Chapter 22
Rick made his through town, paying very close attention to the grass the whole way. He returned the few greetings he received but didn’t actively engage any pony on his way. He just wanted what he had wanted since this morning, a solution. It wasn’t that he felt like he betraying his wife and daughter, they had told him move on and enjoy life, he felt like he would be betraying five by going after one. He also felt like he would be betraying six by going after none. There was no help to found among said six.
Rick reached his home and went inside. Paul came running up to greet him and get his serving of lovin’ which Rick provided with a small grin. “You got it easy don’t’cha, boy?” Rick filled Paul’s food and water bowls then plopped into his recliner. “If only my problems could be solved as easily as filling a bowl or tossing a ball.” After a while, frustration was overpowered by sheer exhaustion and sleep overcame him.
“…Rick, I love you so much. Promise you’ll be mine forever.” Applejack cooed as she nuzzled him.
“Of course, AJ, you know I love you,” Rick responded.
“Hey, what about me? You have to love me too. You do don’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked as she hovered over him turning his face up to hers with her forehooves.
“Yes, I-”
“No! He’s mine!” came a cry from Fluttershy.
“Girl’s, I-”
“No! He loves me!” Twilight yelled.
“No, me!”
“Me!”
The arguing got less mature and more boisterous until Rick thought things would surely come to blows. He raised a hoof and tried to interject.
“Girls, stop! There is no reason to fight. We can figure this all out like mature adults.”
The shouting stopped suddenly and they all turned to look at him.
“He’s right, Dears. There is no need for us to fight each other. After all, this is his fault.” Rarity pointed an accusing hoof at Rick.
“Hey, you’re right! We were all bestest friends ‘til he came along!” Pinkie Pie said with obvious disgust.
“Yeah, it’s his fault,” a growing Twilight accused.
She wasn’t just growing; she was now towering over Rick as were the others. They were now easily ten times larger than they were originally and to make it worse their eyes were glowing brightly. Each one the color of their element.
“Things were perfect ‘fore y’all showed up!” Applejack roared.
“We no longer want you here!” Fluttershy spat at him.
“Get out of here!”
“Nopony wants you around!”
“You should have stayed dead!”
Rick was horrified by their sizes and the fact that they seemed to be willing to destroy him completely on the spot. The worst part wasn’t that there were monsters looming over him, it was that these monsters were his closest friends who he considered family and they not only wanted nothing to do with him, they no longer cared if he lived.
He turned and galloped away as fast as he could. He collided with trees and boulders as he did. He kept kicking his own legs and stumbling. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get away from the things that used to be those adorable mares that he cared for so much. They kept growing and stretching. Their previously flat herbivore teeth had turned into gnashing fangs. Their fur coats, normally soft and well-manicured, now ragged and unkempt. The manes now seemed to be fiery even though actual flames were not present.
Rick ran. He ran ‘til his four legs felt ready to burst. He ran beyond the pain. The six mares that had been the reason he returned to Equestria had become hateful toward him. He was scared. He was hurt. He was confused. Rick didn’t know what was happening, he only knew he had to get away, so he ran.
As with every nightmare, he couldn’t get away. The monstrous ponies kept getting closer, angrier and more mutated. Even their hooves had turned into some form of strange, clawed hands. Worse yet, the ground beneath Rick’s hooves had become fluid and he was sinking. All his forward movement had stopped and he kicked and struggled to stay above the surface but was failing. His head slowly slipped below the surface. As everything started to fade, all he could see was six huge demonic faces staring down at him and grinning evilly.
They all shouted variations on the theme of, “good riddance.” Laughing at his demise, they all turned and left in different directions, none even looking over their shoulders at the drowning stallion.
Rick awoke spluttering in a shallow creek. Flailing and gasping Rick struggled to keep from drowning in water that wouldn’t even reach over his hooves, but fresh from a nightmare, Rick was in no state to make any judgments on his surroundings.
His senses returned to him and he stopped his flailing. Rick managed to get his legs under him and climbed out of the creek and lay down in the cool grass near the bank. He looked around and a few terrifying realizations came to him. Not only had he started in a house that he was no longer in, but he was in an area that he couldn’t recognize. To make things even worse, the moon was behind thick clouds and Rick was only able to see due to his new horse eyes that afforded him better night vision than his human eyes.
“How the hell did I get out here?” Pieces of his dream returned to him and he figured that his nightmare must have become a night terror causing him to physically manifest his dream of fleeing causing him to gallop in reality. A hypothesis backed up by his sore muscles and scraped cannons and forearms as well as all the matted grass, leaves and dirt in his fur and mane. He returned to the stream and washed his wounds and rolled in the water to get the mess out.
Normally, he would simply look for tracks but due to the darkness, even the easily spotted tracks of a galloping stallion would be near impossible to find let alone follow with any certainty. He would simply have to wait ‘til Celestia raised the sun. After taking a drink from the stream, he found a soft spot where he could wait out the night. It was going to be a long night too since sleep was out of the question, so he waited.
Chapter 23
That morning, Twilight was awoken by a knock at her door. When she was greeted by Rarity, she was a little surprised. When she saw the distress in Rarity’s eyes, she was concerned. When she heard the news, she was downright scared.
“What do you mean he’s missing?!”
“Just that, Dear. He came to the boutique yesterday quite upset about something that happened at the party and wanted some advice. I’m afraid I was unable to help him and he left looking dreadfully depressed. Oh, Twilight, I don’t know what to do. He’s gone and I think it may be my fault."
Twilight walked over to her friend to attempt to comfort her. Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Rarity and gave her a gentle hug. “Why do you think it was your fault?”
