Chapter 1: Dark Tidings
Sweetie Belle has gone missing. That was the only thing on anypony’s mind that morning in Twilight’s library. The usual comforting demeanor that the library had a habit of emanating was nowhere to be found. It was replaced by a heavy, almost chilling atmosphere that would instill anypony with worry.
And there was certainly good reason to worry. Twilight Sparkle awoke from a terrible sleep that normally wouldn’t be enough to be considered a nap, however with how stressed and fixated on her current goal she is it was more than adequate for her needs. She rolled out from under a pile of old fraying books and scrolls that she vaguely remembered dropping from exhaustion and then surveyed her surroundings.
Twilight spotted Fluttershy asleep by an open window with an equally open book in front of her. She looked peaceful with the morning light gradually approaching her but Twilight knew that peace was temporary. Fluttershy had been using her animals to help in the search and pass along messages, she spent most of her time by the window waiting for news from them.
Casting her gaze towards the door, Twilight found Rarity looking over five different books with an absent-minded expression. It was clear that she hadn’t managed to get any sleep last night, her normally immaculate mane was tangled and jutting out all over. Twilight carefully approached Rarity and tapped a hoof on her back in a friendly, reassuring manner and asked a question she already knew the answer to.
“Good morning Rarity… were you able to find anything?” Twilight was careful with how she carried her words. If she sounded too worried then that would reflect onto Rarity as well, adding unwanted stress. Too happy though then she would sound disingenuous of her situation. Rarity let out a sigh that was almost a whimper before she responded.
“I’m afraid not dear,” she paused to give time for her sleep deprived mind to catch up before continuing. “I should be out there searching too, my poor Sweetie Belle could be scared or worse somewhere out there while I’m just sitting here reading dusty books and learning nothing useful.”
Rarity did find something about Granny Smith being older than Ponyville itself that she would have found interesting under better circumstances. Twilight shared her sentiment but knew that this was their safest bet for now.
“I know Rarity but we have to find something about that blue light in case the others can’t find anything.”
Twilight thought about her friends Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash who were currently launching their own search and investigation outside. She had entrusted each of them with a small gold locket that contained a lock of Sweetie Belle’s mane. The lockets had been charmed by Twilight with a spell that causes them to glow once the conduit, in this case Sweetie Belle’s mane, is within a close proximity of roughly ten pony lengths to the owner of said conduit.
Rainbow Dash had taken her locket to the skies as she sped across the boundaries of Equestria. Deciding that her search would be better to start there and work her way inland, making sure to double check any tall peak or suspicious mountain along the way. Pinkie Pie had chosen a more sporadic approach, choosing instead to rely on her Pinkie sense along with a bit of luck to find Sweetie Belle. This led her to bounce between all the well known settlements and the more obscure ones too, the ones that like to avoid maps and elude tourists, she wasn’t entirely sure where she was currently but that was exactly what the pink blur was after.
During the incident that occurred two days ago that the locals had now started unaffectionately calling “The Vanishing” Apple Bloom was found unconscious at the scene where locals had reported seeing an eerie, almost sickening dark blue light that didn’t illuminate in the same sense that normal light would. This was slow and methodical, almost grasping at the air towards anypony who had spotted it. Before any semblance of fear could creep its way in, the light dissipated with a grating hooves on chalkboard kind of screech.
With Apple Bloom unconscious, Applejack decided it would be best for her to keep her search close to Ponyville and use this chance to question locals while occasionally checking in on her sister’s condition at the Apple family farm. Sadly though other than being able to put a name to the event Applejack wasn’t able to glean any useful information from the locals and she had already turned Ponyville upside down twice over.
All six mares were reaching a peak of desperation and frustration at not being any closer towards Rarity’s lost sister.
“Um.. you guys?”
The silence that had been forming while Twilight thought back to her friends was shattered by a familiar and comforting meek voice by the window. Both her and Rarity slowly swiveled to give Fluttershy their attention, being careful not to be too hopeful. Surprised that her friends were looking at her this attentively, Fluttershy briefly froze and went wide eyed, like a deer she had once accidentally gotten the jump on. Regaining her composure she continued.
