Staring up at Null, you couldn't help but wonder about how he was to fulfill the plan that Luna had told you about. For the time being, it seemed like he had completely forgotten about you, which could potentially buy you and your friends some time.

Thinking back to Luna's warning, you still weren't sure what she was trying to say, but you couldn't dwell on that now. You had to act in the present, not the past.

"We need to get closer!" you suggested, believing that the closer you were to the evil pony, the better. That way, if he tried anything, you would be able to intervene.

"We should just fly up there and end this now!' Rainbow said, seeming angry that this unicorn would threaten her friends.

As much as you wanted to end this quickly, you had a feeling flying up there would end badly. Not only wasn't Twilight here to help, but you would also have to leave Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity behind.

"Wait!" Pinkie exclaimed, seeming to have an idea, "What about the Wonderbolts?"

"Oh, yeah!" Rainbow replied. Speaking of which, you never asked why she hadn't joined the Wonderbolts in this world, "We can just wait until they get here!"

You had to admit, that was a better plan that just outright fighting him and risking everything, "Ok, yeah. They can't take too long to arrive, right?"

"Hopefully. We still have no idea what he's doing up there, though." Applejack said sadly, looking up to the yellow beacon in the sky.

You too looked up to the yellow glow, curiously. You weren't expecting anything much to happen until the Wonderbolts arrived, but could you have been more wrong. With a sparkle of magical dust, the beacon began to form something in the sky. Something that looked like a dome of some sort.

"What is that?" Rarity asked, looking at the expanding wall of the dome in shock.

The bright yellow force field spread across the sky, coating the entire city in a magical yet ominous yellow glow. Before long, the entirety of Manehatten had been covered by the barrier, and it began making its way towards the ground. Within seconds, the whole city had been locked away, separated from the rest of Equestria.

"Well, there goes our Wonderbolts plan." you sighed, looking up at the golden force field above your head.

"Any ideas, anypony?" Applejack asked, seeming like she was unsure of what to do.

"I've got one," Rainbow Dash began, and you could already see where it was heading, "We fly up there, and buck his ass ourselves!"

From the looks of things, it seemed like Rainbow was getting more and more irritated with everything that Null did. She just wanted him gone now, but Applejack didn't seem to agree fully, "Any other ideas, anypony?"

Rainbow Dash glanced at her aggressively, offended that she didn't agree with her. She figured that if anypony would agree with her, it would have been you and Applejack, "You agree with me, right Storm?"

"I don't see any other way out of this," you said, looking along the edges of the dome that encased you, "So sure."

Applejack looked to Rarity, then to Fluttershy, then to Pinkie Pie, but none of them seemed to have any ideas.

"We could try talking to him..." Fluttershy suggested, quietly. You knew she was a veteran when it came to communicating with animals, but when it came to communicating with other ponies, she was significantly less so. Especially when that pony was evil and had three quarters of an element of harmony in their possession.

"Pfft!" Rainbow exclaimed, laughing in response, "As if that would work!"

Applejack looked at Fluttershy sadly, knowing that in this scenario they had no choice but to fight Null, "Sorry, Fluttershy. We have to fight him."

Fluttershy looked at the ground, but she knew she had no choice. It was either fight Null, or risk losing Equestria forever. Even as you spoke with your friends, the evil unicorn was still draining your element without the need to even try.

"Ready, everypony?" Rainbow asked, immediately taking flight.
Suddenly, an important question crossed your mind. As if reading that very question straight from your thoughts, the cyan Pegasus answered you without you even saying it out loud, "We'll just have to carry you all up."

Whether it was a coincidence or not, it still made you smile. It made you think of the times you spent with her before everything with Null started. When this ends, you couldn't wait to go back to that.

"Ready." you answered, fuelled by newfound determination as you remembered all of the happy things that have happened to you in Equestria.

