Projected Nightmares

by bearcat

Applejack -- quest, part 2

Rising to a brisk trot, she called to her friends. "Tain't nothing here gonna get us, Fluttershy. Just everypony keep moving and will find someplace that needs our worries." She didn't wait for her friends to pick up the pace, knowing that if she didn't slow down they would keep up.

So time passed as uneventfully as she thought. They arrived in what felt like late afternoon at the edge of the mountain, which was also the edge of the forest. Small scrub trees housed clicking insects but not at this point were there any chirping birds.

There was a path right in front of them, but it was marked by spears that towered above everyone. Worse, was the recently decapitated head on the one spear that warned everypony from this particular path.

Pinkie just wrinkled her nose expressively, Fluttershy resolutely looked away while Rarity moaned about how disgusted she was. But as Applejack tried to take in the meaning of this sight, it was Twilight who asked the already obvious. "That's Granny Smith, isn't it? Why would your subconscious exhume her?"

Applejack just shook her head, finally snapping out of her trance. "Don't know, Twilight. Maybe just because I know she died violently, maybe because I know she died a while ago." Looking up at their alicorn 'guide' she asked for guidance. "What do you think? You're our guide, the princess said."

Jack only said solemnly "I know only that it means this is not the path we take. What did you hear those -arguing folks in town say about such matters?"

Applejack randomly picked a direction and turned to her right, walking along the scrub brush to find a likely looking non-path. "Jus' that ya cain't trot another's path. Hopefully we can all follow me but Ah wouldn't swear that's what it means."

Hoping she was far enough from that macabre warning she just walked into the forest. It was harder going than she was expecting, but there was no chance of getting lost as the mountain was completely dome shaped. Just force your way uphill and a pony would find herself at the top.

She was concentrating on what felt like it was supposed to be a spiritual journey, so was very grateful when she heard her traveling companions enter the brush behind her without a lot of talking, although she heard Rarity whine or sometimes moan when she would slip, or get a hoof wound up in a vine. Fluttershy too was ill at ease.

"It's just a forest, Fluttershy. We've been in scary forests before and it all worked out fine right?" That was Pinkie's voice.

Applejack felt she was being drawn forward; she didn't even look behind her when she heard the pegasi close behind her talking about the forest of Applejack's mind. This was about pressing forward, her subconscious told her. About learning what you already knew.

Fluttershy said "I remember that night in the Everfree forest, yes. But it was just the one grove that hated us. This whole forest seems, I don't know … angry." A rustling implied she was detangling herself from some low branches. "Like we're not supposed to be here."

Rainbow Dash replied "Just a forest. Nopony here attacking us or anything. The trees are getting taller too so our low flight should start getting easier. Oh Twilight how's it on the ground?"

Not wanting to seem uncaring, after she heard Twilight mumble a response of some form Applejack tried to explain what she felt. "Ya just gotta press on. You know because this is like a learning experience, a field trip when you were in school. Somehow the harder your journey gets the sweeter the rewards will be." Looking behind her finally she saw Rarity closest, and Twilight to their right a meter or two.

Rarity wasn't impressed with this dream hill. "I always hated field trips, to be honest, Applejack." She held up a forehoof and shook the debris and slime off.

Applejack just smiled but to avoid offending turned back uphill and walked on.

About dusk the underbrush almost completely disappeared but the loose, well dampened soil made going almost as slow now that the hillside was steepening. Jack commented on the trees themselves, saying "These are old, strong trees. Their roots go deep Applejack. You are getting close to the weightier matters of your heart, and the path you trod leads you to the wisdom your history has granted you."

Maybe she was just too much of a simple farm girl but all his philosophizing wasn't really helping her mood or understanding. But the creek that had clarified everything wasn't here. Had faded into some rocks and disappeared before the hill started actually.

So she concentrated on her footing, which was getting tricky as, between the forest canopy and the setting sun it was getting dark. But then both Rarity and Twilight caused their horns to glow, giving her enough light to see where she was going.

But she still almost bumped into the steel plate, none the less.

It was Rainbow who verbalized it first. "Ugh! Finally. So, how do we get in?"

It was easily ten meters on a side, and sticking out ever so slightly from the stone behind it. There were no marks in either steel or stone, and pulling on the edges yielded no result. Their resident alicorn wasn't much help either.

