The sun hung low in the sky like a giant glowing mango, giving off hues of red and orange as its first rays of the day brightened Equestria. Sunrise had only begun an hour or so ago, and the day itself had barely gotten started. The ground was aflame with light as the sun cast off the clinging shadows of night, through the majority of which the large carriage on the long road had been travelling, pulled by a lone stallion.
Inside the carriage, Fluttershy slept on one side, with Rainbow Dash next to her, who was impatiently staring out the window at the rolling landscape. Across from them, all three of the young and normally energetic Crusaders slept in their seats. All five had been on the move since yesterday evening, and had slept through most of it.
The carriage rolled without incident for another hour or so, until eventually rolling to a stop. The stallion pulling it settled on the side of the road for a moment, then leaned back and called to his passengers.
"Last stop, Appleoosa!" He hollered.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were first off the carriage, and the Crusaders followed behind them. Rainbow Dash tipped the stallion for his services, and the carriage rumbled off towards the town, billowing up a cloud of dry country dust behind it. Fluttershy watched it go with reluctance, then turned her attention back to those she had arrived with.
"He was a nice pony," she said, commenting on the driver pulling the cart. "But we really do need to hurry, the bat sanctuary is still a ways from here, and I'd like to be back in town before dark." Her mane parted just slightly, revealing the yellow striped bat nestled within it, fast asleep.
"I still don't see why we couldn't have just released the thing in Ponyville," Rainbow said.
"Because," Fluttershy said impatiently. "Yellow striped bats are rare, and he needs to be among his own kind. Besides, the bats in Ponyville are wild and untamed. They might hurt him."
"Alright," Rainbow said, then looked down at the Crusaders. "You three still want to spend the day with Braeburn, huh?" she asked, reaching for a bottle of water to defend her throat against the dry desert air.
"Sure! Ah don't get many chances t'see mah family way out here," Apple Bloom said excitedly. "It'll be a good opportunity to study gynecology!"
Rainbow Dash choked on the water she was drinking. "What?!"
"Y'know, study mah family?"
Rainbow gave a relieved sigh. "Oh, you mean genealogy," she said. Fluttershy had said nothing, nor gave any indication she was even listening. Her gaze was fixated on a butterfly.
"Yeah, why what'd ah say?" Bloom asked.
Rainbow Dash turned red for a moment then quickly got over it. "Nothing. Never mind. Just go meet up with Braeburn, and don't go wandering off, understand?" She asked.
"Don't worry about us!" Sweetie Belle promised, and although that only made Rainbow Dash want to worry all the more, the two adult pegasi started heading down a road leading off to the west.
"We're totally gonna go wandering, aren't we?" Scootaloo asked.
"Of course," Bloom said.
The three young fillies trotted down the road leading through town, mesmerized by all the new and fantastical sights that a new location had to offer. They moved all the way through the small town and emerged on the other side. A grassy hill emerged upwards from the ground, the dirt trail that wound through town going up and over it. The girls followed it, and they had barely gotten to the top of it when Scootaloo pointed with her hoof.
"Look!" she exclaimed.
What appeared to be the remnants of an old abandoned town lay at the bottom of the hill on the other side, and the dirt road wound right through it. Sweetie Belle shifted uncomfortably.
"It's so empty," the unicorn said. "It's like... a ghost town."
"That must've been the old town b'fore they outgrew it and formed Appleoosa," Apple Bloom said. "Come on, let's check it out!" She raced down the hill with Scootaloo right behind her. Sweetie Belle held back for a few moments, not liking the look of the old city at all.
"It doesn't look safe..." Sweetie Belle said, but ran before she lost track of her friends, and quickly caught up.
The town was in fairly good condition, all of its buildings still standing, but faded with time. Most of the buildings where ponies had once shopped and conversed were now desolate and boarded up, forgotten and abandoned. A fountain in the middle of the town was dry and overgrown with moss and weeds. Scootaloo looked up at a large building which said NURSERY across the front, and squeezed herself into the open doorway. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle followed.
Inside, dust covered everything. Spiders had spun webs in most of the corners and across the ceiling. Cribs and small beds were placed in neat rows, mattresses in some of the beds, others nothing but bare springs. An abandoned rocking horse and a pile of blocks sat in the corner.
"Ah don't like this," Apple Bloom said. "We should go."
"Don't be a wimp, Bloom," Scootaloo said. "There's nobody here. It's just a few buildings. If there was someone in here, we'd have seen hoofprints in the dust."
Apple Bloom looked back at the door they'd entered through, and saw only three tracks leading in. Sweetie Belle gave the horse a cautious push, and it creaked back and forth.
"Ah suppose," she said.
Outside, through all of this, a pair of glittering green eyes were watching them through the dirty, dust covered window. They were set into a dark shape, which watched them for only a moment, then quickly disappeared.