//------------------------------//
// Scroll 27- Sweet Dreams are Not Made of These (Part 2) 
// Story: Beyond the Skies 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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Beyond the Skies- Sweet Dreams are Not Made of These Part 2




As Apple Bloom was walking, she was being cautious of everything that was around her. When she first woke up, the girl had found herself in what looked to be Ponyville at night, but something was off. Everywhere she went, Apple Bloom felt as if something was watching her, hiding around every corner in the shadows and disappearing when she looked to see what was behind her. The sounds of crows echoing in the night did little to help her feel at ease as she carefully walked these streets.

At one point in her walk, something caught her attention. One of the stores that was nearby had what could only be described as a malfunctioning light. She could see a small glow flicker every few moments sporadically, illuminating the interior of the shop before short circuiting and fading to black. It was strange, since there wasn’t anything else like that going on around town. Yet, to Apple Bloom, seeing that light gave her the hope that maybe there was someone around that could explain where she was.

Approaching the building carefully, she began to look through the window of the shop. At first, everything looked like the inside of a toy store, with all the games, dolls and action figures on the appropriate shelves. Yet, as the light above her flickered, Apple Bloom was startled to see everything was scattered all over the floor. The toys were broken to the point that they couldn’t be repaired. Pieces of board games were scattered everywhere, and torn pages from coloring books were scattered everywhere.

That was not the part that startled her the most. What startled her the most was when she began to notice something. Each one of the broken toys inside… looked like somepony she knew in Ponyville. A doll of Ms. Cheerilee was on the floor, covered in tears as the stuffing of the doll was spread out on the floor. A broken board game piece resembled Diamond Tiara’s crown, as if it was snapped in half. Even an action figure of a dragon was missing its arms had the same colors that belonged to Spike. “W-What’s going on-?” she said, putting both of her hands over her mouth in shock at what she was seeing.

“W-Well, a-ah’ll be… ya came back.”

Immediately, Apple Bloom turned away from the window, panic coursing over her as she looked around. She swore that she just heard Applejack just now, but could not see her anywhere. The girl believed that she was starting to hear things, but as she turned back around and looked inside, Apple Bloom found herself staring at the toys. Each one was staring back at her, as if their heads moved on their own.

That alone had Apple Bloom back away from the window, trying to process what was happening. Yet, she did not get the chance to do so once the girl noticed the set of glowing green eyes that reflected off the glass, “H-Have ya seen what y-ya done, Bloom?”

Slowly, Apple Bloom turned around, her pupils shrinking upon seeing who was behind her. It was Applejack, yet… something was horribly wrong. Her body might have looked like that of a pony, but moved and twitched like she was a machine. Her mouth was bigger in size, and her teeth were razor sharp fangs. Parts of her sister’s fur coat resembled torn cloth and were faded in several areas, while her eyes looked to have been made out of plastic.

“S-Sis?” she asked, horrified by what she was staring at. It sounded like A.J., but everything about the being in front of her made her think that it was a monster. “W-What happened to y-you-?”

“Don’t y-ya dare act like y-ya don’t know already,” it hissed, causing the startled girl to fall backwards onto the ground. As she tried to get up, the pony slammed its hoof into the wooden boards that were behind Apple Bloom, breaking them as it glared at her, its head twitching as it spoke, “Ya know t-this would happen after ya l-left us!”

“L-Left!? W-what are you talking a-about?!”

“Don’t be s-stupid, Bloom,” the being growled at her, “The m-moment ya g-got that special power of y-yours with the girls, the t-three of ya left us! Y-ya weren’t there w-when we n-needed it the most. Ya just t-threw me… a-and everypony else away! W-we were just broken toys t-to ya!!”

“T-that’s not true!! I wouldn’t-!”

“Don’t y-ya DARE LIE TO ME!!” it shouted again, striking the wood that was behind Apple Bloom’s head. Yet, it was as it moved its foreleg back that the girl could see what was under the fur coat as some of it was caught in the lumber plank that it just smashed: a metal limb, one that looked to have rusted in some places while intact in others. “Everypony here b-begged for ya to c-come and save us, but y-ya never came! E-even though y-ya promised us. A-ah told them that y-ya were coming any moment… but no! Y-ya must have been h-having so much f-fun that ya d-didn’t stop to t-think about the c-consequences, did ya?!”

