//------------------------------// // Memories of Her // Story: Once Upon A Time // by FlutterDash777 //------------------------------// -Memories of Her "You!" Rarity could hear her heart throbbing inside of her small chest. She couldn't believe her eyes as Applejack stood in front of her, bag in hoof. "Well, it's good to see ya too." Applejack chuckled softly at Rarity's greeting. She continued to reach Rarity's bag out to her in her direction, but the unicorn didn't seem to be interested in taking it from her anytime soon. Silence filled the room for a few moments. Neither of the two knew what to say in this situation. Rarity was just completely shocked. Out of all the ponies in Ponyville, why was Applejack here now standing before her, holding her bag out to her? It was just too much of a coinsidence. Rarity hadn't seen Applejack in nearly two months. She hadn't seen or heard anything from her since that one morning at that little farm, so why now? When Rarity was finally over the whole thing, why did she have to reappear into her life? The young mare couldn't find any words to say. She began to stir uncomfortably in her place. All of a sudden she felt the urgent need to pee, but she couldn't make her hooves move. They were glued to the floorboards. Completely stuck in time. Rarity's ears twitched as the raspy voice began to fill the air suddenly. "I believe...you dropped this." Applejack slowly began to place the bag on the table Rarity was dining at moments earlier. The unicorn finally was able to look away from the pony in front of her. Her eyes turned toward the saddle bag that was now laying flat on the cafe table. She moved her hoof towards the bag and began to slip it onto her back. Her eyes turned back to her front. The orange mare had already quietly made her way towards the door of Sugar Cube Corner. Her eyes were heavily staring at the ground beneath her. Her mane softly fell on her built back as she turned her head up to reach for the door nob. Rarity stood and watched as the mare silently opened the door to exit the awkward situation. Applejack wasn't making any motion that told Rarity that she was leaving. She didn't give any sign that she was departing. She didn't say a word. She just simply left. Rarity couldn't think straight at the moment, but one word slithered through her lips without warning as she continued to stare in the mares direction. "Wait." The earth pony stopped halfway through the entrance of the sweet shop. Her tail swayed gently as a breeze went flowing through the opened door. Rarity stiffly looked at the mare, waiting for a response. If any at all, she just wanted a gesture from the mysterious mare that she had been thinking about since the day she met her. Then suddenly, her head tilted back and her green eyes met with Rarity's. They twinkled as she gave a smile. And with that, the pony turned away once more and left the dumbfounded unicorn to stand alone. She never remembered to leave Pinkie a tip. --- Rarity's sleep was filled with tossing and turning that following night. Her head was filled with so many questions, she just couldn't put Applejack passed her; she couldn't get her off her mind. Visuals of the mare spiraled through the unicorns thoughts as she grumbled and turned over again to her left side. Her dreams were strange and filled with many more questions that the mare had to ask herself. No answers to be found, nothing. Only Rarity's imagination was all she had to work with. In Rarity's dreamworld that night, she could see the outline of six ponies. They each had a faint color to them. All six had a different color. There was yellow, pink, blue, orange, white, and purple. She wasn't exactly sure what any of this meant, or if there was any significance at all to the dream itself that linked to Applejack. Rarity just watched as the six silhouettes danced through her dreamland. They seemed so peaceful. So happy. --- The next morning, Rarity was in a complete trance. She waltzed about her house as she did her normal morning routine. She hummed an original tune as she ate breakfast and she trotted out of the front door with a certain pep in her step. Today felt like such a wonderful day. Rarity wasn't sure where she was going, but she began to take a nice morning walk through Ponyville. She took all the roads she didn't normally take, and she just enjoyed the smells and sights of the scenic route that she didn't travel often. She smiled widely as her hooves took her whereever. She didn't even stop to think really, that she wasn't exactly moving at all, her hooves were. They were trotting themselves and as she began to open her eyes a little wider and wake up a bit more, she finally realized that she wasn't moving at freewill. She had been in some sort of daze while her body was just taking her out of town. She didn't even recognize where she was now. Rarity looked around her. All she saw now was trees and lots of clear land. Forest, she was dragging herself to the forest. The forbidden forest. The forest where nopony dared travel to. The Everfree Forest. Rarity's eyes widened as she tried to call out for help, but nopony was around to hear her screams. She turned her head in all directions, searching for somepony, anypony around that she could wave for to get their attention, but alas, she was all alone. It was only her and the forest around. She was completely isolated. She tried and struggled to stop herself from moving any farther, but she couldn't. She was already in the forest now. She could