Half-Hour Horses

by HoofAndQuill

Against the Dying of the Light [Adventure, Sad?]

(The Prompt: Four Elements Down)

(I feel this one suffers a bit from time limit. Reach exceeded my grasp. Still, worth submitting I think.)

The night looked a lot... bigger, from here.

Princess Twilight Sparkle shook her head, figuratively, and tried to focus. This wasn't easy. It was never easy, even theoretically, for a princess to push into another alicon's sphere of influence. Even Twilight's own boundless respect and adoration of Princess Celestia had been increased after trying to take on Luna's dreamwalking. For Celestia to have moved the moon, all these years...

No, no, back to the point. Twilight found herself in an endless black void. All around her, millions upon millions of lights. All of Equestria must have fallen for this night by now, nearly everypony had a dream. Millions of tiny stars floating around her and there was no way to tell which was whose.

Not immediately, anyway. Ever since her coronation, though, there had been something different about her friendships. Something truer, something more ingrained in her very essence. It annoyed Twilight to no end that she had no more accurate a way of phrasing it, but this was all new magic and new science. In any case, a few stars shone brighter than the others.

One in particular was a glaring, pulsating, almost sparking pink. Three guesses who that was.

But while Twilight was new to this, she knew that some minds were better left to a practiced approach. Pinkie was difficult to deal with even in the real world. Somepony easier then, at first. It took some time, precious, ever-dwindling time to make her way through the endless chaff of the dreamscape, and find... there. The star burned with a bright, green glow. It reminded Twilight of nothing so much as trees and grass and sunlight over an orchard.

Twilight dove in.

She immediately found herself in an overgrown, tangled hell. She flapped her wings, unpracticed as she was, and managed to clear the undergrowth before the vines around her hooves took root in them. Managing the altitude to pass the grabbing, clinging canopy, Twilight found herself over Sweet Apple Acres, or what had once been that peaceful orchard. Her eyes scanned the endless, writhing green below her. How could she possibly see anything under all the trees and thick vines? Where was Applejack in all this?

Would she be out hacking away leaves? Tending to the growth as though it was supposed to be there? When all the world was ending and there was nothing left, where would Applejack be?

Twilight scolded herself the moment she realized her error. Applejack would be fighting, yes, but not out in the fields. Twilight folded her wings back and dove almost violently toward the half-collapsed remnants of Applejack's farmhouse. Risking a landing in the name of speed, she blasted the area with magic to clear as much of the insidious growth as she could, and then turned and bucked the wooden door open.

Inside, she found her goal. Applejack, pulling vines away from what might have once been Granny Smith. A patch of yellow filly was visible behind another mass of twisting vines, but there was no sign of Macintosh. Twilight shook her head, Luna had warned her about getting caught up in the dream worlds. She charged forward and lit her horn, pulling Applejack back from her Granny.

The earth pony mare kicked hard, but uselessly, at the magic surrounding her. Her voice carried as much panicked fury as Twilight had ever heard. "Consarn it Twilight, lemme go! Can't ya see they're stuck? Ah need to help them! You have ta let me!"

Sweat dripped down Twilight's brow as she struggled to keep Applejack contained, the swearing and increasing panic of the mare lending her almost more strength than even an alicorn princess could hold her with. But the vines wrapped tightly around Granny and Apple Bloom, and before Twilight's eyes, they constricted.

Applejack began sobbing, and the sound rent Twilight's heart. But Twilight had nightmares all the time. She knew how this worked. Nightmares showed you panic, they showed you fear. But once everything was done, you woke up. The world around them started to darken, and Twilight dropped Applejack to the ground. She could only whisper a momentary apology, before galloping out of the dream world again.

The star sputtered, and then glowed less harshly green, and Twilight found it followed her. Good. There was a short explanation, wordless and purely empathic, and they were on their way.

A moment later and there was a yellow star, glowing with life and beauty. Twilight pressed inward.

Applejack was here with her, now. Flying, somehow, beside her. Twilight started to say something, but a curt look from her friend cut off any consolation she might try to offer. They both dove down toward the small cottage overrun by emaciated animals.

A few minutes later and Twilight was out into the stars again, Fluttershy's flickering star following her. Twilight paused a moment, swallowing hard. She wasn't sure what her tears were made of, here, floating in this matterless ether, but they were real. She knew, academically, that no matter how hungry they were, Fluttershy's real animal friends would never....

Twilight shook her head again, forcing all her thoughts away. She focused, the myriad stars blowing by her rapidly as she searched. She knew who was next, who had to be. There, the loudest blue star she could see. Had to be Rainbow. The sound of cheering filled her ears as her growing party slammed into the star at full speed.

The cloudosseum, in Cloudsdale. Of course. Twilight and company looked around quickly, Fluttershy sparing only a moment to make sure she was all together again. The entire audience was composed of Wonderbolts, dozens of each of them, and a single box with their friends. Even copies of Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity. A faceless pegasus tore around the course, and the crowd cheered in exhilaration. Applejack grumbled something about this hardly being any kind of nightmare.

Then, Twilight spotted a speck of blue, far below them, falling through the air on tattered wings.

The night sky rushed back in on Twilight a few moments later, the sound of the impact still echoing in her mind. The nightmare was over, yes, but Twilight couldn't help but wonder how readily Rainbow Dash would fly after that sort of feeling. She took a deep breath, figuratively, and opened her eyes again. Three down. Two to go.

The pink star from before still glowed brightly, but even drawing near it made the dreamscape go fuzzy, every light and sound amplified. There was laughter, manic, nearly screaming laughter in her mind as she even approached. No, that dream would have to wait.

It didn't take long to find the most beautiful, shining star in the void. But as beautiful as the star was, it was alone. It seemed to almost repel the nearby dreamers, pushing them away from it, so that it could exist in singular shining passion. Even pressing herself forward into the mind was difficult, and Twilight only just managed.

Despite being in completely perfect health, Rainbow Dash limped along behind the others as they walked into the brightly lit castle. It was endlessly huge, with walls and flooring of immaculately polished white marble. Inlaid gold filigree filled every space that was not crowned with perfectly carved busts of the queen of the realm, diamond eyes shining out over them.

They galloped madly through the endless, meandering halls, passing tapestry after tapestry of her royal, shining brilliance. As they progressed, everything only grew more and more ludicrously wealthy and preposterous. It was only in the final room that they found the lone pony, held in heavy chains by her own wealth.

The dream faded, and Twilight looked behind her. Rarity had been stunned, but by no means broken, and her new follower still shone brighter than any of the others. There was a moment, a short... sort of eye contact between the dreamers. Their friendship, their camaraderie, it strengthened all of them. They shook off the remnants of misery, they fought back against their clinging fears, and then they turned toward the remaining friend.

Twilight pushed the group forward, hopeful hearts only slightly dimmed from the bright pink star pulling more and more of its neighbors in for the party. Hysterical, maddening laugther filled their ears as they drew closer. Soon, they were being pulled in just like all the others. This was only the start of the fight, after they all awoke there was an even greater danger waiting.

The Elements of Harmony set their jaws and dove into the swirling chaos. Four Elements down, one to go.

Comments

[PresentPerfect]

Rather impressed by how deftly you stepped around just what was going on in Fluttershy's dream.