The End of a Nightmare. (A Grimdark Finale)

by TheMareinTheMoon

Chapter 3 "Reaching Out..."

Chapter 3
"Reaching Out..."

The freezing rain pierced the night air as Twilight and Spike trudged toward what was left of Sweet Apple Acres, their last hope.

"Twilight, I'm f-freezing," Spike complained, "Are w-we almost there?"

"We should be," Twilight answered, desperately trying to ignore the cold, "It should be just around-"
She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide with fear and confusion.

"It should be right here!" She said looking around at the seemingly empty landscape, "Where is everything? Where is everypony?"
Spike looked as well, "Maybe they all...moved away?" Spike said, scratching his head, "After all, when was the last time you actually spoke to any of them?"
Twilight gasped, he was right. She hadn't spoken to any of her friends in a long time, how could she?
As she stared at the dreary landscape that was once Sweet Apple Acres, she couldn't help but remember how this place used to look. Full of life, laughter and happiness, but now...
Twilight's eyes drifted toward a seemingly abandoned barn off in the distance.

"Well we can't stay here," She said finally, "Let's get some shelter, we can sort this out once we're dry and I can think."
Spike nodded his head in agreement as they slowly walked toward the old barn.
The wind howled through the limbs of the dead apple trees as Twilight approached the door to the barn. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside, it was empty as she expected.
They went inside and Spike closed the door behind them as they looked around at their new home for the night.
It was dark and empty, with only a couple bales of hay and an old wine cellar taking up the open space of the barn.
Twilight's eyes stopped at the wine cellar, she remembered the day they first put the cellar in, it had...done things...to Applejack.

"Well," Spike spoke up, "It's not much but it'll have to do for tonight I guess."
He began to search around the barn.

"We should probably start gathering some sticks or something, y'know so I can start a fire..."
Twilight simply rolled her eyes and used her magic to ignite a bale of hay and levitate it toward the middle of the barn.

"Or you could do that..." Spike said plainly.
They both sat on either side of the glowing fire, drying themselves from the storm outside.

"Y'know Spike, just because I'm not the princess's pupil anymore doesn't mean I can't still do magic." Twilight said, breaking the silence.

"Huh?," Spike responded, surprised, "Oh, I'm sorry Twi, I know you can. I just get a bit...worried about what might happen, what with the way you are and..."
Twilight glared at him, slightly annoyed. "Now Spike, I-"
Suddenly she was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass.

"What was that?" Spike asked, nervously scanning the room.

"I think it came from the cellar..." Twilight said, slowly moving toward the sound.

"WELL DON'T GO TOWARD IT!" Spike yelled.

"Oh calm down Spike! I'm sure it's-"
Suddenly the figure of an orange pony sprang up from behind the barrels, dripping with wine and shards of glass. Twilight recognized her all to well.

"Huh, wuzzat?" She said, drunkenly stumbling, trying to get on her hooves. She opened her eyes enough to see the two figures now standing before her, and her expression suddenly shifted from one of confusion to one of rage.

"Now what the hay do y'all think yer doin'?" She asked accusingly, "Tryin' to burn down my property huh? well this'll teach ya!" She grabbed a glass of bottle of wine from the rack and slammed it against the the nearest wall, shattering it halfway.

"GET OUT" She yelled, charging at Twilight, swinging the broken bottle in her direction.

"Wait! Applejack it's me! Your friend!" She screamed back, running in the opposite direction.

"I ain't got no friends!" She replied, gaining speed "Now stand still ya little-"
She swung at Twilight, missing by less than an inch.
By this time, Spike had gotten up and was now chasing Applejack, desperately trying to get her to stop.
Eventually, Applejack was able to catch up to her target enough to tackle her, effectively pinning her to the ground.

"Wait AJ it's me! Twilight Sparkle!" She said, struggling to break free.

"Oh yeah?" Applejack replied menacingly, bringing the jagged bottle up to Twilight's throat, "Prove it."
Twilight stopped and thought for a moment.

"Uh, I met you the day I was checking on food for the Summer Sun Celebration, and you introduced me to your family, and we ate and laughed and Spike was there too, don't you remember?!"
Applejack glared at her. "Well, if you're really Twilight then..." She thought rubbing her chin, "Then what did I get you for yer' birthday last year?"

"A book!" Twilight replied, beginning to sweat nervously.

