Haunted House On The Prairie

by elPossenreisser

Chapter 5 - Reunion

Chapter 5 – Reunion

After she had seen Rainbow Dash off at the station early in the morning, Applejack had returned to Sweet Apple Acres, trying to come to terms with the knowledge that, unlike most days in the last few months, she would not be interrupted at some point by a cyan pegasus who held little regard for chores and schedules and would just make her take a break, regardless.

She had managed to distract herself with hard work during the day, but after she had retired after dinner and lay in her bed, only too conscious of the empty spot right next to her, she had cried for the first time, her tears only spurred on even more by her anger at herself for being so weak. It wasn’t like she was all by her lonesome, she had tried telling herself; she had her family and her friends, and it would only be six weeks until Rainbow returned, and what would the brash pegasus think of her anyway if she knew she was being so pathetic?

Only six weeks.

Applejack stubbornly refused to succumb to any pathetic whining. When she started feeling bad, she helped herself by imagining Rainbow Dash at the camp. She was probably breaking all kinds of records, and was probably driving her teammates to madness with her cockiness. And she would count the days and remind herself that a few weeks didn’t mean more than a few times going to the weekly farmer’s market, a few more times of dish-washing duty, a few more lonely nights. She could wait that long.

She also had her friends to rely on. Being proud and stubborn, she didn’t talk about her discomfort; she believed that the things between two special someponies were to remain between them and should not be discussed with outsiders. But spending time with her friends helped her forget the cold, empty spot in her bed that waited for her every night.

Since she and Rainbow had spent quite some time at the library hanging out with Twilight, that was where she was drawn first. Of all of her friends, Twilight had probably seen the most of their relationship, and even though Applejack was reluctant to admit it to herself, she somehow thought that Twilight would understand her troubles without her having to address them—a comfortable thought. She didn’t really pick up Rainbow’s passion for reading, but being around Twilight was usually fun. She would talk about her latest research projects and explain them until even an uneducated country mare like herself would understand them. Applejack was always impressed by Twilight’s determination and rigor.

And thus, the weeks slowly passed.

But things didn’t get better. Time heals all wounds, or so they said, but in her case it wasn’t true. She found herself spending more and more time waiting, as if her present was meaningless and her real life was about to begin only a few weeks in the future. At first, this only occurred late at night when she was in bed, trying to find some sleep next to that empty coldness. But then waiting became a bigger and bigger part of her life, and eventually she found herself waiting and hoping for time to pass faster when she was having a cup of tea with Twilight or when she was working with Big Mac or washing the dishes with Granny Smith.

She wasn’t used to this kind of brooding, and she hated it.

If training camp, if only six week could do this to her, then what would happen if Rainbow Dash went on tours with the Wonderbolts?

That question—and the possible consequences—scared her, but what was happening to her scared her even more. She resolved to talk to Rainbow about this as soon as she returned. They were a couple after all—and best friends—they could deal with such things.

***

The early morning air was crisp and fresh. In the hazy morning air, the prairie looked even paler than before. They dragged themselves along, bringing some distance between them and the cursed house. Once again, like on that first day, they trotted on in silence, Applejack in front, Twilight following a few paces behind.

The sun rose higher as the hours passed. Little else changed.

The one thing that was in fact difference from the tense silence that had loomed between them on the first day of their journey was that now Twilight desperately wanted to talk to Applejack. About the house, about their respective injuries, and most importantly about them. About what had happened in the house, in that strange place behind the other door.

But Applejack’s head was trained straight ahead, and she stoically refused to talk, or even huff, or even just look around. And thus Twilight trotted on behind her, staring at the white ground between her forehooves, left alone with her thoughts.

With every step they brought between themselves and the house, the events inside seemed to fade more and more. The decrepit rooms, the disgusting critter-things, all the other things she had seen—or believed to have seen them—lost relevance, became as pale as the prairie sand and as diaphanous as the thinnest blades of Fell Grass. Only the place behind the door seemed to maintain any significance at all.

She didn’t dare remember anything about the mountains and the cyclopean temple on the plateau. But what had occurred down on the plains after her panicked flight had exhausted her so much that she had collapsed onto the dead grey ground was more than vivid in her memory.

Applejack.

She had come and had rescued her.