hear the screeches of distant wildlife and she heard crunches of mysterious creatures that lured around her. She couldn't take this much stress and fear. She was completely out of it. Rarity screamed out more, not to call for help this time, but to scare away the animals that she felt would bring her harm. She screamed and wailed, trying to keep the predatures away from her. Her eyes were moving everywhere so quickly she felt like her head was spinning around in circles. Everything was so frightening to her. She couldn't stand to look any longer. The mare clenched her eyes tightly shut as she continued to drag herself further and further into the dark forest. She had never once been inside the Everfree, it just wasn't something that somepony would willfully do on a normal basis, but Rarity wasn't willfully going, she was being forced...by her own self. All she could see was the darkness behind her eyelids and she could hear various sounds that she tried to drown out as she suddenly was tossed forward. The mare fell on her face in the dirt. She opened her eyes slowly as she brought her front hooves to the top of her head as if to hide herself. She peeked up to see the unthinkable. A castle stood before her. It was brightly lit and inviting. Rarity slowly got up from her huddled position and began to stare in awe at the mighty tower above her. It shined with magnificence as it whistled softly while the wind blew through each and every window. Rarity couldn't move any closer. Her hooves were now glued to where she stood. She forgot about this quickly and looked up again. She saw two huge gates before her. They seemed to be made of gold. They shimmered just by themselves and Rarity was impressed with the craftsmanship of every piece of this amazing palace; however, one thing in particular caught her attention. Rarity saw a statue that stood behind the gates. It was of six ponies. Each were merely silhouettes; however, they were each uniquely crafted as if they were individuals. Rarity couldn't keep here eyes off of the whole thing. It was all so overwhelming she had forgotten where she was even at and how she got there. She began to smile again. She felt like she was back in her morning trance once more, and without even realizing, she began to hum that same tune from this morning. She wasn't sure where it came from, but she felt as if she had heard it somewhere before, long ago. As she smiled and sung, she heard a crackle come from the very top of the castle. A single crack ran through the middle and soon the whole palace began to topple over. Rarity's singing and smiling ceased and she began to panic once again as the castle demolished before her eyes. The statue broke into six pieces and soon the whole entire courtyard was nothing more than ruins. Rarity screamed and with that, she woke up. --- Her head was spinning from all the crazy dreams she had been having the passed couple of nights. She wasn't sure what was going on with her, but all of them seemed to be connected in some way. She sat on her couch as her mother next to her cradled her little sister. Rarity smiled at the little white foal softly as she began to stretch. She turned away and yawned. She was so awfully tired, but she wasn't sure if it was the fact that she was sleepy or just the fact that she was bored out of her mind. She hadn't left the house in a few days. She didn't really have anywhere to be and Fluttershy hadn't spoken to her ever since her friend moved from Cloudsdale, and Rarity was really looking forward to meeting him too. Rarity began to sigh and pout at the thought. She turned over and flailed her arms to the side in an act of getting some pity from her mother who wasn't even paying her any attention in the first place. Her mom continued to play with Sweetie Belle and Rarity continued to wallow in self pity. The mare finally gave up all attempts to get her mothers attention away from Sweetie and she left the living room. She trotted upstairs to her bedroom and using her magic, shut her door behind her. She crawled into her comforting bed and laid down on her stomach. She faced her opened window and sighed once more. She watched as the clouds rolled by slowly through the sky. The pegasi had already placed them accordingly for a storm that was supposed to take place later on in the week. Rarity wasn't looking forward to this. She never was too fond of thunderstorms. The rain would mess up her mane and she was terrified of lightning, but there was really nothing she could do about it. They were due for a storm this week and Rarity knew she would have to deal with it. Rarity's eyes dazzled as she watched the clouds more. She soon was able to spot out shapes. She used to do that with her dad when she was a filly. They would lie on their backs in the front yard and point out all the objects they could find in the clouds. Her favorite had always been finding diamonds in the sky. They reminded her of herself and Rarity had always been proud of herself. She smiled at the memory. She continued to watch the rolling white puff balls through her window. She saw a few bunnies in them and even a little kitten that reminded her of the family cat, Opal. She giggled as the shapes began to slowly drift away and change into new shapes. It was quite nostalgic and frankly entertaining. The mare soon forgot she was ever bored in the first place. She was mesmerized with the clouds and lost herself in the moment. She spotted six ponies dancing in the sky. They looked so peaceful. So happy.