//------------------------------// // The Dream // Story: The Järkivääristää // by Efimero //------------------------------// “Oh, look,” said Fluttershy’s feeble voice, “I think she’s waking up.” “Finally,” mumbled Rainbow Dash. “Don’t be rude, Rainbow,” intervened Rarity, “I bet she’s exhausted from all her training.” “Wha... what happened?” she asked her friends confused. “You fell asleep, sugarcube,” Applejack whispered. “On top of your player sheets.” “Huh? Player sheets?” “Yeah, silly!” said Pinkie Pie. “The character sheets for Lairs and Lizards. The game Spike brought this morning.” Spike sat on a big armchair, dressed with dark robes, a pointy hat and a fake beard. “Yeah, Twilight. You fell asleep before the big final battle. We have advanced some without you. Do you want me to fill you in?” “Hmmm... no... I think I need some coffee,” she replied, walking to the treehouse kitchen. Spike took off his clothes and followed her. “I think we’re out of coffee, Twilight. We probably drank too much today. How about some tea?” “I don’t care, Spike,” she continued. “It’s pointless anyway. Nothing of this is real.” She spoke softly, knowing she couldn’t convince them by shouting. “What did you just say? Are you sure you’re all right?” Twilight came back from the kitchen with a hot, steamy cup of delicious coffee and sat again on her chair. “Dear friends, I am in the obligation to inform you that this world is not real,” she spoke ceremoniously. “Well, of course,” Rainbow said, “it’s just a game.” “Y-you mean the game, right?” asked Fluttershy doubting and fearing for her own existence. “No, Fluttershy. I mean this world in which we are standing,” Twilight replied calm and condescending. “But darling, that is preposterous!” insisted Rarity. “How can you possibly deny our very existence? Am I misinterpreting something here?” “Well, Rarity, tell me,” continued Twilight, “how can you explain the gigantic elephant that has been standing in the middle of the room the whole time that we can all clearly see?” “Hey, Twilight! How come ye’re bein’ so inconsiderate now?” Applejack scolded her. “He’s my friend Jack! Show some respect. He came from far away to see me, ya know?” “I-I’m sorry if I’ve bothered you, Ms Sparkle,” said the big elephant with a tartan shirt. “No, don’t worry. It’s not about you, really. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” Twilight apologized. “You are being kinda weird, you know?” Pinkie told her with her high-pitched voice. “Yeah, yeah. It’s gonna be weird, but you gotta listen.” She sipped the coffee. It tasted delicious like no other coffee she had had before. “We have been enthralled. This is a mirage inside our dreams, preventing us from waking up. We have to fight it to wake up, but don’t worry.” She paused to pace her discourse, looking at her worried friends. “I think I can prove to you that this is not real and that we are all dreaming the same dream.” “Ahm not so sure about this, Twilight. I think ya had a bad dream and confused the game with the real,” Applejack stated firmly. Spike inquired some more. “Yeah, that sounds a lot like the story we were playing, don’t you think?” Twilight rested on her chair for a moment pondering what had been real and what a dream and, if the dream was real and what she thought real a dream, what was part of the dream and what was real for her friends? She knew this place was a dream, but she couldn’t prove it even to herself except for that crystalline sensation of surprise lack. No matter what happened next, she felt it was bound to happen, even if it was absolutely ridiculous. But her friends seemed to be oblivious to the nature of this experience and they just kept looking at her, wondering what was wrong. Finally, she broke the silence once again to try and put things in order. “I... I don’t want you guys to be scared or anything, ok?” she said now with some doubt in her voice, “but I want to find a way to prove that I’m not completely mad. Just give me the chance. You won’t let me do something stupid and I will try my best to come up with proof. Is that alright? I will comply with whatever you decide.” Applejack was concerned and a little angry, but she tried to be polite and humor her. “Ok, honey. Tell us what you need to do.” All of them wanted to know exactly what had happened to their purple friend. The unicorn continued talking to retell the story, looking for a fault. “So we were atop the hill, at