My Baby Sister

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Sisters' Bond
Chapter 3: The Ponies Outside
Chapter 4: The Edge
Chapter 5: The Knock
Chapter 6: The Downfall Of A Peaceful Mind
Chapter 7: The Burial Ground
Chapter 8: The Protector
Chapter 9: The Long Run
Chapter 10: The Twilight
Chapter 11: The Broken Sky
Chapter 12: The Ashes Of A Time Gone Past
Chapter 14: The Fires Of Ponyville
Chapter 15: The Ashen God
Chapter 16: The Embers And The Tears
Chapter 17: The Bones
Chapter 18: The Happy Ever After
Chapter 1: The Old Blues
Chapter 13: The Rainbow In The Dark

Chapter 2: The Sisters' Bond

For once, her dream did not end with the same, awful words it usually did. No, this time her friends had been there, along with their teacher, Cheerilee. The rest of the class too, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, smiling, acting kindly for once. Sadly enough, dreams were no memories and faded with the awakening.

The rubber teat pressed against her mouth, leaving the faintest taste of strawberry, and numbed the pain in her jaw. Sadly, suckling faster didn’t make it go away completely, but at least now that she had the thing regularly in her mouth, sleep came much easier to the filly.

Only the faintest of lights pressed through from the outside, as the curtains remained closed. She looked at them, orange cloth with yellow lemons, a memento of her father, a stallion she only had the faintest memories of. Behind them was probably a cloudless sky now. Applejack must’ve closed them as the sun had come up from beyond the horizon.

Apple Bloom felt like giving her sister a hug just for that.

She pulled Waffle, her dear teddy bear, closer to her side, almost subconsciously, but decided to remain beneath her covers for a while longer. Nowadays, she tended to get up the moment her eyes opened, but then again, usually the dreams made sure she woke up quickly. A slow morning was a welcome change for now.

In fact, she decided to take the time to enjoy it a bit, pulling the blanket up a bit more and burying herself beneath it. As she moved, the diaper rustled loudly however, giving her the slightest hint that this wouldn’t be as wonderful as she thought it’d be.

Lifting the blanket up slightly, she hoped to see the status of her diaper. It took only one look and she found it dry. Apple Bloom blinked. “You’re kidding,” she whispered to herself.

How many weeks had it been since the Blast? She had stopped counting as she had grown more and more accustomed to her situation. The first days were a blur by now, but she still remembered waking up, the sheets of her bed soaked, the cloth sticking to her body, while the cold wetness clung to her lower body. Scootaloo had been there too, but Apple Bloom didn’t remember her reaction or where she had gone after that. She only remembered being held by Applejack as she hurried towards the cider house and whispered sweet nothings that had been meant to calm her.

She had suddenly started to wet herself, like her body had just forgotten how to hold it. Sure, there was also the pain in her jaw, and that often her legs would just give out if she attempted to use them for too long. Heck, there were even mornings where she woke up blind, but the only problem Applejack hadn’t been able to fix with sisterly love had been her wetting. She had even brought Twilight Sparkle over, who had lost one eye to the Monsters Who Sleep At Night, but she had been unable to use her fancy unicorn magic. Instead Applejack had gotten her some protection.

So, basically, over the last few weeks she had woken up with that being soaked instead of her mattress – for which she was semi-grateful – on every single morning, but what she found now left her a bit shocked. Well, at least this was her initial emotion, a shock stemming from complete disbelief as she opened her mouth but failed to close it again.

She hadn’t expected something like this, not this way. A magical cure, maybe. Everything being a dream? Yeah, sure. Just waking up with her protection fitting as snuggly to her body as if she had just put it on, with the green butterflies not having faded? Hell no.

Dry. She was dry. She hadn’t wet the bed. Apple Bloom’s face grew with a smile. This was about the best morning in a long, long while. She wanted to lift herself up, hoping to improvise a short dance number, but before that could happen a sting of pain went through her legs and she landed on her rump as they gave in.

The filly immediately looked down, whether anything more had happened, but they were just the same legs, both yellow and adorable, with nothing indicating that a wound or something alike had appeared. No old ones either, she thought.

Still, her limbs usually only gave up after a few hours of usage, not first thing in the morning, so that made her slightly worried. However, as she tried to move her legs again, they worked just fine, and so she exhaled. It was just her being groggy, nothing more.

With that worked out, Apple Bloom turned her head to the side, to Applejack’s bed, where her sister lay, the blanket still spread beneath her and one leg half-covered in bandages. Had she found some in the cellar?

Apple Bloom had to wonder for a moment whether she should tell her sister. Now that the moment still lingered she could probably even get something out of it, and considering how Applejack had treated her over these past few weeks, maybe this could ease both their minds. Applejack never got angry about being woken by her, only anxious, worried that something might have happened. Something had, something good, and so Apple Bloom decided to wake her big sister up.

She wouldn’t lie, if she could at least graduate from diapers to training pants, that would be awesome.

The filly stood up again, making sure that her legs remained steady, and then immediately started to move. If she stood on her hind legs, the railing went up to her shoulders. Considering how uneasy sleep came in many a night, this was a solution she had grown comfortable with. Getting out of bed, however, always proved to be a challenge, as she didn’t trust her limbs nowadays, and the diaper only added to the difficulty.

She would never have imagined that this kind of garment would restrict her movements in any way, but the thickness of it reduced even the most graceful trot into a waddle that could, at best, be referred to as ‘undignified’. With her legs spread apart by the padding, getting over the railing took quite the struggle.

However, Apple Bloom managed, and, unlike what Applejack seemed to think evermore, didn’t need help with such mundane tasks. Smugly thinking that, she shifted her weight a bit too much to the side and suddenly fell. A bang resounded in the room as she hit the ground, her side crashing against the wood, with the right shoulder first. She then proceeded to roll herself onto her back, and looked if she had gotten herself wounded.

You need to be more careful, she thought, don’t want to make Applejack worry even more.

She wasn’t wounded. No blood, only a bit of pain. So she remained there for a moment, her ears perked. Applejack was still breathing softly and there was no other sound.

As the seconds passed that didn’t change, she hadn’t woken anypony who was meant to be asleep and there weren’t any ponies near enough to have heard it. She was fine, she was a big filly and she needed to tell Applejack the good news, needed to give her a reason to smile. Family was important, that’s what Twilight had told her before she had left.

The filly lifted herself off the ground, finding no dust stuck to her coat. Of course, Applejack kept this place clean.

Since Apple Bloom didn’t want to strain her legs too much, she decided to not simply jump on Applejack’s bed, instead she wanted to give her sister a different surprise. Applejack had done something a few days past that left Apple Bloom still in demand of satisfaction, and what better way to start the day than waking up both dry and serving vengeance?

I need to get myself some juice and daffodils for breakfast and then it’ll be perfect.

Apple Bloom climbed the bed as carefully as possible, biting her lips as she anticipated the sheer awesomeness that she was about to unleash.

Applejack herself rested in a most awkward position. She lay horizontal to the bed, her legs dangling over the edge, while her left arm was covered in bandages, of which the roll was still held in her right hoof.

It was easy to see that she had fallen asleep preparing them.

Her sister was a pony who tended to fall asleep during work, and nowadays she only found calm nights when Apple Bloom goaded her into sharing the bed with her. It was the same for both of them, one made the other feel safe, and that in turn made them themselves feel safe.

They just had their own way of doing it, their own way of dealing with how the world outside was.

But now was not the time to muse on the subjects of the world beyond the cider house, no, now was the time for vengeance.

Apple Bloom’s eyes were fixated on her sister. She would scare her, and that would teach her for blowing a raspberry on her stomach after that one diaper change, the one she had planned to forget about beforehand but now couldn’t. Surely, that had to be because of Applejack doing weird stuff and not the thing that made her want to forget that particular one so much.

Apple Bloom stepped closer to Applejack, preparing herself for doing it. The filly tried to keep her imagination down, tried not to think of how Applejack would yelp and the kind of face she’d make, yet the image still sprung up in her mind, and caused a slight giggle. Out here, past the radish and carrot fields, nopony would hear her scream. Well, nopony but Apple Bloom, but she wanted to savor the upcoming moment.

Then she stood right by her sleeping sister’s side. Vengeance for one humiliation, and maybe even more. One giant scare, just one.

Family is important, Apple Bloom, she remembered a voice saying, and there had been one eye looking at her while the wing had been rotting beneath the bandages.

Her eyes remained fixed on Applejack.

Scootaloo had slept over, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith had been there too, but it had been Applejack who had brought her here, and it had been Applejack who had cried herself into sleep for three days straight. On the third day, Apple Bloom had finally joined her, waking up in cold, wet sheets for another time, alone and already tired of pretending to be stronger than she was.

That had woken Applejack, that had been the moment where she must’ve remembered something and decided to do the one important thing: Protect her family.

And Apple Bloom wasn’t really angry about it, if she would tell the truth. Beyond the curtains and the wooden walls was a sky that scared her, and the Tear pulsating in the sky. The only safe place was here now, and they were alone. The entire world was gone, had crumbled with a bright flash that turned everypony sick and mad.

Even Granny Smith, even Big Macintosh and even Scootaloo, whose wailing could still be heard from the depths of the well.

In here, Applejack cared for her and protected her.

She understood that, and as she watched Applejack just sleep there, remembering Scootaloo when the sun’s light reached her on that day, Apple Bloom shivered.

The world outside had gone to hell.

She wanted to break down over Applejack, forgetting about her achievement, remembering the horrible first three days. However, just before she did just that, she slowly leant in closer to Applejack, who took another soft breath–

Before she suddenly jumped up and pushed Apple Bloom down on the sheets. Applejack brought down her muzzle on her little sister’s tummy, blowing a loud raspberry on it. The filly only managed a brief gasp before she erupted in a laughter so fierce that her pacifier fell out.

Then Applejack brought her head up again and looked at her sister with a bright smile that did little to hide how groggy she actually was. “Good morning, Apple Bloom,” she said, and even that, despite trying to sound enthusiastic seemed more like a scream for caffeine.

Apple Bloom just looked at her, mouth open, whatever sadness she had felt vanishing. “Why did you do that?”

“You’re so adorable, it’s hard to resist,” her older sister complimented, all smiles and sugar, all tired and downtrodden.

They both laughed, though Apple Bloom lead it, forgetting about what lay beyond the cider house again.

Her sister ruffled her mane then, the way she often did. It made Apple Bloom feel good, oddly appreciated, if not for the bandages around Applejack’s arm, hiding the patches of bleeding and rotten skin. Apple Bloom knew that it must’ve hurt her older sister, but Applejack taking care of another pony made her forget her own problems.

Another part of her still wanted to protest. She was almost a grown-up, would soon be as tall as Applejack. She wasn’t a kid anymore, but she kept quiet nonetheless.

I can be grown-up when all this is over, Apple Bloom told herself, her jaw slowly starting to hurt more and more.

“So, seeing how active my cute widdle sister is this mornin’, I take it ya slept well?”

Apple Bloom grinned, Or maybe even now, if only a bit.

“Aye,” she laughed. “First night I stayed completely dry.” She pointed at her diaper, wanting to show off her totally not-faded butterflies.

The reaction she got was not the one she’d expected, as Applejack gave her a bemused smile. She didn’t quite understand it and looked at it herself. No, she thought, spotting that parts of the butterflies had faded now.

She looked up at Applejack, bewildered, before she looked down again. This couldn’t be true, she thought, she had been dry, she had been one step closer to being a grown-up again.

“It’s not …” she started meekly, tears welling up.

Applejack shouldn’t have smiled like that, she should’ve been happy for her little sister, should’ve told her that she wouldn’t need to wear diapers anymore. That was ruined now. Now, Apple Bloom was still the baby who wet the bed, even though she hadn’t tonight. She didn't bother to pretend to be strong, let the tears fall freely. The diaper should've been dry, but it was stupid, and now everything was ruined, and her jaw hurt too.

However, Applejack’s hoof went to wipe the tears away before she pulled Apple Bloom close in a hug. “It’s fine,” she said, and once more Apple Bloom took note of how tired she sounded. “It’s just a small accident. It happened just now when I got up, must’ve scared it out of ya. It’s not even that much, ya don’t even need a change,” she whispered.

They were facts, so Apple Bloom agreed with them. “I’ve stopped wetting the bed,” she said defiantly.

Applejack stroked her mane. “Well, let’s just say ye stayed dry for one night. That’s a good start, a great start.”

Apple Bloom nodded, and then the two of them parted from the hug.

“How about you’ll stay dry for one more night, and then we’ll start getting you on the potty, alright?” Applejack asked.

She blushed, despite how long Applejack had put her down like this. It wasn’t what she had wanted, but it was a step in the right direction. She believes that I can do it, the filly thought, her face swelling up with a big smile. She knows I’m a big filly. She remembers it.

“So,” Applejack said, standing up from her bed, “I don’t think a first dry night should go uncelebrated.”

Apple Bloom swelled up even more. With pride, with anticipation and with glee. Already had she decided to call the small wet spot an “accident” that wouldn’t happen again today. She was a big filly, and already thought of what kind of awesome prize she would get for proving it. Some pancakes for breakfast, some warmed milk and a new toy from the town, all those would be nice.

But before Applejack could speak the next words, the pain rushed through her jaw, as brutal as the slash of an axe, cutting into the foal’s thoughts and breaking her smile. If it had been just a split-second or a second she would’ve been too shocked to react, but it wasn’t like that.

The pain was sawing through her jaw, piercing into her head and neck, and it slowly started to travel down her body.

With the first split-second, she felt the tears come up again, and then all she could do was wail, as the pain grew and grew. Salty water ran down her eyes and snot got into her mouth, and seconds seemed to grow to bitter tasting, hurting hours. The hurting went with a massive force through her head, spreading itself out. Every breath she took after the third second felt like somepony was striking her lungs with a hammer. All she wanted to do right then and there, was die.

And there was a hunger starting to blaze up inside her.

Suddenly she felt something being pushed into her mouth, felt warm arms gently wrapped around her and soft kisses pressed against her cheek. “It’s alright,” somepony said, and it drove the tiny blaze away. She started to suck on the rubber in her mouth almost automatically, and felt how the pain started to vanish, first from its source, and then it dissipated from the rest of her body.

The faint taste of Strawberries started to set in, and she welcomed its sweetness like the first drink of water after a time too long in the desert.

“Take it out for food, take it out when you take a bath, but never take it out for too long,” a voice had told her, and one eye had stared at her half-mad.

“Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked.

She kept Apple Bloom pressed against her chest, and the young filly could hear her heartbeat. It wasn’t quick, but calm, reminding her that her big sister had everything under control as long as she could protect something.

“Yesh?” she asked from behind her binky.

Applejack put a tissue to her face, rubbing the snot and tears off. Apple Bloom wanted to turn away, but didn’t, she was too busy enjoying her binky, too scared it would fall out again. Her older sister asked, “How about I’ll make us some breakfast, and then I’ll show you something else I brought from the town today?”

Apple Bloom nodded, but remained still otherwise. Her sister kissed her on her forehead, and then lifted her up, holding her with one arm. Apple Bloom felt the diaper pressing against her butt, like a comfy pillow, and sucked on her binky, feeling calmer by the second.

The pain was minor downer, but she was still close to being recognised as an adult, since she hadn’t wet the bed.

Chapter 3: The Ponies Outside

She remembered crying a lot during the first days, especially when somepony knocked on the door. By this point, she didn't really remember why. Maybe she hadn't wanted guests, because Apple Bloom had looked worse then than now. There might've been other reasons, sure, but every time she had taken the ladder down and somepony had knocked, it had felt like somepony was smashing a hammer against her ear.

Whenever the sun rose, guests came, and whenever she went down the ladder, there came the knocking. They were howling and neighing, and she remained quiet whenever she heard them. Apple Bloom would hug her and suckle her paci, try not to make a sound. It was like a game, like whoever could stay quiet longer would win.

Somehow though, she still remembered herself breaking down and crying, and every time she took the steps she hoped no knock would come. Yet it seemed that every day somepony would come to the door and slam their hoof against it, and the force generated the sound Applejack hated the most.

Even today it happened. Like a fierce roar erupting from the end of the hallway, the screams of a wild beast outside, and the hammering. There were no words spoken, and even today, on this special occasion, the two remained quiet. Apple Bloom clung to her and Applejack gently patted her bottom. „Don't worry,“ she told her little sister as quietly as she could, kissing her on her cheek.

Yet the knocking remained for what Applejack thought an eternity and she remained with Apple Bloom for what appeared to be an eternity. In the end, however, the knocking faded away and whoever had wanted to enter lost interest. Applejack smiled then, because their kingdom remained unconquered.

She wondered how long she could avoid guests of any kind, but a part of her, the part that dreaded them coming, hoped it would be for a long time, at least until she had gotten Apple Bloom potty trained.

Back then, there had been days where their father hadn’t left the cider house for days. Applejack remembered her mother saying that he was a pony who needed his alone time, and he had made the cider house his kingdom for that very reason.

She had only seen the inside of it once they both had left, and she had spent many nights alone, away from her family, much like her father. Not because she enjoyed the loneliness, but because it helped her keep the memory close. And, in retrospective, it had helped her finding her way once she had gotten Apple Bloom here.

The lower part of the cider house was bigger than the first glance might indicate.

The ladder led to a room with many barrels, the main cellar. On the northern end was a door to the second largest room, a small living room with pictures of the Apple Family decorating the walls, and old couches with colorful, tacky designs. To the west was a door to the kitchen, which had another door leading to the storage.

The main cellar also had another wall in its middle, or rather a curtain where their father had wanted to place a wall. Behind it was the bathroom with a bathtub and buckets to fill it. At the southern wall, the real one, there was a door.

Applejack had first seen it as an empty room beneath the hill the cider house stood on, but after they had come here she had carefully arranged some furniture in it. Apple Bloom hadn’t seen it yet, but now she seemed so proud of her achievement that Applejack thought it the perfect reward.

Though breakfast had been simple, and Apple Bloom had eaten quick–mayhaps for fear of another surge of pain in her jaw–once they finished, Applejack felt fairly excited. This day would be great.

By the time she was done, Apple Bloom's face showed a magnificent milk beard accentuated with bread crumbs, and the chocolate Applejack had bought a week before was now adorning the nose and left cheek of the filly. Not only that, but considering how it looked now, Applejack was also quite happy that Apple Bloom had stopped fussing about the bib.

Who knew, maybe it was just because it was the pink one with the ruffles. Ruffles always meant a special occasion, and on a special occasion one was best on their best behavior. Apple Bloom knew that, and though she had still grown a bit red when she had the bib put on, there wasn't any fighting.

„Thanks for the food,“ she said, looking at Applejack.

She smiled at Apple Bloom and took out a napkin, moving it closer to Apple Bloom. The filly's fighting spirit showed, if only for a second, as she turned away from it. For some reason, she immediately turned her head straight however, but maybe because she wanted to get this over quickly. Easily noted was the look she gave Applejack. Only this once, she could read from the frown and everything below.

Usually, Apple Bloom ate only moderate amounts, but in her happiness she had sated her hunger for once. Applejack knew that if she could get Apple Bloom to keep it up she would need to go out for food more often. Apple Bloom would grow properly despite the circumstances, so that was a sacrifice worth taking. She herself also tried to eat properly for once, though the aching of her wounds made it hard.

„Alright,“ she said once they were both done and the bib had been taken off. „Considerin' how ye're on ya best behaviour an' started on your path to runnin' 'round naked like the day you were born, I've got a present for ya.“

If there was one thing Applejack remembered from her earliest days, it was her aunt giving her the same speech and it had been the one time she hadn't spoken to her with that posh accent she always used to put on. And she must've smiled just like Apple Bloom did now when she'd heard it.

Applejack took the filly's paci and let her put it into her mouth, then picked her up. She saw that the diaper was in a slightly worse state than before, and Apple Bloom blissfully unaware of it. Well, it wasn't unexpected, but Applejack would've loved if the bit of raised morale actually helped her little sister. It didn't, so she'd have to change her again in a few hours. Her little sister would count it as a step backwards, she was sure, but Applejack would support her nonetheless.

I'm everything she has now, she thought as she held the little rascal in her arm and moved out of the kitchen.

The sound of her steps on the floor and the quiet suckling noise her sister made were her companions, and the lanterns along the ceiling were the only source of light. She hated coming down here alone, hated it even now, but with Apple Bloom she had to be brave. Or at least she had to pretend to be. Her sister's chin rested on her shoulder, and despite the weight, despite the wounds on her arms, the feeling made it easier.

Then, they finally reached the room, and Apple Bloom turned around. „Ah've ne'er been in thar before,“ she said around her binky, curious as to what awaited her.

Applejack smiled. „Close your eyes. You're going to love it.“

She didn't see how Apple Bloom closed her eyes, and she didn't check. They had always trusted each other, and she would trust Apple Bloom with anything to the best of her abilities. With that sort of trust, she used her head to push open the door and the lanterns went on, burning with magical light. Just looking at it she could tell that the next moment would be the best of the entire day. It'll be worth it, she told herself, and then I'm going to show her what I got from the town and she'll be happy.

She placed Apple Bloom on a carpet, as careful as possible and looked at her little sister once more. The red mane was unkempt and without her once trademark bow, and she looked haggard, with the diaper and binky making her look smaller, younger than she was. A part of Applejack wanted to be scared, even appalled, when she looked at her, but she wasn't.

She almost wanted to tickle the little cutie again, wanted to pull her into a hug and tell her what a cute foal she was. Instead she simply said; „Ya can open yer eyes now.“

And they glittered like stars as she did so, immediately enamored with the sight, but she tried to mask her excitement quickly. A part of her thought herself too mature for dolls, pick-up sticks and wooden blocks, but another part was happy that there was more to the cider house than the small bed room she usually played in.

Applejack felt herself swelling with happiness, since she had worked on this playroom forever. The walls were covered with an ugly green tapestry and on the ground there was a carpet shaped like Equestria. A giant, green map Apple Bloom sat on, soon pretending that her wooden train rolled down from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot.

There were about four toy boxes, of which only two were filled. One contained broken toys, the third was still empty. It wasn't as much as she had wanted to be here, but with the one in their room it served well enough. Apple Bloom wouldn't get bored, she would always have something to do. A bored filly was a cranky filly, and cranky fillies got stupid ideas about doors that should stay closed. Applejack didn't want to be responsible for a situation that could go off the deep end, or where she had to discipline her sister. She loved her too much to hurt her or see her hurt.

Apart from the boxes, there was also a red sofa, one she had found hidden behind some barrels in the main cellar, a long time ago. It had belonged to her father's father, and he must've kept it for the sentimental value. Applejack had slept on it a while ago, before Apple Bloom had wanted her to stay with her, to protect her from what monsters lurked beneath her bed.

With that sentiment, she decided to not sit on the sofa, since it felt like it was too far away from her sister. She wanted to be close to her, wanted to be with her, where nothing would ever happen. Yet, after she sat down on the floor behind her little sister, she still found herself eyeing the couch, thinking about what their parents would've done in this kind of situation. She knew not why, since she protected Apple Bloom well enough, and no matter how many dirty diapers she had to change, that would never change.

She lost track of the time as she sat there, looking at her sister.

Apple Bloom didn't move around much, and if she did, it seemed that she had trouble staying on her hooves for too long. Still, she soldiered on, getting new toys when needed. First it was just the train, and she only played with it half-heartedly. She became more absorbed as time passed and once she got her blocks to build the cities, she gestured Applejack to join her.

The older sibling built Manehatten, and the younger Canterlot. Applejack looked at the blocks and thought of the Manehatten she had known in her lifetime, with its red bricks and stuck-up ponies. She remembered the smell of the streets, the sound of carriages moving past, and she remembered the face her aunt and uncle had made when they had found her before their home.

„You're meant for great things, every Apple is,“ her uncle had told her that day.

She felt herself shaking, felt frightened all of a sudden, and her hooves were shaking. The sky wasn't in sight, and yet she felt as if she was drowning herself in the sight of it. I need to do something, anything.

She got up, a thrusting feeling erupting from her left front hoof as it hit the ground. She ignored it, turned to Apple Bloom and then started walking. There wasn't much thought involved, as she always did the same thing when she had nothing else to do. The filly had her back towards her, so Applejack decided to move around her. The wounds stung, stabs of pain surged through her legs and she ground her teeth.

Apple Bloom had found some cactus plushie which Applejack had found lying around town. The plant had a wide smile stitched on, with one tooth and the tongue showing, and it had huge, comical eyes. The child had her legs crossed and placed it above. She seemed to think about something, maybe wanted to give it a name. Another companion for her, Applejack thought, like it was another child under her care.

She moved closer. „Apple Bloom?“ The filly didn't seem to react, but Applejack was sure she had her attention. „Could I check whether ya need a change?“

Apple Bloom's brows turned into a frown, but she didn't look up. She wore diapers, but that was about as much as she tolerated. The girl didn't like being checked, didn't like them used, she hated being changed out of an old diaper and absolutely loathed the process of putting on a new one. She'd always fight it, but she couldn't be trusted doing it herself.

When she was asleep it appeared easier, but Applejack had only done that once now, because she didn't like the idea of Apple Bloom waking up and thinking something good when it hadn't happened. Applejack hated lying like that.

Yet, she knew what was coming next.

„I'm dry,“ the girl stated defiantly.

„Ya weren't even dry before breakfast, Apple Bloom,“ Applejack answered with a light smile.

Apple Bloom harrumpfed. „Ah'm dry now.“

Applejack took another step forward, leaned down to her sister's height and raised an eyebrow. „How's that?“

„Because I changed.“

„When?“

„Just now, when ya wasn't looking,“ Apple Bloom stated, still not moving her eyes.

Whenever Apple Bloom had tried to change herself, it had ended disastrously. The few times she'd done it the diapers had leaked on the first use, and the filly had been in a worse mood than before. Yet, Applejack wasn't worried this time.

„Apple Bloom,“ Applejack said firmly, and the filly looked up. „With what? Yer changing supplies are still in the bag.“

For a second the young pony withstood her sister's gaze, but then her eyes turned to the ground beneath her. „Uhm,“ she mumbled, her defiance crumbling.

Applejack walked up to her, trying her best kind smile. „Look, if yer still good, I won't press the issue. If ya need a change, I'll get yer teddy to be here with you. And if ya don't start kickin' me this time, I might even give ya a present.“

Apple Bloom looked at the cactus for a moment, wondering whether her sister was for real. As she looked up, Applejack gave her a sincere look and sure enough, it worked. „Alright, but I'm dry, so ya won't need to change me or anything like that.“

She lifted the cactus into the air and the sight revealed was pretty much what Applejack had expected.

Where green butterflies had been nothing remained but a yellow tinge. Though the diaper had been thick already, it had bulged up by quite a bit more. Applejack couldn't help herself as her face contorted in worry. She still remembered Apple Bloom telling her that she needed to go to the toilet, that was just back when they had started living here. A few wet beds, and then daytime accidents. Today, first a mess, and now she had already soaked her second diaper without noticing it. Applejack hoped more time had gone by than she thought, but she wasn't hungry yet and Apple Bloom seemed to be doing okay too.

„Well, kiddo, looks like somepony is about ready for a change,“ she told her sister, whose proud demeanour fell with the revelation.

„B-but ...“ she stuttered.

A step backwards, Applejack thought, but shook it off. „Don't worry 'bout it, Apple Bloom. The next time I go to Ponyville, I'll go see Twi. She always has a solution for everythin'. And if not, we'll just start potty training ya. Ya'll be a big filly in no time, I promise.“

Her sister looked at her, eyes watery, lip quivering. „You mean it?“ She asked.

„Yer standing before the Element of Honesty, sis. Of course I mean it.“ And yet I already told one lie today.

Apple Bloom hesitated but then nodded, albeit with sullen expression. That was enough for Applejack and she looked at the changing table. It was a makeshift work done with two slabs of wood, some cloth and prayer. Applejack told herself that it was t least going to be better than changing her sister on the floor. However, she hadn't managed to place any of the supplies there yet.

„A'ight, Apple Bloom. I'll go up, get the stuff and then we'll get ya into a dry diaper. Ya'll feel better then,“ she told her younger sister, but made no promise this time. „For now I'll leave ya to play. I won't be long.“

Apple Bloom nodded, hugging the cactus and whispering something to it.

„I promise,“ Applejack told her, kissing her on the forehead again. Whether she wanted to reassure Apple Bloom or herself, however, she did not know.

Apple Bloom tried to lose herself with the toy again, but she was grumpy about the diaper. Applejack understood that, her sister wanted to be a grown-up. For now, however, there wasn't much she could do, neither of them. She left the room quietly, leaving her sister behind to think about the situation.

„Just shout if you need me,“ she said before she left, turning around at the door, „and stay away from sharp objects.“

„I know.“ Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, and Applejack let out a giggle.

Her little lump of sweetness, her cranky baby sister, she was sure a dry diaper and her teddy bear would make it all better. And if not, there was always tickling and raspberries. Children could find happiness in every situation, and Applejack found a smiling Apple Bloom much sweeter than grumply Apple Bloom.

Then she went through the main hall and up the ladder, the typical routine. Wipes, powder, diapers, that sweet little present I wanted to give her, she thought in hopes that she could make Apple Bloom more comfortable with the situation.

They were typical thoughts, and with each step on the ladder, she was more confident that it would work. She spotted the barrel standing before the entrance, unmoved. Not a soul had entered here, and not a soul would dare to. At least that was what she hoped.

She decided to stop for a moment, to step off the ladder and walk towards the barrel, to check whether somepony was outside. Granny Smith an' BigMacintosh are in the house, Scootaloo's still grounded, she thought. Nopony else would come on a day like this, nopony would leave their homes with weather like this.

Then she heard a noise.

Scrape Scrape Scrape

It came from the door and Applejack stopped dead in her tracks. Usually there would be a knocking, nopony ever scraped. Applejack looked at the door with squinted eyes, saw something moving outside, but too quickly, too close to the corner. She leant closer in, wondering what was there. What manner of beast would want to disturb Apple Bloom's play now. She needs a fresh diaper, not guests or friends to visit her.

Then a pegasus' face smashed against the door's window. Teeth tried to sink themselves into the glass, wings flapped wildly, and hooves hammered against the door. Applejack could see her eyes, one still violet but bloodshot, watery and the pupil small, while the other was ablaze with hell's flame. She saw how the teeth were black and grey, pus and blackened blood running down from the flesh and dripping down the window. The pony was hammering her hoof against the window. The once cerulean coat was gone and the skin was a rotten grey with deep cracks and holes running through it, glimmering with a magical fire that seared the insides of the pony.

Applejack took a step backwards but stumbled, fell on her behind. „R-“ she stuttered.

The pony outside started neighing, screaming with a madness Applejack would never have wanted to hear from her.

„Help,“ the pegasus screamed, slobbering with great hunger. „Help me!“

And Applejack felt the water coming to her own eyes, to run down from them, and she felt herself shaking, a sudden coldness coming to her. „Rainbow Dash,“ she said, but closed her mouth and mind immediately.

She's not there.

„You're not there,“ she said aloud, slowly standing up and wiping her mind clean with ease. „I need to get supplies for Apple Bloom.“

She took the steps of the ladder, her brain going quiet.

„Apple–“ she heard somepony outside scream, flapping her wings wildly beneath the broken sky.

It sounded like Rainbow Dash, but she was with the weather team, and she wasn't here. She was up there in a clear sky, pushing clouds around or hanging with Rarity, but she couldn't know about the cider house. This was Apple Bloom's and Applejack's place, their fortress, their paradise. She couldn't know about this place. She couldn't possibly ever know about this place. Nopony could.

„Applejack, I'm hungry,“ somepony yelled, but then the voice was gone. Something was hammering against the door, but Applejack knew not what it was and her parents had told her not to let in strange ponies and not stranger beasts.

As she took the steps she thought of Rainbow Dash, her cerulean coat and the rainbow mane. She thought of a cocky smile, the contests and cider season and them just hanging around Sweet Apple Acres.

I should invite her next week. Maybe Fluttershy could foalsit little Apple Bloom and then the two of us could go to the lake, she thought.

Honestly, she did not know why she was crying as she opened the trap door. She picked up the supplies for Apple Bloom and the little dress she had bought for her.

She had no idea why she was shaking and barely had any strength to keep her up. It was probably from staying with her little, always demanding baby sister. She needed to go visit her friends.

But that had to wait, Apple Bloom needed her now, and otherwise being alone didn't hurt.

Yes. For Applejack, there was no pain. No pain at all.

Chapter 4: The Edge

“Stupid diapers,“ was about all she managed. “Stupid playroom, stupid baby toys, stupid ...“

She didn't quite know what else she could be angry about, but everything at once seemed a good option. Apple Bloom groaned. “Stupid end of the world.“

She would've missed the days with the other crusaders anyway. If one were to compare the current times to the ones before, she had lived in such luxury. Sure, there had been Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's never ending string of bullying, but at least she hadn't been stuck with a pacificier in her mouth. Sure, some of their attempts at getting cutie marks had ended unpleasantly for everyone involved, but at least she could still go to the pott–the toilet whenever she wanted. Heavens, even when they'd gotten hurt it'd been a temporary problem.

She moved the pacifier in her mouth, the taste lingering. It soothed the pain, and the one-eyed alicorn had told her that it was a means to an end, that she was still a grown filly, but that didn't change the fact that it felt infantile. Apple Bloom hated feeling infantile.

She looked at the cactus. “Emerald,“ she muttered. It was the name of the toy now, but it felt wrong. “Humphrey,“ she said.

“That's Humphrey,“ Diamond Tiara had told them, once, when she had slept over.

In Apple Bloom's memory, Sweetie Belle had squealed with glee over finding a cactus-buddy, while Scootaloo had frowned, since she'd always preferred vicious animal-stuffies that she could pretend to fight and vanquish. Still, that one sleepover had helped them all a lot. They'd gotten to see another side of DT, had gotten some of their own problems out of the way, and all at only a tiny cost. A cost that had already dissipated in the sands of time.

“Humphrey,“ the filly intoned again, feeling the rubber move in her mouth. “You've lost yer friend too, huh?“

Out there, in the well, Scootaloo would cry for somepony to get her out, and nopony would answer. Out there, somewhere, DT probably walked through the town, looking for her parents, crying and being hurt and all alone. And I'm here, unable to help any of them. I'm too busy playing with childish toys and wetting my diapers.

A bitter smile forced itself onto her face. The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to be here, the less she wanted to be as weak as she was. There was so much to do, so much she could at least try.

She took the cactus in one arm and looked at her diapers. Apple Bloom thought of when she'd woken up. The filly had been dry and so happy about it, the thought left an incredibly bitter taste in her mouth now. It had felt so good, since it all had started with a wet bed.

The first night always came back to her, how the sheets had been soaked through, how icky it felt on her coat, and how the humiliation had burnt like a fire. Tears had come easy then, and she had wailed much like Scootaloo, only that there'd been no hunger, no real fire turning her insides to cinders. She had wailed endlessly, but nopony had come to aid her, and so she had gotten up and looked for her sister.

“Applejack,“ she had asked against the silence, but nopony had answered.

She had walked across the room, empty except for an old box and their beds. Applejack hadn't been there, and so Apple Bloom lifted the trapdoor and stepped onto the ladder. She remembered somepony knocking on the door, but ignored them. They couldn't break through the lock when a barrel had been placed beneath it, and she had felt safe then.

Her sister had been with the cider barrels, one broken open beside her. She had cried herself through the night after seeing the clear nightsky and running away from the family she loved so much. Apple Bloom remembered how much of a mess her mane had been, how red her eyes'd been and how she tried to curl herself into a ball. The sound, the pitiful whimpering, still lingered in her head, and back then it had almost made the thoughts of the humiliating accident disappear.

It had driven her to embrace her dear, big sister, pull herself tightly towards her. She remembered the feeling of her sister's tears against her cheek, the faint smell of urine that lingered on herself and she remembered how Applejack's eyes lingered on a place far, far away.

Back then, she hadn't known how to deal with it, yet she'd eventually gotten her sister to sneak to the library in the dark of the night, after her jaw had also started to hurt and her bladder control had started a vacation to Anywhere-but-here-land. Applejack had only started to move when it all had become unbearable for the younger filly.

A pacifier and diapers'd been the solutions the alicorn proposed, and Spike had giggled at that. The girl herself had tried to hate it all, but when she failed to put that blasted garment on, her sister had walked over to her and helped her, even giving her some reassurance.

She'd looked alive again, and on the way back she promised Apple Bloom some toys to make up for the trouble. Apple Bloom had wanted to hate her for it, but the mare seemed so happy to take care of somepony, to know that somepony was still alive and still needed her.

The cactus looked at her, as if to say, You're already helping one pony. That's a start isn't it?

