Dreamwalker Dash

by Fluttercheer

Chapter 4: The Morning After

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Waking up felt like climbing out of a deep, black hole to Rainbow Dash. She could not see. There was a sound, but she could not hear it. Only the vibrations she felt on her body indicated that it was there. She could not fly either. Her wings felt like they were tightly strapped against her body. Neither could she spread them, nor rustle a single feather. Panic began to come over her as she realized the paralysis of her wings.

Rainbow Dash tried to scream, but nothing than a dry rattle left her throat. Was she dead? Luna did say that her body went through a lot last night, didn't she? She said what she did can be dangerous. Had her body not been strong and trained enough in the end?

Rainbow Dash tried to suppress the new wave of panic that descended down on her mind. “Okay, what can I feel?” Rainbow Dash thought. There was something heavy on top of her. It seemed to press her down and, concentrating on it, she could feel that it was lying on her stomach and that parts of it extended under her back. Was this why she couldn't move her wings?

A cold breeze came from somewhere. It wafted over Rainbow Dash's head. Then another vibration followed. She was still deaf, but something just made a sound. Rainbow Dash tried to move one of her hindlegs. It was just as stiff as her wings. Heavy, like frozen in place. Wasn't there something else Luna had said? That the magic transfer could cripple her?

The increase of her heartbeat finally clarified to Rainbow Dash that she was still alive. “But what if I'm crippled forever?” Her panic increased.

Her ability to see still hadn't returned. Rainbow Dash discovered that she was able to look around but, somehow, she didn't feel her head moving. She looked up and there was a single, white spot high above her. It was tiny and looked like a star at night. And it was where she was supposed to be, Rainbow Dash felt. Where else could she go to in that blackness that surrounded her? And as she had done that thought, her body lifted itself off the ground. It was nothing her wings did. And she could not see her hooves. But she was ascending now. She could feel her hooves suddenly, they moved and they grabbed onto something. Was she climbing? The material her hooves touched was fleeting, it felt like she was merely grasping air, but there was a certain substance to it. It was like she was clawing into something and, at the same time, touching nothing.

After a few minutes of steadily ascending like this, Rainbow Dash could suddenly hear something, sounding down to her from above, where the star was. Melodic clinking, that felt like music in her ears, and a very loud sound, like somepony had just put down a heavy object. She couldn't make any sense of it, but her hearing had returned and Rainbow Dash was glad for this.

Her ascension continued. There was nothing remarkable to it, everything around her remained black and the sounds had stopped again, resulting in pure silence all around her. While climbing or floating, Rainbow Dash could not truly tell what kind of movement it was, she had come to the conclusion that she was dreaming. The star above her did not appear bigger than minutes ago, even though she knew that she had to have gotten closer to it. Illogical circumstances like that only happened in dreams. Even more so in feverish dreams and maybe that's what it was, she mused. Rainbow Dash remembered again that she was sweating last night. Maybe she had fever and this was all a fever dream. It was the only explanation that made sense.

As Rainbow Dash did another attempt at stretching her wings because she couldn't take the monotony around her anymore, she discovered that they suddenly moved again. Almost simultaneously, the pressure on her stomach disappeared. Something rough was rubbing over it. Rainbow Dash immediately knew what she had to do. She spread her wings and began to fly towards her seemingly unreachable destination. First she flapped her wings slowly, then she shot upwards at her maximum tempo. The star still didn't come any closer. But something else happened, the darkness wasn't completely dark anymore. There suddenly was a faint, red shimmer in the air. And, like in response to it, her eyes suddenly opened. Her vision was blurry, but it cleared up quickly and Rainbow Dash could see solid rock above her. An orange glow was coming from her left. Rainbow Dash turned her head towards the source, just in time to see a mug with steaming contents getting put down by a midnight-blue aura.

“I see you have awoken, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash looked up and into the face of Princess Luna. She greeted Rainbow Dash with a friendly smile. The aura around her horn vanished.

“Where am I?” was all Rainbow Dash could say. Only now she realized that she felt drowsy. Her face had to look stupid right now, she assumed.

“Do you not remember?” A slight concern appeared on Luna's face.

“I.....” Rainbow Dash looked down. A pause of several seconds followed before she spoke again. “Y-Yeah, I do. Now I do.” She shook her head. The events of last night were back in her memory. They felt surreal now.

