//------------------------------//
// Chapter Six: An Apple A Day 
// Story: Known Gods 
// by Teeemu 
//------------------------------//

Onyx Night stumbled, ambled and tripped her way through the dark and haunting Everfree for much longer than she had anticipated. The slash on her flank had become more severe than she had thought possible since her entire leg was starting to feel numb and despondent. The blood had, by Celestia's grace, stopped flowing.  But she knew that she had lost more than was acceptable. The idea that the magical blade had some kind of long term effect was beginning to worry her.

But finally, Onyx had found her way to the edge of the forest. The open expanse and the small cobbled road leading over a hill was perhaps the most beautiful thing she had seen in her life. The journey through the Everfree may have only been a few hours, but it was perhaps the most harrowing experiencing in her life. Well, second most. Seeing her friends lying dead on the ground and being chased by those... who ever they were, through her research camp had left a permanent scar on her subconscious. Stop thinking about it...

She had only allowed herself a moment of pause before she forced herself to continue. Every breath she took burned in her throat due to her mouth being so dry. She was exhausted, dehydrated and, above everything else, on the verge of passing out. But she needed to drive the thoughts from her mind, she had to keep going. Just a little further.

The cobbled road was probably a bad idea for obvious reasons. The less she stayed on main roads the safer she would be. Or at least, that’s what she had hoped. Ponyville was probably a few more miles along that road, but there was a farm not so far away on the outskirts. It may be safer to simply head there rather than into the heart of town. At least until she had rested.

The climb up the hill had been rather arduous but Onyx persevered, ignoring the pain that refused to recede. Finally she had reached the summit, giving her a view of the small town in the distance. Ponyville's iconic tree house library was the first thing she had noticed. Then her eyes fell upon the rest of the town, the bubbling stream that flowed through it and the mountains that lay beyond. In any other circumstances, the view would have been quite breath taking if it weren't for the fact that she hadn't any breath left to give. She turned her head to the left, following the hilltops towards the edges of town and to what was unmistakably a barn, a silo, a small farmhouse and endless fields of apple trees. That had to be the farm, then.

She pushed on and down the hill, feeling her bad leg beginning to lag behind the rhythm of the other. But at least going down was less strenuous on her almost defeated body. Fifteen minutes passed on before she finally reached the gate to the farms courtyard. And of course, it was padlocked. Onyx rested her body against it, trying her hardest to regain her breath. Her eyes rose upwards, staring at the top of the gate that she knew she would have to climb. The gaps in-between the wooden bars were too slim for her to slip through but wide enough for her to get a steady grip with her hooves.

Resigned to her new task, she pulled herself back to her hooves and placed her forehoof on the bar, hoisting herself upwards so that she could get a better grip with her hind legs. This was going to suck, she knew it. 

Yip. Her bad leg could barely get a steady hoofing. She would have no other choice but to use her upper body strength to pull herself up and over. The joke of the century.

Onyx wrapped her forehooves over the highest bar she could reach and pulled with as much strength as she could sacrifice. She was lifting though, slowly but surely as she gnashed her teeth in agony. Her good leg was able to find a hoofing, her bad one left dangling, and she stopped pulling. Only for her to regain her breath for the umpteenth time this evening. Then, again, she reached for the top of the gate and pulled once more. Higher and higher until she could get a hoofing on another bar. 

Her head peeped over the gate and into the courtyard. Although she could see it from outside she had only now just noticed the distance the farmhouse was to the gate. It was at the other end of the courtyard, the lights were on and it seemed as if somepony was home.

"Help!" she wheezed, still clutching onto the gate. "S-somepony… h-help."

Her voice was nothing more than a dry and throaty whisper that burned worse than her breathing did. Nopony would be able to hear her from the front door let alone all the way back here.

