It was a well done simulation of a sunny day in Ponyville. Fluttershy sat outside her house having a small picnic with Angel. Around them were some of the other animals who had been unfortunate enough to be turned into living replicas of their former selves. Several small clouds dotted the sky, drifting lazily in a circle around Ponyville, the Everfree, and even the recently added scale model of Canterlot.
Angel tapped a foot impatiently until Fluttershy noticed. “Oh you’re out of carrots?” she asked. He nodded his head, and after fishing around in her saddlebag for a moment, she located another carrot for him.
The bunny looked just like Fluttershy remembered him. Twilight’s magic had improved to the point that most of the animals, and the ponies who behaved, had a fine peach fuzz of fur. Angel had taken to the captivity well, as Twilight had little reason to torment the animals. They followed their natures, rising in the morning to forage for food as if nothing had changed. Perhaps for them, their lives had improved greatly. There were no longer predators for them to fear, eating was optional, and there were no illnesses.
Fluttershy smiled as she looked over to the chicken coop where her animals went about pecking at the ground. She had been apprehensive at first after Twilight had kidnapped her. She had lost every animal she had cared about, plus most of her friends, as she was one of the last ponies to be captured by Twilight.
Twilight had comforted Fluttershy when she had found her alone and heartbroken, and showed her the kindness of a painless transformation. Fluttershy had later found out that most of the ponies had met more brutal ends, as various poisons, spells, or just sadistic outbursts led to their new life of “immortality.”
Perhaps it was for that reason that she had quickly sided with the ponies often referred to as the sympathizers. Here in New Ponyville life could be peaceful and almost as full of joy as their lives had been before their capture, at least for some. For Pinkie, Fluttershy, Big Mac, the foals and fillies, and a few other ponies, this life was one without sickness or worry. It was sad at times to think of their lost friends, but it was a scale replica of their homes to the smallest detail in a land that would never know famine or sickness.
“You look lost in thought, want another cupcake?” Pinkie asked. She was smiling widely as she sat at the picnic with Fluttershy.
“Thanks, I was just thinking about how nice it has been here.” Fluttershy took one of the cupcakes off the plate.
“I’m just glad Twilight has been expanding the food stores, though I guess now that we eat less than a small mouse it’s gotten a lot easier!” Pinkie grabbed two of the cupcakes and tossed them up into the air, catching them in her mouth. “They’re really good, I was thinking of throwing Twilight a welcome back party when she returns. I wonder how many of these mini-cupcakes would be enough for somepony her size?”
Fluttershy looked towards the entrance to the cave. She couldn’t see it, in fact the spell that prevented them from remaining animated if they fled would also make it look like a normal sky until you got near it. She knew it was in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres though. The replica continued to expand, but so far had only expanded in other directions. At this rate it could reach griffonstone or the ocean in a few months. Somehow Twilight had found a way to continue carving out new sections of cave in her misguided quest to recreate all of Equestria.
“I’m not sure, I think she will just appreciate a gesture of kindness. It’ll also mean more new ponies to welcome, and the last group was less than thrilled…” Fluttershy frowned and looked back at Angel, trying to take her mind off it.
There were a few reactions she had come to expect as the unofficial welcoming committee. When Fluttershy failed to calm the often painfully murdered abducted ponies, there were repercussions. The most common was ponies running their mouths until they forced Twilight to make a demonstration. Depending on the severity of the insults a punishment would vary. Perhaps a pegasus would try to fly to freedom and be punished by losing its wings for weeks, or a colorful epithet would resolve with their mouth being removed.
Twilight had gotten so tired of ponies promising not to tell if only she would make an exception and let them go, that she’d once removed a pony’s mouth and nose. The punishment left them to feel like they were suffocating for a week. Fluttershy shuddered as she remembered the pony flailing about for a few days, before finding enough composure to walk. It was only after Fluttershy had put in a good word for her a third time that the pony was returned to normal.
“Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy, you’re getting really good at it! Plus this time they’ll have cupcakes.” Pinkie tilted her head in thought. “Twilight’s never been gone this long before though, the ponies she brings back may have been frozen and hidden in her saddle bags for days…”
“You don’t think she got caught, do you?” Fluttershy felt a rising fear in the pit of her stomach. “If… she messed up and got captured, do you think she’ll tell them where we are? What if we’re like this forever, without rescue.”
Pinkie gave her a hug and rubbed her back. “Don’t think like that, she’ll be back and she’ll get better and things will go back to the way they were. Just… without AJ, Shining, or Cadence.”
“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked.
“Totally! She’s already gone through denial and anger, there’s only a few stages left until she accepts her grief. I was thinking, maybe I can get her to sit in on one of the counseling sessions I’ve been having with the ponies that are having the hardest times here.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow “you… want to give Twilight group therapy?”
Pinkie laughed and nodded her head. “My group therapy has the best sweets, plus I do a stand up routine at the end. Sometimes laughter is the best way to help the medicine go down.”
“Thank you, Pinkie.” She smiled and continued, “I’m glad you didn’t change like Dash and Rarity… I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Dash muttered under her breath as she tapped a hoof impatiently. It was almost six and only half the residents in New Ponyville had showed up for the important meeting she had called. There was also a storm cloud hovering right over Carousel Boutique that had been bugging Dash for a couple days. The weather system here was barely under control by some amateurs that hadn’t had their wings clipped.
She extended her wings and looked at them. As part of her last punishment, and to ensure there were no escape attempts while Twilight was gone, each of her primary feathers had been cut to prevent Dash from flying. While the feathers looked, felt, and even smelt real, they were useless to her now. She couldn’t do something as simple as fly up to that storm cloud and buck the lightning out of it.
“Are you okay, darling?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, fine,” she huffed.
“Have you thought about what Twilight said? If you’d just make a few concessions to her, you’d get your wings back. She’d even get rid of that outfit.”
Dash looked down at her hooves. She was still wearing the Wonderbolts flight suit she had been wearing when she had been turned into a doll. Or rather, it was painted on to her mostly plastic doll body. “First off, I love this uniform, it reminds me every day of what I had before Twilight took it away. Then, she took Scootaloo away! Who knows if they’re even still alive, or trapped out there somewhere, a tiny inert doll, for eternity!”
“I’m sure Scootaloo is fine,” Rarity said. “After all, Luna and Celestia came for Twilight, we all heard the fight. You saved your little sister, even if she wasn’t one by birth. You meant everything to Scootaloo and were willing to lose it all for her. That took a lot of loyalty.”
“I’ve still got seventy-something ponies left to save, and we’re not gonna get free by making concessions. No that’s how it starts, tea parties and donuts, snuggling with that monster in bed. Next thing you know, you’ve gone full Stockholm like Lyra!”
Dash paced back and forth in front of the town square, looking over to Rarity and Octavia. They were helping lead the resistance, the group of ponies dedicated to defeating Twilight and freeing everypony at all costs. Several ponies had sacrificed to aid them, but none more so than the other ponies at the head of the movement.
Dash had sacrificed her biggest fan, and briefly adopted sister, Scootaloo to send her on a fool’s errand to get help. Rarity had been tortured harshly and often, since she had the most to lose. If Twilight ever thought Rarity was holding back from her, she would threaten Sweetie Belle. Given her propensity for melting ponies on hot plates, Rarity had to walk a fine line to help the resistance get Sweetie Belle to safety.
Sprocket, the inventor Twilight had captured, may have been unimposing but had built several devices to aid the resistance. Vinyl had been willing to do anything to escape, almost costing her life before she could tell Octavia how they felt. Octavia, for her part, was essential in planning and coordinating. Like Sprocket, Octavia was often overlooked by Twilight as just an Earth pony.
