Chapters The Dead of Night: The Final Showdown
"Dash?" Night Rain said, looking into one of the windows of Rainbow Dash's house. "Dash, you in there?"
It had been one month since Rainbow Dash returned alone from looking for Pinkie Pie with Twilight and Fluttershy, and she hadn't said anything about what had happened while she was gone. She wouldn't even say anything to anypony, not even Night Rain. All she did as soon as she got back was fly straight to her cloud house, and lock herself inside.
"Dash you gotta come out, everypony's worried about you." Night Rain was also very worried about her friend, but with how Rainbow acted since her return to Ponyville, who wasn't? "If you won't come out, then I'm coming in."
With that, Night Rain went to the front door, and went to open it. She tried the handle, and was surprised that it turned when she put her hoof on it. Entering the house, Night Rain was greeted by a dark hallway and smashed furniture.
"Dash?" she called into the darkness.
As if in response, the door at the very end of the hallway slowly creaked open, and out stepped Rainbow Dash. Her fur was dirty and her mane was a mess, her eyes were hollow and it looked as if she hadn't slept for weeks.
"Dash, you don't look so good, are you alright?" Night Rain asked, a worried and confused look on her face.
Rainbow Dash just stumbled over to Night Rain, and almost tripped a couple of times on the broken pieces of furniture, but once she got to Night Rain, she grabbed her in a tight hug and started crying into her shoulder. Night Rain was surprised by this, but comforted her broken friend. She was clearly in bad shape and needed someone to help her, and that's exactly what Night Rain intended to do.
"It's ok Dash," Night Rain whispered into Rainbow's ear, "it's ok, I'm here, let it out."
And let it out she did, Rainbow and Night Rain sat there, holding each other for a good two hours before Night Rain finally got Rainbow Dash to her feet.
"Feeling better?" Night Rain asked, still worried.
"A little..." Rainbow Dash replied sheepishly.
"Think you can come with me to get some lunch?"
"Yeah, just give me a sec, I need to get cleaned up."
"That's the Dash I know."
As Rainbow Dash went to her washroom to clean her coat and mane, Night Rain looked for a piece of furniture that wasn't smashed to sit on while she waited. After a few seconds, she found a chair that was in pretty good shape, which she sat in patiently while Rainbow cleaned herself up. Half an hour later, Rainbow Dash came out of the washroom, looking better than she had in weeks. Her coat was no longer dirty and her mane was brushed. Night Rain was happy to see her friend looking the way she had remembered.
"Ready to go?" Night Rain asked, getting up from the chair.
"Yep, let's get going." Rainbow replied, Tank hovering next to her.
With that, they went to the sandwich shop downtown, avoiding the library, which Spike was now living in alone, and Sugarcube Corner, which had been taken over by some relatives of the Cakes, so as to avoid any memories that might lead Rainbow back into the deep depression she had been in for the past month. once they arrived, the shopkeeper was surprised to see Rainbow after her month in solitary confinement, but was happy to see her. In fact, everypony that Night Rain and Rainbow Dash had encountered on their way to the shop had said something like; "It's good to see you Rainbow", or "I hope you're feeling better", and Rainbow was grateful for the compliments and whatnot the townsfolk had to offer.
While they were eating, Rainbow spoke up.
"Night Rain." she began.
"Yeah?"
"I need to finish this."
"Finish what?"
"The thing that I've been hiding from for the last month."
"What do you mean?"
"The alicorns that killed Pinkie, AJ, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity, I need to kill them, or at least their leader."
"What? Rainbow, no. I am not going to let you go into that forest again, at least not alone."
"And who said I was going alone? You're coming with me, and maybe Blade Cutter, I'm going to ask Spitfire if she will help too. I don't know who else though..."
"Maybe Vinyl?"
"The DJ?"
"I dunno... just a thought. She MAY be able to help us, what with her being the only unicorn I know I can trust."
"You don't trust anypony else?"
"You know me, I don't trust anyone unless they prove that I can."
"And how exactly did Vinyl prove that you can trust her?"
"Remember the incident a couple years back?"
"With the party that went out of control?"
"Yep."
"What about it?"
"Well after that mess got sorted out, I kinda got lost. Apparently she had too, and I was way too tired to think about flying, so she helped me get myself together and had a couple of her friends get me home. From then on I started to hang out with her more and we became pretty good friends."
"Sounds like you..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing. So, is there anyone else you know who might be able to help us?"
"I dunno..."
