Convergence

The following is a segment from chapter one of this stories sequel,The Eyes of Discord  Please enjoy.

Pony, Pray the maker keep you from sleep,

When eyes of Discord begin to weep,

For all your dreams be dreams that creep,

And in the Blackness haunt you.

When open wide the eyes become,

What a foe you must overcome,

For from the eyes great evil runs,

And in the Blackness taunts you.

Across the worlds, the evil spans,

You’ll scream to think your fears began,

Not because of the twisted one’s hand…

But because the Blackness wants you.

TWO YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL “CONVERGENCE” INCIDENT.

(The War of Shattered Space)

<(^)>

Rainbow Dash shouted as she was thrown into a cloud pillar, propelled by a nearby blast of heat.

“Ugh!”

She rubbed her head, looking around, confusion clouding her mind.  Above her, dozens of other pegasi were flying away from the area as fast as they could, retreating into the wild blue sky above.

“What the hay?”

She looked up, a sense of dread creeping over her.  Up above her, an ominous black cloud hung, where once a beautiful cloud building had been.  A few fragments drifted down from the cloud.  Ash, a few pieces of wood, and much to her horror, charred feathers.  While she was staring at the gruesome scene, a faint thundering sound could be heard, growing nearer, and louder.

As the sound grew closer, the few ponies that were still in the area cleared away, screaming.  Rainbow heard a series of short, rapid pops, and watched as one pegasi suddenly slumped, and fell towards the ground, trailing blood behind it.  She felt the cold presence of fear enter her heart.

“Oh no…”

Her eyes shifted, following her ears to the source of the noise.  The metal beast hung in the air, its blades spinning wickedly.  The thing seemed to glare at her, almost freezing her in her spot.  Almost.  Rainbow Dash threw herself off the cloud, just as the beast fired one of its fiery projectiles forward.  The cloud exploded behind her, singing her tail, and flinging her forward, screaming the whole way.

She spread her wings, catching herself, just before she hit another cloud building.

She heard a faint voice, as if coming to her from across a great distance.

“It’s ok Dashie…”

“Huh?”

She quickly glanced around, and saw that the only other ponies in the area were fleeing as fast as they could.  The distant metal behemoth was turning now, coming to face Rainbow once again.

With a start, Rainbow Dash realized that the lumbering craft before her was not the only source of the large, throbbing noise.  She dove downward, yelling as the cloud bank behind her exploded.  The clouds parted rapidly, revealing another of the metal monstrosities.  She dove underneath of a nearby cloud, stopping briefly to catch her breath.

“What in the world are those things?” She asked nopony in particular.  Slowly, she realized she was shaking.  Above her, she could still here the screams of fleeing ponies, and the sounds of the metal beasts, mixed in with the occasional explosion.  Despite her usual confidence, she felt a cold finger of terror scrape across her back.  This was bad… very, very bad.

“It’s ok…”

Rainbow dared to peek around the cloud, afraid of what she might see.  Slowly, the hideous sight came into view.  The two things were circling through the city, sending flaming objects into the cloud structures, and any ponies unlucky enough to be in them.

“Sweet Celestia…”

Rainbow Dash slowly shook her head, transfixed by the carnage.  It was a harrowing sight.  She felt herself tremble, unsure of what to do.  Her heart thundered away in her chest, almost matching the sound of the beasts.  Suddenly, she heard that awful sound again, though this time, it came from directly below her.  She spun downward, adjusting her view.  Yet another of the wicked monsters was facing her, its wings covered with weapons.

“I’ve got you, it’s all right…”

Rainbow Dash screamed as a small projectile whizzed past her, chopping through the cloud at her back.  Furiously beating her wings, she zipped off in between two rows of buildings, afraid to look back.  She had no need to:  her ears confirmed her suspicions.  The metal giant was following her.

Around her, the buildings burst into flames.  She could feel the heat singe her fur, and her mane.  Ahead of her, she could see the massive Cloudaseum.  She flew towards the structure, hoping that its great walls would shield her.

“Dashie, it’s all ok…”

Zipping through the open archways, Rainbow entered to middle of the arena, and stopped cold.  In front of her, barely a hundred feet away, one of the beasts hovered, its cool metal surface gleaming in the sunlight.  Quickly, she jerked to the right, but stopped dead in her tracks.  Another of the monsters was hovering there as well, creeping slowly towards her.  She gulped, and then swung to face her old left.  She groaned as she saw another of the things slide into place.

