Ponyville [Sweet Apple Acres]Kept Under Her Hat (Applejack/Apple Bloom)

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom held onto her sister with all the guile and fury that was her birthright. Applejack bucked and tossed herself about in their blind escape and a lesser filly would have been outdone and done in by it, but Apple Bloom was as comfortably in chaos as a bookworm was studying. But that didn't make the possibilities any less scary. If they messed up, they could be stuck as statues for the rest of their lives and nopony would ever find them. Apple Bloom wouldn't mind being immortalized but not that way, and not at the expense of her freedom. Applejack's too. When her sister pulled her hooves away from the eyes, they just went tighter into her long mane as Apple Bloom continued to dig in for the long haul. A stop and a buck sent crackling energy into one of the multitude of pursuers but it was just one. The whole nest was after them, the skittering and squawking behind them signaling mounting terror. They could fight them off one by one but where one fell three would replace the fallen. This was a losing battle and Apple Bloom knew it, and more importantly, she knew it was all her fault.

Then the tumble came. Apple Bloom didn't get a good look at the why but her ears told her the story- one of those cockatrices must've gotten in the way. What did matter was that they tumbled and tumbled hard. Soft pony pelt and soft pony snouts twirled about with scales and beaks and Apple Bloom couldn't possibly hold on long enough. In a short time Applejack had rolled over the little one and tore her hooves from the blonde mane, but in the same motion Apple Bloom more or less fell into her big sister's arm in the most action packed and coincidental hug of all time. They tumbled as Apple Bloom's snout buried deep in her sister's breast until they landed with a squelch and thud in the mud at the very bottom, the impact sending Apple Bloom away from her sister as she crashed through the mud several feet and only being slowed down when she hit a tree, stealing her breath away in one fell swoop.

She pulled herself up, eyes swimming in their sockets as she tried to maintain her balance and nearly failed, her hooves almost sinking into the deep mud as she wandered over to her sister just as she asked her question. Poor mare was driven to tears- Abby had bring this to a close, and fast.

"Ah'm...fine, Ah think. Little bit o' bruisin' but Ah'll be fine. Ah don't think we're too far away from where Ah remember that creature goin', sis. Off your keister," Apple Bloom ended with a bit of a laugh, hoping to keep them on target and in the right attitude as she started walking in the right direction.

[Hippo]

As defeated as Applejack felt, she was very thankful to have a sister that would support her, just like Applejack would support Apple Bloom in her times of stress and emotional needs. Having that kind of pony in your life close was important. Applejack never knew how ponies without family ever survived. Granted, Applejack was helping Apple Bloom out a lot more than Apple Bloom was helping her, but Applejack would never blame her sister for being younger. Applejack survived their parents responsibility towards Apple Bloom. And it would not ever be her intent to pass that on to Apple Bloom this early.

"You sure this is the right way?" Applejack sniffled as she got up from the mud walking towards Apple Bloom. Her little sister seemed to have a scent of some sort, like Uncle Sapling's blood hound just outside of Baltimare. "I'm already lost, I can't even tell which way we're going, further in or coming out of the forest." Applejack was far more familiar with the actual typical path a pony would take into the Everfree. The tackling of the brush Apple Bloom seemed confident was where she came out of, happened to bbe more familiar with this end. As Applejack follow her sister, in a ironic turn of emotional shifts, she looked up at the trees that shadowed her and taunted her about her hat, whilst constantly dripping the storm that trickled through the backyard of the farm.

​

[SteelEagle]

Applejack seemed unusual. Well, it was an unusual situation so she supposed it warranted a bit of oddness from her sister but even accepting that, she seemed entirely out of sorts. Did the hat also have a special appendange that attached to Applejack's brain like a tendril and shoot her full of calm emotions? It'd be a bit weird but it'd help explain why her sister was so wired. Of course, it was far more likely that she was just really worried about a piece of family history that was in jeopardy of being lost forever. But in any case Apple Bloom would keep an eye and ear on her big sister just in case the hat had a tendril she wasn't aware of. At least they had escaped the lair of the cockatrice without being turned to stone, which would have really put a damper on the day. It also likely would have made it impossible to recover the hat which would have made eternity especially frustrating for Applejack, especially if the hat pumped her full of calm emotions.

"Just keep on goin' tha way yer goin'. Don'tcha worry, Ah wouldn't leave ya hangin'!" Apple Bloom bellowed, more excited than anything. They were practically there already and soon it would all be done and everypony would be happy, including the filly who had a secret. She lead her sister forward until finally they breached the top of a small hill and looked over a thick bramble of thorny bushes, with the prize, the hat, dangling weakly off of a low branch amongst a tree in the middle of the patch. Several of the many thorny bushes moved of their own volition, small and thin lines of pain slowly and intelligently curling and uncurling. Here was where it went down. Apple Bloom gulped. Was it still around? maybe it had been as scared of the area as she was of it. Hopefully.

"Thar it is. Now we just gotta be careful and get it back!"

