Under Her Wing

by Tinyweasels

Chapter 8 - A Nightmarish Night

Chapter 8 - A Nightmarish Night

Rainbow Dash found herself outside her father's home. She could hear strange noises inside and opened the door. Inside was all kinds of commotion with little hippogriffs running around her father and Gilda, who were both holding eggs with diapers on. Gilda's belly was big with another batch of young.

"Rainbow, good. You're here…" her haggard father said and handed her the eggs he was holding as he rushed off.

The little ones running around all gathered around her, jumping up and down.

"What's going on?" she asked Gilda. In response, Gilda pounced and pinned her to the floor with her claws.

"Dad, help!" she pleaded.

"Sorry, Rainbow," he replied. “The little ones are hungry and need to be fed." Just then one of the eggs hatched and Fullbright picked up a little Hippogriff that had a rainbow mane. “Well, hello there. I think I’ll name you Rainbow Dash, in memory of your late sister.”

Gilda opened her beak and lunged for Rainbow's throat. Rainbow screamed and everything froze. The scene began to fade and she soon found herself standing in an ethereal landscape. A dark cloud with slitted teal eyes materialized in front of her.

"Princess Nightmare?" she asked, looking at the strange form. "What's going on?"

"You were having a nightmare, Rainbow Dash. I have been observing your dreams and those of the filly, Scootaloo, since the incident, to help you both in case either of you were haunted by the event. This dream is... not the sort I was expecting, but I felt you would not wish to follow it along to the point of being torn asunder and devoured by your siblings."

Rainbow looked over herself to make sure everything was still there. "Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate that. Sorry to waste your time—just a stupid dream. I’ve been to Otherside and met up with my bio-mom and met my half brothers and sisters and they didn’t try to eat me."

Nightmare fully materialized and walked over to her, wearing a sympathetic look, very uncharacteristic to see from the princess. "Rainbow Dash, Gilda’s love for your father is true as is her love for you. They both know you are hurting because of this and it grieves them.”

“Why can’t I just accept it and move on? What’s wrong with me?”

Nightmare Moon looked gravely at her. “For few others would I make such an offer, but to you I owe my life and my freedom. If you wish it I can smite their dreams. I can poison their feelings with suspicion and fear and destroy their love."

“What? No! I want them to be happy together!” Rainbow Dash winced, finally able to say it out loud. “Okay, you got me.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and looked the princess in the eye. “I want Dad and Gilda to be happy together." She took another deep breath and steeled herself.

“Even if it means they get married and start a family.”

Nightmare looked at her and smiled. “Was that so difficult?”

“Yes, very. But thank you, Princess.”

“You are quite welcome, Rainbow Dash. Not bad for an ‘ancient dude’ if I may say so.”

Rainbow chuckled a bit. "Let me guess, Twilight told you about that?"

"Yes. Her friendship reports are quite entertaining," Nightmare Moon replied with a smile.

It seemed odd to Rainbow that the princess seemed much more relaxed and upbeat in the dream world than her usually stoic and angry waking world appearance. "Oh—hey, Princess? How is Scootaloo doing? Are her dreams okay?"

The princess nodded to Rainbow. "Her dreams start with the fall, but they all end with a heroic last second rescue by you. She will recover from these events and they will not scar her as it would have others."

"That's good. The last thing she needs is more to go wrong in her life."

Nightmare Moon looked thoughtful for a few moments and then smiled. "If I may make a suggestion, friend Rainbow, some correspondence with her would do her well."

"Yeah, I can do that. I've been doing a lot of letter writing while laid up at the castle."

"Excellent. If you will forgive me, other ponies are out there, tormented by bad dreams and nightmares. Time to rescue the innocent and make the guilty suffer!" she said with fiendish glee as she vanished.

Comments

[Sweetblue]

"Excellent. If you will forgive me, other ponies are out there, tormented by bad dreams and nightmares. Time to rescue the innocent and make the guilty suffer!"

Aww oh you dream vigilante you! (Wait... can princess be vigilante?)

[Prismmirror]

7732512

I know, right? Love that she said 'make them suffer' rather than 'let them suffer', implying she actually gives some nightmares.

[Jonny Bench]

I would love it if nightmare became a reformed villain somehow and acted like how she does in your story