It neared evening as Dash flew back home with the new centerpiece. She couldn't help but wonder why it was so lightweight. She thought it was just its hollow structure, but that couldn't help why it wasn't as heavy as it should be. She decided to stop worrying and went inside. Since everything was made of cloud, the stone would've fallen straight down, given it wasn't protected by Twilight's Cloud-Walking Spell, or it wasn't made to float on cloud. Yet, mindlessly, Rainbow put the statue in the corner of her bedroom. It didn't sink. It didn't fall through. Dash thought it was a little weird, but she couldn't let it rot in the Forest, the shimmer and sparkle completely destroyed by nature. It wasn't until Dash started to go to bed when there was a sudden thud downstairs.

"What the-?" the cyan mare responded. She raced out of the room and down. She stopped. Three little fillies, two of which had fallen down, laughing uncontrollably, had been responsible for the unexpected ruckus. "Hey!" Rainbow shouted, "Can y'all be a little more quieter? I'm sure somepony'll be grateful if she could sleep in peace." "Oh, sorry Dash," a dark orange filly pegasus giggled. The other filly, a yellow earth-pony with a red mane, had calmed down as well, picking herself up from the cloudy ground. Clearly Twilight's spells allowed her to stand there. The same went to an alabaster unicorn, her mane curly, pink, and purple. "Anyways," Rainbow continued, "you two need to go home. I'm sure it's almost past your bedtimes." "Aw. Do we have to?" said the unicorn. "Can't we just stay here a little longer?" the yellow mare pleaded. Dash wasn't easily fooled by their puppy-eyed looks on their faces. "Sorry, you guys, but I'm not gonna be responsible for Rarity and Applejack's freak-outs and search parties." She half-expected to see Pinkie Pie jumping out of nowhere, going on and on about how a search party wouldn't be one without cake and confetti. "Now go on. I'm sure they'll appreciate it." And with that, the two fillies said their goodbyes to the orange, purple-maned pegasus and walked out the door. Well, at least the white filly did. The yellow mare went through it. "I really need to get that fixed," said the rainbow-maned mare. She then turned to the orange filly, "Alright, Scoots. Head up to bed, now. I'm not gonna let you be all grouchy and tired. Remember what happened last time?" Scootaloo shied from her glare. "Yeah," she mumbled, then she walked up to her room, leaving Rainbow alone in the middle of the living room. She, too, started to trot to bed. She was happy to finally get some rest, for she hadn't taken a nap in a while. As she neared her room, she stretched and yawned, barely missing the yellow glow from under the door.

The next morning, Dash found herself hugging her pillow tightly, her blanket barely covering her. Puzzled, she yawned,sat up, and rubbed her head. It hurt. "Eh, w-what happened last night?" She rubbed her eyes, and learned that tears were on her hoof. Had she cried herself to sleep? She shook her head. She knew she had gotten to fall asleep without a problem. Then, a thought struck her mind. Did she cry in her sleep? It was more plausible, but there was one problem: she didn't remember what her dream was about. Rainbow wiped her eyes, shook the weird thoughts out of her mind, and jumped out of bed. She stretched, and made her way out the door. Before closing it, she glanced at the statue. It sparkled, and it sparkled less brightly at first, then brighter. Brighter than it had first been when she found it. Rainbow just sighed and closed the door. She trotted down the staircase and started to make her way outside when she heard a soft whimper. Rainbow stopped, looking for whatever's making that noise. Whoever, as she found out.

The speedster walked over by her couch and saw the orange filly, curled up and definitely crying. "Hey," Rainbow whispered, "what's wrong?" Scootaloo looked up at Dash, tears streaming down her face, trying to calm herself. "I...I..." she sobbed, trying to get some words out. "I-I don't...I don't wan-n-na..." "You don't wanna what?" Rainbow asked, "Come on, you can tell me. I'm right here." She laid her hoof on the shivering filly's back, rubbing her spine in a gentle fashion as she spatted out the other words with tears. "I...I don't wanna sleep a-again. I...I...I saw them..." Scootaloo struggled to fight back the seemingly endless stream pouring out of her eyes, "A-Apple Bloom, Sw-weetie B-Belle. They...they were...han-hanging." The orange filly started to cry again. Rainbow just had to ask, "Hanging? What do you mean hanging?" Scoots sniffled, "They were...they...they had these r-r-ropes around their n-necks. They stared at me...I-I saw their lifeless eyes. I-I..I saw...I saw my body hangin' there, t-too. Those...th-those ropes were attached t-to this...this thing...this monster. It laughed and laughed. It was b-bright and g-golden. It only...it only had one eye. It laughed as it...as it flashed our lives in front of my face. I-I...I..." Scootaloo finally let herself go to her emotions, her sobs turned to wails. Rainbow Dash had stopped rubbing her back at this point. She was horrified.

