Chapter 1
Applejack moved her hoof with lightning speed and slid the pitchfork between the barn doors just before the first boom shook through them. The handle rattled violently with each added push from the other end and the claws of the farmer’s tool scratched at the wood as if detesting the barring itself.
She had waited too long. Glancing around, her head fell slightly at what remained within. Using the pitchfork was a bad idea; it would only keep the door shut momentarily. Her mane twitched and she snorted sullenly causing little plumes of dust to curl into the air. Four stalls bedecked with clothing and food along with any other precautions, yet, nopony left to share them with. Tears threatened the corner of her eyes and she cursed them. “Bucking cowards.” Bringing a hoof up, she dug it across her face and when it was removed her sight, though muddied, was dry once more.
A loud crack caused her to start, and she instinctively turned about, back feet poised to rattle the jaw of whatever had broken in. The whisper of the hay and the creaking of ill hung tack seemed to deafen the barn as her muscles coiled and uncoiled in what seemed to be a lifetime of waiting. When nothing moved or shook or wailed, she shakily turned back, one brave hoof at a time, and faced the door head on once more. It had cracked but the pitchfork had merely bowed in slightly.
She smiled ironically: The pitchfork was made of better wood.
She stood there for the next minute, tail defiantly brushing the ground, and watched for another angry wail--a sign the door protested the torture it was forced into receiving. Surely, the whole place had been subjected to too much of it lately.
Four stalls. She bit her lip yet still a small gasp escaped her. “Granny I tried, believe me I tried.” The whimpering was barely audible yet it shook the strong pony as if she were a tree being bucked. Her legs buckled and she locked them back to keep from falling down and managed to keep upright by sheer will; however that small bit of dignity alone complied with her will. No amount of swearing or snorting could stop the flow that built up in her soul and, letting her feelings loose, allowed her sorrow to mix in with the sweat at her cheeks.
She frantically traced her memories for a date or a notice of any kind. And you call yourself family? Instantly she regretted the question but her mind, as it was, cruelly dangled it in every corner of her thoughts. What kind of pony was she really, how could she have not seen it, felt it?
A boom sent her jumping back into the present, and the door momentarily inward, and she lashed at the air with her words. “The whole bucking lot of you can eat pigslop!”
“Applejack it’s me.”
Her eye’s widened to saucers and her body trembled as if the chill of death gripped her spine. She trotted forward, and the earth pony’s foot touched the cracked and aged wood of her safety barrier, but failed to do much else. “You ain’t real.” Tears threatened her cheeks once more. “You hear me. You ain’t real!”
The voice ignored her and continued to cry out. “AJ please it's scary out here. Don’t you love your sweetest, bestest, little sister more than anything in the whole world!”
“Just go.” The tears that she had tried to hold back now freely fell to the dirt and her wailing chilled the air like a Windigo. “I know it ain’t you Apple Bloom, little sis… so go.”
“Applejack…”
“Go!” Her voice cracked from the strain of the shout. “Discord eat your soulless body! Go and leave me in peace, now!” She brought her second front hoof up and with a mighty, wordless howl pushed on the door. The pitchfork rattled in the bent door handles then silence filled the barn.
Applejack was shaking uncontrollably, main and tail both dancing as if each of them had their own minds, and she shut her eyes. Let them shake. She did not remove her front feet from the barn door, could not; for if she did she wasn’t sure that all four legs would support her, and she had become mortally afraid of sinking to the earth lately.
Unfortunately for her this decision was taken out of her hooves when the two great doors of the Sweet Apple Acre’s barn were rammed from the outside yet another time. The force clacked her hooves to the wood in three rapid successions, before blowing her up two feet in the air and slammed her back down to skid on the dirt like a skipping stone. Her orange body, long since dulled from the dirt that had latched onto her, now brightened once more in a sickly, wet, coppery, color.
The shock brought red to the pony’s eyes and she bolted back to the door in a frenzy, dirt freezing in the air with each stamped hoof.
“Ain’t none of y’all getting in here, ya hear me?” The door blasted inward for a second in response and outside she heard a low snicker. “I mean it.” No response; she snorted.
Four stalls. She slid her back up against the door, to brace it and to sit down without admitting to herself that she couldn’t stand any longer. She had prepared all four earlier this week and, even now, doubt touched her on if her family had still been around then helping or if she had imagined it… It didn’t matter anymore, they had been emptied. Somehow they had broken in and cleansed this place before she had holed up. Clever little bucks. Of course they would’ve hit here, she had nowhere else to run too.
