Dash from Death

Revelations

==========

Dash from Death

by Mavaku

==================================================================

This next chapter will do one of two things, either it will lose you completely...or it will get you wondering what happens next. Hopefully not the first one. Either way, this chapter may be slightly confusing so read to the end of it and hopefully the events of the first scene will be somewhat explained through the second.

==================================================================

The green substance bubbled in the large black cauldron as a new ingredient entered the mixture. Quickly the striped figure standing before the brew opened up a vial. She scooped up some of the liquid and capped it before the bubbles could dissipate. Examining her work, the zebra began to speak.

“If anypony enters my hut sore,
For him or her I’ll have the cure!
But where has gone that pink pony?
It’s been so long; I now worry.
She norm’ly comes ev’ry tenth day.
I cert’nly hope Pinkie’s okay.”

Hoof steps sounded in the distance, growing louder as five equine shapes made their way to the hut. She turned her head towards the door as a light knocking sounded on it.

Twilight looked into the nearby window after knocking. “Zecora? Do you mind if we come in? We need your help with a little problem we have.”

Zecora opened the door as she replied in her usual, rhyming cadence.

“Of course, of course, my dear, good friend.
What situation must we amend?”

“Well, I don’t want to drag you into it too, let’s just say we need to find Pinkie Pie.”

“Ah yes I have been wondering where she is as well,
but where is Pinkie Pie I cannot tell.
But I do know how we can find Pinkie,
just take a sip of this and soon you will see.”

Zecora pulled out a small flask filled with a fluorescent fluid and handed it to Twilight who looked at it with a curious expression before her eyes lit up in recognition.

“Of course! Why hadn’t I thought about this! This is extract from a dreambloom isn’t it?” The other ponies looked at her with confused looks on their faces. “It's a flower. If you drink the extract, you can ‘see’ the surroundings of any other dreambloom in equestria! All I have to do is picture Pinkie in my mind, and if she has been, or is, nearby any dreambloom, we can know just where she is!”

Applejack nudged Twilight. “Spend less time explaining and more time looking! Go on, chug it down!”

Twilight nodded, opened the vial, and sipped up the surprisingly sweet elixir. Immediately her eyes glassed over and a vacant expression overtook her face. Slowly her legs went limp, and Twilight slumped to the floor. The four ponies and Zecora watched Twilight as she fell into her trance, expecting Twilight to wake up at any moment, but the unicorn stayed still. All eyes were on her, and several minutes passed without any movement, until a tear slowly formed in the corner of Twilight’s eye.

Fluttershy tentatively walked up to Twilight, concern plain on her face. “Are…are you sure she’s okay? It’s been so long, what if sh-” Something impacted upon Fluttershy’s hind leg, causing her to yelp and leap back in surprise. The others' eyes were stilled fixed on Twilight, but now out of shock rather than anticipation.

“What’s happening to her?!” Rarity asked in a trembling voice, her eyes never leaving the horrifying sight.

Zecora spoke, in too much shock for rhymes. “I…I don’t know. This has never happened before!”

A dark aura had engulfed Twilight, levitating her off the ground and threatening to swallow her completely, but her body fought back. Although Twilight remained unconscious, her face was tightened in intense concentration while her legs seized and twitched, as if in some deep nightmare. Sparks shot from her horn which now glowed in a brilliant violet hue, fighting back the darkness. The sparks turned to massive bolts of energy, arcing out of the black void which had now doubled in size and ferocity. The darkness began to grow more aggressive, now a howling gale inside Zecora’s hut. The two forces were now fighting each other with horrific power and resilience. Twilight like a star more brilliant than anything ever seen before, resisting the sheer power of a black hole. But neither side surrendered; instead, they formed a deadly sphere crackling with magical energy and swirling darkness. Finally Applejack broke out of the terrified trance that had befallen her and the others.
“Everypony outside now! This is getting mighty dangerous!”

