"Applejack Apple..."
I froze. I don't know if mom knew about this or didn't but I'm sure as hell am not dealing with an Apple. I'm not angry with them or anything. No, I'm terrified...I turned around and started walking towards the train station.
"Jacob, wait!" Spike called. I stopped walking but didn't turn around to face him. "Where are you going?"
I turned my head to the side, looking at him in the corner of my eye and spoke in a deadpan tone, "Back to Canterlot..."
They winced at my tone, "Look Jacob... I know you have problems with the Apple Clan but these guys are innocent. At least put the fear aside and get it over with." Spike bargained.
I contemplated my options. I could always say 'no' and walk all the way back to Canterlot and stay with mom in the comfort of moms throne room but that would mean leaving my surrogate sister and brother to do my work, even though minimal, didn't seem right to me. Or I could say 'fuck it' and get this out of the way and be on with my life.
I chose my second option, I should just get this over with. I don't like the idea of putting work on others anyway, even if it's redundant. Plus, walking all the way to Canterlot doesn't seem all that fun. Besides, I didn't really need to socialize with them.
I turned back to them, "Alright, I'll go with, but I'm not socializing. Let's get this over with ..." I said with a sigh, we started to walk. I pulled the list out getting started on my job I just hope this doesn't go downhill from here. As we walked, Spike decided to ask a question...
"Jay, why didn't we take your car with us instead of riding a chariot. Not that I don't like riding a chariot and being treated like a king but your car is way faster, better, and cooler."
"Well," I started. "We would have taken my ride but since mom said I should take a break from it, I decided 'why not.' Besides, it's at an auto body shop anyway."
Twilight looked at me in shock, "Why? What happened?"
"The reason it's there is that dear cousin Blueprick decided to have a joyride in my sweetness after he crashed his whip," I said cracking my neck in frustration. "And since he was drunk driving in my car, mom forced him to pay half of his allowance for my car and the rest of his bits to me. In addition, mom took his license from him, and he wouldn't stop crying about it."
"And how much damage did Ivory take?" He asked about my car in worry.
"Ok, the back windshield is gone, theirs throw up all over the airbags that deployed when he crashed, and the front of the car is so totaled from hitting a tree, so wrecked you'd think he was trying to get Optimus prime to mate with my girl," I said bitterly. "He better be lucky mom held me back with magic, otherwise I'd kick his ass back to the medieval times and wait for them to kick him back so we can play a game of tennis with his head!" I calmed down to look at them, "And that's after he gets out of the hospital." They looked at me with wide eyes until I snapped my fingers in their faces snapping them out of their stupor. They laughed at imaging Blueblood being hit back and forth from time periods with tennis rackets.
As we walked back into quietness, we stepped closer and closer to the farm overhead. Each step brought dread and my feet felt like lead.
"Guy's," they turned to me. "I can't do this..."
Spike walked over and threw an arm over my shoulder reassuringly, "Dude it'll be fine," It didn't convince me and it showed as much, "how about this, you can stick in the back behind us.? You don't even have to speak."
"...Alright, Spike, I trust you..." And with that, we continued in silence. I had already stood in the back for the remaining of the walk. A few minutes passed as I kept myself calm, and we had arrived at the gate of the farm. I couldn't stop shaking. 'Calm down Jacob...Just calm..down...'
We crossed the gate with no problem and walked passed trees in the orchard. We were well within the orchard now and a farmhouse came into view. As we got closer, we saw a blond-haired woman carrying a basket filled with apples, corn, and other vegetables. It was mostly apples. I didn't really care at the moment though, I made sure to stick in the back when the woman that, I'm assuming is Applejack, seen and approached us.
When she was at least 5 feet away from us she spoke, "Howdy, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, my name's Applejack!" Then she started to shake our hands enthusiastically but when she got to me I hesitated. Looking at her outstretched hand and closed-eyed smile I composed myself and slowly reached for her hand with my now violently trembling one, and shook her hand quickly and let go after 5 seconds.
She looked at me quizzically but every time she'd try and meet my gaze I'd hesitate and look away from hers. Even when I tried to look in her eyes it wouldn't last long and from me turning my head so fast it'd make me dizzy, starting new bouts of trembling. The only way I met her gaze was by quick glances but those made me equally sick. She looked concerned and turned to my siblings who also had concerned looks.
