Truth Hurts
By Claw in Cursive
Swirling colors and light completely disoriented Applejack. She spun around in a daze, unaware of how long she’d been there. The spinning slowed, and shapes and sounds started to materialize. One of them galloped up to her.
“Mamma! Mamma!” it cried in excitement. “Gramma and Grampa are here!”
Applejack looked down at the lime-green coated foal with a blonde mane and tail and smiled. She looked around the room she was in, decorated for Hearth’s Warming, complete with a merry, crackling fire in the fireplace, and smiled wider.
The foal led Applejack to the front door, where a couple shook off snow from their trip. Big Macintosh, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom were already there, greeting them.
“Ma! Pa!” said Applejack. She rushed to hug them.
“Aw, there’s our girl,” said the mare. “We just got in before the pegasi put down a good blanket of snow.”
“A-yup,” said the stallion. “Good thing we left home early to get here. Wouldn’t want to miss Hearth’s Warming with our favorite foals.” He reached down to tousle the little filly’s mane.
A hoof draped across Applejack’s withers from behind. “I’m so glad you could spend Hearth’s Warming with us, Ma and Pa Apple,” said a deep, baritone voice.
Ma Apple kissed the stallion’s cheek. “How’re you taking care of our little filly and your young’un?”
The stallion beamed. “This year’s been the best so far. Apples are gettin’ turned into jam and cider, and ponies are comin’ from all around to buy it. We’re on our way to becomin’ the best orchard in all of Equestria – next to yours, o’course.”
The stallion and the Apples shared a laugh, and the whole group made its way into the dining room. Applejack hung back and took in the whole scene.
Heaping platters of all things associated with Hearth’s Warming decked the table, and everypony was finding their places. A deep sense of satisfaction grew in Applejack’s heart.
“That’s my husband, those are my ma and pa, and that’s my foal,” she said to herself. “My foal,” she whispered, a soft giggle bubbling up to her lips. Her barrel felt too small to contain all the joy she felt at this moment. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought, This is exactly how everything should be.
Nopony pushed away from the table without getting seconds – or even thirds or fourths, in the case of Big Mac, Pa and Hubby – and afterward, the foal and Bloom dragged the adults into the parlor to watch them each open one Hearth’s Warming gift before Hearth’s Warming Day, per tradition. The little ones eventually tired themselves out playing, and they were led upstairs to bed.
“Mamma?” asked the lime-green filly as AJ gently tucked her in. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“Sure, sugarcube,” the mare answered.
The filly waved Applejack close, then whispered in her ear, “I love you.”
Right there Applejack thought she would gush tears of happiness all over the room. Instead, she kissed the foal’s forehead and bid her goodnight, backing out of the room.
Nothing and nopony could drag her away from this place, Applejack thought as she made her way down to the living room. She put a few logs on the fire, then walked over to the tree. Ornaments, most of them hoof-made by her filly, Apple Bloom or herself and Mac as foals, decorated the tree, and memories of the times she’d shared during their construction came to mind.
Right there, in the middle of the tree, however, was an ornament unfamiliar to Applejack. She couldn’t remember where this simple globe, just a few inches in diameter, came from, and she couldn’t say why it drew her attention. She reached out to touch it, and it caught some of the firelight. Colors – white, pink, yellow, blue and purple – danced across her eyes.
For the first time all evening, Applejack’s smile dimmed a bit. This ornament was important, but she didn’t know why.
She wondered if she got it as a wedding present. She recalled the ceremony, with everything as she had dreamed it would be, right down to the beautiful dress made by –
A frown crossed Applejack’s face. What was the dressmaker’s name, the one who lived in town? It was something elusive, something out-of-the-ordinary, something uncommon.
Then there was the party afterward, where she danced so much it felt like her hooves were going to fall off. Her great friend had thrown it – P … P … P-something.
The bird choir lent the whole affair such charm, led by – somepony. Images of the old butter churn in the pantry flashed across her mind for some reason.
Of course, she would’ve never met her special somepony if it weren’t for the friendly competition she shared with – with – Well, it was somepony brash, flashy, splashy, who sometimes crashed.
All of it came together under the direction of a superb planner. She made sure everything went just so, down to the vows she administered. The fire popped, and a spark jumped out to land at AJ’s hooves. A spark like magic …
Applejack shook off the feelings of unease. Such things were unnecessary on Hearth’s Warming Eve. Everything was perfect as could be. She was just having a little flight-of-fancy, as Granny Smith put it.
After climbing the stairs and reaching her bedroom, Applejack slid into bed beside her husband as gentle as she could, so she wouldn’t wake him.
“Everythin’ all right downstairs?” he asked.
Applejack sighed. “Everythin’s swell.”
The big stallion kissed AJ on her forehead. “Everythin’s swell because you’re here, darlin’.”
Applejack snuggled up to his warm body and drifted off to sleep.
Early the next morning, the little ones were up and begging their parents to come downstairs to watch them open their Hearth’s Warming gifts. The adults sipped their morning coffee as the living room became a whirlwind of torn wrapping paper and squeals of delight.
“Apple Bloom, honey, why don’t you read the card that came on that gift?” said her mom.
