//------------------------------//
// About the Trees 
// Story: A Route Obscure and Lonely 
// by JapaneseTeeth 
//------------------------------//

	“So you’re sayin’ that we got blindsided by some sorta spell by a magical fear-eatin’ creature?”  Apple Bloom asked.

Spike nodded. “Yeah, that just about sums it up.”

“And Princess Luna enlisted you to travel from dream to dream and free everypony from the spell?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“She sure did,” Spike said proudly.

“And you freed us from the spell by gathering us together and bringing us to the clubhouse?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes, I did.” He struck a dramatic pose. “See, according to Luna, everypony has some sort of coping mechanism to deal with fear, and I figured that the one thing that helps all of you deal with that stuff is being a part of your club together!”  He gestured at the clubhouse where they sat.  “Between being with your friends, and being in the place where you guys enjoy being, it was enough to break the spell entirely.”

The three crusaders glanced at each other, then back at Spike.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m still dreamin’,” Apple Bloom said.  She glanced around the room as if trying to convince herself that it was really there. “None of that stuff makes much sense.”

“Well, you technically are still dreaming,” Spike said, “but it isn’t like a regular dream anymore.”

“I already knew that,” Scootaloo said. “My dreams are usually a bit more exciting than this.”

Sweetie Belle glanced out the window and surveyed the landscape. “Yeah, even if this is a dream, there’s definitely something really weird about it. I’ve never had a dream that looked like this.”

“That’s right. You should listen to Sweetie Belle.” Spike punched the button on his wrist. Again.  Hopefully it would make Luna hurry up just a bit. “If Luna would just show up already, she’d be able to explain this way better than I would.”  He spun around. It was practically a cue for her to show up, and this time she wasn’t going to catch him off guard. She wasn’t there.  Yet.

Then a voice came from behind him.

“You know, that time I actually tried to show up in front of you,” she said wryly as she waited for him to turn around.  She had replaced the Rainbow Dash balloon sculpture that had sat on the table in the corner of the room.  “Good work figuring out how to break the Nightmare’s control over the dream.”

“Oh, that was no problem at all!” Spike said proudly.

“Wait, so all that stuff he said about Nightmare capturin’ ponies in their dreams is true?” Apple Bloom squeaked.

“It must be,” Sweetie Belle said. “Or else Princess Luna wouldn’t be here.”  

Scootaloo just stared. “But why is she made of balloons?”

Luna turned slowly around to face her. The balloons squeaked as she moved. “It is easier to manifest my presence in a dream by using material already present in the dream. Under normal circumstances it is not necessary, but due to the spell, it is an unfortunate limitation.” She paused, and noted the expressions of the three fillies, who were staring at her like she had two heads. “I realize my appearance might be slightly odd.”

“That’s… a little bit of an understatement,” Spike mumbled.  “So what are we going to do now? We know the Nightmares can combine dreams together or whatever, but what does that mean for our plan?”

“It means that we will precede with more caution.”

“You mean I’m still going to go jump into other dreams?” Spike asked. “If they’re all connected, doesn’t that mean that the Nightmares will have caught on by now?”

“If they haven’t noticed us by now, I have no idea why they would.” She frowned, her rubber eyebrows squeaking slightly. “While this dream may be a compound of three normal dreams, it does not necessarily mean that it is connected to any other dreams.  I have been able to monitor the spaces between dreams, and as of yet, I have not seen any Nightmares there.  It appears that they are confined to their own spaces as long as the spell is active.”

“Well, that’s good,” Spike sighed in relief.  “At least we won’t have to worry about them popping up.”

“It’s true we won’t have to worry about that,” Luna said. “However, I cannot imagine that the Nightmares will want to keep themselves isolated for long, which means that whatever they are planning must be occurring soon.  We must hurry on to our next objective.”

“Right!” Spike punched his palm. “What is our next objective, anyway?”

“You can save my sister!” Apple Bloom interrupted.

“Or Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo added.

“Or Rarity!” Sweetie Belle said.

Luna shook her head as the three fillies immediately began to bicker. “Girls!”

They froze.

“First of all, Rarity has already been freed from her dream.  We must take stock of our remaining options and choose accordingly.  The control over Twilight is even greater than that over the rest of your friends, so we will not be able to free her yet. This leaves Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy.  Do any of you know where any of them are?”

“I think that Pinkie was going over to the Town Hall to deliver a cake,” Spike said. “I’m not sure if she’s still there, though. She had all sorts of last minute errands to run, so she could be anywhere.”

“I’m pretty sure Fluttershy is still at her cottage rehearsing with her birds for one last time,” Sweetie Belle offered. “Does that help?”

“Perhaps.  Though her cottage is on the other side of town, if I remember correctly.” Luna thought for a moment. “Would either of you two happen to know anything about Applejack or Rainbow Dash’s whereabouts?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “I don’t know where Rainbow Dash is. We were all gonna meet at Town Hall. She might still be at her house.”

“I hope not,” Spike said. “I don’t know if I can get up there.” He turned to Apple Bloom. “What about Applejack? Do you know where she is?”

Apple Bloom thought for a moment. “I don’t know exactly where she is, but the last time I saw her, she was on her way to the boutique.  She hooked her dress on a nail and needed Rarity to stitch it up real fast.  I’m not sure if she got there or not.”

“I never saw her,” Sweetie Belle answered. “Rarity was getting herself ready while she waited for Applejack to show up. She was worried that she wouldn’t show up in time and they’d be late for the celebration.”

“So we know that Applejack is somewhere between Sweet Apple Acres and Carousel Boutique.” Luna nodded. “Fluttershy is likely at her cottage, and we do not know where Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are.”

Spike scratched his chin. “So I guess I should go to Fluttershy first, since we know where she is?”

“Perhaps. But Applejack may be even closer. I would recommend you make your way to Fluttershy’s cottage, but take the route that Applejack would use to reach the Boutique.  If you find her, enter her dream. If not, proceed to Fluttershy’s cottage.  And naturally, keep an eye open for Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.”

“Will do.  Are you going to give me another one of those button things when I get into the next dream?” He tapped it with his claw. “It really saved my butt this time, you know.”

“Yes, that should not pose a problem.  Though the fact that I do not know which dream you will be in might cause it a bit longer to find you to begin with. Are you ready to proceed?”

He nodded. “I think so.  You’re going to keep an eye on the Crusaders, right?”

“Of course.” She smiled. “I have made something of a habit of it. I am hardly going to stop now.”

“Great. I guess I should get going now.”  He waved at the Crusaders. “Don’t worry, we’ll have this whole thing sorted out in no time! Don’t go getting into any trouble while I’m gone. See you later.”

“Good luck, Spike!” Apple Bloom said. “When you find my sister, you tell her I’m okay.”

“And thanks for saving Rarity,” Sweetie Belle added.

“You probably won’t need to save Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said, “but keep an eye out for her anyway.”

Spike grinned and gave them a thumbs up. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Spike is on the j-” He vanished with a muted poof.

“Hey!” Apple Bloom scurried over to the spot he had been standing. “Where’d he go?”

“He woke up,” Luna said sheepishly. “I did not realize that he was going to continue talking.  But no matter.  There is much that you must be caught up on. It is only proper that you understand the situation.” She cleared her rubber throat. “Now then, I will do my best to keep this brief…”





The night air was so cold that the shivers rattled Spike’s scales. That was what he told himself.  He was shivering because he was cold, and not because the empty silence that hung over the town was starting to get to him. He had gotten used to wearing that button on his wrist, and its sudden absence made his arm feel light.  His head felt light, too.  He had long lost track of how much time he had spent dreaming, but it was enough that being awake felt odd. 

He turned a corner onto the road that led away from Main Street toward the farm.  He sighed in relief.  Applejack was splayed out in the middle of the road.  The dress and lack of a hat masked most of her features, but he could recognize that snore in his sleep.

“Why couldn’t you have fallen asleep in a house like everypony else?” he grumbled as he approached. The notion of leaving his unconscious body lying out in the street didn’t appeal to him very much, but he didn’t have the time to drag her inside.  And he wasn’t sure that it was even possible to do that without getting pulled into the dream anyway.

“Your dreams aren’t too weird, are they?  Everything’s probably just made of apples, right?  If I ever get stuck somewhere I can just eat my way through.”  He carefully took a seat next to her.  If he was lucky, Applejack’s psyche would be as calm as his wasn’t. “Don’t worry, when this is all over I won’t tell Rarity about how dirty you got the dress.” He reached out to put his claw on her hoof. “Apples, here I come.”

