Darkness, its cold presence surrounded her unmoving form. Who was she? She was none other than Rainbow Dash, fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria and one of the very few ever to achieve the sonic rainboom. All of this she knew already, what she didn’t know was why she was currently strapped to some metal table instead of being sound asleep in her bed. She took a guess that from what she could feel around her legs and chest, she was restrained by some kind of leather cuffs.
She opened her eyes, only to have them flooded with light from a glowing white orb that floated soundlessly above her, it illuminated the room. She looked around, in an attempt to determine where she was. Her eye wandered for a while until they came to a rest on a familiar alicorn who was currently busying herself with something. She muttered under her breath before turning to see Dash, staring back at her. Silence filled the room as the two exchanged looks.
“Oh good, you’re awake” Rather than respond she opted to continue looking around. What she believed to be the exit sat at the top of a wooden set of stairs. Seeing this made it easy for her to figure out where she was, although now she was concerned as to why she was there at all. All she could come up with is that for some unknown reason, Twilight sparkle, one of her best friends had tied her to a table in the libraries’ basement. A certain fantasy crossed the Pegasus’s mind briefly. She shook her head to shake the thought away; it wasn’t the time for such a thing, she needed to get back to the current situation.
"You’re probably wondering what’s going on” She chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. However, Dash wasn’t focussed on her; she instead, was more concerned about the large needle that floated eerily behind her. It was surrounded by a purple aura that kept it from falling. A dark blue glow emanated from the viscous liquid that sloshed around in the needle
“Well, I suppose I should start from the beginning” Another chuckle, she refused to make eye contact with Dash. She turned away from her and moved back to the table she had previously been working on. Humming an unfamiliar tune, she started arranging various pieces of equipment that lay disorganized on a small metal tray. She paused and put a hoof to her chin, thinking back to when it had all started.
“I think it started around about a week after I got these” With her back to Dash she gestured to her wings, they fluttered for emphasis. She picked up one of the tools with her magic and Dash caught sight of it as she did so, a scalpel. She inspected it, shook her head, and placed it neatly back onto the tray before grabbing another one. This time she took longer to examine the medical tool, inspecting it carefully. A nod to the tool signalled that it was the one she was looking for. She turned and moved back over to Dash. She stood to the side of the table, accompanied by her chosen scalpel.
“After the ceremony I studied up on anything that involved alicorn’s” Dash was only half listening to Twilight, her eyes were fixated on the scalpel that twirled every so often. Being tied down while somepony waved a sharp surgical tool around wasn’t something she desired to experience.
“Then it struck me, alicorns don’t grow old” Her tone changed as she spoke, becoming filled with sadness, replacing the happiness that had been there before.
“But you, our friends, you’ll still get older, still age” Cautiously, she took her gaze away from the blade to look at Twilight; she knew something was bothering her. Close up, it was easy to tell that she was tired, the messy mane and blood shot eyes were clear indications of sleep depression. She knew it meant that her friend had been staying up at night, worrying or working on some problem without regard to her own health.
“So, the next day, I set about finding a solution” She was treated to a full laugh, along with a nostalgic smile that crept its way onto the alicorn’s features. Her own predicament forgotten, she focused on what her friend was telling her, wondering why she hadn’t told any of her friends yet. It was rather unlike her to keep secrets from them.
“After I came up with nothing, I sent a letter to the princess” She visibly perked up, suggesting to Dash that she got a satisfactory reply.
“Anything is possible” The words were a reassurance to the alicorn. Not too long ago she didn't have much care for friends but now, now she couldn’t imagine a world without them, it hurt her to know that such a world could be a very likely possibility if she didn’t do something about it. She allowed her smile to remain; she had her solution after all. Dash felt calm knowing that her friend wasn’t having one of her infamous meltdowns. She still had one concern though.
“I’m happy to hear that Twi but, erm, why am I in your basement?” Both avoided each other’s gaze for a moment, awkward blushes burning both of their faces. She coughed to break the awkward air that formed between them. After taking a second to remove the blush from her face, she turned back to Twilight to continue the conversation. Her eyes widened in fear, the scalpel that had previously been accompanying Twilight had been replaced by the needle she had seen earlier. Unlike the scalpel, the needle was much closer to her face, so close in fact that a small jerk forward would embed the sharp object into her eye.
