Projected Nightmares

by bearcat

Rainbow -- Silent Dream

This time the princess wasn't there, so Twilight offered to knock everyone out while the biped collected their minds into his own dream, and thence to Luna. As a pegasus Rainbow Dash didn't know much about magic but she trusted that Twilight's spells wouldn't cause too much damage, and to date the possessed sergal had done alright by her.

Laying her head against a pillow that she knew to bring this time, she folded her wings carefully under her side, and thought about the three days she'd been an earth pony. Even the princesses didn't think they could reattach her wings properly. But the big guy had come through; and what kind of pony would the daring Rainbow Dash be without wings, anyway?

This time the cute librarian's spell went off without a hitch, and she felt a little dizzy even though she was already laying down, then there was a gap, then she felt like she woke up, only her inner ear was screaming "Dream!"

As a flier, and a good one, it took excellent perception to not get turned around while doing high speed high G force maneuvers and for whatever reason RD's inner ear from the waking world always followed her into her dreams. That made dream flights mighty hard but normally she never had nightmares because there was no question she was asleep, and would just wake up after a while.

Sometimes a long while.

Again everypony was in a line, this time Applejack was here in line even though they had left what looked like her lifeless body in the forest in her dream. And Jack was that alicorn here which really did creep her out. As the crew drew together into a huddle they tried to discuss whose dream to go to next.

Jack was holding a parchment that was not in the waking world. "I have a letter from the princess Luna" he said after levitating it from his mouth. Opening it, he read "We have learned the pathway spell but can not yet block it. The origin is outside of Equestria so an army action is not viable. Interloper is likely to focus on Rainbow Dash early as that has been the habit for this time of night. Beyond that I can only offer well wishes."

Putting the letter back into his saddlebag, he looked so hopefully at all of them that it made her chuckle. "What Jack you looking forward to meeting this clown again?"

Pinkie started hopping in place and suggested "Let's go to Dashie's land so she'll get a special weapon for attacking fake pink not-ponies!"

Rainbow could only shrug. "Sure thing, Pinkie." And assuming it was decided, she floated up, looked at everypony, and flew lickety split to the large train engine, climbing in through a window on the 2nd floor. While looking for the stairwell down, as she hadn't come up here last night, she heard Pinkie's infectious giggle. "Hey how do you do that, anyway?"

It wasn't the first time Pinkie had pogo bounced herself way ahead of the fastest flier of Cloudsdale but it wasn't common. There wasn't a response, and in fact there were no other noises. Just as she found the stairwell she heard a faint "oh, Dashie!" from the other end of this floor.

But just as Rainbow jerked her head up to look, she heard the door below her open. Twilight was chatting with Rarity and it sounded like magical discussions again. Pinkie's giggle come from behind Rarity. On the ramp, just getting in.

OK, let's step away from creepyville.

Downstairs no one said anything unusual, although Pinkie saw her frown and harrumphed over it. Applejack again found the levers, and set the destination to Rainbow Dash. The engine rotated to a random track that looked the same as the others and stopped. And then when the speed was set, she felt the false acceleration that didn't reach her ears.

What was different this time was five minutes into the trip they entered a tunnel.

"Hey where are the lights!" Dash thought that sounded like Rarity but could have been either Pinkie or Twilight. Too nervous to pay attention Dash just floated up to the ceiling and tried to not bump her wings on anything. Pinkie's gigglesnort that came from immediately to her left wasn't helping any.

Then they were out of the tunnel and everything was bright again. Pinkie really was to her left, floating senselessly. But before Dash could scream she saw Rarity looking like she was about to lose her dream lunch, and a confused Fluttershy just in front of her a ways.

Carefully Dash slowed, then stopped her wings, and folded them. Floating upwards, hooves-first, was a very amused Applejack, who stopped to stand on the roof. "Mighty nice dream you have yourself, Dash. We can all fly I reckon?"

