Out of Control

You are in Ponyville.
Or rather what's left of it. You stroll around, visiting all the places you remember from your past. The Day Spa is abandoned, a few windows are nailed shut and after breaking the door open you see that there is nothing inside. Aloe and Lotus Blossom must have taken everything with them when they left.
Next stop is Twilight's Library, maybe you find someone there.
But you disregard that thought as the Golden Oaks Library comes into view. The door stands open and you can see from a distance that the library is as empty as it gets. It seems like the only thing that still lives in this village is the library tree itself...
You also don't see a single griffon flying around, neither above Ponyville, nor near the mountain.
They really didn't bullshit you.
Why would they leave? Everyone?!
This is kinda ridiculous...
Then you walk to Sweet Apple Acres. The farm doesn't look abandoned from afar and you walk faster, hoping you can finally meet a soul there.
You find Granny Smith, she sits behind the house and apparently fell asleep in a chair. Is she all alone here?
"Granny?" you shake her gently awake.
The old mare blinks rapidly as she sits up, looking around in confusion "Is it evenin' olready? Ah told yer ah need mah-" then she spots you. It seems kinda stupid since you've been right in front of her the entire time, but whatever.
Granny Smith pats your face like she doesn't believe you're real. Then she narrows her eyes at you "Who a'yer?"
"Granny, it's me, Anonymous. Remember me?"
She looks around in deep thought, after a while she answers "Ney."
Well, lots of people have been more rude towards you...
"Anyway." you start "I've been a good friend of Applejack's, I heard she lives in...uh...Apple Loosa now?"
"Yeh, yeh, she does." Granny Smith answers desinterested.
"Why?"
"Ah dunno. Ah tried t'convince her t'stay 'ere, but sh'left anyway."
Hmpf.
One thing at a time, you want to meet with Rainbow Dash first anyway and talking with this old mare makes you tired...

As you leave Sweet Apple Acres you spot a huge red stallion coming back from the orchards, good to know that she isn't alone here...
Just to be sure, you check out some other places before walking towards Cloudsdale.
As you expected, Fluttershy's cottage is only inhabited by wild animals. The Carousel Boutique is also empty, not to mention Sugarcube Corner, even the hospital is only a ruin...
Then you take off to Cloudsdale. The Pegasus settlement isn't far away from Ponyville, after just ten minutes you are at the fringes of Cloudsdale...or you would if that crap city wouldn't be floating in the sky.
You knew that though, so you bought a pack of balloons while in Canterlot!
A part of you tells you that this is fucking unrealistic, but what the hell do you give a fuck about that?!
You blow up a bunch of balloons and connect them to yourself, in no time you start to lift up. If you need to land you can just pop a few ballons with your spear. Handy shit comes in handy.
Quickly you break through the clouds and pop a small balloon to keep that height...it works! Who would have thought that? Pinkie must be so proud of you...
With swimming movements you navigate through Cloudsdale.
It feels like you've just entered a different world, the melancholic feeling that had a tight grip on you while being in Ponyville is gone. The sun shines bright and warm and everywhere are ponies! They seem all pretty busy, busy but happy, Rainbow colored water fills some ponds and the buildings look fucking rad!
You ask around for Rainbow Dash until you bump into an old aquaintance.
Blonde hair? Check.
Grey coat? Check.
Bubble Cutie Mark? Check.
Crooked eyes that both don't quite look at you but still give you the feeling of being the center of her attention? Check.
Fierce hugging and squeeing? Check.
Check Check Check Check stop that shit, you retard!
You return the loving hug "Ditzy Doo, it's been a long time. You're a sight for sore eyes." you say happily.
Derpy looks at you, never letting you out of her embrace "Anon, where have you been? I missed you!"
"I missed you too, how have you been?" you ask her.
"I'm okay, but what about you? Where were you?"
You grab into your backpack and pull out a little flask, it's one of those cloudwalking things. You chug it and free the balloons, Derpy watches them fly before looking back to you.

