The house has existed for eons. It hungers. Now it has set its undying eyes on Twilight. And it will keep her forever.
Twilight, on the other hand, has been troubled by her feelings for Applejack for some time now, but has kept them to herself since Applejack is happily dating Rainbow Dash. But on a travel to one of Applejack’s relatives, as they come into the area of influence of the house, Twilight can’t keep her feelings to herself anymore. Applejack on the other hand finds herself being drawn closer and closer to Twilight, despite her relationship with Rainbow. Meeting Rainbow at their destination, both Twilight and Applejack know they will have to find a solution.
The house waits. The house is patient. It wants Twilight. It delights in her emotions. It is up to Applejack and Rainbow Dash to save her.
Written for the AppleDashLight contest. Contains F/F/F polyamory (duh).
Rated Teen for some mild gore, make-outs, and references to sex.
Thanks to Tchernobog for coercing me into writing this.
Thanks to Tchernobog for gently pushing me into the contest
There will be new chapters added every two or three days.
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I feel the need to comment already, and I've only just read the description. This looks like it's going to be very fun!
Oh no... they got you too with their mudpony love. :(
As a person who lives in the immediate vicinity of the prairies, I can verify that basically all that's said here is accurate. That, and the prairies are flaaaaaaat.
This looks to be fun, count me in for another ride on an elPossy fic.
Just how dark is this going to get? I'm interested in reading it, but I've been burned by that tag before so I'm wary.
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I'm aiming for more Lovecraftian spookiness and no splatter or torture porn.
Not very dark IMHO. It has a teen rating after all, and according to the contest rules, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow have to be alive at the end, so there's that
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Hope you enjoy the show!
As a person who is an estimated 4,500 miles from the closest prairie, I can only say "Western movies"
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Hope I won't disappoint
I decided to move the first paragraph from the first to this chapter, seems more flowy? Apologies to those who have to read the paragraph twice
Ahh, the rolling prairies, perfect for lonely ghost stories. For having never seen them, you still get the feeling just right; although the ground in the prairie is soft, rich soil, not sand.
This was a good first chapter, but there were a couple of things that nagged at me (besides the sand
). Jonah Gould doesn't sound like a pony name, especially when it's put directly beside his sister's Golden Delicious. Just use the actual apple's name 'Jonagold'; it has a more authentic feel to it and probably won't rip your reader out of the story to go google "Jonah Gould Apple" like it did for me.
The ghost story was nice, but for the very end of it.
When you throw that in, in italics as if it's a part of the story, it ruins the impact. It's not a bad way to show that AJ doesn't really believe the story, but it would be better to have this apart from the italicized story, perhaps being said after the story has had a moment to sink in.
Other than that, this is looking really good and I'm interested to see this continue.
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and thus my Europeanness shall manifest itself in... sand 
Thanks for pointing it out; I'm gonna leave it since apparently the atmosphere is still kinda right (and I think there's sand all over the story, so I'd probably just end up with messed up continuity if I changed it now).
I agree with your thoughts on the "or somesuch dramatic humbuggery"; it should not be inside the italics. I changed it.
As for Jonah Gould's name, I'll leave it for now... the idea was to have the name look somewhat archaic. But I agree that it is of a different quality than Golden Delicious. I shall ponder
Thanks for the encouraging and helpful feedback!
Why did you say suck ot venom?
It doesn't work! What it does it get both patients infected with a possible accelerated the venom effect? What would be worse would be draining the blood as it would weaken the immune system rather then drain out the poison. The only way to beat the venom is to take anti-venom, which with a scientist like Twilight could make with the scorpion in hand. A second is depending how poisonous the scorpion (bigger means less poisonous) it it stay healthy and beat with the immune system.
This makes the third AppleDashLight story I'm following where Twi is the interloper on a preexisting AppleDash relationship. Considering I've read maybe only six ADL stories in total, this is rather curious.
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My reasoning was "AJ wouldn't know better", but it sounds a lot like a lame excuse for "because Hollywood" and "because convenient". Thank you for pointing that out. I changed it (I don't really see Twilight creating the antidote in the middle of nowhere with no equipment at hand, so they are just going to have to wait it out, using your second option).
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poor Twilight, always being the "bad" guy. But you're right, that is kinda curious.
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Another option whould be to make Twilight sick as well, but really the only option is to beat it through will.
Otherwise it was a good story and hope you keep up the work.
oh my fucking god, it's so obvious that the creatures were applejack and (possibly) rainbow dash. well, the bat may have been somepony else, but how could twilight not make the connection between the rat and applejack?! so much for love....
And then this story turned into Jacob's Ladder or Eraserhead.
oh fuck, what did AJ just do to rainbow? or whoever that bat is, but i still think it's rainbow.