Do they take your memories? Yes. They had too, She shuddered, they must. Apple Bloom would sooner die than…
“Apple Bloom.” The name whispered through clenched teeth and joined the pile of tears in the mud at her hooves. Celestia look after her. “Granny if you can hear me…” She choked on the words and her throat rose up and down as she gulped back her feelings. “Granny you watch over her carefully now, you hear?” She coughed and then smiled but the tears still freely did as they wanted. “She always was close to you.”
A sudden smack between the ears and across her back caused her to wince, and stubbornly she pushed hard against the door. It bent outwards and caused the hinges to grip at wood. “You vermin can paint yourselves red with this door for as long as you like!” The idea made her smile defiantly. “I can stay here forever if need be!” She could not, but they probably knew that and besides, it was not the point. The point was that she had not caved, would not ever cave and give in to their demands.
“But don’t you love me Applejack.”
Applejack went pale but her eyes still held they fiery anger. “I have no love for you or any of your kind!”
Her shouting died out to a series of rattles and booms. The pony watched horrified as the crack from earlier became a line and then a strip.
“It’s not that love we’re after.”
Her tears stopped flowing and every hair on her body stood on its edge. Digging her hooves into the dirt she pushed with all her might. Nothing happened. Her pupils shook and her tongue worked nervously at the back of her teeth. The doors weren’t budging, the crack that had been created would not disappear.
In a panic she stretched her arms out in a T. “Try and come through I dare all you all!”
A green eye blinked at her from outside the entranceway. It was followed by a thin mouth stretched open to show black and yellow Swiss-cheesed teeth. Even their insides are filled with holes, she shuddered.
“We promise you’ll be happy.” She tried to look away and even turned her head, but her eyes refused to leave the doorway.
“Please sis… for me?” Applejack watched in horror as the eyes outside filled up like a pitcher of water, changing they’re color from green to orange. A pink bow sprouted behind them and shortly afterwards long curly red hair bounced along with it, behind the perfect face of her little sister.
“I don’t know you.” Her tail trembled and she clenched her teeth.
“But I love you sis.”
“Don’t you dare use her voice again or I’ll come out there and pound you into a real shadow.” No more tears. No more tears!
“But you loOoove your darling sister Apple Bloom, don’t ya?”
Applejack chuckled. “I ain’t buyin it no more.” Then clenching her eyes tightly so no more tears could escape yelled: "You hear me! I ain't buyin it!"
The creature outside frowned and its voice fluctuated up and down. “We ain’t selling anything… Sis.”
AJ chuckled again and sighed. Not selling indeed. “I’ll die in here before letting y’all come in.”
Outside the creature had changed back to it's green eyed shadow-less self, and it frowned quizzically. “That would be a useless gesture for both of us.”
“Speak for yourself.” She bucked at the ground with her back feet but succeeded only in lifting her body a hoof or two high. “I reckon you ain’t letting me shut this here door again?”
A smile this time filled the cracked doorway. “No I’m afraid we cannot.”
“Tell me,” She chose to ignore the last statement and continued to push at the wood. “If y’all live off of our emotions why are you suddenly springing up and killing ponies off?”
“A good question.” Applejack saw the creature’s eyes and mouth lower and, taking it to have sat down, ran in place pushing hard at the doors: no ground gained. She stopped before the pair of paths her struggling had created grew into tiny trenches.
“Sorry.” The smile hadn’t left the ugly thing’s face. “But as I’m sure you guessed I’m not alone out here.” When Applejack didn't respond the voice continued. “Why do you fight so hard?”
“My love is worthless to y’all now that I know what you are.”
“Quite true I’m afraid.”
“Then why are you still here?” Her voice broke slightly at the end and she cursed herself for letting them hear it.
“It would be a problem if a second Applejack were to appear one day wouldn’t you think, Sugarcube.”
Applejack spit at the creature and it laughed bringing its voice back to normal.
“You see, we farm your love until one of us stupidly…” It glanced at something beyond the door and it’s eyes went into slits. “Gets caught mid-change or attacking another pony.” The creature whistled through the holes in its teeth and smiled. “Then we have to move on to a new pony. That is, once we’ve made sure the old one can’t spread any tales about what’s gone on and where.”
