Loyalty
By Sterling Davis
Rainbow Dash landed on a cloud to relax, she fulfilled her quota for the day and in record time, too.
She still had tons of energy and she was so bored, she thought of going over to Twilight’s, but instead of being impressed by her awesome time and flawless work, she’d probably just get another lecture about how she shouldn’t strain herself just to show off.
But, just because she was awesome at her job didn’t mean she was showing off, did it?
She just saw it as taking pride in her hard work, that’s all.
Rainbow Dash majestically unfurled her wings and prepared for take-off, as she speed through the air, the wind blowing through her mane, it really was the only time she felt truly alive moving so fast and so freely, with all of Equestria spread out before her, everypony below seemed like ants.
She actually almost pitied all of the unicorns and earth ponies, sure they may have had magic or other skills, but how could anything ever compare to this?
As she flew towards Twilight’s house in Ponyville, she caught sight of AppleJack’s farm where she could faintly make out the shapes of Applebloom and Scootaloo playing while Big Macintosh continued to work.
AppleJack was still trying to kick apples down from the trees and there were more than a few dozen more to go, being a earth pony-she’d have to go from tree to tree and kick them individually, which might take a while….
Rainbow Dash decided to help out, and true to her legendary speed and skill blew past the trees, causing the apples to shower down from the branches as she landed on a bale of hay.
“Whoa, cool!” exclaimed Scootaloo, in awe.
“Much obliged, RD!” AppleJack thanked her friend.
Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest with pride at praise she was being showered with for her accomplishment.
“That was nothin’!” she replied, with false modesty.
“We’d usually be half way done by now, but it’s just been so dang hot and humid, lately.” AppleJack explained.
“Ain’t that right, Big Macintosh?”
“Eeyup” The large stallion replied.
“We weren’t sure we’d be able to fill our quota for the day…” AppleJack added.
“That’s why we got Scootaloo to help out!” Applebloom exclaimed, hopping up and down.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo called out, her wings fluttering excitedly, “Can you teach me that move, sometime?”
“Sure, kid.” She replied, ruffling the filly’s mane with her hoof, “but, it might take until your wings are more developed…”
“Can I go camping with you again, Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked, from out of the blue.
“Camping?” Rainbow Dash repeated, giving her a weird look.
Scootaloo nodded.
“I dunno…” she replied, “I mean did you ask your parents?”
“Yes!” Scootaloo almost shouted with a toothy grin.
“Well, I don’t think we can go camping again-because everypony else’s schedule is pretty tied up…but, I guess you could
come over to my house to spend the night…”
“Or the week?” Scootaloo asked, optimistically.
“Wha?” Rainbow Dash uttered, taken aback by this.
“My parents are going on a second honeymoon by themselves and I don’t really have anyone to take care of me while they’re away, so….can I come?” she asked hopping up and down expectantly.
“So…you’re parents are going on this vacation…but, they didn’t hire a babysitter?” Dash asked, curiously.
“I told them I was sure you’d be up for it!”
“Alright…” Dash sighed, she did have quite a few vacation days left, especially since she tried to work even when she was sick just to prove how tough she was, but a bit more of a notice would have been nice.
“But, give a bit more of a warning next time, okay?” she added.
“Yes, ma’am…” she replied, apologetically.
“Now let’s go have some fun!” Dash added, her expression softening.
“Yay!” Scootaloo exclaimed, jumping up in the air as her tiny wings fluttered, causing her to hover for a few moments.
Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself, Scootaloo was so much like her as a filly it was hard for her to believe sometimes.
At Rainbow Dash’s house that night, she and Scootaloo were in her living room with a fort made of blankets and pillows set up like tents to give the feel of a campsite, with their only illumination being the flashlight Scootaloo was holding as Rainbow
Dash told a scary campfire story.
“He’s incredibly tall, he wears a suit and his face is completely blank and he lives in the woods preying on young filly’s that wander off on their own, and when he catches them they are never seen or heard from ever again.”
“Ever?” Scootaloo asked, anxiously.
Rainbow Dash shook her head, “Never.”