"Well, I want at least one other pony, but let's see about those we've already thought of before we figure out who the last spot goes to."
The Dead of Night: The Final Showdown
Rainbow Dash flew to the Wonderbolt Academy, eager to see if Spitfire would be willing to help her. It had been a while since dash had been to the academy, but all remained as she remembered it. She flew to Spitfire's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in." Spitfire called.
Rainbow Dash entered the office, and saw Spitfire sitting at her desk.
"Rainbow Dash? What a surprise. I thought you had quit on us."
"No, I'd never quit from something like this, but I do need to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"I am going back to the everfree to finish what started a year ago, and I'm gonna need some backup..."
"Let me guess, you want me to help you?"
"You got it."
"Well, I'm not one to turn down a challenge, so sure, I'll help you."
"You will?" Rainbow asked, getting excited.
"Yeah, just tell me when we leave and where we meet and I'll be there."
"Thanks, " Rainbow said as she turned to leave, "this means a lot to me, and I'm glad to have you aboard."
"On one condition." Spitfire said, stopping Rainbow Dash in her tracks. "As soon as this is over, you come back to the academy."
"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow replied happily.
With a final salute, Rainbow Dash headed back to Ponyville to see how Night Rain had fared in getting Blade Cutter and Vinyl.
Night Rain flew to Blade Cutter's house, and found the light blue earth pony doing her usual sword exercises in her back yard.
"Blade Cutter!" Night Rain hollered, swooping down over her friend and then landing in the yard.
"Hey Night Rain, what's up?"
"Oh nothing special, just got Dash to come out of hiding."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah I got Dash to come out of her house."
"Tha- that's awesome! Where is she now?"
"Should be at the Wonderbolt Academy now, she's got a lot on her mind."
"Such as...?"
"Well for starters, she wants to go back into the forest to kill the alicorns that murdered our friends."
"She wants to WHAT???"
"Yeah..."
"Well she's not going in there alone! I'm going with her."
"That's exactly what I said to her when she first told me, and it's actually why I'm here in the first place."
"Really?"
"Yeah, she knows that she won't be able to get rid of the alicorns alone, so she's gathering a group of friends to go with her."
"Well, count me in."
"Alright, now all we need is Vinyl."
"Why are we taking the DJ?"
"Trust me, we'll need her help."
"Whatever you say, Night Rain."
"Hey, don't think I don't know what I'm doing! Vinyl Scratch is one of the most awesome ponies I know, and she can handle herself pretty well in a fight."
"And how, exactly, do you know that?"
"Well one time, while me and Vinyl were leaving a party, we got jumped by this big, ugly bucker and a couple of his friends. There were four of them including him, and I managed to take out his three buddies and Vinyl somehow managed to knock him down. I still don't know how she did it, but he must've had at least two hundred pounds on us, and she still gave him the knockout."
"Remind me never to doubt who you pick for friends anymore."
The two friends arrived at Vinyl's house, and Night Rain knocked on the door. Within a minute, Octavia answered.
"Yes?" Octavia said, seeing the two mares outside her house.
"Hi Octavia, is Vinyl here?" Night Rain asked.
"One minute." Octavia left the door open as she went to retrieve Vinyl Scratch.
After a minute or two, Vinyl stuck her head out the door.
"Hey Night Rain! What's up?" She said.
"Nothing much, I just got Dash to come out of her house."
"That's great! So what can I do for you?"
"Well, you see, Rainbow wants to go back to the Everfree and kill the alicorns that murdered Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. And she wants help. We are already going." Night Rain gestured to Blade Cutter, who nodded her head. "And we need one or two more brave souls to come with us. You in?"
"That depends on when we're going, I have a few gigs that I have to get to on the weekend, but after that I should be free to go."
"Well, we'll probably be going within the next few days, it's all up to Dash. I'll let you know once I find out."
"Sounds good."
Night Rain and Vinyl knocked hooves, and Vinyl closed the door, and Night Rain and Blade Cutter went on their way.
"So," Blade began, "will we be needing anyone else?"
"I don't know, we'll have to ask Dash when she gets back." Night Rain replied. "But for now, we have everypony we need. I only hope that Spitfire was willing to help us..."
"Well, it looks like we're going to find out, look."
Night Rain followed Blade Cutter's gaze, only to see Rainbow Dash flying back to Ponyville. When Rainbow landed, Blade Cutter tackled her in the biggest bear hug ever. Rainbow was happy to see Blade Cutter also, and returned the hug.
