by neorenamon

Six months. Six months since anypony has seen the sun. Six months since Ponyville fell into the ground and was trapped there by the dark powers of Discord. We were the lucky ones. The ones outside were slaughtered without mercy or turned into monstrous mockeries of their former selves. It's a miracle that any of us managed to survive this long on stored food. It's a miracle that the water from the stream leaks down here without flooding the buried village. But soon we shall starve to death as well. It's hard to say what fate is worse. All we want is to see the precious sun once more. My name? Fluttershy...

...

"Oh Fluttershy," moaned Sweetie Belle, "My stomach... it hurts so bad..." She sat in the corner of the buried room wearing only a small tank top and black bikini briefs. She wasn't a foal, but a filly with still a lot of growing up to do. Only a dim magical light allowed anyone to see inside the room let alone out the door.

But Fluttershy was starving worse. They were saving the rest of the food for the foals, fillies and colts. Perhaps they most deserved the chance to see the sun once more.

"I know it hurts," she replied, "My stomach hurts too. But we can't give up hope that we'll find a way out of this... deathtrap. You have to keep the faith of Celestia's sun."

"You've been saying that for weeks," she said, "but we're no closer to the surface than we ever been. It's... hopeless..."

"Alright," answered Flutters quietly, "Gather the rest of the foals here... and the fillies and colts too... it's time to eat the last of the food so you might live..."

"But... what about you?!" she asked in dismay.

"I've already had a full life," replied the pastel yellow pegasus mare with pink hair, "But I've been lost since... I've lost my critters..." She began to sniff and weep because that's all the strength she had left to do.

The young unicorn rushed over to hug her. It didn't even matter that underground, no one cared about social niceties like their clothes any more. Or bathing. Only the foals were bothered to be dressed as if all the mares and stallions... somehow knew they would never leave the Ponyville deathtrap.

"IT'S SO NOT FAIR!!" she bawled as she glomp hugged Flutters.

"Fair?" she asked, "That word lost all meaning when Discord appeared. When Celestia and Luna vanished without a trace. When the world has been in a state of chaotic flux for a 1,000 years..."

Scootaloo stumbled into the room through the rough tunnel they managed to dig from one building to the next. That some how connected the remaining building of Ponyville not destroyed in the cataclysm. She was wearing an old black one-piece swimsuit that she used to wear with pride at Canterlot High for the swim team.

"What's up?" she asked with a forced smile.

"Flutters says we can eat now," replied Sweetie, "Go get the rest of the foals quick."

She managed to keep smiling as she replied, "Got it. Be right back."

Sweetie turned back to see Flutters crawling to the last box of food in this part of Ponyville. But she seemed so weak that she could barely pull herself along. She rushed to her side and began dragging the sweet mare over to the box of food.

"Don't waste your strength on me," she said quietly.

"NO!" she snapped, "You're the best pony friend I have! You deserve to see the sun again!"

"But I won't make it without food," she sighed.

"I DON'T CARE!" she cried, "EAT MY FOOD IF IT MEANS YOU CAN LIVE ANOTHER WEEK!"

"I can't do that to you," she said as her voice began to fail, "The young have to live..." Then she coughed her last as she fell limp.

"Flutters?" she asked. "FLUTTERS?!" she cried as she shook her body, "DON'T LEAVE US! DON'T LEAVE ME!!"

But she no longer had the will to live. She was gone...

"You promised you wouldn't leave me," she sobbed, "You wouldn't leave me like the way Apple Bloom did..."

"They're almost here," said Scoots as she looked in the doorway, "We can all..." Then she saw Sweetie holding the lifeless form of Fluttershy. "Oh no..." she cried as she burst into tears.

...

"We have to keep tunneling," said Mayor Mare, "Getting back to the surface is our only hope."

"But Mayor," said Bulk Biceps, "We're starving... we need rest... and food." He famous muscles were almost gone. His body was using them to fuel the rest of his body so he could keep digging. Digging ever closer to the surface with almost all of the mares and stallions left doing what they could to help.

