“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.”
“Get out!” Dash lunged up from her bed. A cold bead of sweat ran from her forehead, through her already drenched fur, stinging her eye as it brushed by her lower lid. Relentless pounding drowning her ears and burning lungs took a backseat for a moment to the cool greys and whites laid before her eyes in the morning light—a cloud wall. When she glanced down at the cloth held tightly in hoof she saw the familiar blue. Her eyes trailed down to the Wonderbolt’s crest resting center of the sheet.
She was home.
But the uncomfortable sensation of a gaze burning into her didn’t let Dash celebrate for long. She snapped her head to the doorway. Standing there, on the back of her hooves with wide eyes was Fluttershy. “I-if you want me to leave I can,” she said as her eyes glanced around the room.
Dash narrowed her gaze at the other mare. “Fluttershy?” A terrifying jolt shot up her spine. “Wait, Starlight’s not here, is she?”
She gingerly pointed over her shoulder. “She’s downstairs. Why?”
“Why would you bring her?” she whispered loudly.
“She said she wants to get to know you better…” Fluttershy glanced around the room once more. “She can tell you don’t like her, you know. She wants to fix that. Twilight did say we should give her a chance.”
Dash scoffed. “A chance my flank. After what she said to me, I’m not just going to kiss and make up with that creep!”
“I’m sure she’s sorry, Rainbow.” Fluttershy stepped next to the bed and placed her hoof on Dash’s over the sheets. “She’s just a little prickly around the edges.”
Dash snatched her hoof away. Echoes of a nightmare past gnawed the back of her mind. The walls around her vibrated then shifted to the greyed plaster. Fluttershy’s twisted smile teetered just on the edge of her vision. A frigid tingle traced up her spine and she shuttered. As quick as it came the room snapped back to normal. “Whatever,” she muttered, rubbing her forehead.
“What’s the matter?” Fluttershy tilted her head curiously to the side.
“Just a bad dream,” Dash said barely above a whisper.
“Want to talk about—”
Dash shoved her hoof into Fluttershy’s mouth, cutting the mare off. “No!”
Fluttershy’s ears fell flat and she whimpered. “I’m sorry,” she said once Dash took her hoof back.
Dash turned to the window. ’I didn’t mean it, I’m just on edge,“ she said softly. Silence fell for a moment as she stared out at the endless blue sky just beyond her window sill.
“I didn’t realize today’s race was affecting you so.”
“Race?” Dash raised an eyebrow. Then like a smack to the back of the head it hit her. “Race!” She jumped up from her bed, knocking Fluttershy on her back in the tossle. In a technicolor blur, Dash zipped out of the room leaving Fluttershy belly up on the floor with stars circling around her eyes.
Before the dazed mare could even let out a groan in self-pity, the rainbow streak whirled back around like a hurricane and scooped Fluttershy out the door in a flash. The next moment, Fluttershy came to a stop, plopped down on her hind end with eyes still spinning.
Dash set down gingerly behind Fluttershy, a scowl primed at the unicorn standing in her living room. “Hey, Starlight.”
“Hi, Rainbow Dash,” Starlight replied pleasantly.
A brief flash and grey walls surrounded the trio, Starlight stared back with a devilish smirk and glowing horn. Dash shook her head and the room snapped back to normal.
“What’s the matter?” Starlight tilted her head to the side, leaning closer to Dash’s face as she did.
Dash held out a hoof to halt the mare’s encroachment into her personal space. “Nothing. Just remembering a dumb dream.”
“What kind of dream? You know, I know a thing or two about dreams and how they affect the—”
“Don’t—” Dash pressed her extended hoof to Starlight’s chest, pushing her back a step “—remind me.” She fixed a firm glare in the mare’s direction, puffing out her chest as she did.
Fluttershy pressed her hooves to her temples and pinched her eyes shut for a moment. “It might be a good idea to ask Starlight for help, Rainbow. She is our friend, after all.” When she opened her eyes she flash a small grin up at both them. “She even helped me with that nightmare I kept having about that dragon ripping the roof off my house and flooding it with centipedes.”
Silence fell as Fluttershy flicked her eyes back and forth between the two, her smile falling the whole while.
“Maybe after the race?” Starlight added, giving an awkward smirk back.