the Spiral Shrine, right?” Everypony nodded. “Then something went wrong and I tried to reach you, Rarity, but it was a trap.” “Yes, and just when I was about to get us out of the trap, you started to snooze on the table. We will not retrieve the amulet of Yenop if you keep slumbering at the better parts,” replied Rarity, showing her discontent with the game interruption. It looked like she was enjoying it. Twilight’s face cringed for a moment when she noticed the recurrent confusion. She sighed and accepted her defeat for now. “Ok, you know what? I think I need some fresh air. Let’s go for a walk, ok? We can continue this... game later.” Everypony agreed and they walked out of the library to the sunny street. Twilight felt the warm sunlight on her coat and the warm, dry dirt under her hooves. She looked back and saw her five friends and the big elephant before the tree-house. She wondered how the elephant could have passed through the small door. He obviously had come through it, but he clearly didn’t fit. It was weird, but nopony cared. Even her. She knew how it worked. She just stepped ahead and ignored the irrelevant details. * * * Ponyville shined in a light Twilight had been missing the whole day. Dozens of butterflies danced around between the cheerful ponies that filled the square. The smell of sweets and fruits from the market surrounded her in a tantalizing embrace. The lively food stands were crowded and their merchants worked hard to serve everypony. The chatter of the customers buzzed in the purple unicorn’s ears as she walked among them. She remembered many days like that, but today she didn’t want any hay for dinner. She headed straight to the Sugarcube corner, followed by her friends. She didn’t know exactly what to expect, because as far as she knew, spacetime inside a dream was not exactly linear. It was more of a messy mass of mousse stringed together by memory, but she wasn’t concerned. She had to try at least. “What do you intend to do exactly,” Pinkie Pie asked with a worried expression on her face. “Simple,” Twilight replied with a smile on hers, “we’re going to bake a cake.” Mr and Mrs Cake greeted her when she walked in through the bakery door. “Good afternoon,” she said without even looking at them, “may I use your kitchen for a while? We have to make a... special cake.” She continued to their kitchen without waiting for their response. “W-w-wait! What are you--” Pinkie tried to ask her. “Will you help me or not?” Twilight interrupted from behind the counter. The unicorn began to float ingredients from the shelves and sorted them by size on the kitchen’s table. Then she grabbed a big bowl, breathed deep and, for once, forgot about recipes and procedure lists. This is just a dream, she thought, so it won’t matter what I do, this won’t affect real life. She started breaking eggs and putting them whole, shells and all, in the bowl. She stirred them with a whole bag of flour. She made a mound of sugar and put the bowl on top, then she threw in some spoons and added a load of whipped cream to the lot. She wrapped it all in present paper and shoved it into the oven. Her friends watched the show speechless. The Cakes looked at her like she was the product of a hallucination. Pinkie was on the verge of breaking down, but just couldn’t find the words to speak up. The rest were just too impressed to react. Just twenty seconds later, the oven ringed. Twilight cheerfully exclaimed “oh, look! It’s done already!” and proceeded to open the oven’s door and pull out with her telekinesis a magnificent four stories cake perfectly decorated in pink and white with a cherry on top. “You see?” she said, “it’s easy to bake if you don’t know how. You just need to be dreaming!” All the other ponies looked at the cake astonished, but Rainbow Dash just gaited up to it and directly took a bite raising no hoof. She munched it for a second and then stated her verdict. “Mmm... this,” she swallowed, “this is actually very good, Twilight.” Mrs Cake approached it and took a bit with her hoof to taste it. “Oooh, miss Twilight, you have to explain me your secret. This is impressive,” she said. Pinkie grinned again and asked, “is this what you’ve been learning at Canterlot? I don’t know about magic, but this definitely looks like the best kind of it!” Twilight started to worry a little, as her plan didn’t have the impact she had at first devised. Not only didn’t they care for the careless