“Howdy there partner!” Applejack exclaimed. “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. No, don’t move, you are perfectly fine. See, I find ponies napping in my orchard all the time. In fact there is a certain blue pegasus that always naps in my trees. My trees! Can you believe it?” Applejack smiled and looked up, “It can be quite the surprise when you have a full grown mare fall on you from up there.” She chuckled, “Alright, I see that you are a little confused. Let me explain. Tell you my story, if you wouldn’t mind. No? Good, because this story can be pretty entertaining.” Applejack sat down on her haunches. “I suppose I should introduce myself, I’m Applejack and this is my orchard.” She waved her hoof to indicate all the trees then held it out. “Don't want to shake? It’s okay, not everypony likes to shake hooves. That’s perfectly fine.“ She pulled it back, “Take a look at trees around you though, these seven trees grow taller and stronger than the rest of my orchard. Wanna know why?” She nodded, “Of course you do, these trees are very special. No, no,” She laughed, “These aren’t zap apple trees. These are my special project. Not even my family knows about this here group. That’s because I use a different kind of fertilizer on these trees than the rest of the orchard. Some may call it experimental, but I like to think of it as essential.” She frowned slightly, “Still confused huh? That’s okay, I haven’t gotten to my story yet. I pointed out the trees because they play a very important role in it.”
“I have lived and worked on this farm since I was just a little filly. It can be a boring life I tell you. Now about six years ago, I met my group of friends and became an Element of Harmony.” Applejack laughed, “Yes, it’s true. I am the Element of Honesty, which means you can trust that every word that comes out of my mouth is the truth. No matter how blunt they be, and they have been at times. A few years back, my big brother got injured and that left all the apple harvesting to me. See, my li’l sis is too young and my granny is too old. Neither of them has the strength necessary to knock those apples down. So I took it upon myself to harvest the entire orchard.” She smiled, “I can see you might know where this is headed. For days I harvested almost non-stop. I was so exhausted and hardly got any rest. I even had to go help my friends with different projects. I probably shouldn’t have done that though as the results were...less than expected. One of these projects involved baking and I accidentally sent several ponies to the emergency room with food poisoning, including the friend I was trying to help. I suppose it was sort of her fault. She didn’t realize how tired I was. None of my friends seemed to. Strange.” She shook her head, “No don’t move, this is where the story gets interesting. By the end of all the work I was so stressed I couldn’t think clearly and was just big mess. On the last day, I felt a sort of shifting in my head.” She poked her temple to emphasis this. “Then the strange things started to happen.”
“Every once in a while, I’d see some flickering movements at the edges of my vision. I also heard weird noises too. Creepiest one by far though was a little filly's crying laughter.” Her ears drooped, “I could never find that filly and I looked everywhere. Oh well, I haven’t heard her since. Anyways, these movements started to increase very slowly. Well, I guess at the time I thought they were increasing when they were actually just moving further into my range of sight.” Her face seemed to drop in sadness, “Eventually, I saw them fully. I was in the middle of town, selling my wares. Do y’all no how hard it is not to scream as loud as you can when you see things like that?” She shook her head, “No, I guess you don’t. I haven’t told you what they were yet. These things, were monsters.” She raised her hoof and shook it, “No, not like regular monsters you might be thinking about. These were disfigured, and mangled creatures. The one I saw in town looked like a giant bat, sort of. It was the size of a well and the wings were sort of...inside out? It’s hard to explain to somepony who hasn’t seen it. It’s eyes were just plain missing and the fangs stretched out to its chest.” She cocked an eyebrow, “I see you think that’s pretty scary, but that only scratched the surface of its image. The rest I don’t have words for, like I said, hard to explain. So there was this thing in the middle of town, yet nopony seemed to see it other than me. I’m trembling in fear and had to force myself to finish selling my wares before hurriedly packing up and rushing home. That night I saw this bat thing out in my orchard and I decided to plant a tree. The one you happen to be sitting under as a matter of fact.” She smiled, “Have you guessed what kind of fertilizer I use yet? That’s okay, I’ll just tell you. I used the monster’s body. Yup, dead monsters turn out to be a very great fertilizer. These here trees are the strongest anypony has ever seen, if anypony has ever seen them. They also produce the most delicious apples you have ever tasted and twice as big.” Laughing, she points, “You look pretty scared right now and you are right to be. Little monster.”
Applejack throws a playful jab, “I know what you are gonna say.” Her voice deepened mockingly “‘No I’m not a monster!.’ But you are, at least to me you are, and I can’t let your kind plague my dreams and waking life with nightmares. I know how that can end, trust me on this. You see, recently I met a stallion who saw things like I do. And here I thought I was the only one. Crazy right? Anyways, he told me and my friends a story sort of like the one I'm telling you. He saw these things and he cowered in fear. He drank himself to sleep every night and even lived out in the woods where nopony lived. He let your kind consume him and he lost everything, including his mind. This stallion only started to fight back towards the end and you know what? I have to respect him. Do you know how many trees he’d have grown if he did what I do? Seventeen.” She nodded, “Yes, that many but he also had things a lot worse than I do. Nowadays I only see one every couple of months, I have improved since I started growing my trees. He didn’t have that chance until it was too late. He told us his story and then tried to kill himself. He didn’t see the monsters anymore, but he also didn’t see us normal folk. My friend Twilight, you might know her as the Princess of Friendship, knocked him out and put him in her dungeon. She didn’t want him hurting himself until Princess Celestia could talk to him and figure out what to do. Weird, I don’t think we were ever told what she decided to do. The whole thing just seemed to be swept under the rug. Maybe she told Twilight but if she did, she didn’t pass it along. All I know is that that stallion is gone now, probably dead.” She shrugged, “Oh well. See, he opened my eyes to what was truly going on. I finally knew for sure that I was, indeed insane. Not as much as he was, but I also figured out how to fix it unlike him.”
Applejack tutted and glares, “So now we come to you, little monster. I know now that you are more than likely another pony, but what does that matter? I can’t see you like that, and I can’t hear you like that. The gag I put in your mouth aside, I wouldn’t be able to understand you even if I tried. All I would hear is gurgling growl like you were underwater and maybe some hissing. Wanna know why?” She grinned, “Sure you do, it’s not like you have a choice anyway. What I see of you is a disgusting cat thing. You throat is pulled open and flowing some kind of black stuff out of it. Your fur is matted and slick with what I can only assume is blood. All six of your eyes are voids, like the spaces between stars. Huh, that was a good metaphor that stallion came up with. Anyways, I don’t really want to describe more I’d prefer to not keep your image in my head. My sleep tonight will be free of nightmares after I plant you. I will relish that fact, with so many sleepless nights since I saw you for the first time last week.” She nodded, “Yes, I’ve kept my eye on you for a week now, sounds bad I know, but knowing what I do now I had to make sure you weren’t somepony I knew. Hell, nopony even batted an eye when I asked after you. Seems you just drifted into town and had no plans to stay. All the better for me since no one will question your disappearance. They’ll just assume you moved on and think nothing more on the subject.” She smiled wickedly, her lips seeming to split her face from ear to ear. She leaned and whispered, “Time to get on with the show. Any last words?” Her face and ears drooped in disappointment, “Oh right, the gag. Oh well, say goodnight.” She turns away.
Your eyes fill with tears as you see her rear up to buck. You try to pray, but before you can finish the world explodes into darkness.
Author's Note
What is it with me and quick writing sessions? I don't know but here is another one. Thought it would be to continue Atonement, but not like anyone would expect. I enjoyed writing this one and feel relieved to have it off my mind. Also I still can't figure out why I can't indent.