The harsh, scorching sun shone directly into Applejack's eyes through the cracks in her eyelids. Her head rested on a rather uncomfortable rock. She held up her hoof to block the light. A sharp pain suddenly struck her forehead. She winced and placed her hoof on it.
'Hold up, that don' feel like a hoof.'
She opened her eyes and saw a hand in front of her face.
"Gah!" She cried, sitting up.
She examined the hand and down the arm attached to it. She saw where the shoulder met up with a torso. It was hers. She was human.
"Wha' in Equestria is goin' on?" She said patting her face, neck and breasts.
She grabbed the flannel shirt she was wearing and looked at it bewilderedly, then at her jeans and leather brown cowgirl boots. Why was she like this? What had happened? Suddenly it struck her: Trixie. Applejack was instantly suspicious when Trixie trotted up to Applejack and her friends at sugar cube corner with a wicked grin, levitating a book next to her. She had paced back in forth, ranting on about how she was going to get back at them for humiliating her and they all just rolled their eyes and chuckled. Trixie became furious at them. She brought the book down to her eyelevel and mumbled something and poof! They disappeared.
Applejack looked around for her friends but they were nowhere to be seen. It was just a huge sea of depressive brown. Dust was being kicked up in the wind and wound around in an almost mini tornado. Thousands of rock various sizes were scatted along the vegetationless ground. Applejack picked herself up and wobbled on her new legs before falling back over landing on her butt. She picked herself up and held her arms out by her sides to keep balance. She took one step forward and wobbled again. She waved her arms to keep herself up and managed to regain her balance. She took another step, which was a little easier than the last.
"Huh, this ain't too hard."
She stopped and looked around. Everyway looked the same. She spun around completely disorientated. This was an alien world to her; far different to Equestria. Equestria was livelier. It was bursting with colour; the birds would sing in the trees, the wind would smell crisp and clean. This was far different; there were no birds, let alone trees, and the wind wasn't crisp and clean. It was dusty, and stale: the smell of death. This world was just that: death and nothingness. A wasteland.
Applejack decided just to go in the direction she was facing.
'It's not like it's gonna make a difference, it's prob'ly just nothin' stretchin' on forever.'
She pulled down her Stetson hat and staggered along. Hours passed and she had gotten the hang of walking, it wasn't too different to how she usually walked, she just needed to learn how to shift her body weight. After a while of nothingness, Applejack came across a giant power line tower on the side of what looked like a road that vanished in the dirt. The giant metal structure loomed over her, cutting through the sky. The lines ran from it up a hill to the next tower so she decided to follow it. It was the first form of civilisation and she was impressed. No primitive group could have built something like this.
"If there's these here doo-hickies, there's gotta be something else out there." She said to herself, looking up the mountain like hill.
Applejack climbed up the hill with great difficulty, it was steep and the heat of the sun was beating down on her. Her body was drenched in sweat. She had made it up the hill and could see over the wasteland. On the horizon, there were the remains of a freeway being held up by huge concrete pillars bigger than the power line towers. One end of the freeway had partially broken off and was dangling inches off the ground, the other was in a stone heap on the ground. Hundreds of cars were lined along the road, some just teetering over the edge of it.
Between here and there were giant, treacherous hills coated in dirt and boulders that covered the land as far as the eye could see. One, in the distance had a radio tower that stood atop. Bone dry shrubs and black skeletons of trees created a forest over the wastes. It was depressingly beautiful.
After soaking in the oppressive scenery, Applejack staggered down the hillside. She was tired, but continued walking, hoping to find somewhere she could rest. She was so tired, she didn't realise she was veering off from her landmark. Her vision was getting blurry and her legs were exhausted, she was practically dragging them along. After another hour of walking, she came across a couple houses. Two double story houses that sat opposite the other and a small, almost shack next to one of the houses stood in the street. The houses were mostly intact, asides from the few missing boards around the outside and some of the roof ripped up, but the tiny house sagged down. The house next to the shack had a small, crudely made shed made of red corrugated iron in the backyard. The frames of several houses surrounded the buildings.
