I had an awful dream last night:
I had been laying down in my bed, waiting for John to return to me. Then I heard the voice of John come from the other room. He sounded angry.
What was going on? What happened? Did the boys do something?
I heard him say, “Who are you… Get the hell out of my house.”
Someone was in our house? What in the hay…
I quickly shot up out of bed. I made my way out of the room. Once I was in the hallway, I pressed up against the wall and trotted quietly towards the living room.
A loud crashing sound erupted through the hallway. I slammed myself into the wall harder, startled, and then continued on towards the disturbance. As I passed the boys room, their door creaked open. Wheaty poked his head out first, and then Ellis. I whispered their names and ushered them to stay behind me.
There was a strange voice coming from the room we were approaching. It didn’t sound like any voice I had ever heard before. If somepony had asked me to describe it, I wouldn’t really know what to say.
Then we rounded the corner, the full view of the nightmarish scene sprawled out before us.
It was a demon of some kind. Five glossy, black tentacles sprang from the back of the pony demon. It had my John pinned to a wall and looked to be crushing the life out of him.
All I could think of doing was… No wait… I didn’t think. I just screamed.
The demon pony switched its attention to me, throwing two of its dark feelers at me. They struck me in the chest. Strangely I didn’t feel them. I didn’t feel anything. I just went black. And the last thing I heard was “There’s the magic.”
A voice of pure evil…
It was a most terrifying dream indeed.
***
Oddly enough the first sense to come back was my sight. Though to call it sight would be a bit of a stretch. I was lying sprawled out on my back and all I could see, as my eyes painfully fluttered open, was a kaleidoscope of colors and shadows. I could make out the androgynous shapes of other ponies. There were maybe two or three of them circled around my tunnel vision, hovering over me like spirits.
Sound was the next thing to pick back up. As the shapes slowly focused into more definable objects and ponies, muffled voices clouded my head. The ponies’ voices I heard were impossible to understand at first, but after a minute of laying half awake, the voices became more and more intelligible until I could piece together words and sentences.
“Woah nelly! She’s wakin’ up.” Said an orange colored mare, who leaned in to block the view of the other pony. By the end of her statement, the room had come fully into focus. The mare was a tomboyish looking earth pony with a freckled face and a long blond mane pulled into a ponytail.
“Ya’ alright darlin? How ya’ feelin’?” Inquired the orange lady standing over me. I really wasn’t sure how to respond. I couldn’t think of words. I was only marginally aware that I had been asked a question.
It was a simple ‘how are you feeling’ question to which I responded with a moan. My body began to ache, especially my chest.
I felt the orange pony grab my forehoof with hers and she started trying to comfort me. She stroked my foreleg affectionately, which strangely did help me feel a little more comfortable.
“Everything’s gonna be fine ok, I’m right here.” She said. I found her country accent soothing.
A few seconds passed and I realized that my mouth was dry. My tongue had dried up and stuck to the roof of my mouth. It felt like a big ball of cotton.
“Wa… wa-water.” I coughed. Only the mare holding my hoof had understood me. She turned her head and faced somepony else.
“Could ya get some water from the kitchen?” She asked the other pony.
“Eeyup.” Said a soft stallion voice.
I heard the sound of hoof steps and moments later the kind pony holding my hoof took a cup of water and put it up to my lips. She tilted it so that the water flowed into my mouth. It was cold and refreshing. My dry mouth practically soaked up the water. In just a few seconds the cup was empty, and I felt considerably better.
“Thank you…” I managed to cough.
I tried sitting up, but the mare put her hoof on my chest.
“Hold on their sugarcube, not so fast.” She said.
“No, I can sit up, I’m fine now.” I said to her brushing her hoof off me and reaching an upright position.
As I sat up I looked around. I was sitting on a couch. It wasn’t my couch. It wasn’t my house. I didn’t know these ponies…
What…? Where was I?
This was similar to my house. It was an old wood walled living room. In fact it looked like the typical interior of a farmhouse.
“What am I doing here?” I thought aloud.
In response to my question, the mare spoke up. “Big Mac and I here found you unconscious near the edge of our farm. We brought you back to our house.”
