The Dark Zoner

Trials and Pains

Reiner and the doctor turned after a few more steps down the stairs and headed into a thick wooden door. The doctor used his magic to open it as it creaked with dust and grumbled before opening.

Reiner could have probably opened it without help…that is before his condition. Now, it seemed very unlikely. The look in his eyes seemed to convey the same thoughts as the doctor let him go ahead.

Rainbow Dash quickly rushed in just as the door was shutting. She didn’t want to open the door and alert the two stallions to her presence.

“I know I said this before but I’m just worried about your condition.”

“Then, don’t worry.”

“Easier said than done. I understand your types, needing to go back into the glory days. This is an all or nothing procedure, like I said it would be safer to wait—” The look that Reiner gave him made the doctor shut his mouth.

“I’ll help you the best I can, just remember, if this doesn’t work, none of your legs will work and you’d probably open the nerves on the frozen ones. Four times the pain and everlasting, are you sure you want to do this? Of course, we can amputate all of your legs if you so desire…if that happens.”

Rainbow Dash gasped at how impatient her father was being. She knew he was overzealous with his job but this seemed to be risking it.

“It’s not a matter of what I want, it’s a matter of what I need. Me and a few of my clan are going to infiltrate the Moon Realm’s castle and I need to be in top condition. I need to be able to deal with any and all obstacles, especially Twilight Sparkle.” Rainbow never noticed how much her father seemed to hate Twilight before but now that she thought about it, he always wanted to be there whenever there was a chance that she might show up so that he could deal with her. He was rarely home since he went on duties so many times.

Was her father one of those vengeful type of ponies? Did Twilight do something so bad to him that he desired her very death by his own hoofs?

“I understand, sir.” The doctor relented and started to put nerve sensors on Reiner’s body before letting him start the physical therapy. He also broke open the two casts on his legs and removed the bandages.

Both the doctor and Rainbow Dash could see her father wince in pain as he lost his leg supports and started kneeling in greater pain. They knew what he was doing was foolish but there was nothing they could do or say to change his mind.

This would end badly. He was going to end up paralyzed from the bottom of his body to his legs down.

Reiner started to do some stretches, there was the sound of bones creaking as he lifted a leg above his head or bent it to kneel down and stand up. He did this for several grueling hours before finally collapsing.

“We should rest for now.” The doctor said and handed Reiner a water bottle and some pills, probably for his condition. Reiner greedily drank the bottle and swallowed the pills before wiping his mouth with a loud sigh. “Maybe next week?”

“No.” Reiner shook his head furiously.

“Tomorrow?”

“No!”

“Later this evening?”

“No, now!”

The doctor looked puzzled, there wasn’t much that he could do. He handed Reiner some more pills, both for pain and for energy.

Reiner started on the treadmill, walking at first. He then started to sprint a few minutes into it. He ran for about half an hour, at full speed, before he was knocked back. He crashed to the floor. The doctor went up to him for help but he just said, “More!”

Rainbow Dash watched her father continue the physical therapy for a couple of more hours. He finally decided to let it up for now and continue tomorrow. By then, it was already past the afternoon.

When both the doctor and her father left the room, she snuck out a few minutes after them.

Rainbow wasn’t sure what to think of it all, her father was so different than she remembered him. He was so serious and angry. No, not angry, just impatient.

She left the castle walls to think more about what she had just saw when a voice woke her out of her thoughts.

“Rainbow Dash!” A familiar voice called out to her. She opened her eyes to find herself face to face with her earth pony friend, Applejack. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t know that she stopped flying and started walking on the surface in her friend’s farm.

“Watcha doin’ all the way out ‘ere?” Applejack asked with concern. “You don’t look fine at all, if you ask me. Something wrong, sugarcube?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. Just thinking.”

“Wow wee, the Rainbow Dash, thinking! Who’d have thunk?” Rainbow Dashed rolled her eyes at her friend’s response.

“It’s just about my dad.”

“Oh, sorry.” Applejack said, she heard about what had happened to the Starlight General. Heck, everypony, except for the ones not born yet, heard of it. “That’s a big pickle if you ask me.”

“Everything was my fault, if I didn’t go to the outer perimeters, none of this would have happened.”

“Now, sugarcube, you know that’s not true. It was probably going to happen regardless. Even if it wasn’t, it already happened.” Seeing that Rainbow Dash was still looking depressed, Applejack decided to cheer her up. “Say what, how ‘bout we go hang out with Fluttershy like we used to when we were foals?”

