The House

The scream was unlike any either Rainbow Dash or Applejack had ever heard. Long and drawn out, it was feminine in nature and resonated throughout the night and seemed to echo throughout the forest behind them. It was the kind of screech that was painful to listen to, the kind that curdles the blood and chills the bones. A scream of pure, unadulterated fear. Rainbow and Applejack's eyes widened immediately before they looked at each other.

"Come on!" Applejack said as she ran for the house. Rainbow immediately jumped into action and followed Applejack to the front door. Applejack attempted to turn the doorknob but it was rusted in its position. The door was locked.

"Buck! It's locked!" Applejack said before standing back. "On three Dash!" Rainbow nodded and stood back with Applejack.

"One..." Applejack said breathing heavily. Both mares were scared out of their minds, but they both knew that there was a mare inside the house that was most likely in some kind of trouble.

"Two...THREE!"

With a mighty grunt, they both threw themselves into the door, knocking it open. The door stayed on its hinges and made an unbearably loud squeaking sound as it flew to reveal the main living atrium of the house. The house was as dilapidated on the inside as it was on the outside. Mold plagued everything and the stench of a rotting corpse wafted throughout the entire house. Cobwebs were in virtually every corner and hanging from the sparsely scattered furniture. The only light produced in the building was from the full moon outside. A single staircase led to the upstairs section of the house.

"Okay, Rainbow. Ah'll go right and check the kitchen too, you go left." Applejack whispered. "We meet back here in five minutes." Rainbow nodded, her eyebrows furrowed seriously.

"Right." The Pegasus said quietly as she began to move toward the staircase leading upstairs.

"Rainbow." Applejack whispered, earning the attention of the pegasus. "Be quiet. We don't know who else is here besides that mare. If anything goes wrong, call out." Rainbow nodded again as she continued walking. Suddenly, something under the house rumbled, making the floorboards tremble under the hooves of the two mares. This shocked the two of them, making Applejack let out a small squeak of surprise.

"What the hay was that?" Rainbow asked. Applejack looked at Rainbow, wide-eyed.

"Ah don't know." Applejack said with a gulp. "Let's just find her and get out of here." As Rainbow continued toward the staircase, Applejack turned and moved slowly through the downstairs living area, attempting to make her hoof-falls as light as she possibly could. She moved through the kitchen area that seemed to have doubled as a dining room sometime in the past and into a small hallway with three rooms with a door to the back porch at the end.

Applejack carefully looked into each one, peeking around the corners. She heard a whimper come from the last door on the left. Slowly, Applejack approached the room and opened the door cringing as it squeaked. Inside there was a closet that was slightly ajar. Applejack's stomach sunk in fear as she approached the closet, but she was a brave mare and she thought that she could see it through. The whimpering sounded like a mare, possibly the one that produced the scream. Applejack pulled the closet open to see nothing, but the crying continued, seemingly coming from something directly in front of her. She backed up slowly, her eyes widening in disbelief. She turned around and exited the room. She turned and noticed the door at the end of the hallway standing wide open. It shut slowly and easily.

"It's breezy tonight." Applejack whispered to herself. "Nothin' to worry about..."

_____

Rainbow Dash began to move up the old, foreboding stairs. The hoof-rail was broken in several places, producing jagged, wooden points that certainly looked to be dangerous to anyone climbing the stairs. At the top, nothing but pure darkness awaited Rainbow Dash. Slowly and steadily she stepped up the stairs, taking care not to make any of them creak too loudly. The pegasus would have used her wings to move up, but the stairs quickly led up to a small cramped space that wouldn't have allowed her wings to carry her. So she continued up on hoof and before long, she came to an upstairs hallway to her right, with five rooms.

She gulped to herself as she began to move down the long hallway. It was completely dark except for one beam of weak light produced by the moon from a room that's door was slightly ajar. She could barely see her hooves in front of her. Rainbow wished she could sing the song Pinkie Pie had taught her and her friends once about laughing at scary things, but she didn't feel much like laughing at that moment. She opened a door and looked inside, seeing absolutely nothing but cracked walls and chipped paint. She withdrew her head from the room and walked quietly to the next one. She opened the door slowly and looked around the inside of it. This one did not have a window, and the inside of it was barely visible thanks to the light produced from the room she had just checked.