"This is a mystery of your mind, Applejack. The door is a question to you. What, Applejack, is the answer?"

Dash is right she thought to herself. It's annoying the way he uses a pony's name too often.

But the journey, the creek, the arguing in town. This was the culmination, Applejack felt certain, of that thinking. She still wasn't sure what Granny Smith was doing on a pole down below but she didn't think she needed to dwell on that right now. But as she stared at the blank, unmoving metal amongst the old-growth forest of her mind, she thought she had the idea, and might even the poetry to satisfy the prince.

"Somethings never change" Applejack started, speaking as much to the edge of steel in front of her as to her friends. "Others are in constant flux, moving like water in a stream. But water stays where it is in the stream and just the details of which piece of water changes. Friendship is like that too; the game of give and take. Some days you take, and sometimes you give, but the balance never changes. Sometimes your friends change, but almost never why they're still your friends. Things change because they stay the same, and likewise things stay the same through all their changes."

From above, "Like those hinges. I could'a sworn they weren't there a second ago." Applejack looked up to see the silhouette of Rainbow Dash as she was flying at the top of the steel plate, now pulling at it with all her strength.

Applejack started pulling too and this time the plate swung out, leaving a dimly illuminated tunnel big enough for three ponies abreast to walk in. Applejack was front and center, but Twilight was to her right, and Rainbow Dash had dropped from the sky to be at her left. Applejack's shadow showed that Rarity was right behind her, and Pinkie's near constant giggling interspersed with 'ooh's and 'aaah's came from behind Rainbow Dash. Applejack snuck a quick peek to make sure Fluttershy hadn't chickened out, but there she was, flying just at Jack's ear level.

At the end of the tunnel was a small room just big enough for everypony to enter. At the front of the room was a wood cutting depicting the stand they had found in the old castle, and the elements of harmony still as stone globes. Below that, on the ground, was a wooden bucket, but the light made it hard to make sense of what she was seeing.

Rainbow Dash however thought that's what it looked like too. "That's a really small bucket, or our eyes are playing tricks on us all."

Pinkie stood up on Rainbow's rump to get a clearer view and proclaimed "Nope! Those apples look just about right and I bet that long rope is to hang on a pony's neck."

Twilight walked up to it first, and Applejack was more certain her eyes weren't playing tricks on her now that there was something nearby to put the image in perspective. Two apples balanced and almost overflowing the wooden barrel, which instead of a metal handle had a very long cotton rope with an extra length hanging off the middle of one half of the handle, with a clasp at the end of that.

Since she figured it was supposed to be for her, she walked up to Twilight, who said "I think you're supposed to wear it around your neck. Like Pinkie said." And with that she lifted the cotton rope over Applejack's head, and then clasped the middle rope under her neck, just at her chest.

Applejack picked one of the apples up by it's stem. The balance was so superb, so even, she couldn't help herself. She tossed it well into the air, and behind her. When it was down, she bucked high, kicking the apple into the ceiling just at the entrance to the tunnel they had come in through.

Whereupon it exploded. The room shook from the deep reverberations, and Applejack was sure she saw bits of stone fall free with the gooey slime the apple left.

Prince Jack seemed to understand. "Applejack, you now wield the apples of truth. And as every school pony knows, the truth hurts." He looked over the otherwise bare chamber and said "I think that's all we need from this place. When you're ready, Applejack" and walked back the way they'd come.

Her bucket still had two apples.

Again, she found herself at the lead as the others were more interested with what their train trip would show of their mind, and what weapon they would give themselves. Pinkie wanted a giant lollipop great-hammer that would turn enemies into sweet friends. Rainbow was talking about wing extensions that would let her cut enemies down just by flying through them.

At the entrance to the tunnel, the moon had come out making eerie shadows of every tree limb, and Jack was standing half in, half out of the tunnel looking quite concerned. As the party caught up behind them, he said quietly, over his shoulder, "We have company."

And the Applejack saw the white dots. Always in pairs, often shifting. Eyes. More than a dozen. Assuming the heads were all about the same size they ranged in distance from three or four meters to probably twenty five.

Now Applejack understood the warning that had been Granny Smith's head. "Are they from me, Jack? Or is this him again?"