methods she had used, they were even believing it was just a new spell she had learnt. At least she knew for sure she still was in control of her own dreamscape. Dreaming things into being was just as easy as it had always been before. However, that didn’t matter if she couldn’t actually reach her friends awareness. As they gobbled down the delicious cake, Twilight sank into her own thoughts. She was trapped in an imaginary world and the creature repressing her influence was too smart. At least, smarter than her. She was in command over her own mind all right, but she couldn’t get the others to notice anything strange because the concept of strange was simply wiped out of the scene whenever it was applied to try and make them see beyond the horizon of reality. She needed to look at it somehow else. * * * “Is something wrong?” asked Fluttershy’s gentle voice to the violet fur ball Twilight formed on the bakery’s floor. “Well... It’s just...” she stuttered in response. “You can tell me. We’re friends, right?” insisted the yellow mare. The purple ball unfurled and incorporated to talk. “It’s...” she paused to think what exactly she wanted to say. “You know when you have a... mentor that keeps insisting that you are mistaken, but you know you are right, but still you can’t prove it?” “Oh, yes. I had a teacher who always insisted I should fly instead of walking,” she answered, ”but I always thought walking was safer, and I haven’t had any flying accident while walking so--” “No, it’s nothing like that...” she interrupted Fluttershy’s recounting. The timid pegasus recoiled in surprise and ashamedly let out an apology. “Oh... sorry.” Twilight sat down, immersed in her own train of thought. Her friend looked at her from every angle, trying to guess what the real problem was. She was frustrated, though; the unicorn’s troubles were inscrutable for her. “It’s strange,” Twilight finally spoke, “when you go fighting big, ominous, seemingly invincible creatures, going back to the daily routine seems more than ever like a chore.” “Even if the fight is a game and the enemy a fairytale?” “Yeah. Even then. And even when I never really wanted to fight. Not ever,” she told her yellow friend with a weird, frightening tone on her voice, “but that feeling of adventure. That sensation that something is really at stake... that’s very powerful. Books can only barely convey that emotion.” Fluttershy tried to understand her friend, but she just didn’t find danger interesting at all. “I don’t know, Twilight. I would rather stay at the forest with my animals,” she explained, “I wouldn’t like to go risk my life out there foolishly. I get enough fear from those scary books you lend me sometimes.” She covered her mouth with her hooves as she recalled the horrors from the literature. “You mean the Caring Bunnies books?” asked Twilight remembering the bland and infantile series her friend had been borrowing. “Yes. Those have a lot of frightening conflicts,” she remarked. “And who would withstand that much conflict, right?” the unicorn asked sarcastically, failing to hide a smirk, “you are so boring sometimes...” She paused for a moment to think and then exclaimed, her eyes opening wide, “Fluttershy! You just gave me the best idea!” “Oh! Really? I mean... What was it?” asked Fluttershy worried, “I hope you’re not starting a conflict. Unless... If you think that’s right, I guess.” Twilight smiled again as she walked towards Pinkie, who was still eating cake while trying to decipher what in the ingredients made it taste so good. “We are going to make more cakes,” said Twilight. Pinkie was muttering to herself, “it tastes like cinnamon and cherries and glory, but the recipe had none of that,” when she noticed Twilight’s words. “What? You want to make more of this? I can’t say I’m opposed, but is it really sanitary to make them like that?” “Oh, don’t worry,” replied her purple friend, “we will make just regular cakes, ok?” “You mean you have a better recipe you want to try?” “Not really. What if you teach me how to make some cupcakes? You know... the old way? Maybe Mr and Mrs Cake could even take a day off?”, proposed Twilight. “Uuh... well,” Cup Cake commented, looking at her husband, “actually, that’s not such a bad idea. What do you think, dear?” Carrot Cake pondered the situation for a moment and finally agreed, “Yes, we could take the day off, go with the kids to the park and relax. I trust Miss Pie to keep the