She found it impossible to not wonder about the meaning of all this. Or rather, not all of this, but the kiss. She had never been kissed like that before. She wouldn’t have so much as hoped that Applejack would ever kiss her. Yet it had happened. And the thought, the doubt, the idiotic hope that was gnawing away at her mental resolve grew stronger and stronger until it would eventually push aside all other thoughts in her head.

She desperately wanted to know.

But she didn’t dare ask.

Whatever it was, whatever it meant, it wasn’t supposed to be, she wasn’t supposed to be kissing Applejack. Hoping that there could be any connection, any feelings between her and Applejack—how could she be so selfish, so disloyal towards Rainbow Dash? How could she put Applejack in a situation like this?

The answer was, she couldn’t.

And still. What if—?

At the same time, stoically focusing on the journey was all Applejack could do to not have her thoughts wander back towards those damned plains and the events that had transpired there. At least her leg had stopped bleeding, but she had to admit that the scorpion sting was probably the least of her worries.

There simply was no excuse. That she had been scared out of her mind when she found Twilight barely conscious out there still didn’t justify forgetting her marefriend. That she had been worrying about their relationship in face of Rainbow’s long absence was no excuse to kiss another mare.

She would have hung her head, but she didn’t dare; what if Twilight took it as an invitation to comfort her? What if something else happened? The only way to be sure would have been to talk to Twilight, but this time she couldn’t bring herself to bring it up. She was acting like a coward and she knew it, but she was too scared of making a mistake that would cost her her friends.

Although, if she was at least a little bit honest with herself, it was probably too late for this already.

She tried not to think about Rainbow Dash. The guilt was eating at her. Rainbow would be excited to see her again, not knowing how despicably she had acted, how despicable she was. She didn’t deserve her.

And yet, she was too afraid to talk to her. In fact, she wondered if she would be able to keep it all a secret, a regrettable, forgettable mistake, a single occurrence. Wouldn’t she forgive Rainbow Dash a similar mistake?

Perhaps.

Or perhaps she was just trying to find a good excuse for chickening out.

She suppressed a sigh. The sun kept blazing down on them, and the pale prairie looked just as barren and empty as she felt inside.

They shared a wordless meal around noon, each of them silently chewing on the last provisions from their saddlebags. They hardly dared look at each other.

Not long after they had continued their journey after the unpleasant and silent lunch they encountered the outer fence of Blue Cheese’s ranch. It was a simple wooden fence, stable enough to dissuade the herds of cattle inside to run away, and it seemed to go on until the horizon.

Twilight crossed the fence with a few flaps of her wings, not thinking much about it, still brooding over the plains. Only when she landed on the other side did she remember that Applejack didn’t have wings, but had an injured leg and might need help crossing the fence.

She turned around only to see Applejack trying to climb the fence, sparing her leg. Without giving it another thought, her brain numb from all the brooding, she flew over to her and picked her up. Only when the earth pony froze in her hooves, she realized that she had perhaps made a mistake. She hurried to put Applejack on the ground and withdrew from her.

“I’m sorry, AJ, I didn’t mean to—“

“It’s alright, Twilight,” Applejack hurried to calm her down. She turned away and continued walking, not looking back. But the hushed reply was what finally made Twilight break the wordlessness between them.

“This is ridiculous!” she exclaimed. “AJ, we’re supposed to be friends. We need to talk about this! We can’t just go on pretending nothing is wrong, when clearly something is wrong!” The earth pony stopped, but didn’t turn around. “Talk to me, AJ!” Twilight implored her.

“What’s there to talk?” Applejack asked. “We both know what happened. An’ we both know it shouldna happened.” She sounded bitter, almost angry, when she spoke those last words.

“Then it won’t happen again!” Twilight said. “From here on, we’re just friends! Nothing more!”

Finally Applejack turned around. She gave Twilight a long look. She knew that Twilight was right—they couldn’t be anything but friends. And maybe they could get out of this whole mess. Still, hearing Twilight so readily denouncing any feelings between them caused her a pang of regret. “You’re right,” she finally said. “We’re friends. Nothin’ else.” She spat on her hoof and held it out to Twilight, but Twilight instead closed the distance between them and hugged her.

