Chapter 4: Left Behind
"Applejack!" shouted Applebloom as she trotted through her house. She had spent the entire day cutie-mark-crusading with her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and now she was looking forward to dinner. When she had searched the entire house and found no sign of her sister, she went outside and over towards the barn.
"Big Macintosh!" she called to him as he walked out, pulling along a cart full of hay. "Do you know where Applejack is?"
"Nope," he replied. "Maybe she's still out bucking apples and lost track of the time."
Applebloom galloped off into the apple trees, still calling Applejack's name. She ran faster and faster, zigzagging through the orchard, expecting to see her sister behind every other tree. When there was no sign of her, Applebloom slowed to a trot and made her way back to the barn. On her way, she noticed Sweetie Belle standing by the barn doors, looking around.
"Sweetie Belle!" she cried. "What're you doin' here?"
"Well… when I went home, Rarity was missing! I wasn't really sure what to do, so I came back here to find you."
"That's weird! Applejack's missin', too!"
"Where do you think they might've gone?"
Applebloom sat down and thought hard. Applejack hadn't said anything about going anywhere recently, and even if she had, Applebloom hadn't the slightest idea where.
"What are we supposed to eat?" sighed Sweetie Belle.
"Well, we got apples, don't we?"
They cantered through the orchard together, bucking and eating the apples that looked the ripest. "I don't get it," sighed Sweetie Belle. "Where would they both have to go that's so important? You don't think they forgot about us, did they?"
"You're worrin' too much," said Applebloom. "They know we can take care of ourselves."
"Do they?" asked Sweetie Belle. "I thought you said Applejack was really overprotective."
"She is," said Applebloom. "I"—
They suddenly heard some ponies calling Sweetie Belle's name. As they headed back out of the trees, they were greeted by Mrs. Cake and their teacher, Cheerilee. They were especially surprised to see Cheerilee, who had been on vacation for the past few months.
"There you are," said Mrs. Cake.
"Do you know where Applejack and Rarity are?" Applebloom asked frantically. The two adults looked at each other.
"Well… actually, no, we don't," replied Cheerilee. "They and their friends all left earlier this morning, it seems."
"Yes," added Mrs. Cake, "and Rarity said they didn't know when they'd be back."
Applebloom frowned. What could they be doing that Applejack didn't want her to know about?
"We're here to… you know, check up on you and make sure you're okay," said Cheerilee.
The two of them, along with Scootaloo, ended up having dinner at Cheerilee's house. They hadn't quite eaten their fill of apples, so she prepared some carrot stew.
"Whatever they're doing, I bet it was Rainbow Dash's idea," said Scootaloo at the table after she'd heard about the six ponies leaving. "It's probably some awesome adventure. I bet they're on a secret mission, or something."
Cheerilee frowned. "I sure hope it was something important, if it made them leave you all behind."
"I'm sure they'll be back," protested Sweetie Belle, though she sounded uncertain. Why had they left without telling her? And what could possibly be so important?
Looking around at the three sullen, confused fillies, Cheerilee silently vowed that she would help take care of them until their older siblings returned. After all, ponies as young as they were deserved to have somepony they could rely on, especially given that no one knew when their sisters would be back.
…
"So, Applebloom," Sweetie Belle said once the three of them were set up in a spare room, "did Applejack say anything about going somewhere recently?"
Applebloom paced the cramped room, thinking back. "No, I don't think she had any particular business anywhere… unless…" she gasped.
"What?"
"Well, what if it had somethin' to do with what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala?"
They'd all heard about the attempt on Celestia's life, along with the assassin's suicide. Up until now these events had seemed too strange for them to make anything of; they hadn't seemed like the sort of things that happened in real life.
"That's it, then!" declared Sweetie Belle. "Rarity and Applejack and everypony must've gone after whoever sent the assassin!"
"But who could that be?" asked Scootaloo. They all tried to puzzle it out before realizing they had absolutely no information to work with.
"Why wouldn't they tell us, though?" asked Sweetie Belle. "We don't even know how long they'll be gone!"
"They're bound to come back soon," insisted Applebloom. "My sister's real protective of me. She even saved my life once." The others looked at her silently, prompting her to continue: "Lemme tell y'all the story. A long time ago—more than a year—I decided I'd go into the Everfree Forest, 'cause I'd never heard what was in there and I didn't know about all the dangerous critters."
"I followed a trail pretty deep inside and it was spooky and all, but I didn't find nothin' and it was startin' to get dark, so I turned around. Then, all of a sudden, I heard Applejack callin' my name. I figured I'd be in really big trouble, so I didn't call back right away, but then I heard this rustlin' in the bushes, and this huge wolf jumped out. I ran and it started chasin' me, and Applejack ran up and tried to fight it off, even though it was bigger'n she was, and it bit her pretty bad…"
"How come you never told us this before?" asked Sweetie Belle. "We would never have gone into the forest that one time if we'd known…"
Applebloom shrugged. "Guess I forgot. I think was a different trail, after all. Anyways, Applejack was losin' the fight when there came this deep, huge roar, so loud I could almost hear the ground shakin', and the wolf ran away. Applejack and I got out real quick after that."
"What did the roar come from?" asked Scootaloo. "Did you see it?"
"Nah, and I hope I never do. After we were back home, I helped her patch up the bites she'd gotten, and I was askin' all these questions 'cause I didn't know nothin' about serious fights like that, or animals that try to eat ponies, or that sort of thing. The weird thing was, she wouldn't give me a straight answer to anythin' I asked."
"You mean she lied?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"No, I mean she said 'You're too young to be askin' after that' and that sort of thing, but I sort of knew the wolf had been tryin' to eat us, you know? And she said it wanted to hurt us, but it wasn't 'till later I figured out that in order to eat us, it had to kill us first, and grown ponies say 'hurt' to fillies when they mean 'kill', and I think that must've been what she was doin'."
"What?" asked Scootaloo. "Why?"
Applebloom made a sweeping gesture. "That's just the way of things. Adults lie all the time, 'cause they care about us."
"How is lying a way of showing that you care?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"It's how they keep us safe, same as with everythin' else. Water wings protect you from drownin', kneepads protect you from scrapes, and lies protect you from the truth. Applejack may represent the element of honesty, but even she knows where to draw the line."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "You say that like it's a good thing, but what good does it even do if you know when she's lying?"
Applebloom shrugged. "It's my job as a kid to comfort Applejack, just as it's hers to comfort me. She explains the tooth fairy to me, I nod and smile. She tells me my pet hamster 'ran away', I pretend to believe her. It's like a little game we play. Adults need to think we're completely naïve an' innocent, because it makes 'em feel better."
"How so?" asked Scootaloo.
Applebloom shrugged. "I figure it's 'cause as long as there's fillies who don't know about all the bad things in the world, it's like those things are half there and half not. Adults have to deal with the real world all the time, but lyin' to us helps 'em escape, lets 'em forget for a while. Mark my words: when Applejack and the others come back, there ain't a ghost of a chance they'll tell us where they've been."
"I wonder if Rarity lies to me like that, too," said Sweetie Belle, frowning.
"You should hope she does," said Applebloom. "That's the mark of a good big sister."
"I don't know if lying all the time is that great," said Sweetie Belle slowly, "and she's never fought a wolf for me or anything, but she is a good sister." After a pause, she added "I'm sure she'll be back." The others nodded.
The three of them slept soundly that night, except for Sweetie Belle, who saw herself running from something large and unnatural in the forest.