“Ah, right, do you remember when you crashed into my library last week and knocked over one of my shelves?” She moved her head as far away from the needle as she could, although, her fear of it paled in comparison to the fear of the one who was wielding it. It was well known that Twilight could do some rather irrational things, especially after not getting enough sleep.
During one of her more recent attempts to find an even more spectacular trick than the sonic rainboom, she had accidently smashed through Twilight’s bedroom window, were she then proceeded to slam into one of Twilight’s highly organized shelves. In doing so, she brought the large shelf down on top of herself. Needless to say, Twilight had not seemed happy about the whole ordeal once she finally removed the shelf from a top her friend. Her anger at the Pegasus dissipated quickly though when they found that she had broken multiple ribs in the chaotic entrance. She was grounded for a whole week after that.
“I’m sorry for knocking over your books!” Struggling against her restraints she closed her eyes to remove the sight of the needle. Ideas as to what the strange liquid would do to her began to manifest themselves, each one being a worse punishment than the last. A minute passed and nothing happened. She dared to open her eyes to find that the needle had not moved an inch since she last saw it. Twilight wore a puzzled expression on her face, unsure as to why her friend was acting so apologetic and then, after a moment of thought, she understood.
“Oh, I’m not mad at you for that, this is just a part of my solution” Dash raised an eyebrow at her ominous words. She waited patiently for her friend to elaborate.
“I discovered this while reading over some ancient research texts from the canterlot archives” Proudly, she presented her work to the restrained Pegasus, as if expecting her understand what it was or what it meant for the both of them. It didn’t seem like anything special to her, the most noticeable thing about the substance was that it glowed but, in retrospect, she had seen many other substances do that.
“This magical concoction has the remarkable property of being able to transform any living tissue into organic metal” Smiling, she beamed at Dash. Dash had no idea what she had said, she guessed that if Twilight had told that to some fancy scientist they would have known what she was talking about, but she was no scientist. She was still clueless as to what any of it had to do with her.
“The new organic metal is miraculous you know; it’s extremely tough, durable, adaptable and, quite possible my favourite part” She paused for effect, barely able to contain her own enthusiasm. She leaned in closer until she was only a few inches away from her face.
“It doesn’t age” Dash thought for moment as Twilight waited. She questioned why she would remind her of such an obvious fact. It took a moment for Dash to realise what she was implying and when she did her eyes widened in horror at the grim suggestion. She reasoned that she was being ridiculous, Twilight couldn’t possibly be considering what she thought she was considering, could she?
“But...but, this can’t be what the princess was talking about!” Fear gripped her as she added two and two together, finding the evidence impossible to ignore. She struggled harder against her bonds, forcing the cuffs to dig into her flesh. It hurt as they did so but she didn’t care, she had to escape. To her disappointment, no matter how hard she tried the cuffs held firm, locking her in place.
“I agree, but I can’t ignore the fact that you are very reckless” Her fear was soon replaced with anger at the purple alicorn. Her features hardened, she was angry at her friend, angry that she would worry so much about her, angry, that she would try and force her into something she never asked for. Although the last thought brought a question to her attention, had she felt the same about becoming an alicorn? No, anypony would jump at the chance to be an alicorn princess, wouldn’t they?
“Yes, it’s likely that there is a better method but it would take years to find an alternative” She stopped struggling and glared at Twilight. Sure she was reckless but it was something she loved to do, nothing could replace the feeling she got from flying and pulling tricks for her friends, it was what made her happy. She brought herself out of her thoughts, raring to express her anger at her friend.
“Well then why the hay are you doing this Twilight!” She regretted her words almost immediately as Twilight began to tear up, sniffling pathetically. She was about to apologise for it but turned rigid as Twilight slowly looked at her with a mix of anger and sadness, she could see it in her eyes.
“Because what if the next time you crash you don’t just end in the hospital for a week!” Silence found its way inbetween them again. The tears flowed freely from Twilight’s eyes as she sobbed. Dash bit her tongue, turning away from Twilight, she had no idea how to respond to that. She hadn’t really considered the possibility of the next crash being her last. She wondered if the rest of her friends felt the same way.
“What good will finding an alternative way be if you’re already gone!” Dash turned back to her, mouth open, ready to give reassuring words to her crying friend but none came to mind. Twilight turned away from Dash, hoping to hide herself from the Pegasus, lest she seem weak in front of her. It was a surprise to Dash when she suddenly spun back around to face her. She no longer had tears in her eyes, instead, there was a flare of determination and willingness to do what was necessary. Some invisible forced painfully jerked her head upwards to face the needle which was now slowly descending towards her. Her right eye was locked in place as the long needle came to a halt just above it.