She quickly looked around to find everyone else, and watched for a moment. Everyone was staying where they were unless they kicked off a wall. To Applejack she replied "Not without wings. You can float but that would be the same as if" and her stomach dropped without outside force. "As if we were in free fall. Jack! We're falling or something!"

She and Jack flew to a window to look out. Clear blue skies, mostly below them. Above it was a pale white that might be reflecting the sky below or perhaps there was more blue sky above. In either case, there was no track despite the engine noise having not changed tone or speed.

The alicorn cautiously stuck his head out the window, and when he had drawn it back in, declared "There is no wind, Rainbow Dash. I do not believe this is unexpected."

With no in-world inner ear she couldn't tell if they were falling to their doom, but refused to get worried if the big guy was calm. Besides she could just fly out the window with Fluttershy, and everyone else would just wake up, like Applejack. Of course, that would leave herself and fluttershy to figure out whatever crazy town they came to.

From the floor Dash looked up, to say something encouraging. But everypony had become Pinkie Pie. Two of them had a sour expression and straight mane and listless tail hairs, but the other three were looking at her with joy and enthusiasm.

"Dashie? Are you alright Dashie?" Her voice came from the window, where Jack was supposed to be. Her head whipped to see how close she was and Dash's wings had already unfurled.

Prince Jack looked with quiet concern. Jack's voice, this time. "...Rain...bow? What did you see up there?"

"There was" and that was as far as she got. Her head was back upright, and now all she saw was one Pinkie. She was where one of the depressed Pinkaminas had been. While she looked worried, it was just normal pinkie worry. Applejack was still standing on the ceiling.

Was this one of the forms an attack could take? Was she just losing it? She never got the chance to pursue that line of unreasoning as the train began to decelerate, returning normal gravity with it. Fluttershy 'meep!'d but caught Rarity, Jack flew for Twilight and that left the two earth ponies, except now Rainbow couldn't find Pinkie so she caught Applejack and set her down as quickly as she could in case the orange earth pony turned pink during the descent.

The train nearly to its stop, and Jack was carefully looking over the small crowd inside the control room. "Pinkie has teleported. That is likely a big development in this leg of your journey."

And this time instead of all pinkie pies there were none. But with everyone else looking it seemed it wasn't her overactive imagination. Twilight Sparkle helpfully pointed out "But she's not a unicorn. She shouldn't be able to use external magic like that."

Jack sighed softly, and said "This is a dream. A pony can teleport if they learn how." And he looked over to the hallway leading to the stairwell to the 2nd floor, and saw a pink pony trotting towards the group.

"Wow that was weird and cool I wonder if it will happen hey Applejack you're rightside up! happen again when the gravity got turned on I fell upwards instead of down so I was in the upper floor hi Twilight and had to look for the way back down because I tried pounding on the floor we've stopped but it was just a floor so I had to find a way down speaking of down we should get off the train and see what Rainbow's mind looks like I bet it's cool but in a different way than Applejack's mind come on everypony!"

so, apparently teleporting comes with a free sugar rush.

Oddities aside the team made it to the now unlocking main door, and everypony stepped outside, on to clouds. Rainbow Dash hardly noticed as her whole house was made from cloud but everypony that wasn't equipped with wings hesitated at the transition from grated steel to fluffy white stuff.

"Do I need to cast a cloud walking spell? I don't know that one by heart." That was Twilight, focusing closely on the cloud. Fluttershy carefully passed them and turned around to look hopefully at the magic users of the group.

Still over energized by falling through the roof Pinkie Pie said "Aww Twilight you barely glanced at that book when you cast it on me. Do you really need that dusty old tome?" Then her ears flickered, and she leapt high into the air. Her trajectory was shallow, but would place her front hooves well onto the cloud surface. Rainbow Dash prepared to save her overly optimistic candied up friend.

But the front hooves stuck their landing, and Pinkie walked down a step to turn and stand next to Fluttershy. Giving her friends the biggest I told you so smile, she stood and waited for the other non fliers to walk onto thin air and solidified vapor.

