Sweetie Belle snuck out of school again. Funny thing is that today was the day when school let out for Summer. Nevertheless, it was a full day, and the filly escaped through the gaps in the blackberry bushes on the far side of the school yard. Something finally snapped in the back of her mind, and she realized that the couldn’t take it anymore. Deep down, her system, mind and body, decided enough was enough, and ignited a survival instinct in her she never knew she had. That instinct then connected to her memory of Applebloom’s suggestion about the Cutie Mark Crusaders leaving Ponyville.

But Sweetie Belle had no intention of looking for Applebloom or Scootaloo. Now was her only chance to escape, and since today was the last day at school, probably the last day she’d ever spend off Sweet Apple Acres. Such a window of golden opportunity would never present itself to her again. If circumstances permitted it, she would have brought her two best friends along with her but it wasn’t the case.

After three and a half weeks with the Blood Apples living at the farm, things became much worse, or at least more frightening. The Blood Apples all gave off vibes that screamed evil in her mind, especially that Sangshine freak. When she was introduced to Auntie Sangshine, Sangshine cast down a glare that damn near paralyzed the filly.

”What’s her job?” Applebloom asked a few days after she met Sangshine.

”Yer Aunt Sangshine is here to help us cultivate all them blood apples, and make sure they’s safe to eat. An’ guess’ what we’re havin fer’ supper tonight? Blood apple pie. They’s a bit different than our usual apples, but mighty good. They’ll even flush the magic outta Apple Belle once an’ fer all.”

The blood apples were nothing of the sort of food Sweetie Belle had ever seen before. The fruits looked menacing, and most ponies’ common sense would scream that the fruit was very likely toxic, and inedible. An interesting thing about Sweetie Belle was that she was terrified of blood. She would almost panic if she saw her own blood or that of another pony’s. Since The stuff that came out of the black and red blood apples resembled actual blood, it’s effect on Sweetie was hardly any less. After a hard day’s work, when she and Applebloom entered the house and saw two of their aunts cutting up blood apples and the ‘blood’ everywhere, Sweetie thought they had just decapitated some animal.

Sweetie squeaked in fright when she saw the ‘apple blood’ on the counters and the aprons of the mares preparing the blood apples. Even more so when she saw the meaty components she mistook for giblets or something else.
“What’s the matter, Apple Belle?” Sangshine cooed when she came from the den where she was reading. Just her looking at and talking to Sweetie Belle paralyzed the poor filly. Her subconscious marked ‘Auntie Sangshine’ as a villain and a threat to her safety.

Applebloom nor Scootaloo took much of a liking to the mare either. Scootaloo found her thick Thorn Valley accent to be creepy, but Applebloom, who developed some recent mental quirks of her own, was still able to strike up a conversation with her like many of the other ponies on the farm. Often time Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ‘hid’ behind Applebloom thinking they were somewhat safe if she was there to take care of the interactions.

Sweetie Belle, already shuddering, took a glance at the kitchen. Applebloom caught on, and replied, “Sorry about Swe- er Ah mean Apple Belle, Auntie Sangshine, but she...she thinks they’re butcherin’ an animal in the kitchen, you know, for them Apple Jägers.”

The Apple Jägers were the first and so far only carnivore Apple clan to arrive from their native region. There had been some issues with them wanting meat, and to buy and butcher some of the cows, sheep and chickens to satiate their taste.

Sangshine laughed, “Oh my dears, there’s nothing of the sort! The Jägers will have their own little stead where they can raise and butcher their own livestock, and none of that will be done in this house. What your Aunt Crisp and Aunt Shimmers are preparing are the blood apples. There’s a lot of milk in them so it does appear to splatter everywhere.”

When supper time came and they had to eat the blood apple pie and ‘steak bites’, Sweetie initially refused. She had no way to explain, but the core of her subconscious told her it was an unnatural food, and dangerous. Scootaloo felt squeamish herself, until Applejack reached back with a foreleg and threatened to hoof smack her. Applebloom on the other hoof was too dense to have any reservations, and like most ponies hungry after an honest day’s hard labor, she freely ate anything on her plate. She found the taste odd, it was a mixture of sweetened apple with a strange taste she never tasted before. The pie was heavily seasoned for the foals as to introduce them to blood apples, since it was intended that blood apples would become the basis of their diets from the first harvest on.

