//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - The house (Applejack) // Story: Haunted House On The Prairie // by elPossenreisser //------------------------------// Chapter 4 – The house (Applejack)   Applejack stormed along the corridor, well aware that there was no way in tarnation that corridor could have fit into the limited confines of the house, but she was way too preoccupied with other things to worry about that right now. Her leg was throbbing and probably also still bleeding, but to her great relief it wasn’t obstructing her too much now.   Although Twilight had only entered the house a few moments before Applejack, the alicorn was nowhere to be seen in the deserted, murky corridor that lay ahead of her. As far as Applejack could tell, the corridor ended in a T-junction at least twenty meters ahead, and she thought she heard a scraping from there, just as if hooves where hastily dragged over wooden planks.   “I’m comin’, Twi,” she grumbled and continued charging.   Suddenly doors behind her began bursting open and slammed against the walls with deafening bangs. She didn’t dare look back, but estimated that it had started with the first door right by the exit. The slams were getting closer, and Applejack had a short but very clear vision of a door bursting open just in her path, smashing her in the head and probably breaking her skull.   Intensifying her efforts, she managed to increase her speed, galloping recklessly along the absurdly long corridor. The constant strain on her hurt leg was starting to take its toll, the pain getting stronger, and she started sparing it. She expected problems when she reached the T-junction, such as navigating around the corner, but she postponed these worries for now.   Slam!   There were four more doors between her and the T-Junction. She hadn’t counted the pairs of doors she had passed, so when the next ones flew open—   Slam!   —she had no idea how close it actually was. Way too close for her taste, though.   Slam!   Her head lowered, she spat out the foam that was starting to gather in her mouth, and tried to squeeze some more speed out of her strained muscles.   Slam!   So close now, but luckily there were only two more doors to go. She idly wondered what actually lay behind those doors, and if it was perhaps more problematic than a door smashing into her face. She didn’t really want to know.   Slam!   She was now close enough to the T-junction that she thought she could hear the scarping coming from the right. She slowed down in order to not crash headlong into the T-Junction. Only one more door to go.   Slam!   Applejack had no doubt that that had been the door she had just passed, which meant the one right in front of her would be next. There was no time to break for the corner now! Mobilizing her last reserves, she pushed herself past the door the instant if flew open.   Slam!   It hit her tail, which was way too close for her taste. She stemmed her hooves in the floor and skidded towards the junction, the wall seemingly charging into her face. In the last second, she threw herself around and stumbled into the corridor to the right, crashing into the wall and tumbling into an unorganized heap of legs, her head ringing from the impact, her bad leg screaming out in pain.   For a few seconds, Applejack saw stars. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She tried to get up, but her knees were shaky and gave way underneath her. She tried to ignore the slickness of the floor that probably resulted from her bleeding leg.   Then Twilight screamed.   The scream made Applejack’s blood freeze. She had never heard anypony scream like this. It was a scream of pure mortal fear.   “Twi!” she yelled, finally pushing herself up, albeit still leaning against the wall. “I’m comin’!”   The scraping was somewhere further down the corridor. Falling into a slower gallop, she could finally take it in. It was darker than the one she had just run through, and there were no doors. The floor was still made from raw wooden boards, but they were much darker, like mahogany or some other fancy wood. The walls were covered in dark green wallpaper that had an almost silken shimmer to it – Rarity would have loved it, had it not been mucky and covered in dark stains and splashes. It looked almost like—   Pushing the thought away, she looked down all the same, scanning the floor for more of those stains. Or similar, fresher stains. But on the dark wood and in the murkiness of the corridor, she couldn’t tell.   Suddenly the narrow corridor ended in a large room; large enough in fact so that Applejack could barely see the other walls in the murky twilight. She halted and listened carefully. There was the scraping, to her left, now accompanied by what sounded by muffled groans, as if Twilight was gagged or somepony was covering her mouth.   Discarding any worries about obstacles she might not see in the lackluster light, Applejack again started running towards the source of the noises. The large room or rather hall she was crossing swallowed up the clops of her hooves so that she felt like she was running across an open plain.   Another agonizing scream sounded from somewhere ahead, sending a shiver down Applejack’s spine. The distraction was enough so that she didn’t notice the bluish grey bat that was launching itself between her front legs, causing her to stumble and fall down yet again. As her face hit the grimy floor, the bat crawled up to her snout and bit her.   