They Came from the Everfree

The dirt crunched loudly beneath my feet, this was another ordinary walk, but for some reason, my feet felt a lot heavier. Like I was dragging a wrecking ball behind each heel.

The night sky here was absolutely astonishing. No matter how much I stared at the ground, my eyes found their way back upwards. The night sky was not black, like you would expect, it was, instead, a violet color. Yet not to cover up the beauty of the stars. There were millions of stars up there. You could only see a few in our base in Kufa. Here, it was so dark and away from civilization, the entire sky was like a light show put out for me. It almost made me sad that Grayson wasn't out here to see it, too.

Almost...

Grayson was great, he gets on my nerves a lot, but he's never let me down before. He jokes around a lot, but knows enough about what he's doing to get away with it. I want to be in his boots some day, hopefully even above him. I held amazing respect for Gray, he was the role-model of the century.

Lost in my thought, I hadn't realized I could no longer see my trail. The dirt crunching under my socks was the only thing letting me know I wasn't floating. There was a spot in the night sky with the distinct shape of a hill, with some sort of structure pitching above.

'There it is...' I thought.

I spun on my heels, and took several steps before dirt became grass. The thorns would have bothered me, had my feet not already been callused to nail-break hardness. I trudged up the steep hill, reaching the top in about twenty seconds of grueling climb.

Looking around, it was still far too dark to see anything. Only the very faint outlines of trees I had to focus on to detect. I moved toward the barn with my hands outstretched. Before long, I touched something.

'Creeeeeaaaak'

A door? That's one hell of a door. Oh right! It's a barn! This must be the stable door. I hope she has a lamp or something in here. I don't know how I expect to find it without grabbing cow-thigh in the dark.

"Elliot, I thought you'd be coming here." Applejack's voice vibrated the still night, a cold and dark, yet all the welcoming breeze swept up my bag from the night's stale air. "It's just us out here, come on in." She beckoned. her voice seemed to come from all directions, echoing strangely in the barn.

"They want you back there, you should get a move on." I warned, feeling cautious about her tone of voice.

"Come on, just wait with me a little while. It's only us out here, you know~." She pleaded. "Come on, spend some time with me. It's so lonely out here in the barn." Her words were sweet, I loved the sound of her voice. Frightened at first, they were now the most wonderful thing I'd ever heard.

But something still didn't sit right.

"Applejack?" I asked blankly.

"Hmmm?" She replied.

"What do you mean 'spend time with you'?" I inquired.

"Come here and find out.~" She beckoned.

I wanted to run and ask Grayson for permission. This is very, very wrong. It probably breaks a lot of laws as well. But she sounded so lonely, like she needs me more than life itself. I walked in.

'Creeeeeeeaaaaak, SLAM'

"Applejack?"