//------------------------------//
// 2 Dream Manuscript 
// Story: Dashie Dashes Off 
// by Brass Polish 
//------------------------------//

	Early the following morning, Twilight woke up and saw a scroll lying next to Spike’s head. He’d burped it out during the night and it hadn’t woken him. Twilight ran outside in the early morning glow and flew around Ponyville calling Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack to the Library. When they were all there and Spike had woken up, Twilight magiced the scroll open and began to read. Or she tried to, but there was nothing written on the scroll. Instead, there was a midnight blue drawing of a dream eater symbol.
“Oh, look,” said Twilight in amusement. “She’s sent us a dream manuscript.”
“A what?” Rarity asked.
“It can show us someone’s dream,” Twilight explained. “If somepony dreamed about somepony else, that pony can see what that dream was by touching the manuscript, closing their eyes, and saying their name.”
“So if we were in Rainbow Dash’s dream,” said Fluttershy, “we can see it through our dream versions’ eyes.”
“That’s right,” said Twilight. “This must mean that Rainbow Dash dreamt about one of us. Or more of us.”
“Or all of us,” Applejack suggested.
“So let’s all touch the manuscript,” said Twilight, setting the scroll down on the floor.
They formed a circle and each placed a hoof (claw in Spike’s case) on the scroll.
“OK, on the count of three, say your names,” said Twilight.
They all closed their eyes.
“1, 2, 3…”
They all called out their own names.

Twilight kicked the door to Applejack’s bedroom open with a violent bump. Rainbow Dash jumped out of her slumber. It was still dark out.
“Are you stupid or are you just plain careless?!” Twilight bellowed at the top of her voice.
“What-?” Rainbow Dash was still dazed.
Behind Twilight came Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy, who were all looking as angry as Twilight was.
Pinkie Pie started laughing, but in a mean-spirited way. “I had to see it to believe it! You look so funny covered in lightning burns! I wish I could’ve been there to see you get hit! Hahahaha!”
“I would never have been so foolish, Dash,” said Fluttershy with a scowl. “You make me embarrassed to be a pegasus.”
Rainbow Dash looked very offended.
“Do you have any idea how much damage you did to my farm?!” Applejack was rounding on Rainbow Dash now. “I thought you were my friend! Why would you do this to me?!”
Rainbow Dash was quivering. “I… I d- didn’t mean to do it…”
“Well, ya, boo, snubs to you!” snapped Rarity. “You’re an utter disgrace. There’s no getting around it!”
Rainbow Dash lied back down on the bed, her lip twitching at bit.
“Come on, girls,” said Twilight sourly. “I don’t want to see her again until the Viana blooms.”
“We’ll let you know when that happens,” Applejack said to Rainbow Dash with a cynical look. “And you better fix up my bed sheets when I do!”
Rainbow Dash looked at the covers and found they were all twisted and crumpled. Once the other taskforce members had left Applejack’s room, Twilight magiced the door closed with an eardrum shattering slam. The last she saw of Rainbow Dash was her burying her face in her hooves.

Spike looked around at the ponies as they began to come around.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said. “Were you all in the dream?”
Fluttershy burst into tears.
“What- what happened?” asked Spike with concern.
Twilight’s breath got stuck in her throat for a second. “Rainbow Dash dreamed that the five of us burst in on her when she was sleeping and yelled at her for what happened with the Viana planting.”
“We were absolute monsters!” burst out Rarity. “I can’t believe I heard those words in my own voice! Ya, boo, snubs to you?! When have I ever said anything like that?!”
Applejack had a very pained look on her face. “She was in my bed in that dream. It was night-time. She must’ve woken up and thought that dream really happened.”
“You mean…” Pinkie Pie said, “You mean she gave us all that nasty look… and she wanted to leave… because she thought we actually treated her horribly like that?”
“I suppose so,” Twilight sighed, barely audible over Fluttershy’s sobbing. “We have to find her and tell her it was just a dream.”
“Yeah! We’ll ask Viana the Bearded when it blooms,” said Applejack, smiling a bit at the thought of resolving this problem. “It can tell us where Rainbow Dash was thinking of going.”

“It’s a shame,” sighed Rarity. “I was going to suggest that we all wear our Elements of Harmony to Viana the Bearded’s second blooming. You know, as a sign of welcome. But it wouldn’t be appropriate without Rainbow Dash.”
“I suppose we could still do it,” said Twilight. “It couldn’t hurt. Then when we find out where Rainbow Dash went, we can bring her the Element of Loyalty. Spike, would you mind taking her element to Applejack’s?”
“How do I always end up with Rainbow Dash’s element?” asked Spike.

