"PONIES FOR CHEAP" Part 1 (Apple Bloom)

 

Is winning the lottery really all it’s cracked up to be?

 

(You) were recently fired from your job-- you think. Has to be the case, as you haven't shown up in weeks. Since the ticket you bought on a whim just before you stopped clocking in happened to be a big hitter, a job was the least of your worries. You were low maintenance enough for $200,000 to last you until you felt like working again, even if that wasn't for a while, right?

 

That much is true. The thing is though, being a NEET is some boring shit.

 

At least, when you're a boring person, it is. Your life wasn't ever all that exciting, but idle conversations at work and the fulfillment of actually doing something were nice enough, even if it was all just a means to the end of not starving and not being homeless. It was decidedly more entertaining than the routine of waking up and clicking around the internet until you felt tired. At least your perusal of the internet felt like a reward when it had to wait until you got home. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't like you had lascivious tastes, and winning the lottery wasn't something you'd ever daydreamt about, so the whole thing really caught you unawares.

 

Likewise for what broke the monotony of this lifestyle, about a month deep: an accidental click on an advertisement while you were looking at a forum thread outlining the steps to fix a very specific problem with your OS. What were you, a rookie? When was the last time you clicked on an ad? Your face was lit up by the blinding white of the pop-up, a steep contrast from the easier-on-the-eyes green on black theme of the forum page, and once it loaded, you actually hesitated before clicking the 'x' on the tab.

 

"PONIES FOR CHEAP" had successfully piqued your interest, the slogan assaulting your eyes even worse than the blank page had done. It was an ornate typographic art plastered across the top of your browser's display, reminiscent of an old-timey carnival sign with the flashing lights around the border flickering in tandem with each other. Just below, there was a giant graphic, a photograph of the most ridiculous looking horses, three of them stood next to each other.

 

The three horses stood shorter than a normal one, which made sense since the site called them ponies. Their eyes were also giant, glistening and totally unlike the beady black balls that sit in an actual horse’s head. Speaking of heads, the one in the middle even had a horn sprouting out of theirs. To its right, the second pony didn’t have a horn, but instead had a wing nestled on either side of it. The third didn't have either, but its colors were more than enough to set it apart from a normal horse, with its coat shining a disgustingly sweet bubblegum pink that complimented the deeper, hot pink of its enormous, poofy mane surprisingly well. The other two's colors were more- well, could you even call them more normal? The one with a horn (a unicorn, you suppose) was a minty green on her body, her sleek and spiky mane sporting a more pale green that alternated with white. The one with wings, to the right of the unicorn was a slate gray that contrasted with the yellow of her mane and tail, which were styled similarly to the green horse’s.

 

You didn't bother trying to decipher the meaning behind this impressive photoshop job. The horses, or, ponies as the site called them, really did look real, real enough for you to scroll down and see just where this supposed vendor would be "selling" them, or if there was a number to call, or what have you. As you scrolled down, the sides of the page were lined with smaller images of a wide variety of other technicolor horses, again some with wings or a horn. Who the hell would have taken the time to photoshop all of these? Each image was captioned with a ridiculous name befitting of such ridiculous animals, first and last, and a number that you gathered was a price tag, as well. Hefty price tags, at that. You didn't see one cheaper than $15,000, and even that was one of just three that were less than $20,000. And the site was called "Ponies for cheap". Who did these hacks think they were fleecing out of tens of thousands of dollars for such an obviously fake product? Your interest had been snuffed out by the audacity of the person who put this scam together, and you closed out of the tab before returning to trying to figure out your OS issue.

 

In the morning, you groggily arose and tossed aside your blanket, and for no reason other than the routine, you glanced at the alarm clock next to your bed. A bright and early 2:26 PM. For some reason, your mind flashed back to the ponies you’d looked at last night. You weren’t particularly interested, but the fact still stood that someone spent a ridiculous amount of time crafting the scheme, and for that reason you decided to look into it again.

 

google.com

“ponies for cheap”

 

It didn’t take long for you to find what you were looking for. It was the sponsored result at the top, as well as the first actual result. As you always did in such a case, you clicked on the one that wasn’t sponsored, and the browser instantly lit up with the now familiar carnival sign and three horses you briefly studied the night before. Seriously, whoever photoshopped these should put that effort into something else, something more profitable than the obviously fake endeavor of selling these ponies.

 

The site said to log in for more information, but didn’t give you the option to register, leaving you to assume accounts were created and distributed at the discretion of the vendor. That seemed like the sort of thing they’d do if the entire operation was actually legitimate, as opposed to letting anyone and everyone sign up for their scam, but come on. Despite how uninterested you wanted yourself to be, you found yourself fiddling with inspect element to try and see if there was anything poorly hidden enough for you to uncover. After a few minutes, to your surprise, you managed to find an address. A plethora of them, actually. The site was supposed to read the logged in user’s location, and give them the nearest address, but you went through the list manually, and found out that there was one just an hour away. Not a short drive, but there was nothing closer.

 

And so what? Just because they have places for someone to pick up their pony doesn’t mean they actually exist.. Right? What did it matter, anyways? You weren’t actually interested, this was just an ad you happened to click on.. Is what echoed through your head until you stood at the door, freshly showered and dressed for the first time in weeks. Nothing fancy, just somewhat presentable while still being comfortable. Stepping out, the sun made anything your monitor could muster up look like nothing in comparison, you physically recoiled and shielded yourself before you recovered, stepping out of your small home that’d been passed down to you in a will. Lucky break. After recovering from the sun’s attack, you made your way to the car backed into your driveway. Despite being a lottery winner, it was still the same cheap hatchback that drove you to and from work, and finally to that gas station the lottery ticket was bought from. You hadn't felt particularly inclined to replace it, what with your complete lack of interest in cars and all.

 

With your fingers brushing against the door’s handle, you chuckled. This was the first thing to get you out of the house since you won it big? An address listed on a scam site that you swore to yourself you had no interest in? Even as you laughed, you continued moving, and before you knew it, you were heading up the winding driveway out of your property at a brisk pace. As bumpy as it was, and always had been, you weren’t surprised at the ‘low tire pressure’ warning that appeared on your dash, but you decided to ignore it for now. It seemed the sensors for your tire pressure were sensitive as all get-out, since you’d driven much longer than two hours with that light on before filling them back up again.

 

Your phone’s robotic voice guided you this way and that way, and it didn’t take as long as you expected to get there. If memory served, you had left just fifty minutes ago, and now you were on the opposite side of the road to a nondescript, dusty looking warehouse that was enclosed by a tall, wire fence, sporting yellow signs with lightning symbols every twenty feet or so around its perimeter. Were you really going to go in there? There was an intercom at the gate, where they’d probably ask for your credentials, or worse yet, you may have had to make an appointment after logging into the site. But could it really just be a scheme, if the address that just so happened to be closest to you really looked like it could house all those horses? They had to have something in there, anyways.

 

These thoughts were all set overtop the idle humming of your car’s engine as you sat parked on the shoulder. Surprisingly wide, for how far out this road was.

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For some reason, your mind was replaying the moment that there was a giant, unwieldy camera shoved in your face a couple days after you had bought the winning ticket, since you regrettably said “yes” to an interview from the local news station. How unlike you. Regardless, you remembered what you had said down to the exact words, it had felt that embarrassing.

 

“I never play, no, I just had the thought in my mind for whatever reason- I mean, my mom always told me not to waste my money on things like that when I got older, but here I am- Sorry mom, if you’re watching this. She’s always got the TV going in her house, so she might actually be..”

 

“But no, I didn’t expect it, which makes me wonder why I even did it, you know?” you stammered out into the microphone that was held out to you before the reporter took it back to ask the obvious question.

 

“So do you have any idea what you’re going to do with the money? Two hundred thousand dollars is quite a lot, and I’m sure you’re ready to spend it, if you haven’t started already!”

 

“Uh, I..” you started. “To be honest, I haven’t spent anything of it yet.”

 

“Well, I bought gas this morning, and the balance is in my account, but that’s- you know, I already had that much money, and..” you trail off as the camera seems to get bigger and bigger in front of you. Why did you even say yes to this in the first place?

 

“You don’t have any idea of what you’re gonna do with it? I know I’d probably take a nice vacation if I got that lucky!” The reporter tried to help you out a little, but it was no use.

