Equestria Girls: Cataclysm

Night was coming, but not in a hurry. The sun cast a citrine glow over the landscape as it lackadaisically made its way towards the horizon beneath it.

Shielded from prying eyes by a thin cover of trees, a fire crackled and popped from within a recess in the earth in the middle of a ring of stones in the heart of a small clearing. The flames were small at first, but they steadily grew in size till they lapped eagerly away at the pot currently suspended above them by a thin metal bracket. The water within was not yet ready to boil, though it steamed in anticipation of whatever contents were going to be added to whatever turned out to be tonight's meal. Three pine-green tents stood erect in a semicircle around the fire, generally disregarded by their intended occupants but nonetheless sitting by diligently in case they ever decided to change their mind.

Applejack sat on the long log pulled up to the fire, a firestick in hand and a long fork nearby, along with a small assortment of various bits of vegetable and a pile of meat scraps that did not look at all like enough to feed as many bodies that were gathered here, but it was going to have to do. Fluttershy sat on the ground closest to Applejack, she herself being used as a makeshift bed for Rarity, who had her head in the girl's lap where she laid out straight across the ground in a way that did not risk aggravating any of her wounds. Fluttershy's soft hands were always performing small, gentle motions, usually to brush Rarity's hair or to tuck aside a small strand of it where it had been displaced, each motion carrying a fondness with every touch. Rarity, try as she may, could barely maintain a coherent thought from how exhausted she was from the events of today, and was periodically lapsing in and out of consciousness as those around her spoke. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were present, but keeping to themselves, dipping in and out of view of the others as they basked in each other's company and started to make up for lost time while they'd been apart.

Twilight, meanwhile, was pacing back and forth. The fire was between herself and her friends, who could see the consternation plain on the alicorn's face as she thought, and tried to plan. "So there's absolutely no way that you're going to be able to join the refugee center."

Applejack shook her head. "'fraid not, sugarcube. They made it real crystal clear-like that the life raft is fuller than a rain barrel at the bottom of a river in flood season. Most we're gonna get out of 'em is work."

"It's unfortunate," Fluttershy said quietly, "but I can't be mad at them about it." Her gaze came down to Rarity's resting face. "I'm starting to get a little bit worried myself about how we're going to feed everyone we have, so I can understand why they wouldn't want anyone new when they're so many. Times are hard."

"That's puttin' it mildly," Applejack muttered. She extended her poking stick into the flames from where she sat, shoving something unburnt closer to the heart of the blaze. "Ain't never even heard of no pickle like the one we're in."

Twilight's anxious pacing continued. "Okay, alright, so...refugee center is out. This camp is, um..." She lifted her head and paused in her pacing for a moment to give the campsite a once-over, taking in what little there was to see in this clearing. "It's not exactly secure."

"Ain't had no troubles yet, but..." Applejack shrugged. Fluttershy didn't say anything.

"Okay. Right." The pacing resumed. "No secure camp, food is an issue, and we don't have a ton of help. Not great. Very not great."

There was no disagreement to this assessment.

Twilight continued her back and forth path, chewing on the inside of her lip as she mulled their situation over, and tried very hard to think of something that could make this better. Nothing was making itself obvious. "I can fly out to that town nearby and back easily enough, but I don't know what all is there, and a bunch of the food is already rancid at this point from what I've seen of the towns..."

Applejack shook her head. "Much as I appreciate you comin' in and tryin' to help us out just like last time, I really can't ask ya to put yerself in harm's way for us."

Twilight paused in her pacing to cast an assuring smile at Applejack. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself out there."

"I'm sure ya can," the farmer continued, "but this ain't like last time, sugarcube. Folk're dyin' left right 'n center out there, an' you're half the size you was when you was last here." She squinted slightly at this. "Come ta think of it, why are you like this now? It's not like I disbelieved you or nothin' when you said you was a pony princess, mind, but uh...you also had hands."

"Yeeeeeah..." Twilight pawed at some dirt beneath her hooves, taking a moment to examine that they were, in fact, hooves. "I don't know what happened, but pretty much as soon as I stepped out of the portal to this world, I got caught in an explosion that-" Killed me instantaneously. "-messed up the magic.”

Applejack’s expression shifted to one of incredulity. “An explosion?”

Twilight nodded. “I wish I could tell you what that was about. It’s made things really complicated for me. I was a bit freaked out that people would think I was really weird and maybe panic a little bit, right up until I found out that there's apparently barely anyone left. Then I got really afraid that people would think I was one of the monsters or something, like one of those giant bugs out there." Twilight paused in her pacing and looked up at this point. "What is with that? I didn't see anything like that when I was last here."

Fluttershy shook her head. "We don't know. They just started appearing like that...and it's not just the bugs, either. While we were on our way to the refugee center, we drove through a marshy area, and we saw a frog that was about four feet tall. It probably could have swallowed Apple Bloom whole."

"Saw a rattler once that coulda done the same to any of us, too, if it set its mind to it. Looked like one of them big jungle snakes. Ain't never seen nothin' like it."

Twilight's brow furrowed, then shook her head as she continued her pacing. "Don't understand it...I don't understand it at all. That shouldn't be possible, even with magic..." She felt the reactions without looking up, and Twilight nodded. "Yes, there is some magic out there. I don't know why, but I've been able to use magic since I arrived. It's how I managed to find Rarity and Sweetie Belle. The magic's not right, though; I've been having nothing but trouble with it since I realized it was there, and while I've been able to defend myself just fine, I can't sustain something as simple as a light for an extended period of time.” The vexation got plainer on her face and in her voice, her turns in her pacing a little sharper as the went back and forth. “I cannot for the life of me understand why there are things like giant frogs and huge wasps and zombies of all things running around. That isn't how magic works, that shouldn't be possible. It's not possible. Those should have been the first effects to fail. There shouldn't even be zombies left by now."

Unsurprisingly, the response was silence. No human in attendance was able to really weigh in on magic, but also could not deny the fact that they'd seen what they had. All of them here had seen it themselves, repeatedly. It couldn't be denied, no matter how it apparently should be.

