Fractured Apple

Chapter One: A Brief Glimpse

Two wooden carts stopped in front of a large old shed on the border of an orchard of apple trees. An orange mare and a big red stallion unlatched their harnesses and stretched. The mare looked the shed over and whistled.

“It must’ve been mighty impressive in its day,” she said in all honesty.

“Eeyup,” replied the stallion.

The mare looked to her brother, in which he did the same and they both nodded at the same time. “I’ll take the tools inside, you gather up the outside,” she instructed.

“Alright, Applejack.” He went off behind the shed to where the larger tools and machines no doubt were.

Applejack smiled to herself; Big Macintosh was always a stallion of few words. She opened the shed door to be greeted by cobwebs and stale air. A coughing fit later and she started sorting out the various tools, tossing them in the cart outside to haul back.

Rakes, hoes, and shovels of all sizes were the first to go. The shafts and handles of them which were wood would need to be replaced, but that was easy enough to do. Repairing the metal heads would save them a load of bits that would’ve been spent on new equipment. Various shelves lined the walls at differing heights, each with many boxes or bowls of items such as screws, nails, and wire. All the bottom shelves were second to go as she decided to work her ways up.

The day passed eventfully, the inside of the shed being diligently picked clean over time and stored within the cart outside. As Applejack lifted a large sledgehammer, her hoof nicked a crooked nail coming from out of the floorboards. She groaned quietly to herself while setting down the sledge with a dull thud. A sharp snap quickly followed by a crash of metal on wood echoed throughout the shed.

“Consarnit,” said Applejack as she fanned the dust with her brown stetson. She stared at the toolbox embedded in the floorboard, its tools and appliances scattered around it. The shelf it was on had snapped suddenly, the wood old and rotted.

She looked around to see if anything else was going to happen before placing her hat back atop her head. This was all the more reason to clear out the old shed in favor of a new one. She pulled the toolbox out of the floor leaving a hole, and began putting the scattered tools back in.

‘It’s sure sad to see this old place go, but it’s too much of a hassle to maintain so far away from the house,’ thought the mare as she put the last tool away and closed the box with a rusted squeak. A glimmer from within the hole caught the mare’s attention as the light from outside shown past her. Curious, she inched forward and peeked inside. A corner of a small black box poked up from out of the soft ground, hard to see with barely any light. With a shrug, she leaned back and started chipping away the old floorboard with a hoof enlarging the hole.

She leaned down over widened hole, and attempted to pull the box from the dirt. The surface of the box was so seamless and smooth to the touch that she could not get a good grip. With a click of her tongue she scooped the dirt away from the corner, revealing more of the mysterious box to be perfectly smooth cube. With a stronger grip between two hooves and more room to work with she pulled it free with ease, and set it down a bit from the hole.

“Well aren’t you somethin’,” she mused. The box was an extraordinarily smooth cube of black, and when light hit it just right a shine of the rainbow could be seen for a moment. She didn’t keep track of how long she stared at the cube, snapping out of it when she heard a voice from the doorway.

“Applejack,” said Big Mac from her side. “You okay there?”

Applejack shook her head lightly and looked outside behind her brother. “Yeah, just lost track of time is all,” she said quietly, the light of day well into the afternoon. Her brother looked from her to the black box before motioning for her outside.

“We’ll haul this back home, and finish the rest tomorrow,” the stallion said factually. He hooked himself up to one of the two carts filled with various tools and devices that were from the old shed. Applejack picked up the toolbox and black box and put them both in her cart before putting the harness on.

“Sorry, Big Mac. Thought Ah could’ve finished cleaning the old shed out today.” Applejack and Big Mac started pulling the carts through the orchard of apple trees back home.

Big Mac looked over to his sister and sighed. “Don’t be hard on yourself, we’ll finish up tomorrow.” The stallion knew his sister always pushed herself, trying to take on as much as she could. Applejack slightly smiled at her brother’s attempt to support her.

The journey to the barn was uneventful and quiet, both ponies focusing on the task at hoof as they moved through the shadows of the trees. They unloaded the carts in a room inside the barn, and put the carts away as well when they were empty. Applejack took the black box after she was done, intent on figuring out what it was. She exited the barn as Big Mac closed it up, and sat down on the front porch looking over the mysterious box. She couldn’t put a hoof on what about it made her want to figure it out.

Big Mac passed by her entering the house, a moment later poking his head out to call to Applejack. “Granny says dinner will be ready in a bit.” Applejack just nodded while casually toying with the box, poking or prodding it. She was so focused on it she managed to notice a change when she held it up to the afternoon sun. The smooth black surface seemed to melt in the light. She stared at the change, got up from the porch and held the box out in the sunlight as high as she could. The side of the box facing the sun melted swiftly.

Applejack gave a small laugh in triumph as she spun the box around, the entirety of what the cube was made of melted into a thick sludge over her hoof and dripped to the ground. “Hah!” she shouted out loud, before looking around in embarrassment.

In her sludge-covered hoof was an odd artifact of pristine condition. It was a small copper sphere with many runic engravings across it with two long pyramid spikes protruding from opposite ends. Applejack stared at it with a heart full of victory, although it was a small one.