The night melted away around him and for a moment he felt like he was floating. Then the dream began to condense around him; a tangle of dark shapes growing more solid by the moment.  Under his feet, he could feel the ground taking shape.  Unfortunately, that shape wasn’t flat.  Whatever it was he was standing on heaved up underneath him and before he knew it, his left foot was as high as his chin.

“Wha-”

The next thing he knew, he was tumbling along against something knobby and rough.  In his vision he could see flashes of dull color around him, but it spun too fast for him to see what it was.  He grabbed blindly around himself, trying to stop his fall.  A large object stopped it for him.

“Uggghhhh….” Spike opened his eyes slowly, reminding himself that despite the aching, he couldn’t actually be hurt.  

The dream was upside down. He tried to move, and realized that the dream was fine.  He hadn’t landed right side up. As he righted himself, he noticed that the ground was still uneven.  In fact, it wasn’t ground at all. He had landed against the base of a tree, on top of a massive tangle of roots.

Directly ahead of him sat another tree, a short, squat specimen.  It sat atop a pile of roots so high that it took Spike a moment to figure out where the roots ended and the trunk began, looking more like a hill than a tree.  He could only guess that he had arrived somewhere at the top of its roots.  The trunk itself looked almost like a barrel, with a few knots spotting the otherwise smooth surface.  It had only a single scraggly branch protruding from the top of the trunk.  The branch was as skinny and pointy as the trunk was round and thick. 

Something dangled from the end of it.  Spike began to climb the hill of roots to get a better look.  Despite the absence of so much as a single leaf, it seemed that there was a fruit hanging from the branch.  And unbelievably, it wasn’t an apple. Or if it was an apple, something was horribly wrong. It was elongated and dark, almost like an eggplant.  

As he came closer, he could make out a slight sheen in the air around it, almost as if it were glowing with some sort of dark light.  He reached out to touch it, but his claw stopped a few inches from the surface.

“On second thought, I probably shouldn’t mess with that. There’s no way it’s anything good. Maybe Applejack’s nightmare is one where all the apples are diseased or cursed or something.”  He turned and surveyed the landscape, if it could even be called that.

Whatever way he looked, trees of every shape and size covered the ground, spreading their roots so far that he couldn’t see so much as a patch of grass.  He looked to the sky.  It was a dull reddish-orange glow, as if the sky had been frozen at sunset.  A few thin, dark clouds sat in the air, unmoving, as if they had been painted on the sky.

A chill ran down his spine. He was no botanist, but it didn’t take an expert to see that something was wrong.  He had never seen trees like this before, not even in the Everfree. None of them were the right shape. Even the most normal of them looked misshapen and twisted, with branches jutting out at odd angles in strange formations, curling like claws.  Some of the trees looked like they had grown through each other, as if they were trying to tear each other apart from within.  A few even looked like they were upside down, with roots crawling through the air, scratching at the sky.

Scattered among the trees were what looked like enormous bulges, some in the ground, some within the trunks, some were even suspended.  And hanging from every tree were more fruits.  He didn’t recognize any of them.  Some of them were similar, but they were all wrong. The tree that he had landed against had a couple bunches of blue, banana-like fruit that seemed to be vibrating or twitching. Another one a short way away had what looked like an orange that was about the size of a watermelon and was covered in pink polka dots.

“I should’ve figured Applejack’s nightmare would be a world without apples,” he muttered.  “What the hay are those things?” 

He began to make his way through across the roots towards one of the nearby bulges.  Halfway up an otherwise normal-looking tree, the trunk ballooned out, as if the trunk was a pipe that was about to burst.  As he approached, it began to look less and less like a bulge and more like something the tree had grown around something.  Or rather that it had grown through something. It was, or at least it appeared to be, a room.

He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like the tree had grown beneath it, hoisting it into the air.  Or maybe the room had grown from the tree. It was a dream, after all. It wouldn’t be impossible for that to happen.  The branches didn’t seem to be growing through the planks that made up the room; they grew into the planks, like they didn’t want to go through the trouble of being cut down and going through a sawmill.  More fruit hung from the top of the room, green, translucent, and gelatinous-looking.

“I guess I should try to see what’s up there,” Spike said as he reached the foot of the tree. The room looked a lot higher up than it had from the distance.  At least the trunk was gnarled enough that it presented plenty of handholds. “Applejack might be trapped in one of those things.”

Out in the distance, he heard a rustling in the branches.  He looked behind him, but didn’t see anything.  He gulped.

“I really hope that was just the wind.”

It took a lot of willpower to turn his attention back to the tree.  He cracked his knuckles and began to climb.





“I still can’t believe I’m dreamin’,” Apple Bloom said as she scribbled absentmindedly on a piece of paper.  “This is all just too crazy.  Havin’ some sorta magical Nightmares runnin’ around and Spike comin’ in… it’s just too much.”

“I can believe I’m dreaming pretty easily,” Scootaloo answered. She walked to to the clubhouse window and pointed out. “I mean, just look out there. It makes way more sense that this is a dream. If all of that is real it would be even more unbelievable.”

“Well, yeah, but how do I know that all that weird stuff Spike and Princess Luna were talkin’ about is true?” Apple Bloom looked down at the paper on the table. It was a vaguely tree-shaped green scribble. “Maybe I’m just dreamin’ like normal.”

“This doesn’t feel like a normal dream, though,” Sweetie Belle added. She had been standing at the clubhouse doorway, trying to dare herself to step through. “It feels more clear than that.  And I’ve never had a dream where I had a conversation with you two.”

“That is pretty weird, I guess,” Scootaloo said. “It’s not the right kind of weird though. Like if this was a normal dream there’d be more stuff going on than us just sitting here talking about whether it’s a dream or not.”

“I guess it’s all real, then.” Apple Bloom crumpled up her drawing. “Everything about the Nightmares and everypony bein’ captured and… and…” Tears started welling up. “I just hope that my sister’s alright.”  She buried her face in her hooves and sniffed.

“Don’t worry, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie said as she patted her friend on the head. “I’m sure it’s all going to be just fine. Princess Luna is fixing everything right now. We’ll be waking up any second now.”

“Easy for you to say,” Apple Bloom grumbled. “Spike already rescued your sister.  I don’t even know if he’ll be able to find Applejack.”

Scootaloo took a seat next to her and put a foreleg around her. “Come on, there’s nothing to worry about.  Applejack can totally take care of herself.  She’ll probably buck that Nightmare right out of her dream before Spike even gets there!”

“You really think so?”

“Of course!” Sweetie Belle said with a nod. “Applejack’s the toughest pony I know. If there’s anypony who can handle herself in a nightmare it’s her.”

“I...I guess…” She sighed. “I just wish I knew what was goin’ on.  It’s drivin’ me crazy not knowin’ what’s goin’ on out there.  We got nothin’ to do but sit here and wait for Princess Luna to come and tell us what’s up.”

“Well, if that’s the problem, we gotta find something to keep ourselves occupied!” Scootaloo leaped to her hooves. “We can’t just sit around and worry about what’s goin’ on out there.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We can’t really work on any of our clubhouse projects; it’ll all be gone when we wake up.”

“Exactly!” Scootaloo pointed out the door. “Think about it.  We’ve got like three whole Ponyvilles worth of stuff to work with, and this time we won’t get grounded or lose our allowances or anything if we mess it all up.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes lit up. “And Princess Luna told us that we can’t get hurt while we’re dreamin’ either!  We can do all that stuff that everypony won’t let us do when we’re awake! Like buildin’ that catapult!”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Are you two sure about this?  I know we’re in a dream, but is that really a good idea?”

“Sure I’m sure!” Apple Bloom smiled a little too widely. “I’ll start drawin’ up the plans.  You two can go look for some glue!  We’re gonna need a lot of it.”

“We’re on it!”  Scootaloo grabbed Sweetie Belle’s tail and dragged her toward the door.

Sweetie Belle sighed. “Why can’t we ever just play ‘Go Fish’?”





“Almost… there…” Spike gasped as he continued to drag himself up the side of the bulging tree trunk.  He hadn’t really thought this through.  It had been clear enough that there was some form of construction embedded in the trunk, and he had no doubt that something of importance was inside.  In his haste to explore, he had neglected to actually find an opening before beginning his ascent.

Fortunately, he had found an open window. Unfortunately, it was near the top of the trunk. 

There had better be something helpful in here.  One of his claws reached the windowsill, and he hoisted himself up with a grunt.  For a brief second, he balanced on the ledge, then tumbled through the window into the room.  