Apple Bloom announced her presence abruptly, where she and Sweetie were peeking in from around one of the tents. "There's other critters out there too, not just weird animals and them zombies. There's freaky monster things! Way worse than somethin’ under the bed!”

Sweetie Belle nodded fervently, eyes wide. "One of them hurt Rarity. Really bad..."

"I can't explain those either." Twilight's frown deepened as she continued to pace. "I don't know what that thing was. It definitely wasn't from earth. At least, I assume not. You guys don't have big pink crustacean things with wings and weird like...I don't know, tentacle heads or something, right?"

Fluttershy and Applejack both shook their head. Neither of the human fillies contributed further. Children. Whatever.

Twilight's frown reached its nadir as the silence grew, and she gave a small rock a flick with her hoof out of frustration. "Don't know. I don't get it. How did this even start?"

Rarity's hand closed into a fist for a moment. Fluttershy bit her lip, and looked at Applejack, who leaned forward till her elbows rested on her knees, head hanging and heaving a heavy sigh. "You want the whole story, or the sweet 'n simple of it?"

Twilight hesitated in answering that question. From her friends' reaction and tone, to say it felt loaded was an understatement. "Um..."

Applejack raised a hand and shook her head. "Naw...naw, you want the whole thing. An' you deserve the whole thing. Yer even more lost 'n confused than we are, an' that's sayin' somethin'."

There was a silence that followed this, as Applejack visibly built up the...the right words for it? The nerve? The strength? Twilight didn't know for sure. Her rump found the ground, and she patiently looked on, giving her friend all the time she needed.

As this went on, Fluttershy reached over and took the plate off the log, stretching forward strenuously to try and deposit the contents of said plate into the now boiling pot of water without disturbing Rarity on her lap - she blinked when it all glowed pink, then plucked itself from her grasp. The light-wreathed plate tipped over the pot, sending everything on it into the churning water, then floated back to Fluttershy's still outstretched hand. Her eyes found Twilight, whose horn flickered out, and smiled a silent thanks. Twilight smiled back.

Finally, Applejack finished readying herself. She took a breath...paused, glancing to her right at the sound of someone sitting, and found Apple Bloom there, looking at her and scooting up closer to her. One corner of Applejack's mouth curled up for a moment, which her little sister mirrored. Then her gaze found the ground again. Sweetie Belle pattered over to sit next to her friend and also looked on.

"So." Applejack's hands rubbed together, which then reached up and removed the hat from her head to occupy themselves. "Bout...I wanna say like, three months now? Tail end 'a winter, thereabouts...well, no, I guess before that, goin' back better part 'o a year, there's been some real big tensions goin' on out there in the world. Started hearin' bout a whole bunch of like, riots 'n protests 'n what not goin' on all over the place. I never followed along much, never really...I dunno, it felt like it was a world away, I never much cared 'bout the news or none of them things folk always get all up 'n arms about. This was different, though." The hat remained the center of Applejack's focus, and she turned it about idly as she talked. "Everyone was gettin' scared. Talkin' bout this 'n that goin' on, arrests all over, people gettin' into fights fer no reason...started seein' more and more robots 'n other things showin' up, replacin' folks in the work force fer no reason. No reason anyone wanted to talk 'bout, anyway..."

Twilight waited for a momentary lapse in the flow to speak up. "What's a robot?"

Fluttershy answered her. "Um...it's like a little device, that moves around and does things on its own, that um...like, they do tasks. Like um-"

"Like a construct?"

"Um...I guess so...like, um, golems? I guess. But, um, not magic."

Twilight almost wanted to ask more about those things now. How in the world did you get a golem withou- no, no, focus. She forced her gaze to Applejack and said no more, listening intently.

Applejack paused for a little while longer, then carried on. "Things was changin', is the point, in big ways. We was all just kinda...tryin' to do our thing, y'know? Just tryin' to get by, tryin' to not be all nervous. Tryin' to ignore all the commotion, 'n...whatnot." Applejack dusted something off her hat that may or may not have been there. "Had somethin' come up at school one day, right after Hearth's Warmin' break. There was this uh...trio of ladies showed up one day, I 'member Sunset wantin' to show 'em around. We just got done with band practice, 'n there was a big ol' fuss goin' on in the cafeteria." Applejack licked her lips for a moment, and swallowed, looking ahead and seeing the scene play itself out again before her eyes. "Opened the doors 'n saw everyone beatin' the tar outta each other, like they'd lost their minds. People was on the floor, blood all over...three gals just standin' on the tables, singin'. Just...singin' a merry tune, while their classmates were dyin'."

Applejack stopped at this point. Twilight's eyes were wide.

Fluttershy sat forward a little bit, carrying on for Applejack. "We don't remember very much after that. Everything felt weird...like it was only partially happening. It felt sort of like a dream. We both came to somewhere we didn't recognize, and the riots became something else. Hundreds of people were in the streets, tearing apart cars, buildings...each other..." Her eyes found Rarity's, which were open and gazing up at her. It was hard to tell her expression from where Twilight sat. Fluttershy continued to gently brush Rarity's hair with her fingers. "I'll never forget the sounds. It wasn't screaming, or howling, or..." She trailed off.

"We lost Granny Smith." Applejack's fingers pressed firmly against her eyes, conveniently blocking any sign of tears, as well as holding them back. "Lost 'er tryin' to get everyone together, tryin' 'a...just tryin' 'a make sense of anythin'. Got cut real bad. Couldn’t stop the bleedin’, on account ‘a her blood thinners, 'n I couldn't get her to just...couldn't make her sit, she just wouldn't lie down, wouldn't listen. We went straight to the hospital, but one of the crowds found their way in after us." Her voice cracked for a second, and though she tried to repress it, the quality of her tone remained fractured and uneven. "Lost Big Mac tryin' to get to the car. Couldn't even get across the parkin' lot. Just kept drivin'...looked in the rearview mirror, 'n...saw Granny sittin' up again. And..."

