"Rainbow, the cyclists are getting away!" Stu exclaimed, pointing towards the glossy horizon.
"Quick! Epcot!" Rainbow stamped her glowing boots and turned to face the white-suited mare. "How do I catch up with them? I can't fly!"
"I can't help you with that, silly!" Epcot stuck her tongue out.
"Grrrrr..." Rainbow's angry eyes flickered across her glowing visor. "Why not?"
"I'm just a chaperone! You're the dreamer!"
"But I gotta catch up with the blue pony and wake him!"
"And just how badly do you want that?"
"The hay are you talking about—?!" Rainbow waved her hoof, only for a stick to appear in her grasp. Flash! She blinked at it. "...huh."
"Whoah..." Stu stammered.
"Heehee!" Epcot hugged herself, reeling backwards. "Now you're barking with your brain bone!"
"Just what in the heck are you supposed to do with that thing?" Stu cackled.
"... ... ..." Rainbow smirked. "Step aside, leotardo." Holding her breath, Rainbow galloped, took a running leap, and activated the stick in mid-air. BZZZZT! A vehicle coalesced out of pure light energy. When she came down, she was full-body-straddling a glossy black cycle that left a bright blue trail as it zoomed ahead. "Wooohoooo! Okay... kiiiiind of awesome!"
"Dreaming and doing at the same time!" Epcot winked aside at Stu. "Magical, isn't it? Zoop!" With that, the chaperone ported back into a glowing sphere and flitted after Rainbow Dash.
"But... guhhh..." Stu gnashed his teeth. "Am I really expected to pull that off too?!"
"YES."
"Arrrgghhhh..." Stu frowned through his visor, gazing at his hooves. "How in Celestia's name...?" He flicked and flicked and flicked his right hoof. "Come on... stupid... dream fetlocks... make something appear!" It was no use. Sighing, he glanced at his left hoof. "What about you?"
Flash! A glowing stick materialized, bopping him in the helmet. THUD!
"D'oh!"
Swoooooooooosh!
Rainbow Dash formed vapor trails from sheer speed as she rocketed down the Grid, gaining momentum. To her left, she spotted three trails of ethereal yellow light.
"That must lead to the punks chasing after the guy," Rainbow crackled into her helmet. Beacons of light streaked by below her, issuing from somewhere deep beneath the glossy translucence. "If there's only one real dreamer in here besides myself and Stu, then I'm guessing it's open season on everypony else I see."
"YES," chanted a sphere flying alongside Rainbow Dash.
She looked at Epcot's flitting essence. "I'm totally right, am I? Smashing most everypony I see in this place to bits isn't murdering any soul?"
"NO."
"Er... is that 'No' to the murder bit or to me being right?"
"YES. NO."
"Eh..." Rainbow smirked ahead. "I'll figure it out on my own. This is too cool."
The cyclists dres closer and closer, weaving their way between to jagged plateaus of dull rock.
"Mmmff... sure is taking a while..." Rainbow blinked. "Wait... if maybe I just dream that I'm fast enough to catch up with them." She scrunched her muzzle, straining adorably beneath her helmet. "Rrrrrrrghhh..."
Vrsshhhhzzt! Her cycle accelerated—as if magically. In no time at all, Rainbow quadrupled in speed, gaining the distance between herself and the cyclists.
"Hah!" Rainbow grinned wickedly. "I love winning when it wins."
Swissssssh! She came up upon the three figures. One of the yellow-glowing ponies glanced aside, and an angry face bellowed from within his helmet: "Another user!"
"De-rezz her!" And the figure on the right veered hard to the side, bashing into Rainbow.
Cl-Clank! Sparks flew, fizzing into abstract nothingness.
"Hey!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Whoah whoah whoah—ease up on the flankholeism, buddy! I just wanna talk to the good guy you're trying to off!"
The amber cyclists merely grunted and swerved into her once again... twice again.
Rainbow struggled to keep her vehicle upright, all the while avoiding both their glowing trails and the canyon walls. After the third or fourth bashing, she snarled, "Okay... now I'm officially ticked." She steered hard to the left. "Hope you put extra soap on your saddles!" she rasped.
Swoooosh! She cut across the path of two cyclists, erecting a rainbow wall directly in front of them.