After they went camping last time Rainbow Dash asked the filly if she wouldn’t be too scared, and she said that was sure.
“Um, Rainbow Dash…?”
“Yeah?” She replied, having an idea of where this was going.
“Is the Sleepless Horse real?” Scootaloo asked, nervously.
“Nopony knows.” She answered honestly, “But, I think he can only live in the woods-so we’re safe up here in my house, besides nothing pony or otherwise can take me on and I’m not about to let anything happen to you.”
Rainbow Dash brought the filly closer to herself with her Pegasus wing.
Ever since they went camping after saving her life, Scootaloo revealed that she had really admired Rainbow Dash and wanted her to be her big sister.
Now that she thought back to it though it made a lot of sense, Applebloom had AppleJack to look after her and Sweetie Belle had Rarity, it would make sense for her to feel left out.
She looked back down at Scootaloo and smiled, out like a light.
Now she could finally get some shuteye.
“RAINBOW DASH! HELP!” a voice cried out.
That was Scootaloo’s voice!
Rainbow Dash flew through the rainforest as fast as she could, but it was hard to maneuver with all of the trees in her way, until she finally spotted her sinking in quicksand.
“Hang on, Scoot!” she shouted, pushing herself as hard as she could with her wings flapping vigorously as sweat ran down her body, she began panting-it seemed like the closer she got to Scootaloo, the farther away she seemed.
The quicksand was up to the filly’s neck when it seemed as though Rainbow Dash was finally making progress.
Almost…
There…
Something collided with her, sending her spiraling to the ground below.
“Nice moves, Rainbow Crash!” a familiar voice taunted.
“Wha? Guh-Gilda?” Dash stammered, still in a daze.
“You know, you really are some friend, where were you when I needed your help?” the griffon demanded.
“Look, can we deal this later?” Dash asked, “I have kind of an emergency to deal with-in case you haven’t noticed.”
Gilda wrapped her talons around Dash’s neck and slammed her head back down into the ground, making stars appear in front of her eyes.
“You were my only friend and you abandoned me to hang out with those…those dweebs, so now they get to see what it feels like to be abandoned.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Scootaloo panicking and thrashing around.
“Scoot! No! Don’t do that!” she shouted, she’d read enough Daring Do to know that would only make her sink faster.
“RAINBOW DASH!”
She awoke with a start at the sound of her own name.
“Wha-what is it Scoot?” asked Rainbow Dash, breathing heavily and waiting for her heart to stop racing.
“I…had a bad dream.”
“You, too?” Dash asked, under her breath “I mean, do you want to talk about it?”
“I was sinking in quicksand and you were going to save me…but, there was this griffon and…and…”
Hot tears were know streaming down the filly’s face as Rainbow Dash once more brought Scootaloo close with her Pegasus wing.
How could they both have had the exact same dream?
The next morning after dropping Scootaloo off at school, Rainbow Dash stopped over at Twilight’s.
“Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, “Do you know anything about dreams?”
“Dreams?” she repeated, “I have lots of books on dreams, is there anything you’re looking for in particular?”
“Nightmares.” She replied, “But, not just any ordinary ones-nightmares shared by two ponies in the same night.”
“Maybe it would help me understand more, if I knew exactly what this was about…”
“Yesterday, I agreed to take care of Scootaloo for the week, while her parents are on their second honeymoon and last
night we made pillow forts, I told a campfire story and we both fell asleep and when we woke up, Scootaloo told me about her nightmare and it was the same as mine!” Rainbow Dash explained, before she began panting from lack of breath.
“So this story you told, was it a scary story?”
“No!” she lied.
“Rainbow…” Twilight said suspiciously.
“Well, it wasn’t that scary!” Rainbow Dash replied, defensively.
Twilight Sparkle gave an exasperated sigh, “All right.” She conceded, “I’ll see what I can find.”
“Oh, thank you, Twilight!”
“I’ve got all the books we have about dreams here, Twilight.” Spike announced, struggling to maintain both his balance as well as the balance of the books towering from his baby dragon arms, before falling from the second to last step, landing flat on his face with books scattered around him.
