We need a plan

Applebloom flew over Stone Mane’s dream version of Baltimare in my Equestria dreamscape. Having saved Stone Mane from being a dragon snack, Luna’s pupil had rocketed up into the skies above the city. Pony I see you  Now free from the terror of being chased by a monstrous dragon. The little colt succumbed to the horror of flying hundreds of feet above the city and started to struggle.

     “Ah! Put me down! Put me down! What are you doing to me?”

    “Trying ta save yer hide ya mush-brain! Now stop yer squirming or I might just drop ya!” Yelled Applebloom. “I needed ta get ya away from that dragon! Now let’s find some place where we can a hide up from that thing! Ya know any good places?”

    “No, no I don’t!” Cried the colt. “Everywhere I’ve tried to hide the dragon always finds me!”

    “Where have ya tried?” Asked the littlest of the Apple family.

    “My room. My school. My parents house. My grandparents home across the park! Everywhere I know it seems to find me! It always finds me!”

    Applebloom thought about this for a moment. “Have ya tried hiding in a place ya all never been to before? A different part of the city?”

    “No, no I haven’t.” Said Stone Mane. “What difference would it make?”

    “Well it’ll take for it longer to find us and maybe we can find something to fight it with!” Said Applebloom. Besides. She thought. Maybe I can start manipulating parts this dream fabric to our advantage.

    “Are ya familiar with those warehouses over by the waterfront?” She asked.

    “No.” Said the little colt.

    “Perfect!” Said Applebloom.

    What Applebloom wanted was to get Stone Mane to some part of Baltimare that he was not too familiar with so Stone Mane wouldn’t notice when she started manipulating his dream fabric to Applebloom’s advantage. However the little filly found it much more difficult mold his fabric the way she wanted needed it to be. If she kept this up too long she’d be exhausted.

    As she flew toward the warehouses the little filly started manipulating one to fit her design, but she could tell almost immediately that by herself she would unable to sustain the location without some help. Suddenly she had an idea.

    Like the rest of Baltimare the docks and warehouse district were empty and Applebloom had no desire to try and populate it. She landed herself and Stone Mane in front of one warehouse. The young colt was looking around nervously, uncertain what would happen next.

    “This here looks like a good solid place to hold up in while we make plans. Notice how solidly it is constructed and its got door over here we can use to go inside. Let’s check it out I betcha it’s not even locked!”

    Applebloom lead the colt over to the door that of course was not locked because that’s how she’d created it. It was dim inside, the only illumination being from sunlight trickling in through dirty glazed windows.

    In a very deliberate fashion Applebloom described the various features she saw to Stone Mane. As he noticed and accepted the various features they stopped being a construct of Applebloom’s manipulation and became part of Stone Mane’s own dream fabric. Slowly Applebloom felt the load diminish. Good, now to figure out the next step. Luna’s pupil went and sat down next to the little colt that was lying curled up on the floor.

    “Stone Mane we need ta figure out some way ta git rid that dragon once and fer all! Ya can’t keep a running from that monster! We’ve got a come with a plan ta deal with it!”

    Stone Mane continued lie floor curled up in an almost fetal-like position, after a couple seconds Applebloom realized the young colt was crying. Gently Applebloom started stroking his mane.

    “Hey there, don’tcha cry. We’ll figure out something, ya just need ta not lose a hope.”

    “But, but how can we do anything to stop it!” Sobbed Stone Mane. “We’re just a couple of little foals. Only Celestia was able to stop things like it. The Army couldn’t stop them Grown up ponies couldn’t stop them. My, my, parents…”

    This set off another round of sobbing and crying from the little colt. The sound of his anguish echoed inside the empty warehouse. Applebloom repeated over her mind again and again Luna’s instructions not let herself get swept away in Stone Mane’s dream but the little colt’s predicament were dredging up old memories in her own mind. Gently she nuzzled him.

    “Hey now! That’s just stinky thinking, we’ll a come with a solution ta yer problem, really!”

    “But how!” Sobbed Stone Mane. “It can breathe fire! It can smash any place where can hide! It so much bigger than us! It’s hopeless!”

    “No its not!” Said Applebloom. “We just need a plan.” Applebloom racked her brain for several seconds, then an idea popped into her head.

    “Hey Stone Mane yer dad use ta shoot cannons didn’t he?”

    “Yeah.” Said the brown colt. “He was in field artillery.”

    “Did he ever teach ya how ta shoot one?”

    “Well… he wasn’t suppose to, but he did let me help his crew when they would do drills and I got to read all the manuals he brought home. I even got to pull the lanyard once when then were firing a blank. Why do you ask?”

    Applebloom’s mind was racing a mile a minute as she started forming a plan in her mind. “So if we could find a cannon could ya fire it?”

    “Well maybe.” Said the little colt. “But where are we going to find a cannon. Besides the cannons my dad’s crew used was no use against dragons that large!”

    “What if we had a cannon bigger than whatcha yer dad had!” Asked Applebloom. Frantically in her mind she began fabricating a prop.

    “I don’t know.” Said Stone Mane. “From what I heard even the heavy artillery was not much a use against them.”

    Applebloom pressed forward with her plan. “What if we had an even bigger cannon? What if we had the biggest cannon in all of Equestria! Could ya work it?” The little filly was frantically constructing an artifact in her mind as she spoke.

    “I guess so.” Said the colt. “But where we would find it?

    Applebloom smiled. “Over there in the corner by those boxes!”

To be continued.

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