Silent Ponyville: Reunion

by Chapter 17

Part 2

Silent Ponyville: Reunion
The fear of loss tends to create fear of the truth.
Part 2

------

The quiet hilltop proved not so quiet as Dash's story spanned the time it took for their sun set admiring to turn into star gazing.

"And then Soarin did this psycho fast corkscrew, then did a u-turn, and was able to double back soon enough to actually fly through the spiral of storm clouds he'd just made before they dissipated!" She narrated excitedly as she zoomed about in the air doing a miniature recreation of the maneuvers.

"I bet that trick would look even better with a rainbow trail!" Fluttershy suggested from her spot lying on the grass with her hooves folded beneath her.

"Yeah...heh...yeah it would actually..." She replied, eyes drifting contemplatively to the side as a cocky grin snuck onto her face, "I should practice that one a bit...nothing I can really show off since it's Soarin's trick but it sounds like a good challenge."

"I'm sure you can do it Rainbow Dash...and um...I'm sorry to interrupt your story, if you're not done yet that is, but...we need to talk." The gentle mare's tone turned quite serious.

"Oh, sure, what's up?" Four cyan hooves touched down on the grass next to her and Fluttershy was joined by her marefriend lying at her side.

"I told you not to hurt nurse Soft Cure, and you said you wouldn't, but then you did anyway. Why?" She asked quite directly.

"No, I said I wouldn't give her a set of bruises to match the ones she gave you, and I didn't." The still fresh memory of backhoofing the intruder put a smile on her face. Fluttershy sighed sadly and looked downward briefly.

"Dash...you know what I meant. You heard me plain and clear and you just didn't listen. I want to know why."

The saddened look on her face sobered Rainbow Dash's expression lightning fast, "Well if you walked in on some pony beating me up how would you handle it?"

"Um...I would try to protect you of course, and if I had no choice but to hurt the other pony to do it, I would. But if you told me not to hurt them and had the situation under control, I'd listen to you."

"What if that pony had been using me as a punching bag when I was a little filly though? Wouldn't you think she deserved a little payback?"

"Maybe so." Fluttershy admitted, "But that doesn't change the fact that I would still listen to you if you told me to stop and weren't in any obvious danger Rainbow Dash. I know it made you angry, and you had every right to feel that way, but it...it kind of hurt me that you didn't trust my judgement...or just didn't care."

Any enjoyment drawn from having retaliated earlier that day instantly vanished as Fluttershy uttered that sentence. Dash hadn't even thought of it that way and the thought that she had hurt her dear marefriend really stung. She opened her mouth to explain herself but no further words of adequate quality to defend her own actions came to mind before she closed it and looked away toward the ground.

"I...I just..." She gave a frustrated sigh, "You're right. I'm sorry Fluttershy. I just got so mad seeing that and I couldn't think of anything but putting a hoof right through her face. I guess I only used protecting you as an excuse to do it...even though you really did have things under control. I know if you really do ever need my help you'll ask for it, you're your own mare and I never meant to make it seem like I thought otherwise."

Fluttershy gave as warm a smile as her bruised cheeks would tolerate and then placed her hoof atop Dash's, "Thank you Rainbow Dash."

Her rose colored eyes looked back to Fluttershy's and she returned the smile, scooting over to snuggle up against her as the night air cooled around them, "What was she doing there in the first place anyway? I caught a little snip of what you were talking about before I saw you all bruised up and my vision went red, but nothing I could put together."

"Oh...um...well...it wasn't...I mean...um..." She stuttered as her eyes flitted about, attracting Rainbow Dash's curiosity.

"C'mon, what was it?" She repeated.

"It's...it's my father."

The cyan pegasus' eyes widened before narrowing in displeasure at the mention of that...thing that dared call itself a pony, "What about your father?"

"He's having...nightmares..."

Now her face turned blank, "Nightmares?"

"Y-yes."

