//------------------------------// // Afternoon Nap // Story: Day By Day // by Magicolt808 //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Rainbow Dash was confused. She was looking into a mirror, alone in a room with no exit and all the lights were off. Oddly enough, she could still see her reflection as clear as day. The familiar sight was boring to Dash so she decided she would just leave. However, something was preventing her from breaking her gaze upon the reflection and all she could do was stare straight into her own magenta eyes in both shock and paralyzed fear. “What’s going on,” she thought as panic swept over her. “Why can’t I move?” “Because you’re dreaming.” Dash looked up to see a deep violet-coated pony with a misty, purple mane. “Mom,” Dash asked, momentarily locking eyes with the projection of her mother. “I’m surprised you even remember what my face looks like. I didn’t expect you to remember me on the account that you abandoned us,” the striking mare said with an icy tone to her voice. “Us,” Dash asked, not expecting to see any other pony in the mirror besides her mother. “See? She was so selfish that she left home and didn’t even bother to remember her own father.” Unexpectedly, to Dash’s amazement, a blood red stallion materialized next to Dash’s mother and glared at Dash with cold, dead eyes. “She didn’t even bother to thank me for telling her about the lore of the Sonic Rainboom. Without the knowledge of such a phenomena, she would probably still be a blank flank. What a failure,” Infrared spat, no resentment in his voice. Tears started to well up inside Dash and she started to shake uncontrollably. “Why are you doing this to me?” Dash was starting to tremble and her lip quivered with guilt and sadness. She had always loved her parents and she could not imagine why they would be telling her such hateful things. “Because you abandoned us. After your sister died in that fire, we needed you the most. But what do you do? You leave to chase that foolish Wonderbolts dream of yours. And not to mention that you’re a fillyfooler!” Anger was in Infrared’s voice, and he grew in size with each hateful word that came shooting out of his mouth. Soon, he was towering over Dash with a height of three times her own size. “I am not a fillyfooler!” This was Dash’s natural and immediate response to the accusations that were brought upon her in flight school by the countless amount of bullies. “Don’t lie to us! We’ve seen the way that you looked at that worthless friend of yours Fluttershy!” Ultraviolet screeched, also growing in size until she was the same as Infrared. “She’s just a friend,” defended Dash,” Sure she’s nice, kind, caring, pretty…” Dash stopped in contemplation. She never really looked at Fluttershy in this kind of light, but now that her image was stuck in her mind, she started admiring all of Fluttershy’s features. She quickly realized what was happening and recomposed herself. “But she is just... a friend. Nothing more.” Dash looked to the floor, anger in her eyes. “Liar!” Quickly, without warning, Ultraviolet broke through the mirror and almost flattened Dash with her enlarged hoof. Rainbow Dash was fortunate enough to have quick reflexes and dove out of the way. Without a second thought, she turned around and flew as fast as she could down the never-ending darkness, unsure of what might be up ahead. Dash’s parents quickly jumped out of the mirror and started chasing her at full speed. The long strides of their legs made the gap between them and Dash shrink with every second. What was strange was that their hooves were not making a clop noise, but more of a knocking sound that was almost inaudible amongst the deep gasps of air Dash was taking into her lungs from the exertion of energy. Her effort was all for nothing. Her parents were right behind her now, almost taunting her for being so slow. With one final breath of exhaustion, Dash looked up to see a purple hoof come down on her head in a sickening blow; the knocking sound still ringing in her ears. ----+---- Dash woke up, still gasping for air and beads of sweat dripped off her brow and onto the cloud floor, being absorbed upon impact. She quickly surveyed her surroundings to make sure she was safe from the demonic portrayals of her parents. She let out a sigh and lay back on her pillow with relief. All of a sudden, there was a knock on her door and it made her jump. The knock was the same as in her dream. With a sense of urgency, she jumped out of bed to meet her visitor, making sure to wipe the sleepiness and sweat from her face. Dash opened the door to see a scared looking Fluttershy. Her mane was fraying out and it looked like she had been playing with it for hours. Dash looked down to see impressions on her “porch” where Fluttershy had been pacing back and forth. Fluttershy quickly looked up but just as quickly turned away, unable to face Dash with the suppressed feelings for her. “Shy? Are you okay?” Dash was concerned for her friend because in all her life, she had never seen Fluttershy like this before. “I…um…I have some, um… something to tell you,” she said in a whisper that was so thin that the wind could have easily taken it away. “Come in first Fluttershy! You look terrible!” Dash quickly grabbed her friend and pulled her inside, not bothering to close the door. She sat Fluttershy down on the couch and started to prepare lavender herb tea to calm her nerves. Fluttershy could not protest and sat on the couch awaiting the return of her life-long friend. She trembled as she sat uncomfortably on the plush couch. To calm herself down she started breathing deeper and started a meditation process that put her near to passing out. She could feel her eyelids droop and she fell asleep from being overstressed of the situation. When Dash came back, she noticed that her canary yellow friend had passed out and was probably not going to wake up for a while. She decided to let her friend sleep and set the tea down on the coffee table incase she did wake. Slowly, she made her way back to her own bed but was unable to find sleep. What did the dream mean? Why were her parents portrayed as Hateful? Dash pushed these thoughts out of her mind and focused on Fluttershy. What did she need to tell her? Why did she look so disheveled? “Whatever she needs to tell me, it must be important,” Dash said aloud before drifting off into a deep, peaceful sleep.