• Published 18th Apr 2016
  • 1,237 Views, 35 Comments

At the Gorge - Jordan179



Great losses can spring from such small causes. Applejack finds this out at age 12, when her life changes, forever.

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Chapter 4: Wading Back Ashore

At first, Sweet Apple Acres was as much a blurry fog-world to her as had been school. Other Ponies told her to do things, and she did them, mechanically and without complaint. Sometimes she found tears running down her face, for no reason she could understand. Sometimes the fog would thicken to utter blackness, and she would be aware that time had passed, without her having had any awareness of passing duration.

One day, she was out with Mackie in the South Central Field, not so far from the main house, when she saw something really peculiar. Her mental fog seemed to thicken, which at first she didn't notice because it had been an unusually-foggy day to begin with, and Mackie had stepped a few paces away for a moment. A cold breeze blew over her from the direction of the Everfree.

And, suddenly, Applejack knew that somepony was watching her.

She turned toward the direction from which she felt the regard. She saw a thicker patch of mist, and in the mist there were two glowing golden lights. Ashmoment later, the mist parted slightly, and she could see they were the eyes of an older filly, a girl of around fourteen or fifteen. The strange filly was an Earth Pony, with a coat gray as the fog; and long flowing yellow hair. Applejack wasn't exactly sure why it looked so much as if her golden eyes were actually glowing.

Applejack felt a great curiosity, one of the first strong emotions to have moved her since the loss of her parents, and she somehow leaned toward the strange filly, though she moved neither head nor body. Abruptly, the fog between them was gone, though the fog elsewhere all around both of them seemed to have thickened, and she could no longer see her brother. But Applejack could plainly see the strange filly: a muscular, stocky young mare with perfectly-normal golden eyes. She could make out the Cutie Mark on her flanks: a magnifying glass.

"Thou'rt almost on my side now," the gray filly said. Her voice was soft but clear. "Yet thou still do breathe. 'Tis passing strange."

"We're both south o'the River," Applejack said. It was like a conversation in dream. And she suddenly realized she was not sure where she was; she could not see the her brother, or the sky and when she looked down she could not even see the ground, or the base of her hooves, and for all that she could feel through her hooves she might as well have been standing on fog. The sounds and smells of Sweet Apple Acres; even more shockingly she could feel its life around her no more.

"I have crossed partway the River so far," the filly said, "and am passed beyond Life. I fain would reach the other shore, but cannot while my duty here is yet undone."

"Mah parents fell into the River," Applejack informed her. It was easy to speak of in the dream; the pain would come when she awoke. She knew this from bitter experience. "They left me here, alone."

"Oh ..." the gray filly said. "Tis thee." She leaned forward, sniffed Applejack.

Applejack returned the gesture. The strange filly smelt of herbal soap and, oddly enough, burnt omelette.

"Who are you?" asked Applejack. "How come Ah've never seen you 'round these parts before? Kin we walk together a while?"

"Mine own name is of scant matter," the gray filly replied, "and I should not draw thee onto mine own paths; I have drawn thee too far down them already. 'Twould be wrong to do this to find a play-mate, though I have made that mistake before and shall again, I fear. And I think thou hast a great wyrd amongst the Living, from which 'twould be treachery against mine own High Lady if I were to reave you from your proper path untimely."

"Ah -- Ah don't understand" Applejack confessed. "Ah'm just a young filly. Ah don't even know your High Lady."

"Thou'rt a young filly now," the strange gray filly said, "but I ween that thou shall wax with the passage of the years. Know this, however." She leaned forward, and her eyes now most definitely glowed with an eerie intensity, and her voice seemed to at once come from very far away and be overwhelmingly powerful.

"Thou'rt not and never shall be alone. Thine own parents have not forsaken thee. They do always watch over thee from their side of the Rivers, and do whatever lies within their power to aid thee, and that power is greater than thou might imagine. For the hearts of heroes are strong, and heroes are what Melanie Rose Apple and Tangelo Orange were, and still are! Great was their deed, greater than even they did or thou dost realize, for when they did succor Rarity Belle they struck a mighty blow upon the Hinge of Fate itself. Ye twain shall be among those to liberate mine own High Lady, and thus the echoes of that deed shall resound down the centuries to come. And ... more than this I must say, even though thou shalt not remember what I say now clearly, but know it only in the back of thine own soul. But know this, and know this well -- thy parents did not die in vain."