An hour later you told her what you could without traumatizing her (which means not much) and over the course of the story you ended up in her home. A bright house made of clouds, real cozy and shit.
Derpy clings to you after that like a love starved loner that found the holy grail, you don't mind some cuddles and make yourself comfortable on the cloudy couch. Ditzy has always been a good friend, you'd really like to spend much more time with her. You also don't think it would be a problem if you relax for a bit, the reuniting with Rainbow is sure to be an exhausting one...
As you lazily take a look around you notice that the cups and plates are all kinda plastic like...
"Derpy, how have you been? Is that curse still plaguing you?” you ask her gently.
She only flattens her ears...this is enough answer for you. Without disturbing the blonde mare on your chest you grab a slip of paper from your backpack and write something down. You have never been the one to make future plans, but you really have to work this out once that crap with Celestia and Sombrero is over.

After some quality cuddling and catching up, your intimate togetherness is interrupted. A little filly enters the house, she announces herself casually “I'm home!” she yells, not seeing the two of you on the couch.
Derpy immediately jumps off of you and hurries to the little one, you raise your head to get a look at the filly.
Derpy is hugging her, she has pale grayish golden hair with light goldish streaks and her coat is a pale violet. On top of that she is a unicorn.
Ditzy breaks the hug and presents you to her “Dinky, this is Anonymous, he is a good friend. Anon, this is Dinky Doo.” Dinky is reluctant at first but you get up quickly to introduce yourself properly to her.
She wears a schoolbag.
Derpy isn't that old, this is probably her sister, they sure do look alike.
“Why don't you stay for lunch Anon?” Derpy asks you suddelny.
“Uh...okay...but I'm not gonna let you do all the work!”

Shortly after you said that, three people started making pancakes.
Derpy and Dinky are pretty close, but you still have to intervene once or twice to keep accidents from happening.
Ditzy excuses herself for a second and leaves you and Dinky alone, the little filly watches her until she is gone, then turns to you “Are you going to be my new daddy?”
You almost spill the batter everywhere.
“Uh...uh...Do you...uh...eat pancakes often?” you manage to stutter.
Dinky grins and, oblivious to the maximum awkwardness, happily tells you what comes to her mind “I like pancakes, we eat them often, but sometimes I want to eat a salad with cucumbers! Then mommy makes me some and we eat it together!”
She tells you her eating habits until Derpy comes back, you suddenly notice that you have a lot more respect for her than before she left...

While eating you ask Derpy where Rainbow Dash is, she is reluctant but after some careful prying she gives you the bad news.
Rainbow Dash left with her friend Gilda some time ago, she wanted to go on a rescue mission in the feral lands for someone but didn't say any details.
Well, shit.
That's kind of a bad timing...
Whatever, she will be back for sure when you visited Applejack and Rarity. And together with Gilda, she should be safe, even there. When you ask her why Ponyville is deserted, Derpy has no answer, she says that is simply became more and more unbearable to live there without any apparent reason.
The rest of the day is spent with Derpy and Dinky, you all enjoy each others company over some games and relaxing together greatly. They invite you to stay until tomorrow, but you don't plan to stay overnight, even though the cloudwalking potion holds 24 hours, so it would be no problem.
You make your farewells to the both of them and tell them to stay tough, then descent back to the ground with some balloons.

Evening is approaching fast and you make your way back to the deserted Ponyville. The bad feeling comes back as soon as you enter Ponyville, like someone flipped a switch!
You make your way to your old home, the windows and the door are all nailed shut and you have to break the door to get in. Nostalgia washes over you and fights back the melancholy for a bit as you stand on the treshold and staring into what was once your home.
Pinkie Pie...there are old leftovers from past parties, confetti, streamers, some cardboard cups but other than that, there is nothing left. No furniture, no-, well, the place is simply empty.
You spread your bedroll and make yourself ready for the night on a nice spot, the stuff you 'bought' is high quality and you quickly fall asleep.

You walk through Ponyville once more.
There are some ponies walking around, some you recognize, some not, even some griffons are there. It's all blurry and the voices sound distant. You have some kind of a baton in your hand, it feels strangely familiar.
You walk towards one of the ponies, she has a white coat and her pink mane is dressed in a bun. As you come closer she recognizes you and horror spreads on her face. Her cutie mark is a red cross with pink hearts in each corner. You feel yourself drawn towards her by some invisible forces.
The time skips forward and you see her lying before you on the ground unmoving, thin red streams run down her head and form a slowly growing puddle beneath her. You retract your baton from her and everyone around you starts screaming and running away.
Then time skips forward again, this time a griffon lies before you. Your entire body hurts. You have her beak in your hand, holding it shut like that. The griffons eyes are dead, the gray light purple tint seems familiar.

