//------------------------------// // This is Simple? // Story: Endless Dreamer // by Tineid //------------------------------// As odd as seeing the older Applebloom had been, seeing Fluttershy this way boggled Luna's mind. Who has placed this timid creature on so high a pedestal? The tall and elegant Fluttershy tried to hide her face behind her hair, but it was too busy flowing majestically in the complete lack of wind. "P-please stop staring at me it makes me very nervous..." Fortunately, the two ponies to be rescued were distracted by a decidedly inelegant Twilight crashing to the ground nearby. Leaping to her hooves, Twilight whipped her head around as if expecting to be ambushed any moment. "Alright you two! We are getting out of here before I have to see anything else that even Discord won't let see the light of day!" Discord!? "Princess Twilight, am I to understand this is Discord's dream?" "You got it. It might be hard to tell from down here, but it's huge! And two ponies flying above it looking for you make pretty irresistible targets. Hammering things down with horn magic doesn't seem to do much, either." Applebloom nodded. "Well that magic doesn't belong here, Twilight. Dreams gotta be fought with dreams." Applebloom looked puzzled, turning to Luna. "Um, I think..." Luna nodded. "You have sensed the truth of it." She was impressed. Through this trial by fire, Applebloom was intuitively grasping many things she should have had to be taught about dreams. Turning to Twilight, she asked, "Are we far from the edge of Discord's dream? I'm afraid the two of us will be of little help getting there. We've spent ourselves on a fool's errand." The purple alicorn shook her head. "You managed to get a long way from there." She sighed. "And now I'm not sure how to get you all the way back. We could carry you, but I don't think I can fight some of these things carrying another pony, even a filly." Twilight sat down with a thoughtful look on her face, trying to come up with a solution. Seemingly safe, everypony tried to think of an answer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Applebloom spoke up. "Twilight, do you know any spells to make a tired pony strong again?" "No. I suppose it's possible but I haven't read of any." Tears began to well in Twilight's eyes. "I'm sorry Applebloom. I got you into this, didn't I? And now I don't know how to get us out..." Applebloom simply wrapped her hooves around Twilight, her voice calm. "Twilight, it's not your fault, it's not Luna's fault. You both were jus' tryin' to make me happy." Luna saw the confidence in Applebloom's demeanour. However she may have come here, she was in her element. Applebloom let go of Twilight, standing tall. In Discord's dream she was eye to eye with her. "Twilight, do you trust me an' Luna?" "Of course." "Then I'm gonna borrow your magic." Twilight looked unsure of how, but nodded her assent. Touching her forehead to Twilight's horn, Applebloom closed her eyes. The horn glowed purple with Twilight's magic, and Applebloom pulled away, a strand of magic tethering her forehead to Twilight's horn. She trotted over and touched her head to Luna's horn, splitting the strand in two. Now they both were tethered to Twilight's horn. Lifting her chin with a determined look, she called to the other pony, "Fluttershy? Lead the way. Luna an' I are forgin' a path outta here." Fluttershy started at being spoken to, but ascended toward the unstable collection of patterns that was a sky here. She pointed into the distance. "Um, this way, please." Luna caught Applebloom's gaze and nodded to her. With Twilight lending them her strength, they would succeed. Luna and Applebloom made quick work of anything that stood in their way. Luna's vast experience was complemented well by Applebloom's quick mind and youthful creativity. Threads descended from the sky to make marionettes of the group. Applebloom instantly thought them candle wicks, burning the threads away and scorching their unseen attacker. The ground spat up countless trees, endlessly growing and twisting and knotting around each other. Luna pulled her companions close behind her, dragging them along with telekinesis. She weaved and dodged among the thrashing plants until they cleared the other side. A river of burbling, hissing liquid spread out before them. Applebloom stepped out on it, insisting that it should freeze the same as any river in the wintertime. Emerald creatures with longing faces grasped at them with hooked claws. Luna commanded "Begone!" with a voice that shattered their crystalline bodies. Insectoid machines the size of houses barred their way, shoving anything at hand into their spinning, grinding mouth-parts. Applebloom melted everything before them to the consistency of toffee, gumming them up until they couldn't move. On and on this went, with Fluttershy always above them where they could protect her, pointing the way to freedom. Luna glanced at Twilight as they went, noting how she dragged her hooves and hung her head more and more. Soon she shall be spent as well True to Luna's prediction, Twilight stumbled and fell. She quickly regained her hooves, but not before the magical tethers stuttered and disappeared. "I'm... I'm sorry, I can't..." Applebloom pressed up to Twilight's side, helping her keep trotting ahead. "It's alright Twilight. Everything's movin' the same way, so we gotta be close." Luna looked around, realizing that she was right. The various dreams all flowed one way, as they did near the wall. She called upward, "Is this right, Fluttershy? Do we near the edge?" "Oh yes, please keep going! We'll be home soon!" They pressed on. It was slow going, turning this way and that to avoid the things they knew they hadn't the strength to defend themselves against. Fluttershy would warn them of impending dangers and they would hurry the other way. This last leg of the journey was half as long as the rest of their trek due to all the zigzagging back and forth, but eventually Luna saw the wall materialize out of the distance. "We near the end!" The four of them grew nervous, looking this way and that, expecting Discord's dream to throw one last imagining their way. On guard for this one last test to pass before they could leave, Applebloom and Luna nearly walked face-first into the wall itself. Twilight shuffled forward and did just that, pressing her face against the wall. She inhaled, gathering what strength she had left. Then she shouted into the wall, "Alright Discord, we're all here!"