Adventures and Alicorns

Rainbow Dash bolted her eyes open. She wasn’t sure when she had woken up or if she had ever really been sleeping to begin with because she didn’t feel tired in the slightest. Regardless, she had been out of it in some fashion because she quite suddenly found herself in a place she had never been before.

She was standing in the middle of an intersection, the ungroomed dirt road beneath her hooves. The roads stretched out away from her in all four directions, each side lined with dilapidated buildings covered in cracks and broken shutters. Ponies mingled about in the street, most of them attempting to keep to themselves and wearing baggy clothing that hid their body from view. Some were even wearing cloaks, and nopony seemed to want to look anypony else in the eyes.

“What the…?” was all she could say. She spun around wildly, desperately trying to make sense of the situation. Wait a minute… Just before I fell unconscious, something happened… I was at-

Rainbow’s train of thought was cut off as somepony bumped into her from behind. She was knocked forwards and would have fallen on her face had she not instinctively thrown out her wings and flapped, forcing her body into the air. Having avoided the dirt sandwich, she turned around mid flap and looked at the pony who had bumped against her.

It was an old earth pony stallion who was wearing a very ragged and dirty tunic. The cloth was the color of mud and appeared to have been stained by it as well. The pony was rubbing his forehead and cracked open one eye to look at Rainbow. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you!”

Rainbow merely regarded him with a blank expression, not really sure what to make of it. She glanced up and down his body, taking in his entire image. However, before she could finish, something at the fringe of her vision caught her attention. Strangely enough, it was at the bottom of her sight… Looking down to find out what it was, she noticed that it was her own body. Or to be more precise, what was on her body.

Her mouth dropped open as she raised her arms and inspected every inch of herself that she could see. From the base of her neck to the calves on her legs, her body was covered in a clean suit of black, metal armor. Her arms were similarly protected, black vambraces and gauntlets covering the plated pieces of her new outfit.

The armor was not the thing that threw her off guard the most, however. That award went to what she had found strapped to her hip; a longsword in a sheathe was strapped to her waist. She momentarily looked at it before she realized that there was something on her back as well. Glancing over her shoulder she found a backpack strapped shut by two leather buckles, and stuffed between the bag and her back was a decent sized black, metal shield.

With a start, she realized how silly she must seem, ignoring this poor stallion in front of her in favor of looking over her own body. Blushing out of embarrassment, she quickly looked back at him as she continued to hover a few feet off the ground. He was simply standing there, looking at her as though he didn’t quite know what to say.

Rainbow coughed into her fist before speaking. “Uhh, I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t really listening. But, uh, can you tell me… Can you tell me what’s going on?”

The pony’s eyebrows knitted together as his lip curled into a look of confusion; to Rainbow it looked as though he had seen some really disgusting bug. “I- What? What do you mean? I, uh, knocked into you-”

“No, no, not that,” Rainbow said, her voice quick and frustrated. She had bigger problems to worry about. “I mean, where are we for starters?”

“Where are- Miss, we’re in Advent…” The stallion took a wary step backwards, eager to distance himself from this strange pegasus before him.

Rainbow Dash lowered herself back to the ground, a strange look on her face. “Advent? No, that’s not possible. That’s the town in Twilight’s game, it’s... it’s not real. It’s from her book, that rulebook she–”

The stallion stared, his eyes shifting back and forth between Rainbow’s. She had suddenly cut herself off, and her eyes had widened in realization of some fact which was unknown to him. Deciding that whatever was happening here wasn’t worth the trouble, he turned around and ran away. Rainbow didn’t even notice.

Her mind was running at full tilt as it sped backwards, thinking over what she had just said and the last memory she could recall from the library. She remembered finding that Twilight was missing, and the brown package had been unwrapped… Inside of it had been another copy of ‘Adventures and Alicorns’, and when she picked it up, she–

“Hey, Feathers!” a voice rang out, bringing Rainbow Dash back to the present. She blinked and turned to see who had called out. Stalking closer to her with a dagger drawn was a pony she recognized. “I thought you learned your lesson, eh!? What makes you believe you can just waltz on in here!? You think we’re just gonna let you!?”

