Haunted House On The Prairie

by elPossenreisser

Chapter 2 - The scorpion

Chapter 2 – The scorpion

Rainbow let out a loud burp and dropped on her back, staring into the canopy of the apple tree contently. “That was great lunch, AJ.”

“Glad you liked it,” Applejack said.

“You didn’t have to, you know,” Rainbow said.

“I wanted to,” Applejack said. “We only got tonight, and then…” She trailed off and sighed.

Rainbow Dash sat up and looked at Applejack intensely. The farmer tried to keep up a cheery façade, but Rainbow, knowing her marefriend, noticed the tell-tale signs: the flopped-back ears, the slight frown, the dull eyes. With two strong flaps of her wings she was over by her and hovered in front of her, resting her snout against Applejack’s.

“AJ, I’m—“

Applejack silenced her by planting a quick kiss on her nose. “Don’t say it, hon. I don’t want ya to feel sorry for me. It’s your big dream after all. And I’m happy for you, honest.”

“Thanks.” Rainbow rested her head against Applejack’s forehead and closed her eyes. “That really means a lot to me. I mean, a lot.”

Applejack wrapped her hooves around the pegasus and pulled her down on the ground, holding her close. She started caressing the bases of Rainbow’s wings and immediately elicited a moan of pleasure. Her eyes still closed, Rainbow began planting a series of kisses on Applejack’s face, slowly making her way down to her neck.

“I got no idea how I’m gonna make it six weeks without this,” Applejack whispered hoarsely, her breath now heavier.

“Guess we better seize the time we got left.”

Afterwards, they lay in a patch of afternoon sun between the apple trees, Rainbow’s head resting on Applejack’s chest. She idly stroked Applejack’s belly.

“I’m so gonna miss this,” Rainbow sighed. “And it’s only the spring training camp. Only six weeks.”

“Only six weeks,” Applejack repeated. “We gonna make it through this, hon.”

“I know.” She sighed again. “It’s just gonna suck not having you around.”

***

Applejack slowly broke free from her dream, even though she didn’t really want to. The memory of those last few hours before Dash had left were way too pleasant. She kept her eyes shut, stubbornly refusing to admit defeat. Rainbow Dash was warm and soft in her hooves and even snored softly, which Applejack found even more adorable since the pegasus would always deny that she did.

Right before she opened her eyes to a tangled mess of purple hair, she realized her fallacy. She was on her way to Blue Cheese’s ranch on the northern edge of the San Palomino Desert with Twilight Sparkle, the very alicorn she held in her hooves. While dreaming of her far away marefriend.

What in tarnation was she doing?

Careful not to wake the sleeping pony next to her, she withdrew her forelegs. Twilight stirred and mumbled something, burying her face in Applejack’s coat. It made her smile, but at the same time she felt a pang of guilt. Even though nothing had happened, she had a creeping suspicion that something about this was not right.

She sighed. As soon as she got up, she would have to deal with a lovesick alicorn and somehow comfort her while at the same time avoiding leading her on. And as soon as they arrived at Blue Cheese’s ranch, she would have to deal with her marefriend.

Applejack clenched her eyes shut, pretending to have a few more precious quiet moments before she was forced to deal with this mess, whatever all of this was.

She suppressed a sigh, telling herself off for her attempt at procrastination, and sat up. The morning was crisp and clear, the bright sun rising behind them and promising a good deal of heat later during the day. In the dry, cool morning air she seemed to have nearly infinite sight over the prairie. It was going to be a beautiful day. Twilight stirred again behind her as she opened her waterskin for a quick sip.

“Mornin’, Twi,” she said without turning around. “Sleep well?”

“Morning.” She sounded like she was smiling. “After those lights were gone, I sure did.”

“I didn’t dream that then, huh.”

Twilight giggled. “I doubt you were really awake then.”

“Guess so.” Applejack pulled some dried fruits and some carrot bread out of her saddlebags, turned around and placed the food on the bedroll between them before sitting down next to Twilight. “So what was that all about anyway?”

“Thanks,” Twilight said as she broke a chunk off the bread and took it using her magic. “Something woke me up in the middle of the night, and then I saw some strange white lights flashing out in the distance. I watched them for some time, and then the whole phenomenon disappeared. That was all.” She took a bite from the bread.

“You remember where it was?”

