Chapters Rainbow Dash looked over the chasm breathing in a load of fresh, untouched air. Just recently Scootaloo had come to her and excitedly told her that she could now fly. Of course she had to celebrate and what better place than Ghastly Gorge? A place known for adventure, a place known for thrills, a place known for -- Suddenly an orange blur zoomed past Rainbow's face. She immediately recognised it as Scootaloo.
"Hey squirt, you finally showed up!" Rainbow teased, a cocky grin on her face.
"Are you kidding I wouldn't miss it for the world!" exclaimed Scootaloo a bit too loudly. Scootaloo ran over towards Rainbow, panting, wearing the dopiest grin on her face despite having her hair plastered to her face with her own sweat. A battered scooter lay discarded in the mud a few meters away from the gorge's edge.
"Umm... Scootaloo can you come over here, near the edge, please and ughhh!" Rainbow paused for a moment thinking of something she could do to get Scootaloo near the edge. "And check for dangerous rocks! Yeah that's, it dangerous rocks!" Scootaloo eyed her idol curiously but then stopped when remembering that this was Rainbow Dash she was thinking about here, Rainbow-Bucking-Dash .
"Sure! But if I do that you have to promise to watch me fly. Pinkie Promise." Scootaloo finished with a serious glare that, if she was not a young filly, would make even manticores follow her order.
"Of course squirt! Do you really think that I wouldn't want to see you fly?" At this Scootaloo blushed slightly, her stern gaze failing.
"Really? Umm, I mean, then promise!" Scootaloo attempted to deadpan, even though it came out more like a young foal trying to keep calm on its first Christmas. Her antics did, however, have an effect on Rainbow, as she was trying, and failing, at keeping a calm, straight face.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye... Ow!" Rainbow for the most part managed to complete the actions needed in the promise, but when bringing her hoof to her eye, Scootaloo lunged and hugged Rainbow Dash, accidentally poking her hoof into her eye.
"Oh my Celestia! I'm so sorry Rainbow! I didn't mean to!"
"Scootaloo..."
"Please forgive me! It wasn't intentional! I didn't mean to..."
"Scootaloo!"
"What if I can't help you with your training! Oh Celestia! Please still let me help you!" By now, no longer was Scootaloo's hair plastered to her face with sweat but with her tears. "Please! Please! Oh Celestia, please let me help you!" If a random pony had chanced along and seen the display Scootaloo was putting on, it would immediately have sent her to the looney-bin: every square inch of her was completely covered in dirt and mud, she was screaming and pleading like a mother whose child just died, and she was practically emitting enough tears per second to completely fill a swimming pool.
"Oh for pete's sake Scootaloo, I'm fine already!" Though those words were intended to sooth and calm the crying filly, instead they hurt and even further scared the previously distraught Scootaloo, worsening her into something that even Screw-loose could not compete with. "Look Scoots" said Rainbow in a much calmer and more soothing tone. "It's OK. I'm fine. You're not going to be banished to the Everfree Forest or anything, and you're certainly not going to stop being my awesome helper! Just please calm down. No harm done." As soon as Scootaloo heard that calming tone she almost instantaneously stopped crying and once the words registered she was barely even sniffling.
"OK, sure. Are you sure that there isn't anything that I can help you with?"
"Well you could check the rocks, even though I'm not permanently damaged my vision's still a bit blurry."
"Sure!" squealed Scootaloo. Rainbow smiled. Even though it may have hurt, it would still be overall easier that Scootaloo thought that she couldn't see clearly. In actual fact she could see perfectly fine, but she couldn't let Scootaloo know that. This way is just so much easier.
Scootaloo was standing by the edge squinting into the rocky gorge below, clearly not understanding what she was meant to be looking for.
"Hey Rainbow Dash," she called,"what do the dangerous rocks look like?" Rainbow suddenly brightened as she realised that Scootaloo was practically begging for her to do it.
"How 'bout I just show you?" she called back. With a hop, skip and a jump she was there standing by her side. "So you see that rock over there?" Rainbow explained pointing to a rather large boulder that, now that it was pointed out to her, looked fairly dangerous. "That one is dangerous, and you see those few over there?" she continued, pointing to a cluster of smaller but more precarious rocks. "Those are extremely dangerous too." Rainbow went about pointing out the 'dangerous rocks' for roughly four minutes, never ceasing to find more. "You see, you have to either remove or avoid all the dangerous rocks for, if you fall in they could break your neck before you even can say 'Holy macaroni!'"
"Rainbow, how would I fall in?"
For an answer Rainbow merely chuckled, then turning she replied,"Oh Squirt you sound like a little filly again. It's not 'How do I fall in?' It's 'When do I fall in?'"
"What?"
"How."
"How?"
"When."
"When?"
"Shove!"
Suddenly Scootaloo felt a strong rush of air on her body, and when she opened her eyes she was falling.
Author's Note
This is my first fan fic so please feel free to suggest corrections grammatically, plot wise, or character wise, but please no hate.
Please read this chapter while listening to this song:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkHTYoli5kw
Rainbow leaned over the edge smiling widely, but her excitement descended into confusion, for instead of seeing Scootaloo flying, she was flailing about. Or so she thought. All that she could see was a small blur of falling orange with the occasional magenta streak. As fate would have it, right as Rainbow opened her mouth to call out to her, the sun started to darken. Looking up she saw that a solar eclipse had begun, and rather rapidly at that.
Half covered, blink, three quarters covered, blink, nine tenths covered, blink, darkness.
Rainbow attempted to create as big a gap as possible from her and the edge. Feeling something like a rock, she grabbed it, but soon she too found herself falling, a string of curse words pouring out of her mouth quicker than the speed she was falling. Remembering that at least she could fly, Rainbow opened her wings and started flapping steadily. By now the sun was coming out mor-- THUD!
Rainbow felt the ground beneath her. A foul taste attacked her mouth. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurry. But being the well trained flier that she was she shook most of it away. A small orangey red blob lay on the ground, small throaty groans coming from it, and her memories returned from their short trip.