The space was, at best, extremely dilapidated. It had the musty scent of a place that had been closed up and left alone for years.  Even the beam of light that came in through the window was dirty. He coughed.  Whatever it was he had landed on had sent up such a big cloud of dust that it made his eyes water. As he blinked, his eyes began to adjust to the darkness.

The room was packed full of familiar furniture and other miscellaneous junk. A tarnished mirror hung lopsided on the wall next to a ratty old cabinet.  A chipped and worn dresser sat crookedly in the corner, propped up on one side by a tree branch protruding from the floor. Everything was coated in a layer of dust thick enough to grow potatoes in.

The floor creaked as he climbed off the couch.  At best, he could describe the space as overly cozy.  It was like a whole room’s worth of furniture had been compressed into the space of a closet. Making it even more cramped, everything was shoved slightly inward by the branches that protruded from the walls.

“What is this place?” he muttered to himself. He made his way over to the dresser, stepping carefully across the uneven floor.  The drawers were mostly empty, except for dust balls and cobwebs.  Then he opened the top one. Stuck in the corner was a scrap of paper.  Spike pulled it out and found that it was a photograph. The dust had settled so heavily on it that he had to scrape it away, revealing the grainy image beneath. The photo had the faded color of one that had been taken years ago, and the image itself had the blurred monochrome of cameras from generations past. The ponies depicted looked even older.  They were skinny and dour-faced, dressed in formal clothes that hadn’t been in fashion for a century or so.  Spike shrugged. He had no idea who they were.

“Maybe they’re Applejack’s grandparents,” he said to himself. “I don’t know why else they’d be here.” He put the photo back in the drawer. “There’s gotta be something useful in here. It wouldn’t be here if it didn’t mean something.  He began to search under the sofa, but no sooner had he crouched down then he heard something in the distance. It sounded like howling.

“What is that?” He made his way back to the window and cautiously peeked out. On the top of the tangle of trees that masqueraded as a nearby hill, silhouetted against the dully glowing sky, was the shape of a timberwolf.  “You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered under his breath.

The timberwolf finished howling and lowered its head. If it knew where Spike was, it didn’t show it. Instead it proceeded to one of the nearby trees.  The tree had a bone-white trunk, like a birch.  A few narrow, spindly branches protruded from it, with clumps of dimly glowing cherry-like fruit dangling from the ends.  The wolf sniffed at one of the clusters.  Then its jaws snapped, tearing the fruit from the tree.  

As it swallowed, the glow shined through the gaps in its throat. The light spread down its body, like the flickering of flames under the wood of a fire.  The timberwolf threw its head back and howled once more.  Flames burst from between the chunks of wood that made up its body.  For a moment Spike hoped that it would fall apart, but the creature barely seemed to notice. The howl picked up a crackling texture before it faded away. The timberwolf snorted, and charged off into the forest, leaving smoldering pawprints in its wake.

“Well, that can’t be good.” He squinted into the distance. Timberwolves were pack animals.  Applejack knew that. If she was dreaming about them, she wouldn’t dream of just one. “They must be hunting her.  But where would she be? There’s no way she’d let herself get caught by those things.”  

He leaned slightly out of the window and glanced down the side of the tree.  It had been hard enough to climb up, and he had claws. “Maybe these weird rooms are Applejack’s safe spots. No idea how she’d get up here, but I guess not all of them are up in the trees.  Maybe she’s hiding in one of these things.  Hopefully her hideout is a bit cleaner than this...”

His thought was interrupted by a cacophony in the distance; barking and rattling wood on wood.  He rushed to the window and glanced out, trying to keep himself hidden.  In the distance, an orange shape darted between the trees.

“Applejack!”

Not far behind her were timberwolves. Not just a few; there was a whole pack.  Spike couldn’t quite count them, but there had to be nearly a dozen.  And only half of them looked remotely normal. The rest of them looked less like timberwolves and more like forces of nature.  Spike recognized one, wreathed in flame, as the one that had eaten the cherry-like fruit. Smoke poured from another, and a third oozed streams of pale yellow-green slime.  He didn’t have time to look at the others.  He kept his eyes fixed on Applejack as she nimbly skipped back and forth between the trees, keeping the wolf pack at bay.

Spike didn’t dare to breathe. There was no way that Applejack could keep ahead of them for long. She would get too tired.  They would surround her; her escape routes would be cut off and she would be surrounded.  Even Applejack couldn’t keep up a dead sprint, even if she was being chased by timberwolves.

But try as they might, they couldn’t seem to gain on her.  All of her weaving between the narrow gaps between the trees that comprised the landscape seemed to keep them at bay. Now and again one of them would stumble, exploding into a cloud of whatever element they were trailing behind them.  

“I guess she doesn’t get tired in dreams either.  But if she’s not hiding, it means that the only way to free her is to…” The obvious solution hit him like like a ton of bricks.  “Oh, you have got to be kidding me! There’s no way that I can take out all of those timberwolves.  There must be some other way.  I just need to figure out what.” He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe Applejack can give me some suggestions.  I just have to get her away from those timberwolves.” 

He glanced out the window again.  Applejack and the pack of timberwolves were vanishing into the distance and shuddered.  Why did it have to be timberwolves?





“You couldn’t find glue anywhere?” Apple Bloom grumbled as she followed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo along the road. “We got all of Ponyville to ourselves! There’s gotta be some glue somewhere.”

“Well, we did find a few bottles in one of the schoolhouses,” Scootaloo said. “They were all dried up and crusty though. But that doesn’t matter! We found something way cooler!”

“Is it cooler than a catapult?” Apple Bloom said, unconvinced. “‘Cause I’m tellin’ you, this thing could launch a watermelon right over the water tower!”

“Trust me, it’s pretty awesome,” Scootaloo said. 

“And it might help us save Equestria, too!” Sweetie Belle added. 

“Really?” Apple Bloom perked up. 

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle nodded vigorously. “We could be heroes!”

“Besides, what do we need to hurl a watermelon over the water tower for anyway?” Scootaloo said.

“We’d probably just punch a hole in it and end up flooding Ponyville or something.” Sweetie Belle pointed. “Okay, the thing we found is right over there!”

“Whoa!”  Apple Bloom froze mid-step as she turned the corner. 

Two massive Ghastly Gorges cut across the landscape, criss-crossing one another like an enormous X.  The sight was incredible, but Apple Bloom barely noticed it.  Her attention was focused on the floating island that floated in the gap where the two gorges met.  At its center was an enormous shape, an amalgamation of a dozen different buildings.  There were bits and pieces of the town hall, Twilight’s library, Zecora’s hut, the clock tower, the barn, and a handful of other places, all pasted together willy-nilly like into an architectural collage.  

“What is that?” she asked quietly.

“I dunno,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. “I just know that we definitely don’t have one of those things in Ponyville, so if we’re gonna explore it, we gotta do it now.”  

Apple Bloom turned her head sideways, trying to make sense of the thing. She had a vague hunch that if they hadn’t been dreaming, the piece of construction couldn’t have stayed in one piece for long. “What do you think it’s doin’ here?”

“Maybe that Nightmare was a fan of that ‘Modern Art’ stuff.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Or it’s hidin’ somethin’ in there!” Apple Bloom grinned in a way that usually preceded shenanigans.  “We should go check it out.  You know, in case it’s somethin’ important.”

“Are you sure we should go poking around in there?” Sweetie Belle asked, twiddling nervously with her mane.  “It might be dangerous.”

“It’ll be fine!” Scootaloo patted her on the head.  “Luna confirmed that the Nightmare is gone, remember?  And since it’s a dream, we can’t get hurt or anything.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom chirped. “And with these little doodads” —she held up her foreleg to display the button on her wrist— “we can call Luna for help if anythin’ happens!”

Scootaloo nodded in ascent. “Besides, it’s just a weird looking building. It’s not like it’s a haunted house that’s filled with monsters and ghosts or anything.”

Sweetie Belle swallowed. “Monsters and ghosts?”

“Why’d you have to go and start talkin’ about that?” Apple Bloom jabbed Scootaloo in the flank. “It’s a dream, there doesn’t have to be all that freaky stuff to make a building look weird.”

“But it’s the only one that looks like that!” Sweetie Belle said. “Sure some of the other buildings are in weird places or kinda leaning a bit, but none of them are all squashed together like this one is.  There’s gotta be something different about it.”

“Well, maybe that’s because whatever is in there is the key to figurin’ out how the Nightmares mashed our dreams together!”  Apple Bloom said with a grin. “Don’t you wanna help us figure out the whole mystery of the Nightmares?”

“I dunno…” She took a step back. “If it is, who knows what might be in there?”

