Chapters "All aboard who's coming aboard! The train leaves in three minutes!"
"Ah'm gonna miss ya cous'. Have fun in Appleoosa. Say hi to Brae fer me." Babs Seed waved goodbye as Applebloom disappeared into the train.
"See ya in a month, Babs!" The yellow filly replied.
"One month, two weeks, and five days, if my math is correct." Pinkie Pie showed Applebloom the notebook she had been using to calculate how long they would be gone. It had absolutely no math written in it whatsoever. Pinkie hadn't even wrote a single number. The pages were just covered in doodles and sketches. "See? Numbers don't lie."
"A huh... Anyway, thanks so much fer lettin' me come with ya Applejack! I'm so exited!"
"No thanks necessary, sis'. By the way, have ya' seen Rarity? She was supposed to meet us here half an hour ago."
"We're here!" a small, squeaky voice yelled out in reply.
Rarity appeared from the dust, alongside a tall, thin stallion with a light tan coat. His red, curly mane was hidden under a round yellow hat.
"Rarity, dear, don't you think making Sweetie Belle carry your bags might be a bit rude?"
"Oh! Silly me! I'm so sorry. I'll take these." she turned around and levitated her bags off her sister's back.
"Thanks, Flim," the filly looked up to her possible future brother-in-law. "You may have tried to throw my friend's farm out of buisn-"
"Please, don't remind me," he interrupted.
"Oh, right. I forgot..." she was about to apologize, but stopped when she felt herself being lifted onto Flim's back. Sweetie Belle leaned forward to look at the unicorn and smiled. Rarity ha never been so nice to her before, but ever since she met Flim, she'd been acting really strange.
"It's about time y'all got here! We've been waitin' fer ya f-" Applejack stopped mid-sentence. "You..." she scowled at her former business opponent.
Flim bit his lower lip and tried to ignore the mare, but couldn't. Rainbow Dash was the first to notice he looked as if he was going to burst into tears at any moment.
"Flim, you okay?" The multicolor pegasus asked, placing a hoof around his shoulder. "You don't look too good."
"I'm fine," he lied and unhooked himself from Rainbow's grasp.
"Are you sure?"
"Rainbow, there's nothing wrong."
"Really? 'Cause I think there is."
"Flim, if somethings bothering you, you need to tell us. I hate having to see you like this." Rarity said to her coltfriend with a worried look on her face.
Flim turned toward the window as a tear rolled down his face. Applebloom placed a hoof on his lap. He looked down at his former opponent and let out a soft cry, which worried the young apple farmer. "Pwease Tew us whas wong," she gave him her best puppy-dog face. "Pwease?"
Braeburn gave an angry groan and flopped down on his back. The bed bounced and creaked as he fell. Why now? Why her? He thought to him self as he buried his face in his hooves. "I wish I could just crawl in a hole and die..." Sobbing, Braeburn looked outside at Rarity, standing right outside his house. "Look at everypony. Out minding their own business and not even noticing me! Why can't they see what I see? Why can't you hear his lies?" Braeburn yelled as he bust out the door. He turned to Flim. "Your disguise is slipping. You're beginning to fear me. Can you really hear me? I feel you're slipping away, so go ahead! Run away! Spread the word! Tell a friend! Look at him! Not a word! You ponies all need to learn this world is going to burn! No sign of AJ? Good. I would give anything not to have her see the real me." He looked around, hoping not to see his orange cousin. "I don't think you realize who he is, do you? You are not a hero. You never will be."
Braeburn swung in for the first punch. Frightened, Flim jumped out of the way and almost knocked himself over. He did not want to hurt Braeburn, but he had no choice. He stood tall, glaring down at the shorter stallion. Braeburn took this opportunity and lunged. He could've succeeded, but he forgot Flim had magic. "Put me down!" He protested. As the green aura around his body faded, he turned around and kicked the unicorn in the muzzle. Before Flim had time to recover, Braeburn already had him pinned against a large apple tree.
"What do you want from me?" He asked trough gritted teeth. He only received a punch to the face in response. Flim pushed Braeburn off him, only to end up on the ground once more. "Would you just leave me alone?"
"SHAY AHAY FRM RARIHY!" He managed to say through his mouthful of mane. Braeburn let go of Flim and pushed him away. "Why were you-" He started, but was interrupted by a hoof hitting him near his eye. "What was tha-" another hit. "KNOCK IT O-" Flim had finished punching the younger opponent, but it was too late. He had just served a large can of death on Appleoosa. Braeburn charged at the unicorn, causing him to fall dangerously close to the cliffs separating the town from the apple orchard.
"Please, Braeburn, don't-" Before he could finish, Braeburn picked him up by his tie (it was surprisingly easy, since he is a lot larger than Braeburn). The last thing he heard was the screams of a heartbroken Rarity, watching the love of her life being knocked off the edge of a cliff. Not even Rainbow Dash was able to save Flim in time. When she finally caught up, he was already dead.
"Why would you do something like this?" Pinkie had never heard of anypony be murdered before. It was like torture to her fragile heart. Tears ran down her precious face as she sat staring her possible cousin (Pinkie Apple Pie reference).
Everypony was speechless. Even Braeburn didn't know what to do. Terrified, he ran through the crowd searching for Applejack. When he didn't find her, he tried to hide inside his home.
"I'm a monster," Braeburn looked out his window to see everypony mourning the death of Flim. "A horrible, heart-breaking, date-crashing, pony-killing monster!"
"is that so?" a familiar voice, similar to Braeburn's, called to him.
"You!" He turned around to see his guest. "You just had to come and ruin everything, didn't you? Are you happy now? Is this what you wanted?"