"Scoota--," Rainbow coughed into her hoof, a thick crimson goo dripping down it, enveloping her chin, snaking down her neck following her veins, staining them red. She took a slow, shaky step forward, and then another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another... It seemed she was getting nowhere. Looking behind her she saw a smeared trail of gooey crimson. By now the liquid that was tracing her veins was dripping off her, right by her heart.
She saw behind her the figure of a pony with rainbow hair, cyan blue fur, and a thunder cloud shooting out a rainbow lightning bolt for a cutie mark. Smiling, its eyes black and dripping with blood, its mouth drooling with red-stained saliva. It took a step towards her; its grin grew. Slowly it opened its mouth, a dripping tongue licking its teeth, smearing bloody spit over a yellowed smile. It croaked something inaudible, and as it grew closer it started to sing:
"Come little children I'll take you away into a land of enchantment, Come little children the time's come to play here in my garden of shadows. Follow sweet children I'll show you the way, Through all the pain and the sorrow."
Rainbow was transfixed. She had completely forgotten the potential carcass that lay silent behind her.
"Weep not poor children for life is this way, Murdering beauty and passion. Hush now dear children for it must be this way, To weary of life and deceptions."
The sirenesque pony now loomed over her, its gaping holes for eyes parallel with hers, its tongue slithering out of its mouth, like a snake stalking its prey.
"Rest now my children for soon we'll away, Into the calm and the quiet. Come little children I'll take the away, Into a land of enchantment."
Its tongue coiled around her neck, licking the blood that was now dried and brown. It followed the dry stream down to her legs, and once back at her neck, it wrapped itself around, slowly retracting, dragging itself closer to Rainbow.
"Come little children the times come to play, Here in my garden of shadows..."
Its mouth opened like a feeding python's, and the blackness returned.
An unconscious pony lay on the ground.
Rainbow gasped as she shot up, pain shooting through her spine and neck. She couldn't see the creature. In fact she could barely see anything, as the eclipse was still in full swing, but she could still faintly hear a sweet serene voice singing in the back of her head. Running, she covered the gap between her and the possibly deceased Scootaloo. Seeing the slow, jittery rise and fall of Scootaloo's chest calmed her racing heart.
"Scootaloo? I-I thought you said you could fly." It sounded a lot more heartless than she'd intended. "Ar-Are you alright?" Now that Rainbow was actually speaking she realised just how scared she was.
"Ugh-Ucgh-huh" was all that came out. The realisation finally hit. Scootaloo was dying, and it was her fault. The sound of crying filled the air.
Then a noise that sounded as quiet as the wind blowing "I'm sorry Rainbow, I'm so sorry!" That's when it all added up: riding the scooter, not flying, not knowing about dangerous rocks, and now...this.
"Why, if you couldn't fly, why didn't you just tell me?"
"I-I-I wanted you to be proud of me, until I told you that I could fly, I was just a little filly that you allowed to hang out with you. But once I told you I could fly, you treated me like your sister." Scootaloo strained, though it came out more as a faint whisper.
"Scootaloo..." Rainbow choked out, her voice muffled with tears.
"My only regret is lying to you. So long Squirt, I'm just gonna take a quick nap." The whispers died down until there was nothing more than a faint release of a filly's final breath.
Blink, completely covered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, nine tenths covered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, five sevenths covered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, three quarters covered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, two thirds covered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, half covered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, one quarter covered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, uncovered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, uncovered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, uncovered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, uncovered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, uncovered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, uncovered sun, still Scootaloo. Blink, uncovered sun, still Scootaloo...
Author's Note
I did this all in one go so some parts near the end might be choppy. This will probably not be the most gory bit, and just for the record, Dash was dreaming the bit about the doppleganger eating her. Please tell me if the paragraphing is weird, my editor suddenly told me that she doesn't know how to paragraph, so please bear with me as I learn the magic of paragraphing. Just tell me in the comments about how I could improve it.
Quo Incipit Narratio Nostra
Twilight paced the floor of the library, her mouth in a concerned frown. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike were all sitting uncomfortably on flat, lumpy cushions. The worried atmosphere was supported by the silence that graced the crowd, even Pinkie Pie was keeping her antics to a hum. Twilight looked up at the group of ponies and the dragon, her eyes washing over their features.
Pinkie Pie decided that not only were things getting boring, but also with Twilight lying on the floor doing... Whatever she's doing, things were getting more awkward by the second. Of course being Pinkie Pie just simply saying something funny or pulling a toucan out of her mane wouldn't be enough. No. Not. At. All. She looked around for something, anything adequate that she could use to end this dreadful silence. And then she saw it. In all it's glory. So clean and white it seemed to glow: Rarity's neck. Pinkie smiled a smile only mischievous foals can pull off, well, mischievous foals and Pinkie. As her bright Pink cotton-candyesque tail rose up Pinkie had to stifle a laugh, but nopony seemed to notice as they were all preocupied with trying to deal with a possibly sobbing Twilight and the awkwardness brought forth by it, which she will eliminate with the the help of Rarity. She lifted her tail up a little more and... Touchdown! As soon as she felt even a slight sensation on her neck Rarity froze, becoming stiller than her previous stationary status. Pinkie giggled quietly until she saw the tip of her tail be enveloped in a white, sparkly aura. Rarity mercilessly dragged her friend's tail hard, pulling her victim to the hard, oak floor. Pinkie just sat there, limp being dragged around the floor until the tugging stopped, and she found herself in-between two massive, birch bookcases. Each inch of which was full of all types of books and scrolls alike. Blushing slightly when she realised that everypony, excluding Twilight who was just now starting to stir, was watching her, Pinkie trotted as quietly as she could back to the group, as far away from Rarity and her smirk as possible.
Twilight slowly and unstably rose from her short episode: her eyes were glassy, the rims of said eyes were red and puffy, her lip was quivering slightly, the normally prim and proper mane was disheveled and sticking up at odd angles, but most noticeable of all Twilight's cheeks were streaked with tears. Only now did her audience seem to notice her, or at least that her proposition was serious. Fluttershy tried to hide behind her mane, Rarity was obviously trying and failing to eliminate a smirk, Applejack was looking concerned and tilted her hat down slightly, Spike was walking warily over to Twilight and Pinkie Pie's mane was looking slightly more flat than usual. Twilight batted away Spike's hand and stood up a little straighter.