‘Looks like some magical doohickey.’ Applejack looked to the sky to check on the position of the sun. It was still a good height in the sky, giving her enough time for a trip to town. “I’m sure Twilight will know what it is,” she said with a chuckle. She stashed the strange artifact in her blonde ponytailed mane and poked her head inside the front door. “I’ll be back for supper, gonna head into town real quick!”

“Well make it snappy, missy!” yelled an old mare from within the house. Applejack chuckled again and set off for Ponyville, eager to see her friend after a good day of hard work. She trotted with a brisk pace down the long dirt road to Ponyville, enjoying the scenery as she did every time. In the light of the afternoon the world gave off a calm feeling that Applejack shivered to in response. She enjoyed such moments in her life.

Though she couldn’t enjoy them for long. “LOOK OUT BELOW!” yelled a familiar rainbow blur as it crashed directly into Applejack. She winced as something pierced the back of her neck while staring at the orange tinged sky. “Heheh sorry there, AJ.” The cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail jumped from laying unceremoniously on top of Applejack, did a backflip through the air and landed gracefully with a pose.

“It’s fine, Rainbow,” said Applejack as she took Rainbow Dash’s outstretched hoof. Pulling herself up she felt the piercing pain leave the back of her neck. She rubbed the spot and looked at her hoof to see a bit of blood.

“Uh, you alright?” Rainbow Dash looked at the hoof with concern.

“Just a scratch, nothin’ to it.” Applejack spat on her hoof and rubbed the wound gently. “I’ll look at it right when Ah get home. Now what caused the crash this time?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, there I was practicing my newest, most awesomest move yet when this bird flew right in my path! A sudden turn here, a thunder cloud there, and you know the rest,” explained Rainbow Dash, a sheepish smile on her face. Applejack stared in wonder as her friend wondering how she boasted being the best flier, and yet crashed all the time.

“I’m glad you’re okay, sugarcube. I’m in a bit of a hurry,” she said as she trotted past Rainbow Dash. “Found somethin beneath mah old shed, gonna get Twilight to look at it.” She wasn’t that far from Ponyville now, and wanted to hurry back so her supper wasn’t cold. That, and avoid Granny’s temper. She always hated when they wasted food.

“Don’t let me keep ya hangin,” said Rainbow Dash before she yawned. “I feel a good, long nap coming on. Later!” The wind whistled quietly in Applejack’s ears as Rainbow flew straight up before arcing back to her cloud house in the distance.

Applejack reached town just as it seems most ponies were closing up their markets or stalls. She waved a hoof and greeted familiar faces, but didn’t stop for any conversation. The whistling wind picked up in volume. Applejack shook her head to clear it out, but it didn’t help any.

“The wind is getting awfully strong,” she whispered to herself as she walked through town. Something swiftly flickered in the corner of her eye, Applejack turning to look as fast as she could. Nothing was there. She looked around the now empty town for any signs of what she saw. She pushed the thought out of her mind and turned back towards the path to the library. A face of shadow appeared before her, causing her to blink in surprise.

“Ah!” There was nothing there. The whistling of the wind ever growing, Applejack hurried through town to the library, now slightly spooked although she wouldn’t admit it to anypony. Movement through the darkness in the corners of her visions, always vanishing when she focused and looked.

Before her was the library, a huge tree that had been hollowed out and built into a home. She held a hoof to her chest to calm herself. “Calm down, AJ, there’s nothin’ there,” she whispered. The wind seemed to be blaring in her ears as she knocked once on the door. Then she noticed, the fur on her hoof. She knocked twice, the shadows in the corner of her eye grew larger. Her coat was calm and smooth, not rustled by even a slight breeze. She knocked thrice; the door opened. The wind silenced instantly, and the darkness disappeared. No, it didn’t disappear.

The light of day vanished as the entire town was black, the only light coming from the stars above. Applejack gulped as she entered the library. It was not as she knew it, the walls and shelves were worn and rotten, ash and tattered books the only sign of knowledge that was once stored. The furniture was broken and scattered as if a whirlwind were in here at a time. She walked in further, only to spot more destruction and age.

“Heya, Twilight?” she asked the darkness. “Spike?” She looked around at the shadowed library, it desolate and destroyed. Applejack wandered into the kitchen, her hooves clicking on grimy tiled floor. Everything from the floor to the silverware was old and decayed in various ways. The blackness of the world was amplified here where starlight could not reach giving even darkness shadows.

Many thoughts were racing through her head, the most prominent one being where was she? It was Ponyville, but looked as if it was decades into the future. “Where in Tartarus am I?” Applejack opened the pantry door to find it still stocked, although everything but rusted cans had become ash. She turned a can around to read what it was when a shadow moved in the corner of her eye. She spun to look at it, fully expecting it to disappear as it had earlier. It did not.

Crawling slowly out of the shadows of a rotted table was a nightmare. Applejack backed away from the advancing shadow beast. It skittered slowly across the ground toward her on four spidery legs with two scythe-like claws extending from a small oval body. A tail three times the length of its body whipped lazily behind with a small round bulb on its end from which a stinger protrudes. A thin curved neck supports a featureless spade-shaped head. It paused while looking in Applejack’s direction, she stopped soon after. Seconds or hours passed, she didn’t know. The shadow’s head split to form an open mouth from which a white light glowed, and a terrible screech rang out.