The sound of hooves rapidly beating on dirt echoed through the empty forest. Heavy panting could also be heard if one listened hard enough. Leaves fell from their trees as a rainbow-maned pegasus galloped by in full sprint. Tears ran down her face, occasionally blurring her vision. She shook them away with a shake of the head. No, no, no, no, no! Rainbow Dash screamed mentally. How could this happen!? How could Soarin' do something like this!? He has Applejack, and now Phantom! Again, she shook her head, this time trying to rid thoughts. Calm down, Rainbow, keep it together. It's all just a dream. It's. Just. A. Dream. As much as she tried to avoid it, the memories kept pouring back into her mind. Hearing Applejack’s voice echo through the tunnels... Seeing Phantom get hit like that... and... Soarin'... None of it made sense. Why would Soarin' do something like this?
Rainbow remembered when he took her into the skies on her back. The mixed feeling of fright and joy that filled her, and how he managed to comfort her. Then there was the fall. The absolute fear falling through that cloud of smoke with Soarin' hot after her, only to fall through to the other side without him showing for the rest of the day. Had that been the plan she heard the other stallion talking to him about in the tunnels? For the third time, she shook her mind clear. Ponyville was just over the next rise. Soon, she would get help, and save Applejack and Phantom. But it was pointless. Recurring thoughts had broken their way into her thoughts. Rainbow Dash lost all energy, collapsing on the side of the road, crying waterfalls of tears.
That same image of the tunnel kept appearing in her mind. Why couldn't I save them? I-I could have ran forward, and beat the hay out of that pony. But... but Soarin' was there... How would I have confronted him then? How will I confront him again? More tears escaped her tightly shut eyes. What seemed like hours of crying and sniffling had passed before Rainbow Dash finally started to come to her senses, due in part to the distant booms she was hearing. Her ears picked up, facing the direction of town, the direction the muffled explosions were coming from. She wiped away the remaining tears, sniffed her last sniffs, and slowly stood on her wobbly legs. Unsteadily, she progressed forward.
Once at the top of the next rise, Rainbow Dash slid to a halt in the dry, dusty dirt. She blew her still disheveled, wet mane out of her eyes. Ponyville was completely empty, something out of the ordinary for this time of day. Fireworks rose from the horizon on the other side of town. Oh hay, the fair started today... That meant help was that much further away. That much farther she had to run in her already depleted and exhausted condition. Rainbow huffed, continuing forward at a quick gallop towards the fairgrounds. Ponyville was still a good half mile away, but at least it was downhill now for the most part.
It was a strange feeling for Rainbow Dash, walking through a deserted Ponyville. She had flown over the town before when it seemed to be empty, but she'd never been on the ground during one of those times to see how truly empty it was. The normally busy post office was locked up and empty, a 'We'll be back later' sign on the door. Sugarcube Corner was dark and empty in its usually busiest time of day, devoid of the wonderful smell of fresh baked goods. Ahead, the market was also empty, but the stalls still contained their goods, as if everypony was getting ready to start their day, but dropped everything they were doing and left.
Rainbow Dash followed the gravel path to a side street, that too was devoid of life. The only movement other than her own was that of a stray piece of some filly's homework. Rainbow's eyes caught a glimpse of the title and author: The pony I look up to the most, Rainbow Dash! By Scootaloo
"Oh, Scoots..." Rainbow whispered aloud to herself. "Always running off on your crusades, leaving your homework behind." She managed to release a slight smile, slowly shaking her head from side to side before trotting after it. To her frustration, the wind seemed to randomly pick up, carrying the note into a nearby alley. The polychromatic pegasus trotted after it. "Reminds me of, well, me." Rainbow quietly giggled to herself, remembering how much she used to procrastinate on her work, instead working on her cool moves and hanging out with Gilda or Fluttershy. She turned into the alley, and stopped dead in her hooves, letting out a rather loud, startled 'eep.'
It wasn't the alley itself that managed to scare the usually brave and undeterred pegasus. She had gone into alleys before; in fact, they were her favorite places to go to scare other ponies. But this time, two ponies managed to scare her. Normally, seeing somepony in a place she didn't expect to see one in wouldn't have caused her to be openly startled like she just was, but the identity of said ponies is what startled her the most.