She looked back and forth several times before seeing what looked like a shadow in the corner. Fear jolted through Rianbow Dash as she quickly closed her eyes and shook her head before opening them again and seeing absolutely nothing.

'I'm seeing things...' Rainbow thought to herself before moving on to check the next room.

_____

After checking the rest of the rooms, Applejack moved quietly back down the small hallway. She heard what sounded like hoof falls coming from behind her. She immediately turned around to see nothing. She breathed heavily and continued on before hearing them again. Again, she saw nothing behind her. Applejack's eyes widened slightly as she barely saw something moving around in the back yard of the house. Her breathing quickened and deepened so much that she had to stop herself and control the respirations. She continued on into the kitchen.

The stove was rusty and completely unusable. The counters were covered with grime and the icebox was disgustingly dirty and the wooden cabinets were rotten, much like the majority of the house. She stepped quietly through the kitchen, figuring that it was safe to go check on Rainbow Dash now, having explored the entirety of the downstairs of the house. Suddenly, as she left the kitchen, the faucet over the sink turned on, seemingly by itself.

Applejack slowly turned around, her eyes widening in fear. The water coming from the faucet was a dark brown, full of mud and what looked to be rust. It gurgled and popped, spitting its disgusting water out into the sink, the unstable flow causing some of it to fall onto the counter next to it.

"It's just...Old plumbing...backed up. Yeah, that's what it is." Applejack said to herself. This explanation did nothing to help Applejack's fear, which was steadily rising within her. The feeling that something was wrong there in that house grew steadily stronger and stronger. One of the upper cabinets above the sink slowly creaked open. Another one opened on its own across the kitchen, followed by another one. Applejack's fear and dread increased as each cabinet opened, until every single cabinet in the kitchen was standing wide open, exposing dirty, unkempt insides. Inside the lower leftmost cabinet, Applejack saw a dead rat. It was decomposing, its belly distended greatly. Blowflies flew in and around the small rotting corpse.

All the cabinets then slammed shut at the same time, making Applejack jump and cry out quietly in fear.

"What the hay is goin' on here?" She whispered to herself, her voice trembling as much as her legs were.

_____

Only one room remained in the dark hallway, and it was the room Rainbow Dash had been dreading the most. If something awful truly had happened, it would be in this last room. She hadn't heard Applejack make a sound, so she had assumed that her friend had not found anything of interest. She gently nudged the door, making it open slowly with a long, drawn-out creak. Rainbow slowly stepped into the room to behold a mare sitting and facing a corner. She was a dark blue earth pony with a blonde mane and tail. The cutie mark adorning her flank appeared to be a well-frosted cake with several sparkles around it. Aside from the fact that she was sitting and facing a corner, she seemed to be free of harm. Rainbow Dash quickly moved to the closet and looked inside it, seeing nothing and no one.

"Hey...are you okay?" Rainbow asked, figuring the mare to be the source of the scream she and Applejack heard earlier. The mare was completely silent as she continued to face the corner, not moving or saying a word to Rainbow Dash. "Why did you scream?" She still said nothing in reply. Rainbow Dash moved to the doorway.

"Hey Applejack, come here! I found her! She's okay!" Rainbow called. When she received no response, she gulped slowly and approached the mare.

"Hey, why did you scream? I need you to tell me, okay?" The moon suddenly was blotted out by a rather large cloud, causing darkness to encompass the room.

"Don't be scared." Rainbow said to the mare. "When I can actually see again, I'll get you out of here." Rainbow suddenly saw something moving in the dark and felt something push her against the wall she stood in front of. She gasped in fear and tried to fight whatever held her, but it seemed to hold her, embrace her even. The moon came out from behind the cloud to reveal that the force that held Rainbow Dash against the wall was the mare that was sitting in the corner.

