Survival Through Resignation

Apple Bloom didn't sleep through the whole night, despite her exhaustion. Her thirst and hunger pulled her out of her slumber after only a few hours. She had to hand it to her captors, this was a very effective method of punishing ponies. Even being as stubborn as she was, after hours outside of the steam box, she was still feeling its sting. She didn't want to go back, ever, and would avoid it like the plague.

She rolled out of bed to drag herself over to the tap. The entire room was given an allotment of water every night, and she had to hope that there was some left. She turned the handle, and some dribbled out into her small metal cup. There wasn't much, but it was something.

"Apple Bloom?" A half-asleep voice called out to her. As she took as big a drink as she could, she turned to see Genevieve climbing out of bed.

"Did Ah wake ya?" she whispered as she sat down at a table. "Ah'm sorry. Go on back ta sleep."

Gen shook her head. "Come here, I have something of yours."

Apple Bloom finished her cup and changed her seat to the edge of Gen's bed as the gryphon moved her pillow aside to reveal two cups hidden between the mattress and the wall. One was Gen's, as evidenced by the dents around the rim, and it was full of water. The other was full of the slop that they were fed, and Apple Bloom had no idea whose it was. It was only a half-ration, but it looked like a feast to Apple Bloom after all she'd gone through.

When Gen gave them both to Apple Bloom, she devoured the slop hungrily, taking care not to spill any of it. Not just because she needed as much as she could eat, but so as not to make Gen sleep in food spillage.

"So what happened?" asked Gen as soon as Apple Bloom slowed down enough to speak. "What'd they do to you?"

Apple Bloom took a deep breath. "Wasn't it you that told me not ta go tellin' everypony everythin'?"

Gen smirked. "So I did. Tell me, anyway."

Apple Bloom swallowed the last of her food. "Ah'm a dissenter. Ah speak of freedom."

"No arguments there."

"Well, that'll net ya a long time in a tiny closet where they blast ya with steam. So that's where I've been for the last two and a half weeks."

Gen furrowed her brow. "Apple Bloom, you've only been gone for a day and a half. Do you really think I'm going to handle all of your chores for that long?"

Apple Bloom swallowed her water, having almost spit it out. "That was you?"

"Mostly, yeah. I couldn't do everything. The guards were starting to grow suspicious. Thank Sandstorm, mostly. It was her idea, and she forged all the paperwork to say you'd already done it. All I did was scrub."

Apple Bloom set down her cup and threw her arms around Gen's neck, almost weeping as she held her close. "Ah can't thank you enough..."

Gen reached around and rubbed her back. "Try, anyway."

The two shared a light chuckle, then climbed out of bed to place the empty cups in the sink. As Gen helped Apple Bloom back into her own bed, she stopped and looked at the door. "It was my brother."

Apple Bloom looked at her, confused. "What are you talkin' 'bout?"

"You asked me, on our first night, what brought me here. Eight hundred bits and a hot meal. That's my entire value." Apple Bloom looked shocked. She had no words to offer. "Now he's probably relishing his sale, having made a big purchase and living in luxury."

"Luxury? No way can eight hundred bits grant luxury. Out on the farm, we made four times that in a week and barely scraped by some winters."

"Yeah, but he's stupid. He'll have fun for a month, at most, then slip back into his old ways."

"Why are ya tellin' me this now? Why not when I asked?"

Gen shrugged. "We weren't friends, then. That, and you had so much faith in your sister coming to save us. I didn't want to risk not coming with you with my lesson that family can't be trusted."

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Applejack wouldn't leave you behind. She'd take down all the guards and set everypony free. If she could, she'd offer protection to all of us back in Equestria. If ya don't want to go back ta your brother, you could a' come stay with us."

"How come she hasn't come yet?"

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Something outside of her control, Ah bet. Ah've seen her take the lives of several zebras, so she ain't goin' down quite so easy. If she's still alive, she's comin'."

"How can you put so much faith in her?"

"She's my sister. She's always done what was best for me, even if Ah didn't see it at the time. Or rather, she's always tried ta do what's best for me. She didn't want me meetin' Zecora, but she was nice."

"Who's that?"

Apple Bloom suddenly clammed up. All of them were now the property of the zebras. Could Zecora have played a part in that? Was she secretly in on the invasion?

She shuddered, then drove the thoughts from her head. The idea that Zecora had betrayed them was unlikely. She was sweet and kind, though very stern. Several times, she'd had opportunity to abscond with Apple Bloom and disappear into the Everfree, or worse, to the Zebrican Empire. And yet, she'd gone out of her way to be very blunt and honest with all of Ponyville, made Apple Bloom tell the truth, and made sure she was safe on her way home. Zecora wasn't in on this, and was likely hiding away, trying to end the conflict without taking a side. She had to have been.

"Apple Bloom?"

Gen calling her name brought Apple Bloom back to the present. "She's a zebra, but she don't take slaves. Ah think she might have left here in order to not be part of the industry. She opted to be an apothecary in Equestria, and they don't allow enslavement, so she can't have had any. Last time Ah saw her, she was tending to some wounded soldiers that had come in."

"A zebra with no slaves, huh?" Gen scoffed. "Maybe she just couldn't afford any."

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Maybe. Ah don't know, and Ah can't ask her now."

"I guess not. Are you going to be okay?"

Apple Bloom didn't say anything. She just leaned forward, kissed Gen's beak, then smiled at her as she lay down to go back to sleep.