Eyes
Crouched down on all fours, her signature safari hat pulled low over her eyes to the point where she could just barely see what was ahead, Daring Do crawled through the brush, in pursuit of the ever-elusive diamond that was said to be hidden in this very jungle. Her face adorned with camouflage paint and her coat covered in leaves and moss, the legendary explorer crept forward at a snail's pace, very aware of the threat that the native tribesponies patrolling this area posed to her. They did not take kindly to outsiders, as the bamboo jousting spears they carried on their backs made quite clear.
Rainbow Dash reached for another potato chip from the foil bag that rested beside her on the quilt, her purple eyes glued to the book she was reading by the light of the oil lantern that rested on the bedside table. The cyan mare with the multi-coloured mane was positively captivated by the latest entry in the Daring Do series.
Dash looked up at the sound of approaching hooves and quickly snapped the hardcover book shut, hastily stuffing it under her pillow, tucking the bag of sweet chilli chips out of sight and pulling the covers up to her neck, pretending to be asleep. She kept her eyes shut and her head faced away from the bedroom door as it creaked open.
"C'mon, Rainbow Dash, lights out," the familiar voice of Applejack said from the doorway. Dash responded by letting out what she probably thought was a convincing snore, prompting the earth pony with the orange coat and blonde mane to let out a small, knowing chuckle. "Ah know you ain't asleep, Rainbow. Big Macintosh can hear you eatin' them crisps from the next room."
Another fake snore. Applejack rolled her eyes, trotting quietly over to the bed, a mischievous smirk forming on her muzzle as she saw a cyan feather Dash had perhaps unknowingly shed lying on the bed sheet. The middle child of the Apple family scooped up the plume without a sound as Dash continued to feign slumber, reaching over the 'sleeping' form of the pegasus and lightly tickling her nose with the feather.
"Get off!" Dash exclaimed, instinctively reaching up with a hoof to brush the feather away as she sat up, realising too late that she had given the game away. "Aw, rats," she declared, causing Applejack to give a short laugh.
"Okay, enough horsin' 'round fer one night, pardon the pun," AJ said, her words serious, but her tone still having a hint of lighthearted mirth to it. "You know you've gotta get up early tomorrow tuh help us with our chores, an' with Granny Smith outta town visitin' her old friends, we could really use an extra pair o' hooves 'round here."
"Yeah, I know, and I really appreciate you letting me stay here on such short notice," Dash assured her. "It's really awesome getting the chance to catch up like this, what with how busy the Wonderbolts have been keeping me lately… but you know me, Applejack - I like to carry on well into the night and sleep late the next morning."
"More like the next afternoon," Applejack declared. "Ah once passed you five times in one day while you were dozin' on a low-hangin' cloud. Not once were you awake all day! Ah called out tuh you at one point an' you just told me tuh 'leave it on the front step' like Ah was the pizza delivery mare or somethin'!"
"Hey, that's a good idea! We should order pizza!"
Applejack stared at Rainbow Dash for several long seconds before the latter finally burst out laughing, making it clear that she was only joking.
"Gotcha," Rainbow teased, grabbing the feather out of Applejack's hoof and using it to tickle the earth pony's nose, getting her back for before.
"H-Hey!" Applejack exclaimed, taking a step back and letting out a tiny sneeze, which just made Dash laugh all the harder. "Okay, very funny, Rainbow Crash," the farmer declared sarcastically, addressing Dash by the nickname the Wonderbolts had given her. "Real cute. Now, c'mon, time to hit the hay."
"Okay, okay! I guess I should try to get some shut-eye if I'm going to help you harvest the Zap Apples tomorrow," Dash said. "I call dibs on licking the mixing bowl after we make the jam, by the way," she added cheekily.
"You really are just an overgrown filly, ain't ya?" Applejack said with a knowing smirk. "Okay, book."
"Huh?"
"Gimmie that Darin' Do book, Rainbow Dash. Ah wanna be sure that you don't stay up all night readin' it."
Rainbow Dash let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine," she said, pulling the book out of hiding and passing it to Applejack.
"And them crisps."
"Ugh. Who went and made you my Mom?"
"Watch it, or Ah'll ground you fer a week."
Both mares snorted, barely containing their laughter.
"G'night, Rainbow," AJ said a little thickly as she left the room a moment later, the now extinguished lantern held between her teeth, Dash's book and snacks balanced on her back.
"'Night, AJ," Dash mumbled as she snuggled under the covers, letting out a huge yawn. After a minute or two, she began to toss and turn, trying to get comfortable. Sleeping in an actual bed felt a little strange after spending so much time 'dozing on low-hanging clouds' as Applejack had said. With that in mind, Rainbow Dash curled up into a ball, only her muzzle poking out from under the blankets as she lay there with her eyes closed, imagining that she was curled up upon a light, fluffy cloud of purest white, with bumps in all the right places and an overall bouncy - but not too bouncy - texture. She could almost feel a pleasant breeze gently ruffling her mane…
Rainbow Dash awoke with a startled gasp, convinced that she had heard soft, unintelligible whispering in her left ear. She made to leap up, becoming tangled in the blankets and crying out as she landed on her back on the floor.