She was astoundingly beautiful. A small amount of makeup was on her face so as to bring out her nearly perfectly symmetrical facial features. Her flowing blonde mane was nearly perfectly done into a curly pattern somewhat akin to Rarity's. Her bright green eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, and her lips were curved up in a sultry smirk. Rainbow had associated with her fair share of stallions in the past, but she had also dated several mares as well, and Rainbow could not deny that this particular mare emanated a distinct sexual charm.

"What the hay are you doing?" Rainbow asked, snapping out of her short stupor. "Get off of me!" Rainbow attempted to push the mare off of her, but she was stronger than she looked. Suddenly and completely arbitrarily, the mare placed her lips upon Rainbows, making Rainbow gasp. The pegasus pushed the mare off for a short time.

"Stop it!" Rainbow said before the mare reconnected their lips. "Cut it out, this...is..." Rainbow was smothered by the mare's lips. Still completely astounded by this unprecedented and extremely forward gesture from the mare that she had met just seconds before, Rainbow stopped attempting to push her off and gradually let the mare kiss her. She was a good kisser, among the best Rainbow had ever encountered. The mare subtly squeezed Rainbow's sides and smiled into the kiss, looking Rainbow straight in her eyes as she continued to lock lip with the stunned pegasus. Rainbow began to blush heavily as this extremely attractive mare continued to kiss her. Suddenly, an unexpected flow of libido shot through Rainbow's body and slowly, Rainbow began to return the kiss.

'Well, she seems to be alone...This is weird...' Rainbow thought as her mind began to get clouded with sexual arousal. 'Oh, what the hay...'

Rainbow Dash returned the kiss in full, slipping her tongue into the mare's mouth. The mare reciprocated this motion, making Rainbow moan with need into the kiss. Rainbow did not know why she was suddenly giving into the temptations of this beautiful mystery mare, but she was loving it.

As she continued to move her body against this mare's, Rainbow Dash barely registered footfalls coming down the hallway outside the room.

_____

Applejack's breathing quickened and her heart pounded heavily in her chest as her eyes darted back and forth quickly around the kitchen. She quickly turned to leave the kitchen, only to have the door to the main atrium shut in her face, hitting her nose. Applejack cried out in pain and stumbled back, clutching her nose. She felt a warm liquid begin to flow onto her hoof and discovered that her nose was bleeding.

"Oh...Ow..." Applejack said, blinking back tears. Suddenly Applejack heard a moan coming from the dark, suddenly pitch-black small hallway. It was a moan of someone in horrible pain. The kind of moan that would make one sick to their stomach. The moaning grew louder and louder, escalating exponentially in volume. Heavy hoof falls then began to echo down the small hallway, making Applejack back up quickly into the wall farthest away from the hallway. Louder and louder the steps became, coming closer and closer to the end of the hallway, becoming unbearably loud. Applejack began to hyperventilate in fear as she whimpered, her eyes widening. The steps suddenly stopped, as well as the moaning. All Applejack heard was her own terrified whimpering and the huffs of her breathing.

The one chair at the table in the middle of the kitchen began to slowly move out from underneath the table. It made an unbearable dragging sound against the floor that seemed to be amplified to be louder than possible. It then creaked, as if someone or something sat in it, but Applejack saw nothing. Silence encompassed the room once more, nothing moving or making a sound. For minutes this silence continued, making Applejack's heart beat faster and faster.

"Join me." A low voice whispered next to Applejack's ear.

Applejack screamed in pure terror and sprinted to the door, attempting to open it, shaking the knob wildly. Applejack looked back at the kitchen as she tried to open the door. Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound. Applejack stood back from the door and ran at it with all her might, knocking it off its hinges and sending her down into the main atrium of the house. Applejack's shoulder burned with pain.

'Gotta find Rainbow Dash!...' Applejack thought as she sprinted up the stairs. 'Gotta get out...'

