Applejack wasn’t home.
When Applebloom got back, she had steeled herself to tell her sister of her conversation with Melissa and Lucy, fully knowing she’d be upset. After all, the phone wasn’t hers, it was Yolina’s; it belonged in the thestrals hooves and her hooves alone. She was fully aware that her actions over the course of the day were not completely the right ones. Still, getting in contact with ponies, griffons, or whatever that Yolina knew was a good thing.
Right?
It still made her wonder where Applejack was. Perhaps something evil had arisen from Equestria’s history, but that seemed unlikely. It was Friday, not Tuesday; everypony in Ponyville knew that Tuesday was “battle against ancient evil” day. Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Discord, and Tirek had all landed on a Tuesday. She had nothing to worry about, her sister was fine.
Yet then she remembered Melissa and Lucy’s warning, and her eyes looked to the sky. She swore there was an extra star that wasn’t usually there, but she couldn’t place which one. Why was a single star making her so scared? Its existence made sleep impossible.
With her body clearly not tired enough to sleep, she instead watched the night move on from the second floor of their house. The trees seemed more imposing than usual, darker and larger. It had to be a trick of the mind though, because tonight the moon was full. If anything it should have made the orchard lighter.
Perhaps her mind was playing tricks.
She pulled away from the window for a moment, looking at the phone resting on her bed. Melissa had mentioned it taking pictures, and she was interested to see how. Grabbing it and holding it steady on the window sill, she turned it on. After briefly covering her eyes from the sudden blast of light in her face, she pressed the small camera button and watched as the screen changed.
Her eyes lit up as she saw the faint outline of the outside world through the camera lens. She pressed the big white button and watched as both the camera and outside suddenly flash white. Jumping in the air with a yell, she fell back first onto her bed, Yolina’s phone resting on the window sill.
“Wh… what was that?” She whispered to herself, rolling back onto her hooves.
Despite the sudden terror brought from the flash, Applebloom’s curiosity had only piqued. Crawling back up to the phone, she checked the photo library. Her jaw dropped; the entire section of Sweet Apple Acres outside her window was far more visible than she had expected like a flashlight had been shined on it.
She had to take another picture, just to see if it happened again. Once more laying the phone sideways on her window, Applebloom eyed the picture button. Closing her eyes in preparation for the flash, she pressed it with her other hoof. A sound not unlike a standard camera hit her ear, and she opened her eyes.
Once again opening the photo library, she saw a nearly identical picture to the first one. It was incredible… but something felt wrong about this new one. She swiped back and forth between them, looking for whatever detail had caused that feeling. It was the tenth swipe back to the first picture that led her to the very back of the visible orchard. Needing confirmation she swiped to the second…
… her eyes looked outside.
“A-Applejack? Is that you?”
There was no reply, leading her to look back at the phone. The pony-like figure was still there, so her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. Perhaps it was a trick of the camera? Her heartbeat increasing, she took yet another picture to see if the night was playing some cruel prank on her. Upon viewing it… her breathing increased, growing more audible as the figure became clearer and closer to the house.
Applejack would have responded. Whoever this was, they were no Apple.
The sound of rushed hooves hit her ears, going from dirt to wood. The stranger was on the porch. The slow creaking of a creaking door got her ears, and her worry skyrocketed. This is what Melissa and Lucy were afraid of, weren’t they? The fear that had gripped her heart caused her brain to leap in logic, grabbing the phone, she quickly made her way to the emergency call screen.
Hastily putting in Melissa’s number she brought the phone to one ear and did her best to keep calm as she looked directly below her window. There was just enough space for her to get out and onto the roof. As the phone rang, she did just that, closing the window as much as she could behind her to make sure whoever just entered was unable to get to her. A pony that she felt was there for her specifically, her eyes briefly flicking to the phone she had against her ear.
“W-was Scoots right?” She whispered to herself.
The ringing of the phone suddenly stopped. For a brief pause, Applebloom worried it had not gone through.
