Two Weeks
Applejack awoke with a start. Her head shot up from the solid stone floor and she glanced around rapidly, blinking her eyes to clear the sleep from them. As her vision unblurred, her surroundings came into focus, and Applejack realized where she was.
The cave, of course. Memories of the previous two days rose to the top of her sleep-addled mind. Finally leaving the island behind her as she set out for open seas, being stopped and overtaken by a storm, waking up among wreckage and destruction—
Applejack shook her head. There were some memories she could do without. After all, there was always a silver lining. Her personal silver lining came in the form of the single best discovery she'd made during her time on the island: the map.
As she continued to slowly wake up, Applejack released a yawn and rubbed at her temples. Just when had she fallen asleep, anyway? She glanced downwards and spotted the map of the island spread out on the cave floor before her.
Oh, right. The very last memory she had of the day before was of opening the map and practically drooling at all the possibilities for discovery it opened up. After that, she must've promptly passed out. As much as Applejack would've loved to have stayed up investigating until the sun rose, her battered and exhausted body and mind simply hadn't been up for an all-nighter.
Her sigh echoed through the empty cave as Applejack rolled the map and placed it back in her saddlebags. Now that it was morning, she really had to get a move on back towards her camp. The map would have to wait a little while longer. As much as that irked her, Applejack figured that she'd gone without it thusfar. She could handle just a bit more waiting.
With that thought in mind, Applejack pushed up to her hooves, ready to start the day. Her joints were stiff, and her head ached with the motion, but Applejack was smiling. She hefted on her saddlebags and fastened them tight, then strapped her knife in place. Finally, she hung the locket and canteen around her neck.
With one quick pat to make sure her hat hadn't fallen off in her sleep, she was ready to go. Her stomach grumbled slightly as Applejack trotted outside and down the hill in the golden light of morning. It wasn't quite a hunger pang, but it wasn't a pleasant sensation. Applejack's mouth formed a straight line as she thought of all the food she'd meticulously collected for her ill-fated voyage. All of it splattered across the beach or sunk at the bottom of the sea. All of it wasted.
Sure, she could collect more. In fact, she had more back at her campsite for just this reason. Still, seeing such an amount of food go to waste made Applejack cringe. Her family was far from poverty-stricken, in fact they were practically well-off compared to a lot of ponies in the world, but Applejack had always been raised with an extremely frugal attitude. Wasting food simply wasn't done. They would eat every last bite because farmwork required the energy, and if there were any leftovers, they would eat those for lunch the next day. Sweet Apple Acres had always existed on something of a fixed budget. The concept of actually throwing food out without eating it was practically foreign to Applejack, and seeing a supply she'd worked hard to gather be destroyed like that…
Trees passed by on either side of her as Applejack marched along a path she knew by heart. She sighed. There was no sense dwelling on it, of course. The food was gone, and she'd need to gather more. That was the simple fact of the matter, and accepting it was the only way towards progress. At her core, Applejack was a practical pony. Worrying and whining about things she'd lost would only detract from her efforts.
Of course, it was never really that simple. Applejack could push the bad memories to the back of her head and focus on her forward momentum, but they'd linger there, festering. It was only ever a matter of time before she was reminded of her loss, and it was worse every time. Even before she'd woken up on the island and added greatly to her list of bad memories, she'd been haunted by things she'd give anything to forget. Applejack noticed that one forehoof had unconsciously risen to clutch at the hat atop her mane.
Crack!
"Whoa nelly!" Applejack shouted in alarm as her one walking forehoof caught on a root. She stumbled forward for barely half a step before face-planting into the forest floor.
For a moment, she just lay there. Her head hurt, her limbs hurt, her stomach hurt. Applejack hurt. She wished that she could just go to sleep, or better yet, that she could wake up. When it became apparent that neither were forthcoming, she let out a low groan and slowly raised her face from the dirt.
She spat a few leaves out of the corner of her muzzle, then rubbed the dirt out of her eyes. Her hat had tumbled off and landed in front of her, and Applejack quickly snatched it up and returned it to its rightful place. She then stood up, slowly and stiffly, and gained her bearings.
Despite being lost in thought, she had at least managed to follow the correct path. She set to trotting along once more, continuing in the direction of her camp.
That was exactly what happened when she let herself get lost in the past. She ended up face-first in the dirt. Once more, Applejack threw all her bad experiences into the recesses of her mind and focused purely on the present.
She silently resolved to hire a therapist when she got back home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It wasn't long before Applejack found herself emerging into a familiar riverside clearing. She sighed in relief upon seeing her tiny little lean-to still standing strong. The storm that had destroyed her raft hadn't managed to level her sleeping quarters. Small victories.
Even with all the stress, pain, and emotional strain she'd been under recently, Applejack couldn't deny a sort of satisfaction in returning to her de facto home away from home.
It wasn't quite the same feeling she felt returning to the farm after a day at the market. It lacked a certain… warmth. No matter how many nights she spent sitting beside the fire pit or sleeping in the lean-to, the place would never truly feel like home. What she felt as her campsite came into view was barely a shadow of the fullness that her farm brought her. It was a single, dim spark floating in the middle of her chest; nothing at all compared to the warm blaze of her true home… but still something to cling to.
Applejack stood there at the edge of the clearing, clinging desperately to that spark of feeling. She closed her eyes and soaked up every last bit of strength she could from it. It wasn't much, but when Applejack opened her eyes again, she felt herself relaxing a bit. If nothing else, she could feel safe there.
Wasting no more time, Applejack trotted over to her lean-to and removed her saddlebags. She set them on the ground and unpacked their contents. The old, mysterious book went back into her stack of supplies, and the rubber chicken she set down against the large boulder.
That was it. Of everything she'd brought with her, those two objects, along with what she was wearing, were all that remained. Applejack sighed.
Next, she checked just how much food she had stocked. It wasn't a whole lot, some coconuts and wildflowers. Of course she'd brought all of her tomatoes and blueberries with her. Still, there was enough in her supply for a couple of days.
A surprisingly loud rumbling noise echoed across the clearing, accompanied by a sharp pain in Applejack's midsection. She still had things to do, but damnit she was hungry. Applejack immediately grabbed a fresh coconut from the pile and set to peeling it with her knife. Once the green rind was removed, she smacked the thing hard against a jagged bit of the boulder that made up one wall of her shelter. She made short work of the delicious meat inside the coconut, and within a minute Applejack was leaning back and exhaling contentedly.
With her quick meal consumed, Applejack got back to inspecting her camp. Her stock of firewood was alright, but she'd have to replenish it within a couple days. Preferably not on the same day she set aside for restocking her food supply. The fire had, obviously, long been extinguished, whether by simple neglect, or by the storm that had brought her back. Whatever the case, not a single warm coal remained. Applejack would need to start a new one from scratch, but there was no sense in doing so before nightfall at least.
Last of all, Applejack grabbed a piece of charcoal from the fire pit and turned to the large flat space on the boulder. There, she scratched two more tally marks on its surface to account for the time she'd been away. 22 total marks. Applejack let out a low whistle. If nothing else, this was certainly the longest camping trip she'd ever been on. The non-sequitur thought elicited the tiniest of chuckles from the bedraggled mare.
With everything accounted for and in decent shape, Applejack was finally able to sit down and roll out the map. She laid on her belly in the soft grass and every so carefully flattened it out on the ground before her. There still wasn't much of it that she could make sense of, but Applejack had all the time in the world to figure it out.
First things first, she had to determine a starting point. The south mountain, marked with its large 'A' was an identifiable landmark, but it was also several hours' trot away. She'd never make any progress if she had to trek all the way over there before setting out for anywhere else. There was always the option of living in the cave again, but…
Applejack shivered. No, she'd much rather avoid that option if at all possible.