“Not exactly,” Twilight replied, blushing a little, embarrassed by her lack of orientation. “It was almost pitch black after all, except for the lights, and they were really far away.” She looked around, and Applejack noticed a certain wrinkle between Twilight’s eyebrows that the alicorn often displayed when she was really eager to solve a puzzle. It was really quite adorable. Especially since Twilight could be very stubborn and determined and would not stop before she had the answers she was looking for.

Twilight stood up, the chunk of bread floating next to her, forgotten. “I was laying here. You were there, our heads facing there. I had my back turned to you when I saw the lights, so it was somewhere over there.” She pointed westward.

“So we’re gonna come across it, whatever it was,” Applejack concluded calmly. “You got any idea what it might have been?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight sounded dejected, probably because she really disliked not knowing things. Applejack felt the urge to give her a comforting hug, but thought it better not to.

“Well, between the two of us, we can likely handle it,” she said instead.

Twilight gave her a smile and nodded, finishing off her bread.

“Ready to head out then?”

Twilight nodded again and stood up, grasping her bedroll in her magic and rolling it up. Applejack packed her bedroll as well, and after another big sip from their waterskins, the two ponies set out. The sun rose in their backs, already ripe with heat. As the last pink and orange shadows disappeared, the prairie started paling again.

When they set off, Twilight shot a last glance at the now familiar remains of the meticulously stacked Fell Grass fire. Something about leaving the site behind filled her with nervous anticipation, as if after yesterday’s commotion there was more to come today.

It was the day they encountered the house, but before the house there was the scorpion. Looking back, Twilight sometimes thought that the scorpion and the house belonged together, as if the former was an overture of sorts for all the unpleasant occurrences that took place later, in the house. Or maybe it was just an annoying wild critter.

Applejack also glanced back at their former camp, her gaze aimed at the little hollow in the sand where they had slept. She told herself that she was making mountains out of molehills; they had shared beds before, and amongst close friends there was nothing to it. If nothing else, she was quite certain that Rainbow Dash would have laughed at her for brooding over such inanity. Still, for Applejack, something was amiss, and she suspected that that was perhaps the answer.

Not a pony who would try to hide from the inevitable, she addressed the issue before they had walked more than a few paces. “Listen, Twi, about last night,” she started with a hoarse voice, fighting back the tremendous urge to sheepishly scratch the back of her head. “I’m a might sorry if I gave you any wrong ideas there.” And quasi as an afterthought she added, “We should probably not, you know, get that cozy again.” And with that, it was out in the open. It didn’t feel like an accomplishment at all though to Applejack. Not at all.

She didn’t need to turn around to know what Twilight was looking like – cheeks flushed, ears flattened back, eyes turned to the ground. She wouldn’t have seen the queasy feeling in Twilight’s stomach or the lump in her throat anyway, but she could imagine these things too.

“O-okay,” Twilight mumbled behind her, sounding dejected. “I’m sorry too. If I made you uncomfortable or anything.”

Applejack couldn’t contain herself. She turned around and gave Twilight what she hoped to be an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry none, hon. No harm done. We’re still friends.” Twilight’s spirits visibly rose at this, and only when she turned away again did Applejack realize that she had used her special pet name for Twilight. The one usually reserved for Rainbow.

“Right,” Twilight belatedly agreed with her. “Friends.” It might as well just been Applejack’s imagination, but Twilight didn’t seem to sound very convinced.

They walked on. The prairie was as pale as ever, and the sun soon burned down on them mercilessly. The wind had picked up and was constantly blowing sand into their faces, which was a permanent nuisance. They slowly veered away from the hills in the south. The Fell Grass, if anything, had become even greyer and paler.

For a while, they each stayed lost in their own thoughts and didn’t talk much. After all, there wasn’t much to talk. There was only the walk.

Sometime before noon, then, they came across the scorpion.

The whole event didn’t take longer than a few seconds. Suddenly Applejack gave a surprised whinny and rose on her hindlegs. When her forelegs came back down to the ground, something made an unpleasant cracking sound. Applejack grinned grimly, but sat down on her haunches almost immediately.

“Scorpion done stung me,” she said matter-of-factly, but her face was pale and her voice just a little bit shaky.

