A Friendship Torn Apart

The night was serene, and a cool summer breeze swept by the Castle's corridors, due to the few opened windows. Luna had long ago brought up the moon. The view outside, like always was remarkable. The moon glistened and the mountain range beyond Canterlot would have blended in with the blackness if it weren't for the stars illuminating it's peaks, therefore creating an even more pleasant sight to the eye. Too bad almost nopony paid attention to the late night scenery, since everypony in Canterlot was always worn out by the end of the day, looking forward to a good night's sleep and tucking their selves under their snug blankets. The previous set of guards was replaced by those taking the night shift. It was necessary by all means that the castle was observed and watched over non-stop for any intruders. It was almost impossible for anypony to sneak into the castle grounds without getting caught. The guards weren't known to fall asleep, since nopony cared to stay up that late, and the princesses had too much faith in them. Talking about the princesses, Celestia had already fallen asleep a long time ago with no worries at all. It was a long day for her, and she wanted to enjoy her rest as much as possible. Princess Luna, however, as usual stood on the same balcony she always came to to admire her night sky. She didn't sense that there were any nightmares she had to enter, so all was well. She gazed upon the stunning city. Everything was made out of rich material, and there were many minor details and patterns that she didn't even know where to look anymore. Everything was organized and just looked downright flawless. How much everypony cared about detail in Canterlot fascinated her.

"This really is the perfect place for Rarity."- Luna said in a near whisper once catching a glimpse of an entire street with modern boutiques. Luna didn't really have the eye for fashion, but she appreciated it a lot, since she knew how much time and effort many ponies put into assembling just one piece of art. Luna sighed. It was a shame that all of this could end with the possible danger ahead of them. She wasn't sure exactly what said danger was, but alicorns always sensed when something was wrong. Well, probably only her and her sister since Twilight hasn't gone into full panic-mode like the last time she was warned... Heh.

Luna was pretty surprised at the fact that Cadance seemed pretty preserved and calm. It could've been the fact that she, too couldn't sense when something was wrong, or that she was too caught up with her own life with Flurry Heart and Shining Armour that she didn't even care. Perhaps Luna was overreacting, since that didn't sound like Cadance at all, so she decided to go with the first option.

"And what's wrong with Celestia? She is unnaturally calm, and when the same thing happened years ago, she prepared forces for the situation. She was organized and determined to solve everything. Ever since the Elements came, she put all of her trust in them. But this time, she has too much faith in them. Something could be wrong with their friendship, and it is particularly odd when she lashes out at me when I state that we could... warn them? "- Luna said. It was a habit of her's to talk to herself, since she is the Princess Of The Night and for the most part she was alone.

"Overall, my dear sister could be right. We still don't know what is after us, and it could've changed the elements in a way or captured them? I don't know if we can trust them enough to give them details of our knowledge. I suppose all of them seemed a bit out of character to me. "

Rainbow Dash blissfully slept half the night away. A part of her felt that some of the pressure had weighed down a teensie bit. She still hasn't returned to her self- confident and enthusiastic self yet. It was almost unbelievable how somepony could change his/her personality and mental health in such a short period of time. Rainbow Dash was awoken easily this time. It was the middle of the night, ( as mentioned previously) and earlier a loud noise occurred ( it sounded like stomping hooves?). It was odd and Dash couldn't figure out the cause of it. Maybe it was Rarity frustrating over her unfinished designs. Seriously, that pony was so caught up in her designs, it was almost as if she had forgotten about the environment surrounding her..... The sudden desire to fly reached Dash's thoughts. How much she missed to soar in the sky, perform with the wonderbolts... With Soarin. Her broken wing said otherwise. She found out that her other wing recovered before she went to bed, at least.

Dash was so engulfed in her other thoughts, that when she realized something shocking the pressure overwhelming her gained weight again. The 'dreams', as she would call them, had stopped. They had stopped, and she still hadn't received any answers. She still didn't know what to do, she didn't have any plans, and she would fail... She would be a disappointment to everypony if they found out. She didn't know who to trust, and she was on her own.
'I'll probably try to figure out something last minute when something bad actually happens..! Like always... I just wished that this was passed on to my friends. They would have figured something out in no time.'
She just wanted answers.

