When the Moon's Reaching Out to the Stars

by MagnetBolt

Chapter 5: Mare Insularum

Twilight and Fluttershy backed up into the barn wall, a cloud of dust rising from the rotting wood as they bumped into it. Scarecrows, hanging from wires strung to the tree branches above, moved in a parody of life, twitching and gliding with jerky and unnatural movements.

"W-we need to get out of here!" Fluttershy shivered. "There weren't any of them back the way we came!"

"But it means we're going the right way," Twilight countered. "And I don't think it would help much." She pointed. The barn behind them had changed. They hadn't gone more than half a mile at most, down a perfectly straight corridor, but that end of the barn was as much a yawning, infinite void as the way they'd been going.

"Why is the right way the most dangerous one?" Fluttershy asked, squeaking as a hand scythe lashed to one of the scarecrows scraped along the floor, raising sparks as it hit nails sticking out of the boards, the sharp edge shearing them off.

"Applejack's subconsciously trying to keep us away. It's some kind of defense mechanism." Twilight hesitated. "We're going to have to fight our way out. If you can't handle it, just stay behind me and I'll deal with it." She was sure she could. It was her mind against Applejack's, and that was no contest.

"I came along to help," Fluttershy said, her voice cracking. "I can do this." She whispered to herself and focused, Sky Skimmer appearing before her in a burst of glowing pink butterflies that faded like sparks from a flame.

Sky Skimmer flapped her wings, and Twilight felt a wind pick up, not from the ghostly figure but from all around her. A swirling vortex kicked up dust from the floor and rattled the branches above, Two of the marionettes became badly tangled, their movements freezing up. Wires snapped as they crossed and twisted, both falling to the ground uselessly.

"Two down, dozens more to go," Twilight noted. They were hard to count, their sudden, jerking movements making them difficult to focus on.

Twilight focused, Eventide tossing the closest wave away with a wave of force. They just got right back up, undamaged from the attack. Fluttershy froze one as it skittered towards her like a spider, the scarecrow shattering as another used it as a platform to jump from. Twilight caught it in her magic and forced it back, the focused telekinesis tearing one of its legs free.

The puppet just got right back up, not even noticing the missing limb and moving as if it was still there.

"This isn't working." Twilight looked around. "If I had that sword that Dash took I could at least cut the wires!" Her eyes fell on an old, rusty saw on the wall. "Better than nothing!" She grabbed it with her magic, the blade flying towards Eventide only to stop suddenly as it was pulled into an orbit around her.

Eventide flew closer to the wires and the saw lashed out, the broken teeth catching on the lines and pulling at them. Some of the puppets started to get tangled, but the wires held firm against the blunted tool.

"Come on... I did it instinctively last time..." Twilight muttered, gritting her teeth. The magic aura around the saw started to grow brighter, rust flaking away from it. A scarecrow jumped, tugged into the air by its wires, slashing at Eventide's back leg. Twilight gasped as she felt the pain, and glanced at her flank to see a cut opening along her cutie mark, neatly dividing it in half as blood started leaking from the wound.

Twilight lost her grip on the saw from the shock of it, dropping it and knocking the next jumper down with a blast of force as she tried to guide Eventide to safety. The two dream constructs were distracting them, their flight and occasional blasts of wind and force keeping them away, but it wasn't going to last forever. Twilight had to toss one back herself as it suddenly noticed her and started towards the mare with a rake.

"We need to get out of here," Twilight whispered. "If they keep boxing us in, we'll never find Applejack."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Fluttershy asked, sweat beading on her brow. She was already tiring from using so much unfamiliar magic.

"You can just fly over," Twilight said. "And carry me with you. Dash did it before."

"Um... I'm not actually very good at flying..." Fluttershy murmured. "And with all those wires in the air I'd get tangled up before I got past them."

"Great. So much for getting out of here with our hides intact," Twilight grumbled.

"I'm going to try something," Fluttershy said, closing her eyes. Sky Skimmer's mechanical wings started to glow with a multicolored light, shifting between pink, yellow, and blue. With a sound like the wind scattering dried leaves, flakes of light erupted in a stream from the glowing wings, surging towards the marionettes and changing shape, becoming almost solid as they began to flap and flutter.

Butterflies swarmed around the encroaching scarecrows, pushing back at the crowd. One alone couldn't do more than be a moment of distraction, but as hundreds flew from Sky Skimmer, the force and confusion was enough to clear a path. Twilight ran through the open path, trying to break through the press of bodies. Fluttershy followed closely, slower but trying to stay low to the ground.

"This way!" Twilight hissed, pulling on Fluttershy's mane, causing her to give a squeak of pain as she was pulled away from the horde of puppets.

Two dozen faceless heads turned to look at the sudden noise.

Fluttershy smiled, trying to look cute and harmless.

The scarecrows screeched, the burlap sacks that formed their heads distorting as something moved underneath. Weapons were raised, all of them moving as one. As the blades and hammers and tools came down, Twilight tightned her grip on Fluttershy and pulled, yanking her free of the attack, blows raining down where she had been and tearing into the rough wooden floor.

