The streets were empty and dark as Jake slowly made his way back to the farm. He wanted to confront Fritzer as soon as possible, but he thought that it would be best to wait until morning, considering he'd probably be asleep and not even wake up to talk.
After another ten minutes of quiet walking, he found himself at the front gates of Sweet Apple Acres. As he walked in the front door, Applejack was sitting at the table. She got up and went over to him.
"There ya are! What in Celestia's name took y'all so long?"
Jake had a blank stare on his face, the same one he'd be donning since he left Twilight's house.
"Fritzer Mach, the carpenter whom we got the wood from, is from my world just like me."
The farm pony had a confused look on her face.
"That's impossible. He said he was from uh...where did he say he was from again?"
"Sponsus Lake. But Sponsus is Groom in Latin. Groom Lake is the official name for a place called Area Fifty-One...the place I was flying by when I was sent here."
Applejack registered everything in her brain, and her confused look turned to one of shock.
"What does he want?! Ya think he's after y'all?"
Jake shook his head.
"No I don't believe so. He confronted me in the field as I was walking back. He never showed himself, and ran away before I could speak with him. But he left a note. The one that gave me the translation. I don't know what to do now. I think I'm just gonna go to bed and worry about it in the morning."
He walked past Applejack and went up the stairs.
"Well g'nite then."
She went into the living room to shut off the lights and go to bed as well.
His room was dark, with just a sliver of moonlight coming through the closed curtains. He took off his uniform and hung it up. Crawling into bed, he noticed the wind had begun to pick up, and the old window panes softly rattled whenever a strong gust came by. The captain laid his head down and closed his eyes, attempting to get some sleep after the hectic day he just had, unaware of the stallion that was emerging out of the orchard towards the house with a devilish look in his eyes.
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Applebloom was running down a track, finish line in sight, in the lead by an entire bodies length. She approached the end. Twenty feet, panting for air. Ten feet, not stopping for anything. Five feet, two feet. Snap! The finish line tape broke as she came across first. The crowd went wild, chanting her name. The filly looked back to see a cutie mark resembling a pony's silhouette, angled forwards in a run with speed lines coming out of it.
"Awesome! I finally got my-"
Her dream was cut off as she snapped awake to the sound of a large thud outside. Applebloom slid out of bed and quietly tiptoed to the door. The hallway was quiet except for the deep snore of her older brother in the room next door. As she made her way over to the staircase, the floorboards creaked under every step. She reached the top and looked down to the front door just as a shadow moved from outside across the dim moonlight the window was casting.
Applebloom had always been one to not get scared easily, and normally she would have played this off as just a tree branch or a stray animal, but this was certainly a pony, and she knew Jake had come home already because she heard him come upstairs a little while ago.
The color drained from her body, she managed to overcome her shock and quietly but hastily go over to Macintosh's room. The filly opened the door and went up to the snoring earth pony and whispered to him.
"Mac...psst! Big Mac wake up!"
She started to shake him.
"Mac please wake up...ahm scared."
He started to grumble and rolled over, opening his eyes to look right at her.
"What do you want Applebloom? It's three in the dang mornin' an' ah gotta work tomorra."
There was a single tear from the panicking filly, and Mac saw it. He sat up instantly.
"What's wrong?"
Applebloom's breathing got a little heavier as the shock from before set in again.
"There's somepony outside. An' ah know it's a pony. They were right on the front porch."
Macintosh knew that her sister had a wild imagination at times, but the look on her face told him she was dead serious. He got out of bed and went to the door.
"You go an' wake up Jake right now. But stay up here an' don't come near the stairs."
His little sister nodded and walked into the hall, making her way towards the pilots room.
Mac went the opposite way towards the staircase, and upon reaching it, he froze. The front door was wide open, creaking back and forth in the wind that was picking up. A very tired Jake walked over to the farmer.
"What's the matter. Applebloom told me that-"
He was cut off as he followed Mac's pointing hoof to the open door.
