Apple Bloom was the one to say what all of them were wondering as they sat around the clubhouse that afternoon.
“So what now?”
For a moment, nopony answered. Scootaloo was pacing back and forth all around the clubhouse, unable to sit still. Sweetie Belle was sprawled out facedown over the table as if she couldn’t move at all.
Scootaloo stared at the floor for a moment. “Well… We can’t really go back to the dream until tonight.”
“And you’re going to make sure you’re on time tonight, aren’t you?” Sweetie Belle said, picking her head up.
“Yeah, I know,” Scootaloo said.
“Good. I don’t want to get stuck there alone again. Apple Bloom wasn’t much help,” Sweetie Belle said. Her head fell down on the table again. “No offense.”
“Well, ‘scuse me if I wasn’t quite clear on the whole havin’-the-same-dream-as-you-two thing yet. I’m not quite clear on it now.” Apple Bloom let out a sigh. “So, I’m just makin’ sure, but this only happens to foals, right? Ponies our age? At least, I think that’s what Luna told us last night.”
“But just about every foal in town goes to our school. Ponyville’s not that big a town,” Sweetie Belle said. “And they were all there today.”
“Twilight said there have been cases all over Equestria, but that wouldn’t make any sense,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t think anypony from another town would have a dream that detailed about Ponyville.”
“Well, uh…” Sweetie Belle’s brow furrowed as she thought. “What about the Cakes? They’ve got kids.”
“I don’t think a baby has dreams like that,” Apple Bloom said.
Scootaloo stopped pacing by the window, and held the curtain aside. The sun was starting to sink down over the orchard.
“Maybe we should just head back home,” Scootaloo said. “It’ll be dark soon. We need all the time we can get in the dream if we want to figure this out.”
She stood up, and headed towards the door. One of the planks in the floor bent as she stepped on it, and she froze. It was the same one that was loose in the dream. She could tell without even looking at it.
“I’m still not sure how we’re gonna explain that,” Apple Bloom said quietly.
They all left the clubhouse, Apple Bloom kicking the door shut behind her as she brought up the rear. When they reached the path back to town, they stopped before heading their separate ways.
Apple Bloom turned around. “So we’re supposed to, uh... meet up... tonight at sundown, right?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Try to get to sleep as soon as you can. That way we won’t get split up again.”
“Right.” Apple Bloom looked up at the sky, already changing from a pale blue-grey to an orange matching the trees around them. The days had been getting shorter ever since Nightmare Night. “Seems a little early to go to sleep, though. I’m not sure how I’ll explain that to Applejack.”
“Speaking of which,” Scootaloo said. “What did she say about you going to Manehattan? I mean, that was what we went through your dream for, wasn’t it?”
Apple Bloom paused. “Well, uh… She said she’d think about it.”
“That’s good, right?” Sweetie Belle grinned.
“Uh… sure is! Probably,” Apple Bloom said. “Anyways, I’ll see you girls in a little bit, I guess.”
As she and Sweetie Belle crossed the bridge into town, Scootaloo wondered if there might be some kind of clue about the dream, somewhere around here. But all they could do was narrow it down to who wasn’t there. From the looks of things, everypony that they had seen last night was milling about the real Ponyville, too.
A few fillies from school ran past, probably off on some adventure of their own, smiling and laughing. Other than that, it seemed oddly quiet. Ponies were walking around, talking to each other, but it felt like something was off.
They passed by the joke shop again, and then the spa. The feeling of déjà vu set in again. Scootaloo remembered that they had just been here—it had been in the dream, but it had looked exactly the same. Felt exactly the same.
The two of them were silent until they reached Sweetie Belle’s street. She glanced over at her house, next to the slowly turning windmill.
“I’ll see you later, Scootaloo,” she said.
“Yeah. See ya.”
They trotted off in separate directions. The afternoon light had nearly run out. Scootaloo quickened her pace so she could get home in time.
As she passed by a corner, she nearly ran straight into Fluttershy. She flinched and let out a squeak.
“Oh, hello there,” Fluttershy said. “You startled me.”
“Just try not to panic when the leaves start falling, alright?” Rainbow Dash trotted up behind her, rolling her eyes. “Oh, hey, Scootaloo. What are you up to?”
“Uh… nothing much,” Scootaloo said.
