Fractured Apple

Chapter Four: A Quick Fix

A chilling wind blew through Sugarcube Corner, the candy building’s windows destroyed or missing opening itself up to the elements.  The sweets bakery was in a terrible state all too similar to the library, although there were clear markings from battles between things not equine. Applejack’s mind turned itself down from panicked to cautious, the adrenaline wearing off as she became fully aware of her body’s condition.

She massaged her ribs on both sides wincing at the clear pain. She was sure of the bruises she couldn’t see beneath her coat, and hoped not something worse. With a careful pair of hooves she began pulling out the shards of glass that were stuck in her hind hooves from breaking open the security glass. She felt more than a few cuts and bruises all over her sore body, but the major problems had to be fixed first. She held her breath and jaw shut through every piece of glass, though she only managed to pull a few bloody pieces large enough to grasp with hooves out. She still felt many small ones but that was the best she could do without a first aid kit, and it was enough to walk.

Her breathing was heavy and ragged through the exhaustion, both mental and physical, that she had endured today. Applejack got up and slowly searched what was left of the first floor. The doors that led to the kitchen were blocked from the other side, the entire dining area and customer service full of debris but clear of any life. She didn’t want to be surprised by any more monsters, and began to thoroughly look through any possible spots. With nothing in there with her, she piled any ruined and knocked over tables against the open windows, barricading them from intruders as well as the freezing wind from outside.

After all the windows were secure the inside felt a bit warmer, although still cold enough to elicit shivers from Applejack. She tiredly nodded to herself at her good work and noticed the stairs along the wall leading up. She walked over and looked to the top only to see darkness. With a gulp she began her ascent, her vision slowly fading with no light, barely able to see the outline of the hallway to her right. It wasn’t very long, only a door on either side, one in the middle on the right side and at the end on the left.

Applejack tried to breathe through her nose quietly, but the sting of cold air was too much. She crept along the hallway, her muscles tense as she arrived at the first door. With a held breath she put her right ear to the door, and held down a yelp as pain assaulted her. After a moment it dulled down, and she gingerly touched her ear. It hurt, and even she could tell in a very bad way. After switching sides, listening for minutes and hearing nothing, she slowly opened the door.

The room was mostly caved in and the starlight shining from above; only a few meters around the doorway clear. With a mere glance Applejack knew what this was. Foal’s toys were littered across what was left of the room, a buried bookshelf in the corner, and a large broken crib poking from out of the rubble. It was the Cake’s nursery, and she shuddered before swiftly closing the door. She told her mind not to think about it even as tears formed in her eyes.

She pushed the feelings away; her mind was stressed enough. With a brief trot she listened through the hall’s end door, and after hearing no signs of movement, entered it with caution. It was a circular room with two damaged but intact windows. A single bathtub sat in the middle of the floor, and a sink and medicine cabinet across from her on the wall. Applejack’s eyes widened at the cabinet, and barely stopped from dashing over to it as she heard a sound.

With her ears perked she walked into the room as quietly as she could. A quiet scratching came from the bathtub that was partially covered by a moth-eaten pink shower curtain with yellow ducks. The curtain only covered the half that was facing her, so she circled to the left around the tub, squinting to see anything with the dim light coming in from the windows. A few more scratches came from the tub; she thought she saw a shadow move from behind the curtain. She couldn’t trust what she saw from shadows, they always moved even when nothing was there. As she got to the end of the curtain she quickly poked her head around to see an extremely filthy, but empty bathtub.

Applejack let go of the tension in her muscles with a sigh of relief. She turned to the medicine cabinet only to see the white glow flying at her. She thanked her reflexes as she held up her forehooves to stop the dangerous scythe-like claws from piercing into her, and fell backwards into the tub with the black creature slashing at her. She screamed in fear as its tail whipped above it and struck down at her like a scorpion. Applejack rolled as best she could, pinned the monster to the side of the tub and avoided the stinger that cracked the porcelain as it struck. The tail struck wildly as they both pushed against each other.

The creature stopped flailing its tail and opened its mouth, revealing in full a white glow that grew brighter by the second. She knew what was coming, and released some of the pressure she put into pinning it to the wall of the bathtub. With a push off the side with her hindlegs she thrust as hard as she could, and smashed its claws into its head. The glow stopped growing as the creature was dazed, and she repeated smashing it with a scream of fury. Over and over, the black shell of the creature ruptured, its claws broke at wrong angles, its head caved in and black blood covered the mare.

Applejack’s vision blurred from tears, her cries echoing in the silent bathroom as she laid there with the creatures beaten corpse. Black steam emitted from wherever the black blood was, it chilling her body to its core. She hastily climbed out of the tub to fall on the floor, her body shivering fiercely as a piercing pain shot through her whole body.

‘It’s just like before!’ she thought. She tripped the old curtain from the bars holding it up, and wrapped herself up. Her body was on fire, yet felt like freezing from the inside at the same time. She curled up in the curtain on the floor, her consciousness fading in and out as she forced to stay awake.

