• Published 21st Dec 2012
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Forgiveness Pending - Kiroberos



Moon Mender's adventure continues right where left off. He jumps at the chance for a new life, but will his old one truly leave him in peace? Some things are better off forgotten.

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Chapter 72

It was always disorienting when first falling out of Twilight's teleportation effect. Well, I imagine I would be with all teleportation effects, but I didn't exactly have a lot of comparison. Fluttershy landed rather smoothly against us, Twilight bracing me up with her forelegs as we came to a halt. Rarity landed into a slight stumble as she was standing when we made the transition. Spike moved forward and grabbed her shoulder to steady her while the world slowly stopped moving. Okay, carpeting under me and warm temperatures meant I was inside and in one of the bedrooms, more than likely.

Rainbow looked somewhat surprised as we suddenly appeared in the room as well, giving out a yelp as the flash illuminated the surroundings, dropping the wet towel she had in her mouth. The lights were fully on, to my surprise, and it wasn't hard to also make out the shifting orange hoofs up on the bed, despite not being able to see up there from this level. "Ah! That was fast! Uh, I can't get her to wake up, and I don't know what to do. She's having a nightmare," she quickly pointed out, gesturing to the bed from her spot near the bathroom door.

Turning, I hopped up onto the bed at the same time as Twilight. She gave a squeak, however, and I moved my head out of the way just in time to avoid a flailing hoof to the face. Thankfully the mare wasn't moving very fast in her sleep, because her outright kicks hurt like hell. Slipping over her, I gently held her still as she rolled, muttering quietly while trying to move her forelegs.

"Her eyes are moving fast and her heart rate is way higher than normal. Can we do a dream connection during the REM stage?" Twilight pondered, mostly to herself I assumed, because I certainly didn't have an answer to that.

Spike and Rainbow hopped up next, the cyan mare slipping up next to me and taking over holding Applejack still while I tried to get a forehead connection. This was going to be the tricky part, I suspected. Twilight moved up next to me as well and got ready to get her horn into contact range. I tried lining up our foreheads while Dash tried to get a hold of her head.

"Ah, wait, can I come in, too?!" Rainbow quickly asked when she saw me start to close my eyes. Eh?! She wanted to come in as well? I didn't have time to protest as a sudden jerk from the orange mare under me caused her to head butt my snout and stars momentarily exploded across my vision. I backed up and held my muzzle while Fluttershy moved in unexpectedly from my right and rubbed it for me. Ah, she had gotten up onto the bed, too.

"If you're sure, Rainbow. It's, um, well it might be kinda scary and gross," Fluttershy warned, ears flattening down.

Sighing, I finished massaging my snout, and then appended, "Yeah, if she's dreaming about what I imagine she is, I should remind everypony that I did get my foreleg torn off and it wasn't exactly a pleasant image, I imagine." My left shoulder gave a dull throb, remembering the event and causing me to flex it gently.

Rainbow just snorted, however, before pushing into the orange mare's back, wrapping her legs around her to stop her from moving around again. "No way. I want to be there for AJ if I can be. I care about her, even not considering my other feelings about her. So bring me in, too!" she adamantly requested. Heh, right. Loyalty. She was also seriously gutsy. That would have been, at the very least, awkward had the mare she was holding woken up during that statement. I can't imagine going from vivid nightmare to romantic confession was advisable.

"Fine. I'm going to try pulling you in using just the link first, but if that doesn't work, you two are going to have to use physical contact with my forehead. Just shift me over after I fall asleep," I instructed, glancing to the right at Twilight as well. She smiled at that and nodded promptly to me, probably eager to see if the links worked at distance, too.

Rarity nodded curtly, sitting on the bed now. "Yes, Fluttershy and I shall try to keep her still and prevent her from kicking any of you in her sleep. Bruises are never fashionable, and we all know how strong the stubborn mare is. After she settles, and you stop the nightmare, can we join as well?" she requested softly. Seeing all of her friends so concerned for her left a warm sensation in my chest, and I smiled.

"Oooh, me, too!" Pinkie squealed out of nowhere an instant later, however, almost giving me a heart attack as she bounced into the room suddenly from the outer walk. Gah! I was tempted to set up a proximity warning for her, too, but honestly, I was afraid of the results it would get. Pinkie had an uncanny ability to not entirely obey the laws of physics.

Dash twitched lightly and looked back up at the pink one as she bounded up onto the mattress. "Where'd you go?! I thought you were right behind me when we got back to the tower. You could have helped me with AJ," she asked, looking a bit miffed. Heh. She was worried about Applejack and didn't want to admit it.

"Bakery!" Pinkie announced as if it should be the most obvious answer in the world. She then presented her evidence by unloading several bags of baked treats onto the bedside stand from her two saddlebags. Huh. Yeah, I had no comment whatsoever.

"Right. Uh, I'm going to start the operation, then. Twilight and Dash are coming in with me first, and then the rest of you follow after we 'secure' the dream. Spike can also join us then," I summarized, smiling over at the lonely looking dragon. He perked up at that and nodded, giving the distinct impression he thought he was going to be left out of the 'experiment'.

Rarity giggled at his expression, assuring, "Why of course you can, Spike. Just touch your forehead to my horn when Mender goes to pull me in." Oh, how scandalous!

Of course, he swooned at that, and I could practically see the hearts in his eyes as he nodded towards Rarity. In order to fight back my snicker, I instead rotated back to face the orange mare, who was still shaking and shivering. She'd waited too long already. Leaning down, I pushed my forehead into hers, my muzzle sliding along the side of hers to make room as I felt out with my energy.