Still, using the mountain as a reference, she was able to find something. She knew that her camp was somewhere to the north of the mountain, and there was a lake still further north. She also knew that the river running through her campsite eventually led back to the ocean in one direction, and ran into the lake in the other. Even with all these details, it was hard to find anything definitive at first. The paper of the map was almost entirely covered in black ink, there were just so many symbols and lines. Applejack was almost certain there was more ink than there was blank space.
Just when she was starting to consider searching for something else, her eyes finally fell upon the perfect spot. Applejack froze, unblinking, for fear that even a single blink would once more render her lost among the myriad designs covering the page before her. The spot she'd found seemed to fit the bill exactly. While the clearing itself didn't appear on the map, she'd found a river that ran from a smallish lake all the way into the ocean. Peering closely at the lake, Applejack was able to make out a tiny square shape printed on one of its shores.
Applejack finally allowed herself to blink, but the image remained unchanged. Slowly, her muzzle spread into a grin. The little square was far too perfect to represent anything natural. There were only so many things that it could mean. Pony-made structure, small, built alongside a lake. Applejack wasn't usually one for gambling, but she'd bet the farm that she knew exactly what building she was looking at, even if it was no longer standing. It was the cabin.
She had her starting point. Applejack let out a joyful 'whoop' and shot to her hooves, only to stumble a bit and grimace at the stiffness in her limbs.
Okay, so perhaps her celebration was a bit pre-mature. She wasn't quite ready to go out adventuring just yet. Nevertheless, Applejack took a small bit of charcoal out of the fire pit and drew a circle around that particular lake. She'd take a few days to recover, and then she'd head out.
After all, she'd waited this long, she could wait a little longer. The grin on her face was reaching giddy levels as Applejack pored over the map for any interesting symbols she might want to investigate. After all, she may have only seen its cellar, but she knew exactly where to find what was left of that lakeside cabin. She had a starting point.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It ended up being a while before Applejack felt ready for any intensive exploration. She spent that time mostly around her camp, but didn't really accomplish a whole lot. She was able to gather up some food and firewood, at least. Applejack wasn't sure just how hard she'd hit her head when the raft had been swept up in that storm, but it was enough to leave her lethargic and sensitive to bright light for a few days.
Applejack supposed she had at least a minor concussion, but she didn't really have any idea how to treat such a thing, so she'd just spent a lot of time napping. She'd also taken the down-time to give her hair another trim. The first time she'd had to cut it on the shore of the beach seemed so far away. Applejack tried not to dwell on that fact as she made short work of her tangled mane in front of the crystal clear river.
By the time she was feeling ready to go, it had been three days of lazing about by her count. Her legs itched to be used; she craved the burning that came with exerting her muscles.
Suffice to say, Applejack was restless. She trotted out of her lean-to with a grin on her face. Her food supply was high, her stockpile of firewood was sufficient, and at long last she felt fully recovered. Applejack tightened the straps of the saddlebags she wore. She'd donned them as soon as she woke up, almost bouncing with eagerness to go explore.
She scratched another tally mark on the face of the boulder and scarfed down a quick breakfast of wildflowers, before trotting over to the river and filling her dented canteen up to the brim. She hung the full canteen around her neck next to the golden locket, then double-checked the bindings of the knife she wore on her left foreleg.
Satisfied that everything was in order, Applejack turned briskly and set on her way. She trotted alongside the river, following it upstream to where she knew the lake would be. Her saddlebags were empty save for the rolled-up map. She fully expected to be bringing them back at least partially full.
It felt good to be out and about again, trotting through the jungle, thin as it was on the riverbank. Applejack closed her eyes and soaked in the feeling. She breathed in the scent of moss and dirt, listened to the gentle burbling of running water, and involuntarily flicked her ears to the occasional rustling from somewhere in the distant undergrowth.
The serenity of the trip made it pass quickly, and it seemed only moments later that Applejack was emerging from the treeline and onto the shore of the lake. The sun, still rising ever higher in its morning ascent, reflected its light off the surface of the still lake in glittering brilliance. A cool breeze wafted across the water and caused the grass around Applejack to stir.
She let out a contented sigh as she looked out across the mirror-like surface of the lake, but didn't waste any more time than that. As much as she would've loved to bask in nature's beauty a bit more, there was work to be done.
For her first trip out with the map, Applejack had a very specific plan. There was no way she could even know if the symbols on the map meant anything, so she had to run some sort of test to prove they weren't utter nonsense. With that in mind, Applejack had remembered the old, ruined greenhouse she'd run across some time ago.
The greenhouse had the same symbol on it as the map, and most other things she'd found on the island. Of course, that meant the map was sure to include some sort of marker for the greenhouse on it. If she could remember how to get there again, and compare its position to the map, she could then reasonably trust the map to lead her to other such buildings. And if she wasn't able to find a symbol on the map that corresponded to the greenhouse location… well, that could very well mean the thing was useless. Applejack wasn't hoping for that outcome.
Applejack sat down and rolled the map out in front of her. She pored over it as she thought back carefully to just where she'd found that building. There was certainly some margin for error, but she wanted to be as sure as possible before running off into the woods.
It took a few minutes of pondering, but Applejack eventually became reasonably certain of the greenhouse's location on the map. At the very least, she had a direction and an educated guess at a distance. The symbol in that location was a black circle outline, filled in with black on the bottom, and filled with white on the top. Next to the circle was a small number '3'.
After carefully plotting out her route from the lake to the circular symbol, completely independent of her remembered location for the greenhouse, Applejack put the map back in her saddlebags. She set her jaw and stood up straight. All that remained now was verification. The moment of truth was before her.
She turned and trotted into the trees without a sound. The undergrowth parted before her and closed up behind, leaving not a trace of her passing.
The path she cut through the jungle wasn't immediately familiar to her. While she'd been able to make an educated guess as to the greenhouse's location based on the multiple trips she'd made there in the past, Applejack had never actually travelled there in a straight line. Her discovery of the old building had been completely accidental, and as a result the path she usually followed was mildly convoluted, winding and curving through the jungle before eventually reaching its destination. Still, Applejack was pretty sure she'd been able to visualize it well enough to get the spot on the map right, so she was simply hiking in a straight line from the lake to the supposed location of the building.
Every few minutes, Applejack would pull out the map and glance over it briefly, just in case. Nothing ever changed, of course. The symbol she was –hopefully– headed towards had nothing between it and the lake but empty jungle. There weren't even any discernable landmarks along the way for her to double check. Applejack's only choice was to trust in her sense of direction and memory of the last time she'd visited to greenhouse to harvest a couple tomatoes.
As it turned out, Applejack's sense of direction and memory were actually awesome. She couldn't help but let out a joyful whoop as a chest-high brick wall emerged from the dense jungle just a few feet ahead of her. She almost hadn't seen it, the jungle was so thick, but now that she stood so close it was undeniable.
The map had led her true. There was no doubt about it. The location of the symbol and the ruin in front of her just matched up too perfectly. The map wasn't another dead end. It was real!
The reality of that last thought truly sunk in then, and Applejack very nearly jumped for joy. In the end, she settled for dancing back and forth on her hooves excitedly. There were so many possibilities. Without hesitation, Applejack turned around and sprinted back the way she'd come. She needed to get back to camp and prepare.
There was exploration to be done.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day found Applejack on her first long expedition. She'd waited overnight in order to leave in the early morning. Her destination was fairly far away, and she didn't want to risk getting caught out overnight. Still, Applejack had brought with her some flint and tinder and plenty of food. She was prepared to camp out if she needed to, but that didn't mean she wanted to.
The first thing on the map she'd chosen to investigate seemed fairly promising. It was a bold letter 'B' similar to the 'A' that marked the location of the cave. Unlike the cave one, though, this symbol seemed to be located in the middle of the jungle towards the north side of the island. It was certainly curious, and Applejack was making good time in her trek towards it.
