> Living the Dream
>  by CopperTop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something good to bite! Rarrgh!"
"Eeek!"
Sweetie Belle's overexcited cry of terror very quickly gave way to bubbling laughter as she circled in a loop around her friends in an effort to escape the pair of diminutive "timberwolves" that were chasing after her. A buttercream earth pony mare with her candy apple red mane tied back in a ponytail, and a burnt orange pegasus with close-cropped purple hair, both watched with amusement as the unicorn humored the pair of young foals. 
"Oh no; ferocious timberwolves!" The alabaster mare cried out in mock terror as she ran at a quick trot which kept her just out of reach of her pursuers. "If only someponies were nearby who had some sort of candy-like substance which could sate their fearsome hunger for pony flesh!" Sweetie Belle gave her two nearby friends a knowing wink. 
Applebloom's smile widened as she started to pensively massage her chin with a hoof. "Ah 'unno, Sweetie…you were just harping t'other day about not having time t'go to the gym as often anymore; what with your lessons with that new vocal coach.   Way I reckon it, these here 'timberwolves' are doin' you a world o'good!"
Beside the earth pony, Scootaloo sniggered behind a hoof, but ultimately saved her friend from a particularly withering glare from the trotting unicorn by reaching into her saddlebag and withdrawing a pair of brightly-wrapped candy bars that she had brought for just such an occasion. "I gotcha, Sweets." She tossed them to the stick-covered foals, who gleefully caught the offered treats and withdrew in their own fits of giggling to find more ponies to extort candy from.
The unicorn mare stopped her trotting with a winded huff, "Thanks, Scoots. At least I can count on somepony to help me out in the jam…" She eyed her earth pony 'friend' critically.
"Ah'm jus' sayin' that a li'l trot here 'n there might not be the worst thing fer ya." The yellow mare's eyes briefly wandered towards the unicorn's flanks before her lips parted into a wide grin. 
Sweetie Belle's typically ivory cheeks briefly flushed with color at the remark. It took a great deal of self control on the unicorn's part not to look at her own hind end to judge the veracity of the allegations that were being made. Instead, she merely turned up her nose and gave a short, indignant, huff that was mostly of mock indignation. "It is perfectly natural for some mares to be…rounder in nature," she insisted. 
"Yeah, lay off, Bloom," the pegasus said in defense of her friend, though her own smile was quite broad as well as she continued in a more teasing tone, "it's not easy to keep off the pounds when your coltfriend is taking you out to Bitalian restaurants for dinner every night!" She stuck out her tongue at the unicorn as she deftly flitted out of range of a playful swat of the unicorn's hoof.
"It’s not every night," Sweetie insisted. Then she nibbled on her lip and reluctantly admitted, "just…most of them."
"I'mma have to get me one of those rich Canterlot colts too so I can get treated to pasta dinners all the time," Scootaloo mused. "Get myself carbo-loaded before competitions."
"Uh huh," Applebloom rolled her eyes before motioning for the pair to follow her. "Well, tonight Ah'm lookin' to get sugar-loaded, so let's hurry up an' get to Sugarcube Corner!"
There was no argument from the other two mares and all three friends picked up their pace as they headed deeper into town.  The air was filled with the sounds of foals laughing and screaming in equal measure, though the latter often quickly devolved into the former. Above the din could be heard the deeper voices of grown ponies hawking treats or trying to entice passersby into partaking in games or other festive activities. The three long-time friends merrily trotted along the familiar streets filled with milling ponies enjoying the evening holiday. 
"It never ceases to amaze me how much Ponyville changes every year," Sweetie remarked as they passed beneath a floating depiction of an illusionary Nightmare Moon soaring above the town. However, her attention was directed instead at a row of condominiums which lined one side of the town's main thoroughfare. Each of the tall buildings were dull gray in color and, as her elder sister might put it: 'entirely uninspired in color and form'. It was like somepony had stacked apartments in the shape of cinder blocks on top of each other until they hit the town's (current) code for height limits. Which was almost certainly exactly what had happened.
Applebloom's eyes tracked where her friend was looking before she gave an annoyed huff of her own. "Tell me about it." Her face screwed up like she'd just tasted something rancid. "You wouldn't believe how often we're gettin' offers on the farm...and we might actually accept."
The other mares balked, gaping open-mouthed at the earth pony. "Seriously?!" Scootaloo was the firstto find her voice. "I thought AJ was all 'Our parents are buried here, we will be too!?"
"She is," Applebloom acknowledged, then frowned. "Er, was. But…well, what with Big Mac and Sugar Bell expecting their fourth foal, Granny finally admitting she needs help to get around…" The earth pony let out a defeated sigh. "And, honestly, the farm just ain't doin’ so good no more."
She fixed a hard look on both her friends. "Y’all don't breathe a word of what Ah'm about to tell ya, y'hear?" Both mares nodded as their hooves ritually moved across their chests and touched their eyes. Mollified, the earth pony continued. "...We haven't turned a profit in five years."
"WHAT?!" "How?!" 
Applebloom looked around them, wide-eyed with concern that they'd be overheard and gesturing for the others to keep their voices down. "Shush! Look, it's just…" Another aggrieved sigh, "...ever since they opened up that there Coscolt in town, business ain't been so good. They undercut our prices on everything.  Even Zap-Apple Jam!"
Sweetie Belle cocked her head in confusion. "How can they possibly do that? I thought that stuff took some big ritual to make that only your family knew?"
"It's not real Zap-Apple Jam," the earth pony all but spat. "Jus' regular jam that they colored up.  They flavor it too’er sommit; Ah 'unno. But most ponies can't seem to tell the difference.  Or they don't care. Doesn't help that it's actually labeled as being 'Zap-Apple Jam'; so ponies don’t know it ain’t real."
"Can…can they legally do that?" Scootaloo asked. "Can't you guys, like, sue them over infringement or something?"
Applebloom flashed the pegasus a defeated look. "D'ya know what a 'trademark' is? 'Cause Granny didn't; but Coscolt apparently did, and they registered one.  The real screwed up part?  Because Coscolt has one, the lawyer we spoke to told us that if’n we tried to make and sell any jam ourselves, we’d be the ones getting sued!
"We can't do nothin' about it, and it was one of our biggest money-makers." Another rueful snort from the earth pony. "And you'll never guess who is putting in the offers on the farm." Both of her friends groaned, easily catching the implication of where their friend was leading the conversation.  She nodded in confirmation. "Their most recent offer was less than the last one. They gave us the impression the next offer would be even lower. 
"Ah overheard AJ and Big Mac taking t'other night.  Ah think…they're gonna take the offer." She admitted. "Neither really wants ta.  It's jus'..." Words finally failed the yellow mare and all she could do was give a helpless shrug. 
Her two oldest and dearest friends gathered their distraught member up in a tight hug as they consoled her. "It'll be alright, AB," Scootaloo insisted, though she was forced to admit to herself that she wouldn't have been able to articulate in what exact way things would eventually be 'alright'.
"Yeah, something'll work out," Sweetie Belle agreed, managing to sound more genuinely optimistic. "Maybe you can get the farm classified as a historic landmark? Then it'd be 'owned' by The Crown or something? I'll talk to Jessant about it on our next date. His parents are always hosting benefit dinners and fundraisers for stuff. Maybe we can do it for your farm too!"
"AJ and Granny ain't much for accepting charity," Applebloom said as she sniffled and wiped at her eye with the back of her hoof. "But Ah'll mention the historic thing tomorrow. Maybe there's something there.  Worth a shot."
"Heh. CMCs save the day again, maybe?" The pegasus said with a wink. 
"Cutie Mark Crusaders, Farm Savers!  Yay~" Sweetie announced with a muted cheer, earning a giggle from the others. 
"Well, now that our spirits are back on the up, who's up for actuality trying to enjoy this Nightmare Night?" Scootaloo asked. The others each raised a hoof. "Good!" The orange mare started looking around. "Let's see. How about….ooh!"
She jabbed a good at a nearby tent that had been set up along the side of the avenue. The sign above it promised that a 'Spook-tacular Experience' awaited within. "That looks like fun!"
Applebloom canted her head as she eyed the tent. "Some kin'a haunted house―er, tent?"
"Probably," the pegasus shrugged as she started off towards it. "Come on, let's go get frightened! You know, by something other than unfettered capitalism ruining our lives and destroying our homes…" She finished with a sardonic laugh. 
The trio of friends ducked through the tent flaps and found themselves in a reception area. All around were various hoof-scrawled cardboard signs purporting to warn away all but the most courageous. Yet, none of the young mares could spy anything which looked remotely scary. 
"Are we sure they're open?" Sweetie Belle asked, not seeing any clear direction of where prospective customers were meant to proceed. 
"Maybe they just popped out for a quick squat?" Scootaloo offered with a shrug. 
"We could check back later if that's the case―"
"Welcome to―"
"Gaaugh!" The trio yelped at the sound of a stallion's voice coming from directly behind them. 
The stallion, a zebra sporting a black and crimson cape and a set of obviously fake vampony fangs, blinked at the three startled mares for a few moments before trying his introduction again. "Erm…welcome, young mares, to this: my Tent of Terror!" He reared up and waved his hooves over his head in what was likely an attempt to affect being menacing. 
However, due to the apparent lack of genuine effort being put into the bit, the CMCs found themselves wondering if they'd have felt particularly 'menaced' even if they weren't adults. For her part, Scootaloo found herself second-guessing her choice of attractions
"Well, we're here to get 'terrorized', we guess," the pegasus answered with a lopsided smile. "What'cha got, Jackula?"
The zebra looked momentarily confused. "Huh? My name's not Jack―Oh! The costume! Right!"
He grinned, almost losing his plastic fangs in the process, and swept aside the curtain hanging behind him.  "Your greatest fears await…within…" Again the striped stallion attempted to affect a foreboding tone, with limited success.