_____

Rainbow Dash moved her hooves up the back of her newfound and unexpected sexual partner. She moaned loudly as the mare moved her hooves down to Rainbow's flank and began to massage it slowly. If Rainbow's wings weren't pressed against a wall, they would have flared out in arousal. The mare moved her lips to Rainbow's neck and began to suck on the sensitive skin, causing Rainbow to moan once more and close her eyes, basking in the euphoria.

"I don't...nya!...know why you're doing this..." Rainbow whispered in between breaths. "But please...don't stop." The mare suddenly moved one of her back legs up to meet Rainbow Dash's aching marehood, making her gasp loudly. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she was overtaken by the sensations this mare was providing her with. Rainbow moved her fore hooves around the mare's waist, giving herself a better hold. The mare drew her tongue up Rainbow Dash's neck in a slow, arousing motion. With a strange popping noise, the tongue moved quickly in a strange direction away from it's path on Rainbow's neck. Rainbow opened her eyes and turned to look at the mare.

"Are you oka..." Rainbow said but stopped her sentence early as she laid her eyes upon the mare...or rather, what she had become.

The mare was no longer beautiful. Flesh was hanging from her face. No eyes rested within the empty sockets, and her skin was decaying to where Rainbow could see most of her broken, jagged teeth. Her hair was torn and tangled, a complete mess and the most significant smell of rotting, dead flesh filled Rainbow's nostrils. Whatever clouded Rainbow's mind disappeared instantly as she became clear minded again. Rainbow screamed, pushing the dead mare off of her and ran out of the room as quickly as she could. She ran down the hallway, breathing heavily, before she almost tripped on something.

It was Applejack.

Her friend was laying on her back on the floor, gripping at her throat, which had been cut open. Rainbow screamed and dropped down, taking a hold of Applejack, her best friend, who was now dying in her arms. Applejack choked on her own blood and sputtered at Rainbow Dash pathetically. Rainbow Dash began to hyperventilate, losing more and more oxygen with each frenzied, frantic breath. Her mind buzzed frenetically as she felt Applejack's blood flowing down her body.

"Applejack! Applejack, oh Goddesses, what happened? Oh, oh no no no no!" Rainbow said, tears running down her cheeks as her best friend's blood drenched her. "Don't die, Applejack, please don't die!!!" Rainbow quickly looked behind her and saw the mare's corpse, standing in the moonlight produced by one of the rooms. Rainbow quickly turned back to Applejack and continued to cry. Applejack's eyes began to roll back into her head as she continued to choke and gurgle. Rainbow sobbed and held Applejack closer.

"Applejack, don't you dare die on me!" Rainbow yelled and tried herself to stop the massive bleeding from Applejack's neck. She turned around to see that the corpse had disappeared. She turned back around.

Applejack was dead.

Rainbow Dash's best friend had just died in her hooves.

"Applejack?! APPLEJACK?! APPLEJACK!!!" Rainbow screamed, the volume of her screams growing with her realization of what had just happened. Rainbow began sobbing over Applejack's corpse, mourning the loss of her companion. Tears flowed endlessly down Rainbow's cheeks and onto Applejack's corpse.

"Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow heard a familiar voice say. Rainbow looked up and saw Applejack standing there with a bloody nose and tears running down her cheeks, but otherwise alive and well. The pegasus then looked down at where Applejack's corpse was seconds previously. It was gone. Completely vanished. What Rainbow had seen had only been an illusion. Rainbow looked up at Applejack and screamed,

"APPLEJACK!!!" The pegasus leaped forward and wrapped her forehooves around the farm mare, holding her tightly as she began to sob uncontrollably, her tears wetting Applejack's coat. Applejack held Rainbow and sobbed herself.

"Ah'm here, Dash." Applejack said. "Ah'm here."

"I...I...thought you were dead!" Rainbow cried. Applejack's eyes widened heavily as she took Rainbow Dash off of her.

"Rainbow Dash." Applejack said. "We need to leave. We need to leave right now!"

