//------------------------------//
// A Night To Remember: Applejack & Rainbow Dash 
// Story: A Nightmare in Equestria 
// by Imperium Bedlam 
//------------------------------//

"Ya'll better make sure that yer room is tidied up by the time ahm done now, Applebloom." I gave a stern glance towards Bloom to which she replied with a slow nod. I turned away and began moving towards the orchard, enjoying the smell of ripe apples in the morning. I moved over to the first tree and turned, leaning forward as my hind legs lifted.

I bucked with the same strength as usual, but the tree didn't budge. "Now what in tha hay." I frowned slightly as I tried again, to no avail. I bucked it harder, sure that at least one apple would fall, but the stupid tree just would not budge. "This better not be some kind of practical joke." I tried one more time, putting all my strength into my front hooves as I kicked out backwards. But my hooves never touched three tree.

As soon as my hooves were within a few centimetres of the tree it opened up. My eyes went wide as my legs moved inside it, unable to stop the momentum. I gasped as the tree grew two cold, green eyes and sharp teeth that looked like knives. The mouth closed down on my legs and I screamed, knives piercing through flesh only to come out the other side. I struggled to move away as the tree held me still, blood seeping down the trunk.

Then it started chewing. I felt something grab onto my hooves inside the tree and pull me backwards into it. I kept trying to move away but as soon as its mouth opened, it was shut again, eliciting another scream from me as I looked towards the rest of the trees. They now stood wilted and dead, rotten apples littering the ground.

"Wake up Applejack!"

Tears stained the dead ground at my hooves as I struggled to move away. I looked towards Celestia's sun, 'How could this happen?' I saw a blur move across the sky but I was too slow, and distracted, to follow it. The jaws of the tree opened again before quickly sinking into my upper thighs.

"Come on! Wake up sis!"

My front hooves moved feebly to pull me away, my body slumping to the ground as my blood dribbled down my torso. I heard a scream in the distance, which sounded a lot like "Fluttershy!" I moved what I could in the direction of the scream. I saw Flutters running down the path to my home, she was being followed by her animals.

She had a frantic look on her face and our eyes met for a brief moment.

The last thing I said to her was "Help!" before another scream got my attention.

~One, Two, The Nightmare's coming for you~
"Wake up sis! Please wake up!"

Then everything went dark. I slowly opened my eyes to see Applebloom, crying against my bed. I reached out a hoof and gently pet her head. "What's wrong Bloom?" She looked up to me with a face full of shock, then hope, then joy as she nuzzled my side.

"You finally woke up! Don't worry non' sis, Mac's gone to get a doctor." Doctor? Why would I need a doctor?

Then the memories of my nightmare returned to me and I looked towards my legs frantically. The sheets had been kicked off and the bed was stained red. My eyes went the size of dinner plates as I saw my legs. There were cuts all along and through them. I knew Applebloom was next to me and that I shouldn't worry her, but I couldn't help the scream that came from my mouth.





"Haha yes!" I just pulled off two Sonic Rainbooms in a row! The Wonderbolts are going to have to take me now! I looked back at the two parallel rainbow trails with a smug grin before turning back to the supervisors. They all had their attentions on their clipboards, even Spitfire!

"Good job Rainbow Dahs, now move into to next are for processing." Spitfire said disinterestedly. She even yawned! I grumble and flew towards the next area, I didn't even notice that the rainbow trail was still there. I sat down in front of a single judge on a desk who was going over some papers with a bored expression.

"Rainbow Dash, you are disqualified." He said calmly, putting the papers down and stamping them with the big, red word 'FAIL'.

"WHAT?!" I screamed at him, hooves slamming down on the desk.

"You have been disqualified, Miss Dash, due to a request by a higher authority."

"Who?! Who in Equestria would do such a thing?!" The judge just rolled his eyes and pulled some papers out of a drawer, flicking through them casually.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle."

My jaw hit the ground. 'Why would Twilight do this?' My mind went into overdrive as I tried to process this, then I shook my head and took off. "I'll just tell Twilight that someone used her identity to stop me from becoming a Wonderbolt, she'll fix this up for sure!" I sped over Equestria, I was too tired for a Sonic Rainboom though so I was a lot slower than I should have been.

I went over Sweet Apple Acres, I thought I heard something but shrugged it off as I flew past. I headed towards Twilight's castle and flew through the window, crashing slightly. Well, crashing a lot. I hit a bookcase pretty hard and knocked a large amount of them out. Groaning, I got up, shaking my head and fluttering my wings before looking to Twilight. She was reading a book like she usually does, her back to me.

I slowly moved up behind her, "Twilight! You gotta help me!" I shouted. She didn't respond though, she just flicked a page over. I kept running towards her but she always seemed just out of reach.

"What's wrong Dash?" She said absentmindedly, as if the world was completely at peace. I was about to say something when I saw her leg, 'Wasn't that leg injured horribly? There's no scar or anything.' I just shrugged it off as unicorn magic and tried to move closer.

"One of the judges at the Wonderbolts tryouts said you requested I get disqualified!" She said frantically, "But I know you wouldn't do that sort of thing so I came here right away!" I felt some confidence well up within me as I said it, 'When I find the pony that did this...'

"I did Dash."

"... what?"  'What is she talking about? Why would Twilight do this? She knows how much I've always wanted to be in the Wonderbolts!'

"Of course I did Dash, if I hadn't then you would've flown off and left the rest of us here. You sure are lucky I sent that request in when I got the news of your tryouts."

I sat down, dumbfounded. My thoughts were once more going a million miles and hour as I looked at Twilight's silhouette. The sun was slowly setting just outside the window. For once, I felt something I never thought of feeling before, hate.

"We can't have the Element of Loyalty running off to fulfil her dreams can we? That would just be stupid." I hated Twilight right now. My rage slowly building up as Twilight prattled on. Part of me was yelling about how Twilight would never do such a thing, about how she always had my best interests at heart. That side was losing though, to the side that called Twilight a bitch, a backstabber. It spoke of how she'd begun to see herself as above us now that she got a new castle, and that was the side I listened to.

I moved closer to her, the distance crossed almost instantly as I stood above her. "I hate you..." I mumbled, my voice barely audible. I raised up on my hind legs and stood above Twilight. "I hate you" I said louder, my Twilight starting to turn towards me. "I hate you!" I yelled, bringing my hooves onto her face with as much force as I could muster.

I hardly noticed the room grow darker as I began to pound away at her face, blood trailing up my hooves. "I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!" Faster and faster, blood splattering across my muzzle and the walls. My hooves kept hitting her until they came out the other side, and I kept hitting the hard crystal floor until my hooves were mangled and broken. I felt my eyes become wet as I looked down at Twilight's ruined face, completely unrecognisable under all the blood and bits of broken skull.

I sat on my haunches, raising my hooves to my face and cried my eyes out. "What have I done?" I repeated, over and over as the world slowly turned to black.

~Three, Four, Better lock your door~

My ears twitched at the sound before I felt like everything was shifting. I slowly opened my eyes, looking around my house. "It was just a nightmare." I said, yawning loudly and stretching out my hooves and wings. Then I saw my hooves, and I yelped slightly, trying to move away from them even though they were attached to me.

"Do I hate Twilight?"