Sombra: The Shadow Over Ponyville

by Blaster Master

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Applejack was working in the east orchard, doing her usual circuit of apple bucking, when she saw that sick tree again. It had been a week since she had kicked the diseased tree. She and Big Macintosh had brought a two-pony saw to cut it down the next day, but had suddenly remembered a prior engagement. They had forgotten about the tree since then.

That ain’t very like myself to forget a dyin’ tree in my orchard Applejack thought to herself. For the whole week, whenever her attention went back to this tree, she found herself remembering something more important. But now it was the opposite effect, she had a feeling as if the sick tree was calling for her. As she approached it, she noticed the strangest thing.

An apple.

This wouldn’t be so strange, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was coming out of the diseased tree. And this apple certainly wasn’t diseased. It shined bright and red just like the other Red Delicious apples. As if on cue, the apple dropped right off its branch and landed a few feet from the farmer pony. She trotted over to it, scooped it up in one hoof and inspected it. Not a rotten spot or a bruise anywhere on it.

A thought entered Applejack’s head that sounded like hers, but was not her own:

I sure am hungry.

But I had plenty for breakfast! She thought back to herself, surprised.

A bite won’t hurt.

This apple’s mighty suspicious… She thought

But it looks so good.

“I reckon it does look pretty good,” the cowgirl said to herself quietly. With only the slightest of hesitations, she took a bite from the apple and gasped. The moment the apple’s insides hit her tongue, she was enraptured. Her taste buds sang and nearly did a rodeo jig right out of her mouth in delight. Before she had even swallowed her first mouthful, she stuffed the whole apple into her mouth and chewed greedily. She savored the taste for as long as she could. Then she swallowed and sat down, contented.

“Boy howdy, that was better than poppy seeds in a-AARG!!”

Applejack suddenly convulsed in agony. Shockwaves of pain were rippling through her. She cried out, but this deep into the fields, no one was going to hear her. Her stomach felt like something was alive in it trying to fight its way out. She looked down at herself and nearly screamed.

There was something wriggling under her skin.

From her stomach, it went out to her legs and up her neck. Applejack started to go numb, losing feeling in her legs. She collapsed and her apple baskets spilt their contents all over. She rolled over on her back and kicked at the sky with what little feeling she had, powerless to stop what was happening.

What was in that apple!?, Applejack thought, terrified, as her vision started to go black, What in the name of Celestia was in that apple!?

Abruptly, AJ gave a last sudden jerk and finally was still.

Applejack did not even breathe for a few seconds.

And then she stood up uneasily. Her eyes were glowing green with red pupils, and her movements were jerky and uncoordinated, as if she lacked sleep.

Cooooome tooooo meeeee…

A dark voice echoed in what remained of Applejack’s mind. Following the instructions, the Earth Pony began her mindless march; away from Sweet Apple Arces, and towards the Everfree Forest.

And now I have Her strength…

***

“What do you mean Applejack’s missing?”

“I mean just that Twi!” Applebloom exclaimed, on the edge of hysteria “She went to harvest the east orchard and never came back! That was yesterday!”

“Calm down, Applebloom!” Twilight said, trying to be reassuring, “Is there anywhere Applejack might have gone?”

“I dunno!” Applebloom cried “She didn’t have no trips planned or nothin’! She just vanished!”

“Is there anything in the east orchard that’s unusual?”

Applebloom opened her mouth to tell her about that strange tree, about how Applejack hadn’t been able to knock it down and had been right furious about it. But… It slipped out of her mind like a soap bar in a wet hoof.

“No,” Applebloom said, “Nothing at all. Oh, what are we gonna do Twi? What if she’s hurt? Or lost?!”

“I’ll talk to the mayor and ask her to organize a search party for the surrounding area. We’ll find her Applebloom, I promise!”

***

Mayor Mare pulled out all the stops for the search party: fliers were put up, bulletins were put out, rewards were offered, and groups of ponies were dispatched to all corners of Ponyville and the surrounding wilderness in the search for Ponyville’s best applebucker.

***
Fluttershy was searching near Froggy Bottom Bog, along with a group of birds who offered to help Fluttershy look for Applejack.

“I wonder if Applejack is OK…” Fluttershy said sullenly, partly to her escorts and partly to herself.

A Bluejay whistled sweetly to her.

“Oh! Well, yes she did, but that was very different! She actually left us a letter telling us she was ok the last time she disappeared. But this time we don’t have anything!”

A Humming Bird piped in with a musical tweet of its own.

“Yes, she really is, isn’t she? You’re right! I’m sure she’s OK! Wherever she is…”

Suddenly, one of the birds gave a terrified squawk. Fluttershy whirled around to see what looked like a root coming out of the bog and holding a terrified bird.

“Ms. Meadowlark!” Fluttershy cried.

As if it had seen it was caught, the root began to pull away, slicing through the swampy water and heading away from the Pegasus. Without thinking about anything but the safety of her bird friend, Fluttershy took off after Ms. Meadowlark, flying just over the water. The other birds gave chase as well.