"This is bad!" Twilight yelled, running, the scarecrows starting to follow with horrible loping motions, running more like wild animals than ponies, their joints in all the wrong places.

"We have to get outside!" Fluttershy squeaked. "T-the trees are coming from out there, so there has to be an outside to get to!"

"That's it! The trees!" Twilight looked at where they were getting into the barn, the branches breaking through the boards near the roof and hanging in a scattered canopy above them.

Twilight blinked up to the roof, appearing just above the branches, her ears almost touching the ceiling. With no solid ground under her, she immediately fell, screaming and grabbing for the branches to try and catch herself.

"Twilight, what are you doing?!" Fluttershy yelled, in a panic. She looked back at the pursuing marionettes.

"Just get up here!" Twilight shouted back, as she held herself up by her front hooves, back legs kicking and trying to find a foothold.

"But I-" Fluttershy's protest was cut short as the scarecrows got close enough that she had to duck in terror as a scythe swung through where her neck had been a moment before. She scrambled forward, a hoe slamming down and catching her tail for a moment before she got free, losing a few long pink hairs in the process.

Fluttershy managed to scream her way into the air, almost losing it as her left wing tangled in an almost invisibly thin wire for a moment before she got free, thrashing in a panic, two of her primaries ripping out painfully. Her flight was even more erratic than usual as she got to the branches, perching on them easily and breathing heavily, sweat dripping down her face.

"Help me up!" Twilight ordered, feeling her hooves slipping on the branch. Fluttershy carefully made her way to the edge of the branch where the unicorn was clinging for dear life.

The motions, even as careful as they were, were enough to completely make Twilight lose her grip. She felt herself falling, and knew she was about to fall to her death. Or at least serious injury, followed by death via multiple traumatic wounds from monsters. It wasn't the way she'd wanted to go - she'd always imagined that if she died it would be as part of a magical experiment gone wrong or a book avalanche.

A gust of wind hit her back, strong enough to push her back up. Fluttershy grabbed her before she could fall again. Twilight looked down to see Sky Skimmer, the dream construct hanging like a ghost in the air, artificial wings humming faintly with a noise more felt than heard.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, her injured wing twitching at her side.

"You know where I'm going when this is over?" Twilight asked, out of breath. "Not a farm! Not ever again!"

"At least we're safe from those monsters here," Fluttershy sighed. Twilight tried to make her way along the branch carefully, towards where it emerged from the wall.

"Hah! I knew it!" Twilight smirked, looking back at Fluttershy. "There's a way out here. Look!" She moved some leaves aside, and Fluttershy could see a breach in the wall, with a suggestion of something outside.

The branch suddenly shuddered, like the tree it was attached to was being attacked by beavers. Twilight looked down. The scarecrows were waiting underneath them like a pack of vultures. She dropped and grabbed the branch tightly with all four limbs as it shook again, even harder.

"Time to go!" Twilight yelled, grabbing Fluttershy with her magic rudely. Before the pegasus could protest, she pushed her through the opening, having to force her wide hips past the barrier.

Twilight squirmed like a worm towards it, as the branch suddenly cracked. Her eyes went wide, and she stood on shaking hooves and jumped just as it collapsed entirely, the wood splitting and revealing its old, blackened, worm-eaten core.

"I hate trees!" Twilight shouted. She landed heavily on the edge of the hole in the wall, almost losing her grip as splinters dug into her hoof. She forced herself up using the strength that only fear of falling a hundred paces straight down to a mob of horrible monsters could lend to a pony, for the very first time in her life managing to pull off something akin to a pull-up.

Her shoulder hit the edge of the broken wood as she forced herself through, and she winced as she felt her skin tear. A moment later, and she was free, falling down, down, down, in a kaleidoscope of colors, until she hit the ground with enough force to- well, enough force to knock the breath from her lungs.

Twilight panted for breath, ignoring the splinters in her hoof and shoulder. She looked up and for the first time in hours she was able to see the sky, or at least Applejack's memory of what the sky looked like. Twilight looked back at the barn she'd escaped from. Instead of a sprawling monstrosity, it was just a normal barn, yawning dark and empty with all of its doors open.

"Oh wow. What is that?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"It's... an apple tree," Twilight said, following her gaze for a moment. It was, in fact, a perfectly normal looking apple tree. If anything, the plant was exactly what she'd expect one to look like, the perfect example of an apple tree. And so was the one next to it. And the one next to that. An orchard of perfect, identical apple trees.

Something about that made Twilight shiver. Just a sense deep inside her that said that things shouldn't be so perfectly made in nature.

"Not the trees. Look, you can just see it on the horizon." Fluttershy helped Twilight stand so she could see past the untrimmed grass. There, in the distance, was a shining city.

"It looks like Manehattan," Twilight mumbled, thinking. "But those spires are from Canterlot, and that huge arch is from Seasaddle. And I know for a fact that none of those cities are made of gold and glowing with light."

Except Canterlot, of course. And even then it was only gold in a few tasteful places. And the glow was perfectly natural with the Princess being there.

