AppleJack sighed as she dragged the heavy cart, laden with large apple buckets, each containing a large amount of different apples. The Stetson-wearing mare was sweating, tired and her normally infinite amount of patience was starting to dwindle, eroded by the hours of work she'd been doing. Running her farm, Sweet-Apple-Acres, had always been something that she'd enjoyed, alongside her other family members. Thought toady, it was just her at work today. Her sister, Apple-bloom was off with her friends and her brother, Big Macintosh had some-how managed to hurt himself whilst trying to bring in the harvest. The only other occupant of the farm during the afternoon was the aged mare, Granny-Smith and she would be no help with this amount of merchandise. Chances were that she'd probably end up doing more damage to her body.
AppleJack sighed again, feeling another bite of impatience. The sun was beating down upon her body, which in normal circumstances would be enjoyable but with a large, heavy cart attached to her, the heat only served to sap her strength. She sometimes wished that the farm could bring in some extra help. Even though she loved working the farm, doing it with only two ponies was a difficult job. Though the amount of money needed made the prospect of extra help an impossibility. The apples they produced at the farm were their only source of income, yet despite their popularity with the local citizens of Ponyville, they didn't earn much money from them. Yet they needed money to pay for hired help. It was a vicious cycle and it seemed to repeat on the Apple family.
Finally, the mare reached the barn. Pulling open the large, worn wooden doors, AppleJack, screwing up the last of her energy, pulled the cart inside. Shrugging off the heavy, leather harness and tossing it onto a hook, the farm pony walked back out of the barn, tilting her hat so that it covered her eyes against the scalding sun. Elation filled her as she closed the heavy door. With the last shipment of apples stored for the day, maybe she'd go into Ponyville to meet her friends, possibly take a challenge from her energetic friend, the Pegasus Rainbow-Dash. AppleJack sniffed slightly. She'd probably have a shower first though. t wasn't good manners to turn up to a meet-up stinking of sweat. AppleJack chuckled at the thought of her other friend. The alabaster-furred Unicorn, Rarity. The fashion designer was notorious for her fear of dirt and any other thing that she considered "Uncivilized." AppleJack's grin widened. She and Rarity had quite different ideas about what was civilized.
"HEY! WHAT'RE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE MISTER!" Shouted a young, familiar voice. AppleJack turned her head to look for who had caused the disturbance. The farm pony froze, her mouth falling open in surprise and fear. A large...something was standing at the entrance to one of the Apple-Orchards. It was a nightmarish looking creature, with a horrible, twisted body, covered in what appeared to be a large shell, covered blue. It stood on only a pair of long legs, with long...arms hanging limply by its side. Blood was pouring out from tears and open wounds, crisscrossing the creatures body, pooling on the ground. Pieces of the shell were peeling away from the main body, hitting to the blood-stained ground with a wet splash. Hostile, bloodshot green eyes stared at her, widened in surprise. A sword hung from the creatures side, the blade glinting in the sunlight. And standing behind the creature, was her sister, Apple-Bloom.
Apple-Bloom was standing behind the creature, a welcoming smile on her face. AppleJack could see a brown leather saddlebag slung across her back, the brown contrasting sharply with her yellow fur. Her Orange eyes widened in fear as the intruder turned to look at her. AppleJack, instinctively knowing what she had to do, began to move slowly forward, cautious of the creatures size. It was taller than her, almost as tall as their leader, Princess Celestia and if it decided to attack Apple-Bloom...AppleJack was conscious of the sword hanging from the creatures side. It didn't bare thinking about the damage that it could cause. Though, the creature looked more injured than angry. It was hunched over and that hostile look. AppleJack had enough experience with animals to know that the apprehensive hostility was more of a result of the wounds and the fear of further pain. If AppleJack could just contain the situation. Apple-Bloom noticed her. The filly was shaking to the roots of her flaming red mane.
"Hey there partner." AppleJack said calmly, reaching the fence that separated her from the intruder. The creature's head whirled round, the green eyes widening in fear. It was breathing heavily, clearly feeling the effects of whatever wounds it had suffered. Now that she had gotten closer, AppleJack could see that one of the creatures arms had suffered even worse damage. A massive gash had torn through the shell, leaving a huge, bloody gash. "Listen here partner," AppleJack said, in a low voice, rather as though she was talking to a crazed animal. "No-Ponies gonna hurt ya. No need to get all worked up now." The creature turned its head, the hostile look melting into a stare of surprise. Apple-Bloom edged round the creature, walking slowly until the filly was hidden behind AppleJack. The creature narrowed its green eyes and took a step back. The leg wobbled slightly and the creature shot out an arm, trying to steady itself against one of the trees, leaving a smear of blood. "Listen Sugar-cube," AppleJack said soothingly, taking a step forward. "Ya look hurt. Can ah help anyhow?"
The creature frowned at her. Then slowly nodded. AppleJack turned back to the farm, before she heard a groan of pain, followed by a muffled thump. The creature was slumped against the tree-stump, a claw pressed against its...stomach. The creature had such a strange anatomy, the farm-Pony had little to no idea what was what. Though her pondering was interrupted as the creature groaned again, its head falling back against the tree-trunk. Its green eyes rolling. Feeling panic begin to rise inside her AppleJack turned to her little sister. But the filly wasn't beside her anymore. Apple-Bloom had rushed to the creatures side, hurriedly pulling the creature's claw away from its stomach. The filly looked up at AppleJack, her large eyes filling with tears.