It was so tempting now. She felt as if her life depended on the very existence of those dreams. They were the only possible things she could think of that could provide the knowledge she so longed for. She was clueless, and at this point she would beg anypony that seemed capable of giving her answers. She knew who stayed up late and the only available pony she could ask, and questioned herself why she didn't think of it earlier.

Luna decided to make breakfast instead of her sister this time, for a surprise. She had a few hours before everypony woke up, so she decided to roll with it. After a short period of time, Luna had already put the finished eight pancakes on the table where they had breakfast everyday. They weren't quite appealing to the average eye, but Luna always told herself that with food the taste was the only thing that mattered. She froze when she heard the sound of hooves coming this way, and quickly magicked her girly apron away.

Rainbow Dash opened the door and came in. She didn't bother to bow, since she didn't feel obliged to do so.

"Hello Princess."- she bluntly said. She was pretty tired, and wasn't used to getting up this early.

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. What brings you up so early? I thought you slept like a foal."

"Oh, Rarity woke me up I guess. And I was wondering, maybe, if you could possibly do a favor for me."- Rainbow said , while glancing down at the floor. She felt kinda awkward asking one of the royal and important princesses for a 'favor'.

"No problem at all, as long as it isn't anything bizarre. Also if you want to fly, I'm pretty worn out to do a wing mending spell so I can't do that for you."

"No, no, I do want to fly, but that's not why I came here. I want to ask you something about my most recent dream."- Dash said.

"Oh, what about it? As far as I could remember, your most recent dream was the one with the, uh, singing flowers. Do you want me to recall it for you? Alright, so it went something like-"

"No, not t-that.... o-one...- Dash said with a horrified look on her face,- The one with the darkness and the mare...? Do you not know about it?"- Luna glanced at Dash with a curious look on her face.
'Oh, shoot....'- Dash thought.

"Rainbow Dash, I am really concerned about this... I know about every dream or nightmare that goes on around Equestria, and I would've know if something like that happened. I'm sure what you had wasn't a dream, more of a hallucination or flashback. Although, there is a possibility that your mind hasn't produced that dream, leaving you unconscious for the amount of time that dream continued. What I'm trying to imply is that another consciousness could have given you this dream, and it takes somepony really powerful to do that. Mind if you tell me about the events of said dream?"- Luna inquired, and Dash stared at her with her jaw hanging, and eyes wide. There was a rush of excitement going through her body, maybe it was possible to get answers after all. And yet she was still shocked with what Luna had just stated. What she had wasn't normal, and she needed to expand her explanation to receive more answers. She longed for answers.

"W-well I can't remember it really well.- said Dash, regaining her calm.- But I'll try to summarize it. So I was floating in this, like, pitch black void. Then a tall mare appeared. I don't really remember any of her features. She just told me that there was something dangerous ahead of Equestria or something like that, and that the fate of Equestria was in my hooves. She also said that I shouldn't trust anypony, and at this moment I'm praying that I made the right decision talking to you. I usually had similar dreams like this last week, and tonight I didn't dream at all, which made me kinda worried. That's why I came to talk to you."- Dash said, And Luna sat down on one of the chairs, holding a hoof to her chin.

"Well, Rainbow Dash, I think we can work this out togeth-"- Somepony busted through the door. Twilight Sparkle yawned, and afterwards Celestia came in, sharing an identical yawn with her fellow student. They sat down on two of the seven remaining chairs, and Dash decided to sit next to Luna.

"Hmmm..... Luna you need to work a little on your baking."- Celestia said, as she teleported Luna's pancakes to God knows where and magicked fresh and new pancakes on top of the table. Luna muttered something under her breath, and Celestia smiled with glee while admiring her mastery. Twilight drooled over her pancake before taking a large bite out of it. She must've been really hungry, she didn't even use her horn but just dived in. Dash felt as if a ruckus was going on in her stomach. It had this unpleasant feeling whenever anypony was worried or stressed about something. But, since everypony present in the room had started eating and she didn't want to seem unappreciative of the Sun Goddess, she took small bites and tried not to catch anyone's attention by acting extremely awkward and uncomfortable, even though her stomach was screaming in protest.

Twilight suddenly eyed Rainbow Dash with sorrowful eyes.