"Ow," she muttered as she picked herself up, her pride damaged more than her body, which was probably lightly bruised at worst. The cyan pegasus got to her feet and glanced around, seeing nopony else beside her in the gloom. The room was quiet. Aside from the tangled mess of blankets that now lay on the floor beside her, there was nothing to suggest that anything was out of the ordinary. All the furniture was in the same place. Nothing in the bedroom had been disturbed - save for Rainbow Dash herself, of course. She was so sure that she had just heard whispering. It had sounded so close, so… unmistakable, and yet, here she was, alone in the dark, moonlight filtering in through the open window.
Dash frowned. She didn't remember leaving the window open. She didn't remember the window being open to begin with. Didn't Applejack usually close it in the evenings to stop moths from coming into the guest room and eating the sheets?
"AJ must've forgotten to close it when she came to check on me," Dash decided as she stepped over to the window, reaching up to close it. She had just placed her hooves on the windowpane to pull the frame down when something outside caught her eye.
Was it Dash's imagination, or was Applebloom, Applejack's younger sister, going into the barn? What business could the small filly have being outdoors in the dead of night? Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes with a mixture of suspicion and concern. Something wasn't right here. She could feel it.
Dash made her way downstairs, very conscious of how eerily quiet Applejack's house was. She couldn't hear Big Mac's deafening snoring, or AJ mumbling in her sleep - usually about one of the apple trees she had lovingly planted in the orchard. The mare with the multi-coloured mane stepped outside, a strong wind suddenly ruffling said mane profusely. Dash's eyes found the barn, noticing how still it seemed compared to the branches of the trees not far from it, rocking violently in the breeze as though their roots were about to be wrenched from the ground. This wind was something fierce.
And this filled Rainbow Dash with a growing sense of dread as she approached the barn, for the closer she got to the reddish pink building, the more the wind inexplicably died down, as though it didn't dare billow in close proximity to the barn. The multi-coloured hairs on the back of Dash's neck stood on end. Even her tail seemed bristled. She reached the doorway, which stood open.
"Applebloom?" the pegasus called, surprised at how hushed her voice sounded. She cleared her throat. "Applebloom?" she tried again more clearly as she stepped into the barn.
The silence within the barn wasn't just eerie - it was deafening. The interior was dark, just barely enough moonlight filtering in to allow Dash to see. She could make out a few bales of hay, a hoe, a rake, a shovel, a bucket - typical farming equipment. What wasn't so typical was the overwhelming sense of foreboding that permeated throughout the barn. Dash felt as though she were being crushed by it. Every instinct she had screamed at her to turn around and leave the barn, but she was no coward. She had to find out what Applebloom was doing out here. No doubt Applejack would be beside herself if she knew her little sister was sneaking around at this time of night.
"Applebloom!"
There, in the corner, she stood. The youngest of the Apple family's siblings with the creamy yellow coat and the strawberry red mane adorned with a big pink ribbon. She was unmoving, her back to Rainbow Dash as she stared, unnervingly still, at the wall, which her muzzle was but an inch away from. Dash approached her, her apprehension now completely off the charts. She struggled to keep her voice steady.
"A-Applebloom, what're you doing out here?" she demanded, though it came out as more of a stammer than a demand. "C'mon, you know your big sis will flip if she catches you out here."
Applebloom didn't respond. She didn't even move, let alone give any indication that she had heard Rainbow Dash. A thought occurred to Dash and she smirked in spite of how unnerved she felt.
"What's the matter? You sleepwalking or some… thing?!"
Dash's words ended in a terrified exclamation, for Applebloom had very suddenly turned to face the cyan mare, and what Dash saw made her recoil in bewildered horror.
Applebloom's face was devoid of expression as she stared, unblinking, at Rainbow Dash, her eyes glowing brightly, all signs of pupils and irises gone, only a greenish blue shine remaining, piercing the darkness like two eerie lamps.
"Wh-What…?" was all Dash could manage to say as she instinctively backed away, stopping only when she bumped into something.
No, somepony.
Rainbow Dash didn't have to turn around to know that Big Mac stood behind her, and when she did turn, she saw that his eyes were glowing just like Appleboom's, as the pegasus had feared.
Big Mac made to step forward, but Dash wasn't going to wait around to see what the obviously corrupted Apple siblings had in store for her. She took off like a rocket, shooting past the crimson stallion and out the doorway, zooming straight up into the sky on furiously beating wings, leaving a trail of her namesake in her wake. Once she was several dozen feet up, she dared to glance back down at the barn…
…And what she saw made her pupils shrink in horrified disbelief.