Scootaloo chewed slowly, trying to fight back the revulsion. The hypanthium was no similar texture to normal apples. A carnivorous pony would have likened the taste and texture to that of beef or poultry. For vegetarian, grain-fed ponies, it was a completely foreign sensation in their mouths. But the two foals were no less disturbed. Their subconsciousness examined the food through their sight, touch, smell, and taste, and have them an indecipherable hint that what they were eating weren’t merely a mutated plant.

But Applejack knew, and so did the Blood Apples and the Apple Jägers. And so did Sundowner, who was also forced to eat her supper. Applejack knew she wasn’t eating as much as she was supposed to and since dragging her back to Sweet Apple Acres, she saw Sundowner lose considerable weight. When speaking with Applegem and Sangshine, she commented, “That Sundowner ain’t eatin’ her meals. She’s lettin’ all that good food go to waste. Ah reckon we pin her down and stuff her up with them new apples. THat’ll keep her eatin’ or at least good till she eats again.”

“I totally agree with you,” Sangshine said menacingly,“I think she’ll make a good test subject.” And so that’s what they did with Sundowner the second week after Twilight Sparkle was chased out of Sweet Apple Acres. Sundowner retreated to the fabric shop where the winter clothes and coats were made, and took up spinning when she didn’t work at the guard house in Ponyville. A bunch of Blood Apples tackled her to the floor, tied her down and force fed her until she could eat no more. And she didn’t get sick. They threatened to stuff more apples down her throat until she started ‘eating properly.’

What these ponies all knew was that the blood apples drew their nutrients from that special fertilizer Sundowner told Cheerilee about the other day. Just the thought made the mare sick to the pit of her stomach. She exported that secret when she fled Sweet Apple Acres and met Twilight Sparkle. Soon enough, while Applejack, furious about her office being cleaned out of its precious paperwork, having launched a marehunt, she was completely unaware the fertilizer story, along with everything else, was on the way to Canterlot.

But she didn’t tell the foals the truth as to why blood apples were so nutritious.

“Eat yer dang supper, Apple Belle! Or Ah’ll cram it down yer throat!”

Sweetie Belle took dainty bites of the pie, and still hesitated to touch the steak bites. She looked up accross the table and saw the Jäger foals eating the little steaks (made from the meat parts of the blood apples) like candy. Still she hesitated, and Applejack pounced on her. She held her down while Sangshine forcefed her her supper bite by bite. Everytime Sweetie Belle hesitated, another strict mare wacked her accross the flank with a strawstick. By the time she was done, her flank was bright red and her stomach felt like it was full of rocks.

That night, Sweetie Belle got sick. She broke a sweat, felt nauseous, hacked and heaved, but could not puke. Her throat and stomach burned like they were on fire, and she felt completely drained, almost unable to stumble on her own hooves. All the while Shangshine watched her with a cold calculating look in her eyes. She was unable to concentrate on her schoolwork, and she felt quite ‘drunk’ as the nutrients of the blood apple clashed with the magic in her body, absorbing it, causing the nutrients to break down into alcohols.

“What’sa matter wit’ her?” Applejack demanded.
“Don’t fret, dear,” Sangshine assured her, “this is normal for a unicorn. Once most of her magic has been drained out, she won’t have these effects. A few more meals and she will be just fine."

After she was tossed into bed (and spanked for not doing her evening work), Sweetie Belle layed slumped in her bed, her heart beating like a machine gun, her breathing shallow, her vision obscured with black spots. Tears streamed from the filly’s eyes and she prayed for Celestia to get her through the night. Somehow Sweetie noted Scootaloo also became just as ill, which the adult ponies didn’t understand because Scoots was a pegasus. What they didn’t know that pegasi also produce minute amounts of magic, which is used for fuel when they fly.

She felt bloated, like the contents of her stomach expanded, threatening to tear it apart. This whole time, her horn ached and burned.

So, the next day, when she was at school, Sweetie took her routine trip to the bathroom at the start of lunch hour. She looked in the mirror and examined her own face. She saw that her eyes began to lose some color, an early warning sign of magic loss. After all she had been through since last Autumn, Sweetie Belle’s magic system put up one hell of a fight. The horn cap failed to suppress it, the infected fractures in her horn failed to make an impact, and so did that ‘medicine’ she was forced to take earlier this Spring. But the blood apple began to take its effect to her horror and despair. She had overheard enough ponies talk to know that when unicorns ran out of magic, either from being drained or their failure to keep producing it, they went gray, and died.

She gulped as she looked at herself. She even saw some gray hairs appearing at the roots of her mane. She looked at herself from different angles to see if her coat started discoloring, which she didn’t think was possible as she was white. But then she saw it, right where she once thought her cutie mark would someday appear. The fur on her flank began to turn gray. The difference was faint, but she saw it.