Then you wake up.
You inhale deep before saying that one word “Fuck.”
That wasn't a normal nightmare, this is one of those you had at the beginning. Only they were never so lucid back then.
Shit, why now?
The melancholic feeling you get from 'dead' Ponyville seems like a holiday in comparison to how that dream made you feel like...
Shit, you don't have time for that crap.
You quickly gather your things and eat a little of your rations to go.

The only things that are still alive in this settlement are Twilight's tree-library, Sweet Apple Acres and, luckily, the train station! Because that's where you are headed, time to leave this misery inducing place.
You take a quick glance at the map you bought, seems like Apple Loosa is your next target location.

Oh god, what if she isn't there as well?!
Shit, that would be bad...
With these thoughts you board the train, you just have to show that authorization that Celestia's secretaries gave you and you have to pay for nothing in the world!
First class?
Yep.

Apple Loosa isn't that far away, after just half an hour the landscape changes into a prairie and another 30 minutes later the train stops in a settlement that can only be Apple Loosa.
AJ must be somewhere here.
Hopefully.
You step out of the train, the sun shines warm, that is the first thing that you notice.
As you walk through town you see that absolutely every pony wears a hat, soon you can feel why. The sun is already starting to become a little uncomfortable on your scalp, pretty intense shit that comes down from that star...
In order to avoid getting fried you go to what looks like the local bar.
'The Salt Block' stands above the entrance.
You already figured out that these ponies all have somewhat of an salt fetish, but what the hell do you care?
The western-style doors swing open as you walk through the threshold. There are round tables with chairs all over the place, a long bar with a bored bartender who polishes some glasses and at the far side of the big room seems to be some kind of an stage with red curtains, no, not some kind, it IS a stage!
You sit down at the bar, it is the middle of the day so there are only about three other ponies in the entire saloon, sleeping or just hanging around, none of your business.
The bartender takes a step towards you and you ask him “Do you know a pony that goes by the name Applejack? I heard she lives here now?” you ask him cool.
The bartender musters you for a while, he twiddles his full black mustache and repositions his monocle before answering “An' what business d'yer have with the so called Applejack?”
“So she IS here?” the bartender slowly raises an eyebrow until you answer his question “Ahem, I'm an old friend of hers, I just want to talk a little about old times, you know?”
The bartender harumphs “Ye' well, we have an Applejack here, don't know where she is though. Only thing ah can tell yer is that she's gonna be here this evenin', she's on stage.”
No need to hurry then, good. You actually wanted to take your time before meeting her anyway, figuring out what to say and stuffs.

You excuse yourself and tell him that you'll be back later, then you head out on the streets of Apple Loosa.
First stop, hat shop.
You tell the owner to give you a hat that doesn't hurt him to lose and show him that slip of paper, no need to be an asshole about that stuff. He hands you a shabby grayish black cowboy hat that fits just fine, it looks like he got it out of a trash can but it makes you look tough at least. Aw yeah, you're a badass motherfucker!
You walk a little around town, some pesky fella named Braeburn wants to give you a tour, babbling some shit about horse-drawn horse-drawn carriages, you shove him aside and continue to wander around a little. There are even some buffaloes around and, like Ponyville, they have huge Apple orchards, only with a beaten path through the middle of all of it.
After some time you get back to the saloon, the bartender agrees to stash your full backpack behind the counter and so you spend the rest of the day drinking cider and pondering about what to say to AJ, but you end up most of the time just daydreaming, the heat sure makes one tired, body and mind.
In no time the day is drawing to an end and the saloon is filled to the brim, you're sitting at the bar, waiting for a new glass of cider as someone taps your shoulder.
A mean looking stallion with a two-day-old beard glares at you “Y'r sitt'n' 'n ma stool, ya shrimp!”
The bartender is quick to arrive “Jim, don't start your crap, there are enough empty seats.” he says annoyed.
While there, the bartender serves you your glass of cider, you turn from that idiot to take a sip of that rad stuff. Just as the glass touches your lips, that Jim roughly pushes you “Di'n't ye' hear?!”
You spill your drink, not only on you but also on your neighbor who is not happy at all. He gets up from his stool and shouts at you “What the hay? Don't yer have eyes you-”
You stop listening, instead you turn to Jim and look at him for a few seconds. The two of you engage in an angry stare-down. While you do that, the mood in the entire saloon swings quicker than AJ's lasso. Everything is quiet for a moment and seemingly focused at Jim and you.

