Through Loyalty and Loveby Damocles23ChaptersChapter 1: The Same Boat In A Stormy SeaChapter 2: Like Ivy and the WallChapter 4: No matter where…Chapter 5: And then the world turns...InterludeChapter 6: Contrived CoincidencesChapter 3: Not Words but MeaningsChapter 1: The Same Boat In A Stormy SeaThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 1: The Same Boat In A Stormy Sea The present… The sound of frightened hooves roared through the streets of Ponyville, as loud screams of panic and dissent lifted off from the smoke and dust which filled the air with a charred scent. Even from afar the sound of debris from Town Hall falling into splinters once again could be heard, only this time it was another pegasus to blame, while the ashes were scattering around like big, oily, grey snowflakes. In the distance a purple glow could be seen, conjured with haste by a young purple unicorn. It was lighting the darkness and piercing the veil of cinders, while the flames were still biting what was left of Town Hall and a few buildings nearby.Although they were taken care of almost immediately before they could spread further before and the citizens seemed to emerge unscathed from the incident. The Royal Guards, few they may have been for such a simple occasion, acted with the speed and might of a thousand ponies at only the slightest gesture of the Princess of The Sun. Her sheer presence was a literal light in the darkness and still could be felt from any part of the village, setting them immediately on the loose and searching for the culprits of such a terrible act. Even though it may have seemed like a particularly bad Saturday in Ponyville, after all you’re kinda asking for it when you build a village so close to the gate of Tartarus itself that the bucking Cerberus becomes with time a common occurrence. It was in fact a Friday and the guards weren’t searching for a demonic three-headed beast from Heck itself. The true culprit, or culprits as we should say, were still running aimlessly from the site of the incident, just determined to get as far away as possible. One was a pink, curly haired earth pony, even though the brightness of her coat wasn’t the same as always. She was sullied by a thick layer of dust and small pieces of iron were stuck in her mane, making it even messier than it already was as if it exploded from within. She kept running with her tongue lulling out and pure, unadulterated distress in her face, frantically turning her head behind, searching for a, very likely to be formed, angry mob. The second one was a cyan colored, rainbow-maned mare, who was flapping her wings as fast as possible. She was trying not to distance her companion, even though she started to feel a little exhausted. The pink pony,however, was probably so nervous that she couldn’t probably even feel fatigue at this point. Her coat and mane were still relatively bright, the problem was her tail which looked like the end of it was burned and chopped. But it still left a trail of smoke as she flew away. Finally, the two mares felt the need to rest and hid in a nearby alley, trying to catch their breath and hoping the darkness would hide them well. Once they stopped, the pink pony quickly started to pick the pieces of iron from her mane and pat herself to get rid of the dust. All the while, she still had the same distressed look from before, a look of pure desperation. “Oh Dashie! What are we gonna do? Whatarewegonnado?! I don’t think anypony liked that prank!” she said. “I don’t know Pinkie, I just don’t know! Let me think…Oooh, think of what?! It’s over! Finished!“ the pegasus retorted nervously, still flapping her wings furiously. She was circling the pink pony and gesturing like a madmare. Then she grabbed her friend by the shoulders and started shaking her. “There was the princess there! The princess! She probably saw us!She definitely saw us!The explosion, the smoke and the crash! Everything!It’s over, Pinkie! We’re enemies of the crown now, do you have any idea what that means?! MY LIFE IS RUINED!” She paused for a second and stopped shaking Pinkie for a second, pondering what to say, while looking supremely perplexed. “What are we gonna do now?!” Still shaking for a second, Pinkie watched her friend dumbfounded. “Oh, don’t worry Dashie.Maybe the princess won’t be so angry. I mean, remember the Gala? You and Fluttershy destroyed something there too. I thought she liked us wrecking stuff, at least that’s what I’ve figured out…” “But this time it’s different! You can’t expect her to just pop out of nowhere and say,‘I’m so glad you two destroyed Ponyville, that place was so boooring.In fact I hoped somepony would finally do that.’Nonono, this time we’ll be shot to the moon!” After that sentence, Dash could’ve sworn to hear the voice of her bookworm friend in her head, Twilight Sparkle, telling the same rant she launched in whenever somepony mentioned Princess Celestia and the moon in the same sentence. “Will you stop being so inaccurate about the princess? She exiled just one pony to the moon, her own sister! One thousand years ago! And she could only do this by using the Elements of Harmony. I mean, you were there, you lived this story and you’re still making this joke, wheredidthisjokecameoutanywaywhocouldbesocoldheartedtopainttheprincessassomekindoflunaticmoonshootingponybanishinmachine….” As the imaginary voice began to fade out, Dash was fairly creeped out by the realization that Twilight had the power to lecture anypony without even being there. For the duration of the mental rant, which was more or less two minutes, she kept staring at Pinkie with lifeless eyes, only being brought back to reality by her friend as she tapped Rainbow’s nose with her hoof. "Please Dashie, don’t black out like that, it’s already so dark out there!” “Gah,I thought it wouldn’t happen again! ...Where was I?” “The moon…” “Yes! The moon! Worse, THE SUN! Or sent to the moon and then throwing the moon in the sun, and THEN throwing that sun in another bigger sun!” Pinkie gasped loudly of fear, then she abruptly interrupted herself saying,“Waitwaitwait, I have an idea!”while pointing her hoof upwards. “What” Dash retorted, without even trying to make it sound like a question. More like the failure to put together something more articulate. “We should tell the truth, I’m the one to blame for the prank!” She looked sadly at the ground, averting the gaze of her friend. “You just wanted to help me, you’re not to blame. I’m the evil,meanie mastermind!”Pinkie reasoned. Trying to not chuckle after picturing Pinkie dressed as a flamboyant Daring Do villain, complete with a cat on her lap, smiling evilly about her plans of taking over the world with pranks, Rainbow paused unable to say anything. “It’s true Dashie. I came out with the plan. I’m the one to blame. They probably haven’t seen you. That’s because you flew above the smoke, you were so fast! You swooshed up there and I ran down there, we just met at halfway and then we started talking in this alley…” “I think I know this part already…” “Anyhoo, you just helped me with a tiny part.I set up everything, so it’s all my fault! I couldn’t let my besty-bestest best friend take the blame for something she didn’t have any hoof in it, that would be mean!” ________ ________ 12 hours before the incident… “…And that’s what I need for my plan, Dashie! What do you think of it?” Pinkie chirped loudly, suspended in the air by a good deal of balloons tied to her. Rainbow Dash was resting on a cloud with her legs curled beneath her body, looking puzzled and having just woken up from her second siesta, or was it the third? She couldn’t remember things while sleeping, for pony’s sake! “Ya know, I’m always up for a good prank and, don’t get me wrong, this sounds simply AWESOME with capital A, but...doesn’t this seem a bit dangerous to you? I mean, I don’t know how anything from your list could be used together.” Pinkie scratched her chin, looking lost in her thoughts.Her bright blue eyes pointing sideways. “Hhhmm, you could be right, but don’t worry Dashie. Did your buddy Pinkie Pie ever disappoint you when fun is on the line? What if we use noodles instead of that big block of frozen Sarsaparilla?” “I‘m still missing the point of either of them…” muttered Rainbow, saying her thoughts out loud. “But you must admit that the rainclouds are just perfect! No, scratch that, it just can’t be the same without the rainclouds, they are the NEXUS of everything!” The pink mare emphasized the word ‘nexus’ with gusto while flying and gesturing like a particularly bombastic actor from Trottingham. Or a very bad one, theline between the two is very, very thin. Rainbow could’ve swornshe was hearing her voice boomed and distorted while she was saying that, like she was provided her own personal audio editing studio. “And I guess you need me to gather the rainclouds