"Aaaaaaaaaah—!" the two constructs shrieked. Their bikes exploded into the glowy material, sending their flailing bodies forward until they collapsed—grunting—across the Grid.
"Hah! That's right!" Rainbow hollered behind. "Eat my... err... glass!" She smirked aside at the last cyclist. "And how about you, sunshine?!"
FLASH! With a nimble hoof, the last combatant whipped out a hot-glowing disc.
"... ... ...'kay." Rainbow blinked.
"Rrrrrgkkt!" The pony slashed at Rainbow's cycle, shattering the front wheel into electronic madness.
"Gaaaaaaaiiie!" Rainbow flew off her dissolving bike. She flipped twice, slammed into the ground, and slid for several feet, wincing as she came to a stop. "Unnngh... no fair..." She gritted her teeth. "Why don't I get a glowy-death-bagel?"
Vrzzzzzzzzhhh! Trailing yellow energy, the cyclist swerved around and sped back towards Rainbow's body, swinging the disc like a circular lance.
Rainbow shot up to her hooves, sweating inside her helmet. "Hoboy." She looked up at a floating sphere above her head. "Quick! Epcot! You think I can summon a bazooka in this place?"
"NO."
Rainbow frowned. "Well screw you then. Tchh... I swear, worst golf ball ever." She then returned to watching her incoming doom.
The cyclist soared head-on, swinging the disc at Rainbow's head.
The pegasus mare clenched her eyes shut—
SWOOOOSH! A cyan cycle sailed down from atop one of the twin plateaus and landed in front of Rainbow Dash. It swung to the left, dragging a turquoise trail directly in front of the incoming enemy.
"Gaaaaah!" the cyclist flinched as his vehicle—KAPOWWW!—exploded into glittering flame and plasma, along with his brittle body.
Scrkkkk! Stu skidded to a stop, gasping atop his bike. "Ah jeez! Ah jeez!" He squeaked, teeth rattling. "I just killed a pony! Oh Celestia help me!"
"Stu!" Rainbow waved her hooves.
"I-I'm a murderer! I'm—"
"STU!" She galloped over, squeezing his suited shoulder. "It's okay!" She smiled through her visor, panting. "He was no more real than this dream is! You didn't murder anyone!"
"I... I didn't?"
"No! In fact, you saved me, you crazy idiot!"
"Oh... okay..." Stu wheezed, slumping down on his bike. After a few blinks, he blushed. "Hey... uh... you don't suppose this dream comes with dream diapers, do you?"
"NO."
"Who asked you?" Stu frowned at the sphere.
"Come on, Stu!" Rainbow hopped up and mounted the cycle directly behind him. "You've got the wheels! We need to catch up with the dreamer!"
"Oh yeah?" Stu's brow furrowed. "And just where is he?"
SWOOOOSH! In timely fashion, a blue cycle whizzed by. The stallion straddling it glanced aside, his helmet peeling away to reveal a smirking peach face. "Hah! More gladiators! Very well!" He winked a green eye, tossed his sandy mane, and throttled on ahead. "See if you can catch me, programs!" Swissssh!
Rainbow gawked, her ruby eyes twitching. "No way... Donut Joe..."
Stu glanced back at her. "Who?!"
"He's one of the other three whom Shindig's got captured! I-I know him!"
"From where?"
"Hmmmmm..." Rainbow's body drooped as a drunken smile cross her face. "...he just happened to be a face in the background of the Best Night Ever..." Visions of tassels and a blonde braid flickered across the lovestruck mare's eyes. She remembered late hours, trotting through the streets of Canterlot, listening to Applejack's deep, drawling voice.
"Uhhh... Rainbow?" Stu squirmed uncomfortably, feeling Rainbow's petite body draped delicately across his back.
"Erm... r-right..." Rainbow sat squarely on the back of the cycle and pointed forward with frown. "After that fatso!"
"I'm... uh... not exactly an expert at piloting this thing."
"Pfft. Come on, Stu, how bad can you be—?" VRMMMMMMMMMM! Rainbow shrieked and clung on for dear life as the stallion bobbed and weaved in a badly coordinated fashion. "Luna Poop Luna Poop Luna Poop!"
"YES YES YES YES YES!" Epcot darted after them as they pursued Donut Joe across the Grid.