//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Tomorrow is Always a New Day // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Nightshadow had made his way up the mountain towards the Equestrian capital city of Canterlot. He’d been to Canterlot only few times over the course of his unnaturally long life, and was pleased to find that extremely little had changed since the thousand year exile on the moon. Things had been different then, much different, but as the rest of the country had changed around it, Canterlot stayed pretty much the same. After all, there wasn’t really much more space to build anything without carving into the mountainside, which would be disastrous as any part of the city above the digging would collapse onto everything lower. Nightshadow’s own chaotic tendencies were excited by the idea, but as much as he’d have liked to see it, there would be no way to manipulate even the weakest of minds to do it. He’d arrived where he needed to be, just in time it seemed as Nightsinger appeared from a dark corner. “You had better have an extremely good reason to pull me away from Ponyville during the day. Could it have not waited until Nightfall?” Nightshadow asked. Every milligram of meekness that he’d exhibited in Ponyville had washed away. “It could not. One of my patients is taking too long to recover, everything I tried to accelerate the process has failed,” Nightsinger said. “What’s wrong Nightsinger? Have more important things to do? Clearly, you didn’t inherit our patience.” Nightshadow said mockingly. “Patience has nothing to do with it my brother,” Nightsinger said, shrugging off the insult. “Nightcaller has instructed me that this one needs to be well, and well soon, in order to carry out a task that will be given to her. I would not have called you here if I didn’t absolutely need it.” “Very well. Show me to her.” ... Rainbow Dash stretched her wings out, flapping them gently, she was absolutely beaming. “Better start getting wax on yourself now Spitfire, it’s not going to be long before these babies help me wipe the floor with you!” “Clever,” Spitfire chuckled. “You’ve come a long way Rainbow. You should be proud of yourself.” “Let’s be honest here, when am I ever not proud of myself?” Rainbow asked with a grin. Spitfire laughed, giving the young Pegasus a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow kiddo.” And with that, Spitfire departed from view. Rainbow Dash looked back at her wings, gently flapping them. “Not long now...” “Perhaps, even sooner than you think?” Rainbow looked up to find a black Pegasus, clad in a medical coat, standing with an equally black unicorn. “Heya Doc! What’s up?” Rainbow Dash said giving Doctor Nightsinger a polite wave. “I have some bad news, and some good news,” Doctor Nightsinger said with a reassuring smile. Rainbow Dash frowned. “Can I get the good news first?” “You wouldn’t have a clue what I was talking about if I did it that way,” Doctor Nightsinger said with a polite shrug. “The bad news is that you aren’t getting any better with your current line of treatment. I’m afraid we’ve pretty much passed its point of usefulness.” Rainbow’s heart sank. “What’s the good news?” “The good news is that my colleague from the Royal Apothecary society has developed an experimental new treatment that will heal you faster than you ever thought possible!” Rainbow’s spirit’s soared. “How fast is fast?” “Fast as in you’d go to sleep and wake up the next morning with full use of your wings,” the Unicorn said. Rainbow’s mouth popped wide open. “Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh! Sign me up!” She squealed in excitement. Imagine! She could be flying again tomorrow morning! Nightsinger smiled. “I’ll leave you alone with Nightshadow here; he’ll explain to you the procedure. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” The black Pegasus gave her a smile and departed from the room. The unicorn that had been introduced as Nightshadow sat down. He pulled a standard five centilitre vial from his saddlebag with his magic, it was filled with a green liquid the likes of which Rainbow Dash had never seen before. “This is the treatment. All you have to do is drink it, you will find yourself falling asleep, and then you will dream,” Nightshadow explained to her. “That’s it?” Rainbow Dash asked, it almost sounded too good to be true. “That’s it. Small warning, the dream that you have while under the influence of this potion will be more vivid and realistic than any you have ever had in the past. It’ll look and feel exactly like you’re awake... Your dream could be about anything! Which unfortunately means it may also become a nightmare... Worse still, if it does become a nightmare, it’ll be one that you can’t wake up from until it’s over.” Rainbow Dash gulped nervously, she didn’t like the sound of that, but the more she thought about it, the more she supposed that it would still be worth it. Besides, it would still be just a dream. Dreams can’t hurt you. “I can also give you something that’ll keep you lucid while you’re dreaming, You’ll have total control over what your dream happens to be. You’d be able to change the world around with a single thought!” Rainbow liked that idea a lot. She knew exactly what she’d dream about if she could have control over it. “It won’t last the entire night unfortunately. Only about eight hours, you need to be asleep for twelve.” Still worth it. “I’ll go that route,” Rainbow said. Nightshadow smiled at her, “I thought you would.” He pulled another vial, this one far smaller than the healing potion and glided it over to her. Rainbow took it, it was filled with a murky white substance that was somewhere in-between a liquid and a solid. She drank the entire vial. “Ew! That’s disgusting!” Rainbow called out, the potion had been horrifically bitter. “Potions aren’t exactly known for their taste,” Nightshadow said with a small shrug, he passed the second vial to Rainbow Dash, and she drank it in one gulp. “Yuck!” Rainbow exclaimed, this one tasted even worse. “How do you expect anypony to be able to drink this stuff?” “Because it works!” Nightshadow said. Rainbow felt herself becoming very drowsy, she set her head down on her pillow and gently drifted off to sleep. ... Rainbow opened her eyes; she