shop in order.” “Don’t worry, Mr Cake. Everything is under control.” The pink pony smiled and winked at them. “Very well, then,” said Carrot Cake, smiling and nodding. He then pushed a stroller with the baby Cake twins in it through the main door, followed by his wife. “That was annoyingly easy,” Twilight muttered to herself, a bit surprised by the power her wishes had upon everything. Then she asked, “would the rest of you leave too? You have been so helpful, but I think I want to do this with Pinkie. Alone.” “Do you think we should leave you alone?” Rarity asked Pinkie, “I think she has been acting a bit weird this afternoon.” “Don’t worry,” she answered, “we may have a bit of work before us if she wants to learn to bake, but I believe it will be good for her to take her mind off that game, you know?” “Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Rarity nodded and approached the others. “So what shall we do now? There’s still some time left before night.” “Oh, we could go have a tea party at my home,” intervened Fluttershy with her soft, delicate voice, “we could all relax there, surely, I mean... if you want.” “I say that sounds like a plan, dear.” “Yay! Come on,” she said. Then she turned to talk to Twilight. “We will be right here, Twilight. If you need anything, just knock, ok?” She opened the back door of the bakery that leaded directly to her house’s main hall and waited for her friends to get in. “So what’s it gonna be, Twilight?” the baker asked her purple friend.Twilight turned around to look at her, but then Fluttershy interrupted again. “Well,” she said from behind the door, only her head showing, “we will be here, really. If you want to join us, just get in, ok?” Everyone was already in Fluttershy’s home, so she just waited until Twilight nodded and then closed the door. “Sooo,” began speaking the unicorn, “nothing weird with that door leading to her house instead of the street?” “Well, it’s the back door, silly,” answered giggling the pink pony, “the front door is the one that leads to the street.” “Of course,” she admitted, “let’s begin baking, ok?” “Fine,” Pinkie replied with a smile, while grabbing some ingredients, “let’s start with something easy.” She put down some tiny bowls, a flour bag and some eggs on the table and began singing, “All you have to do is take a cup of flour!” “Ah, no, no, no,” interrupted Twilight, “no silly songs, Pinkie. This is serious.” “What? But... how are we gonna bake without a song?” “We just will, Pinkie, and we will do a hundred cupcakes...” she paused for dramatic effect, “one at a time!” Pinkie cringed at the thought and her face reflected it, but she eventually agreed, as it would maybe be better for learning. “Ok, Twilight. As you wish.” * * * “Wake up, Pinkie,” Twilight whispered softly at Pinkie’s ears, “it is done!” “Huh? What?” she slowly recovered from her slumber, “What is done?” “The cupcakes, silly,” replied the unicorn. “A hundred cupcakes made one by one.” “Oh, really? Did we finally make all of them?” “Well, not really,” she said, changing her tone to a plain explanation, “you do know what an ellipsis is, right?” “Duh. Of course I know, Twilight. Who the hay do you think I am? You’re not gonna teach me anything about ellipsises,” she purposefully misspelled. “Then listen. That’s what just happened. An ellipsis. That’s how we made it. We skipped ahead in the narration!” Twilight exclaimed triumphant. “Are you nuts!?” Pinkie cried, “how is that an ellipsis? We made cupcakes the whole night and then I fell asleep. That’s no ellipsis!” She was starting to feel a bit scared and worried of her friend. “But don’t you see, Pinkie? Just look at me. I’m as fresh as a daisy! Do I look like I didn’t sleep at all the whole night?” Twilight approached her and looked straight into her eyes, opening hers wide so she could see them, white, not tired at all. “W-w-wait a minute...” she gibbered, “I can’t believe a thing you’re saying! Even if it was true, I didn’t see it. And I just... I can’t get this from you! Specifically you! I think you’re going mad...” she slowed down and turned to a worried question tone, “You were always the most rational, Twilight... What has happened to you?” Pinkie pushed her away and they sat down on the flour filled floor. “Pinkie...” Twilight doubted for a moment. She had been so self-centered the whole time. She hadn’t given thought to how her meddling would affect her friends. “I’m sorry, Pinkie. I