Pain. That was the first thing to race through Applejack’s mind. She hurt all over, from the tips of her hooves to the end of her dishevelled mane. She tried to crack open her left eye but found the eyelid stuck down with a viscous liquid. Applejack then attempted to open her right eye. It opened slowly, her exhaustion making it difficult to even begin raising the eyelid, but she succeeded.

The sight she saw wasn’t much better than the one she saw when blinded. Her vision was blurry and wavy, nothing could be seen clearly. Applejack managed to distinguish small shapes in her vision. They seemed to move fast and erratically. Her hearing was slowly returning to her as well. Cries of anguish and grating, unnatural screams sounded off from every direction.

Applejack opened her mouth determined to cry for help. All she came out with was a gurgling high pitched whine she could barely hear herself. Suddenly a large shape moved over her blocking off the other shapes. She couldn't recall what the shape was or who it was, but without hesitation it picked her up and ran away from the monstrous screams.

Some time later the shape stopped and laid her down. She couldn't turn her head to view the large shape. Applejack felt herself being manually turned to face the shadowy shape. It crouched down low over her, It made some grumbling noises that could have been words. When the shape realized she wasn’t going to answer it turned away from her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack noticed another shape high above her. Her blurry eyesight only told her it was smaller than the shape that had carried her, but her mind was screaming with alarm bells. This new shape moved slowly downwards and where the large shape that had carried her moved with a calm almost concerned and friendly way, this new shape moved with a precision slowness that made her think of a predator.

She attempted to shout and scream to get the large shapes attention. Again she let off the high pitched whine, but this time she managed to thump her right foreleg on the ground. The large shape turned towards her but it was too late.

The smaller shape dropped so fast she barely saw it. But she definitely heard it. There was panicked shouting and vicious snarls that lasted for only a few seconds. There was silence and suddenly a loud crack echoed in Applejack’s ears. Applejack tried to tune the sound out but it was no use. Then there was a wet gurgling sound that made Applejack’s insides go cold.

Finally, there was a soft thump and the tortured gurgling stopped.

A soft flapping sound brought Applejack’s attention to her front. There was a shape directly in front of her. But it wasn’t the large shape that had carried her. It was splayed and had different parts sticking out all over it. This was the shape she had seen on the ceiling. Applejack tried to look away, but she was frozen, unable to blink or move.

Another shape flashed repeatedly in her vision.It had a large bottom and thinner top that parted near the summit into two pointed spikes. The majority of it was black but it was wrapped in harsh red lines. Suddenly the shape flew towards her and everything turned black.

“Make Us Whole”

Applejack gasped loudly as she jumped up from her bed, standing on the covers. She was panting and covered in a cold sweat. She looked around eyes wide. It was her room, exactly as she remembered it. She was standing on a large queen size bed that had her stetson on the corner.

It was all the same, no mysterious shadows or screams, just her room. Applejack relaxed sniffing slightly.

“Damn it” She cursed softly trying to stop herself from sniffing.

This was the most recent in a long line of nightmares. Generally they were all different but all of them as equally as horrible and disturbing as the rest. But they all had one thing in common. That black object and those words. “Make Us Whole” what did they even mean? Not only that but the farm needed all the help it could get as it was a busy harvest season.

These nightmares usually happened once a week on a random day. Applejack had begun to get so nervous of sleeping that she sometimes stayed up until she could stay awake no longer. All of her friends and family knew that something was up. She talked and acted differently. But this had happened before. They knew that Applejack was a notoriously stubborn pony and she wouldn't ask for help until she really needed it. Then they would see what they could do.

But this time it was different, not only did Applejack show signs of sleep deprivation but she always checked behind her. As if she was afraid someone or something was watching her…

Over at the Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle was watching her sister pacing back and forth. Sweetie had noticed some changes in Rarity over the past couple of weeks. She was smiling less and she seemed more flustered than Sweetie had ever seen her. Sure she wore a mask of happiness when her friends came round, but Sweetie saw a different side of Rarity when no one else was looking. Rarity would pace and whisper to herself. It was worrying her that Rarity was so stressed. Maybe she had a really big order to fill. But she had barely touched her dresses in days.

But the main thing that had Sweetie worried happened yesterday…

Sweetie had come home from a long and arduous day at school. Applebloom was busy at her family’s farm and Scootaloo was busy watching Rainbow Dash. She wanted to release all her pent up energy and since her friends were busy maybe her sister could play with her.

But when Sweetie had entered Rarity’s inspiration room she stopped. Rarity was slumped over her desk and was quietly scraping her hoof across the wooden surface of the desk. However when Sweetie tried to get her attention...

“Um… Rarity?”

Rarity had almost screamed in surprise when Sweetie had said that in turn causing Sweetie to jump. Rarity looked back at her with wide eyes then quickly ran up the stairs and hastily shut the door to her bedroom.

Sweetie just didn’t know what was going on. She wanted to talk to her sister about it but Rarity just deflected the questions she put forward. What was she going to do?

Author's Note

This is just a little test to try out my grim dark writing skills so don't take it too seriously. I wrote this a while ago but debated whether I should release it, eventually I decided to put it up, so here you go.