Applejack sneered bitterly and bared her teeth at the creature. “I’ve already sent a letter to the princess with Big Mac. They’ll come here eventually and I’ll watch you all burn in…”
“Easy little Missie.” The door rattled and she squinted in pain as it opened slightly, sliding her bruised skin a few inches across the ground. The pitchfork, although still wedged in the handles, was now bent in half like a bow and she hoped that they did not bash against the entrance as before. She wouldn’t be able to keep it shut if they did.
“I’m getting impatient.”
“Buck you!” She spat out.
“Really, you still want to try going on after all… this?” It seemed surprised and that unnerved the poor earth pony more than anything. “I can have this door down in an instant if I wanted.”
“Then shut up and try it. But know that the moment you open this door I’m going to buck your skull all the way to Canterlot.”
“Have it your way then.” The eyes and lips disappeared into the blackness of the night outside and Applejack knocked both bottom hooves into a rigid line in prep for the ramming that was about to happen.
It was useless. She knew it and yet… “Apple Bloom sweetie.” No more tears she had said, and yet… “I’m coming sis.” She smiled.
The attack came with a sickening quickness and the entrance buckled inward almost instantly. The force of their ramming carried her in the sweeping arc of one of the greet doors, to land against the wall with a series of pops and clicks. She recognized the sound of snapping bones, despite having lost all feelings of pain long ago, and confirmed the belief when trying to stand her legs would not respond.
The barn around her began to fade and then cloud. She watched as shadows, (or were they shadows?) flooded into the room. Her vision went black and she sighed. Granny and Apple Bloom were waiting anyhow. Time seemed to stop; hay, it had stopped a long time ago. Her nose flared slightly, the closest she could come to chuckling, and she breathed deeply. Time to go.
“Wake up AJ!”
Her eyes flittered and shadows played all around her.
“Wake up AJ it’s time to go!”
Where in the hay was that voice coming from? Applejack tilted her head back and looked out from beneath her lids. Confused at the sight in front of her she whispered: “Dash, is that really you?”
“Questions later girl we gotta go.”
Lifting a shaky hoof Applejack pointed at the door. “How did you… there were so many…” Her mind cleared momentarily and she pawed weakly at the pegasus pony. “You gotta get out of here before they get back.”
“Twilight and the others are holding them off, but they won’t be able to last much longer.” As if on cue the sound of stomping and shouting could be heard outside. “Can you stand?”
“Rainbow Dash...” Applejack wheezed. “Is that really you?”
“We don’t have time!” The colorful pony pointed a hoof at the door. “They won’t be able to keep ‘em out for much longer, now can you stand?”
“How did you?” Applejack leaned forward and fell against the other’s chest. “It’s really you isn’t it?”
Rainbow dash lowered her wings and bent down underneath the other pony. “Get on.”
Applejack didn’t respond her strength which she prided herself in was now all gone, and she fell forward onto the other pony. Taking that as a sign of consent Dash pulled the earth pony up a little closer to her neck and began to beat her wings.
Applejack awoke later with a start. The sun had come out and she was somehow hovering high above the ground. She tried to cry out but barely managed a whimper.
“Easy AJ.”
It was Rainbow Dash’s voice. Forcing her eyes to stay open, and her mind not to drift off into darkness once more, she called out to the figure carrying her. “How did you find me?”
Dash smiled but kept her eyes firmly ahead. “The Princess sent a letter to Twilight saying you were trapped. According to the letter Big Mac had come with an urgent message about the farm getting hit especially hard with Changelings.”
“Twilight got a letter? But I thought they had already gotten to everypony in ponyville not just the farm?”
“Not everypony.” Rainbow’s smile widened. “Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Myself, we were all at Twilights, but when we heard that you were all alone… Why we couldn’t leave our best friend ever to suffer at the hands of those monsters could we!?”
Applejack head was still spinning and for a second she thought she saw one of the shadowy monsters beneath her, but it was replaced back with Rainbow dash when she blinked and she relaxed. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll never guess.” The pegasus paused a moment to navigate a gust of wind, then continued. “Canterlot. We’re going to stay with your brother at the castle till the Changelings are destroyed by the royal army.”
“What about Twilight… And the others?”
“They’ll be there.” Dash said her voice lowering. “I’m sure of it.” Then she laughed. “Quite sure of it.”
Applejack let her eyes close and weakly let out a small chuckle. She had made it out. Buck those sons of mules that had tried to stop her.