Nodding in response, Rainbow Dash flew above Pinkie Pie, preparing to begin lifting her up to the roof of the large building that Null hovered above. Following her lead, you flew above Applejack, and Fluttershy flew above Rarity.
Applejadk grabbed your forehooves tightly, suddenly realising that if she lost her grip, she would probably die. Rarity and Pinkie did the same, and at first, Fluttershy seemed to have to difficulties keeping hold of Rarity.

As quickly as ever, Rainbow flew off in the direction of the apartment block. It seemed like Pinkie's added weight didn't affect her all that much. All you could hear was the pink party pony's cries of excitement as she soared through the air with Rainbow.
The same couldn't be said for Applejack and Rarity, however.

"Put me down! Put me down!" you could hear Rarity screaming from behind you as you flew through the air, Fluttershy following closely behind. You didn't want to fly too fast, as you didn't want to leave Fluttershy and Rarity all on their own.

You noticed that Applejack didn't seem to have any reaction to flying, that was until you looked down. Then you realised that her usual orange coat had turned a much paler colour. Flying wasn't really an Earth pony's thing, after all.

Eventually, the four of you reached the rooftop, only to see Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie already up there. Rainbow's eyes were locked on Null, and his eyes were locked on her. Meanwhile, Pinkie bounced up and down next to her, not a care in the world. It seemed like the flight may have made her a little over excited.

"Null!" Rainbow exclaimed, angrily, "Get down here!"

Null stared at the cyan Pegasus, amused, "Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash! Storm here has lots of memories about you!"
The black unicorn turned his attention towards you, "Speaking of memories, you might've recognised a few of those places down there..."

You weren't sure what he was doing, or why he was trying to talk to you as if it was a normal conversation, but you were up here to finish what the two of you had started in the dream world.

"I don't care if you have my memories, we're here to stop you." you said, avoiding his question.

"Well, that might be a problem for you because..." he said, not seeming at all threatened, "You might be forgetting about one small detail."

Null held out a hoof, manifesting the Element of Determination before him. Only the very top of the lightning bolt remained golden now, while the rest was corrupted but the dark black ink.

"We don't need the elements!" Pinkie Pie interrupted, suddenly snapping out of her giddy mood as she saw the threat before her.

"Yeah! We've got friendship!" Applejack added, courageously.

Null let out a sigh, as if tired by your aimless threats. He had a pretty good feeling that you wouldn't win against him, as not even all of you were present, "Fine, then. Let's see what you've got."

His bored expression turned into a smirk, as he realised that he had just inititiated a fight that he couldn't lose. This was going to end here, and not in your favour.

"I've got him!" Rainbow cried, as she shot in the direction of the evil unicorn. His smirk widened as his horn began to glow a soft yellow, as if preparing something to counter.

Instead of helping, your mind wandered to something else. You froze in place as your thoughts wandered off to Princess Luna, almost freezing time. The entire world seemed to stop as you recalled Luna's warning.

"Whatever you do, don't fi..." you said to yourself, attempting to fill in the gap, "Whatever you do, don't..."

Fight.

Instantly, the world sprung to life again as you watched Rainbow Dash flying towards Null at a high speed. You had to stop her before she got herself hurt, or even killed. Luna had been right about Null's plan, so what reason did you have not to trust her here?
That is, if your assumption about her warning was even true.

Using some of the magic you still had, you froze the cyan Pegasus before Null could launch a counter. His expression changed to one of confusion, as did Rainbow's, as you began to pull her back towards you.

"Storm, aren't we meant to be fighting him?" Rarity asked, seeming as confused as Rainbow did.

"I figured out what Luna was trying to tell me." you said, catching everyone's attention. Even Null himself seemed interested in what you had to say, "She told us not to fight."

Everypony seemed to freeze on the ground and looked at each other anxiously. Well, except for Rainbow, who still seemed to be out for blood. If you couldn't fight, then what could you do with nowhere to go?

"So... Princess Luna has been talking to you?" Null asked. You suddenly realised that you had just let him know about Luna being a form of inside agent.

