Day 1: Welcome to the Island (Revised)
Applejack woke when she heard an unfamiliar voice suddenly taunting her.
"Say pal, you don't look so good," the voice chided in an almost musical tone.
Applejack tried to stand and see who was talking to her, but her entire body felt like lead and refused to move. She had never felt half as sore as she did now, despite having worked on a farm her whole life. That didn't mean she wasn't putting her all into at least opening her eyes. She did managed to briefly open an eye and catch the blurry sight of two hooves in front of her. Was the speaker black or grey?
"You better find something to eat before night." Applejack felt a shiver run down her spine. The voice was mocking her in the same, condescending way that Discord had, but lacked the draconequus' usual mirth.
Applejack's body was starting to lighten and she no longer felt like the ground was trying to buck her off, yet when she managed to crack her eyes open she only managed to catch the faint outline of the speaker before her eyes closed again. He was a fairly tall unicorn, but something was off about him.
"After all." the voice paused.
Again Applejack struggled to open her eyes, even a single eye would be enough. She just wanted to know where she was, who this pony standing before her was, and finding out how she got here would be nice too.
"We wouldn't want you to starve now would we my little pony?" the voice laughed just in front of Applejack's face.
Applejack's eyes fluttered open revealing the stallions face, the sight made her breath catch in her throat. The stallion's face was inches away from her own as he glared down at her with cruel eyes that simply oozed malevolence. The stallion's sharp curved horn was pressing right up against her own forehead, she shuddered as she felt the cold dark magic crackling across it. What unnerved her the most was the wide, cruel smile fixed to the stallion's face as he chuckled at Applejack's fear. The same wide smile she'd seen various predators flash when they believed they had cornered prey.
Then with a slight pop, and a small puff of black smoke, the stallion was gone and Applejack found herself very much alone in the middle of a grassy field. She struggled for breath as she pushed herself to her hooves, the weight on her body having almost disappeared with the stallion. She quickly spun around searching for the sinister stallion half expecting him to reappear and trying finish her off while she was still confused.
Yet no attack came. She just stood in a large empty field in the early morning sunlight as the wind rolled across the plains and a couple of rabbits peered at her curiously from behind a patch of tall grass.
"Now where'd you get off to you sneaky long horn?" Applejack muttered as she continued to scan the field for any sign of the stallion. Minutes passed and Applejack failed to find hide nor hair of the slippery unicorn. Slowly she began to loosen up confident that the unicorn was not about to come back. "Darn creep, sure hope he didn't do anything unseemly ta me while I was out."
Suddenly concerned Applejack set about checking herself for anything obviously wrong. She was surprised to find that she looked and felt perfectly fine. Her coat was clean and tidy, her mane was still in the neat pony tail she always did it up in, and she couldn't find so much as a scratch on any part of her body. Even the stiffness that had paralyzed her during the stallion's speech had faded to nothing leaving her feeling fresh and ready for a hard day's work. This did not have the calming effect it should have had on her.
"What the hay is going on?" Applejack quietly murmured as she pondered the mystery.
She knew she had been foalnapped, it was the only thing that made sense after having woken up at the hooves of a mysterious stallion in the middle of no where. Yet she would expect to feel the after effects of whatever he had used to knock her out, her mane and coat would probably be a mess, and she wouldn't have been surprised to have had rope burns on her legs. Yet she was fresh and clean as the morning dew with her mind so clear she felt she could match Twilight in a battle of wits, heck she was even still wearing her favorite Stetson. So why couldn't she remember how she'd gotten here or who that greasy stallion that had greeted her was?
Applejack fell back onto her haunches as she massaged her temples trying to get her brain to remember how she'd ended up in this mess. She remembered that she had been at Twilight's house helping talk the girl through her latest panic attack brought on by her new royal duties. She'd calmed the girl down and headed over to Sugarcube Corner with Twilight for some snacks and tea when Pinkie had dragged them both into a party to celebrate the birthday of Angel Bunny. Applejack had partied with her friends for a couple of hours before excusing herself to head home and help her family in the fields while the sun was still out. Then nothing. Just a brief stretch of blackness and her waking up here.
Had she been attacked? Put to sleep with a spell and secretly transported to some strange field in the middle of who-knew-where? Had the experience been purged from her mind with a memory spell? Was even half of those things even possible? Applejack sighed, this was starting to sound like one of the adventure novels Rainbow Dash liked so much.
Applejack shook her head deciding it didn't do her any good to sit there pondering how she got here, she just needed to get home. As it was she'd already burned a large amount of time simply trying to think about her situation instead of dealing with it. And the best way to deal with this situation and find out where she was was to explore. Promptly choosing to set off to the west, Applejack soon stopped by a patch of tall grass. She wasn't particularly hungry, but the stallion's words where still ringing in her head.
"Find food before nightfall huh? Well that's going to be mighty easy with all this grass growing around here, might as well sample a bit." Applejack grabbed a mouthful of the grass and chewed about three times before she spat it back out, "Bleah! I'd have to be starving to be willing to eat that stuff."
Admittedly Applejack was never a fan of the taste of grass, but this stuff was so bitter as to be all but inedible. She sampled some of the regularly length grass at her hooves hoping to wash out the taste of the tall grass only to find it tasted worse, leaving her retching.
