Canterlot was in the midst of an unusually humid summer, and with the humidity came a thick fog that rolled in from the ocean. Everyone in Canterlot had to take extra care while driving, as the fog made it extremely difficult to see the road ahead. The thick fog also had a way of conjuring up old legends of ghosts and other supernatural occurrences.
One night, Applejack had gone out to buy groceries after dinner. It was light when she left Sweet Apple Acres, but by the time she had finished shopping, it had faded into a gloomy darkness. Once she’d managed to find where her pickup truck was parked, she loaded her groceries into the back and drove cautiously out of the parking lot.
Since Sweet Apple Acres was situated on the outskirts of Canterlot, it was a long, slow drive back for Applejack. As she drove along, the fog seemed to only be getting thicker, but she was sure she could get back home without a problem. “Ah know the roads of this town like the back of mah hands.” she said to herself. “A little fog won’t stop me.”
But Applejack was wrong. The fog was so heavy that she couldn’t see the street signs, and so she had to navigate by whatever landmarks she could make out. She turned at what she thought was her street, but it wasn’t. Instead of driving up to Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was now driving down an old, derelict dirt road. The road was rutty and overgrown, and dead trees formed dark walls on either side. Everything looked very spooky.
Soon, Applejack could see a guest house lodged in the trees off to one side. She had never been down here before, and stopped when she realized that the road led to a dead end. “Well, shucks. Ah’m lost.” she muttered to herself. She got out of her truck and looked up at the house. It was very old and in very poor condition. Like the road, it was overgrown with weeds, and had clearly been abandoned for quite some time. All of the windows were either missing or boarded up, and part of the roof had caved in. Applejack pulled out her phone, to see if she could figure out where she was. But her phone wouldn’t connect, as she was too far away from any Wi-Fi hotspots.
The longer Applejack waited, the more concerned she became. As she looked anxiously around, the trees seemed to take on ghostly forms, as if they were alive. Applejack heard a faint rustling in the bushes. “Who’s there?!” she cried out. No one replied.
Applejack was about to get back into her truck when she saw a pair of headlights coming up behind her. A rusty old van slowly came into view and parked right next to the old guest house. Three shadowy figures, each carrying an axe, got out of the van. The leader opened the door, and he and his two companions entered the house.
It was too much for Applejack to handle. “It’s the Axeblades!” she screamed. “The ones that Granny Smith told me about! They’re back!” She jumped into her truck, turned it around and floored it out of the forest. Miraculously, she made it out of the trees without crashing into anything, and once she found the main road again, sped off in the direction she thought home was in. As she rounded the last corner before Sweet Apple Acres, she narrowly avoided a trash can and a terrified Sweet Leaf. “Watch where you’re going!” Sweet Leaf shouted, but Applejack didn’t hear.
When Applejack arrived back at Sweet Apple Acres, she looked very pale. “What’s the matter, AJ?” Apple Bloom asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
Applejack shivered. “Ah… Ah saw something…” she stuttered. She quickly dropped the grocery bags on the floor. “You put away the groceries, Apple Bloom.” she said. “Ah need some rest.” She hurried up the stairs to her room.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
Applejack was still shaking the next morning when she met up with her friends for breakfast. “What’s gotten into you?” asked Sunset.
“The… the Axeblades.” was all Applejack managed to say.
“The what?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
“Who are these Axeblades you speak of?” asked Rarity.
Applejack did her best to explain. “The family of lumberjacks who lived out in the woods way back when. The ones who got killed in the Great Storm of ‘56. Ah saw them with mah own eyes last night, honest! They came in a rusty old van, and they all had these giant axes! But they disappeared into some creepy old house before Ah could get a good look at ‘em.”
“And… who told you about them?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Granny Smith. She’s seen ‘em too!”
Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. “What a load of nonsense!” she howled. “That’s the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard in my life!”
Fluttershy put a hand on Applejack’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, AJ. As scary as that story sounds, I’m sure it’s just that – a story.”
“You must have had a hallucination.” said Twilight. “You were probably spooked by the fog, and so your mind played tricks on you.”
“Speaking of the fog, I really hope it clears up soon.” remarked Sunset.
“That makes two of us.” said Applejack. The other girls nodded in agreement.
That evening, Rainbow Dash left the sporting goods store at the Canterlot Mall and began walking home. As she walked, she laughed at the story Applejack had told. “Vans, axes, ghosts… AJ must be going soft in the head. There’s no such thing!”
But secretly, she was nervous. Everything seemed darker and spookier when she was by herself, but not wanting to sound like a wimp, she refused to call any of her friends for a ride. She continued on slowly through the mysterious haze, everything seeming more and more ghostly as she went.
She heard a twig snap, and jumped. “What was that?!” she cried out.
“It’s just us!” Lyra replied as she and Bon Bon emerged from a side street. Rainbow sheepishly waved to the two girls as they passed by.
“Oh, what am I getting so scared about?” Rainbow muttered. “I can’t be too far from my house now. Seriously, though, it’s impossible to see anything out here!”
Suddenly, Rainbow spotted a rusty old van parked at the side of the street. Three shadowy figures, each carrying an axe, walked toward the van.
Rainbow gasped. “The Axeblades! No… it can’t be true! At least they haven’t seen me…”
One of the figures began walking toward her. Rainbow shrieked and ran behind the nearest tree. She hid there until the van and the mysterious figures were gone. She was drenched in sweat. “That’s it, I don’t care anymore!” she panted. “I’m calling Sunset!” She pulled out her phone and did just that.
When Sunset pulled up, Rainbow hastily told her what she had seen.
“That’s the same as what AJ saw last night.” Sunset remarked.
“Exactly!” said Rainbow. “Her story has to have been true! She wasn’t just seeing things!”