“Me and Fluttershy were taking a quick break from training. The Running of the Leaves is later this month, you know,” Rainbow said.
Fluttershy nodded. “I’m just here for moral support.” She touched a stopwatch that was hanging from her neck. “And, uh… coaching, I suppose.” She looked at Rainbow as if waiting for confirmation.
Rainbow Dash eyed Scootaloo. “You know, you’re probably getting big enough to run the whole thing. Want to practice with us? There’s still a little bit of daylight left.”
“I’d love to! But…” Scootaloo looked up at the sky. They really were running out of daylight. “I can’t right now.”
“It’s not as late as it looks,” Rainbow said. “We could get a few hours in, at least.”
“Well, uh…” Scootaloo gave a long, exaggerated yawn. “I’ve been spending the whole day crusading with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I’m about ready to hit the hay.”
“Guess you’ve gotta get your cutie mark somehow.” Rainbow gave a shrug. “But you sure you don’t want to come?”
Scootaloo took a deep breath. It was hard to turn her down. “Maybe next year?”
“It is an awfully long race,” Fluttershy said. “I’m not even sure I’d be able to make it.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head with a sigh. “Well, it’s your choice, Scootaloo. Guess I’ll see you later, kid.”
Scootaloo waved as Fluttershy and Rainbow trotted off towards the outskirts of town. The sun was nearly at the edge of the horizon, and the shadows of the houses were stretching all the way across the street.
She had been lying about feeling tired. Scootaloo ran the rest of the way home, trying to burn off excess energy, but she was still feeling restless. She could have run laps around the house, but instead she just bounded up the stairs and threw herself onto the bed.
Later that night, after what felt like hours but could have only been minutes, Scootaloo was lying awake, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to get to sleep. As usual, it wasn’t easy, not with all these questions weighing down on her. She pulled the covers up closer to fight off the chill.
Letting out a sigh, she finally gave in. Maybe she was just going to end up being late again. She allowed her eyes to open, and stared at the wall, and the darkness playing over the surfaces of the furniture.
The shadows in her room were moving.
The forest came into view again, the same way it always did. Scootaloo found herself already standing in the middle of the same clearing. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood on either side of her. They stared at each other wordlessly for a moment.
Apple Bloom stared up at the trees, and the light that wasn’t quite a sky shining through the branches. “This is the same place from last time,” she said, and looked down at the others. “So... we’re asleep now, right?”
“You are learning quickly.” They turned around to see Luna behind them. “That is good to hear. We do not have the luxury of time, and I cannot explain as much as I should like.”
“Y-Your Highness,” Apple Bloom stammered, doing a quick, clumsy bow.
“Hey, Luna. Sorry about last time,” Scootaloo said.
Luna gave her the ghost of a smile. “I was reluctant to send the others ahead without you, but I trust you were able to find your way,” Luna said. There was weariness to her voice.
“Actually…” Scootaloo scratched the back of her head. “I couldn’t even tell it was a dream. This one’s different. Everything’s so normal.”
Luna seemed to consider this for a moment. “That is most unusual, but not unheard of. I assure you it is still like any other dream—purely constructed from the memories and imagination of a single dreamer.”
“That’s kind of a lot of memories, though, isn’t it?” Sweetie Belle said.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t understand how anypony could know so much about… well, everything.”
Luna raised a hoof to quiet them. “No matter how these things manifest themselves, you must remember that they hold special meaning for the dreamer. One could say it is how they see the world around them.”
The branches of the trees began to shift around, as if in a breeze that none of them could feel. The darkness lifted, and was replaced with warm morning sunlight.
“What are we supposed to do?” Scootaloo shouted as the forest faded away. “How do we get them out of this?”
There was no time for a response. As Luna faded from sight, they found themselves standing in the middle of a street in Ponyville. Scootaloo could recognize it easily; her own house was only a few streets over. There were a few ponies walking around, but nopony seemed startled by the appearance of three fillies out of thin air.
Sweetie Belle spun around, checking to see if Luna was really gone. “So now what?”
“What did she mean by ‘how they see the world around them’?” Apple Bloom said. She shaded her eyes as she looked up into the nearly cloudless blue sky. “Isn’t this exactly how we all see the world?”
“Let’s just keep looking,” Scootaloo replied with a shrug. “That’s all we can do.”
