Chapter 6: The Filly and the Beasts
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In Canterlot, Rainbow Dash entered the dream realm for the second time in her life. She didn't notice anything different, which did not surprise her, but what she did not know was that a surprise awaited her regardless.
Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash stood on starlight, next to each other. In awe of the sight, Rainbow Dash took in the dream realm around her. Luna said nothing. The princess waited until Rainbow Dash finally spoke after minutes of silence.
“So, what happens tonight?” the pegasus asked.
Luna nodded. She turned around at her. “Tonight, you will visit your first dream, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash's mouth fell open. “Already?” she asked. “I thought you would wait longer before you let me into the mind of another pony.”
“There is no need to wait,” Luna said, matter of factly. “It is important to always move forward. The pony we visit would agree with this.”
“Okay.....” Rainbow Dash peered at the princess. “If you think I'm ready, then I'll trust you, I guess. So, whose dream is it?”
A mischievous flicker flashed up in Luna's eyes for the tiniest moment. The smirk she gave Rainbow Dash had something amused to it. “I have prepared something special for your lessons in dreamwalking. The pony we are going to visit has just fallen asleep and is ready to meet us.”
“How can you tell?” Rainbow Dash asked, feeling doubt over the claim that was just made. “If that pony only fell asleep now, how can they be ready?”
“Because I have talked to them. I visited their dream last night while you were asleep and arranged everything.” Luna smiled. “And because the pony we are going to meet is always ready.”
The answer did nothing to dissolve the cloud in Rainbow Dash's head. “Always ready, what does that mean?” Her thoughts circulated and she did not respond.
“Let's go.” Not acknowledging the silence, Luna turned around and trotted past Rainbow Dash, following the path of stars into the other direction. At a curve, she took flight. Rainbow Dash followed her, still silent and still pondering. They flew across the starry fields for a few seconds, then Luna's horn got clad into her magic aura. A rift of white light opened in front of them. Blinded, Rainbow Dash continued to fly with closed eyes. She regretted it a second later.
Having barely opened her eyes again, a wave of scorching-hot fire came shooting into her direction from below, in a breathtaking tempo. Rainbow Dash yelped in panic and flew upwards, bringing herself into safety.
“Up here!” Luna called, urgency in her voice. The night princess was hovering a few meters above her, surrounded by a thin sphere of milky, white light. Rainbow Dash hastily entered the sphere.
Inside, she turned around and looked down. Her eyes grew to the size of saucers and her mouth fell open again. “What the..... In what kind of dream did you bring me?!”
Below her, a horde of dragons was roaming. But these dragons were nothing like Rainbow Dash had ever seen before. Their massive, ocher bodies blocked out the view of everything else and they extended into long, snake-like necks with a tiny head at the end. Their eyes were deep red and radiated pure malice. It was like staring into a snake pit, except that it wasn't filled with actual snakes, but with monsters that were a cross between hydra and dragon.
While she beheld the sight and tried to comprehend it, Rainbow Dash suddenly noticed a streak of goldenrod light shooting out of the midst of the gathered monsters. Immediately, the beasts followed it with their heads and sent their fiery blazes after it. The light was too fast for them. It dodged the fire with ease and flew to the right. One of the monsters howled in pain as the fire of a comrade hit it and burnt its neck until it was black. The malignant expression in the dragon's eye went out like the light of a candle in a gust of wind. With a heavy thud, the burnt remains of the long neck crushed down on the ground, letting the earth shake. The streak flew higher, out of reach of the monsters, and stopped there. It disappeared and now a small pony could be seen hovering.
Rainbow Dash's eyes grew even bigger. The goldenrod coat and feathers, the mane and tail resembling prairie sand, the entire sight put her right back into her lesson from this morning. “Her?!” it burst from Rainbow Dash's mouth.
In the distance, Hyper Sonic turned her head and followed the surprised shout she had just heard. She waved at Luna and Rainbow Dash, a grin flashing over her face as her eyes graced the latter, then she dove down into the pit of beasts again. She landed on the head of one of them, right between the eyes. Having learned nothing from the demise of their comrade, the dragons focused on the filly and moved into her direction again. Hyper Sonic met the incoming heat with a fiery glance. Fire from her eyes. Her entire face was one of gleeful anticipation.
