The Master Plan

At about the same time that Twlight Sparkle was arriving in Canterlot, Apple Jack and Apple Bloom's train was just beginning to slow into the Manehattan station.

"I can't wait to see Babs!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. She peered out the window eagerly, looking through the bustling crowd outside for her cousin. She reminded Apple Jack slightly of a small, yellow Pinkie Pie.

"I just hope she's okay," Apple Jack added.

They exited the train along with a dense group of babbling city ponies. They spilled out into the busy train platform. The farm sisters gazed up at the unbelievably tall skyscrapers around the station.

"This place is amazin'!" Apple Bloom cried. "Those buildin's are so big!"

They were both looking up at them in awe when they heard a familiar heavily-accented city pony's voice. "Apple Bloom!"

Babs Seed barreled through the crowd of ponies and tackled Apple Bloom in an exited hug. The two fillies then scrambled to their hooves and bounced happily up and down.

"Alright, alright," said Apple Jack. "Babs, ya sounded like ya were in a pickle when we got your letter. What's wrong?"

Babs turned to the older sister. "I gotta show ya," she replied. "Here - come to my apartment and I'll tell you everything."

"Ok," agreed Apple Jack as a sophisticated-looking business pony pushed past her. "I wouldn't mind gettin' outta this crowd anyway.

They walked across the platform and exited the station. They emerged into a busy sidewalk clumped with ponies of all kinds.

"Seems like every place in Manehattan is bustlin' today!" noted Apple Jack. Babs nodded in agreement. She was only half-listening as she was also carrying on a conversation with Apple Bloom. The younger farm sister chattered about school and the latest activities of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Oddly, Babs looked bored with her tale. Apple Jack thought this was a bit strange; she expected both fillies to be babbling away. But she quickly dimissed this skepticism, as she knew Babs was probably a little worried about her problem - whatever it was.

"Well, here it is! My apartment building!" announced Babs when they arrived in front of one of those famous Manehattan skyscrapers.

"It's huuuuuuge!" Apple Bloom's eyes were wider than a healthy apple at harvest season.

"I know," said Babs. "But luckily I live on the first floor. I hate stairs."

Apple Bloom seemed a little crestfallen that they wouldn't be able to go to the top floor of the building, but nothing could phase her out of her happy, excited aura. They walked into the building and Babs walked them to the door of her apartment. She inserted a key, turned the knob, and entered the room.

Babs' apartment wasn't anything too special. There was a large living room, stairs at the back up to the bedrooms, and a kitchen off through a doorway to the left.

"Just look out that window and you'll understand my problem," said Babs, gesturing toward a window on the other side of the room. The view out of the window was obscured by curtains.

"Ok," said Apple Jack. She and her sister started across the room.

Halfway there, the floor caved in.

Apple Jack let out a yelp, suspended in midair, before she and Apple Bloom hit the concrete floor - hard. Both let out grunts of pain as the landing took it's toll. Apple Jack's head was spinning, but she managed to lift hereslf to her hooves and look around. They seemed to be in a basment of some kind, but it looked more like a dungeon. She gazed up and about six feet above her was a hole in the ceiling, where she could see Babs' apartment and Babs' face peering down at them.

"We're ok!" Apple Jack assured her. "What happened? How are you?" Apple Bloom began to stir beside her sister on the basement floor.

"Oh, I'm better than ever,' Babs replied, grinning down at them. Her eyes narrowed and she smiled sinisterly? Or was Apple Jack seeing things?

"Babs....?" Apple Jack repeated. "Are you...."

"Oh, you can stop calling me that now," Babs called down to them.

"What's going on?" said Apple Bloom, sitting upright now.

"Oh, Apple Bloom," Babs sighed. "Well, I said I'd tell you everything, didn't I? Hmm, I have a better idea. Let me SHOW YOU!"

At 'show you' Babs' voice turned into one Apple Jack recognized. Not a good one. And then things got wierd.

Green light shot from Babs' eyes and mouth. A sinister green mist surrounded her. They watched as she got bigger, her mane got longer, and holes appeared in her legs. Fangs erupted from her mouth and her eyes turned torquoise. A jagged horn emerged from her forehead. Her transformation was complete.

They had been tricked.

Queen Chrysalis laughed down at them. Apple Jack and Apple Bloom stared, horrified, up at what they thought had been their friend.

"Thanks for playing, but I'm afraid it's game over!" She said in her double voice. The apartment floor folded up like a trapdoor above them and left them in darkness.

Except they weren't alone.