Dash from Death

A Subtle Change

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

Dash from Death

by Mavaku

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

Pain, nothing but pain. Twilight had started to forget what all other sensations felt like, but motivation had not been lost on her. Still she struggled against insurmountable odds. Still she fought for her friends. Still…death would not relent its assault.

“Give up; your friends are not worth suffering for… surrender your will and I will make sure the torture stops.”

Despite the immense pain, Twilight stood her ground and defiantly spoke out. “I will never stop fighting for my friends! They are the world to me, and would do the same! Pain…pain is temporary, friendship is forever!” As she bravely resisted, a faint purple aura started to from around Twilight, shielding her from the onslaught of darkness. It’s strength and size quickly grew into a solid barrier of pure magical energy, but it did not drive back the shadows, the wall merely held them at bay. That situation quickly changed however as sparks, and then massive bolts of energy erupted from Twilight’s horn, converting the earsplitting wail into a hurt shout.

“You fool! Dare you to resist me?! You know not who you fight against!”

“No, I don’t…But I intend to find out!” Twilight focused all her available energy into her horn, causing it to shine brilliantly, piercing through the thick veil of darkness in a massive pulse of magic. Twilight was finally able to see her surroundings. She was back in Zecora’s hut, though it seemed to be crumbling quickly. The unicorn now noticed that she floated freely in mid-air inside of what she assumed was the source of the damage… to the area and to Twilight herself. Twilight only saw two ponies, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Dash seemed to be looking around, a confused expression clearly visible, before quickly latching onto Applejack while taking flight towards an opening in the ceiling.

The grim voice continued to sound in Twilights head. “You persistent unicorn. That last outburst seems to have complicated my plan. No matter, this can be easily solved”

Twilight’s heart started to ache, subtly at first, but rapidly evolving into pain greater than all the others combined. The sensation began to spread throughout Twilight’s body until it suddenly departed in a massive pulse identical in looks to the previous one, but with much more dark intentions. The magical barrier protecting Twilight shattered under the immense force, letting the darkness and continual pain flow in once again. Yet the pulse did not stop there. It kept on going, knocking Rainbow Dash and Applejack from the air and into a pile of debris. Rainbow Dash was instantly back on her hooves and attempted to leap for the exit, yet her tail was caught underneath Dash’s recently unconscious companion.

Dark laughter reverberated throughout Twilight’s mind. “A simple fix, your friend only has time to escape if she goes alone…and I know her determination to get revenge is stronger than her bonds with those ‘friends’ ”. The last word was spat out by the voice as if it were venomous.

“That’s where you’re wrong! I know Rainbow Dash, and even if you try to interfere she will remain as loyal to her us as we are to her! All she needs is a reminder…” A sudden realization snapped place in Twilight’s mind. ‘That’s it! Why hadn’t I thought of it earlier! The memory spell from the Discord incident just might work here! ’ Twilight squirmed in an attempt to be able to reach the two ponies, yet dark energies held her in place, as well as shielded Dash from seeing or hearing the lavender unicorn. Her determination hardly lessened, Twilight clenched her face in concentration, attempting to broadcast the spell. Another pulse emanated from Twilight, although this one subtly and calmly floated through the air, giving an aura of calm to everything it touched…including Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash’s hateful gaze softened. Her entire body seemed to calm in stark contrast to her surroundings as memories flooded her mind. The running of the leaves, victory at the best young flyer competition, discovering her element. Loyalty from and to her friends became more and more evident in the pegasus’ mind. Rainbow Dash calmly said something that was inaudible to Twilight, and started her delicate work of protecting Applejack.

The deep voice roared inside of Twilight’s mind, its tone filled with rage. “Irritating pest! The time for games is over! You shall meet your end, now!” Tendrils of darkness formed inside the void, rushing towards Twilight. They were met by another pulse, but not from Twilight, rather a pegasus who seemed quite unaware of the occurrence…or of anything else other than a small opening she lay directly in front of. The pulses continued emanating from the serene Rainbow Dash, supplementing Twilight’s resistance and driving back the onslaught of darkness.

Slowly the pain subsided. Slowly the shadows receded. Slowly the frustrated yell grew fainter and fainter, until it disappeared entirely. A final pulse, faint enough to be barely noticeable signified the departure of a dark aura from the hut. With the presence gone, so too did the void disappear, revealing to a suddenly aware Rainbow Dash the battered form of Twilight.

“Twilight! Thank celestia you’re okay!” Rainbow Dash checked to be sure Applejack was okay before joyfully leaping towards a very surprised Twilight, holding her in an excited and relieved embrace.
Twilight smiled at the energetic pegasus, but that smile quickly turned into a look of shock as a clearly visible change took place. “Dash, your mane!” Rainbow Dash’s mane, as well as the rest of her body, once again had color flowing through. Although faint the colors were, they still made a vivid difference on her appearance, and apparently Rainbow Dash’s personality as well. For the first time since the incident, Rainbow Dash smiled with true, unrestrained glee. Her magenta eyes glowed with warm appreciation, as if she knew what Twilight had done for her.