The connection was almost instantaneous, a flicker of light dancing between our foreheads as I closed my eyes. Slipping inside of myself first, I immediately felt the connection with her without even needing the forehead link. Using that instead, I tugged my awareness into her, feeling myself momentarily drifting before my focus snapped back in place. No, I couldn't let myself get sucked into her nightmare! Feeling my lucid state stabilize, I reached out to both Twilight and Rainbow and gave a warning tug. I felt them return it, and I pulled them in. To my pleasant surprise, I felt them both following as we fell into her nightmare...

* * * * *

There was always a problem with spatial details, I noticed. Ever since I had started becoming lucid in my dreams, I'd noticed that actually dreaming individuals didn't manifest much outside of the current 'scene' in the dream. Everything apart from the dream is a hazy absence, seen as a neutral dark gray by us, I imagine. The mind was amazingly complex, and had a way of making up information in order to protect itself. Like the color pink, which actually had no known light wavelength, so in theory, we just make up what it looks like. Actually, Pinkie made more sense, somehow, considering that.

Regardless, Applejack's dream was no different. I stepped out into dark gray nothing, a thick haze or mist spreading as far as the eye could see. Both mares following me took form rapidly, projected into the dream through my own computer assistance. Rainbow's ears drooped as she got a good look around, but Twilight just frowned, an intense focus snapping into play across her expression.

"Okay, we made it here, and entering the dream through your links actually works. Now, uh, where's the actual dream?" she inquired, looking around carefully.

My eyes closed and I focused, feeling out the emptiness around us. Distance and space meant nothing here as we were actually inside Applejack's mind. It was just a matter of finding where her consciousness currently dwelled. Given the flurry of mental activity that her nightmare was generating, it didn't take me long at all to find just that. It took even less time for me to regret it.

The smell hit us first as the mists parted in front of us with my focus. I knew it intimately as blood, in large quantities. I felt Rainbow swallow uneasily next to me, and Twilight's horn lit up with amazing speed, her eyes narrowing forward at the image slowly coming into view. "I found it. It's not pleasant," I warned immediately, just in case they had any last second votes for me to go on alone.

Of course, at this 'distance' to me, that being literally inside my mind, neither had any trouble picking up my intended question. "No, Mender. I'm staying here with you this time. You're not facing this alone," Twilight assured with no hesitation whatsoever, stepping up next to me instead.

Rainbow closed her eyes for just a second before nodding firmly and opening them again. I was surprised to note anger in them as she re-focused on straight ahead. "No, I'm staying. I have a feeling I'm going to want to kick some dream-pony flank, and no matter how horrible it is, Applejack needs me. Us," she confirmed. Figured that neither of them would want to back out, but it was only polite to ask. Nodding, I turned back to the image at hoof.

The scene was barely over a half dozen meters in diameter, forming a 'bubble' of reality consisting largely of Twilight's balcony. I knew it would be here. This was ground zero for Applejack's regrets. Details snapped into focus as I walked towards it, a determined-feeling mare to each side of me. Applejack still didn't respond to my pings, even when I was right inside her mind, which was more than a little disconcerting.

The smell was stronger, and the night backdrop of the scene blended seamlessly in with the darkness outside of it. The seething hatred and sorrow almost came alive as we stepped within a few meters, and I frowned. Hatred? Applejack was sealed to the wall of the library tree house, right next to the door out to the second floor balcony. The cage locking her there, and even the position it was stuck at was exactly the same as I remembered from that night, bringing a lump to my throat. No, it was fake. I had to keep her nightmare separate.

Sound cut in all at once, giving us a combined start in surprise at Applejack's scream. It was that of misery rather than rage, however, further making the hatred I felt seem weird. She repeatedly struck at the bars of the glowing energy cage as she sobbed, trying to get free and somehow get to me. What was left of me lay on the floor of the balcony in a smear of my own blood, my severed left leg lying nearby but still within sight of Applejack, of course. Glass and wooden shards from the window stabbed into me in dozens and dozens of places, and a blade was actively being pushed, twisting under the bone of my right shoulder. That fake me made pitiful, weak gurgling noises as he struggled shakily, empty eyes staring right at Applejack while his hoof limply reached towards the cage.

Twilight, or should I say the fake Twilight form that Nirru had taken, sat next to my fallen dream self, slowly pushing her hoof blade into me while grinning at Applejack. Twilight gasped as she saw herself, then squeaked out, "T-That's me!"

Rainbow snarled instead, instantly correcting, "No. That's Nirru, who took your form. She's evil." Her words were laced with venom and far more hostility than I'd ever heard from the cyan mare. It didn't surprise me in the slightest, however, and I nodded as well.

"She's right. That's Nirru, and vaguely what I looked like that night, although she never stabbed me again. Applejack's mind is making it worse," I warned, frowning as I shifted my attention away from the orange mare in question and at the surrounding bubble. Something was wrong, but I couldn't place what it was.

Dash snapped into a crouch instantly, instead. "Well, let's kick her flank and get her away from AJ!" she snarled, shooting ahead in an instant with her trademark speed.

"Rainbow, no!" I called out, far too late, of course. She smashed right into the bubble and stopped as if she hit a brick wall. I winced as she skipped off it and rolled, crashing back into the 'ground' we stood on at the base of the bubble. Twilight called out her name in surprise, then ran after her, sliding up and helping the wincing mare get back up to her hooves.

I approached the bubble a bit slower, looking up at it as I closed the distance. "There's some sort of barrier that's surrounding her. I can't even get a ping through it, which isn't good. I don't even know how she managed to do this to herself, unless she's somehow subconsciously blocking us in trying to run away," I explained, glancing over to Twilight for ideas. Rainbow's readings were normal, and I knew she was okay, if not a little stunned.

“I’ve never heard of something like this in a dream before. What’s causing it?” Twilight quickly asked, trotting along the side of the bubble after helping Dash back up.