The two were both stallions, familiar stallions at that. The first, Rainbow Dash recognized immediately. Muscular, a sky blue coat, dark blue mane, emerald green eyes, his Wonderbolts formal uniform, and the winged lightning bolt cutie mark that painted his flank. Soarin'... The other stallion had an identical build, but with a green coat, white mane, and a cloud and chisel cutie mark. Hearing her scream of fright, both Soarin' and Cloud Maker stared at Rainbow. What she didn't know was that Cloud Maker didn't recognize her, not a first. Cloud Maker thought to himself that the scream sounded familiar, but couldn't place it immediately. All the three ponies peagsi could do was stare at one another.
"Rai-Rainbow?" Soarin' was the first to get ahold of himself, the pegasus mare's disheveled state shocked him. "Wha...what happened to you?"
Rainbow Dash's reply was physical, not verbal. A tear leaking from her eye once again, she began to back up, slowly. Her eyes widened in shock and fear. Her lower lip quivered, trying to formulate words of any kind of a response. All that Soarin' got was silence.
"What's wrong?" Soarin' continued to press for information, slowly stepping forward towards the startled mare.
"D-do-don't c-come any c-closer..." Rainbow warned with a wobbly voice.
"I can help, Dash. Just tell me. What's wrong?"
What's wrong? Rainbow Dash screamed in her own mind, still backing away from the alley. What's wrong? He ponynapped Applejack, that's what's wrong! And he killed Phantom! Did... did he not see me? Another tear leaked from her eye. Now, Rainbow Dash was standing in the center of the empty street, with Soarin' emerging from the shadows of the alley, and Cloud Maker lurking behind him, trying to place Rainbow Dash in his memory.
Rainbow looked behind Soarin' at Cloud Maker, and watched his eyes widen in realization, finally remembering her scream. His look of surprise was slowly transformed into anger, his muzzle twisting, turning and reddening.
"Soarin'..." She rage that tainted Cloud Makers voice caused Rainbow Dash to recoil. Soarin' looked back at the green pegasus. "You may want to leave."
"What?" Soarin' replied, sounding confused and shocked. "Why?"
Rainbow Dash took the destraction to her advantage, turning tail down the road and galloping as fast as her tired legs could carry her. Over the sound of the rushing wind, she could hear Soarin' yelling at her, pleading with her to wait and explain what was wrong. Tears were gushing from her eyes, blending in with the lake water that was still soaking her coat. Soarin's voice was still calling for her, and growing ever so louder. Rainbow turned her head to look behind her with blurry vision, only to see a sky blue smudge flying after her; a smaller green smudge just behind him. She shook her head and looked forward once again, clearing her vision. Before she could think about where to go, Soarin' appeared about fifteen feet in front of her, landed in a relaxed position, determined not to move for the sprinting pegasus mare. Seeing him only brought up more memories that Rainbow only wanted to forget. Soarin' extended his hooves in a vain attempt to catch her.
Avoiding his embrace, Rainbow quickly cut into another nearby alley, where she found herself nearly colliding head first into a brick wall. With buildings on both sides, and a worried Soarin' at the entrance to the ally, Rainbow Dash was blocked in with no obvious route of escape. She turned around to face the stallion who was once her idol, to look into his worried eyes and see Cloud Maker appear behind him, waiting to be entertained by the scene soon to unfold.
"Rainbow," Soarin' spoke softly. "What's wrong? What ever it is, it's ok—"
"Don't," Rainbow said, anger dominating her still shakey voice. "I-I don't know who you are anymore."
"What do you mean, Dash? It's me, Soarin'!"
"The Soarin' I knew wouldn’t hurt other ponies..."
Soarin' gaped at Rainbow in shock, unable to process what he had heard.
"She knows, Soarin'," Cloud Maker informed the Wonderbolt, cantering up to his side. "It was her scream that we heard in the cave."
Soarin's lower lip quivered as he looked back at the pegasus mare. "Th-that was you?" Yet another tear leaked from Rainbow's eye, confirming what Soarin' had asked. "R-Rainbow l-let me expla—"
"So that was you!" Rainbow barked at him. "I didn't want to believe it, but it was you! Wasn't it?" Soarin' tried to interrupt, but Rainbow kept on her tirade. "How could you do something like that to somepony? Especially to my best friend! An-and you killed Phantom! He had nothing to do with this!"
"KILLED!? I didn't kill anypony! I didn't even hit him! I never did anything to Applejack, any of your friends, or you!"
"You might as well tell her, Soarin'." Cloud Maker interjected, an evil smile on his muzzle. "No, she's not the smartest mare in Equestria, but even she can figure out what you did."