That sounded ridiculous, but then again I was just at home sleeping with my husband. And now I woke up here with these ponies…
I put my hoof on my chest feeling desperately for two wounds that might have been there. Images of the frightening dream I had just awoken from flashed through my head. There wasn’t anything there, or at least I thought so at first, but when I actually looked at my chest, I saw two scars.
The mare continued, “Yep, we found you, just laying in a bush out cold as rain. Ya been layin here most the day.”
I had two strange scars on my chest, and I had awoken in some stranger’s home.
But I was dreaming…
…
WHAT’S GOING ON!
“Where am I again? Sorry if I sound a bit clueless here, it’s just that the last thing I can remember was laying in my own bed at home.” I said.
“Really?” asked the mare, she had a puzzled look on her face, “You ain’t got any idea how ya mighta got here?”
I shook my head.
“Hmm well ain’t that strange?” She said with a quizzical look. “Where do you live? Are you on the other side of town?”
“My husband and I live on our cherry farm. You mighta heard of it, the Redberry farm.”
“Redberry farm!” exclaimed the orange mare. “You mean out by the East Equestrian border!?”
“Why yes,” I said, my concern matching her excitement, “where… where are we now?”
The mare stood up and faced the stallion, which I presumed was Big Mac. They shared a look of surprise. Then she turned her head back to me and said, “This is the Apple family farm. The one outsida’ Ponyville.”
An image of my horrible dream came up again and I tried to suppress it like a bad memory, but it kept coming back. The dream had felt so real.
I looked at the mare in disbelief.
***
A few hours had passed. The mare, whose name I had learned to be Applejack, offered to let me stay here for a day while I recovered. She seemed convinced that I had passed out due to heat exhaustion or something similar. I was skeptical, but I had no clue what could have happened myself so I chose to go with that for now. I decided it would be best to figure out what really had happened once I had left in the morning, so for now I would be staying with this family.
It was getting late in the evening and Applejack had fixed dinner for her family and me. We all sat around the dinner table with a bowl of dandelion pasta. I looked around the table at the three other ponies sitting down with me. There was Applejack on my right. She was a pretty young mare, blond hair pulled into a ponytail as was her actual ponytail, and on her face sat large half open emerald eyes. On her flank rested her cutie mark, three red apples.
Then, across from me, there was Big Macintosh, a hansom sturdy looking young stallion. He only looked a bit older than his sister, and I think he was. He too had a blonde mane and tail. His red coat was accented by his cutie mark, a large green, open-faced apple.
Then finally on my left there was Applebloom, a little yellow filly with topaz eyes and a pink tail and mane. She looked to be the same age as my little boys and almost as cute. Almost… I smiled when I thought of them. Just yesterday they were eating dinner with John and me and arguing over whom had a crush on whom.
I let slip a smile that showed just how content I was once again if only for the moment. Though I had only just met these hospitable ponies, I felt like I had been their friend all along. They had let me feel at home, allowing me to clean myself up in their bathroom. They had let me stay here overnight, which I thought to be too generous, and then they were even feeding me. What good-natured ponies these were.
As we ate, Applejack spoke between bites of food. “So, Cherrie, how’s yer farm doin?”
“Oh we’ve been doin just fine with our berries.” I said.
“That’s good.” She said genuinely, “Ya know, us here in Ponyville get most of our sweet fruits from your farm.”
“Really, what about your farm?” I asked.
“Oh we mainly just grow and sell apples. Although we do sell a lot of apple sweets too.”
“Don’t forget the best pie in Equestria!” Applebloom chimed in, closed-eyed and smiling.
“Eeyup.” Nodded Big Mac in agreement, sharing the same close-eyed smile.
“Aw shucks guys. Not like it’s my recipe.” Said Applejack growing red.
“You bake pies?” I asked interested.
“Mhmm.” She nodded her head.
“You ever enter them in contests?”
“Every year,” she pointed to a shelf of full of trophies and ribbons most of which saying ‘second place’ “But I’m always beat by this pony who calls herself ‘The Cherry Fairy” she said raising her hooves to make air quotations. After she said that she looked around the table with a face of dejection.
“Oh really.” I mused smugly. That was the name I used for all the competitions I entered (Nopony went by their real name in the competitions as a rule.) I wasn’t about to reveal myself now though. But I did have to admit, if she was second place to me, then she must have made some darn fine pies. It always seemed as if the judges couldn’t decide whether my pie was the best or this runner-up’s was the best. None of the other contestants even came close.
