Tenebrous Trees

As the sun had set on the apple orchard, Applejack had thought of herself as independent. Then, when the dark of night had fully settled over Ponyville, she had been left feeling solitary. Afterwards, when she heard an unfamiliar rustling in the leaves above her, she realized that she was alone. Now, with the noises clearly tailing her, she was isolated.

This hadn’t been her plan, of course.

To start with, she’d hoped to have company. Someone who could help. Someone she could talk to on the walk. She’d had asked the only pony she trusted to help with this particular issue. ‘This issue’ being a potential overpopulation of vampire fruit bats with ‘the only pony she trusted’ being Fluttershy. After what had happened last time, Applejack felt that only Fluttershy would do for tis particular errand since last time… well.. Applejack still blamed herself for what happened last time and didn’t want a repeat.

Truthfully, Applejack had hoped to completely ignore the apples that had started going missing from her orchard, but the amount of missing apples was so high now she couldn’t afford to ignore it anymore. Applejack could understand living with the wild creatures that lived among her apple trees to a certain extent, but an empty apple tree demanded a response. Fluttershy, unfortunately, had explained how busy she was and that she didn’t see any free nights on her schedule for a long while.

So Applejack decided to take a look around herself. Just to scout for any obvious vampire fruit bat activity and maybe find a nest or suchlike, thinking that if she found one of their homes she could bring Fluttershy over during the day to help.

Look where that had brought her, running full tilt towards home. That was the second part of the predicament that hadn’t gone to plan. She could not begin to guess what was hunting her. Fruit bats were not predators to start with, near as Applejack knew they couldn’t even process meat.

With something chasing her unseen through the tops of the trees, Applejack found herself thankful she hadn’t brought the delicate Fluttershy into this situation. Even Applejack was having trouble keeping it together as she ran pellmell down the rows of apple trees. Every now and then glancing upwards and spotting some dark figure darting from tree to tree above her.

Applejack felt a weight land on her hindquarters and felt her fight or flight response light up. With the speed of a snapping spring she bucked once to dislodge the creature, and then without a pause she immediately performed a form perfect apple buck at whatever she had dislodged. She felt one of her hind hooves graze some figure behind her. A graze which, from Applejack, was more than enough to launch the creature away into the orchard.

Applejack spun, trying to find her assailant, but the night was dark and the trees were shaking from the action. Fleeting shadows and swaying branches disoriented her panicking mind as it latched onto everything and labeled it a potential threat. Overwhelmed with panic, she spun to look behind her. A bad move, as this put her back to her assailant.

So it was that another attack came, no weight upon her haunches to warn her, however, only the painful sting as two stiletto-like teeth plunged into her thigh, directly into her cutiemark and then past it into the blood and muscle beneath.

Applejack grit her teeth against the spike of pain, ready for further attacks, but Just as quickly as it came the bite retreated, leaving only the twin puncture wounds. Gathering herself, Applejack managed to wheel on her attacker, where she found the figure coughing, retching, bursts of blood, Applejack’s blood, being violently ejected from the maw of her attacker.

She also recognized her pitiable assailant, changed as she was. Fast and vicious certainly yet brought low by the mere taste of the sanguine substance. As she watched her predator begin to dry heave, Applejack reflected that, more or less, she’d gotten everything she wanted out of tonight.

With barely an effort Applejack used her uninjured leg to deliver a one legged buck to the tree nearest her and easily caught the apple that fell to her. Even without strenuous activity she was beginning to feel her blood trickling down her leg and knew she should get back home, but also knew she wouldn’t be going alone

“Catch.” She instructed, lobbing the apple to her predator, who caught it in greedy jaws.

Fluttershy awoke with the worst migraine of her life. Head pain had been no stranger to her morning routine, every day since the summer season had started she’d woken up by clenching her eyes in pain. When, at last, she managed to pry her lids open on this particular morning she looked out into an unfamiliar home.

Like fire in her heart Fluttershy was filled with panic. Panic for what she might have done, might have been caught doing, the previous night to have ended up in this strange place. She had hoped her nightly trips would start and end with apple snacks but clearly something terrible must’ve happened to justify the current surroundings. She glanced floor ward and saw the damning evidence piled there by the side of the bed. Dry apple husks, sucked clean of all juice, scattered haphazardly along the bedside.

She lunged, the nervous energy in her chest demanding a release, but found herself restrained by a strong hoof. Before her anxiety could latch onto this iron strong restraint and begin to fester, a second hoof swung up and carefully, lovingly, deposited an apple into her mouth.

Driven by instinct she eagerly began to suck the apple dry. She felt the migraine immediately begin to ease and heard the familiar steady voice of Applejack speak up behind her. “Ah guess now we know.” She said with the hint of a chuckle in her voice. “Ah don’ taste like apples after all.”

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