For the next couple hours Twilight seemed to have serious insomnia, tossing and turning every second her eyes had closed. The doors had reopened, rumbling and shaking the ground with tremendous force, and when they had finished, Twilight laid beside a worn, tilted picnic table next to the sleeping area. Her mind was clouded with overloading thoughts of the Changelings;
Why did they only come out at night? What did the do to the ponies who got locked out? What would it be like to be mobbed by something so...nauseating.
She tried to get the topic out of her head, move on to something else. The Gallopers. They had left without a word to anypony, bolting into the Maze at full speed, splitting and disappearing around shadowed corners. She pictured them in her mind as the fork, held in her telepathic grip, poked at the eggs and bacon, climbing over a small sliced apple that was all placed in front of her moments before. She refused to speak to anyone, even Fluttershy, who had tired herself trying to start a conversation with Twilight.
All she wanted to do was to be left alone.
She just couldn't understand; something, somewhere was telling her she should have known everything about this place, but her mind was in overload trying to compute the sheer possibility of the situation. How could a maze, with walls over twenty feet tall, have been so big that dozens of mares hadn't been able to solve it for somepony knows how long?!
Try as she might to block it, her brain kept turning back to the Changeling. The creature bounded from the darkness, and seemed to leap at her every time she closed his eyes. A strong tap on the back dropped her from her own thoughts, and she looked up to find Applejack standing behind her, eyes boring holes into her skin.
"Ain't ya looking 'fresh." The earth pony smirked at Twilight's solemn glare. "Get 'ah nice view of ta window, this morning?"
Twilight set the fork down and pushed herself up, hoping a snarky comeback would come to her, and sighing when it came up blank. "Enough to make me want to learn about this place." She said, hoping to avoid provoking the temper he had seen flare in the girl before.
Applejack nodded. "Me an' you, shank. The Tour begins now." She started around but froze once more, holding up a hoof to Twilight's muzzle. "An no questions tal th' end, got it? Ain't got no time tah be messing with ah pony acting like ah rattle snake."
"But-" Twilight's muzzle snapped shut when Applejack's eyebrows shot up. Why did this mare have to do such a jerk? Twilight stood straighter, standing her ground; she was not backing down like with Rainbow. "But tell me everything-I wanna know everything." She decided the night before, after witnesses the scare of a lifetime, not to tell anypony else how strangely familiar the place seemed , the odd feeling that she'd been to a place like this before. Sharing that information seemed like a bad idea.
You should've seen the looks on your faces! Priceless!
Twilight shook her head, clearing the disturbing voice from her mind. But she couldn't help finding it...familiar.
But from where?
She decided to add it to her growing pile of unanswered questions, shaking her head and staring clearly back at Applejack, who had been thinking for an exponential time frame. " Ah'll tell ya what ah wanna tell ya, Greenie. Now get along."
"Can I come?" Fluttershy asked timidly from the sidelines.
Applejack said nothing, then reached down and nipped at the poor pegasi's butter-yellow ear. Fluttershy turned a deep red, folding her hooves across her head. "Ow!" She quietly muttered.
"Ain't ya got a job ta do, workpony?" Twilight felt a pang of disgust at the nickname for her friend. "Lots of sloppin' to do?" Fluttershy's face lit up in an instant. She unlocked her head-hold, clapping her hooves together in delight.
"Oh, I just love all the little pigs and sheep!" She looked to Twilight. "Have fun."
"I'll try." She suddenly felt a bit sorry for Fluttershy. Even though she seemed to like what she did, she wished ponies would treat her better. But there was nothing she could do about it-time to move on.
She trotted away with Applejack, hoping the Tour had officially begun.
Twilight stared uncomfortably at the Shaft, her mind wandering back to the panic and fear she had first felt when she woke in this place. The day had brightened considerably, the ghastly shadows spreading in the opposite direction of what Twilight had seen yesterday. She still hadn't spotted the sun, but it seemed to be just about to stretch over the left wall.
Applejack pointed a stiff hoof down at the doors. "This here's thah Shaft. Once ah month we get ah pitiful Newbie like you, has never failed before. Once ah week," She stabbed her hoof in another direction, toward a corner filled to the brim with boxes and barrels. "We got supplies, weapons, ahnd food."
Twilight unconsciously nodded, secretly overwhelmed by the new information. Her mouth inched to ask more, but stopped when Applejack sent another glare in her direction.
She subconsciously wondered what horrors layer under the doors when the Shaft wasn't there, but bit her tongue to stop herself from blurting out. She felt such a competing battle for emotions-fear, anguish, curiosity-all laced together with the experience of the Changeling watch.
Twilight whipped around when Applejack kept talking, not making any attempt for eye contact. "Here," She waved her hoof in a presenting matter. "There are only four sections ya need ta know 'bout." Twilight gathered everything as she calculated what was around.
The Glade was cut into four sections? Huh, she hadn't noticed.
"-Gardens, Safehouse, Homestead, and The Shed." Twilight could resist scoffing at the last one, the instantly regretted it as Applejack finally acknowledged her existence, raising an eyebrow with upmost haste.