The cyan mare gave a frustrated groan, stomping her hooves before reaching out and swatting the barrier a couple of times. I knew that wouldn’t have mattered. The barrier technically wasn’t here, but was instead some sort of block against intruders into the dream. But why? Sitting down, I quickly started to examine it, looking past what we saw and at the connection inwards instead. There was indeed a block there, and a rather adamant one at that. Although Applejack was a stubborn mare, so that didn’t particularly surprise me. Was she really subconsciously blocking us, though?

Twilight sat down a couple meters from me, also looking at the shield with a frown. I had no doubt she also knew it wasn’t technically there, and I saw her horn start to slowly glow as her energy felt against it curiously. Rainbow looked through it instead, watching the scene unfold.

“You really are foolish, aren’t you, Applejack? You can’t even fully grasp the gravity of what you did, can you?” Nirru asked, her voice entirely different than Twilight’s, which made it seem really weird coming from a Twilight simulacrum.

The orange mare struggled to pull herself upright again, bloodshot and wet eyes turning back to the fake Twilight. “Please… no. It… Ah understand! Ah told ya, Ah understand!” she begged. My frown heightened as I’d never seen her beg before, and it was disturbing on several levels.

Nirru actually giggled at that and shook her head, adding, “I don’t think you do. Let’s recap! That sounds fun!” How long had this been going on?! A low growl came from Dash next to me as my eyes narrowed. My severed leg was lifted up next using Nirru’s hoof, the gravity distortion visible from her manipulation of it. She spun it around, however, and smashed it into the side of the cage in an instant, causing a spray of blood to go across Applejack’s face as fresh gashes were torn in it. The orange mare yelped and shrank away as if burned, backing into the other corner of the cage.

“See?! He lost this leg for you. You were the one that was so pathetic that he had to use his magic to defend you, which directly led to him getting this torn off. Do you realize how much agony he was in? Oh, wait, you don’t, do you? You got away with just a little bruise on your shoulder… How lucky,” Nirru cooed, smirking as she tossed the leg aside and Applejack started sobbing again, smashing her hoof into the floor in frustration. What the hell?!

Rainbow paled a little at the sight of the gore, but her anger fought through anything else and she snarled, slamming both hooves into the barrier. “Mender, open this thing! We need to get in there and flatten that mare!” she snarled, looking over to me rapidly.

I nodded, explaining, “I’m trying to figure out how to get it open. This is stopping my pings, too, which I didn’t think was possible to do. It’s like…” It was strange. Familiar, but strange at the same time. I’d seen something similar to this, it felt like, but in a totally different situation. What was it?!

Twilight stood up on her hind legs and felt up the barrier with her front ones, horn still glowing. It only took her a few seconds to report, “It’s weird. I don’t feel any magic coming from Applejack at all. Earth ponies have magic inside of them all the same, but it must all be locked inside the barrier with her consciousness.” They could do that?

Nirru moved again, the wood of the balcony creaking as she slipped back over to my fallen form. A flick of her hoof later, she slammed it down on my neck and Applejack screamed out for her to stop at the top of her lungs. “Aww, you do seem to care about him. Maybe you aren’t lying? But then why did you not believe him at all that night? Why did you buck him through a window, shattering six of his ribs into his lungs? You know I didn’t actually do anything to him. He died from your wounds first,” she teased out, smirking. Wait, what?! I knew Applejack had seen the medical report, but there was no way she could have known about those wounds actually being the ones to kill me. Why was her subconscious even doing this to her?!

The orange mare fell to her stomach, spasming once, then twice more. Wincing, I looked away as she threw up across the floorboards. Rainbow brought both hooves to her mouth as she watched, eyes wide and the color drifting out of her face. “Rainbow, look away until we get the shield down,” I warned, shifting to focusing on that instead. So her magic was inside of this thing, too? That meant that some part of the barrier had to be magic in and of itself, right? But that would mean that she was stopping her own magic flow inside of her body while stuck like this.

“N-No! I have to help her. Please tell me we can get in there?” Dash asked, standing up again and slamming both hooves into the barrier. Again and again she hit it, but it didn’t so much as vibrate. Brute force wasn’t going to work.

The Twilight look-alike smirked at the lack of answer and sat down on my body this time. “But we’ve been through all this already. You know what you did wrong. You betrayed an innocent pony and murdered them, all because of a misunderstanding. Somepony who you told was a friend before that. You’re the monster, no matter how scary he is. Oh, right. He is a monster now, isn’t he? Not only did you kill him, but you also ruined his only dream in life. Now he can never be normal,” she rubbed in. I froze, my eyes widening at the scene. No, I… I had never told Applejack about that. Intentionally, I’d never told her because it would only make her feel bad! There was no way she could have known about that. Oh, oh hell. Were my links somehow sending subliminal information to the mares connected to them?!

Twilight frowned, too, looking over towards me as well, although I barely registered her. I shook my head slowly instead, defending with, “No, she shouldn’t know that. I never told anypony about that except for the two royal sisters, Fluttershy, and you! Why would I tell her something that would only make her feel bad?!” Twilight looked momentarily sad while Rainbow’s eyes softened towards me.

“I… I didn’t know that either. Mender…” she muttered, looking uncertain what to say. Shaking my head, I looked down and away from her quickly, it suddenly hurting to make eye contact. I made no secret to myself that I found what I actually was to be disgusting. I was unnatural, and would never lead a normal life. I’d admitted that to myself, so why did it still hurt me to see others realize it?

Applejack’s voice snapped me out of it a second later. “P-Please, just stop… Ah’m sorry. Ah… Ah’ll do anything ta….” she murmured, ears dropping down as she lay there, covered in my blood. She looked so tired and sick. It was disgusting to think of her like that. Why was she so hard on herself?