"Do you think Applejack is there?" Fluttershy asked, looking around. The orchard was dead quiet, and both ponies found themselves speaking more and more quietly as the conversation continued.

"It's an obvious place to start looking," Twilight whispered. "I said I wanted a sign, and unless there's one with her name on it, a golden city with spotlights reaching up into the sky is a pretty hard thing to miss."

"Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy pointed to a wooden sign. A sign that had Applejack's name on it, along with her siblings, grandmother, and a list of other Apple family members, the names blurring and getting smaller and smaller as they went, until they were indistinguishable from the grain in the wood.

"Permanent residents of Sweet Apple Acres..." Twilight read, at the very top of the sign. "Whatever. Let's find the road and get going to the city."

"The road should be here," Fluttershy said. "I go to Sweet Apple Acres a lot to check on the animals there, and the road goes right to the farmhouse." She pointed. Twilight glanced at the farmhouse. It was dark and silent, like the orchard. A stark contrast to the distant glory of the city. Twilight could almost hear the hustle and bustle of the metropolis on the horizon.

"So if there's no road, we'll just walk towards the city overland. It's an orchard, not a mountain range, so it shouldn't be difficult." Twilight took a deep breath and started walking. "I'm sure the others would have gone this way too."

"You're right," Fluttershy agreed, looking at the trees as they started into the orchard, the thick trees quickly hiding the farmhouse and barn from sight.

"Is the apple orchard this big in real life?" Twilight asked, trying to keep a conversation going in the unnatural quiet.

"It is really big," Fluttershy admitted. "But I don't think it's this big. We should have gotten out of the north field by now, I think. But this doesn't really look like it, with these strange trees..." She trailed off, looking at the apple trees lining the orchard in their neat rows.

"We're in a dream, so I guess I should have expected that." Twilight sighed.

"There's something up ahead. I think there's a clearing!" Fluttershy started to fly up and stopped, groaning. "I think you sprained one of my wings when you threw me like that..."

"If I hadn't, you wouldn't be around to complain about a sprained wing," Twilight snapped.

"No, I'm not-" Fluttershy looked down. "Sorry. I'm not blaming you."

"Good," Twilight said, sighing. "Sorry, I just don't like the idea that Nightmare Moon is trying to get to me like this."

"Um... isn't this Applejack's dream?" Fluttershy seemed confused.

"Yeah, but this is happening because of me. She knows I've figured out a way to hurt her." Twilight kept walking at a steady pace, watching to her sides for an attack to come. "So she's trying to take me out. She must be afraid to go after me directly, so she's trying to build up an army. Like how your Nightmare counterpart was probably going to kill you and take your place in the real world."

"Maybe she's not after just you," Fluttershy suggested. "I mean, we did go to the castle to help, and she probably remembers us."

"Fluttershy, don't be silly. I mean, no offense, but you're all just normal ponies. I'm Princess Celestia's personal student. Even if she's going after you four-"

"Five," Fluttershy corrected. "There were five of us that went with you."

Twilight waved a hoof, dismissing the concern. "The point is, if she's going after you, it's as a means to an end. There's nothing special about you."

"Oh..." Fluttershy muttered, looking down. A good friend would notice how much that had upset the mare. Twilight noticed something much more important to her.

"Oh no," Twilight groaned. "We went in a circle!" She sighed. There was a clearing, all right. And in it was the same farmhouse and barn that they'd just left behind.

"How? We were walking towards the city." Fluttershy looked around, and both of them saw the sign at the same time, the one they'd walked past.

"It wasn't us," Twilight sighed. "It's this world. I should have seen it sooner. It's not like walking between two dots on a map. It's like walking on the surface of a sphere - go far enough in any direction and you're back where you started."

"So what do we do?" Fluttershy asked. "Does that mean we can't get to the city?"

"I don't think we can," Twilight said, rubbing her chin and thinking.

"Get away from him!" Yelled a scratchy voice, on the other side of the farmhouse. Twilight looked up and ran around the house towards the noise.

Dash and a big red stallion were surrounded by trees. Trees which were rapidly closing in on them, gliding through the earth like they were circling sharks. A branch came down towards Dash like the fist of an angry minotaur, the pegasus trying to knock it aside with the sword she'd borrowed and only serving to get it stuck in the wood. She stubbornly refused to let go, and was slammed into the grass.

"Oh no! We have to help them!" Fluttershy gasped, rushing towards the danger.

"Wait! If you just run in without thinking you'll end up in trouble too!" Twilight groaned. "Pegasai," she muttered.

Though the trees didn't have a true front or back, Twilight could almost feel their attention turning to her and Fluttershy as the pegasus rushed towards her friends.

A red fruit launched towards Fluttershy, an apple thrown as hard as a baseball. She ducked, and it curved in midair, as if seeking her out. Fluttershy closed her eyes in anticipation of pain. There was the sound of something splattering wetly.

"Can't you do anything by yourself?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy opened her eyes to see a magenta shield protecting her, apple juice dripping from where the fruit had burst against the magical barrier.