for your N..thinghy, right?” “Well, duh, you’re the coolest, bravest and most importantly, awesomest pegasus I know! And I know I can totally count on you for that” Pinkie said.She was leaning her face closer to Rainbow Dash with a sheepish smile and a certain look in her eyes that. If the pegasus didn’t know better, she would’ve thought Pinkie was going to kiss her, she was that close. The only thing missing was some swelling music in the background for the moment. This was impossible obviously, “Pinkie was cool”,she thought. Really weird and totally unpredictable but her kindness and joy of living was enough for being loved by basically everypony in Ponyville and she couldn’t have asked for a better friend, but that was it. Obviously she was seeing more into Pinkie Pie than her just being Pinkie Pie and scoffed at the thought, instead asking herself how this prank would’ve turned out and why her internal thoughts were suddenly narrated like an embarrassingly cheap romance novel. “You forgot radical!Aaaand the only one in the weather team who’s going to help you with this crazy plan, but I’m in! When exactly do you need this stuff?” “Oh, that’s no hurry, tonight would be perfect. I’ll get the noodles, some saddles, apple jam, six or seven typewriters, streamers, a mast and a jukebox. You’ll just need to gather the rainclouds, ok?” “Are you sure you don’t want to tell me how this is going to work?” “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, silly! No, scratch that, the biggest surprise ever! For you, for me, for everypony, if it goes well!” Pinkie announced with a big smile. “Oookay…”Dash still looked confused, especially when she included herself in the people who should be surprised. “Then I guess I have to start working on your big plan, right? See ya later Pinks!” The pegasus immediately stood on all fours, spread her wings and flew away finding the time to wave goodbye to the pink mare, slowly looking like a tiny dot in the distance. “She’s so random” she thought while flying away. That was the twentieth time she thought that…this week at least. “Bye Dash!” Pinkie shouted while affectionately waving at her friend. After that, she became lost in thoughts again with a soft smile in her face. Sometimes, when we think that our best friend is coming onto us, 25 % of the time she’s indeed coming onto us (statistics obviously provided by a complete quack).Even if she wouldn’t have used such a crude language, in fact her intentions were very pure even if a bit misleading. Pinkie liked Dash. A lot. Though she didn’t show it very often, the affection she felt for the pegasus was deep and abiding, even if not always requited. For the lack of better words, Pinkie always thought of herself just being way out of Dash’s league. She had absolute faith of her dream of being a future Wonderbolt and saw it as an eventuality almost as much as Rainbow. Not to mention her stunts, her speed, her grace, heck even in her brief time as a costumed superhero she needed the assistance of all her other friends to outshine her. Dash obviously had a life outside their little circle and as much as she loved her as a friend like anypony else, the pegasus could get every stallion ormare she wanted. She was just a simple screwball baker,shewould never be enough for the great Rainbow Dash. Talking with the other girls about the topic was a big no-no. After all she was fully aware of how her friends saw her. She was the always hyperactive, fun-loving pony and, with her as the first pony to admit it, not particularly competent with romance. Not as much as, say, Rarity and Fluttershy. Probably they wouldn’t have taken her seriously and she didn’t want to insist, fearing that she may turn into a complete jerk like the other time and Celestia forbid it. The big prank of hers was, in itself, a prank, an excuse to hang out with Dash on that particular night. She wanted to bond over something they both loved independently on the result. She wasn’t even sure if that big pile of things would have worked together, the plan wasn’t even THAT complicated. The true nexus of the thing was simply entertain Dash with some ruckus hastily put together. The kind of thing that she expected from silly-old-Pinkie and…ask her out on a date, waiting for Dash to be in the right mood, just that. She knew that wasn’t enough to confess her true feelings, for once she wanted to act slowly and carefully with her crush. Even if with time she didn’t think of Rainbow as a friend anymore, she surely wasn’t going to ruin everything between them. As ignorant as Pinkie was of that crazy little thing called love, she was pretty sure of one thing. If it doesn’t work out between friends, it’s over. Your relationship we’ll never be the same as before, not even with all the parties in the world… Even if her line of thinking was coherent (for Pinkie’s standard anyway), she forgot a little detail. As she gazed at the horizon, completely alone and still suspended in the air by the balloons, she shouted at top of her lungs. “HELLO?! COULD SOMEPONY HELP ME BACK ON THE GROUND?! DASHIE?!” ________ The present… “So, what are we going to do now?” asked Dash, still pondering about everything and looking very discouraged by her friends offer. “Tell the truth, Dashie. Only the truth.” “And you think that would just solve all of our problems, Pinkie? We went too far, sent to the moon or not, we’re not getting away with this. Not this time…” “Then what should we do?” “We could run away, hide for a few days maybe. We have to disappear, Pinks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally a lame way to solve things but this time it’s too much, it’s just too much!” “You keep saying we.” Pinkie sounded confused. “Isn’t that obvious? I’m coming with you!” remarked the Pegasus, with determination. Pinkie raised quizzically an eyebrow. “Don’t give me that look, I’m serious!” “But…” “No buts, Pinkie!” the tone of her voice was gravely. “BUT!” she practically attacked her with the sheer insistence of the second ‘but’. “I’m not listening andI’m definitely not changing my mind!” She covered her ears with herhooves and closed her eyes to emphasize the fact that her decision was final. And nothing else mattered. “I can’t see my friend taking all the blame for something like that and I can’t let you run away alone. I can’t let you do that! I won’t! And even if you did that, what about me? Do you think I will just stand there and do nothing, while you are on the moon or in some Celestia-Forsaken place still on the run, just because I sat here and did nothing? You’re my friend Pinkie. You’ll always be…And I don’t want to lose you. Ever. End of the story!” Dash felt her ribs strangely compressed all of a sudden. Opening her eyes, she saw the pink pony hugging her with all the strength and warmth that only a Pinkie Pie hug could give. Dash calmed herself down and returned the hug, just not as strongly, that would’ve been impossible. They stood like that for a couple of minutes, still in the alley, far from the worries of the outside world at least for a little while until that moment was broken by Pinkie. "What about the girls?” “Hhhm?” “You know, who I’m talking about…Aren’t they your friends too? Maybe they can forgive us…” “I’m not really sure, Pinkie. Surely not Twilight, she’s furious, I know that. We chose the day of Princess Celestia’s visit. She’ll be disappointed by us. We made her look terrible in front of her mentor.That is not something you can easily forget, especially for her. Applejack will think the same, this responsibility stuff is way too important for her. Rarity is cool once you know her well but she’ll probably be upset of being associated with the two madmares who bucked up everything. Like you always say,‘Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend…‘ ” “…forever” she grimly completed the sentence and also giggled after realizing the part before that. “If we’re gonna be outlaws, that nickname is bit long, don’t you think? And don’t tell me you think the same of Fluttershy! What if Fluttershy is the only pony who can understand…” “And then what? Cowering herself in a corner and asking very politely to let us go?” Dash retorted with a dry look. A look so dry that far at the frontier of Equestria, began another great drought. Pinkie looked at her friend with her jaw dropped. “That was plain mean, Dashie! I know you’re nervous and I’ll pretend you didn’t say it…Buuuut you kinda have a point.” She shrugged. “I hate saying this about ‘Shy, but she’s probably the only one, and only one pony isn’t much of a difference. I love all of them, but after today…” she stared in the distance, toward the zone of the disaster. The flames were still gleaming. “It’s the only way Pinkie…” Still hugging her friend, the pink mare directed her gaze towards the same spot Dash was looking. Sadly, she had to