Dash and Fluttershy set down near a checkered finish line painted on the grass in Ponyville park with Starlight levitating shortly behind them. Twilight, a clipboard clenched in hoof, spoke to a group gathered around her not far from the track’s end. As Dash strode tall towards her friend, their eyes briefly met before Twilight pointed off behind Dash, the star of the show. “Everypony, let’s get to work and make this special,” Twilight said, once Fluttershy, Dash, and Starlight were in earshot.
The ponies around Twilight nodded, and dispersed. As two pegasi fluttered past, they gave a small cheer of encouragement to Dash. The four friends convened together, and Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “Heavens above, these ponies don’t know the first thing about setting up a race,” she remarked.
“Who else could’ve put this all together? You have the most experience with organizing, egghead.” Dash gave a playful tap to Twilight’s shoulder.
“You also have the head for it, Twilight,” Fluttershy added with a small laugh.
“Only because the foundation reached out to me,” Twilight turned up her nose. “Plenty of volunteers, but no professionals to speak of. They’re too busy handling the permits and paperwork. Not to mention the mountain of waivers needed, and in that mess all the practicalities were left by the wayside for me to pick up.” She pinched the bridge of muzzle temple with her free hoof. “You can’t just paint a line on the ground and yell ’go!’ for crying out loud.”
“I don’t see why not,” Dash said with a shrug. Suddenly she felt the heat of three sets of eyes burning into her flesh like a lion eyeing its next meal. “Right?“
Starlight cleared her throat as her eyes searched the aether. “Seating for spectators, concessions, officials, construction crews, security, and most important of all—” Her eyes rolled around to fall squarely on Dash “—medical team on standby.”
“Seems like a bit much just for a friendly race.”
Starlight furrowed her brow. “It’s a bit more than—”
Fluttershy cut her off by holding Starlight back with a foreleg across her chest. “I think we should go help Rarity and Applejack with whatever it is they’re doing.”
Twilight glanced down at her clipboard. “Setting the stands.”
“That!” Fluttershy snaked her hoof from across Starlight’s chest to around the back of her neck and softly tugged the still glaring unicorn off.
“What’s with her,” Dash muttered so only Twilight could hear as she kept an annoyed gaze on Starlight until she disappeared into a crowd.
Twilight took a deep breath, setting her clipboard on the ground off to the side “Are you ready for today?”
Dash laughed dismissively. “I was born ready!”
Twilight placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “Just remember this isn’t a race you can win.”
Dash laughed again and rolled her eyes. “Well, I could.”
”You won’t.” Twilight glared. Her harsh tone cracked like a whip.
The pegasus shook her head. “Look, I’m a beast. It’s hard for me to lose a race!” A sour groan from Twilight perked her ears.
“This is a race you simply cannot win, Rainbow. That’s what’s with Starlight. That was her point yesterday.”
Dash furrowed her brow, then brushed Twilight’s foreleg off her. “No, she said I had an ego problem.”
“You do!” Twilight turned her hoof right back around and poked Dash firmly in the chest. “And your ’ego problem’ was you said you could beat this kid with both wings tied behind your back!”
Dash flashed a cocky smirk. “And am I wrong?”
Twilight’s ears folded back. She sucked in a lungful of air through clenched teeth and pressed a hoof against her forehead. “It’s not a question about physical prowess, but morals, Rainbow. If you don’t lose, you’re going to crush that kid’s dreams in front of a huge crowd, and lose a lot of funding for Hooves Upholding Wings. Not to mention all of Equestria will probably hate you—” as her hoof slid down the side of her face she fired a glare like a mother warning her foal “—which means kiss the Wonderbolts goodbye. So remember: go easy on him.”
“I’m not stupid! I know that!” Dash shoved Twilight’s hoof back once more. “I’ll pull out an early lead and then the kid can overtake me in the tail end of the race. It looks believable and he’ll feel good about himself having beat the Equestrian hero and rookie Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash.”
“He has moderate muscle atrophy, so don’t overestimate his abilities. His doctors said it’ll be a miracle if he even finishes the—”
Dash waved her off. “Look, Twilight, I’ve got to go pose for the cameras and stuff. I’ll catch you after the race, ’kay?” she asked, already walking away.
Twilight stared slack jawed for a moment. Once she regained her composure, she scooped up her clipboard and walked away while shaking her head.