The trio still shared some stifled giggles among themselves, if only in response to the ineffective performance offered by the proprietor. They reminded themselves that not every creature got their cutie mark in theater, and that he probably was really trying his best.
They stepped past the curtain and found themselves in a little sectioned off quadrant of the tent which played host to a line of admittedly comfortable-looking pony-sized pillows. Many were already occupied by costumed figures who looked to be dozing soundly, with little jeweled circlets around their heads. 
"Dream Machines?" Sweetie Belle uttered in surprise, recognizing the devices. 
"Dream what-now?" The earth pony beside her asked. 
"Dream Machines," she repeated. "They're a new device that's supposed to let you experience things. All kinds of things. Played out right in your head, like a lucid dream."
"Indeed, fair maiden!" The stallion reentered the conversation, guiding them towards three unoccupied cushions and their nearby circlets. "With these, you shall experience sights and events most terrifying!"
"Not sure how afraid Ah'll really be, knowin' Ah'm still safe'n sound in this here tent…" Applebloom pointed out. 
"You can still get scared by a nightmare when you're safe and sound in your bed at home," Scootaloo pointed out, to which her earth pony friend could only roll her eyes. 
"Let's give it a try," Sweetie Belle insisted before turning back to their striped host. "How much?"
"Three bits per customer," the costumed zebra informed her. After the unicorn had floated the bits over to him, he then asked, "Now, will the three of you be sharing the experience? Or would you like them individualized?"
"Being together sounds pretty neat," Scootaloo said, looking between her friends. "We should totally do that!"
"Agreed," Applebloom nodded. "CMC Dream Machine Team!" 
The three mares shared a quick giggle as they slipped onto the indicated pillows. Dream Machine circlets were delicately placed over each of their heads. Once satisfied that everything was in order, the caped zebra took out a trio of cut sapphires with runes carved into their facets and placed one in front of each mare. As he did so, he launched into what sounded like a well-rehearsed speech.
"Please be advised that the Dream Machines will tailor user experiences on their own. Any individuals or events you encounter which bear similarity to real creatures or events are coincidental and the products of your own imagination.  FlimFlam Machines Inc isn't liable for any defamation which you may feel you've experienced, either in regards to yourself or associates. 
"Users may terminate their experience at any time by either returning to the start point or by entering a state incompatible with continuing the experience. FlimFlam Machines Inc, its subsidiaries, and its patent company FF Holdings, are not liable for any injury or trauma caused by improper or proper operation of any FlimFlam device-"
"Wait, what?" Sweetie balked. 
Applebloom has her eyes narrowed at the zebra. "Hold on, what company makes these things?!"
If the stallion heard them, he didn't react. "By wearing the Dream Machine device, all users waive their rights to seek damages for any harm they may suffer. 
"Have fun!"
There was a flash of brilliant blue light which very nearly blinded the three mares. 


***


When the trio of friends could see clearly once more, the first thing that they noticed was that they were no longer in the tent. They instead found themselves laying outside in the middle of a dirt road. It appeared to be the middle of the night, or closer enough to it. In the distance, they could see the faint glow of light from a town that night have been Ponyville.
Applebloom shook the last of the spots from her eyes before leveling a hard look at Sweetie Belle. "Ya didn't mention that those contraptions were made by those two conniving snakes!" She didn't quite spit. 
"I didn't know, honest!" The unicorn protested, boring her lip nervously. "I’ve only used them the one time before to play house with Jessant―" Her features quickly flushed before she hastily amended, "build a house with Jessant!  Of cards! We built a house of cards…" She finished lamely. 
The two other mares exchanged looks before regarding their friend with flat expressions.  It was Scootaloo who broke the silence, her lips spreading into a broad smile. "Okay, we're definitely circling back to that later." The unicorn winced, staring intently at her hooves. "But, for now let's figure out where we are and what's going on."
"Well, Ah'mma guess we're here for that," Applebloom said, pointing over the heads of the other two mares. Both of them turned around and looked up at the same sight which must have drawn the earth pony's attention: a corn field with a large wooden arch and sigh. 
Haunted Maize Maze.
"A corn maze?" Scootaloo frowned. "That doesn't sound very scary. Sounds like more foal stuff."
"Maybe this is all supposed to, like, lull us into a false sense of security?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "Then there's this massive twist at the end or something?"
"Okay, but if we know that's what's going to happen, then it's not going to scare us though."
Applebloom rolled her eyes and started to trot forward towards the entrance of the maze. "That zebra said these Dream Machine things pull from our own heads or somethin', right?  Maybe that means the maze’ll be filled with phobias we have.”
“That sounds pretty cheap as far as ‘thrills’ go,” Scootaloo noted.  Then she sighed and started following the earth pony. “But, you’re right: we’re already here.  Might as well see if it was worth the bits.”
Neither made it very far before Sweetie Belle called them back, “Wait, guys!  You said this was your first time in a Dream Machine, right?”  The pair stopped and nodded.  Their unicorn companion pointed her hoof at the ground, directing their attention towards three familiar-looking sapphires that were lying on the ground at her hooves. “In that case, remember that when we want to leave, we need to come back here and stomp on one of these gems,” she pantomimed stepping on one of the blue crystals with her hoof, though was quite careful not to actually make contact with it. “It’ll stop the dream and wake us up.
“...Though there is…another way…” The unicorn said as she and her friends ventured through the entrance of the maze.
“Yeah?” Applebloom inquired absently, most of her attention focused on their surroundings.  The earth pony found herself marveling at how real this all felt.  The crunch of cut stalks under her hooves, the sound of insects jumping and buzzing just out of sight amid the field, even the smell of the corn itself, were all as real as she had ever recalled experiencing in the ‘waking world’.
“Dying.”
The other two mares came to a sudden stop, gaping at the unicorn.  “Excuse me?!” The pegasus blurted.
“It’s like with a real dream,” Sweetie Belle explained hurriedly, as though she were concerned that she’d lose her nerve halfway through if she so much as paused to catch her breath. “You know how when you start falling or something and wake up before you actually hit the ground, or whatever?  That’s what the zebra meant with the whole ‘incompatible state’ thing.  If your mind ‘rejects’ the dream, like by thinking you can’t possibly be having it anymore, on account of being…dead…then you’ll wake up.
“So, if we do or experience something that kills us, or at least that we’re pretty sure would kill us, that’ll pop us out no matter where we are.”
It was at this point that the trio reached the first true fork in the maze with clearly divergent paths for them to choose between. “That’ll actually probably be helpful,” Scootaloo observed, “because, foalish frights or not, I do not envy the possibility of wandering around in this place all night trying to remember how to get out.  We don’t even know how big this place is supposed to be,” the pegasus pointed out.
“Hmm,” Applebloom nodded before pointing her hoof down the left passage. “In that case, e’erypony keep their eyes peeled for any bottomless pits we can hurl ourselves into fer when we’re tired of this place.” She wasn’t being entirely sarcastic.
They made it about twenty feet down the path the earth pony had chosen when the ghost appeared.
Although the ‘ghost’ was quite obviously just a balloon which had been covered by a pillowcase with ‘eyes’ colored on it with a magic marker, and was being dragged along by a piece of twine overhead.  The three mares watched it drift leisurely by over the top of the maze’s corn stalk walls with bored expressions.  A few seconds later, a poorly synchronized recording played from nearby out of what sounded like a particularly cheap speaker. “OOooOOoo―zzt!”
A cheap speaker which sounded like it had just died.
“How, under Celestia’s golden sun, do you make a dream seem cheap?” Scootaloo deadpanned.
“It was designed by Flim an’ Flam, apparently,” Applebloom pointed out, sounding equally nonplused.  “You expected more?”
“Yeah, you’re right; that’s on me.”  the pegasus half-feigned looking around them. “Well, no bottomless pits in sight.  Let’s go right this time, I guess…”
An hour later, all three mares were slowly wandering back out of the entrance to the maze.  Each wore an expression that transcended boredom.  The ‘scariest’ thing about the whole experience had been how not scary an experience a magical contraption with access to all of their most repressed fears and darkest thoughts had managed to craft.  Poorly painted cardboard cut-outs of witches, ‘skeletons’ made out of painted sticks and twigs, and hay-stuffed ‘zombponies’ had been the highlights of the maze.
“So we’re all agreed this was designed for very young foals then, and nothing at all was ‘tailored’ about it?” Scootaloo asked as they approached the three sapphires laying on the road where they’d appeared.
“That’s my guess, yeah,” an equally disappointed Sweetie Belle agreed.  “Do we ask for our money back, or…?”
“Did any of us really expect more for the price of a funnel cake?” Applebloom sighed. “Let’s just cut our losses and get to the Cakes.”  The others both agreed with the plan and stomped gingerly upon their associated gemstones.  While the blue jewels might have looked like genuine sapphires, they shattered with little effort at all, like they were made of wafer-thin glass.
The trio was once again blinded by a bright light.


***


They were back in the zebra’s tent again, blinking away the spots in front of their eyes.  The striped stallion was just slipping back in through the cloth divider as the trio were removing the delicate circlets.
“So, how did you fair maidens enjoy your spooktacular experiences?” He asked them excitedly.
The burnt orange pegasus cast him a level stare. “Dude, call us ‘fair maidens’ one more time, I will buck you in the nads,” she warned. “You’re like, twice our age; it’s creeping us out.” The other two mares nodded in agreement.
“Right, sorry!” He spit out the plastic fangs. “Just doing the vampony bit thing…”
“Uh-huh,” Applebloom sounded less than convinced but didn’t remark further on it. “Well, Ah wouldn’t call a corn maze fer foals very ‘spook’ anythin’, to be honest.”
Now the stallion looked confused. “Corn maze?  That wasn’t―oh, shoot,” he winced. “Did I use the wrong program?  Dang it!  I’m so sorry about that,” the zebra apologized sheepishly. “It was supposed to be a crazy ax-murderer routine.  How about we try again?  No charge, of course!”
