Chapter Four

The Nightmares

The beautifully gloomy night partially illuminated by Princess Luna's moon was breathtaking. The gigantic, shining pearl cast its magical rays upon a particular cluster of clouds hanging in the sky. This cluster was the home of the famed daredevil, Rainbow Dash. And on this night, she had a much cherished guest sleeping next to her.

The pegasus sleeping next to Dash was the lovable Scootaloo, and one could say that she was a resized and recolored version of the esteemed mare she revered so much. She was daring, she was fast, and she loved doing tricks in the air just as much as her honorary sister Rainbow Dash did.

The two slumbered next to each other, enveloped in a thick layer of blankets, and an even thicker layer of dreams.

The visions in the older mare's mind swirled into focus. She was galloping through a large field filled with a rainbow of swaying flowers in bloom.

She was then joined to the side by the special little filly that had become a large part in her life recently. The two looked at each other, keeping neck and neck on this hoof-race, when they both unfurled their wings and took to the golden sky, claiming it as theirs.

It was just the two of them, enjoying the beautiful shining sun, both doing their own aerial stunts in the sky while smashing through clouds, popping them, turning them into meager wisps. The cheers of their seven friends down on the ground were earth-shattering. Rainbow Dash felt as though she was floating in a sea of warm chocolate, and did not want it to end.

The two pegasi landed on the last cloud in the sky and claimed a moment to themselves. Dash engaged with her sister in a tickle fight, and relentlessly attacked soft orange belly.

Then, out of nowhere, the orange filly stopped giggling, smacked the blue hoof off, and got up in one motion with tears already streaking down her grief-stricken face. "I thought you liked me!" screamed Scootaloo, the noise of her cries piercing the veil of bliss that shrouded Dash.

"I trusted you!" cried Scootaloo. Dash couldn't make sense of what was happening.

"I never want to see you again!" the filly bitterly screeched. Dash lunged forward and attempted an embrace, but her target simply evaded and leapt off of the cloud. The heart-broken mare peered off the side, but couldn't see her. Her head shot back to her friends who only stared daggers at Dash.

She tried asking what was going on, but even she couldn't hear her own voice. She was completely mute, and could only watch as her friends disintegrated into dust one by one. Dash curled into a fetal position, sobbing from her overwhelming confusion.

The cloud underneath her burst, and she began to fall to the ground below. She did not try to use her wings. Dash, totally limp, let the air rush past her face, and watched as the ground grew faster and faster.

As she collided with the surface, Dash bolted upright in her bed, still foggy from her dream. She cradled herself, rocking back and forth, taking short, shaky breaths. She sat and stared blankly. The doorknob held her gaze for a few minutes, and she sat there, not moving a muscle.

Eventually she calmed down enough to regain control of her body, and looked down at her sister. Luckily, she was still fast asleep with a comforting smile on her face. Clouds fortunately didn't carry much energy around, so it wasn't surprising that Scootaloo remained in her dreams.

Dash slowly lay back down next to her sister and pulled her close. Her forelegs wrapped themselves around the filly's abdomen, and her wings followed suit. The mare wanted her sister to be as close to her heart as possible, never to leave again.

After lying there, feeling her own and her sister's heart beat pulse throughout their bodies, and the warm breaths upon her front, she finally was able to settle back to a shaky form of sleep.

She didn't dream this time, and was thankful for it. She didn't want to go through something like that again.

The clock on the wall tick-tocked as it counted the minutes going by. The large hand had done a full rotation since Dash woke up from her dream when out of nowhere, Scootaloo shot out of hers. She took short, sharp breaths like her sister did an hour before. Her head and eyes swiveled about, taking note of her surroundings. After remembering that she was having a sleep-over at her sister's house, she calmed down a bit; but only slightly.

Her close proximity to Dash woke her up. The mare trudged out of her half sleep, and sat up with her sister, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down.

"Scootaloo…Scootaloo, are you okay? What happened?" she asked. She could tell her sister had a bad dream, and hoped it wasn't as bad as hers.

Scootaloo only sat there, taking those familiar small, shaky breaths. After a few minutes of comforting, She finally calmed down enough to be able to let go of her distress.

Scootaloo looked up from her mindless stare and into her sister's deep cerise eyes. Dismally, she began to cry once more. She was able to speak now, and she tried explaining her reasons for her cries.

"Oh Rai-ainbow Dash-sh, I had the worst dream ever," she heaved out. She was hiccupping uncontrollably and was hardly able to stammer out her troubles. "It was r-really bad, I don't think I can t-tell you…"

"Scootaloo," started Dash, cupping her sister's face in her hooves. "We've been over this. If you have a problem, then I need to know what it is so I can fix it, okay? Now tell me about your dream"

Scootaloo hiccupped a few more times, and sniffled a bit before beginning.

"Well, it started out with us-s j-just lying in your bed, talking, a-and laughing. It was a lot of fun," said Scootaloo pausing for a minute to recall the horrific hallucinations. "Then you p-pulled me in close, and you w-wrapped your arms and your wings around me, and I was h-happy! W-We just lied there f-for a minute, and then…and then you just…just pushed me off the bed…"

At this point, Rainbow Dash was stunned still and silent. Listening to the story go from blissful to heart-rending made her feel as though nothing she had problems with mattered. She listened on. "Y-y-you got up a-and said 'come here'. I-I looked up and you were walking out of the room, and your smile was gone. I f-followed you and we walked out the front door, and then we were looking over the edge of your porch. You pointed down and said 'see that?' I asked what you were talking about and you said 'the ground, you see it?' I said yes and then…and then…I can't say it" said Scootaloo, looking at her sister's expression of disbelief.