"On what?"
Twilight's eyes grew wide. She couldn't remember. She had remembered getting the book from her, but she had never actually read it!

"It was um...uh...."
Applejack pressed the bottle closer against her throat.

"Apple Farming and The History of Apples, Volume one." Spike interjected, still gasping for breath after chasing the drunken pony around the barn.

"Spike?" Applejack said, rubbing her eyes, finally recognizing him as Twilight's scaly assistant, "Well if you're...than that means-"
She looked down at the hyperventilating pony in her hooves and screamed.

"Oh Twi it is you!," She said quickly helping her onto her hooves and embracing her tightly, "I am so sorry, are you hurt?"

"No," Twilight replied, relieved. "Just a little...startled."

"I'm sorry, I didn't recognize ya, I guess I uh," She looked down at the bottle in her hoof, "Might have overdone it a little."

"It's ok AJ," Twilight answered, "Here, why don't you sit down with us by the fire, I'm sure I have a lot to catch up on."

---

Once they had all settled down by the fire, Twilight wasted no time in getting to the questions she wanted answered.

"Applejack, what's happened here? What happened to the apple trees and the farm and-"

"We sold it." Applejack replied, not looking up from the ground.

"You what?" Twilight asked, suprised, "Why would you do that?"

"My, you sure have missed a lot haven't you?" Applejack replied, still refusing to lift her head.

"You have our old friend Pinkie to blame fer' that." She said, anger in her eyes at the mention of their old friend's name.

"Once ponies started 'dissapearing', so did the farm's money. With no ponies to sell to, we couldn't make nothin', and then Granny..." AJ wiped a tear from her eye, "Granny Smith passed away."

"I...I'm so sorry Applejack, I-" Twilight began.

"Don't be," Applejack replied, "It's not yer fault, we all knew her time was commin' but for it to to happen now..."

Applejack paused to compose herself, and then continued.

"Big Mac tried to make me feel better, tried to get me to concentrate on my work, but I couldn't. I started...drinkin', It wasn't a good decision, but it was the only thing that kept my mind off of what was goin' on around me. Without me, the farm lost even more money, Big Mac couldn't pick up all of the slack, and eventually he left us too, he moved back to Appleoosa."

Applejack tried her hardest to hold back her tears, as she continued her story.

"So, after a couple months, we had no choice but to sell the farm, to the Flim Flam brothers. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make, and I regret having made it every day, but at least they let me keep this here barn, Without it, I don't know where Applebloom and I would be today."

"Applebloom?" Twilight said, surprised as she lay a sleeping Spike down on some hay by the fire, "Where is she?"

"I reckon she's out helpin' Zecora out with somethin', that's all she seems to do nowadays..." AJ replied.

"You aren't at all concerned?" Twilight asked, a bit worried.

"Nah, Zecora's been nothin' but a help for the last few months, she always sends Applebloom back with enough food for the week. An' I reckon if that pink demon comes pokin' around lookin for either of us, Zecora's our best bet at stayin' safe."

Twilight shuddered at the mention of Pinkie, or rather, Pinkamina. After all, she was the reason she was here.

"Applejack I need your help." Twilight said, getting to the point.

"Huh?" AJ replied, confused, "With what?"

"Pinkie has gone out of control, Applejack," Twilight said sternly, "You and I are the last living elements, and I figured that-"

"You want to stop her don't you?" Applejack interrupted.

Twilight nodded her head. "And I need your help..."

"You don't want my help," She said solemnly, "I mean look at me Twilight. LOOK AT ME!, I'm a mess, if I had the courage to go against that monster, I would've done it by now, but instead I'm here...hiding like a coward."

Twilight looked sternly at her friend.

"Applejack you're no coward," She answered, "You're the toughest pony I know, and you're not a quitter, you can do this."

"Maybe, I could, once..." Applejack said, looking down at the bottle in her hoof, "But now..."

"Applejack remember what you told me when I was hanging off that cliff the day we met?" Twilight asked "You said to trust you, to trust that everything would be alright when I let go, and I did. Now it's your turn."

She moved closer and took the bottle from Applejack's hoof.

"Let go. And trust me."

Applejack thought for a moment, she couldn't believe that she was actually considering this, all of her thoughts seemed to contradict one another, but after a little while she managed to choke out a single sentence.

"I'll do it."

Comments

[New Fossil Studios]

I like it.