Her excitement propelled her onwards through thick bushes and over fallen logs. The rainforest became harder to navigate the further she went, but still Applejack pushed on. She paused every so often to take a swig from her canteen and wipe the sweat from her brow before it ran into her eyes. The canopy overhead was nigh impenetrable this deep in the jungle, and what little sunlight managed to get through made it look like late evening, even though Applejack could tell from the light's angle that it was only midday.
She couldn't quite say how long she'd been walking when Applejack finally stumbled upon something. While the trees didn't thin out at all, Applejack could see bright light just a short distance ahead where the jungle gave way to open air. A tired but relieved chuckle escaped her lips as Applejack picked up her pace slightly.
In mere moments, she burst free of the treeline and into an open clearing. Though the sudden influx of bright sunlight blinded her for a split-second, Applejack nonetheless held a wide grin as she anticipated what great discovery awaited her. She rubbed at her eyes with her forehooves to regain her vision faster, and when she finally looked up with clear eyes, she was greeted with the glorious sight of… absolutely nothing.
Applejack blinked. She quickly whipped out the map and stared intently at it. Had she read it wrong? Had she made a wrong turn somewhere? There didn't seem to be any indication that she was in the wrong place. Unless she'd gone completely off course, which was unlikely. As much as Applejack didn't want to brag, she'd known very well how to read a map since she was a filly, and her sense of direction had never betrayed her before.
Rolling the map back up and placing it back in her saddlebags, Applejack took a few steps out into the clearing. As she looked around at the place, she started to think maybe she was in the right place after all. There were things about the area that just weren't quite right. For starters, the surrounding jungle cut off extremely quickly. There was no thinning of trees or smooth transition. One minute the trees were packed in dense as can be, and the very next step they cut off entirely. The treeline also formed a nearly perfect circle around the clearing, not even a single bush or branch protruded inside the clear area. Then there was the grass itself. It was short, but not like the grass of Applejack's camp. Where her camp was a naturally short meadow, this clearing was… unnatural. It was too perfect. Every blade of grass was exactly the same height, as if they'd been mowed by a perfectionist mere minutes ago.
That thought made Applejack snap her head up from inspecting the ground. Wide-eyed, she rotated in place and squinted into the surrounding jungle. She couldn't say whether the perfectly manicured grass was another oddity of the island… or if there was actually somepony maintaining it.
"Hey!" she shouted out aimlessly. Her voice was scratchier than she would've imagined it. "Any—" she hacked a cough, "Anypony out there?!"
Applejack tilted her ears, listening, but there was no reply. Not even the unknown rustling was present. She shuddered in the silence.
"Right then," she muttered, mostly to herself. "Guess you won't mind me takin' a look around then."
She moved into the very center of the clearing and continued to inspect it carefully. Despite the clear strangeness of the place, Applejack was unable to find anything of note. As far as she could tell, it was completely and utterly empty.
The clearing was momentarily filled with the sound of her disappointed sigh. All that time, wasted. By the time she got back to camp, it'd be too late to head out for another expedition. The day may as well have been spent doing nothing. Disappointment turned to frustration, and frustration turned to anger. Anger at the stupid island for never giving her any answers, anger at the stupid map for teasing her with false opportunity, and most of all anger at the stupid clearing with its stupid perfectly-cut grass! Applejack reared up on her hind hooves and stomped down hard with her forelegs, tearing and smashing—
"Ow!" Applejack exclaimed as her hooves bounced off painfully. She blinked and snapped her gaze downward. Where her forehooves had struck the ground, a thin layer of dirt and grass had been disturbed, revealing smooth stone underneath.
The clearing fell into silence again for several heartbeats. Then Applejack mumbled, "Oh…"
A split-second later and she was on her knees in the dirt. Her forelegs worked rapidly, tearing and pushing aside dirt and grass to reveal more and more perfectly flat stone. It wasn't easy work, but Applejack made it quick. She shoved upturned topsoil into piles and then heaved those piles out of the way. Her small patch of stone grew and grew from the center outwards. As she worked, Applejack noticed something on the stone. Black paint running in wide lines and strokes became apparent beneath the grass. A smile broke out on her sweating face as more and more was revealed. It was large, too large to see clearly from her position in the dirt. When Applejack had seemingly cleared enough to show a coherent image, she immediately ran to the edge of the clearing to get a good look at it.
Her heart froze over at the same moment it sunk into her hooves. Applejack stared, her face completely blank. She couldn't even muster any real anger. She simply exhaled through her nose as her eyebrows formed a straight line. There, on the perfectly flat stone floor before her, was painted the very largest rendition she'd ever seen of a symbol she'd seen far too often.
An outline of a pony's head, a horn and wings, a large triangle. The words 'NEC DI NEC DOMINI' ran along the bottom in letters each the size of a small pony.
"Yeah," Applejack said in a resigned tone as her ears folded against her head. "I suppose that figures."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning found Applejack working at the campsite. Her first exploratory trip hadn't gone over as well as she'd hoped, so Applejack was taking a bit of time to upgrade her living space. Or, rather, she was getting started on what would be a very large and time consuming upgrade. It would be a suitable project to serve as a distraction for the foreseeable future, if nothing else.
Applejack had gone out first thing in the morning and gathered a few mostly-straight sticks from the jungle. They weren't what she'd normally grab for firewood though. These were too long to be used in a fire without breaking into pieces, and she had no intention of doing that.
She sat next to her lean-to with her back propped against the boulder and held one of the sticks in front of her. A brief inspection confirmed that it wasn't rotten or dry or otherwise structurally unsound. Nodding once with a hum of satisfaction, Applejack shifted the stick to the crook of one forehoof and drew her knife from its sheath with her other.
Then she started whittling. Whittling is an old craft, with a couple different purposes. Some ponies could take a knife and a piece of wood, and create art out of them. They'd work for hours, slaving over every detail with expert precision, and carve some of the most beautiful sculptures Applejack had ever seen. The works were never perfect, of course; even the most expert whittler wasn't capable of glass-smooth surfaces. But that was what gave them their beauty, in Applejack's eyes. No two works would be exactly alike, even if they were made by the same artist and depicted the same thing. The tiny imperfections gave each sculpture a personal touch, made it truly unique. There was an old wooden whale sitting above the fireplace at Sweet Apple Acres, and it never ceased to please Applejack that it was the only one of its kind in the world. It was their own little work of art, and there would never be another one exactly like it.
Applejack shook her head clear of the distracting tangent that had occupied it. She couldn't space out too much while working with a blade, after all.
She managed to get back to her original line of thought: There are a few different purposes to whittling. Applejack had never been a very artistic pony. She could paint the side of a barn red, and that was about it. No, when she'd learned to whittle, she'd done it solely as a way to pass the time. As busy as they usually were, there was downtime at the farm. A nice simple hobby was the best way to get through that downtime without falling prey to boredom. So Applejack had taken up whittling. Rather than carving any particular shape, she'd just work on a piece of wood until it was reduced to a pile of shavings. The process was… relaxing, in its own way. She could sit there on the porch and shave off bits of wood for hours on end while her thoughts wandered aimlessly. As she sat there with her back against the boulder, Applejack could almost close her eyes and imagine herself back home again, whittling just to pass the time.
The illusion didn't last long, however, as Applejack wasn't actually whittling for either of those two reasons. No, as it turned out, there was one more reason for the craft. It was the oldest use of it, by far. Ponies as far back as the dawn of civilization had utilized the craft for the very reason Applejack was doing it now. They didn't want to create art, and they didn't want to pass the time.
In short, sometimes you just want a pointy stick.