Apple Bloom grinned. “A start, but what if it all gets worse?“ A laugh escaped her. “My legs grow weaker, I can't take that pacifier out for too long, unless I really wanna know what pain feels like, and I doubt I'll only use my diapers one way for much longer. There's not much of a big pony in me left.“

The cactus didn't respond, it never did. And only children talk to their plushtoys.

She was helping, like a responsible adult. She was turning her own, unfortunate situation into something great. Trying her best, like always, that's what she did.

The filly heard somepony knocking in the distance.

“It's strange,“ Apple Bloom spoke out loud. “A part of them still remembers us, a part of them still wants our help. BigMacintosh's body was burnt up though. I could see his ribs, they were like coal, all cracked and the cracks had a light within them. He told Applejack to run, you know, despite ... He told us to live despite how much it must've hurt. A part of him still wanted to make sure we were safe.“

She paused, her expression empty.

“Applejack's gone mad, and if I succumb to the pain, she won't bear to live on, will she? I …“

Her eyes went over the playroom. It was designed like it was for a toddler, and though she could play with all the things her big sister had gotten for her, her thoughts always brought her back to the real world. She couldn't be a foal, she could never be a foal, no matter how much this sickness burnt through her, how much her sister pretended she was as helpless as a newborn. And yet she had to. She was stuck between the world she belonged to, the world she wanted to belong to, and the world where she was needed, where she was expected to be now.

“For what?“

Only silence answered her call. Once, somepony would've helped her find an answer. Be they dear friends, family, some teacher or a princess, protecting her in the night. None were here now, and Applejack couldn't help her, all she could do now was coo and pretend that things were better than they were, even as she risked her life to walk outside when Apple Bloom slept.

“You two need to go back. Tomorrow night, I'll prepare protection spells around your house, so you're safe there during the day. Stay there, and maybe you'll grow better,“ was what Twilight had told her, before she and Applejack had gone.

That, and; “Protect Applejack.“

Apple Bloom looked at her diaper, looked at her bane. Maybe she would feel better if she could finally rid herself of them, but only maybe. Applejack had spoken of getting her potty trained, like she'd never known how to use the pott–the toilet before. And even if they'd start, Apple Bloom didn't know how that would look. A part of her hoped it wouldn't involve a star chart, another part of her knew that Applejack had probably found some old one somewhere around town.

As long as they wouldn't meet any other survivors it'd be okay.

She looked at the cactus and ried to imitate a canterlot-accent. “Oh, hello fellow living pony. I see ya'll are safe, and your sister's wearing diapers.“

Then she pretended to be Applejack. “Not for long, she isn't. We're already potty training her, just look at the chart, how few brown stars she has.“

Apple Bloom paused, and then hugged the cactus fiercely, which was much more comfortable than one might think.

“I'm gonna die.“

Between just wearing diapers full-time and her sister pretending that she was a baby foal, and wearing diapers but getting measured how often she'd fail to make it to the pott–the friggin' toilet, she had no idea which was the lesser evil. Probably the first one, since if her body grew weaker, it would end up that way no matter how long she'd pretend it could go differently.

“An adult faces the responsibilities,“ the cactus said.

Or rather, she pretended that the cactus said that.

“Facing responsibilities by pretending to be younger than I am? How messed up is this?“

What she wanted was somepony telling her how to go about this, how to deal with the situation. Right now she was stuck, with no proper way to deal with this situation.

She felt something in her stomach just a moment later, though she dismissed it, if only for a moment. And then she realized exactly what that feeling was, and almost spit her pacifier out.

“Oh no,“ Apple Bloom said and rose to her hooves.

She felt lightheaded and her front legs gave in immediately. The filly wasn't quite standing and she was falling down already, the feeling in her stomach becoming a pain. Something was moving inside her and she was trying to hold it back.

A surge of pain went through her head, as if somepony had lightened a match in her brain. She groaned, but resolved to fight. Between wearing diapers and being treated like a baby, and at least taking the chance to return to being the filly she once was, she'd rather do at least something. The filly rose and turned towards the door. She was intent on making it, and there was nothing here to stop her. One step later, and she was already wondering whether she had made the right decision.

She wasn't going to go #2 in her diaper, not again, not ever again. Apart from the fact that it happened once, just about everything that had to do with that first left a bitter taste in her mouth, though the pacifier managed to soothe that, at least. If Applejack was going to find her not even making it to the … the toilet now, Apple Bloom could forever forget wearing training pants with pretty designs on them, not that she actually wanted to wear something like that.

But this was about the principle anyway. Being treated like a foal could be forgiven, wearing diapers could be forgiven, but she was still able to control some parts of herself, and she wouldn't forfeit that control just because her body told her to. She'd prevail.

Another step, and then there came what could be described as the weirdest thing Apple Bloom had felt until this point–which was already a plus point compared to the insufferable pain she'd get without her pacificier. The pain in her stomach vanished, and she felt something move inside her, a pressure building, like a wave approaching the shore. Despite knowing what it was and what the “shore” was in this scenario, her mind lost to her instincts.

As the pressure built, so came the want for release. In the middle of that giant playroom Apple Bloom, in one moment trying to reach for the bathroom, in the next feeling how her muscles pushed and how a warm mush spread across her rear.

A grown-up, that's all she wanted to be.

Instead she felt her hindlegs give in and her rear planting itself on the ground, and though she felt the mass shift and spread, though the putrid smell reached her nose, she didn't react. No, she felt relaxed–not fine, just relaxed.

The tears were coming to her eyes, but she took a deep breath, and once again, fought them back.

No, I'm not going to be defeated by this, she told herself, though the exercise proved fruitless, as the tears started coming anyway. She suckled on the binky as if that would help. Except it didn't, because she merely needed to look at her surroundings to understand that she'd already been defeated.

Her entire life before this had been one large tirade of becoming a grown-up pony. She had wanted a cutie mark, work, a gracious circle of friends just like that of her sister, and she wanted to be her own pony.

The tears fell down from her eyes and burnt like lava on her cheeks, but she kept breathing, kept trying to make herself calm, to rise above the situation.

Then she imagined Cheerilee, alive and well with a golden flower in her mane, coming through the door and looking at her in shock, she imagined how everypony would react to the sight.

A baby who needed to be carried around, who needed a bib for every meal and still played with blocks, that's what they'd see. A foal who messed her diapers and then cried for somepony to change her.

“I'm a grown-up,” she told herself, trying to keep her cracking voice steady. “I'm a grown-up.”

And even though Applejack was the one who needed to be taken care of, needed somepony to talk to her and protect her, even though Apple Bloom knew that everypony outside was gone and needed to keep her sister away from the edge, why did she have to suffer this fate?

“I'm a grown-up,” she intoned, “I'm a grown up. I'm a grown-up. Imma growedup …”

Her voice trailed off and the words were exchanged with whimpers and sobs, and with every second she felt more helpless, more alone. More like a child.

“I want to die,” she said without much of a voice, her eyes to the ground.

Arms wrapped themselves around her immediately, and she felt herself being pulled towards a warm chest. “Never say that,” she heard a voice.

She looked up at her sister, and she saw it in her eyes again, the fire from before. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom felt naught but the tears on her face and her own feces pressing against her rump.

Applejack kissed her forehead, the way she did every so often. It felt good, but also condescending, embarrassing even. “We'll just need to get ya changed, it's not that bad.”

“I should have my cutie mark by now, sis,” Apple Bloom said, trying to push herself out of her sister's embrace. “I'm not a foal, I don't need bibs, I don't need a pacifier, and I don't need. Any! Diapers!”

She screamed that last word, the thing she hated the most. “I'm a responsible, grown-up pony, and Twilight said I should protect you. I don't want to wear baby clothing with prints, I don't want to have a bottle fed to me. I don't want to, I don't want ...” she trailed off, still pushing against Applejack.

Her sister never let her go.

Soft breaths came down on her neck, some sobs.

An eternity passed between the two, and then Applejack opened her mouth.

“I know,” she said.

Apple Bloom felt her breath stopping, felt the strength waning from her arms–not because of that terrible affliction, but because of the words. She felt herself blinking, but all else had vanished, even her thoughts.

Applejack lifted her up, as careful as possible. “Let's get ya cleaned up,” she said, all smiles and rainbows, all tired and sad.

The walk was merely a blur, but then Applejack put her down on the changing table, and for a second more she thought to fight against it and the cruel reality, if just to blow off steam. Yet her sister's face made the rage go away.

Applejack had been an average looking mare on the best of days, she'd heard the stallions say, but Apple Bloom never could tell how they judged things. Her blonde mane was unkempt and uncared for. Parts of her coats were gone, small patches all over her body. Some were more easily noticed than others, but the skin beneath them all black and grey and tiny scars went across them. She wore the handkerchief she'd been given by Twilight Sparkle to replace her hat. And she looked so tired, so done with the world.

But she kept smiling at her sister, and even whispered. “I'll be quick about it.”

Apple Bloom merely stared at her, knowing full well that her sister didn't expect an answer, and she still felt all flustered. So the growing filly decided to just lean back and let it happen, she felt too weak to resist too.

The first thing she heard was a ripping sound, and felt the diaper loosening. Apple Bloom closed her eyes and hoped that it wouldn't be that bad. Yet it was, and the stink quickly filled the air the moment Applejack lifted the diaper from her skin.

“Can ya get yer tushie up for me?”

Normally she would've disagreed with the cutesie words, but for now she just complied, and the moment she lifted her behind she was freed of the filled diaper.

“Well,” Applejack said thoughtfully, “somepony's a little stinker.”

Apple Bloom felt herself blushing.

“But don't worry, in a minute ya'll smell just wonderful again.”

Then she felt wipes against her coat. As far as she understood the wipes were dipped in some super-special magical water that cleaned a coat very easily–which would make one think that it'd take her sister only a few strokes to be done with the job.

A few minutes later Apple Bloom felt her back growing stiff because of the badly padded table and was actually quite glad that her rump landed on another diaper. The best thing that could be said about them was that new ones always felt comfortable before they were put on. Apple Bloom told herself that they weren't comfortable thereafter, that would've meant she could at least stand a part of them.

What followed was some powdering and then the diaper was put on as snuggly as possible by her sister.

Apple Bloom didn't even want to know how she looked, and Applejack probably saw it.

“Apple Bloom?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“Some days are hard, and not having any friends over can be hell. But you've got toys here, enough to make any filly happy.”

“They're baby toys, and I'm wearing baby diapers,” Apple Bloom answered, defiance growing again. “I told ya, I don't want to be a baby.”

“Ya will always be my baby sister. Ya were in the past and ye will be in the future, and that's fine. Yer gettin' to play all day, ya get bubblebaths and ya can do all that fun stuff that everypony told ya you're too big for. Remember how Dinky told ya puppet houses weren't fun, and ya wanted to stop playing with them? Or when ya didn't want to wear a dress, because Scootaloo would think yer too “girly”? Nopony's here ta judge ya, but that won't last forever. One day ya'll grow up, and then a chance like this'll never come again.” Applejack gave her a smile, and boop-ed her nose.

Apple Bloom looked at her for a moment longer, the words lingering in the back of her head. Then, she sat herself up and looked at the diaper. What had been green on the other was pink on this one, what had been butterflies were balloons and hearts on this one.

“Jus' ignore the drawbacks and dress up in a cute way, be yerself while ya still can. Otherwise ya'll end up in a clock yard, the pieces around ya never completing yer work.”

Apple Bloom wanted to say something and looked up at her sister again. She was greeted by an unusual sight. Her sister held up a red onesie with short, puffed sleeves, a skirt, and a cartoon print proclaiming “Princess Of Thunder”.

And there really wasn't anypony laughing here, nor would anypony come. No, they were here on there own and if she could find happiness in this situation, maybe Applejack would feel better too.

Also, the prospect of wearing a onesie like that would at least make her look a bit cooler. That and she'd always kinda liked wearing dresses with puffed sleeves. So, yeah, Apple Bloom nodded in response to her sister's lecture.

“Let'th make the betht of thith,” she said around her paci.

The days might grow bad someday, but now that her butt was clean, she felt like she could actually have some more fun.

Chapter 5: The Knock

She wondered if she’d seen Apple Bloom this happy in the past few days, but probably not.

The smile she wore as she finally allowed herself to have some fun was one that reminded Applejack of a time long gone.

Only a few weeks, she told herself. Maybe that was wrong though, maybe it was even less time that had passed.

She hoped that to be true. Only a few weeks in this old shack would down everypony’s mood, even though this had been their father’s palace. Now it was theirs, now they needed to find their happiness in these cramped rooms. So it was with a smile that Applejack joined in her sister’s game.

The filly sat on her rump, pretending that that cactus plush toy of hers was tied to some imaginary railway while she herself pretended to be a superhero princess, apparently.

Applejack caught a glimpse of the wooden train in the corner of her eye. She took it and started to make “Choo-choo” noises as she rolled it slowly towards the cactus plushie.

For a moment, Apple Bloom just looked at her confused, but quickly grasped what was going on as the train ran ever closer to its victim.

The train sped up on the final stretch, but only centimeters before it would hit the cactus, the hero leaped into action. Apple Bloom grabbed it out of a jump and rolled out of the way. Though her reflexes were sharp, she landed on her stomach and not on her legs, as she’d planned. The undignified thud she made on the ground wasn’t quite worthy of a hero, yet she immediately rose up and turned towards Applejack.

“Hah!” she proclaimed. “Ya'll never beat tha printheth of thunda!”

Applejack barely made out what she said, but Apple Bloom laughed loudly. It was honey for the elder sister’s ears, because to her nothing else mattered anymore.

“I'll get ya next time,” she said and then added a maniacal laugh.

For it, she grabbed a fake mustache off the side. She'd found it back when she'd prepared the room, but had yet to figure out where it'd come from.

It was only the first kidnapping attempt on this wonderful morning, if it was morning still. Legs ached, wounds throbbed and she felt the bandages pressing against her coat, but she kept on laughing with her little sister. Her teeth were black, her smile looked slightly pained, but she was truly happy.

Applejack kept telling herself that nothing else mattered.

After a while, Apple Bloom stopped. “I wanna play something different now,” she said and went to look around the room for something new to do.

Toys were limited, but what they couldn’t provide, the two siblings made up for in imagination. Superheroes, knights, even princesses, bakers, post ponies, the list of things they did became longer and longer.

Applejack didn’t want to admit it, but her legs were losing strength. When was the last time she’d truly, truly slept through a night? She’d spent her nights awake, doing things she hoped Apple Bloom would never find out about and her days watching over her baby sister.

I’m all she’s got, Applejack reminded herself, making herself gain strength from it.

Once every so often, Apple Bloom would fall over. A natural thing, walking was troublesome for the filly, she hadn’t been doing it for long. Still, it became more noticeable. Even that cute waddle of hers became more disjointed.

As she went on to look for another game to play, Applejack took the chance to sit down. Legs hurt, wounds ached, as they always did. They made themselves known, more and more. It was a bit worrisome, but not too much. She could keep on.

“You alright, sis?” came the question from the filly.

She thought about answering, she thought about nodding, but all she did was lift her eyes up to the ceiling. “I’m a bit tired,” she said after a moment, “Just need a quick rest.”

Apple Bloom, after a moment nodded. “How about I’ll make us some lunch?”

The most adorable smile was on her face, sure, but Applejack couldn’t help but immediately think of all the bad things that might happen to Apple Bloom in the kitchen. There were knives and forks, the oven and even the dishes could be dangerous to a young filly like her. Applejack couldn’t let little sister get hurt.

“Nah, if yer hungry I’ll just go and whip us something up.”

“Are you sure? You look like you’re about to fall asleep,” Apple Bloom said, her voice carrying a worrisome tune.

But Applejack only laughed it off as she rose. “Don’t cha worry, yer big sis’ got everything under control.”

Legs unsteady, throat itching, as always. There was a fire kindling itself in her belly, a hunger starting to burn. Nothing a sandwich can’t cure, she lied to herself.

And so, she went to the kitchen, with the clock showing that it was some time after noon. Five minutes, ten, maybe even fifteen. The clock in this tiny kitchen beneath the earth always ran wrong, since nopony had cared for it for the longest of times. Now Applejack attended it with miniscule care. There were always other things that needed her attention.

Lunch was oats and what remained of the flowers she’d preserved. She took note of how scarce their food had gotten as she prepared it and with a chill running down her spine she understood that she would need to go out again.

She wasn’t afraid of what was outside, of course. Applejack knew all the ponies in Ponyville. They were her friends and would never harm her, but she would need to go at night, when Apple Bloom slept once more, when everything was safe and everypony else was sleeping.

And nopony would come knocking then.

The plates were cracked, the glasses had dirt on them that wouldn’t be washed away. Her legs hurt, she noticed, more and more. That was bad, but she kept on preparing and went to look for some bread.

The cupboards, the bags on the kitchen counter, they held none. Have we eaten everything?

They’d only been here a few days or two weeks. It hadn’t been that long a time and she was sure there should still be some left, but there wasn’t and she felt her hooves shaking as she looked around the room again.

Apple Bloom needs bread, she thought. She needs to eat healthy, needs to be happy.

Her breaths were short and hectic, her movements frantic, but she wouldn’t find any bread in that sunforsaken place they called their paradise. Moments of searching later, and Applejack felt like screaming.

“You alright?” A voice came from the door.

For a moment, Applejack thought it to be Rarity, who was bemused at how disorderly her home looked, but as she turned she only found a little filly with a slightly wet diaper standing there. She looked a bit scared and a bit worried.

Applejack tried to smile. “I’m fine. It’s just. … We might’ve actually eaten up all the bread this morning.”

There was no proper way to say it, so Applejack just laughed it off. “You’ll have to do with that,” she pointed towards the single bowl she had picked out and wherein she’d mixed what she’d found.

Apple Bloom couldn’t see it from where she stood, she was too small, but nodded nonetheless. “Kay,” she said, trying to give a smile.

With that she helped Apple Bloom up a chair, then put her bib around the neck. Of course, her little sister rolled her eyes, but there was no comment, no fighting, just a smile for her big sister.

Applejack smiled right back and as her sister got down to the messy business, she sat down beside her and put some of that oat-flower-salad-thing on her own plate. Fluttershy would could’ve salvaged this, she was sure. Or maybe she herself could’ve done something different.

It didn’t matter, she needed to get to town, find more resources to work with. It would just be another night with next to no sleep. She was used to these already.

“Are you really okay?” Apple Bloom asked after she caught her sister staring down at the food.

Applejack looked up, tried to smile. “Of course, keeping up with you is just a bit hard for a pony as old and brittle as me.”

She stretched herself, felt the muscles tense up as they told her brain to stop making them move so much.

Apple Bloom stuck out her tongue. “You’re not old, just sleepy.”

The big sister shrugged.

“Oh, I’ve got it,” Apple Bloom suddenly said, slamming her hoof on the table. “How about we take a nap together?”

Whether it was that great an idea to be excited about, Applejack did not know, but the reasoning seemed good with her.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” she answered and tried to take a bite.

She put a spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth, but it felt like it became ash in her mouth. Almost she would’ve spat it out, but she didn’t want to set a bad example. Granny Smith had taught them that whatever landed on the table got eaten. So she swallowed that one spoon, let it wash down her throat like poison smoke. It didn’t feel good, but this was how it was meant to be.

They didn’t talk much. Applejack knew her kid sister to be quite sleepy already. As she watched her eat, she didn’t doubt that she missed her mouth not only because of those shaky little hooves of hers, but also because she could barely keep her eyes open. It was kind of adorable really, and Applejack would’ve loved nothing more than help her eat.

Yet she tried to sit still and only turned her head around.

The kitchen was a small room. A round table, two chairs, a small stove and some compartments for storing all manner of food. The most recognizable thing about this place was a singular picture on the wall, showing a stallion and a mare before a barn. The colors were faded, their gazes were transfixed on one another and she was pregnant, presumably with a colt.

There were only so few pictures left of their parents and the majority came from before Applejack’s time. It was strange how they just seemed to fade out more and more as time went on. She knew that there existed whole books of them as foals back in the house, but by the time Apple Bloom was conceived, neither of them had wanted to take anymore pictures.

Sometimes, Applejack wondered why. She remembered both of them fondly. She remembered how her father’s cologne smelled like hazelnuts and would mix with the apples of the farm. She remembered her mother always telling her and Big Macintosh stories of the old equestrian horrors to bed.

There were a lot of things she remembered, truthfully, but she couldn’t think too much about it now. Now, her sister needed her and she couldn’t let anything get to her.

“So,” her sister finally said, “I’m done.”

She hadn’t eaten much, of course and quickly put her binky back in her mouth. Of course, quite a lot of food hadn’t even reached the mouth, but cleaning up oatmeal shouldn’t prove that difficult.

Applejack stood up, feeling a sting of pain running through her legs as they planted themselves on the ground. She clenched her teeth and then pretended nothing had happened, hoping that Apple Bloom wasn’t paying attention.

So she quickly made a grab for a towel. “Let me just get you cleaned up.”

When they’d come here, Apple Bloom fought her sister’s treatment like a little devil. Even something like wiping her mouth could’ve easily been mistaken for a wrestling match by outsiders, Applejack mused. Maybe she’d just needed a proper talking to, considering how Applejack could just wipe the oats off her without her even making a grumble.

It made the big sister quite happy that her younger sibling was finally able to accept the help she so clearly needed. My baby sister, Applejack thought, I’ll protect you forever.

“You’re takin’ too long,” Apple Bloom noted after one wipe too many.

“Well, ya made quite the mess of yerself,” Applejack countered.

Now Apple Bloom let out a grumble, folding her scarred, blackened hooves before her chest. Applejack giggled.

“But I’m finished. How ‘bout we two get ourselves some rest, then?”

To that, Apple Bloom nodded aggressively. Someone can’t wait to get some sleep, Applejack thought, picking her sister up and putting her on the ground. She couldn’t wait to get some sleep, too, after all.

And so they walked back to the ladder.

“How’d ya like this mornin’, sis’?” Applejack asked, as they left the kitchen.

“It was awesome. Ya really helped me through a slump there,” Apple Bloom said with a happy laugh.

Applejack shrugged. “I changed worse.”

Her sister blushed furiously and lightly knocked against AJ’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean that!”

“No need to worry ‘bout it. That’s what the diapers are for anyw–”

Apple Bloom’s head was as read as a tomato by this point. “Can we pleeease agree to not mention that forever-ever again?”

Halting before the ladder Applejack looked at her sister skeptically. “Yer don’t need to be embarrassed about nature, Apple Bloom.”

And her sister stood there, the otherwise constant suckling having stopped. She clearly did not know what to say to that, except: “Please don’t give a speech about this topic, I wanted to have a bit of peace in mah head for a while.”

Applejack sighed. “Apple Bloom, all I’m sayin’ is that it’s alright for you to be not able to hold it. Yer a foal, and we still need to figure that whole potty training thing out anyhow.”

Now that Granny can’t help with that, she added in her thoughts.

Apple Bloom clearly wanted to say something, but acceptance appeared to kick in as she just resigned herself to suckling that binky of hers. She wasn’t quite as grownup as she thought herself to be, and sometimes Applejack just needed to be there to remind her of that fact.

“Alright,” Applejack then said, “time to get our padded little princess to bed.”

She lifted Apple Bloom up and then, with her leaning against her elder sister sister’s shoulders, took the steps of the ladder once more.

Muscles ached, eyes felt heavy. Even Apple Bloom’s weight became more and more apparent. Applejack didn’t really want to admit it, but she was getting worn out. Her body protested against every step.

A bit of rest shouldn’t hurt. She needed the strength once she got out again. Tonight and then when they went for Twilight’s place later this week. Of course, she needed everything to be perfect for that journey, since leaving a mess wasn’t something she wanted to encourage in Apple Bloom.

Well, I’ll think about all that after the nap, Applejack thought and took the last step before the trap door.

She put her free hoof against it, pushing it. The tiniest of cracks came through and she saw the barrel still stand there, of course.

Then something crashed through the front door, a pegasus made of fire and fury, screaming like it brought hell itself. Its scream sent Applejack into a shock and she lost her balance, falling back-first down from the ladder. She saw the door closing and then felt herself crashing against the ground. The pain went through her body in a wave.

Her lungs caught no air, her heart skipped a beat, she felt a strange, wet sensation between her legs and her eyes just stared at the closed trap door.

Between the small cracks in the wood, she could make out a green light and she heard the steps of something getting up, stumbling against the walls. Yet she barely managed to blink, or even catch a thought. Her headspace was empty.

Apple Bloom, shielded from the fall by her sister, appeared in front of Applejack’s face. Her nose was bleeding, had hit the floor and her eyes moved around nervously as she tried to check up on her sister.

“Applejack,” she said, the voice as shaky as the rest of her.

Applejack remembered her father saying her name like that when she’d done something wrong.

“Are you okay?”

The filly kept her voice down. Applejack, however, only really noticed that her paci wasn’t in her mouth, the rotten teeth in plain sight. Her little sister was bleeding and parts of her face and body were blackened and hairless. In a way, she looked like a corpse that hadn’t realized it should be decomposing soon.

Huh, was all Applejack’s brain managed, but she tried to find some words nonetheless. She was the big sister and Apple Bloom needed her to be strong.

“There’s no guest s’pposed to be comin’ today,” she mumbled.

Apple Bloom stared at her and fumbled for words, but then that beast above took a step forward and she immediately hugged her sister. She made herself as small as possible and shook so much. Applejack could see how afraid she was.

Ashes fell through the wooden cracks and on Applejack’s face, but she made no move. All that she did was take in the silence as she tried to figure out what had just happened. That was all she could do.

At least, until the beast knocked on the trap door.

Chapter 6: The Downfall Of A Peaceful Mind

She felt her nose hurting and blood dripped from it onto Applejack’s cheek. Yet the elder pony didn’t seem to notice, she simply stared into the nothingness above her. Apple Bloom looked into her eyes and she could see the same as during the first days.

The horrible, horrible emptiness, as if all hope had gone away. Above them, the beast knocked against the trap door, maybe to check, maybe it was just a remnant of the pony it had once been. Either way, once it decided to come down here, it was all over.

“Come on,” she whispered into Applejack’s ear.

Moving, however, came harder to her than she first thought it would. The moment she steadied herself on the ground and attempted to get off her sister’s chest, the pain started to surge through her body. It was a sensation most familiar, yet the way it bit into her nerves, the way it made her appendages feel like they broke apart under her own weight, it was also the worst.

Apple Bloom almost fell over, almost cried out. Almost, but she bit on her lip, feeling both its rot and that of her teeth pressing against each other. For a moment her entire world was just pain and still she didn’t cry.

Her eyes were fixed on her sister. I’m all she’s got, the filly told herself.

She needed to be much braver than she was.

Once more she leaned against her sister’s ear and whispered: “C’mon, we need ta hide.”

Her voice was hoarse, her throat burnt, with each second more.

Knock!

Her eyes turned up, she felt her heart pressing against her chest and for a moment she wondered who’d come knocking. Had Scootaloo risen from the well, consumed by the ungodly flames? Was it Big Macintosh or Granny? Would the end come by the hooves of any of them?

Knock!

The pain was becoming unbearable, her tongue felt like it’d been dipped in burning oil, turning the rest of her mouth to ash. Tears were falling down from her face.

Really, dying in a onesie just seemed like the fucking icing on the cake.

Knock!

The knock came and went and Apple Bloom just stared at the trap door above them, waiting for what she thought inevitable. She saw the fire, how it seemed to ignore the wood. Any normal flame would’ve already burnt it away.

Don’t give up, she told herself, despite herself. Her memories went to a filly named Sweetie Belle, to Scoots and their crusading days. She thought of the one-eyed alicorn who had told her that she needed to be strong.

And yet everything hurt and they were going to die.

Apple Bloom scanned the ground and found her pacifier a bit away from her. A few steps only, a distance she could manage, even if her legs would give up beforehand. She looked at Applejack, who still only stared at the door.

She’s gone farther than I thought, Apple Bloom thought and silently muttered a curse as she took the first step towards her pacifier.

Knock!

Yeah, yeah, she thought as she took the second step, her leg slipping.

Once more she fell to the ground. Had she not fallen so many times before and would her entire body not feel like it was being torn apart, she might’ve even made a sound. But the beast knocked in hopes of hearing something in return. Apple Bloom would not give it any noise. It should go away.

She felt something fall on her back, dust, maybe ash. The beast’s blaze finally ate through the wood. Apple Bloom needed to move quick and so she crawled forward.

Around them stood the same barrels that had remained here since their parents demise, Applejack had told her. The smell of cider lingered in the air, Apple Bloom figured it was mixed with the stink of rot and filth, both of which she was probably too accustomed to now.

Before she could get any more selfindugent about that she finally reached for her binky and stuffed into her mouth without even cleaning it beforehand. There were more important things to worry about than hygiene.

Then, for a brief moment, she just suckled away. The taste of strawberry almost washed the pain away, if only the one in her mouth and throat. It was the worst anyway and it was enough for her to regain her focus.

Once more did she look up and once more the noise came.

Knock!

Yet Apple Bloom decided to not give up now, she needed to be brave, she needed to survive. She and her big sister, who laid there on her back, with ashes trickling down on her face.

Apple Bloom tried to get up, tried to move quickly, only to stumble and fall down again.

Dammit! She cursed, but at least the pacifier stayed in this time.

Just as she rose up again, there came another loud bang as suddenly the wood above them shattered into thousand little pieces that fell together with fire and smoke. Apple Bloom immediately put her hooves over head, shielding herself from the worst of the blast. She nevertheless felt the burning heat against her back, and felt the pieces falling down on her.

She didn’t wait, however, and immediately looked up. Around them, dust rose and a green tinge of light clung to the dark. Above them was still a roof, no sign of the sky and the Tear.

Don’t get distracted, Apple Bloom thought, Be strong. For Applejack. All for Applejack.

Her eyes lingered on where her sister lay and in the dust she could make out a silhouette.

“Thith?” She asked, her voice both shaky and obscured by her own suckling.

Then she saw how the silhouette spread its wings and with a beat cleared away the dust. She closed her eyes as the warm gust went over her coat, but opened them immediately after to a sight she didn’t want to admit to be true.

Tall, slender, but lacking the usual grace that came with being one of the best fliers in the whole world. Instead, the cyan figure stared down at the ground like a hungry wolf that caught sight of wounded prey. Where her eyes’d been there now was only fire. Cracks ran over her body, glowing from an inner fire that had consumed her.

“Rainbow Dash?” Apple Bloom heard a voice and looked down.

Applejack still lay there, right beneath Rainbow Dash and both were looking at each other. The pegasus might’ve seen only food, but Applejack’s eyes showed that she only saw a good friend who’d come for a surprise visit.

”Protect Applejack,” Twilight had told her, the bandage over the lost eye soaked with blood, the remaining one still alive and filled with confidence.

What madness befell her, she didn’t know, but suddenly she was launching herself forward. The monster that once was Rainbow Dash didn’t notice her, instead opened its mouth, flames rising from inside it.

Apple Bloom smashed against the horrible thing with all her might. She felt the unnatural heat press against her, heard what she almost mistook for a surprised gasp and worst of all, she almost felt her paci fall out again.

She needed to make sure that bloody thing was better secured.

The monster crashed against one of the barrels, but Apple Bloom felt no need to check how much damage it’d taken. She was a filly who was barely able to stand, there was really no need to see how little effect her tackle had.

Instead she focused on Applejack, who just stared at her blankly. She bit down on the rubber, tried to think of what to tell her, what to say, what to do.

She didn’t get the chance as a hoof pressed against her shoulder and the beast tackled her against the wall. With a cough, she spit air and blackened blood against her attacker, who might’ve stared at her. She didn’t know, for all she saw was two fires where eyes should have been.

Once more she tried to move, to speak, but her pacifier was gone again, the pain came again and with it, a familiarity with the fire.

The beast opened its mouth, as if to talk. As a pony, she knew that all it could do was howl as screech, but as someone who hungered, as something that shouldn’t be, she understood the way its mouth moved.

“T-Take. Us–”

“Hooves off mah sister!” Came as yell from behind the pegasus, followed by a barrel smashing against her head from above.

The beast crumbled and Apple Bloom fell to the ground. For a moment she looked at the attacker and then she turned her gaze upwards to where her sister was.

And for a moment that lasted an eternity, she lost herself in eyes as green as the grass was on the day the sky broke apart.

Then she got her binky shoved back into her mouth and Applejack picked her up and heaved her onto her back, before turning to the broken ladder.

“What’re you doing?” Apple Bloom asked.

Her sister didn’t answer, she only moved as quickly as she got. Apple Bloom could do naught but put her arms around her sister and cling to her as tightly as she could, simply putting in her faith in her.

And her faith was rewarded.

Applejack first jumped onto one of the barrels beneath the hole the beast had created, and then used it to kickstart into a jump upwards. For a moment it felt like they were flying, the wind around them, hot and dry. Applejack stretched out her front hooves and muttered some wordless prayer to a sun god that had disappeared months ago.

Another second, another eternity. Apple Bloom, for that one moment, remembered all the sport competitions, all the times Applejack had proven her strength before all this happened. Sure enough, Applejack’s hoof grabbed the edge of the floor, although she cried out in pain as she managed to.

The walls above them were on fire, she saw and Apple Bloom then made the mistake to look back.

The beast rose up, shaking and unsteady, its head turned down. Apple Bloom could see its skull, cracked and burning from the inside. It’s not Rainbow Dash anymore, she thought.

And the its fiery eyes looked up at them again, slowly, surely. A moment passed with them hanging in the air and the Monster that slept at night seemed finally awake. Awake and enraged.

It spread its wings, boney things clad in ash, their tips rotten and cracked.

“Thith,” she mumbled, hoping to alert her sister to the problem.

“Less talkin’, more sucklin’,” was the angered response she got.

Apple Bloom almost made a retort to that, but at that moment, Applejack finally managed to pull the two of them up to ground level. There, however, she didn’t rest, but instead immediately headed for the broken down door, the hinges burning with the same green fire that had consumed their dear friend.

The younger sibling clung to her sister as they galloped out of the fire and into day’s light. As the sun’s rays touched their rotten skin, Apple Bloom felt their warmth, like a compelling voice, like a mother ruffling her hair and telling her that all was fine. Of course, she knew it was a lie and that she shouldn’t take note of it, shouldn’t look up.

Because above them was the most terrifying sight of all. The sky, the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the universe, along a void and every planet in the universe. Everything was there and nothing was there, scattered across countless shards and cracks in reality. It all existed and the same time didn’t, together with the aeons torn from the times before and the times to come.

Twilight had said that it was the Tear that had brought forth the all-consuming fire and that looking into it caused the symptoms of the transformation into one of those monsters to show.

There was no need to look at. The sky was not meant to be looked at by ponies anymore.

Instead she looked over her shoulder, back at the cider house, her father’s special place, their paradise. It didn’t burn, the fire was contained to the corridor by the entrance. These flames didn’t spread like normal ones, but Apple Bloom couldn’t tell if that was a good thing.

She turned her eyes around, looking forward. Applejack was heading straight for the barn.

“What’re ya doing? We can’t go there!” Apple Bloom screamed.

That’s where Big Macintosh and their grandmother were, where her friend was stuck in a well and all the painful memories of the first day lingered.

Applejack didn’t answer, maybe she hadn’t heard her. Her breaths were heavy and Apple Bloom felt how she stumbled, came close to falling to the ground. From the back, she could take a look at Applejack’s left front leg.

The bandages had come off, replaced by a heavily bleeding gash that ran down from the shoulder. Apple Bloom couldn’t tell how deep it was, but the mare’s leg was draped in red. How Applejack could keep on running with that, Apple Bloom couldn’t understand.

“We need to get to the woods, find a place to rest,” she said, hoping to reach her sister.

“We just go home,” Applejack answered between heavy breaths. “Everything’s going to be fine once we’re home. I need to talk with Dashie, need to tell her that I didn’t mean it, too. Everything’ll be fine.”

“No,” Apple Bloom shouted. “No. You need to lie down, by a tree, where she can’t find us. You’re wounded. You’re in pain!”

Her face was contorted, sure, but her eyes were empty, as if she didn’t realize the situation they were in.

“Don’cha worry,” Applejack breathed. “Yer diapers probably just wet again. I’ll getcha cleaned in no time. I don’t feel any pain. There’s no pain at all.”

And behind them came a loud crash and a screech like a banshee’s. Apple Bloom dared to look behind them once more and found dust rising from a hole in the roof of their cider house. Up in the air, the beast rose, beating its wings against the sky.

And then it stopped mid-air until it located its prey. Not even a second and then it was rushing towards them, the whistle of the wind their doom’s companion.

Legs without strength, backside padded and fluffy, binky in her mouth. Maybe she should’ve just accept it, maybe she should’ve just admitted her powerlessness.

“Fuck this!” She screamed out and rolled herself off Applejack.

The other pony didn’t really notice what was going on, but certainly felt the kick Apple Bloom gave her, a kick right in her wounded leg. It brought her down immediately and a split-second later, the beast dove past them and crashed into the barn’s front door.