“No thanks,” Sweetie Belle said, waving the stallion off as the three of them stood back up and headed for the exit. “We really need to be going.  Lot’s more Nightmare Night stuff to see and all that.”
“Oh.  Right.  Well, if you have time later and want to come…back…” His words petered off as the last of the trio left the tent and it became clear they weren’t listening to him. “Enjoy your night!” He called out after them lamely.
Back outside on Ponyville’s main thoroughfare, the three friends resumed their trot towards Sugarcube Corner, though their minds were still on the earlier misadventure with the Dream Machines.
“While I think you were just a little too aggressive with the nad-bucking threat,” Sweetie said, “I do agree that the ‘maiden’ thing was starting to get old.”
“And inaccurate!” The buttercream earth pony chimed in. “Ah ain’t been no ‘maiden’ since AJ let me an’ Tender buck apples on our own in the west orchard.  If y’all can, get yourselves a dancer stallion.  They’re really good with their hooves.” She flashed her friends a knowing wink.
“In my experience,” the pegasus chimed in, “nopony knows how to treat a mare better than another mare.” She paused, considering. “But I could get behind a mare who’s a dancer…” She mused aloud.
“Yeah, Ah bet you could,” Applebloom sniggered. “You’re generous like that~” Her mirth elevated into a cackle as she saw her friend flush as she realized her unintentional double-entendre.  Beside the flier, Sweetie Belle’s cheeks were only getting redder with each passing comment.
The earth pony was about to inquire into how sophisticated the unicorn’s ‘card house building’ had gotten with her own beau, but the question died unasked in the wake of a shrill scream that pierced through the night sky.  Unlike all of the other cries of terror that they’d been hearing during the evening’s festivities, there was nothing even remotely feigned-sounding about this one.  All three mare’s whipped their heads around in the direction of the cry.  One which was joined by more equally-frightened yelling only a moment later.
“What in the…?”  Scootaloo began, wondering aloud, only for the pegasus and her friends to all have their questions answered a few seconds later as they heard the sound of laughter rising up above the din of screaming ponies.  Instantly, her hackles started to rise as the sound awakened memories from their fillyhood.  They’d all heard that laughter before. “...No way; it can’t be…”
Her friends had all reached the same bewildering conclusion it seemed, as Sweetie Belle too gaped in the direction of the terrified shrieks and dreadful cackling. “...Princess Luna?”
Applebloom was shaking her head as she took an instinctive step back from the direction that the haunting laughter was coming from. “Ah don’t think that’s Luna no more, Sweetie,” she began, swallowing back a lump of fear in her throat. “It sounds a lot more like―”
“Nightmare Moon!” A clown-dressed unicorn stallion cried out at the top of his lungs as he galloped past the gaping trio.
“What?!  No!  How?” Scootaloo couldn’t seem to decide which question whirling through her head she desired an answer to more.
Not that either of her friends had an answer for her, of course.  Sweetie Belle looked between the other two. “M-maybe this is an act?” She offered, though the trembling of her words betrayed her own lack of faith in the theory she was presenting. “I mean, she’s done it before―”
The unicorn’s words were interrupted by a more proximal sound of a mare’s scream.  The three friends looked in the direction of the cry just in time to see a mare, dressed as the Bride of Flankenstein, scamper out onto the roadway.  A heartbeat later it became clear what she was running from as a dark form darted through the air in her wake, dressed in the menacing purple armor that plainly identified the bat-winged figure as being a member of Princess Luna’s Personal Guard.  The armored warrior’s leathery wings allowed them to effortlessly catch up to the fleeing earth pony mare and tackle her to the ground, cutting off her frantic shrieking with a pained grunt.
When the two grappling ponies came to a stop, the batpony guard was stradling atop the costumed mare.  She was clearly dazed from the blow, but regained enough of her senses to cry out for help once more as she struggled futilely to escape from her attacker.  The armored figure barely even budged in response to the writhing mare’s efforts as they grinned down at their victim.  They leaned their muzzle down closer to the screaming and struggling mare, their mouth opening wide and exposing a set of teeth that looked like they would be more at home in the maw of a dragon than a pony.
The mare’s frantic wailing reached a fevered pitch now as she saw the glistening fangs coming at her face.  She turned away at the last second in an effort to avoid having her own muzzle bitten off.  However, it seemed that her face was not the intended target of the batpony’s bite.  Instead, the guard darted for her neck.  The mare’s screams were abruptly cut short, curtailing off into a wet, strangled, gurgling as the razor-toothed batpony’s jaw clamped down over her throat.  The mare went instantly rigid, her eyes locked open in primal terror.  She was looking in the direction of the three young mares who were presently frozen in place as they watched the brutal scene unfold in front of them.
Brilliant red blood began to spill out from the sides of the batpony’s mouth, glistening in the festive lights hanging all along the roadway.  The leathery-winged equine’s own body seemed to convulse slightly as well, in time with the loud gulping sounds that the trio could hear coming from the guard’s throat.  All the while, their victim’s mouth moved in a wordless attempt to beg for help from the petrified onlookers.
Eventually even those barely perceptible efforts on the mare’s part to seek aid ceased.  Her eyes, though still wide open, had gone glassy, her pupils dilating to their fullest.  The batpony straddling her made one more long, loud, slurping sound before finally releasing the mare’s neck.  They raised their head slowly, their glowing ruby eyes peering out through the slits in their helmet in the direction of the three mares watching the scene.  A tongue that was far too long flicked out along their exposed fangs, licking up the last few drops of sanguine fluid from the ivory tips.
Its lips splayed wide in a predatory smile as the armored batpony began to stalk towards them.  Sweetie Belle was reminded of how her elder sister’s cat would approach her toy mice, right before she would pounce on them and rip the cloth rodent into nothing more than tufts of stuffing.  The unicorn’s mind flashed with a vision of something similar happening to her in short order unless the three of them quickly elected to―
“RUN!”
Neither knew for certain which of them had yelled out the command.  However, all three mares wasted no time in turning around and bolting down the road as fast as their legs or wings would carry them.  Overhead, Applebloom noticed the form of their pegasus friend pulling ahead of her ground-bound companions.  Scootaloo looked down, her eyes locking briefly with the sprinting earth pony.  
She could see the hesitancy there.  Scootaloo had the capacity to flee faster than the two of them.  With her wings, she’d be able to leave her unicorn and earth pony comrades in the dust.  Perhaps she’d even escape unharmed if she were to pour on all the speed she could muster right then and there.
…It would just mean abandoning her friends.
Applebloom knew that the pegasus wouldn’t do that though.  They were the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  They stuck together, no matter what.  Even when faced with something as terrifyingly horrible as what they’d all just seen, the pegasus wasn’t going to leave them.
No matter how much her fear was telling her to.
And that wasn’t okay, to the earth pony’s mind.  Neither she nor Sweetie Belle would have ever asked their friend to stay and lose her life just for the sake of maintaining solidarity.  Quite the opposite in fact.  If leaving them behind was the only way that Scootaloo would survive, then not only was Applebloom okay with that, she’d insist on it.
“Go!”  She gasped out between panted breaths. “Don’t worry ‘bout us!”
Still she saw the pegasus hesitate.  Only for the ivory mare at her side to echo the sentiment. “Go, Sootaloo!  Get help!”
With a final forlorn look, the burnt orange mare nodded and began to flap her wings with all the might she could muster, rocketing ahead of her friends.  In seconds, Scootaloo was nearly a hoofball field ahead of the others and gaining distance with every wingstroke.  In no time at all she’d be out of Ponyville and on her way to―
“No!”Applebloom unleashed the anguished cry as a dark form came seemingly out of nowhere and slammed her pegasus friend in the side.  The powerful blow from the armored figure sent the stunned flier careening off the side of one the town’s new minimalist apartment buildings before she struck the road in an unconscious tangle of legs and wings.  When the pegasus’ body finally came to a stop, it was plainly evident from the angle of her head and spine that she was dead.
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle wailed from beside the earth pony.  The unicorn’s expression morphed from grief to unbridled fury in the span of a breath as her eyes locked onto the hovering form of the batpony ahead of them who’d just killed their friend.  “You’re going down!” She yelled, her horn igniting with a brilliant blue aura.
“Sweetie, look out!”
Her warning was to no avail though.  A heartbeat later another member of Nightmare Moon’s army was upon the unicorn, falling onto her back from above.  The unprepared unicorn instantly crumpled beneath the massive weight or the armored batpony.  Her horn’s glow vanished in an instant as her spell lost cohesion.
White fangs flashed in the light and sank into her neck.
Sweetie Belle’s pained shriek drove into Applebloom’s heart like a dagger.  The pristine ivory coat around her neck was stained crimson as her life was sucked out of her by the armor batpony.
“Sweetie!” The earth pony cried out before she bolted forward to rescue her friend.  She didn’t make it two strides before an unnaturally strong armored hoof wrapped itself around her neck from behind her, wrenching Applebloom’s head back and arresting her charge in an instant.  A life of hard labor on her family’s farm had done the mare’s body no small favors.  She was as tough as they came, and yet, try as she might, the earth pony couldn’t seem to so much as budge the batpony restraining her.
The hoof curled beneath her chin wrenched her head painfully to the side.  Out of the corner of her eye, Applebloom could see the helmeted face of the batpony hovering just above her exposed neck.  Their mouth opened wide, fangs dripping with saliva brushed against her flesh.  Warm, damp, breath sent a shiver down along the earth pony’s spine.  She tried to struggle, but it was to no avail.
Then they struck.
“Augh!” Applebloom cried out as what felt like dozens of knives plunged into the back of her neck.  Her buttercream coat went slick with blood.  Her ears filled with a sound not unlike somepony greedily slurping up the dregs of their soda through a straw.  The steel-plated hooves restraining her tightened even more firmly, and yet almost sensually.  It was as though she were being held in a macabre facsimile of a lover’s embrace.