Whatever Applejack meant to say next, her throat clamped shut, and she couldn't finish. She didn't have to.

"We hit some things on the way out of the city." Fluttershy's voice was barely audible, yet with only the sound of the fire to compete with, it came in clearly enough. "The car broke down and we had to walk after that. We've been trying to get by ever since."

The silence seemed to stretch on for eternity. Twilight sat there, eyes slowly falling more and more towards the fire, scarcely able to fathom what she was being told. She uttered the only thing she was capable of in that moment: "Why did this happen?"

Fluttershy shook her head, the motion small and barely visible. "We don't know. Everything we found was more of the same until we made it out here, and nobody here seems to know anything either..." Her gaze turned ever so slightly to the direction of the refugee center, then glanced down again at the hand she felt touching her own. Her fingers curled and gently clasped Rarity's, then resumed tending to those curly purple locks with her other hand, just as tenderly as before. Maybe a little more now. "It doesn't really matter why. The world ended. All we can do is try to move on, try to be ok...try to find something that matters..."

Another long silence arrived. Twilight's head shook, slowly, searching for something to say. Anything to say. Her eyes prickled as she sat there, failing to find any kind of response that sounded right. What even was there to say? What could be said, after hearing about all this, how much her friends had suffered and the world had fallen apart? The apocalypse arrived when she had her back turned, and she walked into it blindly long after it had tipped past the point of no return, and now she was as swept up and adrift in it as everyone else.

Applejack took a long, steadying breath. "It's times like these when ya gotta find it in ya to quit lookin' back at what ya had, an' count yer blessings where ya got em." She reach over to her left and put one arm over Apple Bloom's shoulders, who perked up slightly from her sullen haze. The other arm stretched out, that hand finding Fluttershy's shoulder, who let her head fall to one side till her cheek found the back of Applejack's hand. "I got two of em right here. A couple more just showed up for me tonight, outta the blue." Her gaze found Sweetie Belle next to her sister, then Rarity on the ground, and then Twilight, whom she spared the largest of the smile she'd been trying to find up till then. Her eyes were clearly glossy in the light of the fire shining between them. "Yer a sight fer sore eyes more than you know, sugarcube. 'Thank you' don't start to cut it, but 's what I got to give, so I'mma give it: thank you fer comin' out here 'n givin' me somethin' in my life I never thought I'd get back. It means more to me than I can say."

Twilight couldn't stop the smile that found its way to her lips. She stood up from where she sat, coming around from her side of the fire to throw her front legs around Applejack's waist. Those big human arms closed around her in turn, and she pressed her head into Applejack's shoulder, squeezing her as tight as she may. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner."

"Don't wanna hear none 'a that." A hand gently pat Twilight on the back as another rested behind her head, holding her up close against her. "Yer here now, and I'm happy y'are, sugercube. Simple as."

"We're all happy you're here, Twilight." Fluttershy reached from where she sat and rested a hand on Twilight's side. "Thank you."

A smaller shape found Twilight now; human filly arms put themselves around Twilight, unsurely at first, but then pulling herself up tight against the alicorn as Sweetie Belle found her courage in the moment. "Thank you for watching over me and Rarity. Thank you."

Apple Bloom joined in on what was now a group hug, joining in right beside Sweetie Belle. "Thank you fer keepin' my friend safe. I missed 'er so much!"

Not one to be left out, though she had no voice, Rarity still found it in her to reach over and rest a hand against Twilight's shin, announcing her presence through the touch and echoing the sentiment they all shared.

Twilight couldn't keep it together at this point. The moisture spilled out of her eyes down her cheeks in two big streaks, and she let herself come undone as her friends crowded around her, grateful despite everything they had lost. She brought them a silver lining in a dark place, and realizing that filled her aching heart with sunlight.

Maybe she couldn't have prevented this, but she could still touch the lives of everyone around her and leave them better than before. Apocalypse or no, the Princess of Friendship still had a job to do, and doing it had never mattered as much as it did right now.

Night came, as it often did. Then it went.

The sun had risen, but most of the sunlight of the newborn dawn had not yet found its way to the campsite, nor was what made it strong enough to filter in fully through the green fabric of the tent Applejack woke up in. It was not an absolute darkness like it had been the night before, though it was still difficult enough to see that Applejack had to rely on her other senses to tell her surroundings.

The blankets bundled around her were warm...no doubt helped by this warm, cozy mass pressed up close to her. The arm that had fallen away last night found its way back in place, resuming the embrace. All she felt through the contact was bare, warm skin, pressing up softly against her own bare front.

The touch caused a small, gentle stir, and the faintest movement of covers. Applejack felt hair brush against her neck and chin, and a pair of delicate fingertips finding her chin blindly, carefully probing where on her face they landed. Applejack smiled at what she knew was coming next, and as the mass shifted closer, something very soft, almost plush touched her lips, then gently pressed deeper into them. Everything else melted away as Applejack let herself be lost in the contact, and the moment.

Long, tender minutes later, the soft lips pulled away, albeit with the utmost reluctance, and two breaths were taken in unison, audible only in the utter stillness of the tent. The mass pushed up against her, and as it nudged into her further, Applejack muttered, "We should probably get up, sugarcube."

The head shook, and hair tickled her chin and neck from the movement. Fluttershy's voice was very quiet, but in the stillness of the early morning, Applejack heard her clearly: "I don't care."

"These blankets are gonna smell, y'know..."

The pushing continued, and Applejack was rolled onto her back. "I don't care." The mass moved atop her, and hands began to take long, winding paths all across her front and side.

The temptation was strong. It would be easy to just surrender a second time to the softness that returned to her lips...she hated to, but Applejack grasped those wandering hands with her own, stilling them. The kiss ended a few moments after. "We're havin' company this mornin'. They might show up at any time, 'n when they do, we gotta go. We gotta get the others ready."

There weren't words in Fluttershy's voice - just a quiet, pleading whine.