“This is the only way” It was barely audible, little more than a whisper, more to herself than Dash. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as a white notepad floated over Twilight. She read something on the white paper, flipped a page and scanned over it like the last one.
“Okay, first step, inject formula into cell replication centre, be careful when inserting needle” She nodded at the paper. Once again, Dash tried to shake her way free of the restraints and once again had no success, her only reward was more aches from the leather restraints rubbing on her skin. She continued to shake violently until the invisible force made its way around her whole body, keeping her completely still. She didn’t need to be a genius to know what was about to happen next.
“Don’t worry, I gave you some pain-killers when you were asleep, you won’t feel a thing” Her words did little to reassure her. The needle now floated only a centimetre above the centre of her eye.
It pierced the soft organ carefully. Gritting her teeth, the needle began to move deeper into her skull. When she had said that she wouldn’t feel anything, she hadn’t been completely truthful. While there was no pain, she could still feel it as it forced its way deeper into her head. If she were able to open her mouth she would have likely vomited from the awful sensation. Eventually the needle hit its mark and came to a full stop. A disturbing feeling followed as it emptied its contents into her head. Twilight removed the needle once she was sure that the entirety of the needles content had been pumped into the Pegasus’s brain.
“There, that wasn’t so bad now was it?” She gave her the best stern look she could manage with only one eye. She gasped as a burning sensation flooded her mind; she winced as the inferno burnt away in her head.
“Now for step two” As if on cue she started to frantically rock back and forth on the medical table in a weak attempt to knock it over. With her so wrapped up in her own futile movements she barely registered Twilight walking away from her. She made no progress with her freedom and a minute later, Twilight returned, a new tool now held firmly in her magic. Using her remaining good eye she tried to ascertain what the new tool was, going stiff when she finally recognised the horrible instrument. A bone saw, a tool meant only for very serious surgeries, such as amputation. She gulped as the thought crossed her mind.
“What’re...What’re you going to do with that?” Twilight didn’t respond, instead she looked over Dash’s form, planning out what she was about to do. She stared suspiciously at one of her hind legs for a moment.
“That injection I gave you is only enough for the internal conversion” A sudden urgency to snap her friend out of the insanity that currently griped her mind came upon her. However before she could say anything, a familiar feeling started to run rampart through her body, causing her to spasm at the pain that was spreading through her insides. She gagged and, turning her head to the right, vomited a substantial amount of blood onto the floor. Gasping for air, she spat, trying to remove the horrible taste of her own blood from her mouth. She could feel the crimson liquid on her lips.
“Ah, I forget to mention that for this to work the chemical needs to replace a portion of your blood and to make room, some blood has to, well...leave the body” More blood pushed its way up her throat, raring to repaint the basement floor. She continued to vomit the crimson liquid for several minutes while Twilight waited patiently. She felt light headed from the traumatic experience.
Twilight, with the bone saw at the ready, closed in on Dash. She did so carefully, as not to step in the spreading pool that the Pegasus had created. Without even first considering Dash’s opinion she raised the bone saw over her right hind leg but paused before she went any further.
“So unless, you want me begin somewhere else, I was thinking about starting with the right one” her heart stopped in her chest, Twilight had a lot more in store for her than a simple needle through the eye.
"You want to cut off my legs! What the buck is wrong with you!” She found it harder to struggle due to the blood loss. She tried in vain to kick up at Twilight. She was running out of ideas fast and it wouldn’t be long until the alicorn would start cutting. Her inner voice shouted at her, telling her to flee, to run away and never return, but she could do nothing to remove the cuffs that held her.
“All I have to do is amputate your legs, leave them in a large amount of the formula, and then reattach them, better than new” Twilight grinned, speaking as if it was just an everyday thing to cut up a friend . It chilled Dash to hear her friend speak so calmly about mutilating the Pegasus. Twilight shrugged and without an answer from Dash, she turned back to her task of removing the chosen limb. She levitated a white medical kit over to them. Opening the box’s lid, she frowned and cast it into one of the room’s shadowy corners.
“Damn, all out” She muttered a number of other curses under her breath. She looked back to Dash, an apologetic expression on her face. The cyan mare said nothing, staring in confusion and terror, especially the latter. Another levitating object soon came into view. This time it wasn’t any kind of tool or magical formula , it was simply a wooden stick.