Applejack did not fully understand what the strange filly had said, but it felt as if a great load had been lifted from her heart.

The strange filly blinked, and her eyes were again normal. "What tidings did I bring?" she asked, which was strange as she should have known what she just said. "Were they happy?"

"Yes," said Applejack. "Thank you."

"It is good that they were such as to gladden thee," the gray filly said. "Now come! I shall lead thee back fully to thine own side of the river."

"We're on the same side of the River," Applejack pointed out, though she was not sure exactly which river the strange filly meant.

"Indeed -- and that should not be. Thine own side is the shore of Life. I must dwell on this islet between Life and Death until my appointed task is done. Only then may I cross over to mine own eternal Release."

And, abruptly, Applejack was certain that the one with whom she held converse was long, long dead.

"You can bring me back home?" Applejack asked her.

"I can find the way for thee." The gray filly smiled, and it was not frightening at all. "I am very, very good at finding things. Now, please come. Thou shouldst not long here linger. 'Tis perilous for those who do still breathe. Let me but find thine way." She closed her eyes in concentration. She opened them, and her eyes and Cutie Mark both flashed golden. This was for but an instant and then her eyes were once again normal.

"This way," she told Applejack, and trotted off in ... a direction.

Applejack could not properly describe the direction, but she could follow Ruby. And she did trotting along behind Ruby's streaming two-toned yellow mane and tail, bouncing as it did with Ruby's own gait. For a moment it seemed as if all was void saved for Ruby's mane and tail, and then for another moment Applejack was forging forward against resistance, as if she were wading through a river; but Ruby was leaving a wake for her, enabling her to make progress.

Then she was standing once more with the strange gray filly, but now they were definitely back in the South Central Field of Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack felt the warm earth under her hooves; smelled apple trees all around; heard the hoofsteps of her brother Big Mac upon the turf.

The fog was lifting, but it was still thick toward the Everfree, where the gray filly stood. And Applejack realized that the strange filly had brought her back ... all the way back to Applejack's home, from whatever strange place was her normal home.

"Thank you," said Applejack softly. "Thank you for bringing me back. Ah'll never forget ..."

"Thou shalt forget, mostly," the strange filly said sadly. "For we have passed unto here through Lethe, and the breathing do not much remember what hath passed on my side, an they have touched those waters. I am still with thee, which is why thou dost still remember, but I must soon depart -- and when I do, then thou shalt forget."

"Forget everything?" Applejack asked in dismay. For there was one thing in particular, that she very much wanted to remember.

"Yes," answered the other filly, nodding. "Unless --"

"Unless -- ?" asked Applejack expectantly.

The strange filly sighed.

"It doth breach the usual rules, but I do like thee, Abigail Jacqueline Apple. So, please do attend. If thou dost wish to remember one particular thing, think upon it very strongly, as I do depart. Thou mayest remember that one thing, an thy will be strong enow. That wilst thou then remember, thou perhaps imperfectly, as if recalling a dream. The rest, I fear, shall be lost. Dost thou ken?"

"Yes," said Applejack. "Thank you fer giving me the chance." She began to concentrate on a certain thing the gray filly had told her.

"Fare thee well, Applejack," said the strange gray filly. "I have always been and always shall be a friend to those of thine house; when we meet again, therefore, we shall meet as friends. And I shall see thee again, in times to come ...

As she said these words, the gray filly deemed to draw back into the mist -- or did the fog extend itself to engulf her, or even form from her? Appelejack could not be certain, but the fog enfolded her, and her outline faded, until all that there was of her was two glowing golden eyes ... and then there was not even that.

The strange gray filly was gone.

Applejack heard Big Mac coming up behind her.

"Come on, Jackie," her brother said calmly. "Follow me."

She turned around and looked up into his sad green eyes. "Mackie," she said. "Ah've learned something."

He started in surprise. "Jackie?" he asked her, vioce thick with some emotion. "What did yew learn?"

"Mom and Dad are dead," she told her brother. Her eyes welled with tears. "Ah saw them fall. They're really and truly dead. They ain't comin' back."

