White

by Mayclore


Running On Empty

The rain had passed by the next morning, but a soupy, humid mess was left in its wake. Upon learning that more bad weather was coming, Applejack was keen to get outside and clear the trees most desperately in need of harvesting. Fuyu obediently followed her as they walked away from the farmhouse. It was oppressively hot despite the thick clouds hanging over them, and the blonde was already sweating.

“Phew! Let's make this fast. Dang apples are gonna cook on the trees at this rate!” she joked, dabbing at her forehead with a handkerchief. She glanced over at the woman in black as they walked, and blinked. “You're not even sweatin'.”

Fuyu's pale skin was indeed completely dry, save for the thick humidity that enveloped both of them. She said nothing in reply, only shrugging at the comment and walking on. It took them ten minutes to reach the particular stand, and once they arrived the blonde explained what she was aiming to do.

“Got twenty trees we need to clear,” she began, walking around one of them and examining its load. “Pinkie and – can't even believe she agreed to it – Rarity are comin' over ta help us crate 'em and carry 'em to the press. Once we get 'em in there, I can do the rest.” She doffed her hat again to wipe away the sweat. “I'll take these ten,” she pointed, finger tracing a path down the row past the tree she stood under, “and you get those ten,” she concluded, pointing to the tree directly beside that in the row adjacent, then over at nine more trees down the way. “Got it?”

“Yes,” Fuyu nodded once, then shuffled over to her first tree. While Applejack was carefully lining up her kick, the woman in black simply threw a punch. The blonde cringed but watched this time, amazed at the velocity of the blow. Fuyu held her follow through for a fraction of a second after contacting the trunk, not even flinching when one of the apples struck her in the head. By the time Applejack launched her kick, Fuyu had moved on and already performed her second punch.

“Dang! Wait for me!” the blonde gasped, the one kick having sapped a great deal of strength thanks to the humid air. Fuyu paid her no attention, and by the time Applejack started aiming her second attack, the woman in black was on her fourth tree. “Fu! Don't break your hand!” she called out worriedly. Her words were almost perfectly punctuated with a fifth punch, and the blonde couldn't help but cringe again. “Good grief,” she whispered to herself, going back to eying the trunk in front of her. Fuyu was done with her row by the time Applejack had gotten halfway finished, and the blonde was again wiping sweat off her brow as the other woman came over.

“I am done,” she advised, standing there with her hands jammed in her pockets. “What now?”

“Hold on,” the blonde panted, doffing her hat and using it to fan herself. She looked up at Fuyu again, and saw only the faintest sheen on her skin. “Just gotta catch my breath,” she added, grimacing as she leaned on the tree trunk. She blinked when Fuyu abruptly walked away, and followed her as she went to the next tree in line. “What're ya doin'?” She cringed again as the woman fired another punch, bringing down a shower of apples. “Fu, stop it. I'll get these, I just need a br—Fuyu!” she exclaimed, following her to the next tree. “You're gonna hurt yourself! Stop!”

Her plea was ignored yet again. There was a whisper of a flinch when her hand struck this trunk; she could feel the bones in her hand shattering for the twelfth time, all the way up to her wrist. As with each punch before it, she shook her hand for a few seconds afterward as she walked to the next tree. Applejack was behind her, scolding her and demanding she cease, but she pushed the noise out of her mind and continued on. She could feel the black sludge inside of her, coursing through her veins and concentrating itself on her ruined hand. By the time she was ready to throw her next punch, the goo had already mended and restored her broken bones. It was a heavy draw on her reserves, and the more damage she did to herself, the louder her stomach began to rail. She considered the tradeoff to be worth it, however. The faster she was done, the faster she could hide in her room. Being out of sight of Applejack was the only way she could stop thinking of her as a tall, blonde sandwich, ready to eat. She reacted badly, therefore, when she was physically stopped from hitting her next target. Her arm had been grabbed as she drew back her fist, and the blonde appeared beside her with genuine terror in her eyes.

“Stop, damn it!” she demanded again, her grip tight on Fuyu's arm. “You're gonna mess yourself up real bad!”

Fuyu had to look up at Applejack slightly – she lacked three inches of height when compared to the farmer – but despite the size difference, she was able to easily yank her limb away. “I'm fine.” While the blonde was stunned by her strength, she threw the delayed punch. Her bones again broke, but the noise was masked by the crackling of the bark. As she walked through the fallen fruit to her next target, Applejack moved over and stood in front of her.