"Is he gon' be alright?" she asked.
Twilight spoke, "He'll be fine in a little while. Just leave him be for now..."
"If ya say so..." Applejack said still not convinced. "So what can ah do ya for?"
As they spoke I was busy trying to get myself together and not flub up. So closing my eyes, I took deep breathes, 'In, out...In and out..' I thought to myself. It worked on a minuscule level, so trying harder I blocked out my hearing. It was working a little but it wasn't enough. It took me 20 minutes to calm down though I was still tense.
I flinched hard when someone placed their hand on my shoulder. And I tried and succeeded at keeping still, stopping myself from decking Spike who was the one who placed their hand on my shoulder. I lifted my head slowly to him and was met with a worried look. So to ease him a bit I put on a tired and taut smile, but that only seemed to worry him more. He pulled me into a brotherly hug, something I didn't know I needed until now, and whispered calmly to me until I wasn't as stiff as a board. I hugged him back tightly, whispering thank you's to him for being there for me.
After a minute, I and Spike let go and turned back to the two conversing women. It looked like Twilight was trying to avoid something. I walked closer to figure out what was being talked about and froze. Something didn't feel right to me. I was about excuse myself off the premises when Applejack spoke.
"C'mon ya'll, I'll show ya tha family." I shuddered at this and met Twi's eyes and I gave her a hesitant yet shallow nod.
"A-Alright," Twilight said.
So waiting for the inevitable, I just stood in place stiff, gulping from the dry mouth I had. I thought to try to stay optimistic, 'What's, t-the worst that could happen. It's not like their hundreds of them...'
My thoughts were cut off when Applejack shouted, "SOUPS ON EVERYONE!!!" Causing the ground to rumble a little. My chest tightened as I thought about the number of people coming near. I thought there would only be a few people showing, so you can imagine the looks of horror when Applejack kept naming off her relatives. Though I really didn't pay attention to that.
I didn't know what to do, I looked towards Spike trying to scream for help but my mouth wouldn't move. He looked at me and his face screamed panic. I couldn't say anything due to the fact that my teeth were grinding together. And turning back to the large group only seemed to make my stasis worst because as soon as I faced them, my head started throbbing, so I shut my eyes and pushed my tongue to the roof of my mouth, trying to get rid of a growing headache. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes; The results were horrifying.
The world had turned red and every single Apple relative looked like my tormentor. They had different types of weapons ranging from scalpels to mallets and needles. They took a step forward in unison and I stumbled back, almost tripping over my feet. They saw this and let out a chilling laugh that was low to a whisper but deep enough to hear.
I gripped my hands over both my ears as they began to laugh louder. I felt liquid coming out of my mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. I couldn't care less about what sort of liquid that was pouring from me. I stepped back again when one of the duplicates stepped up. I guess I didn't give it enough time to say or do anything because at that moment I noticed that I was already running through an entrance of the forest that was near.
As I ran, I barely took notice of a woman with pink hair, tail, and yellow sundress was waving for me to stop. I just ignored her and continued to run.
I didn't know how long I was running or how fast but it was starting to get dark out. I was still crying, though the tears felt thick and it hurt when I continued to cry the substance. I reached up to touch whatever it was and peered at it. The liquid was dark red. I was crying blood. On reaction to this I blinked, which was the wrong thing to do, because the next thing I know, I was blinded and ran into what seemed to be a low hanging branch.
I stumbled and rolled across the ground and hit my head against a boulder, knocking myself out.
In The Void Realm
I jolted up and looked around, seeing that I had knocked myself into the Void realm. It was quiet for once, something I was thankful for. The quietness helped me calm down. So after about 5 minutes of just floating in the whitened world, I decided to leave this place. It just doesn't seem safe to leave my sleeping body in a forest, filled with who-knows-what.
So concentrating, I closed my eyes and took three deep breaths, only to realize I was still floating in the same spot I was in when I showed up. Try and try again but still no results that benefitted me.
"C'mon, WHY CAN'T I WAKE UP!!!" I screamed. Sighing, I sat on a couch I had just created, "How am I supposed to get out of here now?" I closed my eyes and slouch on the couch, I closed my eyes and focused on the soundless room through my ears...
"...Jacob!"