I wonder, if that was the real Twilight in this chapter, or the house illsuins. If its the later, I wonder how everyone going to react and with were going in chacter, Twilight while on one hand would be glad, the other she would be sick since she would not be sure how much the house manipulate Applejack and her freindship will the girls being put in jerrpy, something Twilight showed in the TV serries would do anything to keep them, even lie to herself.
ok, so the bat wasn't rainbow. so who, or what, the fuck was it?!
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My guess is the house, with something evil plan. To what end, we will see.
On more chapter to go. Thanks for sticking around!
will there be an epilogue?
Oh, it was perfect :D I absolutely love this pairing and I'm always glad when I have an occasion to read a GOOD story about them. You portrayed these characters very well, I especially loved your Applejack. She was so torn between Twilight and Rainbow... dealing with her feelings for Twilight, while trying to be loyal to Rainbow. Yup, that's AJ I know and love!
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I have no epilogue planned thus far. Considering my rather, um, complicated relationship with this story, it's unlikely there will ever be one.
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glad you liked it!
Thanks
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I didn't reply to your comments when the story was still incomplete because I hope that these questions have been cleared up by later chapters. Sorry if I came across rude
I read this last night. I loved it.
Pretty original, and yet familiar, with a perfect blend of that spine-tingling creepiness and suspense, to relief, back again, back again, verging on more. Possibly one of the greatest poly-ships too!:D
Yup. Applejack is the rat!
Okay something fishy is going on here...
I bet Rainbow saw that kiss and thought nothing of it...
Pretty good story! I enjoyed it! Great job!
I have a terrible feeling that AJ is the rat and dash is the bat. But let's read on and see...
Man what a mindFuck I don't even, know what the heck is going on anymore....
I can't wait to see
Oh no phone battery near dead... No charger available... I'll never make out through the next chapter... Oh no its gonna kill me
I really enjoyed this story the whole house thing was crazy and the feel of the emotions was excellent. The only thing I would change is the ending it just felt a little rushed after they got out of the house. Still an awesome job though
The ending felt a bit abrupt, but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. That surreal feeling that haunted so much of the story was well done, and really gave the store a unique flavor.
"Rainbow wanted to flip it the bird, but her hooves were full with Applejack."
But.. how could she even flip the bird in the first place? She needs fingers!
alright if they were walking away from the house and it was following them... then I think that's the scariest part.. I'm gonna have a hard time getting to sleep.
I only read the description, and all I can say is:
"This... I approve of this..."
This very much reminds me of The Color Out of Space by HP Lovecraft. I approve.
Great story, the ending could have used more of what they actually did about the house though.
Out of curiosity, are you a fan of Stephen King's Dark Tower series? Bits of the first chapter kept putting me in mind of The Gunslinger (especially the Fell Grass and the way AJ was making the fires, but really all of the description), and those first steps in the house feel eerily like the house in The Drawing of the Three.
(And if you haven't read it or aren't a fan, rest assured that's high praise coming from me :)
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thanks!
Heh, yeah, I was aiming for that feel of The Gunslinger. The house tho was more directly inspired by the one from Black House. Big fan
This = very yes.
So I have to concur with a couple of other commenters that the ending felt a bit abrupt (or at least rushed), but overall I really liked the conversation at the end. Dash's straightforward appraisal of the situation very neatly sums up the poly approach to love (or at least an approach, since there are approximately as many as there are poly relationships), and it's refreshing to see that put to paper. Or pixels, as it were.
Can you recommend any other good poly fics? I've either read or flagged the other entries in the contest, as well as Tchernobog's own "Just a Couple of Ponies" and Violet CLM's "Home is Where the Hearts Are," but I haven't done a thorough search for others.
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I don't think I've read any others except the contest entries, sorry. I haven't even looked at Tcherno's fic cuz I don't read incomplete fics
Most relevant groups (e.g. Shipping, TwiDash) have Polyamory folders though, they are probably your best bet for finding moar.
Wow! Frankly, I'm not a dark stories fan, but appears I can live with it in the "teen edition", especially when a romance stuff is involved x) And any debatable detail didn't prevent me from reading the story from start to finish)) I've not opened the approptiate bookshelf yet, but you definitely get my like)) So if you ask me:
Bearable level of "darkness"; lovely written characters, the house included; an interesting holistic story, if I'm still speaking in English (maybe not enough). And I wouldn't be surprised to see a sequel revealing the history of the house:)
Woooow! Dark, AppleDashLight, well writen, BOOM, this just become one of my top favourite storys so far! Love it!
this story has a edgar allan poe mixed with the call of wild feel to it
i love it 
why does this feel like silent hill ?
yup silent hill
definitely silent hill
i'm loving this and this my first appledashlight fic so awesome
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Maybe it’s just a normal bat