> Life-Led
>  by Trevor Rain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun began to set on the autumn leaves of the forest.  The only sound that could be heard is the wind softly blowing the leaves, giving off a crisp, orchestrated melody.  However, the natural chorus was interrupted by an echo that started from afar. The echo betrayed an erratic, staccato, rhythm that had the impression of impact. The echo continued and increased in volume to the point of what could be described as continuous thunder. The trees shook and the leaves began their descent to the well-packed earth below. Their rest was short lived, as they were trampled to the ground by the cause of the thunder. A dizzying display of movement in repetition as the legs of two figures pounded the earth ever harder to become ever faster down the earthen path cut through the trees. Side by side the figures ran, both equines in nature, and both having eyes that betray an inner, intelligence that reflects an equally complex awareness. 
     
The one in lead having a color of a clear sky. Her character also contained two feathered wings there were sheathed while she ran. Her mane and tail not of one color, but that of a bright rainbow  that seemed to cut the sky as she ran.  It was only moments before she became eclipsed by the other runner with that of a hide of dark tan. Her mane and tail was light blond with a tie at the end of both, restricting the free movement of the hair. The intelligent eyes also betrayed an emotion of unbeatable determination reflected in emerald green. There came upon the other an image of surprise and disbelief reflected in the nearly crimson purple of the rainbow-clad runner. She extended her wings, as if to take flight, but another emotion flashed through her eyes. Guilt, then regret.
       
 The Cyan mare sheathed her wings and continued her own advance on the earth, and also her attempts to overtake the other.
        
The two continued to run, and blankets of the fall leaves caped behind them. It was not long before a destination was in sight as the embrace of the forest was soon to slacken, and would betray the road to open land of green. The contest was to end with the forest, but there was not to be a reward for the victor, as the terms were on rivalry, pride, and companionship. The two friends ran on. The winner was yet to be earned.
      
  The one with emerald eyes surpassed the other with the gift of sky, and gained victory by mere seconds. There were no words after for some time, as both labored for breath and respite. After a few moments spent enjoying the gift of breath, the one of many colors looked up to the other, and spoke briefly; 

“You’ve been practicing, AppleJack.” she named, causing the other to look up and reply.

“Rainbow Dash, y’all know I can’t be letting you win every time.” She said with a grin while wiping the sweat off her face. 

Dash stepped over and touched A.J. on the shoulder “Don’t think for one second that you’ve ever ‘let’ me win.” She said with a hint of arrogance in her voice. “Still, you won, that means I owe you a favor.”

“I thought we agreed against this little wager?” said A.J. as she pushed Dash away. 

“You agreed.” replied Dash, eyes closed in a grin. The faster she could change the topic, the lesser would be the sting of defeat. Getting A.J. to accept the favor would also be a smaller victory of hers. 

“Just what would I need from y’all anyway, Rainbow?” Questioned A.J., eyes narrowed.

“It’s not my problem to figure it out.” said Dash as she stretched out her wings in preparation of flight.

“I suppose you won’t be taking no for an answer, so what the hey?” said A.J, trotting towards rainbow before offering a hoof. “Might as well shake on it.”

Rainbow returned the gesture, but noticed it was a stronger grip than usual. The flighty pony then found A.J. looking her in the eye with a serious expression. “That was a mighty fine race there, and don’t be thinkin’ I dinnit notice you tryin’ to take off. I’m a needin’ to let ya’ know, that I appreciate it all the more that you made the right decision.” She kept her eyes on Rainbow, before breaking her grip and letting her go.
       
 Rainbow looked uneasy, not used to this kind of praise, being more accustomed to the cheers of admirers than that of genuine respect. The uneasiness only lasted a moment, but she changed it quickly to confidence before A.J. could notice. 

“No one can compete with my air speed. What fun would it be if I won in 5 seconds flat?” Dash said as she took flight over the trees, giving a parting wave as she left. A.J. shook her head, then turned towards the evening sun and began to travel home, pulling her hat down low to protect her eyes from the glare.
       
 Wisps of dirt trailed up behind each step as she continued down the path towards the countryside, making progress that was much slower than the shade of twilight that followed after her, but there was no fear in the eyes of the equine, for the night brought a quiet and comfort that was unique then that of the dawn.  A small breeze came that brought the scent of apple blossoms to greet her, and let her know that she’s nearing her home. The farm seemed to give off this scent from spring to fall which was a testament to the freshness and quality of the groves of apple trees that provided food for so many. The smell was a familiar and  welcome one to A.J., and brought an immeasurable comfort with feeling of belonging. A.J. carried a smile during her during the rest of her short journey.
      
  She walked under the entry that marked the start of the property, and entered into her home where the nighttime routine began. Cleaning for supper, eating with family by the glow of candlelight. The routine would end when A.J. would take  the time to read to her younger sister, ensuring dreams of peace, and always pulling the covers over her before quietly leaving the room when sleep would overtake her. The humble house would then grow dark, and the very air would seem still as the silent night lulled them to sleep.


_




        The rooster crowed for the summoned sun which did harold the new day, but the one called Apple Jack was ahead of the dawn. Fall was quickly fading, and winter was soon to come. The neighboring town was dependant on the  Apple farm for storing enough food to last the winter. It was this thought that drove A.J. to work at this time, which took considerable effort, but was expected of one who grew to love the work. The years of labor through her youth had turned A.J. into a strong mare.
        
She continued to load deliveries of food to the cellar at the south side of the farm, keeping track of the different foods and finding the best way to preserve them for the months to come. The favor offered from Dash was the last thing on her mind as she went about the day, meeting everypony that came with a smile and hospitality. The sun continued to shine across the sky as she continued to work throughout the day, taking a few breaks as she went. This was her life, and her joy to help others when she could. Still, her mind kept wandering to the next harvesting season, and the constant hope for enough rain for all the crops that were part of the farm.
     
   She then remembered the Pegasus, that had the inborn ability to interact with the clouds, and with it, the weather. With training, a pegasus could cause torrential rain, and impenetrable blizzards. One could pay to have the weather to their advantage, but it wasn’t free nor cheap. A.J. stepped out of the cellar and closed the door behind her, she then remembered Rainbow’s promise. Rainbow Dash was a trained weather mare who was regularly hired to work the clouds. A.J. then knew the best use for that favor offered by Dash, and decided it was a good time to pay her a visit. The day had been long, and unwinding with company was appealing.  A.J. finished her work, then left the farm by a trail that would lead her to the home of Rainbow Dash.
       
 Dash had never been seen sleeping on the ground outside of a hospital bed to recover from flight injuries. Dash prefer to sleep on the clouds and rest of the treetops. One could make a guess that it was to preserve the feeling of constant flight, for no pegasus enjoyed the sky and the freedom of flight than that of Rainbow Dash.
      
  A.J. allowed her eyes to wander towards the sky as she walked. She was never one to envy the pegasus. the sky may carry the rain, but the freedom the sky seemed to offer appeared to be an illusion. Food came from the earth below her hooves, and she could trust that it would never fall under her. The feeling of the dirt kicked up with each step was more of that assurance that added to her comfort. Flying, for her, would be running away from her purpose and joy.
       
 A.J.’s distracted mind was put into focus as the clear sky gave a rumbling shout of thunder along with the cracks that follow lightning. Looking ahead, she could see a large cloud marring the sky above the trail.

Where Rainbow’s house should be.

AppleJack ran.

        The once immaculate white-clouded home of pillars and arches was dark, and consumed by lightning that chained through the clouds and struck the ground below. The tempest within continually deformed what was, and thunder shook the earth that was soaked beneath by the pouring rain. The bright rainbow that once flowed from a fountain was now deeper shades of black that removed all sense of color from everything it touched before eventually dissolving into vapor not long after making contact below.
     
   A.J. could do nothing but stare and hope Rainbow wasn’t in the maelstrom. She was forced to jump back to avoid several objects that started to fall through the clouds. books, blankets, even a dresser fell and smashed itself to splinters on the ground, showering A.J. with debris. This made one object all the more noticeable as it floated down out of the clouds. A folder that spun through the air, losing much of its contents before falling a ways away from A.J. One paper drifted away from the rest, and the slip landed below her hooves. She looked down to see it was a photo of two ponies she did not recognize, yet were familiar.
      
  A mare and a colt. Both had hides of blue, the mare having a dark brown mane while the colt a more reddish auburn. They were standing next to each other and smiling, it was when A.J. studied their faces that a look of surprise went across her face. The eyes of the mare were a crimson purple.
       
 A.J. took the photo, then ran over to where the folder landed. She set the photo aside and opened the folder to the stapled paper within. A.J. spent a few minutes looking over the writing, then she threw whatever other papers she could find in the folder, before taking it and sprinting back the way she came. She no longer feared the thought of Dash being trapped in her home, but knowing she was in a different sort of danger.
        
Rainbow Dash was leaving Equestria.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Chapter 2


        "Dash, I managed to find another lead, an old order document that recommended two pegasus for a specialty mission. They were sent to a lookout post on the outskirts of the Equestian border. I left in a copy of the recommendation with the photo that was attached to it. I did some research, and managed to find the skyline coordinates for the outpost they were assigned to. You should have learned how to read these back at the academy. I couldn’t find much on them after the orders, I assume they were reported missing in action. There was, however, more information on the post itself. Fort Lifeled; named after a pegasus war hero before that sort of thing was frowned upon.
        
Rainbow, this fort was abandoned over a decade ago when, then the official border was reduced when the pegasus changed their minds about expansion, and it was for good reason. There are many records of an abnormal amount of fliers gone missing in that area. Not everypony is able to cross the sea and make it in one piece. of the many they sent over to try and map the area, only a few returned which left for some rather vague maps.
        
Dash, you didn’t tell me why you wanted information on these two, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out after seeing this picture. I know if I were in your position, nothing would prevent me from flying head-first into the sea, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I don’t at least try. Do not go. There is a reason nopody goes outside of Equestria in the first place. It’s different there, the survivors are never the same as they were when they left. Those that have been lost have surely died..."

        A.J. closed the folder and threw it back into her saddlebag she picked up back at the farmhouse. She then switched on the lamp that was on a desk so she could better read the book explaining sky coordinates she pulled off the shelf moments before. She had never heard of these before from Rainbow, but Dash never did enjoy talking about her past time at the academy. The coordinates were written like calligraphy, using symbols to represent weather or... the time of day the wind picks up or..
        
It was complicated.

        The figures made no sense to her, but the index in the back of the book made for quick access to the specific set she was looking for. She turned the page and found a few of the symbols to mean coordinates on a map. A.J. then ran across the library to try and find an atlas. She had hoped Twilight, an unicorn with an affinity for books and a close friend, would be here. All she found to greet her was a note explaining her absence. Business at the royal city of Canterlot.
        
A.J. let out a groan of frustration as she impatiently searched the shelves of books to find what she needed.
“Twilight could find it in a near instant.” she said aloud to herself.
        
Finally reaching the end of her patience, she turned and kicked a shelf with her hind legs, and was rewarded with a shower of books that fell on her, the last being a large atlas that struck her in the head, followed by a shattering crash from the floor above. making a mental note to check on what could have broken, she rubbed her sore head and took the atlas in her mouth to the table. A.J. found the page that held the right coordinates and marked it before tearing the page out from the book, then storing it in her bag.
        
Twilight would understand the damage was justified, considering the situation, she hoped.
       
 A.J. ran up the stairs and opened the door to Twilight’s room where she believed the crash to come from. The source was quickly found, for the usually immaculate room was marred by a broken bust of a colt’s head. A.J. walked to the broken shards to hastily brush them under Twilight’s bed, but she stopped when she noticed a small, square, object with purple silk lining it. Picking it up, A.J. saw that it opened. There was revealed to be a necklace, with a stone of the deepest black, wrought upon a chain. A scroll dropped from the box when A.J. lifted the lid, which she quickly picked up and begun to read...
        
        "Enchanting: I have attempted to create my own enchanting spell to gain perspective on the effect magic may have on an inanimate object. The act of weaving a lingering spell is a complicated one to create, though simple to cast, based on its low threshold for needed power (depending on the potency of said Enchantment). the problem that many enchanters seem to face, however..."

        A.J. skipped to the end of the page.

"Obsidian seemed to be the most stable. The location spell is permanent, but it’s still impossible to have a perpetual power source, so I designed it to gather energy through the Pony being tracked, and the one searching for the Pony. This is possible if the stone is touching the Pony’s hair or anything from their body. The simplicity of the obsidian producing heat when facing the correct direction, and the increase in intensity when closer, means the stone will have enough magical energy to operate without harming the use. There was one..."
        
It was all A.J. needed to read. She stowed the scroll back in the box while taking out the necklace to slip around her head, pulling her mane free from the chain and replacing her hat.. The stone felt cool against her chest.. If this thing worked, then she needed to find some hair that belonged to Dash, but she couldn’t think of anywhere nearby that...
        
An idea struck her, and she ran back downstairs and over to another bookshelf that was not demolished. The shelf was labeled ‘Fiction’, and it only took a moment for her to find the books she was looking for. She grabbed one, and let it fall on the binding to let it open. The book laid out to one of the last pages in the book, one that was bookmarked with a light blue feather. This must have been the closest thing Rainbow had on her to save her page. A.J. looked at the feather that laid among the page, and couldn’t help but smile at the memory of Dash first discovering her love for adventure in books.
       
 A.J. took the feather and painstakingly tied it to the stone using a few strands of her own hair to hold it together. She waited, and held her breath a few moments, then a pulse of heat entered her chest that shocked the baited breath from her lungs. the heat continued to spread through her, and encapsulated her whole body. A.J. was surprised how good the warmth felt, but then the sensation was stolen away in an instant, leaving her cold and shivering. She pulled her body close to try and gain some warmth back. A quarter of an hour passed before her body warmed past the point of shaking.
        
The stone was warm though. A.J. turned a full circle on the floor. When she faced east, it seemed to pulsate and send heat back into her, but it didn’t rob her like it did before, nor was it as intense of a heart. It was just... telling. She could only hope that this charm would lead her to Dash.
        
The light outside was starting to dim, and with it, her time. A.j. started to run towards the door leading outside, but stopped, looked around, and found paper back at the desk. She took the time to write out a note for Twilight when she came back. A.J. also left the letter she found, with the photo of Dash’s supposed parents with it. Twilight would know better than her what to do, but there was just no time to wait. Every second was an increase of the danger that Rainbow Dash was in.
        
A.J. ran then. She ran to the train station situated at the edge of town. The train had already began to move, but it was easy enough for her to gain enough speed to jump into one of the entry ways that dotted the sides. There was no other train till morning, A.J. could not afford to wait that long.
        
She rushed past the passenger car and, ignoring the stares of the other passengers, rushed to the caboose of the train. She burst open the door that led to the end and stopped to look at the receding town that marked her home. She needed to see it leave.
        
Memories flashed by.
        She had left before, but nothing like this. 
        It was rumored that death awaited outside of Equestria. 
        
        The sun began to give way to the shadow of night as it disappeared behind Ponyville, leaving the land in the care of Luna, and her iconic moon.
        
As the train continued to pull away, Apple Jack could just make out the smell of apple blossoms, the comforting scent bringing nothing but tears as it faded away.
        

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The ground moved below in a blur and the wind bit the eyes of the flyer that cut across the skies towards the eastern horizon. Faster she flew, channeling the maelstrom of emotions that consumed her into a reckless energy that fueled her determination and speed. The patchwork earth below broke into a deep blue as her maddened dash brought her to the expansive sea that bordered the continent. The flyer took little notice, as thoughts and questions assaulted her mind.

“Who are they?”

“Why couldn’t they come back?”

What were they like?”

        Then one thought surfaced that brought anger to the front of of all other thoughts. One question that stood against her strongest belief. the thought caused her to push harder and to beat her wings faster. A slipstream coma appeared before her, shaping her form and it was with one final push that allowed her to break through the barrier in a grey shockwave of speed, leaving a colorless rainbow to trail behind. The only sound that could be heard was the beating of her heart that hammered against her chest.

“Why had they abandoned me?”

        Questions dominated her focus and feelings of betrayal and confusion blinded her to the fact that she was alone in a desert of water, flying to a destination she knew nothing about. Blinded also by the tears in her eyes that were not caused by the rushing wind that stung them.
        
The speed gained from the rainboom quickly waned and, before long, so did her endurance. Rainbow found herself slowing and her breathing erratic. She then noticed the sea turn from a deep blue to a black as the sun began to give way behind her to the moon. She continued on, but the brightness of the moon was quickly obscured by darkened clouds that were indistinguishable to the blackened sky.

 A gale of wind came, heralded by the rolling clouds., hitting Dash and throwing her to the side before should could correct for the change. The wind stung her eyes with an icy bite, taking away most of their sight, making it harder for her to fly straight. Desperate for light and relief from the storm, Dash veered skywards to seek rapture from the elements, but a mighty crack resounded before she could reach the clouds followed by a bright light that left a burning after-image against her vision. The rumble ended with an ear splitting sound which was like God cracking a whip against the stars in the sky. Rainbow Dash saw the charged clouds that sparked with chained lightning and knew that any attempt to surpass them would prove a deadly experience. If the the lightning didn’t strike her down in flight, the electrically charged moisture of the clouds would surely stop her heart.

Having few other options, Dash banked towards the wind and set her determination to fly as long as she was able. There was no turning back, as the skys left no marker to provide her direction, and there was nothing but blackness and rolling waves surrounding her, leaving the wind the only hint of direction. Rainbow Dash flew against the wind.

Flying with the wind  would be like turning back, Dash was not ready to be beaten.

Her wings burned and her lungs heaved, yet she continued to fly for what seemed like hours to her, and gave into no thoughts of regret for her journey...

Until the rains began.

The droplets of water were driven into her by the biting winds. They sent shivers across her body with an unwelcome coldness, but the fear in her eyes showed more than simple discomfort. Wet wings are heavy, and each drop of water was an unwelcome addition that weighed her down. Dash started to drop against her efforts to fly well above the now windswept waters, and any attempt to shake the water off of her form became an exercise in futility as the droplets of rain steadily became a downpour, causing her wings to feel as if they were made of iron, instead of the cyan colored feathers that adorned them.
        
Lower and lower, she was forced down towards the rolling waves that seemed to eagerly await the chance to engulf her. Dash’s legs were not skimming the surface of the water, and she prepared herself for the worse, as she was a creature of the sky, and wouldn’t survive the waters in a storm like this.

The waters started to recede from her legs, and, despite her exhaustion and the burning in her wings, she started to gain altitude. In thinking that the storm was over, relief came over her face, and she looked up towards the sky...
        
...and whatever relief she felt before was dispelled, and quickly replaced with panic and fear. A colossus towered before her that consisted of water and foam. The wave began to return back to earth once more and, in the process, engulfed the lone pony of the skies into the waiting waters below the storm. Dash’s form twisted in the water, trying to find some semblance of control as the wave drove her deeper and deeper into the waters while they attempted to steal the breath from her lungs.
        
Rainbow kept her eyes closed tight, and her mouth even more so as she fought the downward push. she kicked ever harder at the abyss, but stopped when the force that pushed her down suddenly stopped. She opened her eyes to see why.

Blackness. Just the telltale signs of light above her. The waters above shimmered, but below, there was a sort of peace from the storm. The black abyss around her almost a comfort if not for the sheer contrast of what was occurring on the surface. Dash’s reverie was quickly broken by her protesting lungs, screaming for air. Her legs kicked and wings pushed against the water, wanting so much to return to her birthright, but it was not to be at this time. Her body betrayed itself, and Dash’s lungs opened to receive air, bringing water instead. Her legs kicked less, and her wings floated beside her without use or purpose. Dash’s body lay in tay in the water, thoughts muddled and slow while the vision in her rose colored eyes began to fade to gradients of grey and black.

In her delirium, she could almost make out a figure in the darkness that stood in front of her vision before the black sea. It was walking through the deep, as if it were on land, coming closer to Dash. Dash’s eyes went from panic to calm, but her face looked confused. Dash knew this mare, somewhere, sometime. She reached out a hoof as if the touch the strange mare before her, but the darkness overtook her vision, and her thoughts turned to black.


*                *                *                *                *                *  

Steady warmth behind numbing cold, shifting sensations beneath, dull painful ach to the left, skull splitting pain in the head.

These were not the sensations of the dead. 

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and shut them quickly after from the glare of the sun. the discomfort of light was soon forgotten, however, when she was forced to wretch and force water from her stomach. Massive coughs wracked her body afterwards, as she expelled the remnants of water from her lungs. Feeling tired, sick, and like the living dead, she laid back down. Curling against the hard surface behind her, she closed her eyes again to fall into a much more welcoming darkness than the one she faced before.
        
        She slept.
        
        Several hours passed before she once again opened her eyes to the ocean waves before her, the glare of the sun no longer blinding her eyes. She lay in the shadow of a rocky alcove which she curled against while in a delirium. She could almost swear by the fact she was facing the rising sun in the east last she could remember...

Remember!

        Dash shot up to her hooves, but immediately regretted it as the painful evidence of her last night’s journey brought more for her to remember. The worse of the pain came from her left side, causing her to favor that part as she limped out from the alcove into the light to better study her injuries. She knelt down, and looked over her body, wincing just by the effort of turning her neck. Bruises marred the surface of her skin, dark blue contrasting with the light likeness of her hide. They didn’t seem too bad to her, but a look at her left wing made her think otherwise. The dark blue was highlighted with a light yellow around the joint where her wing attached at the shoulder. She tried to extend the wing, but a wonderful burst of pain proceeded the attempt that caused her to cry out. A groan escaped her mouth as she recognized the injury. Her wing was dislocated, and nothing short of ropes and a strong tree would help her lock it back into place on her own to allow it to heal. Until then, she was grounded, there would be too much pain in trying to fly in this condition. Dash doubted she would find anypony around here that would be able to help her wing.
        
