My Little Delirium

by ViTheDeer

Chapter 4 (Incomplete)

When they reached the city limits, Twilight began to worry, and Applejack had to join her occasionally neurotic friend. The sun was much lower in the sky than they would have liked, and the two of them lived clear on the other side of Ponyville. Pinkie Pie had already said her goodbyes, wrapping them both up in a big hug, then bouncing off in the direction of her family’s farm. The Pies farmed mostly beets and tubers, root plants that grew mostly underground. Their lack of high stalks of grain earned the Pie farm the nickname “The Rock Farm.” Pinkie had never invited them to visit, but word was it was a dreary place to work. Even so, Applejack would rather work there after she was treated than end up in the city.
They could have made it home in time easily if they ran, but they were both so winded from the day’s earlier run and subsequent encounter that they could barely manage a canter. As the sun began to slip behind the horizon, Applejack could see Twilight begin to grow physically uncomfortable.
“Y’all think you can manage a bit of a faster pace?” Applejack was worried, as much for her friend as herself. Curfew was almost on them, and if they got caught outside after dark... well, Applejack knew she didn’t need another mark against her, but Twilight couldn’t stand to be even a few seconds tardy to anything, and her record this far this year had been nothing short of stellar. A citation for breaking curfew might very well send her into a state of nervous shock, Applejack knew, and she tried to urge her friend on.
Summoning what little energy they had left, they sped until they were moving at a light jog. They passed the city limits just as the sun was touching the horizon. It was official now. They had broken curfew.
Applejack looked at her friend, her eyes full of concern. Twilight kept her eyes locked on the ground at their feet as they cantered through the barren streets, the sparse streetlamps just now flickering to life. Applejack could see Twilight muttering something just under her breath, but she couldn't make out the words. She considered asking her what was wrong, but just watching Twilight's eyes begin to subtly twitch was enough to urger her to increase her pace.
Every time they turned a corner, Applejack could feel her stomach lurch. Every new street could hide a member of the Civil Patrols, on the lookout for foals just like them who had broken curfew, as well as keeping the peace during the night. She realized that their flashlights and idle chatter would probably give them away long before they ran into them, blind corner or not, but that didn't ease Applejack's beating heart anyway.
At last, they turned a corner, and Applejack could see Twilight's mansion just down the road.
"How y'all gonna get in without your parents or nobody noticing." Twilight gulped but kept staring at the ground.
"I got that part figured out, I think. But you still have to go all the way out to the farm, are you going to make it?"
"Don't y'all worry 'bout me, sugarcube. They don't really patrol the country roads, so I jus' have to make it out to the city limits and I'll be scot free." Applejack left out the part where she'd have to sneak into her room without Carrot noticing. She could count on Big Mac to turn a blind eye, but if Carrot a caught her, she'd be peeling potatoes for a month.
They pulled up to the metal gates to her mansion, and Twilight finally looked up, into Applejack's eyes.
"Call me tomorrow morning, okay?" Seeing Applejack's nod, she clenched her eyes, and her horn began to glow a dark blue. Before Applejack could warn her about drawing unnecessary attention to them, Twilight had vanished with a "pop", and Applejack could just shake her head in amazement.
"Huh, that's a new one." Her friend Twilight had always been adept at magic, but even so she never failed to astound her on a regular basis with some fancy new trick or another. But teleportation... that was a new one.
Applejack quickly remembered herself and looked around. Sure that nopony had seen her little display, Applejack kept to the shadows as best she could, as the sun's last rays died away. She still had a good mile and a half to go to her farm, though at least the city limits weren't far to go. She gritted her teeth and set off.

