It had been three hours since the Crystal Train had pulled into the station and its passengers dropped of at the glorious Crystal empire. Every pony had pitched in to help; Princess TwilightSparkle and Princess Cadence conducted the "organization team" and RainbowDash offered her services to their weather crew.
"Dear Celestia! These colors will never do! Not at all!" Rarity channeled her energy into horn, using it to levitate a gray banner off the wall and replace it with a light blue one.
It was then that a figure flew by her, knocking down the banner and turning the startled mare's mane into a frizzy mess off intertwined knots and purple strands.
"RAINBOWDASH!" She screamed after her but to no avail, Dash was already out of earshot.
She was heading to the old throne room. That was where Dash was told to find the Princesses busy at work doing egg-head stuff and report to them the weather news. When ChillBreeze had told her he needed to tell the Princesses that all clouds were under control, Dash immediately took the chance to spreed her wings again in search of Princess Twilight and Cadence. After touching down on the marble floor, RainbowDash peeked inside the door way. There was no sign of them or anypony else.
"Twilight? Princess C-adence? Any pony here?"
Dash, after establishing that no pony was there, walked into the overly large room in front of the throne and sat herself upon it.
"I, the mighty Queen Dash, now declare that every Wonderbold treat me with respect!" She declared to the empty room.
Glancing left and right again to make sure no pony was watching, she placed the crown that had lay on the seat of this throne onto her rainbow colored mane.
"And I also proclaim tha-" She stop, hearing the Southern twang of AppleJack's voice down the hall.
"It aint gunna be a problem Fluttershy, trust me! I'll have plenty of food for every pony, but thanks any way!"
Dash frantically pulled at the crown, trying to get it off before her friend could see her. Dash tried using her wings now, feeling a sense she wasn't used to, panic. Out of no where, a large hole in the ground appeared before Dash, having no where else to run, eagerly took the ideal escape rout.
Into the darkness was her only chance to save herself from a large amount of embarrassment. Like a thick blanket covering her eyes, the darkness surrounded her....But then...Then there was a light, brighter than Celestia's sun it blinded her. She could faintly make out the silhouette of a door. RainbowDash walked carefully to the open entrance, using her left wing as a shield from the blinding light emanating from it. The intensity of the source had died down and Dash could now look at the door clearly. No sooner had she done so, then a numbing chill burst down her spine and wings. Her hooves became distant from all other parts of her pony body. All amounts of force she pushed to her legs could not keep her upright and standing. Her legs wobbled and the room spun...
The aching in her wings could no longer be felt. The pain was completely gone! Dash sighed in relief and stood to her full height in attempts to get a better look at her new surroundings. A small filly walked past her, kicking his front hoof out while next to her. Dash fell to the ground once again to the amusement of the foal.
"Hey! What give's kid!?"
She received no reply as the colt continued on his way into the foggy abyss that surrounded Rainbow. Another filly, recognizable by the orange coat and purple mane as Scootaloo, stopped into view and by her side.
"What's going on Scoots?" Asked RainbowDash.
Her answer was harsh and cold, "No pony calls me Scoots!"
The Filly raised a hoof. Dash pulled her wing up to stop the blow in time, only to have Scootaloo's hoof find it's mark on Dash's eye. RaindowDash howled in pain as blood trickled down the side of her face. It was then that she realized her wings were not there! Panic and shock filled the mare's thoughts as a flightless future seeped into mind.
"No PONY!" Dash looked up to the young Scootaloo who had once idolized her, searching for some sign of recognition.
"Scoots!? It's me...RainbowDash!" She yelled, but her word did not seem to find its quarry.
Rainbow wiped a line of blood from her eye and focused her attention back on the filly. She was gone, in her place, SpitFire!
'SpitFire?! Oh my gosh! W-w-what are you doing here!?" Dash placed one hoof over her bloody eye and the other to cover the place in which her wings once were.
"Your not Wonderbolt material!" She spat, "In fact, because of you, there ARE no Wonderbolds!"
"NO!"
Dashes parents and friends emerged from the fog.
"Mom...Dad." Dash managed to squeak, "What's happening?...Twilight? Guys? Can you here me!? What's happening to me!?"
Her screams could not be heard by any pony as they all raised a hoof to her face and chanted in unison, "Failure...Failure"
"NO!!!Stop! Mommy! Please!" Tears ran down her cyan colored fur, mixing in with the dried blood.
"Pleeeeease!" Her voice was only a croak now as she covered it with wet hooves....
"Dash?"...
"Please..Please stop..."
AppleJack poked at her friend's side a few more times.
"Dash? Are yu....Cry'n?"
"Huh?! Wuh? AJ?"
"Um. Eeup?"
