"My shadow has gone mad. He takes himself for a man, and - imagine it - he takes me for his shadow!"
-The Shadow, by HC Andersen.

”Careful with that, Mac! Don't want an even bigger mess to clean up, now do we?”

”Nope!”

”Apple Bloom, did ya dust them closets yet?”

”Just about, sis!”

”Well get goin' then!”

Spring cleaning at Sweet Apple Acres was always a chaotic ordeal, but Applejack was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every available family member had pitched in and after a hard day's work, they had managed to disassemble the orderly disorder that normally dominated the Apple household and somehow put it back together in something resembling actual order. All that remained now was to go through the attic and all the closets, where they stored all the old junk they didn't have room for, and decide what was to be kept and what was to be thrown out to make room for all the new junk they didn't have room for.

Applejack had taken it upon herself to organize the undertaking – she was no Twilight Sparkle, but she knew from experience that unless somepony kept all those Apple family members under control, getting the house tidy could turn into a huge mess in no time flat. Of course, that didn't stop her from getting her own hooves dirty. She was still Applejack, after all.

She brushed some sweat off her brow and allowed herself to a moment to catch her breath. Just a bit more and they could all get some well-deserved rest, and for once it seemed they'd get through this year's ordeal without any accidents or disast...

”Hey, AJ, um, where do you want this thing?”

Applejack turned around and her eyes went wide as she saw Red Delicious staggering around with an enormous heavy-duty barrel-stave trunk in his hooves. The dusty old piece of luggage was bigger than him, and it was obvious he couldn't see where he was going.

”Red Delicious, fer crying out loud,” Applejack said, ”put that monstrosity down before ya hurt yesself!”

”Where?” Red Delicious wobbled closer, following the sound of her voice.

”Anywhere!” Applejack eyed the towering monolith with a rising feeling of dread. She just knew that thing was bad news. ”Let Big Macintosh handle it.”

”Huh?” Macintosh had been busy digging through one of the closets. Distracted from hearing his name, he backed out to see what his sister wanted. In doing so, however, he bumped into Red Delicious who lost his balance and careened straight into Applejack, knocking her off her hooves.

”Doggone it!” Applejack growled, her hat having fallen off her head in the fall. ”Red, what in the hay are you...” She cut herself short and her face froze in a grimace of terror as a great shadow loomed over her. Red Delicious had finally lost his grip completely and the immense trunk now came toppling down over her.

Luckily, Applejack had quick reflexes and managed to roll out of the way in the last moment. There was a terrible crash and the lid of the trunk flung open, spilling its contents on the floor.

”Will ya look at this mess!” Applejack exclaimed, picking herself up again. She took a closer look and gasped. ”Aw no!”

The trunk had fallen right on her hat, leaving only a piece of the brim sticking out from underneath. Applejack bit a hold of it with her teeth and after some tugging she managed to pull it out, but to her dismay it had been squashed perfectly flat as a pancake.

”Gosh, I'm really sorry, AJ!” said Red Delicious, hanging his head in shame. ”I didn't mean to demolish your hat like that. Uh, or almost kill you, I suppose...”

Applejack sighed. ”Aw, don't sweat it, Red. Accidents happen, and at least nopony got hurt.” She gave the hat a hard poke with her hoof and it instantly sprung back to its original shape. With a relieved smile, she put it back on her head. ”Look at that, good as new. That was a close call, though. Ah just don't feel like myself without m'hat.”

Turning her attention to the mess on the floor, her smile turned into a frown. Scattered around were old sewing equipment, a few ancient toys, bits of broken furniture, several dead moths, a broken clock, a jar full of outdated bits, a bunch of medals and trophies earned by old relatives Applejack hadn't even heard of... was that a cow skull?

”Is this some of Granny's old stuff?” Applejack mumbled, starting to pick up the various items and returning them to the trunk. Most of it was probably junk, but you never knew what might have sentimental value. As she reached for the last item, her hoof suddenly stopped. It was a worn old book, plain brown; looked like a diary or journal.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Applejack picked it up and started to flip through the pages while skimming the entries. Then she stopped skimming and started reading more carefully. ”What in tarnation? This wasn't written by any Apple pony...”

”You done with that?”

The deep baritone voice snapped Applejack out of her musings and she looked up to see Big Macintosh standing over her. ”Huh?”

”You done with that trunk?” Mac clarified. ”Where ya want it?”

”Oh! Yeah, yeah,” Applejack reluctantly put the book down.”Um, just carry it down and put it with the rest of the old stuff.”