“Here, bite down on this” She was hesitant to question the reasoning behind her instruction, knowing full well that nothing good could come of asking.
“Why?” Just that moment, the image of the stick along with the instruction from Twilight brought up an old memory. During a medical class in school, she was taught that if she ever had to push a bone back in or something equally as painful, then she must place something in the patient’s mouth to help them endure the pain. Twilight sighed in annoyance as Dash closed her mouth, refusing to bite down onto the stick.
“Very well, just don’t blame me if you bite your own tongue off” A shiver ran up her spine as the cool metal of the blade grazed her fur. She was overwhelmed by the reality of the situation, by the idea that her friend, one of her best friends, was about to tear her apart.
“Twilight stop, you have don’t have do this, please!” It was a mistake for her to have spoken as Twilight took the opportunity to forcefully wedge the stick inbetween her teeth, lodging it there with another telekinetic field. She continued to beg her friend to stop, even though every word came out as muffled gibberish.
“All right, brace yourself, I’m going to start cutting” A bead of sweat ran down the side of Twilight’s face, she gulped. On paper the procedure sounded fairly easy. She planned out every last detail from gathering the necessary items to kidnapping Dash during the night. But now she was actually carrying out the surgery, she was starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing, she began to consider if it really was the right course of action. She quickly reassured herself however, that it was the only way to ensure that her friend wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon. With a new found determination, she began.
Dash broke down into hysterics as she started to saw into her flesh, tearing the muscle and nerves apart. Never before had she experienced such pain, her one eye widened in horror. She clenched her jaw, biting hard into the mangy stick as her tears flowed freely from her eyes, rolling down her face to mix with the blood below her. A sickening noise filled the well lit room as she made her way through the bone.
By this point, Dash could barely think, the pain was too much for anypony to endure. Her screams were muffled by the rotted wood that had been planted firmly inbetween her teeth. She believed it to be her end; she would die to a pony she had sworn loyalty to. Her thoughts shifted over to a darker place as she began to list of all the things she would never do. She would never get to become a Wonderbolt, she would never see her friends or family again and she would never be the famous flyer she had always dreamed of being. She didn’t want to die, she wanted hang out with her friends just like she always did. It couldn’t end like this.
A vomit inducing eruption of blood came from below her midsection, followed by the noise of a heavy object falling onto the metal surface which signified the separation of her leg from the rest of her body. Her eyelids grew heavy and the world became dark, slipping away from her grasp, the last thing she saw was Twilight carrying the severed limb away from her.
Her eyes shot open. She had no indication of how much time had passed since the amputation. Surprisingly, as she tried move, she found the leather cuffs gone. She sat up, puzzled by her new situation. Her memories caught up with her and she grimaced. She dared to glance at what remained of her severed leg, only to find it right where it should be. Her other eye was also no longer impaired. For a second, she humoured the idea that it could have been a nightmare, though this hope was quickly dashed, as she saw that while no longer restrained, she still sat on the same metallic table, in the same room.
“You have no idea how relieved I am to see you awake again” She stiffened in shock. The owner of the voice came into view. Twilight beamed at her friend, making Dash rather nervous. Twilight continued to talk but Dash ignored her words, deciding what she had just discovered was far more interesting. She looked around the room, finding that her vision had been somewhat altered. Everything appeared to be a lot clearer for one, for another, she could see the parts of the room were shadows resided before. Somehow she had gained the ability to see in the Dark.
“You might feel a little drowsy from the blood loss” Her comment returned Dash from her mesmerized state. She looked to Twilight, then to herself and finally, to the exit. Swiftly, she got up onto all four’s and leapt from the table, collapsing into a heap the moment she touched the wooden floor. In a blind panic, she tried to bring herself back onto her hooves but every time she tried, her weak legs would buckle and she’d end up hugging the floor again. It soon dawned on her that her legs weren’t going to be of much use.
“You shouldn’t try to move too much, your new legs are still linking up with your brain” After a considerable amount of effort she managed to prop herself up, using the table as a support. She looked down at herself, noticing something very different about her legs. They felt just like they had yesterday, however, she could see that her fur was slightly darker than usual and that the tip of each hair had a faint dark blue glow.
