Problems of a Dead World

Chapter 4: Next in Line

"He's going to be alright... He's Mac, y'know?" Earl said an hour later, trying to calm Applejack.

The blonde-haired girl shook her head and jumped to her feet. She moved towards the bars and pressed herself up against them, fighting back the welling tears in her eyes as the thoughts of what might be happening to her brother swirled in her mind.

"T-Their gonna kill him... aren't they?" Applejack asked, her voice faltering and quiet.

Twilight rested her head in her knees and sighed as Earl jumped to his feet as well and put a comforting hand on Applejack's shoulder.

"They're not going to kill him, OK? I wouldn't let that happen." Earl said, his voice showing the small amount of confidence that still remained.

Applejack continued staring blankly out of the cold metal bars, as if her older brother would appear out of thin-air and be safe again. In Equestria, that could have at least been possible. But now, she was on some lawless, dead rock, a thousand light-years from home.

"You said nothin' would happen..." Applejack said, a single tear falling from her deep-green eyes.

Earl looked to the floor, a guilty fire sparking in his heart. He had told them nothing would happen, that they would be safe and just had to rescue a few humans. But that wasn't the case. Instead, they were held against their will, at the clutches of a madman, trying to "rebuild" society.

Earl cursed under his breath and shook his head.

"I know... AJ. I know, and I'm as sorry as I can be-" He said, solemnly.

"Well you should be." Applejack whispered, her voice resembling her broken spirit.

Earl was fighting back tears at this point. Taking so many daggers to the heart was breaking his spirit as well. His group was slowly breaking apart, and he could feel it.

Seconds later, the door burst open, followed by two of their captors carrying a familiar man by his arms. An audible scratch rang through the walls of the room as his shins scraped against the rough concrete, and his long, blondish hair was clinging to his face due to the large amount of sweat dripping from it. Applejack instantly noticed her brother and her expression changed to a mixture of relief and sadness.

"Mac!" She said, her voice slightly more hopeful than before.

"Stand back!" One of the guards shouted angrily as they neared the cell.

Applejack complied without question, but Earl stood his ground. The guard ignored the man's insubordination and continued in the cell. With one swift throw of both their arms, the guards tossed Macintosh into the room. He instantly groaned in pain from the harsh impact, causing the two soldiers to chuckle. Applejack quickly rushed to her brother's side and fell to her knees, immediately sweeping the hair from his face.

"Mac! Are you OK?! What did they-"

She was quickly cut-off as the ghastly condition of her brother's face came into view. Both eyes were a dark shade of purple, as well as other spots on his forehead and cheeks. The area around his mouth was painted with dried blood and more dark-purple spots, as well as several teeth missing from the row of white that occupied his mouth.

Applejack remained speechless for a moment, her eyes looking frantically across his face at the horrifying wounds spread across it.

"W-what did they do to you?!" She asked, mortified by the sight of her battered brother.

Mac shook his head weakly and pulled his sister down to him, embracing her in a warming hug.

"Shh... I'm... I'm..." Mac said, coughing and groaning in pain. "I'm alright... I'm here..."

He continued quieting his sister, and running his hand across the back of her hair in attempt to calm her. He knew exactly how bad his condition was, but wasn't in a mood to further distress his sister. After Applejack had calmed to a quiet sobbing in her injured brother's chest, Macintosh looked up to Earl. He immediately cringed at the sight of his battered face, causing the guilty fire in his heart to burn even stronger.

"Mac..." Earl said weakly.

Macintosh shook his head.

"Don't chu... Worry a bit... Ah didn't tell em' nothin..." He said, still coughing.

"I... I don't care about that man... Look at you." Earl said, motioning to Mac's face.

Mac chuckled weakly, more blood dripping from his battered lip.

"Ah'll be fine... Just need to rest-"

"Shut up. Both of you." One of the guards said, waving his gun in front of them.

Both obliged quickly.

The soldier then took one hand off of the rifle and put it around a small black device on his chest, a small burst of Static rang through the device and echoed off of the cement walls of the jail cell.

"I'm bringing in the next one." The soldier said quietly into the small back device attached to his military jacket.

An illegible sound emitted from the device and the soldier advance forwards in Earl's direction.

"What, me?" Earl asked angrily.

"Just come easy, and we won't make you look like your buddy over there." The guard said with a chuckle.

Mac simply shook his head and continued trying to calm his little sister. Earl scowled, the guilt in his heart now turning to anger, and proceeded towards the open mouth of the cell. Twilight snapped her head up as Earl trudged to the opening in the cell, and jumped off of the cot.

"Earl?!" She said, surprised.

Earl turned around, a slight frown coming over his lips.

"I'll... be fine. Just gonna be gone for a sec." He said trying to force a smile.

Twilight frowned and sprinted over to him, throwing her arms over his shoulders.

"Please... don't go." She said softly, her spirit broken as well.

Earl frowned, the tears once welling in his eyes falling now.

"I... I have to..." He said, stroking her hair gently.

Twilight shook her head.

"Please..."

"Go to Shining... I'll just be a second."

Shining Armor took that as his cue and crawled up onto his feet from his sitting position at the corner of the cell.

"Twilly..." Shining said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Twilight frowned and slowly let go of Earl, turning to face her brother. He responded with a nod and gently pulled her away from him. Shining then looked Earl in the eyes.

"I got her... I'm sorry for the outburst." He said, slight shame entering his voice.

"It's fine... we're all under stress." Earl said.

Shining nodded.

"You... do your business. I'll take care of Twilly." He said.

"Thanks..." Earl replied with a smile.

"C'mon, do I look like I got all fuckin' day?!" The soldier asked, annoyance shining in his voice like a floodlight.

Earl gritted his teeth and scowled once more as he turned away from Shining Armor and exited the cell. The soldiers then took him out of the room and down a narrow hallway he hadn't seen yet. One of the guards chuckled and glanced to the guard on Earl's left.

"Can't wait 'til Colonels' done with these assholes... I wanna get with that purple-haired hippie bitch." The soldier said with a chuckle.

The opposite guard nodded with a smirk.

"I got my eyes on the country girl." He said with a chuckle.

Earl gritted his teeth even harder this time, causing his mouth to tremble as the rage built in his heart. He twitched angrily as he walked down the narrow hallway. Things were slowly beginning to blur and distort, and it felt as though time itself was stopping and starting again as the hallway continued. Right and wrong didn't seem apparent anymore. As they continued down the distorting hallway, he clenched his fists as hard as he could, until he was drawing blood from the palms of his hands with his fingernails. He was ready to kill anything and everything if it meant getting him and his friends home...

Earl was losing it.

One thought crossed his mind as he looked between the two soldiers on either side of him. An evil smirk grew across his lips, followed by a sinister look in his eyes.

I'm going to enjoy killing you...