COSMIC CENTURY

As far as I could tell, it was going to be just another day of tending to the Apple Farm.

You know, another busy day of growing, tending and harvesting the crops, cleaning the house, preparing and selling pies, making sure everything ran smoothly. Nothing different.

Well, I guess it was actually kind of sunny and warm that day, good for work, which was why Big Macintosh and I woke up so early and took our jobs in stride. Even granny Smith felt livelier than normal.

And it was this normalcy, the quiet and beauty of it all, which made what came after all the more jarring.

"Keep those apples comin' Big Mac!"   Sweat trickles down my face as I climb yet another small hill, the kind I grew up surrounded with in my entire life.   "If you don't, we're going to miss the party!"

"....you could try helping a little bit, though...."   Stopping for a moment, I look back and see Big Mac lagging behind, covered from head to hoof in heavy bags full of apples, enough to make my modest satchel look criminal in comparison.

"Hey, I'm not the on who pulled off some fancy mathematics and said we could deal with a whole orchard in a jiffy!"   I move even faster up the hill just to tease him.   "So it's all on you this time!"

"Ugh....eyup..."

Ignoring the encumbered stallion behind me, I climb one final stretch and reach the very top of the hill, where rays of beaming sunshine caress my coat with it's warmth and greets me with a beautiful sight:   an uninterrupted view of Pony Greens, the boundless prairies at the very center of Equestria.

My gaze sweeps through the vast field of green pastures, broken up only by lightly forested hills and many small dirt roads which disappeared into the horizon, dirt roads that shared the same origin:   Ponyville, the small and cozy town grandma helped found long ago, and the place where we do most of our business.

But it certainly wasn't as quiet as usual right now, with strange, crackling noises like fireworks originating from the normally reserved town.

"I know you like the view and all, but I don't think we have time to admire it now, AJ."   Big Mac had already caught up with me and was preparing to move down the other side of the hill before I stop him.

"Mac? Do you know if they are having a fair at the town?"

"What do you mean by 'a fair'?"

"Don't you hear all the fireworks out there?"

"Fireworks?"   Big Mac turns to me with a quizzical look on his face before focusing for a moment. "Eeeyup, sounds like fireworks to me, but I didn't now about any fairs today."

"Well, that's strange...."   Moving a little towards the end of the hill, I wriggle my ears and attune my hearing and sight to the town as best as I can. It probably won't help much this far away from the town, but I could at least try to make out something.

"Hmmm...."

These fireworks sound weird, like they are out of tune or something. In fact, they sound nothing at all like any fireworks I've heard before, their noises hushed and erratic. And along with them, I hear some faint cheering from a crowd, but much like the strange fireworks the cheering sounds off, almost as if they were actually...

"AJ, did you look at the sky?"

"Huh?"   Big Mac's question came out of nowhere

"Look at the sky..."

Not really getting what he meant by that, I raise my head to look at the blue sky to find whatever it is Big Mac wants me to look at. It doesn't take me long to see some decidedly non-colorful, gray explosions in the sky along with falling rubbish.

"Oh! They are fireworks!"   How could I have missed them? Big Mac probably thinks I'm blind right now if his bemused expression is any indication.   "He he! Well, what do you know? How come we missed a fair?"

Actually, looking closer at my bro, I don't see much bemusement in him, just a very pale, chilling face, like that of a ghost.

"H-hey, Macintosh...? Is there something wrong?"

"Applejack, look closer."   Big Mac's voice is cold and critical, a voice he uses only when something very bad happens, the kind of voice that tells me I should listen.

"Uh....Okay..."   I raise my head again and scan the sky all over, trying to figure out the problem, and once again, I don't see anything out of the ordinary, other than a few fireworks exploding here and there.

It takes me a while, but I finally manage to make out several smaller figures flying all over the sky.

"Pegasi?"   I turn to Big Mac.   "Shouldn't they know better than flying in the middle of fireworks?"

Big Mac only response is pointing back at the sky.

Looking back at the flying figures, they seem to be closer to the farm and I can make out their shapes much more clearly. They seem to be in a hurry to get away from the town as fast as possible, if their reckless speed was to go by but at the very least, they seemed to be flying away from the fireworks display as well, so maybe they would be...

"......!"

"Oh, Celestia...."

A cloud of gray fireworks has engulfed the pegasi.

"Oh no. Oh no no no....!"

And tiny forms fall from inside the cloud, to disappear into the ground below.

