Applejack stared at her desk, her eyes only blinking when they needed to. She shook her head every once in awhile in disbelief. Johnny hopped onto the dusty porch and rapped on the screen door. She hollered “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Miss Jack, there’s tracks.” His two big teeth exposed in the arid air.
Her ears perked and she stood. Her head started to swim from sitting up too fast. She tread over to the screen door and pushed it open, the thing creaking. Johnny hopped off the porch in his jean get up and ran. She followed him across the dusty runway to the edge of the camp. Little scrubby brush clung to the sand for its existence. Applejack crouched low to ground next to some marks.
There in the dry sediment, was a three-meter, three-pronged footprint. Coarse black fragments of wood pounded in along with the track. Applejack heard the other campers start to approach, footsteps and hoofsteps. She trotted to the next track, which was more than several feet away from the last. Then at the same distance apart was another footprint.
Johnny asked “Why are they so far apart?”
She turned to him, to his side was the female cyborg kid that had arrived the day prior. Applejack answered “Could be a hopper.”
“A hopper?”
“On this earth, there’s certain types of animals, this type is roughly classified as a hopper. Well, that’s what I call ‘em. They use their legs to shoot across the desert in big jumps, makes it easy to scale rocks.” She pointed with her hoof to the orange stony cliffs above.
“Are we going to kill it?” The cyborg asked.
“No, Jessie.” Applejack picked her hooves up and strode back to the runway. “We have to wait for the new counselors.” Her words choke in her throat as she said them. She jogged over to her office cabin, the rest of the camp followed, excluding Sandshell.
Joseph pushed to the front, with his buzz cut, suede jacket, and ten gallon hat. “You can’t just leave us out here.”
Applejack had only a hoof on the porch, so she rested her heavy head on a wooden support. “It’s just for a minute, ok?”
“If there’s something dangerous out there, we need to stop it, before it gets us.”
She snapped “If you want to go hunting, do it.” Her face contorted into a jagged frown.
The kids were deadly quiet, all staring at their counselor. “Sorry, we just need to wait for few more hours for reinforcements.” She carried herself into the office and picked up her sunglasses, sheltering her eyes from the brutal sun.
Sandshell laid in her bunk, despairing. She had beat the wood of the wall for a few hours then got weary, cried till she napped, and awoke at dawn. Applejack bugging at her side. Applejack was much more silent than the five mornings before. It was not obvious to a groggy Sandshell, but thinking back, of course she was that way.
But where is dada? That’s what she asked herself every spare moment of the day. Tears always escaping her weighted eyes. Why did she have to kill him? And why was everybody treating her like a foal? Why did she get so angry when she thought about anything? Sandshell punched the wooden board to no effect.
Sandshell heard something and forced her sobs to stop. The cabin door pushed open and the servos clicked, bring her near the end of the bunk “Why are you up there?” The voice asked like it had been filtered through a bit crusher.
Sandshell leaned up and looked at the black haired cyborg with contempt. “I’m sad. Do you even feel anything?”
Jessie vaulted the bunk post and landed on top with Sandshell “Often.” She crawled close to the weak mare and breathed hard.
Sandshell curled up into herself. “Leave me alone.” She squeezed her eyes tight, tears falling out the sides.
“It’ll never be easy, just let it out and be done with it.” The cyborg sneered.
“Go away!” She yelled.
Jessie mouthed “O.K” sarcastically and hopped off. She pushed out the cabin door and watched the horizon. She caught a hatted boy’s silhouette and jogged to it. Her feet were silent when she wanted them to be, she snuck to his right, quiet as could be.
He murmured “Hear you.”
Jessie raspberried and assumed a position next to him. They both watched the golden ball of fire. A few gloomy rock formations pierced the bottom of the shining sphere. Eventually, Joseph had to cover his eyes, Jessie would never have to. She turned her head and watched his pained expression. “Do you want to go hunting?”
He turned with a new light in his eyes “Yeah.”
She smashed the padlock open, the shackle popping a few hundred meters above them. She tossed the lock over her shoulder and open the door for Joseph to get in. She stayed on watch out, peeking in the direction of Applejack’s cabin.
A minute later, he thrust the bolt rifle out the door. Jessie’s grinned and grabbed up the old gun. It was a long rust colored rifle without a magazine, just a simple bolt. She asked quizzically “How do we load this thing?” looking at the hatted boy.
He put a finger up and bent down, picking up the lock they had just busted, he opened the bolt and dropped the rusty padlock into the receiver. He put the bolt back into place, a light on the side went red, but after the gun buzzed electronically, it became green. “It’s good at recycling.”
Her eyes went wide and sprinted inhumanly fast out into the expanse of shrubs and sandy rock. Something dawned on Joseph, where was Fabio?
He followed Jessie passively knowing she will come back to him for some reason, and lo and behold; she returned with a mass of rusty cans in a single one of her hands. She smiled and asked him “Will these work?”
He laughed and nodded.