Rainbow didn’t respond. She was too busy connecting the dots. She had seen this pony before, but… he hadn’t been a pony then. This was quite clearly Dirk, the earth pony that her character Dark Sword had fended off in Twilight’s roleplaying game. She had seen him, yes, but only as a miniature on Twilight’s battlemap. Despite that, here he was as though he had always been real, and on top of that he was advancing forwards with intent to harm, his weapon at the ready.

“What, too scared to speak!? That’s fine, we told you what would happen if you came back! Gotta say, I’ve been lookin’ forward to this!” Dirk smiled, his teeth glinting maliciously as he raised his weapon and pointed it directly at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow looked at the weapon which was just a few feet in front of her, finding it hard to accept what she was seeing. She was in danger! This pony was suddenly real, and she was actually in the town of Advent! She was even wearing armor and had her own weapon! Being in danger wasn’t a new experience to her, she had faced many foes in Equestria after all, but still... This was new. Nopony had ever pointed a blade at her face before.

She sucked in a breath and attempted to calm herself. Things were confusing, this was obvious, and there was a lot of things going on that she didn’t understand. However, the first thing that needed to be addressed was this pony before her. She found herself able to suppress her thoughts and fears and just look at her situation objectively, which was incredibly strange for her. She had never been able to do that before… Yet now it felt almost as if it was second nature.

Casually, she opened her eyes and looked once more at the weapon before her. Her mind picked over it rapidly, taking note of things that she never would have even known to notice before. She briefly wondered how she was seeing these things, but it didn’t really matter. The fact was, she felt almost confident in her ability to handle this situation. It was as if she was a different pony, because Rainbow Dash back in Equestria wouldn’t even know how to react if a sword was shoved in her face. Here though…

Her eyes flicked about, taking note of specific points in the way Dirk was holding his blade. She spotted how the tip seemed to be quivering ever so slightly showing an imperfect grip; how his wrist was angled a little off center, making it very easy for her to knock the blade from his hand. She observed his stance too and again noticed things that revealed to her just how incompetent this earth pony really was. He was not a trained fighter, and the way he was holding his body showed that he relied more on brute strength than finesse.

Rainbow looked into Dirk’s eyes and took note of what she saw; an over eagerness, a boisterous drive to charge forwards and just use overwhelming muscle to pummel anyone who opposed him. It was almost… childish. A true warrior didn’t desire to fight and most certainly did not do so for pleasure.

A niggling thought wormed its way past her mind, forcing to fall back in her mind. What was it she had just realized? A what? A… true warrior?

Is that what I called it?

“Well!? You gonna draw your weapon or just let me gut you!?” Dirk cried out, a small amount of spittle flying from his lips.

Rainbow looked at her left hand for a moment, observing the gauntlet which protected it. A true warrior… Like I had made Dark Sword to be.

She sighed momentarily before grasping her longsword with her left hand. “I don’t really understand what’s going on right now, but if I must defend myself –” Rainbow quickly drew her weapon from its sheath “– then so be it.” She swung the sword around once, testing its weight and marveling at just how natural it felt within her hand.

She realized that she knew the proper stance to make when wielding a single blade. Taking up the proper footing and with the weapon positioned before her, she patiently waited for Dirk to make the first move. After all, she had seen how he held himself; she knew for a fact he would be overly eager in his first strike.

“Gaah, you lousy mule!” Dirk cried out as he rushed forwards, his dagger raised over his head.

In the span of a breath, Rainbow Dash launched herself forwards, her sword arm a flurry of movement. Somehow she knew exactly how to react to Dirk’s advance, thus further cementing the thought which had fallen foremost to her attention. As her blade parried Dirk’s dagger again and again, she couldn’t help but admit it to herself: Somehow, in this world, I am Dark Sword.