Dash crouched at the starting line. Eyes narrowed and a pleased grin on her face. The crowd around her cheered in a vacuous roar, a spark raced laps up and down her spine all while her heart thumped painfully—waiting for the signal. This was what it meant to be alive. In that moment, nothing could bring Dash down from her high.
She shifted her sights to a colt next to her. A tiny thing with small caramel colored wings trembling at his side, chewing on his lower lip, but under his dirty purple mop, eyes locked fiercely forward. It was as clear as day to Dash, in his eyes she saw a fiery determination.
She gave the colt a little nudge with her leg, making him jump. “Relax, kid,” she whispered.
“I’m just nervous.”
“Don’t be,” Dash said, turning her focus back forward. “We play our part, and you get to look like a big shot in front of all these ponies. It’ll make a good story for the front page, yeah?”
“Story?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, story. I’m going to let you win so you can tell everypony how you beat the one and only Rainbow Dash in front of a crowd. It’ll be great publicity for the charity.” Dash rocked her shoulders back and forth, letting her wings shake at her side before stretching them out. “And I’m sure you’ll get popular in your hometown too.”
“No way! I’m beating you fair and square!” The colt furrowed his brow, his tiny wings shakily stretching out as he crouched down to the ground. “So don’t you hold back on me, got it?”
Now Dash raised an eyebrow at the kid. “Kid, if I go all out, this whole track’s going to come crashing down in the tailwind. Just pass me at the—”
“Don’t you dare hold back!” He glared at her, small puddles pooling at the edge of his eyelids. “I wanted to race a Wonderbolt, not be patted on the head like a charity case!”
Dash shook her head and let out a short chuckle. “Kid, you got no idea what you’re in for.”
When Twilight stepped up to the starting line her horn glowed purple with a cloud of magic solidifying into a cone in front of her mouth. “Ladies and gentlecolts, we are about to begin,” she announced.
Dash ran her lower lip under her teeth, eyes narrowing down the track. Just a taste, she thought.
“Get set,” Twilight said.
Dash’s wings twitched in anticipation.
“Go!”
It happened in a flash. Dash gave a hard beat of her wings, as hard as she could, propelling her forward in a blazing blur of speed to the point only the color of her mane and tail stood out. With that one flap, she had enough momentum to clear the makeshift stadium and hit the first turn on the circular track laid out. As she came to that turn, she glanced back to flash the kid an I-told-you-so smirk, but he wasn’t behind her.
She slowed, and the gasps from the crowd hit her all at once when the sound finally caught up. The kid wasn’t coming down the track. A flash of magic, then another, and a few pegasus ponies raced onto the track.
Dash’s heart fell out of her chest. The quiet blue sky and grassy plains of the Ponyville park zoomed away from her leaving her utterly alone for a split second.
Suddenly Starlight’s words from the day before echoed in her mind. “If your ego wasn’t so big, you could lose this race without any worries.”
Dash shook her head.
Nasty ego, the voice of Starlight chimed in.
Dash shook her head again. Then everything came back, crashing into her like waves on a beach. She zipped back to the starting line as fast as she had left to see the kid on the ground, his tiny wing bent at an awkward angle.
Twilight’s eyes locked on her, staring at her in complete disbelief. “What were you thinking?” she asked in a soft, detached tone. “I told you to go easy on him!” Twilight marched right up to Dash and pressed a firm hoof into her chest.
“H-he wanted me to go all out! He told me to! I-I was just going to give him a taste of what I could do. I didn’t think—”
“You didn’t think!“ Twilight cut her off with a hard press of her hoof. “That’s all there is to it!” Twilight yelled.
Dash’s eyes raced around finding everyone’s attention focused right at her. Under the sudden spotlight she felt like an ant, their glares a magnifying glass held right on her until she felt like she’d burst into flames. A sharp noise, like a buzzing, flooded her consciousness for a moment. The faces of each pony around her flashed to a wide, unsettling grin before snapping back to the looks of shock and disbelief. A lone bead of sweat weaved through her fur as it trailed down the side of her head. “I-it’s not my fault.”
Twilight’s eyes followed the colt being carried off the track on a stretcher. Once he was out of sight, she opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, only shaking her head.
“Rainbow Dash?” a voice asked while a hoof touched her shoulder.
She turned to see Fluttershy and Starlight.
“Why would you—” Starlight choked on the words caught in her throat. “Just why?”
