Chapter 5: Sweet Dreams
Dream
The sunlight reflected off of the clouds as Ryan flew above them. He was a Pegasus with a dark blue coat and a mane similar to Rainbow Dash's, but instead of the bands in his mane being a multitude of colors like her's, each stripe was a different shade of brown, from near white to dark as the bark on a tree. He looked to his left and saw Rainbow Dash flying alongside him, giving him a cute little smile.
He returned it and flew closer to her so their noses were almost touching. They kissed without breaking flight, without a care in the world. Once the kiss was broken, Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed Ryan into an embrace and flew them both vertically, looking deep into each other's eyes. They finally reached a maximum height and stopped, eyes still fixed on each other. Ryan could see his own reflection in Rainbow Dash's eyes. It confirmed that, like her, he was an animated pegasus.
"I love you Ryan." Rainbow Dash said, nuzzling her head into his chest lovingly.
Ryan smiled back and wrapped his hooves around her before lowering his muzzle to her head and kissed her on the top of her mane. He then rested his cheek against the soft, rainbow-colored hair on top of his marefriend's head.
"I love you too Dashie."
Rainbow Dash pulled away from Ryan's chest, her eyes looked up into his, full of love, much like the love Ryan felt at that moment for her, the love he always felt for her.
They leaned in and kissed once more, enjoying the feeling of their lips pressed together as they hovered in the air.
The sun got brighter and brighter until it was a blinding white, to the point where Ryan could no longer see.
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Ryan's House- Morning
Ryan shot awake, breathing heavily and sweating in his sleeping bag. He looked around and saw that it was about nine O'clock in the morning., the sun starting to creep into his room. He calmed himself down and wiped some sweat off of his forehead with his wrist. He jumped as he heard knocking at his door, followed by his mother's voice.
"Ryan, sweetie, are you all right?" she asked.
Ryan got up and walked over to the door, "Yeah mom, I'm fine."
"Why is your door locked?"
"I just wanted some privacy is all." He said with a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Okay, well I'm heading off to work. There's some cereal out for you when you're ready to come downstairs."
"Okay Mom, thanks. I love you."
"Love you too sweetie." With that, Mrs. Davis left and Ryan closed the door to his room. He pressed his ear to the door and listened as his mother's footsteps went down the stairs and the front door shut. He sighed and pressed his head against the door.
Suddenly he remembered the dream, he remembered Rainbow Dash and the kiss they shared in it.
His eyes shot open and he shook his head. He turned around to see that both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still asleep in his bed, the sunlight that had crept into the room through the blinds landed across their faces. When he saw Rainbow Dash under the sunlight, like some heavenly being, he immediately felt his cheeks go red before looking away.
Quickly, he slipped out of his bedroom, quietly shut the door, and went into the hall bathroom. He washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes no longer having the look of exhaustion they had when he was talking to his mom; now they showed a look of fear and confusion.
"Okay Ryan, get a hold of yourself. It was only a dream." He muttered.
But it wasn't just a dream, and he knew it.
Ordinarily he would never tell anyone about his crush on Rainbow Dash, but he never felt the need to. After all, she was just a character of fiction only the day before, so why humility himself with a confession when it would serve no purpose?
But now that she was in his house, in his life, and his elemental partner, he was freaking out.
He sighed and exited the bathroom, only to get shocked when he saw Applejack, who had snuck out of his room, standing in the hallway right outside. She had a worried expression on her face, like she knew something was bothering the boy.
"Ryan, are ya okay?" she asked,
Ryan nods nervously, "Yeah, AJ I'm...I'm good."
Applejack squinted to get a better look at Ryan when she notices the water stains on his shirt, as well as his still, slightly dampened hair, signs of the attempt to "snap himself out of it" after waking up from the dream.
Of course, seeing all of this, as well as Ryan acting so nervous,
"Why in tarnation are ya'll wet?"
"Just washed my...my face, he-he." Ryan rubbed the back of his head nervously.
Not surprisingly, Applejack's expression immediately became skeptical and she shook her head,
"Nu-uh. Y'all ain't getting' by me until ya tell me what's wrong. And don't ya try ta lie out of this cause I'll know."
"Out of all of the characters who caught me after that bizarre dream, it had to be Applejack, the Element of Honesty. I am truly the definition of Murphy's Law."
