Dreams of Loyalty

by Professor Coruptus

Chapter 3

Dreams of Loyalty Chapter 3

In which Twilight takes inventory, and Dash makes a decision.

As Pinkie Pie and Applejack opened to the door to the library proper holding their freshly brewed tea, they found a familiar but none the less confusing scene. Spike was standing at attention with a ridiculously long scroll and quill while Twilight paced back and forth with her eyes closed as her number one assistant read off another title from the list.

“A Fillydelphian Werepony in Trottingham?”

“Mmmm, keep it. I suppose it is something of a classic, even if it isn’t for a family audience.”
“Much Ado About Ponies?”

“Keep it, and everything else written by Hoofspeare.”

“Parties and Ci-“

“Wha’ in tarnation are you two doin’?” Applejack interrupted as she set down the still steaming teakettle.

“Oh, hi girls,” Twilight greeted them cheerfully. “Spike and I are taking inventory of what books we have in the fiction section here so we can decide which ones to keep and which to send back to the Canterlot library. Is there anything in particular you two want us to keep or send for?”

The blond earth pony rolled her eyes.

“Oh I don’ know. Got any books on curn’ rainbow maned weather ponies of cripplin’ nigh’mares?”

If Twilight’s eyes could have swollen any bigger they would have popped out of her head.

“Oh my gosh I completely forgot about Rainbow Dash! Oh Celestia, how could I do that? I can’t believe I completely forgot my own friend and started taking inventory of some silly fiction books. Spike! Why didn’t you do something?”

“Settle down, Sugar Cube,” the farm pony interupted, stepping in to save the startled and confused baby dragon from the (misplaced?) wrath of his employer/caretaker. “Here, why don’ cha drink some ah’ this an’ sit down.”

The librarian nodded and shamefully took a seat at the table along with the cup of tea, while her assistant sighed in relief and began rolling up his ten foot long inventory.

“So what should we do? Should we tell Rarity and Fluttershy about this?” Pinkie Pie asked as she began shoveling several spoonfuls of sugar into her empty cup.

“Ah reckon we ought’a. They’re prob’ly gonna find out eventually, an’ Fluttershy migh’ have some clue how to help the poor filly, seein’ as she’s known her the longest an’ bein’ a pegasus herself an’ all.”

“What about Rarity?” the pink pony queried.

“Ah don’ know what help she migh’ be specific like, but five heads ‘er better than four. Hehe, think we all learned that from that there Hydra, remember?”

Twilight groaned into her cup.

“Don’t remind me.”

After finishing her drink the unicorn turned to look at the only male life form in the room.

“Spike, take a letter please.”

Spike, who had just finished putting away his quill and other writing apparel, gave a defeated sigh and began collecting it all again.

“Who to?” He asked wearily.

“To Mr. Dewy Decimal, head librarian of the Royal Canterlot Library.”

“Mr. DeeDee?” Spike asked in confusion. Pinkie choked a little on her sugar with tea which suppressed a giggle. “But we haven’t finished the inventory yet?”

“Just do it, Spike.”

Grumbling, the dragon fished out a length of parchment and scratched out the header.

“Dear Mr. Decimal,

Please assemble together the best research material available regarding dreams immediately. Particularly those volumes related to nightmares and their eradication. This is to be given the highest priority, as I myself will be arriving at the royal library shortly and will require them for a most urgent matter. Also include any spell books that may be of relevance.

With all haste,

Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yer leavin’ now?” Applejack asked aghast as the unicorn gave her signature.

“The sooner I leave the sooner I’ll be back with some way to help Rainbow Dash. The Royal Canterlot Library is one of the most comprehensive libraries in Equestria, next to the Manehatten Public Library of course. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something to help her. …and if all else fails I’ll ask Princess Celestia. I’m sure she wouldn’t refuse to help, especially with Dash being an Element of Harmony.”

“Ya really think we need involve the Princess in this?”

Twilight nodded solemnly.

“Call it a hunch but something doesn’t feel right about this. I can’t quite put my hoof on it, but there was something about Dash’s that didn’t seem right.”

