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Chapter 10
Look Before You Sleep
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“Spot?” Dash called, walking into the library.
Not hearing a response, Dash decided to go check his room at the back. And, when she got there, she was completely unsurprised to find him in bed, fast asleep.
“Geez, he’s lazier than I am…” Dash muttered to herself as she moved alongside the bed. She raised one of her hind legs to his back. Then kicked.
The first thing Alex felt as his consciousness returned, was his body thudding on the floor, landing face first.
“Ow…” Alex grumbled, as he put his hoofs on the floor to raise himself up. However, he encountered a problem. On that he thought he had seen the last of. His horn was stuck in the floor.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Alex whined. “It’s not even like its sharp!”
Noticing the predicament that Alex was currently in, Dash decided to do what any good friend would do. Fall over in a fit of laughter.
Alex sighed, he really couldn’t blame her. Here he was, with his rump raised up in the air, and his horn stuck in the floor, as he pushed up as hard as he could to get it out, having no luck.
“Care to lend a hoof?” Alex asked, as he listened to her laughing continue.
Dash tried her best to compose herself so she could help Alex, but, every time she looked at him in this helpless state, she just couldn’t control herself.
“What’s all the laughing about?” Spike asked, walking into the room, unable to see Alex thro.
“Spike!” Alex said, relieved to see the baby dragon. “Can you help me out here?”
“Help you with wha…”
As soon as Spike saw Alex in that position, he understood why Dash had been laughing. And unfortunately for Alex, Spike joined right in with her.
“Are you two serious?!” Alex asked, watching the two feed of each other’s reaction, and laugh stronger as a result. “I wish Twilight were here…”
Finally, after several more minutes of the two laughing, they finally calmed down enough to be able to help him.
Wrapping his hand around the exposed part of the horn, Spike started yanking as hard as he could, while Alex pushed out on the floor. Unfortunately, that didn’t work.
“Here!” Dash said, walking over Alex’s body, wrapping her arms around his forehead, hugging his head to her chest. “Let me help.”
“Okay…” Alex said, readying himself for another try, “On three!”
“One…”
“Two…”
“Three!”
All at once, Alex pushed against the floor, Spike pulled on his horn, and Dash started using her wings to lift herself and Alex away. And with their combined effort, the three managed to get Alex’s horn out of the floor.
The only thing they hadn’t thought about, was what to do after he was free. His head slipped out of the floor so fast, none of them had the chance to stop pulling, and in the end, they all wound up tumbling backwards, into a pile on the floor.
“Great job guys!” Alex said to the two underneath him.
“Yeah,” Dash said, trying her best to breath with Alex on top of her. “REAL great…”
“C—Could you guys M—Move?” Spike gasped from the bottom of the pile.
“Oh, yeah!” Alex said, quickly getting off, followed by Dash.
As soon as they were off of him, Spike rolled over onto his back. “You guys should lose some weight.”
“Sorry about that buddy…” Alex said, levitating Spike up off the floor, and placing him on the bed. “Why don’t you just lie down for a minute?”
“Okay…” Spike groaned.
Alex lifted the blanket off the floor and put it over Spike.
“Come on,” Dash said, “Let’s get back to your training.”
Alex nodded, then turned to Spike.
“We’ll be back in a little bit, okay?” Alex said the baby dragon, walking toward the door.
“Okay…” Spike said, “But, to help me get better, you should bring some ice cream.”
“We’ll see.” Alex said, walking out the door, followed by Dash.
“That always means no…” Spike grumbled.
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Alex and Dash immediately resumed his training, and continued for the next few hours.
While Alex didn’t make much more progress, Dash was still happy that he was getting practice in the basics.
“Okay,” Dash instructed, “Just one more set!”
Taking a deep breath, Alex started flapping his wings. He wasn’t trying to achieve any flight; he was simply moving them up and down at a slow pace. The closest thing he could compare it too, was jumping jacks, but with his wings, and without jumping.
Standing and watching Alex, Dash thought back to the pony who she had briefly talked with about Alex. He had been really interested in him… Had he and Alex even met?