Rainbow Dash looked back up. “What happened?” she asked.

“Nothing that would give reason to worry. You had a peaceful sleep, Rainbow Dash.” The concern in Luna's eyes had cleared up again.

“That's not how it felt,” Rainbow Dash said. She rubbed over her head.

“What did you feel?” Luna asked. Her voice had a curious tone, but something in it also sounded like she already knew the answer.

Rainbow Dash went over the experience she made before waking up. As she had finished, Luna nodded. “Sleep paralysis. This commonly happens to new dreamwalkers. They are half awake and half asleep and they have a harder time waking up as their consciousness retreats in deeper parts of the mind than it does for normal sleepers.”

“New dreamwalkers? So it won't always be like this, right?” Rainbow Dash stretched herself and groaned.

“No,” Luna confirmed. “You will get used to this just as you will get used to other aspects of dreamwalking. And once you did, you will awake normally again.”

“Good.” Rainbow Dash yawned. Then her eyes fell on the table and she finally examined what was on it.

In the middle stood the mug she had seen right after waking up. It was still steaming and now she noticed that it was filled with hot, black coffee. In front of it stood a plate with several large waffles and next to the plate was a small bowl with an assortment of fruits. Rainbow Dash didn't ask any questions. Following the signs her grumbling stomach and her watering mouth gave her, she reached for the mug and took a big sip, then lifted the plate into her lap, picked up the fork that was on it and started to feast away at the waffles.

Rainbow Dash alternated between forking a piece of the waffles and shoving it into her mouth, grabbing a bite from a fruit or swallowing one of the tinier ones as a whole and taking a sip of coffee. She sighed in satisfaction as she realized the size of the mug.

Rainbow Dash only talked again as she was more than halfway through the waffles. The bowl of fruits was already empty.

“I can't believe how hungry I am. But I probably should have expected this, after the awesome things I did last night.” Another piece wandered into her mouth and she began to chew enthusiastically.

Opposite of her, Luna smirked. “Awesome things,” she repeated. “Like almost making the entire dream realm collapse on itself with resentment and rage.” The warning undertone in her otherwise chipper voice was subtle, but piercing.

Rainbow Dash froze with one of the last remaining waffle pieces halfway to her mouth and one of her eyes shifted to look at Luna. She took the fork down. “Fine.....” she groaned. “That wasn't awesome.” She gave Luna a glare. “Least that's not something I'm going to tell in my loyalty lesson this morning.....” Her face lit up. “My lesson..... I almost forgot about it. How late is it anyway? For how long did I sleep?” She finally put the piece into her mouth, then reached for the mug and gulped down the rest of the coffee.

“It's a little past ten,” Luna informed her. “You slept for exactly nine hours, Rainbow Dash, just as you wanted.”

Rainbow Dash's pupils shrunk. She coughed and spilled the coffee on the precious old sofa, creating dark stains on it. “TEN?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?! I already missed two of my lessons today!” Rainbow Dash flew upwards in a rush. The plate fell off her legs and shattered on the tiled floor. She wanted to zip out of the room, but felt yanked back by something. Luna held her in a magical grip.

“There's no need to rush, Rainbow Dash. I have made sure that your lessons are taken care of.” She slowly hovered Rainbow Dash back on the sofa.

Rainbow Dash let her wings slump. She gave Luna a doubtful glance. “Taken care of?”

“Indeed. I visited Twilight Sparkle in a dream tonight while you were asleep. She was very enthusiastic about your plans of becoming a dreamwalker and agreed to cover your duties at her school.” She came closer to Rainbow Dash and took position in front of her. “And I cannot leave you just like this, Rainbow Dash. At least a short health check is required.” She lifted Rainbow Dash's head with a hoof under her chin and looked into her face with stern, concentrated eyes.

“I'm not surprised she did,” Rainbow Dash commented. “And I didn't make any plans yet. I'm still deciding if I even want to do this. Remember?”

Now it were Luna's pupils that shrunk. “O-Of course,” she stammered slightly and backed away from Rainbow Dash. “I-I was just..... I mean, I-I only w-wanted to say that.....”

“It's fine,” Rainbow Dash said, getting up from the sofa. “I just wanted to remind you on it.” She narrowed her eyes at Luna, tilting her head a little. “You look nervous,” she determined. “And now that I think about it, you were acting strange last night, too..... Are you sure finding your old diary and all that isn't getting to you in some way?”

