It's funny what we do for family, ain't it?
Granny Smith always tells me that. Tells me it once every year. Right before she locks herself in the barn for hours on end with that silly chess board. And just like every year, I expect her to come out looking broken and tired. When I was young I used to ask why, but she'd never say. Now I just accept it, though it pains me to see Granny Smith so bent out of shape. One thing I should get straight is I don't like sugarcoating things unless I have to. But Granny Smith? She's getting old. I'm not saying that to hurt her feelings or nothing, I love her with all my heart. Because of that I wished her she should see a doctor when she came out of that barn. I mean, I don't play chess or anything, so I wouldn't know.
But chess can't be that straining, can it?
I'd probably know if I actually ever played with her. Every now and again she'll ask me to play chess with her, but every year I'd tell her I was busy, or that I'd rather learn something that could save someponies life. She respected my wishes and left it that that. At least until the next year. Never could understand her obsession with that board. Luckily, since my pal Twilight moved to town a few years ago, Granny Smith found a pony that she could play with generally whenever she wanted. Twilight would always oblige too. She's nice like that, putting others ahead of herself.
Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. The name's Applejack. I'm twenty-one years old, and I work on my families farm. Now I know what you may be thinking; working on a farm with nopony watching over you? Farm land that stretches a mile or so? You must live life of luxury! Want to know the truth? I don't. Now don't break out the hoofkerchiefs yet, this ain't no sob story. We do well on our own, it's just we just don't have piles of bits sitting in one room. What we do have is a connection. A connection with family and friends. And that's the sort of riches I'd value higher than money. Y'see, money can buy you lots of things, but as the old saying goes; money can't buy you happiness. And family? It sure brings me a lot of happiness.
* * *
It's late in the afternoon. Or at least I think so. I was sitting at the table in our kitchen, eating a jelly and hay sandwich, when I saw a red blob walk into the room.
"Hey sis," the blob mumbles quietly.
I smile, knowing who it is. "Hey Mac."
"Hay n' jelly?" he asks, taking a seat next to me.
"Ya know me all too well," I chuckle. We smile together, though his is more forced. In a way, he was usually more stressed out this time of the year than I was, even if he would never admit it. He didn't like it when Granny Smith locked herself up neither.
Sorry again, I'm not so hot with introductions. That's Big Mac, he's my big brother. He's seven years older than me, and a lot stronger, but he keeps to himself a lot. Not like the Granny Smith sort of keeps to himself, but the lays low sorta deal. Kinda why I don't get his name. When ponies first see him and hear his name, they think he's some angry giant that would go off on you at any second. There ain't no truth to that. Big Mac is the kindest, gentlest and most dependable brother a pony could ask for. If it weren't for him, I don't think I'd be the pony I am today.
"Granny Smith goin' in yet?" I ask half-jokingly.
He nods and casts his sight out the window, looking directly at the barn. "She's gettin' set up at th' moment. Shouldn't be much longer now."
"How about Applebloom?" I ask, referring to my sister.
"She's out with th' other two, playin' outside," he shrugs.
"What are they goin' for now?"
"No idea," he replies.
We're talking, of course, about their Cutie Marks. Cutie Marks are a symbol that appears on a colt or fillies flank when they discover what their true talent is, and Applebloom made a club with her friends to discover what their talents are. One thing I noticed was that they haven't got it yet after two years of trying, but their spirits haven't been dampened one bit. Well, not by much anyways. Occasionally they'll get in trouble, but other than that they keep going no matter what.
The sound of the door opening furthered our silence. Within a few seconds Granny Smith walked into the room, smiling weakly at us. We smile weakly at her in return and she takes a seat at the table with us. The three of us sit in an awkward silence, just like we do every year. But this time feels different though. I don't know why, but it just does.
"So what didja do today, AJ?" Granny Smith asks.
"Not much," I reply, taking another bite out of my sandwich. "Just th' usual."
Granny Smith chuckles as she turned to look at Big Mac you. "Fun. How 'bout you Mac? Find any mares you've taken an interest in?"
Big Mac blushes at her and looks away. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think that's why he keeps to himself. I often get told that my brother is attractive by some of the ponies in Ponyville, which is why he stopped coming with me whenever I went to the market or went to see Twi. He doesn't like being the center of attention. Of course, he usually asks how those sorts of things went though, so he does show an interest.
Granny Smith looks outside and watches the sun as it dims and sets over the horizon. She sighs reluctantly and hops off her chair. Big Mac and I say nothing since she doesn't like us bringing attention to it. She walks past us and pauses in the doorway that separates the kitchen and the front room. We stare at her uncertainly. I think about asking her what's wrong, but hold my tongue.
"Applejack?" she asks quietly, but she doesn't turn around to look at me.