"...like yours and Pinkie's?"

"I suppose they'd have to be...if they're keeping him from sleeping...like they are."

...

Rainbow Dash, when asked later in life, would find it difficult to recall any other time she had laughed harder then she did after being informed of the poetic justice taking place.

"And this is why I wasn't looking forward to telling you. It's not funny!" Fluttershy retorted with a hoofstomp as she watched her marefriend rolling in the grass holding her sides and kicking her back legs through her peals of laughter.

After a few moments and substantial effort Dash was able to calm down enough to speak, wiping tears from her eyes as she did, "Why not? If anypony has it coming, it's him!"

"You don't understand! When Pinkie and I had our nightmares we had plenty of help to cover for us, but who can possibly just take over for the best doctor Cloudsdale's ever seen? This is more than just his well being at stake here!" Fluttershy looked down again, "And apparently I triggered it somehow when we went to the hospital..."

Dash stopped laughing. She rolled over back onto her hooves and stood up again, brushing some grass off her shoulders before speaking, "Fluttershy, please don't do this again. You're not responsible for his issues, no matter how much you might feel otherwise, especially not after what you went through to make peace with your past."

The gentle yellow mare wanted to object again but thought better than to derail the conversation away from the topic she was interested in pursuing, "Maybe I'm not. But I still think we should help him somehow."

Rainbow Dash shook her head, "I still don't understand how you can care about him but...if it's what you really want..."

Fluttershy nodded.

"...then I can't really just leave you hanging." She once again took her spot lying next to her, "But have you really thought this through yet? I mean...we only really know one thing that helps with nightmares like that you know."

"I know...I know...I don't want to even think about doing that yet though. Couldn't we talk to Twilight? We told her how terrible that spell is, maybe she can find something less...um...bad."

"Yeah, that's a good first step. But what if she can't? If you're serious about this, we need to decide how far we're willing to ask her to go and then not hesitate if the time comes."

She regarded her with a bit of suspicion, "Rainbow Dash, are you doing this because you want to help me or because you want to hurt him?"

"I'm doing this because I want to help you, and hurt him." The cyan pegasus replied without a hint of shame in her voice.

Fluttershy practically jumped to her feet, not having expected such a frank and malicious admission from her about something so deadly serious as the fog shrouded nightmare that had almost ripped them apart, "That's...that's an awful thing to say Dash! I can't even begin to describe how horrible that place was! To send another pony there knowing full well what will happen out of spite is just...just...mean!"

Rainbow Dash flopped over on her side as the mare she was leaning against stood up, leaving her to look at Fluttershy sideways, "Well maybe that horrible place should be visited by a horrible pony that deserves it for once?"

Fluttershy silently bit her lip and looked away as her marefriend got back to her feet with a soft grunt.

"Look, here's the truth, no sugar coating. You can't say word one to convince me that your dad is anything more than a filly beating monster who lets others use his reputation as an excuse to help him get away with it. I don't care how much your mother's dying affected him, what he did was still wrong! So the thought of him getting his flank put through the wringer in there holds a lot of appeal for me. I'll help you, because I love you, but I am not going to fake being nice about it when it comes to him." Rainbow Dash explained. Her voice was stern but Fluttershy knew it was just because they were discussing her father and not that she was actually angry with her.

"I...I guess that's fair enough...but I need you to promise not to lay a hoof on my father or nurse Soft Cure again, okay?"

Rainbow Dash pondered the request for a moment, "How about my knees or elbows? Those technically aren't hooves."

Fluttershy was not amused, "Rainbow Dash..."

"Maybe just follow them around with a lightning cloud? I mean, no part of me would even be touching them if they got zapped!"

"Dash..."

"How about just a thunder cloud I can scare them with?"

Okay, now she was a little amused, "Hehehe-I mean, no!"

"Rain cloud! They're gonna be so wet every time they go outside!" Rainbow Dash persisted enthusiastically while rubbing her hooves together in a faux villainous fashion.