He sighed and decided to tell her about the dream, but as quietly as possible so they wouldn't wake up Rainbow Dash, even though waking her up would be almost near impossible as she slept in a near-comatose state.
"I...I had a dream about Rainbow Dash."
"A dream about RD?" Applejack's expression changed to genuine curiosity, "What was it about?"
Ryan swallowed hard, his throat dry as if his body was trying to take measures to keep him from revealing his secret to the country pony that stood in front of him with inquisitive, yet still caring, eyes. The kind of eyes only a cartoon pony from Equestria could have.
After a few quickly swallowed and licking his dried lips, Ryan managed to squeak out an answer, "I dreamt we were both pegasi and we were in Equestria, flying together and then we..." Ryan shut his eyes in shame, "...we kissed...and I told her I loved her."
Applejack chuckled, "Aw shucks Ryan, is that all that's got yer bridles in a twist? So ya have a crush on Rainbow Dash; ain't no shame in that."
"Even though she's a pony and I'm a human?" Ryan asked and Applejack nodded.
"Ryan, ya don't have anythin' ta be ashamed of. Trust me."
Ryan sighed and rubbed his head, relieved to get it off his chest, and especially relieved that Applejack was so understanding. "Okay, but listen, you can't tell anyone or anypony about this. Especially Rainbow Dash."
Applejack nodded, "Y'all have mah word. Ah'll be as quiet as a mouse in a hay bail."
Ryan sighed in relief, "Thanks AJ."
Applejack then let Ryan by so they could wake up Rainbow Dash from her deep sleep. He got to her side of the bed and shook her.
"Ugh...ten more minutes." She groaned as she rotated so she was facedown in the pillow. Her mane was suffering from a slight case of bed-mane that, in Ryan's opinion, was adorable.
"Come on Dash, it's time to get up." Ryan said as he gently shook her shoulder. She looked up at him and chuckled.
"Ugh, sorry," she sat up in the bed and let out a small yawn, "I usually sleep in pretty late."
"I can tell." Ryan said smiling before gesturing her to follow him.
Applejack watched this from the open door and chuckled a bit to herself. Rainbow Dash got up and slowly flew out of the room after Ryan.
"Are your parents home?" she asked, landing once she cleared the open door.
"No, otherwise I wouldn't have let you out of my room. You two can do downstairs, I'll be there in a minute."
They nodded before trotting downstairs, leaving Ryan alone in his room. He sighed and walked over to his desk, where he sat and let his head fall with a hard "thunk". He let out a groan as he stressed about the situation. He did trust that AJ wouldn't say anything, she was the element of honesty after all, but he was still concerned about why he had these feelings for a cartoon pony. Even if it wasn't a new crush, it still bothered him.
Why couldn't they just go away, why couldn't he obsess over a girl he went to school with?
As he contemplated these thoughts, he heard his phone start to buzz, which took his mind off of is dream for the time being. He looked at the ID and saw that it was Carl. He sighed and picked up.
"Hey Carl, what's up?"
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Carl's House- Morning
Carl was standing in his kitchen with his cell phone pressed against his ear as he talked with Ryan. Lauren had gone off to work already, and his sisters were both in school, as summer vacation for the kids in the elementary school didn't start for another couple of days.
The four ponies were sitting at the table behind him, eating some toast that he made for them, which they seemed to enjoy.
"Hey I was wondering if you remembered that we're supposed to meet James at the mall later."
"Oh shit, you're right. Well, can we text him and tell him we can't make it? I mean, we can't leave the girls alone. Can we?"
"True, hang on..." Carl covered the mouthpiece of the phone and turned towards the girls, who were having their own conversation at the table. "Hey Twi! Could you cast a spell that would make all six of you look human to other people?"
Twilight swallowed some of the toast that is in her mouth and turned to Carl before giving him an enthusiastic nod.
"Oh yeah, definitely." She then used her magic to pick up a napkin and wipe some stray jam off of her face before she continued speaking, "just let me know when you want me to do it."
Carl nodded and turned back to the phone. "Yeah Ryan, it'll work."
"Great! Listen, I'm going to make AJ and Dash some breakfast and I'll come by to pick you guys up."
"Okay great, I'll see you then."
Ryan hung up and Carl followed suit. He turned to the table, where all four of the mares were looking at him.
"So Carl, where do we plan on going today?" Rarity asked as she delicately placed her piece of toast down onto the plate.
