//Wake Unto Night\\
//By: Iink Dash
//Edited: Bright Idea
//Chapter: 1:Dream Of Dash\\
RainbowDash woke abruptly, her rainbow colored mane covered in ice cold sweat. As her eyes adjusted and focused to the darkness of the cold winter night, she saw Scootaloo, whom had moved in with her only a week ago, staring at her in worried horror. The look on the face of the small orange filly scared Dash almost as much as the nightmare she had woke up from only moments before.
“Are you ok?!” Scootaloo asked in a panicked voice “I heard you screaming and thrashing from the other side of the house! I thought you were being attacked or raped!”
This came as a shock to Dash. She knew that the clouds making up the walls were very good sound insulators and Scootaloo’s room was all the way down the corridor on the other side of the house. Was she really that loud?
“I’m fine, I’m fine” Dash lied, trying to fake a reassuring smile, “go back to bed”
As Scootaloo left, still questioning whether she really should believe her friend was ok, Dash tried to piece together what she had just experienced in her dream. She knew it was only a dream but it felt so real. This had happened four other times this week but so far, this was the most terrifying, the most actual, the most…collected. Previously it had only been mere flashes and fragments of scenes from what seemed to be a horror movie but tonight it was like she was there. No, she was part of it. She had experienced it rather than watching it. It was so clear, so vivid. She thought back to it.
The moon cast an eerie glow over a black mare wearing a black cloak around her, covering her cutie mark and hiding her face in shadow. She dragged a bloody carcass behind her. Her long, sharp horn glowed purple with magic, carrying a large dagger. A small drop of dark red blood from the victim gleamed as it dripped from the razor sharp tip of the blade. Dash, terrified, tried to run but could not move a single muscle. Her feathered wings seemed to be pinned to her sides by some unknown entity. Her hooves bound to the gravel like they were frozen solid. The knife pointed directly at Dash as if lining up a shot then whizzed toward her. Dash closed her eyes tightly; she didn’t want to see the knife as it pierced her skin. After a few short moments that seemed like forever, she opened her eyes. Nothing had happened. No cuts, no scrapes, no bruises, no nothing. The knife had missed, stabbed into the dirt in front of her right hoof. As she looked up, a medium sized black hoof smacked her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Dash was still conscious yet still could not move. The black mare picked her up by her hooves and dragged her into a dark, creepy alley way. The dark mare bound her to the wall with thick, steel chains. Dazed and confused, Dash saw the knife float in front of her. She woke up from this horrific nightmare just before it was plunged deep into her abdomen.
Dash didn't want to go back to sleep, she couldn’t, she was too shaken up. Instead, she got up out of bed and trotted to the bathroom to take a shower.
The shower water ran ice cold down her colorful mane, through her feathery wings, down to her long tail. Dash always took a cold shower after having a nightmare because it always seemed to help soothe her but this time it was no help. Something about that black mare chilled her to the core. It wasn’t even the fact that she had, in the nightmare, killed her and Celestia knows who else. It was just that something made her different from all the other ponies she had seen before. It was something…ghostly or otherworldly but…familiar. Tired from being up so early, Dash drifted into the quiet embrace of sleep.
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Dash opened her eyes sleepily. It was morning. The sun shined through the window, flashing in her violet eyes, and the water was turned off, likely by Scootaloo. Dash climbed out of the shower and dried herself off and trotted into the main room. On the couch, Scootaloo slept quietly. Her light purple eyes fluttered open sleepily as Dash trotted past her.
“Mornin’, I noticed you slept in the shower. I turned the water off so that you wouldn’t drown or something,” Scootaloo said with a yawn.
“Thanks” said Dash in a slightly sarcastic tone.
“So, why were you out freaking last night? What the hell were you dreaming of?” asked Scootaloo.
“It was nothing. Just a dream.” Dash lied, trying to fake a smile.
“Bullshit! Were it ‘just a dream’, I wouldn’t have heard you freaking shit from the other side of the house!” Scootaloo yelled back
Dash knew it was true. This honestly was no ordinary dream. It couldn’t have been. It was so real. Without responding, Dash strolled off to the kitchen, trying to act casual as if she weren’t scared senseless. She wasn’t particularly hungry but she knew that she needed to eat so she could have the energy for her practice flight. Plus, it would look suspicious for her to skip breakfast; Scootaloo would surely know that there was a problem.
After eating a warm omelet, Dash was in a hurry to get out of the house. Galloping out through the front and was in the air before even leaving the front porch
The cool winter breeze felt great as it flowed through her mane. It tingled through her ears as she soared through the skies over Ponyville. Morning flights were the best feeling in the world!
“Hey, Vinyl!” Dash yelled down to the white unicorn stepping out of her new club, `The Bass Cannon’.
“Hey, Dash! Party at my place tonight! Can ya’ make it?” Vinyl yelled back.
“I’ll try! Gotta practice a lot if I want to make the next tryouts for the Wonderbolts tryouts this year!” Dash said with a laugh.
“A'ight’! You better make it this year!” Vinyl cheered, smiling like she had won the lottery “also, have you seen Ink anywhere? I promised I’d let him help set up the new sound system today! I got the new DirtyyWubbr BassCloud9 speakers yesterday!”
“Nope, haven’t seen him! Try over by Sugarcube Corner! I heard Pinkie was making mini cupcakes with muffins inside them today! There’s a huge line at the door!” Dash replied.
“Thanks!” yelled Vinyl as Dash flew away.
This encounter put Dash in a good mood. She remembered how she was taught to create a smoke trail behind her for sky art when she went to the tryouts last year. Using this trick, Dash decided to draw a giant heart in the sky. She jetted straight upward to reach the proper altitude. She turned back, smoke flowing out of her tail and combining with the rainbow to create a rainbow colored smoke trail. She turned back forward and flew in a heart shape. For the finishing touch, Dash flew as high as she could. She faced downward and accelerated. Time seemed to slow down as the Mach cone formed around her outstretched front hooves. As she passed through the center of the heart, she broke the sound barrier, creating a rainbow colored explosion emanating from where she was, though she was long past it. She decelerated, flapping her wings the other way to slow her speed. But something was wrong. She was still going too fast. Her vision blurred. The world spun and twisted. Dash fell into a downward spiral, heading far away from Ponyville. She tried desperately to pull up, to slow down, to stop from crashing. But it was no use. There was nothing she could do. She blacked out before crashing heavily with a splat into the thick muck of a swamp deep in the Everfree forest…