Dash flung herself toward her friend and grasped her in a tight embrace.
"Whow nelly! What happen to yuh?"
"I'm so glad it's you Aj! I-...Wait....I wasn't crying!" She released AppleJack from her grasp and wiped a tear from her cheek.
"Chucks Rainbow! You were cry'n like a filly!" Aj gave her friend a sly look,"Now, let's see about get'n that crown off ya'll before Cadence and Twilight find out shall we?"
"Oh..heh, right."
"What were you doing anyway?"
"I-I don't know. I just looked at this door and..."
"Hmm....Let me take a look see-"
"Aj! NO!"
"Rainbow Dash? Where are yuh? Dash? Taint funny Rainbow!"
Apple Jack squinted at the darkness that surrounded her.
"Thicker than apple soup down here. Rainbow? What'd you do to the lights!?"
She fumbled around in the darkness for awhile, still squinting at the dark, when her front hoof nicked something. Something hard. Aj fell on her face.
"What the!-"
She glanced back at her back hooves. The darkness faded into a dim fog and Apple Jack could now see she was staring at a rather large stone. A quick look to her left and right reveals more just like it, all carved in the same arc like fashion. Aj leaned in to the one closest to her, there was lettering carved into the stone.
Granny Smith.
An amazing mother and grandmother.
She ran the words through her head over and over in her head, trying to make sense of them. Then it clicked. Her head snapped up, panic filling her.
"No! Taint true!"
She searched the other gave stones, all of which she knew the names of.
Tears were rolling down her face and falling into the oblivion that now formed around her.
"What are you doing here Apple Jack?"
Aj looked up to see her older brother towering over her. She flung her arms around his neck, grateful for his company.
"Oh Big Mac! I thought you was dead!"
She weeped into his red coat, only to be pushed back to the ground by his strong hooves.
"What do you think your do'n?! you aint welcome here! Now get!"
"But..."
To her utter shock, the once calm and gentle giant forced hoof to her side, and a the cracking sound was almost audible.
"NOW!" He repeated...
She didn't know how long she had been running, she couldn't remember why, she just needed to get away from here... Suddenly she was in a chair, holding a still Winona in her arms.
"W-Winona?" Aj sobbed.
Her eyes wondered up into a cobweb filled room that once might have been her living room. had it really only been two days ago she was sharing stories with her little sister in here?
"Winona?...Please wake up girl...Please." Her tears fell to the floor and landed and a cracked family picture.
"Winona! Please! You can't leave me like this! Yuh just can't! WINONA!!!"
The only response she would ever receive was that of a distant howl in the everfree beyond, and the sound of her own weeping. And then something else. Something distant. Something familiar...Something was wrong!" AppleJack shot to her hooves, setting Winona down on the rocking chair as she left, and bolted out the door as fast as Rainbow Dash might have. Sh slammed her hooves into the dirt as a cliff came into view.
"Big sis! Heeelp!"
Apple Jack's eyes darted to every edge of the cliff.
"Aj! You promised you wouldn't let them hurt me! You promised!"
"I'm come'n sis!"
Apple jack ran in the direction of her little sister's voice. The ground crumpled beneath her and forced her back to one spot. All edges of the cliff did the same unill there was nothing left of Sweet Apple Acres.
Why couldn't she just jump and end it all?...Why did she insist on staying here, like this? Every time she was ready, ready to leave what little of this world she had, to leave it in one simple, easy jump. Every time, that's when the screaming started. Hours and hours of torturous screams filled the dark obis. Ab was still alive, still in pain and scared.
Apple Jack didn't know how many years she had spent on this 4 hoof by 4 hoof island, but she would do anything for it to end. After what felt like the first couple of days, Aj learned to block out the screams, but this time she was gunna do it! Screaming or not, she was gunna jump! She set her hooves on the edge of the cliff and-
"Ahhh!!!!Apple Jack! Help! "
"Apple Bloom!"
She cursed herself. The screaming would begin now. She lay down and folded her hat over her ears, humming numbly as a high pitched scream threatened to break her heart.
"Apple Jack! You promised! Apple Jack....Snap out of it."
That was a new one. She unfolded from the tight ball her body formed and Listened.
"I said-"
Something painful slapped against her cheek and Rainbow Dash focused into view.
"Snap. out. of.it!"
"Huh?Wuh? Where am ah?"
"What did you see Aj?"
Memories flooded into mind. it was just a vision. A bad dream. Nothing more than that. But nothing less either. She could still hear Apple Bloom's crys.
"Umm...Girls? Are...Are you alright?"
The two lifted their heads to the opening and could just make out angle bunny and Fluttershy leaning over them from far above.
"We are now. Come on yall. Let's get outa here."