“No,” she bellowed, arms spread wide, “That's enough! I appreciate ya tryin' ta pick up my slack, but I ain't gonna let ya hurt yourself in the process! Let me finish!” Her demand was met with the iciest glare she'd yet seen from the woman in black, and despite her determination she felt a faint chill move down her spine. “Please, Fu, I'm worried. Ease off.”

With those words, Applejack's obstruction downgraded itself from grave mistake to confusing gesture. Fuyu looked down, then up again and blinked, trying to determine what worry was. It somehow attached itself to the word friend in her brain, and the association snapped her into a calmer state despite her stomach sending angry messages. She relaxed her stance and glanced off to the side with half-lidded eyes. “Very well.”

The blonde slumped a little with relief and sighed, afterward gaining a slight smile. “Thank ya.” She then took Fuyu's hand in her own and pressed on it, checking her for injuries. She was stunned when she felt nothing out of the ordinary. “Dang. You must be made of rock.”

She found the touch to be rather odd, and twitched every time Applejack pressed on her fingers, and very nearly squirmed when she pressed the line in her palm. “I'm fine,” she droned out again, simply wishing the blonde would withdraw her hand. She finally did, and Fuyu took a step back, jamming her hands in her pockets. “What should I do now?”

“Just take a break, I ain't gonna start pickin' these up until the others get here,” Applejack advised, again doffing her hat to deal with the sweat. “Should be pretty soon.” Fuyu nodded and watched as she kicked the next two trees, and soon the grass around them was covered in a splotchy red layer of ripe apples. Applejack sat down against the trunk of her last target and let out a loud exhale, removing her hat entirely and letting it lay on the ground beside her. “This heat is ridiculous!” she complained, trying to sop the sweat off her brow.

Fuyu had no response for that, and simply stood nearby with her arms folded. After a few moments, a low noise began to permeate the air, and she looked back in the direction of the farmhouse to see that the old red truck was slowly approaching them. Applejack stood up and started walking to meet it, so Fuyu followed her. She recognized the passenger as Pinkie, bouncing up and down happily in the seat, but the driver was unfamiliar. The truck stopped short of the apples littering the ground, and the pink-haired woman quickly hopped out and rushed over to them. Her chaotic hair was tied back in a ponytail, and most of her was covered by denim overalls.

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” she chirped shrilly, latching on to the blonde in a fierce hug. Applejack chuckled lightly and hugged her back, trying to keep her face out of the bouncy bang that wasn't tied back.

“Howdy Pinkie,” she said as they released each other. She chuckled again as the process repeated, although Fuyu's reaction was decidedly more confused in the face of the bear hug.

“Hello?” she stammered, unable to lift her arms because the baker's own were wrapped around them.

Pinkie squeezed her for a few seconds more with a big smile on her face before letting go and looking back at the truck. The purple-haired driver still hadn't gotten out, and seemed to be in some distress, having an unhappy look on her face. “Why hasn't she gotten out yet?”

“Let's find out,” Applejack replied, leading the three of them over to the driver's door. The woman inside rolled down the window and frowned, continuously smoothing down her shimmering locks.

“This humidity is going to ruin my hair!” she lamented, her words rich with accent. She looked at Fuyu and stared quietly for a moment. She stared right back, feeling that electric spark again, albeit in a weaker form. “Pardon me, I don't think we've met...”

“Figures y'all would be worried about your dang hair,” Applejack said, standing aside a bit so the woman could approach the door. “Fu, this is my friend Rarity.”

She did indeed step up, but only to get a better look at the new arrival. Rarity was a slender bronzed goddess with shining purple hair that fell in waves to the small of her back. As she reluctantly climbed out, Fuyu found they were the same height. She wore a white baby tee and tan capri pants, and had white and purple tennis shoes on her feet. After she had finished brushing herself off, Fuyu had only one question for her.

“Are you going to hug me, too?” she asked, folding her arms.

Rarity considered that for a moment and smiled a bit, instead offering a hand. Fuyu saw the blue jewel on her palm. “Let's try that. I'm surprised Pinkie didn't hurt you with hers,” she noted, blinking at the red line when Fuyu lifted her own hand. “Oh my, what happened to your palm?”