Jack spoke a thought, as the group descended. "This may look like cloud, but since Rainbow Dash can walk on it as easily as stone, it actually is like stone in this dream. Although I would recommend against digging holes for fence posts while we're here."

This town seemed deserted, at least this part of it, but there was a single pinkish colored pony at the bottom of the stairs. With a start, Rainbow Dash realized it was an earth pony who was waiting for them. She started sweating and backing into Fluttershy when that pink earth pony, magenta mane looking like it had been hit by lightning began running up to meet them.

"Hey!" the mare said, having almost reached the group of dreamers. "Why are there seven of you!" Definitely Pinkie's voice. She ran up the stairs, and at this point Rainbow Dash was in front, and feeling really creeped out. There was a pink pony to either side of her now, and this time everyone else could see it.

The Pinkies flattened their ears, and tried to stare each other down. The Pinkie that had climbed the stairwell said "I'm the one you can trust Dash. By the way." But the one to Dash's right, that had been in the train with the group, immediately replied "No Dash she wants you to let your guard down; don't!"

Rainbow wasn't about to trust anything she saw, now. Not after all those other times. She floated up a few feet and tried to decide how to help. As near as she remembered the dismembering pony of sweet street was an identical copy to her friend so she wasn't even sure she could rely on fighting style or skill differences.

Twilight was voicing similar opinions. "We had completely lost sight of Pinkie for multiple minutes. I'm afraid right now, Pinkie, whichever one you are, I don't trust you." but she trusted she could walk out onto the cloud, at the stairway's edge halfway between the Pinkies and cast between them looking for a clue.

Rainbow Dash wanted to scream at her to run away. She was about to get sick, thinking about what would happen if they let the black hearted Pinkie Pie live, let alone walk freely among them. Unconsciously she floated higher, and away from the stairs.

The one that had been waiting at the station continued to stare at the group's Pinkie, who looked away, to Twilight. Pausing a moment, she looked behind her at the group. Dash couldn't spare a glance to see their reaction. She could see however this Pinkie squinting her eyes in frustration, and now she was smirking at Twilight for a moment before waving with a forehoof.

Then she sank slowly into the cloud surface, and was gone.

"That was disturbing." Said the quasi alicorn. "I looked as deep as I could in this land, and could not discern which was more real." Looking at the still hovering blue mare, he tried to explain to Dash "In your sole dream, it was fairly clear." But he shook his head and said "No it was clear there was a third in your head, as I told you then. But Pinkie is a third also, and that interloper is a fourth and that is all I can see until she, or he adjusts the dream to suit the plan of ... whatever her goal truly is."

Rainbow Dash felt she had seen the arrogant hunger in the face of the Pinkie that dropped away. But she still didn't trust her senses. Not here; not anymore. And it might be the real Pinkie. Judging by the tears in her eyes it probably was.

The Pinkie Pie that was left sighed, and with the biggest, roundest eyes told Rainbow Dash "I'm sorry Dashie. I'm your friend and I won't hurt you. Honest, Pinkie Pie swear." But she didn't say more to the pegasus. No questions, no requests. Taking a deep breath, she turned to the other friends, and said "Come on guys lets go look for Dash's weapon so we can get out of here." And with that, she turned and walked away, not looking back. Rainbow Dash landed at the back of the group, just behind alicorn Jack.

Who tried to reassure her, but Dash was having none of it. "I can tell you the avatars you saw were operated by separate individuals." Jack told the still shaking pegasus. "So I can feel confident the one with us now is your friend, whom you trust in the waking world."

Rainbow Dash replied "I want to believe you Jack but the black hearted pony that has been chasing my dreams is all about treachery. About betrayal at what seems the strongest moment." She shook her head, and looked around.

It wasn't like Cloudsdale, actually. More like Manehatten made of clouds. This was the industrial end of things, which would explain the train station, although not how the giant two story engine was floating in air with no physical tracks to hold it.

