After our dinner, Gilda paid and we exited the restaurant. I was thankful, since I was eager to plop into a nice, comfortable bed. Once outside, it was already night and the moon was out, illuminating all of Canterlot. She lifted into the air. All she needed to propel herself at least 20 feet was one powerful flap. She was amazing at flying. I flapped a few times, managing to keep a float long enough. Maybe that smoothie helped. Even if it was just a few sips.
 
I followed her up into the sky until I finally saw it: The Wonderbolts racetrack in the clouds. I felt my stomach drop and a smile desperately try to find my face. It was amazing. I was up close…and soon it would be my racing grounds as well. I flew up to her and she could already see my awe.
 
“Yeah, that’s it. That’s where you’ll be racing them for training.” she smirked, flying ahead.
 
We only flew a few more minutes before I saw a relatively large, house like structure nestled in the clouds. It was blue and a sign near it it said “Wonderbolts Quarters”
 
I landed on the cloud near the door of the building as Gilda used a key to open it. “This is it.” she said with a smile. “Aren’t you excited?”
 
I looked up at her and at the risk of being rude, didn’t respond. My eyes were about ready to close on themselves as tears swelled up behind them. I was ready to have my cry and was in no mood for a tour. Gilda didn’t like this reaction and leaned in close, startling me only a bit.
 
“You ungrateful…do you even know where you are?!” she cawed angrily in my face. I narrowed my eyes at her, a few stray tears making their way down my cheeks. It was too dark to notice though.
 
“I’m exhausted, Gilda. I want to sleep. Sorry.” I left it at that as I slowly walked into the main common room. It had a large couch and seven large bean bag chairs facing a giant big screen T.V. Hooked up were various game systems such as the x-box 360, Wii, and Playstation 3. It seemed they had a blu-ray and DVD player as well as a large cable box. They really had it made.
 
“This is where they hang out and relax.” she said, turning on the lights.
 
“Where are they?” I asked curiously, following Gilda as she showed me around this room.
 
“They’re sleeping. We follow a strict schedule here.” she said, not looking at me. She was inspecting the room, making sure it was clean I guess. I was still baffled by the fact that they had to be in bed by at least 9 pm. They were adults, weren’t they? But I wasn’t going to question it; this is what I wanted.
 
We walked down a hallway and into a large kitchen. It looked like an average kitchen only way bigger. There was a counter island in the middle made of marble and it had cupboards underneath. Around the kitchen was other cupboards that held silverware, plates, cups and in the middle was a sink with a window facing it. “This is the kitchen. You wont be in here much unless you want a snack. You can find those here.” she said in a flat voice, leading me to the large walk in-cupboard. My jaw dropped at the amount of food. All of it was healthy, too. But delicious. Too bad I couldn’t afford this food in Ponyville. I managed to let out a “Whoa.” I felt Gilda’s large body walk up next to mine, and immediately tensed up.
 
“You like it, Dash?” she asked in her typical voice now. I could see that sinister smile again out of the corner of my eye. “Help yourself whenever you’re hungry, but keep in mind that if you eat too much before practice it could aaalll come back up.” she warned. She began to walk off and I followed, assuming she’d continue the tour.
 
She showed me more, which is the basement filled with table games like Ping Pong, Fooseball, air hockey and another large T.V. Then was the main eating room upstairs again, which was a large table I’m assuming we’d eat our meals at. Finally, the quarters. Gilda put her talon up to her beak, signaling for me to be quiet. I nodded and followed.
 
It was down a long but wide hallway before I got to the end of it. My room was next to Spitfire’s at the end of the hallway. Gilda slowly opened my door and my jaw dropped. This was all mine…?
 
I walked in and looked around as Gilda turned on a light. I slowly trotted in. I had a queen sized bed with cloud comforters and a small screen T.V on my wall. I had a sliding glass door that lead outside to my balcony and when I walked outside I looked down at the ground…over hundreds of feet below. I managed to smile a small smile before going back over to Gilda. She pointed at a door and opened it. “There’s your bathroom. Comes with a shower slash bath…sink, toilet. All that.” she turned to make her leave before turning back at me. “Welcome aboard.” and she shut the door behind her.
 