She would have not known this, but while ponies got their colors from the spectra-pigment in their bodies, discoloration occurred in unicorns as the pigment was extracted and used elsewhere mainly due to severe magic disruptions. A thought slipped in through the back of her mind, and her blood turned to ice as the thought through this new prospect: This is it. I am going to die.

She stared in the mirror, tuning out the sound of water running from the sink tap. Some harsh comments from the new Apples came to mind. ”Don’t worry, that unicorn will die soon and come back as an Apple pony.”
”This will snuff the magic right outta her. So what if she dies. Celestia wills it. Either she’ll burn in hell or be re-incarnated as an honest hardworking earth pony.”

She shuddered at the comments Applejack and others made when they caught Sweetie Belle eavesdropping on them. ”Y’know what, Apple Belle?” snarled a drunken Applejack last night, ”Ah didn’t want it, but Ah’ve come to terms with you dyin’ n’ all. You blasted unicorns just can’t live without yer magic, can ya? Ah was hopin you would, but it look like Celestia jus’ might take yer sorry ass. It’s what you’ll get for all the guff n’ ruckus you’ve given me after all Ah did fer ya! You know where you insipid little witchlings go? Hell, that’s where you’ll wind up! You’ll be burnin’ for all of eternity! You want that? Huh, do ya? Answer me, y’ li’l varmint!”

“N...n-*cough*-no, Auntie Applejack, please don’t send me-”

“Then get yer’ sorry flank outta mah face and down to the chapel and start prayin’ you little brat! ‘Cause the way yer’ lookin’ after eatin’ them blood apples, Celestia’s lookin at ya through a shootin’ scope on a lightnin’ bolt! Y’ better pray dammit! Ah wan’t mah Apple Belle re-incarnated, born back here as a decent Apple filly an’ mare! After all Ah did fer you, you owe me that much, now get!”

Sweetie recorded that whole speech. She was too tired, weary, and afraid to even hate Applejack. She even believed that the piously deranged hick farmer mare was right.

After all why would Celestia have put her with the Apples without good reason? She failed to do everything as expected, and now Celestia was getting ready to take her life. She didn’t know how long she had left to live in terms of days or weeks. But she was afraid. Very afraid. Afraid of being sent to hell. All the Apple religion and superstition invaded her brain like a disease and was rooting itself in the core of her mind.

She began to forget what a loving, forgiving, and merciful ruler Celestia was. The filly even saw the Princess with her own eyes, and saw the forgiveness and mercy she bestowed on wayward ponies. Seemed like a long time ago, and it seemed like now Sweetie was in a group of ponies whom Celestia wasn’t so kind to.

Holy condemnation was a favorite topic of the messed up ponies on the farm. A popular rant spoke of saving ponies’ souls by burning them at the stake. Even Applegem made such a despicable comment after Applejack finished her drunken rant.

”Applejack, darling, there is no need to send this poor girl to her eternal doom! She can be cleansed in fire. But it’s the only passage through which she can redeem herself before the Solar Mother. I’ve spoken to so many ponies here and they’re quite upset about Apple Belle and want her burned to spare us any more plagues or misfortunes!”

“No can do, Gemmie. Maybe in Nimbuscait, but down here we believe nature is the ultimate weapon in Celestia’s arsenal in keeping ponies in check. Look at that varmint, she’s startin’ to turn grey. Took them blood apples to deliver her punishment. Ah hate to lose her an’ wonder if she’ll be born again to us, but Ah don’t think its right to interfere in Celestia’s work. She’ll take Apple Belle either way, and its up to us to pray for forgiveness for ours and her sins. Ah hate to admit it *hic* but it’s Celestia’s ultimate decision what to do with her.

“But that don’t mean Ah’m gonna let her sit on her flank and wallow and feel sorry for herself. She’ll keep doing her chores and school work and goin’ to church till the very quarter Celestia takes her from us!”

Sangshine showed up and stared Sweetie Belle right in the eyes when she was trying to eat just last night. ”Well then, I know the blood apples are carrying out Her divine work. You’ve been a naughty filly, haven’t you? A good filly would not start losing her color so quickly now would she? A good unicorn would remain colorful to the end, a sign it is well favored by our Solar Mother. You on the other hoof, Her contempt is starting to show. Not sure if it is worth the time asking for mercy on your soul.”

