Attack of the Equine Empire

Spike used the toilet paper to write on, but finding something to actually write with was a challenge all on its own. Applejack watched as he tore the cell apart looking for anything he could use. She told him it was pointless, but he refused to give up on it. She asked Fluttershy to back her up. She didn't. Fluttershy still wasn't talking. Spike finally found a small rock with a bit of dirt on it that could make marks on the paper. He repeated what he wrote out loud as he wrote it. "Help. We were attacked by... by... who captured us again?"

"They didn't say," Applejack responded.

"It was probably the Equine Empire," he said. "You know, those ponies Twilight told us about. Cornaria was worried about them too."

"We don't have a lot of paper," Applejack told him. Spike counted out the letters for 'the Equine Empire' on the fingers.

"By bad ponies. Send help fast please. Spike." He rolled up the paper and blew on it. It burst into flames and crumpled into bits in his hands.

"It didn't do the smoke thang," Applejack pointed out. "Where the smoke flies off into the air."

"I don't think it worked." He sighed and sat back down. Applejack cursed under her breath. They had only been in the cramped cell for a few hours, but it felt like so much longer. After what happened they had been escorted to their new room. The three of them, and also another pony. Applejack hadn't learned her name. She had a yellow coat and a grass green mane. She just seemed to be a Palace maid, but she had a cupcake for a cutie mark. Applejack had wondered if she liked baking if that was her cutie mark. The guards took her first. They didn't bring her back.

For awhile nothing happened. Spike hatched his scheme, Fluttershy sat in the corner, and all Applejack  could do was pace back and forth in the middle of the cell. She would often look over to Flutters and frown. When the attack happened, they killed a guard right in front of her. She didn't make as much as a peep since.

Spike threw the rock against the wall as hard as he could. "I can't believe this." He sat down on the toilet and put his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" Applejack asked.

"Not really. We've been thrown in a cell after the Palace was attacked by those ponies. You'd think that Palace guards are the ones you can trust more than anypony else. If you can't trust them..." He sighed in frustration. "Better still, we have no idea what's happened to Twilight, or Rarity, or any of our friends."

"Ah don't know about Rarity or Pinkie, but Twilight and Rainbow could be okay. Flick might have gotten them out. They could be hidin' in the walls right now, even."

"Maybe. I'm just worried, is all. After what happened..." He trailed off, and his head went back into his hands. She hadn't considered that the pony dying might have had an effect on him as well. Applejack was the only one of the three who hadn't actually seen it happen.

She was blinded by the flash of light from the bubble spell. She saw the aftermath, though. The guard was on the floor, his eyes wide open and his legs twitching and shaking a little as he choked on his own blood. Another guard put a hoof on his back and pushed off as he slid his spear out of the stallion's torso. That sight alone still burned clearly in Applejack's mind. No matter how hard she tried to think of something else the pony kept coming back. If that disturbed her so much, she couldn't even imagine what seeing the spear go in was doing to Fluttershy and Spike.

Other guards were killed too, but not a whole lot. Any they found in the Palace that surrendered went to the cells with the rest of the staff. From what she saw in the throne room, AJ guessed that about three quarters of the guards were in on the plan. Only one other member of the staff was in on it as well, she gathered. If she ever saw Windswept again, she didn't know what she'd do. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be pretty.

The large metal door swung open, and two guards emerged from the outside. "You, orange one. Come with us," one of them said while pointing at Applejack.

"What if Ah don't want to?" she said, taking a few steps towards them.

"Fine. We can just take one of those two," the other said, eyeing Spike and Fluttershy.

"No," she said, stepping in front of them. "No, Ah'll go with you."

"Good," the guard said with a smirk on his face. They led her out of the cell and down a long hallway past the others. As she went by, she could hear ponies in the other cells crying, or cursing at the guards, or trying to make a bargain to get out of the dungeons. They only went up one floor, and she was deposited in a small grey room with nothing but a center table and a chair on opposite sides of it. She sat down in one of the chairs and waited while the two guards took their places at the far end of the room.

She didn't wait long. A pony came into the room with a clipboard and sat opposite of Applejack. He was a young stallion with a sharp grey coat and jet black hair. "So," he started, looking at the clipboard, "your name is Applejack, correct?" She didn't say anything. "You were born and raised in Ponyville, lived there your whole life, orphaned at a very young age, currently live with your grandmother, your older brother, and your younger sister. Is this correct?"

"How... how do you know that?"

"When we were told that you and your friends were coming all the way from Equestria just to pay a visit to Cornaria, we made sure to find out everything we could. All in all, your presence didn't change our plan very drastically, just forced us to act sooner than anticipated. Although, you're proving to be more and more of a nuisance." He looked up from his clipboard. Applejack met his determined gaze with an unsure one. "Don't worry," he said, "we just need you to answer a few simple questions."

"Why should Ah answer any questions?" The grey pony sighed.

"Applejack, you're one of the Elements of Harmony. Honesty, right? Honesty begins with trust. My name is Greyhorn. I was born in a small village to a poor family and worked on our farm until I joined the military. We know each other a little better now. That is how trust begins. What is your relation with Princess Cornaria?"

Applejack opened her mouth to speak and the word just came out. She didn't quite know why. "Ah just met her yesterday. Haven't even talked much to her." He wrote down something on his clipboard after she answered.

"What are your feelings towards Mustangia?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Applejack, your time for questions will come eventually, but for now you must wait your turn." He stared at her with piercing red eyes. Those eyes made her shift in her seat slightly. She paused a moment before answering.

"It's alright, Ah guess." He wrote something down again.

"Do you know much about it?"

"No."

"Anything about its history or even its legends?"

"Nope."

