Chapter Thirteen:
Journey of a Thousand Steps
The group was silent as the moved through the trees, nothing but the symphony of the long dead leaves crunching under hoof. It was the only sound that existed in the world now. All the birds had flown, the small animals retreated in the safety of their hovels. Even the breeze seemed to forsake those that were left behind this evening.
Twilight was lost in thought about all those who were left behind. Her brother Shining Armor and Spike were the first two to fall victim to the illness and now there were only a few left. Pinkie Pie seemed to be doing better after Maude's kind words. Applejack kept her resolve as strong as ever. It was easy to see that Big Mac was lost in his own thoughts, worried about Apple Bloom and Braeburn Twilight imagined. Why shouldn't he, things were only going to get worse from here on out. Twilight's mind started to wander to that place she was trying to keep it from, but Applejack was already there to pull her back.
“You gotta stop blaming yourself for everything that happened. I don't know how many times I'm gonna have to have this talk with y'all.” A smile drifted to Twilight's lips as she looked over at the filly matching her stride. “Don't get me wrong, Sugar Cube, I'll tell you a hundred more times if you keep smiling like that.”
“Maybe you two should get a room, darling.” Rarity chimed in with a light-hearted giggle. She quickened her pace so she could walk next to Twilight.
“Well, if we do that Rarity, we'll make sure we get a big enough bed so you can join us.” Applejack added with a hearty chuckle.
“Oh the scandal, Applejack.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Pinkie Pie sped up so the four of them could walk together.
“About Twilight and I getting it on, while Rarity watches.”
Pinkie Pie gasped and shook her head. “No way, really? Does Big Mac know?”
Big Mac cocked an ear towards the gathered girls after hearing his name. “What?”
“Applejack and Twilight are talking about doing the horizontal nasty and Rarity is going to take pictures of it.” Pinkie Pie spit out all at one, Big Mac reeling at the content of her words.
“Oh for heaven sake.” Rarity exclaimed with a smile on her face.
Twilight glanced from one friend to the other, enjoying the feelings that there was another kind of life that could exist in the face of the epidemic. A warmth radiated from her heart to the rest of her body. “I guess having a good laugh is key to getting through even the roughest spot.” She mused
Twilight saw the smile fade from Big Mac's face once again, his lime green eyes drifting to the ground at his hooves. Twilight slowed her pace so that her and Big Mac could walk side by side. Applejack joining on the other side of her big brother. “Big Mac...” Twilight began, stopping when she saw his eyes drift to meet hers.
“I don't wanna talk about it.” Big Mac's lips drew to a frown.
“I know you don't want to, but sometimes you really have to talk about it if you want to feel better.” Twilight reached out and took his large hand, easily twice the side of hers.
“Talkin' never did any good.”
“Now bro, you know that ain't true. Granny Smith use...” Applejack puffed out her chest, but was cut short.
“Granny Smith ain't here is she?” Big Mac raised his voice very uncharacteristically, shooting her a stern look. The force of the action startled Applejack to the point her ears lay back.
“Bro...”
“I'm...I'm sorry Applejack, this whole evening has been, well it's been shitty. Granny told me that she wasn't feeling well back before I got Apple Bloom into bed. Something about a headache or something about her back. I can't even remember, but I just told her to hit the hay and she'd be right as rain in the morning.” The titan recalled, withdrawing his hands so he could thrust them into his pocket.
“Darling, you couldn't have known that she was sick.” Rarity tried to make him feel better, but he simply shook his head.
“You weren't there, you didn't see the look on her face when she went all crazy. She went after Apple Bloom! You didn't have to throw her down in the cellar and slam the door.” Big Mac started tearing up, he gripped his mouth and exhaled a ragged breath. “The look on Apple Bloom's face when I was trying to calm her down, it hurt...and there were no one there to help me through it.”
“Big Mac, I'm sorry Brae and I weren't there for you. That was wrong of us, but this thing that's happening...it's terrible for us all.” Applejack touched his arm, slowing him to stand with her. “We all done shit we ain't proud of tonight. We've all made bad decisions, but right now we need to push through it. All that matters now is that we gotta do everything we can to stop this from getting worse, we can't let Discord win. That's the best thing we can do for Apple Bloom and Granny.”
“I don't know if I'm strong enough.”
“You will be, darling. When the time comes for you to be strong. You will be.” Rarity caressed her dainty fingers along his broad back.
“Quiet you guys, look!” Pinkie Pie backed away a few steps, pointing off into the distance.
There in the dark tangles of the forest was a pack of timberwolves, carrying the same posture the pack was larger than the group from before. They were infected to an advanced degree, it actually seeped through the cracks in their wooden pelts like gobs of green sap. There bodies twitched and shuttered violently as they started sniffing around, aware that a non-infected was nearby.
Applejack slipped down to a crouch with Twilight following her, lamenting the loss of their happy moment. Without further discussion they moved through the brush one after another trying to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to draw any further attention to themselves.
