The cold midwinter air whistled across the treetops of Sweet Apple Acres. Dead leaves rustled against one another, breaking off their decaying branches and being abducted by the gale that overtook the farm. A few lone crickets chirped as they scavenged food from the rotted apples buried by dirt and leaves. A dull harmony of crickets and the dreary hum of the wind were interrupted by the screech of a rusted barn door.
Applejack laid the lantern down out of her muzzle, quickly grabbing the door handle to keep it from hitting the adjacent wall to it's side. Picking up the candlelight, the lone mare continued into the barn house. Standing on her hind legs, Applejack held the flame near a torch nailed onto a wooden beam. The stick ignited and lit the entire interior up with a faint glow. Dropping the lantern gently down onto a table, she searched the corners of the bar with her nervous eyes. "Applebloom?" she whispered. "Big Mac?". The pony knew her family were all asleep, but her intent was not to wake them. "Granny Smith?" AJ murmured again under her breath. She checked her surrounding for anyone, even letting out a faint "Winnoa?" for good measure.
Her ears remained erect. Still trying to avoid her siblings. With a short puff of air she put the torch out, picking up the candle. Making her way over to a bail of hay, clearing the grain away while still being careful not to drop the lit candle onto the flammable stack. With the hay moved to the side, a metal trap door was revealed. It was abandoned by the Apple family back when Granny Smith's father owned the land, and even the old mare herself forgot about the cellar. It was once used to hold cider until a shack was developed to hold more barrels than the chamber, it was now used for a more discreet purpose. She tapped the metal handle with her fore-hoof in a specific sequence. The metallic hyme was soft, but rang through the cellar like a bell. The hatch opened, a shadowy mare poked her head through an opening between the door and the floor. "It's late." the shawled figure stated, "If any of the patrols come by...." trailed off the enigmatic pony. Applejack retorted, "I know, but it's important. Besides, they came and went a few hours ago.". Grabbing the latch handle with her mouth, the trap door flung open. Applejack dropped into the chamber below onto the soft dirt.
"I don't know why you're always so paranoid Twilight." mentioned the orange earth pony. Twilight whipped the black rag off her head, revealing her dirt caked mane and chipped horn. "Why I'm paranoid, AJ," Twilight bitterly said in a rasped voice, "is because not only my life is at stake, but so is hers.". She gestured her horn to the sleeping filly under a torn potato sack. Applejack gave her a stern look. The unicorn sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just that I've been running low on reading material lately.". Both ponies took notice of the ramshackle wooden shelf with a measly collection of tattered books, stained and strewn with mildew. The only thing holding the spine of the books together were strands of hay spun into yarn. "You know all you have to do is ask and I'll go out into town tommorow and buy ya some 'readin' material'." Applejack implied, adding a slight chuckle at the end. Her slight pleasure faded into a stern face again as Twilight insisted that she shouldn't risk it. "Unless you plan of swallowing a novel and spitting it out here, you're going to need a satchel." she said. "I'm not going to make you risk getting jumped by the Gilded Chains themselves. They can't resist a defenseless pony carrying a sack of goodies on a dark moonlit street.".
The Gilded Chains was the nickname for the police force that held Ponyville, and all of Equestria, under an iron hoof. Applejack's attention shifted to the scroll on the wooden writing desk in the far corner of the cellar. The ink on the page shined, still wet and fresh. "Did I interrupt your writin'?" she asked. "You adressin' 'Her Majesty' again?". Twilight didn't respond to the joke lightly. Princess Celestia was a bitter topic with her. "Diary." Twilight stated with only a single word, still silently shocked by her reference to the Princess. Applejack approached her with curiosity in her eyes. "Di'nt you give up writin' that a month ago?". "Well I've been adding onto it since I ran out of my classic books. I can't get by without my Sigurd Smith." Twilight told her friend, who was oblivious to the famous pony authors significance. "Besides, people will want to know what life was like for my people.". The earth pony was offended. "Your talkin' like you want them to find you two and kill my family."
"You know I didn't mean it like that."
"It's ok. I know how you like recording every single leave that falls after Summer and everything of the like."
"Ok now I'm offended."
The friends both stopped to share a mutual laugh. When the filly on the makeshift bed began to stir, their voices lowered. After a short pause, the only sound being the snoring foal and the burning lamp. AJ broke the silence. "Mind if I watch y'all write?". Now Twilight was confused.
"Why?"
"I dunno, I wanna watcha' write I guess."
"I thought you had something important to tell me?"
"It can wait."
Twilight blushed slightly, grabbing the pen with her mouth. "Ok I guess. Never had an audience I guess." she said. Her head lowered to the piece of paper and began writing......
My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am one of many who had been persecuted by a government who's driven by fear, and uses fear as it's weapon. I'm a prisoner in my own land. I hide in the property of my faithful companion Applejack. I do not know exactly where to begin, for my burrow of ensconce lacks a calendar, but I know what drove this once majestic land into this dark age. Long ago, Equestria was a land of unity and kinsponyship. Any pony could walk freely among the streets of the great cities of Cloudsdale, Ponyville, and Canterlot (all of which are breeding grounds for fascism and oppression). Our leader, whom I was once her apprentice, Princess Celestia, governed out land with fairness and grace. No other pony possessed such knowledge of happiness and all things grand. One, dark, day. The horn, a sacred symbol and conduit for all of unicorn kind, was taken from out Princess. It was not removed by force, nor stealth, nor by submission. It was removed by forces unknown. The most powerful pony in Equestria, stripped of magic, a virtue held by all unicorns. Needless to say, Celestia was gone. The Princess was replaced with a cold, fearful shell. Jealousy gripped her, and all things bright in Equestria darkened. My people are now slaves, forced into labor in the massive gem mines. For everyone else, Celestia wanted her subjects weak and restrained. The vindictive mare starved her people into submission. Beatings. Robbery. Killing. All justified in her eyes. I don't know if I am the only one who walks "free" outside of the mines. But I have only one wish. For all of Ponykind to stand united.