“A-A.J., s-stop! P-please,” the girl pleaded, fearing for her life as the monster’s fangs shimmered from the light of the moon, “A-ah would never do something like that! Ah swear!!”

The being paused, its head twitching a bit more before looking back at Apple Bloom, its eyes looking back at her, “A-Ah once believed ya when y-ya said it the f-first time, Bloom… W-what makes ya t-think ah’ll b-believe ya again?”

“A-Ah don’t even have any p-powers yet-” she weakly spoke, wishing that this being would believe her. Yet, instead, it struck higher. This time cracking the glass on the window behind her.

“So, y-ya wish for me to believe a-another lie?!” its voice elevated, the cracks on the glass beginning to grow in size as Apple Bloom could see the toys from inside come to life and begin pushing against the window. “We b-became monsters because of y-you and the l-lie you told us b-before!! W-Why can’t ya j-just take responsibility l-like a good filly and a-accept that? M-make this easy on y-yourself, Bloom… Last c-chance.”

Many thoughts were bouncing off the walls of Apple Bloom’s mind right now. This… thing expected an answer from her, but if she messed up, it was only going to make things worse. But even if she told her the truth, it wasn’t like it was going to believe her. Trying to explain that she had no powers only resulted in this Applejack punching the window above her head. She had to get away… but how-?

“Well? I-it’s rude to keep s-somepony waiting, B-Bloom,” the irritated voice of the being growled, glaring directly at her, “What’s i-it gonna be?”

This was it. She had to give what she thought was the right answer. Everything depended on it. “Ah can’t.”

The being narrowed its gaze, gritting its teeth, “Come again, s-sugarcube?”

“Ah can’t take responsibility for something ah never did,” the girl shot back as she tried to get up off the ground, “If you were actually the A.J. that ah know, then ya would have believed me earlier… Ah don’t have powers. Ah’m not your Bloom, and you are not mah sis!”

At first, there was silence. The being stared at her as she processed what Apple Bloom had just said. It was only mere moments afterwards though that this Applejack’s savage growl returned, “Ah w-warned ya, but ah g-guess ah have n-no other choice.”

Immediately, as Apple Bloom attempted to move out of her position and back away from the being, they struck the glass one last time, shattering it into pieces as glass began to scatter everywhere, and the toys inside began to spill out of the store and spread out across the ground. She watched in shock as the toys started to pull themselves together and merge, taking on an incomplete form of a pony that was taller than Applejack and covered in shadows. Though, the shadows on the body did not act naturally at all. If anything, it was almost as if they were alive as they shifted and crawled along its body, never staying in one place.

It was only after a few seconds that she realized who the form was supposed to resemble… and it was enough to make her feel sick, “M-Mac?”

“Oh, it’s not M-Mac. N-not by a longshot,” this A.J. growled, “Unlike m-myself, this one is m-made up of all the b-broken souls that were lost because y-you were never around to s-save them… and t-they wanna make ya f-feel the pain that t-they feel.”

If seeing a giant stallion made of toys that resembled her brother wasn’t creepy enough, then what came afterwards surely was. From one of the shadows on its body, something began to emerge. Twisting and turning into a form that resembled none other than Spike. Yet, this one had claws that resembled knives and scissors poking out of its mouth. Another one popped out of another shadow moments later, this one looking more like her classmate Rumble. Yet, instead of a happy young colt, this one had metallic wings and metal plates covering over sections of his body that looked to have been injured, seemingly formed from small toy instruments reshaped into his body.

Given everything she was seeing and the de-formed monstrosities of her friends and family, Apple Bloom wanted to just run. She wanted to try and get as far away from them as possible, but couldn’t find it in herself to move. Applebloom felt as if her legs were frozen in place as she watched both the forms of Spike and Rumble approach her, shadows extending out from their spines that were tethered to Mac. 

Just as they were both mere inches away from her face though, Apple Bloom heard a familiar voice, “THAT’S ENOUGH!!”

The young girl turned to her right, shocked by who had just said that and relieved that they were here. Princess Luna was standing nearby, with both Calvin and Sweetie Belle right beside the alicorn as she hurried over to them immediately.

“W-Why YOU-!!” A.J. grit her teeth, staring menacingly at Luna. Her gaze filled with anger and hatred as her green eyes changed to a brimming red, “M-MAC, STOP THEM NOW!!”