“Oh, you’re sorry. Well, that makes it all better. I guess that means he can be happy being a freaky monster now and life can resume like normal!” Nirru chimed in, interrupting her in a singsong voice. Ugh. She was the monster, if nothing else. Applejack’s memory of her was spot on, it would seem. Sadly, she continued talking with, “Not! No, what you did can never be fixed. So the only option you have really is to just kill yourself. Of course, that would disappoint all those ponies relying on you, so I guess you’re stuck. Maybe if you beg him enough and do anything he asks, he might not hate you as much?” What the hell?! I didn’t hate her at all. How many times did I have to tell the mare that? Did she really not trust my word in the slightest?!

Twilight sat upright fully again, however, glaring at the scene. “This can’t be possible. Are we really seeing only Applejack’s input on the event?” she asked, a certain underlying tension in her voice that betrayed her surprisingly calm demeanor. Only her input? I raised an eyebrow and looked back at Nirru instead. Something was…

Applejack let out a groan and smashed the bottom of her cage with her hoof. “Ah already said Ah’d do anything! He… He doesn’t want anything, though. He…” She slumped again, sliding her cheek down the bar of her cage before choking back another sob, only to roughly cough instead.

“Psh, he’s a stallion. There’s always something in particular they want. Hmm, you do have a nice, sturdy body, don’t you? So strong and healthy. Why, that’s probably the only use you could be to him anymore. Lift that pretty little rump up for him and give him a few healthy foals. Every stallion wants a legacy, no?” she suggested, standing up fully off the fake body. My eyes widened. That was…

It echoed through my mind in a heartbeat. Her tone. It was the same tone I’d heard her use before! "You're stronger than me, Mender. By our oldest laws, that means you can have me. I'll have to do anything you say.” Over and over again, it repeated in my mind. Creeping cold came over me as my eyes narrowed further.

“W-What?! Why is she dreaming…?!” Rainbow asked, eyes widening in surprise at the same time Twilight’s did. I ignored her and slipped into scanning mode again. No, it couldn’t be. Could it? Instead of trying to read for energy or traces of enchantment, I switched to code injection instead and did a ping reading on the barrier rather than Applejack. It came back this time, but with firewall details instead. Son of a bitch! It wasn’t a barrier at all!

They both felt the spike of anger from me, Rainbow looking over suddenly in surprise as I smashed my hoof against the barrier. This was a firewall. It was being used to intercept my signal and send me a fake one back. But this wasn’t just any firewall. I ran the code exploit into it, and almost growled as I got a confirmation back and the administrator panel opened up for me. No, it was the firewall I made to protect the links inside of myself. I’d left myself a small backdoor, just in case.

“That’s not a dream. That’s really Nirru inside Applejack’s nightmare,” I warned, pulling up the command console and switching it to debug. Once it gave me full administrative access, I ran the diagnostics for it. One ‘CPCOR’ was the administrator of it, which didn’t tell me much. It had been up for two hours now, which made sense.

“W-What?! Wait, that Nirru that you see sometimes?!” Twilight asked quickly, eyes widening as she stood up again, looking back over at her double.

Applejack looked utterly miserable. If that Nirru had been ‘visiting’ her every night, I had no doubts as to why anymore. She was intentionally torturing her. Why was she doing this?! The orange mare swallowed, lifting her muzzle up again with her own vomit dripping from her chin, shivering. “Ah’ll do anything fer him. Anything…” she repeated, her left hoof lifting up and touching against her navel, shakily. No. This was enough.

“Rainbow, I’m going to disable the shield. She’ll know something’s wrong instantly. I want you to move as fast as you can and put a hoof into her face. After hitting her as hard as you can, grab Applejack and fly towards Twilight at top speed,” I ordered, forming the image for the maneuver in my head. She was way faster than me. I found the memory address for the cage that was holding Applejack and locked onto it.

Rainbow’s surprised look shifted into a determined one instead and she nodded abruptly, turning back towards them and crouching down, her wings expanding out, then extending with jets. Twilight’s horn lit up as she crouched down next to Rainbow, ready to retaliate on anything Nirru came at us with. This was going to be fast…

The cage got flagged for deletion a second later, and I rebooted the firewall, taking over complete administration in the same instant. Nirru’s eyes widened, but it was far too late as I flicked the entire thing off. Rainbow flickered, then was gone almost faster than I could trace. Nirru’s head whipped to the side to look over at us, then a fraction of a second later, the cyan hoof cratered into her muzzle and sent her reeling backwards and crashing into the balcony rail.

I was moving an instant later, clearing the distance in a single leap, albeit not nearly as fast as Rainbow had. The cage disintegrated as I jumped and to my surprise, I passed Rainbow in midair. Holy hell could that mare move when motivated by something! Applejack was still in the middle of looking completely stunned as she was pulled sideways, wrapped in two blue forelegs.

“You bi-“ was all Nirru got out of her mouth before I smashed into her, snapping her back through the railing and sending both of us toppling off the balcony. My processors revved up, expanding on Applejack’s memory and making ground under us as we crashed into it, her on the bottom. My armor was out just as the point of her blade tried to go into my chest half a second later. It snapped off completely on my plating, and all eight of my tentacles shot down and pinned her to the ground completely.

“What are you doing here?!” I demanded instantly, glaring down at her close enough to spread the blue glow from my eyes out across her entire shocked expression. I felt my armored lips curl back, the serrated teeth glinting in the moonlight.

