It has been a few weeks since the events of Tirek's reign. After the Elements of Harmony placed the final key into the box below the Tree of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle's new home was made... a large crystal tree-like palace. With peace finally returning, the ponies' lives ran back to normal again... except one, who was curious about the events that took place weeks ago.

The minute Tirek was killed, and their hooded heroes freed them from their bindings, they mysteriously vanished... almost like they were saved by ghosts. Applejack was lost in thought during the next harvesting day, which was, coincidentally, two weeks after their rescue.

She sighed, and continued bucking the trees that had empty buckets below them. "Ah don't reckon this day could get any better, at least! The sun's all bright, an' ah ain't seen a bad apple yet!"

"Tell me about it..." A masculine voice spoke from above the tree she was standing next to. The sudden voice caused her to gasp, while her eyes widened, and once she looked up, she stood there speechlessly at the source of the voice.

Shadow Blade was resting on a branch, wearing his cloak over his usual garments, along with his blindfold, and was looking at a half-eaten apple in his right hand that he was chewing on. "They are rather juicy this time around!"

With both eyes widely open, Applejack slowly asked, "H-hey! Ain't ya that fella from a couple weeks ago?!" Then she paused, and added, "An' ain't that one of OUR apples from up here?!"

Shadow shrugged, then replied, "Yes, and yes. This specific tree, in fact! Don't worry, though. I didn't poison them, like some of the rumors say."

Then Applejack tilted her head, and asked, "Wait, so y'all don't poison apples?!"

Shadow chuckled lightly, then replied, "Hm? Oh, no! We DO poison apples, but we only do that to the targets we either hate, or are assigned to kill secretly... which has actually gotten more common, now that I think about it!"

Slowly Applejack backed away, only for Shadow to sigh, and jump from the branch. When he landed, he rose to his feet, revealing the fact that he was over three times Applejack's height. He smiled, then said, "Don't worry, Applejack... our families are tied by a blood pact, so we will never harm you, or your friends."

"W-wait! HOW did ya know mah name?!" She asked, now looking even more dumbfounded.

Shadow shrugged his shoulders, then replied, "We have eyes and ears everywhere, AJ... and we were there since the day of your birth."

"Hold on... ya knew mah parents?!" She asked, which made Shadow look down.

"I did... and they were, unfortunately, killed for one reason..."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, and asked, "What was that reason?"

After a long pause, Shadow replied, "They were Children of the Night."

With her jaw dropped, Applejack shouted, "THEY WERE WHAT?!" She then slammed her hoof on the ground, and glared at Shadow. "Ah don't believe ya! Ah don't believe ya one bit!"

"You deny it, yet your Element proves you wrong, AJ... you can see my honesty... but if you want more proof, then please tell your grandmother 'Thy Kingdom Sleeps'. She will know what it means."

He turned around to leave, until Applejack asked, "Why ain't ya lookin' me in the eye?! An' why's that there blindfold over yer eyes?!"

Shadow stopped in place, and turned towards her again. This time, he didn't say anything, but walked up to her instead, and lowered to her eye level. Slowly, he removed his hood, and began untying the blindfold from behind his head. Then, once he revealed his eyes, she gasped.

"Th-they ain't got a single pupil in 'em!" Then the realization hit her. "W-wait... so yer BLIND?!"

Shadow shook his head, and replied, "Not in the darkness. When I'm in the sunlight, I have to wear the blindfold, for it shadows my eyes from the light... and allows me to see." He could tell that he was only confusing her even further, so he sighed and added, "You know what? Can you walk me into the shadow of a tree, please? I can't see."

Applejack tilted her head in confusion, but did as he asked. The minute he stepped under the shadow of a tree, however, Applejack stared wide-eyed at his eyes, as the night sky started to appear in the centers of his eyeballs, followed by the moonlight shining in the center. "What the..."

He placed his finger over his mouth, and covered his eyeballs with the blindfold. Then he looked around the fields, and saw that she had a lot of trees that still had yet to get bucked. "You look like you have a busy day ahead of you. Tell me... would you like some help?"

Applejack huffed, then replied, "Thank ya kindly, stranger, but Ah reckon Ah got it taken care of! Check this out!" With one of her hind legs, she bucked a tree, and caused all of the apples to fall out of it, and into the buckets. "See? Ah gots it taken care of!"

Shadow stood there silently, until he burst into laughter. "Oh, Applejack! You remind me of your grandmother! She always chose to do things the hard way!"

Applejack glared at him, and asked, "Excuse me?! The HARD way?! Why, this here is the easiest way to do it!" Then she leaned towards him, and asked with squinted eyes, "Unless ya reckon ya can do BETTER?!"

Shadow shrugged his shoulders, before holding his right hand over the ground, and walking in seemingly random directions. Applejack looked at him confusedly, and asked, "Um, what in tarnation are ya doin'?!"

Instead of speaking, Shadow merely continued walking around, until he reached a certain spot in the center of a large group of trees. Then he lowered himself to one knee, and felt the ground below his hand. Finally, with one swift motion, he slammed his palm in the center of the ground, which caused the area around them to shake slightly. As Applejack looked down, she saw, what looked like, a pulse in the grass that resembled the pulses that water makes when something was flung in it.

Then her eyes went wide once she saw the apples from the trees that were touched by the pulse fall out of them... all twelve of the trees. "H-how in the..."

Shadow patted her on the shoulder, and replied, "If you find your inner peace, you can find the 'Soft Spots' of the ground, as well!"

"Soft spots?" Applejack repeated, to which he nodded. "But how do Ah go about findin' mah 'Inner Peace'?"

"I could tell you... but I think your grandmother learned more about it than even I could." Shadow replied.

With a serious expression, Applejack nodded her head. "Alright, then! Thanks Mr... uh..." She looked around, but at that point, he was nowhere else to be seen. Then the realization hit her. "Wait a minute! Ah never even got his name!"