Rainbow Dash: Dreams and visions

Rainbow Dash: Dreams and visions
A tribute to: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic
Pony POV Series by alexwarlorn

Rainbow Dash found herself standing in the Canterlot garden. The dim moonlight made it difficult to see any details but what she could recognize was Scoots sitting there and crying. Without hesitation the older pegasus approached the filly. Soon Scootaloo noticed her and when she looked into her eyes Rainbow saw that they were red, the poor filly must have cried for so long.

"That jerk just abandoned me," Scootaloo sounded broken. "How could I have been so stupid to listen to Discord of all things? As soon as he got what he wanted he left me behind."

Rainbow Dash felt like someone had stabbed her with icicles.

"Why would you even listen to him? You knew what he did to your friends! The things he did to Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and all of us!" Rainbow erupted, unable to hold back her anger. She heard others come behind her but she didn't care about them.

"I didn't want to listen to him. But he could sound so nice and he promised me that I could stay with you and my friends. He told me that I wouldn't have to go to the orphanage."

"Orphanage?" the voice of Twilight whispered.

Rainbow Dash began to panic. Who knew about her missing parents? Who could have threatened to take Scoots away from her and force her into an orphanage? This didn't make any sense! By now Scootaloo's head hung even lower.

"I thought it was the right thing, that I would help my friends and that Discord was one of them. But the moment the seal broke…"

She trailed off and nodded back with her head. Rainbow took a closer look and froze, staring at a spot of color on Scootaloo's flank: A heart, but made of pink fire. Dash recognized it from the play she'd been a part of. It was the heart from Hearth's Warming Eve and the fire of friendship.

The heart on Scootaloo's flank was split in two by a jagged rupture. She got what she always wanted, her cutie mark and…  and it was a mark of shame. It would remind her for the rest of her life what she had done. What she had unleashed on Equestria. What would the others think about her? Would it even be possible to protect her from all those revenge seeking ponies? Fluttershy had to fight with so many hardships after Princess Gaia but she had at least always Fluttercruel with her.

Scootaloo said something but Rainbow wasn't able to listen. How could everything have gone so wrong? The filly seemed so happy with her and gave her the support she needed with her own problems. Finally Dash was able to see her surroundings and noticed that Princess Celestia and the others were standing behind her. She had so say something, anything to help Scoots.

"I know it looks horrible but at that day Discord got most ponies in Equestria, including you guys and me. Scoots here was one of the few that escaped his grasp. We all did nasty things under his games. She deserves a second chance!"

The Sun Goddess looked at the blue pegasus knowingly. If she was able to forgive her for her betrayal of her friends and for trying to kill Fluttershy to put her out of her misery as Nightmare Whipser then she might be able to forgive this misled filly as well. The Princess looked back at Scootaloo and nodded.

"I will consider that, I know how powerful Discord's deceptions can be. But we must know everything about how he escaped this time. While we try to get to the bottom of this, Twilight, you, your friends and the guards will continue the search."

Twilight nodded and within seconds she and her friends were gone, leaving the princess alone with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.

"What will happen next?" asked the orange pegasus.

"For now you'll come with me," Princess Celestia said while smiling warmly at the scared filly.

"But don't worry too much about it. You aren't the first pony Discord deceived. Everything will work out."

Scootaloo nodded and followed behind the princess, Rainbow was sure that it would work out in the end. The filly was merely misled like Discord tricked every single one of them. There was no way that she…

Now you see it as well. It is just like I told you, a clueless filly manipulated by the big bad Discord. They swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.

As Discord's voice echoed through her mind, Rainbow Dash stood still in shock. She tried to process what she just heard and failed. That must have been another deception of the Draconequus. Scootaloo would never do that. She would never betray her like this. She told her that she would stay at her side no matter what, even after they both had that horrible dream where she had killed the filly on Discord's order.

Scootaloo turned around and looked at the Element of Loyalty with the same lifeless eyes Discord had.

"You are such a self-centered nag. You still don't get it. YOU WERE THE ONE THAT WANTED TO SEND ME TO THE ORPHANAGE!"

Rainbow entire body shook in pain. She felt like she was stabbed with a thousand icicles. The Princess broke apart like cheap glass, the entire world dissolved into nothing and finally the frostily smiling filly vanished leaving her all alone in the darkness.

You made it all too easy little Rainbow. After you rejected my generous offer and rejoined the boring Harmony club, I had to find a replacement for you. And then you gave me little Scoots, I can't thank you enough. Now she is my little pony.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash found herself back in her bed. For a moment she was surprised that she didn't fall out of her bed or awaken with a scream like it happens in the stories she read. However her entire body was still shaking with cold. She felt nothing warm next to her, she didn't feel that Scootaloo was nearby. For a few seconds she wanted to panic, before she remembered that the filly was sleeping in her own room tonight.

Carefully the cyan pegasus slipped out of the bed and walked past Tank's terrarium. She didn't trip over any random piece of Wonderbolt merchandise. The bedroom and pretty much every room in her house surely got a lot cleaner and orderly after the filly began living here. When they weren't arguing about it both cleaned up the house.

