VISITOR ONE
Three-hundred forty-two apples.
Six barrels of water. One barrel of cider.
Sixty-one sealed cans of preserves.
Thirteen planks of wood remaining.
Over two-hundred nails left in the tin.
Four jars of Zap apple jam still left on the counter. One half-empty.
One hammer and one pickaxe.
Applejack set her small list of supplies on the table as a solid lump formed in her throat. She had made the list hours ago, and read it more times than she could remember since realizing keeping stock of supplies might become necessary. It wasn’t the redundancy of reviewing the list that made her want to break down on the spot, but rather the leftover half-empty jar of jam. Zap apple jam was a specialty of the Apple family’s. It was hard to think those four jars might be the last ever made.
According to the clock, Granny Smith had been missing for fourteen hours and thirty-one minutes. The same went for Big Macintosh.
Along with the rest of Ponyville.
***
An abrupt town meeting had been called late into the night. Invitations were sent to every household in town and attendance was mandatory. The mayor was to speak of something important that had come up due to recent political events and, like everyone else in Ponyville, Applejack and her family went with avid interest.
There had never been much to do around town, so any reason to venture out and join the rest of the populace was always a welcome change for the family, and she knew her five friends would be in the crowd.
The town hall had been filled to capacity and then some. The usual neat rows of seats had been removed, so that meant every pony had to stand. They arrived later than most and was forced to stand at the very back near the doors. She reasoned that was how she made it out of there at all, unlike the rest.
The murmur in the large room was overwhelming—ponies conversing and nervously waiting. It was unusual for a meeting to start so late and with so little foresight. They all thought it must have been big news indeed.
The doors slammed shut behind her, the voices in the room drowning out the clicks of the locks outside.
Next to Mayor Mare and another dozen officials on the stage stood her friend, Twilight Sparkle, already yawning from the possible long speech they might all need to endure. They made eye contact and Applejack waved at her. In return, Twilight rolled her eyes in that way that meant, Here we go again, and Applejack could agree. Since becoming Princess, Twilight could barely go a single week without having to officiate some event around town.
Three minutes later, Applejack could have sworn she saw the group of changelings that had hidden as the Mayor’s aids bite at her friend’s throat and attempt to pry off one of her wings. She knew she shouldn’t have been able to hear it over the others’ screams, but later, in the silent hours in her home, the sound of her friend’s cracking bones still haunted her.
Moments before it all began, Mayor Mare took the podium and for close to thirty-seconds surveyed the crowd hungrily. She wore no glasses or her usual clothes. With a slight smile, she told them, “Thank you all for coming here tonight. I know it was short notice, but I believe we have almost everyone in attendance. So now we can begin.”
The window panes on all sides of the room exploded inward in a shower of broken glass. Dozens of changeling drones descended in to grab at those closest, thrashing and biting and clawing with fury.
By the time Applejack saw the stage again, Mayor Mare had been replaced by Queen Chrysalis, once again surveying the crowd with the same smirk from before. Applejack was quickly blinded, as a wave of panic-stricken ponies crashed into her and her family, pinning them against the locked doors behind them.
She yelled for them to back away so she could help those on the stage, but the fear was too great—the smell of blood and screams of anguish already filled the small building. Shoving a couple ponies away from her, she bucked against the locked doors and heard the lock snap as they flew outwards. The rush of the crowd pushed against them again, and she was forced outside with the rest. The sight beyond the doors was not all that welcoming.
Hundreds more changelings stood waiting for those that escaped.
***
That was fourteen-hours and thirty-one minutes ago.
Applejack went to the living room and pressed her face against the nailed up boards that carefully lined each window and door. She left a two inch crack between a pair to allow her to look outside, although what she could see wasn’t all that much to begin with.
A few hours following the changeling attack, a slow and steady fog crept along every inch of town, enveloping each building and home. Applejack could see her porch and the three steps that fed out onto the lawn. That was it.
When she saw nothing of interest on the porch, she carefully made her way up the stairs, trying her best to navigate the creakiest of boards. A trio of candles was lit to cover the entire living room and kitchen, leaving deep pockets of shadows in most corners. Any more than that, and she thought someone outside might take notice of the light through the boards.
Applejack stopped before Apple Bloom’s door and laid her head against it. She could hear her sister sleeping inside, her breaths ragged and troubled. She’d had to fight her sister to pry her from the hall. She’d wanted to go back for the others; more than anything, Applejack had wanted to do the same. But she had seen no one in that mass of ponies that she could have helped without damning both herself and her sister. There were too many of them. The town had been left unprepared for the onslaught.
Once back at home, Apple Bloom wept while Applejack got to work, first gathering leftover wood from the barn along with the hammer and nails. Missing close to half the nails in her haste, she sealed off the house, hammering and cursing until sweat poured into her tear-stained eyes. She knew she had to protect her home—protect them both, along with any survivors she could gather.
Over time, Apple Bloom’s tears dried and then came the hard questions she didn’t have the heart to explain.
“Where is Big Mac and Granny?”
“Why has nobody come by yet?”
“Why’d you let go of my hoof, Applejack? I was so scared you were gonna leave me behind.”
“If they find us, will they try an’ kill us, too?”
Applejack held her close and whispered sweet words into her ears. Everything was going to be fine, she told her. Everything was going to be okay. Everyone would come to them and they would make them safe and together they’d save the town, just like they always had before.
It hurt to think that her element used to be Honesty.
When the family home was boarded and locked tight, Applejack made a series of short runs to the barn and nearby storage shacks. Food, provisions—anything she could load up and carry back without much fuss, she gathered, all the while keeping her ears perked for the sounds of those papery wings in the distance.
If only it would have been that easy.
She had expected those that had escaped the attack to start arriving at her door soon after the incident. But as the hours crept by, she began to think something entirely different was in store for them.
***
Finally, she heard a knock on the door.
Applejack hitched in a breath and cautiously walked into the living room. With nerves as tight as wire, she approached the boarded door, anxiety making the art of walking a chore.
