My Little Dream Home

A married couple, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia walk down a small back road with Applejack, the old farmer who used to have several hundred migrant workers until a certain law was passed against it. They are looking for the perfect place to live since they just got married and a filly was on the way. "We're comin' up on the old antebellum home, sugar-cubes" says Applejack, turning to vinyl. " I absolutely cannot wait until we get there!" chirps Octavia, her pregnant belly jutting out from under her.

The three of them stop just before a little cottage. It's medium in size and elegant with white pillars in front and beautiful art work carved into the wood of the stairs. "Wow..." was all Vinyl could say. "Just..wow" Applejack looked with uncertainty at the house and slowly lead Vinyl and Octavia into it. "There's an old fireplace!" giggled Octavia. "It's so perfect!" Vinyl could tell something was off about the house, it gave her the chills, but she knew it was just what they needed to start this family and the price was so low on the house.

Vinyl sighed "Okay," she turns to Applejack." you have a deal" Applejack smiles a bit nervously and Octavia smiles at Vinyl. "Uh, alright darlin' , let's get the paper work done" Applejack says to Vinyl. Vinyl turns to Octavia "Octy, why don't you just sit down and relax while I go do this. I'll be back before you know it." Before the words escaped her mouth, Octavia sat down eagerly on an old, white rocking chair. Vinyl and Applejack left Octavia alone in peace when they went to sign papers. This house is quiet..almost too quiet, it seemed. It didn't frighten Octavia, not one bit, but it really bothered Vinyl.

She finally stood up and started walking around the house, getting a good look at the place and getting anxious to settle in. Suddenly, a light scratching sound came from a room towards the end of a long hallway that Octavia just happened to stumble upon. She thought it must have been rats, which made her shudder and squirm with disgust. She decided to make sure it wasn't anything like that and walked to the door. The scratching came again, but louder and on the door. She opened it as quickly as possible, then a black cat lunged out of the room, hissed and scratched Octavia's front hooves. "ow!!" she screamed and collapsed to the floor.She stood back up, wobbly. "Oh..just a silly cat..how did it get in there?" She looked inside the room where the only way in or out was the doorway she was standing in.

"Vinyl!!" yelled Octavia," Vinyl, come quick. please!" She started wobbling from the hallway to the front room, searching for Vinyl and Applejack, but she doesn't see them anywhere. She ran from room to room, looking, yelling..Finally, she came to a stop..she fell onto the floor and lay there, in tears. Oh how she wished she could find her Vinyl. She looked around once more at the empty house, hoping and willing for her to appear, but to no avail. She stroked her bulging stomach and closed her eyes. This act was useless, but it served to comfort Octavia and hopefully, her new filly

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Octy?"Octavia heard a distant voice."Octy?" Who was this? It sounded so familiar. "Hey, sugar cube, wake up." Octavia replies "huh?" and slowly opens her eyes. Vinyl and Applejack stood beside her in the comfortable, white rocking chair. "Hey, Octy, looks like you fell asleep while I signed the papers. You okay?" Vinyl asks, looking concerned. Octavia jumps up out of the chair, turns toward the girls and yells "You two left me!" They both turned to each other, confused.

Applejack replies," We were in the next room, we didn't leave." Octavia was angry and confused "Yes, you did! I went to walk around the house and neither of you were here!!" She stared at both of them for a minute, waiting for an explanation that didn't come. "Vinyl, I yelled for you. There was a cat in the very back bedroom, it scratched me, yet the only way in that room was from the door and--" She stops talking when her eyes drift to her front hooves. The scratches were gone.

Applejack laughs nervously "Sugar cube, there's no cat here. And what back bedroom? There's only one here, at the front of the house." Octavia wasn't decieved. "There was a long hallway toward the back of the house and there was a room at the end of it....isn't there? No. I know it's here. I went to it!"

Vinyl rushed to calm Octavia. "Hey, calm down. Look, it's been a long day of house hunting and you're probably being effected by a lot of hormones. Let's just hire a couple of movers to bring our bed here, we'll go out to eat, then we'll come home and rest as much as we can, to get used to the house. okay?" Vinyl looks Octavia in the eyes and smiles. Octavia finally sighs and nods "Okay..it was probably just a dream anyways." Applejack grins and cheers "That's the spirit, darlin'!"

The rest of the night passed by in a blur for all of them, Vinyl couldn't shake the feeling of eeriness coming from the house, she knew something was up with Octy, and Applejack had this sense of guilt about her. Octavia had some similar feelings: The house that she was enchanted by at first, became a frightening and mysterious benefactor to her fears and she knew Applejack was hiding something from her and Vinyl, she was determined to find out what it was. What most scared her, was the dream..no-- the memory of the non-existent back bedroom and the cat that attacked her. At this moment, Octavia was sure of this: The house that her and vinyl just bought that day and Applejack, were hiding something deeper and more complex than she or any other pony could ever imagine...