//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: It Was Just A Dream Right? // Story: Our Pasts That Haunt Us // by Dynasty-Kaine //------------------------------// Applejack opened her eyes to a dimly lit room, and something felt terribly wrong. She tried to move but found her wrists locked in iron bracers chained to a stone wall. At her failed attempt to move she also winced in pain and looked down at her body; she was bleeding from many scratches and cuts lining her body. The only articles of clothing upon her body was a simple red bra and black panties. Her body ached everywhere and she grimaced as she continued to try to escape the shackles that bound her. A dark mass appeared before her speaking to her, but she couldn't make out a single word it was saying. All the orange mare knew was the dark figure sounded quite angry. It was pacing back and forth across the room ranting on and on about something. Suddenly it lunged at her and scored a deep gash across Applejack's stomach. "Guh!" she groaned as blood welled up and out of her mouth. "You can't have her, I won't allow it." the shadow figure said in a deep echoing voice close to her face. "I will kill you to make sure you understand my point." The dark figure took a step back grabbing something like a metal spike and lunged violently at the blonde mare. "NO STOP!" Applejack screamed as she sat bolt upright in her bed sweat streaming in beads down her face. Within seconds her big brother was in the door and at her bedside worry etched across his face. It was the third night in a row the orange mare had had these vicious nightmares, and she was beginning to think her hallucination before her date was more than she could come to terms with. She checked her body over to make double sure none of the wounds followed her back into the waking world. "Sis, are ya alright? Was it another nightmare?" Big Mac asked her at last breaking into her thoughts. She had regained her composure by this point and replied, "Yeah big brother it was. They jus' seem ta be gettin' worse 'n worse as the days go by." "Have ya had the chance ta talk with Rainbow about it?" Macintosh asked in earnest. She sighed and replied, "No Ah haven't Mac, and y'all know very well why ta boot." In the past four days they had both been far too busy with work and personal responsibilities to get a moment to themselves. The farm mare missed Dash's cocky personality, but admitted they still had things to do. It still struck Applejack as something odd that not seeing the cyan mare for an entire day had triggered these dreams. Just the simple thought of this deeply concerned her and she looked down into her lap for a moment, tuning out her big brother. This didn't last long as he put a strong, but gentle hand on AJ's shoulder. He looked into her eyes with kindness, "Maybe ya should get ready fer yer day at the very least ta clear yer head sis." She nodded her acceptance of this and he got up and saw himself out of the room. She got up and set to getting her pajamas off, and into something comfortable for the day. The farmer eventually settled on a simple blue button up t-shirt and a pair of blue denim jeans. After fighting to get them on she grabbed her namesake stetson and put it atop her head. Just as with the day before she wasn't going to let these dreams get in her way and distract her from the day. "Ah gots me a lot ta do today, and Ah can't just sit here worryin' on my laurels!" She declared with a defiant grin on her face, but deep down worry was still there. Her stomach then sounded loudly in protest of its lack of viable content. The farmer headed out of her room narrowly dodging Applebloom as she bolted down the hall. As Applejack came down the stairs heading towards the kitchen the phone rang out in its loud raucous tone. "Ah got it!" the blonde mare announced heading over to the phone and picking it up. "Apple family residence. Applejack speaking, how may Ah help ya?" "Awesome, you know it makes me feel a lot better hearing your voice again Jackie!" Rainbow Dash's voice came through clearly on the other end. The farmer could feel a slight warmth in her cheeks as she replied softly, "Dashie, the feelin' is mutual. So what can ah do ya for?" "Well with all of our time recently being so heavily occupied, I thought we could...ya know, unwind? Maybe go out on a movie date tonight...if you still wanted things to go that way that is." Dash finished hesitantly. Applejack's heart fluttered at the chance to go on another date with the rainbow haired weather manager. Then Rainbow's last sentence hit her with meaning, they hadn't made anything official with their last date. The winged mare had carried the drowsy farmer home after the meteor shower had died down, and both had been too tired to say much. They simply had parted with a kiss upon the cheek individually. She realized that she had been silent a moment longer than usual and could feel Dash's anxiety spiking. "Sorry fer that silence shug, had ta think for a spell. Ya know Dashie, ah would love ta go out on another date with ya. In fact with this date, ya wanna know somethin' special 'bout it hun?" the orange mare said in a gleefully teasing voice. "Y-Yeah what about it Jackie?" Rainbow said with barely contained excitement at AJ's