Fluttershy was forced to bring a hoof to her mouth to stifle her giggling before she aimed a smirk at the rainbow maned aviator and nuzzled up against her, giving her the most diabetes inducing pleading look she could muster, "Pretty pleeeeaaaaase?"

"Oh...that is just not fair!" Dash lamented as those formidable blue eyes were unleashed, prompting Fluttershy to then mercilessly flutter her eyelashes, "Argh! Okay okay you win!"

"Always works." She boasted with a smug grin, "Though, you know, I don't think I'll get mad about a raincloud following nurse Soft Cure every great once in a while."

"Heh, I'll remember that." Dash replied as she coaxed Fluttershy's head upwards with a hoof and then shared a soft lingering kiss with her, both mares closing their eyes and basking in their love under the light of Luna's moon. After their lips parted they were left to gaze into each other's eyes adoringly, "I missed you Fluttershy, I hope you can come with me to the next show."

"I missed you too Rainbow Dash, I really did."

...

"Um...I do need to ask you to do one last favor tomorrow though...I don't think you're going to like it..." Fluttershy said, suddenly quite timid again.

"Hey, don't worry, whatever it is I'm here for ya!" Dash replied with gusto.

"Well...um...you see..."

------

This wasn't his bed. This wasn't even his house. What was this?! He looked around in confusion to see he was in a giant rectangular cage of some sort, the walls made from bars that gave it the look of a jail cell, the floors and ceiling both made of grating. The metal was bent, dented, scratched and rusty as though nopony had maintained it for a great length of time. From the sparse light of a single lantern hanging from the middle of the cage's ceiling he could make out a pole extending downward from each corner, apparently the only things keeping the entire assembly from plunging into the inky darkness below.

He was currently seated in the corner, and shook his head to make sure he was seeing everything right as he got back onto his hooves. The motion caused the cage to sway slightly, setting the latern to gently swinging back and forth and making the shadows around him dance. His eyes were drawn to an object in the center of the cage that he wasn't entirely sure had been there before. It was a gurney with one pony occupant lying deathly still, their features hidden by the dirty, old looking sheet that covered the entire thing. He swallowed nervously and began to slowly approach it, compelled to do so by a sudden curiosity that he would otherwise probably ignore in a situation as strange as this one. Perhaps in some bid to see who it was below the sheet he cautiously extended a hoof, aiming to pull the mold ridden fabric off the dead pony, but before he could do so a thick black length of some sort passed down over his field of view and he was suddenly being strangled.

Whatever it was that had him by the neck yanked him backwards off his hooves, the bars of the wall slamming painfully into his back as he was held tight against them. His windpipe wasn't completely shut, but he was still having to try with all his might to pull air into his lungs. If he was merely alarmed before, what began to happen before his eyes threw him into all out panic. A disgusting black liquid began to seep out of the dead pony beneath the sheets with a sickening squelching sound. The black stains it formed started to spread outward in trails as though it were more a swarm of insects with a purpose than simply another liquid, and then the pony he thought to be dead began to slowly writhe.

Something hit the outside of the bars directly behind him with a metallic clang. He shivered as he suddenly felt hot breath tickle his back, the vocal cords that the air was being forced through sounding otherworldly and unnatural but vaguely feminine. He tried in his terror to turn his head but found it impossible to do, especially after the thing around his neck contracted in response, briefly shutting his windpipe completely in warning.

The pony beneath the sheets turned its head upward, presenting the facial profile of a mare as it opened its mouth. He heard a high pitched wail that seemed to come to his ears from a great distance in all directions at once. It was subdued and relatively quiet yet it still managed to painfully pierce through his skull for unknown reasons. Then came the scrape of metal just behind his head as the thing holding him against the bars moved. Seconds later he drowned out the distant wail with his own strangled cry of pain as an angular, metallic spike erupted from his chest.

