*** Chapter 7 ***

Applejack remained quiet as Rainbow Dash carried her along in the cool air of early dawn. The cowpony was still new to flying, but had mustered the courage to look down a few times, amazed at the sight once she got over her fear of falling. The sun hadn't risen yet, so she was unable to see details among the trees they sailed over, but the sheer vastness of forest told her that she had gotten much farther away from Ponyville than she had intended. Something suddenly clicked in her head.

“How did you manage to find me out here, Dashie?” she yelled over the wind, making the pegasus flinch unexpectedly. She slowed down gradually and extended her wings in a lazy glide, silencing the wind in her ears.

“I didn't just find you, I followed you when I heard you crying, is all.” she responded quietly, her eyes narrowing. Applejack only became more confused.

“But how did you know I was? How are you even here?” She felt guilty about not asking these questions before, and even more so for ruining a perfectly good morning with them. Still, she wanted to know why the pegasus had even shown up, let alone why.

“I... I don't know how to explain it, really. After Pinkie, I-” Rainbow Dash stopped speaking for a moment, her body shuddering. Applejack looked up at her, concerned.

“It's okay, sugarcube, I didn't mean nothin' by it. You don't have to talk about it if-”

“I want to talk about it, okay?” Dash said adamantly, almost yelling. “I need to get through this.

“I felt really weird after all that pain. Like, it hurt so, so badly, and then it just kinda got all warm and disappeared. I remember opening my eyes and I was in this huge, flat desert, with black sand and a completely white sky. The sun was there, but it was just as black as the sand. I flew around for who knows how long, and there was just... nothing. Nothing but sand and the wind. I could hear a voice telling me something, though. It came from just about every direction, like it was in my head or something. I don't remember what it was like, but it kept telling me 'go back.' I flew exactly where it told me to go, and after a while I found this really big stone gate.” Applejack nodded quietly as she listened, hoping that an understandable answer might come out of this.

“The voice told me to go through it, so I did. There was a big flash of colors, all the colors you can think of, and even a few I'd never seen before! Anyway, I covered my eyes after it got bright, and when I opened them, I suddenly saw you running through the rain, crying. And then, all I wanted to do was help you. I wish I could tell you how I got here, but...”

“It's alright, Rainbow Dash. We can figure it out together once we get home.”

“Applejack...” Dash started solemnly, her eyes going vacant for a moment. “Can we stop somewhere first?”

“Sure, I guess,” Applejack replied, startled. “Is there someone ya need to see?” Rainbow Dash nodded her head, remaining silent as the sun rose up over the small buildings of Ponyville.

******************************

“Rainbow Dash, what are we doing back here?”

Applejack ran frantically after the translucent pegasus flying towards Sugarcube Corner at a vigorous speed. It had been nearly 15 minutes since she had last spoken, and Applejack was now beyond worried. When they drew near the building, Dash dropped to the ground in front of Applejack and put out a hoof, stopping her.

“I need you to wait here until I come out and get you,” she said, suddenly smiling. “You'll know when.” The cyan mare flew up towards the roof and slowly drifted into it, leaving Applejack alone in front of the bakery. She looked around a few times, noticing just how alone she was in the town. Nopony was up yet, but she inwardly panicked as she realized that the rest of her family would probably be worried sick that she had been gone. She started pacing nervously as the minutes dragged by, and was startled by a noise inside the shop. She could clearly hear the sound of chairs being knocked around and tables being flipped over. Instinctively, she ran headlong into the front door, certain that if anypony had been asleep, the noise would have gotten them up first. She saw Pinkie Pie laying among chairs and tables strewn about as if there had been a bar fight. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at Applejack.

“I told you to wait until I called you, AJ,” she said, a look of annoyance across her face. The cowpony stared in disbelief at the pink mare, who stood up and began examining herself. Her voice didn't sound as perky as normal, and her eyes weren't the same color, either. When she had looked at Applejack, they bore a strange reddish hue, almost like...

“Rainbow... Dash?” she asked, cocking her head. Pinkie Pie nodded quickly, smirking.

“Yup. And Twilight said that the stuff in those comics wasn't possible! This is so cool!” she exclaimed, bouncing slightly in place.

“How... What did you do to her, Rainbow?”

Pinkie Pie shrugged her shoulders. “I just flew at her and thought of those movies where ghosts take over ponies' bodies, and I went right in.”

“Well, that's all nice and good, but what was all the ruckus for? You might've woken up the Cakes' or somethin'!”

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “They aren't here, silly. Do you hear babies crying, or anyone coming down the stairs?” Applejack stopped and listened for a moment, relieved at the lack of sound in the room. “Besides, she was the one putting up a fight.”

“But why did ya' even do it?” Applejack said, rubbing her temples, annoyed. “What are we doing here?”

“I told you, I need to show you something, but I didn't want anyone to catch us. Come on, AJ.” she said, leading the cowpony into the kitchen.

Applejack stared on at the pink mare in front of her as Rainbow Dash trotted up to a large shelf on the far wall of the kitchen and began pushing it aside, careful not to let the dishes and pans on it fall off. Behind the shelf was a rectangular outline, like somepony had cut it into the wall. Dash gestured for Applejack to approach it, and gave it a swift kick, making it swing inwards and reveal a narrow staircase lit my small lanterns. Every bit of Applejack's mind screamed for her to stop as she followed the pink mare down, silently contemplating just what was going on. She hated how all of this was happening so suddenly, how she had no idea what was going on, but everypony else knew just what to do-

“Applejack, are you alright? You don't look well.” The cowpony stopped moving and noticed Rainbow Dash looking at her concernedly through Pinkie's eyes.