“No!” Luna blurted out. “I mean..... yes, I am sure, Rainbow Dash. T-There are indeed a lot of memories connected to this diary, but none of them are of particular concern.” She took a last, scrutinizing look at Rainbow Dash's face. “Now, I think it is best for you to leave fast. Maybe you can still make it to your next lesson in time,” she then said, having made sure that Rainbow Dash was alright.

Rainbow Dash stared into Luna's face for a few seconds longer. Then she closed her eyes and shrugged her wings. “Fine with me,” she announced. “I still want to make it there in time, I don't like it if somepony else has to cover for me.”

“Good,” Luna said, joining Rainbow Dash's side as they trotted outside of the room. “There is also something else I have taken care of, something that will be very useful for your next training sessions.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her, surprised. “Something else? What is it?”

“A surprise,” Luna said, teasingly. She winked at her. “You will find out in the coming night.”

Rainbow Dash scrunched her face a little. “Okay then. I've got to think of other things anyway.”

“Indeed.” Luna nodded.

Ten minutes later, Rainbow Dash was flying away from Canterlot Castle in a hurry. There were a mere six or seven minutes left until her lesson started. And even with flying at her highest speed, she needed fifteen minutes to make the way from Canterlot to Ponyville. A best time no other pegasus could achieve but, in this case, it would not be fast enough. She would be late for the lesson.

Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat. Suddenly, a stench drifted into her nose, reminding her of something. She looked around searchingly, until her eyes got locked on a cloud. It was gray and a few drops of water leaked out at its bottom side. Rainbow Dash changed her direction and flew towards the ripe raincloud at full speed. She pierced it and, a second later, came out at the other side soaking wet. “This has to do for a shower,” Rainbow Dash thought while the wind and the sunlight began to dry her body.

As she finally landed in front of the friendship school, Rainbow Dash wasted no time standing around and rushed into the building. She approached the classroom her lesson took place in and quickly barged in through the door. The students looked up and so did Twilight, who stood behind the teacher's desk.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said, surprised. She greeted her with a welcoming smile. “You made it!”

“Yeah, sort of.....” Rainbow Dash fidgeted around uncomfortably, feeling the eyeballs of all nine students in the classroom resting on her.

Twilight moved away from the desk and approached her eagerly. “I heard about the good news from Princess Luna!” she shouted enthusiastically.

“Uh, I'm not sure if it's a good news yet.....” Rainbow clarified.

“Are you kidding me?!” Twilight went close to her face. “This is fantastic news! Imagining that you get the chance to do something so important! And just think of all the research I, I mean, we, can do on this, a pegasus never did something like this before in all of Equestrian history, you need to tell me all about it!” The nerdy torrent of words got finished with a squeal.

“Uh, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing with her head to the left.

Twilight followed the movement, looking at the students who stared at them curiously. “Oh, right.” She grinned sheepishly, before she turned back at Rainbow Dash. “But you need to come to my office and tell me everything once your lesson is over,” she said, a little calmer. “I have to hear every single detail about this!”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “I see you in your office after I'm done here.”

“Great! I can't wait to find out!” Another squeal left Twilight's throat, then she skipped out of the room, leaving Rainbow Dash to her class.

“Alright, students,” Rainbow Dash got right down to business the moment Twilight was gone. “We have a lot to cover today, so let's not lose more time.” She approached the teacher's desk and sat down on it, facing her class.

“Professor Dash?” In the first row, Silverstream lifted a claw into the air. “What important thing are you going to do?”

Only now Rainbow Dash noticed that the students all stared at her in awe. She smirked. “That's a long story, Silverstream. And discussing the awesomeness I'm doing would keep us up for the entirety of the lesson.”

Rainbow Dash herself was surprised that she managed to keep everything under wraps. Of course she wouldn't have minded to bask in the admiration of her students for almost an entire hour. But as long as she didn't know whether or not she even wanted to have a future like this, there was too much risk of making false promises.

The answer that Rainbow Dash gave achieved the opposite. The students leaned in on each other and started to whisper. One of them, a filly with a goldenrod coat who sat in the middle of the classroom, just stared at Rainbow Dash, a huge grin plastered all over her face.

“Okay, who's ready for a lesson in loyalty?” Rainbow Dash called her class to attention one more time.

