Apple Bloom and the Golden Apples

by Animegx43

A Small Change In Plans

I've been talking about how miserable I was at everything that happened. Now, I think I should share with you on how Apple Bloom had been feeling.

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As she was told to, Apple Bloom went straight to school, but didn't keep her promise to not worry about the family. As she walked from Sweet Apple Acres to her school, she looked down in gloom as she thought about everything that had been happening. She walked through the streets of Ponyville to get to her school, but she practically forgot where she was even going, as her brain seemed to push every other thought out of her mind. She didn't even notice when her friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, started to walk beside and talk with her.

She was told everything would be fine, but she wasn’t dumb. She pieced it all together and knew that Applejack took her place for Pando's revenge. She knew that when she would come home, Applejack wouldn't be there. She had nothing to say about it. She had no reaction to it. She did not know to to act with the idea of losing one's sister. Her mind was blanker than her flank.

"Apple Bloom? Are you alright?" Sweetie Belle asked.

That was when Apple Bloom finally felt something on her face. Dripping down from her eye came a single, well held tear as Apple Bloom accepted the idea that she had lost her older sister.

Apple Bloom wouldn't even say anything until their first recess, and even then, she didn't feel talkative. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle did manage to get Apple Bloom to talk eventually, but it was by no means easy. She told them everything, from who Pando Everfree was to her conclusion of Applejack's sacrifice. The girls were stunned by what they had learned. Even they had a hard time thinking of something to say.

"I'm... really sorry, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo said. "I'm not sure how much harder it can get than that."

"I wouldn't even want to think about what it would be like if I lost Rarity like that," Sweetie Belle said. "I don't know what to say.”

Apple Bloom became silent again, as talking to her friends didn't help her at all, but they didn't want to see her upset again. While they couldn't stop her from crying, they knew that the least they could do was to be by her side. They both sat down next to Apple Bloom, put one of their hooves around her so they could, if nothing else, try to ease her pain.

"Thanks, girls," Apple Bloom finally said sadly, but with a small smile. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

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What she didn't realize that was that Applejack wasn't dead yet. Sometime before recess even started...

Back at the Everfree Forest, Pando Everfree nearly gave her the execution, until she said something that stopped him. While he could've impaled Applejack right there and then, he wanted her to explain herself regarding the last words she had said.

"I beg your pardon?" Applejack asked.

"You said you and the girl ate a lot of the golden apple, did you not?"

"Well actually, I ate the smallest piece. It was the girls who found the darn thing, so of course they deserved the larger piece."

"Girls? And in... Oh, that's right," Pando said as he realized something. "There were three of them that took Limproot, wasn’t there. But I digress. Since you had such a small piece, you don't suppose you could have somehow ate the seed, did you?"

"Pff. I've been eating apples all my life. If a seed got into my mouth, I would've spit it back out like it was an orange."

Pando closed his eyes and thought deeply. He believed Applejack when she said that she didn't eat the seed by accident, but since the apple was eaten down to its core, the idea that it was eaten was still a distinct possibility.

Actually, whenever I prepare a meal with a golden apple, the first thing I always do is to remove the seed for me to return to Pando, and every single time I've done so, it's always right there in the core. Even I would believe that it’s possible to eat the one and only seed by mistake.

"If that's the case, then do you know if the fillies that stole Limproot's seed ate it or not?" Pando asked.

"Well... I guess they could've, but if they ate it, then they ate it. What can you do?"

Having no further business with Applejack, he released the grip his root had on her and allowed her to drop back onto the ground, although it was a fairly painful landing due to the height. Naturally, she was confused by the sudden change of heart.

"Hold on there, cowboy! You're letting me go?"

"Yes. My revenge is meaningless now. Since there's now a chance for Limproot to return to me, I have no further reason to quarrel with your family today. Instead, I'll simply try take my child back myself."

At that moment, Pando began to shake his entire being, allowing thousands of seeds to fall from his branches. I have to note, even I didn't know Pando could move his body like that. In fact, seeing as he's a tree, I didn't know he could move at all.

"Rise, my worthless servants. Your master calls!"

The ground began to glow in an ominous green aura as the seeds quickly sprouted, and in a matter of moments, they grew into fully grown trees. As soon as the trees stopped growing, they were magically ripped out of the ground and torn apart, creating thousands of pedicels of wooden logs which were lifted up into the air. The branches and leaves began to re-shape and merge with one another. When the whole process was finished, Applejack realized what Pando done. He had created an army of timberwolves from scratch.