Together the five of them had scattered safe houses throughout the replica town. Each had one of Sprocket’s faraday cages built out of salvaged wiring and pipes to protect them from Twilight’s scrying and freezing spells. Lately they had been dividing up knowledge of safe house locations at Octavia’s suggestion, to ensure no one head of the resistance could flip and give away all the locations. They also rarely met as a group, keeping at least one of the five in a strong room at all times.
Perhaps the most important hiding place was under Sweet Apple Acres. It was here that they had been tunneling to freedom. Once they got past the spells keeping them confined to the town, they could send another pegasus for aid.
The clock chimed six times, and Dash looked up to see that most of the ponies in town had arrived. Among the ponies, even Pinkie and Fluttershy had come. In the distance, loomed the plushie of Big Mac, and Dash scowled. He had fallen as far as Lyra in his pathetic attempts to appease Twilight, though it had resulted in Apple Bloom being freed.
Dash jumped up onto a wooden platform and cleared her throat as the clock tower finished ringing. “Thank you everypony for coming. We just wanted to talk to you today about why you shouldn’t snitch. Twilight’s gonna be back anytime, she usually is gone a day each week max, so expect her to barge in anytime in one of her moods!”
She looked at Mac, wishing her eyes could shoot lasers. “Our latest plan is proceeding, but thanks to some ponies we can’t discuss that freely anymore. Octavia here is going to explain why if you do overhear something about our plans, you should keep your mouths shut.”
Octavia took the steps up onto the wooden platform and nodded, “thank you, Dash.” She looked out at the crowd, noticing that Berry Punch was still locked into a small wooden set of stocks. She couldn’t quite remember what she was being punished for, and looked back to the crowd.
“As you’re all aware, Twilight claims she has taken Apple Bloom and freed her as a reward for Big Mac feeding into her delusions of friendship. She’s also offered a similar reward to each of you to free yourself or loved ones if you provide her enough useful information. This is a lie.”
“I’m sure some of you have heard of the prisoner’s dilemma. A guard captures two ponies but doesn’t have enough evidence to send either to prison. If neither confesses then both will go free. So the guard offers each of the ponies a deal.” Octavia looked over the crowd and was pleased to see most paying attention.
“The two ponies are kept isolated from each other. The guard then talks to each. If the first pony confesses all the details of the crime the second pony committed, then the first pony goes free and the second is tossed in prison. If the second pony snitches on the first pony, then the first pony goes to prison and the second goes free.”
Octavia tapped her hoof on the platform to ensure she had everyone’s attention for the next part. “But if both ponies snitch on each other, then they both get sent to prison.”
She waited a moment to let that sink in before continuing. “Twilight knows that we all want to free ourselves. She knows that we will be all too happy to snitch on another pony to see them punished while our own life improves. It’s pony nature… And that’s why it’s so important that when she gets back, no matter what she does to us, we do not give her truthful information. We do not turn on one another. If we do, then we will only all be trapped here longer.”
“If we can just be patient a little longer, then instead of selling each other out, we can all escape together when we finish our latest plan.”
Dash looked out at the crowd of assembled ponies. She paid particular attention to Derpy and Dinky, and to a group of school-aged foals and fillies standing near their relatives. “I know some of you would be willing to sacrifice anything to save somepony close to you, especially for the foals and fillies. So I just want to let you all know, Sprocket’s built an energized coil thingy he says gets hot enough to melt a doll. So either you’re all gonna do what Octavia says, or I’m gonna have to start setting an example you can understand.”
Several of the ponies began to grumble and a few began to leave as closing remarks were made. Towards the back of the crowd, in the relative safety of the large plush Big Mac, stood Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Sweetie Belle.
“Dash has to be bluffing, maybe I should go talk to her,” Fluttershy said.
“No, we best not bother them when they are worked up into one of their moods,” Pinkie answered. “Let’s stick near Big Mac until we’re done finishing the surprise party. I have a feeling Twilight will be back soon.”