She began to feel cold and weak, her limbs numb and trembling.  As a result of how she was being held, the earth pony could look away from the even paler than usual face of her unicorn friend.  Sweetie Belle’s eyes were unfocused.  Her body lay limp beneath the attacker.
Applebloom was vaguely aware that the fangs digging into her neck didn’t seem to hurt as much anymore for some reason.  She did feel very cold though.  And tired.  She was so very tired…
Darkness tugged at the edges of her vision.  The sounds of the batpony’s slurping seemed to grow further away.  Applebloom’s eyes rolled back in her head and blackness overwhelmed her… 




> Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh…fuck…”
While Sweetie Belle might not have exactly shared the orange pegasus filly’s profane appraisal of the experience, she certainly had to agree with the awed sentiment behind it.  After her magic finished floating off the wrap-around headset from over her eyes and setting it down, the unicorn gingerly―but covertly―checked beneath herself on the cushion that she was laying on.  Once she’d confirmed for herself that nothing genuinely tragic had happened, she let out a relieved sigh and a tittering laugh that betrayed how quickly her heart was beating. “I am actually surprised I didn’t wet myself,” she admitted. “Because I know I did it in the simulation at the end…”
Laying in the treehouse beside her, Applebloom was setting down her own Dream Machine headset with her hooves, casting the ivory-coated colt with them a withering glare. “Fer the record, Jess…that was really messed up.”
“If by ‘messed up’, you mean: ‘metal as fuck’!” Scootaloo countered before leaping off her cushion and tackling her coltfriend to the floor with a sloppy but passionate kiss. “You really outdid yourself this time~”
“Heh, yeah, well, you know,” the young unicorn licked his lips and cleared his throat. “The Dream Machines do most of the work,” he admitted in a slightly abashed tone. “I just set a few of the parameters and such.
“Most of it’s driven by your own thoughts and fears and stuff.”
“No kiddin’,” the earth pony filly said with a small shudder. “Honestly, weren’t nothin’ scarier fer me ‘bout all that than the whole ‘losing the farm’ thing.”  She took a steadying breath. “I feel like I need ta ask AJ an’ Granny ta see our books jus’ so I know it weren’t all real…”
“Well I feel like I need to ask why Jess was Sweetie’s coltfriend and not mine,” the pegasus said with a tone of mock indignation as she looked accusingly between her friend and the colt she still had pinned beneath her. “Is there something going on I should know about?”
“Uhhh…” Jessant’s brain appeared to lock up as he struggled to come up with the ‘correct’ answer to his fillyfriend’s question.
“Er, um,” the unicorn filly squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before her eyes locked onto Applebloom and she spied her salvation. “What about Applebloom losing her virtue to Tender Taps in the orchard?” She blurted out hastily. “I think all of us would rather hear about that!”
“Actually, yeah,” Scootaloo’s eyes darted to the earth pony, “what was up with that?  I didn’t know you two were an item.”
“We’re not!” Applebloom insisted through the sudden flush in her cheeks. “We haven’t even held hooves!”
“Really?” The pegasus asked skeptically. “Because it sounds like you’re ready to skip right past hoof-holding and let him buck you sill―”
“You were a filly-fooler!” The earth pony blurted.  The treehouse was silent for a long moment as the four friends all stared at one another in shock.  Then they all cracked into laughter almost simultaneously.
“I’m not sure how much stock we should be putting into a toy anyway,” Jessant commented as he gently moved his fillyfriend aside so that he could get back up onto his hooves, giving her a quick peck on the cheek as he did so.  He began to gather up all of the headsets and the central console that they connected to and returned them to their box.
“It was really cool of your parents to get you one of those,” Scootaloo said as she set about collecting the pillows that they’d been using.
“Yeah, well, you know Dad; Celestia forbid he doesn’t have whatever everypony in Canterlot is fawning over…” The last was said with a note of annoyance, which went unremarked on by the fillies.  Each of them was well aware of how self-conscious the colt was about his parents’ opulent wealth and how brazen they were about flaunting it.
“I mean, Fancy Pants isn’t that bad about it,” Sweetie Belle defended hesitantly. “Rarity seems to like him.”
The colt winced at the mention of the name and gave the unicorn a sour look. “Please don’t bring up your sister around me.”
“Sorry.” The alabaster filly turned away, looking abashed.
“Hey now,” Scootaloo shifted to place herself between Sweetie Belle and her coltfriend, favoring the latter with a critical look. “You know she didn’t mean anything by it.  And you know that Rarity isn’t―”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” the colt huffed, waving off an argument that he’d heard before. “I know it, you know it; but Mom doesn’t know it.  Or at least she doesn’t believe it,” he all but spat. “Her name’s practically a curse word in our house.
“So just…please don’t say it?  Hearing it aloud never leads to anything good back home…”
Sensing a profound shift in mood that needed to be remedied, Applebloom took it upon herself to redirect the conversation that her friends were having.  She cleared her throat to get their attention. “We should probably get going.  AJ said she wanted us at the farm before seven to help with the maze.”  She started heading for the treehouse’s exit.
Her three friends agreed that there was nothing to gain from continuing with the topic at hoof and followed her outside into the early evening Ponyville air.  It wasn’t long before they spotted the signs of the farm’s preparations for Nightmare Night.  Pumpkins, paper bats, bedsheet ghosts, and cardboard Mares-in-the-Moons were arrayed all along the fence leading up to the barn.
Across the street was the hay bale labyrinth which the four of them had helped Applebloom’s elder siblings assemble over the past week.  They’d all put a lot of work into it and were proud of what had been accomplished.  The four young ponies all shared a chuckle as they noted that what they’d made would be way scarier than the corn maze that they’d explored in the Dream Machine.
“Yeah, well, Sweetie was right that it was just there to make you let your guards down for the Nightmare Moon vampony hoard attack twist at the end,” Jessant admitted. “I didn’t put that much effort into it on purpose.”
“I’m still wrapping my head around you putting a Dream Machine simulation inside a Dream Machine simulation!” Scootaloo said, resting a wing over the back of her coltfriend as she pressed in close to his side. “That was trippy aye-eff!”
“You kind of did catch us all with that one,” Applebloom admitted, giving the colt a good-natured hit with her hoof to the shoulder.
“I want to know how I knew how it worked,” the unicorn filly asked, her brow furrowed. “I’ve never used either kind of Dream Machine before, but somehow I knew what needed to be done?  How?”
Jessant shrugged nonchalantly. “They work by interacting with your thoughts,” the colt explained. “And the interaction goes both ways.  I mean, that’s how it makes you believe you’re seeing a house, or hearing a sound, or anything else,” he pointed out. “It has to send your brain the information.  There’s no fundamental difference between the machine telling your brain that you’re seeing a blue house, and it sending you knowledge on how to work some random piece of equipment.”
“I mean, I guess…” The white unicorn filly still sounded uneasy. “It just feels really weird that I knew something I couldn’t have known about something that wasn’t real.  Like, it still feels real to me right now…I remember using one of those fake Dream Machines with you to―erm…uh…”
“Build a house of cards with?” Scootaloo teased, poking her tongue out at her friend as she reminded the other filly about the paper-thin deflection she’d made earlier.
“Yeah.  That.”  Sweetie cleared her throat and was very pointedly not looking in Jessant’s direction.
“Tell me about it,” Applebloom said, her own eyes darting furtively towards the farm. “Ah swear I recall sittin’ with a lawyer pony while they told us all about how we couldn’t sell Zap-Apple Jam no more…”  She shook her head as though to clear away the intrusive thoughts.
“Really?  Weird.” Scootaloo said in something of a more tight-lipped fashion than her words suggested she should have.  “I certainly didn’t have my head filled with all sorts of knowledge and memories that I can’t explain that caused me to question my heterosexuality.  Nope.” Her wing visibly tightened around her coltfriend. “I like kissing colts.  And doing other things with colts.  And I certainly don’t know what mares taste like―kissing mares is like!”
Scootaloo abruptly stopped in her tracks, grabbed ahold of Jassent’s face with her wings, and brought him in close for an uncomfortably long kiss.  At least, it was uncomfortable for the two fillies standing nearby.  The colt looked to be enjoying the pegasus’ attention quite thoroughly.
When she was finally forced to come up for air, the burnt orange flier leaned her forehead against his and smiled. “Sorry.  Just…needed to reaffirm a few things about myself.”  She cleared her throat and then gave his nose a little peck along with a wink. “Just a heads up: we’re going to affirm a few more things later tonight~”
“...Okay.”
Applebloom rolled her eyes and looked over to exchange a glance with Sweetie Belle, only to find the alabaster unicorn nibbling a little too longingly at her bottom lip as she regarded the pair of lovebirds.  When Sweetie became aware of the earth pony’s stare and her raised brow, the other filly looked promptly at her hooves. “Sorry,” she said under her breath so that only Applebloom could hear. “Just…wondering how much the simulation version would be like the real thing…”
The buttercream filly shook her head. “Yeah, we’re never usin’ that thing again,” she declared fervently. “Way too realistic.” She started rubbing at the back of her neck absently…and may have checked for teeth marks while she did so.
“Let’s go,” she said, gesturing for her friends to follow her once more.  
The four of them finally reached the barn a couple minutes later.  The brightly lit interior was filled with even more Nightmare Night decorations, along with several tables brimming with snacks, candies, and plenty of cider―both soft and hard, for foals and adults respectively.  Applebloom’s older brother and his wife were bringing in the last few trays of treats from the house.
“Hey there, Applebloom!” Sugar Bell waved at her sister-in-law as she waddled up and gave the younger earth pony a firm hug, which the filly returned; though she did so mindful of the pregnant mare’s condition.  When they parted, the purple mare pointed a hoof towards the corner of the barn. “I put your costume out over there for you.”