“Ya mean aside from all the cryin’ an’ huggin’ an her acting like she was never gonna see us again?”

“Yes.” Twilight answered seriously. Applejack quirked an eyebrow.

“Well, if yer sure… wha’ should we all do here?”

“Keep an eye on Dash and help her any way you can. I get the feeling that having friends around might be the best thing for her right now. I’ll have to take Spike with me to help operate the balloon so there’ll be no way to contact me quickly if something comes up. I suppose you’re in charge until I get back, Applejack.”

The blond pony shook her head. “Ah know Ah’m usually second in command on our little adventures, but Ah reckon we better put the expert in charge of this here sit’chuation.” She gestured at Pinkie Pie.

The party pony looked up in surprise, somehow sporting a sugary mustache.

“Me?”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Twilight agreed as her assistant sent off the letter by fireline. “Pinkie, think you’re up for the job?”

The candy floss maned pony snapped to attention and saluted the purple mare.

“Sir, yes Sir! …I mean Ma’am.” She added sheepishly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pain was the only thing Rainbow Dash felt. Pain aching in her limbs, pain sharply stabbing into the back of her skull, and worst of all, the pain burrowing deeper and deeper into her heart like a tiny, ice cold parasprite.

Her head felt foggy and light as she tried to focus her eyes, wincing as she felt the angry bump where the pain in her head throbbed worst. Some random thought that floated through her swimming head said that she must have cracked her skull on the toilet behind her when she was thrashing around in her sleep. Perhaps that was why she had woken up before the worst of the dream had hit. Although it was still getting worse every time.

As she tried to stand up, another random thought floated through her mind and said that she might have a concussion, whatever that was. Her brain just felt too fuzzy to remember.

Walking drunkenly back into her bedroom, she noticed something pink out of the corner of her eye. The cold pain in her heart deadened a bit and for the briefest of moments she felt warmth and relief rise up in its place, but it was only her blanket, and the feeling of warmth died horribly as the cold pain returned.

As she stumbled out of her room, she vaguely tasted something unpleasant in her mouth. Smacking her lips in an attempt to get rid of the horrible taste, yet another thought echoed up from the back of her brain.

She was… hungry? Yes, she was almost certain that was what that feeling in her stomach meant. She couldn’t remember eating that day, of course she couldn’t remember much about what she had done that day, or any day for that matter, but eating sounded like a good idea so she decided to go with it.

Eating… that meant she had to go somewhere right? Yes, she had to go and get something. Food; that was it. She had to go and get food. But where was the food? She just couldn’t seem to remember. Her head felt so numb except for the small knife twisting in the back of her skull. She tried giving her head a little shake to clear her mind but immediately regretted it when the pain roared at her for making such sudden movements.

As the pain settled back into a growl, a word floated through the haze: kitchen. That was it. Food was in the kitchen, and the kitchen was on the bottom floor of her house. Good, at least she could remember things now. She must be getting better.

As she neared the edge of her indoor balcony however, a new problem presented itself. Getting to the bottom floor meant flying, or at the very least a controlled glide, and flying was bad. It had to be bad, that’s what she did in her dream, fly, and anything that had to do with that dream was bad without a doubt. So flying was out of the question.

Maybe, she wondered, maybe if she never flew again she wouldn’t have that dream again? Yeah, that made sense all right, she agreed with herself as she sat down with a plop. Was it just her or was the house spinning even worse now?

If she never flew again, they would be no reason to have that dream. That’s it. Just don’t fly. Ever. For the rest of her life she would sit on her balcony and not fly. She smiled to herself. Yeah, that would work, she could do that.

Only why was it suddenly getting so dark? Was it night time? Was she sitting or lying down, she couldn’t tell. Oh, it sounded like there was a parade outside, or at least an awful lot of excited ponies. They seemed to be coming closer, maybe they would be friends?

As that last word floated through her mind, the image of a smiling pink and magenta maned earth pony suddenly popped into her mind’s eye and in a moment of clarity she realized what was happening. She tried to struggle, tried to fight it off, but as the image of her beloved friend faded away and the waiting room of the Cloudiseum washed into view, all she could do was weakly whisper a few words.