[Hippo]

Applejack reached the top of the hill with her sister, and in the mist of the Everfree, she could see just forward enough to see a thick patch of thorny brush surrounding a tree with naked branches on it. And on the end of one of these branches. Was that? It was! Applejack would know that texture of the brim of the hat anywhere, even in a thick forest fog that distorted depth and color.

"There it is!" Applejack pointed into the fog, making emotional contact with her precious headdress. And as soon as her hooves planted from her gasp, she made a run for it, sprinting down the hill faster than she had ever ran before. As she approached the wall of bramble, she started inching her way between the thorns and the vines, quickly avoiding contact with the defensive plants that blocked the way. If the vines were small enough, she would bite them with her teeth, an aggressive crazed look on her face as she yanked and tore off the limbs of a plant that was undoubtedly much bigger than her. But most of the vines were too thick to remove with force, and it left Applejack struggling to get through.

Through might and force, Applejack had only gone into the brush just enough to immerse her four legs into the vines, her tail sticking out of the brush like it had gobbled the pony head first. Applejack started whimpering some more as her emotional struggle of racing to the hat had come to a halt again. "Apple Bloom, where are you!? How in tarnation did you get from that tree to escape out of the forest?"

​

[SteelEagle]

The semi-sentient bramble curved slowly but wickedly around the duo as they made their way into the treacherous patch, eyes peeled for whatever lay ahead. Not that it helped any. The vines and the brambles didn't like intruders and for the second time that day, Apple Bloom found herself at their mercy. A little bit of tree top running and jumping and general adventuring had turned into chaos with just a glimpse of a baby hydra in a nearby swamp and she had fallen minutes later during a mad dash back. She had lucked out and fallen into a small clearing and then sprinted out as the vines reacted dimly to her presence, only a few cuts and bruises coming out of the failed expedition. She sure as heck wished she hadn't freaked out seeing as it seemed unlikely there was a baby hydra, but that was the past. The future was full of lies and hopefully a bit of peace. If they could just get that hat...

"Well, after whatever it was left through tha treetops, Ah tried gettin' through the patch but these vines-" She said as she viciously batted away an intrusive little fellow who swiftly withdrew, causing a small cut on her hoof. She had plenty of those even in normal life. Everfree, step your game up, Apples were tough!

"-these vines started ta close in on me an' Ah ran. But back then, tha hat wasn't danglin' like that. It musta dropped it. Thank Celestia it was caught up in that branch though or we wouldn't' have seen it," Apple Bloom observed intelligently as she continued fighting her way through the vines. They were slow but steady and even a slow moving vine had a prickly feel to it that she didn't want to entertain.

"Right behind you. Just keep pushin'. Slow and steady wins tha race," Apple Bloom encouraged her big sister, who by her own force cleared the way for Apple Bloom. The filly helped Applejack by tucking her tail down so no tricky little vine could snatch her up and hold her up a second or three, and she followed suit as well and her the end of her tail tickled the underside top of her chest as she pressed onward behind big sis. The real question was what plan did they have for getting the hat back once they were under it. In the middle of a bramble patch without a shot of getting much higher, the hat dangling forever out of reach. Somepony needed to suddenly turn into a pegasus and make this far less annoying.

[Hippo]

Like a bulldozer, Applejack pressed her way through the bramble. It should seemed like it would have been a good idea to bring that machete she used to cut Apple Bloom out of her own failed knot. Without it, Applejack felt the resistance and unfortunately for her, it started to even out her rush to get the hat. She would continue to press and press, but her haste slowly turned to endurance as the vines spread its barrier around the two ponies. The vines that were small enough, Applejack would continue to chew out of the way. And the ones that were bigger, she would just crawl around, squeezing between the thorns that were about as long as she was tall.

And while she pressed, she wondered how Apple Bloom got to this situation. Bramble was known for its natural defenses against anything, even creatures. What in the world was a creature running around in a bramble patch doing? It didn't really make sense, so Applejack decided to lecture a question. "Um, Apple Bloom. You said that you saw some kind of creature. What kind of creature did it look like?" Applejack hesitated for Applejack's response. She needed to know that it could be something small. There was no way a large creature could escape the thorns of these vines. And it had to be able to climb. As they approached the base of the tree, the hat dangled off the limb like an mean big brother teasing a shorter sibling with some hard-to-reach candy. It's MY candy! Applejack thought as she started feeling around the trunk, looking for some leverage.

​

[SteelEagle]

The dynamic duo of delicious destiny destroyed dangerous, damaging thorny thorns thumbing their...Apple Bloom couldn't finish it with a rhyme or similar word so her attempt at making this seem more acceptable than it was went over just as well as her plan. It had been a disaster if she were to be honest with herself and not let the lovable lie lay on her head like so many gilded roses. Luckily, she could at least fall back on Applejack's incredible athletic ability and endurance. She bulldozed through some of the bramblies and evaded others, Apple Bloom small enough to follow in the path of destruction and the patch slowing her big sister down enough for her to keep up during the evasion. They were making good progress to where thy needed to be in order to get the hat, and the only way the small specter of lying could prove itself a valuable ally rather than a tease was if she could get that hat and get out.