"I know...I know, sugarcube." Applejack released Fluttershy's hands, and though they twitched towards what they desired in the darkness, they did not wander far. It was as relieving as it was disappointing. "We'll make time again, real soon."

"Not soon enough..."

It was hard to argue that point, and Applejack didn't. Why would she? She agreed. It'd been months since they'd had privacy like this, and one night was not enough to make up for it, but if they didn't part now, they might never get up, and they both knew it.

The two begrudgingly pulled apart from their embrace and emerged from their blanket cocoon to dress, though Applejack did so with a bit more haste, more accustomed to waking up at hours such as this. One more kiss was shared, not at all long enough for either girl's tastes, then Applejack stepped out of the tent flap and into the brisk dawn air. It wasn't quite cold enough to see your breath, but it felt close.

Applejack was surprised to see Sweetie Belle awake already, staring patiently into a pile of sticks in the fire pit that did not seem inclined to ignite under its own power. "What're ya doin', sugarcube?"

Sweetie jolted, fumbling and nearly dropping the lighter in her hands, staring at Applejack with an extremely familiar look - the wide-eyed, hand-in-the-cookie-jar one - though it faded quickly, replaced with relief. "I wanted a fire. Heating food over a fire is fun. Also, it’s kind of cold this morning.”

Applejack wasn’t super sure how comfortable she felt about this, nor the lighter she saw in Sweetie’s fingers, but she hadn’t felt anything from the girl to indicate she was being dishonest, or trying to hide something, so she tentatively decided to trust that she knew enough about what she was doing with that thing. Who knows what experienced she’d gained out there? “Y’know we’re gonna be leavin’ pretty soon this mornin,’ right? Fer all we know, there won’t be time to even get a good burn goin'.”

Sweetie frowned, squinting up at Applejack like she was trying to swindle her. “You can’t just eat a cold breakfast where there’s a campfire. We’re in a camp, with tents and everything, so there has to be a campfire. It’s the rules.”

Applejack had learned a lot of things in her life, and one of them was that arguing with the Crusaders about the things they decided was best not attempted unless absolutely necessary. Instead, she stepped up to the fire ring, leaning past the girl and giving the contents of the pit a closer inspection. There were some embers where something had been lit, but there were no flames yet, and no clear sign that there would be any soon, save for a trickle of smoke. "Y'need any help with that?"

"I got it! Rarity and me did this before. Watch!" Sweetie Belle leaned in to demonstrate, sucking in a deep breath and unleashing it forcefully into the smoldering tinder. To her credit, the embers did flare rather brightly, though it also began to belch white smoke from beneath the mass of twigs and leaves. She sucked in another breath to repeat, inhaling most of that smoke in the process, and fell back in a fit of coughing and hacking, crashing to the ground on her butt.

So much for knowin’ what she’s doin.’ Applejack bit back laughter, resisting the urge to swoop in and take over. Instead, she gave the coughing Sweetie Belle a pat on the shoulder. "Maybe uh...maybe a little less forceful, sugarcube. Sustained blowin', not hard blowin'. Don't wanna put out the fire as soon as ya get it to catch."

Sweetie tried to voice her acknowledgement, but when the words didn't work past the coughing, she instead gave a clumsy thumbs up, nodding unevenly.

Cute kid. Further thought on the matter was interrupted by a familiar voice faintly audible from the direction of the road, and Applejack moved on from Sweetie to let her recover and do her thing. Through the thicket she went, and when she emerged, she came upon the SUV where it had been parked. The door to the backseat was open, and Rarity was sitting in the door frame, back turned to the vehicle's interior. The jeans-and-hoodie look was not one Applejack expected Rarity to rock, but even the farmer had to admit that she looked nice…but then again, it was Rarity. She could make rags look opulent, if she was in them.

Twilight was beside her, standing on her hind legs with one hoof against the SUV for balance, squinting very closely at Rarity’s neck. She reached with her other hoof, very gently inspecting the injury there.

“Mornin’, girls,” Applejack announced, eying this scene cautiously. “Everythin’, uh…everythin’ good?”

Twilight did not respond to Applejack, her undivided focus on Rarity’s neck. Rarity meanwhile flashed a slightly haggard smile to Applejack. “Oh, reasonable enough,” she said, in a gravelly voice that was vaguely reminiscent of a chain smoker’s. “I see you’re still a morning person. What’s that like?”

Applejack could not help but stare, eyes wide in surprise. “Holy crap, Rare, yer talkin’ already? I wasn’t expectin’ to be hearin’ from you fer…” She trailed off as her eyes drifted to Rarity’s neck, and she suddenly understood what had transfixed Twilight so.

The last time Applejack saw Rarity, it looked like she had been run over by a cart directly over the neck. There was a full cut all the way along the outside of her neck, and the bruise was extremely dark, purple to the point of looking totally black, making it look like her whole head was about to fall off as her neck rotted away. Currently, however, the bruising was now an unattractive but significantly less disconcerting shade of red-brown, and there were patches in it where it seemed to grow pale and had begun to approach a shade more befitting of Rarity’s skin color, like it was fading out in spots. The cut, once a slice that seemed to have only just barely crusted over with blood all the way along it’s length, was barely visible, even with how much less dark and dense the bruising was - upon closer inspection, the line almost looked like it had scarred over. It wasn’t exactly pristine looking, but considering how awful it looked just a night ago, as well as the fact that she could apparently speak full sentences when she’d just had difficulty doing that in any capacity, compounding with how her head had actually turned a few degrees to look at Applejack with only a slight grimace being broadcasted…

Applejack had once slipped and caught a sharp edge of metal when she tried to steady herself on the farm, cutting her palm all the way open. It was a rather deep cut; she'd required multiple stitches for it. It had taken nearly a month to fully recover from it, and she considered that on the quick side. Meanwhile, Rarity’d had her throat sliced and her neck crushed, and it hadn’t even been two full days yet, but Applejack would go as far as to say she looked well over halfway through the recovery process.

There was a speedy recovery, and then there was cause for alarm. This was firmly in the latter category, as far as Applejack was concerned.