"What is he talking about, Soarin'?" the pegasus questioned.
Soarin' hesitated, so Cloud Maker continued for him. "I'm talking about when he tried to kill you." Rainbow's already solem expression fell even more, along with her ears, wings, neck and tail. Slowly her jaw drifted open. "I'm not surprised you haven't figured it out yet, so let me explain. I've always wanted to rule Equestria, ever since I was a little foal. See, that witch, Celestia, has been in power for over a millennia; time for her to step down, with some assistance, of course." The smile on his muzzle continued to grow. "Don't get me wrong, we're perfectly capable of getting rid of the dearest Princess. It's the Elements of Harmony that would give us the most trouble. Now, I could have easily gone after one of your weaker friends like that Pinkie Pie or particularly Fluttershy, but either you or Applejack would have gotten in the way; so when I found out that you, the Element of Loyalty, the strongest of you and your friends, had a broken wing, well, I had to act. We had planned to break into your home, which is very nice by the way, ponynap you, and kill you somewhere else and dispose of your body. Soarin' here, however, came up with a different plan that sounded like it would work, but obviously didn't..." Cloud Maker stared at the other stallion. "Would you like to explain that one, too?"
"Rainbow," the Wonderbolt began, his expression changing from shocked to dejected. "I-I-I'm sorry... I—"
"Sorry? Sorry? Sorry that you tried to kill me? Or sorry that you failed?" Soarin' directed his gaze at the dirt in front of him. "That was it, wasn't it? When you took me on that flight on your back, you dropped me on purpose, didn't you?"
Soarin' couldn't formulate a reply, so yet again Cloud Maker stepped in. "So you figured that part out, good for you. I guess I could have been more convincing on my part when I set the fireworks crate on fire. In reality, the only mistake I made was not killing you myself. That way I know the job would have actually gotten done... But I'm a generous pony, I believe in redemption." Cloud Maker looked around the alley's edges next to the buildings for something. Smiling to himself, he moved over to and picked up a broken shard of glass with a jagged knife-like edge in his mouth, then tossed it to the ground in front of Soarin's feet. "Now's your chance, Soarin'. Let's see what kind of a pony you truly are."
Slowly, to the disbelief of Rainbow Dash, Soarin' picked up the improvised weapon in his fetlock. He carefully examined it with watery eyes, then gazed at Rainbow Dash. His gaze continued to drift between her, the shard of glass, and Cloud Maker.
"Soarin'..." Rainbow Dash spoke softly as he began inching towards her. "How could you have come to this? You were my idol for Celestia's sake! You are a Wonderbolt, or at least I thought you were... Now... now I don't know what you've become."
"Neither do I..." he replied. Rainbow had hoped that his comment meant he was turning back to her side, that maybe he wouldn't kill her, but he kept moving forward.
Rainbow grimaced, trying to embrace the fact that she was about to be murdered by her idol and crush, her gaze drifting towards the ground. She suddenly picked her head back up in defiance. Soarin' did nothing in response to the rapid movement, but Cloud maker cocked his head slightly to the side. Rainbow took a few steps back, nearly tripping on a splinted board. No! she thought. I'm stronger than they are. And I will not let them beat me like this.
Cloud Maker and Soarin' had no time to react to Rainbow Dash. The mare kicked the board she nearly stepped on, forward, at the same time lifting up her foreleg that was in its way to allow it an obstruction free path of travel. The board zipped along the ground past Soarin', and ran into a rock, launching itself into the air. Cloud Maker couldn't react in time to avoid being clipped in the wing by the missile, it's splinters embedding themselves into his skin. He screamed out in pain.
"Gah! Soarin', kill that witch!" Cloud Maker looked down at his wound, several drops of crimson liquid dripping out. When he looked back, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found. Her hoofprints indicated where she had gone. While Cloud Maker's attention had been focused at his wound, Rainbow Dash had leapt on top of a nearby dumpster, then over to the side of the building on the opposite side of the alley. From there, hoof scrapes could be seen from where she’d used her one good wing to carefully keep her aloft against the side of the wall, just long enough to get over the fence and escape. Soarin' was hesitating at his boss' words, stricken by how quickly the mare had moved. "Soarin', go!"