“Where is here?” she asked herself, stepping out from the alcove and looking at the sky and the midday sun. The sand beneath her hooves gave her unfamiliar hoffing, forcing her to take a moment to adjust to the constant shifting. Looking around, all she could see was white sand spanning the horizon, waves rolling against it in the west. Water in one direction, sand in every other.
        
        Dash was beginning to think this wasn’t such a good idea.
        
        “What idea?” She mentally chided herself “Fly hundreds of miles in uncharted airs without a wing guide or weather solution, to coordinates that was harder to read than Twilight’s writing?”

        Dash kicked at the ground in frustration, letting anger distract her from facing the more serious truth about her rash actions. She didn’t want to think about her situation. Another distraction came to mind as her stomach growled, which also brought to her attention just how thirsty she was. The salt water from the ocean did nothing but accentuate the thirst, it seemed, because she knew she swallowed plenty of it when she die-

        Dash shook her head and started trotting westward, if only for the fact that it was the only direction away from the waters, and setting a destination would be another thing to help keep herself distracted from thinking. 

        Before too long, the soreness eased enough for her to lengthen her stride as she quickly distanced herself from the ocean shore, the sound of waves cascading across the sands waning with each step.
        
        It was almost startling how the sand gave way to the sea of grass. The grass seemed to go on forever, well, at least to what she could see, for it grew tall, and above her sight. She moved through the tall grass which bent easily to her passing form. Dash couldn’t help but take a bite of the grass, finding it surprisingly sweet. She found herself enjoying her feast, despite hating the taste of raw grass back in Equestria, her home. This was delicious!
        
This didn’t satisfy her thirst, though. She needed to find water before her thirst grew too great. As she continued away from the setting sun, the grass began to lower in height, due to the lack of water, she reasoned. Dash finally came to a point where her head cleared the length of the grass, allowing her to see above the expanse. 
        
The landscape was flat, and the grass grew on every inch, though it changed it’s color from green to lighter shades of brown the further from the shore she became. It was somewhat disorientating to see the land move with the wind much like the waves of the sea, the grass bending together in a cascade that is amassed into a colossus of water and foam that-
        
Dash closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath from the warm air to try and clear her mind, during the thoughts and emotions deeper. “Not now.” She whispered aloud.
        
Opening her eyes, she noticed something in the distance that stood against the clear sky, a tall speck. It took several hours to be close enough to make out the tower, the pain in her side and countless bruises keeping her from moving any faster than a slow trot. The tower was old and weathered, the stone surface marred by cracks and missing chunks. There wasn’t much around the base but debris, the tower itself being only a few leg-lengths in width. It seemed out of place with the rest of the land.
        
Before Dash could walk through the still intact entrance of the tower, she spotted a wooden barrel to the right. The barrel had a wide brim that spread out around the opened lid, and this piqued her curiosity. Dash walked over to the barrel and put her head down into it, then she jumped in with a splash.

Freshwater! The barrel was created to catch and store rainwater. The water was cool, and it soothed her swollen wing-joint. After a moment, she climbed back out of the barrel, shaking off the water that soaked her coat, then winced in pain as her bruises protested the treatment. Not regretting the decision tough, as the water felt good under the mild heat of the sun. She then turned her attention back to the tower where her eyes caught an engraving next to the entrance that was carved into the stone. She could barely make out the worn lettering, but the words gave her pause.




“Life-Led”


“Destined are the Pegasus to conquer our enemies.
The very sky now bends to our will.”






Dash didn’t understand what the caption meant, but the name of the tower was what stood out. Lifeled was the name given in the paper, the place in which two pegasus flew to and were cut off, and assumed missing in action. Dash raised her leg and placed it on the rough inscription, feeling the coarseness as she moved it across the stone.

“Mom, Dad, they were here.” 

A wave of emotion went through Dash that she couldn’t suppress. There were combinations of sadness and anger that simply confused her. She blinked away any tears that came to her eyes, and continued through the entryway into the tower in front of her.
        
There wasn’t much inside of it. Straw was strewn about the floor that smelled of mold and decay. There were stone steps that went along the side of the tower that let out of an opening at the top. There was nothing besides the floor she stood on now, the area up to the opening clear. Dash wouldn’t doubt that she could save a walk up the stairs and fly past there, if her wing weren’t injured the way it was. 

Dash kicked the straw around her feet, and foud the remnants of a few blankets amidst the dust. Seems if there was anything of worth, it’s gone now, just a few traces of those who had lived here before. Having nothing else to see below, Dash climbed the stone stair to the opening above the tower. She stepped out into the open air and could find again, nothing but a view of the sky all around. The sun was setting down towards the west behind the coastline, which Dash was surprised to be able to see from so far away. She drifed her vision across the whole horizon, taking it in from every direction.

To the south, she could make out the tops of trees, but nothing much more than that. North was only more of the same expanse of grass that continued on, a sea of it’s own. East were mountains and rock that marred the earth, but were appealing at how close they came to the clouds. Dash had been grounded for only a day, but already she was missing the freedom. Walking took more patience than she’d like to admit, she couldn’t understand how Earth Ponies could stand to be on the ground all their lives, just imagine, if AJ could fly-

Dash thought about her friend. She wasn’t prepared for that thought, nor the thoughts that came after. She was going to see Fluttershy, her close fillyhood friend that day. She would be left waiting. Dash let her head fall onto the ledge in front of her, she had left Fluttershy hanging, and she hated the thought of that. Dash kicked at the ground in her frustration to try and banish the thought, but the anger with herself stayed. She lifted her head to look at the mountains once again, but saw something different. Movement.
        
It was hard to make out, but she could just see three forms through the twilight. The figures moved between and in twain of each-other, a dance in the sky that comes naturally to born fliers that seek to fly with other’s. Dash’s heart leapt in excitement! They must be pegasus come to get her! Someone must have seen her fly off and sent help right away, because that would be the smart thing to do. Princess Celestia must have sent some of her personal guard to come rescue her. “Not that she needed rescuing, she would have been fine on her own after her wing healed.” she reasoned with herself. 
        
Dash extended her right wing and hoof to wave up at the fliers and shout for them to hear her; it would be good to not be alone anymore. One of the forms must have saw her, for it broke off from the other two and began it’s decent towards Dash, quickly outdistancing itself from it’s companions, but something was different. As the form came closer, Dash noticed that it was bigger than any pegasus she ever saw, and the wing span was twice the size of her own, yet it seemed familiar.

The figure came into view, and Dash saw that it was no pegasus, but something far different. It’s wings, head, and arms were that of an eagle where the body and haunches were of a lion. The figure was a creature of duality: A gryphon. 

Dash knew only of one gryphon before. She was Gilda, a friend she met in school when she was but a young flier. They spent most of their free time together doing their best to ignore homework. They parted ways for a while after school, but Gilda would still visit sometimes. Dash couldn’t get away to see Gilda very often because she had a job to keep the skies clear of clouds in Ponyville. That last time Dash saw her was when her new friends had met Gilda. Gilda had always been a hot-head, but it was different that time, she openly insulted her friends. Dash didn’t like the way her old friend treated her new ones, and gave Gilda a choice.

Gilda chose, and left.

Dash never met another gryphon, and Gilda never talked about others before. She didn’t know how they acted or where they lived. She always just said they had too many rules for her to want to stay with them. Dash never could get her to say more, but she didn’t need to, she could sympathize.

The gryphon went into a dive towards Dash with a speed that made her uneasy, that was not a maneuver that a pegasus would use, this was more like the form of a bird of prey. Realizing this, Dash started to turn and run through the opening ot the stair below, but was impacted before she could make it. The gryphon slammed into Dash and sent them both into the opening in a spinning blur of feathers as they rolled down the steps, pain erupting down Dash’s side every time the impact hit her wing.

The staircase was curved though, and this caused them both to be flung off mid-way to fall to the tower’s base below. Dash landed under the gryphon with a large thud that nearly knocked the wind out of her. She tried to kick under the grasp of the gryphon, but she couldn’t land a good enough hit to get away from her, and the gryphon kept her pinned by it’s sharp talons which dug into her side, drawing blood. Dash’s attention was drawn to the gryphon as it stood up higher, lifting a talon high as if to strike.

Dash didn’t look away, but was amazed by what she saw. Her shock was mirrored by the face (beak?) of her attacker which caused her to lower the talon slightly.

“Gilda?” Dash questioned.

“Dash!” shouted her childhood friend.

A look of bewilderment overcame Gilda’s face as she looked down at Dash, then over at her outstretched talon. It looked like she was going to say something, but then a noise came from above that sounded like scraping talons. The other gryphons have landed and were going to come down to see what Gilda flew off to. Gilda looked up towards the noise, looking panicked, then she looked back at Dash.

Dash had many of her own questions racing through her head, her pain long forgotten in the confusion. She opened her mouth to say something to her friend, but was silenced by what came next. Gilda looked at Dash, then around the base of the tower, then back at the stair, then again back at Dash but with a change. Her face showed anger instead of confusion. 

Gilda raised her talon back into the air, and brought it down hard against Rainbow Dash. Everything, once again, went black after the impact.


(Authors Note: This is the longest chapter I’ve ever written, and I hope to do longer in the future. This is also one of the few works in which I was excited to finish. I’m looking forward to hearing what people think of the ocean scene, which was fun to write. I’m sorry for the long update, but I was caught up reading Fallout Equestria and Project Horizons and I didn’t really start this chapter till last week about this time. I should be updating regularly from now on.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate it greatly.)
	
	
	
	
	

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A jolt from the train awakened Applejack from her unexpected slumber. She raised her head and shook the sleep from her eyes and body, then looked out the window at the passing countryside that was still shrouded in the darkness of night. After the train left Ponyville, Applejack walked back to the passenger car and found an unoccupied seat. Her mind was filled with worry about her friend then, but the rocking movement of the train coupled with the long day of work eventually lulled her to sleep.

Rainbow was in over her head. the sea was forbidden to everypony, for too many have died trying to cross. Due to it’s expanse and how little known about it, any chance for rescue efforts was a fool's gambit. Rainbow may have been a strong flier, but she had no idea what lay beyond the sea, and whatever she had to face, she would have to face it alone. This fact is what scared AJ the most and she quietly cursed Rainbow for making her friends worry. AJ didn’t like to imagine the reactions of their other friends would have when they saw the letter and the evidence that AJ left behind.

She looked around the passenger car at all the empty seats. There were only a few other passengers that took up a few of the many seats that took up the space. Most were like Applejack, and were sleeping off the long train ride that continued on through the night. Most of the ponies that were on before got off at the few stops between Ponyville and Manehatten.  Applejack didn’t think any would mind if she opened the window next to her. The air inside was uncomfortably warm and stale. She braced her hooves at the base of the glass and slid it open, welcoming the chill the cool night air brought to her. It awakened her mind and refreshed her body.

With the chill, the wind also brought a scent that gave Applejack pause. Memories came to her of a time she had once traveled here herself. The salty smell the seawater gave off at the harbor drew her to another time. In her childhood, Applejack longed for the life that only the city could provide. The towering buildings that showed the pinnacle of what a Pony could accomplish, and the seemingly simple lifestyle appealed to her. Applejack’s Aunt Orange would always send letters that old of the glamorous life that she lived, and the exciting people she rubbed shoulders with. Food that came from all over Equestria, and show performers that Auntie Orange said there were Earth ponies which would put a Unicorn to shame with their magical ability.

But it was wrong, it was not home. home was not the company of strangers. Home was not hiding your thoughts and opinions just to be more liked, or to keep an appearance other than who you are. Applejack could see her Aunt cursing half those ponies behind that smile of hers. The company cared more about image than making any actual friendship, and it seemed to suck a part out of Aunt Orange that she never gained back. Applejack could see the lie.

And the food was horrible.

Applejack laughed at what became part of the final straw for her to leave the care of her Aunt and Uncle and return back to Sweet Apple Acres where she was raised by her Grandmother and, in part, her brother. She nearly chose to forget about them. It was one night where she gazed out the window to her room and looked towards the horizon that held her old home, thinking about the difference between that life and the one she had at the time, when a sign came to her that led Applejack home. A bright rainbow that arced across the sky and pointed to the home she left behind. Lacking faith in herself, she took this as a sign for something she had, which she took for granted. Applejack came back to Sweet Apple Acres and back into the arms of her Grandmother. She knew then what her purpose would be, and she never regretted it.

That rainbow was created by Rainbow Dash, when she reached a speed that brought forth the legendary Sonic Rainboom. It was thanks to Dash that Applejack found her purpose, gave that final push to help her realize her own calling. 

Applejack found herself day-dreaming, and pulled herself back to reality. The horizon from her past bled into the moonlit, rolling, expanse she saw now, shaking away the past once more. AJ leaned out of the window to look in the direction the train was going. She could see the reflection of the moonlight on water, and the many lights that adorned the buildings in Manehatten, showing that it truly is the city that never sleeps. The watery expanse that separated it from the rest was connected by the newest marvel in pony engineering.

A bridge made of iron and steel, wide enough to allow numerous carts to travel to and fro, giving the city a constant supply of goods. The tracks were also built upon the bridge, which the train thundered against with a new sound and feel, the vibrations taking Applejack by surprise. Knowing the station was only a few more minutes away, she stood up and stretched her legs in the aisle between the seats to come to the final stage of wakefulness, pulling the stiffness from her limbs. Applejack  reached up and grabbed her  saddlebags  from the bar above the seats with her teeth, and deftly threw it across her back.

The new feel and sound from the  terrain woke the others, all earth ponies,  that were waiting for  this stop. They sleepily got up and began their own process of  waking. Applejack winced as one stallion stood up and stretched his neck, letting out a series of cracks and pops as his joints protested the action.  Two others awoke from their slumber in surprise, as they had laid on each other, two stranger, during their slumber. AJ could see  color come to  their faces as they realized the mistake, and quickly stood up and looked away from each-other.

Applejack may be attempting to handle a crisis right now, but life moves  on for  everpony else. Some of these ponies were going to meet old friends. Some were going to reunite with family. One mare at the back of the car had a small amount of luggage in the area surrounding the racks around her seat, but kept a smaller bag tightly clutched to her chest as she slept. Applejack noticed something else about her; the mare’s eyes were shadowed like this is the first sleep she had received in well over a week, further evidenced by the fact she’s still sleeping when everything around her is still awaking. Applejack stepped closer, and saw that her ribs were starting to show through her blueish grey hide with each exhaling breath in her sleep. Hungry, alone, and scared. This pony was moving to a new life. Applejack’s expression lowered, saddened by the sight.

Without another thought, Applejack reached into one of her saddlebags and brought out two apples and laid them next to the mare. Applejack started to walk back to her seat when the train started to break, causing her to hold onto the nearest seat to steady herself. She turned around to see the grey mare awaken at nearly falling off her seat. She caught herself, then looked to the two apples that were set next to her. She looked down the aisle to see where they came from, but all she saw was other ponies preparing their belongings for the stop, as Applejack already took a seat.

A smile came to Applejack’s face as she heard the loud crunching sound that comes from one enjoying a crisp braeburn. 

The train continued to slow and came to an eventual stop at the station on the outskirts of Manehatten. A large building that let the train in to drop off it’s passengers. It would move further into a switching area ahead that would change it’s direction, and allow it to continue it’s purpose.  Everypony got up and made their way for the nearest exit, including Applejack. AJ stepped out into the station and continued onto past the waiting area, heading straight for the exit. The building was mostly empty, rows of unoccupied benches placed in neat rows not too far from the train platform. Applejack was saddened to see some forms that slept among the seating, they were not passengers but just a few ponies wanting somewhere to sleep away from the cold. Another fact she didn’t like about this city.

Applejack looked up to the clock that hung down from the ceiling, showing that it was only a few hours till daybreak. She quickly trotted down the stairs and through the doors that led to the road outside. 

Every building was at least two stories that she could see. The roads formed straight lines in several directions, but that was the only mode of travel in a city dominated by pony-made structures that needed every inch of space they already had. Applejack took the East road in little short of a gallop. He haste did elicit some glances from the different shopkeepers that were preparing for the day, sometimes a second glance at the stetson and unkempt mane she kept in a tie to keep it out of the way when working. Applejack saw their glances, but paid them no mind as she continued to where she knew the docks were.

She would have to visit her aunt another time. Every second she wasted would be another of danger that Dash had to face. The only reason Applejack knew that she was alive right now was the obsidian pendant that gave off warmth when she faced the east. Absently, AJ reached up to touch the pendant, to feel it’s heat. There was none. It was cold.

Panic gripped Applejack. She pulled the Obsidian closer as if to warm the stone with her own body, but there was no warmth to be found. She looked at the surface of the black stone and found it to be dripping with condensation that soaked into the feather that was tied to it. The stone was leaking water, and AJ didn’t know what it meant. All she could do was run as fast as she could, mind racing at the implication of a cold stone that was supposed to be linked to the life force of the other. How long had it been cold for? She didn’t remember the last time she checked on the stone, it could have happened while she was sleeping at the train.

Applejack narrowly dodged a vendor that was wheeling out a cart of watermelon, jumping over the stand and deftly landing on the other side, leaving the foul-mouthed vendor to let out a curse in her direction. 

The stone was wet, dripping wet. Why would it do that? There was no water around, and the air was dry as it was dead, the buildings blocking any sort of blowing wind. Applejack thought of Rainbow flying over the ocean, and what would happen if she were to fall into the waters. Applejack saw that Dash was not a strong swimmer. She wouldn’t be able to stay afloat, and if there were a storm-

Applejack ran faster, not thinking of how hopeless the action was. Water, cold, Rainbow had drowned, and the stone showed it the only way it could. Applejack couldn’t ignore this thought or reasoning, and she slowed down to a trot, then to a walk. She stopped completely at the edge of the docks, looking out to an expansive ocean that continued past her sight onto the horizon. Tears came to her eyes as she thought of her friend out in the water, her body being whipped by the winds and by the waters to be hidden from sight and to never be found. Applejack grabbed her hat and threw it down while trying to hold back sobs, silently cursing the stone for giving off such morbid signs. She reached up and pulled the stone from her neck to throw it into the sea, but stopped whens he felt something.

The stone came alive with a slight throb, a pulse, and then a flash of heat that burned her hoof, causing her to drop it. The blackened stone had lines of glowing red that showed through the surface. The water that once covered the stone hissed and spat, steam rising off the stone and wisping into the cold air. Applejack grabbed the tether that secured the stone and looked closely at it, seeing the red lines pulsing with obvious heat, then start to die down. The red once again blended in with the black stone that reflected Applejacks eyes as she saw the red lines had been there the whole time. She remembered something Twilight said about rocks, that if there was red, it was iron that was... oxipized? Applejack shook her head to focus, then touched the stone to find it once again warm to the touch. The surface still being smooth as it was before and, thankfully, dry. Applejack looked around her to see if anybody saw the display, but she was alone. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled at the new hope, but knew that the danger was present. Applejack saw that she was at her destination.

Applejack stood near a guard rail that lead down a paved switchback that lead down to the wooden docks below. She could see many small boats dot the sides of the wooden protrusions that extended from the central dock. Applejack wasn’t looking forward to the task she had ahead of her. She had to ask, beg, and do anything within her power to ask one of these sailor ponies to risk their lives and livelihood to take her on a fools errand across the sea. She needed to do this, the stone already gave her a taste of what would happen if she failed.

Applejack tied the stone on her neck once again. She then made her way down the slope to the docks. The wood of the docks against her hoofs clapped loudly as she walked down to the first boat she came to.

-		-		-		-		-		-		

“You’re a darn fool girl, that friend of yours is already dead. Go back home and dig your dirt!”  Said the stallion, still angry at being awoken from Applejack banging on the hull. Applejack was holding back every single urge she had to buck the stallion upside the head. Before she could lose the battle of her will, he turned and went back into the room in his boat, no doubt going back to sleep and cursing the tan mare for waking him from his dreams. Applejack stomped off the deck and jumped back on the dock after giving the hull a swift kick to ease her anger. His words weren’t the worse that had been shouted at her that morning as she went from boat to boat, one yellow mare spouting a string of words that would make even Celestia lose her composure, but it didn’t make it any easier.

There were still more boats out there, and Applejack would offer them everything she had on her person. She brought money, what little she had in her savings, but it never seemed to be enough for any of these ponies to even think about chartering towards the unknown. Applejack looked over at the watery horizon, seeing light start to bleed into the darkness, knowing that she was losing precious time. She was close to the point of buying a rowboat and trying to get there on her own, but she knew that would be suicide, besides the fact she knew next to nothing about sailing.

Sailing wasn’t something that many ponies did. There was no real need to go out in the water. You couldn’t grow food out there, you couldn’t drink it as the salt would drain the water from ya faster than anything else. You couldn’t bring the water to land for growing. The salt would ruin the soil and kill any plants that are worth something. The water killed ponies, that’s all it’s ever done. All Applejack could remember it for. The ocean took away her family, and was now in the process of taking away one of her closest friends in the worst way to die that she could ever imagine. The ocean took away so much, what did it ever give back?

Applejack’s mental assault against the water was interrupted by the sound of a splash to her left. She looked to see that a stallion had fallen into the water off the side of a rocking boat. Running to the edge of the dock, Applejack could see the stallion flailing and trying to keep his head above the water. Without a second thought, Applejack leaned down and quickly clamped down on the drowner’s mane, and pulled hard. The stallion screamed in pain as the hairs on his head were nearly yanked out of their roots at the forceful pull of the workhorse, but he was able to get a hoof on the dock next to Applejack. She continued to help him as he pulled his sopping wet form out of the water, sprawling on the wood.

“Ya’ll alright?” Said Applejack, voice showing a bit of concern. She bent down to try and pull the stallion up to his hooves, but he waved her away with a grunt. 
“I’d be more fine if I didn’t have some random pony feel the need to pull the hair from my head.” he said as he stood up and coughed. The stallion shook the water from his form, Applejack lowering her hat to shield herself from the water. 

“What you talkin’ bout? You were drownin’!” 

