//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight: Somnus Oblivionis // Story: Waiting For You // by Rainb0w Dashie //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash blearily awoke, still on the floor of Twilight’s bedroom. Her hooves and back were stiff from sleeping on the uncushioned stone flooring and her mind felt like it was in a fog, like she had spent the previous night drinking heavily and woke up with one of the worst cider hangovers she’d ever had wrapped inside of a hundred degree fever. The previous night was a total blur to Rainbow Dash, almost to the point where she didn’t even know where she was. Was she in the hospital? The Celestial Sun Museum? Canterlot Castle? There was a plate of food next to her along with a hoof-written note with her name on it which read: “Dear Rainbow Dash. As I would imagine you probably haven’t eaten well in the past few days so I’ve taken the liberty of preparing breakfast for you. Oats to rejuvenate your energy levels as well as blueberries, grapes, and apples to improve mental development and help the brain function at full capacity; as I’m sure you’re probably very confused and having trouble thinking clearly this morning. Whether you eat this breakfast or not, you can find me in the library. Twilight Sparkle.” At the bottom of the note Twilight had drawn a map of the castle and marked a path from the bedchamber to the library so Rainbow Dash wouldn’t get lost again. She wasn’t feeling too hungry so Rainbow Dash decided to skip breakfast and go right to Twilight, as finding out what had happened the night before felt more important than eating a plate full of oats and fruit. Using the map Twilight had drawn out for her, Rainbow Dash was able to effortlessly navigate the castle, much easier than she had ever before, and within a few minutes she was opening the door to the library and saw Twilight in the center of the room, mid conversation with Spike. “I’ll start organizing the spell tomes and magical reference volumes, if you could go down to the storeroom and bring up the medieval equestrian encyclopedias, volumes one through five, I should be ready for them by the time you bring them all up - oh, Good morning Rainbow Dash.” Twilight had been speaking studiously the entire time but spoke the greeting rather flatly. “Yeah, hey Twilight.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head as Spike walked past, seeming to scuttle out of the library. “Do you know what happened last night, like, how I got here? Everything’s kinda foggy, and I’ve got this really bad headache.” “Intracranial hypertension.” Twilight said whilst removing a spellbook from a box with a large Manehattan shipping label. “Common side effect of Somnus Oblivionis.” “Somnus o-what?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Somnus Oblivionis.” Twilight repeated. “Roughly translates to ‘Sleep of Oblivion’. It’s a sleep spell.” “You put me under a sleep spell?” Rainbow balked. “Why?” “You were pretty inconsolable last night,” Twilight shelved her book. “So I put you under.” “Inconsolable? I don’t remember being inconsolable… Well, I don’t remember much of anything. All I remember is getting ready for bed and then waking up on your bedroom floor.” “Short term memory loss, another side effect of Somnus Oblivionis.” Twilight levitated three more books onto different shelves, never once turning to face Rainbow Dash. “It’s a good spell if you want to put somepony down quick or make them forget the last eight hours.” She stopped to look at the cover of a particularly large compendium. “Except the trade-off is a laundry list of cognitive symptoms ranging from short term amnesia to chronic migraines.” Rainbow Dash was about to ask why a spell like that even existed but decided on something a bit more pertinent to her current situation. “Will my memory ever come back?” “It might.” Twilight said nonchalantly as she disappeared around the bookshelf. “It might not, it really depends on how powerful the memories are and if anything triggers them. If nothing triggers them then the memories are locked away in the deepest parts of your subconscious.” “Well is there anything I can do to regain my memory?” Rainbow Dash spoke louder so Twilight could hear her from behind the bookcase. “It feels important. Like I saw something important.” “Try jogging your memory.” Twilight called back from deep in the library. “Try remembering what you did yesterday.” Rainbow did just that. She searched her memories for the previous day. She remembered waking up and going to Twilight's castle, searching for her friend, and finding her outside. She remembered waking up from her nap and leaving with Gilda and venturing through the Everfree Forest. Rainbow tensed silently as she remembered the building; it’s decrepit halls and empty rooms, and, last but foremost, the skeletons in the bedroom. . “I… I can't remember.” Rainbow