“Okay, that’s good!” Dash said, deciding to let Alex finish a bit early. “I’m kind of curious about something.”
“Shoot.” Alex said, catching his breath.
“That pony that you got to call me pretty…” Dash said, “Do you know who him?”
“I’ve only seen him around,” Alex answered. “That was the first time I’ve ever talked to him.”
“He seemed really interested in you.” Dash said.
“Really?” Alex asked, “What was his name?”
“He had a weird kind of name…” Dash mumbled, “He called himself ‘The Doctor.’”
“Huh,” Alex said, thinking back to a couple weeks ago. “I think I heard Applejack mention him back when she hurt her leg… What did he ask you?”
“Like, when you first arrived, where you came from, what you were doing here… Pretty basic stuff.” Dash recalled.
“Well, that’s pretty weird.” Alex said, “Maybe he was just curious.”
“Yeah… Mayb—“ Dash was cut off when a loud bolt of thunder sounded above them.
“Wow!” Alex said looking up at the sky, “When did it get so dark?”
“Haven’t you noticed the Pegasi putting the clouds in the sky?” Dash asked. “We’re having a big storm today because the rain we had planned for a few days ago never happened.”
“Scheduling weather is something I’ll NEVER get used to…” Alex said. “And I guess I just didn’t notice the ponies setting it—“
Another clap of thunder sounded in the sky, causing Alex to jump.
“Uh… Let’s go inside.” Alex said quickly feeling the wind start to pick up.
“Oh come on!” Dash said teasingly, “You aren’t afraid of a little—“
An especially massive boom went off, scaring both Dash and Alex.
“Can we please?” Alex asked, not wanting to be outside anymore.
“Um… Yeah…” Dash said, feeling a couple of rain drops land on her snout. “Let’s go inside.”
Alex and Dash both ran inside, not wanting to get wet, or struck by lightning.
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“Where have you guys been?” Spike asked, watching the two run inside the library from his seat at the kitchen table. “Did you bring my ice cream?”
“Sorry Spike,” Alex said, looking out the window. “We didn`t really have time.”
“Yeah…” Spike said, “I kinda figured.”
“I’ll go pick you some up tomorrow, okay?” Alex said, turning to face him.
“Uh… Sure!” Spike said, surprised that he was going to get ice cream at all.
“So, what’s the plan?” Alex said to the two.
“Well…” Dash said, peering out the window. “I don’t think flying up to my house will be the SAFEST thing in the world right now…”
“Well, you’re welcome to stay here,” Alex said. “With Twilight gone, we have a spare bed.”
Dash looked at Spike, and saw that he had no objection. So, she smiled, and nodded.
“Great!” Alex said, “What are we going to do in the meantime though? There’s still a couple hours before we should be heading to bed.”
“What does Twilight do for fun around here?” Dash asked.
“Uh…” Alex said, “Well… She reads.”
Dash couldn’t believe that was the first thing on the list.
“Ugh, Bor-ING,” Dash said, sighing. “What else?”
Spike scratched his head, what else did they do… Oh! He knew!
“Sometimes we do math!” Spike said, expecting them to love his idea.
“Yeah… They… They really do…” Alex said, clearly not a fan of the idea.
“Is that all there is to do around here?” Dash whined, sitting down.
“Pretty much…” Alex said, “Normally we go outside to do--”
Another clap of thunder went off, almost as if it were reminding them that going out wasn’t an option.
Seeing something run by the window of the Library, Dash took a peek to see what it was.
“Hey, look!” Dash announced. “There goes Applejack and Rarity!”
“Huh?” Alex said, standing next to her at the window. “Oh yeah! There they go!”
After watching the two run past the Library, and head toward a deeper part of town, Alex realized something. “We probably should have invited them in… Huh?”
Dash and Spike both nodded in agreement.
“Maybe we would have had something to do with them here!” Dash complained.
Alex looked around. Twilight really didn’t have much stuff to do. He always passed the time by practicing magic… But that was hardly an option for Dash.
