A Night of Dashing Dreams

by Nyronus

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Luna, Drama, Rainbow Dash, Comedy
Length: 9713

Luna decides to take Dash up on her interest in dreamwalking. Dash decides to be awesome. No one is ready for the consequences.

Luna invites Rainbow Dash on her dreamwalking duties.

Dream-ruining, spider-safety lessons, abduction, and imprisonment ensue.

Maybe the dream realm can't handle this much awesome.

Special thanks to SoloBrony for helping me hammer out the details.

Thanks to SoloBrony and JWolfSilver for editing, and to them and Wanderer D and AliceLiz for prereading.

Published 2019-04-16 05:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-04-24 02:28:30 UTC

Chapter 1: Jumping at the Call

“Are we ready to go?”

Luna chuckled as she made a circuit around the room, tending to all the flowers.

“I admit, Dash, I may have to invite you on my vigils more often, if only because it makes tending the palace lavender a much swifter task.”

“Pff, no problem.” Dash continued hovering in place for a second, stock still aside from her wings, and silent. “So, we ready to go?”

Luna smiled, setting down the watering can.

“I believe so.”

“Yes!” Dash pumped a hoof and backflipped out of the air onto one of the cushions on Luna’s floor. Luna gracefully slid into the one across from her.

“Alright, before we begin, I want to reiterate two points: that of discretion and observation-”

“Yeah, yeah, dreams are like crazy piles of ponies’ personal thoughts and memories and stuff, so like, keep an eye out and try not to embarass them or talk about it later.” Rainbow rolled her hoof as she rattled on. “Trust me, Pinkie Pie is like my bestie. I tooootally get all that stuff.”

Luna stared, tilted her head, looked aside, then shrugged and smiled.

“Alright then, let us begin.”

Luna’s horn came alive with silvery tendrils of light, and one reached out and touched Dash directly between the eyes.

The world was wiped away in a wave of black, leaving the two of them perfectly alone.

Then slowly, a blue fog of light faded in, and it began raining dreams.

Hundreds of orbs, each a window into the mind of sleeping pony, floated down from above, their numbers fading out into infinity in every direction.

“Wooooah.” Dash said, flapping around, trying to look at each one as they came down. “This is cool.”

“Welcome to the realm of dreams, Rainbow Dash.”

“This is what it’s like for you every night?” Dash circled a sphere depicting a pony juggling fish while unicycling along the edge of a skyscraper. “This is so. Awesome.”

Luna blushed.

“I suppose it is.”

Faint sounds began filtering in from all the dreams.

“I am so glad you asked me too-” Dash wheeled around, her eyes locking on a sphere. A faint scream echoed through the fog. “Looks like it’s time to get to work!”

Luna blinked and looked, trying to follow Dash’s vision. She locked onto one of the spheres.

“Wait, Rainbow Dash, that’s-”

But Dash was gone in a bolt, vanishing into the sphere.

Luna frowned, and began gently flapping after her.

Lily Longstocking let out another scream. The timber wolves howled in delight at the sound, closing in with every ragged pant.

A clearing opened up ahead, and at its far end, was a rock outcropping on which sat a huge boulder.

Lily’s face twisted into a smirk and she let out another warbling, insincere scream.

The timber wolves took the bait, hook, line and sinker, and chased her straight into the clearing.

With a single mighty bound she leapt, clearing the boulder and the rock at once. She landed behind it, then, with a single mighty heave, reared up on her hind legs, the huge rock held over her head. The wolves skidded to a halt, only realizing too late her trap.

“Hah! Gotcha!”

And then a howling vortex of wind and light smashed straight into the clearing, wiping out the wolves in an instant.

Plus most of the trees.

“Have no fear, Rainbow Dash is here!”

The smoke cleared, revealing the pegasus in all her glory.

Lily groaned and hucked the boulder to the side.

“I had that.”

“Wut.”

“I lured them here so I could smash them with the rock.”

“This wasn’t a nightmare?”

“No it-” Lily shook her head. “No, totally not.”

Suddenly a bunch of foals and fillies filled the clearing.

“Wow, Rainbow Dash! That was so cool!” Scootaloo piped up.

“I’m so glad you came, Rainbow Dash!” Diamond Tiara said.

“Wow, Miss Dash, you were so amazing!” Pipsqueak bounced in place.

Lily went silent, hunched over, and turned to walk away.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone!” Dash waved the foals away from her and flew up to her. “You dream about kicking major monster butt?”

Lily sulked as she walked.

“Yeah.”

“That’s so cool! I thought I was the only one!” Dash swooped ahead of her. “Can you really lift rocks like that?”

Lily stopped.

“I mean, yeah.”

“Oh. My. Gosh.” Dash pressed her cheeks in. “That’s so cool.”

Lily blinked.

“Really?”

“Yeah, totally! I mean, I’m fast, and speed can count for a lot when it comes to kicking butt, but not even I can do stuff like that!”

Lily gave a small smile.

“It is kind of useful.”

“It’s more than useful, kid. It’s - wait. Have you met Rockhoof?”

“The legendary earth pony hero?”

“The one and the same.”

“You know him?”

“Course I do.” Rainbow leaned in, smirking. “Me and my friends were totally the ones who got him out of Limbo.”

Lily’s jaw dropped.

“I totally need to hook you two up so you two can, like, bond over your crazy-awesome earth pony strength.”

It was at that moment that Luna hovered into the scene, but Rainbow Dash went on.

“He was pretty down because he didn’t know what to do with his crazy strength, so you can show him a thing or two.”

Lily stared ahead.

“He was my favorite hero…”

“Oh wow, that’s even better. He’ll get a real kick out of that. You live in Ponyville, right? Asks Scoots to find me, I’ll totally do that. It will be awesome.” She grinned and leaned back as she hovered up a foot. “Plus, you need to take me on one of these monster kicking trips you do, sometime.”

Lily looked away and frowned.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t kick any monsters. Or anything. It’s just a dream.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Dreams contain a mix of memory, desire, anxieties, and fear, Rainbow Dash.” Luna landed next to the two of them. “I suspect what you interrupted was a fantasy, was it not, my child?”

“Yeah…”

“Why are you sad, then? This is a cool fantasy.”

“Because that’s all it is!” Lily grumbled as her stance curled inward even tighter. “To most ponies I’m just a weirdo. A filly who can pick up houses, but when I dream, at least I can be useful.”

“Hold it! Hold it right there!” Dash landed right in-front of her. “You stop that right now! You are not useless!”

