Amending the Future

by Nocturnal Reverie

Return

Applejack pushed another barrel of apples into the cart and shut the back. She sighed heavily, Big Mac doing the same before walking away with the cart. She shook her head, clearing the thoughts of three little fillies who should have been somewhere on the farm at this time of the day. That is, if things had been different.

She slammed a bucket at the base of a tree, bringing herself out of her thoughts. It had been a month, and nothing. No word, no leads, no nothing. She choked on her own sobs, staring at the bucket. If she was here, she’d be balancing it on her head, trying to catch all the apples that fell from the trees. She had gotten really good at it, too, even if it wasn’t her special talent.

“Consarnit, Applejack,” she said to herself. “Stop thinking about it.” She bucked the tree, the apples falling into their respective baskets. She sighed again, heading to the next tree.

She couldn’t help her thoughts from wondering again. She wanted her sister back, she wanted everypony that went missing that day back. But she couldn’t do anything about it.

She was brought out of her thoughts for a second time that day by a sudden flash of light followed by the sounds of electricity pulsing through the air. She was blinded for a second, as the strange light came from right in front of her. A couple seconds later, and a thump took the place of the previous sound. Applejack blinked the light out of her eyes, looking to see a fallen figure just a couple meters away from her.

The pony in question wore a heavy black cloak that hid their face and almost all of their body. Applejack could only see their hooves. The two front hooves were a dirtied yellow, as if it used to be a brighter shade, but had faded over time. The two back ones were…gray. A slate gray color. Applejack’s head tilted in confusion, trying to look closer. It finally dawned on her: they were metal. This pony’s back hooves, and quite possibly both back legs, were made of metal.

Applejack jumped when the pony suddenly moved. Groaning, they sat themselves up, their hooded head turning to Applejack. The pony sucked in a breath, hesitating before speaking, “Um, if you don’t mind my asking: what is your name?” The voice sounded almost distantly familiar, and revealed the pony in front of Applejack was a full-grown mare.

Applejack paused, instinctively tensing up. “Only if you tell me yours first.”

The pony looked away for a second, then tilted her head back up at Applejack, revealing their muzzle, which was the same color as her front hooves. “Muddy. Please, call me Muddy.”

“Uh, alright,” Applejack hesitated. “Well, it’s nice ta meet’cha, Muddy. Mah name’s Applejack.”

Muddy’s muzzle moved as she mouthed the name a couple times, repeating it to herself. A pause, and she broke out in a smile. She pulled herself onto all four hooves. “It…it worked. I can’t believe it actually worked.” She broke out in laughter, shaking her head incredulously.

“Uhm, what worked?” Applejack asked in confusion.

Muddy looked back to Applejack. “Oh, sorry. Um…that’s actually kind of a long story.”

“Uh, what is?” asked a voice away from the two mares. Big Mac pulled the cart back to the group of trees where the two mares were.

Muddy gasped. “What’s your name?” she asked suddenly, stepping toward Big Mac.

“Woah there, easy now,” Applejack said to Muddy. “This here is Big Macintosh. Big Mac, this here’s Muddy.”

Applejack could see the open smile on Muddy’s face. She laughed giddily again. “I just can’t believe it actually worked.”

“Uhh…” Big Mac began, throwing Applejack a confused glance.

Applejack repeated, “Look, could’ya just tell us what you mean by ‘It worked’?”

Muddy hesitated, then took a deep breath. “Okay, but first I need to show you two something. And before you say anything: this is already really hard to explain, so please don’t ask me any questions until I’m done asking mine. It’ll help me answer your questions if I know everything first. Got it?”

Applejack and Big Mac exchanged a glance, coming to a silent agreement. If they wanted to know what was going on with this pony, it’s be best to just go with what she needed.

“Alright, then,” Applejack answered. “What is ya need ta show us?”

Muddy took in another deep breath and let it out slowly. She raised her hoof to her hood and flipped it back.

