Ooookay, so maybe I shouldn’t have played chicken with a tornado after all. Just hope everypony else is okay…. Rainbow Dash tried to move, but her body just wouldn’t listen, like her mind was awake, but the rest of her was still sleeping.
Come *on! I’ve gotta make sure the rest of the squad is all right! She focused hard, and managed to open her eyes… not that it helped. She could feel that they were open, and dreadfully dry, but she still couldn’t see anything! Oh horseapples,* she swore, trying to swallow but finding it hard to make her throat work. Had she gone blind? Why couldn’t she **move? She started to panic at the thought that the crash might have paralyzed her, not noticing that her breathing and heartbeat remained perfectly steady despite her racing mind.
Of course, that was little surprise. They’d been perfectly steady for the entire week since Rainbow Dash had flown into the tornado, trying to break the weather patterns that threatened to destroy all of Ponyville. Perfectly steady, and perfectly still.
I have to move! I have to make sure everypony’s all right, I have to go, have to find my friends, havetohelpthemhavetomovehavetomovehavetomove!
Through a supreme act of willpower, Rainbow Dash managed to lift one of her hooves, only to feel it strike against the top of the wooden casket she’d been buried in.
There was a sobering moment as the final moments of Rainbow Dash’s life flashed before her eyes. She’d known there was a chance she could be killed when she’d flown into the twister, but the fact that she’d just managed to move proved that she wasn’t really dead, didn’t it?
They buried me alive!
With that horrifying thought, Rainbow pulled all her hooves up close to her body, and struck out at the top of the casket with supernatural strength. The wood splintered, and then cracked beneath the weight of hundreds of pounds of damp soil above it. Rainbow was entombed again, this time without even the few inches to move that she’d had inside the casket itself.
But that wasn’t about to stop Rainbow Dash.
Over what felt like an eternity, Rainbow forced her limbs to move. She began to wriggle about in the soil, feeling earthworms and other, less easily identified creatures crawling against her as she fought for freedom. The truth of her situation seemed to sink in as she realized that she should have suffocated hours before, and the light within Rainbow’s dead eyes seemed to flicker, and she saw the faces of her friends before her.
Applejack, whose farm Rainbow had died trying to protect from the Everfree’s uncontrollable weather. Fluttershy, whose home and animal friends would have been the next to be devoured by the primal destructive force. Rarity, who’d turned the basement of the Boutique into a makeshift shelter for everypony in town who needed it, without the least concern for the fortune in materials and product she stood to lose if the twister struck the upper levels. Twilight, who still needed to be found after her mysterious disappearance years before. Scootaloo, who’d been trying so hard to hide the tears as she watched her idol and “big sister” fly off to an almost certain doom. And Pinkie Pie….
”Pinkie, you’ve gotta let me go! The whole town’s in danger!”
“But what if you get hurt? What if you get –“ It broke Dash’s heart to see Pinkie so distraught over the thought of losing another friend. Twilight’s leaving without anything more than a note had almost killed her, and losing Dash permanently probably would.
But the whole village could be stripped to the dirt if Rainbow didn’t do anything. She had to go… even if it killed her to do it. And she knew just what she had to say to get Pinkie to let her.
“It’s not gonna happen, Pinkie! C’mon, I’m Rainbow Dash! You think I’m gonna get a little wind get the better of me? Now let go… you’ve got to put together the party for when I get back, right?”
“P-party?”
“Yeah! C’mon, I’m gonna go out there, whup that tornado’s butt, and I’m gonna be expecting the biggest, best congratulations party you’ve ever thrown for when I get done with it!”
“P-promise?”
“Pinkie promise!” Dash had said, making the motions with the biggest, fakest, most sincere grin she could manage.
“O-okay, Dashie… but remember, *nopony** breaks a Pinkie Promise!”*
Nopony. Not Applejack, not Twilight, and certainly not Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty! She never let her friends down, never left them hanging, and she wasn’t about to break her promise!
Not even if she had to buck the Pale Pony himself in the jaw to keep it.
The light in Rainbow’s eyes flared up, brighter than ever, and somewhere in a far off cave, the Element of Loyalty blazed with mystical light, the red lightning bolt almost on fire with its inner power.
Twilight turned from her notes, watching the display in fascination. This had never happened before. One of the elements, activating by itself?
What’s more, the stone blazed for days on end, while the alicorn watching it took copious notes. Never before had it poured out so much raw magical power, this could be a breakthrough in her research, this could hold the answer, if only she knew what had caused it!
Finally, the light dimmed, a black aura forming around the red for a matter of seconds before both dissipated, leaving behind the Element of Loyalty, intact… but far darker, as though it had been held to a source of heat so intense that the ruby stone inside of it had been charred several shades darker. Twilight continued to stare at the stone, cocking her head. It seemed familiar somehow… but where had she seen that sort of magical residue before?
This warranted more research… and perhaps some experimentation.
Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, a sky-blue hoof punctured the soil above Rainbow’s grave, knocking over a vase of flowers left there by her mourners. Rainbow crawled out of the hole slowly, wrenching herself free of the earth.
That’s more like it! She thought, taking in a deep, empty breath through sheer habit. She looked around her; she’d been buried in Ponyville Cemetery, with a massive statute marking the place. Her cutie mark, carved in granite, in a clearing of the cemetery that would clearly have space for another… oh… four or five similar graves.
It was nighttime now, but she could see well enough to read the inscription.
Here lies Rainbow Dash
Element of Loyalty
Savior of Equestria
The Truest Friend a Pony could Have
Rainbow shot a cocky grin at the granite monument. The truest friend indeed. She was about to show everypony just how true a friend she really was!
After all, she had a party to get to.
Sluggishly, Rainbow’s shambling corpse turned from the monument, shattered wings hanging limply at her sides as she began to make her way slowly towards Sugar Cube Corner. One of her hind legs dragged behind her, the bones inside broken during her struggle to escape. Her blue-hued hide was caked with dirt, where it hadn't been eaten away by the worms trying to get at what was waiting for them within. A few of her ribs showed through the holes, making her true state clear to any unfortunate enough to see her crawling off through the night.
But none could deny that they were witnessing a pony who was loyal to – and beyond – the end.
