VISITOR THREE
Applejack sat with her back against the boarded up door. In her lap she held the pickaxe she’d taken from the barn and on the floor next to her was a half-empty cup of apple cider, poured from the lone barrel in the kitchen. After she drank enough to numb her tongue, she pushed the cup away.
She’d already lost track of the hours since the attack. Every time she’d face the clock and notice how much time had passed since half her family had gone missing, she wanted to smash the thing against the floor. Maybe it would be best not to think about what might be happening out in the fog.
Since the attack, Applejack hadn’t slept at all. Each time her eyes would start to close, she’d see her friend torn to pieces once more, jolting from the sight. She knew the moment she shut her eyes was the moment they’d come again. And she knew if she didn’t answer their calls, Apple Bloom would be the one to do so. Her sister was far too young to deal with such horrors.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t abate her nerves a bit.
She picked up her cup again and took a sip, a burning sensation against the back of her throat.
After the pegasus with the wounded wing vanished from their porch, Applejack had opened an assortment of cans and heated the contents on the stove. Barely above room temperature, she fixed herself and her sister a plate and they ate in silence, a small breeze whistling against the eaves.
Applejack chewed without tasting, glancing up every few moments to make sure her sister was eating, too. Eventually Apple Bloom finished her plate, but not without Applejack’s constant reminders.
Shortly after, Apple Bloom went upstairs and Applejack took her place by the door, a lone candle close to the wall giving her just enough light to see.
She spun the pickaxe in her hooves and drank from her cup; the possibility of her using it on another living creature becoming more and more a reality. If someone tried to harm her or her sister, she wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to them.
The light from the candle danced against the wall and she followed it with rapt attention. There truly wasn’t much else to do. If only she could stop reminiscing for a time.
To her, the events at town hall felt like only minutes ago.
***
The doors rushed open and the panicked crowd pushed outside in all directions. A half-circle of changelings stood ready for them all, diving atop lone ponies in pairs and either devouring them where they stood or lifting them up to carry them away.
An older mare watched the rest of the attendees pour out from the doors, shrieking a stallion’s name. The stallion in question surprised her from behind and she immediately embraced him, trembling and in tears. Then her husband bit into her neck and soon the changeling dropped the appearance altogether, and the mare began to shriek all over again.
One of the changelings standing by the doors turned to another and nodded in Applejack’s direction. Together they charged at her, and when two more wordlessly joined the pair, Applejack knew her and her friends must have been labeled as the first to find and destroy. She didn’t give them the opportunity.
“Stay back!” she shouted, knowing very well what little good it would do.
Once close enough, she spun and roughly bucked with both legs. One changeling’s head snapped to the side, while the other was hit along the shoulder, crashing to the ground. Applejack bucked at the others that came, missing wildly due to nervous energy. One tried to take a sizeable bite from her shoulder, but she wrung its head between her legs before its fangs sunk through. While she dealt with that one, another came behind her and kicked out her legs, toppling her to the dirt. After she heard the changeling’s neck snap in her grasp, she focused on the one that had blindsided her, eventually ripping out its wings as it hissed and spat and clawed for her.
For a time she swayed in place, out of breath and sore. All around her were harrowing screams of pain, as more and more disoriented ponies were ripped apart, in perfect view of their families.
All things considered, Applejack got off easier than most.
She turned to the emptying hall again. “Apple Bloom?”
Her sister sat on the ground, her tearstained face watching a pair of changelings effortlessly grab a fleeing stallion along the road. Meters into the air, when their captive refused to stop thrashing around, the changelings let go of him. He smacked head-first with a snap and went limp.
Without wasting another moment, Applejack ran to her sister and pulled her up.
She told her, “Stay right beside me. Don’t lose sight of me.”
Apple Bloom turned her head to stare at the carnage surrounding them. Applejack stopped her with a hoof, directing her face to her.
She shook her head. “There’s nothing we can do. We need to run. Now.”
Applejack pulled her along to get her moving, glancing around as ponies and changelings screamed and thrashed and more and more heavy trails of crimson littered the road from above.
Half-way up the street out of town, another pair of changelings flew out of an alleyway and slammed into Applejack, bending her ribs. With the wind knocked out of her, she struggled to rise from the dirt. The two changelings grabbed at her sides and prepared to lift her into the air.
Spinning fast, she lashed out again and hit one in the temple, cracking its hardened shell as it hissed and grabbed at its head. Once wounded, they dropped her to the ground and left her clinging to her wounded side.
Painfully, she got back up and looked around. “Apple Bloom?”
Her sister was back on the ground, eyes overflowing and hitching in air.
Applejack ran to her and hugged her. “It’s okay. I’m all right. Just bruised up a bit.”
Her sister was trembling again. “I thought you were gonna leave me. Please don’t leave me, Applejack. I thought they were gonna take you away.”
Applejack shook her head. “Never. That’s not gonna happen. Not if I can help it. But we need to move.”
The rest of the trip home, Applejack kept her sister firmly in her sights.