As Tank slowly raised his head to see what was going on the pegasus had already left the room.

Slowly she approached Scoots room, only to find the filly on the ground next to her bed. Rainbow had to chuckle when she could still hear her snoring and the body of the older pegasus stopped shaking. Carefully she picked up the little one and placed her back into her bed. She was still asleep, still without a cutie mark and still the filly she knew. Silently Dash tucked her in and left the room.

She would never do something like that. Scootaloo was the loyalist filly in the world. If there was anypony who could also carry the Element of Loyalty then it was her. The Pegasus remembered what Pinkie Pie told them several times about these strange other worlds. That was before her very long nap and most of it sounded like nonsense like that world where they were all stallions but after these dreams Rainbow wondered if there was more to it. Maybe there was one world were Scootaloo would make that choice but that wasn't this world.

Dash wondered why she had these strange dreams. First the one with her battle against an older Scootaloo and now this. Did they mean something or were they just a sign that Rainbow shouldn't volunteer herself for Sweetie Belle's cooking experiments any longer? Maybe she would ask Pinkie Pie about trying some of those meals, if it would be dangerous her Pinkie Sense would surely go off.

But the thought of losing Scootaloo to child services didn't leave her. The entire time Rainbow was afraid of losing the filly if she should find her parents. It didn't stop her from trying to find them of course. How could she completely forget about the other ways this could end? One pony putting the pieces together and acting with the best of intentions would be enough. Somepony just needed to contact the officials and then they would come and take her away. Why did the version of herself contact the orphanage? Maybe she also had good intentions and thought she was doing the right thing.

Back in her room she noticed Tank still staring into the air. It took him a few seconds to react to her and he started to smile one of his slow smiles.

"Tank, tomorrow we will start Operation Moving Target. Is that clear?"

The pet tortoise nodded and saluted his owner, both of course very slowly.

Eventually Rainbow found herself falling asleep again. Then she heard an annoying sound and half asleep charged at the source. Instead it moved aside and caused her to crash into a wall. That did hurt a lot less than it sounded like since the walls were all made of clouds. It was still early and Celestia hadn't raised the sun yet.  

"Huh? Wait? What?"

Finally she was completely awake and saw Tank hovering next to her side with her alarm clock in his feet. She had to laugh, even after all these years she would just attack the buzzer and fall back asleep. The pegasus had missed so many appointments that way. But Tank was (with his propeller) fast enough to avoid her sleepy charge. Rainbow really needed to thank Fluttercruel for that idea, even if she wondered if she was serious when she suggested that. And Tank was durable enough to withstand anything less than a Sonic Rainboom.

"Thanks Tank! I know I can always count on you."

While her cooking abilities had become better that wasn't saying much. Rainbow still had a very limited range of eatable meals but Scoots always enjoyed her omelet. And the filly was able to (extremely politely) tell her when one meal didn't turn out the way it should have. Like the cake that started to move on its own.

But for now Dash concentrated on what she could do and prepared breakfast for them and the filly. Meanwhile Tank was calmly hovering around the kitchen. Soon everything was done and looked thankfully very eatable. And right on cue Scoots entered the kitchen.

She noticed the meal and with a sudden speed normally reserved for Pinkie Pie the filly sat on her stool and began to eat. Soon Rainbow and Tank joined her as well. If there was one thing the filly could already do faster than her mentor, it was eating. But soon she began to stare at the older pegasus. Was her mane that messy?

"Did you have a nightmare?"

The orange filly looked at her idol with her big purple eyes. They were nothing like Discord's. Dash wondered if she really was that easy to read or if the filly simply knew her that well by this point. It would be the easiest choice to tell her that nightmare was about anything else but her betrayal. A dream about being baked into a cupcake would be a nice excuse. And even Applejack won't mind if she would lessen the traumatising horror of what she had dreamed about.

"Yes, I had a terrible nightmare about losing you to child services. The worst thing was that in the dream I was the one who told them."

"Dash, you would never…"

The older pegasus pulled her closer to herself and hugged her and.

"That is why I am sharing the nightmare with you. I just wanted you to know that I would never do something like that."

The sun was raised just on time and light filled the room. Tank looked at the two pegasi who were now his new family. In the beaming light only their silhouettes could be seen and the two appeared so similar.

"I didn't think for a minute that you would do something like that to hurt me. Even if… even if you would send me to an orphanage you would have a good reason. I don't care what the others say."

Rainbow had something in her eye. This pure absolute faith the filly had in her made her feel so strong, almost like Daring Do. The pegasus felt like she could face impossible odds and win. The orange filly looked at her for a moment and slowly moved away from her, rushed outside the room and came back with a box in her mouth.

"When Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and I slapped the sealing on Twilight's horn after she acted funny the mayor gave us some bits as a reward for saving Ponyville. I brought us something from my share."

Scootaloo pulled out two tickets for the upcoming anniversary Wonderbolts show.

"Scoots, you… you have actually left me speechless."

Scootaloo had to laugh. Then both pegasi looked at each other and hugged. Tank floated around them slowly.

"Does this mean I don't have to clean my room?"

"Nope!"

"Dang."

"Today we clean it together."

No nightmare could break them apart.