“Applejack!” Twilight shouted. “I’m pretty sure I can remember that detox spell, just hang in there, stay with me, don’t fall asleep, don’t die, Applejack, everything will be fine, even though we don’t have an antidote and are stuck in the middle of nowhere—“ She was rambling and only stopped when Applejack raised a hoof and gave her a week smile

“Twi, calm down. It’s gonna be fine.”

“Calm,” Twilight said. “Yes. I can calm.” She took a deep breath and extended her right hoof in front or her. “But what do we do?”

“Gotta suck out the venom,” Applejack said and pointed at her left foreleg. She had a few beads of sweat on her forehead now and was, if anything, even paler. “They are painful, but no real danger,” she explained. “Gotta get the venom out though, or it swells like balloon.”

Twilight shook her head. “Oh no, that is not a good idea. All toxicologists agree that sucking out the venom after a scorpion sting or a snake bite has basically no effect, and only bears the danger of poisoning the pony who’s sucking it out. The only thing that really helps is an antidote. Which we don’t have.” She cast Applejack a worried glance. “I could probably teleport us back to Appleloosa. Perhaps. Definitely not in one go. It’s quite the distance.”

“Don’t worry,” Applejack said, trying her hardest to maintain a calm voice. “Told ya, these varmints are not gonna kill a healthy pony. They're just painful.” She shook her head and smiled. “My family’s always done sucked out the venom. But if you say it ain’t doing no good… you probably know better. Don’t you always, sugarcube.”

The praise elicited a weak smile from Twilight. “But you need to rest. And as soon as you’re getting worse, I’ll teleport us out of here, understood?”

“I ain’t gonna take a break only because of some tiny stinger,” Applejack snorted. She stood up, sparing her injured leg. “No worries, sugarcube.” She set out once more, but she seemed to have difficulties walking straight. Twilight didn’t even allow her to continue her stumbling for more than a few seconds.

“AJ, don’t be silly,” she said sternly. “You need a break.”

“Damn varmints,” Applejack growled en lieu of a response. “My cousin was stung once an’ he told me they make you all drowsy and shaky.” She stretched out her injured foreleg and stared at it. It shook rather obviously. “Guess you’re right then. No use goin’ on like this. Can you give me a hoof?”

Within an instant, Twilight was at her side. She gently took the injured leg and put it around her withers, steadying the earth pony with her wing which she wrapped around her shoulder. “I’ve got you,” she said. With a groan, Applejack put her weight on the alicorn and allowed her to lead her to the tree. With Twilight’s help it didn’t take long to get to the tree, where Twilight carefully let Applejack slid to the ground and then helped her to sit up against the tree trunk. When the farmer reached for her saddlebags to pull out some of their provisions, Twilight gently put a hoof on her foreleg and shook her head. “No, no. You just sit here and rest. I’ll take care of lunch.”

After they had eaten, they were both sitting against the tree, and Applejack became noticeably quiet. She was still pale, and she looked tired and almost feverish. She didn’t try to argue with Twilight about the extended rest, and that was probably the most obvious sign that she wasn’t feeling very well.

“Usually it shouldn’t take too long for the effects to wear off,” she explained. “At least that’s what my cuz said.” She stifled a yawn and leaned her head against Twilight’s shoulder. “Didn’t remember that they were this annoying though.”

“It’s a neurotoxin,” Twilight explained. “It affects the nerves and the way impulses are transmitted to them. That’s what makes you so shaky and drowsy.” She smiled when she saw Applejack’s dazed expression. “Just let me know if you need anything,” she said.

“Mhmm,” Applejack hummed. “Just a little rest…” She trailed off, and her breathing became slower and deeper as she fell into slumber. Twilight gave her a nuzzle on the head, determined to guard her sleep. She shot a suspicious glance at the sting, but except for the rather mild swelling, there was nothing there that looked alarming enough so that she would notice it with her limited knowledge about healing. She made a mental note to read up on this subject to make sure she could be more helpful for Applejack should such a situation occur again.

“Y’know,” Applejack suddenly slurred, her twang more pronounced than ever, “it’s buggin’ me that Dash ain’t bein’ around for so long. Ah ain’t sure if’n Ah can take it fo’ much longer.”

Twilight winced. She was pretty sure that Applejack was at least halfway dozed off at this point and quite drowsy due to the scorpion venom, but still, this was something she didn’t want to hear. She was glad that she was mostly doing alright around Applejack, but she suspected that she was for now just pushing the matter away, refusing to deal with it. Which was definitely not made easier by Applejack’s remark.

