Lookin' back now, I shoulda known. Funny how that works. Ya go through the day-to-day never suspectin' a thing, but then when you think back on it, the clues were all there in front of ya, ya just never quite put 'em together. If I had, then… well, maybe then it never would have come to this.
Apple Split gasped at the sight of Half Baked Apple running to dunk his head in the nearest tub of apple cider. Half Baked had never really been one for waiting when it came to fresh apple fritters, even if it meant burning his mouth. Apple Split smiled and carried a fresh plate over to join the others on the table, only to discover the plate which had been piled with fritters only a few minutes before was now empty and upside down.
“Hey, where’d all them apple fritters go?” he asked, looking at the few crumbs and small amount of glaze still on the table. He heard a quiet noise under the table and checked to find a very young pony sitting on the ground with apple fritter smeared all over her face. A couple empty plates were on the ground next to her and she had just one fritter left. “And... who are you, little one?”
“I’m Applejack,” the filly said, leaning forward with a smile. She spread her forelegs wide and asked, “Mowe apple fwittew?”
In the face of such adorableness he couldn’t help but smile. “It looks like you’ve still got one there in front of you, Applejack.”
“Oh.” Applejack looked down at the remaining fritter. She blinked, then picked it up and ate it in a single bite. She looked back up at Apple Split. "More now?"
Apple Split laughed and ruffled her mane with a hoof, but didn’t say what she wanted to hear before he went back to work bringing fresh apple fritters to the table. Of course, he also didn’t tell her she couldn’t have more fritters, so every now and then he noticed another fritter—or plateful of fritters—went missing. So long as everypony else had a chance to have some, he wasn’t going to stop her.
After a while, Applejack got done eating fritters. This wasn’t so much because she didn’t want more as it was because she’d eaten so many she couldn’t lift herself up high enough to reach the plates anymore. She yawned and tottered away to find her brother or her parents to clean the fritter off her face.
She walked past a few ponies bobbing for apples and stopped for a second when she heard someone mention her granny.
“She’s not still embarrassed about the time she didn’t knot the thread, is she?”
“She said somethin’ about puttin’ her teeth in first. ‘Course, she was already wearin’ ‘em, but I didn’t tell her that!”
The three older mares erupted into laughter and Applejack moved on. There were ponies everywhere but Applejack had never seen most of them before and, more importantly, none of them were her ma and pa, so she kept looking. She saw what seemed like hundreds of ponies, but still didn’t find her parents, and she was starting to get very discouraged.
“Help!”
Applejack tilted her head. That wasn’t a voice she recognized, but she knew the voice that answered.
“Easy, there, partner!”
Pa! Applejack took off running toward the sound of her father’s voice.
“Just take a breath now. What’s wrong?”
“The Forest! My friends!” the other voice answered roughly. He tried again. “We were walking past the Everfree Forest and we heard a growl, so we ran. I thought—I thought they were right behind me, but when I looked back they were gone!”
Applejack pushed through the forest of legs that had gathered between her and her father. He was standing tall as ever, wearing the hat he always wore. The other pony looked scared, and his blue coat was matted, looking to Applejack a lot like her pa after he’d been working all day.
“I—I called for them and ran back to look but all I found was some blood on the ground and I need help we have to find them!”
The ponies behind Applejack all started talking to each other, but were cut off by a shrill whistle from her father.
“Listen up, y’all! We’ve got missin’ ponies, and we’re gonna find ‘em! They went missin’ in the Everfree Forest, so that’s where we’re gonna look! Remember, it’s a dangerous place, so stay together! Let’s go, there ain’t no time to lose!” The other Apples started to make their way toward the Everfree, and Applejack’s pa turned toward his own ma, who was standing nearby. “Look after ‘em while we’re gone, won’t ya?”
“Of course,” Granny said. “And you be careful in there. All kinds’a creatures in that forest’d just love to gobble you up.”
Applejack’s father grimaced and nodded, then joined the rest of his extended family to search for the missing ponies. Granny took Applejack and her brother back inside. She cleaned the apple fritter off of Applejack’s face, then read stories to them to keep them distracted. Applejack fell asleep quickly.
For the next few days, Granny continued to take care of them, while various relatives were in and out of the house to rest or get something to eat. Applejack wanted to go back outside, and McIntosh wanted to go help them, but Granny kept them both inside.
One day, Applejack woke up from a nap to find no one in the house. She wandered around until she found Granny standing in the doorway, talking quietly to Pa. Ma and McIntosh stood outside next to him. They all looked sad. Pa shook his head slowly. Granny closed her eyes and nodded slowly. Applejack didn’t really understand what was going on. Another pony walked up to them and told them he was going to go back home. Granny told him to wait a minute and stepped the rest of the way outside.
"Alright now, before everypony leaves, I want y’all to gather 'round for the family photo!" she called out.
"Not this time, Ma. This ain't the time for smilin' faces," Pa said.
"Fiddlesticks! Some smiles are just what we need right now! Everypony needs to remember that we all hit rough times in life, but life goes on! We still have each other, now, don't we? Now, come on!"
The few Apples still standing around to listen to Granny turned and walked away, shaking their heads.
Applejack watched her father sigh. "I'm sorry, Ma," he said. "Not today." He noticed Applejack watching him. "C'mere, your pa needs a hug."
Applejack was more than happy to give him one. She didn't understand why, but he looked sad, and hugs always helped somepony who was sad.
I realize now those ponies from Ponyville weren’t the first to disappear. Sad to say they weren’t the last.