A Place To Lay My Head

"Wow...I didn't know that..." Pinkie Pie had just given a very tame, yet informative talk about...well...lesbianism to the three fillies. She knew that perhaps they were too young, but she also knew that the fight against ignorance and intolerance could never start too early. It was well known that lesbianism was very common around Equestria ever since the Changeling Invasion of 849 AD which devastated the male populace so bad that it still has not recovered fully. Sadly, some ponies still didn't accept the lifestyle and chose instead to bash those who practiced it.

"So...so Rainbow Dash likes mares...?" Scootaloo was looking at her rainbow sleeping bag sadly. That alone worried Pinkie, she definitely didn't like ponies to be sad.

"Actually, I don't think she does." Pinkie's voice had its own hint of sadness, one that was nearly unnoticeable. Scootaloo perked up at this, obviously she had something against the sexuality.

"But...but you like her." Sweetiebelle looked up at Pinkie pie with hopeful green eyes.

"Yeah...Yeah I do." Pinkie gave the happiest smile she could at the moment, the thought of unrequited love weighing her mind down considerably. "But sometimes ponies won't always love you back, sometimes you have to move on..." Pinkie brushed Sweetie's mane with her good hoof. "It'll hurt, sure...but you just have to move on sometimes..."

"How come you ain't moved on yet?" The country filly leaned against forlorn baker, which only made Pinkie's mood rise.

"I wish I knew Applebloom..."

--

A few hours later

Applejack had decided to relax in order to calm her nerves. How does a workhorse relax, you might ask? Well, this particular workhorse likes to curl up and read a good book. i know, I know, a bit cliche, but sometimes a good story is just what the soul needs. What kind of story did this particular soul need to unwind? A sappy, and somewhat poorly written, story called 'Dusk' by Steph Neighyer. A lot of ponies hated the book, but the mindless story was just the right thing to take AJs mind off of everything.

The noise in the house had died down some time ago, she guessed everypony was asleep by now. Then she heard it, the awfully loud chortle, then familiar snort of Pinkie Pie. Somewhere deep down, she wasn't surprised that the party pony was still awake.

Applejack had been reading for a good three hours now, she had gotten through a couple of chapters and decided that was enough for the night. She needed to check in on Pinkie and the girls. She quietly closed her tome, sat it on her bedside table, slowly got out of her old creaky bed, and headed for the hallway.

The whole house was quiet, save for a few quiet giggles. Big Macs loud snoring could be heard all around the house, the stallion's snores nearly shook the house. Granny Smith's quiet breathing could be heard, it was gentle and soothing to hear. Then she came to Applebloom's door. It was identical to every other door in the house, except there was a crudely drawn Cutie Mark Crusaders symbol.

The mare chose not to knock and just entered the room. The sight before her both made her smile and cringe. A flashlight was standing up on its end, the beam hitting the ceiling. Around the flashlight sat the three fillies and Pinkie Pie. At the moment Scootaloo was telling a scary story and the other ponies were eating cupcakes....most likely made by Pinkie Pie at some point during the night. They were all laughing, or 'ooh-ing', and even Applejack chuckled at some of the scary' stuff Scootaloo was saying.

"Hey Pinkie?" The pink pony looked at Applejack for her to continue. "Can ah talk to ya out in the hall?" Pinkie nodded and got up mid story, the pink pony left the room first and AJ followed after giving the fillies a smile.

"What's up, Applejack?" Pinkie took a bite out of her cupcake, icing sticking to the fur around her mouth. "Mmm, cupcake?" Her words were muffled by the sugary confection in her mouth.

"It's midnight..."

"So?" Pinkie swallowed loudly. "Nothing like a good cupcake!" She licked her lips to get rid of any remaining icing. "Say, you look pretty with your mane down." That made AJ blush, she usually had her mane tied up but couldn't deal with it at night, so she let her blonde locks hang down. Often times Granny would tell her to let her mane down every once in a while in pubic, but AJ never wanted to do that. It wasn't her style.

"Uh...thanks Pinkie,  ah just don't got my tie in, nothin' special." Her own train of thought was starting to derail, but thankfully she caught it before it could go fully off of the rails. "Ah gotta talk to ya about them fillies." Pinkie cocked her head to the side and blinked. "Ah know yer good with foals and all, but you've been with 'em all night, don'tcha think it's a tad much?"

"I'm just doing what you told me to do...keeping them entertained." Pinkie smiled innocently.

"But yer a grown mare, Pinkie. You should be hangin' out with ponies your own age. Ah mean ya coulda caught up with me or even talked with Big Mac." Pinkie's eyes fell to the ground, obviously ashamed. "If y'all are gonna stay here, ya need to act your own age." Applejack gave Pinkie the sternest glare she could manage....then immediately regretted it when she saw Pinkie's lower lip fight a quiver.

"Sorry Applejack...I-I'll go to bed..." AJ's friend sulked off to the guest room down the hall, her head and tail visibly drooping. Before she opened the door, she turned back to AJ and gave a quiet goodnight. None of this was going to help Applejack's conscience.

--

Smoke filled the room, a terrible, thick cloud of acrid smoke. It was suffocating,, terribly so. it filled Pinkie's nostrils, choking her and making her cough. The more she fought to breathe, the harder it became. the mare stumbled to the heavy oak door, she stumbled  and hit the door. The old wood gave way and splintered, making Pinkie fall through it. All of the old house was ablaze, she could hear the screams of the Apple family, burning, suffocating. She tried to block it out, but it only seemed to grow louder.

Pinkie started to cry and scream, she got up and galloped as fast as she could to the top of the stairs. the downstairs was worse than up here, the fire had engulfed everything precious right down to the poem atop the mantle. On top of all that, the smoke was getting thicker and making Pinkie squint her eyes.

She took a step onto the stairs, the old wooden steps gave way and Pinkie fell into the unending inferno below.

Pinkie awoke with a start and a scream. She sat up straight, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Her blue eyes scanned the room: there was no smoke or flames. Her ears twitched: no screams, just snoring. It was nothing but a very bad dream.

"Pinkie Pie....are ya alright..?" The pink pony looked to the door, Applebloom was standing in the doorway, her own mane was loose as well without the giant pink bow to hold it in place. She didn't look like she just woke up, in fact she looked wide awake.

"Y-yeah...I just had a bad dream..." Pinkie gripped the sheets tightly, she didn't want that bad dream to ever come back for as long as she lived.

"Ah did too..." Applebloom stepped in the room. "Wanna know how I get rid of my nightmares...?" Pinkie nodded. "Come on."

Applejack was sleeping soundly, she was having quite a nice dream about a the Apple Family, specifically two late Apples who AJ missed dearly. Then the door to her room creaked open. The country mare was a very light sleeper, she guessed that was her maternal instincts acting on their own accord. Her emerald eyes slowly opened, when she looked at the open portal, she saw two shadows standing there: one bigger, one smaller.

"Applejack...we...we sorta had nightmares..." That was Pinkie's voice, quite obviously.

"Can we sleep with you...?" And that was Applebloom's. AJ knew better than to turn ponies away when they were in need, so she scooted to the edge of her bed and patted it with a hoof.