"Have you ever heard of something called Alicorn's Bane?"

"Not that Ah can think of..."

"Are you sure? It's a helm. You know, a war helmet. Does the name Steelshanks mean anything to you?"

"No." Answering the questions was easy for her. She just told him the truth.

"Okay. Applejack, moment of truth. Where is Twilight Sparkle?" AJ experienced a brief moment of relief. They didn't have Twilight. The moment passed quickly and was replaced with a fear of what might happen next.

"Ah don't know."

"She's your friend."

"And Ah don't know where she is." He put the clipboard down and folded his hooves on the table.

"She was supposed to be in the throne room this morning," he said, leaning forward, slightly, "but you were there instead."

"Ah said Ah don't know."

"Any Information, even a sliver of it, would be acceptable." Applejack tried not to think of Flick and the hole in the wall.

"Ah don't know." She looked away from him.

"All of your rooms were next to each other and we checked each one. She wasn't there. I'm guessing you all woke up at about the same time." Applejack tried not to make eye contact. She looked at the floor, at the wall, at the table, never at Greyhorn. "You and your two friends were at a diplomatic meeting you didn't have to be at. You said something to Cornaria about the pony Flickering Flame. Did Twilight go somewhere with him?"

Applejack stayed silent. Sweat began to form on her brow.

"Seven of you came to Bastion. We've found three of you. Where are your friends?"

"Ah don't know."

Greyhorn sighed. "I can see why you're the Element of Honesty. You are a terrible liar."

Applejack wanted to protest but before she could she was blinded by a sudden flash of light. She felt air part as she moved and a sharp pain to her back and her head and neck. Sight returned to her and she observed her chair fallen over and herself on the floor, against the wall. Greyhorn's horn stopped glowing as he opened the door to the room.

"I'll be back in five minutes," he said as he walked out. When the door shut behind him, the two guards did not hesitate with their actions. They darted over to Applejack before she could steady herself on her knees and struck her down, back to the floor. They began their work of beating her. They started with her stomach and ribs, then moved on to her limbs, then to her face.

The pain was intense, extreme, a blade being forced into her a dozen different times every second. The ponies were clearly trained to cause pain, and they were good at it. Artists of pain. That was all she could think of while they brutalized her. The pain. Pain. Hurt. Ache. Agony. It was all she could think about. Whatever the name, Applejack tried not to acknowledge it. She had to take it. For Twilight. For her friends. If she gave in then they would be in danger. Greyhorn and Windswept and all the others would have gotten better of her. She was stronger than that. She would show them. Violence would not break her.

When the time was up, Greyhorn returned. He casually walked over to where Applejack was on the floor and stood over her. "Ready to talk?" he asked. She said nothing. He sighed and rubbed his temples with his hoof. "I'll be back every five minutes. Try to make this go faster, for everypony's sake." They continued their bloody work.

Every time was the same. By the first minute she was able to take it. By the second, her strength started to leave her. By the third, unwanted tears came to her eyes. By the fourth, she was begging them to stop. By the time Greyhorn returned she couldn't keep herself from sobbing, even after the guards had ceased her punishment. Yet she still didn't talk. She got a second wind every time Greyhorn came back in, but after an hour she found she had nothing left in her. She sobbed and tried to block the guards' blows with her hooves fruitlessly the whole time, towards the end. After the last five minute increment, Greyhorn approached the broken Applejack and knelt down beside her.

He didn't have to ask the question. He didn't have to say anything. His eyes said it for him and more. "Flick... th-the walls... she went with him... into the walls." Greyhorn stood up and left the room, still silent. The guards picked her up and dragged her back to the cell.

Applejack slid in and out of consciousnes. She didn't know where she was. She was in a field, with rolling hills, a bright blue sky, and the greenest grass she had ever seen in her life. She ran, and rolled, and laughed as she tumbled through it. She laid on her back, looking up at the sun, and her body made two shadows in the grass. They grew bigger and bigger, until they stood over. She couldn't see their faces, but they laughed with her and smiled. She just knew they were smiling. They rose in the air and flew off into the sun, their laughter growing fainter and fainter as they went higher and higher. No! Applejack called out. Don't go! Don't leave me! Why are you going? Why are you going? Why are you going?

"Applejack!" a voice called out. Why are you going? "Applejack," it called again.

"Why are you going?" she whispered as she opened her eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere, Applejack," Spike said. He and Fluttershy stood over Applejack, who was lying on the cot in the cell. By then she had stopped crying, and talking to herself. The pain returned again, seemingly out of nowhere. She was covered in bruises and cuts and sores and gashes. One particular gash had opened up above her right eye, letting blood seep down and sting it. She hated herself at that moment. She told herself to be strong, but she failed. She'd been hurt before, surely she could have taken a beating without giving in. It was just...

"They... they questioned me. And they beat me," she told them. "Ah'm sorry. Ah didn't want to, but Ah talked. About Twilight and Flick. Ah tried to stay quiet. It just hurt so much."

"It's okay, Applejack. It's not your fault," Fluttershy told her.

"Hey, at least you're talking again," Applejack said as she smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so..." The bed Applejack laid in wasn't anything more than a thinly stuff mattress on top of a stone slab, but Applejack found comfort in it.

"We're just glad you're back. We thought we might never see you again. Dear Goddess, you look awful," Spike said.

"Thanks Spike, that makes me feel better already."

"I'm sorry. Is there anything we can do?"

"We don't have any bandages or anything like that, so Ah think all that can be done to help me is for me to get some rest."

"Okay." He let her do just that. Soon after, Spike took up pacing around the room, and Flittershy went back to not speaking. At least it was for a little while, she thought.

It hurt for her to go to sleep, but she needed it so badly.