"Sorry everypony... I was just, well..." Twilight stopped scratching the back of her head and looked harshly at them all. "I was just disappointed and ashamed of your behaviour. Your best friend and a dear friends/filly goes missing and when I propose that we should try and help them you just sit there on your flank and don't even bat an eye! It's not just sad that you don't care, it's disgusting! We are meant to be the elements of harmony, sorry Spike, the six friends who's friendship is powerful enough to stop even some of the worst evils out there! But then for you to not just care is both appalling and makes me question out friendship! Even when I was lying there crying you just sat there and dragged each other around via tail like it was a joke!" Twilight glared at Pinkie and Rarity, at that moment they swore that they could feel her hate and contempt. "I'm just, ashamed of you guys. I thought you would care. Obviously it doesn't matter enough for you to take time out of your 'busy schedule' to save a friend." A tear joined its fellow companions on her cheek. "I'm sorry for wasting your time. You can go now... And don't bother helping me file their deaths, I'm sure I can manage myself." The purple mare sat down, her head hung low and voice quiet, head bobbing up and down according to the strangled sobs being produced.
Spike silently ushered everypony out the door. Applejack was about half-way out when she stopped, causing the one pony behind to bump into her. She just turned her head towards Twilight, who was still crying hopelessly on the floor, and stated with as little emotion as possible.
"I'm not worried about Dash as much as I am Scootaloo. She came by earlier on her day of disappearance asking if I wanted to see her fly." All faces were trained onto her's, all with an expectant look. They sat silent until Rarity, who was going to be the last to leave spoke up.
"Not to be offensive darling, but, how does that matter?"
"It matters because if Scootaloo was going around telling everypony that she could fly we can only assume that Dash would immediately do something stupid that requires flight! When I saw Scootaloo's flight, it was sufficient for the needs of a filly, not a stunt-mare! Therefore if Dash overestimated Scootaloo, which is very likely, then when put to the test she might not come through, resulting in a serious injury! Then if Scootaloo is hurt of course Dash isn't going to leave her, even to get help, resulting in them not getting anywhere and just rotting away until death!"
"Yes, yes, darling. That sound terrible and all, but I really think you should give dearRainbow a chance! Just give it a couple more days and if they're not back by then we can go around and look for her. Just with only a few days passing I feel that it's a bit too sudden. You understand don't you?"
"No. No I don't understand. Sorry 'darling' but if you're not going to be of any help then just leave." Twilight stared at Rarity. The white unicorn shrunk back but didn't go anywhere. "Go. Now." Still she stayed, hiding in a corner like the true coward she is. "Leave. Get out of here." Rarity slowly started to step towards the door, keeping her eye on Twilight the whole time. "Go on then. Hurry up." At this little remark Rarity just stood still, looked into Twilight's eyes and said.
"No." Twilight erupted and made a noise so primal that even Cerberus himself felt unsettled. Twilight threw a book in Rarity's general direction. Missing it flew through a nearby window. Glass shattered everywhere, cutting deeply into rarity's pristine coat, glittering her body with tiny fragments of glass. While Twilight was still in shock of what happened that's when Rarity ran: screaming all the while, gone in an instant. When Applejack came to terms with what she was seeing she immediately froze, her body not listening to her mind screaming for her to run.
"Get away from me. " Twilight practically whispered it. "Please I don't want to hurt you. Just leave. Go. Why aren't you gone yet? I told you to go. Get away from me. Get away." With Twilight becoming ever more unsettling, Applejack decided that leaving as she suggested would be the both best and most preferable option. "Please, just go. Go! WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!" It wasn't Twilight's magic, nor was it Applejack moving that got her out the door, but instead the famous 'Royal Canterlot Voice'. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Twilight looked her own little pit of Tartarus: books strewn everywhere, a window smashed with glass shards littering it's surroundings and a small puddle of tears that had been spread to cover a larger area by ponies walking on it. Defying all instincts and social decencies, instead of cleaning the library up to its former glory, Twilight collapsed, thinking about bawling like a foal. So bawl like a foal she did.
Spike looked at Twilight pityingly and mumbled.
"Spike?" He stopped and turned but before he could respond Twilight continued. "Thanks. What I said, I didn't mean all of it. You're a good friend, you know that? Now I want you to go and get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow!" Twilight looked up at Spike and smiled a genuine smile, laced with sadness, but a smile non the less. Spike smiled back then left, leaving Twilight alone in the room with her thoughts. Sighing she said. "Dash, where are you? Why did you have to leave? Maybe you can answer some of these questions tomorrow." And with that Twilight trotted up the stairs, after turning the lights off, and climbed into bed, joyfully greeting her world of slumber.
Ghastly Gorge never was known as a fun, nice place to be, in fact it is often used in sayings emphasising it's hellish appearance. It's commonly known for its random patches that the weather would take a strong toll on its overall impression, right now was definitely one of those times. The recent uncontrolled weather had created horrible havoc in most places around Ponyville but none were as badly affected as the gorge: the drastic increase in rain had made the dirt ground marshy, and sticky at its driest parts, the sudden flux in wind strength had not thrown, but hurled rocks and boulders alike across the marshy terrain, leaving an angry-baby-troll-had-a-tantrumesque appeal, the wind also managed to collect the dustier patches of dirt and filter it into the air, making it near impossible to breath, all breeze passing through now made an ominous howl as it made its voyage through the twisted labyrinth, overall Ghastly gorge was not appealing or at its best.
A young violet mare and a near matching colour baby dragon stumbled through the rocks and marsh. They stopped at every dip and cave, every rock or pebble, every puddle or rare dry patch.
"Twilight?" The mare in question responded with little more than a grunt. "If we say, don't find them, then... I guess what I'm asking is, kinda... Basically, if on the odd chance that we don't find them, which we will, I'm not saying that we won't, 'cuz that would be crazy! And we all know that I'm not crazy! I mean, maybe I am, but I don't think so... Twilight, am I crazy?"
"No Spike, of course not. Whatever made you think that?" The young drake could only manage to open before Twilight but in again. "I mean, we're only sifting about through rocks and dirt looking for two missing ponies who are probably dead right now, with no sense of direction and real lead, only a small rumour that is proving to be false and at any moment out lungs could collapse from to much air pollution!" At this Spike instinctively clasped his claws to his neck defensively.