"Yeah?" I ask, ears perked. She never spoke to us before entering the farm any other year.
"Ah don't want ya t' worry 'bout me, ya hear?"
"Ah won't. Ah know how tirin' that chess can be," I chuckle humorlessly.
She nods, still not turning to look at us, and trudges towards the front door. We heard the door swing open and then slowly shut. I look at Big Mac and clear my throat, inviting him to mention the fact that she spoke to us. Big Mac's mouth flickered and he hopped off his chair and made his way to his room. As per usual, I end up eating alone in silence. I don't like being alone. There aren't many things that scare me, but being alone is one of them. Because of this, I whistle sharply.
I hear the sound of paws scampering across the wooden floor, so I look at the doorway expectantly. As if on cue, Winona comes jumping through the door, making her way over to me. I chuckle as she sits next to my chair, mouth open, tail wagging. I tear what's left of my sandwich in half. I toss one half into my mouth, then I give her the other and she eats it instantly. Granny Smith always told us to not feed her pony food, but I can't help it. She's part of the family, so she deserves an equal share of our food.
Besides being an important family member in my life, Winona is actually one of my oldest friends too. Those few times I feel alone in the world I can always depend on her to come running to my side to keep me company. I pat her on the head as she nuzzles against my leg, finding a comfortable place to rest. I continue petting her for a few minutes, thinking of nothing in particular. Soon enough Winona had her fill of being petted, so she span in a circle and pointed towards the front door and made a soft whining noise.
"Wanna go outside?" I ask pleasantly, hopping off my chair. She barks and I laugh. "Well why didn't ya just say so?"
I walk towards the front door and Winona follows hastily. As I near the door she jumps at the door and starts scratching it. I squint and see small shreds of wood coming off of the door. I pat her on the head firmly, telling her to stop. She doesn't. I open the door and wave her out, but she went halfway out the door then retreated back inside, sitting net to the door. I believe she wants me to go out first, so I play along. As I step outside she growls at me. I take a step back. Winona's never growled before.
"What's wrong?" I ask nervously. "This ain't like ya, girl."
She growls again, then barks viciously. I take another step back. It's not often I feel extremely nervous, but I sure as hay am right now. Winona walks out the door next to me and barks again, but not at me. She barks at the barn. I let out a sigh. She's just wondering what Granny Smith's doing in there.The tension left my body and I smile weakly at her, thankful I was worrying over nothing. I begin to walk back inside but Winona blocks my path. I shake my head at her and point inside the house. She stays.
"Winona, Granny Smith is fine," I say reassuringly, hopping over her. "She just likes to practice on her own."
She lets out another small whine, but follows me inside. I shut the door behind her and look into the kitchen, thinking about what to do next. With a smile I trot up the stairs towards my room, deciding I would take a nap. Once inside I throw my hat off my head and it lands perfectly on the bedpost. I jump onto the bed and crawl under the cover, laying my head down onto the pillow. I stare out my window and at the barn, beginning to wonder why Winona acted that way today. She was usually fine with Granny Smith going in there every other year. What made this one so different? As I'm thinking that I slowly drift asleep.
Barking. Snarls. Scratching. My eyes snap open and I jump out of my bed, wary of any danger. I look at the clock; eleven at night. More than just a nap. There weren't many ponies in Ponyville that would sneak onto our property, but occasionally a colt gets a little hungry when they walk by. I put my hat on my head and I trot towards the door and swing it open. Winona looks up at me and growls before disappearing down the stairs. Wasting no time, I gallop after her and kick the front door open, being careful not to kick it off the hinges. I look out at the orchard, looking for any intruders. There were none.
Winona ran out the door and stood in front of the farm house, barking as loudly and as fast as she could.
"What's wrong?" Applebloom called out from her room. The other girls must have gone home.
"Winona's acting strange," I yell back, eyes focused on the barn. There was something off about it. The door was open. I glance at Winona. "Go inside, Ah'll go check on Granny Smith."
Winona whines softly then runs next to me. I shake my head and push her away slightly. She instantly comes back to my side.
"Applebloom, mind callin' Winona?" I ask.
A whistle came from inside. "C'mon Winona, stop messin' around."
Winona turns towards the farm house and lowers her head as she slowly walked inside. I raise my brow at her. Just because the door is open on the barn for once isn't a big deal. Speaking of the barn I look back at it. There was another thing off about the barn. It wasn't something I could put my hoof on, I just felt something off about it. I heard the sound of steps coming from my left, so I glare in that direction believing it to be a threat. It was just Applebloom standing in the doorway.
"What's wrong?" she asks nervously, noticing how worried I was.
"Lock the door," I say quietly, but just loud enough for Applebloom to hear me. Applebloom nods walks back inside as I walk towards the barn. "There might not be a use for it, but it never hurts t' be safe."