She closed her eyes and frantically prayed for forgiveness.
I tried, Princess Celestia, I really tried. I’m so sorry.
Tears began streaming from her eyes and she wept silently to herself in the bathroom. In all this time since the Carousel Boutique burned down, and Rarity vanished from her life, Sweetie Belle felt no more crushed than right now. She felt like the whole world was beginning to close in around her. She felt suicidal at some points especially during the Winter, but now she knew death would offer no escape-

Wham!
A leather ball struck the window, scaring the crap out of her, briefly jolting Sweetie out of her despair. The glass panes briefly rattled in their wooden frame as the shockwaves of the impact dissipated. She watched the ball bounce back and fall away from the window.

Damn colts, she thought. They always kicked balls or threw things at the bathroom windows to scare the fillies for entertainment. She ducked to avoid being seen, because if they saw her, they’d kick the ball at the window again. She never did well with sudden loud noises. Earlier this year, they kicked the ball at the window so hard, it scared the crap out of some teenage unicorn. She sparked so hard she blew up the bathroom sink.

Sweetie went to wash her hooves when the second impact came. The same ball, accompanied by some rocks, smashed their way right through the glass, instantly shattering the entire window. The ball had struck on the frame, shattering the frame above it, causing the glass to come down, carried inward by the momentum of the hit.

Sweetie Belle screamed and threw her hooves up to cover her face as she was showered with glass. Seconds later, a pair of saddle bags sailed in through the window, hitting her before she could react, knocking her down. The bags bounced off her face and slammed into the tin garbage can by the door.

“Holy shit!”
“Oh buck, buck buck!”
“Nice going, Rumble!”

Who the hay? Sweetie thought as she got up and shook the glass off of her. She peered out the smashed open window. The part that opened fell off and rested on the metal radiator under the sill. She peered around to see who threw those-

“Hey look, it’s Apple Belle!”
“She did it! I’m telling!”
“Tell Cheerilee she sparked and blew it up!”
“Oh buck, the teacher’s coming.”
“Cheese it!”

After acquiring their scapegoat, the three colts ran. Then it hit Sweetie Belle. Sure the rocks and sidebags weren’t hers, but no doubt any second the teachers were going to barge in and blame her. There was a notion even at the school where the earth pony foals blamed their property damage on the unicorns. Sometimes they got away with it, sometimes they didn’t-

Oh living buck- Applejack’s gonna kill me-

Buck risking explaining this to the teachers and protesting her innocence, Applejack would bash her with a baseball bat when she found out about this. Then a bunch of nerves snapped together and Sweetie Belle got the very thing she prayed for. A way out. Through the gaping hole where the window was. That, and all her thoughts and fears fired up an instinct she never thought she had, an instinct that took over rational thought. An instinct activated by her subconscious that now no longer trusted the terrified filly with her own safety.

Without thinking, Sweetie Belle picked up the saddlebags, climbed ontop of the radiator, scratching and cutting herself on the shards everywhere. She made it onto the window sill and jumped. She disappeared the split second before a mob of furious teachers bashed open the doors and stormed into the bathroom.

She took the saddlebags on account that a filly wearing a pair of saddlebags would be less suspicious in town during school hours than one without. She’d likely be presumed to be on some important task for her parents or teacher. Cheerilee did send somepony out during lunch hour to pick up needed things at the general store. Fillies opted for the task to get out of class for a few degrees, if the trip was made during class time.

Sweetie Belle made her way around the corner to the backside of the school building, and hid. The school bell rang, ending the lunch hour. Foals griped and whined as they made their way back to the doors close to Sweetie’s hiding spot.

“Where is Apple Belle?” Snips piped.
“D’ah I don’t know, I heard she broke the fillies’ bathroom window. She’s gonna get it big time now, hehe.” Snails replied.

Sweetie Belle looked through the little visual gaps in the hedge she hid behind, and spotted that bitch Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons. Right now those two were dangerous. In the time since the foals smashed the window and ran, news spread across the schoolyard. Those brats covered their flanks, spun their story and told everyfoal that Sweetie Belle did it.

She knew Diamond Tiara was too eager to trump up her clout and enforce that story, then later extort those foals for their lunches.

Sweetie Belle’s instinct sharpened her awareness, and made her sharp and alert. It was a kind of thing that occurred with an animal in danger. Soon the second bell rang, and the doors were shut. The schoolyard was empty. Sweetie quickly thought out how much time she had until Cheerilee realized she wasn’t in class and sent somepony to look for her.

