Rainbow Dash could feel that something was wrong before she even opened her eyes. She felt her legs and wings being restrained. She felt cold metal against her back. She opened her eyes and the first thing she thought was, This old dream again? But as she looked around, she could tell something was amiss.
She was in what looked like a room inside of a factory and there wasn't any party stuff like that nightmare always had. She looked around and tried to find something that would tell her where she was, which was hard to do because the room was very dark. "Uhh, hello?" She called out. "Anypony there?"
No response.
Rainbow struggled against her restraints until she heard the sound of hooves clopping against the floor. In the darkness of room, she could just make out the shape of a pony; a mare by the looks of it.
"P-Pinkie?" Rainbow guessed before groaning. "Please tell me I'm not having this dream again."
"This isn't a dream, Dash."
A chill ran down Rainbow's spin. That was not Pinkie's voice nor was it the voice of any of her friends. However, the voice did sound familiar, but Rainbow couldn't place the name. Regardless, a very bad feeling rose up inside her. "Whose there?"
The pony came closer and became more distinct. Rainbow could now make out a slicked back mane that looked rather silly... Wait a second, she recognized that mane. Rainbow recognized the voice and the shape, but she just couldn't remember who the pony was.
"You know who I am, Dash... Or did you forget about me?" The pony interrogated. "Well, I certainly haven't forgotten you. I mean, after all, you did ruin my life. Remember that day, Dash? The day you got me kicked out of the Wonderbolts Academy?!"
Rainbow's eyes widened as she finally realized who she was talking to. "Lightning Dust?"
Lightning Dust walked into view with a look of anger on her face. "Did you really think I would just let bygones be bygones?!" She asked as she walked up to Rainbow Dash. "Did you really think I would forgive you for what you did?!"
"What I did?!" Rainbow's hotheaded nature overcame her fear. "You nearly killed my friends!"
"But I didn't, did I?" Lightning pointed out. "They didn't get hurt. But you, on the other hoof, hurt me." She narrowed her eyes and flapped her wings to get on eye level with Rainbow. "You took all my hopes and dreams and crushed them! You ruined my life!"
"You were hurting ponies," Rainbow snapped back angrily. "And you would have kept hurting them if Spitfire had let you stay. You don't deserve to be a Wonderbolt!"
"And you do?!"
"Bite me!" Rainbow said before spitting in Lightning's face.
"Ugh!" Lightning dropped to the ground and used her wing to wipe the saliva off her face before glaring at Rainbow.
Rainbow glared right back.
The hate-filled staring contest went on for a moment until the silence was broken by something behind Lightning.
Rainbow looked into the darkness behind Lightning, trying to locate the source of the sound. It sounded muffled; as if somepony was trying to talk, but was gagged.
Lightning looked back towards the darkness and smirked at Rainbow.
Rainbow felt her blood run cold.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Dash." Lightning started walking towards the darkness. "I forgot to mention that we have a guest."
For whatever reason, Rainbow's heart pounded against her rib cage. The way Lightning had smiled and how she had said that made it all too clear that this was not going to be good for Rainbow.
A moment after Lightning had disappeared into the darkness, the muffled sound grew closer. Rainbow could hear the sounds of of metal hitting metal and something being dragged across the ground. The muffled sound grew closer and closer until...
Scootaloo soared into view and landed on the ground in front of Rainbow.
Rainbow was in utter shock. "Scootaloo!"
Scootaloo's mouth was covered by some sort of rag. She brought her hooves to her face and pulled the rag down, allowing her to speak. "Rainbow Dash!" The filly looked happy to see her surrogate sister and got up. However, before she could start towards Rainbow, Lightning grabbed the filly with her foreleg; holding the filly up with her forelegs pinned by Lightning's own.
It was impossible for Rainbow to count how many emotions were stirring up inside of her at that very moment. "Let her go!" She demanded with a mixture of anger and fear.
Lightning sat down and ruffled Scootaloo's hair, that cold smile still on her face. "And what will you do if I don't? You can't do anything."
"Yes, she can!" Scootaloo retorted. "And she's gonna kick your-"
Smack.
Lightning's smile disappeared as she smacked Scootaloo. "Shut your mouth."
At that moment, Rainbow's anger took the lead of her emotions. She gritted her teeth and blew steam out her nose as she glared at Lightning. "Do that one more time and I'll break every bone in your body!" She threatened.
Lightning raised an eyebrow and smacked Scootaloo, who was almost in tears at this point, once more.
Rainbow struggled in vain to break her restraints, desperately wanting to pound Lightning Dust into the ground and take Scootaloo home. However, despite trying with all her might, the restraints didn't give at all.
