Chapter One: The Nightmare
Past Ghosts
By Sazura
~~~
Applejack wandered the streets of an alien city. Spires of black rose up from the ground, piercing the sky. The ponies walking on the street walked in a uniform, yet chaotic march. Faces blended in together, none achieving any sort of definition or meaning. No sound came from them. Not a peep. The lost farm pony didn’t know where she was, or why she was there. She just kept walking. One leg in front of the other.
Yet the street never seemed to end. The silence and chaos of the ponies surrounding her became unnerving. The spires seemed to close in, becoming taller all the while.
She broke into a gallop. Nopony seemed to have noticed the orange blur that ran past them. They should have. It was the only colour they could see in this bleak world.
Only that wasn’t true.
Applejack caught a glimpse of light against the uniform black and greys of the city. Then, it vanished. Nopony seemed to notice. Yet she knew she needed that light. She glanced wildly around, scanning her surroundings, and yielding no results. The speck of light was lost.
However, if anypony were to describe her in one word, it would be stubborn. Her search continued. Amongst the black of the city, she searched.
Her hooves were sore, and she felt reality beginning to kick in. When she was about to give up, the light broke the melancholy and dullness of the city once again. She ran towards it, the ponies cleared her way as she ran. Even the immovable pillars seemed to shift.
As she ran, she became aware of a coldness that began gripping her. A coldness that dissipated the closer she got to the light.
She reached it…
A white room. The sudden brightness blinded her temporarily. She could hear the erratic beep of a machine. As she waited for her eyes to adjust, the sound became louder, more accented, until it filled the entirety of the room with a heavy bass.
Hey eyes adjusted. She scanned the room, and saw a bed. In it, lay a lost childhood toy. She recognised it from somewhere, though she knew not where. It did not belong to her, but it was precious to her, all the same.
She reached for it.
The Canterlot throne room. She had only been here once before, when Discord had made his return. At the end of the room, Celestia stood with a solemn face. In the air floated a case, one that she recognised immediately. The Elements. The most powerful magic known to their species, a magic that she is a part of.
A white flash. The case flew open, and Celestia disappeared. On the floor in front of Applejack, only one Element remained. Honesty. In it’s shining facets, she could see everything that defined her as a pony. Honour, dependability, and of course, honesty.
She reached to pick it up.
Sweet apple acres. Her home. Only it wasn’t, right now. Something seemed wrong. She couldn’t hear Applebloom’s laughter. She couldn’t hear Big Mac at work. She couldn’t hear Granny Smith’s comforting and familiar voice.
Her family wasn’t here.
She walked away.
~~~
Applejack sat bolt upright in her bed, cold sweat dripping from every pore. She scanned her surroundings, unsure of what she would find. Thankfully, the familiar décor of her own bedroom greeted her. The welcoming sound of a rooster indicated the sun had begun to rise. Sure enough, as she looked out her window she saw the sun’s rays beginning to creep over the hills of the horizon.
Her mind slowly processed what had just happened was a bad nightmare. A very bad nightmare. Not scary in the traditional sense, but much more unsettling. Her mind hurt as she tried to understand what everything meant. She was never the superstitious type, but a dream like that had never occurred before.
Deciding that nothing would be achieved by lying in bed, she shook off the nightmare and untangled herself from her sheets. The crisp morning air replaced the stuffiness of her covers, and she prepared herself for the day’s work. Which only consisted of finding her Stetson hat and having a hearty breakfast.
As she climbed down the stairs, the familiar sounds of her family’s chatter greeted her.
“…and then, Scootaloo rocketed so high into the air she caught a cloud on her way down!” Applebloom finished with excitement. “I think that’s the last time we’re going to try catapulting as a- oh hey sis!” she greeted as she noticed Applejack descending from the stairwell.
“Morning Applebloom, Big Mac, Granny,’ Applejack replied.
“Mornin’,” Big Mac said.
“Good mornin’ dearie. Breakfast is on the table,” Granny Smith declared.