I can help but bring one hoof to my mouth at what I just saw. My legs freeze in place. Words fail me utterly until blabbering comes out instead.

Was that an accident?

Can we help?

Are they still...?

From the edge of my sight, I barely make out Big Mac dropping all the bags he was carrying and running down the hill.

"W-wait! Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to check up on them and see if I can help, and you should come with me."

"What....?!"   I guess that accident hit me pretty bad, 'cause it takes me a long time to register his words. "Oh....right!" Musing to myself won't help at all, so I dash down the hill as well.

I've trotted down the same path a thousand times before, memorized every tree, stump and rock inside and around the farm. So many details became so close to me as to make minutes worth of walking feel like seconds, yet now the same path seems to stretch out for miles and hours. I guess Big Mac thinks the same, 'cause he seems to be running faster than before.

"Applejack, you saw what happened there, right?"   Big Mac keeps using that scary voice of his.

"Well, yeah! How can I miss an accident when it happens right in front of my face!"   I can't help but snark at my brother's dumb question.

"If it had happened once, I would think the same."   Big Mac turns to me and, boy, does he looks furious.   "But two 'accidents' in one day?"

"What do you mean by two-WHAT THE?!"

My question is drowned out by a hellish noise, like a roaring thunderclap. Almost immediately after a powerful gust of wind crashes violently against my body, almost making me lose my footing.

Raising my gaze towards the source of the thundering explosion, I see yet another grey cloud in the sky, this one even right above us, well away from the town. And from the cloud, even more forms fall down, close enough for me to make out a-

We can't help them.

Another attack on Ponyville?

The pieces fit one after another. There was no fair that day, those 'fireworks' were actually aimed towards the pegasi, and they were running from them.

And the off-putting cheers were actually...

Screams.

"Applejack? Applejack?!"   Big Mac is glaring at me close enough to feel the warmth of his breath on my snout.   "Where is Applebloom?!"

Applebloom....?

"Do you know where she is?"

Applebloom!

Thank Celestia she called-in sick today!

"Y-yeah! Actually, she didn't go to school today and should be at the home right now!"   Big Mac wastes no time and turns back towards the house, and I  follow.

If the previous run seemed to take hours, this one feels like it's taking an entire day, and the familiarity of the farm does little to relieve my worries. Rather, as I run faster, the lush forest seems to twist into a confusing labyrinth from where there is no exit, a maze that hides savage monsters at every turn, terrifying giants ready to jump out from their lairs and blast us into nothingness, or worse yet, to find a friend lying on the ground, torn to pieces.

I just hope Applebloom actually listened for once and stayed at home instead of running off some-place where I couldn't help.

And that's when I see the tree-house Applebloom usually plays at.

"Big Mac, let's check the tree-house just in case Applebloom is..."   I glance at the tree-house again and I see a decidedly unfamiliar form emerge from behind it.

It's a stallion. A panicky, running stallion carrying something on his back, to be exact.

That thing must must be very important, 'cause he can't stop looking at it even as he runs between several obstacles, barely dodging the few trees standing in his way out of sheer luck.

"Who the hay are you?!"

The stallion just ignores me.

"Hey! I'm speaking to you, mister! What are you-"

And now he is heading straight towards....

"HEY! Look out!"

I can't help but wince as he crashes into a Big Mac who doesn't even budge from the hit, in contrast to the trespasser who falls hard on the ground along with the smaller thing on his back, which falls farther away.

That was a pretty bad hit, bad enough for the stallion to struggle in getting up so, naturally, I get closer to help.

"Err...mister? Are you all right?"   Strangely enough, the disheveled stallion carries a peculiar scent on him that I've only ever felt on one pony in particular.   "Here, hold my hoof..."

"...I'm so sorry, miss, I...."

I recognize that voice, but it's when I see his face where it clicks.

"Mister Rich?"

It was Filthy Rich, one of our farm's most trustworthy associates. A fancy stallion with fancy tastes who always smelled like money, a confident pony fond of investing on people he himself trusted.

He had actually helped our farm many times before, and every now and then offered us a new deal or another.

Emphasis on offered: Filthy Rich never demanded anything. He was soft-spoken and polite, genuinely respected our family's wishes and always carried this sort of subtle humility with him, the kind I would hardly expect on someone like him.

But that pony had seemingly disappeared and was replaced by the afraid, squirming, filthy stallion in front of me. Filthy Rich's expensive suit was covered in all manner of muck, trash, dirt, leaves and.....

Blood?

"Tiara...?"

I've heard that name before.