“Guess I’d better get started…” Twilight muttered as the unicorn levitated one of the books to her study area and began flipping through the pages.
Maybe if she went for a quick fly, it would help get her mind off that stupid dream, until Scootaloo got let out of school.
But, as high or as fast as she flew, she couldn’t escape all of the negative thoughts creeping up in the back of her mind like what if Twilight couldn’t find out what was wrong, let alone how to stop it?
That was impossible though, Twilight had just about every book imaginable and she was such a bookworm that she’d probably find the problem and the solution before the end of the day.
But, what if they tried to fix the problem and it still didn’t stop?
That was ridiculous, it was just one dream and sure, it may have been an incredibly strange occurrence, but that didn’t mean that it would keep happening?
Did it?
Being a Pegasus pony, and doing most of her work in the sky, she had easily learned to teach herself how to tell time by the position of the sun it was about time for the school day to end.
After the two saw a scary movie they went back to Rainbow Dash’s and still she’d heard nothing from Twilight.
It didn’t take long for both of them to fall into a deep sleep as they were both tired from the night before.
Rainbow Dash standing at the mouth of a volcano with a creature flapped it’s feathery wings in the air above her, it was Gilda again.
This time she held a book in one talon and Scootaloo in the other.
“Rainbow Dash!” the filly called out, tears streaming from her eyes.
Upon closer inspection, she realized that it wasn’t just any book that Gilda held, but her favorite Daring-Do book.
“Why are you doing this?” She demanded.
“Loyalty.” The griffon replied, simply.
Before she had a chance to respond, Gilda released both at the same time, without thinking she dove towards Scootaloo at top speed.
“Gotcha!”
When Rainbow Dash awoke, she could still feel the adrenaline coursing through her body. Scootaloo was still asleep, that at least, was a good sign. But, what was that? There were scorch marks on her bookshelf, between two of her Daring-Do books, in the area she always put her favorite one. And it was gone.
“Hey, Twi-whoa…”
She was shocked at the sight of her friend, after opening the door, Twilight’s mane was unkempt and she looked almost as exhausted as Dash felt.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash…I’ve been searching through every book I have about dreams since yesterday, but I’ve found nothing!”
“Oh, really?” replied Dash, disappointed, “Well, thanks for trying…hey, do you happen to have another copy of Daring Do
and the Griffin’s Goblet?”
“Um, well…no.” Twilight replied, thoughtfully.
“Oh, well do you know where I can get another one?” she pressed.
“Actually I think that particular book has been out of print for some time-and that copy was a special-edition, it may even have been one of a kind!”
“Oh…” Rainbow Dash uttered, glumly.
“Rainbow Dash, why are you asking me this? Is there something that you’re not telling me?” Twilight asked, concerned.
Rainbow Dash told her about the dream she had about the night before along with the missing book and scorch marks she discovered when she woke up.
“It’s gone!?” Twilight shouted.
“Well, why would you go and give me something so important like that in the first place?” she demanded, defensively.
“Because you’re one of my very best friends and I trust you…” she replied.
This actually made Rainbow Dash feel even worse.
“Look, I’ll repeat everything you’ve told me to Spike and he’ll write it down, and then I’ll review those notes and see if I can figure anything out.”
Dash was about to turn to leave before Twilight’s voice stopped her.
“And Rainbow Dash…don’t worry about the book-it wasn’t your fault.”
“Thanks, Twi.” She replied softly, before leaving.
Maybe it was all of the scary stuff?
First there was the story of the Sleepless Horse, but that never scared her-that was supposed to be just an old mare’s tale.
But then again, so was the Sonic Rainboom…
And then there was the scary movie they watched yesterday, but that didn’t scare her either.
Maybe…
Was it possible that she and Scootaloo’s dreams could have been linked?
She could vaguely recall a time a few weeks ago when Twilight was reading a ‘fascinating’ article on shared dreams between brother and sister ponies, but she was only half paying attention, being more absorbed in her Daring Do book at the time.