"Look Dash, I'm sorry about yesterday... I was way too overwhelmed by the preperations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and I unfortunately took my anger out on you."- Twilight said with a slight frown on her face.

"Sure, it's okay Twilight, don't worry. I'm kinda used to this I guess."- Rainbow dash replied bluntly while rolling her eyes. Twilight's frown widened, and she continued eating. Princess Celestia looked like she just blocked out any form of conversation from her ears since she was so tired, and focused all of her attention on her pancake. Suddenly, somepony busted through the door, again, (seriously, does anypony have manners nowadays?)

This time it revealed Rarity. Her usual gorgeous purple mane was messier than a bird's nest, and she had bags under her bloodshot eyes. Dash thought that she may or may not have spotted a few pencils and pieces of paper in her tail. So not like Rarity to show up like this in front of anypony, not even Apple Jack, let alone the royal sisters. She yawned heavily and sat next to Twilight. Everyone, except for Celestia, who was devouring her pancake looked at Rarity.

"What?"- Rarity said whilst fluttering her eyelids in bemusement, as she sat next to Twilight.

"Ummm....... You have a little something in your tail.'- Dash said, barely avoiding a snicker, while Twilight rolled her eyes.

Rarity looked at her tail and smiled widely.

"Oh, these? I keep it for inspiration, darling! It is said that when your old designs are in your tail, ideas for better designs keep flooding your head!"- Rarity said, managing a nervous laugh after she noticed the way Twilight face-hooved.

"Who is this pony of wisdom that passed on that saying, may I ask?- Twilight looked towards Rarity while inquiring. There was not a single sign of amusement in her face.

"Lo, behold. Tis pony of wisdom is sitting next to you."- as Rarity said that, with a serious look on her face, even Celestia interrupted her peaceful eating to chuckle a bit.
'Man, Rarity has gone mad.'- Thought Rainbow Dash. Her smile soon faded away. If she wasted her time laughing like this the whole time they had left until the Summer Sun Celebration, then.......... She didn't even know what evil would happen. Hopefully Luna would figure something out. She could be trusted, right?

This time, somepony gently opened the door, much to Rainbow Dash's shock. It was Fluttershy, of course. Rainbow waved at her, but Fluttershy avoided her and sat next to Rarity. She looked kind of...... weird. With that frown on her face.

"Fluttershy, darling, whatever is the matter my dear?"

"Well, I just found something about one of our friends that made me..... mad."- Fluttershy whispered quietly, so that it only reached Rarity and Twilight's ears. Twilight put on a smug smile, muttering something that sounded like ' told you so'.

Fluttershy's change in attitude deeply concerned Rainbow Dash. She wasn't acting like her usual, kind self. Well the same would go to all of her friends. And if Fluttershy changed like the rest of them.... Then........ She would feel isolated. Again. She just hoped that all of this was a misunderstanding, and that they could talk it out.

Two muffled voices could be heard from the hall, and, as expected Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie came in. Pinkie Pie was her usual self, bouncing merrily over to her seat next to Rainbow Dash, and Apple Jack casually occupying the seat next to her joyful friend.

"Well ah'm mighty sorry Princesses, but those fancy- shmancy cooks won't stop bickering about how apple fritters, apple pies, caramel app-"

"We get it."- Rarity hurriedly said.

"Alright, those cooks won't stop complaining about mah choice of food! They keep saying it's for 'common' ponies only!"- Apple Jack stomped her hoof on the table in frustration.

The girls continued talking all about the celebration while the princesses began a chat of their own. Rainbow Dash sat in silence, her heart beating abnormally fast. If only they knew what sort of place she was in. The fate of Equestria was on the balance, and the only thing that they cared about was the Summer Sun Celebration. Not only that, but most of the time, they for some reason acted harsh towards her. What sort of friends were they anymore? And now, possibly her childhood best friend, Fluttershy, began acting like the others. What worried her even more was that she possibly made a mistake telling Luna. She did need a helping hoof, though.... But what if she made the wrong choice?
'Geez, Dash.... you just couldn't do it on your own, could you?'- Rainbow thought. She was desperate to just go back to her old life, and forget about this. Perform with the Wonderbolts. Chat and go on adventures with her friends, together, like they used to. But now, it's as if their bond was suddenly broken. As if the bond between her and her friends faded away. And, as if their friendship was torn apart.