The answer came in the form of applause and excited cheers of approval. The filly in the middle was the most enthusiastic of the group, the deafening volume of her own cheers easily drowned out those of her classmates.

Rainbow Dash smirked, satisfied. As always, she had the classroom under full control.

The lesson was a cakewalk. Unlike the experiences of last night, Rainbow Dash was fully in her element here as she taught the gathered foals about the importance of loyalty for a functionable friendship. The only surprise during the otherwise typical lesson happened as Rainbow Dash asked the goldenrod filly in the middle a question without receiving an answer. She had caught Rainbow Dash's attention earlier already and even now she was still staring and grinning. It was a slight oddity, but nothing Rainbow Dash was completely unfamiliar with. She repeated her question. Once more, the filly stayed silent. Finally, Rainbow Dash locked eyes with her.

“Hyper Sonic! Didn't you hear my question?”

The guess was nothing but appropriate. Hyper Sonic was directly looking at her but, at the same time, it was like she was looking through her. The grin and the glazed stare in her eyes gave Rainbow Dash the impression that the filly was in some kind of trance.

“HYPER SONIC!” Rainbow Dash tried it louder, but it was to no avail. She slipped down from the desk and approached the filly. “Hey, you aren't sleeping with open eyes, are you?” Rainbow Dash asked the filly as she stood in front of her. She carefully poked the filly's forehead as no response came. Strands of her spiky mane bobbed back and forth at the impact. Its color reminded Rainbow Dash on prairie sand.

Rainbow Dash cocked her head and blinked. “What is with this filly?” She brought her mouth close to one of her ears. “HYPER SONIC!” she yelled into it.

Finally, a reaction happened. The glazed look in Hyper Sonic's eyes disappeared and she slowly turned her head at her teacher. “Yeah, Professor Dash?” Her voice sounded like her mind was far away, but she finally gave her attention.

“I asked you a question, Hyper Sonic. Why didn't you answer?”

For a moment, Rainbow Dash feared the filly would space out again, but she answered faster this time. “Oh, sorry,” she said in a relaxed tone. “What was the question?”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Nevermind.” The strange situation made her forget the question, which she wasn't going to admit. “Just pay more attention, okay, student?”

Hyper Sonic just nodded. Now that she didn't talk anymore, the grin had returned onto her face. It started to look slightly eerie for Rainbow Dash.

“Alright. Let's continue.” Rainbow Dash trotted back to the teacher's desk,where she took seat again.

The remainder of the lesson happened without any more interruptions. Yet, despite that, Rainbow Dash could not await the end of it. Hyper Sonic continued her stares and her grinning. Even the glazed look had returned into her eyes. Rainbow Dash wouldn't have been surprised if the young filly even began drooling all over her desk. It was starting to become creepy. Hyper Sonic had always been an attentive student. It was her third year at the friendship school, but never before she had acted like this. “Something is off with this filly today,” Rainbow Dash thought and shuddered.

As the school bell finally rang and announced the end of the lesson, it was of such pure relief to Rainbow Dash like it normally only was for her students. She gave them all some last homework assignments, then she jumped off the desk and trotted behind it to stash some material inside of it.

Around her, she could hear shuffling as the students packed their saddlebags and got ready to leave, then the trotting of many hooves and two pairs of claws as they headed outside into the corridor. The classroom was completely silent now. Sensing that she was alone, Rainbow Dash stopped rummaging in the desk's drawer and closed it. She looked up, expecting to see an empty classroom, and froze.

On her desk in the middle sat Hyper Sonic. She hadn't moved an inch and she was still staring at Rainbow Dash, with that increasingly creepy grin. Her saddlebags lied untouched on the floor next to her desk.

Rainbow Dash gulped. But she did her best not to show how uncomfortable the situation was for her.

“Hyper Sonic?” she asked. “Why are you still here? Is something wrong?” She gave the filly a smile.

Hyper Sonic shook her head in an agonizingly slow tempo.

The absurdity of the situation washed over Rainbow Dash completely. “It's like I'm in a horror movie all of a sudden..... or a dream.” The thought felt completely logical to Rainbow Dash. For a moment, she considered calling for Luna, thinking that this was a strange lesson in dreamwalking the princess hadn't told her about and that she was still asleep. But she realized how unlikely this was before she could shout the princess' name. After all, why would she have told her that her next training session would happen in the coming night if one were already happening?

