With a loud thud, the tree shook as the mare kicked it with all her strength. The golden apples landed in the wooden baskets below the tree. Of course , you'd think they would all get bruised after landing on top of one another so hard. It was odd nopony ever questioned as to how in the hay the apples didn't get bruises all over them, considering that if you let a ton of apples fall on one another it was undeniable they wouldn't have gotten bruised. But yet they never did; It was well worth questioning that, but nopony really ever seemed to care or notice.
Of course, AppleJack, Big Mac, and AppleBloom did notice that. They all lived and worked at Sweet Apple Acres. Things like that couldn't get past the very ponies who farmed at Sweet Apple Acres. Of course, there were many many other things just just didn't seem right, yet nopony ever payed much attention to those things either. And the only ponies who did always had something to do with it, like how only the Apple Family ever questioned why the apples never got bruised from landing on each other.
AppleJack shook her head, realizing with a jolt that she had become lost in thought. The only thing that mattered right now was getting all the apples before applebuck season ended, and the apples were no good for bucking anymore. After all, applebuck season was how the Apple Family got through the winter, and sometimes that was a challenge considering that during the winter time they couldn't plant or harvest crops at all.
AppleJack turned towards the forest as a sudden noise caught her attention. She still didn't feel safe being so close to the everfree forest, even though she had been there time and time again. And even though she had been near a timber wolf before, it didn't mean that the timberwolves wanted to befriend ponies. If anything, they wanted a snack. The mare thought of all the times she had been near a timberwolf, or seen one. She could barely remember any of those times. Except, of course, the time she had saved Spike from the timber wolves. She began to wish that Spike had never gone after that hot air balloon in the first place.
She certainly was happy that she had saved the baby dragon, but when he had begun to follow her everywhere and do stuff like chores for her, she had nearly been killed after trying to get him to stop helping her. The plan had seemed like it would have worked, yet Spike had known that the fake timber wolf was, well...Fake. Except for when the real timberwolves had shown up had AJ really gotten her hoof stuck under a bunch of rocks. And that huge timber wolf nearly got her, if it weren't for Spike destroying it by throwing a rock into it's mouth. AppleJack hoped nothing like that would ever happen again. Never, Ever again.
It was ever since then that she had become slightly more fearful of the timberwolves. They were helpful sometimes, when they howled to mark the beginning of the time during which the Zap Apple harvest began. When Granny Smith was younger, she had scared away a pack of timber wolves who were chasing her by banging pots and pans together. But usually, the timber wolves were a feared animal that most ponies wanted to stay clear and away from. They would no doubt attack any pony that even dared to go near one.
Suddenly AppleJack stopped in her tracks as something ran past her, swift as a cat, and darted towards the apples that were towering and falling over the edge of the basket they were in. The mare's green eyes searched they area where she had just seen the creature, walking around until she had spotted it. A small, brown rabbit, or some ponies would say bunny, had snuck behind the basket of golden and red apples. The bunny's white tail stuck out from behind the basket, giving away its hiding spot. slowly the little rabbit hopped forward, grabbing an apple in it's mouth and darting into the forest.
AppleJack immediately took off after the rabbit, her hat getting blown off as wind whipped against her. She skidded for a second, grabbing her hat, which had gotten stuck on a deep brown colored tree branch that stuck out from the ground. She quickly resumed her chase to get the rabbit, which she could find which way it was going because of the leaves and branches that swayed and rustled as the rabbit darted through the brush and undergrowth of the everfree forest floor. AppleJack nearly fell over as she stopped herself from running into a patch of poison joke. She doubted that she wanted to become tiny, and that wouldn't help much if she was trying to catch a rabbit.
She swiftly leaped over the patch of blue flowers, her hooves making barely a sound as she landed on the dusty forest floor and saw the tail of the rabbit disappear underneath a thorn bush."Get back here, ya lil' thief!" The orange mare darted around the bush, bursting through a thicket of leaves into a huge, open clearing. The ground was frosted with dew, the blue sky above reflecting on every drop, as clouds drifted above. Grass waved in the breeze like an ocean, as the mare slowed herself and stepped into the clearing. AppleJack nearly forgot about the rabbit as she stood in the middle of the forest clearing. It was such a peaceful place that she began to wonder why so many ponies were afraid to enter the forest.
She then remembered why the forest was so feared, as a dark shadow loomed over her. A terrible smell filled the once great smell of flowers, and a growl sounded from behind the mare. It wasn't just the shadow's shape that gave away the creature, but the darkness of the shadow as well. The darkness of something evil. She slowly turned around, her eyes locking with the gaze of the animal... A Timber Wolf