"Thank you," Fluttershy said, weakly. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Come on. We have to do something to rescue those two.” She winced as another barrage of fruit splattered against her shield. “This would be easier if I had that saw. At least then I could cut them down.”

Fluttershy whispered something that Twilight couldn't quite catch, and Sky Skimmer was at her side, wings snapping up, the brass feathers like knife blades. A cold wind blew past her, the arcane wings glimmering with an aura of pink and blue. The apples in the air hung in place, their motion arrested by the strong gust. Frost coated them as they were sent back with the force of cannonballs, a vortex drawing them towards one of the trees. Bark shattered as they smashed into it, the frozen fruit breaking the wood. The tree fell apart at the same time Fluttershy fell to her knees, sweat dripping down her face.

“I can't... I can't do that again...” Fluttershy gasped, trying to catch her breath. Sky Skimmer flickered like a candle sputtering near the end of its life.

Big Mac braced himself and kicked the tree that was pinning Rainbow Dash down, adjusting his aim. A good applebuck hit a tree just to shake it, and was as much about putting magic into the tree to ask it to drop its fruit as it was about force. This kick, though, was the sort that could bring a barn down, aimed upwards in an uppercut. Roots tore free from the earth, and it fell over, the roots moving unnaturally like scuttling legs before going still.

“I'm gaining a new appreciation for how hard it is for farmers,” Twilight said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. With the assault on her shield paused, she let it drop so she could put the energy into another spell, casting the fire-lighting spell she'd used in town for the helpless, yet fashionable unicorn whose name she couldn't quite recall.

The four trees still gliding through the earth like the fins of an unseen arboreal shark immediately caught fire, their leaves crisping and flaking away in a storm of ashes. The apple trees howled and thrashed in pain, their branches reaching towards the sky, curling and uncurling with the painful, knobby motions of broken limbs.

“Don't sit right, seein' trees burn like that,” Big Mac said softly, backing away from them. With how they'd been drawn towards Fluttershy and Twilight, the trees had gone from surrounding them to being surrounded. One of the trees screamed, falling over and breaking apart into charcoal. Dash struggled to her hooves and shook herself, loose feathers flying from where her wings had been forced into the ground.

“The Dash is back in action!” She shouted, picking up the sword in her teeth. Two more trees fell thanks to concussive bolts from Twilight, the unicorn starting to feel the exhaustion from using so much magic.

Only one remained, the flames on the tree going out as it pulled itself out of the ground, standing on a dozen scrabbling, clawed legs of wood. It stood taller than the others, its back black from the scorching flames that had erupted around it. Dash screamed a muffled war cry in what sounded like butchered Griffonian and stabbed the tree right in the heart. Which would have worked really well, if a tree had a heart. Instead, Dash found the sword almost yanked out of her teeth again, the blade firmly embedded in the wood.

Big Mac narrowed his eyes and lowered his head, charging the thrashing tree. Dash saw him coming and let go, jetting away with a quick flap of her wings. Big Mac turned as he approached, hooves sliding on the thick grass, putting his whole body weight into a kick at the sword, hammering it in like a wedge. The wood split with a thunderous crack, the bark splitting in a vertical line, the entire tree breaking in half.

Dash fell to the ground as a chunk of bark the size of a hoofball cracked her on the head. The howling from the tree stopped as it collapsed, the sword clattering to the earth.

"What were you thinking, coming in here?" Twilight demanded, helping Dash up with a not-so-gentle tug from her magic. The pegasus winced.

"Careful! You almost ripped one of my ears off!" Dash rubbed her head where the bark had hit it, finding a thin trickle of blood. "And I had to do something!"

"I'm surprised you even got this far," Twilight said. "You don't have a way to defend yourself. You're as helpless as a foal."

"I have a sword!" Dash countered, picking it up from where it had fallen. "I took care of those scarecrows easy while Big Mac bucked a hole in the side of the barn!"

Twilight's eye twitched. She could have just blown a hole in it? Her hooves were still raw and scraped from trying to pull herself up on the branch.

"Great," Twilight said. "And then you ran out here and almost got killed by trees."

"I don't think they liked that I was trying to fly away," Dash said. "Big Mac and I kept trying to get over there-" she pointed at the distant city. "And we kept getting turned around. So I decide to just fly up really high and see what the problem is, you know? But then I get too high and an apple knocks me out of the sky!"

"And so when did the trees decide to kill you?"

"That would be, ah, after Big Mac tried to buck them," Dash admitted. "We figured if I couldn't fly, we could leave a trail. We were gonna use apples. They're big and red and hard to miss, right? But that just made the trees angry, and. well, you saw how that turned out."

"Maybe I should give you a book on horticulture."

"Twilight, we have more important things to worry about than the culture of hortas!" She paused. "What's a horta?"

"You know what? I'd better lend you a dictionary first so you can get enough of a vocabulary that we can have a meaningful discussion." Twilight snorted.

"Um, has anyone looked inside the farmhouse?" Fluttershy asked. Three heads turned to look at her. "It's just... from what you said, you found me inside my house, so maybe that's where Applejack is too? And it's the only place we can really get to..."