“I just don’t understand,” Twilight said under her breath, shaking her head. “There’s no way this is normal. I understand humans are good at bouncing back from things, but this is…” It was at this point that Twilight finally noticed Applejack was there, looking at her for the first time and giving an uneasy smile. “Hey, uh…so, you guys have been out and about a lot. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you?”

Applejack shook her head, staring blankly. “Is everythin’ else like that..?

Twilight nodded. “Her side and leg are a lot better, but still hurts to move too much…she can talk, I don’t see any open wound on her neck anywhere…the arm is still broken,” she gestured at the splint on Rarity’s arm with a hoof, “but most other injuries are so…they’re so much more minor now. I would have thought you got your neck hurt several weeks ago, Rarity, but I was there, it was two days ago! How- how? How, though?”

Turning her head stiffly but nonetheless the full amount to look her alicorn friend in the eye, Rarity gave a fatalistic smile and said nothing. Some of the life seemed to bleed out of her in the process. Applejack felt a little heavier as she let her posture slacken, similarly resigning to this development for what it was to them: just one more thing on a long list of things happening to them that they were forced to accept and would likely never understand.

Twilight, on the other hand, did not look nearly as discouraged. If anything, this was another source of inspiration for her. This was just one more thing for her to think about - a mystery to solve, and something to sink her teeth into, if only she had the time and means to do so…

Apple Bloom opening the door and hopping out of the SUV after having completed changing clothes prompted everyone, albeit somewhat awkwardly, to resume their business, which boiled down to the only other major concern that needed to be addressed this morning: breakfast.

There was basically no food left. As a matter of fact, all that was left in the camp had been eaten the previous night in a group that was twice as large as the portions intended as well as a guest that had briefly shared a meal, leaving the only edible things between the six of them to be four Toast Ems in the open box in Rarity’s purse. They had been Sweetie Belle’s, but she was more than happy to share with everyone-

“-on ONE condition!”

Applejack’s brow furrowed, Rarity pursed her lips together into a thin line, Fluttershy patiently looked on, and Twilight dared to ask the question: “And what condition is that?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” Sweetie Belle answered chipperly, as though this were an entirely voluntary inquiry and she was not holding their breakfast under her arm hostage as she stood in front of an open flame. Apple Bloom slid up beside Sweetie, her smile and the twinkle in her bronze eyes screaming ‘partner in crime.’ “I made the fire, so that means that I’m supposed to make sure the food is ready! So before ANYONE can eat, me and my assistant here-“ She gestured at Apple Bloom, “-are going to make sure that all these Toast Ems are nice and toasty and cooked well, so nobody gets sick!”

“Darling, you’ve eaten these uncooked dozens of times,” rasped Rarity. “You don’t have to coo-“

“UT!” Sweetie Belle cut in sharply, stabbing a finger up at her sister. “That was just me! Things are different now. There’s a bunch of us here, and we need to take all necessary precautions! Toast Em food poisoning is no joke!”

Apple Bloom nodded sagely, like this was great wisdom being shared. “All’a y’all are lucky we was here for this, who knows what woulda happened if y'all just bit into these puppies? Coulda been a disaster!” Apple Bloom then raised a stick with a split in the end sort of like a fork, beginning the process of attempting to balance it on the end of it…and when one of the two spokes of wood broke off, she unceremoniously stabbed the toaster pastry straight through the center, which oozed sticky red filling all the way down its length, inching towards her fingers. “Doncha worry though! We got this all under control. Breakfast’ll be ready in a jiffy!”

The three humans and pony not part of this process looked between one another. There were smiles, there were frowns, and there was a pair of blue eyes rolling all the way to the sky, but there were absolutely no attempts to convince the self-appointed meal preppers to not to do this. Rule number one about the Crusaders: trying to push them out of their antics would only lead to additional, even more ridiculous antics. Just let them get it out of their system and pray the mess they made wasn’t too bad.

…that, and everyone had secretly missed these antics. No one had the heart to stop them, even if they wanted to.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the toaster pastries only ended up slightly black on (mostly) the edges, with only one major casualty, and most important of all: no Toast Em food poisoning was contracted.

Half a toaster pastry for everyone made for a swift meal, and it didn’t take long before everyone was gathered around the small fire and chatting as they tried to wake up the rest of the way…except the Apples, of course, who were almost unsettlingly alert for this hour, or at least that’s what Rarity said. Sunlight had begun to creep its way into the clearing here, but it hadn’t arrived enough to beam down on everyone, and thus the flames were huddled around to stave off the chill of this particularly nippy May morning.

Twilight was deep in thought, mulling over the circumstances and condition of Rarity’s injury, attempting to make sense of this…that is, until her ear swiveled towards the road through the trees at the sound of what seemed to her to be that of a car engine, popping and humming.

Twilight wasn't the only one that heard it. “That’s them,” Applejack said, hopping to her feet. She dusted off her hands quickly and straightened her hat, headed for the trees as she called back, “Get yer stuff together, girls! Pack up 'n meet me at the van.”

There was not much to gather up that wasn’t already in the SUV, so for the most part there wasn’t much to do on that front. Twilight, however, began to panic. “Oh no- no no no, wait, I’m not ready, I’m not ready! I still don’t know what to say to humans! What do I- how do I- oh no, oh no-“

“Twi- Twilight. Twilight.” Fluttershy’s voice was quiet at first, but growing steadily louder. Rather than raise her voice more, she marched over to her smaller lavender friend and placed a hand firmly in the center of her back, making Twilight’s fearful pacing jolt to a stop. “Twilight,” she said again, softly now. “Relax. We’re all here for you, remember? We can vouch that you’re not a monster or anything.”

“Oh good heavens, that is in question?” Rarity said in her sandpaper voice, at once sounding offended but also looking amused. “Darling, you saved my life. There is absolutely no way I would do anything but throw in my full support behind you to anyone who wasn’t sure themselves.”

Sweetie Belle nodded fervently in agreement at this. “I saw the whole thing! You’re a good person.”