 

From there, you actually don’t remember exactly what you said, and you don’t feel much like trying to recall. It certainly wasn’t, though, a declaration of your desire to go try and buy a totally-not-fake pony from a warehouse that looks like it’s a set for drug busts in movies, that you learned about from an obviously fake advertisement the day before. You brought your hand to the gear shift and depressed the brake, bringing your car back into drive so that you could get yourself turned around somewhere and go home. This was stupid.

 

As you were checking your sideview mirror to see that you were safe to get back on the road, though, you saw a little mass of yellow and red lumbering across the street, as though it was unaware of the giant metal death machines that hurdle across the asphalt and regularly kill unsuspecting things like itself. Most animals that lived near roads learned that much, at some point. What animal was it, anyways? You slid the gearshift back up to the ‘P’ and squinted at your sideview mirror, trying to get a better look at it, but you honest to God couldn’t tell from this distance. Whatever it was, though, it would make you sad if it got run over, so you unbuckled your seatbelt and hopped out of the car, jogging down the shoulder to go scoop it up and deposit it on the other side of the road.

 

Luckily, you heard no cars coming in either direction as you approached the thing, probably because this really was an out of the way road. When you got close enough to make out what it was though, you froze, blinking and rubbing your eyes in response, much like a cartoon.

 

It was one of those ponies! Well, this was a lot smaller than any of the ones you saw on the website, but it certainly fit the bill otherwise. It was horse-adjacent, with colors you’d never see on a horse, or any animal for that matter. Its coat was yellow, contrasted by the bright red in its mane and tail, which were puffy and almost lumpy in the way the hairs formed together. The thing didn’t have wings, or a horn on its head, but it was sporting a pink bow clipped onto the back of its mane. It was walking with its head down, dejectedly and with its hooves almost dragging on the road below it. At its pace, it’d get across sooner or later, but you sprung back into action when you heard the familiar hiss of tires treading on the road, getting louder at a pace quicker than you’d like.

 

“Hey!” you yelled as you were now bounding towards the little pony, “Get out of the road!”

 

Why did you think it would be effective to yell at a horse in English? Heat of the moment. To your amazement, however, it seemed somewhat useful. The pony cocked its head towards you, its giant pupils catching a shine in the sun as you could just barely make out the deep, fiery orange of its iris. The sight of its eyes made you stop in your tracks, and when you made eye contact with it, you certainly didn’t feel like you were staring into an animal’s eyes. A short moment later, it opened its mouth and-

 

“Git out of the whut?”

 

You were floored. The thing just spoke. What’s more, it has an accent like it just moseyed in from three states south of here! Your shock subsided, or more accurately was replaced by terror as the sound of tires lapping on the road replaced every thought in your head.

 

“Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit” exited your mouth under your breath as you resumed hurdling towards this little thing, which resulted in it widening its eyes and turning in the opposite direction, scrambling into motion as it started galloping towards whatever vehicle was advancing your way, over the hill. Luckily, it wasn’t very fast, or maybe you were faster than usual due to the adrenaline. Whatever the case, you swung one arm under the pony’s yellow belly and scooped it up, backing into the shoulder as each of your ears was assaulted- your left with the screaming of the creature, and your right with the blaring of a horn.

 

It was a fucking semi truck speeding past you, the driver probably about to pull into the next rest stop to change his pants after that near miss. He didn’t lay off the horn until he was about a hundred feet down the road, and part of you worried that someone from the warehouse would come out and see what the commotion was about. What was more worrying, though, was the shrieking of the creature you held in one arm almost like a football, paired with the warm sensation you felt sinking into that side of your clothes. Did it..? Yep. It pissed all over you. ‘It’ also seemed to be a girl, upon closer inspection. You didn’t see its junk, but the face looked quite feminine, as far as weird colorful horses go.

 

You swung your arm out and held it at a distance as she dribbled a little still. Definitely a girl. Her neck was craned upwards while she wailed towards the sky like you’d just killed her family, and she was swinging all four of her legs in an effort to get you to drop her. This continued for a few more seconds, before her forelegs wrapped around your arms and she clamped down with her teeth, which hurt much less than you expected. It didn't seem like her heart was in it. You just watched as she gnawed at the flesh of your arm. It might leave a bruise, you thought, but it hurt less than when your cat would playfully do the same when you were younger.

 

After a little while of you maintaining your grip on her unflinchingly, she sniffled for the last time as her cries tapered off. She looked up at you with her teeth still clamped around your arm, almost in bewilderment as she seemed to be wondering why you hadn’t dropped her yet. If you did, she probably would run off and get hit by a car elsewhere, or get eaten by some bigger animal in the woods. Her survival instincts didn’t exactly seem sharp.

 

“Hello..?” you threw out, trying to see if she’d respond in her current state.

 

“Put me down! Ah don’t wanna go back in there!” exited her mouth as soon as she freed your arm from it, and her hind legs started wiggling again, pathetically kicking at the underside of your arm.

 

“So.. you came from that warehouse?” you nodded towards the depot with your head.

 

“No! Ah came from Ponyville! Yew went and put me in that there house with everypony else! Stupid hooman!”

 

“Ponyville..?” you inquired, almost wanting to laugh about how on the nose it was. That, and “everypony” really threw you for a loop, but it did make sense, you supposed.

 

“What’s your name?” you asked next, since just repeating “Ponyville” didn’t elicit a response.

 

For a while, this didn’t either. She looked around and seemed to be evaluating the scenery, her chest rising and falling as she regained her breath after exerting herself so. Following her eyes, you decided to, too. The area you were in was kind of drab, for autumn. The sun was shining bright, but it hardly felt like it because of the depressing grays and browns that met your eyes. All the leaves had long fallen off their trees and browned, and it wasn’t far from winter. Eventually you looked back at the pony in your grasp to see that she was already staring at you.

 

“Ah’m Apple Bloom,” she started, before continuing, to your surprise: “Mah sister is Applejack, mah brother is Big Macintosh, and mah grandma is Granny Smith. And ah have a cousin named Babs Seed.”

 

For a moment, you just stared, perplexed at why she decided to add all those other family members, as well as why she skipped her parents and went straight to her grandma. Kids, though, tended to do inexplicable things, so you didn’t question it.

 

“Okay, Apple Bloom, if I put you down, will you stay here and chat with me?” you asked, lightening your grip around her slim, yellow barrel.

 

“Ah..” she started as her head swung in the direction of the warehouse, then again in the opposite direction, into the expansive and drab nature off the side of the road.

 

“Do ah have to?” she asked in earnest.

 

Again, probably since she was just a kid, she seemed to place some semblance of authority on you, a stranger, due to your age, and maybe your species, which was kind of amusing given she had no obligation to listen to you.

 

“I’d like you to,” you started as you handed her to your other hand since your arm was getting tired. “It doesn’t seem like you want to go back to the warehouse, but it also doesn’t seem like you’ll make it far on your own.”

 

“Ah will too! Ah’ll make it so far yew won’t even be able to see me!” she retorted, clearly taking offense to what you said as she crossed her forelegs and looked away from you.

 

“If I hadn’t grabbed you, you’d have been run over by a semi truck.”

 

That seemed to defeat anything she could think of saying at the moment. Her body relaxed a little and you took that as a cue to put her down.

 

“So.. whut do yew want?” she asked as her hooves touched the ground. She wasn’t running for now, at least.

 

You looked around, specifically towards the warehouse, as you grew increasingly weary of someone coming out to see you talking to escaped merchandise, before looking back at Apple Bloom.

 

“If you don’t want to go back in there,” you started, shoving a thumb in the direction of the warehouse, “then why don’t we go somewhere else to talk? Someone from the warehouse might come out and see you.”

 

The gears in her head turned, weighing the risk of leaving with a strange hooman elsewhere, in comparison to staying so close to the place she just barely escaped. Apple Bloom didn’t respond, and it seemed like she was zoned out, staring ahead at nothing in particular.

 

“Go, git on through there! Yous can fit, Apple Bloom! Me and.. Me and Big Mac, we’ll find a way out soon, and we’ll be back with ya’ as soon as we can be!”

 

Apple Bloom even felt the phantom sense of the metal scraping her body as she recalled squeezing her way through a small hole in the wall of her room- really more of a cell. It had hurt, but didn’t break her skin. After making it through the hole, popping out onto the short, dry grass outside, she had pressed her eye back up to it to see her siblings.

 

“Whut now, Applejack?!” her voice squealed even in her hushed tone, careful not to alert anyone that she was there.

 

“Just, scram! Git! Far way from here!” her sister insisted until her head swung to the entrance of the cell, her attention being stolen by the jiggling of the doorknob.