Apple Bloom lay coughing on the ground beside her sister, who held her shoulder and screamed in pain. Her little sister tried to catch a look at the barn, looking at the hole in door.

She grinned. This really wasn’t Rainbow Dash, otherwise she would’ve been able to alter her trajectory during the last second. The only thing that apparently was the same was the inability to make a proper landing.

“Take that, universe,” she said, coughing heavily.

Her binky had fallen out again.

Of course it had.

Yet she leaned back, closing her eyes so that she wouldn’t see the sky. She could tell her diaper couldn’t be categorized as “clean” anymore but heavens, that was the least of her concerns now.

We need to get up, she thought and used whats strength remained to roll on her belly and then crawl over to Applejack, picking up the pacifier that lay conveniently close to her.

“Sis?” She asked the elder pony, hoping to get through to her this time.

And her sister finally reacted. Her eyes turned to Apple Bloom and there was something in them, something Apple Bloom had missed for quite a while.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“The kicking? Sorry, there wasn’t any time to-”

“No, the word you screamed. Who even taught you that?”

Apple Bloom stared at her sister for a moment, then shook her head. Her mouth was feeling horrible yet again. “That’s your problem?”

Applejack gave her a smile, blood clinging even to her teeth. “I don’t hold a grudge for you saving our lives, kiddo.”

Apple Bloom halted for a moment and then giggled. “Just don’t make me save you again, you idiot.”

The tears came without warning.

But not just for her, as Applejack patted her on the head. “Yeah,” was all she said on the matter.

With that Applejack made to stand up, much to Apple Bloom’s surprise. Adrenaline had washed away the sleepiness, but now the pain was clear as day on her face. Yet she stood on shaky legs and even helped Apple Bloom up.

Apple Bloom didn’t bother to clean up the binky, opting to put into her mouth directly. The young filly immediately regretted the decision, as dirt and sand mixed in with the familiar taste to create a cacophony of tastes in her mouth.

Yet there were more important things. There were always more important things.

“You can’t go on like that. You’re bleeding,” Apple Bloom said, the paci making her words less distinguishable than she thought.

“I know,” Applejack said, her eyes looking at the barn. “Which is why we need to hurry.”

She steered away from it, closing her eyes, silently muttering something to herself.

Apple Bloom decided to stand by her side, to aid her when she needed someone to lean onto. Yet Applejack stumbled forward bravely, even though she was dragging the leg Apple Bloom had kicked before.

“Sis,” the filly mumbled.

“Apple Bloom,” the elder sister said after a while, her breathing heavy, her shoulders slouching. “Just so you know, I’m not gonna tolerate ya desecrating our parents memory with filthy language.”

“Wha-,” Apple Bloom responded, stumbling over her words. “You can’t be mad about that! Those were extreme circumstances.”

Why did she even need to justify one word. They’d been chased by a pony-eating abomination. Applejack, however, didn’t seem to have her priorities as straight as Apple Bloom and sighed.

“Ya don’t hear me mouthin’ off.”

Okay, this is way too patronizing, Apple Bloom thought. They’d just gone and survived a monster attack thanks to her quick thinking (and swift moves), so this was quite unwarranted. Honestly, considering their situation….

Wait a minute, Apple Bloom thought and then quickly pulled the pacifier out of her mouth, channeling all the years of eavesdropping in on Big Macintosh’s stallion friends.

“Well, shit, I fucking saved on back there, so you could at least show me some fucking gratitude,” she spoke like reciting a poem.

Applejack gave her a quick glance, though she could’ve almost sworn she also looked behind her.

“You know what,” the elder sister said after a few moments of quiet walking.

“What?”

“First we should go to the river west, you know which one.”

She knew of said river, over course, and of the little lake where she and her friends had played quite a few times.

“Yeah?”

“Then, we’ll wash up, I’ll try to see if Pinkie left some actual emergency kits in the area,” Applejack sounded like she believed her friend did that, “and then, after we’re safe again…”

“Yeah?”

“Someone’s gettin’ a spanking.”

A moment of quiet came and went by as the two stumbled off the road and into the unending acres, where the trees now stood rotting away and the grass had retreated to only places with an abundance of water. There, Apple Bloom found herself blinking, thinking, blinking again.

And then, just to make sure, she had to ask. “Come again?” She half-wanted to use another obscenity, but, just in case she hadn’t misheard, also kind-of didn’t want to provoke her sister further.

“Ya heard me.”

The sheer casualness with which Applejack said those lines, the conviction, they convinced Apple Bloom immediately that she meant it.

“No, you can’t do that. I didn’t mean it, I really didn’t.”

“Ya did, I heard ya loud and clear,” her sister answered, took the pacifier from Apple Bloom and before the filly could say anything else, stuffed it in her mouth. “And now ya should stay quiet, lest ya want me to get really mad at ya.”

Apple Bloom stared at her, not understanding why she was so cold. Was it the kick? It had to be the kick. What else could make her sister so unforgiving towards a little display of language.

Behind them, she suddenly heard a neigh-like scream, a deep voice that echoed into the distance. So Apple Bloom decided to really not provoke her sister anymore, for monsters were coming and she could argue punishments when they came out of this alive, if they did.

Chapter 7: The Burial Ground

Cold water ran down her legs, mixing with the blood and dyeing the river in a dirty red. Applejack moved her hoof over her tried to rub gently against the wounds, to clean them a bit. It stung, but now the pain made her feel alive.

Alive was good.

She looked at the water in hopes of finding her reflection staring back at her, but the water didn’t reflect anything. Even with the broken light of the Tear coming down on them, giving Applejack a headache, the water refused to play the part of the mirror. It wasn’t too bad, however, as she probably looked horrible.

She sat in the river, her little sister a bit away from her, dipping her head into the water and enjoying her diaperless freedom. At least Applejack hoped she found some enjoyment, considering they had to move on soon.

There was also the matter of Rainbow Dash. She’d beaten her, hurt her, so she was probably angry right now, had probably told Big Macintosh and now they were both still walking around, wondering where the sisters were gone to. He’d be worried, as always.

He’d been worried the day Apple Bloom was born and he’d been worried the day a young Applejack had moved for Canterlot. Back then, he’d always given her a smile in the end. Big Macintosh always was the more optimistic one in the family.

And Dash? She probably just wanted some cider. Not that she didn’t deserve getting punched for breaking in without a warning, but maybe, just maybe, Applejack had to admit to overreacting about the whole affair. She couldn’t have wanted to hurt Apple Bloom after all.

Right?

She took a deep breath and moved her hoof up, letting it touch against the fabric of the bandana she wore around her neck still. She lifted it up ever so slightly, to look at the colors. The cyan seemed so pale.

As Applejack blinked she saw the fire emerging from her friend’s skull flash up.

“I imagined it,” she told herself.

After all, she couldn’t be gone. None of them were. Not really, they were just somewhere else. Fluttershy was in her hut and Rarity made dresses in her boutique, while Pinkie was with her family and Twilight remained in the library, reading books like she was trying to beat a record.

The cloth was soaked with water, she’d emerged herself in the water almost immediately after they’d arrived her. Only after that had she taken care of Apple Bloom’s diaper.

“We don’t have any others,” the filly had said, her voice carrying suspicion.

“I think nobody’ll mind yer wiggling your hiney around out here,” Applejack had answered with a smile.

But Apple Bloom still eyed her, maybe because she knew that she wasn’t grown up enough to walk around without proper protection, maybe that threat from earlier still hung in her thoughts.

Applejack hoped so, because the threat was far worse than the actual punishment.

She looked over to the riverside, where the onesie lay in the dirt. The diaper itself was carelessly thrown away, but Applejack promised herself to come back for it later once the situation with Dash had been resolved.

Apple Bloom, meanwhile turned back to her, the pacifier still in her mouth.

“Where do we go next,” she probably said, but Applejack wasn’t sure. That binky really wasn’t doing her speech a favor.

That and the lack of teeth. In all honesty, Applejack felt proud of Apple Bloom already talking so much.

“What’cha mean?” she asked, enjoying the conversation for now.

“We can’t go back.”

Couldn’t they? Applejack rubbed her chin with a hoof. Avoiding Rainbow Dash didn’t really seem like a good idea, unless she’d told Granny Smith, who was one of the primary factors why the cider house’d remained untouched for so long.

Now that Applejack thought about it, both she and Apple Bloom might get into trouble for staying in there for so long. To tell the truth, they didn’t have an excuse to stay in there for so long.

Applejack wanted to look to the sky for answers, but caught herself seconds before. The woods were obscuring it for a good part but even if one focused on the ground, on a clear day like this, the lighting was just way too wrong. It came from every angle, in every color, in every brightness. There were darker patches in the woods and some where all that remained of the trees were black patches.

Looking at what lay above also was bad. Twilight had told her not too look, so she didn’t.

She couldn’t really remember why, but that didn’t matter right now. Right now, all that mattered was figuring out why they’d been in the cider house to begin with. Any sort of excuse could work.

“We can’t go back to the cider house. The door got broke. So, how ‘bout we just apologize to Dash. I’m sure it was all just one big understanding,” she finally said.

Apple Bloom stared at her, suckling her binky instead of saying anything. Applejack could easily read the disapproval from her. She shrugged.

“She’s my friend, Apple Bloom. Put some trust into her.”

For a moment, her little sister went quiet, wanted to say something. Applejack’s leg hurt, the gash from the accident still bled a little. Otherwise, she wasn’t in pain at all.

“What about Granny?”

“Well,” Applejack started, biting her lower lip.

“She’ll be furious, y’know,” Apple Bloom said with a tiny smile.

Does she think this is a game? Applejack wondered, but had to admit that she probably did. A little filly like that, still too young to see the bigger picture. She probably thought it’d be amusing to see her big sis get chewed out.

Probably as vengeance for not getting a nap. Actually, Applejack was sure that was the reason.

“Well, we’re all adults,” she defended herself feebly, her voice sounding unusually shaky.

Well, it wasn’t all that unusual. While the Apples were a friendly bunch even amongst themselves, Granny Smith was still seen as the de-facto authority on everything in the household and she knew just which buttons to push to make Applejack feel like helpless filly if she only wanted.

Right now, Apple Bloom needed her to be strong and not weak. RIght now, she couldn’t afford getting yelled at by their granny, because she needed to be a rolemodel.

Apple Bloom stood up and waddled over to her. Even without a diaper, she was unsteady on her legs. If she weren’t just a little filly, it might’ve even worried Applejack.

When she was close to her she sat down by her sister’s side and leaned against her.

“Ya promised we’d go to Twilight’s place when we got the chance,” she said, rubbing her head against Applejack’s better shoulder.

This sort-of annoyed Applejack. A part of her wanted to be mad because Apple Bloom suggested that they’d do the irresponsible thing and run, and another part of her wanted to run from her angry grandmother.

How long had it been since she’d last been truly, truly scolded by Granny Smith? It must’ve been when Apple Bloom was just a foal.

Not too long ago then, a voice inside her whispered, almost reassuringly.

As she looked down into the water she wondered why it didn’t reflect her face. What did her face look like anyhow? Was it an ugly mug? A beautiful piece of art? Were the freckles still there or had the rot eaten them? Was she old? Was she young?

On her way to the river she’d been painfully aware that Rainbow Dash’s sudden fall-scare, or however you wanted to call it, had lead to her relieving herself. Apple Bloom hadn’t noticed, luckily, but that didn’t change that it’d happened.

Weird, with everything that’d happened she couldn’t quite tell what date it was. There had been a bright sun and a blue sky when Apple Bloom was born. There’d been rain and thunder the day before she arrived back at the farm after her trip to Manehatten. Big Macintosh had once helped her clean up wet sheets before their granny could take notice, with a white moon looking down through her window.

Does it matter? she had to wonder.

It did, but everything felt so strange and distant now. Was she truly not an old mare and ages had gone past her? Wounds bleeding, muscles aching, she felt her breaths short and unsteady.

“Applejack?”

A voice called out to her, here, beneath the rotten apple trees she couldn’t take care of anymore.

For a moment she felt like breaking down again, but she stopped herself before the fall. Strength was all she needed.

“What’re ya thinkin’ ‘bout?”

Apple Bloom’s voice was tiny. Her baby sister, her little cutie-pie.

She felt her own mouth open, felt every muscle its movement utilized. Yet no noise escaped her. Apple Bloom was too young to understand, because even Applejack, the older one, couldn’t quite grasp what she thought about.

“Jus’ adult stuff,” she heard herself say, almost like admitting it.

Why had they been at the cider house, why had they stayed away from other ponies? She wanted to protect Apple Bloom, but a part of her felt like it was to protect herself. Granny would’ve been mad if she knew about all the restyling she did to that place, Big Macintosh would probably call her childish, staying there and playing House with her sister.

Childish was what it was and maybe she just wasn’t mature enough to admit that it was.

That’s why it was fine to run away too, right? Because she wasn’t mature enough to face her responsibilities?

“What sort of adult stuff?” Apple Bloom asked.

Applejack grinned, looking at the blackened trunk of a tree that had once been whole, but now its ashes lay scattered across the orchards.

“Dunno, but maybe Twilight’ll know,” she said and rose up, looking down at her sister. “How ‘bout we visit Auntie Twi?”

Apple Bloom looked her in the eyes, clearly focusing on them and ignoring the sky that rose up behind her. She gave a small fist pump and a smaller “Yeehaw,” from behind her paci.

Applejack made sure to at least grab the onesie, Apple Bloom seemed to like it, and then they turned towards Ponyville. Even without the sun, navigating came easy to Applejack, especially the acres. During the day, she was sure to spot somepony long before they would spot them and they were far enough away from the road so that she could be sure that nopony would come after them.

And if someone came, it’d be like a game of hide-and-seek.

Which would be kind of awesome, after all that time. Sure, she was still tired, hobbling on her front leg and her little sister would need some help, too, but it’d be fun.

As they walked along, ever so quietly, she noticed how Apple Bloom remained close to her side, often looking around her back. By this point she was probably getting hit with all the implications of not wearing something protective around her rear.

Yup, thought Applejack, with a certain sense of entitlement, that’s what all those protests before were for. Enjoy it while it lasts.

She didn’t say it, instead tried to smile encouragingly for her little sister, but that didn’t change anything about her demeanor.

Trees crumbled, fruits long eaten by the earth, Applejack felt the melancholy weigh down on her as they marched ever onwards. As fidgety as her sister became about her bodily situation, as much did Applejack became saddened by the state her home was in.

She’d walked on the roads on so many nights, but the darkness always obscured the true desolation the breaking of the sky had left behind. A part of her wanted to touch the trees that remained, wanted to feel if they were truly dead and gone. A part of her wanted to buck one of them, hoping a red, juicy apple would fall onto the ground.

A part of her was just thinking how mad Granny Smith would be about her skipping out on work today. This might well be first time she did that, too.

The mare, no, the filly told herself that there wasn’t that much to work on anyway. It wasn’t her responsibility, all she wanted was to be with her sister and nopony would take that from her.

She spotted the trees parting, the sky rising up and quickly focused on the ground directly before them. One only noticed how hard it was too avoid looking at the sky once it was a necessity to do so.

Apple Bloom did the same. Her sister, however, noticed how nervously she suckled on her binky.

“Are ya that worried that ya can’t stay dry much longer?”

Apple Bloom sort-of rolled her eyes. “Har har. You try wearin’ them bloody thick diapers for months and then goin’ without.”

Months? her mind asked, but her mouth said: “Language.”

Again, Apple Bloom sort of rolled her eyes and then they both halted before a fence. Not any old fence but the most important one. The one that marked the end of Sweet Apple Acres. From this point, there were no more trees, only a hillslope covered in yellowish grass that went downwards. As the ground became even again, the houses of Ponyville appeared.

And Applejack found it strange sight to behold.

“Was it always this beautiful?” she heard Apple Bloom ask, with no binky obscuring any words.

The colorful houses of Ponyville stood there in a manner that an educated eye would describe as “chaotic”. Some houses appeared like they were built into one another without the other even noticing, some roofs seemed more like candy fresh out of a wrapper. For Applejack however, every house was a Pony she’d known.

Even from here, that two-toned house of Tavi and Scratch could be seen. Bon-Bons and Lyra’s home still had that unexplained hole in its roof, while nothing but a ruin remained of the town hall or the clock tower. Some parts were gone, but the memories weren’t.

And the whole town was dyed in all the lights and all the colors. It was a feast of starlight, as if Ponyville was welcoming them back after so much time had gone by.

Only a few weeks, Applejack told herself, despite it feeling like it had been centuries since she’d been here.

“We’re home,” Apple Bloom said, small but happy.

“Yeah,” Applejack said and spotted the hospital on the edge of town. She focused on it and only it, not the sky.

There was a voice in the sky and it beckoned her to look. There was a song amidst that stars that demanded to be listened to. There was a lie whispered in her ear and she refused to listen.

“An’ I just figured out where to go first.”

“Wha-” Apple Bloom said, following her eyes. “No, we need to go to Twilights.”

“Well, Dash’s little maneuver got my leg pretty banged up,” Applejack defended herself. She didn’t have much of a feeling left in it and by now was really just dragging it along like drunk friend after a party. “And I’m not really going to Twilight without getting you some diapers.”

Apple Bloom looked at her hooves, blushing. Applejack didn’t get why, but figured it because she’d promised to get Apple Bloom along with potty training earlier. Truthfully, she probably was going to need a sheet of paper to keep track of all those promises she’d made.

“Plus,” she added, “I’d prefer to not spank ya in front of Twi. That would be a bit harsh.”

And Apple Bloom stood aghast again. “Oh come on, you can’t actually mean to do that. I,” with a twitch of the mouth she put the paci back in. “Ah’m nawt thoing t again.”

“I didn’t get a word you just said, which is really appropriate, because you don’t get a say in how you’ll be punished. Honestly, language is important. Now come along.”

With that, Applejack hobbled onwards and Apple Bloom followed suit. It was refreshing to have her baby sister not fight every step of the way, so Applejack decided to play it out like she was going to reward Apple Bloom for being on her best behaviour. The reward would be no punishment.

Applejack really had to admit that she was getting good at this baby sister thing, again. Yet she felt not that compelled to smile, because she felt her vision get blurry with every new step.

Then, shortly before they reached the end of the slope, she almost stumbled, only catching herself so very barely.

“Applejack,” her sister said.

Too loud.

They heard.

They answered.

And from the corners of the house she spotted them coming around. The first one had remnants of a once-black coat. His dark brown mane, though messy, was still intact. Yet his face was only bones with a bit of flesh drenched in puss hanging from his cheek. Fire were eyes and his innards gleamed with the bite of Tartarus.

Apple Bloom stumbled backwards, but Applejack knew she couldn't trust her eyes and blinked.

Right she was, because once she opened her eyes again, he was standing there. A gentle colt with a brown coat and wearing a shawl that was far too big for him. Before Twilight had come, Rainbow Dash had called him the biggest egghead in Ponyville. Hooves, a doctor. She’d known him before the sky crashed apart, she and Rainbow Dash once fought a great snowball battle against him, Big Macintosh, and Derpy.

Hooves wasn’t a monster, he was alive and smiling and wanted to play.

“He’s it,” she heard herself say and grabbed her sister, lifted her up on her back.

A giggle escaped her as she hobbled forward, towards the hospital. It was just like back in those days. Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh, Hooves, they were all just playing a large game, and Applejack was sure to make it through together with her little sister. She dragged her limbs across the ground and there was no more pain for a filly like her.

Chapter 8: The Protector

Her sister giggled like a maniac, what little sanity Apple Bloom thought left in her gone. Still, she was moving towards the hospital, that was something.

Behind them the dear doctor moved up. His gait was strange, unnatural. The way he moved his legs, the way his body tried to keep balance and even just his head bobbing up and down with every new step, it all felt wrong. Looking into the fiery cascades of his eyes, Apple Bloom almost thought she could spot a hint of the pony he once was.

Of course, she knew that he was gone and nothing could be done to save him. All they could do instead was run, and that her sister tried. Apple Bloom just held onto her back, because she was too weak to go by herself. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference, but maybe she would stumble and fall.

The boney head reared up and opened its jaws, bursting out a cry that hit as sharp as a whip. Apple Bloom closed her eyes at the screech-like sound, but somehow, she could also hear the desperation from it.

And more cries followed.

“They’re coming,” she heard herself say.

Applejack laughed. “More to play with.”

Apple Bloom would’ve protested, but fighting wouldn’t help them. “We need to hide quickly if we don’t want to get caught.”

Applejack nodded at her. Her eyes, green fields of grass, were filled with childlike glee. It should’ve hurt, but Apple Bloom needed to think now, because without a clear head, she couldn’t help them both.

Step by step Applejack moved on, drops of blood rolling down from her shoulder, patches of black pulsating as she nearly stumbled over her own legs. Yet she didn’t seem to notice the pain she was in. If she just thought that it was hard to walk?

Apple Bloom wondered, but clung to her sister nonetheless. Above them the endless shards of an once unbreakable sky stretched into eternity and from the corners of the village, the ones who’d watched it break came forth. Their movements were slower than Rainbow Dash’s ever were, clumsy and careful, as if they were blinded by the light of their own eyes.

Hopefully they were. Hopefully they were blind and deaf and couldn’t smell. Then Apple Bloom could truly believe that they could escape.

The doctor, however, stumbled forward quicker, an eerie smile plastered on his skull. Yet, Applejack hobbled quicker. Apple Bloom turned foward.

The hospital stood quite a bit away from the rest of the buildings. It’d been built away from the town by decree of Filthy Rich’s father, of course, because he hadn’t wanted poor ponies “dying in his hometown”. Scootaloo had told her that Silver Spoon had told her that Diamond Tiara had told her that story, so it was probably true. Douchebaggery came easy to pony with too much in their hooves.

Step by step, Applejack left a scar in the dry earth as she dragged herself onward and Apple Bloom could hear her heavy breathing. She was tired, wounded and losing her mind. Apple Bloom hugged her closely from behind.

“You can do this, sis,” she said.

And in the distance another cry appeared, another familiar voice. Apple Bloom’s eyes widened, because they were still some fifty meters away from the hospital and if Rainbow Dash was coming, they’d never make it.

She clung to her sister, because that was the only thing she could do.

“Don’t cha worry, we’ll be there in a jiffy,” Applejack said, “then ya don’t need ta worry bout yer bare tushy anymore!”

Apple Bloom opened her eyes and looked at the side of her sister’s face. Her sister had always been an average looking pony at best, but the rings under her eyes, the patches of rotten skin, they made her appear so much uglier. And her eyes were the worst, they were green and bright and happy.

Whatever world they saw, it had to be a better one than this. Because in that world, Apple Bloom had the time to worry about her continence and not about being devoured alive by the ponies she once knew and loved.

Step by step they moved forward and Apple Bloom felt the wind brush through her hair. It was a tangled mess she hadn’t managed to clean up properly in the river. Once she had held it together with a bow. She’d always worn one, too, before all of this happened.

Maybe once they were done she could wear one again. In this life or the next.

She smiled. “Ya promise?”

Nopony answered her, instead, Applejack stumbled over her legs and suddenly they were falling, both crying out in shock.

Applejack managed to use her three good legs to catch the fall and Apple Bloom had a tight grip around her sister’s neck. Nevertheless, the both of them nearly tumbled over again as a gust of wind washed over their hunched forms from behind.

The winged beast planted itself face-first in the ground and for a moment Apple Bloom really believed it to be Rainbow Dash again, because these horrible landings weren’t something anypony could pull off.

“Oh gosh,” Applejack said and those were the words that got Apple Bloom out of her shock.

She turned to her right, to the town and from there she saw Lyra, blood and ash dripping from the mouth, launching herself towards them.

“Dodge!” Apple Bloom screamed and Applejack obeyed instinctively.

She side-stepped away from the cyan unicorn, evading her bite quite easily. Yet Applejack grunted in pain as she used her wounded leg to steady herself immediately thereafter.

“Good job, sis. With you on the lookout tag is really easy,” Applejack praised.

Apple Bloom would’ve loved to scream at her, but right now more were coming at them and the hospital wasn’t that far away anymore.

“We need to run,” she said. “That’s how the game goes right. We need to run, fast as the wind. We can get everything patched up at the hospital, too. We can hide there, heal our wounds there and then get to Twilight’s place when everypony’s asleep, right?”

Applejack laughed. “If you really want to stay that long at a hospital, but I wouldn’t–”

Lyra turned towards them and with a snarl she attacked again.

“Just fucking move,” Apple Bloom screamed at the top of her lungs.

The cyan beast was rising up again. Bon Bon was coming, the mayor, Doc Hooves and even little Pipsqueak. They all came from the town and towards them. They were fire and cinder, hunger and pain itself, wishing to inflict themselves onto the last real ponies. There was no time to talk, no time to play games.

Applejack didn’t say anything, but turned her back towards the hordes and started into a gallop, past the monster that had once been Rainbow Dash, who tried to snap at them. She missed them by a mile.

Applejack ran towards the hospital at her highest speed, but Apple Bloom could see how her leg looked, how blood ran from the gash. Tears were in the elder pony’s eyes, but she seemed to fight through them.

Was it for Apple Bloom’s sake? Or for winning that made up game of tag? She didn’t know, but all that mattered was that Applejack’s quick steps lead them straight to the front doors of the hospital.

We can make it, Apple Bloom thought and then she felt something smash against her and her sister.

The impact catapulted them straight through the door and into the foyer. Apple Bloom smashed onto the ground, head first and then felt herself rolling over again and again. She hit a wall or a table, she didn’t know what exactly, but it hurt.

Her legs, her body, her head, everything hurt. She felt a warmth spreading down her legs, running onto the ground and forming a puddle. Something was spilling from her head and her jaw ached like a saw was starting to tear through it.

Apple Bloom could only elicit a faint gurgle, that was all the noise that came from her as the room came into a blurry focus again.

White walls, empty but for a broken clock. A white ceiling with the lamp flickering even after so much time had passed. A pegasus standing over her sister’s unconscious body.

She had a coat of fair gray, one that could easily mistaken for white, and her mane was in parts green and pink. An eye like a cornflower looked at Applejack, the vision clearly dulled by pain and madness.

A teardrop fell onto Applejack’s cheek as the pegasus whispered: “H-help me … Take me … T-take me h–”

The last word Apple Bloom couldn’t hear. There was a noise, something moving. She couldn’t make out what it was, as the blackness swallowed her whole and all the pain in the world left her.

The bridge was built with silver stone and golden wood, and it was built over a river that glistened in the richest of blues as the Celestia’s light cast down on it.

She felt the wind play with her mane and her bow, telling her to follow its direction. Would she do so, then she knew there would be adventures and treasures aplenty. If she went with the wind, that’s where everypony was going. It beckoned her to move past the bridge, towards the other side.

Golden grass spread out to the sides of a road built with bricks of every color and every shape, a mosaic of her own history. If only she led the wind guide her, she would see it all again play out before her eyes.

She would see it towards the happy ever after.

Yet the filly remained on the bridge and looked down at her reflection, to see a pony that was not her. A grown mare with eyes as dull as death itself, her mane covered with a rosen bonnet, mechanically sucking a rubber teat.

The wind blew through her mane again, begging her to come, praying for her to follow. She stood there, she gazed at the river and the life within.

Fish danced along and against the stream in an endless chaos that left the surface undisturbed. One wore a king’s crown and pretended to lead them in their merry way, one sang to them though her voice was swallowed by the water. Amidst them was a fish of gold and red, small and alone in the dance and it looked up to her.

It remained still just as the filly did, but then it suddenly swam up and its maw moved through the water’s surface, creating a small wave that vanished as quickly as it had come to be.

The fish ignored her in their mad dance, this one was but a little one and not at all important.

But the fish looked at her and her eyes were desperate and she was unwilling to accept her fate.

Once more she tried to breach the surface and once more she failed.

“Why do you try to get out of there? If you tried to stay with them you would be happy?” The filly asked, but she knew not the language of the fish and the fish knew not her language.

Once more she tried to breach the surface and once more she failed.

The fish with crown took note of her then and swam to her, spreading their wings and jumping up out of the water right up to the face of the filly.

“Don’t.”

And then they fell down into the water and the ripples in the water vanished as quickly as they had come to be.

The golden fish seemed to take that as encouragement and tried again and again and again and again.

She failed every time, for she had no wings. She was but one fish in a river filled with them and there was nothing special about her whatsoever. So the fish the crown showed her how the other’s danced and how they lived, but she only looked up at the filly.

The wind begged her to come, to look away, to ignore her.

Then, the golden and red fish parted from the crowned one and tried again. She swam towards the surface with all the strength she had. Her fins were torn off her body by the torrent, her scales drenched themselves in her blood, but with one final push she tried to breach the surface.

Water spilled from the river, never to return again and as the fish touched the air, drops of blood and water fell down, creating ever more ripples in the water. Where the drops hit the earth, it sank and the earth began to shake.

Yet the golden fish only looked upwards at the filly on the silver and golden bridge.

And then came a flash of light, of dark and the filly blinked. For a split second the wind became a mare of nightly blue, for a moment the fields became faces, crying in pain and for the briefest of moments she saw the fish for what it really was.

A monster unlike any she had seen before.

“Why did you do this?” The filly asked and the golden and red fish laughed.

“Because you looked down on me.”

For the briefest of moments, the world crumbled and water became fire, light became darkness and the fish became a unicorn.

Then it was over and all that remained was a filly.

She stood on a bridge. It was built with brittle stone and rotten wood, creaking under the little one’s weight. The filly leaned against the rails and looked down at the ground, where once a river had been. Bones of fish and remains of algae now lay scattered across an unending road.

There was no wind, but she needed to turn away from it anyway, towards the black rubble that lead on like a path to a land where noone was.

She stepped onto it and flinched back immediately, looking at her hooves. Blood dripped from them and onto the ground.

As it landed on the ground, it was swallowed up immediately, leaving no trace but the pain she felt. The filly looked at the road and wondered if she could do it, now that nopony was there with her, now that she knew that nopony was waiting for her.

Once more she tried to step onto the rubble, but took a step back to the bridge that shook and creaked. There, the filly sat down and looked at the wasteland before her.

A desert with a black stripe across it, a road of sorts, but that was all there was. At least on this side.

She turned around and moved towards the other side, the side she couldn’t see. How long did she walk to reach it? What did she feel when she did? There were no answers, but suddenly the bridge was gone and she stood at the foot of a hill. A path led upwards, to where she couldn’t tell.

She took the path, leaving bloody hoofprints in the sand. Step after step she walked, bravely on. A filly that pretended to be a mare, a mare that needed to be a filly.

On and on the path went, past rocks and corpses of animals she once had known. The filly walked for an eternity and then another one and yet no time had passed as the end came into sight.

She halted before a mighty tree, old and strong, with roots dug deep into the earth. Its branches led into the sky and apples as red as blood hung from them.

Before them stood four figures. A stallion, a mare, a colt and a young filly, all looking at something the stallion was holding.

“What’s her name?” the colt asked, his voice carrying an excitement that made the mare giggle.

“Should we go with one more Apple name? That’d make your granny proud,” the stallion said, grinning as if he’d just told a great joke.

“How about something floral, dear. You always wanted one of your children to have a flowery name,” the mare answered mimicking his smile.

The wind was picking up, she couldn’t hear their words.

“What’s her name?” The filly asked, but they didn’t hear her.

And with an earth shattering crash, the fish jumped out of the river and the droplets it left behind cracked open its surface. From the tip of the branches, the sky tore open, shattering into a million million shards. The apples rotted and fell, the leaves disappeared.

And the filly saw an orange pony, holding a foal close to her arms.

“I’ll protect you, even if they’re gone.”

She hugged her tightly, tears and snot fell from her face and onto the child’s swaddling. Her hooves shook, her breaths were short and stilted. The foal lifted a hoof and touched the older one’s nose.

“I’m here for you,” a filly told her older sister one night when she found her crying by the bedside.

Eyes as green as grass looked at her and from the face, wrecked by tears, there appeared a small, but happy smile as she embraced her loved one. She felt the warmth rush through her still, because that was what she was living for now.

A filly looked into the mirror and saw a mare pretending to be a foal, her eyes as dull as death itself. An orange pony was telling her how cute she looked even though blood spilled from her mouth and her limbs lay shattered on the ground.

There she was, her sister fretting over her; feeding her, changing her. She became a corpse, old and rotten and her sister still laughed with her parents at the newborn filly by the tree.

That was everything that remained and she knew it to be true.

It was dark around her now and for a moment she wondered, even hoped, that it was all just gone. Then, out of the corner of her a eye, a pink ribbon floated up before her and then away. She looked at it and then moved to follow.

As she walked through a blackness unending, the ribbon flew up to where she couldn’t reach it and her eyes followed as even it left her behind. Then the moon came into sight.

Pale white it stood in a dark sky filled with countless little stars, the figure of a pony cast unto it. She was looking at the filly, the filly looked at her, and the wind became a whispering voice.

Don’t give up.

Ever so slowly, the moon's edges began to crumble away. Smaller and smaller it became and figure on it vanished alongside the planetoid. Its pieces rained down and formed a new path, one that lead forward. The wind beckoned and this time she followed.

Chapter 9: The Long Run

Applejack's consciousness heralded its return with the mother of all headaches. On its own, that might've been terrible enough already, but sadly, the universe wasn't feeling kind today. As she stirred from her slumber, the oncoming pain told her that she could feel her limbs again.

Whether this was the worst she ever felt, Applejack truly couldn't tell anymore and she grumbled to herself as her eyes opened and cast aside the world of dreams on instinct. The world was one huge blur for the first few seconds, one giant dark patch with a brighter one in the distance. Shapes moved in an ineloquent dance. She was left to blink until the came into focus.

The white sheet was in poor condition. Dirt and drops of blood mixed in with dust and spider webs. It must've been out of use for quite some time. The rest of the room didn't fare any better. Though dark, a lantern on the nightstand by her side illuminated it well enough. Her bandana lay by its side.

She could see how blank and empty the walls were, how medical instruments lay scattered on the floor, as if someone had carelessly thrown them about.

Applejack turned her head, looked down on herself spread on the old hospital sheets. Her left leg was patched up, bandaged up better than she could've ever done it herself. Not quite Redheart's level, but still. Otherwise, band-aid covered up the patches of skin and she smelled some sort of ointment, which made her neck feel strange. It could've just been because she was so used to the feeling of the rot, but she felt cooler. Even the fire was gone from inside her, it and the hunger.

She turned around, wondering what lay to the other side. The first thing she spotted was a second bed and her sister on it. Her head was wrapped up with a bandage and otherwise she appeared to have gotten the same treatment and Applejack, with the added bonus of a diaper. Applejack was glad that she didn't need to worry about that. Her sister was but a young filly, after all, and she needed what help she could get.

So she looked at her foal, safe and sound. There was a peacefulness about her that calmed Applejack, not that she was worried to begin with. Why should she worry when she was in a hospital? When everything was fine?

She closed her eyes again, taking a small breath and listened in on Apple Bloom’s little symphony. If the filly only knew how adorable she sounded in her sleep. Yet the sound was overtaken by memories that wanted to be threatening, but Applejack refused to acknowledge their presence in her head.

She remembered ponies hunting them, Blossomforth laughing as she caught them. That’s what it was, they’d lost a game of tag and then everypony went home and celebrated without them. Applejack wasn’t even mad, because Apple Bloom was here and that made everything finde.

Then she heard a noise, a clutter in the hallway beyond Apple Bloom. Applejack’s eyes shot open and looked at the door behind the filly. It was a medium-sized entryway, really, but for that brief moment, Applejack imagined something creeping up from there.

The only light was created by the lantern and from her perspective, the darkness seemed almost alive. She remembered the ghost stories that she had spent so much of her youth fretting over and felt the dire need to make herself smaller again.

Another game, one where she pretended that ghosts were coming for her, or maybe she really believed some to be coming. In truth, Applejack didn’t know, but she was stuck between her raging heartbeat and a flinching grin on her face.

Then, in the dark of the night, a light appeared from the right corner of the door, like something was coming up the hallway. She heard steps, but couldn’t tell whose they were. Maybe Big Macintosh was pranking her again, knowing how afraid the dark made her feel. Maybe Rainbow Dash was finally getting her vengeance for how much Applejack had hurt her today.

She curled up, felt the cold air against her back. How she would have loved a blanket to hide under, or to at least be in the bed before Apple Bloom. Yet she didn’t move. They were in a hospital and she needed to be a role model, needed to be the good girl that didn’t play around.

She needed to be mature about this.

The filly trembled, she could feel her heart crashing against her the inside of her chest, as if to tell her to jump, to run, to fight. It was a mischievous drive brought on by fear, one that she wouldn’t follow.

Be good, be still. Granny Smith needs to hear tomorrow that you were good, otherwise she might not let you watch over Bloom again.