She smirked a second later, although it lacked the conviction of her usual attitude. “You found me. It didn’t take you as long as I was hoping for. I should have known. Still, I think I got the idea fairly engrained in her. She’d make a good mate for-“ she started to explain. My upper right tendril whipped down into her head an instant later with a satisfying crunch. No, I didn’t even care why she was here, I suddenly realized. I’d look into ‘how’ she got here after this, and make sure she’d never bother Applejack ever again.

Slowly, I got up off her body as it started to distort and fade away. I felt unclean just from touching her. Why was she trying to get Applejack to…? No, I didn’t even care. Twilight’s voice called out over our link a half a second later with, “Mender, are you okay? I can still feel you, but that presence that was here is gone…”

Hopping backwards, I flicked myself back up to the balcony and landed carefully on the railing, rotating and balancing as I turned to face Twilight. The lavender mare walked up tentatively, shivering and quickly looking away from my fake body. I grabbed the link to that, too, and made it fade away for her. “I’m fine, Twilight. It really was her, turns out. That Nirru that’s inside my head, anyway. I don’t know how she got in here without me noticing, but I deleted her and cleaned the link,” I muttered, frowning at the mess that was left over. It looked exactly like the balcony did that night, with the shards of glass and wood I was lying on, and the cracks that Applejack’s hoof had caused under her cage. Those had later expanded to tear the entire balcony off the side of the tree, I remembered. It was fuzzy, and I was pretty sure I’d lost a lot of blood at that point, so the details were a bit vague.

Rainbow herself flew back up after realizing we were in the clear. Applejack clung to her in surprise, her back legs dangling down as she was slowly lowered back to the wooden planks. “W-What? What is this? Ah’ve never been rescued before. Wait… this is ah dream!” she suddenly exclaimed, looking around in surprise. She was lucid! Nirru was intentionally keeping her lucid?! This was practically torture…

“It was a nightmare, Applejack. We’re real, however. We connected to you in your mind through the link you have with me,” I revealed, frowning towards the mare.

She stared at me for a long second before her eyes softened and she looked down and away. “Ya… Ya heard all that, then?” she asked, although it didn’t really sound like a question. Twilight’s ears flattened down and she frowned at that, looking back to me instead.

“Mender, could you get us someplace more pleasant and bring the others in?” she asked, gesturing to the side with her foreleg at the balcony. Oh, right!

Nodding, I focused and shifted the dreamscape entirely, now being in full control of it like Nirru had been prior. Things flickered around me rapidly, and then expanded out into broad daylight overhead, the smell of salt water hitting us instantly alongside the sound of crashing surf. The beach expanded out in two directions away from us, the warm sand under hoof as I detailed the area with some mountains in the distance and soft clouds overhead. A nice palm tree expanded next to us, clustering out with several of its fellows to provide shade. From what textbooks had told, the landscape I was forming was similar to what Keldar looked like before the Keldarian’s trashed it to fuel their war machine. It was originally a hot climate, and largely tropical except for the colder north and south areas, which were more temperate in nature. Sadly, the scenery was largely wasted for the moment on Applejack herself, who instead turned and promptly buried her face in Rainbow’s chest fur. Dash looked more surprised than anything, and then slowly frowned as she hugged the orange mare against her.

Pinkie answered my ping almost immediately, which didn’t surprise me at all, honestly. “Oooh, AJ stopped shaking and stuff. Is everything okay?!” she asked without missing a beat. I was happy she was first curious as to her friend being okay.

“Yeah, Pinkie. Applejack’s okay now. Is everypony set to come in?” I asked quietly.

The orange mare heard it regardless, her ear twitching back slightly as her right eye opened, rotating to look at me instead. “E-Everypony?” she asked quietly, sounding surprised.

“Of course, AJ! All your friends are here for you. You don’t have to go through this alone, Silly!” Pinkie announced, totally ignoring my question and pulling herself into the dream right then and there. AH! Okay then, I guess she was ready! I didn’t even try to guess how she did that without my help.

Fluttershy gave out a soft giggle at her antics, slowly fading in as well, but also holding on to Rarity at the same time, whose horn was still glowing. The pearly mare moved back off Fluttershy and further surprised me, revealing Spike tucked in against her chest. His eyes slowly opened, and then widened as he looked around at the balmy, tropical setting he found himself in.

“Oh, this is nice,” Fluttershy complimented, shaking her head lightly and letting the wind catch her mane, it flowing sideways on her as she smiled.

Applejack had lifted her head at that point and looked around at the four newcomers, looking entirely surprised at the series of events, also having not quite recovered from the shock of our ‘rescue’. I smiled towards her regardless, deciding to elaborate with, “We’re linked through the disks, except for Rarity, who’s coming in off Fluttershy’s link. We’re all really here, Applejack. This is a dream and we’re all asleep on your bed in the outside world. Rainbow found you having a nightmare and alerted us all.”

She looked at me in disbelief for a moment before exhaling and sitting up fully off Rainbow, although refusing to move further away from the cyan mare. “Ah… Ah can’t honestly believe this is happenin’. Ah’ve had that same nightmare every night since it happened…” she muttered, looking extremely tired still.

That. That was very important! “Was Nirru there every night like that?” I asked quietly, frowning to myself. I had Twilight’s attention almost instantly, and Rainbow swallowed, obviously remembering what had happened. Applejack considered it for a long moment, frowning to herself before finally nodding.

"Uh, yeah. Ah remember not havin' it tha first few nights after tha incident. Those were just black nights where Ah'd pass out an' not remember anything. Uh, Ah think it was two or three days later that Ah started havin' tha real nightmares," she muttered, her eyes getting a far away look to them. Crap. That lined up with when she was registered in the disks then, not when I activated her just this trip.

Twilight nodded as well, obviously knowing what I was considering. "It's the disks. When I had Applejack register her Cutie Mark on one, that's when the dreams started. Nirru used the link to get inside and give Applejack nightmares," she voiced. I felt myself swallow uneasily as Rarity and Fluttershy both gasped.

