The Sleepless Horse

As she flew a large, sinister looking black octagonal coliseum came into view with large spires protruding from each corner, the floor was covered with white and black tiles resembling a chess board and while there seemed to be no spectators present, she knew that this would be were she would find him, thanks to his penchant for over-the-top dramatic flair.

For a brief moment, she wondered how he could possibly build something like this before realizing that since this was the dream world, he could probably do anything he wanted-which meant she had to stay on her guard-

Her thoughts were interrupted as a searing pain ripped through one of her wings, she lost her balance and fell into a tailspin, unable to pull up or regain her balance she crashed into the center of the arena.

What she saw before her were two more Rainbow Dashes, shaking even after shaking her head, the images didn’t go away and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Nice moves, Rainbow Crash!” one taunted, she even had the same voice as her the only difference being that instead of wings she had a horn.

“Yeah, why don’t watch where you’re flying next time?” The other joined in; this one had neither wings nor a horn.

She slowly stood up, as the Unicorn Rainbow Dash lowered her head and released and concentrated cyan laser beam from her horn, which Dash narrowly dodged by jumping to the side.

“What the-“she began, before the Sleepless Horse himself emerged from the tiles, creating a ripple-effect as he entered the coliseum.

“Do you like them?” he asked, “In case you haven’t figured it out-these are you as a Unicorn and an Earth Pony, I could have just made them exact clones-but what fun would that be?”

“I thought you hated them.” Dash replied, confused but unimpressed.

“Yes,” he agreed. “But, this way when you destroy them it won’t bother me as much-even if they’re not real, everything about a Pegasus is precious-which is why I’m actually rooting for you, it’s just a shame there’s no audience here to enjoy the show…” he lamented.

“Audience?” she scoffed, “You really are some piece of work, y’know that?”

“Of course!” he hissed, “Do really believe that one’s sanity could remain intact after countless centuries of imprisonment? Do you have any idea how painfully boring that is-to see the dreams of others, while you, yourself are condemned to be awake for an eternity!?”

“You brought that on yourself!” she shouted.

“Really?” he asked, incredulously. “After everything I’ve done to show you the error of your ways-to help you-you’re still going to stand there and defy me?”

“I know you’re the one who was really behind Mare Do-Well!” she exclaimed, this was a bluff of course but the shocked expression he made seemed to confirm this accusation.

“My friends would never go around and stab me in the back like that!” she continued, “You’re just a bully and coward-all you do is manipulate people through their feelings, their hopes and dreams, and if they don’t do what you want-you just try to rip it all away from them!”

“You don’t-“

“I do understand, yeah it was lame what your friends did to you-but you know what? They didn’t make you act like a total jerk; you chose to do that all on your own! All you’ve done is blame them, or Princess Luna-the one pony who tried to help you, who actually cared about you-just because you’re too much of a coward to admit your own mistakes!”

“Kill her.” He snarled through gritted teeth to the other Rainbow Dashes standing to either side of him. “Kill her now.”

“With pleasure,” The Unicorn Dash smirked as the two advanced on the Pegasus.

The Earth Dash charged after her in a full gallop, while the Unicorn lowered her head and charged up another magic-powered laser blast from her horn.

Jumping back, Rainbow Dash was able to avoid the charge of her Earth Pony doppelgänger and thanks to her well-timed movements and possibly a bit of luck to, the clone had inadvertently become a meat shield, blocking the laser’s path to Rainbow Dash.

The Earth Pony shattered into a million pieces of what appeared to be some kind of black glass, before clattering to the tiled floor.

Both Rainbow and the remaining clone were shocked, while the dark stallion appeared to be indifferent at the loss of his subordinate.

Snapping out of her daze, the remaining Unicorn lowered her head once more, making her think that she was going to attack her with another laser, but caught her off guard when she started scraping her hoof against the tiled surface like she was preparing to charge.

Rainbow was about to do the same before she remembered the horn and instead waited, her heart racing as she saw herself coming at her full force, waiting for her to get close enough while focusing on the horn.

Once again, just like with her aerial stunts timing was everything and if she missed by even a split-second and it would all be over.

At the last second she raised her hoof and brought it down on her doppelgänger’s horn, creating a large crack down the middle, before dropping to the ground and breaking apart, she looked up in horror to see her master raise one of his front legs before bringing his hoof down on her and shattering her body to pieces.

“Worthless.” He spat, in disgust.

His attention then returned to Rainbow Dash, “But that’s to be expected from non-Pegasi, you understand how much influence I truly carry in this world now that annoying spell has weakened, don’t you?”

She offered no response, merely standing there, glaring at him.

“I can help you realize your wildest dreams!” he exclaimed, “Or, I could make you suffer through your darkest nightmares…” he added.

But before she could respond, there was the sound of clattering chains as shackles shout out of the ground, through the tiles and the night air, clapping themselves around her legs as six more chains appeared-three on either side of her-with sharp hooks at the ends of them.

She cringed as they dug into her feathered wings, blood trickling down them and onto the links of the chains.

He stomped his hoof and the chains tightened their grip on her legs and wings, spreading them out as hooks dug deeper into her wing muscles.

“If I continue to tighten them like this, you’re entire body will be ripped apart.” He explained.

“Then how will plan to get out of here?” she asked smugly, while fighting back the tears of pain.

“My dear girl, you misunderstand-this will not kill you, here I am a god-I can easily stitch you back together with a mere thought.” He replied.

“So?” she asked, still unimpressed.

“Your arrogance is cute.” He commented, “But my patience is wearing thin, so I’ll spell it out for you; I removed your wings once and I can do it again, only this time it will be slower and much more painful.”