Rainbow didn’t even bother to look behind her, she could see the reflection glinting on the monstrosity before her.  She was totally surrounded.  She felt like her heart was bursting out of her chest, as she was completely transfixed in fear.  She tried to climb, get up above the things, but she felt as though her wings were made of lead.

“Oh no!”

The things got closer to her.

“It’s alright Dashie…”

Small flaming projectiles separated themselves from the accursed metal creations, all flying towards her.

“NO!” She screamed, her heart pounding, her entire body shaking with terror.  Still, her wings were frozen, refusing to beat.

The little demons closed in on her.

“It’s ok…”

With a huge, searing heat, they exploded around her, burning her fur, nocking loose dozens of her feathers, and sending her plummeting to the ground, far, far below.  He mouth was curled open in a scream of pain, a trail of fire behind her.  The ground rushed up to meet her.

“NOOOO!!!”

“It’s all going to be ok…”

<(^)>

Rainbow’s eyes snapped open, her chest heaving, her entire body shaking.  A soft voice was whispering in her ear, its source half an inch from the side of her head.

“It’s ok Dashie, I’ve got you.”

Rainbow suddenly realized that she was wrapped in strong forelegs, and soft wings.  She glanced around herself for a moment, still afraid for her life.

              She was in her bed, the sheets covering all of her body except for her head.  The room was dark, and the clock on the wall read three in the morning.  As far as she could tell, she was uninjured.  The voice came again, though this time from beneath her.

“It’s ok… it’s ok.”

She looked down, locking on to the source of the voice.  Slowly, she stopped trembling.  Her breath caught for a second, and then she felt a few tears escape her eyes, running down her face.  She dove her head down, snuggling against the stallion that held her in his strong embrace.  She reached down around him, wrapping him in her forehooves.  Slowly, she unfurled her wings, feeling the feathers brush against the bed sheets, and then wrapped them around the pony that she lay on.  Though she was now completely awake, he continued to whisper.

“It’s alright, you’re safe, I’ve got you…”

Tenderly, he stroked her mane, comforting the disturbed mare.  Little by little, she regained her composure, and raised her head, looking into her husband’s eyes.

“Thanks Swifty.”

Swiftwing smiled, and then hugged her more tightly against himself. “Are you alright Dashie?  That was one heck of a nightmare.”

She inhaled quickly, remembering the dream. “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.  Sorry I woke you.”

He shook his head.

“Are you kidding me?  I’m glad you woke me.  You’re lucky I was here.  You were shaking so bad, and you nearly rolled off the bed.  I barely managed to grab you, I mean, I was still half asleep and all.”

“I… I guess.”

Rainbow was frustrated with herself for having the repeated nightmares, and even more annoying, they were getting worse, and more common, not sparser.  She felt like a filly, still traumatized by the event that had happened two years ago.  Still… she had to admit, waking up in Swiftwing’s gentle embrace sure beat the crap out of waking up alone, and finding that she’d managed to roll off the bed, taking the sheets with her.

“I’m just glad that I can repay the favor…”

Swiftwing’s voice sounded in her ears once more.  Rainbow groaned, thinking back over the past few weeks.  They had been exceptionally good, with Swiftwing getting a promotion in the royal guard, and Rainbow receiving more and more interest from the Wonderbolts.  It almost seemed as though the entire world had turned in their favor, ever since their wedding, six weeks earlier.  Well, the entire world, except for one, tiny detail:  The fact that they were both plagued by their old memories, haunted by the ghosts of the past.

Some nights were blissfully calm, but that scarcely happened.  More often than not, one of the two woke up in the others strong embrace, screaming loud enough to raise the dead.  She was glad that Tank slept outside, otherwise the tortoise would probably have gone deaf by now.

Rainbow Dash sighed, and then carefully pulled herself up, heaving herself over to lie beside the pegasus stallion.  He turned with her, maintaining his embrace.  She snuggled against him, afraid to go back to sleep, not wanting the monsters of her own imagination to return.

“Swifty… I’m scared.  I feel like I can’t even sleep anymore.  Why does this keep happening to us?  It’s making me feel so stupid…”

“I don’t know Dashie… I don’t know.”

Gently, Swiftwing pressed his lips against hers.  After a few moments, he was about to pull back, when he felt her pull herself closer, pressing against him.  He moaned softly, and tightened his grip on her body.  The two ponies snuggled against each other, enjoying the other’s presence.