“Applejack? Are you in there?” the voice outside her door said—the very familiar voice.
Applejack swallowed and almost choked on the spit. Forgetting how quiet she had been trying to be the whole time, she trotted to the window next to the door, peering through the thin crack.
“Applejack, are you in there! It’s Twilight! I need to know if you’re all right!”
From her limited view, Applejack could see her friend standing on her porch, every few moments hastily glancing behind her. A few small spots of crimson dotted her coat, but nothing more.
Applejack asked softly, “Twilight? What happened in there? In town hall?”
Twilight found the source of the noise and came closer to the window, a wash of relief on her face. “Applejack? Oh, thank Celestia you’re all right. Did anyone make it out with you? Did you see anyone else? Oh, thank Celestia you’re okay! Let me inside and we’ll think of what to do next.”
“Okay. Okay, just give me a sec.” A stray tear wormed its way down Applejack’s cheek. Never in her life had she been so happy hearing her friend’s voice. Nodding enthusiastically, she reached for the highest board on the door, preparing to pry it loose. But even feeling as good as she did, she could not ignore that painful notion in her mind.
Regretfully, she went back to the crack in the window.
She said, “Twilight, I saw them attack you. You were… they were biting you—there was so much blood. Your wing… it looks fine now, but earlier…”
Twilight on the porch unfurled one of her wings to glance at, coming away with a bewildered expression. “Applejack, I was attacked, yes, but I was able to find a way out the back. Later, I used a spell on my wing. I’m okay now.”
“What happened to the rest of them? To Rarity and Fluttershy and them? They were there, too, Twilight. Did you see what happened to them?”
Twilight shook her head. “The crowd was too crazy once they attacked and I had my own problems to deal with. I barely got out of there. I think Fluttershy got out one of the windows once they crashed in, but I don’t know what happened after that. But I really shouldn’t be standing out in the open, Applejack. I know they’ll be searching for me.”
Applejack pressed her head against the window. “How could a spell reset your wing, Twilight? And fix the bones? I saw you torn to pieces. I saw your wing pulled from its socket.”
Twilight glanced around hurriedly. “It wasn’t that bad, Applejack. Really. I’ve used those types of spells before. They’re not that hard.”
Applejack exhaled slowly. “Then when’s my birthday, Twilight? If it’s really you, that’s something I don’t think you’d ever forget.”
She answered without hesitation. “One-hundred and ten days ago.”
“And Pinkie Pie’s?”
“She’ll claim to have several, but the one the rest of us use is next month on the fourth.” Twilight smiled warmly. “I’m not a changeling, Applejack. You can trust me. And right now you and I need to go get our friends back.”
Applejack reached for the boards again, every word from Twilight filling her with warmth. The urge to join her friend and rescue the town pulled at her like no other, but so did the thought of her sleeping sister upstairs.
She told her, “I can’t leave with you, Twilight. There’s… I just can’t right now. Not with that fog, at least.”
Twilight looked behind her again. “I understand. That’s fine. It’ll give us time to talk. But I’d rather not do it through a window, if you don’t mind.”
Applejack chuckled and she pried the first board off the door. While she worked on the next one down, the image of Twilight being torn apart came to her again. She thought, She couldn’t have made it out. Not on her own. Right?
Well away from the window, she said, “Twilight? A thought occured to me. Why haven’t you just teleported in here by now? Instead of me wrecking all the boards across the door?”
Twilight chuckled. “I really don’t think I have the energy for that, Applejack.”
“You sure? Your horn looks fine, as far as I can tell.”
Twilight came closer to the window. “I really need to get out from the open. It’s been hours already and I don’t want them finding this place, if we can help it.”
Applejack pressed her hooves against the boards, making noise and nothing more. She tried to speak cheerfully, “Give me a second, then.” She hammered against the door with her hoof a bit. “Hey, Twi, doesn’t this fog remind you a bit of when one of Trixie’s shows ended with half the town covered in six-feet of pink bubbles? It was fun for a while, but then when everyone had to go to work the next day, it was kinda hard to get anywhere. You remember what spell you used to clear that up? Might be a good one to use again.”
Twilight sighed tiredly. “Maybe after I sit down. That was a pretty big spell.”
Applejack mumbled, “I’m sure it would be, Twilight. I’m sure it would.”
She stopped hammered against the door and went back to the window.
Twilight stared at her confused. “Are all the boards off?”
Applejack looked at the floor. “No. And they aren’t coming off. Not for you.”
“What do you mean, Applejack?”
“Because that story never happened. You might have memorized ponies and dates, but I doubt you could remember every single event in my life. And I also don’t believe Twilight ever made it out of that hall yesterday, at least on her own accord. So, I’m sorry, but I can’t believe it’s really you, Twilight, as much as I want to.”
Twilight put a hoof to the window. “Then… then I just remembered it wrong, that’s all. I haven’t slept since the attack, Applejack. I can’t remember everything so well. Please, just…”
Applejack said thickly, “Go away, whatever you are. I’m sure we could trade facts and stories all day long, but, truthfully, I just don’t want to talk to the image of my friend anymore.”
“Applejack, really…”
For a moment longer, Twilight tried to read her friend’s face. Coming away with nothing, all expression left her as she neared the small crack between the boards. Emotionless, she told her, “Twilight Sparkle is dead. The rest of your friends and family have been found and caught and are being held with the others. It would be easier for you to give up willingly. Unless you refuse, you don’t need to die. The same can be said for whoever you’re hiding.”
Not wanting to see her anymore, Applejack shut her eyes and turned away from her, collapsing to the floor.
She told her, “I can’t believe a word you’re telling me.”
“You should. It would be so much easier that way.”
Then the image of Twilight Sparkle left her porch, and the world around her home went silent once more.
