It seemed that a period had finally passed by. Applebloom and her friends had finally obtained their cutie marks, a feat that seemed to finally put their crusades to rest. Applejack was overjoyed for her sister, yet…
She was tired and worn, though she hid it well. Her nights had not gone well in the few days since the big event.
The dreams she’d been… no, not dreams. They were not dreams, she knew that now.
She’d wake up in the dead of night to hear things. Shuffling. Scratching. Whimpers, or growls, or moans. Occasionally a sudden rush of hooves that stops as suddenly as it began.
And she was never able to move. Never able to do anything save stare in terror, trying and failing to get her legs and mouth to work. Forced to listen to those sounds, and hear them coming closer.
The first night, it was just the sounds. The first night, she was certain it was just a dream, just a nightmare. Nothing to be worked up about; it had only lasted a little more than an hour.
The second night she heard voices. ‘Almost there’. ‘We’re so close’. ‘Finally’. Hissing ugly voices, and the piercing sensation of being stared. It persisted for hours that time; all the way to the first glitters of sunlight. She assumed that was a dream as well, though it left her shaken and considering asking Princess Luna to do something.
Last night was the worst however. Again, she had been woken suddenly by the soft sounds. But that time…
She saw… something. Several somethings.
Phantoms of red blurs standing over her. How many, she wasn't sure. They were indistinct, but they were eager, hissing, trying to… to reach her. Sharp teeth the only thing certain about them, the sharpest teeth she’d ever seen bared huge in smiles.
Yet that hadn’t been the worst part. As her heart thundered in her chest, she had moved.
Unable to stop herself, her head shifted to see them directly. Terrified to the point of non-thinking, her body had moved for her. Pushing the covers off of herself. Spreading herself out on her back, uncomfortably stretching her legs out into an x. Pushing herself up toward the blurs above herself, every action entirely not her own choice.
As if she had been offering herself to them.
She knew it wasn't a dream anymore:
She still ached from that stretch, one she had held for hours. All night to be specific. Dreams don’t hurt.
A sense of dread hung over her, a sense of… inevitability.
As if her fate was waiting for her, so close she could reach out and touch it. All consuming and impossible to evade. Perhaps she might have given thought to fight against it, gather her friends and try, but…
Her own body had acted against her every wish to run. Against her every wish to curl up and hide under the bed. She, against everything she wanted, had offered herself to them, and she could do nothing save endure the aching pain as the hours stretched, the nightmare as it kept going, the blurs above her riling, fighting to reach down.
She didn’t suspect, she knew she didn’t have a choice anymore. They were coming, and she would not fight against it. Not by choice.
She felt it was soon. This night. If she listened, she could just convince herself she heard shuffling.
Whatever was going to happen…
It wasn't good. It couldn’t be good.
Applejack sighed, and refocused on her cooking breakfast. She was up, early, for obvious reasons. Trying to imagine what she should do, or if she should even go and ask somepony as she finished her breakfast. Silently, she walked to the table, only to pause, her ear flicking up. Had she heard..?
A sudden rush of hooves behind her made her freeze. But they didn’t stop, coming closer, and closer, so fast, not stopping,
“Applejack?”
Applejack shrieked in pure fear, tossing her breakfast into the ceiling, where the bowl actually went through the ceiling itself, and Applejack very nearly went right through the wall before Applebloom’s own shriek of fright got her to stop on the verge of destroying it.
She turned in panic just barely able to shift toward panic over Applebloom, and it took several moments for her to recall that Applebloom’s natural mane color was red. But when that finally penetrated, she relaxed greatly.
It had just been Applebloom. The gaping, shocked filly who was alternating toward looking up at the ceiling and at Applejack.
Applejack shook herself, taking a few breaths. “Good mornin Applebloom.” she said as normal as she could make it, the only oddity being maybe a little out of breath. “Up early too?”
Applebloom didn’t respond, staring up at the hole still. Applejack glanced that way, and though a small part of her sighed at her careless destruction, another, growing, part said it was pointless anyway.
“…Jus,” she began, before Macintosh came downstairs, with a look of baffled worry on his face. The pair looked over at him.