“Thanks, Sugar.  Hey, you know what?  Why don’t you send Salted Caramel out to help the rest of us with the maze?  I know he’s really excited for it.”
The older mare cocked her head as she regarded Applebloom with a confused expression. “...Who?”
“Salted Caramel?  Your son?” The buttercream filly snorted.  She stuck out her hoof. “This tall, green coat, can’t catch a hoofball to save his life but Celestia bless ‘em he tries?” She allowed herself a chuckle as she recalled the little colt’s most recent efforts.
Then she noticed that everypony was staring at her with stark confusion, even her friends.  Sugar Bell attempted an uneasy laugh as she looked around to try and gauge if she was being subjected to some sort of practical joke.  When the older mare saw no sign that anypony else seemed to know what was going on either, she once more looked at the smaller earth pony. “Bloom…Big Mac and I don’t have a son.  Yet,” she added with an aside glance at her husband, who was wearing a small knowing smile of his own.  She then placed a hoof over her rounded belly. “Our daughter is about a month or so off though.
“Remember?  Apple Butter?  After your mother?”
Applebloom’s face blanched. “Right.  Right!” She let out an uneasy laugh. “Sorry.  Got confused.  Don’t know what I was thinking, heh.” She swallowed and took a deep breath. “Right.  Yer still expecting yer first.  Y’all don’t have four foals…”
“Four?  Goodness,” Sugar Bell shared another look with her husband. “I think that’s just a tad ambitious for us.” Big Mac was looking a little paler as he swallowed and mouthed the number. “We’ll see how this one goes first, alright?” There was a vigorous nod from her husband.
“Yeah, no; long day,” Applebloom excused herself to go and collect her costume. “Just got some things confused in my…head…” Her words trailed off as the young earth pony beheld the black and red cape with a high upturned collar hanging off of a pitchfork tine.  Her mouth went instantly dry.
“Right…” She heard herself say under her breath as she reached out a shaky hoof for the garment. “Ah was goin’ as Jackula this year.”  The earth pony glanced uneasily over her shoulder at her friends, who were all dining their own costumes.  They didn’t seem to feel anything was amiss.
Before she lost her nerve, the earth pony pulled down the cape and tossed it over her back, quickly fastening the collar around her neck.  The filly became aware of something solid pressing against her ribs.  She patted the cape with a hoof and felt something in the fabric.  She sat back on her haunches and lifted the cape, spying a pocket sewed into it on the inside.  Dipping her hoof into it, she withdrew a set of plastic vampony teeth.  Again Applebloom felt her mouth go dry.  Her other hoof went reflexively to the back of her neck.  She swallowed and licked her lips, gingerly setting the false fangs down on a nearby table.
“Maybe…not the fangs this year,” she said sheepishly to herself.  
Her friends were all wearing relatively simple costumes as well.  A pointed hat, black dress, and fake nose made Scootaloo a suitable witch.  A bedsheet with a trio of holes transformed Sweetie Belle into a passable ghost.  And an eye-patch and tri-corner hat with a skull on it denoted Jessant as a pirate.  Their costumes donned, the quartet of friends left the barn and crossed the street for the hay bale maze.
“You feeling okay, Applebloom?” The orange pegasus watch asked her friend.
“Ah really don’t know, Scoots,” she admitted, massaging her forehead. “Ah swear I remember all four of Big Mac’s an’ Sugar Bell’s foals.  Ah was right there when Caramel said his first word!  Ah remember Bailey’s first day o’school!
“Ah was there; it happened―!” Her words caught in her throat and the earth pony needed to stop, sit down, and take a long shuddering breath to collect herself. “...But none of it was real.  Was it?”
“I…” Now it was Scootaloo’s turn to pause too. “I remember them having four foals too,” she admitted quietly.  “I don’t remember any details though.  I think…I think the machine just wanted me to know enough to not question your story in the simulation?”
The pegasus glanced over at her coltfriend. “Jessant wasn’t in there though, so he’d know what was in the simulation and what’s real, right?”
The ivory unicorn colt nodded and sat down beside Applebloom, rubbing a comforting hoof along her back. “Sorry, AB; but you don’t have any nieces or nephews.  Not yet, anyway.”
Applebloom took another shaky breath and let it out slowly.  “Right.  No nieces or nephews yet.” A ghost of a smile touched her lips now. “But boy am Ah lookin’ forward to them now!  Makin’ real memories just like these…not real ones.” Her features instantly soured. “Ah really hope those simulation memories fade though.”
“Me too,” Scootaloo intoned ruefully a second before she cringed.  A second after that the pegasus all but shoved Applebloom aside as she again sought to ‘reaffirm’ herself with her coltfriend again.  The bedsheet that was Sweetie Belle simply shook her head and sighed before resuming heading for the maze.  At least they’d have the evening’s festivities to keep them occupied and hopefully distract their thoughts.
An hour later, all four friends had their hooves full guiding foals and their parents around the maze.  The air was filled with the pleasant sounds of foalish laughter, punctuated by the occasional enthusiastic scream of feigned and elated terror.  It was plainly evident that a great deal of fun was being had by all and Applebloom was finding herself feeling a great deal better than she had been earlier.
She was just ushering another family into the entrance of the maze when a ghosticorn trotted up. “Heya, Sweetie; what’cha need?”
“Do you know where the extra barrels of soft cider are kept?” The bedsheet asked. “There’s just the one left in the barn that I can find.  I’d ask Big Mac, but he’s somewhere in the maze with Sugar Bell.”
“Yeah, sure.  There should be more barrels in the barn’s cellar,” the earth pony said, pointing back across the road.
“Neat, thanks!” Sweetie Belle turned around and started to trot away, only to trip and fall a few steps later. “Oof!  Oww, what the hay?!”
“You okay there, Sweetie?” Applebloom asked with concern as she knelt down by her fallen friend.
“My costume got caught on something,” the unicorn said as she picked herself up off the ground, promptly causing the both of them to hear the sound of tearing cloth. “Oh, fiddlesticks!  My costume!”
Applebloom bent down to get a better look at whatever it was that had managed to mangle her friend’s costume.  There shouldn’t be anything particularly dangerous out here, as she and her older siblings had spent most of the first day building this maze specifically scouring the ground for anything which might injure young foals wandering through.
It was easy enough to find the culprit, as it was still clutching on to a piece of white linen.  Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both cocked their heads in shared confusion as they beheld a tiny little black tendril of a vine adorned with thorns.  Applebloom was fairly certain that it hadn't been there a day ago.  Or even an hour ago considering she’d been wandering all over this area and hadn’t noticed it before.
“Um…Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle began in a nervous tone, “is it just me, or does that look a lot like one of those vines from the time Discord―”
Whatever else the unicorn was going to say was cut off as the otherwise innocuous bit of bramble suddenly shot up out of the ground like a striking cobra, ensnaring the unicorn by the neck with several deft wraps.  The ghost filly let out a strangled cry of fear and pain as her hooves shot up to her neck and tried desperately to remove the constricting vine.  The pristine white sheet was staining scarlet where the sharp thorns were biting into her neck.
“Sweetie!” Applebloom cried out, bolting towards her friend, trying frantically to bite and tear away the black tendrils with her teeth.  She fought through the impulse to scream as she felt the razor sharp thorns cutting into her tongue and soft palate. “Er’ve gert yer, Swerts!”  She yanked and pulled and ground her teeth on the vines, doing all she could to saw through them and free her friend.  All the while the unicorn filly continued to let out choked attempts to plead for aid.
The earth pony was forced to relent though, spitting out the blood that was filling her mouth from the lacerations that she was incurring.  She tried to go back in and resume biting the vines, but the pain was just too great.  It felt like her mouth was on fire. “Sumpuny!  Halp!” She called out, her words slurred as the result of a tongue that felt like it had already been half cut out of her mouth by the cursed brambles.
It was only now that she realized her pleas were not alone.  They were merely joining a macabre chorus of terrified screams for assistance.  The buttercream earth pony instantly realized that they were not faced with a singular remnant of Discord’s seeds.  It was a full on resurgence!
Applebloom turned her attention back to her unicorn friend and once more tried to tug at the vine holding her throat.  The bedsheet was more red than white now, thanks to a mixture of both Sweetie Belle’s and her own blood.  The choked gasps for air were all but silent now, the unicorn’s hooves pawing more lethargically at her neck.
“Hol’un, Sweats!  Hol’un!” Applebloom bit down on the vines once more.  Her eyes stung with tears from the pain as she felt the thorns biting into her gums.  She was sobbing.  Partially because of the intense pain that was clawing at her mouth, but mostly because she could feel that she was about to give up.  The agony she was feeling was just too much.  Her jaw muscles simply refused to heed her calls to use their full force in the wake of the grievous injuries she knew she was inflicting on herself with the effort.
“Hol’un…plez…” Applebloom was openly weeping now.  Because she could feel that Sweetie Belle was no longer trying to draw breath.  As though conscious of their cruelty, the earth pony filly felt the vine release its grip on her friend’s corpse and slither away.  She glared at it through her tear-filled eyes.  She challenged it to attack and kill her too.
But it did not.  It merely hung there in the air, mocking her.  Reveling in her grief as she held her dead friend in her hooves.
“Applebloom!”
The filly’s head turned at the sound of her sister-in-law and spied the rotund earth pony mare cantering awkwardly towards her.  Her simple orange costume, which encircled her belly and made her look much like a pumpkin with purple legs, showed thin bloody tears along its side where she’d clearly narrowly avoided being snagged by other vines deeper within the maze.
The jet black tendril looming next to Applebloom quivered and seemed to almost turn to regard the newcomer, as though aware of the newcomer.  Fear gripped the young filly’s heart. “No!  Sugar Bell, stay back!” But it was too late.