"If y'all got something t'say Greenie, then spit it out."
Twilight's anger boiled, and she stuffed most of it back, while keeping her hoof steps light as she came a bit forward. "...The Shed." She finally deadpanned, positioning her hoof to slam against her forehead.
Applejack didn't waver, staring with the same amounts of intensity as Twilight moments before, and the unicorn felt like Fluttershy as she shrunk back. "Yes, The Shed." The mare snapped. "Do y'all get it?"
Twilight hesitated, then slowly shook her head, confused beyond belief.
Applejack's eyes fluttered for a second as she rubbed them, and Twilight frowned when she realized the mare was probably thinking of a thousand other things to do at the time. She pointed towards the southwest corner, where fruit trees, mainly apple, grew by the hundreds, various fields close by.
"The Gardens-where we grow all the crops. Water is pumped in through small holes along the walls of the Maze. I mean it ahlways has," She gave a half chuckle, but Twilight found it sounding more like a mortified scream. "Or we'd ahll starve."
Why? Applejack seemed to have read her mind, for she answered almost immediately. "Never rains here." Her haunted gaze stared down Twilight. "Ever."
Her face turned solemn again, and she know pointed toward the southeast. "Safehouse." Twilight get urged for her to continue. "Really? Ah mean, it's a Safehouse. Nothing else to it." The unanswered questions still lingered in the unicorn's mind.
Applejack let out a huge breath, mumbled something in Twilight's mind similar to 'always being sent idiots.' and stuck her hoof now up to the northeast. "Homestead, though y'all's probably already seen it."
Twilight nodded like mad, desperate to pass this conversation.
"Stupid place is already about four times the size as it was when ah got here 'cause of all the supplies coming fr'it. Ain't pretty, but it works. Most of us sleep outside anyway. Just seems..." She paused, searching for the correct word for use. "Natural." She finished.
Twilight was utterly lost. So many questions splintered her mind she couldn't keep them all in order.
She calmed when Applejack pointed to the last corner, the northwest, where animals in pens were placed all over, corning a small building large enough for at least two ponies each. "That's," The mare paused, staring a bit guiltily in Twilight's direction. "Y'all not an animal lover, raght?"
Twilight found the question odd, but nodded none the less.
"Good, then that's The Shed. It's where we raise animals and kill 'em." Twilight couldn't hide the look of pure disgust on her face, which soon mirrored on Applejack's. The earth pony stamped a leg against the green grass. "Y'all said ya weren't an animal lover!" She grumbled loudly.
"I'm not!" Twilight reassured, waving a hoof frantically to evade Applejack's rage. The mare let out a hmm before readying herself to start again. "But that doesn't make it any worse than it already is." She secretly mumbled alone.
"Don't do that, Greenie. Ah thought you were gonna act like 'Shy on her first day." Applejack scolded, her green eyes flashing darker before returning like it had never happened.
Twilight's mouth opened before she had a chance to stop it. "Fluttershy's an animal lover?"
"...Yeah." No more words were spoken between the two mares until Applejack cleared her throat, as if wanting to change the subject. "Y'all spend the next two weeks working a day apiece for the different job Keepers-until ya get one that sticks-everyone it works on."
Applejack moved toward the south door, located between what she had explained as the Homestead and The Shed. Twilight wrinkled her nose in disgust as the sudden stench of manure came wafting from the animal pens. Applejack kept saying-words like Slopper and Trudger-that didn't sound so good. She came inches close to interrupting the mare most times-but held her tongue at the last second.
She finally blocked the sounds out and focused her attention along the pens close to The Shed area.
Pigs flew through the air into small mud pits, the flickering of their tails the only sign they were alive after being completely covered. Small sheep littered the corner next, straying away from each other as the timidly grasped a small hay piece in their mouths. Cows, however, completely pushed one another as the fought for the tiny stacks of food placed in their area, mainly greenish hay.
I remember clearly these animals, what they eat, how they behave, no doubt. But why not...anything else?
Applejack pointed toward a rusted house by the back, near the overwhelming forest of trees. Back there's where th' Hackers work. Nasty stuff, ah'll tell ya. If ya love the sight รก blood, that's your place."
Twilight shook her head quickly. A Hacker to her seemed like somepony she despised. Both mares moved back through the overcrowding pens, and Twilight caught sight of Fluttershy for a moment, the pegasus giggling as she rubbed her front hooves against the head of small pigs. Mud covered her entire body, but she seemed to take no notice as the animals crowded rounded her with glee.
She bumped into Applejack when the mare suddenly stopped, hard like a stone in her position. Twilight looked up, and was surprised to find them in front of the South Wall; the two walls racketing the exit above them. She craned her neck to the top of the Maze above her; but her mind spun with he observation that she was looking down, not up. She took a staggered step back, once again awed by the structure now surrounding her home. Applejack now had turned opposite of the exit, waiting for Twilight to finally notice.
