Never Dream

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash shot up from the dead of sleep, cold sweat trickling down her brow. Heart still thumping, she scanned the empty room around her. A small crack of sunlight spilled in from between the curtains, drawing a golden line across the drab, foreign abode. Featureless plaster walls painted a dull blue, sickening pale yellow drapes crossed by muted lime-green lines forming a checkered pattern—the same motif of the comforter resting on her lap.

This wasn’t her home.

Suddenly the door hinges squealed and the heavy wood creaked open, Dash’s eyes bolted to the abyss now staring back from the other side of the doorway. “W-what?” she asked the emptiness, but no answer.

Seconds past with nothing but silence and darkness. “Hello?” she called out.

A moment later, a silhouette appeared amidst the black. “You’re awake.” A pony with light yellow fur with a flowing pink mane spilling down to the floor stepped from the shadows. The name eluded Dash for a split second before it thrusted itself from the mental fog, smacking her like tree branch mid flight. Fluttershy—she recalled—stepped inside. “Oh, dear, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash stared blankly at her for a moment. Fluttershy never had a vibrant coat or mane, but it was as if she had all color drained from her fur, blending her into the dreary surroundings like a fixture rather than a pony.

“Are you alright? I heard you scream and came as quick as I could.” Fluttershy stepped to the side of the bed, placing a hoof on Dash’s leg still under the sheets.

Dash took an uneven breath, exhaling when her heart finally slowed in her chest. “I’m fine.” She looked around at the muted room once more. After the shock faded, it came back to her in waves: moving in, a welcoming party, not having a chance to redecorate just yet. This was her home—her new home. “I just had a bad dream’s all.”

“Fevers can do that—” Fluttershy said with a sweet voice, like a mother to her foal “—but it’s over now.” She gave a soft, barely felt pat atop the sheets, but something seemed off. Her gaze didn’t meet Dash’s, instead focused deeply past her like she was invisible, and she had a smile slowly spreading across her face. “Whatever was your dream about?”

Dash rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t really wanna talk about it,” she shifted her hips under the sheets, shrugging off Fluttershy’s touch.

“Well, it can’t hurt you now.” Fluttershy sat down on the floor, eyes still locked in place.

As Dash’s gaze fell to the comforter and Fluttershy’s hoof still patting away, a sudden throb at the base of her skull nearly caused her to collapse. She placed her hoof to her head and pinched her eyes closed. Suddenly, she forced a laugh as a delightful numbness rippled through her skull like a wave. “You’re right. It’s just a dumb dream.”

When Dash opened her eyes, she saw Fluttershy nodding absently, a toothy grin wide across her face.

“I dreamt everything was wrong.” She moved her gaze from Fluttershy’s grin to her doll-like eyes. “One by one everypony abandoned me. I was left all alone in a dark room. I was trapped. But I still had to save everypony—” Dash cut herself off. Her heart thumped like a drum in her chest again and she gasped for air.

“That’s silly, Rainbow Dash. You don’t have to worry about being alone here,” Fluttershy’s sweet voice cut through the whirl of blood in her ears.

As she met Fluttershy’s gaze once more, another throb and wave rolled across her brain. “Yeah…” Fluttershy’s dull, unblinking eyes pulled her in closer. She placed her hoof atop Fluttershy’s as the mare continued to pat the empty sheets.

“After all, no pony’s ever alone here.”

“Exactly. That’s why we—” She nearly choked on her own words. Dash swallowed, then sucked in a lungful of wonderful air. Her eyes shot to the window. “We?”

“We?” Fluttershy mimicked.

“Who did we come here with?” Dash looked back, raising an eyebrow.

“Hello, my friends!” A voice called from the dark beyond the door. “I heard somepony had a bad dream?” Both Fluttershy and Dash turned to the doorway just in time to see a pale teal glow coming towards them.

“Hello, Starlight,” Fluttershy replied, any emotion sapped from her voice much like the color had already been from her coat.

Dash’s heart thumped in her chest hard, but she brushed it off with a chuckle. “Yeah.”

“And what kind of dream was it, Rainbow?” Starlight asked with a pleasant smile ever-present on her lips.

The smile Dash had put on her lips faltered, as she gulped down another lungful of air. Her wings twitched uncontrollably with an urge to flap hard and fast nagging in the back of Dash’s mind.

“A-a silly one,” Dash said with another short chuckle, though strained. An uncomfortable tickle raced down her spine as she shot a short glance to the window. For a moment, she pictured herself diving for it and flying away as fast as she could, but why would she? She looked back to Fluttershy, seeing her smiling so happily upon laying eyes on Starlight, Starlight in turn smiling pleasantly at the two of them. They were friends. Why would she need to run?

Dash swallowed a lump in her throat. “Really silly. Right, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy’s blank eyes stayed firmly glued to Starlight as she moved across the room. The beaming smile plastered across her face was so painfully wide, almost as though fish hooks held the corners of her mouth up, keeping her teeth on display for the whole world to see.

“Oh, it couldn’t have been that silly. After all, you did scream, and Fluttershy raced up here to check on you.” Starlight tilted her head to the side, her smile now sending a frigid chill up Dash’s spine. “So, why don’t you tell me about your silly dream? I’m very interested.”

Dash’s smile faltered. “Something about saving some friends from—” suddenly she pinched her eyes closed and pressed a hoof to her forehead “—a town… And… A wall of light…”

Dash’s eyes snapped opened. A flash—cutie marks torn off, a barren room, loneliness—it all flooded into her mind. Dash tried to throw the sheets off her, but Fluttershy’s hoof held firm, as immovable as a boulder on the bedding. Then a brilliant burst of light came from her side; Starlight was standing over her.

“That just won’t do,” Starlight replied with a sickeningly chipper tune to her voice. “Such a horrible dream—what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help you get rid of that little nuisance?”

The unicorn’s horn ignited with a soft teal glow that only seemed to drain the rest of the color from the room, filling the void in with its own hue. As the magical aura engulfed Dash, her whole head went numb. A high-pitched squeal filled her ears, shutting out even the pounding of her own racing heart.

Dash tried to swing her hoof, but it wouldn’t budge. She shot her gaze down to see it held in place by Fluttershy. Her heart fell as she turned her eyes back to her betrayer, still staring at her with those lifeless eyes and impossibly wide grin.

“Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?” Starlight asked, and Fluttershy nodded.

On the mare’s haunch, two horizontal black bars stood out against her fur. “Of course, Starlight Glimmer. We must help a friend.”

“We must,” Starlight repeated. “And the best way to get rid of nasty dreams is by getting rid of the nasty ego that causes them.”

Dash fell back onto the bed, the squeal in her ears now overtaking even their voices. “S-stop,” she pleaded. The noise so loud in her head she gagged on reflex. Water flooded her eyes blurring the image of Starlight looming overhead.

Amidst the high-pitch squeal, Starlight’s voice stood out, as if it were inside Dash’s head. “In our town—” she looked from Fluttershy to Dash as she caressed the side of Dash’s face “—In our town,” she sang softly in a sugary-sweet tone. “We work as a team. You can’t have a nightmare…” Her pleasant demeanor faded, replaced by a smug smirk. “If you never dream.”