But of course, it wouldn't be that simple. Applejack asked what creature took it, her voice on the edge of suspicion and with a certain cut which told Apple Bloom this conversation wasn't going well. She was boxed in though, both physically and mentally, with little else to do but beat the drum of a lie until it became the truth or she was caught and punished. The only other option was tell the truth now, but surrounded by angry brambles in the Everfree that seemed like a bad idea. A bad kick could send her into the thick portions which could see her be consumed by the sheer mass, the thorns of which would take a terrible toll on the filly. But what sort of creature? What had she said earlier it loooked like? Her mind blanked out on the spot like she had so many times before in school, where she knew the right answer but couldn't get it out when there so many watching and judging. She didn't so well when the lights turned interrogatory.

"Uhh....it was uhhh...Ah dunno, it was dark, Ah was followin' it...was...a badger? A mean ol' badger Ah bet with nasty claws., Like one of those wood badgers that tha spriggans like ta conjure up," Apple Bloom replied with excitement, her mind taking down the idea of a fantasy creature as a good bet. They were at the base and Apple Bloom looked up, front hooves on the trunk.

"How tha hay do we get up thar now?"

[Hippo]

Apple Bloom's explanation of the creature and answer to her question was not good enough. Applejack wanted the answers to better understand how it could have come to this situation. "Now come on Apple Bloom. A spriggan summoning a badger? You know very well that the only place spriggans live is in the Soggalong Swamps. And they don't summon badgers, the summon skunks." Apple Bloom should have known that one. "You know, Apple Bloom, the more you talk about what you saw, I get the feeling you didn't see anything, like you're lying to me or something." Applejack wasn't going to suggestion that Apple Bloom was lying. Sister of the element of honesty would be silly to do so. But she felt guilty in that maybe she accidentally implied it. She looked at Apple Bloom sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, Apple Bloom. I'm not trying to say you lied. You know that I love you very much and I always trust that you will tell the truth."

Applejack looked up at the tree wishfully. Maybe if I threw Apple Bloom up there high enough, she could grab it and I would catch her.

​

[SteelEagle]

Shoot! Her lack of knowledge regarding all the critters in the world bit her in the keister once again. Spriggans were actually real? Heck, she thought it was just an old mare's tale used to scare little fillies like her from swamps. Maybe Applejack was just pulling a fast one but in either case it was bad news. Applejack had caught Abby in a bold faced lie the likes of which she couldn't really recover from. Well, she could, it was just hard and the walls were falling down around her spire of lies and deceit. At this rate, the only pony who would be buried by the rubble was her and she might not get any help in escaping from it. Apple Bloom's ears dropped down as she took a huge gulp, refusing to meet her sister eye to eye as they tried to find a way up the tree.

"Y-yeah, Ah wouldn't lie...about yer hat. Ah..." Apple Bloom trailed off, unable to put forth another word in that lying angle. The last dagger was her sister telling her she loved Apple Bloom while acknowledging she would never lie. The sweetest words carried the most painful of truths sometimes and Apple Bloom almost broke then. Only one thing kept her from revealing it then and there.

The hat was still not in their possession.

How could she get up there to retrieve it? It was too high for either Apple to reach it, and the tree was too smooth to climb. Didn't she know that. The brambles had a bit of elasticity to them but wouldn't cooperate and she'd get torn to shreds by them and as much as she wanted to save the hat she wanted to walk away from this mostly under her own power. There were few good answers and the good answers betrayed her discovery, and all the while too great a portion of her mind was consumed by the collapsing lies around her. She had to get that hat before the goosebumps along her spine turned into truthful words and then a somber retort.

"Applejack, do ya have any ideas?" Apple Bloom asked as a vin tried to wrap itself slowly around her fetlocks, getting kicked back absentmindedly for its efforts.

[Hippo]

Applejack got to thinking. Her problem-solving mind was an efficient one, and this time it would probably not fail either. Applejack just had to think herself over the stress. "Well. These vines seem just friendly enough to spring one of us up to the hat, grab it, and then fall down in some manner that will not result in the projectile pony landing on one of 'em giant spikes." Applejack pointed at a spike pointing straight up from a vine, exactly as large as earlier, about the same as a pony's length from nose to tail. "I think you should be the one to fly, Apple Bloom." Applejack suggested reluctantly. "Ah'm too heavy and I might not make that height. But with me to pull the vine, you should reach it no probably. And I'll ensure that you don't hit a spike by catching you."

Applejack looked at Apple Bloom with a concerned face. Here she was, sans hat, trying to make her sister take a sacrifice she didn't have to take. All because of a stupid hat. Applejack regretted this, and so over a quick second she realized her own fault, and gave in to her own demands. "Actually. No. You're not going to do that. Ah refuse to put my good little sister's life in danger just because of a hat I don't really need." Applejack started to tear up again. The tears streaks on her face still wet from the last time. "I've learned that you got realize the important things in life. And for me, I learned my sister is a hay lot more important that a hat. I don't know what I was thinking." Applejack sniffled a few times and then looked at her sister. "I've been lying to myself this whole time, sis. I thought that this hat was more important that your well being there for second. But obviously, it isn't. Could you ever forgive me?"

