//------------------------------// // Sleep, Perchance to Dash // Story: Odrsjot // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// “Heeheehee!” Rainbow Dash giggled like a filly as she fell back in the hammock. The roped canopy swung with a slight jostle, and she lay back with her hooves coiled at her chest. “Wow, I'm dizzy! HIC! Although...” Her muzzle scrunched. “I think it's the good kind of d-dizzy. Hic!” Eagle Eye stepped back into the center of the Noble Jury's forward observation room. “I never thought I'd ever see her like this.” “What?” Belle glanced aside at him with a smirk. “You mean stupidly drunk?” He bit his lip. “Uh... I was going to say 'deliriously happy,' but sure.” “Heeeeeey fuzzhead!” Rainbow Dash leaned over and rubbed Bellesmith's short-short mane vigorously. “Fuzzhead fuzzhead fuzzzzzzzzzzzheaddddddd!” She blinked. “Do I get a wish?” “Uhm...” Belle blinked. “Absolutely!” Rainbow Dash took a deep, deep, deep breath and spat out: “AllOfTheMaresInTheWonderbolts! AfterASpringRain! WetLeotards!” She hung off the edge of the canopy, ruby eyes darting across the room. “HIC!” She frowned. “Awwwwww shucks. Maybe I gotta rub your butt instead.” Belle gently repositioned Rainbow into the center of the hammock while Eagle Eye giggled by the doorway. “Well... then...” Belle turned to smile at the stallion. “I think I'm inclined to agree with you, EE.” “As m-much as I'd love to stay and get blackmail material...” The unicorn winked as he began climbing the vertical crawlspace towards the cockpit a floor and a half up. “I'd better make sure we take off without a hitch.” “Tell Pilate I'll be down here for a while.” “Sure thing.” “Hmmmmm 'Pilate,'” Rainbow cooed. “Such a funny name for a zebra. I wonder if he rhymes in his head but just doesn't have the guts to say it out loud.” “Oh, I assure you...” Belle turned back and patted Rainbow's shoulder. “He has quite the talent with his tongue—” She froze, going wide-eyed at her own words. “What?” Rainbow giggled. “You mean he can loop three onion rings over it at once?” “Uhhhh... yes!” Belle cleared her throat. “Yes... precisely that!” “Relax, gurrrrrrl...” Rainbow giggled as she turned over to her side, gazing across the observation room. “After all, I am!” “Yes. I can see that.” Belle squatted by the dangling canopy. “I can also see why you've refused sips of cider for so long. It r-really does get to your head.” She giggles. “Mmmmm... my head... my legs... my wings...” Rainbow Dash took a shuddering breath. “My heart.” Belle said nothing. Sunlight swam across the room. Rainbow tilted her head back, squinting out the bubbled front window of the compartment. “Mrmmfff... w-we're moving, aren't we?” “Yes, Rainbow Dash, that we are.” “Headed off to you-know-who's place?” Belle bit her lip, glanced over her shoulder, and looked back. “Yes,” she nodded. “Shouldn't take too long to get there, either.” “Good... good...” Rainbow Dash gulped. “And... and everypony's on board?” “Rainbow Dash...” “Even Zaid? Did we m-make sure he made it? Darn scrub has the stupidest habit of getting overlooked when nopony's smackin' him around.” “Rainbow, it's okay,” Belle said, stroking Rainbow's forelimb. “Pilate, Floydien, and the others have everything under control. Everypony is on board and taken care of. We're safe!” She smiled. “Don't worry.” Rainbow blinked blearily, then squinted up at her. “Then... why—Hic!