Lightning watched Rainbow with amusement. "You know, RD, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would make you pay for what you did to me. How to make you feel how I felt. You took everything I cared about and broke it right in front of me..." She looked to Scootaloo, letting go of her for a second to grab the filly's right foreleg. "Like this."
There was a loud crack and a louder scream as Lightning broke Scootaloo's foreleg.
"NO! SCOOTALOO!" Tears started running down Rainbow's face as she watched her little sister writhe on the ground and clutch her broken foreleg. Hearing her agony-induced crying made Rainbow's heart shatter.
Lightning stood over Scootaloo with an almost satisfied look on her face and grabbed the filly's right back leg.
"Don't do it, Lightning!" Rainbow demanded in a shaky yet angry voice. "She's just a kid! What's wrong with you?!"
Lightning raised an eyebrow at her. "But, Dash, weren't you talking about how I nearly killed your friends just a moment ago? I almost killed five ponies and I didn't feel a thing. What gave you the indication that I wouldn't hurt a kid?" She questioned before breaking Scootaloo's back leg.
Scootaloo wailed in pain while Rainbow could do nothing but watch in horror.
Rainbow cried with Scootaloo and desperately tried to think of a way out of this, but her mind drew blanks as Lightning grabbed Scootaloo's left foreleg. "Lightning, please! She-She didn't do anything! I'm the one who hurt you! Break my bones! Do whatever you want to me, but leave her alone!"
"See, that's the thing," Lightning said nonchalantly. "You didn't break me physically, Dash. You broke my spirit. Therefore, I have to break you the same way."
Scootaloo's voice gave out as Lightning broke her other foreleg.
Rainbow didn't know what to do. She was as helpless as Scootaloo and her heart hurt as much as Scootaloo's legs if not more. Her wet, bloodshot eyes widened as Lightning grabbed Scootaloo's left back leg. Despite knowing that nothing she could say would affect Lightning, Rainbow knew she had to try. "Please, Lightning... Please just stop."
Lightning mockingly contemplated for a few seconds. "Hmm... Nah."
Scootaloo could only whimper as Lightning broke her last leg.
Rainbow couldn't speak. All she could do was watch as a monster tortured a little filly she loved dearly. Unable to move. Unable to do anything.
"Well, look at that. Now, she can't fly or walk." Lightning joked with a chuckle. She then grabbed Scootaloo's head and held her up to face Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow looked into the filly's eyes and could have sworn there was something... off about them. But, before she could figure out what it was, Lightning twisted Scootaloo's head around.
Snap.
Rainbow's entire world crumbled down around her as Scootaloo's limp body hit the ground; not moving.
Rainbow was completely still. Her jaw hung open; tears continued streaming down her face; her body shook with every breath she took; but the only thing that moved was her eyes, which focused on the soulless mare who was smirking at her.
Lightning stepped over Scootaloo's body and walked right up to Rainbow once more. "Oh, look on the bright side, Dash. You still have your friends, right?" She mockingly brought a hoof to her chin in thought. "Although, I guess I will have to kill them too. I think I'll start with-"
Suddenly, lightning came out of nowhere and zapped the socipath.
Lightning screamed as she was incinerated in a two seconds.
Rainbow stared at the spot where Lightning had just been in total confusion until a dark blue alicorn descended in front of her. She raised her head to see that it was indeed Princess Luna.
The Moon Princess lit her horn and made the restraints on Rainbow's legs vanish, causing the pegasus to fall to the ground. Rainbow looked up at Luna, not sure what to think.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't hear earlier," Luna said with genuine remorse. "Had I known a nightmare this horrific was in the works, I would have came here immediately."
It hit Rainbow like a ton of bricks. "...This is a dream." In hindsight, it was obvious, but Rainbow was too relieved to think about it at the moment.
Luna nodded and held her hoof out to Rainbow.
Rainbow allowed the alicorn to pull her up onto her hooves. "So... None of this is real? Scootaloo's okay?"
"She's perfectly fine." Luna assured.
Rainbow sighed in relief and fell on her flanks. It felt as if a hundred mountains had been lifted off her shoulders, but she was still badly shaken up.
Luna took notice and looked to the little orange corpse behind her. She lit her horn and brought the fake Scootaloo back to life, which then ran up and put her forelegs around Rainbow.
Rainbow held the filly tight and started crying her eyes out.
Despite having many more dreams to tend to, Luna decided to stay with Rainbow for the moment. This dream would no doubt affect the young mare and Luna had to make sure she would be okay. The other dreams could wait.
Rainbow stayed like that for a long while, crying rivers and holding the fake Scootaloo close like a child holding a teddy bear. After the tears stopped flowing and her breathing steadied, a frightening thought entered her mind. She looked up at Luna. "...Lightning Dust... Is she..."