“Come on, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo scurried behind her and gave her a shove. “Princess Luna told us this dream was totally safe! Besides” —she winked— “maybe we’ll get cutie marks for saving Equestria.”

“A ‘saving Equestria’ cutie mark would be pretty cool…” she admitted. Then she took another look at the building. It looked a bit more ominous every time she glanced in its direction. “But even so…”

“Okay, how about this,” Apple Bloom said. “Scootaloo and I will go in and check it out first, and you can stay here and be the lookout. Once we find out if there’s anything in there, we’ll holler at you and you can come in and meet us.  If you see anything, just yell.”

“Alright, but hurry up, okay?” Sweetie Belle said. “I dunno if I want to be stuck standing out here alone for too long.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Don’t worry, we won’t be long. Besides, it’s not like anything is gonna happen.”

“I sure hope not,” Sweetie Belle muttered as she watched Scootaloo and Apple Bloom head towards the structure. The floating island was close enough to the edge of the gorge that they had no difficulty hopping over it.  They clamored up to the door, which was at an angle a few feet above the door, and disappeared inside.

Sweetie Belle suddenly wished that she had gone with them.  It was far easier to notice just how weird the dream looked when there was nopony around to distract her.  The landscape in the distance rose up into where the sky was supposed to be, and none of it looked quite the way it was supposed to.  And she was stuck here, while who-knows-what went on outside.  For all she knew, Spike and Luna had already been defeated and it was only a matter of time before the Nightmares returned…

“No no no, not going to think about that stuff!” She shook her head violently. “Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are probably bored in there and it only looks interesting on the outside.” She talked too quietly for them to hear, but it helped a little bit to hear something other than the eerie silence of the dream.  “Any minute now, Apple Bloom is going to stick her head out and yell at me to come over and see what’s in there.”

She turned slightly, trying to keep both the weird tower and the landscape in view.  She wouldn’t be much of a lookout if she didn’t try to see if anything was coming.  There probably wouldn’t be anything. Luna had made sure of that.  If anypony would be able to tell when the Nightmares had been booted out of a dream, it was her.

Everything was still, unnaturally so.  She had never realized just how much life was usually around her. Birds fluttering through the air, squirrels climbing in the trees, the sounds of ponies chatting away… the dream had none of it.  Apple Bloom and Scootaloo could drown out the silence well enough, but with them gone, the emptiness began to weigh in on her.  She was beginning to consider heading into the tower herself when she heard a creak.

She turned to look and saw Scootaloo’s head poking out of the crooked door.  Scootaloo was smiling. Normally that would be a good sign. But Sweetie Belle recognized that smile. She had seen Scootaloo use it all too often. It was the face she put on for adults when she wanted to hide just how badly one of their ill-thought-out schemes had gone.  She had never been on the receiving end of it. It wasn’t very convincing.

“What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked.  The dread in the back of her mind growing by the second as she watched Scootaloo hop off of the island and slowly saunter towards her.  As she got closer, Sweetie Belle could see that she was trembling.  “What happened?”

“Uh, well…” She swallowed. “Try not to panic, okay?”

“P-panic!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Panic about what?”  She felt like a bucket of icewater had just been poured over her.

Scootaloo took a deep breath.

“Apple Bloom…” Her smile finally failed as she forced the word out of her mouth. “...disappeared.”





Spike poked his head out of his most recent hiding place.  He had spent the past who-knew-how-long sneaking from tree to tree, investigating and plundering the various rooms embedded throughout the landscape.  Most of them were quite similar to the first one he had found; abandoned and mostly empty aside from furnishings that had long since passed the point of being antique.  He had salvaged a few things that he imagined might eventually be useful, and now he needed to stash them in his hideout, the first room he had explored, before he put his plan into action.

He had found an ancient set of saddlebags in one of the hidden rooms, and had fashioned it into a makeshift backpack, which he had subsequently filled with anything and everything that could potentially be of use.  For the most part, it was rope. Rope, a few pulleys, some belts, a hat (mostly for style), a few baseballs, and a few other various knickknacks that might prove helpful.

So far, the Timberwolves hadn’t shown any sign that they were even aware of him.  They had come distressingly close a few times; at one point they had very nearly bowled him over.  He had only evaded them by wedging himself in a gap between routes and watching silently as they dashed past.  They were so focused on Applejack that short of running him down, they wouldn’t notice him.  He hoped so, at least.  He wasn’t about to take chances. 

In the distance he heard them barking, fortunately in the opposite direction from where he was headed.  He jumped out from behind the stump where he had been hiding and sprinted to the tree with the room in the trunk.  He went over the plan in his head again as he climbed.  It grew more and more absurd each time it came to mind, but he didn’t have any other ideas. Absurd as it was, it would have to do.  Assuming he could get up the nerve to do it.

He groaned as he dragged himself over the windowsill and into the room. While the dream kept him from getting tired, it certainly didn’t make the load any lighter.  He dumped the bag on the floor and began untangling the rope from itself and everything else.  They would circle back soon, and he needed to be ready.





“What do you mean ‘disappeared’ !?” Sweetie Belle squealed. “How could she just disappear!?  What happened!?”

“We were just looking around!” Scootaloo answered anxiously. “She ran ahead of me, and by the time I caught up she was gone!”

“Why would you let her go off on her own!?” Sweetie wailed, shaking Scootaloo violently. “We should’ve known that it was gonna be dangerous! Why didn’t you keep an eye on her?”

“It’s not like I ran off somewhere!” Scootaloo retorted as she shoved Sweetie Belle away. “She ran up ahead of me! How was I supposed to what was gonna happen!? It’s not like she’s gone forever.  Luna said that there’s no way to get out of the dream, so Apple Bloom has gotta be around here somewhere.”

“Y-you really think so?” Sweetie Belle wanted to believe her, but Scootaloo’s blatantly false optimism didn’t do her any favors. “We should contact Princess Luna!”

“Not yet!” Scootaloo snapped. “We don’t know if anything actually happened to her.  She could’ve just wandered off and couldn’t hear me when I was calling for her.  There’s no point in wasting Princess Luna’s time if nothing really happened anyway.”

“But what if something did happen?” Sweetie Belle said.

“Then Apple Bloom would probably have hit Luna’s button herself.  If she did that, Princess Luna is gonna show up anyway.”

“Fine,” Sweetie Belle snorted. “Then what are we gonna do?”

“We’ll go in there and see if we can find Apple Bloom. And we’ll stick together to make sure we don’t lose each other, alright.”

“You want me to go in there now?” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No thanks.”

“Well, I’m gonna go look for Apple Bloom. It’s up to you if you wanna come with me or not.” Scootaloo turned around and began to stomp back toward the tower. “I’m not afraid of any dream.”

Sweetie Belle glared at the back of Scootaloo’s head. She tried to yell after her, but all that came out was a loud squeal.  Following Scootaloo into that thing was one of the last things that Sweetie Belle wanted to do.  But being left alone outside it while Scootaloo rushed back in was even further down the list.  And who knew what was waiting in there?  Sweetie Belle gritted her teeth and followed her.

“So what did you find in there, anyway?” Sweetie Belle asked apprehensively as she hopped onto the island. 

“I’m really not sure, actually.  I know it’s something really strange, even for a dream. You should probably just see for yourself.”

Scootaloo pushed the door open with her nose, somewhat awkwardly, given that the door leaned a bit to the side.  Sweetie Belle nervously poked her head through.  The interior of the building wasn’t quite as chaotic as she had expected, though it did seem a bit bigger than it really should have been.  While the styles and furnishings of the walls were a patchwork, and the walls and floors weren’t quite flat or even, but on the whole it looked less like a dream jumble and more like a case of exceptionally shoddy construction. It vaguely reminded her of the renovations she and Scootaloo had attempted on the clubhouse while Apple Bloom had been down with the flu.

“It’s upstairs,” Scootaloo said. “Careful, the stairs are kinda crooked.”

Sweetie Belle followed her up the stairway, which wound around the edge of the room.  The room above was somehow even larger, so big that there was no way it should’ve fit without the entire structure being shaped like a mushroom.  She was about to shout to see if her voice echoed, when something else grabbed her attention entirely.

Floating in the center of the room was a black ball.  As they drew closer, she could see that it wasn’t entirely black.  It was filled with tiny pinpoints of light, almost like the stars in a night sky, swirling around in a circle.  It wasn’t exactly a ball, either. It was perfectly round, but as they circled it, the pattern of swirls on the surface didn’t change, as if it were a flat projection that rotated to always face them.  Or maybe it wasn’t moving and simply looked the same from every angle.