The yell managed to snap the Wonderbolt out of his trance. Shard of glass in hoof, he easily flew up and over the same fence, climbing even higher than that to get a good vantage point to see the pegasus. A multi-colored flash a few blocks away caught his attention. Soarin' dove after it in pursuit. Soarin' was stunned to see how Rainbow Dash was moving so quickly. She was running along the outside walls of the buildings, using her one good wing to keep her up and to propel her even faster. Soarin' knew all too well how much that had to hurt; he'd broken his wing in the past and had attempted the very same thing, and failed terribly, nearly breaking his other wing. He cringed at the memory, but continued to chase after the other pegasus.
Rainbow Dash suddenly turned, leaping off of the corner of the building she was on, across the street, and landing on the side of another building on the opposite corner of the street, following it down a different path. Had he not been in a killer mood, Soarin' would have been impressed. Seeing his opportunity to cut his opponent off, he took it, flying over the houses at an intercept angle. But when Soarin' emerged onto the same street he though Rainbow Dash was on, he was surprised by her absence. She was nowhere in sight, seemingly to have vanished. Little did Soarin' know, she had doubled back and escaped, running nearly nonstop towards the Everfree Forest until nightfall.
Luna, the Princess of the Night, found herself soaring above the far eastern side of the Everfree Forest, in an area she knew all too well. She was following her senses towards a pony in distress; though they weren't yet asleep, they were close enough that she could still sense their general location. Considering who she was looking for, she had a pretty good idea where she would be hiding.
Through the dark forest, across a cloud ravine with an old, broken wood rope bridge, emerged what was left of a once great castle. The old Royal Castle, the one that she and her sister ruled in for years, to be specific. Over the gentle breeze, her sensitive ears picked up the saddened sniffles of a pony. Princess Luna orbited the decaying castle, searching for any sign on the source.
At the top of what was left of the grand tower was a curled up ball of cyan and rainbow hair. Princess Luna landed elegantly next to the bawling mass.
"Miss Dash," Princess Luna spoke in a soft, comforting tone. Rainbow Dash's balled-up form only stirred slightly. "Miss Dash..."
This time, Rainbow Dash looked up, her eyes blurry balls of magenta. "P-Princess Luna? W-what are you d-doing here?"
"We sensed that something was wrong. Everypony has been wondering where you have gone. Do you know you missed the fair? What of your lunch with that nice Wonderbolt, Soarin'?"
Hearing his name again, Rainbow Dash buried her muzzle in her forelegs and let free a new wave of sobs.
"Miss Dash, pray tell, what is wrong?"
"S-Soarin'... Soarin' and another pony tried to k-kill me... and they ponynapped Applejack... and killed Phantom..."
Princess Luna gasped while Rainbow Dash broke down into another fit.
"That's terrible, young Rainbow Dash! To have a pony you held so dearly betray you like that... We can help you, though. Help you bring that traitorous stallion to justice and find your friend. Speaking of whom, where is she?"
Rainbow thought for a brief moment. "I-I don't remember... well... I just remember that it was this old, spooky looking house outside of Twilight's Library. There was a tunnel that led to Applejack. I followed Phantom down it but fell through a hole and into an underground river trying to escape from Soarin' and that other pony... I don't remember his name... Luna I'm so sorry!" The pegasus shot up onto her haunches and hugged her tightly.
"You have nothing to be sorry about, Miss Dash. Nothing you could have done could have prevented this. And we will find them, but you have to trust us."
The pegasus mare pulled away from Princess Luna's embrace, whiping a tear away from her eyes. "W-what do you mean?"
"We can enter your dream, and re-experience your memories, but we must warn you, it will be difficult and painful. We do knot know what will occur, and you must fight your own battles. We must only observe."
"S-so what'll I have to do?"
"Sleep, Rainbow Dash... sleep." Princess Luna carefully picked up Rainbow Dash, flew her up, and carefully set her back down on a soft, white cloud above. She herself lay next to the pegasus, wrapping her own wing around her as a feathery blanket.
Rainbow Dash dug herself into Princess Luna's and the cloud's embrace. "I-I'm not really that tired..." she protested, being cut off mid sentence by a yawn.
"You will be, soon." Princess Luna laughed softly, a smile growing on her muzzle.
"But—"
"Shh... rest now...
Look up to the pegasus skies,
Pegasus ponies flying high,
Wings beating and manes flowing,
The summer breeze blowing,
Gliding around near then far,
As the day fades, they reach the stars,
Returning home, on clouds up high,
Muzzles drooping, closing eyes,
They lay their heads after flight,
On soft clouds and say goodnight..."