consent. She felt her face flush as she said without hesitation, "With this date, y'all can consider us officially marefriends." Applejack heard Dash cheer loudly in excitement on the other end of the line, and she felt her own heart flutter a little at what she just said. It was a big leap even for her, but she was going to follow her heart through and through. The two of them had moved hesitantly the first night with both of them trying to take things slowly. AJ had no intent of moving too quickly, and she would do what she could to keep things at a casual pace. "So what movie did ya wanna go see anyways Dashie?" the blonde mare inquired. Rainbow was quiet a moment before replying, "Um actually AJ, I hadn't thought about that just yet. Was planning on asking if there was anything you wanted to see if you accepted in the first place." She could imagine the blue mare rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. In all honesty she hadn't a clue what was showing, but so long as it was action oriented Applejack didn't really care all that much. Knowing the two of them though it shouldn't be too hard for them to just go down to the theater and pick something anyways. "Well hun tell ya what, how's about we meet up later tonight fer the movie an' jus' pick it when we get there?" the farm mare replied in a mock negotiating tone. "That sounds absolutely fine to me! How about we meet there at 6, sound good?" Rainbow asked her energy barely contained. "Yer on Dashie, ah can barely wait ta see ya!" a smile spread across her face instantly. "Same here. Well I'll talk to you then okay Jackie?" "Of course shug. Later!" She replied as they both hung up the phone on their respective ends. "Yee-haw!" Applejack exclaimed as she jumped into the air with exhilaration. Big Mac came out into the hall where the phone was a moment later to check on his sister, a knowing look plastered on his face. She was hopping up and down in her own world now blissfully absorbed in the moment. She then ran up to her brother and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "She asked me out again Mac!" AJ told her brother in her happiness. He put his arms around her too a hand resting on the center of her back before saying, "Ah'm glad ta hear that sis. When at?" "Tonight at 6!" she said breaking the hug to look him in the face. "We're goin' ta see a movie, and could ja believe we're goin' as official marefriends?" Big Mac simply replied, "Eeyup." Applejack then danced around her brother into the kitchen to finally get some food in her stomach. After the events that had just transpired though she didn't feel hungry anymore, she felt as light and wistful as the wind. Her nightmare now far behind her she looked brightly forward at the day ahead of her. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Pinkie Pie had been doing her best since her friends told her about their relationship to watch their backs. Though her bloodcurdling shivers still had not subsided even though things appeared fine around her. In the past three days though customers had been talking about some odd things happening in Ponyville. Items stolen, trash littering certain secluded areas, and even money stolen. One pony reported being beaten up by some creature they couldn't make out in the dead of night. "...I mean my money was stolen that night but at least the next day I came across a renter for that absolutely abysmal home on the outskirts of town. Got my money back on that venture, but I can't see why anyone would want to move in there..." the beige stallion commented to his companion sitting across from him. Pinkie listening in to everything as she worked, knew every single happening in Ponyville at almost any given time. Though she never seemed like she was aware of what was going on around her, in actuality she was entirely focused on the subjects going on around her at all times. These acts of cruelty from what the pink mare had heard over the past three days, sounded hauntingly familiar to her. Try as she might though she couldn't place where she remembered the personality that went with it. "Pinkie dear we have a delivery ready to go, would you mind taking it?" Mrs. Cake broke into Pinkie's calculating. "Hmm? Oh of course Mrs. Cake, can do!" She replied cheerfully. She walked over to the counter to check the order's given address, and from quick assessment she was pretty sure it was a house on the outskirts of the town. Maybe even the one that was recently, and suspiciously rented. "Time to investigate!" Pinkie thought with a laugh in her mind. She picked up the package, wrapped in brown paper, and carried it outside to her delivery bike. She placed it in her carrying basket, hopped onto the bike, and then began pedaling like a maniac. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The day could not have possibly passed more slowly than it did for Applejack today. It seemed like she was out in the orchard all day with the sun still not setting or getting anywhere close to setting. After what seemed like forever she headed in from picking to see if she could work on something else like work with the animals, maybe she could feed them since it was getting close to their dinner time. As she approached the barn she saw her little sister Applebloom actually home attending to her chores, and immediately this put the orange farm mare on guard. She was giving the animals their baths, and since this was on time for once, the blonde farmer sighed. She couldn't feed the animals. "Ey there Applebloom, whats got cha so on time with yer chores today?" Applejack said walking up to her sister. The young filly jumped in surprise at first then turning to see her sister she smiled and said, "Oh this sis, well it's kinda a secret." She noticed Bloom's cheeks flush oh so slightly, and she realized there must be something special behind her timely work on her chores. She knew it wouldn't solve anything to pry into her little sister's business so she just decided on a different course of action. "Alright Bloom whatever ya say, but maybe y'all would like some help?" she offered to her sister. "R-Really Applejack?" She said with a surprised bounce. "A'course lil' sis. Where do ya need the most help?" With that the day seemed to speed away from her again. During her time helping her little sister she was pretty sure she had locked onto a definitive answer for why she was acting so responsible. Applebloom had been asked out on a date tonight it seemed, but try as she might the blonde farmer could not get the who out of her. After a while Big Macintosh came out of the fields looking for his sister. "Jack, have ya been payin' attention to the time? If y'all don't get cleaned up now you won't make it ta the theater by 6." Applejack looked up at the sky, and it looked a lot later than she had expected. She noticed her brother wearing a watch which she found to be odd, but in this case it was quite handy. "What time do ya have big brother?" She asked in earnest. "Five thirty." AJ's face lit up in shock. She wouldn't have any time to get ready if it was already that late. On top of that she and Applebloom hadn't finished their job. She looked from the animal they were washing to the house and back again. "Don't cha worry sis I got this, you go get ready for yer date tonight!" Applebloom piped in. The orange farm mare smiled to her sister gratefully. "Thanks a million Bloom!" she shouted as she started running to the house to clean up as quickly as she could. She was running as fast as she could to the movie theaters after changing and at the least making sure she didn't smell like the chicken coop after a week of not being cleaned. She was wearing a black button up over shirt that was currently unbuttoned, as well as a navy blue tank top underneath that. She had changed into a clean pair of blue jeans, and had combed her hair into silky smoothness--even though she put it back into a long braided ponytail. She arrived in the front of the small, humble theater fifteen minutes late. It looked like Rainbow wasn't there either. "D-Did she leave already?" Applejack thought in worry. After five more minutes the orange mare felt an almost unbearable sadness begin to creep into her chest. She closed her eyes, her head slumping to the ground as she turned to head home. Her ears then perked hearing something, but before she could do anything she was hit into a nearby bush by the weight of another pony. She looked up into the triumphant eyes of Rainbow Dash who had just tackled her into a bush. Her marefriend reached forward wrapping her arms around AJ in a tight hug speaking softly into the farmer's ear, "Jackie I am so, so, so sorry for being late, and I hope I didn't worry you too much." Applejack nuzzled her cheek against her marefriend's, it looks like Dash was just as worried as she had been a moment earlier. It was good that they had landed off of the main road cause they sat there holding each other a moment more before getting up. As they headed over to the theater they looked over the board that showed what would be playing tonight, and it was almost not worth going until they noticed the third movie. The other two were sappy romance flicks, but the other one seemed more like an action oriented movie. It was, to what AJ could tell, an old school noir cop flick and those were usually action packed. They walked up to the ticket booth after agreeing on the choice and Applejack requested, "Two fer The Untouchables at 6:40 please." The ticket booth mare simply replied, "Of course that will be 32 bits." As she printed up the tickets. They both got out 16 bits each because they had agreed to split ticket price, but AJ demanded that she get the snacks. To which Rainbow had, for once, easily conceded defeat to. After paying for, and receiving, their tickets they headed inside of the theater getting in line for some snacks. This was going to make them late for the movie though since the lines were quite long for once, probably for one of the romance flicks tonight as it was highly anticipated. After what seemed like forever they got to the front of the line and ordered two combination boxes. It came with a drink, popcorn, and a candy snack. Rainbow Dash got Skittles for her candy and Applejack got sour apple twist straws. After getting their trays of snacks, and 25 bits later for the farm mare's coin purse, they rushed to the theater. They entered the dark room near the top of the seating in the amphitheater. The movie had already started the picture on screen showed Al Caponie