“No… Pinkie … Run.”

And she was lost again.

A few miles away, outside of the local library, two earth ponies, one yellow, the other bubblegum pink, waved good bye to a purple hot air balloon and its passengers. Almost as soon as the balloon had disappeared from sight, the pink pony shot up like a rocket and then flew back in a heap as if she had just been kicked hard in the stomach.

“Pinkie Pie!” Applejack exclaimed as she jumped back in alarm. “What in Equestria?”

The other mare lay still on the ground for a few moments before slowly lifting herself up onto her hooves. Something was wrong. Her hair and tail were completely pin straight and her coat was dark and muted, as if she were standing under a heavily overcast cloud. Then she spoke. Her voice was low and emotionless, but there was an icy edge to it that chilled the apple farmer to her very soul.

“Applejack, go get Fluttershy and Rarity and meet me at Rainbow’s house as quickly as you can. I’ll get nurse Red Heart and meet you there.”

“P-Pinkie Pie?”

The pony turned to face Applejack and for a moment the farm pony’s breathe caught in her throat. Two steely blue eyes look at her back at her, eyes that did not belong to the excitable Pinkie Pie that she knew. The mischievous sparkle was gone and in its place was a dull fire that burned powerfully and, for the moment at least, controlled.

“No time for questions, something’s happened to Rainbow Dash and she needs our help.”

Applejack nodded, her mouth agape at her friend’s sudden transformation. Then she turned and ran as fast as her hooves could carry her to the Carousel Boutique. The other pony bolted for the hospital as soon as the famer began to move. As the now completely magenta mare sped through the town, zigzagging between surprised townsponies going about their day, two thoughts roared in her mind.

First, something had, and was possibly still hurting her Rainbow Dash. And second, whatever that thing was, it was going to pay.

Pinkamena style.

Comments

[Hirn123]

Shits going down!

[Breathing Fire]

Oh dear god.
Shit hit the fan.

[ugugg93]

[Talow]

when Pinkamena gets involved, it's either A: Shit's getting real or B: she's gone off the deep end. in this case, it's A. and when Pinkamena gets involved... well, the target is gonna have a LOT of hell to pay. sucks to be who or whatever's targetted.

[MLPDavester]

DAMN, things are getting crazy now. I hope for the sake of whatever's causing Dash's nightmares that it doesn't get involved with Pinkie, cause it will get bucked up if it does...that is if something/someone is making Dash have nightmares.

[TimbukTurnip]

I must say I'm rather enjoying this so far.
I'm especially liking the little bits of Rainbow Pie - the smile Pinkie gets when talking about getting her cutie mark and how she thinks of something hurting her Rainbow Dash.
Looking forward to more.

Why so serious?

[Whatsup818]

So very good. I'm on edge with anticipation! I can't wait to see more of this story

[Professor Coruptus]

145624
Glad you're enjoying it. The next chapter will be focusing on one of the other ships though, but don't worry there is still much more PinkieDash goodness to be had.

[IraqLobstah]

Oh GOD Pinkiemena Style?!

That can only mean one thing...

Cheers
~iraqlobstah

[Rainbow Dash the Awesome]

You know, this is reminding me of a fic I thought up but never got around to writing (it's in the list in my latest blog post along with other things I think would be good fics but don't have the patience to write myself). In my idea it's Twilight who has the horrible nightmares and tries to keep her fear to herself (not because she doesn't want to seem wimpy, but because she doesn't want her friends to worry), but when she tries to keep her nightmares bottled up her magic begins to act on its own, projecting the events from her nightmares into the real world as a way of relieving the stress within her own mind; the worst part is that she doesn't even know about that part because it only happens when she's actually having the nightmares (in other words, when she's asleep).

[Agent Brony]

this shit has just got srrs face on its srrs face

[StormHoof32]

oh snap! shit just got real!!!!

[PinkiePieCupCakeSlayer]

Bucking Pinkamena in the house!

Shit's about to go down.

[FaithDash]

169746
wow that's sounds really cool.