Sweetie Belle kicked at the ground. “It just feels like we’re wasting our time. Everything’s exactly the same as it is in the real world. And the longer we spend here, the less I feel like we’re not in the real world.”
Scootaloo gritted her teeth and just started walking. “All the more reason to keep moving.” She quickly glanced back to make sure they actually were following her.
As they walked through town, Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel a chill. It was a sunny day here, warmer than it actually was at this time of year. When she looked up, she caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash and a few other local weather ponies clearing clouds out of the sky. Sights like that shouldn’t be unsettling, but somehow, they were.
Apple Bloom broke the uneasy silence. “You and the Princess get along pretty good, huh?” she said, turning towards Scootaloo. “I’m amazed you can just talk to ‘er like that. You don’t think she’s kinda… well, you know.”
“She’s not like she is on Nightmare Night,” Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes. “You know that’s just a total act, right?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “It’s just, like… Princess Celestia’s always showin’ up for festivals and such, but we hardly ever see Luna except for that one night every year. And she’s not exactly the most gettin’-along pony, even then.”
“She’s really not that bad, once you get to know her.”
“I’m still impressed that you did get to know her…”
The door of one of the houses opened, and Twist trotted out with her saddlebags slung over her side. She noticed the three of them walking past.
“Are you three on the way to thcool?” she said. “We could all go together!”
“We’re, uh…” Apple Bloom thought for a moment. “We’ve got some things to do first, so you go on ahead.”
“Oh, okay. Thee you later,” Twist said. She shrugged and headed down the street.
Apple Bloom turned back to the house she had come out of. There were potted flowers all over the front and in every window. “Well, that is Twist’s house,” Apple Bloom said. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though. Everything about this dream has been right so far.”
“What about the one next door? Who lives there?” Scootaloo said.
“That one?” Apple Bloom tilted her head. “I can’t say I know…”
Scootaloo ran ahead and trotted up the front steps the house. Without pausing to knock, she pushed the door open and walked on inside.
“What are you doing?” Sweetie Belle said, reluctantly following her into the front hallway. “Whose house is this?”
“No clue,” Scootaloo said. She trotted into the living room. There were a few chairs and a sofa, and the kitchen could be seen through a doorway. A pretty normal house, by the looks of things. Nopony seemed to be home.
“Then what are we doing here?” Sweetie Belle said.
“Well, just look. Everything’s here. The entire inside of this house is part of the dream, too.”
“But we’ve never been in this house before,” Apple Bloom said. She examined some framed photographs on the wall—probably the family who lived here. “Even if things weren’t where they were s’posed to be, we wouldn’t know.”
“I guess you’ve got a point…” Scootaloo said. She hopped up on the sofa and sat down for a minute. “This dream isn’t quite perfect, though. The dream versions of us didn’t know everything, and neither did Rainbow Dash… We need to test how much this pony actually knows.”
“Well, they’ve got a pretty good idea about the school, the town square, and our own clubhouse,” Sweetie Belle said. “What else is there?”
Scootaloo racked her brain for a minute. She lifted her head, her eyes wide. “The library,” she said, her voice only a murmur.
“Huh?”
Scootaloo hopped down from the sofa and headed back towards the front door. “Just follow me. I’ve got an idea.”
She led them back out the door, down the front steps, making a beeline for the library, weaving in between the surprised-looking ponies strolling around town. She glanced around, and spotted the tops of the branches of the library peeking out over the rooftops, right where she expected them to be.
“I… think you’re going a little too fast…” Sweetie Belle panted, trying to keep her pace.
Scootaloo sighed, and slowed down to let the others catch up to her. She stood in the middle of the street, studying the faces of her neighbors as they passed by.
Pinkie Pie was skipping down the street. She noticed the three of them, and bounced over. “Hiya, girls!”
“Hey, Pinkie,” Apple Bloom said. She frowned. “I mean…”
“There’s no point. She’s not the real one,” Scootaloo said.
Pinkie squinted at them. “Now what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Come on. Let’s keep looking.” Scootaloo started walking again, and the others followed her. “I’ve got an idea about the library. Kind of. It’s hard to explain. I’ll figure it out once we get there.”
Pinkie watched them suspiciously as they left her, then continued down the street until she was lost in the crowd.