The pair searched on for near to an hour with no success, both getting increasingly more irritated with one another.
"... Honestly Spike you actually believed them when they told you there were ponies in the Gorge? No. Actually, why did it even come up? Weren't you meant to be discussing possible cutie-mark-gaining activities or something?"
"First of all yes, I believed them. Why would they lie to me anyway? I think you're forgetting that Apple Bloom, my main source, is the sister of the one and only element of honesty! And secondly we started talking about cutie marks, but then couldn't start any actual activities because Scootaloo was late, which lead to discussing her disappearance which is when Apple Bloom told me about the rumour. Anyway, I don't see you coming up with any ideas!" When Spike looked at Twilight's face he immediately regretted that last point: her eyes were red-rimmed and glassy, her bottom lip quivered delicately but also rapidly, she had unusual creases on her face from trying to hold back tears, her shoulders were slightly slumped, she carried her head lower than normal and on occasion she would stumble or trip over herself as her legs had random shaking attacks. "Twilight, I-I didn't mean-"
"No. You're right. I... I'm being unfair and... You-No. We. We can call of the bet. You win Spike. I didn't think it was possible but I guess the Gorge beat me... I'm just going to stay behind for a little, but you can go on ahead, I'll catch up I promise." Spike almost automatically started walking away, glad to be gone from this place. Almost . Instead, the feeble smile that Twilight wore held him back.
"Please. Let me finish. Twilight. I didn't mean what I said. I just got a little annoyed is all. You know how that is don't you? Besides, you're holding up waaaaay better than me! Look. We can go if you want to, but I'm willing to stay here a little longer." Twilight smiled, genuinely, and shook her head, when she came back up the smile nearly reached her ears.
"You know what? I think, let's go. I'm getting tired and this place is starting to creep me out." Twilight's eye's skimmed the rough rocks of Ghastly Gorge. "Besides, it's nearly dinner time and you have a full tub of ice cream to eat!"
"It's not a full tub! Only half!" Spike tried to cover up his blush with his arms crossed but only resulted in falling over.Twilight giggled softly and used her magic to drag Spike via tail onto her back. Spike then responded by draping his arms around her neck in both instinct to stay on and comfort, gently laying his head on her neck and zoned out. "Oh yeah! And, Twilight? You know the ice cream thing? You can have it. You deserve it more than me. Besides, last time I did that I learned that future Spike is me!" Twilight smiled and opened her mouth to respond but then shut it after hearing the soft rumble of Spike's snore.
"Oh Sweet Celestia. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. This is bad. This is really bad. This is really really really bad!" This was how Spike woke up: lying on the ground, dirt and sand in his eyes, arms and legs uncomfortably stretched out, back up and with Twilight pacing freaking out, shouting obscenities that would offend a sailor, not that Spike believed in such stereotypes.
"Twilight calm down! "
"No Spike! Not only will I not calm down, but also I can't ! Spike? Are you even listening to me? Spike. Spike! SPIKE!" At once the young drake snapped to attention, even though his sight soon drifted to the mass of dirt brown with the odd speck of cyan and a small patch of orange at the centre near the bottom.
"Yeah, yeah. You simply 'can't ' calm down. I get it... Hey, what's that thing doing there?" Spike gestured to the mass, Twilight didn't even need to look at what he was pointing to.
"What do you think I was 'freaking out' about? No. Better question. What do you think it is?" Spike bit his lip in concentration, a habit that he had picked up early on from Twilight, who was too biting her lip.
"I..." The dragon walked up to the mass for a closer inspection, sometimes flicking off a piece of dirt or feeling its texture, however he made his mistake hen he smelt it. "Argh! That's horrible!" Without missing a beat Twilight grabbed Spike and dragged him as far away as possible from the pile of stench. Almost as if reacting to the commotion the mass seemed to emit a low, pained groan. All colour drained from Twilight's face.
"Spike...? What was that?" Twilight seemed to say these words as if she was testing them and she wasn't sure if they were poisonous or not.
"I don't know! How am I meant to immediately know these things?" It was the pile's turn to respond, releasing a louder, sadder groan than the previous. Twilight stalked up to the groaning object: examining ever corner and obviously contemplating what to do. To signify her decision Twilight's facial expressions hardened, she stepped back, gathered her breath, and shot a weak beam of magic at it, resulting in turning it over. Simultaneously both Twilight and Spike noticed something: it was a pony, it was female, she had cyan fur, she had rainbow mane and tail, she was Rainbow Dash.
Author's Note
Sorry for taking so absolutely long, I promise that updates will be a lot more often, also another story is on the way. Thank you for being so patient.
Chap 1:Scoots comes and gets pushed off
chap2: Scoots dies
Chap 3: Rainbow's friends are looking for her and scoots, rumours that there are ponies in Ghastly gorge, they investigate (by order of Celestia?)and see a starving, dirty, bloodstained, unconscious Rainbow lying near a rotting corpse, they don't know who it is, it ends with them realising it's rainbow and scootaloo.