"Okay maybe it won't be quiet that easy," Applejack spat out a bit of the taste still stubbornly clung to her tongue, "Sure hope something in this place is edible."
Applejack spent her next hour sampling bits of various plants trying to find something that didn't make her sick to her stomach. She found the flowers growing sporadically through the field to be tasty enough, but woefully unfilling. The trees scattered about all seemed to be pine trees, and while some ponies might claim to enjoy the taste of pine trees and their cones, Applejack found both repugnant. She eventually came to a berry covered bush she had been avoiding due to the bright red berries growing on it, she really hoped they weren't poisonous. She timidly sampled a few and found them delicious, tasting somewhere between strawberries and cherries. Applejack picked five of the bushes clean of berries so she'd have them to eat later.
With food taken care of, Applejack resumed her westward exploration of the plains. In less than half an hour, Applejack began to notice a change in the smell of the air and hear distant crashing sound. The air became wetter and the smell of salt quickly began to overwhelm the smell of the grasses and pines. While birds still sang and danced about, they were rapidly drowned out by the sounds of pounding surf. As such Applejack wasn't surprised when she came to a cliff overlooking the ocean.
This confirmed her initial suspicion that she'd been transported somewhere far away from Ponyville. She really hoped this didn't mean she was on some deserted island in the middle of nowhere, it would fit with all the clichés she found herself in at the moment. Ponynapped, unable to remember how she got here, unicorn using dark magic, trapped on a deserted island, all she needed now was for a buff stallion to sweep her off her hooves and she'd have the whole set.
She needed to stop reading those trashy romance novels when she got home.
Shaking herself out the train of though, Applejack examined the ocean beneath the cliff wondering if she might be able to make a raft and sail away if this was indeed an island. She highly doubted it after a mere second of examining the waters.
The ocean was raging violently against the cliff side as if the sheer cliffs had insulted the ocean's mother. The cliffs themselves were little better being almost impossibly vertical and made slick by the waves, she'd never be able to climb down the cliff much less get any kind of water craft she could possibly make down there. She sighed and turned to walk north along the cliffs in hopes of finding a place where she might actually have a chance of building a boat or something if this did turn out to be a deserted island. Or better yet finding a small coastal town that could tell her where she was an point her back home
Two hours of walking revealed that something was wrong with this island. Applejack didn't know much about oceans, but she was fairly sure normal ocean waves wouldn't twist themselves to slam as violently as possible against the sheer cliffs. Not only the waves, but the cliffs themselves seemed to always be at least thirty meters high while being all strangely smooth and slick. She would have expected at least one part of the cliffs to somewhat climbable at some point along the sea. Yet the cliffs ahead seemed just as imposing and impossible as all those she'd seen so far. She debated turning away from the cliffs and exploring plains again, but she didn't see any signs of a high hill or mountain anywhere, which seemed off to her.
Now that she looked inland, she noticed that while the plains seemed almost completely flat, the ground did rise and fall gently giving her only a few hundred meters of sight before a slight high rise cut off her view from the rest of the land. She could see a what looked like a small forest in the distance, something she should probably avoid that if it turned out to be anything like the Everfree, yet the land was devoid of the usual anomalies one would find scattered about. No large rocks, no rivers, no roads, and no rising smoke to show a weary traveler the way towards civilization.
Applejack took the time to sit down and much on some of the berries she'd collected as she pondered what she should do. She still didn't know whether this was an island or simply ocean front property along the Equestrian coast line. She could follow these cliffs until she reached a river or some form of civilization, and possibly end up following the cliffs for weeks or months without finding a thing. Or she could try heading inland to find some kind of civilization or something that might help her survive or tell her where she was. Yet that could easily lead to her wandering these rolling hills until she starved or died of dehydration.
Applejack grimaced, she really didn't like the idea of either direction, they both held risk with no promise of any pay off. She didn't want to be on this island any longer than she had to be, she was needed back home. Applebloom was still to young to do much work on the farm and Big Macintosh wasn't nearly enough to work the farm on his own. Granny and Applejack's friends might help him, but Granny was too old to work all day and the girls had their own lives to live off the farm. She knew that they'd be able to manage a few days without her, but she had no idea how long she had been out. What if it had been weeks or months? No, she had to stop thinking like that, she had to trust in her family and friends to be able to manage the farm without her for until she could get home or her friends could find her. For now she had to focus on the here and now if she wanted a chance to get back home.
Applejack sighed wiping the berry juice off her mouth with the back of her hoof before standing. She walked along the edge of the cliff, still being careful not to walk too close to the edge while keeping an eye out for anything that might help her. She figured that at least sticking to the cliffs she wouldn't have to be worried about getting any more lost than she already was. At least in any normal place that would be the case, but this place was constantly showing in dozens of little ways that it wasn't normal.
As if to prove her point, a large bunny saw Applejack approaching and ran away from her screaming bloody murder causing another bunny to raise its head and watch Applejack nervously. Applejack paused to ponder this, sure bunnies were always nervous around ponies they'd never seen before, but these bunnies were acting like she was a predator intent on eating them. But what kind of insane pony would ever even consider eating a bunny?