Rainbow Dash began her dream curled up in the same position she was sleeping in, in front of the same spooky old house she had just described to Princess Luna. She looked away for a brief moment, then back. Soarin' and the earlier version of herself that didn't look wet and shattered were trotting by, side by side, happily. Movement caught her eye above them. There, she saw Phantom watching from atop a building. Phantom was watching Soarin' and the other Rainbow Dash trot by, listening to their conversation. The pair parted ways, and Soarin' entered the deserted house. Phantom followed him in a few seconds later, who was then followed by the other Rainbow Dash. The door creaked closed, leaving the real Rainbow Dash still laying outside, waiting for something else to happen. That moment came sooner than she expected.
"Miss Dash," Princess Luna spoke, emerging from a purple cloud of smoke behind pegasus.
Rainbow shot to her hooves, and looked back at the Princess. "I-I have to go in there... don't I?" she asked with a solemn tone.
"We will be with you," the Princess encouraged her. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, and directed her gaze back at the door. Slowly, she approached it. The door opened without her involvement with its usual creak, letting a dark smoke slowly escape. There was a bit of hesitation in her step, easily visible to Luna. "We are right here. Though only you can control what happens, we are here for you."
"Okay."
Inside the abandoned home, the walls seemed closer, the halls dense with smoke, much different than the actual version. With a nod of encouragement from Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash pushed herself forward. Ahead of her was the smokey apparition of Phantom, peeking around the corner at something. The apparition disappeared as she neared.
On the walls of the narrow hall, charred images sat in faded gold frames. The pictures were of once happy memories: Rainbow Dash and Soarin' at the Royal Wedding; meeting the Wonderbolts after winning the Best Young Flyer competition; she and her friends, which seemed more like memories than actual pictures that were taken. As Rainbow passed each frame, they dissolved into a red mist, disintegrating to the floor below.
Within moments, Rainbow Dash arrived at the same corner the apparition of Phantom had vaporized from. She peeked her head around to look down the other hall, to the door that she already knew lead to a secret tunnel that help her best friend captive. She had been expecting to see some form of Phantom again, not the smokey apparition of herself standing in the tunnel room's entrance. A cold chill ran down the real Rainbow's back. Taking another deep breath of self-encouragement, she turned the corner, slowly moving down the hall.
As she neared the doorway, the apparition of herself also faded away, but more formed from the smoke. One was of Applejack without her hat, saddened by something, sitting on her haunches. She didn't disappear like the others before when Rainbow approached.
"Rainbow," the apparition spoke, its voice echoing eerily, catching Rainbow Dash off guard. "How could ya leave me like that? Because ya weren't there for me, Ah may never come back."
"Applejack," Rainbow gasped. "It wasn't my fault! I didn't know what was going on! There was nothing I could have done! Please, believe me."
"Ah don't." The apparition stubbornly and defiantly looked away from Rainbow Dash, pointing its muzzle to the ceiling. "Yer suppose ta be Loyal, Dash. Ah thought ya were mah friend. Ah guess Ah was wrong." Slowly, the apparition began to fade into the surrounded veil of smoke.
"Wait! Applejack! I'm sorry! Please..." before she could finish, the apparition disappeared completely. She extended a hoof out to where the apparition once was, hoping she would come back. "Don't go..." Rainbow's head dropped down, bringing her gaze to the suddenly interesting and contorted rotted wood floor.
"Miss Dash." Rainbow had expected Luna to be addressing her. When she looked up for the source of the echoing voice, she was surprised to see the apparition of Phantom standing in the doorway, appearing to look her dead in the eyes.
"I... I asked you not to call me that anymore..."
"The severity of the situation requires the proper use of one's title. The simple of the fact of the matter, Rainbow Dash: I was killed, by you."
"No... no I didn't do anything!"
"Exactly, Miss Dash, you did nothing. And because of that, I'm dead. Consider this, if you had not been in any danger in the first place, then there would be no reason for me to be here."
"T-that would mean... that would have meant not saving Twilight..."
"At worst, she would have sustained an injury paramount to yours. Though, it's likely she would have only broken a wing, and seeing as how she is currently incapable of flight anyway, this would have been a suitable alternative. But oh no, you had to be Loyal, you had to be the hero, and because of it, I'm dead."
"Just stop! Okay? Stop! Please!" Rainbow Dash covered her ears, trying to block out the conversation, but nothing was working, his words were piercing through her. She felt a hoof on her back. Turning to identify the source, she saw Princess Luna standing over the scene.