First thing I notice as I approach the door; heat. Blistering heat. And an orange-red light coming from the inside. I rush towards the door, thinking the barn was on fire. I hesitate by the door. No smoke. And wood usually does that sort of thing when it's on fire. I edge closer to the door and see a few odd strands of... something on the inside. I swing open the door and cast my eyes around and fear overwhelms me. Spider webs everywhere. But they weren't regular webs. They were thicker, shinier. But oddly enough, that wasn't what scared me.
What scared me was a tall figure standing in front of a rectangle of what appeared to be light light.
The figure was twice as tall as me, but just as thin. It floated above the ground and it had skin dangling under neath it. It's skin was pale-red and had cracks everywhere, some of which were bleeding freely. There was also a hole in it's body that had dozens of small snakes, slithering and hissing about, but they weren't eating it. It's head was staring at me, giving me a sad smile. It had seven legs holding himself, and one pointing towards me.
"What are ya?" I stutter stupidly. I wasn't sure if I was asking him, or if I was asking myself.
"A friend," it replies.
It's voice caught me off guard. Not because this creature could talk, but because of how it made me feel. It's voice was depressed, as if everypony it knew had died and it witnessed each of their deaths. I took a step towards it, wanting to question it, when something darted out of the darkness from my right. I duck down and heard whatever it was hiss at me as it passed over my head. I quickly glance in it's direction to examine it, temporarily forgetting about the taller creature. The new creature was half my size and looked a lot like a scorpion, but it's face was more round. The scorpion like creature swung it's stinger from side to side, hypnotizing me, leaving me defenseless.
"Peace, Spine," the being snaps forcefully, but his voice was broken and hoarse. If I were to put my money on it, I'd say he had been crying for hours on end before me coming in.
The scorpion - Spine - didn't react instantly. It began walking towards me, stinger still swaying left and right. Even though I knew of the possible danger I couldn't help but stare at it. I feel like as if I no longer had control of myself, as if I was being possessed. Then I took a step towards it. Then another. Soon enough I was walking towards it while it walked towards me. Within seconds we were a few feet away from each other, when it stopped and brought it's stinger back.
"Spine, disobey me now and you will pay the consequences," it hisses. This time Spine listens to it's apparent master and scuttles next to it. The tall creatures face softened as he turned his attention back to me.
"What are ya?" I ask again, this time with a tad more stability.
"I think the polite way is asking who I am," it says sadly, as if I had just hurt it's feelings.
"Sorry," I say quietly, feeling like a bully. I still want to know what it was, but I ask anyways. "Who are you?"
"I am Lord Loss," it - which I now believe to be a he - smiles softly.
I stare at him for a minute, unable to take my eyes off of him. I felt rude by doing so, knowing it's not nice to stare, but this is the first time I've seen anything like this. Or felt like this for that matter. There was a certain feeling, a power, emanating off of him as I watched. He said nothing to me while I did so, but his smile was still present. I began to think that he he wanted me to stare at him. Spine poked the scraps of flesh which dangled underneath him as he hovered in the air, trying to get his attention.
"We have all the time in the world," Lord Loss say to Spine with a bemused chuckle. Spine poked him again, then used his tail to point at the window, which was growing smaller by the minute. "We still have a few minutes. I'm sure Applejack has a few more questions she wishes to ask."
"Yeah, Ah do," I know I should be scared, but I'm not. Until what he said hits me. "Wait, how do ya know my name?"
"It is good to see you have some control over yourself," Lord Loss says in a complimentary tone. "I know many things about you, dear Applejack."
"Really? Since ya know me so well, mind tellin' me me what ya're?"
"Very well," he nods somberly, extending all of it's legs out by it's side, baring it's chest to me. "As you now know, my name is Lord Loss. And I am a demon master."
"A what?" I ask hesitantly. I've heard about demons in stories before, and this one surely fit the description. But they're just that. Stories. Fairy tales. Made up to scare fillies and colts into being good. "Demons aren't real, so Ah hardly-"
"If I'm not a demon, then what am I?" he asks, motioning towards his mangled body. This time there is a more playful tone to his voice. Challenging, even.
"Ah... don't know," I admit. Lord Loss watches me, smile still present on his lips. Waiting. "Where's Granny Smith?"
"With your parents," comes his answer after a second of thought.
"My parents..." I trail off, fearing the worst.
"Your parents are not dead," Lord Loss says, reading my thoughts. "You believe your parents left right after you were born, and died after Applebloom came here." He smiles savagely. "They weren't."
"You're lying," I snap at him, unintentionally risking him getting angry at me.
"I - much like yourself - never lie," he says annoyingly, and Spine points towards the window again. This time I see the edge of the window was fading. Lord Loss let out a sad sigh as he turned around. "I am afraid my attention is required elsewhere."