Then you break the silence and let your fists do the talking, without warning you punch him against his broad jaw. He retaliates immediately and his punch throws you back into the ponies that were standing behind you. Then hell breaks loose, you swear that you heard someone cheerfully shout “BRAWL!” but with all the noise that is now filling the saloon you can barely understand your own voice.
As you get up you see how some pony smashes a chair on Jim's head, he goes down immediately.
No one intervenes in your fights!
You attack the guy who just knocked Jim out, it's everyone against everypony anyway.
No table stays intact and no chair survives, it is chaos! You can hear glass break and duck under a flying bottle of whiskey that was headed your way.
Then someone knocks your teeth out of your mouth! Holy shit! They are flying! Literally! Your false teeth! Shiiiiit!
What if someone stomps on them?!
You go on a rampage! Beating everypony to pulp that stands between you and the approximate location of your wallies. You are sure that you knocked out some REAL teeth on your way there but when you finally arrive you see that the are alive and still intact!
You pocket them and throw yourself back into the fight.

An hour later it's over.
You regret everything, it feels like you were the only one that received.
But that can't be true, cause you are still conscious on the contrary to most of the other people in this saloon.
You sit comfy on a chair that has lost one leg and lean on one half of a table, the other half must be lying somewhere at the other end of the saloon. You wash your false teeth clean with some whiskey and put them back in your mouth where they belong before taking a deep swig of that same bottle.
You sit right in front of the stage as a pony with makeup, styled hair and a huge fluffy feather on top of it pokes her head out from under the big red curtain.
Maybe they still do their show thing? Man, that'd be great! You're curious about what kinda show Applejack would participate in...
The mare pulls her head back behind the curtains after taking a good long look at the scenery that shows before her. It's a battlefield, for real this time.
You can hear her talk behind the curtains “Dag nab it, they did it again girls!” her words are followed by frustrated moans filled with disappointment.
Sounds like there are at least a dozen of them.

Slightly drunk you get up and jump on the stage and fight through the curtains.
When the curtains are left behind you the mares seem to be leaving already, two are sitting at the back of the stage and chat idly, one seems pretty angry about something and the rest is lining up to leave through a narrow door at the side that most probably leads to the backstage area.
“Applejack? Is Applejack here?” you ask them openly, loud enough for all of them to hear you.
One of the mares that were about to leave turns around and stands on her backlegs to take a look at who asked for her “Yeah what d'you w-” she shuts up as she spies you.
A dressed up Applejack scrambles out of the bunch waiting to leave and trots over to you with one brow raised as high as it gets “Anon, is that you?” right as she said those words the curtains get raised automatically by something, revealing the field of slaughter behind you.
AJ tilts her head to the side and takes in the scenery with a skeptical expression “Yer can't stay outta trouble, huh?”
You answer her shrugging “He hit back first...”
The two of you sit down next to each other on the edge of the stage, bottle of whiskey still in your hand until Apples snags it and takes a few swigs of it.
As she drowns whatever sorrows she has you take a good look at her.
Applejack is wearing some kind of a costume, not one you wear to Nightmare-night, but one to get someone all hot and bothered. Black fishnet stockings, skimpy dress, makeup, hair styled up and a big fluffy feather decors her head.
All in all it looks pretty ladylike, three years seem to have done a lot to her...