 

Applejack’s hoof slammed against the hole, spooking her sister into falling back right on her haunches on the cold surface of the grass, and a low voice boomed, just barely out of range for Apple Bloom to make out all the words.

 

“These’re the work horses. Lookit the muscles on the red one, the stallion. He’ll do nicely, and the mare’ll, failing that, put out some good kids wittem’, too, if ‘ya need more. Since ‘yer a return customer, I’ll do thirty five for the two of ‘em. Give ‘ya a good deal, there.”

 

Apple Bloom’s heart was pounding, feeling as though it’d pop out of her chest. She didn’t dare move a muscle and end up making a sound. Not while there was a human right on the other side of the wall, saying something she couldn’t quite make out in that scary, gross voice. Through the hole, though, Apple Bloom’s wide eyes caught sight of Applejack’s orange coat moving past it, as well as her brother’s big, red body, and she heard the echo of a sound that’d been melted into her brain: chains clattering and clinking as a collar was slammed on either pony.

 

“Hello? You there, Apple Bloom?” you said after she had been staring ahead for a few seconds too many.

 

She blinked and looked up at you, her lower lip trembling as her eyes shone with a thick layer of tears, which quickly began running down her face, before her mouth barely opened for a whisper to come out:

 

“P-please- hic! Take me somewhere far from ‘ere..” was all she managed to get out before she started wailing again, which you responded to by scooping her up under her barrel again and carrying her, bringing your thumb back and forth to gently pet at her withers while you walked over to your car, a bit hurriedly. Best get out of here.

 

You left the car running, so you don’t need to start it. You just set Apple Bloom in the passenger seat and put it in drive, before pulling back into the road, looking for a place to turn around and go back in the direction of your house.

 

“Are you hungry?” you ask, setting a hand on her back as she weeps into her forelegs, curled up into a shrimp of a pony as her head bobs up and down with each sob, “When was the last time you ate?”

 

She doesn’t respond, but her body does. On cue, the cabin of the car is filled with the sound of her stomach gurgling, and that’s all you need to hear to know that it’s been too long. You continue petting her and a little while later, you figure what she might want to eat, although you’re not too familiar with pony diets, you take a guess.

 

“Would you like some apples?” you ask, glancing in her direction long enough to see her ear twitch before returning your attention to the road.

 

Her sobbing slows and she gives a feeble “Mhm” before she raises her head, wiping snot from her muzzle with one of her hooves as she looks up at you. “Do yew have some?” she asks, laboredly through her crying.

 

“Uh, no, I,” you start as you’re caught off guard with her sudden directness, and how the mention of apples seemed to have lifted her mood a bit. “I can stop at the store and get you some, though,” you finish.

 

She flops her head back into her forelegs, giving a resigned “Okay” before her tail flicks away from her, shortly returning back to her side.

 

The car ride is nearly silent for a while after that. Your hatchback’s never been too loud going down the road, even though it’s old and a bit junky. Well, on the inside at least. It’s probably making some ugly noises to anyone on the outside. You drive on, not needing the GPS since the route there was essentially a straight shot after leaving town from some obscure road. You remembered the way. After a while, you nearly forget that Apple Bloom was in the passenger seat, her crying having subsided, but she reminds you of her presence by piping up:

 

“Whut’s yer name?” she asks, wiping her eyes and standing up on all fours so she can get a look out her window.

 

“Oh, my name? Sorry I never introduced myself," you say, it having slipped your mind to give your name after she gave hers earlier. "I’m Anonymous, but you can just call me ‘Anon’ if that’s too much trouble.”

 

“Anon, ah needa go ‘ta the bathroom.”

 

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It’s a cold, dry, and bumpy ride for the two ponies that were just bought to work on a farm. The floor of the metal carriage they’re in is lined with dry hay that digs into their sides no matter how they decide to sit, but the meager warmth provided by the hay beats out sweeping it away to lie on the much colder floor. The prattling of various loose parts of the trailer had all but melted into the background before a hitch in the road jolted both ponies to attention.

 

Other than a sound of surprise, neither Applejack nor Big Mac seemed to have any words. What was there to say? The two of them had just been separated from their little sister, and were now being taken to a farm to do whatever the owner wanted, which, recalling his conversation with the person he bought them from, didn’t stop at just manual labor. Neither pony had ever felt despair as great as what they were experiencing now. One of Big Mac’s forehooves rubbed at his neck, feeling the weightlessness of not wearing his wooden yoke, while Applejack’s head was similarly empty, lacking her stetson.

 

“Apple Bloom…” whispered Applejack, recalling the moment of her escape vividly.

 

Big Mac’s ear flicked in response, although Applejack wasn’t aware that he could hear her.

“Wherever we’re goin’,” he started as his forehoof slipped off his neck, his voice lacking its usual bravado, “It’ll be less secure’n the old place, won’t it?”

 

Applejack turned to him and flashed a smile, but her mind wasn’t readily accepting of his optimism.

 

“Ah hope so,” she said as her eyes closed, not much of a difference from the darkness of the carriage, “We git outta there, we’ll find Apple Bloom in no time at all.”

 

Silence after that, aside from the rattling of the carriage as the truck sped down the road. After a while, it slowed to a halt on squeaky breaks. Big Mac had fallen asleep, and Applejack was quite close to doing the same. That was until the back of the carriage swung open and the sunlight hit both ponies, whose forelegs covered their eyes.

 

“Red one’s biggern’ the one we already got, ain’t it?”

 

“Yup, real beaut’, that stallion. He’ll be good ‘fer anything I put him through, ‘fer sure.”

 

Both ponies felt scrutinized under the gazes of the handful of humans crowded around the back of the carriage, which even included a couple of little ones.

 

“Can I pet it, paw? Looks real soft, that orange one.”

 

“You don’t wanna, son, we ain’t trained ‘em yet like the other one we got. Might nip at ‘ya or kick ‘ya real good.”

 

Applejack’s stomach sank at the mention of “training.” She had seen what was done to some of the other ponies in the facility she was in. They were left glassy-eyed, obedient, and unresponsive to anything other than commands from humans, and God only knows how the humans managed to get them to that state. Similar panic filled Big Mac, too, and the two of them were huddled in the back of the carriage in seconds, not wanting to get out.

 

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You put your seatbelt back on after placing Apple Bloom in the passenger seat again. Judging by how coy she was about taking care of business around you, she doesn’t seem to realize that she peed all over your left side earlier on. You put the car in drive and pull back into the road, getting closer and closer to the nearest grocery store, before Apple Bloom speaks up again.

 

“Do yew know any farms around here?” she asks, sounding hopeful.

 

“Uh, no, but I could find out if there are any nearby, why?”

 

“Can yew look?” she responds without answering your question.

 

“Not while I’m driving..” you start, your fingers rapping against the steering wheel, “but when we get home, I can see what’s around.”

 

She doesn’t respond, and just curls up the same way she was earlier, although not crying this time. A few minutes later, you pull into the parking lot of Walmart, and stop the car, prompting Apple Bloom to lift her head up and look at you, then out the window.

 

“I’m just gonna run in there and buy some apples. Can you wait here until I get back?”

 

Apple Bloom doesn’t respond, but looks nervous about being alone in the car, her hoof pawing at the leather of the car seat as her head swivels around, checking out her surroundings.

 

“No?” you ask, trying to be charitable. “I just.. Don’t want anyone to see you, is all. What’ll they think if they see something like you walking around? No offense..”

 

She’s silent for a few seconds, before replying: “Nopony’ll think twice about seein’ a pony with a hooman.. Y’all go everywhere with ‘em to do stuff for ‘ya,” she says without making eye contact, her hoof still pawing at the seat.

 

Your head is cocked to the side in confusion after hearing this.

 

“Wait, just how.. Well known are you ponies? You’re telling me it’s normal to see one of you walking around?”

 

“Yew haven’t seen any? Ah swear, if yew go in that store, yer’ gonna see some ponies!” she says, getting a bit worked up, likely recalling unpleasant memories.

 

Surely not, right? It then clicked in your mind that she could be telling the truth, if just one detail lined up properly.

 

“Apple Bloom.. How long ago were you ponies brought here?”

 

This again seems to trigger her, even worse than your last question, as she starts shivering and her legs almost give out from below her. It takes a long time for her to answer, with a shaky voice.

 

“It.. it was.. ‘bout a moon ago..”