“Well, we were sayin’ it could be anyone,” Apple Bloom said, glancing back as they walked away. “I mean, we all live in Ponyville. I’m pretty sure I’ve had dreams here before.”
“But Pinkie?” Sweetie Belle made a face, and shook her head. “This place is way too normal to be Pinkie’s imagination. If it was her, everything would be made of candy, or Gummy would be able to talk, or something.”
“Good point,” Apple Bloom said. She laughed nervously. “Probably a good thing we didn’t end up there, huh?”
Before long they were passing under the shade of the library's branches. The tree towered over them, as massive as it had ever been, the sunlight filtering down between the shifting leaves.
With a backwards glance at the others, Scootaloo pushed the front door open and trotted inside, greeted by the familiar smell of old books and parchment. Twilight was at a desk reading, completely engrossed in her studies. She didn’t look up when they came in.
“Now, there’s no way that all of the books can still be here,” Scootaloo said. “Nopony could remember that much.”
Sweetie Belle nodded slowly, starting to grasp the plan. “And maybe the ones that are here would give us some kind of clue whose dream it is.”
Twilight lifted her head slowly, and turned around. She gave them a puzzled look. “Girls? Aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Scootaloo said quickly, waving a hoof dismissively.
“Okay…” Twilight said, frowning. She quickly brightened up again. “I guess if you’re here for research, I’d never be one to turn down curious minds. What can I help you with?”
Scootaloo ignored her and trotted over to one of the shelves, scanning the titles at random. And they all did have titles. She had been afraid of that. They seemed to be grouped by subject, and alphabetized by titles. On the few occasions she’d stopped by to look for a book, that’s how it had always been.
“Huh. Maybe that one would help us,” Sweetie Belle said. She reached up and took down a book. The title, embossed in gold on the front, was A Complete Guide to Dreams and their Meanings.
“Good thinkin’,” Apple Bloom said. “Maybe a book like that would give us a clue.”
Sweetie Belle flipped it open, but then her mouth dropped open in surprise. “Huh?”
The pages were blank. She flipped through them quickly, but every single page was pure white. She closed it again, to check the title. It still looked the same on the outside.
“Guess that’s about what I figured. A town’s easy enough, but nopony could remember a whole entire book,” Apple Bloom said.
“Can I help you find something?” Twilight walked over and looked at the book lying in front of them. “Oh, that’s definitely interesting! The study of dreams is complicated, but most scholars agree that dreams can have some kind of magical power. What were you girls looking at a book like this for, anyway?”
“Uh, Twilight, isn’t there something… weird… about that book?” Sweetie Belle said.
Twilight had her nose buried in the book, her eyes moving from side to side across the blank pages. “What exactly do you mean? Like I said, there is some disagreement when it comes to the study of dreams…”
Scootaloo flew up to the top shelf, and started pulling books off and skimming through each one. They were all the same—titles and illustrations on the covers, but nothing inside.
“Scootaloo, I didn’t know you could—“ Twilight watched her throw the books on the floor, and her jaw dropped. “What are you doing? I just reshelved that section two days ago! Be careful with those!”
She grabbed one book after another, opening them to a random page, but they were all blank. Scootaloo was about ready to give up when she caught a glimpse of some lines of text in one of them. She stopped, and took a closer look.
From what she could tell, it was some kind of flight spell, but the language was clearly for high-level unicorns. Scootaloo couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Was it a spell that the dreamer had memorized?
She flipped through the other pages, but the text grew fainter on each page, until the rest of them were as blank as the others. Besides the page with the flight spell, most of it was too faded to make out any of the words.
Scootaloo turned back the pages to find the spell again. “Sweetie Belle. Do you think you’d be able to understand any of this spell?” She swooped down and landed on the floor.
“I’m not that good at magic,” Sweetie Belle replied, staring dully at the page. “I mean, I still can’t really do anything outside of dreams.”
“Hmm…”
The front door slammed open, and everypony’s head turned as Pinkie stomped into the room. She caught sight of the three fillies. “There you are! What did you mean I’m not the real Pinkie Pie? There’s only one of me this time, I made super-sure of that!”
Twilight leveled her gaze, and spoke in an even tone. “Pinkie, the girls are trying to do some research. You’re supposed to be quiet in a library.”
