//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Mac's Tale II: The Blood of Apples // by Sir Barton //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Truths Exposed It had been the abruptness of the silence that had smothered the sounds of the reception area that had first signalled to Applejack that something was amiss. It was the kind of fearful hush that fell across a saloon in one of those cinema westerns just as the villain made their entrance. A combination of awe and trepidation was tangible in the air as she walked Apple Bloom up to the reception desk to make the appointment for her with Dr. Lily Soft. As they began speaking to the receptionist Applejack found herself becoming more aware of the slow building of whispers behind them. “Oh, my ...” “Do they know?” “Should we say something?” “Somepony should get them out of here …” The voice of the receptionist confirming that one of the physicians would be available in the next half hour or so to see Applebloom, and that they should have a seat in the waiting area, momentarily drew her attention away from the mutterings behind them. “But what about visiting Granny?” Apple Bloom piped up with cautious concern. It had been part of the original plan for the afternoon, and given the non urgency of Apple Bloom’s condition there was likely to be no rush on the part of the hospital staff. “Well how’s ‘bout we pop up and say a quick ‘howdy’ to Granny, and let her know we’ll be back up afterwards?” AJ had offered her sister, and the younger pony’s expression lightened a bit as she nodded her agreement. It had been as they had turned the corner from the receptionist’s desk towards the elevators that they had met the tired, disheveled, reason for the murmuring in the waiting room earlier. “Oh, hey there Sassaflash,” Applejack smiled at the blonde pegasus, “how’d it go with Caramel last ni ...” There was a flicker of something that flashed like a thunderbolt, in the pegasus mare’s golden eyes in the heartbeat before the stinging pain kissed Applejack’s cheek. Her world jerked violently with the hoof slap, and then devolved into chaos. A feathery blue and blonde, twister of hooves, wings, and rage engulfed her like a rabid wildcat, tumbling the room like the time she’d foolishly once tried to roll down one of the hills on the farm in an old cider barrel. It hurt about as much too, only this time it wasn’t punctuated with AJ’s fearful yelps as the barrel had rolled and bounced wildly down the hillside; the pain was carried along by a different soundtrack, one of shrill, grief laden screams and accusations that AJ could scarcely make sense of. “He tried to kill him you stupid hay-brain! He tried to kill him! I hope Creme and Piggy make glue out of him before the guards get here! I don’t care how many pieces he’s in as long as one of them can tell me why he did it! Why! why! why! …” By the time the combined efforts of a security guard, two orderlies, the duty nurse, and receptionist, had finally restrained the near psychotic pegasus, Applejack could only watch, stunned, as Sassaflash, her fury spent, wilted into a limp, blubbering, puddle of sobbing hair and feathers that eventually curled up into an unresponsive ball that had to be loaded onto a gurney and wheeled away. “What in corn’s sake was that all about?” AJ wondered aloud shaking the cobwebs from her head as the receptionist helped her to a seat, and somepony else passed her her hat that had been dislodged in the course of the altercation. “And who tried to kill whom?” “Oh dear, you mean you don’t know?” the duty nurse commented, brow furrowing in concern and disbelief as she helped AJ to get settled. “Know what?” Applejack let her words drop plainly with her own confusion. “Caramel was nearly killed last night out by the edge of the Everfree Forest … by your brother.” AJ’s jaw slackened and the contents of her gut rose like a great sour balloon within her as her ears focused on the tale as it was recalled. The duty nurse carefully explained how Sassaflash had flown in with a severely beaten Caramel, all the way from the Maiden’s Grove, on a cloud the previous night. A cloud that had been hidden in the bedding and ended up saving the colts life, along with the cloudwalking potion Sassaflash had slipped him at dinner. Otherwise the beating he had sustained would surely have been fatal. She also told Applejack how during the initial triage, before Caramel had been put under total sedation, he’d managed to tell the emergency staff the name of his attacker, … Big Mac. AJ sat there stunned. Her first instinct was to deny it, there was no way her brother could have, or would have, ever done such a thing. McIntosh, AJ knew, loathed violence. Even as a school-colt he found it hard to defend himself, though he was constantly bullied for being a scrawny, know-it-all, teacher's pony, egghead. No matter how often