Chapter Nineteen: Dreamscape

Discord had just let me go. Something had to be up. After all, it was, like everything else that had happened on the way, too easy. I yelled out.

"Discord!"

The lord of chaos appeared from behind one of the bubbles.

"Yes? What is it? Are you lost?" He laughed hysterically.

"No. Why did you let me go?"

"It wouldn't be any fun to keep you there."

"Well, what makes this more fun?" I asked.

"Is this any less fun? Why don't you go find your friends?" He laughed hysterically again. He was getting on my nerves.

"What did you mean when you said they wouldn't be happy to see me?" I wasn't in a good position to ask questions, but it never hurt.

"You'll see soon enough!" With that, he disappeared.

I started for the nearest bubble once more. It was gray and yellow. Derpy's bubble, perhaps. I touched the surface of the bubble. It rippled, and let my finger through. I cautiously stuck my head through. Derpy's dream depicted a serene cloudy sky, with no ground to be seen below it. Derpy was on a large cloud, enjoying what appeared to be a large number of small muffins. Oh, Derpy, how the bronies have shaped you, I thought, and cautiously stepped into the bubble. I could fly, awesome. I awkwardly floated toward the large cloud.

"Hey! Derpy!" I called.

"Oh, hi Zach!" She noticed me straight away. "Want a muffin?" She offered a peculiar purple muffin.

"Uh, no, thank you. Say, Derpy, what if I told you that this isn't real?"

"Well, of course it's not real! I always dream of muffins," she explained. 'But... what are you doing here?" I wondered how Derpy followed the fandom's perceptions so well. It was confusing to think of, so I tried to ignore it.

"Discord's got us all trapped in these dream bubbles. I don't know why, but I think he might be trying to play with our minds. It looks like you're perfectly normal, though."

"Yep! Are you sure you don't want a muffin?"

"Pretty sure. We should go find the others."

"Okay!" She said cheerily. We left the bubble together. Too easy.

The next bubble was brown, and the only brown member of our team was Time Piece, so it had to be his. We entered to the sight of a massive library, shelves full of thick, old-looking books. Time Piece was in the center of it, reading a massive textbook. It took him a moment to notice the two of us.

"Ah, hello, my friends! Have you ever seen such a marvellous library?" He nodded his head at the shelves.

"It's very, very nice," I said with a tone of urgency, "but we have to leave. Now."

"Why in such a rush? I could stay here for hours and read all of this lost knowledge of Equestria!"

"Discord's put us all in dream bubbles of some sort," I explained. "We have to get everyone out of them." I couldn't remember why we were all together, but I remembered the crucial nature of our quest. I didn't even remember where we were before this started. All I knew was that Discord was behind this. These two didn't.

"What? Discord? That's absurd. Why do I have to leave this place?"

"Because we need you. You know a lot about Equestria, and we need your help."

"For what? Tell me, Derpy."

"Uh, gee, I don't really know." She was little help, she must have had memory issues too.

"I don't remember, but it must have something to do with these dream bubbles. Follow me, please." I started toward the edge of the bubble.

"Fine," he said. "I'll come with you, but this had better be good." Two down, eight to go. Still too easy.

The third bubble was several shades of blue, and some purple. It had to be Trixie's bubble. Upon entrance, I found exactly what I had expected in a dream of Trixie's. There was a massive theatre, absolutely full of ponies of all types and colors, and they were cheering on a show of Trixie's moderately powerful magic. On the stage, the unicorn looked to be in paradise, being the focus of all the attention, this time positive. Getting her to leave this would be hard, I could tell. I remembered meeting all ten of the other members of our group before whatever this is started, but I couldn't remember specifics. It was very frustrating having a memory full of holes. As we approached the stage, Derpy was in awe of the sheer size of the theatre.

"Wow..."

"Don't get distracted, we have to get Trixie," I whispered to her. She nodded. Time Piece looked confused. This wasn't anything he'd seen before, worlds inside bubbles.

"What is going on here?" He asked.

"I don't really know. We'll find out together," I responded.

Trixie concluded her performance with a show of pyrotechnics. The crowd was in awe. She bowed as roses were thrown to her, and she left the stage. How cliche. Now was our chance. We slipped in the back room to find Trixie signing autographs to a small group of star-struck ponies. We waited until she was done. She had not noticed us as she turned around, surprised at the sight of us.

"Zach, Time Piece, Derpy? What are you doing here? Are you here to see my show?" she said, at first surprised, and then pridefully.

"No, Trixie. We have to leave this place," I said urgently, trying to sound as if Trixie was in danger. She was in danger, probably. I didn't know.

"What could possibly make it necessary for me to leave?" she asked.

"Uh, Discord's involved, and we have need of your superior skills," I said, trying to sound awed. "You could be even more famous." I tried to sound convincing, but the prospect of more fame was intoxicating to her.

"Then we shall go! The Great and Powerful Trixie is at your service!" she said grandly. She looked around. "Where are we going?" she asked, dumbfounded suddenly.

