The Rainbow Conundrum

'I wonder what situation I'll wake up in...' Spectrum Flash thought, curious.

She opened her eyes, and saw the cavern where she had been told where Scootaloo was, and what was happening to her.

'Well, looks like I got scenario number 1 after all!' Spectrum Flash thought, smirking.

She immediately leaped into the air, not paying attention to anything in the cavern, and flew out of the cavern. She started flying to where she remembered being told that Scootaloo was being mauled by a Timberwolf, knowing that sure, she couldn't affect reality through her dream, but...

As soon as she got into sight range of the scene, the landscape before her stretched itself out. 'CLASSIC!' she thought, impressed.

However, there was something that Spectrum Flash was unaware of. Princess Luna had made contacting her one of her priorities, and, thankfully, this had been an unusually slow day for her. As such, when Spectrum Flash went to sleep, Luna was immediately alerted to the presence of what appeared, on the surface, to be a nightmare. Yet, the emotions of the pony in the nightmare didn't fit with the emotions that could be expected from a pony in a nightmare. So, Luna investigated.

When Luna suddenly appeared in her dream, Spectrum Flash immediately stopped her nightmare. After all, she was the one that had started it, with the intent of getting Luna's attention.

Seeing the look of shock on Luna's face, Spectrum Flash simply laughed and said, smiling, "You'd be surprised what you can learn about your own mind while being trapped in the Mirror Pool for a month, Princess Luna. I've learned to use my mental side to do more than just register everything I see while flying, I've been forced to adapt myself in ways my original would never dream of… literally."

Luna, recovering quickly from her shock at seeing the dream quickly dissolve around her without her doing it, said "We art glad to see that thou art free once more, Spectrum Flash!" joy in her voice. "Now that you're back, Scootaloo will be sure to stop having nightmares!" She said, pleased that she had been, in a roundabout way, able to help after all.

"That was actually one of the two things that I wanted to talk to you about, Princess. Why didn't you help her? You are supposed to be the Guardian of Dreams, the Vanquisher of Nightmares, the Ruler of the Night!" Spectrum Flash said, with an accusing tone that was more than a little hostile.

"WE TRIED TO HELP THY YOUNGER SISTER!" Luna said, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, shocked at how the pony in front of her was talking.

"WELL YOU OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH!" Spectrum Flash yelled right back. "My first day back, I had to kill a Timberwolf, in order to save my younger sister's life! Even then, her wing had already been almost torn completely off! She might never fly again!" Spectrum Flash said, tears running down her face.

Luna, shocked at what she had just been told, and knowing that the pony in front of her was anything but okay, immediately banished the nightmare that had sprung up while Spectrum Flash was talking. Luna knew that, while Spectrum Flash's mental discipline was impressive, talking about what had happened to her sister would be enough to break anypony's discipline, including her own, as, for several months after she had been purified by the Elements of Harmony, she would have nightmares about what she had done as Nightmare Moon. During those months, while Luna worked through her own nightmares, Celestia had taken over her dreamwalking duties. While she wasn't as skilled as Luna in dreamwalking, Celestia had just enough skill to help most ponies through their nightmares. Of course, she had been aware of everypony that had been having nightmares, and she had kept a list of names for Luna, so that she could go to those ponies dreams as soon as she was able. Celestia, fortunately, could afford to ignore her own sister's nightmares, as her sister was slowly working through them on her own.