With a painful sigh of frustration, Onyx gnashed her teeth once more and pulled again, lifting herself up and over the top of the gate. Yet in her eagerness to get over, she had completely forgotten to try and angle herself properly in order to climb over safely and fell right over the other side, landing on her back with a head splitting thud on the gravel path.

"Oomph!" she coughed painfully, grasping at her flank, looking around her and seeing a well nearby.  "Water…"

Her head began to throb violently as she tried in vain to get to her hooves. But it was no use. Onyx simply had no strength left to even walk, having expended it all on the gate. So, she crawled instead, dragging herself slowly towards the base of the well and reaching for the chain that held the bucket. Mercifully, it was resting on the side instead of in its depths. With a slight whinny, she tugged and heard water slosh as it teetered and fell towards her. The bucket landed with a splash inches from her head, showering her with water. The cool wetness of it soothed her as she quickly pulled the bucket closer and drank what little remained from it.

It was like fuel to her, giving her the strength to slowly lift herself up and lean against the well. Why had she lost so much energy so quickly? She turned her gaze to her wound, now covered with dried up blood mixed with dirt. She could barely even make out her cutiemark. She then turned her gaze to the house behind the barn. It had seemed her intrusion had done little to notify its inhabitants. She sighed and began to slowly limp her way towards it.

The house was only a hundred feet away but it may as well have been a hundred miles. Every step was taking its toll on her. The wound, the exhaustion and now the searing headache was just too much for her to bare.

Twenty feet. Her legs were starting to give way. Fifteen feet. She stumbled and fell to the floor once more. Ten feet. She was crawling again, reaching with her forehoof towards the wooden front door. She was now at the steps, her vision starting to blur as little stars were forming in the peripherals of her vision. Finally she could touch it and used all the strength she could muster to bang on it with her extended hoof.
The last thing Onyx Night heard was the sound of hurried and confused voices as her hoof dropped limply to the floor. Her over worked and abused body had finally given way to unconsciousness.


***


Ponykind lived in an illusion. The fairy tale that they had lived in for so long had become more of a parody of their existence than the utopia envisioned by the Princesses. They had delivered ponykind from the tyranny of chaos and evil, the darkness that was the rule of both Sombra and Discord, yet they had allowed the illusions of their grandeur to stagnate. Truth had become mere legend, legend had become a myth, and the myth had faded into obscurity.

Now that the truth had manifested itself once more, it was time for ponykind to step up and take control of their own destinies. Forsake the quasi mystic ideals of the princesses, their rule being obsolete, and embrace truth, openness and transparency. At least, this was what Deputy Director Satin Grey believed.

Satin Grey was an earth pony, yet she had risen to a station of power far beyond that which those of her race would have been accustomed to. Earth ponies had always borne the stigma of their non magical place in society. Leadership had often passed them by in favor for a unicorn or a pegasus. However, despite such norms, Satin Grey had pushed herself to excel and after decades of working as nothing but an analyst in pony intelligence, she had finally earned the station of deputy. Yet even though she was where she was today, she still harbored disdain for only ever being able to achieve such a rank in her twilight years.

Satin Grey could be described as a fine wine; mature, yet one could still appreciate her flavor. Despite her age, Satin still had remarkably good looks. She had a soft grey coat, a long lavender shaded mane which curled elegantly at its ends and brilliant blue eyes adorned by a pair of silver horn-rimmed glasses.

Yet today she seemed rather frizzled. The Director had been extremely out of character for the past few days and she knew exactly why. The secret meeting with the Princess had seemed to have left him unhinged. Perhaps it had something to do with that codex he thought he had kept under lock and key. That very same codex that Satin had stolen and made a copy of when she realized that her own boss was keeping unnecessary secrets from her and the agency. Twice she had called meetings with him to discuss situations of odd sightings, of a black alicorn and twice he had blown her off. Yet today he had no excuse, Satin needed answers.

She rounded down the hallway and towards the double oak doors that stood shut at the end, Black Hooves' secretary already standing up to greet her.