“So that’s what you found?” Sweetie Belle focused her gaze on the object.  The sight of it sent shivers down her spine. It didn’t look like it belonged here; it didn’t look like it belonged anywhere. It was a thing that barely even looked like it ought to exist at all. She didn’t dare look away from it. “What is it?”

“I have no idea,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. “Apple Bloom ran up the stairs first while I was still looking around downstairs. Then she yelled down ‘Hey come and look at this!’ and by the time I got up here, she was gone.  Whatever this thing is, I bet it has something to do with it.”

“You think?” Sweetie Belle hoped her sarcasm masked the shakiness in her voice. “Maybe it’s a trap.  You didn’t see this thing until after she disappeared, right?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “No. I told her to wait up, but when I came up here, she was gone, and all I saw was that thing.  You think she might be stuck inside it?”

“I don’t know where else she would’ve gone unless she found a secret passageway or something.”

“But how are we supposed to tell?” Scootaloo asked. “Do we try to, like, break it open? Can we even do that? It doesn’t really look very… solid.”

“I’m sure not going to touch it,” Sweetie Belle said.  She scratched her head. “I mean, we don’t even know if she’s in there. It could’ve just teleported her someplace else, or maybe she just didn’t hear you and she’s still in here someplace. I think we should keep looking around just to make sure.  I don’t want to start messing with this thing until we know she’s not around someplace.”

Scootaloo stared warily at the globe for a moment, then nodded. “I guess you’re right.  Who knows what could happen if we go and start poking it.”

“I think we should call Luna,” Sweetie Belle said. “She told us to call her if anything happened! I don’t care if she’s busy. We don’t know what’s going on and we have to help Apple Bloom!” She punched her button before Scootaloo even had a chance to respond. “Now let’s get out here. That thing is creeping me out.”

Scootaloo sighed and followed Sweetie Belle back down the stairs.





Spike sat just behind the window, peeking over the edge. He could hear the commotion of the wolves chasing Applejack in the distance.  They didn’t have a specific route they followed, but they seemed reluctant to leave the general area, and sooner or later they would pass by Spike’s hiding place.  The sound grew louder.  It would be sooner rather than later.

He grabbed the rope that dangled from the pulley he had attached to the branch over the window. From the other end, outside the tree, hung his best attempt at a lasso.  He tugged on the rope to make sure that it wasn’t caught, and then he waited.  Every time she passed the tree, Applejack had followed the exact same path, leaping over a protruding root before dashing around the tree and heading up the hill.  Hopefully she wouldn’t choose a different route this time.

“I really hope this works,” he muttered.

Applejack sprinted into view, weaving through the trees just as she had every other time she passed by.  He held his breath as he watched her charge toward the rope.  He just had to hope that his plan worked on the first try. He didn’t have any plan B.

Right on cue, Applejack leaped into the air.  Whether she noticed the rope, or if he simply had luck on his side, he didn’t know. Either way, Applejack shot through the rope. Specifically, halfway through.  The loop wrapped around her midsection and her momentum carried her into the air.  Spike gave a tremendous tug on his end of the rope, towing her upward. The timberwolves roared past, seemingly unaware that their quarry had vanished.  They continued into the distance, vanishing into the trees where Applejack would have gone if Spike hadn’t caught her.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he continued hoisting her up to the window.  At least he wouldn’t have to deal with a pack of timberwolves barking at the base of the tree.  All he’d have to worry about was figuring out how to free Applejack from the grip of the-

“Spike, what the hay are you doin’ here?”

“Huh?” He nearly lost his grip on the rope. “What?”  Applejack’s face was visible over the edge of the window, bearing a rather bewildered expression.

“I’m the one who oughta be askin’ that,” she said. “How’d you get here? And what’s goin’ on?  Why am I danglin’ up here?  Last thing I remember I was on my way to Rarity’s and next thing I know I’m bein’ chased by a pack of timberwolves.  And now I’m danglin’ here.”

“It’s kind of a long story,” he said as he pulled on the rope. “Let’s get you in here and then we’ll get everything figured out.”





It is an impressive feat of Somnial Engineering, I will admit that much. The three dreams are so thoroughly incorporated with each other that it isn’t even immediately recognizable as such.  Though I must wonder why they went through the trouble…

The magical blueprint rotated slowly in front of Luna, pausing only when she leaned in to look closer.  The final product was certainly remarkable, but as she examined it, she could pick out more and more oddities.  The dreams had been combined, but combined in a number of different ways, with methods that had little to do with each other.  It was as if somepony had attempted to combine several objects together, but couldn’t decide on how to do it, and in the end some points were sewn, others were glued, others melted into each other, and some points even seemed to be mixed. That was the closest analogy, at least.  Obviously, the dreamscape was hardly a true, physical object, but it was an easy way to think about it.

All of the combinations were well executed, but she couldn’t help but think that it was all unnecessary. Any one method would’ve sufficed perfectly well. Why go to the trouble of using so many approaches?  Settling on just one would have been a far simpler way of doing things.  The seams between the dreamscapes would’ve been nearly invisible, and it would’ve taken far less effort.

The only reason to do things like this would be if they are just… practicing.

Luna frowned.  That explanation made more sense than she wanted it to. If this dream was just practice for modifying other dreams, who knew what might be hidden elsewhere?  She did not savor the prospect of re-examination, but if that was what it took, she would undertake it.  Fortunately, none of the dreams that Spike had explored had changed.  And it didn’t appear that there was anything out of the ordinary about the one he currently inhabited.

She smiled.  He was doing well, certainly better than she had expected.  In fact, she felt a twinge of guilt at the fact that she had been so reluctant to ask for his assistance. At times he could be a bit dense, but one could hardly expect more from a dragon who had barely begun to reach adolescence.  Taking that into consideration, his propensity for absorbing information was quite impressive; he had earned his place as Twilight’s assistant. Of course, he also needed to be able to focus a bit more.  Twilight was probably partially to blame for that.

But what truly impressed her had been his heroics.  She had, of course, seen him performing such feats in his dreams on more than one occasion, but his latest efforts went beyond mere wish fulfillment.  Perhaps his escapades at the Crystal Empire were not simple luck after all.  If she were lucky, he might even be able to free Applejack without her assistance.

The sharp squeal of an alarm cut the silence.  Her blood ran cold as she saw who it was that required help. It was not entirely inconceivable that within all the overlapping dreamscapes, some sort of hidden snare had eluded her.  She hoped not.  Perhaps the CMC were just bored, or wanted an update, or any of a dozen things that would not endanger them.  Or perhaps it was something more serious. Either way, there was no question. Her investigations would have to wait.  





“Then I figured that if I wanted to get you out of here, I’d need to get you away from the timberwolves.  So I managed to rig up that pulley system, catch you in the rope, and lift you up here!”  He took a deep breath and smiled.  The situation just seemed more and more unbelievable every time he tried to explain it to somepony. 

Applejack just stared at him.  He wasn’t sure whether she was confused or skeptical or just didn’t care.  At least she hadn’t taken after her sister and interrupted him after every sentence.

“So now you’re up here, and we need to figure out how to get rid of those timberwolves, because I’m pretty sure that those are the Nightmare’s minions.  Any questions?”

“Well, obviously I got a whole bunch of questions, but I’m guessin’ that most of ‘em aren’t real important now.  You said that Apple Bloom is alright, didn’t you.”

“Yeah, she’s fine.  I just came from her dream.  She’s just hanging around with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo right now.”

“Whew.” Applejack sighed in relief. “That’s all I’m really worried about right now. Well, not all I’m worried about, but that’s one of the main things.  I guess my question is what we’re gonna do now.  You got me away from those things, but they’re still prowlin’ around out there.”

“Well, according to Luna, the Nightmares build dreams out of your memories and then manipulate them to be about stuff that scares you.”

“I can see that,” Applejack said. She poked her head out the window and surveyed the landscape. “Makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.  All these dead trees are pretty much what I imagined as a filly whenever Granny told me about droughts.  For a while I was convinced that if we went more than three days without rain that’s what everything would look like and we’d all lose the farm.  I guess I never really stopped thinkin’ about that.”

“But what about those weird fruit things?” Spike asked. “The ones that the timberwolves were eating.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “That’s my big brother’s fault. When I was a filly he used to tell me all these tall tales about magic timberwolves that ate all these weird fruits in the Everfree forest and how they’d eat all our apples if they ever ran out of fruit.” She wrinkled her nose and snorted. “I had bad dreams for weeks ‘cause of it.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Spike said, stroking his chin pensively.  “I mean, it’s kinda weird that your mind wasn’t trapped like everypony else’s was.”

