Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Camp Everfree didn't just sport tents and summer activities, it was also home to "Winter Homers," people who came to camp to enjoy the winter months in the great outdoors. There was snowshoeing, hunting, hiking, skiing, snow mobile; you name it, it was there. The cabins were just located two miles from the summer camp, when all the tent were taken down and the canoes were stored away, and when the mountains were still beautiful with the white sheet that covered it.

When you camped in Everfree for the holidays, you often stayed in Winter Haven, a circular valley with single-story log cabins that ringed the tree edge. Each cabin held the usual necessaries: running water, bathrooms, beds, food, and other things that would - quote - make this the best week of camp ever, from guns for hunting to skis and snowshoes. In the center of the the valley, a large ring of stones lay in the center filled with old charcoal - the remnants of a fire.

Detached from the valley by a 25 minute drive (longer if you hiked), was a single cabin many of the "Homers" called Hole in the Wall. It was much larger than the other cabins, and sported three bedrooms each with a single bed (king -sized), a bathroom with shower, a shed/garage for repair tools and a single Polaris Titan, a TV and WiFi. And it was this moment, on 6:00 pm on December 23, 2017, a Jeep Wagoneer drove up to the cabin and parked, it's yellow light bathing the house in sunny sheen.

From the confines of the cramped car, seven teens, all girls, stepped out and observed their abode and the surroundings, the woods silent save for the occasional owl hoot.

One of them, a girl with a swath of flame-colored hair, limped toward the house first, she turned back to the others, taking a moment to do a head count of her friends. Twilight Sparkle, a girl with violet skin, her purple hair with pink streak in a pony tail, wearing glasses, and thick winter coat. Rainbow Dash, with skin of cyan blue, and a mane of rainbow hair, who looked she need to run a race to get her legs un-stiffened. Applejack, country farm girl with her signature hat, and blond hair singed with a red band. Rarity, fashionista extraordinaire, who was attempting to pull out her many bags from the trunk without breaking anything. Pinkie Pie, party animal with her signature poofy pink hair, who was attempting to wrestle her suitcase filled with balloons and confetti out of the car. Fluttershy, who stepped out timidly from her side of the car to examine the area, only to jump back into the car with a squeak at Rarity finally closing the door.

Yup, that was everyone.

"Welcome to our home away from home, chitlins!" Rainbow cried, running to get inside the house first. "I call dibs on rooms first!"

Sunset stopped her before she could reach the first step. "Hold it, Rainbow. Why don't you help the girls with their luggage, I'll go unlock the door."

Rainbow sighed, and grumbled, "Fine." But as she turned away, she turned to Sunset and declared firmly, "But I still call dibs." With that, she turned to help Rarity pull out a cosmetics kit from the trunk which had apparently gotten stuck.

Sunset turned, limped up the stairs, pausing only to clutch her hip and wince at the pain. Since the accident, her hip had tendency to act up whenever she had to walk up steps or run fast, but she still managed, even for the last few months.

She felt in her pocket for the keys, fishing for the cold feel of metal. She unlocked the door and opened it, switched on the light, and drank in the sights she saw: a single room, conjoined from a dining and living room. Hanging on the mantelpiece over the couch was something she recognized. It was a dream catcher, a single hoop joined by seven smaller ones, each a different color - red, white, purple, orange, yellow, pink, and rainbow, while the center hoop was a dark, night-blue color.

She smiled, breathing in the scent of old times. There was truly no other paradise than this.

"So when are your cousins coming in, Applejack?" Fluttershy asked. She pulled out a can of tomato sauce for the cowgirl to make their pasta and meat sauce for the group.

"Should be arrivin' tomorrow. Dumplin' gave me the call and said they just landed in Canterlot Airport and said she and her brother Apple Pie booked a hotel for the night and they should first thing in the mornin' quicker than a fresh delivery of cider."

"How old is your cousin Apple Pie?" Rainbow asked, a little absently, because trying to talk while watching a rerun of Dukes of Hazard was a task in itself.

Applejack screwed up her face in thought as she laid down the wooden spoon. "Oh, about 16 or 17? Why do you ask?"

Rainbow turned back to TV. "Nothing."

"Does this have anything to do with that..." She hesitated, trying to pick her words carefully. "Incident a few months ago?"

Rainbow turned red and turned round, giving Applejack a glare, the TV entirely forgotten. But before she could get a word in edgewise, Rarity squealed from the other room, apparently enthused by what she knew from reading Rainbow's thoughts. She came dashing into the room, sweaty from the combined heat of the wood stove and carrying every suitcase she brought.

"OOHH! Rainbow Dash finally has a boyfriend!" Rarity came with with a tape measure in hand, taking Rainbow's measurements with a tape measure and nearly pulling her off the couch. "Oh, can't wait till you two have your first date. And I might make a perfect dress for you!"