"The Director asked not to be disturbed today, ma'am-..."

"Sit down, Dahlia," Satin cut across her in a sweet high pitched voice. "This is important."

Without even waiting for the secretary to respond, Satin pushed the doors open and trotted into his office. Black Hooves was seated at his desk with his head in his hooves, only barely registering Satin's abrupt arrival. She regarded him for a moment before shutting the doors behind her.

"Rough day?" she asked, smiling and trotting closer to his desk.

Black Hooves sighed and sat himself up. "Most of my employees make appointments."

"I'm not most of your employees," she retorted. "Besides, I've done multiple times this week. Too busy to enlighten me on this whole Princess affair?"

Black Hooves sighed heavily. "Do I even want to ask how you knew about all that?"

"Really, Black hooves?" she chided. "This is a spy agency. Of course I knew what was going. Sittings of a mythical beast roaming around Canterlot, the destruction of that Changeling hive five years ago that was simply swept under the rug, and of course, the princesses. Both of whom not nearly who they claim to be. All those lies that feed their legend."

Black Hooves merely shrugged at this. All it seemed to do was infuriate her more. She gazed out the window towards the skyline of Fillydelphia, trying to piece together how she would get him to see her line of thinking.

"You went to see Celestia about all this, didn't you?" she asked, gazing over the top of her glasses.

"I did," he responded tersely.

"Well?" she demanded. "What exactly did she say?"

"It doesn't matter what she said," he replied. "It's all being redacted as we speak. The files, that damned codex and whatever else we know that may harm the monarchy."

Satin blinked in shock. "Redacted? You're just going to wipe away the truth and replace it with-"

Black Hooves huffed and lifted a hoof angrily to silence her. "What exactly are you, Satin?" he asked with a raised voice. "The deputy director of Pony Intelligence or some kind of warped freedom fighter? It doesn't matter whether or not the princesses are who they claim to be. What matters is our ability to maintain and protect national security. What exactly do you think will happen to this realm if what I know ends up being leaked to society? Do you suppose there is better leadership than theirs? Even if they aren't the immortal deities they claim to be, even if the sun or the moon doesn't require them to raise them every day, they are our governing bodies and that is how it should remain."

Satin shook her head. "They're not what's good for this realm, sir. We need change, our lives are ruled by stagnation and what may as well be religious oppression."

"Just stop," he said coldly, rising from his chair. "Whatever opinion you may have on the monarchy, just sit on it. I realise you have a very... secular view on things. But this isn't the time or place for it. What we need is stability, not the chaos that would ensue if the public lost faith in the very monarchy that has protected them for so long."

Satin shut her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Fine. I'll keep my opinions to myself."

"Good," Black hooves said, sitting back down and pointing towards the door. "If there's nothing else?"

Satin Grey forced a smile and backed towards the door. She paused just before placing a hoof on the knob, turning her head to the side and glancing at him through the corner of her eye before pushing it open and trotting back out into the hallway. She ignored the look Dahlia had given her as she strolled by and back towards her own office, she had never liked the little whorse anyway.

She had expected no less of the director, stuck in his ways and trying to preserve something that was all just fantasy. The director had forgotten where his true loyalties lay. Not to a monarchy, but to a nation.

She rounded a bend in the hallway and headed towards a corner office positioned at the far end of a lavishly decorated atrium. All the heads of intelligence directorates had their offices here. Their secretaries, all typing away, sat at desks outside their doors in the open view of an indoor pond that was built in the middle of the atrium. The pond's centrepiece was a massive bronze statue of Celestia that stood over twenty feet high. She stood on all fours with her head bowed low, looking down with a watchful eye over the mares and stallions that ran government from behind the scenes. The ceiling had been comprised entirely of glass, allowing the sun to shine down into the room and cast an almost divine light upon the bronze statue below.

