Ugggh... What's... going on?
Those are the first words that came to the mare's mind. Her eyes snapped open, only to realize that she is in a place so dark that it would be impossible to see without any source of light. The mare sleepily pulled herself up from the ground and tried to stay standing, only to yet again collapse on the cold hard stone floor.
Do I know any spells that will produce some light? I think I do...
The mare pulled an old lighting spell from the recesses of her brain. Simple, but effective. The room began to glow a dim purple color. That's when she realized that she wasn't actually in a room.
What? Where am I? What am I doing in this cave? How did I get here?
Questions flooded the young mare's mind. The tension had already begun to build. She decided to try standing up again. This time, using the wall for support, she managed to get into a clumsy standing position and hold it. She did not dare try to walk yet, she was so weak. She craned her neck in an attempt to identify her exact location. The large cavern was a dead end, leading into another tunnel that the mare did not know where it led. A pile of ashes lay in the middle of the floor
surrounded by a circle of rocks. Rotten wood was stacked on the wall. Several burlap sacks lay beside them, with lumps inside of them. Other than that, the cavern lay empty, the only other things inside being herself and several stalactites hanging precariously from the ceiling.
The mare felt as if she had enough strength to walk a few steps without support. She pushed herself from the wall and took a minute to regain her balance. After a period of time trying to hold her standing position, she took a step. And then she took another. She repeated this, and it was by far the hardest of all her endeavors currently. She hobbled over to the burlap sacks by the rotten wood. She opened one to find inside it a loaf of bread overtaken by mold. It was definitely inedible, so the mare threw the sack aside. Inside the second sack was a moldy cupcake and a rotten apple. For some reason, the colors pink and orange flashed across her mind, but she had no clue as to why. She threw the sack aside as well. After opening numerous sacks to find only inedible food, she found one that contained dried apple slices that had been untouched by the rotting. She was too hungry to try to prepare them, and devoured them as soon as she tore open the package. Unfortunately, that was all of the edible food there, but it was not enough.
However, stuck in a crevice behind the food was what appeared to be an envelope. Upon further inspection, the mare confirmed it was an envelope, and it was addressed to "Whom It May Concern". The mare had no idea whether she should be concerned about it, but since she was the only one down here, she thought that a look at it would not hurt anypony. She carefully pulled the wax seal off of the envelope and opened the flap, revealing musty pages underneath.
The mare pulled the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it. The paper had been stained and partially rotted, but most of the text remained legible. Moving to the spot she woke up on, she sat down and began to read the letter.
To Whom it May Concern
Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I have decided to make a temporary home down in this cavern to take shelter from the changeling attack. If I am not currently present, You can identify me by the photo I have included with this note. In case you do not know who I am, I am, well, was the student of Princess Celestia, and recently ascended to royalty. That was what had happen until the Changeling attack occurred. This one was more direct than the one at the royal wedding approximately one year ago of the time of writing. However, it was also very unexpected, so we were not prepared for this attack as well as we were the last one. As a result, I have safely fled to this cavern I plan to make my home for a few months, while I search out for my friends and signs of a chance to defeat the changelings daily. If you wish to make home here, please simply wait for me to return so I can ensure you are not an enemy. Thank you for your time in reading this note.
Princess Twilight Sparkle
The mare assumed that Twilight Sparkle was simply on one more of her searches, and would be returning any moment. However, she couldn't remember how she got here, so Twilight must have found her passed out and taken her back to her home for her safety.
Then the mare remembered the note said something about a photo included with the envelope. After yet again inspecting the envelope, she pulled out a musty photo that was partially eaten away. She could make out the face of a purple unicorn mare that she assumed to be the aforementioned princess, but there were 5 other ponies on the photograph as well, but different parts of them on the photo were so rotten they could not be remembered.
The mare decided that she should probably go out to help Twilight, so she got ready to leave the cave. However, remembering how hungry she is and how painful it was to move, she decided to use a simple mirror spell she had learned when she was young. After casting the spell with great difficulty and seeing herself for the first time, she dropped the note and the mirror spell shattered on the ground.
