I was shaking, shivering in utter confusion at hearing an animal speak English to me. It truly made me begin to question if anything I had seen was real. I wanted to wake up, wake up from that cruel dream my mind had conjured up. I began to smack myself, trying and ultimately failing at doing anything but making my face red with pain.
As I was about to smack myself again, I heard the shuffling of branches behind me. I paused, looked at its direction, and started to run again. I don't know if it was the horse that spoke to me, a random animal, or a predator, but I just ran. I wanted to get away from whatever insane world that I was in.
I don't know how far I ran; all I know is that I didn't stop until I came into a clearing. What I saw was… interesting, to say the least. I saw rows upon rows of apple trees all lined up together in even more rows. I wouldn't think twice about it if it wasn't for the fact they defied the laws of physics.
Their trunks were too small to be carrying as many apples as they were, they should've been bending over by the weight of its own apples, and yet it was standing mighty and tall. I walked up to one of them and admired the glistening apples it held on itself. And, while I wanted to admire them, my stomach had other ideas. It was the first piece of food that I've seen in three days, and I didn't want to pass that up.
I gorged myself with tremendous amounts of apples. I bit into one after the other, just trying to fill my stomach. I didn't bother to truly taste it; I was too damn hungry to think about the taste the fruit held.
After eating god knows how many, I slumped against one of the apple trees with a big mighty smile plastered on my face. I had never been so happy to be overstuffed with food. I was about to pull out one of my water bottles to drink up, but I saw one of those ponies of the hill.
I couldn't see much of it from how far we were from each other, but I'm certain that it had a bright red mane. I heard a scream and then it ran. I didn't even bother to wait; I got off the ground and started to go deeper into the field of apples.
After I was certain I had put enough distance between me and the spot I was in, I just walked through the field of apples, occasionally looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being followed, and felt like I was a peace.
I walked for a while until I saw a big red barn. But, being the suspicious man that I was, I pulled out my rifle and looked down the scope to see if there were any of them there. I determined that no one was there after looking over the building for five minutes, and decided to make myself at home.
As I got closer to the establishment, I saw that there was a bit of rust building up on the metal and tiny pieces of wood sticking out of it. I cautiously opened the door and peered inside and was thankful that no one was there. I saw piles of hay on the floor, and tools on the walls.
I ignored most of it though, leaving the door wide open, and walked up to mutilated tools that were on the back wall. They weren't broken, per say, but they weren't normal. I knew what they were, or were supposed to be, but the way they looked like they were made for something else. Hedge trimmers, for instance, had big holes in the handles, and pliers looked like they had teeth marks.
The only tool that wasn't dented in some strange way was the hatchet that was there. It looked like it was hardly used because the metal on wasn't chipped, it didn't help that it had gathered dust.
I picked up the hatchet and looked at it; making most of the dusts on it fall off. It had a straight thick wooden handle that was covered in rubber, and a nice thickly sharp piece of metal on its end. I'll be honest, it felt good.
I was about to give it a test drive on one of the apple trees out there, but I heard voices coming my way. I immediately put the axe back, and looked for someplace to hide. When I saw that I could hide in one of the hay piles, I did exactly that. I ran into one of them and burrowed myself deep into its itchy surface. Since I couldn't do anything else, I decided to remain silent and listen to the conversation that was ever so slightly coming my way.
"Ah'm tellin ya the truth, I saw a thang out there! It was eating all of our apples," I heard the cry of a little southern girl say.
"Apple Bloom, while ah know yer telling the truth, ya can't drag me down to the edge of our farm to show me ya saw somethang eating our apples," Said another girl in an annoyed southern tone.
"But, what if it comes back, who knows what it'll do!"
"Look, ya probably scared the varmint off. There's no need to worry Apple Bloom- did you leave the barn door open?"
"No."
"Probably Big Mac, he always forgets to close it."
"But Applejack, what if-"
"No more 'buts'! Now can ya stop yer blabbering and help me move the apple bushels inta the barn," Though my sight was blinded, I was able to hear them enter the barn and plant something solid on the ground.
"Apple Bloom, ah appreciate yer concern, ah do, but ah can't stop bucking trees during Applebuck season."
"... I understand."
"Good, now help me get the rest of 'em in 'ere-"
"Applejack!" I heard the already open barn door slam into its side and heard a familiar voice accompany it. I should know since it was the one that belonged to a certain purple horse.
"What in tarnation are ya doing, Twilight?"
"Applejack, I need your help to gather the girls, something tried to kill Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon!" Before I knew what was happening, I heard two sets of hooves gallop outside of the barn and into the distance.
"Now ah have ta put the apples in the barn myself. This is gonna take forever!" I heard the little clip-clop of her hooves trudge against the ground, and eventually out of my range of hearing.
When I was certain that I was alone, I more or less threw off any hay that was on me. I released the breath that I was holding, grabbed the axe, and walked through the open barn door. I put the axe on the left side of my hip,using my belt to keep it in place. Without anything much left to do, I started to walk again. Oh, but how fate was a cruel mistress.