"The mall." Carl answered.
"Oh a mall! I love malls!" Pinkie Pie shouted happily, sounding like the typical shopping-obsessed girl. Or, in this case, like the typical Pinkie Pie.
"Wait, you have malls in Equestria?" Carl asked, somewhat finding the image of a giant shopping center for ponies shocking, after all the show never really gave much indication to the presence of malls.
The four girls, however, all nodded at Carl.
"Öh yes they're just lovely." Fluttershy said with a cute smile and nod.
"I for one hope they have a nice boutique. Perhaps they'll have some dresses to give me inspiration for my designs back home." Rarity said.
"Or a party store! Oh it would be so cool if I could get some streamers, and some party hats, oh! And music, and..." Pinkie Pie continued before an aura surrounded her mouth and clamped it shut.
"Easy there Pinkie Pie, we aren't here to party." Twilight said before releasing her friend's mouth, "We're here to stop Discord."
"Well duh." Pinkie Pie said with a small eye-roll, "Of course I know that silly. This party stuff is for the victory party I'm going to throw when we do beat Discord."
"Um Pinkie," Fluttershy meekly interjected, clearly not comfortable interrupting or being the center of attention, which she was now as everypony turned their attention to her.
"Not to sound bossy or anything, but shouldn't we work on finding the other four elements first...maybe, if that's all right?"
"Well, all right then, I guess it's off to the mall. Hang on I'll be right back."
Carl ran upstairs and threw on a pair of jeans and a Nike t-shirt. He grabbed his wallet and keys and ran back downstairs to see the four ponies cleaning his dishes in the sink. His mouth hung open in shock at the sight.
Fluttershy and Pinkie were both bringing the plates over to the sink, while Rarity and Twilight used their magic to clean those plates off. Rarity levitated the plates with her magic while Twilight did the more tedious work of scrubbing them off with a soapy sponge.
Once they were finished, not a speck of food was left on the plates, and the white paint on each dish shone as if they were made of pearl. The four girls cleaned the plates more thoroughly than Carl or any of his sisters ever had, and that was their usual chore.
"What are you girls doing?" Carl asked, still shocked at the scene that ha just played out in front of him.
"Öh, we're cleaning your dishes...I hope you don't mind." Fluttershy muttered as she put the last plate down next to Twilight, who was busy wringing out the sponge over the sink with her aura.
"A-are you kidding?" Carl asked with a smile, "Thank you four so much. But, why would you do that for me?"
"Well it's the least we could do to say thanks for letting us stay here for the night." Twilight said with a thankful smile.
"You...you really didn't have to though. I mean; you girls sleeping over was much more of a delight for me than it was for you." Carl said with a small blush.
"But we wanted to!" Pinkie said as she grabbed a wet scot towel with her mouth and walking over to the table to wipe it down. She gentle placed the towel onto the table and looked back up at Carl with her usual, playful grin, "I mean, you are our friend and friends take care of friends."
With that, Pinkie Pie began to rub down the table with the towel while the other three joined, Twilight levitating the spray. Carl was completely impressed that she was able to figure out the location as well as which spray was for the table. They must've had something like Windex in Equestria.
Carl smiled and let out a chuckle, "Well I really appreciate it, thank you girls."
About five minutes later, the four had finally finished cleaning the table. They all decided to casually chat a little more before they heard the unmistakable sound of a car horn from outside.
"That's Ryan." Carl muttered. "Time to head out."
They were about to go out when Carl suddenly remembered something important.
"Hang on." He said, causing all four girls to stop trotting towards the door, "Twilight, what about the spell?"
Her eyes looked confused for a minute until she finally remembered her human-illusion spell, "Öh yeah! That's right!"
With that her horn glowed for a few seconds, and then stopped. Carl looked at Twilight in confusion.
"Um Twilight, you all still look like ponies."
"Right," Twilight said with a smile, "You and Ryan are excluded from the spell. That way, you can both still see us as we really are, while others will see us as humans."
Carl chuckled, "Okay, whatever works."
They all went out of the house and started towards Ryan's SUV. Ryan told Applejack and Rainbow Dash to stay in the car and he got out to meet Carl. But that didn't stop Rainbow Dash from sticking her head out the back window, which Ryan left open for her and Applejack so they wouldn't get too hot, even though he left his car and air-conditioning on.
