Through the Cavern

Ricky made his way down the hallway to Luna's room. The party had ended a little while ago, and everypony had gone off their seperate ways, leaving Ricky, Celestia and Twilight. A cup of coffee later, and Ricky was on his own.

He came to a large set of doors and knocked.

"Enter."

Opening them, Ricky whistled in awe at the room he found himself in. He began to wander around, taking it all in at once. A moment later, he heard footsteps approaching.

"Good evening, Ricky. Did you have trouble finding the room at all?" Luna asked, stretching her wings.

"No, the guards are very helpful here. Only took me a few minutes." Ricky walked up to her "So, are we leaving right away?"

"In a few moments, we will. I must first go over a couple of things with you. Have a seat, please." Luna gestured to a gilded chair.

Once Ricky was seated, she began "You must remember to try not to interfere if you can. It is one thing if the occupants of the dream wish to interact with you, but you must not do anything that may affect the outcome."

"Ok...what if it's a nightmare and we get attacked or something?"

"Follow my instructions, and all will be well. Second, you may not tell anypony that you were present in their dreams. It would completely upset the balance."

"Ok...seems pretty straightforward." Ricky stood "Anything else?"

"Yes: Under no circumstances are you to argue with anypony in the dream, no matter what. That would cause an immediate upset, resulting in a potential nightmare sequence." Luna said sternly "So, be perfectly agreeable."

After a moment's pause, Ricky nodded "Ok, I got this. So...how does this work? Am I supposed to grab onto you, or...?"

"No, just take a deep breath and close your eyes."

Ricky did as he was told, and found himself awash in a warm, tingling sensation. A loud, howling wind sounded in his ears, and he thought he envisioned a bright, blue flash...

***

"And now, our reigning champion...APPLEJACK!!!"

The applause was deafening. There had to have been tens of thousands of ponies in attendance. Ricky rubbed his eyes and stared "Holy...what did you just do?"

"A simple bit of Alicorn magic." Luna said "Now, remember: Don't interact with anypony except Applejack, and only when she speaks to you first. Do you understand?"

"Yep, perfectly."

"Good. Stay close to me." Luna lead the way down a steep set of stairs. Nopony paid any attention to them, which left Ricky with an eerie feeling. As they approached the edge of the ring, he saw Applejack parading around, adorned with ribbons and medals. She looked over and saw them, her face lighting up.

"Ricky! Luna! I'm so glad y'all could make it!" Applejack said happily "You're just in time to see me get crowned Rodeo Queen!"

"Really? Without competing at all?" Ricky asked, and Applejack blushed "Well, it's usually a unanimous decision, you know."

"Should have figured, being your dream and all." Ricky chuckled. Luna smiled "Well, we are very pleased for you, Applejack."

"Aw, shucks..." Applejack began, but the announcer interrupted her "Would our Rodeo Queen please take her throne for her coronation?"

"Whoops...duty calls!" Applejack said happily "I'll catch y'all later, alright?"

"Sure thing...your highness." Blushing, Applejack ran to where a huge throne sat. Luna turned to Ricky "Well, shall we continue?"

"Totally. I can see how this is gonna play out, pretty much." Ricky said, nodding "How did I do?"

"You did very well. I can tell this will be a very smooth night." Luna smiled, her horn beginning to glow again "Brace yourself."

Ricky closed his eyes, and heard the howling wind once more.

***

Almost instantly, Ricky was sweating. The jungle ruins they'd landed in were overgrown with foliage, and the air was sweltering.

"Here, allow me." Luna's horn glowed, and suddenly Ricky felt much cooler "Thanks. Where are we?"

"A jungle, clearly." Luna said, giving him a funny look. Ricky sighed "I know it's a jungle, but I mean whose dream is this? It looks like something out of Indiana Jones."

"I am unaware of who the subject is, but we normally will encounter them right about...now."

As if on cue, a loud whirring noise sounded, and a familiar voice rang out "Oh, come ON! Don't tell me you're looking for the Cursed Horseshoe as well!"

Ricky burst out laughing at the sight of Rainbow Dash dressed in a Daring Do outfit, complete with bandaged wing. The Pegasus was accompanied by a tortoise with....with...

"Uh...is that a propeller on your...?"

"Obviously! How else do you expect old Tank to keep up with me?" Rainbow snapped. Tank hovered up to Ricky, who only just noticed that it was wearing a little baseball cap.

"But enough of this! Why are you trying to bogart my treasure?" Rainbow glared at them, and Luna laughed "Calm down, Rainbow Dash. We are merely here to observe."

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow "So you don't care about the treasure at all?"

"No."

Rainbow narrowed her eyes "Okay...so you promise not to try and rip me off in any way, shape or form?"

Ricky shook his head "Wouldn't dream of it."

