Note: I wrote this as a sort of healing method after reading one of the saddest MLP fanfics I've ever seen called Somewhere Only We Know by Patchwork Poltergeist. I would not recommend reading it unless you read this immediately afterwards.
It's not that the story is written bad by any means... in fact that's the problem...
It's written so well it's heartbreaking. Hell, I can't read it without crying and that alone led me to make this.... it's my way to heal....
So I know this may not be my best work... it's just something I had to write... to help my heart heal. I just hope you all can understand this.
This isn't a story about canonicity or a major plot or anything... this is just something to help cope with a beautiful story.
The usual trademarks and copyrights apply.
As Josh rested in bed alongside Rainbow Dash, Meowth cuddled on the floor nearby, his thoughts were lost in memories of what they'd done that day. Meowth had been Josh's cat plushie brought to life thanks to Celestia's magic and they'd gone around town introducing him to all the ponies, many of whom had immediately embraced him as one of their own after learning he was Josh's friend. After bearing witness to the horrors that EPA had put him through, they accepted the cat-pokemon without question, almost all of them telling the both of them that, after what Josh had experienced, any friend of his was a friend of theirs as well.
Yet as he dreamed, his thoughts were interrupted by a sound... a sound he was all too familiar with....
Crying.
He could hear someone sniffling and sobbing and for once it wasn't him... Opening his eyes wearily from his sleep, he could see Meowth was looking back at him with the same expression.
"Meowth?", he whispered, "Are you crying???"
The cat-pokemon shook his head, but then a small cry alerted them to who was weeping... and the answer shocked them...
It was Rainbow Dash... the toughest and most stronghearted of all the ponies they'd met. Josh had only seen her cry once before and that was back when he was in the hospital, but Pinkie Pie had told him before that that she had never so much had shed a tear in public....
And now she was laying next to them, choked sobs escaping from her throat and causing her to shake. Immediately, Josh turned over to the pegasus and jostled her back to help her wake up, somewhat expecting her to yell at him for interrupting her sleep. But instead she sat straight up and gasped, as if being freed from some dark vision. The pegasus looked around and saw Josh and Meowth staring at her, the both of them sitting on the bed.
"Josh... Meowth?", she whispered, "What are you doing up?"
"We heard ya cryin'", Meowth replied in his brooklyn-accented voice, a calm tone shrouding what normally was a snide wit that could rival that of Spike, "Is somethin' wrong?"
"No... no nothings wrong!", Rainbow Dash scoffed, "I was just... I just had dreams of the wonderbolts! Yeah that's all!"
"Rainbow Dash.... I heard you cry... I know those were real sobs... what's wrong?", Josh remarked, placing a hand on her wing. A look into his compassionate eyes brought a lump to the pegasus' throat, but she struggled to keep it down.
"C'mon, you can tell us...", Meowth cooed.
"Just let it out.. We won't think less of you... Just tell us...", Josh whispered, rubbing her wing gently.
The pegasus tried hard to keep her lump down, but the look in his gentle eyes broke her and before Rainbow Dash knew what was happening, she had dissolved into a mess of sobs, clutching the blanket protectively in her hooves.
"It was awful.... I wasn't here anymore... I wasn't even me....", she quivered in an unusually scared tone for the tomboyish equine, "I was in this place..."
"Go on..", Meowth shhed, rubbing her leg with his paw to soothe her.
"I couldn't fly... I couldn't talk... there was rain everywhere... people hurting us......"
The more she spoke, the more tears ran down her cheeks. It was a sight that burned Josh's heart, seeing Rainbow Dash so sad and crestfallen.
"It's ok, Dash...", Josh whispered, placing his arm around her gently and rocking her softly, "It's ok, you had a bad dream.... But you're safe here..."
Sniffling, Rainbow Dash turned to the human and pokemon and held onto them, letting the sobs come out more freely as her two friends hugged her and cooed to her.
"I don't want to go back to that place....", she sobbed, "I want to stay here... in the place that I know... that I love...."
Sighing, Josh rubbed her back gently, helping the hiccuped sobs come out of the pegasus more and more. He wished the others were awake, but he knew after the big party Pinkie Pie had thrown for Meowth's arrival that most of them were sleeping off all the cake and punch and fun that her parties were known for. So he and Meowth did what they figured could help her more than anything...
They hugged her. They held onto her for what seemed like hours, cooing to her and helping her calm down by reassuring her that she wasn't in that horrible place anymore... that she was back in Cloudsdale flying above Ponyville... back among all her friends. Finally Rainbow Dash felt the last of her tears come out and she coughed as she felt herself finally get under control.
"Thanks.... thanks guys...", she whimpered, her face looking down towards her blanket in shame, "I don't know what came over me... I just never had a dream like that... it felt so real..."
"I've had those dreams too, Rainbow Dash.", Josh admitted, "They're so vivid that you can almost feel and smell the sensations in reality."
"But da best part about da bad ones is always dat ya can wake up back in your warm safe place!", Meowth added with a smile.
The pegasus sniffled again before she looked up at her two housemates, grateful that she wasn't alone... But she was still scared to go back to sleep.
"Would.. would you two hold me and help me fall asleep again?", she asked somewhat timidly, another rarity for the pegasus.
The both of them smiled and held her close as Josh sung a lullaby that Fluttershy had taught him.
Hush now, quiet now
Time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
Time to go to bed....
Let dreams of fun and freedom
Help you into sleep
Your friends nuzzled around
Forever yours to keep
Hush now, quiet now
Time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
Time to go to bed....
Let all the nightmares go away
Your fears die in the light
Your angels all surround you
Helping you all through the night....
Hush now, quiet now
Time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now...
The sound of snoring interruped his lullaby and, looking around, Josh could see Rainbow Dash and Meowth had both fallen asleep, their heads resting in his lap. With a grin, he sang the last line to himself...
Time... to go..... to bed.....
With a yawn, Josh leaned his head down and drifted off to dreamland alongside the pegasus and cat-pokemon, hoping they were all having wonderful dreams.. and helping Rainbow Dash remember...
She was in a place where the skies were always blue....