Ch. 12: Contradiction

Applejack awoke with a taste of blood in her mouth.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she noticed she was in a room without windows.  Like that was the most important thing.  Maybe it was.  She couldn't quite remember.  All she knew was that her room had lots of scratches, with its walls, ceiling, and floor all deteriorating, and that she had an enormous headache.  She reached up to try and soothe it, but when she brought her hand back down, there was blood on it.

"Sorry 'bout that, sweetheart."

Applejack looked up towards the stallion that was now leaning against the doorway.  He looked around her age, with a messy mane, sunken in eyes, and a body that reckoned he hadn't been eating for months.  Every hair on his coat and mane were a shades of brown, and even his irises refracted sepia.  He opened his mouth to speak once again, and what came out was raspy and crude.

"What's your name, pretty?"

"It's Applejack," Applejack said, her eyes narrowing and her mouth forming what was almost a scowl.

"Oh," said the brown stallion, slowly walking towards her, "looks like we got an Apple, huh?  One of the last remaining...  Shame."

Applejack felt like she could only see the color of her cutie mark, but she resisted the urge to hurt this new pony.

"Heh," laughed the stallion, smiling coldly.

"What?" asked Applejack through her teeth.

"Just...  It's just that you're smarter than I thought you'd be.  I mean, the last Apple in here tried to—"

"You stay away from my family!" Applejack shouted, her rage finally breaking through.  She made a grab for the stallion, but was quickly stopped by the bluntness of cold steel, as well as her own bones creaking.  She had been chained to the wall.

The stallion's eyes widened for a split second as he stepped back, but he quickly smiled cruelly, administering a deep, taunting laugh.

"Nevermind, nevermind," he said, his laughter dying off.

"Who... who are you?" Applejack asked, panting from her now-sore arms—she had yanked them hard.

"Really, going on to names so fast, huh?" the stallion asked, starting his laughing back up again.  When his enjoyment didn't seem to spread on to Applejack, he stopped, seeming to hesitate.  He broke eye contact before saying, "It's Robin Fire, if you have to know."

"Well... Robin, it's nice to meet you," Applejack said, ignoring her instincts to hurt him.

"Oh, don't flatter me," he said in disgust as he spat on a part of the floor dangerously close to Applejack, "we all know you don't like me.  But..." he took a pause, glancing at the door, which was closed, "but maybe you'll like my brother...  He was always a sweet talker, that one.  Here, I'll call 'em in."  Robin turned around, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Trash!  Next visitor!"

There was silence, but it slowly faded away to the faint pitter-patter of hoofsteps.  They were getting louder and louder until—

"Fire, I told'ya not to call me that!"

"Oh, shut up, Trad," Robin said, backing out of the room as he did so.

"What if I called you...  Y'know what, nevermind."

Applejack studied the new character who had entered her room.  He looked similiar to his older brother, but his mane was pitch black and his eyes were deep red.  He looked more like a friendly bartender than whatever his brother was trying to be.

"Well, looks like we got a pretty one, don't we?" he said to Applejack, his voice much smoother and less harsh than his brother's.

Applejack scoffed.

"Hm, got an attitude too..."

Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Fire says we're gonna have to roll that attitude outta you, but your friend's is a lot worse."

"You mean Zecora?" asked Applejack, suddenly sitting straight.

Trad was taken aback by AJ's sudden movement, but answered anyway, "Yeah, the zebra.  She almost gave us a real fight, too, but Fire's got a real mean right hook.  And a left one...  Hay, I bet his whole body's just one big muscle.  Not much room for a brain then, huh?"

Trad laughed at his own joke, but died down once he realized Applejack wasn't doing the same.

"So...  Heard you're from the Apple family..." Trad commented awkwardly.

Applejack slowly nodded her head, not making eye contact.

"Yeah, I used to know an Apple.  He lived in some western town, y'know, like Dodge City, or The San Palomino...  Well he came up to me one day, said he needed some work.  Wanted to move up north for a change.  So I hired him for a month, gave him some bits, never seen him since."

Applejack was only vaguely interested as she asked, "You know his name?"

"Well, it was the name of an apple, that's how I knew he was part of your family, but other than that..."

Applejack decided not to start listing off names of her relatives.  Probably all dead anyway, she thought bitterly.

"Well, you don't talk much, huh?"

No reply fell from Applejack's mouth.

"Well, I gotta go discuss what my brother and I are gonna do with you and the zebra, so don't try anything.  Or I may finally give in to his decision to keep you two as slaves."

Applejack could here loud arguing for the next hour as she sat in the cell, wondering what her life would be like under the rule of these two stallions.

The door slammed open as Robin Fire stormed in.

"That's it, bitch," he said, looking ready to kill, "we're keeping you as our slave."

"Fire, no!" said Trad, who was squeezing in the doorway after him,  "We haven't even discussed it!"

"We discussed enough, Trash, and you didn't give me any good reason not to, other than the fact that you're a bucking pussy!"

"Just 'cause I have a conscience doesn't mean I'm a wimp!"

"Oh, and where's that gonna get you in this world?"

"It's...  Celestia Damnit, Robin!  We're not bucking slavers!"

"And why the buck not?!"

"Because we're better than that!"

"Well—"

"Wait, wait," Trad interrupted, looking out of the window as his face went paper-white.

"What?!"

"I think we've attracted some of them."

"The biters?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, shit.  Trad, get your bow.  I'll go get my ri—"

There was a loud bang, and all fell silent.

"Alright, we can still do this," said a much-quieter Robin.

"You sure, brother?  My rifle's all the way—"

"Yeah, I'm cool.  Just that we gotta be extra careful, 'kay?"

"Right."

With that, the two brothers sneaked out of the room, leaving Applejack's door wide open.

Applejack inspected her cuffs that were binding her to the wall.  They were shiny, and probably made out of iron.  Maybe if she could find something sharp to cut through it.  If one of the brothers had left just a knife, she might be able to—

Suddenly, Applejack sat up, her heart beating wildly.

There was a series of thumps outside her door, and they were growing louder.

Suddenly, that open door was a lot less appetizing than what it seemed.

Especially as a rotting orange pegasus limped through it.