​

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom gulped as her big sister came up with the first and only working plan they were probably going to have. It made sense at the very least and it seemed pretty practical. Well, for the Everfree. The vines weren't hard and unworkable like normal ones, instead offering a bit of a spring to them that Apple Bloom was thankful for. In theory, Apple Bloom could be launched into the air to get the hat at which point she would fall back into the bramble patch. That would be the part that would hurt. Yeah, she was bound to get scratched by whatever vine they chose to send her up into the air but she was going to get cut up something fierce on the way back down. At least Applejack would catch her. At least her experience in hoofball would allow her to highpoint the hat before she tumbled back down. And in a way, it was fitting that she should have to retrieve the hat. It was her own dumbtail's fault that this was happening in the first place after all. Apple Bloom nodded along to Applejack's plan glumly, gulped, saluted, and took a vine. She wrapped it around herself- the thorns stuck in but not too far and not clingy enough to stick- and started to step back.

And it was then that Applejack came to her senses and realized how much more important family was than her hat. Back to Applejack, all Apple Bloom could absorb were her sister's heartfelt words. She didn't even need to see the tears streaking down her face: Apple Bloom could imagine it with her mind's eye. She knew her sister well like that. She had always bragged that she knew her sister better than anypony else knew their sister or brother and it was true. They were more than just the best sisters of all time, though they certainly were that. They were two halves of the same beating heart of Sweet Apple Acres. Through them flowed a love and understanding and the belief in each other and what they represented far beyond anything else they had ever felt.

Apple Bloom knew she could always count on her sister, count on her honesty and integrity and good deeds to carry the day and family into even greater futures beyond imagining. It was why she had always tried to emulate Applejack, being even just a pale shadow of who she was would be the dream of any normal pony. It occurred to Apple Bloom that Applejack was right. Apple Bloom was more important than her hat. But retrieving that hat was more important than letting it go, and making amends with Applejack was more important than saving her neck today for Apple Bloom. She needed to get that hat. She needed Applejack's strength for that. She needed to tell the truth.

"Applejack, Ah took tha hat and went inta tha forest and played with it an' it got stuck up thar. Ah'm sorry. Now toss me up thar so Ah can start ta make it up to ya," Apple Bloom bellowed back, preparing her haunches for takeoff.

[Hippo]

Applejack was walking in defeat through the tunneled bramble as she confessed. But Apple Bloom spoke up behind her, giving the most unexpected response to Applejack's coming to terms. Apple Bloom took the hat. She ran into the everfree. She lost it. Applejack just stared at Apple Bloom for a moment, not immediately taking in to what she said. But when Applejack repeated it in her mind, her brain turned a gear that would set her next emotion forward. "You what!?!" Applejack stood over Apple Bloom, her face darkened with small anger. But a second later it succeeded to understanding and grace. Apple Bloom had confessed and told the truth about something so hard to talk about, she trusted her sister would react positively. And when a tilt of the head, Applejack smiled back with an evil, but loving look of revenge. She grabbed Apple Bloom and loaded her onto the springy vine. And with a hefty tug of Applejack's weight, she released the vine and sent Apple Bloom soaring towards Applejack's dangling hat.

​

[SteelEagle]

Well, that had gone better than expected. Apple Bloom had honestly thought that she would have been sent flying...by the fiercest possible buck of all time. She was going to rocket through the hat and to the moon and land in Luna's fabled moon palace. Instead, while she was sent flying, she wasn't sent rocketing. Heh, guess she should have told Applejack sooner. That wasn't bad at all! Why, hopefully she wouldn't get grounded for a thousand years. Only a few dozen. Everything was awesome and she was sure as rain in Seaddle that the only punishment she would receive was a stern look and a sisterly hug of appreciation for being the best hat wrangler this side of Calamity Mane. Probably. Hopefully. Even a filly could dream. She knew that Applejack, when alone later with her thoughts, would probably come up with a punishment that was richly deserved. Hopefully her hat saving would help her case.

She was shot up with great speed, her bow flying off and allowing her mane to flow freely in the whipping wind. She hardly paid attention as the hat approached at seemingly terminal velocity, her focus so laserlike and precise that the movement of birds in the branches around her in fear were as distant as mountains. She was off by a foot, maybe two. She passed by the hat on the way up and shot her hooves out in a flash, motion before thought. She snagged the hat as she continued up, twisting in mid-air to do so. Hoof on fabric. Success! She got the hat! She re-oriented herself as she seemingly stopped in mid-air, waving to her sister triumphantly with the hoof that had the hat. Everything was really going to be okay!

"Ah got it!" She bellowed as she started to fall down. That is when thing started to go wrong.

The momentum from her twist continued, and she found herself tipping face down. And she didn't come straight down, either. She bounced off of that same branch and it snapped, sending her careening into the center of the thicket end over end with the hat in her mouth. She started to panic but before she could summon any thought beyond a curse she was sure Applejack wouldn't want to hear, Apple Bloom had landed in the middle of the bramble thorn picket with a half-sickening crunch of thorny vines underneath outside of Applejack's field of vision.

