Down the Rabbit Hole

by Equestrian Clock

Sweetie Belle

*Yawn* Must have fallen asleep writing, I thought, and when I opened my eyes I knew I had to be dreaming. Beneath my hooves was a field of unkempt grass. Next to me, I saw my two BFFs, still in the sod, fast "asleep". The only thing other than the plain stretching out before me that I could see was a lone hill in the distance, and, turning around, a far off dot. Getting bigger. "What is that?" I asked aloud.

"What's what?" Turning, I saw that Apple Bloom had finally "awoken".

"That slowly growing dot in the distance," I replied.

"oh, okay," she said. "Mah, this sure does look a lot like our story that we started."

"I was just thinking the same thing." I responded. "If this really is the story that I'm dreaming, then that is the colt we wrote about."

"Hey, wait a tick," Scootaloo interrupted. "I thought I was the one dreaming. I remember signing my initials and blacking out."

"That is what dream Scootaloo would say. Ah am the one dreamin'." Apple Bloom stated.

"No, I am,"

"No, Ah am,"

"No, I am,"

"Guys, stop it. We can resolve this when we wake up." I cut in.

"How?" they asked simultaneously.

"Well... let's think of a phrase, and tell it to each other when we wake up."

"How 'bout 'Jingle Bells, Bat Pony smells'," Apple Bloom suggested.

"Nah, how about... pickled berries and cucumber juice!" Scootaloo urged.

"Yeah, none of us will think of that on our own. How about it?" I asked. "Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Now, we really need to address the problem at hoof; what's the dot in the distance?" I inquired.

"It looks ta me a pony. Should we go say ha?" Apple Bloom queried.

"Alright," I agreed. "Let's go meet this pony."

We walked for about a minute before our target could be identified. It was in fact the colt we wrote about. Down to the very last detail. He had a navy blue coat, with a royal blue mane, and sea green eyes. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw him. He was gorgeous. And one of his wings looked hurt. I rushed over to him, "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Who are you? Are you some of the queens spies? Please don't hurt me!" He pleaded before breaking down in sobs.

"We promise we won't hurt you, and no, we aren't the queen's spies." Scootaloo replied.

"And, bah the way, who is this queen of yours?" Apple Bloom asked.

"*sniffle* *sniffle* You don't know who the Queen is?" the colt asked.

"We're kinda new here." Apple Bloom replied sheepishly.

"Well the Queen is a changeling, and her name is Chrysalis. I gather you know what a changeling is, right?"

"What happened to Celestia?" I asked

"What do you mean, Celestia? She was defeated at the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence and locked away in the underground. What do you know about Celestia? I thought you said you were new here."

"Well, I guess you could say that we were here before the invasion and now we're new because we were out of contact." I informed him. "By the way, my name is Sweeetie Belle, she is Scootaloo, and she is Apple Bloom. What's your name?"

"Oh. I'm sorry. Where are my manners. My name is Cobalt Chance."

"Alright Cobalt. So, what happened to your wing?"

"Oh, I escaped from a concentration camp. It's where she puts ponies to extract emotion from them. I slipped out from an extraction seat, except my wing got caught on the strap. I was real lucky. I think I only pulled a tendon, but so far, I still can't fly."

"Okay, just a minute." I told Cobalt. Then to the girls, I spoke in a whisper, "Okay, so we're definitely in our story. That was just a test to see. But we were never in the book, so what does this supposed to mean?"

"Remember, we're in a dream." Apple Bloom pointed out. "This shouldn't do anything to our story."

"I know, but it seems so real, doesn't it," Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, it seems as if we're actually in the story," I added.

"I guess I see what you're sayin', but it doesn't really piece together. I mean, we fell asleep, and woke up here. Shouldn't we be dreamin'?"

"Girls," Cobalt said in a warning voice.

"What?" the three of us asked simultaneously.

"Looks like we've got company."