Applejack looked more shocked than anything, however. "W-Wait, that was tha real Nirru? Like, the same one that's in yer head and bugs ya from time ta time?" she asked instantly, eyes widening. Slowly, I nodded, afraid to admit it myself. Her nightmares had been my fault then.

"I'm sorry, Applejack. I'm going to find out how she got in here first thing tomorrow, and make sure she never can again. Also, I think it would be a wise idea to start having joint dreams for everypony for a few nights, at least until I can sort out how she's doing this. I don't want her to target anypony else because we stopped her here," I warned. Twilight gave me a nod, but Rarity paled a little. It was hard to notice on her already rather pale fur, and I realized it must be a really bad one. Tentatively, I again wondered why the fur of ponies' faces matched their skin tones underneath, but now wasn't a good time to ask.

"Um, you think she could target us, too? What exactly, um, was she doing?" the pearly mare asked uneasily, a healthy dose of concern readily apparent in her tone.

I shook my head, however, assuring, "No, she can't target you anymore. I know about it now, and am not going to let her." I couldn't stop a bit of the hostility from slipping into my voice, but oddly, it appeared to actually comfort her more, and she gave me a soft smile instead. Maybe that's what Nirru had really been after? To get me upset. I noticed nothing pushed my buttons quite as hard as somepony messing with my friends. It had gotten her murdered the first time.

Applejack let out a tired sigh and lay down next to Rainbow before speaking up with, "It ain't yer fault, Mender. Given what Ah know about ya, Ah have ah suspicion ya'd be 'ere tha first night, had ya known. Also, ya really don't wanna ask that, Rare." I blushed a little, realizing she was right regardless. Heh, probably towards Rarity, too. Rainbow didn't look anywhere near satisfied, however.

"But... It doesn't make any sense! Why was she trying to convince Applejack to..." Her voice trailed off as she shuddered at the last minute. I amused myself considering if I should be proud of her or insulted.

"Um, to what?" Fluttershy asked softly, looking concerned towards Rainbow. Well, she felt concerned as well, given we were close enough to easily pick up base emotions now.

Sighing, I finished it for her with, "Mate with me. And I don't know. The first time I saw her, she tried the same thing with me, but more directly, obviously." Rarity let out a squeak, but to my surprise, Twilight only frowned.

"It has to be something to do with that DNA thing in you. The real Nirru came here trying to get the DNA out of you to bring back to her dimension, right? But she barely had the patience to wait a few minutes for it. This Nirru not only seems intent on having you actually use the DNA to mate, but has lasted a whole lot longer, using subtlety to try to get her way. Honestly, I don't think she's actually Nirru," Twilight concluded, striking so many pointed statements that it made me want to groan and smack my face into the ground. I'd already tentatively considered that it wasn't actually Nirru, but I was more considering it a virus she put in me at this point. Twilight was right, though. Why the sudden change of motive?

Applejack huffed weakly, asking, "So it wasn't who Ah was at all, but just because Ah'm ah sturdy Earth Mare?" Ah, true. She had the highest constitution out of all six of them, and was probably the healthiest, too. If looking only objectively at it, she was the best 'breeding' material. Ugh. Still, she was probably also picked because she had the guilt issue that could be singled out easily.

"Aww! Why wasn't I picked, too?! I'm an Earthy Pony," Pinkie chirped, completely missing the point of it being something to not strive towards.

To my surprise, Applejack shuddered, then immediately snapped with, "It ain't somethin' ya want, Pinkie! Night after night, tha nightmare just wouldn't stop! Ah don't even know how much longer I could have taken it. Please, somepony make it stop." It was a disturbing cross between pleading and anger in her voice, and Pinkie instantly dropped her ears down.

"I'm sorry, AJ. Um, I didn't mean to..." she started to apologize with.

Applejack let out a tired sigh and shook her head, cutting her off. “No, Ah ain’t mad at you, Pinkie. It’s just… Ah don’t want ta dream about it anymore. Ah’m so tired,” she muttered, slumping over again and sinking to her stomach against the warm sand.

Spike scampered up to her right and rested one of his claws on her shoulder, nodding encouragingly to her. “Hey, relax, Applejack. We have this nice beach now, and a beautiful day, and none of the girls are going to let you dream about that anymore. You’re linked now, so Mender can pull you into here each night,” he justified. Yeah, that was the plan, anyway. I didn’t mention the copious amounts of scans I was doing on all of the systems revolving around the links, and the additional security measures I’d be installing once it was done. There was no way I’d let her do this again.

A light cough later, I glanced back over at Rarity, along with everypony else. “Ah, this brings to light an issue. Um, Mender, do you think it would be too much trouble to link up with me as well, tomorrow? I’ve come to the conclusion that it will do me no harm, of course, and would feel much safer…” she requested softly, glancing towards me instead. I really doubted that Nirru was going to target her, given our, well, past history.

“The odds of Nirru targeting you are fairly low, but if it would make you feel better, or you just want to join us in dreams each night, then sure,” I pointed out, tilting my head slightly. She returned a nod to me, but seemed unshaken in her desire.

“Oh, I realize that. I’d simply feel safer. Plus, I truly wouldn’t mind sharing dreams with everypony, of course,” she furthered.

The pink one jumped all over that like a rabbit on a sugar coated carrot cake, of course. “Oooh, you should totally make more disks, and then we could get other ponies in on it, too! If we invite Twilight’s parents, Shining Armor, and Cadance, too, we could have more games every night! That would be so awesome… But I’m totally being a bard next time instead. I think that would fit me so much more instead of-“ she immediately started. Uh…

Twilight held up a hoof to her, giggling at that. “As much fun as that would be, I don’t believe that my dad, or Mender himself, would enjoy being linked. The stigma of that alone might give my dad a heart attack. But my brother and Cadance might be a nice idea,” she suggested. Okay, yeah, that I could handle much, much easier.

