Chapter 6
"Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill", William Shakespeare
Why hello, long time now see. It's been a while since I last saw you. Before we continue the story I thought I should clarify the time. Yes, I know I say when the chapter takes place almost every time, but I'm going to tell you the time overall in the story, this takes place about a day after last time. I remember when the war started, it was actually around the time Twi- oh I mean, Princess Twilight, became a princess. Instead of her making Equestria better, it actually slowly turned for the worse. Now look at me, spoiling the story before I even begin the chapter, how rude of me..now..shall we continue?
…..
Back inside the barn, Sweetie Belle was sleeping with her hooves covering her face. The unicorns all laid on the high hay bales and on the floor. Somewhere eating bits of food that fell on the floor, not levitating it up and eating it, picking it up with their hooves or mouth. Once they'd enter the Apples Barn, if it wasn't already, their horns would be chipped. If their horns were intact then they could use magic to fight back, so their horns would be chipped or snapped half off. A small group of unicorns were allowed to keep their horns but they had to work all the time.
Applebloom trotted in, pushing a barrel of rotten apples and carrying some buckets of fresh, ice cold water in with her. The unicorns instantly got up and trotted or limped over and started eating the spoiled fruit. After, she ran over to the tiny white filly up on the highest bale of hay. Applebloom climbed up, tripped a few times then sat by her friend. She looked down at where Sweeties horn once was. She smiled a bit when she saw how peacefully she was sleeping and decided to lie down with her. She saw how Sweeties body would rise a bit when she'd breath. Applebloom's eyes got heavy and she felt herself starting to get sleepy. Nuzzling closer to her friend she let out a sigh and fell asleep.
"Now why do y'all need to see inside the barn so much?" Applejacks muffled voice woke Sweetie Belle up from her dreamless sleep. She looked around and saw all the unicorn hiding under hay or machines. Applebloom was up on the beams looking down at Sweetie and motioning her to come up. All across the beams Sweetie could see almost a rainbow of fillies. Somewhere a year old, some were only a week old and being held in the arms of the other fillies. With struggle and some help from Applebloom, Sweetie got up and looked towards the door. She then turned to Applebloom who had her hoof over her mouth as a sign to be quiet.
"We've heard you have been holding Unicorn refugees, you understand you could be arrested or put into a camp with the rest of them," a stallions voice was heard with Applejack. Sweetie Belle covered her mouth to avoid making any sounds at all. They heard Applejacks hoof stomp on the ground, "Now who in the hay told you that?", "Madam, we will be forced to go in if you don't let us. We are giving you until the count of ten," Sweeties eyes darted around as fast as possible, looking for a way out. She let out a tiny gasp when she saw the tiny window that chickens would enter and leave in. she nudged Applebloom and pointed her hoof at it. Sweetie Belle, getting the generosity from her sister, whispered to the other fillies, "The window!" soon all the fillies were slowly crawling towards it. The first jumped and had a safe landing on some hay and ran. A few others jumped and missed the hay, landing on the dirt and injuring themselves.
"Listen, why don't y'all, just take your weapons...and go home?" Applejacks voice sounded more delicate than ever. The gentle touch on her voice made Sweetie stop walking and turn to the door. Then she heard a yelp of pain from Applejack, a slam on the ground and the door being kicked open. All the unicorns stayed still as possible and the fillies on the beams continued to very slowly walk across them towards the window. Three earth pony stallions walked in, Sweetie Belle recognized two from when they took Rarity. She stopped moving, but Applebloom behind her nudged her plot a bit with her head to get her to go.
Despite the small amount of hiding spots, most unicorns were hidden rather well. Some were buried under hay, some hidden under machinery and others curled up in the shadows of the walls. Applebloom looked over at the door and saw Applejack on the ground getting up. She trotted in behind them, her hat was knocked off and her eye had a black ring around it, "Alright! Y'all ain't got no right hittin' me! First you threaten to invade my barn and then hit me?" she called as she went behind them. Ditzy was half out the window in front of Applebloom. They were almost all out.
Applejack continued to distract the stallions the best she could, "Y'all must think yer some tough, struttin' around in yer fancy garments and helmets like ya own the place," she walked up in front of them, "Well land ponies might own this here land now, but this here is my barn and y'all got no rights bein' in here without my permission," the tallest stallion stomped his hoof to look threatening, clearly it worked since Applejack stepped back a bit. He said in a rather deep voice, "Now listen here! If you got nothing to hide then you shouldn't be so protective about this barn! We hear you've been keeping unicorn refugees here and it is our duty to check," Applejack sighed and sat down, "well then I ain't got nothin' to hide, so look around then!"
Ditzy fell down and landed on hay. She turned and ran, now it was Sweetie Belles turn. She gently slid out and fell. She fell for a rather long time, and she felt the jolt feeling in her stomach as she fell. When she landed on the hay she let out a little "ooph" and got up and moved out of the way for Applebloom. She saw Appleblooms rear as she crawled out backwards and Sweetie couldn't help but giggle at how silly she looked climbing out. Applebloom fell and her arms flailed, she never screamed but her mouth was open in a panic. She barely missed the ground and landed on the soft hay.
The yellow earth pony stood up and rubbed the dirt off her hooves and looked up at the amazing distance of her fall. She looked around and saw a few young fillies on the ground with broken legs or broken anything's. She also saw a few babies who, thank heavens, were fine. Then Appleblooms heart skipped a beat when she heard a voice, it felt like when you're walking up stairs and you think there is an extra step, it felt like when you say I love you and the person doesn't say I love you too, it felt like when you're home alone and a poster falls in the middle of the night, it felt like when you run up stairs and it feels like something's chasing behind you
"We got some here!" a voice called as the smallest stallion came around the corner. Then, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom ran. Ran faster than they ever did in their whole lives, tears came from their eyes from the wind and felt strangely nice to Applebloom since she hasn't cried in so long. To be reasonable, they had no real reason to run, they were both Earth Ponies now and young fillies. But fear does many things to you, like when something breaks, you think the owner will literally shoot you, when your alone in the dark and you think of monsters who clearly aren't real are going to attack you.
They ran up the rickety ramp into the tree house and hid in a dark corner farthest from the door and huddled together. After a few moment of shivering and catching breath, they got up and looked to see if anypony was chasing them. With a sigh of relief, they saw nopony. Applebloom sat down on the floor with a thud, "well…ok heres the plan; we sleep here tonight, and go back tomorrow" Sweetie Belle jumped to her feet, "we're going back!?" she yelled with a squeak. "Well of course, we have no reason to be scared or nothin'… but them stallions sure are scary…so let's wait until tomorrow,"
Sweetie Belle lid down on a picnic blanket on the floor and Applebloom stayed by the window for a bit just in case. Sweetie had her eyes closed, and if she haven't of spoken up, Applebloom would of assumed she was asleep. Eyes still closed Sweetie asked, "Do you think Applejack will be okay?" Applebloom kept looking out the window, eyes fixed on where he moon would be, "…I don't know,"