She opened up her backpack and tossed out her school manuals out. Her backpack was black and held home for dozens of pins, all some obscure rock act of some sort, but there was one that stuck out, Give Anarchy A Chance. Joseph asked, “What is that one about?”
She looked up with a dirty can lodged in between her plastic lips. “Hmmm?”
He crouched and touched the specific one. She spat the can into the pack and exclaimed “It’s the best band ever!”
“Everytime I ask you about one of these things, you same that same mantra.”
“Well, this time it’s true.” She put on a serious face. “It’s a very, very, very, very old band, ancient.”
He put up his hand as to convey, that’s enough. “Alright, I think we need to find Fabio.”
“Fab- oh right. Ok.” She threw the backpack over her shoulder “You lead.”
Joseph nodded and walked like a ranger on patrol across the flat rocky terrain. Jessie imitated him, but he ignored her. He knew he looked cool. He knew where Fabio might be, but he was never certain about that kid.
There was a thick outcrop of trees that made a small oasis forrest. Pine needles adorned fat green trees, the two had to climb over the roots as they traversed the untamed path. The one piece of water on the whole camp. A gleaming pond that perfectly reflected the blue sky. Little four-eyed water snakes hugged the water’s edge. When right next to the pond it was clear to see through. You could spot the tough fish that idled in the center of the water, long tendrils reached out prodding the bottom.
On the opposite end of the water from them, was the stallion they were looking for. Joseph sighed and hopped over the tall rocks and ducked under some to reach him. Jessie was quiet, watching the tree line suspiciously.
Fabio noticed and met them halfway, the stallion sported a brown coat and a black mane, he was mostly quiet, except when he wasn’t “Hey, bitches,” He weaved under a root and looked at Joseph.
“Hey.” Joseph spoke nervously.
“What’d you come down here to tell me?”
Jessie had her eyes trained on the brush on the elevation above them. Joseph spoke up. “There’s some creature around camp.”
“Oh man.”
There was a silence shared from the recent day’s ‘events’. Something croaked in the bushes above them. Joseph spun on his heel with the gun trained on the greenery. Jessie was already aiming. He side eyed her and asked her “Do you-” He felt it impact, warm and slimey on the side of his head before finishing that sentence. His skin burned and screamed to his brain. He fell into the wheels again, mashing around his fleshy skeleton.
In the real world…
Applejack blew a drag and let it hang around the air. She sighed and the smoke escaped her nostrils. Applejack opened a desk drawer with her hooves. Inside lay a trove of mini-disks, truly they weren’t much of anything for size, they could fit on your thumb with no trouble and were rectangular. She picked up a small case labeled; George Autie
She opened up the mirror sized computer on her wooden desk and slid the little disk in. After a minute of navigating menus, she found the right one. It turned on, and a perfect image of an imperfect old man. Wrinkles creased his sweaty brow, dark grayish mustache that did not fit well under his nose, two pool-like blue eyes. He looked from side to side in his position, the background was a brown wooden wall. He spoke “Can ya repeat the question?
“You were demanded by marine health regulations to decontaminate every marine that stepped onto the planet, why did you fail to do so?” The speaker coughed.
The man sitting, bit his lip, very subtly. “That would be much too slow, they wanted me to take that earth, and I had to do it.”
“Are you saying that these regulations don’t apply to yourself?”
“No, they don’t. We did good work and we got the job done.”
“I think it's obvious to see that these betrayals to regulation have caused irreparable damage to the native population. I think the judge will rule in our favor in a moment.”
“I did it for this planet, I gave them something the colonies would have never had, and now I am being thrown in jail?” His face turned bright red.
The speaker from before started again “Here’s an account of you doing it for this planet, ‘He walked into a house smelling of death and-” Applejack pressed a button on the mini-screen. She sighed and leaned back in the chair.
Her eyes grew heavy, but the thoughts infested her mind again. Why? Her eyes teared immediately. The liquid darkening her orange coat to drab gray, reach her neck it felt cool. She sniffed twice. More tears came out of nowhere, she opened her eyes and they were blurry with them. She reached over to a rag and rubbed the tears out of her eyes. But they would not stop. She just could not understand why.
The engines pierced the normally silent camp runway. Applejack felt compelled to wipe away the tears, but neglected to. She walked towards her cabin’s door slowly, she could hear the jet blowing the dust into the air, Johnny was setting on the porch, covering his eyes to escape the swirling sediment. Applejack waited behind the screen door and whistled over to Johnny. Johnny picked himself up and retreated inside with her. He noticed his counselor choking up still, but she tempered herself before the dust settled.
The slim black jet halted a few meters away from the building. Applejack trotted through the door and peered from the porch. The jet had no obvious exit, but it revealed itself by unfolding from the pitch black hull. The black stairs arched down and AJ galloped over.
Plonka rubbed her head as she stepped down. Golden Stallion emphatically marched down the stairs. He saluted to the flight attendant at the top of the ramp, then marched past Plonka to AJ. His velvet colonel’s jacket jingling and jangling. He walked up to the orange mare and just about winded up some sort of gimmicky line, but he stopped. He noticed her dark cheeks, her austere frown, the still tear stricken cheeks. He planted a previously eager hoof into the runway “Mornin’ Miss.”