“I wish that this world had television…” Alex mumbled.
“What’s that?” Dash asked.
“Uh…” Alex paused. How do you explain a television to somepony who’s never heard of it?
“It’s like… A box, that shows pictures… Well, moving pictures!”
“Oh, like a movie!” Dash said.
“You’ve got movies here?” Alex asked, surprised.
“Well, we have projectors,” Dash said, “but they’re not very popular.”
“Well, a television is a box, with a screen, that plays movies without a projector.” Alex explained. “In my world, there are literally a million different things that you can watch.”
“Wow,” Spike said, “your world sounds really cool!”
“I guess so...” Alex said, thinking about all of the things he missed from his world.
“Tell us more about your world!” Spike said excitedly.
“Um, alright,” Alex agreed, sitting down at the table with the other two. “Where should I start…?”
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Dash and Spike listened to Alex tell them all about his world for the next couple of hours. He had told them about cars, skyscrapers, convenient stores, and fast food restaurants.
They kept listening as he started to explain his personal life. His own car, his schooling, and he even got a little bit too deep into describing video games.
“—And that’s why you never use the AA-12” Alex finished.
“That sounds like tons of fun!” Dash said, still engrossed in the story. “Don’t cha’ think so Spike?”
Turning to the baby dragon, Dash and Alex both realized that he was fast asleep, and since the two had been so focused on each other while he told his stories, Spike had probably had been like that for a while.
“Oh, maybe I bored him to sleep.” Alex laughed.
Dash giggled. Something Alex hadn’t really heard her do before.
“Come on, let’s take him to bed.” Alex said, deciding not to make a big deal out of it. “I’ll get you set up while we’re up there.”
Dash simply nodded as Alex levitated Spike off the chair, and carried him up the stairs.
Following Alex, Dash walked up behind him into Twilights room.
Placing Spike in the bed, Alex turned around, and looked at the bed.
“This is where you’ll be sleeping,” Alex said, jumping on the bed, landing on his back.
Dash cocked an eyebrow, “How am I supposed to sleep if you’re on the bed?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Alex said, “I changed my mind. You have to sleep on the floor.”
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” Dash challenged. “You’re getting out of that bed, one way or another.”
“You can try.” Alex said.
Dash readied herself for a charge toward Alex, however, just as she lunged toward him, yet another boom of thunder went off, causing the entire tree to shake.
Dash immediately flared her wings to slow herself down. And, instead of knocking Alex off the bed, she wrapped her arms around him, and clung to him, to which Alex immediately reciprocated, and hugged her back.
“M—Maybe you can stay for a little longer…” Dash said as she shook.
“Aren’t P—Pegasi supposed to be like… Used to thunder?” Alex stammered.
“Are you kidding?” Dash said. “Getting struck by lightning is really e—easy for a Pegasus.”
Alex didn’t answer. He simply sat in the dimly lit room, clinging to the pony next to him.
Finally, after a few minutes, the storm seemed to quiet down enough for the two to calm down.
“You know… Maybe you should stay for a little while…” Dash said, her voice still shaking a bit.
“Yeah… Just in case…” Alex said, shuffling closer to her on the bed.
The silence returned to the room.
Dash thought for a moment, before when he was talking about his world, she couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t mentioned his family at all. So, she decided to just ask about them one more time. “So… What happened with your family?”
Alex’ expression hardened. He didn’t like to think about this.
“What happened?” Dash asked.
Alex sighed. Nopony knew about his family. But… If there was one pony he could confide in, he felt like Dash was the one.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to…” Dash said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
“No…” Alex said, “I can talk about it.”
Dash remained silent.
“The day that I came to Equestria…” Alex began, “Was the worst day of my life.”
Dash didn’t understand. He always talked about how much he loved this place. Something must have happened before he came into Equestria.
Alex didn’t say anything for a few minutes. He wasn’t in the mood to beat around the bush. So, he decided to just come out with it.
“My parents died…” Alex said, staring forward.
