Briiing!!! The loud ring of an alarm clock echoed throughout a barn down in Ponyville. A young pony sat up with eyes half closed and a frowning face. “Uhm…it’s morning already? Heavens, nighttime went by fast. It’s a good thing that it’s still summer time. Well, time to get breakfast ready," she murmured to himself as she proceeded to turn off the alarm clock and climb out of the bed. She stretched then trotted outside of her room and down the stairs. She yawned several times during the way and when she arrived at the bottom of the beautiful wooden staircase, she realized that the house was empty.
“I wonder where everypony had gone up to… I know Granny Smith and Big Mac went out of town to visit Babs's family, but where’s Apple Bloom and Winona?” She shrugged and continued to stroll pass the living room and into the kitchen. She was right in front of the ice box when the door suddenly slammed opened.
“Good morning, Applejack! Are you awake yet?” It was Apple Bloom and she’s carrying Winona, Applejack's small brown dog. Winona gave a happy yelp as soon as she noticed the familiar surrounding around her and jumped out of Apple Bloom's back.
Applejack in turn looked at her sister, who’s smiling a whole lot, and smiled back. She turned back to the ice box, opened the door, and took out a bottle of milk and a box of cereal. Walking towards the dining table with everything in her hooves and mouth, she managed to juggle a bowl and a silver spoon out of a nearby cabinet. Apple Bloom stared at her sister for a few seconds and finally decided to leave her alone to eat her breakfast. She then called for Winona and when she found her, she left for her room to play.
When Applejack finally finished breakfast, she realized that it was time for her favorite morning show, a luxury she can only afford when there aren't as many chores in the day. She rushed to put her bowl in the sink and raced towards the couch about 10 feet away from the dining table and jumped to the couch. She then grabbed the remote control and turned on the television. Strangely enough, when the television was turned on, there was nothing on but the news about some peculiar occurrences out in the countryside near where Applejack lived. She figured it had nothing to do with her, so she turned off the television, sighed, and went back upstairs to her own room. "Guess the show's cancelled today on account of these things."
It was a day that she was going to take for herself after a hard week of apple bucking.
Several hours later, she heard knocks coming from the front door downstairs. She yelled to her sister to get the door, but there was no reply. Sighing, she paused in the middle of fixing her Stetson and went downstairs to get the door. She looked through the peeping hole. As soon as she recognized that it was her pal, Pinkie Pie, she opened the door. It was strange that Pinkie didn't just burst in.
“Hey! What’s up, Pinkie? I can’t believe you’re up this early. You must’ve busted out your kitchen or something if you came here at this hour.” Usually, there will be laughter and giggles coming out of Pinkie's mouth, but today there was none. Pinkie was as silent as ever and this scared Applejack. “Pinkie? What’s wrong?”
Pinkie Pie just stared glumly at Applejack and finally raised her hoof to give Applejack a note. She looked at Applejack for a good minute and left. Puzzled, Applejack looked at her pal walking away without even saying ‘Laterz, pally!’.
“This is strange,” Applejack thought, “nothing like this ever happened before. Maybe she’s sick or something. Ah…whatever…I’ll just see what she gave me. Maybe it’s some new plan for that surprise party we're throwing Twilight Sparkle.”
Applejack opened the neatly folded piece of paper and silently read the contents. Her eyes suddenly widened in horror, not amusement. She dropped the piece of paper to the floor and revealed a terrifying picture of Pinkie Pie lying on the ground, helpless and near death.
“What in the world is this? Why would she give me something as sickening as this? Is she trying to play a trick on me? But even this is still too much for Pinkie.”
Still in horror, Applejack picked up the piece of paper with her right hoof, crumpled it up into a tiny ball of paper and threw it in a nearby trashcan. Then, she slowly closed the door and saw her sister looking at her with the same strange expression as Pinkie Pie's. She was pale and her eyes are fixed on Applejack's figure. Her mouth was still and she had her hooves on top of her knees to support her chin. Applejack slowly moved away from her gaze, but she could still see that Apple Bloom's eyeballs are following her, watching her every move.
“Uh…Apple Bloom? Sugarcube? Are you feeling all right? Why are you staring at me like that? It’s really freaking me out. Stop it!” Applejack could feel her mane standing up and her eyes widening. She started to back away from her sister. “Stop it, Apple Bloom. This isn’t funny. If you’re imitating Pinkie Pie, you are doing a pretty nice job there. Stop it!” Applejack could feel her hooves getting heavier, as if she was to be pulled down to the bottom of the floor and into the darkness of the underworld. Maybe this was Discord's doing?
When she came near to a corner, her sister disappeared like magic. A few seconds later, the slam of a door could be heard from upstairs and a figure could be seen emerging from upstairs and it’s moving downwards. It was Apple Bloom and the little filly was just smiling, like always. Sometimes Applejack wondered if she ever tires of smiling every single day. She practically hops downstairs and when she noticed her big sister staring in terror, she grinned. “What’s wrong, Applejack? It’s like you saw a ghost or something. Did Rainbow Dash scare you or something? He he…”
“Apple Bloom, were you trying to freak me out or something? Why were you staring at me with ghost-like eyes?”
“What are you talking about, big sis? What do you mean I was staring at you? You must be imagining things. I was upstairs the whole time.”
“Never mind, Apple Bloom.”
“Well, okay then. I’m going off to play with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, so I’ll see you in about 3 hours. We’re watching a movie, you know, and yes, Granny and Big Mac knows about it too. Okay? Bye!”
“Later, little sis.”
Apple Bloom exited through the front door after fastening her new favorite apple-patterned hairbow on. She closed the door lightly and proceeded to gallop to her friend’s house. Applejack is still staring at the door and the events that just happened to her in the last few minutes. She shrugged and thought, “Maybe Apple Bloom's right. Maybe I’m just imagining things. Maybe she wasn’t staring at me, and maybe Pinkie Pie wasn't here. And that paper…that paper was not Pinkie.”
Still a little bit shaky, she locked the front door and returned upstairs to her room to resume fixing her hat. When she was finally upstairs, her Stetson was exactly where she'd left it - on her bed, with threads coming out of it. She hopped on her bed and grabbed her Stetson to continue her work. For a while, she was absorbed fully in her task that she didn’t notice crimson ooze coming from the ceiling of her room. When she was making final touches on the rim, she could feel something warm on her shoulder. When she turned to look at her shoulder, warm goo was starting to make its way down the back of her hoof. “Yuck! The heck?” She tried to shake the goo off, but it just sticks there. “Oh Celestia…this is bad, very bad.”