 

It then clicks for you. This must have happened, these ponies must have been discovered, while you were busy sitting around your house doing nothing, entirely disconnected from the outside world. Talk about timing. You didn’t have a TV or a cable subscription, so you never watched the news. Before you quit your job, you’d usually be a little bit in the know from hearing things around the workplace. Now, though.. Humanity had discovered and enslaved cartoonishly colored talking ponies for the past month and you were none the wiser until yesterday. You recalled that she said she came from “Ponyville,” but you had never heard of the place.

 

“And you were brought here from.. Ponyville?”

 

Apple Bloom sniffled and her tail swished to her side before she gave a halfhearted “Mhm”.

 

Would it really be fine for her to be seen? You hadn’t seen any ponies yourself, but if what she said was true, then it wouldn’t be a problem. You decided to err on the side of caution.

 

“Tell you what,” you started, capturing Apple Bloom’s attention while you unzipped your jacket, “You can hitch a ride in my jacket, and if I see a bunch of ponies walking around, then you can walk with me.”

 

Apple Bloom looked at your chest where the zipper split apart, then at your face with a blank expression. Her muzzle scrunched up before she spoke.

 

“But yew stink like pee! Ah don’t wanna stink like pee too..”

 

For a moment you just looked at her with a similarly blank expression, your suspicions confirmed that she indeed didn’t realize who had caused that smell. You opted to try and save her the embarrassment.

 

“So you’d rather stay in the car while I go in there?”

 

“Just let me walk mah self! Ah ain’t gonna look out of place to nopony!” she adamantly squeaked.

 

For a moment, you consider this, before your glance in the direction of the store all but confirms what Apple Bloom had been saying. There was a pony right there! It was one of the ones with wings, with its stony gray muzzle smushed against the automatic glass door from the inside, trying to leave through the entrance. Must not be a smart one, you thought to yourself as its owner grabbed it by the neck and brought it to the exit.

 

“Okay, then, but stay close to me. If you run away, you’re more likely to get hit by a car out here than back where I found you,” you sternly explained to her as you took off your seatbelt and opened your door, extending a hand to let Apple Bloom walk into your grasp. She did so and you scoop her up before stepping out, opting to leave your piss-stained jacket in the backseat. Not much you can do about the pants but you’d just be in and out of the store anyways.

 

Setting Apple Bloom down on the asphalt, you watch her stamp her forehooves in place for a moment before she does the same with her hind legs. She looks at you expectantly and you look back, waiting for her to start walking. When you flick your eyes in the direction of the store, trying to signal this to her, she doesn’t move.

 

“Yew walk in frunt!” she squeaks after a few moments.

 

“But I want to be able to see you.”

 

Apple Bloom stammers a bit and trots over to you, bumping the side of her barrel against your leg.

 

“Ah’ll just walk like this! So yew’ll know Ah’m right here,” she says in a determined voice.

 

Although it was a bit of an awkward arrangement, it did let you know where she was, and it got her to move, so you went with it, making your way to the store as she bumped into you every couple of steps. Her little hooves moved much quicker than your legs, just to cover a fraction of the distance, so you had to be mindful not to walk too fast for her. Reaching the entrance of the store, the automatic door slid open. The sudden movement caused Apple Bloom to jump back, landing right on her haunches on the asphalt with an “oof!” and a thud.

 

You turn around to see her scrambling to get up and back at your side, her saucepan eyes glued to the automatic door, which was currently open as it waited for you to walk in. Without a word, you keep moving forward, not wanting to embarrass her by saying anything. The store’s air conditioning blasts you, but misses Apple Bloom all the way on the floor. It’s a punch of warm, stuffy air that’s wildly different from the dry, autumn air outside. Inside the store, you can see a couple ponies already. One pushes the cart with their forehooves as their human walks in front, and another has the handlebar in its mouth. Apple Bloom looks up at you and practically yells:

 

“Ah told yew! Ponies’re every which way! Ah don’t stand out at all!” echoes through the entrance, and thankfully there isn’t anyone to hear her tirade.

 

“None of them are as small as you, though,” you say to her, continuing to walk as she falls into step with you.

 

“Well, that’s cuz Ah’m only a filly! But Ah’ll get that big someday!” her voice sounds a bit sterner after being called small.

 

“Alright, let’s just get some apples and get out of here, okay?” you say, walking over to the produce section that’s conveniently placed right next to the entrance. Unlike the entrance of the store, it’s chilly, and the smell of all the vegetables is nostalgic, reminding you of many of your mother’s shopping trips in the past. You never came here much after you started doing your own shopping.

 

Apple Bloom sticks close to you, rubbing against your leg and bumping into you every few steps, tripping over your foot occasionally, too. She stays silent though, knowing that this style of walking was her idea and she can’t very well complain about it.

 

“Do you like Honeycrisps?” you ask as you pick up a sizeable one, spinning it around to check for blemishes.

 

“Ah never had one before.. Whut’s it taste like?” she asks, looking up at the apple in your hand.

 

“Like honey. They’re good,” you say as you grab a plastic bag and drop a few apples in.

 

She nods and looks around the store, her eyes studying each pony that she sees. They all seem very spacy, not present, and subservient to the human they’re accompanying, much to Apple Bloom’s discomfort.

 

“Do you see someone you recognize?” you ask, noticing her eyes darting around the store.

 

“No. Nopony Ah know. It’s just.. Everypony seems so out of it! Ah don’t know what yew hoomans did to ‘em, but they’re so.. They’re so gone.” Apple Bloom begins to edge closer and closer to bursting into tears, in response to which you scoop her up and start walking towards the checkout stand. She lets out an awkward sound and wiggles a bit to get comfortable.

 

“Let’s just get out of here before you get too worked up,” you say to her, her body slowly relaxing.

 

You head to the self checkout and punch in the number for Honeycrisp apples, and input the weight that the scale told you earlier. You quickly pay and get out, shoving the receipt into the pocket of your pants. It had occurred to you that it may be a little awkward if someone you knew saw you walking around town with a little filly, so you kept a brisk pace as you walked to the car.

 

“Slow down! Ah’m getting dizzy..” Apple Bloom squealed as her forehooves bopped at the arm you held her in. Maybe you were going a little too fast.

 

You make it to the car and are hit with the smell of your jacket upon opening the door. The windows will be down for the ride home. Apple Bloom settles into the seat after you set her down and you soon follow, sitting in the driver seat and turning the key in the ignition. You decide to ignore the low tire pressure light again. After the car’s started, you dig into the bag and hand an apple to Apple Bloom. You had only picked really big ones to buy, without realizing that, if it’s large by a human’s standards, it’ll be colossal for the little pony you bought it for. Apple Bloom’s eyes widened at the apple in front of her and she looked back at you.

 

“Where’d they find an apple this darn big? Ah bet it cost ten bits for one of ‘em!”

 

You don’t question what a “bit” is, but you smile and pull the car into drive before pulling out of your parking space.

 

“Sorry, I had picked the biggest ones without considering who’d be eating them,” you apologize as you begin leaving the parking lot, the sun starting to lower in the sky.

 

“It’s alright! Ah’m real hungry anyways!” Apple Bloom exclaims before you hear a loud and wet crunch. Along with her chewing you can also hear the juices from the apple dribbling all over the leather seat cover.

 

“Careful with those juices, kid,” you warn, knowing it’s already too late. With a gasp, though, Apple Bloom looks up at you, and she then lowers her head onto the seat and begins lapping up what fell, which grabs your attention from the road.

 

“What are you-” you start as you see her frantically licking at the seat, trying to get all of the juices as more drip down from the apple she’s holding above her head. Her head darts this way and that way, before her apple starts to dribble onto her head, prompting her to look up and then over at you. Her delirious face is splattered in the clear liquid, and she looks like she’s about to burst into a wail.

 

“P-p please don’t hit me..” she whispers as tears begin to fall down her face, dripping onto the leather seat cover.

 

The noise of the tears hitting the seat grabs her attention and she darts her head down, presumably to try and clean that up too, as her apple hits the floor of the car. Luckily you’re stopped at a red light and can spare the attention to slide a hand under her forehead and lift her face up to look at you, her face petrified as she stares. You didn’t know what to say, so you just ran your hand down her mane, turning back to the road as the light turned green. As you started to accelerate, you spoke.

 

“I’m not gonna hit you.. Especially not for something as silly as some juice spilling,” you begin, watching her ease up a little bit as she wipes her eyes with a foreleg.

 

“I mean, try and be mindful of the juices, but please don’t do something ridiculous like trying to lick up a mess that you made. I’ll clean it up when we get to my house.”