VISITOR TWO
In the hours that passed before the next visitor, Applejack sat in the darkly lit kitchen and took a single bite of an apple. She was sure it tasted as good as they always had, but at the moment she couldn’t enjoy its flavor. Still, it was at least something to do.
As Apple Bloom entered, she set the half-eaten apple aside.
“Who were you talking to, sis? Earlier, near the door?”
Her sister’s eyes were dry and red; eyes that stared at her longingly.
Big sisters were supposed to make everything better, Applejack knew. No matter the situation.
“I was…” Applejack said carefully. “I wasn’t talking to anyone, Apple Bloom. Only myself. But I’m glad you’re awake. Here, you should eat something.”
Apple Bloom sat on the chair opposite, only her head above the table.
“I’m not all that hungry, Applejack. I’m so worried about everyone else. Why haven’t they come yet? Why hasn’t anyone come to get us yet? You think they’re okay out there?”
Applejack nodded. “I’m sure they’re fine, Apple Bloom. All fine. But I want you to eat something, anyways—at least a little bit.”
Reluctantly, Apple Bloom took a small bite from her apple, chewing it thoroughly before swallowing. Two bites were all she managed. “I told you, sis, I’m really not hungry right now.”
Applejack didn’t feel like pushing the matter, given everything else happening. “All right. But later, you and I’ll eat something a little better. I’m sure a few of these cans have something all right inside. Now…” She hesitated. “Now, you and I need to have a talk.”
Apple Bloom looked uneasy. “About what?”
“About Changelings. And about how they can take the appearance of anyone at any time, if given the chance.”
Apple Bloom mouth began to tremble. “Please don’t say you’re a changeling, Applejack! Please, oh please don’t—”
Her eyes started to water as Applejack came around to wrap her in her legs. She said to her, “That’s not what I’m saying at all, so don’t you go thinking that. You and me stuck together all the way home, so you know I’m not one of them. But that doesn’t stop them from trying to fool us if they think they can.”
She rubbed her sister’s head and soon her shakes abated.
“That’s why if anyone tries talking to you while we’re inside—whatever they might say—I want you to tell me first. They might pretend to be someone they’re not, and we can’t take no chances. At the moment we’re safe, and we need to stay that way.”
Apple Bloom nodded into her shoulder. “I wanted to help them. Really, I did. But I couldn’t do anything and now I feel like such a coward, Applejack. We left them all and now we’re okay, but we don’t know about the rest. I just feel so bad about it. Do you still love me, Applejack, even though I left them when I could have helped?”
Applejack hugged her tighter. “Of course I do. I love you more than you could imagine. You and I did what we had to do. If we would’ve stayed, we never would have gotten out of there.” She pushed her sister away to wipe at her tears. “Us sisters need to stick together, don’t we?” She smiled for her sister.
Applejack grabbed the two half-eaten apples from the table to set atop the rest. “You sure you’re not hungry?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Not now.” She paused. “You think we should go look for them? Big Mac and Granny and the others? They might be out there looking for us.”
Applejack steeled herself, the words the fake Twilight told her still sitting in her head. “I wouldn’t dare risk it; not with you here and that fog out there. It’s too dangerous right now. And, at the moment, we don’t know much about anything.”
Just from her eyes, she could tell her sister had another dozen questions on the mind. Not wanting to overburden her with dark details, she tried for something more cheerful.
Applejack sat at the table again. “You remember that time Big Mac tried to fill that Canterlot order all by himself, because you and I got a case of the flu?”
Apple Bloom brightened and nodded, smiling faintly.
Applejack leaned back in her chair, the images freshly painted in her mind. “You and I were so sick we could barely get out of bed. We ended up sharing one, too. All the while Granny gave us all the soup and juice we could take. Best of all, right outside our window we got to watch Big Mac haul bucket after bucket full of apples to the cart, again and again, getting madder and madder.”
Apple Bloom added, “He should have gotten some help.”
Applejack agreed. “Don’t I know it. But remember, we told him to hire someone for the day. But, like he tends to be, he said ‘Nope’ and that was all there was to it. Plus, I really wasn’t in much of a mood to fight him, stuck in bed and all.”
While stranded in bed, her and her sister played through every game they had in the house, every few minutes peering back out the window while Big Mac cursed to himself using that limited vocabulary of his. As much as she wanted to pity the poor fool, she instead giggled like a little filly alongside her sister.
She chuckled. “And then when he finished, Big Mac went to bed and didn’t wake up ‘til a solid day later. The look on his face when we told him that… .”
Apple Bloom laughed and so did Applejack. Such an odd sound in that deathly quiet home. Then Applejack once again wondered if she’d truly seen Big Mac for the last time, and all at once she wanted to fall to the floor and curl into a ball.
But for her sister, she would hold on.
***
“Hello!”
Someone was banging on the door.
“Is someone in there? Please! I need help! Hello?”
It was a male voice that Applejack didn’t recognize, panicked and terrified, and worst of all, loud.
Sitting across the table, Apple Bloom started to tremble again. “Applejack, what should we do?”
Applejack scooted out her chair. “You stay right here and let me talk to ‘em. Maybe we can get some answers about what’s happening out there.”
Taking a breath, she left the kitchen and went to the crack in the window again, shutting a single eye. On her porch stood a male pegasus, his hooves clicking against the wood. His head never stopped turning from side to side. One of his wings had been badly clipped and blood smeared his light blue feathers, dried and brown.
He banged on the door again. “I know you’re in there! I heard something move!”
Applejack told him coolly, “Yeah, you might be right about that. Someone’s in here. So now that you know that, you can hush up about it now.”
The pegasus shot towards her voice, looking for whoever had just spoke. Having extinguished the candles in the living room some time ago, Applejack didn’t think he’d be able to see anything inside.
He said urgently, “Please, let me in. There are hundreds of them and they could be anywhere right now. They could grab me and take me like the rest—everyone that’s been outside so far.”
Applejack chewed on her tongue. “What’s happening out there?”