This was comforting, but did not soothe all of Twilight’s anxieties, evident in how she shifted her weight back and forth between her hooves. “I appreciate that, a lot, and thank you, but I don’t know how much someone who doesn’t already know me is going to take your word for it.”

“Just be calm,” Fluttershy soothed - almost against her better judgement, she ran a hand over the purple shoulder her hand rested against, petting the fur there. Too accustomed to animals, she couldn’t help but pet the distressed creature before her in an attempt to calm her. “We’ll call you over when we’ve explained, okay?”

“I could just hide away,” Twilight eagerly offered, unconsciously leaning into the petting…that did feel kind of good. “It was easy enough for that one girl that came last night, I can just sneak into the back of the SUV while you have them distracted! Then we don’t have to worry!”

Apple Bloom frowned. “Ya speak French now? Who’s this ‘we?’ Yer the one worried ‘bout it, not us.”

“If anything was going to freak anyone out, darling,” Rarity pointed out, “it would be the sudden appearance of the unexplained stowaway that they are going to trip over at some point. Besides, weren’t you the one saying that this would be a great solution to the whole problem? I still stand by that idea.”

Sweetie Belle once again nodded in enthusiastic agreement, smiling widely.

“Just let us handle it,” Fluttershy gently insisted. “Do you trust us?”

Twilight let loose a resigned sigh, head hanging a little. She really couldn’t argue with any of this, much as her nerves urged her to. “I do trust you. A lot.”

Fluttershy gave a smile, crouching down so she could give Twilight a hug. Twilight returned it with her front leg, visibly relaxing a little. It was hard not to; Fluttershy’s arms were like a sedative in the way they drove away tension when they closed around you. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Ab-SUH-lutely!” Apple Bloom declared, hands on her hips and puffing out her chest. “An’ if they try any funny business, we’ll pull their butt off an' then rip ‘em a new one!”

“…um, please don’t pull anyone’s butts off…they need those…”

Meanwhile, Applejack waited beside the gray electric SUV, standing in plain sight as the oncoming vehicle made its way up road and up the ridge towards her. It was an older model - Applejack didn’t know car makes very well, but she recognized the dark red 80's Mustang as the one she had been trying to barter for as part of the work she was about to do, and she couldn’t help but grin.

The car pulled up to about where Applejack waved them down, right behind the SUV, then the engine cut. The driver and back passenger opened their door and stepped out, though the person in the front passenger seat - of whom Applejack could only see the motorcycle helmet on their head - remained in the car. The driver was a woman that appeared to be somewhere near her thirties, skin a gently toasted hue with light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail beneath a weathered red baseball cap. Her colorless gray eyes were counterbalanced by her sheer expressiveness and tendency for motion. The passenger was also a woman, hair red and curly and brown eyes, ears and lips studded with entirely too many bits of metal. The most striking thing about her was definitely her outfit, which was made up of clothes seemingly selected for no other purpose than to be as vibrant as possible - bright yellow emergency jacket, neon green shirt, and a pair of pink tights bright enough that it would have given Pinkie Pie a run for her money on sheer pinkness. Applejack knew immediately that Rarity was going to hate her.

“You must be who we’re picking up,” said the driver, already returning the smile directed her way with a bright one of her own, coming at her hand-first for a shake. “I'm Alessandra, just call me Alex.”

“Howdy, Alex,” Applejack said, clasping the hand sent her way and giving it a good shake - the firmness of it made her grin a bit more. Love someone who gives a good handshake. “Name’s Applejack. I didn’t know we was gettin’ a full escort service.”

Alex flashed a bright grin - for some reason, Applejack got coach vibes off her and her upbeat manner of speaking, maybe because she reminded her of her PE teacher from school. “Something like that! That’s Matilda,” she pointed over at the violently colorful woman who was retrieving a cigarette from her pocket, “and that’s Gabe over there,” she gestured to the motorcycle helmet-wearing person who had yet to so much as look at anyone. “Don’t mind him, he’s the ‘quiet and reliable’ type. How many have you got in your group?”

“Six, countin’ myself. Two of em are kids.”

Alex's eyes lit up with surprise. "Wow, that's a lot more than we were expecting. Big group."

Applejack smiled apologetically. "We had a, uh, bit of a last minute reunion, I guess. Friends of ours showed up the other night, 'n...well, they're like family to me, an' up until a night ago I thought they were all dead. I couldn't just leave em behind for this." Concern momentarily crossed Applelack's expression as she asked, "That's okay, right?"

"Nono, that's fine," Alex put up a hand quickly, waving the fear away. "It doesn't affect us much. In fact I'd say that's a good thing, more hands to pitch in. I assume they're going to pitch in, anyway."

"I don't see why they wouldn't," Applejack replied. "This is the best deal we're ever gonna get fer havin' a proper home at this point, I reckon, so ain't no reason not to pitch in, even if I wasn't gettin' somethin' out of it." A beat. "...uh, speakin' of, uh...Smokes down there," a gesture down at the refugee center, "wasn't super clear on what all the details were of this uh, arrangement of ours, but he said y'all'd hash out the specifics."

"Ssssssoooomething like that..." Alex rubbed her hands together in front of her like she was applying hand sanitizer, rolling back and forth slowly on her heels. "So the way it was laid out to us was essentially this: we're going down to the ranch with this." She patted the Mustang behind her. "It's ours. We're going to use it for project-related things. You guys have your own vehicle, although it sounds like it doesn't work very well?"

"It's...alright, I guess. Just leaves us twiddlin' our thumbs a lot waitin' for it to charge up between drives. That takes a while."

Alex bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, nodding along. "Right. Well...yeah, this is ours, and you guys have yours. If you needed ours for something, like in one of the waits, like you said, we'd work out some deal or another, and the point of it is to keep it as on-task as possible whenever possible. For a little while it's going to be just us, and we're not going to be getting any help until there's space secured for people to stay. Once that's ready and we're getting more hands coming in, the keys are yours, once we can afford to part with them. That's the deal."

