//------------------------------//
// 9 
// Story: The Ballad of Dusk and Dawn 
// by Shatterpath 
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Chapter 9

++ Applejack ++

I leave one nightmare only to find myself in a new one.

Trembling with exhaustion like nothing I've ever felt before, I scrabble weakly away from the searing heat, tumbling down to a hard surface that jars me like a hoof to the head. Why am I so weak? What is happening?

Someone is screaming, a feral roar of emotion that makes my soul hurt. It tears at my heart and makes me whimper like a puppy. Suddenly, there is a whirlwind of sound and fury, more voices raised unnaturally loud, the sound sucked away by the howling vortex. The world around me flashes black and blindingly bright, like a strobe light gone mad, burning my eyes despite the leg I weakly throw across them.

With a last rush of sound and fury, it just… stops.

The quiet is deafening, only the weak cries of the terrified and the wounded, the crackle of fire and the rattle and thud of falling debris.

"Applejack? Applejack? Are you all right?"

Wait, I know that voice. With my body like lead, it is a terrific struggle to move my protective leg, I heave myself over and get rubbery legs beneath me. When did the foal get so unwieldy? Great sun and moon, I feel like I'm carrying Big Macintosh around my middle! Blinking in the smoky light, I raise my head to rest my chin on the bed which I have only just fallen from.

Sure enough, I am suddenly nose to nose with a very surprised Princess Luna. "Oh, thank all that is holy, you're alive," she breathes and her dark horn flares with energy. Gentle as my Mama once cradled my baby filly self, I am levitated to be tucked against the princess' lanky body.

Outside, we are attacked by the rest of the gang, all of them talking and crying at once. My strength is slowly returning, though I could do without the battering hugs of my hysterical friends! "Dang it, fillies, stop beatin' me like a bag ah oats! Ah'm fine! What in tarnation's got y'all actin' like a buncha hysterical chickens?"

It's Dash that has the strongest hold on me, choking tight around my neck, her whole body shaking like a leaf. Rarity is draped all over me like a winter saddle and both Pinkie and Fluttershy have managed to shove their heads in to press almost painfully against mine.

Suddenly I know, as sure as there are three apples on each of my flanks, that it had been no dream. The horror of it washes over me, stills all of our bodies like a single entity. "I was the first one to come back," Dash breathes, her nose in my ear. "I didn't last long there. Rarity was close behind. We waited so impossibly long for the rest of you, watching over your bodies day after day, night after night. Us and our families and the princesses and seems like half of Equestria. But you wouldn't wake up! It's been months, Applejack. Months."

When I squirm, they lean away only enough to make eye contact. I search Dash's gaze, then Fluttershy, then Pinkie, seeing the shared trauma. Doubtlessly, Rarity, still heavy against my back, also wears the scars in her eyes.

"Twilight?"

I almost don't want to ask, my voice a hoarse whisper. Dash's fuchsia gaze flickers over my shoulder and I twist around, putting a leg around Rarity without thinking about it. From the rubble of whatever building that once was, Princess Celestia strides out, the smoke billowing around her. Shockingly, she is covered in burns and cuts, trailing white feathers and speckles of blood in the snow. Her wings and ears are still smoking, one eye twisted painfully shut. Cradled in the royal one's glowing magic, looking small and frail, is my dearest love.

When I tense to move, I am held fast by my friends, and the grim, gentle voice of Luna. "She has not yet returned, Applejack, but she lives. Come to the castle proper and we will explain as best we are able."

That was three days ago.

Everything is still filtering through my shock and pain. Honestly, the whole thing is so unbelievable that I'm having real trouble getting my brain around it. The memories are so hazy that how is a sane pony supposed to believe that it really happened? How do I accept that nightmare as truth? 

The princesses have been very candid with me. They told me in cracked monotones, their pain as obvious as my own. 

Back in time far enough that even the princesses are at a loss to remember details, when my ancestors were only just figuring out how to be civilized, the alicorns were faced with an enemy from some far off dimension of magic that could destroy the fabric of our reality. It was bigger and meaner than them and could wipe Equestria from reality. Faced with that, the alicorns didn't have a choice but to take the deal the nasties offered them. Rather than have our realm destroyed as sure as heat destroys mold in cider, there would have to be a sacrifice. 

On random Summer Solstices, a small contingent of ponies must go and fight in the horrible blood games I only dimly remember. Turns out the royal guards have been built around this core purpose. Generation after generation of them knowing what would be asked of them one day. Sobering stuff. Though it explains the vastness of the guard and their uniformity. It always happens at the Summer Solstice, the grandeur of Celestia's ritual raising of the sun covering the collapse of the guards that are chosen.

Only this time, something went dreadfully wrong.