“That what it looked like? Missy, I was merely taking a stroll.” He looked at Applejack with a scowl, taking in her appearance with gray eyes before pushing past her towards his boat. Applejack could smell the alcohol on his breath as he passed. The pungent smell made her nose wrinkle in disgust. She noticed the stallion had an unkempt blond coat. His mane was a dirty (going by taste) brown color that was now matted against his form from becoming soaked in the water.

The stallion walked up to the boat and tried to jump the small gap that separated it from the dock. he made it halfway before his hind leg caught the edge, causing him to fall into a heap onto his deck. Applejack brought her hoof to her face at the sight of the stallion embarrassing himself. She took pity on the drunk, though, and hopped across to once again help him up in his drunken stupor. He was less willing to shrug her away this time, rubbing his head from the impact when he failed his fight with gravity. Applejack simply held her breath as not to take in too much of his smell. The sea water did very little to wash off what stink he had before.
The stallion wordlessly pulled away from Applejack and went to one of the bags he has around the deck. He rummaged through it and brought out weirdly shaped bottle. He pulled the cork out of it with his mouth and took a large gulp after spitting the cork to the side. Applejack could add another unpleasant smell to her memory. That wasn’t alcohol he was drinking, but it stunk more than anything else she had encountered before. Whatever it was, it seemed to sober the stallion enough for him to navigate without toppling over anything. Applejack thought about asking him about the boat, but was begining to think she would be better off trying her luck with another.

Before she could walk off, the stallion turned towards Applejack and questioned her, “You’re here to hire a boat?”

She stopped and turned back towards him. “How would you-”

“You’re a farm pony that’s been walking around the dead of night waking ponies less sober than I. You probably woke the whole harbor knocking on Silver Tongue’s hatch to get her up. She always has something interesting to say, depending on the time of day.” He took another swig of the foul smelling liquid. He offered it to Applejack but she quickly denied it with a raised hoof. He shrugged and continued, “You’re a long way from any farm, missy. Why else would you be out here?”

Applejack could see he wasn’t as drunk as he seemed. She guessed it has something to do with the drink. “Yea, I need one. You offerin’?”

“It’s how I make my living, missy. Where is it you want to go?” The Stallion took a large swig out of the bottle.

“To the land beyond the sea.”

The stallion choked and started coughing, spitting out whatever he had been drinking. He took a moment to recover before looking Applejack straight in the eye. “Get off of my boat.” He growled, wiping his mouth with a forehoof before turning his back on Applejack.

Applejack had enough. She stomped on the boat with enough force to crack the wood. The sound of which was enough to give the Stallion pause.  “Just wait there a minute, now ah’ve been waking ponies all mornin’ and not one of them asked just why I need ta get there!.” Applejack said, frustrated.

“There is no good reason to go out that way, foalbrain!  What do you want? Riches? There is nothing out there but wind and water. Do you want adventure? You’ll sure get that, death is the last great adventure any of us will go on. That’s the only thing that waits for those who seek the land beyond the waters!” the stallion pointed a hoof over at the brightening horizon while grimacing at Applejack.”What possible reason could you have searching for death, missy? Go home and dig your dirt,  you have no place out here .”

Applejack heard his words, but they weren't anything she didn’t already say to herself. It’s very likely she would already be mourning the loss of her friend if not for the talisman around her neck. She would have waited for Twilight to come back.Twilight would do something magical to find Dash and things would be better after that.

But what happened with the stone proved to Applejack that she could not wait. It also proved that Rainbow Dash was still alive. Alive, but in trouble. Applejack knew that when the stone went cold, so did Rainbow, she died. By whatever miracle, the stone was warm again to the touch. Applejack lifted a hoof to it, but never broke her eye contact with  the Stallion before her. 

“Mister, Ah’m not goin’ there fixin’ to die. Ah’m goin; to save a life! A pegasus with half the sense of a rotten apple frew out there.” Applejack pointed past the stallion. “Ah Jus’ happen to be unlucky enough to be her friend. Ah’ll bang on a hundred doors if it meant a chance to get to her, an’ it’s not that I think she’s dead, ah know she’s alive out there.”

The stallion stared at her, and a moment of silence passed before he spoke. “That mare I mentioned earlier, Silver Tongue? She had a son.” The stallion walked over to the right side of the boat (Applejack later learned was Starboard) and looked at the home of Silver Tongue. “His father would go out to sea, always said something about finding his soul. He would make a habit of weighing anchor within sight of the harbor, sometimes taking his son out just to look at the sunset . One evening, he left his son home while he went out alone. A strorm blew in from across that cursed land and swept the boat out of sight. The Silver Eyes stole a boat after the storm ended, and tried to pursue the father he ‘knew’ was still alive out there in the empty.”

“It took everything for Silver to convince a team of Pegasi to search for them. They found both boats after a day of flying, but the father and the son were never found.” He turned and looked down at his ship. “I searched every inch, I couldn’t find one trace of them. Neither could they find it on the father’s ship, which Silver lives on now. I’m surprised she didn’t buck you into the water for asking something like that of her.” He looked back at Applejack, “If you go out there, you’re going to die, and you’re going to drag the poor sod dumb or drunk enough to take you down to Tartarus with you. Who are you to ask for such a thing?”

His last words stung, but did nothing weaken her resolve. Applejack looked down at the obsidian around her neck, and felt its warmth that she attributed to hope. “Mister, she’s like family. Now  Ah don’t blame that boy for trying to get to his father. There was a chance, afterall, if he left right after the storm. Ah was raised an Apple, and the Apple family never leaves family to die!”

The stallion’s eyes shot with surprise, but only a moment before taking a step closer to Applejack, staring at her intently. “What is your name?”

“Applejack.”

The stallion turned around and went towards one of the ropes holding the boat to the dock and untied it. “They call me Sky.” He said without Applejack asking. “I’m  the colt dumb and drunk enough to take you on your offer.” 

Applejack looked surprised, then a frown covered her face as she became confused at the sudden change of heart. “What in tarnation are you getting on about?”

“I’m taking you to save your friend.”

“But why are ya-”

“First rule on the Jacklyn Rose, miss, is not to speak unless the captain says you can.” Skye interrupted  while throwing off the last rope to the dock. “Second rule is to do as the captain says or get a swift kick overboard, and the captain says for you to strongly observe the first rule.” He walked over to Applejack and looked her in the eyes. “Now, Miss. Do you know anything about sailing?”

Applejack kept Rainbow Dash in mind to help quell her anger against the disrespect Skye was showing right now. This was most likely to be the only chance she had at getting to sea, and she wasn’t going to let pride be the death of her friend in this instance. She didn’t know what would cause Skye to suddenly change his mind, but the questions would have to wait for another time. She simply shook her head at Skye in answer.

Skye turned and went to another part of the boat and started pulling an assortment of rope that Applejack couldn’t see being relevant to anything. “Well I expect you to learn and to work, but if there’s one good thing they can say about dirt farmers is that they know how to work.” Skye yanked on one rope with his teeth, and suddenly a sail billowed out from the mast at the front of the boat. It instantly caught wind and pulled the ship forward towards the east. Applejack, who could never be moved from the ground, instantly lost her balance and fell on her side in surprise.

Skye simply walked over her as he tended to the other side. “Missy, you have alot to learn.”

Applejack gained another reason for her to dislike the waters.




(Authors Note: Thank you very much for reading this chapter. It’s the longest one I’ve ever penned, and it was also a bit frustrating. I found that writing Dialogue is not something I’ve very familiar with, so it took a bit of driving. I’m going to try and update the fiction once a week, it’s as much practice for me to focus on it than anything else. Sorry for being a week late.

Also, something I want to say about what I’ve found. This is my first attempt at writing in a great many years, and I’m starting to see it more of an experiment. I don’t think it will live up to my vision, mainly because I’m not yet skilled enough, but it should provide an interesting read if not to see one person steadily improve, chapter by chapter. I do apologize for the rough waters that the earlier chapters have been.
Again, I thank you for taking  part in my metamorphosis. ~Justin.) 







 




> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



“Hold still!”

“Stop twisting it!”

“I’m not twisting, you won’t stop moving!”

“Well, see how you- ARGH!”

A sickening crack was heard as Gilda mercilessly shoved the dislocated wing back into it’s place like a loud key being fit into a door, interrupting Dash’s protest in the process.  Dash grit her teeth in an attempt to endure the momentary pain. The sharp pain quickly subsided to a dull hurt that throbbed as a constant reminder of what happened the night before.

Gilda let go of the wing after the sound confirmed the correct placement. Her face showed little emotion as she stared at Dash, and waited for the pegasus to finish enduring the pain. Dash extended a hoof to her shoulder in an attempt to rub the soreness from her wing, but silently cursed equine anatomy when she couldn’t reach over. It was then that her head decided to add another wave of misery that centered around the new bruise that adorned the right side of her face.

Dash took solace in the fact that she could at least reach to caress her throbbing head. “Why did you have to hit me so hard?” Dash groaned.

Gilda stood up and padded over to the straw and started to dig through it with her talons. “I needed you to be quiet.” She said, finding a block of wood and pulling it out of the straw. Gilda continued to do this until she had a small pile of wood at the center of the tower. Gilda kicked a pile of straw over the wood, then picked up a stone that was among the wood and nicked it with a claw. A slight smile came to her face as the stone let off a few sparks.

“You could have just asked.” Dash said, looking curiously at Gilda as she returned to the pile of wood and straw. Gilda began striking the stone with her claw, showering the pile with sparks over and again. 

“Please, I would be bucking trees and eating grass long before anyone got Rainbow Dash to shut up.” Gilda struck the stone harder out of frustration, and was rewarded with an ember amidst the straw. Gilds stooped low and gave the ember a soft breath, and watched as it proceeded to turn into a flame that began to dance along the wood and tinder. Gilda stepped back and watched along with Dash as the blaze began to consume the remainder of the tinder, then move on to the wood. 
The warmth of the fire was a welcoming one, and so was the light. Dash remembered that the sun was setting before her ‘encounter’ with Gilda. She remembered the moment that Gilda struck her; the pain still evident across her skull. Then there was blackness when she awoke along with her entire skin crawling with discomfort. She had jumped out of the moldy straw vigorously  scratching at the insects that crawled into her coat while she was out. 

Afterwards, there had been Gilda standing there alone. Dash still didn’t know the excuse she gave her companions to have them leave her behind, and Gilda had yet to give her an answer, but she was far from done complaining to Gilda about her need to knock her out like that.

“Yea, but you could have-”

“They would have killed you, Dash.”

What Gilda said stopped Dash cold. She looked up at Gilda who was wearing a serious expression she had never seen her old friend have before. The statement that Gilda made sent a chill across her body in realization of how much of a different place this was than that of Equestria. Rainbow never had to worry about being alone there. Sure, there were monsters, but there was places of obvious safety. There, the storms were controlled by the pegasi, and didn’t randomly throw them out of the sky and-

Dash rubbed her head harder, but grateful for the pain this time. It kept her from remembering.

Gilda continued staring at Dash from across the flames of the fire, the light playing with the shadows on her that cause Gilda to look more... scary? Dash couldn’t put a hoof on it, but something about her old friend had changed. Some parts were obvious, her appearance having a  broader chest and stronger legs, but there were also scars across her beak, and several clumps of feathers were missing around her upper body. What Dash couldn’t figure out was how she ‘seemed’ different. Her eyes used to show some sort of rebellion to the world, now they were nearly emotionless as she looked at Dash.

It was giving Rainbow the creeps. Dash was about to question, but Gilda spoke up before she was able to.

“Why are you here, Dash?”

Dash saw this question coming. She responded in her usual way,

“It’s none of your business, Gilda.”

“You’re such an idiot, Dash.”

“It’s not like I asked your opinion!”

“I almost killed you, Dash!” Gilda rose to a standing position and was shouting, the shadows dancing across her form from the flames. Dash was fearful of her past friend, but didn’t show it as she held her ground. Gilda stopped herself, and sat back down to look at the flames. Talking quietly, she spoke, “Things are different here, you can’t stay Dash. Equestria is safe for ponies and provides everything you need to survive,” She gestured outside, then pointed to the ground below her, “This place bleeds you dry.” These last words came out more softly than the others, and there was a hint of sadness in Gilda’s eyes.

A moment of silence was shared between the two fliers, the crackling flames being the only sound in the tuneless night. Dash watched the fires dance off the aged wood as it consumed, questions bouncing around her head that seemed to mirror the cadence of the fire. Of the many, there was one that Rainbow voiced which circled her mind the most,

“What happened to you, Gilda?”

Gilda said nothing, and Dash thought she wasn’t going to answer.

“That’s none of your business, Dash.” Came her muttered reply.

They were no longer friends, only memories were left. The connection they once has was severed long ago.

Gilda drew in a breath and let it out slowly before peaking again, “Don’t walk around during the day, you stand out and will be spotted by them from a mile away. If you have to move during the day, stick to the tall grass and stay, low.” she emphasized her last two words. “Throwing your hooves in the air like a feather-brain was the worst thing you could do.”

Gilda stood up and stretched out her wings, then began to walk towards the tower’s exit. Dash realized her momentary companion was planning to leave, and quickly stood up to stop her. “Gilda, wait, who are ‘they’?” Dash asked, stepping in the way.

Gilda didn’t hesitate in practically throwing Dash out of her way. Dash lost her balance and fell, hitting the ground hard inches away from the fire. Dash looked back up to Gilda whose eyes burned with anger, but as sudden as the anger came, it was gone. The anger was replaced with a look of sadness. 

“They are the Gryphons, Dash. They eat meat, and they don’t care who you are or where you’re from. You’re food Dash, and they will kill you if you let them.” Gilda turned back towards the exit before speaking once more. “They have changed, Dash. They have began doing things I never even heard of, or thought I’d see. I don’t know what’s going on to make them do these stupid things, it’s not in the traditions I remember.

“I can’t help you again. Next time you see me, Dash, ‘them’ will be ‘us’. Stay away from me, any Gryphon that you find, and do not go to the forest.”

Gilda left, and Dash looked after her a moment before rising to her hooves and galloping outside after her. Dash ran out and looked around but could only see the blackness of the night, the moon not giving off light from the sky. Gilda was gone in the blackness, but Dash spread her wings and took off from the ground regardless. She rose a few feet, but was dropped to the ground by a jolt of pain that was sent through her wing. The ground itself brought a reminded of the rest of her fresh wounds, including the one nearest to her neck that had opened, and had begun to bleed again.

Dash stood on three legs looking up to where Gilda had disappeared, mindlessly holding the wound with her hoof to suppress the bleeding. She found the darkness to be substantial, and it suddenly seemed to close about her as the feeling of isolation started to take hold. Gilda’s words and departure brought back many of the thoughts she tried to keep from surfacing. They rushed forward all at once, strengthened by the very real danger that laid in the skies above.

She wasn’t going to be rescued. Things were around, trying to kill her, to eat her! They weren’t monsters, they were Gilda! 

The darkness of the night sky was almost suffocating. Dash turned back towards the tower with an awkward gait since she was still holding the wound. The light of the fire became a saving grace, a beacon, as she fell inside the entrance and lay by the fire. The warmth thereof started to spread around her and begun to banish her fears one after the other. Dash looked out to the dark with a new appreciation for those who forsook it, despite it being Luna’s gift.

The darkness hid the creatures, hid the dangers that would seek to take her life. Gilda had said to travel at night, but this was impossible. How could she survive the things for the night? Things she couldn’t see and defend herself from, and the fact that they were ‘things’, and not something she could define made it all the worse. Rainbow Dash felt small.

Her friends weren’t here, they weren’t coming. They didn’t know where she was. They were probably still going along with their lives. Twilight was reading some egghead book about the stars. Applejack would be harvesting and storing what she could before the winter would hit. Rarity would be throwing cloths together for winter, and fluttershy helping animals with their dens so they can hibernate comfortably, and Pinkie Pie...

Would be Pinkie Pie.

She had only been gone for a day. Why would they worry about her? Why would they come?

The heat of the fire seem to have a calming effect on Dash. Soon her thoughts began to slow and her eyes became heavy. Sleep began to take over her and she fall into it, despite her rising fears mercifully calming them to near extinction in a dreamless escape.






The following morning shed light through the tower’s top opening, falling on the sleeping form of Rainbow Dash. The light was an unwelcome irritation that disturbed her sleep, causing Dash to let out a groan. She pulled her legs closer to try and extend the comfort she felt, silently cursing Celestia for turning on the sun so early. Rainbow wished the clouds she formed over her room would stay in place so it would block the morning sun.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, and saw that this wasn’t her home. She was on the ground, and shivering from the chill the night brought which the sun had yet to dispel. She saw the fire had long since died down to nothing but coals and smoke, leaving her open to the cold night that contrasted the warm days that the land seemed to have.

Dash shook the sleep from her eyes and stood up onto her stiff hooves, looking to her side to see the gash had scabbed over by itself. Dash barely registered the fact as she walked outside into the warmth of the sun and the side of the rain barrel. With barely a hesitation, she dunked her head into the cold waters to clear her thoughts. The cold water brought a shock to her system, and she brought her head out gasping. The previous days events started to come back to her.

Flying, crashing, dying, waking, walking, seeing flyers...

Gilda.

At the time her thoughts went to the conversation, Dash could have sworn she heard something whisper in her ear. It was faint, and spoke quickly,


“Look up.”


Dash looked to the skies, suddenly feeling vulnerable to everything around her as the realization hit that she was exposed outside. The skies were clear, but there seemed to be a few specks that were coming from the north, and they were getting bigger.

Dash thought about running back inside the tower to hide, but it would be too obvious. Gilda had said to stay in the grass in the day time. Dash knew that the tall grass would provide a hiding place, along with a place to move and run. She would be a sitting duck in the tower.

With hardly another thought, Dash ran. The stiffness quickly banished as she willed her legs to run, her wounds healed enough to allow her to move quickly as she made her way east toward the rising sun. She saw from the top of the tower that the grass began to grow tall again as it neared the forest, and Dash was not going to go back the way of the ocean any time soon. Gilda had said to say out of the forest, but she said nothing about staying in the outskirts.

Dash hoped that she wouldn’t be seen. She must be obvious to the surroundings with her bright blue coat and rainbow mane. Dash didn't want to think about facing an enemy in her flightless state right now. She had once challenged the malignant spirit Discord, but her failure to fight win against him, and the recent wounds inflicted by a, more or less, friendly Gryphon had her hesitant to go against such. By herself, Dash knew that if she fought, she would die. Dash didn’t want to die.

Again.

The grass grew closer, gradually rising up to meet her. Dash looked behind her to see the two specks had grown into recognizable figures. They were Gryphons, and there were diving down towards Lifeled. One perched on the top of the tower while the other landed at the base where they both entered together. Dash didn't want to think of what could have happened if she stayed in the tower, but she imagined it anyway. Dash was beginning to sympathize with Fluttershy’s fear of claws. The cut on her still stung.

Dash broke into the tall grass and watched it fall under her running form, wanting to put as much distance between her and the predators as she could. Taking another glance back, she saw the two had left the tower and had taken flight. They were making a straight line for the forest on the same path that Dash took. She tried to think of a reason they would be trying to follow her, then the realization struck.

Fluttershy had told her about how every creature leaves signs behind that can lead to them. She was always tracking down creatures in the forest that were hurt or lost, and would sometimes find specks of blood or hair that meant they were injured and needed help. Fluttershy would ask dash to fly above to try and spot for her. Other times Fluttershy just wanted her closest friend to be near her when going into the dangerous Everfree. Dash never paid much attention to the details that Fluttershy would point out, but she remembered enough to know...

She left behind signs. Hot coals of a recent fire. Droplets of blood from the wound Gilda inflicted; maybe even a few tracks that led towards the forest. She was being hunted, and they would find her.

Dash dug her hooves harder into the dirt and kept running, heavy hooffalls resounding with each step. Dash realized she was making noise and slid to a stop, the Gryphons would hear her moving through the grass. Dash tried suppressing her rapid breathing which seemed, to her, to echo in all direction for everyone to hear. Her breathing began to slow, and she managed to quell it to a quiet intake of breath. The area around her grew quiet, as the only sound that could be heard was each blade of grass brushing against the other in a symphony of rustle.

Dash crouched low in the grass, and listened. She could hear the wind, the grass, then something else. An impact with the ground, then another one. She could hear slight scraping of paws over ground, and rustling that was asynchronous to the wind. Then a rock being kicked directly to her right that made the hairs on her neck stand on end. Dash shot her head to the sound, expecting to be pounced by any second, but what she saw surprised her about as much.

It was Zecora! Wait, no. It wasn't Zecora, but it was a Zebra. Dash couldn’t tell if it were mare or stallion, but it had stripes running the length of it’s coat, and grey eyes that bore into that of Dash’s rose. They both stood, eyes locked on the other’s. Each was a stranger to them, and Dash’s prismatic mane made that all the more obvious, it itself was unique back in Equestria.

The zebra’s eyes broke contact, and looked behind Dash. Dash snapped her head behind her just in time to see one of the Gryphons crouched down and ready to spring. Dash sprawled out on her stomach just in time for it jump over her in a snarl, barely missing where her neck had been seconds before. The Gryphon it into the Zebra, but Dash didn’t stay long enough to see it’s fate, as she was galloping towards the forest to get away from the scene. She ducked as the other Gryphon jumped past her view, but this one managed to swipe at Dash. Pain erupted at Rainbow’s neck, and she could feel something wet run down her side, but she didn’t stop running. 

The Gryphon behind her spun around and gave chase, talons and paws working together to bring it’s powerful form closer to Dash with every bound. It only took a few bounds before it decided to spread it’s wings out and gain ground by speeding towards it’s prey through flight. 

Dash could see the pale white of the forest before, but had little time to take note of the details. The trees in front of her spoke of shelter and safety, and it consumed all her thoughts as she willed her legs to move faster. She imagined the breath of the beast on her flank ready to take her down for the kill. Dash did not dare look back to confirm her fears, but she could hear the beating wings getting close, and the treeline to the forest seemed so far away.