I perked up and looked around, I don't see anyone near though. 'Huh, must be me hearing things.' I start to close my as but stopped and listen closely.
"...Jacob, where are you, bro?!" 'Ok, now I know I heard someone.' I stood from the couch and start to walk.
"Bro?!" Another voice yelled. 'Could have sworn that was my sister just now.' I listened more closely to the voice calling out to me, "J, where are you?!" 'That was Spike obviously...'
"JD, come on out, we know you're there!" 'That was...Barb? That can't be...'
"Guy's, I'm here!" I called and started to run in any direction. "I'm coming guys! Head to the valley where mom is!" I continued, hoping against hope they'd hear me.
"You'd better be there!" I heard Barb yell.
I couldn't believe this, my sister is actually here. I ran so fast, I was already entering the forest; Dodging fallen trees, roots, and branches. As I was getting closer to the clearing I had met my mother, I tried to run faster, keyword tried. I was too tired to run any faster but still determined to get where I'm going. I kept pushing, fearing if I'd stop, everything would fall into shambles.
As soon as I ran into the clearing I was tackled by two figures. Dazed, I looked up to the people holding me in a tight embrace and found them to be my brother and older sister. Hugging them back tightly, I looked around to find mom and see her sitting in the middle of the grassy plain, wiping the tear from her eyes. Turning back to my siblings and they looked at me in relief. We let go of each other and walked over to our mother and sat with her.
We sat in silence, looking at each other, smiling all the while. I was the first to speak, "This feels... Right."
Spike and Barb agreed with a nod and mom smiled at us. I turned to Barb...
"Hey, sis, I missed you and all but can you tell me where you've been these past years? You know you could've sent me a note, a hint, or something cluing me in that you were ok you know," I said annoyed.
She rolled her eyes, "I did, you're just clueless sometimes."
"I am not!" I said loudly.
"Are too!" She said evenly. We smirked.
"No!" I yelled.
"Yes!" She yelled
"Nah!"
"Ya!"
"Wrong!"
"Right!" She finally yelled, we stared annoyingly at each other and groaned.
"Ugh, you're so annoying!" We yelled in unison.
"No, I'm not," we yelled. "Stop copying me!" We glared at each other.
"Jinx! Double jinx! Triple jinx! Quadruple jinx! Infinite jinx! Dangit!" We yell simultaneously.
We were about to continue our nonsense when Spike started to snicker at us. We looked at him and mom who was shaking her head at us.
She spoke, "I don't know whether to laugh or look at you disapprovingly at your behavior. Why are my 23-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son acting like children?" She asked incredulously.
Before Barb could say anything I interrupted her, "Well, I don't know about her," I pointed at my sister. "But just because I act mature sometimes doesn't mean I am. My brain isn't even fully developed yet, shoot I'm not even 18. I just say I am because my birthday about to come up in July."
Barb seemed annoyed because she slapped me on the back of the head.
"Hey, why'd you slap me? It's not like I called you immature or something. Although..."
She slapped me again.
I whimpered and hid behind Spike, who sighed and facepalmed. "Dude...Why are you being such a wimp?" He asked.
"You don't get it, man, she hits harder than you when you're trying to get a date with Moondancer!" I finished with a snicker.
He blushed hard and hit me, "Shut up, at least I try to get a date." He said as we sat there, "I still don't know why you're so against going out again, I mean we're 17 and we haven't gone on a date since we were 15."
"Spike, the last time we went out with someone, more specifically Diamond and Silver, they tried to use us for our money and when that failed, they started planning on humiliating us," I deadpanned.
Spike thought about it, "I guess you're right, though I'm just glad Twilight overheard them. Who knew what they were planning against us." He looked at me in annoyance.
"Hey c'mon we got back at them and broke up with them in the most humiliating way we could think of, so why are you staring at me like that?" I asked.
He said sarcastically, "Oh I don't know, you tell me..." I rolled my eyes and was about to speak when mom interrupted our back and forth.
"You two are dating?!" She asked excitingly.
Spike and I looked at each other nervously, not knowing what to do. Spike hesitated, "...Yes?" Though I added, "Well, actually, he's still dating, I'm not much for the dating scene anymore, thank you very much." Spike looked at me exasperated.