was standing in the middle of a field outside Ponyville. She looked back at her wings with glee. She spread them and leapt into the air. Her wings flapping at high speed as she soared through the clear skies. Oh how she missed this! Rainbow Dash pulled several loops, accompanied by several barrel rolls, high speed turns, and a good number of other aerial manoeuvres what weren’t even possible to pull off in the real world. Here in this dream world, she could do anything she wanted to do! Off in the distance, Rainbow Dash discovered another flyer coming into view, another Pegasus? No... The colours weren’t right to be a pony... It was a Gryphon. “Gilda?” Rainbow Dash called out. The Gryphon stopped and hovered in midair a couple dozen metres from her, giving her a wave. “What are you doing here?” Rainbow asked. “I should think it obvious,” Gilda said with a smirk. “I’m here because you want me to be here.” Rainbow Dash was a little confused by this, she didn’t think she’d had any desire to see Gilda again... But here she was. She was in full control of this dream, so clearly she did. And then it hit her. “I’ve missed you Gilda,” Rainbow Dash had never really realised it until this point, but she did. Gilda had been her best friend when they were kids, but after the way Gilda had treated her friends in Ponyville last year... Well Rainbow Dash hadn’t actually gotten around to dealing with how she felt. “I missed you too dweeb,” Gilda said, smiling playfully at her. “I’d be careful where you go with this, you in full control is going to lead me to saying everything you want to hear, whether or not it’s actually true.” Rainbow Dash looked a Gilda in confusion, why in the world had she said that? “That’s the, underused, rational part of your brain talking,” Gilda explained. “It’s trying to keep you from setting yourself up for disappointment.” Rainbow sighed. “This isn’t nearly as fun as I thought it was going to be.” Gilda smiled at her, closing in and giving Rainbow Dash a hug. “C’mon dweeb, no tears! Hey, bet I can beat you to Canterlot and back!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “As if! You’re on!” The Pegasus and Gryphon took off at high speed. Rainbow Dash had no intention on losing, forgetting entirely that it was her dream and that it was impossible for her not to win. Rainbow Dash flew faster and faster, faster than she’d ever had in the longest time, she could feel it as her body had accelerated well past 700 kilometres per hour. Gilda was no slouch either; the duo rounded Canterlot and was zooming back towards their starting point. The sky turned red. Both Pegasus and Gryphon looked up to see what was going on. The sky seemed to be filled with fire, a long bright trail followed by a column of smoke, a meteorite? Rainbow didn’t remember asking for this. The meteorite slammed into the ground at their starting point, sending a shockwave through the air that forced both Pegasus and Gryphon to stop in their tracks or get thrown about by it. Rainbow Dash and Gilda landed by the impact crater left by the falling meteorite, it turned out to be a small metal sphere with strange writing printed all over it. “The stuff that Apothecary gave you must be wearing off,” Gilda said. Rainbow Dash looked at Gilda in confusion, how would she know about that? “We’re in your head dummy. I know everything you do.” Gilda explained. Dash hadn’t even needed to ask. “Listen, if that stuff is wearing off, then I’m probably not going to be around much longer... even if I do stay, I’m not likely to be very helpful. Whatever happens, you can make it through this. Don’t get your hopes up...” With a blink of an eye, Gilda was gone. Don’t get my hopes up on patching things up with the real you... I got it. Rainbow Dash thought to herself, she frowned, she’d never realised just how much she’d missed the gryphon until now, even if she hadn’t turned out to be the nicest creature on the planet. Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to the metal bit that landed in front of her, she climbed down into the crater. She raised her hoof and gave the metal ball a prod. The ball turned pitch black and exploded into a cloud of smoke, the cloud roared at her, making a loud angry ticking noise as it moved. Rainbow Dash panicked and took off running. She tried to fly, but when she flapped her wings she found that they just harmlessly fell to the side as they had when they were paralysed. The black smoke went after her, she heard the ticking noise as it got louder and louder, she turned back to see that the black smoke could outpace her on foot, and without her wings there was no way to get away. The Pegasus tripped, where she scattered to the ground. She turned over on her back and watched as the black smoke reared up, howling and crashing down upon her. She knew nothing more. ... Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs. Doctor Nightsinger burst into the room, fearing the worst. Rainbow was panting heavily. She looked around to find that everything was okay. Just a dream... More like a nightmare. “Your friend wasn’t kidding.” Rainbow Dash said between breaths. ... Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but smile as she flapped her wings in the courtyard of the Royal Hospital, they felt stronger than ever, and she was ready for her first flight since being injured. She leapt into the air, flapping her wings and climbing to a height of 10 metres. Doctor Nightsinger had joined her. “How does it feel?” “I feel fantastic! My wings! Oh how I missed them!” Rainbow said. She looked down to see Spitfire standing in the courtyard looking up at her. She smiled to the bright yellow Pegasus and gave her a wave. Spitfire joined them. “You look great kiddo. How do you feel?” Spitfire asked. “I’m fantastic! You ready for that race Spitfire?” Rainbow asked, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve been ready for weeks. The better question is, are you?” Rainbow Dash looked over at her doctor, he nodded approvingly. She was ready to go home. “Heck yeah! You, me, first one to Ponyville!” Rainbow Dash said, Spitfire agreed and the two pegasi dashed off at high speed towards home. Rainbow Dash had completely forgotten her nightmare, but even more sinisterly, she had forgotten who had caused it.