admit that Dash was right. Nopony could have predicted that it would go THAT wrong, but it happened anyway. A part of her was deeply saddened by this turn of events, a big part of her actually. Leaving everything behind, her village, her friends, every single ounce of happiness she gathered in the course of her life had to be forsaken for an uncertain road. But at least she had something or, better, somepony. She still had the will to smile, because the reason she learned to smile was still with her, still willing to protect her, still willing to risk in the difficult journey ahead of them just for her sake without any hesitation. Just like the Rainbow Dash she knew and loved… And she immediately hated herself for that. Everything started because of a selfish desire, innocent though it may have been, that dragged Dash into this mess and worse, she knew that no matter what, every chance of ever confessing her, well, everything was gone, at least for now. Rainbow put everything on the line for her friend’s sake, she didn’t deserve to be used like this and couldn’t pretend more from her, how could she? It would have been really awkward to say: “Hey Dashie, you know that total mess I dragged you into, that made you leave behind your life, your career, your friends and everything? Turns out I did all of that because I like you! Can we make it out now?" No, that had to remain a secret but, after all, she has waited so long for this, waiting some more wasn’t a problem. Preparing for whatever journey laid in front of them, that was a problem. And she didn’t have the slightest idea of what to do. Not even the tiniest bit… Crap… Meanwhile, hidden in a secret cave located in the darkest bowels of the planet, a menacing giant pair of flaming eyes flashed in the darkness, revealing the silhouette of a unicorn. Soon, a cavernous voice spoke, its words making the very earth tremble and weep. “At last, the pieces are moving! The Great Work shall now begin!” The unicorn stood on two legs, into a flamboyant pose and declared: “Yes, and it shall be Great…And Powerful! Muhahahahaha!” “You know, your catchphrase is kinda trite…” “Hey, Trixie doesn’t tell how to do your job!” To be continued… Author’s Notes: Well here it is.The first chapter of probably my first fanfiction ever! Feel free to give me some advice for the things that don’t work and also for the things that do. I had the idea for some time but only recently found a way to wrap up everything(spoiler alert: it’s even more complicated than it seems). And before you even ask.Yes,the title is a quote AND probably the worst pun ever created, lovingly described by my dad as “worse than opening the Ark of Covenant from Raiders”. Hope you enjoy it and stick around for the next chapter. Feel free to ask me anything in the comments, I’ll answer when possible. Chapter 2: Like Ivy and the WallThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles 23 Chapter 2: Like Ivy and the Wall 6 Hours before the Incident. The day was a blast. She was a blast. Everypony knew she was a blast. The blast was a blast. There was any doubt about it? Rainbow Dash was working non-stop since her little talk about Pinkie’s plan, kicking every cloud out of the sky preparing for the scheduled sunny day, slipping unseen every poor lonely raincloud she happened to see with a mischievous smile, hiding them just about everywhere she could find some room: nooks and crannies in Ghastly Gorge, an abandoned barn her friend Applejack asked to demolish when she had some time (Curiously she noticed that she never seemed to ran out of old barns, even though she rarely saw a new one being built. Maybe she just missed all of them…Or perhaps magic was involved, who cares!),even in her own house. Focused on her task, she spotted Pinkie several times, wandering through the village going through her normal routine and, more importantly, placing every kind of junk she managed to gather in strategic spots over Ponyville, following some kind of bizarre symmetry. She saw large tubes of iron concealed in the rooftops, various kind of strings cleverly placed in deserted alleys and going even though some houses, forming some kind of demented web and even some typewriters, whole carts of typewriters even, which Pinkie provided to move around regularly before somepony could make any question. She could’ve swore to have saw even some fancy calculus scribbled in the ground or hastily drawn with chalk. But the thing that surprised her the most probably was how confident she seemed of her bizarre preparations for pranking. At various occasion she spotted the Pegasus intent on watching her arrangements, only stopping to wave affectionately at her and winking at Dash as if to say: “Don’t worry, everything is going super-duper okay “( if the super-duper wasn’t included she wouldn’t be Pinkie),with absolutely no care in the care in the world In her twisted logic, the pieces of the plan were falling into their places like a symphony, even if the elements were incomprehensible for, saying a normal mind would be cruel…for somepony any other than Pinkie. She still couldn’t figure how the hay all of this was supposed to work, mind you, but one thing she had to admit about the pink pony was this: She never gave up. No matter how weird she seemed to others, how insane the situation was, how unlikely the set-up was, even if the entire world was against her she never backed down. No, not even then. I said no. Which part of “no” you don’t understand? She saw a lot of herself in Pinkie for this reason, nopony could stop them, no matter what. Together they truly were a force to be reckoned with Both careless, headstrong, a bit obsessed about their passions..Fanatically obsessed about their passions. She couldn’t hide the fact that sometimes she could be very annoying for this very reason. Well maybe that’s a strong word, but Pinkie surely wasn’t somepony everyone could handle easily when you didn’t know her well, but then again so was Dash. It didn’t seem but she was very aware of the fact that something her brashness could be seen as bad temper, and her competitiveness was something grating, and the less we talk about her constant fighting to keep her image of tough pony, the better. Before meeting the other girls, she wouldn’t never admitted something so “uncool”, but the time spent with them surely helped to soften the most hard-edged part of her personality, gave her some depth, forging a bond with every single one of her closest friend, as if some kind of all-knowing , even if not always benevolent, distant intelligence carefully planned the recent developments of her life for the purpose of providing her personal growth for obscure purposes…Perhaps a character with hidden depths provided more entertainment than a mere stereotype… Unfortunately, the art of internal monologuing was an ancient and complex tradition and Rainbow Dash wasn’t a master of it since she became so lost in her existential questioning that she didn’t notice that Luna’s Moon was already high in the sky. Dash looked around her, dumbfounded: “What the h…” Now… The skies above Ponyville were almost split half by a cyan meteor, flying so fast that the air itself looked it was almost bisected, like a hot butter knife was passing though. She was flying faster than she ever did, flying so hard that she started to feel the wind in her face like hundreds of tiny needles. Her muscles were so tense that it looked like they were about to snap as little twigs. She was moving so fast, not even trying to slip unseen into the night, that you could’ve mistaken her for a glimmer in your eye, never to be seen again except for a single moment. She summoned to force to slow down only when her destination was near. Her own house, to be precise. Once she settled down her hooves, she slammed the already open door behind her as she entered, and sat on the cloudy floor, keeping her head between her hooves, shouting the vilest epithet her language ever conceived. After a few seconds like that, she calmed her down and began to, once again, ponder. She left Pinkie Pie just a few minutes ago, told her to go to her place and grab everything she could find useful for their journey. Travel light, she said, bring everything necessary, and when I say necessary I mean strictly necessary! Don’t even think of the cannon, we can’t drag that thing down for all of Equestria! She almost regretted of saying her that, after all that cannon had some uses. Just ask those Changelings. Oh, wait, you can’t! They’re gone, so buck them. She started scouring her own house, taking everything she seemed necessary, following her own advice: a couple of saddlebags with her favorite saddle, the one with the Wonderbolts symbol embroided in, for which she did very unkind things to get her hooves on the last one available, every single bit she managed to