—are you still here?” “Because...” Belle exhaled gently, then smiled. “Because this is your first time under the effects of cider in ages, and I wanted to make sure that it was... as happy an experience as it could be.” Rainbow blinked at her. “Nopony should ever drink cider alone.” She gulped, her eyes narrowing. “You remember...” Belle nodded. “I remember more than you think, Rainbow Dash.” “Even with... with all of the crazy sequencing that you've done...” She bit her lip. “With Blue Shelf and Nightshade...” “I still have dreams that I'm sure you've dreamt from time to time,” Belle said. “You used to have such wonderful dreams, Rainbow Dash.” “Yeah... I did, didn't I?” Rainbow nodded. Her ears folded back. “Could you... t-tell me some of them?” Belle blinked at that. She stared into the bulkheads for a few seconds before saying, “Well... there was always that... erm... awesome dream where you saved Ponyville single-hoofedly from a diamond dog invasion.” “Heh... yeah...” Rainbow Dash stifled a belch and curled up in the hammock, gazing up at Belle. “That was pretty awesome, wasn't it?” “And then you had that one dream where you showed up at flight camp and all the ponies were gone. And instead of panicking about schoolwork or lessons, you kicked every door open and flew madly through the school, breaking indoor speed records.” “Heeheeheee... ughhhh... my imagination was so laaaaaaaaaaaame back then.” “And then...” Belle bit her lip. She scuffled her hoof daintily across the floor of the room. “Quite a few times, more often then you ever told anypony, you dreamt that you had returned to Canterlot... for... f-for the Gala. And you were dancing. Dancing with... with...” Rainbow Dash's mouth hung agape. She clenched her jaw and inhaled before murmuring, “Her mane looked so wonderful when it was braided. Like... friggin' golden rope. Silk smooth and on fire in the lamplight.” Her ears twitched. “She never liked to dress up. But she did it for the Gala and she did it for her family and she got nothing in return.” Belle looked softly at her. “She earned your respect, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “She moved you enough that you dreamt about her.” She smiled. “I'm certain she would be proud of that.” “Yeah... well...” Rainbow breathed out the side of her muzzle. “She'd be less proud about the dream where we both got stuck in a phone booth and we had to keep each other warm on Hearth's Warming Eve.” Belle snorted. “Y-You serious?!” “Hah!” Rainbow wheezed. “You don't know—Hic!—that one, do ya?!” She winked. “Got it locked away so dayum hard that your broken little horn can't find it!” Belle giggled. “Oh, Rainbow...” “Well, jokes on you, Ding-Dong! I never dreamt that! I day-dreamt that!” “Day-dreamt?” “Yeah! Helped out during—Hic!—long distance flights to and from Cloudsdale. Had to keep the wings stiff, y'know.” Rainbow winked drunkenly. “Pegasus stuff. You wouldn't understand.” “Oh please.” Belle rolled her eyes and chuckled. “I think I understand plenty-y-y.” “Heheheheh...” Rainbow Dash laughed. She placed a hoof over her face, chuckling, wheezing, hyperventilating. “I... I-I wish...” She suddenly seethed, teeth gritting. “I wish to Luna Almighty th-that I w-wouldn't be so sc-scared...” Belle cleared her throat, gazing at her with concern. “Scared of what, Rainbow?” The pegasus hugged herself. Her pendant rattled as she shivered. “Of being happy.” She gulped. “It freaks me out these days and it sucks.” She sniffled, avoiding Belle's gaze. “It sucks griffon feathers.” “It's okay, Rainbow Dash.” Belle stroked her shoulder. “We're with you on this.” Rainbow glanced at her with a glossy eye. “You guys can't f-follow me forever.” Belle opened her mouth. “You know this,” the pegasus grunted. Silence. At last, Belle squeezed Rainbow's hooves in between her own and said. “Then I promise, Rainbow Dash, that we will stick with you until you no longer have to be afraid of the journey.” Rainbow stared back. She smiled. Then—quick as a falling anvil—she kerplunked into the hammock, eyes shut. ”Shnorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...” Belle blinked at her. “Pffft...” She rolled her eyes and lovingly played with the mare's bangs. “Featherbrain...” Outside, the landscape blurred as the Noble Jury cruised towards its next destination.