The vine next to Applebloom was not the first to strike.  Instead, a second length of thorny bramble snaked in from behind the pregnant mare and darted at her.  Sugar Bell collapsed mid stride as the vine snagged her from behind, wrapping itself around her midsection just in front of her stifles.  She gasped in pain, instinctively turning to look at what had hold of her.  That was when the other vine struck.
The bramble next to Applebloom lunged for its hobbled target, ensnaring the older pony at her shoulders.  Sugar Bell cried out again, her attention bouncing between both areas where she had been caught, as though unable to decide which was the more pressing concern.
Then both vines went taught.
“No!” Applebloom cried out.
Something snagged her cannon, sending a bolt of pain shooting up through the filly’s leg, accompanied by a sickening popping sound as her hip slipped from its joint.  She collapsed to the ground with a gut-wrenching scream.  Ahead of her, Sugar Bell was also screaming as both of the vines which had hold of her continued to pull in opposite directions.  Applebloom tried feebly to pull herself towards her sister-in-law, but all she accomplished was to dig shallow furrows in the ground with her hooves.  Pained sobs wracked her body as she continued to mumble out pleas for help through her sliced up mouth.
Something was slithering along her throat, but she paid it no mind.  Her thoughts were wholly on Sugar Bell.  Even when she felt the vine tightening around her throat, she continued to stare, bleary-eyed, at the purple pony.  All the while, the Sugar Bell’s screams reached a frantic pitch as her body was drawn fully taught…and still the vines continued to pull with all their might.
Only now did Applebloom close her eyes.  Her body quivered with silent sobs as her own windpipe was slowly closed off.  She was faintly aware of a dampness in the fur around her neck.  No doubt she was bleeding now in much the same way that Sweetie Belle had been.  Those were just passing thoughts though.  The majority of Applebloom’s attention was still focused on the sounds of Sugar Bell’s frenetic wailing.  Her cries for Big Mac to come and save her―to save their daughter.
Applebloom refused to open her eyes though.  She knew that Big Mac would not be coming.  Nopony would be coming.  Everypony else was already fighting for their own lives…or already dead.
She sobbed as she heard her sister-in-law’s weeping too.  As she heard the shrill shriek of a mare reaching the limit of what her brain could process by way of pain.  As she heard the sudden cessation of those shrieks amid the wet tearing of flesh and the popping of bone.  Applebloom kept her eyes firmly shut through it all and wept.
…Until her own life finally left her too.




> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“AB, wake up!”
Applebloom was vaguely aware of a familiar voice calling to her.  It sounded like it was coming from far away.  She wanted it to go away, to leave her wallowing in her pain and her misery.  Her friends were dead.  Her family was dead.  Everypony was dead.  Couldn’t whoever this was let her be dead in peace as well?!
Something struck her hard across the face.  A hoof.  The buttercream filly bolted upright, a furious expression on her face. “What in tarnation―?!” She took a swing at her attacker, barely missing the burnt orange face hovering over her.
“Woah!” A pair of ivory hooves looped around the earth pony and pulled Applebloom away from the pegasus she was trying to clobber. “Calm down, Bloom!”
Scootaloo’s face adopted a cocky smile as she leaned in closer to the panting earth pony. “Damn, that Dream Machine Daemon really took you for a ride, eh AB?” The flier’s purple eyes darted to the unicorn trying her best to restrain the burlier pony. “Sweets, get her disconnected.  It should be safe now that she’s awake.”
“Roger, boss!” The unicorn paused for a moment though and leaned her muzzle close to Applebloom’s ear. “Easy there, Bloom.  It’s okay; you’re out now.  It’s okay.”
Applebloom’s heavy breathing began to slow, the sound of blood throbbing through her ears gradually softening until it was no longer all she could hear.  Her senses returning to her, the earth pony mare started to take stock of her surroundings.  There wasn’t a lot of light, so there wasn’t much for her to see at the moment, but she was able to piece a few things together.
She was lying in shallow water which seemed to be flowing past her.  The walls were curved and smooth, the confines rather cramped.  Her nostrils wriggled at the smell of feted―eww…Sewers.  They were in the sewers.  Why were they in the sewers?!  And what sewers?  Ponyville didn’t have sewers!
“Did you at least get what we needed?” Scootaloo asked the earth pony pointedly while their unicorn companion continued to work on something behind her.
Applebloom stared blankly at her friend.  What under Celestia’s sun was she supposed to have gotten?  She didn’t even know where she was!  She fumbled around in her brain, wracking it to try and figure out what was going on.  All the while, the flier was all but glowering at her, waiting for an answer.
“We got ‘em, boss!” Sweetie Belle announced from behind her just before she ripped…something out of Applebloom’s neck.
“Oww!  Watch it!” The earth pony snapped, massaging the back of her neck. “Feels like that damn vampony bit me again―” The earth pony drew up short.  Something was wrong.  Something was very wrong.  Her neck…wasn’t her neck!  At least, it didn’t feel like her neck.  Where there should have been fur there was…none!  Somepony had shaved the back of her neck?  Why?!  And…And they’d drilled holes into her neck too?!
The pegasus was looking at her with a raised brow. “A what bit you?”
Applebloom had barely heard the question though.  She was still trying to piece together what was going on with her body.  She turned around to ask Sweetie Belle if the unicorn could take a closer look and tell her what the holes were about when she drew up short.  Sweetie Belle was presently hunched over a small black case, stuffing a collection of wires back into it.  However, it was not the strange case which held Applebloom’s interest.  It was the unicorn’s own neck.  Which was also shaved just below the base of her skull.  And there were several small holes drilled into her as well.
“I…” Applebloom turned back to a now concerned-looking Scootaloo. “What’s going on?”
The flier cursed under her breath and shook her head. “DM ICE got you really good, huh?”  She let out an exasperated sigh. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the time to set you straight; so you’re just going to need to trust us, okay?  You know who we are, right?”
Applebloom gave a hesitant nod. “Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle,” she pointed to each in turn.
“Right, good!” The pegasus nodded. “And do you know what we are?”
“The…Cutie Mark Crusaders?” This was uttered with very little conviction.
The other two ponies exchanged a brief look, as if both were looking to the other for an explanation.  Finally Scootaloo shrugged. “Eh, close.  We’re part of the Midnight Crusaders, Canterlot Division.  So: Canterlot’s Midnight Crusaders.  CMCs for short.”
“Don’t worry, Bloom,” Sweetie Belle assured her friend with a warm smile, “it’ll all come back soon!  Just takes your brain a little while to shake off the effects of the ICE.  Here, this’ll help!” The white coated unicorn reached into a pocket woven into her purple and black jumpsuit and pulled out a small jewel.  She placed a hoof to the back of Applebloom’s head and brushed her mane aside.
Before the earth pony could ask what was going on, she felt a slight pinch. “Ow!  What was that?”
“A reintegration shard,” The unicorn answered matter-of-factly. “It’ll tag the false memories so they can be partitioned and deleted later!”
“Right.  Yeah.” Applebloom rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the new little bump of hardened gemstone.
“We need to get moving,” Scootaloo informed them.  “We’ve only got a minute or two before the Solar Guard shows up to investigate the breach.” She waved for the pair to follow her. “Let’s get trotting, fillies!”
The three mares made haste through the sewers below Canterlot, following in the pegasus’ wake.  Sweetie Belle was taking up the rear, hauling the black case.  Applebloom could barely keep track of where they were going through all of the many twists and turns as they alternated between trotting and crawling through pipes filled with filth and refuse.  While she wasn’t sure of a lot at the moment, the earth pony was fully convinced that she would never―ever―be rid of the smell again.
“Feeling any better there, Bloom?” Scootaloo eventually asked as she led them through another of the city’s more accommodating pipe segments.
“Not really,” she admitted. “Everything’s still a jumble.  I can’t make sense of what’s real and what’s not.” She let out a short derisive bark of a laugh. “Honestly?  Kind of feel like this is all still part of some dream or simulation or whatever too…”
“Yeah, DMDs are pervasive like that,” the orange mare acknowledged with a knowing nod.  “What’s important is to just focus on the here and now, not anything from the past.  Not until that shard Sweets gave you has been able to fully reintegrate you.”
“The here and now.  Right,” Applebloom grimaced as she felt herself step in something that she was used to only seeing at the bottom of the farm’s outhouse―No!  Here and now, she reminded herself harshly.  Keep herself in the here and now, because nothing from back then could be trusted.  No thoughts of the farm, or her family…her sister AJ―No!
The earth pony shook her head in an effort to clear it.  It was just so hard to keep herself centered with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her occupied.  She needed distractions.  Something to keep her anchored in the present.  “This might sound weird,” she began, hesitantly, “but can you guys please tell me about yourselves and what’s going on?  So that I know which of my memories are supposed to make sense?”
“Yeah, sure,” Scootaloo nodded. “Sweets, fill her in.”
The unicorn briefly quickened her pace and brought herself up alongside the earth pony now that they were traveling through a sewer section that was wide enough to easily permit it. “Okay, so, you know about Nightmare Moon, right?”
Applebloom nodded. “Yeah, the corrupted form of Princess Celestia’s younger sister―”
“Ha!” The pegasus barked before glancing over her shoulder and flashing Sweetie Belle and viscous grin. “Looks like we found the bogus shit implanted by that ICE real quick, didn’t we?”
“What?”
It was the mare who provided the explanation. “Nightmare Moon wasn’t a corruption of Luna,” the alabaster unicorn explained patiently. “She’s the enlightened form of our dear Mistress of the Night, to whom the Great Truth was revealed by the stars!”
Applebloom felt her pace slowing slightly as she listened to the unicorn gushing over Nightmare Moon.  Suddenly the earth pony got a cold feeling in the pip of her stomach as she contemplated her next question. “And we’re…helping her?”
“But of course!” Sweetie Belle beamed. “How else are we supposed to free the rest of ponykind from beneath the hoof of that tyrant Celestia?”