He was released and fell limply to the rusted metal grate below him that then shattered with the impact of his weight and released him into the void...

------

Lance's body shivered hard as his bloodshot eyes opened. He looked around in a panic, suddenly wanting to start running and never stop. His hooves carried him two steps on pure instinct before his mind became fully conscious and took control again. The mental fog lifted and he realized he was in the study of the Cloudsdale home he and his late wife had bought over two decades ago. The stacks of papers he had been looking over on his desk before dozing off had been scattered in every direction when he had stood up while still half conscious. He let out an exhausted groan and looked up at the clock, blinking the last traces of sleep away until he could see it clearly. A mere hour and a half had passed since he had last checked it, and he wasn't even sure of when he had fallen asleep.

His headache was predictably back with a vengeance. Fortunately the bottle of pills he didn't even bother to keep stashed in a drawer here at home sat invitingly atop his desk. He retrieved another double dose and shortly after he had swallowed them there came a loud knocking on his front door.

"That better not be Soft Cure again..." He muttered while exiting the room and heading down the stairwell. He heard a second set of knocks, a third, and then a fourth before his front door was even in sight.

"I'm coming I'm coming!" He shouted irritably as he approached and put his eye up to the peephole to see who his visitor was. It was a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and red rose eyes looking none too pleased to be there. That face was oddly familiar...he could swear he'd seen her in all the papers a while back but couldn't quite place why she had been there. Deciding to just wing it instead of keeping his visitor waiting any longer he opened the door, having to squint as sunlight flooded into the much darker interior.

"Can I help you?"

"Wow, you do look like something the cat dragged in." Rainbow Dash said immediately as she looked him over from head to hoof.

The corners of Lance's mouth were tugged downward in a hurry, "Ma'am, I'm not exactly the thin skinned type, but I'd rather you just state your business if you have any instead of just standing here commenting on my appearance."

"Oh don't worry, I've got business with you. Name's Rainbow Dash." She replied as she looked back to his face.

The name finally clicked Lance's memory into proper order, "Oh, you're the winner of that Young Flyer's Competition everypony couldn't stop talking about last year...and an element if I recall correctly. What brings you here?"

"Fluttershy sent me."

He raised an eyebrow briefly but then connected the dots in his head. Of course she would know his daughter, she was an element too.

"I see. Miss Dash, my daughter and I no longer keep in touch and I have nothing to say to her. If you have no other business with me I will be going back to my studies." He replied with an even, professional tone.

"Yeah, I know, that's why she sent me instead of coming herself. Can I come in?" Rainbow Dash asked in reply.

"And for what reason would I invite you in Miss Dash?" Lance asked rather reasonably considering he had never before talked to this mare.

"Because you probably don't want to discuss your little nightmare problem out on the street like this."

The good doctor's eyes shot open in shock and he was left without words for a few moments before he remembered himself and the situation he was currently facing, "Come in."

He opened the door and let her step past before closing it behind her and asking the question most immediately on his mind.

"Now if you would be so kind, could you tell me exactly how you found out about my condition?"

"Your nurse paid Fluttershy a visit and tried getting the details of a certain conversation out of her with her hooves. I guess she's good at beating little fillies into silence but not so much at beating information out of full grown ponies. Why the hay is it so dark in here by the way?" She asked, going off on a tangent after she finished answering.

"I see..." Lance ignored the last question and moved on, her apparent knowledge of Soft Cure's past with his daughter having made him curious, "Exactly how much of my daughter's past do you know about?"

"Pretty much all the juicy bits that would land you in jail if she didn't love you enough to ask that I keep them to myself." The glare on her face as she replied made it plain that she was extending some effort in not throttling him just thinking about it.

"And who are you to her that she would trust you with such sensitive information?" He asked as he stepped closer to demonstrate his lack of fear of the cyan pegasus.

"I'm her marefriend."