Mackie's own eyes glistened, and he put a hoof gently on Applejack's withers. "Ah know, Jackie. Ah know that."

"But Ah'm still alive," Applejack said. "And Ah gotta keep on living. Life is good." She felt the wetness running down her cheeks.

"Us both, Jackie," Big Mac said, stroking his sister's mane.

For a moment Applejack simply leaned against her brother, enjoying his comforting presence, and then she pulled away and looked up urgently into Mackie's eyes. "There's more," she said. "It's important."

Big Mac looked down at her questioningly.

"They still love us," Jackie said, "And they're watching out for us, from their side of the River. And they try to help us, best they can, which is more than you might think, because they're heroes, and the hearts of heroes are strong." She looked at her brother solemnly, and then she smiled, though the tears were flowing. "They didn't die in vain, Mackie. They did something great. They're heroes."

"Jackie," Big Mac said, and reached out to hug her tightly against him. "Jackie ... Ah was ..." He pulled back and smiled down on her. "Welcome back, Jackie. Ah'm so glad yore back, at last."

"Thanks," said Applejack. "Ah'm glad to be back."

"How did you know all that?" Big Mac asked her.

Applejack thought about it. There was something about a filly ...? Or was she a filly? She couldn't remember anything about her, not her name nor where she'd met her, nor even really what she'd looked like. Except ... for some reason she had a strong image of fog, and in the fog a pair of golden glowing eyes.

And that was all.

"Ah don't know," Jackie said slowly. "Ah don't rightly know." She smiled at Big Mac. "But Ah don't reckon it matters. Kin we go home? Ah want to tell Grannie and Gramps that Ah'm back, and that Ah'm sorry for being gone."

"Well ... I got this chore ..." Big Mac thought for a moment. "Ah guess it's okay this time. Let's go, Jackie."

Her step was light and her tail high, for the first time in days, as she walked back to the farmhouse with her brother.

Author's Note:

Yet another picture of Best Ghost Filly, by CarnivalImp ...

The concept of ghostly prophecies is common in mythology, dating back at least to the Old Testament (the Witch of Endor who prophesied to Saul, is in some conceptions a necromancer). The premise is that the spirits of the dead are somehow unstuck from normal temporal sequence and connected to the gods; they may thus receive foreknowledge of events in the mortal world.

Because of Ruby Gift's backstory, it is quite likely that her soul and destiny are tied to Luna Selena Nyx, the Alicorn Incarnation of the Cosmic Concept of Gravity, and she has a special interest in freeing her from the Nightmare; so she might plausibly recognize that it Applejack is one of those destined to aid in this quest; and Rarity -- whom Melrose and Tangelo saved by their own heroic deed -- another future Element Bearer.

This does not mean that Ruby knows what's going to happen. Ghostly precognition is often rather vague, and Ruby is not herself a powerful or trained mage. She's just a Wraith who is very, very good at finding things.

Ruby is not fully-manifesting in the mortal world. Applejack is almost fully-manifesting in the half-world. This is not a good sign for Applejack.

The smell isn't really burnt omelette. A more carnivorous being such as a Human would instantly recognize it as burnt meat. It's a bleed-over from Ruby's Death Aspect, though what Applejack's mostly seeing and smelling is her Life Aspect.

Ruby is here in full-on mysterious spectral mode, largely because she is well aware that she is at a cusp of fate here and that she needs to give Applejack a push to aid the Liberation of Luna, which she senses is necessary to her longest-term Ghostly Goal, namely freeing her kin from the Curse of Nightmare Moon. This may be counterintuitive, because Nightmare Moon (not Luna) is the one who actually has the power to free them. But consider this -- would NIghtmare Moon free them? Not very likely, is it?

Ruby doesn't concsicously know what the path to their freedom is, but she has some ways of finding it. Firstly, because her Talent is finding things; secondly, because this thing directly bears on her Ghostly Goal; thirdly, because as a ghost she's partially unstuck from linear time. This is why she senses that Applejack is one of the keys to her quest. This sense rather works like a much more limited version of Pinkie's precognitive hunches.

But of course, one very big reason why she wants to free Luna is that she loves her, and is loyal to her, and can tell she's suffering in the Nightmare. Given the sort of pony Ruby is, that's almost as important to her as is her quest.

All done now save for an Epilogue.