Big Mac and Applebloom, now accompanied by an Applejack who shared their glowing eyes, were floating up to meet her, undeterred by their lack of wings or magic. Rainbow Dash quickly flew away at high speed, heading for the Everfree Forest in the hopes of losing her pursuers in the thick foliage.
"Oh, man, this can't be happening," she said aloud as she skimmed over the treetops, glancing behind her. During her moment of distraction, her wing caught on a branch that poked up from a tall tree and she cried out in alarm as she went spiralling towards the ground, scraping against more trees as she tumbled before landing with a pained grunt on her belly in a small clearing. Before she even had time to pick herself up, the ponies with the glowing eyes were upon her, descending from above to touch down gently on all fours, standing around Rainbow Dash in a circle.
She was surrounded.
Rainbow Dash flapped her right wing. It was sprained. She wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. Applebloom stepped up to the sprawled pegasus, her glowing eyes without falter, her eerily neutral expression seeming stony somehow.
"Wh-What're you gonna do to m-me?" Dash asked, trembling from head to hoof. She brought up her one good wing in front of her in feeble defense.
Applebloom crouched down so that she was almost nose-to-nose with Rainbow Dash, her shining eyes like unending pools of otherworldly light. She then spoke for the first time that night, her voice a hushed whisper that sounded nothing like her.
"You shall become us."
Rainbow Dash sat up screaming, continuing to scream in terror as Applejack tried desperately to get her attention, the orange earth pony sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to hold the panicked pegasus in her forelegs.
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash, stop! It's me!" Applejack cried as she struggled to steady her flailing house guest, whose terrified shrieks started to lessen as she realised that the mare who held her thankfully didn't have glowing eyes. Just seeing those familiar green irises went a long way to quell Dash's panic. The pegasus suddenly wrapped her forelegs around her host and friend in a vice-like grip of a hug.
"Applejack! Oh, Applejack, it was horrible," she wailed. "You had these freaky glowing eyes and Applebloom was in the barn and you were flying and my wing broke and-"
"Calm down, sugarcube. It was just a silly ol' dream," Applejack assured her, shushing the restless mare gently while running a hoof up and down her back in a comforting manner. Once Rainbow Dash had stopped shaking completely, Applejack released her, watching the pegasus intently, but also smiling reassuringly. "Ah think you've been workin' too hard fer them Wonderbolts lately. That, or you've read one too many Darin' Do books before bed. That's what's givin' you these nightmares, Ah reckon."
"Well, maybe," Dash managed to say, her voice still a little shaky. "I'm... I'm sorry for raising such a fuss here when you've gotta get up early in the morning and all that."
"Don't you worry 'bout that, Rainbow Dash," Applejack told her. "Ah've spent plenty o' nights settlin' down Applebloom after a late night scare. Even now she still has the occasional dream about that so-called 'Headless Horse'. A nice hot mug o' cocoa never fails tuh help her go from the heebie-jeebies tuh the sleepies. Want me tuh make you one?"
"Say what? Me, Rainbow Dash, the awesomest of pegasi, needing a chocolate drink to go to sleep like some little filly?" Dash exclaimed with a weak smile. Applejack eyed Dash with a raised eyebrow, prompting the cyan mare to blush with embarrassment. "Can you make it with whipped cream? A-And chocolate sprinkles?" she asked meekly.
"Don't forget marshmallows. After all, Ah'm makin' it fer the pony who's apparently 'twenty percent cooler' than most," Applejack declared with a sly wink, which just caused Dash to blush all the harder.
A few minutes later, AJ was humming to herself in the kitchen as she set about preparing the warm, creamy beverage for her friend, making sure to scatter the sprinkles atop the whipped cream in a way that made them look like a smiley face - just as she would've done for Applebloom. The earth pony chuckled to herself as she made her way up the stairs.
"Like Ah said, just a big, overgrown filly," she mused quietly to herself as she approached the door at the end of the landing and pushed it open.
Rainbow Dash was trembling again as she sat there in bed, her eyes closed, tears flowing down her cheeks. Applejack started to grow concerned. Had Dash's nightmare gotten to her that much?"
"Hey, c'mon, sugarcube, it'll be alright. Ah'm here fer ya," AJ assured her soothingly as she approached, the hot beverage in hoof.
"Applejack, help me," Dash pleaded with a sob as she opened her eyes. "Please."
"Whuh... Wh-What in tarnation…?!" Applejack cried in bewilderment, her eyes wide with shock. The mug of cocoa fell from her hoof and smashed on the floor as she stared into Rainbow Dash's eyes.
Her glowing, greenish blue eyes.
The End?
So, how was it? This was my first attempt at a legit horror fanfic. I know that glowing eyes are pretty low-key for horror, but hey, it's My Little Pony. I figured I'd try something that was fairly true to form as opposed to something like 'Cupcakes'. Anyway, let me know what you think of it in the reviews and have a good day or night. Catch ya later.