“Applebloom? Is everything okay?” Melissa asked.
Applebloom had hoped hearing the creature on the other end would make her feel relieved, but instead it only scared her further. Melissa sounded as on edge as herself, though whatever the reason was she didn’t know.
“Miss Melissa, does your friend have ponies after them?” Applebloom asked. She heard her door open, quickly getting away from the window so as to not be seen by whoever was there.
She could see an old red light filter into her room, further cementing that this wasn’t somepony she knew. Unicorn auras also didn’t glow that significantly. The more she realized she didn’t know, the more she hoped for an answer.
“No. At least not last I was aware,” Melissa answered. “Why?”
“There is somepony I don’t know in my room. I don’t know what they look like, and they didn’t answer when I asked if they were my sister.” Applebloom moved up the roof as she spoke, her only real direction being away from her window. “There was also an odd red glow that I didn’t-”
The filly froze as a clop sound hit the roof, her eyes lingering on an odd hoof having made its way out the window. It hadn’t shattered the glass, phasing through it as if it was a damned spirit. That single hoof was all the pony needed to pull itself out and into Applebloom’s view.
The more she saw of it, though, the more she questioned if it was really a pony. It was featureless, like she was looking at a shadow rather than an actual pony. Despite not having eyes she knew it was looking at her, her own eyes unable to tear away from it. She backed up until one of her hind hooves was halfway off the roof.
“Okay, I found you,” it said in a tone far too unnatural, completely ripping out the nervousness the creature felt. Every piece of Applebloom’s body seized up, locking her in place as if Fluttershy had used the stare on her. “Just… stay still filly. Please. I want to die as little as you do.”
“M-Melissa, it’s not a pony,” Applebloom whimpered. “I-it’s not a pony.”
“Applebloom, run!” Melissa shouted.
All Applebloom managed to do was get one off dangling off the ledge before the creature shot forth with Rainbow Dash-like speed. It loomed over her, some power within it blinding her with nothing but an invisible stare. Applebloom tried to move anything, tail, hoof, head, even just her ear, but none responded.
“Applebloom?!”
“I know you’re scared, and I only wish there was some way I could reassure you everything will be alright, but if I don’t she’ll kill me and….”
The creature trailed off, looking away in panic and self reflection. As soon as it had, Applebloom felt her body able to move again. Not thinking, she stepped back. A scream left her lips, snapping the creature from its self reflection in time to see Applebloom’s lower body drop off the roof.
Not thinking, it reached out and grasped her left front hoof with its own. The filly’s handle on the phone slipped, and it fell to the ground below. She was left in darkness, with some unknown thing above her wanting her dead. At least, she was certain it wanted her dead.
Why had it saved her? Had it saved her? Applebloom’s brain went between both questions, looping back to each other in a constant loop. Not even the feeling of her hoof slowly slipping out from the creature’s own was enough to break her free.
What did break her free was the creature letting go, not by choice but through force.
Something had hit, as big as a pony but too quick for Applebloom to see. All she felt was a cold night breeze against her coat. Her eyes took in the faint glow of moonlight above her. All her mouth was capable of doing was screaming as all choice in direction was taken from her once again.
Yet this time she wasn’t frozen still. This time, Applebloom fell.
“Before the events of Hearthswarming, the three tribes held a disdain for everything that wasn’t like them. An earth pony would see horns or wings, and be drawn away, recognizing it as something not its own. This obviously extended to the griffons, dragons, hippogriffs, and changelings. I’ve long believed the theory that this is a side effect of our evolution into a sapient species, given our origins as prey animals. A side effect that I’m all too glad to see we are growing out from in modern times.
“While we make friends with those that we once feared or were hunted by, the effects of that era are still felt. Many times Princess Celestia has had to step on as two of the tribes near a fracturing point, and our relations with non-ponies are still recently budding. It only makes sense that this distrust had long manifested in ponies dreams, and given the most powerful of dreams are not destroyed upon the waking of a pony, it makes even more sense this xenophobic behavior manifested into a physical form.