“What makes you say that?” Applejack asked defensively, hoping that she hadn't said any of what she was thinking.

“You just got quiet for so long, I didn't know if you were okay. Sorry.” Rainbow Dash replied bitterly, turning back into the growing darkness. Soon, the staircase leveled off and turned into a small hallway ending in a thick, wooden door. As they approached the exit, Applejack felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she recognized it as the door she saw in the vision Mortal Coil had given her.

“Dash, what is it you want to show me?” Applejack said calmly, her hat covering her face as she stared at the floor.

“I need your help with something. Something important.” Rainbow Dash replied. She kept walking forward, leaving Applejack to sit in the middle of the hallway by herself. The cowpony flinched as she heard the familiar sound of the door creaking opened, and slowly looked up to see the pink mare waiting for her. Reluctantly, she pulled herself together and trotted through the doorway past Rainbow Dash. She looked around the room once more, recalling the stark concrete walls surrounding the table in the center. She walked up the steps and heard Pinkie's voice in her mind, shuddering with each step.

Are you ready, Dashie?

It's for making dinner, silly!

Hey! I was going to eat that! *smack*

She stopped and inspected the table, surprised that it was clean and showed no signs of that horrible night. She rubbed her hoof on it gently, letting the cold metal run underneath her coat as she fought to push the memory away. Suddenly, a loud *clang* rang out behind her, making her jump. She turned and saw Rainbow Dash carrying a large knife in her mouth, smiling as she joined Applejack on the pedestal.

“Applejack, this isn't going to be something easy to ask, “ the pink mare began. “I know you've gone through a lot recently, but I really need your help on this.” She set the knife onto the table before Applejack, her face now cold and serious.

“What is it, Dash?” Applejack asked, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.

“I need you to kill me, with that knife.”

Applejack's stomach did a double take as the last word left the pink mare's mouth. The shock of hearing Rainbow Dash say that, after all of this... she didn't think she could take much more. She opened her mouth to refuse, but Dash placed her hoof over the cowpony's mouth.

“Don't worry, I don't mean 'me' me. I mean Pinkie.” Applejack's eyes widened as the realization of Dash's plan to stop at Sugarcube Corner hit her. Dash lifed her hoof away from Applejack, who proceeded to pin her to the table in anger.

“What are you talking about, asking me to kill Pinkie Pie? What in Celestia's name were you thinking?”

Rainbow Dash looked up at the mare above her, her eyes glazed over.

“I... I thought you would understand, Applejack, I really did...” she said quietly, tears forming in the pink mare's eyes. “Don't you get it, though?”

“Get what?” Applejack demanded.

“She did this to me. To herself. She's nothing but a monster, but you're still defending her!?” Rainbow Dash's voice rose as she spoke and she furrowed her brow in desperate rage. “You saw it for yourself! Can you even IMAGINE what kind of pain she put me through? She deserves this! No, she deserves worse than this!”

Applejack went to take the knife away from Rainbow Dash, who knocked her to the edge of the pedestal and towered above her. In an instant, her anger dissolved into tears as she stared down at the confused cowpony.

“All I want is your help, Applejack. I don't want her to be able to hurt anypony else. There's something wrong with her...”

“Wrong... with Pinkie?”

Dash nodded her head. “When I went into her body, there was some creepy voice screaming at me. I didn't understand what it said, but it felt like she was something completely different.” The pink pony leaned her head down close to Applejack's, staring intently down at her.

“Please, Applejack.”

The cowpony shook her head once, closing her tear-filled eyes. Rainbow Dash's face went blank, and she turned around and stepped away after a few moments, allowing Applejack to get up off of the pedestal.

“Dash, I... I'm-” she began to apologize, just as a pink hoof came crashing into her snout. She reared back in surprise and fell from the pedestal, landing heavily on her back as the possessed mare roared down at her.

“I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME, APPLEJACK!” The words rang out in Applejack's ears, making her ignore the pain in her skull long enough to watch as Rainbow Dash took the large knife in her hooves. She cradled it gently, gazing at it longingly like a filly.

“I do love you, Rainbow Dash, but you don't have to do this!” Applejack called, raising her hoof up. “We can ask Twilight, or the Princess, or somepony!” Rainbow Dash silently moved her hooves and pointed the tip of the knife towards her pink chest.

“I'm sorry, AJ.”

Applejack felt her senses go numb as she watched the mare close her eyes and exhale deeply. She wanted to scream as the knife plunged into the pink mare's chest, but her throat closed tightly as she watched Rainbow Dash begin to fall from the pedestal. Almost hitting the ground, she suddenly stopped falling and was surrounded by a soft red aura, making Applejack gasp in surprise. The pink mare's body slowly floated to the ground as the knife slipped out of her scarlet-stained chest. She turned her head to see a set of red hooves on the other side of the room, leading up to a familiar unicorn, one Applejack had hoped to never see again.

Author's Note

Hope you all enjoyed, those of you still keeping up.
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