“Right.  Of course…”
“Hold up!” Scootaloo warned, raising a wing.  The two ponies behind her drew up short and shut their mouths.  Applebloom’s ear twitched as she listened intently for anything that wasn’t the sound of running water or the pounding of her own heart.
“Shit!” The pegasus cursed under her breath, and the buttercream mare behind her could guess why.  She’d heard it too: the sound of steel-shod hooves splashing through water and voices.  Though it was impossible to make out the exact words, Applebloom recognized the iconic military staccato in their pattern.  Those were guard ponies.  “Solar Guard!” Scootaloo confirmed.
Then she reached into her jumpsuit and withdrew a gun that she affixed to her hoof.  Beside her, Applebloom saw the unicorn’s horn begin to glow as she too took out a pistol and chambered a round with a quick tug on the slide from her magic.  The earth pony could only gape at the two of them in stunned amazement.
Scootaloo poked her head out of the pipe and looked to the right.  She drew it back in quickly and let out another hushed epithet. “They’re going to box us in,” she concluded.  Her eyes glanced quickly between the other two mares before finally landing on Sweetie Belle.  Her gaze hardened as she uttered the next words. “We need somepony to hold them here while the rest of us get the data out of the city.”
It was evident to all of them who the pegasus intended that “somepony” to be.  The little white unicorn didn’t balk in the slightest.  Instead, she simply levitated over the case she’d been carrying on her back and deposited it on Applebloom’s.  Then she faced the pegasus and placed her right hoof upon her chest over her heart.
“My life for the Republic; my life for the True Princess!” She declared.  She and Scootaloo exchanged a brief nod and then the unicorn took a preparatory breath.
A moment later, Sweetie Belle was charging through the opening, the pistol she was levitating hovering in front of her as she cried out at the top of her lungs, “Die, solar scum!”  The sewers became a deafening cacophony of gunfire.
A hoof grabbed onto Applebloom and yanked her into the pipe that Sweetie Belle had just charged though.  However, where the unicorn had gone right, and into the path of the oncoming guardponies, the earth pony was led left, away from the heated exchange of gunfire.  Her heart pounding and her mind racing, the buttercream mare just focused on putting one hoof in front of the other as she trailed after the orange pegasus.
As they ran, the gunfire suddenly ceased, though Applebloom could still hear the echoing yells of guardponies in their wake.  Still Scootaloo pressed on through the twisted network of tunnels and pipes, and still Applebloom followed after her.
Then the pegasus rounded a corner and came to an abrupt stop.  However, Applebloom had been running too fast and following too closely to realize what was happening until it was too late and managed to inadvertently collide with the orange mare.  The two of them went sprawling into the shallow murky water and Scootaloo’s gun went skittering out of reach of either of them.
Applebloom was about to try and get up when she felt two sets of strong armored hooves yanked her forcefully off of the pegasus and dragged her roughly back before slamming her face back down into the sewage once more. “Don’t move!” A gruff voice yelled from over top her.  Something cold and metal was pushed against the back of her head and the earth pony realized with cold dread that it was a gun.  In front of her, she could see two other golden guardponies piling on Scootaloo in an identical fashion.  The rebellious pegasus was cursing them and struggling, but it was obviously to no avail.  The guards had them both dead to rights.
“Well done…” A voice declared from just out of sight.  Both mares glanced in the direction of the new voice in time to see another stallion clad in golden armor striding into the tunnel.  The white unicorn was clearly some sort of senior guard, because the attitudes of all of the others in the room quickly shifted to be quieter and more deferential towards him.  At the sight of the new arrival, Scootaloo’s scowl somehow managed to deepen, though it appeared that the stallion wasn’t paying her any heed.  Instead, his attention was focused squarely on Applebloom, his lips spreading in a broad grin. “...Agent Bloom.”
The scowl darkening the nearby pegasus’ face instantly evaporated as she now turned to look at the earth pony mare who’d been running with her.  Confusion battled with betrayal on her face, only for white hot fury to swoop in at the last moment and best the both of them. “You traitorous fucking bitch!” Her struggle to throw off the guards pinning her renewed itself as she tried to claw her way over to the earth pony. “You Celestia-damn whorse!  The True Princess as my witness, I will―!”
Whatever final threat the pegasus was about to level was cut short by the sound of a gunshot.
The orange pegasus went silent and Applebloom could only look on in stunned horror as blood and brain matter was slowly whisked away by the slow stream of feted water that Scootaloo had died in.  Standing above her, a look of disdain plainly visible on his twisted muzzle, the unicorn stallion holstered the still smoking revolver gripped in his magic. “Fucking Lunatics,” he muttered before turning back to Applebloom.
The earth pony’s instinct was to recoil away, half expecting to receive the same treatment.  However, the stallion did not shoot her.  He didn’t even deliver a harsh word.  Instead, he smiled warmly as his telekinesis removed his helmet. “Let her up,” he instructed the guards that were still pinning her. “She is a true hero of Equestria, and should be treated as such!”
The hooves holding Applebloom down immediately withdrew.  In fact, several were extended to help her back up.  Shakily, the earth pony mare allowed herself to be aided back up onto her still trembling limbs.  A great deal had happened in just the last five minutes, and she was having a hard time keeping it all straight.  Why was she being treated so well by ponies who’d just executed her friend in front of her?
Then Applebloom finally got her first good look at the stallion who had addressed her.  Her mouth dropped open in amazement.  She knew this stallion.  Though the polished golden eyepatch was certainly a new feature, there was no denying this pony’s identity.  “J…Jessant?” She managed to stammer out.
The stallion chuckled, smiling broadly at her. “I thought we’d agreed that it would be ‘major’ while we were out in public?” His eyes briefly darted towards the other armored figures standing around them who were presently looking as though they were mostly oblivious to the conversation taking place in front of them.  He reached out a hoof to the buttercream mare. “Come along, agent; let’s get you cleaned up.”
Applebloom lost track of how long she’d been standing in the shower.  However, she was aware that it was a lot longer than would have been strictly necessary to clean away the filth from that evening.  Not that she’d been doing a lot of cleaning, beyond what grime was washed away by the simple act of standing beneath the trio of shower heads raining warm water down on her back at least.
She was simply still trying to process everything.  Trying to sift through her thoughts in order to separate the fantasy from the reality, and that was proving to be a difficult task.  Everything just felt so real to her.  Attending the sisterhood socials with Applejack―and Big Mac that one time.  Seeing the fire slowly drain from the eyes of her family as they watched Coscolt steal their products and customers.  Watching over her four nieces and nephews.  All of it―all of those lives―were as clear as day in her mind.  It all felt real to her.
As real as the water running through her mane right now.
The earth pony mare’s downcast eyes drifted to her hooves.  She hadn’t noticed in the dim sewer tunnels, but now that the lighting was better, and she was out of the black and purple jumpsuit, she could finally see that it wasn’t just her neck which was no longer entirely flesh.  Her hooves too didn’t look like she’d ever remembered them…and yet, she did.
Applebloom closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to steady her thoughts, which had once more become embroiled with conflicting visions of her walking on legs which were either fully organic or synthetic replacements from one heartbeat to the next.  Her breathing began to quicken.  Her heart started to pound in her chest, her ears filled with the sound of throbbing blood that drowned out the spray of the showerhead.  The earth pony was dimly aware of her hind legs giving out from under her, her haunches falling to the tiled floor.  She clutched her hooves to her chest, focusing on the feeling of her beating heart.  That seemed like a constant at least: a beating heart.
She sat there in the shower like that for a while longer, simply feeling the rhythm as it gradually slowed back down.  Breathing.  Beating.  Breathing.  Beating.  Only when she finally felt centered did she open her eyes again and actually proceed to thoroughly wash out her coat and mane.
A little while later she was sitting in front of the mirror in her suite in one of Canterlot’s many towering ivory spires, attempting to towel away the remaining dampness from her mane when she heard the merry chirp of her door’s chime.  “Come in,” she said reflexively, barely even aware that she’d responded.  It just…felt like something she’d always done in response to hearing that sound.  She was even pretty sure she knew who it was that had come to call on her.
That assumption proved itself to be correct when the door quietly slid open, revealing a white unicorn stallion with a two-toned blue and pink mane and a stylish golden patch hanging over his left eye.  The armor was gone though.  In its place was a relatively plain, though obviously well-tailored, black blazer.  Though the door was now open and he had been invited in, the stallion simply leaned forward and smiled at her. “Knock, knock!”
“Jessant!” Applebloom felt her heart swell at the sight of the stallion, and a great deal of the tightness that had been building up within her chest seemed to just leave her in an instant.  The stallion wasted no additional time and trotted into the suite, taking up the earth pony mare in a tender embrace.
“I wanted to come by and make sure you were okay?” He pulled away from her slightly now but kept his hooves on her shoulders as he took a moment to look her over.  His warm smile gave way to obvious concern. “I know today was particularly rough for you.”
Applebloom nodded, swallowing back some more of the tension that was already starting to rise in her once again. “I’m…still adjusting,” she admitted. “A lot of this still doesn’t seem real.” She looked around the room, nibbling at her lip as her mind once more filled with conflicting realities.
A tender hoof was lightly placed against her cheek, gently turning her head so that she was looking up at the stallion holding her once more. “This is all very real, my darling.” He took her hoof in his own and guided it up to his face, holding it against his ivory coat. “See?””
The earth pony felt her heart flutter at his touch.  Her hoof gently stroked the stallion’s cheek, relishing its warm feel.  A smile spread over her lips.  She let out a relieved breath and set her head to the stallion’s chest.  She remained just like that, listening to the beating of his own heart for several more seconds, the stallion’s hooves encircling her and holding her close to him.
“Feeling better, dearest?” He murmured softly in her ear.  The smaller earth pony mare nodded. “Good.” His lips placed a gentle peck on the top of her head. “I’ll leave you to finish getting ready.  Meet me for dinner on the terrace in fifteen minutes?”