Applejack smirked in satisfaction as she inspected the deadly sharp end she'd created. Yes, it would do very nicely. She then blinked, and turned to gaze at the pile of sticks she'd gathered next to her. It must have been a couple dozen at least, and she'd finished one. Even then, the pile she'd gathered was only a fraction of what the project would require in the end. A sigh escaped her lips. It was going to be a long day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Progress on her little project was slow going, but Applejack wasn't willing to devote her entire being to it. It did wonders to break the monotony and give her a breather now and again, but there was still her primary task of exploring the island to consider. So it was that Applejack found herself splitting her time between the two. Some days she'd spend entirely at the camp, replenishing her food, stocking firewood, and working on her project. Other days she'd spend out exploring, sometimes taking until nightfall to get back to the camp.
Nothing much of interest had come up so far in any of her expeditions. As it turned out, most of the structures on the island had been flattened nearly beyond a trace. Most exploration days ended up with finding a relatively square patch of relatively square dirt, with maybe a brick or two nearby. All in all it was turning out less exciting than Applejack had anticipated. Honestly, she was beginning to relish the days spent at her campsite even more than the days spent searching for answers. Sitting around in the sun, whittling a bit, talking to the chicken; it was nice. She could happily spend her days–
Applejack shook her head, her eyes wide. No, that was a dangerous line of thought. She couldn't let herself adapt that far. She couldn't forget that she had a real home waiting for her. The island was not nice. The island was awful, and she needed to leave it as soon as she could. If she wasn't careful, she might just stop wanting to.
The thought made her shudder, so Applejack decided to focus back on her immediate surroundings instead. She was trudging through the deep jungle. It was an exploration day. She'd set out in the early morning, and already the sun was at its zenith above her. Time really seemed to fly when she got lost in her thoughts. Still, if her estimate was correct, and she was getting very good at estimating travel time, she would be arriving at her destination in a couple minutes tops.
Of course, it was impossible to tell given that the jungle obscured everything more than a dozen feet away in each direction. Rarely did she bushwhack through such harshly overgrown areas, but it needed to be done sooner or later. Still, the necessity of it didn't make it any more pleasant.
Applejack paused to take a swig from her canteen. It was already more than half empty. Forging her way through such thick jungle was far more tiring than usual, and it was certainly thirsty work. Applejack begrudgingly took only the smallest sip of water before screwing the cap back on. She'd need to start conserving now if she didn't want to collapse halfway back to camp.
With her miniscule break over, Applejack once more pressed onwards. Fortunately, she didn't have to press onwards very far. Unfortunately…
"Whoa nelly!" Applejack exclaimed as she suddenly found her forehoof stepping into open air. She would've said more, but the next moment found her mouth filled with dirt as she toppled forward and rolled head over hooves down a steep incline.
Blue, brown, blue, brown. Her vision consisted of alternating views of the clear sky and the hard earth for what felt like an excruciatingly long time, but was probably barely a second. In the very next blink, Applejack landed hard on her back. The wind rushed out of her lungs in a pained wheeze, and she lay there for several panting moments trying to refill them with moderate success.
One harsh coughing fit later, and Applejack was mostly able to breathe again. She rolled over onto her stomach with a groan, and then lifted her head to get a look at where she'd fallen. As she'd surmised from her extremely close contact with it, there was a steep dirt ramp leading back up to the treeline. The undergrowth came right up to the edge, and had blocked her view until it was under her hooves. There was no plant growth on the ramp, it was just smooth, uninterrupted dirt. Other than the jagged trench leading from top to bottom that Applejack had dug with her face, of course.
After taking another second or two to clear her scrambled brain, Applejack looked around and discovered that it wasn't really a ramp. Rather, she was in a sort of bowl. The incline led all the way around in a wide circle, with the treeline coming up to the very edge of it on all sides, but no plant life growing within. The inside of the bowl was perfectly flat, and was also composed of dirt with no visible plant life. There were a few pony-made fixtures within, though Applejack hadn't managed to land next to any of them so she was observing from a distance. Either they were too far away, or her head was still too scattered from its brief but intense relationship with the ground, but Applejack was having a hard time identifying the structures. The largest looked like a small, square house, and the rest seemed to be… cages of some sort. That was deeply concerning on a number of levels.
It took a bit of effort to push to her hooves, but by the time she was upright Applejack's legs had stopped shaking. She didn't seem to have suffered any real injuries in her fall, but it had knocked the wind and a good deal of sense out of her, and it'd be a few more minutes before she was fully recovered. That didn't mean she had to sit around though. Applejack snatched her hat from where it had tumbled to a stop next to her and placed it back upon her head. After adjusting it slightly, she flicked her tail and set off at a trot towards the cluster of interesting objects in the center of the flat area.
The place wasn't terribly large, but it was definitely too big and too perfectly flat to be natural. The dirt underneath Applejack's hooves felt like any hard-packed dirt road she'd ever been on, and nothing like natural earth. Somepony, or something had clearly dug out this pit for some purpose, but that purpose wasn't immediately evident just by looking around.
Applejack didn't just have to look though, as she quickly found herself arriving in the center next to the small building and many cages. Upon closer inspection, the building appeared to be nothing more than a basic shed; uninteresting, at first glance, though whatever was inside could be better.
Some of the cages weren't empty, but a quick glance by them revealed what looked like bones within, so Applejack quickly decided not to investigate them. Being a farmer, Applejack took care of many less-than-sentient animals, kept them in pens and such. Still, even keeping them confined, Applejack could never imagine being cruel to them. She didn't want to think about the poor creatures that had been abandoned in their cages to starve when the island's inhabitants had disappeared.
Moving on, another thing that she noted up close was that there were a few scattered tools lying on the ground. Some of them looked like they were once pickaxes or shovels, but they had rusted and rotted away to the point of utter uselessness. As much as the idea of having a proper working tool excited Applejack, she'd have more luck with a rock than with anything on the ground there.
There were others, though, that Applejack couldn't immediately identify. She approached one and sat down in front of it, peering at it through squinted eyes. It was long, about one and a half pony lengths at least, and it was made of plastic. On one end were two metal-tipped prongs, and on the other end a small box made of the same black plastic as the rest of the thing. There was a button where a pony would hold onto the thing if they were holding it like a spear. Applejack shrugged and reached out to the button with a forehoof.
Nothing happened. Whatever the two-pronged plastic spear thing once did, it didn't do it after Celestia knows how long sitting out on the ground. With her first test failed, Applejack attempted to pick the tool up. Apparently it had been sitting there for quite some time, though, as her grip managed to break it without any effort whatsoever. The old plastic shattered and fell back to the ground in front of Applejack, but her disappointment was soon replaced with renewed curiosity. There was something inside the spear thing. The plastic was hollow, and a rubber-insulated wire ran through it.
Applejack shrugged once more, then reared up onto her hind hooves and smashed her forehooves over the spear thing repeatedly. She shattered all the plastic from the two-pronged tip all the way back to the black box at the end. The wire ran all the way between the two. That's when it clicked. Applejack didn't have a lot of experience with technology, but she knew Twilight Sparkle. That was all it took to become somewhat familiar with the stuff.
From what she could guess, the black box at the end contained batteries, which could store electric power… somehow. The power would run through the wire and all the way to the tip. There was one lesson Applejack had earned very early on when poking around at Twilight's electric gadgets: Electricity hurts! It's like bottled lightning, and touching it in its raw form is painful as all get out.
So it seemed Applejack was looking at some sort of electric powered spear.
"Huh…" Applejack poked it once more, but it still didn't do anything. "Neat."
As interesting as the electric spear was, it didn't really give her any useful information, so Applejack went back to investigating the rest of the site. None of the other tools were in any state to be used, and the rest of the electric spears were just as broken as the first one.
Applejack soon found herself before the small shed. It was mostly covered in light grey paint, though plenty of it had chipped off to reveal half-rotten wood underneath. Still, it was pretty much entirely intact. There were no massive holes in the wall, the roof hadn't collapsed as far as she could see. Pretty good condition, overall, but Applejack didn't want to get her hopes up.
