Frozen
Applejack sighed to herself at the customers fishing for a penny in his wallet. It irked her that he though it be quicker than making her break the change. Or rather than just taking a penny from the side dish for that very reason. Although if letting him fish around made him think he was doing a better job, who was she to complain? Especially if it made her boss think she was doing something.
“Here you go!” the old man said at last, triumphantly at his quest for a penny.
Applejack put on a half smile in the knowledge that he could pay for his smoothie in a half smile. She then said in a cheerful, “Thank you, come again!”
Then man nodded, and sipped his smoothie.
It was only when he had left did Applejack realize the time. Five minutes to shift change.
“Applejack!” Her boss commented.
Applejack cringed. Not that her boss was horrible, by any stretch, but he was still a boss. “Yes sir?”
He gestured towards the back. “Think you can get some more cream from the freezer before you leave?”
Happy that was all, she gave an enthusiastic, “Yes sir!” And that was that. Nothing good, nothing bad, just a day at work...
The freezer, was located in the back that, to get to it, you first had to walk through the refrigerator, than make a left turn within the walk in to reach.
Applejack had done so hundreds of time, some to even cool off after a hard or hot day.
“Hey, AJ!” Her replacement, Autumn blaze, called out to her.
Applejack let out a small sigh. “Hey, AutumnZ
“Oh it is such a beautiful summer day, wouldn’t you agree?! Oh you are going to love it, the hot sun, birds chirping, and tweeting, not to mention those pesky mosquitoes-“
Applejack, simply allowed the girl to babble on for a minute. She had nothing too against Autumn, but she had enough hyper from Pinkie and just wanted to go home.
“Oh but enough about me, how was your day?”
Autumn finished off.
“Oh, um, nothing special.” Applejack shrugged “Ended with a customer trying to ‘save me the trouble’ of making change.”
“Oh that’s so sweet!” Autumn beamed, punching in her time sheet.
“I guess.” Applejack said, simultaneously punching out. “Just got to grab some ice-cream and I’m out!”
“Oh cool!” Autumn smiled blankly, before laughing at her unintentional pun. “Cool, freezer. Anyways, I’ve got it if you want to go.”
“Eh, no! I mean, I’m right here, and wouldn’t be a problem.”
However, in the end, Autumn stuck around to at least carry the ice-cream tubs up front once Applejack had gotten them. Guess that wouldn’t be so bad, Applejack figured. A few minutes later, the two girls had entered the walk in freezer, turned left and walked another 30 feet to the walk-in.
“Sure you don’t need anymore help?” Autumn asked once they got what they needed.
“No, really, I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “Yes.”
Sure?!”
“Yes…”
“Really, really-“
“Yes I’m really really sure!” Applejack blurred out. She took a few breath before noticing Autuam backing up. “I’m sorry, sugarcube. I really am-“
“It’s okay.” Autumn said, head lowered, kicking at the ground. “I’ll leave you be.”
She walked off, and Applejack considered going after, but figured it would be better to apologize later. It was a long day, and trying to act now may of made things worse.
“Right then.” Applejack said matter-of-factly. She was about to leave, when she noticed one of buckets had fallen to the floor.
“Oh for land sakes.” She thought, hands full. As tempting as it was to just leave it, she figured a few extra seconds to pick it up once she gave Autumn the tubs wouldn’t hurt anybody.
She walked back in, giving the door a little more force than she’d meant to. Unknown to her, however, the last guy to be in the walk-in had lazily stacked a pile of boxes on a rack next to the freezer in such a way, that all it would take was one small disturbance, and the whole thing would come crashing down. Which it did.
Once the door lost contact with the packages, the whole structure collapsed, blocking the path between the freezer and refrigerator.
Applejack had heard the crash, but went for the ice-cream tub instead. Once that was put away, she began to dread whatever mess might of awaited her outside. She gave the freezer door a push and-
“What the hell?”
She gave it another push, only for the same unopening results.
“No, no, no!” She shouted, in a far more agitated than worried.
“Dam it!” She swore, ramming the door with her body. “You really going to add this to my plate as well?!” She said to no one.
After awhile, she saw that she was likely not be getting out that way. So, peering through the glass window, she starting banging.
“Hello? Hey!” She banged even more. “Someone? Autumn?!?! Help!!!”
This went on for several minutes before she sighed in defeat and pushed the emergency call button. As bad as it would be to be the butt end of a joke, she figured being stuck in here any longer then she had to would be equally unpleasant.
“Dam it!”
*****
She wasn’t freaking out. No sir. Applejack thought to herself. Arms crossed, tapping her elbows with her fingers, stareing at the blocked door.
The door, for its part, simply stared back.
“Good for nothing, why do I even, things get worse-“ she muttered to herself.
*****
To keep her mind occupied, she began think about how she was going to get out of this with her dignity. That was going to be the bigger issue. She’d seen enough television to know people who got locked in freezers were more often laughed at. Those big babies. How they couldn’t handle a little cold, or would end up being discovered thousand of years later. Being tawed out, that dollar they had in the bank having grown into a billion. That would show them.