_____

Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran as fast as they possibly could through the Everfree Forest, away from the terrible place. Fresh images of what they had seen still flashed frequently through their minds as they tried their hardest to put as much distance between them and the house as much as possible. Small branches flew against their faces and spider's webs caught in their manes. They didn't care though, as long as they got away from that house. Rainbow Dash's body was drained almost completely of energy by the time they got out of the Everfree and Ponyville came into their sights. She wheezed heavily as a result of her previous hyperventilation at the sight of what she thought was Applejack dying on the floor.

They both began to run down the hill toward Ponyville before Rainbow tripped and began tumbling. She came to a stop and spoke weakly to Applejack.

"Applejack!" She called. "Wait!" Applejack quickly turned around and saw Rainbow Dash on the ground, struggling to get up. Worried for her friend's safety, Applejack ran to Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was gasping for air and her legs were trembling. Her face was extremely pale from lack of air, and her ears were splayed back from all the stress.

"Rainbow! Are you okay?" Applejack said between heavy breaths.

"Can't...go on...anymore..." Rainbow gasped. She coughed roughly. "Can't..."

"Hold on, Dash." Applejack said as she began to help Rainbow up. "Here get on my back." The pegasus climbed up onto the farm mare's back and held on tight. Applejack then began to run back to Ponyville. Once they entered the town, Applejack found a bench and sat Rainbow Dash down on it before taking a seat next to her. Rainbow had gotten some control over her breathing back and some color had returned to her face. They both sat there for what seemed like an hour before either of them said anything.

"Are you okay?" Applejack asked Rainbow Dash, who sat next to her, trembling.

"N-no..." Rainbow said. "No I'm not."

"What happened, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"I...I...." Rainbow struggled to get the words out as a fresh wave of tears began to flow from her eyes. She sobbed as she wrapped Applejack into another embrace Applejack held Rainbow close and squeezed her reassuringly. Rainbow cried for about a minute before she said anything. "I thought y-you were d-dead..."

"You thought Ah was dead?" Applejack asked. Rainbow looked at her and nodded, tears continuing to flow down her cheeks as she suppressed another sob. Applejack tenderly wiped Rainbow's tears away and stroked her mane out of her eyes. "Start from the beginnin' Dash. What happened to you?" Applejack said. Rainbow attempted to control herself long enough to tell Applejack just what she had seen.

"Well...I went up the s-stairs to look for the m-mare that screamed. It w-was...dark. Really dark. So I w-went into the different rooms and I saw a...a shadow in the dark...like something w-was standing there. But I b-blinked and it was gone, so I moved on the next rooms. I didn't see anything until...until I came to...that room." Rainbow said before sniffling, taking a few more deep breaths and continuing. "There was...a mare. Sitting and facing the corner. I thought for s-sure that she must have been the source of the scream. So I asked her if she was okay. She didn't say anything. I called out to you from the room. Why didn't you answer?"

"Ah didn't hear a thing, Rainbow." Applejack said. "Honest." Rainbow sighed and slowly nodded.

"Well, the moon went behind a cloud and it was really dark. All of a sudden, this mare pushed me against a wall, and...and just kissed me." Rainbow continued.

"She kissed you?" Applejack asked, her eyes widening slightly. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I'm telling you, it's true!" Rainbow said. "She had this...way about her. My mind went all foggy and I actually started to..." Rainbow Dash blushed heavily. "...reciprocate her kiss. It's like she had some kind of power over me. I close my eyes for a second and when I open them again..." Rainbow shuddered heavily. "She was...a corpse."

"A corpse?" Applejack asked. "Like a dead body?"

"Yeah, a rotting corpse. She...S-she had no eyes and I could see her teeth and...I...I c-could smell her. Goddesses, it was the worst thing I have ever smelled. So I...I pushed her off and I ran out of the room, and...and..." Fresh tears came and Rainbow sobbed once more, bending over and clenching her teeth. Applejack put a fore hoof over Rainbow's shoulders. Rainbow continued to cry as she continued. "I saw you...I saw you on the floor. Your n-n-neck had been cut open and you b-blood was everywhere. I tried to save you...You...You died in my hooves...Your blood was all over me, Applejack! I felt it!" Rainbow broke down once more and grabbed onto Applejack, sobbing heavily. Applejack stroked her mane slowly in a vain attempt to calm the terrified pegasus.