“Hyper Sonic is the first pony I should help with a nightmare?!” Rainbow Dash's head shot at Luna. Her eyes were still bulging and her mouth remained open after she asked the question.
“Indeed, as you can see.” Luna chuckled. “Although, I would not call it a 'nightmare'. This is a surprise for you, Rainbow Dash. I figured that one of your greatest admirers and fans will help make your first lessons easier.”
“Yes, but.....” Rainbow Dash failed to finish the sentence. It was unbelievable to her, the surprise taking full effect, but Luna's words made sense at the same time. Her mind slowly accustomed as the pieces fell into place. “The odd behavior, the creepy stares, her panicked escape in the school corridor..... it was all because of this?”
Luna wasn't aware of what had happened in Twilight's friendship school this morning, but her face showed understanding regardless. “Seems like Hyper Sonic had a hard time keeping this secret. And she had the same look on her face as you do now when I made her this offer last night.” Another chuckle left her mouth.
“Offer?” Rainbow Dash asked, her mind not fully processing yet.
“The offer to be of assistance to you. Hyper Sonic knows everything about your attempts to become Equestria's dreamwalker. I explained her that it would be easier for you if the first foal you visit in a dream is one who admires your skills and talents. Hyper Sonic was overjoyed about the offer of assisting you with something so important and she instantly agreed.” Luna cast her eyes over the filly who played catch with the monsters below. “Of course there are other fans of yours I could have approached for this. I am sure Scootaloo would not mind to help.” She gave Rainbow Dash a knowing glance. “And then there is Alula, a filly in Ponyville who is nothing but obsessed with you. But Hyper Sonic has something neither of them has. Of all your fans, she is the most fit to be your trainer.”
“My trainer? I thought you are the one training me.”
“I am.” Luna confirmed. “And I will assist you along the way. But there are things in dreams you can only learn by experiencing them.” She pointed out of the sphere with one hoof. “Look down. See what Hyper Sonic is doing.”
Rainbow Dash did. Her eyes followed the streak Hyper Sonic was creating while flying and dodging the monsters once more. “She is pretty fast,” Rainbow Dash commented. “Almost looks like me after I did a Sonic Rainboom.”
“Yes. I assume this is not Hyper Sonic's natural tempo when she is awake, but dreams make many things that one wishes for possible, be it consciously or unconsciously. Although, her flight tempo is not the reason why her dreams are so perfect to teach you.”
“But these weird dragons are?” Rainbow Dash took a guess.
“Yes,” Luna responded. “In a sense, they are. What you see here would be a horrible nightmare for most ponies. The dragons would be manifestations of things that chase them in the waking world; insecurities, fears or maybe even some very physical threats. Challenges and events they have to face, but scare them. It's these anxieties that can manifest in many thousand different forms inside their nightmares. But Hyper Sonic is a very different filly.” She looked at Rainbow Dash intensely. “Tell me, what is it that you see in Hyper Sonic's face?”
Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes. She still could see nothing but the flying and whizzing goldenrod streak that confused the monsters and seemed to make fun of them. Finally, it stopped again at a high altitude and Rainbow Dash's eyes seized the opportunity and zeroed in on Hyper Sonic's face. “She is..... smiling?” Rainbow Dash focused on her face until the filly continued her rapid flight. Smoke rose up to them as another dragon fell, burnt like the one before. “Yeah, it's a smile. And earlier she was grinning. Hyper Sonic enjoys that fight?”
“Correct.” Luna nodded and looked back at the spectacle. “We live in a world where it is necessary for children to be prepared. Monsters roam free and though my sister and I do our best to contain them in Tartarus before they can cause harm, this is not always possible. Tyrants reach for Equestria's magical properties on a regular basis and most of them don't spare citizens or civilians. It makes the children of this world tougher, they are taught to encounter such dangers from a young age. But Hyper Sonic still transcends them. What is a nightmare for any other foal, is an exciting and joyous dream for her.” A third dragon fell as Luna finished her sentence.