"She's not nearby," A solemn look came upon Luna's face. "But I have seen her dreams and I'm afraid the Lightning Dust of your dream isn't too far fetched from the real Lightning Dust."
Chills ran down Rainbow's body as she looked down at the filly she held to her chest.
Luna thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "I will speak with Lightning Dust. Perhaps I can reason with her... or at least persuade her to stay away from you."
"Thanks, but..." Rainbow returned her gaze to Luna. "Can you wake me up now?"
Luna raised an eyebrow. "It's only just passed midnight."
"I have to see Scootaloo." Rainbow explained. "I need to see for myself."
Luna nodded in understanding. "Of course." She lit up her horn once more.
Rainbow awoke to find both her face and her pillow wet with tears. She wiped her face and got out of bed, giving her wings a quick stretch before flying right through her cloud wall. She took to the night sky and flew down to Ponyville. Using her photographic memory that only worked when she was patrolling, she quickly found her way to Scootaloo's house. She descended towards one of the windows and peered in, seeing a little orange filly asleep in her bed.
Rainbow bit her lip as she contemplated what to do next. She could now see for herself that her little buddy was safe and sound, but after that dream... She looked around to see if someone was watching her; specifically, a certain psychotic pegasus. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she started tapping on the window.
After a few light raps, the filly stirred and sat up. She looked to her window and saw her big sister waving to her. Going from sleepy to excited in a heartbeat, she ran up to the window and unlocked it, letting Rainbow in. "Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here?!" She asked enthusiastically.
Rainbow landed on the floor and rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I... Uhh... I couldn't sleep, so I went out for a fly and I decided to check in on my biggest fan.
"Oh," Scootaloo ran what Rainbow had said through her. "And you woke me up to do that? I mean, I don't mind! I love that you decided to, but... why?"
"Oh, that. Well, I, uhh... I was..." Rainbow sighed and sat down. "I had a nightmare."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "So, what? You told me you didn't have nightmare's anymore because you can take on any of the monsters you see."
"It was... It was different this time." Rainbow could feel the emotions she had felt in her dream rising up in her. Images of Lightning hurting Scootaloo flashed through her mind. She looked to the floor. "Scoots, can you, um..."
"Yeah?"
"...Can you give me a hug?" Rainbow said before her pride could fight back. "I... I really need one."
Despite being rather surprised, Scootaloo jumped over to Rainbow and wrapped her forelegs around her.
Rainbow held the filly tight and, despite herself, started crying again. She wasn't bawling like in her dream, but she was still struggling to keep herself from breaking down again. She was really embarrassed and hoped that Scootaloo wouldn't think less of her or at least not tell anypony, but she couldn't help herself right now. She needed to hold her for a moment after what she had just seen in her dream.
Scootaloo remained silent the entire time.
Once Rainbow had regained control of herself, she took a deep breath and let Scootaloo go.
The filly looked up to her mentor. Scootaloo had never seen Rainbow Dash so... torn up. She had had nightmares before and they were always scary, but she couldn't even imagine what might have happened in Rainbow's nightmare to make the bravest, coolest, awesomest pony in world into... this. "...It was bad, wasn't it?"
Rainbow nodded and wiped her tears away.
It honestly broke Scootaloo's heart to see Rainbow like this and she was afraid pushing the subject would make it worse, so she sat back in silence.
Rainbow looked away from Scootaloo. She needed to talk to somepony about this, but who? As Rainbow thought about it, she remembered that there had always been one pony that she could always talk to. One pony whom she could pour her heart out to and she wouldn't feel like a wuss doing so. "...Hey, squirt, do you wanna have a sleepover?"
Despite knowing why she asked, Scootaloo couldn't help but be excited by the prospect of having a sleepover with Rainbow Dash. "Yeah! That would be awesome!"
Rainbow gave a nervous laugh. "Well, it's not at my house."
Fluttershy woke up when she hear someone knocking on her door. She rubbed her eyes and looked to her clock. "Who could be knocking at this time of night?" She got out of bed and flew down stairs to her door. "Wh-Who is it?" She asked nervously.
"It's the pizza mare."
"But I didn't order a-" Then she realized whose voice it was. Fluttershy laughed as she opened the door to see a certain rainbow-maned pegasus with a cute little orange filly at her side.
"Hey, Fluttershy." Rainbow greeted. Fluttershy took notice of her childhood friend's appearance. To put it bluntly, she looked a mess.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo. What are you two doing here so late?"
Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. "Well, we, uh..."
"We came to have a sleepover with you." Scootaloo said bluntly.
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Rainbow facehoofed and sighed. "Can we spend the night here?"
"Well, of course. Please, come in." Fluttershy was a bit confused, but she certainly didn't have a problem with them sleeping over.