Dash said. She could remember everything up until she went to sleep, but everything after that was lost in the fog of her mind. “Well if it’s not important enough to be remembered then who knows when the memory will return, probably never.” Twilight said rather aggressively. “If you don’t mind, Rainbow, I’ve got a lot of organizing to do. If you want I could put you under a memory reclamation spell but if your brain is exposed to too much magic you might get an aneurysm.” Rainbow Dash heard a series of shuffling noises as if Twilight had unshelved an entire bookcase at once and the Rainbow turned to leave, but stopped at the door. “Actually Twilight,” the amnesic pegasus said from the doorway. “I need your help.” “Oh? With what?” Rainbow explained that she had found the building from her dreams, but she wasn’t able to find anything significant when she went there, but it felt like there was still something there she needed to find. She left out the part about the skeletons in the upstairs bedroom but suggested she needed somepony smart to help her get to the bottom of it. “No thanks.” Twilight swiftly declined. “I’d rather organize my books.” “But… I asked for help. I helped you with, well, I agreed to help you with the castle. I guess I really didn’t do anything, but I at least sat through your stuffy history lesson” Rainbow Dash said, growing irritated, attempting to find reasons why Twilight needed to help her when she was promptly interrupted. “I said no.” “What’s gotten into you today?” Rainbow Dash rounded the corner to see Twilight surrounded by piles of books waiting to be placed in their new destinations. “Why are you being so short with me?” “You came into my room at two in the morning.” Twilight wheeled around, looking angry. “I’ve been nothing but understanding and patient with your sleep issues but you’ve been short with me for days. Then you renounced me when I was showing you my new furniture and asked to hang out with you again. You didn’t even say good morning or thank me for the breakfast I made you either.” Rainbow’s ears drooped, bewildered at the sudden outburst. “And even if I could forgive all that I still wouldn’t help you.” Twilight continued. “You wanna know why?” “...Why?” Dash croaked. “Because I watched you fly away with Gilda yesterday.“ Twilight’s tone darkened. “Mere moments after you told me you were too tired. All I wanted to do was spend some time with you. I mean, I know I’m the princess of friendship and all, but you haven’t been a very good friend lately.” “Twilight, I.” Rainbow Dash began to speak as the realization of her recent string of behaviors finally caught up with her. “I’m sorry…” “I appreciate the apology but I’m still not going to help you” Twilight reiterated. “It might take some time for me to completely forgive you.” Twilight’s words stung, and Rainbow Dash felt a mix of sadness, anger and embarrassment. She was about to leave again when a thought suddenly crossed her mind and a smug smile crept across her face. “Well that’s too bad.” Rainbow Dash said confidently. “If you were to come and help me you might’ve been able to get yourself some pretty old antiques.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “I’m listening…” “Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. “There’s tons of antiques over there. You could get yourself a table or a bookshelf or, er, well, it's nothing but bookshelves over there. Uh… Oh yeah yeah yeah, you totally could get yourself an antique tapestry. I remember you saying how you didn’t have enough tapestries and you needed one more to fill that big empty space in the mane hall.” Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment. She looked at her books for a while and then back at the Rainbow Dash, who was still grinning at the alicorn. “Alright,” She said. “I’ll help you.” “You will?” Rainbow Dash was shocked. “That really worked?”: “No.” Twilight laughed. “But you paid attention during my ‘stuffy history lesson’.  You cared enough about what I care about, at least enough to remember a small offhand comment I made;  and that's enough for me forgive you.” “Oh Celestia, Thanks Twilight!” Dash was rejuvenated. She finally felt like she was about to put this issue to bed for good. “Where is this place anyway?” Twilight asked. “Western Equestria” Rainbow Dash said jubilantly with a light flutter of her wings. “About an hour south of Vanhoover.” “Hmmm.” Twilight’s face scrunched up with thought. “We’re going to need some supplies then.” She called out into the castle “Spike, please come up here.” “I’m coming.” Spike called from nearby. Shortly thereafter the dragon had returned carrying several boxes of books and set them down next to an adjacent bookshelf. “What’s up Twilight?” “Spike pack a saddlebag.” Twilight said diligently. “Parchment, quills, scroll seals. You know, standard stuff. Uhhh, bring one of the empty ledgers