Rarity slowed a bit, to walk beside Rainbow Dash. "So, I'm going to make a guess about this dream of yours. Applejack's destination resembled bits of her home, and her prize seemed related to the element she is connected to. But not closely enough to say that should make it clear on how the rest of us proceed."

Applejack, in the middle of the group, called back "Ah think it'll be in the very heart of this here city."

But Dash, trying to shake off her jitters, replied "No, because for instance your bucket was way the heck outside of town. And not in a proper orchard, and not really any kind of place you" Dash stopped. Her ears twitched in thought, then she started again. "Applejack were you sort of expecting your thing to be down a tunnel at the top of a hill?"

Applejack walked sideways a few steps, trying to maintain forward momentum and also eye contact. "Well hon, if'n I were building a whole world, and wanted to put the biggest, most expensive thing where the wrong types would never try to take it, yeah. Ah think Ah would."

Rainbow Dash raised her head, and said with confidence, "Then we need to go to the biggest Pegasus related museum this town has." Except she'd never been to Manehatten. "Uh, you tried living in a town sorta like this. It's Manehatten mashed up with Cloudsdale. Sort of. Do you have any suggestions?"

Rarity perked up, and said "In the Clydesdale building on floor eight, I think, there's a bunch of Wonderbolts related stuff. Like, maybe not a whole museum but close."

Applejack nodded. "Ah know where the Clydesdale building is, fer sure. Oh I remember floor eight is like a waiting room fer some of th' businesses above 'em. Decked out in Wonderbolts imagery to help pass the time while the big money folks ignore yer precious time."

Dash impatiently flew into the air, to hover above Applejack but a healthy distance above the probably-safe pink party pony. "Well, Wonderbolts ahoy. Lead on Applejack I want to know what joke my mind will play on me when we get to the big display case."

Fluttershy flew along beside Rainbow Dash, which wasn't such a feat since Applejack, who had lived in the town this dream represented, was leading the way at a comfortable trot. Ground eating for an earth pony but as the yellow pegasus was not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination she found it easier to fly beside Dash. "These empty streets are kind of creepy, actually." Well, and that was an OK reason too, thought Dash.

Aloud she responded to her timid friend by saying "Yeah Fluttershy it is. Applejack's mind got fake people. I wonder why I don't, huh?" But just as she finished, a loud sound came that at first Dash thought was the creaking of a building falling like dying timber, but it slowly morphed through the sound of howling wind, and finally into a cacophony of moans. "Scratch that. Empty is cool too." Rainbow Dash felt her skin crawl as the howl died away.

Behind the pair, an awkward flapping interrupted Dash's gloomy mood. She turned her head to see Jack, awkwardly trying to float with the pair. "Rainbow Dash," he said, still well distracted by the attempts to fly. "I believe the interloper has learned not to challenge us directly. The result is this sense of fearfulness, that may cause your mind to populate the city with monsters not of it's creating but yours. Guard your mind, young Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah I'll be sure to do that." Turning to her pegasus friend Dash asked casually "Hey Fluttershy did you bring any tin foil?" The yellow pony timidly shook her head quickly without a word. "Heh. Oh well. Bosspony says I gotta have a hat for this run."

From below, Pinkie still in front of Applejack despite not precisely knowing where the other earth pony was headed, Applejack called up "Hey, fer what it's worth we're more'n halfway there."

From the middle of the ground group came Twilight's voice. "And I sure don't see anything on the ground. So that noise was probably just the wind or something harmless like that." The report left a smile on the blue mare's face. Not because she believed she was any safer, but Rainbow thought Twilight Sparkle was cute when she was a little nervous. downright scary when she's frightened, but there's a short stage of cute that she's sitting in right now.

The next major hurdle showed itself when they arrived at the Clydesdale building. There was only one door in, and it was a revolving door. Big, curved segments that would admit one pony, or two if they were friendly. Rotating counter clockwise, the doors slowly turned, utterly obscuring the interior.