***
Applejack stared at the bottom of her cup and instantly felt the need to fill it again. Her tongue had gone numb and so had her cheeks, and she thought that maybe if she drank enough, things wouldn’t be as bad as they were.
Finding their way back home was difficult as it was. The small moment in time she thought her sister might be gone had been the worst of all. All that could have happened in the few seconds she’d taken her eyes off her.
“I only lost sight of her a moment,” she told the empty room. “Just a moment, that’s all. Just a short—”
She was interrupted when someone knocked on the door.
“Applejack? Apple Bloom? Are you in there?”
“Is everyone all right? Is my sister in there? Do you know where she is?”
Applejack held her pickaxe close to her chest. “Please not them. Why them?” Sluggishly, she got to her hooves and inched closer to the window. Then she stopped moving entirely.
Why do I need to answer at all? she thought coldly. It’s not them. It can’t be them. Not together—not like this. It’s too perfect. It’s just too perfect. They couldn’t have made it this far—not by themselves.
Sweetie Belle shouted from the porch, her small voice cracking every few words. “Hello? Is anyone in there? Do you know where my sister is?”
As tempted as she was to ignore the changelings’ latest attempt at getting inside, Applejack knew there was always a chance Apple Bloom might overhear. Above all, she didn’t want to include her in the conversation to follow.
Applejack went to the crack in the boards, narrowing her gaze. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked back and forth along the porch, attempting to look inside. Their small hooves clopped against the wood. Applejack spent a moment looking them over and couldn’t find a fault on either of them. No blood. No cuts or bruises. Only red eyes and worn expressions. But that would be easy to replicate, wouldn’t it? Of course it would. Anyone traveling outside would have looked like that.
Applejack closed her eyes and exhaled. “Keep your voices down, please.”
Sweetie Belle turned to the noise. “Who said that? Applejack, are you in there?”
She exhaled again. “Yes. Yes, it’s me, but you need to be quiet.”
Sweetie Belle ran to the window and pressed her hooves against the glass. Scootaloo stood next to her, both of them searching along the boards for her.
Sweetie Belle said, “Applejack, I’m so glad you’re okay! Is Apple Bloom in there? Is the rest of your family?”
Her voice was still too loud. “You need to be quieter, Sweetie Belle. It’s not safe right now.”
Scootaloo asked, “Is Apple Bloom in there? We don’t know what happened to her or anyone, actually.”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes watered. “Please tell me my sister’s in there. I don’t know where she is and I haven’t seen her since she left last night. Please tell me she’s okay, Applejack.”
Applejack felt a knot form in her gut. “I’m sure she’s fine, Apple Bloom, wherever she is. But that’s not here. It’s just me inside. I’m not sure what happened to anyone, honestly.”
Through the window, Sweetie Belle lowered her head, a few tears spilling onto the porch. Scootaloo placed a leg around her. She asked, “Do you have any food in there? We haven’t had anything since last night.”
Applejack felt something warm behind both eyes. It wasn’t fair, she thought. It wasn’t damn fair.
“I might,” she answered bluntly. “But tell me how you two got down here to begin with. Were you two at the meeting? I don’t recall seeing either of you.”
Sweetie Belle sniffled. “I had Scootaloo over last night to keep me company while Rarity went. Only she never came back. Outside, everyone was screaming and yelling and those changeling things were everywhere. In the boutique we kept the lights off and watched through the upstairs window. No one bothered us. And my sister… she never came back… and I don’t know why…”
She wept into her friend’s shoulder, fresh tears dripping down her cheeks.
Scootaloo looked at the window. “We left when that fog started building and it got quieter outside. We thought we’d find one of you if we kept searching—Rarity or Twilight or someone. But we didn’t find anyone, so we kept walking to see if someone was at Sweet Apple Acres.”
Applejack had to bite her tongue to stop from crying. It helped clear her head.
She might have believed the wounded pegasus before—perhaps she did, truthfully. But the story presented to her now was too perfect. The notion that they were able to stroll out into the fog and not get caught. The notion that they were both closely related to some of the most powerful mares in Equestria and weren’t included in the attack. The notion that they were together and unscathed. None of it sat well with her.
She asked them, “And not a single one of you were harmed, or attacked, or anything on your way over?”
Sweetie Belle turned her sobbing face to her. “We hid. We heard someone coming and we hid in the grass. It only happened a few times.” She ran a leg across her eyes. “Will you come help us find the others, Applejack? My sister and them? I’m worried something’s happened to everyone. Why wouldn’t Rarity come back for me? She said she’d be right back and she never came.”
Applejack laid her head against the board. She said softly, “I can’t come with you two.”
Scootaloo asked, “Why not? We need to help them! Find them!”
“Because as far as I know, this place is safe. And I need to keep it that way.”
“Then can we have some food, then? We’re tired and I don’t want to be in this fog anymore.”
Applejack thought for a while.
