Darkly Familiar

Dear Diary,

I got a nice shock today. Not a “I Finally Joined the Wonderbolts” shock or anything, but still a pretty good one. Wanna guess what it was? Twilight wants to help me go faster. Can you believe it? I still sort of don’t to be honest.

I really can’t believe just how big of an egghead she was before she met me and the rest of the girls. I bet Pinkie Pie would say that about her too. Weirdly, I actually haven’t seen Pinks recently. I wonder where she went…

Anyway, back to the main point of all this. Twilight says she can start using spells on me tomorrow. She said she already had the perfect ones in mind. She looked really pumped when she said that too. I can’t wait! Since I’m the best Pegasus in all of Equestria, and she’s the best Unicorn in all of Equestria, we obviously can’t fail when we work together!

Stay Awesome.

-Rainbow

***

Rainbow zoomed over near immediately as Twilight entered the into the field where she and Rainbow would find out which spells would help increase Rainbow’s already astounding flying speed, a beaming smile on her face. Rainbow thought she saw Twilight grimace for no apparent reason as she got closer to her, but less than second later, the grimace was gone and Rainbow convinced herself that it must have just been a trick of the light.

“Hey Twi! I’m glad you came. No books though? That’s a little different for you.” Rainbow giggled as she saw Twilight smile at her comment about the lack of books, strangely appearing to grimace again.

“I stayed up all night memorizing a half dozen spells just for today. If I try to mess with your abilities too much too fast, it could prove detrimental to both of us.” Twilight explained as she situated herself into a comfortable area to cast spell on Rainbow as well as observe their effects.

“That’s a lot closer to the normal Twilight I know. You know I still find it a little weird you volunteered to help me in the first place. You never seemed as fully interested in my dreams as I am. But then again, I doubt anypony can be as into my dreams as I am!” Rainbow smiled and snickered as she teased Twilight, while Twilight donned and then hid a scowl.

“You won’t be able to fool them all! They’ll stop you even if I can’t!” A raspy whisper echoed through Twilight’s ears.

Twilight shook her head rapidly back and forth for a moment to hide the dark green flare of her eyes.

“I’d save your strength Other. Otherwise, you won’t be able to save Rainbow either.” Twilight mentally taunted the ever smaller portion of her consciousness that still contained the Original Twilight.

“You okay Twilight? Parasprite in your ear or something?” Rainbow quizzically asked Twilight as she returned her stopped her shaking and returned her head to its normal resting place and her eyes to their ‘normal’ colour.

“Just shaking off some old fatigue Rainbow. Let’s get started shall we?” Twilight twisted the subject towards something that would take Rainbow’s entire focus.

Rainbow nodded and then squeed at the prospect of finally started and took off to the center of the field. Twilight fully settled herself into place and set about mentally reciting the first of the 6 spells she had prepared for today. Twilight’s horn ignited as she finally focused her magic towards Rainbow Dash.

Each spell was indeed designed to help Rainbow Dash fly faster, but each spell had negative consequences so dangerous attached to them that Celestia had hidden them all away in a single spell book and trusted only Twilight to keep them safe at Golden Oaks. The more energy Twilight put behind each spell, the larger the effects of each spell grew, both positive and negative. Plus, if Twilight stealthily left a portion of the chosen spell attached to Rainbow after their sessions ended, the effects would multiply even faster and unnoticeably.

Twilight first tried a spell that would lower the overall weight of Rainbow’s bones and muscles, which had the adverse effect of making bones far more brittle and easy to break. As it turned out though, Rainbow already possessed too light a form to be affected enough by the spell, even if it were cast at maximum strength daily.

Twilight then tried a spell that would lighten the feeling of gravity for Rainbow, which could also lead to a pony having a false sense of security when taking off or landing. Rainbow had long ago learned to skim above the ground for a bit before landing though, so another spell was deemed useless to Twilight.

The third spell involved redirecting energy in Rainbow’s body more towards flying, which could lead to torn muscles or a heart attack if left unchecked. Rainbow produced so much extra and unnecessary energy though. This meant Twilight could never direct enough energy away from where she wanted for as long as she needed.

As Rainbow became more invigorated by the spells being unable to make her better than she already was, Twilight became equally irritated by their lack of ‘help’. Once Twilight readied and used her fourth spell though, her irritation immediately vanished.

The fourth spell allowed Twilight to charge Rainbow with electricity to allow her to move more easily through the air, with the adverse effect of having no limit to how much electricity could be added to the Pegasus in question. For the moment, Rainbow had no more electricity flowing through her than the average sock. As Twilight gently increased the amount of energy behind the spell though, Rainbow’s fur and mane began to move and react to the increase in electricity.

As Rainbow took to the air and demonstrated the positive effects of the spell, Twilight equally observed the negative. Twilight saw that Rainbow’s body reacted to the spell as though there was far less electricity in and around her than there actually was. Rainbow said that she could even feel the sensation of a Sonic Rainboom easier like this.

As Rainbow returned to the ground and Twilight asked more about how she felt after using the spell, Twilight became nearly ecstatic. Rainbow told Twilight that the mild aura of electricity around her, and the feeling of it within her became unnoticeable as she flew faster and more involved. Twilight gave Rainbow a celebratory hug after hearing this, hiding her first genuine smile of the day.