A little boy was playing on the road, or she thought it was a little boy, she could only see his silhouette. The little boy turned around and saw her. Applejack frantically waved at the boy as she stumbled up to him. Suddenly, Applejack's vision became blurry again. A wave of fatigue hit her and she started to slump down before eventually falling to the ground with a thud.
"Dad!" She heard a young voice call out, "Someone needs help!"
Dust particles. That was the first thing Applejack saw when she opened her eyes. Dust particles, dancing on the crack of light that shone through the boarded up windows. Applejack sat up in the double bed she was in. A damp cloth fell from her head and landed on her lap. She looked around the room. The walls were covered in faded yellow and green stripped wall paper that was covered in dirt. An old wooden dresser sat in the corner of the room. The wood had faded and the glass that made up the doors was shattered. An old bedside table sat next to her, donning her hat. Applejack pushing the tan brown and daisy covered sheets of off her.
Rubbing her head, still dehydrated, she slowly made her way down the hallway out to the stairs that sat in the tiny living room. The living room was much the same as the bedroom, with boarded windows and peeling wallpaper, however it was slightly more furnished. A large clock similar to a pointed star sat on the wall along the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, a tiny television sat on a bedside table with a white sofa sitting opposite it, next to the door. In the adjacent corner there was another dresser in much the same condition as the one in her room. A bare wooden hat rack stood next to it.
Applejack made her way down the stairs, holding on to the decrepit rail and into the kitchen through a hallway under the stairs. The walls of the kitchen had a large bench stretch across it covered in knives and beard boards and various appliances. Just where the bench ended a large off-white refrigerator sat next to it a large gas oven. Adjacent from Applejack, there was a door that went down to the basement. A large table sat in the middle of the room. A little boy wearing a red baseball cap, black and grey strip shirt, jeans held up by a leather belt and muddy converses sat with his back to her. A bald man with white stubble and a red plaid short-sleeved shirt and brown pants sat at the head of the table eating some steak. A woman with short blonde hair and a pink sundress with a red ribbon belt and red high-heels was standing over the table, serving the little boy. She looked up at Applejack.
"Oh, you're awake." She said with a smile, "How are you feeling?"
Applejack rubbed her head, "Yeah, ah'm alright. Bit of a sore noggin but that's 'bout it..."
"Well I'm glad." The man said, "I'm Jack Smith, this is my wife Linda and my son Junior."
"Nice to meet ya, I'm Applejack."
"Well," Jack paused for half a second, taking in Applejack's rather obscure name, "Applejack, welcome to Andale, the best town in Virginia. Please, sit down."
Applejack stumbled up to the table and pulled out a chair with great difficulty before slumping into it.
"You must be parched." Linda said pouring Applejack a cup of water from a large jug.
Applejack gulped the water down in one swift movement. She set the glass down on the table and wiped her mouth. Linda poured Applejack another cup and she quickly chucked that down too.
"I'll just leave the jug here." Linda said placing it on the table smiling awkwardly.
She sat down across from her son. Applejack poured herself another glass and quickly drank it.
"Junior here was the one that saw you coming into town." Jack said cutting up a piece of steak, "He saw you fall over and yelled out to me." He put the piece in his mouth and chewed it.
"So," He continued, mouth still full, "After I came out and saw you on the ground, I brought you in here and tucked you into bed." He swallowed the bit of meat, "Figured you were dehydrated walking through the desert and all, and you had a bit of a fever, so Linda grabbed a cloth and soaked it in some water for your head. You were lucky that you weren't out in the middle of nowhere or you'd be dead."
"Well, I'm mighty grateful for your hospitality." Applejack said, chugging her sixth cup.
"Well that's just what we do here in little ol' Andale; we help each other out.
"If only there were some way I could repay you."
"Well Bill and I need a hand, maybe you'd like to help us out."