“I’m not entirely sure how to go about making new disks yet. I know how to make the physical parts to it, but a lot goes into them apart from just what they’re made of. I’ll look into it more once we get back to Ponyville,” I offered, lying down in the sand as well. Fluttershy didn’t even hesitate before resting next to me as well. Rainbow looked longingly at the waves, probably wanting to go have fun in them, but turned back and flopped next to the uneasy looking Applejack regardless.

To my surprise, everypony, and drake, of course, settled in instead of actually playing like Pinkie had suggested. Applejack perked up and looked around at us when she noted, her ears twitching lightly as a faint pink tint came to her cheeks. “Uh… W-Wait, what’s everypony doin’ lookin’ at me?” she asked, sounding uncertain for a rare moment.

Fluttershy simply smiled softly towards her, and Rarity nodded in silent agreement before adding, “You don’t have to attempt to be stoic and unflinching all the time, Dear. You have friends who are here for you, and don’t have to do this alone.” I felt a bit warmer inside as I smiled, too, watching all of them interact. The yellow pegasus to my right perked up at Rarity's words, finally.

"She's right. We're all here to help you, Applejack. You know we're not going to let you go through this by yourself. That would be horrible!" she managed to squeak out, eyes widening at the very prospect.

Applejack actually let out a weak chuckle at that, relaxing again in her lying position. "Ah don't know what ta say, besides thankin' everypony. Suddenly findin' out that it wasn't just ah nightmare all along is... It's scary. She tried ta get me ta..." she started trying to explain, stumbling at the end. I frowned, watching the orange mare start to shiver again, then rub the sides of her head softly.

Rainbow edged over and put a wing over her back, giving a confident smile towards her crush. This seemed to have an almost bolstering effect when Applejack glanced over at her, and she relaxed, nodding. "It's just hard ta make myself remember. But if'in it leads ta catchin' her, Ah'm more than happy ta provide tha information! Ah don't know why she was so sold on tha idea, but she repeatedly tried ta convince me that tha only way Mender was gonna really forgive me was... Well, she told me tha only way was if Ah submitted ta him like some sort o' slave or broodmare an' gave him lots o' little ones," she finished.

More horrified gasps, and despite that momentary twinge in my chest that they might be horrified over the thought of being with me, I squashed that idea quite quickly. No, it was undoubtedly the 'slave' part they thought was horrific, in which I totally agreed. Thankfully Rainbow spoke up, giving me something else to focus on.

"Eww! That's disgusting! Why would she even recommend that?! It doesn't seem to benefit her at all," Dash immediately pointed out. I momentarily felt like I had been bucked in the face but managed to limit my reaction to just a slow blink. Never mind that something else to focus on, then.

Fluttershy almost gave me a heart attack when she suddenly leaned over and pecked my cheek, interrupting with, "They're not talking about the thought of being with you, Mender." It was barely a whisper, but there was hardly any other sound to mask it, and everypony looked over at me regardless. My affectionate mare blushed lightly, suddenly noticing she'd made us the center of attention with that action, and I felt my cheeks lightly following suit.

Dash momentarily looked flabbergasted, flailing her forelegs up before remembering she was leaning on them and planting her face into the sand. Thankfully she spit it out and recovered rapidly with, "No way! Using AJ like that is the disgusting part, Mender!" Her adamant correction made me happy regardless, proving it was important to her.

"Yeah, I know. It was just a momentary side thought. I'm okay," I quickly assured, not wanting it to devolve into a huge misunderstanding.

Instead, Applejack looked back over at me with a slightly sadder expression, asking, "Are you? Ah know, Ah know. Ya always say ya are. Over an' over, there ain't nothin' Ah can do fer ya. She was totally crazy, but also right. Ah don't feel like Ah've paid ya back at all." She mentioned what the actual problem was this time, I noticed.

Twilight smiled softly at that, further sliding into my left before exhaling quietly. "Mender asked us a rather important question regarding that a little while ago. You know what happened over Estrus, and both Fluttershy and I were in a panic, thinking we were going to be dumped and he'd leave the herd," she added, slowly narrating what had happened. I knew where she was going almost instantly, of course.

"It was horrific. Of course, we tried everything we could when he got back. We had to fix it as fast as possible to prove we cared for him still! Of course, it all came to be pointless as he was willing to give us another chance anyway. Mender holds a lot of anger inside of his heart, and even if he doesn't specifically ask for anything, helping him out through friendship and love is super important. He started by asking us how long it would take to forgive ourselves, however," she revealed. I'd not expected her to mention that anger part, but at least Pinkie already knew of it, which meant the others might have, too. It didn't bother me, I decided.

"Forgive mahself? But Ah ain't... Oh," she muttered, eyes widening a little bit. I nodded in agreement of course.

"Tia told me that the hardest pony to forgive is yourself. I think that applies to almost everypony here," I appended. All seven expressions lowered a bit, making me realize that they themselves were each processing that. Of course, almost everypony here had some reason or another to be upset with themselves. Some were more justified in that than others, with the yellow mare to my right awkwardly being the least offensive, yet most apologetic.

Finally, Applejack smiled at that and nodded slowly. "Ah understand. How about we help each other, then? Ya let me help ya out in any way Ah can, an' in turn, ya can help me forgive mah self, slowly..." she agreed finally.

Chuckling, I managed to nod. The mare finally smiled fully at that and relaxed a bit, thankfully. Rainbow had either gotten really brave, or had totally forgotten about her wing that was still over Applejack’s back, but the orange mare apparently didn’t mind at all, so I wasn’t going to say anything.