She took a deep breath, prepared herself for the worst, and pushed open the door.
It… wasn't empty. Applejack let out a sigh of relief. So far, so good. She stepped inside and looked around. It wasn't very big, about four ponies could fit inside before things became awkward. Part of the lack of space was due to furniture. The already-small room was dominated by a full office setup. There was a desk with a chair and a magical lamp, a pair of filing cabinets, and even a coat rack in the corner.
Applejack quickly walked over and opened one of the filing cabinets. As expected, it was empty. She couldn't even be bothered to sigh, but as she turned around something on the desk caught her attention. Applejack was standing before it in a flash, the old chair tossed aside in her haste. There was a large sheet of paper lying there, big enough to take up most of the desk's surface.
She wiped the dust off and examined the paper carefully. Of course, it had the 'NEC DI NEC DOMINI' symbol in the bottom right, but that hardly came as a surprise, and Applejack noted it with barely a thought before looking at the rest of the paper. At first glance, she nearly thought it was another map, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't… technically. Rather than depicting the island, it seemed to depict a single, very large building. The drawings were extremely detailed, made up all of hard lines with measurements next to them. It showed the building from every angle with the utmost attention to the tiniest structural detail. Why, it almost looked like instructions–
That was when it struck her. It was a blueprint.
"Oh…"
For some reason, Applejack had always expected them to be blue.
In any case, it answered one important question. She knew exactly what this place was, now. It was a construction site. The tools had belonged to construction workers, and the electric spears to guards. The perfectly smooth and hard-packed dirt, dug down several feet into the ground; they had been preparing to lay a foundation.
Applejack couldn't tell from the blueprints exactly what kind of structure they were building, but she could tell it was very large and modern. It was all straight lines and hard angles, almost like a hospital or an office building she'd see in Manehatten. Though obviously not on such a scale, this one being only two stories tall plus a basement.
Still, one thing niggled at the back of her mind. Why'd they bring a bunch of animals to a construction site? Were the cages used to store guard dogs? If so, they had an absolutely excessive amount of guard dogs. There were dozens of cages out there, and only a few electric spears. They would've had more guard dogs than actual guards. No, that didn't make any sense.
As much as she didn't want to, Applejack really only had one choice. She crept back out of the office tentatively, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. She had to see what kind of animals they'd kept there, but she really didn't want to. She hated the idea of some poor critter suffering in a cage alone until it starved… but it had to be done. She came to a stop in front of one cage, still staring straight down at her hooves.
Slowly, painfully, Applejack raised her eyes.
Her mouth fell open, but no sound emerged. Not a gasp, not a scream, not even a breath of air. Her forelegs shook as her body suddenly felt twice as heavy. She felt her haunches hit the dirt before she realized that she was sitting down. Her entire form slumped, her eyes locked as wide open as her mouth, unblinking. The sounds of the wind and the rustling jungle faded away entirely. A ringing sound dug into her ears. She tried, desperately, to close her eyes, to look away, but her body refused her instructions.
Her vision remained stubbornly focused on the bones before her. The bones locked in the cage. What she'd assumed was a guard dog or beast of burden. The skeleton with a unicorn horn portruding from its bleached white skull. Tattered bits of fabric, little more than rags, stuck to the remains here and there. The head seemed to grin at her, despite the fact that it was covered in spiderweb cracks and the horn was snapped off halfway up.
She still hadn't taken a breath, and her lungs were beginning to burn.
Applejack coughed and heaved, her eyes teared up and finally obscured her vision. She sucked in desperate gulps of air, only to feel bile rising in the back of her throat. She fought down the urge to vomit, clenching her eyes shut. The darkness was much more pleasant. In the darkness she could forget about what she'd seen. She could forget that every last cage had been occupied, many of them by multiple pony corpses. She could forget about the atrocity that she'd wandered into.
Seconds or minutes later, Applejack managed to steady her breathing, calm her gag reflex, and slowly inch her eyes open. The scene hadn't changed. She choked briefly once more as she glanced around the site. One forehoof instinctively flew up to cover her muzzle, and the remaining one wobbled precariously trying to support her.
She wished that she could stop staring. She wished that she could turn tail and run, and never look back. Unfortunately, she had to look, she had to see the full extent of this place. She quickly regretted it.
That's when she saw it.
One cage in particular happened across her vision. It was no different from any of the others, technically speaking. Inside were yet more pony remains, an earth pony it seemed, and the sight already made Applejack's stomach churn and her chest ache. But there was something different. Against every rational part of her mind, she focused for a better look at the cage's occupant.
Applejack's legs gave way beneath her. She collapsed hard onto her belly, but she didn't even notice. Tears rose to her eyes and poured down her face, but she could still see it. The sight would likely be burned into her mind for the rest of her life.
The pony in the cage had something wrapped in its skeletal arms. Something tiny. It had looked like nothing but a bundle of rags at first, until Applejack had noticed the tiny, tiny skull.
Applejack rolled onto her side, curled her limbs close to her body, and sobbed until she lost track of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack wasn't a complete stranger to death. She worked on a farm; animals came and animals went. It was the natural cycle of things. In the end, they all go the same, whether they fell ill, grew old, or were taken by timberwolves—not that the last was a very common occurrence.
Even as accustomed as she'd become to such things, there was always a certain disconnect. It wasn't that she didn't care for her animals. In truth, she loved each and every one. Still, she had a farm to run, and she couldn't stop to mourn each lost livestock. Each and every lost farm animal hurt, but it was a brief pain that didn't have much effect on her life.
Nothing she'd ever seen had prepared her for… that place. She'd even experienced the death of a close pony before. There was no disconnect, she was left broken for weeks, but it had been purely sadness. When her mother—
Applejack shook that thought out before it could take root.
But no, this had been something more than sadness. What she'd found at that construction site had been… horrifying, terrifying, traumatizing. None could do it justice. It wasn't the same as losing a loved one, but it was nowhere near the same as simple lost farm animals.
It was a pain, a sickening clench in her gut, that stuck with her for days. She hadn't eaten at all that first day. Even after throwing up her lunch, she just wasn't hungry at all. It wasn't until sharp pains had lanced through her midsection the next day that Applejack had finally forced some food down. Still, she couldn't get the images out of her mind.
So many skeletons, locked up and left to rot. The cages were so small, that was why Applejack had assumed they were for guard dogs. A pony would've barely been able to move in most of them, but those weren't the worst ones. No, despite everything in her being telling Applejack to run back to camp and cry herself to sleep, she'd investigated further. She'd found the worst ones.
The worst ones were the big cages. There weren't a lot of them, maybe four or five rather than the dozens of tiny cages, but what was inside them… piles of bodies. The captives had huddled into corners, clinging to each other in their last moments as their strength faded. Their skeletons were intertwined and squeezed together such that Applejack couldn't even get an accurate count of how many ponies had been in the cage. They'd just been… so desperate for some sort of comfort. Then some of the big cages had piled bodies at the door. Stacked atop each other in their frenzied last attempts at escape. The ones at the bottom were crushed and broken, but in the end they'd all become bones.
Ponies, all of them. They had families, friends, homes somewhere far far away from this damned island. None of them ever got to see their homes again. The island had claimed them as it was attempting to claim Applejack.
She'd wanted to do… something. Maybe a memorial of some sort, or at the very least a proper burial. Those poor souls deserved to have their bones laid to rest. Unfortunately, such plans were impossible. The ponies hadn't been able to get out of their cages when they were abandoned there, and Applejack hadn't had any better chance of getting them out herself. As much as it pained her, Applejack had been left with no other option but to abandon them there once more, just as they'd already been once.
The next few days had been… uneventful, to say the least. In all honesty, it was all something of a blur. She hadn't done any more exploring since then, that much was certain. For the most part, she'd worked on her little project, though she'd lost count of how many times she found herself staring off into space with a half-whittled stick sitting in front of her.