"I feel your pain," she replied, "But as much as I want to lay down and give in to despair, I CAN'T! None of us can!"

"This diet of nothing but water is killing us," he protested.

"I swore the last of the food..." she sighed, "We'd leave that to keep the foals strong... strong enough to escape this hell..."

"But I'm not ready to die yet," he whined.

"Then keep digging towards Celestia's sun. That's our only hope." She smiled weakly as she added, "And we couldn't have made it this far without the strength and sacrifice of stallions like you..."

"Thank me when we're smiling under the sun Mayor."

"I promise."

A voice called from the distance. "Mayor!" called the stallion, "We've... found something!"

"What is it, Mister Time Turner?!" she called back.

"I... We're not sure!" he replied, "You better come see right away!"

So she left Bulk behind as she made her way through the dimly lit tunnel. She wondered what was so important that she had to backtrack in the tunnel half way back to the underground village.

"This is amazing," he said as he looked into a hole in the wall, "It's not even supposed to be here." A brown Earth pony of rather plain appearances topped by an old beat up mining helmet. Other than his white cotton briefs, he was wearing nothing else. Only the light from the miner's light kept him from being swallowed up by the darkness.

"What's not supposed to be here?"

"This... chamber..." he said as he looked back, "There's no building here... or was here... and this is surely no basement."

"Well what is it?" she asked back.

"I have no clue," he replied, "but... it feels like some kind of vault... or perhaps a crypt."

"You don't need to creep me out like that," sighed Mayor.

"I'm sorry," he answered, "but I know enough to say for sure we should be no where near the Ponyville Cemetery."

"Well where are we?"

He pulled a large sheet of paper from his pocket and squinted to read it in the dim light.

"I think we're somewhere under the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. The best place to hope we might find some kind of food left growing on the surface."

"Could we be under the Apple Clan's Family Cemetery?" she asked as she squinted to read the map as well.

"Quite possible," he answered, "It's hard to navigate underground with any degree of accuracy... Not without my lab... my instruments... without Twilight around any more... We must go in and check immediately."

"What about the sanctity of the dead?" she asked.

"We aren't a bunch of grave robbers," he sniffed, "We're just looking for a way out of this hell. I'm sure the spirits of the dead... if there are any... will surely forgive out trespass this one time. I'm going in first to make sure there's no traps set."

"But as Mayor..."

"No your grace," he snapped, "If anyone has to survive to look after the foals, it has to be YOU!"

"But I'm older than most of the survivors," she replied, "I've lost so much."

"You must live for them!" he continued, "With the library destroyed, only somepony like you can keep the history of Ponyville alive in their minds and hearts!" Without another word, he crawled into the hole. She could hear him shuffle around on all fours, disturbing the dust and loose stones within.

"Is there a way out?" she asked at last.

She shuddered when she heard him gasp aloud. Poking her head into the hole, she gasp, "What is it, Doc?!"

"There's something..." he began, "No. Somepony in here!" There was a pause as he added, "Like no mare I've ever seen before!" Then another pause as he added, "Come here quickly! She's... huge!"

'So he's finally gone off the deep end,' she thought as she crawled in after him.

But then she saw the mare in question, and she believed him. The orange Earth pony mare was at least a good 27 to 29 hooves tall and built like a brick hospital... with large breasts and hips as well. She had never seen such a mare before. Oddly enough, her forearms and forelegs were tightly wrapped in bandages of some sort. So was her stomach. But her naughty bits were just on full display... Not that the Mayor or Turner really cared at that point. On her flanks was a cutie mark of three blood red apples. There was a plain brown cowpony hat laying right next to her head.

"Is she... dead?" asked the Mayor.

"For six months?" he asked back, "Not possible. Not without any decay. If she died, it was very recently..."

"Could she be... alive?"

