//------------------------------// // Dreams of Adventure: Rainbow Dash // Story: Tabluna Rasa // by SIaanme //------------------------------// Luna flew above the slumbering town of Ponyville. Well, not her as much as her dream-projection. It was old magic, and it came naturally to Luna as part of her domain over the night. As she was now, she would be able to enter the dreams of other ponies. Her real body was safe back at Canterlot. And thanks to the other spell she cast, every pony in Ponyville was dreaming about her, or rather, who they though she was. But there were only six ponies Luna was interested in. But where did they live? All she knew for sure was that her sister's protégé lived in the town's library, but Luna didn't really want to start there. Going from the stories Celestia had told her, this Twilight Sparkle was a powerful magician. Possibly on the level of an Alicorn. With that much magic, there was a chance that she might counter Luna's spells before the night had really begun. No, Twilight would be left for last. "What even were their names?" Luna pondered as she began another circuit of the town. Celestia had tried many times to get Luna to take an interest in them, so she really should have remembered. "Oh bother, why can't I remember?" Lost in her thoughts, Luna didn't notice the cloud wall until she had already flown through it. "Whoops. Guess I should really pay attention to where I'm going." Luna looked around. It wasn't a natural cloud, that was for sure. Natural clouds didn't have rainbow-falls. Furthermore, they didn't have furniture. Such a grand cloud castle! I wonder who lives here? Her quest forgotten, at least for now, Luna floated to the next level. She found a cyan-coated pegasus here, with a mane the colours of the rainbow. Luna suddenly realised who it was. "Rainbow Dash!" Yes, she's one of the Elements of Harmony isn't she? Loyalty wasn't it? Guess I'll start here then. Closing her eyes, Luna tried to focus on the dreams of the sleeping mare. In her mind she saw blue skies and green fields. That must be it. Now, what did the Element of Loyalty think of her? §§§§ Once again, it was another AWESOME day for flying. Even better, it was Rainbow Dash's day off from the weather squad. For the pegasus, this meant only one thing. "Sonic Rainboom time! Oh yeah!" Dash zoomed of the cloud she had been resting on towards the ground, hooves extended. She felt the air around her stretch, as if she had run into an elastic sheet. She kept pushing though, and the sheet became tighter, and tighter, until finally it burst, and the familiar explosion of noise and colour echoed throughout the land. Trailing her familiar rainbow, Dash did a few loops and corkscrews before coming to rest on another cloud. She was exhausted, but happy. "So. AWESOME!" After resting for a while Rainbow decided she'd head back home for a nap. She hopped off the cloud and began her descent downwards, gliding rather than flapping, to try and conserve what little energy she had left. About a minute later she had arrived home. She went inside headed up to her room. Before she could settle into bed though, there was a knock at her door. Groaning inwardly at the interruption, Dash head down to see who it was. The door opened to reveal Fluttershy. "Oh, hey Fluttershy? What brings you here?" "Oh, Rainbow Dash, it's just awful it's... oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" "What? No, don't be ridiculous. I've always got time for my friends." Rainbow Dash knew that Fluttershy rarely came to visit her, being a bit too high up for the yellow pegasus' liking. It was worth hearing her out. "Oh... that's a relief... but no, there isn't time. I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, but Twilight needs your help." "My help?" Dash was genuinely surprised. "Why would an egghead like her need my help? Did I forget to help clean up after the last time I crashed into the library again?" Fluttershy looked more nervous than usual. "No, it's not that. It's... oh, I can't even say it... Please, Twilight asked me to fetch you specifically. She can explain better than I can." Dash gave a shrug. "Okay then. Lead the way!" And without waiting, Dash was winging her way towards the library. Fluttershy watched her leave. "Um... I'll see you there then?" She walked to the edge of the cloud, and made the mistake of looking down. "Eep! In.. In just a bit..." Meanwhile Dash had already crashed through the library's window for the umpteenth time. Twilight seemed to be waiting for her. "One day Rainbow Dash, I'll show you where the door to this place is." "Hehe... sorry Twilight..." "Anyway, I'm glad you managed to make it here so quickly. We have a problem." Twilight ushered Dash to the main foyer. "A problem? Well, I'll do what I can, but what sort of problem are we talking abouOH MY GOSH IT'S THE WONDERBOLTS!" It was indeed. The famous flying fleet was in the library's foyer. "OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMY..." Dash finally managed to regain control of her voice. "I mean... uh.... hey. What's up?" Play it cool Dash, play it cool... Tactfully, Twilight ignored Dash's outburst. "Just before, I received word from Canterlot. Princess Celestia... has