“Well, ah'm glad yer back from where-ever yer were.” she says finally, putting down the bottle.
You lean back “Yup, I was savoring my holidays, see? I even got a little tan.” you hold a forearm of yours up, but turn your head away from her.
Damn it, why now? You don't want her to...!
“Anon, ah can still tell when yer lying.” she says sympathetically while pushing down your arm gently.
“I have something in my eyes, is all.” you say, followed by a sniff.
Applejack closes what little distance was between the two of you, putting an arm around your shoulder and preventing you from turning away from her even more “Anon, stop keepin' it all t'yerself. Yer've done this three years ago all t'time and see what happened! Yer need t'share what troubles yer, that's what friends are for! Ah implore yer!”
You never wanted to do this, it makes you feel like a burden...
Slowly you turn your head back to her, revealing your face full of tears that came out of nowhere. You are not going to joke about those three years again...
The tan mare grabs around your neck and levers herself on your lap “Now, why don'tcha tell me where yer really were? Ah heard some rumors, but ah wanna hear all about it from yer personally if yer don't mind.”
You hug her tight with both arms but keep quiet, still unsure of wether you should share such a story or not.
She has still that apple-cinnamon smell to her...
“Please Anon, yer seriously need t'get rid o'that bad habit of yers!” she says worried.
What if...she is right?
It all happened because you wanted to get rid of that bounty-thing alone... if you had shared that with one of them...they would at least had known where you had been, and even could have sent help...
“Alright...” you say in defeat “But don't make fun of me.”
You take another slug of alcohol and tell her of the past three years. Applejack listens intent, asking questions about your tormenter's possible motives, how you felt about certain events and how you were able to get out of all of this alive at all.
Most of the drunken brawlers have woken up and left by the time you finish, and it feels like your sorrow did the same for now.
Applejack responds to your story outraged “This is nothin' like what the rumors said! Every normal pony would've gone crazy with only a tenth of what happened t'you!” she turns around and embraces you, making you fall on your back “Ahm really glad yer back in...well...mostly one piece.”
She then gets off of you and trots to the counter, it's already late and the bartender has long given up on tidying up the place again. Applejack doesn't seem to be bothered by it and self-serves herself on some stuff. She comes back with a bunch of snacks.
“Is that legal?” you ask her.
She deposits the stuff next to you and hops back on your lap “Ah know the bartender, it's okay.” she says occupied with opening a bag of potato chips.

“Now that I've told you about what happened to me, I'd like to know how you ended up here in Apple Loosa? And why the hell is Ponyville deserted?!”
“Ah don't really know.” she says while munching away at the chips “It became somehow unbearable t'stay in Ponyville after Twilight left f'that damn dark magic. Evil stuff! Ah still can't believe she betrayed us all, HER of all ponies!”
“How did she betray you?” you ask her.
Applejack becomes angry “Hmpfh! 't all happened a few months after she became an alicorn. Everypony was happy for her but after some time she became more'n more reclusive, always keepin' to herself. The only ones allowed in her tree-library were Lyndwin and her potion hoogus-boogus and Spike.” she makes a scrunchy face “Poor Spike, she dragged him into all this!” she mumbles some curses and destroys the rest of the chips.
“What happened then?”
You grab some of the snacks as she continues “Turns out KING SOMBRA turned them all against Celestia! All three o'them! And Twilight even became his student!...When they left suddenly the once pleasant atmosphere in Ponyville became one of sadness. Ah'd say it's a curse, but every filly knows curses ain't real...”
“That's why you left?”
“Yeah, that too. Ah mean, with Twilight gone the Elements of Harmony are useless anyway. Then Pinkie just vanished one day and more'n more ponies left Ponyville. We just kinda came to the conclusion that it were best if we all went our own ways-”
You interrupt her “Oh yeah! About that! Do you know where Pinkie and Fluttershy are? I told you I need to get you all back together!”
Applejack thinks for a moment “Aaaah think she might be in Hollow Shades. Or near it. She had some property there, Celestia only knows how she got that...”
“So, how DID you end up here?” you ask her.

And she tells you all about it, nothing big, just some relatives and stuff like that. You eventually grab your things and AJ leads you to where she now lives, it's an apple farm of course.
You spend the night in a barn and await the next day, curious about how Applejack decides on that 'get-the-elements-back-together' matter.