So, maybe if they didn’t do anything scary tonight-Scootaloo wouldn’t have any nightmares and she could finally get a decent night’s sleep and then she and Twilight could finally have the energy to figure this whole crazy thing out.
Yeah, that could work….
No, it had too!
“Wha?” Dash asked, the second she’d fallen asleep, she opened her eyes to see that she was falling through the sky.
Spreading her athletic wings, Rainbow Dash steadied herself in mid-fall.
“Okay, this must be another one of those weird dreams…” Rainbow Dash thought to herself aloud, while her wings flapped keeping her stationary in the air.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a large, oddly shaped creature.
“Discord!?” she exclaimed, upon closer inspection.
“What the hay are you doing here?” she demanded.
“Take a wild guess.” The Draconequus replied, smugly.
“Being a jerk, again?”
“BINGO!” he exclaimed, gleefully.
“Are you the one behind all of these stupid dreams?”
“No,” he replied, “But, you’ll never know who is unless you play another game with us.”
He snapped his fingers and an unconscious Twilight levitated between them along with Rainbow Dash’s loyalty necklace, gold with a red lightning bolt inside of it.
“All you have to do is catch one of these two before the other hits the ground-you can hold onto one or the other, or switch between them if you change your mind-the only way for the game to end is when the object you’ve sacrificed hits the ground, and you can only hold onto one at a time, so don’t get any funny ideas about showing off your speed or you lose both.” He explained, as if talking down to a child.
“Why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me…” she growled.
“Oh, lighten up! Rainbow Dash, I thought you loved a challenge!”
“Not when you endanger my friends!” she shouted.
“And it’s not much of a challenge it it’s simple, right?” he continued, ignoring her outburst.
“Do you really think I’m shallow enough to ditch my friends just for some stupid necklace?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s right!” he replied, snapping his fingers, “Now I remember! I forgot to mention that this necklace not only represents the Element of Loyalty, but your Cutie Mark as well!”
“Ta-ta!” he disappeared into thin air as both Twilight Sparkle and the Element of Loyalty began to fall.
Rainbow Dash dropped downward, until she was just below Twilight’s figure and spread her wings, to swoop in and catch her.
“Huh?”
When she looked down again, her friend was gone and the Element of Loyalty dangled from her hoof.
She tossed it aside, before flying towards the real Twilight Sparkle, before the world shifted and they began falling up towards the ground.
Rainbow Dash mentally kicked herself; she knew Discord was up to something, but she fell for his cheap tricks, anyway.
But, that was okay…if Discord reversed everything, then all she had to do was the exact opposite of what she did before, by fly up towards the sky to intercept her friend.
Performing the same maneuver as before, she caught Twilight again-only she was the real one this time, as Rainbow Dash watched the Element of Loyalty fall onto one the clouds and dissolve into dust.
She knew that she was a hero for saving her friend, but the nagging feeling at the back of her mind and Discord’s ominous laughter ringing in her ears made her feel more uneasy than ever.
When she awoke, Rainbow Dash an agonizing burning sensation in her flank and got up to see that her Cutie Mark on either side seemed to have been scrapped away like some kind of paint job with little specks of cloud or lightning bolt remaining and replaced with ugly bruises that burned at the slightest touch.
Turning over, she could see that Scootaloo was still sound asleep-that was good, at least she wouldn’t have to put up with anymore of this insanity…
As she entered her bathroom, she looked in the mirror to see that she looked as bad as she felt, there were dark circles from under her eyes from lack of a decent night’s sleep and she had a very bad case of morning mane, along with feathers on her wings being completely ruffled and then there was her Cutie Mark…
How would she hide that from Scootaloo?
She opened her medicine cabinet and took out some gauze, wrapping it around her flank with great difficulty, it was harder to do on her own than she remembered…
Then next morning, while taking Scootaloo to school, she noticed the bandages and asked Dash if anything had happened the night before.
Dash replied, with the lie she’d rehearsed-that she awoke with so much energy that she just felt like doing some midnight flying, and since she couldn’t see where she was going.
“Really?” Scootaloo asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
“Yep, that’s me! Rainbow Crash! Heh…heh…” she chuckled nervously.