Rarity looked the building over from afar, now at the back of the group, and lamented "They're supposed to be built of glass, how do we know there isn't a trap inside?"

Rainbow Dash tried to dismiss the wall by kicking it, but unlike a true cloud, it resisted, clanging like steel. The clang echoed through the empty city and came back to them several times over the next few minutes. Pinkie Pie, who had been staring intently at the place where the curved cloud door disappeared into the mechanism unexpectedly said to the group "I'll volunteer to be last." Looking away from the door now, to her friends, she explained "That way, if you seem me just on the other side of the door, you can kick the pretender into the next dream without stopping to ask who it really is."

Remembering the train, when there had been six Pinkies during the zero-G time, Rainbow Dash added "Well, unless it's a hallucination like when I thought you all had turned into Pinkie."

The party pony screwed her face up in frustration. "Oh, yeah."

Standing in the midst of the group, the quasi alicorn had said nothing. To his right, Twilight Sparkle suggested "I'm the only other serious caster her, so I'm going to suggest I go first, and if nothing starts trying to eat you ponies out here, then Jack go second. Rainbow Dash third since this is her dream and we don't want to get stuck like at the line of buffalo that no one could get ahead of Applejack. Fourth,"

But there was a sudden CLANG as an explosive apple impacted the cloud wall to the left of the rotating door, applesauce and smoke flying away from the group but adding greatly to the reverberations that were still rolling past them. "These things aren't quite as strong as Ah hoped they'd be." said an only slightly chagrined Applejack.

"Gah! Fine enough talk we're going! Going now!" said Twilight and hair still standing straight up everywhere she rushed into the door, disappearing without a sound. Jack waited two empty doorways before grinning with a ferocity halfway between his sergal cousins slaughtering their next meal, and Pinkie being asked to arrange a big party.

Not wanting to be alone in this place, but thinking that Jack's segment was awfully crowded, Rainbow Dash jumped into the next open doorway. For some reason an old drinking song she'd heard once came to her, and as she disappeared she shouted to her friends "Meet me for a brew, after we finish what we came to do." And then she couldn't see her friends anymore. Couldn't hear more than a slight swish of air, and while there was nonspecific light in the doorway she couldn't seem much.

She started humming, before thinking it was talking way too long. don't get nervous you'll just make it worse. It's some kind of trick door, that's all.

Finally the light changed; a darkness gaped at the curved wall. The crack widened oh-so-slowly for Dash's comfort, and finally she could see the badly light foyer where her friends should be waiting.

She saw only Pinkie Pie. "Helllooooo, nurse!" her erstwhile friend said, and leaned as if to approach the pegasus.

Dash twirled and kicked for all she was worth. No time to even vaguely aim but kicking was a major part of her job. She hit solidly, but that wasn't pony flesh beneath her hooves. It felt like she'd hit a steel podium, and as it fell noisily over, there was the sound of shattered glass all around her, and the floor gave way. She tried to fly but falling debris cut into her wings making her catch her breath first, and then she hit ground.

She landed flat on her belly, splayed out like a badly cooked egg. Standing carefully she listened for cries of concern from her friends but heard nothing at all now. The doorway mechanism was tilted badly and sitting so as to block the passage above her, and there were superficial cuts all over her back and wings. The only source of light was the doorway above her.

In the direction she had come from but at her new height below the street, came a deep chittering, and a giant insect face filling the small tunnel approached her, mandibles working tirelessly.

Mind blank with terror, she flew away, down the small hallway below the building's entrance into the dark, bleeding cuts forgotten and screaming nothing in particular. After she hit a wall face first at some speed she stopped and considered her current approach to this new development. Looking back, the insect had moved about halfway into the shaft of light, but was apparently too big to follow any farther. Calling her friends' names echoed about the tunnel, which informed her by its echoes that her tunnel had made a left turn. But there was no response from her friends.

