Eight foals all went missing about a month ago. Trying to move on from the tragedy, Ponyville is unprepared from what's about to come its way.
After a month of no news of her missing sister and the seven other foals that went missing, Applejack and her brother are trying to cope with the loss. That all changes when the answer to their prayers literally appears right in front of them. Now they must go on a harrowing journey to set right what should never have happened.
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.
Twilight Sparkle’s mind turned to autopilot as she shuffled the books from the return rack and back to their proper places. She read the letter from Princess Celestia for about the fifth time that morning.
Still nothing? She pondered, her stomach drooping even further. She’d have to tell Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash that there were still no leads on their little sisters’ whereabouts. She put the letter down and rest her head on her hoof, letting her eyes fall closed.
Her ear flicked as she heard Spike’s voice down the hallway, calling her name. “In here, Spike!” she called back.
The door to the library swung open. “TWILIGHT!” Spike yelled.
“Spike, calm down, I’m right here,” she replied calmly, rising to meet her assistant. “Now, what’s wrong?”
Spike panted as if he had run all the way across town. “Twilight…you’re not gonna believe it. There are…a bunch of ponies at Town Square…and they’re all wearing cloaks…and they—well, not really, but…I’m pretty sure…” he stopped, trailing off to think.
“Pretty sure of what, Spike?” Twilight inquired, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Well…it’s just…they kinda look like…the foals that went missing.” Spike watched Twilight’s face morph from its previous exhausted hopelessness, to confusion, to downright concern.
“Uh, Twilight?” Spike asked. Twilight’s horn ignited with its orchid aura, enveloping Spike in its glow. The young alicorn about-faced and galloped out of the library and down the hallway, exiting the library at full sprint heading to Town Square.
“Chief!” Muddy called out, trotting over to another cloaked pony.
“Muddy, good to see you,” the cloaked pony replied. Another pony next to her stood silently as she pulled back her hood and looked to the other ponies accompanying her and Chicken. “Good to see you found her. Chicken, too.”
Chicken nodded and joined Muddy with Chief. Applejack, Big Mac, and Rainbow Dash stayed behind, realizing who Chief was. “Isn’t that…?” Rainbow Dash asked slowly.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac confirmed.
“…Diamond Tiara?” Applejack asked breathlessly. “What in Equestria?”
The mare now known as Chief stood with an air of authority about her. Her sharp blue eyes looked over her surroundings, constantly calculating any possibility that could come about. A plate of metal jutted out from the base of her right ear, a metal extension coming to the front of her face, where a small, bright green screen positioned itself in front of her eye, tiny lines of text running across it as she checked of parts of the plan and made various changes. Her coat, just like her comrades’, was covered in a decent layer of dirt. Her dirtied mane was pulled back in a high ponytail, the lavender and white stripes mussed up from an unknown tussle.
Chief’s ear twitched, and she turned to greet another pony who came to join the group. “Piglet, everything alright?”
“Sure is, Chief!” came the happy reply, a white unicorn mare joining Muddy and Chicken in front of their leader. Once again, the three ponies off to the side couldn’t help but gawk at the newcomer’s appearance. This time, however, they weren’t the only ones.
“Oh my…sweet Celestia,” Rarity spoke in an awed voice from where Piglet had come from.
“Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Rarity saw her two friends and trotted over, keeping an eye on the scene unfolding in front of her. “Can either of you please explain to me what is going on?”
“Wish we knew the whole story, Rare,” Applejack answered. “I see Sweetie Belle suddenly reappeared.”
“Yes, it would seem so,” Rarity answered, her eyes never leaving the mare that used to be her little sister.
Piglet was in the same disheveled state as the rest of her comrades. Her dirty coat demanded brushing and her two-toned mane hung in knots to her shoulders, with her horn sporting a thin metal band. “How’s it going, Shiner?” she asked the silent pony next to Chief with a forced-cheerful tone.
“Fine,” Shiner replied, refusing to pull back her hood.
“Good,” replied Piglet, lugging a smile to her face.
“Did I miss anything?” another cloaked mare asked as she trotted to the group. Her dusty purple coat was spotted with dirt, her golden mane pulled to the side and tied together with a teal ribbon. Instead of a metal band at the base of her horn, a piece of metal wound its way from the bottom of her horn to the tip, lying over the natural crevice of her horn.
“No, you’re right on time, Bright Beam,” Chief answered.
“Dinky! Wait up!” came a shout from where Bright Beam had come from. A gray pegasus mare and a bright pink unicorn mare rushed into the alley, chasing after Bright Beam. Bright Beam looked back at the two and smiled sheepishly, carefully.
“Sorry,” she apologized.