And so they stood for what felt like an eternity, forelegs tightly wrapped around each other, cheek leaning on cheek, breathing in each other’s scent, feeling each other’s warmth. Applejack’s hooves began caressing Twilight’s mane and neck, and Twilight extended her wings and wrapped them around Applejack as well. Their eyes closed, hidden from the world under Twilight’s wings, they just stood and held each other.

Finally they let go of each other, both of them smiling. “I’m a might glad we got that sorted out, hon,” Applejack said. “Come on, now. It ain’t that far to the ranch, an’ I’m dyin’ for a bath.” Twilight grinned back at her and nodded emphatically, pushing back a distant sense of concern. There was nothing to be worried about. Friends could hug. In fact, wasn’t it great that things between them were fine enough for a friendly hug?

“How is your leg?” Twilight asked, suddenly remembering why they had stopped in the first place.

“Don’t worry none about it,” Applejack replied good-humored. “It’s still hurtin’ a bit, but nothing I can’t handle.”

In much higher spirits than they had been the whole day they trotted on. They were still not talking much, as the exhaustion of the long walk started taking its toll, but it felt much less tense. They cantered next to each other, smiling at each other every now and then.

The sun was already setting when they finally reached the ranch and basked them in pleasantly warm orange light.

As they entered the courtyard through a gate in the surrounding fence, a rainbow-colored flash launched itself at them and knocked them both down before pulling them both into a bone-crushing hug.

“AJ! Twi! It’s so awesome to see you guys again!” Rainbow cried. “What took you lazy-flanks this long? I’ve been waiting forever!” She released them and did a few celebratory somersaults in the air. “Damn, it’s so great to see you again!”

Applejack reached out for the still hovering pegasus and pulled her down to the ground for a quick kiss, and Rainbow wrapped her wing around Applejack’s withers. “I missed ya too, hon.”

“Great seeing you too,” Twilight replied, looking away, trying hard not to think about any kisses at all. They were just friends. They had agreed on it. It was just the way it was. “If you want to be alone…” she started. “I mean, I’m sure you have a lot to talk and…”

“Don’t be silly,” Rainbow admonished her good-naturedly. She pushed Applejack over to Twilight so that she could wrap her wings around both of them. “’sides, AJ, your cousin has set up dinner for us, and it looked awesome! Don’t know about you guys, but I’m totally starving, so let’s get going!”

Rainbow quickly brought them to the ranch house where Blue Cheese greeted them happily. He had been worried a bit, he said, that they had taken so long, but Applejack just laughed it off. She was way too exhausted and hungry to go through everything that had kept them from arriving sooner before dinner, and Twilight couldn’t agree more. So they took place around the kitchen table and feasted on the rich meal Blue Cheese had set up for them, his family having eaten earlier, as was customary for the early-rising ranch ponies. His wife quickly said hello before she retired to bed; the foals were already asleep. Blue Cheese kept them company while they were eating, but retired as well when they were done.

“Oh, and there’s also a tub in the yard if’n y’all want to have a bath after all that travellin’,” he said as he left them over the remains of the dinner.

With a cheer, Applejack and Twilight stormed off out to the yard. The water in the tub was still warm, and they both dove into the tub. It was easily big enough for both of them.

“Yeehaw!” Applejack exclaimed, diving her head under water with a mighty splash. “Just what I needed.”

“It’s wonderful,” Twilight sighed, leaning back and slowly unfolding her wings. Even though the tub was big, she brushed against Applejack as she did so. Startled, Twilight glanced over to her, but Applejack just had her head leaned against the rim of the tub with her eyes closed.

“Scoot over!” Rainbow shouted and dove into the tub, restraining herself just enough to not cause a massive splash. She leaned against Applejack who just groaned satisfied, and then tugged on Twilight’s wing, pulling her over. Twilight struggled to maintain her balance, but Rainbow just pulled on her wing until she fell against her. “It’s so great to be back with you two!” she said.

Twilight happily closed her eyes, leaning against Rainbow and wrapping her wing around her. Applejack put her foreleg around Rainbow, and for few moments they just sat together. Twilight could almost feel the strains of their journey being washed off by the warm water, and whatever memories of those dreadful mountains were lurking underneath her conscious thoughts were, for the time being, quelled by the physical closeness of her two best friends. She slightly readjusted her wing behind Rainbow’s back so that it covered Applejack’s leg as well and rejoiced when the earth pony slightly brushed against her wing in acknowledgment.

