Prologue: The Chewing Gum on the Silk
The darkness was like a huge blob ready to eat everything, consume every living thing it could find, the cold draped itself on her mane and threatened to enter her very own body and turn her white bones into ice. She could feel herself suffocating, but she needed to be strong. She needed to go faster.
'I need to go deeper' —she thought. She reached out her hoof to the blur on her eyes.
'Almost there. Al... most... there' —she was reaching it. 'Just a few feet more. C'mon... C'mon!'
She groaned, and felt herself pulled backwards.
'No! I will not let this happen! I need to make this! I won't. I won't!' —She flapped her forehooves, but it was useless. She tried to scream, but her jaw was clutched tight from both the effort and the cold. Even still she (hardly) managed to open it and let out a word utter and reverberate through the void. What it was, she couldn't make it out. It only sounded muffled. Quickly she saw the gigantic blur in front of her become smaller and smaller as her body was being pulled more and more backwards, as if a claw grabbed her from her coat like a mother dog does with her puppy. She struggled more and more, but to no avail. She could feel a tear come out of her eye as she made it back and gasped for air.
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She woke up on her bed with a loud gasp; wet again everywhere as she coughed. It was a hot summer night and still she was trembling with both fear and cold and her mane was a complete mess. She found out that aside from her trembling she was unable to move due to fear and realized her bed was a mess from having rolled in the covers over and over again. She looked back to the window and saw the moon with stars trickling around it, equally as beautiful as the moon itself, which shone bright and white like a beacon to light the way of wanderers and travelers. There were few clouds and it made the night seem a little mysterious. Not like other times when it looked like a nightmare. A nightmare. Yes, that was it. Just a nightmare. Quite ironic that something so awful could happen on such a lovely night.
'That dream.' —She thought. It was that dream again. She had been having this dream (or more exactly, nightmare) for the past month or so. What it was, she couldn't tell. It didn't make sense for her. Reach? But reach what? And the flapping? What the heck was that? But the cold and darkness, that was the frightening part. Still she couldn't help but wonder what she was doing there. Or more importantly where was she. Space? No. A dream within a dream? 'That's ridiculous!' —she thought. She cleaned herself and noticed the bed was wet.
'What? This hasn't happened since I was a little filly! —But something was different. The smell. It didn't stink like a foal's "accident", it had a little more stench, but not strong, and instead she was surprised to find it was actually cold.
Sweat. Cold sweat. She wiped her tears (how long had they been there?), tried to clean herself and rustled the covers a bit to ventilate the odor and try to dry them a bit. She sniffled a little and went back to bed. She looked at the moon deep in her thoughts. What could this mean? She sighed and turned around.
Her dreams had begun almost a month and a half ago and since then they couldn't let go. Each time they seemed more vivid and each time she got to see more. Since day 1 she knew it was a nightmare, even though the first time it didn't seem that frightening. For every night the dream had extended itself and she could see each time a new part of it. However, one or two weeks ago, the dream had stopped at the part where she was pulled back.
Each time she awoke herself panting and gasping with cold sweat all over her and tears in her eyes. Why tears? She could at least get the sweat, fright and gasps, but the tears had no explanation and didn't fit with everything. It was like a puzzle that had no sense whatsoever and that particular piece had actually nothing to do with the rest of the picture. She didn't recall exactly when the dreams started. It seemed so long ago and yet so close. She could only estimate dates and times, but she couldn't put a hoof on a specific night in a calendar. It was both her dreams and the hard work she had to do that kept her on the nerve, always somewhat tired and always thinking. Sure, she had trouble with math, but that didn't mean she couldn't use her brain. Actually, aside from her friend Twilight Sparkle, she was one of the sanest and honest ponies in Ponyville (well, the honest part was no wonder) and would always be there when Twilight would enter into whacko territory and snap her out ever since her slight breakdown when she became worried her letter to Princess Celestia was late. She was quite open-minded (at least in most ways) and that helped her think rather logically (although not to the same extent to Twilight Sparkle, but actually on a different kind of logic).
Still, she could beat her head time and time again trying to figure out what the hay was that dream only to become confused.
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Chapter 1: Another Day at the Farm
Applejack woke up my midday, her mane still ruffled from her nightmare from last night. Even though she had slept, she was still tired from the lack of sleep. She always slept very late at night and awoke by midday. One time she even awoke by sunset (she thought it was sunrise, up until she trotted down onto the kitchen to find Big Mac had already done both their jobs of apple bucking and was already getting ready to sleep). This time, however, Applejack was glad she woke up earlier. Sure, she had woken up late (even for normal pony standards), but at least she didn't wake up sunset late. She trotted down to the kitchen to find Applebloom already halfway through her brunch with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo waiting for her in the door, all three talking excitedly about their day.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS LOST PET FINDERS!!!" —they yelled in unison and with that, they set pace towards the Whitetail Woods.