“You were there. I remember your hat. The mayor was Chrysalis in disguise. She had every one of her drones ready to attack as many as they could.” He glanced around again, spraying bits of sweat from his mane. “I made it out, but not before a few of them tore up my wing and tried to chew on the rest of me. What are you waiting for? For Celestia’s sake, open the damn door!”
“I thought I told you to hush up.”
The pegasus opened his mouth to say more, then rethought of it. He closed his eyes and took a breath, silently quivering. “You have no idea what they’ll do to me if—”
Applejack cut in, “Why is there that fog all around? We’ve never had it that thick before.”
He answered quickly, “It started just after the town hall attack. It spread out and blanketed everything. That’s how they’re grabbing everyone; easier to nab them in the fog and less of a chance for them to find shelter or others. I’m only lucky I found you like I did. I would have flown to Cloudsdale or someplace nice and far away, but the wing…”
Applejack nodded, suddenly cold. Her next question stuck to her tongue like sandpaper.
“What happened to Twilight Sparkle? Is she dead?”
“I don’t know.”
“The rest of the Elements—Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and—”
“I know who they are!” he shouted.
“Well? Do you know what happened to them?”
He ran a hoof through his sweat soaked mane. “I don’t know that, either. How could I? I escaped that death trap of a meeting and wandered around for hours, hiding where I could when I heard that damn buzzing sound in the air.” He leaned closer to the window, until his breath fogged up the glass. “I heard ponies screaming for help. I wanted to help them—really, I did—but it would have been too late. They find you and they swarm you and they leave nothing behind. Not even bones. I thought they’d at least keep them alive to… gather love or whatever I heard they eat, but now I think they’re going right for the heart—as in eating pony’s hearts right out of their chests. Please, just open the door and let me in.”
Applejack said softly, “I can’t do that.”
“Why in Tartarus not?”
“Because they’ve tried to trick me before using a friend. And now I think they might be doing it all over again.”
He banged a hoof against the window. “I’m not a changeling!”
“You also forget that I don’t know you. To me, you’re a stranger. And, I’m sorry to say, but there are more important ponies that I need to keep safe. If you want to, you can stay in the barn or anywhere in the fields, if you think it might help. But I can’t let you in—that’s something I won’t risk.”
He tapped against the window again. “If I was a changeling, why would I pick some nobody? Wouldn’t I come as someone you knew? You’re scared, I understand, I’m nobody to you. But you need to trust me when I tell you I’m not a changeling. Please!”
She said thickly, “I already told you. If you want, you can—”
Then came a timid voice from behind her.
“Why won’t you let him in, Applejack?”
She turned and found Apple Bloom staring up to her, concerned and saddened.
Applejack knelt down beside her and placed a leg over her shoulder. “Because he might be one of them, Apple Bloom. And if I let him in and it turns out I’m right, then it’ll either try to hurt us or I’ll have to use my pickaxe on the thing. Neither of those are things I wanna see happen.”
“But what happens if you’re wrong? What happens if he’s telling the truth?”
Applejack turned away from her. The question she had been asked one she’d already pondered. It was a cold question, and its very existence chilled her heart. The worst part of all was that she already knew the answer to it.
She told her sister, “Then I live with it, little sis. Same as how I’ll live having left all those hurt and trapped ponies in that hall. My friends… Big Mac and Granny…” She blinked away some tears and pulled her sister close. “I knew it was bad, but more than anything I had to get you away from there. If… if we would have tried to help, we would have died or been taken along with the rest. I couldn’t let that happen.”
She wiped her eyes and went back to the window. Peering out, she saw the pegasus had left and the thick fog surrounding their small home still swirling in all directions.
She told her sister again, “I’ll live with whatever I gotta do to keep us safe.”
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.
VISITOR FOUR
“We should’ve thought of some code word… or some sentence…”
Applejack sat with her back propped against the door, her pickaxe held loosely in one leg. She’d been mumbling to herself for some time now—a new way of staying awake, or so she figured.
The cider had made her lips dry and cracked. She whispered, “At least if we’d had a sentence or a phrase, some string of words, I would’ve known. It would have made all this so much easier.”
They’d torture anyone they could for that type of information, she reflected gloomily.
For the last few minutes—since her sister had screamed at her and run back upstairs—she’d been pondering all the things that could have been done to prevent such a catastrophic event. The one that kept coming back to her was that her and her friends had never made code words or phrases to help distinguish the real from the fake.
A particular sentence seemed best. Something like, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Applejack snorted when it floated into her head. One track mind, it seemed.
The faint smile felt odd on her face, so she dropped it. Thoughts of what they should have done would not help them now. She needed to think of what she could do, as short a list as it was.
Sluggishly, she went back to the window and found the same wall of thick fog blanketing the countryside. Her porch lay bare and she was grateful for it. Someone claiming to be their savior could very well mark their end. Never before had she wanted so much to lift the responsibility placed on her shoulders—it made it hurt to think and to breath. Each time she turned someone away, they took a bit of her heart as they left. She wondered how much longer she could stay vigilant, before someone found a way in.
She kept her eyes on the fog, wishing she could see through it. It was a bitter struggle keeping them open.
“They’ll try Fluttershy next, I know it,” she said. “Or maybe two of them. One of them could be injured and dying. I could see them trying that. Maybe they’d tell me Granny Smith was left out in the field, heart attack or something, trying to get back here. Maybe it would be Big Mac. Any time now, they’ll try again. But I’ll see through it. I won’t let anyone I don’t trust in. They can try all they want, but I know I’ll see through it. I'll protect us and—”
Applejack put a hoof to her mouth, catching herself in mid-sentence. She didn’t think it was right talking to herself as much as she’d been. While her words reinforced her conviction, did she really believe she could turn away another member of her family? If they were injured or dying and calling out her name for help?
Her eyes watered and she rubbed at them.
“Please, don’t make me do that.”