Satin passed the statue without a sideways glance. She knew it was meant to signify Celestia's benevolence and supposed approval. Yet to her, it only served as a constant reminder of how the monarchy's influence had spread to every facet of Equestrian society. It was almost as if any independent thought was frowned upon.

Satin had hoped to ask her own secretary about any new meetings she may have had to attend, but it had seemed the silly mare had gone off for yet another smoke break. With a sigh, she passed the desk and strolled into her office. Music began to play softly as she entered. The calming ambience of the classical piece she always loved had seen her through many a stressful day.

She had almost reached her desk before a deep voice from behind caused her to almost jump out of her skin. "Good morning, Ma'am."

"Shit!" she hissed, spinning on the spot to face a shadowy figure in the corner of her office. "Agent Chestnut, are you trying to send me into cardiac arrest?"

"My apologies, ma'am," said the agent, stepping forward whilst levitating a half eaten juicy red apple. "I did not intend to frighten you."

Satin shook her head. "You spooks seem to have an aversion to front door policy." She paused, eyeing him out before pressing a button on her desk that darkened the windows and locked the door. "I trust... that everything went as planned."

"Indeed," he replied, taking a bite from the apple.

"Then did you retrieve the bracelet?"

"It is being transferred to a secure location as we speak," he said whilst swallowing. "I have to, of course, inform you that we did sustain a few casualties."

"How so?" she asked, turning to her chair and taking a seat.

"One of the researchers got away, somehow killing two agents in the process," he replied. "But we have it under control."

Satin shrugged with disinterest. "At the pace we're moving at and the grand scope of our operation, witnesses will be the least of our concern. This whole thing will be out in the open by the end of the week."

"Well, ma'am, I'm only telling you because our witness has unwittingly taken refuge with one of the targets."

"One of the Bearers?" She looked up at him. "Two birds with one stone then."

"That's what I was thinking too," he said, tossing the core of his apple into a waste bin. "Once we move on the Protectors, we'll take care of her and both Ponyville Bearers all in one swoop."

"This reminds me, agent chestnut," said Satin. "One of Black Hooves' Protectors is currently looking after a changeling in Canterlot by the name of Misty Veil. It seems the director’s initial plan to draw out this... entity... has failed."

"I assume this was the survivor of the attack?" Chestnut queried.

"The same one. This presents an opportunity for us. We murder the Protector outright and pin it on the changeling. That way we don't have to worry about cleanup... The 'murder' will also create a tidy little public outcry against their race on the side, masking our own activities long enough to ensure everything goes to plan. Everypony will be too busy focusing on that to notice our own activities." Satin smiled at him.

"I would advise the same had I not known that her and her former lover, agent Hat Trick, were around each other again." Chestnut replied. "Two protectors in close proximity may prove... problematic."

"All the more reason to deal with them then," she said with a girly simper, peering over the tip of her glasses, her smile widening. "The sooner these Protectors are dealt with the sooner we can contain the Bearers. But as I said before, it needs to happen all in one strike. The last thing we want is for them to alert one another of any possible assassinations. We want then cleanly disposed of, minus Firefly and her lover. That I want on the front pages."

Chestnut nodded and began to walk closer to her desk. "ma'am, there is one other issue."

"The director," she responded, mirroring his thoughts. "Nothing can happen until he is out of the picture."

"I suppose he stands in defense of the monarchy."

Satin bit her lip and twisted her chair around to gaze out the window. "I had hoped he would see reason, concede to the truth once he had learned of it. Instead, he backed away like a whipped dog the moment he stumbled upon an opportunity to rectify the wrongs of our nation."

"Did he tell you what was said between himself and the princess?" inquired Chestnut.

Satin shook her head. "He chose not to enlighten me on their little chat."

"Well ma'am, I doubt he may ever see the light."

"And what makes you say that, dear Chestnut," she replied, turning back to face him.