“But all I do is creep ponies out when I-”

“Then buck them!” Rainbow Dash said. “Foals made fun of me all the time because I wanted to be a Wonderbolt. They even called me ‘Rainbow Crash’ at flight camp, and you know what?”

Dash leapt up into the air, throwing her hooves wide and in a flash was sporting her yellow and blue flight suit.

“I’m a Wonderbolt! I never let them stop me, and now they work on a rain cloud assembly line and I fly with freaking Spitfire.” Rainbow Dash leaned in. “You wanna be a kick-flank monster hunter? Go out and do it!”

Luna gave Rainbow Dash a look. Dash blinked and then blushed.

“I mean, yeah, you really shouldn’t be going into the Everfree. That place is crazy, even crazier now, but that doesn’t mean you should give up just because some loser gave you the stink eye.”

Somewhere in the clearing, the figment of Diamond Tiara blushed and shuffled her hooves.

“And maybe you don’t want to hunt monsters - that’s cool too! You’re a filly and if kicking flank isn’t your jam, you have time to figure that out. Heck, I’m sure Rockhoof would have all sorts of advice and stories. It’s kind of his job, now. What I’m sayin’ is, don’t give up. Build a playhouse out of boulders, go talk to Maud, don’t give up on what makes you special.”

“Yeah, Lily, your strength is so cool!” The Scootaloo projection leapt in to say.

“You’re the best!” Pipsqueak chimed in.

“I am really sorry I said those things to you.” Diamond Tiara pouted.

“Yeah, see! Tell your friends, they’ll have your backs! You’ve got a gift kid, so go out and use it. Prove those losers wrong!”

Lily smiled, tears in her eyes.

“You mean it?”

“Uh, duh!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have said it otherwise.”

Rainbow suddenly found herself in a hug.

“Thank you, Miss Dash!”

“No problem, kid.” Rainbow said, patting Lily’s mane.

Lily let go and smiled wide.

“As soon as I get to school tomorrow I’m gonna get everyone together to make a fort in the park! A real one!” She bounced in place.

“That’s the spirit!”

“I’ll see you later!” Lily turned and began walking away, the memories of the foals, falling in around her, chattering her praises.

“Remember to ask Scoots to find me! I really think you and Rockhoof should chat!”

“I will, thank you!”

And with that, Lily was gone and the ruined clearing was getting blurry.

Dash turned to face Luna, an embarrassed grin on her face.

“Cute kid.”

“Indeed.”

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head.

“Kinda got ahead of myself there, didn’t I?”

Luna quirked her head, then rubbed her chin.

“While it is true that you intervened where there was no present danger, you did so to the best of your knowledge and with good intentions.” She looked down at Rainbow. “Furthermore, you bonded fast with the dreamer and even managed to find a hidden anxiety and dispel it with reason and impassioned advocacy.” Luna smiled. “It’s hard to imagine a more resounding success.”

Rainbow’s grin widened and she pumped a hoof in the air.

“Aww yeah!”

“‘Tis but one dream.” Luna clapped her on the shoulder. “Come, the night is young, and there are many yet to attend to.”

“Alright!”

Luna smiled and took to the air. Rainbow followed and the world washed into the light and mist of the realm of dreams.

Chapter 2: Dreaming at the Speed of Sound

Luna and Rainbow Dash drifted through the dreamscape when Dash frowned.

“Hey Luna, how did you know that wasn’t a nightmare?”

Luna looked over her shoulder.

“Hmm? Ah, dreams have a certain timbre to them that distinguishes them from a nightmare. The key thing, as you well know, is how the dreamer feels about the experience.”

“So, is it a thing you can just… feel? Can anypony do it?”

Luna tilted her head up for a moment.

“Perhaps. It would take some time and experience here, though.”

“Okay…” Rainbow Dash considered Luna’s words. “Can you show me one?”

Luna nodded.

“Very well.” Luna banked right, and Rainbow Dash followed. After a few minutes, she stopped.

“There.” She gestured to a sphere. An earth pony was falling through empty space within.

“Right… and that’s the only one around?”

“Yes.”

Rainbow Dash began flying, circling the nightmare. After a few cycles, she broke off and began weaving around the other nearby dreams. Never looking at them, just flying through them. She then went back to the nightmare, circling it a few more times, and then back out, this time weaving a wider arc around it. She repeated this a few more times, going farther afield each time before coming back. Suddenly, she peeled off and began flying away.

“Come on!”

Luna obliged.

Rainbow Dash picked up pace and flew ahead of Luna, looking straight ahead. After a moment, she pointed at a sphere.

“Dream?”

“Yes.”

She drifted forward for a moment more, and pointed again.

“Dream?”

“Dream.”

She stopped at a sphere and gestured.

“Nightmare?”

“No, Dream - wait.” Luna paused and stared into it. “There are… hints of nightmare, I think.”

“Yes!”

Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof and then began flying away again, never looking at the spheres as she pointed to them.

“Dream?”

“Dream.”

“Dream?”

“Dream.”

“Dream? Dream?”

“Yes to both.”

She paused over a sphere of a stallion sitting alone on the beach.

“...Nightmare?”

Luna blinked.

“Yes.”

Rainbow backflipped.

“Awww yeah!”

“I admit, I am impressed. How did you manage that guess?”

“Heh, it’s because I’m so awesome.”

Luna laughed.

“It seems so.”

“Let’s go!!” Dash began flipping around the spheres, grinning. “Dream. Dream. Dream.” She paused at one and pointed at a sphere. It was filled with clowns. “Nightmare, right?”

“Yes on all counts.”

“Hah! Got it!”

“I admit, I am surprised at the speed and confidence with which you picked this up. Pray tell, how?

“Heh.” Rainbow started flying ahead as she talked. “I pay a lot of attention to everything around me when I fly without thinking about it. Twilight figured out it made me a freaky learning sponge thing, so now when I need to figure something out, I just fly around a lot and usually have someone talk to me.”

Luna grinned widened as she caught up.

“Most impressive.”

“I know, right?”

“Well, it seems you are mastering this craft much faster than I thought.”

“Yeah, well, you know what that means?”

“What is that?”

“It means it’s time to get to work!”

Luna’s grin sharpened.

“Very well, Rainbow Dash. Lead the way.”

The colt turned a corner and stopped short.

It was a dead end.

“Well, well, well.”

The colt turned around. Big Shot and his two goons filled the only exit.

“Looks like there’s nowhere else for you to go, you little runt.”

The colt took a step back.

“Please, please, I didn’t mean to spill your lunch.”

“Too late for that, runt. I think it’s time you learned how to respect other ponies’ space.”