"Ugh. You're right," Twilight groaned and rubbed her temple. "I should have looked there first. It was an oversight on my part." She gave it a good look, having completely ignored it before.

The farmhouse wasn't at all like how Twilight had seen it last. She'd seen it briefly before going into the barn, and even in the endless night it was warm and inviting. It could have been just a normal evening, if the clocks hadn't read being near noon.

The house in the dream, though, loomed dark and cold, giving an impression like a fortress of concrete and stone. Bars were set firmly in every window, the front door replaced with a heavy steel barrier covered in locks.

Locks on the outside, keeping something in.

"Interesting," Twilight said, looking at the door. "Most of the defenses are more about keeping us out. But this is the opposite." She touched the locks. They were very solid and real, clearly the work of the Nightmare.

"What do you think it means?" Fluttershy asked.

"It doesn't have to mean anything!" Dash snorted. "It's a dream. Dreams are just random stuff."

"Dash, don't be obtuse," Twilight muttered.

"Hey, I know that that word means! I'm not fat!" Dash stomped a hoof.

"I- what?" Twilight shook her head. "That's... never mind." She focused on the door, trying to open the locks. "This could take a while. I know how to pick locks, but without tools it's a slow process."

Big Mac stepped up beside her and looked at the door. He gently pushed Twilight aside to clear the way and sized the locked portal up with quiet consideration.

"It's not something you can just force-" Twilight started, before his legs impacted the steel door with earth-shattering force. Half of the locks shattered, the door itself buckling.

"Okay, that was pretty impressive. But-" Twilight continued. Big Mac ignored her and kicked the door even harder. The locks were just too tough to break. But the door frame wasn't quite as solid. The hinges tore free, the bent metal of the door falling to the side.

"Nice work, Big Mac!" Dash said, helping him pull the broken door out of the way.

"It shouldn't have worked," Twilight grumbled.

"Um, you said it was partly real, didn't you?" Fluttershy asked. "Maybe it's just real enough that he could-" Twilight shot her a glare. "Nevermind."

"It's probably... earth pony magic," Twilight said, dismissively.

The doorway led into dark nothingness, mist curling out like they'd opened the door to a freezer. Twilight braced herself and stepped through, the others following on her heels.

The mist cleared, revealing cobblestone and concrete. Straight streets stretched into the distance, disappearing into the misty horizon, streetlights buzzing to life around the assembled group and illuminating a city, more lights coming on in the distance, as if it stretched on forever.

"Does this mean she's afraid of a city?" Twilight muttered, quietly.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Dash asked. She sounded frustrated, dragging the sword behind her.

"Somethin's comin!" Big Mac warned. Twilight felt it a moment later, the ground shaking under them.

"Everypony stick together!" Twilight shouted. "I can put up a shield!" The four ponies backed against a building, watching the streets to see which way the danger would come from. The rumbling grew stronger, the source closing in. As it reached a crescendo, a pack of carts and wagons came roaring around the corner, dust trailing behind them. The carts were pulled by skeletal ponies, bones gleaming in the light from the street lamps, eye sockets empty save for a diffuse glow beyond the mist pouring from their skulls and rib cages.

Twilight's eyes went wide as they rushed towards the group, the nightmarish traffic jam covering the street from one edge to the other, a stampede of bony hooves and wheels.

She screamed and Eventide appeared, a shield forming. Thinking quickly, Twilight bent it into a wedge shape, like a ramp, just before the cart coming for them arrived. It hit the ramp with one wheel, tipping up and falling over heavily, the skeleton horse pulling it shattering as it landed on the cobblestones. The rest of the carriages rushed past.

"Applejack!" Dash shouted. Twilight glanced up. She saw an orange pony sitting in one of the carts, looking terrified.

"Hold on Applejack!" Big Mac shouted, shoving the overturned cart back on its wheels. "Y'all get in!" He quickly grabbed the bit as the others jumped into the cart, taking off before they were settled.

"You gotta catch up to them!" Dash yelled. Big Mac didn't reply, but the cart started to speed up, getting closer to the pack ahead.

"Y'all just stay away!" Applejack warned, trying to stand up and being pulled back down by seatbelts. "Git outta here and leave me be!"

"Don't be stupid, AJ! We're gonna save you!" Dash shouted. Big Mac got alongside the other carts, right next to his sister. Before the others could jump to her, the skeleton pulling that cart looked at him and pulled to the side, trying to run him off the road, the side of the cart scraping along the buildings lining the road.

As Big Mac tried to regain control and the others hung on for dear life, the pack of carts shuffled, Applejack being moved away from them.

"What do we have here?" Asked a voice, not quite familiar, from within the pack. Revealed at the center of the group was an ornate carriage, a far cry from the rustic or utilitarian carts around it. It reminded Twilight of what the lesser nobility in Canterlot had used when they wanted to show off their money.