“I kind of...went ahead with the other three while you were asleep” Twilight waited for Dash to respond. Dash had nothing to say, she just sat there, staring at what her friend had done to her. Slowly, dark blue tears flowed from her eyes as she cried silently. She hated to look at herself; she was a monster, a deranged attempt to gain immortality by merging flesh and metal.
“Are you ready to do your wings yet?” Almost instantly her tears stopped; she raised her head to look into the eyes of the alicorn. Her pupils shrank considerably. She glanced backwards, her head at an awkward angle as she looked to her wings. No, the one word echoed through her head, repeating itself over and over again. Clumsily she flopped to the left and began to crawl towards the stairs.
“Dash” Not even bothering to glance back at Twilight she carried on, more determined than ever to escape with both wings intact. She reached the first step, already exhausted due to having to drag the lower half of her body most of the way. She began to ascend the dauntingly tall staircase. A dizzying headache overcame her suddenly, causing her to gag. She begged her body not to but she couldn’t stop it. She threw up over the stairs, spewing an all too familiar dark blue substance from her mouth. She reached out for the next step, using all of her remaining strength to raise her leg. Unluckily for Dash, she felt something grab onto her tail and before she knew what was happening she was being dragged backwards, towards the table. Twilight gently levitated her onto the metal surface, making sure to place her lying on her front to allow her better access to the feathery appendages she intended to amputate.
“Please don’t make this any harder” Mentally, she was mess. She had been so confident she could do it when she started on the first one, but by the last leg, her mind had quite literally broken down. And now, she had to do the same to the one thing the Pegasus treasured most, so she could do without Dash making it any harder for her. Dash squirmed weakly as she sobbed; her tears creating a small dark blue puddle under her head.
“Twilight please, I’m begging you, don’t do this!” She desperately hoped that her friend would snap out of her crazed state and let her go. Her normal bravado had deserted her, leaving a scared filly behind. She could handle fighting the run of the mill evil doers but this wasn’t like anything they’d ever done, this was torture, brutal torture.
"Don’t do this, Twilight!” She continued to beg, knowing full well that it was a futile effort. A blood stained bone saw flew over head and out of sight behind her. She felt it a second later as it Twilight began to cut into the muscle of the appendages.
Her mind practically destroyed itself, breaking down into nothing but stray thoughts and panic. She screamed louder than ever before, wailing in pain, it felt ten times more painful than when she had had the same done to her leg. An explosion went off inside her head as Twilight reached the bone. With Each movement of the blade she cut deeper into the sensitive tissues, Dash could barely breathe with all her screaming. Twilight cringed, wishing that she had kept the stick from before, she closed her eyes tight at the sound of Dash’s pain.
Finally, in one last quick cut, the wing came free, splattering Dash’s new dark blue blood across her own back. Twilight sighed in relief, ignoring the fact that Dash was still screaming from the trauma she had just endured. She picked up the severed appendage and placed into a large container that held more of the magical chemical. It fizzled as it ate away at the flesh and bone, transforming into both a flexible and almost indestructible metal. She left the chemical to do its gory work. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she picked up the bone saw for what would be the last time.
“Twilight, stop, or...or I’ll never forgive you” If she were to be honest, it was unlikely that she would ever forgive her even if she did stop now, the damage had already been done. Twilight’s expression didn’t change from the same deranged smile as she causally walked up to the Pegasus, who still remained restrained by her magic.
I know you won’t, not right away at least but I’m sure you’ll forgive me eventually, I mean, you’re going to have a lot of time to think about it” She could feel it as the blood rushed up her throat to forcefully exit out her mouth in an horrible blue spray. Dash managed to pull her head upwards, to Twilight’s surprise, and looked at her in utter terror. Twilight wore an overjoyed smile that radiated both happiness and delusion at the same time.
“And then we can be friends forever” She barely registered her talking, the pain running wild through her body made it difficult to concentrate on anything. She bit hard into her lip, drawing blood and although it was painful, it was nothing in comparison to what she was feeling in her other wing. Her throat burned as she screamed, calling out for somepony, anypony to help her. She was far too occupied by her own torment to notice a single tear slid down her former friend’s face.
“Forever”
Author's Note
Didn't have as much time to check over this as I would have liked but oh well, just glad its done. Twilight can get a little bit crazy sometimes, which sucks for Dash. Actually need to write something less dark to even out the balance, back to writing a rainbow rises then I suppose.
As always, thanks for reading.