Big Shot took a step forward, grinning with something mad in his eyes.

That’s when a streak of rainbow light slammed into the alley and everyone ducked under the burst of wind.

“And I think it’s time for you to find someone else to pick on, punk!”

The dust cleared and a fully grown pegasus hovered in the alley, glowering and pounding one hoof into the other.

“Unless you’d like to pick on me.”

“Uh, no ma’am!”

“Good. Then get out of here!”

Big Shot and his posse scrambled to get away.

The colt sputtered in shock. The pegasus landed and held out a hoof.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash. Part time teacher, part time dream guardian, full time hero and Wonderbolt. What’s your name, kid?”

“Abacus Tally, m-ma’am.”

“Cool. Those kids ever beat you up before?”

“N-no, but sometimes they say they will.”

“Cool. Well, not cool. Listen, kids like him often have something bad going on and they have to make someone else feel crummy to feel better. Just blow them off. Laugh back at their jokes, but if they ever try to hurt you - find an adult. They won’t have the guts to come after you when ponies are watching.” She looked around. “This is Manehattan, right?”

“R-right.”

“Cool. If there isn’t a teacher or parent around, head to Saddle Row and look for a place called ‘Rarity For You.’ Ask for either Coco Pommel or Rarity. They’ll have your back. Tell them I sent you, and I’ll find out.” Rainbow Dash nodded. “You got that?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Cool. Also, if you wanna learn how to defend yourself if they get you, try Wing-Chun. I practice it, and it’s awesome!” She grinned. “You gonna leave me hanging?” She wiggled her hoof.

Abacus raised his hoof for a shake. Rainbow Dash bumped it.

“Awesome. Gotta go. Dreams to save. Later!”

Rainbow Dash took to the sky. Abbacus looked up. Princess Luna was flying overhead, smiling.

“Take care, my little pony!” She waved down to him, and both she and Rainbow Dash vanished into the wind.

He stood there staring for a long time.

The filly screamed as the horrible mass of shadows gave chase. Its claws seemed to reach impossibly far across the hallway and she could see them looming close behind her.

Then a streak of rainbow and cyan shot overhead.

The filly stopped, pivoted and watched as a blue pegasus gave out a mighty cry as she spun the mass of legs and claws backward over her shoulder and straight out a window.

The pegasus flipped back to upright and thrust her hoof out the broken window.

“Take that, suckah!”

There was scrabbling and snarling outside.

“Oh you wanna go? Round two, ugly!”

The pegasus flew out the window.

There was a sound of a great deal of destruction. Then howling, and something running away across the lawn and into the woods.

“And stay gone, hah!”

The pegasus flew back in in a instant.

“Woo! Hey, you okay?”

“Y-yes.”

“Cool. You know shadow monsters aren’t real, right?” She paused. “Well, at least really uncommon.”

The filly’s eyes widened.

“Look, forget I said that.” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof.

The filly shook her head and then looked up at Rainbow Dash.

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I did know that.” She replied.

“Cool. So, you good?” Rainbow grinned.

“Sorry, I just read about it in a book, and sometimes I dream about them.”

“Hey, no need to apologize. Sometimes you get silly fears like that and it just takes some time and courage to work past it, you know?”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Hey, wanna know a secret?”

“What?”

Rainbow leaned in, tilting her head to the side as she whispered. “Water? Like, lakes and ponds? Creeped me out when I was super young. What even is it? You can’t stand on it, or fly in it, right? Super weird.”

The filly laughed.

“That’s silly!”

“Yep!” Rainbow Dash straightened and grinned. “S’why when we went to the beach, I decided, you know what? I don’t have time for that and jumped right in!”

“Wow!”

“Yep. So keep it up, and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“Thanks, Miss!”

“No prob, kid. Also, it’s Rainbow Dash!”

And with that, the pegasus gave a salute, took flight, and was out the window and gone.

“And that’s why our yearly wield whill - ooo nwo!”

Seed Grain flailed his hooves, desperately trying to catch his teeth as they fell out of his mouth.

And then a flash of blue blinked past him and his falling teeth were gone.

“Head’s up!”

A blue hoof came in from his left and slammed all his teeth back in and clamped down on his muzzle.

“Yo, you good?”

He looked at this strange pegasus, then paused to run his tongue over his teeth. All there. Apparently.

“Mmm hmm.”

She let go and hovered up in the air.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash. So, teeth. Why a nightmare about that?”

He flinched.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just-”

“Woah, dude! No need to apologize.” She smiled. “I’m here to help.”

“Oh. Right. Right.” He still frowned in shame. “I’m just nervous.”

“I have to give this presentation to then investors and I’m so worried they’ll be bored, or they’ll think I’m ugly that I just feel like I’m gwonna fwall apa-oof!” His hooves went back to his mouth, catching the first teeth in time.

“Woah! Hey, take it easy. What is this even about?”

“Crop irrigation.”

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, “boring.”

“It’s not boring! This new system is not only better than traditional watering techniques, but it’s extensible and highly adaptable! Crop yields in places like Appleloosa could go up 22%!”

Rainbow Dash grinned and jabbed both hooves his way.

“Gotcha!”

Grain Seed just flapped his mouth.

“Dude, just get that hype when you go to speak and you’ll knock ‘em dead! You got it in you already.”

“But…” He turned and looked at the dead eyed audience of business ponies. “They keep staring. It makes me nervous.”

Rainbow Dash glared and looked at the figments.

“Hey! Give this dude some credit! This stuff is really important. I’ve got friends in Appleloosa!”

Grain Seed blinked. The phantoms suddenly got sheepish and muttered half apologies. Rainbow Dash turned back, grinning.

“Like I said man, you’ve got fire in you. Just care about it as much when you go to speak as you did just now, and ponies will jump at the chance to invest in your… what was it?”

“Crop Irrigation.” He said, annoyed.

“Right, that. Cool. Just stand up for what you believe and you’ll be fine!” She flew towards the window. “Anyway, gotta go, dreams to save! Send a letter to me in Ponyville about how it went!”

And then she was gone.

Grain Seed stared for a moment, frowning. He then turned back to his audience, picked up his notes, stood up straight and cleared his throat.

“Right. Where were we?”

Rainbow soared between the dream spheres, a streak of rainbow light, while Luna weaved beside her in a streak of stars and darkness.

“Unorthodox,” Luna commented, “but I think he’ll be fine.”

“‘Course he’ll be fine.” Rainbow twisted and spun as she passed through a quartet of dreams, Luna followed close on her tail. “Woo! We’re making time!”