”Okay.” Macintosh closed the lid and picked the massive trunk up like it was nothing. Watching him carry it off, Red Delicious collapsed into a chair, relieved to let the larger stallion do the heavy lifting.

Applejack held on to the journal, however. It was definitely something she wanted to take a closer look at.

A few days past. It was early in the afternoon and Twilight Sparkle, personal protege of Princess Celestia and bearer of the Element of Magic, was starting to feel extremely stressed out. Again.

”Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?” she asked nobody in particular in an increasingly frantic voice as she methodically turned the entire library upside down. ”It has to be here somewhere! Where is it?”

”Where is what now?” asked Spike, closing the door behind him. The baby dragon had just returned from an errand and looked at the mess with a slight frown on his face. Twilight's mane was coming unkempt and she had that starey look of barely contained madness in her eyes. That was never a good sign.

”This week's to-do list,” Twilight said without pausing her search for a moment. ”Oh, where did I put it?!”

”Um, I don't think we've made a to-do list for this week,” Spike said.

”No, I mean the to-do list for all the to-do lists we need to make,” Twilight clarified. ”Without it I won't remember all the things I need to remember to do this week, but I can't remember where I put it!”

Spike considered this for a moment. ”I don't think we've made a to-do list to-do list either, Twilight.”

Twilight Sparkle stopped dead in her tracks. Her eye twitched and she stared into empty space. ”Oh no,” she gasped. ”That... That means I forgot to make a to-do list for the to-do lists of the things I didn't want to forget, and then I forgot that I forgot about it! Spike, that's exponential forgetfulness!”

”Okay,” Spike said. ”You've officially lost me now.”

”What else have I forgotten that I've forgotten about?” Twilight was starting to hyperventilate. ”How am I supposed to remember everything I need to remember when I can't even remember the things I've forgotten!?”

”Twilight, calm down!” Spike said. ”You're making my head spin! Look, it's just another of your checklist. Wouldn't it be better if you could just keep all of this in your head to begin with?”

Twilight blinked. ”...That's it! Spike, you're a genius!”

Somehow, that didn't make Spike feel less uneasy. ”I am?”

”The solution is obvious!” Twilight turned her starey eyes towards him and flashed a wide, toothy grin. ”All I have to do is make sure that I always remember everything that ever happens!”

”Um...”

”And I know exactly how to accomplish that!” Twilight exclaimed, triumphantly raising her hoof to the ceiling. Then she frowned and looked around the giant mess she just caused. ”Now then... Where did I put my alchemy set?”

Spike put his palm over his face and groaned.

Fortunately, Twilight did manage to find her alchemy set and soon she had set up a bubbling little laboratory, the centerpiece of which was a flask of light purple goo simmering under a magical flame.

”Perfect!” she said. ”I was lucky to have all the ingredients at hand. I was afraid I would have to make another trip to Zecora's place.”

”That's great,” Spike said, giving the concoction a suspicious look. ”But... what is it?”

”A memory potion,” Twilight replied. ”Well, it's technically more of a liquid memory charm, but same difference. Point is that once this is done, I will never have to worry about forgetting anything ever again.” With that, she sat down in front of the flask and stared at it intently. Slowly, very slowly, the purple mixture started to deepen and darken in color.

After a few moments of silence, Spike asked: ”So, are you just going to sit there?”

”Yes,” Twilight replied without taking her eyes of the flask. ”This is a very precise and delicate procedure. This mixture must be heated exactly right – too little and the charm won't work, too much and it can have dangerously unpredictable results. I can't afford to forget about it for a single moment.”

”Oh.” Spike shrugged and started to walked towards the kitchen. ”Well, you do that, while I go help myself to some delicious ice-cream and... Hey!” Suddenly realizing that he wasn't moving forward, he looked down to find himself walking on air as Twilight levitated him off the floor with her magic.

”Yeah, not going to happen,” she said, magically carrying the frowning dragon to her side. ”We are going to sit here quietly and watch this bubbling purple goo cook to perfection even if it takes all afternoon, and there will be absolutely no distractions whatsoev...”

And in that very moment, the doors flung open and two familiar ponies dragooned themselves into the library.

”Hey, Twilight! You in here?” shouted the sky-blue pegasus with the multi-colored mane.

”Suuurpriiiiise!” cried the hot pink earth pony at almost the same time.

Twilight drew a deep sigh. Rainbow and Pinkie. Of all the ponies, it had to be Rainbow and Pinkie.

