bottle contains five doses of The antivenom that will revert the petrification. Dividing the contents even once more would render them all insufficient.
You cannot save everyone.

---

Why won’t she say anything? Twilight thought as her story came to an end. Applejack had watched her calmly from her bed, eyes half shut, but entirely focussed.

“Ah Understand.”

Twilight let out a deep breath. “Thank Celestia, I-“

“Ah Understand,” Repeated Applejack, shifting in bed to be level with Twilight. “That the Apple Family was obviously second place to the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight fumbled, her ears folding as she stammered. “No! well… It’s not like that! I mean: we-“

Applejack closed her eyes and let out a pained sigh. “Ah understand, Twilight. That wasn’t no accusation, Sugarcube. We’re the Elements of Harmony: That outweighs all bonds, Friends, Family… even ourselves. It’s good you were the one to find that bottle, Twilight. Truth be told…” She paused, looking at her sheets. “A’hm not sure Ah could have put the elements before my own family.”

Twilight stepped forward, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “Applejack I’m-“

“Ah Don’t blame you, Twi. I blame that snake in the grass, Partridge.”

“Snake is right, he even had a snake cutie mark.” Spike added.

“Beg your pardon?”

Spike looked at Twilight, offput by Applejack’s sudden change: her voice had gone from tired and resigned, to dangerously alert. He preferred it when she was tired.

“Well, It’s like Spike said.” Twilight began, sharing a concerned look with the others. “When Spike lit up his cloak, he ran for the pig pen, and doused himself in the trough.”

Pinkie pie snorted with laughter from her bed.

“When he hopped out, we saw that he had dyed his coat black: It was actually dark blue, and his mane was green, like his eyes. His cutie mark was three fangs, like a snake. but I don’t understand the meaning.”

“Ah reckon ah do.” Applejack said, her eyes narrowing as she stared at her sheets. “When Granny Smith was right about Apple Bloom’s age, she and my family moved here, and settled in what is now Ponyville, as y’all might’ve known.”

By Twilight’s eager nodding, and the other’s blank faced stares, she realized it may not have been common knowledge.

“What even Twi don’t know, is –why- we moved here. The truth is; we were forced to abandon our home.” She met the attentive gazes of her friends as she continued. “Back before we were the Apple family, we were the Smith family. We came from the Western Shore of Equestria, The town of Colt Stream, just outside Vanhoover. There were two major families in Colt Stream. The Smiths, and the Snakes.”

“Snakes? Sound nasty!” Pinkie blurted.

“Snakes are very kind creatures if you give them love and attention.” Fluttershy lectured from her bed.

“As ah was saying…” Applejack scowled. “Now, the TransEquestria Railway wasn’t quite done yet. Only way to Vanhoover was to, heh… Hoof it. Now, crossing a continent on your own four legs? That’s tough work. Crossing a continent without food, and a thick set of boots? That’s Impossible. We provided the food with our orchard. On the other end of town, the Snake family set up their own shop. While we Apples tended to our trees and lived peacefully off the land, the Snake family set out with ropes and knives, hunting the local reptiles for their skin.”

Fluttershy gave a horrified whimper from her bed.

“Sorry, Sugarcube, but that’s just history for ya. The Snake family made quite a bit of cash hunting the local critters. We didn’t like it that they skinned critters for boots, but it was how they made a livin’. But then? Then they got real greedy. Started using traps. They’d set up food poisoned with the venom of the snakes they were catching!”

“How the hay is that fair?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, crossed.

“Snake family didn’t care, it was easier then heading out to find them anymore. It got so bad, that even the birds and rabbits they weren’t hunting were ending up sick from the poisoned food that the snakes didn’t eat. Eventually, the forest outside the town was empty. The only wild critters fer a’ mile were in our orchard, livin between the trees or under the old equipment.

Old Split Tongue was head of the Snakes, and he came knocking on Great grandpa Smith’s door one night, beggin’ us to let his family of troublesome poachers on our land!”

“He said no, right?” Spike asked, peeking over the edge of Applejack’s bed. Applejack nodded.

“Darn toot’n he did! He told him it was his own fault, and that was the honest truth.”

“I take it Split Tongue didn’t take it so well..?” Asked Twilight.

“Great Grandpa Smith caught him and his son, Tanner that very night slither’in ‘round the property with their traps and their poison. So him and Grand Uncle Jonathan grabbed Split Tongue and his son and bucked them right off the property. That morning, Great Grandpa Smith and Jonathan went straight to the Sheriff’s office to report it, and as they passed by the Snake family’s tanning booth, they saw it was boarded up, deserted, gone.”

Applejack shook her head. “That ought’ve got the Red flags waving, but Ttey was so glad to have the snakes outta their manes, they celebrated the Apple Family way:”

“Parties?”

“Work.” Applejack smiled proudly. “They picked the orchard dry before lunch!

“I can see where this is going.” Spike said, worriedly writhing his hands together.

“Quick as a hiccup ain’tcha, Spike?” Applejack said. “The Snakes poisoned the apples. Grand Uncle Jonathan, and Great Grandpa Smith were paralyzed. Granny Smith and her mother had to go find a cure for it. Thankfully, they found a Deer herbalist who sold them a cure in Vanhoover, but when they got back to the orchard, the Trees had died. They had to sell the property, and pack up their belongings, and look for somewhere to start fresh. That’s how we came to Ponyville.”

Applejack sighed, looking between each of her friends. “And now, it’s happening all over again: If Ah don’t find a cure for my family…” She faltered, swallowing the lump in her throat. “I’ll save them, even If ah have to take this snake out back and –“ Twilight put a hoof on her friends shoulder as Applejack’s frustration threatened to boil over. “Applejack… The Farm…”

“The Farm has been contaminated.”

Applejack and the others looked to the Doctor as he spoke, all except Twilight.
“Sweet Apple Acres?” the Farmer asked, dumbstruck. Twilight nodded slowly. “Some of the Guards checked the apples; they're all filled with venom. The Mayor has ponies clearing them out now. She says it’s a matter of Ponyville’s safety.”

“It wouldn’t be a problem if ponies stayed the buck off her farm until she’s out of here!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“No… It’s the right thing to do…” Applejack said, tears building in her big, green eyes. “Ah think ah need some time to think about all this, Twi…” She added, flipping over to face the window.

Twilight gave her friend’s hoof a gentle squeeze, before turning towards the door. “I’ll be here in the morning, Every day until you are all better. I promise.” She said to her friends. They each mumbled or said their goodbyes, giving the bundled up blankets that were their friend Applejack a worried look.

The Doctor followed Twilight out the double doors. “Get lots of sleep, you will be needing it tomorrow. “

End.