The thoughts and images wouldn't leave her, chances are they'd never leave her. The memory of that place was something that would haunt her to her grave. Still, while the ache in her chest and the bile constantly at the back of her throat never really got any easier to deal with, Applejack had gotten… better at it. She could work with a clear head, though she still wasn't up to another exploration trip, she'd gone out and refilled her food and firewood supplies over the past couple days. That was progress.
She still cried herself to sleep every night only to face an unending onslaught of nightmares.
So maybe not a lot of progress. Still, she was able to at least rationally consider the implications of what she'd found. Her best explanation was that the caged ponies were being used as manual labour to construct the large building, but then why had they been abandoned. Applejack had long known that something had happened to the island's inhabitants, but apparently whatever it was had been sudden enough for them to drop their weapons and disappear without even evacuating the workers.
As much as the thought utterly terrified her now, Applejack needed more answers, and that meant she would someday need to go out there and explore some more. Her thought process had changed though. Her old trips were exciting, filled with the thought of finding something. Now, there was nothing more scary than the thought of finding something.
All that could wait, though. At the moment, Applejack was back to work on her little project. It was near completion, now. A ring of sharpened stakes surrounded the camp on nearly all sides. She'd had to sharpen both ends in order to drive one end into the ground, and leave the other end pointing outwards. It wasn't a perfect defense, but it was something. There were of course gaps left for Applejack to walk through, but anything bigger than her, or anything moving too fast, would find a bad end in Applejack's perimeter defense.
She sat atop the camp's huge boulder in the bright afternoon sun, whittling away at yet another stick as she hummed softly to herself. Moments like these, she could allow herself to forget everything else. She could live in the moment and just lose herself in her work. No more death, no more looming duty to uncover more of the island's horrors, just Applejack and her knif—
"Son of a mule!" Applejack exclaimed as the knife bit into her forehoof. The knife fell from her grip into the grass below. Apparently, 'losing herself in the moment' required that she actually pay attention to where she was cutting.
It wasn't a bad cut by most standards, but it was bleeding, and by Celestia did it hurt. Applejack tossed the stick she'd been working on down to the ground —it was done anyway— then leapt down from the boulder herself, only to collapse into an ungraceful heap when the she tried to take some of the landing on her injured hoof.
"Horseapples, horseapples, horseapples…" she chanted under her breath as she pushed up to three hooves and limped over to the lean-to. It really wasn't a very bad cut, but Applejack read stories. She knew what a 'not very bad' cut could turn into in the jungle.
"I know it's here somewhere…" Applejack rummaged around her supplies in search of her rubbing alcohol. She finally located it with a loud "Aha!", and wasted no time in yanking the cork out. The burning scent made her recoil momentarily, but Applejack scrunched up her nose and powered through. It probably wasn't a good idea to just pour it on, so Applejack took out one of the old blankets she'd taken from the cellar, though not the pink quilt she'd gotten from the saddlebag. She still used that for bedding.
The old blankets were frail and easily torn, but that didn't matter for Applejack's purposes. She tore a piece from one of them and crumpled it up, then she held it against the open top of the alcohol bottle and turned it upside-down for a couple seconds. When she righted the bottle, the cloth had soaked up plenty of the smelly liquid.
Applejack quickly recorked the bottle, not that the stench was leaving any time soon, then set the alcohol-soaked cloth aside for a moment. She took another torn piece of cloth and used it to gently dab the blood away from her small wound. After cleaning it, the cut seemed even less threatening, but Applejack still didn't want to take any chances. It was small, but it was deep enough that an infection was a serious risk. Probably. Applejack really wasn't an expert on the subject.
She picked up the alcohol swab in her unhurt hoof, then hesitated. This was going to hurt, a lot. Applejack grit her teeth hard, she sucked in a long breath and tensed her muscles, and ever so slowly she pressed the damp cloth against the cut.
It hurt. A lot.
By the time Applejack had finished, she was pretty sure she hadn't even known some of the obscenities she'd shouted in her pain. The deed was done, though, at least for now. She knew she would probably have to repeat the process over the next couple days to be safe. She already wasn't looking forward to that.
Applejack hobbled out of the lean-to on three hooves. She'd only finished half the pile of sticks she was supposed to whittle that day, but she figured it was time for a break. She teetered over to the fire pit and plopped down into a sitting position near it. It wasn't really a fire during the day, more just a pile of glowing coals, but Applejack needed to make sure it stayed hot enough to light a real fire when night fell. Just to be sure, she tossed on another chunk of firewood.
The rubber chicken stared blankly at her from where it leaned against the boulder next to her firewood stockpile.
Applejack's eyes narrowed. "Oh, so there you are," she ground out. "Where were you when I dang near impaled myself a minute ago, huh?! I could'a died of blood loss or somethin', and you're having a nap by the fire. Typical."
She finished with a derisive scoff, but the chicken remained silent. It sat perfectly still, as it always did. It provided no response, as it never did.
Applejack sighed and turned back to the slowly crackling coals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack winced slightly as her left forehoof kicked a stray stone hidden in the underbrush. It had been several days since she'd cut it while working on her spike fence, and the injury had mostly healed by now, not that it was very serious to begin with. At the very least, it was healed enough that she didn't need to wash it out anymore, much to her relief. Still, it was healing slowly; a consequence of walking around on it all day, to be sure. It was little more than a nuisance, though. At worst, it gave a small twinge of pain if she bumped it against anything; nothing worth staying home over.
So it was that Applejack was finally out exploring again. Her spike barrier was complete, and her hoof wasn't really hurt in any seriousness. She'd completely run out of excuses to put off more expeditions.
Her heart fluttered in an odd mixture of fear and excitement as Applejack pressed onwards through the jungle. As much as she hated to admit it, the excitement was winning over. She hadn't gotten over what she'd found back at that construction site, her sleep was plagued with nightmares of it more often than not, but in the clear light of day away from the fear and the death… it made her yearn for more answers. She felt dreadful for thinking of dead ponies as nothing more than a piece of a puzzle, but that's what they were. Now she wanted, no, needed to find out how that piece fit with the rest of them. The island had a story, and Applejack felt certain that she hadn't even scratched the surface of it. She was terribly afraid of what the rest of the story might entail… but she was determined to find it out regardless.
For her trip that day, Applejack had chosen a rather interesting symbol. It was interesting because it came up multiple times around the map. It was relatively simple, just a circle with an solid black, upside-down triangle within. Applejack had counted six of them across the map, though, so it stood a good chance of being something important.
She'd chosen the one closest to her campsite, but 'closest' still wasn't very close. It was a few hours of hiking, with a brief break for food, before she finally saw a structure through the trees ahead. It was grey, and it was at least intact enough to still be considered a building. Anything else was impossible to make out through the plant life in her way.
Applejack picked up to a trot and made quick time to the structure. There wasn't much clear space around it, at least not compared to the rest of the buildings she'd found. In the past, even when she hadn't found anything but an old foundation, the building sites had always been surrounded by wide, grassy clearings. This place was different. The treeline encroached up to within a couple feet of the building before stopping, and it didn't stop for grass. The base of the building was surrounded by flat concrete.
In fact, the entire thing was made of dark grey concrete. It wasn't very wide, four or five pony-lengths at best from wall to wall, not including the base that extended to the trees, but it was fairly tall. There were three, maybe four stories from the bottom to the top that poked just barely above the trees.
It was a tower, Applejack realized. A circular, concrete, windowless tower that was clearly built to withstand whatever destroyed the rest of the structures on the island. That wasn't foreboding at all.
Applejack very briefly entertained the thought of simply packing up and going back to camp for a nap. Were it so easy.