“So, Hyper Sonic is completely fearless?” The tone in Rainbow Dash's voice shifted.
“No. Not quite. Even this filly has her very own fears.” She squinted at Hyper Sonic who was cheering over her victories now. “But she faces dangers in a way that other foals don't. The average foal of Equestria has the knowledge and abilities needed to encounter the most common threats and monsters and uses their abilities very effectively until they are in a safe enough space again. But no foal would seek out dangers deliberately. Hyper Sonic, however, does.”
Rainbow Dash looked like her face had been splashed with a glass of cold water. “That's crazy.”
“Hyper Sonic dreams of adventure, of danger and of risks, both in daydreams and while she is asleep,” Luna continued, not commenting on Rainbow Dash's judgement. “It's the thrill of her life being in danger that drives her and not only does she dream about such situations, Hyper Sonic is seeking them out on purpose. I know that she sneaks into the Everfree Forest when she is sure that nopony will notice. She does this ever since she became a student of the friendship school.”
“And you don't stop her?” Rainbow Dash asked, turning her head at Luna incredulously.
“No.” Luna's expression did not falter. “Hyper Sonic has chosen her path in life and her destiny. I will not intervene with dreams and ambitions that shine as strongly as hers. But even though Hyper Sonic seeks out dangers in the waking world, her nightly dreams are also filled with them. This is why we are here tonight and why we'll be here in the coming nights, if you wish to continue.”
“Explain,” Rainbow Dash said.
Luna proceeded. “A pony's nightmare can be of grave danger, for the pony who has it and the dreamwalker who enters it. All nightmares are created by issues of the mind, the fears and anxieties a pony develops while being awake, and the manifestations in these nightmares often look very similar to what you can see below us. They aren't any less dangerous than what you can encounter in Equestria while being awake and both severe damage of the mind and phsyical injuries can be the result. Including death.” She let the last word echo inside the sphere.
A cold shiver crept down Rainbow Dash's spine. Her head lowered as she took in the information.
“Hyper Sonic endangers herself every night and on many days of her young life. I check her dreams a few times each night in case the situation outgrows her abilities.”
“And did it?” Rainbow Dash held her breath.
“Intervention has not been necessary, so far.” Luna smiled and gave her a glance. There was pride in her eyes. “Hyper Sonic is a special, young filly, Rainbow Dash. Her dreams, the things she meets in them that are nightmares for others, will be your training scenarios.”
Rainbow Dash was speechless. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish inside a water tank.
Luna observed the reaction with amusement. “You should go down and join the fight. Hyper Sonic does not need your help, but her dream will help you.”
Rainbow Dash suddenly looked insulted. “I don't need help from a filly,” she clarified.
“Then go down and prove it, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said, smirking. “I assure you that Hyper Sonic will feel honored to fight alongside you. Let's see who can defeat more of these dragons.” The ground was still overflowing with the monstrous beasts.
“That will be me,” Rainbow Dash shot back with all her confidence. “Better brace yourself, Hyper Sonic, it's Rainbow Dash Time!” She flew out of the magical sphere, accelerating fast as she made her way to the site of the battle. A giggle left Luna's lips as she followed Rainbow Dash with her eyes.
It took Rainbow Dash mere seconds to reach Hyper Sonic. Hovering in front of her, she addressed her with a smirky grin. “Hyper Sonic, huh? I thought you are just an average friendship student, but Luna says pretty exciting things about you. Care to prove her words?”
When she saw Rainbow Dash arriving, Hyper Sonic had worn a smile on her lips. Now her face took on the same fierce expression as her object of admiration. She came closer. “At any time!” her response came, loud and energetic and eager for this challenge.
“How about a race then?” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “You dreamt up an impressive amount of these monsters down there, but how many of them can you take out before you cry for air? Think you can beat more than I?”
A glow was behind the determination in Hyper Sonic's eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest, pumping excitement over this opportunity through all of her body. “It's on!” she shouted. “I can do just as much as you and more!”
“Then it's settled! You and I count our defeats and whoever took out more of these monsters wins!” Rainbow set the rules straight, then immediately flew to the right and headed for the first monster. “GO!” The shout sounded in her wake.
