//------------------------------// // My Old Apple Acre Home Part 5 // Story: My Old Apple Acre Home // by Sith_Dreamer //------------------------------// The sun rose like it had every morning over Sweet Apple Acres. However, Celestia’s sun just didn’t have the same effect as it had when the beautiful orchard still remained. Five ponies were had been awaiting the sun to come up, and were now sitting below one of the remaining apple trees. It was quite obvious they’d sacrificed a few more hours of sleep for something. “Oh, I’m going to get rings under my eyes if I don’t get my proper amount of sleep,” Rarity whined, but no one seemed to mind. “And then I’ll look just dreadful!” Fluttershy had made a special visit to a sick family of swans that lived in a pond in Ponyville. She’d spent nearly all night mixing up her special medicinal blends for them, and now she couldn’t help but pass in the dirt. The others were surprised by how loudly she was snoring. Twilight had cast an energy spell on herself, and she seemed to be feeling fine, but she knew that once it wore off she’d crash faster than a one-winged Pegasus trying to make a sonic rainboom. Pinkie Pie was her usually bubbly self even at this time of the morning. Applejack sat just a little ways away from the rest of them. She hadn’t managed any sleep at all. She knew she shouldn’t be worried, but she was still letting things get to her. Two days ago, Rainbow Dash had concocted some sort of plan, and seemed very sure that whatever it was would work. The next day she stayed most of the day with Applejack, but shortly after the moon had begun to creep into the sky, Dash had told her she’d be leaving for the night, but for her and the other four ponies to meet her at Sweet Apple Acres at sunrise. And so here they all were, and yet, no Rainbow Dash. “Are you sure Dash said to meet us here?” Twilight asked, not trying to sound like she was complaining. “Yeah, she did. Ah wonder where that pony ran off ta,” Applejack tried to hide the concerned tone in her voice. “I just hope it’s a super duper surprise Dashie has planned!” Pinkie gleefully said, grinning ear to ear. “Pinkie, darling, how ever are you so chipper this early in the morning?” Rarity asked. “Well gosh, I don’t really know. I’d probably be worried if I wasn’t,” Pinkie answered. And so another twenty minutes passed, and Dash still did not show up. The others who were awake noticed the growing look sadness on Applejack’s face. “I’m sure everything is fine,” Twilight trotted over to her, “Dash is the Element of Loyalty after all. She’ll come through with whatever she’s doing.” Applejack tried to smile, but said nothing. She stared up into the sky as the golden streaks began to cascade across the sky. It reminded of when this was home. She wished she could be seeing the beautiful morning from the windows of her old home. Applejack however shook away the saddening thoughts, and tried to appreciate the sunrise all the same…and that is when she noticed the one tiny cloud in the sky. She could see the tip of a cyan wing hanging off the side of it. “Well Ah’ll be…”Applejack said through clenched her teeth. Applejack walked back over to the apple tree, and bucked a single apple from its branches. She lightly picked it up with her mouth and trotted back to where the little cloud was. She tossed the apple over her head and bucked it into the sky. The apple sailed through the little cloud, and collided with Rainbow Dash’s head. She let out a cry and tumbled off the cloud and down to the ground. She landed with a large thud. “Ow Applejack, what was that…oh…its morning,” she quickly realized. “Ya’ll had me worried all night, thinking you might be gettin’ inta trouble, and here ya are, sleeping in while we all came to see what the big idea ya had was,” Applejack scolded her. “I was out all night, doing just that AJ,” she put her head down and tried to look sincere, “But it got really late and I finally had what I needed, so I decided to wait here. And I fell asleep.” Applejack narrowed her eyes and Rainbow Dash backed hesitantly away. “…Alright sugarcube, I believe ya,” Applejack told her, pulling her close into warm embrace, and giving her an almost sloppy kiss, which made Rarity a little uneasy. When it was over, Rainbow turned to the other ponies and said, “Sorry girls, I uh, didn’t mean to make you wait. But I had this great idea, and I knew it just had to happen.” Dash reached into the saddlebags she was wearing, and began pulling out various papers and such. Soon she had them spread all over the ground. “Everyone, for the first great, awesome idea by Rainbow Dash, I give you Sweet Apple Acres 2!” Dash announced, rolling out