What Shall be True

“I thought you said Applejack was dead,” snapped Twilight as soon as Lyra was out of earshot.

She shouldered on her saddlebags, having filled them with a little bag of bits. “I never said that. But AJ and I are the only two who stayed in Ponyville.”

“So what happened to the other three?”

“Left for the Everfree. Nopony’s heard from them since.”

“But they’re alive?”

“Last I saw them, yes. But that was a long time ago.” She opened the door, gesturing for Twilight to go through ahead of her.

As Twilight walked out the front door and into Ponyville, she couldn’t help but mark the sharp differences. Yes, it was still Ponyville, and most of it looked like it always did. But that just made the differences clearer and sharper. Not the least of which was that her home wasn’t called Golden Oaks library anymore, but instead entitled “Pinkie Pie’s Phenomenal Pharmacy”.

Most of the buildings around them seemed intact enough, given the war and hostile occupation thing. But the ones that did need repair had been repaired crudely at best, and thick shutters sat on every window in sight. Almost no one was on the streets, and the few that were looked like they didn’t want to be. In the distance, Twilight could just see a handful of dark shapes hovering ominously around what must have been the edge of the town.

She turned to Pinkie Pie as the other mare closed her door behind them. “What was all that about Sleepers?”

Pinkie shivered slightly at the word, and spoke in hushed tones as they began their walk. “Changelings disguised as ponies during the day. If they hear any hint of misbehavior, they’ll come after you in the night. So watch what you say.”

Twilight nodded. She couldn’t have possibly seen it coming, but in hindsight it made perfect sense. After all, Changelings could turn into any pony they wanted, so why not abuse the privilege?

Something still nagged at Twilight, though.

“What did Lyra mean, by the way? I mean…do they pay ponies to have kids or something?”

Pinkie shook her head. “I don’t know why you haven’t heard of that, Nightie, being a mare and all.”

It took Twilight a moment to realize Pinkie was talking to her.

“Oh, well, I didn’t really pay attention to the bulletins that much.”

Pinkie just sighed. “Any mare who gets pregnant can hand their kid over to the Changelings in exchange for bits. The Changelings then feed off the love that kid has for their mother.”

Twilight stalled completely. “That’s…that’s awful!”

“Maybe, but at least it’s optional. Better than the Sleepers just sneaking in and taking them.”

She accentuated certain words, and Twilight was nothing if not confused and angry and horrified until she got the message.

Oh, right. Sleepers. Watch what you say.

Twilight feigned her best resigning shrug. “I…I guess you’re right.”

Pinkie just nodded, and the two resumed their walk.

“Have you…um…taken that offer?”

She just deflated. It was an answer enough.

The two of them walked in silence, and Twilight took the opportunity to really look over Pinkie Pie. There were a lot of subtle differences that Twilight hadn’t really noticed before. Faint bags sat under the other mare’s eyes, betraying a lack of sleep. Small speckles of assorted versions of dirt made it clear she hadn’t washed in a while. There was another disconcerting change about her, too: she was taller than Twilight. Not by much, barely by a few millimeters, but still noticeably.

The way she carried herself felt so different, though. Her head drooped somewhat, like it was holding up a heavy weight. There was no more bounce in the way she walked. And there was that network of scars and burns that dotted her flank and legs, ever-present and marring. The two X-patterned ones on her shoulder jumped out at Twilight for some reason. It might have had something to do with their incredible size relative to all the other scars. It might have had to do with the fact that they didn’t look caused by anything Twilight could name off the top of her head.

In any case, they were already amongst the apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres when Twilight stopped staring at them.

As they approached the building that marked Applejack’s home, Twilight caught a fleeting glimpse of somepony speeding into the building.

“APPLEBLOOM!”

The voice made Twilight’s ears flatten against her head. It certainly sounded like Applejack, and it was a clear reminder that that that mare could holler when she needed to. Princess’ forbid she ever get a Royal Canterlot Voice somehow, because she could level continents with it.

Applejack burst out of the orchard, stalking towards the house. “You pull another prank like that again, and Ah swear to the Queen and all the dead Princesses that Ah’ll…” She cut herself off once she noticed Pinkie approaching.

Twilight took the opportunity to look over Applejack, and immediately noticed the biggest difference.

Applejack was huge.

Not huge in the tall sense (even though she was taller), but huge in the sense that she’d added about eight times her muscle mass since Twi had seen her last. Her usual Stetson sat on top of a mane that was tied in its usual way, but looked a lot shorter than it used to. Her tail was almost identical to its former self, which was a comforting sight. And unlike Pinkie, she had surprisingly few scars. There were a few…a burn here, a cut there…but they were less abundant and less visible.

