"Gah!" Rainbow Dash shot up from the dead of sleep, cold sweat trickling down her brow. Her eyes ran around the mostly empty room around her as her heart still thumped in her chest. A crack of sunlight spilled from between the curtains, drawing a golden line across the drab, alien room. Featureless plaster walls painted a dull blue, a hobbled together dresser, and sickening pale yellow drapes with muted lime-green lines forming a repeating square pattern—the same motif of the comforter resting on her lap. This wasn’t her home.

Suddenly the door creaked open, Dash’s eyes bolting to the abyss now staring back at her from the other side of the doorway. "W-what?" She asked the emptiness.

Her answer came from a pony—Fluttershy—stepping inside. "Oh, dear, Rainbow Dash."

Dash stared blankly at Fluttershy for a moment  Her friend’s usually bright coat was nearly drained of its color much like the dreary room around her. 

"Are you alright? I heard you scream." Fluttershy stepped to the side of the bed, placing a hoof on Dash’s leg still under the sheets.

Dash took an uneven breath, exhaling when her heart finally slowed in her chest. "I’m fine." She looked around at the muted room once more. After the shock faded, it came back to her in waves. This [i]was[/i] her home—her [/i]new[/i] home. "I just had a bad dream’s all."

"That sounds awful," Fluttershy said with a sweet voice, like a mother to her foal. "Whatever was it about?"

Dash rubbed the back of her head. "I don’t really wanna talk about it."

"Well, it can’t hurt you now." Fluttershy sat down, patting Dash’s leg from atop the covers.

As her gaze fell down to the comforter and Fluttershy’s hoof, Dash forced a laugh. "You’re right. It’s just a dumb dream."

Fluttershy nodded, a wide smile spreading across her face.

"I dreamt everything was wrong." She moved her gaze to meet Fluttershy’s. "One by one everypony abandoned me. I was left all alone all while trying to get out of a room I was trapped in to save everypony—" Dash cut herself off. Her heart thumped like a drum in her chest once more. 

"That’s silly, Rainbow Dash. You don’t have to worry about being alone here."

"Yeah…" Dash stared deep into Fluttershy’s dull, unblinking eyes with that wide grin still stapled on her face. She patted Fluttershy’s hoof with her own. 

"I heard somepony had a bad dream?" A voice called from the dark beyond the door. Both Fluttershy and Dash turned to see Starlight Glimmer step inside the doorway.

Dash chuckled. “Yeah.”

“And what kind of dream was it, Rainbow?” Starlight asked with a pleasant smile ever-present on her lips.

“A silly one,” Dash said with another short chuckle. “Right, Fluttershy?” When she turned to Fluttershy she saw the mare was staring blankly at Starlight, her unsettling grin still on her face, almost like invisible strings tugged the ends of her mouth up and back.

“Oh, no. I am [i]very[/i] interested in your dream.” Starlight tilted her head to the side, her smile now sending a slight chill up Dash’s spine.

Dash’s smile sagged. “Something about saving some friends from—” she pinched her eyes “—a town…” 

"That just won’t do,” Starlight replied with a sickeningly chipper tune to her voice. “Such a horrible dream—what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help you get rid of that little nuisance."

The unicorn’s horn ignited with a soft purple glow that only seemed to drain the rest of the color from the room, filling the void in with its own hue. As she stepped closer, Dash’s whole head went numb and a high-pitched tone filled her ears.

"Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?" Starlight asked, and Fluttershy hopped to her hooves.

On Fluttershy’s haunch two horizontal black bars stood out against her fur. "Of course, Starlight Glimmer. We must help a friend." Her eyes locked back onto Dash as her grin grew wider.

Dash fell back onto the bed, the noise now making her sick to her stomach. As Starlight came closer, it grew louder. "S-stop," she pleaded.

"In our town—" Starlight looked from Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash as she moved to the bedside "—In our town," she sang softly to herself in a sugary-sweet voice. "We work as a team. You can't have a nightmare if you never dream."

As consciousness left, the light of Starlight’s horn was the last thing she saw.