Pinkie’s jaw dropped. “But they’re—“
“I mean it,” Twilight said. “Just let them do their work.”
“But…” Pinkie stared at the three fillies sitting across the room, then back at Twilight’s cold stare. She let out a frustrated groan, and walked back out into the street.
“What was that all about?” Apple Bloom said. “She followed us in here?”
“I guess even the dream version of Pinkie is crazy,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Well, of course,” Twilight said. “You can’t expect any kind of rational behavior out of her. I knew that practically as soon as I moved in to Ponyville.”
Scootaloo turned her attention back to the books. Maybe if she kept looking, there would be more pages that weren’t blank. It had to be some kind of a clue.
“I mean, Pinkie’s never taken anything seriously in her life,” Twilight continued. “She’s always just showing up out of nowhere, saying things that don’t make any sense. Like just now, for instance.”
“Don’t you think you’re bein’ a little hard on her?” Apple Bloom said.
Twilight shook her head. “Trust me, it’s about time somepony spoke up about her. She’s simply too old to be acting so immaturely.”
Scootaloo tried to tune her out, and went back to trying to read the other pages in the spellbook. She laid it out on the floor and pressed her face up against the faded text.
Sure, it had been a little odd that Pinkie had just shown up again, but that was how she normally acted. Pinkie was different from everypony in town. And everypony knew that.
Scootaloo froze. Everypony knew that about Pinkie… And she knew everypony in town. She looked up from the book. “It’s Pinkie.”
“Huh? What about her?” Sweetie Belle said.
“She noticed that we were acting strangely. Nopony else notices, or at least they forget about it after a while. I can’t really explain it, but this has to be Pinkie’s dream.”
“I still think things are a little too normal for her,” Sweetie Belle said. “Besides, only foals are supposed to be affected by these nightmares. Luna said so.”
“I’d say Pinkie’s close enough.” Apple Bloom shrugged.
“I don’t know how to explain that,” Scootaloo admitted. “But who else knows this much about Ponyville? Pinkie is friends with everypony.”
“You really think it’s her?” Apple Bloom said. “Then what do we do?”
“We track her down.” Scootaloo's wings buzzed with excitement. “Come on!”
She flew the short distance to the door of the library, then dashed out onto the street. She looked around, but Pinkie was long gone. There was no telling where she might be. Pinkie had a tendency to only show up when you weren’t looking for her. Now that they needed her, she could be literally anywhere.
Scootaloo chose to go to the center of town on a hunch. That was where most of the ponies were, and Pinkie liked being around ponies.
Though Twilight didn’t seem to like her very much. Not this version of Twilight, anyway.
As Scootaloo tried to think and run at the same time, she hardly even noticed Rainbow Dash swoop down out of the sky and start flying alongside the three of them. “Hey, where are you kids off to in such a hurry?”
Scootaloo turned her head away, trying to ignore her. “Let’s keep looking. Pinkie has to be somewhere in town.”
“Pinkie Pie? What are you looking for her for?” Rainbow Dash wrinkled her nose. “Come on. I saw your moves yesterday. Now that you’re flying, we should really hang out and work on your technique. You don’t seriously want to look for Pinkie, do you? She’s totally nuts.”
Sweetie Belle nudged Scootaloo in the side. “Don’t listen to her. Pinkie’s gotta be around here somewhere.”
Scootaloo made a quick nod to the side to signal to the others, then led them around a corner before the dream-Rainbow Dash could react. They were headed back into the center of town now. The crowds seemed to be getting thicker. Scootaloo glanced around in all directions, trying to locate a spot of pink somewhere.
“Wait just a second!” They skidded to a halt as Pinkie ran up behind them. “I remember now! You three are supposed to be in school,” Pinkie said. “What are you doing here right now being not in school?”
Apple Bloom tried to catch her breath. “Pinkie, listen, you’re having a dream right now, and—”
Scootaloo put a hoof over Apple Bloom’s mouth. “You can’t say that to her,” she whispered. “She’ll just get confused.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Well, duh, of course I know it’s a dream!”
Scootaloo stared at her. “You… do?”
“Sure! I’m more surprised that all of you know this is a dream. I’m just dreaming you, too. But then I guess you’d be me, and if I know it’s a dream, then you would know that too.”
None of them knew how to respond to that.