Wait, those weren't bunnies. Applejack gazed back at the animal that was still watching her nervously. The thing sure looked like a bunny at first, but she noticed that the thing's eyes were orbs of white and the thing had two tiny horns growing from its head. Applejack blinked moving close trying to get a better look at the critter, but seeing her approach the thing screamed and ran to its hole disappearing from sight. Applejack trotted over to the hole and gazed down knowing the thing would be hidden deep below the ground out of sight. Yet she couldn't help but stare curiously down the hole and ask the air, "What in tarnation was that?"
Applejack shook her head, she had to keep focused. She couldn't let herself get distracted by a couple of curious critters when she was trying to find her way home. But they did remind her of the oddness of the place. Heck even the air felt odd here. The air seemed heavy and ever so slightly unfriendly in someway that she couldn't quiet put her hoof on. It was like the air in the Everfree forest except that it was even thicker and more unfriendly. It gave Applejack the uncomfortable feeling that she was being followed, stalked, hunted.
She tried to tell herself it was nothing, that she was alone in this place. After all she'd seen no sign of anypony or anything bigger than a few crows and those bunny looking things since she'd arrived here. Aside from that one unicorn stallion, if that stallion could even be called a unicorn. Applejack shuddered at the memory of the unicorn; everything about his face had screamed evil and cruelty, to the point he seemed more akin to monsters like changelings and windigos than ponies. A sudden thought occurred to her as she thought back to how those bunny-things, had reacted to her.
What if the unicorn ate meat? What if he was hunting her now?
Applejack looked behind her trotting just a bit faster as her ears began to flick nervously worrying that the unicorn would appear next to her and try to bite into her neck. She began to trot faster. What would she be able to do against a unicorn like him? He seemed to have had brought her here without her even remembering it, if he caught her would she even be able to fight against him? She began to trot faster. He had dark magic and the same cruel horn as Sombra and the changelings, if this guy was even half as strong as Sombra, who had survived fighting Luna and Celestia, then what could she do against him? Applejack broke into a run.
Applejack ran faster than she had in the Running of the Leaves, she ran filled with blind terror from the fact she had been ponynapped by a unicorn brimming with dark magic. She ran because she had no idea where she was, how she had gotten there, or how she would escape. She ran because she knew that she was alone and helpless before a possibly pony-eating monster that she was sure was chasing her.
Applejack skidded to a stop when she felt something fly off her head. Looking back as she gasped for breath, she noticed her Stetson had been knocked off by a low branch from one of the many pine trees that made up the forest she was now in. Walking over to pick up the Stetson Applejack quietly cursed herself for acting like a scared little filly. She was the Element of Honesty for Celestia's sake. She'd faced down evil unicorns, monsters, and crazed gods before and walked away. What was one more evil monster, even if this one she'd be facing alone.
Applejack flipped her Stetson onto her head and took a deep calming breath before looking around the forest she now found herself in. It seemed to be composed entirely of pine trees all close enough to make moving through them messy but not close enough to really slow her down. At a guess she would say it was the same forest she had spotted before her panicked, and rather embarrassing, flight. Since she'd been sticking to the cliffs even during her panic, that meant that she'd already started to loop around on herself. Did that mean she really was on an island? Or simply a very narrow peninsula? Sadly only more exploring was going to answer that question.
Applejack pushed her way through the trees making sure to keep a hoof on her hat to prevent it from falling off again a was stunned that mere minutes later she was back on the rolling plains. She had expected to be in the forest for hours despite its apparently small size, just how long had she been running? A quick glance at the sky showed her that the sun was already beginning to set behind the horizon. She'd spent nearly half the day running like a mad mare and had hardly noticed it. She wondered at this, she had always been in good shape, but she'd never been able to maintain a sprint for hours on end, much less doing so without feeling like manure afterwards. Applejack sighed shaking her head again writing it off as a mixture of fear and being in better shape than she gave herself credit for. It was only one more slightly odd thing about this place, she should probably stop being surprised by it.
Her attention was brought back to her surrounding by her stomach rumbling quietly with hunger. It had been hours since she had last eaten and she hadn't had anything to eat but a few berries all day. She reached for some of the berries she'd collected only to notice that they'd fallen off her back at some point during her run. She scolded herself for wasting food before spotting another conveniently nearby bush full of berries. Trotting over Applejack began to snack on the berries and wonder over what she should do for food. She couldn't depend on conveniently places bushes of berries forever. She still planned to be gone in a few days, but a pony can get mighty hungry after a few days without anything to eat.
As she finished of the last few berries off the bush the sun finally vanished behind the horizon making the plains Applejack stood in suddenly turn pitch black.
"Golly it gets dark here." Applejack muttered to herself. She lifted her hoof in front of her face and found she couldn't even see it. How was she going to continue exploring with it being this dark? Heck she could easily tumble off the edge of a cliff and die in this darkness. She didn't want to stop for the night yet, but she might not have a choice with how dark it is.
Then from the darkness came a snarl that quickly turned to an angry hiss.
"The hay was that?" Applejack yelped suddenly feeling her earlier fear creeping back into her. Realizing that she was a breath from becoming a scared filly again, Applejack straightened her back and set her face in a scowl. She was not going to let this unicorn turn her into a scared filly again, she was to proud and stubborn for that. She opened her mouth to tell the stallion off. Then something attacked her.