Dash would think about this instant again and again, and still not completely understand what caused her to move this way. Time seemed to slow as she felt the air from the Gryphon’s wings on her back. Dash seemed to lose control of herself at that moment, and found herself jumping in the air and using her wings to spin in the air and face the Gryphon. The Gryphon, set in it’s movements to take down a grounded prey, tries to correct for the change and ended up barreling into the hooves of Dash who kicked out with all her strength. The Gryphon was thrown to the ground while Dash sailed into the treeline, her body slamming into the trunk of one of the pale-while trees with a heavy thud.

Dash would have yelled from the pain, but all the air from her lungs were blown out on impact. She lay against the base of the tree dazed, trying to get her lungs to work from the shock so that she can pull in the air she desperately needed. Dash finally calmed herself, and tried to focus on her breathing. It came shallow at first, but soon she was able to draw in a full breath of air, and another. Her lungs were working again, and her head was beginning clear enough to realize that the Gryphon would soon be upon her if she didn't get off the ground soon.

Dash brought her hooves under her and pushed up, standing with effort. She began to turn into the depths of the forest, but was stopped when she stole a quick glance behind her.

They Gryphon had stopped at the treeline. It stared hungrily at Dash, but made no move to go further. It stalked back and forth, pawing at the ground with each turn, sometimes muttering words that Dash could not understand.

Despite her situation, Dash found herself stepping closer to the Gryphon, her curiosity outweighing her common sense for survival. It was almost like there were voices screaming at her to run this very instant. Her nostrils flared as the Gryphon’s breath seemed to carry a smell that she only encountered in the Ponyville Cemetery. This particular gryphon had more scars about it’s flank and more feathers missing in it’s torso than Gilda did. It’s face was also sporting a diagonal scar that ran across it’s face, moving through it’s eye. It was also missing that very eye that the scar cut across.

Dash moved a little closer, but stepped back in time to avoid a swiping talon from the Gryphon. It screamed in pain after it’s arm passed the treeline of the forest, a darkness covering it’s limb that seemed to quickly dissipate. The Gryphon grasped it’s talon, but never took it’s eyes of pure hate off of her prey. 

Dash took a few steps back and looked around her own form, but could not see the same wisps that plagued the Gryphon. Still, she did not feel safe being under the watchful eye of the hunter.

Dash looked behind her a the Gryphon that continued to stare daggers in her direction. She turned back into the forest and found that she could only see so far into the forest before darkness consumed everything. There were no trails she could see from here, just trees that would make the journey deeper in all the more difficult. She took one more look back, before finally moving forward into the blackness.


> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mid-morning light shone through the cloudless sky to be reflected by the blue of the ocean, casing shadows of light that danced upon the troubled water. Across the waves also came an intruder of the expanse, a lone boat passed by with a sail that fully caught the eastern- borne wind. The boat took it’s advantage, and sped across in one fixed direction leaving a wake behind as it passed. The two occupants of the Jackln Rose were upon the deck, and neither were idle as they both had work to do.

“Pull it tightly, filly.”

        Applejack could hear Skye talking behind her, but her focus remained on the knot in front of her. From securing animals to the honda knot on her lariat, she has learned throughout her life a dozen different knots needed for her profession. The understanding helped her quickly tie the double half-hitch to the mast. Hearing Sky’s words, she bit the end of the rope and pulled hard, robbing the rope of slack and tugging a few times to make sure it was secure. Applejack then ran aft with the rope, feeling it pass by her shoulder as she moved with uneven hooffalls.

        Applejack bit down on the odd-looking metal tool that looked much like a rake to her, and hefted it over the aft of the boat where it landed into the water with splash. The rope began to trail behind it, and Applejack gripped it with her mouth before it could come taught so as not to damage the mast; that was only there to support the action. Applejack held on but found herself nearly falling to the deck as the boat suddenly pitched up, causing her to lose her balance.

        Thinking to be re-acquainted facially again with the deck, Applejack closed her eyes, but was surprised to find the her balance regained. She looked behind her to see that Skye had secured the rope behind her, and was pulling along side Applejack while twisting it in a way to help Applejack retain her balance. Applejack nodded, dug her hooves into the deck of the Jackln Rose and pulled hard as she felt the metal rig find purchase. There was a momentary strain, then the lead went slack. Skye and Applejack pulled the rope quickly onto the deck, Skye stepping over the end of the rope to pull up the metal rigging onto the deck, seaweed wrapped along it’s frame.

Applejack knew she would miss the succulent red delicious her farm grows all the more before the journey was over.

        Skye motioned for Applejack to come over and help him with the frame. Applejack stepped over to him, cursing her unsteady hooves on the boat. She fell in beside Skye, pulling at the plant to try and separate it from the contraption. Applejack still didn’t understand why Skye didn’t have to constantly be working the Rose’s wheel, Skye had said something about the way a boat is shaped made it keep it’s course, needed to only be adjusted to compensate for lean.

        “You almost fell again.” Said Skye, breaking the silence. Applejack said nothing, just concentrating on her hooves as they worked. Skye continued to pull the seaweed into strips and set them aside into neat lines. Applejack did more or less the same, but disliked the slimy texture.

        Another brief moment passed before Skye spoke up once again.

        “It’s not your fault, can’t blame ya.”

        Applejack’s thoughts went to the night that Rainbow left. There were no hints of what she was planning, and the departure was abrupt. If there was blame to be found in anypony, Applejack couldn’t see it. Dash left without leaving any sort of hint on purpose, so what blame could there-
Her thoughts were interrupted when Skye spoke again.

        “It’s not your fault that your hooves cannot grasp the feeling of the waves. See, the ocean is a vengeful and cruel mistress that has yet to forgive the land for its sins against her. Now, Judging by the look you’re giving me, I can tell you’re not familiar with the history of the own land you live on. Well here, let me spin you a tale,"

       " See, before ponies and before Celestia mastered the sun and Luna bound the moon, there existed first, this land. Nothing sought to own the land, and He existed with no equal. His anger would erupt in fountains of fire and his rage could be felt in quakes that shook His mighty form. The land was to be feared, and there was little life to be found amidst the shallow crags."

        "Yet even the most hate filled of spirits can be calmed by the soothing touch of a lover.The ocean lived in the sky then, and She saw the fires and quakes, but did not recoil in fear nor did She react in anger to His explosive reactions to everything that tried to come near to him. The waters fell from her home in the sky and spread throughout the land in it's embrace. The fires steamed and the quakes churned and all seemed to be at naught for a while, but the waters won out in the end. With time, the fires were quelled and the quakes grew to still murmurs as the waters carved the land into a more calm and gentle visage. The steam spread out and embraced the land all the more till He cooled enough to allow Her to come closer."

        "She loved Him. Now after seeing the beauty that was shown in the heavens after the fall of the waters. The land longed to be with the sky, and started to reach out, forming many peaks, hills, and mountains in it’s attempt to seek heaven’s embrace."

        "The ocean who had once been equals to the land had been cast down into the depths of the earth. The land covered the ocean in it’s mass, depriving Her the view of her once home and shutting Her into caves deep below and blocking her view with the peaks and mountains that continued to rise up in it’s one desire. This betrayal brought sorrow and regret to the ocean and she found within herself the anger that had once been the land’s. Through rising waters and anger fueled movements, She carved the land with a greater ferocity than before. No longer was it an lovers embrace."

        "The largest of such tore the land asunder, causing the greatest fissure which caused the land to groan in pain. The ocean called to the waters, and filled the great gap and separated the land from itself, becoming her namesake. It was with great anger that she caused her waters to cut through the land. The many lakes it formed became a means for her to carve down the land as it tried to rise. The fires of land land returned, but were squelched by the many waters. The quakes also came back, but they were not the land shaking in anger, they were the quakes of sorrow as the land wept for what it was robbed. quakes in turn sent a reaction to the ocean that caused her waters to never be calm again. She would never see the sky like She once had."

        "This world is cursed, Missy. We get along with the land just well, but the waters are not kind to those who seek to control what's rightfully hers. Those who call the land their home, She drags down into her depths with a special anger brought to those that call the sky their home. Only those that give their life to listen to Her song can be given some credence and walk upon or vessels without the curse of the waters. No, I can't rightly blame you. You weren't born on the waves."
        
        With these words, Skye stood up and made his way to the bow of the Rose without waiting for Applejack's reply. She didn't have one to give and only watch Skye as he walked, noticing for the first the mark that adorned his flank. She could make out a large jagged outline, barely perceived behind what looked like some sort of mist or fog; An island hidden. Applejack wondered why she had not noticed the mark on his before now but could not think of any real reason for her lack of attention. Hay, she could barely even make sense of what he just told her. It seemed to her a bunch of none-sense, but the way he spoke with a reverent and steady tone suspended her disbelief and caused her to think about his words.

        She had never heard of a story like this before. Applejack then realized just how few stories before Celestia existed. There had always been just the sun and the moon, and the princesses that stood dominion over the sky and Equestria.

        In her thoughts, Applejack absentmindedly reached down with her hoof and took a piece of the slimy weed, bringing it up to her mouth and tearing a chunk off like one would a piece of dried fruit. Her reverie was broken by the reaction her tongue had with the taste and texture of the unnatural plant. Fighting back her gag reflex, Applejack chewed the weed and loudly swallowed. She briefly weight her chances of surviving without food before they made landfall for hopes of something more edible. Knowing that she needed her strength, Applejack took another bite and choked it down. She would have to bear it.

     but it was no apple pie.


       



 The day wore on and the mid-journey preparations of the Jackln Rose came to a slow close.Skye had just finished rising the forward sail with two other smaller sails to help catch the eastern wind. Applejack listened to Skye explain how you could tell what type of boat one sailed by the sails themselves. He said that he preferred the sails of a cutter but the style of a schooner, said the style gave his boat the name of a Friendship Schooner (but was a cutter nonetheless). 
     
        Applejack leaned against the port side of the Rose and looked towards the bow where she could see Skye laying on his back, eyes closed with his hooves behind his head. The rise and fall of his chest gave Applejack the assumption that he was asleep. Applejack stretched her hooves and took in a deep breath, relaxing from the work Skye gave her. The work would usually have been done before departure, so they both had to scramble to get things ready for the journey, especially the food supply it didn't help the fact that she would trip over her own legs now and then when the boat would randomly pitch one way or the other.
     
        Applejack didn't mind the work. Physical labor has been her life and she prided herself in being a great example of a workhorse. Even before she found her talent for farming, she had worked, and all the more harder after finding her purpose in life to be an apple farmer. The earth revealed it's secrets to her time and time again as she brought forth some of the best fruits that any in Equestria had ever tasted. It was pride, but a good pride. No, Applejack didn't mind the work that Skye had her do. It kept her hooves busy and her thoughts focused so that she wouldn't worry about her friend.
     
        Nothing was keeping those thoughts from surfacing. with the work done. Applejack absentmindedly held the obsidian charm around her neck, gently rubbing it's smooth surface and feeling it's warmth. The rock seemed to have a characteristic that she had only barely noticed before. The warmth pulsed twice every second or so and occasionally gained in speed, but the beats were consistent. Applejack put her other hoof to her neck and felt the steady rhythm that came with the beating in her neck.
     
        A heartbeat. The stone focused on the heartbeat. 
     
        Applejack held the stone in twine with her neck, concentrating the asynchronous beats. After a while it seemed that the beats drew closer, eventually beating as one. This calmed Applejack's worry, as the beats held the the knowledge of life for her. As long as her heart was beating alongside that of Dash's, there was hope and the constant reminder that she was heading in the right direction. Rainbow Dash was still alive and could be found.
     
        She was still alive.
     
        Applejack turned and faced the waters, pushing her hat off to let it hang by the lanyard and hanging her head off the side, feeling the spray of the waters across her face as the Jacklyn Rose cut a swath through them. Applejack found herself entranced by the movement and the bobbing of the Rose on the wakes. Lulled into a relaxed state, it came as no surprise that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Skye had appeared next to her with a question.
    
         "You've been messing with that like it's the only thing keeping your head attached to your body. What makes you faun over that piece of earth so much? Perhaps a gift from an admirer you left behind, Missy?"
    
         Applejack regained her composure and slipped her hat back in it's place before shaking her head, answering,
    
         "Aint nothing of the kind, jus' this here is the only way ah know my friend is still alive." Applejack believed in being honest in any situation, this situation in particular called for a more open honesty. She showed this by loosing the slip holding the obsidian to her neck and holding it out for Skye to feel while still having it attached to her neck. This was Rainbow's life-line, and she would never let it go.
     
        Skye extended a hoof and held the stone for a moment, then he brought the obsidian in close and caressed it against his face. Applejack felt uncomfortable being pulled so close to the stallion, but she couldn't sense any hostile intentions. He closed his eyes and held the stone for a full minute before releasing. He looked up at Applejack.
    
        "It's warm."
    
         Applejack nodded. "Gets warmer as ah get closer. Gets cold when ah move away."
  
        "The heat, it had a rhythm. Reminds me of a-"
     
        "Heartbeat." Applejack finished. "Friend ah mine made this and by the grace ah Celestia I found it when ah did. Ah reckon the heart beat is the same as Rainbow's."
     
        Skye raised an eyebrow. "Rainbow? That her name?" Applejack didn't answer. Her hesitation caused Skye to let out a breath of frustration. He turned to look out at the passing waters. 
     
        "Look, I know it's none of my business, but I would feel a mite more comfortable if you told me about this friend of yours , and why she's worth this ship and both of our lives."
     
        Applejack knew these risks, but in her mind she thought that keeping the details from Skye would somehow absolve him of responsibility. What Skye pointed out was the simple fact that he's just as involved as Applejack was. There was no excuse to not tell him everything, considering how committed he was now.
     
        Was he? What was keeping this stallion from turning back the way he came? What was keeping him from shirking one troublesome pony overboard to save the weight and make the return trip easier?                
     
        Applejack didn't know his motivations nor his intentions, but she did know his actions. After telling him about Rainbow, he changed his mind and decided to help save the life of her friend.. He did this without asking for money in advance. Kept to himself, knowing very little on the details of her leaving or where the heading was besides a general direction.  Skye was following her through possible death and losing everything he owned (assuming he lived on the Jacklyn Rose). This fact weighed heavily on Applejack's guilt, but what choice did she have? Nopony was going to help her, they were going to let Rainbow die. Even Skye was going to deny her help at first.
     
        He deserved to know everything.
Applejack joined Skye in his overlook before speaking.
     
        "Her name is Rainbow Dash. She's a Pegasus born, raised, and trained in Cloudsdale who had somehow lost half her sense and took a liking to Ponyville enough to live there. I'm sure ya heard about pegasus pride? Well she takes a step as there are few pegasi that can match up to her flyin', and she reminds ya every occasion she can. She's arrogant, loud, boastful, and makes a buck in the head seem mighty more appealing than trying to keep conversation with her."
     
        Applejack dipper her head low and let out a sigh. "But she's loyal, and does what she can to help her friends and her home for the simple reason of them needing it. As selfish as she makes herself out to be, she has a heart that tells her to give freely of herself, and she remains loyal to that part of her too."
     
        Applejack grabbed the obsidian and pulled the slip tight against her neck once again before closing her yes and saying, "And she's scared. It may seem funny for me to say that considern’ where she's at, but she was scared before. She thinks that ponies will only want to be near her if she acts like that. She's hopin' to join the Wonderbolts one day so everypony will be with her.She thinks that if she can do that, she'll never be alone."

        Alone. 
        
        Applejack recalled the photo and the latter that was left in the wake of Dash's departure and how it detailed two pegasi who had disappeared many years ago. Rainbow never talked about her parents before, and nopony thought to ask. It was assumed that Dash was raised an oprhan for how she talked about practically 'living' in flight camps and the like as she was growing up. Applejack and Twilight had talked about the possibility with each-other mid conversation where Twilight said how it was unusual for a pegasus to move away from Cloudsdale at such a young age to live alone.
     
        Alone.
     
        Skye turned his head to look at applejack. "There's one thing you haven't told me. What in Equastria would possess her to fly across the sea like that, Missy?"

        Applejack closed her eyes to recall the events of the day, and to better remember the note left behind. "When Rainbow left, I found a photo and a letter among her things. Now sir, she never talked about her kin around us and has always lived by herself. All of us figured her for an orphan. Well this note talked about two pegasi that were sent cross the sea for whatever reason. The note didn't say much, but the photo showed a stallion and mare next to each-other. I swear to you, that mare was the near spittin' image of Dash; especially the eyes."

        Applejack shook her head. "Suppose Rainbow found some information on her parents. Seems they disappeared in the line o' duty right close to the time she was born. She must want to know why they left her, and a whole mess of things that she can't even think of. Seems to me Rainbow thought to go to the ends of the earth to find her parents."

"Wouldn't you do the same?"

Applejack turned her head to look at Skye, seeing herself reflected in the grey irises of his eyes. She didn't answer. She couldn't answer.

She didn't have one.        






( Authors Note: Sorry for the late chapter. Bunch of life stuff happening. I meant for this one to be twice as long, but I thought that breaking the continuity of short 3-4K chapters with a 6-7K one would be a bad idea. This seemed like a perfect place to stop. Next chapter should be up this week.)
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It had been several hours since Skye had asked that one troubling question to Applejack and, try as she might, she could not get that question out of her head. The question had erupted a maelstrom of others that constantly assaulted her mind. Why hadn't she gone to search for them? The simple answer was that they were dead. Granny Smith had told her so when she was a little older than Applebloom, her sister. Told her that they had both been taken by the by a raging flood that had been completely unexpected. 

What was Ponyville's dam had once been a natural barrier that diverted the waters around Ponyville. The barrier had one day eroded and gave way to a torrent of water that tore through the the outskirts of the town. Many of the outlying homes had been instantly swept away in the torrent of water,  the worse of it came by the Apple family farm. Applejack had been told that the waters quickly swept anypony working the orchard. Both Ma and Pa had been out in the orchard for the high demand of labor that applebuck season, their bodies were never found in the aftermath. They were thought to be swept to the destination all rivers end up in, and that's the ocean.

The sea.

There was nothing to look for. No evidence of survival, no letter that spoke of a mysterious sendoff nor anypony that had thought to see them. If she were to go out in some sort of journey like Rainbow Dash, she would have no clue on what direction to go. Rainbow had a letter, a direction... Hay, she even had an exact spot where they were sent. What did she have?

Then the question came back into it's true form. "Would you... do the same."

Applejack involuntarily slammed her head against the mast of the Jacklyn Rose in frustration for thinking herself in a circle. She was letting her thoughts distract herself instead of focusing on the task at hand. Skye raised an eyebrow at the action, but Applejack gave no indication she wanted to talk about it and instead pushed her heat from her head to get a better look at the knot that Skye was trying to show her.

Skye shook his head and spoke in a steady tone, showing her the movements with his own rope. "Now, you're pullin' it the wrong way. I know it's a hard one, but it's meant to save your life. You want the knot on your lifeline to be so strong that nothin' can pull it apart." 

Applejack did as Skye instructed, then bit down hard on the length and pulled. The knot seemed to hold for a moment but quickly slipped and loosened causing Applejack to fall backwards again on her flank. Skye let out a curse as he mumbled in frustration, walking away from her and towards the bow of the Rose. Applejack spit out the rope and climbed back up to her hooves, giving the rope a slight kick to try and ease her own frustration. 

The stallion wanted to learn this weird know that she had never seen before. She had her own that would suit the job just fine, but he demanded she learn this one. She couldn't understand why the stubborn colt wouldn't let her just tie the thing and be done with it. Why would they need a tie like that anyway? The ocean was practically flat and there were no clouds anywhere around the horizon. Darn fool stallion and his knots... and questions.

Would she go? The first answer that came to her mind was no. She had a farm to run and couldn't go off on fools errands whenever she liked to. Macintosh could buck near as many apples as she could, but he was one Pony and it just didn't add up. Her parents were dead, and she had accepted that fact a long time ago, what would wet bones have to prove? What would they even tell her?

She knew her father from what Granny told her. He was a hard workin' pony that put family before anythin' else. Some of the earliest memories she had of him was how to plant, discern which trees were the best for bearing fruit, even how to better graft the branches to make the tree as strong as it could be.

Wait, no. That was her uncle Strudel. The memory was blurred, but she could finally recognize a much younger Apple Strudel that first taught her the basics of working the orchard.

Applejack tried to bring up memories of her mother, but they were also blurred. When she tried to bring up memories of her mother, they were of Granny Smith preparing jam and showing Applejack the best ways to prepare a meal that would satisfy any appetite. Apple's are a versatile fruit, and Applejack learned how to make a myriad of foods using that one ingredient as the base in them all.

But it was Granny Smith, not her mother that she remembered.

Applejack brought her stetson back to it's place on her head, trying as she might to find any memory, and finding herself growing sad as she began to uncover the holes that she had assumed to be filled. Granny had told her much about her Ma and Pa, and she didn't think that Granny would lie to her, but she had no memories of her own to recall. No personal experience to connect her with them.

Why was she so troubled by that question? Especially now when her friend's life was at stake and she was surrounded on all sides by water that caused her to walk like a newborn filly. If curses were to be believed, then she would agree with Skye's tale about the ocean's treatment of land-dwellers. Applejack missed the strength and assurity that came from walking on the land.

At least she could trust the strength of the boat's edge as she made her way to the starn and gripped the wood with her forehooves. She tried to let the passing air clear he head, but found little comfort in the horizon as the water spanned farther than the eye could see. The blue of the water seemed to mirror the sky as she looked out at the expanse. Applejack increased her grip to the wood, believing that letting go would have her falling into the blue abyss that proceeded on forever. She shut her eyes and shook her head to rid herself of the vertigo. How could anypony enjoy this life?

"She is always a beauty to behold Missy, the sea." came Skye's voice behind her.

