The lavender mare was walking up to a building that looked like several different types of pastries stacked on top of one another. A purple dragon was laying on her back, his light green scales poking into her fur.

"What's this party even for?" the dragon asked, hiding any emotion he was feeling towards it.

The pony replied, "Spike, how could you have forgotten? It's to celebrate. It's been exactly one year since we defeated Discord!"

Spike didn't know how he could of forgotten such a thing either. He frowned as he remembered the ton of letters that Princess Celestia sent back. They all had to go through him to get to Twilight Sparkle. That was the worst pain that he remembered ever feeling.

Twilight opened the door and walked into Sugarcube Corner. Her five best friends were waiting for her inside. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were planning pranks for other residents of Ponyville while Fluttershy was talking about fashion with Rarity. Applejack walked up to the new arrivals and proclaimed, "Howdy, Twi! Glad to see ya finally made it, but I gotta go. The apple trees ain't gonna buck themselves!"

"Hello and goodbye then, I guess," Twilight responded. She looked at the other ponies in the room before exclaming, "Hello, everypony!"

The pink earth pony jumped up and screamed, "Twilight! You're here!"

The white unicorn slowly stood from her seat next to the yellow pegasus and said, "Oh, wonderful, we can finally start."

The dragon jumped off of the purple pony's back and yelled, "Great! I could use some food."

Twilight Sparkle looked down at Spike before looking around at the four other ponies in the room. She bit her lip and squinted her eyes, obviously going into deep thought.

"Oh, no, Twilight! What's the matter?" asked a quiet voice that Twilight recognized to be Fluttershy's.

The unicorn groaned before answering. "It's just... Why was Applejack in such a rush to leave? She could buck the apples off of the trees any time that she wants."

Now all of them were curious.

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Applejack was running as fast she could. She had to get there in time. She knew that her friends would figure out her lie; she wasn't very good at lying. She might have been the Spirit of the Element of Honesty, but she couldn't let her friends know what she was doing.

She turned a corner and stopped. "'Ello, Flim. 'Ello, Flam," she greeted the twins with distaste.

"Oh, you made it," said one of the twins, although Applejack couldn't tell which was which.

"Splendid," said the other twin evilly.

"Now let's see if you're hooves can outrun our latest contraption!" the first twin that spoke challenged.

Applejack accepted with, "You're on."

The twins turned to each other. The one on Applejack's left said to the one on her right, "Alright, Flam, put them on, then." Flam pulled out what looked like four hunks of metal reforged to fit hooves in. Applejack looked at them in confusion.

Flam slipped his hooves into the four metal shoes. He patted the ground with his right forehoove. Fire bursted out from the bottom of the boots, lifting Flam into the air. Applejack understood now.

Flim started counting down. "3.. 2.. 1.. GO!"

Applejack ran. Flam flew.

Three minutes into the race, Flam was still ahead. Gah darnit, thought Applejack, I won' be able tah outrun that! She closed her eyes, tilted her head, and ran faster.

Applejack couldn't see it through her closed eyelids. She couldn't of stopped it from happening. Just seconds after her burst of energy, a black smoke came from between two houses. It engulfed Flam before leaving. It left, and took Flam with it.

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"Applejack!" the five ponies and one dragon were yelling across Ponyville. "AAAPLEJAAACK!"

The only place that they didn't yet look for her was at the place where she was most likely to be: her own home and farm, Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack wasn't exactly the smartest pony, but she was smart enough to know how to hide.

Maybe that was exactly it. Maybe Applejack actually was hiding at Sweet Apple Acres because she knew that her friends wouldn't look there. Fluttershy didn't know how that didn't hit her sooner. She explained it to her friends, putting a look of revelation on all of their faces.

Fluttershy was right. Applejack was hiding at Sweet Apple Acres.

"Ah'm mighty sorry, girls, but ah really don' wanna talk right now," Applejack cried through her bedroom door.

"Oh, come on, Applejack. It's us, your friends," soothed Twilight. "You can tell us anything. Now, what happened?"

"Ah really don' wanna.. Oh, fine. Come on in. This is gonna be a long story."

Pinkie Pie opened the door and bounced in with her eyes closed and a grin on her face. The smile died when she saw Applejack's frown and eyes studying the floor. The others followed Pinkie into the room, more aware that Applejack wouldn't be smiling.

"Alrighty, then. You girls remember Flim and Flam?"

"Those brutes who tried to run Sweet Apple Acres out of business?" Rarity questioned.

"Yeah, them. Well, every now and then, they come back to Ponyville."

"Really? How come I've never seen them around?" It was Twilight's turn to ask a question.

"Well, y'see, they hide. They hide in bushes, trees, and alleys."

"Well, um, what do they do here?" asked Fluttershy.

"They talk to me. They get me tah help 'em test their fancy machines by testin' my physical abilities against the abilities of the machine."

"And you agreed to do that?" Rainbow Dash was surprised.

"Well, they paid me a fine amount."

"You lied to your friends and snuck around our backs for money?" Rarity inquired, shocked that her friend would do such a thing.

"Ah wasn' thinkin' right when we made the deal. It was only suppos' tah happen a few times, but they kept comin' back. Ah bit off more than ah could chew."

Pinkie was about to ask a question, but Applejack burst out, "Gah darnit! Just, please let me finish." She then continued her story. "Today, they were testin' some flyin' shoes. Ah had tah race.." Applejack closed her eyes as a tear came from each. "...Flam."

Pinkie galloped to Applejack and asked, "Applejack? Why are you crying? What happened with the race?"

Applejack tilted her head to the side. She then continued, "Do yah see how ah look right now? Mah eyes closed, mah head tilted, mah mouth quiverin'? This is what ah did. Ah closed mah eyes. Flam disappeared. Ah didn' see how."

Everypony gasped.

"Flim blamed me. Ah can understan' you girls not knowin' why ah care all that much. Flim thinks that ah'm a murderer, and if he thinks ah'm a murderer, he might tell others that ah'm a murderer."

"Oh no..," was all that Fluttershy could muster.

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The black fog came out of the hut's doors through the cracks. The zebra wouldn't notice anything. Well, she might of noticed that she had a bit less Heart's Desire.

The mist went under the trees before taking shape. It had the figure of a unicorn stallion with both black fur and black mane.

Finally, a horn, he thought. He then thought aloud in a snakelike voice, "Now I am in possession of magic. This well help me greatly."

The shadow pony's horn glew a light black, as did a blob of air in front of him. Inside of the glowing bubble appeared a tall, yellow, unicorn stallion.

"You will prove useful to me," hissed the dark figure, "with your mechanical skills."

"What do you mean? What do you want from me?" questioned the scared pony.

"You will help me. If needed, you will build or destroy machines for me."

"And what if I disagree?"

The shadow pony snickered and grinned slightly before answering with a glow of his horn.

Flam screamed.

Next Chapter: Chapter Two: An Ominous Shadow Estimated time remaining: 8 Minutes