Applejack felt something tear deep into her side like a trio of knives that had been sharpened to a razor's edge and heated in a fire and her breath caught as it felt like some terrible serpent coated in blades was tearing through her throat. She screamed out in pain as she collapsed to the ground clutching her guts, sobbing quietly at the intense pain. She felt her charred, horribly rent flesh, how deep the cuts were how raw her insides felt. She was lucky to have survived such and attack.
The last of Applejack's courage vanished as she heard that awful twisted snarl again. Terror overwhelmed pain as she leapt back to her hooves and ran for all she was worth through the darkness hoping to outdistance her unseen attacker. But as the snarl turned to a hiss Applejack could still hear it coming closer for a killing blow. Applejack ran through a patch a fireflies who scattered at her intrusion and looked behind her hoping to see her attack in their light and maybe get one good buck in before the monster cleaved her in two. She was surprised when instead she heard the hissing stop as the fireflies scattered into the night.
Applejack briefly wondered if she'd somehow escaped the monster when she heard the snarl once more turning to a hiss. She bolted hoping she could somehow someway find a way to escape this monster that was chasing her, somehow she had briefly escaped it, but it was on her again. This thing seemed to to have stopped chasing her when she ran through the fireflies, maybe it feared them for some reason. But there was no more fireflies that she could see and judging by the hissing the creature was about a heartbeat away from killing her.
Applejack braced for the horrible pain of flaming knives ripping her apart when the ground suddenly seemed to fall out from beneath her hooves. Applejack yelped as she was enveloped in a slimy wet darkness. She felt herself squeezed and propelled through the wet darkness despite her best efforts to slow herself as she was rocketed towards her unknown destination. Applejack had no idea where she was but it was scary, vile, and disgusting. She wanted out.
And suddenly she was, ejected into the cool night air where she landed face first on a patch of grass. Applejack spat the bits of slime out of here mouth and tried to wipe her face off with a hoof trying not to imagine how much gunk was clinging to her coat. She thought that Rarity might well faint if she looked even half as messy as she felt at the moment.
"That might be the most unpleasant thing I've ever experienced," Applejack groaned rising to her hooves. But at least she was away from that monster.
As if summoned by her thoughts Applejack once more heard the snarl already starting to morph into an angry hiss, just how persistent was this thing? Applejack whirled and saw something that made her heart soar. Clusters of fireflies. Dozens of them danced in the field. Applejack ran towards them hearing the creature closing in behind her.
She leapt into the nearest cluster feeling the thing brush her hoof as she did so. She landed hard gasping for breath dizzy in the giddiness of finally being safe from that horrible monster and being able to see again in the faint lights cast by the dozens of dancing fireflies. Yet she might not be safe yet, things were getting darker, was she about to faint from her injuries?
No, she realized looking about her, it was getting darker because the fireflies she was using for shelter were scattering away from her leaving her in the dark. Which was what the thing was waiting for. It once more announced it's presence with a snarl speeding in towards Applejack from the dark. Applejack leapt to her hooves and raced to the next dense swarm of fireflies just ahead of the horror that hunted her.
This continued for hours, Applejack finding brief solace in the light of the fireflies as she struggled against the pain of her injury. And every time the fireflies tired of granting her sanctuary she would be force to run once more into the dark chased by a horror that she could not see and only continued to grow more horrible in Applejack's tired mind. Applejack soon begin to beg the fireflies to stay and protect her from the beast, but her pleas feel deaf on their ears leaving her alone in the dark with her hunter. Until at last Applejack lay crouched in the last cluster of fireflies tired, weak, and desperate.
"Please," she beseeched the fireflies around her, "Please don't leave me alone in this darkness with that thing, I'll give ya anything yall want. Please just don't leave me." The fireflies shunned her and began to scatter. "Please!" Applejack tried to grab the specks of light with her hooves to hold them close so that they might protect her, "Please don't leave me!"
It was useless. Applejack was left in the darkness and her hunter was already announcing its approach. There were no more fireflies to shelter her, and even if there was, she was too tired and worn out from spending the night and day running. Her side felt like it was burning, her legs were once more made of immovable lead, and her mind was filled with the uselessness of continuing to flee from this creature. She lowered her head in surrender, tears rolling down her face as she mentally apologized to her friends, Granny Smith, her brother, and her little sister. It looked like she wouldn't be able to make home to them after all.
The hissing was right in her ears and Applejack could feel the black ethereal presence of something in the dark surrounding her. She tensed waiting for the monster's horrible talons to tear her apart, only to wait on in silence. She waited wandering if the creature refused to kill her if she was not running, was it so cruel as to taunt her before killing her?
"What are ya waiting fer?" Applejack shouted, "If yer gonna kill me just do it already."
Still no attack came and Applejack cracked open her eyes expecting the impenetrable darkness of night or maybe some horrible glowing eyes glaring at her. Instead she saw a wide green meadow in the shining rays of an early morning sun. She was alone in the grassy plains, no signs of the terrible thing that had been chasing her. Just her and the wonderful rays of Celestia's glorious sun.