“Heh, that little flutter soft still living in the cottage?” Rainbow Dash perked up when remembering her other friend.

“Yeee...Yep!” Applejack said as they both started laughing at some inside joke.

XOX

“Eep!” A young yellow cried out as a shadow grew over her. She covered her eyes with both of her hoofs and laid down on the floor of her home. “Eee!!”

A white rabbit bounced into view as the shadow started to shrink back to him. He tapped Fluttershy on her head with his paw, making her stand up before he headed back to the kitchen.

“Oh, it’s just you, Angel.” There was a knock on the door of her home. “Eep!”

“It’s us, sugarcube.” She heard Applejack’s voice.

“Oh!” Fluttershy smiled, she loved when she had guests over, especially when it was her two closest friends. “Welcome, I’m sorry if my home is a little messy. I wasn’t expecting guests.” Fluttershy said as she opened the door to let her friends in.

“It’s alright, we were just barging in without warning.” Applejack looked around the room as she was the first to get in. Her ears drooped in embarrassment at Fluttersy’s modesty. It was far from dirty.

“How’s my little grounded pegasus doing?” Rainbow Dash said after Fluttershy shut the door from behind her.

“Oh, I was just…,” Fluttershy was looking back and forth as if there was someone in her house. “Doing nothing…eep!” The sound of Angel’s hopping made Fluttershy jump onto the ceiling like a frightened cat. “What was that?!”

“Hey, what’s up with you?” Applejack asked worriedly. Angel looked at her with a puzzled look and shrugged his shoulders before leaving the room, again. “It’s like you saw a ghost or something?” Fluttershy screamed at the mention of a ghost and ran under a small round table for cover. “You didn’t…did you?” Applejack wasn’t sure if she was in the mood for something ghastly at the moment.

“I-I got a letter!” Fluttershy trembled from under the table. She had both of her forelegs over her eyes so that she couldn’t see.

“What letter?” Both of her friends asked, it must be serious if a letter frightened her like this.

“Is someone threatening you?!” Rainbow Dash snarled, this was not the first time that Fluttershy was being bullied. At that moment, Angel came back carrying a small envelope and handed it to Applejack.

The farm mare opened the torn flap with hesitation and pulled out the letter in question.

Dear Fluttershy,

This is an urgent message from flight school, we have found that you have not completed all of your classes and by technicality you have not graduated. We wish to inform you to retake the missing class(es) as soon as possible and/or attain a certified tutor who will examine you in the field(s). The class(es) you have failed to complete is: C—

“Cooking?” Applejack looked up from the letter and stared at her frightened friend. “You plum forgot one class and are fussing over nothing?”

“I-I don’t want to go back there! There will be small ponies and they’ll all be laughing at me!”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, sugarcube. You just made one mistake and now you have to fix it. No one is laughing at ya.” Just as Applejack said this, there was a snicker from the corner of the room. “Rainbow Dash!” This only made Rainbow Dash fall over and laugh out loud. “Well, except for Rainbow. Seriously though! I thought you were a good cook? Why didn’t you finish that class?”

“I…everypony was staring at me! I couldn’t go to class with all eyes on me!” Fluttershy admitted.

“Oh…!” The yellow whined.

“Yeah, she knows what she’s talking about.” Applejack elbowed Rainbow with a smirk on her face. “Ain’t that right, ‘Ms. 2 Years Held Back‘?”

“Hey…they were teaching stupid stuff that didn’t make a lick of sense! And they made us read!”

“Yeah, yeah. They were near torturing you. What a poor filly…!”

The three girls had their little laugh and the farm mare and the blue helped Fluttershy get over her fears by prepping her for the oncoming test. It was mostly Applejack who helped though, Rainbow Dash just threw cake batter at everypony, licked the spoon and ate some strawberries meant for cooking.

By the time Rainbow had left the cottage of her best friend, it was already late as Celestia’s Sun was setting. Luna’s Moon was just coming over the horizon. She could feel the air turning cold around her already. That was typical of the night’s Moon. Whenever that big white ball was in the sky, monsters seemed to get more power. She wasn’t sure if it was a mental thing or if that actually did happen.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t worried that her parents were going to be mad at her for being late since she was old enough to do whatever she wanted now. But she was worried at the ominous feeling in the dark sky, so she felt herself rushing back home. It still took her half an hour to get back to Canterlot castle, though.