“Maybe I’ll buy a new car.” Applejack chuckled to herself, teeth chattering.
*****
How long had it been? Five, ten minutes? Couldn’t have been any longer. Not that she had anyway to tell, since, she had always been a good employe. The one who left her phone in her car when she worked so it wouldn’t temp her. That would likely change when she got out of here.
Tapping her foot, she looked down to notice her arm hairs standing on end, as her limbs were starting to shake.
“Dosh gon it! Where is everyone?!” She looked annoyingly at the emergency button, having begun to press it multiple times. “Stupid button. What’s the point of an emergency button if it doesn’t work?!”
She sighed. “I am so having a word with someone when I get out of here.”
For the next couple of minutes, she continued to push the button, until she had to bring her hands in for warmth.
*****
“Alright…” she told herself, pacing. “If I get out of this in the next… five minutes, I’ll… Repaint the barn.”
She stopped to tap on the floor. “Okay. And I’ll… I’ll take Applebloom to that concert she wants to go to.”
With a shiver, she gave the emergency button another push. Tempted, for a second, to say she’d let Rainbow Dash save and laugh at her.
*****
“Fine,” Applejack gritted her teeth, ten minutes later. “Rainbow Dash can save me, post the humiliation all over, and then Rarity can make me a dress! Happy!?”
She gave a door a strong push, then looked through the window expecting to see said rainbow haired girl. However, the walk-in remained as empty as before.
****
“It will be okay.” Applejack told herself. “Someone will come…”
As much as Applejack didn’t want to admit it, she was starting to worry. If the emergency button had been working properly, then someone should have been there by now.
Not that she really knew how alarms were supposed to work. She had accidentally butt tapped the walk-in’s emergency button when her hands were full and nothing happened. So maybe…
No! It just had to be a false alarm fail-safe for clumsiy employees like her. That had to be it. Wouldn’t do to have the fire-department come running every time someone accidentally pushed the button. It must only activate itself if you held it for awhile. That had to be it!
She groaned in her own stupidity, and pushed down on the emergency button. Determined not to take her tumb off until help arrived.
*****
Applejack moaned in pain as she pulled. Not that she could have foreseen holding a plastic button, surrounded by metal, in a freezer, for several minutes, would cause it stuck fast.
If she hadn’t been worried more about the jokes and mockery, she may have also noticed that her skin was starting to turn blue. Or, she may have noticed the ends of her long blonde hair we’re starting to become covered with ice. Or-
Applejack let out an unholy scream, as her finger was yanked away from the button. She stumbled back into one of the racks, products falling forward. All her focus was on the pain from her hand. She pulled her thumb up to her face, to discover the parts of her skin that had contacted the metal was gone.
Eyes widened, breath quickening, she looked up to find where her skin had gone. Up, to the edges, of the emergency button.
******
“COME ON!” Applejack cried, slamming into the door. “Just got, ta…. I won’t fucking die here!” Screaming, she threw her whole weight into the door. The door, however, only bugded a little. It was enough, for Applejack to continued her assault.
“Stupid door!” She cried, ramming into the door again.
“Stupid.”
Again
“Stupid…”
Again.
“Stu… stupid… stu…”
And again.
*****.
“I… I can’t…” she cried, back against a cardboard crate, time irrelevant, the reality fading in.
“This… I can’t die this way. I can’t, I… I can’t even do anything about it.” Although it seemed to be what was going to happen. The feeling in her legs were gone, and her hands, tucked under her armpits, were following. Her breathing had become labored, longer, less frequent, as all her mind could focus on was the lightbulb above her.
“I…” she sighed. “i… I…”
Her only source of light, warmth. That dim, stupid lightbulb with it’s little crack that did nothing. Nothing, that’s all she could of done. She couldn’t even fight her way out as if she was against some kind of monster. No way to try to swim away, nothing she could take a stand against. No-
Suddenly, the door to the freezer flew open, as somebody shouted her name.
“Applejack?! Oh god, AJ!” she heard Autumn scream. She then heard her co-worker talk a mile a minute. Words of it being her fault, and broken system, being sorry, and several other things as she was dragged outside.
“Come on, AJ, stay with me!” she was then pulled through the walk-in, and outside. Laid on her back, Autumn Blaze looked down at her.At least, she was sure it was. Applejack’s vision blurry, probably from the ceiling lights blocking her view.
“Applejack, Applejack! Are you okay? Oh god, I would have never left you if I knew something like this could happen. Oh I’m so so sorry! Applejack?”
Smiling goofily, she reached out to try and pat Autumn’s face. “Hey, it’s okay, sugarcube.” She then got a look at the storeroom light with was blocking her vision. Which looked surprisingly simular to the one hung in the freezer. Little crack and all.
“I feel… warm.”