Applejack collapsed onto her belly and openly wept. She cried out of terror from what she had experienced that whole horrible night. She cried in rage over how useless she'd been, running in terror. But mostly, she cried with the wondrous Celestia sent relief that, somehow, she was still alive. She had survived her first hellish night in this terrible place. She had survived.
Author's Note
Name: Applejack
Nickname: The Honest
Motto: Ain't nothing like a hard day in the field!
Sanity: 200
Health: 150
Hunger: 150
Melee damage: x1.0
Perk: Can work a farm, Really likes her Hat
Special items: Trusty Stetson
Deaths: 0
Day 2: Signs of Those Who Came Before (Revised)
Applejack didn't want to move. Her entire body ached, her coat and mane were encrusted with dried slime, and she was so, so tired. She just wanted to curl up where she lay and fall asleep. Yet she was an Apple, and Apples didn't waste the day sleeping even when they were tired and bruised. There was work to do, and work waited for nopony.
Applejack climbed to her hooves, hearing her joints crack and pop as her body complained about the movement while bits of dried slime cracked and fell from her coat. Applejack's head swam as she again thought how nice it would be to lay down and take a nap, just for a few days. No, she didn't have time to waste, she really didn't want to be alone in the dark with that monster again, and she still needed to find out where she was. Not to mention she was still rather hungry.
Applejack took a step and winced in pain as her sides objected painfully. Applejack turned her head and cringed at her first good look at the injury she had earned foolishly trying to stand up to a demon she couldn't even see. The three gashes were nearly a hoof deep and a couple inches wide, she would certainly have bleed out had they not been burned shut at the same time the flesh had been torn open. The wounds were coated with a thick layer of the same strange slime that had coated her when she fell the night before, but that didn't hide the fact that the flesh around the wound looked horribly bruised and charred. If it weren't for how bad Applejack's current situation was, she would never have dared move with such an injury for fear of it tearing open or getting it infected. But she didn't have the convenience of laying around waiting for the injury to get better.
Applejack took another step gritting her teeth against the pain of her protesting sides, before taking another, and another. Eventually the spikes of pain coursing through her body simply became a part of her walk cycle that could almost be ignored, almost. She still wasn't moving as fast as she should have been but didn't want to attempt moving faster than a slow trot.
Applejack yelp and leapt back in surprise as the ground in front of her suddenly opened up to reveal a large toothy maw. Applejack gazed at the maw in horror realizing that it was more than big enough to swallow a pony whole and that those teeth looked like they would hurt if the thing bit her. Yet it wasn't moving, the giant maw simply sat their breathing like it expected Applejack to just wander into its open maw. She seriously doubted anypony was that stupid though.
Applejack blushed as she realized that she'd probably done exactly that last night when she'd fallen into the dank tunnel that had coated her with slime. In fact, judging from its position, this was probably where she'd been ejected the night before. Applejack didn't know why this... thing, hadn't eaten her but she didn't feel up to taking a chance on it deciding to not eat her again. She carefully stepped around the thing and continued on her randomly chosen path through the field.
She didn't walk long before she stop. Looking about the field she saw things she would probably need before it got dark. The long grasses, little saplings with lots of easily breakable branches, bushes covered with berries. She'd need these, and probably needed something to start a fire if she didn't want to spend another night being chased by unseen terrors. Applejack shuddered, she doubted she could manage such a feat again, nor did she wish to try.
Walking over to one of the patches of long grass Applejack began tearing the long strands of grass and tried ignore their awful taste as she piled the strands on her back before moved to the next patch of long grass and repeating the process. She repeated this twice more before moving to one of the saplings and tearing off every branch she could, leaving the poor tree as a single limp trunk. Applejack apologized to the poor little tree, but knew it was a case of either her or it. She striped two more such saplings leaving them all in a state of limp bareness. Then she began to move towards the bushes before freezing as she spotted something that horrified her.
Less than a hundred hooves away half hidden behind several small patches of tall grass was the skeleton of a young pony. Applejack gazed at the sight in shock, she had been in a lot of dangerous situations, but in none of them had she ever been exposed to death in such a blatant way. She'd seen plenty of ponies injured, but everypony had always made it out alive. Applejack slowly approached the skeleton, eyes darting about looking for what had killed the poor pony, but she saw nothing. From the positioning of the bones, it looked like the poor thing had died in its sleep.
Applejack recoiled in horror as she realized that this could easily have been her, killed in her sleep and her flesh devoured by some unknown monster. She started to feel herself tearing up as she took off her Stetson to quietly mourn the poor pony before her wondering if this poor pony had been in the darkness with her the night before and had not been as lucky as she. What if this had been somepony she could have saved, or worse yet, somepony she knew.
Applejack's eyes widened at the thought and she carefully examined the bones half expecting to see some tuft of a curly pink mane nearby or something that belong to one of her friends. She didn't see anything like that, and realized that the bones were to small to have been one of her friends, the poor thing had been a little filly. Applejack felt her heart tighten at the unfairness of it all. That she had lived while this poor child had died alone in the darkness scared and afraid, the poor little thing didn't look like it was even old enough to have its cutie mark yet.