"Wow. So that's where they come from," Applejack said.

"Three young ponies came here and took Limproot away from me the other day," Pando said to the wolves. "You are all to track them down and bring each one back to me alive. Do not return until you have captured all three, but you must bring them all back to me alive!"

Given their orders, the timberwolves made a short dash to a nearby dead tree, which was the tree that Pando used to call Limproot, and gave the ground a sniff. After catching the scent, the pack growled and ran out of the forest to track down their prey, which happened to include my own granddaughter.

"Hey, can you explain to me what you want with the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Applejack asked, concerned.

"The who? I'm having them track down the girls who took Limproot. If I'm correct, one of them may still have the seed in one of their stomachs, but I'll never know unless I check..."

"Hey hey hey, the deal was that you kill me and not Apple Blo

om, the other girls aren't even involved with this!"

"They have no business with you or your family, so why do you care? As for your sister, if the seed really isn't in her or her friend's stomachs, then I'll have no reason to kill you after all."

"We had a deal, Barkface, and there's no way I'll let you hurt those kids!"

Pando grew bored of Applejack. Since he didn't want to kill her anymore, he did the next best thing. Giant wooden spikes began to emerge from the ground in a blink of an eye, one directly in front of Applejack, one from behind, two at the sides, and before she could react, she found herself to be trapped inside a circle of wooden spikes.

"I will free you, once I'm done ripping the children into bloody shreds. Limproot's seed will return to me, and I'll gladly take it over petty vendetta."

Applejack was horrified by the sudden betrayal. She came down to to Everfree Forest to spare her little sister a horrible fate, but ultimately caused Apple Bloom to potentially go through an even more torturous death, and to make matters worse, Applejack, knowing that she was trapped by Pando Everfree, would likely have to witness the suffering.
She knew, right there and then, that everything was only going to get worse.

Author's Note:

Yeah...on the bright side, Applejack is gonna live. :)

The bad news, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle might not. :(

Comments

[CMC4TW]

Seeing as how Apple Bloom's courage in the face of danger is the premise of the story, I think we can say she'll survive. Otherwise, the opening statement that Apple Bloom handled the events of the story perfectly will be a lie. It doesn't mean that SB and Scoots will live, but Pando would seem less powerful than I think he is if they died because of his stupidity.

[Animegx43]

2308836
Aww, you think Pando is stupid?

[CMC4TW]

2309356

More like the stupid of foolishness than actual knowledge. There's no telling how ancient he is, thus giving no real perception to what he can think.

[Animegx43]

2310959
Well the way I see it, if someone's willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to save their child, they'd probably be as extreme as Pando.

[aurorablaze]

Mmm... You've got a good plotline going here, I'll give you that. :D This really deserves more attention! However, there are some grammar mistakes and some odd wording - if you're writing this from the granny's POV, then there are some things you have here that I can't imagine an old person saying. xD Some of the time you aren't indicating who's speaking either. I'd have to re-read it a few times, which I of course don't mind doing :P, but I can offer to proofread it through for you if you like.

Anyway, yay for Applejack! I love your characterization of her, she's so selfless here. But why can't Pando just wait for the ponies to... excrete the seed out, if I could be so blunt? xD I know there wouldn't be any story to it otherwise, but... lol.

[Animegx43]

2312110
Proofreading ain't my strongest point, so sorry for the grammer mistake, I sometimes don't say who's speaking cause it felt like those times are pretty obvious to me. In the future, I'll be sure to take extra precautions so that doesn't happen again. As for Pando, his character thinks very little of ponies, so one of their lives don't mean a whole lot to him.

Thanks for commenting. I'll consider it all when I write the rest.

[aurorablaze]

2313190 Well, yeah... I meant that I can do the proofreading part for you if you like, and send you a fixed version. xD If you'd prefer not, that's fine. :D
And no problem, I can't wait to see where you go with this. :D

[Animegx43]

2313709
Hmm. I may have to take you up on that offer.

[aurorablaze]

2314229 Lovely! I'll get started soon for you then. :D

[Animegx43]

2315113
Well at least wait until I actually upload a new chapter.