Chapter 1: Prologue
It's never a good sign if you wake up to the taste of blood. Its metallic tang filled Applejack's mouth as she rose to consciousness.
Her eyes shuddered briefly, only to discover she could see through one. She tried lifting her left hoof to feel her face, but the convulsing pain was too much for her foreleg. She began to wonder if any part of her was working; she was somehow able to stand. Odd, she could smell smoke. That was when she panned her gaze at the farm. Well, what was left of it.
The mare took it in - she took it all in. Her face swelled with denial. From left to right, the whole apple orchard was nothing but a field of ash, and the trees that did remain shriveled into driftwood from the fire. AJ struggled to remember what happened just moments before or who could've done this, then her attention shifted to the barn.
"Granny! Apple Bloom!" she thought aloud. AJ trotted across the dirt path as best she could, just managing to stumble into the doors. Things in here were looking no better than the outside. It was ransacked. Furniture was flipped over, curtains were torn. The floors were littered with broken glass, made obvious by the dim light emitted from its shattered window. What a mess. The others. AJ thought. The orange pony limped hurriedly up the stairs, but the sound of sobbing in the next room made her pace her approach. A misplaced step from her hind leg creaked the floors. The sobbing ceased.
"Who's there?" the voice was frantic, but familiar. "We ain't got nothin' else! You took ev'rythin' already!" AppleJack took a few more audible steps, and turned the corner. "I said w-" Granny Smith had her cane in the air. The moment she saw her beloved granddaughter, she let it drop to the ground with a light thud, and proceeded to sob,"Oh AJ."
"It's alright, Granny," Applejack reassured. " Its me." The older mare moved closer for an embrace.
"Child, what've they done to ya?" Granny held AJ's face tenderly, eyeing her injuries. "Stay put, dear. I'll git somethin' to patch ya up." The elder pony shuffled to the dresser in the back of the room while AppleJack took some time in the mirror. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Sweet Celestia," she had a good look at her left eye. Some blood ran from the swelling eyelids; she wasn't sure if she had an eye anymore. More so, her left arm was maimed and bruised, as well as a few ribs broken. She couldn't let Apple Bloom see her like this. Apple Bloom. "Granny, who did all this? W-where are the others?"
"I - I'm not sure. I heard a lotta rustling 'n' tumblin' downstairs. And then there - there was gunshots. They busted the doors upstairs and - and kep' askin' fer somethin'." Granny Smith began trembling violently.
"Asked for what? Who?" AJ asked, and was followed by a long pause.
"I don't know," another pause. "I don't think I wanna know." Granny pulled a roll of gauze from one of the drawers. She attended to AJ, but her shaking made it feeble. The freckled pony steadied her caregiver's hooves.
"I got it," said AppleJack. The blood quickly stained the bandages as she wrapped her eye. "It'll have to do."
"AJ," she yearned. "Please, check downstairs. My old heart can't handle it if - if one of 'em -"
"Don't worry," AJ interrupted. "I'll have a look-see."
"Big Mac? Apple Bloom!" AppleJack's calls clung stiffly to the wooden interior of the ground floor, leaving no room for an echo. She searched anxiously, but carefully. Spoke blaringly, but quietly. The farm pony didn't know what was worse; not finding her siblings, or finding their corpses. No. They couldn't be. She shook that thought away. The best lead she had to them was the trail of debris of what may have been fighting. It lead to the kitchen.
"Oh no." Blood covered the rest of the floor. "No, please no."
Twilight Sparkle impatiently tapped her hoof on the crystal chair as she slouched upon it. Her face was uneasy as she eyed between the clock and other chairs' cutie marks.
"Where could they be?" she asked to no one in particular. Her assistant pondered a bit, wanting to give a reasonable response.
"Didn't Rarity say she heading to Canterlot to visit Sassy Saddles?"
"But she wasn't leaving till noon. It's still morning!" Twilight exclaimed. "She should be here by now, or at least be on her way!" Spike gently patted her forearm,
"And I'm sure they are."
"I know I am!" a soprano voice suddenly rang out from behind, startling the two.
"Ah!" Twilight fell back in her chair, and in response Pinkie hopped a step back.
