Rifts

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Dash from Death

by Mavaku

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“Watch out!”

A third bolt of energy leapt from the ground, narrowly missing Fluttershy as she quickly jumped back, crashing into Rarity behind her.

“Get up you two! Before another one comes!”
Quickly, Rarity and Fluttershy got to their hooves, looking alertly for another outburst, Yet all was calm once again. The five ponies looked at each other, then back at the long, winding path ahead of them. With widened eyes, Fluttershy spoke with a frightened tone.

“We’ve b-been out here s-so long! H-how far are we?”

Applejack sighed and looked behind them. “About twenty yards sugarcube. We best keep walking, especially since things are starting to settle down a bit, hopefully we can find a place that is a might bit cozier later on!”

“I s-sure hope so. This place is…really scary…”

Rarity smiled, albeit it was somewhat forced, and looked back at the path. “At least we can look on the bright side, we have a nice paved road! That will save me HOURS of time I would have to spend cleaning all that filth from my hooves!”

Rainbow Dash managed a chuckle at that remark, before continuing onwards, not bothering to look back and check if she was being followed by the rest as she talked back to them. “Alright, enough meandering around everypony, we have work to do!”

The rest nodded, and followed after her in a single file line. Several minutes passed uneventfully, and the five ponies started to lessen their tense stances as they walked. Rarity trotted up next to Applejack, and talked to her in a hushed tone.

“Applejack dear, this may sound like a horrible thing to say but…Rainbow Dash is really starting to worry me. Granted…she has been through some atrocities that I dare not imagine, and I can hardly blame her for being more grim now, but I fear that this journey will only result in our harm!”

Applejack turned without slowing her pace, and smiled warmly at Rarity. “I understand that Rarity, this is definitely more than anything any of us have been through, and you have right to worry. However, I will tell you this. I sense that Rainbow Dash has good intentions with this! It may have not started that way, granted…but her loyalty is not something easily broken, even if it may seem so. I’m sure everything will turn out just fine…”

A loud creak could then be heard, echoing loudly as if a challenge to Applejack’s words. Slowly, the ground began to shift in the distance, and then rapidly it began pulsating, with deep rifts and large hills rapidly forming and dissipating as the surge of Discordian energy rushed closer to the ponies.

Twilight’s voice could be heard shouting out in warning before the wave of earth reached them.
“Everypony run as fast as you can! I see shelter up ahead! We just need to make it a little furth-”

Her voice was abruptly cut off as the energy reached them, shaking the ground violently underneath her and making it difficult to speak from the heavy vibrations. Instead she ran forwards down the path, towards something barely in view in the distance. The rest of the ponies followed urgently, weaving around the obstacles in a desperate race to survive. As they ran, the changes only grew in magnitude, forming canyons in seconds that filled moments later, crushing anything unfortunate enough to fall within. The path behind them started to writhe like a snake in its death throes, pulsating up and down rapidly while moving forwards. Although it did not break, the rapid movements made it nearly as dangerous. The ponies ran as quick as they could, trying to outpace that before it could overcome them, and toss them out in to the more dangerous outlying terrain. As they did so, a panicked yelp sounded out behind Applejack, prompting her to turn her head towards the new sound. The sight of Fluttershy standing in a frightened pose caught her eye first, and then a hill on Fluttershy’s left and the rift on her right, caught Applejacks eye next, especially given how both were moving directly towards the terrified pegasus.

Applejack shouted out to her, straining her voice to be heard over the rumbling earth. “Fluttershy! Ya gotta move out of the way before those reach you!”

Fluttershy still stood there, in too much of a panicked state to do much, prompting Applejack to run towards her in a rescue effort. The two threats moved quickly closer and closer, and Applejack grimly realized that she would not make it in time. Still, she rushed onwards, refusing to give up. The rift and hill surged closer and closer, now just mere feet away, and yet applejack continued to run, that is, until a blue-grey blur rushed past her, and smashed into Fluttershy. Moments later, the two forces that had been assaulting Fluttershy collided, with the large hill collapsing into the rift in a massive rockslide while the rift began to close, spewing leftover earth out in a spray. The bluish-gray, and now slightly yellow object slowed down, revealing Rainbow Dash with a rather dazed Fluttershy on her back.

Wasting no time, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings heavily, catching back up to the rest while shouting out. “Come on everypony, we are nearly there! Just a little further!”

True enough, directly in front of them, crumbled remains of cottages could be seen, looking less than inviting, but calm as well, as if the energy avoided that place. The ponies made one final sprint, before diving towards the safer terrain. The three left on the ground landed in a bundled heap, looking quite exhausted, but relieved as well to be in a calmer area. Rainbow Dash landed next to them, setting Fluttershy Down. As she did so, she spoke in a somewhat irritated tone to her.
“Next time keep moving! We can’t have ponies getting stuck behind! It is a waste of time to us all!” Her tone then turned more sorrowful, as she realized the harshness of her words. “I…I just don’t want anything bad happening to you…okay? So you need to be sure to not get another panic attack. As much as I wish I could, I will not always be able to make sure you’re safe.”

Fluttershy managed a nod, still in a moderately shocked state, and the others got back up on their hooves. Twilight, seeming quite intrigued at their surroundings, looked around for a bit, speaking both to those around her, and to herself as well.

“Interesting, a town in the Everfree forest? I’ve heard of such settlements a couple times before, I can’t imagine why anypony would do it, but I can’t help but have some respect for it too. Just imagine all they could learn by being out here! Well…until all this chaos broke loose.” She frowned slightly, and then managed a small smile shortly afterwards. “Well, at least it looks like it has been abandoned for quite a while, I’m sure nopony was hurt when all this discordian energy was released!”

Rarity interrupted before twilight could continue talking about the settlement. “Twilight, I know all of this is fascinating and all, but it is getting really late, can we just rest for now?”

Realizing herself how tired she was, Twilight nodded in agreement. “Oh, uh, yeah, of course! Sorry
about all that. Let’s see…ah! Here is a good spot!” Twilight beckoned towards a mostly intact home, and looked inside. The house was mostly bare, save for a table missing a leg, and other aged furniture sparsely spaced throughout the settlement. “Well, it looks better than nothing, at least! Want me to look for some beds?”

Applejack shrugged. “I think most of us are tired enough, that the floor will do just nicely.”
The others nodded in agreement, and moved inside, before gathering in a circle and laying down to rest. Sleep came quickly to them all, and soon four of the five ponies were dozing quietly, with Rainbow Dash attempting in vain to fall asleep. Try as she might, her dead eyes refused to let the comfort of sleep take hold. Realizing the futility of her attempts, Rainbow Dash stood back up, and looked at those sleeping around her before quietly stepping outside of the house, and into the now black shroud of night, disappearing into the comforting shadows.

Author's Note

It has been quite a while since I have updated this story, and because of that, I apologize in advance if it is in poorer quality than my usual chapters. Grammatical errors, or objects contrasting to something that has been previously stated in the story may happen, as I have not written in a very long time. Regardless, I still hope everyone enjoys this story to the fullest, and as usual, I accept any ideas or corrections you may have!