Chestnut's horn began to glow as he levitated a small piece of parchment from his overcoat and laid it out in front of her. "Returned mail from the Canterlot palace," Chestnut began. "The envelope it came in was sealed by the office of the director and sent to the princess Celestia herself."

Satin opened up the folded piece of parchment and read the words over quickly before laying it back down with a sigh and pulling her glasses off her muzzle. "Well this is not entirely a shock."

"Written in the directors own quill, ma'am," he added. "It's safe to say he will always defend Celestia."

"How did you intercept this?"

"The message is about a year old," said Chestnut. "I found it among the director's files when I exhumed that codex of his from the bottom of his drawer."

Satin eyed the piece of parchment with a grimly satisfied look on her face, a slight hint of lavender wafting up from its surface. "The real reason why our supposedly impartial director refuses to bend."

"We have no choice, ma'am, he needs to go."

Satin nodded, gazing back upon the words that adorned the parchment.

You flee from me, yet some time had I sought you. With naked hoof, stalking in my chamber, thanks be to fortune that it has been otherwise, twenty times better. But once, something special, in never ending rays of light, you were my guise, my fate, my beautiful sight. When your loose crown, from your mane did fall, you had caught me in your hooves, long and small. There with all, sweetly did we kiss, and softly said, dear heart, how like you this? It was no dream, I lay broad and waking. But all is turned through my gentleness, into a strange fashion of forsaking. And I have leave to go of her goodness. But since that I, so kindly have served… I’d like to know, what she has deserved.


***


It was the glare that brought Onyx Night back to the real world. The sun had begun to set, its rays shining through the window onto her bed and slowly beaming upwards towards her eyes. The brightness of it began to flood her vision, burning her eyes and making them tear up slightly. She gagged at a funny taste in her mouth and spluttered as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. 

She was in a small bedroom decorated with a few posters here and there of what seemed to be a country band she had never heard of. She twisted her head to the side and her gaze fell upon wardrobe with small pictures of three young fillies pinned on it. It seemed that Onyx had somehow found her way into a kid’s bedroom.

Then the memories began to resurface, the screams, the blood, her aching leg. She instinctively dropped a hoof between the sheets and felt the side of her flank. It was heavily bandaged. She felt sweaty and grungy, her mane tangled and swept across her face. Cringing at the sharp pain that coursed through her flank, she tried to lift herself up to a sitting position. 

"Oh goodness..." said a voice from the doorway, causing Onyx to jump slightly in fear.

A young filly no older than fourteen or fifteen had poked her head through the door. She had a pale yellow coat and a red mane with a cute pink bow tied behind it. Her large orange eyes staring at Onyx with slight shock before she started backing out of the doorway.

"Ermm... AJ," she called behind her, now out of view from Onyx. "Ah think she's awake!"

Onyx remained dead still. The last time she had any contact with a pony they had tried to kill her. For some unknown reason, it had seem like a lifetime ago. Ever since then, she had felt incredibly alone and scared, not sure who to trust or who she could turn to. Yet these ponies had seemed to have taken her in and looked after, whoever they were. Onyx could barely even remember how she got here. The escape from the ruins, the trek through the Everfree and whatever transpired after that seemed like nothing but a giant blur of pain and fear.

She could hear slight whispering from outside her door before yet another pony poked her heading in through the door. She was older than the filly, her mane a golden blonde colour and tied into a neat and pretty knot that hung to the side of her slender neck. She was either the filly’s mother or sister, Onyx couldn't tell.

"Howdy," she said with a smile. The hint of a southern twang in her voice. "Ya finally decide on joinin' us in the real world?"

Onyx merely stared at her, unable to find the words to say in such an awkward situation. The southern earth pony in front of her simply smiled.

"Not much of a talker are ya?" she said, stepping closer. "Maybe Ah should tell you my name?  Y'all can call me Applejack, and that young filly hiding behind the door is mah sister, Apple Bloom. She was the one that found you."