Applejack screamed, more from surprise than because of the pain. To her great disgust, the bat didn’t let go of her and instead kept its teeth sunk into her muzzle. Leaning on her healthy foreleg, she swung at the critter with the bloody leg and hit it with the satisfying sound of a bundle of little twigs breaking. She winced at the pain the impact caused her as well as at the coppery smell of blood that suddenly filled her nostrils. The bat screeched, but was torn out of her flesh by the force of the hit and skidded a few hooves away.   Applejack snorted away the blood on her nose and tried picking herself up. With disgust she saw that the bat, despite its spine being a jagged mess and both its wings sticking out in odd angles, was dragging itself towards her, letting out enervating little shrieks. She raised her head so that the creature couldn’t bite her nose again, but the bat just crawled towards the blood that had trickled on the floor and began licking it, only pausing to hiss menacingly at Applejack.   The earth pony’s stomach revolted, but she forced herself up and with a disgusted yelp she rose on her hindlegs and crushed the bat to pulp. She closed her eyes, trying her bet not to be sick on the spot.   She made a few careful steps forward to not see the remains of her fight with the bat when she opened her eyes again. Her stomach seemed to have decided to remain in place, but she still felt queasy, and the soft tickle of droplets of blood dripping from her nose did not help. Shaking her head, she pushed herself into a gallop again.   Suddenly she saw a rectangle of light in front of her—a door to a better-lit room. Encouraged by this sight, she tried to increase her speed, ignoring the coldness that was slowly rising in her injured leg, and couldn’t suppress a pained groan.   Immediately the rectangle started shrinking.   “Noo!” she screamed. “Don’t’cha dare!”   Applejack tried to push herself even more, but the ongoing strain and her injuries were taking their toll. She noticed black shadows at the edge of her visual field and was getting light-headed.   The door was already halfway shut.   Bringing forth the memory of that blood-freezing scream earlier, she fought back the light-headedness, stubbornly refusing to yield. With one last desperate leap, she pushed herself between the door and the frame, keeping it from closing. The door squeezed her, but she pushed with her hindlegs until she finally plopped through, hitting the ground once more and giving a pained yelp when her bloody snout ground against the hoarse floor boards.   Another scream made her jump up almost immediately.   She looked around, and for the first time since she had started this crazy hunt, she saw Twilight as something was dragging her backwards through another door in the opposite wall. For a split second, their eyes met, and the pain and desperation she saw in Twilight’s eyes were almost unbearable.   “Hang in there, hon, I’m getting’ ya!” she shouted and galloped across the room, a stone vault illuminated by several torches.   She stormed through the door. The shadows at the edge of her vision remained, but she couldn’t acknowledge them.   Through the door she found herself in a great hall with two rows of columns in the center which gave off a diffuse grey light. She couldn’t make out the ceiling of the vast room.   In the middle of the room, a lone door stood freely. It was open, and it seemed like darkness was seeping out of it. Through the door she could see, disturbingly, a vast grey plain under a black night sky. Trying to match the room she saw behind the door with the plain she saw through the door caused her a strong sense of vertigo, but in a few dozen meters distance from the door she saw a familiar purple shape motionlessly lying on the grey, dusty ground.   “Twi!” she yelled, her throat by now sore from all the screaming. Without wasting another thought about plains hiding behind free-standing doors, she galloped through the door, just hoping idly that nopony would close the door behind her. She looked back over her shoulder and saw the door standing in the plain, just as it had in the hall. Marginally relieved, she continued her way towards Twilight.   It didn’t take her long to reach the motionless alicorn. The sight terrified her, even though she barely managed to keep the express thought from manifesting. She dropped on the floor next to Twilight and pulled her into a tight embrace, tears flowing down her cheeks.   “Twi, oh Twi, please be okay, please don’t die on me!” she mumbled, burying her snout in Twilight’s mane. Then, to her immense relief, she noticed the faint breaths of the alicorn softly wafting against her neck. “Oh Twi!” She repositioned Twilight in her legs so that the alicorn’s head lay on her chest and caressed her back.   She didn’t have any idea what to do. She was, by now, weakened too much to lift up the unconscious pony and carry her all the way back to the door, and she had no intention of letting go of her, leaving her lying all by herself in this cool and unwelcoming place. She cried more angry tears at her own helplessness and yet knew no other consolation than to hold Twilight as safely as possible.   Suddenly, Twilight began stirring in her embrace. Her cheek brushed against Applejack’s chest as Twilight slowly pulled back her head. “AJ,” she mumbled faintly. “You came.”   “I’d never leave you, sugarcube,” Applejack whispered.   “Thanks, AJ.” She slowly opened her eyes and managed a weak smile. “I love you.”   “I love you too, hon.”   When their lips met, it felt like the only right thing to do. It was warm and sweet and reassured her that she was not alone in this strange place, that she was not going to lose Twilight, that she would manage to get her out of here. After what felt like an eternity, Twilight broke the kiss and rested her head on Applejack’s chest again, sighing contently. There was nothing to say. Applejack continued stroking her mane and her back, and Twilight’s breaths became slower and deeper as she slowly drifted into a blissful sleep.   Applejack was a little but antsy about staying here, but it was clear that she and Twilight weren’t going anywhere before they both had a little rest. That still didn’t mean she trusted this place, and she had every intention of staying awake and making sure nothing happened to Twilight.   She looked around as good as she could with the sleeping alicorn’s head lying on her chest. Above them a black night sky was looming. The stars were not blinking, which was unnerving, and even though she didn’t possess the vast knowledge about constellations that Twilight had, she thought that the sky looked very different from the sky at home in Equestria.   The ground was covered in grey compressed dust. It was dry and hard, and there was a web of tiny cracks in the ground. She couldn’t see any bigger rocks; it was all just dust.   Out in the distance, not very far away, a range of mountains rose into the black sky. They were of the same lifeless grey as the dust. Their peaks and ridges were blunt and looked eroded and old. On top of one of the slopes, on what looked like a flattened mesa, she thought she could see a black shape, possibly a building. She had no doubt that any building in a place like this was most likely bad news. She shivered, hugging the sleeping pony in her legs a little tighter, enjoying the warmth they shared.   Hey eyes were drawn to the building again. It made her uneasy. In fact, she felt like the place, or rather somepony in that place, was watching her.   Suddenly, resting here some more seemed like a very good idea.   Not able to shake her head, she instead bit on her own tongue in order to clear her head and push away those deceivingly reassuring thoughts. The sharp pain and the coppery taste of her blood helped.   “Twi.” She spoke as quietly as possible, careful not to startle her. “Twi. Wake up.”   “Hmm?”   “We gotta get outta here. I’m gonna carry you, but we can’t stay.”   “Mhmm.”   Gently she pushed the sleeping alicorn’s head off of hers and got up. Her knees were shaking, and black stars were exploding before her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to give in to her exhaustion. She got on her knees and almost fell over, and then she gently slid her neck underneath Twilight, positioning her square over her shoulders. She noticed Twilight stirring as if she was trying to help her and smiled at her unyielding perseverance.   Applejack braced herself before she pushed herself up again. It would work. It would have to. Slowly, she started staggering back towards the door which, to her great relief, was still there. Twilight lifted her head which had so far been dangling from Applejack’s back.   “Thanks, AJ,” she whispered, barely audible.   “Don’t go thankin’ me yet, hon,” Applejack said. “Let me get you outta here first.”   After what felt like endless miles of walking, she finally reached the door. It was still open and didn’t keep her from passing. On the other side, the great hall with the columns had vanished while she had been busy fetching Twilight; instead, she found herself in a small vestibule. Open doors were leading to a derelict kitchen and a ruined bathroom, and to her right she saw the open front door, behind which the porch was basked in the last, almost horizontal evening sunbeams.   Her knees shaking and only functioning by sheer force of will, she staggered out of the house and into the blinding orange sunlight. She resisted the urge to just drop on the floor, not wanting to hurt Twilight. Instead, somehow, she managed to gently lay her down in the prairie sand where they had left their bags. It was only a few paces away from the black maw of the house’s front door, but she couldn’t walk anymore. It would have to be good enough.   She gave Twilight a long, concerned look. She wasn’t moving, her breaths were shallow and slow, which scared Applejack.   “Twi,” she whispered, gently shaking her.   “Mhmm,” Twilight responded. “I’m awake. I think.”   “Are you hurt?”   “Dunno,” Twilight mumbled. “Just tired from my hike to those mountains, I s’pose. Can we just rest?”   “Of course, sugacube.”   “Can you hold me? Like you did on the plains?”   “Of course,” she repeated, trying to ignore the lump she suddenly felt in her throat. She lay down next to Twilight and pulled her into her legs, just like on the plains. Twilight buried her face on her neck, careful not to poke her with her horn, and sighed. Applejack couldn’t contain a somewhat melancholic smile and kissed her on the cheek, relieved to have her back. As Twilight once again fell asleep, Applejack decided that she would have enough time to deal with the guilt that was bubbling up inside her once they had put some distance between themselves and the house.   Then again, she had known that there were things to address together with Rainbow once she returned from training camp for quite some time now. It was all just an even bigger mess now that she had cheated on Rainbow.