"The-there's more? Already?" Amber stammered, craning her neck. It'd only been, what-- one, two days? More? It wasn't exactly like she could tell the time anymore, given how there wasn't really a sky.
The burnt pony brushed past her, eyes fixated on the additional bubbles that were now dotting the horizon.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
They glared over their shoulder in return, pointing a hoof at the world outside of their bubble.
"But you're not ready yet! You... you're still covered all over in burns! Are you sure you want to go out there again?"
Amber mentally slapped herself for sounding so much like her parents. She took a deep breath, stepping towards the burnt pony.
"Fine, we'll go together," she smirked, "I've been itching for a bit of adventure anyway."
Generating a movable bubble turned out to not be all that hard, actually; in fact, if anything, it seemed easier to create and maintain one than to generate a large, unmovable one. The nearest bubble from their own wasn't too far, luckily. Though, strangely, the walls to this particular bubble were opaque. Amber stopped a few steps away from the bubble's lining.
"Hello?" she shouted, pressing a hoof onto the walls, "Is anyone there?"
Surprisingly, the bubble rippled upon being touched. Waves fanned out in rings around her hoof, gradually fading away as they traveled.
"Come iiiiin!" a voice squeaked.
Amber stepped back, watching her mobile bubble merge with the one she stood before. The solid colors of the bubble wall drained away, opening a window into the new reality that awaited her and the burnt pony. She glanced back, receiving only a glare in response before stepping out of their bubble. Her eyes were immediately assaulted by a torrent of ridiculously oversaturated colors. Birthday balloons and streamers drifted freely above them, while cakes and other desserts sprouted from low-lying candied shrubs lining the path. The burnt pony appeared to gag at the utter sweetness of the air, turning away and wandering toward a stream of chocolate milk.
"Do you know where my friends are? I... I'm scared."
There was that voice again. Amber looked around. It seemed to come from every direction at once, as... as if--
A quiet sob rumbled up from the ground. The sky darkened, replacing the clear, sunny sky with dark, bulging clouds. The crying grew louder by the second, echoing from all around. Amber shrunk back, eyes wide. They weren't just in another bubble, they were in somepony's mind. How such a thing happened? She didn't know. Though, the burnt pony didn't appear to mind, based on the fact that they were currently uprooting a candy bush.
"H-hey, it... it'll be alright, we can be your friends too!" she stammered, staring into the sky. Warm raindrops began to patter down on her face. "Just... tell us your name, and we can maybe help you find your mom and dad."
"Yo-you promise?" the crying softened, as did the rain. "You promise you can find my mom and dad?"
"I... I promise."
The clouds began to part.
"Do you know where I am? I know you're there because I can hear you, but I don't know where I am..."
"Hold on a second, 'kay? I'm not sure if this'll hurt or not, but I'm about to try something."
Amber lit her horn, her mind reaching for the surreal landscape around her.
Peace.
It started off slow at first; balloons and streamers began to vanish one-by-one. The colors began to fade after that, desaturating to less eye-straining levels. The landscape of the bubble shifted next, warping and gurgling like water as absurd cliffs and valleys flattened themselves out. From the corner of her eye, Amber spot the burnt pony rolling their eyes at the disappearance of the candy bush, opting instead to light their horn and surround themselves in an illusion.
"W-what are you doing?" the filly's voice pleaded, "I... I feel--"
And now for the final part. Amber could only thank Celestia for the fact that the magic system in this bubble remained the same as the one in her own. This was a new spell to her-- she wasn't only working with illusions this time. This was a real landscape, and one that existed inside the mind of a filly, at that. There was no room for error. With the previous spell still active, Amber closed her eyes, imagining what the filly might've looked like. She seemed quite playful, so bright colors were certainly going to be a part of her. Maybe... maybe she would look something like one of the Elements of Harmony? ...Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie was her best bet for a body to give the filly.
She opened her eyes, the mana streaming from her horn beginning to run low. The filly now standing before her blinked, staring down at her hooves, then back to Amber.
"I'm... why am I Pinkie Pie but younger? I'm not even pink! I was green!"
Amber clenched her teeth. Did the filly not like Pinkie? Did she just royally screw somethi--
"I... I mean I guess that's okay. I don't think there's all that much candy that's green anyway..."
Well that was a relief.
The illusion spell around the burnt pony dropped. They stepped up to the filly, giving her an experimental sniff before gagging again.
"Don't mind my partner there, um..."
"My name's Minty Chips, ma'am."
"...Yes. You can just call me Amber. I don't really know what my partner's name is, though. Once again, don't mind 'em for now, they're still recovering."
Minty pointed a hoof at the burnt pony. "Where are they going, then?"
Amber's eyes opened wide. "Wait!" she yelled, bolting after them, "Wait, what are you doing? We're supposed to stick together!"
"Go," the burnt pony rasped, glaring back at the mare. "...want...leave."
"You... you want to leave already?"
The burnt pony nodded, turning their attention back to the bubble wall. A looming shadow grew over them.