“…Buncha fried oat jus…” he murmured, before looking at the ceiling, and then at Applejack. She gave him a mostly nervous grin. “…Ya’ll O.K?”
“I’m fine.” she said quickly, heading past to get a new breakfast. “Oats?”
“Ya screamed.” Applebloom finally said, shaking her shock mostly off. “I never heard ya scream like that afore.”
“Jus feelin tense.” Applejack said, doing her utmost to hide what she really felt. Her hooves felt clumsy after her sudden fright. She managed to grab the oats, and pour a bowl of them raw, spilling only a bit.
She turned back, and Applebloom and Macintosh seemed ill accepting of tension as a reason to scream like she had. “…Bad night?” she more suggested than offered, her smile rather weak.
Macintosh just went over to her, and placed a hoof on her shoulder, and looked at her. “…What’s wrong?” he asked, his peaceful eyes staring into her own.
“…” Applejack swallowed, and made a choice. “Nothin I can’t handle.” she told him, her voice small. “Ya don’t have ta worry bout me.”
“…Ya got family an friends.” Macintosh told her. “Ya don’t gotta do it alone.”
“…I know.” she whispered, unable to meet his eyes anymore.
The rest of the day went… a fair number of ponies felt something was up with Applejack. She lived that day strong. Spending time with her family, and then her friends, in an unusual case of Applejack going to find them, just to hang out.
That was considered odd, but it was her final words to each that made suspicions grow a little:
“Love ya.”
Said to each friend as she left them, said with great meaning and depth, always so that she was already gone by the time they managed to process what she had just said. And instead of going to find her, they went to find each other, asking one another what might be up with Applejack. Some much slower than others, as her words were easily taken the incorrect way. In the end, they decided to go and visit her together to ask what she meant. Tomorrow.
Applejack wasn't the only one acting strangely either: Granny Apple herself. She spent the day thinking, her face scowling as she tried to recall something. It began the moment she saw Applejack, and lasted beyond the time when Applejack said goodnight to everypony, something she did rarely if at all, and added that she loved them.
Her siblings felt concerned, but Granny seemed not to even notice. Thinking hard. Occasionally muttering to herself, bits of words that made no sense.
She stayed up as they went to bed. Then, she finally broke her concentration, looked at the clock, and nodded.
She got up, and went to a particular spot on the floor. A few attempts later, and a board shifted under her pull. She reached under it, and took out a few things; two small bags and a golden emblem.
Then she went to the front door, and opening one bag, she took out a single piece of white chalk. A moment of thought passed before she drew a circle on the door, and then a star of eight points within the circle. Then she took red chalk form the same bag, and each arm of the star gained a red line, from center to tip, the center possessing a new circle of red.
Then she nodded.
That would do.
She went through the door, and passed into the dark night beyond.
Applejack did not go to sleep that night. She was unable to find rest anyway.
Instead, she lit her lantern, and pushed the furniture against the wall and blocked the window, just in case. As she did so, she didn’t actually notice her pushing the bed to the center of the room.
Then, preparations complete, she waited. Ready to act in an instant; trapped in her room, ready to try and fight if at all possible.
Her heart beat hard in her chest, and her breath came in pants that she tried to suppress, her ears straining to hear the slightest sound. Waiting for what felt like forever.
Applejack didn’t wake up.
She felt her control snatched from her suddenly, her body calming as she was left a helpless prisoner within.
She didn’t hear shuffling. She heard hoofsteps clearly. A dark chuckle.
The red returned, the blurs shifting to make three blobs by her bed, only then noticed to be placed with an odd amount of care. She wasn't perfectly sure if she had done that, or if… they had.
The blur defined itself, and three red ponies came into vision. Their coats and manes matched, all of it a dark, blood red.
One was a mare, smiling with sharp teeth, carrying herself not too unlike Rarity might, her form oddly perfect. One was a stallion, and his grin looked like he struggled to mask a scowl, the teeth just uneven enough to somehow be worse, his mane and tail scarred and unkempt, ill cared for. The last looked like a colt, and he grinned beyond normal margins, much like Pinkie could. He seemed to near vibrate with excitement.