Fluttershy yelled in protest, “But what about Twilight? We can’t just leave her here!”

“There’s nothing we can do to help! We have to she keeps herself safe! And I doubt that us getting sucked into that thing would help out much! Now everypony out before this thing blows!” The ponies quickly rushed outside, while Applejack watched to make sure they all made it out safely, but found one pony was still inside, her dead eyes locked on the destructive force. “Rainbow Dash let’s go! We don’t have much time!” The pegasus still stood there, seemingly unaware that Applejack had even spoken, or that the miniature cataclysm in front of her posed any danger.

“Now’s not the time to be daydreaming!” Applejack rushed up to Rainbow Dash, and grabbed her by the neck. Dash still didn’t respond, forcing the earth pony to use all her strength to pull Dash away from the void, while resisting its gravity herself. Energy arced from the sphere incinerating anything it touched, causing Applejack to dodge various obstacles. “Hang on!” The earth pony tensed up her hind legs, and then leapt over a pile of debris to the exit…or rather where the exit was, as now it was just a pile of impassable rubble. Applejack looked back at Rainbow Dash, who was still deep in her trance. “Any help now would be REALLY appreciated Rainbow! Unless you enjoy getting crushed by…whatever that is and a whole lot o’ house!”

A large purple pulse emitted from the chaotic void, shaking the entire hut and jarring dash from her trance. She quickly looked around, surveying the situation before wordlessly grabbing on to Applejack and using all her wing power to make a blitz for the one remaining opening to the outside world. The short distance seemed to take an eternity to travel as time slowed down around the two; all focus was on escaping alive, but another pulse broke out from the sphere, violently knocking Dash from the air and into the wall.

“No! I’m not going down here! Not until I have my vengeance!” Once again she leapt for the opening, but something held her back. A now unconscious Applejack had her tail pinned to the floor as debris continued to fall, slowly closing off the route to escape. Frantic thoughts swam through the now very alert Rainbow Dash all in an instant. “I only have time to escape if I move Applejack and go without her, the weight would only slow me down. But still, I…I just can’t leave her to die, even if she wasn’t there to help me. But Pinkie… I must get her!” The two goals clashed in her mind, corrupt desire fighting to overtake all that Dash ever was.

Another pulse, this time however it passed gently through Dash, calming her spirit and soothing her nerves. For the first time since the incident Rainbow Dash’s mind was clear. Clear of fear, of hate, of desire. Only a single thought rested on her mind. “Loyalty, that was my element…and Loyal I will stay, if not for friendship then at least for duty. So long as they stand by me, so shall I stand by them.” Slowly, she brushed the rubble off of Applejack, freeing her of its crushing weight. The one opening had long since been closed off, but Rainbow Dash no longer cared. Gently, despite the raging conflict taking place mere feet away, she nudged the limp body into a covered spot. Calmly, she lay in front of the opening; protecting the vulnerable Applejack from the same dangerous energy that she had just saved Dash from. Rainbow Dash looked around the room, a serene calmness on her face. Patiently, she waited for the end.

================================================================

“No No, it needs to be stronger! No pony should be able to get in!” Frantic hammering sounded throughout the house, instantly grabbing Twilight’s attention. Yet no pony was within her sight, so Twilight took to examining her surroundings. Viewing through the “eyes” of a dreambloom was an interesting experience. Twilight had an ethereal-like body that could freely roam within several feet of the plant itself, making for easy examination and exploration. The structure was unusually drab and dark for a house of Pinkie’s, even if she was insane. The walls were bare wood, barren of any paint and decorated solely with well-worn pieces of paper, most of which contained nonsensical images and sentences. Barriers and construction supplies littered the floor in a cluttered mess, likely throughout the entire house based on all the noise Twilight heard. The only light came from light bulbs dangling freely from the ceiling and the heavily barred and reinforced windows.