“Yeah but we all know you’re really the best!” Said Applebloom.
She was followed up by an “Eeeyup” from Big Mac.
“Speaking of pie…” Applejack said, sliding back from the table. She got up and walked into the kitchen. When she returned, she had a fresh apple pie sitting on her back and a bucket of homemade vanilla ice cream in her mouth, which she promptly set in the middle of the table. “I thought since we had company, we could have some pie tonight.”
This plastered wide grins on everypony’s faces.
“Oh, Applejack, you really didn’t have to…” I protested, though I relished the thought of tasting my rival’s apple pie.
“Nonsense!” She declared, “It’s like Pinkie says, every new face deserves a celebration!”
I didn’t know this Pinkie character, but hay, this family was the nicest family I had ever met.
We each received a slice of pie and a scoop of ice cream. I levitated a spoon into the ball of ice cream first and then plunged the same bite into the pie. Once the spoon was overflowing with the cold and the warm dessert mixture, I raised it to my face and examined it. The pie was gushing with bits of apple smothered in a cinnamon sauce that drove my senses wild just smelling it.
“Well,” Piped Applejack cheerfully. Apparently she was waiting for me to take a bite so she could see what I thought. “Ya gonna just stare at it like its poison, eat it already.”
I was more than willing to comply. I stuffed the spoon into my mouth and then pulled it out slowly, leaving ice cream and pie in my mouth. The instant the two touched my tongue, there was and explosion of flavor. Besides the amazing mixture of hot and cold, there was the amazing mixture of cinnamon and vanilla. The crust was buttery and rich, which helped magnify all of the flavors that washed over my palate. As I slowly bit down into the chunk of heaven, the apples burst releasing even more sweet flavors. After several precious seconds of absorbing the exquisite flavors, I finally swallowed the piece, which slid down my throat just as gracefully. The Goddesses had graced me.
“Well?” asked Applejack. I slowly pulled my head back up and saw that everypony else had long since finished their pie and were holding their bellies in contentment.
I looked back down into the slice of pie before me. Tears started rolling down my face and into the sweet mess. I cried. It was so good.
“What’s wrong sugarcube?” Applejack asked worriedly.
I quickly waved her away and said with my eyes closed, “It’s the best pie I’ve ever tasted.”
Applejack looked relieved when I had said that.
“Pfft, Mares.” chuckled Big Mac. Hearing him actually say something caught me by surprise.
“What was that?” Applejack said to Big Mac half threateningly.
“Oh nothing.” He replied cheekily.
I took another bite, savoring every bit of crust, every bit of apples, and every bit of ice cream. And then I took another and another, until it was gone.
***
Nopony had a real bedtime. We all just decided that we were tired and ready to go to sleep. The three ponies of the house led me back to a room, which I figured was a guest bedroom. Applejack opened the door and welcomed me into the vacant bedroom.
“This actually used to be Granny’s room.” Applebloom said matter-of-factly.
Applejack froze up when she heard her sister say this. I could sense something Applebloom said had upset her. Applejack stared at the ground for second before turning away and saying a quick and cold, “g’night.”
As she walked away, I saw Big Mac lift a forehoof and smack Applebloom in the back of the head.
“OW, Now what in the hay did you do that for?” Applebloom demanded.
A few moments later, Applebloom and Big Mac left for their rooms as well. I stepped hoof into the room looking at all the pictures and decorations. The room was full of framed pictures. Most of them were pictures of the family working in the farm. In all of them, the ponies were smiling. It was rather pleasant to see a family as close as this. In many ways it reminded me of my family.
Then I noticed that several of the pictures depicted another pony that I could immediately tell had been part of the same family. She looked… well… I decided to stop prying. Instead I slipped into the bed that took up the rest of the room.
The bed, warm and inviting as it was, didn’t make it any easier for me to fall asleep. I lay wide-awake for several hours thinking about what had brought me here. But even in the hours I spent going over what could have happened, I was unable to come up with one reasonable explanation. I would eventually fall into a dreamless unconsciousness without ever coming to any conclusion.