"Hey Twi, would you mind telling AJ and I why we were glowing magenta a minute ago?" the cyan mare asked with a hint of irritation.
"Relax Rainbow, I just cast my disguise spell on all of us so others see us as humans."
"Oh," Rainbow Dash said flatly before she lost interest and shrugged, "Whatever."
"Ready?" Ryan asked as he made his way over to Carl.
""Yeah but..." Carl said, looking at Ryan's SUV and realizing the lack of space in it for the six ponies and two teens, "I don't think we'll all fit in your car."
Ryan looked back at his truck, which Rainbow Dash was still peering out of while Applejack was peering over Rainbow Dash's shoulder so that she could talk with the girls, who were all now standing near Ryan's car.
"Yeah that might be a problem," Ryan muttered before turning back to Carl with a new expression of concern, "What do we do?"
Carl sighed and began to think, his eyes drifting around aimlessly as his mind wandered. During this time of odd daydreaming his eyes fell on the garage of his house. When he remembered what was inside of it, his eyes lit up.
"Wait," Carl turned back to Ryan with a new look of hope, "my father's old Caprise is in the garage, I could take that and two of the girls can come with me."
Ryan nodded and Carl looked behind his friend and whistled to get the girls attention. They all turned away from the black truck and looked at the human element of magic, waiting to hear what was so gosh darn important that he had to interrupt their socializing.
"Twilight and Rarity, you two are coming with me. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, you go with Ryan, Rainbow Dash and Applejack."
The girls looked at him confused when Rarity spoke up, pointing her hoof at Ryan's car.
"But darling, this is the only..." she stopped to ponder, realizing she had no idea what a car was before she continued, "...whatever it is, here."
"Car." Carl said, "and I have one in the garage. I can follow Ryan to the mall."
Carl then patted his pockets, realizing that he now had to get the keys to the car that hadn't been used in years, since his father' s death.
"I just need to get the keys, Ryan get the girls situated in your car and I'll be back"
Ryan nodded as Carl ran back into the house to grab the keys out of his father's old desk. When he got inside, he went to his father's office, which was now the house library, and went over to the desk. He opened the door and took out the car's keys. .
He then looked up at a photo album that was opened up to a page that showed a picture of him, Lauren, Lisa, and his father. Carl's Dad was a tall man, very broad-shouldered. He had a brown moustache and brown hair that was somewhat long, but not untamed in the slightest. Everyone in the picture was smiling brightly, the sunlight illuminating all four of him or her as they stood under a tree in the park after one of Carl's soccer games.
He remembered Ryan's mother took the picture so that his entire family could fit, such a nice woman she was. Carl began to feel a mixture of emotions, from longing to sadness, well up inside him as his violet eyes stared, almost unblinking, at the picture.
Carl was so into the picture that he didn't hear the hoof-steps approaching.
"Carl, are you okay?"
Startled, he looked up to see Twilight looking at him with concern. His eyes felt a little watery, but he took care of that with one, quick motion of his sleeve across his eyes so that they were mostly dried.
"Yean." Carl said with a small sniffle.
"I was just remembering my father." He held up the car keys to show Twilight, who looked at them. "The car we're taking was his. We haven't driven it since he's died."
"Yeah the Princess told me about your father dying," Twilight said compassionately before she walked over and put her hoof onto Carl's thigh, as if to let him know that she was there for him. "Do you want to talk about it with me?"
Carl shook his head, "Not now. Maybe later."
Carl gave Twilight a small smile, but even he could tell that she didn't buy it as her face still showed signs of worry. He knew that she wanted him to open up to her, but he also knew that they all had to get to the mall so he decided to change the focus, "Come on, let's go."
Carl started out of the office, Twilight turning her head and looking at him. She then quickly trotted over to the counter where Carl was. She got onto her hind-legs and put her front hooves onto the wood level so she could get a clear view of the photograph that had so impacted Carl. Once she laid eyes on the family portrait, she could feel her heart move up into her throat and a sudden urge to cry before she heard her elemental partner call out to her from the front of the house.
"Hey Twi, are you coming!?! Rarity's getting impatient."
"Yeah, coming!" Twilight shouted back at Carl before she gave the photo one, last look. She then got off of the level and made her way out of the office.
"I'm not letting him get off the hook that easily." She thought as she trotted towards the front door.
She would ask about his father, but not now. For now, it was time to go meet James at the mall.