The recent cutie mark recipient carefully read the Equestrian Greetings fare. “Here’s hoping your Hearth’s Warming really sparkles, from sun-up to twilight,” she said, then she giggled. “Aw, that’s so cheesy!”
AJ’s breath hitched. She gently raised a hoof. “Wh-what did that card…”
Before she could get anything else out, her little girl brought Applejack the card from her gift. “Mamma, Mamma, please read this!” she begged.
Apprehension pushed aside for the moment, AJ took the card out of its envelope. On the front was a cute cartoon butterfly and “Happy Hearth’s Warming!” in bold script font. She announced, “Here’s to making your heart flutter on this most joyous Hearth’s Warming Day.”
Something felt wrong in the orange Earth Pony’s chest. As her focus drifted, her husband opened the card on the gift from her. He chuckled as his eyes scanned it.
“Oh, darlin’, this is too funny! Listen up, y’all. ‘What did the pie maker tell Santa Hooves when Santa gave him a can of rose-colored paint? I said I needed a new sink, not a new pink!’”
While the rest of the Apples laughed, Applejack grew increasingly distressed, and she didn’t know why.
Ma Apple read her card, then hugged it to her chest. “You kids are just the sweetest thangs. Listen: ‘Hearth’s Warming is such a treasure because it happens once a year. Good things are better when they’re a rarity.’”
Applejack’s brain buzzed like an angry hornets’ nest in a just-bucked apple tree. She took a long, shaky pull off her coffee mug to steady herself.
Pa Apple looked at his card, and AJ silently hoped he wouldn’t read it aloud. Her hopes would go unfulfilled.
“’Hearth’s Warming is like a rainbow, it’s here, then it’s gone in a dash. Enjoy it while you can.’”
Applejack bolted off of the sofa and into the kitchen to splash some water on her face. Her husband called after her, “Darlin’, is somethin’ wrong?”
“Uhh, jus’ a little too much heat from the fire. I’ll be dandy in a jiff,” she replied, though she didn’t know if she meant it. AJ threw a few hoof-fuls of water into her face, then stared out the window above the sink. Hanging right in the middle of the window was the strange ornament from the night before. Like last night, it flashed white, pink, yellow, blue and purple.
Paling, Applejack stumbled and fell onto her haunches. Something was terribly, terribly awry. This was supposed to be the happiest time of her life, and she was hyperventilating on the kitchen floor.
From somewhere far away, AJ thought she heard the voices of some mares, some mares she knew, some mares very dear to her, calling out her name. She rubbed her ears, trying to dislodge the phantom voices, but they wouldn’t stop.
A sudden, horrible notion came to her. What if they were the real things, and the rest of this was an illusion? What if, all this time, she was in a fantasy land?
“No,” whispered Applejack, as old memories crept back into her mind.
“No,” she growled, as ancient wounds opened and ached again.
“No!” she demanded as she got to her hooves.
“NO!” she bellowed as she bucked with all the force she had in her entire body.
In a rush, all that had happened in the past few hours came flooding back to Applejack. The mission from Princess Celestia to capture the dangerous wizard, Mesmer Eyes. The rush to his lair, filled with mind-bending traps. Watching her friends be attacked by the weird unicorn as their perceptions were turned against them. How he flashed the strange gem into her eyes.
“That’s impossible!” Mesmer Eyes roared. “No pony can break the spell of the Gem of Joy!”
As Applejack turned to the blue wizard, the truth crashed in on her like a ton of bricks. She had no husband who loved her. She had no foal that adored her. She was a single farm pony, trying to get by at Sweet Apple Acres with her grandmother, brother and little sister. She would have no warm get-togethers with her parents by the fire at Hearth’s Warming, because her parents were…
Red seeped into the edges of Applejack’s vision, and her face twisted into a rictus of rage. With a speed even she didn’t know she had, she pounced on Mesmer Eyes, uppercutting his jaw. She followed with a power hook to the eye, then a double-hoof slam to the forehead. The Gem of Joy fell from the unicorn’s telekinetic grasp, and the rest of the former Elements of Harmony were released from their magical snares.
It took all of Twilight Sparkle’s, Pinkie Pie’s and Rainbow Dash’s strength combined to pull Applejack away from the increasingly less pony-like Mesmer Eyes.
“GRRRAAAAUGH!” Applejack shrieked. She was slick with sweat and her spittle foamed at the corners of her mouth. Fluttershy turned away from the gory scene, and Rarity felt her gorge rising in her throat.
“Applejack!” shouted Twilight. “Applejack! He’s finished! He’s done! It’s over!”
The crazed equine’s head snapped around, and the Princess of Friendship flinched away from the fury in her friend’s eyes.
“LEMME GO! LEMME GO!” she spat. “You don’ know what he’s done! You don’ know what he’s done! You don’ know…”
Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow hugged her tight, and soon Fluttershy and Rarity joined them. Like a wind-up toy, Applejack slowly ceased her struggles. Her sharp protests turned into wracking sobs as her friends tried to ward off the horrors they could only imagine.
Author's Note
I'm a bit uncertain about the ending to this, as it feels too harsh for usual MLP fare. Any notes on how to improve it would be appreciated.