“I don't know,” she replied flatly, only shaking briefly before letting go. Pinkie blinked and zipped over, grabbing one of her hands before she could jam them in her pockets and looking at it. The act agitated her, but she stood still and waited for it to be over with.

“Oh no, you've been hurt!” the baker exclaimed, frowning as hard as her facial muscles would allow her.

“It doesn't hurt.” She reclaimed her hand and turned around, looking at the crates in the truck bed. Without another word, she grabbed four of the heavy wooden boxes and hauled them out, two in each hand, and braced them against her chest as she walked to the nearest cleared tree.

“My goodness,” Rarity blinked, staring after her as she went. “She certainly is a strong one.” Applejack shrugged at her while Pinkie, still frowning, rubbed her chin in thought.

“Y'all missed what she did a few minutes ago,” the blonde finally said, moving to get two crates of her own. “Ya know how I get the apples down? Well, she punches 'em off the branches. I don't know how she didn't break her hand.” The other two got a crate each and pursued the blonde to the first tree. Fuyu, meanwhile, had already filled one of her crates.

“I didn't catch your name,” Rarity said as she arrived, daintily plucking apples off the ground with her magic and glancing over at her.

Pinkie began to bounce, dropping the apples in her grasp in the process. “Ooo! Oooooo, I know it!” she cheered, hand raised as if she were in a classroom.

Rarity giggled lightly, but shook her head as she continued to magically pick up fruit. “Darling, let her answer.”

Fuyu stopped her work and looked up, staring at Rarity's use of magic for a moment before laying eyes on the woman herself. “I am Fuyu,” she stated simply, and bent down again to grab apples.

“Still pretty!” Pinkie blurted out randomly, skipping around and retrieving the fruit she had dropped.

Applejack and Rarity laughed, but the woman in black was silent. Her problem was now worse, roughly akin to a starving man being shown a buffet he cannot reach. She was surrounded by food, and yet she could not – would not, she found, to her mild surprise – make herself strike. Since she'd stopped injuring herself, at least her stomach was a little quieter, but the labor was still drawing on her energy at a rate higher than she was used to. All she wanted to do at the moment was get the work done and get away from the three of them before something awful happened, and because of that singular goal, she was loading apples at a frightening pace.

“Look at her go,” Rarity blinked, watching her take two of the crates to the tree across the row. Now that she was across the way, Applejack's demeanor changed from focus to slight concern.

“Hey, Rarity,” she said, waiting until the woman looked over. “Can I ask ya a favor?” She again paused for the nod of confirmation. “Could...could ya make Fu some clothes? She ain't got any. She ain't got anything, come ta think of it.”

“What do you mean?” the dressmaker asked, walking over to the blonde after filling her crate full of apples. Pinkie sensed the change in the air and stopped skipping around, looking between her two friends with confused eyes.

“I ain't got all the details, but I'm pretty sure she was homeless before I found her,” the blonde stated, standing up fully and dusting off her hands. “I talked to Granny and Big Macintosh about lettin' her stay here, but all she's got are the clothes on her back.”

Pinkie looked rather droopy at hearing this information, as did Rarity. The latter spoke for them both. “That's terrible! How long has she been that way? Did she say?”

Applejack shook her head, and for a second they all watched her as she continued to tear through her task. “She don't remember nothin' 'bout herself but her name. Said she'd been like that for five years. Dunno if she's been homeless that long, but it wouldn't surprise me none.” There were gasps, and Applejack sighed. “Breaks my heart.” She turned back to her friends and saw roughly similar feelings. Rarity had both her hands over her mouth, while tears clung to the corners of Pinkie's eyes.

“Of course I will,” the dressmaker finally said, trying to shake off her emotion and lift the crate with her magic. She grunted involuntarily at the weight. “No wonder she's so quiet, who knows what happened to her out there.”

Pinkie stewed quietly for a moment before dashing over to the topic of their conversation and throwing her arms around her. Her victim was holding a loaded box of apples in preparation to move them to the truck, but the impact didn't seem to faze her much. “Poor Fuyu! You must have been so lonely and sad and scared and, and, and...” she trailed off, running out of words. Instead, she hugged tighter and sniffled. “I'm gonna cry!”