“Y’know,” Applejack went on, “this’s jus’ some short trainin’ camp, not even the real thang. Dunno how I’ma deal with tha’.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a solution,” Twilight heard herself say mechanically.

“Thanks… Twah…” Applejack trailed off, leaving Twilight to her thoughts. She tried her best to wave off the things Applejack had said as the result of her being dozy because of the venom, not even wanting to consider the possibility that that might mean… because it meant nothing. Nothing at all.

She had probably dozed off too. As Applejack started waking up, Twilight also jolted awake. At some point during their break she had wrapped her wing around Applejack, protecting the farmer like a cocoon. She gave her a concerned look and noticed to her relief that Applejack wasn’t as pale anymore. Just as she looked, the earth pony opened her eyes and smiled at her.

“Mornin’, sugarcube. Or whatever time o’ day it is now.”

Twilight looked up at the sun and was relieved to find that they had probably not spent more than an hour resting. She kept her wing around Applejack who didn’t seem to mind.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. Thirsty, though.”

“Just one second.” Twilight levitated the waterskin in front of Applejack to allow her to drink.

The earth pony took a few large gulps and belched contently. “Thanks, sugarcube.”

“Do you really think you are good to walk again?” Twilight asked, still concerned about the sting. And, if she was completely honest with herself, she enjoyed holding Applejack close like this, and didn’t want to let go yet.

“Should be fine.” Applejack tentatively raised her swollen leg. “Doesn’t hardly shake anymore, see? I’m good to go.” She nuzzled Twilight and smiled at her. “Thanks.” She rose to her hooves and carefully put weight on the injured leg, smiling when it resulted in hardly any pain. “Let’s see that we can make some distance.”

Twilight also got up and grabbed her saddlebags again. “But you let me know the instant it’s getting worse again.”

“Sure will, sugarcube.”

***

So they walked on, maybe a little more slowly than before. The wind continued to be a nuisance, and Twilight couldn’t shake off the feeling that the prairie had become even more uninviting after the attack on Applejack. She stole glances at the earth pony now and then, trying not to think about what she had told her in her half-asleep state during their lunch break.

They saw the house long before they came close to it; in fact, it didn’t even take them another hour after their lunch break before they saw the small box shape in the distance, clearly visible against the pale sand and casting a sharply defined black shadow. It was the only thing that stood out against the prairie up until the line of the horizon which didn’t make it look less deserted.

At first, they didn’t take much notice of the house. But soon they got closer and could make out more details, like the few brown-leafed trees surrounding the house and the bleached wooden walls. They were still at least a few kilometers away, Twilight assumed – and she didn’t trust her judgment of distances in the hot, glimmering air.

“I guess that would be your great-granduncle Jonah Gould’s farm then,” Twilight half-heartedly joked.

“I’ll be damned if I know,” Applejack just replied.

The house drew closer. It was a two-story house with several dormers on one side of the roof. It stood on the prairie all by itself, with only a few dead trees on its back side. To the south there was a porch that spanned the whole side of the building, and something that looked like the front door. No yard or fence separated the house from the open land.

“Can’t blame ’em for abandonin’ a place like this,” Applejack commented. “Righteous middle of nowhere is what it is, here.”

“I don’t like it,” Twilight said abruptly. “I know how unreasonable it is, but I don’t like it.”

“That mean you wanna steer clear of it?”

“No. I may not like it, but I want to have a look at it,” Twilight said.

“Well too bad then that we didn’t come across this thing a tad later,” Applejack mused, “or else we coulda spent the night inside, out of that gosh-darn wind.”

“I’m not overly sad about that,” Twilight deadpanned.

Applejack chuckled. “Truth be told, I ain’t either. Ya reckon this is where your lights came from?” she asked.

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think that would be possible though, to be honest. We didn’t even see this house until after a few hours of trotting, so I don’t think I would have seen anything from it last night.” Applejack just grunted her agreement.

From up close the house didn’t look any more inviting. Without exception its windows were smashed. The boards of the walls were skewed by the weather, and it seemed like darkness was seeping from the dozens of cracks. The roof of the veranda was in no better shape.

“What’s that smell?” Twilight asked aloud when they were only a few dozen paces away from the house.

Applejack sniffed in the air. “What smell? I don’t smell nothin’.”