Jack replied "The interloper. He takes the form of the invaders but not all are him. Any of his shadows could send you to the waking world with a headache and the shakes." Louder this time, to the whole small army of ponies behind him, but still not turning his head from the moving dots. "We must drive them off to retain what we've gained here. You've done this before; I'll keep the playing field as level as I can but that does not make this battlefield less slippery."

Whatever that meant, Jack rushed off into the dark woods, and some seconds later generic scuffling sounds could be heard. Meanwhile the invaders were close enough to consider their attack. It was steep but they all had double ended swords.

Applejack barely considered her actions, simply twirling around and flinging apples to her back hooves. They each struck an oncoming sergal, and each exploded into mist, the apples of truth having revealed their false nature.

Rainbow Dash likewise had a personal vendetta against these creatures, muttering through gritted teeth, "You're not taking my wings again, you misborns." and with that flew straight at the nearest biped, striking with front hooves and all her momentum.

Twilight and Rarity weren't skilled battle mages but all those nightmares where she had honed her puncture spell seemed useful here. Standing on flat, solid ground she would discharge her focused push spell which seemed lethal to twenty meters, and she could manage some amount of accuracy at nearly half that. She tried to teach Rarity but under such conditions Rarity could only manage to tear open a leg once or twice as a crowd of attackers rushed too quickly to be killed at distance.

It was enough; Pinkie would kick them in the head as they fell, at which point they'd tumble away and slowly fade into mist, or if Applejack's half of the tunnel was at a lull, she'd launch a fruity projectile at the too-close mongrel, and there would be a dull 'thud' as the whole beast turned to nothing.

There was a delay in the refill for the apples of truth bucket, but fortunately for Applejack's limited repertoire of fighting techniques it seemed to be just over a third of a second, nearly to half a second, per apple. "Four hundred milliseconds" Twilight would later report, when she took the time during peaceful moments to convince her farmer friend to experiment with the weapon.

Fluttershy was crouched against the smooth, cold stone wall some distance into the tunnel, nearly in tears. "Are these walking piranha respawning as fast as you kill them? How do we stop this nonsense? Applejack make them go away!"

"Cain't, sugarcube! Imported nuisance species and we're desp. "Here she carefully launched another apple, needing to lob the projectile high to account for the sudden drop of the ground, while her legs were built to launch upward. Missile on its way, she resumed with "We're desperately trying to eradicate them but it's mighty" Another lob, and one shot straight at a downswinging sword aiming for Rarity. "stubborn. Any suggestions dear heart?"

Fluttershy said to the orange mare, her voice cracking in hysteria as she tried to finish, "You're a farmer; you have to pull the whole root out." before devolving into tears a Rarity tore open a belly, blood spraying everywhere as Twilight put a hole in his chest, knocking him back. The bits of flesh evaporated eventually but the fluids seemed content to harden into long-dried stains in that amount of time.

Ah only have a double barreled shooter, dear heart. But Fluttershy's words rang true. "Girls!" Applejack didn't know if her friends could spare any mental time to hear her but she had to try. "She's right. We need to wade in and help Jack finish off the real sergal."

From somewhere in the shadows, about halfway up the tree trunks average height, Rainbow's voice came somewhat muffled. "On it." to be followed by her rainbow contrail disappearing into the deep of night.

No sooner had she disappeared though then there was a mighty explosion, and flying straight into the side of the stone building was what Applejack first took for an upside down Jack. But when he bounced off the building Mountain, more like. Just shaped, like mount Rush Mare and landed on his feet, she realized it must be an imposter. Gray feathered legs supported an robin's egg blue furred chest.

No longer having to adjust for a sudden elevation change, the farmer let loose with a single apple at full velocity, straight for the false Jack's head. Her friends, having come to the same conclusion, were also responding. At a shout from Twilight, Rarity had helped grab onto an arm with telekinesis while Pinkie tried biting him in the rump, legs wrapped around his large waist and having no luck in tackling him.

The apple hit the left side of the interloper's head, and exploded much like it had in the room inside the tunnel. Applesauce and blood mixed freely, running down his fine blue fur. He snarled, and gestured at the orange menace with his free arm. A magical bolt knocked Applejack into the air and she hit her back flat against the tunnel wall hard enough to have the wind knocked out of her. The landing flat on her head didn't help her cognitive abilities any.