Sunset thought for a moment. “It’s possible that you were thinking about AJ’s story, and your mind played tricks on you too. But two sightings in a row is still an awfully big coincidence.”
Rainbow shivered. “I’ll say.”
Rarity drove home from Carousel Boutique. Tired from a stressful day at work, and wishing to get home and out of the fog as soon as possible, she decided to take a shortcut through an older part of the town. The swirling fog created a very creepy atmosphere, and it was beginning to play tricks on Rarity. As she passed the rows of old buildings, they creaked and groaned as though they were alive, and Rarity grew more and more concerned.
“Oh, this night is absolutely miserable.” she muttered. “Curse this wretched fog!” She then heard the sound of two engines revving.
“What’s that?” she asked to no one in particular.
Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap emerged from the fog, riding their motorcycles.
“Oh, it’s two of the Crystal Prep girls.” Rarity said to herself, relieved. “I’m surprised they’re out on a night like tonight.”
“Look out!!!” came a loud voice. Rarity was badly startled and slammed on the brakes. She frantically looked around to see where the voice had come from.
“You idiot!” growled Adagio Dazzle. “You nearly ran us over!” Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk nodded in agreement.
“I’m sorry, but I can barely see a thing in this fog.” said an annoyed Rarity. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get home before conditions get any worse.” She let the Dazzlings cross the street, then continued on her way.
But she didn’t make it far before she was forced to stop at a red traffic light. As she waited, a rusty old van came into view. It slowly passed through the intersection, and Rarity could make out three shadowy figures inside.
“Oh dear, now I’m seeing things too!” she wailed. “The Axeblades! Right before my eyes! Oh, I hope they didn’t see me!”
“Thanks for giving me a ride home, Fluttershy.” Twilight said as she rode in her friend’s car.
“It’s no problem, Twilight.” Fluttershy replied. “I couldn’t leave a friend alone in this kind of weather. I just hope I can find your house.”
“Don’t worry.” said Twilight. “I think we’re getting close.”
Fluttershy suddenly slammed on the brakes. “T – Twilight! Look!” she cried.
A rusty old van was parked on the other side of the street. Its front was engulfed in flames, and three shadowy figures were running around it and pulling axes out of the back.
“The Axeblades! AJ was right!” Twilight exclaimed. “But what’s happening?! Why is everything on fire?!”
“It looks like –” Fluttershy gasped. “Twilight… you don’t think that’s Tartarus itself, do you?”
“Let’s not stick around to find out!” said Twilight. “We need to get away from here fast!”
Fluttershy turned her car around and hit the gas. Just as they left, a fire truck arrived on the scene and the fire was put out in short order, leaving a very burnt-out van.
The next morning, the girls were all arguing about what they had seen.
“Ah told y’all Ah was tellin’ the truth about them Axeblades!” said Applejack.
“Of course. With a family of ghosts on the loose, it’s only natural that the gates of Tartarus would open up.” Rarity remarked.
“What are we supposed to do?” cried Twilight.
“Um… panic?” suggested Fluttershy.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “That’s your answer for everything.”
Pinkie laughed. “Looks like everyone saw the ghosts except me! I was indoors all night!”
“Pinkie Pie, this is no time for a laugh.” scolded Rarity. “These ghosts have giant axes at their disposal – who knows what they could do!”
“On a completely unrelated note, what’s keeping Sunset?” asked Rainbow.
“She said she wanted to introduce us to someone – or rather, three someones.” said Twilight. “I hope she gets here soon.”
Just then, Sunset entered the Sweet Shoppe, along with an old man and two boys that none of the girls had ever seen before. “Good morning, girls!” said Sunset.
“Morning, Sunset.” said Rainbow. “Who are these guys?”
Sunset smiled. “I’ll let them introduce themselves.”
The old man stepped forward. He had orange skin, thin gray hair and a bristly beard. “The name’s Rusty Nails.” he explained. “I’m a general contractor. I lived and worked alone in this town for many years, until my twin nephews here moved in with me last month.”
The two tall, burly boys sat down at the girls’ table. Both had dark gray skin with freckles. One was shaved bald, while the other had a tangled mess of long ginger hair.
“I’m Donald Axeblade.” said the bald one.
“And I’m Douglas Axeblade.” said the ginger-haired one.
“We graduated from high school in San Francisco last year, and we moved here last month.” said Donald. “So we’re used to fog like this.”
“Uncle Rusty’s been teaching us all there is to know about house construction.” said Douglas. “This summer we’re helping him restore an old guest house deep in the woods.”
Sunset smiled. “That’s what you saw, AJ. Not ghosts, just these guys!”
Applejack was relieved. “Ah guess Ah was gettin’ into a tizzy over nothin’!”
Rusty laughed. “Sorry if we spooked you. We weren’t expecting anyone else to be down there.”
“It’s all right.” said Applejack. “Ah know now not to believe all of Granny Smith’s crazy ghost stories.”
“The project’s been going well, but last night went horribly.” Donald grunted.
“How so?” asked Fluttershy.
“That old rust bucket of a van blew its engine.” Douglas explained. “That set nearly the whole thing on fire, and we had to pull our equipment out of the back so it wouldn’t get burned up.”
“I should have known it was going to blow at some point.” said Rusty.
“That must have been what you two saw.” Sunset said to Fluttershy and Twilight.
All of the girls felt silly. “I guess we all let the fog get to us.” Fluttershy admitted.
The fog lifted the next day, and things returned to normal in Canterlot. Rusty and the Axeblade twins were making good progress on the old house, and the girls looked forward to seeing it when the restoration was completed. They found they could laugh about the whole incident, but would always remember the fog that nearly sent them crazy.