in a barber's chair surrounded by reporters questioning him casually. Rainbow moved around Applejack to the back row and sat down in the middle of it, and AJ found it odd of Dash to not want to be closer to the screen. Then she noticed the back tier of the theater was mostly unoccupied, and she began to wonder what Dashie's intent was. "Come on Jackie, you want an invitation to sit or somthin'?" her date hollered in a hushed whisper. "Ah'm a comin' calm down shug." she replied coming over to sit next to her cyan mare. The rainbow haired mare was snickering as the farmer sat down next to her, and she was pretty sure she knew why. "Aw shut up Dashie." she said playfully punching her date in her right arm. "I couldn't help it AJ, didn't know I was THAT good!" she said in a hushed voice again before throwing some skittles into her mouth. As she began to watch the movie the scene had changed to a dark alleyway with a cop scouting it out before heading back to the group further out of the alley. It was about this time she felt Rainbow's hand moving near her body trying to find the blonde mare's hand. She happily obliged her and slid her hand down to Dash's; where she felt her date quickly interlock their fingers together. The movie felt like it was taking forever to build up and the orange mare began to find herself getting a little bored, possibly sleepy. As a waiter for the hotel Al Caponie was staying in brought him his breakfast Applejack felt a nudge from her left side. She turned to see Rainbow looking into her eyes expectantly. "Hey Jackie, can we possibly cuddle tonight?" Dash whispered to her. Applejack wanted nothing more than that and so she just nodded her head. Dash set her tray of snacks down sliding them underneath her seat, and then pulled the retractable chair arm up and out of her way. She wrapped her arm around AJ and laid her head gently on her shoulder, to which she laid her head softly on top of Rainbow's. She could smell the very wind in her hair along with a faint trace of lavender, AJ felt her body relax stresses slowly fading away from her muscles. Her eyes slowly closed as she drifted off into a dream. At first she felt a sort of bliss in her sleep but it was quickly interrupted by a scream of anger. AJ could feel the familiar shackles around her wrists. As she opened her eyes in a blur she could see a familiar rainbow maned mare standing in a doorway across the room. She stormed up to the shadow figure and began to tussle and fight with it knocking it to the ground. "This. Is. Not. Right!" She declared between blows with the shadowy figure who appeared at first unwilling to fight Rainbow. After a few moments of fighting the shadow began to slash at Rainbow with intent leaving blood streaming across her cyan coat. Dash was losing and once the figure broke her guard it drove her viciously into a post with what looked like a stake. Rainbow Dash let out a scream of absolute agony as she was stabbed in the shoulder forced back into a post. "Oh don't look at me like that Rainbow Dash." the shadow figure growled at the cyan mare, "You did this to yourself after all. Now back to this filthy little harlot, I just may have an idea for her." The shadow figure turned toward Applejack and she could swear she had seen the eyes looking at her before, but she couldn't place where. They looked absolutely dead inside as the figure quickly closed on the farmer she closed her eyes. In the next moment she felt the cuffs around her wrists click open as she fell to the ground, pain shooting through her body like lightning as she landed. "Well here is your chance you dirty little harlot, door is open you can still get away from this. I don't suggest that though since you will just die anyways...why not fight and impress your little Dashie one last time then? Come on get up!" the shadow taunted her. Applejack could run away and get help, but she would rather die than abandon her friend and lover. She felt the shadow push her forcibly then stepping back a few paces as if in a mock, "Fight Me!" manner. AJ had to admit that was practically impossible in her condition. She had bled out far too much and was beyond exhausted. She wouldn't have any hope to win without her marefriend at her side. "Jackie just run, get out of here! I don't want you getting caught up in the costs of my past!" Rainbow cried out to her looking utterly furious that she could do nothing to help her beyond that. Applejack closed her eyes and let her body soak up the warmth of Dash's love for her, and forced herself to her hooves. She was ready to stand against the enemy in front of her, but she was ill prepared for the shadowy figures actual plan. She felt a sharp pain hit her gut as her legs buckled underneath her. Something held her up placing her head over the shadows shoulder, she looked at Dash shock in her eyes as well. The shadow smiled sadistically, "You thought I'd give a dirty piece of trash like you an actual chance? Priceless. Now look into Dashie's eyes as the life leaves your eyes forever." Applejack was held there a moment more as she felt a tear trickle out of her eye she saw one run down Dash's cheek as well. She felt the shadow figure move away and she crumpled down to the floor the long sharp object now removed from