When they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres and went down into the cellar, Viana the Bearded was still closed. But its mouth was stirring, which meant they were right on time.
“Elements on, everypony,” ordered Twilight.
Once they were all wearing their elements of harmony, they waited as Viana the Bearded’s mouth opened slowly. Then, it gave a cough, and its head jerked left and right.
“Ah. The royal taskforce,” it said in a deadpan voice.
“Good morning and welcome to Ponyville,” smile Twilight.
“Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” said Viana the Bearded. “And hello to you, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.”
“Hello,” they all said.
“And you’re Spike, right?” asked Viana the Bearded.
“Yeah,” replied Spike, “I’m here because Rainbow Dash couldn’t make it.”
“Oh, yes. She’s rather depressed, isn’t she?” asked Viana the Bearded.
“Yes, she had a dream about us being rude to her and she thinks it really happened,” Twilight said.
“Please, could you tell us where she decided to go?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m afraid she had no plan,” Viana the Bearded told them. “All she knew was that she wanted to get away from you all and not come back.”
Fluttershy’s face fell. “Not come back?”

“Are you sure she didn’t have a place in mind?” urged Twilight.
“Yes, I’m sure. She just wanted to get as far away from you all as possible,” answered Viana the Bearded.
Then a long root popped up from the ground holding a handkerchief and held it out to Fluttershy, who took it and dabbed her eyes.
“I see you all brought the elements of harmony,” it went on. “Good. I suppose I’ll just take them and dispose of them.”
More roots came out of the ground and stretched towards the taskforce members.
“What?! Hey, wait a minute!” exclaimed Twilight, swatting the roots away. “Why would you dispose of the elements of harmony?! These are important!”
“They won’t work anymore,” said Viana the Bearded. “Rainbow Dash’s element is Loyalty and she left you all forever. The elements won’t work now.”
“But we can find her,” insisted Applejack.
“You could, but if you knew what Rainbow Dash was going through, you’d know it’d be fruitless to try and make her come back,” Viana the Bearded said. “It would be a better use of time and energy to get rid of the elements.”
And it made another grab for the elements of harmony. Spike and the ponies backed away.
“No, keep your roots to yourself!” ordered Twilight. “Come on, everyone. Let’s go and find Rainbow Dash.”

But before they had even turned around, they found their way blocked by a wall of roots, which extended from one side of the cellar to another.
“What are y’all doing?!” demanded Applejack. “Let us out!”
“You grew me to make things more convenient for you,” said Viana the Bearded. “So I’m making it easier for you to dispose of your elements.”
“You’re not conveniencing us at all!” shouted Rarity.
“Of course I am. You all think there’s a hope of getting Rainbow Dash back,” the Viana persisted. “I know better. So if you could just…”
Twilight’s horn lit up, there was a flash of purple light, and Viana the Bearded was alone in the cellar.

Twilight had teleported them to the door outside the cellar.
“Come on!” Twilight shouted. “Let’s get away from…!”
At that moment, she noticed that there were roots sticking out of the ground and stretched out far away from Sweet Apple Acres. And they seemed to be moving back into the ground. As soon as the taskforce looked to see where the roots were going, something large and blue zoomed up to them. In seconds, Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy and Rarity were buried in flowers.
“Poison joke!” cried Rarity.
The three of them scrambled out of the pile of blue leaves as quickly as they could, but the effect of the large quantity of poison joke kicked in almost instantly. Twilight’s horn turned red and white and curved at the top, and her wings turned into sheets of cardboard. Rarity’s horn had a bottle cap on it. It popped off and cherry soda trickled down her face. Spike had gotten a mouthful of poison joke, and when he tried to breathe fire, he ended up spitting silly-sting out instead. Fluttershy’s wings didn’t appear to have been effected, but when Twilight told her to try flapping them, dozens of yellow feathers fell out of them with each beat. Then, more roots sprang from the ground and formed a circular wall around them.
“Viana the Bearded, you stop this right now!” shouted Twilight at the door.
“Don’t worry,” came a deadpan voice behind her.
She wheeled around and saw Viana the Bearded’s head poking out from the ground inside the wall of vines and roots.
“After I remove your elements of harmony, I’ll fix you all a PJ remedy bath,” it continued.