in case I want to write a field journal, and I guess bring my copy of the General Equestrian Encyclopedia, just in case.” She looked around, thinking if she had included everything she wanted. “And I guess you might as well bring some comic books so you have something to read on the train.” “Train?” Rainbow Dash and Spike both said in unison. “I’m going with you?” Spike said subsequently. “Why would we take the train when we can fly?” Rainbow Dash spoke over him. Twilight chose to address them both at once. “Vanhoover is a three hour flight and I’m not a very good long-distance flyer yet, and I need my assistant with me in case I need to send a letter to the princesses or vice versa. And besides, we don’t really have time to find somepony to watch you and we don’t really get to go on adventures together that much.” “But that train doesn’t get anywhere close.” Rainbow Dash protested. “It would be so much easier if we flew. And you could use the practice anyway, you’ll never get better if you don’t practice.” “I’d rather not risk an injury.” Twilight said, her mind made up. “We can get as close as we can on the train and fly from there. I think the Las Pegasus landing is the closest stop to Vanhoover. We’ll get off there.” “That’s like a six hour train ride!” Rainbow Dash groaned. “It will already be early afternoon by the time we get there.” “You did ask for my help.” Twilight said matter-of-factly. “This is how you’re getting it unfortunately. I’m sorry I’m not a strong flier like you are.” “I know, I know.” Rainbow Dash said, pulling on her eyelids. “It would just be sooo much faster if we could fly.” “Well you could sleep on the train.” Twilight said. “You've still got bags under your eyes, so if you catch up on your sleep it just might feel as fast as flying!” *** Rainbow Dash was cold. Not the normal kind of cold she was used to like when she’d first step out of the shower or take an early flight on a cloudy spring morning.  This was the type of cold that seeped into the hooves and spread painfully throughout her body as if she’d been sleeping on ice. This cold chilled her blood and sank into the marrow of her bones. She opened her eyes to find herself under a blanket with Sandy Shores, the yellow filly she had seen so many times now, except this time they were huddled together trying to stay warm. They were in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed and, looking around, Rainbow Dash could see they both in the same bed, the same room even, where she and Gilda had discovered the skeletons the day before; Except the room appeared to be unusually cared for, as if somepony had painted the walls and polished the floors recently. The whole room felt oddly homely, despite the fact that the room was frigid cold. From the bed she could see the large picture window was fogged up, and that it was snowing outside. The two of them were shivering. The yellow filly was crying and Rainbow Dash was trying to console her. “Shh, don’t cry,” Rainbow Dash said. “dear mother will be back soon.” It hurt to talk. Rainbow Dash’s face was stinging from the cold. She rubbed her face to try and warm it up and spoke again. “We just have to have faith dear mother will return. She said she was coming back… she always comes back.” “But I’m so cold.” the yellow filly cried. “I’m so hungry.” “I am too,” Rainbow Dash said, her stomach was in a tight knot “but she told us to wait for her. She’ll come back.” “But why did she leave us?” the yellow filly trembled. “Why hasn't’ she returned? We did everything she told us to. We were good, so why hasn’t she come back?” “I… I don’t know.” Rainbow Dash said. “She always said she’d come back when the sun comes up, but she hasn't’ returned. Why won’t she come back?” The yellow filly was shaking so bad from crying in the cold that Rainbow Dash tried to silence her, telling her she needed to conserve her energy. She tried to reassure the yellow filly that everything would be alright and dear mother would return but the filly’s face was already losing color; her lips turning blue. “Why won’t she come back? We were good.” The filly kept repeating, slower and slower. “… why won’t she come… we were…. Good.“ She had stopped moving. She lay silently in Rainbow Dash’s hooves. She didn’t speak anymore. She didn’t shiver anymore. And she didn’t cry anymore.  