Again Applebloom nodded as she reluctantly receded from her coltfriend’s chest. “I’ll be there,” she assured him.
“I’ll be waiting.” With a parting peck on the tip of her nose, the stallion left her alone again.
Applebloom felt herself taking in and letting out another shaky breath as she tried to dispel the last of her anxieties.  Jessant was right, this had to all be real.  She was finally out of the simulation.  This was her real life, living here in Canterlot as part of Princess Celestia’s Covert Security Services.  She had a life, a nice apartment, a cute stallion who loved her…everything was good.
She picked up the discarded towel and resumed drying out the rest of her mane.  However, when her hoof brushed up against something on her neck, she paused.  Frowning, she craned her head so that she could get a better look in the mirror.  Her eyes spotted the tiny shimmer of blue crystal in the back of her neck.  The gemstone that Sweetie Belle had given her in the sewers to help sort out her experiences.
Carefully, the earth pony extracted the little sliver of sapphire and held it in her hoof.  Now able to get a better look at it in the light of her apartment, the earth pony felt her breath catch in her throat, her heart starting to pound once more.  The faceted jewel she held looked exactly like the gemstones that the zebra stallion had given her and her friends when they used those Dream Machines in his tent for the Nightmare Night celebration.  The ones that had needed to be stepped on to end the simulation.
Her hoof started to tremble violently as the mare experienced a swelling of anxiety.  The sapphire shard fell from her hoof…and shattered upon hitting the hardwood floor.  Applebloom let out a terrified gasp, closing her eyes tightly in anticipation of being enveloped in a brilliant flash of light and transported away…
When she finally gained the courage to open them once more, and found that she was still standing in front of the mirror in her apartment, Applebloom let out the breath she’d been holding.  Her gaze lingered on the glittering dust of the gemstone at her hooves.  The earth pony mare suddenly found herself feeling less certain about how ‘real’ this all was.  After all, being attacked by those vamponies had also felt very real to her.
Her hoof once more rubbed absently at the back of her neck where she remembered being bitten.  She very much didn’t like that the shard recesses grafted into the nape of her neck seemed to align almost perfectly with where she’d felt those fangs pierce into her flesh.
A shiver ran through her body and she shook her head vigorously in an effort to dislodge those intrusive thoughts―the memories―from her mind.  She picked up the towel and defiantly resumed drying herself.  No, this was reality.
…Right?
A little over fifteen minutes later, Applebloom was stepping off the elevator onto the tower’s ‘rooftop’ level.  It wasn’t actually the uppermost level of the massive skyscraper which played host to her apartment.  However, this level did play host to a number of restaurants which featured outdoor seating along an expansive terrace.  So it certainly felt like they were out on the building’s roof.
The glittering lights of Canterlot spread out before her, along with a number of other tall ivory-clad spires much like this one.  In the distance, Applebloom could see the Royal Palace and its slender minarets clinging to the side of the mountain.  She’d always loved this view of the city.
…Hadn’t she?
Another firm shake of the earth pony’s head and a fortifying breath.  She cast a glance at how the scarlet dress was falling along her flanks to ensure she hadn’t gotten anything out of place during her trek up here.  The slit up the side of her leg that rose right up to her dock was considerably more daring than the occasion likely called for.  Indeed, the earth pony had found that she’d apparently intended to wear a much more conservatively hemmed―though still quite flattering―blue dress tonight, judging by what had been laid out on her bed.  However, the mare found that she wasn’t much of a fan of anything that reminded her of sapphires at the moment.
“Praise the sun; what did a stallion like me do to deserve a mare like you!”
Applebloom tensed briefly before relaxing once more when she recognized the stallion’s voice.  She turned to see Jessant standing nearby, still dressed in his blazer, his uncovered pink eye wandering appraisingly over her body.  The earth pony felt her cheeks flush as she noticed his gaze lingering at the apex of the slit of her dress.
“Should I double-check my calendar to make sure I haven’t forgotten an anniversary or something?” the unicorn teased.
“Heh,” Applebloom laughed nervously. “Just…liked this color better.”
“Well, I approve,” the stallion beamed before stepping aside and holding out a hoof towards his marefriend. “Shall I escort you to our table?”
“Y-yes.  Please.” The buttercream mare took the offered hoof with her own and allowed herself to be guided to the waiting table close to the terrace’s edge, allowing them one of the better views of the city.  Just before sitting down, Applebloom’s gaze darted towards the south, in the direction of Ponyville.  She froze.
What she saw wasn’t a cozy little town filled with rustic homes topped by thatched roofs surrounded by fields and orchards, but rather a gloomy bastion of onyx stone.  The fortress of Nightmare Moon.  Once more the mare found herself having to work to clear her mind of the flood of memories that couldn’t possibly be real.
She jerked slightly as she heard a chair being moved along the terrace’s tiled floor.  Jessant looked at the earth pony expectantly as he gestured to the seat he’d pulled out for her.  His smile faltered slightly when he saw the trepidation on her own face.  Applebloom forced a smile and thanked her coltfriend as she took the seat and made herself comfortable at the table.  The alabaster unicorn stallion sat down across from her.
“I took the liberty of ordering already,” he informed her when she started to glance around for any sign of a menu. “I hope that was okay?”
“It’s fine,” she assured him, managing a more genuine smile this time.  He knew her tastes well enough to know what she’d like.  Her eyes darted to the glass of water sitting in front of her. “Maybe some hard cider though?  To help take the edge off?”
The unicorn’s eyes rose in mild surprise. “Cider?” He let out a light laugh even as he waved down a waiter. “Since when do you go for the hard stuff?  You don’t even like to be in the same room with me when I break out the brandy during father’s visits!”
Applebloom was about to point out that she’d always liked cider, but stopped short.  He was right, she realized.  She didn’t like hard cider.  She preferred champaign.  So then why had she―
Her thoughts were briefly interrupted by the sudden eruption of a tittering laugh from a nearby table which drew her attention.  The earth pony mare recoiled so hard that she very nearly fell out of her chair when she beheld the witch seated just a couple steps away.
Only, upon closer review, it wasn’t a ‘witch’, Applebloom realized.  It was just a hippogriff mare wearing a black dress and stylish hat.  The laughing hippogriff wasn’t even paying the earth pony any attention, reacting to something that one of the other mares she was dining with must have said.  She tried to get her breathing under control as she recentered herself in her seat.  All the while Jessant was looking at her with a concerned expression.
“Are you alright, dearest?”
“Y-yeah, I’m―” Applebloom began to say, only to find herself distracted yet again as another stallion walked up to their table, a pair of small trays suspended in the glowing magic of his horn.  The mare’s eyes widened in shock as she beheld the red and black vest that the waiter was wearing that prompted flashes of memory in her mind.  She was only just beginning to reassure herself that it was a coincidence when her meal was placed down in front of her.
Applebloom’s instinctive offer of muttered thanks was cut off by her terrified scream.  Her hoof lashed out and smashed away the bowl of black thorny vines.  The offending bowl went sailing, bouncing soundly off the back of the not-a-witch’s head before shattering on the tile floor behind her.  Only then did the earth realize that the bowl hadn’t been filled with Discord’s lethal tendrils at all, but merely black-colored noodles.
The panting mare became aware of the many eyes upon her now.  Some were wide with shock and confusion.  A few, like the hippogriff massaging the back of her head, were far more critical.  Jessant’s were worried.
“...No,” Applebloom corrected herself, swallowing back the lump of fear in her throat. “No, Jess; I’m not alright.”  She started to shake her head.
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything!” She snapped, waving her hooves broadly at their surroundings.  “Everything’s wrong!
“Where’s my family, Jess?!  Where’s AJ, and Big Mac, and Granny?!” She was yelling, but the earth pony didn’t care.  She needed to yell, if only to allow an outlet for the anxiety this whole situation was causing for her.
“Your family?  Honey, your parents died years ago when you were just a foal,” the unicorn replied, still looking at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. “You were an only child.”
Applebloom was vehemently shaking her head.  She didn’t want to believe that any of that was true―she refused to believe it! “No!  I had a family!” She insisted. “We lived in Ponyville,” she jabbed a hoof towards the dreary distant castle that shouldn’t have been there.
“You grew up in fosterage in Canterlot―”
“I grew up on a farm!” She screamed in the stallion’s face. “Where’s the farm, Jess!  Where’s my accent?!” Applebloom was only now realizing that she wasn’t even talking like she should be.  “It’s just all so wrong…” Her eyes were starting to tear up again.
The unicorn leaned across the table and tried to take hold of her hoof, intending to give it a gentle reassuring squeeze. “It’s the Dream Machine ICE.  It’s just got you confused.  We’ll go and get you sorted out at the hospital,” he told her.  “Come on, let’s―”
“No!” Applebloom recoiled away from the stallion, shooting out of her seat.  She was shaking her head.  She didn’t need help.  It wasn’t her that was wrong; it was the world!  The earth pony took a step back, her frantic eyes darting between the other creatures looking at her.  They were all wrong too.  Everything was wrong!
“I…I want to go back home…” The earth pony’s voice trembled in a soft sob, tears flowing freely down her cheeks now.  “I want to go home!”
“We’ll go back home, dearest,” the unicorn stallion assured her, getting up from the table now and taking slow, cautious, steps towards his marefriend. “We’ll go back to my apartment,” he promised her. “We’ll talk about this.  We’ll get you help―whatever you need!  Just…please, my light.  Come with me?”
He once again reached for her.
Applebloom once again took a step away.  Her hoof stepped in something soft and wet―the spilled noodles she’d swatted away earlier―and slipped.  Startled, the earth pony reared up in an attempt to regain her balance, but in her panic she overcorrected and stumbled backwards even further.  Her flank bumped up against the terrace’s railing.  Her noodle-slicked hoof slipped out from under her completely, sending the mare tumbling over the railing.
“Applebloom!” She heard a stallion cry out as she went tumbling end over end down to the street below…