chap 4: Rainbow wakes up in a hospital (badly injured but able to take care of herself) she thinks that it was all a nightmare, fluttershy tells her and gets a broken nose and a dislocated wing, Rainbow escapes, sees scoots grave and kicks it slightly cracking it, ends with the pieces of rock falling on the ground
chap 5: Sweetie belle and applebloom grow tired of waiting (don't know about Scoots yet) so they check scoot's family tree, see that she is a 9th cousin 6 times removed to Rainbow dashes aunt, they go to find rarity and AJ get told to go to the hospital, they enter (rainbow is with everypony else, she looks as if she's about to break, they try to tell her that scoots is her 9th cousin 6 times removed by her aunt but as soon as they mention scootaloo rainbow screams and looms over them, they become to scared so they just stutter in a way that makes her think that Scootaloo was her long lost cousin, ends with her broken and laughing
chap6: starts with luna and celestia talking about dash and what they should do, they come in and visit see that she's completely OK and leave, the other 5(no spike) visit, dash acts completely normal. Ends with the signing of Dash being able to leave. (by now her physical wounds have healed)
Chap 7: Rainbow wakes up in her bed, and starts to go through her normal day (get up, have breakfast, take a shower, leave, go to the weather station,) ponies their act weird and sorry for her, she asks why but they don't answer they just reply 'it must be hard for you' one even says (the jerky one) 'thank god that her parents are dead other wise you'd be in a hecka heap trouble'. Rainbow finishes work (brings in a couple small rain clouds) and goes home, on the way she sees the school let out S.B and A.B. are acting particularly sad, they all are, she feels as if somepony's missing. She takes a nap on a cloud for a couple hours, goes flying for the remaining before going to bed, while falling asleep she hears a voice singing 'Children of the night' end with: 'as the final chord died down Dash's eyelids fell as she joined Luna in her land of enchantment.' ~~end with: 'Sleep opened it's mouth like a feeding python, and blackness returned. An unconscious Rainbow Dash lay in her bed'~~
chap 8: Rainbow wakes up, a pair of glowing bloody wholes stare at her, she screams, a hissing noise and the 'eyes' disappear. Wanting to get away she walks around town and comes across her friends, she runs over to them and they invite her to lunch, all the while they are acting strange and suspicious, they talk and then go for a walk, they come across 2 kids playing on scooters one with orange fur and a red mane, the other blue fur and magenta mane, they stop to look at her and wave then continue playing, it comes up that while she was in hospital they were invited away to Cadences birthday, unfortunately Rainbow can't come so she'll be on her own. They chat for little longer before Pinkie/flutters reminds them that they have to go, they go pack as Rainbow watches, when they finish it's dark out. Ends with them fading into the darkness as the train leaves the station, somewhere a melodic voice laughs.
chap 9: Starts with a thing(description?) about sleep, slowly morphs into fears, then guilt ends with family and friends. Rainbow wakes up and sees a shadow run out window
Chap 10: Starts with Rainbow being unable to move, stuck down on the ground of Ghastly Gorge, A figure comes into sight, it's deformed and mutilated (Scootaloo(after death)) the siren-pony also comes, they dance about her singing chants and songs, slowly a picture comes forth from their singing in it Rainbow pushes scoots of the cliff, as she falls it fades, the siren-pony coils around her, through a small gap rainbow sees Scootaloo(before death) coming towards her she stops right up close to rainbow (loud breathing) she starts to melt to a skeleton before her eyes, the other voices fade then slink away, it leaves just the melted scoots and rainbow, it scoots starts to sing (in latin (find old latin song about death)) the song ends and the scoots melt into a puddle, the dream fades away. Ends with Rainbow lying in bed, not moving and finally:
Scootaloo
chap 11: starts with a thought track of Rainbow about Scootaloo(now that she knows she's dead), the thought track ends with something about how it's her fault. Meanwhile Twilight's friends are in the crystal empire chatting and enjoying themselves Rarity sees a rainbow coloured cloth and is reminded of Rainbow, they talk about how they hope she's OK and that it's not to hard on her. Ends with Rainbow standing in front of Scoots grave and thinks:Gone. She's gone. Dead. Dust. Mort. Finem
chap 12: roseluck goes and asks thunderlane why there has been non-stop rain, he responds that there's been no requests from the 'boss'(rainbow) to change it. roseluck then proceeds to complain about her unresponsibilty and immaturity, scene ends with' i don't care if scootaloo's dead, well i do, but... It doesn't matter! It's not like Rainbow killed her herself!'
chap 13: starts with Rainbow walking through town, her mane is frazzled, her smile is fake and unnerving. she stumbles into Thunderlane who's explaining to lily about rainbow's absence, he sees her and she just smiles then flys to the weather factory. everypony asks her where she was, the jerky pony complains and says 'stop acting like that! It's not like you killed her yourself!' rainbow stands there and runs out crying.
chap 14: starts with twilight shouting at the train conductor about all trains being cancelled for the next couple months because of a weird power going through all the crystals, so it's a security thing. A.B. and S.B. are out looking for somepony, they bump into Rainbow and are excited they found her and ask questions that R.D. find prying and she runs away. Next scene she's lying on her bed mumbling incoherent things under her breath, another voice comes and tells her to stop A.B. and S.B. from hurting others... stop them, the first voice chimes in and encourages it as well rainbow then falls asleep listening to the 2 voices lecture her.
chap 15: Twilight and friends decide to walk, as it would be quicker, ends with Rarity complaining about dust. A basket is left outside including: some flowers, some fruit and a baguette, a note from the jerky pony saying: 'Dear Rainbow, sorry for hurting you eve though you acted completely irrationally and you didn't even kill that little brat. It's ok nopony even like her. Rainbow gets mad and grabs the baguette trying to smash it, it's stale she takes the basket and goes inside. Next scene starts with rainbow trying to cut some old baguette then gets frustrated and starts stabbing it, she then sees the jerky pony's face in it and stabs harder, it cuts into her hand and cuts her hand open, before even realising it she lost a large amount of blood. Ends with her collapsing from blood loss and dropping the phone with the hospital connected.
chap 16: Dash wakes up in the same room as before. Looks around and sees an IV and a bandaged up leg. A doctor comes in and tells her what happened and that she can go but she gotta take it easy, the doctor leaves. The 2 voices come back and start to chat with Rainbow (no homicidal stuff) half way through a third voice enters proudly and the others are excited, the third voice starts to ramble on about nothing when a nurse comes in. Rainbow is lead outside but before gets an over-priced hospital bill, she gets angry but then it turns out that because she's under the care of Celestia she won't have to pay. Rainbow gets home and gets an old letter from mane 5 and spike about how much fun they're having, she's too angry to read the end of the letter or the date it was sent, the third voice tells her to kill them, Rainbow is horrified and immediately calls a therapist in fear that she might eventually do it. Twilight and friends are starving, it starts to rain and they are all overjoyed, then lighting strikes, ends with Pinkie's hair going flat.