The door of the carriage opened, and a pony stepped out. She was wearing an elaborate lacy dress in black and white, layered and obviously expensive, her barrel made more shapely with a corset, hooves covered with long socks. Her hair was up in a tight blonde bun, held with ebony chopsticks. Visible through a thin black veil were slitted, reptilian eyes.

She was so different looking, it took Twilight a moment to realize it was the mirror image of the tired, dirty mare they'd come here to rescue.

"Just like before," Twilight said. "It must be the Nightmare's doppelganger."

"That's a bit rude, don't you think?" Nightmare Applejack asked, leaning seductively against the doorframe, smiling at Twilight. Her country accent was gone, replaced with a refined upper Manehattan tone. "I'm no mere duplicate."

"Let me guess, Applejack burned down some apple trees or something and feels guilty about it," Twilight snorted. Fluttershy frowned and shot her a quick look, but didn't say anything.

"That would be an easy answer, wouldn't it?" Nightmare Applejack said, laughing a little. "Oh, if only. I'd like nothing better than to get away from that dreadful farm."

"I can see why," Twilight sighed.

"Terrible, isn't it?" Nightmare Applejack smiled. "Do you know what this place is?"

"A city." Twilight said, shrugging.

"It's my memory of Manehattan from when I was a filly." She gestured at the buildings. "I remember how impossibly tall the buildings were, how everything moved so quickly. It was scary!" She laughed again.

"She- she came back when she realized how much we meant to her!" Big Mac shouted between breaths as he ran as hard as he could.

"That is what I told you," Nightmare Applejack agreed. "But I suppose I didn't listen very well while Mother and Father told us how important integrity was!"

"Don't listen t' her!" Applejack yelled, from where she was held. "She's just lyin'!"

"I only came back because I made a promise to take care of the farm," Nightmare Applejack said. "It wasn't fair! Mother made me promise to take care of Sweet Apple Acres until she came back and then she went off and died!" Nightmare Applejack slammed her hoof into the frame of the carriage, shattering the wood.

"I wanted to leave and make something of myself, but because of her, I'm stuck at a farm in the middle of nowhere!"

"Applejack..." Dash whispered, looking at her friend. The orange pony looked down.

"Every day I just hope Granny will finally have the grace to die so I can sell the farm," Nightmare Applejack said. "If it doesn't happen soon, Apple Bloom will be stuck in the same prison I am."

"That ain't true!" Applejack said, turning pale. "I-I would never say that about Granny! Stop pretending like you know me! You ain't me!"

Nightmare Applejack laughed, starting to shimmer with midnight blue magic. The carriage was torn apart as she reared up, her legs lengthening and sharpening until they were blades twice as long as a pony was tall. Her dress constricted until it was skin tight, a fencing mask sliding over her features, eyes glowing from within.

"If you can't even be honest to yourself you don't deserve to be Applejack!" Nightmare Applejack shouted, spinning on the tip of one blade like a ballet dancer before launching into the air towards her.

The real Applejack froze in terror at the descending blades, before a hurricane-force wind blew her duplicate to the side.

Fluttershy panted, Sky Skimmer standing behind her, wings extended.

"Nice work, Flutters!" Dash said. "You guys keep her busy and I'll save AJ!" Dash went for her, the sword in her teeth.

Nightmare Applejack caught herself, bladed limbs scraping on the wood of the cart she landed on. She spun around, flipping over with easy grace, and jumped again towards Applejack and Dash, the pegasus turning to knock one of the blades side with her sword. Dash flew up, one of her feathers cut cleanly with a near-miss from the Nightmare creature, the tip of the feather fluttering down to get trampled underhoof by the carts. Her balance thrown off, Dash was forced to land two carts away. The Nightmare chased after her, skidding to a stop as glowing butterflies got in her face.

“Get away from her!” Fluttershy shouted, tears in her eyes. More shimmering insects flew from Sky Skimmer, latching onto the skeletal pony driving the Nightmare's cart and making it stumble. With a lurch, the pony lost its balance and went under, the cart tipping up. The Nightmare standing on it jumping away blindly to land on another wagon.

The tipping cart spilled over, wood breaking, and was quickly left behind, the twelve others shifting to fill the gap.

“Oh no you don't!” Twilight yelled, Eventide diving down from above. Nightmare Applejack glanced up, shaking the last of the butterflies off, and skittered quickly towards Twilight, Eventide hitting the cart just as she left, the dream construct smashing it into kindling that was quickly overrun and vanished into the distance.

“You cannot defeat me with such crass attacks,” Nightmare Applejack snorted, her eyes glowing through the mask. “I'm not the crude, clumsy mare I pretend to be. I have grace and style, though both are completely wasted in my prison!”

“It ain't a prison!” Applejack shouted. “I-it's my farm! And my family! And I love them!”

“I love my family,” Nightmare Applejack agreed. “But not the rest.”

“Now, while she's distracted!” Twilight whispered. Fluttershy nodded and a burst of ice erupted under the cart the Nightmare stood on. The wheels hit the ice, losing their grip as the cart was sent spinning. The Nightmare braced herself and jumped for Fluttershy, spinning in the air like a top around one of her long bladed legs, escaping as the cart smashed into a concrete wall.