Applejack shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe I was.  While I was runnin’ from the timberwolves everything was really sort of a blur.  Like all I could think about was that I had to get back to work on the farm and try to salvage the crop so my family could stay in Ponyville, but I knew if I stopped I’d get eaten.  So I just kept runnin’ away while I tried to come up with a plan, but it was like my brain didn’t wanna think about it.”

“Oh, so you’re cleared up then?”

“A bit, yeah.  I’m still kinda boggled at, you know, bein’ in a dream and all, but at least I feel like my head is workin’ the way it’s supposed to.” She sat on the couch, sending up a cloud of dust. “So what do we do now?  I’m guessin’ that just pullin’ me up here didn’t complete your mission.”

Spike coughed a few times and rubbed the dust from his eyes before answering. “Yeah, the Nightmare is probably still hanging around in the dream someplace, and I’ve got to get rid of it before I go anywhere.”

“Well, how do we do that?”

“That’s a really good question.  So far it’s been different in each dream.”

“So how’d you figure it out?” Applejack asked.

“Luna says that everypony has some way of coping with things that scare them, and that you can use that to beat your fears.  The problem is that it could be pretty much anything.” He shrugged. “You’d know more about all that than I would.”

Applejack thought for a moment. “So what you’re sayin’ is that whatever kinda copin’ mechanism I used to deal with my fear is the key to beatin’ this Nightmare?”

Spike nodded. “Um, I guess it might be kind of embarrassing, but it’s kind of an emergency. Don’t worry, I swear I won’t tell anypony.  Especially not Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack smirked. “Don’t worry about any of that, Spike.  I know that we got bigger things to worry about.  Besides, as far as bein’ scared of stuff goes, stuff like this really isn’t all that bad.  It’s not like I got a fear of, I dunno, butterflies or tacos or something like that.”

“I guess if you’re going to be afraid of something, it does make sense to be afraid of timberwolves,” Spike said.

“Exactly.  What’s more” —she winked— “I think I know what their weakness might be.”

“You do?” Spike asked excitedly, glad that for once he didn’t have to figure it out on his own.

“If you know anything about timberwolves, you know that they run in packs, right?”

Spike nodded.

“Well, every timberwolf pack is lead by an Alpha Timberwolf. The alpha is usually the biggest, toughest timberwolf with the pack.  Rather than goin’ out and huntin’ themselves they send out the rest of the pack.  I’m bettin’ that somewhere in all these trees there’s an alpha timberwolf that we gotta take out.  Does that make sense? You’re the one who’s been jumpin’ from dream to dream.”

“Makes sense to me.  If the timberwolves are based on your memories, and that’s what you remember about them, the dream probably does it, too.” He rubbed his claws together gleefully. “This is great! Normally it takes me a while to figure everything out! This is so much easier! All we have to is find the alpha timberwolf and...uh… how exactly do we defeat an Alpha Timberwolf?”

“What are you askin’ me for?” Applejack tapped him on the top of the head. “You already beat one that one time, remember? You saved me.”

“Are you talking about that time I threw a rock down its throat and then it exploded?”  Spike looked at the floor. “That… that was kind of an accident. I’m not even sure why it exploded like that.  I don’t think I’d be able to do that again.”

“Actually, it might not be quite as tough as you think,” Applejack said. “I was curious about how that happened too, so I had Twilight look up some info for me. You know that nasty green mist stuff that the timberwolves cough up?”

Spike wrinkled his nose and nodded. “How could I forget. That stuff smelled like week-old gumbo.  Took me forever to get it out of my scales.”

“Same here,” Applejack said. “I had to take a bath in tomato juice to get it off my coat.  Turns out that timberwolves secrete that stuff to mark their territory and keep intruders away.  When you threw that rock down its throat, you must’ve clogged up its throat and the pressure of all that green hazy stuff built up so much that it blew apart.”

“And you think I can do it again?” Spike swallowed. “I don’t know if I can pull that off. Last time it was kind of a lucky shot.”

“Hey, if you did it once by accident, don’t you have an even better chance at pullin’ it off again when you’re tryin’ to?”

Spike gave her a weary glance. “Maybe, I guess.  I feel like I might be stretching my luck pretty thin as it is.  I’ve used up a lot of it getting this far.”

“I don’t think that’s luck, Spike.” Applejack patted him on the head. “Besides, this time I’m not gonna be stuck on something.  We just need to find it and come up with a plan for when we do.”

Spike cracked his knuckles.  “We’d better start planning then.”

“That’s the spirit!” Applejack said. “Those wolves are no match for the two of us.”





Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat silently outside the tower.  As soon as they had explained the situation to Luna, she had hurried them out and forbidden them to enter until she had given them permission.  The lack of sun made it difficult to tell how long had past, but it had to be several hours, at the very least.  They had seen neither hide nor hair of her in all that time.  Occasionally a discordant hum would echo from the tower’s crooked doorway, and now and then pale light would shine from the windows.

The two fillies had made a valiant attempt to occupy themselves, but Apple Bloom’s absence hung over their heads like a cloud.  They had bounced a ball back and forth a few times and played a dozen or so games of Tic-Tac-Toe, but eventually they gave up on trying to pretend that things were normal and focused their attention on the tower.

“I wonder what she’s doing in there,” Scootaloo murmured.  

“Studying that weird… thing.” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I mean, she told us she was going to try to find out what it was.”

“I know that,” Scootaloo said. “But how do you think she’s doing it?  You think maybe she poked her head in it to see if it goes anywhere and got stuck?”

“Um, I don’t think so.” Normally, the image of Princess Luna with her head stuck in something would’ve caused giggling, but not now. “I don’t think she’d just poke something that might’ve sucked up somepony.”

“So then what is she doing?”

Sweetie Belle shrugged again. She didn’t have the energy for anything more. “Probably some sort of complicated magic thing. I bet Twilight could understand it if she were here.”

Scootaloo glanced back at the tower, then at Sweetie Belle, then back at the tower.  One of the windows, presumably the one that lead into the room with the anomaly, was glowing with silver light.

“Maybe we could go look?”

“Princess Luna told us to stay here!” 

“That was hours ago!” Scootaloo protested. “We can’t wait forever!”  She took a step in the direction of the tower.

“No!” Sweetie Belle scurried forward and planted herself in Scootaloo’s path. “Luna said that it might be dangerous!”

“That’s even more reason to go check!” Scootaloo took another step forward. Sweetie Belle didn’t budge. She shoved, not hard enough to push her back, but hard enough to let her know that she meant business. “Maybe something happened to her!”

“So?” Sweetie Belle pushed back. “If something happened to her, what makes you think that we’d be able to do anything!?  If they captured her, what are we going to do?”

“We… we could… uh…UGGHHH!” Scootaloo’s words degenerated into a frustrated moan. “I don’t know!  I’m just sick and tired of sitting here and not knowing what’s going on!  I can’t take it any more!” She stomped her hooves violently, as if she was hoping to break the dream open. “I don’t want to just stand around while everypony else is helping save Ponyville.”

“I know how you feel,” Sweetie Belle said carefully, “but running in there and getting ourselves in trouble isn’t going to help anypony.  I’m sure Princess Luna knows what she’s doing, and we just have to trust her.”

“Fine,” Scootaloo snapped. “We had better hear from her soon, though.  I don’t know if I can last much longer without going crazy.”

“Don’t worry,” Sweetie Belle said, doing her best to sound reassuring. “I’m sure she’ll let us know what’s going on as soon as she-”

She was interrupted by a loud explosion. Or at least that was the closest thing she could call it. It didn’t sound like a typical explosion, at least, with the ball of flame and plumes of smoke. It sounded more like the popping of an enormous balloon.  It was accompanied by a bright pink flash from the tower’s windows.  A moment later, a massive stream of shimmering silver mist blasted out of every opening in the structure, hissing like a leaky steam pipe.

Both fillies shouted in unison. “Princess Luna!”

They galloped towards the tower as fast as their hooves could take them.  They were just about to jump the gorge onto the floating island when a familiar form emerged from the ground in front of the doorway.  The two fillies skidded to a halt at the edge of the canyon.

“Princess Luna!” they shouted again, this time in joy rather than fear. 

“I apologize for the wait,” Luna said. Her mane, despite being projected in the ground, looked slightly disheveled.  “I did not anticipate that it would take that long.” 

“Are you okay?” Sweetie Belle called.

“What was that?” Scootaloo asked.