Unfortunately, she couldn't allow herself to be sensible in times like these. Applejack stepped out of the treeline and onto the concrete base. Nothing happened. So far, so good. There was no visible door on the tower from where she was looking, so Applejack circled around until she found something.
It was made of bluish grey metal, and it looked about as strong and secure as the tower it was set into. Of course, in the least surprising revelation of all time, it had the ever-present symbol stenciled on in black paint. By that point Applejack would've been more surprised if the symbol and text hadn't been there.
Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any mechanism for opening the door. It was a flat and solid expanse of cold metal without so much as a latch to grip on.
"Oh come on…" Applejack muttered under her breath.
She trotted up and stared up and down the door with an angry glare. It refused to budge under her scrutiny. She really shouldn't have been surprised at yet another dead end, but that didn't make it any less discouraging. Applejack sighed in resignation and finally let her glare slip from her face as her eyes fell to the ground. Yet another day of exploration for nothing. She growled a wordless exclamation of her anger and kicked out at the door with her forehoof. Her hoof clanged off the metal loudly, but it provided little comfort. Applejack turned and trotted back—
Creak…
Her head snapped up in an instant. She whipped around and stared. Sure enough, the door was hanging slightly ajar on old creaky hinges. Applejack's jaw hung agape for several moments before she finally remembered to move. She quickly hopped back over and pressed one hoof against the door. Carefully, slowly, she pushed. The door let out another loud creak as it swung open an inch at a time. It was heavy, clearly made of solid metal, but the hinges were surprisingly good. In a matter of seconds Applejack had managed to push it all the way open.
The early afternoon light spilled through the open doorway and into the darkness beyond. Applejack peered in, trying to catch sight of anything at all, but all she could see was cold concrete floor in the small pool of light. The silence inside the tower was almost palpable, the air when she stuck her head in was… stale, old. It dried her throat and nearly made her cough. Still, no matter how hard she looked, nothing could be seen from the doorway. Applejack shrugged, then stepped inside.
She was plunged into such intense darkness that she had to look over her shoulder to make sure light still existed. To her relief, she hadn't gone blind. The bright sun still shone in a rectangle behind her, and in a small pool just inside the doorway. Applejack had stepped past the pool of light, and was standing completely free of the sun's rays for the moment. She turned back to the darkness, and waited.
Applejack stood there, breathing slowly. She didn't move, she didn't turn around for a second. No matter how oppressive the darkness engulfing her seemed, she stared straight ahead. No matter how much she wanted to turn tail and run, to bask in the warm sunshine once more, she stayed her hooves. She felt cold, but she wasn't sure if that was her imagination. Even when she started to shiver, she wasn't sure if it was caused by temperature or adrenaline.
Finally, after some unknown span of time, her waiting began to pay off. Shapes began to emerge before her. Her eyes adjusted to the near-total darkness, for no matter how black it had seemed, Applejack had let the light in. No matter how all-consuming the darkness had been before, there was no total escape from the sunlight when it shone onto the floor not two hoofsteps backwards. Some infinitesimally small amount of light was managing to leak its way into the room, and all it took was for Applejack's vision to adjust.
As her eyes adjusted, the room appeared. Everything was in greyscale, but then Applejack suspected the whole place was grey anyway. The room was circular, of course, reflecting the exterior shape. It wasn't large at all, with room for maybe four ponies to work comfortably, though at least twice that number could fit inside in a pinch. There were a couple desks along the walls with chairs pushed against them, but Applejack's attention was taken by the centerpiece of the room. It was a pedestal. It stood about chest-height, and appeared black as night even compared to the dark greyness surrounding it.
Applejack squinted and approached the strange thing. She could feel… something, from it. It seemed to 'buzz' in a way that she could feel in her very being. There was no sound, not even a whisper, but Applejack could feel it humming in a low bass tone. It was faint, barely detectable over her own breathing and heartbeat, but it was there.
The sound of her hooves clopping on the cold floor echoed through the room, but it never managed to drown out the humming. It remained just as hard to detect, no matter how much noise Applejack made. In complete silence, it never became any easier, and even with her echoing hoofsteps, it never became any harder.
She finally reached the pedestal. The feeling never intensified. It was simply there, constant, unchanging. Close up, Applejack could make out a few details on the pedestal. It was still considerably darker than its surroundings, but upon inspection it turned out to just be painted black. There was no magic absorbing the light that touched it, it just really was darker than its surroundings.
Applejack tentatively reached out a hoof and poked it. It was cold, made of metal, but otherwise unremarkable to the touch. Other than the strange vibrating sensation she felt in her chest, there was nothing strange at all about the pedestal. It seemed to be nothing but a completely normal…
Then something occurred to Applejack. Pedestals held things. Just to be sure, she brushed a hoof across the top surface. Empty. Whatever was supposed to be held on that pedestal… wasn't there anymore.
Applejack knew that it wasn't the temperature that made her shiver then. She turned away and walked over to one of the desks. Relative to the door, there was one desk on the right side of the room, and one desk on the left. She arbitrarily chose the right one and began checking it over.
There were a few drawers, but they were all empty. The top was the same. Nothing. Applejack checked the desk on the other side of the room, only to be met with more of the same nothing. It was always the same nothing.
She sighed once more, the sound echoing through the tall tower. It was all one room. There was nowhere else to check. The ceiling was lost in the darkness above, but there were no stairs or ladders anywhere. Applejack was about to leave when something caught her eye.
On the side of the room directly opposite the door, something stood out as brighter than its surroundings. Applejack quickly trotted over to check. There was a large white rectangle on the wall. It was sign of some sort, though any meaning was lost in the near-blackness, no matter how well her eyes had adjusted.
Fortunately, the sign came down easily. It was hung from a couple small brackets, and Applejack was able to knock it down with just a bit of fiddling. It clattered to the ground noisily, the reverberating sound causing Applejack's ears to fold against her head. It was made of thin wood, and not heavy at all. Applejack balanced the sign on her back and trotted back out the door.
The sun burned her eyes as Applejack exited, and she made sure to quickly cover them with a forehoof. She may or may not have let out a decidedly foolish yelp of pain when the brightness first stabbed into her eyes. The fluttery buzzing sensation left just as soon as Applejack stepped outside, fortunately. It probably would've gotten irritating after a while.
When the light finally abated in its painful assault, Applejack set the sign down on the ground and took a seat. She stared intently at it, white background, black text, block letters. Two words and a number.
SECURITY STATION 3
"Huh…" Applejack blinked. "Well that's something."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack awoke gently. She'd gotten a good sleep last night. No nightmares, no cold sweat, no dreams at all that she could remember. Just pure, blissful sleep. That made… two nights in a row; a new record.
She groaned and rolled onto her hooves before scooping her hat up and placing it on her head. The chicken leaning against the stone wall of her lean-to watched in silence as Applejack prepared for the day ahead. She put on her knife, her canteen, and the golden locket, followed finally by her dirtied saddlebags. Applejack froze and blinked as she looked at the saddlebags. They had been white, originally. They couldn't really be called such anymore. Maybe "tan", but it was an ever darkening tan that was only growing closer to "brown" with every expedition.
But that wasn't what had made her stop. No, her eyes had fallen onto the straps holding the bags closed, and onto the three-balloon cutie mark emblazoned there, still maintaining its blue and yellow colour despite the tattered and stained nature of the saddlebags. Not her saddlebags. They were Pinkie's. Applejack was just using them. The thought was strangely sobering, but more-so because she had apparently forgotten that fact somewhere along the way.
It had been two weeks. Two weeks since she'd made it back to camp after her failed escape attempt. Two weeks of exploration, fortifying her camp, and general progress, even with the… break she'd taken somewhere in the middle.
Still, while she could certainly say she'd made progress in uncovering more of the island, she still knew so little. She'd amassed such a collection of puzzle pieces, but she hadn't managed to fit a single one into place. Her last discovery of any note had been the security station, but even that had amounted to little of any actual value.
