Chapter 3

Rainbow Dash jolts back awake with a start, bolting up to her hooves on top of her bed. Her heart pounding in her chest, her head darts this way and that, as if looking for an unseen enemy, breathing heavily. It’s just ... My room. Just my room. Nothing is here. Rainbow Dash hisses at herself, irritated at her own reaction. So much for being a brave pony, here she is jumping at her own shadow just because she had a nightmare! “Who am I, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash mutters to herself sardonically.

Hopping off of her bed, she marches over to the window and looks outside. It is still dark, and she isn’t entirely sure what time it is, but with adrenaline coursing through her veins there isn’t any chance she is going back to bed. So instead, walking quietly, she slips out of her room and heads downstairs to the vacant living room. If she’s stuck awake already, she might as well get breakfast out of the way.

The fillies cooking skills are not exactly spectacular, but she is at least able to stick a load of pasta in hot water and sandwich it between two halves of a potato. Hopping up on the chair and trying to keep from making too much noise to not wake up her parents, Rainbow Dash thinks back to the nightmare from last night. It was not the kind of dream she normally had, even if she was stressed out about something. She remembers feeling unsure about herself when she first started flight camp, despite her parents encouragement, but hadn’t had any dream like the one from last night.

It just didn’t seem right. Weren’t dreams supposed to be something from her own subconscious? That dream certainly hadn’t felt like something her mind would come up with. What would it even mean? It wasn’t weird in the way that dreams normally were, either; No sudden scene changes, no inane tangents that didn’t go anywhere. It felt more like a message being delivered concisely to her.

Ha! Even if it is, I’m not going to be that easily cowed! Rainbow Dash tells herself, even though in her heart of hearts she does in fact feel a bit cowed.

By the time she has finished her starchy sandwich, Rainbow’s thoughts have moved on to the big decision ahead of her. Creepy dreams or not, she still has to make up her mind. Her parents wouldn’t stop her either way, she is pretty sure, which means that the decision is ultimately in her hooves.

A part of her feels humbled, that the monarch of Equestria had flown all the way out here just to see her. How could she turn down such an offer? Yet, another part- the spunky, rebellious part- feels almost angry. She had just made her dream, just proven she could do it, and here the princess came in telling her she should do something completely different!

That’s ridiculous. Even Rainbow Dash knew that. They have no idea what your dreams are, they’re the princess of all Equestria for heavens sake. You should feel honored they took the time to come all the way out here just for you.

Her thoughts continue circling that way until, before she knows it, the sun rises and her mother comes downstairs. “Honey? What are you doing up so early?” It is, thankfully, not a flight camp day, and normally Rainbow Dash would have been sleeping in late. The dark circles under the pegasus’ eyes give away that she had not gotten a full night of sleep.

“Oh, hey, mom.” Rainbow Dash shrugs. “Just felt like it, I guess.” No way I’m admitting I had a nightmare. Rainbow Dash can hear the warble in her own voice, but hopes it isn’t too recognizable to her mother.

Windy Whistles walks up by her side and sits down next to her, wrapping a wing around her daughter. “What’s going on, Dashie? I would have thought you’d be over the moon, but instead I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you so down. Do you want to talk about it?”

Rainbow Dash hops off the chair she was on and glances back at her mother, shaking her head furiously. The last thing she wants is a mushy heart-to-heart about her feelings, she would figure this out on her own just like everything. “I’m heading over to my friends.” Rainbow Dash announces, trotting towards the door.

“Don’t you want breakfast first?” Her mother calls after her, so Rainbow Dash glances back and shakes her head again. “I’m good. I already ate.”

Rainbow Dash strolls lackadaisically through Cloudsdale, the light from the morning sun still somewhat dim as it peaks over the horizon. Much of the land below is still cloaked in shadow, but the flying city is always first exposed to the sun. As Rainbow Dash reaches the edge of the particular cloud layer her house is on, she gently lifts up into the air. The cloud city is mostly calm, except...

Rainbow Dash shades her eyes with her hoof while looking up towards the upper levels, and in particular the Wonderbolts academy. As every day, the Wonderbolts are already out and about, barely visible against the brightening sky beyond, yet unmistakable as anypony else. After all, who else in cloudsdale would be doing a corkscrew dive at high speeds this early in the morning?

Rainbow Dash closes her eyes, hovering in place, and imagines herself up there with them, wearing the blue-and-yellow uniform and leading the aerobatics squad in flight. She knew she could do it, knew she could reach that. It’s so easy for her to imagine, she can practically see herself diving and soaring through the air with them.

But then, as Rainbow Dash opens her eyes again, she finds herself gazing the other direction. Far to the west, where Canterlot is just barely visible in the distance. She had seen the city from a distance many times of course, as Cloudsdale passed above it occasionally as part of its weather routine. But try as she might, she can’t imagine walking its streets, or soaring through its skies. She can’t imagine what it would be like to live there. It was an unknown world, beyond her experience; She’d never even touched the ground below her flying home before.