"I started my morning just as any other, by feeding the early-bird animals. I noticed one of the chickens in the coop acting strangely, then another one - I was afraid they had some disease spreading amongst them. So I went into the Forbidden Forrest to look for a Silvery Dew-bloomer to calm them down, it was the only herb I could think of to help the poor chickens and their nervous behavior, but before I found the herb I heard a loud noise from the pens. I could hear all my animal friends shrieking in fear, much like when they spot a predator circling the area, but this was louder. They weren't scared - they were absolutely terrified! I hurried back and..."
Fluttershy's voice broke into a cry. Rarity threw the bags off of her and rushed to hold her friend and wipe the tears away, but there were no tears – only traces of rills having run down her cheeks.
"... I hurried back but I was too afraid to do anything! There were ponies in uniforms everywhere! I hid behind a tree… They were rounding all of my animals up, putting them in wagons and dragging them away! I overheard some of the ponies saying something about the famine. At first I didn't understand, how could my animal friends help them with the famine? But then I... I... They wouldn't do something like that, right? Nopony would ever do something like that, right? We're all herbivores, right?!"
Rarity pressed her hysteric friend's head against her body and stroked her mane in an attempt to console her. Fluttershy didn't cry as much as wheeze in a spasmodic manner.
Macintosh took his little sister upstairs, leaving the female ponies to sort things out. The stairs squeaked as they went up.
Rarity was confused.
"Why on earth would the Equetists take away the animals? What possible use could they serve those- those MANGY beasts claiming to be ponies?"
"I reckon" Applejack said, "that they'll be putting the stronger of the animals to work the fields and such. As for the critters... I'm not so sure. I do know that some ponies, ehm... 'change their diet' in emergencies but we haven't gone that far, have we? We're short on food but I ain't heard of anypony dyin' of starvation just yet."
Fluttershy was now so quiet Rarity wondered if she might've fallen asleep.
"What do we do now?"
Applejack looked at her friend. She wished there was an easy answer to give her.
"I think the best would be for us all to hold up for a minute. If we could get some info from the town, that would be like biscuits and jelly. - Fluttershy, d'you think there is some way for us to make contact with someone in town, without getting ourselves into a pickle?"
Fluttershy was silent - she truly was asleep. Her face was still grinning with worry and she seemed on edge, but her eyes were shut close and her body heaved regularly with deep breaths.
"Fine then - I'll just see what supplies we've got and try to make sum' soup for us all. You stay with her, Rare."
Applejack went into the somewhat tiny kitchen to prepare the soup. She had just started boiling water and opened a few precious cans of preserved foods she had brought from home, when a series of sudden knocks came from the front door. She snuck past the still sleeping Fluttershy and assumed a defensive stance by the door. She was still carrying her bags and she could easily draw her bowie knife if she had to.
The knocking started again. They came in non-rhythmic bursts with pauses between them.
"Hey, sis!" Applebloom called from the top of the stairs in a hushed voice. "It's Twilight! We can see her from the bedroom window!"
"Is she with someone?"
"Nu-uh, she's all by 'er self."
Applejack cautiously opened the door and verified that it was indeed Twilight, alone. She let her in and locked the door behind her.
"Applejack? Rarity? When did you get here?" Twilight wondered as she looked around in the room.
"We came just a few minutes ago. Fluttershy's sleepin' and my siblins' upstairs. Say, what was with the knocking you just did?" Applejack asked.
"Oh, that? It was Morse code! I was here a couple of days ago to drop off a book about Morse code to Fluttershy. She said she wanted some way to communicate with her pet rabbit, Angel, when he wasn't in the house. Later, I imagined that the Equetists might get here someday soon, so I told her to use a coded password for safety. If the password is correctly given at the door it is safe to assume it is a friend. If not given, she has to be extra cautious."
"A password you say... Why ain't we heard of it yet?"
"I didn't think it would actually come to this. Last time I heard from princess Celestia everything was okay, but that was over a week ago. When I heard that the Equetists had come to Ponyville this morning I immediately rushed to my friends to warn and inform them how we best would keep safe and out of all of this. Neither Pinkie, Rarity or Rainbowdash were at their homes, so I went to your orchard – but right before I got to your house I ran into a bunch of troopers heading towards Ponyville" Twilight said.
This got Applejack a little confused.
"Wait… The Equetists just came to Ponyville. We saw 'em running down that road to build 'emselves a blockade further up the bend. But why would they be headin' back to town so soon?" Applejack wondered.
"Applejack… These troops hadn't been building any blockades. They had gone to Sweet Apple Acres - they had Granny Smith."
This came as no surprise to Applejack. Granny Smith stayed knowing very well that this might happen, Applejack knew it too. She just hoped it would have happened further into the future and not on the very first day.
"D'you know where they took her? What they did to her?"
"I followed them. Apart from putting a leash on her they treated her well. They've built a makeshift prison camp close to the Ponyville center where they keep all the ponies they've captured. It's heavily guarded. I… I think I saw Pinkie in there, as well."
"Oh, no…" Rarity sighed mournfully from the sofa.
Applejack went towards the kitchen again. She felt as if she had been knocked over the head with a wooden beam but she was determined to keep herself together. Falling apart wouldn't bring anything good - not now, not ever. She needed to keep being strong. The sadness was sour and hard to swallow, but what else was there to do?
"Why don'tcha have a seat? I'm makin' some soup. D'you wanna try it?" Applejack asked her newly arrived friend before she went back to the stove.
Twilight sat down on the vacant side of Fluttershy and gave Applejack a silent nod. Twilight saw that Fluttershy had been grieving and decided to not risk waking her up by asking Rarity questions. She simply put her hoof on one of Fluttershy's and watched her peacefully sleep while the sound of boiling water from the kitchen mixed with the soft sound of three ponies quietly breathing.
It warmed Applejack's heart to see her friends taking care of each other. She wondered if they would do the same things to her if she got into a similar situation.
Rarity whispered to her purple-coated friend:
"We need to go into town. Will you help us?"
Twilight instinctively answered "Yes".
Quiet as they were, Applejack had still heard them over the sound of her own cooking. Something twisted in her gut. She wasn't prepared to go into town, but she wouldn't let her friends go there without her. It was dangerous - and Applejack felt herself fast approaching her limit.