The light became brighter. It dyed the walls with a green tone, a green that sent a chill down her spine. She thought of Tartarus and someone screaming for help, but she knew that those were just stories. Little children were afraid of stories, but not she.

And then the source of the light turned around the corner.

It was a beast of scales, tiny but ferocious and its eyes were as green as envy. A two-tipped tongue licked non-existent lips, for it clearly hungered for a ponies flesh just as much as any other beast. From its sharp claws came a source of light and it looked at them with pure vileness.

At least that’s what Applejack wanted to imagine, but honestly, the baby dragon would never be scary. His pink scales and green spikes, those tiny arms holding a lantern that looked like a pre-schooler had made it for Nightmare Night.

“You awake yet?” asked Spike in a semi-annoyed voice.

Applejack waved at him. “Hey Spike, what’cha doin’ here?”

There was a pause, and she could see how incredulous Spike looked at her.

“I’m happy to see you’re alive, too,” he then answered courtly and moved to Apple Bloom.

As he pulled himself up the bed to check on her, Applejack thought she saw bite marks on his arms and some of his spikes broken or cracked, but chalked it up to her imagination. It didn’t make him look scary, but at least her mind kept trying.

“What I’m doing here? Twilight wanted me to check out some medication. She wanted pills that let her stay awake longer,” he continued and then looked at Applejack. “You know, now that we met and you owe me, how about you tell that drugging herself isn’t the solution to everything?”

Applejack tilted her head, not understanding a word. “Why does she need medicine to stay awake? Is there a test coming up?”

Spike opened his mouth, closed it again, lifted a finger, tried to say something again, but then just shook his head. “Applejack,” he then said carefully. “Do you know why you’re lying in a hospital bed?”

“I guess I hit my head while playing tag with the others.”

“What others?”

“You know, Doc Hooves, Blossomforth, Lyra, the whole gang. We were outside Ponyville and they joined in on the game. Rainbow Dash was there, too, though I think she got hurt because of me,” Applejack told him, the thought making her sad.

“Alright,” he said reluctantly. “And what about Apple Bloom?”

“I guess,” Applejack said, looking at the wounds. Then it dawned to her why there were bandages around the filly’s head. “Oh no, she got hurt because of me! I fell and she hurt her head. Granny Smith is gonna be so mad. She’s gonna ground me.”

Applejack shook her head. “No, no, no. You can’t tell her. She’ll think I’m irresponsible. Promise me you won’t tell her, Spike.”

She was sure that if he’d had any, the expression he made was one with a raised eyebrow. He was clearly weighing his options here, but he was Twilight’s and her friend, he had to be on her side.

After a few more moments, Spike resigned with a sigh. “Okay, sure. don’t want you to get in trouble with your gran in addition to those wounds.”

With that he stood up and marched towards her bed.

As he hopped on and checked on her, she showered him with thanks, going so far as to hug him and rub that little head of his. Strangely enough though, there was no reaction to any of that and he just looked after her, kind of like a big brother, which was nice.

“Your leg’ll take some time to heal, but I’m your friend, so listen to my advice. If you don’t want your granny to be mad, and don’t want her to find out about both you and Apple Bloom over there getting hurt, you need an alibi until you’re better. I suggest that you stay with me and Twilight. We’ll just tell your gran that we’re having a sleepover or something.”

“But I don’t have my–”

“And Twilight has sixteen toothbrushes, half of which she already forgot she bought. There’s not problem,” Spike interrupted.

His green eyes gazed at her and it was like there was a bit of light missing from them, but she didn’t really know why she thought that. Her imagination really was going overboard now.

“Alright,” she said, “but Apple Bloom isn’t potty trained, yet.”

“I ... noticed,” Spike said with a shiver. “And they still got some disposables lying around here. Nobody ever plunders the hospital for diapers, apparently. And if that doesn’t help, I’m sure we’ll be able to whip something up at home.”

Applejack nodded eagerly and Spike just sighed, jumping off the bed again as he was done with her.

“Alright, here’s how it goes,” he then told her. “We need to go through the town. It’s already night, everypony’s asleep, so. …”

“We need to be quiet,” she almost yelled.

“Right,” he answered in the most annoyed way he could.

She laughed sheepishly as she realized what she’d just done and sat up, trying to at least look the way she needed to look, big girl that she was.

“We’re going to sneak to the library, right? I’ve been up at night a lot and sneaked around a lot, so I’m quiet as an apple falling to the ground,” she explained excitedly.

Spike rolled his eyes. “Bad metaphor, but I just assume that you, running around laughing like an idiot isn’t what you usually do?”

“We were playing tag,” Applejack defended herself. “It was fun.”

There was a moment of quiet, then Spike shrugged and turned around. “Alright, I’ll get my bags. Medicine for Twi, a ball of yarn for me and my new socks and one package of diapers. Once I got all of this, you and Apple Bloom need to be ready. We leave the hospital and get to the city.”

“Yeehaw,” Applejack exclaimed.

He rolled his eyes once more. “Train your ninja skills while I’m gone.”

With that, the tiny dragon left again and Applejack remained on the bed.

She noticed a strand of her mane, a fair blonde color, all messy and tangled. She went with her hoof through it and felt how rough it was. She’d never been a pony to put that much effort into her mane, but a few simple tips from Rarity had freshened up her look considerably a while ago.

She wondered for a moment if she needed to be a pretty role model as well as a mature one. Was being pretty part of being an adult? Rarity always seemed to think so, but most ponies weren’t as pretty as her, especially not Rainbow Dash, who always said she was “all natural”.

Applejack shook her head, only to find that on the opposing end of her bed was a broken window, barred up with wood, the shards lying on the ground.

Maybe her reflection was visible in them?

Letting herself to the ground, the filly walked over to the broken glass. It lay there, some pieces stained with dirt, blackened and dry. She picked one up and held it up.

The only thing reflected, however, was the light of the nightstand. There was nothing else there and she was left to wonder once more what she looked like. In truth, she doubted herself to be right.

She’d cared for Apple Bloom a lot, so she couldn’t be just a kid, but on the other hoof, she knew any grown mare would’ve helped on the farm and wouldn’t be so afraid of their granny. It was a strange sensation, and Spike had treated her like an equal, too.

He was a baby dragon, though, and she wasn’t a baby pony. Apple Bloom was. She wore diapers, she had trouble moving around and held her binky close. Not Applejack, she was big, strong and very adult.

Yes. She was a big pony and she would prove it by not being scared of the dark night outside and carrying Apple Bloom.

“Are you ready?” came Spike’s voice from the door and she turned towards him.

Her body hurt, her left leg was without a feel, her head was splitting itself a part and she wanted to curl up and just wait everything out. But she was more mature than this, she would do this.

“Yes.”

In the doorway stood Spike, carrying a rucksack and a bag. His body was wrapped in a sort of jacket, which was lightly padded and he also wore goggles over his eyes. His hands were covered in fingerless gloves, his fingers were glistening in the light, like they were covered in oil or something.

“That’s a weird getup,” Applejack said.

“No it’s not,” he answered immediately. “It’s awesome and makes me look like a total badflank. Now get off my back and get your sister on yours. We’ve got a full moon tonight and I want to get the long run done before we hit midnight?”

Applejack squinted her eyes, not understanding a single word, but decided that she needed to pretend to, because right now she needed to prove to herself how mature he was. Some lessons she learned from Rainbow Dash were really worth it.

Picking up the bandana, she grinned to herself. Then she tied it around her neck and went to pick up Apple Bloom. The filly felt as light as a feather in her arms. The diaper already had a slight tinge to it, but that was to be expected of a foal.

“She’ll need a change when we get there,” Applejack noted.

“And you and I both pretend I never got that information,” Spike said, giving her a thumbs-up. “Good idea, Applejack.”

She rolled her eyes and carefully put Apple Bloom across her back. “She’s a foal. When you were as little as her, you also still used diapers.”

“How old do you think she is?”

Applejack took that moment to look at him. Did he seriously just question her about her sister’s age. The filly harrumphed. She didn’t think Apple Bloom’s age to be any other than the age she was and how could he think any different of her? Honestly, there was no need to justify that with an answer.

So she just trotted past him.

“Alright,” he exclaimed, throwing his arms up and turned around.

They left the lantern behind, but Applejack was too busy being angry at Spike to care. What she did care about, however, was how dark the hallways of the hospital were. As such, she just stood close by the door until he came out and tried to look as nonchalant as possible.

He, however, saw through her immediately. “Don’t worry about the dark, we’ve got a light right here to protect us.”

He held up his own lantern, a big ball of paper with strange symbols carved into it. It really was some pre-schoolers horrible Nightmare Night lantern, but Applejack didn’t want to tell Spike that. He still had some leverage over her, after all.

They went through the dark, past empty rooms and empty beds, with only the wind playing its only tune with the drapes by the windows.

“Why’re there no doctors or patients?” Applejack had to wonder.

Spike didn’t answer at first, instead mumbled something to himself. But after a while, she got her answer. “Everypony’s not gotten sick for quite a while, so everypony took a day off.”

“Oh,” she said, “That explains a lot.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

The rest of the way through the hospital was quiet, until they reached the foyer. Applejack instinctively let her eyes remain on Spike, because she wanted to follow the light, because there was nothing to see here. Because nothing had happened here.

He looked over his shoulder. “Do me a favor, keep your eyes like that. You don’t want to look at the sky tonight.”

“Why?” she asked, already aware that looking at the sky could hurt your eyes pretty bad.

“Cause you’ll never fall asleep again once you look at it,” Spike answered in an honest voice.

Applejack still tilted her head. “Really? Is that bad?”

“You said you were up the last few nights? Did you get much sleep?”

“No.”

Spike smiled. “How did it feel?”

“Terrible,” she answered and then it dawned on her. With an “Oooh,” she made it known that she had reached a conclusion.

When you never slept, you would always feel horrible. That sounded like perfect logic.

She locked her eyes on his tail, looked at the ground and up to his shoulders. Applejack saw the rucksack, a blue thing with dragon stickers on it. It clearly belonged to Spike and not Twilight. They were really cool, too, one was red and had two heads, another possessed four wings and another one was big and grey and had a small beard.

They weren’t for babies, though.

The dirt of the road beneath them now, the weight of Apple Bloom against her back, she couldn’t help but ponder the question again.

“Spike,” she asked in but a whisper, “How do I look?”

The wind was easy on her mane, but she felt it nonetheless. It was a mess, she knew, much like everything else. Was her face ugly or beautiful, she didn’t know. A part of her needed to know, because if she knew, she could be certain about something again.

Spike walked, slowly, the lantern up front. He kept his head up, so much in fact that it was obvious that he could see the sky in all of its terrifying, abominable beauty. However, he walked in silence. Step after step he took and he kept on ignoring her throughout.

Apple Bloom’s soft breaths accompanied them. There was the suckling of a paci, the distant roar of a beast Applejack didn’t know and the sky was out of sight. Yet the voice she wanted to answer her the most was the one that kept still.

“Why do you ask? You look like you do,” he finally whispered, uncertain.

“Because I want to know if I’m right. Apple Bloom’s a foal, she needs me. But what does that make me?”

She couldn’t see the face he made, couldn’t pretend to know what he thought. Maybe he was trying not to laugh at her, maybe he was deep in thought, maybe he even just rolled his eyes again. Whatever he did, he did in silence.

This part of the road was well-known to her. Soon, a bridge would come up and beyond that, the town square. They would move past it, then the smells from the Day Spa would hit their noses. The sweet fragrances always had something awfully penetrating about them, but Rarity always seemed to love them for it.

She really needed to go there with her again.

“I don’t know,” he answered, the wind carrying his voice into her ear. “If you want to know whether you’re right by Apple Bloom, just ask her?”

“But she can’t know that I don’t know. She’s not mature enough to worry about this stuff.”

Her voice was raised just a bit, he halted and lifted up his free hand. Clearly he looked into the distance, listened to the noise. The air tasted like ash and smelled like fire. She could hear the other ponies move, could hear some stir in their sleep or maybe take a walk.

Of course, Applejack didn’t know, because the terrible sky was something that she never wanted to look at again.

“Worrying about how you look doesn’t seem very mature to me,” he whispered after a few moments and started to walk again.

Applejack followed.

“It’s more complicated than that,” she answered, but explaining how came hard to her.

“What do you want to look like, then?”

Now she kept her silence as they walked over the bridge and past the well. The filly heard wood creak and water rush, so she closed in on Spike.

“I want to be a good sister,” she answered the moment a horrible fragrance hit her nose.

Had someone’s cooking burned?

“How do you want to be a good sister, then?” Spike asked. Even though his voice was lowered, he was clearly interested in hearing her out.

“I want to play with her, I want to make her smile like I did when I gave her the onesie, I want to be happy with her,” she said. “I want nothing more than us two having all the fun in the world.”

“That so?” Spike said. After that, he sighed. “Then stop worrying about how you look and play with her, have fun with her. Nobody needs to be worried more than necessary anyway, and the times are bleak enough. AJ, just have some fun with your sister. Me and Twi will handle the rest, okay?”

He didn’t look back, because he didn’t expect an answer. She could tell that much, but she still wanted to catch a glimpse and thus lifted her head.

And before them, the library rose up. A tree older than Ponyville, filled with all the knowledge it could hold. Like every night before, runes gleamed brightly in a circle around it, warding off anything that dared to come too close to it. Yet they marched right past them to the door.

She saw that inside, the lights were on.

Spike himself turned around again and pulled the goggles off his eyes. “You should get some more rest. Get to the cellar, I’ll handle everything else. If Twilight’s asleep, which I don’t think: Don’t disturb her. If she’s awake, which is very likely: Do. Not. Disturb. Her. Understood?”

Applejack nodded cautiously.

With that Spike opened the door. Now, Applejack was sure, the worst was over. Now, no more bad things would happen and she could focus on her little sister until everything was sorted out.

Chapter 10: The Twilight

Apple Bloom’s eyes slowly opened themselves and the world presented itself to her every sense. The very first thing was its sound. Quietly, she heard a piece of music play from a gramophone. Soft strings and calm woodwinds performing together, every few moments she heard how the musicians plucked their instruments, how the woodwinds swell.

The second thing was the feeling of her body. She felt things wrapped around her head, her legs, felt a thick blanket covering her and keeping her warm. Apple Bloom felt like she was lying on a cloud, so soft was this bed she lay on. Sadly, she still felt a diaper between her legs, but she hadn’t really expected any different.

The third thing was the taste of strawberry in her mouth as she slightly tilted the rubber teat with her tongue. It hit against her gum. The teeth that remained stung as they met the foreign object and she could feel how few were left of them.

The fourth thing was the lush scent of cocoa that entered her nostrils. It reminded her of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and how the three of them had spent hours at Sugarcube Corner. Back then they had been able to waste away so much time doing nothing, it almost turned these fond memories sour.

And the last thing came into focus as her eyes finished to opened themselves. The first thing she spotted was the ceiling and how it looked like none other. Pipes ran across, entangled by strong roots. Some of the roots fell slightly from the ceiling, wrapping each other up in a spiral form. Within them glowed a magical light, that dyed the entire room in weak, but calming indigo hue.

She turned her head ever so slightly, feeling a bit weak. Her bed had small railings, tall enough to keep her from falling off. Apple Bloom had to admit that this was fortuitous.

This room was not one she recognized. Apple Bloom spotted two more beds on her left, and one to her right. At the first look, they appeared to not stand out at all. They all had white sheets, they were all the same size. The one to her right, however, wasn’t made as properly as the rest.

More roots spread across the floor, though a small, red carpet lay right in the middle of the room. Atop it stood a table, which had a book on it. Even with the rather poor lighting, she could still read the title.

“The Strings of the Universe: A study concerning the existence of different realities and their meaning to us.”

She only knew one pony who’d read a book with a complicated title like that.

And that realization made Apple Bloom stir. But as she tried to rise up and the blanket fell down, she caught a look at her body.

Only to realize that it looked better. She didn’t how exactly but some of those black patches of skin had brightened up a little. They looked more like healthy, though coatless, skin. As she looked closer, however, she spotted that the rot was still in the veins. Of course it was, no way she would wake up perfectly healthy.

Yet, she was better, she’d gotten help. They’d actually made it. A giggle escaped her and her vision got blurry. Something was in her eyes, dripped down her cheeks.

She felt the droplets against her cheek and another giggle erupted. This one didn’t stop, but instead grew into a laughter. A bright, happy laughter that she hadn’t been able to do for a few weeks.

And then a sound came, one that made her ears perk up a little. It was the creak of a door, one that hadn’t been oiled for quite some time. The noise was followed by footsteps and Apple Bloom heard how every step of staircase was touched.

She tried to get up, forgetting the diaper. Leaning on the railing, she rose up to her hind legs, eyes glimmering with anticipation. Whether it was her sister or the one-eyed alicorn, it didn’t matter. Apple Bloom was happy to see either.

Yet it was neither that appeared, but rather a purple, scaly, lizard-like figure.

And Apple Bloom could only blink.

Spike looked taller than before, if only slightly, and a bit leaner, too. That was not the only noticeable change, she was quick to spot. A massive scar ran down his chest and another one went right by his left eye, reaching from the top spike to his neck. Those were only the big ones, as his face was covered with them and even his spikes looked like they had only narrowly evaded some giant beast’s claws, or teeth.

In his claws he held a wooden tablet with an exquisite tea set placed on it and he clearly tried to at least look sneaky about how he went. Yet as he saw her he almost dropped his offerings. The dragon might’ve wanted to smile, but it looked forced and did not reach his eyes at all.

“Spike?” she asked, though again, it sounded closer to a word in her head than what came out of her mouth.

He sighed.

“Morning, kiddo,” he said, pretending to make it sound like he talked to a foal. “Looks like one little crinkle pony woke up with a bit much energy.”

He sounded more like he was giving a funeral speech, though. Yet Apple Bloom’s initial reaction was to think: Oh no, and then to turn and look at her behind. He could see the darn thing!

Immediately, she picked up the covers and threw them over her body, somehow managing to lose her balance in the process. Apple Bloom fell onto the soft, heavenly bed.

“A bit really excited, huh?” he said and walked closer to her.

The way he talked was pretty much as awkwardly as she expected someone who got told that they needed to treat a good friend of theirs as a little baby. Apple Bloom almost wanted to scream at him, feeling her blush and her padded behind like it was the first time she was put in diapers again.

The tears stung in her eyes and as he approached her, she couldn’t help but smile. After all, this was Spike, her Spike, her dear friend Spike. While they’d been more of acquaintances before, she almost felt like he was a long lost brother after all this time.

And she heard how the words he thought he needed to say hurt him. She turned to face him and looked him straight in the eyes.

His were cold and dead.

“What did my sister tell you?” she asked slowly from behind the paci, making sure every word sounded proper.

He halted right before her, looking at her, tilting his head.

“What?” he asked, clearly not sure what to answer.

At least Applejack hadn’t put that onesie back on her, that would have ruined her forever.

“You can talk normally to me,” she said, “I’m just keeping the pacifier in because of the rot. Like Twilight told me.”

“Uhm,” he said.

“Remember that? You laughed quite loudly when she told me to keep it in at all times?”

Then followed the most awkward silence, before he put the tablet on the table and walked up closer to her.

“Apple Bloom?” He asked, leaning against the railing, his eyes strangely alit.

“Yeah?”

He looked like he wanted to smile, but still doubted too much to dare. “Are you .… Is your head. …”

The dragon was so close to her, Apple Bloom couldn’t help herself. She threw off the covers and put her arms around him, pulling herself closer to his torso. Her paci fell out of her mouth, but that was the least of her worries right now. The filly didn’t care how she looked, she wanted to feel his warmth again.

There was silence as the two of them remained like that and she only felt her arms around his neck, her cheek brushing his. She smelt him, the faint odor, a mix of fire and tea that clung to him like a fine perfume. Apple Bloom thought there existed no sweeter smell in that moment.

She probably smelled of piss and blood, but as he put her arms around her, she didn’t care. After all, he was there with her again and she and Applejack weren’t alone anymore.

Then, there were no more words for quite a while. She choked, the tears streamed from her eyes, her mouth tasted of snot. In truth, Apple Bloom was happy he couldn’t see her face, she probably looked like Rarity’s worst nightmare. Yet his hands gently rubbed her back, like he was trying to check whether she was real, too.

She was.

He was.

They both were here.

“I take it that aside from a few lost teeth, you’re still you?” He asked finally, his voice grown a bit stronger.

“Yeah,” she answered, a wide smile on her face. It probably looked hideous.

Then came another quiet moment. “Apple Bloom?” He asked to break it.

“Yeah?”

“You might need a change.”

For the first split second she didn’t move, but then her eyes widened and she almost spit, instead pushing herself away from him. To top it off, she gave him a light punch against the chest.

He didn’t react to it, instead stared at her in puzzlement. Apple Bloom glared right back at him. From her sister, she was used to this sort of invasion of privacy, but Spike? He was always so much more gallan–

No wait, Apple Bloom thought, realizing who she was talking to.

“You don’t check on a filly’s diapers like that,” she stated, trying to sound angry.

Her jaw stung a bit.

“Uhm, yeah, but,” he started and leaned in closer again.

She half-wondered what he wanted to do. Then, the tiny dragon stretched his arm out, reaching for something on her chest level. She followed his claw, only to find it putting the paci back in her mouth.

Apparently someone had put it on a string around her neck as she’d laid asleep. For a moment she looked down and then back at him as he retreated. Had he just tried to shut her up by putting a pacifier in her mouth?

“It’s important that you keep that thing in. Twi engraved some new runes into the plastic to keep the rot better at bay. She’s gotten really good with runes lately, but for them to work you need to keep it in as long as possible.”

She still only glared. “You’re trying to shut me up,” she said and then realized how stupid she sounded with the paci in.

“Choo’r t’yin’ t’ shut m’up,” was what had come out of her mouth and it sounded closer to a magic chant than a statement.

But Spike shook his head immediately. “No, I’m not. I’m just, ugh,” he put his claws against his face and took a deep breath, only to then take a bow. “I’m sorry,” the dragon said. “I’m just not used to talking with other ponies anymore.”

At that, Apple Bloom tilted her head, sitting down again on the bed. “What do you mean?”

He understood her.

“I’m saying that,” he made a pause. “Your sister, she’s. …”

Insane, Apple Bloom thought, feeling mad at herself for it almost immediately. “What did she say?” she asked instead.

“Mind if I sit?” He asked her in return and pointed to the spot on the bed right beside her.

She nodded, but came to regret it the moment he crawled onto her bed. He looked kind of ripped, like a badflank that saw some apples, while still keeping that adorable face of his. She was loathe to admit it, but she wondered if he’d grown this well without the sky shattering as it did.

He sat down beside her and leaned back, looking at the ceiling.

“Well, I don’t know how much you know, but I think she believes herself to be around the age she was when you really were a foal.”

Apple Bloom looked at him, not really getting it. But then, beyond the stinging of the wounds, she remembered what Applejack had said once they’d started to flee from the acres.

“She’d been upset that she’d be grounded by Granny Smith,” she tried say, though once more it sounded more like babbling.

At least Spike’s ears seemed to work well enough. “Yeah, she says that’s why she’s staying with Twilight and me. I mean, she’s not really thinking it’s those days, but as far as I can tell, she couldn’t handle this flipping footstool of an apocalypse and decided to play pretend instead.”

“It’s more like playing House,” Apple Bloom admitted with a sigh.

After all, right before the beast had appeared, she’d finally given in to Applejack’s mad play. Apple Bloom wiped the snot from her nose.

“She’s like this because of me,” she said.

Spike shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

“I pretended to be a foal for her sake, that made her slip. I mean, look at me. …” She pointed down herself. “I wet my diapers, I need a paci, I look like celestia forsaken baby.”

He raised a non-existent eyebrow at her language, but didn’t say anything else. Even if he had, Apple Bloom had just been run out of her home by monsters and woken up in yet another wet diaper. After the single day she’d been dry, too.

“You think you’re a baby because of that, huh?” He asked and jumped off the bed.

“Where’re you off to?” She asked as he walked towards the farthest bed on her right.

He crouched and pulled something up from below it, a box, as far she could tell. “That should be it,” he said almost sagely and turned around.

He carried it towards her bed and put it down before her. It was a plain, wooden box with neither motives nor coloration. Just a box with the cover a bit loose.

“Okay,” he said, “Make a Pinkie swear that you’re never going to tell anyone.”

“What?”

“Just do it,” he said, giving her an encouraging smile.

She looked at the box again. Whatever’s inside must be juicy, she figured and then gave a nod. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she said, making the accompanying gestures.

He grinned and pulled off the lid.

Even with the dim lighting she could see what was inside and she opened her mouth to form words, but couldn’t quite form them.

Spike smiled at her expression. “The details would probably bore you, but Twilight started wetting the bed after three weeks and developed signs of the rot in her mouth, too. Because the pacifier worked for you, she prepared one for herself. And this, well, let’s just say she didn’t think much of disposable diapers.”

The pieces of cloth were all nicely folded up and the covers weren’t really plain either. The one she spotted had stars and planets stitched on it, with a sun much like Celestia’s cutie mark right in the middle.

It looked kind of amazing, actually.

“Woah,” she said, half-amazed, half-questioning.

“Yeah, getting everything to align as it’s supposed to be was quite hard. I didn’t think I needed to go through that many books just to make a cloth cover for a diaper, but eh, that’s what living with a giant nerd gets you.”

“She wets herself?”

“Only to bed, don’t tell her I told you, though,” he said with a wink. She nodded immediately.

“And you made this?”

“Yeah, I had to read up on making clothes and had to,” he bit his lips, “get some stuff from Carousel Boutique, too. And then I made the nerdiest diaper covers ever. You wouldn’t believe it, but her favorite is the Daring Do one right beneath the star one.”

“You’re going to show me?”

“Naw, she’ll notice if I move the stuff. Last thing she wants is me messing up her stuff,” he told her with a shrug and put the lid on the stuff again.

“But either way, what I’m trying to say is,” Spike then continued, his fingers drumming on the box, “that the wetting, the rot, they’re just symptoms of an illness. An illness, Twilight is sure to cure very soon.”

Apple Bloom smiled at his encouraging words. She felt a bit sad for Twilight if she had developed the same icky problems now, but also wondered how Applejack would react if she found out.

And then the filly realized that Spike had just now told her something that might’ve actually been really important.

She looked at him. “What?”

And he grinned the smuggest grin this side of the sea. “Yeah. We’re pretty close to figuring out how to get everything back to normal.”

He turned around again to put the box back where it belonged. Apple Bloom looked at him, not quite sure what he had just told her. The only thing she did know, and that was also the one thing she didn’t believe, was that it was good.

“Well, she did most of the work. But I drew the sky for her, so that’s something.”

“You drew the sky?”

“Yeah. I can look at it without turning into a fire-breathing monstrosity. Mainly, because I am a fire-breathing monstrosity,” he answered.

Just after he put the box away he looked at her, that smug smile of his still intact. It was as if he felt himself the biggest, baddest pony in the whole world. And he wasn’t even a pony. A part of Apple Bloom thought that really cool, another part really wanted to deck him on the snot.

“You’re more like a cute, little critter, though,” she said.

He rolled his eyes. “Like you’re in any position to talk.”

She blushed and turned her eyes away.

“Sensible topic, huh? Sorry, I’m not really used to being sensible about this stuff anymore. You have no idea what Twilight’s like these days.” He sighed. “Not that your sister’s any better. I’m not even sure if I should leave her in the kitchen unsupervised.”

She giggled at that.

“What?”

She shrugged. “You make it sound like they’re the kids.”

“I’m trying to make it sound like I’m the only adult, though,” he said with a joking conviction.

Apple Bloom rose to her hooves and got to the edge of the bed. “Then how about I’m going to be adult, too.”

“I’d bet you all of my gems that you wouldn’t make it to the play pretend stage with how your sister’s going.”

She glared at him. “I can be an adult even with her here.”

“Right, when she dresses you up in that cute little onesie and tries to feed you with a bottle. You’re going to look like the most grown mare in all of Ponyville.”

The filly looked at the dragon and the dragon looked back at her. Of course, she knew he was right, but for a brief moment she’d almost thought she could get back a piece of her life. She sighed.

“Don’t try to be a grown-up when you still got a chance to be kid, Apple Bloom,” the dragon suddenly said, “The world’s too harsh to usually allow that still.”

His smile looked tired, but at least he was still with her. The way he looked, all grizzled and tired, it was much like her sister actually. Another soul that probably tried to take on much more than she could chew. Apple Bloom wanted to help him, too, and her sister.

If there was a chance that everypony got cured, that was wonderful, of course, but right now the world outside was real. She wasn’t sure what had happened after they’d gotten to the hospital and right now she didn’t care. What was important was the now, because that was everything left to them.

And in the now, she needed to be the best pony she could be.

She wouldn’t be sad or give up, because she knew that was the right thing to do.

“Alright, but just because I don’t get to be an adult doesn’t mean you can check my diaper whenever you want.”

He shrugged. “If that’s how you want it, sure. I’m not going to complain.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked.

He gave her a knowing look. For a brief moment, she felt a thought creeping up, of him checking her, of him changing her. It was only for a second or two, then she shook the thought off. Only a blush remained plastered on her cheeks.

He didn’t seem to notice. “Want some tea?”

He pointed at the tablet he’d brought and she nodded. Yet, just as he went to pour, something came running down the stairs, jumping off them and hitting the spot right beside the table in a well-practiced landing.

Spike rolled his eyes and turned around with a change of expression, Apple Bloom saw. He looked a bit sad and worried.

The purple pony had patches of black on her coat, her legs, her cheek. A bandage covered her right eye, clean and white. Not as clean was her mane, it was cut short, in a very rough manner, and what remained stood in all directions. One of her wings was missing a few feathers and she was wearing a metal brace around her right hind leg.

Twilight looked at the much smaller dragon while also puffing out her chest. She looked angry, and the one remaining eye seemed to have a hard time staying open.

“I told you to give me today’s calculations, Spike. If the sky changes aren’t documented we might miss the pattern.”

“We got the pattern already, Twi. We’ve been having the pattern for a month now,” he said, his voice a low hiss.

She shook her head. “We can’t take any risks. I want this to be breakthrough. I owe it to everypony. This is important.”

“And Apple Bloom isn’t?” he pointed at her, but Twilight didn’t even bother to look.

“She’ll make it if I get everything right. Once I’m done with the ritual, I–” she halted her speech for a yawn. “I just. …”

He sighed. “Twilight, you’ve been up for days again, how about you instead use this chance to lie down.”

But the alicorn shook her head. “No, Spike, I’ve got important things to take care of. The whole world’s at stake!”

He then simply handed the teacup over to her. “How about you have a drink to calm you down?”

“I am calm!” she insisted and stomped her hoof on the ground.

“Alright, Twilight. How about we both do each other a favor. I go up, draw the sky, and you have a bit of tea.”

She looked at him queerly. “Don’t try to play any games, Spike, I’m–” she was interrupted by another yawn.

Her one eye trailed off to look at the bed, her bed. “I just want this to work, Spike.”

He nodded. “Me, too, Twilight. That’s why the world needs you at your A-Game.” Then, the dragon pointed at the tea. “That’s why you want to drink this.”

“Huh?” The princess asked, looking at the tea. “Is there something special about it?”

“It’s a brew that helps you get awake, I made it for Apple Bloom so she would have an easier morning.”

The alicorn looked at him and then at the tea, but seemed to not notice that Apple Bloom was right before her, staring at her with curiosity. The alicorn hadn’t fared well, aside from the obvious wounds, she was much thinner than before the Tear appeared and she looked even more tired than Applejack.

“Alright,” Twilight finally said, levitating the cup to her side as she moved towards the bed on the right and seated herself on it, yawning again. “But I do hope this works. I’m feeling a teensy bit tired. Only was awake for seventy-two hours, though.”

She took a sip and then another. Spike and Apple Bloom just watched. Then, after she finished, Twilight put the cup to ground, stretched herself a bit and yawned again.

“Maybe you should lean back for a moment, Twi?”

“Naah,” she said, making to stand up again. “I don’t want to sleep.”

“Don’t worry,” Spike spoke, running towards her and pushing her back on the bed. “I’ll wake you up if you doze off.”

“You will?” Twilight asked. “Because you didn’t the last time.”

He lifted his right hand. “Cross my heart, Twi.”

One more time she yawned and then nodded. “Well, one second can’t hurt, right?”

Both Spike and Apple Bloom gave an agreeing nod and Twilight fell back on the cushion. For a second the two children stared at the mighty princess of friendship in absolute silence, until they heard a soft snore erupt from her nose.

Spike made a small fist-pump, before he picked up the cup and went back to Apple Bloom.

“What’s in the tea?” She asked, keeping her voice to a whisper now.

He gave a giggle. “Nothing. She’s just tired and needs some rest. It’ll be better for her to get it now. You still want some tea, though?”

She shook her head, not quite trusting Spike with what he said. The dragon shrugged it off and turned back to Twilight. “Alright,” he whispered. “Can you do me favor, then and look whether Applejack is actually still able to handle knives? I think working on good faith alone might be pushing it.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Sure. What’ll you do?”

He sighed. “Get her bed ready and then I need to prepare myself for a stern talking-to.”

The filly gave a giggle and then moved towards the edge of the bed, trying to get off it. With the diaper, her legs being as unhelpful as ever and really just anything, she probably would’ve made a fool out of herself. Spike, gallant as he was, however, immediately came to help her by providing some aid. He also didn’t make any more comments about her derriere, so that was a plus point in her book, too.

With that, he left her to fend the stairs all by herself, getting to work on Twilight. As she climbed them, she got one last look at how he got the box out from under the bed. In a way, it was really good to know that she wasn’t the only one needing diapers.

Of course, it wasn’t just that. Twilight was a grown-up, and she hadn’t ever expected to see a grown-up needing to wear diapers to bed. In a way, that made her feel more confident about her situation, but she also wondered if, if Twilight had the same symptoms as she, could they also appear in Applejack?

Chapter 11: The Broken Sky

On some mornings, Applejack caught herself waking up not in the bed that was meant for her. Rather, she would often fall asleep sitting by Apple Bloom’s side. She watched her little sister, made sure she was fine. Spike rolled his eyes, of course, but Twilight didn’t say anything.

But Twilight hardly ever looked at her. On some days, Applejack could get a greeting out of her. On others, she was simply ignored. Spike told her that that was how Twilight acted nowadays. She was busy, he told her, always had to think about tomorrow.

Applejack felt bad, because between Twilight and Apple Bloom, she needed to be with her sister. Twilight would understand, Twilight had somepony to take care of herself.

On some mornings, Applejack caught Spike reading a book on the stairs that led up to Twilight’ room. That place was now separated with a blanket, much like the windows were all boarded up and all the doors were always closed. Even though that was that, when she first caught him like that, she sat down with him.

“Apple Bloom’s still sleeping,” she remembered herself telling him.

He looked up and said; “Don’t worry. She’ll wake up and she’ll be as good as new.”

“She’ll want to start with potty training then,” she told him with a heavy sigh.

His mouth twisted, but he didn’t say anything. Applejack could read many things out of the way he looked, but decided that these were complicated matters. He was too young to understand.

“What’re you reading there anyway?”

“I’m just checking. It’s a book I’m writing, about all the stuff we did before the world got messed up.”

The way he looked at the book, the sort of smile he bore as he told her these words, the glint in his eyes, these were all things Applejack remembered. She remembered, because she still hadn’t apologized. What she had told him had been insensitive.

He was as approachable as always, of course, but she had messed up herself.

Applejack remembered Twilight coming down on the third day, complaining to Spike that she needed some medicine. He argued that what she needed was sleep, so she got loud.

How bad a friend was she, that she just left them there. Instead Applejack went away from the cellar, up to the one room she spent her days in. There, she always just looked at the ceiling or at the door. Somedays she thought about what she’d do with Apple Bloom once she woke up, other times she stared at the door and hoped that anypony else would come.

But as she heard two friends fight below, she instead walked to the stairs and sat down, taking the book that Spike was writing.

The filly flipped to the first page, remembering her mother sitting down with her, teaching her the letters. How vivid the memories were, but maybe they weren’t hers. She’d sat down with Apple Bloom and taught her, after all. A mother and a daughter, an older and a younger sister, sometimes Applejack couldn’t see the difference.

She read the first words of the book out loud. “The first thing I think of, when I walk out of that door is how we first walked in, actually. The library was old and dusty. All I could think about was how much work was needed to be done, while Twilight wouldn’t shut up about Nightmare Moon. I hadn’t really liked Canterlot and I doubted I would come to like Ponyville. Still don’t know whether it’s good or bad that I was wrong.”

And from there came a recollection. Spike detailed how he searched diamonds with Rarity, only to be beset by Diamond Dogs. Then he talked about Nightmare Moon, Discord, his times as a pet-sitter.