A roar burst from Dirk’s lips, assaulting Rainbow’s ears. Her eyes missed nothing however and watched as his grip tightened around his weapon, the knuckles on his fingers whitening. Like a horn on a rampaging bull, he thrust his dagger straight ahead, hoping to catch Rainbow unguarded in the middle of one of her swings. However, he was not so lucky.

Without even so much as flinching, Rainbow threw forwards her right hand, twisting it in such a way as to get a reverse grip on Dirk’s wrist. She yanked downwards with all her strength, Dirk’s feet slipping in the dirt as his footing twisted. His hand, with the dagger still in its grasp, angled towards Rainbow’s right kneecap as she pulled him to the ground.

At the last moment Rainbow twisted her leg and let go of his wrist, letting gravity finish the job. However, she wasn’t done yet. Continuing from the momentum of twisting her leg, she launched it upwards. A sickening crunch echoed forth as Dirk’s chest impaled itself against the blunt armor covering Rainbow’s kneecap.

With a grunt, Rainbow Dash shoved Dirk off of her leg and stepped backwards, watching as he desperately tried to work his lungs, writhing in the dirt. She noticed immediately that his dagger lay a few inches in front of him. Frowning, she went to kick it away.

“Hmmm…” Rainbow sighed, running her free hand through her hair while she sheathed her sword with the other. She found it odd; a fight had just occured, small though it may have been. Why had no guards intervened? Why had nopony cried out about it? Sure, most ponies seemed to be doing their best to ignore them, but was this really such a common occurrence that nopony would think to get a guard?

I guess Twilight wasn’t kidding… This town really is corrupt. Dammit, if I was gonna get sucked into this game, why did it have to be in a place like this?

Rainbow grimaced and looked back towards Dirk, a slight wave of guilt dripping down her spine as she watched him struggle to breathe. She knelt over and grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Hey, easy does it… Come on, stand up.”

Dirk looked at her as though she had two heads. “Wh-What –” he coughed, a bit of blood spraying out “– What are you doin’…?”

“Helping you up.”

“I got that…” he wheezed, supporting himself on one knee. “I mean, why? You won. Why didn’t you just kill me? I would have killed you…”

Rainbow stood back up and let him rest. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she spoke. “Because I wasn’t going to kill you in the first place.”

Dirk didn’t respond immediately. He worked on getting his breath back under control before he stood up the rest of the way. He still had a fire in his eyes that Rainbow realized would probably never be snuffed out, but his jets seemed to have at least cooled a bit.

“I don’t get it,” he said, his mouth pulled in a snarl. “We’re enemies. Our boss ordered us to kill you if you ever got in the way again. I wasn’t gonna let you live… yet you didn’t kill me.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it obvious? You’re a living pony. I have no right to take that away from you. I’ve never killed anypony before and I don’t intend to start now.”

Dirk let out a breath. “Never killed anypony? Really? With skills like yours, I find that hard to believe.”

“Well, believe it, because it’s true. Where I come from, people don’t often fight. In fact, the town I live in doesn’t even sell weapons. We don’t believe in violence.”

A snort was all she got in response. Dirk huffed and chewed on the inside of his lip. “Well… I can’t just let you go. I’d be in serious trouble if I did.”

Rainbow lowered her arms and relaxedly rested her hand on her weapon. “You can do what you want. I may not want to kill you, but I got no problem with beating you again and again till you stop threatening me.”

Dirk just huffed again, his teeth clenched in frustration. Rainbow frowned as a bit of spit splashed onto her armor. “Just leave then. I can’t beat you, and you won’t kill me, so just… just leave.”

Rainbow blinked, realizing that leaving might actually be a good idea. She didn’t really know what to do right now and had no inclination as to what her next move should be. She supposed she should try and find Twilight, because if Rainbow could get sucked in here then it’s entirely plausible that Twilight did too. But where to look…?