Applejack turned away from the bones trying not to cry again when she smacked her hoof on something. Horrified that she'd tripped over some piece of the filly, Applejack's eyes snapped open and gazed down at what she'd kicked. She sighed when she saw it was just a wooden log. Applejack picked up the log thinking to would be useful for tonight's fire when she noticed that there were a couple more logs about and a crudely made weather-beaten ax of twigs and flint nearby. Applejack blinked at the odd items before she realized what she'd done. She was looting the poor fillies body.
Applejack felt physically ill with this realization and consider throwing the logs she'd looted. Yet she couldn't bring herself to toss away the useful wood so easily and she couldn't help but eye the ax where it lay. The practical side of Applejack couldn't help but think about how useful the ax and wood would be. Besides, the dead filly didn't need it anymore. Applejack's mind rebelled against the idea. Stealing from the dead went against everything she stood for and was considered a crime by every civilized species she knew of.
But this isn't exactly civilization, the practical side of Applejack argued. We need wood for the fire tonight, and that ax will be useful for collecting more and defending yourself.
But stealing from the dead is wrong, Applejack argued back. Especially stealing from a dead filly. What would I say to Twilight if I took this? Heck I wouldn't even be able to look Applebloom or Granny in the eye if I did this.
You don't have to tell them any of this. Besides think of the filly, she wouldn't want you to go and die when something of hers could have save you would she?
Applejack froze considering the point that she had to admit, was sensible, yet left an awful taste in her mouth. She needed this wood and that ax could easily save her life, and no doubt the young filly would probably not want somepony else to suffer on her account. Applejack sweated over the decision for several more minutes before heaving a defeated sigh.
"Alright, I'll take the dang ax and the wood, but I ain't gonna lie to my friends and family. The second I get home I'm going to tell them what I did and why. And soon as I'm able I will come back and bury this poor filly."
Applejack's practical side snorted but otherwise said nothing, consenting to her compromise. Applejack tossed the last logs on her back with the other and picked up the ax in her mouth grimacing at the faint taste of wet and slightly rotten wood. She carefully balanced the ax with the rest of what she carried on her back before looking down at the skeleton again feeling horribly guilty as she looked into the hollow eye sockets. Applejack gently nuzzled the skull knowing the filly was long past any hope of comfort.
"I'm sorry little filly," Applejack whispered to the skull, "I need to take your things for a while. I promise I'll make it up to ya. I'll come back and bury you somewhere nice so ya can hopefully rest in piece. I'm so sorry I can't do more for ya or have done something to have saved ya."
Applejack straightened up and lowered her Stetson's brim over her eyes despite being all alone. She'd never like showing it whenever she cried and she could feel tears welling up as her mind thought about who the poor filly behind her could have been and its family worrying over it hoping their child would come home soon. Applejack distracted herself by picking a couple of berry bushes clean and plucking a carrot from the ground and adding it to the growing pile on her back.
Applejack tried to think of nothing as she walked vaguely northwards. She tried to keep her mind from the monsters in the dark, from the thought of the unicorn with a cruel smile, who no doubt was laughing at her right now, and from the dead filly she'd just looted of all its worldly possessions. She tried to focus on keeping an eye out for any signs of civilization, or more food to eat. Yet her mind kept drifting into darker places, shaming her for having stolen from the filly, for crying so much, for not bucking that smug looking Sombra wannabe in the face when she had the chance.
Applejack jumped at the sound of hooves on stone, suddenly fearing that somehow the unicorn had heard her thoughts and appeared before her. Yet she was still very much alone, it had been her hooves she'd heard. She was standing on a cobblestone path she hadn't even noticed due to being lost in her thoughts.
Applejack brightened in excitement, she was on a cobblestone path, a clear sign of civilization, all she had to do now was follow the path and she'd reach a town where she could find out where she was. If she was lucky she could be home in Ponyville within a week. Excited, Applejack began follow the trail to the west hoping that it wasn't far to the town the road led to.
Applejack began to skip as she trotted down the road ignoring the pain in her side as her thoughts finally turned happy and hopeful. She'd be among other ponies soon, she'd finally know where she was and probably be able to get a ride home shortly after. When she got home she was going to give her friends and family the biggest hug she could. After she told them about how she'd looted the body of a dead filly. And she should probably write to Celestia to let her know about the unicorn who was obviously corrupted by dark magic. That was if that unicorn and his monster didn't do something to stop her from returning home. Or kill her.
Applejack was interrupted from her rapidly darkening thoughts by the a pungent smell coming from up ahead. Applejack sniffed it wearily and was reminded of the smell of the pig pen on her farm after Applebloom forgot to clean it for a week. She took that as a good sign, it meant she must nearly be to the village the road lead to. It must be just around this copse of trees, she was just a few steps from...
Applejack stopped as she looked at the village of perhaps a few dozen wooden cottages. She looked from the tiny gardens full of berry bushes and carrots to the six poles with the severed heads of strange fish creatures mounted on them. But what made the smile run away from Applejack's face was the inhabitants of the village. They weren't ponies, or anything she had ever believed to have been possible.
The village was full of strange pig creature walking around on their hind legs. Every one of the creatures looked exactly like the next and the one before it down to the very grass skirts they all wore. Occasionally one of the pigs would turn and look at Applejack suspiciously before returning to its business, which seemed mostly to be walking aimlessly around the field their village was built in.