I stood for a few moments; all emotions drained from my body. This was it…I had actually made it onto the Wonderbolts and tomorrow, I would meet them. I should be ecstatic. Instead I flew over to the bed and hugged my pillow, burying my face in it. That’s when the tears started.
 
I tried to control my sobs but couldn’t and continued to wail into the pillow. I slammed my hooves down on my bed roughly. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair! It’s not fair!” I sobbed.
 
“I was supposed to be sharing this with her but instead I’m sharing this alone!” I cried, hugging my pillow closely. It was already wet from the tears. “Fluttershy…” I sniffled. “Oh Fluttershy…where are you now…?” I looked out the window at the moon as the gentle breeze blew into my room, attempting to comfort me. All it did was remind me that I was alone in this big, beautiful room. I know I couldn’t take her but the thought of knowing I would have had her as my girl while I was gone would make this even greater. I continued to cry until I slipped into a deep sleep.
 
%%~
 
It was dark and I was in a forest. My wings weren’t working and as desperately as I wanted to escape the eerie winter looking forest, I could not. The trees were not like ordinary trees…they were bare and ugly. Even in the summer they looked almost dead and pale. I continued to run through the dark forest and I could hear a faint voice.
 
“….Rainbow Dash….”
 
 
My ears perked up and I stopped running, looking around. I knew that voice.
 
“Fluttershy?”
 
“…R-Rainbow Dash…”
 
I followed the sound of the voice, frantically sprinting. I couldn’t feel my legs and it felt like I had unlimited energy. Despite that, I would constantly trip and fall face first in the grass which seemed dusty as my face would get dirty. In the dream even, I could feel the dust cake my nostrils and eyes lids as I continued to run toward her voice. Closer and closer I could almost feel her presence in this thick immense forest. Finally I stopped and I saw her standing there at an almost weird entrance among the trees. An eerie blue light was shining behind her and she had the biggest smile on her face.
 
I ran up to her and threw my arms around her and she accepted, kissing my lips passionately. I kissed her roughly and held her even tighter before releasing. I could feel tears streaming down my face now as they washed off the dust.
 
“Fluttershy! Are you okay?” I asked. She smiled and nodded.
 
“Yes, Rainbow Dash…just waiting for my boyfriend.”
 
I heard glass break in my ears as it seemed like the ground was moving her farther away from me. I tried to walk but each step sent her a bit back, so I stood in place.
 
“…boyfriend…?” my heart sank and more glass breaking entered my ears. She nodded triumphantly.
 
“Yep!”
 
Then, from behind Fluttershy, a menacing looking Changeling slowly came up behind her. It grinned deviously and threw it’s Swiss Cheese arm around her, licking her mane disgustingly with his forged tongue. She continued to smile, but I could see in her expression it was a bit worried.
 
“His name is….” I couldn’t catch the name, more glass breaking in the background, and she began to fade as I moved farther and farther away, because by now I was sprinting to reach her but it only sent me farther away…
 
“Boyfriend?! What about me?!” I cried, trying to fly but my wings had shriveled up; no escape.
 
The changeling stood up now, hissing and roaring. “She is mine now!” it said in a rough, demonic sounding voice. It slowly stood itself up on Fluttershy and roared angrily at her as it’s tongue continued to graze her mane. By now she looked like she was in pain and I continued to run at her my legs began to throb uncontrollably. I had no choice but to stop and rest as I watched on in horror as the changeling practically molested her. She shut her eyes tightly, refusing to look at me.
 
The tears continued to fall and I tried to call her name. I tried to get her attention but failed. All I did was shout and scream her name, hoping by some miracle she’d hear me. But no such luck.
 
“Fluttershy….please!!!” finally words came out as she gave one last look at me. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could, the changeling came right up to my face and opened it’s mouth, ready to devour me. I threw my hooves over my face before it could attack and suddenly felt myself jolt awake.
 
I lay in the bed before sitting up and panting heavily. The moon shone perfectly through my window, symbolizing it was very early in the morning. My eyes were swollen and I could see my sheets were almost soaked with my sweat and my pillow soaked with tears. After recovering from the night terror I slowly put my hooves on my face and sighed into them. I fell back on my pillow and looked up at my ceiling fan as it spun around slowly, before forcing myself to go back to sleep. It would be a few hours before I could close my eyes without seeing that horrible Changeling practically eat Fluttershy.