the other colts came after him, he wouldn't raise a hoof in his own defense, even after Ma and Pa had forced him to take self defense classes. It was a shame too for herself, as she thought of it. She’d never stood up for her brother either when they were little. She’d been too concerned with her own self image, trying to be a proper, well groomed, Manehattanite filly, like her Ma had been at that age, and not getting involved in such ‘colt things’, as her mother called them. Mac, like a good colt, was expected to be able to stick up for himself according to Pa, and Grampa and Granny Smith. Still, AJ had always made sure to be there to run for the teacher, like a good filly, or help her brother home when the bullies were done, because that’s what family did. There were times looking back, that AJ wished she had been less a lady and more a spitfire like Apple Bloom. If Apple Bloom had been in her horseshoes back then, there would have been quite a few more black eyes and bloody noses dished out, Applejack was certain of it. Apple Bloom! The thought leaped to the fore for Applejack, how was Apple Bloom taking the shock of this accusation? There was going to be a lot of explaining needing to be done. “Where’s Apple Bloom?” Applejack snapped her head back and forth quickly scanning the reception area for any sign of her baby sister. There was none. “Where’s Apple Bloom!” she let out in a panic straight at the duty nurse, who cringed back from both the volume and the vocal force of the demand. “She ran past me a couple of minutes ago.” Applejack’s attention homed in on the sound of the voice, bringing her head around to the main entryway where Twilight had just arrived. “A couple o’ minutes ago?” Applejack lurched to her feet as Twilight approached. “Easy there.” the duty nurse put a hoof on Applejack’s withers and tried to steady her in an effort to urge her back to her seat, only to be roughly shoved aside with a firm sweep of a foreleg. “What’s a couple of minutes s’posed t’ mean Twi’?” “Three maybe four, I wasn’t keeping track. I was rushing to come find you two after flagged down Rainbow Dash to rush that message from the Mayor’s office out to Spike on Rocky Ridge to send to Canterlot.” The studious unicorn explained succinctly, before her tone dropped sympathetically as she added, “I know what happened last night ...” “Horsefeathers you do Twilight!” Applejack cut her friend off, heading for the door. “Which way was she headed?” “South, back to the farm I …” Applejack didn’t give Twilight time to finish. Her gut tightened, her legs twitched, and her heart kicked into overdrive as she bolted from the hospital doors like a starting gate. Orange hooves tore clouds of dust and chunks of earth from the dusty track as they beat a fervent desperate rhythm against time itself. The ten furlongs between Ponyville Medical and the train station flashed by in probably less than two minutes if anypony had been keeping a clock on her, the long blonde ponytails of her mane and tail streamed like banners behind her. Even her trademark hat had blown off her head in her wild rush against the clock to try to avert disaster, and she had not looked back to see it snatched up in the telekinetic aura of her lavender unicorn friend, now nearly a half furlong behind her. Oh no you don’t … Applejack thought. Ahead of her she could see the Friendship Express pulling out from the station, the 12:45 to Canterlot. She diverted her course away from the tracks. Brave as she was, she was not delusional enough to try to beat a train when failure was not an option. With a combination of natural ability, and well honed skill, she cut behind the station house, vaulting and weaving around crates, travelers, baggage ponies, and luggage piles in a raw display that would have left the finest barrel racers and steeplechasers slack jawed with astonishment. Still despite her best efforts she knew it would add seconds to her time, seconds she wasn’t sure she could afford to spend. Bolting across the tracks behind the train, Applejack kept her eyes on the course ahead of her. It was four furlongs to the bridge. Then another two before the cart track entered the trees on the edge of the north orchard near the schoolhouse. Yet as she closed the distance to the trees Applejack couldn’t catch sight of any sign of her younger sibling. From the schoolhouse it was seventeen furlongs further on to the farmyard itself, ten if one jumped the fence and went as the crow flies through the orchard. Undoubtedly in AJ’s mind, that’s what Apple Bloom would have done. As she reached the first bend in the track she could see the hoofprints where Apple Bloom had left the worn dirt of the cart path, crossed the ditch and made for the orchard. A strong push from Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee launched her easily across both the ditch and fence and soon