She turned to face the two of them as they approached, tipping her Stetson in welcome. “Howdy, Pinkie! Who’s your friend?”

Pinkie approached the farm-mare and gave her a brief hug before introducing Twilight. “This is Darkest Night. She just got here yesterday, all the way from Fillydelphia!”

“Well, shucks, welcome to Ponyville Ms. Darkest! Name’s Applejack! Pleased to meetcha!” Applejack turned to her, in a way that was just awkward and stilted enough for Twilight to notice. But there was no explanation for—

She pushed that train of thought aside and shook the hoof she was offered. “Please, just call me Night.”

Applejack tilted her head slightly. “Ah could swear Ah recognize yeh…Do we know each other?”

Twilight just shook her head, already getting good at this whole disguise thing. “Can’t say that we do. You might’ve met my cousin though. He was big into the farming business.”

Applejack just locked eyes with Pinkie, who blinked in a weird sequence…twice with her left eye, twice with her right eye, and then once with her left eye again. Applejack turned to look at Twilight, confused and amazed and acting like she’d seen a ghost, before collecting herself and just nodding. The whole scene came and went in less than a second.

“That mighta done it.” She turned back to Pinkie. “Y’all’re here for food, Ah take it?”

“Yep! Think we can make a deal inside?”

Applejack nodded, and Pinkie turned back to Twilight. “Wanna join us?”

‘Heck ye-wait…don’t sound excited…’ “Um…sure. Sounds great.”

“Great! Ah’ll put the kettle on, make us somethin’ to drink.”

She turned to walk towards the house, again with just a hint of awkwardness in her motions. And as her other side came into Twilight’s view, she saw why.

Where one of her hindlegs should be, just below the knee joint, was a prosthetic parody of the limb.

Twilight couldn’t help but stare at it as she trailed the other two into the house. Her mind drifted across the dozen or so ways that the limb could have been lost. And if this sampling of her friends was any hint of their condition, then…wow…

Applejack held the door for the two of them, and Twilight couldn’t help but notice the golden-yellow mare’s eyes follow her as she walked by.

“Applebloom!” AJ called out as soon as she was inside. “Y’know where Green Hoof is?”

“He’s out in the orchard, sis!” The voice that floated down from upstairs was almost definitely not Applebloom’s. At least, not the way Twilight remembered it.

“Well, couldja get out there and tell ‘im that Ah’m dealin’ with customers!”

“But siiiiiiis!”

“No buts, Bloom! You do as you’re told!” Applejack started for the kitchen, before rounding back on the stairs with her eyes lit up in fury. “And if Ah see you shoot one more apple at somepony callin’ it a mortar, then you’ll be sleepin’ in the well for a week, you little rascal!”

Satisfied her message was heard, she made her way to the kitchen to start heating up some tea. Pinkie took a seat at the dinner table, and Twilight sat herself down in her usual spot. Thankfully, the interior of the Apple house was relatively unchanged, and it made her feel right at home for the first time that day.

After a couple seconds, Applebloom clomped her way down the stairs. She looked completely alien, being almost double her previous height and nearly Twilight’s age. Gone was the manebow, and instead her mane and tail were cut short and choppy in a way that vaguely resembled Scootaloo. Her face wasn’t wearing her usual cute look, but instead bore a teenage-trademark look of utter disdain. Most importantly, though, was the cutie mark on her flank, depicting a rainbow-colored apple blossom.

Twilight just waved at her, and in return, she rolled her eyes and huffed out the door.

Applejack waited a few moments, presumably to make sure her sister was out of earshot, before thundering into the main room and wrapping Twilight up in a bear hug.

“Oh, Twi, it’s really you, ain’t it! Oh, thank the princesses. Ah thought Ah’d never see you again!”

Twilight could barely breathe through the hulk of the mare crushing her, let alone say something back.

It was minutes before AJ let her go. Once she did, Twilight took a few deep breaths as subtly as she could.

“Ah hafta admit, Pinkie, yer dang good at disguises. If she hadn’t opened her mouth, Ah might not’ah known it was her.”

“Heheh. Thanks, AJ.”

“Now,” AJ turned to stare down Twilight, absolutely towering over her. “Ah wanna hear absolutely everythin’.”