"Wow! That's the second time today I was almost crushed by a chair!" the pink pony's voice yelped cheerfully. Her friend on the other hand, seemed relatively annoyed, still lying on the floor.
"When was the first time?"
"Oh! Well when I was on my way to -"
"It was rhetorical."
"Oh." Pinkie's smile beamed a little less. The alicorn rolled back on her belly and got back on her hooves.
"Have you seen the others? They're on their way, right?" Twilight wanted some reassurance that the others were close by.
"Well I dunno. But I'm pretty sure I saw Fluttershy making her way here." The door on the other side of the council room creaked open as she spoke. "Look! There she is now!" A small yellow muzzle peeked out from behind the door. The eyes and head followed suit.
"I hope I'm not late." Fluttershy's tone was hushed.
"Actually, you're a little early," Twilight glimpsed at the clock. "Well, since half of us are here, I might as well fill you in."
"Alright Twilight, why's our flanks glowing today?" Pinkie said with enthusiasm. She raised her hind in the air.
"I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at." Twilight glared at the map. "This is the first time the map has done something like this."
"Like what, Twilight?" The Pegasus' face contorted.
"You see this?" The Princess pointed to Ponyville.
"It - wants us to solve a problem right here?" said Fluttershy.
"Well yeah, there's that. But then look over here."
Pinkie squished her face against Twilight's. "Wait, two places at once?" Their cutie marks hovered over Dodge City.
"Not two, three." Twilight glanced over Las Pegasus.
"A triple doozy, huh?" Ms. Pie scratched her head. "I don't see AppleJack's cutie mark anywhere on here."
"That's what concerns me. And I have a hunch she part of today's friendship problem, or whatever problem for that matter."
"For what matter?" Pinkie tilted her head.
"Maybe it's not a friendship problem."
"Are you saying that she uh - might be the problem?" Fluttershy added. Twilight shuddered at her words.
"No no! That's not what I meant."
"Maybe Flim and Flam have something to do with it!" Pinkie yelled excitably. For a moment, the other two mares looked at her in confusion. "What? They might. I did see them making their way out of town just earlier. They were quite in a hurry, too. They also had a couple o-"
"Twilight!" A spectral blaze burst through the door, and landed in the middle of the cutie map. Rainbow Dash was panting quite heavily from exhaustion. Her wings remained fully splayed from the adrenaline rush. "What are - " she took a moment to catch her breath. "Why are you guys still here?! The orchard is ON FIRE!" Everyone eyes in the room widened to the brim of their heads. "Come on! Half the town is already on their way there! We need to move!" The three mares still stood there, too shocked to move or respond.
Princess Twilight finally mustered some sense, "W-what?" She looked to Dash for an answer.
"There's no time to explain. Applejack needs us!" Rainbow tried to press the gravity of the situation, but the Princess took a moment to get it through her head. She turned to the map. Two and two snapped together.
"Right," Twilight spoke firmly. "Let's move, girls!" And with that, they were off.
They regretted not coming sooner. How in Equestria could they have missed this? How could they not have seen this disaster? Especially for a friend? More than half of the trees were being eaten by flames, making those remaining all the more precious. Several other ponies were there before them, Rarity included, fighting off the smolders bucket by bucket, almost to no avail. But with no time to grief, Twilight took action.
"Pinkie, check the farmhouse for AppleJack and the others! Fluttershy, take the animals to someplace safe!" They both nodded, and galloped in separate directions. The rest, Twilight and Dash, flew above the conflagration. "Rainbow, I need you to - "
"Wait! I know what your gonna say, but it's not gonna work. Even if I took out the flames, it'll destroy the trees! That's why you're here." She was right. A storm would only make things worse. Besides, there wasn't a cloud in site. Twi took a second to think this through. There had to be a quick solution. She turned to address her pegasus friend.
"Then tell the others down there to stand back."
"What're gonna do?'
Twilight glanced at her horn.
"Oh, right!" she zoomed off, ready to hustle the crowd away.
When the orchard was clear, the alicorn ascended even further, and worked her magic. A great display of white light and aura emerged from her horn and her eyes, releasing a wide burst of it to oppose the fires. The scene was godly.