"If you think it'll settle ou' debt, then sure."
"Junior," Jack said, turning to him, "Could you go tell Mister Wilson that our friend has woken up and that she's going to be helping us out?"
"Okay dad." Junior jumped out of his chair and ran out the door.
He shortly returned with a blonde haired man in a once white long-sleeved shirt with a brown sweater-vest and dark pants. Applejack, now finished her jug, stood up to greet him.
"Applejack, this is Willy Wilson." Jack said.
"People call me Bill." He held out his hand. Applejack shook it firmly.
"Well, nice to meet ya Bill. So what this little task ya'll need a hand with?"
"Oh," said Jack, "It's in the basement."
"Well, 'lright then." She replied following Bill and Jack to the door that sat in the kitchen. Jack pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.
"After you," Jack said opening it.
Applejack walked down the stairs into a dimly lit room. She wished she didn't. A single light bulb hanged on a wire in the middle of a room between the boards of planks that held the floor above them. The light illuminated over a wooden bench covered in blood and organs. A similar one sat next to it with the torso of a human with a trail of dried blood leading from it to the bottom of the stairs. Two fridges sat up against the wall surrounded by skeletons, either in shackles on the wall, or in small, bird-like cages. On the opposite wall was another bench, similar to the other two, covered in medical equipment; bone saws, scalpels, rib separators, the list goes on.
"What's goin' on?" Applejack asked nervously. She could feel her voice trembling.
"We don't have an endless supply of food, Applejack." Bill replied.
"So we need to bring the bacon home, so to speak." Jack continued, stepping over to the bench and picking up a scalpel.
Bill grabbed Applejack's arms with one hand and her head with the other, pulling it back to reveal her neck. Jack strolled over and held the blade to Applejack's throat. She could feel the metal stinging her skin as he gently pressed it against her.
"Sorry. Nothing personal."
With nothing else to do, Applejack kicked her leg up and hit Jack right in the crotch.
"Son of a-" He winched, pulling back and cradling his groin.
Applejack then stamped hardly on Billy's foot, throwing him off guard long enough to give him a quick whack in the head with the back of hers.
"Mother fucker..." He moaned, letting go and holding his now bleeding nose.
Applejack tried to vault over the organ-covered bench but slipped on the blood. Applejack fell to the ground with a thud. Bill stopped grasping his face and ran around the bench to Applejack. He grabbed her right leg by the ankle and tried to pull her along, closer to him. She started frantically kicking at him, trying to break free.
"Would, you stop, squirming!" Bill said, struggling to pull her along.
She managed to kick his hand and he let go of her, dropping her leg to the ground. She scrambled to get up. Jack had recovered from his injured privates and now stood on the other side of Applejack. He went to stab Applejack with his scalpel but she darted out of the way. During that brief second, Applejack slipped past him and grabbed a rib separator and hit struck Jack across the head with it.
"Fuck..." Jack groaned, falling onto the bench and dropping the scalpel.
Bill came charging at her, ready to pin her down. She threw the device at him, missing his head by miles. She turned around and grabbed the next to her, a pair of medical scissors. She turned back around and stabbed Bill right in the abdomen. The scissors dug deep into Bill's skin, soaking his vest in blood.
"Ah!" He screamed, staggering back, grasping the blade in his chest, "The fucking bitch stabbed me!"
Jack picked himself up from the bench and grabbed Applejack's wrist. She started shaking and squirming her hand, trying to release it from his grip. Jack held her arm down and struck her repeatedly in the face. With her free hand, she punched Jack in the stomach, winding him. He let go of her and bent over, coughing and wheezing, trying to regain his breath. Applejack grabbed the rib separator from the ground and smacked it against the back of his head causing him to fall to the ground. Bill then wrapped his arm around Applejack's neck from behind and held the bloody pair of scissors that was lodged in his stomach up, ready to pierce it into her. Applejack bit down hard on Bill's arm, sinking her teeth into his skin, almost drawing blood.