An hour, or what she felt was an hour, passed extremely slowly before the burning and pain were tolerable enough to move. Applejack crawled to the medicine cabinet, shakily stood up, and paused before opening it. A single crack ran across a mirror that showed her. She lowered the curtain to get a better look, and was sad at what she saw. Her brilliant orange coat was ragged and filthy, her blonde mane looked near brown and was a heap of tangles in a ponytail, and nasty black blood soaked her everywhere. She allowed herself a smile at her brown stetson that was still in its fine condition beyond all odds.

Applejack opened the cabinet to find a large stash of medicines and bottles of varying size and colors. ‘How much medication does Pinkie Pie need?’ She opened her satchel and tossed any bottle she didn’t need right now into it. Many of the names she couldn’t pronounce, let alone know what they did as she pocketed them. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

After looting over two dozen bottles and a couple pill boxes she had three items sitting on the floor next to her. She took off her satchel and curtain, setting them on the floor. She shivered at the loss of her protective layer from the cold, and began applying the disinfectant to her many scratches and cuts. Was there an expiration on disinfectant? Any was better than none right now, so she continued. It burned with each application, Applejack having paused to take a few painkillers, before continuing. She picked up roll of old gauze, its condition shoddy at best, and wrapped her ribs and larger cuts. Her first aid knowledge was an absolute none, most of it going off guesswork and what she could think of from common knowledge.

With herself treated to the best of her ability and supplies, Applejack put her satchel back on, tightening it securely, and wrapped herself back up in the curtain. It was disgusting, although not as much as her coat, and she felt slightly warmer with it on. Looking around, the room seemed the perfect spot to hole up for a while, she walked over and closed the door. The broken corpse of the creature wasn’t far away, it creeping her out just by being there. She thought about tossing it out of the room, but didn’t want to attract scavengers.

She walked over to it, and prepared to toss it into the tub. Out of sight, out of mind. As soon as she touched it, the shadow of the corpse moved. She recoiled quickly, but the shadow was quicker and vanished into her own. She looked around to see nothing else. She looked at her own shadow, it looking the same as ever, before she warily picked up and tossed the corpse into the tub.

As she walked back over to the sink her body exploded, or that is what is felt like. All of once every muscle and joint in her body flex and expand before settling, the momentary pain blinding enough for Applejack to trip and fall onto her face. It left as quick as it came, the only trace it happened was the memory of it.

With a groan Applejack picked herself up off the floor and walked over to the sink. She reflexively turned the faucet to get a drink, and to her immediate surprise water flowed out. She hastily turned it off and stared at it. Her throat suddenly felt like a desert. Without thinking she put her mouth to the tap, turned it on, and drank greedily. The water was stale and probably a third of it mud, but tasted as pure as a spring river to her. Soon the water ran dry, but her stomach was full to where she felt bloated, but was satisfied. It was most likely the water that was stuck in the drains for years.

Afraid to sleep, and in the need of any answers she could get, she curled up on the side of the window. She stayed close to the wall so nothing could see her, took out Twilight’s journal, and set it in under the window in the light so she could read. Her only clue into the mystery of what had happened to this world was within that journal.

She opened to the first page and skimmed it before turning to the second. It was full of notes that were seemingly random with many equations or questions written with them. It was interesting to note that Twilight wrote on both sides of the page, a small glimpse into her friend’s habits. The third page was this confusing diagram of some sort of experiment, though Applejack couldn’t make heads or tails of it. She turned the page and read eagerly.

Journal Entry #002

02 / 01 / 1007

Delayed Start,

It has been over a week since the Canterlot Magic Expo, and with it a demonstration that intrigued me to no end. I expected Princess Luna to comment on it, but she has not come forth with anything to say. Since nopony has released a newer term for it yet, I will continue calling it Shadology. As I expected, my personal laboratory was indeed under-equipped to handle such a project that I’m planning. It has taken me most of the week of sell off a few things, take a few odd jobs around town, and use what I had in my savings to purchase new materials and devices.

While our lifestyle isn’t threatened by my pursuit in this new area of research, Spike and I will have to do without personal luxuries for a while. Such is the sacrifice for knowledge, I suppose. I have been looking over Professor Quick Thinker’s explanation and demonstration from the Expo, and even after witnessing it with my own eyes I can barely still explain it.

While the documented information explaining the demonstration is extremely lengthy and put into as many possible words as he could, it summarizes to how to make a shadow and then pick it up. I drew up some possible theories other than the one provided on how to do it, but cannot conceive of anything like it. I will just have to perform the test and then break down the process into my own words and thoughts. The last of my equipment should be arriving within the week, unless Ditzy Doo loses the package again. I love that mare, but I still don’t know how she keeps her job.

While I wait for my mail I will go out and try to earn some spare income. Spike has been a real helper, and with his growth spurt a couple months ago he has had a bigger stomach, literally, and deserves a few snacks.

Eagerly awaiting the mail from her home

Applejack reread the part about picking up a shadow in amazement. She looked at her own shadow cast by the starlight. She slowly reached out and touched it only to feel the smooth floor beneath. The fifth page was full of more scribbles and mathematics, she grumbled as she flipped to the next page. She began reading only to stop at the sound of drums. Rapidly beating drums that were so fast the beats blurred together. She looked out the window before pausing in realization. The sound was coming from above.