Applejack found herself frowning not long after Alex had started explaining - she was getting a feeling, and not one she liked. When all was said, Applejack's arms crossed. "Yeah, see, that seems a lot more specific than the stuff I got fed, back when I actually had time to think about it, an' it don't much sound like how it did then, either. It sounded to me like the car was mine, I just had to go with y'all and agree to do the work. I also don't much like how the terms 'n conditions are only just now showin' up when y'all are parked in front of me and 'bout to go with er without us."

"I- I mean," Alex stammered as she held out her hands helplessly, "I don't know what you got told, this is just what we heard. I didn't even know I was going anywhere until yesterday. I basically got told, 'Congratulations on your new foreman position, here's where the ranch is, get this stuff and meet up with these people on the ridge. They want this car, here's the deal on it.'"

Applejack's frown deepened. "An' I don't suppose y'all are gonna give me a chance to go hash it out with ol' Smokes back at the center?"

Alex writhed on the spot slightly, bouncing on the balls of her feet again. "We're- I mean, I got told to hit the road as soon as possible. I'm not about to leave anyone high and dry out here, by any means, but I don't see what you're going to get out of talking it over with him. It got laid out to me pretty clear: this is the deal, go do it. I imagine you'll get the same thing."

"And why's that?"

Matilda chose this moment to speak up, voice slow with a bit of drawl barely audible at the end. "The thing you gotta understand about Smokes and the center is that they're desperate down there. Whenever they can, they tell, not ask. You're not one of us, so it's not like he can just make you do something, but he can...you know," she wiggled her fingers, "do a little bit of business magic, y'know what I'm saying, honey?"

"He's tryin' 'a make me feel trapped." Applejack's frown was now a scowl. "Make it seem like there's no choice, 'n not gimme a chance to back out of it."

Matilda gave a lazy shrug, attention returning to her cigarette, which she breathed deeply from.

Alex removed her hat to run a hand through her hair, remorse spelled out across her face. "That's just how they do things down there." She leaned in a bit closer, as though someone might overhear what she said next, jaw setting and eyes lighting up with inner heat as she spoke. "But between you and me? I don't like how they do things down there. I just got handed the deed to a place we're about to build from the ground up, and I'm sure they're going to try and strongarm me for everything I'm worth too, but I don't care. I don't think a community should be built off the back of extorting desperate people who've been through Hell and back, and fuck what they're saying, I'm not going to run my place like that. I get times are rough, but that's just not okay."

"Can't say I disagree with ya." Applejack's expression lightened a bit, and she felt her opinion of Alex rising - she could feel that the woman meant all that she was saying. "All I want is to be able to provide for my friends 'n my lil sister. That's all I even wanted the car for, really, just so I could go out 'n get food 'n come back without havin' to wait days on end for this heap." The electric SUV received a light bump with a shoe.

Alex slipped her baseball cap back on. "We'll figure something out. Once we're down at that ranch, we're all gonna be in the same boat, so we'll have to figure out something that works for all of us. I doubt the supplies we have are going to last the whole time we're going to be setting up anyway, so having someone who's willing to do supply runs for the rest of us sounds like a win to me. You do that for us and I'll hook you up with whatever we've got, as long as it gets done."

Applejack nodded along, slowly, then a bit more emphatically as she smiled a bit wider. "I think I can live with that." A rustling in the brush behind her caught Applejack's attention, and as she looked back, she saw some familiar faces emerging from the trees. "Well hey, perfect timin'!" Applejack beamed and turned back towards the group from the refugee center. "Hey y'all, these're my girls here. Right there's Fluttershy, and them two 're Apple Bloom an' Sweetie Belle-"

”Wow those are some Canterlotan names,” Alex chuckled, arms behind her back now as she swayed forward and back on her heels. "Are you all from Canterlot?"

"Most of us, yup! Born 'n raised. And that gal right there, that’s Ra-“

“What on earth are you wearing?”

Applejack’s eyes slowly sank closed. “…rity." Knew it.

Matilda did not respond in a hurry. She turned fully in the direction of Rarity and leaned forward, elbows resting against the trunk of the car she’d ridden in on, tilting her head forward like one would look past a pair of sunglasses as her gaze contemptuously found Rarity’s eyes. One hand came forward and plucked the cigarette from her lips, plumes of white smoke curling around her lips as she snipped back, “Clothes. What’re you wearing?”

Rarity opened her mouth, but Applejack swiftly stepped in front of her before blood started spilling and add an additional color to the already painfully bright woman. ”Anywho yep, this is my unit here, close friends ‘a mine. This here’s my lil sis. Say hi, Apple Bloom.”

Apple Bloom stepped closer to Applejack till she was halfway behind her, expression guarded and eyes cautious. She gave the two onlooking women a terse wave. “Hi.”

Alex gave a friendly wave back, unbothered by the hesitance. She cast a glance throughout the group amidst her constant fidgeting, gray eyes touching briefly on everyone behind Applejack, then looked back to her again. “Looks like you’re missing number six.”

“Ah, yeah.” Applejack shifted in place uncomfortably as she adjusted her hat. “Yeah, her. Uh, see, we didn’t wanna drop this on y’all real sudden-like, so this is uh, fair warnin’ I guess...”

“Uh-huh…?” Alex’s face broadcasted the full degree of her scrutiny and caution as she crossed her arms expectantly.

Applejack hesitated, stammering a bit, but Fluttershy didn’t waste any time cutting right to the chase: “She’s not human.”

Matilda’s expression went from disinterested tolerance to surprise, her red curls bobbing from the way she suddenly stood up a bit straighter. Movement was faintly visible in the old Mustang’s passenger seat as Gabe’s helmeted gaze found somewhere other than straight ahead, revealing that he had indeed been listening and was now paying full attention. Alex's expression mirrored Matilda's for a few seconds, then gradually relaxed. A sympathetic smile found its way to her lips eventually. "Ahh...one of those cases, huh?"