Isn't that his daughter? The spoiled little filly who keeps teasing Applebloom at school and acts like she owns the place every time they visit the farm?

"Do you mean Diamond Ti-?"

Before I can even finish, Filthy Rich's eyes bulge, almost exiting their sockets, and the rest of his face twists in fear. He springs up and frantically scans the area around him.

"Tiara?! W-where...?!"

The realization hits me like a sledgehammer, and my gaze immediately shoots out towards the small object which fell from Filthy Rich's back a moment ago.

"Tiara!"   Filthy Rich wastes no time and hurries towards his daughter, quickly placing her between his hooves and caressing her.   "It's going to be fine, sweetie, I found help, just hold on for me okay....?"

Moving towards it, I can't help but curse my luck. A fall like that must have hurt a lot, and this is just about the worst time to listen to a storm of complaints from a spoiled filly.

But...

I don't see a slightly bruised, whining filly getting smothered by her father.

Instead, I see a silent, barely moving filly bleeding profusely from a gaping wound on her chest, breathing weakly. If I was any farther I'd probably think she was dead.

Big Mac's shock as he reaches the filly mimics mine.

"H-hey, you don't have to....I can...."   I try to say something. I want to tell him that everything is going to be all right, that we can take care of her until a doctor or someone else arrives. Anything, really, just to make him feel secure.

But the sorry sight of the bleeding filly in the hooves of her tearful father kills any words before they come out.

"You have to help me!"   Filthy Rich looks at me with pleading eyes, and my heart rends at the sheer despair behind them.   "You have to help Tiara! She needs help and she needs it right now!"

I am so lost on his words that I barely notice another little filly creeping out of the tree-house.

"Applejack...?"   Applebloom moved down the ramp, her round face and saucer eyes marred with concern and budding tears.   "I-is she going to be okay?"

"Oh, darn it...!"   This is just what I needed!   "Big Macintosh! Take Applebloom and go get the first aid kit while I try and stop the bleeding!"

Big Mac gives me a brief nod before bolting towards the house with Applebloom, leaving me to care for Tiara.

"Just lay her down." I try to keep my voice as calm and collected as possible.

"F-fine..." He reluctantly releases her from his arms and lets me to check up on her.

"I might not look like it, Mister Rich, but I'm more than a little knowledge-able about medicine."   I just try to strike a conversation to calm Rich's nerves, who looks just about ready to panic.   "Living far-away from town and having to take care of job-related injuries on the go forces you to learn."   Not that I'm lying.

Mister Rich's mood seems to brighten just a tiny bit, which will do for now.

Kneeling down closer to the filly, I notice a.... tourniquet of sorts....around her chest?

"I-I read some books about forest survival, a-and I thought I could stop the b-bleeding a little bit if I...." Filthy Rich looks at me as if I he had just robbed a bank in front of a police station.

"It's okay, don't worry." My focus is entirely on Diamond Tiara and at least the bleeding wasn't as bad as it looked like.

"Hey, Tiara!"

She doesn't respond.

"Diamond Tiara!"

I hear a pained whimper.

"Can you hear me, Tiara?!"

And then some groaning.

"Are you OK, sugarcube?!"

"...do I look....ok to you...?...you dumb...!"

Well, that's a relief.

If you are expecting something like a 'vivid recollection' of the attack, then you are asking the wrong mare. I didn't actually experience it first-hand, only heard about it later from the news and survivors like Filthy Rich...

And what a tale it was! When Rich told us about his brief stint with some monsters, we couldn't believe him. But the evidence was staring at us in the face, with many dead pegasi, constant explosions and screaming in the distance and a very injured filly.

But I still didn't think much about it at time. I just couldn't grasp the enormity of what was actually happening at that moment. Heh, I even tried to play the brave mare and, like a good Element of Harmony, wanted to charge towards the town and help in any way I could.

But family has a way of dashing those thoughts. I had a scared little sister, an older grandma and a worried big brother, hay, I had two families looking up to me on that day and I was just going to stupidly abandon them so I could get myself killed over there.

I still remember what Granny Smith told me that day.

"You can go there if you want, but remember that there are still ponies counting on you here."

And then she pointed at Diamond Tiara.

And I guess the stakes dawned on me at that point, 'cause I didn't go. Family is still more important than anything in life, you know?

And so, with the town infested with monsters, we took a wagon and moved as far away as we could from the it, from home, and we left everything but the most essential behind.

A decision I soon came to regret, when I remembered I had another family waiting for me in Ponyville.