Thick and vibrant strings of pain cascaded throughout the filly between her fall and the thorns that slipped through her underneath, cushioning her fall in the most unfriendly way possible. The shock of the fall prevented a swift scream of pain as every inch of her back, flank, and beck was penetrated to some degree- or at least it felt like it. Worse than that though, the sentient brambles seemingly shivered with delight and started to constrict. It had been a while since they ate fresh. One devious looking vine approached from above mockingly, its tendril slithering in the moonlight towards her face with ill intent.

"APPLEJACK! AHHH!" Apple Bloom screamed shrilly, pulling her back hooves free for only a second before they were taken aggressively by the vines which made sure they wouldn't pose a threat, wrapping around them tight and trying to squeeze the fight out of her.

She was about to meet a bad end.

[Hippo]

Applejack would have no chance at recovering the filly in her fall, as a random collision with the branch sent her tumbling down into the bramble in a direction Applejack could not careen over in time. She hurried to where she could see Apple Bloom through the vines, the biggest ones acting very intelligent and mischievous. In a calm panic, Applejack yelled at Apple Bloom. "Throw me the hat!"

Vines started slithering around Applejack, but she stepped on and kicked them away as soon as they had a chance to grab her. As long as she had four hooves, she was not going to be overwhelmed. Except there was a fifth vine, that came from behind her and it grabbed her tail before her tail could swipe it away. In a small whinny, Applejack was carried up by her tail, and she lost all footing her hooves had with the ground. "Apple Bloom, now! Throw me the hat!"

​

[SteelEagle]

The vines constricted Apple Bloom harder and harder as the seconds passed away, the fogginess in her mind from the crash equalled only by the stark realization that her bottom half was completely held down by the vines. Their thorns stuck into her and it hurt, but the fear she had overrode any measure of pain she was feeling as she felt her tail curled and pulled and the vines on her arms grow tighter as the one above her head started to cup her mane and slowly pull it down. Out of the corner of her panicking eye she saw another of the small ones reach down from above towards her head. More importantly, the mass of tentacles she was riding seemed to writhe and slowly pulse her from her location, moving by inches at a time as the gestaltion below her propelled her towards wherever they wanted to move her. She could struggle and she could fight but she was weakened by the fall and they were strong and plentiful. Apple Bloom didn't really have a prayer. All she had was a sister and that was often good enough. Today, however, it didn't appear to be the case. The frazzled Applejack pulled herself into the fray but was also swiftly captured by the terrors.

This had been an awful idea! The Apple sisters were often in over their manes but this took the cake and their tails and everything. It shouldn't have been difficult for them but dumbtail Abby had to land in the middle of the patch where the vines were strongest and cruellest. What were they going to do to the Apples? Everything they did from the binding and the thorns hurt like like heck but they were being moved. She'd heard rumors that the vines had a mouth somewhere, a horrible maw where they would force their prey in. According to the books, it wasn't a good way to go. The chemicals would paralyze you and keep you alive for decades as you were slowly digested. She had always imagined that was just a scary story told to an adventurous Everfree filly. After all, she'd seen these bramble patches all round the Everfree and never found it too difficult to escape. But what other explanation was there? What could it have possibly been aside from the worst possible scenario, that the filly was about to be eaten?! And all Applejack cared about wa her stupid hat?!

Apple Bloom gripped the hat tight in her still free mouth and with all the energy she could manage whiplashed her head in her sister's direction, sending the hat zipping in the air towards her enormously selfish sister. So here they were in the den of the beast with the worst outcome imaginable somewhere nearby and she just cared about the hat?! How dare she! How...no, this was Apple Bloom's fault. All of this was. She knew that in her heart of hearts and knew that her sister's obsession with that hat was as eternal as her desire to get a cutie mark, if not even more deeply woven into the blood that pumped through her veins as part of the tapestry of Sweet Apple Acres' finest produce, the ponies that lived there. Just as violently as the vines moved to end them Sweet Apple Acres had moved to sustain them and in doing so they all gained their little pecularities. Applejack's obsession with the hat was as important to her and their history as anything else, like a running brook in a large painting set the ambiance for the conifers all around. None of this meant that Apple Bloom couldn't be rightly angry at not being saved yet!

"Thar's yer hat, now please HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

[Hippo]

So much turmoil could be seen on Apple Bloom's face as she hurled the hat towards Applejack. The throw was mighty, for Apple Bloom being in such a position she was. And it just got to Applejack's face where she was able to catch it with her mouth. It didn't phase Applejack at all that she was asking for the hat while her sister was apparently being smothered by vines with internal organs that have the ability to digest pony flesh. No, instead she was poised for combat. Ready to fight when it mattered. And now with her hat, she could feel the confidence flowing through like it hadn't before all night long. With a flick of her head, Applejack tossed the hat lightly in the air, and with her golden mane, caught it with her pony skull. It's business time.