found her weaving along the narrow orchard trail towards the farmyard. Once into the shaded path through the trees AJ could feel the sweat running beneath the hair of her coat. Apple Bloom too would likely be sweating as bad or worse than she was. AJ’s gut tightened at the thought as it came to her. While she had her hormone suppressors to keep her estrous from being very noticeable, Apple Bloom had nothing of the sort. She was running straight into danger to try and save her brother from two very wound up stallions, and was going to be stinking like a raw harlot when she got there. There was half a hope AJ held out, that over the years Big Mac had acquired a scent blindness to the mares on the farm, but this being AB’s first time being in season, there was no guarantee. Creme Brulee and Pig Pen, on the other hoof, … there was no chance whatsoever. As she leaped the last fence and skidded to a halt in the yard she caught ear of a stallion yelp in pain from inside the work barn; her head and body coming around, she lined up for the charge. The fearful scream, of what could only be Apple Bloom that followed it, made AJ’s heart wince. She was too late … too late to save her sister. And then she heard the roar … * * * * * McIntosh grunted hard as the blow landed squarely below his barrel. The fact he had already been exhaling before the blow landed cushioned the impact. Earth gets hit all the time, but does not break. Why? Earth knows how to get hit. Mac could hear the words of Miyagi-sensei, the Ishiumajutsu* instructor that his parents had sent him to years ago as a school colt. The fundamentals of the Path of the Stone Horse were discipline and self control. Let one’s attacker wastefully expend their energy, and absorb, deflect, and redirect the aggression away from you, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Philosophically it was to become like stone, or earth as the old Neighponese Misaki mountain pony had taught. Of course there was more an expectation to block and maneuver as an individual in reality, but being held from behind by Pig Pen, McIntosh found the lessons in how to absorb a blow of primary importance at the moment. As the momentum of the impact passed, Mac drew in a breath as the big brown cart pony hauled back for another swing. “You must be feelin’ pretty sore from guilt to just take a beating like this, eh, Twiggy?” Creme growled through clenched jaws as he took a pause for breath himself. “Back in school you’d have been crumpled up bawling and waiting for your sister to bring the teacher to make it stop.” Mac just grunted and rolled as best he could as the hoof punch slammed home just under his left shoulder. “Too bad it’s not gonna happen this time, ‘cus I'm gonna make sure you’re looking every bit as bad as my brother by the time the Royal Guard show up to drag you away.” Mac gulped in a breath as Pig Pen hauled him straight again. Over the rambling dialogue of insults, threats, and accusations as Creme had laid in his beatings, Mac had come to understand that he stood accused of having beaten Creme’s younger brother, Caramel, nearly to death. There was also the possibility that the young stallion might still succumb to his injuries. Mac’s repeated firm denials of ‘Nnope’ to Creme’s accusations had only infuriated the brown stallion further. Of course Mac was certain he hadn’t, but there was something sickeningly familiar about how Creme had described his brother’s unfortunate fate. It was something that was tenaciously sticking in Mac’s beating addled brain, but not yet completely clicking … unlike the latch on the door. “Hey! You leave mah brother alone!” a young voice cut in on the moment as Apple Bloom entered the barn. She brashly scampered under Creme’s hindquarters before using Mac’s own stifle as a vaulting step to bodily hurl herself back at the big, dark brown maned stallion in an effort to push him away. It was a valiant effort, but three stone against twenty-three was futile. Creme easily wrapped Apple Bloom up with his forelegs pinning the struggling scarlet maned filly with her back against his barrel with ease. “Hey Creme, I guess it is like old times with Little Stick’s sister rushing to save his bacon.” Pig Pen chuckled as he held Mac secure. But Creme wasn’t paying attention it seemed; something else had captured his focus, and in a second Mac caught it too. Apple Bloom! Mac’s stomach curdled as he watched Creme tip his head down, his nose in Apple Bloom’s mane, and take a deep breath. Creme’s blue eyes went wide and glassy with realization as to what his nose was telling him. “Hey Pig Pen, seems like the little sprout here is ready to go to seed already.” “She wha …?” The dump pony started before he too caught the pungent aroma of estrous dripping alongside the sweat off Apple Bloom. “Don’t you dare.” Mac growled a bloody warning past a split lip, as Creme