"Ah still have more questions," I say quickly, running up to him, feeling the need to stop him.
He shakes his head. "Unfortunately, my time here is up. I must leave before my window closes." He waved his top leg at the window.
"No, ya'll are gunna tell me where they are. Now!" I bark forcefully, instinctively kicking him in the chest.
Lord Loss slams into the side of the barn and I hear the sound of wood splitting. Lord Loss scowls at me, clutches his chest and shakes his head as the snakes hiss violently, glaring at me from the hole in his chest. I feel something bubble up inside me as he points towards me and barks something in a strange language. For the briefest of moments I thought that he swore at me, but Spine made another hissing sound and jumped at me. I quickly rolled out of the way and glare at Lord Loss.
"I see you won't let it be," he huffs, clapping his hooves together. "Vein. Artery."
Two more creatures came out of window at the same time. The one on the left has the body of a dog, but it's head is long and leathery, sorta like a dragons. It's claws are long and leathery, almost feminine like. I have the impression that this thing wasn't born, but was put together by pieces of other animals. The second creature was a small, green monkey looking fella. It's head was small and round, and instead of a mane it had maggots writhing about it's skull. It's eyes are like little balls of fire. This one surprisingly didn't intimidate me as much as it should have. Until it stood on it's hind legs. It quickly stood up and growled at me, showing me his front hooves that had mouths on them, with rows of teeth in either mouth.
"Make quick work of her, then come back once you've had your fill," Lord Loss growls, then disappears into the window. He then poke his head back in and glares at me. "You are lucky that I'm letting them kill you, for that is a mercy I don't often grant others. At least not unless I've had a few dozen decades of fun with them." He tuts as I step towards him. "Vein, intercept her."
The dog like demon yaps and jumps in front of me, blocking my path. Spine then scuttles over to my left flank and the last demon, Artery, goes to my right flank. I slowly turn to each of them, judging my current situation. It's not good.
"Ah don't suppose ya'll could cut a mare a break, huh?" I ask with a nervous chuckle, somehow hoping to sway them to my side.
Vein barks and lunges towards my neck, trying to clamp onto it with it's vicious green jaws. I sidestep out of the way, but that just left me open to attack. Artery jumped towards me and grabbed me with his front hooves, which happily sink their teeth into my left hind leg. I let out a scream and buck Artery in the jaw. It squeals as it flies into the wall of the barn, getting stuck halfway through the wall. Spine jumps and swings at me with it's stinger. I quickly duck under it and jump on my back. Once it's over me I extend all my legs, using as much strength as I could, sending it crashing into the ceiling. Two down, one to go.
I glare at Vein as it begins to circle me. I follow it's lead and circle it, not willing to let it get the drop on me. I glance to my right and see a rope on the ground as I circle with the vicious creature. I start bending our circle, hoping to reach the rope. Vein, as if reading my mind, darts towards the rope and opens it's mouth. I ram my shoulder into it, knocking it to the floor with a yelp. I grab for the rope with my right hoof, but Vein had already gotten up and returned my blow. Luckily I grabbed onto the edge of the rope and pull it towards me as Vein jumps at me again.
I quickly roll off the ground, making it tumble into a pile of hay. As it's wrestling it's way out of that I put the rope into my mouth and begin spinning it, waiting for my time to strike. Once it jumps out of the hay I toss the rope at it, around it's body, and pull on the rope. Vein slams into the ground with a sharp whine and I begin dragging it towards me. While it's dazed I start tying it's legs together as quickly as possible. Vein regains it's senses as I'm doing so and bites my left foreleg. I let out a loud scream as it's teeth reach bone.
I slam my head into it's head and I hear the sound of a skull cracking. Not sure if it's mine, or the demons. I don't care. There's no time to worry about that. I quickly use the last bit of the rope to tie Vein's mouth shut. Once I'm done with that I scramble away from the demon, beginning to feel the pain rush through my legs. I turn towards the window when I'm tackled to the ground again. I let out a cry as I crash into the ground, helplessly weakened. I try scrambling off the floor, but Spine had crawled onto me. It then began digging into my chest with it's middle legs.
I scream and use what little force I have left to throw Spine off of me. As it squeals I roll onto my feet and glance around. Spine was standing between the portal and myself. Artery had pulled itself out of the wall and used it's mouth-hands to bite through the rope I went through so much trouble to put on. I glance at the window, mind going back to Lord Loss's words. Granny Smith is in there. My parents could be in there. My parents who I thought were dead. I then remember the demons that were advancing towards me. How many of them were in there? There could be dozens, if not hundreds waiting for me.
Tears well in my eyes as I lower my head to the look at the ground in shame and turn around.
I run.