Fluttershy gasped as the Nightmare landed on her wagon, sword-limbs driving deep into the wood. The pegasus paled and fled, flapping as hard as she could just to get to the next coach. The Nightmare flashed with light, and her swords came free, the cart splitting neatly, parting into four perfect slices as the Nightmare chased after her.

“Oh no you don't,” Big Mac growled, shouldering his way into the coach the false Applejack was running across, knocking it off-balance, the skeletal pony unable to compensate and the whole thing overturning. The Nightmare double barely got away in time, jumping as it crashed to the ground and hitting the side of the next wagon, using her sharp limbs to climb up the side.

“I always forget how strong you are, Brother!” the Nightmare shouted. “Stronger than I ever was, even strong enough to like the stupid farm!”

“Stay still!” Twilight screamed, her eyes glowing. Evenshine rose up from below the wagons, the construct shimmering. Twilight winced, her ears flattening. “No! I don't need them! I can beat this on my own! I'm the one that's supposed to beat Nightmare Moon, and I don't need help!”

Evenshine reared up, its iron mask corroding in an instant, the edges turning ragged as they started to flake away. From within the eye holes, a glimmer of green shone for a moment, as if from a great distance, like a star in the night sky. It howled, rusted barding appearing in the air around it before slamming into place, a sickly-looking green gem appearing over her chest. Evenshine herself seemed to wither, almost mummifying as the armor latched itself into place.

“I can beat them... all by myself...” Twilight repeated, panting. Evenshine roared, the gem on its chest blazing like a torch. It rose into the sky, trailing rust and emerald sparks, wings spread wide. With a glimmer of sparks along its horn, the gem flashing in time with the magic. A deep shadow appeared under the Nightmare, edges rimmed with emerald light. It jumped away as a barbed cage sprung up, made of darkness and crackling energy, crushing the cart it had been standing on into a compact sphere hanging in the air, skeletal driver and all.

“Woah! What are you doing?!” Dash yelled. “Twilight, something's wrong with your thing!”

“Nothing's wrong!” Twilight screamed, starting to panic. Eventide roared again, with an odd echo like a mare screaming in agony. Six shining stars descended from the sky, streaking like comets towards the Nightmare. It saw them coming a mile away, leaping to the front of the wagon it stood on and slicing the head from the driver, sacrificing it and making the cart flip. As it started to go over, the Nightmare kicked it with the same precision Big Mac had shown against the trees, sending it into the air. The lights from the sky impacted against it, consuming it utterly, shrapnel raining down on the ponies.

“You're stronger than you look,” Nightmare Applejack said, just as the real Applejack stood, Dash having managed to free her. “But all I have to do is kill her to be free!”

“Don't!” Fluttershy screamed, a vortex forming around the Nightmare, Sky Skimmer tackling her in the brief moment she was held, the Nightmare sent crashing through her ornate carriage with enough force to shatter it and send her into another wagon entirely, lying prone in the broken boards.

“Nice shot, Flutters!” Dash yelled. She stuck out her tongue, carefully guessing the distance before throwing the sword, the blade catching in the spokes of the wagon. As the wheel jammed still, it was sent flipping over like the others, the Nightmare still inside. The wagon fell into two parts as the Nightmare cut it, jumping from the cobblestones before it could be trampled by the few remaining carts. Only a hoofful were left, forming a ragged line across the street.

“Almost got 'er.” Dash muttered, making an annoyed sound.

“You're just all... in the way!” Twilight groaned, as green sparks danced from her horn to ripple along her coat, leaving painful-looking burns. The light from her magic hardened to a pure, white blaze, and Eventide lifted the cart Dash and Applejack were on into the air, the two only barely getting away in time, Dash grabbing the farmer and flying awkwardly back to Fluttershy as Eventide threw the entire cart through the air at the Nightmare.

“And you think I'm the monster?” The Nightmare asked, jumping to one of the buildings to avoid the thrown cart, the wagon she had been standing on exploding into scraps as the two carts collided. The Nightmare jumped down to the last wagon.

“I'll... I'll beat you...” Twilight mumbled, swaying on her hooves. Eventide shimmered again as the glowing light went out of Twilight's horn, the rusty barding falling away and the green gem shattering. Eventide's old form was left, exposed and still wasted, obviously weak. Twilight collapsed to her knees, Eventide barely visible, fading and flickering before vanishing entirely.

“Just rest, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “You don't need to do this all on your own.”

“Yes I do,” Twilight mumbled, her eyes closing as she started to fade from exhaustion.

“Nowhere to run now!” Nightmare Applejack called out, from where she stood on the last remaining cart, the skeletal driver still pounding away at the cobblestones like a machine, Big Mac having trouble keeping up the pace.

“You're right,” Fluttershy said, quietly. “I'm sorry. I don't like hurting others. But I'll do it to protect my friends!” Sky Skimmer appeared before her, wings shining bright.