“Hey, Derpy!” Rainbow Dash called, waving over the two mares.
“Hiya, Rainbow Dash!” Derpy replied, leaving her daughter to talk with her comrades and joining Rainbow Dash and her friends. “Sparkler,” she called over her shoulder.
Amethyst snapped out of her stupor, joining her mother and leaving her little sister with her other friends.
“So, um…how are you holding up?” Rainbow asked Derpy.
“All things considered? Um…okay, I guess?” Derpy shakily replied.
“Okay?” Amethyst jut in. “Dinky just…just…showed up out of nowhere, all grown up, and has no answers for us whatsoever. I mean, just…what?”
“I understand yer confusion,” Applejack replied, offering Amethyst a smile. “But Apple Bloom told me an’ Big Mac that all our answers will come soon. Looks ta me like they need the rest of their…uh…team to show up before they can start answerin’ our questions.”
“I guess you’re right,” Amethyst said, calming down a bit. “I’ve just been so worried about her, and suddenly she shows up looking like you six when you get out of a crazy battle with something from the Everfree Forest.”
“Oh, don’t I know it, darling,” Rarity added. “As soon as I get some answers, I’m taking Sweetie Belle home to have a serious cleaning. Dirt on that level for any amount of time is just horrible for the complexion.”
“Wait a second, isn’t that…?” Rainbow Dash asked again, trailing off as she pointed out two ponies who joined the fray. One, another mare with a light-yellow coat and strawberry mane pulled up into a messy bun. At either temple, a plate of metal served as an anchor for a purple pane of glass that spread across her amber eyes. The second, a pinto stallion whose brown mane was held back in a small, low ponytail. He sported a single green glass eyepiece that mirrored Chief’s, which was settled on his left eye instead of his right.
“Isn’t that…Twist and Pipsqueak?” Applejack asked. “Ah remember Apple Bloom bein’ friends with Twist; an’ she told ‘bout her and the rest of the CMC helpin’ out Pipsqueak with somethin’ at school.”
“Hi, Sugar Shock. Hi, Governor,” Muddy called out to the two approaching ponies.
“Hey, Muddy, everyone,” greeted Sugar Shock. “Looks like everything worked out, huh?”
“Seems so,” Piglet answered.
“What in Equestria is going on out here?!” shouted a frantic-looking Twilight, running onto the scene.
Chief merely blinked before pulling a relieved smile to her face. “Ah, Princess Twilight. We were just about to come to your castle.”
“You were WHAT?” Twilight asked, trying her hardest to take in everything she was seeing. Spike was right: it seemed every single missing foal had suddenly turned up, looking fifteen to twenty years older and like they had just jumped out of one of her sci-fi adventure books.
“As soon as we all met here, we were going to go to your castle to explain the situation. That, and we need to bring someone here who wasn’t able to come with the rest of us…and it’d be best to do that in your castle,” Chief explained as best and calmly as she could.
“Why? Who do you need to bring?” Twilight questioned, trying to calm herself down.
At this, Chief floundered. “Oh, uh, well…actually, she told me not to tell you anything about her identity until she gets here.”
“And why would you need to do that?” Twilight inquired.
“In her words: you’d freak out too much,” Chief replied coolly.
“Wh-at,” Twilight guffawed. “The answer to a month-long mystery just appeared out of thin air with no explanation whatsoever. Why would I be freaking out?” Twilight’s eye twitched as she struggled to maintain her composure.
“Oh, right. About that,” Chief added. “The pony we need to bring here will help explain everything. I promise, as soon as she’s here, we’ll answer all your questions.”
Twilight closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. Panicking right now would get her nowhere. It would be best to wait and see what these ponies had to say before she bombarded them with too many questions. They seemed like they didn’t mean any harm, and if they did indeed end up attacking, she knew her and her friends could handle them. She knew exactly where the Elements of Harmony were, and could teleport them to her should the need arise. They’d been in worse situations before. Everything would be fine.
Only about half as panicked as she was, Twilight opened her eyes, a serious look adorning her face. “Okay. I’ll take you to the castle. I’ll help you out in any way I can, but I’m gonna need you to tell me everything you can on the way there.”
Chief glanced at her comrades behind her. Muddy gave a nervous look back, and Piglet tried even harder to hold her smile. Looking back at Twilight, she replied, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t really tell you anything until our friend gets here. But you have my word: she’s a friend of yours; and she will help us explain absolutely everything.”
Twilight gave an annoyed sigh. “Is there anything at all you can tell me about the situation?”
Chief looked to the ground in thought before looking Twilight in the eye again. “Basically, we are here to bring our younger selves back home.”