//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: First Contact // Story: The Final Strike // by BlackDragon //------------------------------// Morning, and the trio of creatures had finally arrived at their destination. It wasn't easy, no thanks to the unforgiving environments that was the Equestrian jungles and forests and the viscous animals that called it home, but they could finally take comfort in that they could begin. The first of the group, the leader, was the first to speak with a rugged voice. "Alright, soldiers. We made it. The Town of the Equines." Indeed, it was a bit of a town; almost medieval in design and material. The stone foundations and walls and hay roofs made him feel more fortunate with the concrete and steel of his home. But now, he and his team would need to set up camp. "First Lieutenant!" Another one of his kind marched behind and stood tall with both arms on either side of his body. He gave a salute as he spoke with a smooth, yet firm, voice; much more gentle than his commanding officer. "Yes, Captain!" "Me and the Second Lieutenant will be setting up camp further back, in case of any curious Equines. In the meantime, I want you to scout out the town and determine any defenses it might have. Report back the second you have it completely checked from inside and out." The lower ranking officer replied, "Yes, sir!" As he made his way, he quickly ducked under some bushes nearby. The Captain and the Second Lieutenant proceeded to unpack their bags. Though none of them said it, they could both tell from the look in each other's eyes. This was it; the point of no return. The First Lieutenant would've instantly been spotted, had he not done that, especially with the number of equines of this place. He had heard stories of these creatures since he was a youngling, but the creatures in the flesh were even more perplexing than the ones mentioned in the folklore of his home. They were small... horses... that were very small, colorful, and... smiling. He could never understand what they had to smile about, nor why they would smile in the first place. Surely, they must remember what happened long ago, right? Yes, they surely must remember! They must! Regardless, he had to continue on his mission. He will deal with what they know later. Though where could he start? He made up his mind to scout out the natives' agriculture first, to see how these creatures were sustaining themselves when they seem to be incapable of wielding the tools his kind used for crops and livestock. Soon enough, he made it to a... a farm?! Oh yes, whether he would believe or not, he was witnessing what appeared to be a child's image of a farm to be very real. It was almost too real for his comfort. But, what bothered him the most who, or rather what, was apparently living at the farm. There were two more of those tiny horse creatures, one male and one female, working on their massive grove of apple trees. "More like an apple forest," he scoffed to no one in particular. The male miniature horse was a large, red stallion with an oranges mane and tail and a sliced green apple on either side of its rear end. He was kicking the trees behind him, resulting in the hanging fruit to snap off of the branches and fall straight into the baskets set around the tree. The female was doing the same thing. He decided to take a closer look. As he made his way to the farm, he was finally starting to realize the true scale of this town. It was unbelievably tiny! The roof of the farmhouse was quite high off the ground, but it was just barely within his reach; and he was just under six feet tall. If he was this large in the Town of the Equines, then how had he not been spotted by now? Were all the creatures really this blissfully ignorant or was he just that good? He found the former to be more likely, but he wasn't going to take any chances, so he went to another part of the grove where the three equines weren't at. From there, he continued his observation. The orange equine was standing before one of the many apple trees on the farm. She had a determined look on her face as she turned to the opposite way, facing away from the tree. She then lifted her back legs and slammed her back hooves against the bark of the rather small tree, shaking the whole trunk and branches until the apples finally broke from their stems and fell into the wooden buckets placed around the tree. Some of the apples missed the buckets, but the orange horse was quick to put them there before she placed the buckets onto a wagon that was strapped on the red horse. Once the wagon was full, the red horse pulled it out of the grove to the barn. Meanwhile, the First Lieutenant was starting a particular interest in the farm's apples. He could barely remember the last time he ever had any such fruits, freshly grown. The most he had were dried for convenience or he discovered that they weren't ripe, much to his regret. Surely, they wouldn't mind if he were to take just one apple right? Of course it wouldn't. What they don't know won't hurt them. Just one... bucket? Yeah, one bucket. He quietly moved in closer to another apple tree that was being kicked by the same orange horse. She had already freed the apples of their stems and most of them had fallen into the buckets. However, one apple landed off the edge of one of buckets and rolled on away. "Consarnit!" she yelled before she went on after the apple. The Lieutenant seized this chance and went after the nearest bucket he could reach. He grabbed it and though the apples made it heavy to lift, the small size of the bucket still made it doable. Feeling a rush of energy coursing through his body, he ran to the barn where he could gather any resources he and his team might need. Applejack hated it when the apples rolled off as it was such a nuisance and a waste of time. With the apple in her mouth, she made her way back to the buckets when she noticed something different. After a brief inspection of the barrels, she gasped and dropped the apple in her mouth when she realized that one of them was missing! Some of her apples had been stolen! Snorting a gust of wind in rage, she sprinted all the way to the barn where she found Big Macintosh pulling an empty wagon for the next batch. She ran up to Big Mac directly to his face and ordered, "Big Mac! Get the pitchforks! We got a thief in tha farm!" Big Macintosh's eyes widened and his mouth gaped slightly but with an assertive "Eeyup," Big Mac unstrapped himself from the wagon before running back to barn with Applejack right behind him. After a quick search in the barn, they came back, each armed with a pitchfork in their mouths. With a nod at each other, they split up to opposite directions to search around the