There was just… something missing. There was a key, somewhere. Something out there that would make everything make sense. It was only a matter of finding it.
As Applejack stood in the dawn's sunlight and took a deep breath of the cool morning air, she could feel that today would be different. It wasn't a definable feeling, it was just… intuition. Big things were in store for the day ahead of her. It was the sort of feeling that made her all giddy in spite of everything. She was very nearly bouncing on her hooves. It wasn't a supernatural sense, she wasn't Pinkie Pie, but Applejack just knew that the day would be exciting.
Best to get right down to it, then.
After scarfing down a quick breakfast, Applejack trotted off towards the jungle. Her hoof twinged in a brief spark of pain and she nearly stumbled, but it passed quickly. Applejack ignored it and plunged confidently into the dim jungle.
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Two steps forward...
4497887
...One hoof to the face?
Yay update! I'm reserving this spot for future comments.
Ok! Thought time.
That was really sad with the caged ponies. It would be fine if they were building another tower but what would it be security from? Was the monster on the island just a big a threat to the builders as to Applejack? I have a few other questions but I'm guessing they may have already been answered. It's been awhile since I've read this fic and I am poor with long-term memory.
Three steps back.
Also, I bet that twinge'll mean something in the upcoming chapters.
Also also, DAMN THESE OVERLORDS!
Well this was an intresting chapter for sure. Lots of good info here. Clearly they were gearing up for an attack with 3 of the towers finished and one more being built (I'm assuming that was what the pit area ponies were working on). I hope AJ can give those ponies a good funeral eventualy.
A prison? It would explain the barrier at sea. But why was it abandoned? Who was kept there and why? What is maintaining the barrier?
"Neither god nor master"
Security towers
Slaves and cattle prods
Magical barrier
Sudden storms
We're looking at a right old cult/rebellion here.
It's been... two weeks since you looked at me...
*ahem*
No, AJ, take some tomatoes, since you're at the greenhouse anyway!
Oh, a helipad. Neat... where's the helicopter?
No, AJ, take all the wires, you can use them like little ropes to tie sticks together. For your project. Thing.
Nevermind.
That's not foreshadowing or anything. Also, where there's a key, there's a door.
Oh crap. We've not heard the last of this cut. Blood is the key that opens the what-I-presume-must-be-a door under the mountain? Infection? Worse?
4497887 Two steps back.
Let's hope that that isn't the case, whatever lies in store for our Applejack.
Dont know if this has been said yet but...
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*sighs* I just want to comfort Applejack. Every time she's hurtin', I just wanna scoop her up and hold her~
As do the readers . . .
~The lizardman will be patient
Well now we know more about the 'what'. But I still feel like it's not moving enough forward.
Just a minor gripe, but that should probably be "sapient".
Buzzing pedestals inside "security stations"?. VERY interesting. I think I know what the island is, but I'm still at a loss for why.
I don't know if this is actually realistic, given how many apple trees are at the Acres.
Or, maybe...
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/11445__safe_animated_jappleack_-period-mov_apple-period-mov.gif
Apples to apples, past to past.
Appledoggie!
AppleVision®
INIT_REBOOT_V11_HDR
Checking subsystems... [BKGD]
Performing optical scan... [DONE]
Analyzing data... [DONE]
Rendering image... [DONE]
Great chapter.
My first guess would normally be that the island is a prison, but the whole "No gods, no masters" thing doesn't really fit with that. Even so, I can't help but think that something else is going on with those cages, beyond them being slave laborers or something. What if - for example - those bones were the islands inhabitants, and the cages weren't so much to keep ponies in as much as keep something else out? Though, I don't know why they would use cages, and not, I dunno, bunkers. Who knows at this point (except the author)?
Also, I can't help but notice that there are six security stations (a number that's rarely just random in this fandom). I would think there's some connection to the elements (the pedestals?), though I don't see how that would fit in with canon. Again, we'll see.
Between concussions, psychological trauma, cuts, and possible malnutrition, AJ's gonna be a mess by the time this is over.
Oh damn... that bit with the multitude of caged ponies... that was just sad.
So when is Applejack gonna find the leftover vats of cyanide Kool-Aid?
When I first started reading this story at the beginning when AJ woke up on the island, I was so sure she would stumble on a dead body at some point. For a while, I believed it would be Rainbow's she'd find because of how RD rushed into the storm. I imagined she didn't make it.
I wasn't expecting her to find remains, though. That was a bit of a shock. Poor AJ, it really broke her.
I love this story.
*Nothing
*collapse
>no gods no masters
>slave pens
Uh huh, sure.
So, when does she get her shotgun?
This chapter was a lot longer than I expected. Glad to see AJ getting out and exploring! Though it's sad what she found. I'm surprised she was affected that much, but I really don't know that would actually be like.
I feel like AJ, working on a farm, would have enough pain tolerance to deal with putting alcohol on a cut. At least enough to not shout in pain.
I hope she finds the answers she wants. But to find that 'key,' I think she may have to buck up and go back into the mountain. Just remember to bring more than one touch this time!
One thing I've noticed is that you seem to use the "accidental discovery" plot device quite often. Like with the stone in the clearing, the tower door (did she not think to push on it?), and I'm pretty sure there's others I'm forgetting.
Great story though! I look forward to these updates must of all, and can't wait to see where we go from here.
I see we have very similar tastes in gameboy rpgs, if things keep going that way the gems are more important than they seem.
Rhombus, Round, Oval, Square, Eye, Triangle, Moon
Awesome
Just
Awesome
I just finished reading the last 4 chapters.
All we have is more unanswered questions.
Why is this place built with slave labor?
What do the security stations do?
What's with the Snowglobe dome thing?
I love this story so much.
4500871 "Because We Can."
-Humanity
Chilling in a most delightful way.
Jacky, can I call you Jacky, you have to understand that when dealing with things of this nature you'll find that death is a mercy.
Damn good chapter, powerful and intriguing.
Hello. I'm new to this forum, perhaps you guys could help. I have a problem with my copy of Mother of Invention. I've acquired a digital copy (PC version) with all the DLCs yet when I boot MoI up it doesn't allow me to select 'jungle camo' outfit. Do I need to install the content somehow? I've looked into many FAQs and even checked if there's anything in MoI files on my disk. I haven't found anything and it really frustrates me. Any ideas?
fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/107/2/6/welcome_to_the_jungle_by_hachaosagent-d4wjr31.jpg
Should probably either be "dead", or without the "the".
Also, the whole getting-frustrated-and-hitting-something-and-suddenly-it-works thing is getting old. You've used that three or four times now. Same thing goes for about-to-leave-when-she-suddenly-spots-something-important. I realize it's to build suspense, but you need a few other ways of doing so.
Finally got around to reading this, and, well...
This is by and large one of the best chapters to date. Not only was it important in more ways than one, but it also fluctuated in its atmosphere, which, in this case, betters the story. This chapter was heavy in spots and light-hearted in others. Off to read the next one, but keep it up, Zap!
4511717 well, a few masters. Whatever, nobody's perfect
Only by staring in the darkness, can one see what lies there.
I made that up, but this part is kinda inspirational!
Sweet Celestia's prismatic mane and glorious fetlocks but that's DARK! I'm... really glad of my hiatus from the site now, because it means I can read the rest of the story in its entirety now, and I won't have to have THAT hanging over my head, unfinished. Hopefully.
Those storms don't seem to be having much effect on the place Applejack set up camp.
It looked like some ponies had some masters on this island...
So many memories of playing Miasmata. Exploring the island, finding dead people and nonsensical messages, trying to make sense of that goddamn map, and falling headfirst off of cliffs. (And being chased by a shadowy monster, but that's practically a given in this genre.)
I wonder if this has anything to do with the forcefield...