The little blue Pegasus pony went BALLISTIC… she darted all around the room, flying like a mad hornet or a riled horsefly, circling, landing, taking off again---desperately seeking a way out of the sealed room, but not finding an opening anywhere! Chairs got knocked over, the quill & scroll got tossed over to Spike’s corner (who surprisingly slept soundly through the noise.) The others kept grabbing at her or waving her away from their heads, but Dash kept on going and wouldn’t come down!
The sub-basement chamber was the deepest and most secure place in the entire castle. An inner sanctum when Twilight needed to read or work in utter seclusion, and the most fortified dungeon or prison cell when holding a wanted captive. Tonight it served as the meeting room for Ex-Evils Anonymous, but was still tightly guarded by a detachment of six Canterlot guards: two at the Castle Door, two at the Stairwell Entrance, and two more at the Chamber Door. A trap door with bars at eye-level with the guards was there for them to look in on whomever was inside, but tonight it too was sealed up & locked, same as the door, with strict orders from Princess Twilight to not interfere under any circumstances, no matter what noises they heard from within. And tonight, right now…there were plenty of disturbing noises coming from inside the door!
The First Guard, unable to hold back any longer, rapped a hoof three times loudly on the door! "HELLO! HELLO! PRINCESS TWILIGHT!!" he called: "WHAT'S THE MATTER? YOUR HIGHNESS, IS SOMETHING WRONG? DO YOU NEED OUR HELP?"
After a few grunts and screams from inside, they heard: “NO-NO-NO! EVERYTHING’S FINE! WE’RE JUST HAVING A…A…THERAPY SESSION!! YES, IT’S JUST A THERAPY EXERCISE; WE HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL!! YOU HAVE YOUR ORDERS: JUST KEEP THE DOOR SHUT TIGHT, UNTIL I TELL YOU WHEN THE MEETING IS OVER! (*GASP*) STOP!! WAIT…SHE’S OVER HERE, OVER HERE! GRAB HER---!!”
The two guards looked at each other, puzzled. “YOU’RE QUITE SURE YOU DON’T NEED US, YOUR HIGHNESS?” called the Second Guard.
"YES!! YOU HAVE HEARD!! DO NOT COME IN; STAY AT YOUR POSTS!! YOUR PRINCESS HAS SPOKEN!!"
Princess Luna bellowed in her ancient royal Canterlot voice, to make no mistake. The door even bent outward slightly.
Nonchalantly, the guards turned back around and resumed their posts, guarding the Chamber Door.
“You ‘wanna argue with that?” asked the first guard, with shaky knees.
“Not on your life; she’s beginning to sound like Luna!” said the second guard, with wide eyes.
Back inside the chamber, the scene was pandemonium. As Rainbow Dash zig-zagged about the room like crazy, Discord tried to snap his claw-fingers to conjure up a large butterfly net to catch her with, but was whacked up the side of the head by a hind hoof-kick from her, which knocked his mismatched horns off, and made his eyes pop out of his head and roll on the floor! Gilda took wing and tried to stop her old school buddy, but also got a sound hoof-kick to the face, and went into a fall & sprawl across the floor! Trixie tried to freeze the Pegasus with an immobilizing spell, but a moving target like Rainbow Dash was hard to aim at; the blast ricocheted off the ceiling and hit the Flim-Flams instead! Babs tried a run & leap to grab Dash’s hind hooves and caught hold---only to be unable to do anything else but hold on! She kept twisting, trying to flip up & over onto Dash’s back like a trapeze acrobat, but found she hadn't the agility she thought she had. Babs finally had to let go and drop & roll on the floor, to avoid hitting the immobilized Flim-Flam Brothers.
That was when the Door Guards inquired what was going on. As Twilight turned to speak to them, Luna and the others watched Dash continue her wild erratic zig-zag pattern on the ceiling, trying to get a sense of her timing. Twilight looked back to do the same. “(*GASP*) STOP!! WAIT…” Something inside told her where Dash was going to zoom next. Then Dash made her move---over Tirek! “SHE’S OVER HERE, OVER HERE!” said Twilight, galloping to follow Dash. “GRAB HER---!!”
On command, Tirek rose up, stretched his chained arms up---and quickly crossed them over Dash! The chain wrapped around the Pegasus, snaring her! TIREK CAUGHT HER! Dash shrieked and struggled. “NO, LET ME GO! LET ME GO!” she hollered as Tirek brought her down, held firm by the looping chain, and the minotaur’s arms. Being less strong now, he had to work very hard to keep a firm grip on the struggling pony. Sunset Shimmer rushed over to pin down Dash’s hind-half, as Tirek pinned her fore-half.
Luna bellowed her command to the guards (the one they thought came from Twilight) then with royal poise and grace, walked over to where Tirek & Sunset were holding Dash. But one look up at the Night Princess, and Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew wide as saucers, while her rosy corneas & black pupils shrank to ten-bits. “(*GAAASP*) NIGHTMARE MOON” she moaned in shock, blanching in horror!
“NOT AGAIN!!” said an exasperated Twilight, face-hoofing herself.
“LET HER BE, TWILIGHT…” Luna commanded, “…It is not me she sees…she sees Nightmare Moon.”
Luna approached Dash slowly. “No..NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME…STAY AWAY FROM ME!!
DON’T TAKE ME AWAY!! PLEASE, LEAVE ME ALONE!!” poor Dash babbled in hysterics!
“You’re SCARING HER! STOP IT, LUNA , STOP!" Twilight countermanded!
But before anyone could stop her, Luna quickly lowered her head and pointed her horn at Rainbow Dash!