Of course, that was not exactly the first thought that came to Calvin’s mind upon seeing this version of Applejack, “Wait… how is she a robot?”

“Seriously!?” Sweetie Belle deadpanned as she looked back at the Skyshifter, “That’s what you’re confused about, Calvin!? Why aren’t you asking about the fact that Big Mac is made up of TOYS!?” That just led to Calvin shrugging his shoulders as he looked back at the unicorn that was talking to him. “He’s a walking toy box for Luna’s sake!!”

“I’m standing right here…” the princess let out a deep sigh as she looked at Sweetie Belle, “Besides, we have more important matters to-”

Luna stopped speaking in that moment, feeling something grabbing hold of one of her front hooves. As she looked down, the princess was thrown off guard by seeing the ground looking up at the alicorn, her hoof caught in its mouth of rock teeth. Two empty pits with glowing orbs sparked above the mouth that served.

Naturally, the princess of the night reacted the only way that she could… by immediately unleashing magic at it, “BEGONE, FOUL FIEND!!!”

“Luna, what are you-?” before Apple Bloom could finish her question, a giant pillar of magic was unleashed, burning away at the monster that was part of the ground, until there was nothing left. Yet, that only seemed to make the fake A.J. even more furious as she glared at Luna.

“You’re going to REGRET THAT!!”

“Sweetie Belle, get Apple Bloom somewhere safe,” Calvin told her, before changing back into his Imaginator, “We’ll handle this!”

“Right,” Sweetie Belle nodded, grabbing her friend’s hand before quickly moving behind the fountain in the middle of town square. One of the monsters tried to go after them, but Calvin intercepted them midway and struck them with a powerful punch.

“S-Sweetie, w-what’s going on? H-How is this h-happening!? M-my sis is a monster here-!” Apple Bloom told her friend, just as they heard the sound of metal plates colliding and a blast of magic being fired from Luna’s horn. “H-How-!?”

“Apple Bloom, please calm down…” Sweetie explained, placing a hand on her friends shoulder to try and help her, despite the sounds of combat behind them, “This isn’t real… All of this is a dream. Trust me… I was trapped in one just like this, until Luna and Calvin found me.”

“B-But... A.J.…” Apple Bloom looked away, finding it hard to come to terms with this, “A-Ah know it can’t be her, but… what she said…”

“Apple Bloom, what are you talking about?” Sweetie now asked, worried for her friend as she tried to get her attention, “What did she tell you? This A.J.? Apple Bloom, she-”

“-told me that they’re like this because of us,” Apple Bloom’s words stopped Sweetie Belle almost instantly. She stared at her friend in disbelief, looking back at what Calvin and Luna were facing before looking back at Sweetie Belle, “T-They became monsters… because we were never there for them… we were never there when they needed us the most. We weren’t there to save them…”

“Apple Bloom,” Sweetie told her, trying to comfort her friend and think of what to say to make her friend feel safe, “I-”

Without warning, Apple Bloom did something that caught Sweetie off guard. Grabbing hold of the hand that Sweetie Belle placed on her shoulder, Apple Bloom looked at her. The girl’s eyes filled with desperation as she began to speak. “Sweetie Belle… Promise me that we will make sure everything that we’ve seen tonight doesn’t happen.”

Now, Sweetie Belle was not exactly the kind of person who liked being put on the spot. Yet, with everything that was going on right now and the battle that was raging nearby, she let out a small breath and said the two words that her friend desperately wanted to hear right now, “I promise.”

It might not have seemed much at the time, but to Calvin and Luna, Sweetie’s promise was definitely helping. In the moments afterwards, the shadows began to slowly get weaker. A.J. herself was finding it much harder to move her body and her reactions to her foes were much slower, something that was apparent when Calvin was able to strike her and knock her backwards.

“Luna, what’s going on?” the Skyshifter asked, noticing what was happening as he was trying to make sense of everything, noticing that the nightmare that looked like Big Mac was having a harder time holding itself together, even though it was still able to move.

“The dream… it’s changing,” the princess told him, before looking back towards Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. In her mind, something must’ve happened between them that had a major impact on the dream. Now, both of them were getting up and racing over to where Luna was standing.

“Princess Luna,” Sweetie Belle then spoke up as Luna conjured a barrier spell to shield herself from any attacks, “We came to help!”