It was a jumbled mess to read, but Applejack didn’t care, because she remembered a lot of the things he wrote about. Some differently, some just the way he described them.

It had made her uncomfortable, actually, because she didn’t want to look at her reflection anymore and she needed to be in the now, where Apple Bloom needed her.

“She’ll be fine,” Spike told her on the fourth day, as he put on his jacket and his glasses. “You want me to try to get you and her something from your farmhold?”

She shook her head. “It’s too dangerous to go.”

His answer was a shrug. “I don’t think anything’s too dangerous for a friend.”

His expression had many ways it could be interpreted, but Applejack just saw his eagerness to help and picked him up on it.

He came back by the time the sky turned dark. Thunder roared up in the sky and rain drummed ever so softly against the windows. She almost got worried, almost went up the stairs to talk to Twilight, but then the door was thrown open and the chance was gone.

Applejack remembered the fifth morning, when she woke up with her stomach hurting, sheets soaked with blood and urine. At first, she hadn’t noticed the latter had happened, but Spike was immediately there for her.

He did away with her sheets, turned the mattress around, put new ones on. Not once did she hear him grumble and when he was done he told her to lie back down.

“Don’t worry, Twilight’s made medication for the ingestion system. It’ll stop the bleeding.”

“Will it happen to Apple Bloom?”

Spike looked at her for a moment, smiling lightly at her concern. He shook his head. “No, she’ll be fine. So instead of worrying about her, you should just lie down and get some rest.”

She nodded and did as he told her. Later he came with the medicine. She drank it and hated the bitter taste. Her mother always liked to add a spoonful of sugar to sweeten most medicines, but Spike clearly wasn’t of the same school as her.

On that night, the cellar felt much cooler than ever before. Even beneath the sheets, Applejack felt the cold biting at her. Not quite sure how to deal with it, she simply curled up and looked to the side, where Apple Bloom slept.

“I’ll be fine,” she told herself. “I’m not even in pain.”

Her stomach kept her from falling asleep, however.

Barely keeping her eyes up, she noticed how Spike crept into his bed. He’d snuck down the stairs like he was a cat. So quiet, so gentle. Yet it got her attention that nopony else came as the night progressed. That made her worry, because another friend was still here. Even though they hardly ever talked.

As the clock struck midnight, Applejack decided to defy her stomach and rose from her bed, creeping up the stairs at a glacial pace.

Every step was pain, every step made her think she was in hell. The filly kept on going, ignoring her tummy as best as she could. Maybe Twilight was upstairs, in trouble, afraid to come. Applejack had been useless until that point, so she needed to be there for her.

Quietly, she opened the door and looked out into the library’s main room.

The alicorn’s short mane was a wild mess, her eyes had dark rings under them. She sat on the stairs, writing in Spike’s book and never looked up.

“Twi?”

There came no answer and so Applejack simply lay down by the stairs and tried to keep close to her friend. Twilight ignored her, as she always did and stayed in her own little reality. Applejack, however, finally went to sleep despite the pain.

On the sixth day, Spike made her sit down on the bed and gave her a stern talking-to. She felt strangely small and could offer no objection. After all, she was ill and needed to stay in bed to get better.

He left her in bed, telling her to stay there, promising to bring her an apple if she was good. So she tried to be.

That day she stared at the ceiling of the cellar and the end of the stairs. Boredom was a hard mistress, however. Soon, she rolled around in her bed and pretended to fight monsters, to sneak through dark tunnels, to be a kid hiding from her mother during a game.

“Applejack,” Twilight said, interrupting her.

Applejack remembered how Twilight looked at her the way the doctors at the hospital did. There was a distance between them, one that she was sure she couldn’t breach. Yet it had been five days already and this was their sixth. They needed to talk at some point.

“You look tired, Twi.”

“Hm. …”

“And your mane’s a mess. …”

“Hm. …”

As Twilight felt the brace, Applejack moved a hoof and touched her arm. “Twilight?” She asked and the alicorn looked up. “Why aren’t you talking to me?”

She blinked and then returned to make sure Applejack’s leg was alright. For a moment the filly feared the silence would come again, but Twilight opened her mouth and spoke words. “I’m sorry.”

And then the alicorn shook her head and let out a forced, sad laugh. “I’ve just got a lot going on. I mean, a lot has happened.”

The look in Twilight’s eyes could be interpreted as many things, but Applejack only saw how much she needed a friend to be with her.

“For me and Apple Bloom, too. She’s going to start with potty training once she wakes up,” she announced.

Of course, she was proud. Because she would help her little sister, because she was old enough to be the caretaker.

Twilight gave a half-hearted nod. “Yeah, Spike told me you had plans in that direction. I’d love to help, but I’ve still got a lot of work to do. You might’ve noticed that I’m mostly upstairs.”

That made Applejack wonder. “What’re you working on anyways, Twilight?”

She sighed, but then gave a playful shrug. “What do you think?”

Applejack rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out. The filly didn’t like quizzes like this, but since Twilight was a friend, she could humor her for a bit. So she thought. Twilight was a pony who mostly studied, so her work was probably related to that.

“School?” she asked.

Twilight grinned, then nodded. “Yes, you’re right. You got me on the first try. Is my life really nothing else to you?”

Applejack laughed. “I don’t know. You’re the type who overdoes it with homework.”

“Unlike you, huh?”

Now the filly blushed, felt her brain race for an answer. “I’m just not going because Apple Bloom needs me.”

“Well, Spike told me you’re not only here because of Apple Bloom, but also because you’re worried about Granny Smith.”

“He told you that?” Applejack asked, shocked.

Twilight shrugged. “It’s not really a problem, I like having other ponies around. And if you’re here. …”

Applejack remembered her pulling out the papers, smiling softly as she did so. With any other pony, that smile would’ve looked dishonest, but not with Twilight. She truly wanted to help Applejack catch up with her homework.

“We’ll all help each other,” Twilight had told her. “The sky and the world may be broken, but we stick together. No matter the cost.”

This morning, Applejack had woken shivering and wet. Twilight had told her that it was just a phase, Spike still insisted on getting her waist size for “stuff”. Winter was coming, she was getting ill and wet her bed.

The knife she held cut into the red, water spilled from the tomato and hit her legs. She’d always been a mucky foal, but she really did try to keep it orderly. This was another pony’s kitchen, after all.

A small generator stood atop the refrigerator, beaming with purple light. How it generated energy, Applejack didn’t understand and Spike had simply told her that it was “alicorn magic”.

It kept the food fresh, so she didn’t complain. Instead, she moved to it and got out water. It had a brownish tinge to it and bits of dirt floated around it. Nopony cared, this was the best they could get and it was drinkable.

Spike told her the quality of the food still was as good as it was, because he could still find some good things out there. Soon it would get colder and then no more food would be found.

“The best we can do is to enjoy it as we can,” he had told her.

She placed pieces of salad and tomatoes on the loafs of bread. It was a simple breakfast, but she knew that it would make the others happy, still. She almost felt inclined to make another bread for Apple Bloom.

There was always one loaf left over, however. It was always the one she made extra for her baby sister. Applejack wanted to do nothing more than doubt. She wanted to doubt that her sister was going to wake up, wanted to worry how she might able to cope if she didn’t.

She couldn’t, however, because the thought of doing that already felt like an abyss beckoning her closer to the edge. She didn’t want to know what lay past it. So instead, she focused on the bread and went for an extra loaf. It would be a leftover in the end, but that was then and now she wouldn’t worry.

“Thith,” came the noise from behind her.

It was nothing more than a horrible, badly enunciated word, but one she understood immediately. The knife fell down as Applejack immediately let it go and turned away from the breads she prepared.

And there stood Apple Bloom. She was tiny and haggard. Bandages covered her body, the diaper was soaked and the mane was a mess. Her little binky almost bounced forward and backward in her mouth. Almost immediately, Applejack felt a need overcoming her.

And Apple Bloom felt the same, stumbling forward like a newborn babe, a smile on her face. Applejack couldn’t just let her walk the entire distance, she needed to give her sister a hug. So she took the path towards the doorway. One step, two steps, three steps and then she threw her arms around her sister and lifted the little one up.

Applejack remembered her mother smiling and the smell of apple cider in the air, as she lifted her up just like this. It was a fleeting moment, a thought of safety, a dream of home. What it wasn’t was reality.

What was reality, however, was the faint smell of apples, hiding well behind any other odor. Applejack didn’t care for them, because she felt Apple Bloom’s tiny arms clinging to her again. What little strength she had, she seemed to use it as much as she could.

“We’re ‘ere,” she heard her whisper.

“Yeah,” she answered, her voice so small.

They lingered and then they parted, only to hug each other again. Apple Bloom laughed at that.

“Spike’s here, too,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, he brought me tea and put Twilight to sleep.”

Applejack smiled. “She probably needs a rest. I got a good one while you were asleep.”

“You look like it,” the little one answered, looking over Applejack’s shoulder. “Is it breakfast?”

“Yup. Bread and water. It’s better than it sounds, though.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure.”

Applejack couldn’t help but smile at that. Her sister was alive and seemed to be as cranky as before, which was a bigger plus than she might’ve imagined. “Well, it’s definitely sure. Just as sure as the fact that someone’s goin’ to get a change before breakfast.”

She wanted to make for the door, but Apple Bloom stopped her. “Wait!”

“What?”

“Uhm, it’s just. … I’m rather hungry,” she said, but looked like she was lying, maybe trying to cover something up. Applejack wondered what it was.

“You need help with the bread?” she asked nonetheless.

Apple Bloom blushed and gave a nod. Applejack looked to the door and then at her sister, but considering the diaper still looked like it would hold for a bit, she decided to indulge her sister.

She wanted to spend some time with her, after all. It had been a week since they’d last been together and just by way of looking at her, Applejack felt a bit happier, a bit less broken. As long as Apple Bloom was here, the rest of the world could turn onwards forever, she would be fine. They both would always be fine.

So she sat down with Apple Bloom and they began to break their fast, as messily as ever. It was quite different from eating alone, Applejack noticed. Apple Bloom really needed as much attention as possible. Every bite needed to be cut appropriately, given to her individually and then Applejack made sure she was chewing properly.

The filly had problems with the chewing part, but that was to be expected. During the week, Twilight had removed some of the teeth, said something about the rot becoming far too dangerous for the filly. There weren’t that many left and by the end of the year she might lose the rest.

One on hoof, that would mean Apple Bloom couldn’t really talk anymore, on the other it also meant that Applejack would be needed even more.

Looking at her sister eat, however, twisted her stomach. Why would she even think such dark thoughts? This was her sister, the one she sought to protect, not hurt. She needed to be there for her.

“You two seem to be liking the bread quiet a bit,” Spike noted as he entered the room and sat down opposite to the two of them. “You don’t mind if I join in?”

Both of them shook their heads and he gave a smile. “Awesome.”

Yet they huddled up closer together after a bit. It’d gotten colder and the library wasn’t really the most well heated place in Ponyville, that honor belonged to Cheerilee’s house. Since the three of them were at the former place right now, they decided that huddling up was the best solution for this problem.

It was a good breakfast, probably even because of that. For once in a long, long while, they were truly among friends again and nopony ever knocked on the door here. Everything was fine and for Applejack, the world was perfect.

Chapter 12: The Ashes Of A Time Gone Past

“A week,” Spike told her, his delivery completely deadpan.

As if this wasn’t bad news, as if this wasn’t horrible. She’d been knocked out for a week! A week. She opened her mouth, the pacifier once more falling out. Apple Bloom was glad to have it on a strap, because that meant she could put it back in immediately.

“But how could the temperature drop this quick?” She asked next, fiercely glad to have a blanket to wrap herself up in.

Spike shrugged, his eyes as dead as his expression was cold. One thing she’d quickly caught that, while he was clearly glad to have some company, a lot probably had happened on his and Twilight’s end. They’d been apart for months, after all.

Applejack still rummaged through the books, trying to find something “foal appropriate”. Apple Bloom would’ve liked to stop her, but it felt just good to have her older sister here and have her care. That was worth more than any true recognition of her maturity. Nonetheless, she found it apparent how Applejack moved with a limp, still. The gash was still covered with bandages and a brace, much like Twilight’s actually.

Apple Bloom didn’t know if she should ask how that’d come to be. It might disturb Spike, or Twilight, and she couldn’t risk either. They needed to stay here now, because if they stayed here, they could survive.

“There might be snow,” Spike said with a sigh.

“How could there be snow with no ponies to move the clouds?” Apple Bloom asked.

It sounded more like a “H’cult thaa’be shnow whit nuu pone t’ mov’ta claut,” and every word made her jaw feel a bit more jelly-like. It disturbed her how uncomfortable she was just moving her mouth.

Yet Spike, though he took a second to think about what she’d just said, answered to his best ability. “The clouds are all moving on their own anyway. I hope it’ll be a real winter, with lots of grey clouds and almost no clear skies.”

She nodded to that. A grey sky would mean that they could pull the curtains open and dare to glimpse outside without fear of repercussion. That was a nice thought, to not fear the sky, for just a week or so.

“Don’t you have any stories here, Spike?” Applejack asked loudly.

“Twilight took most novels up to her new laboratory,” Spike answered, his voice cold.

He sat on the stairs, his feet dangling from the side. Apple Bloom sat where her hooves could touch the ground. She hadn’t been able to get any reference before, but she was sure that she’d grown a bit since last time. That made her at least a bit of a happy pony.

“I’m not looking for novels,” Applejack answered with a grumble. “If ya don’t wanna help, just keep sittin’ there.”

“No need to tell me, I’m quite comfortable just sitting around.”

Applejack visibly rolled her eyes, Spike gave a little grin.

“What sorta books do you think she’s looking for anyway?” He then asked Apple Bloom.

It was a question she honestly didn’t want to answer. Applejack had brought her downstairs to change her after breakfast and Spike would obviously have noticed the fresh diaper covering her derriere. Still, she didn’t like the thought that he might see her more infantile than she truly was.

But she’d spend months fighting Applejack to keep some level of maturity and it all had ended with her donning some ridiculous garment and accepting her fate.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me something,” she answered.

He nodded. “Sure, whatever you wanna know.”

Her eyes looked past him, where a blanket shielded off Twilight’s space from the rest of the library. It was a blank, white wall without much to it at first glance. However, there was something strange about it. The moment Apple Bloom gazed at it, she felt the magic almost dripping off of it. Such a sensation, however, she had never felt before. Apple Bloom didn’t quite know what to make of it.

“You said Twilight would have a way to fix everything.”

He smiled. “We’re close to being done, she told me.”

“What does she intend to do?”

His hands were folded. They didn’t look like the tiny claws she knew, but sharper, more graceful. They were another part of him that had matured well despite, or because of their situation.

“I don’t know. All she told me was that she has a theory and right now she just wants to make sure it’s the right one. The sky’s the key, that much I know, but everything else is well beyond me. I try to get us from day to day, she tries to make sure we can make it well past that. That’s how we do it, no matter the cost.”

Apple Bloom understood what he meant. Until now, all she’d been thinking about was how to get from one day to the next, yet Applejack’s own situation had only worsened when they were alone.

He must’ve caught her look, because suddenly he patted her on the head. “Don’t worry, we’ll make it through all of this.”

She responded with a smile. They were here, everything would be fine.

“So, what book’s Applejack looking for?” he asked again.

Her smile vanished and she turned away from him with a blush. “A picture book,” she muttered under her breath, hoping he didn’t hear.

But he did. She knew from the moment where he didn’t inquire any further. The filly didn’t need to see his face or hear his voice to know, just the way he let his hand rest on her head told her all she needed to know. Not that she really minded. Well, of course she did mind that he knew, but the contact, not so much. His hand was warm while the air was cold.

She liked his warmth.

With that Applejack found a book she thought readable and walked over to the two of them. She picked Apple Bloom up and placed her close to herself on the floor. The sister’s leaned against each other as the older one opened a book about equine fables with wonderful drawings and large letters for those who could not yet read. As Applejack began to read, Apple Bloom tried listening attentively.

A good book was always nice, so it was sad that this one quickly began to bore her. At least until the point where Spike jumped from the stairs.

“Mind if I sit with you?” he asked.

“Sure,” Applejack said and he, too, crawled beneath the blanket.

“Hey,” Apple Bloom complained meekly as she felt his tail bump against her behind.

“There’s enough space beneath here for the two of us,” he responded.

Applejack giggled, he rolled his eyes and then leaned back as she started again. Apple Bloom, strangely enough, couldn’t quite concentrate as much on the story anymore. It might’ve been because it was boring her, or because she was very much aware that Spike seemed to be slightly taller than her when they both sat. It was hard to not be aware of him, really, and she wondered how ridiculous he thought she looked.

Or maybe he didn’t care, or even thought it cute.

Apple Bloom caught herself for a moment and wondered why SHE cared, then quickly decided that it was just her being weird and then went back to listening to the story. It was a bit uncomfortable and maybe a bit warm, but it wasn’t too bad, either. She kinda liked being near him, anyway.

How long they then spent with the book, Apple Bloom couldn’t tell. She fell asleep halfway through, only to be woken by a door slamming open and Twilight running past them, screaming curses and foul words in Spike’s general direction. The alicorn halted for a moment before them,her eyes alit with fury, and then quickly stormed upstairs.

Spike looked at the single clock in the room, nodding to himself. “Well, that was close to four hours. Quite a lot, by her standards.” He rose up. “Well, I’ll go make her some coffee, don’t want her to get mad.”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “Wasn’t she mad just now?”

Apple Bloom looked up and him, not quite sure what had happened. She hadn’t even caught anything Twilight had said. So she just groggily rubbed her eyes and quietly wondered why.

“A bit,” Spike answered, dry as always, stepping towards the kitchen.

Applejack lifted a hoof up to get his attention, however. “Oh, how ‘bout I make her a coffee. She seemed mad at you, so she might like it more if I do it!”

Spike wanted to say something, but put a finger on his lips, as if that would hinder him from saying something wrong. Instead, he opted to inspect Applejack. What for, Apple Bloom couldn’t tell, but he seemed to come to a satisfying conclusion.

“Well, alright. I’ve got things to clean up in the bedroom now, anyway. Thanks, Applejack,” he said and turned around immediately.

Applejack was more careful as she stood up, gently patting Apple Bloom on the head. “I’ll be back in a bit, just need to make sure auntie Twi has a good start into her day, too.”

An absent minded nod was all she got for an answer, but she eagerly left Apple Bloom nonetheless. So the filly was left by herself in the main room of the library. It took her a moment to grasp what had just happened and even then she just stared at the book Applejack had put down.

Apparently, everypony had just left her for Twilight’s sake. It took a moment but then she managed to sort out her feelings. Apple Bloom was insulted. Not to the point where she was angered, but a mild feeling of annoyance spread throughout her mind like a drop of oil in water. The filly shook her head and looked to the kitchen and then up the stairs.

And then she also looked to the open door that led to the cellar, where Spike was. She could go there and spend a few moments alone with him … cleaning up.

Why do I not want to help him with that? Apple Bloom thought to herself, sarcastically.

She knew exactly why she didn’t want to help him with that. She knew what he knew he needed to clean up and it wasn’t the sort of thing she wanted to do. Actually, right now, she had enough problems with her own messes, she didn’t need anypony else’s.

So, what should she do? The only other thing that came to mind was up the stairs. Twilight was awake, Twilight could tell her what she would do to save everything. Apple Bloom was intrigued by the idea that everything could be fixed.

Anything to get Applejack out of that hole she was in and to get herself out of wearing any sort of foalish attire. That was a good goal to have and so she quietly stood up and tried to get up the stairs.

That was, of course, more easily said than done, but she struggled bravely onwards. It took mere minutes until she’d reached the end, but it did at least make her appreciate the concept of inclusive design. With the staircase vanquished, however, what remained were the hallowed halls of Twilight’s laboratory.

Or a white blanket covering the tiny room that had once held Twilight’s and Spike’s bed and little else. Really, it was just a matter of perspective, Apple Bloom figured. It was also not of any consequence whatsoever, as traversing beyond the veil was, compared to climbing the stairs, easier done than said.

All it took was for her to push past the soft cotton to enter a space that looked utterly different from what the outside might have suggested. Apple Bloom held still once she was past the blanket and just stared at the place.

It was darker than the main room or the kitchen, as the only lights were produced by balls of light that just floated in the air and colored everything here in a light indigo hue. The window was covered up with a blanket. It had stars, the sun and the moon on it, but also let no light through. Just like the blanket did.

Apple Bloom did not need to wonder why, as the strange runes glittering on the white were everything she needed to figure out the reason. Twilight had probably cast these runes to keep sound and light out of here, away from her work.

This place looked like Twilight worked here now. There stood a chalkboard, full of notes that Apple Bloom couldn’t make out in the dark. The shelves were filled with books all containing information about magical rituals, the nature of the sun. Apple Bloom even recognised the binding of a history book they had used back in school.

The floor was littered with notes and papers. Most of the work seemed to be done on the floor. Twilight probably had given up on proper studying techniques and did most of her stuff lying down.

Twilight sat in a corner, scribbling notes down while levitating some scissors to do her hair. It was pretty clear that her mane wasn’t the current focus, which also explained why it looked so horrid, and short.

The alicorn mumbled words to herself, words that were meaningless to Apple Bloom.

“Transfigurate … Incinerate … Converge … Ascent … Theocracy … Coffein.”

They really were just words, Apple Bloom noted after a moment of thinking about it. She was used to so much madness that she could see that Twilight just told herself complicated words to keep her mind off the world outside.

Apple Bloom stepped forward, the crinkle more audible than it was even outside. It made the filly cringe and even Twilight’s ears perked up.

She scrunched her nose with annoyance.

“Spike, if this is about the bedwetting, I told you that we don’t need those disposable ones. The quality is lacking and we can’t afford to go out every few nights to get more. The cloth ones will suffice and washing them can’t be that hard. You were taught to be disgusted, so discard that train–”

She looked up.

Apple Bloom looked right back at her.

The scissors snipped a bit too much away from Twilight’s bangs, at least on the right half.

And then the realisation of what just transpired seemed to hit Twilight as she visibly tried to melt into the wall. Her mouth stayed open, as her brain seemed to figure out what words to say next, but nothing came. Instead, the two of them just stood there in awkward silence.

Apple Bloom’s head didn’t do any better. She was quite sure, with the secrecy Spike had whipped up around Twilight’s bedwetting that she’d wanted to keep it that way. Now, however, the secret was ruined. Now, Apple Bloom was officially involved. The filly knew that the next words counted the most.

Which is why the sound she made sounded something like “Phoi”, which was absolutely not the kind of noise she’d wanted to go for. Yet there it was and it pierced the silence in a way far worse than Apple Bloom’s own diaper did before.

And the awkward silence continued after that, as Twilight tried to look around for some way out. There was the window, of course, but right now, that wasn’t really a viable option. The blanket neither, because it only led down, which would mean she needed to confront the person she’d just hurled insults at.

Clearly, Twilight was hit by every single ramification of what she’d done until this point. All her life’s choices led to this moment and everything she’d lived for would find its pinnacle in the very next sentence she said.

And the topic would be a defense concerning bedwetting. Somehow that lessened the tension dramatically.

So the two remained in utter silence, until Apple Bloom managed to break it by admitting; “I already knew.”

Which led to Twilight tilting her head a little.

“About your bedwetting I mean. Spike told me about it,” Apple Bloom quickly followed up, earning a confused look. “He told me to cheer me up!” she said, tears in her eyes.

Twilight squinted her remaining eye, which Apple Bloom took as a clear sign that she was mad. Of course she was, Apple Bloom had just dug the finest hole for herself and Spike to join in later.

“Please don’t be mad,” she said, slower, hoping to calm Twilight down.

“I didn’t understand a word you just said,” was the answer that came.

And Apple Bloom, for the first time, felt relieved about the binky and the rot in her mouth. Only for a moment, though. So she smiled at Twilight, hoping that the tension wouldn’t suddenly rise again.

“But I assume you figured it out yourself. Applejack also started displaying Stage 2 symptoms, after all. It wouldn’t take much for anypony to figure out that a growing incontinence is a sign of the body readying itself for its new purpose,” the alicorn explained coldly.

And Apple Bloom smiled at her for a moment longer. And then she asked, “What?”

Twilight ignored her, eyes transfixed on the notes before her. “I mean, you probably also figured out that that meant that the symptoms were growing stronger, too. The hunger, the song from the sky, the whispers of Them. I’m calling the monsters Them now. Haven’t gotten a proper name. Zombies seemed tacky, also inappropriate. Flameos was Spike’s suggestion, but that sounds even worse. They, Them, is appropriate. Also, because they do not appear to have the same gender as the creatures they occupy.”

Apple Bloom smiled, of course she did. Twilight just rambled on about possession, magic and monsters. She was completely enthralled by her own speech. Meanwhile, the filly just stood there, a bit happy that they’d gone away from the awkwardness.

“Twilight?” she asked.

The alicorn looked up. “Apple Bloom?”

“I–”

Before she could say anything was the moment Twilight rose up. The filly noticed a pacifier hanging from her neck, glimmering with strange magic.

“What are you doing in here? I’m working,” the alicorn said sternly.

“I,” Apple Bloom said and then just ended up stuttering meaningless drivel.

That didn’t make Twilight much happier and she stepped closer to Apple Bloom, visibly angry.

And then somepony else entered the space, as Applejack carried a tablet with coffee and cups into the room.

“Hey, Twi,” she said, smiling at her friend.

Then she also looked at Apple Bloom. “Wanted to be with your auntie, huh?”

“Auntie?” Twilight asked, suspiciously eyeing the youngest filly in the room.

But before she could answer, Applejack put the coffee down in the middle of the room and sat down. “Anyway, I brought us coffee,” she said, gesturing both of them to sit down with her.

Apple Bloom took the chance, moving quickly towards her sister and making herself comfortable. Twilight just looked at the two of them, however, eye twitching.

Then, she sighed. “I need to get some work done, so what do you want?”

“To give you coffee so that you can get some work done,” Applejack answered smartly.

Apple Bloom noticed however, that she both sounded and looked like a dog waiting for a treat. She didn’t quite get why, but at least Applejack seemed happy and this way she could get some information out of Twilight, too.

The alicorn groaned. “Yeah, why’re you staying, though?”

“I dunno,” Applejack answered, looking around. “Is this all for the school project you’re working on?”

“Yes. It’s–”

Applejack turned to the chalkboard. “Is that a picture of a pegasus?”

Apple Bloom turned, too. Now the light was better and she could see what exactly was on the board. Amidst calculations she didn’t understand was a drawing. A crude map and in the middle of it was the picture of a pegasus.

Twilight looked at it, too. “It’s for a spell,” she said, turning towards it.

“What sort of spell?” asked Apple Bloom, knowing that this might be the solution.

“You want to know?”

Applejack nodded, trying to look a bit more important than she was for this conversation.

Twilight rolled her eyes and walked over. “Okay, here’s the thing. Imagine the world to be broken, Applejack, Apple Bloom. Imagine everypony outside gone. When you’re done with that, imagine me finding out that it was done by a single pony. I don’t know who or why. I know that it happened in Canterlot and I know I’m going to. …”

She visibly stiffened and bit her lip.

“I’m going to do violent things for them once I’m done with this. But that’s not important. Either way: The world is broken, it was done by a pony and that pony managed to break the sky and reality itself by destroying the sun. It’s more complicated than that, but also irrelevant. What is relevant is that this spell here, takes five places of Ponyville to create a circle Spike helped me draw out. I made it with the library at the center and Carousel Boutique as main focal point.”

The sisters stared at her, not quite getting what she was talking about. To Apple Bloom, it just sounded like rambling. Well, for the most part. At least she now knew that the apocalypse was pony-made. Wonderful, she thought.

Also, she noticed how Twilight bit her lip again as she mentioned the boutique.

But then her look changed and suddenly Twilight started to smile. “You two didn’t get a word of what I just said, did you?”

Apple Bloom truthfully nodded, Applejack just looked away.

“Well, how about, to make it more visually appealing, we try the central thing of all of this,” the alicorn said, pointing at the horrible drawing of a pegasus in the middle.

“What do you mean?” Applejack said.

There was something unsettling about Twilight’s smile. Apple Bloom chalked it up to the lack of sleep and the general horribleness of the alicorn’s current look, but she was still creeped out.

“I’m saying that I want to play a game of Catch the Pegasus with you two. I think we can actually do it now.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Why?”

“Why?” Twilight laughed. “It’s complicated, again, but I need a piece of her to make all of this work. When we got that piece, we’re basically going to activate this ritual and reverse whatever happened to the sky and everypony. Hypothetically, I mean.”

And there it was, Apple Bloom realized. Applejack didn’t, she just looked at Apple Bloom whether she would think this to be a fun game, but it wasn’t. Twilight had done it, she’d figured out how to save everypony, how to make the old world come back.

Applejack took that look of excitement on her face as consent and turned back to Twilight.

“Well, which pegasus would ya want to capture?”

Twilight nodded. “Good question, easy question. From the beginning, I only had one pony in mind to help us with this. Our most loyal friend, Rainbow Dash.”

Chapter 14: The Fires Of Ponyville

It was a grey, desolate morning and the first in a long while Apple Bloom witnessed without curtains to obscure it. She’d been up early, though not as early as Applejack. Her sister slept shorter and shorter, her smiles got a more pained look to them as time went on. The mare didn’t notice it herself, but Apple Bloom did.

She gazed at the outside world and saw how much it’d changed. Ponyville looked like a ghost town, with the monsters all still asleep. No fire burned, no pony walked the streets. Empty houses and lonesome ruins in between. Above it all, clouds of a dark grey were carried forward by an unnatural, chaotic wind.

They were like a bandage, with the blood of the wound they sought to conceal seeping through. It looked like the gash on Applejack’s leg, but so much more worse. A bright shine, like the sun’s light tried to fight through the layers hiding it away. A red, horrible Tear in the middle of their beautiful sky. She heard it hum a ghostly melody and felt a fire start within her. It felt so warm, so welcoming, as if it wanted to goad her back to sleep.

Apple Bloom didn’t, though. Instead she looked as the clouds moved towards an unknown direction. She couldn’t follow them, but her eyes could follow the light. It went in what came close to a line, reaching all the way from one end of the horizon to the other. And the end she was looking at was where Canterlot stood. Sadly, it was obscured by the morning mists, or maybe luckily. The filly wasn’t quite so sure herself.

Twilight said that it all came from Canterlot. That’s why Princess Celestia and Luna were gone, but what had happened still eluded them and Twilight herself didn’t seem to care. Her mind was focused on one thing, though she did appear to meals more often now, to chat with Applejack.

Applejack, who’d grown into a more worrisome state as time progressed. They were running out of it and if there was one pony where it was especially visible, it had to be Apple Bloom’s sister. She clung to the bandana in the dark of the night, whispering words to herself. Apple Bloom had noticed after a while that they were song lyrics and then, that they belonged to the sky.

The flames would appear soon enough and then her sister would be gone. She felt a bitter taste in her mouth. Bile, blood and strawberries.

At least she didn’t have that much time left, either.

Behind her, Twilight quietly moved across the room, finishing some sort of ritual circle by carving runes into the wooden floor. Yesterday she’d asked Applejack and Spike to take all the books downstairs. Apple Bloom had slept between the works of a large variety of equestrian philosophers, which had been kind of nice. In a egghead sort of way.

It was all for a greater purpose, she knew. She turned around and looked at the one-eyed alicorn draw her lines, notepad floating by her side. Each movement with the knife was carefully articulated, of course it was. Twilight was a pony who knew many things, but the one thing where nopony could best her at was magic. This spell she was preparing would work, of that Apple Bloom had no doubt.

What she did doubt was that it would go smoothly.

Sometimes, when she turned around at the wrong time, she saw the wards outside flicker. Sometimes, when she looked at the wrong moment, she caught a glimpse of Spike nervously gazing outside, watching for strange movements. Sometimes, yes, only sometimes, but it was enough.

Time was flowing ever on. She and Applejack hadn’t spent all that much time here, yet it seemed like their journey might find a happier end than she originally thought. Surviving just from one day to the next would pay off. Wearing these stupid diapers, indulging her sister’s make believe, everything would pay off and they could return to their normal lives.

Apple Bloom stared at the symbols on the ground. They made no sense to her, of course, but they were her hope that she might soon get her body back in shape. Not just hers, Scoot’s and Sweetie’s, too. They’d all be together again.

Everypony would be fine.

She tasted blood and bile, needed to make a conscious effort to taste the strawberry taste the rubber left behind. It made her cautious, though she wanted to be optimistic. If her days as a Cutie Mark Crusader had taught her anything, then it was that nothing ever went according to plan.

“Twilight?” she asked.

“Hm?” came the lazy answer of a unicorn who wasn’t really listening to her babbling.

“What’ll this ritual do?”

“Save us.”

“But how?”

“You’ll see.”

The tip of the knife scratched the wood, the sound filling the air. The old wood of the library endured every cut with stoic indignation, if wood was able to feel anyhow. There would be no further elaboration, Apple Bloom understood. She looked down to the floor, wondering what would be.

Twilight looked up for one moment, continued on, sighed and then looked up again. “It’ll bring everything back. It’s all a bit complicated, Apple Bloom, but, it’ll work. Look me in the eyes.”

Apple Bloom looked at her. Her face was as much a victim to the rot as Apple Bloom’s own, though she kept the pacifier out more often than the filly did. The horrible cut, short mane didn’t do the once so diligent princess any favors either. Yet her confident smile should’ve at least inspired the filly to believe.

Two eyes, like amethysts, looked at Apple Bloom, they were cold, distant and dead. They weren’t the same eyes she remembered, the ones that always glimmered with curiosity, had a laughter of their own in them. They were eyes of a pony who didn’t care if she succeeded, a pony who’d given up long ago.

They were eyes she’d seen in a reflection of herself, somewhere far away, where she’d also seen golden scales and water shattering like glass.

“I’m going to save Equestria. No matter the cost.”

There the words were again. She’d heard them before, both out of Spike’s mouth and Twilight’s. They never sounded like a promise to the person they were talking to, however. No, they were a statement.

Large magic couldn’t come without a cost, after all. And without the Elements of Harmony, without the strength of the sun above, what was left to give the powers to save them all?

“Don’t,” she muttered half-heartedly.

Twilight probably didn’t hear her and just continued her work. She’ll sacrifice herself for all of us and I don’t even want to stop her, Apple Bloom thought, eyes transfixed on the old pony that had once only arrived in this town and walked right into an Apple Family Reunion.

She wouldn’t be there for reunions to come and she knew it. The detached, mechanical way Twilight’s arms moved, the off-hand glances at the notebook, she knew what she was going to do. Still, Apple Bloom wondered what she was thinking, what Spike was thinking?

Blood and bile, most of her teeth were gone and she knew that time was running thin. Should she try to talk to him, could she even do anything? The filly didn’t know and really wanted to leave it at that. To be so young that she couldn’t see the eyes, to be so young to be ignorant of what was the apparent truth.

The sky was humming a melody, and creatures of ash and hell’s flame came out of their houses, eyes looking at the Tear. Apple Bloom turned to look at them, how they howled and how they wept.

Her head hurt, she thought to remember a voice. “Help,” it said.

“Is it really so painful?” Apple Bloom wondered aloud.

The transformation was hell, she knew that, but how did they feel once it was done. She’d never gotten a good look at them, but now that she saw them, they hardly even looked like ponies, most of them anyways. They blackish-grey husks of ash and bone, kept alive with a fire that gleamed like it kept the deepest parts of Tartarus alit.

“I theorize that between stages four and five of the turning, all the nerves get b–I mean,” Twilight groaned as she thought about how to rephrase that. “Well, at a certain point they’re just happy, little, flamey ponies.”

“Which is why we should totally call them flameos!” Spike yelled from the kitchen.

Twilight groaned, Apple Bloom giggled slightly. That earned her a pair of rolling eyes and then everything went quiet again. Twilight was too busy to banter, as it seemed. This was important, Apple Bloom knew, but she kind of wanted to keep talking. Looking at the circle made her stomach turn.

How could Twilight look so detached when she worked on the very thing that would kill her? Was that what it meant to be the Princess of Friendship?

Apple Bloom could only wonder, because she was sure that asking questions would yield her no answers. Twilight hardly saw her as an equal, only ever talked to Applejack. So all the filly could do was look at them gather around the library.

What? she asked as she looked at how more and more ponies moved towards the library, forming a circle around it. “Twilight, I think we might have a problem.”

No answer came, only more scratching.

“Twilight?” Apple Bloom said again. “Spike? Sis? Anypony?”

Upon hearing her name Applejack immediately stormed to her sister’s side. “What’cha need?” she asked, hugging her sister in utter ignorance of any personal space, as always.

Yet Apple Bloom only stared at the ponies outside, feeling a shiver run down her spine. Their heads made them look like they stared at the library, though the absence of eyes made it hard to tell.

