//------------------------------// // INTERMISSION 1: Nights on Bridleway // Story: If You Give a Little Love... // by Quillamore //------------------------------// Babs had found herself trapped in a world of white light and nothingness, and not even the roughest of blinks could free her. Glittering fragments of energy flew through the air, darkening whenever the filly tried to bring herself to touch one of them. Before long, blackened orbs flowed through the path alongside the clear-colored ones, but she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice the danger. Just as she’d been wandering through this realm for as long as she could imagine, she finally slumped onto the ground, unable to sustain herself any longer. As soon as she’d lost all strength, he trotted to her, almost as if her fall had triggered an invisible alarm. She’d definitely be the first to admit that there wasn’t much she could bring herself to remember in that moment. But as the yellow-and-green stallion extended his hooves towards her small body, she couldn’t help but melt into his embrace. Momo, the tiny voice of recognition inside her remarked. All that really was a bad dream all along. There should’ve been a reason why the two had been kept separate all this time. But in this moment, it didn’t matter, now that they’d found their way to each other again. “I’ve been looking for you for so long,” he whispered, softly stroking his companion. “I missed you so much, you know.” “I did, too,” she replied. “Because all this time, you were like a father to me.” “I’m flattered to hear that, Babs. Especially considering how vastly superior I am to the one you had before.” “What was that you just said?” She could swear Momo’s face had changed then, even just a little, but it soon reverted back to his normal loving gaze. Yet again, another figment of her imagination. “Nothing, dear. Pay it no mind.” “If it means all this is real and I really am seein’ you again, then I will. I definitely will.” “It is real. You’re finally out of that terrible nightmare you’ve been having for so long. Watching the way you trembled as you dreamt and knowing that I couldn’t help…it was the worst feeling in the world. But now that you’re awake, you’ll never have to think of such things again, because they never happened.” Babs was about to let this statement go just like everything else, to cast aside everything she’d been through before this. For the most part, the fog over her memories was too deep to recall them. Losing them for good wouldn’t do any harm if it meant staying with Momo in this moment, forever. But just then, something made her realize that it hadn’t all been bad. An opaque, ghost-like mare lurked just behind the two of them, her white fur and blue mane shimmering with fallen stars. Everything in Babs’ heart was telling her to ignore this presence, but she couldn’t. For some reason, she couldn’t take her eyes off her. Don’t listen to him! the mare called out, just barely audible. He trapped me here, too. I ought to know better than anypony what he wants to do to you. Babs turned back to face her, only to find that she had disappeared with the mist. And yet, even though she had come from the nightmare, the filly still couldn’t help but miss her. “What about Coco?” she asked, suddenly remembering the other pony’s name. “Are you sayin’ she wasn’t real, either?” “Oh, she was,” Momo replied, “but she was never meant for you. Her purpose is in another world. I know it’ll be hard to let her go, but you have to, for both our sakes. Someday, you have to let them go and focus only on me. If you go with them, you’ll end up dooming yourself into being sucked into the nightmare again.” “But if I stay here, I’ll be alone for good?” “Of course not. You’ll have me by your side. Isn’t that what you’ve really wanted all this time? To be free of it all, to live like you did before?” It wasn’t what she’d wanted all along, and her memories were warning her like alarm bells. But, as fearful as she was of losing everything, leaving Momo behind again would be even worse. She took Momo’s hoof, and a question suddenly entered her mind. She was about to ask if the nightmare had been right about him, if he really was the fearsome pony it had showed her. He never got the chance to answer. All around her, the clear white background turned to grey. And, more importantly, just as Coco had disappeared, even Momo himself was fading away. Memories flared all around her, but they weren’t the ones she had been promised. All of them came from one particular time, one night not too long ago, ones that she’d been told didn’t really exist. Her eyes drooped once more and she had fallen to the ground, too overwhelmed to get up this time. When she squinted, all she could see was Momo’s face twisted into a mocking grin. This form of his, the one he was in now, took a different name. No, she thought to herself. He was never Momo to begin with. That was somepony I created all this time. Now, there was only Mosely, here to punish her with her past once more. “It’s all right; you weren’t all wrong,” he whispered, stooping down to the foal’s level. “You really are all alone now, but with an important difference. You actually thought I would sacrifice everything the other world has to offer just to stay with a bad seed like you? Here I thought you were smarter than that. And you know what else? If it would’ve been one of the others, they would’ve done the same. Any way you looked at it, it would all end up here.” Babs tried to open her mouth in protest, only