She was Twilight Sparkle.
Sure, she was a lot skinnier and injured, with bones showing through limbs and various cuts and bruises dotting her body, but there was no mistake. The face, the color and the cutie mark gave it away, even though the mare did not have the wings in the photograph she found. It was impossible that there would be another pony that looked that similar.
Twilight pulled up the photo again, thoughts racing through her mind like Olympic athletes at the 100 meter dash. These must have been my friends, she thought, They must be important to my goal.
Since it was obvious that no one but her had been here for a while, Twilight decided it was finally time to leave the cave behind her. She found some saddlebags stuck in a corner of the cave. After using her magic to carefully mount them on her back, she looked into the cavern one last time, and started the climb up to the surface of the world.
Author's Note
I know. It was short and probably had some writing errors. This is my first actual writing. I'm doing my best. Leave comments as to how I can improve it and I will change the story to do that for you. Thanks.
The trip to the surface was a very long and painful one. She had not realized that the cave had gone this deep. Several times during the ascent her ears popped to adjust to the changing air pressure as she increased in elevation. However, she did not stop for anything, and after a few hours of walking into the darkness, she could see light.
Satisfied that she had found the surface, Twilight proceeded towards the light to find a large opening sprawling into a heavy forest. Past that, she could see desert endlessly. No type of settlement could be seen in any direction. Using the sun as reference, she decided to head north, Heading straight from where the cave entrance came to the surface.
For the first day, it was mainly uneventful. Twilight walked in the same direction, but had managed to sate her hunger and thirst with a patch of blueberries and a small stream she encountered along the way. By the end of the first day, she set up a camp under a large willow tree, using her magic to gather dead branches hanging high up on tall trees for a fire. By the time the sun had disappeared and the moon had taken its place, Twilight had a small fire burning that kept her fairly warm. She sat by it for a few hours in silence, confined to her thoughts while the wood crackled and popped in its majestic flame. By the time the moon was reaching its peak, she had laid down and slowly faded away into sleep. The soft layer of dirt covered in grass was much more comfortable than the stone floor she had woken up on that morning. The wind, blowing in her face felt comforting at first, but eventually began to blow ash from her fire into her face so she moved to the opposite side. There, she dozed off into a peaceful slumber.
A strange sound coming from the bushes woke the mare up quickly. Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up and looked around in paranoia that it may be an attacker. The fire had burned out, leaving nothing but hot coals and a trail of smoke. The wind blew much more harsh than previously, forcing her mane to follow it. Whipping around her face. Pulling her mane behind her back, she laid down again, to fall asleep again. She was about to doze off when a large figure jumped at her from the bushes snarling. Frightened, she jumped up and began to back away, while the massive beast approached her, howling at the top of its lungs. A terrible odor came from the creature. Soon, its howls were joined by those of more of those creatures. Upon inspecting at the creature further, she realized what her attackers were; Timberwolves.
Turning to run, twilight stumbled over a small rock, sending her flying face first into a large rock. A loud crack was heard, and a surge of pain went through her face. When she, dazed, pulled her head up, a small splatter of blood was left on the rock from her nose. The Timberwolf could sense it too, appearing to be more stimulated than before. After assuring that her nose was not broken, Twilight got up to run again, but the claws of her attacker reached her back leg, and she screamed in pain as she fell over again. The Timberwolf then caught up and bit her leg in a successful attempt to disable her movement. Twilight screamed again as her back left leg was severely mauled by the creature. The rest of the Timberwolf pack had caught up, and Twilight looked up to the nearest one to be met with a nasty snarl, the creature's bloody teeth showing in her face. Trying to crawl away, the rest of the Timberwolves joined the attack, They began to bite and scratch her, and she could do nothing but scream louder.. She could take her blood in her mouth now and could feel streams of it running down her body. She began to feel light headed. But that's when the idea popped in her head. Timberwolves. They're wood. I need fire! Fire! Pulling a branch from a nearby tree with her magic, she ran it through the burning coals and the branch quickly burst into flame, she jabbed it into her nearest attacker, lighting the thing ablaze and turning it into a pile of ash. She managed to do the same with the second Timberwolf but the third had dodged the flaming stick. It used its teeth to pull the end that was untouched by the blaze out of Twilight's influence and ran it into the ground, smothering it. Twilight looked at herself. Her fur was starting to turn red and she felt like she was about to pass out. As the Timberwolf got ready to renew its attack, A mysterious figure rammed into the creature, sending it sprawling against a large boulder. Another figure appeared with a flaming stick and began to burn the Timberwolf. Soon, it was a pile of ash no different than the other Timberwolves. Twilight looked at the figure. A mare and a stallion, undeniably familiar to her, stood over her to inspect her. Then, with her blood slowly starting to cover the ground, her consciousness started to fade away.