To distract herself, she went to the kitchen and picked up her list. Without much thought, she removed the three cans her and her sister consumed along with the two apples. Then she carefully went over the supplies, even if they’d barely been dented by the pair.
Three-hundred forty apples.
Six barrels of water. One barrel of cider.
Fifty-eight sealed cans of preserves.
Thirteen planks of wood.
Over two-hundred nails remaining.
Four jars of Zap apple jam still left on the counter. One half-empty.
One pickaxe. No hammer.
Applejack glanced from her list to the table of supplies. She knelt to the floor and looked around, her breath becoming heavy by the second. Her list fell to her side and she swung her pickaxe to rest on her shoulder.
She said hurriedly, “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s missing. It’s misplaced. That’s it. That’s—”
Her legs shook where she stood, her mind clouded with thoughts.
“Then why won’t she eat? Why ain’t she ever hungry? Why—”
One of her legs gave out, and she sank to the floor. A few tears spattered around her trembling hooves. Her body told her to break down—fall to the floor and weep and stop caring about safety and protection. It was too much, she felt. Too large and too terrible to fathom. The thought that her own sister might not be who she claimed.
She roughly shook her head. “That’s not true. Damnit, that’s not true. I didn’t take my eyes off her the whole time back here and I know I could tell the difference if that wasn’t her up there.”
Applejack stood up again, wiping at her cheeks. She steadied herself.
“If she took it, it was for self-defense and nothing more. I refuse to believe anything else. That’s my sister up there. It has to be.” She hesitated. “I need her to be. Oh, Celestia, please.”
In the stillness of the house, Applejack glanced towards the living room as something upstairs smacked against the floorboards. The same sound repeated.
“Apple Bloom?” she whispered.
***
“Hurry! Climb in before someone sees you!”
Applejack listened to her sister through the door, one of her eyes twitching out of her control. She put a hoof to the door and took a breath. Then she turned the knob and entered.
“Stop what you’re doing right now!” she shouted.
Apple Bloom turned her head to her, eyes wide and mouth agape. To her side sat three boards with twisted nails; atop them sat the hammer from downstairs.
Apple Bloom’s window stood bare, the boards Applejack had hammered in place hours ago taken down. The bottom half of her window was open; Sweetie Belle currently struggling to get through. Scootaloo held one of her legs and was attempting to pull her the rest of the way in.
Applejack took a step towards them, pickaxe resting on her shoulder.
Before she could take a second step, Apple Bloom halted her with two hooves to the chest. “Stop! Stop, Applejack! They’re okay! They’re my friends! You made a mistake, but they’re all right, I know it!”
Applejack didn’t take her eyes off the pair climbing through the window.
She said bluntly, “Then how did they get on the roof, Apple Bloom? One of them can’t fly. The other can barely fly.”
Apple Bloom pushed against her again. “Don’t say that! That’s mean! They used the barrels against the house and climbed the drainpipe. I told them to.”
Sweetie Belle plopped out the window and stood next to Scootaloo. Once she caught sight of Applejack’s pickaxe, her ears fell flat and she took a step away.
She squeaked out, “Applejack, why are you holding that? Please, don’t hurt us. We’re sorry for coming in when you didn’t want us to, but Apple Bloom told us it was okay.”
Applejack looked down at her sister. “I want you to go into my room down the hall and lock the door. No matter what you hear, I want you to stay there until I come get you.”
Her sister started to cry. She shook her head. “You won’t. I won’t let you. I know they’re telling the truth and I won’t let you make the same mistake again.”
Applejack said coldly, “The only mistake so far has been leaving you up here alone. It’s one I don’t plan on—”
Sweetie Belle shrieked and ran to the corner of the room.
Applejack looked up in time to see something large and black swim over her vision. She brought her pickaxe up and was thrown out the doorway, the changeling diving after her.
It lay atop her, pinning her to the ground. Its jagged hooves clawed at her chest and neck while its fanged jaws clamped down at the air only centimeters from her eyes. Spittle dotted her cheeks and forehead as the changeling hissed loudly, flapping its thin wings to propel itself into her.
Both of Applejack’s hooves gripped the length of her pickaxe under its chin, too close to her own body to maneuver. She tried pushing it away, only for it to snarl back at her and press down harder.
The changeling’s barbed hoof dug deep into the front of her left shoulder and she screamed.
Applejack lifted her weapon again, bringing it a few inches away from her. She kicked it as hard as she could in the chest, hoping its shell might crack with enough force. The changeling only appeared to grow more and more erratic; beads of sweat rolling down its smooth head as it desperately tried bridging those last few inches between them. Each kick made it readjust its position atop her, but not once did it rethink its attack. Its screamed both in fury and in pain.
Applejack turned her head the moment its jaw shut, narrowing saving a chunk of her muzzle.
She had made quick work of the enemies in town, but that had been hours ago. Now she was tired and weary. The fight had left her long ago.
“Apple Bloom! Get out of here and downstairs! Go out the doggy-door in the kitchen! There’s only a few boards there. Get out and hide! Go wherever you can!”
A bit of the changeling’s spit got in her eye as it pushed down on her again. It was close enough for her to feel its warm breath on her face.
If it eats my eyes, I’ll find it without them and crush its head between my hooves. If it rips out my throat, I’ll still have a few seconds to break its neck before I black out.
She couldn’t leave it alive. Not for Apple Bloom to deal with.
The changeling closed its jaws again, grazing her cheek.
Applejack screamed, pushing against the pickaxe again.
The changeling lifted its muzzle to bite down again and its head jerked. Then its eyes closed and its legs went limp.
Applejack threw it to the floor beside her and got to her hooves, her entire body trembling.
Her hammer was embedded into the changeling’s skull right between the ears.
Applejack wavered in place. “Oh, Celestia… .” She looked at her sister, sitting against the doorframe. She was crying heavily, her eyes trained on the floor between the changeling and her sister.
She whispered as she rocked from side to side. “I didn’t know. I honestly didn’t know. She looked the exact same, so…”
Applejack winced, kneeling beside her. She hugged her tight.