to find that no words were coming out. “Now that they know who you really are, there’s no way they’ll come back to you. If I wasn’t able to forgive you for the mistake of your existence, just imagine how they’ll take it. Especially the Apples, who hate your father’s family even more than I do. You do realize that if they let you in, they’d have to merge with the Skims, right? And wouldn’t it be a lot easier for them to simply abandon you than to ally with their worst enemies? “Though I suppose you might say there’s somepony who would support you no matter what. That’s what you were about to tell me, right? About how Coco will always love you and accept you? “That’s the other thing; I knew she wouldn’t leave you by any normal circumstances. Which is why I’m taking her. Sooner or later, she’s going to choose me over you, whether that’s out of fear or out of love. Either way’s fine by me as long as she doesn’t get in the way of what I really want from you. “But then again, you’ll be gone by then, won’t you? As long as you’re trapped in this world, you can’t impact anything outside of it. And trust me when I say that I’ve done everything in my power to keep you from coming back to the other side. The first step has been to separate you from any other ponies who might be out there to help you, and all I needed after that was for you to believe that your life was no longer worth living. To think, I never even needed to say a word to get you in that state—once the truth reached everypony, you’d just end up doing that to yourself.” With that, the still-white ground began to sink around her, and Babs could hear only echoes of what had been said after that. But as she fell into whatever abyss would come after this place, one phrase stuck out more than it should have. She still could barely remember any explicit details about her abduction, something about the way it sounded still felt familiar. Like she’d forgotten it all these years and yet still couldn’t escape. “You’re still struggling?” Babs didn’t need to know where it came from as she fell into nothingness to the tune of a single sentence. “How very quaint.” **** Just then, only moments after Babs realized everything was about to go wrong, her eyes jerked open and the world was full of light once more. Not only that, but the previously empty setting became populated with the usual buildings of her hometown, and she could feel the cab pushing her around the landscape. It took her a few seconds to fully process what was going on, but from there, she could make some conclusions—namely that, as lost as she was beginning to feel, she was at least back to reality. Mosely’s world had been nothing more than a nightmare to begin with. Now if only the stallion himself could be so easily dismissed. Memories still filled in where dreams failed. Just like her thoughts from before, she still wasn’t quite able to form all of them in a straight line, and no matter how much she willed herself to remember the worst night of her life, she still couldn’t come up with any ideas to counteract the news she’d just heard. At least, that’s how Babs would’ve tried to cope with it even a week ago, sifting through every piece of evidence she could find to prove her former caretaker’s innocence. Even hours before, she’d found herself doing the same. It’d been easy enough with Cameo, the birth mother she barely knew. Scene had been a bit harder to disprove, knowing how much he’d supported her in the past. But then Coco had taken the stage and shattered everything. The one pony Babs knew wouldn’t possibly lie to her or go against anypony without due reason, explained it in no uncertain terms, to be sure. Out of all the things that would’ve brought her two biggest parental figures together, love would never be one of them. “He made me stay.” The shred of youthful innocence still left in her kept her from realizing the full intensity of the statement, from knowing what could’ve happened had the two stayed together. But from what she had seen of Coco over the course of the relationship, or rather of what little she’d seen of her, his true intentions had been clear enough. No matter how much she wished her suspicions were wrong. Still half-asleep, her eyes were barely open enough to distinguish that some figure was approaching her. Babs could only identify the blurry mass by its general color—something yellowish, or perhaps orange, by her side. Normally, she’d associate that particular shade with comforting figures—Apple Bloom, perhaps. This night was different. Yellow was now the color of fear, and she reacted accordingly. After she’d flinched away from it, the figure moved in closer, unable to take a hint or perhaps just unwilling to. Either way, she was too drained to take him on a second round and win, and she already had her flank up against the furthest corner of the cab. There would be no escape this time. In the end, it had been the voice, not the physical appearance of the figure, that had ended up stirring Babs back into reality. Firstly, it was a mare’s, not a stallion’s as she had feared. Secondly, whatever the future might end up bringing, Mosely was still under police supervision for the time being. That much was enough to calm her down for the slightest of moments. “Don’t worry,” the other pony whispered softly. “It’s just me, sugarcube. No reason to be afraid.” That was certainly one way of seeing it. But if there was anypony that might’ve stirred Babs’ fears anywhere near Mosely had, Applejack was certainly the next contender. The mare she’d