keep for the emergencies, not much but it was a start, some food, simple stuff which she didn’t count very much on the long term, her shades, because you always need some shades and a towel, she read in a book you always need a towel. Near her bed, she took a glance at a large pile of Daring Do novels she borrowed from Twilight. After all, she read those ones only a couple of times and she probably wouldn’t see a copy for a long time… Near the pile, she noticed a pen and a lone piece of paper. She could leave a message, she thought. Something inspiring, something meaningful, a last message from the great Rainbow Dash so that posterity may not judge her too harshly about the recent events, something of such a great beauty to inspire a generation of poets to write about her as a tragic figure. She grabbed the pen and quickly scribbled the following words, without thinking twice: “Buckbuckbuckbuckbucknuckbuckbuckbuck” And here it is. The last words to the world of a deranged mind cursing her fate, or a diabolical riddle that could be decrypted by a certain orange coated farmer. Dash facehoofed because she couldn’t think of anything better than but that wasn’t important right now. Pinkie was waiting for her at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest…One of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Nopony sane of mind would possibly look for them in there. Yeah…Speaking of Pinkie… Even if she had to keep her cool for her friend’s sake, a part of her was extremely angry because of the pink pony. A kind of wrath that she didn’t know it was in her. This time she crossed the thin line between harmless shenanigans and being downright irresponsible for the sake of everypony. You could’ve called her in fancy terms like “delightfully quirky” but what she did was dangerous. Simple as that. She couldn’t believe how thoughtless Pinkie could get, and for what? For a dumb prank? A prank so dumb that probably even bucking Pinkie didn’t figure out? Something so awesomely retarded and dangerous that forced them to be on the run, like common criminals? And not even THAT common, since there wasn’t anything common about what they did. And she even encouraged her. That was the worst part, the one thing that ticked Dash off the most. Without a second thought she took part of her crazy plan that condemned them both to a life on the run, without even considering the consequences. She was a pony of action but even a speed demon like her had to draw the line…somewhere. Did she even care that Princess Celestia was there? Of course not, good old Pinkie Pie without a care in the world with that big dopey smile on her face wants to have fun? Well, she had her bucking fun, alright! Moon jokes aside, she had at least the sense to believe that their benevolent ruler couldn’t always be benevolent. Even if everypony they met probably didn’t know, didn’t care or just plain forgot, she and Pinkie were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony but after betraying the Princess’ trust in such a spectacular way probably nullified their efforts, as she rationalized before. They basically alienated everypony with their recent antics, even her friends… And obviously Dash had to take the blame as well, after all in her little pink mind they were partners in crime, alone against the world like an extremely cheap adventure novel, and didn’t had anypony else that could help. And neither did Dash…Alone…But together in their loneliness… Who said that it had to be this way? After all even Pinkie said it. She had little hoof in it, nopony could prove otherwise. The pony responsible for all of this was right there and only she knew where to find her, and, more importantly, at the start of this Pinkie was ok with confessing everything. She outright said she didn’t want Dash to take the blame… Her life would’ve continued normally, she had a future ahead, a bright new future, she could’ve entered Princess Celestia’s favor by turning in a dangerous criminal. That meant influence, admiration, respect, fame… Wonderbolts… The Element of Loyalty called: it says that you’re a douchebag, Rainbow Dash, and if it ever sees you hopes it gives you tetanus. She immediately fell on her haunches on that thought. She hated herself more than she could imagine, she felt a disgust so profound that a part of her simply died. For a brief, painful moment, Rainbow Dash forgot all the happy moments she spent with Pinkie, the joy and happiness they gave each other, every single beautiful moment they built their friendship on, the fun she had every single day they spent together, the simple fact that her friend always had time for her if she ever felt sad or simply had a bad day, all for the pettiest reasons… Not, not simply forgotten. Threw them away like trash… After this horrifying betrayal of her own Element, thankfully not very long lasted, Dash had no excuses anymore. She decided to help Pinkie, and that was it. Because she was her friend. Because it was the right thing to do. Because that’s how the Dash rolls. If she was willing to save a filly in a well, she shouldn’t even have thought about helping Pinkie. After taking everything she could from her house, her last thought before flying away from home forever went to Tank, left in the loving care of Fluttershy the day before. She hoped that he could forgive her at least. She still was angry with the pink pony, mind you. Loyalty or not loyalty, they still had to make a long talk about how they made each other’s life a mess because of her silly plan, made by a silly pony, for silly ponies…And a even sillier pony helped her, let’s not forget that. But that wasn’t the time. At least not now. Now, Rainbow Dash had to take care of a friend in big, fat, trouble, because that’s what friends do for each other, right? Don’t answer that… And maybe Pinkie had her reasons for doing that. Silly reasons, obviously, but at least she wanted to hear them. She owed her at least this much. Who knows, maybe that’s just a big misunderstanding and In a few months they’ll laugh about it. She also tasted like cupcakes and Earth spins on its axis to give us day and night. She gazed for the last time at her belongings and with a sigh, parted forever with her old life, once slamming the door. As she flew over Ponyville, she noticed the village was still bearing the scars of the disaster. Town Hall was gone, completely gone. The only thing left was probably the basement. No traces of grass around it, the flames had their way and reached the nearby buildings, although they weren’t in such a bad shape even though most of them looked bent, dangerously leaning toward the ground, oozing what looked like jam from windows and doors. She could even notice a typewriter or two scattered through the rabbles, still wondering how did they get there. No sign of the Princess obviously, although she still could spot some of the guards continuing their search. The commotions also ended, ponies were going back to their daily lives to start rebuilding the village the next day. She noticed a purple unicorn, talking with a couple of guards standing among some rubbles. Twilight, obviously. She saw them, she thought. Or she didn’t saw them. Like that made any difference, their absence was an evidence in itself. Twilight had to say everything she knew, the guards will feel suspicious about those two crazy ponies who notably didn’t show up, they’ll put two plus two and bam! Now they’re officially outlaws. No turning back from that. She took this news surprisingly well. It was only a matter of time. Inevitable. Cliched, even. No signs of her other friends, she hoped that they didn’t hurt them in some other ways. With their rotten luck, even Sweet Apple Acres could be in ruins as far as she knew. She finally reached the designated place, the lonely, brown road that led to the Everfree Forest. She noticed some sick kind of symmetry in this: The road that started their new lives in Ponyville with their friends was also the beginning of the end of their old lives. A detestable pink blot was already waiting for her on the road, waving at her. She had some saddlebags, a couple actually, and a big, dumb smile on her face. “HEY DASHIE! I’M HERE! CAN YOU SEE ME! WOHOOOO!” she shouted. With no description cut whatsoever, Dash found herself immediately silencing her by practically shoving her hoof in her mouth. She was still able to ramble, though. “Cut it out, Pinkie! We’re gonna get busted if you do that again!” she angrily retorted. Removing her friend’s hoof from her mouth she replied: “I’m sorry, Dashie! I’m just ultra-excited for the whole running away stuff! I’m kinda nervous, “ she giggled. I took only the indisp-indispendab-whatever we needed the most, just like you said! I wanted to bring Gummy, but I couldn’t shove him into a boring, gloomy saddlebag. It’s so dark and scary in