“We are.” Luna agreed.

Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you can keep up with me, Princess.”

Luna smiled back.

“Motion in the realm of dreams is subjective, Rainbow Dash. I move this fast because I want to.”

“Hah! Didn’t know you dreamed of being as fast as me!”

Luna laughed and grinned.

“I don’t. Truthfully, your enthusiasm is just infectious.”

“Hah!” Rainbow looped up, over, and around a harmless dream. “Well then, let’s keep up the pace!”

Luna’s grin widened to match Dash’s,

“Yes, let’s.”

The filly barred the door as she slammed it closed behind her.

The hungry dead snarled and pounded on the door, all the same.

She walked backward, terrified.

Until she bumped into the edge of the roof she was trapped on.

Hundreds of zombies moaned from below as they saw her.

Terrified she huddled into a ball.

There was a terrible, roaring wind and then, as it faded, silence.

She opened her eyes. A blue pegasus flopped onto the roof, and wiped her brow of sweat with a huff.

“Whew! That was a work out. Hey, kid?”

“Yeah.”

“You know zombies aren’t real, right?”

She blinked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Cool. So don’t sweat ‘em. Trust me, not fun.”

The filly blinked. The pegasus thought for a moment and then grinned.

“Plus, they ever bother you again? Just use your trusty machete.”

“My trusty machete?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t you have a trusty machete in the zombie apocalypse?”

The filly reached up and pulled the machete clear from the sheath on her shoulder, where it had always been.

After all, why wouldn’t she have a trusty machete in the zombie apocalypse?

“Huh, you’re right.”

“Yep. Totally am. Take care kid!” The pegasus took flight, and shot upwards, parting the clouds as she vanished.

The filly stood for a moment, admiring her weapon, then sheathed it and went back to the door to go for a walk while humming a tune.

The mare screamed and swung her broom into the black tide as it poured over her floor, but the swarm of spiders was undeterred.

“Woah, woah, woah!” A pegasus swooped in and snatched the broom from her hand. “Hold it! Hold it!” She turned and glared at the spiders. “Hold. it!”

Both the mare and infinite horde of spiders stopped short, not sure what to say. The pegasus wheeled on the mare, frowning.

“Why are you hitting them?”

Her mouth flapped for a moment.

“Come on, why?”

“...Who are you?”

“Ugh,” the pegasus smacked her face. “Rainbow Dash, Dream Guardian, Wonderbolt, yadda yadda - why were you hitting them?”

“... they were going to eat me?”

Rainbow Dash smacked her face again.

“Spiders don’t eat ponies!”

“... oh, yeah.”

Rainbow Dash pointed.

“I mean, look! That one’s a huntsman! That’s a house spider! They couldn’t hurt you if they tried. That’s a wolf spider! Those ones will eat the bad bugs.” She shook her head and turned back to the mare. “Honestly, hurt you… they’re scared of you!”

“They… are?”

“Yes! Imagine if you had to live in a town with a full sized dragon and it just stomped around without caring where it stepped. Wouldn’t that freak you out?”

“Uh… yeah. I guess.”

“Image how they feel!”

“I guess I never thought of it that way…” She twisted her lip. “But what about the venomous ones?”

“Figure out what they look like and don’t touch them or stick your hand in dark places outside without checking, duh! Plus, like, the black widow is, like the deadliest spider around here, and you wanna know how many ponies have died from being bitten?”

“Uh… a lot?”

“Zero! In like eighty years! They couldn’t kill you if you’re in shape if they wanted. It’s only, like, kids and sick ponies who have to worry about them. Plus, we have medicine for them now even then. It really sucks, but, like, you have more to be afraid from walking down stairs then them!”

“But what if one gets on me? I still don’t want to get sick or die.”

“Okay, okay, watch this.” Rainbow Dash reached down into the black horde of fangs and legs. “Come on, one of you hop on.”

A black widow, appropriately, obliged.

“Okay, so, here, if one gets on you, don’t freak out. Keep calm and keep an eye on them.” The spider began trekking up her foreleg. “If they start doing this? Don’t let them get up your shoulder. Then you might hit them with your mane and get bit. Just do this.” Rainbow put her hoof on her leg in the spider’s path. It blithely crawled onto her hoof, which she pulled away. “Just keep doing that so they can keep walking without letting them get away. Keep chill, and find a place to put them.” She smiled down at the spider. “Who’s an awesome, scary, little girl? It’s you!” She repeated the process with the first hoof, and then deposited the spider back on the floor. “There, like that.”

“So… they’re safe?”

“No! They’re scared wild animals! Don’t go petting them or something, but they’re also just interested in going about their business. Don’t get in their way and you’ll be fine. Trust me.” She then frowned. “Except in the Everfree. Those spiders are crazy! Size of your head!”

The mare blanched.

“But here? Yeah, just stay clear.” Rainbow Dash then turned back to the spider horde. “Okay guys, you heard that. You’re clear. Scram.”

The inky void of arachnids shuffled for a moment, and then slowly poured back out the open door they’d come in. Rainbow Dash turned back to the mare.

“Plus, spiders never work together like that.” She paused. “Unless they’re social spiders.”

“Social spiders?”

“Okay, you know ants? That, but with spiders.”

The mare shuddered.

“Please leave.”

“No prob!”

Rainbow Dash bolted out the door after the spiders.

The mare sighed and started getting down from the end table.

She spotted a spider lingering in the kitchen.

She closed her eyes, let out a breath - and then ignored it, turning away to sweep.

“Where did-?”

“Fluttershy.” Dash cut Luna off. “She has like six of things in her house. Everfree breeds, too. Like I said, size of your face. Super smart, too.”

“Huh.”

Dash banked under a cluster of dreams side by side with Luna.

“You pick up a lot of animal facts around her, trust me.”

“Right. Still, you provided a surprisingly thorough education.”

“Eh, it’s whatever.”

Luna chuckled, and then looked ahead.

“We only have a few hours left before I need to lower the moon.”

“You want to split up, then?”

Luna pondered, then smiled.

“I see no harm in that, now. If you need help, withdraw and find me.”

“You got it, Luna!” Dash pointed both hooves at Luna as she banked into a turn and peeled away to the left. Luna raised a wing and veered right.

Rainbow Dash let herself feel the tone of the aether around her, and zeroed in on a point of dissonance. Dead ahead was a sphere depicting a storm. She grinned, overshot it, veered hard up, went into free fall and at the last second, reversed direction and shot straight in.

A few minutes passed and she burst out again.

“Hah! Tornado! Easy! You see that, Luna?” She glanced to her right.