This is it. Escape or die.
She was going to die anyway, but to hell with it.

Sweetie Belle sprang from behind the hedge and galloped full speed accross the schoolyard for the bushes, trees, and shrubs that bordered the premesis. She leaped and threw herself over the gap between two bushes, tumbled out of sight and onto the small dirt clearing behind. She was out of sight, and safe for now. That sprint took around 30 seconds. No doubt somepony saw her from in the school

The canopy of the trees and overgrowth shaded her from the blistering heat and light of the sun. Sweetie Belle knew this little area quite well. Almost everyfoal knew of the barely visible tracks and trails that lead to openings on the other side, which anypony small enough could sneak off school grounds, into town, and sneak back in again.

She got up, shook the dirt and leaves off, and made her way through the foliage. Here was where the badass wannabe older foals hung out. Here was also where Diamond Tiara’s henchfoals dragged others and shook them down for their lunches which they were forced to promise to pass up later.

When she got through to the other opening, Sweetie Belle paused, and began licking herself off like a cat. she spat out blood and dirt. This kind of cleaning was deemed disgusting as ponies had access to water and were supposed to be more civilized. After a few minutes of clearing up as much of the blood on the few cuts she got in the bathroom, she made her next move.

Sweetie gazed out at the streets. She knew that Ponyville was especially dangerous for her right now. Not only were there ponies who would march her right back to Cheerilee’s classroom, but there were the x number of Apple ponies going about their business in town. She didn’t bother praying, she already took the situation into her own hooves. After minutes of anxious observance, there was an opening between the townsponies big enough for her to gallop accross the street into the alleys behind the houses and buildings. She sprinted.

The blocks of buildings in Ponyville were split up with alleyways of cobblestone, just like the streets. Each house contained four to six flats, each housing a family of ponies. The back yards consisted of wash tub areas, gardens where fruits, vegetables, and flowers were grown, and outhouses where ponies did their bathroom business. Sweetie knew that the toilets led to pits connected to underground tunnels where well-paid ‘muck ponies’ removed the waste, which was taken and converted into fertilizer for use out in the farms.

Well off ponyfolk had their own plumbing systems and flushing toilets, bath tubs, and sinks. So did Rarity’s shop, Sugarcube corner, and the Golden Oaks Library.

Sweetie treaded carefully through the alleys, and dashed across the streets as she made her way to the edge of town, but she got lost and zig-zagged for a few hours, running, then hiding in somepony’s backyard outhouse.

She considered visiting Twilight again, but under the ‘hex’ of her survival instinct, she did not trust Twilight Sparkle one bit. Twilight did nothing for her. No doubt she’d hoof her right back to Applejack. Maybe Sweetie would have knocked on Twilight’s door if she was thinking rationally, but not now.

The clock tower rang its chime. 60° in the afternoon. She also heard the school bell ringing, marking the end of school for the day and the beginning of summer break. Sweetie was filled with dismay and dread as she found herself near the school again. Then, she came accross the library and comtemplated again actually knocking on Twilight’s door. She hid in a bush, afraid of the Apple ponies finding her. No doubt Applejack sent out a hunting party.

Sweetie pondered. Maybe Twilight tried to help her, from what Applebloom and Scootaloo explained about Twilight being at the farm shouting at Applejack about her. She’d be safe at the treehouse, once inside. Twilight would teleport her out of Ponyville and somewhere safe-

Sweetie shook her head at the thought-

The door was kicked open, and a frantic Twilight Sparkle came shooting out of the library, galloping at full speed, her eyes bloodshot and her mane and tail a complete mess. After countless hours (or days) of studying, work and caffeine, the unicorn looked like she had been on drugs.

“Crap, crap crap, crap, crap!!” Twilight shrieked to herself as she bolted past Sweetie’s hiding spot. In her frantic hurrying, Twilight missed the root she otherwise would have seen and tripped her front hooves on it. She stumbled several steps then recovered, but not before her left saddlebag popped open, releasing its cargo as she flopped about trying not to plant her face in the ground.

The package, wrapped in paper hit the hard-packed dirt as Twilight sped off, completely unaware she lost the most important thing she had to take wherever she was going. She got so harried that she failed to even notice her left saddlebag was now 30 bars lighter.

Sweetie waited until Twilight Sparkle disappeared from sight. So much for asking for her help. But her survival instincts told her the package on the ground, less than three trots away from her...could be useful.

