//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Light in the Dark // by R-B-D //------------------------------// Light in the dark Chapter 2 ‘’Applebloom? Ah know ya’re in there. A wanted ta talk ta ya.’’ The voice of the mare sounded muffled to the yellow coated filly, who was lying on a bed in one of the corners of the small room. This particular space had been the filly’s sanctuary for almost as long as she could remember. Whenever she needed to think something through, she would come to this part of the house. It was one of the more quiet places on the orchard and thus it didn’t distract the small pony much when she was thinking. Applebloom had stumbled on the small room when she was still very young. She had just been in a fight with her sister about something, though she couldn’t recall about what exactly. As she dashed off from the argument, she soon found herself in a part of the house she hadn’t ever noticed before. The red maned filly had discovered the small room as she passed through the many hallways. Back then, the room didn’t have any locks on the door or furniture, or any additions at all for that matter, aside from a bed. There was a small window in one of the walls that’d allow some light to enter the room. The yellow filly decided to lay an unwritten claim on the space; and that’s how it became her ‘thinking room’. Present day, the room, aside from the bed, was still close to empty if it weren’t for a small cabinet, which stood next to the bed in the corner. It appeared hoofcrafted, though very clumsily built. The wooden pieces out of which it was constructed hadn’t been sanded before they’d been put together, the nails that were supposedly holding the cabinet intact were either only halfway through or bent at all possible angles. One could consider it a miracle it hadn’t simply fallen apart yet. It was good enough for Applebloom though, as she didn’t use it for anything other than keeping a few pictures and similar items with a memorial value. The walls were just as blank for the most part. They hadn’t ever been painted. Even so, the brown colour the wood originally held was barely visible underneath the large amounts of dust, which had gathered there over the course of the years. The wall with the window in it had been covered up with a lot of hay as to block out the influx of light. As of late, the small earthpony had come to her sanctuary a lot more often than she usually would. She knew the reason for it, but she didn’t want her family members to know. Applebloom was afraid of how they might react if they’d find out about what had been troubling her mind so much lately. She was especially anxious about telling Applejack. The little filly felt they had such a good bond and she was afraid of ruining it all; and so she had tried to run away from her sister when she had walked up to her at the pond. ‘’Applebloom, ah just want ta talk.’’ Applejack’s muffled voice sounded through the room once again. ‘’Just go away. Ah’m not in the mood for talkin’ right now.’’ ‘’Come on li’l sis, ah’m sure ah can help ya out. Just open the door so ah can come in.’’ ‘’JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!’’ Applebloom cried out as she fell into tears, sobbing into the sheets softly. ‘’Now this here just ain’t right,’’ Applejack thought to herself, ‘’Most of the time she’d at least let me in so ah could talk ta her. Somethin’ big is botherin’ her and ah know just what ah’m goin’ ta do.’’ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘’N-no… Please don’t leave me! Let me explain!’’ Suddenly the filly found herself lying on a flat surface, her eyes closed. ‘’It was just a dream, Scoot,’’ she told herself. She had been having the same dream for several weeks now. It was more of a nightmare actually; and it was haunting her. She couldn’t let go if it. Her thoughts were being distracted by the strange surface on which she lay. This wasn’t anything like the wooden floor she was used to sleeping on back in the treehouse. This place was softer. It felt like… Soil? The small pegasus’ eyelids split apart in the blink of an eye. Complete darkness. Celestia’s sun had long set and had been replaced by the princess’ sister’s moon and stars. The light emanating from them couldn’t permeate through the thick forest canopy however, leaving out most of the night’s luminance, creating an environment one would only expect to behold in their darkest dreams. As her eyes started to adjust to the darkness, she started to make out silhouettes of trees and plants around her. The filly’s eyes seemed oblivious to any detail in the surroundings, blurring the outlines of what she did see and reducing her ability to understand the situation she was in. ‘’What happened? … Are those… trees? What’s with this headache?’’ Scootaloo tried to remember what had happened the evening before, but her mind was struggling to find the answer. She decided it might be a good idea to get up, just to try and see if she could recognise where she was. As she pulled her legs up underneath her to lift herself off the ground, a searing pain ran through her left shoulder joint, causing her to collapse down on top of it, only worsening the agony. The pain caused her brain to instantly snap out of the blurred state, causing memories of what had happened to flash through the filly’s mind. A loud scream. Branches colliding with her body. Tumbling down through the tree until hitting the solid ground; blacking everything out. ‘’A scream?’’ Scootaloo thought to herself. ‘’RAINBOW DASH!’’ She began scouring her surroundings. She knew the pegasus couldn’t be far from here, the filly had been sitting on top of her as they collided with the trees, after all. She quickly pulled her hooves underneath herself, carefully avoiding putting any strain on her left leg. As she tried to get up, she couldn’t maintain her balance without the fourth leg, causing her to topple over. She didn’t want to waste time like this, so instead of getting up, she started dragging and pushing herself with her hooves. Even though her eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now, she could only just make out the silhouettes of the trees and other overgrowth around her. She couldn’t move anywhere near as fast as she’d like to with her body being dragged along the ground. She would never find Rainbow Dash at this speed. The filly decided that trying to call out for the pegasus might speed up her search in case she was awake as well. ‘’Rainbow Dash!’’ Scootaloo tried to call out as loud as possible, but found that she could only bring forth a raspy voice incapable of producing much volume. She felt like she had to keep trying nonetheless. The mare’s life might even depend on it, she thought. ‘’Rainbow Dash!?’’ This time she managed to call out with a more reasonable voice, one which was loud enough to be heard for at least several meters. Still no reply. The orange filly figured that even if she was close by, she was probably still unconscious. But then, through the silent forest, a faint noise could be heard. ‘’O-over here!’’ Scootaloo tried to orient herself on where the voice was coming from. When she pinpointed the, according to her, direction, she started dragging and pushing herself towards it. She kept calling out every few seconds, waiting until the weak voice called out again so the filly could keep tracing it. After what had felt like miles of travel for the amount of exhaustion she had to deal with, Scootaloo could make out the silhouette of a pony, lying on the ground on her side. She soon found herself next to the rainbow maned pegasus, who appeared to be even more bruised up than she was herself. She was close enough to be able to make out the general contours of the body. The mare’s left wing appeared bent at a very odd angle, as was her right hind leg. Scootaloo couldn’t make out much more in the total darkness, but the rest of the pegasus’ body seemed fine. ‘’Rainbow Dash? What happened?’’ ‘’Well, isn’t it obvious? We crashed,’’ the mare replied with a sheepish grin on her face, as if she was trying to shrug it off with a joke. ‘’But what are we going to do now? How will we ever get back?’’ Scootaloo wasn’t scared easily, but this was something unlike anything she ever had to deal with before. Her voice, along with her entire body, was trembling with anxiety as her mind raced through all of the possibilities. It didn’t take long for Rainbow to notice the fear in the filly’s voice. She tried to think of something she could do to comfort her, give her a sense of safety, even if it was false. ‘’Come here Scoot. I think we should try to get some rest and maybe figure this out when we have daylight to assist us.’’ She turned herself so she was sitting straight up, holding a hoof out towards the small pegasus, inviting her to lie down next to her. Scootaloo crawled over to her idol, wanting nothing more than to wake up and realizing it was all a bad dream, even though she knew that was not going to happen. As the filly snuggled up into her fur, Rainbow Dash could feel her trembling; heavily. In an attempt to comfort her she circled her front hooves around the filly, embracing her in a tight, caring hug. As time passed, Scootaloo’s trembling slowly died down as she lay against the mare, her head buried into her cyan pelt. Eventually falling asleep; hoping that her dreams wouldn’t be filled with nightmares. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The little yellow filly was still sobbing into her pillow when a sound close by caught her attention. As she peered into the direction where the noise was coming from, she noticed something, or somepony, was removing the layers of hay, which were covering up the window, from the outside. As the last few pieces of hay were removed from the opening, the cause revealed itself. ‘’Ah’m not goin’ ta leave until ah’ve talked with ya, Applebloom,’’ the orange mare said as she slid herself through the tiny window. It was a tight fit, but Applejack was athletic enough to manage and squeeze herself through. ‘’Ah already told ya that ah don’t want ta talk,’’ Applebloom said as she flipped herself over in the bed so she wouldn’t have to face her sister. ‘’Ah know; and that’s exactly why ya should. It’s not healthy ta keep everythin’ ta yer li’l self for all this time,’’ the emerald-eyed mare said as she hopped onto the bed and seated herself next to the small yellow ball. ‘’So what’s botherin’ mah li’l sister?’’ Applebloom let out a sigh, figuring there was no point in trying to hide her thoughts from her sister any longer. The problem she faced now was different to the filly. She couldn’t find the words to explain what she so desperately wanted to explain now. ‘’There’s… Ah’ve had… Ah don’t know how ah’m supposed ta explain this ta ya…’’ was all she could say. As she kept searching for words, Applejack jumped in to help her out. ‘’Well, what is it about? Is it about somethin’ that happened to a friend? Is it about somethin’ that happened to you? Is it about cutie marks?’’ As she kept putting the options forward, Applejack was paying close attention to her little sister’s body language, trying to look for a sign that would indicate she hit the right spot. ‘’Is it about affection?’’ As her sister pronounced the words, Applebloom felt her body cringing unwillingly for a brief moment. She just knew her sister had noticed it. The mare had stopped with forwarding options. The small filly just knew she would have to tell her now. ‘’So who is the lucky colt then?’’ ‘’Well… You see… That’s kind of the thing… It’s not exactly a ‘colt’.’’ The little earthpony braced herself for the angry outburst from Applejack. She waited, and waited. No angry yelling came, no insults were shouted. She decided to peek over her shoulder towards her sister, only to find her smiling down at her. ‘’Well why didn’t ya say so in the first place? There’s nothin’ wrong with lovin’ someone of yer own choice.’’ ‘’But… Ah thought that ya would be mad at me… Because ah’m different… Because ah’m a… ‘fillyfooler’…’’ Applebloom said with a slight cringe while she was trying to fight back tears which were forming in her eyes. ‘’Now that’s kind of silly, don’t ya think? Why would ah get mad at ya for somethin’ like that. Ya know ah appreciate ya just the way ya are. If ya love someone with all yer heart, who am ah ta say no or mock ya about it. Heck, when ah was yer age, ah wanted ta try everythin’ as well. It’s perfectly natural ta be curious.’’ ‘’But what if all of mah friends make fun of me because of it… ah just know they will all laugh at me. Ah’m sure that they’ll just make me an outcast; what am ah goin’ ta do about it when they’re all laughin’ at me?’’ Applejack had to think about her sister’s posed dilemma for a moment, but she had a conclusion fairly quickly. She knew Applebloom wouldn’t like it, but it was the only comforting thought she could give to the filly. ‘’If they would do that; then ah would daresay they are not real friends, because real friends don’t stop hangin’ out with one another for reasons as silly as someone’s likes and dislikes. Real friends need a lot more than that ta break their friendship. If ya really like someone; ya can’t have outsiders influence yer feelings. Ya need ta decide for yerself, not let them decide for you.’’ When she ended her talk, she noticed her sister was barely keeping her posture at that moment, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes; being made visible by the few beams of light which entered the room through the, now open, window. The light reflected off of Applebloom’s watery eyes, giving them a slight sheen. Applejack was always one to notice these kinds of things early, this time was no different. She could see that her little sister was hurting; and decided that she had to comfort her, in whatever way she could. As a form of a sister’s reflex; she found herself picking up the filly, turning her around and embracing her in a loving hug, wrapping her front hooves around her sister; enclosing her within a caring embrace. All of the stress Applebloom had built up in the last few weeks wasn’t being held back anymore. She started crying into her sister, letting her worries dwindle further with every passing tear. She cried for what felt like many minutes; and eventually her tears slowed their advance. When she had spent all of them, a sense of relaxation took hold of her after finally being relieved of all the thoughts and doubts of the past weeks. Slowly, in the loving hooves of her sister; the best sister in all of Equestria; she began drifting off to sleep. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘’Hey Applebloom. There’s… something I wanted to tell you for some time now.’’ The filly gulped as she spoke. ‘’Really? What is it then, Scootaloo?’’ ‘’Well… I… I like you.’’ ‘’Well ah like you too, but what’s so important about that?’’ ‘’No… I like you.’’ The yellow filly’s eyes widened for a moment as the realization struck her. There was a look of disbelief on her face, but there was fear as well; and doubt, as if she didn’t know what to say in response to this revelation. ‘’Ah… Ah don’t know Scootaloo… Ah never gave it that much thought,’’ Applebloom said as she started to back away from Scootaloo, up to a point where she quickly turned around and ran off. ‘’N-no… Please don’t leave me! Let me explain!’’ ‘’Scootaloo? What’s the matter?’’ The familiar voice snapped the filly out of her dream. She gazed around as her eyes were accommodating to the, now somewhat lighter, environment. She was still lying against the pegasus whom she fell asleep to the night before. As Scootaloo looked up to her, she could see Rainbow Dash staring down at her with a questioning look on her face. ‘’What were you dreaming about? It sounded like a pretty awful dream to me.’’ ‘’I was talking during my sleep?’’ the small pegasus asked, even though she already knew the answer to the question. She just wanted to know how much the pegasus had overheard, not feeling comfortable at all with the prospect of having to explain the nightmare to the pony she looked up to the most. ‘’Quite a bit, actually. It sounded like you were having a conversation with somepony.’’ Rainbow Dash didn’t want to tell the filly that she had heard her calling the name of a certain earthpony, along with the words ‘I like you’. She felt that if she would, Scootaloo might lock up, avoiding any further discussion on the matter. ‘’I… I keep on having the same dream every night, over and over again. It keeps me awake because I’m afraid of it, it wakes me up because I can’t stand up to it, it’s been like that for three whole weeks now; and I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do,’’ the filly said while trembling all over her body again, burying her face into the pelt of the pony next to her. ‘’All I want is to just be able to sleep normally again… without this nightmare haunting me every time I try…’’ ‘’Well you should gather some courage and stand up for yourself then!’’ the cyan mare said to the filly, only afterwards realizing how wrong her words actually were. Deep inside, she knew it wasn’t as easy as simply ‘standing up for yourself’. ‘’Umm… I ment… You might want to try talking about it, about what happens to you in that particular dream. It might help if you would acknowledge the problem to somepony else besides yourself.’’ ‘’I… I don’t know if I can do that, Rainbow Dash,’’ the pegasus said with a voice through which her fear was resonating. ‘’Of course you can. Here, let me help you out: ‘’I dream about…’’. ’’ The pegasus pretended to be talking from Scootaloo’s point of view, trying to get her to add to the line she just spoke. ‘’Me. I… I dream about… myself. I’m… walking through the streets, looking for somepony. Others pinpoint me to the location. I talk with her. I… I tell the pony how I feel … and then the pony…’’ Scootaloo couldn’t bring herself to speak the next word that was supposed to be there. She couldn’t find the strength to say what happens next. ‘’Leaves?’’ Rainbow Dash completed the sentence with a questioning look on her face, trying to see if she was correct. ‘’Yes. The pony leaves me… Without any real explanation… Just leaves.’’ Scootaloo sobbed into her idol’s fur, the stress created by this one nightmare had grown too much for even the incredibly sturdy filly to handle. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure how to react. She tried to calm her down a bit by embracing her with a hug, but it didn’t help much. She decided it might be best if she’d reveal what she thought she knew. ‘’Did the same thing happen when you told Applebloom how you felt?’’ ‘’H-how did you know?’’ the filly asked with a faint hint of fear in her voice once more. This time, it wasn’t because of the nightmare, though. This time, it was because she was afraid what the rainbow maned pegasus would think of her. ‘’Like I said, you talk a lot in your sleep,’’ she said as she tried to make eye-contact with Scootaloo, giving her a reassuring smile after achieving said contact. Rainbow Dash wanted to let her know that she was not going to judge her, or be angry with her because of it. ‘’Y- you’re not mad at me? Or disgusted?’’ ‘’Why would I be? It’s not my decision to make, is it? It’s entirely up to you to make these kinds of choices. I won’t deny that many ponies would view it as awkward, but at the end of the day, they can’t tell you how to live your life. Now, I think we should be focusing on how to get home. We can’t exactly wait here and hope somepony comes to find us.’’ Rainbow Dash carefully manoeuvred her three healthy legs in such a way that she was able to lift herself up without being entirely off balance. Her right hind leg felt as if it were enflamed, as well as itching all over. She tried to ignore these impulses as she began to slowly trot a small distance before looking back to see the filly having trouble to get up without the help of her left front leg. ‘’I can do this; come on; it’s just like getting up with four hooves; just one less hoof to use now.’’ Scootaloo thought to herself. ‘’If I just put this leg here… and then…’’