Applejack opened and closed her mouth several times trying to comprehend what she was seeing as she tried to pick up the shattered piece of hope around her. This meant she certainly wasn't in Equestria anymore, or at least no part of it she'd ever heard of. She was fairly certain she'd remember if she heard of a place with strange pig creatures living in it. But that didn't mean they couldn't help her, maybe they could point her to a pony town or maybe knew a way back to Equestria. Hopefully they were friendly, maybe they just didn't like fish. Applejack hoped that was the case, she really didn't want to be attacked by a village of pigs.
Applejack nervously walked into the town feeling all the more nervous as several pigs turned to watch her. Despite watching her none of the pigs moved to welcome or attack her, so Applejack walked up to the nearest pig and hoping he (she?) was friendlier than they looked.
"What you want?" the pig snorted looking down its snout at Applejack.
"Uh well, I was hoping you might know where Equestria is... sir," Applejack said nervously noticing that most of the pigs were watching her now.
"What that?"
Applejack tried to ignore the despair that now filled her guts and tried to maintain a cheerful face as she asked, "Then perhaps would you know where I could find a pony town or anypony else for that matter."
"No horse town," the pig grunted, "Horsies bad."
Applejack tried to ignore the insult and focus on the fact that these pigs seemed at least know of ponies, even if they had a rather negative view of them, "Please sir if ya could tell me where I could find some other, um, horsies, I'd be much obliged fer yer help."
"NO." the pig snorted, "Horsies bad."
"Look here now partner-," Applejack growled her temper stating to get the better of her.
The pig suddenly retreated several steps squealing, "You stay away!"
Applejack froze noticing the angry glares that surrounded her. It seemed she was starting to overstay her welcome among these pigs. Applejack back away from the pig she'd been speaking to and said loudly to the village, "I guess I'll just be going then. Thanks fer yer help."
Applejack hurried out of the town feeling like she'd narrowly avoid being torn apart. She sighed as she walked along the cobblestone path wondering what she would do if it turned out she was the only pony left in this place. Sure there was always the dark unicorn, but he wasn't likely to be good company and Applejack wanted nothing to do with him anyhow. She'd much rather hang out with a skeleton than that arrogant mass of hate.
Applejack realized she was once again walking down the cobblestone road away from the village and wondered what the point of it was. All she was likely to find at the other end of the road was another village full of pigs that regarded her with scorn and barely restrained hostility. Yet what option did she have? This was the only sign she had of any kind of civilization and these pigs at least seemed to know of ponies, even if they considered them "bad". Perhaps in the next village she might find a pig that could point her to where Applejack could find more ponies who might actually know where Equestria was and how to get to it.
She clung to this hope as she walked never daring to let it go for fear that it would be ripped away from her and leave her to flounder in this cruel land without any real hope. For if the things that lived here had never heard of Equestria, how could Applejack hope to find it by wandering blindly without somepony who knew the way? The thought of never seen her friends again, the thought of her family's farm failing in her absence, that she might never see her home again was to much for Applejack to even consider while she still had hope to cling to.
Yet she knew hope alone would not be enough as she continued down the path through the sparse pine forest, she was getting hungry again and there was no conveniently located berry bushes around for her to feast upon. She still had her berries and carrot from earlier, but they amounted to little more than a single meal, much less something to satisfy a day's hunger. Not only that, she would have to stop soon, for Applejack could see the sun already beginning to head for the distant horizon. She had maybe two and a half hours left before it got dark and Applejack wanted to be sure she had a fire ready and burning before the sun set.
She also desperately hoped that it was light that the night terror feared and not simply fireflies. Applejack's wounded side still burned and ached to remind her how little chance she stood against the beast. Applejack shivered before stopping as she noticed something near the path.
Running up to the cobblestone road she'd been following was a beaten trail leading into the forest. Applejack pondered this as the pigs did not seem to leave their village often as she had encountered none of them on her long trek along the road. So if not the pigs, then who had beaten this trail into the woods? The trail would have to be frequently used for it to be so obvious and the plants along it so well worn. Applejack leaned close to the trail and examined it curiously hoping she might divine some clue as to who had made this path.
Her heart skipped a beat as she noticed an old hoof print in the dirt. The print was old and could well have been made by a pig for all she knew, but Applejack couldn't help but feel that the hoof print had come from a fellow pony that might well still be alive. Hope bursting anew Applejack hurried down the trail.
She wondered what kind of pony she would be meeting at the end of the trail, another mare such as herself? A strong handsome stallion with a chin to die for? Or perhaps even a whole village that would happily point her in the direction of Equestria. She was slightly worried that whoever she met might not be the kindest of ponies as the pigs seemed to dislike them, but she was sure that they would be more than welcoming to a lost hard working mare trying to find her way home. Any decent pony would.
It never occurred to Applejack that she might find an empty camp when she finally reached the end of the trail. Yet when she stumbled upon a simple camp, she found it completely deserted and the fire pit as cold as the stones making it. There was little at the camp aside from two large slightly moldy wooden chest and a couple of patches of worked earth that could hardly be called a garden. Peeking into the first chest Applejack found it loaded with logs, grass, twigs, and rocks. She considered taking some of the wood, but decided against it. She'd already stolen from a dead filly today, she didn't want to steal from anypony else if she could help it. The second chest contained a large collection of silk, some strange purple stuff that reminded Applejack uncomfortably of guts, and a small collection of seeds all buried in several inches of ash.
