//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten: Oneiroi // Story: The Assumption of Applejack -or- Appletheosis // by Blue Print //------------------------------// Chapter Ten: Oneiroi Applejack was on her farm. The trees towered above her, seeming taller than the greatest skyscrapers in Manehatten. The little earth pony trotted happily through grass that reached nearly to her chin. Maybe she was small in the grand scheme of things, but it didn’t matter; the farm was her world. She’d grown up here, this place was in her very bones, and regretted every time she left. The sun wasn’t even visible under the immense and spreading canopy of apple trees. Somewhere nearby she thought she could hear Pa teaching Mac how to buck apples, and Ma was singing to little Apple Bloom, getting her settled for bed. The scent of Gran’s delicious cooking wafted across the fields, but Applejack didn’t feel ready to head in for dinner just yet. She felt like there was something waiting for her in the farmhouse. Something she didn’t want to meet. Besides, her home, her real home, was out here in the fields. Time was still, until the moon rose inside the orchard. The grey orb snuck under the branches that blotted out the sky, carrying with it its own little patch of night. Applejack grunted to herself and trotted over to the tree on which it hung and bucked the trunk. The moon wobbled a bit, but stayed firm. Applejack frowned. Not only did the moon have the indecency to hang itself from a tree instead of the sky, it wouldn’t come down when she tried to harvest it. Applejack bit down on a hay bale and flung it at the strange fruit. The hay bale flew straight and true towards the moon, but was suddenly arrested in its flight just a few hooves from impact. A strange voice floated down from above. “Hah! Well done, thou art either very lucid, or have quite a strong memory of this place to be able to even try and oust me.” Applejack jumped back in surprise as the moon seemed to both grow and shrink into the spreading night. The gleaming sphere resolved itself into a sinister eye, and the night became the head of an alicorn as massive as the cosmos. A hoof made of stars reached out and plucked up the little farmer. “Look at thyself. Little Applejack, a wiry earth pony with chipped and gritty hooves. Now look at us. We are the night, the void, the space where real things go to die or disappear. Thou hast no idea of the forces that made thee, that seek nightly to end thee and all thy kin until the end of time. Now thou hast touched them and felt their fire in thy belly. These things are larger than thou canst handle on thy own. Let us teach thee to reach out to the infinite.” Applejack responded by jumping off of the cusp of the midnight hoof that held her and onto the sensitive frog below, stomping as hard as she could. The Mare of Darkness withdrew, stung. The grassy earth once again spread out beneath the limitless goddess, catching the resolute little farmer. She stomped once upon the earth and a stalk of corn shot forth from it, impaling the night more surely than any spear. She stomped again, and a thousand birds burst forth into the sky, tearing it more fiercely than gunfire. Finally, she stomped a third time, and she herself sprang up, the Worldtree. Her roots reminded the earth of what it was, whispering of vibrant life and stony strength and change like water. Her canopy burst across the sky, like a bloodstain on the night. Heavy and potent fruit hung from her boughs, while her leaves caressed the wind with the colors of fire. The night screamed her rage and retreated for a time, leaving behind the silent sound of things growing. An eternity passed. The night came again, whispering, “All life ends. All things die. Even the sun in her endless glory will burn herself out one day, immolating herself across the vastness of space in a final assertion of her beauty.” The tree’s boughs bent under the weight of time. Her leaves scattered to the wind and her sap froze within her. But the barren night forgot the trick of life. From the tree, a shining and pregnant apple fell, bursting upon the ground. From its remains stepped an alicorn the color of autumn, renewed and looking towards the rising of the sun. The night laughed. “It is the sun you look to? Yes, you need her, but you need us more. We shall show thee why.” The night once again swept away the earth, pulling the seed through the void and towards the light. “Here is where I cannot go,” proclaimed the night, as she threw the seed towards the fire. The Sun swallowed up the night and filled the eons with light. It was vision and potency made solid. The seed writhed in agony as it felt itself being torn open and laid bare by the endless flame. The Sun took no notice of the tiny invader. She burned against the night, pressing it back invincibly, but giving it meaning. She burned against the seed, offering only pain for weakness, but giving it strength. The seed made a single revolution around the sun before being returned to the void. The night was gone, having been touched by the dawn. Luna caught the seed and cradled it in her hooves, resting it and shading it against the fierceness of the sun until it became Applejack again. “I am sorry, Applejack. For a moment we lost ourselves. Can you see us now?” Applejack nodded once. Luna sighed. “Dreams are frightening things, Applejack, even for their Mistress. I knew it was a risk to seek thee out in a vision, especially a true vision, for me as well as thee.” She gazed off into the stars, into herself. “It is so easy to get lost out there. In the emptiness. Sometimes I forget that the night is also cooling winds and refreshing dew, the touch of a lover and the peace of solitude, a force of renewal as well as one of ending.” Applejack merely gazed at the distracted goddess. Her look was one of pity and confusion. Finally, she turned away and shaped herself back into a seed. Inert and hidden, she slipped deep into the earth where she could hide until she awoke. *** Bright dawn broke over Applejack as she stirred from her slumber. Her ears perked at the sound of wingbeats in the distance. Startled, she glanced up to find Luna already approaching her hideout at low speed. Her ears flattened against her head. “Hay! HAY! Y’ALL HAD YER CHANCE TA SPEAK YER PIECE LAST NIGHT! NOW GIT!” Luna frowned as she replied, “BUT, I THOUGHT MAYBE WE COULD MAKE PEACE, PREHAPS TALK ABOUT THE DREAM? I AM TRULY SORRY FOR WHAT HAPPENED.” “THA DREAM? THE ONE WHERE Y’ALL ABDUCTED ME FROM MAH FARM AGIN AN’ TRIED CHUCKIN’ ME INTA THE SUN?” “Uh, YES. THAT WAS THE DREAM…” “FERGIT IT!” And with that, the race was on again. *** Many hours later, an utterly exhausted pegasus touched down in that very same oasis. Merry May had only needed to follow the trail of decimated trees to this unusually verdant and lush desert pool. She drank deeply of the water, and helped herself to the tangy desert grasses. She collapsed into the sand wearily, gave a prayer of gratitude to Applejack for the sanctuary and rested a few minutes. When she woke from her nap, something in the sand caught her eye. Trotting sorely up to it, she pulled it free from where it had fallen. On the back was the seal of the Apples. On the front was a letter. Merry May’s eyes widened. Finding a few broad leaves, she wrapped them protectively around the paper. She bit down on the makeshift bundle, determined to deliver it at all costs. Her mind and body renewed, she continued her quest.