The other Braeburn simply closed his eyes and laughed. "You really think you can get rid of me, just like that?! HA! I am a part of you! You cannot destroy me without destroying yourself! I know what you truly want: Rarity."
"Leave me alone! What did I do to deserve this? All I want is my friend back! I don't need you!"
"You think you have complete power over me?! You think you can control me?! You think you can close your eyes and make me disappear?! I am not what you think I am. I am not a dream. I will stay until you die! I am the nightmare that lives on! I am you, and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" He stood tall, surprisingly taller than Braeburn, considering they are the same pony.
"GO AWAY!"
"Soon you will see. This is who you are meant to be."
"No, it's not! I am not a monster! I am not you!"
"Yes, you are. You always have been. Everypony knows that now. They know all about you. Look around. Everypony hates us. Know why? Because you're a monster. Just like always."
"STOP SAYING THAT! I DON'T NEED YOU HERE! I CAN MAKE MY OWN CHOICES! YOU CANNOT CONTROL ME! I AM NOT YOUR PUPPET!"
"Do you want to know why I'm here? I'm here because you keep me here! You need me! You are completely incapable of reaching your destiny without me! I am the only reason you are still alive!" the larger of the two snapped before disappearing into thin air.
"WELL, I- I- I......... am talking to myself..." Braeburn sighed and looked at his reflection in the window. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I am only surviving off his power. Maybe- NO! I don't need him, he needs me !"
"Big Mac, have you seen Braeburn? I need to ask him something." Applejack asked her brother.
Big Macintosh hesitated, then said, "Nope." He could not bring himself to say any more. AJ might've been vague on what she needed to talk to Braeburn for, but Big Mac could tell what she had said was a lie.
"Oh, okay." The orange mare walked away, leaving Mac alone. Or at least, he seemed to be alone.
"Is she gone?" a stallion's voice asked from a group of bushes.
"Eyup, she's gone."
"Good." With a shake, the leaves parted to allow Braeburn to climb out from his hiding spot. "Big Mac, can I tell you a secret?"
"Brae, you know I'm terrible at keeping secrets!"
"Please! I would tell AJ, but I don't think she's going to want to help me after what I've done." Braeburn looked away, trying to hide the tears running down his face.
Big Mac couldn't stand to see his cousin so upset. Flim might be dead, but that doesn't mean Braeburn didn't deserve forgiveness. "I can't make any promises, but if it means this much to you, I'll try not to tell anypony."
Brae took a deep breath. "Ever since AJ and her friends came to drop off Bloomberg, I've been getting these strange nightmares. Every time, I eventually look into a mirror or a puddle, but my reflection doesn't copy my movements. It's like it has a mind of it's own, which, I think it does. You see, last night was the same as always, but this time, it wasn't a reflection. there was a whole other pony staring at me. He looked like me, but a different mane, and this pony had fangs." he looked at his bedroom window, then back to his older cousin. "He's been visiting me during the day too. I've been trying to ignore him, but no matter what I do, he just won't leave me alone!"
"Brae," Big Mac knelt down to look into Braeburn's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Well, I guess I just thought you would assume I was crazy. Besides, it wasn't really a problem until now."
"Hello? Anypony here?" Braeburn trotted into the train station, it being the only standing building left in Appleoosa. "Where is everypony? What happened here?" He squinted to see somepony walking towards him. "'Oh, thank Celestia. I thought I was the only pony here."
"You are. Well, we are," The other pony smiled menacingly. "And you are the cause of it."
"What do you mean?" Braeburn tried to understand, but nothing was making any sense.
The other pony stepped out of the shadows. "I tried to tell you. You should have seen this coming. You did this. Everypony is dead. And it's all your fault." He removed his hat, revealing the stallion underneath. "If only you had listened to me."
"NO! GO AWAY! YOU DID THIS, NOT ME! IF THIS WAS ME I WOULD'VE KN-" Brae stopped, realizing what he was about to say. "I would've known about it... I knew why everypony was gone. I knew why the houses were destroyed. I did do it after all."
"It's about time you payed attention."
"No."
"What?"
"I said 'No'." This has gone far enough! Braeburn thought to himself. "I will not let this get out of hoof! I know this is a dream, and you know it too!"
The other Braeburn sighed and said his last words for the night. "Fine. This might be a nightmare, but the next time, you won't be as lucky."
"Next time? What do you mean, 'next time'? I already know how to control you! I already know how to stop you!" What am I saying? I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing... Braeburn tried to wake up, but nothing worked. "No." he tried harder. "No!" harder. "NO!" with one last try, he was still asleep. "HELP! SOMEONE, HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEPONY, WAKE ME UP! I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS ANYMORE! PLEASE! HELP!" Braeburn gave up trying and looked down at his hooves, which were starting to turn grey the more he looked. "What the?" he stood up and trotted to a window. "That doesn't look right..." Brae's reflection did not show him or evil him, but somepony completely new. He did a quick 360 to check and make sure he didn't look like the reflection. He did.
"You are not the only one, young Braeburn." an easy to recognize voice mumbled over his shoulder.
"Princess Luna?!" Braeburn turned around to see the princes of the night. "What are you doing here?"
"I felt a disruption of dark magic coming from you, so I came to make sure everything was okay." Luna looked nervous, as if the thought brought back bad memories, nightmares, to be exact. "Have you gotten these dreams often?"
Braeburn nodded. "They aren't exactly dreams anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I think the nightmares are becoming real. I was forced to kill an innocent pony, and there was nothing I could do to stop it."
Interested Princess Luna wrapped a hoof over Braeburn's shoulder and hinted him to continue.
"I didn't know what it was at the time, but as I thought about it more,I-" Braeburn stopped, seeing another alicorn in the distance slowly disappear. "Who was that?"
"You will understand later." Luna replied, before disappearing into the night sky.