know it’s hard to understand, and I know it doesn’t seem rational, but I need you to trust me. I know you can’t see it, but there is something wrong with this world. Not with me. I’m not mad, ok? Just... trust me on that.” Pinkie kept silent for a while, looking with a worried face at her friend. Then she calmly concluded, “I trust you, Twilight. You are one of my best friends. How could I not?” she sighed deeply to regain some courage and then started stuttering, “b-b-but how can I t-trust you when you keep saying nonsense like that? I mean... I don’t mind nonsense. You know I love it. But you can’t be serious about it. It’s not... sane.” Twilight sighed a long and deep sigh, longer and deeper she would have thought possible and much beyond what would be comfortable for anypony to watch, but Pinkie didn’t blink an eye to that. “Ok, Pinkie. This is what we are going to do,” she explained in the tamest, most condescending tone she could, “we are going to go to Applejack’s and see if we can help her today. Is that all right?” The earth pony bowed her head and conceded the discussion. “Fine. At least we will be distracted and among friends. I’ll tell Mrs Cake.” She paused for a second and then asked, “did you see them come back yesterday?” Twilight just shrugged. * * * “Did you notice that?” Twilight commented on the path to Sweet Apple Acres. The sun of the morning warmed her skin and the soft breeze slightly lifted her mane. Only the chirping of birds could be heard so soon and far from the main streets. “What? I didn’t see anything,” answered Pinkie. “Oh, it’s the elli--... uh, nothing. Just... the elements... It’s all so calm and nice,” Twilight dissimulated. They approached Applejack’s farm and found her packing some hay in front of the barn. “Howdy, Twilight, Pinkie,” she greeted them, without stopping her work. “How come ye’re up so early? Is something the matter?” “Oh, no, no,” Twilight explained happily, “we just woke up early and thought we could lend you a hoof. That’s all.” She smiled sincerely and tilted her head a bit awaiting her reaction. Applejack raised an eyebrow and commented, “ah, that’s very nice of you,” while she finished loading the hay on a cart. “So... what can we do?” asked Twilight, “are there some apples to buck?” “What? No. It ain’t apple season yet.” “Oh,” the unicorn said, confused by the news and her own lack of perspective. “What do we do then?” their pink friend asked impatient, hopping in place, warming her legs. “I think I know what we could do,” Twilight quickly blurted preventing Applejack from saying anything, “we should count the apples! That way you will know beforehand how many you will get this season!” “Huh? Do ya think that’ll really be useful?” Applejack asked in disbelief. “Yeah! You’ll see!” she replied with a big smile. “After this you won’t want to pass another season without... pre-counting...” She smiled harder after making up such dubious concept. Pinkie Pie approached the farmer and whispered to her without stopping to smile. “I think she might be lacking some task-sorting practice from the weeks she’s been at Canterlot. Also, I think she might be nuts.” “Ah, uh...” babbled Applejack. “I... I guess it’s not a bad idea anyway. I’m sure you will do a good job on it.” “Fine!” Twilight shouted before dashing up to the trees and beginning counting apples. “What is up with her?” Applejack asked visibly disturbed. “Ah... I don’t know, but I will find out. Don’t worry,” Pinkie told her. “At least she will be distracted for today. I’ll keep an eye on her. I’ll tell Rarity to find a good doctor at lunch.” “Ok. Ah hope she won’t harm herself at least,” the orange pony said, “keep her away from the animals just in case.” * * * “Two thousand, six hundred and forty seven!” proudly stated Twilight. Pinkie Pie fell flat on her side as she entered the Sweet Apple Acres barn. Applejack was fixing a pair of shears helped by his brother after a day of hard work. The sun, hanging right above the horizon, bathed the place in a reddish orange light. The soft smell of wet hay and wood was unmistakable. Applejack stopped working to look at her friends. Pinkie was completely wasted after a hard day of work, her mane full of sticks and burrs. Twilight was just as she had seen her that morning. She even had the same smile and cheery attitude. “Are ya ok, Pinkie?” asked the farmer. Pinkie laid on the ground like a mop, her eyes wide open in a mix