RQ2: Rising Storm

Chapter 3- Arcanum

Rainbow Dash collapsed onto Soarin’s couch as soon as they entered the house. She stretched her wings and closed her eyes, letting her mind regain some of its former peace. Sleep had instantly fallen over her.

Rainbow was surrounded by complete and utter darkness. There was nothing here except herself. Well, herself and this mirror. She trotted over to the wall-sized mirror and gazed into her reflection. For some reason, she knew that her reflection wasn’t hers at all. There was something in the eyes that bespoke of great hostility.

Then her reflection spoke.

“We still have unfinished business, you and I,” she said.

“What?” Rainbow asked, perplexed.

The reflection stepped out of the mirror and stood face to face with Rainbow. As she stood there, the irises of her eyes became red, her coat and mane faded to black, and her feathers grew tattered. “I know you don’t remember me. But surely you remember him…” She pointed into the darkness.

Rainbow followed her gesture and noticed that black unicorn, standing in the distance. “Who is he? He’s in my dreams all the time. I’ve never even met him before.”

“Trust me, you have,” the reflection said. “And I assure you, you’ve been in his.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on. Who are you? Who is he? Why am I in his dreams? Where are we?”

The Dark Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You really can’t remember, can you? I almost feel sorry for you. But I don’t. You’ve hurt me too badly for that. You stole everything from me. And now I am in an eternal sleep. Because of you.” She turned to face the red-maned unicorn in the distance. “I can’t wait for the fulfillment of the prophecy… It’ll mean I have a chance to see you again.”

“What did I do?” Rainbow asked.

But then the world of dreams shattered. And the nightmare began.

“Rainbow, get up! We have to go!” Soarin said in a harsh whisper as he shook her awake. Rainbow Dash sat straight up and glanced around the room, an immediate sense of panic sweeping over her. She could see stars and feel a gentle breeze through the open window. Nothing seemed wrong.

Rainbow opened her mouth to ask what the matter was but Soarin placed a hoof over her mouth and pointed upwards. She glanced at the ceiling above her, ears pricked. A very soft shuffling could be heard vaguely from upstairs. Rainbow’s heart rate began rising as she realized that something was up there. She turned to Soarin with fear in her gaze.

“What do we do?” she whispered.

“We have to leave,” Soarin whispered back.

“But what if whatever’s up there sees us? There are quite a few windows up there.”

“Well, we can leave through the basement. The walls are made of cloud after all.”

“But won’t that make noise? The concentrated clouds used to make houses are almost thick enough that an earth pony could walk on them. Busting them would sound like bucking a tree,” Rainbow pointed out.

Soarin frowned in frustration. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about that.” While they were thinking of a solution, the shuffling crossed over them towards the staircase.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Rainbow urged, struggling to keep it a whisper.

“I got an idea. Follow me,” Soarin said, and hurried over to the basement door. He opened it and gestured for Rainbow to go down ahead of him. As soon as she did, the door shut behind her.

“Hey!” Rainbow yelped. She turned and tried to pull the door open, but it had been locked from the outside. Had Soarin betrayed her? There was no way.

“Just go break the wall. I’ll keep the intruder distracted,” Soarin’s voice came from the other side of the door.

Rainbow didn’t want to leave him behind. If he was going to fight, she’d rather be beside him, helping him do so. But there would be no changing his mind. Soarin would be furious if she broke down the door, and she still was low on sleep. It’d benefit her to just do as she was told.

Rainbow turned from the door and hurried down the stairs. She started slamming down on the ground with her forehooves, the clouds quivering slightly under her. Upstairs she heard yelling. As she persisted, the racket above her head grew. Things were crashing and glass breaking. It sounded as if a fight had broken out. The floor was thinning the more she pounded on it, but it was taking longer than she had initially thought; it was like smashing through dirt, weak but compact.

Suddenly, a bit of the floor crumbled away, and a little bit of moonlit ground could be seen far below. She struggled to widen the hole enough to allow herself through. When she had widened the hole to about two feet in diameter, she tried to push herself through, desperate to escape. She barely fit if she kept her wings and hooves pressed close to her sides.