“That's just a dream. And you'll fail, just like I failed to grasp my dreams!” Nightmare Applejack jumped, legs splayed and twitching. Sky Skimmer didn't wait for her to come back down, intercepting her in the air and knocking her away with a butterfly-filled gust of wind. Without wings, the Nightmare wasn't able to resist being blown off course, slamming into the skeleton that had been driving the last of its carts. The bones crumbled as it hit them, the cart lurching as it hit the sidewalk. She had barely enough time to scream before the runaway cart hit one of the streetlamps, the wood breaking as the Nightmare was crushed.

Big Mac slowed to a stop and collapsed, covered in sweat and trying to catch his breath. Fluttershy knelt next to him and tried to help, directing breezes to cool him down.

"It's finally over?" Applejack asked, looking at where the other cart had crashed. Her doppelganger was there, broken and twisted, the boards of the cart almost flat against the streetlight. The blades on her forelegs were shattered, and she was slumped over the hulk of wood, barely breathing.

"Applejack, all those things she said about Sweet Apple Acres..." Big Mac looked up at her. Applejack couldn't meet his gaze.

"...I never wanted y'all to know. I know how important the farm is to the family. Not just us, but all of the other Apples across Equestria. I just... I hate it, Big Mac." She looked at her duplicate, tears in her eyes. "Every day I go out there an' work from sunrise to sunset, just to keep the farm goin'. We can't get no field hands because Granny Smith doesn't want anyone who ain't an Apple working the fields. If I left, she'd prolly make Apple Bloom help you even more than she does now. She'd never be happy like that, Big Mac. She'd just get stuck like I did."

"You could have just said something," Rainbow Dash said, quietly. "You know I would have helped."

"I know," Applejack said, smiling. "But you're still chasin' your dreams. I had to give up on mine. Don't you ever give up on them, Dash. You just end up a broken mare like me."

"You're not broken," Dash said, more firmly. "You're the strongest mare I know. Nopony else is able to keep trees going like you are!"

"An' it feels like it's killin' me slowly to do it," Applejack said. "The only reason I'm doin' it is because of the promise I made." She took off her hat to look at it. "This was my momma's hat. She went out to Flame Geyser Swamp to make a delivery and made me promise to take care of Sweet Apple Acres while she was gone."

"She never came back," Fluttershy said, quietly. Applejack nodded, putting her hat back on.

"When I came back from Manehattan... it was because breaking the promise was eating me up inside..." Nightmare Applejack gasped. Her mask fell away, revealing a face twisted in pain and torment. "I gave up my dreams... Because of this farm and my family, I'll never be happy again!" She hissed the last words, coughing up blood.

Applejack walked over to her and knelt down, their foreheads touching.

"I'm sorry. All I've been doing for years now is tormentin' myself because there wasn't no right thing to do."

"If I'd told my family or my friends, maybe it could have been different, if I'd been honest about how I felt instead of just a stiff upper lip and pretending I liked the work and chores."

"You are a part of me," Applejack sighed. "Th' part of me that remembered I had a responsibility to myself and not just other ponies. Momma would be furious if she found out I'd been makin' myself miserable on her account. I need to start bein' honest with myself, and go after what I want."

Nightmare Applejack smiled weakly and nodded, the blood and broken body vanishing in a sudden burst of falling, golden leaves, which sizzled and vanished as they hit the ground. The cart was next, falling apart into nothing.

A mask appeared hanging in the air in front of Applejack, a simple and refined domino mask. A pony faded into place behind it, not quite as solid as the mask, as slim and tall as a supermodel with a coat of dappled gold. Her feet ended in delicate points of silver hanging a few inches above the shadow she cast, and she smiled at Applejack with eyes of solid, faceted emerald. The pony's steel-blue mane hung all the way to the ground in long, thin braids, each tipped with a glittering topaz.

"Masquerade..." Applejack whispered. There was a flash around her neck as a golden necklace appeared, centered on a gem shaped like an orange apple.

Big Mac stood up, nodding his thanks to Fluttershy, and walked over to Applejack. Wordlessly, he pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, AJ! Let's head back and pull out one of those barrels of cider you've been saving!" Dash said, flying up. Applejack laughed and let Big Mac go.

"I reckon that sounds like a good idea," Applejack said, her voice quavering. "I could use a good stiff drink."

“Is Twilight okay?” Dash looked back. “That thing that happened was...” She shivered. “It felt wrong.”

“She's asleep,” Fluttershy said, checking her. “I think she's just exhausted.”

“I hope that's all it is...” Dash muttered, keeping an eye on the mare. Her coat was streaked with sweat, burns from the strange sparks criss-crossing her body with spots of burned hair, her mane a mess with locks of hair going in all directions. Twilight's legs kicked feebly as she lay in the grips of some terrible dream, like she was running from something chasing her.

Chasing her and catching up.

Author's Note:

Twilight probably just needs a good nap and some anger management classes.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Comments

[Twilight Shine]

A ticket to happy town.

[Mad Maudlin]

Upon consideration, I think Twilight really needs to get laid.

Big Mac! Report for duty!

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

I can see it now. Pinkie vs Pinkemena