"Scootaloo, please tell me," said Dash, snapping out of her trance. "I want to help you, so just tell me what happened"

"Okay…okay. So we were looking over the edge, and you said 'you see the ground'. I said yes and you…got up and told me 'you belong there'." Dash's ears perked at this. The nightmare was getting really bad, but it wouldn't help if she stopped her, so she just listened.

"Y-you said that I belong on the ground," resumed Scootaloo. "and then you…you just kicked me off the edge." The filly looked into the mare's eyes and saw the sheer disbelief that was present. "I-I was f-falling, and s-screaming, and crying, and I looked up at you and you were just…just watching me fall. I hit the ground, and then that was it."

Dash just sat there, her hoof on her sister's back, motionless. After Scootaloo sniffled and hiccupped some more, the older pony pulled her in close. Rocking her sister back and forth, Dash pulled away, cupping her sister's face in her hooves once more. She finally broke the relative silence.

"Scootaloo, I want you to know something," said Dash, her words shaky. "I will never, ever, ever do that, you hear me? Ever. That is about the worst thing I've ever heard, and I would never do that, okay?"

Dash didn't care at all if she was being "namby-pamby" or mushy or girly or anything of the sort. Her sister's sense of security was in shambles, and she was the only one with the means to fix it.

"I-I don't think you will, Rainbow Dash," said Scootaloo. "It was just scary to watch it happen." Rainbow Dash looked down, carefully choosing her words.

"Okay, I think I know why you had this dream." started Dash, looking back up. "Deep down, you don't trust me." Scootaloo gave her sister a puzzled look, and Dash continued. "You may think you know me, but you really don't. You know the public me, the big-headed show-pony with a bloated ego. You don't know the real me. The Rainbow Dash that comes out when ponies that are close to me are around. And you don't know what I am capable, or incapable of."

Dash thought for a second, trying to decide on whether her next move was a smart one or not. She eventually came to the conclusion that it was exactly what she needed to fix this problem.

"So you know how I'm going to help you trust me?" asked Dash. Her sister looked at her, answering not with her voice but with her eyes. "I'm going to tell you one of my secrets."

Scootaloo just looked on, wondering what kind of a secret warranted this strange behavior. Dash inhaled deeply. Similarly to how Scootaloo hadn't told her secret, Dash hadn't told anyone her own secret either.

"So I'm basically like your only family, right?" asked Dash. Scootaloo nodded. "Well, you're kinda my only family too."

Scootaloo's ears perked up and her eyes widened. What did she mean by that? "Wh-What do you mean I'm your only 'family'?"

"I…I don't have parents either," admitted Dash. Scootaloo could only stare on in disbelief. "I spent most of my life in an orphanage too, but what makes me different from you is that I knew my parents."

Scootaloo's eyes widened even more. She thought she had it bad with not knowing any of her family, but here was Rainbow Dash who remembers hers.

"And don't start to think that they died or something noble," Dash continued with a more serious tone. "I'm pretty sure they're still alive, and happy without me. My parents were cruel ponies. They never appreciated me, or my attempts at flying. They probably never even loved me at all. They were always judging me for not being an early flier like either of them."

Dash paused; this was getting difficult to get out. However, she pushed on. Her sister was tough with getting her secret out, so she needed to be tough as well.

"The only thing they did for me that was any bit compassionate in the beginning was to take me to a Wonderbolt Derby for my sixth birthday." Dash smiled weakly before she continued "You know I really thought that they were going to like me from then on, and be real parents. But no. As we were heading home, walking home, my dad asked me if I saw the Wonderbolts. I told him I did, and that they were awesome. Then he said something that's stayed with me forever." She took a deep breath before forming the worst sentence she'd ever had said to her. "'That's what flying looks like'."

Scootaloo's mouth hung agape. She hadn't known that Dash wasn't a very good flier, even at six years old. She suddenly felt a twinge of happiness stem from this moment. It felt as though they had grown even closer. Earlier, it really did feel as though Dash was being a big sister. But deep underneath the surface, it didn't really seem too sincere. Her behavior suggested to Scootaloo that Dash was just being nice to a wayward filly. But now, with her and Dash sitting on her bed, sharing their secrets, she felt like they really were connecting as family.

"The next day," Dash continued. "They dropped me off at the Manehattan Orphanage. I wondered why they took me to the surface for a while before I figured out that they did it so I couldn't come home. Once I figured out how to fly on my own, I realized that I didn't want to go home."

Now it was starting to hurt Dash on the inside. A single tear streaked down her cheek, and was promptly wiped away.

"Great, now I'm crying because of it," moaned Dash. She sighed deeply before admitting something to herself. "They're right, I am a…a worthless weakling"

Angered, Scootaloo stood up and hugged her sister around the neck. Dash slowly and lovingly returned it. It was Scootaloo's turn to be comforting.

"Rainbow Dash, you aren't worthless. I wouldn't call you my sister if you were worthless," said Scootaloo, using the same words her sister used a few hours earlier.

The older mare beamed with pride. They both could feel that their relationship had reached unbreakable levels. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo held their embrace for the next few seconds before pulling away. The two simultaneously lied back down, and Scootaloo shuffled up close into Dash's wings. They were soon off to peaceful dreams; their worries laid to rest.

Dash wasn't sure if she was ever going to speak of her dream, but she had a haunting feeling that it was going to come up somewhere in the near future.

Sorry to get all dark on you guys like that, but I needed a mood change. This story was only going to be small light problems that can be easily fixed by anyone. It takes someone close to disable that much tension.