A Kindred Spirit

Once more, at some point, I came to awareness in the midst of a dream... but something was different this time. It wasn't the recurring scene Luna and I had met on several times now, but one I wasn't familiar with.

It appeared to be day time, and I was standing in a knoll of sorts. Looking out further, I saw clumps of trees and some soft hills, but it all ended suddenly in what appeared a hellaciously sharp and rocky drop-off into open sky and clouds. I scanned for the the princess, but I didn't see her anywhere.

Needless to say, the circumstances was bewildering. This was not something I would have guessed to have been of her design anyway. But... where was I?

Stop thinking spatially. You're in an imagined landscape, *where** is not a question.*

Pragmatism and my adventure through the dreamscape last night provided me some insight into how dreams worked.

If Luna isn't around, I suppose this is my own dream.

I decided to follow the little stream that flowed from the stony spring a short distance away, hoping it ended in a pool or something instead of being a stark waterfall into the nothing that appeared to surround this isle.

As I trotted along the brook, I thought of what this could mean. This didn't really seem like something of my construct, but it seemed the only answer. I was mulling over the different explanations for this situation when a small gasp of surprise shocked me from my reveries. Naturally, reflex prompted me to take a defensive stance and whip to see what the sound had come from.

Rainbow Dash was standing, frozen mid-stride, evidently even more surprised to see me than I was her. One of what I had considered the least likely propositions was now one of the most.

Of course, Dash had broken the silence.

"What...? What are you doing here?"

The hollowness of tone was evidence of deep thought. Her reaction to my appearance surprised me; I expected that i'd have been tackled to the ground in this situation... but then again, I was a rather large fellow. Anyway, back on topic. Where was the headstrong daredevil? This at least seemed evident that this was not a dream-character Rainbow Dash, but the real one.

Now, to answer your question..."I... I don't know, I..."

A sort of awkward silence followed after I shrugged. Dash said the following, shifting uncertainly;

"I'm... dreaming... right?"

This question, addressed to me, pretty much settled the matter in favor that this was in fact the real Rainbow, whose dream I managed to blunder into somehow; I'm pretty sure a dream character would not query me as to if they were dreaming.\

"Yeah..." I affirmed, very slowly. What she asked next was very intelligent (no sarcasm).

"So... you are the real you, right?"

Ha! We were both asking ourselves the same questions! She didn't even have any prior knowledge, either! I nodded, confidently.

I couldn't have said the following much different myself.

"So, uh... this is awkward."

It really was. For both of us. Some guy you just met a few days back breaks into your dreams, and that guy doesn't even know how it happened or like care to have done so.

"...how exactly did you get here?"

Fighting for the right words to say, the poor mare just had to ask the unanswerable. More awkward was injected.

"Well, I know as much as you."

That was true. I'd managed to fall into Luna's dream the other morning... without assistance of the amulet which hung about my neck this moment. Speaking of which, the relic was emitting a soft glow. I looked down at it.

"...this thing might've helped though..."

Dash just nodded. This was a very new side of her, even though I figured she was a bit more cerebral given her fondness for reading after being introduced, the rather intellectual words she tossed around earlier today, and most recently, her impeccable reasoning process during this ordeal.

She, having no idea of what to do, and I, as of yet incapable of the action to leave her be, knew what we were feeling, and so just sort of resigned ourselves in each other's company, sitting down next to each other at a clump of trees after a few more words. The conversation just sort of ended right there.

This proceeded a couple of quiet, quiet minutes, due to the lack of animals about, before I became aware of some sort of disturbance; a kind of ripple, like that of a wave made in a rope, passed through the air. I somehow inexplicably, instinctively connected this with Luna. I sat up, stiff, leading to the cyan pegasus' inquiry as to what this was about.

"Didn't you feel that?" I asked, a little perplexed.

"Uhh, no..." she responded, further confusing me.

"No? That little... ripple that passed by here just now?"

"Nuh-uh," Dash stated flatly.

Great. NEWSFLASH.

"Oh... Wwelllll, I think Princess Luna's here."

This seemed to eke her a little; it would have me, too, if we hadn't already built the relationship we had standing at this point.

Said princess walked into the small clearing that Dash and I met in, in all her nightly majesty, and also with an easily perceptible sense of purpose. Dash stood as quick as she could and bowed (which I'd always thought a strange custom here; no curtsy for the mares?(well, that would be kind of awkward to perform)) low; I did the same, yet slower, and my bow was more of a deep nod. Much to Dash's surprise, it served to inflame the night slightly.

"Rise, please," she commanded, curtly. We did so, obviously. Luna acknowledged me with a nod and turned to Rainbow.

"I'm apologize for my protege's intrusion into your dreams"--she said this with a teasing glance at me, then turned back--"I'm not sure how he's acquired this ability, why, or how he's doing this without attempting to."

"Not a problem," Dash said.

"Truly?" asked the night princess.

Dash's answer came slowly.

"No... no. Kind of awkward, but that's it. Nice guy."

I was a little embarrassed, but I was glad to hear that.

Luna glanced at me for a moment before issuing a closing statement.

"If you would excuse me, I have other business to attend to tonight. Farewell, Rainbow Dash."

Seemingly struck by Luna's friendly-but-formal attitude as of this time, she replied, mostly autonomously, "Um, goodbye, Princess."

Smiling at Dash, the princess turned, stepping towards me, apparently intending to send us back to my own mind. I let her do so; with a brief touch of the horn and a disorienting transportation, we left the mind of the rainbow maned mare to discuss the happenings of the day and events directly prior.