They kept their distance, but the wards flickered and would soon disappear.

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said coldly, lifting the knife into the air and staring at the dulled blade with a sigh. “I’m done.”

Apple Bloom and Applejack turned around. “Done with what?” the older one asked.

Spike looked out of the kitchen. “What’re you all on about? I’m making breakfast,” he said with annoyance dominating his tone.

Yet Twilight gave nothing but a shrug. “I said I’m done, so we skip breakfast today.”

“What do you mean, you’re done?” The dragon asked, looking at the ground. “Wait … You’re done? But I thought it’d take more time for the stars to align and–”

“The sky is a broken window, there’s literally no planets left that could align. So yes, I’m done with my part and you did yours over the last few months, too, right?” Twilight asked, annoyed.

She looked at Spike, drumming her hoof on the ground, a sign he noticed, so he gave a meek nod. Then he looked at Apple Bloom and Applejack. The look he gave them told Apple Bloom all she needed to know. Whatever this magic ritual would cost, he knew and thought they didn’t.

“Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked nervously, hoping to talk some sense into the alicorn.

“Applejack, I want to play a game,” the alicorn said, ignoring the filly. “Can you step on the large sun on the left and put Apple Bloom on the moon to the right of me?”

Twilight herself moved towards a star shaped symbol that was placed along the circle. It and the other stellar symbols were all covered with rune circles of their own, which were surrounded by even smaller circles. It looked a complicated affair, but Applejack picked up her sister ignoring that.

At least she did eye the circle suspiciously. “What’re you gonna do?”

Twilight smiled mischievously at her. “Step one is to summon a pegasus to my dear library. It’ll be a magic show that would give Trixie a run for her bits.”

Putting Apple Bloom on one symbol and then sitting down on the other, Applejack wondered what that meant. “So, you’re gonna show us somethin’ amazing then?”

Twilight’s smile lessened. “Yes,” she said, looking up at the ceiling.

Apple Bloom could feel a chill and turned to the window. There always was a faint light coming from the wards placed around the library, yet it was gone and she saw Them approaching. She felt the fire within her, the taste vanish in her mouth. Flame called to her and flesh would become ash soon enough. A voice was calling to her from the distance.

Spike stood at the side, unsure what to do. “Twilight, uhm.”

“I’m sorry, Spike, just get to the cellar, you’re safe there,” Twilight answered.

He nodded and went to the cellar door, opening it. There he hesitated and looked at Twilight again, a tear in his eye, but then he turned to look her straight in the eyes. His were green like smaragds.

“Apple Bloom,” he announced loudly.

“Y-yeah?”

“Don’t take this as an insult: I think you’re cute in that diaper, your mane looks really awesome without a bow and … I loved spending these last days with you.”

She nodded, Applejack looked from the dragon to her sister, unsure what was going on.

Knock

Apple Bloom saw her sister’s eyes widen as she heard the horrible, horrible noise, and she herself cowered as it echoed through the room. Not Twilight, though. As one door shut, she opened another, one in her mind and from within her, a light appeared.

She spread her wings, rotten and broken they were. A feather fell to the ground, but she didn’t care, instead the one-eyed alicorn closed her remaining eye and lifted her arms into the sky. An energy enveloped her, light the shades of blue and violet and golden, like specks of an ever changing sky.

“Apple Bloom, Applejack,” she said to them, opening her eye one last time. It glittered like gold and both earth ponies looked back at her. “I want you to know. All of this will be remembered once the sun rises again.”

And then, for a split-second, the circle went up in the sun’s light.

Apple Bloom closed her eyes immediately, feeling a flame wash over her with a might she had never known before. It was a searing blaze that felt like it turned her coat to char, but still it held a familiar warmth, like she was standing in Celestia’s presence.

And then she heard the explosion, the wild sound of wood being torn apart, the screeching of beasts torn apart, limb by limb. For but the briefest part of a second, Apple Bloom felt like she stood in the epicenter of an expanding sun, with a heat gnawing at her that was worse than any pain she’d felt until now.

She screamed against the blaze, but in all the chaos around her, it was a mere whisper in the wind.

And then Apple Bloom opened her eyes again. She found herself lying on the ground, the circle around her glowing. Magical chains extended from it, covering her body and weighing her down. They felt hot against her coat, which she found to be miraculously okay. So her eyes turned to Applejack, who was chained down in a similar manner, but still held her eyes closed, mumbling words to herself that Apple Bloom couldn’t hear.

So she turned to Twilight, who was floating and looked forward, eyes dead but determined. Apple Bloom wondered what she was looking at and then dared to turn her head again.

Around them, the library was a burning wreckage. No, Ponyville was. Every house was set ablaze and the ashes of the ponies that had come to the library scattered in the wind. Not only that, but the filly spotted lines of pure magic dragging across the ground, six of them total, and rays of light erupting and their ends.

Apple Bloom stared this magnificent sight, her jaw hurting, the pacifier lay on the ground before her.

“What is this?” she asked, blackened blood dripping from her mouth.

But Twilight ignored her, her eyes scanning the sky. Then she said the words, an eerie smile on her face, “there you are.”

Apple Bloom looked to the sky, where a rainbow trail mixed in with smoke and flame. The pegasus’ wings beat against the wind as she hurled herself towards the newfound prey. Twilight moved her hooves and her horn glowed with a strong light as she conjured up magic circles in the air, all around the one they stood by.

“Come on, come on,” Twilight muttered, her eye reddening and blood dripping from her nose.

And then Rainbow Dash was before her, fast as a rocket, jaws stretched out, ready to take a bit, suddenly she wasn’t even a single meter away from Twilight. Yet she wasn’t fast enough, as suddenly, a force grabbed hold onto her and smacked her against the ground in the middle of the main circle.

Twilight immediately clapped her hooves together and the magic lit up again. Apple Bloom could feel it in the air, how the heat gathered. She knew what Twilight wanted to do and all she could was stare at her and ask: “Why?”

The alicorn mumbled a few words and with a flash, a small vial appeared before her, filled with ash.

“It’s complicated,” she said, “but Rainbow Dash was special amongst Them. For the longest of times, she came to my door, begging for help, screaming my name. Nopony else did that. There was always a part remaining in her.”

“Twilight. …” The beast begged, looking up from the ground, its wings shattering under the pressure of the alicorn’s magic.

“Yeah,” Twilight answered bluntly. “Loyalty, I guess, but that’s not Rainbow Dash anymore. A part is, her essence is still there. With the sky in ruins, Princess Celestia gone, though, it can still be of use.”

Now she turned to Apple Bloom. “I don’t expect you to understand,” she open vial and let the ashes spill out. “But this is the essence of a unicorn. When I burned her, I made the decision to save everypony else, no matter the cost. Which I will. In a moment, you, Dashie here, and Applejack will all turn to ashes to and with the power I took from everypony else, I can become more than an alicorn. I can become a god.”

Apple Bloom stared at her, as Twilight just smiled back with an expression of what Apple Bloom presumed to be complete insanity. “This is stupid!” the filly cried, tears in her eyes. “We’re your friends.”

“Yes and this is why you will be remembered. I will make sure a new Equestria rises from the ashes of this one and all that survive will build it on the foundations we laid out.”

Twilight took a breath, spreading her arms again, the sun’s light flowing from her, coating her in a resplendent aura. “This is the end now, Apple Bloom. I will always remember your sacrifice today, know that and. …”

She clapped her hands together.

“Sleep well.”

The flames broke forth, Apple Bloom closed her eyes.

Chapter 15: The Ashen God

The clouds split as the light burst forth from the heart of a small town. Applejack’s eyes turned upwards as Twilight’s hooves met one more time and she saw the sky above and the Tear that broke the world.

Its color was a red so deep and unnatural, it was a tone Applejack was sure her eyes shouldn’t be able to see. It lit up in a pulsing motion and the light ran through the cracks in the sky. Around the Tear it looked like broken glass. Shards of stars and sunlight lay between empty patches of a sky that would never be again. She’d always been too scared to look at it, but now she didn’t understand why.

As the shards glittered with the luminescence of an amaranthine cycle, Applejack thought of the days that had gone past, the stories she witnessed here and there and how utterly pointless they all seemed. They were delusions, soon to be pulverized by the blaze within her. The circle around her lit up with unholy magic, the clap of hooves echoed in her ears and she felt it burn in her heart.

The hunger was coming to her and with a beating rhythm, the heart of the Tear began to sing to her. She heard the melody and the voice in the distant. It was familiar, so very familiar, but she didn’t dare to remember why.

If you remember, you will lose Apple Bloom, she thought and closed her eyes.

The incandescent blaze swallowed her without giving her another second to think and for one part of it, she felt the heat against her skin. It turned her coat to ash and made all other pain fade away. She felt an agony, a hurting, but it was only for one split part of a long second.

Legs without pain, jaw so still, heartbeat steady. For the second part of the first second, Applejack felt overcome with bliss. She realised it as the flames ate her; this was the very thing she’d wished for.

Just one more second and there would be nothing to run from anymore. She’d hurt her friends, betrayed her family, lied to her sister and abandoned the few things everypony had left behind. Applejack knew that, she knew that this was fated to be. There was no more reason to stay. None at all.

She could die now.

If you think like that, you will lose Apple Bloom, she thought as the distant melody closed in.

The torn sky was out of sight now. With her eyes closed it was dark, as if clouds obscured the sun and eclipsed every remnant of every star. Not a single ray managed to pierce them. Yet it burned.

The heat of a vengeful spell, the scorching flames charring her flesh and bones, that was all that remained to her within the darkness.

Even though she couldn’t make out anything anymore, her ears betrayed her at the very end and she could hear the song grow louder and louder. Was this what everypony heard as they went to sleep? Was this the very sound that beckoned them to accept the fire?

If so, then Applejack would accept it as well. Yes, she thought as she let the heat take all the pain from her. This is it.

Seconds before the fire she hadn’t comprehended what was happening, somepony had screamed, somepony else had laughed and talked and now all things were ablaze. Whatever else had happened, whatever else had seemed important was gone now.

This was really it, there was no reason to linger.

Accepting her fate, Applejack opened her eyes to a silhouette standing against the light of a new sun. Even though the filly couldn’t make out to whom it belonged, she understood well enough that somepony was there, watching out for her, even after all this time.

“Mom?” she asked.

And then she saw two arms extending, as if to hug the filly, the foal, the brave daughter who’d held out for so many years. For a moment, she wanted it to be true, for a moment she wanted someone to come for her, to end it, this old blues of hers.

It was that very moment, where she lay there, when she thought of Apple Bloom again. The filly was still by her side, even though she was probably hurting. Yet, when Applejack tried to listen, there only was the sky’s song. The world was on fire and she felt herself no more. Every sense had left her body and all that remained was the glaring light she saw and the song that beckoned her to look up.

Yet she couldn’t, not if she’d honestly promised to protect Apple Bloom. For a moment she opened her mouth and her tongue hit the dry back of her melting teeth. She wanted to call out, to make sure Apple Bloom was still there, but she couldn’t say anything anymore.

Every sight was the light, every taste was the ash, every smell was the fire, every feeling was the hunger and every sound was the song. Nothing else remained, she realized, nothing but one tiny thing atop an old hill with a rotten apple tree.

“What’s her name?” Somepony in the depth of her mind asked somepony else.

“Should we go with one more Apple name? That’d make your granny proud,” the stallion said, grinning as if he’d just told a great joke.

“How about something floral, dear. You always wanted one of your children to have a flowery name,” the mare answered mimicking his smile.

How about Apple Bloom, a filly said in a hallucination, her smile wide as she looked as the yellow little thing with the deep red hair. The words left her mouth and her mother agreed as she drew her last breath.

It wasn’t how it had happened, Applejack knew, but that didn’t matter. She had given the filly the name, had spent every day of her life with her, had protected her from everything she could.

A voice sang to her, words started to form from the gibberish, but Applejack decided not to listen to them. She had something else to care about.

Her legs moved on their own.

“Don’t,” someone said.

It didn’t matter, not really. She rose, even though there was only light. She rose, even though she only felt a hunger remain. Fire, ashes, chains that dug into her, all those things she perceived on the farthest edges of herself. Yet there was nothing that could possibly stop her.

“Apple,” she said. “Bloom.”

“Don’t,” someone said, trying to discourage her.

But some other voice, in the back of her head told her that there was more.

“Don’t,” someone said.

Give up.

And she moved from her place, screeching with a fury she did not feel to be her own. But to whom it belonged, she couldn’t tell. Her body, however, didn’t stop, instead it tried to step forward, even as the flames took her left leg.

She didn’t feel a thing, because there was only hunger. Applejack needed to look for her sister, for the little foal was helpless without her. Apple Bloom needed someone to protect her and Applejack needed to feed.

She knew she’d probably fallen, but she couldn’t really tell anymore. Where was she? Applejack tried to remember, thinking of Twilight’s library, but it didn’t help. Someone was screaming, using her voice, for help, for food, for someone to take them home. It wasn’t her, though. Applejack knew that because she didn’t say anything, because there was only light left and she was nowhere.

Wanting to look around, the filly tried to turn her head, but it did not budge anymore. Wanting to say something, she wanted to use her mouth, but somepony else was screaming already.

The filly didn’t know what was going on. The library? Apple Bloom? Why was this happening? Where was Granny? Where was Big Macintosh? Braeburn? Where were her mother and father gone?

She tried to remember, tried to close her eyes, but she remained in the scorching light. Her eyes hurt, but she couldn’t close them. Not just that, as the seconds passed she felt the fire grow within her more and more, rising higher and higher. Her mouth didn’t move to scream in pain, her legs didn’t move to escape.

The light remained.

Applejack struggled against the nothingness. Voices, sounds, smells, tastes, she fought with herself to remember, to make herself gain control over what she was sensing. It was a battle she lost and all she could do was want to scream.

And then, as cold water hit her head, she screamed, loud and girly.

“Whoa,” she heard someone’s voice and quickly turned around.

The sky was whole above her, the sun was shining with a warm light. In the distance, she heard birds singing, felt her body drenched with cool water. She smelled herself. She looked at the body that stood before her, a familiar earth pony with exemplary sideburns and a wicked, playful smile.

“Don’t move too much around kiddo, I want to finish this is as quickly as you want to.”

His voice, she heard it like it was there, even though that was impossible. He was nothing but a memory, nothing but a fleeting dream that haunted what she thought to be her worst nights. This was a pony long gone, a pony that couldn’t and wasn’t real. Applejack felt her lip quivering, felt her heart swell. Sight got blurry, legs got weak, she almost jumped at him, almost got to wrap her tiny, lanky arms around him.

Before she could do that, she felt a sponge rubbing her head, messing up her mane before it went down her neck, with him grumbling as he bent to clean the back of his daughter. This time, though, her arms reached around his neck.

The sweet scent of apple cider reached her nose, and his coat brushed against her nose and then cheek. She felt her chest press against his and their heartbeats synching up for a melody only she cared to hear. His mane, the color of sand, so much like her own, but so much softer and thinner; she could see it and feel it.

“Woah nelly,” he said, his voice as gravelly and subdued as she remembered. “What’re you doing? It was literally just a pile of dung, not a black hole or gateway to Tartarus.”

She remembered having been kicked into a pile behind the barn by Filthy when they were playing together for the first time. She’d hated him until well after she’d gotten her Cutie Mark, had hated him until her old family home collapsed and he jumped in and paid for repairs and renovation. She had hated him until then, when he brought all the Apples together for the first time in a long time, all in memory of the two most important members.

That was a future she wasn’t even sure of at this very moment, because her papa was here now, cleaning her, caring for her. As she caught a glimpse at his green eyes, she thought of rich grasslands and not rotting evergreens. The smell was fine, not gruesome, and his smile was as honest as it could be.

Nopony else was here, nopony could ever take this from her. She’d gotten what she wanted.

And what is that? the wind whispered.

She looked around, but found nothing but herself and her papa. No wind, no trees, no friends and no family members. Only her and all she ever wanted.

Is there really no pain? the wind whispered.

“Dad?” she heard herself asking, hoping for him to answer, hoping for this not to be dream.

“Yeah, kiddo?” he answered, using the word she remembered him for so dearly.

“We’re back together, right?”

He hugged her with one arm, the one that held the sponge, and used the chance to continue scrubbing her. “Falling into a dung pile isn’t going to make me leave you ... Well, I mean, I kind of want to, but you'd only stink up the house I sleep in. It's not a situation where I win either way.”

She wanted to tell him that his wife was gone, that he’d been with her until the end and even till the ever after. His corpse had hung from a rope and nopony had smiled at his funeral.

Is this what you wanted from the start? the wind whispered.

The sun was growing brighter, so the filly closed her eyes and ignored the breeze. She felt the dirt falling off of her, felt the sponge and the water. She smelled the cider and the soap. This was where she was. This was where she belonged.

“No more,” a voice broke through.

With a gust of wind, Applejack felt herself stumbling forward. The water vanished and so did the feeling, the scent, everything. She took a step and then another, only to open her eyes and find that she was not where she’d been before.

Above her was a moonless sky and around her was a field of crystalline trees. It seemed a field of endless beauty, reflecting the light of the stars in a dance of colors. Yet as her gaze met with the spectacle, the branches cracked and creaked, before their leaves started to turn to dust and then they, too. As her head turned the world around her vanished into a glittering wasteland filled with nothing.

She dared to turn and the destruction followed her eyes. She turned and turned until nothing was left but falling dust.

“Papa?” she asked, scared, turning round again.

She found him not, but tried again only to catch a glimpse of something in her spin. For a moment, she wondered what it was, because it was too large for a pony and its form hardly resembled one, either. So she turned towards it, this thing that watched her cause havoc upon the world.

The filly turned around only to find a single, cyan eye staring back at her, one that was filled with the wisdom of centuries and the pain of many more still. Dully it gazed at the small creature before it as the stars up in the sky started to fall to pieces.

“Princess Luna?” Applejack asked, her mouth wide open.

The left side of the princess’ head was caved in. Her mane, once a sea of stars, was now an ashen cloud, dead and fading away ever so slowly. The left shoulder, upper thigh and a huge chunk of the body looked like somebody had taken a bite out of them. Yet there was no blood, only a cloud of dust that erupted from her.

Applejack clenched her teeth, fury rose within her. “Where’s papa? He’s supposed to take care of me. He said he wouldn’t leave me!”

“Is it him you want?” the princess said, her voice hollow and barely rising above a whisper.

Tears fell from Applejack’s eyes. She couldn’t believe that the princess would dare to ask her that. This was her father, the one she’d wanted to be with for so long. Of course she wanted nothing more than him.

“What about your sister?” Luna asked. “She never gave up on you.”

Applejack stomped her tiny hooves on the ground. “I don’t care. I want my parents!”

Ashes touched the filly’s nose, the smell of decay mixing with every other scent she smelled.

“Applejack, there’s little time left. You need to–”

“Shut up!” Applejack said, salt and snot mixing in with the other tastes. “I don’t care what I need to do. I want it to end! I want to go! I want to have somepony be there for me, care for me. I don’t want to be in pain anymore! I don’t want to fight anymore!”

The princess looked at her, small pieces of her phantasmal body falling into the air and shattering into a cloud.

“You don’t want to fight anymore? Is that why you hid away in the cider house?”

“I wanted us to be happy!” Applejack screamed at the top of her lung. “I never got the chance to have somepony be always there for me! I never had the opportunity to have somepony hug me whenever I needed it, to play with me when I wanted to, to care for me when I couldn’t do it myself.”

The princess’ eye turned to the sky after a few seconds, but it only moved ever so slowly. Applejack followed her every move and then looked at the emptiness above, too. There was nothing to describe there, nothing to see.

The sound of Princess’ Luna’s breaths mixed in with every other sound she heard.

“Nopony ever will take care of me that way,” Applejack said.

A pale light appeared in the distance. It was all she saw.

“You would have rather if somepony else had gone out into town, had witnessed all the decay and then walked back to you and told you all was fine?”

She didn’t know if Princess Luna looked at her, but she nodded.

“Now, with everything you’ve seen. You are well aware that Twilight used her magic to betray you, aren’t you?”

Maybe it was the truth, maybe a part of her did know, maybe even well before it happened. She knew Twilight, knew how she acted, when she put up a front, lied. They were friends, after all. However, Applejack did choose to ignore all the hints, why she didn’t know.

No, she did.

“If I did anything, it would just go on. I don’t want that anymore. I can’t make Apple Bloom be what I can’t. She hates me, I know it.” A soft giggle escaped Applejack. “I’m the worst sister you could ask for.”

Luna sighed. “She wants the same thing you do.”

“And what is that?”

“For you to be safe.”

Applejack looked down, her eyes meeting the remnant of the princess’. By now, a huge part of Luna was gone. In the ghostly wind that blew across this dreamlike plane, most of her was already dead, Applejack knew.

She felt a sadness come onto herself.

“Why would she care about me after everything I’ve put her through?” she asked in disbelief.

“Because that’s what siblings do, they tend to care for you far beyond what is expected to be reasonable. Hatred finds fertility only hardly amidst kin, that is what I found out over the course of my life. I would love to tell you that you don’t need to push yourself, but you must. What Twilight wants to do will doom the world forever. Stop her, find the one who’s responsible for the Tear, she’s the only one who can–”

Applejack blinked in that last moment, and as she opened her eyes, the dreamworld cracked and Princess Luna was gone. The filly was on her own with everypony gone now.

The light in the distance grew brighter, ever so slowly and she could feel how the senses were leaving her again. Yet, Applejack looked down. Her coat was orange, the mark she bore was one of apples as red as her sister’s mane.

Little Apple Bloom who’d slowly leant in to her before Applejack jumped up and pushed her down on the sheets. The older sister remembered that she brought down her muzzle on the little one’s tummy, blowing a loud raspberry on it.

A song was calling out to her, there in the distance. Applejack knew it well as the thought of an apple tree and all the things she’d seen below it. Maybe she could push herself up one more time, just to see if it was worth it, just to be there for her sister again. To see her smile again.

The light grew brighter and Applejack let it happen. She allowed the flame to consume her, because she needed to go beyond it to reach Apple Bloom. All things faded from her control and the light became all she saw.

All she smelled was ashes, all she heard was fire and all she felt was the scorching hunger within her.

And that’s when she heard the song in all its glory, angelic voices filled the air, while the air smelled of ember and kindling. It all beckoned for her to look, to gaze at the heart of the sky.

So Applejack looked to from hence the voice came.

“Don’t,” a young dragon screamed.

Applejack opened her eyes and the light was gone.

Applejack didn’t know what she was feeling, her body lay spread over Apple Bloom’s, who stared at her with one remaining eye. The flames had ruined half her face and her expression was fearful. Applejack didn’t care how her baby sister looked, she was alive.

Applejack smiled. “We’re both alive,” she said.

She tried to move her left arm, but her muscles didn’t respond, which surprised her for a moment, until she turned to look at it. The end of her shoulder was black as coal, but no arm remained.

“Kind of,” she added with a slight giggle.

The mare didn’t understand what had happened, but it didn’t really matter if at least they were alive.

“Twilight,” she heard a voice behind them. It belonged to Spike, she knew, but why it was there, she couldn’t tell.

Also, it was dark all around them. Applejack’s eyes lifted themselves off her own wounded body and looked towards where the sky should have been. All she saw, however, was a sea of stars dipped in red smoke with a black void reaching out eternally beyond them.

If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that this wasn’t Ponyville.

“Don’t worry,” she heard herself say. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

It didn’t matter whether she said it to Apple Bloom or herself. Ultimately, she was the one who needed to believe it. With that sentiment, she used her three remaining legs to stand up. Ashes fell to the ground as she rose.

Legs hurt, bones ached, she could hardly see anything. It didn’t matter, however. Nothing mattered, but to see what had happened to Twilight. If she was responsible for this, she could undo it.

Applejack slowly turned around. As she did, the wind picked up and ashes soared up all around her. They felt warm to the touch, close to the embrace of a familiar figure. She figured why, but chose to ignore it.

After all, Twilight could still help and all she wanted was to save everypony. She was a good pony at heart and was filled with regret. Applejack understood that, because she was Twilight’s friend.

As she put her hoof down she looked at an eternal starfield, with a tear in the distance, like a crack in a window. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Yet it caught her attention for only a moment, then she looked down and found Spike standing there. A bag hung from his shoulder and blood dripped down from his head.

It was like he, Applejack and Apple Bloom stood on solid ground despite there being none.

“Spike?” Applejack asked, her voice hoarse.

He twitched and then turned around, looked at her with a shocked expression. “AJ? What?” He enunciated, clearly not understanding what he was looking at. “But you’re dead!”

“I’m not dead, silly,” Applejack laughed and then coughed, nearly losing her balance in the process. She managed to regain some poise quickly and then looked around. “Where’s Twi?”

And then she saw her. The alicorn was up above, wings spread out and looking down on them. Every part of her was shaking, Applejack could tell and there was something about her that was just. … Applejack couldn’t describe it, but it felt wrong.

“What happened?” Applejack asked.

“You should duck to the ground,” Spike answered, gulping before he, too, turned towards Twilight.

“Why?” Applejack asked.

Suddenly, Twilight’s arms lifted themselves up and the wind rose with them. Dust and ash drifted towards the alicorn, started to spin into a mad cascade that grew stronger and stronger by the second.

“I don’t think we have time for questions,” Spike said, gritting his teeth and putting a claw in the bag. “Get down!”

As he shouted, the cascade formed itself into a larger alicorn, one that resembled Twilight and at the same time didn’t. There was something off about it, though Applejack couldn’t quite tell why that was. It simply felt like this thing did not belong with everything she sensed.

She had only a moment to wonder, because then the ashen whirlwind changed into a monstrosity, a shape of countless arms and blades and maws and teeth, screeching and screaming, howling and whining.

“Monsters!” it screamed. “Bring back my home!”

Chapter 16: The Embers And The Tears

Fire remained, both within and without. It was a sea that washed over her, burning and melting all that met with it. As she experienced the sun itself, Apple Bloom screamed out. What was and what wasn’t collided, forming new sensations, but none she was glad to feel.

She thought of her friends and of her family, thought how she was going to where they would also be. Of course, the filly couldn’t be sure, but that didn’t matter, for she just wanted the pain to end. That was all there was.

“Apple Bloom!” She heard someone cry.

Out of reflex she opened an eye and for but a moment, she could see a silhouette at the end of it, crashing against the all-illuminating contour of the alicorn. Then she felt the heat take her sight and screamed out.

Then, her scream vanished along with every noise and every light. All that remained was a blissful dark and nothing else. No feeling, no thinking, no sister, no diapers, no rot, no pain, no fear, no love. A new void-like ocean swallowed the filly only for her to fill it out again.

She felt soft padding pressing against her derriere, a slight dampness made it feel awkward as her legs moved around. Her legs, which hurt ever so slightly, like she was using muscles which long since forgot their purpose. A stinging pain moved through her, filled her with the urge to consume, to purge and to flee. A rot that was no rot at all, but a cleansing flame that wished to reach a home it should have never left.

Thoughts drifted into the abyss of her mind, filling it with questions and musings. The filly understood that Twilight’s spell was interrupted by none other than Spike. Why he’d done so then and there, she couldn’t say, but he’d come for her. He’d called her name, he’d said that she looked cute. Apple Bloom felt a strange smile upon her face and with it came a slight warmth to her face.

However, the filly knew that she couldn’t keep drifting here. She needed to move, needed to wake up, or rise, or whatever. The dark was not the place where she belonged, but instead she needed to go to the light, to where all things she wanted to regain were.

So Apple Bloom tried to open her eyes, but only one did and the sight that captured her mind was the worst she could think of. The broken sky above them, the tearful song in the distance and all the shards of a world that was long since gone.

Apple Bloom felt her charred body, screaming at her to fall into a coma, even though within her, another flame growled with a fury she’d never experienced before. It almost dared her to embrace it, with the song singing its sweet lullaby, telling her to do it, that everything was going to be fine.

The world grew warm around her and she felt it fill her up. It was a calming white that filled her vision as she turned her head ever so slightly. She spotted the light of the runes fading and a dragon standing where Twilight was before. His back was turned to Apple Bloom and his eyes were fixed on the alicorn that he had pushed out of the circle. The alicorn who covered her face with her hooves and mumbled quiet words as ashen smoke started to rise from her.

“Why, why, why,” she mumbled. “We promised. We promised. We promised.”

She’s hurting, thought Apple Bloom, only half awake.

“We can’t do this, Twilight,” the dragon spoke up, pointing behind him, pointing at Apple Bloom. “I can’t do it. All of this is wrong. How many ponies died, it’s just. …”

“I know!” Twilight screamed, dust falling past her hooves. “We promised Rarity! We need to save … We need to. …”

“Not like this. We only did more harm,” he said, now walking closer to her. “But we can still make a difference. There has to be another way. There always is.”

He knelt down before her and she whispered sweet words that Apple Bloom couldn’t understand.

“Rarity’s gone, by my own claws. That doesn’t mean this world needs to end. Everypony, all the friends we made, we might save them still. If we believe in our friendship, then we might be able to bring everypony back. Twilight. …”

His hand grasped the alicorn’s shoulder. She was whimpering.

“Go,” she said loudly, still hurting.

“Twilight?” He suddenly grabbed both her shoulders. “What’s going on.”

And then she dropped her hooves and screamed. A new light erupted, a new flame burst forth, black and hollow and cold to the touch. It was no true fire, no true light, but mere destruction that washed over Apple Bloom and turned all the warmth into blistering heat and all the pain into crushing agony.

She wanted to scream, but someone stepped between her and the fire. Apple Bloom dared to look at the beast that stood there. Her coat was orange, her blonde mane a mess. She wore a bandana in six colors and bore marks of the rot on her entire body. Where her eyes’d been, green fire burst forth and her face moved ever closer to Apple Bloom’s, itching for a taste.

And then, with a blink, the light was gone. Apple Bloom didn’t know what she felt, her body laid motionless beneath Applejack’s. The mare lay on her, collapsed due to the force of the fire. Then, their eyes met again. The orange of Apple Bloom’s and the sickly fire of Applejack’s.

“Sis,” Apple Bloom mumbled, a word she could hardly speak out without gagging on the pus in her mouth.

And then she moved, that mared, tried to stand up. Her jaw shifted, her eyes flickered. For a moment, Apple Bloom didn’t know what was happening, but then the beast was screaming and suddenly she stopped and fell onto the filly again.

For a moment she lay there in silence and Apple Bloom could see where they were. Above them was the Tear, like a scar in the sky, and at the same time not. It looked beautiful, all of a sudden, like shards of broken ice aligning in the most wondrous of shapes. The largest of these shards was a town she once called home.

Then, Applejack coughed and moved again, rising up with a more steady strength. Apple Bloom, though her face hurt and her right was completely black, could still see that Applejack’s left front leg was gone, only a blackened stump remained.

And yet, Applejack stared at her for a moment. Her eyes were green like grass and the most gorgeous sight beneath that wondrous sky and her smile was grander still.

“We’re both alive,” Applejack told her with a cough, waiting for a moment before she looked at her stump. “Kind of,” she then added with a slight giggle.

That was when Spike’s voice spoke up behind them. “Twilight,” he said, sounding shaken.

Applejack looked at the sky, at the sea of stars surrounding the Tear. Dipped in red smoke they dotted eternity, but they mattered not to Apple Bloom. Only Applejack mattered, because she was alive.

The filly tried to speak up, but the pain was too great. Her skin felt like it was boiling, her right eye did too. Her mouth felt like someone had just played around with a knife in it and her insides were put in a knot. She didn’t even dare to cough.

“Don’t worry,” Applejack said, eyes fixed on the sky. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

Apple Bloom really wanted to believe it to be true, but found it hard, incredibly so.

Applejack used what strength remained to her to stand up, and Apple Bloom couldn’t even find the strength to move. On the outside, she felt like she was burning, but her heart’s beat was almost gone. In truth, she was cold, so very, very cold.

Her sister didn’t notice, instead she turned around as the wind picked up around them. Apple Bloom saw the ashes dance in the wind. They belonged to Lyra, Doc Hooves, to Rainbow Dash and Rarity and even Twilight. They were all that was left of Ponyville, Apple Bloom thought and closed her eyes to the sight.

Just what had Twilight done?

“Spike?” Applejack asked, her voice hoarse.

Spike quickly questioned her. “AJ? What? But you’re dead. You’re both dead.”

“I’m not dead, silly,” Applejack laughed and then coughed. After a moment she asked another question; “Where’s Twi?”

Another moment went past.

“What happened?” Applejack asked again.

“You should just duck, get to the ground!” Spike answered, gulping.

“Why?”

And then the wind picked up once more, now going into the opposite direction. Apple Bloom could hear it again, the song, its lyrics. It was begging her to do something. That distant voice was telling her that this was not home, that this was not how it was meant to be. She needed to leave, they all needed to leave.

“I don’t think we have time for questions. Get down! Spike screamed.

And as he did, the filly opened her eyes to an ashen monstrosity, a shape of countless arms and blades and maws and teeth, screeching and screaming, howling and whining. Apple Bloom stared at it and the pulsating green light within it, the dust cascade that made up its body.

“Monsters!” it screamed with a princess’ voice. Help, the ashes sung.

“Bring back my home! it howled with a friend’s tongue. Take us back, the voice hummed.

Spike leaned against the wind, gritting his teeth, flames spouting from his mouth. “Twilight,” he said. “Are you still there?”

It twisted and shifted, forming into another form. Two arms with large claws extended from it and ashen wings spread from its back. Its face was horned and its feet cloven. Only the fire within the dust remained a constant.

“WHERE HAS HOME GONE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!” The beast spoke and its voice was far beyond a scream, piercing through Apple Bloom’s ears in the worst cacophony.

“I don’t know who you are, but you should let Twilight go!” He screamed against the rising mistral.

The beast did naught but scream and launch itself forward. Its claw outstretched, it went for Spike too quick for the eye to see it. Yet the dragon was faster, ducking beneath the strike. It took a piece of his spikes, but he only jumped back.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he screamed again.

“WHERE AM I?” the beast screamed beneath the Tear.

Applejack looked at Apple Bloom. For a moment, Apple Bloom almost expected her to ignore it, like she always did and ask whether her “baby sister” needed a change. But the eyes told a different story. They were neither tired nor sad, but awake, alive. There was a conviction to the way Applejack stood there and Apple Bloom knew what was going to come next.

She couldn’t cry, even though she wanted to, and she couldn’t shake her head no, even though she needed to.

“I’m sorry, Apple Bloom. Twilight needs me,” Applejack said and bowed down.

Apple Bloom felt her sister’s dry and cracked lips touching her forehead for a kiss, it felt awkward and horrible and worse than that, it felt sad. With that, Applejack moved against the wind towards her doom and the crying demon.

She couldn’t let it happen. Whatever that beast was, it would take down Applejack and Spike. Apple Bloom knew she wanted not to be alone and that she didn’t want her sister to perish here, either. No, what she needed to do was stand up and finally do something. All this time she wanted to be the grown-up pony, but she’d just let Applejack do most of everything for her.

So she tried to move her legs, but they did not answer her. Ashes moved towards the demon as it went for another strike, only for Spike to gracefully dodge it. Apple Bloom hoped he could hold on for a few more seconds.

The wind brushed against head, as she tried to do as much as wiggle a hoof, but nothing happened. All she felt was pain and her body did naught to aid her mind. Apple Bloom knew that she needed to rise, needed to be strong, but she couldn’t be. She was weak, had been from the start.

She felt her muscles bend and her leg move ever so slightly. The beast’s claws hit the ground and the noise that created was something that could hardly be described. She’d never heard something as melodious as the invisible ground shaking under the weight of the monster’s weight. It was like a piece of symphony that encompassed only the most perfect of notes, the most dreamlike of instruments. Apple Bloom stopped for a moment, only to hear Spike’s scream and another thud on the ground as he hit it.

Move, she thought and tried again, closing her eye, feeling all the pain she’d gone through till this point and all the hurting she’d seen.

No matter the cost, she needed to help them. What happened to her didn’t matter, it hadn’t mattered from the start. Applejack, Spike, they needed her to not be helpless, but to help. She needed to be there for Twilight, because she could save one friend. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, all of her family, she hadn’t managed to rescue any of them, so she needed to succeed now.

The demon howled, she heard steps on the ground. Apple Bloom didn’t want to look. She heard the claw against the sky, heard someone whimper and then something hitting the ground.

Apple Bloom felt a chill run down her spine and her eye went wide open. The sky was dyed red, but it wasn’t what she needed to look at. Her head did not move, her heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t Spike, she was sure of it and at the same time didn’t want to be. The one the beast had gotten wasn’t the dragon, even though it should be.

Ever so slightly her head did finally turn, but Apple Bloom almost wanted it not to.

She saw the beast standing there, red soot mixing with grey and black. It was a constantly moving mass with a face flanked by blades and burning eyes filled with naught but anger. Her head went further, until her vision hit the ground.