“Well I’ve just heard from Angel, who had heard from some of his rabbit friends, who had heard from their cute little bird friends who had heard-” Fluttershy froze once again when she noticed her two friends wearing a very irritated expression, they were not currently appreciating this light hearted attitude given the situation and were now waiting for Fluttershy to say her piece so that they can go back and find anything on the Vanishing.
Fluttershy steeled herself though because she knew this was important news that couldn’t wait. Before her friends could protest she blurted out: “Apple Bloom is awake!”
From this rushed statement hope started to find its way back to Rarity, like a hot drink fending off a cold night.
“That’s wonderful news darling! We must go see her at once!” Rarity’s previously addled mind was now sharp and focused, running on the adrenaline flowing through her at the sudden leap forward the search will no doubt take after two days of stagnancy.
Rarity looked over to Twilight for confirmation, though she was ready to gallop out the library regardless of her decision. She gave an assuring and confident nod towards Rarity before she spoke.
“Yes. Let’s go check how she’s doing and see if she has any answers for our questions about Sweetie Belle”
Using her magic, Twilight opened the front door of the library allowing Rarity to gallop out with Fluttershy following close behind as best she could. Twilight quickly threw on her saddlebags filled with various potions from Zecora while turning her attention to a pile of books that had been peacefully snoring.
“Spike! Keep looking for any information on that light while we’re gone!” With that said Twilight now went in pursuit of her friends after accidentally slamming her library door. The sudden noise and vibration awoke the pile of books which did indeed turn out to be the resident dragon.
“Huh.. wha?”
This was the most Spike was able to muster in terms of a sentence as his half asleep mind had not caught up with his now fully awake body. He looked over towards the five books Rarity had been idly flicking through during the night and noticed that one of them was far older than the rest.
This book could barely be considered a book in the conventional sense. Sure it had pages and what were presumably covers but it was stitched together very amateurly, as if it was done in the dark. The binding along the back was only half of what it used to be and it was holding the front and back covers to it with rotting string. The unusual thing about this book however was the printing on its pages, as it looked brand new and professionally done.
Spike cautiously eyed up the book. “Hmm, there’s something about you that doesn’t sit quite right, I bet you know something and I’m going to find out what that is!” Spike exuded confidence as he sat down to read the book, all the while an unsettling blue light began to wrap its way around the ceiling of the once peaceful library.
Up in the sky not too far from Canterlot a seagull was flying towards an isolated mountain that wore a snow covered cap that was gradually being shaken off by an erratic rainbow darting all across its surface at harsh angles. That rainbow is what brought the seagull to this particular mountain. Thanks to the tailwind that this messenger was riding it took no time to get within landing distance of the mountain which had become concerningly quiet.
Before the seagull could investigate it was caught off guard by a strong gust of wind that had blown it off balance, causing the bird to flail its wings as it tried to level itself through several rolls in the air.
“Oh come on! I know this stupid thing glowed somewhere around here!”
The source of the rainbow circling the mountain and the seagull’s current predicament was Rainbow Dash who would be able to put a rabid dog to shame with her appearance and attitude after two days of searching for Sweetie Belle across Equestria with no leads.
“Where are you hiding her you overgrown rock!” Rainbow Dash took a swipe at the mountain with her left hoof only to regret it immediately, “Arrrgh!”
Defeated and frustrated, she let out a powerful scream before landing on a somewhat flat section of the mountain to bury her face and now injured hoof into a small pile of snow.
The seagull had managed to recover, if a little disorientated, and landed next to Rainbow Dash and observed a solemn expression from the pegasus peeking out from the snow. She met the seagull’s gaze and let out a pained sigh causing her to deflate a size briefly before dragging herself onto her three working hooves.
“What do you want? I’m kinda in the middle of something.”
Rainbow was about to take to the air to continue her search after saying her piece but the seagull started to let out a series of squawks with intonation as if trying to replicate pony speech.
“Hey slow down! I have no idea what you’re trying to say.”
Rainbow Dash had started to hover and was taken aback by the frantic speech from the bird. This time it was the seagull that let out a sigh. Worrying that its journey could turn out to be a waste, it started to make exaggerated gestures with its wings to try and convey the message.
“There’s a big party out in Canterlot tonight and they need me there for a top secret mission to prevent the assassination of a prized pumpkin?” The seagull paused, shook its head, and then continued.
The pegasus let out an overemphasized gasp. “Are you saying that there’s a massive pack of timberwolves about to heist a train filled with luxury cakes and clothing!?”