Pinkie Pie immediately started bouncing around the library in her typically hyperactive way. ”What do you have there Twilight it looks like fun is it something fun can we have fun today Twilight oh please say yes oh pretty please say yes....”

”Girls, girls!” Twilight said, trying to calm Pinkie while at the same time keeping her attention of her experiment. ”Not to be rude, but I'm kinda in the middle of something important. Was there anything particular you wanted?”

”There most definitely is!” said Rainbow Dash. ”I heard the latest Daring Do is out and since you are my go-to pony for awesome books, I thought I'd drop by and see if you had it.”

Twilight pointed her hoof. ”Bookcase over there, second shelf down.” At least she remembered that much, since she had turned that book over several times looking for her non-existent checklist. She hadn't even read it yet herself, but if it got Rainbow Dash out of her mane for a while she'd gladly wait.

Rainbow zoomed over to the bookcase in question and soon found what she was looking for. ”Daring Do and the Curse of the Obsidian Mask!” she read, then hugged the book tightly with a giddy smile. ”This is going to be awesome!”

Twilight glanced at Pinkie. ”And what about you?”

”Oh, I bumped into Rainbow just outside,” Pinkie said, ”and then I felt the corner of my right eye twitch, and you know what that means!”

Twilight wasn't even going to try to remember what Pinkie's assorted twitches meant, especially not while trying to pay attention to both her friends and her potion at the same time. ”Remind me.”

”It means something exciting is going to happen!” Pinkie exclaimed and started bouncing up and down again.

Oh no, Twilight though. She doesn't mean here, does she? That's the last thing I need right now! ”Haha, well, that sure sounds fun but as you can see, there's nothing exciting whatsoever going on in this library. Why don't you try one of our other friends, like Fluttershy or Rarity or Applejack? I'm sure they have all sorts of exciting things going on.”

There was a knock on the door and Applejack barged in, flanked by Rarity and Fluttershy. ”Howdy, Twilight!” Applejack greeted. ”Dash, Pinkie, fancy seeing ya'll here.”

Twilight sighed and hung her head. ”I give up.”

”Fluttershy and I were just done with our weekly spa get-together when we ran into Applejack,” Rarity explained. ”She said she had something exciting to show you, Twilight, so of course we had to tag along to see what it is.”

”Um, as long as it isn't a scary kind of exciting,” Fluttershy whispered.

”Oooh! The Pinkie Sense strikes again!” Pinkie squealed. ”What is it, AJ? Wait, let me guess! Is it a giant pony-eating spider? No, a rampaging dragon on its way to town? Ooh! I know! An ancient prophesy foretelling the day an ancient force of evil will return to conquer Equestria, which just happens to be tomorrow and only we can stop it!?”

For each guess, Fluttershy cowered down a bit more and whimpered as her knees started to quiver. Twilight had a similar reaction, except she was looking more and more stressed out.

”Now hold yer horses,” Applejack said and pulled something out of her saddlebag.”It's just an old book Ah found when we were spring cleaning a few days back.”

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief and nearly collapsed on the floor. Twilight perked up. That didn't sound so bad. She liked books, after all. ”What kind of book?”

”It's an old journal,” Applejack said. ”Except it definitely wasn't written by any Apple. Listen to this:” she opened to book and read: ”Property of Black Jack the Outlaw, the wildest stallion of the Southern Territories, leader of the Badland Broncos. A true account of a life of robbery, burglary, larceny and all forms of double-dealing dirty deeds. May history be my judge and jury.”

The ponies exchanged surprised looks. ”The owner of the journal was a criminal?” Twilight asked.

”Criminal is putting it lightly,” Applejack said. ”The fella was some sorta criminal mastermind. Ah've read this whole thing and, well, take this part fer example.” She cleared her throat and started reading: ”June 13. This mornin' a train carrying cargo and passengers left Hoofstone heading north. What nopony knew was that the train carried a secret cargo of San Palomino gold for the Canterlot mint, under heavy guard by civilian royal police. Nopony, that is, except me and my gang...”

As she read, her pony friends settled down and listened carefully. Before their mind's eyes, the story of Black Jack and the Badland Broncos started to unfold.

Author's Notes:

Well, here it is. My first MLP fanfic. Not my first fanfic, by any means, just the first involving ponies. Coincidentally also my first story on this site, so I'm still learning the ropes. I just hope I'm not messing up too badly.

Normally I would have tried to make this longer and more eventful, but Black Jack's story looks to get relatively long by itself and there's no better place to leave off, so this will have to do for now.