"Fucking hell." Bill shouted throwing Applejack across the room, into the stairs "Why don't you just give in? You're only making this harder for yourself."
Applejack saw the scalpel just under the bench. Bill was closely moving in, scissors at the ready. Crawling along the floor, she scurried to the blade and picked it up. Bill grabbed her shoulder and flipped her over. Applejack grabbed his wrist and desperately fought against him as he tried to drive the scissors into her neck. The blade came closer and closer and closer, millimetres away from her neck. Then, with one last act of survival, Applejack jabbed the blade into Bill's throat, sending his blood to wash over her.
The red covered her shirt and face, drenching her. Bill became lifeless and flopped on top of her. Applejack didn't move. She just lay there with Bill's corpse and blood, taking in what she did. Jack regained consciousness and looked around the room for them. He peeked around the corner and saw Applejack lying on the ground, covered in blood. His face went pale.
"You fucking bitch!" Jack screamed, grabbing Bill off her.
Applejack kicked causing him to stumble back a few step. She quickly stood up but Jack regained balance and grabbed her by the neck, strangling her. She felt the need to scream, to cry out, but it just emptied her lungs faster. Her chest started to burn as it was slowly deprived of oxygen. Applejack clawed at his hand, trying to get it off her windpipe, but it was to no avail. Gasping for air, and on the brink of death, she jabbed the scalpel into Jack's stomach. He dropped her to the ground and clutched at his wound. As soon as Applejack hit the floor, she was coughing and spluttering, refilling her air with lungs. She picked herself back up and the cannibal grabbed her shoulder, placing a bloody handprint on her already bloody shirt.
Applejack turned around and furiously stabbed the man over and over and over, trying to get him off of her. Jack's blood sprayed all over her, covering her shirt even more and occasionally her jeans. The man's eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground. Applejack fell to her knees and vomited all over the floor. She had just killed someone, she had taken a life; two lives actually. It didn't help that she was defending herself, who was she to take the life of another? Who made her judge, jury and executioner? She looked down at her shirt, where the cannibals' blood stained it, leaving a dark red mark. Her face was covered with several splatters of blood. This certainly wasn't helping her, being covered in the blood of her victims.
Applejack picked herself up, still shaking and clutching the knife in her hand. She walked up the stairs, almost in a trance, still taking in what had happened. She opened the door to see Linda working on a bench, preparing a meal and a woman standing next to her, sipping a cup of coffee. She had red hair and wore brownish orange flecked glasses and a blue suit and skirt.
"Jack," Linda said without looking up from what she was doing, "Have you killed her yet? I need to start cooking dinner soon and the meat needs to be tenderized." She turned around to see Applejack, covered in blood and holding a bloody scalpel. Linda grabbed the kitchen knife from the counter and held it up. The woman drinking her coffee looked up and her eyes instantly filled with tears, realising what transpired.
"You killed my husband!" the woman screamed, "You killed my Bill!"
She grabbed the butcher's knife from Linda's hand and ran at Applejack, with fury in her eyes. Applejack darted out of the way and stabbed Bill's wife in the back, right between her shoulder blades. The woman screamed in pain, clenching her shoulders around the blade. Applejack snatched the knife from her hand and stabbed her chest, piercing her heart. The woman screeched in agony as she felt her life slipping away. She grasped hold of Applejack's blood stained flannel shirt but her gripped loosened as she slowly faded away.
Linda rummaged through the drawer to find a small switchblade. She flicked the blade out and sprinted across the room at Applejack. Almost instinctually, Applejack slashed at Linda, cutting up along her chest. The gash split her torso and gushed blood. A look of dread fell upon Linda's face as she felt her life slip away. Her eyes rolled back into her head as her last breath left her lips. And Applejack witnessed it all. She stood there trembling.
'They weren' good people,' she reassured herself, 'They deserved it. They deserved t' die.'
Tightly gripping the knife, she walked out the door and back into the wasteland.