Applejack kept herself from scoffing. "Ah'll be honest with ya, I don't see much worth lookin' at out here. Hard to appreciate the sights if they won't stop movin'."

"Suppose it would be hard to appreciate what you see, missy. You weren't born on-

"On the waves. Ah got that, " Applejack cut him off. " but what does that matter besides not making a lick of sense? Everypony is born on land, there ain't no place for givin’ birth out here."

Skye showed no signs of anger from being interrupted, but stopped up next to Applejack, putting his own forehooves over the edge, mimicking her position.

"I agree with you on that one, but not everypony has a choice when the time comes"

Applejack looked at Skye with a raised eyebrow, then widened her eyes in shock at the realization. "Ya'll were actually born out here?" asked the orange mare.

Skye nodded, then spoke with an easy tone. "Papa was a navigator, thought he could get to one end of Equestria to the other by sailin' straight one way. Seems the water is a might more appealing to travel across than heading through mountains and forests. Fool of a father didn't know the skies and how their presence still angers the waters." Skye bowed his head over the edge. "Storms came, warmer than most. Tossed their ship to and about for most part of a week. The fogs came after and laid low to embrace the waters, but left my fool of a father with no way oh' knowin' where he was. Had mother come along thinking she weren't due for months yet."

Skye spat, and Applejack shifted her hooves uncomfortably. She coudln't understand Skye's anger with his father, but then he continued.

"The waters were still goin' strong along with the fog, and they had both lost hope that land would be past the fog. The fog blocked out the stars and the fool didn't think to take a compass with him. Fear musta' put mother in an early labor, and there I was born midst the waves and the fog."

Applejack spoke when Skype paused, "You talk like you were there, did they tell you 'bout this?" She asked.

Skye shook his head, face contorting in an angry expression. "Nah, I didn't hear this from either of em. Heard it from those that raised me after that fool left. Mother she..." Skye's expression softened, and Applejack could see a hint of sadness in his eyes. "She had me on that boat. Not a minute after, the fog cleared and a small island broke from the distance. Mother thought I was a blessing that saved their lives and gave me the name of Raptured. Raptured Skye." 

Skye gave a snort after saying his name, as if it was an inside joke. He turned away from the edge and returned to his hooves. "Folk that lived on that island took mother in, but she didn't make it too long after they got to the island. Father," Skye said with a sneer, "Stayed only long enough to tell the folk about what happened. Left the 'raptured' bastard that killed his wife on there for them island folk to deal with."

Applejack quickly turned around herself, barely keeping her balance as she stepped towards Skye. "Skye, I'm sorry..." She said, sincerity in her voice.

Skye waved a hoof towards her without turning around. "Got over it long ago, Missy. Just answering your question."

Applejack had one more: "Did you ever find him? Your Pa?"

Skye turned towards her. "Aye, I did." He pointed towards his flank. "That's where I got this here mark. Saddest day of my life and we'll-"

Skye was interrupted by a crack of thunder that resonated overheard. Sky and Applejack both looked up to see that the sky had turned black as storm clouds rolled forth to eclipse the horizon.  Lighting arched from the clouds to the water below, the visible energy also seen through the clouds as the blackness would be lit up from the arching white light. Moments later, Applejack had to grab her hat to keep it from being torn off her head from the raging winds that assaulted the boat, then found herself falling backwards towards the edge of the Rose as the wind hit the sail dead on.

Applejack closed her eyes, ready to fall into the depths, but then she felt a painful pull on her mane as Akye bit down on her hair, pulling her back onto the deck where she fell with a thud. Applejack looked up to thank Skye, but he was already running towards the sails that adorned the mast. Applejack did what she could to keep her balance as she trotted after him.

The sail lashed against the mast as the winds continued to assault it, the ropes straining to keep it in place. She knew enough from common sense that if the sail didn't become shredded by the winds, then the mast itself would be cracked in two. Skye was already at the helm locking the wheel in place with a chain to keep the boom under control. He yelled something back but she couldn't hear his voice over the strong winds.

The rains came after the clouds had obscured the horizon in darkness that felt like thousands of ice picks buffeting the boat and the exposed flesh of the ponies. Skye had left the helm and began to struggle with a few of the ropes that held the sail aloft. Applejack ran to Skye and bit the rope he was pulling only to be shoved aside. Skye wrapped the rope his hooves and faced Applejack, surprising him with the fierceness in his eyes. 

"Tie the lifelines! Now!" shouted Skye, his voice carrying over the storm. He bit down on the  rope he was working with and resumed his work. Applejack didn't waste another second as she sped to the mast and to the ropes tied around it. The rope that she had cast aside earlier was nowhere to be seen, but there were still two bundles tied to the spars. She grabbed the line that would loosen one and gave it a tug, freeing it from the spar and allowing her to wrap it around in a hurried double half hitch.She didn't have time to try and recreate Skye's knot.

Applejack tied the other before biting the end of both and running back to Skye. The mast was coming down, practically dropping off and slamming into the ground. Skye was there in moments trying it down. She reached sky and quickly threw the rope around his body, pulling the other end through his legs to tie it off. Skye did the same and Applejack could feel the rope being pulled tightly against her side. She looked at Skye to find him looking back. His eyes were worried and his expression grim, this was no ordinary storm.

A crackling like twisted leather behind her, she looked to see one of the ropes holding the foresail straining against the force of the wind. She felt herself being thrown down, just in time for the rope to snap and go whipping across the heads of the two prone ponies with an angry whistle. Applejack looked up to see Skye had tackled her to the deck in time for the rope to miss. It would have taken her head off

She got up on her hooves and turned to thank Skye, but stopped when she saw him sitting on his haunches looking up. Applejack turned her head to see what he was looking at, to have her legs give out from under her as the colossal wave approached the tiny by comparison vessel. The wave that seemed to be created from all the wrath, misery and woe that the ocean could muster fell down and engulfed the Jacklyn Rose.

_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_	_


"Two days! They have been standing out there for two whole days!" groaned a frustrated Rainbow Dash. She tapped her head repeatedly against the tree she was leaning against, as if she could knock out the annoyance. She had been walking along the edge of the forest for what she could guess was two days. The sky around the forest didn't show much light, it wasn't like the Everfree Forest back near her home in Ponyville. There you could see rather well for most of the way in until you got to the thickest part of the trees, then it wouldn't matter what time of the day it was. Here, it was different.

She could see the sky, but there were no stars nor light. The sky was covered in dark clouds that rained in a constant drizzle. The sun never penetrated the clouds. She had once climbed a tree consisting of low-hanging branches and hovered just high enough to try and push them aside, but found that not only were they uncooperative, they also had no sense of humor as the ones she got near let out a pouring rain that left her cold and shivering.

At least the clouds masked the fire she managed to start to keep her warm. She managed to find a stash of dry leaves and limbs in a hollow tree not far from where she entered. It provided shelter, and kept the constant rain off of her. She had stayed there for a few hours trying to start a fire from scratch, but remembered a trick she had learned in her time at flight school.

A Pegasus was a far cry from a phoenix, but both have magical properties associated with their feathers. Dash had once heard that a Pegasus feather was used in potions of some sort, but she didn't remember anything about that. What she did remember is that a plucked feather made a good fire starter. All it took was one spark to set the plucked feathers ablaze, giving her a warming fire that banished the cold and helped her relax for a moment.

Dash had later learned that her sanctuary in the forest was also a prison. Walking walking a different direction than when she came in, Dash found the forest edge surrounded by gryphons, either flying or camping outside in crude, grass tents. She had skirted a few miles of the perimeter and could not find a gap in the gryphons wide enough to escape through. Gilda wasn't joking when she had told her to stay away from the forest. 

She had not seen the scared gryphon since her first encounter. Dash didn't know whether to be relieved or worried.

At least her wing was healing right. She could achieve at least a few seconds of flight at a time without pain bringing her down again. She imagined it would be a week or two before it was completely healed, few weeks after to get herself in shape to be able to fly back to Equestria.

If she could even leave this stupid forest! Another pound sent a deserved pain through her head. She reached back to rub it with one hoof, then stopped. She could swear she could hear... drums? Dash stopped breathing and raised an ear. Faintly, she could hear a pounding, a steady rhythm that was deep and echoed against the trees. Where was it coming from?

Curiosity always being in opposition to the instinct of survival, Dash stood back on four hooves and stepped quietly towards the origin of the sound as not to lose it in her hoofsteps. The sound became louder as she came closer to where she had first entered.

Drum

Drum 

Drum

A steady beat that did not relent, one low boom after another. Dash could see the treeline, but knew better than to poke her head out of it. Looking up to spot a promising tree, she gathered her legs under her and sprang up to the nearest branch, unfolding her wings and giving a strong push upwards to give that extra lift she needed to gracefully land onto the first branch. She repeated the process till she came to a branch that could see past the treeline, while still giving her the cover from the dead, grey leaves that still stubbornly clung to the branches.

The grass beyond the forest had been cleared in a large circle where several dozen gryphons were walking about and talking with each other. Dash could hear their voices, but could not understand anything that they were saying. It sounded close to Equestrian, the words seemed the same but the structure kept anything from making sense to her. The center of the circle had some sort of wooden rise built up, but she couldn't make out too many details from all the gryphons obscuring her view. 

A staff was raised in the air, and an immediate silence followed. Gryphons parted away from the holder of the staff, revealing a gryphon that seemed older than dirt to Dash. His wings were almost featherless and he moved as if he were blind, staff moving out in front of him as he walked in the general direction of the rise. Without the gryphons gathered around, Dash could finally see what it was... and what was laying on top of it.

It had stripes, no wings and it's legs and muzzle were bound in cord. It layed there unmoving as if resigned to it's fate.

It was the same zebra that Dash saw earlier. The one that the gryphon pounced on when it missed her.

The gryphons formed a semi-circle around the the rise and the elder gryphon, and Dash watched as he walked deliberately up to the zebra. The elder stood back on it's hind legs, holding the staff with both talons. He parted the staff in half to show a long, thin blade that he rose above the captive zebra, it's own eyes looking at the blade and still he did not move. The drumming had continued and had begun to reach a driving crescendo.

And Dash looked away. She jumped down. Branch by branch she dropped, tripping on the last one and falling hard on the ground. Half a moment she was back up and running back to the comfort of the hollow, trying her best not to think about how the drums stopped beating.

The words of Gilda again rang in her head, Dash could understand why she didn't want to talk about it, but what she couldn't understand was why? Why would they tie anypony up like that and...

She wanted out of that place. She wanted to leave and never think of it again. Never think of the long knife that would come down without her being able to defend herself. 

Dash made it to the hollow and ducked inside, pushing against the wood as if to hide herself from view. She listened for a sound outside the tree, but could hear nothing but her labored breathing and rapidly beating heart. She closed her eyes and saw the rise in her mind. She saw the gryphon holding the knife above his head. She saw the figure bound and tied on the rise, her rose eyes looking up, blue wings bound to her sides as...


"Calm. Come."


The feeling of panic she felt was gone, and with it a feeling of relative peace. She heard the voice this time, louder than it had ever been. She recognized it now, it was the voice that warned her about the gryphons. Dash opened her eyes and looked around, but knew she would find no-pony around. That voice, she heard it once before.

Right before she died. Maybe she wasn't as alone as she first thought.

The next sensation was a pull, not an unpleasant one. The feeling was the same as a warm bath was after a hard day of weather patrol. The pleasurable feeling directed her outside of the tree and Dash followed and looked at the direction that she, for lack of a better word, felt.

It was deeper into the darkness of the forest.Now the pleasant feeling was one that she scared. What could be leading her there? She couldn't even start to wonder what the voice was, or why it had been with her since the end of her flight, and was she really in a position to question anything? She now had direction...

Into the depths of the forest where she wasn't sure she would be able to see. Through the trees (and there were only trees, she noticed). was a wall of blackness. How could she see where she was going? "Where was all this thinking before you zoomed away from Ponyville?" Dash chided herself silently. 

The call came again, and Rainbow realized she was stalling. Weighing her options of staying there till the gryphons found a way through the forest and heading deeper into the darkness, she found the darkness to be a bit more inviting. Dash took in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly before finally taking the first few steps into the darkened forest in front of her.



She couldn't see more than a few hooves in front of her, yet she knew which direction to go. Dash couldn't explain it and probably would never have noticed if not for the fact that she never bumped into trees. She could still hear the branches moving from the wind and feel the raindrops on her back but the darkness was consuming, making her eyes useless.

Step to the left, turn a little bit to the right, change direction, these feelings seemed to say. She reached out a wing once and scraped against the base of a large tree that she missed after following one of these impressions. She knew that the feelings could be trusted to give her direction, but where exactly was it taking her?

The sound of rustling leaves stopped along with the rushing wind. The sound of the rain hitting the earth and the trees also came to an abrupt end. Dash nearly went deaf from the silence, but the directions never stopped, and neither did her hooves. In the darkness and the silence, she knew there was no going back. She would be completely lost without the promptings, and would probably be circling around the forest for days before finding any light.

Then there came another sound that was unexpected. It sounded like a voice, but not a whisper within. It was distant, and continued in intervals.

And it was in front of her.

The sound grew clearer as Dash moved further, following the promptings. It was crying. The voice was deep and echoed all around her, making her feel rather uncomfortable, for it was the bellows of a full grown stallion. Dash stopped a moment and reached up to find a tear coming to her own eye, the crying seemed to be effecting her. The more she listened, the more she could tell that there was a great sadness in the voice that was wailing.

Then there was blue. Among the darkness, Dash could see a color. She walked over and picked up a blue feather that glowed with a faint light. Looking ahead, she could see several of these feathers glowing in a faint trail that led in the same direction as the impressions. Dash looked back at the feather, it belonged to a Pegasus. The strands that made up the down were swaying as if blown by an invisible breeze, then it shattered as if glass, falling from her hoof and onto the dirt, taking with it the glow.

"What in the name of Spitfire was going on here?"

Things were getting weird. 

Dash followed the feathers, and found something even more strange in comparison to the crying and feathers. A clearing stood before her, and she stood before the clearing trying to make sense from what she was seeing after blinking away the brightness. It was almost a perfect circle. An area where no trees stood, instead was a break in the clouds above where a little light shone onto one tree in the middle of the circle that was out of place among the other flat-leaved trees. This was a willow.

It shared the same bark as the ones around it, bleached white. The branches extended are from the colossal tree, bending down in a manner that earned it's namesake. Around the tree were flowers, but only one kind. Bright lilies that shone a dazzling white which pulled the breaking light from the clouds into their glow. The lilies extended to the edge of the clearing, only inches away from the blue hooves of Dash. 

She stole a glance back and saw only darkness behind her, having no alternative, Dash stepped forward.

The lilies reacting to her passing. The first that she touched bled from the pure white to a deep crimson.  The color grew across the petals and infected any other that came near. The blanket of white slowly became a sea of red as Dash waded against the flintlock-high flowers. The sea of crimson continued around the willow until every petal shown an angry blood red that pulled the light around her, reflecting the light to match their color onto her form. Crimson upon blue.

Then the crying stopped. So did the intruder.

The flowers at the base of the tree erupted in a cascade of red and black, shadows swerved among them, molding into an equine shape that hovered above the ground. The shadows began to take the distinct shape of a stallion twice Dash's size. The muzzle was formed, and the eyes shown red as they locked on the winged intruder.

Dash took a step back, and the form pulsed in anger. It fell above the ground, skirting the lilies as it slowly made it's way towards Dash, one phantom step at a time. There was a growl that was uttered everywhere at once that encased Dash in it's anger.

Through the confusion and anger, Dash knew one thing.

She was tired of running. 

She ran from the gryphons because it was her chance at survival, the thought never occurred to her that she may die with her back turned. Death itself was a motivator for her fear. She was weak, and couldn't out-fly her hunters, she was at a disadvantage. She was alone.

But here, her back was against the wall. There was no going back.

Right now, that feeling of being alone was nowhere near her mind as she dug her hooves down and stood her ground. She was rested, she would fight. She felt twice as strong as before.

Then the darkness stopped and shifted its gaze beside Dash. There was another.

Beside Dash stood a mare with bright blue feathers and rose colored eyes. She looked older than Dash, taller, stronger like one who had spent her life attempting physical perfection. The other distinction from Dash was her face, for there was no determination nor fear, but there was in it's place a loving smile. 

Dash looked beside her and saw the mare, saw her mother for she was a living picture. The figure tore itself from the canvas and stood in between the phantom and Dash, extending a hoof upwards towards it.

The petals around the phantom halted, and fell along with it as they touched the ground. The shadows that adorned the figure started to recede and dissolve, the red in it's eyes revealing the large brown irises that they hid before. They were sullen with sadness, but there was some relief when he looked upon the mare. Slowly, he raised his own hoof of darker blue. The touch occurred, and light shone forth from the contact. 

Dash blinked away the light, shielding her eyes with a wing. The brightness receded, and Dash saw two shadows from the light in a tight embrace. The shadows melded with the receding light and burned into nothing. The lilies that encircled the dark stallion fell like crimson rain, one falling upon the muzzle of Dash, and she saw as the petal turned back to a pure white.

They were gone.

Dash fell back on her haunches in disbelief, still trying to register in her mind what happened. She looked to the left and right, but could see nothing. Nothing but the willow and the lilies... and something shiny.

The glint caught her eye, something metal where the apparition met the phantom. Dash stood up, softly stepping through the flowers as she picked up the golden circle. It felt heavy in her hoof, and it was engraved with worn lettering, but she could still make out some of the wording. 


"Committed to valor and unwavering service
Manifest Stalwart"
 


Dash repeated the unusual name in her head over and over. She turned the medal around and recognized the old insignia for the Pegasus air corps. She put the clues together in her mind. This must have belonged to the ghost she saw, he was in the air corps, he was sent over here.

Dad?

Dash felt something warm in her chest that seemed to be a response to the question. She closed her eyes and spent a moment enjoying the warm feeling. She took the medal and slipped it over her head, pulling her mane away to let it rest comfortably across her neck. For what little she did think, she expected to see bones, maybe some sort of shred of their existence. Did she really think they would be alive?

She didn't think the spirit of her mother would appear out of nowhere and reunite with the angry form of her father. 

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the chirping of an unfamiliar bird. She looked to the branches and was surprised to find smaller avians taking rest at the branches above, more surprised to see the clouds were no longer blocking out the sky. She could make out what time of day it was. Morning.

The light played with the leaves, showering everything she could see with fluttering shadows and light all around her, the darkness now banished by the sun. She could feel a strong breeze blow through her mane and heard the cacophony of leaves brushing against each other that reminded her of rushing water. The beauty was strange in this place, but it was nice, peaceful, and different than what she had seen in Equestria, but she couldn't put a hoof on why it was.

Among the birds and the leaves, an unmistakable roar that can only come from a creature that is both a fearsome predator of the ground and an angel of death from the skies. Shadows flickered above Dash that showed forms of large flyer that were skimming the canopy and she could hear padded feet and claws landing around her. She was out in the open  here, she had to run, and felt a burning in her chest that fueled her urgency. Turning back the way she came, Dash sped across the ground, weaving through the trees.

In the light, she could recognize a few landmarks and abnormal trees, and it wasn't too long before her pace took her to the hollow tree she had taken shelter in before. The last landmark she needed. Dash knew how to get out now.

Her elation was short lived as she heard heavy steps coming from her destination. Dash quickly ducked into the hollow and pushed herself against the side, silencing her breath.

The steps came moments before and sound went past the tree. Dash nearly let out a breath of relief, but the sound stopped for a moment, then grew closer. The sound was behind her now, stepping around the tree. Dash hoped that the gryphon couldn't hear the sound of her heart hammering in her ears. The steps were getting closer to the hollow, and Dash made a decision, the same one she had made against her father.

Never go down without a fight.

Dash once again proved her namesake by maneuvering out of the hollow and jumping at her assailant. In a flash of color and feathers, she tackled the stalker and smiled as she heard a cry of surprise and pain. She thought to push the gryphon onto it's back and avoid the talons where she hoped to hit it hard enough to knock it unconscious.

Surprise found Dash as she was quickly flipped onto her own back. She let out a grunt while trying to fight the talons that pinned her down. Wait, not talons. Hooves.

Standing above her was a tan mare whose ragged blond mane was undone, flowing across her shoulders. Her face was drawn up in a smile as emerald eyes looked down at the blue pegasus.

"Is this how ya’ll greet everypony tha-" 

Applejack's sentence was cut off as Dash brought her hooves around her neck and pulled her friend close. Applejack's expression turned to worry, but nevertheless returned the gesture.

"If you tell anypony about this, especially Pinkie, I'll kill you." Whispered Dash in Applejack's ear.

Applejack let out a small laugh. "Wouldn't dream of it, sugarcube. Trust me."

> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When you told me the name of your friend, I didn't think your were describing her." Said a voice behind the two reunited friends. 

Dash gave a start and shoved off Applejack to the side, jumping to her hooves and facing the unfamiliar stallion. Despite the situation, Skye looked amused by Dash's actions as he grinned from where he was standing.

"Rainbow, meet Skye. He helped me get to ya." Stated Applejack as she brushed the dirt off herself and her stetson before replacing it. 

Skye nodded and raised a hoof. "Don't worry now, I won't tell anypony either." 

Dash looked at Skye, unsure on what to think of him. Applejack seemed to trust him and if she were telling the truth, which of course she was, then he helped Applejack get here. She relaxed a little. "How did you two get here? and," She turned back to Applejack. "...how did you know where to find me?"

Applejack walked over to her friend. "Ya'll left a few things at your house, Rainbow, and I had a little help from Twilight.

"Twilight's here? Wait, how did you get into my house?" Dash looked confused, how did the earth pony get in the clouds? She better not have found...

Applejack interrupted her thoughts. "Nah, Twilight's not here, but ah found a magical doohickey that helped me get to ya. Ah found a file on your ma and pa after it fell when your house melted."