Luna was gone.

Rainbow smacked herself in the face.

“Splitting up, right.”

She wheeled about and began flying in a random direction.

Soon she felt that offbeat vibration she knew was a nightmare.

“Heh, alright.” She grinned, and changed course. Within minutes she found it among the other dreams.

“Here we go!”

She then dove straight in.

Chapter 3: Things Hooves Can('t) Fix

A shatter broke the stillness of the room.

The whole building seemed to go dark.

Building Beam looked up from the broken vase at his hooves. Towering over him was the shadowy, angular form of a full grown mare.

“I didn’t-”

The shadow smashed its hoof across Beam’s muzzle before he could finish apologizing.

“Why are you so worthless?” She croaked as Beam curled into a ball.

Building Beam began shaking.

“I asked you a questio—!”

“HIIIIYAAA!”

There was a crash, and Building Beam snapped up and saw a cyan pegasus, hoof planted firmly in the face of the figure.

The shadow was sent careening across the room and straight through the wall.

“Hah! Sorry kid, name’s Rainbow—”

“Mom!”

Beam bolted towards the hole in the wall. Dash blinked.

Crumpled in the hole in the wall wasn’t a warped mare of angles and shadow, but a wounded unicorn mare.

“What?!”

“Mom! Mom! Wake up!” Beam shook her, but she didn’t respond.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up, what the hay is—”

“Why did you do that?!” The colt’s voice broke as he screamed at Dash.

“She was… she was attacking you…”

Beam went back to trying to wake his mother. Dash stared, panting, glacing about.

“So this is how you treat your mother.”

Dash and Beam looked at the doorway at once. An angular earth pony stallion drained of color stood in the frame.

“After everything she’s done for you, this is how you treat her?”

“I didn’t—I didn’t mean for any of this to happen!”

“I’m tired of your excuses.” The stallion advanced.

“Hey! Hold up!” Dash leapt in his way. “I’m the one who decked her - you wanna shout at somepony, take me on for size!”

“You want to know why she hits you, kid?” The stallion gave an exhausted glare, ignoring Dash entirely. “It’s because you never own up to anything. Always trying to get away with being lazy. You think you’re gonna get ahead like that?!”

Dash reared up and decked the figment clear down the hallway.

“Dad!”

Dash wheeled on Building Beam.

“It’s a dream, dude! It’s a dream, you gotta calm down!”

“Just like him.” The mare was suddenly upright. Her eyes were sunken and haggard. “Crying because he thinks his crocodile tears can fool us.”

The stallion shook his head in the doorway, unharmed.

“All he can do is cry. Can’t even act his age.”

“Urrrggghhh!” Dash leapt into the air, snarling. “Buck. This.”

Suddenly Building Beam was in her arms. There was a horrible roar of wind, and his house dissolved into a vortex of wood, dust, and stone. Then, he was flying away.

He watched as Canterlot vanished beneath him. Then Equestria. Then the day, and the night. It all blurred into a stream of color. He looked up to the pegasus who’d grabbed him.

She was crying.

Time stretched out, and then suddenly the colors separated and they were landing in a glade beneath the moon. Rainbow Dash set him down. She flapped to a landing next to him, panting.

“You… you, okay, kid?”

Building Beam shook, and then swallowed.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“Cool… awesome.” Rainbow Dash plopped down. “Wild dream, huh, kid?”

He rubbed his head and tried to think.

“It… it was a dream, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, totally. I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way. Wonderbolt, Teacher… yadda yadda… part time dream guardian.” She took in a deep breath and managed to stop panting. “I’ve seen some doozies tonight, but you take the cake, kid.”

“Sorry.” He said.

“No, no, don’t apologize, I was just—” She rolled her head on her neck. “It’s fine, really. It’s kind of this thing about helping ponies I have. We’re cool.” She closed her eyes for a moment, and then looked at him. “Mind telling me what that was all about? That was way too hardcore to just be something you read in a book.”

Building Beam looked away.

“Kid, you dream about your mom beating you, and your dad cheering it on, and I haven’t seen a nightmare keep getting worse like that. Come on.”

“They aren’t always like that.” He said, barely audible.

Rainbow Dash grimaced and rubbed her face.

“Boy, I wish Luna had given me a longer training course.”

“The princess?”

“Yeah. I’m helping her tonight.” Rainbow Dash sighed and stood up. “Come on, let’s walk. I think better when I move.”

Building Beam slowly stood and followed after her.

“So… you said ‘aren’t always.’ Has this happened before?”

He looked away.

“Kid, please. Help me out.”

“A few times.” He said, less quiet now. “I don’t mean to be so clumsy, but sometimes I get anxious, and she doesn’t always believe me.”

Dash sighed.

“That’s not cool, kid.”

“She says she doesn’t mean too!”

Dash seized up. Then let out a slow breath and turned towards him.

“Which is why she keeps doing it, right?” She glared at the ground, and then turned away, walking in a circle now. “That’s not how things work. Parents take care of foals. Help them out. It’s why I wanted to be a Wonderbolt. I wanted to inspire everyone the same way they inspired me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I—” Dash rubbed her face again. “Don’t apologize. It’s not you.” She huffed, and then stopped square in-front of him and grabbed his shoulders. “Listen, kid. What you just dreamt up? That’s not normal! Every time you got scared, they kept getting back up and coming after you. You know what dreams are, right? They’re you! A big mess of you! Mostly that makes them really random, but when you have something real bad inside you, it comes out! You’ve had this dream before, haven’t you?”

Beam looked away.

“And they never stop, do they? They always keep coming, tearing you down like that? I bet this isn’t the first time you’ve had something try to stop them, and it never works, does it? That’s how you see them! Always coming after you, and if they’ve been hitting you and saying stuff like that all the time, I can’t imagine how you wouldn’t dream about them like this!”

Beam began crying.

“Kid… kid… ah, horsefeathers.” Dash pulled Beam into a hug. “Let it out, kid.”

And he did, and Rainbow waited patiently for him.

“I don’t know what to do.” Beam said, finally.

Rainbow Dash was silent.

“What do I do?” He went on. “I… I don’t want things to be bad again.”

“I’m thinking.” She gave a pained look. “Gimme a second.”

Building Beam went silent. Rainbow Dash’s muzzle suddenly hardened.

“I need you to be honest with me, kid. Wait - what’s your name?”

“Building Beam.”

“Okay, Building Beam. You’ve told them to stop, right?”

“I tried.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and went on.

“Right, and they kept doing this even after you tell them not to, and even after they apologize?”

He looked away.