It was obvious that young filly wasn’t really buying it, but seemed to decide to drop it for the time being so she wouldn’t be late for school and Dash wouldn’t get in trouble with her parents.
Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight’s and vigorously knocked on the door.
It opened, revealing her friend-who must’ve gotten a full night’s sleep, because she looked a lot better.
“Rainbow Dash! You’re going break my door down, if you keep pounding on it like that!” she exclaimed.
“Sorry, Twilight…” she replied frantically, “But I have to know, did you find any way to stop these dreams I keep having?”
“I’m sorry, but no…as near as I can tell, there is never been any history of this recorded in Equestria.”
Rainbow Dash hung her head miserably.
“But…” Twilight added thoughtfully.
Dash’s head snapped back up in attention, daring to hope that there might finally be a way to end her torment.
“Is it possible that it’s all of the scary stuff?” Twilight asked.
“No! No!” Dash replied pacing around, frustrated.
“I thought of that, too-yesterday. So, we just read one of your Daring-Do books before going to sleep…”
“What happened!?” Twilight exclaimed, gesturing to Rainbow Dash’s bandages with her hoof.
She told her about the new dream she had with Discord, The Element of Loyalty, and her Cutie Mark.
“I was in it?” she repeated incredulously.
“Yeah, why?”
“I woke up this morning and couldn’t remember the dream I had last night…” she replied, once again thoughtful.
“Listen, I think I might have an idea-this kind of magic might be beyond my understanding, but there’s someone else who might be able to help us…”
“Zecora!” Rainbow Dash shouted gleefully, offering a genuine smile for the first time in days.
“I am truly sorry…but, I have never seen anything like this before; I know not, what your future has in store…” Zecora replied, upon learning of the situation and examining Rainbow Dash thoroughly.
Rainbow Dash looked crestfallen, which made Twilight feel even worse, there had to be something they could do…
“What about her Cutie Mark?” she asked, hopefully. “Do you think you can fix that?”
“I’m really sorry, Rainbow Dash…”
“It’s fine, you did your best…I just have to accept the fact that for the rest of my life I’ll keep having these horrible nightmares whenever I fall asleep…WAIT! THAT’S IT!” she cried, jumping up and down excitedly.
“What’s it?” Twilight asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“If I never go to sleep I never have to worry about these nightmares again!”
“But, you can’t stay awake forever!” she replied skeptically, “You’re body and brain need sleep or they won’t be able to function!”
“The only question is…how?” she asked herself, rubbing a hoof under her chin, ignoring her.
“You stay with me!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily, popping out seemingly from nowhere.
“Sometimes I throw parties just because I have so much energy that, I feel like I could stay awake forever and ever!” she exclaimed, happily.
Rainbow Dash gave a ‘told ya so’ look to Twilight.
“But, what about Scootaloo?” she asked.
“I’ll take care of her.” Twilight replied, “No offense, but I don’t think this plan of yours and Pinkie’s is going to work and I haven’t given up yet! So I probably won’t need my bed tonight.”
The three of them then split up, Twilight heading towards the direction of the school while the other two head towards Pinkie Pie’s.
“We’re gonna have so much fun, Dashie!” she exclaimed, “We can make cakes and balloon animals, ooh! And cupcakes! Lots and lots of cupcakes!”
Dash never really considered herself one for baking…or cooking anything really, but, maybe she could put her hoof on the hot stove and the searing pain would keep her awake…
The moment they entered Pinkie’s, a plethora of multi-colored party paraphernalia assaulted Rainbow Dash’s eyes, there were streamers, cakes, cupcakes, balloons with smiley face drawn on them with black marker, and of course, party hats.
“Whoa, where’s everyone else?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Oh, there isn’t anyone else…” Pinkie replied, bouncing along the large tables she had set up.
“Then why do you have all of the stuff here all set up?” Dash asked, carefully trying to avoid one of the balloons on the floor, so she wouldn’t pop it by accidentally stepping on it.
“I always have time for parties!” she exclaimed happily.