“It’s all right now, Apple Bloom. It’s dead. You did good. You saved me. We’re all right and that’s all that matters.”
Her sister sniffled. “I thought I could trust them. Why are they doing this to us?”
Them, Applejack thought, as she glanced from her sister to Sweetie Belle, still tucked away in the corner of the room. Same as Apple Bloom, she was trembling and in tears.
This wasn’t what Applejack had expected.
She let go of her sister and took a few steps into the room.
“What are you?”
Sweetie Belle seemed not to hear, her head lowered and tears falling down her face. “I didn’t know, honest… she acted the same and she said we’d get help. That means they got Scootaloo… and my sister, too.” She hitched in a breath. “They got everyone and now they’ve got me…”
Applejack asked again, “What are you?”
Sweetie Belle finally looked up, noticing Applejack’s hard-set expression and the pickaxe laying against the floor. She covered both eyes with her legs and screamed.
“No! No, please, don’t! I don’t want to go! I want my sister back! What did you do with her?”
She shrieked her sister’s name, over and over. After a time, she quieted and sobbed, not bringing her legs away from her face.
Applejack set her pickaxe down. She blinked heavily, her whole body wanting to collapse. She pressed against her torn cheek to feel more awake.
She went closer to her. “What are you?”
Sweetie Belle refused to look at her. “I’m Sweetie Belle. But you’re not Applejack. And nobody’s anybody anymore.”
“If you admit to being a changeling right now, I’ll remove you from my home unharmed. But that’s only if you show yourself right now. Your true self. If you’re lying and I find out, I’ll kill you right then and there.”
She whimpered, “I wish my sister was here. She’d stop every one of you and protect me. Her and all her friends. She’d help me. She’d stop you.”
Applejack huffed out. “I’m not a changeling!”
Her outburst only made Sweetie Belle tear up again, shoving herself as far into the corner as she could.
Applejack sat on the floor, watching her. She had no idea what to think anymore, other than that, for once, she wanted to believe someone. Wouldn’t she have attacked Apple Bloom while the other had her pinned down? Wouldn’t she have warned the other that her sister was behind her with a hammer? Wouldn’t a changeling try to fool others with the aid of someone real? Someone innocent and gullible?
Maybe, Applejack thought, she just wanted to help someone again.
Awkwardly, she lifted Sweetie Belle out from the corner. She pressed her small body into her chest and gently shook her, her head resting on her shoulder. Slowly, Sweetie Belle’s shakes stopped and she hugged her back, squeezing as tight as her little legs could.
Applejack told her, “It’s okay, Sweetie Belle. You’re safe now. And I’m sure you’re sister’s fine, wherever she is.”
“You really think so?” she croaked out.
She patted her back. “I really do. Just like before, we’ll come out on top. The Elements will see to it, one way or another.”
Sweetie Belle buried her head into her shoulder. “You’ll protect me, won’t you?”
Applejack felt her dry lips form into a smile. “Of course I will. We need to look out for each other, don’t we?”
The filly squeezed her again; some of Applejack’s mane bouncing against her nose. “Your mane’s itchy.”
Applejack chuckled. “I reckon it might smell a little bad, too. It’s been a while since my last bath.”
Sweetie Belle giggled. “Do you love me, Applejack?”
Applejack thought for a moment. “Well, I…”
That was when Sweetie Belle licked her neck before chewing on her flesh.
***
Applejack screamed in pain and tried to push her away from her. Using both her hooves and her teeth, Sweetie Belle hung on, gnawing at her skin as lines of blood began cascading down her shoulder..
Spinning quickly, Applejack tore her away and Sweetie Belle’s tiny frame hit the wall and slid down. Her blood-soaked mouth left a garish spot on the wallpaper.
Before she had a chance to recover from the blow, Applejack took a few steps away and placed her pickaxe in her teeth. Already, her head bobbed and her vision swam.
Sweetie Belle lunged and Applejack propelled her back to the ground with one of her rear legs. She brought the pickaxe up and buried it into her chest—a small, startled scream soon turned into a quiet hissing noise, the image of the white unicorn darkening into a black changeling.
Its legs twitched a single time and went still as Applejack let go of the handle still embedded inside it.
She fell to the floor as Apple Bloom came around her. “Applejack, you’re bleeding! What… what should I do?”
Applejack put a hoof to her open wound. “Get me a rag or some cloth. Anything to stop the blood.”
Apple Bloom left her and opened one of the drawers on her dresser. She came back with a strip of fabric she no doubt acquired from the real Sweetie Belle.
Using her teeth, she ripped off a long piece and clumsily wrapped it around her neck. Applejack held one end and helped tie it off, halting the worst of the blood.
Apple Bloom held one of her legs between two of her own. “We need to get help, sis. You’re bleeding a lot. And I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”
Applejack blinked until her vision cleared. “I’ll be all right. It’s a small wound—it didn’t get me as bad as you think. It only looks bad.” She motioned towards the open window. “But I don’t like that hole still being there. Go downstairs and bring back that tin of nails. We’ll seal this place up again and then think of what to do.”
Apple Bloom nodded anxiously. “Okay. Okay. I’ll be right back.”
Her sister left and she heard her hurry down the stairs. Applejack got back to her hooves and stood in the center of the room. Some of her blood pattered to the floor. The board she was standing on creaked as she swayed. The wind outside whistled against the open window… as did another sound somewhere behind her.
Applejack turned and went out into the hall, focusing on the shut door adjacent to Apple Bloom’s. She put her head against it and heard the whistling noise again.
Nudging it open, she looked around, spotting the missing boards and left open window. The discarded boards and bent nails had been carefully stacked below the frame.
Applejack went and closed it, stopping the wind. Her lightheadedness slowed her thoughts. When she faced the rest of the room, she noticed the closet door open ajar, a thin ray of dull light from outside hitting a small glassy object inside.
Without thinking, she went to the closet door and opened.