The luck that she and Twilight had had with the patrols earlier died out. She met two patrols on the way, but luckily the chatter of their radios and bright beams of their flashlights gave Applejack plenty of warning, and she was able to duck down a side road both times without being seen. She felt certain they should be able to hear her heart beating through her chest, but both times the ponies on the ground and in the air were more concerned with gossip and sports scores than they were with watching all the side roads, and she was able to slip by with no problem.
Finally, she came to the first farmhouses on the edge of town, and she was able to breathe more easily. The lack of streetlights out of town made her have to watch her hoofsteps more carefully, but it also made her nearly impossible to spot from any distance, and there was thankfully enough light from the sliver of the moon far overhead that she could still make good speed.
Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only about twenty minutes, Applejack could see the light streaming out of the windows of her farmhouse. Carrot and Big Mac were in the kitchen cleaning up after the dinner she missed, and the lights on in the bedrooms told her Apple Bloom had already retired to her room, most likely to read or do homework. Applejack was thankful that the school year had already ended for her, the Exams usually replacing the last two weeks of school. The last thing she needed was to be up even later doing her homework after having missed curfew by this much.
Applejack moved to the back yard, trying to be quiet and not draw any attention to herself. She found the rope that she had hung from a hook under the eaves of the roof for practice, and with a deft twirl wound up her lasso, tossing it to an overhang just above the window to her room. Without wasting any time, she pulled herself up the rope, one hoof after the other, muscles straining after the long day's exertions, until she was level with the window. She gave it a light rap with her tail,and Applebloom sprung into action, unlatching the window and opening it enough for Applejack to swing herself through, landing on the ground with a light "thud" that she hoped would not have been heard by the two ponies downstairs. Applejack retracted the lasso, hid it under her bed, and quickly slipped into her pajamas. Aplebloom as usual watched the entire proceedings silently, only stirring to close the window once Applejack had turned from it to busy herself with her preparations for bed.
"Thank you sugarcube." Applejack ruffled Applebloom's mane a bit, then hugged her and slid into her bed. The day's physical and emotional strain came rushing back to her like a tidal wave, and she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning Applejack awoke to the sound of raindrops hitting the windowpane. She rolled over and out of bed, the floor cold beneath her hooves.
Still in her pajamas, she headed down the stares to where breakfast lay waiting for her on the table, cold cereal and orange juice. Bleary eyed, she downed the orange juice and started one cereal when Carrot walked in from the living room and fixed her with a glare.
"Mornin' Aunt Carrot." Applejack gulped down the spoonful of cereal she had already inserted in her mouth with a gulp. She knew that, technically, Carrot Top was her sister-in-law, but "Aunt" seemed much more appropriate, especially since she and her brother had taken over the responsibilities of raising her and Applebloom. When her parents passed, there was talk of putting the two of them in foster care, but luckily Big Mac was deemed able to keep them, so they didn't have to worry about moving away from their farm in addition to... everything else.
"And when did you come home last night?" Carrot's glare was icy with accusation, and Applejack gulped again.
"Jus' before sundown. I wasn't feelin' well, so I went straight to bed."
Carrot clearly wasn't buying it, but she tossed her head with a "hmmph".
"You should be glad you weren't caught out after curfew. It's bad enough having to hear all the ponies whisper about this family without having to deal with the Civies as well." And with that, she stomped out of the room, leaving Applejack alone with her breakfast once again.
She finished the cereal, then grabbed the phone and headed up the stairs, dragging the cable as far as it would stretch, planting herself on a stair halfway up. She dialed Twilight's number.
The butler at Twlight's mansion answered, and called for her friend.
"Hello?" Twilight's voice sounded tired, but calm.
"Hey Twi, how 're you this mornin'?"
"How am I? I'm a nervous wreck! I think I made it in without anypony noticing, but I'm certain I missed something. I made a list." Applejack rolled her eyes.
"You were in barely after curfew ended, and your house is big enough, you could go for days without anypony noticin' you were even there. I'm sure you're fine!"
Twilight seemed unconvinced. "If anypony finds out I was out after curfew, I'll get in trouble! And if I get in trouble, they'll tell the school, and the principal will want to see me! And I'm sure he'll want to hold me back a grade, and maybe even send me back to kindergarten! And then I'll..." Applejack put a hoof to her mouth.
"Nopony found out, Twi, and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again, sugarcube." Twilight looked unconvinced, but relaxed a little.
"So, Applejack, I had planned to spend today at Pinkie's All Day Post Exam Freedom Bash, but I suppose that's off now.." Applejack fixed her with a level gaze.
"Hun, when have you ever known Pinkie to call off a party?"

Later, at Pinkie Pie's Post Exam-pede Not-Quite-Free-Yet Bash, Applejack was sipping contentedly on her glass of punch while the radio played a selection of songs from the Library of Approved Music. Pinkie was bouncing around excitedly from pony to pony, while Rarity and Twilight were having a demure chat in one corner, most likely discussing their preparation plans for the replacement Exam.
"What's wrong, AJ? You look so glum. Don't you like my party?" Applejack looked up from her glass to see Pinkie

Author's Note:

Well... that's all I have. This started out as a NaNoWriMo project that got interrupted by real-world events.
I may finish it someday but... honestly, I doubt it.

If you like this story, then I can only recommend you check out the source, Delirium by Lauren Oliver. It's a fantastic trilogy that is soon going to be a TV series, so you should go read them!

Check out my other fics if you liked this, and feel free to leave feedback, I always enjoy hearing from you.