She only laid motionless, holding Rainbow Dash as close as she could. “She’s going to come back.” Rainbow Dash said. “She promised.” *** Rainbow Dash snapped awake to see Twilight and Spike sitting across from her on the train. She instantly felt the warmth from the train’s auxiliary heaters and her skin stung as if she had just come inside from a cold winter’s morning without a coat or winter saddle. Twilight was looking out the window, watching the Equestrian plains roll by and Spike was beside her, reading a comic book. Rainbow Dash could hear the dull murmur of conversation fade into reality as well as the the quick rhythmic chug as the train traveled down the tracks; punctuated every now and again by the occasional horn. Everything seemed normal, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell if she was still dreaming or not. She pinched herself with her hooves to be sure but they felt clumsy and numb as if she had been walking through snow for hours. The sudden motion made Twilight look over. “Oh hey, you’re awake.” She said. “You didn’t sleep very long. We still have about two hours until we reach the Las Pegasus junction. Why don’t you go back to sleep?” “No that’s ok” Rainbow Dash shuddered. “I’m… I’m good.” Twilight waited for a follow up but one never came. Instead, Rainbow Dash shifted in her seat and leaned a hoof on the window, resting her head on it, and looked disinterestedly outside. Rainbow Dash’s gaze fell mainly on the plains outside the window. Lush green wild grass covered the landscape for miles upon miles, obstructed only by the rolling hills that sat far away on the horizon. With nothing of real interest to occupy her vision, the heavy hands of sleep soon began to grab hold of her again. Her eyes became heavier with each passing mile of unobstructed grassland, and soon she could barely hear the chugging of the train wheels. As she was nearing the cusp of sleep the distinct sound of the train’s horn stole her slumber away. Her eyes snapped back open, her chest was tight. She looked around, breathing quick. She was still on the train, still in her seat. No visions had come this time. Rainbow Dash was in the middle of trying to control her breathing when Twilight suddenly spoke. “Hey, sorry for putting you under such a heavy sleep spell last night.” She said. “I feel kinda bad.” “Huh?” Rainbow jerked her head up. “Oh, that’s ok I guess. If you had your reasons then you had your reasons…” She paused for a moment. “What was the reason anyway? I know you said I was inconsolable but what happened exactly?” “To be honest I don’t remember much myself.” Twilight said with a sheepish chuckle. “I was in the middle of a city counsel dream when you woke me up, so I was pretty confused when Mayor Mare started shouting at me about finding a building, but I woke up to you rambling hysterically about waking up in a burning town and something about gryphons in the woods beneath your house.” “Wait, really?” Rainbow was astonished. “I don’t remember saying any of that.” “You don’t remember coming into the castle and waking me up?” Twilight asked curiously. “Or getting mere inches away from my muzzle?” “No.” Rainbow said flatly. “I remember getting home I think somewhere around midnight and being unable to fall asleep. My memory is completely blank after that, and then I woke up in your bedroom this morning.” “Huh.” Twilight sat back in her seat. “You would think you’d remember something given how distraught you were.” She was talking out loud moreso than she was talking to Rainbow Dash. “But Somnus Oblivionis is an old alicorn spell meant for disorienting and escaping from foes. Perhaps I could have used something less pernicious instead of just blasting you away like I did…” Twilight’s face twisted up into one of deep contemplation. “Maybe try jogging your memory again?” ”I already tried that.” Rainbow sunk back into her own seat. “Back when we were talking in the library.” “I know that.” Twilight said. “Try it out loud though. Perhaps hearing yourself talk instead of just thinking it might trick your brain into triggering the memory. Plus, I’m kinda interested in hearing about what you and Gilda did yesterday anyway.” “Well we flew into the woods.” Rainbow began narrating her previous day. “Landed short of where we wanted to land so we tried walking through the forest but Gilda ended up attracting a pack of Timberwolves so we had to run from them.” “She didn’t break the branches did she?” Twilight interrupted anxiously. “She did.” Rainbow rolled her eyes, exasperated. “She thought the rumors were outrageous.” “Everypony knows you don’t break the branches.” Twilight said incredulously. “Apparently everygryphon doesn’t.” Twilight nodded. “Continue.” “Right, so after escaping the timberwolves we stumbled upon this weird bundle of vines.” Rainbow continued. “We tried to investigate it but the vines wrapped themselves around Gilda’s wrist and tried to pull her in; she thinks she might have a fracture.” “Why does she think that?” “She said her wrist hurts whenever she moves her claw from side to side.” The pegasus moved her hoof in the air demonstratively. “She can stand and walk on it just fine but moving it in any other direction causes her a lot of pain. Doesn’t surprise me, those vine were crushing her wrist pretty bad. I had to do a flying leap just to get them off of her.” Dash looked ponderous for a moment, trying to remember what happened next. “Oh yeah, this was