If Scootaloo had been invited to spend time with Sweetie Belle, why hadn’t Apple Bloom? Or had she been invited and she just didn’t know? How could they have made it this far without a scratch? And would Rarity have even left her sister alone with only a friend? So much of it didn’t make sense to her. So why did she want to believe it anyways? To swallow all their sugary words and allow them inside? To embrace them both and tell them they were safe?
The changeling masquerading as Twilight had been right. It would’ve been so much easier if she simply gave in to all their lies. At least she would stop tearing herself apart out of uncertainty.
But she wasn’t doing all this for herself.
Applejack closed her eyes. “I can’t let you in. I’m sorry, but I can’t believe what you’re telling me. You can’t be here. You shouldn’t be. If the two of you traveled out in the open for as long as you’ve said, you would’ve been torn to pieces by now. It’s… it’s all too good to believe.”
One of them hammered against the glass.
Sweetie Belle said, “What do you mean, Applejack? You need to help us! I don’t want to be outside anymore! There’s things flying in the fog and blood on the road! We need to find my sister, Applejack! What about my parents? I need to know if they’re all right!”
Applejack clamped down on her tongue until she tasted blood. “I told you to stay quiet!”
“Who’s at the door now, Applejack?”
Applejack turned, a lump in her throat. Apple Bloom stood in the center of the living room, bags under both eyes. She glanced between her sister and the window behind her.
She asked, “Why won’t you let them in? It’s only us in here and we could help them.”
Applejack pointed a leg at her. “Now this isn’t something you need to be hearing, little sis. Go back upstairs and I’ll come get you when it’s safe. We’ll… play a game or something. But more than anything I need you to go upstairs right now. Can you do that for me?”
Apple Bloom craned her neck to look behind her sister.
Scootaloo yelled from the porch, “Is that Apple Bloom in there? Why didn’t you tell us she was in there? Apple Bloom!”
Applejack turned her head. “Not another word!”
Sweetie Belle shouted, “Apple Bloom! Something’s wrong with Applejack! She won’t help us look for anyone and she even said you weren’t in there! I think she might be one of them!”
Apple Bloom’s ears fell flat against her head and she ran to the door. Applejack held her back with a leg.
Her sister screamed at her, “Why won’t you let them in? Why won’t you let them in?! They need our help, Applejack! What’s wrong with you? Let go of me! They need my help!”
Applejack told her calmly, “Those are not your friends, Apple Bloom. They might sound like them and look like them and know how your friends might act and think, but those two outside are nothing more than changelings, pure and simple. If you’ll let me explain, I’ll—”
Her sister flailed against her leg. “We can trust them, Applejack! I know we can! They’re telling the truth; why would they lie? Not them! You need to trust them, Applejack, please!”
Applejack extended her leg, nudging her sister back to the center of the living room. She took a few breaths. “I know this hurts, but this is the way it’s gotta be. Think about it for a moment and you’ll realize how none of it makes sense. Would you have made it back here without an adult? Probably not. So how did two little fillies make it all the way out here? All without a damn scratch on them. It doesn’t make sense, Apple Bloom. And that’s why they can’t come in here with us. They’re trying to trick us again, just as they did before. So you’re going to need to trust me when I say that that door needs to stay shut until I say it’s safe.”
Apple Bloom sank to the floor, verging on tears. “And what if you never say it’s safe? What if you don’t believe anyone that comes here, Applejack? They might all be telling the truth and you might be killing ponies because you didn’t trust them when you should’ve.” She pointed at the door. “They might be telling the truth; you can’t know for sure. What happens if someone comes to rescue us and you don’t believe them, either? You’ve gone crazy, Applejack. You haven’t trusted anyone yet and you haven’t let anyone in. You think everyone’s out to get us.”
Applejack shook her head. “You don’t understand what they’d do to us if they got in—if even a single one of them did. They could break this place apart. They could corner you and devour you whole. I can’t let that happen. Not to you.”
“You said we would help ponies! We haven’t helped anyone! We’re killing them!”
Applejack came close to her. “You might not understand this today, but when you’re older you’ll understand why I did what I did. I don’t like these choices either, but I’m willing to make them and stand by them. I hope you know I would do anything to keep you safe.”
She knelt to her sister on the floor, attempting to embrace her. Apple Bloom roughly shoved her away.
“I don’t care what you think anymore. I know they’re telling the truth and because of you they might be killed. They’re my best friends in the whole world, Applejack. And now… I don’t know if I’ll ever even see them again.” She turned to her, tears coursing down her chin. “I hate you, Applejack. We’re never going to be rescued and it’s all because you can’t trust anyone. I don’t think we’re ever going to get out of this house.”
Applejack held a leg out to her. “Apple Bloom… please don’t say that…”
Apple Bloom got to her legs and trotted upstairs. She heard her door slam.
Feeling about as hollow as a tin can, Applejack eventually went back to the window and found her porch uninhabited once again. On the verge of crumpling to the floor in a heap of tears, she drank from her cup, grimacing as the alcohol stung the area where she bit her tongue.
Applejack decided she would stay by the door until the next visitor came around.
It would be a few minutes more until she noticed her hammer missing from the kitchen.