Grunting in frustration and anger, Fluttershy took to the air, hair and feathers briefly suspended in Applejack's vision while the yellow pacifist slammed hooves-first into the source of all their problems. The sergal again tried a spell, this time a fireball appeared behind Fluttershy, scorching her back legs and setting her tail on fire.

Mighty pretty color of pink it used to be. Sorry, sugarcube. was all Applejack could manage to think as her body finally slid off the wall, and her right side landed partly on the edge of the tunnel's concrete, and mostly onto the rocky, muddy slope below it. Before passing out, she saw Fluttershy's quick thinking as she turned mid-air, not only kicking the attacker for all she was worth but wrapping her flame engulfed hair around his face.

He tried a third spell, but while his claws glowed there was no effect. The real Jack was walking now, into the light of the unicorns who had maintained their lights. His hands were held high and tiny lightning bolts were jumping noisily across all his claws.

There was a stare-down between blue fur, and blue feathers. Face wreathed in flames, right hand still struggling against two weakening unicorns, and an annoying pink thing trying to hump his leg, he cast one last spell. Pointing at a nearby dropped double sword, it flew to him -- and through his chest, narrowly missing Fluttershy.

As the interloper fell, Applejack didn't notice the unicorn's lights getting dimmer. She did notice it didn't seem like she was breathing, and thought that peculiar. But it didn't hurt. In fact she couldn't feel her hooves at all, which somehow seemed fine with her right now. Even when Rainbow Dash flew out of seemingly nowhere, screaming her name, Applejack couldn't care. It was getting to dark and cold to care, anyway.

And then there was light. Her sides hurt like she'd been pummeled mercilessly and her orange coat was drenched in sweat. Eyes finally focusing she raised her head to see it was three oil lamps providing light, and she was back in the library. Shoot. Did I die again? Least it didn't hurt so dang much this time.

Standing slowly she looked around and saw her five friends, and the blue and gray sergal, asleep in contrived positions so as to be in contact with the line of sifted flour circling around the room. Celestia had long since left, and looking out the front door she saw they had somehow taken the charred remains of her chariot, although the ground still bore the scars of that first ill-fated meeting between ruler and interloper.

Her sides didn't hurt so much now; it seemed she had been clenching her rib muscles long enough to make them sore but once she finished waking up she could convince her back it hadn't been cracked in two like a soup cracker, nor had her head, although it insisted it still hurt. Maybe Ah can find some aspirin in Twi's medicine cabinet

She sort of hated rooting around through her friend's things, but she was afraid to wake anypony up over having been kicked out of the game by a simple push spell, and she wasn't sure she could just fall asleep again, nor for that matter if she would naturally fall into the shared dream, let along into the place in the dream where her friends were.

Feeling surprisingly rested she decided honey toast and tea was called for. So she made herself a little breakfast as quietly as she could but still heard the clatter of Spike's clawed feet as he entered the kitchen. "Hey, uh Applejack are you alright?"

She hastily put away the jar of honey but still had the offending knife to stash somewhere. "Hey Spike hope Ah didn't wake ya. Sorta woke up and didn't want to get nopony in trouble. Might dangerous in that shared dream, ya know?" Sliding her toast onto a plate she decided if she was going to invite herself into the kitchen she might as well ask for what she couldn't find. "If'n ya don't mind, Ah was hoping to have more of that raspberry tea but couldn't find it. Am Ah outta luck?"

Spike had a roll of parchment in his left hand, but motioned with his right to a cupboard. "Lower left in that one. Help yourself. You know" He hefted the parchment in front of him like it was poison, and stared gravely at the words on it. "I just got a letter from Princess Celestia, saying that Luna says that Jack told her that you got killed in battle." He looked up at the orange mare, who was calmly adding loose tea to a steel teabag, the water nearly boiling from the first time Applejack went looking for where the tea was kept.

Applejack tried to put on her most reassuring smile. "Ah've gotten killed in there before, but this time didn't hurt so dang much. Plus I've already forgotten most of the pain anyway." pouring water into her cup, she looked into Spike's eyes and added "Ah already said as how dangerous that dreaming thing is. But Ah woke up knowing that all was right with the world, and that made this dream death a lot easier than what Ah was asked to go through by that right monstrous shadowy figure afore mah friends stepped in to help."