"Oh crap. There's somepony in the house isn't there?"
The red pony nodded.
"So what do we do then?"
He sighed.
"Ah guess our best option is ta stay right here an' guard the upstairs. There ain't nopony except the intruder down there, so as long as he don't come near us, we'll stay out of his way."
Jake gulped.
"Are you sure?"
"Eeyup."
They sat there for a couple minutes. Then Mac went back to his room to get a club he used to use to hit rotten apples with like a baseball when he was younger, just in case things got ugly. He came back and sat down, leaning the club against the wall to his right.
"Ah just wanna say right now that if anythin' happens, it was a pleasure ta meet y'all. Yer probably one o' the first real friends a'hve made. Ah never get the chance ta get out much with all this work. An' yer the first pony a'hve actually enjoyed workin' with 'cept for mah sister."
Jake processed the information and nodded to him.
"Well it's been fun being here. When I first met you, I was a little scared to be honest. I didn't know how you were going to take the news that I was the one that destroyed your barn and injured your leg. But I guess it all worked out. I hope nothing happens to either of us. Maybe the intruder is gone. It is kinda quiet down there. You think one of us should take a look?"
Mac shook his head.
"Ahm stickin' ta the plan. Ah'll stay up here all night if it means ensuring mah families safety."
Jake suddenly realized something.
"You know, what if he came up the roof and went through an upstairs window? It's always possible."
Macintosh cursed under his breath.
"Alright, Jes to be sure, go an' check in on all the bedrooms. If they're up here, yell an' ah'll come a runnin'."
"Ten-four."
He slowly crept over to Granny Smith's room past the staircase at the opposite end from his own. He slowly opened the door and peered in. Nopony except for Granny Smith herself was in there. She was snoring quietly.
Jake passed Mac again and made his way to the farmers room. Once again, it was intruder-free. He went back and checked the bathroom between Mac and his grandmothers room, just to be sure. His next stop was Applebloom's room. He went in to find her sitting on her bed, a worried look on her face.
"Is everythin' alright?"
He nodded.
"Yes, I'm just making sure you're ok. Try to get some sleep now."
He closed the door and went over to Applejacks room. He debated wether or not to wake her, and decided against it. He made his way to the last door; his room. As he opened it, a heavy thump was heard at the top of the staircase. As Jake swung around to see what it was, he froze. Mac was in a chokehold with a knife to his throat. Behind him, a pegasus stallion, black with a short red mane, was the one holding it. He spoke in a quiet raspy voice.
"Shhhh, we wouldn't want anything to happen to your 'new' friend now would we. That's right, I've been right beneath you two the whole time while you were having your little conversation. I must say, this guy is a real family colt. To bad he'll be a dead one soon."
Jake spoke up, quiet enough for the rest of the Apples not to hear him and wake up.
"Listen, I don't know who you are, but please don't hurt him. I'm guessing this has something to do with my little encounter earlier and the note I received, right?"
The intruder nodded.
"My you're a smart one aren't you. Yes it's true, I'm from Earth just like you. But it's different for me, I don't like it here. Everyday I sit for hours and think of ways to escape, but I can't. I'm above killing myself. What good would that do? I'm trying to get home, not end my life and eliminate all chances of doing so. So for five years now, I've been going crazy. Day by day, I live in this prison I've transported to. You coming here and loving it made me snap I guess. Why should you have the opportunity to love your new life, while I never got the chance to in the first place? I try to find what's so good about it here, but every fiber of my being says its terrible. It's funny, I'm insane, yet I know it and accept it. It's strange what people do while they're insane."
He drew the knife closer to Mac. Jake tried to stall again.
"Who are you anyways?"
The mystery stallion chuckled.
"Here's where my story gets good. The reason I hate you is because you love this place and I can't. But it's weird...I'm the one who brought you here. So why shouldn't I love it too?"
Jake look confused.
"Ok, who are you? I need to know."
The black pegasus donned a wicked smile.
"Doctor Robert Draplen, at your service."