 

Apple Bloom’s breathing steadied, but she didn’t say anything as she sat there on the wet seat, her mane frizzled and messy with the apple’s juice.

 

“Do you want another apple?” you ask, as you put your hand out in front of her, keeping your eyes on the road. “Give me the one that fell on the floor.”

 

Apple Bloom looks at your hand before turning to see the apple in front of her seat, covered in dust and dirt from your floor mat. She steps down there and grabs the apple then sets it on the seat. She climbs back up and grabs the apple, before placing it in your hand. Stuff’s tedious for creatures without hands. The windows are already down, so you just toss it out to the side of the road and grab another Honeycrisp, holding it out for her to grab. Apple Bloom takes it and settles back into her seat, looking at it and then you as you keep your eyes on the road. She takes a little nibble and chews it for a long time before she swallows and speaks.

 

“Thank yew.. It sure does taste like honey, just like yew said..” her voice meager and nervous.

 

“Doesn’t it? I’m not very knowledgeable on apples, but Honeycrisps are my favorite. Sorry they’re so big, I know it’s a bit hard for you to manage.”

 

“‘Sokay,” she squeaks out after swallowing another little nibble.

 

Apple Bloom continues eating her Honeycrisp as you continue driving home. The sun was gone by now, and you waited in the right lane for cars to drive by before you could make the left into your driveway. Even though you were quite out of the way, there always seemed to be people coming when you wanted to pull in. Soon enough, you were on the gravel driveway, the bumpy ride familiar to you, but apparently not to Apple Bloom.

 

“Ouch! Ah bit mah thongue..” she blurts out as she drops her apple on the seat, her forehooves raised to her mouth.

 

“Are you bleeding?” you ask, turning to her as you slow the car down.

 

She’s silent for a moment before her response, “Ah cain’t tell..”

 

“Let me see.”

 

Apple Bloom’s silent again, hesitant and clearly embarrassed, with her red face quite apparent after you turn on the light in the cabin. Her head hangs a little before her jaw drops and she flops her tongue forward for you to see.

 

“Nope, you’re fine, just quit eating until the ride’s done.”

 

Apple Bloom doesn’t say anything, sitting with her apple as the bumpy ride jostles her around until you come to a stop in front of your little home. You turn the car off and shove your keys in your pocket, turning back at an awkward angle to grab the soiled jacket from the backseat before also taking the bag of apples in the same hand. As you turn to Apple Bloom to grab her, your eyes are met with a sleeping filly. Her muzzle is scrunched and her tongue is shoved against the exposed portion of the insides of the apple that her forehooves are clenched around. Opting to let her rest a little more, you get out of the car and head inside, putting the apples in the fridge, and the jacket in the laundry. She’s still sleeping in the passenger seat when you get back, and with all the care you can muster, you gently slide your hands under her flank and her shoulder to scoop her into your arms like a baby, apple and all. Surprisingly, she doesn’t stir and you nudge the car door closed with your shoulder before heading inside.

 

Since she’s asleep, you don’t turn the lights on in the living room, instead opting to set her on the reclining sofa that you never sit on before you walk out and into the hallway. Entering your room, you grab another change of clothes and head into the bathroom, running the water so you can take a shower. Stepping in, it’s your second shower of the day. And your second shower of the month. You’re shortly stepping out, having dried yourself off. After getting dressed, you open the bathroom door and hear a suckling noise from the living room. Upon entering, you see Apple Bloom going at her Honeycrisp in her sleep, her teeth are sunken into it while her tongue laps at the fruit, her hind legs occasionally giving a twitch. Some dream that must be. You head back to your room and grab an extra throw blanket off of your bed, before returning to the living room and draping it over Apple Bloom, careful not to wake her up.

 

Returning to your room, you sit at your desk, swiping your mouse left and right to wake up the monitor. You’re met with the bright display of PONIES FOR CHEAP, and after closing out you recall Apple Bloom’s request to see if there were any farms in the area.

 

google.com

“farms near me”

 

With some clicking around on Google Maps, you see one that’s nearest to you, and is halfway between you and the warehouse that you found Apple Bloom at. They don’t have a website, but from the photos on Maps, it doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary, save for the abnormally tall metal fence that surrounded the entire property. Shrugging, you look up and save the address on your phone and continue clicking around on your computer, getting drawn into the same lethargic cycle that consumed the past month for a few hours as you slowly forget the outside world for a bit.

 

You’re pulled out of this stupor by a loud crash down the hall, around the living room. For a moment, you’d forgotten Apple Bloom was even here, and you thought you were being robbed. A few seconds later, after your heart rate returns to resting, you open the door and walk down the hall, looking around. It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the dark, but after a moment you finally see Apple Bloom cowered in a corner of your kitchen, her head down and her body trembling. In front of her is a shattered glass cup, as well as a small trail of blood between the glass and Apple Bloom. She hadn’t even noticed you enter the kitchen, and was none the wiser as you crept closer to her with concern undoubtedly all over your face. It wasn’t exactly safe for you to walk across the room, given the glass spread across the floor, but you opted to try and comfort Apple Bloom, especially considering that she was bleeding.

 

“Apple Bloom..” you said, almost a whisper as you tried to keep your tone as light as possible.

 

She flinched as soon as you started to speak, quickly shuffling behind the trash can next to her as the kitchen was filled with her desperate squeaks and heavy breathing. You could hear her beginning to sob.

 

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise,” you started, trying to get a little closer, “If you keep moving around, you could step in the glass and hurt yourself even more.”

 

Apple Bloom’s breathing began to slow and you saw her body stop trembling, although her extremities did not.

 

“You.. You need a band-aid, don’t you? Let me take you back to the living room and then I can get you one..”

 

With this type of talk not really being your forte, you tried to calm her down. This wasn’t really something you did much, dealing with kids, let alone ones of another species. Apple Bloom was silent for a while, before you watched the trash can get bumped forward. She raised her head while still looking down at the floor, with her ears still pinned back.

 

“‘Yer… ‘Yer not gonna hit me, Anon..?” she squeaked, through hics and sniffles.

 

“Of course not..”

 

“I.. don’t know what you went through at the place that I found you at..” you started, trying not to set her off with any bad memories, “But I’m not like those humans, okay? I don’t want to hurt you.”

 

This seemed to work, causing her to poke out a bit more from behind the trash can and speak.

 

“Ah’m s- Ah’m so sorry… Somethin’ in the kitchen..” she started, before trailing off and lowering her head again.

 

“Yes? Something in the kitchen?”

 

No response.

 

“I’m not gonna be mad, Apple Bloom, can you just tell me? I really want to get a look at that cut of yours sooner rather than later.”

 

She lifted her head again, this time looking at you when she did, taking a deep and shuddering breath before belting out, “Somethin’ was makin’ a noise, so Ah wanted to get a better look at it, but Ah knocked over the cup when Ah hopped on the counter!”

 

Apple Bloom then pushed her head back down and under her forelegs, covering herself from above. Now you could see the small cut on her left hoof, just below the fetlock, where blood was dripping down. At this angle, the blood started making its way up her leg and even dripping on her face.

 

“D-don’t be mad..” she said with her muzzle practically kissing the floor, her words barely audible.

 

In response to seeing her wound, you immediately bent down and scooped her up, holding the injured hoof in one hand.

 

“I’m a little mad that you want to just let this be, Apple Bloom,” she gasped as she felt your hands slide around her, and subsequently grab her foreleg.

 

“Let’s wash this and get a band-aid on it, okay? Then I’ll clean up the glass,” you said to the top of her head, seeing as she had her muzzle pointed as far down as she could get it. You thought to yourself that you might not be as bad at this as you thought.

 

She didn’t say anything, but her trembling and crying had subsided, so you carefully crept out of the kitchen, avoiding the shards of glass. In the bathroom you had some bandaids in the medicine cabinet. Before opening it, though, you lowered Apple Bloom to the sink and held her in one hand, turning the faucet with the other before using it to grab her hoof and place it under the cool stream coming out of the tap. Apple Bloom exhaled a hiss in response once the water hit her cut, but she quickly felt soothed by it, her body relaxing in your grip. You let it run like that for a minute or so before dabbing it dry with the hand towel, and you swear you could feel her stifle a giggle at the sensation of the towel around her hoof. Apple Bloom steadies herself once you set her on the rim of the sink and she looks at you. The fear seems pretty much gone from her face now.

 

“Can you hold your hoof out for me?” you ask, holding up the band-aid.