"She's definitely alive. We have to get her back home the doctor can treat her."
"E-yup."
"C'mon Big Mac. You're the only one who could handle her weight."
Twilight could feel someone pick her up and put her on another. She had a brief glimpse of her savior, an orange mare who had a familiar face, but Twilight could not remember who it was. She couldn't remember anything. The tree she was leaning on and the grass that was below her were as red as her coat now. As the mare pulled her hoofs away, they were blood covered too. Most likely from her.
"We gotta get back quick if we're gonna save her life. We'll keep it strapped down to make sure it ain't a changelin', but they bleed green, not red. Still, it ain't worth takin' the risk."
The stallion began to run through the forest, following the mare. Twilight could barely hold onto her consciousness now. She faded in and out. Always seeing trees quickly passing by every time, however, the saturation had gone completely, making it impossible for her to see colors. She could no longer keep herself conscious, and the last thought that came to her mind was That mare just saved my life before she finally passed out.
Ugggh... What... Happened?
Twilight's consciousness slowly began to return to her.
Did... someone save me?
Twilight slowly opened her eyes and confirmed the answer to her question. She was laying on her side on a mostly white mattress, not including the bloodstains that colored the mattress red in various places. In the direction her head rested she could see a table and two chairs with armed stallions sitting on them in front of a red brick wall. The entire room was lit by candlelight, and she could see through a window in the middle of the wall that it was currently night. It also appears that makeshift barricade was crudely in place over the window, as if it were nailed there hastily in an attempt to keep something out... or in.
Twilight tried to move her foreleg, but it was bound down by straps for some reason. She could not move any part of her body, with the exception of her head, which was severely painful to move in the first place.
The movement also apparently attracted the attention of the guards, as one of them looked at Twilight and prodded the other one to get his attention, and whispered something in his ear before he got up and left the room. The other one stood up and held his spear to a frightened and confused Twilight while they both heard the door open and close again.
"Put that spear away, hun'," Twilight heard a calm yet familiar voice say to the guard, "You're probably scarin' it. I woudn't suggest doin' that."
Immediately, the guard lowered his spear, apologized to the other pony in the room, and sat down in the chair again. An orange mare wearing a hat came around the corner, and the sight of her immediately gave Twilight a headache. The face was familiar, but Twilight couldn't recall it. She didn't understand why this mare seemed so recognizable to her, but judging by the mare's face, it seemed like she recognized her, but with a lack of trust.
"I'll make it simple for ya hun. I can't be sure if I can trust ya yet," the mare said to her.
"W-why," Twilight stuttered. Her voice was hoarse and definitely injured, making it very painful to speak.
"Changelin's, hun'," the mare told her, "Do you remember what they are? The huge bugs that can turn into anythin' they want? They tried to take over Equestria at your brother's weddin'?"
The information was completely alien to Twilight.
"Let me tell ya straight what the deal is, sugarcube," the mare said to her, "We've had too many bad things happen cause we just let whoever into our little community. We don't let anypony just come in anymore. Only reason your here is because Big Mac and I found ya bleedin' to death at the hooves of a Timberwolf. Here's the deal. You get us to trust ya, and we'll let ya in. If you break it once, we'll kill ya without hesitation. Got it?"