of terror and disbelief. “I... I can’t believe... we actually counted... all... the... apples... one by one...” she muttered from the floor. “Yeah, Pinkie helped me a lot, keeping track of which trees we had already counted,” Twilight confirmed, “she has an excellent memory. Your farm has two thousand, six hundred and forty seven apples, by the way.” She smiled softly. She was getting some actual fun out of the whole situation. “Oh,” Applejack replied a bit surprised, “that’s a bit more than we expected. We’ll need to make some more barrels.” She paused for a moment, noticing all the implications of that information. “Thank ya, Twilight. Without ya we’d have to delay the shipments a day or two, or maybe drop some of the apples to rot. Did ya see, brother? She actually made us gain something!” she shouted a bit excited. “Eeyup,” answered Big Mac. “So, do ya want some dinner already, sugarcubes? Ya look tired, Pinkie.” “Huh? Dinner?” she promptly regained her strength and stood up with a surprised grimace on her face, almost twitching. “How long have we been out there? I lost track of the time! I didn’t even notice I was hungry! It was... SO... BORING!!” she yelled to the ceiling. “Oh, come on, Pinkie,” said the unicorn, “it was an edifying experience. Did you notice thirty seven per cent of the apples were green?” “I... just...” she stuttered, “can’t... I can’t believe you’re not tired at all.” “You should take a shower, Pinkie,” Twilight proposed, “your mane looks like Rainbow’s.” “What do you mean? Colourful?” “No. Full of burrs.” “Aaaaaugh!” Pinkie yelled, “I had to pay for that lame pun, huh? Stupid karma...” “Don’t fret, Pinkie,” said Jack, the elephant, hugging her softly as they walked out the barn, “you will be perfectly nice after a good bath.” * * * After dinner, Twilight felt very comforted. She had been thinking of all the weird patterns and missing pieces in that puzzle. She was sure her next move would be the last, no matter how capricious her captor was. Pinkie was feeling much better too. After a shower and a bowl of hot soup she had regained her strength, and after playing some games with Applebloom she had recovered her cheerful attitude. Applejack was happy to see her friends back in shape. She hadn’t said anything, but she thought Twilight looked much more sane than before. Pinkie and Twilight left the farm some time after the moon had been raised. The calm and dark night caressed their skins in silence with a gentle breeze. They walked under the moonlight until they reached the white fence that surrounded the farm. Twilight stopped at the gate. “Pinkie,” she began, with a serious face, “I have to do something before going back home.” Pinkie turned around and blinked a few times. “Uh... right now? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” “No,” she replied in a very calm voice, bowing her head a little, “I have to do it now. I was hoping you would come with me.” “You want me to go... where?” “Pinkie, please. It’s not far, I promise.” Twilight looked at her like it was a life or death secret. The earth pony started to feel anxious and agitated. She looked around, but only Twilight’s eyes required her attention. “N-no... No, Twilight. I refuse to feed your madness further. Enough is... enough,” she doubted. Then, a bit scared, she asked, “what... what will you do if I don’t want to go with you?” Twilight sighed and her sad face melted Pinkie’s heart. “I guess I’ll have to go there alone...” “Uuuuuhhhh...” Pinkie struggled to restrain herself from conceding this battle again, but ultimately failed, “all right, Twilight. If that’s so important to you, I’ll go. But I’m going just to keep an eye on you. I’m not going to allow you to hurt yourself more.” “Thank you, Pinkie!” Twilight cried as she launched herself towards her friend to hug her like a bear. Pinkie hugged her softly and whispered, “it’s ok, Twilight... Everything will be ok.” * * * Under Princess Luna’s mantle, they walked for a while across the road near the forest. The path seemed to go on forever, for a while extending far beyond any reasonable length. The farm seemed way far away, much further than they had walked, and the other end of the road was lost far beyond the mountains. However, after some more steps, they looked back again and saw the farm right under the hill they had just climbed. And just behind the hill, there extended an enormous quarry, a small valley filled with grey