The seagull paused once more and realized that the pegasus wasn’t taking the one-sided conversation seriously, suspecting that she was trying desperately to hold together some sense of self. In this case the seagull would be more right than it realized, Rainbow Dash felt fragile right now, one more reminder of the bleak situation that led her to this mountain and she would shatter.
After noticing that the seagull seemed to have caught wise to her using it as an outlet Rainbow Dash let out one more sigh, turned around in the air and looked back to give a downtrodden: “Later…”
Before she could make an escape her flight path was cut off by the seagull showing an impressive feat of speed that surprised her. This time the seagull made a smaller, more methodical gesture with both wings and seemed to outline something vaguely circular in shape before taking an imaginary bite out of it.
“An.. Apple?”
The seagull, relieved, gave Rainbow Dash a determined nod at her correct guess. She slowly landed to the ground, her mind was a race course of thoughts passing by faster than she could make sense of any of them. She knew that was important. She knew this was related to the situation. Rainbow recalled a memory that made her ill with worry, it was a memory of Fluttershy visiting her in the dead of night to let her know that Sweetie Belle had gone missing and that Apple Bloom was being rushed to the hospital.
Suddenly her mind was focused, “Of course,” she thought to herself.
“Is it Apple Bloom?” Rainbow Dash asked this cautiously, hoping to be correct, and hoping for good news.
The seagull nodded. She could feel her heartbeat reverberate in her head from it pounding as hard as it was. Excitedly she asked, “Is she better? Is she OK!?”
The seagull nodded, and this time smiled, or at least it was a good impression of a smile given the bird’s lack of facial muscles in its beak.
“Well why didn’t you start with that then!”
The seagull narrowed its eyes at the brazen response, but there was no point trying to complain about it as the blue pegasus was already far out of sight.
Around the same time there was a pink pony named Pinkie Pie bouncing her way through a small abandoned hamlet surrounded by a forest, her similarly bouncy pink mane looked a bit more out of control than usual. The buildings surrounding her were too old to be considered modern, but too new to be seen as ancient. In their prime they would have been crude looking with their mismatched stones as the foundation and thatched roofs with too many gaps that would have often allowed water in. A surprising amount of them were still intact but many had fallen in on themselves.
Occasionally, in between her bounces Pinkie paused, her usual bubbly expression replaced with one of dread and her mane would start to flatten. These were starting to become more frequent and longer, especially now. The locket she wore around her neck had started glowing when she entered the hamlet a little while ago, however the pink pony had already checked every blade of grass here with nothing remotely suggesting the existence of Sweetie Belle.
Pinkie had too many unwanted thoughts starting to form. The pony had come to a complete stop now, she felt unease, there was something happening to her that was far removed from happiness. That was her favorite emotion, the one she loved seeing on the faces of others, even if she struggled to feel it sometimes she would wear a happy expression so that her friends could feel at ease and know that she was a pony that anypony could rely on.
But her friends weren’t here.
The pile up of uneasy thoughts had reached its tipping point. Pinkie Pie felt her veins run cold like ice, her chest started to tighten and the tips of her hooves had an unpleasant prickly feel to them. It was getting more difficult to breathe, she tried taking deep breaths but could only get halfway towards one, right as she was starting to feel faint she heard the proud screech of an eagle above.
The bird was approaching her, but not in a threatening way. Pinkie recognised it as one of Fluttershy’s animal friends. With this a new thought entered her mind, if her friend did indeed send this eagle then it meant she was relying on Pinkie for something.
A warmth started to spread through her, it felt as though somepony had covered her in Equestria’s most comfy imaginary blanket. The majestic bird had landed on a nearby stone wall that was one sneeze away from collapsing. It observed the pony with patience, letting her regain some of her luster until finally, she was able to take deep breaths and bounce a few times in place to make sure she still could.
“Hiya!” Pinkie addressed the bird with as much pep as she could manage right now.
The eagle responded with a nod and was ready to begin the arduous task of overcoming the language barrier but before it could raise a wing Pinkie gasped and said, “Are you saying that Fluttershy got her animal friends to run a network of messages across Equestria looking for me and Rainbow Dash just to let us know that Apple Bloom is awake and we should head back to Ponyville right away”
Perplexed by the pony’s apparent omniscient nature the eagle gave her a suspicious nod.