Applejack moaned and collapsed, all of her physical pain forgotten.
The glassy object she had seen through the crack was one of Apple Bloom’s eyes, left to stare at nothing at all. Her cheeks had gone blue and her head was angled far too much to one side. Her body was spread motionless along the floor, as was her bow, left undone to her side.
Applejack wanted to cry. And she wanted to vomit. And more so than that, she wanted to turn back time and stop everything bad before it started. But something else pulled at her.
Apple Bloom called from the bottom of the stairs, “I can’t find them, Applejack! Did you put the nails in a drawer somewhere?”
Applejack looked at her sister again, lifeless and unmoving.
Apple Bloom yelled again, “Applejack?”
Applejack shut the closet door and went back out into the hall.
She managed to say, “Coming… sis.”
VISITOR FIVE
Applejack descended the stairs in a trance. The world as she knew it had gone hazy, as though replaced by some film. She knew she was a part of it—one of the central characters, really—but she thought it might not hurt just to wait and to watch for a time. It was easier that way, she felt. It didn’t hurt nearly as much that way.
When she entered the kitchen, she patted her sister on the head, not meeting her eyes. Apple Bloom asked her if she was feeling okay and Applejack nodded and said not a word. From a drawer, she removed the tin of nails and together they boarded up the window in Apple Bloom’s room. The quiet room across the hall lay untouched, its door shut tight.
Once the windows had been sealed again, the pair reentered the living room, where for the first time since all the horrors began, Applejack finally collapsed onto the couch.
From the kitchen, Apple Bloom asked her, “Don’t you want somethin’ to eat, Applejack? I thought you might want to eat a bit on account of that bite on your neck and all.”
Applejack smiled at her faintly; the loss of blood making her woozy and pale. Her tired and sore body ached in every joint and her eyes begged to close.
Sleep, she thought. I might be happy again if I slept. I might dream. I might dream of something other than this.
Apple Bloom looked concerned and stepped into the room. “You okay, Applejack? You look sick. Do you want a blanket? Some soup? I’m sure there’s a can of something in the stack.”
Applejack patted the part of the couch next to her. “Come sit with me for a bit, Apple Bloom. I just… I just wanna keep you close. It wasn’t safe for us to be apart, even while inside.” She tried for a smile again, her lips twitching.
Her sister came and sat down beside her. “You’re not mad at me, are you sis?”
She shook her head. “Never. You made a mistake, that’s all. But we solved it, didn’t we? We all make mistakes, from time to time, don’t we?”
Apple Bloom put a hoof on her shoulder. “Why are you crying, Applejack?”
She wiped the single tear away and glanced at her wet hoof. “And here I thought I was done with all that.”
“Are you worried about Granny Smith and Big Mac?”
Applejack told her softly, “I’m worried about a lot of things. Like what I’ll do once I leave this place.”
“You don’t need to leave, Applejack. We can stay here. It’s safe here. And we’ve got each other and I’m sorry about before.” She paused and looked away from her. “I should have trusted you from the start. You were only looking out for us and all I could think about were my friends, even if they weren’t my friends at all. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
Applejack pulled her sister to her side and wrapped her in both legs. She rested her chin on her head and stared at a picture on the wall—a portrait of the four members of the Apple family, a few moments after one of the most bountiful harvests in years. In the picture, Applejack was holding her sister in just the same way.
“You remember that day, Apple Bloom?” she asked.
Her sister snuggled closer to her. “Of course I do. That was one of the first years you all let me help with the harvest. You all thought I’d get in the way, but in the end I helped organize better than anyone.”
Most ponies in town could have told her as much. It wasn’t hard knowledge to come by.
She gave her sister a squeeze. “Darn right, you did. And in truth, we never should have doubted you to begin with. But we sure learned better, didn’t we?”
Apple Bloom giggled. “I was glad to help. You guys always made it look like fun.”
She agreed. “Work can be fun, if you know what you’re doing.” Another tear slipped down her cheek. “You, ah… you remember what I told you right after we took that photo?”
“No. What did you say?”
“That I was proud of you—that you were my little apple bucking partner.” Another tear left her eye. “And you know I still am, right? That I’m proud of you.”
Apple Bloom hesitated. “Are you okay, Applejack?”
“I’m only a little tired is all. The last few days have been hard. For you, too.”
She squeezed her sister again, pinning her to her chest. Her eyes never left the picture on the wall, or the eyes of the smiling pair of sisters standing behind the barrel overloaded with apples.
She whispered to her, “Can you do something for me, Apple Bloom?”
“Sure, sis.”
She found the words hard to say. “All I want… I only want you to… I mean…”
Apple Bloom turned to her, and Applejack couldn’t meet her eyes. The voice of her sister was one thing—the living, breathing image was too terrible to look at. “What is it, Applejack?”
Applejack whimpered silently. “Tell me you love me. Tell me that you always will.”
“Of course I love you, Applejack!” her sister trumpeted. “You’re my sis and you’re the best sis in Equestria. I’ll always love you, Applejack. Always.”
Applejack watched the motionless Apple Bloom in the picture, happy and content, a hint of red in both cheeks from the hard day’s work. She heard the words of her sister from someone who was not her and yet it didn’t matter. She knew her sister loved her. Would always love her. All she wanted was to hear it one last time.
Now tears were coursing down both eyes.
“I love you too, Apple Bloom. More than you could imagine. And I’m sorry I let you down. I was supposed to protect you and in the end I couldn’t. I should have kept my eyes on you like all big sisters should, but I lost you along the way. And now it’s too late. And I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry for that.”
Apple Bloom turned to her. “What are you talking about, Applejack? I’m right here. You’re not sounding yourself.”
“I’m just fine. Don’t worry your little head. I only need to make sure this house stays safe. No more visitors allowed.”
One of Applejack’s legs rested against Apple Bloom’s chest, wrapping around her shoulders. Applejack slid her other leg up to Apple Bloom’s throat. Then she pulled her towards her.