“Eeyup.”
Luna and Trixie were walking down a long row of apple trees. Each was about thirty feet high and threatened to completely cut off the light from the noon sun. Finally in a small clearing they found the clubhouse they had been looking for, looming almost twenty feet tall ahead of them.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to seeing the world through another pony’s dreams,” Trixie said. “I mean, I know the trees aren’t this tall, but it feels real.”
Luna nodded, “It’s real for Apple Bloom. This is the world as seen through her eyes, relived in her subconscious when she dreams. Every pony’s face, every crusade, tree, flower, animal, and house is in her memories. From that set of… building blocks, her mind has built this dream out of her perceived reality.”
Trixie and Luna began to climb up the steps to the clubhouse. “So, you’ve been teaching me to dream walk so I can explore Apple Bloom’s dreams for pieces of her reality as a doll?”
Luna smiled widely, “You’re very astute, my pupil. Yes, though Apple Bloom has been blocked from consciously remembering the Dollhouse, the memories must still exist, and will present themselves if we encourage her gently. However, her fears, anger, guilt, and more will also manifest themselves.”
The two stopped at the door to the clubhouse, and Lyra looked back. From here the winding staircase descended through some clouds and to the ground hundreds of feet below. The sun had set and the sky had darkened to reveal the stars and the full moon. “Trixie thinks she has a fear of heights.”
“Are you ready? Apple Bloom should be inside.” Once Trixie had nodded, Luna knocked on the door and pushed it open.
The room expanded as they stepped inside, revealing a cluttered mess of books, toys, and crusader capes. Near the podium Apple Bloom sat, drawing on the wall a series of checkboxes and small figures as she muttered to herself.
“Cutie mark for playing dead? They say if you play dead predators leave ya alone… but Twilight is smarter than that.” Apple Bloom crossed it off her list. “Hmm, maybe when she comes for me again Ah can offer her a deal? No, that’s silly, Big Mac already made a deal… Maybe Ah need to learn to use a knife for self-defense? Ah’ve always wanted a self-defense cutie mark.”
Luna whispered to Trixie, “Go ahead and introduce yourself and try to guide her to remember about the Dollhouse. Try to guide her away from anything too traumatic.”
Trixie nodded and stepped over some open books, each one a journal for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Instead of stunts and cooking, they were now filled with images of mostly dead purple alicorns. She reached Apple Bloom and put on a smile. “Hey, Apple Bloom. How are you?”
She looked up to Trixie, and then to Luna. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to check on you and to ask you to do something very important. I promise to keep you safe, I am great and powerful after all.”
“What is it?” she asked. She seemed to shrink slightly as the sound of rustling leaves outside vanished.
“I need you to show us the Dollhouse after Twilight moved it.”
There was a loud thundercrack outside that rattled the windows and nearly sent Trixie leaping into the air in shock. The walls had begun to fall back, expanding the room rapidly, as everything not near Apple Bloom receded into the distance.
The filly looked up and shook her head, “No… no you don’t want to go there, it isn’t safe. She’ll see us. She’s always watching.”
Trixie stepped back in surprise as a pair of eyes appeared in the floorboards, quickly fixating on her as the pupils shrank. All around her in the darkness glowing purple eyes appeared, a sickly green swirling from them as it fell towards the floor. Trixie could hear Luna nearby, though she couldn’t see her. “You can do this Trixie, remember to guide her and help her shape the nightmare so she can confront it.”
Apple Bloom looked past Trixie towards Big Mac, he was missing an eye and had fluffy white cotton spilling from his side.
“You’re safe, Apple Bloom, I won’t leave you.” Trixie looked over to the red pony, “did Twilight hurt your brother?”