"I'll check," he said as he pressed his ear down between her impressive breasts. A moment passed as he listened.

"Well?!" she asked at last.

"I can't hear anything," he said at last, "But... she's not cold like a corpse... It doesn't make any sense."

But with his ear against her chest, he had no clue what happened next. Her eyes opened, and they were glowing orbs of white light that shone dimly in the dark. After all, his helmet light wasn't shining in the right direction with his head turned aside.

"SHE'S AWAKE!" she screamed, "THOSE EYES!"

"Huh?" he asked as he looked around. By then, the glow had faded leaving a pair of bright green eyes looking back at him.

"Howdy," she said softly.

He screamed like a little filly as he jumped back.

"Pardon Mister Time Turner," said the Mayor, "He can be... a little jumpy at times..."

"A-yup."

"I'm sure we've never met before," she continued as he fell on his flanks, "Please... who are you?"

"Applejack," she replied.

"That sounds familiar..." she said back, "Like I should know it... are you from the Apple Clan?!"

There was no answer.

"Look," she continued, "If you are one of them... you're probably the last one left. As far as we know, Discord destroyed every Apple down to the last mare and filly.

The large mare growled deeply, "DISCORD!!"

"I'm truly sorry about your loss," she said softly as she came up and touched the large mare's hand, "but unless we can get out of the ground, it won't matter. We're... all dying now..."

But Applejack stood up as she replied, "We go now."

"Go where?"

"To see the sun," she replied.

"Well she sure looks like she hasn't been starving," he said at last. Then he paused to add, "Dang. She scared me so bad that I peed myself..."

"To much information good Doctor," said the Mayor as Applejack moved to crawl out the hole. On the way out, she picked up the hat and placed it on her head. Somehow the hat seemed the right size for it even though the Mayor had never seen such a large hat before in her life.

Turner and the Mayor followed after her in awed silence. But about half way back, she suddenly stopped next to a huge boulder and looked at it. Then to their surprise, she pulled back her fist and punched it hard. The stone splintered under the force of the blow. Then she punched it again.

"Are you mad?!" asked Turner, "There's nothing beyond that rock but more rocks and dirt!"

But she kept punching and the rock kept breaking. Pieces began to fall around her in the tunnel. Right fist, then left. Over and over. The sound was drawing attention to her.

"What's going on here?!" called Bulk as he rushed back.

"I don't know..." began Turner.

"What the hay is that?!" he asked as he stopped cold. He was of course staring at Applejack's flanks, her golden ponytail and her similar tail. The Mayor noticed then that they were tied off at the ends. Both the mane and the tail.

"Some mare named Applejack," replied the Mayor.

Then she pushed the remains of the boulder with a mighty push, and it burst from the ground. Much to their surprise, the blessed sunlight came streaming into the tunnel. They could smell the fresh air. And perhaps something more.

"WE'RE FREE!!" scream the Doctor. He began scrambling up the hole towards the light scant hood lengths away. Then she heard him say, "By Celestia's sweet sun!"

"What is it?!" she called after him.

"There's some apple trees left!" he shouted, "They're somewhat past picking season, but I think most of them are still edible! We can all live now!"

But Sweetie Belle ran up wailing and weeping to the point she couldn't see where she was going. The Mayor grabbed her to stop her from running into a wall.

"What is it?!" she asked as she shook the filly.

"Flutters!" she choked, "She's... she's... GONE!!" Then she burst into uncontrollable weeping once more.

"Oh no," she replied, "Not when we're free." She started crying too. "It's so UNFAIR!!"

"I wanted her to have MY FOOD!" she bawled.

"You're so brave," she said as she hugged Sweetie tightly, "You have to live on... she would have wanted it that way..."

But Sweetie just cried and cried even as the blessed sun shone down on her and the Mayor through the hole.

...

When all the surviving ponies were out of the hole, they could see what was left of Sweet Apple Acres. The trees had not been tended in months. Six months. A far number of apples were already rotten. The trees didn't look so good either.