“I am fine, just slightly disoriented,” Luna answered.  “I was conducting one final experiment to absolutely ensure that the area was safe before returning to you.” She blinked a few times. “The rebound energy was… a bit more than I expected.  My projection in the dream was very nearly destroyed.”

“Did you find Apple Bloom?” 

“What happened to her?”

“Was that weird spinning thing a trap?”

“What’s that thing for!?”

“What-”

“Girls, please!” Luna snapped. “I understand that you are concerned about Apple Bloom, but I have spent the past few hours attempting to wring every last bit of thought out of my brain.  Let me explain what I know, and then you can ask questions.”

She glared at them with the glare of someone who had been woken up all too early on their day off.  They remained silent.

“Now then, I must be honest.  I still do not know where Apple Bloom is.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo opened their mouths to gasp, but Luna silenced them with another glare before they could get any words out.

“However, there is still cause to be hopeful.  I have also determined that she has most likely not been captured either.  That anomaly you discovered is not a trap.  It is a portal.  A portal out of the dream.”

The fillies’ eyes lit up like fireworks.

“You mean we can get out of here!?” Scootaloo asked.

“Quiet!” Luna snapped. “If you would let me finish my explanation, it would likely answer most of your question.  The portal does lead out of the dream, but entering it will not free you from the dream, either.  Rather, it leads into the space between the dreamscapes.  It is extremely likely that it is the means that the Nightmares use to move from dream to dream.  It seems that the particulars of the spell, namely the fact that it stabilizes each dreamscape to such a degree, require a system of portals to facilitate movement between dreams.”

They stared blankly at her.

“The Nightmares need the portals to move between dreams as long as the spell is active.  Believe me, it took no small amount of analysis to determine that.  The only easy way to determine where a dream portal leads is to enter it, and that is not an advisable option.  Furthermore, it appears that the portal is activated by contact.  It appears that Apple Bloom inadvertently activated the portal, and is currently in the space between dreams.

“I have attempted to locate her so that I can bring her back, but doing so without alerting the Nightmares will be difficult.  On the other hoof, I believe I can safely say that the Nightmares are not aware of her presence in their portal system, or at the very least if they are they do not appear to be interested in finding her.  In short, she does not appear to be in immediate danger, but at the same time we do not know exactly where she is, and there is always the possibility that she will be detected.  For the time being, I will continue trying to locate her, but at the moment there is unfortunately little that I can do.”

She hung her head. “I am sorry.”

The silence hung in the air for a minute.

“So,” Sweetie Belle finally said. “What can we do now?”

“I will inform Spike of what has happened, and we will both continue to watch for Apple Bloom.  As for you, I must simply ask you to be strong and to be careful.  We will do all that we can to keep her safe, but I will not allow you two to put yourself in harm’s way in some misguided effort to save her.  The two of you must stay away from the portal, and if either of you discovers anything else, you contact me immediately, understood?”

The two fillies nodded sullenly.

“Good. Believe me, I am every bit as worried about Apple Bloom as you are.  If I was frightened for your safety as well, the stress would drive me crazy.”  Her head vanished for a moment, then reconstituted itself right in front of them. “I know it is scary, but I know you two are tough enough to get through it. So I need you to be strong” —she paused and thought for a moment— “but not so strong that you can go find Apple Bloom yourselves.  I am serious, do not mess with the portal.”

“Okay, we won’t,” Scootaloo said, her voice hoarse. 

“Good. Now, if you have any more questions I will be happy to” —a loud buzzing sounded in the air— “answer them as soon as I return. Spike seems to require my assistance.  I will return as soon as I am able.  In the meantime, be careful and keep one another’s spirits up.”  She sunk into the ground and vanished.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared at the patch of dirt where Luna had disappeared. Then they turned to face each other.

“Do you think Apple Bloom will be okay?” Sweetie Belle said, her voice shaking.

“I don’t know.” Scootaloo tried to sound confident. “You know what?”

“What?”

“I bet wherever Apple Bloom is, she’s probably laughing at us for being so worried about her.”

Sweetie Belle forced herself to smile. “Yeah, she’s probably thinking ‘They’re just both too chicken to follow me!’”

Scootaloo grinned. “She’s probably beating up a Nightmare right now.”

“Yeah, there’s no reason for us to be worried about her.”

“Yeah!”

“So, while she’s off saving Equestria, we should probably keep gathering materials for the catapult.  You know, so when she gets back we’ll have everything ready.  It’s not like we have anything else to do.”

Scootaloo nodded. “I guess you’re right.  Let’s get back to looking for that rope.”





Applejack crept silently along, keeping herself low, sneaking through the massive roots of the gnarled trees that covered the dream.  She could hear the timberwolves prowling. They were not so close that she had to remain still, but close enough that if she was not careful they would be on top of her in no time.  She resisted the urge to sneeze.  After their first failed foray outside of the tree, she had disguised her scent under a layer of smoky soot, courtesy of Spike.  The stuff clung to her coat and made her smell like a campfire, with just a hint of sulfur, and had the added bonus of helping her blend in between the roots.

Spike was nearby. She hoped he was nearby, at least.  They had split up to make their way around a particularly massive tree trunk.  Surely the Alpha Timberwolf couldn’t be far off. They had long since made it out of the area she had been chased through.  Pack Leaders never rested on their hunting grounds.  

Things no longer looked the slightest bit familiar to her.  No, that wasn’t it. Everything looked familiar.  They were drawn from her memories after all, from her imaginary pictures of what the farm might look like if the trees turned on them and swallowed up the land.  If I ever get out of this, I’m gonna tell Big Macintosh that he can’t tell Apple Bloom any scary bedtime stories.  I don’t want her havin’ these kinds of dreams.

She could tell that she hadn’t been through this part of the dream yet.  The roots grew more and more gnarled, almost to the point of being thorny, and the trees were more and more misshapen, almost like they were twisting in pain.  How could that not be a sign that she was getting closer to the core of the nightmare?  Now all she had to do was make sure that Spike didn’t-

“AAHHHHH!” Spike came sprinting between the trees. 

“Spike!?”

He skidded to a halt as he ran by. “I have good news and bad news!” he gasped. “The good news is that I’m pretty sure I found the Alpha Timberwolf!”

“And the bad news?”

A loud howl split the air.

“That’s also the bad news,” Spike said.

“Hop on!” Applejack grabbed the dragon and flung him over her back and galloped in the opposite direction, just in time to see the Alpha crash through the trees.  From every crack in the wolf’s surface, a different energy poured.  Flame, water, miasma, green mist, darkness, and light all streamed from its body as it chased them.  “I thought the plan was to sneak up on it!” she managed between breaths. 

“I tried to!  I was climbing up a hill to see if I could get a better view and it turned out that the timberwolf was the hill!”

“That big, huh?”

“See for yourself!”

Applejack glanced back over her shoulder. The timberwolf was twice the size of any timberwolf that she had ever seen, almost as if it was two timberwolves mashed together into one.  In fact, it seemed as if that was exactly what had happened. Why else would it have two heads?

“Well, that sure makes things more complicated,” she said.

“No, really?” Spike answered. “We have to find a way to block both throats at once!  How are we supposed to do that?”  He ducked under a branch. “I can’t throw two of these at one time!”  He patted the bag that hung at his side.  It was filled with the half dozen or so baseballs they had scavenged. 

“Well, in that case you’re gonna just have to be quick!”

She darted to the side, weaving through the trees.  The Alpha Timberwolf thundered along behind her, quite literally moving through the trees.  The forest slowed it just enough for Applejack to stay ahead as she led it along.  She smirked. If not for her pursuer, she would’ve enjoyed herself. It wasn’t every day she got to run for as long as she wanted without eventually having to rest.

“We’re almost there!” Spike said as they rounded one of the hills. “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be!  When I distract it, you throw both of those as quick as you can. Hopefully you can make both shots.”

“Alright.” He clamped his legs around Applejack and carefully drew two baseballs from the bag. “Let’s take that Nightmare out!”

“Here we go!” Applejack’s steady gallop broke into a full sprint.  Behind them, the pounding of the Alpha Timberwolf’s paws sped up. 

Spike grinned as he saw a familiar silhouette growing larger and larger.  It was the same hill where he had first toppled into the dream.  And upon investigation, they had discovered that there was a gap in the roots.  A gap just big enough for a pony with a baby dragon on her back to fit through.

He ducked, and a moment later the roots were above his head and they were headed for the point of light at the far end of the hill.  The roots shivered and he heard a crash like the sound of a tree falling. The Alpha Timberwolf hadn’t been able to slow down in time.

