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// Chapter 4: Ascending the tower 
// Story: Lavender Ponyville 
// by Quadraginta 
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	Twilight was one of the few ponies in existence lucky enough to have perfect dream recall, and very strong and vivid dreams. Slumbering ponies had many dreams during the night, but only remembered one or two of those dreams, if they were lucky. Twilight, at the moment, didn't know whether to consider herself lucky, or unlucky.
Upon falling asleep, Twilight was immediately set in the same location she was in when she last dreamed. Fluttershy's body, however, was missing. The tower must automatically 'clean' itself of it's victims every night. 
Twilight didn't know when to begin or even if she should stay and explore the tower by herself. She was in danger, and she was by herself, with nopony to back her up. 
She decided to just persevere and began ascending the stairs. She made it up several floors, the trip being surprisingly easy, with nothing getting in her way. It was honestly a breeze, just ascending all of these stairs. 
Just then, a thought occured to her. The tower was tall. Really tall. It would likely take a while to ascend all of the staircases and reach the top. Of course, she was dreaming, so she wouldn't tire out. But still, she couldn't help but feel....apprehensive about what waited for her at the top of the staircase. 
Just then, as she was making her way up another staircase, she saw a figure in the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see-
"Rainbow Dash!" she said. Actually, she had no idea whether it was Rainbow Dash or not. It was pretty dark within the tower. The walls had windows, but they let in very little light. What Twilight saw was a dark figure of a pony walking towards her. The figure's mane flowed in the same way that Rainbow Dash's mane flowed, but something about the figure seemed....wrong. It wasn't walking normally. Instead, it was stumbling, and it seemed to have a hard time standing up, as if it was about to fall over at any moment. Just then, the light coming from the windows shined. The light hit the figure at the perfect moment, revealing it to be Rainbow Dash, as it said, "Twilight.....run...." Rainbow Dash then fell. 
Twilight was surprised at the state that Rainbow Dash was in. Her many was coated in thick red, completely blocking out the rainbow colouring, and the red was flowing out of her mane and staining the brick floor of the tower. All over Rainbow Dash's body were cut marks and gashes, where more red seeped out. Twilight could see a hint of entrails leaking out of the underside of Rainbow Dash, and she choked down bile. Bile, which, in a dream, shouldn't taste so real. 
Twilight then noticed another figure approaching her. This time, it was running straight towards her. Twilight noticed the hat the figure was wearing and recognized it as-
"Applejack?!" Twilight stammered out loud, not wanting to see another one of her friends fall dead right in front of her. 
"Twi!" Applejack said loudly and strongly. This gave Twilight some relief, as Applejack sounded strong enough to still be alive. Applejack crossed into the light, and Twilight saw that Applejack was slightly injured, only sporting a large gash across her cheek, but besides that, she was fine. 
"Twi," Applejack said again as she grabbed Twilight by the hoof and began pulling her up the staircase. "Run!" 
From behind them, Twilight could hear the sound of metal scraping against brick.