“Yes.”

“Stay with me, Beam. Do they blame you for the way they treat you?”

“I am clumsy.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Rainbow Dash snapped, and then she stopped. She closed her eyes and took another breath. “You don’t hit a… you don’t hit a kid for dropping a plate. I’m sorry.” She looked him in the eyes again. “We gotta keep going. They do this when they’re already angry about something else, right?”

“Dad’s job is hard and he and Mom fight all the time.”

“I get that, but that’s when she hits you, right?”

Beam looked away.

“That’s a yes. Cool. How long?”

“Uh—”

“How long have they been hitting you and blaming you?”

Beam started to look away.

“Come on kid. Time’s weird in dreams. I need all your answers, fast.”

He grimaced.

“Two years. I think.”

Dash winced.

“Your mom hits you, and your dad says stuff to you to justify it, right? That’s how it works?”

“Yes…”

“Alright.” Dash rapidly nodded as if agreeing with someone who wasn’t there. “Alright. I think that’s it.”

Suddenly a sound echoed. It was impossibly far away, but somehow larger than the whole universe.

Building Beam quailed in fear. Dash shook him and locked eyes with him.

“Your address. What’s your address?”

“I don’t—”

“Street and description then!”

“Uh – Prance! Prance Drive! Purple roof and green door!”

“Got it!”

The sound echoed again. The world began shaking.

“Listen to me, kid.” Rainbow didn’t let him look away. “I’m coming, you hear me? I’ll protect you.”

“How?”

Dash grinned.

“Trust me, I’m Rainbow Dash!”

Then the sound blasted so impossibly loud as to make the whole world burst apart into darkness. Dash recognized it now.

It had been Building Beam’s father, shouting.

Luna gave few flaps, clearing the sphere she had exited and out into the aether, a grin wide on her face.

“Hmm! Dash’s enthusiasm really is infectious. I need to—...?”

There was something very wrong.

Luna’s eyes focused. Vastly far away was a rainbow, and it was moving very, very, fast.

It started sparking.

Luna flinched as the light exploded and washed away the world of dreams.

When she came to, Rainbow Dash was gone.

She approached the open window. She paused for a moment, and then decided to trust her friend. So she turned and walked back into her room.

After all, if Dash needed her help, she already knew to come find her.

Chapter 4: A Knight of Dashing Dreams

Building Beam stared out the window.

His father had woken him up before dawn, like usual. He knew he should be moving. His parents were arguing, and he didn’t want to—to make things worse. Still, he had trouble moving.

He couldn’t stop thinking about a dream he’d had.

There was a knocking on the front door, and his parents stopped shouting.

Building Beam stood very still, listening.

There were voices talking. Then voices rising. Now shouting. Something shattered. There was a voice that wasn’t his parents shouting. They were shouting back. Suddenly what sounded like a tornado echoed from somewhere in his house.

Building Beam then heard someone calling for him. Someone whose voice he’d never heard, yet sounded amazingly familiar. He couldn’t move.

There were more calls, and then the sound of doors rapidly opening and closing, and then his door swung open.

She was there.

“Whew, there you are, squirt.” Rainbow Dash grinned. She wiped off her brow. “Man, missing that endless dream stamina. You ready to go?”

“G-go…?”

Rainbow Dash’s grin widened.

“You wanna make things better, Beam?” She offered a hoof. “Come with me.”

He stood stock still. His face horribly blank.

Then he leapt into her hooves, and Dash flew out the window with him clutched tight to her chest.

Stalwart Buckler was a simple, straightforward guardspony, working the last few minutes of the night shift before the dawn broke.

Which is why it caught him a bit off guard when a rainbow maned pegasus kicked in the front door with a colt slung under one arm.

“Yo!” She said, flapping up and dropping the colt off on a chair. “I need the-uh, the whatever-it-is form for formally reporting a child abuse case.”

Stalwart blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“You know, you see a child abuse case happening, so you bring in the kid, file the paperwork, that thing. You got some?”

“Hold on, hold on.” Stalwart raised a hoof. “For one, who are you? Two, where are this foal’s parents?”

“Rainbow Dash!” She grinned. “As for them…” she looked away for a moment, and then gave a small, sheepish grin, “tied up?”

Stalwart didn’t react for a moment.

“Why did you tie them up?”

“Obstruction of the Duty of an Officer of the Law!”

“You’re an officer?”

“E.U.P. Guard, Wonderbolt Unit, Sergeant Rainbow Dash!” She saluted.

“The Wonderbolts are Guard?”

“On paper, which is what matters!”

Stalwart closed his eyes in pain. He then groaned.

“How do I even know you’re a Wonderbolt?!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, and then raised her hooves to her muzzle.

“Hey! Privates! Anybody here a ‘bolts fan?”

“I am!” A voice shouted from the back.

“Got a picture you can bring out?”

“Sure!” The voice replied.

Rainbow and Stalwart waited, eyes locked. They heard the sound of flapping and then shattering glass.

“Oh my gosh.” The guardspony pointed. “You’re Rainbow Dash!”

Dash’s lips twisted, and she just gestured with a hoof. Stalwart rubbed his muzzle.

“None of that even matters anyway - I’m an EEA-certified teacher, which means I have a duty and legal authority to intervene in an abuse case!” Rainbow Dash went on.

“You’re a teacher, now?” Stalwart’s eyebrows furrowed. “Where do you even teach?”

“Twilight Sparkle’s School of Friendship!”

“That’s not an EEA school!”

“It was for two weeks, so I had to take the stupid test anyway!” Rainbow Dash grinned and winked at him.

Building Beam watched all this with his jaw hanging open.

“I don’t think—”

“Look,” Dash pressed her hoof onto the front desk. “I interviewed him and went down the list of signs of long term physical and emotional abuse, I went to his home, tried face to face intervention, they got violent with me—”

Beam’s jaw went even lower.

“—I had, like, three different legal authorities to act at any time I wanted, but given when I got there his parents were already showing signs of what usually happens before his mom starts smacking him around, there was a clear and present danger so I could have made a citizen’s arrest!” She leaned in, looking Stalwart in the eye. “Which you’d know already if I had the form when I asked.” She leaned back out and crossed her arms. “Plus, if I wanted to abduct the kid I’d be halfway to Griffonstone – no, scratch that, the entire way to Griffonstone – by now. I’m giving him to you so you can assign an agent to his case and do investigation and all that stuff. You know. My job.” She glared.

Stalwart stared at her, and then closed his eyes and sighed. He looked up and straight at Building Beam.

“Any of this true, kid?”