Hyper Sonic broke away to the left, not losing a second after the command to start had been given. One of the dragons was right in front of her, mouth opened wide and ready to spew. A ball of orange fire began to form at the back of its throat. Hyper Sonic hovered silently, hooves crossed in front of her chest, a grin on her lips. She observed the building fire, waiting for the right moment. A shout ringing into her ears, coming from somewhere on the battlefield, broke her concentration. “One!”
It got her moving. She zipped upwards. The fire that came a few seconds later hit nothing. She landed on one of the dragon's ears and turned around at another one that stood close. “Hey, you're big, fat and ugly, has anypony ever told you that?” she shouted at the other dragon. It turned its attention away from the rainbow-colored blur that flew in front of it and headed for Hyper Sonic.
“Yeah, that's right, good boy, come closer!” the filly continued mocking it. The fire did not just come from the dragon's mouth, it came from its eyes as well. It moved its head back, then spit at Hyper Sonic with full force, a loud, screeching scream of anger accompanying the attack. “That's all?” Hyper Sonic questioned. “You suck!” She waited for exactly one more second, then took flight again. The wave of heat engulfed her hindlegs, but she did not flinch from pain. “Come on, if I want to visit a sauna, I can find one that's so much better in Ponyville!” She laughed down at the monster.
The blaze hit the ear she just stood on. It ignited instantly and the fire quickly spread over the head of the dragon. The eyeballs of the dragon popped by the heat and with one last screech, it collapsed where it stood. Hyper Sonic watched with satisfaction. “ONE!” she let her rival know.
“Two here!” it came in response. “And now three!” The sound of two more bodies hitting the ground filled the air. Rainbow Dash was in her element.
But so was Hyper Sonic. She detracted her eyes from the corpse and zipped to the other monster. It looked at Hyper Sonic, wearing a dumbfounded expression, the realization that it had killed its own friend kicking in. A look that didn't last long. “Hey, Sucker #2!” Hyper yelled, then shot with full force into the monster's left eye. The dragon howled and began writhing in pain. But Hyper Sonic was not done yet. She brought distance between herself and the dragon, then flew with full speed and without mercy into the other eye. “Strike!” she shouted, feeling victorious already.
The dragon trashed its head around. It opened its eyelids and tried to spot the attacker, but it could only see black. Scared and with panic rising, the blind dragon spat fire while it kept trashing its head. Three of the other dragons were hit by it and they fell dead to the ground almost simultaneously. “Four!” Hyper Sonic shouted, then she whizzed away and aimed for the next opponent. She shouted insults into the monster's face, provoking it just like the others before. She flew a curve as the fire came and back at the blind dragon. The fire followed her. In the very last second, she pulled up, then watched from a secure height how the blind monster got relieved from its pain. “And you're out!” she commented the death of the monster. “Five!”
“Six!” Rainbow Dash countered, another body falling.
The race and the battle against the dragons continued as fiercely and mercilessly as it had begun. Hyper Sonic and Rainbow Dash one-upped each other, both in body counts and in creative ways of taking out their opponents. They burnt monsters, removed their sight and twisted or even broke their necks, by flying too fast for their necks to follow without snapping in the process. Their literal neckbreaking speeds were no match for the monsters with their massive and slow bodies.
Half an hour later, the battlefield had become a graveyard. It was littered with humongous corpses as one of the last dragons fell in front of Rainbow Dash, burnt bodies and lifeless, empty eyes everywhere. “Fifty-five!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “And I bet I won with that number!” she added, pumped up by the adrenaline that flooded her veins.
The same number left Hyper Sonic's lips as the very last monster went down, its head pointing into the opposite direction.
Rainbow Dash shot her head at the filly, gritting her teeth. “A tie?! Seriously?!”
Hyper Sonic flew into Rainbow Dash's direction with slow, steady wingflaps. She had her hooves crossed and was wearing a smug, triumphant expression. Rainbow Dash groaned, looking at the filly with fury in her eyes.
“I can do just as much as you,” the filly calmly repeated her words from earlier. Then her expression softened somewhat, with a portion of the smugness still remaining. “But, hey, at least I didn't beat you!” She stretched out a hoof.