“Well why didn’t ya say so sooner!?”
Moving faster than any earth pony should be capable of, Pinkie galloped the length of the horizon in an instant, passing some smartly dressed timberwolves along the way. Before she knew it she had approached the outskirts of Ponyville and spotted a familiar speeding rainbow blur making its way towards the hospital.
Rainbow Dash landed just shy of the main door to the hospital, causing a couple of potted plants to be blown off of a window sill. Standing right next to her in her blind spot was Pinkie Pie.
“Gah!?” Rainbow shouted in an alarm, not having seen her friend's approach. “Pinkie! What the heck? How did you sneak up like that? Actually nevermind that, did you find any clues on Sweetie Belle?”
Hiya Dashie!” Pinkie responded with genuine joy at the sight of her friend. “Apart from my locket glowing briefly I haven’t found anything, but I did find a bird that let me know that Apple Bloom is awake!”
Rainbow Dash gave her a knowing nod, “Hmm yeah I had a bird come tell me the same thing, that’s why I’m here, speaking of. We need to get in there!”
“Um.. Hello.” A familiar pegasus was standing behind the both of them, causing Rainbow to jump a little and let out another yelp, before they could get a word in, Fluttershy quickly spoke, “If you’re looking for Apple Bloom she’s not here. The doctor’s said that she was just sleeping. They wanted her to stay so they could keep an eye on her but Granny Smith talked them out of it and brought her back home.”
“So how is she now? One of your animals mentioned that she was awake,” asked Rainbow with concern.
“Oh yes well she is awake but she hasn’t said a word yet. Applejack is trying to get her to eat some breakfast while Twilight and Rarity look through Zecora's potions to see if any of those could help.”
Hearing this, Pinkie chimed in with her thoughts, “Well I betcha she just needs a visit from her favorite party pony!”
Fluttershy looked at pinkie and gave her a warm smile, “I think that sounds like a wonderful idea Pinkie Pie. Since the others were busy I sent out my animals to give you the news and made my way to the hospital in case you both were here.” She paused and then thought aloud, “I’m surprised you both got here before me, you must have been close by.”
“Ha! I’m the fastest pony in Equestria, it was no problem for me” Rainbow Dash boasted this fact proudly before remembering, “Wait we don’t have time for this. Let’s get over to Applejack’s place right now then!” Her two friends nodded and ran into the direction of Apple Bloom.
Inside the kitchen of the main house at the Apple’s family farm Apple Bloom was gradually starting to enjoy the idea of breakfast and was now eating some pancakes with vigor that Applejack had cooked up for her.
“Now careful there little lady. I’m glad you’re feeling fit enough to eat finally but you still need to chew.”
Applejack lightly reprimanded Apple Bloom but was mostly happy to see her sister well. Apple Bloom had still yet to say a word so she opted for a defiant expression before continuing with her pancakes. Applejack could hear Twilight and Rarity investigating the potions over in the living room, she was happy that Rarity had something to distract her but her happiness was starting to feel like guilt now that she knew that her own sister is safe while the state of her friend’s sister was still an unknown.
For now though Applejack made her way over to the sink to attack a pan with a particularly stubborn bit of pancake batter burnt into it. As she did so, well timed snores with the rhythmic creak from a rocking chair could be heard from a corner of the kitchen where Granny Smith had taken up a temporary residence. She had been about as helpful as a candle with no wick but her presence was always a comforting one for the Apple siblings, and this instance was no exception. Feeling at ease, Applejack’s mind drifted and focused more on the conversation in the living room.
“How about this one Rarity?”
After extensively looking over the list that Zecora provided Twilight had concluded that the Silence-Me-Not potion would be the most useful and was seeking that much earned confirmation from her friend.
“Goodness no!” exclaimed Rarity in sheer horror at the sight of the potion. “The vial is green and the cap is a ghastly yellow, those colors should never be together like that so there must be something wrong with it darling.”
Twilight raised her eyebrow, “I don’t think the aesthetics of the bottle would affect the potion inside. It says right here that if you struggle to speak your mind, this will free you from your verbal bind.” She had copied Zecora’s rhythmic tone to try and emphasize that there was a second opinion involved here. Reaching over the table that the two ponies were sitting at, Rarity grabbed the visually offensive potion and tossed it aside causing Twilight to quickly grab it with her magic.