Lance blinked once before another set of dots connected, "Oh...a filly fooler is she? I guess she still hates colts." He remarked with something nearing amusement.

Rainbow Dash remembered being told of the particular bit of abuse that had led her marefriend down that path. It made her so happy to have Fluttershy in her life, but knowing that she would not have been there but for the abuse she suffered at this bastard's hooves tore her up inside. Having it thrown in her face so flippantly, by him of all ponies, made her want to beat his face in until nopony could recognize him through the mess she had made of him. But the element of loyalty had a promise to keep. Instead of throwing hooves in his face she let her mouth keep doing the talking.

"You know what? Let's not talk about Fluttershy anymore. I made a promise to her that I wouldn't lay a hoof on you, and hearing you talk about what you did to her like it's just what you had for lunch the other day is making it seriously difficult to keep it." She requested harshly while staring death at him.

"So you know about my daughter's past, and you know about my condition, but you apparently haven't yet told anypony else about either. So why are you here exactly, or have I guessed right and should just go get my checkbook?" He asked, staring right back at her with nary a hint of intimidation.

"I'm here because Fluttershy, despite everything, wants to help you, and my friend Twilight Sparkle knows a spell that might do the trick. If you're interested, we can fly to Ponyville right now. Fluttershy will be staying home in her cottage way outside town today just so you don't have to worry about running into her. I'll be outside waiting for five minutes and then I'm leaving. Make it quick." She stepped past him and stepped out the door, slamming it behind her hard enough to rattle the hinges and make Lance wince.

After pausing to make sure the wall shaking door slam hadn't knocked anything over he was left to sit in the middle of his livingroom and weigh his options. On one hoof his daughter's marefriend seemed to unabashedly despise him, and that did not exactly engender trust. On the other, he had learned long ago that ponies intending harm would rather act in secret instead of declaring their hatred to the object of their malice and making themselves stand out for scrutiny. Rainbow Dash didn't strike him as the sharpest tool in the shed so if she had really meant to destroy him he felt reasonably sure she would have tried already.

There was also the issue of Twilight Sparkle to consider. Rainbow Dash was kind of sketchy in this instance but miss Sparkle was the well known apprentice to Princess Celestia herself, yet another element of harmony, and reportedly a scholar much like himself to boot, though obviously in a different field of study. Between the young flyer champion's honesty, hostile as it may be, and the royal apprentice's reputation alone, this proposed solution was beginning to look legitimate enough to look into. His schedule was clear thanks to his indefinite 'vacation' anyway, so at the very least he could fly over and see Twilight Sparkle for a consultation.

His mind made up, he stepped out his front door to see Rainbow Dash waiting there for him as promised, "Alright."

------

"What the hay does this spell do that's so special it can't be replicated by anything else?!" Twilight Sparkle shouted to nopony as she threw her hooves up in the air in despair. The library was a mess of books once more, each and every scattered tome regarding nothing but magic that had any little thing at all to do with the pony brain or psyche. None of them had a spell that were anywhere near what she needed in this case. Pony psychology was apparently a very delicate thing due to how complicated a functioning mind was, and most of the spells erred on the side of caution, meant to gently prod and influence a mind back into order over a long period of treatment. The Mind Delve spell was a blunt, unsubtle, explosive sledgehammer in comparison. After the research she had spent all day pursuing she was becoming convinced that the pony that had concocted such a spell was one of those insane geniuses.

Not in the 'that pony is such a genius that it's insane' sense either, more the 'that pony blew up half a continent just trying to find a way to eat his dinner without first having to fix it' sense.

All the same, the book in which it was written still sat menacingly on her bookshelf. She peered over at it now in thought. Had she read everything about the spell? She did have a habit of only looking through the summary of a spell's purpose, effects, and casting instructions when she was looking for a spell in a hurry. Perhaps there was some bit of information she could take advantage of in the several pages devoted to providing more details about the spell that a caster might not necessarily have to know in order to just use said spell. The first time she had used it on Pinkie it had seemed to work well enough, so she hadn't felt obligated to go back and look. The second time she was even less inspired to do so after her three friends had so adamantly told her never to use it again. But now it seemed to be the only place left for her to look.

