Chapter the Second

Rainbowdash yawned, "Hey Apple… it's getting late; maybe we should stop for the night…"

"Ughh… whatever," the yellow pony replied coldly.

"Geez what happened to you? I've never seen you like this before!" Rainbowdash scolded. "I think you need to loosen up just a little."

"I don' fuckin care what yall think about me," she snapped.

"What the hell is the matter with you? You never swear-!"

"Around others," Applejack finished setting her supplies down on the grass and leaned her bow against a tree.

Rainbowdash sighed and sat down, "Tell me what happened."

"Why should I?"

"You're my friend and I care about you. We're in this together."

"Fine…" Applejack muttered, she picked up some dry sticks and logs from around the clearing and piled them up against each other. She pulled a lighter out from under her traveling cloak in lit them. "I was going through these very woods, mindin my own business. I was humming cheerily to myself as I pulled my cart which was filled to the brim with apples. It was sunny; birds were singin and there was a pleasant wind… And then he came along."

Rainbowdash picked up large amounts of venom in the word 'he'.

"He was a tall sleek, black pony with a white mane and a lightning bolt mark on his tail. He came stumblin out of the bushes covered in bruises, so I asked if he was alright. He told me he was lost, almost starved to death, and scared out of his mind. I thought I'd help him and gave him a couple of the apples I was bringing to other towns. I didn't get two inches from him with 'em when I felt a piercin sensation in my leg, I knew immediately it was a knife."

She shuddered. "My leg capsized underneath me and I fell over, I looked up at him to see him standing over me with an evil grin on his face. My eyes widened in horror as I saw him raise the knife again. Everything went black after that…"

Rainbow dash thought she saw a tear run down her friend's yellow cheek. "When I finally woke up, it was nighttime; I couldn't move and I could feel blood pourin out my leg, chest, and a little on my face. The male horse was gone and so was my cart."

"It was a trick?" Rainbow asked, horrified.

"Brilliant Hooves," muttered Applejack sarcastically, quoted one of the characters from her favorite mystery series Sherlock Hooves that Twilight Sparkle had given her for her birthday.

Rainbow frowned, "I can see why you're mad."

"No frickin duh," AJ mumbled.

Rainbow lifted her head to the sky, "Hey, do you smell that?"

"What, the fire or my despair?" Apple inquired.

Rainbowdash got to her feet, "No… I think I smell apples… over this way..."

"Damn it, Rainbow, stop messing with me!" Applejack hissed, scrambling to her feet.

"No… I'm serious!" She walked quickly toward the woods, sniffing the air.

"Rainbow!" Applejack shouted, chased after her.

The two friends walked slowly through the dizzying array of pine and oak trees, shrubs, and ivy, Apple began noticing faint traces of apples in the air.

They arrived in a dark clearing, "Hey! That's my cart!" Applejack shouted, noticing a large wooden wagon in the shadows next to some kind of hot spring.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is," called a sneer from behind them.

Applejack and Rainbowdash whipped around to see the same stallion that had attacked AJ, his red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.

"You!" Applejack hollered. "What the hell was that whole thang about you stupid bastard?"

"You should be dead," he replied in a demonic voice.

That didn't take long, Rainbowdash thought to herself, it's kind of disappointing.

"That didn' answer mah question," AJ hissed.

"So what?" was his only reply.

"I'll show you what you bastard!" Apple leaped at him and landed on his back. The two began fighting, kicking each other with their hooves in one another's face.

Rainbowdash lurched forward. "No!" Apple shouted, stopping her. "He's mine!"

Rainbow watched helplessly as she watched her friend melee against the black mare in hoof-to-hoof combat. The minutes seemed like hours to her but it was also a blur, "You ain't goin nowhere hon." She finally heard Applejack say. She blinked to see the beige pony standing on top of the mare who growled and tried to get out from under her hooves.

Rainbow padded forward and examined his face. She cocked an eyebrow and bent down to get a closer look at his eyes. "What are you doing?" Applejack asked.

"Um… his eyes… they don't have irises. Or pupils. They're just… glowing red…"

Apple bent down and looked at his face. "Okay… that's freaky."

"Get off me and stop staring!" he hissed.

"I don't think he's evil. I think he might be possessed," Rainbowdash announced quietly. "One way to find out, help me drag him over to the spring."

Applejack and Rainbowdash bit the fur around his neck and dragged him over to the pool despite his angry protests.

"So… now what?" AJ inquired stepping on his back again.

"We dunk him in and hold him for a while. If he's possessed then he should come to his scenes," Rainbowdash retorted.

"And you know this how…?" AJ inquired.

"Twilightsparkle usually gives us books on our birthdays as a side-gift, remember?" Rainbow replied. Applejack nodded.

They threw the horse in the scalding water, "Arghhh!" he cried out and began thrashing around.

"Don't let go!" RB commanded Applejack.

After a few minutes of agony and yelling, the black pony stopped moving altogether, "Is he dead?" Applejack asked.

His eyes opened slowly. They could both see they were light green now. "W-Where am I…?"

He bolted out of the water. "What the hell am I doing in the forest?" he asked aloud. He turned to them looking nervous, "And who are you?"

"Yep. He was possessed," Applejack stated flatly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked.

"You stabbed and robbed me, and my friend and I found yall and almost drowned you 'cause we thought yall were possessed. And we were right," Apple replied.

"Me? How could I do that to a gorgeous pony like you?" he asked.

All the blood in Applejack's body seemed to rush to her face, "Uh… w-well… yah see… um…"

"Something or someone took over you," Rainbow answered for Applejack. "What's your name?"

"N-name? Uh Nightstrike, they call me Nightstrike."

"Rainbow, I think we should try to find what did this to him, since we're on this journey anyway…"

"Sounds good to me."

"C-Can I come to? I promise not to do any of the heinous things I did while I was um… possessed…" Nightstrike stammered nervously.

"Sure, now let's get back to camp," Rainbowdash responded, nodding.

"Thanks."

As the two ponies and the Pegasus walked back to camp, Applejack hung back a bit and studied Nightstrike. He was a very handsome horse, she now noticed, and he had a pair of gray sunglasses with a silver diamond-like shape next to them as his cutie-mark. One of his talents must be being cool or awesome.

"Why are you staring at me? Do you still not trust me? I understand if you don't," Nightstrike asked, turning his head to her.

"Me? I-I wasn't starin at yall! What're ye talkin about?" she stuttered, blushing.

Rainbow dash raised her eyebrows listening to them; this is going to be an interesting trip.


This seems a little rushed to me... leave a review and tell me what you think. I'll probably fix this chap.