Pinkie came following suit, carrying a miniature party cannon, that happy, overly cheerful smile. She prepared to lit a match and set off the cannon and make the cabin seem like the Fourth of July. "Are we going to celebrate Rainbow Dash's first date with a-"

No. We won't.

The thought came clear and loud enough that the reactions of the others in the room was like a landscape in the wake of a nuclear blast. All of them turned to look at Rainbow, Pinkie's match stopped just a few seconds away from the fuse on her cannon, Rarity let go of her foot, measuring forgotten, and Fluttershy stood staring at her, mouths slightly open. Only Applejack remained unfazed.

Rarity was the first to break the silence. "Excuse for saying this, darling, but what do you mean, "we won't?"

"I mean," Rainbow said as she turned off the TV, "that it's not happening. Ever."

Fluttershy chose her words carefully as she spoke. "What happened? Did you break up, or didn't like each other, or-"

"No, I tried to use the Line to help him find his car keys."

The three out of the four remaining girls looked at her in confusion. Rainbow sighed in disgust and spoke, her voice rising a little, a little louder than she wanted, and in a way that was too aggressive for her. But even so, it helped to get it off her chest, even if it did come out a little rudely.

"Well, how was supposed to help him? Play detective while my dad fixes cars? All he wanted was another set of car keys, because he lost his and I used the Line to find them quickly, and I found them! So I asked if he wanted to go out to the best seafood restaurant in Canterlot, Maine at 6:00 pm that night, and all he did was said yes, but never came! He probably thought I was batshit crazy, an off-the-wall loony!"

She finished, breathing heavily, waiting for any comment. There was none, so she filled it in by saying, "Another fuckarow."

The others nodded, and didn't bother to question her further.

Outside, unaware of the conversation inside the cabin, Twilight helped Sunset get the firewood, even though Twilight insisted on doing it herself, due to Sunset's hip. Right now, Sunset was attempting to carry a bundle to the wood basket outside the door.

"Here, let me help you with that," Twilight said. She grabbed the bundle from the arms of her friend and deposited it into the log basket, covering it with it's bag-like tarp and placed a couple old, battered bricks on top to hold it down during strong winds.

"Thanks."

Twilight nodded, acknowledging the comment. Sunset suddenly noticed that a certain furry friend of Twilight's wasn't around at her feet.

"Spike's not here with you?" she asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Nope. He wouldn't survive the cold if I took him a hike, and he refuses to wear anything that would keep him warm. Said it would smudge his dignity. So I left him with a old family friend back at my parent's house."

Sunset laughed at that, but it sounded forced. She tried to hide it the best she could. But even Twilight didn't have to be a mind reader (literally) to know that something was troubling Sunset.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Twilight asked.

Sunset shook her head quickly. "No, I'm fine. Just the cold getting to me."

Twilight frowned. Come on, Sunset. We're best friend's, and those kinds of friends know things about the other. I'm not the Element of Honesty like Applejack, and I may be a telepath, but I can see on the outside that something is making you a little edgy. Now would please tell me, as a friend?

Sunset sighed. Always Twilight with the mental chew-out.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But don't bring it up with the others yet, because I would like to have a good few weeks of vacation before I tell anyone anything."

Twilight nodded, indicating she understood.

"Okay," Sunset said. "I know this gonna sound insane, but on the night of my accident, after we planned to see Duddits, I was looking across the street, the one where I got hit, and...I saw him."

There was a pause from both sides. Twilight ended the silence by saying, "What?"

"I'm saying he was there," the other stated. "Except he appeared as he was the day we first met him, all battered up and mostly naked."

Twilight pondered this. "You're not saying he might've caused the accident, do you?"

Sunset shook her head, causing her red and gold hair to shift about that it almost looked like flames. "Duddits would never do anything like that, Twilight. He loved us. He would've put his life first before ours on the line, and having us injured is the last thing he would want."

She sighed, running her hand through her hair before continuing.

"What I just don't get is why he would send me in the middle of the street, only to get hit by an oncoming station wagon?"

Twilight shrugged. "I guess there's more to the story than there already is now. Come on, let's get inside; I think my butt's beginning to freeze off."

The two climbed (or in Sunset's case, hobbled) the stairs toward supper and warmth.

Three Months Ago

The day started out like any would in fall, and it was the orchard in afternoon sunlight that made Sweet Apple Acres particularly beautiful during harvest time. The leaves on the apple trees turned a beautiful spectrum of red, orange, and gold; so beautiful that Granny Smith would say that it would make even the most miserly throw away their gold just to see the beautiful sight and take up the farm life.

Not that Sunset would've enjoyed a good harvest. But the real harvest day was only a few days off from Friday, and she was for now doing homework, for she had a test due for her math teacher Cheerilee, and she didn't want to waste any time. In that case, the Apple family had allowed her some privacy.