“That got ‘im,” Applejack said. “Remember, just like we planned!”

"Got it!” 

As Applejack exited the tunnel, she felt Spike hop off of her back.  She turned and began to skirt around the side of the hill of roots.  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Spike scurrying to the top.  Now was the time to get into position.

As she rounded the hill, the enormous bulk of the timberwolf’s body came into view. It was nearly as large as the hill, and it was glancing around with both of its heads, searching for its prey.

She took a deep breath and shouted.

“Hey!” The wolf’s heads turned to glare at her.  All four eyes were glowing.  With every breath, it expelled a thick, greasy stench. It snorted once, as if it were daring her to say more. She immediately realized that she didn’t know what to say. “Y-your breath is awful, you know that?  And I think you got some moss growin’ on your shoulder there.  Y’all might wanna get that checked.”

The wolf stared at her for a moment. Then it roared, so loud that the roots shook.  Each mouth was so large that it could swallow her whole.  At least it would give Spike a bigger target.  She bit her lip and tried not to give the Timberwolf any sign of Spike’s presence.   At the edge of her vision, she could see him on the top of the hill, baseball in claw.  He wound up, and threw.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the the first throw hit its mark.  The ball vanished down the Timberwolf’s throat.  The creature reared up, roaring from one mouth while sputtering from the other.  She watched Spike take aim and fling the second ball.  His aim was perfect.

Then the air was split by a loud hissing.  A jet of green mist spewed from the wolf’s unclogged head with such force that it knocked the ball out of the air.  The beast lowered its heads, glaring at Spike with such intensity that its eyes looked like they were burning.

Spike grinned nervously. “Um, Applejack? I think we might have a problem.”

“Spike, run!”

He leaped from the top of the hill, just in time to avoid the Timberwolf’s jaws as it lunged forward.

“Hang on, Spike, I’m comin’!” She ran around the edge of the hill as fast as her legs and the uneven terrain allowed.  Spike had to be somewhere on the other side, but she had no idea whether he had tried to hide, or whether he had tried to flee.  The Alpha didn’t seem to know either.  It was still perched at the top of the root hill, sniffing around for the scent of dragon. 

She hoped Spike hadn’t gone too far.  Their plan wasn’t a failure yet; she just needed to give Spike an opening to clog the timberwolf’s other mouth.  It didn’t look like it was making any effort to clear its throat.  One of the heads simply hung somewhat limply on its shoulder.  But the other head, it threw back and howled, so loudly that Applejack’s ears rang.

“What was that?  What’s it’ tryin’ to” —she came around the other side of the hill and skidded to a halt as she saw a pack of timberwolves pouring from between the trees— “oh.”  She spun around and galloped in the other direction, the pack of wolves hot on her hooves.





This is not good. Spike thought to himself.  And that was a massive understatement.  Sure, he had made one shot, but after that the only thing that had gone right was not being eaten.  He had all but rolled down the hill, again, and found himself in the same place he had landed when he first entered the dream.  He had managed to sneak back into the tree-room he had hidden in before, just in time to see Applejack get chased into the distance by a pack of timberwolves.

So in essence, he was right back where he had started, only now there was an angry Alpha Timberwolf prowling around right outside his hiding place.  And it was easily tall enough to pluck him right out.  He looked into the saddlebag.  He had three baseballs left, and one other ball that might’ve been a baseball at one point, but was so old and battered that he couldn’t really tell.  He had four shots to take out the timberwolf before it cleared its other airway or found him.  He didn’t think it would be long before one of those things happened.

“Okay, I just need to find a way to distract it!” he babbled to himself. “Applejack is being chased around and I won’t be able to get her out of that without the Alpha Timberwolf eating me or something so I need to find another distraction before it-”

The whole tree jolted, knocking Spike off his feet. The trunk groaned under the strain, crackled, and began to fall

“Oh come on!” He ran to the window, moving practically uphill as the room tilted.  He leaped through just as the tree slammed down, tumbling awkwardly down the trunk.  Broken branches and chunks of his former hiding place tumbled down, burying him in debris.  For a moment everything was still.  Then he heard scratching. And snorting.  The branches that had fallen over him were pulled away, and he found himself face to face with the Alpha.

Its other head still hung limply off to the side, but it really only needed one.  He had no idea how a single baseball could destroy it.  It could swallow him in one bite.  The wolf snorted again.  A wave of foul-smelling fog blasted Spike in the face.  He staggered backwards and stumbled over the mess of tangled roots behind him.

“So, uh… no hard feelings?” he said nervously as he slowly crawled back.  All he could think of was trying to stall it long enough for it to get distracted, but its gaze stayed glued on him.  The dream was silent except for the pack of timberwolves yapping in the distance as they chased after Applejack, and the crunching of the ground beneath the Alpha’s claws.  He punched the button on his wrist.  He needed a distraction. Something. Anything.

“Hey, look!” —he pointed— “It’s an Ursa Major!”

The timberwolf kept its gaze fixed on him. Then it took a step forward.  Spike pushed the button again.

“What, is this thing broken?” he muttered. “Where is she?” 

The timberwolf took another step forward.

“Fine! Take this!” He hurled a ball at the creature’s head. Maybe it would flinch, or dodge, or do something that would give him an opening.

The ball bounced harmlessly off of the creature’s forehead.  The timberwolf ignored it, as if it hadn’t even noticed.

“Come on, Luna!” He pounded his fist on the button as he stumbled backward. “Where are you?!  I just need something to distract that thing! I’ll take anything!”

“What the hay is goin’ on here?”  The voice was familiar.  

“Apple” —Spike’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he saw who had spoken— “Bloom?”

She stood resolutely on a lump of root, tensed as if she was ready to pounce.“I dunno why you got two heads, or why you’re chasin’ Spike, but I’m not lettin’ you get away with it!” 

“Apple Bloom! What are you doing here!?”

“I’m helpin’ you fight that thing!” She thrust a hoof at the monster, who seemed every bit as confused about her presence as Spike was.

“H-helping!?” Spike sputtered. “You have to get out of here! It’s danger-”

The timberwolf lunged forward with a roar.  Spike was faster, by only a mere fraction of a second

“Oh, no you don’t!”  

He blinked.  A baseball was flying through the air in front of him.  He didn’t remember throwing it, but he must have; his claw was already mid-followthrough.  The throw was perfect, arcing gently through the air, straight towards the Alpha Timberwolf’s gullet.  

The wolf landed with a crash, just short of where Apple Bloom stood.  It clawed futilely at both of its throats, wheezing and choking as it tried to clear its airways.  Its body creaked as the pressure began to build.  Spike sprinted past the beast.  He glanced at its face just long enough to see that it was giving him a stinkeye.

“Watch out!”  He grabbed Apple Bloom and dove behind a tree trunk.

“Hey! What are you doing?” She gasped.

“Just keep your head down!” 

The dream was silent for a moment. Then there was an enormous bang, like the world’s largest balloon popping.  A wave of stinky, green air blasted past the tree. A second later a rain of smouldering wood chips rattled to the ground around them.  In the distance he heard similar sounds, like distant fireworks.  Wherever Applejack was, she wasn’t being chased anymore.

“Oh,” Apple Bloom mumbled.

“Spike! What is it!?”

“Gah!”  Spike spun around, still clutching Apple Bloom. One of the knots on the tree he had been hiding behind was now replaced with Luna’s head.

“I’m sorry for the delay,” she said. “I had a rather pressing matter to…” she stopped as she saw Apple Bloom tilting her head quizzically at her. “...attend to.” She sighed.  Spike couldn’t tell whether it was rooted in relief or frustration. “Though at the moment it appears it is not so pressing as it was a few moments ago.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“No matter.” She cleared her throat and blinked a few times, as if trying to recompose herself.  “It appears that you have broken the Nightmare’s control over this dream, correct?”

He nodded as Apple Bloom wriggled free from his grasp.

“Spike just exploded a giant two-headed timberwolf like, just a few seconds ago! It was awesome!”  

“And her?” Luna asked.

Spike shrugged. “I have no idea where she came from.”

“I believe I can answer that,” Luna said, her eyes fixed on Apple Bloom. “But first, find Applejack. I would prefer to only explain things once, and furthermore I believe she will want to hear that her sister is safe.”

“Will do!” Spike saluted. “Come on, Apple Bloom. Let’s find your sister. I know she’s going to want to see you.”

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom grinned widely and followed him through the trees.

Luna watched the two of them with narrowed eyes as they marched into the distance.

“These dreams just become more and more worrisome…”