Rainbow squirmed through the narrow opening, almost halfway through. She’d be able to push through the softer clouds when she got there. But she never did. She heard the door behind her smash open and somepony grabbed her by the tail.

“Gotcha!” growled a voice muffled by her tail. She felt herself being dragged out of the hole. She struggled against the pull, but her hooves couldn’t get a good enough grip on the cloudy walls.
When her hind legs were free, she kicked at her attacker who stumbled backwards. Rainbow tried to push herself back into the hole, but she was being dragged by the tail again.

When her head was pulled free, she turned to see who she was dealing with. It was the same dark purple pegasus, she had run into before. It almost wasn’t a surprise. She knew that he was definitely up to something shifty from the beginning. What was it he wanted?

Soarin tackled him out of nowhere and wrestled him to the ground, a trickle of blood dripping from his brow. “Go on Rainbow, get out of here!” he shouted, holding the other pegasus’ neck with his hooves, threatening to choke him out.

Rainbow shot through the door and into the living room. Glass was shattered across the floor, shelves knocked over, and furniture smashed. She dodged the debris and made for the front door. Kicking it open she flew out into the night, safe at last.

But what about Soarin? She couldn’t just leave him. He was her boyfriend after all! She made an immediate U-turn and shot for the door. The purple pegasus was waiting for her at the door. He splashed some sort of liquid in her face and the world seemed to distort around her. Then she felt sleep settle over her; beautiful, comforting, mindless sleep.

Soarin pushed the trophy shelf that the intruder had pushed on top of him off. He climbed to his hooves and flew through the basement door to see the purple pegasus standing in the doorway,Rainbow Dash draped over his back. Soarin lunged forward, but the pegasus sidestepped and he crashed into the clouds outside.

“Say goodbye to your precious Rainbow,” the pegasus taunted.

“Let her go!” Soarin shot forward, missing him by only a few inches.

“How about no. I’m getting a lot of reward by bringing her back to my time.”

“Your time? You don’t make any sense!” Soarin said panting. He wiped a bit of blood out of his eye and snarled. “Let her go!”

He lunged once more at him, but the pegasus brought out a white stone and threw it at the cloud below him. He dove after it, a purple and blue streak. As soon as he hit where the stone lied, a bright light exploded and both pegasi were gone, leaving Soarin all alone…

That night, Soarin didn’t sleep. Not knowing what else to do, he flew to Cloudsdale Hospital. He may as well check on Spitfire. He needed a friend nearby. He and Spitfire had been friends since childhood. She was a bit harsh to him in public, but when alone, they’d hang out like old times.

When he entered the facility he was surprised to be greeted by the nurse almost immediately.
“It’s a miracle! Everypony who received the cure you brought has had an overnight recovery! We just ordered an entire crate from the Princess. Thanks to you and your friend we had enough to treat about seven.” Then she frowned. “Are you okay? That’s a pretty nasty gash on your head there.”

“I’m fine,” he said, but she already had already hurried off to get first aid, beckoning him to follow. He sighed and did so, allowing her to clean and stitch his eyebrow.

“So, did you give some to Spitfire like I asked?” he asked.

“Why yes. And she’s doing just fine. We’re letting her out tomorrow,” the nurse replied as she threaded the needle.

“That’s good,” he said. “I’d like to see her when you’re done.”

“Sure,” she said. They sat in silence for a few seconds before she asked, “So, how’d you manage to get this wound anyways?”

“Somepony broke in and kidnapped Rainbow Dash,” he muttered blankly.

“What?!” the nurse yelped and accidently tugged the string so hard it snapped.

“OW!” Soarin cried, grasping his face.

“Oops. Hehe. Well, you’re done,” the nurse said. She shook her head. “I’m sorry about your friend. But she’ll be able to get herself free in no time if the rumors I hear about her are true.”

Soarin knew that it wouldn’t be that easy, but right now he needed to believe that. Rainbow knew a lot more than he did about magic, spending as much time as she did with Princess Twilight. She could make it.