'That book' as she had become accustomed to calling it, as though uttering its true name would summon a fire breathing dragon that hated books right into her library, lit up with magic and levitated over to her. She opened it and quickly flipped through the pages until she came upon those fateful spell instructions once again.

"Ah, here we go! Just one page more..."

She flipped the page, and was immediately met with the basic summary of the next spell in the book.

"Huh? Wait..."

Thinking perhaps this particular book just didn't have the extra pages of information for any spells at all, she flipped another page, only to see the extra pages for this unrelated spell there plain as day.

"That's strange..." She pondered while flipping through the rest of the book then returning to the Mind Delve's page, "Nopony tore it out either...it's just...not here...and it's the only spell in the whole book that doesn't have it! No history, no notes on proper use or the magical reactions it uses to do what it does...or even who first discovered it..."

The book closed and lowered to the floor at the same time the purple unicorn did so herself, tucking her hooves in beneath her as she let out a frustrated whine at not being able to find a way around this. Surely the royal library in Canterlot played host to a more robust selection that would more likely have the solution she was seeking but there just wasn't time now! She looked down at 'that book' and felt like it was mocking her for her defeat. The only way this could get any worse was if Pin-

"Hey Twilight! You get any new cookbooks in? I want to have something new and scrumptious for my next party!" Pinkie Pie said as she pushed the door open and strolled inside.

...why?

Quick as a flash 'that book' was magically yanked behind her out of Pinkie's sight line, "Oh! Hi Pinkie! Uh sorry about the mess, guess my studying got out of hand!" Twilight explained before laughing nervously.

"It's okay, I understand completely! You oughta see the kitchen at Sugar Cube Corner when I'm improvising together a new recipe! Flour, eggs, and sugar all over the place! I practically turn white by the time I'm finished, makes me look like a ghost pony! It's actually pretty handy at Halloween parties! But I make sure to only use that flour ghost costume for them, or else ponies would start saying the Sugar Cube Corner is haunted and stop going there, which would make me super sad, and the Cakes super poor! Though I suppose they'd be super sad too because they were super poor! Yep, baking sure isn't for the faint of heart! One slip up and blam, you just-"

"Uh, you said you were looking for a new recipe? The books about baking should be on that shelf over there." Twilight interruped the stream of consciousness with a point of her hoof.

"Oh, thanks!" She said before hopping over to investigate, causing the purple coated apprentice to visibly relax.

"Whew...that was a close one-"

"Hey whatcha reading?!" Twilight jumped to her feet as Pinkie's excited voice suddenly came from behind her, as though the pink pony had teleported seconds after she had stopped being directly observed.

"Oh that? That's nothing you'd be interested in at all, I was just about to put it away in fact!" The book glowed with magic but was held still beneath a pink hoof.

"Hang on a sec!"

"No no no you don't want to read that! It's so...so boring! Yes, boring! The baking books are over there, they're much more informative and exciting, you should go read them! And not this book...that is so boring!" Twilight rambled desperately as the book repeatedly tried to tug itself out from under Pinkie's hoof.

"You're a bad liar silly! If it's so super boring why've you been trying to hide it since I came in here, is it one of those saucy romance stories I keep catching Rarity read-" Pinkie's eyes shot open in recognition and she jumped into the air with a large gasp, "Twilight! Why are you reading this book?!"

Aw, SHOOT!

"Oh uh, no reason!" Twilight bluffed, eyes flitting back and forth with unease before she attempted a very awkward smile.

"You're not going to cast it on anypony are you?!" Pinkie asked as she zipped over to stand in front of Twilight.

"I...might have to Pinkie."

"No way! You can't!" She said as she briskly shook her head.