really freaky.” She straighten up in her seat. “We found a set of train tracks, or what was left of a pair of tracks. Either way, we followed them for a few miles until we found a rusty old train car just sitting there in the middle of the tracks. it wasn’t even connected to anything. We checked it out and I swear to Celestia it was the same train car I saw in my dreams because.” “Were there any decals on it?” Twilight interrupted. “Or logos or company names? If there were we could look them up and find some information and it might explain some things.” “I don’t think so.” Dash shook her head. “We checked it out and the thing was completely covered in rust. “ “It was just a thought. “Twilight said, deflating. “You were saying?” “Right, I was saying that it had to be the train car I saw in my dream because nearby we found a trail that led us right to the building from my dreams. We forced the front door open but it was too late in the afternoon so it was too dark to explore much of anything except for the upstairs. And it was really only a bunch of empty rooms. Except at the end of the hall we found a, well more like I found, Gilda just stood around the whole time… I found at the end of the hall a bedroom, and inside,” Rainbow was speaking very emphatically at this point. “I found a bunk bed with a pile of bones under a blanket. Like a pair of foals had passed away in their sleep or something.” “What are you two talking about?” Spike said suddenly, looking up from his comic book. He had obviously been too engrossed in his reading to have been paying attention to what the adults were talking about. “Oh yeah, I guess we never really explained it to you.” Twilight said to Spike. “She’s been having these nightmares for the past couple days. That’s why we’re going out all this way. She thinks she finally found the building from her dreams so we’re going out to investigate it.” “What’s frustrating me the most is just the sheer randomness of it all.” Rainbow reclined back down in her seat and rested her back-hooves on the seat in front of her. “It started with not being able to sleep very well. I thought ‘oh I’m just exercising too hard, I’ll take a break from flying today.” but then I’d still be unable to fall asleep, or I’d sleep four or five hours past my alarm.” She rubbed her eyes. “Then the nightmares started about a week ago where I’d just be crying or running in the dark or full blown sequences of seeing everypony I’ve ever known but they answer to different names or they just look strange; like they'd be younger or have different mane cuts.”  The pegasus leaned her head back and sighed. “And just when I thought I was getting to the bottom of everything it feels like I’ve made no progress at all. I thought I had a lead with the train car and the building, but it could all just be one giant coincidence and have nothing at all to do with these dreams I’m having.” “That sounds exactly like this comic book I’m reading!” Spike said. Rainbow Dash looked over to see the dragon pointing at the cover of an issue of Warriors and Wizards. “It’s about this warrior stallion that starts having these terrible dreams and it turns out this wizard put a curse on him by sending an evil spectre to haunt and confuse the stallion as revenge for the stallion’s father killing the wizard’s father. So the stallion had to assemble a party to go fight the wizard and try to lift the curse. It’s awesome!” “Im sure whatever’s happening to Rainbow isn’t that… Theatrical.” Twilight smirked. “Gilda said it sounded more like Foals of the Forest 2.” Dash said offhandedly. “Said my dreams sound like B-level hor-” “They made a second one?!” Spike was ecstatic. “How do you know about the first one?” Twilight gave Spike a look. “That’s a mature rated film. Have you been sneaking into the movie theater again?” Spike laughed nervously and returned to reading his comic book. “Anyway Rainbow,” Twilight said turning back to her distressed friend. “I’m sure whatever is ailing you isn’t that big a deal. I’m sure we’re going to get to the bottom of it.” “But what if we don’t?” Rainbow said bleakly. “What if we going all the way out there just to find nothing again? What do we do then? What do I do when I go back to the Wonderbolts next week and keep having nightmares of foals freezing to death, or Princess Luna trying to teach me how to write a poem? Spitfire’s going to put me on medical leave for sure, and then I’m going to get passed up in rank and probably have to go through the academy again.” “That’s why we’re going out there.” Twilight rested her hoof on Rainbow reassuringly. “Even if we don’t find anything I’m still going to help you get through this. Because that’s what friends do.” “Yeah…” Rainbow looked at the ceiling of the train. “Except there’s a very real possibility that this is all just a wild goose chase.” “I don't know if it will help, but this reminds me