Applejack felt the color drain from her face. The mare in front of her looked like she had gotten out of a warzone. Her short strawberry mane looked dirty, a tattered pink ribbon tied around her hair like a headband holding it back. Her left ear was torn at the tip, and numerous scars and scuffs littered her face. Her golden eyes were hardened, yet alive with a passion that Applejack nor Big Mac could not understand.

After a moment of the oldest Apple siblings staring, Muddy nervously asked, “Okay, now for my first question: Do you know my name?”

Applejack blanched, taken aback by the question. She could only imagine Big Mac was making the same face. Of course she knew who this mare was. Only, she wasn’t supposed to be a mare.

Another moment passed, Applejack digesting the question. “You mean you don’t know?”

Muddy responded, “Please, just tell me. I’ll explain everything, I promise. But I need to know everything before I can. So please: what is my real name?”

Applejack hesitated. If she said this name, it would make what was in front of her all too real, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that. And yet, she had to tell Muddy what her real name was. She couldn’t just leave her little sister confused and wanting to know an answer like that.

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack finally said. “Your real name is Apple Bloom.”

Muddy took in a slow breath, looking at her sister. She nodded slowly, mouthing her own name a few times. Nodding again, she said, “Apple Bloom. Yeah…that sounds right.” A fleeting smile danced across her lips, her eyes moistening. She smiled at Applejack and Big Mac. “Thank you.”

“No problem, sugarcube,” Applejack replied, her own tears tugging at her eyes. Her sisterly instincts took over, and she leapt at Muddy, pulling her into a tight embrace. Muddy froze up, the distantly familiar gesture sparking within her memory. An old instinct, long forgotten, swelled within her. Slowly, then all at once, she threw her hooves around her big sister, burying her face in her neck and letting out a sob. Applejack pulled Muddy closer to her, her own tears falling from her eyes.

Big Mac watched from a small distance. He couldn’t wrap his head around his little sister being back like she was. All that really mattered was that she was back. It was all he cared about, though concerning thoughts nagged at the back of his mind. He kept them at bay, though, knowing his questions would be answered soon enough.

Muddy and Applejack finally broke away, Muddy rubbing her eyes with a hoof, a small smile forming on her lips. She didn’t suppress the smile, but got back on the temporarily abandoned topic. “Okay, next question: how long ag—”

She cut herself off, suddenly looking in a direction somewhere off to her left. She blinked, her eyes searching the area in front of her before she got to her hooves and began searching the sky.

“Uh, what’cha lookin’ for there, sugarcube?” Applejack questioned. Muddy raised a hoof instead of answering. Another second or two of looking at the sky, and she brought a hoof to the side of her head.

“Mud Pony to Chicken, come in Chicken.” A pause. “I have visual on you, Chicken. Twenty clicks down and two clicks east from your position, over.” Another pause, and Muddy brought her hoof down, still looking to the sky.

“What was all that about, Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked. Muddy cringed, but quickly regained her composure, looking to her older siblings.

“You’re about to meet one of my comrades,” she said. Applejack and Big Mac exchanged a glance. They knew Apple Bloom was a bit different than the little filly they once knew, but they didn’t expect her to use words of such a high military caliber.

The sound of two pairs of pegasus wings filled the air above the three Apples. A second later, and two pegasi stood before the three Earth ponies. One they already knew, the other…not so much.

Clad in similar wear as Muddy, the cloak-wearing pegasus folded their metallic wings in to their side, throwing their hood back to reveal another mare, also extremely familiar to Applejack and Big Mac. This mare…Chicken, if anything could be assumed from Muddy’s words only a moment before, had dirtied orange fur and a nearly buzzcut, greasy purple mane. The front of her mane fell to her right, partially covering what appeared to be a biotic eye, a completely red lens with a metal rim embedded in her skull where her eye used to be. The remaining lavender eye shone with no-nonsense determination.

“Um, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said from beside the mare, “do you know what’s going on?”

