//------------------------------// // A Dream of Hope // Story: Trapped // by I am not a Dalek //------------------------------// Chapter 7- A Dream of Hope The forest is dark and cold, as I stumble aimlessly looking for an escape. The wind growls round me as the damp air sticks to my fur. There is a flash of light and a dark Alicorn figure flies towards me, making me stop in my tracks. “Princess?” I ask in confusion as I bow towards the Princess of the Night. Princess Luna looks at me, a sad smile upon her face, “Hello, Rainbow Dash. Your friends are looking for you.” I then realise that this is a dream, and this is my chance to get Soarin’ and I out of here alive. “Tell them I’m trapped in a cave, dig through the pile of the rocks at the back of the Gorge! They’ll find me there!” I say urgently, finally getting some hope. The Princess looks at me for a few moments. “I will try, and we will come find you.” The image begins to shake slightly, but I call out, causing the Princess to pause. “The Wonderbolts, are they okay?” I ask, for Soarin’s sake. Luna nods. “All but one. Soarin’ has gone missing, every pony is devastated, and they were beginning to give up hope on finding you both.” “Soarin’s with me, I saved him from a falling boulder but we ended up trapped in here. Tell every pony he’s okay, but not for long. Neither of us will be okay for long...” I whisper painfully, hating to admit the truth. I go on to say more, but the image of the dream begins to fade, causing everything to shatter around me. The last thing I hear before I am brought back to reality is Princess Luna calling out. “Hold on, dear Rainbow Dash, for we are coming.” **** Soarin’ is lying beside me, his emerald eyes wide open which is a relief. We stay silent for few moments, just gazing at each other through the darkness. “We’re gonna be okay, Soar,” I whisper confidently. Soarin’ watches me for a few moments, before nodding in agreement, a goofy smile cracking across his face. I gently place my hoof on his cheek, and gaze into his eyes for what seems like hours. I feel his cheeks heat up under my touch, and it doesn’t have to be bright to know that he is blushing. The cave is frozen in silence as we both lie there, completely content. I gradually begin to forget all the terror from the past few nights. “I’m really thirsty, though. I have never felt this thirsty before.” I admit as my throat begins to burn in pain. Soarin’ licks his lips with a dry tongue, as if to prove a point. “I know, it’s horrible, the moment I get out of here I am going to drink a whole lake of water.” I laugh quietly before moving closer to him, in attempt to keep warm, and simply to have a bit of comfort. “Then you can come back to my place, right?” I look at him, my eyes full of hope. Soarin’ nods weakly. “Yeah, and I’ll kick your flank in that race.” I laugh quietly, “As if, just you watch Mr Wonderbolt, I’m gonna kick your rump so hard you end up in Fillydelphia.” “Do you have any pets?” Soarin’ asks randomly, most likely trying to keep this mood up. “Yeah, yeah I do,” I sigh longingly as I remember my tortoise, probably worried sick about me. “His name is Tank and he’s a tortoise.” Soarin’ stares at me, an expression of pure shock plastered across his face. “You’re kidding right? One of the slowest animals in Equestria is the fastest Pegasi’s pet?” “Hey,” I say defensively, “Tank saved my life when I was trapped in an avalanche. Actually, it happened at the far end of the Gorge...” I stop suddenly, my mouth forms the shape of an “O” as I realise that I have very bad luck here. Soarin’ chuckles slightly, “Wow, so you really do bring the bad luck around here, what did you do to the place to make it hate you so much?” “Shut up, Soar,” I mutter bitterly. The cave is silent for a few moments before laughter starts to dance around me. I squint at Soarin’ through the darkness, trying to figure out what he finds so funny. “This whole situation is funny, when you think about it.” The Wonderbolt continues to laugh so hard that tears begin to fill his eyes. “Not really,” I deadpan, not understanding why Soarin’ is finding our death funny. “Really, so we get trapped in here together, I mean what are the chances of that, I mean we have both been longing to hang out so much, and now the opportunity is here!” The Pegasus grins, “And did I mention that we’re trapped? It’s hilarious.” After a few minutes of staring at Soarin’, I begin to laugh too. It’s one of those hysterical ‘We’re-Screwed-And-Don’t-Know-Why-We’re-Laughing’ kind of laughs. It was a laugh that came from my belly, and brought tears to my eyes. It was a good laugh, it made me believe that maybe, just maybe, we’d have a bit of hope. During the laughing fit both Soarin’ and I just had, we managed to wriggle closer to each other so our bodies were touching. I reach out into the darkness and wrap a hoof around his shoulder, before placing a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, Soar,” I whisper into his ear before I pull away. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you.” Soarin’ smiles and pulls me into him. “Well, I’d probably be crushed if it wasn’t for you.” Images of Soarin’ being smashed under one of the falling boulders sends shudders down my spine, and I realise that things could be a whole lot worse. Well, kind of. I mean, yeah we’re about to die, but Soarin’ could have already been dead. We still have hope, it may be a small smidge of hope, but it’s still there. Even though my throat is burning, and my vision is going blurry, and my body is weaker than ever, I know that we’re going to be saved. I just know it.