"Sis, this critter needs help." AppleJack stopped dead. Her sister was crying over a creature that may or may not have attacked her. "SIS!" The filly shouted, shattering AppleJack's daydreaming. Without waiting, she turned, rushing for the farm, hoping that she would be able to find her brother or at least, a packet of bandages. "HURRY!" Apple-Bloom shouted after her, the fillies shrill voice breaking slightly. "I DON' THINK HE'S GONNA MAKE IT!"
PERSONAL DIARY OF SPECTRE: JAMES#2
Now I know I've officially lost my mind. I stumbled out of that forest, bleeding to death, losing enough blood to fill a hot-air balloon, to find myself being cornered by a pair of talking ponies, one wearing a Stetson hat and the younger one wearing saddle-bag that looked like a school-bag. Oh yeah...they friggin' talk! And they sound like they're from somewhere down south. it's probably from the blood-loss. Human bodies are useless when it comes to being wounded. Any other race of creatures could survive a stomach wound with only minimal damage. Not our race though. NAH MATE! No we have to suffer through a lot of pain, bleeding and hallucinations. Though a pair of friendly, talking ponies is one of the more pleasant situations. Though right now, I'm more concerned with my survival.
I've come too inside what appears to be a bedroom. Instead of metal walls, the room seems to be made of wood, with a small bed and a bedside table with a lamp. My armors and sword have been taken...oh and I'm completely naked, covered in tightly wrapped bandages, each stained with blood. Okay, so you may think that that's not a bed place to wake up with. Yeah, It would be, if my hands hadn't been tied with a length of rope. Yeah, I've been tied up. How am I making a audio-diary? Well they didn't count on my Omni-tool. Judging from what I can see out of the window, (The length of rope only stretches to the window), I've come across some sort of low-tech civilization. This doesn't help my situation, since there'll be no way to contact the council. Since I'm tied up anyway, I doubt the people/ponies here will let me near any form of communication. Plus my Omni-tools knife application is too large to cut the ropes and the ropes stretch so there's no chance of breaking the rope through forcing it.
Normally, I'd be worried about whatever these people/ponies want with me though right now, I'm to busy enjoying the fact that I haven't died of blood-loos and that I've woken up on a comfy bed, with my wounds bandaged. Still, no sense in worrying about it I s'pose. The sun's gone down by now so Is'pose I'll find out what my captors want with me tomorrow.
AppleJack watched as Nurse Red-Heart exited the spare room of their house. After finding Big-Mach, She'd convinced the big stallion to drag a spare cart over to the creature and pull the strange arrival onto it. It had been no simple task to get the creature back to the farm and place it on the bed in the spare room. Then, whilst a tearful Apple-Bloom had been sent to fetch the local doctors, AppleJack had clumsily tried to cover up the wounds. Thankfully, the doctors had arrived in fashionable time and had been able to fully repair the wounds, using a combination of magic and medicine. But AppleJack needed to know if the creature would survive. Both her and Apple-Bloom had been waiting outside the room for the best part of two hours, anxiously listening to the team of doctors as they struggled to fix up the intruder. Apple-Bloom hadn't stopped crying since coming back to the farm with the Nurse. It worried the farm-pony. She'd never seen her little sister act this way, even when one of their prize cows had died. But here she was, sobbing into a small handkerchief, her red bow drooping slightly.
"Well I'm glad you brought this...creature to my attention, AppleJack." Nurse Redheart said tiredly, her white coat and pink mane curled haphazardly from the amount of stress she'd been under. The nurses hat she always wore was slightly askew. "Though I wish I know what that thing actually was." The nurse noticed the intense look of apprehension on the other mares face. "Oh it'll be fine with some bed-rest and a few doses of this." The nurse pulled a small bottle of pills from the pocket of her saddlebag. AppleJack took them with a mumble of thanks. The Nurse Pony frowned slightly, a look of intense concern on her face. "AppleJack, when that thing wakes up, I want to know immediately. It's a miracle that the creature is even alive, with the amount of wounds it has. Please let me know when it wakes." The nurse turned and walked away. AppleJack turned to look at her sister.
"I don't want you goin' near that thing till Twilight gets a chance to look at it. Understand?" She demanded harshly. Apple-Bloom looked up and nodded, though tears still spilled down her cheeks. "Don't you worry none." AppleJack whispered calmly, wrapping a leg around the smaller pony. "Once it wakes up, we'll find out what it wants. Just Keep away from it for now. Alright lil' sis?" Apple-Bloom sniffed but nodded. AppleJack watched her until the filly went back to her bedroom, then reached out and locked the spare-rooms door. The sword that Big-Mac had pulled off the creatures body was sitting on the kitchen table downstairs. The farm-Pony had no idea why, but she wasn't sure that she wanted the creature getting that sword back. She knew what she had to do though she wondered if Twilight would still be up at this time. The bookish Unicorn didn't like being woken up late at night, even for an important discovery like this. Though AppleJack was hoping that the Unicorn would control her temper. After all, It wasn't everyday you found a creature as Unique as this.