Chapter 1
“Whew.” Applejack sighed, wiping the sweat from her brows. She’d just finished collecting the apples she bucked from the last tree on her family’s orchard. Of course her older brother Big Macintosh offered her help throughout the day, but she stubbornly obliged everytime. She claimed that morning all she felt was the irresistible urge to work, to challenge herself as she put it. So that's what she went about doing for the whole day.
Now that the sun was setting and the last bit of her chores were taken care of for the rest of the day, she placed the rest of the apples in the basement of her barn. After that she went out onto the porch, where she found her dog Winona already there. Her tail wagging excitedly behind her while she approached her master. The border collie lunged towards her, smothering her with wet sloppy kisses.
“Alrighty, Settle down girl.” The farm pony could only let out a hearty chuckle while calming the ecstatic canine. Winona whimpered before sitting down patiently beside Applejack who then proceeded to affectionately rub her pup’s back, knowing exactly what her pet wanted from her at that moment. Applejack took a moment to enjoy the silence and gaze up at the now completely darkened sky, with the inclusion of stars, shimmering above all of Equestria. Her ears were then greeted by the chirping of crickets which usually was a sign that today was over and that she’d finally be able to rest. After hours of giving her all around the barn, she deserved a good night’s rest right about now. She let out a yawn that did a better job at draining her energy than the strenuous amount of work she went through.
“Ah’m worn out, it’s about time we go hit the hay. There’s plenty of work to be done around her tomorrow as well, might as well give ourselves a head start. C’mon girl!” Applejack turned around to head back inside to turn in for tonight, but stopped once she realized Winona hadn’t even moved from the spot where she had been sitting. Her behind was planted into the ground where she sat completely frozen, her gaze being trained in on the sky above. She didn’t even bother to look in Applejack’s direction, which gave Applejack an uneasy feeling as to why her dog began suddenly acting so peculiar. Applejack whistled in hopes to gain her attention, but still nothing.
“Winona! What are you…looking…at?”
Applejack suddenly lost her voice once she made the conscious decision to look up at the sky herself out of curiosity, and found something that left her speechless, concerned, and a number of various other emotions. Of course it was easy to miss at first glance due to the thousands of stars that invaded the sky above but now that she was closely examining it, with expectations of finding something out of the ordinary she wasn’t left disappointed. Now that it was obvious to her, Applejack struggled to fathom what it was she was looking at.
A singular ball shaped metal object, completely ablazed in a yellow flame was soaring through the sky at an accelerated speed that was somewhat easy to follow with the naked eye. But Applejack quickly noticed that it was descending and fast and it appeared to be speeding straight towards the Everfree Forest. Applejack assumed whatever it was, it had to have been coming hard in order to make the ground underneath her hooves start to tremble on such a terrifying scale. Winona started growling and barking before brazenly taking off towards the forest, her barks raising in volume being heard throughout all of Sweet Apple Acres.
“Gosh Darnit! Winona! Get back here girl!” Applejack called but to no avail. The dog’s mind was already made up and within seconds Winona disappeared into the forest. “What in tarnation has gotten into her? And what was that thing in the sky?”
Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t anything that she’s seen in her lifetime. Of course there was the occasional shooting star or even a meteor shower she’d watch with her friends but something about what she just witnessed felt…off to say the least. In a panic, Applejack darted towards the barn and retrieved a lantern before hightailing it in the opposite direction towards the Everfree in search of Winona.
The belligerent canine sprinted through the forest, fangs bared and prepared to fight. Eventually Winona came to halt, her paws planted into the dirt. She boldly puffed out her chest and got into a defensive stance to intimidate whoever it was that threatened her pack. Though she couldn’t seem to find anything scary or suspicious, then it abruptly hit her. The smell of smoke clouded her nostrils and was coming from her right, so she followed the foul aroma. The smell only got harder to bear as she got closer to the source but persevered. That’s when she spotted a strange looking object in the center of a small crater in the center of the ground. It looked just like one of her toys, shaped like a ball, and just as big as she was. She sensed danger from it but couldn’t exactly understand why.
Winona carefully stalked the odd contraption, keeping up her guard as she inched closer and closer. But that’s when things got even weirder. The strange device started pulsing a bright red color before a small hatch extended out in front of the curious canine, fog pouring out making it hard to take in her surroundings. But she stood her ground, paws planted into the ground, claws unsheathed, and not budging an inch. A small silhouette could be seen among the mist creeping towards her. Her response was to growl in a threatening manner and it only proved to be futile as it got even closer until it was fully visible to the naked eye.
What she laid eyes upon wasn't anything she'd ever seen in her time of living. This…odd creature couldn’t have been any bigger than a small house cat and insect like in nature. Its body was round and bright red with four unnaturally long but frail legs, the tips of each limb penetrating the dirt ground like needles. Winona tilted her head, completely dumbfounded as she observed it from a distance but unfortunately for her, she wasn’t prepared for what would happen next.