farmlands in search of the thief. Big Mac started his search around the farm as he examined any potential hiding places and poked his pitchfork into haybales and small areas the thief may lurking. Meanwhile, Applejack ran all throughout the grove, looking around every tree around her but she was having no luck so far. Deciding that Big Mac may have better luck, the farm pony quickly retraced her steps until she found her way back to the bark, where she continued her search in such enraged and focused state, that she failed to notice a yellow figure that just barely reached her sight before crashing into it with enough force to skid across the ground a small distance. She dizzily rose from the ground with her vision gone blurry before she shook her head to clear it up. She heard a pained moan and she turned around to see Apple Bloom, her little sister, laying on the ground covered in dirt and her bow all crumbled on her head. Applejack gasped as she went up to the little filly and gently lifted her with her hooves. "Apple Bloom! Oh, mah gosh! Ah'm so sorry! A-A-Ah didn't see ya there!" The farm pony froze at the sight of her younger sibling as the pain of guilt started growing in her chest. The little filly had a few bruises on her sides and one on her left cheek; her legs also had cuts deep enough to start bleeding. As she suffered these injuries, Apple Bloom just stood there in place as she rubbed her hoof on her head that was swaying around. Applejack was starting to feel the guilt grow in her chest even more, but she quickly ignored the pain and began leading her to the house. "Ah'm sorry, Apple Bloom. Let's get you patched up, okay?" The little filly only nodded as she groaned in pain again. When the sisters entered the house, Applejack gently placed Apple Bloom on the living room couch before she ran off to the kitchen. She found a cloth hanging from a rack, then grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol from a nearby drawer, and dipped the cloth into the alcohol before returning to Apple Bloom, whom was still laying the couch but was starting to gain visual clarity. After a brief warning, she started dipping the moist cloth into the wounds, causing the little filly to wince and hiss at the burning sensation on her legs. Applejack couldn't help but help want to cry at the sight of her injured sister in such pain. Suddenly, the door was opened by Big Macintosh, pitchfork still armed in his mouth. It was released when he gasped at the sight of the injured Apple Bloom, but Applejack quickly caught his attention. "Big Mac, the thief! Did ya find anything?" The stallion shook his head and focused on his sister. 'Eeyup. Ah saw some weird tracks heading out of the farm and into the woods nearby. They look fresh, so he couldn't have gone far." Applejack smiled. "Alright! Let's go get this sonovagun!" The Apple siblings ran out the door, leaving Apple Bloom still laying on the couch. But, little did they know, she happened to have heard her older siblings. A thief in the farm?! How dare he! He's sure got some guts coming to steal from the Apple family! With what little strength she had, she slid off the couch and ran out the door as well. She couldn't any tracks the Big Mac mentioned, but something did enter the corner of her eye entering the barn. She couldn't get a good look, but she knew that it wasn't an Apple. She immediately went after the figure and stopped inside the barn, only to find it... empty. There was no sign that anypony, or anything, was there in the first place. Feeling defeated, she turned back to the doors when they slammed shut in front of her. Then there stood figure towering above her. Whatever it was, it was tall; defintely taller than Applejack or Big Mac. It was probably about as tall as Princess Celestia herself! As she froze in place with a gaped mouth, she almost found her voice when she was suddenly grapped by the scruff of her neck and lifted high off the ground, frightening her a bit. Then the creature growled. "Be quiet, kid. If you scream, you'll regret it." Apple Bloom tried to resist to the urge to scream, but she just couldn't. Big Macintosh and Applejack returned with irritated expressions. Turns out, the tracks led to nowhere. It was all just a ruse to lead them away from his path. Now, they had no idea where the thief went. For all they knew, he was long gone by now. Suddenly, they heard a scream coming from the barn, but it was soon silenced. Applejack gasped when she recognized the sound. "That sounded like Apple Bloom!" The siblings immediately ran to the barn doors when they discovered that it was locked from the inside. They tried ramming and bucking the doors open, but they just wouldn't budge. Then, they heard grunting and yelling along with more screaming. Apple Bloom's voice was heard again and it sounded like she was starting to cry, hitting the farm pony hard. "Applejack! Help! There's a monster in the bar-MMMM!!" "Back off! If either try to gat in anymore and the kid gets it!" Applejack gasped in shock, her precious sister was being held hostage! She so wanted to buck this guy's in, but she wasn't in control here. The thief was and, apparently, he wasn't afraid to get his hooves dirty. The thief spoke again. "Believe it or not, I'm not here to hurt anyone. I just want what I need. Tell you what, you let me go, and I'll let the filly go. Deal?" Applejack couldn't believe the nerve of this guy! He dared to steal her family's prized crops, kidnap her little sister, AND tell her to let him go unpunished? This was unbelievable! Yet, Apple Bloom was left in his mercy. She could only imagine her fear and her worry as she was trapped with him. The thought alone almost made her tear up. Finally, she relented. "Alright, take what you need! The apples, our tools, anything you want. Just... just please don't hurt mah little sister! Why are ya doin' this anyway?" There was a brief silence, at first. Then he spoke again, "You wouldn't understand. You'll NEVER understand!" Silence once again, then the doors mysteriously opened to reveal Apple Bloom sitting alone. She had tears rolling down her cheeks as she saw her big sister just beyond the door way. The young filly ran into her arms as she started crying and Applejack could only embrace her as she was just moments from crying herself. Still, she felt a greater emotion in heart that was unfamiliar to her, yet it was surprisingly fitting; hatred. She now hated that thief for his crimes against the Apple family. First, he defiled their land of its resources. Then, he defiled their precious sister of her safety and comfort after she was already injured! From that moment on, she vowed that, whoever was responsible for this, would never get away with it.