Sweetie Belle’s eyes darted all over the street. All the other ponies in town were minding their own business, oblivious to the four of them. “But... I still say this can’t be Pinkie’s dream. Even Apple Bloom’s dream was crazier than this.”
“What were you expecting, huh?” Pinkie said, gritting her teeth. “You think that my dreams have to be crazy? You probably think that I’m always in my own little world where nothing makes sense to normal ponies like you, is that it?”
Sweetie Belle’s legs were shaking, and she was staring at the houses and ponies around them as if they could move in and attack at any moment. Because, Scootaloo realized, they could—if Pinkie wanted them to.
But nothing happened. For all appearances, it was still a typical day in Ponyville. Besides the odd conversation they were having, anyway.
“Uh…” Scootaloo had no idea what to say. This really hadn’t been what she was expecting at all. “Look, we know you’re a little… different… from everypony else, Pinkie, but that’s not bad.”
“I don’t even know why I’m talking to you!” Pinkie said. “You’re all just me, and I know better than to talk to myself.”
“We’re here to get you to wake up,” Scootaloo said. She tried to smile, even though this conversation was starting to make her head hurt. “You know that it’s a dream, so you should just snap out of it.”
“Why should I even bother waking up? Nopony wants to be around me out there or in here.” Pinkie spun around, holding her chin up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think you should go back to being figments of my imagination.”
The three of them stood there, speechless, as she trotted away from them. The other ponies on the street edged away from her, muttering to each other in low voices as she passed them by. Some of them laughed, others shook their heads.
“So… she’s not going to try to kick us out?” Sweetie Belle said. She shuddered. “I was worried this was going to be like what Apple Bloom did to us.”
Apple Bloom looked at her. “Was it that bad?”
“Pinkie thinks she’s dreaming us,” Scootaloo said. “I guess things could be worse, but I don’t think she’s going to listen to anything we say.”
“But she could dream anything she wants. Especially if she knows she’s dreaming,” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why would she make it all so normal? Except I don’t think anypony here likes her.”
In her mind, Scootaloo heard Luna’s voice echoing. “It’s how she sees the world…” she muttered under her breath.
Pinkie knew every inch of Ponyville. She knew every face, every name, on a personal level. And, if Scootaloo had to guess, nothing scared her more than the idea that none of those ponies liked her back.
Rainbow Dash caught up to them again. “Hey. Finally ditched Pinkie, huh? You made the right choice.”
Scootaloo shook her head. She stared at the dream-Rainbow standing next to her, wearing a grin that was almost a sneer. “I know Rainbow’s said that Pinkie can be annoying, but she doesn’t act like this.”
“Kid, do you want to know what I really think about her?” Rainbow said. “She’s completely annoying. She never knows when to shut up. And, on top of all that, she’s cheated me out of cider every single year—until I finally beat her at her own game.”
“We’ve just got to ignore her,” Scootaloo said. She looked around. “Come on, we need to get to Pinkie somehow. Did either of you see where she went?”
“I don’t know. I think we lost her.” Sweetie Belle was staring at the dream-Rainbow. “Pinkie actually thinks that’s what ponies say about her?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. “Well, uh...” She hesitated before continuing very slowly. “I’m still not clear on all this dream stuff… But everypony around here is Pinkie, or part of her imagination, or… somethin’. Right?”
“I… guess so?” Scootaloo cocked her head.
“So if we talk to them, then we’re really talkin’ to Pinkie.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “I don’t think I get it.”
“We’ve just gotta remind them why they really do like Pinkie. Or at least the real versions of them do. Then we’ll actually be remindin’ her of what they actually think.”
Scootaloo nodded slowly as she put the pieces together. “So we’d really be changing the dream itself by doing that. It could be the dream logic getting to me, but it might be worth a shot.”
“Now just what in the hay do you three care so much about Pinkie for?”
They spun around to see Applejack walking slowly towards them, the same stern look in her eyes that she’d given them last time. It was like she’d appeared out of nowhere. Maybe she had.
“Apple Bloom, you and your friends better just steer clear of that one,” Applejack said. “She’s a few apples short of a full bushel.”
“B-But you don’t really think that,” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head. She had to fight to get the words out. “My real sister’s been friends with Pinkie for years.”