So as the water boiled for tea, Twilight shared everything she knew. It wasn’t much, just a few hours’ worth of events, but Applejack hung onto every word. Twi’s arrival, what she knew about what had happened, and her alter-ego of Darkest Night. She had just finished when Applejack poured the three of them some tea into three old and chipped mugs.

“Damn,” she muttered as she set the kettle back down. “That’s quite the story, there, Twi.”

She just nodded silently.

“So, I’m keeping her at my place until she can use magic again to leave, and I was wondering if I could call in a favor to get a little extra food for her.”

“Aw, shoot. You don’t need to call in a favor for that. This year’s harvest was huge. I’m happy to be rid of some of it. But…” her glare turned lethal in the blink of an eye, “…you tell a single pony what Ah just toldja, and Ah’ll have your head.”

Twilight was frozen in something like fear, but Pinkie just laughed it off. “You know I’d never spill a secret, AJ.”

Applejack smiled, and then laughed, a hearty bellowing laugh that didn’t match up at all to what she was used to hearing from the mare. “Ah’m glad to hear it! And Twi…you need to learn to take a joke, you sillyfilly!”

Twi chuckled nervously. “Sorry, I’m just…still getting used to this version of you. You can look pretty scary when you want to.”

“Well, don’t worry. It’s still the same old Applejack you knew before. Well,” she tapped her prosthetic hoof on the floor, “most of ‘er.”

Pinkie and Applejack shared another laugh, while Twilight just stared at the two of them. How could they joke about something like that? At a time like this? Especially befuddling was the notion that Applejack didn’t want other ponies to know that she needed to get rid of some apples. After all, the only reason she would was so she could…

…charge the same price as always…

Twilight’s head whirled. Given the circumstances, she probably either had a monopoly or a major stake in the food market of Ponyville. Was she abusing that privilege? Could Applejack even do that? She was missing lots of context, to be fair, but it sounded like Applejack was becoming an economic tyrant.

So she decided to ask.

“The AJ I knew would give the extra apples away, to try and help everypony.”

The laughter at the table stopped, as AJ just looked at Twilight. Then, after a few moments, AJ just sighed softly and took another sip of tea.

“Ah’d love to do that, Twi. Ah really would. But part’ah the deal Ah made to keep the farm runnin’ meant payin’ the Changelin’s lotsa bits. An’ those bits don’t grow on trees.”

Twilight just nodded solemnly. ‘I guess that makes—wait…’ “What deal?”

Applejack shifted nervously. “Ah…Ah guess you’d find out sooner or later.” She took another long sip of tea, gathering her words. “After the Canterlot re-invasion attempt, the one where Luna died…well, Rainbow got the idea to run into the Everfree with as many ponies as she could get.” She spat out Rainbow’s name like it was a bug she’d accidentally swallowed. “She talked a lotta ponies into it, but Ah had family and the farm. Ah couldn’t just leave ‘em, and Granny Smith wouldn’t last ten seconds in the Everfree. So Pinkie and Ah stayed in Ponyville, and managed to cut a deal with the Changelin’s to get amnesty and our homes in exchange for bits from me, as well as a probationary period and a…close friend or…family member.”

The two other mares at the table looked all but dead when Applejack brought that up, and Twilight decided not to press the matter.

“That’s…I’m so sorry, you two. I didn’t realize.”

Applejack just forced a smile. “The irony is, Granny Smith died’ah old age not a year later. After that, Applebloom and Ah hired Green Hoof, Celestia bless ‘im, and the three’ve us ‘ave been workin’ the farm ever since.”

The three of them sat there for a moment after that, before Twilight broke the silence.

“What about the ponies who left? Rarity, and ‘Shy, and Rainbow Dash…what happened to them?”

Applejack instantly glared at her over her mug at the mention of Rainbow Dash, before steering her glare into her tea. “Haven’t heard from ‘em.”

That look was too much. Twilight had to ask.

“What’s your deal with Rainbow, Applejack? Every time I bring her up, you get angry. You two were best friends! What happened…will happen…what is it with you two!?”

AJ said nothing for a long time, just staring at Twilight with a fire in her eyes that Twi had never seen before. Then she slowly set her mug on the table, and growled, “You really wanna know?”

“Yes!”

“Did Pinkie e’er tell you why our attack on Canterlot failed? Why Luna and dozens of other ponies died? Why all five of us and countless others’re left so scarred for the rest’f our lives?”

Twilight shook her head.

Applejack was almost-imperceptibly shaking with rage as she said it. “Two words: Rainbow. Dash.”