“It’s almost like some sort of fortress… Let’s see if I can get an idea where this even is.” Twilight floated over to a nearby window and surveyed the area. The outside was just as dark and dreary as indoors, with danger signs littering the area and several layers of fencing blocking off the structure from the outside world. But no clues to the actual location of this place became evident to Twilight, and she went back to looking around inside. “Maybe there is a map or something else around here that can help out more. Or…I could just look for Pinkie, now that I think about it; I still don’t know if I’m in the right place! The scenery definitely doesn’t fit. Even in the basement there were…decorations all over the place.” Twilight started to listen for any sounds, and a very faint voice could be heard a few rooms over. Quickly Twilight passed through the decrepit walls towards the source of the sound, until she found her target.

Pinkie Pie stood over a desk, her once soft and fluffy mane now flat, faded, and with frayed edges throughout. Dust clung to her legs, turning them a dull grey, while several small scrapes pockmarked her body.Her face appeared fearful and desperate. The eyes red from lack of sleep and abundance of tears shed. Pinkie’s entire body shook with exhaustion as she wrote in a crude diary, her mouth following every word that appeared on the parchment.

“I don’t know how much longer until she gets back, but when she does, I’ll be sure that she will never escape here. I just can’t risk another tragedy; too many lives have been lost… all those innocent ponies, even Dashie. Dashie, poor poor Dashie. How could she do that?! Rainbow Dash was my best friend!” Pinkie’s words now came out in muffled sobs as she continued to write. “That…monster, I can’t ever escape her, but I can try to stop her. I just hope I am never found, this may very well be the last time I’m…me. if somepony came, I…I just don’t want to think about what would happen. Everyday though, I still wonder why. Why did she come? Why won’t she leave? Why…why is she doing this? I miss my friends so much, I haven’t seen a smiling face for so long. But I can’t risk coming back to say goodbye, or even explain. Why would they even listen? After what she did, what I did, I can’t blame them for whatever they would say or do. And what if she came back? I…I don’t want anything like that happening ever again! I thought I could fight her, and what good did that do? It killed my best friend…” Pinkie stopped writing and her face went down with a thud on the desk, tears and sobs openly flowing from her, soaking the diary.

Twilight looked at the scene before her, mouth open in stunned silence and tears starting to form at the corner of her eyes. “But this makes no sense! This is nothing like I imagined. What has happened to Pinkie? I…I don’t even know what to think anymore. If Pinkie isn’t completely responsible, then who is? Unless…of course that must be it! The same aura that was around dash…I can sense it here too! But still, that tells me nothing about what it is. Either way, I need to get back to my friends and tell them all that I’ve seen! This whole mission could be one huge mistake. We don’t need to stop Pinkie…we need to save her!” Twilight concentrated on returning back to Zecora’s hut. The surrounding area started to fade…the sobbing becoming fainter and fainter, until it disappeared completely. Yet as soon as all was quiet, a faint caw could be heard, snapping Twilight back to the decrepit house and filling her with immense pain.

Pinkie screamed in hurt as well, her voice a shrill shriek. “No! Make it stop! I don’t want her back! Not yet, not ever! Just leave me alone!” The cawing continued, causing another wave of pain to course through the two ponies, sending both to the floor. Twilight struggled to stand, fighting the crippling pain. She looked up, and spoke out with a defiant voice.

“Whoever you are, I’m not giving up! I will fight for my friends, now more than ever!” The cawing stopped, only to be replaced by a ghostly wail. The pain was tremendous, causing Twilight’s vision to blur and eventually go black.

A voice as dark and deep as the pain Twilight was experiencing started to form from the wailing. “Twilight Sparkle, you forget your place. But you will learn it soon enough, just as your dear friend has.”

A cheerful yet cracked voice began to sing in the background as Twilight fought to stay conscious.

“So, giggle at the ghostly

Guffaw at the grossly

Crack up at the creepy

Just laugh to make them disappear!”