No sound was made, but Applejack suddenly walked forward. With care and calm in her motions, her body laid itself out on the bed once more, all three ponies moved to surround her, with the stallion on her right, the colt on her left, and the mare at the foot of the bed.
She felt afraid enough to faint, and yet, she was held from any action of her own. Her soul screamed, yet her body was calm, even happy. She felt herself smile at the them.
Then the mare climbed onto the bed to stand over her, a predatory look in her eyes. A forked tongue flicked out, licking her lips and she gave a faint laugh, staring at Applejack’s eyes.
“I’ve been waiting too long for this…” she whispered softly, sensually, before leaning down, her jaws opening slightly, her eyes mostly shutting.
That’s when the pain began.
Twilight gasped awake suddenly, panting.
The feelings of fear and helplessness and pain faded swiftly, but they had been so strong just a second ago. Jarring her from a dreamless sleep.
Knowledge of it slipped from her mind as she panted. She frowned. She had known something so very important, but now… not anymore.
Just a sudden night terror then? Possibly her biology misfiring all at once to produce sudden terror in her sleep? A dream without sound or image maybe?
She got out of her bed. She could do with a late night drink and maybe a snack; that had been… shocking.
She left her bedroom, and paused in the hallway, before closing her eyes.
A… it was like she heard something, yet, there was nothing to hear. Just the faintest impressions of sounds in her mind. Urging and important, they drove her to act… but act how?
Unable to understand them, she forced them away, frowning more.
What was going on?
Rarity woke suddenly, and she got out of her bed not caring one bit about her nighttime skin and fur aids.
Something in her was screaming for her to go, or possibly come. Somepony important to her was in grave danger.
She did so, neglecting even her nightgown. Was something wrong with Sweetie? What was this feeling of terror, of… of something truly horrible happening?
She opened Sweetie’s door quickly, and saw her sister sleeping peacefully. She stared for a moment, her horn gently lighting to make sure everything was in place. And it was.
She gently shut the door behind her, sighing, the feeling fading.
“…Just a nightmare?” she whispered to herself. She shook herself, and dismissed the rest of those feelings. Still, she could do with some tea to calm down.
Fluttershy awoke to her having a panic attack. Her eyes huge, staring at nothing as her heart rate and breathing spiked. Phantoms of terrors stood over her, surrounding her bed, nightmares with sharp teeth. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t act, she could barely breathe…
Until Angle leapt atop her, forcing her to gasp and instantly dispelling the feelings. She grabbed the rabbit, holding him close as her own fear over being that afraid came to the fore.
She closed her eyes, breathing deeply as it slowly faded. Yet…
That wasn't normal. She never had feelings like that, not even with a nightmare…
And she hadn’t even had the nightmare.
“Thanks Angle.” she murmured softly, the angry rabbit sighing in her grip. He seemed to know that now was not the time to whine about her holding him. With his tiny warmth, she relaxed again, yet, as she went to sleep…
Why was she thinking about Applejack?
Rainbow felt trapped suddenly, and shot from her bed, panting as she hovered in her room.
Fear rippled through her, and part of it wasn't her own. She felt afraid from the sudden feelings of helplessness, yet there was something more under that.
She shook herself, and forced the feelings away as she landed again. Just a nightmare, a really, really quick nightmare. Kinda fitting that the fastest pegasus around would have the fastest nightmares too, she thought, chuckling a little.
Still, she fetched tank from his place on the floor, and relaxed, holding his shell close. His big, tough, reliable shell.
Pinkie was outside and walking fast before she was even cognizant of her doing so. Not that she slowed in any fashion.
Now that’s a rush!
“Shush.” she muttered as she went, producing a lantern from nothing as she went out of Ponyville, heading toward Sweet Apple Acers.
Feel that fear, that terror, that pain… so sweet. Like cupcakes!
Pinkie frowned. Something was very, very wrong. Something was… just the right kind of wrong to make her act up.
It might already be too late then. But it might not be. It just might not be.
We can always make it worse!
“Shut up.” she near growled, before hurrying a little more.
Party pooper…
“Hang on Applejack.” she muttered, spotting the farm so far away yet. “Pinkie’s on her way.”