Red and orange, golden hair spreading out and one eye open, green as grass. Apple Bloom took note of how her sister looked. She’d never been more than an average looking mare even on the best of days, Apple Bloom had heard the stallions say. Her mane used to be unkempt and uncared for. Small patches of skin revealed themselves on her body. Some were more easily noticed than others, but the skin was all black and grey. Tiny scars went across them. The bandana she wore was a handkerchief given to her by Twilight Sparkle after she’d lost her head. Every day in the cider house she had looked so tired, so done with this world.

That was Applejack, her Applejack, her big sister. She was the most irreplaceable pony in the whole world.

The blood dripped from her motionless body, forming a pool on the ground and Apple Bloom couldn’t tell whether those green eyes were looking at her or the light had gone from them. It had to be the first, it couldn’t be. The claw’s marks went deep, but they couldn’t have done her in. This was Applejack, the toughest pony to ever live, right?

“S,” Apple Bloom heard herself stutter, “Sis.”

Finally, her body moved, even though it hurt as she turned on her stomach. She felt worse with every movement of her legs, but started to crawl forwards nonetheless. Blood and excrements clung to her, but in a strange way it didn’t really matter.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Spike stand up. His right arm hung limp from his body, he was missing his front teeth and his jaw was broken. He failed to rise and fell unconscious to the ground, into a pool of his own sanguine fluid.

But that didn’t matter for Apple Bloom, who moved forward. The beast stepped over Applejack’s body, which started to burn up in the green flame that formed the heart of the monster before them.

“YOU LOST YOUR HOME, TOO!”

The beast came to a stop before Apple Bloom, but the filly ignored her. Only Applejack mattered, because she couldn’t be gone. She’d always woken up before, she’d blown a raspberry on Apple Bloom’s stomach on her first dry night in months and had smiled despite the hardship, despite how tired she’d been.

“WE CAN’T GO BACK! CAN WE?” The beast screamed, its heart pulsating.

It looked at the filly’s struggle, at how she left a trail in the darkness. Blood and tears and a fire eating her from inside out.

“DON’T CRY!” It commanded.

Apple Bloom crawled onwards. She couldn’t give up, after all. This was her sister, the one she’d always loved and all she needed was a hug and somepony telling her to wake up. So Apple Bloom tried to shout, tried to get a sound out of herself. She only managed some gagging sounds and then spit some bloody, blackened saliva on the ground.

“EVERYTHING IS DYING!”

Apple Bloom kept on trying, while the beast leant down before her, its claw outstretched. The filly expected it to end her, like it had ended the others, but her eye reamined on her sister. Yet the strike never came and the claw went through her mane, as if it meant to pet her.

“I REMEMBER THE RIVER’S MOUTH! HE PROMISED TO MEET ME THERE! THE GOLDEN ONE TORE US APART! I NEED TO GO HOME! PLEASE UNDERSTAND!”

She felt the dust on her skin, falling to the ground as lifeless as it was meant to be. The flame pulsated with a violent fury within the winged demon.

“I CANNOT SEE IT ANYMORE! THE LIGHT IS TAKING EVERYTHING! THERE’S A SONG! CAN’T YOU HEAR IT? IT’S TAKING THE MEMORIES! I DON’T WANT IT TO TAKE ME! IF IT DOES I WILL DIE AND HURT YOU EVEN WORSE!”

Apple Bloom stopped her struggle and looked up into its eyes. They were fire and nothing else, much like its voice was nothing but hatred and violence. The words it spoke, however, weren’t such.

The beast lifted its claw again, its eyes never looked away. Then it went for Apple Bloom and the filly was only thankful that there was no pain, no pain at all.

As the blood ebbed from her body and everything around her vanished, she felt a white heat burn up and take care of everything. A warm hug and voice whispering that it would make sure that everything was fine. It sung its song and told her that all that mattered was the sweet sound and the fervor it gave her. All else didn’t matter and so all else would vanish again.

Apple Bloom, lying on the ground looked in her sister’s eyes. They were green as grass, much like those of a stallion she had once seen, a long, long time ago. He had held her in his arms and smiled a wicked smile.

“Yer gonna be a tough one, like yer motha,” the memory whispered to her.

Voices came to her mind. A cute-ceañera and two fillies without cutie marks, a farmhold in the middle of a sea trees, a strange little town in the center of Equestria. Faces, stories, songs, all those things she’d seen and heard and felt and loved and feared. They all mattered.

She closed her eye and as the fire engulfed her, another voice joined in, wondering where it was, scared and alone.

“I want to go home, it said and Apple Bloom saw the pulsating heart of the demon.

“Then give me your strength,” she answered. “I will help you get back.”

The voice wondered to whom it was talking. Within her mind, Apple Bloom could almost see it, almost feel its presence. It was but a glimmer on the horizon, a distant wanderer who’d traveled to a place he never wanted to go to anyway.

She tried to move her hoof, tried to show him what to do. Whether he saw or not was not for her to tell, but the fire swelled up once more and for the blink of the eye, the song was back and lulling her into sleep.

Neither the filly nor the wanderer listened and suddenly Apple Bloom felt an arm press against hers. A green flame escaped the wounds of her body, turning it into coal. But there was no pain, only warmth and somepony else helping her up.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” The monster asked. “STAY DEAD! I DON’T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN! I DON’T WANT ANYMORE DEATH!”

It shook violently and then from its wings and arms sprung forth hundreds of thousands of new claws, all aiming towards the filly. She saw them clearly, both her eyes alight with newfound sight. A new strength filled her and as she breathed she felt the fire escaping, the light she emitted becoming one with the stars around her.

A split-second before the claws hit her, she ducked down. The beast quickly adjusted the trajectory of most of the claws, but just as they changed directions, Apple Bloom kicked herself off the ground and towards the vicious beast.

She heard herself scream and the wanderer, though confused, added his voice to the fight. The demon only looked at them. For a second Apple Bloom still thought it to only be a cloud of ashes, but her eyes now saw its face and how it stared in wonder at the young foal who dashed forward.

The diaper was gone, but so was most of her flesh. All that remained of her now was a burning carcass kept only alive by the will of two, but that would need to be enough. Apple Bloom didn’t know for what, but right now only Twilight could fix this. If she could get to her, she might be able to save Applejack and that would be worth every cost in the world.

Apple Bloom’s face went right through the ashes and beyond the black dust she saw the heart of the beast. Twilight floated in the center of an ashen whirlwind, alit with a greenish flame that had a purple tinge to it. Apple Bloom knew it was Twilight and not some beast because of that. It was like the alicorn kept the beast that wanted to take her over as much under control as she could, and she wasn’t even awake.

The princess’ eyes were closed, so she needed to wake up. Apple Bloom stretched her hooves out, ready to shake her awake, but as she touched Twilight’s blaze, her own became extinguished.

She looked at her arms, the charred bones that remained of them. For a moment she thought to stop, but the wanderer trusted her, so she needed to trust herself, too. For Applejack, for the Spike, for their home.

And they screamed out in pain, the filly and the ghost within her body as they moved in on the alicorn. With every millimeter, more of Apple Bloom’s arms turned to ashes in wind, but she refused to give up. No matter what would happen to her, she needed to save everypony else.

The wanderer saw her this time, clearly he did.

“Go home," he asked of her and a new light erupted from within her as he gave the rest of himself up for her sake.

The flames mixed in with each other and Apple Bloom managed to pierce through the magical barrier around Twilight, wrapping the stumps that remained of her legs around the alicorn’s body. Apple Bloom held onto her, even as her own flame vanished. The stranger was gone and so she felt the heat growing around her for one more time.

She kept her arms wrapped around Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. “Wake up,” she begged her, but the alicorn’s eyes remained closed.

The fire mixed with the ashes, the ashes danced in the wind, but once the light was gone they would scatter into the space around them, leaving nopony to tell the tale. They would all die here and Equestria would be forsaken.

“Wake up,” she begged Twilight, but the alicorn made no motion.

“Come on, you idiot,” Apple Bloom said, feeling nothing beneath her chest anymore. She couldn’t find the ability to breathe anymore. “Come … on. …”

Her voice became a whisper, her eyesight slowly went away. She heard her heart’s beat, once, then twice. And then, it was gone. She was gone, too. One last time she tried to focus, one last time she tried to see the face of the one she was hugging.

This time she thought it was Applejack, smiling at her. “I’m sorry,” her sister said with Twilight’s voice.

And then Apple Bloom felt two arms around her and the flame turned to a golden light brighter than any star, the brilliant luminescence of a sun reaching its very zenith. That was when the filly realized that she’d reached her, that she had managed to wake up, Twilight. Nothing else mattered, she’d done good. She’d done well.

As the song vanished from her head, as the wind died down, Apple Bloom found herself drifting to sleep. She thought to feel the wooden floor of the library, the touch of a purple claw.

And then, there was a sullen darkness and after that nothing. A nothing that was interrupted only by a sudden sound, the throbbing of a heart, and then, the need to breathe.

Chapter 17: The Bones

Applejack remembered the last second before the darkness. A winged demon, weeping ashen tears; a dragon clad in bloodsoaked scales; a foal, lying half-dead on a non-existent ground. She didn’t regret standing up, didn’t regret trying to help. She regretted that she failed. The claw tore through her coat and her blood splattered onto her attacker. She knew that it had happened, for she had seen it before the end.

And yet Applejack found that, just as everything ended, her body took another breath. It was the strangest sensation she had ever felt, like her body decided to ignore death on nothing but a whim. Not just that, but that first breath came so easy to her. No pain, no aching, no nothing. She just sucked in the air and then continued to exhale subconsciously. There was no way to describe the feeling she experienced as she lay on the ground, the air filling her lungs, her sight slowly getting sharper, the feeling of dirt and wood pressing against her back, so much that it caused her a bit of pain.

Even that wasn’t bad, because Applejack founded it easy to shift her body a bit and then the pain vanished again. Not only that, but she looked at the sky, the horrible Tear and for the first time in forever, no voice accompanied the sight. She saw how it pulsated, how the cracks between the shards lit up and went dark, following a rhythm that now completely eluded the pony down here.

In a weird way, Applejack had to admit, it looked quite beautiful. The red color reminded her of her mother’s mane. She let out the slightest giggle.

Her lungs didn’t hurt, she felt no strange fire waiting within her, always ready to consume. Even her mind felt much clearer than in a long time. It was like she was lying here as if nothing had ever happened. Applejack’s body felt as fresh as it did when she ran the race of the Falling of the Leaves against Rainbow Dash and her mind was as sharp as it was when those dreadfully weird twins with their strange machinery had shown up in town. Yes, Applejack, for the first time in a long time understood that she was fine, that she was alive.

Yet, immediately as that realization struck her, it also came to her mind that the beast might’ve gotten to Apple Bloom. Without a singular thought more, she rose to a seated position and stared at where the circle had been.

The first thing she noticed was that her legs were all back, fully working and did not show any signs of wear or rot. No pain, no nothing. She quickly began to rub her left front leg, not believing that what she was experiencing was real. It had been nothing more than a burnt stub and no magic of this world could have saved it. Yet she felt her hoof brushing through her coat, welling up the orange hairs that covered her legs. However, the sensation felt stranger still, as if it wasn’t her arm, the one she’d used for so many years, but a strange new appendage she’d never had on her body before. No black patches, either. What had happened?

As she looked up, she immediately spotted Spike across from her. He’d sat up just as she did and now looked at her queerly and in complete disbelief. Much like she did, because there were no more scars on his body nor were his spikes chipped. Even stranger, for the first time Applejack really noticed how much he’d grown since the beginning of all this. He was almost a good head taller. How the hay did he grow up that quickly and why the hay hadn’t she noticed it before?

She felt embarrassed, her cheeks started to burn up. So she did the smart thing and allowed her legs to look to the ground. There, she spotted another thing lying unconscious and as she saw it, her mouth went agape, because she knew that it shouldn’t be, couldn’t be. The lean build, the cyan coat, the hair of six colors. Rainbow Dash lay on her back and only her chest moved up and down with every soft breath she took.

“That’s impossible,” Applejack heard herself say and her brain was quick to agree with her mouth.

There was no magic in Equestria to bring back the dead. No princess held that power, no beast could utilize such a might. Yet she was there. Applejack felt herself jumping up, rushed towards her and leaned over her. She heard those soft, little breaths, as if that pony had the most relaxing sleep in ages, as if she hadn’t realized that she had burned and died and was then turned to ashes.

Applejack had to admit that, in a way, that really was just like Rainbow Dash, but also tried to poke her against her cheek. The pegasus remained unmoving.

“What the hay is this?” Applejack heard herself say and then looked at Spike, who still couldn’t believe that she was alive.

At least that was how Applejack interpreted that look of his. She didn’t blame him, usually being cleaved apart meant instant death, so she really didn’t want to think about why she feeling as healthy as a newborn foal instead. Instead she wanted to focus on everything else.

And that everything she just needed to find, so she looked around once more.

The once great Golden Oaks Library was in ashes. The only thing that remained were the wooden floor, and even that was charred, and the staircase down to the basement. All the books, all the letters and all of Twilight’s belonging was gone with the explosion. Beyond that, the inner town was completely wrecked, the outer parts would soon collapse in on themselves. Just two explosions and the town they once called home was gone. Ponyville, the boutique, the town hall, everything was cinder now. Applejack thought herself strangely calm considering what that meant.

The air tasted of ashes, but all that mattered was to find her, the filly that mattered most. So, Applejack turned her head.

“Apple Bloom?” she asked, which also caught Spike’s attention.

He rose up, walked around, looking over the ruins. Yet he halted almost immediately. Applejack knew why, he just had the same realization as her, the same strange feeling that came so easy to shake off. For him, it really was the same, because a second thereafter he took a step.

“Twilight?” he asked, his voice hollow. “Apple Bloom?”

Twilight, too. Where was she? Applejack still had a million questions for her, questions that needed to be answered. She knew that the alicorn had her reasons, she always did, but Applejack needed to know.

She wanted to shout, too, but Spike turned around. “Stay with RD, I’ll look around. Okay?” He asked, unsure.

Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash. She needed some attention, sure, but Apple Bloom was her sister.

“Please trust me,” Spike said, sounding as if he didn’t believe to already have it.

Applejack looked up, saw his pleading eyes and then another realization hit her. He knew about Twilight’s plan!

It made sense, of course, Twilight wouldn’t just go out of her way to plan the murder of her own friends. She’d probably talked about it many times with Spike, maybe they both had tried to find another. Applejack wanted to think that she was sure of that, but she wasn’t. No, whom she needed to confirm that was Twilight herself.

“Please find my sister, Spike,” she said and tried to give him a smile. While she felt like she did it, he didn’t even notice, just nodded and turned away to look for Applejack’s sibling.

And that left her with Rainbow Dash, who usually snored like a locomotive while she was asleep. Many a sleepover had been ruined by Rainbow Dash’s often appearing trademark roar of a snore. The times where she breathed so softly and relaxed were far and few between and the closest thing to a sign right now that something was up with her.

Of course there’s something up with her, she turned to bloody ashes! Applejack thought and twisted her mouth. She was honestly not quite prepared to deal with whatever was going on here.

She was perfectly fine now, but then again, she’d also died. If one would take a moment to think about it, then–

“No!” Applejack exclaimed, putting her hooves against her head. “Don’t think about it, focus on something else. Anything!”

And with that she tried to think about what to do with Rainbow Dash. She’d taken care of an ill filly for the better part of the year now, so she figured that she could utilize some knowledge she accumulated.

“The most I did was blow raspberries and change diapers, though,” she quietly summarized her experiences during the past few months, also remembering that she was now quite adept at brewing coffee.

How’s that going to help me, though? she thought and checked Rainbow Dash’s body again, hoping to find some form of anomaly. Applejack didn’t find any, though; her friend looked as healthy as always.

Rainbow Dash was lithe and lissom, a pony that was pretty much the pinnacle of a pegasus’ natural abilities. Not only that, but she had a lot of hidden strength, too, in those arms that, compared to Applejack’s, appeared to be rather thin. Worse than that, she had a more elegant look to her than anypony cared to admit. Sometimes Rarity would make off-hand remarks about how good she would look, if she’d only cared for herself more and Applejack found herself agreeing.

The problem was of course that Rainbow Dash knew about her speed, about her strength and her looks. If she weren’t as social as she was, her pride would probably be her main feature. Applejack managed to twist her mouth even further as thought about that, looking to where Spike had gone. He now dug through the wooden rubble that had probably either been a roof or a wall.

Then she looked back at Rainbow Dash as an idea came to her. But if he would find Apple Bloom and Twilight, it’d probably cheer them up. Right? Rainbow Dash would forgive her for that, because everything was lost and they needed to keep things light.

With that, she followed up on her thought and hurried down the stairs to the basement. The mare kicked up the dust that had settled on the staircase, which left her coughing as she reached the basement down below. Here, the damage was minimal. The light still glowed, though it did start to flicker more and more. If it was there, however, it meant that Twilight had to be alive. Otherwise it would’ve vanished.

Applejack halted to look at it and smiled. Maybe the ritual had worked even better than the alicorn had anticipated, maybe her own interference had changed everything. Maybe, but she needed to consult Twilight. Without her, any more thoughts would be wasted. So instead she moved towards the alicorn’s bed, where she found a box beneath.

She pulled it out and put it on her back, then quickly moved back up, to where the light of the shards illuminated the world with colors of all sorts. There, she put it down and opened it.

Her heart skipped a beat, she felt a bit vicious for doing it, but she could justify this with more than bad humor. After all, she didn’t know when Rainbow Dash would wake up and whether it was before or after she needed to go to the potty.

Toilet, Applejack corrected. She’d spent months together with Apple Bloom and now weeks together with Twilight and Spike, pretending to be a child herself. She was an adult, however, and needed to use adult words from now on.

And being a responsible adult, she took some of the inserts and a cover out of them. She’d figured Spike to have made them. His infatuation with Rarity had led to him learning quite a few tricks concerning the making of clothing. The covers, however, were awfully tacky, even Applejack could see that. In a way, accurately placed planetoids and comic book characters seemed quite up Twilight’s alley, however. She’d always been comfortable with her inner child.

With that, Applejack stopped her stalling and put the inserts atop a spread out Daring Do cover. She’d taken that one because, a.) the embroidery was just amazing and b.) Rainbow Dash’s reaction to it would be twice as amazing.

As she slid the diaper underneath the pegasus, steps approached from behind her.

“Really? The first thing you do when you’re taking care of someone is put them in a diaper?” Spike asked skeptically.

Applejack actually grinned as she snapped the diaper shut and then turned around to him. “Maybe it’ll encourage her to wake up. Her reaction’ll be hilarious.”

She noticed Apple Bloom in his arms almost immediately. The filly looked like she enjoyed being carried princess-style. Yet, what Applejack noticed about her was the most astounding thing. She’d seen Apple Bloom rot away day after day, the black spots growing both in size and number, her body growing weaker and weaker. That was not the filly she was looking at right now.

Apple Bloom was still as small as Applejack remembered, lack of nutrition perhaps, but her coat was a rich yellow, her mane a wonderful red. She looked well-fed and not boney at all. Best of all, however, there were no signs of the rot left on her.

The filly grinned at her sister. “You’re mean,” she said jokingly.

Applejack saw the teeth, all white and perfect again.

“And you’re both enjoying somebody else’s harm,” Spike said with a sigh, but then followed with an approving nod. “Yes, this is why I saved you.”

With that, however, he was quick to put Apple Bloom down on the ground again, where she sat steadily beside her sister. The dragon then turned around again, worry plastered on his face.

“I still need to find Twilight. I’ll be back in a minute,” he said and tried to dash back to where he’d found Applejack’s sister.

The filly, however, raised her voice at that moment. “She’s gone, Spike.”

He halted. A moment passed and then he turned around again. “What?”

Apple Bloom’s eyes were cast down, she shivered. “She told me. …”

Spike then took a step towards her. “Told you what?” He asked, voice shaking, claws trembling.

Apple Bloom looked towards the sky. “The creatures within the flames, they were brought here by that voice. That’s where we went, too.”

Applejack looked at her sister, curious. “But I can’t remember anyone but me, you, Spike and that Monster to be there.”

“It was there, though. It was all around us. Twilight said that the Tear is like a gateway to other worlds, but the only one to be able to step through it is a beast so vast, we cannot even comprehend its size.”

“When did she tell you that?” Spike interrupted her.

Apple Bloom closed her eyes. “I hugged her and I died while doing so. That ashen demon beast? It was the source of the fire in Twilight and in me was another one, a child that understand how it had gotten there. I guess before everything ended, all of us fused, somehow and we overcame that vast being together.”

“We ended the song?”

“And the fire’s gone, too. Everypony’s free from the fire that tortured them for so long,” Apple Bloom said, smiling at him. “It did cost us, but you did it, Spike. You saved the world.”

The dragon looked at her and then looked up at the sky. “But where’s Twilight?”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “She could’ve taken me in and survived, healed her own wounds, but she chose to sacrifice herself to save all of us,” she looked to Rainbow Dash, “and more.”

Applejack looked up at the broken sky. It wasn’t the same old blues anymore, she knew, she could look at it and needed not to be scared anymore. Twilight had actually done it, she had saved them all.

“I guess,” she said, looking at the ruins of Ponyville, “We need to look for whomever did survive and then we’ll see. Maybe Twilight can still be saved, after all,” she pointed at Rainbow Dash, “this one made it.”

Spike looked down at the cyan pony and then nodded. “Yeah,” he said and then actually sighed. “Can’t give up. There’s always a way, right? And if the fire’s gone, then maybe we can go to Canterlot and actually get Princess Celestia’s help. Maybe we can actually fix every–”

And then the day was pierced by a brutal howl and the cracking of burnt wood under heavy hooves coming closer. Everybody immediately turned around, to see what was causing the ruckus. What they spotted, however, wasn’t anything like they’d expected.

Towards them ran a beast of cinder, an equine corpse clad in a dusty aura. As Applejack stared at it, she couldn’t feel an unease, a fear, rise within her, as if she was looking at a trick of her mind, something that couldn’t be there and shouldn’t be. It was as if she was staring at death itself.

As the beast reached the edge of the library, its hooves kicked its body off the ground and with a cackling howl, it opened its mouth, ready to take a bite out of Applejack. Spike was quicker than it, however, and met it with a kick, mid-air.

The beast tumbled backwards and the dragon landed on both his feet, grinning smugly. “No singular monster will take down the great Spike!”

The beast shook the damage of immediately, and howled again. This time, more answered in the far off distance. Whatever they were, they were alarming each other to the prey that had appeared before them.

“Alright,” Spike said, giving a nod. “You took me by the word. That’s, that’s alright. What was that now, ten, twelve? I can take you.”

The equine just circled around them. Weren’t it the common expression of skulls, Applejack would’ve thought its smile was deliberate.

And then it howled again. It was filled with rage and fury, bitterness over a loss experienced. Applejack heard it, understood it. It was the remnant of a song.

Spike didn’t appear to care, instead he just punched the wild beast before it could hit him. Then, he quickly turned around. “Take Rainbow Dash and Apple Bloom,” he told her. “Get out of here, now!”

Weird, she heard his voice and also the sound of more beasts approaching. The sky was pulsating with a fury she didn’t know.

“These things, they’re what’s left without the song to soothe their pain,” Apple Bloom told them, looking aghast at them. “They should be dead.”

“Just. Go.”

He didn’t need to insist twice. Applejack heaved Rainbow Dash up on her back and then nodded at Apple Bloom to follow her. However, she did not intend to leave Spike behind. “Come with us. We don’t even know anything about them. We need to go.”

The one responsible for all of this, she thought at that moment. “We need to find the pony responsible for the tear, Spike!”

“What?” He asked, turning his head.

“She can help us. Whatever these corpses are, maybe she can stop them!”

He grunted, but nodded. “We need to hurry though, they might catch up to us.”

Applejack knew that already, so she started into a gallop as quickly as she could. Behind them, the one that had fought Spike rose without making any sound and then picked up the pace. The sky pulsated above them, but the song and the light were all gone. Applejack knew not what exactly had happend, but she understood that it wasn’t as good as they had first assumed.

This world was too broken for anything good, after all.

Chapter 18: The Happy Ever After

Spike stretched out his hand, letting the snowflakes fall upon it and then he watched them melt away. It was a strange sensation on his scales, a cold he hadn’t really experienced in a long time. His eye turned to the cloudy sky, darkened by the clouds and the coming night. He remembered fearing the winter, long before the sky was shattered. Twilight used to help him get through it, her and Princess Celestia, but those days were long gone now.

“Are they still after us?” Applejack asked, out of breath.

He tried to focus, get his mind back in the game, but all he thought about was Twilight and how she was gone. The fields of Equestria lay before them, unending beneath the dead heavens, white covering them more and more as the seconds spanned. There was no sign of any movement, however. When the beasts had given up shape or why eluded him. Twilight would’ve probably thought of something.

Don’t cry, he told himself. He’d cried when Rarity had died, even though Twilight had been there, too. Tears were a sign of weakness he couldn’t afford, especially now that she was gone and he had no shoulder to lean on anymore.

“No. We should be fine,” the young dragon answered and turned around.

They’d found a small cavern on the edge of the grasslands to the Ponyville’s west. The town was hidden behind a line of trees. To the south lay mountains and farther west more barren land awaited them. This was the most unfortuitous position they could’ve found themselves in.

He walked back to the three ponies, the ones who lived. They’d huddled around the fire. Finding good wood on the fly had been easier than he expected and the ability to breathe fire actually came in very handy in the wild. Nopony looked like they enjoyed the warmth.

Well, not that Rainbow Dash seemed to express herself that much. She still slept and showed no sign of waking up. The dragon did not know how to feel about that, but he remembered Twilight’s words, the things she told him about Rainbow Dash. If just a single one of those thoughts were true, then it would make much more sense that Rainbow Dash was here, breathing and living once more.

Applejack sat by the flame, with Apple Bloom resting between her legs. There was something strange about the two now, a sort of aura Spike couldn’t quite explain. It almost made him smile. After all, wasn’t this just one big riddle Twilight had left for him to solve. She was the sort who’d do something like that, even unwittingly. Or maybe there was no plan and they had just survived through a happy accident.

Dammit, Twilight, he thought, sitting down and staring at the green fire’s dance. Where’ve you gone?

“So,” Applejack said into the silence, “What do we do next?”

“I don’t know, wandering the wasteland sounds like a fine option, though.”

He looked at her, she looked at him. “Seriously?” Applejack asked with a frown. “That’s the most productive thing you can come up with?”

He shrugged and turned back at the fire, wondering what Twilight would do in his stead. Something smarter, something better, that’s how it always went. The moment he tried to do things on his own it all ended up bad. Even now, this entire situation had only happened because he hadn’t argued enough with that damned alicorn. If only he’d spoken up instead of running into town every single day. Who the hell thought that risking one’s life was easier than talking to kin anyway? An idiot, that’s who.

“Spike? You alright?” Applejack asked.

He looked her in the eyes. Every inch of her bloody face was painted with concern. It was almost condescending, the way she looked at him. She looked at him like he was some kid, someone not strong enough to hold his own. He was, though.

“We need to rest up,” he stated as matter-of-factly as he could. “You especially, get some sleep. Getting here with Rainbow Dash on your back couldn’t have been easy.”

Applejack smiled at him and shrugged. “It was no bother. She weighs about as much as a feather.” She looked down to Apple Bloom, who quietly snored in her sister’s arms and then to Rainbow Dash, who lay close to them. “Do you think it’ll be fine?” she asked.

He sighed, louder than he intended and Applejack caught on, bristled at that. “We were all dead,” she said, raising her voice.

It was louder than she intended, and she was quick to make sure that she hadn’t woken Apple Bloom. Spike watched her, how she fussed over Apple Bloom, how she worried for her. Then his eyes turned back to the fire. It was glowing, dancing, living. A long time ago, he’d just thought of it as a minor convenience, but watching it now calmed him down. It made him sure he was alive and glowing.

Spike knew he needed to give Applejack something hopeful, needed to make sure she knew that he wasn’t weak. “We were, and now we’re not. Twilight and Apple Bloom made sure of it. So yeah, it’ll be fine,” he told her, supporting his head with his hand. “You should get some sleep. Night’s coming and we’ll probably have a long day tomorrow.”

She shook her head. “What if they’ll come?”

“I take the watch,” he answered her with a slight smile. “Plus, I can’t really sleep anyway, so that’ll be fun.”

Her shoulders dropped slightly. “Is there any way I can help you?”

“I’ll be fine. It’s just been a bad day, after all. We just need to figure out what to do next, right?”

Applejack nodded and then watched as he stood up. As he did, however, she seemed to have a sudden realisation. “We could look for the one who caused the Tear to appear, couldn’t we?”

“Yeah, sure,” Spike answered unenthusiastically as he moved back to the end of the cavern.

There, he sat down on a rock that was close to where the snows touched the ground. If Applejack said something else, didn’t matter to him. He didn’t listen either way and enjoyed the following moments. They were quiet, with nothing but the silent cackle of the flames behind him and the sight of a darkening world drowning in snow before him.

Winter had truly arrived now, hadn’t it? Spike almost wanted to smile, almost wanted to enjoy it, but he couldn’t. The dragon felt a strange cold upon him, one he’d never felt before. A shiver ran through his body and he wrapped his arms around himself. The claws felt cold, too.

What should we do? He asked himself and exhaled. His breath became crystalline dust that rose up into the air before him. The time he’d spent outside had taught him that it was growing colder, but now they would probably be outside for the rest of winter. A cavern like this only gave a minimal amount of protection, after all. They needed to find some place else, somewhere with shelter and hopefully with other ponies. If there were any others.

Spike closed his eyes. He felt tired, to. Every night until this one he’d forced himself to sleep, tried to make sure everypony else kept at it, too. Normal schedules, normal daily lives, that’s how they’d kept it until now. It’d only been a charade, Twilight had told him, and an unnecessary one at that, but he’d needed it.

If only I’d done more, he thought. I can’t lead them. We need you, you idiot.

He kept his quiet and opened his eyes again. The remainder of the night would be his watch and so he remained on that stone, thinking to himself and remembering.

A noise, a thousand fires, somepony screaming.

The noise came first, indescribable, as if someone somehow broke a voice like they broke glass, as if someone shattered the sun into a million pieces while also keeping it underwater. When Spike heard it, he wasn’t quite sure if it was right. His first mistake was going back to reading that comic book.

Then, as he turned the page he thought something strange in the corner of his eye. His second mistake was to look outside and be mesmerised by it. From Ponyville to the edge of the horizon, the world was on fire beneath a broken sky. A thousand flames spread out before the library and they looked more gorgeous than anything he could’ve ever imagined.

The last thing was Twilight’s scream.

“Don’t look out the window!” she screamed from down below.

He got up, ran to the edge of their room and looked down at the pony who’d closed the door behind her and was now running up.

“What’s going on, Twilight?” He asked as she ran past him, grabbed her bedsheet and clumsily put it over the window, so that the sight to the town was hindered.

She took a step back, nodding at her work. “Spike, get all books we’ve got about fire elementals, greater magic and, if we have any, specialized pyromancy down to my lab. I’ll need to step out.”

“Twilight?” He asked, voice shaking as much as his body. “What happened?”

The gravity of the situation had been well beyond him and Twilight’s look, the pity, the sadness, it all seemed to him now like that had been what she expected. That he would be useless and so her decision was the one she thought to be the wisest, even if it wasn’t, even if it would cost her the power of flight and an eye.

“Nothing I can’t fix. I need to go and make sure nopony gets hurt. Don’t look at the sky, Spike, you’re only going to get hurt.”

She turned his back to him and ran down the stairs and through the door, leaving him there in the library, the fires of Ponyville in the distance. Back then, he had only thought that some monster had come to Ponyville and set everything on fire. They could’ve dealt with that, Twilight would’ve made sure everything was fine then. Instead the world burned for a day and then nothing but cinder remained beneath a broken sky.

She came back much later, alone and hobbling. One leg was badly burned, her eye got clawed out, by what he never asked. He found her unconscious on the library floor, wings charred and her breathing heavy. There he was, the helpless little dragon and he fixed her as good as he could. The bandages, the brace, even her eye, he took care of everything.

But the mare didn’t wake for days. He didn’t leave the library, even though food was getting sparse. Twilight had warned him about the world outside, so he didn’t make any attempt to explore it. She needed him, after all.

When Applejack knocked on the library door he’d first felt relieved. As he opened it and found her, she looked like a mess and Apple Bloom looked even worse. He remembered himself being unable to say anything then, so he just let them in and treated their wounds, though Apple Bloom seemed like she was beyond any treatment.

She was crying from the pain and the fire was burning her from inside out. Applejack just begged him to do something. He hadn’t been able to, so he just ran and locked himself in the basement, where Twilight slept.

“You need to wake up,” he told her and then again.

She listened to him, muttering Applejack’s name and then rising from the bed and up the stairs, all despite her pain. The quiet strength, that unyielding determination of hers was awe-inspiring. Meanwhile, all he’d done was sit by her bed and cry.

But she hadn’t expected all that much from him, either.

He’d made the padded jacket for himself soon after Applejack left again and told Twilight that he wanted to go out, explore the town, see what was going on. At first she didn’t want him to go, but he convinced by simply stepping outside and staring at the sky.

When a pony gazed at it, a fire welled up inside them, Twilight had told him, but as looked at the countless shards and red pulse of the Tear, all he saw was their broken nature. There was no song to the baby dragon and no fire other than the flame of his own was within him.

That marked the point where he found himself more useful to Twilight, though she refused to let him go outside alone, because he was just a baby dragon. He remembered himself to be happy with that, because he was just weak. She’d taken him with her to the cider house, where she prepared the spells.

“We need to let them be alone for now. If they stay here they’ll be safe and I can look for a way to fix all this,” Twilight had told him.

It was the end of the first month where they decided all that scouting was for nothing. All they ever did was the remaining, burning carcasses of the ones they once knew and loved walk about in a horrific display. Sometimes, Rainbow Dash would come, or whatever was left of her. At first Twilight attempted to talk to her, but soon found that conversation was impossible. All the pegasus did was scream for help and so, in the end, they ignored her.

Otherwise, Twilight only found herself able to theorize about the beasts and the broken sky without ever reaching a conclusion. So the two of them figured that they needed to look for the other Elements of Harmony. The event had happened during a week where Pinkie was out of town, so they couldn’t check on her, where Applejack was was clear, Rainbow Dash was a lost cause at that point. That only left Fluttershy and Rarity.

They went to Fluttershy’s place first, sneaking through the town on a cloudy day, because Twilight couldn’t do it otherwise. However, that plan went nowhere as the pegasus’ house was completely deserted, with not even a single critter there to point them to where Fluttershy could’ve gone or if she was even still alive.

It was the thirty-eighth day when they went to Carousel Boutique. Spike remembered the date, the summer wind touching on his scales and the face Twilight made when the place finally came into sight.

“We need to be prepared for anything,” she told him, confident as ever, though not as prepared as both of them thought her to be.

They went straight for the front door, which wasn’t locked. That should’ve been a give-away, but neither of them had noticed at the time, simply thinking that the worst would be that Rarity was gone, too.

They’d seen Rainbow Dash though, they’d seen the scars on Applejack and the rot Apple Bloom carried, they even witnessed Twilight’s own decay.

Yet they just went into that place and closed the door behind them as if they were guests at a friend’s house. They weren’t, though and Spike remembered it well. The air still smelled of an old perfume, there, on the stage of his mind. A mannequin had fallen over, another stood in the middle of the room wearing an unfinished dress of green silk and red brocade. All was quiet as they stepped on the ground, the dust on it shaking under the vibrations. Spike went to the counter, to look there, only to spot a broken lamp post on it with a letter from Sweetie Belle and a few bits.

Sorry for breaking your lamb. Pls forgive me, it said with the most average hoofwriting Spike had ever seen. He also noticed that the coins were actually painted cardboard.

“Don’t tell me she’s gone,” Twilight said, too loud.

Spike remembered, he did, he truly did. He saw a mare of pearlescent white jump from the shadows and throw Twilight down, the once well-cared for mane was a mess and the eyes were green fire. She roared and howled and sounded nothing like the pony they called their friend. Her hoof went down on Twilight’s head, once, twice. Spike still heard the noise, still saw the blood splattering on the ground.

Out of instinct, he went for the lamp post, jumped over the counter and smashed it against the beast’s head. There was a horrible crack-noise and she fell over. He remembered how he didn’t stop then and just kept on hitting and hitting. It was really just a blur, but he knew that he couldn’t have stopped on his own.

Twilight did that, she held him close and told him that it was alright, blood dripping from her broken nose and wounded forehead. She told him that they should just go and then the mare grabbed him and they walked home, but by then it was really nothing he understood anymore. It had just happened.