slipped a pastern down between Apple Bloom’s hind legs. The little filly’s golden eyes shot wide in realization as the big stallion’s hoof found her folly, and then it happened. Apple Bloom opened her jaws and bit down with everything she had squarely into the soft skin at the back of Creme’s left pastern. Creme yelped in pain and let the little fiery filly drop to the barn floor. Apple Bloom’s teeth remained clamped solidly shut as she fell away, tearing away a chunk of hide and skin from Creme’s leg in the process. “You miserable spoor.” Creme growled at Apple Bloom as she landed flat on her back in front of him. A vicious foreleg back-hoof was already descending from on high as Mac struggled against the pony behind him. Apple Bloom screamed and threw up her hooves to protect herself. The blow landed with a horrifying smack sending the little filly tumbling away across the floor into a stack of bales. Mac felt the sound blow resonate inside him. It was a harsh, disrupting, vibration that didn’t fade. Instead, it built upon itself, growing harsher and stronger with each reverberation until it absolutely filled him. NOOOoooo! Mac could hear himself scream inside his head, as something deep, and dark, and bitterly painful within him roared and seemed to tear itself free as he desperately now fought himself for control, the edges of his vision tinged with white and red. It was futile. Mac could feel his mind trapped inside himself as he felt his right hind leg lift from the floor and slam down on Pig Pen’s hoof. He felt the short pastern bone of Pig Pen’s right hind leg snap in half and the coffin joint pop loose. The force of the sanitation pony’s scream buffeted the back of Mac’s ear, but he heard nothing but a distant muffled sound. The sensory exclusion didn’t matter to Mac, not one bit. What did matter to Mac was that the grungy gray pony’s grip on him eased, letting him slip free of the full nelson lock he’d been trapped in. No sooner had his fore hooves touched the floor than his back ones were planted against the barrel of the still vertical trash pony. Please! Don’t! Mac begged himself, but it was pointless as the trigger slipped on his hind legs. Mac felt the buck drive the big gray pony backward off his feet. There was a solid wooden ‘crack’ as Pig Pen connected with something in mid flight. Mac ducked his head down between his forelegs in time to see the gray stallion tumble into a heap at the far end of the barn. He didn’t have time to do more than glimpse the consequences of his actions, as the momentum of the kick followed the laws of motion. Mac relaxed his front legs and let the recoil force smoothly carry him over his tucked neck onto his withers. He felt the swish of a near miss swing across his tail as he did so, before he came to rest on his back, forelegs splayed out to either side to brace himself, and his hind hooves now planted firmly against Creme Brulee’s chest. The look of shock on the brown stallion’s face was mixed with the shrinking anger and rising fear inside him as he realized his situation. Mac just felt himself glare angrily back at the other stallion as his mental trigger tripped again. Creme crashed backwards through the barn doors with such force that one door tore free of its hinges completely, and the other was left sagging from a lone retainer. As the brown stallion crashed in a heap in the farmyard, Mac gathered his hooves under himself and charged after the focus of his rage. Creme managed to roll unsteadily onto his hooves, Mac arriving on the spot almost immediately. A brutal shoulder check smashed into the disoriented pony sending him sprawling into the middle of the yard. Mac wasted no time in capitalizing on his toppled foe, tumbling Creme around before trapping the fallen stallion under himself. The terror was evident to Mac in Creme’s eyes, along with a brief flash of lavender, as the fallen pony stared up at his vanquisher. Mac leaned into the face of his downed opponent, forcing Creme to shrink back against the dirt, a gleaming hoof cocking back at the end of a blazing white foreleg as he spoke. “If you ever, so much as lay an unkind hair on my sisters again, I swear on my parents' graves, I will END YOU!” The upraised hoof slammed to the ground, neatly clipping the very tip from Creme’s left ear, served as a final punctuation to the statement. The beaten stallion swiftly scrambled to his hooves and bolted past the orange and purple mares standing agawk in the yard on his way out the gate. Mac paused a moment and blinked, Apple Jack and Twilight staring back in disbelief at what they had no doubt just seen. Fear washed through McIntosh like a raging white water torrent as he took a step back from the two mares, his rage crashing flat like a derailed express train. No. Was his only thought, Oh, no. No! No! NO! NO! NO! He turned in a panic, and bolted for the trees.