Chapter 1: Blood on the Snow

It was another happy winter's day on Sweet Apple Acres as Applebloom ran around with her friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, while Big Mac and Applejack cleared the roads of all the snow that had fallen overnight. Today was the kind of day that no pony would think twice about. School was out, the Apples had no farming to do, and so the only thing that could be heard were the sound of snow plows and fillies laughter. When it was time for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to go home they met  up outside the clubhouse, covered front head to hoof in snow.

"Today was awesome!" Scootaloo cheered as she made a snowball, "I never knew you had such good aim Applebloom!"

"Yeah, I think you hit us more than we hit each other" Sweetie Belle laughed, a wet clump of snow falling off her horn as she did, only making her laugh harder. The other two fillies joined in as well, and when they finished laughing they heard Big Mac calling to Applebloom, a sign that they really had to say goodbye.

"See you guys tomorrow" Applebloom said with a smile before extending one of her hoofs out for Sweetie and Scootaloo to hit.

"Bye Applebloom!" the two fillies said after they high hoofed Applebloom, leaving her alone outside the clubhouse.Once she was sure they were out of sight she turned around to make her own way home. While she was walking she felt something tug briefly at her mane, but didn't pay any attention to it since it went away quickly. As the farmhouse came into view Applebloom picked up speed, eager to get inside and have some of Big Mac's amazing hot chocolate that he made everyday for her when she got home. Her mouth almost started to water as she thought about drinking it, it's unusual mix of apples, cinnamon, and hot chocolate somehow coming together in an amazing blend of flavor.

"I'm home!" Applebloom announced happily as she burst through the front door, her winter wear quickly flying off her body so she could look for the hot chocolate.

"It's sitting on the counter" Big Mac said from the living room, sipping his own mug of coco as he read the newspaper. Without hesitation Applebloom ran towards the kitchen, but when she passed by a mirror they had near the door she froze.

"My ribbon..." Applebloom said quietly as she reached back to where her large bow usually was, her hoof making contact with nothing at all. She continued to stare into the mirror until Big Mac came by, wondering what was taking her so long to get her hot chocolate. When he saw her reaching for her missing bow he felt a tug on his heart, telling him to go find it for her.

"Come one, let's go find your ribbon" Big Mac said calmly, making Applebloom's face light up as she jumped towards him to give him a hug. As they put on their winter gear Applejack came downstairs, still wearing a towel from her shower.

"Where are you two off to?" Applejack asked, drying her mane with another towel she had.

"Off to find her ribbon, it fell off today" Big Mac answered, followed by a happy smile from Applebloom.

"Ok, but be careful out there you two" Applejack said before heading into the kitchen for her own mug of coco.

"It's not like we're never going to see you again sis!" Applebloom laughed happily as she jumped out the front door with Big Mac right behind her, shutting it when he was outside.

"Were you guys playing at the clubhouse today?" Big Mac asked, seeing Applebloom's tracks from when she had come home.

"Eeyup, we had lots of snowball fights, and we also went sledding, and..." Applebloom happily described her entire day to Big Mac, from the snow pony they had built early in the morning with pencils for arms and pebbles for eyes, all the way to the great snowball fight they had just before they had to split up. As they neared the clubhouse Big Mac made a motion for Applebloom to search along the path while he looked everywhere else, allowing her to continue telling her story.

"...I caught Sweetie's last snowball and then threw it back at her, getting it stuck on her horn!" Applebloom finished, giggling happily as she remembered the snow falling off when they were saying goodbye. Big Mac laughed a little bit himself as he bucked a tree to get the snow off of it, watching for the ribbon in case it was going to be in the snow that fell. Applebloom smiled to herself as she remembered waking up the first day they were going to have snowfall, spending the entire morning just watching as the snow slowly covered the entire farm, turning it into a winter wonderland. When it had stopped snowing she had jumped outside and ran towards the field right next to the house, building snow pony after snow pony until the field was clear of snow. Every morning since then she's looked at them, slowly watching as the new snow covered them up. Her memory was interrupted by the sound of a branch rustling just a bit ahead of her.

"Huh?" Applebloom said quietly as she looked up, seeing her ribbon barely hanging onto a frail branch. As she moved forwards to get it a cold breeze blew by and caused it to go further into the orchard and closer to the Everfree forest. Without telling Big Mac she made her way into the forest, still following the ribbon as it floated away, eventually ending up on the edge of a clearing.

"Gotcha!" Applebloom shouted as she jumped at her ribbon, hearing a yelp as she did. When she jumped back she realized that she had jumped at a timberwolves' tail, pulling down on it when she had grabbed the ribbon. Looking around quickly she realized that she was surrounded by a pack of timberwolves, who were now starting to circle her. Running out of options quickly Applebloom decided to scream, hoping that Big Mac would hear it and come running, saving her just in time. After she screamed the timberwolf she had pulled the tail of moved forwards, raising up a foreleg to attack her.

"APPLEBLOOM!" Big Mac shouted as he reached the edge of the clearing, just in time to see the timberwolf swipe it's claw across Applebloom's face, sending blood across the snow. Applebloom watched as Big Mac charged in, tackling the attacking timberwolf to the ground, not noticing as another moved forwards to attack the other side of Applebloom's face, making her shout in pain. They had cut across her eyes, so all she could do was listen as he fought with the pack of timberwolves, the hollow thuds as he bucked them away echoing throughout Applebloom's skull.

"Applebloom?" Big Mac asked tiredly once the last timberwolf had run away. Applebloom heard his hoof steps come closer, but she couldn't open her eyes to look at him.

"Am I going to be okay?" Applebloom asked, turning to face Big Mac as she still tried to open her eyes. When Big Mac started to sob she could tell something was wrong, and then the adrenaline wore off. There was suddenly a horrible pain from her eyes, and she started to scream, making Big Mac cry even more. Eventually Applebloom passed out from the pain, leaving her crying brother to carry her to Ponyville Hospital, her ribbon wrapped tightly around it's usual place in her mane...