The fleeing root zigzagged amongst the swamp growing trees, trying to shake Fluttershy, but she refused to be shaken; avoiding obstacles and keeping good pace. “Don’t be scared Ms. Meadowlark!” Fluttershy called, “I’m coming!”

So focused was she on Ms. Meadowlark’s safety, she never noticed that her escort birds behind her were being picked off one by one. As they flew too close to the surface of the murky water, roots like gnarled hands reached up and snapped them out of the air, dragging them into the quagmire.

After a few minutes of chasing, Ms. Meadowlark’s captive root finally came to rest within the roots under a Maregrove tree.

“Don’t worry Ms. Meadowlark, I’ve got you” She reassured the bird as she tried to pry the wooden ‘fingers’ off of the bird. Suddenly the roots of the tree shifted and interlocked, forming a cage. And then it began to sink.

Fluttershy saw the tree lowering over her head, but couldn’t leave without Ms. Meadowlark. The bird squawked at her.

“No! I won’t leave you!” Fluttershy pulled on the roots holding the bird hostage, but they were too strong, and too slick with mud. The murky water was up to Fluttershy’s waist before she realized it was useless. She spun around to the wooden bars of her prison and screamed for help. From somepony. From anypony.

But as Fluttershy sunk beneath the fetid water, no one heard her cries.

Now I have Her kindness…

***

Rainbow Dash crisscrossed the sky looking for Applejack. She had done a fly over of all of Sweet Apple Acres, all of Ponyville, and even the entirety of White Tail Woods. She was currently inspecting Ghastly Gorge, a place she knew well, having run through it more than a dozen times.

The longer this search went on, the more concerned RD got for Applejack. Among the six friends, Rainbow Dash had a special connection to Applejack: they competed all the time, which built up quite a rapport between the two. They had a mutual respect and admiration for each other’s talents and skills. And the thought of something bad befalling AJ made Rainbow’s guts tighten up in anxiety.

As she swept the gorge for any sign of that familiar hat, she spotted something that made her start:

A storm cloud, black and billowy, on its own in the middle of the sky.

“Huh?” She found herself talking to herself, “I did the weather around here this morning and there wasn’t a storm cloud in the sky when I was done. Where did you come from?”

She flew over to it, never sensing the trap she was about to fall into.

“Alright buster,” Rainbow Dash said, addressing the cloud, “I’m not getting my pay docked because somepony in Cloudsdale thinks I skipped on the schedule. Time for some cloud busting!” She pulled her forehoof back to karate chop the cloud, but suddenly it grumbled and arced out a bolt of purple lightning at her. She dodged it, but not before getting her forehoof singed by a grazing shot.

“OW! Hey! You little-Whoa!” Rainbow Dash adeptly avoided another bolt from the cloud. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash heard more grumbling, like thunder, behind her. She turned to see a formation of eight storm clouds moving from behind a cluster of white clouds to surround her. Rainbow didn’t know what was going on, but she knew enough to know it wasn’t time to stick around. She made to dash back towards Ponyville, but the clouds worked in perfect formation, closing her path and arcing more of that weird purple lightning at her. She did a corkscrew and changed directions, hoping to throw off their aim. They were surrounding her on the front, back, left, right, and above, which left only one direction. She sped like a bullet down into the gorge. Most of them followed her, firing lighting after her, blasting apart rocks all over the place, but some of them kept above her, keeping her from raising enough to get out of the gorge.

As she raced against the clouds, she saw the end of the gorge coming up and suddenly realized what was happening; they were forcing her into the gorge, and running her right into the dead-end. And once she had run out of gorge, all her speed would be useless without maneuvering room. She might be able to Sonic Rainboom her way through the clouds, but she needed space to gather speed, and space was something she was rapidly running out of.

She finally settled on one last gamble, it had to work or her goose was cooked. She flew straight at the cliff face, building as much speed as possible. One of the lightning bolts grazed her flank and she felt static electricity tingle up her spine. At the last moment, she did a near ninety degree angle turn straight up, hoping it would confuse the clouds and let her get out of the gorge. The bolts came in faster now, firing frantically to try and stop her, but she was almost out! Almost!

And then she felt pain unlike anything in her life.

She had accidentally discharged lightning clouds into herself before, what filly learning to control the weather hasn’t? She knew what natural electricity felt like, and this wasn’t it. This hurt a lot more. Every one of her nerve endings was on fire as the dark energy coursed through her.

And she had only a brief respite from the first bolt, before another four hit her square in the back. Her scream echoes along the entirety of Ghastly Gorge, but no one was close enough to hear. Only Rainbow Dash dared to brave Ghastly Gorge alone, after all. She started to lose consciousness as she fell, her wings numb. As her eyelids closed, she wondered if it would hurt when she hit the ground. But before she could find out, a black cloud swooped in underneath her and caught the falling Pegasus.

Her Speed is mine…