As the beam of light faded, there was now a field of trees covered in heavy frost. The spell was very draining, leaving the princess barely enough energy to stay aloft, but was eased to the ground with the help of Rainbow.
"AppleJack," Twilight said softly as she lay on her side - her face flushed, "Find . . . Applejack." Rainbow felt reluctant to leave her friend, but turned her head as she felt a hoof place itself upon her back.
"Go, I'll look after her," it was Rarity. Feeling assured, the Pegasus nodded and flew off to the barn house.
The house felt uncomfortably eerie as Pinkie Pie entered. Her bright and cheery self was flustered and muted by the gravity of the situation - her mane deflated a bit in turn. "AppleJack? A-are you here?" She made a sharp gasp as she heard the crunching of glass below her hoof, then quickly retracted it to reveal a broken portrait of the Apple Family. Her face contorted in discomfort before she continued her slow approach. What she was approaching was somewhat of a mystery. She was hoping that it was a family of four completely unharmed, if not a little scared. Maybe they'll all show up and say "Surprise! This was all just a prank! Everypony's fine and all the fire outside was just a magical illusion that makes it look like the trees are being burnt to a crisp!" She hoped. But that was asking a bit much - even if it was a prank. Her hypothetical thoughts were interrupted by loud sobbing down the hall. Her creeping suddenly turned into sprinting.
She couldn't say she was shocked when she turned the corner. She stopped herself before she could gasp, and simply stood there with her mouth open as if she was. A familiar orange figure loomed over a large stallion upon a pool of crimson that webbed along the spaces between the floorboards. "AppleJack?" Pinkie spoke. The orange figure continued its sobbing. She took a few paces closer, "AppleJack?" she said again, more sincerely. AJ only curled herself closer to the stallion, and nuzzled her face into his neck, muffling her cries. Pinkie's growing sympathy deflated her mane completely. She sat with her friend silently - closing her eyes as she hung her head. She let her mourn. Letting it flood over the dams of elation and serenity while it drowned memories of bliss. The moment was infinite.
Applejack finally pulled away from her brother's corpse, "They took her." Pinkie opened her eyes.
"Took who?"
Oh, man. Where to start? This chapter took WAY too long to make. Like, two months too long. I honestly don't know why. I had the idea clear in my head, but it's a different story trying to put it in words. Literally. I first got the idea from a song, here. I even have a story board for the whole thing. I think the biggest challenge was learning how to segue each situation to the next without it feeling choppy or corny. But honestly, I'm not sure.
Enough rambling. I'd appreciate a critique or two to see where I stand as a writer, and if there's enough positive feedback, I'll have another chapter in the works. Special thanks to Chicago Ted! I should probably pay the man . . . 
Nah.
- CarbonCoffee
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Oh, man. Those jerks are dead meat.
AJ's not gonna show them ANY mercy for killing her brother, taking Apple Bloom and destroying the farm.
Good start to this, btw.
Have a Favorite, a Track, and upvote and a Follow.
AWESOME! And a quick message to Flim and Flam. You done goofed!
Um, wow. A bit excessive, Flim and Flam! Shame on you both! They'd better have a damn good reason for this!
And this was very well written. I know it sounds silly, but when I saw the first two sentences began with the correct uses of "it's" and "its", I kind of did a little fist pump and thought "This is gonna be good". And it was. When you say you storyboard your fics, do you mean you actually sit down and draw them all out, panel by panel?
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Thank you so much for your feedback Susie! And yes, that is exactly what I do. For more dedicated stories and ideas that I have, I make it panel by panel, but more often than not I simply right footnotes of a basic idea.
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A big thank you, Geralt of Rivia (I assume that is who you are, hence the name White Wolf).
7334657 Well, you're very welcome, but wrong.
My username is just what it says; "Whitewolf", but without the spaces.
You can just call me Wolf, though. All my online buddies do.
Now watch what you said have gone completely over my head.
*reads back over that last bit, then
*
Great. Now I'm channeling Zecora.
Cool. And how the say goes: "blood calls blood!"