 

She obliged and you applied it to the cut, before raising your hand to place it on her head, which caused Apple Bloom to flinch and slip into the sink, the faucet just a hair’s breadth away from striking her back.

 

“A-are you okay, Apple Bloom?”

 

She looks up at you, embarrassed, and slowly nods, “Ah just.. Ah’m just so used to.. Ah’m sorry..” she said as she averted her gaze.

 

You slowly lower a hand onto her barrel, this time with no negative reaction, and gently pet her, “No, I’m sorry. It was humans, right? You shouldn’t apologize, really..”

 

As you lift your hand from her body, you notice that it’s sticky with apple juice, and that her body and face still had some blood droplets scattered across them. What’s more, her mane was a bit mangy and unkempt, which was easier to see in the light of the bathroom.

 

“You really need a bath, Apple Bloom,” you said, prompting her to stiffen up and try and block her face with her forelegs.

 

“Ah’ll be fine.. Ah’m fine..”

 

“You weren’t even fine before you got all bloody, Apple Bloom. When was the last time your mane was brushed? Or your coat was washed?”

 

She didn’t respond, and it seemed you had her beat.

 

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Applejack and Big Mac were fitted with halters and led across the property of their new owner by rope. The farm was expansive, yet had an oppressive air about it. A cold, dry feeling emanated from the tall, metal fencing surrounding the property, especially with the spiked tops of each post. They even seemed to curve inward at the top a little, making the entire area feel enclosed and much smaller.

 

“The stallion, we'll prolly get ‘em started with some simple stuff. I mean, that first horse was a success, I tell you. He trained quick, and now the damn critter can do anything I say! Ain’t no normal horse that’s so good ‘wit their mouth or their hooves.. And this one, at his size, phew!”

 

“Pa, when can I pet ‘em?”

 

“I told you, not until after they’re all trained good. You remember what the other one did to me when I first brought him ‘ere? I don’t want these new ones causin’ any trouble like that. I lose my temper, go a bit too far.. Now I got a horse with half a mind. Now go on to bed now, boy, we got some work in the morning.”

 

The kid jogged off to the sprawling house in the middle of the property, meanwhile Applejack and Big Mac looked at each other with faces painted in terror at the man’s words. If this “training” didn’t start until tomorrow, then they could try and escape as soon as tonight, but after hearing what he said, the thought of risking his ire made their blood run cold.

 

“Okay now, horsies, y’all are gonna sleep in that barn right down there, where we’re goin’ right now,” the farmer's calloused index finger jutted out in the direction of a washed out barn that looked tiny wedged between two bigger buildings.

 

Neither pony said anything. They hardly acknowledged the man’s existence as the three of them all stood there in silence. A few seconds later though, their muzzles were yanked to the right as the farmer gave a strong tug at the reins, pulling his arm high over his head. Applejack let out a wince.

 

“What, cat got ‘yer tongues? I wanna hear a ‘yes, sir’ or a ‘yes, master!’” he belted out in the direction of the two, his hot and sticky breath filling the cool autumn air as he spoke.

 

They stayed silent for a couple seconds more, unwilling to let go of their dignity so readily, but Big Mac soon broke the silence.

 

“Y-yes, sir..” he said, causing Applejack to stare at him, eyes wide. She could hardly believe that her brother, Big Mac, would give in so easily, especially after all they had endured at the warehouse facility without breaking.

 

“And you, missy?”

 

Applejack avoided his eyes, knowing she had no choice. That knowledge didn’t make it any easier, though. For such a proud pony, having to be reduced to livestock was bordering on too much for her. Just as it felt the man was about to strike her, she spoke to the grass, her body slumping as she felt she was losing a part of herself by obliging him.

 

“Yes, sir..”

 

Her mind clouded over as soon as she said it, and she didn’t hear a word of the next thing he said, while Big Mac’s face stiffened in terror of the man’s words. The three of them made it to the small barn after another minute or so of walking.

 

“Here’s the digs, horses,” the farmer said, causing Applejack to flinch to attention. He started sliding open the barn door, as it squeaked on its hinges and gave quite a lot of resistance as it went, bumping and hitching down the line. It was clearly old and hadn’t gotten any maintenance over the years.

 

Neither Applejack nor Big Mac wanted to believe what they saw when their eyes lifted from the ground to the inside of the barn: An orange stallion pony sitting curled up in the corner, next to a bowl of feed and a trough of water, with its muzzle tied to a post. Somehow, he hadn’t flinched at the sounds the door made. His mane and tail were disheveled, clumped with mud and undoubtedly more than that, judging by the smell. The farmer stepped aside to stop blocking the light, causing the stallion to slowly raise his body to attention once the moonlight woke him up. His eyes were glossy and vacant even when he opened them as wide as he could.

 

“M-Master, I’m not sleepin’ in, Ah swear it..” said the stallion in a sleepy, slurred voice that hardly reached across the barn. He didn’t give a blink but his legs wobbled and he lowered his head, revealing a bald patch in his mane as the orange tufts fell forward, eliciting a hushed gasp from Applejack.

 

They could no longer see it from this angle, but both of them had already witnessed it when he was curled up on the floor. On either one of the stallion’s flanks was a single, red apple, letting Applejack and Big Mac know that they were looking at the broken shell of their cousin Braeburn. Big Mac thought back to what the man had just said a few moments ago:

 

“Curious, that. You two horses got apples on ‘yer flanks just like the other one I got!”

 

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Apple Bloom, even in her logical defeat, still protested Anon’s presence for her bath.

 

“Ah can wash mahself just fine, awright? Yew don’t gotta do anything!” she yelped, curling her body up in the sink as she closed her eyes and crossed her forelegs.

 

“Really? You’re going to get all the kinks out of your mane, and scrub the juice and blood out of your coat? I have a hard time believing that.”

 

Apple Bloom seemed not to be a great liar. She unfolded her body to speak to you, and wanted to say that she took baths alone all the time, but her stuttering and inability to formulate the sentence gave her away, and she soon gave up.

 

“F-fine.. But.. Ah gotta..” she started, before curling up again, a blush deepening the tone of her face.

 

You got a good idea of what she wanted to say, so you just picked her up.

 

“Yeah, I get it, that’s fine. I’ll just do the easy parts,” you said, hoping that was good enough for her.

 

You carried Apple Bloom to the tub, and she seemed to be satisfied with what you said.

 

“Do you want the bath warm or cool?” you asked, setting her down in the middle of it. She looked even tinier stood in the human-sized bathtub, which was pretty large even in those terms.

 

“C-cool..” she said, backing up and sitting on her haunches faced towards you.

 

You turn the faucet. With your familiarity with this tub, you got the temperature nice and cool without letting it be too cold. Apple Bloom let out a yelp as the water pooled around her flanks, so she stood and let it rise around her hooves as she adjusted to the temperature. The water continued to rise, and she sat down after a bit, swishing her tail from side to side as she started to get more content with things.

 

“I’ll let you alone for a little while, so clean up what you want to clean up, okay?” you said, trying to afford her enough privacy.

 

Apple Bloom seemed to have been zoned out, and flinched back to attention when you spoke, “Huh? Yea, okay, right..” she said, looking around the bathroom.

 

You grabbed a new bar of soap from under the sink and placed it on the rim of the tub, before turning the faucet closed. You gave Apple Bloom a smile and left, leaving the door cracked.

 

Apple Bloom, after watching you leave, took the soap and held it in her hooves. As stubborn as she was about needing help, it really was hard to use something as slippery as soap with limbs as ungraceful as hooves, not to mention that she usually had help from her sister when she was bathing. She tried her best though, lathering up and going over her bits carefully as she splished and splashed with her tail. She’d never been in such a big tub, and felt the urge to swim around a bit. Her fear of making you mad by getting water everywhere, though, stopped her.

 

After some painstaking effort, she finished cleaning up around her teats and everything else. The soap repeatedly slipped out of her grasp, splashing Apple Bloom’s face with the cold water every time. She had to curl around at odd angles to get everywhere she wanted to clean, but she managed. With some time to herself, she laid back and let herself float in the tub. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular, but the lights overhead made her shut her eyes, which ended up helping her relax.

 

A couple minutes go by, and you push the door open, without Apple Bloom noticing. Sure enough, she’s done with what she wanted to clean, and she’s floating in the tub with her eyes closed and her forelegs out on either side of her, with the surface of the water only broken by the top half of her body as she breathes calmly. The thin layer of water on her body catches the light in a bright glistening sheen, especially drawing your eyes to the puff of her small teats just below her belly, before you back out of the bathroom with a held breath.