The death threat threatened Twilight. She slowly nodded her head in agreement.
"Good. We'll keep ya here till you're better, but then you either get goin' or prove to us you really are who you claim to be. I don't want anymore ponies dying at the hands of a changelin' spy. I really hope you are who you look like, though. We've searched age's for ya, Twilight. It's been ten years since the attack. You're the one we're needin' the most right now."
The mare walked out and the second guard came back and sat down in his place, while Twilight thought about what the mare had just said.
Ten years ago? I've been in that cave for that long? I don't know what happened. Who is that mare, however? Why do they seem so familiar to me?
Twilight, unable to answer her own questions this time, laid her head down again, and fell back into the grips of sleep.
It was numerous days before Twilight was healthy enough to get out of her bed. She woke up numerous times, sometimes only for seconds, sometimes for hours. After a week, she was able to move around a bit and cast a little bit of magic, so they provided a small selection of books for her. She remembered her love of reading, and read every single one while under watch by the familiar mare. After she asked for more books, the mare gained a look of approval on her face. Eventually, by the time she was able to walk, she had read half the books that the town had collected. Twilight realized that the mare was beginning to trust her, unbinding her from the bed and allowing her to move around the room. The guards were no longer stationed in the room, but instead outside the door. This is the first chance Twilight got to look at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her face was bruised badly and a part of her ear was torn off. Thankfully, this would heal. Upon getting a closer look at the rest of her body, she could see how she was covered in bandages, bruises and cuts stitched shut. Her fur had been scrubbed clean, but only around the areas she was not injured. The blood still remained caked on her fur in many patches. She noticed a particularly large bandage wrapping around her chest. she slightly peeled it off to see why, but quickly replace the bandage when she saw the deep bite that had ripped out a large amount of flesh, flushed out with antiseptic and covered in various dressings. She quickly vomited into the toilet due to the disgusting sight, but quickly recovered and returned to her bed to read through the beaten edition of Early Equestrian History. Soon, she had fallen asleep, passed out right on top of the book.
A month later, Twilight was allowed to go anywhere in town as long as she was accompanied by a few guards. As she explored it, she realized how bad the situation for the ponies living there. Most of their houses were shacks built roughly out of spare bits of scrap wood or metal. The fillies had 3 tire tubes to use as swings held up by frayed ropes. There was hardly anything that this town had that was built well, except for the cell Twilight stayed in and a common house in the center of the town. Twilight did not understand why such poverty existed in Equestria. It was a shock to her. If people are living in such bad conditions, these must be desperate times, she thought. When she turned the corner, a guard was breaking up a fight between two mares over a loaf of bread. Tears came to Twilight's eyes and she wiped them off on her foreleg, but it stung due to the salt in her tears getting into the wounds.
Finally, two weeks later, when the wounds were finally healed and the mare was taking off the bandages, she announced that she was going to trust Twilight wholeheartedly but only if she would accompany her on a dangerous task.
"We're going into the town of Appleoosa to check on the townsfolk there. My cousin Braeburn should be holding it well, but we need to see if we can get some food from their orchards. Our rations are running out."
Twilight agreed to go with her, but was worried about the safety of the townsfolk in their absence. However, the mare assured her that "They would be perfectly fine," due to the fact that they were hidden well from any attackers. Twilight remained concerned. The mares got onto the wagon that would take them to Appleoosa and headed off. They enjoyed a nice conversation on the long trip as well.
"I cannot believe that I forgot to ask you what your name was," Twilight admitted to the mare, "Would you mind telling me?"
"Twilight, you know what my name is," The mare replied, "If you don't know, you're starting to make me a little suspicious."
"I'm sorry. I think I may have hit my head while I was hiding out," Twilight told her, "And I've been having trouble recalling recent events."
"Ah," The mare said in relief, but remaining with concern, "My name's Applejack, but you can call me AJ if you want."