Sweetie waited until nopony was around or looking, and she sprang out from behind the bushes, grabbed the package with her teeth, realizing it was heavier than she expected, quickly dragged it back to her hiding spot. Stoked about her new gain, she stuffed the heavy package into her stolen sidebag. She decided the foal who owned the pair wouldn’t get more than a stiff verbal reprimand from his or her parents. A small price to pay for smashing the window and trying to pin the blame on her.

Sweetie Belle resumed her task of sneaking through Ponyville, and trying to find her way out. She knew the layout (and wondered why in her panic earlier she went around in circles and almost wound up back at the school), and made her way eastward through the alleyways and back streets. She pondered if her new sidebags would disguise her but she dismissed the thought. Very, very few ponies had a pink-purple mane, and she was easily recognizable by ponies thanks to her CMC days. If she tried to disguise herself with a hat or sunglasses, ponies would ask questions- why would anypony want to cover up their mane?

Getting out of Ponyville was not easy, she realized. The roads to the south or east lead to bridges to the outer parts of town accross the Bucephalus Brook, a 43-trot wide river. On the bridges, there was no cover, and she’d be found by somepony real quick. She doubted now that the Apples were in charge of the town guard, and that everpony now viewed her as Applejack’s filly, an excuse that she was delivering something to Fluttershy’s tree cottage seemed lame and pathetic.
The roads to the west led to the train station, and the fields, which she believed most were taken over by the Apple family. Not a safe way out.

She pondered hiding under a bridge until nightfall. Her stomach growled. She didn’t get a chance to eat her lunch. Then from the mouth of the alley where she hid, she saw the poop cart passing by. The poop cart was loaded at the edge of the river, where the entrance to the underground tunnels led. She watched intently as the cart was slowly pulled down to the stone hut under the bridge that led to Fluttershy’s.

She fled to a closer hiding spot and waited as buckets of manure were sealed and loaded onto the cart. After several degrees, the stallions began pulling the cart up to the street level, and proceeded to cross the bridge. Now was her chance. Sweetie Belle waited until no pony was looking, and she climbed aboard the cart as it passed her.
She was hidden away by the wooden fence around the cart.

She gagged at the smell of shit coming from the closed tin pails and wanted to jump back out, but stayed put as she was carried accross the bridge. She wondered how the hay anypony could do this poop job for a whole day. There weren’t even that many pails and she figured they were going to the south side of the river to collect more poop.

After crossing the bridge, the stallions unfastened themselves and opened the hatch in the ground. Sweetie panicked and jumped and climbed around the full buckets and quickly stashed herself away when the door to the back was unlatched and came down. The stallions grabbed the stack of empty buckets and went into the stairway that the ground hatch opened to reveal, leaving the cart, and Sweetie Belle unattended.

She peered out through the slits in the wooden fenced canopy and saw fewer ponies trotting around out here. She climbed out and ran.

Sweetie galloped in the direction of Fluttershy’s house, but had no intent on knocking on the fragile pegasus’ door. She passed the treehouse and dashed into the woods through a little trail Fluttershy took to visit all her little animal friends in their burrows.

Sweetie Belle found a good little grassy spot by a small two trot wide stream. The whole area was shaded by the tall canopy of the forest. In the distance, she saw the tall metal-limestone fence and the darker, more sinister looking vegetation of Everfree beyond. The fence was barely visible, obscured by trees and plants. She stepped down to the river, and dunked her head in for a much needed drink. She had been running and hiding all afternoon, and spent too much time roasting in the sunlight.

The filly suddenly snapped her head out of the water, gagged and coughed, wondering if in the frantic gulping of water she accidentally swallowed a small fish. But she didn’t feel anything in her stomach, so she took back to her spot where she left the saddlebags and her new prize. She had gotten this far, and wondered if her escape so far was aided by Princess Celestia, or if the Princess would put an end to this little escapade and see her back in Apple custody soon enough. But she didn’t care about that, she was too self determined. And now that she was safely hidden, she turned her attention to the package.

Author's Notes:

30 bars = 6 lbs / 2.72 kg. (1 bar = 3.175oz / 90g) 1lb (454g) = 5 bars)
Bar: A measurement of weight used by ponies. Same term applied to measurement of air pressure, also deemed to be weight in its own terms in Equestria.

Apple Jägers (Apple Hunters): a clan of hardy carnivore Apple ponies from the game-rich borderlands of New Pangaea, a region of Equestria thought to be uninhabitable by ponykind due to the dangerous beasts and plants that inhabit the area.

*Dammit, I want to get further along in the story, but more work comes up as I try to get there!