Rainbow Dash glared at Hyper Sonic, her ego boiling. A snide remark was on her tongue, but then something in Hyper Sonic's eyes caught her attention and she started to feel more at ease. Her face changed. She bumped Hyper Sonic's hoof. “You have the same ambitions as I did at your age.”
Hyper Sonic's smugness disappeared fully and a broad, happy smile built up on her face as endorphines swarmed out in her body. Then she suddenly felt her hoof grabbed by the mare and pulled closer. Rainbow Dash put her in a headlock and started to torment her head with noogies. “But you still gotta learn that Rainbow Dash is always the best in everything, filly!” Rainbow Dash grinned down at her.
The smile did not vanish from Hyper Sonic's face, instead, it became even bigger and she started to laugh. Soon, Rainbow Dash fell into it.
Unnoticed by the two, Luna landed gracefully at their side. “I see that you gained more than experience in dreamwalking tonight, Rainbow Dash. This sure will help for the next part of your training tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?” Rainbow Dash asked, finally letting go of her victim. She draped her hoof across Hyper Sonic's neck and pulled the filly at her side. “What about right now? I'm sure that little champ and I can take more tonight!” Hyper Sonic confirmed with a grin that she saw eye to eye with Rainbow Dash on this.
“Unfortunately not,” Luna turned the two of them down. “The night is nearly over. Your battle against these monsters might have felt short, but time can be very twisted while dreaming. Inside a dream, many hours can pass over the course of just a few minutes and you can wake up from a dream of a few seconds length only to find out that it has become morning already. The laws of time you know don't apply to dreams.”
The two pegasi frowned at Luna, overwhelming disappointment building on their faces.
“It is a pity, I understand. But for tonight, this is all we can do. Hyper Sonic is going to wake up soon.” She turned her attention at the filly. “Your sister is already out and about, young pegasus. I am sure she awaits your awakening with eagerness.”
The strategy worked and Hyper Sonic's disappointment got blown away. She smiled again. “Yeah. I hope I'll wake up very soon then.” The sentence left her lips and Hyper Sonic wanted to turn around at Rainbow Dash to say goodbye with another hoofbump, as she suddenly disappeared. Rainbow Dash's hoof stayed in the empty air where the filly's neck was just a second ago. Hyper Sonic's dream had vanished with her. They were back in the dream realm.
“That was quick,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “How did she.....”
Luna looked at her secretively. “As I said, Hyper Sonic is a special, young filly. In more ways than one. In the coming night, you will find out everything, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash was burning to find out the meaning behind this new mystery right now. But the Princess of the Night gave her no answer on her nagging questions as they left the dream realm and returned to the waking world.
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Sure, why not? I'll try it.
Great chapter!
Is Twilight going to find out about Hyper’s abilities coming up?
Very nice! Your idea of her being almost fearless ties nicely with her Action in the Show.
And how you potrayed her in this chapter, she Looks like a Sister of scootaloo
10082226
Thank you! Let me know your thoughts once you took a look at it.
10082325
Maybe or maybe not. You have to wait and see what is going to happen. Although, Twilight will not be a focus in this story either way. This is primarily a story about Rainbow Dash, Luna, Hyper Sonic and, to some extent, Gooseberry.
Thank you for reading!
10082478
Yes, that and more. Hyper Sonic has caught my attention in Season 8 already and shortly after Season 9 started, I have closely analyzed her for this story and found a couple little, subtle implications in her appearances that allowed for the conclusion that she has such an energetic, badass and unique, danger-seeking personality. It is something I noticed about her quite some time ahead of the Season 9 Finale.
Scootaloo and Hyper Sonic are not related and, as far as we can tell from the show, not in any kind of relationship to each other. It is Hyper Sonic and Gooseberry who are the sisters.
I am fully convinced and aware that Scootaloo doesn't shy away from dangers, either, if there is a need to face them for the sake of her friends or even the whole of Equestria. But if Hyper Sonic were Scootaloo's sister, she would be the risky and reckless sister who jumps headfirst into any dangerous situation that offers itself to her, while Scootaloo is more level-headed than her and takes better care of herself and of getting out of a dangerous situation or crisis alive.