Light seemed to come from Applejack's eyes as she had a sudden burst of energy. Very agilely, she spun around on the vine that was holding her up, and kicked it down before she gracefully landed on the ground. She faced the dirt and breathed heavily as she attempt to harness her own energy. She started looking up, and with a sly wink and a smile, she tilted her hat and started running towards Apple Bloom. The smile turned to anger as Applejack bolted towards the vine who grabbed onto Apple Bloom. With a jerk of her head, she dropped out her very special rope that was lodged in her hat this entire time and within seconds, threw a lasso around the vines just underneath where Apple Bloom was being manipulated. "Get yer filthy green tentacles offa mah sister!!" Applejack yelled though the rope in her mouth. Applejack pulled the lasso tight, bringing all the vines close together. Applejack continued putting pressure on the vines until eventually, strength willing, The rope started cutting through the vines. As the vines were cut, the grab on Apple Bloom started to loosen.

​

[SteelEagle]

Applejack's sudden and brazen assault upon the vines finally gave Apple Bloom some hope. She wouldn't admit it if asked except in a very surface way but she started to believe that this panicked, horrid end was just that for her. She was going to wind up in the half-hidden gullet of vines in the Everfree because of a hat and either her sister would see it and be scarred for life or she would join her. Welp, it was only slightly better than being stone for eternity so it was still only the second worst death proposed to the sisters by cruel fate and bad little fillies everywhere. Maybe they'd end up as some sort of cautionary tale told by future Apples about lying and pride and hats and vines and the Everfree and who knows what else they would stick into that fable. They'd probably change the names too! Gee, here she was about to be eaten and she wouldn't even be remembered correctly in her own fable. What a raw deal!

Luckily, Applejack to the rescue. The vines withered, bled, and started to fall one by one to a rope made more out of will than twine. It wouldn't be long before the force of the vines grew weaker. Piece by piece, inch by inch, she felt the vines slacken. The thorns that punctured her a few dozen times over started to fall out of their locations as the vones retracted moment by moment. Within a few extra moments Apple Bloom could feel herself able to breathe, summoning within her the strength to break free ever so slowly but surely. Finally in a great gasp of movement she pulled herself free of all but one vine and fall to the ground with a thud, her head spinning from the action. But just as quickly as she landed, the last vine on her on her leg grew so tight on her leg that she felt an unbareable heat bore down into her bones. It started pulling her quickly in until she felt a sickly slick and pulsating-

"Tha mouth! It's PULLIN' ME IN!" Apple Bloom screamed. There were no teeth, no thorns, just an impossibly slick and wet hole that pulsated with dark muscles. Her foreleg was shoved in like a piece of lettuce and the powerful muscles capable of crushing rocks locked in around her foreleg. She felt a huge sucking motion as if all the muscles pulses at once and she moved far enough in for both of her back legs to be lodged deep inside the mouth.

She was being eaten!

[Hippo]

Despite the vine loosening on Apple Bloom, Applejack saw the sentient collection of violent fauna take a new approach in which it was not willing to give up a tasty meal of fresh Apple Bloom hide. As one last vine grabbed her so hard, the hoof end of her leg was turning colors. Applejack determined to do whatever it takes, gathered her rope back up after it cut through the vines, and reset the lasso. She ran back to the tree and kicked off a large piece of wood. Tying the rope around the tree log, she brought it back to the vicinity of Apple Bloom's devouring and started swing the log in the air. With the weight of the log on the end of the rope, Applejack started swinging faster and faster until the log became a projectile of speed and force. And then, with a quick flick of the neck and jaw, she redirected the motion so the log would run smack dab into the back end of the plant's abdominal structure, which in an effort of a large scale heimlich, would hopefully spit Apple Bloom out in the process. Applejack taunted the plant just as she swung at it. "You are what you eat, and you ain't no apple tree!"

​

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom wished she would have had more time. More time to be with her friends. More time to be with her family. More time to crusade and get her cutie mark. More time to work the fields and try to be like the best pony in the world, her big sister Applejack. More time to do better in school and earn the respect of Miss Cheerilee. More time to learn from Granny the secrets of the family. More time to try and mend the broken fences between her and Diamond Tiara and forge a friendship through the flames of hate. More time to be around her big brother, who's muscles was matched in size only by his heart. More time to make friends. All she had ever wanted to do was be the best little Apple Bloom she could be and prove her worth to friends and family. All she did do was make a mess of things. All that she had done was make a mess of things. All she needed was more time.

But she wasn't going to get it.

It forced her further and further down until three quarters of her frame was inside of it. Nothing was chomping down or stinging when inside. Instead, a thick slab of some black slime coated her body by the voracious tongue which searched her out until everything that came within reach was closed. Whatever it touched she started to feel an odd numbing sensation prickle down her leg. Not that it mattered- she was doomed either way as another vine slapped across her face, holding her mouth shut tight as another vine held her front hooves tight together. It then lifted her off the ground and positioned her above the mouth, her back half still inside. Her face looking up, she cried and made peace with the stars above as the mouth started one swift move inward...and just before it could do so, everything went to chaos below. In a flash the vines whipped and let her go as she tumbled down to the ground, hitting with an audible oomph. Dazed, she stood up and looked around, the log just now setting and Applejack looking mighty victorious with her speech. The mouth and the bramble patch around wiggled in pain and agony, distracted for a little while by whatever damage Applejack had done. Now was her chance! Apple Bloom tried to get up...but couldn't. The paralyzing toxic slime had numbed her for good reason after all and she couldn't move. Still, this was better.