Rainbow Dash shook her head to clear it. She trotted a few steps into Hyper Sonic's direction, but stopped in front of the first row of desks. “Well, what's it then?” she addressed the filly again. “Do you have any question about the lesson?”

Like before, Hyper Sonic slowly shook her head.

Rainbow Dash started sweating. “Well, alright. Then you should, you know, leave. Class is over. You have a lot of homework to work on today.”

To Rainbow Dash's utmost surprise, her words had an effect. Hyper Sonic slid off her chair and pulled her saddlebags from the floor. She packed them with mechanical movements, without stopping to look at Rainbow Dash, then placed them on her back. Still not taking the eyes off her teacher, she trotted past the desks and into her direction.

Rainbow Dash did a few steps to the right. She expected Hyper Sonic to come up to her, but instead, she approached the classroom door. She did it backwards, though, apparently unable to take her eyes off of Rainbow Dash. And, of course, she kept grinning the entire time.

As Hyper Sonic had finally left the classroom and was out of sight, Rainbow Dash kept standing in place and listened to the clopping of the filly's hoofsteps. They became quieter, but only as she couldn't hear them at all anymore, Rainbow Dash allowed herself to move.

“Okay, what kind of freak show was this?” she asked into the empty room. The unsettling feeling that something was very wrong with Hyper Sonic did not leave her. “I'm definitely going to bring this up when I talk to Twilight later.”

Having made this plan, Rainbow Dash hesitantly set herself into motion. She approached the classroom door slowly, then took a careful look outside. Only after confirming that the corridor was empty in both directions, she trotted outside and began to make her way to Twilight's office.
.

Author's Note:

Hyper Sonic has finally made her grand entrance into the story! And you are going to see a lot more of this background filly in "Dreamwalker Dash", because with her, our third mane character has entered the stage!

I hope you enjoyed this rewritten version of Chapter 4! Let me know any feedback you have in the comments!
"Dreamwalker Dash" is finally back!

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Nice Work! Worth the wait.

Hope you doing well After this.

And as Silly as it Sounds, i am still used to the orginal name of Hypersonic

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

What the “bleep” is wrong with Hyper Sonic?! Is she a friend or foe?

Should this be Hyper’s second year of Friendship School instead of her third year?

[ScopingLandscape]

I am deeply uncomfortable with HyperSonic.
Otherwise, good chapter, and I cannot wait to see more.

[Fluttercheer]

10047547

Thanks! I sometimes still say "Lemon Crumble" too. I grew very attached to her before we knew her real name.

[Fluttercheer]

10047615 10047732

What the “bleep” is wrong with Hyper Sonic?! Is she a friend or foe?

I am deeply uncomfortable with HyperSonic.

Mission accomplished then. All according to plan..... But, don't worry, Hyper Sonic is only a little excited because she has just gotten a very good news.
.

Should this be Hyper’s second year of Friendship School instead of her third year?

No, it is her third year. Explaining in detail why would take a while but, basically, when Cozy Glow arrived at the school (she was heavily implying to Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle that she is a new student), the second school year since Twilight founded her school had just started. This is evident in "Non-Compete Clause", when we see how often Fluttershy has been voted "Teacher of the Month" already. The pictures on the wall show that nine months since the founding of the school have passed there.
Sometime between the events of "Non-Compete Clause" and "Marks for Effort", summer break after the first year happened and the second school year started. Which was close to ending at the end of Season 8, as we heard Gallus talk about "finals coming up" in the Season 8 Finale. The third school year then started at the beginning of Season 9, as we could see in "Uprooted".
And that is the time the beginning of this story is set at, shortly after "Sombra" attacked the Crystal Empire and destroyed the Tree of Harmony. It needs observation and an eye for details, but Hyper Sonic is indeed in her third year at the school now.

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

10057303
Thanks!

[ScopingLandscape]

crosses fingers behind back
Hopefully it's not the start of an frenemy relationship or something like that.

[Bronycommander]

10057262
I hear ya. I solved such problems by usung both names, one is therea name, the other one a nickname

[LightningChaser04]

Rainbow Dash went over the experience she made before waking up. As she had finished, Luna nodded. “Sleep paralysis. This commonly happens to new dreamwalkers. They are half awake and half asleep and they have a harder time waking up as their consciousness retreats in deeper parts of the mind than it does for normal sleepers.”

Sleep Paralysis is when you wake up before entering REM sleep.