"It's not much," said Turner, "but we should be able to rebuild our strength and move on in search of Canterlot. If anypony could survive, it would have to be the unicorns in Canterlot."

"Everypony scatter and try to pick the best looking apples you can find," ordered the Mayor, "We'll save the more rotten apples in case we run out of good ones! Remember..." She paused to sniff. "The foals, fillies and colts get the first pick! The rest of you must make due with what's left!"

There was a grumble of dissatisfaction before the scattered around the huge orchard.

"The young ones," she added, "Stay close to the hole until we're sure it's safe. You must flee back into the hole at the first sign of danger. Leave any threat to the adults."

They nodded, including Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. But as the adults scattered, Sweetie leaned close to her friend and whispered, "We have to see if it's still there."

"What?" replied Scoots, "The CMC Club House?"

She simply nodded.

"But won't we get in trouble?!"

"Like that's ever stopped us before," she replied, "We... have to do this... for Apple Bloom."

She nodded silently as she followed after her unicorn friend. In the confusion, they soon lost sight of the adults, and none of them seemed to notice them slipping away.

"Oh this place was so beautiful once," sighed Sweetie as she sniffled and choked back a tear.

"The pride of Ponyville," replied Scoots.

Then the Clubhouse came into view. It was remarkably intact even after months of being alone. Well, intact considering it wasn't all that great to begin with. They began climbing the steps to the front door with Scoots in the lead.

"I hope no one's sacked the place while we've been gone," she said as she grabbed the door handle. She started opening the door outwards.

"We should be careful..." said Sweetie, but suddenly rough hands lashed out and grabbed Scoots by the shoulders. She was dragged inside before she could make a sound.

"Come in and play with us, little filly," said a rough stallion voice.

"No," she gasp.

"Come in or your little friend here gets it good!"

She meekly obeyed. When she stepped in, she could see a huge stallion grappling Scoots with one arms pinning down her arms and wings, and another over her mouth. Another stallion was starting to tie her up from shoulder to her ankles. Then Sweetie got grabbed as well from behind. Her mouth was covered too.

"Oh such sweet tender meat," said one, "Let's screw them stupid... and then EAT THEM!"

There was a half a dozen monsters in the room that might have been stallions at one time... but now they were just little better than hulking beasts with a taste for meat. Sweetie was horrified that she would meet her end... as meat. As they were tied up, their clothing was ripped off without care.

"Do we have enough wood left for a fire?" asked one.

"No," replied another, "I'm eating this one... pony tartar!"

"Mmmppphhh!" she protested against the hand over her mouth.

"Looks like they've been fed pretty well," said a third, "Maybe we should fatten them up some more with those Zap apples we found. I bet they're still good."

Soon the fillies were bound, gagged and tossed into the corner as the monsters leered at their helplessness.

'Why didn't we tell anypony where we were going?' she thought in vain. Then she realized, 'Oh yeah, they wouldn't have let us come here at all. It was a fool's errand from the start. Now we're gonna die here. By cannibal monsters no less...'

"Not on my watch, sugar-cube!" called a mare from outside. A large pair of hand burst through the flimsy wooden wall, grabbing one of the monsters and dragging outside before he could react.

"What the hay?!" called the largest of the monsters.

There was a short horrible scream before there was silence. Then a head was tossed back through the hole spraying blood from the stump. It looked like it was just ripped away from the body.

"They killed Kennel!" he screamed, "YOU BASTARDS!" They all jumped out the hole after who ever killed their buddy. Sweetie and Scoots could hear a huge brawl outside and wondered what army had come to save them. After a few moments, silence returned. Then an orange mare stuck in her head, tussled her golden mane, and smiled with her green eyes showing. But what bothered the fillies was the fact her body was all but drenched in blood.

"Howdy," she said, "Have ya free in a jiffy."

'Thank Celestia,' she thought.