You are in Ponyville again.
And you are not the only human, there is another one. It is not just any human though, it is an exact copy of you...a clone perhaps? He wears the same clothes as you, golden chainmail with a white shirt underneath and white pants. In his hands he has two pieces of one snapped spear.
As you come closer you see that he has no face, it creeps you the fuck out!
You turn around and run away, but he is always close behind you when you look back. Then you run to the market, there are ponies everywhere, they will help you!
That's what you hoped at least, they start to run away as soon as they see your copy with the blank face. You muster up all your courage and stop, turn around in an attempt to confront that guy but he doesn't seem to be interested in you anymore. Now he gives chase to some of the ponies!
What have you done?!
He catches a grey pegasus with sandy blonde hair and promptly stabs her with the pointy end of the broken spear. She screams in agony as he brings down the spear-head again and again.
You run towards them, you need to stop this! Kill that lunatic if necessary! But stop him!!!
You arrive and look around dumbfound, he is gone. It's all hazy and you are perplexed as to what just happened.
Where is he?!
As you try try spy him you notice the broken upper half of your spear in your hand, it's red with blood. You drop it speechless and look down your body, seeing that you are sprinkled with blood. And before your feet lies the reason for it. A grey pegamare with sandy blonde hair, there are two large bubbles surrounded by five smaller ones on her flank. You see her chest heaving up and- no, now it stopped...
The puddle of red grows and touches your feet.
It's hard to think and all the ponies stopped running away, they just stare at you.
Wait, this is wrong!
You didn't do this!
It was the other guy! That...!

“Hey! Wake up!” Applejack wakes you, thank god!
You shake your head and try to get rid of those thoughts that still linger after that dream.
Sadly Applejack isn't wearing that nice outfit anymore...but she has her trademark stetson on, that's nice too.
You groggily get up and freshen yourself up on a bucket of water.
As AJ leads you to the house for some breakfast she says “Yer know, Ah thought about it, but it's a big decision. It's three years in the past and ah already made mah peace with it.”
“No problem, take as much time as you need. I know it's a lot, me suddenly appearing and asking such a huge thing of you.”
Applejack looks around in thought “...how 'bout yer stay for a few weeks? Ah'm sure yer gonna like it here.”
“One week.” you say bland “Tops!”
You know exactly what she is trying! She knows how sweet life is here! You won't settle down! Not until this shit is over!
“Okay, okay. One week, then ah tell yer if or how ah decided. Ah can't make yer any promises though, sorry.”

You are actually relieved to get a week of staying here...
You spend the day with AJ mostly, helping her with her apple-bucking and planting new trees. You have a very pleasant encounter with Applebloom, she was more than happy to see you again. Time flies by and before you know it, it's already evening.
Over the course of the day you catched up with Applejack mostly and you consider her now a good friend again. You have your supper in solitude on a cliff near the farm that gives an excellent view over the apple orchards.
It's astounding that they could make any vegetation grow in this desert at all, let alone an entire forest of neatly arranged apple trees!
These earth-ponies sure know their handiwork.
As you eat, Applejack joins you, she sits down on her haunches next to you and eats her food. None of you says a word, you just enjoy the food and the nice view. The setting sun soon has the entire sky drenched in an yellow-orange-and-red.
The tan mare leans her head on your shoulder.
A feeling of calmness fills you, it's so peaceful here, and it was only your first day...
Settling down doesn't seem so far away anymore suddenly. It's rather a real good idea...you consider this when you are done helping Celestia!

The two of you finish your food and stay like this for some time, the sunset seems eternal.
Then Applejack starts “Yer know Anon, ah really like yer. Ah've been kinda lonely since comin' here.”
“Aren't there enough stallions here? I always thought Ponyville was the place that was unbalanced regarding genders?” you answer her.
You wonder if she has some kind of secret basement in the orchards here...
“Nah, most o'them are idiots. Ah'm not into clowns. Really not.”
“Like your cousin Braeburn?” you suppress your laughter, that guy is really an idiot.
Applejack chuckles “Yeah, kinda like that. But sometimes he gives good advice.”
“Yeah? Like what?” you ask curious.
The tan mare gets up and kisses you on the cheek “Kiss somepony if yer like'im.”
This is kind of embarrassing, but Applejack turns around and just walks back to the farm. She hypnotizes you as you stare at her ass, perfectly proportioned, firm globules of totally squeezable softness!
You have to fight in order to stop staring. There is no doubt she knows what's going on, her tail swishes from side to side enticingly, always hiding enough to reignite the urge to see more...
This could become a very long week...