there, poor dear! I hope Mr. and Mrs. Cake can take care him, and the twins play with him so he wouldn’t feel lonely. Like I said, I’m so excited and scary for this thing, but I trust you Dashie! We can’t go back after that, just like the song says: Run fast for your mother. Run fast for your father. Run for your foals, for your sisters and your brothers. Leave all your love and your longings behind. You can't carry it with you if you want to survive. But I’m not so scared because I still got you, Dash! Let’s go now, partner! In crime I mean, hihihi.” Even if she still was a giggling, fast-talking , randomly singing pink blob she knew, Dash wasn’t fooled by her comedic routine and noticed something that simply didn’t match. During her rant she was shaking on her hooves and her smile cracked more times than she could count and she could’ve swore to hear her voice cracked, too. She was still angry, she repeated herself, but in what she would’ve described as “a moment of weakness” Dash wrapped her wing around Pinkie like a fluffy, blue blanket, to stop the shaking and make her feel warm and cozy, pulling the pink pony closer to her so that their flanks were touching. Dash blushed and felt very conflicted while doing this, but she kept her friend close. She would’ve found new ways to hate herself later. Pinkie instantly calmed down, the shaking finally stopped, and looked in her friend’s eyes with a determined look, giving her an affectionate but unnoticeable nuzzle. Dash nodded and the two ponies walked down the road, with an uncertain future ahead. Author’s Notes: Second chapter already! Thanks for all the favorites, guys. Didn’t have any hope when I started writing this, honestly! I was planning to release chapter earlier but blame the DLC pack for Asura’s Wrath for that. Writing Dash for this chapter was very fun and I know some of might disagree but I noticed this: in fanon , Pinkie is the one who breaks the fourth wall very frequently. In the show Dash has her personal “Dun-dun-Duuuun” and pauses for dramatic effect so I thought that a Dash somehow aware of living in a story was plausible. I’m still thinking she was a geek before the Daring Do episode only much more closeted. And before you even ask, yes. Pinkie listens Florence + The Machine, please forgive me. Chapter 4: No matter where…Trough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 4: No matter where… There was mostly silence. The only thing that reigned supreme in the Everfree Forest that night, a powerful and eerie silence, only broken by the sound of two ponies trotting along the dark, brown road. No more their great night, as Pinkie thought. That ship has sailed a long time ago. At the beginning she started to think adjectives far more appropriate: there was “the dumbest night ever”, the always classic “worst night ever” surely works for any situation like a little black dress, or the newest one she came up , lovely described as “The night I bucked up”. That will do. For once she tried to be as straightforward as possible. She had enough time to think, to keep her mind occupied in the dull, unbearable moments in the forest, knowing well that it was just the start, to think of what went wrong ,what to do now…Her companion surely wasn’t helping. Even if she hated the pettiness of such thoughts, the cyan Pegasus wasn’t friendly at all, it would’ve been better to just go alone, but sadly she knew she couldn’t expect more from her. Rainbow Dash was silent as those dark and twisted tree branches that surrounded them unless you didn’t count the brief, monosyllabic answers she gave to Pinkie. “Where are we going, Rainbow Dash?” “Away” “We can’t go back, right?” “No.” “Any ideas?” “Nope” Longest conversation they had since having left Ponyville. Her usual routine of silly, old Pinkie Pie surely didn’t help to…well, it didn’t help at all. She had to show her that everything was alright, that she wasn’t distressed as it looked, to make her feel at home with a pantomime of normalcy, at least she had to lift this one burden from her heart. At least Pinkie Pie was the same… She saw trough it, obviously. Maybe she wanted to show some kindness to her “partner in crime” or maybe because she sounded so pathetic that that gesture of affection was everything she could aspire for at the moment. Nevertheless her heart melted like chocolate when she did that, even though it was just compassion. A step in the right direction, maybe? Yeah, right…Look pathetic in front of your crush, that is so gonna work, she’ll love you back in a tick. Why whenever somepony made some gesture to made her feel closer to somepony always looked like that, deeply, they wanted to baby her? Old, random Pinkie Pie doesn’t know what to do except being a fool even when she has to fight with teeths and hooves to show ponies she was responsible (even if in that particular night, that statement kinda went out the window), so you have to tolerate her, to guide her, to hold the bridge of your nose and going “Oooooww” whenever she does something silly, too simple to even understand the basics of love…. And to think it all started for her…During that train of thought she noticed several locks of her mane just didn’t curl properly, so she stopped with the negativity. Turning back into Pinkamena right there would be a giant pain in the plot, quite frankly. And for making it even more cheesy, not even using an original song…The lack of inspiration was the last of her concerns, though. Completely lacking any hope or motivation except the desire to run away, wandering aimlessly in one the most dangerous places of Equestria, with little food and resources, now, that was at least in the top five. On top of that they didn’t know long they had to stay there and where they should’ve gone from there. The two big choices where obviously Manehattan or Fillydelphia, especially the former since they knew something about the city from Applejack. Sure, her time in it was brief but better than nothing. Cities full of life, relatively close with emphasis on relatively since Rainbow Dash could fly even to Las Pegasus in a few days…without having to carry a rather abundant pink earth pony which could seriously hinder her fliying speed, not to mention her stamina, big enough to disappear among the crowd with nopony to recognize them so they could try to rebuild something akin to a life. Canterlot could’ve been a possibility but with their luck even though nopony ever seemed to remember that the Princess herself held them in high regard, in that particular occasion the universe would finally find somepony that remembered them, just to screw with them and their little..involment with the Princess that fated night, made that choice even worse. Cloudsdale could’ve been an option if Rainbow Dash hadn’t to take care of ,once again, a certain pink earth pony who couldn’t live on the clouds and shall not be named to protect the innocents (in the loosest sense of the word), to lessen the guilt of the aforementioned pink pony and avoid confusions with a certain type of sweet. Everywhere but Ponyville was fine… Somehow, Pinkie thought that neither of them had planned this as they should have. The fact that it was the third time they saw that creepy, almost pony looking bush was the icing of the cake. If she had the courage to say another word to her she’d say that they were lost. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash noticed. Unless looking around you looking lost and irritated then immediately facehoof with a long, drawn out lament was a new way to express happiness. If it was, it’d never be popular. “Are you alright, Dashie?” asked Pinkie gently, trying her best to not sound like an idiot. The question didn’t help. Immediately Dash calmed herself down, breathing slowly and regaining her composure. Still with her back turned to Pinkie spoke the usual few words, with a cold, distant tone: “Tired. Let’s rest a few minutes. Need to think” “Okie-Dokie-Loki…”said Pinkie, without a hint of happiness in it, almost like a reflex. The two strolled a bit away from the path to the side, to lay on the ground for a few minutes as they did a couple of times already, sharing quietly a daffodil sandwich, one of the few they could bring with them. Not that they hoped to sustain themselves on them for much time, and for how much time? As always, Dash didn’t want to speak and Pinkie was too scared to ask her anything. The, frankly unnatural, silence of the forest really helped to create a mood of awkwardness and distress still unrivaled by anything else in Equestria. This almost supernatural quiet was strange, sure, but neither of the two still couldn’t find anything weird about that, what, being so paralyzed by your own self doubts will do that to you; after all, the darkness and fear in the heart of a pony is far more dangerous and cruel than anything