her stomach. She kept her eyes on Rainbow as she let out a horrified scream the shadow figure turned to the blue hued mare, "Now what to do to you, maybe a slow torture..." The blonde mare came to with a scream, the movie just hitting a scene where two stallions were shot brutally in an elevator. She was absolutely horrified as she rushed out of the theater hearing her date coming to exclaiming, "Wha-What the hey Jackie, what's wrong?" She ran outside in tears the dream had continued despite that they were together again. When would they end, they were driving her heart in two. She couldn't take it anymore she just ran and ran till she couldn't run anymore, and before she knew it she was atop the eastern hills where their first date had taken them. She looked up at the night sky, stars glittering and the moon shining brightly. "Jackie!" Rainbow's voice called out from above her. The mare landed a few feet from AJ and walked toward her slowly. She just turned away from the rainbow maned mare. She was taken by surprise as Dash enveloped her in a tight hug from behind. "What's wrong hun, what was all that at the theater about?" she asked in such a gentle voice the farmer could barely tell she was really Rainbow Dash. She wrapped her hands around the blue mare's forearms softly before saying, "I's a nightmare, an' no matter what Ah do it won't go away. It has been doggin' me the past three days now!" Tears began to trail down AJ's face again as the memory of the dream started to play again. She gripped her marefriend's arms more tightly, but she didn't flinch in response. "Wanna sit down with me and talk about it then, maybe I can put your fears at ease?" she whispered into the farmer's ear softly. She nodded and followed Dash to the tree they had sat under four nights ago, the memory of that night also still fresh in her mind. She preferred it so she pulled it to the forefront of her mind instead. As her friend sat down cross legged against the tree she motioned the blonde farmer to lay he head in her lap, and she did not protest in the slightest. She laid down in her lap and just began regaling her tale to Dash in full detail sparing not a single moment of the dream, her marefriend listening patiently. It was uncharacteristic of Dash, and Applejack had to admit she liked it because it showed how much she cared for the simple farmer. After all they were just dreams. They couldn't hurt them, right? ______________________________________________________________________________________ As Pinkie Pie arrived at the residence on her order she found she was right, it was the creepiest house on the edge of Ponyville. It still looked practically abandoned minus the lights on in the windows. It was a simple one story cottage with what looked like a possible cellar beneath. There was a large tree with many low hanging branches off to one side of the house. "Man is it super CREEPY here. Who in their right mind would rent a place like this, unless of course they could totally fix it up that is." the pink party pony spoke aloud to herself. She heard wings above her and saw Rainbow streaking through the sky. Probably off to another date with AJ and was running super duper late. Pinkie smiled to herself and got off her bike retrieving the package she had to deliver. She headed up through the yard and up onto the front porch each board creaking as she went. "Yup super, duper, extra special, creepy!" She said before knocking upon the door, "Delivery from Sugarcube Corner, two special sugary cake surprises!" There was no answer. Not even a mouse stirred in the house. How was Pinkie to deliver them their tasty delights if they couldn't even be in for receiving the order. She turned to leave with package still in tow, but as she got to the bottom of the steps off of the porch she heard a loud sound around the side of the house with the tree. There they had to be, time to see the person that had moved in! As she ran under the tree something hit her square in the face knocking her to the ground her consciousness slipping away from her. She saw a blurry shape drop out of the tree and stand over her. "Oh crud, I almost forgot about you living here..." the figure said in a tomboyish voice that Pinkie felt she knew, and the name was on the tip of her tongue. Pinkie fell unconscious and into the depths of a long sleep. When she woke up in the morning the package was gone and there was money left in her hand. She noticed a branch hung low enough to strike her easily in the dark as the rays of morning illuminated it. Looks like she had in her excitement to meet a new pony, she had clocked herself one good. "Aw that's no fun they took their package and went. Oh well, but if I've been out this long it might be worth going to see nurse Redheart." the pink mare said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, "Ouch, that smarts! Yep, to the doctors!" She got up and carefully headed back to her bike, but before getting on it she got her bloodcurdling chills again. She turned and looked at the house feeling there was something from last night that was slipping her mind. She got on her bike and rode off towards the hospital insanely. "Whatever I'm forgetting I'm sure I'll remember soon enough!" She shouted over her crazed peddling.