Apple Bloom lay curled under her covers, eyes shut. She was half asleep, just awake enough to be aware of her surroundings, but too tired to do anything but lie silently with her eyes shut.
And then she floated away.
She still could feel her bed, her head on her pillow, her blankets pulled over her, but she was also somewhere else, floating through a dark void of nothingness. Apple Bloom moved with a sense of purpose, though exactly why she couldn't remember.
Someone else, someone else was there.
Someone slid past her and toward where she had came. Apple Bloom backtracked in the direction of her bedroom slightly, but nudged against someone. Apple Bloom then continued where she had gone, and soon there was a little white dot in the distance, like light at the end of a tunnel. Apple Bloom moved toward it and slipped into it like water in a container.
Here the scene vastly changed. She was in a...city of some sort...? Lots of white, and a bit of black and gray, but only on the buildings.
Apple Bloom felt different, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. Did she have hooves?
Apple Bloom walked forward. She felt as though she knew where she was-even though she had never been there before. She walked out into the city. As per usual for cities, there were a decent amount of ponies. There was something different about them...and that was besides the fact that most of them were four to five times Apple Bloom's size.
Another odd thing was how out of all the large ponies, none of them was quite looking at her, almost deliberately avoiding making eye contact with her. She walked, and other ponies got out of her way quickly.
After a few minutes of this, Apple Bloom passed a group of ponies that were doing something different from the crowd-they were looking at her.
Directly at her.
They moved towards her. Apple Bloom stepped back, not sure what to do. She moved away, but they quickly gained on her and picked her up by the tail. They moved into the alley so they were surrounding her. Apple Bloom twisted to and fro in the big pony's grip, trying to get a better look at her captors. She thought she caught sight of a pony with a pink mane, and a colt with black hair that stuck up funny. It was actually one of the stranger hair-dos she had seen, and she had indeed seen some strange ones. Apple Bloom ceased movement and found herself face to face with another pony, a mare, her face hidden with a purple cloak. Apple Bloom noted the odd shape of her eyes, which were narrowed, and reminded Apple Bloom of a cat's.
She was smirking, and soon a little pink laser beam shot out of her cloak, striking Apple Bloom. It stung. She shot a few more, hitting Apple Bloom, to the delight of her companions. She was smiling, funky-hair was laughing, and Apple Bloom was squirming and yelling to be let down. Eventually they grew tired of her and dumped unceremoniously on the ground, and walked off, satisfied. Apple Bloom got up and left, feeling slightly disturbed and more uneasy. As she emerged, five ponies turned tail and fled.
A beefy brown pony, wielding what seemed to be a large laser canon, leaped up and blasted Apple Bloom directly in the chest.
Apple Bloom was engulfed in yellow light pounding down on her, and put up her forelegs to shield herself. Then she floated away. Quickly.
The somebody that lying in her bed was still there. Please, Apple Bloom remembered thinking, and they floated up and Apple Bloom was back...
Apple Bloom's eyes flew open. There was a vague burning sensation in her chest, tingling where she had been blasted in her dream.
***
"And that is you make a shrinking po-Apple Bloom, are you OK?"
Apple Bloom looked up from where she was staring into space.
"Oh...yeah, Ah'm fine, Twilight. Ah didn't get that much sleep last night."
Apple Bloom had also been thinking of her dream, but she didn't tell Twilight that. Something held her back. Twilight gave her a compassionate look, and her eyelids shut slightly as she did so.
Apple Bloom started. She had seen eyes shaped like that before!
Then the cloaked pony turned back into Twilight, who was looking even more concerned.
"Apple Bloom, are you sure you're OK?"
"Ah'm hunky-dory." Apple Bloom responded, a little too quickly. "Um, uh, it looks like Sweetie Belle needs a bit o' help there."
"Oh!" Twilight turned in alarm, completely distracted. "Sweetie, don't move! Hold that right there! Spike, get some tape, on the double!"
Thankfully, Twilight rushed away to assist Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom sighed to herself.
Ah don't know what ah'm thinkin. Miss Twilight would never do anythin' like that. Ah didn't start around Pinkie this morning, just because she had a Pink mane, did Ah? So why should- but those eyes flickered into her vision again, and out...
Apple Bloom gently pushed the image to the back of her mind went back to her potion, though the tingling sensation had started up again.