“That physical form is the Lazaran: a great beast made of undying hatred, fear, and disgust of all creatures on Equus. It prowls the realm of dreams, eating and killing all in its path without care. It also tends to stray to Equus’ edge, seeming able to sense when something not of Equus enters this realm.
“Ordo Visio Nocturna has long since deemed this being too dangerous to combat through normal means. While it does gain power through feeding on dreams and nightmares like any other living nightmare, it also seems to grow stronger with hate. Until such a day arrives where the world is united in true harmony, I fear it is as immortal as Lady Luna.
“The best hope for any member of the Order who encounters it is to run. If that doesn’t work? Then death is all but certain.”
Twilight placed the papers down, unsure of what to make of the creature’s existence. To think that it was made by ponies wounded her soul, especially given all she had been working towards. The only good thing learning of its existence had done was make her more sure in the School of Friendship’s mission. If she could vanquish it, then any doubt ponies or other creatures had about friendship being the most powerful magic would vanish.
Yet behind that feeling of confidence lies worry. It was clear this was placed in front of her for a reason. A reason no doubt related to Yolina’s injuries and arrival in Ponyville. Was she associated with these “Ordo Visio Nocturna” ponies the report mentioned? It was a question she would have to ask later. The only thing she was certain of was this: the Lazaran was the cause behind Yolina’s injuries.
“She’s lucky to be alive. Incredibly lucky,” Twilight muttered to herself. Her magic lines the stack of papers to near perfection, slowly making adjustments until she was certain it was perfect. “Ordo Visio Nocturna. It’s… a slightly familiar name. Definitely old ponish words. Do I have anything about it?”
A yawn escaped her maw, telling her she should sleep. Instead, she started her research anew, specifically targeting things to do with the night or dream realm. It was clear things were connected to those topics, but how important they were remained to be seen.
She would figure it out by the end of the night though, or her name wasn’t Twilight Sparkle.
Yolina looked around warily at the walls of her hospital room, noting how clear everything was despite the rising of the moon. She was pretty certain ponies or horses weren’t nocturnal, but then again she was not an ordinary horse. Was this new body of her’s meant for a nocturnal species? It seemed to be the case. If her mind wasn’t distracted by other, more pressing matters, she might have asked more about what her new pony body was capable of.
Instead, she watched as the walls shifted. It wasn’t the kind of shifting brought by car lights in the middle of the night, casting shadows on the inside world. No, their dull brown color was literally shifting, dark splotches rising into form and moving around as if moles or groundhogs were digging under them. It disgusting, fleshy sound greeted her ears, reminding her too fondly of some horror movie or game Drew and Holly would show her.
She had no idea how they stomachs watching things like that, not because they were disgusting but because the plots were always pitifully bland or predictable.
That same predictability took form then too, but not because of the horror movie similarities. She had seen this far, far too many times before. Throwing the blankets off her, knowing she would be yelled at by doctors in the morning for no doubt ending up more wounded, she made to get out of bed. Grabbing her knights pin, having learned throughout the day that her hooves seemed to have invisible, octopus-like suction cups on them that allowed her to hold things like a human. She was all too thankful for their presence; she wouldn’t need to hold her weapon in her mouth.
Then, with the grace of a newborn earth foal, she flopped onto the floor. She let out a silent curse, remembering her broken tibia. It certainly wasn’t going to make this the best night of work in her life, but she had worked in similar conditions. It was a fact that had led her friends to get upset many times before, but she didn’t care.
The floor was wet, much to her surprise. A low level of black and red liquid had filled up her room and, without a doubt, the hallways too. She shook her head, knowing it was merely a result of powerful, ambient dream magic nearby. There was only one way to make it disappear, and in order to do so she would have to truly bloody her new hooves.
With a deep breath, she reached a hoof out and chanted. “Dreams of a disconnected reality, unite as one.”