"You have failed weakling and now Equestria belongs to my Master" Crimson Flash laughs at me while pushing his foot ever downwards upon my chest slowly negating my ability to draw in breath. I turn my head to the side to see my friends and the Princesses all lying in a pile of broken and mangled bodies, each of them staring lifelessly at me. Each of their stares holding an accusation of failure in them each of those accusations levied directly towards me "Now you shall watch as the one you care for most in this world dies." Crimsons words return my gaze to him to see RainbowDash held in his arms, one around her barrel pinning both her forelegs and wings to her body, while his other hand has a hard grip upon her mane.
"n..no..pl..please...do..don't" I whimper as best i can to which he just laughs.
"This is what you get for opposing my Master, Seshareem. For opposing his grand design for us" With a final laugh he begins to pull Dash's mane up and I watch as her neck muscles begin to strain.
"Prism I love.." Dash begins to say only to be cut off as Crimsons arm quickly jerks to the side a loud snap ringing out through the throne room. He lets her mane go to allow Dash's head to flop forwards her neck obviously broken. Her tongue hangs from her mouth and i look up into her eyes to find that same accusing stare on her face.
"NOOOOOOOOOO" my scream is loud and pained as I watch him drop her body lifelessly to the floor next to me. I reach out towards her now lifeless body wanting to pull her close to me to feel her warmth one last time before meeting my final end.
"And now traitor it is your turn to..." Suddenly everything stops, Crimson Flash frozen mid sentence with a sinister smile upon his face, as he leans down towards me, the throne room shimmers once then the world around me shatters like glass as a bluish white flash consumes the throne room. As the flash of bluish white light recedes I find myself standing in a large field of many colored flowers and thick green grass surrounded on all sides by a thick dense forest. A sound catches my attention and I turn my gaze towards it to see all of my friends just a few yards away sharing a picnic happily with laughter and good cheer. "Ho..how is this..." I go to voice my confusion at this change only to be cut off by an all to familiar voice.
"This has been naught but a dream Prism, I am surprised that after some of the nighttime troubles you have had, you could not recognize that." I turn my head to see Princess Luna next to me beaming a warm smile to me.
"A dream...but it felt so real, I could feel his heel upon my chest, I could smell the fear from Dash as he held her." my eyes glaze over a little as i recall the events of the prior dream.
"Dreams can very often feel just as real as the waking world, the anguish and fear you felt in yours was strong enough to pull me into it from another's dream. Do you truly fear losing that much?" her words pull me back to the moment and I shake my head.
"No Princess, I don't fear losing to Crimson Flash, Emerald Spark or even Seshareem. What I fear is failing my friends, failing you and failing all of Equestria in the process" I say without much emotion trying to not dwell on that thought.
"It is ok to be afraid Prism, that is completely normal. Even me and my sister are afraid of what the next few days may hold but we know that those tasked with the defense of Equestria will do their best to see us through to victory and even if tomorrow ends up being Equestria's last day of freedom know that at least none of us shall hold it against you.-" she quickly gestures towards the others still enjoying their picnic within my dream. "-All any of us can do is try our best and put forth our maximum effort" As Princess Luna finishes speaking her wing finds its way to my shoulders laying out over them comfortingly.
As I go to reply to her the world around us begins to shimmer slightly before beginning to fade rapidly. "It appears as though you have begun to wake Prism so I shall leave and will see you in the waking world but please do remember what I have said and that no matter what the future shall bring for Equestria, that we your friends, will always be here for you"
Princess Luna's final words echo through my mind only to be replaced by another familiar voice though the concern and fear in this one is easily discernible. "Prism? Prism? Come on big guy answer me." The voice seems frantic almost on the verge of hysteria. When my eyes finally start to slowly open I find Dash hovering over me, her front hooves on my shoulders, shaking me rather hard. I go to say something but the words catch in my throat as i see the sheer amount of terror on her face, tears beading her eyes which are almost as big as dinner plates, though before i can recover from my shock at seeing her of all ponies looking like that she tackles me in as tight a hug as she can manage.
"You had me so worried Prism. First you grab me out of no where pulling me into a bone crushing hug only to let me go moments later. You then called out my name sounding so anguished, before suddenly convulsing then going very still if it hadn't been for the fact you had been still breathing I would have thought you were dead. I was honestly just about to go find a nurse when you finally woke up" the tone in which she practically blurts all of that out is laced with so much fear and concern for me that i feel as though I could reach out and touch it like a physical thing.
"I'm so sorry Dash. I just had a really bad dream is all" I say pulling her down against my chest, she squirms a bit but quickly gives in returning the hug with both forelegs and wings sniffling a few times before I feel her body relax against me.
"Yeah just don't do it again okay. Though I find myself wondering what could have been so bad to make you react like that in your sleep" she says softly to me as she lays her head against my shoulder completely giving into our embrace while she looks up at me with those big magenta eyes of hers.
One of my hands absently goes to her mane my claws slowly combing through her hair more for my own comfort than for any benefit to her. "I dreamt that Crimson and his Master had won... I saw our friends all dead in a pile while Crimson held me down with his foot. He..he.." my voice breaks there and I find I am unable to finish my sentence.
"He what Prism?" I find myself staring into Dash's big, beautiful magenta eyes curiosity filling them completely. My next breath brings her scent to my nose and i find myself burying my muzzle into the fur of her neck.
While I slowly breath in her scent I reply to her though my voice is almost a whisper even Dash's strong pony ears having trouble hearing me. "He killed you"
I feel the muscles of her neck strain just a little as her head turns trying to hear me properly. "What was that Prism?" she asks me as I feel one of her hoofs slowly running along my own mane.
"He..he" my voice breaks with every word as I try to speak to her as I fight to not openly cry at just the memory of that dream. "He..he held me down and made me watch as he snapped your neck Dash..." I say just loud enough for her to hear me
Her hoof stops running along my mane and her jaw drops. She stares up at me for several minutes with those deep magenta pools that are her eyes before slowly turning her head to stare out the window as she replies. "I..I don't know what to say Prism... I can only imagine what that must have been like for you." Our heartfelt moment is ended there as the door to the room opens as none other than Princess Luna herself walks in. Both me and Dash stare at the lunar Diarch. Whatever she had come in to say quickly dies upon her tongue as she looks at me and Dash. Dash laid out on my chest both forelegs and wings around me, me with an arm around her barrel, my face buried in the fur of her neck, the pair of us looking not unlike a pair of longtime lovers.
"I see I have come at a bad time." She says clearing her throat "When you two have finished please report to the throne room. We will be evacuating the ponies of Canterlot into the crystal catacombs beneath the city for their protection before our brother and his unknown allies make their promised attack tomorrow and every hoof or claw in help will be useful in this endeavor" With that the lunar Princess simply turns and walks out leaving me and Dash blushing as we hold each other.