When she landed at the front gates of the castle, she heard somepony from behind call to her. “Isn’t it a little late to be wandering, little Dash?” Rainbow’s ears immediately perked as she turned to the familiar voice and took a deep bow. “Your Majesty!” Rainbow said quickly without looking up.

“Stand down, you can relax.” Princess Celestia giggled at the young pegasus. “Give my condolences to your father, I heard from my advisors about what had happened to him.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about that! My father is a great pegasus, he can take anything that Twilight Sparkle can dish out. I have faith that he’ll be back to his normal self in no time!” The princess cringed at the mention of the Zoner‘s name. Then, Celestia laughed a light feathery laugh.

“You are very similar to your father, in both mind and body. I‘m sure that he will get better in due time. He‘s no foolish pony as confident as he is.” She stretched out her wings and gave a small yawn, “Now if you excuse me, the night takes the energy out of me so I need to go to sleep.”

“Good night, Princess!” Rainbow said with almost too much energy.

“Good night, Rainbow Dash.” Celestia smiled before she disappeared from view.

When she reached the section of the castle where she and her family lived she found her father knocked out cold on the couch in the living room.

“Shh!” Her mother warned her. “Your father’s been like that for a few hours now, he just collapsed on the couch so it’s best not to disturb him. The pain must be more than I thought. I’ll take him up to our room later.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears drooped down as she remembered her father’s physical therapy. It was likely due to a different kind of pain than her mother was thinking of. Pain from that intense workout rather than from the injury. It was best to not tell her mother of this. It’ll only upset and worry her some more.

She quietly went to sleep that night but nightmares plagued her empty mind. It involved her father.

The next morning, she decided to keep a watchful eye on her father whenever she could. When they were eating breakfast, she would sneak a peek at him whenever he wasn’t looking.

When Reiner went grocery shopping or when he went to the café for a bite, she kept a close eye on him.

It almost looked like he had forgotten entirely about his appointment with the doctor until a few hours later. He started to act strangely and started to skid through alleyways and out of view from other ponies.

“This is it!” She exclaimed.

Reiner met with the same doctor from before in the same area of the castle. Rainbow quietly flew up near the ceiling of the room and hid behind a pillar. It was high up there that made it hard for her to listen to their conversation but luckily for her they were speaking in a way that made the entire room echo.

“But Reiner! This is insane!” The doctor warned.

“I understand, Doctor Breeze, but this is important to me!”

“What about your family? Your daughter and wife must be splitting hairs worrying over you!” The doctor shook his head and brushed his white mane out of his face. “I highly doubt they would enjoy knowing you are making such a foolish choice. Even if you were your old self, the mission is still suicidal.”

“This is something I have to do! I can‘t give this up…not even for my family!” Reiner Dash regretfully shook his head. “This…is more important!”

Rainbow Dash’s heart dropped when she heard her father say this. Was killing Twilight Sparkle that much more important…than his own family?

Reiner Dash continued to do these physical therapies for a few more weeks and shockingly enough for both Rainbow Dash and Doctor Breeze, he actually achieved not only functional legs but full recovery! It was like he was never paralyzed or crippled in the first place.

While that was good news, that also meant one thing. He was finally ready to lead the attack on the Moon Castle, Neighrun. It was going to be impossible to send an army without notice and causalities so he could only bring 20 Starlight with him.

Reiner felt it was better for him to go alone but Starry Lights convinced him to bring along 20 other ponies. Cotton didn’t take the news well when she found out that her husband was intent on leaving after his sudden recovery.

His daughter, Rainbow Dash, wasn’t quite sure of how to feel. Her father wasn’t the person that she had always thought he was. He had lied to her and her mom behind their backs and he didn’t really care about them as much as she thought he did. But, he was still her father, and she still had faith in him.

“I may not agree with his decision but I am not going to shun him for it!” Rainbow declared to herself. “I’ll accompany him on this attack!”

XOX

“No, no, no!” Reiner shook his head in rejection. “I cannot and will not let my only daughter join me on this mission!”

“But—”

“No buts! This is too dangerous, we are going deep into the Everfree Kingdom and it is too risky and dangerous for a young filly such as yourself to be accompanying me.” Reiner was attempting to hold in his anger and disappointment. “Rainbow Dash, I can’t allow you to join me, what of your mother? We can‘t keep her worrying about both of us!”

“Mother…Mother knew this was the risk of marrying into our clan. She gave me her permission to come!”