"Pinkie, have you ever heard of the famous Cloudsdale doctor, Lance Strongshy?" The purple unicorn asked thinking if she perhaps explained herself Pinkie would understand how it had come back to this a little better.

"Yes! ...just now!" Pinkie replied with a nod.

Twilight groaned and brought a hoof to her face, "Okay, Fluttershy came in this morning and told me that he has been suffering from nightmares not letting him sleep, just like the both of you had been. It's been affecting his work, badly. This is an incredibly good doctor we're talking about here Pinkie, nopony can replace him, and every day he can't do his job because of this there might be a pony's life he can't save!"

Pinkie sat wordlessly looking downward, thinking things over for a moment, "Okay...I see your point but....this spell again?"

"Trust me Pinkie, the library is in such a mess because I looked through every single relevant book I had in here, not just books about dreams either! I poked through pyschology, neurology, the works! There is no other solution in this library that's as timely as we need it to be. If I had time to go to Canterlot I would, but Fluttershy came in just this morning apologizing over and over for the short notice before she told me that Rainbow Dash had gone to invite doctor Strongshy over here to see me this afternoon!" Twilight explained while motioning to the large piles of books that were occupying the library floor, "Her face was also kinda bruised up...something about squirrels she said?"

"Aha! I knew it! But...wait...how do they know a famous doctor anyway? And if he's so famous, how come they seemed to be the only ponies in town who know anything about his nightmares?" Pinkie asked as she looked off in a random direction while the gears in her sugar saturated head turned.

"He's a hero in Cloudsdale and they're both from there so I didn't think it very odd that they knew him really...but you're right about that second part..." Twilight brought a contemplative hoof to her chin, "From the sound of it he didn't want anypony getting word of it...so why do Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy suddenly know all about it all the way here in Ponyville?"

"You know, this might have something to do with what Fluttershy saw in the other Ponyville. She hasn't told anypony but Rainbow Dash one thing about it yet." Pinkie said as she pointed a hoof.

"If that's true, we might want to put a rain check on trying to solve it on our own, out of respect for her wishes." Twilight replied with a nod.

"Yeah, it's probably for the best..."

With that the library door opened once more, prompting both ponies to shift their attention to the two newcomers. Lance stood there still looking the worse for wear and next to him stood Rainbow Dash whose face remained determined to make it known to everypony she was standing next to the last stallion on the entire planet that she would ever want to stand next to.

"Here you go. I'll be outside to make sure nopony interrupts, and to make sure that you leave right after you're done." Rainbow Dash said to him as Pinkie bounded up.

"Doctor Strongsomething! Don't worry, we'll go in with you and make sure you don-WOOP!" Pinkie yelped as she toppled over and began moving along the floor. She shook the stars out of her eyes and looked to see Rainbow Dash dragging her out by her tail, "Heeeeey! What are you doing Dashie!? We can't just-"

Her protests were cut off from Twilight and Lance's ears by the cyan pegasus having pulled Pinkie out of the library entirely and closed the door. This understandably caused both of them a bit of confusion before they faced back towards one another.

"Good afternoon miss Sparkle." Lance said with a respectful nod of his head.

"Good afternoon doctor Strongshy." Twilight replied in kind before her horn lit up and the piles of books moved toward one side of the library to be sorted back onto the shelves later, "Apologies for the mess, I've been in kind of a rush ever since my friend Fluttershy told me you might be coming."

He kept his light surprise in check before it made it to his face. Apparently this pony didn't know that Fluttershy was his daughter. If even the pegasus that hated him outside wasn't spreading that bit of information around he didn't want to ruin his good luck and do it himself by accident, "Thank you for seeing me in any case miss Sparkle. Your rather...unpleasant blue friend out there tells me you might have a spell to treat my problem?"

Twilight bit her lip briefly, "Yes...I do...I'm hesitant to use it to be perfectly honest, but I can't seem to find any alternative that won't take months."