the forest could conjure…Except maybe a cockatrice, those are vicious bastards. After some minutes, even though Dash was doing her best to avoid the other mare gaze instead staring blankly at the contorted mess that surrounded them ,finally, Pinkie decided to broke that silence, looking at her with the same puppy dog eyes she used a few hours ago, only this time there wasn’t any ulterior motive in them. Pinkie probably didn’t notice to having had them. They weren’t helping, though. “Dashie?” “What?” the question stroke her like a whip, so sudden and cold. “I think we’re lost…” “Duh.” “Why don’t you…you know…fly around a tiny bit? Maybe you can see the way out?” “And leaving you alone? Who knows what kind of monsters are around here?” “Oh, don’t worry, Dashie! Maybe if you do that for just a minute…” “I said no. “ said Dash immediately interrupting her. “But…” “What part of no do you not understand? I’m not risking it…” Longer sentences now, that’s a record. She shrugged silently, visibly unease at the word of her friend, for once not knowing what to say. She had to measure every word carefully, unless she wanted in front of her to explode because of her very visible tension, dripping from her mannerism. That pantomime couldn’t continue, though. Angry or not, at least if she hadn’t to be so…nebulous about everything it would've been better for both of them. The fact she was also leading the way and probably going into circles, endangering them both was something to be taken care of. She trusted her, sure but she began regretting that decision after noticing how distressed and distant she was. And whose pony could be the fault? Don’t answer that… As a matter of fact everything had to be clear between them, they were friends, right? “Why are you doing this?” she asked with a concerned tone. Dash eyed her intensely, as if she Pinkie was some kind of bizarre natural phenomenon. “I know we are friends and all, but you’re risking everything for me. If you say we have to go, we have to go, no questions, I know it’s super duper dangerous and everything and now you’re acting all kind of cranky and you’re not talking to me but…” her rant interrupted by itself “…you were so nice to me before but not now…And now you look so angry and sad…” “Your point being?” “I don’t get you, that’s the point!” “Oh, YOU don’t get ME! That’s bucking new!”She immediately lashed out, finally regaining her full grammar. “AHA! You did notice that we’re lost, aren’t you?” “What gave you that impression? The whining? Or maybe the fact that it’s the third time I saw that bush?” “YOU noticed it?” Pinkie looked appalled. “I can’t believe it…” she muttered aside “You noticed it, too? Why didn’t you say anything?!” Pinkie shrugged and looked tinier but still managing to look indignant and pouty: “You didn’t seem in the mood…” Dash just froze for a second, looking stung by some kind of exotic parasite, with a look of pure disbelief on her face: “Mood? What kind of answer is that? “You didn’t seem in the mood?” she said that even mocking Pinkie’s tone of voice, a nearly flawless imitation, we might add. “Do you think this is a date? Is that it?” “Are you coming onto me, Dashie? I’m flattered!” Pinkie managed to sound both sarcastic AND hopeful with that sentence. Dash blinked, incredulous, “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that, for the sake of my sanity…” “You know, I didn’t think the Everfree Forest could be a good place for a date, but I guess you’ve proven me wrong!” said Pinkie with a sly smile, as a little payback for Dash indifference before. “Stop stalling! What’s the point of all this?!” Rainbow Dash practically jumped in the air and started flapping furiously her wings to keep herself in the air, to glare at the pink mare from high. Pinkie giggled “I’m not a pencil, Dash! I don’t have a point!” the giggling turned into a bitter and mocking laugh. Dash was furious, the glaring was far more fierce and intimidating than ever, directed right at the pink pony who was mocking her. Her nostrils flared. “You’re…You can’t be real! If you knew we were lost, why you didn’t tell me anything? No, scratch that, why you didn’t tell me anything about that dumb prank, those dumb raincloud and whatever was in your motherbucking head when you thought all of this!” Just you, you big stupid jock she thought, but kept it for herself. Pinkie stood there silently for a few seconds, looking remarkably calm and collected, more collected she ever looked in her entire life, still eyeing the angry Pegasus in front of her, with her eyelids half closed and a hint of a sneer. “You’re such a flip-flop.” She said slowly, her face not even breaking a sweat. “Say that again.” Rainbow practically smashed her face closer to the other mare face making a squishy sound, glaring at her closer than ever, looking directly in her . Again, Pinkie wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. “Oh, now you want me to speak! Total flip-flop!” the Pegasus’ glare was starting to get intense and piercing. Nevertheless Pinkie continued to lash at her. “We’re in this together, Dashie. Whether you like it or not.” She stood to the other pony and started pushing as well, this time looking much less dignified: “Just what do you want from me? Ok, it’s my fault! Are you happy now? It’s that what you wanted to hear, you stupid, stupid pegasusus? “The hay are you talking about?” “I know you’re angry with me, Rainbow Dash! I’m not THAT stupid!” Dash rolled her eyes and muttered sotto voce, “That’s the least of our problems…” “Quit bucking around!”, she started shouting at this point. “If I am soooo much of a pain to you, why are still with me?” “Please Celestia, not again”, Rainbow facehoofed. “Answer me, you dumb…Dumb-meany-head!” “BECAUSE I HAVE TO! THAT’S WHY!” Rainbow screamed so hard that Pinkie’s mane was even more messed up than it was before, her curls exploded in a even more chaotic patter in all direction. Even down that undignified mess, the pink pony looked deeply hurt by that statement. But mostly enraged… “What do you mean by that?” she asked. Maybe it wasn’t as she imagined… “Because I’m the element of loyalty, the one everypony goes when they’re in a mess! The only one who has the guts and the speed and the nerve to do what they have to do, I may not like it but that’s how it is! Do you think you have any chance out there without me? ” “It’s just because…YOU HAVE TO? Not because we are, you know, friends?” “Oh, don’t give me this…Don’t you dare! It’s totally not cool to play the friend card, here!” “And by the way, great job with leading the way. Maybe that bush is the other bush twin brother so we’re making progress, who knows!” “Oh, like you’re any better. Let me spell this out: we’re in this mess because of you! You even admitted it!” Dash stopped to flap and lowered herself on the ground, so that she could speak with her at the same level this time. She silently prepared to say her next sentence, looking like she was gathering the energy to actually say it. “I wish I never met you” … “Stop that, please!” Pinkie was looking at the ground, her voice eerily monotone, tender tears were hitting the ground. “What are you going to do now?” Her voice cracked a little, obviously distressed and surprised, even a bit shamed of her words but still feigning indifference” Cry and convince me to stay? It worked so well last time!” And that was the proverbial breaking point. Since that moment, Pinkie wasn’t a paragon of rationality and self-control since…never, but sometimes a pony is pushed to the point that they forget everything only to be replaced by the most primordial emotions, in this case, anger. Anger she thought to never feel since before, anger she couldn’t believe she could feel toward Rainbow Dash, but the Pegasus surely did a good job provoking. Sure, she truly was responsible for all of this and those cruel attempts of humor were mean, plain and simple, a product of their difficult circumstances but mean, nevertheless; but being faced with such awful truths and ,let’s face it, her feelings for Dash were so much of a mess that a messy response was the only possible response and her grief translated in a form far more primordial. Before Dash could even say a word she found herself enveloped in a big ball of pink-colored violence, finding herself repeatedly slapped, pulled, shaken and even bitten by a screaming thing that looked like Pinkie Pie. To her surprise, she found surprisingly difficult to retaliate, after all she the attack was so sudden and Pinkie’s moves were so unpredictable and feral that doing anything, even in the heat of the moment, was fairly difficult. Her rabid and quick blows were even well-placed and hurt more than she intended, or perhaps exactly as she intended like an angry pony-sized wasp. The two mares were rolling up and down in that same spot, without a