"Uh...yeah, I guess so." Applejack rubbed the back of her neck, surprised by the response. "Almost sounds like you've heard 'bout this kinda thing before."

"Because I have. Back at the center, we've got a couple of cases like that. People don't tend to treat them very nicely. It's weird, sure, but I mean, what're you going to do? These things happen." She put up one hand as though she were taking oath: "No judgement."

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. Fluttershy smiled widely, looking back the way she'd come and called out: "Twilight, come here. Our friends want to meet you."

Nothing happened at first. After four seconds of silence, there was a quiet crunching, which grew louder as the source of the noise got closer. Some tree branches rustled, and the bush in front of it wiggled slightly before a horned head poked out, followed slowly by the rest of her lavender form as Twilight fully revealed herself, and she gave her best attempt at a friendly smile despite her nervousness. "Um...hello."

The confident, welcoming expression on Alex's face vaporized the moment Twilight appeared, replaced wholly with shock. Matilda was likewise openly staring, blinking owlishly at the creature she saw, then casting a dubious, questioning glance at her cigarette in her hand. The motorcycle helmet of Gabe was turned completely towards Twilight, expression unreadable but fully focused on her and her alone.

Rarity glanced back and forth repeatedly between both parties here, indignation quickly forgotten and replaced with growing worry. "I take it that this isn't quite what you expected, then?" she asked hoarsely.

Alex took several seconds to find her voice. "N- No. No, see, see when I heard you say 'not human,' I thought you meant mutant. I thought this was a mutant we were talking about."

Fluttershy swallowed, almost not brave enough to, but she managed to squeak out: "There are...mutants?"

A long, tense silence followed.

It survived until Sweetie Belle scampered up to Twilight. "I like Twilight!" she declared, puffing up confidently as she leaned up against her furry flank. "She saved my sister's life from a monster attack, and probably mine, too! It's a little weird that she's a pony, sure, but Twilight's super nice and friendly! I think you should trust her."

"She's a friend of ours," Applejack explained, eager to fill the silence with further assurance. Fluttershy didn't speak, but nodded in fervent agreement with Applejack. "An' Sweetie's right. If it wasn't fer her, Rarity might never 'a made it to us."

"I definitely wouldn't have made it," Rarity corrected, and joined her little sister by Twilight's side, carefully crouching beside the alicorn with a hand on her shoulder. Twilight gave an appreciative smile, and Rarity returned it. "This isn't the first time she's helped us, either. As strange as it is, she's beyond trustworthy."

Matilda's head had begun to slowly shake, and after a while, she finally started to chuckle. It was a low chuckle, and she continued to shake her head as she turned around, taking a few steps away from the group. "A horse," she laughed. "It's a f- a talking horse."

"Pony," Twilight corrected, in a voice she wasn't confident that could be heard.

Alex closed her eyes, and she removed her baseball cap, strands of brown hair slipping forward over eyes that could no longer witness their errant placement. Her free hand found its way to the bridge of her nose to pinch it - she sucked in a long, slooooooow breath, and then let it sloooooowly back out again. She mouthed up from one to three, then opened her eyes again - and indeed, the creature was still there, looking at her with a worried expression. "Okay," she said wearily, eyes closing again. "So you have a talking purple unicorn with you."

"Alicorn," Twilight corrected, this time definitely audible.

The woman smiled a forced, joyless smile, airily saying, "Alicorn. Sure. My mistake." She braved another look, and confirmed for a third time that, yep, still there. She shook her head to herself, tossing her baseball cap through the open window onto Gabe's lap, who did not react, or so much as flinch. "I mean...fuck it. Sure. We've got zombies, we've got monsters, we've got...god knows what else...sure. Purple talking alicorns. Why not? Why not have purple talking alicorns? We may as fucking well."

Applejack opened her mouth, then closed it. The words sounded like acceptance, but the voice and tone sounded more like a woman about to have a mental breakdown, and there was definitely a potential issue there, but not one she knew how to address.

"Um," Fluttershy piped quietly, "if it means anything-"

Alex turned to face her, and the pink-haired girl immediately went quiet. "Trust me," she said, smiling the smile of a woman on the edge, "It probably doesn't."

"Oh." Fluttershy shrank back down again. "Um...okay. Sorry..."

It was unclear when exactly, but at some point Apple Bloom had made her way over to Twilight's side along with Rarity and Sweetie, and the longer this went on, the more prominent and protective her stance and expression got. Eventually she snapped, "So can she come er what? I don't wanna go nowhere without Twilight."

Alex opened her mouth several times, like a fish out of water, before she finally shook her head and gave up whatever she was trying to say, if anything. She turned to Applejack, taking a few quick steps up to her before all but thrusting a small device at her - a walkie-talkie. "Just follow us. Don't fall behind." With that, she turned on a heel and marched straight back to the Mustang's driver door, fell into the seat, and gave the door a harder-than-needed slam shut.

Twilight winced at the noise, and heaved out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Casting a glance over at the woman still chuckling to herself near the edge of the ridge, she muttered, "That could have gone better."

"Could have also gone worse," Rarity hoarsely pointed out. "Much worse."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "This was always going to be a shock. Don't worry, Twilight, I'm sure they'll all get used to it once they've had a chance. Just give them time."

This felt to Twilight like it had gone about as poorly as it could have, and while her head did hang, she couldn't keep from smiling. All of this support warmed her where she would otherwise feel quite discouraged. "Thank you, all of you. I really appreciate you standing up for me."

Sweetie and Apple Bloom beamed in response, and both girls sandwiched Twilight in a hug. Rarity leaned into Twilight's flank, and Fluttershy also found room in there to crouch down and give her pony friend a soft squeeze. Twilight's smile only widened, heart swelling all the while.

Applejack grinned warmly at the sight of this. She considered trying to find some space in there to join in on the love as well, but when the engine to the dark red Mustang in front of them suddenly roared to life, she knew that it'd have to wait. "Alright, girls," she said, hooking the clip of the walkie-talkie she'd been given to her belt. "Everyone in the van. Time to saddle up."