Pinkie hopped up a moment later, wearing a rather large grin. “Woo! We still have time left before we wake up, everypony! Who wants to take advantage of this super-duper awesome beach?!” she asked almost immediately.

Applejack looked surprised at first, and then gave her a knowing smirk and a snicker. “Eh, why not? It’s amazin’ ta have ah pleasant dream after all this time, so yer right. Ah should enjoy it. Race ya into tha water, Dash,” she challenged, hopping up to her hooves. Rainbow perked at that, eyes widening as she turned to look at the orange mare, her wing getting moved out of the way when she stood suddenly.

If she just realized the wing thing, or was just worried Applejack had noticed when she stood up, it didn’t matter. Pinkie squealed and took off towards the water after the farm mare, both taking advantage of Rainbow’s stunned state to get a head start. “Hey!” she finally yelped, scrambling up and shooting after them a heartbeat later.

Smiling, I watched the three hit the waves at almost the same time, laughing and starting to immediately splash each other. This had gone better than I’d hoped, although it left more questions than answers. Spike moved back over to Rarity to my right a bit and sat down again a moment later, running a claw through the sand as he did.

“This all seems so real. It’s hard to believe that it’s just a dream,” he muttered, lifting a clawed hand up and letting the sand pour out of it.

Twilight frowned at that, and then sighed, resting more against me as she closed her eyes. “It was all too real for Applejack. What’s going on, Mender?” she asked softly, obviously not having dropped the real reason we were all here.

Sadly, I didn’t know where to begin answering that one. “I don’t know. Somehow, that creature that calls herself Nirru in my head managed to subtly slip down the link to Applejack and promote her own agenda. I’d thought she was just a figment of my mind to torment myself at first, but now…” It was obvious she wasn’t, if she could use my systems to get at my friends. The full system scan hadn’t been enough apparently. It was time to scan those four processing units that I also had. Each of the large processors had a significant amount of physical memory attached to them. Could Nirru have uploaded a virus during her information retrieval that night? That would explain that thing’s preference for her image.

“I think it’s a good idea regardless to start grouping together each night in dreams, if only to make sure she can’t target any of us individually. At least until Mender can fix this,” Twilight suggested, glancing back over at Rarity, who quickly nodded. Yeah, safety in numbers was a good idea, but further, I could guard them specifically if I was there. Although, I doubted she’d even try and risk exposing how she operated further if I was actually in the dream with them. Rarity wanted to be added tomorrow, and then I’d have everypony covered.

“Yeah, it’s a good idea. There are still four spots that a virus might be hiding in my systems that I didn’t check yet. I think Nirru might have added that thing to my systems that night in the forest,” I revealed, not wanting to keep anything from the mares.

Fluttershy fidgeted to my other side, shifting a bit closer before asking, “Um, do you think you can get rid of it if you find it? She’s really scary and mean, and I don’t want you getting hurt or anything.” I smiled and lightly kissed the top of her muzzle, earning a blush and soft smile from her instead, the worry melting off her expression.

“Yes. If I can find her, I can get rid of her with no issue. And I want to, so she doesn’t hurt any of my friends again,” I assured, nodding towards her. A virus in my systems wasn’t a super big danger if she was stuck on one of my processing cores. It was just a matter of running external deletion commands, then.

The yellow mare seemed pleased with that answer regardless and nodded. Twilight also relaxed and looked up at the sky instead, smiling at the sunshine drifting across the water and onto us. The line of light it made danced with the waves, a soft warm glow. Yeah, now that I knew about it, I could take steps to stop this. Letting myself relax, I slid down a bit and lay my head down against my forelegs, enjoying the sensation of the fur to each side of me as I closed my eyes. I felt Twilight smile from the link with her, and rest her head next to mine.

“Yeah, I’m glad we were able to be there for Applejack tonight,” she added, in a quieter voice.

Rarity smiled and rested her head down as well, shifting and letting Spike sit down in the sand against her forelegs. “Yes. I had started to get worried over her nightmares.” Oh, right. Big Mac had expressed concern over them, too. It was nice to see that Applejack had so many there to support her when she needed it. Still, I felt guilty, as this had technically been made far worse by my own lenience. No, I wasn’t going to be lax in my duties anymore. I wanted to protect everypony I could, and even if that meant from myself, I had to try. I started setting up the scans inside of myself while listening to them talk, and the splashing in the background. That fourth, damaged core was what bothered me. I didn’t think anything could even be uploaded to it, but no, it was going to get included in my scans, too. I wasn’t taking any chances at all, this time.

With a new sense of purpose, I focused on getting the most thorough scan I could manage programmed in so I could start it up the first thing tomorrow. It would take a good chunk of that day and the next to complete due to the sheer size of the four cores, but the faster I started, the sooner we’d have answers. Answers…

I’d been avoiding answers, I realized. I listened to Twilight talk about her own bad dreams after that night, nowhere near as malicious as the one we’d walked into. It was true. I had been intentionally avoiding watching that video, purely because I was afraid to. What if it showed me some other horrible thing about myself that I didn’t know yet? What if it just made everything worse? But no, I now realized that not looking for the answers myself could also put my friends in danger, too. I’d have to watch the thing soon. There was no more avoiding it…

I listened to the three mares having fun, and the others closest to me chatting quietly as the sun drifted up on our pleasant scene. It was a new day finally, and I decided I was going to hit the ground running after rolling out of bed. Yeah, our last day in Canterlot, too. One more meeting with Tia, and then we’d be on our way back to Ponyville. It was time for new things, either way. I made the promise to be more responsible once more as I watched the sun gently lift into the sky.

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