The journey now slowed to a crawl once again. Twilight could feel the cramps returning to her legs, pushing her to crawl on her hands and knees instead of crouching. The rocks and dead branches bit into her knees and hands, but at this point she didn't care anymore.
Applejack disappeared through a set of bushes in front of Twilight. She'd slipped down into a shallow ditch that seemed to grow deeper and wider the further to the right it traveled. Twilight hopped down next to her, rubbing her knees. The denim fabric was frayed and light specks of blood pooled at the small cuts. Applejack knelt down in front of her for a closer inspection. When she came up there was a disappointed look on her face that caused a guilty pang in Twilight's heart.
“We don't rightly know what's causing this virus thing that's going on. For all we know it could be coming right out of the ground, so you need to be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you, ya hear?” Twilight felt a burst of embarrassment rush to her face, like she was being scolded by her mother or Princess Celestia.
“I'm sorry.” Twilight uttered, rubbing the back of her neck.
“You don't have to be sorry, Sugar Cube. I just don't want anything to happen to you.”
“You both need to be quiet, we're not out of ear shot yet. Let's climb up on the other side and get going.” Big Mac was already pulling himself up on the other side of the ditch, pulling the bushes back so the others could follow.
Twilight went first feeling Applejack shove hard on her backside causing her to spill into Big Mac's lap. Then Pinkie Pie, who accidently piled on top of Twilight, forcing Big Mac let out a soft grunt at the sudden weight increase. Rarity followed after making sure to slip around the pony pile as best she can, grunting as a branch tore the butt of her pants. Applejack was the last one up, but she teetered on the edge clicking her tongue at what she saw.
“If your idea of quiet is shagging all my friends, I think you might be mistaken bro.” Big Mac snorted a laugh, covering his mouth with the back of his. It was a mix of a laugh and grunts from the two scrambling fillies fighting to get off of him. When they came to their feet it only took a few steps to find a break in the trees, noticing that they were thinning out.
It only too a few more steps and they were out of the trees all together facing an abrupt drop at a cliff. “We're here?”
An island set off from the rest of the world as if it broke free from the very ground and hovered above the black ravine. The island wound around like a unicorn's horn to a peak where a house sat. Nothing more than a rickety shack like the vision showed her, dark an hollow as the one who lived in it. It seem to exist in a different dimension all together tethered to their world by some unknown force. The sky around it looked like a child's painting, over sized yellow stars swimming in an unevenly painted black sky. The slap dash brown paint on the house bled into the cloud shapes that bordered the shack. The cloud shapes painted green so they looked like bushes. The ground was fine and powdery like chocolate cookie crumbs.
“Wow, this place is... So childlike.” Twilight's mouth went slack as she looked back at the others standing behind her.
“Perhaps if that child was demented. But it is a perfect representation of who lives here.” Rarity was uneasy at the sight of it, she looked both ways along the ravine. “Has anyone seen a way across, by chance?”
“There wouldn't be one.” Twilight words were grim. “Discord wouldn't need a bridge since he can fly. Yet another reason why the first thing he did was take away everypony's ability to use magic or fly. It's just another challenge for us to overcome.”
“Would you look at this?” Big Mac said, kneeling next to a tree that seemed be growing right out of the cliff.
“I reckon if you and I gave it a good go, we could knock it down to make a bridge out of it.” Applejack pulled her denim jacket off, her white tank top dirty from an evening of crawling around in the dirt. Twilight got a good glimpse of the filly's toned muscles. “Hold this for me, Sugar Cube.” Applejack tossed her jacket to Twilight before doing a few practice kicks, making sure her jeans weren't going to impede the force behind her kicks.
“I'll do linebacker, are you going to be kicker?” Big Mac spoke in their usual Apple family sports talk. It was something Twilight had heard them do a thousand times before on the farm, but had never known enough about sports to even feign interest in it. Big Mac pulled his vest off folding it over his right shoulder for padding.
“Sound good, bro.” Applejack fist bumped Big Mac on the way passed to lining up behind him. “Apple forty-two, Apple forty-two. Hut...hut...hike.”
As soon as she called hike, Big Mac charged from a crouched position his shoulder hitting the tree low and hard. The hit was so solid that the tree shuttered, raining down dead limbs, nuts, and leaves. It creaked under the force of his pushing. Just as it seemed like it wouldn't budge, he would grunt and push even hard. “Now!” He barked and Applejack darted up, she threw herself through the air, one foot resting square in the middle of Big Mac's back, the other foot struck the tree hard enough to send bark splintering out. The force of the kick was so severe that it pushed her backwards off of him and sprawling onto her back on the ground. The tree creaked hard and started to fall, Big Mac rolled out of the way as the roots that tore through the ground right where he'd been kneeling. The head of the tree struck the other island causing it to bounce dangerously before it settled into a perfect bridge.