always seen as a loving relative, she had to remind herself, was also the one who had the most personal grudge against the Skim family, and the one who would all too likely expel her from the Apples now that the truth was out. It would happen just like it had in the false world. The Apples would leave her first, and then it would only be a matter of time before Coco would, too. No matter how much she wanted to crowd closer to her cousins, who had accompanied her and Bambi into the cab, Babs knew that it was better to cut herself off from them as soon as possible. Doing it on her own accord, for one thing, would definitely hurt less in the long run, even if she didn’t know where she’d go from there. As such, she chose to ignore Applejack’s coaxing, instead keeping to her corner of the cart and curling herself up as tight as her body could go. Above all, going back to sleep would not be an option; she knew that the second she closed her eyes, he’d be waiting to finish where the two of them had left off. Looking at the scenery that she’d seen a million times before was really her only option. That moment of bored peace lasted about thirty seconds. This time, it was Apple Bloom trying to get her attention, pointing her hoof towards a massive building just in front of them. “What do you think that is?” the yellow filly asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Do you reckon it’s a city hall or somethin’?” “No,” Babs answered, barely having to look at the structure before identifying it. “Just another theatre. It’s where the Aquafire collab group does their shows.” Even though she didn’t usually care all that much about the inner workings of the Bridleway theatre companies, this at least provided some opportunity to take her mind off everything else. With that, she tried to focus all her thoughts on remembering as much as she could about this particular group. “They just wrapped up their first play, and now they’re movin’ onto another one that’ll come out in a few months. I think it’s about some witch or somethin’, and everypony thinks they don’t have enough bits to do that big a production yet. The musicians there are supposed to be the big rising stars. The director and producer have been on Bridleway for a while, but have never really hit success. They’re pretty big, but they’re too new to be anythin’ huge yet. I’d say Stealer-Orange blows them out of the water and—“ “’Blew,'” Applejack piped in suddenly. “They blew them out of the water.” “What’re you getting at, sis?” Apple Bloom asked. “Well, after everythin’ that happened tonight, I don’t think there’s going to be a Stealer-Orange anymore, Apple Bloom. Or at least, that’s all we can hope for.” “But then what’s gonna happen to Coco’s job?” Noticing that Babs had turned her attention back away from the other Apples, but still fearing she could hear something that could trigger her pain even further, Applejack lowered her voice and tried her best to explain. “She’ll stay on what’s left of the play, that’s for sure. It’s going to be finding a replacement producer that’ll be hard. Who knows? They might be so starved to find one that they’ll push for leniency.” “What’s leniency?” “Goin’ light on somepony who may not deserve it. It ain’t the same as what we did with Discord, where we did it as a sign of forgiveness. A lot of times, at least the way I see it, the judges and lawyers and the others know what the pony did was wrong, but they also know that pony can overpower them if he chooses to. With wealth and influence and stuff, legal ponies can get mighty afraid and in the end, sometimes they like bein’ on the winning team more than doing what’s right. “It don’t happen anywhere near as much as it used to, but it’s still a problem, and still somethin’ the play crew could do if they’re desperate enough. It’d basically reset everythin’ to the way it was before tonight and put Stealer-Orange back in full force.” “That can’t happen, though!” Apple Bloom protested. “I mean, what about everything Babs has had to go through ‘cause of this guy?” “They wouldn’t look at that. Just at how much the play gets delayed without him.” “But who gets to decide Mosely’s more important than Babs is? They’ve never really met either of ‘em to begin with. And besides, the director’d never push for it. You saw everythin’ he said about him.” “Yeah, that Scene fella could always turn down everypony else’s requests if they want him back that badly. But that probably won’t keep Mosely from doin’ that himself. Anyway, that’s only somethin’ that could happen, and as long as the courts remember who saved Equestria all those times, we can beat him if he tries anythin’ too funny with us. For the time bein’, though, I think we have a bigger problem on our hooves.” Apple Bloom barely had to look to see that her sister was gesturing towards Babs, now back to her fearful corner of the carriage. “Yeah,” she replied with a sigh of resignation. “When I pointed to that there building, that was the most I’d heard from her all night. But now, it seems like she’s gone back to her own world.” “That’s probably where she feels most comfortable right now,” Applejack answered. “Can’t imagine anypony would take that well, but she’s faring even worse than I did when I heard about it.” “Right, you barely responded at all during that whole thing. How did you just sit through it with a straight face?” “’Cause I already knew. That was why I went over here last week, to confront him about it. At first, we were just gonna keep it to ponies who got directly involved in