Soarin made his way to Spitfire’s room, which she was sharing with two other ponies who had received the cure. “Hey, Soarin. Good to see you,” she greeted.

“Yeah. I’m glad you’re feeling better,” he said, knowing that his full heart wasn’t in it, but meaning it all the same.

“So, how did the Gyrfalcon Cup go?” Spitfire asked.

Soarin sighed. He knew that she wasn’t going to like his news. “I… I didn’t go.”

“What?” Spitfire glared up at him with quiet fury, “Even after we trained for weeks on end just to prepare for it?” Her voice was calm, but it still stung.

“But Rainbow Dash needed—“

“So that’s it,” Spitfire interrupted. “You know, if you weren’t so infatuated with her, maybe you might get somewhere in life!”

“It’s not that! She—“

“I don’t want your excuses!” Spitfire shook her head, “I’m beginning to question your loyalty to the team.”

Soarin was glad that the curtain was drawn, so the other patients in the room couldn’t see his face. It was one of pure dread. “Spitfire… you’re not suggesting an ultimatum, are you?”

Spitfire gazed into his eyes steadily. “Choose.”

Soarin turned his head away and sighed. It wasn’t Rainbow Dash or the Wonderbolts he was choosing between. It was Rainbow or Spitfire. The love of his life or his oldest friend. He didn’t want to choose. He wasn’t sure how his life would go on without either. He knew he had no real choice. Soarin was always one to follow his heart.

“I’m sorry…” he said quietly, refusing to meet her gaze.

“I see,” Spitfire replied. Soarin could hear hurt in her voice.

Seeing no more reason to be there, he turned and left, leaving behind one of his two best friends.

After Soarin left the hospital, he decided to go down and visit Ponyville. He didn’t feel like going home because it was a wreck, and he needed the support of ground under his hooves to process his emotions.

As he moped through the streets, he paid little mind to the busy activities of the citizens around him. All he could focus on was his own inner thoughts, slowly dragging him into depression. He had lost almost everything important to him within twelve hours. He was now unemployed, his girlfriend was missing, and his best friend was gone. How could his life get any worse?

Suddenly, Soarin bumped into somepony. Something fell out of her wagon with a clank.

“Sorry, Miss. I wasn’t paying attention,” he apologized as he knelt to pick up the object that had fallen.

“It’s quite alright,” she said. She was a light blue unicorn with a blue and white mane. She struck him as awfully familiar.

“Don’t I know you?” he asked, handing her the strange metal device that had fallen from the cart.

“Maybe, I’m the local dentist,” she said, quickly stowing the device away into her cart.

“Dentist?”

“Yes, and if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for an appointment,” she said, pushing past him.

It struck him as odd that a dentist would have an hourglass as a cutie mark. And just what was that strange contraption that she was carrying? It seemed much more complex than anything he’d ever seen at the dentists’ office.

“Wait up!” Soarin cried, catching up and walking alongside her.

“What is it?” she asked, “I’m a very busy mare.”

“I need to ask you something.”

“Please, make it quick.”

Soarin actually didn’t know what he wanted to ask. All he knew was that there was something about this mare that seemed off. He noticed that he was taking too long to respond just a second too late.

“Okay,” she stopped, turning to face him. “What do you want from me? You want my money?
You trying to harass me or something? What?”

“No, I just wanted ask you—“

“What? Oh I see. You think that our little collision back there was fate, and you think I’m gonna fall hopelessly in love with you. Well, I’m not!”

“What? No!” Soarin exclaimed. What was it with mares cutting him off today?

“What then?” she demanded hotly.

“You just seem like you’d know about weird things going on around here, and I wanted to know if you’d seen a dark purple pegasus with a gold mane around,” he said as soon as the thought popped into his head. He prayed that it didn’t sound too offensive.

The blue unicorn gazed at him quietly for a moment, then looked around. Then, in a hushed voice she said, “You have to promise you won’t tell anypony what I’m about to show you.”

Soarin nodded, his curiosity piquing.

“Alright then,” she said, “follow me.”