***

Dear Diary,

Twilight really did it! She clocked me in yesterday at over twice as fast as my previous record, which was already pretty impressive! My wing power’s gone up to 23.8 too! That spell of hers really did the trick. Plus, I always feel so awake and charged now. Maybe Twilight’s been giving me an adrenaline boosting spell too. Ha!

It sure has been odd around town lately though. AJ’s getting ready for Cider Season, so I don’t get to see her much right now. I haven’t seen Pinkie in forever either, and it sounds like nopony else has either. The Cakes don’t say anything about her anymore, which is really weird.

From the look of things, it seems like Rarity’s been oddly absent too. There’s a closed sign up at the Boutique, but nopony knows why or where the mare in charge went. I wanted to ask Sweetie Bell about it, but I guess she’s been off on extra Crusades with AB and Scoots or something. Whatever.

In other news, Tank’s been avoiding me lately. I don’t know why. I haven’t been forgetting to feed him or anything. He just doesn’t wanna come near me anymore. Maybe I’ll go ask Fluttershy for help tomorrow.

For now, off to another flying session with Twi. If I can just get my wings open that is. They’ve been sticking to me occasionally. Twi says it’s because I’ve been flying so hard, but I dunno. It never happened before. Ah well.

Stay awesome.

-Rainbow

***

“Keep it up Rainbow!” Twilight shouted up at her friend as Rainbow heaved herself through the air, the clouds seemingly intentionally moving out of her way.

Rainbow’s movements were still strong, but they were heavy with some invisible force. Since Rainbow focused entirely in front of her for the moment, she didn’t notice the odd blue arcs that occasionally flew off of her wings as she beat them through the air.

Down below, Twilight beamed. One of her eyes appeared to have a minor tick to it, but otherwise she was the perfect ideal of happy. As Rainbow landed out of breath a distance away, Twilight charged her horn with magic and trotted forward, the electricity Rainbow exuded now only a danger to herself and not to Twilight.

“I’m slowing down Twi… Maybe I’ve been pushing myself a bit too much… Think you can give me an extra jolt?” Rainbow quietly asked Twilight, hard heavy breaths between her words.

Twilight put on a consoling face and charged Rainbow with more than twice the amount of electricity she currently had. Rainbow immediately perked up and took off into the air again. Twilight smiled up after her, knowing she had only mere moments to wait now.

Today was a scheduled storm for Ponyville, and the sky reflected that. Dark clouds hung above everything, even Rainbow as she flew about. As Twilight watched Rainbow accelerate within their chosen practice space above the Everfree Forrest, which also appeared to be in the mood for a storm, and sensed that Rainbow was about to attempt a Sonic Rainboom, she snickered as she flared her horn black.

As Twilight intensified the spell with her dark magic, what could only be described as a lightning bolt burst out across both of Rainbow’s wings, instantly crippling her. Rainbow plummeted straight down into the Everfree. As Twilight heard the immense thump of Rainbow slamming into solid earth, she slowly trotted towards the crash site, as the rain at last began to fall down.

Rainbow had lost consciousness immediately upon hitting the ground, and as she came back to her senses moments later, she felt an immense pain and stinging coming from her wings. Turning her head as much as she dared, she saw the charred remains of her wings and let tears join the raindrops that also ran down her face.

“Guess your dreams end here eh Rainbow Dash?” Twilight called down to the now crippled Pegasus from directly above her current position in the crater, a maniacal smile plastered across her face.

“Twi… Please… My wings are gone… I think lightning hit me… I can’t feel 3 of my legs… You gotta take me to the Hospital…” Rainbow heaved, lifting her one still usable hoof lightly towards Twilight, doubling over in pain a moment later as she tweaked her wings and her back legs again.

“Sorry Rainbow, but I can’t do that. If I took you there, the Doctors might find out what really happened. And I’ve come too far for that now.” Twilight smiled jokingly consolingly down at Rainbow, as realization spread over the mare’s face.

“You…. You did this…” Rainbow felt fear boil up inside her as she finally understood why Twilight had wanted to help her with a spell.

“Goodybe Rainbow. You really were loyal to me, right to the end. Loyalty is important in a friendship like ours.” Twilight stepped back and began to trot away from Rainbow’s broken form, her horn flaring black as she did.

Rainbow tried to pull herself up and out of the crater to warn the town and the other girls, but as she tried to climb out, the edge of the crater raised itself higher and out of her hooves reach. As Rainbow continued to try and free herself from the crater, Twilight continued to deepen it by mixing her magic into each drop of rain that fell on and around Rainbow.

A few seconds of struggling later, Rainbow’s last unbroken leg gave out and she collapsed flat on her back as her grave continued to dig itself around her. As the sky turned completely black above her, Rainbow screamed before she was completely buried alive, Twilight’s aura finally fading as she crushed Rainbow underneath all the mud and dirt that surrounded her.

Twilight galloped out of the Everfree in the complete opposite direction, tears flowing off of her face along with the raindrops.