Reiner froze, did Cotton really allow her to come? He shook his head and turned to look at the other ponies standing behind him, waiting on his orders. Each pony was from a branch of the Starlight clan, they all wore golden armor but each one had a slight difference to represent their extended families. The difference could be either a different emblem or a different edge in the armors among any other changes.

Their armor covered a majority of their chests and they had leg braces and a helmet that covered their heads and the area between their eyes. But unlike his armor, they had more visible features, you could easily see each one‘s faces, tail, and mane, and distinguish them. A few even had their cutie marks plastered on their rear end armor or removed that part altogether. And typical of the Starlight clan, their armor had holes on the sides to let their wings out.

Each Starlight huffed roughly in patience as they waited for him to call out their duties. These ponies each had a family of their own, parents, siblings, and other relatives waiting for them to come home. If he could relinquish his daughter, what would that mean about their lives?

“Alright, you can come along…!” Reiner said with regret, he made a mental note to make sure that she was not in the path of danger as far as he could see.

Even though they were all pegasus, they spent as little as possible flying in the skies. They flew mostly in the moonless nights and when there were thick clouds. The journey from Canterlot to Neighrun took over 7 days and nights, they made sure to not rest or eat much if possible. The small group only camped out once, knowing that the longer they stayed the more likely they would alert their presence to the other ponies.

Rainbow Dash was a bit tired, she wasn’t quite prepared for the journey in question. It was a last minute decision, after all. Mostly though, she was not prepared for so much running.

She trailed behind a couple of ponies ahead of her, they were a red mare and a yellow colt, the mare had blue streaks on her upper body and the colt had blue freckles. The soldiers’ manes were the typical streaks of colorful rainbows but in different combinations.

They were family, distant but family, so she wasn’t surprised to see them all carrying a physical trait somewhat similar to hers.

She looked further ahead past more of the armored pegasi to see her father leading the charge. He looked so serious and heroic ahead of the pack. The only sounds she could hear around her were the silent cooing of owls and the clink from armors and stomping of hooves.

It reminded her of those action movies where the main pony would say something along the lines of, ‘It’s quiet, too quiet!’ Just as something was bound to happen.

Everypony stopped dead in their tracks as they rounded into the deeper parts of the dark forest. A mountain seemed to be closing in on them, it was similar to the mountain that Canterlot laid on except more ominous and sinister.

Neighrun was huge, it was a dark castle with many towers and spires. Its walls were lined in a dark purple marble and the Moon only seemed to accent the castle’s dark majesty. There were scattered giant torches atop the towers and Rainbow could see a few black armored ponies patrolling the area.

The night was nearing its end, meaning it was almost the perfect time to strike. Most pony in Everfree were day walkers but their leader, Princess Luna, was not. And they wanted to strike her when she was most vulnerable.

While that was the plan, they were easier seen sneaking around in the day than the night so they had to get pass the castle walls before day broke, which was within an hour. All of this easier said than done.

Reiner marched everypony near a blind spot on the wall before pulling out a long rope and flying vertically over to the top. He came across two Shadowguards and quickly dealt with them and tossed them over the side of the wall with quickness and silence.

A long rope fell along the walls in front of the ponies allowing them to climb the stony walls. Each pony, one by one, started to climb. Rainbow Dash was one of the last ones to climb and tied the end of the rope to her back so that no pony would see it.

When they all reached the top, Reiner gave a signal with one foreleg, silently telling everyone to split up and search for the Princess’s chambers. Rainbow handed the rope back to her father before joining him with another pony.

The three of them, had to dodge 5 patrols, clinging to the dark parts of the ceilings and jumping out of the guards’ peripherals.

Rainbow found themselves on the castle grounds, trailing along a castle wall. There was a white sparkle on one of the upper walls. It was a signal from one of the groups, telling them that they found out where the chambers were.

They all found themselves at a small bridge that led from one section of the castle to another. “Is this the place?” Reiner asked the two ponies who gave them the signal, they nodded in confirmation, they said that they saw the Princess heading in this direction.

Everypony crossed the small bridge, careful to not fall into the moat that was probably invested with carnivorous piranhas or some such. They opened the giant double doors that led deeper into the building.

They immediately hid alongside the walls as they all caught a glimpse of Princess Luna walking with two of her guards down the corridor. She wasn’t wearing her armor and looked like she was preparing for sleep. They followed her as best as they could.