Mom ignored my comment and grabbed us in a tight hug, "You have to tell me!" Barb giggled at her dramatic behavior.
Spike began, "Well, we met these two girls at Cantorlot Middle school. Their names are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. We went out with these two, me with Silver and Jacob with Diamond, for 3 months before they started acting weird."
"Weird, how?" Barb asked, interested.
I answered, "Every time they see us they wouldn't say hi or ask us how we were doing and only asked for expensive things."
Spike continued, "After a while, we found out they were using us and on a side note had other boyfriends."
When we finished, mom and Barb looked horrified so I decided to reassure them. "Hey don't worry about any of that. When we found out about all of that stuff, we handled it in the most fu-...er I mean mature way possible." I said with a hint of mischief in my voice. Barb saw this instantly unfortunately...
"What did you two do?" She asked.
"Well, let's just say that we're the kings of pranking and mischief is our middle name," I replied cryptically.
"Oh c'mon man. It turned out to be the worst idea because in the end it still fell back on us." Spike argued
Mom looked at us cautiously, "What do you mean 'fell back' what happened?" She looked at me for an answer.
"Uh... Well, they kinda liked it when they fell for the prank. They actually became obsessed with us to the point of stalking..." I tried to say nonchalantly, they looked shocked.
I looked at my brother to find him glaring at me, "Dude, I know the whole thing turned out to be a fluke but at least we're not with them anymore..."
Still glaring he said, "Alright, let me list some of the disadvantages to our little prank. 1.) The prank was needlessly cruel and could've gotten us expelled from school if not for Sinning and Twilight helping us out at the last minute. 2.) It so happens those two wonderful girls love the idea of cruelty to the world and which so happens to love the prank. 3.) Diamond, the cruelest girl in the school with her little sidekick by her side loved it so much, they put their attention solely on us. 4.) As soon as we broke up with the two witches, which was crueler after the prank, that only made them want us more because apparently were trying to play hard to get," He finished in a flat one. "I could continue with the list but that would take longer than 24 hours and counting." He said flatly
"Okay, man, geez, the prank wasn't that bad-" he interrupted me.
"We should have just broken up with them and been done with it, dude. That prank made us targets!" Spike said.
I sighed, "Dude, you have nothing to worry about. Silver doesn't even like you anymore and Diamond is only interested in me. When are you going to let this go?" I asked drily.
"Until they forget about us completely," He said. "You also forget that Diamond is blind when it comes to Dragon-Bloods, guys with spiked or blue and purple hair, or guys all together."
"That may be true but we haven't seen them since they were sent away after breaking into the castle, and I doubt that we'll ever see them again," I said.
"Yeah, but what if-" I cut him off this time.
"Don't you dare complete that sentence or you'll jinx the both of us. I hate Murphy's law!" I yelled.
He just looked at me flatly, "What if they're in this town as we speak?" He completed.
I glared at him, "If they show up out of nowhere, I'm punching in the gut. Hard."
He shrugged, "Fine by me, they're not gonna show up anyway's."
"Just keep jinxing us," I said offhandedly while examining my fingernails.
"Whatever, dude," He said shrugging again.
"You guy's are weird..." Barb exclaimed after a minute of silence.
We rolled our eyes.
"Anyway, let's talk about what happened on the farm, bro," Spike said making me go stiff.
"While you were on the way here, Spike explained what happened and why it happened," Mom said.
"It's nothing," I said, numbly.
"Yeah right, little brother. You were bleeding from your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. That wasn't nothing." Barb said.
"Well, if you know why it happened, then what do you expect me to do about it?" I asked desperately.
"Well," I turned my attention to mom. "You could just keep yourself calm. I mean, you're only afraid of one person, not the entire family. Just try this and keep telling yourself that they aren't at fault for what happened to you."
I couldn't help but see the logic in her words. She was right, I can't really blame others for what happened. I smiled feeling calmer, though as I calmed the world around us started to dissipate.
As we faded in and out, I heard Barb say, "Don't worry about not seeing me again, we'll meet in person very soon, just you wait." I nodded at this and turned towards mom when she spoke, "And when you see Celestia, tell her 'It's almost time.'" Confused, I nodded anyway's.
With that, I was back to the real world staring up at the trees and the night sky. I got up more calmly and started walking back to the town.