"Yeah, take that you ugly bunch or spider legs! If Ah could use mah legs, Ah'd buck you ten feet under!" She bellowed with hoarse energy slaughtering her vocal cords, reaching for Applejack all the while.

[Hippo]

As soon as Apple Bloom was no longer a mouthpiece for the animal of a plant, Applejack started making her way towards her little sister. It seemed as she was paralyzed, or at least her back legs were. She was unable to move away from danger. Hopefully it was only temporary. Recoiling her rope from the thrown log, Applejack quickly retied the rope in the air, and threw it at Apple Bloom, the lasso making a target out of Apple Bloom's tail. And once it successfully tied around the red shaggy tail, Applejack ran far off outside the vicinity of the vines, jumping from bramble stem to bramble stem, attempting to dodge the thorns that could put a clean hole through the soft pelt of an earth pony. But Applejack would have none of that, as her adrenaline caused her instincts to move faster than she could think, her rope fully locked into the slack position of saving her sister. And once Applejack landed on the safe dirt outside the bramble patch, she gave a strong tug that would send Apple Bloom clean over the bramble herself and straight onto Applejack's back. Applejack chewed off the tie around Apple Bloom's tail. "Let's get the bale outta here!" She started racing towards the forest exit, her direction assured by the angle of Luna's moon.

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[SteelEagle]

Applejack's aim was honest and true and snapped up Apple Bloom's tail, a fact that the filly only understood because she felt her upper half jolt when it happened. Her back end, tail included, still felt numb beyond all measure and it was all she could do to try and wiggle her back hooves to no avail. Then she was dragged stealthily past rows of angry vines which were still disoriented to do much of anything except occasionally lash out at the filly, whipping across her mane to little effect beyond once or twice falling prey to her own vengeful hooves. She grabbed one vine and bite down on it, snapping it off as it came to rest and wiggled in even greater pain before her. It was a harsh journey as a few started to wrap around her neck limply, but she pulled them off and slammed her hoof down on a few more. The fight was out of her lower half but her upper half was all energy as she wailed on some more!

And then with a giant rush she was sent through the air, cartwheeling aimlessly above the bramble patch before she came slamming down on Applejack's back in a dizzying crash which sent her eyes swimming in her head. Before she could regain her senses, Applejack took off and made good timing away from the patch. Apple Bloom tossed a shaking hoof in defiance of the patch, yelling at the top of her battered lungs. "Yeah, y'all got off easy this time! Next time Ah come back, Ah'm gonna burn ya ta tha last ember!" she shook her fist some more before falling back alongside the ridge of Applejack's spine, taking in deep breaths as her powerful sister rushed through the Everfree. After a few minutes the Apple sisters had made good their escape, thr thrashing and mewling of the bramble patches given in to the silence and foreboding of the Everfree at large.

"Sis, you can...slow...down..." Apple Bloom breathed heavily, the paralytic toxins starting to wear off as she swished her tail around, feeling the many small points of pain shooting through her body.

[Hippo]

Applejack could have never known for sure how much time had passed during this search and rescue, for at first her hat, but then also her sister. It could have been a fifteen minute incursion, it could have been almost dawn by now. Her safety sensors that were built on the inside of her tone interior blinded all concept of time, in the interest of keeping herself and her sister, and even her hat, safe from harm. And that was just what happened. As Applejack raced through the Everfree, she started recognizing certain rocks, and found herself on the easy path to the farm. And to her sister's wishes, she slowed her gallop to a shuffle. She exhaled in pain at first, but then when she mentally wake in her conscious state of living and thinking, she smiled on the victory of the hour. She would look at her sister and look for that same smile. "Are you alright, Sis? Anything broken?"

As she walked out of the forest, the moon and stars brightened up the grass beneath them, turning it a soothing bluish green. What was always seen as a minuscule amount of light, the luminescence from the nighttime sky was a pleasure to behold, for even it was kept from the darkest regions of the Everfree. And because the stars could be seen in their vastness, this also meant the rainy clouds had departed, though the ground was still wet, the grass bent over with drops of water hanging from them. Applejack herself could hardly be recognized. At some points her entire pelt was covered in mud, and the parts that weren't had dark bruises and cuts from the violent escape the apple sisters had to endure. A rough amount of physical endurance and pain was always in a day's work on the farm. But maybe this time, Applejack would admit, that this was no ordinary evening out, and if she didn't feel it now, she certainly would feel it in the morning, with every twitch and movement from her body triggering all muscles to ache and throb.

"Apple Bloom?" Applejack slowly walked towards the barn, it getting bigger and bigger into view. "That was quite the adventure, wasn't it?" The shuffle from Applejack's hooves proved the pony's exhaustion. The instincts finally wore off, and her pain-feeling brain was in control. "But let's not ever do that again, OK? And, Apple Bloom?" Here it came, it was time for answers. Despite Applejack being in a different mental state during the confessions, Applejack remembered everything her sister said. She didn't think her sister had anything to hide at this point. It was time to spill the apple sauce. "What in tarnation were you doin' with mah hat?"