It seemed like they allowed her many things, no offense them. They allowed her to stay in Sweet Apple Acres as part of the family after the incident at the Fall Formal, as long as she pulled some of her weight around. They allowed her to sleep in a furnished room in the attic area. They allowed her to have clothes on her back, food in her belly, a roof over her head, and what did they get in return? Nothing, and despite Granny's assurances that it was nothing to worry about, Sunset kept kicking herself that she needed to repay the favor soon.

But for now, all she could think of was to get this paper done, and scoot down to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and a sweet roll. She was in the process of answering the last question when her cell phone rang. She picked it up and asked with a almost distracted, "Hello?"

"Hey, Sunset? You okay?" It was Twilight, though it was fairly obvious it was her. The two were regular chat buddies.

"Hi, Twilight. I'm fine. You?"

"Never better." Twilight had paused, letting in the awkward silence. "So, I thought if you weren't doing anything this weekend, we could grab the other girls, and go see Duddits."

Sunset pondered this before answering. "Sure, I'll make sure I wear something momentous for the occasion."

Twilight laughed. "You might need to ask Rarity in that case. Hey, see you Saturday, alright?"

"Okay, see you then. Bye."

The line went dead on the other side. Sunset mostly sat there thinking of Duddits, the phone growing to her ear.

She placed it on the desk and decided to do the test later. She decided a good latte would be good for the stress of semester tests. She got up, buttoned on her leather jacket and prepared to head out the door when she remembered her phone. She pulled it off the table, when it buzzed in her hand just as she was about to pocket it.

She held it to her ear and said, "Hello?"

"Howdy, Sunset, how're things on yer side of the city?"

Ah, Applejack of the wide-brimmed hat and Apple-isms. She cheered a little at Applejack's voice; ever since moving in with Applejack, the two had a relationship that only came second when Twilight was involved. "Just the usual, Applejack."

"S.S.D.D?"

"Yep, same shit, different day."

Applejack chuckled."Hey, ah need yer opinion on somethin': How many confetti cannons would make a good party?"

She was a little taken aback by this. "Why do you ask?"

"Ah'm at Party Central, so ah just needed an opinion."

"That's great Applejack, but why are you at a party store? You don't do parties."

"No, but Pinkie does." Sunset smiled and laughed, a little wildly, though. At least that told her Applejack wasn't losing her mind. "Hey, real quick: Just be careful."

Sunset squinted in confusion. "Why? From what?"

Applejack didn't answer for a bit. "Wish ah knew," she said simply, and with that she hung up.

Sunset sipped on her latte as she stood in front of the crossing on Maple Street, the street with all the shops in it, including Rarity's Carousel Boutique, though she doubted Rarity would be open for today. She was hardly open on Fridays, and she was often doing one of two things on that day: designing dresses or stocking on supplies. Most likely both.

Now was the task of getting home, which would involve crossing the street, when it was at it's busiest. Then all she had to focus on was the test paper, and then maybe a hot shower, and some Dick Van Dyke with Apple Bloom, Big Mac and -

Ach ow...

She looked up from her coffee, confused. She turned to the person on her left, a man in 40s, and asked, "Did you say something?"He shook his head.

She was about to take another sip, but as she was lifting her cup to her lips when she saw something - someone - across the street. It was a boy, of about 14 or even 10, half naked and only wearing underwear, and was none other than -

Duddits!?!

It was the same Duddits, with the same orange-red hair, innocent blue eyes, and cream-white skin. Except this time, the hair was mussed up as if from a fight, the skin bruised and battered, and the eyes were half closed with black spots. The face was contorted in pain, but he seemed to be living through it just for Sunset's benefit. He lifted his hand to her direction, gesturing for her to come, to come and see him, see him one last time before the end...

Then his knees seemed to buckle under him, his face grimaced in agony, and all rational thought left Sunset in that moment. She forgot her latte, which fell out of her hand and spattered onto the pavement. She didn't hear the cries of the onlookers, or that there were cars whizzing by her dangerously. All she could think of was one thought, and one thought only.

Hold on, buddy! Hold on, I'm comi -

That was all she could think of before there was a violent pain in her side, she thrown onto the asphalt, and the last thing she saw were different pairs of shoes surrounding her.

Her vision was filled with pain. That much she knew.

Above her, in a place that she could barely make out were three individuals: two of them stood over her, speaking in voices she couldn't hear, with faces that were blurred.

The third was a boy, looking over her. A boy with short red hair and a goofy smile she loved. And before she passed out, she heard him utter something.

Ach ow for Ishta Gay...

Author's Note

No, I don't think Apple Pie is related to Pinkie.

Sorry, I temporarily took it away to edit it. Hope you don't mind.