 

You’re in your head after that. Why had your eyes been drawn so quickly? And why did you feel so flustered after staring? I mean, this was a horse, and a young filly at that. So you just shook your head and tried to clear the memory out of your head.

 

After a moment to collect yourself, you knock at the door to let Apple Bloom know you’re there. You hear her splash around a little before she responds.

 

“Whut? Y-Yew can come in!”

 

You enter inconspicuously, and she doesn’t realize that you’d already seen her.

 

“So, you all ready?” you ask, brandishing a brush you still have from when your hair was considerably longer than the short cut you keep now.

 

“Y-yea..” she says, still looking a bit nervous.

 

“Well, do you want me to brush your mane and tail first?”

 

She doesn’t seem to have much of a preference and just nods. You put a towel on the floor and kneel on it in front of the tub and she scoots closer to the edge, her forelegs hooking over the rim of the tub as she looks up at you with nervously expectant eyes. She doesn’t notice her hooves dripping down the side of the tub, but all the water lands on the towel. You take her mane in one hand and scoop some water over it with your other hand, some parts of it still being dry, before working through it with your hands, trying to get out the clumps of dirt and the curls and kinks. Apple Bloom stiffens up a little bit once you start.

 

“Y-yew aren’t gonna use the brush..?” she asks, her head hesitantly tilting every which way as your hands move about her mane.

 

“Not yet, I want to get the big stuff taken care of before that. If I run the brush through your mane now, it’ll just get caught on everything in there. It’s pretty messy, you know.”

 

“S-sorry..” Apple Bloom says, her tone dropping a little.

 

“N-no, I didn’t mean it like that..” you start, realizing that you’d chosen your words poorly, “it’s not your fault, anyways, so don’t apologize.”

 

This seems to cheer her up, and you continue working at her mane, scooping water over her as your fingers work out the curls and bunches of hair after getting all the dirt cleaned out. Apple Bloom doesn’t react much after her initial jitters, and soon you grab the brush and begin going through her mane carefully, starting at the bottom and working your way backwards to make sure you don’t get caught on anything. After a while of silence, Apple Bloom speaks up.

 

“Th-thank you.. Anon.” she says, one of her forelegs rapping at the edge of the tub a little.

 

“Don’t mention it, really. I’m just.. It’s not a big deal,” you say, unsure how exactly to make her understand that you’re not doing this for gratitude.

 

From there you work in silence. Eventually you finish her mane, and opt to wash her coat before finishing with her tail.

 

You lather your hands with the bar of soap and begin working it into her coat, choosing her neck as the starting point since it leads pretty well to the rest of her. Apple Bloom's stiff at first, but once your fingers start rubbing the soap into her coat, her body relaxes a surprising amount. It’s like she’s melting into your hands, and her eyes are a bit spacy by the time you’re nearly done. Once you finish rinsing her off, and lift your hands off her, she snaps back to reality and looks up at you with an almost imperceptible twinge of disappointment in her blank stare, like she wanted you to keep going. You weren’t surprised. If she was living in “Ponyville” with nobody but ponies, that means there was nobody capable of petting her, let alone giving her coat a deep wash. And since she’s an animal, she’d likely have a positive reaction to this sort of thing instinctually. After a moment of her looking at you, you break the silence.

 

“Okay, now we can finish with your tail.”

 

For this, she stands in the tub facing the back, and you pull her tail around towards you, in order for her to be more comfortable than if she were facing away from you. It’s not as bad as her mane was, surprisingly, and you’re almost done with it very soon.

 

“Oh, by the way, Apple Bloom,” you start as you’re nearly done brushing, “what did you want me to look for farms for, when you asked me earlier?”

 

Apple Bloom’s ear flicks at this, and it seems she had almost forgotten that she’d asked you.

 

“Oh..” she starts.

 

“Mah… mah sister and brother..”

 

You pause your motion with the brush and look down at her. Until now, you had forgotten about the family members she’d prattled off about when you first met her. In your mind, maybe they were already a lost cause to her, since she wanted you to take her away from the place. Obviously not though, and Apple Bloom started to get a little emotional as she continued, and you opted to keep brushing since the motion had to have been a little soothing.

 

“..Ah got out of there.. The place the hoomans had us.. But..” Apple Bloom went on, losing her composure more and more as tears welled up under her eyes.

 

“A farmer.. A farmer came and took ‘em, Applejack and Big Macintosh!” she wailed, finally bursting into tears as she lunged forward.

 

Her chest landed on the rim of the tub as her bottom half swung upward, splashing the dirty bathwater everywhere. Making a mess was the last thing on her mind, though, and she grabbed at the tub as she cried, leaning over the side while her hind legs kicked and splashed. The hairbrush had long been knocked out of your hand and fallen into the water. You grabbed another towel off of the rack to your side and scooped up Apple Bloom in it, lifting her up as you stood. She continued to wail into your chest, even as you dried her with the towel in the most soothing way you could. Eventually, she began to settle down, it must have been five minutes or more of her just crying. With a sniffle, she finally spoke.

 

“So.. ah wanna find ‘em.. And help ‘em ecscape..” she says, a tinge of hope in her shuddering voice.

 

You continue to dry her off, walking out of the bathroom and into the living room, setting the toweled bundle of pony down on the couch and kneeling in front of it as you continue drying her.

 

“I get it now.. Well.. I found just one farm in the area. Would you want me to go there and see if I could spot them for you?”

 

She looks up at you almost in awe after you say this.

 

“Would ‘ya?! Would ya really?! ‘Fer me?!”

 

“Of course I would.. I’d love for you to get back with your family.. And help you find a nice place to be with them, if going back to Ponyville’s not an option..”

 

Your words are sincere, but in the back of your mind, you felt a little bit of disappointment. After having to take care of her for a few hours, you’d started to get kind of attached to Apple Bloom. As a kid, you were really attached to your cat, but you’d developed an allergy later on. Because of that, it wasn't an option to take him to your house when you moved out. Even with the socializing you did at work, there was still a hole that a cat would’ve filled pretty well, since you didn’t much like making close friends. Maybe Apple Bloom was subconsciously starting to play that role for you, in a way.

 

Apple Bloom perked up, jumping out of the towel and cheering, “Yay! Yay! Yay~~~!” as she bounced on the couch, flinging droplets of water everywhere since you hadn’t quite scrubbed all of it out.

 

She settled down soon after, and did so with a yawn, reminding you just how late it was getting. She probably would be in bed earlier than this, at her age.

 

“Well, we can talk more about it in the morning, Apple Bloom. I think now, you should sleep,” you said, reaching over to the reclining sofa to grab the throw blanket you draped over her earlier. You paused, noticing the Honeycrisp from earlier still sitting on the sofa. “The couch is good enough for you, right?” you asked jokingly as you tossed the blanket next to her, as if she had high standards.

 

“Yup! Ah’ll sleep real good out here!” she said, before her cheeriness faded a little, “But.. could ‘ya… Could ‘ya stop that noise comin’ from ‘yer kitchen..?” she asked, and as if it were on cue, your fridge beeped, reminding you that it had been needing a new water filter for a few days now.

 

“Oh, the fridge..” you said, glancing over at the kitchen.

 

You’d cleaned the glass up earlier while Apple Bloom was cleaning herself, but you didn’t much feel like going out and buying a new water filter right now.

 

“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” you said. You grabbed the apple off the sofa as you were heading into the kitchen, tossing it in the trash. Pulling out your phone, you looked up online how to reset the timer on this model. After finding out and following the steps, you returned to the living room to find Apple Bloom already asleep, next to the blanket you’d provided for her. You drape it over her and head back to your room.

 

Your first reflex upon entering is to return to your chair at your PC, but you stop after pulling the chair halfway out. Without sitting down, you shut off your computer and push your chair in, before leaving your room to go brush your teeth and be ready for bed. You should be ready to get up at least relatively early since now you’ve got Apple Bloom around, you figure. As you head to bed, you set an alarm for 12:00 PM, just in case you really sleep in, since you don’t know whether Apple Bloom will have the courage to knock on your door and wake you up or not.

 

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Applejack and Big Mac tried to resist being tied to the posts next to their cousin, but it wasn’t any use. Ever since they were brought to this place, neither pony seemed to exhibit the same amount of strength they were so proud of back home, and the human overpowered their attempts to pull back with little difficulty.