chap 17: Dash Enters the room for therapy, it gets tedious so the guy decides to do hypnosis, nothing special then suddenly he suddenly decides to do reactions to songs plays two before (one happy, one sad) decides to kick it up a notch (flutter rex song) but nothing happens then goes of and plays Children of the night by accident, Dash starts to shiver and quiver mumbling alarmed things she convulses until the song ends, then her eyes snap open, and she gets up murmuring the song, he takes down notes then send her to sleep, after a couple minutes he gets pictures of town ponies and she just says a quick comment on them, then he does one that she would know typical results according, then the jerky ones he notes down her results, the pic of scoots and she starts crying and closes her eyes the guy says something mildly offending and dashes eyes open, rage induces and she screams, jumps on top of him and beats him, breaks his spine but he doesn't die, he un-hypnotises her she wakes up to see him dying by her hooves she laughs hysterically, and slowly starts to peel of his skin as he dies, she starts singing creepy happy songs and playing in his blood and body, the 3rd voice comes in and complains about always being gone for he action, she finally accepts them and then continues to play in him. Ends with Spike sending a letter to Dash with no luck and a beed of sweat falls of Spike.
chap 18: Something about 2 weeks later. Dash steps back and looks at a board on a wall covered with photo's of ponies and red strings, she smiles and adjusts a couple strings accordingly, then pulls out a feather from her wing relishing in the pain and throws it, and whichever pony it land on she kills, it lands on Thunderlane, she smiles and turns to leave, and the lights go off. Twilight and friends see ponyville and get excited and happy, and start to run. Dash walks into work smiling and composed, the other ponies are happy but unsettled but when she starts to chat it turns out she found ways to cope with the pain for the foreseeable future, she invites Thunderlane into her office, the door locks, ends with a pony scream being drowned out by laughter and the clank of a falling machine.
chap 19: begins with dash arranging Carrot Top's head amongst the others on Scootaloo's shrine, she utters a prayer then leaves to her board, crossing out C.T., dash then removes one of her few remaining feathers, smiling slightly and throws it, it lands on the jerky pony, Dash's smile grew huge and laughed hysterically grabbing multiple knifes and axes swinging them wildly, she then sees the picture of Scoots and stops, a tear flowing down her cheek, she picks up a skinning knife and walks out. Twilight and friends walk in the outskirts of Ponyville and find the most recent newspaper, it talks about loads of deaths and serial killing, a horrible thunderstorm starts as they read that the weather place is being weird and messed up. Ends with the blood sprinkled coat being draped infront of the shrine and a knife being out back on its shelf.
chap 20: Dash is chasing nurse Redheart down the street and cuts of her head and violates her insides e.g. makes a necklace of guts (in detail). Twilight and friends talk and decide to wait for a few days to see if there was a misprint or really a serial killer, Rarity then complains and starts walking towards town but then thunder strikes and squeals and runs back cowering. A.B. and S.B. hiding in the clubhouse, crying A.B. wants to go and leave and find A.J. before Dash gets them , S.B. shouts crying more and grabs her before she leaves, A.B. smacks S.B. and runs out leaving S.B. alone, she curls in the corner and rocks back and forth singing hush now quiet now. Dash lies in bed, decorating her bed sheets with the blood on her hoof, she runs out just before it's finished so she cuts herself on the joint of he near bare wing, using her feathers to finish it and add detail ,Tank walks in and Dash smiles her mouth drooling remembering that she's running out of food, she walks over trying to speak calmly to Tank, grabs him and smashes his shell, shoving it in her mouth raw, blood trickling down smiling and laughing, ends with her losing her last speck of sanity
chap 21: A.B. runs down the street crying, she comes to a dead end, nothing, nothing, nothing, come little children, a blood red strand of hair trails down her head, A.B. looks up and sees Dash, her mouth has been cut up in a smile but carved so that it goes into points accordingly, her eyes are slightly yellowed and blood shot, her body is full of cuts and scars; she talks about how much she missed her and where's S.B., Dash falls off the pole and walks away, picks up a large hunk of gnarled wood and walks towards A.B. again, A.B. curls up and whimpers, Dash reminds her that she would have been fine had she said that Scoots was not her long lost cousin, A.B. corrects her (6th cousin, 9times removed by her aunt), Dash stops and stares, awestruck, she makes the laughing sound but stays dead panned, random spasms on different body parts, she continues this walking towards A.B. and says: "I missed you, but Scootaloo misses you more.". Right as twilight and friends decide to go find out what's up, A.J. stops and refuses to go, feeling something wrong, her behaviour is weird and serious so the others stay, ends with A.J. hoping that A.B.'s ok, Twilight reassures that she's in safe hooves with Dash.
chap 22: S.B. is still in the corner, but is starving and cried so much that her eyes were sore and raw, she gets up in a state of false confidence and stomps down to Scootaloo's grave, praying to her, then marching down to Dash's house and marching in, making her way to the back of the house to Scootaloo's shrine, and called Dash. Dash walks in and immediately senses that someone else is in the house, she stalks around whispering threats until she comes to the door of Scootashrine, she stops and creeps in, Dash looked around, spotting S.B. she catches her breath and growls, walked over to her and then sat down, defeated,. S.B. stops and looks down concerned Dash then explains tearfully and heart jearkingly about why she did that, what she thought and felt when she did it, and why she does this(when she says this she goes over and cuts off S.B.'s horn, blood comes gushing out enough for her to bleed to death but over about a minute,) S.B. asks why as she dies, Dash responds with (something along the lines of): The voices, they tell me to do it, I know that's not an excuse but their worlds hurt, their arguing hurst, even when it's not to me, they started out as just arguing jokingly and being nice, then they grew mean after I killed the first man, they noticed my weakness and exposed it. I'm scared, horrified. I just want them to stop, so I kept on killing, but they never did, I soon forgot about them and killed for the pleasure and revenge. I know I'm a monster but my spots of sanity are getting fewer and fewer, I fear this may be my last so please, just if you survive, tell everyone to run, get Celestia and bring me down. Dash then continues to stare and cry, a faint voice starts to sing Come little children, as S.B.'s vision fades she sees Dash singing and looming over her, S.B. tells her that her voice is so beautiful but dash shushes her and tells her to apologise to Scoots for her. Ends with Twilight and friends stepping into Ponyville and looking around, Rarity starts to whimper and says Sweetie Bell.