clear winner for a while, evenly matched in that clumsy dance, finally, to Dash surprise evidenced by her comically enlarged pupils, Pinkie stood proudly on the Pegasus, pining her to the ground. There wasn’t any trace of anger in her eyes or face this time, though. There was something different entirely but not easily recognizable. She gazed so hard into the Pegasus lavender eyes that she almost looked lost in them, breathing slowly and blushing lightly. In that moment she didn’t know how to feel and what to think, her troubles forgot, Dash’s hateful statement forgot, like it never existed in the first place. The only thing that mattered was her…It all started from her… Even though it was completely illogical, dangerous, degrading, non sequitur and almost demeaning for everypony involved Pinkie started to lean closer to Dash, eyeing hungrily her lips. After all, she won their little skirmish and the Pegasus was unnecessarily cruel to her not a long ago. Now it was time for a little payback… To her surprise Dash wasn’t struggling at all, but instead started to lean her head towards Pinkie’s as well and even started a little blush. Maybe it was a date after all, Pinkie thought. In the worst possible moment and under the most embarrassing conditions Equestria ever saw but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. Perhaps everything could still be fixed and that was a brief ray of hope if she ever saw one. Sadly, that perfect magical moment was broken by the sudden look of horror in Rainbow Dash eyes. Pinkie instantly broke the silence. “What it is, Dashie? You look like you saw a ghost!” "Remember that bush we made such a big deal about it?” “Yes?” “It’s gone…” Pinkie, incredulous, immediately turned her head and noticed that that creepy pony looking bush was, in fact, gone and to her horror, she noticed that they weren't alone anymore. The two mare were surrounded by something not of this world. Big, black piles of oily smoke in the shape of ponies stood silently around them, glaring at them with eyes that looked like made of the fire of Tartarus itself, glaring and to their surprise, smiling maliciously with what looked like, black, sharp, pointy fangs. They both uttered the same word,in fear and disbelief: “Crap…” Author's Notes: Sorry for the long hiatus i took without a warning guys, but i'm having a lot of health problems lately but i promise i'll update the fic regularly. After the next chapter, we'll be having a little interlude, to introduce some new players in this story, shift the focus a bit and make some new developments , so stay tuned. Chapter 5: And then the world turns...Through Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 5: And then the world turns... The great writer Appal Moore once said that life is made of different genres: It's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're luck. Rainbow Dash knew him from a couple of Daring Do short stories and a novel he penned, which she enjoyed of course but she deemed too dark and cerebral for her taste. Also, that huge amount of obscure references from Trottingham literature, which she could identify only half of it and only with the help of Twilight, was too much. What did he wanted from his readers ,anyway. To read MORE books? Nevertheless that quote seemed to describe that last portion of her life pretty well: Since she ever heard of that dumb excuse for a prank, everything was so crazy and a bit surreal, it had to be a comedy. Pinkie Pie role in it was just too perfect to be a coincidence. Every comedy requires a wacky trickster to set the plot in motion. The fact that she managed to keep the mystery of everything until the very end and the general enigmatic nature of that dirty affair made it a mystery novel, with the added twist of the detective unable to piece together the clues until it was too late. A pretty good twist in the land of fiction, she had to admit but unfortunately she lived in reality… At least she still thought there were some clues, but you know how they say: if you look back on it everything seems easier. The main event of the night was surely an epic chronicle of some earth-shattering disaster ,and let’s leave it at that, and the part in the forest…Yeah, Moore said that nothing is definite. In the beginning Dash saw herself as the heroine of a tragedy: a moving, powerful story with a noble, selfless, beautiful and brave heroine (no applauses, please) willing to sacrifice everything for her well-intentioned but dangerously reckless friend, who honestly could not face the hardships of the life of a fugitive alone. Of course, the heroic virtues of every protagonist of a tragedy had to be her downfall and greatest weakness, with the cruel forces of Fate making the “friend” in question a total jerk, who really had to test her kindness and patience by making the both of them lost in one of the dangerous places of Equestria and surrounded by Celestia knows what (although she’d had to analyze that later), insulting her, being a general pain in the plot and making her remember past events that still made her suffer even if she didn’t show and being totally disrespectful of her sacrifice and good will and making her very confused about a lot of things because she pinned her to the ground (She didn’t saw it coming…Since when she could do that? Well, surely all those sweets she eats helped, she weighs far more than she appears...) and could’ve swore she was trying to kiss her, no question about that. Well actually there was one: why did Dash didn’t seem to mind that one thing? Even if the idea was preposterous (Where did that word even came from?!), she guessed the romantic part of the story was filled…Until the hero fell from the light and became just one of the villains… “I wish I never met you”… She really earned those bites. Rainbow Dash didn’t know where those words came from, probably from the same twisted, nefarious, hidden part of her that considered abandoning Pinkie before earlier. Neither of them was in their right mind that night, alright, but it had to be something else, that didn’t came from her, it couldn’t be, it…just…couldn’t… … She didn’t believe her own crap for a minute, It was too easy to blame an unknown nameless force who lived inside her head. That is the stuff for the looney bin. At least Pinkie had the courage to talk to her face, while Dash ,in her own mind before and those five little words who shall never mention again after, proved to be worse. Even though she couldn’t fully justify, and most of the time even understand, Pinkie for her actions before and after, at least she wasn’t THAT cruel to her friend until now. There were some lines that even in anger and shock couldn’t be crossed. She did start all of this for her sake and, whatever degree of responsibility Pinkie had in all of this didn’t changed it. Not one bit. Now that she mentioned it was this difficult to actually understand each other until this moment? Well, yeah…But most of the time it was in good fun. Pinkie Pie’s silliness amused her, until it became criminally dangerous , but this time, as her mind was focused she knew something just wasn’t right this time. Her big, scintillating eyes of hers right before the incident only confirmed this, there was a hint of something different in it, something that didn’t belong to the Pinkie she knew, not something that could be alien to her, but surely something that saw her totally unprepared once it was there. One more reason to help her, she thought. What happened to them in all this time they knew each other? What changed between the two friends that made Pinkie’s behavior even more erratic than it was before? And why, for the love of Celestia, why Rainbow Dash has become such a JERK? Her motivation for helping Pinkie faltered THIS soon? And for what, for something that could’ve been fixed easily if they just took flight like she suggested to? She was better than that, she had to be. She needed to apologize to her, to earn redemption, to be for Pinkie the friend she could always rely on as it should have been from the start. And, sadly, that too could be part of an interesting story… And now, the horrifying part. Everything happened so fast she almost forgot of that one. Sometimes in life, things can and will just go wrong. The shadows were still surrounding the two ponies, extremely polite she had to admit since they waited until she finished her internal monologue, still snarling and staring at them, with a gaze that could pierce lesser hearts. As Pinkie and Dash looked at these monstrosities, they noticed something completely wrong with them: their appearance wasn’t full, they seemed to lack consistence, almost translucent, looking big piles of smoke with several fragments of their anatomy disappearing leaving square shaped holes in their bodies only for reappearing on different, equally empty