“But…almost nopony else ever shows…” she added glumly, “There all such sleepyheads at this hour it’s hard to find anyone to play with…”
“But now you’re here! And we can have lots and lots of fun!” she continued, cheerily.
“I just hope I can stay awake…” Dash muttered under her breath.
“Don’t worry! There’s always fun to be had when Pinkie Pie’s around!” she reassured her friend, confidently.
For the next few hours, they ate cake and ice cream, played games, and planned pranks to play on other ponies later on, but eventually Pinkie passed out as Dash’s eyes were getting heavy to.
She had to keep fighting, there were only a few more hours until sunrise…but, the siren call of sleep was too powerful for her to continue to resist.
This time, she was in Ponyville and it was nighttime.
“Oh, no…” she groaned, how could she have fallen asleep again?
KABOOM!
“Oh, my gosh! What was that!?” she exclaimed, looking around frantically.
Another Pegasus pony landed in front of her, one that she recognized.
“Lightning Dust!?”
“Rainbow Dash,” she replied, coldly.
“I haven’t seen you since we were trying out for the Thunderbolts-an opportunity you stole from me!”
“Is there anyone involved in this that I haven’t ticked off?” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath.
“Anyway, you did that to yourself when you acted like a completely selfish jerk-you don’t care about anyone but, yourself!
You’d never make the cut as a Wonderbolt!”
“And you would?” she laughed.
Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow, “Just what the hay is that supposed to mean?”
As if right on cue, she heard screams coming from a particular direction…wait, those sounded like her friends…
Flames flared up, as they began crackling more audibly…that was Twilight’s house!
Right when she was about to take off, Lightning Dust blocked her path.
“Get outta my way, Lightning!” she demanded.
“Why should I?” the other Pegasus asked, smugly.
“Because if you don’t I’m taking you down!”
“Listen, Rainbow Dash…everything you’ve lost so far is nothing compared to what you’ll lose if you waste keep wasting your time and energy on those losers.” She smirked.
“Yeah, well those ‘losers’ are my friends and nuthin’s gonna stop me from savin’ them!” she retorted, as her wings lifted her up into the air.
“Your wings.”
This actually gave Dash pause.
“Now, I know this isn’t really your style-but, why don’t you think for the first time in your life before you act; no wings means you will not only never join the Wonderbolts, but you’ll never be able to fly again, either-you’ll just be a useless Earth Pony.”
She added, smiling sadistically.
She hated to admit it to herself, but Lightning Dust was right-if she saved her friends, her life would be over, but she couldn’t just leave them hanging-she’d never be able to forgive herself.
“Everypony hang on!” she instructed, “I’m going to fly through the windows and when I do, you guys grab on!”
As she dove towards the window from the air, she noticed that it was still shut, but it was too late to stop now-the glass shattered, and she could feel the shards imbed themselves into her athletic wings, stinging and burning.
Inside, it was like flying through an oven with smoke obscuring her vision she could only make out Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity.
“Comin’ toward ya, guys!” she warned, choking back the smoke trying to work its way into her lungs.
The three ponies grabbed onto her as she struggled through the lack of visibility, injured wings, and added weight.
Crashing through the other window, she slammed into the ground, the collision scattering her friends, pain wracked her entire body, it was nowhere near as bad as her wings which seemed like those torn from an insect.
Her ears were ringing and her vision blurry, she could still make out Fluttershy landing AppleJack safely onto the ground.
The last thing she saw was the victorious grin on Lightning Dust’s face, before closing her eyes but, she could still hear her old rival’s voice.
“Well done, Rainbow Dash…you’ve protected all of your friends and put an end to your nightmares, by sacrificing everything that was ever important to you, so tell me; was it worth it?”
When Rainbow Dash awoke it was still dark out but, the fires and smoke from Twilight’s were not only gone but, they seemed to have been erased-almost as if they had never been there to begin with.
Her friends were still there and they were safe, that was all that mattered, right?
“Dashie…?” Pinkie Pie asked, concerned.
Rainbow Dash looked back at her severed wings, and mutilated cutie mark before hanging her head and walking off.
She didn’t stop, until reaching a pond where she stared sadly at her own reflection.