She continued to write of lost friends and fallen kingdoms, persecution, genocide, and brutality. As she wrote, Twilight became increasingly agitated. "It's something bad isn't it." she asked her friend. Her only response was a quizzical look from Applejack. "Huh?" she asked. Twilight Sparkle dropped the quill in the bottle of ink. "You know what I mean," she said. "The important news. It's obvious you're stalling.". Applejack hung her head. "Was I that obvious?" she sighed.
"Out with it then."
"Ok. You know them police horses who keep comin' by, eating out apples, tryin' to woo me by beatin' up Big Mac?"
"Yuck. Yeah. I'm sure people in Canterlot could hear those two blowhards."
"Well, they caught me with some medicine for y'all know who." Applejack gestured her straw cap toward the sleeping filly.
"They didn't take it did they?"
"You hit yur head or somthing? You're darn tootin' they took it all! Anyway, that ain't the point. The point is that one of them went up to me and asked in that annoyin' voice of his. 'Hey good looking. A pretty pony like you shouldn't be carrying such a heavy load. What's this? Medicine? Weird, last time I payed your abode a visit everyone was just peachy and in tip top shape? Who could you possibly be buying this for? Well since you won't be needing this since everyone's fairing well I'll be generously taking these off your hooves.'" Applejack mimicked. "When did this happen?" asked Twilight, the last few words wobbled off her tongue. "A few moments ago, why?" said Applejack. With that sentence, the unicorns pupils shrunk into the heads of needles, her mane frazzled. "How are you sure you wouldn't followed?!" Twilight screamed. Applejack tried to shush her friend, "Now Twi, dearest, you gotta keep yer voice down!". The mare didn't listen. She gibbered on in a panicked state of delusion.
For five straight minutes, Twilight Sparkle frenzied in the cellar while Applejack tried to calm her to no avail. Suddenly, the hysteria broke when the small foal stirred. The ponies pink, curly, mane popped out of the ragged covers as her head stretched out from under her blanket. The filly's eyes were barely open, her head swayed around as she tried to keep balance with her horn. Kicking off the sack from her bed, she groaned as her hooves rubbed her tired eyes. "Twi-Twilight? Applejack?" she called out. Her voice was weak and atrophied. Twilight quickly left her writing desk and ran to the foals bedside. "Sweetie Belle, go back to bed. Me and Applejack are just talking. You need to rest." she told her. Over the months, Twilight has became a guardian for Sweetie Belle. Over time, Twilight Sparkle gave cared less for her own safety and more for the filly's. "But I want to stay up!" she whined in a playful tone. Even sick, Sweetie Belle bared an exuberant and euphoric vibe with every word and action. Both Applejack and Twilight noticed this, it reminded them of Rarity. Applejack intervened, "Now sugar cube, y'all ain't gonna get any better without bedrest. You gotta give the medicine time to kick in.". "But I wanna feel better now!" Sweetie said in her soar and scratchy voice. Applejack knew she wasn't getting anywhere and shot a gaze toward Twilight Sparkle, hoping to let her defuse the situation. Twilight gave a slight sigh and sat on the end of the bed in front of Sweetie Belle. "Applejack is right Sweetie, you aren't getting better all strung out like this." she said. Her friend couldn't help but roll her eyes. "But I want to stay up with you and AJ!" Sweetie retorted. Her eyes wide and lip wobbling, a trick taught by her sister. "I was just gonna leave." Applejack piped up, "Now listen to Twi. She knows what she's talking about.". With that, she scaled the ladder and pushed open the trapdoor. Just as she was about to close it she stuck her muzzle through a crack. "I'll talk to you later." she whispered. With the hatch shut, both unicorns could hear Applejack moving the stack of hay back over the door. The two sat in silence in the bed. The candlelight shivered, dimly lighting the room. Sweetie Belle broke the silence.
"Hey Twilight."
"Yeah Sweetie Belle?"
"Can I ask you something before I go to bed?"
"Shoot."
"When's Rarity coming back? When is she coming down here with us?"
Twilight Sparkle froze. She knew the filly had a right to know about her own sister, but she still tried to avoid the subject as much as possible. "Now Sweetie Belle we talked about this." she nervously stated. "Rarity is going to take a while to get here ok. She's having a hard time getting here, but I can tell you one thing.". Sweetie Belle lit up like Heartswarming Eve Tree. "What?" she asked. Twilight leaned forward, pressing her nose against the pony. "I know that Rarity loves you." she said, "Now go to bed ok. You and I both need a nap, but you need it way more.". Sweetie Belle chuckled lightly. Twilight grabbed the sack off the floor and threw it over the both of them as they curled up and drifted into sleep. In truth, Twilight knew no more about Rarity than Applejack. There were too many variables for her to be certain. She had been in Canterlot when trouble started, so she expected the worse. Rarity may have been rotting in one of the mass graves dug in the once beautiful Canterlot gardens, or been put to work in the ore mines. Everypony hoped Rarity has escaped Canterlot and was hiding somewhere in Dodge station outside of the city limits, but that was unlikely. Even if she survived the trek across the miles of desert spanning the two towns, the area has been terrorized by both Gilded Chains and Buffalo Warriors. Still, there if it was easy they wouldn't be hoping for it.