"So?" I heard a familiar voice ask. I promptly screamed in fright and face planted on the hard dead grass. I then heard laughing so I turned my head to the side, while still laying on the cool surface, and saw my brother laughing up a storm.
I stood up with a shocked look and stared at him for a minute. I finally ask, "How?"
"How, what?" He retorted.
"How did you find me so fast?" I clarified.
"Well, when you ran off we were looking everywhere and finally after we visited Town Hall we decided to wait a little bit and see if you'd come back on your own. So after a little party, the celebration started and guess what happened?" He asked after he sighed.
I thought for a moment before I shrugged, "What happened?" I asked.
"Nightmare Moon happened." He said with a flat look.
I stared at him for awhile, "Celestial damn it..." I muttered under my breath. "Alright, you'll get your bits when we get back to the library. If my luggage is there then I have 600 in a sack hidden in the compartment of one of my suitcases," I said remembering the bet we made in Canterlot. We bet whether or not Nightmare Moon would show or not; I bet that she wouldn't show. Spike bet she would; won that bet.
As we walked Spike continued to explain what else happened, "So Twi and I ran back to the library to try and find a solution to the whole eternal night problem. Halfway through the books in the library, some of the people who were helping set up preparations for the festival and helping us look for you showed up, with their help we finally found the book we were looking for. It showed artifacts on something called the Elements Of Harmony, the book also said that it was located in this forest, which is called Everfree, the same forest we are in right now. Before I forget, three of the girls we met had also brung their sisters with them to the library. Anyway, seeing a chance I tried to get out the door as fast as I could to go and find you before it was too late. Twilight saw and stopped me from even crossing the threshold of the building, saying she would find you and get you back. I decided it was best for me to sit back and wait for her to leave while also playing babysitter to teenage girls who were, by the way, a little annoying once you get past the brash, squeak, and excited yelling. When the group had finally left and the three girls tired themselves out I snuck out to find you and the rest you know." Spike finished.
I looked at him and sighed, "Damn, sorry I worried you all..."
He looked at me, "It's fine, dude. My question is, are you going to be fine when meeting the Apple family again?" He asked
I thought about it as we got closer to the edge of the forest. In theory, I could see them, I mean yes I had a... panic attack, but that wasn't from see just one or two, it was from seeing hundreds of them. After the talk with mom though, I'm confident to say that I can meet at least 5 at a time.
Getting my thoughts together, I gave Spike an answer, "You bet Spike, I can atleast manage a couple."
"That's good," he said. Then he had a look of misheif on his face, "Because one of the cute girls in the library might interest you a bit." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
I rolled my eyes, "Dude, stop trying to hook me up with people I hardly know or might not socialize with."
"Oh come on, Jay, you need to get back into the dating scene."
"No, I don't! And nothing you say or do will make me change my mind!" I said.
"Oh yeah?!" He asked loudly.
"Yeah!" I said evenly.
We stared at each other as we walked in the eerily quiet forest, crickets breaking the silence. My brother suddenly had a mischievous look on his face as if he had already won this game. But what game? I got a little nervous
"Alright then," he said. "You won't believe this but her other friend is pretty cute too," he said, abandoning the devilish like look. I kept quiet.
"You're missing out, man, there are three beautiful, and possibly single girls in the library, just ripe for the picking." I still kept quiet.
Spike groaned, finally giving up, "Fine, be that way. But at some point, you'll want to start dating again."
"I don't see a reason why you want me to start dating so much." I wondered, finally speaking.
He looked forward grimacing, after a moment of silence he spoke, "I just don't want you to become antisocial again, Jay. I've seen how you can get when your isolated, you're worse than Twilight and don't deny it. You get to the point of insanity, dude... or sometimes...." He trailed off not wanting to continue his sentence.
He didn't have to though, I already knew what he was referring too in the first place. I looked at my brother who still faced forward than looked down at my hands. I blinked once and my hands turned into rotting flesh, I blinked again and they were back to normal. '*sigh* Hallucinations are starting again, I need my medicine.' I thought.
I looked back to my brother and made up my mind. "...Spike," I said after a minute of silence. He looked at me, "I promise you that I won't block anyone out. Not you, not Twilight, and especially not mom... Not again, I promise."
Spike smiled weakly at me, "...Thanks, Jacob." He said.