"I don't have that much time to wait." He replied, prompting her to nod.

"I thought as much. Okay, first I'll use a spell to see the dreams that have been causing all the trouble." She said as she stepped closer to him. She closed her eyes and concentrated briefly until the tip of her horn lit up.

"This...might not work, but it's worth a try." He said as he allowed her to touch the tip against his forehead.

------

There was nothing in sight. Absolutely nothing except for the weather worn slab of concrete upon which she sat, suspended by rusted chains from whatever passed for a ceiling that was shrouded by the void of blackness overhead. The only sounds came from below, far, far below. They were so distant as to be nearly inaudible, but what she could hear was awful; the faint echoes of hoarse cries of pain, sinister cracking sounds, and the scrape of metal against metal. There was a grim urge to see what was making these sounds but from her spot trapped upon that slab of concrete at an unknown height there was no way she would ever be able to.

------

Twilight broke contact with Lance and shook her head, befuddled expression on her face. While she was thankful for not being mentally assaulted by disturbing images and sensations again, she did bemoan the lack of information their absence caused.

"You were right...it didn't work quite the same that time. It was sure wierd and creepy but nothing like what I saw when I looked at the nightmares my friends were having." She said apologetically.

"That doesn't surprise me. You see miss Sparkle, I only remember the dreams for a few seconds that I can only describe as 'intensely horrific' after waking up, then they quickly fade." He explained.

"Well that makes sense I suppose...but if you can't remember them, are you sure you need this spell?" The hesitation she was still feeling was obvious.

"Does this face lie?" Lance asked as he pointed a hoof at his eyes. Twilight couldn't help but shake her head in agreement. Even if she couldn't see the dreams for herself the effect they were having on him was obvious since he looked even worse than either Pinkie or Fluttershy had when they came to her for help. In fact, her not even being able to see the dreams much less their root causes made him an even more appropriate candidate for a spell meant to dig up unknown psychological issues.

"I really have to warn you though doctor Strongshy...this is not a spell to be trifled with. Everypony apparently experiences it differently, and it is so intensely unpleasant that my friends requested that I never use it again the last time I cast it on them. Are you sure you don't want to think this over? Maybe sleep on it and come back tomorrow?"

"To be frank miss Sparkle I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to coherently think at all if this keeps up. I'm no stranger to high risk, painful treatment with a longer term benefit that is worth the initial trouble either. So while you have my thanks for properly informing me of the risks, I'm going to have to ask you to cast your spell anyway." Lance replied with certainty.

Twilight let out a nervous breath, "You're sure then?"

"I am." He repeated and closed his eyes.

He'd had more than fair warning about this. If he was willing to take on whatever risks the spell presented she couldn't exactly just say no, and so she closed her eyes again. Her horn came to life and as a sense of dread washed over her she placed the tip back upon his forehead...

Comments

[DerpinYou]

When Lance said, "Does this face lie?" I automatically thought of Squidward going, "Does this look unsure to you?"

[Thegodhand]

cdn2.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dis_gonna_b_gud.gif

[Genesis1212]

well the next nightmare begins alone, by yourself, this can save you or break you, can you handle it doctor? (plays silent hill 2 ost alone in the town on next chapter) 542406 rofl ya! xD

[Mashuga31]

Well lance, i can't say I hope you feel better after this.

[Doctor Elite]

See, this character is someone you want to suffer, but he suffers more than you expected.

[HylianTabby]

"The quiet hilltop proved not so quiet"
A not so silent hill.

[Arcanum -Phantasy]

And so it begins. ........

[SSCD]

7641435
*applause, applause* bravo, just.. bravo.

[n8dagr8088]

"Rain cloud! They're gonna be so wet every time they go outside!" Rainbow Dash persisted enthusiastically while rubbing her hooves together in a faux villainous fashion.

dash getting a melodramatic about her scheming to annoy soft cure is hilarious