“Now just what the hay are you talkin’ about?” the dream-Applejack said, frowning. “That pony’s simply no good. You’ve seen the way she camped out for cider. Two years in a row, even! Don’t she have anythin’ better to do with all her time?”
“But, uh…” Apple Bloom took a step back. “Well, you saw all the other ponies who followed her there! And with Pinkie drummin’ up all that excitement, we had the best sales in years! You said so yourself!”
“I… did?” Applejack blinked.
“Sure did! Don’t you remember?” Apple Bloom said. She dropped her voice to a whisper, and leaned over to Scootaloo. “How do we tell if it’s workin’?”
“No clue.”
Scootaloo looked around. Was it just her imagination, or had the town square gotten even more crowded all of a sudden? It was like everypony in town had all decided to flock here all of a sudden.
She squinted at the crowd, then pointed a hoof forward. “Pinkie’s over there. We should probably keep an eye on her.”
Scootaloo tried to run ahead, but Rarity stepped out to block her path.
“Oh, please, what do you girls care so much about Pinkie for?” Rarity said. “She’s just so childish. Sweetie Belle, I know for a fact you’re old enough to see that now.”
Sweetie Belle’s tail curled up over her cutie mark. “Rarity?” She exchanged a glance with Apple Bloom. “I-I know you wouldn’t say that.”
Rarity tutted. “It’s no wonder Pinkie goes out on Nightmare Night with all the foals. She’s only in it for the candy. She’s even greedier than they are,” she said. “Even you’ve decided you’re too old for that, Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head frantically. “N-no, I… I heard about the festival, and I just really wanted to sing again…” She looked back to the others. “I wanted to go with you guys, but I didn’t have time to do both.”
“That is what’s important to you,” Apple Bloom said. “I completely understand.”
“And, uh, we did have fun with Pinkie that night,” Scootaloo said. “Right?”
“Yeah! She knows all the best houses,” Apple Bloom said. “Really knows ‘em… But Nightmare Night’s always a lot of fun with her around. Always has been!” She watched Rarity out of the corner of her eye.
Rarity blinked in confusion. “Girls, what are you saying? Pinkie is simply... Is simply...” Her voice trailed off, as if she completely forgot what she was about to say.
Out of the corner of her eye, Scootaloo caught a glimpse of Pinkie. She was standing motionless just a short distance away.
She had stopped in the middle of the street, with a strange look in her eye. The ponies were still walking around her, but they were no longer staring at her, or whispering to each other. Pinkie slowly raised her head to stare at the sky, but nothing was there.
Scootaloo saw an opening in the crowd. She charged forwards, weaving between ponies, until she stopped just in front of her.
“You see it now, don’t you?” Scootaloo said. “You know this is all fake.”
Pinkie tried to cover her ears. “You’re just trying to trick me. You’re all lying about being my friends. You’ve always been lying!”
Then, to everyone’s surprise, Twilight emerged from the crowd. She trotted over to Pinkie’s side, and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Nopony’s trying to trick you, Pinkie.”
“That’s… still the dream version of Twilight, isn’t it?” Sweetie Belle said quietly.
Rainbow Dash flew over to the other side of Pinkie. “Yeah. Nopony pulls a prank or throws a party quite like you.”
“And you did such a marvelous job at Sweetie Belle’s cutie mark celebration,” Rarity said. “It’s no surprise that all of the foals in town like you so much. Not to mention everypony else.”
Pinkie stared at all the ponies surrounding her. There were tears in the corners of her eyes. “You all… mean that?”
Twilight walked over to her side. “Pinkie, it’s about time you woke up.”
“Huh?”
“You can’t spend all your time here in your dream. Your real friends are going to get worried about you.”
Pinkie stood up straight. “It has been a little too long, hasn’t it? I should just wake up...”
The moment she spoke, Ponyville vanished, as if it had never been there in the first place.
Everything was black. The sky, the buildings, even the ground had disappeared into nothing. Scootaloo leaped into the air, but all Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom could do was brace themselves for the fall.
It didn’t come.
Slowly, they stood back up, though they couldn’t see the ground their hooves were touching. The only thing they could see was Pinkie, standing a few steps away.
“It’s probably almost morning. I should wake up,” she repeated. She gave them a curious look. “You three are still here? But—”
Scootaloo blinked as the morning sun hit her eyes.