"It what!" Dash exclaimed, eyes and wings going wide in shock bringing a sharp pain from the bruising. Then remembering where she was, Dash put a hoof over her mouth.

The songs of the birds and the percussion of leaves ceased, and all was still but the wind. Skye and Applejack could sense the silence, and said nothing as they looked around, then looked up as they followed Dash's eyes to the canopy.

She lowered the hoof and said in a soft voice. "We need to get out of here. Gryphons are in the forest. How did you guys get here?"

"Came by boat, mam. The Jacklyn Rose. What was that about Gryphons?"

Rainbow didn't take her eyes away from the sky. "You didn't see them? They surrounded the forest before, I couldn't get out."

Applejack stepped next to Dash. "Why didn't you just fly-" Dash turned to her side to show the discolored flesh around her wing. Applejack's reflected worry. Dash shook her head, she didn't want to hear any sympathy at this time. Time was short.

"Look, I didn't cut myself. I was attacked here. If the Gryphons aren't outside anymore, then there's in the forest which means we need to get out of here, now." She looked both to Skye and Applejack, nearly lifting off the ground with anxiousness. Applejack exchanged a glance with Skye and gave a nod. Without another word, he ran back through the copse of trees with Applejack and Rainbow Dash following close behind.

Dash wasn't sure where they were going, but by the way Skye moved around the trees she could see he understood their destination. It wasn't the same way they had entered, but that hardly mattered now. She was about to be taken away from this forsaken land that had claimed her parents of old and had almost claimed her own life. The tokens of the adventure were present on her flesh, and she knew there would be a scar where Gilda had cut her deeply when they had met.

Birds of every color flitted across the branches as they moved, making a medley of sound that was a stark contrast to the silence that pervaded everything before. It seemed almost chaotic, breaking the fabric of normalcy. This place was dead, it felt dead, how could it be alive again?

Her mind couldn't stop going over everything that was happening around her. Before it was like tunnel vision, flying after what her emotions had her fly on a whim. It was then a battle within herself not to think or try and understand what was going on around her, thinking it easier to bury it away with the rest of her apprehensions, and they nestled comfortably against her fear of being alone which she tried so hard to suppress.

But she didn't feel alone anymore, and it wasn't because she was reunited with one of her closest friends, it was something more. She felt that a hole had been filled, something missing that was then found. She couldn't understand it, but she did see it's effects.

She looked everywhere, not just in front of her. She noticed the shapes of the trees and every bird that flew by. Details that had remained unimportant to her had suddenly become vividly interesting as if she were operating on a different set of eyes.

The trio parted from the treeline and found themselves at the edge of one of the tall cliffs that Rainbow had seen when she first looked around the land. She could see the expansive grass sea from here, along with the tower that her parents had once called home. The sea of water at the edge blended into the sky, making it seem like it reflected into eternity. Dash tested her wing. It hurt, but she was sure a glide down would be within her ability. It would be faster.

But that would mean leaving her two savoirs behind.

"Ya'll could just glide down there, Dash. We'll be right behind ya."

Dash shook her head and said nothing. She couldn't do that. It was not an option.

Skye raised a hoof to the left. "There's a few switchbacks oe'r that way. We'll reach the base and have a near straight shot-" The air left Skye's lungs, cutting off his words as Applejack collided with his side, tackling him to the ground in time for a fearsome creature to skim the heads of the two prone ponies, missing them by inches. But they weren't it's prey.

A Gryphon touched down before Dash, bending low in a hunters crouch. It gave out a growl that came deep within, showing it's heritage of a powerful hunter of the ground. Dash froze on the spot, but did not turn. There was no running away when there were ponies here depending on her. They gave her courage, but why had it missed Skye and Applejack?

Then she recognized it. The scar and the missing eye. This had been the same one at the edge of the forest the few days before. It had chased her from the grass like the scared prey she was, making contact and sending her sprawling into the forest. She got away only because of the strange curse that kept the Gryphons from entering.

She thought Gilda's penchant for keeping a grudge was only a part of her personality. It seems that it's a common trait shared by them, and Dash could relate. She didn't like to lose either. Stamping her hooves into the ground and crouching herself, Dash managed to muster a smile. Neither of them liked to lose, but she had no thought in her mind of failure. She could understand her enemy, she had no reason to fear this one.

Dash could see that she was at a disadvantage with the cliff edge at her back and the Gryphon knew it also, smiling as he slowly stalked towards Dash. A fight in the air would lead to complete failure, so she would have to keep him grounded. Just have to dodge those really sharp claws, avoid the pointy beak meant for a last line of defense while keeping him preoccupied enough to forget about the other two wingless buffets behind him while they escaped.

It would be easier making a sonic rainboom burst out of Celestia's plot.

One-eye lowered his haunches and extended his wings, he was about to pounce. Rainbow did the same, ready to meet the challenge this time, but she was unable to follow through as the Gryphon was distracted by the sound of pounding hoofs. He looked towards his blind side just in time to see an orange blur come barreling into him, knocking the Gryphon flat.

Of course she wasn't going to run. Most dependable pony meant she never would leave another in danger. She had time and time again earned that title, though Dash would never admit it. A smile came to her face as she ran to her friend's side, facing the Gryphon. "The claws are sharp, and they're the biggest problem. Just don't forget about the beak."

"It's missin' an eye. Keep comin' at it from the left and he'll be too busy protectin' to react." Observed Applejack, taking off the stetson and throwing it behind her.

The Gryphon stood back up and turned to the two ponies, scowling menacingly and giving Applejack a look that could kill. Well, half of one.

"Well you take the left and hit him hard. I'll keep him busy on the right. There's no running away from this one, we have to hurt him till he can't follow us anymore."

"'Aight partner. Good luck." Applejack spit in an outstretched hoof and raised it for Dash.

"Since when have I needed luck?" Dash smirked, returning the gesture and pounding a hoof into Applejack's before splitting off at a run to the left. The orange mare ran followed suit in near perfect symmetry.

Dash's smile grew wider as she thought of what was to come. She pitied the Gryphon's situation. Head down, she charged directly at the creature, turning just before making contact, avoiding a outward swipe of those deadly talons. This earned him yet another path to the dirt as Applejack took advantage of the distraction to lay him low once again, following the tackle with a jump that would make a Pegasus believe an Earth pony could fly. The Gryphon rolled away just in time for Applejack's hooves to miss. They slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt in it's place. Applejack grimaced at the shock the impact caused to her legs, but jumped back again in time to avoid the Gryphon's advance.

It was a battle of attrition. Dash, the swiftest and the most mobile, would gain the Gryphon's ire long enough to have her strong friend lay in with heavy hits while getting in a few of her own. Applejack couldn't have all the fun. The few times that the One-eye took flight, he was quickly brought down by the wing with a prize-winning jump by Applejack, the last of which taking several of his primary feathers making takeoff too much of a burden to do so quickly. The tactic kept on, for they knew the foe would only have to hit once for a fatality.

The two friends worked in tandem as a perfect team, but the Gryphon had seen many of his own battles and bided his time through the bruises and the pain. He let Dash get in close, predicting her path of flight, he instead feigned an attack and sent his mass towards where she would run. Caught by surprise, Dash could only turn enough to gain a glancing blow as the Gryphon brought a powerful arm across her face. Dash hit the ground hard and rolled to an unmoving stop.

She was only slightly aware of the world around her as the ringing in her ears blocked out everything and everything came back double in her vision. She made every effort she could to rise as every second down is a second of helplessness that a hunter can exploit, but all she could do was raise her head and focus her vision forward. At least she would be able to see her killer before he finished the job.

But the ending blow never came, instead what Dash saw caused anger and panic to boil up inside her, fueling her will to move. Applejack was facing off the One-eye, standing between him and Dash. She was sending constant bucks his way, but the Gryphon easily avoided the movements of a single enemy and sent counterattacks of his own. One swipe coming so close as to rake across Applejack's face, flinging blood. Dash could feel a few droplets hitting her face.

And Applejack stood her ground, never taking her eyes off the predator. Idiot! Run! Get away! Please don't die because of me! Rage screamed through off of Dash's being, but as much as she willed it, her body would not rise. She tried to scream out, but nothing came out. She had crashed countless times in her pursuit to become the best flyer in Equestria, but only once was she knocked this hard, and that followed hospitalization. All that training did little to help Applejack now.

And the Gryphon jumped. The impact was devastating, but Skye held on. Applejack sidestepped as the Gryphon fell hard, his course wronged by the sailor who clung through the charge after intercepting the flight. Skye took the worse of the fall, face being driven into the dirt.

But still he held on.

The Gryphon became aware of what had saved it's prey, and had begun to angrily bash Skye in the stomach to try and get the stubborn pony off of him. Through the growls and the pain,, Skye only let out grunts of pain with every pound.

He held on.

One last feral growl, one burst of strength sent Skye off. He rolled away lifelessly to the side.  One-eye looked down at the fallen pony before spitting on the ground next to him. He looked up to locate his helpless prey, and found the orange one in the form of two planted hooves to his side as she bucked the Gryphon for all her strength and power. 

A crack that Dash found all to familiar resounded from the impact as the Gryphon was sent into the other direction, lightly lifting off in the air before falling in a heap several hooves from the cliff's edge. His wing was bent in a grotesque fashion, and he let out a roar of pain as tried to stand.

Applejack lowered her hind legs and looked upon the pitiful creature before slowly advancing on him. Dash had recovered somewhat from her impact and had begun to stand, accepting a helping hoof from Applejack as she passed. She thanked her with a nod but received no reply. Dash had never seen that expression on a Pony before. Behind the blood and mane covering her face, was nothing. It was locked upon the Gryphon that was rolling in the dirt, defeated.

Applejack continued her advance upon the Gryphon who had finally stood, though holding his wing at his side. He could see the pony make her gradual way towards him, and found that the relationship between predator and prey to be reversed, and feared the tan among red that took step upon step towards him. One-eye looked to the side, but found himself cornered at the cliff. He had one chance and he took it.

The Gryphon turned and spread his wings. The cracking that took place after nearly made Dash vomit. Wings weren't meant to bend that way, they weren't meant to make such a disgusting sound.

He jumped. He jumped and glided for a moment before his wing once again bent backwards. Then he fell. Dash ran to the edge and looked down to see the form of the Gryphon tumbling down as his wings failed to sustain equilibrium. Bouncing on the rocks that adorned the side, he fell till the bottom came to meet him. She could still see a speck of what was the Gryphon, and it moved not.

"Applejack, I think he's dea-" Dash looked behind to see that Applejack wasn't at her side, but had ran next to Skye. She kneeled in close, head barely above Skye's muzzle. His lips were moving, he was talking to her. "Dead..." Dash finished.

Dash limped over to her tan friend to see what she could do, but couldn't think of anything that could help. He hit the ground hard and took a pounding from the Gryphon. The red around his mouth indicated a punctured lung, and that was probably the least of his injuries. Dash could overhear a few words as she moved closer.

"I... told you about my talent. I could find things that were lost..." Skye coughed for a few moments before trying to speak, each word strained. "Mighty unlucky if I don't want somethin' to be found. You were lost, I didn't want to find you. Reminded me too much of her. Then here you come..." Another fit of coughing, and a deep breath. "Pullin' me out of the water and needing me. Fate wanted me to see you, things like this don't happen by accident."

Dash walked up to the old sailor while trying to judge Applejack's expression. It was of stone. Skye looked up at Dash, and she found the gaze painful, but didn't look away, couldn't look away from something that she had never been this close to before. He was dying. 

"Take your friend here and get to The Rose. It belongs to you know. Remember which stars I said to follow?" She nodded. "Then don't stand there and wait for me to die, go before another one shows up." 

Applejack didn't move. Skye grew angry, but the anger went away with another fit of wet coughing. "I... kept a journal. In a cabin in the bed." He raised himself, eyes burrowing deep into Applejack's. "I'm... I'm sorry, I have no excuses. Go."

He fell back breathing, each one taking effort. Dash reached up and pulled at her friend, trying to get her to move, to stop looking at the dying stallion like he asked. She didn't want to see it. Didn't want to see what she might find.

Applejack looked at Dash's pleading eyes and seemed to come back to herself a bit. "Ah'm coming back for  you." She said to Skye. He said nothing in reply, and just laid there. He...

Dash pulled harder against her friend and Applejack took a step away, then another. She paid one last glance back towards the fallen stallion before running alongside her friend away from the scene, away from the death.

> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pounding of hooves and the laboring of breath was all that Applejack allowed herself to hear as she ran alongside Rainbow Dash. Neither tried to gain a lead on the other, neither wanting to leave the other behind but both wanting the same thing, and that was to reach a destination that would prove their savior. 

The thick grassed cut at their hides like a thousand blunt needles as they ran, but it was just a discomfort that was to be ignored for the goal that was ahead. The sun would soon be setting, and Applejack wasn't sure if she would be able to locate the Jacklyn Rose by night, even with the with the light of the waning full moon. Her and Skye had made no attempts to conceal the presence of the cutter for they were both just happy to find dry land alive.

A distant roar caused them both to stop in unison. All the speed in the world meant nothing if they were seen. Crouching low in the grass, the two brought their gaze back behind them. Above and around the cliff where the fight with the Gryphon took place, there were a dozen or so of the fallen's kin in flight. There was one that seemed to clash with the others, only to be thrown back. The figure in the distance then turned round and started making a straight line for the two strangers of the land.

It was being followed, flanked on both sides as it tried to get away. Applejack couldn't understand why Gryphons would attack one another, but she now understood Dash's fear of them. They were fast, powerful, and ruthless in the air as they dived and lashed out at the fleeing flyer. Applejack stole a glance at Rainbow Dash and found her eyes to be locked onto the fight. She tried to gauge her feelings at the moment, but could not read her expression. There was not fear, not exactly, if anything the natural flyer was curious at exactly how a bird of prey moved through the sky.

Applejack's own thoughts were simply of worry. They were getting closer, the fleeing Gryphon now obviously wounded was still coming in a straight direction that was too close to their own course for her to feel comfortable. Then the three began to dive.

Applejack took the stetson from her head and shoved it onto Dash's head. She let out a cry of protest, but feeling Applejack's weight bear her down prone into the grass silenced any protest she might of had. She had no apology. A cerulean blue Pegasus with a mane the color of the brightest rainbow stuck out like a sore hoof in the wilderness setting. The tan Earth pony was more able to blend in with the darker color of the grass. 

The grass bent with the wind that sliced through as the flyers flew past. A cry of pain, an impact, and soon there were only two that filled the skies which circled around the grass, looking for their selfsame prey.

Applejack pressed down on Dash harder, stifling any sound she might let out, but there was none. What Applejack felt was trembling and what she smelled was fear. There would be no surviving an encounter with two of the beasts at once. They would be slain almost instantly and left to be food for a clan of bloodthirsty hunters, hundreds of miles away from home and from family that would never find the bodies of the ones they once love.

Applejack's mind went to her sister and to her brother. Both of whom said little to protest her decision to leave, knowing the risk was the life of a friend that might as well had been family. Family, if the stubborn Pegasus ever allowed herself to open up and accept help. Didn't she realize that there were those that were willing to bring her into their home, to take care of her like she were kin?

She had to live alone out to where nopony would be able to bother her. She had to be one who put on airs of being indestructible and free, of not needing help. It was obvious that she wanted to be loved and adored, yet she lived so far away. Why couldn't she realize that there were some ponies out there who loved her, why couldn't she realize that she was like a sister to me?

Worry, pain and fear is all Applejack could sense from Dash whenever she thought of her living alone. Now she knew part of that came from the lack of closure with her parents. She had yet to find the true joy that came from a loving family that would do anything to make sure you were happy.

This would never have happened if you let people in. Stubborn mare.

Dash didn't deserve to die. She would not allow it while this soul was in agony, that would be the greatest sin to the world.

One of the fliers let out a cry, and Applejack was sure they were spotted among the grass, but there were no sharp talons or biting beak. A return cry sounded, further than the other one. Applejack allowed herself a glance upward to see the two Gryphons were flying back towards the peak from which they came. They must have given up on the third one.

"Are they gone?" Came a voice from below.

Applejack let out a surprised breath, unaware she was holding it. She slowly stood up, letting Dash rise on her hooves and shake her head. She reached up with a hoof to retrieve the stetson off her head before looking down at the cherished hat. Applejack extended a hoof, and Rainbow silently reached past the offered hoof to place the hat on Applejack's head. She gave a smile, but Rainbow looked worried.

"Applejack, you're crying. You weren't that scared, where you?" Said Dash, voice cracking as she tried to speak with her usual arrogance. 

She reached up to touch her eyes, finding moisture. "Ah might have been." Though of the Gryphons, she was not.

A sound in the grass had them both jump and face the origin of the noise. A second later, the wounded Gryphon appeared through, trailing crimson that stained the blades around her. She had an arm wrapped around her side, talon stained with blood. Gilda looked to Dash and Applejack before opening her mouth to speak, but pain distorted her features and brought out only a cry of pain as she fell to the ground in front of them.

"Gilda!" Dash exclaimed, moving to the fallen avian's side.

"Gilda?"

Applejack's question would have to be answered later. Dash was already attempting to pull up the fallen Gryphon, but was having little success and was obviously hurting from her own injuries as Dash strained at her weight. Applejack quickly lent a hoof and raised Gilda to a standing position, but quickly ducked under her when it became obvious that she was too wounded to stand. She bore her weight and shifted it to accommodate her size. There was no question.

They were taking her with them. If Gilda had any protests, she was incapable of delivering them.

Years of hauling baskets and carts full of apples along side a regular regimen of exercise allowed Applejack to bear Gilda's weight and still make a brisk pace towards the setting sun. They broke the cover of the grass and saw the straight shot towards the shore. There was no cover between them and the water, but a quick glance at the sky showed little danger of being seen, but the feeling of urgency didn't lax. Neither of them wanted to be here longer than another minute, and Gilda was drifting in and out of consciousness. Applejack knew that the next time Gilda drifted, it could be her last. They needed to get her onto the boat and treat her wounds.

As luck would have it, if it even existed in the first place, the Jacklyn Rose was in plain view before too long. The sails adorning the front were pockmarked with rips, but the main was largely intact. They had moored the vessel onto the sandy beach, not having any place to properly moor it. Applejack quickly trotted up and pushed Gilda onto the deck, letting her roll onto the floor with a heavy groan.

Dash began to jump up and board herself, but Applejack stopped her. "Dash, Ah need ya to push as hard as ya can. Don't stop pushing till ya hit the water."

Dash gave a nod, then Applejack ran around the the back of the Rose, biting hard on one of the lines that was tied to the aft. She pulled and gave everything she could muster into moving that boat. The sand moved beneath her hooves, making a secure grip almost impossible, but she continued to pull. Eventually, the Rose began to move. Applejack could hear Dash's grunts of effort on the other side, and knew that she was also giving it her all. 

Applejack's rear hooves sunk in the soaked sediment when she reached water which splashed around her. The saltwater found the laceration on her face and stung horribly, and could barely manage to pull them out of the vise-like suction of the wet sand, but she ignored the pain and pulled her hooves out of the sand with a grunt. The boat finally found buoyancy in the water, and floated effortlessly.

 Knowing her job was done, she abandoned the rope and climbed aboard the Jackln Rose as it found buoyancy in the water. Seconds later, the blue Pegasus effortlessly jumped on board, clearing the edge with a single flap of her wings. Applejack made her way to the helm within a few bounds and shoved the steering hard to port. Dash had to duck to keep herself from being brained by the boom that swung around. The large mainsail caught the western wind, filling it to capacity. 

Applejack stood her ground as the Jacklyn Rose gave a jolt. Dash wasn't so lucky, and quickly found herself acquainted with the wooden deck of the Jacklyn Rose. Applejack paid the Pegasus little worry. She'd get used to it.

What did concern her was the Gryphon that they had stolen away. Applejack ran over and tried to find where she was hurt. Gilda still held onto her side, trying in vain to stem the flow of blood from a large gash at her side. There didn't appear to be any worse injuries, but they could have been masked by the large amount of blood that soaked into her fur and feathers.

Dash had came up next to Gilda on unsteady hooves, looking from her to Applejack. "What do we do?" she asked, blue face seeming to turn a tinge of green at the sight of blood. Applejack grabbed Dash's forehooves and quickly placed them on the cut. Dash almost recoiled.

"Keep pressure on that, Rainbow. We need to stop the bleedin'". Applejack released Dash's hooves only after receiving a quiet nod. 

She quickly dashed into the cabin, looking for some sort of kit that held the items that she would need. Applejack had seen a wound like this once before when her brother Macintosh had fallen near some sharp rocks. Applejack remembered panicking at the sight of all that blood, not sure what to do. She had gotten her brother home where Granny Smith said to press tightly on the wounded area to try and stop the bleeding, or to at least slow it. But some wounds needed more than pressure and time to heal. That was one of those cuts.

And so was this one.

They had sent Applebloom into town to get one of the nurses to Sweet Apple Acres. They didn't want to risk moving Macintosh, and knew that a pony could move much faster if they weren't carrying the weight of one a large stallion. Nurse Redheart came, having the most experience as an emergency medical technician, and did something that made Applejack a little queasy just thinking about now. 

Applejack overturned a box, spilling its contents on the floor. Moving them around with her hoof, found what she was looking for.

After sending Applebloom to her room, Redheart took from her kit, a needle. She threaded the needle with what she said was a special kind of thread that would eventually dissolve into a pony's skin after a couple of weeks. Applejack didn't understand what she meant by that till the nurse started her work. Movement by movement, she pulled the needle through Big Mac's hide, stitching the flesh, forcing the cut closed. Applejack watched, and learned, out of morbid curiosity. Her brother said not a word through the whole ordeal, but didn't decline holding his sister's hoof while Redheart finished.

That cut, along with a few bruised ribs, kept Macintosh from working all through Applebuck season. Applejack didn't have the heart to let anypony help her. Would have shamed Big Mac for him to know that his injury forced her into a job that was beyond her abilities.