“Well, I overheard him talking to Applejack yesterday morning about how he felt about each of us. When I heard how he thought of me, I just couldn’t seem to restrain myself and acted most unladylike toward him. Twilight, I think I may have drove him away from all of us.” A small tear had formed in her eye. Twilight gently wiped it away.
“Oh, Rarity. I think there’s something you should see.” Her horn started to glow as she leaned toward her friend and placed said horn on Rarity’s forehead. Through her memory spell, Twilight allowed Rarity to see all the events that had taken place at the party in question. The games, the stories, the laughing and of course, the big admission of feelings. All was revealed to her and oddly, it made her feel a little better about what had happened in her shop yesterday. It also made sense as to what he was talking with Applejack about and why she was asking about how he felt about her and the other girls.
“I see, so it appears I’m not the only one. No wonder he was so upset. I am a little surprised though.” Rarity said as she recovered from the spell.
“Why’s that?”
“Well, most stallions would be thrilled to have so many mares showing affection to them.”
“That may be true, but Rick isn’t like most stallions is he?”
“Certainly not, that is one of the things I love most about him.”
“Right, He also isn’t the type who would just run out on his friends. He is our Protector after all. Maybe he just went to help Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres. It is close to Cider Season and the Apple’s always need help around this time of year.”
“Yes, perhaps your right, Twilight dear. Let’s go over and se-”
“Twilight, have you seen Rick?!” Applejack spouted as she came bursting through the library’s door. “He came by tha farm yesterday an’ Ah think Ah said sumthin’ Ah shouldn’t have an’ he ran off. Ah went ta his house ta apologize an’ he was gone. He even left Paul behind. Ah’m worried he may be gone fur good this time an’ it’s all mah fault.”
“We were just going to see if he was with you.” Twilight responded.
“Yes, though now I am more concerned than before. Twilight, we must find him.”
“Alright, calm down. We still don’t know that he’s actually missing. Applejack, why do you think you’re the reason he left?”
“Well, he was helpin’ me on the farm an’ he told me sumthin’ about what happened at the party. He wanted advice an’ Ah jest teased him. Ah’ve been an awful friend an’ now he’s gone an’ Ah can’t make it right.” AJ had tears starting to form, Twilight wrapped her in a hug.
“You don’t need to worry, Applejack. Rick is not the kind of stallion who’d abandon his friends. Let me prove it to you.” Twilight’s horn glowed again as she repeated her memory spell on the country mare. When it was finished, Applejack was no longer crying but she was blushing quite heavily.
“Ah really said that? We all… now Ah understand what was botherin’ him. Ah thought it was jest memories of his family that made him… ”
“Made him what, Darling?”
“Ah don’t think Ah should say anythin’. It was private, nothin’ bad, Ah jest don’t think he would like me tellin’ everypony.”
“Very well, but we still must find him.” Rarity pointed out.
“Alright, we know he’s not at Rainbow Dash’s, so that leaves Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Hmm, let’s try Fluttershy first.” Rarity and Applejack nodded in agreement then the group headed out.
Chapter 24
After a few hours waiting for sunlight, Rick was sore but determined. He wasn’t certain how he got out here in the middle of nowhere, but he knew he had to get back. Unfortunately, the forest yielded little help. The thick bed of leaves and twigs had absorbed the impact of his heavy hoofsteps and made it impossible to follow his own tracks home. There wasn’t even enough underbrush to show where he had come through.
“Perfect. For once, I wish I had become a pegasus instead of a unicorn. Oh well, I’ll never get out of here if I just sit here feeling sorry for myself.”
He looked in all directions but found no clear indication as to which was the best one. Luckily, he remembered something his grandfather taught him, ‘all rivers lead to civilization,’ and there just so happened to be one right here, how convenient. As an added bonus, he wouldn’t need to worry about water and being an herbivore would come in handy with all the foliage around. All he had to do was follow this stream until he came to a town and then take a train or carriage back to Ponyville.
“Nothing else for it. Just gotta get to walking ‘til I get out of these damn woods,” and that’s exactly what he did.
After hours of walking, he was starting to wonder if he would ever find a way out. The creek widened a little as other tributaries fed into it. Knowing he had a virtually unlimited supply of water put him a little at ease, but he was very hungry and grass just wasn’t cutting it. He needed something heartier.
A small bush ahead seemed to be the solution. Its branches were overburdened with blackberries that, if Rick remembered correctly, were in season. He tried one experimentally and found it to be a little tart but otherwise fairly tasty. He ate his fill of the small berries and, sated, continued on his journey.
After a few more hours, he was starting to question just how ripe those berries really were. He was getting sharp pains in his stomach and was sweating quite heavily. He wanted to stop and wait out this issue, but he really needed to get back, so he toughed it out and kept walking, albeit at a slower pace.
Eventually, the trees opened up into a clearing. In the clearing was a very welcome sight, signs of life. A small wagon with wooden walls was off to one side. There was a small window with shutters and a flag with stars and a crescent moon hanging on the front. There was a small fire ring complete with spit and cauldron, smoke rising from the ring meant that whoever made it was close by. Rick made his way into the clearing and, summoning his remaining strength, called out.
“Hello! Is there anyone there?!” He looked around for movement. “I could, unh, use some help.”
The small door on the front of the carriage opened and a unicorn mare poked her head out. She was a slightly darker shade of blue than Rainbow Dash and had pale two-tone blue hair in her mane and tail. Rick had just enough time to take in the details before he passed out. As the lights faded, he decided that those berries may not have been in season after all.