the parchment showing various drawings of different things. Some of it was very crudely drawn, but Pegasus and Earth ponies were not well known for their abilities to draw or write. “2?” twilight said skeptically. “It’s a work in progress,” Rainbow said, a big smile on her face. Applejack however, hadn’t reacted yet. She looked over all the papers, gathering her thoughts. “Look,” Dash said to her, seeing her mixed emotions, “None of us want you to leave, especially me most of all. And, that’s why I asked everypony here. It will take some time, but I was us to build this. I want this to be our home AJ.” Applejack gave her a smile, and Dash could see the tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh Rainbow, this reall is amazin’!” Applejack told her, and nuzzled against her rainbow mane. “I had it all planned out,” Dash began to tell them, “Twilight, you’re book smart, so I figured you could make up the real blueprints to build the house and the barn.” “I’d be honored to help,” Twilight told them happily. “Rarity,” Dash turned to the white Unicorn, “I tried to draw some ideas, but I’d really like you to be in charge of painting and decorating.” Rarity began looking over the designs for a moment, then looked to Dash and said, “These are good…but they could stand to be about 20% cooler.” Dash was taken aback by Rarity’s humor for a moment, but she laughed all the same and continued on. “Fluttershy,” she said to the sleeping Pegasus, “Well, I’ll repeat this later. But we’ll need wood, and we’ll probably have to get some from the forest. You’ll be in charge of making sure we don’t hurt any animals. And Pinkie Pie, you’ll be in charge of minor farming duties. We want to get this orchard growing again, so someone has to plant the seeds!” Pinkie put her hoof up in salute, and gave another large grin. “And last, AJ and I will gather the wood. Applejack is the strongest pony I know, and I can rainboom an area of trees to get them down in no time.” No one seemed to have any problems with Dash’s idea. However, seeing as Dash hadn’t gotten any of the supplies ready, they decided to begin at a slightly later time the next day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That night, Twilight made a special dinner for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, using her best romantic magic to set the mood for the two. When everything was perfect, Twilight quickly ducked out of the library, and went to spend some time with Rarity. The dinner itself was only known of by Rainbow Dash, another surprise she had planned for Applejack. Dash lead her lover into the main area, which was now dimly lit by two flickering white candles. The candles were setting upon Twilight’s table, which was covered food. Various apple-themed treats sat on one side, while hay sandwiches, fruit and vegetable salad, and corn on the cob sat on the other side. Applejack’s mouth began to water as all the smells assaulted her senses. Her stomach rumbled as she tried to control her cravings. Applejack wasn’t the most formal pony, even in times of romance. Dash pulled her chair out and allowed Applejack to sit down, and then Dash took her seat across the table from her. “Ya really didn’t have ta set all this up Rainbow,” Applejack said, eyeing the Apple Fritters. “You know Ah love our simple dinners together.” “Yeah, but this is nice too, right?” Dash said, suddenly afraid she’d made a mistake and had Twilight make the dinner too fancy. “O’course it is, sugarcube,” Applejack said thoughtfully. As dinner went on the two talked over various subjects. Dash suddenly began to feel very tired, the hours of sleep she had failed to get the night before had begun to catch up. While she tried her best to listen to Applejack, she found herself staring intently into the candles on the table. The orange flames danced and flickered in her gaze. For a moment, she swore she could see them make the images she’d seen in her dreams. Suddenly, one of the candles sparked. The tiny flame produced bounced off the table and landed on an open book in the corner. The pages slowly began to singe, and soon the book was engulfed. The flames began to quickly spread to the other tomes of the library. “Applejack!” Dash cried out as the orange pony seemed to be completely oblivious to the danger around them. Dash tried to move from her spot and grab Applejack, but she suddenly felt frozen in place. Her eyes darted every which way, as the flames crackled and popped, and continued to engulf every page of every book in Twilight’s library. Applejack continued to talk, seemingly unaware of the danger that was rapidly approaching them. “Applejack, please, look around you!” Rainbow Dash cried out, flapping her wings and trying to make her hooves move from their spot. Gravity seemed as if it had turned against Rainbow Dash however, and she stayed fixed in place. The flames were now right behind Applejack, twisting and turning until they formed the face of a large demonic entity. It laughed and laughed at Dash’s misfortune as it got ever closer to Applejack. Dash could smell the scent of hair burning as it first caught Applejack’s mane. With a sudden rush, the flames pushed forward and burned Applejack from Equestria, forever. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Rainbow!” a voice cried out as the cyan Pegasus shot up. She could feel something wet on her face that was quickly becoming caked into her fur. “Uhhhh,” she strained to figure out what was going on. She quickly looked around, her eyes adjusting to the low light that was illuminating the room. She was still in Twilight’s library, and still having the nice dinner she’d planned, but with a very unhappy-looking earth pony across from her. “Rainbow Dash, did ya not get back ta sleep when we came back this mornin’?” Applejack asked her. “If ya needed the sleep hun, ya’ll didn’t have to have this dinner for me.” After a few seconds, Dash realized that she’d been having another one of the horrible dreams that had plagued her sleep lately. However, this time she’d been so tired she had passed out in the middle of dinner. The wetness she was feeling had come from the sauce on her food, which she’d passed out into. “Sorry AJ,” she lowered her head as she spoke. “It's alright sugarcube, but maybe we should go ahead and clean up and hit the hay…after you get a bath though,” Applejack smiled to her. “Yeah,” Dash said, trying to sound better. Dash was still bothered by the dream. They were becoming more and more frequent, and her waking mind made it all the more apparent that something was wrong. “You know what’s wrong with you,” the voice of herself in her head suddenly sprang in and said. “Why don’t you just admit it Rainbow Dash, the truth about Applejack’s home. Things’ll get better. You can trust me on that…you can trust yourself, can’t you?” Dash didn’t know the answer to that question, but she decided to try and block it out. It was bad enough she was hearing voices to begin with, but if Applejack had any idea, Dash couldn’t imagine what she might say or think. She did her best to shake it away, and got up to help Applejack clean up the dishes from their meal. “I’m sorry this didn’t go like I wanted,” Dash tried to apologize. “Ya tried, and that’s all that matter,” Applejack said with a smile, “Besides, these fancy smancy things aren’t what the Rainbow Dash Ah know is known for. And that’s fine by me.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a long night’s sleep, at the first sign of Celestia’s sun, Dash woke up feeling much better. She looked over at Applejack, still sleeping soundly on the bed. Dash climbed out with a grand feeling of excitement filling her whole body. Today would begin the rest of her life with Applejack. Everything she had ever dreamed of might finally be realized. A life together with the pony she loved…. And suddenly it hit her, for the first time in several weeks. She was happy her dreams were being realized, but at the cost of everything Applejack had. Thoughts began to fill Rainbow’s head as she dropped down on her flank near the door. She didn’t hear the voice, cutting her deep with its words, trying to toy with her emotions. She didn’t need to hear it either, as what it had said came to light as a sickening truth for Rainbow Dash: the voice was her own, a manifestation of her guilt. Her guilt was something she’d been ignoring for a very long time now. However, Dash knew she couldn’t talk to Applejack. Not now especially, with everything going so perfectly. “Stupid mare,” she said to herself, “Way to be really bucking selfish.” And yet, seeing her best friend, the mare she loved still sleeping in her bed, made her feel suddenly better and a million times worse all at the same time. Dash decided that for now, she would try to find other ways to deal with her guilt…she was not sure if anything would help her though. She tried to shake off the feelings and headed out into the library. Twilight Sparkle was already up and arranging some new books on the shelves. “Morning Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said happily, “Ready to get your plan into action? I’ve got some designs all drawn up for you to-“ she was cut off. “Twilight…” Rainbow hesitated, gathering her thoughts. She hadn’t expected that she’d want to talk with anypony, but suddenly she felt like she needed to. “Can we talk…”