Building Beam froze in place.

“I…” The words died in his mouth.

“You’re safe here, son. Just be honest.”

Building Beam began shaking. Then crying. Rainbow went to his side, and she was hugging him and he, her.

“It’s okay, kid.” Rainbow Dash said, softly. “It will be okay.”

Both Rainbow and Stalwart waited in patient silence for him to respond.

Eventually he looked Stalwart Buckler in the eye, and fiercely nodded before breaking into more sobs. Stalwart sighed and leaned back, looking over his shoulder.

“Sharp Spear! We need a CCF-13! It’s bad!” He leaned forward again and shook his head. “Sweet Celestia.”

“Thanks, Corporal.” Rainbow said, softly.

He nodded.

“You can take him to the back in one of the offices while you file the paperwork. We’ll try to get him some food.”

“You got it.”

So Rainbow Dash picked Building Beam up, and went to work.

“So… what happens, now?” Building Beam asked, staring at the chocolate milk the guardsponies had gotten for him.

“Hrrmm?” Rainbow Dash replied. “O whell vue - bleck.” She spat the pen out. “Sorry about that. I’m basically starting your case. The social service is gonna take you somewhere for a little bit while they and the guard investigate and interview your parents. They’ll determine what happens next; either you’ll get picked up by family, put in the foster system, or your parents will be forced to get counseling, probably, and they’ll monitor you from there.”

“I’m… not gonna see them again, am I?”

Dash frowned, and looked down at her paperwork.

“What I saw in that dream, kid? It was bad. Real bad. You couldn’t think of anything happening but them coming after you and it being your fault. That’s not good. If you stayed there…” Dash looked away. “It wouldn’t have been great. I get that they were your parents, but they were also ponies. Stupid, angry, messed up ponies. I think at some point they probably meant well. I hope so, anyway, but ponies do stupid things when they’re scared.”

Building Beam just stared at his milk. Dash stood up from the desk and stretched. She then plopped down next to him, and clamped a hoof down on his shoulder.

“Listen, Beam? None of that was your fault. I need you to understand that, okay? You aren’t clumsy, or lazy, or a coward. Heck, you’re tougher than me, you know that?”

He looked up. Dash had tears in her eyes and shrugged.

“My parents were nice to me, and I couldn’t handle it! You kept going despite everything that happened, and that takes guts, you hear me? You’re a survivor, and you’ll get through this.”

He nodded.

“Can you still come see me? Even in my dreams?”

Rainbow Dash laughed.

“Of course, kid. C’mere.” She pulled him into a hug. “I’ll keep watch, you got that? Nopony gets left behind when Rainbow Dash is here. Plus,” she gave a small grin, “you get some bad dreams and I’m not there? Call for Princess Luna. She’s almost as awesome as me!”

So the two of them held each other for a while longer as the sun rose outside.

Epilogue: There Is No One In Equestria Like Her

Twilight Sparkle hummed as she put quill to parchment.

Today had been going well. She’d spent lunch with Rarity, organized a preliminary work cited for her latest project, and had managed to work in some Twilight Time with the crusaders.

A knock on the door broke her concentration.

“Come in?”

The door opened and in stepped Princess Luna.

“Twilight.” She said, grinning.

“Luna!” Twilight smiled in return. “Oh! How did the dreamwalking with Rainbow Dash go?”

Luna raised an eyebrow and her grin deepened.

“So she has not told you?”

“No. She came back yesterday and as far as any of us can tell she’s been sleeping this whole time.”

“That is unsurprising.” Luna levitated something she’d had under her wing and laid it on top of Twilight’s desk. Twilight glanced down to see it was a newspaper, and then read the headline.

WILD WONDERBOLT WRESTS WARD FROM WRONGDOING PARENTS IN WHIRLWIND RESCUE

“What.”

Twilight picked it up and began reading furiously. Luna waited in silence.

Twilight put the paper down and looked back up at her.

“...What?!”

“I admit, it was not what I expected when I had invited Rainbow Dash along, but I am admittedly pleased with the results.”

“What?! How? Why?”

“Rainbow Dash came upon a nightmare of the foal that revealed the treatment they had suffered, and leapt to action. Based on the paperwork it seems she had resolved the whole issue in a matter of hours. Stunning, really.”

“She did what? And you let her?” Twilight rose up.

“Oh, there was no letting her involved! She took to the dream alone, and broke out of the realm of dreams by sheer willpower. By the time I had kenned what happened she was already gone, and there is no creature in Equestria who could have captured her. It was very impressive.”

Twilight slunk back down into her chair.

“She just… ran off, and started arresting ponies.”

“It was quite a daring move.” Luna began pacing, smiling as she spoke. “Despite her… unorthodox approach to protocol, I am lead to believe she read the guard on duty quite the riot act, and forced them to action.”

“She bullied the guard into arresting the ponies?!”

“Oh no, she made the arrest – although the article embellishes. She just detained the colt’s parents for obstruction and self defense, no charges on that front have been formally pressed.”

“I can’t believe she can do that…”

“The status of the Wonderbolt as a part of the E.U.P. is somewhat ambiguous, but it is true on paper.” Luna turned to Twilight. “Honestly, based on what I know, she wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you, Twilight!”

“What!?” Twilight snapped her head to look at Luna.

“Indeed! Afterall, it was your instruction that taught her how to learn, and thus become a teacher and Wonderbolt. It also no doubt lead to her retaining what would otherwise be dull trivia well enough to leverage it to her advantage in this crisis.”

Twilight began rubbing her face rapidly.

“Oh, no, no, no!”

Luna tilted her head and frowned.

“Are you alright, Twilight?”

“No, I’m not.” She shook her head. “I never intended to put Rainbow Dash in a position of legal authority! She’s already run off and detained somepony and kidnapped a foal based on a dream! When I imagined her working with you going wrong, I was thinking she’d just hurt somepony’s feelings by being blunt – not instigate a child abuse case in the time it took you to lose track of her!”

Luna frowned and looked away.

“Perhaps I have been unwise in discussing this with you in this manner.” Luna nodded to herself. “I did not realize this would distress you so.”

“It’s not you, Luna.” Twilight sagged. “It’s just now if Rainbow hurts anypony it’s gonna be my fault.” She sighed. “I didn’t realize I’d be giving her this kind of authority by helping her pass a couple tests.”

Luna’s lips thinned and her eyes softened.

