"Aaaaaaaaaaugh!" Rainbow Dash shot up in bed, clutching her skull.
Fluttershy flinched, looking at her with bright eyes. "Rainbow...?!"
The pegasus panted... panted. Then, with sweat rolling down her face and neck, she hugged herself and leaned over. "Grnnngh... dang it... Celestia dang it to Tartarus..."
Fluttershy gulped. "Oh Rainbow..." She floated over, phased through the bed, then hovered at the anchor's side. "You poor thing. It was another one of those horrible nightmares again, wasn't it?"
Rainbow rubbed her face, shuddering. "Mrmmfff... not sure why I expect any different each time I lay my head down." She gnashed her teeth. "Friggin' A... no matter what I do, I'm never leaving those stupid... friggin' castle gardens..."
"Well, you're safe here at Wyvern Point... with us and the Herald." Fluttershy made a gesture as if to "pat" Rainbow's shoulder. "Speaking of which, just wait. I'll go fetch the girls. Wouldn't that make you feel better?"
But just as Fluttershy's body faded with a lavender glow—
"No—No." Rainbow held a hoof out. "Hold on."
Fluttershy rematerialized fully, her eyes blinking. "Hmmm?"
"It's..." Rainbow gulped. "It's not necessary. For realsies." She sighed, forming a weak smile. "This is just... regular crud, y'know? No need to wake the girls from the Vanilla Zone."
"Rainbow, you're so unbelievably important to each and every one of us," Fluttershy said. "You deserve our full attention if it will make you feel better."
"Flutters, what will make me feel better is knowing that someday I'm gonna get you all back." She rubbed her tired muzzle again, sighing. "By hook or by crook." Silence. She peeked one eye out from behind her fetlock. "Did you volunteer to watch over me again?"
Fluttershy shrugged. "Is... that a bad thing?"
"Well, no." Rainbow relaxed slightly, sitting up in the rustic bed. "I just... feel like you're the one I've woken up to... like... a gazillion times in a row. Don't any of the other girls volunteer for 'sleeping Rainbow duty?'"
"Hmmmm... but of course." Fluttershy smiled bashfully. "But... I guess you could say I volunteer harder."
"Heh... no joke."
"I can't help it." Fluttershy shrugged. "I was foaled a caretaker at heart."
"Isn't that depressingly ironic."
Fluttershy blinked. "Huh?"
"Never mind." Rainbow waved a hoof. "It's super sweet of you."
"I rather enjoy it, actually," Fluttershy said, wingtips fluttering a bit. "You never would have let me look after you before Discord showed up."
Rainbow's muzzle scrunched. "The hay is that supposed to mean?"
"Hehe... simply that you're a precious pegasus, Rainbow Dash. All those years of being brash and daring and daredevilish?" Fluttershy shrugged. "Seems like a loyal mare like you never got a chance to be properly taken care of."
"Well... seems like that time has come at last," Rainbow murmured. "What... with the Herald and all."
Fluttershy gulped. "I hope that... that you accept their help, Rainbow."
Rainbow blinked at Fluttershy. "I never said I wasn't going to."
Fluttershy shrank, blushing slightly. "Oh."
"I have no friggin' clue how I'll make it past Verlax on my lonesome," Rainbow said. "Mortuana and her posse here are giving me something super priceless." She gulped. "I'd be an idiot to pass that off."
"But... the Dark Side..." Fluttershy cocked her head to the side. "Do you really think the Herald can survive such a trip?"
"I... often wonder how I can survive such a trip."
Fluttershy bit her lip.
"Ngrnnngh..." Rainbow buried her face in her forelimbs again. "Just... gotta treat this whole thing one step at a time."
"But of c-course, Rainnow."
"Only... I don't really have the luxury of doing that for much longer, do I?" Rainbow looked up, gazing at the palace's slitted windows of antique wood. "Verlax is right about one thing. To truly ascertain the role of Austraeoh, somepony has to be thinking in the long term." She gulped. "Sometime soon... sometime really friggin' soon... I'm going to have to start thinking about what I'll be doing on the Dark Side."
Fluttershy fought the urge to tremble. "Do... do you think Mortuana knows enough to shed some light on the opposite side of the plane?" She gestured. "Literally?"
"I dunno. I hope." Rainbow sighed. "Because even though Chrysalis gave me a lot to go on... it was still pretty vague."
"Plus... she was evil."
Rainbow looked at Fluttershy.
"Erm... r-right?" Fluttershy smiled nervously.
"Chrysalis had actually been to the dark side," Rainbow said. "But Mortuana? Despite being a super powerful alicorn, she's only ever seen this side of the plane."
"Well... she was once powerful."
"Point still stands, Flutters. Mortuana is about as wise as Whitemane. Don't get me wrong... that's super crazy wise. But I'd guess that Chrysalis knew a lot more about my destination than the ruler of Emeraldine. She saw it."
"The Changeling Queen saw the Midnight Armory?" Fluttershy remarked.
Rainbow blinked. "I... I don't know. I'm sure her sister did."
"Oh, right. What was her name again? Churning?"
"Tchern."
"I meant to s-say that."
"There's a war waging on the far side as we speak, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said. "A war that's been tearing the land around the Midnight Armory for eons." She gulped. "How could the Herald have any clue over what that's all about?"
"Well... their information was given to them by the ancient pegasi, yes?"
"Well, yeah. But that was a crazy long time ago. And from what Tchern described to me, the Trinary War began between the Sarosians, changelings, and Night Shard long after the alicorns landed. So I doubt even the Herald have much info to go on..."
"Oh my goodness..." Fluttershy suddenly blanched.
"What is it?"
"Just... something I thought about." Fluttershy paled slightly. "What... what if we discover some of that horrible... absolutely horrible living ooze on the dark side?"
Rainbow blinked. "You mean the crud that attacked me and the Jury in Stratopolis?"
Fluttershy nodded, squeaking slightly.
Rainbow managed a soft smile. "Just relax, Fluttershy. If the ancient pegasi left that stuff on the Dark Side, I'm sure there'd be no surviving factions around to have a Trinary War to this day."
"Oh... good..." Fluttershy exhaled.
"No, in fact, I'm sure whatever we find there will be way... waaaaay worse."
"Eugh..." Fluttershy face-hoofed. "...I don't know why I asked."
"Erm... my bad." Rainbow squirmed in bed. "I guess that's not of much help."
"Don't blame yourself, Rainbow."
"I'm not blaming... I'm just... guh..." With a grunt, Rainbow kicked the covers off and limped out of the bed.
Fluttershy looked over. "You're not going back to bed?"
"Too antsy now," Rainbow muttered. She winced as she adjusted the weight of her left wing in its bandages. "Is it morning yet?"
"Uhm... no."
"Meh. Think I'll go for a stroll anyways."
"It's going to be cold, Rainbow."
"Yeah? What isn't in this friggin' place?"
"Well... good point, I suppose."
Rainbow was about three steps away from the door when she shuffled to a stop. Her head tilted towards the slitted windows, catching a tiny glimpse of gently fluctuating light. "What... is that freaky glow?"
"Oh, you haven't seen it yet?"
"Seen what?"
Fluttershy managed a smile. "Go on and step outside."
"Erm... alright." Rainbow Dash pulled the door open with a creak. She squinted against a chilly mountain breeze... then squinted at something else entirely. "Whoah..." Her head tilted up, ruby eyes and pendant reflecting an undulating band of crimson light. "...now that's pretty snazzy."