"Out there's th' Maze." Twilight stared at the gap in the walls that served as an exit for the Glade. The corridors seemed worn down to the point of collapsing, unidentifiable scribbles filling up the sidelines, bordering the large separation of both sides of the specific doors.
Twilight squinted, holding a hoof over her head to block the blasting sun. Applejack hummed as she mare softly called her name. "What are those?"
Applejack leaned over her shoulder, and her eyes glossed over she realized what her new accompany had gestured to. "Names." She murmured, taking a slight step forward. She then quickly stiffened at her mistake, nearly stumbling back. Twilight noticed the small amount of terror in her forest green pupils, but decided against venturing onward.
"Of everypony who has come 'ere." Twilight snapped back to attention, sighing as she realized her guide had not taken notice. "How long do you think us ponies have been livin' in this 'ere Glade?"
Twilight had not been expecting the sort of a question. And now that Applejack's tone had been reduced to a mere pathetic whisper, it only added to her uneasiness. "I-" she began, only to cough awkwardly as her voice came as a high whine. "I don't really know." She spoke clearly this time around.
"I'd say about a year or so?"
Her brow furrowed as Applejack shook her head. "Sorry, Greenie. But ya be wrong. Ah came here nearly four years ahgo."
The next few moments were an eerie quiet as Twilight tried to comprehend what her tour guide had just told her. "You've been here for almost five years." She stated. Twilight gaped at the silent but confirming nod.
Applejack now seemed to have been reduced to a former shell of her usual self. "The Tour is now over." She concluded, taking another shaky step back. "Ah need ya up and working by the ahfternoon."
"Why is it over so soon?"
"Ah need to get ready." Applejack responded steadily. Twilight cocked her head, confused beyond belief. "Where are you heading?"
Her muzzle formed a frown as the earth pony let out a dry chuckle. "It's ahlways going t'be like this, huh?" She paused her walking pattern. "Ah'm heading out with Rarity later t'day. She says they found something in th'Maze."
There was a gleam in her eyes as she spoke her next words. "Curiousity causes death, Sugarcube. But ah think ah can handle anything." She then galloped off, and Twilight's mind sparked as a new, but in a way old, memory formed back into existence.
****
Twilight seemed to have the ability to move on her own this time around, and eyed Applejack curiously, watching as the mare slammed her back hooves against the sturdy oak. "Phew." She sighed as the fruit came raining down, but then nearly toppled over as her world when dizzy. "O-oah."
Twilight placed a hoof on her forehead. "What on Earth is that pony doing?" She muttered, then carefully advanced toward Applejack, watching as she missed the next tree entirely.
"Whoops."
"Hey Applejack!" Twilight forced a smile, but it faltered as she heard the distinct sound of the snore. Her gaze narrowed. "Applejack." She seethed. Her anger nearly boiled over as the mare continued to sleep blissfully. "Applejack." After a few seconds of silence she internally screamed, then began to open her muzzle. "AppleJACK!"
Applejack jolted awake, breathing becoming ragged as she blinked. "Oh, howdy, Twilight." She said when she noticed her friend.
Twilight gave her a deadpan expression, which in turn made Applejack wince. "What is all this?" She snapped, gesturing to the mare and the tress surrounding her.
"It's Applebuck season." Applejack explained simply, but froze as her world become and sickening grey. "Whoa." She murmured, eyes crossing.
Twilight squinted. "Applewhat season?" She ventured quickly.
"Neh, It's what the Apple family calls harvestin' time. We gather all the apples from the trees so we can sell 'em."
Twilight then tapped her hoof along her chin. "But why are you doing it all alone?" She asked, scanning the miles left of tress which still held apples.
Applejack's gaze went downcast. "'cause Big McIntosh hurt himself."
Twilight was beyond confused of the situation she had put herself into. "What about all those relatives I've met when I first came to Ponyville? Can't they help?"
"They were just here for the Apple family reunion." Applejack kicked the dust off her hooves, but it barely did much to help. "They actually live all over Equestria and are busy harvestin' their own orchards. So, uh, I'm on my own. Which means, I should really get back to work." she coughed. "Ahem... hint hint? Get back to work?"
Twilight glowered, stepping aside for her friend to move by. "Fine."
A moment slid by without either speaking. "Could you step aside, Twilight?" Applejack questioned again, eyes once more glossed over.
The mare's brow furred as Twilight shook her head "I just did." Her expression went to sympathy. "Applejack, you don't look so good."
"Eh, don't any of you three worry none, ah'm just fine and dandy." She took a step forward and stumbled, muzzle inches from the grass. "Whoa."
"Do you... want some help?" Twilight reared back as Applejack now shook her own head furiously. "Help?" She barked a laugh. "No way, no how."
"But there's no way you can do it all on your own." Twilight confronted the fairly simple truth, and watch as Applejack stared her down with a chilled stare. "Is that a challenge?" She asked darkly.
"Uhm... no?"
Well," Applejack snorted. "I'm gonna prove to you that I can do it! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got apples to buck."
****