“You’re squeezing me too tight, Applejack.”
Applejack kept her eyes on the family picture. “I know.”
Her sister squirmed in her grasp. “You’re hurting me, Applejack!”
“I know.”
Eventually, Apple Bloom’s head fell to her side and her eyes closed; her breathing became shallow and ragged. Applejack laid her down on the living room rug and found the sight too terrible to view. An old stack of newspapers sat in the kitchen, so she grabbed the top one and set a single layer over her sister’s head.
***
On the way to get her pickaxe upstairs, she stopped by the closed door across the hall. She laid her head against it. She didn’t dare go back inside. Not yet.
She let the pickaxe drag against the floor on her way back down, clipping each step. The sound died instantly as it dragged along the rug.
She gripped it in her teeth and brought it back, momentary glancing at the picture on the wall again. Perhaps she’d sleep after this, she thought. Perhaps she’d dream of that precious moment again. Perhaps she’d wake up and everything would be all right—or maybe she’d be caught or killed by the time she came to. Whatever the case, at least it would mean an end to all of this.
The thin layer of newspaper did little to muffle the crunch of bone. The pickaxe made a clean hole in the paper, and from its center came a thick ring of crimson that slowly pooled around the head. An advertisement for a local bookstore was the first to turn a muddy brown.
Applejack let her weapon stay where it was, then she took a step back and sat on the ground. It took her a very long time to come to the understanding that something was wrong—that something was out of place and wasn’t adding up. Her focus felt more detached than before, almost numb.
She looked at the handle of her pickaxe, still stuck up in the air. Her eyes followed it down to the stained paper and shattered head underneath. From there, her eyes went to the yellow legs sprawled out along the rug, the tiny smooth hooves that remained motionless.
The changeling that’d disguised itself as Sweetie Belle upstairs had reversed back to its true self once it died. Apple Bloom still looked like…
Applejack shook her head. “No. That’s not right.”
Her eyelids barely held up and as she climbed the stairs she wavered from side to side. She must have lost a lot of blood, she thought. Or maybe she lost something much worse.
The closet door in the closed room creaked open and Applejack stared at the empty space. Old jackets and scarves hung along hangers near the ceiling—worn ice skates lay abandoned in the corner. The corpse of her sister was nowhere to be found.
Applejack shut her eyes and fell to the floor, the sight overwhelming.
It was so much easier to embrace the darkness with her eyes shut tight.
In the darkness, there was warmth—a complete lack of understanding. She knew what had happened, of course she had. But it would be a long, long time until it finally sunk in. It was better to believe in something less painful. To do what all those visitors at her door had asked of her from the start: to believe in all those little lies that begged to be swallowed whole.
It was simple, really. It was a path without pain.
“You all right, Applejack?”
She turned and found Apple Bloom in the doorway. Her big red bow was aligned just right and both big eyes regarded her cautiously.
“I’m fine, Apple Bloom,” she said from the floor. “Everything’s okay now, isn’t it?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “I think so, sis.”
“That’s good,” Applejack said. “That’s good to hear.”
Her sister approached. “You need to come downstairs, Applejack. There’s someone to see us.”
“Another visitor.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, but I think this one you’ll want to see.” Apple Bloom perked up and grabbed at her foreleg.
Applejack got to her hooves and followed her sister, any sense of foreboding danger stripped from her mind. Her sister was safe and with her again, what more could she want? She was by her side, happy and whole, the rest of her life lay ahead of her.
Before even touching the head of the stairs, Applejack noted a radiant glow from the doorway. Entering the living room, she bent one leg and lowered to the ground.
“Princess?” she asked, the bright wash of light hurting her eyes.
Princess Celestia smiled at her warmly, that same radiant mane hovering in an unseen breeze. She, too, bowed, and together they stood.
The rug and coffee table were missing from the living room, as well as each thick board from the door. Applejack took no notice.
Celestia said calmly, “You are safe now, Applejack. Everyone is. I have gathered the other five Elements and now we are waiting on you to help wield them. Time is of the essence, I’m afraid, so we’ll need to make haste.”
Applejack brightened, although her eyes did not open all the way. “My friends? They’re safe? All of them?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes. And they’re waiting for us, to help Equestria again.”
“And Twilight? I heard…”
The Princess placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight is fine, Applejack. Everyone is. And now so are you.”
But Twilight had been ripped to—
No.
No. Applejack had only remembered it wrong. Twilight was fine. She must’ve been. It wouldn’t have made sense any other way.
Applejack looked up to her and smiled, her dry lips cracking. “Thank you, Princess. I’m glad you finally came… before something bad happened to us.”
Celestia smirked and a small burst of green fire swam inside her pupils. It was brief, the sight, so brief a single eye blink would have missed it. But Applejack had nearly stopped blinking at all by then.
“Your eyes…” she started.
Celestia added more warmth to her smile. “I sometimes change the color of my eyes. Have I never told you that?”
“No, you—”
This isn’t Celestia. You KNOW this isn’t Cel—
“—never mentioned that.”
Celestia came to her side and wrapped a wing around her, guiding her towards the door. “You and I rarely talk, do we? That’s something that should change, once we get you out from the fog.”
Applejack agreed and allowed herself to be led away. Her family home did not feel like it used to. Its heart had been removed, leaving a hollow frame of metal and wood. That was all right, though. She always had her sister. Her wonderful, adorable, litt—
Your sister is dead! She’s lying on a rug in the kitchen with a pickaxe through her head that YOU put there! And now there’s nothing you can—
No.
No. Applejack had only remembered it wrong. Her sister was fine.
Once at the bottom of the porch steps, Apple Bloom joined her sister by her side. Applejack ruffled her mane and she giggled. She was happy. Of course she was. The hardship was over and now the one pony in all of Equestria that could make it all better had come. Princess Celestia had never been the type to lie.
The three of them were soon consumed by the fog.