"Please believe me..." Rainbow said after she had cried for what seemed like half an hour. "Please, I'm not making this up."

"Ah believe ya, sugarcube." Applejack said. "What happened to me makes it a lot easier." Rainbow sat up off Applejack.

"What happened to you, AJ?" Rainbow asked, worried.

"Well, Ah went through the downstairs kitchen and didn't really see anything strange. After that, Ah went down this small hallway. In one of the rooms, Ah heard somepony crying...So Ah went into the room and looked into the closet it was coming from, but no one was there. Ah walked out of the room and went down the hallway into the kitchen. The door leading into the backyard shut on its own, but Ah chalked it up to the wind." Applejack sighed before she continued. "Ah went back into the kitchen and the faucet turned on by itself. Then, every single cabinet in the kitchen opened by itself, one by one." Tears flooded Applejack's eyes as she continued.

"Ah, uh...tried to leave the kitchen at that point, but the door slammed in my face. Then Ah...Ah hear this moanin'...this terrible moanin' coming from the hallway Ah had just left minutes before...Goddesses, it was awful...It sounded like someone dyin', Dash." Applejack said. "These footsteps start stompin' down the hallway slowly. They got so loud Ah felt like Ah was gonna go deaf. Then they stopped...the moanin' too...And...the chair at the table...it got pulled out by itself and somethin' sat in it, but Ah couldn't see anything. Everything was quiet for a few minutes. Then...Then..." Applejack sniffled and put a hoof on her forehead.

"Then what, Applejack?" Rainbow said quietly.

"Then...somethin'...spoke to me. Right next to my ear." Applejack said with a shudder.

"What did it say, Applejack?" Rainbow asked. Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash slowly and inhaled sharply before wiping tears from her eyes.

"It said...'Join me.'" Applejack said. "Ah broke the door down after that and went up the stairs to find you cradlin'...well, nothin'. You were screaming and crying and Ah thought you were hurt."

"What I was cradling was you, Applejack." Rainbow said. "Or...at least...I thought it was."

A cold wind blew at that moment, but it didn't make either mare cold. Their bones were chilled enough as it was.

"Well..." Applejack asked. "What...What do we do?"

"We need to go to Twilight and tell her what happened." Rainbow said. "What was in that house...that...thing... It's evil. We need to get the Elements of Harmony together." Rainbow said, her eyebrows furrowing. Applejack nodded.

"When?" Applejack asked.

"Tomorrow." Rainbow said. "Twilight would just be grumpy and not want to listen to us if we went to her now."

"Well, Ah guess...Ah'll...see ya tomorrow mornin', Dash." Applejack said as she stood up shakily and began to walk away.

"Applejack, wait!" Rainbow said.

"What is it?" Applejack asked.

"Could I..." Rainbow began with a gulp. "Forget it." Rainbow stood and began to unfurl her wings.

"No, Rainbow." Applejack said. "What is it? Tell me." Rainbow sighed and closed her eyes. She looked at Applejack, more tears running down her cheeks.

"Could I...stay with you tonight?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I...don't want to be alone." Applejack immediately nodded and motioned for Rainbow Dash to come closer to her. Rainbow moved to Applejack, the farm mare putting a foreleg around her shoulders.

"Let's get some sleep." Applejack said as they headed for Sweet Apple Acres. "We'll feel better in the morning."

But both mares knew all too well that neither of them would be getting a minute of sleep that night.

Obligatory End-of-Chapter Author's Note: Good God (or should I say Goddesses?) I have been dying to write that chapter. I had so much fun with it that my heart actually started pounding as I was writing the scary stuff. Perhaps that was just me typing in the pitch black dark with creepy music playing for inspiration. I hope you guys had as much creepy fun reading this as I did writing it! This tale of terror has only just begun. Cheers!