“He asked me to!” Dash exclaimed. Her head bounced from Starlight to Twilight, and across the crowd around her. The sound of blood whirling in her ears drowned out the murmurs as the world seemed to squeeze in around her, the crowd drawing ever closer until it felt like she might just collapse. “It wasn’t my fault!”
“We told you not your ego would get in the way!” Twilight snapped, hoof thrust back into Dash’s chest.
Dash swatted it away. “I-it wasn’t my ego! I-I just did what he wanted!”
“Are you sure you weren’t just trying to show off for him?” Fluttershy asked. As soon as Dash whipped her head around to the mare, she cowered. “J-just asking.”
“I didn’t!” Dash swallowed the lump in her throat, but it wouldn’t go down.
“Who didn’t see this coming?” a voice finally snarked from the crowd.
Dash’s ears perked up at the comment. “I swear he wanted me to! I didn’t think the backdraft would blow the kid over!”
“I heard Princess Twilight tell you not to overestimate him!” another voice called out.
The murmurs blended together into an unintelligible mess of noise to the point even those calling out couldn’t even be distinguished as mare or stallion. As Dash’s eyes ran across the crowd she saw again sparkles of white among the faces—large, eerie smirks plastered across their faces, staring at her with glazed eyes.
“N-no…” Dash muttered. “I just…” She pinched her eyes closed.
Nasty ego, echoed again in the back of her mind. Radiating out, a numbness washed over her head. “I just didn’t want some dumb kid to think he was better than me…” she whispered just under her breath.
A gentle hoof on her shoulder forced Dash to peek. Starlight stood over her with a small smile. “Ego is hard to deal with—I should know.”
“Everypony, please.” The unicorn turned to the crowd, holding up a hoof. “With the level of competition Rainbow Dash deals with, this may well have just been an unfortunate accident—a reflex on her part.”
A few jaws dropped along the crowd. She nodded, as if conceding how absurd it sounded.
As Starlight spoke, the world pushed back outwards. Suddenly it wasn’t so hard for Dash to breathe.
“Hear me out, please.” Starlight spread her hoof back towards Dash. “She is wrong here, but we shouldn’t chastise her. In fact, this still highlights just how much we need to help those less fortunate—” her eyes turned back to Dash “—and maybe serve as a reminder to those who are fortunate that their talents shouldn’t be exercised recklessly.”
Dash nodded, her ears folding back.
“Yeah right!” someone called out from the mob. “That kid’s hurt!”
Starlight closed her eyes as she held up a lone hoof. “He’s wing’s broken, certainly, but let’s not be too rash here.” When she opened her eyes, Starlight furrowed her brow and looked to Dash. “I saw Rainbow this morning before the race, and she was under such stress. Perhaps at the starting line she resorted to what she knew best—doing her best.”
A few ponies took a step back.
“We’ve put a lot of pressure on her today, and we pushed a colt into a situation he shouldn’t be in all for a news story and a publicity stunt. I think we all share in this to some extent.” Starlight lowered her head, ears falling as she did. “Rainbow, I’m sorry for my comments last night. I’m sure they didn’t help today.”
Dash took a sharp breath. “I-it’s fine. I’m sorry, everypony. I should have been more level-headed. I let my nerves—” Dash coughed “—get the better of me.”
Twilight clenched her jaw firm. “And what about the injured colt in the medical tent? I don’t think apologies are going to make that better.”
Dash jumped up. “I’ll do whatever I can!” She narrowed her eyes, deadly serious at Twilight. “For him, for the charity—I’ll make it right!”
Twilight sighed and leaned in to Dash. “Something like this had better not happen again,” she whispered.
“It won’t,” Dash whispered back.
Twilight nodded. “Let’s make sure the colt’s okay before we start punishing somepony, alright?” she asked to the crowed, stepping towards the medical tent.
The mob dispersed at the princess’ behest, with a few snide looks from annoyed onlookers primed at Dash. She let out a sigh as Starlight gave her a soft pat on the shoulder.
“I don’t think that will work again, so please don’t let your ego get the better of you the next time you do something like this?”
Dash nodded. “You got it.” She looked up at Starlight, ears still folded back. But despite that, a soft, high-pitched squeal burrowed into her eardrums. “Thanks for covering for me,” she added, rubbing her forehead.
Starlight smirked. “Of course. I’d always help out a friend.”
The End
Author's Note
Written for the The Twilight Zone minific writeoff .