When Luna dispelled the nightmare that had sprung up, Spectrum Flash was shocked that one had sprung up at all, as she had been completely focused on the discussion. "Thank you, Princess. And, before you ask, I do know what caused that nightmare. I feel as though I should have been there for her, and I should have been there for her. There should have been no reason that she was out in the Everfree Forest alone. And, before you try to make me feel better about the situation, I know that I am not to blame for what happened. Twilight is to blame for what happened. Yet, that doesn't make me feel any better." Spectrum Flash said, gritting her teeth together. "Back to my sister being in the Everfree Forest alone, though. Upon the crossover from the Mirror Pool, I fell unconscious. A scream of pain from my little sister woke me up. How I heard it, I have no idea. The moment that I did, though, my eyes shot open, and I immediately asked the first being that I saw in that cavern with me, which was Discord, and I asked him where she was. Apparently, I found out about what was going on before even he knew, as he was going to say that she was safe in Ponyville" Spectrum Flash said, laughing bitterly. "A couple of minutes later, though, I learned what was going on, and that she was getting mauled by a Timberwolf in the Everfree Forest, as well as where she was" at this point, Spectrum Flash began to cry again, and her voice became a mixture of sorrow and rage. "When I got there, she wasn't even running from it Princess! It was as though she wanted to die!" Spectrum Flash said, shaking with sorrow and barely controlled anger at what she was saying. When her sister got better, they were going to have a long, LONG discussion about this. She needed to know that what she had almost done was never the answer, no matter what the reason was, ever. "When I saw her, her wing was torn almost completely off of her, and her breathing was unsteady. Yet, she asked me in a weak voice if it was me, and I told her yes. I said that I was back, and I was so relieved to be able to finally tell her that, even under those circumstances. When she passed out from the blood loss and the pain, I immediately began to panic, and, in order to get her to the hospital in time to save her life, I performed a Sonic Rainboom after scooping her up into my forelegs. When I got to the hospital, they told me that she would be all right, but I'm still worried about what I did" Spectrum Flash said, a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"What dost thou mean, Spectrum Flash? It sounds to us like thou didst the right thing?" Luna said, questioningly.

"Well, Princess..." Spectrum Flash began to say, looking more and more uncertain with every word that she said, the look of uncertainty in her eyes grew. "I want to adopt Scootaloo, but I need to have some friends in Ponyville in order to do it. I already have the friends in mind, but I need to write apology letters to them, as the last time that I saw them, well, not me, but Rainbow Dash" the look in Spectrum Flash's eyes turned into a look of pure self-loathing for a second "tossed one of them aside like yesterday's news, and she insulted the other one, and threatened her safety after she stayed in Ponyville when she could have fled when the Ursa Minor attacked, and when she herself was hiding under her bed" her voice taking on a hostile tone to match the look in her eyes, "and since I am Rainbow Dash, or at least I have all of her memories in my head, I can't help but feel responsible for what she did, even if I wasn't the one to actually do it"

Princess Luna knew who she was talking about, as Gilda had had nightmares of that incident for a while afterwards, and Trixie had also had nightmares of the Ursa Minor incident. When Princess Luna had learned that the creatures that she had created as Nightmare Moon to distract the royal guards and the Wonderbolts while she went after Princess Celestia were still around, she immediately began setting that right. She had wiped out the Ursa's, mourning both their creation and their necessary destruction, and she had continued on with every other species that she had created as Nightmare Moon, so that ponies could be safe at night. She also knew that Gilda and Trixie had recently formed a friendship, and that the two of them had found the magic of friendship at just the right time in their lives.

"...and so, Princess, I am unsure of what to do! I want to make sure that they believe what I'm telling them, but I don't know how! I was wondering if you could sign them, saying that I am telling the truth, and that I am Rainbow Dash's clone, and that I do feel terribly sorry for her actions? I mean, before now, I just wanted to apologize! Not that that isn't still important to me, Princess, because it is, but I need them to know that I am deeply and truly sorry for what I did to them, and that I'm not just trying to use them!" Spectrum Flash's said, extremely defensively. "Especially after what Rainbow Dash did to them!"

"We'll tell thou the same thing that We once told thy young sister, Scootaloo" Luna said, knowing that those words would get Spectrum Flash's full attention. "Face thy fears. Show them that thou mean what thou say, as We have found that actions speak louder than words." Luna said, remembering her own experiences with this principle. "Tell them what thou has told Us, and We are certain that everything shall work out" Luna said, disappearing from Spectrum Flash's pseudo-nightmare.

Spectrum Flash was still concerned about the situation, but, she had had her talk with Luna. She woke up, and quickly altered the letters to include the fact that she was wanting to adopt Scootaloo, as, in her own words, she owed it to her. She noticed that the party in her honor was still going on, and that a plate with cake and ice-cream had been put in front of her, along with a knife, fork, and a spoon. She remembered the letter that Tender Heart had given to her, and, while cutting up her cake, decided to read it, as it was smoothed out so that it lay flat on the table.

Twenty Minutes Later

As Spectrum Flash was finishing reading the note, she had yet to notice that she was gripping the blade of the knife that had been provided for her so that she could cut her piece of cake with it so hard that it was cutting into her. While she would have normally been in pain, she was a little too busy thinking of what she had just read. 'Those...those...ANIMALS!' she thought to herself, mourning the thought of what this last past month must have been like for her little sister.