Applejack was interrupted from her search of the camp by a pair of popping sounds. She whirled to see that the patches of worked earth had suddenly sprouted out a delicious looking pumpkin and eggplant. Applejack hurried over and quickly harvested both of the plants her mouth already watering at the thought of the feast the two would provide when mixed with the food she already had. Applejack set her load down by the fire pit and began to set about preparing a fire.
She was quiet surprised however when as soon as she tossed a log into the pit, it caught fire and began to burn merrily. Applejack blinked in surprised having been sure the ashes and coals in the pit were cold, certainly nowhere near hot enough to set a log instantly ablaze. Applejack tossed on another log and watched as it to instantly caught fire and began to crackle merrily away. Applejack sighed massaging her forehead with her hooves, either this fire pit was enchanted or it was yet another oddity in this place. What was next? Giant cycloptian birds?
Applejack sighed as she sat down and tossed her last log on the fire before pulling out the food she'd collected and speared the eggplant with one of the twigs she'd plucked off the saplings. She held it over the fire in an attempt to cook it, not that she really knew how to cook an egg plant, but it would be nice to eat something that had been prepared somewhat. After a couple of minutes Applejack withdrew the eggplant and took a nibble before she quickly gobbled down the rest of the plant. It was delicious! Applejack quickly speared the pumpkin with several of the thicker twigs and gave it a quick cook as well, its soft tender flesh was like a blessing as it hit Applejack's gut. Finishing up with the berries from the bush, Applejack gave a content sigh. For the first time in days she felt truly full and it was doing wonders for her mood, even her recently injured side was feeling much better now that her body had energy to start healing.
Applejack curled up next to the warm fire and attempted to make herself comfortable as the last vestiges of light fade with the setting sun. Applejack found herself in her own little sphere of light cast by the fire. Applejack's ears twitched listening for the tell tale sound of the monster that had hunted her the night before, but was greeted by nothing more ominous than the sound of trees rustling in the breeze. Applejack smiled finally feeling a great deal of relief knowing that she was safe from that horror.
She attempted to fall asleep in the warmth of the fire, but her mind refused to sleep as thoughts began to chase each other about her head. She still needed to get home, but had no idea which way to go. If anything, this day had made her feel even more lost than she had felt the day before. The locals had never heard of Equestria, and the locals themselves! Applejack had never heard of such creatures despite having read several books and listened to Twilight rant for hours on the subject of odd and mythological creatures. She'd developed a bit of a curiosity for them considering how often she seemed to run across such "myths". Yet no mention of anything even vaguely like those pig creatures she'd encountered today.
But there were ponies about, supposedly. The pigs knew of them and there had been that one poor filly, yet Applejack had yet to encounter them. She even starting to wonder if she really wanted to considering how much the pigs seemed to dislike them. Not to mention just how hostile this place seemed to be, her mind began to craft images of ponies twisted by this place into savage monsters that did insane things like eat meat and kill without discretion or mercy. Or ponies that wielded dark magic like a unicorns did normal magic becoming twisted hate filled creatures like that one stallion she'd already seen when she first woke up.
The snap of a twig made Applejack abandon her attempts at slumber. Her ears turned and whirled trying to find out where the sound had come from as her eyes tried to pierce the darkness. She didn't have to search long for the source, a pair of white eyes shone in the gloom beyond the light of her fire. Applejack leapt to her hooves, terror seizing her heart and almost making her stumble back into the still crackling fire. She watched the eye they watched her, never moving, always just beyond the light of the fire.
Applejack chuckled nervous, then gave a good honest laugh, "What's the matter you dang varmint? You afraid of coming out into the light where I can see you?"
She was answered by a low throaty chuckle. Applejack blinked, her confidence shattered in an instant, she scooped up her ax and gripped it so tightly she half feared that her teeth would bite through the makeshift tool. Her heart stopped as she began to hear a music box start playing.
Slowly, so terribly slowly, two massive shadows began to separate themselves from the dark beyond and slither forward across the ground in clear defiance of the fire's light. The shadows quickly resolved themselves as two massive clawed hands, each big enough to hold Applejack comfortably in their palms. Applejack became paralyzed with terror as the claws slowly slithered across the ground towards her, the sound of a ghostly music box chiming their advance like a marching drum, the white eyes shining in confidence. They were so close now, only a few hoof lengths away.
Once more the sun saved Applejack.
The music box was silenced with a distorted twang, the eyes disappeared in the dark and the two reaching talons dissolved without a sound as the first rays of morning pierced the night. Applejack released a breath she'd forgotten she was even holding and greedily began sucking in air to answer her body's demand for the resource. Once more she cast her eyes about, trying to find where her night time tormentor had disappeared to. Once again she was left alone in a cold sweat.
Author's Note
After a long wait and several false starts, I've finally decided to go back and basically tear this story down and start building it from the ground up again. I've come to realize the original version simply had too many characters in it, and trying to fit them all together was weakening the story. So hopefully this time I'll have a much tighter, more focused story that doesn't have me treating Applejack like a lost foal so much as the tough ol' farm pony we all love.
