Applebloom was having a tough day. Thanks to her and her friends most recent exploits, she had accidently shirked her duties far more than once or twice and was met with a rather irritated Applejack. Not to mention she had come home covered in sap, debris, and other such nonsense for the umpteenth time. After a thorough shower and scrubbing, she had been bound, by obligation, to refrain from any more crusading until she had finished her chores for the day. And due to the ‘I’m older therefore have more power’ Rule, Applejack had told her that this was in effect indefinitely until stated otherwise.

To make a long story short...

“This sucks...” She muttered to herself, kicking a small pebble away. She was currently sitting on the porch of her home, grumbling to herself with pouted lips. Her friends had come by in the morning for an early start, only to be told the horrifying truth. When they realized she couldn’t go crusading, they told her they’d wait for her at the Treehouse until she was done, or until nighttime, but that didn’t need to be said.

Unfortunately for her, Applejack had yet to tell her her chores for the day. She’d only woken her up, gave her breakfast, a quick stinkeye, and told her to wait out on the porch. Although she did think Applejack was being a bit too punishing, she knew she was just trying to protect her.

‘Doesn’t help that this is already boring and it’s not even been ten minutes...’ She internally bellyached. Her thoughts were cut off when Applejack took a quick step out the door and let it close behind her. She trotted out in front of Applebloom and put a folded paper into her hooves.

“Here’s your list of chores you’ll be doing everyday. After you’re done, go tell Big Mac and you’ll be free to go.” Applejack said, frowning slightly at her sister’s forlorn expression. “Aw come on, Bloom, this ain’t nothing you haven’t done before. Besides, this isn’t that bad. Just your normal chores and a few others.” Applebloom sighed and looked up at Applejack with an annoyed expression. The look, although meant to be serious, only looked adorable in Applejack’s eyes. “This isn’t permanent, Bloom, just do this for a couple days and we’ll figure something out.”

Applejack walked over to the Apple Stand, hooking herself onto it. “Now, I’m gonna be in town all day so don’t forget to take a whistle if'n you go out into the woods. Y’all don’t want a nasty surprise, right?” Applejack joked, turning and trotting off towards the town, getting a perturbed expression in return.

Applebloom sighed and opened up the paper, groaning as she looked at the list. ‘Slop the pigs, feed the hens, blah blah blah, and yada yada yada... Ugh, why does this sound like so much more work than it is ...’ She thought, standing up to go and get to work.

The tasks had been quite simple, having done all of them before. The only problem that was seen was the unbroken monotony that came with every action. Alas, those had been the easiest of her chores, as when Applebloom looked back down at her list she discovered a rather unamusing assignment.

“Collect the apple baskets!?” She squeaked out, her eyes almost bulging. As if on cue, Big Mac walked up behind her with a small pushcart.

“Eeeyup.” He nudged the device towards her and chuckled as he saw her pout once more. “Don’t worry, this thing’ll make the work go ten times faster.”

“But isn’t this Applejack’s job?” She questioned, getting a nod from Big Mac.

“Eeyup.”

“And she thought because she wasn’t here, that I was grown up enough to do it myself?”

“Eeyup.”

“And there is no way out of this, is there?”

“Nnnope.” Applebloom sighed at her brother’s usual responses and reluctantly hitched herself up and wandered off towards the forest of trees, thankfully pointed in the right direction by her brother. The Task itself was easy enough.

Drag two or three buckets onto the cart, pull back to the barn, unload said cart, head back out, rinse, wash and repeat. But like all of her previous jobs, the monotony was starting to become unbearable. And to make matters worse, she’d only gotten ten buckets and there was still a whole field to cover. Unhitching herself, she stopped and sat down under the shade of one of the many trees.

“This is so dumb...” She muttered to herself, panting slightly from all of the walking and lifting she had done. Barely a minute had passed before she through her hooves into the air and shouted. “Gah! Ah just wish somethin’ would happen so ah didn’t have to do this!!”

The air whistled around her briefly, putting her on edge for a moment. When nothing happened minutes later, she looked back and forth through the woods, half-expecting to see Pinkie Pie or some other random pony to run through screaming their tail off about a monster. But when nothing happen, she merely accepted her fate and stood up.

As she began to load up more buckets, she heard the leaves slowly beginning to rustle. Turning her head, she saw nothing but the wind pushing the air around. Humming annoyedly to herself, she went back to her work. Only stopping when a loud thump was heard behind her. Then another, and another, and another. Her hoof to her neck, where a whistle should have been dangling from her neck, only to find that no such object was there.

She briefly contemplated turning and seeing if it was just Rainbow Dash and some rotten apples, but she would have said something by now. When snarls filled the air, she let out a loud shriek and began sprinting away, hearing the thunderous pounding of the earth as whatever was behind her gave chase. She looked over her shoulder as she passed into a small clearing, daring not to stop. Her eyes turned to dinnerplates as she saw a pack of adolescent Manticores, probably no bigger than Big Mac, tearing the earth apart and gaining on her.