Twilight then remained in her laboratory, ignoring Spike completely, while he would just stand for hours in the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror or washing his hands. Until the day came where he walked in on her lying on the floor, collapsed from over-exhaustion and hunger.

She hadn’t eaten in days, was surrounded by papers filled with theories about what could’ve happened and options to fix it that would clearly never work. He found her lying in the middle of such a mess and he decided to stop looking at the mirror for now. That was the moment where he decided to grow up.

During the time she spent sleeping, he began his first drawings of the broken sky and spotted that it did end where Canterlot was. He made his first run to the hospital for new bandages and medication, got some vegetables out of the forest. Suddenly he was able to work and as Twilight woke up, she found that everything ran smoother than it did.

Only a week after he’d given her the best drawing he had of the sky she told him that the Tear probably originated in Canterlot.

“I don’t know who did it, or why, but they probably messed up a pretty big ritual and tore a hole in our world,” she told him as they sat down in the basement, staring at the drawing of a circle she made. It was made out of small runes and to every side was a different specimen of ponykind. An earth pony, a pegasus pony, a unicorn pony and an alicorn.

“How big would a spell need to be for it to break the entire sky?” He asked, not quite believing one pony capable of such a feat.

“Too big for a mortal to fix,” Twilight answered sadly.

Spike’s eyes fell, he stared at the tea he had prepared for the both of them. “So, we can’t fix it?”

Twilight shook her head. “If we had the Elements of Harmony, it would actually be quite easy. We can assume that reality was thrown off balance, so the magic of the Elements could fix it quite easily, but such a magic cannot be worn without the accompanying artifacts. So that isn’t something that’ll happen anytime soon. The only other way would be. …”

Spike lifted his eyes, looked at her. She bit her lip, doubted herself. “There’s another way?”

“Yeah,” she said. “But … I don’t think it’s something we should. …”

“What is it?”

After a moment she pointed at the circle. “Well, the best way to describe that way is, well … What do you think lies at the heart of all of life?”

Spike shrugged, not understanding why it mattered. The tea was still hot and so he decided not to take a sip from it. “I don’t know, air?”

“It’s magic. The very fabric of our existence is a carefully laid net of magical ley-lines keeping our world stable.”

“Like a ball of yarn?”

She gave him an approving look. “That’s a pretty good analogy, yeah. Magic is at the center of all life and life creates things like love, friendship and harmony. They’re all forces that keep us alive no matter how dark things may turn. Discord, Sombra, Chrysalis, none of their villainy could hold out against the hopes and dreams of all living beings. Considering that, it is entirely possible for life to also challenge reality itself. We’re able to find strength within ourselves, everypony is capable of making their talents true, of taking a hold of their life. That’s what could save us, that strength within everypony.”

He looked at the circle. “How? Do you want to create new Elements of Harmony?”

She shook her head. “No. I mean, I can’t. I would if I could, but the Elements were created with the help of the Tree of Harmony. What I could do is much rawer than the Elements. If the essence of all of ponykind would gather, I could create a power that might close the Tear in the sky and let everything go back to normal.”

He found a smile coming to his face, but not to hers. “That’s awesome. We should do that!”

“The essence of all of ponykind, Spike. It means four beings need to unite so one of them can gather the power necessary. Three of them would need to die. I mean, I don’t think They have any essence left in them, not the sort we need. The sort that’s capable of dreaming.”

That made him halt, he thought of Rarity. “So we need to … kill. …”

“Yeah,” she said and put her hoof on his head. “But maybe there’s another way. No, I’m sure of it.”

Snow touched his claw, he opened his eyes again. The world appeared brighter than before. Had he fallen asleep? He certainly felt like it, his left foot had slept in, he felt cold. Behind him, what remained of the fire was but a dim ember. He grumbled, looking over the fields before him.

Twilight was gone, but he remembered now, that explanation she’d given him. Maybe another way really did exist, even though she hadn’t managed to see it before. No matter what, he needed to keep a bit of optimism.

As he rose up he didn’t feel much optimism, though. Rather, he felt cold and dead inside. Whatever force kept him alive, he didn’t know, but he kind of wish it stopped. The three ponies lay there sleeping by the fireside and he decided to let them stay like that for a moment longer. He walked over and with a breath of flames, re-ignited the campfire.

He went over to Rainbow Dash to check on her, finding that she’d actually ruined the diaper. Whether that made him glad of Applejack putting her into one, he wasn’t sure, but the dragon also wasn’t going to complain. It was probably easier to clean than letting her lie in a puddle of her own making.

But she needed to be cleaned and then a new diaper. Apple Bloom and Applejack looked good now, though, so he figured that he didn’t need to worry on their end. Still, the question was what they needed to do.

As he sat down by Rainbow Dash’s side, Applejack’s last words came to mind. Someone powerful enough to be responsible for this who also was from Canterlot. The only two ponies that came to mind were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, neither of them were likely suspects.

“Spike?” He heard Apple Bloom ask.

He looked at her, how she rubbed her eyes after a good night’s sleep. “Mornin, Apple Bloom.”

“You had a good night?”

He shrugged. “Could’ve been better,” he answered and looked at the fire, wondering who else could’ve done it.

Apple Bloom rose up quietly, obviously trying her best to not disturb her sister’s rest. “Rainbow Dash looks like she’s sleeping well,” she said in a hushed voice.

“I’ll figure she’ll do a lot more sleeping before she’s going to wake up,” the dragon answered with a shrug, noticing that there wasn’t any breakfast.

“So, I guess we’ll be heading off soon again?” Apple Bloom asked.

He squinted his eyes at her. “What makes you think that?”

“Lack of food, perhaps? Also; I don’t want to stay in a cavern now that I’ve got working legs back, I mean, look at these babies,” the moment she was away from Applejack, she started jumping around much like a bunny rabbit. “I can even dance with them.”

Though the dance she did was rather awkward, at least the noise did make Applejack wake up. “Hrrmrghrg,” she said with a wisdom that truly did belong written down.

“Well said,” Spike answered her as he watched Apple Bloom’s embarrassingly bad flailing around. He found himself smile, despite it all.

Applejack shook her sleepiness off immediately, yawning once before she stood up. “Did you spot any of them walking corpses last night?”

He shook his head. “Nope, either they’re not active at night or they’re not hunting us.”

“Let’s hope for the latter and expect the first,” Apple Bloom threw in. It was a sentiment Spike was quick to agree with.

Applejack looked at her, thought about something that made her blush and then turned to Spike. Honestly, with the way the sisters’ relationship had been going till this point, the dragon didn’t find it hard to believe that Applejack found it a bit awkward that Apple Bloom was suddenly just taking the initiative. Then again, that’s just how she was, that youngest member of the Apple family.

“So you’re saying we should go, to where then? We don’t have any leads on whomever could’ve done this or why finding them would help us.”

Applejack nodded. “Alright, so hope about we look for somepony else?”

Spike tilted his head. “Like whom?” Somepony came to mind.

“Pinkie,” all three of them answered instantaneously.

Now that he thought about it, with them having left Ponyville, it was the most obvious choice. They knew where she was, they knew how to get there and Pinkie Pie tended to be the sort of pony who found solutions where nopony else could find them. Fact was, during an apocalypse one wanted to have a pony like Pinkie by their side.

“But we need some way to carry Rainbow Dash, too. I can’t carry her on my back the whole way,” Applejack said. “Not if we want to carry other stuff, too.”

Spike found himself agreeing to that, too. If they wanted to go on a journey, they also needed more than their coats and his scales. “I believe there’s another town just half a day away to the west,” he answered.

Applejack nodded. “Right then. I guess it’s settled.”

The atmosphere of departure was kind of overwhelming but Spike found the two of them smiling honestly at him, like they truly thought this to be the beginning of some sort of adventure.

“Why’re you two so happy about all of this?”

“I’m not happy,” answered Applejack. “I just feel like thanks to Twilight we got the strength to continue on, it’s like she’s still with us, like a guardian angel of sorts.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “It’s as if a voice is in the back of my head, cheering me on. It feels weird and awesome!”

He looked at them queerly, wondering why they would feel that way. All three of them had experienced the same thing after all? Or was it, once more, just that because he was a dragon, he couldn’t see the same world they did? No, he told himself, that doesn’t matter.

Spike, too, rose up again. “Alright, if you two think it’s alright this way, then we’ll head to the next town.”

The torn sky was out of sight, but through the dark of the clouds pierced some rays of light. He could even see them from here, like brilliant lances sent down by Celestia to give hope to the few that remained. The hopelessness they had experienced in Ponyville needed to serve as nothing but encouragement. Yes, what remained of this world needed to be kept alive with their hopes and dreams.

As the three packed up, Spike told himself that it was going to be alright, that they would somehow make it through this. Rarity and Twilight were definitely gone, but that didn’t mean they should give up. Twilight wouldn’t have wanted that, after all.

So he would walk on in her memory, because for Spike there was no pain at all.

~The End~

Chapter 1: The Old Blues

The torn sky was out of sight. Clouds obscured it and blacked out the light of every star. Not a single ray managed to pierce through them and so the night grew only colder. Yet the orange earth pony wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

The darkness, the cold chill running through her bones and piercing into her wounds, that was all preferable to the sight of a cloudless sky.

Even though she could only barely make out where she was going, at least she could hear that the world around her remained quiet. Apart from her, nopony was awake. She found that a great relief, but her breathing sounded horrid in her ears. It was like the ringing of a bell, begging for the others to wake.

She walked along the road very carefully, barely recognising her surroundings. Barely, but one quick look at the silhouettes still told her everything she needed to know. To her side stood a building she hadn’t visited in quite some time, and the faint but lingering smell of it even touched her nose. Weird; it hadn’t even been a week since she had last been here with her friends. Maybe one of these days she’d go back to Sugarcube Corner with her sister.

One of these days.

She returned to crawling along Ponyville, every step echoing like the loudest shout in her ears. The pony felt how weak her legs were, how hard breathing came to her and she was painfully aware of what would happen if she would misjudge her situation by one step. She didn’t want to wake anypony up. It was late enough for all of them to be asleep, nopony but her was awake.

She couldn’t miscalculate.

Every step felt like the sting of syringe, a boost to her sweating and her shivering. Moment by moment passed as she went past the buildings of her hometown, with nothing but the sound of her steps and her breaths accompanying her. The darkness pressed against her like walls of stone, its weight letting her bones hurt and tears fall from her eyes. Still, she didn’t do anything but move forward. That was all she could do.

The saddlebags’ sweet scent lingered in the air, even above the distant smell of something rotting. She wondered what it was, but only for a moment. If there was anypony dumping their trash on the town square, they’d probably do it for a purpose. If they had a purpose, she should probably just ignore them. They may have known what they were doing, and she was certain to know what she needed to do.

Changing, the road twisted itself onwards. She had walked it a million times, just a few weeks ago. She knew the way to the Golden Oaks Library and Carousel Boutique, she remembered the shop that sold sofas and quills and the path to the Everfree and Fluttershy’s home, even the road to her sister’s school and the one that led down the fields to where a house was built out of a white cloud, home to Rainbow Dash.

This pony remembered all the roads here, and she would never forget, but they weren’t where she was going. No, they were Ponyville, and she didn’t want to be in Ponyville anymore.

Twisting, the road went on, past the last houses and to where the trees started to grow. Some had burnt in a fire, some others had died a long time ago, while only a few remained alive.

They’re there an’ you don’t need to worry ‘bout nothing, she told herself and made her eyes stare forward. Her ears were perked, just in case, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t look. If there was a faintest glow by the edge of her sight it would be over anyway. That’s how it had gone for everypony else, but a small light appearing and then … No, she needn’t think about it.

She tip-toed onwards, her hooves and legs hurting, every move she made reminded her of the wounds she carried. Every single time her left forehoof touched the ground, she likened the feeling to a rusty nail piercing through it and then shoving itself through her arm and then through the bones of her shoulder. The pain was enough to make her scream, but she didn’t.

She ground her teeth so hard they hurt and the tears only grew in number. Maybe she could have just let herself fall in that instance, but it wasn’t over yet, she still had something, somepony waiting for her at the end.

Applejack took her steps like her breaths, slow and controlled. No matter what would happen, she just needed to get home. She tried her best to ignore the darkness, to focus merely on the path before her, but she felt a chill, nervosity growing as she felt herself being watched. Yet she made herself aware that everypony was asleep, they wouldn’t come out before Celestia’s brightest star reached up from beyond the horizon.

Sweet Apple Acres was how they called this place, and it was the greatest apple farm in all of Equestria. She had never managed to count all those trees they had here, nor the fields beyond. Reflecting on it, Applejack found it amazing that they had only lived a modest life despite producing the best apples in the world. An old family recipe it had been, to give as much as possible and survive with as little as possible, as happily as possible. It had been the kind of lifestyle Rarity had frowned upon, Applejack remembered.

“You know,” the white unicorn with the wavy mane of indigo had said, “with how much your family is earning, I never understood why you wear that old hat.”

She had known, back then, and she cracked a smile.

Nowadays, talking like it had all been in the distant past came easy to her, yet Rarity had only asked her a few weeks ago, and Applejack had given her an answer. Strangely, it didn’t come to her now, but instead she simply felt the pain surge through her leg once more, breaking her out of her thoughts. She needed to get home, lie down for a bit, somepony was waiting for her and she needed to be by her side.

Another step, another stinging bolt of pain. I wonder if I’m bleeding? Applejack shook her head, hoping not.

Once more the pain came, digging itself deep into her shoulder. For a moment it felt like the pain would overtake her, but then it was gone and she wasn’t fazed by it anymore. Her sight got all blurry, but she didn’t cry. There was no reason to. Everypony was asleep and she needed to be quiet because of it. Everypony was relying on her.

Honestly, Applejack had no idea why the tears didn’t stop and the shivers ran down her spine as the darkness of the night surrounded her. She needed to be quiet, lest she wake anypony up.

The gate came into sight, the sign with the tell-tale apple offering the promise of the warm hearth she had come to love so much over the years. Applejack dried her tears before she continued on. I can’t let her see me like this, she thought.

The saddlebags were still there, everything was fine, she had made it. There was absolutely nothing to worry about and no reason to look riled up. Everything was fine, and that was all she needed to tell herself.

Applejack moved on then, down the road and up the last hill. Past the well, ignoring the sounds that came from deep down, and past the big red house, ignoring the sight of barricaded doors and windows. Her path led up to where the cider house stood, a large construct with a roof looking like it had been made out of many oversized barrels, with faint light shining through the windows of the highest room.

Applejack put on a brave smile as she stepped onto the top of the mountain, past the lines painted on the ground by Twilight, once, only a few weeks ago, and hurried up the wooden ramp towards the door. A lantern lit the entrance of the house up, a paper one Big Mac had made when he had been much younger. It was the only light beneath the dark sky, the one thing that made her feel safe. It seemed strange to her how Big Macintosh was really close and still she needed a memento of his.

The earth pony almost felt like a little filly again, but she couldn’t be, since she was the big sister and that was something she was perfectly fine with. There was a reason why she needed to be strong and why she could be strong. She’d brave every monster and every nightmare for that pony, her beloved sibling.

With that thought on her mind she lifted her hoof up. The light shone on her coat and the patches where it had fallen off. For the most part, the flesh looked still fine, but every part of her body was littered with bruises and cuts. She didn’t want Apple Bloom to look at them, so she’d gotten bandages from the pharmacy.

Minuette hadn’t been there, but when she returned, she would find money on the counter, because Applejack would never steal, no matter what would happen.

She nodded to herself, that was nothing she needed to worry about now.

Next she let her hoof slip beneath the bandanna around her neck. The piece of cloth was dyed with as many stripes as it had colors, and they encompassed the range of five, each one the coat of a beloved friend who lived in this town.

The piece of cloth had replaced her hat after it had fallen into the well, but it made her feel just as comfortable.

She reached for the keys hidden on a chain beneath, and put them into the lock, nicely and quietly. Everypony was asleep and she shouldn’t wake them up. Granny Smith had taught her the courtesies well and she wouldn’t forget them.

Applejack was a big sister, a role model.

Every thought on her mind was positive now, she was ready to this. She turned the key, every part of her arm cried out in pain. Luckily for her, there was no pain, none at all, and she opened the door quickly, neatly, and stepped into the old cider house.

Most of the barrels were in the cellar, only one stood on the first floor, right across the corridor, though it stood there only as a means to barricade the ladder.

The cider house was fairly small, it had one small room upstairs where once guests slept, and beneath the corridor was her late father’s kingdom. Applejack smiled, before she put out her head again, blowing the candle in the lantern out and closing the door so that the spells would work uninterrupted.

Can’t have any guests disturbing Apple Bloom, she thought and locked this realm from the outer world. She then turned around, moving to the end of the corridor, past the empty walls she and Pinkie had painted red, with smiling golden stars.

She enjoyed them more than the sky outside.

The ladder went up and down behind the barrel, so Applejack decided that the best move would be to pull it away and towards the door before she jumped over it. If anypony would come, the barrel would be in the way and they would leave them undisturbed. Usually, she enjoyed having ponies come over for a visit, but today was not a good day for that. Apple Bloom’s birthday would come up soon enough, and then they could have guests.

Today, all she wanted was to keep the little rascal safe and sound.

She took the ladder with a steady grip, moving up, with the weight of the saddlebags against her. Still, she moved on, because the bandages would need to be applied and Apple Bloom would enjoy the other things she got from her nightly trip to the town. Applejack could do naught but smile as she put up her good arm and pushed the trap-door open.

The room she and Apple Bloom slept in nowadays wasn’t as large as Apple Bloom’s old room, but still sizeable enough to hold two beds, each to one side of the window at the other end of the room; a cabinet with everything cloth related in it; and an old box Applejack had spend a lot of time on to fill with toys.

Between the beds stood a table, painted white, and on top of it were pictures of their friends and family, along with a rotating lamp providing the ambiente of a train riding across the walls, with many animals hurrying alongside it. This room wasn’t the best thing, but still good.

Well, usually, as a distinct odor hit Applejack as her nose came up. It was the kind of smell that made the gag reflex do its job, but Applejack was familiar enough with it to just congratulate herself on good timing.

She closed the trap-door too, and stepped farther into the room, where she put the bags onto the left bed. It was a rather small bed where a pony with a wilder sleep pattern would probably have fallen out, but for her it worked. The sheets had belonged to her mother, they were green with oranges, grapes, apples and bananas on them.

Applejack thought they were hopeful, and lightened the mood at least a bit. The cute smiles they put on only helped, and they made Apple Bloom more comfortable. Just as the big sister needed to do, and so she turned to her sister’s bed.

This one was about the same size as hers, but railings protected the one who slept in it from falling out. The wood was painted white, unlike the brown of Applejack’s, and the bedding was done in yellow on the sides and edges, while the sheets had a green square in the middle, surrounded by a line in the same red as Apple Bloom’s mane. Everything else however was adorned by pink floral motives, the ones that made the filly feel so calm and safe.

Applejack quietly leaned against the railing, and for a moment just went over the one who slept in the bed.

Most of Apple Bloom was covered up, except for her head. The cute little thing had her eyes closed and held her favorite teddy bear close, all while suckling on her binkie. The red mane was a mess from turning around in her sleep, but Applejack was glad the filly had slept and not noticed how her sister had left.

Leaving her alone was painful enough, but if she had woken? Applejack didn’t know whether or not she would have forgiven herself for that.

But her little sister was a stubborn baby as it seemed, probably as thick-headed as their mother or grandmother; she had slept through the night. Applejack felt her fears and anxiety leaving the more she watched her little sister, the more she listened to her soft breaths and quiet suckling on her paci.

The filly seemed content in her sleep, and for a moment Applejack wondered whether she dreamt of something. Then she took another breath, and once more took notice of the smell.

Applejack couldn’t help but giggle to herself, though she stifled it quickly. Whatever her baby sister dreamed of, it was good enough to ignore any real world issues. Yes, and even though it was unnecessary Applejack moved her hoof beneath the covers. All the signs pointed towards Apple Bloom, so it was merely a courtesy to check, but as she got one feel of the diaper, she knew immediately that the filly had soiled it in her sleep. Immediately, Applejack let her hoof retreat, not wanting to invade her sister’s privacy more than necessary.

Even though, she knew how much Apple Bloom hated a dirty diaper, and waking up in one for the first since forever would probably leave her cranky for the rest of the day. Applejack went with her hoof through the filly’s mane, causing a joyful, indescribable noise to escape the filly’s mouth. I’d better change her before she wakes up, then reward her for staying dry overnight.

It was the same old blues as so many years ago, really, as they had just decided to potty train Apple Bloom. Their mother had still been there at that time, Applejack remembered, with a bright red mane and eyes as deep as the sea. Now, she wasn’t here, but Applejack would do her best nonetheless. She went over to the saddle bags, grabbing the new diapers out of the one she had worn on her left.

Apple Bloom would probably see that these ones had prints while the one she was wearing didn’t, but even if she figured that out, the point was that she would never know that she had messed in her sleep.

Applejack turned around then and slowly lifted her baby sister’s blanket up, so that she could change her.

For a moment she stopped, thinking about how long it had been since her sister had been potty trained, about how weird it seemed–but then, Apple Bloom needed her now more than ever, and as the big sister, she needed to make sure the little one felt safe during all circumstances.

Yes, even though Apple Bloom would probably find her Cutie Mark soon, even though she had learned at school and from Twilight Sparkle, and helped Applejack so much on the farm, she needed to be protected.

Dawn would come, everypony would wake up and Apple Bloom would rely on her again. She took the powder out from beneath the bed and as Apple Bloom stirred a bit in her sleep, Applejack rubbed her belly.

“Don’cha worry, you’ll be clean in no time,” she cooed, and weirdly enough, despite every part of her body hurting and maybe some wounds having started to bleed again, she didn’t feel any pain.

There was no pain at all.

Chapter 13: The Rainbow In The Dark

On the ninth morning, she stared into the mirror, wondering what the name was of the pony she saw. Hair the color of straw, eyes the color of grass, those were the things that stood out to her.

Each morning she pretended to bathe, pretended to wash. Her eyes went to the empty bucket she so half-heartedly had thrown over her head. Spike got the water from outside, from the river that ran through the town.

The water held no reflection of her, but the mirror did. She’d found it covered up, but since Twilight didn’t seem to ever step away from her work, Applejack had taken the liberty of removing the cover.

Coat of orange, blackened veins, those were the things she noticed. Patches of rotten skin that began to show signs of growing despite the cremes, despite the medicines Spike gave her.

She looked at those patches were her coat’d fallen off and even touched them. Some fur stuck to her hooves and she felt a smile growing on her face.

Now that nopony else was here it was easier to admit. She needn’t pretend, she could allow herself to feel it. There was pain and she wanted nothing more than to die.

Soon, she thought, leaning over the sink and against the mirror.

How old was the pony she was looking at?

Too young to die.

She closed her eyes, felt every muscle burn, every fiber strain, every bone crack. Soon, she thought again and thought of her mother smiling at a filly she held in her arms. A filly who had her eyes.

If only Apple Bloom was dead.

Applejack took a deep breath and shook her head, turned away from the mirror. Her mane was drenched, she was cold, but it didn’t matter. She needed to start into the day, needed to be there for everypony. Especially for Apple Bloom.

Every time her left hoof hit the ground, a jolt of pain ran through her. Every time she moved her tongue, the inside of her mouth felt like it burned up. Every time she blinked, her head began to sting.

She needed to ignore it, needed to be there for Apple Bloom. Right now, she couldn’t afford to give up, couldn’t afford to give in, she was a big sister after all. Applejack had to be a role model.

Opening the door to the bathroom she went to the main room and found the clock showing her that it was 5:00 in the morning. She hadn’t slept well and her own bed was soaked once more. At least not with more blood.

She walked into the kitchen, where a candle burned and Spike sat over a mug of hot water, chewing on stones and pretending they were gems.

“Hey, AJ,” he muttered, half asleep. “You had a good night?”

She shook her head. She’d told enough lies before they’d gotten here and didn’t want to go back to that. As long as Apple Bloom was out of sight, she could be honest.

“How long did you sleep, then?”

“A few hours,” she said. “Didn’t wake up even though I had to go.”

He sighed. “I told you, it’s–”

“I know,” she threw in, sitting down by the table and letting her head fall onto it.

It hit with a bang, startling him. She didn’t care, the pain was different, it felt good, almost like it freed her.

“I promised Apple Bloom to help her potty train, instead my own star chart ain’t got no golden stars no more.”

“You don’t have a star chart,” he answered, dry as ever.

She rolled her eyes. “Well if I had one, I’d look almost as bad as Apple Bloom. Meanwhile, Twilight doesn’t have any problems.”

He used the chance to look to the window and take a sip, possibly agreeing with her that it was enviable. Twilight was handling everything so well, even now that Applejack seemed to grow inept.

“When Rainbow Dash gets here, she’s gonna laugh at me,” Applejack said with a frown.

She didn’t want any guests. Apple Bloom needed the quiet. The moment she’d found out that her cactus was still there she’d immediately hugged it and now she slept with it every night. Toys would keep her busy and Applejack would feel far more comfortable if she could play more games with her sister, too.

“You make her sound like some sort of bully,” Spike said, pausing for a second. “Oh, right, we're talking about Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack harrumphed. “What should I do?”

There was a quiet moment and then Spike, biting his lip, began to say some quiet words. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Why?”

He paused, looked at the window, clearly tried to pretend it wasn’t covered up. It was and he was just looking at a bedsheet that hadn’t been cleaned for months. Applejack knew that and she also knew that it was rude for him to not look at her.

“When we get Rainbow Dash everything’ll be ready,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“What will be?”

“Well, she’ll help you fix your bedwetting problem, she’ll help fix Apple Bloom’s condition, she’ll help Ponyville grow more lively again.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “That sounds like a lot of work, though. She’s not the type of pony to do a lot of work.”

In the silence that followed, Applejack looked at the pictures on the wall. There were photos of Twilight’s first surprise party. In every picture, she stared at the camera in utter shock. Then there were pictures of her with their friends.

There was Fluttershy, tending to her animals, with Twilight holding an angry Angel Bunny in her hooves, clawing at the menace that dared to hug him. The yellow pegasus smiled at Twilight knowingly and already had a first-aid kit ready.

There was Pinkie Pie, who held the camera up as she tried to strike a pose with Twilight. Applejack remembered that photo. It was taken after a pie eating contest and considering how bad Twilight looked, it was just after she’d made third place. Pinkie looked chipper as always, being happy that she made eighth.

There was a photo of Rarity, with her and the new princess of friendship trying out some dresses fit for royalty. Rarity looked far more comfortable with hers than Twilight did, however, but there was an air of comfort around the two. It almost made Applejack smile.

There was a picture of an orange earth pony with a cowboy hat. A father had given it to his son and the son then to his sister. Now it lay down in the well, burnt and wet and forever out of reach.

There was a picture of Twilight attending a book convention of sorts, with Rainbow Dash hiding behind her. While the then-unicorn just held a lot of books, the pegasus was wearing a Daring Do costume. She hid tried to pull the helmet down, but at the same time smiled at the camera.

It was an unusual shyness for the brazen pegasus, the self-declared “best flier in all of Equestria” and the blush patches on her cheeks only emphasized the unusuality of the picture.

“No matter the cost,” mumbled Spike and sipped his water.

Applejack didn’t understand, she only wanted to make sure Apple Bloom was fine.

They stayed together in the kitchen and then Applejack decided to make some breakfast for Twilight, while Spike took her of her sheets. She wasn’t quite sure if it was a fair deal, but then again, she needed to be mature about this. Not that she was sure how a mature person would react to somepony else washing the sheets they ruined. It seemed kind of contradictory, actually.

Yet she brewed some water and stomped some beans into powder. Not many were left of those, either. Spike went into the town nearly every day and while he still seemed to get some usable things out of his trips, they weren’t yielding as much food as they did before Applejack and Apple Bloom had arrived.

Winter was coming and the last harvest had probably gone bad. After all, she and Apple Bloom had left the acres in bad shape. It was likely not only the apple business had a bad year.

This was going to be a tough winter, either way.

Or maybe not, a dark voice whispered in the back of her head as she mixed water and powder into a rough brew.

She poured it into a mug and put it on a tablet, together with some oats and bread to help Twilight start into the day.

There were so few chances to get so see Twilight that Applejack relished every opportunity to see her. They were friends, after all. So she took the stairs like she did every day, careful not to show the pain she was in. It wasn’t there, there never was any pain at all.

She went past the curtain and the first thing she spotted was Twilight, lying on the ground, her head resting on a piece of paper she’d scrabbled on. An empty ink pot lay close to her and the feather was still in her hoof.

The hoof that held it was stained with ink and so was Twilight’s face. It was quite obvious that she’d fallen asleep while working, but that was just like her. It was only after she noticed all that that Applejack noticed more things about Twilight, stranger things.

For one, there was the suckling noise she made with her mouth. It was a familiar noise, but not one Applejack associated with her dear friend. The lighting was as bad as always, with only one orb flickering above. Applejack had to step closer to make out where the noise came from.

She’d noticed a pendant of sorts before, hanging from Twilight’s neck, but only now that she saw her asleep, Applejack saw that it wasn’t a pendant at all. A bit of a smile formed on her face, as the plastic object in Twilight’s mouth moved so naturally.

The second strange thing occurred to her then. Twilight wore a diaper. Not like Apple Bloom’s, but a cloth one. There was a slight odor in the air, one of urine. It made Applejack wonder and again the question came, how old was she.

Twilight was close to her age and wore diapers, she herself also couldn’t keep her bed dry. An illness might seem likely but there was no pain, no illness. Applejack bit her lip. Twilight was doing schoolwork, they were both visiting the same school.

Her head hurt a bit, so she knew she needed to stop thinking about it. She knew a bad pain when she felt it, so she decided to put down the tablet she balanced on her back and wake Twilight.

Applejack’s friend’s nose scrunched as she smelled the coffee. It probably smelled bad, but Applejack didn’t know. She told herself that she was too young to evaluate coffee aromas anyway. At least it was a reaction and so she moved closer to Twilight and gave her a slight nudge.

The pony grumbled, but stirred, doing the opposite of what Applejack thought she’d do. She fought the sleep away, fought against her body telling her to lie down and rest and rose up with a grim expression.

One that was ruined by the pacifier in her mouth and the ink that both her cheeks.

“Applejack?” she asked groggily, spitting the pacifier out without a care. “What are you doing here?”

“Bringin’ you coffee,” Applejack said with a smile, looking down. “And I just found out something interesting.”

Twilight looked down and then looked up again. “Is it that interesting?” she asked.

There it was again, the cold distance. There were many ways to interpret the way Twilight looked at Applejack, but she quickly decided that it was the surprise. Twilight clearly cared a lot how other ponies viewed her and she didn’t want to be found out.

“You hid up here cuz you didn’t want Apple Bloom to find out that you’ve got the same problem she does. So that is interesting,” Applejack figured.

Twilight looked at her, her remaining eye scanning the earth pony. “More like the same problem you do,” she stated matter-of-factly.

Applejack was taken aback. How did she know?

Twilight sighed at that reaction. “Spike told you that it comes with the sickness. It’s–”

“But I don’t feel sick,” Applejack said, stomping her left front hoof down.

She winced at the pain, but Twilight made no indication that she’d noticed. Of course she didn’t, there was no pain and therefor nothing to see.

“I see,” she answered and seemed to think for a moment. “Well, it’s still natural.”

Applejack tilted her head. “How so?”

Twilight smiled a knowing smile, that was easy to see. “We’re both fillies who still go to school.”

“But we got our Cutie Marks,” Applejack said, “so we shouldn’t really–”

Applejack put her hoof on Applejack’s mouth. She could taste the ink. “Shush, Applejack,” the alicorn, clearly not noticing that she was painting her friend blue.

“It’s okay, because we’re kids. Some kids grow up faster, some grow up slower. It’s okay if I wear diapers to bed, if Apple Bloom can’t eat her food alone or even if Spike has none of these problems. Alright?”

Applejack gave a shy nod, looking down to the ground. “So we’re kids, fillies?”

“Yeah. Grown mares often don’t go to school anymore,” Twilight answered with a smile. “And don’t have blue lips. How’d you get those?”

Applejack pointed at Twilight’s hoof. She lifted an eyebrow and then stared at the feather she’d left on the ground. After that, she found that she’d left an imprint on both her paper and the floor. Yet all she said was, “Well, I can’t ask Spike to clean that up, too.”

She smiled, then laughed out loud. Applejack followed suit. Twilight actually looked adorable, not at all grown up. That’s why she had to be right, that’s why the mirror had to lie. After all, Applejack had told Apple Bloom the same before and now all she needed to do was take heed. She needed to be as grown up as she could be.

Twilight finally took the cup and took a sip off it, then shook her head. “Wow,” she said.

“Is the coffee that bad?” Applejack asked, grinning at her friend.

“Not the coffee,” Twilight said, waiting another moment before she managed to finish. “It’s been some time since I could laugh. Feels kind of like my muscles forgot how to even move.”

“Yeah, well, it’s always good to have friends around, right?”

The alicorn nodded and then sat down on her behind. Applejack looked at it. “You’re not going to take it off?”

She shook her head. “Naah, I’ll take it off when I need to go to the toilet, until then I’ll just be a bit lazy, for once.”

With that her horn lit up and she looked up, forming more glowing orbs to float around. For a moment, Applejack could swear she had the strangest smile. The blue cheeks probably would’ve looked comedic under any other circumstances, but for one brief moment the lighting made Twilight look downright menacing.

Then the room looked a bit more welcoming, a bit brighter. Twilight looked at her friend. “Didn’t think I’d be this comfortable just by having a good friend around.”

She certainly looked comfortable, the way she sat there and smiled at Applejack. It seemed almost too good to be true. They’d spent weeks apart, maybe longer. It’d been summer and now winter was arriving and she hadn’t seen Twilight or anypony else since then.

“Twi,” she said, quietly, “How’re the others.”

Twilight shrugged. “Fluttershy’s probably with her animal friends, Pinkie went down to her family, so I assume she’s currently fast asleep. Rainbow Dash, well, we’ll see her again soon.”

A moment of quiet.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What about Rarity?”

There was a flicker in Twilight’s expression. For a brief moment there was an expression in her eyes, but Applejack couldn’t see it. She couldn’t, because she was young and foolish and didn’t know these emotions. Everything was fine, everything was going to be fine.

The quiet lasted too long for her taste, however. “Twilight?”

The other filly giggled. “Sorry, I just. … I just thought about when I last met her. It’s been a while and she’s … She’s drowning in work. It’s, uhm, quite stressful for her. But she allowed us to use the boutique for my project, so that’s nice.”

Applejack nodded. “That’s nice. You’d think she wouldn’t like somepony else messing with her room though.”

“Yeah, I had a hard time negotiating, but Spike got through that thick … I mean, he got through to her. He really did.”

Her smile faded a bit.

Another silent moment.

“Applejack?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah?”

“If the world broke, would you do everything you could to save everypony you knew?”

Applejack tilted her head at the question. “Why’re you askin’ that?”

“Just,” she bit her lip. “It’s just a thought I’ve been having lately.”

She turned her head to the blanket. “Sometimes I wake up in a dark room with nopony there. It’s smelly, I’m lonely and I don’t want to move anymore. I feel like when I look outside all I see is a tear going through the sky, erupting from Canterlot. I feel like nopony else is there who can do something but me. Like that’s why I became an alicorn. To save everypony.”

Applejack looked at her. The tall alicorn, the brave princess. A filly wearing an eyepatch and her binky around her neck. Like Apple Bloom. Like I.

“Yeah,” she answered and tried to smile bravely. “I would try to do everything. I’d save Apple Bloom and you and Spike.”

“No matter the cost?” Twilight asked.

“No matter the cost,” Applejack answered.

And then Twilight went for a hug. She threw her arms around Applejack and her warm breath went down the back of Applejack’s neck. It happened so quick, the earth pony didn’t even know how to react. So she just let it happen and felt Twilight’s heartbeat, so slow and distant.

“Applejack?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to fix everything and then we’ll all go on a picnic together. I’ll bring salad, you some Apple Pie. Apple Bloom can come, too. We’ll talk about what we do during the next summer vacation, what we’ll do when we grow up. Alright? We’ll be together. We’ll be fine. No matter the cost.”

Only now did Applejack notice how the orbs light glimmered against the dark in six colors. A small rainbow amidst the blackness, a small light against the nothingness. Twilight felt cold and she did, too. So she closed her arms around her friend and just let herself be warm for a bit.

She felt the diaper, she felt the binky and she felt safe, too.

“How about we do it when I’ve got Apple Bloom on the potty? As a reward of sorts?” she asked.

“That sounds good,” Twilight answered.

And that was that. That was how the day before they’d make their attempt to save the world started. Applejack was blissfully unaware of it, though, and instead figured that she soon needed to check up on Apple Bloom again. The little rascal was likely to not have made it through the night clean.