10083033
Of course. Keep up the good work!
As with Scoots, should have been more exaxt, I meant Hyper being fearless sort of is similar to Scootaloo
Sounds to me like Hyper Sonic might be a lucid dreamer on top of everything else.
Doing some digging, I assume Hyper Sonic is this foal here. If so, then Jim Miller has identified Hyper Sonic as a colt, not a filly. Not to say you have to follow what he says on this or that you have to go back and change anything, I just figured that'd interest you.
10083533
Yes and it's quite frankly nonsensical garbage. Big Jim Miller's word that day stands against nine seasons of hard canonical facts that cannot be refuted by pointing at a filly in the very finale of the show and claiming that she is actually a colt. It is a very random claim that comes completely out of nowhere and with no foundation to stand on.
With that in mind, I also kindly ask you to refer to Hyper Sonic as a filly when commenting about her role in the story here. The word of a show staffer is not stronger than something that is established since Season 1 and, for me, it's a matter of respect for Hyper Sonic to ensure that people refer to her gender in the correct way under a story in which she appears.
I am still clueless whether Big Jim was merely trolling the fandom with this statement or if he really fails to be on top of things about his own show like that. But regardless of that, this isn't something to discuss here. I want that the comments here stay relevant to the story and not become another battlefield where religious Big Jim followers vs. people who care about the canon facts battle each other. So, please keep your comments exclusively relevant to the story from now on.
If you want to discuss this, you can go back a couple pages in my blog and find an entry from October that talks about Big Jim's tweet.
That's an interesting conclusion to draw from this chapter and a very nice thought. What is it that makes you think she could be a lucid dreamer?
I also want to thank you for returning to "Dreamwalker Dash". The long hiatus has caused a lot of early commenters to jump off and I still hope to eventually get all of them back, so it's a pleasure to see you commenting on the story's plot again.
10083661
Well, first of all, if I knew it was going to touch such a nerve, I wouldn't have brought it up at all. I only brought it up because I thought it a little odd myself and because I like digging deep for all the details I can on canon characters when and where I can. And that was only because I caught on that you were pulling the character straight from the show from some of your comments--until then, I had just assumed Hyper was invented for the story, as I hadn't previously known there was an accepted name for this particular pony.
But as for how and why Jim came to this conclusion...it's actually pretty easy to explain. In reviewing Hyper's big speaking role in "The Ending of the End," the character is quite clearly played by a male actor in an intentionally male voice. As the show's staff often draw off their memories of the internal materials they saw for a particular episode during its development and not necessarily off the final episode itself (which is understandable, because they're inevitably going to see way more of that than the final episode itself simply because that's just how production works), it's easy to see how Jim made that assumption. The internal notes on the episode dictated the character as male (at least for that particular instance), so Jim was going off of that. As Hyper had only relatively minor non-speaking background roles previous to that episode, it's quite probable Jim was unaware Hyper had appeared in episodes before then.
Either way, more than likely, some lowly staffer in the office somewhere mixed up, assigning a male part to a character that would traditionally be female by the show's own logic. So I'd blame whoever that guy was.
Though admittedly, the only reason this is even a problem is because of those darn eyelashes (snout shape is less relevant when it comes to the foals). 
Anyway, like I said, wasn't saying you had to change anything by bringing this up, I just thought it amusing. For the purposes of the story, I'm more than happy to think of her as a she here, and will likely do so henceforth without even having to think about it.
10083722
Oh yeah, I forgot the lucid dreamer thing--got that from the fact that Hyper seems to be not only quite aware she's dreaming, she's also fairly in control of it. That's basically lucid dreaming in a nutshell. Besides, Luna was implying there might be something else special about her, and I thought that might be a good guess. Who better than to practice exploring dreams with than with a lucid dreamer?
10083727
Ponies usually realize that they are dreaming once Luna shows up in a dream of theirs. Which enables them to control their dreams then.
But there might be something that even Hyper Sonic herself isn't aware of yet. The next chapter will show if your hunch is right.