Applejack sighed as she neared the table, Applebloom's pancakes and eggs still warm on the plate. She decided to eat what was left and then head out for the orchard to start her duties.
The sun was already at its full and Applejack knew that if it weren't for her father's Stetson she would've surely crawled back to bed. She had already missed a lot of work so she felt like she would've forced herself out anyways were she still tired. She walked up towards a tree and bucked the ever-living soul out of it with her hind hooves, but no apples fell off. Confused, she bucked again. Again, no apples fell from the branches.
She heard a soft chuckle on her back and she turned around. Big McIntosh was hauling a cart full of apples in her direction (or more specifically, towards the apple barrels).
"Those trees're already bucked, sis. Maybe you should go into 'nother section of the orchard"—said Big Mac.
—"What in tarnation're you talkin' 'bout bro?" —asked AJ a little bit confused. "Today's mah turn to buck this section."
—"Nope" —replied the stallion. "Ah already took care of this part. You should go further down AJ. The northwestern section still has a few trees to buck. Tha apples are hard to buck in there."
—"Alright. Ah'll go" —answered the mare in a little bit of frustration.
—"Do it well AJ!" —said McIntosh with (what AJ hoped was not) a little bit of anger in the last part.
Applejack headed for the northwestern part of Sweet Apple Acres in a slow pace. She still had her mind dangling on about her dreams. She hoped that bucking some apple trees would help her mind relax and forget about the situation at least until nightfall. She arrived to the northwestern section of the farm and started bucking.
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Big McIntosh was heading back to the orchard to check on Applejack. Granny Smith had told him that it was quite late and AJ still hadn't returned to the house. Big Mac decided to go and check out. He was sure she hadn't done a good job.
'Just like last time, and the time before that, and the time before that' —He told himself. Applejack was doing a very poor job on the farm, and it normally fell on Mac, who had to overwork himself to do her duties in addition to his. It was already dark when he got there and he found AJ lying on the floor. If she hadn't been snoring or he hadn't seen her stomach pace up and down as she breathed, he would've sworn his sister was dead.
With a little bit of effort, Mac carried Applejack on his back while she loudly snored (even for Applejack or Apple family standards, that was loud). He turned a glance over to the apple trees. He quietly grunted to himself. That filly had done about half her job in a very poor way. If he wouldn't have seen the trees he could've sworn she had overworked herself —little did he know it was partially true. Mac carried Applejack back to the house and laid her in her bed. The mare slightly moved when she got down, mumbling softly something. McIntosh walked out of the room before glaring at his sister as if she could feel his eyes. AJ sleepily grabbed the covers of her bed and pulled them over. Big Mac turned off the light and headed out, mentally preparing himself to overdo his body again.
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It was very dark and cold. She could feel the dampness in the air go inside her nose and spread across her body. The air was very stiff and she couldn't run very well because of the terrain. Streaks of light poured here and there from small gaps so it wasn't that hard to see. Her mane got stuck once or twice and her hooves started to ache. She needed to outrun it. Escape to the farthest place she could go as long as it didn't catch them. If they could only lose it they'd at least slow down. That didn't seem to be the case. The screeching got louder as it came nearer and nearer. They found a small ditch and cowered in there. Time seemed to pass eternally. It may as well had been two seconds or a thousand years. How much time passed by, no one knew, but it seemed like it was now gone, at least, for now. They got up and ran towards wherever their hooves took them as they spotted some light pouring between an opening. They got closer and closer as they exited the darkness.
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She started panting and shivering as she rose sharply from her bed. Some sweat was wetting her coat and a little bit of her mane, but it wasn't a big deal. Whatever her mind was playing right now, she didn't care any longer. It was just a fantasy inside her head and she needed a little bit of time to get over it and go back to bed, or else she was up for a treat of three naps on a day —especially today, where she couldn't afford to sleep on work. She had been scolded many times before for sulking around instead of doing her duties, but Rainbow Dash just shrugged them off like it was nothing. Today however, she had the weirdest dream she had ever had in her life. She couldn't remember where she was or how she got there, but she was surely scared, something that rarely happened to her. She could only remember trying to escape from something. Something big that screeched loudly. Almost as if it were—. No. No, it couldn't be. It was just old mare's tales made to scare little foals in her dreams. It surely couldn't be that. She hadn't even—. She really needed to get some sleep, and tomorrow's big rainy day was going to be important, so Dash was going to make sure she didn't ruin the day for everyone or herself. She shook her head and tried to doze off into sleep, this time, to dream a dream about speed, heights and adrenaline.
With another groan, Applejack went to sleep again, this time, a dreamless sleep.