“Glad to see that you two decided to join us,” the princess smiled, before firing a blast of magic back at her attackers, “Calvin and I can use your assistance right around now.”

“What can we do to help?” Apple Bloom then asked her.

“Since this is a dream, anything that you can imagine can be used to help you fight back against these nightmares,” the princess told them, before having to shield herself from another attack, “Whatever you can imagine can be a weapon.”

What Luna told them seemed puzzling at first, but after a bit, both of them got an idea. What the princess told them reminded the two girls of the time where they fought inside the Volcano at the Munitions Forge, but instead of turning into the forms of the Skylanders they tried to use that day, both of them decided to take a different approach. 

Instead of having themselves transform into a Skylander, they decided to imagine the weapons that belonged to the Skylanders that they tried to transform into previously. Both of them could feel an array of mist floating over their hands for a brief moment, revealing the weapons that they were picturing in their minds. For Apple Bloom, it was the trusty pair of revolvers that were used by the Tech Skylander named Trigger Happy. For Sweetie Belle, it was the bow that belonged to the Bowslinger Sensei of the Tech Element: Ro-Bow.

As the mist began to clear, the weapons that were in front of them fell into their hands and a quiver of arrows fell on Sweetie Belle’s back. Both girls looked back at each other, before they began to think of a plan, “Sweetie, go help Luna. I’m going to help Calvin.”

All Sweetie Belle could do was nod, testing her bowstring before pulling an arrow out of her quiver and going towards Princess Luna, knocking it on her string and preparing to fire it towards Mac. As for Apple Bloom, she was rushing over to Calvin. Even though his opponent was affected by the changes in the dream, she was still a dangerous foe that they should not take lightly.

As she was getting closer, Apple Bloom saw that A.J. was attempting to pounce towards Calvin. Quickly, she brought out both of her weapons and fired off two shots. The first one got stuck in between the top and bottom jaw while the other shot bounced off the head, knocking A.J. down to the ground as the Skyshifter turned towards his friend.

“Apple Bloom?” he asked, a bit caught off guard by the fact that the girl that they originally came here to help was now helping him instead, “N-not to sound ungrateful or anything, but what are you doing here-?”

“Sweetie and ah asked Luna how we could help you with fighting back,” she said, holding up her newfound weapons, “What? Ya think that we were just gonna let ya fight this by yourself? What kind of friend would ah be if ah didn’t help ya when you were in trouble?”

Calvin blinked for a moment, surprised at what Apple Bloom was telling him. He was having trouble coming up with something to say, but just decided to let it go as he let out a small sigh, “Fair point.”

Before either of them could continue, they watched as A.J. slow got up off the ground. One of her forehooves poked at her teeth as they saw that one of the coins that Apple Bloom fired was stuck in there, much to A.J.’s displeasure, “D-Did you just…!? Ngh! W-Why can’t ah m-move my jaw-?!”

Apple Bloom didn’t say anything. Instead, she responded by taking her revolvers and shooting at A.J. again. This time, her shot was able to break some of A.J.’s fangs. “Rrgh! W-Why you-!”

That just had Calvin look back at Apple Bloom, before asking the first question that came to his mind, “So, you want to team up?”

“If that’s the only way ah’m getting out of this nightmare, then count me in!” Apple Bloom nodded, readying her weapons once more and aiming them at their opponent.

As the two of them were going toe to toe with A.J., Sweetie Belle and Luna were working together to defeat the other nightmares that were there. While Luna was using her magic to defend herself against the nightmares of Spike and Rumble, Sweetie Belle was firing off arrows towards the one of Big Mac they were connected to. In her mind, if she could find a way to defeat Mac, then it could affect the nightmares that Luna was currently up against.

Yet, between the two of them, Sweetie believed that her task was a lot more challenging. Even if the nightmare was weak, it still was able to move out of the way of several of the arrows that she fired at it. Not to mention that if she did happen to injure the nightmare, the nightmare would slowly begin to mend its own wounds.

“Darn it. None of this is working,” she grit her teeth, pulling out another arrow and knocking it on the bowstring, “What can I do to really hurt this thing? He can see everything I fire at him.”