“Eugh!” Twilight pressed her hoof against her muzzle in an attempt to block out the faint stench. It was hard to say what it smelled like; it seemed more like a potpourri of all kinds of unpleasant smells, from old feces over rotting animals to – broccoli? She shook her head and tentatively removed her hoof from her snout. The stench was disgusting, but bearable. “You really don’t smell it?”

“Nope,” Applejack replied suspiciously. “An’ I don’t think I like this one bit.” Absentmindedly she scratched her foreleg, where the scorpion had stung her, and suddenly cried out in pain. “What in tarnation—?“ Slowly, she brought her hoof up in front of her face, only to cry out again, this time in utter shock when she saw the blood dripping from the tiny sting and down on the dry, bleached sand, where the droplets were soaked up almost immediately, as if some bloodthirsty… thing… was lurking underneath the soil.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked with a dreamy voice, but she wasn’t really paying attention. She had quickly gotten used to the smell and hardly found it annoying anymore. Not nearly as annoying as the oppressive heat, anyway. Her eyes were transfixed by the dark opening of the front door and the shadowy murk inside. She felt some beads of sweat slowly running down her temples and her forehead, but couldn’t bring herself to wiping them away. She casually levitated her bags off of her back and made a few tentative steps towards the veranda. The heat seemed to increase.

“Twi!” Applejack yelled. She felt panic rising up in her chest, more because of the dreamy expression on Twilight’s face than because of the bleeding. She could handle a little pain, but she had no intention of letting Twilight put herself in harm’s way. “Twi!”

The alicorn was slowly climbing the stairs to the veranda. It seemed to Applejack that, when Twilight’s hooves touched the first plank of the porch, the air started humming in an almost audible tone. She started towards Twilight and almost fell over as a jolt of immense pain shot through her bleeding leg. She gritted her teeth and forced her legs to carry her forward by sheer willpower, spilling more blood on the thirsty sand. She swayed and almost fell down when she lifted her first hoof to climb the veranda stairs, and with her blurred eyes she could only see Twilight’s rear side vanish in the dark shadows of the house.

The humming got louder. It was beginning to cause her a headache.

Sparing her injured leg, Applejack dropped her bags as well and hobbled onto the veranda. She noticed that she had clenched her jaws shut and forced them open in order to call out to Twilight again, at the top of her lungs. Forcing herself to ignore the pain and growing weakness in her leg, she limped on into the murky house.

Inside, it was dark, but not noticeably cooler than outside. Thick clouds of dust were dancing in the stale air, illuminated by the sun in her back. Ahead of her was a surprisingly long corridor with a few closed doors on each side. She could not see the end of the corridor in the duskiness. There was no trace of Twilight.

“Twilight!” she screamed again, the panic finally overwhelming her. Ignoring the stabbing pain in her leg, she galloped into the corridor, the bright rectangle of the front door quickly staying back behind her.

Comments

[elPossenreisser]

I decided to move the first paragraph from the first to this chapter, seems more flowy? Apologies to those who have to read the paragraph twice

[raw666]

Why did you say suck ot venom? It doesn't work! What it does it get both patients infected with a possible accelerated the venom effect? What would be worse would be draining the blood as it would weaken the immune system rather then drain out the poison. The only way to beat the venom is to take anti-venom, which with a scientist like Twilight could make with the scorpion in hand. A second is depending how poisonous the scorpion (bigger means less poisonous) it it stay healthy and beat with the immune system.

[elPossenreisser]

4012301
My reasoning was "AJ wouldn't know better", but it sounds a lot like a lame excuse for "because Hollywood" and "because convenient". Thank you for pointing that out. I changed it (I don't really see Twilight creating the antidote in the middle of nowhere with no equipment at hand, so they are just going to have to wait it out, using your second option).

4012836
poor Twilight, always being the "bad" guy. But you're right, that is kinda curious.

[raw666]

4015294
Another option whould be to make Twilight sick as well, but really the only option is to beat it through will.
Otherwise it was a good story and hope you keep up the work.

[Lucasmembrane]

Out of curiosity, are you a fan of Stephen King's Dark Tower series? Bits of the first chapter kept putting me in mind of The Gunslinger (especially the Fell Grass and the way AJ was making the fires, but really all of the description), and those first steps in the house feel eerily like the house in The Drawing of the Three.

(And if you haven't read it or aren't a fan, rest assured that's high praise coming from me :)