Heart still pounding in her throat Rainbow Dash called down the dark tunnel that went away from the monstrous insect. No echo for a little ways. Cautiously she started trotting and soon lost all sight around her. Thus it was that she tripped, and split open her lip an a sharp edge that was about chest high. Stairs up. Promising, but ouch!

Feeling each step carefully she climbed nine steps, and hit a curving outer wall and the stairway became a spiral staircase winding counter clockwise. Still no light, and now she couldn't hear the awful chittering anymore either. Shouting upwards didn't reveal much she hadn't already put together. Nine more steps, ten, eleven, and there was a landing. Shouting again she guessed the staircase continued but there might be a closed door. Carefully, moving one hoof at a time and never bringing it up completely off the floor lest she fall to her doom, she found a flat wall that might be a door.

After searching the flat wall for what felt like hours but was more likely thirty seconds, she found a likely protuberance and tried jiggling it with her mouth. She heard a 'click' and the panel moved away from her. Beyond the door was light, now painful to her darkness adjusted eyes. She heard a squeaking from the new passage, probably to her right. Yanking the door back shut she left her lips on the doorknob, and waited.

The squeaking passed her door, and continued, and after a time stopped. Cautiously, heart in her throat again, Dash opened the door, giving her eyes a chance to adjust before moving further. Starting close this time, the squeaking returned, and grew louder.

if they're looking for me they'd have seen the door slam shut. Something mechanical then, but what? Rainbow Dash decided to wait for the squeaking to pass her line of sight so she would know what manner of problem she would be dodging when she left her deathly-quiet tunnel.

Past the door, rolled an empty wheelchair, not unlike that thing Twilight Sparkle had been stuck in while trying to research Pinkie's pinkie sense. It stopped for a count of five by Dash's somewhat rushed counting, and rolled back into view, and beyond to stop slightly to her left. And again it squeaked to the right.

Once the automaton chair was past her door, she flew out, and ran to her left not knowing what direction would be best anymore. At a gallop but not flying for fear of the low ceiling she shouted at the top of her lungs not caring what else might hear. "Twilight! Jack! Anypony I'm here where the hay are you?!?" but didn't stop to listen for a reply.

Too fast to stop and examine her surroundings she raced past a hallway that crossed hers at a right angle, looking remarkably similar. Ahead of her the hallway she was in, ended with a porcelain sink attached to the blank, fluffy looking white wall.

Skidding to a stop a door flew shut behind her, smacking her tail and heels as it clicked shut. Everything was still illuminated, if badly, but when she jiggled the doorknob it refused her ministrations. Looking quickly around she found she had slid into a public restroom, and her ears told her the whole of the room was likely empty. In the muffled distance she could hear the wheelchair continue its squeaky patrol of the now deserted hallway. With my luck this is the stallions room, too..

Hoping there was a second door, she walked past the sink, and found to her left a row of three sinks, with a giant shared mirror behind them. There were four stalls to Dash's right as she faced the mirror, and with the fourth sink now immediately at her flank she guessed this was probably the mare's room after all.

Finding no second door, and the first door still firmly locked, she confirmed the ceiling and floor to be real ceiling and floor not a false set of tiles like she heard once the big buildings in the cities had sometimes. Having nothing better to do she went to a sink and got a drink of water. Boy I must be nervous. The mare in the mirror has the stupidest grin.

On a lark, Rainbow Dash poked at the mirror with a hoof. Solid, flat, cold, and her reflection comfortingly followed suit. But I'm frowning. I'm pretty sure. Aren't I? The reflection's grin slowly grew as Dash began to hear her blood pounding in her ears.

Rainbow Dash saw her rainbow'd mane split as her reflection pricked her ears at herself. "I'm not doing that, doggonit! Quit!" But her motions were no longer reflected in the mirror. Instead, the blue mare was mouthing something. A word. Several times, before she could force herself to acknowledge she knew what her misbehaving reflection was saying.

"Dashie!"