“And if I still refuse?” she pressed.

“Then your torment will continue until you agree-if not, then you’re suffering will continue until you are on the precipice of death, and while you are barely conscious and down to your last breath-you will see the unspeakable horrors I will inflict upon your precious Scootaloo.” He replied, sadistically.

“Bastard!” she shouted, tugging at her restraints, causing the hooks to dig in even deeper “If you put even one hoof on her and I’ll-“

“You’ll do what?” he taunted, “Without the other Elements of Harmony or the use of your wings-your completely useless-a failure.”

Instead of using words, her only response was growling at him, while vigorously flapping her bound and injured wings as cackled at her futile attempts to escape.

There was a low creaking sound that rang out as she desperately flapped even harder and he stopped laughing.

“What!?”

One of the chains binding her to the ground was starting to come loose as the hooks in her wing fell uselessly to the tiled floor.

The Sleepless Horse began to feel a huge gust of wind as her tired and sore wings persisted, causing the links from the other chains to snap one by one.

“S-stop it!” he commanded, “This is *my** world and you succumb to my whim! I order you to stop!*”

The final bolts from base of the last chain were now beginning to detach from the ground.

“[i[Cease! Desist!” he shouted in desperation.

As the last bolt was stripped, the repeated forward motions of her wings caused Rainbow Dash to torpedo into him, colliding with his chest, making an audible CRACK! as he felt the wind get knocked out of him, he was flung backwards before hitting the ground and rolling a few feet, before landing on his side before his mind could fully registered what was happening.

He saw Rainbow Dash standing across from him, looking furiously at him while snorting and scraping her hoof against the tiled surface, preparing to charge once more.

Before he could think up a counterattack, he caught a brief glimpse of Rainbow charging towards him before her head collided with his, causing stars to appear in front of his eyes he was assaulted yet again, this time from the side of his face and his jaw before realizing that the enraged Pegasus had bucked him.

How?

How could this be happening?

After countless years of being in the Dream World, he’d completely forgotten what physical pain felt like-one of the few benefits of being trapped in this prison-but now this Pegasus, this mare was beating him and for the first time in a long time he felt it.

The one thing that gave him power over all other sleeping ponies-fear.

He didn’t like it, not one bit-the feeling of powerlessness that had washed over him, the paranoia he was feeling-wait, where was she?

Looking around the arena frantically, all he could see were broken chains and tiles with scattered bits of black glass that remained of the duplicates he created earlier-was she behind him?

Jumping up quickly, turning around-he didn’t see the cyan Pegasus like he’d expected-that’s when he heard a sort of whistling sound to see a small blue dot flying high up into the air.

‘What’s she doing…’ he thought before the horrific realization dawned on him, ‘No, no, no, no, NO!’

“NO!” he screamed out loud as Rainbow reached max speed and arced, dive bombing straight towards him.

This was impossible!

As Rainbow got ever closer, he could see the Mach cone forming around her briefly before the collision as a multi-colored mushroom cloud plume of smoke rose into the night air, the remaining tiles were blown apart as the rest of the arena was reduced to shambles.

When the smoke finally dissipated, he began hacking and wheezing while feeling the numerous bones in his body that had been fractured and broken by the collision and the blast.

Rainbow Dash stood across from him. Her mane was frazzled and she still had the remaining cuffs clamped around her legs with the broken chains trailing behind her. She was panting heavily, covered in sweat, blood, and bruises with tears of both fatigue and rage in her eyes.

She was preparing for another charge and screaming before a voice stopped her.

“That’s enough, Rainbow Dash!”

They both looked up to see Princess Luna, who had been flying overhead land between them.

“No.” she growled, through gritted teeth. “It’s too soon to be over for him.”

“I said; that’s enough Rainbow Dash!” Luna commanded with more authority in her voice this time.

“I can’t.” she breathed, “Not after everything this…freak has done, I can’t-it’s too dangerous to let him go again, to hurt my friends…to hurt Scootaloo-that’s why I’m gonna finish him off, right now!”

She was mounting another charge, before Luna stopped her speaking kindly, yet sternly.

“I understand how you feel, Rainbow Dash-you’re desire to protect your friends is admirable, but don’t let it cloud your judgment or you will become what you hate-just like him…is that what you want?”

“I…well, no…” she conceded, “Sorry, Princess…”

Luna then turned to the Sleepless Horse, “You’ve clung to all of that anger and hatred for all of these years…and where has it gotten you?” she asked, softly.

“Grhnnuh…” he grunted in response, reacting from the pain of trying to get up on four broken legs.

“For over a thousand years I have felt the same as you towards my older sister, but I’ve learned that all of that spite is only good for hurting oneself, if you learn to accept and trust others-you can perform unimaginable feats, Rainbow Dash has proved that tonight.” She lectured.

“Rainbow Dash,” she added, turning to the mare in question; “You have fought bravely and once again proven your loyalty to your friends and loved ones and I thank you for your assistance.”

“Wait!” she exclaimed, “What about Scootaloo? I thought you were protecting her!”

“Scootaloo awakened some time ago…and when she did, her conscious mind exited this plain.” She explained.

“Well, what about him?” she asked, gesturing to the Sleepless Horse.

“I will try and talk to him…I’ve learned from you and your friends is sometimes it is best to try and talk to someone and give a little compassion, when you awaken your wounds will be healed and your bonds removed and to Scootaloo this shall all have been just a terrible dream.”

“Okay,” Dash replied skeptically, giving a long hard look at the injured stallion.

The world became blurry as Rainbow Dash began to awaken, the last thing she saw was Princess Luna walking over to the Sleepless Horse to talk to him.