"It's good to see you Dashie." Blade Cutter only called Rainbow by that when she knew that Dash had been through a lot.
"Good to see you too Blade." Rainbow said.
They separated, and then Night Rain joined in, making it a three-pony group hug, with Rainbow Dash at the center.
"So," Blade Cutter began as the trio finally broke the hug, "what's the plan Rainbow?"
"We leave in one week, I'm going to go tell Spitfire that tomorrow. Did Vinyl say that she'll help?" Rainbow said, turning to Night Rain.
"Yep." Night Rain said. "I'll tell her as soon as I can."
"Good, now if only we could find one other pony to come with us."
"Maybe Wither or Scrapper would be willing to help?" Blade Cutter said.
"Wither is out of town, and I don't trust Scrapper." Night Rain said.
"Nopony trusts Scrapper." Rainbow added.
"I don't know then..." Blade Cutter said, out of ideas.
"We'll figure it out tomorrow." Rainbow Dash said, tired. "It's been a long day, we should get some sleep."
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow guys." Blade Cutter said as she headed for home.
"Bye." Night Rain and Rainbow Dash said together.
"Well, I might as well go, see you tomorrow Dash." Night Rain said as she prepared to leave.
"No, Night Rain, come spend the night at my house." Rainbow pleaded.
"What's wrong?"
"The same thing that happened between my first escape and killing that first alicorn. I have these terrible nightmares, and I can't sleep. I need somepony with me, to calm me down when I wake up screaming."
"Alright. Lead the way."
The two flew to Rainbow Dash's house and entered, avoiding all the broken pieces a=of furniture as they made their way to Dash's bedroom. They got comfortable, and Rainbow Dash fell asleep. Once the first nightmares started, Night Rain was right there to comfort Rainbow Dash. She whispered soothingly into Dash's ear until she fell asleep again, only to be woken again after a few hours by the nightmares. No matter what though, Night Rain was not going to let her friend suffer through this alone.
The Dead of Night: The Final Showdown
Rainbow Dash, Night Rain, Blade Cutter, Vinyl Scratch and Spitfire walked to the everfree forest, ready to finish what started so long ago.
"I don't care who gets the blue one, but the purple one's mine." Dash said, anger starting to creep into her voice.
"You got it Dash." Night Rain said.
The five headed into the forest, and it wasn't long before they saw who they were after. The two remaining alicorns turned to face the five trespassers.
"So, you finally return." The dark purple alicorn said to Rainbow Dash. "And I see you've brought some friends. Not that they'll be able to save you."
"I don't care if I die today, but I'm not going down without a fight!" Dash shouted in anger.
"So be it, but I must remin you that we have magic, and you have nothing." The alicorn said.
"Wrong. You see, we did bring a unicorn with us, and she isn't just good at being a DJ, she knows a lot if combat spells along with a magic surpression spell. Which, she cast as soon as we saw you." Rainbow explained.
"Oh really?" the alicorn asked, unamused. "And just what makes you think I need magic to kill you?"
As the alicorn finished speaking, she lunged at Spitfire, grabbing her in a headlock. Then, she jumped back to her sister, who took spitfire from her.
"And now, we can negotiate." the leader alicorn said. "Leave now, and your friend survives, try anything, and she dies like the rest of your pitiful friends that I so beautifully killed already."
"And like I said, we're not leaving without a fight." Dash said back.
"So be it, sister!" the alicorn said. "Kill her."
The blue alicorn nodded, and held Spitfire as far away as her forelegs would let her, she then brought her horn level with Spitfire's heart, and plunged it deep into her chest. Spitfire tried to escape, but couldn't. As her blood slowly drained out of her, she managed to say one final thing to Rainbow Dash, who only watched in horror as her CO died.
"Rainbow Dash..." she began. "Don't... let them... get away with... this." Spitfire then went limp, and she slid off of the alicorn's horn, which was now covered in blood.
Rainbow heeded Spitfire's final words, and lunged straight at the purple alicorn. The alicorn saw this coming, and swatted Dash away like a foal would a spitball.
"You really think that you can kill me?" that alicorn asked, almost laughing. "You'll have to do better than that!"
She then grabbed Rainbow by the throat, and held her against a tree. Night Rain saw this, and ran straight at the alicorn, but her blue sister got in the way, and Night Rain crashed right into her.
"Not so fast." the alicorn said, pinning Night Rain to the ground. "Now we get to see how long it takes for you to scream."