"Dash, Ah need you to go and tie the wheel, then I need y'all to come back and help me here." Said Applejack after making her way out and back at Gilda's side. Dash looked down at Gilda before nodding back at Applejack. She pressed Gilda's talons onto her own wound before quickly trotting off. Gilda was coherent enough to press on her wound, but her eyes looked distant. She had lost a great deal of blood.

Applejack didn't have any sutures or line that could do the job, but she had the next best thing. Swinging her head, she bit down onto the long strands of her mane and tugged out a couple dozen strands of hair with a yank. She had just finished looping the thread through the needle when Dash came back.

"What's the needle for?" She looked down at Gilda, then back at Applejack. When she had made the connection, she looked a little sick. Applejack shook her head. "Ah hate it, but there's no other way. Now, see that bucket over there? With the rope around the handle? Toss that thing over and get me some water. Now hurry." She didn't wait to see Dash run to fetch the water. Instead, she crouched down to start her grim work. She started at the end of the gash, moving one of Gilda's claws, she inserted the needle with her hoof and brought it through the other side with her mouth.

Gilda let out small grunts of pain, but the needle's prick was minimal compared the the pain still coming from the long and wide gash. Dash returned with the bucket of water, though still unsteady on her hooves. She looked at Applejack's hooves as they worked with the same curiosity that Applejack had shown when the same had to be done to her brother.

"Dash, Ah can't see what Ah'm doin' here. Pour some of that water on it. Then hold her down. It's going to hurt."

Dash stepped back, though almost fell when the ship pitched. "AJ, I can't-"

"This here cut is going to kill her if we don't get it closed."

"But it's salt water. It's like torture!"

Applejack's concentration broke, having her end up with one crooked stitch among the others she couldn't see. She cursed low under her breath. "Look, That cut's gonna be infected less we clean it with somethin'. That salt's going to clean it better than anythin' we have right now. Ah lost the kit when Skye an' Ah almost went under on the way here. Now quit starin' and do it!"

Dash hesitated, but one look at Gilda's distant eyes convinced her that it was the only option. Dash moved a hoof over Gilda's torso, staying well away from the gash Applejack was stitching. After placing the majority of the weight down on the avian, Dash tipped the bucket onto the cut. Gilda bucked when the water made contact and washed the blood away. Dash held on as hard as she could, pouring until the blood around the sutures was gone. Applejack quickly resumed her work. Every time blood would cover the cut, Dash would pour a little bit more water.

Applejack brought the needle through one last time before tying it off and cutting the excess with her teeth. Gilda had passed out not long after they had started and it was only the soft sound of the Gryphon's steady breathing that betrayed life past the ordeal. She had lost a large portion of blood. 

Redheart liked to talk when she worked. Almost like it kept her mind off the fact she was sewing another pony together. She said how blood loss would cause a pony to be tired for a few weeks before the body replenished it's supply. For all that Gilda had lost, Applejack expected her not to wake for a while. She hoped that Gilda had not lost too much, for there was nothing they could do out so far from civilization.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Applejack looked over to Dash who was giving a thousand yard stare out to the ocean. Applejack then noticed the size of her irises were off a bit. She had taken enough apples to the head to know what that was from. She reached out and prodded Dash with a hoof who then gave a slight jump. 

"Y'all alright?" asked Applejack, concerned.

"I'm fine."

Ya sure? You got hit pretty hard back there. Ah didn't think you'd get up after-"

"I said I'm fine!" Dash reaffirmed, wincing at the sound of her own voice. Applejack could guess that she was having one powerful headache. "Look, let's... let's just get her inside. Is there a bed in that thing over there?"

Applejack didn't push the matter, but laid next to Gilda, nodding towards Dash to ppush the Gryphon onto her back. With a grunt of effort, Dash managed to roll her onto Applejack who lifted her with relative ease. She walked across the deck of the boat with Dash next to her, trying to keep Gilda balanced as they went down the steps into the cabin, laying her onto the bed inside. Gilda didn't wake. 

Dash quickly made her way back outside the boat, and Applejack could hear a retching sound. She quickly made her way up to find her friend's head over the side, relieving whatever sick she might have. Applejack had seen her friend fly stunts that dropped into tight spins that even made the Earth pony nauseous just looking at it. She didn't figure for Dash to be one who was seasick.

But looking at the deck where Gilda laid she could see the blood stained wood that was mixed with sea water gave a sickening swirl of red hues as it floated around the deck.

Blood.

Applejack silently stepped to her friend's side and offered a comforting hoof to her back, finding her own stomach giving twists at the sight of Dash's retching. After Dash finished, she slumped on her haunches to the deck, wiping her mouth but saying nothing. The two shared a few moment of silence, the wind blowing their manes. They felt the boat move with the rhythm of the ocean, listing side to side as the shape attempted to master the elements, and keep the Jacklyn Rose on a straight and steady course.

Dash broke the relative silence. the words inside her fought to escape and to embrace the simple freedom.

"I found them."
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The words hung in the air, tangible things that had weight. Releasing them brought a sort of relief from her mind, losing that burden. But the words hung around her as a reminder of what she went through in the past week, and also of the cost.

She would think about the cost later.

But there was more weight, more words that hung on her her mind, that had been there for years as questions that needed to be set free with answers. There was never a point in her past where she felt comfortable enough asking these questions aloud, Right now, after nearly dying and losing hope to finding that hope again when one of her friends risked her life to come to a rescue.

She didn't even brag about it. She didn't say anything, though Applejack was sitting right next to her not saying a word, just looking at her, silently pleading for her to continue.

"They... they were sent over to scout the land over here. I guess they came and never went back, or couldn't. Applejack... I think that's where I was born. I..."

She stopped. Her pride had been the barrier that kept her from revealing much to her friends, even going so far to keep any sort of introspective thought from forming before. For a moment, she berated herself. Why was she acting like such a little filly in front of Applejack? It wasn't cool, it wasn't...

Any sort of face she could have save was evaporated when she had went on this quest with barely a thought to her own safety nor the reaction of her friends. Dash's speed betrayed her. It allowed her to travel so far so fast that she never had a moment to think when all this came crashing down on her mind. She had become good at burying the negative feelings thinking of her parents brought. She was unprepared for when the news finally came of where they would be. All the thoughts and feelings surfaced into one moment of rage and questions. Acting was better than waiting and dealing with the hurricane of pain.

Alone.

And despite her being an obvious featherbrain, despite the fact she had kept this information from her friends, one came to help her. Dash looked at Applejack, and found only a caring in her eyes, maybe even an understanding.

It occurred to Dash that Applejack may not care if she were the strongest of flyers or the coolest under pressure. For all Applejack cared, she could be weak, helpless, and talentless. A voice in the back of her head tried to confirm these facts, but it was squashed immediately.

"I wanted to know. I wanted... to know why they left me." Tears started to form in Dash's eyes, and she tried to turn away from her friend to hid her head, but was stopped by Applejack's embrace. The Earth pony hugged Dash, and the last remnants of her strength left her. The combination of her injuries, her realization of almost dying...

And the fact that the death of another pony was directly related to her actions. There was no room for pride. She buried her head into Applejack's shoulder and cried, shedding tears that were long held back by denial and hidden by pride and bravado. She could never fly fast enough to escape, only forget.

"They... died over there. I still don't know how I made it to Equestria, but they died. They could have... could have died saving me for all I know."

Applejack hugged Dash tighter after she finished, silently saying that she was going to be alright, they would be alright. Dash could feel moisture on her coat in small drops. Was Applejack crying? Before she could answer, they heard a crash from the cabin of the Rose. The loud sound broke the two friends apart as they both quickly made their way across the deck towards the cabin. Applejack arrived first, for Dash had stumbled along the way.

Racing down the stairs, Applejack found Gilda on the floor tangled in blankets. Next to here were a few broken jars of a foul smelling liquid that Skye had offered Applejack the day of their departure. She was panting while trying to push herself up onto all fours, but failing at each attempt, falling back to the wooden floor of the cabin. Applejack leaned down to try and help her up but as soon as she made contact, Gilda lashed out with a claw. She swung too wide and missed as Applejack took a step back from the wounded avian. 

Dash spoke out, "Gilda! Get a hold of yourself! We're not hurting you!"

Her words gave the gryphon pause. She stopped and craned her neck to look at the two battered ponies next to her. Gilda's breathing began to calm as she took in her surroundings, trying to understand where she was and how she came to be here. Gilda's eyes went wide as she seemed to recall the last memory, her claw coming to her side to find the wound that was stitched together. She flinched at the touch. 

She looked at Dash, but she just shook her head. Applejack stepped closer and offered a hoof. Gilda looked at the offer for a moment, before grudgingly accepting the help. Applejack pulled Gilda up to a standing position and slowly aimed her back at the bed. Gilda said nothing as she layed back down onto the far from soft mattress. After settling in and taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked to Dash and spoke,

"Never thought you'd be in a hurry to save me and all since I said I'd have to kill you if we met again." she said in a dry, humorless tone.

Dash had a retort in mind, but bit her tongue, instead saying, "Couldn't just leave you there."

Gilda looked to Applejack, "We on a boat or something?" Applejack nodded.

Gilda closed her eyes and scowled. "Better be going far away from that forsaken place. I'd rather die than go back."

Silence filled the cabin, only broken by a question that had come to Dash when she had last seen the avian.

"Gilda. You were hurt before we met in the tower, weren't you?"

"Didn't I say it was none of your business?"

"Who dragged you like a bag of feathers and put you back together?" 

"I would guess your orange friend here. Even a moonstuck Luna could tell you're a featherbrain when it comes to first aid. Remember back in the academy when Cloud Chaser got nicked by that broken glass? They thought you were flying off to get the nurse, but we both know you couldn't stand to see the blood." 

"Will you two cut it out!?" shouted a voice in the middle, presence all but forgotten. Silence came immediately. Dash threw her head to the side in frustration before turning and walking out of the cabin. Gilda watched Dash leave before turning her head to regard the orange Earth pony for a moment before asking.

"You're the one who did this?" she asked, putting her claw back over the cut and blood-stained hair. Applejack simply nodded. Gilda continued, "I guess you guys were also the one to kill that Gryphon over by weeping peak? One ugly as the tail end of a manticore, also missing an eye?"

Applejack said nothing to this, simply laying down on the floor, avoiding eye contact with the avian. So, he had died in the fall after all.

"If you did, I need to thank you for that too."

Applejack broke her gaze with the wooden floor and turned it onto the Gryphon, slightly taken aback by the overture. Gilda met her eyes with coldness reflected within.

"The prick had the right to own me. They do things a bit differently over there. The males stand high and pretend their important and the women get to do whatever the men want, only tolerated because we might make them a son some day. That dweeb was trying to put me off to any desperate who would take me, "She let out a chuckle. "Tried. None of them wanted anything to do with a girl who kept her claws sharp. Gilda paused, and regarded her raised, blood-stained claw. "Though some would hit back..."

Gilda trailed off, taking a moment to regard her own dried blood that adorned her claw. She let her arm fall down, choosing to lay her head back onto the mattress. A single tear went down her cheek before disappearing among the feathers. Applejack thought that she had fallen asleep, but Gilda spoke once more. The whisper seemed more to herself than to anypony around her, but Applejack heard, and couldn't help but sorrow for the lone Gryphon.

"Worst. Brother... ever."

Applejack waited a few moments before the steading rise and fall of Gilda's chest betrayed her exhaustion and sleep. Quietly, she stood and made her way through the cabin's stairs and back out onto the deck. The sun was nearing its climax and the waves reflected the golden light, turning the sea into a mass of yellow beauty. Applejack stood and stared at the unexpected beauty of the sky, but found her self more or less numb. She didn't turn her head when the sound of hoofsteps came from behind her. 

Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood next side by side, facing the twilight. If the pair walked home and said they came from the depths of tartarus and back, anypony would have believed them. Haggard, worn, and bloodied. Applejack born the marks and scratches of her encounters with the ground, the bruises of when she had been slammed against the decks of the all but stable Jackln Rose. Last, her face bore the red line and dried blood of her battle wound when fighting the Gryphon. There would be a scar, and all those who see it would question, while serving a reminder for the ordeal.

Dash looked no less haggard. Fur was matted with dirt and mud from days spent among the forest. The cuts from her first encounter with Gilda were healing, but were obvious around her whole body. Her wing was still a sickening tinge of yellow right at the joint, obviously still causing pain. The pain was always the lesser of her worries with such an injury, the hurt of not being able to fulfill her birthright of the sky had always been her greatest sorrow.

But now, it was different. The pain branched off from it's focus on her and came in from those around here. Dash looked at Applejack, staring at the setting sun that led the way home. She thought over the words she heard Gilda say, she hadn't strayed far. 

And the stallion that stayed. She thought of how she didn't know him, or owed the colt anything, but he had risked everything in traveling to help find her.

Though Applejack knew Dash wasn't the reason he chose to leave.

Dash became aware then. Like many do in their lives. The suffering of others was apparent, and it affected her. Suddenly, her own pain seemed less. The warm feeling that came in the forest but had been absent all this time returned. Dash knew then that what she was feeling was right, she was meant to be this way. That she was happy to be alive, despite everything.

"Applejack." Dash waited for some recognition, but the tan mare gave none. She stepped closer and placed a careful hoof on her friend. "Applejack. I... Thank you." 

"I didn't do it for you to thank me." Came slow, steady, and unaccented words from the Earth pony. Dash retreated from the seemingly callous remark, taking a step away.

Applejack continued. "Ah did it because you needed me, Rainbow. There shouldn't be any doubt in that. You go do some bullheaded thing like this, and it causes me to worry enough to make me darn angry at you for being two bushels short of a harvest."

She turned to Dash, but there was no anger in her eyes, only a pleading sadness. "Ah dun' do these things for anypony expectin' a reward or thanks. There shouldn' be a condition to helpin' somepony who needs help. But No matter how Ah try, some ponys can't be helped unless they want it. Why didn't y’all tell me you were hurtin' about your folks?

Dash couldn't look her friend in the eye but kept her eyes downcast, not able to say a thing. This time, it was Applejack who put forth a hoof. She raised Dash's face so that they're eyes met.

"You went lookin' for family, but what you don't seem to understand, sugarcube, is that you have a family in Ponyville. Twilgiht, Rarity, Pinkie, even Fluttershy is willin' to do what it takes to make sure you're happy. You could ave' told them, and they'd go the end of Equestria for you. Celestia knows Ah went further."

Tears were lining Dash's eyes as Applejack spoke, but for as hard as it was for her, Dash did not turn her gaze away from the piercing green of the mare in front of her.

"You're kin to me, can't ya' understand that? Rainbow? Ah love you just the same as Ah would my sister; but horseapples sugarcube, you don't let anypony help ya when y’all are hurting. You don't let them see. That's the same as lyin', and it hurts everypony in the end, not just you."

Tears were flowing from both of the companions at this time. Applejack stepped forward and drew both her forehooves around Dash's neck in a tight embrace that was returned in full.

Tearfully, Applejack sniffed and let out these words. "You're loved, Sugarcube. Y’all just got to let us love you, we don't need a reason to."


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Night had come in full, and the moon shone brightly despite the evidence of it's waning nature. Shadows and light played upon the Jacklyn Rose as it continued towards it's destination to the known waters of Equestria. Nary a sound was heard as it glided about the black-gilded ocean except the pull and strain of the ropes as the mast pulled the boat ever forward. The silent sounds were not to be disturbed, even by the one who was still active on the deck above.

Applejack quietly stepped from board to board, having volunteered for the night watch. Each of the survivors were exhausted from their ordeals, but Applejack insisted that she would keep vigil for the ship that night. Dash had made little effort to protest and fell asleep on the deck not more than a few steps away from the cabin's entrance, lulled by the cool night wind and the soft rocking of the Rose.

What could not be lulled was the tireless mind of the orange mare. Applejack knew she would find no sleep nor solace that night until her curiosity was sated. Waiting an hour after she had seen her friend retire for the night, Applejack left the helm and silently moved across the wooden boards that made up the deck of the Rose. She expected to have trouble moving past Dash who had positioned herself so close to the entrance, but the blue Pegasus was not to be seen.

Applejack reached the cabin and looked in to find that Dash had moved. She laid down at the hoof of the bed where a wounded Gilda slept. Seems the loyal Pegasus felt the need to take a watch of her own. Applejack couldn't help but betray herself a smile at the sight. 

Such a contrast to the hectic journey that they had made, but it was hard to call it a success. They had lost one.

The smile vanished, and with it a small tear. "Had what he said been true?" She thought to herself. Her own instincts and understanding of honesty had been repeating the same message of "Yes" in her mind whenever she had asked herself this question, but Applejack would not be satisfied until she saw...

There, protruding out from under the mattress which Gilda rested on was the end of a book that was tied together with a black binding. Stepping over the Pegasus, Applejack reached in and grabbed the bound item and pulled it free of it's hidden place with her teeth. Gingerly stepping backwards, she made her way past the cabin's stairs and back onto the deck. 

There was light from the moon, but not nearly enough to read. She made her way back to the helm and slipped inside the small box that housed the steering. Setting the book down for just a moment to strike the lantern for light which flickered to life. While reaching down to pick the book up, a small, white object fell from between the pages and onto the deck below. A letter.

Applejack lifted the letter and glanced over it's off-white texture. It was unremarkable in every way except for a small seal which had kept the letter closed, but was not broken in two. Looking closer, she could just make out the faded lettering on the front.

"To Raptured Skye, with love."

Applejack held her breath. The book momentarily forgotten, she found herself carefully pulling out the worn paper from the inside, taking an almost religious patience in putting the envelope to the side. The page extracted was thrice folded and betrayed a neat and small cursive writing that seemed to have a very reserved flair, unique as if they were words directly transcribed from the air after spoken. By the flickering light, Applejack was able to read:


To my dearest Rapture,


How long has it been since we shared our love and our life? My thoughts continue to turn to you and the indescribable depth of your eyes. Again, memory betrays our first cadence together on the shores of Manehatten where you had charmed my soul with your stories of the sea. It brings a smile to my face to think of the world as it is could once ever have been created by a simple lovers quarrel...





But again, how oft is life created through many of such "lovers quarrels"?





She's beautiful, Skye. A gift from fate which beauty seems to give cause for the heavens to stop in silence for a time. A child of Earth whose eyes shine in an emerald green like the shores where the sea touches the land. She is your shore, Skye, She's my Song.





But I cannot keep this song, my love. My life leaves very little respite for raising this composition. She deserves a composer most worthy, but I fear neither one of us may qualify. I'm going to leave her with my mother, Skye, though it could mean you shall never see her for that time. My family had made it clear on it's opinion of us, love, but they do not understand. I simply cannot rival the beauty of your Ocean. She had laid claim to your heart long before I had come into your life and stolen you away from your mistress.





Oh but you should see her. 





I received news that your ship shall be arriving soon. I shall be waiting for you as I was that year before.





Signed by your still true love.


Jacklyn Bloom 


A drop of water fell upon the page, mingling with the ink that made up the ending signature. Applejack fell back onto her haunches, and as hard as she tried, she could not tear her eyes away from the folded paper in front of her. The words flickered in and out of existence as the lantern's light flickered and waned. Over and over she had read that letter in a paralyzed stupor. Another drop fell.

"It must be raining. The sky must have clouded over and it was raining now. But why does the rain taste like salt?" Applejack asked herself as the letter blurred in front of her.

The numbness had faded, and she could feel the emotions rising to bury her. All at once, the realization was coming down, but she was strong, she could endure. She has endured before...

But even if she could fight the pain by herself, she didn't need to, she didn't have to.

A gentle hoof came around her. She tensed, but seeing the blue Pegasus next to her eased all of her fears instantly. Applejack let the tears flow, quietly letting herself be overcome. Allowing her friend to become the anchor that allowed her to feel without losing herself.

"He was my dad. He was my dad, and we left him there..." Was all she could say.

Dash did not respond, not knowing what to say but also knowing she didn't need to say anything.

How this events could have possibly come together to the point of stumbling across one she thought was lost seemed impossible. There was so little chance of this happening, what could have...?
She thought to his change of heart when he learned her name. Suddenly willing to risk everything he had, including his life, to help a foolish mare on her quest to save a friend who could have already have been dead. A fools errand.

Then his last words came into her mind.

"'I... told you about my talent. I could find things that were lost. Mighty unlucky if I don't want somethin' to be found. You were lost, I didn't want to find you. Reminded me too much of her. Then here you come, pullin' me out of the water and needing me. Fate wanted me to see you, things like this don't happen by accident."


Applejack still didn't understand what he meant by her being 'lost', not could she make much sense of everything else that was happening, but above the turmoil and above the pain, there was a thought that escaped her mind that silenced all others. In the forefront, the thought echoed:

"Who is Jacklyn Bloom? Who is my mother?"

"Is she alive?"

Sky’s question came to her mind after, the one she could not figure out an answer for. The answer now seemed more clear as she understood the terms of her parent’s absence. Yes.

She knew what the answer was now.

> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The brightness of the evening sun shown bright against the trees on the outskirts of Ponyville. The light played with the last remnants of leaves that stubbornly clung to their branches which bore the late mark of all and the early signs of winter. The wind gently rattled the leaves as it blew across the landscape, dodging between trees and flowing past the discolored grass. Upward the wind blew, a chill amidst the warm sun. It sailed above with the current and towards the clouds through the mane of the prismatic mare who stood upon them.

Upon the cloud she stood, eyes closed and mind open to the subtle music that the weather played on her behalf. Breathing in deep, she savored the winter wind and the familiar sensations that home had brought to her. The sun was shown bright through the clouds that were continually cleared by her kin, shrouding Ponyville in it's cascading light.

She looked down at the small town below, and saw that the town shown brighter. Every face had a smile as the ponies below moved about their tasks with such a joy and happiness to be alive that it became impossible to believe there were any such thing as sadness in the world. Everyone loved their neigbor and did what they could to make the other happy. Down below, one looked up towards Dash, a small blur of pink which stood upon it's hind legs and waved a hoof frantically. Dash couldn't help but smile and give a large wave back, it had to be Pinkie Pie.