Immediately, Dash lifted her head off his shoulder and turned to face him. “I— I’m so sorry! I didn’t know!”
Alex turned to meet her gaze, “It’s okay, Colors. I don’t think it would hurt too much for me to talk about it.”
“H—How did they… Or, what hap-- uh…” Dash stammered trying to find the right words.
“They were driving in one of the cars I was telling you about… And someone hit them with another car.” Alex explained solemnly
Dash thought back to Alex’ description of a car... If two of those things were to collide, the result would be bad…
“I… Found out when I got home from school.” Alex said, “It was all too much… So, I decided to start walking. I didn’t care where I ended up… After walking for what seemed like hours, I found that light, and it brought me here.”
A bright bolt of lightning illuminated the room, but, at this moment, neither of them cared.
“I’m sorry…” Dash repeated, turning her head to face away from him.
“You don’t need to apologize,” Alex said, using his hoof to turn her head back to face him. “After all, there was a silver lining… I found this world.”
Dash looked back in to his eyes. They were sad. But, there was a kind of happiness behind them. She was losing herself a little bit.
“And… I found some great ponies…” Alex continued slowly, gazing back in to her eyes, inching his face forward, closing the gap between them.
“What else did you find?” Dash asked quietly, leaning forward herself.
“I found… You…” Alex said, able to feel her breathing on his nose.
“I’m glad…” Dash whispered, pushing forward to close the rest of the gap.
“What are you guys doing?”
Immediately, upon hearing Spike’s voice, Alex and Dash pulled away from each other.
“Were you about to kiss?!” Spike asked, grinning like an idiot.
“No!” Alex answered quickly. “We were just… Uh, talking!”
“Yup!” Dash agreed quickly, “Just talkin’!”
“I may be a baby, but I’m not stupid.” Spike said flatly. “But don’t worry about it. I’m not going to tell anypony.”
Both Alex and Dash gave a sigh of relief.
“Anyway, I can’t sleep up here with all the thunder, so I’m gonna go downstairs and sleep in your room, Alex.” Spike said, dragging his bed along behind him as he headed out the door.
“I’d better go down with him…” Alex said, starting to realize just how tired he was.
A low rumbling outside the library caused Dash to suddenly grip his arm.
“Can you sleep in here?” Dash asked, clearly still upset from the storm. “I’d rather not be alone…”
“I guess I can sleep on the floor.” Alex said, about to stand up.
“Oh!” Dash said quickly, “You can sleep in the bed… If you want…”
Alex paused. He wanted to sleep in the bed more than anything. But, he couldn’t look too eager. “I guess, if you want me too.”
Lying down, Alex shifted into a more comfortable position on his side, facing her. “But no funny business!”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Dash said, lying down next to him, and resting her head against his chest. “You’re like a… a big ugly teddy bear!”
Alex chucked tiredly as he closed his eyes. “That’s me in a nutshell.”
“Mhmm…” Dash muttered.
The two lay in a comfortable silence, until Alex finally drifted off.
Pushing herself closer to his sleeping form, Dash couldn’t help but chuckle quietly.
She wasn’t afraid of thunder or lightning.
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The Doctor sat in the TARDIS, thinking back to his conversation with Rainbow Dash.
He had finally learned some useful information on Alex. He was a pony from another dimension. Unfortunately, that was a dimension with humans.
The doctor had never actually seen a human. He had only heard legends of them.
The greedy, war loving, conquering species.
And now one of them was in Equestria? That explains why Discord was the ruler in the future. Alex must have assisted him.
The Doctor sighed. A human coming to Equestria, and changing the course of history so much… It sounded like a stupid idea for a story. But, it was happening, and he didn`t like it one bit.
Of course, normally, The Doctor would take more time to consider things, but after what happened to Derpy, and everypony else… He had a one track mind. And that was to make everything go back to the way it was. He saw how this ended. Everypony was turned to stone, and Discord was the ruler of Equestria.
He wasn’t going to let it get to that point.
He was going to stop Alex. Just like he had stopped every bad guy he had ever come across.
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