“Not a clue,” Applejack admitted. “But Apple Bloom here said to just wait and everything would be answered.”

“And it will,” the new mare spoke up. The familiar scratchy voice of the mare in front of her finally connected the dots.

“Wait just an apple-pickin’ minute, is that…?” Applejack began.

“Yup,” Rainbow Dash finished. “It’s Scootaloo.” She looked at the two mares, shaking her head incredulously. “This is getting a little too weird.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

“Well, maybe now with all that out of the way, we can tell y’all what yer next question was.”

Muddy nodded, “Right. How long have we been gone, to you all?”

“Oh, well, it’s been about a month for us still here in Ponyville,” Applejack answered.

Muddy let out a small sigh of relief, and something flashed in Chicken’s still-good eye, though she retained a look of ferociousness. “Okay, good,” Muddy said, tension unraveling itself from within her. There was still time, lots of it.

“Have there been any leads on the matter of the sudden disappearance of eight foals?” Chicken spoke up, speaking in a flat, hard tone one would think to hear from a soldier, not from somepony that was a foal just a month ago.

“You mean your own disappearance?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Well, no, actually. We’ve been looking, but nopony in Ponyville or the Royal Guard have found anything.” Chicken only gave a curt nod, taking the newfound information into a mental log.

Muddy’s eyes widened suddenly, and she once again brought her hoof to her temple. “Chief, this is Mud Pony; come in Chief, over.” A pause. Chicken glanced at her comrade, then back to the ponies in front of her. She knew she knew them, but wasn’t about to let her guard down on something as petty as a hunch.

Muddy spoke up again, “10-4, Chief. Over and out.” Muddy looked to the three ponies in front of her and Chicken. “We need to head to town square; the rest of our party is heading there. We can talk on the way.”

The three ponies looked to each other. As much as Applejack knew they needed to get their work done, she couldn’t deny the possible emergency behind her sister suddenly reappearing with one of her foalhood friends, both not acting they way they should. With that thought in mind, Applejack replied, “Alrighty, then. Let’s head on over.”

Chicken nodded, crouching in a take-off position. “Chicken, stay grounded,” Muddy ordered. Chicken threw a glare at Muddy. “It will be easier for us to hear any and all information we learn if we both stay together. And you know I am not going in the air with you.”

Chicken let out an annoyed breath through her nose, but nodded and rose back to begin walking. The group, led by Applejack and Big Mac, began walking down the path out of Sweet Apple Acres, heading towards the Town Square, where an uncertain meeting was sure to occur.

Author's Note:

Hello, everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this fanfiction! Let me know what you all think!

Now, this story has been driving me crazy for about a week, and I had to get at least this much out of my system. Since it's nearing finals, I don't think I'll be able to post another chapter until the summer, which is in a couple week s for me. I'll put up the next chapter whenever I'm able.

What do you think has happened? Who is Chief? Find out next time!

Comments

[DanTheDuke]

Interesting story, though I feel the paseing was a little quick. Things kept moveing on with no time to process what was happening. I feel like this could have been 2 chapters with the first being a prologue with Apple Jack remembering in detail the event, then ending with "Muddy" showing up. The next chapter being a teary reunion followed by "Muddy" picking up the rest of the crusaders. Then again I don't know what you have planned. I guess what I'm saying is slow down to smell the flowers but run when the beast is chasing you.

You've got a good hook now reel me in.

[Nocturnal Reverie]

8868959

Thanks for the feedback!
I'll admit, I do tend to have trouble starting stories, pacing-wise. I'll keep your suggestion in mind for future stories; but you're right: all will be explained soon.
I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter!

[Starlight Nova]

How do I know this story won't die after only one chapter?

[Nocturnal Reverie]

8881396
Hi, Starlight. I appreciate your concern, but don't worry. I'm at the end of my college semester, so the next chapter should come up in the near future, I just got swamped with a bunch of end-of-the-year work.

[Fluttershyisacutegal]

huh, quite the interesting start here