“There is much to discuss there, I think, but for a moment, I think we should perhaps return to our prior conversation. Do you remember a running metaphor about hammers?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

“At the time, you compared Rainbow Dash to a hammer, and I rebutted that hammers are a versatile tool, but I gave further thought to that yesterday. I realized something; hammers have been the tools of ponies since before even the time of three tribes. What this meant, I realized, was not just that a hammer has several uses, but that it has always been useful. Much in the same way, as I think you will understand, sometimes the shortest path through a crisis truly is a straight line.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have read Rainbow Dash’s reports, which she filed mostly correctly thanks to you. The dream she faced was a terrible one, where the dreamer was actively reshaping the dream against themselves even with outside intervention. It brought dark memories of the Tantabus to mind.”

Twilight grimaced, and Luna pressed on.

“When Rainbow Dash could not overcome the despair the colt manifested with brawn and bravado, she instead responded by forcing the colt to break their cycle so she could take charge of the situation. She then rushed off because she realized the situation was most likely dire based on the very straightforward interview she had with the colt. While it is true she did not exercise much tact in her confrontation with the parents, such villains will often exploit tact to buy time and spin lies.”

Twilight’s expression evened out and she leaned forward, listening more attentively.

“While she made quite the scene at the guard station, she was relentless in proving herself and would not back down from her cause, allowing the colt to be turned over to the proper authorities quickly. She recognized they would be better able to handle the situation now.”

Twilight’s posture relaxed as Luna said that, and she took on a contemplative look.

“I saw Dash blunder into situations where no problems existed, antagonize ponies in doubt, and alienate others with her impulsiveness, but each time she found some way through. Often she would see problems that were not obvious, or wield her flaws like a hammer to draw out courage or wisdom in ponies crippled by fear. Dash is, as you said, brash, impulsive, and stubborn, but that, from another perspective, makes her fearless, quick to act, and unfaltering.”

Twilight gave an embarrassed frown and rubbed the back of her head.

“As for your role... Dash saved a child from despair and betrayal of the darkest order. One I know all too well.” A shadow passed over her face and was gone. “She did so well within the bounds of the law, and with restraint. After all, it was the mother who threw the potted plant at Rainbow Dash first.”

Twilight snorted out a laugh, and then covered her face. Luna could still see her grin, and returned it.

“Without the temperance and wisdom you taught her, I doubt she would have been able to overcome the nightmare, let alone save the foal from their parents without things having been much messier.”

Twilight gave a sad smile and shook her head.

“I guess when you put it like that, I really underestimated her.”

Luna’s smile softened.

“We both did, I think. I had no idea myself of what my lonely whims would bring.”

“Well, now I feel bad for doubting her and freaking out.”

“Do not fret, Twilight.” Luna said. “I feel your error was an easy one to make. Your concern was for the wellbeing of others, a passion you share with Rainbow Dash. Furthermore, history has inertia, even among friends.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight frowned.

Luna walked toward the window, and gestured towards the hills and forest beyond Ponyville.

“Much like an earth pony among the trees has little sense of the vastness of the forest, the familiarity of friendship can sometimes blind us to things about those around us. Sometimes a pony changes in a way that is so subtle the routines of companionship will hide it from us – or perhaps it was always there, but unseen among the moment to moment rhythm of a friendship. Rainbow Dash has and always will be Rainbow Dash, but beyond the surface, things pass unnoticed.”

“I guess that’s true.” Twilight’s smiled, more warmly now. “We’ve all changed a lot, haven’t we?”

“Indeed! I suspect there are things about you that your friends have not noticed.” Luna gave a mischievous grin. “Once you went to pieces over Celestia’s favor; now it is the well-being of a kingdom that causes your, what was the term? ‘Twilighting?’ ”

Twilight blushed. Luna chuckled. Twilight shook her head and turned to look at the setting sun.

“She really is amazing, isn’t she?”

“I believe the term she would prefer is ‘awesome.’ ”

“I am in some awe.” Twilight giggled. “Both kinds.”

“A sane reaction, I feel.”

Twilight giggled again.

Luna’s face split in a wide grin, in return.

“I think, though, we have had our fill of philosophy and recrimination. I assure you, the colt’s story was but one of Rainbow Dash’s many triumph’s that night. I must tell you of what she did to the poor mare who was afraid of spiders!”

“Oh no!” Twilight groaned, but smiled.

“I assure you, it was quite awesome – and informative.”

So the two stood in Twilight’s office as the sun set, trading stories of Rainbow Dash in all her glory.

Prologue: Have You Considered My Servant Rainbow Dash?

And just like that, Luna got Twilight to stop short.

“Huh?” She said, staring at Luna.

“Hmm?” Luna put down her tea. “I said I had hoped to find Dash before returning to Canterlot. I intended to ask her to help walk the dream world with me soon. Was that not clear?”

“Uh.” Twilight rubbed her face. “No, no, it was. Just… surprising, is all.”

“Why so? She was quite enthusiastic about the idea a few weeks ago.”

“I get that, it’s just…” Twilight inhaled. “Sorry, I really shouldn’t butt in.”

“No, go on Twilight. I value your perspective.”

Twilight grimaced down at her own tea.

“Dash is wonderful, brave, fierce, but she’s…” Twilight’s lips rolled over each other.

Luna raised an eyebrow.

Twilight let out her breath.

“Impulsive, and direct, and… rash.” Twilight shook her head. “Stubborn, too. I don’t really want to sound mean here, I mean, my flaws are apparently now a verb-”

Luna quirked the eyebrow a notch higher.

“-but I just worry she may not have the finesse to handle ponies with dreams. She’s great to have at your back, but sometimes she’s like a hammer looking for nails.”

Luna leaned back, stared at the ceiling for a moment, and shrugged.

“Perhaps that is true, but often courage and loyalty can be tonics in times of doubt and fear. I shall also be with her the whole way, guiding her if need be.” Luna then gave a small, sheepish smile. “Plus, if I am to be as honest as you have been, I admit that I have a selfish motive in this. It is rare that a pony shows such enthusiasm for my work and I wanted… company, for a night.”

Twilight sighed, and smiled.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Luna. Wanting friends to share in your interests is good.”

Luna blushed. Twilight went on.

“And, I guess, if you’re there, things will be okay. Plus, I’m sure Dash will love it. Especially if there’s some monsters for her to fight.”

Luna gave a small, warm smile.

“Well, it has been my experience that hammers are surprisingly versatile tools.”

Twilight laughed, and the two carried on their meeting as the afternoon went on. Soon Luna said her goodbyes to go find Rainbow Dash before raising the moon. Twilight watched her go, and then gave a small frown before shaking her head and turning away.

“I’m sure it will be alright.”

And with that, she went back to work.