Wordlessly, Fuyu stared ahead and remained still as she waited for the embrace to pass, but it took almost a minute for the baker to stop sniffling and let her go. Once she did, Fuyu simply picked up where she left off and carried her cargo back to the truck. Rarity and Applejack, having done the same, were already there. They watched the exchange and glanced at each other.

“She's a quiet one, too,” Rarity said, after Fuyu had gone back to get another loaded crate. Pinkie was too busy feeling sad enough for the both of them to notice anything, and made a hilariously exaggerated face as she brought her own full crate back. “Pinkie, darling, I'm not sure she likes being hugged so hard,” the dressmaker advised on her arrival.

“She didn't say that,” was the confused reply. “She didn't say anything!” Pinkie grabbed another box from the truck. “Come to think of it, she didn't even move really.”

“Try askin' first, Pinkie. I think she might be a little like Fluttershy, ya know, doesn't like her personal space gettin' all hugged to death,” Applejack said, picking up two more boxes of her own and heading back to the trees.

“Oh, okay!” Pinkie nodded rapidly.

They all went back to work, but even the three of them together couldn't keep pace with Fuyu. Without their interrupting, she finished her row quickly – they had three trees to go, but this time she waited at the rear of the truck while they continued on. She was visibly weary, and not just from the effort put into the harvest.

“Shut up,” she mumbled to herself. Her stomach was wailing like a banshee, so loud she could hardly think. It seemed like hours before the other three women were finally done, bringing their last crates back to the truck.

“I'm going to have to use an entire bottle of conditioner after this,” Rarity cried, her once perfectly coiffed hair now as frizzy as it could be. “Look at my hair! Look at it!” She set her last box in the truck bed, called off her magic and glared at a chuckling Applejack while folding her arms. “You owe me.”

“I know, I know,” the blonde said, raising her hands after offloading her final crate.

Pinkie giggled too, but her laugh was louder and much longer than the blonde's. “You look like me!”

Rarity tried desperately to flatten her hair down with her hands, but failed time and again. “I don't do the poofy look as well as you, I'm afraid,” she sighed. In the quiet that followed, they all finally looked at Fuyu. “Darling, you don't look well.”

“I'm fine,” she said, but her appearance betrayed her as she turned around to face them. She looked absolutely exhausted, despite the lack of expression on her face.

Applejack frowned for a moment and walked over to the woman in black, patting her on the back gently. “We can take it from here, Fu. Can ya walk back?”

“Yes,” she replied, twitching a little each time the blonde's hand contacted her. She started her journey immediately, waving a hand at the goodbyes from Pinkie and Rarity. As soon as she felt she was out of their sight, she looked over her shoulder and sighed with relief. “I can't do it,” she told her stomach, placing a hand on it. “We have to find someone else.” This idea didn't please her hunger in the least, and she frowned as her stomach roared unhappily. “But...but friend,” she offered weakly, only to be shouted down. She gave up after that, shuffling toward the farmhouse. It took her twice as long to get back, and once she was inside she immediately went upstairs, into her room, and locked the door. Slowly, she climbed into the bed and laid down on it, deciding to get her daily catnap out of the way while she was alone in the house.


When her eyes opened again, she knew right away that something was wrong. She slid out of bed and went to the window, finding that it was far too dark for her to have just taken a nap. The clouds were thick and heavy, and off in the distance, some of them bore the dusky yellow glow of the town's streetlights. The moment she was fully awake, her stomach began demanding again.

“No,” she scolded it, glaring at nothing as she went to the door. It was still locked, as she'd left it earlier, but a white shape on the floor in front of it caught her attention. She picked it up and found it to be a note, although she had to bring it to the bed and turn on the lamp to read it. It was Applejack's advising her of a trip to Rarity's boutique in the morning, scrawled across the paper and difficult for Fuyu to read. The thought of being trapped in an enclosed space with the two of them made her extremely uneasy. On the one hand, she enjoyed the company to be sure, in an odd sort of way. On the other, she had miscalculated her endurance under such heavy work. She was long used to the rigors of constantly being on the move, but the repeated application of her strength was new and draining. Worse yet, it would be three days until Stormy returned with someone she could feel all right about killing.

If she returned.

The consideration of that possible outcome only caused Fuyu even more stress; stress that pulled at her reserves of energy. It was too much for her to take. She needed something to tide her over for just a little while. She rose from the bed again and went to the door, unlocking it and pulling it aside. The hall was just as dark as the orchard outside, and she stalked down it barefooted, glancing at each door she passed. Not all of them were closed; the one across the hall from hers, at the end nearest the staircase, was ajar slightly. Curious, she peeked inside.