the whole deal, but obviously, that plan fell through.” As the two continued to talk, the cab came to a sudden stop in front of the condo building, and yet Babs still didn’t respond, transfixed by the state of ignorance she was trying so hard to create. The only movements she made were very slight shivers from the cold, or perhaps from something else. “You mind if we stay the night here, Bambi?” Applejack asked. “I know Coco might feel weird about me sleepin’ in her room, but I feel like we probably need to discuss a couple of things with your sis, and—“ “No, that’s fine,” the other mare responded. Her father’s misdeeds were as far from news as anything else, but she’d kept to a strict silence regardless. “If anything, she'll probably appreciate it.” Realizing that what she was about to do would probably be easier said than done, Bambi began gesturing for her younger sister to come out of the vehicle. As just about everypony else had already predicted, the filly continued to stay completely still. “We’re home now, sweetie,” she whispered to the foal. Babs’ body finally shifted a little, but only to give everypony else the slightest of glances before murmuring a single phrase: “This ain’t my home, ‘cause I don’t have one to begin with.” “Does that just mean you’re going to stay in here until the drivers kick you out?” “The sooner I get away from you guys, the better. You’re goin’ to end up hurting me, and I’d rather not be there for that.” “But why would we want to hurt you?” Apple Bloom questioned. “We’re your family, and tonight shouldn’t change that.” “After everything that happened, can you really still say that? Because I sure can’t say I’m still one of you guys.” At this point, the ponies pulling the cart were already staring at the filly who couldn’t seem to leave, and it was only then that she chose to get out of the vehicle. However, the expressions she made after her hooves hit the sidewalk made it all too clear that nothing about her point of view had really changed. While she certainly wasn’t looking at her fellow Apples with any sort of scorn, she was still keeping them at a distance, as if nothing had really changed from her last meeting with them. Apple Bloom, misreading the signals her cousin was sending, reached her front legs out to hug her, only to find that it only took one touch for the other filly to quickly pull away from her. The distant look Babs had had before was soon replaced by pure fear. “I don’t get it,” Apple Bloom whispered to the others. “I mean, I know she’s pretty upset about everythin’, but from the way she’s been acting, you’d think we’d hurt her just as much as Mosely did. Why’s she so scared of us all of a sudden?” “I have a feelin’ about what happened, but we should probably get her inside to talk about it ‘fore we all freeze to death.” With the same level of hesitation as she’d been showing all night, Babs was coaxed into the condo, still not quite sure if she belonged there. Any semblance of cold detachment had now been replaced with sheer panic, and her facial expression seemed completely unchanged from when Apple Bloom had last approached her. The question of what to do once everypony was inside had everything to do with solving this odd mystery and nothing to do with sleep, even as the clock ticked closer to midnight. Not to say, of course, that the possibility was never considered—as a matter of fact, after about ten minutes of absolute silence, just about everypony was ready to give up on trying to make Babs open up about her problems. “I guess if she don’t want to talk about it, she has a right not to,” Applejack conceded. “We can always try again tomorrow.” And yet here they all were, still awake after a nightmarish evening, stirring as much as they could to stave off the worse things that would await them in their dreams. It had only taken a single response to keep them all in this state. “I don’t think I’m really ready to sleep right now,” Babs said, shooting the idea down as soon as it had been voiced. “You must be pretty tired after bein’ up this long, though,” Apple Bloom answered. “Yeah, I am, but I slept on the way back from the theatre. I’d rather not have to go through that again.” “What do you mean by that?” “Lemme put it this way: as scared as I am about everythin’ right now, at least I know one thing for sure. Mosely won’t show up when I’m awake.” “I guess that would explain why you jumped the way you did when Applejack tried to get your attention afterwards. But it seems like there’s more to it than that.” “There really isn’t. I just…I’m not sure I can trust anypony right now. Even myself.” Babs curled herself up onto a couch in much the same way she’d done in the cab, one part of her wanting to confess everything else to Apple Bloom and the other begging her to continue her charade. For the first time, looking at the cutie mark that should’ve guaranteed her a membership in the Apple family, she couldn’t help but realize that the way the apples in it were sliced bore an unmistakable resemblance to something else entirely. She hadn’t seen any cutie marks at the reunions that weren’t whole apples, and everypony should’ve taken that as a hint. Only Skims had the apple slice cutie mark. And, directing her attention to her red-and-white mane, the ironic obviousness of it all was not lost on her. Applejack had sneaked into the kitchen for an unexplainable reason, and quite frankly, Babs didn’t particularly care what she was doing at the moment. As long as she was out of her sight and didn’t pose a threat, that was