“You’re up late today, sleep alright?” Applebloom asked with a slight hint of concern.
“I’m fine, thanks for asking little sis. Just a bit of a bad dream.” Applejack tousled her little sister’s mane reassuringly. “Don’t you worry none.”
Applebloom didn’t look entirely convinced, but decided to let the subject drop.
“So, what do ya’ll have planned for the day off?” Granny Smith asked to her family.
“Nothin,” Big Mac replied.
“I thought you were going to see Cherilee, big brother,” Applebloom inquired. Big Mac only replied by turning an even deeper shade of red and scarfing down his breakfast faster.
“We have a day off today?” Applejack wondered.
“Why yes, dear. Winter’s setting in soon, remember? Better brace ourselves this year. Your friend Rainbow said this one’s gonna be the coldest in a while,” Granny chuckled.
Applejack quickly peeked at the calendar hung on the wall. With the days at the farm, dates weren’t important. Work got done when it needed to be done, and as a result she often lost track of time. The calendar indeed indicated that winter was already creeping up on them.
“Everything’s set for cider makin’, then?” she asked.
“Eeyup.”
“Huh…”
Applejack sat down and joined her family for her early meal. She was all set to go through with a hard day’s farm work, a routine she thoroughly enjoyed, a routine she was planning on using to completely shake off her slumber’s events.
Breakfast was a lively as ever, achieved mostly on Applebloom’s part. Applejack noticed that Big Mac and Granny Smith were casting concerned glances towards her, and she planned to tell them later of the dream. For now, though, she decided to take the day off to visit her closest friends.
Big Mac was the first to finish. He nodded a silent goodbye, and tried to subtly check the mirror several times before leaving the house, a difficult task with three other ponies in the same room. A knock on the door indicated that Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell had arrived, and Applebloom cheerfully ran off with her friends to begin the day’s shenanigans. Finally, Granny Smith finished her food, and declared she was planning on a quiet day baking, knitting, and other grandmotherly activities.
Applejack sat alone at the table, letting the constant tick of the clock calm her mind. She had had nightmares before, obviously. Everypony has. But this one bothered her to a greater extent. Once again deciding that sitting alone doing nothing would ultimately achieve nothing, she set aside her unfinished breakfast and prepared to go into town.
She stopped by Fluttershy’s cottage, and was invited inside for a cup of tea and pleasant small talk. The gentle pegasi’s calm demeanour helped Applejack relax a little, and as she strode into the town square the dream had mostly left her mind.
She ran into Twilight and Rarity, having brunch at a small café. An invitation was given to join them, and while Applejack would have loved to, the topic of conversation was Canterlot, books, and dress-making. None of which she could discuss passionately.
As she was leaving and decided to find Rainbow and possibly have a few friendly competitions, she glanced a pony on the edge of the town square. His wings were tattered, and the robe he wore was torn and frayed. A hood covered his face. Yet he wasn’t a beggar, or homeless, she could tell. Ponies would glance at him, only to give a concerned look and walk by, others making a none too subtle attempt at avoiding him.
Applejack being herself, decided to find out who this stranger was. She broke into a slight canter to catch up with the mysterious pegasus.
“Hey there, partner. You new in town?” she asked on approach.
The pegasus froze, facing away from her. Around them, ponies went on with their activities, not noticing the scene. Applejack waited for a response that wasn’t coming. A slight grimace was heard, and the pegasus turned around. His hood fell away as he did, and his face was exposed to the sunlight.
He was the metallic shade of bronze, without the shine. His mane consisted of thin, wiry hairs of silver. They fell in a mess in front of his face, but he didn’t seem concerned with that. He had a thin, shapely face. A wide forehead that ran down to a sharp jaw line. Almond shaped eyes stared back at her. In their deep hazel pupils, she could see weariness, hunger, and something else she couldn’t pick up on. Was it hope?
Stranger still, she recognised this mysterious pony.
“Wind Hopper…? That you?”
His look of surprise was the only thing he could manage before collapsing into a heap.