been ponynapped!" "WHAT?" Dash forgot her earlier reminder to stay cool. "But how could something like that happen? She's the Princess! Who could possibly ponynap the Princess?" "The answer isn't one I wanted to hear," Twilight admitted, "but all evidence points towards it being Princess Luna." "That's awful! I knew she hadn't really changed! But I still don't see how I can help." Twilight nodded at Spitfire, who took over the filling in. "We've discovered that in the time she was stuck on the moon, Princess Luna somehow managed to construct a moon base. We suspect that's where she's keeping Princess Celestia." "But there's a problem," Twilight resumed exposition. "No pony's ever been able to fly to the moon. But it's been theorised that if there was a pony who could pull off a Sonic Rainboom, then she might manage to get there safely." Everything fell into place for Dash. "Wait, you're saying you want me to fly to the moon and get Princess Celestia back? But why me? Why can't the Wonderbolts do it instead?" "None of us have ever managed to pull off a Sonic Rainboom," Spitfire explained. "As far as we know, you're the only pegasus in Equestria who can do this." Dash was shocked. She was honestly the only one in Equestria who could pull off a Sonic Rainboom? "Okay, but even so, it's not like it's easy to pull off a Sonic Rainboom even with gravity to help accelerate. How will I manage to pull it off going AGAINST gravity? It's never going to work." Twilight gave a grin. "Oh don't worry, we've thought of that." --- "This is never going to work." Dash was standing on the end of the seesaw she used sometimes in her tricks. "Of course it is." Twilight was effortlessly levitating a huge bolder above the other end. Dash was still skeptical. Twilight sighed. "I'll explain it again. Spitfire, Soaren and.... the other one.... are hovering up there at set intervals. We drop the boulder on the end of the seesaw, launching you straight up. As you pass each of the Wonderbolts, they'll give you a hoof-up, launching you to greater heights at greater speeds!" "Uh huh. Hey Twi, I don't exactly know much about science, but are you sure this will work? It seems kinda... wrong." "Oh don't worry, I read about it in a book." "And what book was that?" "Umm..." Twilight couldn't look Rainbow Dash in the eyes. "I think it was called.... Filly Fantasy..." "Wait, what?" Before she could voice any more reservations about the plan, Twilight dropped the boulder, launching Rainbow Dash high into the sky. Within seconds she was passing by Spitfire, who grabbed her, and tossed her up again even higher, keeping the speed going. "Thanks Spitfire!" Dash was rocketing upwards still, and next up encountered Soaren, who provided the same boost. "Thanks Soaren!" Only one more to go. It wasn't long until she was boosted by the third Wonderbolt. "Thanks the other one!" "I have a name too you know!" This was it. The Critical moment. Rainbow pushed as hard as she could, surprised that gravity was less of an obstacle here than she thought. Come on... just a little more... Back on the ground, Twilight was peering up at the sky anxiously, when a rainbow disc appeared before her eyes. "Alright! she made it!" It was only a short while after that that Rainbow Dash touched down on the moon. "Alright Luna, come out with your hooves up! And release Princess Celestia!" "Hah! You foal! You think you can demand things of me?" Dash spun around, and there she was. Princess Luna. "You! You'd better give up, or you're in for it!" "Oh I think not my dear. I've come too far now to give up!" Oh no, Dash thought. Please tell me she's not... "You see, I've been planning this day for a long while now!" Yup. She is. She's monologuing. Why do ponies do this? "Of course, I had to play my part well. Everyone had to believe that I was truly repentant. A bit of sniveling here, and a bit of crying there, and soon everyone had fallen for it! My sister was the easiest to fool, always looking for the best in ponies. Of course she'd trust me. And it was exactly that trust I needed." "So you betrayed her. You betrayed all of Equestria. AGAIN." Dash knew she should do something, but she couldn't. The monologue was almost hypnotic in it's elegance. "Betrayed? Oh no, that implies I had some sort of allegiance to it in the first place. But I've known it for a long time now. The moon is my true home! Those who don't want to suffer shall bow to me!" "And what of your sister?" "Oh, she'll have to be imprisoned of course. I think a thousand years in the sun should be enough don't you? Yes, send her to the sun! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" "Okay, that's it!" Rainbow Dash had finally had enough. "TASTE THE RAINBOW!" She sprang towards Luna and-- §§§§ Luna emerged back into the real world. She shook her head a few time to get the image of how Rainbow Dash saw her out of her head. A monster. An evil stuck up princess who dreams only of power. Is that who I am? Luna shook her head a few more times. "No, that can't be me. Thank you Rainbow Dash, but I'm afraid you can't help me. But one day I'll show you I'm not somepony to hate." She spread her wings once more, and took off towards the sky. "Darn, now I want a moon base..."