The alicorn brought her front left hoof down on Night rain's face, hard. Night Rain felt the pain, but didn't react. She wasn't giving in to the menace that had caused her best friend to go almost completely insane.
"Go ahead, do it. I'm not afraid to die for my friend." Night Rain stared the blue alicorn in the eye as she said this.
"Okay then." The alicorn brought out a knife that she had been hiding under her wing, and was about to stab Nught Rain in the gut when Blade Cutter knocked her on her backside.
"Nopony does that to Night Rain!" Blade shouted at the blue alicorn, who was getting back onto her hooves.
"Well, aren't you a clever one." The alicorn said to Blade.
Blade Cutter grabbed the hilt of her sword between her teeth, and brought it to bear.
"I see you have a sword," the alicorn said as she dusted herself off. "Not like it'll make any difference."
While all this was going on, Rainbow Dash was still being held against the tree by the purple alicorn.
"Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" Rainbow said, staring the alicorn in the eye.
"Because that would ruin the fun of seeing your reaction as your friends die." The alicorn explained.
"Well you sister doesn't seem to be doing a very good job at killing them."
"Yeah, especially when you're too busy to remember the fifth trespasser." Said a voice from behind the alicorn.
She turned her head around, only to take a hoof to the face as Vinyl bucked hard.
"That's for Fluttershy," Vinyl hit her again, square in the face. "that's for Applejack, and Rarity, and Twilight, and Pinkie." she brought her hoof up high for the final strike. "And this is for Dash!" she slammed her hoof down on the alicorn's face, which was now badly bruised and swollen.
"Alright Dash." Vinyl said, turning to Rainbow Dash. "Have at her while I help Night Rain and Blade Cutter."
With that, Vinyl walked over to where the midnight blue alicorn, Blade Cutter, and Night Rain were fighting. The alicorn had Night Rain unconscious, and was now fighting with Blade Cutter one-on-one. Blade tried to stab the alicorn with her sword, but the alicorn was too quick, and dodged the attack with ease. She then grabbed Blade Cutter's sword right out of her mouth, pinned her against a tree, and proceeded to stab Blade multiple times in the belly. After stabbing the helpless earth pony ten times, the alicorn tossed her a few feet away. Blade Cutter landed in a heap, and lay there helplessly as the blood drained from her bleeding stomach. She just managed to catch a glimpse as Vinyl charged up a spell, and unleashed it at the blue alicorn, completely disintegrating her in a flash of white light. Blade Cutter blacked out from the blood loss, and died a few moments later.
The Dead of Night: The Final Showdown
Rainbow Dash watched as Blade Cutter died, and then the blue alicorn soon after, but most of her attention was focused on the dark purple alicorn in front of her.
"You're the last one." Rainbow said coolly as she looked the alicorn in the eyes. "Nopony left to help you."
"You're wrong..." the alicorn said weakly. "There will be others to take my place in this forest. Others who will continue killing anyone foolish enough to enter this place."
"I'd like to believe you, but you're not very convincing." Rainbow dragged the immobile alicorn to a nearby tree, and propped her up against it. "Any last words?" she asked, bringing her back legs up and taking aim at the alicorn's head.
"No."
"Good." Rainbow bucked with all her strength, and heard a satisfying crunch as her hooves made contact with the alicorn's skull, sending bits of brain, bone, and blood everywhere.
It was finally over. Rainbow felt a sense of relief as she turned to face Vinyl and Night Rain, who came to a few minutes ago. Rainbow Dash smiled at her friends, and they smiled back.
"You done good Rainbow..." Night Rain said, patting her friend on the shoulder. "It's over, it's finally over."
"Yeah, I wish that I could say the same for all of our friends though..." Rainbow looked longingly at Spitfire's corpse, then to Blade Cutter's.
"I know."
The trio headed home. There was no point in staying there, and they had to get the bodies back to Ponyville for a proper funeral.
Upon their return home, the three friends were greeted by the townsfolk who saw them coming. A couple of nurses took away Spitfire and Blade Cutter's corpses. When asked what had happened, Night Rain was the one to explain, she knew that Rainbow had had enough of those memories for a lifetime, and she didn't want her friend to need to recount it all. After that, things got pretty much back to normal. Rainbow Dash and Night Rain went back to clearing the skies, and Vinyl went back to being a professional DJ. Dash kept her word to Spitfire and returned to the Wonderbolt academy, and everything seemed fine. Though they would never forget what had happened to Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Spitfire and Blade Cutter, the three survivors could rest, knowing that nothing like that would happen, ever again.
Author's Note
The end...