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[SteelEagle]

Applejack's gait slowed down considerably as the elder sister took Apple Bloom's pleas to heart. Apple Bloom felt the pressure leave her almost immediately, and what pressure it was. As the paralytic film over her started to splinter off and loosen her body started to register the true extent of the damage done to her. Nothing seemed to be too deadly or anything requiring great or specialized care. She was still whole in body and spirit, owing to her great and powerful family lineage. But that didn't mean the activities of the night didn't weigh her down with the aggressive nature of being victim, even if partially of her own making. The vines had held her hard and strong and hundreds of tiny holes had been poked over her and they were not the only ones. She had not broken anything but an overwhelming feeling of fatigue seeped into the very fiber of her muscles as a result of the tight squeeze harming the tendons and valuable muscle mass. She felt softer and the paralytic toxin which sloughed off of her left this unbearably itchy legacy that she would not easily forget. But she was otherwise fine, or as fine as one could be.

The barn approached and Apple Bloom could feel her heart beg for rest once and for all, the prospect brighter now than before. She wished she had seen the light of honesty and before that good sense earlier in tthe day and never have started the duo down such a tortured path of pointless emotional expenditure. It had been her fault and while she would like to believe that earning a lifetime of experience in one night of 'work' was a useful tool to help her ply her trade in the future, she could do without the danger and the injuries to both herself and Applejack. Getting back in the farm made her world brighter, almost literally- pale lanterns in windows and the soft moonlight that lathered the orchard peacefully at night were wonderful backdrops not seen in the dense and underpopulated by friendly faces foil age of the Everfree. She would rest well. Oh Celestia and Luna and Cadance and Twilight, she would rest very well.

"Ah'm feelin'...well, better. Thanks, big sis," Apple Bloom cooed lowly as they approached the barn, the filly sliding off of her sister and landing on all fours with a grimace and a grin. It hurt but she'd live and she would do so thanks to her brave and wonderful big sister. Applejack had always been the family bulwark against whom the rest of the family turned like gears and pistons keeping the workings of the farm going along as well as they could thanks to her. The amount of times that Applejack had put her life and her character to the test for the greater good of her family was beyond counting or reasoning and she had done so again tonight, further embellishing the legend of the Apples of the Orchard. In the great family ledger that contained the life and times of those who lived and passed by under the trees of Sweet Apple Acres, her section would eventually be the greatest. Because of that, who could blame the lesser sister for trying to be like the superior sister?

"Ah'm real sorry Applejack. Ah was just wanting ta go out in tha Everfree and have a bit of an adventure or somethin', and Ah saw yer hat an'...Ah dunno, just decided ta wear it 'cause tha pony who wears it is so brave and great. Ah'm sorry," Apple Bloom mournfully replied as she weakly pushed open the door on shaking legs, welcoming the friendly warmth of home.

[Hippo]

The barn door creaked its friendliness, the floorboards inside the barnhouse singing the all-too-familiar whines as the ponies drug their muddy hooves across the room. There would not be enough time for energy for a pony bath. It was time tuck into bed for some sleep finally, and maybe a quick jab at the rooster to keep it from signaling the first sight of the sunrise. Applejack took a towel from the kitchen and quickly went over Apple Bloom with it, no minding if the stains would ever come out, but making sure the yellow filly would at least be considerably clean for her new adventure in dreamland. As Apple Bloom responded to her question, Applejack couldn't help but not be upset. Dishing out a compliment while apologizing was always a good move, and Applejack would admit it worked this time. She chuckled a little at the thought. "Oh, sis, you don't need mah hat to be brave. You sure didn't need mah hat to go get it now, did ya? And what about that bow of yers. Doesn't it have some magic power that only the best little sister on Sweet Apple Acres can summon?" Applejack nuzzled Apple Bloom lightly, as to not inflict any pain on her minor cuts and bruises.

After a nice rub down, Applejack carried her sister to her bedroom, where she lightly dropped her into the bed and tucked her in with covers from all sides. "It's alright sis. I forgive you. Ah'm sorry I let that hat go to my head, when it wasn't on my head, I mean." Applejack shook herself from the joke. "What I mean is, it isn't what I have that helps me be who I am. Who I am involves the ponies I love and values I care about most of all. This hat?" Applejack tipped it up slightly. "It gives me confidence and helps motivate me to be the best I can be. But mostly? It just makes me look good." Applejack did a quick pose with her hat and then chuckled. "Maybe some day, you'll find that certain something that motivates you to do great things, too. For all we know, you may already have it."

Applejack stood up from the bedside and started walking through the door. She turned to close the door behind her. "I love you, Apple Bloom. Get some rest. I'll make breakfast when you wake up." And the door closed.

A couple seconds after the door closed, Applejack opened it slightly and whispered. "By the way. You're grounded." And the door closed again.

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