It would let out an otherworldly hiss before lunging straight at her, wrapping its limbs around her abdomen, restraining her legs and pinning her down on the ground. Winona’s attempts to bite and kick off the creature proved to be futile as she felt something being forcefully shoved inside of her stomach accompanied by sharp pains that shot throughout her entire body. She whimpered and howled in pain as she felt something burrowing deeper and deeper inside of her, something alive.
Then her attacker suddenly went limp and she wasted no time shaking off the strange creature. It fell to the ground, unmoving and seemingly no longer a threat. The pain in Winona's belly never left and only got worse as it traveled all the way from her stomach until stopping at her head. Her vision became blurry and foggy, all she could smell and taste was blood, her own no less. She began retching copious amounts of blood and bile, pressure building up in her throat which only made it hard for her to breathe and think properly. Her body wobbled and tilted in random directions as she struggled to find her footing. Eventually it became too much for her, all she wanted was for the pain to stop. Her entire body went as stiff as a board and collapsed against a nearby tree. Her eyes drooped and she blinked one final time, her heartbeat becoming faint, falling into what she thought as a deep sleep.
“Winona!” Applejack shouted. “It’s too gosh darn late for this! A’hm too tired to be playing hide and seek with you. You keep this up, no treats until the next Zap Apple Harvest ya hear?”
Being in the everfree for as long as she had been was starting to get to Applejack. Of course she’s had her fair share of experiences with the place, but the ever present feeling of being watched loomed over her. The lantern she held onto as if it were the only thing keeping her alive was now on the verge of going out. She took a deep breath and kept pushing, maybe she should’ve asked Big Macintosh to come along so she wasn’t entirely by herself but it would have taken forever to get that stallion out of bed.
She paused as soon as she heard a faint rustling in the bushes around her. The sound didn’t seem to be coming from one area in particular, but more so in every which way she turned. In the heat of the moment Applejack felt trapped and there was no other way to get out of the situation she currently found herself in. Her ears frantically flickered in all directions as her fight or flight response kicked into overdrive.
“Who’s there? If somepony is out there trying to pull a prank, Ah suggest y'all cut it out! If ya don’t I’ll kick your flank into next year and believe me, y'all wouldn’t want that.”
Nopony responded to her threat and she was greeted by complete silence. The bushes were now still and who or whatever may have been following her must’ve taken off. Applejack was in the clear, or so she thought. A bolt of brown pounced from the bushes throwing all of its body weight into the earth pony which sent her crashing into a tree. Applejack weakly coughed as she fought hard just to stand on her hooves which proved to be more of a challenge than she expected. She turned her head in hopes to get a good look at what in the hay would be capable of hitting her with such force. Her facial expression immediately changed from fearful to a more pained one.
“Winona…”
The one who dared to ambush her was none other than the apple family’s dog, Winona. But something was seriously off about her. Her once silky smooth brown coat was ragged, stained with blood, and patches of her fur had been torn out. Winona’s eyes were no longer full of love and loyalty, instead now replaced with anger and malice. Her fangs were bared and saliva mixed with blood pooled from her disgruntled maw. Applejack could only wonder, ‘What Happened?’ For her to even so attack her owner so boldly confused Applejack in ways that sent chills down her spine.
She had little time to think before Winona darted towards her again, this time going for Applejack’s throat. With little strength she had left. AJ managed to toss herself out of the way just in a nick of time, a sickening crunch coming from Winona’s skull as she ran head first into the tree. The scariest part was that it didn’t seem to faze the crazed pooch and it wasn’t long until she was ready to attack again. But this time her method of attack had changed drastically and something that disgusted and horrified Applejack occurred.
Winona grunted as her face had split down the middle, revealing rows of jagged sharp teeth protruding from the exposed walls of flesh. Fleshy tendrils burst from her throat, going straight for Applejack. Unfortunately she wasn’t given the chance to escape this time. Applejack let out a shrill pained wail as her hind legs were being crushed by the extra appendages that refused to let the earth pony go anywhere. The bones twisting and breaking in ways she never thought possible. Her forehooves were leaving tracks in the ground as she did her best to scramble away but it did no good for her as her flailing body was being dragged towards the monster that was once her dog.
“Big Mac! Granny! Anypony Help!!!” Applejack cried in desperation, whimpering. She'd given up, only to tell herself that this was the end as her entire life in Equestria flashed before her eyes. It hurt her more knowing that she wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye to those who impacted her life so much.
Just when all hope seemed lost, her ears perked up, catching the sound of heavy hoofsteps that echoed through the everfree getting closer to her location. As if given one final burst of energy, Applejack took advantage and hollered as loud as her body would allow her to.
"HELP!!! OVER HERE!!!"
The excruciating pain in her hind legs had subsided as she began to lose consciousness. The last thing she saw was her brother, Big Mac coming to her aid. It didn't long for him to find her sprawled out on the ground, squirming in a puddle of her own blood.
"Oh Sweet Celestia, What happened to you?" He choked, clearly trying not to break down in front of his younger sister.
"I…Winona…help…"
"Shhh, Don't talk sis. I'll get you to a hospital." Big Mac softly spoke, heaving her over his shoulder. He sighed, thankful to still hear his sister breathing. She still needed to get to a hospital, he glanced around one final time before trotting towards Ponyville in a hurry.