"It's your dream, Rainbow Dash. You are in control."
Rainbow nodded. She didn't have to put up with this, this was her dream, she could choose whether or not it was a nightmare.
She faced Phantom's apparition, closed her eyes, and concentrated. A moment later, she reopened them. Nopony was in front of her any longer, and some of the smoke was beginning to thin out while the walls expanded slightly. A slight smile grew across her muzzle.
"Good work," Princess Luna congratulated her. "Though, we fear the worst is to come."
Rainbow Dash gulped, sharing her fear, then moved on. She expected to encounter something in the tunnel entrance room, only to discover it was empty. The gaping tunnel entrance seemed deeper, darker, more eerie than before. Without hesitation, Rainbow entered.
The only visible source of light illuminating the tunnel came from the rainbow-colored flame of the wall lanterns. The low light was also due in part to the smokey atmosphere. Echoing through the cave, Rainbow could hear a faint call. Without thinking of any possibilities as to what it could have been from, she fearlessly ran forward, following the exact path as her previous time down there. Princess Luna was in hot pursuit after the pegasus, memorizing the path for later.
Rainbow approached the final dip, at bottom of which she had fallen into an underground river earlier, putting her in her current disheveled state. Rainbow followed its path down, subconsciously jumping over a hole that wasn't at the bottom, and continuing up the other side. At the top of the rise, Rainbow Dash came across yet another apparition, this time one of cyan smoke in the form of a pegasus mare, with wisps of rainbow colored smoke for a mane and tail. It was... herself...
The real Rainbow Dash followed the gaze of the apparition, down the tunnel straight to an apparition of Phantom, Cloud Maker and Soarin', all in heated argument, their words blending together in an unrecognizable mess of echoing noise. The apparition of Rainbow Dash stood up, and faced the real one, their muzzles only about a foot from each other.
"Look, Dash," the apparition said in a light, mocking tone. It pointed down the straight to the other apparitions. "Why couldn't you stop this? You had plenty of time. They would have never seen you coming. You could have saved Applejack, saved Phantom."
"I'm not playing this game," the real Rainbow Dash deadpanned. She closed her eyes and tried to force the apparition from her dream, but nothing seemed to work. Opening them, all else had been destroyed, leaving only Rainbow Dash, her specter, and Princess Luna standing alone, surrounded by a blank world of white.
"But you like games..." Its smokey head tilted slightly to the side. "We both do. Don't deny who you are; after all, we are the same pony... I know you better than anypony. So tell me, why didn't you save them?"
"I couldn't... I... I didn't know what to do."
"Yes you did!" yelled the specter. "Don't lie to yourself, Dash. You knew exactly what to do, you had it all planned out. You were going to push Phantom out of the way like you did Twilight, then go after the others, but something stopped you, something kept you in place. What was it?"
"If we're the same pony, shouldn't you already know?"
"Oh, I know... But Princess Luna here doesn't, nor do your friends. Just wait until they hear that the phyiscal representation of Loyalty could be, well, loyal. To her best friend of all ponies, and to the pony that saved her life. Oh that'd be so angry, they'd leave you behind, to drift away on some cloud until you disappeared into the horizon."
"Rainbow," Princess Luna began, "they're lies, don't believe them. We would never do anything to—"
The apparition looked angrily at Princess Luna, it's eyes flashing with white hot anger. In an instant, Princess Luna dissolved into thin air.
"Wha... what did you do?" Rainbow demanded her apparition to explain.
"I vanquished her from our mind, from our place of solace. She was merely getting in the way. If you can't admit why you didn't act in front of her, how can you expect to admit it in front of your friends, let alone yourself? I'm trying to help you, Rainbow."
"What do you want me to say!?"
"Why you left your best friend behind, alone and scared in that dark cavern with those monsters! You did nothing, Rainbow! You laid there and watched it all unfold before you eyes!"
"I didn't do nothing, I went to look for help."
"No! You ran away! Why?"
Rainbow looked away from her subconscious, tears leaking from her eyes. Finally, she had broken herself, she would have to face the facts.
"I was afraid! Okay?" She looked back at her specter, who had a slight smokey smile forming on it's muzzle. "I was... scared..."
Rainbow Dash awoke violently, sweating and crying. Princess Luna was still by her side, looking comforting into her eyes.
"It's okay, Rainbow," she spoke ever so softly. "You need your rest, everything will be better in the morning."