of one of my favorite quotes.” Twilight began to recite. “After every storm the sun will smile again. For every problem there is a solution, and the soul’s indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer.” “What did you just say?” Rainbow Dash shot up in her seat. “A quote?” Twilight repeated. “After every storm the sun will smile again. For ev-” “Yeah that!” Rainbow Dash leaned forward. “The sun will smile again… The sun, will smile again.” “It’s a really good quote” Twilight said. “It was written by a classical era philosopher whose writings were important to the development of many comparative studies.” “It’s not the quote.” Rainbow said as if she were looking far away. “Just that middle part. The sun will smile again… it sounds so familiar, like I’ve heard it before.” “Well maybe you heard me say-” Twilight began to speak before a realization hit her. “Oh! Perhaps it triggered a memory! Tell me, do you remember anything?” “I just remember that part.” Rainbow Dash said. “The sun will smile again. Wait no, I remember something, a statue...” “That’s good.” Twilight got excited. “Really good! What else do you remember.” “That’s it.” Dash said. “Close your eyes.” Twilight instructed. “Focus on it. Tell me about the statue. What does it look like?” “It’s… grey.” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. “It’s tall, taller than you or I. And it’s got… It’s got a plaque, I can’t read anything on it except for ‘the sun will smile again.’” “What else do you see?” Twilight probed. “Walk me through it.” “I see the statue.” Rainbow said, her face scrunching up in concentration. “And it’s turning orange...There’s fire… I see buildings…. I see a statue in the middle of a town and the town is on fire!” “Keep going, jog your memory.” Twilight said. “What happened next.” “I get pulled away from the statue by this mare I’ve never seen before.” Dash continued. “We’re running with this yellow filly that I’ve seen before in my dreams, she looks a lot like fluttershy but she goes by a different name. We run into a field and we’re surrounded by.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes snapped open. “The gryphon armor!” “You mean the gryphon armoire?” Twilight attempted to correct. “No, gryphon armor.” Rainbow Dash practically shouted, earning a few looks from the other passengers. She spoke quieter. “We were surrounded by gryphons and they were all wearing these pieces of armor” she motioned around her chest. “Golden breastplates with little black wings right here. It’s the same armor Gilda and I saw in the forest. Being  consumed by those vines that crushed her claw.” “And where were you seeing these gryphons?” Twilight tilted her head. “I think it was in a dream.” Dash spoke softly. “Last night. Yeah, I remember it clearly now. I went to bed and woke up in a town that was being burned to the ground by an entire gryphon army, they were all wearing that golden armor and attacking anypony that came ran past the gate. I saw Gilda in my dream too, she chased me into the forest and I woke up in the woods below my house. I must’ve been sleepwalking because I shoved my entire nightstand into a saddlebag; I think I might’ve even broken my bedside lamp in the process.” “Wait a minute…” Twilight said suspiciously. “You said you had trouble sleeping last night… You didn’t take those sleeping pills did you? The ones you got from Spitfire?” Rainbow Didn't answer, but her face said enough. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time you took them?” Twilight said incredulously. “We found you sleepwalking through the middle of town and you tried to fight the Celestia statue mumbling something about invading changelings. Those pills aren’t good for you, why didn’t you throw them out like I told you too?” “I thought I might need them one day.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I didn’t think anything crazy like that would happen again.” “That’s probably why you came into my bedroom last night.” Twilight said self-assured. “You were out of your mind on those crazy sleeping pills and were probably trying to get me to help you fight off those imaginary gryphons.” “But even if it was just the pills,” Rainbow Dash’s tone went serious. “What does it all mean? I saw the same armor in my dream that I saw in the woods, a few miles away from a boxcar and a forest trail that I’ve walked down in another dream, to a building I saw in another dream that had a couple of skeletal foals inside one of the upstairs bedrooms.” “Could be a evil wizard’s spectre.” Spike crooned. “You’re right, it has to mean something.” Twilight said ignoring spike. “It’s like the pieces are starting to fall into place but the puzzle just keeps getting bigger and bigger.” Twilight rubbed her hoof to her chin, trying to think. “I can’t even think of what it could mean metaphorically… But I guess in a few hours we’re going to find out.”