We're all in agreement that it must have something to do with the power of the Elements of Harmony, once again returned from whatever mysterious place they come from. My fur is still ruffled into the shape of the golden necklace where I wore it for so long. Like the horror of the hazy memories, it will take time to fade. Each of us has been changed by the experience and a sobriety hangs over us like a fog. We haven't talked about what happened as much as we probably should be doing, after all we can heal in the sharing, but we're obviously not ready yet. And the others have had a lot longer to process than I.

Right now, I'm more worried about Twilight.

Despite my exhaustion from being bedridden for more than six months, I cannot sleep or eat with any normalcy. Luckily for me, the princesses' magics kept my body from deteriorating too much and I'm in far better condition than I can believe, given that I was celebrating Summer Solstice and now it's winter partner has passed! I lay in the comfortable bed with my lover, watching over her quiet body, hoping against hope to see those beautiful violet eyes open and reassure me that everything's going to be okay.

There is a flutter of sound, one that is unnatural enough that I have never heard it before, and I look up to see a very sober Celestia looking mournfully at Twilight and myself. I have no feelings towards her right now, numbed by what has happened to us.

"Centuries ago, the bargain we struck with those faceless, dark forces, was the only choice we had. It has never struck so close to home before."

"Does it bother ya?"

Yes, that was my voice that just so tactlessly asked that. Celestia looks utterly startled and I'm perversely reassured by her very normal reaction somehow making her so much more accessible. Then her expression wracks with pain. "It tears out my heart every time."

The hurt in her voice is real, as is the gentle touch of one golden-shod hoof to the white and pink star on Twilight's hip. In our mutual adoration of this wonderful young mare, we are of a mind. While it's really strange to find myself in this position with our immortal leader, I'll accept it and move on. What else can I do?

"Why don't ya hop up here and keep us company fer a bit. She'll like that."

Startled again, Celestia looks pathetically grateful for the invite and she very carefully climbs into the huge bed to settle against Twilight's back. After Twi blew up the hospital that had been caring for us, Celestia put us in her own rooms. It's surprisingly cozy, warm with the same colors of her strange, rainbow mane that tickles my hide with its constant, magical motion.

Sighing wearily, I rest my head beside Twilight's on the thick pillow, taking in her warm scent and the unique press of her horn on my forehead. I have to shift around a bit to get more comfortable, as we're both as big as barrels now. Magic kept our bodies and our children whole while we were gone and for that I am thankful. Poor Twilight, I fear for her and the foal grown large on her delicate frame.

"Ah was fascinated the moment she stepped onto Sweet Apple Acres." I'm too raw to fight the soft words that suddenly pour out of me. Without looking, I know that Celestia is listening closely. Dunno if Rarity might be, too, as she'd been napping next to the bed. "Had the whole clan there and we ganged up on her to eat somethin'. Wasn't easy, she was so focused on makin' sure everything was right for ya visitin' Ponyville and wantin' to investigate Nightmare Moon. Then we were off on that adventure ta stop Nightmare Moon and all made friends and little by little ah lost mah heart. Good thing she took good care of it for me. Ah miss you, Twi. Come back to me."

Then I feel it.

A spark like static electricity or the energy of the zap apple trees beneath the clouds they gather to do their magic. There is a shift in Twilight's breathing, a hitch in the mechanical evenness of it, something that might be a sigh… or a sob.

Forcing calm, I open my eyes and stare at her closed eyelids, willing her to me with everything I am. "Remember that first adventure, Sugar? The cliff cracked and we all went a'fallin'. You were so scared hangin' from that cliff edge and I asked you to trust me. Ah'm askin' you again, Twilight Sparkle. Ah'm askin' ya to trust me that yer safe here with me. No one's gonna hurt you anymore. Trust me." There's a twitch and my heart is in my throat as her hooves bump my swollen belly. "C'mon, Darlin'. Me and the foals are waitin' here for ya. Come back to us."

There have been a great many milestones with this sweet girl, adventures and high emotions and mutual adoration, but it all pales in comparison of her blurred eyes blinking open at me. Like that first moment of danger we shared on that dark, frightening cliff, I force calm and smile lovingly at her.

"Welcome home, Love."

Swallowing hard, Twilight blinks once, twice, her gaze clearing, the pupils focusing on my face. "Applejack," she breathes softly and it is the sweetest benediction. Shuddering sharply with relief, I close my eyes against the blur of tears and press my lips to her forehead. Only then do I feel the heat of magic in her horn and it makes me smile.

Rarity gasps and sobs herself before Celestia casts some sort of bubble around the three of us and remains perfectly silent and still as Twilight gathers herself. Those bright eyes, so close to the color of her coat, watch me with complete attention as I quietly tell her the bare bones of what happened to us. Without a word, she listens before clinging close to me and sobbing quietly until we both fall asleep.