“No, no, no that simply won’t do dear, this one is much more pleasing.” Rarity spoke triumphantly and presented her friend with another green vial but this time it was sporting a white cap.
Twilight looked at the potion with panic, “Not that one! That will turn Apple Bloom into a yeti!”
The back and forth would continue but Applejack was more focused on the now clean pan that she had won the battle against. After one last appraisal of the pan she was satisfied enough to place it down on the drying rack, as she did so the front door violently swung open, allowing a blue and pink blur in the form of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to enter the house.
“Apple Bloom!” Shouted Rainbow Dash, managing to spot the young filly immediately. “How are you feeling? Did you see what happened? Do you know where Sweetie Belle is?”
“Ack!” exclaimed Apple Bloom, accidentally swallowing a pancake that had been chewed less than she was used to, causing her to start a coughing fit.
Hiya everypony!” Pinkie had bounced her way into the kitchen shortly after her friend, ignorant of Apple Bloom’s plight.
Furious at the now shattered peace in the kitchen Applejack went to pat her sister’s back while confronting the source of the commotion. “Dagnabbit Dash why couldn’t you just open the door like a normal pony, and why all the questions? Didn’t Fluttershy say that Apple Bloom ain’t been talking? And even if she was, this kind of energy wouldn’t be helping none either.”
“Well I’m sorry for being worried! And what do you mean not helping, she clearly said ack just then.”
“That ain’t a word and you know it.”
“It is too a word, come on Apple Bloom let’s hear you talk, just what the heck happened?”
Applejack wasn’t finished with Rainbow Dash just yet but before she could share her grievances she noticed that Apple Bloom had stopped coughing and was mouthing words with no noise to them. Between her attempted words she was able to let out small grunts and gasps of air that could almost be confused for something with meaning, but the longer this went on the more she became frustrated at her lack of speech until she gave up attempting entirely.
“I think this should help you out, it’s from Zecora.”
Twilight had entered the kitchen with Rarity by her side and was presenting Apple Bloom with the vial of Silence-Me-Not, much to the dismay of her fashion-wary friend. She looked at the potion with scrutiny, the mystical zebra hadn’t done her wrong before so without too much thought she swiped the potion where it was suspended in the air from Twilight’s magic and then drunk the contents of the vial with a series of fast paced gulps.
“Hey careful there, it might not be safe to drink the whole thing, what does that there list say about this one?” Applejack pointed to Twilight as she shared her concerns and tried to grab the potion from her sister, her hoof was quickly swatted away by Apple Bloom’s, giving her enough time to finish the concoction.
“Relax sis, these ones are usually meant to be drunk all at once.”
After replying to her sister, Apple Bloom looked shocked that the potion had worked as fast as it did, or that it had even worked at all. Similarly the rest of the ponies present in the kitchen shared a look of surprise amongst them, except Twilight Sparkle who looked elated.
“Aha! I knew it was magic! Didn’t I say it would be magic causing this? I need to write this down.” Twilight had pulled out a quill and a small notebook that she was using to keep track of the investigation before continuing, “How did it feel not being able to talk? How did the magic feel that caused this for you?”
Applejack, now recovered from the shock of her sister talking, gave her friend a raised eyebrow, “While we all admire your enthusiasm Twilight, maybe this isn’t the best time for it?” Twilight gave her an embarrassed smile and stepped back two paces to give Apple Bloom some more room. She did however keep her writing utensils at the ready, suspended in the air next to her with the familiar purple glow of her magic surrounding them.
Applejack sat down next to her sister, now sharing the long bench that wouldn’t be out of place at a picnic table and gave her a reassuring hug, “I’m glad you’ve got your voice back sugarcube, how are you feeling?”
“Hmm, I’m alright I think, I can’t remember too much though.”
“Well… what do you remember then?”
Apple Bloom thought to herself briefly, trying to recall events that felt all too recent to her before responding to her older sister.
“Wellll, in the morning I had waffles with you Granny and Big mac. I thought they were a little overdone for my tastes but I liked them well enough with some syrup. Then you tried to make me wash the dishes so after purposefully smashing one of them so that you could let me go early after thinking I wasn’t capable of washing up I went into Ponyville to go meet up with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Along the way Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tried to say something that was probably mean to me but I was going too fast so I couldn’t hear what they were sayin’. When I did meet up with my friends though Scootaloo didn’t even have her Scooter with her which I thought was weird but-” The verbal onslaught was stopped in its tracks with a well placed hoof to Apple Bloom’s mouth from Applejack.