More roots came out of the ground and made a grab for the elements.
“Hold onto them, everyone!” Twilight shouted. “Don’t let it take them!”
“Is this some sort of test?” asked the Viana as Spike and the ponies shielded their elements of harmony from its grasping vines. “You’re not making it easy for me to make things easy for you.”
“You ain’t helping us at all!” snapped Applejack, fighting to keep Viana the Bearded’s roots from prying her hooves off the Element of Honesty.
“These elements are too valuable to just throw away!” insisted Rarity, ignoring Pinkie Pie’s giggling at her cherry soda covered face.
“They’re defunct,” persisted Viana the Bearded. “They’re of no use to you! Let me…”
“Never!” they all shouted, tightening their grip.
At that moment, roots came out of the ground and held them down. Then a whirring noise came from the open cellar. It got windy all of a sudden. Then the taskforce realized that Viana the Bearded had turned the cellar into a vacuum. It began sucking up the poison joke and some leaves and pebbles.

“Don’t let go!” called Twilight as the suction from the open door picked up.
But Viana the Bearded kept detaching the elements from their necks and they could barely keep hold of them.
“I’m gonna lose it!” cried Spike.
“Hold on, Spike!” shouted Twilight and Rarity together.
But Spike couldn’t hold Rainbow Dash’s element any longer. It flew out of his grasp and zoomed into the cellar. It wasn’t long before the ponies started to lose their grip too.
“I know!” shouted Pinkie Pie.
She took one of her hooves off her element, reached out to Viana the Bearded, and ripped the fake beard off its head.
“There!” she said. “It doesn’t have its source of power anymore!”
As soon as the Element of Laughter flew away and disappeared into the cellar, Pinkie Pie knew she’d been wrong.

“Stop, Viana!” shouted Twilight as Fluttershy’s element whizzed past her face and into the cellar. “We need these!”
“Trust me, Twilight. There’s nothing you can do with them now,” said Viana the Bearded. “Rainbow Dash has wrecked her own element.”
“She’ll come back!” insisted Rarity, before losing her hold on her element.
“We know she will!” cried Fluttershy.
Viana the Bearded shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I very much doubt that.”
Twilight and Applejack lost their elements at the same time, and as they watched them disappear, they saw a red light coming from within the cellar.
“Look!” exclaimed Applejack. “Can it be…?!”
The red light increased in brightness, and then, to their surprise and delight, Rainbow Dash rocketed out of the cellar fighting against the force of Viana the Bearded’s vacuum suction with ease. She had the Element of Loyalty around her neck, which was as bright as a strobe light.
“Oh,” said Viana the Bearded.
And before it could say anything else, Rainbow Dash’s element projected a light so bright, all her friends could see was red. They shut their eyes. They could each feel the wind stop tugging and the roots and vines release them. Then they felt the wind start up again, but it wasn’t as strong and it had changed direction. Finally, just before the light disappeared, all of them, accept for Spike, felt something lightly hit their front and heard something land in front of them. When the redness faded away, the other elements of harmony were lying in front of their owners. The wall of vines was gone, and Viana the Bearded was sitting perfectly still in the ground. It was surrounded by little spores floating in the air. It was the Viana’s pollen. Viana the Bearded was now as ordinary a plant as seaweed.

Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash looked around at all of them. She didn’t have that livid look on her face anymore, and her lightning burns had healed up nicely.
Finally, Applejack spoke. “Were you in that there cellar this whole time?”
“No,” replied Rainbow Dash. “I rented a cottage in Port Flanks yesterday. This morning, I was feeling better so I headed back to Ponyville. But before I made it, everything went red and blurry, and then I somehow ended up in that cellar. It was really drafty, there was poison joke all over the place, and my element of harmony was floating in front of me. I heard you all yelling and knew you were in trouble, so I put my element on and… well, you were there.”
“Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, “we never said all those mean things to you. It was only a dream. Princess Luna showed us…”
“I know!” Rainbow Dash interrupted.
“You knew?!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
“Of course! Come on! Rarity never says ya, boo, snubs to you!” said Rainbow Dash. “But I was still angry. I never got to tell those dream ponies what I thought of them. And I didn’t want to take my anger out on any of you. That’s why I left. I didn’t want to end up saying something I’d regret.”
She looked around at their glowing faces.
“You’re as loyal as ever, Dashie,” beamed Twilight.
Rainbow Dash found herself in a tight group hug.
“Um, I’m not completely over it, you know,” she said uncomfortably.
“Well, ya, boo, snubs to you,” chuckled Rarity, slopping cherry soda on Rainbow’s face.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help it. She had to smile and hug back.