“Hot damn, all in a days work, huh sis?” Big Mac did a push up and rolled on to his backside. Applejack still lay out on the ground where she fell.
“Speak for yourself. My idea of a day of work never had anything to do with fighting a soulless god and his horde of zombies.” Applejack sat up, dusting the grass and leaves from her hair, before putting her hat back on.
“Come on Applejack, just a little further.” Twilight pulled the filly to her feet, dusting off her back before helping her put her jacket on.
“I'll go first, if it can't hold my weight then we'll have to find another way across.” Before anyone could interject, Big Mac started across the fallen tree. It didn't shutter or move, but if did creak under his weight. Applejack sucked in a desperate breath of air, clutching Twilight's hand for comfort. Twilight grimaced as the bones in her hand creaked to the same tune of the tree.
For the most part the tree was healthy despite the odd colored bark. Big Mac was moving at a good pace, his arms stretch out as if he were an airplane, one hoof in front of the other. When he reached the crown of the tree, he just stepped right through them, pulling sticks away to clear a path for the others. Once his feet touched the dirt on the others side, Applejack finally exhaled. “Thank the goddesses.” She whispered, her voice choked with tears.
“Twilight, will go next.” Rarity said, giving her friend's arm a light squeeze. “Darling, just imagine that Big Mac is Applejack and keep your eyes on him and everything should go smoothly.”
“Oh har har.” Twilight shot her a cursed look, but smiled softly and took her first step on the tree. Big Mac stood at the other side with his arms held open wide as if he were calling her for a hug. Twilight kept her head up, shoulders back, and started walking daintily. It seemed that all of her princess training was finally coming in handy. With each step Big Mac's open arms grew closer and closer, to her nothing else existed except for that. When she stepped down, Big Mac rewarded her with a hug that she'd been so desperate to get to.
“Rarity, just walk like a lady and you shouldn't have any problems.” Twilight called across the ravine, her voice catching an echo through the darkened nooks and crannies below.
Rarity did as she was instructed to do, she was even more refined that Twilight. Her steps were quick and concise one after another like a tight rope walker. Her arms angled out to her sides as if she were ready to conduct two separate orchestras to their final crescendo.
When she stepped down on the other side, Twilight threw her arms around her neck in a big hug, they shared a lighthearted laugh before turning to see Applejack talking to Pinkie Pie, who was shaking her head and insisting that she saw something. Twilight could only hear their muted mumbles but couldn't make out any words. Finally Applejack rubbed the back of her neck and gestured to the log, before climbing up on the other end of it. They shared a few more words before she started walking across. It's as if the tree were a fence she'd traversed many times as a kid. When she reached the mid point Twilight noticed that the tree was moving, the far side where the roots were was dipping down slowly breaking away from the cliff wall. It was getting ready to fall.
“Run!” Twilight cried, her terror soaked voice split the night. Big Mac followed her gaze and gripped the tree in his big hands, if the tree fell and took his sister, he was going to go too.
Applejack dropped her careful heel-toeing and broke into a full run, sprinting across the log as fast as she could. The log started slipping from the ledge faster and faster until it finally broke free at the roots, falling into the gaping darkness below. Applejack jumped at the very last second, her stomach hammering the edge hard enough to force the air out of her lungs. Big Mac was already, pulling her up by the collar of her jacket helping her lay out on her back on the soft soil.
Twilight stared across the gap at Pinkie Pie, who stood hopelessly on the other side. She cupped her mouth and yelled across. “What do I do now?” Between Twilight's screaming, the log falling, and Pinkie Pie yelling there was no way the timberwolves had heard it.
Just then the bushes rustle near by, glowing eyes appeared from the shadows. The infected timberwolves had arrived and they were hungry. Pinkie Pie flinched as their howls tore through the night drawing more to the feast to come.
“Head back towards Zecora, run as fast as you can.” Twilight yelled after, but Pinkie Pie was already gone, several timberwolves pursuing her back into the woods. Twilight collapsed to her knees, hanging her head. She waited to hear Pinkie's cries, but none came.
“Darling, maybe she got away.” Rarity whispered, resting her hand on Twilight's shoulders.
“It don't matter either way. We have to keep going.” Applejack's voice was strained as she fought to regain her breath, she crawled over to Twilight on her hands an knees. “We gotta finish this, Sugar Cube. We've come so far and now that we're here, you gotta make sure you're ready for this.”
Twilight wasn't sure if she was ready to face the riddle game. Her track record for terrible decision was incredible. It didn't help that no matter what she did, her thoughts always found their way back to her friends. Did she even know what it meant to be a friend? Warm lips touched her forehead next to her horn. “We're right behind you, Twilight.” Applejack's breath was warm against her face. Her hands were strong as they lifted Twilight from the ground. “Let's finish this.”
Twilight opened her eyes, looking deeply into Applejack's. “Yeah, let's put an end to this terrible night.”