And she didn't know why.

"Scoots," Dash had snapped out of her daze, "it'll be okay. It's just a nightmare. That's all." She felt tears streaming down her own face as she tried to comfort the little ball of wails and cries. This lasted for almost two hours before the little filly finally cried herself to sleep. Yet, there were still sounds of crying, and it wasn't from the now-sleeping Scootaloo." Rainbow was still trying to wrap around why what the orange pegasus had said made her so emotional as she struggled to keep tears from falling onto the couch cushions, failing to do so. It was only a bad dream, a nightmare. It wasn't real. It wasn't. It shouldn't. It couldn't...could it?

Finally, after almost a half an hour, Rainbow Dash stopped her sobbing. She proceeded to go talk to somepony that can be able to help. Somepony that can be by her side. And who better to talk to than one with a big family by her side? So, Dash sped up to Sweet Apple Acres, leaving Scoots, and the statue, behind. The big barn, surrounded by a forest of apple trees, was bustling about as usual. Some ponies were bucking at the trees to get the Apple's to call off the branches, causing them to land in woven baskets, while others were either pulling carts, making pies and sauces, or simply watching other ponies go about their chores. But one pony wasn't around when Rainbow arrived. "Hey, uh..." Dash hesitated to ask a big, red stallion. He turned from his work of pulling a huge cart of Apple's, filled to the brim with them. He listened as she spoke, "Have you seen Applejack around? I need to talk to her. It's, uh, kind of important." The stallion responded, "Last time ah heard, she was goin' to see Rarity down by her house. Figured she need ,somepony to talk to, too, lil' missy." Rainbow was a little confused at this. What did Applejack need to tell Rarity? If anything happened in her or her family, or her barn, everyone would know about it. Sweet Apple Acres was the soul provider of everything made of apple, after all. "Well, um, thanks," Rainbow said as she flew off. The red stallion went back to his work, figuring that Applejack, his little sister, was going to be fine.

Meanwhile, an alabaster unicorn had come back to her boutique, carrying a little basket of gems Spike managed to collect while eating a bunch of other diamonds and rubies. She blew her curly, purple mane to one side of her face as she stepped onto the porch. That's when she realized an orange earth pony was leaning against the door. A hat tilted to cover her face, but the unicorn knew her too well. "Applejack?" the unicorn questioned, "Uh, what's wrong? Are you here because of that incident yesterday? I didn't mean to-" "Ah'm not here to hold grudges," Applejack snapped. She lifted her head up, revealing two glaring eyes and seemingly flowing tear marks down her face. "Oh, Apple! What happened to you? You look just awful!" the white mare said. Applejack only looked down at the ground, "Ah need to talk to ya, Rarity. It's somethin' important." "Well uh, yes. Of course. What is it?" Applejack slumped back down of the door onto all fours. She shook her head, "Lemme ask ya somethin'." Her eyes began to tear up again as her voice seemed to crack. It was something Rarity had never seen in her yellow-maned cowgirl friend before. Applejack walked over, wrapping a hoof on her alabaster friend's back, "D-do ya feel 'fraid that somethin' bad's gonna happen to ya lil' sis? Like when she saw somethin' horrible, traumatic even, and sh couldn't stop cryin', day and night?" she asked as she tried to fight back her tears. She failed. Instead, she collapsed onto Rarity and sobbed, tears streaming down her back and onto the floor. Rarity, compelled to cry with her, hugged her. "D-don't w-worry, deary. It's going to be alright," the white mare assured. Applejack kept crying, her sobs becoming louder and more painful with each hiccup. Rarity walked her tortured friend to the door, managed to steadily open it with her magic, and walked them both inside. Before it shut, however, a blue blur flew into the house, causing it to shut with a loud bang.

"Oh, sorry," Rainbow Dash said as she slowed and landed beside her friends, "Applejack. I need to talk to you-" She paused. Applejack was trying to stop crying, her breathing cracked and her eyes becoming red from too much sobbing. "Aw man, A.J.! What happened?" "Just leave her be, darling," Rarity intervened, "She's going through a tough time right now. I think it ought to be better if she...if she laid down. You know, have some rest. Who knows what condition she'll be in if she doesn't, the poor thing." "N-no," Applejack managed to gasp out. Both the mares turned to her. "It's not me that's in trouble. It's...it's..." she trailed off, but sighed and started up again, "It's Apple Bloom. She saw somethin' horrible while she was sleepin'." Rarity looked confused. Rainbow had to ask, "Well, what was it?" Applejack looked up at her blue pegasus friend, "It was somthin' terrible. She said it was glowin' and..." she didn't want to say it, but Rainbow kept asking, "And what?" The burdened mare continued, "And golden."

It all went quiet as Rainbow let a single tear fall.

Rainbow was beyond horrified, now.