At this point Rainbow Dash was in too much shock to run. She was backing away slowly, still watching herself. Her reflection nodded smartly to the real Dash, and then drew a knife from her pack. Running it down her own front leg Dash watched as what should have been her began to bleed profusely into the sink.

The sink turned itself on. Only it was running blood, not water.

Screaming in terror she bashed herself repeatedly into the door she had come into but it wouldn't budge. From around the corner there was a tapping, as of hoof touched to glass. The sound repeated, and Rainbow Dash found herself peeking around the wall to see.

Her reflection, now missing her right ear and left eye, had smeared in blood across the top of the mirror, backwards since her reflection apparently didn't know mirrors reversed things, the word "Dashie!" with a heart below that. Meanwhile her reflection was now biting vehemently at the glass that separated them. Having no success she instead grabbed a wingtip, pulling it forward tautly and hacking with the knife again, trying to remove her own wing.

The other two sinks turned themselves on, dark blood streaming out, loosing enough steam to mercifully begin to obscure the terror on the other side for a moment before the reflection started writing in the steam. 'love U' was written twice, with 'dashie stay plz' and finally 'play w me' were written by an inaccurate hoof in the blood's steam.

Dash could almost see the reflection lifting her head in a silent scream of rage, before launching herself into the mirror. The reflection's wing was hanging oddly, and while a large amount of steam was wiped away with the whole pony's side, as the reflection fell a reflected sink fell away.

That sink on this side fell loudly off the wall, spilling its contents over the fluffy white floor. From the hole came a muffled mare's voice. "You have to come over here, Dash. Come here I love you Dash." But it was when the hole in the wall started overflowing with gooey, chunky gore that Dash completely lost her sanity.

Kicking at the door with all her might a dozen times, two dozen she was exhausting herself but couldn't slow down. The blood was starting to seep into this half of the room now and although Rainbow knew she had sprained both her rear fetlocks she didn't slow down.

She landed on her belly, when the door wasn't there to stop her. Dash rolled onto her back and brought her hooves in for a strike, barely seeing the gray pony standing over her. He spread his brilliant white wings, and called her name. "Rainbow Dash. You are asleep, Rainbow Dash. Just a dream no true harm can befall you here."

Her mind managed to register that it was Applejack who rushed past her, into the restroom whereupon the orange mare shrieked. Lifting both her apples into the air she whirled and kicked the apples into the mirror. don't crack the mirror she'll come over here Dash thought to herself, but was utterly unable to verbalize it.

Not waiting to see the results of the explosion Rainbow Dash rolled and jumped to her feet, and ran past Jack just to bump into Pinkie Pie's nose. Dash vaguely realized her legs were unreasonably hot, and her hooves had gone numb.

"Hey. Rainbow Dash." Pinkie kept her voice as flat as she could manage, and somewhere in Dash's mind it registered that this Pinkie didn't want to upset her. "Glad you're OK Dash. Really. Twilight is to my right, and I think Rarity is to my left so you've got lots of company. We're all here, OK?" Dash had taken a half a step back, and was now hyperventilating.

Daring to look away from the murderous face, she saw her friends. Every one except Applejack. WHERE IS APPLEJACK? What did you do to her? her mind screamed but again, nothing came out.

Behind her, the briefly forgotten earth pony spoke up. "That was a right mess. Mirrors shouldn't have a mind of their own. Shouldn't at all." Dash turned to see her missing friend.

"Heyyy." Dash managed to say. "Scary. So, you're here." She straightened her neck to look at Twilight now, "Can I pass out now or does dream work thaaaa" The heat in her legs had crawled up to suffuse her head, and with no air left in the Clydesdale building she passed out.

Comments

[bearcat]

Thanks, although it looks like you posted for this chapter seconds after I uploaded it. Nice to know I have a few readers, though.

It goes all silent-hill towards the end of this chapter but I've never played that game so maybe it doesn't and I just think it does. Oh well. Enjoy!