“So how was training camp?” she asked idly.

“So exhausting!” Rainbow groaned. “Spitfire is such a slavedriver! But it was soo worth it. We did the routine of their 987 tour, one of my absolute favorites! It has this rad triple three-way folding corkscrew at around eighteen wingpower, I’ve been dying to try that one for years! Of course we rocked it. I mean, they had me, what could ever go wrong!”

“So they gone failed at teachin’ you some modesty,” Applejack smugly remarked. “Not that I’m surprised.”

“Heh, as if I needed to be modest. They even made me squad leader of the second training squad, so I get to do the piercing in the Pierced Heart routine, and that’s what all eyes are on!”

“What’s the Pierced Heart?” Twilight asked.

“You have three fliers, right?” Rainbow explained. “Two of them do a bent loop-de-loop, but twisted so that it almost looks like a heart, see?” She gestured with her hooves, indicating the two loops and the rough heart-shape. “And the third flier then crosses their paths right in the middle, right here, when they both meet, and zoom! the draft of the piercing flier swirls up the smoke contrails of the other two.” Her wings beat in excitement and almost threw the three ponies out of the tub, but they managed to keep their balance.

Rainbow continued, “You see, it really all comes down to how close and how fast the piercer flies past the other two. If you’re a wuss, you maybe fly in late or stay too far away from the other two, and then the contrail is already dissolving. Or you fly in too slow and your draft is too slow, and either way the effect is messed up. A lot of amateurs do this trick badly, but not yours truly.”

“Celestia forbid,” Applejack chuckled.

“It’s a similar principle to the contrail whirlwind we discussed that one day,” Twilight mused, “only there you need to maintain enough distance so that the contrails don’t get swirled around. We could probably do the math for the Pierced Heart, too.”

“Yeah, I thought of you and all that math when we started working on it,” Rainbow said with a smile. “Didn’t have the time to do it though. At least not without your egghead brain, Twi.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Twilight said and playfully bumped her head against Rainbow. “Featherbrain.”

“Bookworm!” Rainbow laughingly shot back and splashed Twilight with her hoof. Twilight was too slow to duck away, but that didn’t keep her from retaliating with her free wing. She squarely hit both Rainbow and Applejack, and the fight was on.

After much splashing and suppressed laughing—so they didn’t wake up their sleeping hosts—the three decided on a ceasefire. They quickly dried themselves and emptied the tub before they retired to the barn where Blue Cheese had prepared beds on the hayloft.

They had to climb or fly up a ladder to get to the hayloft. A few blankets were spread over a stack of hay, creating a comfortable wide bed. Twilight tugged at one of the outermost blankets, trying to pry it free.

“What’cha doin’, Twi?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, giving you some room, of course,” Twilight replied sheepishly.

“Don’t be silly,” Rainbow admonished her for the second time that night. “You’re staying there, it’s not, like, the first time we’re sharing a bed.” Without further ado, she plopped down on the bed and pulled the blanket over herself. She yawned and stretched. Applejack and Twilight stood around her, looking at each other uneasily. “You guys coming or what? I really need some shut-eye!”

“I’m plum-tuckered out alright myself,” Applejack agreed and crawled under the blanket on Rainbow’s right. Twilight looked at them for another moment before she took the spot on the other side, snuggling up against Rainbow.

“Night, girls!” Rainbow said and almost immediately began snoring.

Twilight turned around, at the same time glad and disappointed that the sleeping arrangements were keeping her away from Applejack. She was not sure how she’d be able to sleep.

“Night,” Applejack murmured on the other side of the sleeping pegasus.

Although she couldn’t see her, Twilight was sure that Applejack had meant her specifically. She couldn’t quite suppress a smile. “Night,” she whispered back.

Comments

[BronyPonyMan]

ok, so the bat wasn't rainbow. so who, or what, the fuck was it?!

[raw666]

4038295
My guess is the house, with something evil plan. To what end, we will see.

[bronyvamp]

definitely silent hill

[RedArrow]

4038295
Maybe it’s just a normal bat