Twilight started to get a major headache. Applejack. Applejack. Why does that name sound so familiar to me?
"But, it doesn't matter," Applejack told her, "I used to work on this farm called Sweet Apple Acres with my family. That was before the Changelin's came back, however. I made it out with my brother Big Mac, but my sister... my grandmother..."
Twilight could see tears starting to come into her eyes as her voice became quieter and much less cheerful. But hearing about where she worked, about her brother and her sister, it only made her headache worse.
"Me and Big Mac got here in a few hours on foot," Applejack told her, trying to hold back more tears, "We were bein' chased by a large horde of Changelin's. There's a cave in that lil' town we were at. The reason we founded it there was cause that cave saved our lives. We started heading out, to find food and things like that, but one day, we found a mother and her child starving to death under a rock. The child had developed gangrene on his left foreleg. We took the mother and the child, but despite our best efforts, the mother died from tetanus that she had developed from a cut that we found on her face. We had to remove the child's foreleg due to the gangrene with no medical experience a week later. We didn't have any anesthetic either. The child screamed the most horrible sound you could imagine. Did ya see that older filly at the swingset who had the wooden leg?"
Now that Twilight thought of it, she did remember seeing that. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Over time," Applejack continued, "We found more and more survivors of the attack. Many died within a month, but we saved all the ones we could. We had a very good setup until a few years ago, when we found out that one of the survivors we picked up was a changelin' disguised as a normal pony. We tried to stop it, but it escaped. We've had trouble ever since. Attacks are common now, and we have lost many good lives to them. Sometimes, a spy gets in, and silently kills ponies in their sleep. We have guards patrolling at night now, but we are so understaffed, that we have less and less guards to work with altogether. About a year ago, we found out the changelin's are startin' to breed superweapons. We had a mare and a colt come running at us, screaming about how they had been experimented on. Two Earth Ponies. We thought nothin' of it, until the full moon. One of their superweapons is apparently a werepony, and although we did kill them, one of them bit our chief-in-command. He was turnin' into one of those things the next full moon. That's partly why we quarantined you, Twilight. We've also had attacked by the most gruesome creatures. What about the pony that literally had 4 spider legs burst out of her and then turn into one herself? The venom was deadly too. Killed 5 people in total. We have had lots of problems thanks to those changelin's but the worst was what happened a month ago. We were fine on food, growin' apple trees ourselves, but... they... burned every single one..."
Yet again, tears came to Applejack's eyes. She wiped them off and proceeded with her speech.
"You can't even pass by many fillies without them begging for food now. It's just... horrible..."
Applejack looked outside through the window, wiping the tears off her eyes. "Oh," she told Twilight, "We're here."
The two mares got out of the cart. Twilight's headache returned. Why was she getting this headaches?
Applejack's initial happiness quickly turned to despair and she ran forward, Twilight did not know why until she turned around and saw the town.
Destruction. Ashes. Everywhere. Buildings laid in ruins. The dead bodies of various ponies were littered everywhere. Some apparently looked like they were fighting something. Others appeared to be running. Twilight even found a few grown ponies hugging their children, still holding their pose. She ran away from them, ready to burst into tears any moment. She kept running but stopped right before she slipped off a cliff. She saw trees. Burned everywhere, just black points going straight up to the sky. She saw Applejack running to a destroyed building on the other end as fast as possible. Twilight suddenly remembered the fact that she had wings. She could fly over and not go around! She backed up to take of and got a running start. She jumped and opened her wings about three meters from the cliff face, but a sudden incredible pain shot through her left wing and she fell to the ground. This is when she saw how crooked it was. Her wing was broken. She had to run around. At this point, she saw Applejack pushing away debris around the building, and as soon as she had gotten past the door, she fell down to a sitting position. Twilight ran around as quickly as she could so see the problem with her friend. By the time she had caught up, she could hear Applejack sobbing. By the time she reached the building, She could see why. A golden colored Earth Pony, laid on the ground dead in a pool of blood.