“Mornin’ to you too, Golden Stallion.”
“I like Mr. Stallion better.”
“Alright…”
Plonka stepped forward and shook hooves with Applejack “Miss Jack? I’m sorry to hear about your loss.”
Applejack nodded weakly and spoke “It’s fine, was it Plonka?”
“Yeah, I don’t really like it, but I’m not picky.”
“Me either. Now your paper was very vague, what exactly is your specialty?”
She spoke eagerly “I have some experience with powers of the supernatural type, and physical manifestations of psychoactive disturbance.”
“Alright, I’ll gather up the kids. You could wait or come with me to gather ‘em.”
The Golden Stallion started “I think I’ll-”
Plonka intercepted the stallion “We’ll be happy to meet the kids.” The Golden Stallion quirked a brow.
They trotted in the direction of the cabins, he stared at Plonka “What in Celestia’s Galactic Majesty?”
Plonka didn’t even side eye the Stallion. Mind on a diamond’s edge.
AJ pushed through the girl’s cabin door. The room empty, except the cowering Sandshell. AJ leaned on the board next to Sandshell’s muzzle. AJ spoke softly “Hun, where are the rest of the campers? The new counselors just arrived.”
Sandshell shriveled out of their sight. “They left, well… I know Jessie did.”
Applejack nodded, dismounted the board, and whispered something to Plonka. After, the Golden Stallion and AJ left. Sandshell glanced around her bunk, knowing that the third one was still in the room. Sandshell slowly peeked over the bed, down. Plonka caught her eyes, but she did not have that urge to shy away. “Hey,” Plonka waved with her light hoof. “Do you want to talk?”
Sandshell avoided eye contact and squeaked out “About what?”
“Your head.” She leaned on the bed.
“Sure…” Sandshell welcomed Plonka onto the bed.
Plonka lifted herself up and floated her briefcase to the bare back wall. She opened it up, and two glowing wired nodes spilled out. They glowed blue and shined. Sandshell tensed up and her eyes didn’t move. Plonka spoke up “What’s the matter?”
She shook her head and bit her lip. Plonka hesitantly attached the two nodes to each side of her head. There in the case was a display screen showing green steady wave patterns. Next to it were a few needles full of some drug. “Now, I want you to listen to my voice,” She brought her two hooves together, clapping them loudly. “And say the words with me,”
Sandshell nodded.
Plonka spoke softly. “Kings are under the sand, constantly swirling around each other, trying to steal the same gold, what is the first card in the suite? Kings don’t like the answer.” She looked to Sandshell.
“That would be an ace.”
“Kings would like to be their own ace, yet they cannot face the task of being lonely.”
Sandshell started to feel sleepy, and she wavered visibly.
“Now, Sandshell, look at this.” Plonka raised a chess piece, a red king. Then she brought an ace of spades up to it.
Sandshell flinched and the card turned to hot ash. “What the? How’d I do that?” She forced her spine against the pale wood behind her.
“You’re capable of serious pyrokinesis. You being able to use it so well already is insane.”
Sandshell’s ears pinned to her head. “I don’t want to do anymore.”
“Alright, could we try a bit more tomorrow?”
Sandshell took a few moments to think about it. “Sure.”
`
There was calling from the woods “AJ! AJ!” Applejack galloped across the hot gravel into the forested oasis, the Stallion following at a trot behind her. She hopped a log and skidded to a stop at the lakeside. The sun gleamed off the water, but she could hear heavy breathing next to her. Jessie inhaled and exhaled, her mouth expanding a little too much. Her legs were inundated with red viscera. She fixed her fake breathing and called to AJ “It killed Joseph, the hopper.”
“Where is he?”
She pointed over the water, across where the partially dissolved and mangled corpse lay. The mare almost hurled, but she kept it in. The Stallion was losing his lunch in the bushes. Applejack asked, “Where’s Fabulous?”
“He ran away.”
“I can find him.” The Golden Stallion wiped his bottom lip.
“Let’s get you back to the cabin, Jess.” Applejack provided a pillar for Jessie. The Stallion stood there, clueless. “Get to lookin’.” AJ called at him.
He flinched at the sudden command. The Stallion hopped into the air and threaded through the thick canopy. He floated over the oasis and looked around the surrounding desert. Long stretches of white plains.
Sun hit down on the tall rock formation to the north. There he spotted a color out of place. A black mane. The Stallion flew over, the winds blowing his cheeks. He landed on the hill and called to the colt “Hey! Come back.”
Fabulous turned and looked at the costumed stallion. “Who are you?”
“I’m a new counselor.”
Fabulous trotted down the hillside, nearly tumbling.
“Hey kid, keep it cool.”
The colt looked up to the well-dressed stallion. “Hey, you cool.”
“Heh, sure kid. Let’s get you back.” The Stallion crouched.
“You want me to get on?”
“Yessir.”
They flew back to the camp.