The blue Pegasus stared at him for a moment, then shook her head "Sorry, I don't buy it. I've read enough Daring Do novels to know how this is gonna play out."

Luna sighed "Now, Rainbow Dash-"

"Sorry, Princess, but I can't trust anyone. " Rainbow flew over to a large, ugly carving on the wall and pressed on a section. A trapdoor opened up below Ricky and Luna, sending them tumbling out of sight.

"GOD DAMN IT, RAINBOW DASH!!!" Ricky yelled, but there was no response. Luna unfurled her wings, and flew beneath him. Ricky landed hard on her back, and Luna grunted from the impact.

"Unfortunately...ugh...you're a bit heavy, so I'm going to need you to..."

"Yeah, I know the drill." Ricky sighed and closed his eyes yet again, the familiar howl of wind coming in fast.

***

The room was small and cramped. Ricky's leg was pinned under Luna's back, while her horn was in dangerous proximity to his eye. Breathing heavily, Ricky said "I am gonna get Rainbow Dash for that."

"I forbid it. The actions of Rainbow in the dream do not reflect her real life actions. Remember that." Luna said sternly "There is a small doorknob down near your feet...can you reach it?"

"I could try." Straining, Ricky managed to give it a turn, but it was locked "Shit..."

Suddenly, as if by magic, a voice rang out "What's the magic word?"

"Wha...Pinkie? Is that you?" Ricky yelled back.

"Maaaaaybe. Did you wanna come in?"

"It'd be appreciated." Luna groaned.

"What do you say?"

"Pinkie, for the love of...I can't feel my legs!" Ricky yelled. Pinkie giggled "Sorry, you'll have to do better than that!"

"Pinkamena Diane Pie, as your princess and superior, I order you to open this door!" Luna demanded, then added as an afterthought "Please."

Suddenly, the sound of many locks being undone came from the other side, and the door slowly creaked open . Ricky's jaw dropped at what he beheld.

The room was enormous, and filled to the brim with cakes, pies, muffins and various sweets of different shapes and sizes. In the middle, an Olympic sized swimming pool was filled with melted chocolate. Ricky tried to comprohend what he was seeing, and turned to Luna for an answer. She just shrugged and said "She likes desserts."

"Look out below!!!!" Ricky looked up sharply and saw Pinkie leaping off of a 50 foot diving board. She fell rapidly, only to freeze just before impact, drifting slowly into the chocolate. A moment later she resurfaced "Come on in, you guys! The chocolate's great!!!"

"I'll pass." Ricky said, walking over to the edge of the pool "So...is this like, your happy place or something?"

"Of course not! Every place is my happy place. This is just something I've wanted to do if I ever won the lottery." Pinkie started doing the backstroke.

"So...you dream about being rich, huh?"

"Just this time. Most of my dreams are about cake!" Pinkie took a huge slurp of chocolate. Ricky was starting to become really confused "But there's cake here...what's the difference?"

"I have a chocolate pool this time, silly!" Pinkie said, as if it were extremely obvious.

Ricky shook his head and turned to Luna "This is really messed up. I don't think I can take this one much longer."

"I must say, I'm impressed you made it this far." Luna chuckled, her horn glowing.

"You're telling me, Princess. See ya, Pinkie. Enjoy...whatever this is." Ricky said, the familiar wind sounding.

"SAY HI TO FLUTTERSHY FOR ME!!!" Pinkie yelled as they vanished.

***

"Woah...where are we now?" Ricky stood slowly, his eyes adjusting to the dim light. It looked as if they were in a huge, stone maze.

"I cannot answer that until we encounter the dreamer." Luna said, stretching her back legs "However, we should stay put until they encounter us. It would decrease our chances of becomming lost."

"Really? We should just sit here?" Ricky asked skeptically "What if they don't find us, or some kind of monster shows up?"

"We will be safe. The laws of the dream world ensure that." Luna sat down, gesturing Ricky to do the same. He looked around, sighed and pulled out the rest of his joint from earlier.

Luna watched as Ricky smoked, an eyebrow raised "I'm curious, what do you gain from doing that?"

"Huh? Oh, a sense of relaxation, for one. It also calms me down if I've been stressing out or anything like that." Ricky replied "Why, you want some?"

"No, thank you. I admit I experimented when I was younger, but that was years ago. My sister and I are strictly business now. " Luna blushed lightly, as if this was a huge scandal. Ricky shrugged "Hey, I'm not judging."

Suddenly, distant footsteps were heard, slowly growing louder. Ricky quickly put his joint out and waved his hand quickly to hide the smell. As he did, he heard voices. It sounded like they were arguing.

"Look, I never told you to turn left, dude."

"Technically, you did. You said to just pick a path already. He chose left."

"Oh, don't take his...woah! How did you guys beat us here?!"

Ricky stared at the owner of the voice, and began laughing like a hyena "What in the hell are you doing, dude?!"