"Okay... let's go over this one last time..." Stu Leaves paced and paced around the floor of the tower. "...Applejack is... like... bottled in a dream... within a dream?!" He spun about, grimacing.
"Erm... somewhat," Epcot said, fidgeting. The hint of sunlight glistened off the rooftops of Philanthropy's spires behind her. "In mortal terms, it's as if she's wearing a dream for a cloak, and that coat is acting as Shindig's way of shielding her from common lucidity."
Stu gawked, blinking.
Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches, forelimbs folded.
In the far corner, Donut Joe, Mulia Mild, and Gustave Le Grande sat back to back, yawning and fighting sleep.
"Although, I suppose if you got to the nitty gritty," Epcot said, "she's currently suspended in a limbo state formed by the barriers between the subconscious realm and the dimensional fabric that acts as the fulcrum upon which the entire universe hinges—"
"Thank you, Epcot," Rainbow grumbled, leaning a chin on her forelimbs. "We get it," she said, sighing. "As much of it as we can get."
Apple Jewell stood in the center of the group, as awake as ever. "I really don't see what all the fuss is about. It's quite flatterin' that y'all would worry about me so, but—I assure you—I'm as much me as me will ever be!"
"But that's not true, Applejack!" Stu Leaves exclaimed, leaning towards her with a wretching expression. "Don't you even hear yourself? You're... y-you're you! I mean... not the you that Shindig wants you to be—"
"The Queen has only ever taken care of me good and proper—"
"Yeah—only to sacrifice you in order to create some crazy dream heaven!"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
Apple Jewell narrowed her eyes. "You certainly have a fancy imagination, good sir. Reckon you've been in the company of the Blue Jay an awful lot."
"You're darn right I've been with Rainbow Dash all this time!" Stu Leaves said, pointing. "We only want to save you, girl!"
"There's that name again..." Apple Jewell pivoted her gaze, blinking at the pegasus in question. "Do you ever run out of aliases?"
Rainbow sighed, glancing back at Epcot. "If Shindig put her in this... dream cloak... does that mean she's the one who can take her out?"
Epcot shrugged. "Theoretically. I've ever witnessed anything quite like this before."
"For real?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Not in your eons upon eons of chaperoning?"
"Sorry, Rainbow Dash," Epcot said, shaking her head. "But the alicorns never put one another into a nonconsensual dream state. It truly is remarkable. I suppose—in theory—Shindig could bring Apple Jewell out of her pocket. But I wouldn't even begin to guess how such would be accomplished, because I wasn't there to witness the methods the Queen employed in sealing Applejack there to begin with."
"Nrnnnghhh..." Rainbow Dash buried her face in her forelimbs.
Stu gulped. "Epcot..." He paced over, lowering the tone in his voice. "If we simply... took Applejack out of the dream state—I mean as she is..." His eyes narrowed. "What would happen?"
Rainbow quietly peeked up at the conversation.
"Well, this dream-state that Shindig has your friend in is completely reprogramming her mind and personality," Epcot explained. "It's quite possible that—if removed from this realm—her mortal body would be forced to acclimate to the altered consciousness."
"Would she... ever become Applejack again?" Stu asked. "In time?"
Epcot shrugged with a helpless smile. "I cannot pretend to say. However, it's quite possible that the shock of the transfer might not bode well for her body."
"Meaning...?"
"She'd become comatose."
Stu's eyes twitched.
Rainbow gulped. "Coma... tose...?"
"If it's the best way her mind and body can deal, then—yes—it's quite possible."
"Good heavens!" Apple Jewell turned to gawk at the to wingless pegasi. "You don't truly intend to do that to me, do you?"
"No..." Rainbow Dash shuddered. "We certainly don't..."
Stu twirled about, frowning in Rainbow's direction. "Then the solution's simple! We gotta wrangle up Shindig!"
"Stu..." Rainbow sighed. "I've seen the Queen in person. She's obsessed with this whole situation. She even has a friggin' death door."
"Death door...?"
"Basically..." Rainbow stood up, sighing. "She's friggin' insane. There's no way in Tartarus she'll let go of her Cider Princess, much less teach us how to bring Applejack back out of the whole mess."
"But isn't it worth a try?!" Stu barked. "I mean, you're the Blue Jay! I'm the Red Rook! We're who we are in this dream for a reason!"
"Stu..."
"So let's kick flank and get Shindig to change things back so we can get out of here and bring Applejack with us!"
"Nothing would give me better pleasure than tearing this place apart at the foundations!"
"Then why are you holding back, Rainbow?!"
"I'm not, Stu!" Rainbow frowned. "It's just... Applejack's friggin' brain is on the line!" She pointed at the mare. "There's gotta be another way around this! Maybe if we—I dunno—brought Epcot to Shindig's office and got her to study her notes or something. Certainly these creeps are dumb enough to have a weakness somewhere!"
"Actually, if you would like to meet my beloved Queen, you needn't fuss so much," Apple Jewell said.
Stu and Rainbow looked at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Stu asked.
"You... you can make her have a meeting with us?" Rainbow remarked, eyes narrow.
"Oh, no no no..." Apple Jewell waved a dainty hoof. "What I mean is, she will be here soon." Just then, her tiara began flashing, filling the air with a magical chime. "Mmmm... please, dun be mad, y'all."
Donut Joe and the other two sat up, eyes blinking wide.
"Uhhhhh..." Stu Leaves gazed at the princessy headpiece.
"Epcot?!" Rainbow stammered.
"Hmmmm..." Epcot reached in, picked the tiara off Apple Jewell's blonde head, and turned it around in her grasp. "Well, what do you know?" She looked up at the group, smiling. "What a curious enchantment!"
"Enchantment..." Rainbow murmured. Just then, the hairs on the back of her neck raised. She twirled around, and her jaw fell.
A squadron of gyrocopters closed in all around the clock tower. Uniformed officers of the Philanthropy Defense Ministry rushed the exterior of the bastion.
"Just relax, everypony," Apple Jewell calmly spoke. "If y'all dun fight, Queen Shindig will be mighty merciful." She squirmed slightly in her dress. "At least... I-I think so..."