Quite a contrast to what she had experienced weeks before.

They had arrived back in Ponyville just days after landing in Manehatten. They arrived and made for Twilight's library. Upon opening the door, the two found the rest of their close friends together. Around them were saddlebags and supplies while they themselves were huddled around a Twilight and a map she had presented on the floor. Fluttershy had looked up and gasped when she saw the two ragged friends standing inside the door frame. 

Twilight stopped mid sentence and had the most priceless look on her face. Dash couldn't help but smile at the memory. The whole ordeal would have been worth it just to be able to see that look. It was a mix of surprise and disappointment at the same time. She had everything planned out and ready, but they didn't need a plan anymore.

Almost worth it.

Dash was swarmed with questions and concerns and one flying hug from Pinkie Pie which reminded her of the bruises she earned from being thrown by the waves and enduring painful Gryphon attacks. She grinned and forgot the pain, happy to be able to see her best partner in crime again. Rarity fussed about the state of her fur and mane, but that was simply her way of showing that she was worried. Fluttershy even came over, whose eyes went wide at the sight of Rainbow's wing and the many cuts around her body. She tried asking Dash if she were hurt, but her own soft and caring voice was lost in the tumult of the reunited friends.

And Applejack stepped to the side and stood watching with silence and a wide smile, momentarily forgotten. She became lost in the happy and concerned faces that took up her view with unending questions, though unable to answer them thanks to the big ball of pink fluff that was currently squeezing the life out of her as if she were gone for years rather than a few weeks.

Though it did feel like it had been longer. Restless nights sleeping under a tree instead of on the branches she preferred made the time seem to drag on. Closing her eyes, Dash remembered the cold nights that lead to starless skies. The dark had been complete thanks to the clouds that covered the sky in their omnipresence of the forest. Too dark to try and climb, and too hurt to fly, she slept on the ground. Was reminded the night after how hard it is to get dirt out of feathers.

All the events raced by her mind. The flight, the fall, the land... Gilda. Had it only been a week? She remembered time moving at a faster pace than that, one that she had preferred in the past.

Her eyes still closed, Dash fell.

Leaving the cloud behind, she allowed her body to fall through the air uninhibited, wings tucked tightly to her sides. The wind whipped her mane back, trailing an erratic rainbow. Taking in a deep breath through the thinned air, she braced for impact.

Barley even a splash erupted from the lake as the Pegasus broke the surface. Her body glided easily between the waters, leaving her suspended under the surface where she laid still. The water muffled all natural sound but seemed to magnify the movement of her body. She listened to her heart beat in her ears, and reveled in the feeling of the water supporting her.

A new world was to be found under the water. She had fought it before, and it took a moment that would have been her last to finally see things differently. The water showed the world in a new sensation that moved so much slower than everything else around her.

Counting the seconds through heartbeats, Dash opened her eyes and focused as far as she could. The filtered light rippled before her, cascading shadows through and around the Pegasus' sight. Waiting through the chilling waters, she kept looking ahead as if to find something, or for something to find her. The face of that apparition still vivid in her head all those days, despite her best efforts to forget the whole encounter. Dash looked through the water till her lungs complained, and her head began to hurt to the point where the water was no more pleasant. Dash kicked her legs towards the surface.  
She entered the world in which she was familiar with a gasp, taking in air to her starved lungs which protested such treatment. Dash ignored the sensation and focused on getting the water out of her eyes. Her vision clear, she looked out to the edge of the length to see a smiling orange earth pony waving at her from the distance. After briefly waving back, Dash pushed her hooves across the water in deliberate strokes, swimming to the edge of the water.




Applejack waited for Rainbow to swim towards her, lending a helping hoof down to pull Dash out of the water. Dash gave a quick thanks before shaking vigorously, sending water in every direction. Applejack pulled her hat down low to keep the water off of her face, while stifling a laugh playfully flicking water back at Dash before replacing it.

"Thought Y'all had fallen asleep mid-flight again when Ah saw ya drop, sugarcube." joked Applejack. 

"That only happened when I was flying over the library when Twilight was doing one of her lecture things, not like I make a habit of it." replied Dash, squeezing the last few drops of moisture she could from her mane. "Ah sure hope you ain't, seeing as how you dropped right onto my apple stand, scaring all the customers away." Applejack scolded, taking a few steps onto a path that cut further away from Ponyville. Dash followed suit, matching Applejack's leisurely pace. 

The coming fall had given way to a new assortment of colors. The grass had turned a light shade of brown and most of the trees have already lost their leaves, the ones that still clung to the branches were buffeted by the slight breeze that seemed to be a constant on the hills in the outskirts of Ponyville. The wind carried the comforting chill of a coming winter, promising snow, cold, and all the comforts of home that defy them. The wind brushed against Dash's still wet skin, causing her to shiver. 

"Y'all hear from Gilda yet?" asked Applejack. "Not from her, but the Manehatten hospital has been sending a letter every week. Seems she's doing alright for the most part. I still don't think they like having a Gryphon in a hospital for ponies."

"Ah never knew there was this 'no Gryphon' policy anywhere in Equestria."

"I think that featherbrain at the door made that up. I can't understand why, did a Gryphon eat his dog or something?"

"Ah don't think it's somethin' as understandable as that, sugarcube." said Applejack, head down to try and hide the anger in her eyes. "Ah reckon it was that we were covered in dirt an' blood, dragging in somethin' that looked from off the street. That colt saw us as beneath them."

"He would have been beneath us if you went and bucked the hay out of him."

Applejack laughed "Granny knows I wanted to. Might've put a little sense into the guy, but that wasn't gonna get us help for Gilda." Dash looked over to Applejack and couldn't help but stare at the line across her face. The scab from the slash across her face was healing and lessening, but there were already signs of scarring down the length below her left eye to before her nose ended. Applejack caught Dash staring, and unconsciously lowered her hat to hide the scar. Dash looked away and tried to change the subject.

"I still don't understand how you got her in."

"Ah just got a hold of auntie Orange. She had some fancy luncheon with the owner of that there hospital and caught him sneaking extra pie or some other meaningless sin that neither one of us would think twice against blaming a fella. Seemed there was some understanding that gave my auntie a favor to call in."

"That doesn't make any sense, Applejack."

"From what Ah understand sugarcube, it's some sort a' game of lies. Ya need to show everypony that you're not who you are, and losing that means you lose your way of life."

"I guess I can see that, but it makes as much sense as chocolate rain."

"Or cotton candy clouds?" Applejack replied with a smile. "At least you can eat those." Dash said, returning the knowing grin.

Earth pony and Pegasus laughed, a laugh that echoed around the hills along with their voices as they continued to enjoy each-others company on the lone dirt road that lend further to the edge of Ponyville which was signified by the rows and rows of apple trees that made up Sweet Apple Acres. The smell of fresh apples still wafted through the farm even though it had been past a week since the last apple was picked for the winter harvest. Again, the smell brought a comfort which was magnified by the contrast of being away. A comfort of home and family and of belonging that was shared between both companions.

Though Applejack was still troubled, but she hid the trouble from her friend to try and preserve the good feeling they were both having by simply enjoying the other's company. Before long, they arrived at the fence that bordered the Apple family home. Rainbow Dash stopped at the border and it took Applejack a few steps to notice. 

"You're more than welcome to stay here while you're getting your house together, Rainbow." Dash just shook her head in polite refusal "Thanks, but no thanks Applejack. I want to enjoy sleeping outside before it gets too cold out here. I might just take you up on that offer though, it's kinda hard to get the right kind of clouds for building, especially in winter." 

"Still not sure how one cloud is different from another, so Ah'll take your word for it. Just know Rainbow, you're always welcome here." Applejack extended a forehoof. Dash returned the gesture, bumping her hoof. She couldn't keep her eyes from once again looking at the scar across Applejack's face. A rare concern came across Dash's face. She couldn't help but ask.

"What about you? Will you be alright? I mean, that was your-" Applejack cut her off 

"Rainbow, Ah'm still not sure what to think about, or what Ah should think about... him." Applejack looked past Dash "Suns' setting, you don't want to find your way in the dark. Cya tomorrow"
 
She turned as if to leave, but was stopped when Dash bit down on her tail and gave a sharp tug. Applejack nearly tripped at the sudden stop, but turned back to look at her friend with a defeated expression. 

"Mew ant mist..." Dash spit out the tail and any hairs that were left over in her mouth. "You're not just going to turn and leave like that are you? Hippo-bit."

"Don't you mean hypocrite?"

"Whatever. You turning and walking away like that is just like what I did before, and we both know how that turned out."

Applejack's eyes looked pleading as he faced her friend. "Now Rainbow, that ain't the same-"

"It's exactly the same, AJ! You said I shouldn't be afraid to open up to you and the girls. How can you just turn around like that and blow me off?"

"Because Ah don't..." trust you. "Look, Am not just ready to talk about it yet, Rainbow. Ahm not even sure what to think. Fer the longest time now, Ah've thought my folks to be dead and buried in the land under a lake of water. Then out of the mist some stallion ends up being my father and says my mother left me. Now tell me, Rainbow, what am Ah to think?" Applejack caught herself raising her voice through the words. Not wanting to see any judgement in Dash's eyes, she once again turned away from the prismatic mare.

"Applejack, I..." Dash's words fell off like the dead weight of an anchor, nothing came after.

"Just trying to help, Ah know Dash. An' you're right, I'm tryin' not to think about it. But you're also wrong, Ah'm not tryin' to run away. Been weeks now, an' still don't know what to make of all of this or even how Ah should be feelin', but Ah'm still here and not runnin' off anytime soon." Applejack hoped that her last statement wouldn't turn into a lie.

There was a pregnant pause between them as they both stood on the border, one on the outside looking in at a friend who seemed much farther away than just a few steps. She broke the silence.

"That still doesn't give me an answer." Dash spoke, words heavy in concern.

"Because I don't have one, sugarcube." Applejack turned to face her friend, a slight moisture in her eyes. "But will you be happy if Ah told you when Ah had one?"

Dash answered her by wrapping a hoof around Applejack's neck and pulling her close in a tight hug.

"Same as before, you tell anypony about this, I'll..."

"Ah know, Dash, but thank you." came the reply.

Dash flew off against the evening sun while Applejack shook her head. Must be difficult to fly with the sun in your eyes, Dash must have been showing off out of habit. She turned towards the house and followed the smell of apple pie baking. Closing her eyes, Applejack let the heavenly aroma guide her back, but it couldn't quiet an active mind searching to make sense of everything. Despite her efforts to distract herself with the promise of Granny Smith's famous pie, her mind went back to the begining of the end.

Walking into the library to find her friends staging a rescue plan. Pinkie, being the most excited to see them come back, had tackled Dash into an embrace which started to choke the life out of her. Didn't take even a moment for the rest of them to go over to her and make sure their Dashie was safe. Applejack stood to the side and watched with a smile.

It was Dash they all were worried about, after all, not herself. It was Dash that they all knew needed the most out of what they could give, and that was love. So the friend stood in the background.

She had felt a hoof on her shoulder, and turned to see Twilight Sparkle standing behind her. Twilight's smiling face met her own, but the smile transformed to concern in an instant after seeing the still bloody wrappings around Applejack's face. Twilight couldn't help but lift a hoof to her face, but Applejack stopped it with her own and held on while giving Twilight a reassuring smile.

"Applejack, what happened?" Twilight questioned, gaining momentum with every word. "What the hay were you thinking just running off on your own like that? Nopony has been outside of Equestria for years that have cared to talk about it, not to mention all the missing pony reports that come in from sailponies who sail in that direction? Celestia had me organize those once for the office and it took me several weeks to stop having nightmares from just imagining them lost somewhere with no way of being found. Celestia promised to never make me do that again after the weeks of nightmares that ca-"

Applejack put a merciful hoof on Twilight's mouth "Twi, you're doing what you do when y'all are stressed again."

Twilight blushed and quickly coughed to compose herself. "Yes, well, I'm glad you're safe, but you still didn't answer my question."

"Not like you gave me a chance there, Twi." chastised Applejack.

"Hee hee, sorry." she glanced over Applejack's shoulder at the group of ponies still in the business of welcoming back their friend. Pinkie was talking about something to do with Gryphons and mustaches while Rarity was pulling at Dash's mane. The voices carried through the whole library, making a mockery of the golden rule, but Twilight thought that the rule could be broken on this occasion.

"Twilight, Ah'd be more than happy to tell you everything, but without anypony interrupting every five seconds to speak their mind." said Applejack, gesturing towards Pinkie Pie who had somehow pulled her pet alligator out of Dash's mane. Twilight gave a nod and led the way up the stairs that were carved from the side of the tree along with the rest of the library. They entered the bedroom where Applejack shut the door behind them. Twilight made her way to her bed and pulled up the sheets to reveal the shattered remnants of the bust from Applejack's treatment of the library.

"I suppose I have you to blame for this?" Twilight said, though she already knew the answer. Applejack simply pushed off her hat and gently pulled the obsidian pendant off of her neck. Twilight engulfed the pendant in her magic, lifting it away from Applejack's hoof for a closer inspection.

"Kind of an accident, Twi. See, Ah was looking for at atlas or somethin’ that would make sense of the sky letters that woulda told me where Dash was headin'. Lost my temper and ended up breaking that thing of yours.Twi? Twi? Twilight! Are you even listening to me?"

"Oh, what? Sorry." Twilight apologized, but her voice was soft and it was clear that her mind was a thousand miles away, staring at the floating rock wrapped in purple aura in front of her. "You put this on and you're still alive, that' good, but why then is it..." her mumbling became too quiet to hear. She walked over to a desk and, in a manner most unlike the organized unicorn, pushed the books that adorned the surface onto the floor below, sending up a plume of dust as they banged on the floor.

Curiosity peaked, Applejack walked and looked over the shoulder of the preoccupied Twilight, trying to make sense of her incoherent mumblings as she prodded the stone with her hoofs and different instruments. It caused the Earth pony to jump when she broke the ritual with a question.

"Applejack, did anything happen when you put the necklace on the first time?"

"Ah reckon it did. Sucked all the heat outa' me and left me shivering like spike after falling into the lake during winter.

"How many times?" the stone sparked a few times as Twilight's aura flared. Applejack hazarded a guess that she was casting a few spells on it for one reason or another.

"Thankfully, just that one time. Wouldn't like to go through something like that again." 

"You were supposed to. The spell needs to recharge after a day or so, I think. I never got the chance to really test it since I promised Celestia I wouldn't experiment on myself with anything that might kill me anymore." Twilight said nonchalantly. 

"Might've what now?"

"I knew that it was safe enough for a pony to use, but there was still a slight chance I could have made a mistake in the numbers. There was a reason I had it hidden where nopony liked to look." Applejack silently agreed with her on that, never understanding the reason Twilight kept such a disturbing bust around. She continued, "Not to mention that this kind of magic is kind of frowned upon by most unicorns and a bit ahead of what I should be studying, but the concept magic seemed harmless enough." 

"Right... Well Ah better go back and check on Dash." Applejack made to step away, but was stopped by Twilight who continued to voice her thought process.

"It should have only lasted around a day, at least."

Now Applejack was interested. "Now, that can't be right. That thing led me right to the tree that Dash was hidin' in. Wouldn't of found her if not for that thing, but Ah was out there for more than a day. Only took it off when it started burning."

"Twilight looked up from the stone. "Burning? It's not supposed to do that. When did this happen?"

Applejack thought back to Dash's confession and to the panic that she herself felt the moment the stone went cold. "Twilight, Ah'll let Dash tell you about that. Now it's possible that the necklace thing could've stopped workin' when at sea. Lost all track of time after the wave nearly sank me and Skye."

Twilight all but forgot about the obsidian stone, focusing all her attention on Applejack. "Giant wave? You got there on boat?" she asked.

"Right. The Jacklyn Rose. Weirdest thing though. The wave split in half right before hitting." Applejack closed her eyes at the memory. The winds whipping the sails and the rain that stung like a thousand small spears slamming against her hide. Skye's face came in clear, a look of fear and focus. Applejack opened her eyes to escape the image, but the memory left an imprint on her vision that was only banished by Twilight's face.

"Skye?" asked Twilight "The wave almost sank and island?"

"No, Raptured Skye was the pony Ah found who sailed me over the water."

I... told you about my talent... I didn't want to find you.

"Where's the boat now?"

The Rose. It belongs to you now.

"Manehatten. Twi, I think I-"

Twilight's inquisitive mind continued it's assault, "Is that where he's at? I would have loved to meet him. Such a brave pony to sail across the sea like that, not to mention skilled..."

I’m the colt dumb and drunk enough to take you on your offer.

"I could write a letter to Celestia." Twilight was already reaching for some paper that she always kept on hoof. "He would no doubt get the medal of Harmony. Now, where's Spike when you need him? I needed to write to her anyway to say-"

"Twilight! Please. Stop." Said Applejack with an edge of desperation. She had managed to keep herself composed enough for Dash to lean on her, but everything Twilight was saying only reminded her of the Stallion."

Twilight Sparkle turned away from her search, startled by Applejack's interruption. "I'm just looking for some paper. Applejack, what's wrong? Are you... are you crying?"

She raised a hoof to her face to stop a tear from moving further down her face, but it had already traveled far enough to mingle with the bandage and sting. A knock came to the door before Twilight could say anything more. Moments later the room was flooded by the different colors that were her friends, having noticed her absence. Dash lead the pack, and Applejack quickly dried the tears with her hat before being overwhelmed by happy and concerned faces.

The smell of apple pie became overwhelming when Applejack opened the door to her home on the farm. The chill of the air was banished by the warmth that surrounds a home with a constantly working oven and a lovingly stoked hearth. The clinking of plates and silverware took away the silence, and she closed the final note with the door behind her.

He was brave, though he felt foolish. He also thought it was some twisted fate that brought her to see him in such a time of need. Something like this seemed to defy the very idea of coincidence; it didn't seem like something that could ever happen on accident.

Applejack couldn't help laugh at the newest memory that came to her. The story that Skye had shared not too long before the storms hit. Land fighting to see the sky only to be stopped by the water. She tried to find a reason why he told that particular story to her. Who was the sky supposed to be? Was her mother the water?

She had found Skye, a sailpony, and traveled across the waves to find her friend, a Pegasus. Earth and water risking everything to rescue the sky. 

While the appropriateness of the parable made Applejack smile, she couldn't help but remember the way that Skye told his story. There was such conviction in his voice, he believed it in some way. Probably saw the similarity as another sign from fate, or the water, or whoever he thought was pulling the strings of the universe.

Applejack winced. Her head was starting to hurt. She was used to simple problems being dealt in simple ways. At least simple to her.

Her stomach growled. Applejack took solace in the fact that this problem, at least, could be solved in a simple way.

She had entered the dining room to find her grandmother, brother, and little sister already sitting at the table. The food was at the table, but nopony made a move to eat. 

"Now y'all know you don't have to wait for me every time. Waitin' this long with Granny's pie in front of ya is just plain torture." 

Three smiling faces turned to greet her, one doing much more by jumping off the chair and landing square on Applejack's back.

"Applejack! Bout time ya showed up! I thought I was never gunna eat." 

Applejack laughed as the tiny hooves squeezed her mane.

"I told granny that I was eating your share of the pie if you didn't show up soon. Big Mac said you'd lock me in the cellar if you even though I'd touch your share, but I think that would be cool! If you lock me in there, could Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle come with? We'd be cutie mark crusader celler dwellers! I'm not sure what a cellar dweller cutie mark would look like though. Probably a Pendulum. I don't know what that is, but I heard Twilight say that the other day and it sounded like a neat word."

"Applebloom" said Applejack with an authoritative tone. "Y'all know better than to jump off the chairs at the dinner table."

"Awww, but Applejack." the filly whined.

"No buts now Applebloom. Go sit back down and Celestia help if you did take my slice of pie." She took off her hat and jammed it on Applebloom's head, which was several sizes too big for the yellow filly. Her head was lost in a mass of leather and giggles. Applejack set her sister back down at the chair and took a seat next to her. Applebloom was trying to balance the had on her head in a way that would let her see, raising it with her ears as best she could. This elicited a hearty laugh from Big Macintosh.

Granny Smith passed out the corn and baked potatoes that served out the main meal with deliberate slowness that matched her aged figure. The family waited patiently for their plates to be filled. Granny eased herself into her chair at the table's end. Before anypony could eat, there was the sound of hooves across wooden floor. The family looked up to see a cyan Pegasus standing at the entryway, eyes failing to lift off the floor and a left hoof rubbing against her right.

"I was out there, alone, and well... the clouds look like they might kick up a storm and it's too dark for the weather Pegasus to do anything about it. Not dark enough to not see the clouds, but too dark for..." She let the words drift off into silence, then said "That.. that pie smells really good."

Applejack smiled and pulled the chair next to her from the table. Dash wordlessly walked over to the chair and took a seat next to her friend where Granny Smith had already set another plate steaming with warm food. She leaned forward to take a hasty bite, but Applejack stopped her with a hoof. Confused, Dash looked at Applejack, but she only pointed towards Granny Smith, who had already folded her hooves in front of her to fulfill one Apple family tradition that the farm still kept.

Applejack mimed Smith, and so did the rest of the family. Dash, still confused, did the same.

Granny Smith spoke in a slow and deliberate manner. The ease at which the words came to her aged drawl came from years of of abiding by this one tradition. She prayed.

"We thank the earth for the harvest provided which gives us the means to live for those who labor. We wish the earth rest as winter comes. May our work have provided enough food for the cold to come and may the reawakening of Earth be as bountiful as the last. And may we all remain as constant as the season." 

As the family ate after Granny said these words, Applejack couldn't but think of the last words said. Could she remain constant with her family, with her life and her friends after learning about her father? 

 Knowing that her mother may still be alive?