What she found was Applejack's bedroom. She was not by herself in bed. Fuyu could barely see the unruly hair of Rainbow Dash, though most of her was hidden by the blonde's larger frame. They were snuggled together under the green blanket, and one of them – she couldn't tell which – was snoring gently. A further look inside revealed Winona sprawled out on the foot of the bed, on her back and paws in the air. This drew a frown; one of the things she hated most in a potential target was an accompanying dog, as they were able to detect her presence and alert her food. Winona, however, didn't budge. Deterred for the moment, Fuyu left the doorway and began moving down the stairs. When she got to the bottom, she detected a faint light that was not coming from the windows. After taking a few steps more, she saw that it was coming from the open refrigerator. Apple Bloom, clad in yellow pajamas, was standing nearby with a glass from which she was drinking. She only noticed the woman in black after she had walked past the counter that divided the kitchen from the living room.

“Oh, hey miss Fuyu,” she said, her tone a bit startled at first. “Ya couldn't sleep either? It's so dang hot upstairs.”

“Something woke me up,” was her reply. She looked at the bottle on the counter next to the fridge. Bloom had gotten some of the sparkling cider.

“Shoot, was it me? I'm real sorry,” Bloom apologized, her face dropping into a frown.

“It wasn't you.” Fuyu took the bottle and stared at it for a moment before looking back at the young girl. “Can I have this?”

She nodded happily and grinned. “Sure! That came from the case Applejack and them just made today! It's the best when it's real fresh like that,” she said, sounding for all the world like her sister.

Fuyu tipped the bottle up and drained it with one pass, emitting a slight belch when she removed it from her lips. Bloom giggled at the noise, setting her glass in the sink and shutting the refrigerator door.

“Just leave the bottle there, we can take 'em to town and recycle 'em,” she said, shuffling out of the kitchen with a wave. “Good night!”

“Good night,” Fuyu repeated tonelessly, lifting her right hand away from her hip just enough for a black blade to emerge. She stalked Bloom like a shadow, her footfalls so light the girl didn't even hear them on the usually noisy steps. Just past the open door, the girl tripped with a squeak, landing on the wooden floor and groaning.

“Dang it,” she whispered lowly, grimacing as she braced her upper body with her arms. Behind her, Fuyu had her right arm straight up, readying the strike. Before she could bring it down, however, a noise from Applejack's room froze her.

“Apple Bloom?” It was the blonde, her voice groggy but laced with concern. “Y'all okay? Why are ya up?”

“I'm fine,” the girl called back, standing up and dusting off her knees. “Just got somethin' ta drink.” She had no idea Fuyu was behind her and simply walked on to her room. The woman in black slowly dropped her arm, but let the ebony knife remain out.

“Come here, you,” another voice said. This was Rainbow Dash. Fuyu didn't stay to eavesdrop, instead retreating to her own quarters and again locking the door.

“What is wrong with me?!” she hissed at herself, pacing around the bed. In this case, however, her stomach was almost literally doing the talking. “I could have eaten her whole, no one would have known!” She sat stiffly on the bed and clutched at her skull, hunched over and breathing heavily. “Hungry...”

In reality, she knew exactly why. To hurt Bloom would be to hurt Applejack. To hurt Applejack would be to hurt her friend. Even in her panic, the thought of that word made her feel a slight pop of happiness. The sensation was intoxicating.

She had become addicted to the kindness. Even with her incomplete logic, she had figured out that hurting any of them would probably bring that kindness to an end, and it was a notion that sent her heart plummeting to her feet. Now that she knew kindness, she was bitterly unwilling to let it go. No matter how much she liked it, though, it still wasn't going to fill up her stomach.

“Three days,” she said to herself, then glanced up at the wall clock. “Two,” she corrected herself, seeing that it was after midnight. “Two days. Just...just two days, then I can...” She could not even speak the words detailing her last resort, and instead let the thought sit like an icy stone in her mind. “I don't want to!”

If that much time was allowed to pass without her eating, there would be no choice, and she knew it. She slid back onto the bed and turned off the lamp, allowing the darkness to envelope her as she laid down again. All the while, her hunger roiled, just a little bit louder than when she had woken up.