"What? No! Did I say that?" you said, trying to cover up your tracks.

"Well, there's nothing that can be done about that now..." Null said, with a sigh, "It won't do you much good anyway."

The six of you stared up at him, wondering what he was to do next. You were wondering why he didn't just finish all of you off, but if you had to fight, you would. For the moment though, you trusted the princess.

"If you're not gonna fight me, then I'll be off! You'll just be locked away in the dream world with that princess anyway, along with all the others," he said, pointing down at the streets of Manehatten, "Anyway, I'll be off! Ponyville's the next place on my list!"

"Hey! Get down here!" Rainbow shouted, upon hearing that her hometown was in danger. Rarity used her magic to hold her back, sparing you the effort. If you could, you would fight him with everything that you had, but you couldn't chance it. Not after hearing Luna's warning.

Null gave you a victorious grin, before his horn flashed a bright yellow. And with that, he was gone.

Rainbow let out a frustrated scream as Rarity released her magical grasp on her, sending her flying towards Null's last location. She hovered in the air, looking into the distance, "So we've lost, then?"

"No, we'll find a way out." you said, going back to looking at the dome that surrounded you. Now you were under timed pressure.

"I don't care what Luna said, we should've fought him!" Rainbow said, angrily, "How does she even know what he's planning, anyway?"

Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the first to respond, "Rainbow, he already told you, remember?"

"No! I don't!" Rainbow yelled in response, seeming to startle Fluttershy. You understood that you were in a bad situation, but anger wasn't going to help in any way.

You let out a sigh, about to explain once again, "Null's dream world is linked to me, meaning Luna can tell me everything that Null plans."

Rainbow didn't give you a response, and instead turned around, going back to looking out across the now darkened city. The bubble surrounding the city made it quite a sight, but you couldn't just sit back and take in the view.

"Rainbow Dash, don't you think you're being a bit unreasonable?" Rarity asked, in a concerned manner.

"Yeah, Rainbow!" Applejack added, "We're all gonna need to work as a team to get outta here!"

Rainbow simply scoffed in response, crossing her hoofs as she looked out over the city. You understood why she was angry, she just wanted to make sure her friends weren't in any danger, but you hoped that she would get over it as fast as she could.
Frustrated or not, you were going to need her help to get out the city before Null reached Ponyville. That wasn't the only thing that you were being timed on, either...

Just like when you were stood in the square, the city began to shake once again, only this time the occasionally yellow spark rose into the air, colliding with the dome. The minor earthquake only lasted a few seconds, but you had a feeling it wasn't the last one to come.

"We need to hurry," you said, having the faintest idea of where to start, "Rarity, think you can teleport us to the street?"

Rarity looked at you panicked, "I-I don't know! I've never tried teleporting multiple ponies before!"

"Just focus..." you said, trying to reassure her. Fluttershy stood by her side, smiling calmly, "You can do it."

Rarity closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow a bright blue. With a blinding white flash, the square where you once stood reappeared around you.

"You did it!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bounding up and down happily. You have Rarity a quick smile, as if thanking her, before going straight back to focusing.

Once again, you quickly scanned the bubble that surrounded the city, but still, no ideas immediately came to mind. Suddenly, your thoughts were interrupted by another unnatural earthquake. Even Rainbow Dash, who was still hovering with her hoofs crossed, seemed startled by this one.

This time, as well as the yellow sparks, you saw the occasional white star twinkling in empty space, hovering like small diamonds.

"Anypony know what's doin' that?" Applejack asked, curiously.

"I've got no idea..." Fluttershy replied, quietly, as she looked down at the ground. It was almost as if she was anticipating the next quake.

Golden sparks, you thought to yourself, attempting to piece together what was happening, White, twinkling stars...

Then it hit you.

Manehatten itself was becoming a dream.

Author's Notes:

Well I'm back quicker than I expected to be. It turns out I had tonsillitis but it's passed now, so it's all good. The next chapter should hopefully be out at normal time again :)