"So I should write back to say you're OK? Celestia sort of implied she wanted to know how you felt about the battle." Looking down at the poison letter again, he added, "Or if you woke up, really."

"Yah hayseed. Tell her th' magic of friendship is making inroads into the dark realm o' dreams. That's what Ah think about dyin' in battle." Taking a meaningful bite of her toast, she looked at her plate and decided that some applesauce of truth would go down mighty well about now. "Ah don't suppose you have applesauce, do ya?"

But Spike had already left to look for blank paper to write his reply, so Applejack just took her breakfast outside, tiptoeing quietly past the slumbering warrior mares. She accidentally stepped on Jack's tail which was twitching like a cat's but she managed to jump off without losing anything on her plate, and Jack didn't even snort or breathe funny.

Outside in the crisp late autumn air she walked to the east edge of the library and waited for the sunrise. Finishing her tea, she tried to remember the weather schedule. It would start raining at noon and the weather patrol thought that unrelenting moisture would call for two full days of light to medium rain to ease the pressure, before going back to clear skies for a while. Big Mac would want help with some barn repairs before that rain hit but she wanted to wait for her friends to wake up.

Taking her dishes back in, she decided she needed to give her friends priority. She offered to help Spike reduce the rubble volume, and with two of them carrying the longer pieces the managed to carry much of the charred shelving outside past the slumbering ponies without waking any of them.

Thus about two hours after Applejack had been so unceremoniously ejected from the shared adventure the ring of remainders collectively gasped. Jack was the last to open his eyes, but the first to stretch. Just like a cat, actually.

She was standing outside the circle, near the stairs which put her behind Twilight Sparkle, who sat upright and began searching the room for something. Seeing as she had looked at the scuff marks in the flour where she had slept first, Applejack spoke up to say gently "Ah'm right behind ya, sugarcube. If'n yer lookin' fer me."

Which she was, as her response was to whip around, her face showing concern; her lips pursed in angst but the slope of her ears said confusion. The student quickly closed the stride and a half distance between herself and the farmer, and hugged her friend tightly.

Stepping back she looked deep into Applejack's eyes, asking only "How long have you been awake?"

She was about to respond when she was pile-driven to the ground by a pink pony, followed by a blue pegasus. "I knew you were just awake // Wow your apples were awesome // Told them to keep their chin up // Thought I'd never see you // But can you fall asleep? // Jack said to leave your body but I thought // He even set the forest on fire so Luna might see it. // Oh yeah your forest. Hopefully your mind can make another." The words of the overflowing joy mixed with recent grief made Pinkie's words blend in with Dash's and Applejack could barely keep track of what was going on.

Rarity came over with the biggest smile the orange pony had seen in a long while on that anxious shop keeper's face. "Jack said we needed to get out of your dream land before it crumbled without you. So we beat feet to leave and you should have seen the mess you left. That creek was flowing with more blood than water it was awful really." At this, she paused to look for the wall clock.

During which break Fluttershy exclaimed meekly "The townsfolk had all turned into rotting zombies. Didn't try to eat us but they smelled bad."

"Nine AM! Ladies I have a client showing up in half an hour and I've done nothing to prepare but sleep on my hair funny." Turning to the now upright sergal, who still looked quite asleep despite his open eyes, Rarity asked "Same time tonight, then, am I right?"

The sergal nodded and Rarity excused herself, with an extra wave goodbye the "dead" pony, and a hug to the yellow pony who was having troubles shrugging it all off.

Jack stood, ran a clawed hand across his triangular head, and stretched again. "We are camped again in the mind of Luna. We should try for more sleep tonight but I leave it to the will of the group." Grinning with a mouth full of teeth that Applejack knew routinely ripped poor defenseless bunnies apart, the biped added "Consider me your dungeon master, if you will. Except that was all out doors, just there."

"Right. Dungeon, doors, whatever. I can get back by early evening, but now that we're all awake and not dead, I need to help Big Mac with chores." Twilight moved out of the way but Pinkie and Rainbow Dash stayed wrapped around her neck. "Uh, hint hint?"

Reluctantly they let her go, and she again promised to return for the next battle. Outside, several pegasi had begun placing rainclouds together overhead.