"NOOOOO!!!! Everyone SCREAMED!!
A BEAM OF LIGHT SHOT FROM THE HORN, bathing Rainbow Dash in a soft, bluish white light.
"SLEEEEP, LITTLE ONE...SLEEEEEP..." Luna softly commanded.
“NO…no….no…(yaaawwn) no….Zzzz…Zzzzz….” Dash slowed her struggling, calmed down, fell limp…and slept again.
The others HEAVED A HUGE SIGH… of relief.
Now Discord rejoined the group, after finishing a silly struggle of groping around for his eyes and putting them back in
his head. “What’d I miss?” he asked jokingly. The others glared back at him. “What!? I couldn’t see!” he exclaimed.
Calmly, Tirek took Rainbow Dash up in his arms, got up on all fours, clopped over to her chair, which Sunset righted,
and gently placed her back into her curled up, sleeping position.
“Hmmm…does this usually happen when she sleeps?” Tirek asked as he backed away, a surprising tone of concern in his voice.
“No…” answered Luna. “Only during the most extreme of nightmares.”
“(*Whew*…) Warn me next time before you do that again, Luna! I thought you were going to kill her!” said Twilight.
“There was no time…” Luna explained, “…nor is there time now. I must do this…” She approached Dash again.
“Do what?” asked Twilight, eyes wide with worry.
“…ENTER HER DREAMS!” The others all blanched and GASPED! (Except the Flim-Flams.)
Not even Twilight had a comeback for this…she too was now blanching in horror.
Then Luna came over to Twilight. “…And this time, you must come with me!”
“WHAT!? ME? Go into Rainbow Dash’s DREAMS?? How? That’s your power; not mine!” Twilight squealed.
“And I can SHARE IT WITH YOU!! Now… touch your horn to mine.” Luna commanded.
The two Alicorn Princesses faced each other, bowed their heads, and touched horns. Both horns glowed bright, then faded.
“Quick…time is running out for your friend. We must hurry!” said Luna.
“’Ey, wait a minute! Why can’t we come, too?” Asked Babs, on behalf of the others.
"NO!!" Luna warned! “This is HIGHLY ADVANCED and DANGEROUS MAGIC! You are NOT READY FOR THIS!
In the wrong hooves, it would surely kill her!”
“Hmph, I’ve heard that before.” Sunset retorted with crossed forelegs.
Luna glared at Sunset Shimmer, who squirmed and quailed under the Night Princess’ hard gaze.
But instead of reproaching Sunset, Luna took a deep breath…and asked: "Please...
I need you all to trust ME now, the same as you trust Twilight Sparkle!”
Not saying another word…the others bowed their heads, and kneeled, signifying their trust.
All except Discord.
Then Luna pointed a warning forehoof to the unpredictable Draconequus, who simply cocked a white eyebrow at her.
“And YOU… STAY HERE. DO NOT INTERFERE.”
The others looked quizzically at Discord, wondering what Luna meant by that. But he just squared his jaw,
and stared back at Luna.
“But if it looks like we’re in trouble, and we can’t wake up on our own…” Twilight added,
“…THEN and ONLY THEN…come to our rescue!”
Now it was Luna’s turn to stare quizzically at Twilight, who just stared back confidently…then winked.
“Very well…” he promised, with crossed forelimbs, “…I will not interfere, until ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.”
That said, Luna and Twilight backed off, and moved toward Rainbow Dash, who was back to sawing logs like before.
“Just…keep yourselves entertained until we get back. Hopefully, this...(*gulp*)…won’t take long.” Said Twilight, nervously.
Luna nodded to Twilight. She nodded back.
The alicorn princesses lowered their horns to Rainbow Dash’s forehead. The horns glowed, and from each one, a thin white thread of light issued forth, and united to touch the sleeping Rainbow Dash on the forehead. Then, the two princesses…seemed to go to sleep on their feet.
The others (except the Flim-Flams) returned to their upturned seats, righted them, and sat back down,
wondering what to do next. Tirek resumed his crouched position on the floor, near Sunset Shimmer’s seat.
“(*Sigh*) So…” said Trixie, after a thought, “…who’s up for a game of cards?”
And with one hoof… the wizard pony picked a deck, right out of thin air!
Some of the group applauded the wizard pony! Others folded their forelimbs in disgust.
Seeing this, Discord snapped his claw-fingers, and conjured up a saloon card table, and a honky tonk player piano.
The piano cranked and plinky-dinked to life, playing "That Old Black Magic" as players pulled their seats up to the table.
“A magician always comes prepared!” Trixie boasted needlessly, as she shuffled the deck.
“’Ey, Trix…what about dem?” Babs pointed a hoof to the still-immobilized Flim-Flam Brothers.
“Oopsie…sorry.” said Trixie, and with a flash of her horn…ZING! They collapsed to the floor, then got up.
“(*Whew*) So…” asked Flim. “What’d we miss?” asked Flam.
Trixie was about to say, but Gilda grumpily cut her off. “Eh...shut up and deal!”
Thus…a grumpy-looking Trixie, shut up and dealt.
Only Discord remained standing, keeping vigil over the sleeping three. He conjured up warm blankets, draped one around each of them, then snapped one into reality for Spike, who amazingly continued slumbering soundly over in his corner. Discord then softly snickered to himself.
“(Hohohoho…) Believe me, Princess Twilight Sparkle… A TEAM OF WILD HORSES
couldn’t keep me away…”(Heheheheheheheh…)”
CONTINUED NEXT CHAPTER…