one less problem for her. Staring at the sofa’s denim-blue fabric as if her life depended on it, she barely even noticed when her older cousin trotted back into the room and handed her a small object. “Go on, take it,” Applejack said, slightly stroking the filly’s face to get her attention. “I felt like you probably needed some right now.” Upon further inspection, she was able to identify the item as a mug full of warm, amber liquid. While Babs wasn’t quite sure how or why Bambi kept cider mix in the pantry, she hesitantly took it, staring at the steam it created. “You can talk to us about anythin’, you know,” Applejack told her. “I know finding out about all this has been rough on you, but you don’t have to go it alone. I also know you don’t feel like sayin’ much right now, but I’d just like to ask you somethin’, and then I’ll leave you alone.” Taking a few tentative sips, Babs gave a slight nod, not quite sure where the mare was going with this. “Why do you think we’re gonna hurt you? You’ve never been like this before, and I’ve got a feeling there’s more to it than just findin’ out your relative’s been goin’ against you after all these years.” “I just don’t think I’m a true Apple, okay?” “’Cause you weren’t able to save yourself from that terrible situation?” “It’s actually a lot simpler than that. Didn’t you hear what he said just before the cops carried him away? About how I should be your enemy and all?” Knowing the source of the problem now, Applejack gestured for Apple Bloom to get ready for bed and gave her a knowing smile. What she was about to do wouldn’t take much longer than a half hour or so, and as much as her sister wanted to help, she couldn’t deny the foal needed sleep after the eventful night. After everypony else had left, Applejack began, “So I guess that’s what you’ve worried your head about ‘til now. You’re afraid that, by tellin’ us you were related to a couple of rascals who’ve been a thorn in our side for a while…Mosely could’ve convinced us to get rid of you. That since you’ve got Skim in your blood, we won’t want anything to do with you.” Pausing in hesitation, her face to the ground, Babs replied, “So I guess you have me figured out now. I’ll show myself out and not get involved with your family anymore.” As the filly was about to step off the couch and head towards the door, the older mare held out her hoof and gave her a slight shove back onto the cushion. “You think we’d give up on you that easy? We’d throw you out onto the streets to fend for yourself, just ‘cause of that?” “Well, that’s what he told me. In my dream, I mean. Coco would be the only pony who’d stay with me, and he’d end up getting to her first. He said that after he was through with me…I wouldn’t have anypony anymore.” Applejack gave a slight sigh before taking her saddlebag off her back, opening it to reveal a set of letters. “I probably shouldn’t be tellin’ you this,” she spoke, “but the Apples and I have been thinkin’ about lightening our load at the last reunion. I can’t lie and say we haven’t thought of disownin’ anypony, but know that we only ever give up on family if we feel there’s no hope left for them. They have to have caused so much pain that the happiness we get from keepin’ them ain’t enough to justify it no more. But you haven’t done anythin’ to deserve that, other than bein’ born on the wrong side of the tree. In fact, we all came to the decision we made because of you. You’ve proved yourself a true Apple, and you don’t need anypony else messin’ that up. We don’t need to go pretendin’ Mosely will ever change, either.” “What if he takes it out on me once he finds out he ain’t an Apple anymore?” “We’ll make sure that won’t happen. And for the time bein’, we’ve decided to give your ma the benefit of the doubt. She may have messed things up awful fierce tonight, but she also brought a bad Apple to justice, so I’d say she earned her place as much as you did.” “How long have you known about all of this?” Babs asked, glancing at the letters in curiosity. “Ever since Coco fainted on the job that one time. She was the one who brought us up to speed on it, since she found out about it when she was with him. Learnin’ about it…it ate her up as much as it did you, especially knowin’ that she couldn’t help. She told us she didn’t think she was bein’ a good mama to you, goin’ out with somepony who’d hurt you like that, but she thought it was the only way. To keep you fed and safe and all. That’s what all those letters are about.” “You think she’ll look at me the same as before after all this?” “Of course she will. So will the rest of us, of course, but with the way Mosely tried to separate the two of you, the first thing she’ll probably want to do now that she’s free from him is to spend as much time with you as she can. And just know that no matter how far all this goes, if we have to take him to trial for everythin’ or if it just ends here, we’re all going to be fightin’ for the two of you now. We always have been, but now we’re going to go at it full force.” Sure enough, only about forty-five minutes later, all the lights in the condo had dimmed, with only a single lamp lit inside the living room. The ruckus of the night was finally easing into peaceful rest, one that everypony involved hoped would last forever. “You’ll never stop bein’ an Apple, Babs. ‘Cause bein’ an Apple is more than just a blood thing.” With that, the troubled filly and her protectors finally landed in the realm of sleep, with Applejack curled up beside her and ready to chase Mosely out of her dreams.