Separated

  Maud Pie glumly stared out the window of Sugarcube Corner. Today, there was a lack of the usual sweet aroma of candy and baked goods, as Pinkie Pie called it. Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake were both on an outing together, and their foals were upstairs sleeping. It was only her in the bakery aside from their foals. Pinkie Pie had gone off to visit her friends.

  Maud groaned. She stepped away from the window, turning away from the sight of ponies outside smiling and laughing. She wished she could feel that way when she was alone. Then there was a loud, strong knock on the door.

  "Maud Pie! The door is locked!" a pony called. It sounded like Pinkie Pie's apple-loving friend, Applejack.

  Maud slowly blinked in confusion. Then she shook her head. Pinkie Pie probably locked the door herself. The grey mare trotted over to the door and unlocked it, letting the orange pony in.

  "Howdy," Applejack greeted Maud politely, taking her hat off and putting it on her chest, bowing. She was probably joking with her fancy bow.

  Applejack rose and donned her hat again. She trotted past Maud, looking around curiously. She seemed to notice the lack of a delicious scent as well.

  "Hello. Finally, some company," Maud said.

  "Pardon, ya'll?" Applejack questioned, looking back at Maud with a dazed look on her face.

  "Nopony's been here all day. Pinkie, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, are all out somewhere. The foals are upstairs sleeping," Maud explained gloomily, sounding even more bored than she was before.

  "Well, ah just came here fer some cupcakes 'er somethin'. Got anythin'?" Applejack asked, looking at the empty counter. Maud suddenly noticed the empty counter too. Why wouldn't Pinkie Pie or the Cake family display any cupcakes just because they were outside all day? Didn't they trust Maud?

  "No," Maud said. "I thought there was some stuff here earlier though."

  Applejack shrugged, disappointed at the absence of mouth-watering cupcakes, and just food in general. She trotted behind the counter and looked at the empty display case, confirming that there was no food as if she was hallucinating. Maud's thoughts slipped out of her mouth.

  "You're not hallucinating. There's really no candy here."

  Applejack shot Maud another perplexed gaze. "Eh?" she said.

  "Sorry, my thoughts slipped out. You looked like you thought the lack of desserts here was a hallucination," Maud explained, pulling Applejack away from the counter.

  Applejack shook her head, bored. "Let's go outside, then. Why don't we go see Twi?" she suggested happily.

  Maud lightened up slightly. She gave Applejack a small smile and followed the other mare out of the empty building. The trip to Twilight's castle was quick.

  "Twi, open up!" Applejack said, knocking.

  The alicorn opened the door. "Oh, hi girls!" she said.

  "Howdy. Could we spend some time with ya?" Applejack said.

  "Oh...okay," Twilight said, a little nervous.

  The two ponies stepped inside. Twilight closed the door behind them. "Oh, did you hear?"

  Applejack looked at the princess. "About...what?"

  Twilight showed them the Ponyville Express newspaper from this morning. She suddenly looked worried and even more anxious than before. Maud and Applejack looked at it closely. They skimmed through it until they got to the first paragraph of the article on the front.

The Changelings have made a threatening return, leaving behind no more than a small wreck of the outskirts of Ponyville, but also many injured ponies. Many ponies have been bitten specifically, and Changelings are known to begin transformations after they bite ponies, according to Princess Cadence. The ponies that have been attacked are Colgate, Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, and Big Macintosh, but the only two bitten are Colgate and Bon Bon.

  Applejack suddenly stepped back. "Big Mac?"

  Twilight nodded, already extremely solemn. Applejack returned to reading the article, while Maud continued to read it when Applejack stopped.