She shook her head as the image stumbled across the floor, slowly pulling itself back together until it loomed over them, a dozen feet tall. “No… she promised not to hurt him, or me. She keeps her promises. Even when she didn’t want to”
Big Mac stepped on one of the eyes in the floor and the ground shuddered, before vanishing in a wisp of smoke. The floor shook again, accompanied by a loud clopping noise, then another. Above them towered a mare with frazzled hair and fur matted from not being well maintained.
The two looked up, but could only see up to the pony’s neck. Above that a pair of glowing green eyes looked down at the two of them.
Trixie gulped, and spoke as much to soothe her own nerves as Apple Bloom’s. “It’s going to be okay, this is a dream. Luna and I are in control…”
“She had to take me, she didn’t want to, I think, but she didn’t know what else to do.” Above the eyes a cone began to glow deep shades of oily purple and black, dancing in the darkness and highlighting the pink streak in the alicorn’s hair.
”A promise is a promise, one year. Ah was as true a friend as Lyra, and you let her go.”
Trixie looked toward the source of the voice, seeing Big Mac again at Twilight’s side. The foreboding glow faded a bit as the pony loomed over Apple Bloom, who had taken to clutching Trixie’s leg.
”I’m… not sure, how do I know you won’t just turn on me once she’s safe? I can’t get hurt again, not like when I let Lyra go… if I lost you too, if you changed your mind…”
”See her safe to Canterlot, she still has Granny Smith and our relatives. Ah won’t leave you Twilight, not until the day ah can finally die and see my AJ again…”
There was a commotion they couldn’t see, and the floor began to move beneath them. There was an echoing laughter in the darkness causing Apple Bloom to tremble.
“What happened next? Did you see anything? Why is it so dark?” Trixie asked. She could smell that the air was damp and a bit musty, but so far had not seen any hints as to their location.
“She kept her word, she took me home. She had us hidden in her cave near the—”
Before she could finish, Apple Bloom let out a scream as she tightened her grip on Trixie. The two ponies floated up into the air together, closer to the ominous pair of eyes and horn that were glowing brightly.
“Luna!” Trixie shouted in a moment of panic. They were nearing the eyes and suddenly shot to the side, landing inside a large leather saddlebag alongside a book and some large baked oat snacks.
“That’s all I saw for days,” Apple Bloom stated. She hit a hoof on the leather and dust shot up into the air. The bags were jostled as a pony climbed stone steps.
“Thank you, Apple Bloom, but what were you saying? Where was the cave?” Trixie asked.
“Ah don’t know… it was so dark, the others kept the fillies away when she was angry, we never got to see the good stuff.”
Trixie patted her on the back to comfort her as the dream suddenly vanished, and the pair of them landed back in the clubhouse with a loud thump. It had returned to its normal size, with the gentle breeze outside and the full moon illuminating the club house.
“Thank you, Luna,” Trixie said.
“We’ll still need to work on your ability to not get caught up in the moment, but that was well done. Until I stepped forward to help, and the memories appeared to vanish…”
“What could cause that to happen? Do you think it is some sort of spell to keep you out of her memories?” Trixie asked.
“Anything is possible, perhaps we can try again if Apple Bloom is—”
Luna tilted her head and looked up to the moon, lost in thought. Trixie sat with Apple Bloom for a minute before finally asking “What is it?”
She frowned and looked back at her. “I placed spells on some ponies I considered high risk, I just realized that one of them has failed. It’s Soarin.”
Trixie shot to her hooves, startling the filly who had been leaning against her. “How long ago since the spell failed?”
“I don’t know,” Luna answered. “We perceive time differently in dreams, no more than a night but perhaps I noticed in time to catch her in the act if I leave at once. She’s finally made a mistake after all this time…. Trixie, you know the spell to exit the dream world. If you have trouble, stay with Apple Bloom and wait for dawn.”