Rainbow and company eventually found that they were in a royal library, even larger than Canterlot’s own. The bookshelves seemed to never reach the endless ceiling and a few books were almost as tall as they were. The darkness only seemed to make the tall shelves appear even more grander.

Eventually, each pony began to disappear one by one. No one caught the glimpse of a pink blur that ran from behind them. They were losing sight of where they were and where they were going. This giant library was like a maze, Rainbow realized.

She saw her father run in one direction and gulped, she didn’t want to lose sight of him so she jumped after him. His tail looked like it was about to be swallowed by the darkness until a light opened ahead of them. The light showed a long empty hall with scattered torches lighting its way.

The flames eerily appeared to be floating on magic but her father and she followed the path nonetheless. They kept on walking until the halls opened up to a new area.

It was dark but the ceiling was almost nonexistent as stars were pouring out through the crystal clear glass. “Is this…an observatory?” Rainbow Dash stated more than asked.

“Right you are, little Starlight.” A more than familiar voice laughed. “You Starlights sure took your time.” The room lightened up as black torches began to magically turn on, one by one. Twilight Sparkle walked into the area with a shake of her head. “And here I spent hours preparing a welcoming party for you!”

Just as the last torch became alit, Rainbow realized that the other Starlight ponies were each chained to a wall around them. There were manacles around each of their legs, keeping them firmly chained with the wall against their backs.

“Twilight, leave them out of this!” Reiner stepped in front of Rainbow and waved an accusing foreleg at her.

“I don’t think you are in a position to order me, Starlight General.” Twilight smiled as her horn began to glow. A white spark seemed to glow on the floor before it spread in multiple directions with a vein-like appearance. As each white vein stretched and neared the walls, it crept up and struck each chained pony.

The unconscious ponies started to shake and scream as electricity filled their nerves. It was hard to tell if they were screaming in their unconsciousness or if they woke up. At that moment, the area became a dim orange as the Sun was starting to rise.

Twilight stopped her display of torture after seeing a satisfactory expression on Reiner’s face. She turned to look from Reiner to Rainbow and smirked. Even though her helmet covered the upper half of her face, Rainbow knew that her eyes were filled with fear just as she found herself being lifted off the floor and thrown into a cage.

“I’m sorry, filly, but I miscalculated on the arrivals and haven’t yet had the chance to prepare another chain gang member. Have fun.” Twilight turned back to Reiner and laughed. “We’re finally alone, again. And this time without any rude interlopers.”

“Twilight…!” Reiner growled under his breath.

“You know, Reiny, I thought about playing a game, since it’s been a while since we last played together.” Twilight sang in a beautiful voice. “It’s a hometown favorite, Bail Ball. The rules are simple.” Twilight flashed white before appearing besides him, uncomfortably close. “Catch the ball, and your friends go home free. If I catch it?” There was a low chuckle coming from the Zoner. “Let’s leave that little surprise for later.”

The purple unicorn-esque Zoner didn’t even wait for his reply and summoned a sparkling black sphere with a few spikes spread around it. “Catch!” She playfully shouted before kicking the ball and making it bounce. The ball started to ricochet off of the walls, gaining momentum and speed with each bounce until it became a blur. Ironically, as fast as the ball was going, it didn’t seem to knock anything over. It was like a thin magical shield was protecting the objects’ surfaces.

Twilight stood still as she eyed Reiner for a good minute. Her expression was a bit shocked when she saw him not taking any actions. For a moment, she thought he had abandoned his comrades until he disappeared in dust.

The Starlight General began to turn into a blur, too, as he followed after the ball. She smirked as her plan was going into motion.

He stretched out a foreleg as he was so close to touching that ball. There was the familiar sound of static and Twilight appeared between him and the ball before smacking his hoof away. Reiner grunted in annoyance and jumped around her.

The two of them kept this up for quite some time, him twisting and turning, trying to get the ball, and Twilight simply cutting him off each time.

“Stop that!” Reiner finally lost control and lunged at Twilight and forcing her onto the ground. He was breathing heavily as he held all of her legs down with his own. His chest was rising and falling so high and low. His face was leaning down so close to Twilight’s, glaring her down.

“I love that about you,” Twilight breathed hard also. She raised her face to meet with his so that their noses were touching.

“Get out of my head!” Reiner growled menacingly.

“I’m sorry but I can’t, you are my Fated Partner, after all.” Twilight smiled and pushed quickly so that hers and Reiner’s lips collided.

Chapter End