“Whoa there little one. I knew you shouldn’t have drunk that whole bottle, now you’re talkin' too much. Slow down a touch, who even is this Scootaloo you’re mentioning?”
Apple Bloom looked at her sister with panic and confusion. She knew that she had been talking fast but wasn’t expecting that the most confusing part of the story would be about the existence of one of her friends.
“What do you mean sis? This is Scootaloo we’re talkin’ about, I’ve known her for ages! She and Sweetie Belle are my best friends!”
“Well I’ve known you for your whole life and I only remember you having Sweetie Belle for a close friend. Speaking of, do you know what happened to her? Nopony can make heads or tails of that night and you were the only one there so I’m sorry but this is pretty important and it can’t wait.”
Applejack felt guilt for pressuring Apple Bloom as much as she did but at least she was safe so she can always forgive her later. She glanced over to Rarity who wore an expression of concern and anticipation.
Apple Bloom looked to everypony in the room but was greeted with mostly confused expressions, it was clear that they didn’t remember Scootaloo either. She couldn’t properly process the situation unfolding and could only manage the start of a muddled sentence with no tangible words before everypony was distracted by the front door opening once again, this time in a much more reserved manner. Fluttershy had finally made her way to the house after struggling to keep up with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, even with her going as fast as she could.
“Hello… what… did I… miss?” Fluttershy’s speech was disrupted with desperate gasps for air as she tried to recover after over exerting herself.
“Fluttershy! You remember my friend Scootaloo right?” Apple Bloom asked, desperate for validation on her friend’s existence from at least one pony.
“Oh my… um… no?”
“Oh.. OK.” Apple Bloom was at a loss for words, as far as she knew nopony had ever come across a dilemma like this.
“I think-” Twilight broke the brewing silence with the intention of spreading some ease to Apple Bloom and to also gain some much wanted answers. “I think it would be best for you to tell us what you remember from the other night. We might be able to figure out what happened to your other friend since whatever happened to Sweetie Belle could be related. Apple Bloom nodded at this, what Twilight had said to her made sense so she thought carefully about that night and recounted the events to everypony present.
“Well… me, Sweetie Belle-” She paused briefly to give everypony a serious look “-and Scootaloo, were out by the edge of Ponyville at night near the Everfree Forest. We had spotted something lightin’ up the trees so we were trying to see what it was. We were out there for ten minutes and didn’t find anything, but then, “it” showed up.”
“What do you mean by “it” sweetheart?” asked Rarity, fearful for the answer.
“It was too dark to see clearly but this wasn’t the shape of any pony, or any creature that I know of. It kept changing and it didn’t make any noise, and there was lots of this weird dark blue light comin’ out of it.”
“Was the light magic?” asked Twilight, who had been actively scribbling down notes during the conversation.
“Uh-uh, it was kinda like magic but it moved on its own, it was like it was lookin’ for us. I remember that the light grabbed Sweetie Belle, she screamed something fierce and I was too scared to do anything. Scootaloo dived in to help but that thing grabbed her, they started to fade away and were lookin’ see-through but then some of that light got a hold of me too, and I remember feeling my mouth was starting to hurt and then I heard a horrible screechy sound before everything went dark. Next thing I know I’m waking up in my own bedroom.”
There was a heavy silence in the kitchen, every pony there was busy processing the story they had heard. It was certainly more than they had been able to find out by themselves in the past two days but not by much. Rarity was horrified that Apple Bloom had gone through this but fear started to creep in, at worst she thought that maybe Sweetie Belle had been taken by some unpleasant Diamond Dogs, not an unknown like this, not something that she couldn’t even picture. As thoughts of Sweetie Belle’s very existence being erased crept into her mind like a malignant force, the silence was broken by an unlikely source who had stopped rocking in her chair.
“There be dark tiding afoot ponies.” At some point during Apple Bloom’s tale Granny Smith had awoken and spoke with familiarity of the situation.
“Iffin what yer sayin’ is true young Apple Bloom, then it might already be too late for poor Sweetie Belle.”