"F-found me?" Onyx stammered through a croaky voice, causing her to cough slightly.

"Easy..." Applejack cooed, stepping to the side of the bed and placing a hoof on Onyx's forehead. "Yeah, outside our doorstep. All banged up and bloody, you nearly scared the hell outta us.” She turned her head to the doorway. “Apple Bloom, get yer rump in here. She ain't gonna bite."

"Yeah, sis..." moaned the young filly as she slid in from the doorway. She moved quietly behind her sister and stood there awkwardly, as if trying to remain invisible.

Applejack turned back to Onyx, rolling her eyes. “Teenagers…” she whispered out of earshot of Apple Bloom. “Now then… Ya know our names. What’s yers?”

“Onyx Night,” she replied slowly. The act of remembering her own naming seemed to aggravate the headache looming somewhere in the back of her skull. 

“Well then, Onyx Night,” Applejack began. “Ah don’t wanna pry or nothin’, but maybe y’all might wanna tell us what caused you to end up all beaten and sliced up on our front door.”

Onyx closed her eyes and tried to think of something, anything that might seem like a reasonably well made up explanation for the pony that had saved her life. Telling Applejack about the massacre in the forest among her younger sibling seemed like a bad idea.

“It was… timberwolves,” Onyx lied. “I’m a field researcher and I was out doing tests on plant life and such… They just came out of nowhere. I ran for my life and ended up here… I guess you could say I was just lucky.”

“Apple Bloom, could ya go grab some more of those bandages from the kitchen?” Applejack asked, smiling genuinely at Onyx.

“But Ah…” Apple Bloom argued.

“Please, Apple Bloom. Our guest needs a changin’.”

“Oh, fine.” The grumpy teen huffed and trotted out of the room.

“Timberwolves, huh?” she questioned, slowly lowering the sheets to reveal Onyx’s bandaged flank. “Ya don’t mind if Ah change it do ya? Kind of a private area an’ all…”

Onyx shook her head. “Not at all… You've been taking care of me so far… I owe you.”

Applejack smiled again and slowly began to remove the old bandage from her flank and upper leg. “I reckon y’all didn’t wanna say anything in front of mah sis in case it would scare her.”

“Sorry?”

“Because I ain't never heard of no timberwolf doin’ this to anypony,” she continued, removing the bandage and revealing the foul looking cut.

Onyx bit her lip, silently looking into Applejack’s concerned eyes. There was no real way of explaining the horrors that occurred without scaring the living daylights out of an innocent pony only wishing to help her.

“Ah only ask,” Applejack continued, reading the look on her face. “Because the last thing Ah wanna do is bring unnecessary harm to mah family by aidin’ somepony who might be involved in somethin’ dangerous.”

“What do you mean?” Onyx asked at once, although not altogether in disagreement with her. Now that she had come to think of it, what if she had somehow been followed by one of those psychos and put this family in danger?

“Ah mean,” she began, leaning closer. “That this here cut was caused by magic. Somepony attacked ya and y’all already lied to me about it.”

“I didn’t want to scare you, you've done so much for me already.”

“It’s okay,” Applejack replied, now cleaning the wound. “You were a bloody mess when we found ya on our porch. Ya needed our help, and Ah ain't one to turn some poor pony away. Ah only ask that y’all be honest about anythin’ that might put us in danger.”

Onyx sighed, she had barely even considered the next step. Where was she going to go? What exactly was her plan to counter a bunch of spooks who had murdered her entire team? She needed an ally, she needed to tell somepony in authority about what had happened. She had to trust somepony.

“Are y’all on the run or somethin’?” Applejack asked, breaking the silence. 

“Yes,” Onyx replied truthfully. “From ponies who murdered my entire team of researchers.”

Applejack’s eyes widened in shock. “Say what now?”

Onyx stared sadly back at her, her eyes beginning to water. If there was ever a moment to bare her soul out to somepony, now was the time.