"Thanks." The two said simultaneously as they trotted in.
Fluttershy could tell something was wrong and decided to get to it. "Is everything alright, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow looked back at her and sighed. "Hey, Scoots, why don't you head upstairs? I have to talk with Fluttershy about something."
Scootaloo pouted, but did as she was told. "Alright."
Once Scootaloo was gone, Rainbow chuckled. "You still fall for that pizza mare joke? I've been doing that since we were fillies." She teased as she sat down on Fluttershy's couch.
Fluttershy giggled as she took the other side of the couch. "Well, you never know when it could be the real deal."
"Heh. Yeah, I guess so." Rainbow's smile faded.
Fluttershy's smile faded as well. "What's wrong, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow took a deep breath and turned to face her childhood friend. "I had a bad dream tonight. I mean, a really really bad dream!" Rainbow shuddered.
Fluttershy put her hoof over Rainbow's and motioned for her to go on.
Rainbow swallowed as the dream replayed in her head. "I dreamed Lightning Dust came back."
"The pony who got kicked out of the Wonderbolts Academy?"
"Yeah, that's the one. I dreamed she came back and she..." Rainbow gritted her teeth. "I was shackled to a wall... She was talking about how she blames me for her life being ruined... She had Scootaloo..." Rainbow bit her lip as she started tearing up again. "She... Oh, Celestia... She broke her legs..." Tears ran down her face; she lost control of her breathing pattern. "I was begging her to stop, but she didn't! She broke one leg after the other! And then... Then she..."
Fluttershy pulled Rainbow into a hug, letting her friend cry into her shoulder.
Rainbow wrapped her arms around Fluttershy and continued crying as she forced herself to finish. "...She snapped her neck... She killed her! And she... She was smiling! And... she said she would... kill you girls next!" That's all she could get out.
Fluttershy couldn't help crying as well. It was horrible just listening to Rainbow describe the nightmare; she couldn't imagine how it must have been for Rainbow Dash to see it, even if it was just a dream. She rubbed her friend's back and nuzzled against her neck. "It's okay, Rainbow." She soothed. "It was just a dream."
After taking a moment to get herself together, Rainbow gently pushed Fluttershy away "That's the thing, 'Shy." She said as wiped the tears off her face. "That can actually happen!"
Fluttershy handed Rainbow a box of tissues, which she had been using to dry her own eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I'm the reason Lightning got kicked out of the Wonderbolts Academy." Rainbow explained as she brought a tissue to her eyes. "I figured she would just move on, but what if she didn't? That was her dream and I ruined it."
"It was her own fault, Rainbow." Fluttershy pointed out.
"Yeah, but I doubt she sees it that way." Rainbow retorted. "She sabotaged the other trainees just because she could; she hurt them because she could! She nearly killed you, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie and she didn't even care! The mare is a psycho! And she's still out there. She might try to hurt you girls to hurt me..."
"Oh, Rainbow," Fluttershy scooted closer and put her foreleg around Rainbow's shoulders. "I understand why you're scared, but we've dealt with worse than Lightning before and we came out alright." She pointed out. "And besides, if Lightning Dust really is like that, then she's all alone. You have me, Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, all of Ponyville, Discord, the Princesses; you have the world on your side!"
Rainbow felt the heaviness in her chest lighten as she took in Fluttershy's words. She was right. She had the world on her side and Lightning had only herself.
"And in any case, you're stronger than her, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy stated with certainty. "You would knock her into next week before she could so much as lay a hoof on a single hair in Scootaloo's mane."
Rainbow thought this over and smirked. "Yeah... I would, wouldn't I?" She boasted.
Fluttershy smiled and nodded, happy to she her friend feeling like herself.
Rainbow smiled and hugged her best friend. "Thanks, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy gladly returned the hug. "It's no trouble."
Once they were done hugging, Rainbow yawned and looked at the clock. "Oh sweet Celestia, look at the time!" She got off the couch and started towards the stairs. "We'd better see how the Scootanator is holding up."
The two quietly made their way upstairs to find Scootaloo already asleep under the covers on the right side of Fluttershy's bed. The two looked to each other and nodded. Rainbow flew over and got in the middle of the bed while Fluttershy took the left side.
Scootaloo awoke when she felt the two mares get in the bed and turned over to see Rainbow Dash. She smiled and snuggled up beside her.
Rainbow put her foreleg around Scootaloo and her other foreleg around Fluttershy, bringing them both in close. And that's how they stay for the rest of the night.
After about half an hour, the return of sleep started to work it's way into Rainbow's mind. As she started dozing off, she looked at her two sisters and smiled. "I won't let anypony hurt you two." She promised before finally falling asleep; the horrors of earlier left behind.