Apples

by Ninjab33z

exile

"CELESTIA!" Twilight knew this could only end badly. "I'm sorry; I didn't see you there. What is that apple?" Twilight motioned toward the apple which had become a stalk in Applejacks mouth.
"I couldn't help it, it just tasted too good" she explained.
In this time Celestia's expression had changed from angry to distressed.
She started muttering to herself. "Why her? Out of all the ponies in Equestria it had to be her. I wouldn't be so hard if it was just Applejack but her too is just..." she trailed of and looked up with a stern expression even though tears were trickling down.
"Princess? You sound like we just died." Twilight's voice quivered with worry.
"You... you may as well have done," She sighed, "I suppose this warrants an explanation," she said looking at the two frightened faces in front of her.

"A long while ago, before I came to power, Discord ruled Equestria. He planted some apple trees that cause dramatic revelations among ponies that vary depending on the apple. Some were useful such as one apple that that helped one pony provide great advances in magical power but also made him incredibly snappy. You may have heard that after some of his best creations, Starswirl The Bearded simply disappeared but that's not quite the case. I had to banish him; the chaos he caused was simply too much for Canterlot. One time, he nearly killed a pony simply for stating that they disliked carrots. I had to personally remove him and after that I said no matter what, I would banish any pony that has eaten one of Discord's apples and I intend to hold myself to it." Her face softened slightly," I once went to a forest where one tree produced apples that let anyone speak fluent germane. I had an interesting conversation with a turtle about the meaning of life" Celestia returned to a stony expression." I'll send you to an island called Nightfire, it's not inhabited by any ponies but is still a nice place compared to other places I've sent ponies."

"But... but Celestia..." Twilight started all that came out after that were stifled sobs
Applejack put her foreleg around Twilight's shoulder. "Twilight, I think we should go, the princess isn't going to change her mind and arguing will just make it harder for her."
Unable to get any words out between the sobs Twilight just nodded.
"Thank you girls, I could never live myself down if I let you two go free but not the next pony. I'll give you one hour to pack provisions but you cannot leave the house."
The pair silently nodded and set to work.

Dawn was peeking over the horizon when Twilight and Applejack were ready to go. Twilight was finally able to form sentences. They both wore fully packed saddlebags with a light dress on underneath.
"I'm so sorry about this." Celestia's horn began to glow and release beams of light until two beams to focus on the girls. Twilight's vision through her tears began to fade until all that she could see was a piercing white light that forced her to shut her eyes.

Twilight awoke to find something nudging her in the neck and something digging in to her flank. Rolling over to avoid them both she muttered something about five more minutes.
"Twi? We kinda have a problem." A faint voice sounded behind her, snapping her back to a reality which decided to hit her like a brick wall. Turning around to look at Applejack she started to get up. Something stopped her. Glancing up at Applejack's face she saw what she presumed to be the problem. Applejack had acquired a horn. All the sorrow in the world couldn't have stopped her from laughing at the new limb. It was long, slender and the colour was a dirty straw brown.
"This isn't a laughing matter!" Applejack complained but her words were lost on Twilight.
After a few minutes passed of Applejack grumbling and Twilight in a fit of laughter, Twilight was calm enough to speak.
"I'm so sorry, Applejack. That was just too funny." Twilight glanced around and her smile died.

She saw she was in a forest but that is where the things she knew ended. There were two noticeable things about it. The first was the colour. Although black, when the light shone on it, there was a multitude of colours that would put a rainboom to shame. The second thing was its shape. The easiest description would have to be the outside of a beehive and when you stare at it for too long it seems to pulsate. Twilight decided to touch it, it wobbled like jelly and felt very similar to beeswax. She was sure this was a hive of some sort. It felt weird. Almost Alien.

Twilight wanted to examine this strange wall but she thought about what her curiosity had done for her so far and left it alone. She brought up what meager knowledge she had on medical aid from the depths of her brain and had a look at Applejack's horn. She set to work prodding and poking it until she was sure it was real. Picking a random direction, the two of them decided to head off. Twilight got straight to work in bombarding her new student with spells for the rest of the day.

The sun set as Twilight was teaching Applejack a spell that starts a fire. After a couple of failed attempts, a small bonfire was crackling in the middle of a clearing. Twilight stared solemnly at the fire while Applejack picked out some food from their provisions.
"We have to make these last as long as we can so only get a few things," Twilight called out in the rough direction of the saddlebags. Applejack came back with an apple and some muffins each. They ate in silence, both contemplating what would happen next until Twilight spoke up.
"Applejack? I'm scared. I'm scared of what will happen when we run out of food, I'm scared of that hive we saw earlier and I'm scared that we'll never see any of our friends again." Twilight laid her head on Applejacks shoulder and began to sob silently. Before Applejack could say anything to comfort her, there was a loud rustle. She dismissed it as a log in the fire moving and helped twilight calm down.
"Twilight, we have defeated countless creatures. You even saved Ponyville from an Ursa Minor by yourself. I'm sure we can handle whatever that hive throws at us. And at least we still have each other to talk to." Twilight looked up to Applejack's emerald eyes and gave a soft, teary eyed smile
"Yeah, you're right." She dried her eyes on her foreleg. "Let's get some sleep." They led down beside the dwindling fire and were both asleep before they hit the ground.

Twilight awoke in the dead of night. The only light provided was from the dwindling embers and the moon. That's when she heard it. The sound that woke her up. A slight rustle followed by a hiss. She could hear it drawing closer like a snake hunting a mouse.
"Applejack? Are you awake?" She urgently whispered but all she got in reply was a loud snore. "Applejack." the whisper was followed by a sharp jab to the stomach by Twilight
"Are we in danger?" Applejack groggily asked. Luckily, her tiredness meant that she was quiet and the creature didn't hear them. Or didn't care that they knew it was there.
"I think so," she whispered back .Applejack's mind woke up instantly when she heard this. She blasted out an orb of light that Twilight had taught her and the two girls gasped at what they saw.

Author's Note:

As before, pointers are always welcome.
Please don't expect the other chapters to come out this quickly. I had an epiphany about what to put in this chapter so i wanted to get it wrote down as fast as possible

Comments

[Diamond Sparkle]

Fun. I wonder how the Changelings will react?