stones of every size. “Is it still too far away, Twilight?” asked the pink pony, “we’ve been trotting for hours and we’re just a few hundred steps from home. It would be so easy to just get home right now...” She pointed at a door that was embedded in a rock. It was Sugarcube corner’s door. The sweet smell of fresh pastries and honey floated out from it, mixing with the wet air from the prairie that laid in front of it. “It’s right here, Pinkie. This is the place,” replied the purple one, pointing to the quarry. Pinkie looked around, but she only saw rocks and more rocks. “Uh, right here? Are you sure?” “Yes, Pinkie. I know I said it wouldn’t be like this, but trust me. It’s the only way,” Twilight tried to explain serenely. “What? What is this, Twilight? Are you saying you lied to me?” “Listen, Pinkie. This is really important. I know it doesn’t make sense to you, but... we must count these rocks.” “What!?” Pinkie hollered, losing her nerves, “what is with you and counting things? What the hay are you thinking!?” “Calm down, Pinkie, please.” “Calm down? How could I calm down!? You bring me here, far away from Ponyville, in the middle of the night! And for what!? Counting!? Counting rocks! You can’t do this to me, Twilight! Rocks are the most boring thing there is! I hate rocks!!” she shouted angry at her friend. She stared directly into Twilight’s eyes and firmly declared, “you are crazy, Twilight.” The unicorn felt a bit out of control for a moment. Was she doing the right thing? She doubted, looking at her usually imperturbable friend all hysterically out of her mind. Then, just then, it struck her. Like a cog that just had snapped back to it’s place, she found the last piece of her puzzle. “Fine!” she said vehemently, “if you don’t want to help me, I will do it on my own.” “Are you serious?” she cried. Pinkie’s shrill voice pierced the unicorn’s ears. “I am already starting to count. One... Two... Three...” she said, picking rocks from the ground with her magic and dropping them behind her. Pinkie stuttered at the unbounded display of madness. “I... I... I-I’m g-gonna go back h-home and... I’m leaving you here, Twilight!” she bluffed, approaching the pink door. “Four... Five... Six...” “If you’re like that, I’ll call the doctor and make him put you into an asylum!” Pinkie insisted. “Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten!” Twilight counted triumphantly, “Did I count this one already? You should help me. You have better memory than me. Specially for rocks.” “You are being so unreasonable, Twilight! You are going to stay here all night!?” Pinkie yelled, not believing her own eyes. “Eleven... Twelve... Thirteen...” “You have to be kidding...” slowly said Fuzzymane’s raspy voice. Twilight turned around to see the saffron mare standing where her pink friend was a moment ago, with the most annoyed look in her eyes. “Finally!” “You are the dullest, most stubborn and boring creature I have ever met!” the little brat barked from within her hood. “I couldn’t stand you going through all that quarry stone by stone. Funny, because I won’t need to. Not anymore.” “Say what you want,” coolly pointed out Twilight, “I told you your powers were no match for mine.” “Ah, so you still think so?” Fuzzymane asked. Trees in the forests around them began to fall and the mountains in the horizon started to crumble like cookies. “Well, for starters, you barely even concealed the fact that this is a dream, and then you tried to go as if the last day hadn’t happened, but then you clearly picked on a joke that only existed after we went to the forest,” explained Twilight, “Also, I noticed you didn’t quite get how Pinkie’s mind works, so you must not have our dreams connected. You are only using her memories. She would never get mad at madness.” “You are so proud because you solved a little puzzle,” responded her enemy, “but you still don’t know half of the game board.” The sky cracked and the clouds got swallowed through the rifts, but not even a breeze blew around them. “You sound like a loser. Now I’m sure my friends are not here I’ll be out in a flicker.” “Whatever. You can leave if you want. The time is over,” finished Fuzzymane, “it doesn’t matter if you are asleep or awake anymore.” Then, she vanished in a puff of yellow dust. “Ok. Fine!” yelled Twilight. As the ground around her disintegrated in a blinding white light, she muttered, “Let’s see... dispelling wave spell... here I go!”