chap 23: Mane 5 and spike walk around town freaked out, it looks like a ghost town, they don't see anyone home so they go to Dash's house hoping that she'll still be there. As they go they get more and more anxious and scared, Rarity nearly faints but continues for S.B.'s sake, when they get to the house Rarity splits of screaming as she's too scared. As she runs she sees a shadow and Dash, Dash smiles and acts as if it's not her that did this and that A.B. and S.B. are OK she then explains that her appearance is like that because she's adapted to scaring off the murderer, Rarity is scared but accepts it, Dash asks if she'd please explain to the others as it's awkward for her, Rarity agrees then sets of walking. Dash creeps up and silently drapes a naked wing over Rarity's mouth cooing softly and then tightens, pulling back her head until it snaps, Dash the pushes her into a bush and walks away arguing with the other voices. Spike goes of after Rarity and watches the entire time even when she's killed, he follows her but then snaps on a twig and Dash sees him, at first she looks shocked and scared she bows down acting inferior Spike falls for it and acts all high and mighty, while Dash is grovelling she multiple time says shut up and yeah, yeah I know (to the voices but Spike doesn't know that), Spike is concerned and asks why, she just says the usual voices nothing scary, I think it's schizophonis or something, Spike suggests schizophrenia, and she agrees she then pleads him to tell her how to get rid of it as they're scaring her (he also says to the voices that hurt as they got mad at her for wanting to get rid of them), he sits down and starts to do a basic brief of schizophrenia, Dash then listens but creeps closer constantly until she is only 20cm away he then starts (but doesn't actually say anything scientific) about how to het rid of schizophrenia Dash then corrects that she doesn't want to get rid of that, Spike is confused, she then explains that by them she meant Twilight, Fluttershy, pinkie Pie, Applejack and him(Spike) she then walks over and explains that since he wasn't nice to her and help her she's going to teach him how to help people and be nice, by helping him see Rarity again, when the realisation dawns on him it's too late and she slits his throat with a near by sharp rock and then asks him to tell Rarity that she's sorry but she never liked her fashion sense, she then leaves saying loud enough for him to her : she never even liked you. Dash goes around abusing the trees and making sure that Applejack sees them, when she does a.j. gets mad and bucks a tree that dash 'just happens' to be in she falls out and feigns pain and dying, a.j. gets sad and worried and hold Dash in her arms in a cliche manner, Dash then apologises that she can't spend so long on her and she needs to hurry up as she's taking to long already, a.j. is confused and then Dash kicks her in the stomach, as she keels over Dash gets up and beats/stomps a.j.'s head until she is nearly dead, right before she dies dash teases that she's not really that strong especially if she was so easily beaten. P.P, F.S and T.S. decide that P.P. should stay outside and guard while the other 2 go inside and investigate what's going on, they agree, and they go inside, Pinkie is scared and is singing giggle at the ghosties, Dash sees this and is shouted at by the voices to hurry up and kill her already so that she can stop the others from hurting Scootashrine, as soon as G.A.G ends Dash starts to sing come little children and walks out so Pinkie can see, Pinkie is scared but stays silent until the song ends, when she then gets a good look at Dash and starts to cry, Dash then shushes her and tells her to never stop smiling she then makes her pinkie promise to never stop smiling, pinkie promises and starts to smile, Dash then turns mean and commands her to go into the forest and not say a word, pinkie is scared but obliges, Dash then follows after grabbing a rope from her shed, she then forces pinkie to hang herself, she's so horrified that she does so, smiling the whole time, right before pinkie tighten the rope Dash tells her that over the past few weeks pinkie has been acting boring, probably due to her realisation that the only reason her friends stick wit her is free food, pinkie then voluntarily hangs herself, smiling all the while. Twilight go ask Fluttershy if she can please quickly check on pinkie as she's acting rather quiet, Fluttershy does so but as soon as she sees that pinkie is not there she regrets it as she sees a shadow moving slowly towards her, she realised it's Dash and just stops, she immediately figures out that Dash did this as she knew that dash was not good with dealing with emotional stuff, she asks dash (still scared) if she killed scoots, dash responds with yeah, would you like proof?, fluttershy is too horrified to move and knows full well that this is her death, while she lies on the ground with a knife in her chest (dash stabs her)she just says: thank you, i didn't want to love in a world where my best friend is a murderer, dash tries to say something hurtful but chokes up. Twilight leaves the kitchen of Dash's house, confused about her everypony else is, she sees an old yellowed door with a browny red splotchy door handle, she starts to walk inside, meanwhile dash walks into the house searching for Twilight, she sees things turned over and tossed about, making dash mad, she then hears the creek of scootashrine being opened, she runs in right when Twilight is about to see it, she tackles her and grabs a machete, Twilight struggles and screams, Dash then shouts at her and threatens her, Twilight still struggles and asks why she can't see it, Dash sighs and lets her see, Twilight gasps (describe scootashrine in detail) she then looks at Dash and Dash nods, Twilight cries a bit but then looks Dash in the eyes and asks her to kill her, Dash is surprised but slowly presses the blade to her throat, Twilight then tells her to stop and then kisses her, Dash blushes but only stutters awkwardly, Twilight then whispers good bye and uses her magic to push down the blade. Ends with Rainbow sitting there in Twilight's blood thinking: The only one I truly loved killed herself for my misdeeds. How did I let it get so far?