Rainbow Dash replied to Twilight, a calm, warm tone in her voice. “Yeah, I guess it’s starting to go back to normal. I feel better from it too. I feel more myself, more...free. But still, even with this, we can’t forget what we originally came here to do. Did you get any information on where Pinkie is?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “I forgot to check where she even is! I got too preoccupied on what was happening to Pinkie! Should I tell Rainbow Dash about what’s happening to Pinkie Pie? No…even if she is more herself now, I don’t want to risk her disbelief. We could lose what we have just gained…my stories tend to fall on deaf ears here anyways.” Her thoughts now semi-together, Twilight attempted her response.

“Well…I wasn’t able to find any maps or anything like that, but if I was to describe the surrounding area, do you think you might be able to recognize where she is?”
“Maybe, what did it look like?”

In as much detail as she could recall, Twilight told Rainbow Dash of the scenery indoors and outdoors.

Recognition lit up throughout Dash’s face “I know that place! That’s the Pie family’s old rock farm! But that was shut down and condemned years ago…I’m surprised that she even made it there. With the Everfree Forest constantly growing, the farm is practically in the middle of it now!”

Confused, Twilight spoke out. “But how could Pinkie have even gotten to the farm in such a short period of time? The Everfree Forest is practically a maze. It should take weeks to reach the center!”

“Normally yes, it would take a very long time. But something has happened to the Everfree Forest. I first noticed it when I was flying nearby Cloudsdale. An entire patch of the forest was gone! But it was replaced by something much worse. This place makes the Everfree forest look like a cakewalk. I don’t know how it got there, but I think some of Discords energy was left behind when we defeated him. The missing area cuts right to nearby the middle of the Everfree forest. But it is much more dangerous from all the leftover…stuff. I figured that you already knew about this. Because of all the royal guards I saw heading there I thought Celestia might have told you as well, seeing as you are her personal student. I should have told you earlier…but that’s not important right now. Right now we need to get Pinkie Pie, and stop her…once and for all!”

Twilight still flinched at the mention of stopping Pinkie Pie, especially due to her recent discovery. Yet less so than usual, as although Dash was still determined to mete out “justice”, her tone was less hate filled and more dignified. Giving Twilight more room for hope and relief. “Yes, we should hurry. If everyone else is willing, we could take the same shortcut and save over a week of travel! But in order to do that, we need to find the rest too. Let’s hope they are nearby.”

A faint scraping sound, followed by a portion of rubble falling away, revealed three figures that confirmed Twilights hopes.

Fluttershy’s concerned voice floated through the remains of Zecora’s hut. “Are you okay? Does anypony need help?” Her question was met by nods acknowledging their safety from Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

Applejack as well was gaining consciousness, and slowly got up on her hooves. “Ah’m okay too. Pleasure to see y’all are safe. But what in Equestria just happened?!”

All eyes quickly locked on Twilight, their inquiring gaze provoking her to speak. “I was…attacked.”

Gasps escaped the mouths of all the ponies, which was quickly followed by the question on all their minds, but spoken by Rarity. “By what?”

“I don’t know. But I doubt that will be the last time we encounter who, or whatever it is. The best we can do is try to get to Pinkie undetected, and now that we know where she is, we just have to get there. This leads on to the next thing. She is at her old rock farm, which is now near the middle of the Everfree Forest. Getting there could take over a week. Or we can take a shortcut, but this shortcut will be very dangerous. Is everypony willing to risk that in order to set things right?”

Silent nods came from all around the room, understanding of the task that lay before them was evident on all their faces. Solemnly, and with appreciation in her voice, Rainbow Dash started to speak as she exited the worn-down hut.

“Thank you for helping with this. I appreciate what you’re doing…a lot. But as much as we all would like to rest, we can’t waste any time. We need to leave…now. Or else we may never get another chance again!”

Rarity and Fluttershy started to follow Rainbow Dash as she trotted towards their destination. Twilight delayed for a short while, turning towards Zecora to speak.

“I’m so sorry this happened to your home, and even more sorry that we can’t stay to help fix it. But we really need to hurry. If you want, feel free to stay in my library. I promise that when we get back, we will help you fix your hut up good as new!”

Zecora smiled warmly at Twilight as she replied in a reassuring fashion.

“This little disaster shall be fixed it is quite alright,
But I appreciate your offer for a place to stay the night.

But you must quickly catch up to the rest of your friends
I sense that on much more than just Pinkie this situation depends!”

“Thanks for the understanding Zecora. We will see you later!”

Twilight quickly turned around and rushed to catch up with the rest of the group as they began their journey with a clear destination now set out, and new motivations fresh in her mind.