“Wait—” Trixie shouted, already seeing where this was going. In a flash of moonlight, Luna was gone. “—I haven’t done that spell on my own before…”
She sighed and sat down next to Apple Bloom, who began to rub Trixie’s back. “Ah’ll be fine, and so will you. Go, help our friends”
Trixie smiled and hugged the filly. “Thanks, I’ll head out in a bit and return to the waking world. But first, why don’t we find a nice safe spot in the clubhouse to tuck you in for the night?”
Luna snapped awake in her bedchambers and glanced over at Trixie on one of the royal sofas, offering a quick “Sorry” as she headed off to get her royal regalia on.
The tracking spell was currently located near the Canterlot graveyard, likely in the nearby morgue. Luna was shocked to realize that Twilight would boldly barge right into Canterlot, and a wave of dread washed over her. Both Luna and Celestia had placed spells to detect if Twilight entered Canterlot, and both had failed.
The air popped with energy and Luna was standing in a sterile brick room with an acrid smell of disinfectants. She stood across from a wall of metal doors, inside each a pony could be stored until burial. Luna began to walk towards one of them when a door opened and a pony walked in, dropping a tray that contained what had likely been their dinner.
“P-princess Luna?!” The pony adjusted his lab coat and began levitating his meal back to a nearby desk. “You gave me quite a shock, most of my visitors are a lot less… teleporty.”
“Quickly, a pony was brought in here recently, who was it and who brought them in?” Luna demanded.
“It’s uh… Soarin, in 3B there. It’s all on the clipboard. His next of kin said he was to be cremated,” and he nodded his head to his right towards the orange glow coming out of three slits in a locked furnace.
Luna bit her tongue to avoid saying anything rash. This mortician was just doing his job and probably didn’t realize how close he had come to being murdered and trapped as a toy for eternity.
She took the clipboard off 3B and opened the door to peer inside, just to make sure it was empty. Luna looked down at the clipboard and began to read aloud. “Soarin, heart attack, no signs of trauma … no pulse detected by first responder ponies… family requested cremation.”
The mortician went over to check the furnace, “It doesn’t look like it’s been used. I’m sorry if there was a mistake but it’s too late now. Soarin’s not here, so where is he?”
Luna continued reading to herself as she reached the end of the forged document, coming across the name of the doctor who had ordered Soarin’s cremation. “Signed by Dr. Echo…”
There was a cracking noise as the clipboard splintered and fell to the ground. Luna felt a darker side of her stir with hunger and feed upon her pain. Echo had been her closest confidant, the one pony she had opened up to without holding anything back. That Twilight would invoke his name to flaunt her victory led her mind down many dark paths. After a few moments she regained her composure and got the nightmare under control.
She glanced over to see the mortician looking white as a ghost. “My apologies, you have done nothing to offend... but somepony else most certainly has. These medical forms were forged by Twilight Sparkle.”
At the mention of her name, the mortician paled further, making his white lab coat look gray in comparison. “Oh my, and … she was in here? Poor stallion would have been better off in the oven.”
“Yes, truly her hubris knows no bounds. She redirected my tracking spell here, then flaunted it.” Luna sent a spell out to end the fake tracking spell. “Luckily, she will not fool me twice.”
Her horn glowed and she sensed the second spell she had placed. Soarin was Lyra’s lover, and as such Luna had placed a backup tracking spell in the hopes that, should the worst come to pass, Twilight would overlook it.
Intuition paid off as she detected the spell near the edge of the Everfree Forest. Luna felt a knot in her throat. Once Twilight entered the Everfree, the wild magic of the forest would decrease the accuracy of the tracking spell. Instead of knowing the location of Soarin to the nearest yard, she would only know the direction of the pony, turning it into a game of hide and seek.
She had a decision to make. Luna could teleport immediately and might catch up to her in time, but be left to confront Twilight alone and without backup. The other option was to let her escape, regroup, and make a more coordinated attempt with the help of Celestia, Lyra, and Scootaloo.
“For Celestia’s sake—” Luna made up her mind and with a loud pop she was gone.