She bobbed and weaved through the trees, trying to lose or at least disorient the beasts. She minorly succeeded until she felt her hoove tuck itself underneath a aboveground root, a loud and sickening pop filling the air. The world seemingly stopped as pain flooded her senses and she was roughly flung forward. As she hit the ground, she screamed in pain, her hoof swelling with agony and limply dangling. She whimpered and yelped with every feeble movement.

Tears poured from her eyes as she heard the deafening footsteps of her hunters. She cowered away, finding her back against a tree trunk and the monsters closing in on her. The lumbering Manticores began to circle her, each one licking their chops menacingly as they looked over her. She’d barely be a meal to them, but the Hunt was all that really mattered. Applebloom didn’t bother shrieking any more, her voice was too raw, and with her leg busted she couldn’t get away fast enough.

She didn’t take her eyes off of the Manticores until they stopped, gathering in front of her while the closest one sauntered over to her. She whimpered and whined, pushing back against the tree trunk as the beast came closer.

The mighty beast opened its jaws, the triple layered rows of teeth gleaming in the sunlight. And at that moment, she knew she was done for, giving one last loud shriek as the monster loomed over her.

Then, with a large splatter of blood and gore, the beast fell to his haunches, a deathly gasp entering the air. A second later, the beast fell, a rusty arrow planted firmly in its eye, gushing blood across the grass. The other Manticores snarled and whimpered at the sight of their pack leader defeated, frantically looking around for its killer. Applebloom herself had been covered in a small spray of blood, changing her butter yellow coat to a sickly red. Tremendous amounts of emotions filled her heart at the sight, but the only one that stuck was relief.

Then a loud clanking filled the air, followed by another chorus of clanking and another, joining together in unison to create a symphony of power. The sound grew louder and louder until three figures appeared to the left, each clad shimmering steel. Despite them clearly being alive, no flesh or meat was seen upon their withered bones, only luminescent eye sockets giving them the appearance of life.

The one in the middle hefted out a large silver sword, letting out a raspy snarl towards the beasts, as if challenging them. It was clad in the hide of a fallen Timberwolf and steel, the golden circlet upon its head showing it as the leader. The other two were only grunts by comparison, the one of the right carrying a bow and bound in leather, the other hefting a massive axe and layered in steel plates.

One of the Manticores snarled savagely and charged towards the leader, intent of dismembering the being, only to have the silver sword impale its throat and be pinned to the ground in one swift motion. The writhed on the ground, gurgling on its own blood. The Leader ripped the blade away before stabbing the beast again, then again, and again, continuing in such a manner until the monster stopped moving.

The final Manticore, now terrified with its tail lowered to the ground, turned and galloped away, only for the leader to point towards it and give a spectral scream. The other two skeletons nodded to their leader and charged forward, intent on slaying the final beast. As they ran off, the sounds of pain following them soon after, the leader walked over to Applebloom, the filly cowering away as best she could.

The towering figure stopped in front of her, sheathing its stained blade onto its hip before kneeling down to her side. Looking over her, it shook its head, its eyes flickering softly at her. Reaching out a skeletal hand, it pulled Applebloom closer, gently picking her up despite her squirming. She quickly settled down when its other hand tenderly grabbed her dislocated hoof. She whimpered and writhed slightly, trying to get away. She ultimately stopped as she released that she was still helpless as the day she was born.

It shook its head, briefly turning to snarl at the corpse in front of her. It set her back down, grabbing a nearby branch and holding it out to her. She only looked at it questioningly until the Skeleton lifted it up and bit into it, then pointed to her and held it out again. She hesitantly did as it showed, biting down onto the wood before she felt its hands go back to her hoof.

One took hold of her hoof and the other took hold of her foreleg, her eyes widening as she realised its intent. A quick and agonizing tug, a loud pop, and Applebloom screamed. Her wails were muffled by the branch she was clenching her teeth onto, the wood nearly snapping in her beartrap like bite. When it was over, she sobbed quietly while she felt the being wrap her hoof up in something.

Looking down, her hoof was in a makeshift splint, made from old cloth and plenty of other branches. It was primitive and sloppy, but it’d do until she found a real doctor. Nodding to itself, the Skeleton sat her up against the trunk and looked around, as if guarding her. It stood up quickly, and drew its sword as noise came from the trees in front of her. But when the heavily armored skeleton from before stepped out, holding something in its hands, it relaxed. The leader glanced over its soldier before looking down at what it had, a folded tattered leather garb with bow and quiver resting atop. The leader’s shoulder slumped slightly and a somber hiss filled the air. As the seen played out before her, she began to feel herself getting feel drowsy, the stress and shock of the event weighing heavily down upon her.

The last thing she heard was the faint call of her brother in the distance and a ear piercing screech from the skeletons.