"Follow me," I ordered, and the group of what was now four left the bubble.

"What is this place?" Trixie asked, suddenly nervous of this unknown land of bubbles.

"I'm not sure, but I know where we're going next." I pointed to a purple and green bubble. Spike's bubble. Upon entrance, the purple dragon looked rediculous, clad in silver armor and a cape, and much larger than normal. He was wielding a sword. When we approached, his voice, which didn't really fit his appearance anymore, spoke.

"Who goes there?" he said, in as deep a voice as he could muster. Adorable, really.

"Zach? What are you doing here? This is my- um, uh..." He trailed off, trying to think of how to explain.

"Spike, we're all trapped in dream bubbles. This is a fabricated experience based on your fantasy and experiences."

"Whuh?"

I facepalmed. "You're stuck in a dream, Spike. We have to leave at once."

"But Rarity is in danger!" Spike headed for a cave opening in front of us. I grabbed his cape.

"We'll rescue Rarity, don't worry. Come with us." The dragon turned, and returned to his normal appearance upon leaving the bubble. He examined himself and groaned in disappointment, then looked about.

"Woah, what is this place?"

"I don't know, we'll find out. Come on." The five of us walked towards the next bubble. It was yellow and pink. It had to be Fluttershy's.

This bubble was transparent, but solid. I found this odd. Our attempts to breach the bubble all failed. After a few minutes, Discord's voice came out of nowhere.

"You won't be getting into any more bubbles, you've had your share of fun. It's my turn again." The five of us looked around for the source. My vision faded, and I blacked out.

*****

I sat up. The five of us were in front of the Canterlot Archives, where we had fallen. However, all of the 'Mane Six' were nowhere to be seen. My memories had returned. Discord had abducted the rest of the team? The others began to get up.

"Where is everypony?" Spike asked, clearly panicking at the disappearance of his friends.

"I don't know, but Discord must have done something to them in... whatever that was," I said, getting to my feet.

"Whatever the case happens to be, we still have a job to do," Time Piece added, getting up.

"Discord should know not to mess with the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie was on her hooves as well.

"Gee, I hope they're okay," Derpy said silently.

"I'm sure they are. Discord doesn't like to hurt anything," I said. "Come on, maybe the castle will give us some hints.

We entered the warped castle, and I led the group through the twisted, though familiar, passages to the throne room. That was my best guess as to where Discord was. We opened the room's doors, and came through. The room contained all six of the missing ponies, but there was something off about them. Their colors had increased in intensity, and they almost seemed to be glowing. They turned to face us, and Twilight immediately took a fighting stance.

"You!" she shouted at me. She was furious.

"Me?" What was wrong? What had I done? All but Fluttershy assumed a similar stance.

"Yes, you! What were you thinking?"

"I don't follow. What did I do?" I was dazed and confused at her sudden hostile attitude.

"You're telling me that you don't remember? You don't remember trying to destroy Equestria? You don't remember betraying us all?" She noticed Spike, and gasped. "Spike! Get away from him! He's dangerous!" Spike backed up a bit, confused.

"No, frankly, I have no idea what you're talking about. How could I betray you? When did I betray you?" I asked.

"You're lying! You tried to kill us all!"

"How would I do that? That's rediculous! I'm harmless," I spread out my arms and slowly spun in a circle. "see?"

"Twilight, what's gotten into you? I don't think Zach's ever hurt anypony." Spike asked.

"Nothing, Spike. The human before us is an evil, twisted being! And he's not to be trusted!" Each word struck me like a hammer. Time Piece stepped in.

"Discord has clouded your judgement! Don't you see? Zach is the only one who can help us, and he's using you against him!" He came to my side.

"If you're not with us, you're against us," she said in a sad tone. She had, in her mind, all the reason in the world to hate me and those who stood with me. Trixie spoke up.

"Twilight, this is madness, you're a fool!" The mare stood at my side as well.

"I didn't want to do this. Girls, let's banish this terrible creature back to where it belongs!"

In unison, they cheered. "Right!" They all prepared themselves for battle, and Rainbow Dash took to the air.

Spike cried out. "Wait!" The group stopped, and heeded him. "Twilight, don't do this! Zach isn't a threat, and you don't have to hurt Trixie and Time Piece too!"

"Spike, how could you be so ignorant? He tried to destroy all of Equestria!"

"When did he do that? Prove it." Spike stood defiant now.

"I don't have to prove anything. Now, get out of here. I don't want you to get hurt." Spike looked crushed by his best friend's words, and Derpy looked undecided. They retreated to the corner of the room.

"Attack!" Twilight ordered. I didn't know what to do, but my compatriots stood fast, and so did I. Whatever these deluded ponies thought I had done, it had driven them to consider violence as an only option, and that took a lot. They thought there was no other choice. I pitied them as I prepared my only weapon I'd dare use on these creatures; my backpack. So this was Discord's game.