 

“Wasn’t so bad there, was it? Y’all be good in here, ‘till mornin’,” he said over his back in a dismissive tone, walking out of the barn and sliding the door shut. There was some feed, and some water, yet neither were too appetizing. The pellets seemed to at least be a little better than what the ponies got in their facility, but not by much, while the water had bits of hay and dirt floating around in it, and a general discoloration. Notably, there was nowhere to use the bathroom, much to the chagrin of Applejack and Big Mac.

 

After these observations were made, the two ponies turned to Braeburn, who had already fallen back asleep. He drew and let go of shaky breaths, his body puffing and deflating at an abnormal rhythm. From this close, they could see better just the state he was in. The hairs constituting his mane and tail were coarse and jagged where they weren’t clumped together in matted chunks. As they saw before, there was a bald patch on his head where his mane flat out stopped, and his tail was shorter than they remembered it ever being. His coat was similarly disheveled, his body sporting bumps, bruises, scars, and the like across each limb and part of the body, and moreover, it seemed as though the color was just drained out of him. Applejack, on top of her dismay, felt fury that she never even imagined the likes of Nightmare Moon to be able to conjure up. A white-hot, sweltering fountain of magma was bottled up at her muzzle, pulsing in its heat throughout her entire body, and she felt ready to erupt until Big Mac rested one of his large hooves across her withers.

 

“..Don’t wake ‘em up.. Celestia knows he needs the sleep,” he said in a hushed tone, his head bent low so that Applejack could hear him.

 

Her ear twitched. Applejack, while her eyes reflected Braeburn’s sorry state, was staring at nothing. She said nothing, she was thinking nothing. Big Mac, expecting to feel at least a bit of warmth when he rested his foreleg on Applejack’s body, felt nothing. “Training” hadn’t even begun, but it seemed like the desired effect had already been attained with her.

 

“Come on, sis.. Let’s turn overn’ we can think of somethin’ in the mornin’...” Big Mac said as he trotted gently to the opposite corner of the tiny barnhouse, as far as his rope would allow him.

 

Applejack was snapped out of her stupor, but wasn’t the same as she was before seeing Braeburn. With shaky legs, she followed Big Mac and curled up next to him, needing to sap heat from his body since hers harbored absolutely none.

 

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You don’t wake up to an alarm, but instead wake up naturally. Somewhat. Your dream was half-baked, like you knew you were dreaming, but not to the point where it was lucid. Part of you wanted to ease back into the dream, letting it swallow you fully and become whole, but the rational part of your brain told you that it was better to just get up. You often hovered in and out of sleep like this, but almost never did you choose waking up over sinking back into it. Today was different, though, and that was the last thought you had before properly greeting the living world.

 

The alarm clock next to your bed read 11:17. Curious how you wake up before your alarm after sleeping in until the afternoon for a month, but whatever. It almost feels as though your body is made of lead as you drag your heaving limbs out of bed, casting your blanket aside. Right after you stand up, though, the first trudge of your feet is met with a warm, soft mass of whatever the fuck that is and your body leaps back into the mattress, heartrate punching a hole in ceiling.

 

“S-sorry! Ah was.. Ah was just waiting ‘fer yew ‘ta wake up!” squeaks the offending mass of fluff as you clutch your chest.

 

Oh. It’s just Apple Bloom. You recalled the events of yesterday as you slumped onto your back, sinking into the mattress.

 

“You.. scared.. The shit out of me..” you admitted in a breathless voice, lower and rougher than normal from just having woken up.

 

The state of your voice shocked Apple Bloom, who continued dispensing apologies as she scooted backwards on the carpeted floor, ending up under your desk.

 

“Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! Ah… Ah didn’t mean ‘ta scare ya! Yer not.. ‘Yer not mad, are yew..?” was barely audible from across the room, and you sighed.

 

“No, Apple Bloom, I’m not mad. Please get out from under there.”

 

She obliges after a few moments and is soon sitting on her haunches in front of your bed, staring at you with wide eyes.

 

“How long were you sitting there waiting for?” you ask, hoping it wasn’t long.

 

Apple Bloom’s gaze fell to the floor before she spoke, “Ah.. Ah don’t know.. Ah wasn’t keepin’ track.. The sun woke me up, so Ah was waitin’ ‘fer you..” she said, the words spilling out of her like a confession as her head hung low, still scared to upset you.

 

She’d been waiting since sunrise. Probably about four hours. You took in a deep breath as your hands came up to your face, dragging down until they rested over your mouth.

 

“Do you want an apple for breakfast?” you asked, voice slightly muffled by your hands.

 

Apple Bloom flinches slightly, almost like she was expecting to be scolded, “Y-yes please!”

 

You get up and walk past her, hearing her hooves trot excitedly behind you as you leave and walk down the hall. In the kitchen, you get one of the Honeycrisps out of the fridge and grab a plate out of the cabinet. Apple Bloom’s sat across from you, expectantly waiting on her haunches, but you motion to the table over in your small dining room. After a moment, she trots over and hops onto one of the chairs with some difficulty. When she raises her head up and is finally sitting properly at the table, she sees the apple in front of her on the plate, turning to you with a slight smile.

 

“Thank yew..” she says, turning back to her apple and grabbing it with both hooves.

 

You don’t say anything, turning around and leaving as you hear her crunch into it hungrily. Despite the fact that that’s the third Honeycrisp you’ve given her, she really hasn’t eaten much. The first two didn’t last very long. While Apple Bloom eats, you take care of your morning routine. Brushing your teeth, washing your face, getting dressed, et cetera. You finish by starting a load of laundry, which you forgot to do last night. Pony piss didn’t smell very good on your clothes. When you walk back into the dining room, Apple Bloom’s gnawing at the core of her Honeycrisp, getting it for all it’s good for. Her plate is like one of those shallow sake cups, with a pool of apple juice drawing threateningly close to the edge. She notices you after a moment and she drops the apple core onto the plate, subsequently splashing the apple juice all over the table and her face.

 

Before she can even start apologizing, you grab the plate with the core on it and tilt it into the trash can in the kitchen, leaving the plate in the sink. She’s finally found her voice, and is of course apologizing with all of her heart.

 

“Ah.. Ah’m sorry, really! Yew.. Ah wanted to ask yew somethin’ when Ah saw you, so Ah opened mah mouth.. But then Ah dropped the apple core and it.. It..” she rambled until she was cut off by your hand landing on top of her head, gently brushing down her mane.

 

“It’s okay. Just let me clean up, and try to be a bit more.. Thoughtful next time,” you say, trying to pick the kindest words for the situation. Apple Bloom nods solemnly, her shoulders a bit slumped as she sat in the chair. Admittedly, you were a little bothered. Having to scrub the apple juice out of the table wasn’t on your agenda for this morning, but you tried not to let any negativity show as you grabbed a sponge and started to clean up.

 

“So, what did you want to ask me, anyways?” you asked after you were nearly done. Apple Bloom was silent the entire time, but she perked up after you spoke.

 

“Oh, umm.. Are yew.. gonna go ta that farm today..?” she asked tentatively, nervous to impose on you.

 

“I was, yes. I don’t have anything better to do. Will you be fine alone while I’m gone? It’ll be a couple hours.”

 

Apple Bloom didn’t speak as you walked back into the kitchen to put the sponge back, but just as you were about to open your mouth to say something, she piped up.

 

“Ah.. Ah will. Nopony’s gonna come here, right?”

 

Again with the pony talk. You smiled and walked over to Apple Bloom, petting her again. She hardly shied away from the touch this time.

 

“No, nobody comes here except for myself. I live alone.”

 

Apple Bloom doesn’t respond, but the way her brow is furrowed it looks like the gears in her head are turning. You don’t say anything so as not to interrupt her thoughts.

 

“Yew don’t have any pets..?” she asks after a little while longer.

 

“Other than the one I’m petting right now, no I don’t.”

 

Apple Bloom flinches at what you say, and without a word she raises one of your forehooves to brush your hand off of her.

 

“I.. I’m sorry, that was just a joke.. I didn’t..” you start, surprised at her boldness. When you look down, though, you can see that her face is giving her mane a run for its money, as far as being red goes, and you decide not to be too hard on her.

 

“Sorry,” you say, stepping back.

 

“If I go now.. I’ll be gone for probably around an hour.. Do you want me to put on a movie for you?” you ask, trying to lighten the mood.

 

Apple Bloom perks up, but looks confused.

 

“Whut’s a movie?”

 

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End of Part 1

Read part 2: https://ponepaste.org/11887