Chap 24: Starts with the princesses worrying about why Twilight isn't back yet, they bring ing Cadence and she says that everypony was there except for Dash who experienced a very traumatic event and could possibly be holding them hostage, the princesses are dubious but agree as any lead is a lead. Shining armour (for guard reasons and Twi's bro) and Spitfire (for flight and fight) as well as many other guards search Ponyville and find nothing but desolation and a scrap bit of watered down newspaper but can only read about a serial killer but nothing else. They get to Dash's house and it smells of rotten meat, they walk in (just shining and spit) and split up, Spit goes upstairs, shining walks around, and gets to Dash's room where he sees her lying on her bed, he just sees naked wings and some cuts, nothing that bad and the sheets, he then notices her her mumbling things and crying, he coughs and she freezes, he then tries to talk to her but she remains frozen, he walks in silently but she still tells him to not, he asks how she knew, she responds with that he's so loud let me show you how you move quietly, shining closes his eyes and doesn't think she even moved as all he hears is silence, she tells him to open his eyes and when he does she says boo and he sees her, he screams but she just calmly hushes him, when he falls quiet again she tells him that screaming is only going to hurt everypony involved, he warns her that there's many guards outside but doesn't mention spit, she just smiles and asks him why they're here, he replies that they're looking for Twilight, she stiffens and says stiffly that he should go, he asks and then she breaks down and says she didn't do it, it was because of her but she didn't do it herself and gibberish about Twi, she then goes to the window and asks a bunch of questions about the guards and how many there are, what species, what training etc. Shining answers them all but walks forward Dash makes it evident that she can hear him, he walks over and puts a hoof on her shoulder, she then cries that she thought she finally lost it he questions but she ignores him, then as soon as she needs the insanity it stops, the voices even leave her alone and rarely speak, one she dies, when he asks she responds with Twilight and sighs then look in the bed, he sees it while he sees her she says I never wanted her to kill herself, I loved her you know but she did anyway, she should have been generosity as well, she sacrificed her life to bring back my sanity. Take me to Celestia, please. Shining is incredibly disturbed but he manages to call Spit down.
Chap 25: Dash is at court in front of everyone, her wounds are starting to heal, while everypony is pleading insanity for her she just begs Celestia to please kill her, she can't live with the guilt, insanity was what happened while she was killing she's healed now, just kill her. Celestia agrees to execution, much to everypony else's displeasure. Dash is meeting her mum, dad, and sister, they are all distraught and she has an emotional talk with them all, especially her sister (about scoot's age) they see her desperation for death and let it go and admit to her dying; she then meets P.P's parents that just look at her with hate and contempt, especially Maud; F.S.' parents who just speak in hushed tones how strange it was until Dash says sorry and they burst into tears over F.S.; Rarity's parents refuse to go in the same room as her after killing both their children; Twi's family, they all have mixed feelings Shining=disturbance Velvet=grief and fear dad=Pity, they all speak separately until they all say unanimously you didn't kill Twilight, but you did; Celestia and Luna and Cadence come in, they're all sympathetic, they look sadly ate her and she follows them out. Dash stands in front of millions of ponies who feel sorry for you, she gives a long speech (rough draft thingy): I know that most of you feel sorry for me. Don't. Everything that happened was entirely my fault, and I brought upon myself, even insanity was induced by an action of mine and refusal to seek help until it was to late. Don't think of me as anything except an example, an example to always seek help about anything mentally strange, an example to never do dangerous things to ponies without confirming everything first, the list goes on but most importantly, an example to not kill others. It may seem strange and obvious that i would say that, but even me, Rainbow Dash: flying prodigy, friendly neighbourhood hero, element of loyalty, even that fell to insanity and murder. It's not like in movies when you randomly start killing ponies and get addicted, it's slow, it's gory, it's painful. I admit, that I got addicted to killing, for what I thought was a reason, insanity doesn't make you want to kill ponies. No, it destroys your sense of reasoning and emotions, or most of them at least, leaving you in the perfect state for you to kill. I give myself as an example. I give myself as a lesson. I give myself as a specimen. And for all you ponies out there who I killed someone that you loved, or even hurt in the slightest way, I kill myself for you. I don't want to die to not suffer the guilt or the hate, it's what i deserve, living is more of a torture. No, i kill myself for their vengeance, for justice and karma. I kill myself to say sorry and apologise to you and the ponies I hurt. I know it shan't be enough, but I shall do everything I can to make up for the pain I've caused, I know it isn't enough, nothing is ever enough, but it's all I can do. And to the ponies I hurt... Well I can apologise to you in person.' Dash then slips out of the noose, walked down from the podium, picked up a knife from one of the guards, stepped in front if the podium (still onstage) and dragged the length of the knife along her throat. As she dies she smiles and laughs (as much as she can) and says "Hey squirt, let me join ya in that nap."
chap 4: Rainbow wakes up in a hospital (badly injured but able to take care of herself) she thinks that it was all a nightmare, fluttershy tells her and gets a broken nose and a dislocated wing, Rainbow escapes, sees scoots grave and kicks it slightly cracking it, ends with the pieces of rock falling on the ground
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep…
Rainbow slowly pried her eyes open, her head was worse than pounding and every part of her body ached. Looking around she noticed that she was in a hospital bed, the clean brightness of the sheets hurting her sensitive bloodshot eyes. The room that Rainbow lay in was pristine, to the point of sterile: every surface was either a white or pale blue, excluding the small, ironically dying, bouquet of roses, presumably left by a friend. Though the fact that the flowers were wilted and dying made her slightly nervous about being in the room for so long. There was a baby blue clock on the wall reading 8:56, four minutes before visiting hours.
Rainbow’s eyes drifted to her body: Most of it was covered with the thin, white bed sheets; her exposed fore-legs were completely covered in thick layers of bandages and surrounded by a hard, oppressive cast; on both of her fore-legs there was a tiny circle, about the size of a one pound coin, of exposed cyan fur, a needle connected to an IV, plunged deep into her flesh. Rainbow noticed a sling was holding her left hind leg up, at a sharp 60° angle. She tried flapping her wings, and even though it hurt she figured if need be flying would be possible.
Normally Rainbow wouldn’t be scared or even bat an eyelid about being in a hospital: it came with the job; but something about the severity of these injuries, the dull aching pain that inhabited her body, made Rainbow shiver, or the best she could anyway with all those infernal tubes and needles and machines surrounding her.
Rainbow heard the sound of a latch being undone, following it the soft clacking of two ponies hooves.
“Now,” the pony’s voice sounded gentle and masculine, he spoke in a soft, low, and hushed tone, as if to not wake her up, at times though it was difficult to understand him, “Ms F…shy, you need to understand that she’s still in c…ical condition. She can move fine but it’s a…sed for her not to.” Rainbow was getting frustrated, it seemed that all the important words were getting muffled, possibly on purpose. Gradually the cyan mare could hear, and feel, her heart getting faster, stronger.
Thud. THUD.Thud. THUD. Thud. THUD. Thud. THUD.Thud. THUD.