Actually, wait a minute…

“Hey, Dirk. Where’s Goldshine? You and that other goon were just harassing her, right?”

“Goldshine? What do you mean by askin’ where she is? You know damn well where she is, don’t play stupid. That’s why you came back, isn’t it?”

Rainbow scratched the back of her head, her mouth slightly ajar. “What do you mean, ‘came back’? I was already here. I just beat you and that unicorn and made you leave Goldshine alone. That was like, what? Half an hour ago?”

Dirk stared at her. It was the first time Rainbow had seen his face without some kind of anger present, and she had to say it made him look a lot friendlier. “Did you hit your head or somethin’? That wasn’t a few hours ago. Heck, that wasn’t even today.”

“What? No, of course it was! I was just doing that battle in the kitchen right before I was pulled here!” Rainbow said, her voice rising slightly as her heartbeat quickened. What the heck is he talking about…?

“Look, uh, I don’t know what you just said, but Goldshine’s been held by our guys for the last few weeks. After you beat us, you just left. You didn’t say nothin’ either, and that was somethin’ like twenty days ago.” He shrugged his shoulders before he glanced away.

“No… No, that’s not possible. Dark Sword wouldn’t- I mean, I wouldn’t have just left her to you two! She’s a friend of mine!” And if I’m Dark Sword, then that means Twilight could be…!

“Well, we didn’t actually take her that day. Granted, we did take her, but it was a few days later… Stoneherd wanted us to make sure you weren’t comin’ back or nothin’...”

Rainbow Dash was fuming, her confusion paramount on her face yet still overshadowed by her anger. Twenty days ago!? How is that possible!? God dammit, Twilight’s been in trouble and I’ve done nothing!

“You’re gonna tell me two things, right now! First, where is she being held!? Second, where is her store!?” she shouted, grabbing Dirk by the front of his armor. She stared into his face without flinching and was pleased to see him sweating. His eyes seemed to have shrunken a bit and he was trying to push her away, albeit to no effect.

“S-She’s being held in the town prison, the t-temporary holding on the first floor!” he said, flinching away a bit as Rainbow shook him slightly.

“And her home!?”

“That way, five blocks!” he said, pointing down one of the streets leading away from their intersection.

Rainbow snarled and let him go with a shove before taking off at top speed down the road. She briefly heard him call out after her, but she didn’t care. She needed to verify something, and she needed to do it now.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Dirk cried out, but it was for naught. Dark Sword was already running full bore down the road, ponies jumping out of her way so as not to get trampled.

He sighed and turned around, idly scratching the back of his head. The air was heavy with dust and clung to him like a mist, making him feel uncomfortable and awkward. Had he really just lost to her? Had he really just let her go? Where was the pony he had been working so hard to become, the unstoppable fighter who had made a name for himself on these filth ridden streets?

’Because I wasn’t going to kill you in the first place,’ she said. What bull shit…

Despite that, he could not deny that he had found no malice in her eyes. He had defeated many a foe and had relished in watching as their hatred leaked from them in their dying breaths just as their soul leaked from their broken bodies. However, with Dark Sword…

Dirk shivered. His eyes wandered and found the disturbed spot from where he had been fighting to breathe in the dirt. Pulling a frown, he thought over it again, how Dark Sword had put him there yet still assisted him in standing back up. It was a minor thing, but still… That wasn’t the kind of comfort you gave to an opponent.

“Aaargh!” he shouted out, rubbing his palms against his eyes. What the hell had just happened here? Dark Sword went against everything he had known to be true here in this town. Nopony looked out for others, especially not their enemies. And yet…

... She showed me compassion…

He knelt down and smoothed the dirt with one hand before turning and looking after her once more. She was far away now and the only thing he could see of her was her bright red mane, flowing behind her as she forced herself onward.

Just what the hell are you, Dark Sword…?