It just wasn’t fair…she loved her friends and would have done anything for them, and if given the chance-she’d do it all over again; but-she just couldn’t help feeling cheated.
“Rainbow?” Twilight’s voice asked concern clear in hers as well…
She didn’t look up or give any indication that she’d heard, she didn’t want to talk about it.
“Let’s go girls; I think Rainbow Dash needs some time alone…” Twilight said to the others, taking the hint.
Her life was literally ruined, she had no Cutie Mark, she’d never be able to fulfill her lifelong dream of joining the Wonderbolts, and worst of all, without her beautifully athletic and graceful wings, she’d never be able to fly again, never get back to her house again, never see Cloudsdale again, never blow anyponies mind with her awesome moves again, and there would be no more Sonic Rainbooms…
One of her tears fell into the pond causing a ripple, unlike in Daring Do’s story-there would be no happy ending for her, she’d always hated losing, but she could tolerate it, even the Magic of Friendship wasn’t powerful enough to numb the pain of this loss, she just had to learn to deal with it.
She’d be wingless…forever.
“Rainbow Dash…” a gentle voice echoed from behind her.
Another mare could be seen next her in the reflection, causing Dash’s head to jerk up.
“Princess Luna!?” she exclaimed.
“You’ve sacrificed everything important to you in order to protect the ones you care about-you truly are the living embodiment of loyalty…sadly this came to pass due to unfortunate occurrences all around Equestria keeping me occupied thanks to an old nemesis my older sister and I punished eons ago…” she explained, her voice filled with regret.
“What? Who’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“The Sleepless Horse.” She replied, darkly.
“But, I thought he was just a myth-made up for scary campfire stories!” Dash exclaimed.
“I’m afraid not, there have been many stories, but the truth is; the Sleepless Horse committed countless unspeakable crimes against Equestria and all of its citizens, leaving my sister and I no choice but, to banish him into the Dream World, where he can never sleep, but is instead forced to become a voyeur, forced to observe the dreams of those who can afford the luxury of sleep…” she explained.
“But, how could he mess with my dreams?” Dash asked.
“I’m not entirely sure, I’ve been following incidents like yours for months now, and the only conclusion I’ve drawn is that somehow, after so much time has elapsed, so has the strength of the spell we cast all of those years ago and he’s somehow getting stronger from the misery and fear from the nightmares he creates and as Princess of the Night, it is my duty to watch over and protect the dreams of those in Equestria.” She continued.
Princess Luna leaned over, so the tip of her horn was almost touching Dash’s head, when she nervously shrank away.
“Relax, Rainbow Dash.” She advised in a motherly tone.
The Pegasus did as she was instructed as the tip of the Alicorn’s horn began to glow dimly at first, but then slowly and steadily became brighter, until it became blinding causing the smaller pony to squeeze her eyes shut, a tingling sensation covered Dash’s body, but was then replaced by a blanket of warmth.
She opened her eyes as the light faded, and felt and looked behind her to see her wings and Cutie Mark fully restored.
“You fixed my wings!” she cried, happily flying around the princess in a circle before landing.
“Like I said before, I am the Princess of the Night and my power is vast in the Dream World.”
“Dream World?” Dash repeated, “You mean I’m still asleep?”
Luna nodded.
“Not too sound ungrateful Princess, but how come you haven’t found this Sleepless Horse guy, yet?”
“While my power is indeed vast, it is unfortunately not unlimited, but, now I am confident that I am getting closer to finding him and defeating him once and for all…”
She was silent for a while after this, seemingly lost in thought.
“Um, Princess?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Hm?”
“I’d hate to ask for anything more after all you’ve done for me, but…” she scraped the ground with her hoof, nervously.
“When you find this guy, could you let me know before you take him on? ’Cause I wanna give him a hoof sandwich!”
“I think that can be arranged!” she laughed.
“Look at that sky…isn’t it such a beautiful night?” she asked.
Rainbow Dash looked up as the clear sky with stars shining and a beautiful crescent moon bathing Ponyville in it its glow.
“It’s perfect.”
THE END