Thinking about that thought had Sweetie Belle realize something. If her foe could see everything that she could fire at them, what would happen if they couldn’t see at all? If they were blinded somehow, then it would give her an opening to attack. Picturing it in her mind, Sweetie took off the arrow that she had knocked on her bowstring and grabbed a new one from her quiver. Unlike the other arrows that she had that had a drill arrowhead, this one had an arrowhead that had what looked like a glowing orb of light attached to the end of it.

“Dear Celestia, I hope this works,” she prayed, pulling back the arrow before releasing and letting it go as the arrow flew towards the nightmare. As it went through the air, cracks around the orb began to form and grow in size. When it was a few steps away from her foe, the orb shattered and set off a massive flash of light in front of the nightmare. The sudden flash caused it to shriek in pain as a shadow appeared within the space between the toys and covering its eyes, while its tendrils were trying to hold the toys surrounding it together.

“Oh, dear Celestia, it worked!” Sweetie thought to herself, letting out a sigh of relief. Her small gamble had paid off and exposed a weak point that she could exploit. Preparing another arrow, she carefully aimed another arrow towards the shadow and let it fire. However, even if the arrow hit its target, it did not seem to really harm the nightmare as it crawled back into its body, trying to pull the toys closer to better protect itself from the light with.

Much to her dismay, “Oh, come on!!”

“Sweetie Belle, remain calm,” Luna instructed her, using another spell to keep both Spike and Rumble away from her before turning towards the girl, “Now that you know its weakness, you must figure out how to truly defeat it so you can put this nightmare to rest. Your friend is counting on you right now!”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Sweetie Belle retorted internally, moving back a bit and trying to reposition herself as she prepared to draw another arrow from her quiver, “Anything I try barely hurts this guy’s hide! Not even attacking the shadow when it’s outside its body seems to be working.”

She recalled that the nightmare itself shrieked and cowered in pain when she used the flash arrow just a little while ago. Yet, Sweetie needed something that was a lot stronger than that simple flash and could cover a rather wide area. After a few seconds, a new thought began to click in her mind, giving her an idea on what exactly she should use.

Quickly, Sweetie prepared another flash arrow onto the bow and began to draw it back. Releasing it while the nightmare’s attention was focused on Luna, the bright light went off as it turned its head back towards her. Same as before, the orb shattered within a few steps of the nightmare, forcing it to roar in pain and agony as the shadows tried to keep it together. This time though, instead of firing a normal arrow at the shadow, Sweetie had something different in mind. She pulled out an arrow that looked similar to the standard ones that she used before, but this one had a blunt end that had a crimson glow emanating from it.

Carefully, she pulled back the arrow and aimed it at the weak point that had been exposed before. Once Sweetie had her target, she let the arrow fly through into the exposed opening. As the shadows tried to reform itself, the explosive charge at the tip of the arrow exploded, destroying the nightmare and sending the toys that made up its body everywhere. The other two nightmares, Spike and Rumble, crumbled within seconds, falling over onto the ground as the shadows at their bases faded like dust.

“Well done, Young Sweetie,” Luna congratulated her.

“T-Thanks,” Sweetie Belle let out a sigh as she looked back at the Princess, “Though, I don’t think we’re quite out of this yet. We should go and see if Apple Bloom and Calvin need any help.”

For a moment, the princess chuckled as she looked back towards Sweetie, “Don’t worry. I think the two of them have everything under control.”

For a moment, Sweetie was confused by what Luna was telling her. After all, they came here because they needed to help Apple Bloom, so why would she say something like that now? Yet, it was when she looked over towards them that she caught a glimpse of both her and Calvin. From what she could see, the two of them were actually winning against their opponent and pushing her into a corner. Calvin then began to conjure a fire blast at the nightmare that was strong enough to not just burn through the outside of its body, but melt the metallic frame on the inside until there was nothing left at all.

Once their battle had finished, Sweetie Belle and Luna began to make their way over to where Calvin and Apple Bloom were standing. “Well done you two, especially you, Apple Bloom. You were rather brave, considering that you were up against a nightmare that resembled your own sister,” the night princess complimented them, before looking back at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle now, “However, our work is not yet finished. We still have one more of your friends that is trapped within a nightmare, much like the ones that both of you were in. Once we save Scootaloo from her nightmare, then we can say that we succeeded. Are you ready?”

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Calvin all looked at each other for a moment, before they all gave her a collective nod. “Lead the way, Princess.”




End Part 2