places of them, as if they were constantly rearranging themselves to continue existing in a reality that just didn’t tolerate their very existence, shaped to look like a pony, several of them had even wings and she spotted one with an horn , although broken and incomplete, looking more like fleshy appendages than real body parts which she couldn’t figure if they were actually functional or not, as a mockery of pony races. Maybe Changelings? No, those monsters looked very real, these beings instead…they looked like a nightmare penetrating the world of the wake and struggling to continue this unnatural existence. Pinkie immediately let Dash get up by basically jumping off from her friend, visibly disturbed by that sight. With a nod she signaled for Pinkie to go behind her, trying to appear fierce and confident, as always. To keep her cool, for Pinkie’ sake of course, she even wore a smirk and a look in her eyes that just screamed: “Come at me, you ugly jerks; you’re looking for trouble, well you got it. You don’t mess with the Dash”. Yes, she could say a lot of things with look. So, what? The two ponies stood opposite of each other, guarding each other’s plot while being circled silently by those…whatever the hell they were. Both of them had a determined look in their eyes, not even flinching. She didn’t know about Pinkie but , even though she needed the assistance of demonic creatures, she felt invigorated by this. The Pegasus she had to be: stronger than ever and faster than lightning. A bit of unnerved by her still silent opponents, Dash started to use the old and always useful art of quipping: “Looks like some…whatever showed up at our date. Friends of yours, Pinks?” “Nu-huh. My friends are much more colorful than that.” “ Even that black unicorn?” “Especially that black unicorn! And he’s named Graphite by the way. He’s nice!” Dash rolled her eyes “Whatever. So if you guys don’t have anything better to do, why don’t you just go f…” Before she could finish the sentence, one of them immediately lunged at Dash, screeching loudly with her maw fully opened. Dash immediately, turned herself and gave to the shadow a well-deserved kick to the jaw, right into its hellish mouth, who flung it backwards and pummeled on the ground with all fours flailing the air, spitting a couple of their teeth who immediately disappeared in a puff of smoke as they left its mouth. Exactly as planned. If she knew something about monsters, is that they weren’t so smart. Dash felt the impact of her own blow resonating trough all of her hind-leg as if she just kicked a wall of bricks. Their appearance suggested otherwise but she didn’t expect them to be this tough. It didn’t matter. The others started their assault too, focusing more on Dash than Pinkie, who managed to clumsily avoid the shadows, by jumping and moving seemingly at random, viciously lunging and jumping at her, trying to bite her as they tried with Dash. The Pegasus already started to flutter weakly, hitting some of them with her hooves as they tried to reach her to keep them at bay, with much less force than before obviously, she still needed all of her legs .She’ll have to bother with the pain later. Sadly, she couldn’t discern their exact number, six or seven where there but it was absolutely possible that a whole army of them was waiting patiently in the darkness of the forest. With their luck, it could be even more… A couple of them had Pegasus wings and tried to attack her with the very same appendages, holding them horizontal and fully stretched. If their wings were just as hard as their ugly faces, that was a feasible strategy. For all she knew, at that speed they could slice her in half. Ouch. Luckily for Dash they were too clumsy too use their speed effectively and their attack pattern resulted painfully predictable. She only had to keep her momentum and just keep dodging. Piece of Cake. The deadly dance continued, until finally the twisted pegasi were far enough from them after Dash avoided their latest assault and were trying to reassert themselves. She tried to look for Pinkie, but in the chaos she somehow lost the sight of her. She frantically turned her head searching for her friend. A lot of brown, some black and some green but not a trace of pink. She started to worry, it’s not she was that distant from her. How could she…? She had an horrible feeling. From the start of everything she had the feeling that those creatures were capable of far more than they let out, and she had seen her fair share of crazy magic, enough for a lifetime, and it wasn’t over yet. A lot of horrible thoughts began to invade her head, her eyesight started to falter. She was already tired, maybe? A scream behind her. Pinkie’s scream. Was it too late? She quickly turned and swooped toward the voice a top speed, ready to do battle, only to see… Pinkie gasping and raging, holding a saddlebag in her teeth, looking semi-opened, in which she barely see a big brown envelope in it and more scarily the earth ponies version of the shadows looked unconscious, at least for a few moments, a couple of them thanks to Pinkie of all ponies, who, when she wasn’t looking managed to brutally subdue the two and were lying on the ground with their forelegs at each other’s side of their neck, laying on their shoulders, as in some kind of clumsy embrace. She tried to not snicker at that grotesque image. But that wasn’t the time to laugh, even if beating those monsters seemed strangely cathartic. With a quick nod she signaled to Pinkie to follow her and both ponies began to run deeper in the forest, possibly away from whoever it may be hiding in there. Fortunately the only shrieking she heard came from the opposite direction. A shrieking so horrible to be almost painful. Just what the hay are those things? While leading the way, Dash needed to know one thing, an idea was slowly forming in her mind that could be the key for saving their lives: “Pinkie, how did you do that?” “Do what?” she retorted, confused. “That! That…I don’t know how you did that! ” “Oh, you mean that? I just kicked their plot. Wasn’t that difficult, honestly. Those ugly things wanted to hurt us, right? They had it coming!” Dash was frankly scared by that sentence. She honestly never knew that side of Pinkie and hoped to never see it again…At least not directed at her as her little tantrum before proved. In a truly bizarre turn of events, the arrival of those things actually spared her sorry plot from the rage of something she would began to call “Angry Pie”. And the award of “Strangest Bucking Day of Her Entire Life” goes to… “Can’t you just tell me how?” Dash meekly asked. Pinkie smirked and giggled: “It’s Pinkie Sense, silly! Those meanies can’t touch me if I don’t want to! I just know if they want to hurt me!” Gotta love Pinkie Sense. Nopony knows how that works but it works and frankly she didn’t care. And with that the last piece of the puzzle feel right into her hooves. At least she had to try. In a clever twist of irony of the most unexplainable things ever , could be the most logical approach. Too bad Twilight wasn’t there. For once she would shut up about her being too reckless to think logically. Then she realized that it was for the best, because if she really was there she still had a lot of explaining to do for that little shenanigan…Best not think about that for now. With new resolution, Dash suddenly stopped, trying not to make Pinkie crash into her. Then she quickly offered her rump to the pink mare. Yes, for an outside observer the gesture could seem very ambiguous. So ambiguous that even Pinkie stopped abruptly and started blushing furiously, looking extremely embarrassed and totally caught off guard. Surely that wasn’t Dash’ intended reaction… “Hop in.” Dash said sternly, turning her head toward her friend and looking right in her eyes with her serious tone. And that choice of word wasn’t helping. A lot of stories need an awkward misunderstanding…She always hated that cliché! “D-Dashie? You know, I was joking about the date thing…Maybe later if you want…” Pinkie covered her eyes with her fore-leg. The blushing was only aggravated by her own comment . Dash just rolled her eyes, “Please, don’t start this again! Hop on my back, I have a plan!” “Oh…” she sounded a bit disappointed by this. But she complied quickly, jumping on her friends’ back and locking her forelegs tightly around her neck. “Now what?” she asked. “ Hold me tight and tell me if you feel something funny! I have a plan.” “Is it safe, Dashie?” “No, in fact it’s completely insane.”Even Dash was surprised by this bout of brutal honesty, but the plan really was insane. “Are you sure it’s a good idea?” “Not at all!”, she sounded almost enthusiastic, like masochistically enthusiastic. “You don’t want to tell me what’s in your mind, right?” “If I did that, you’d miss the surprise!” . Her tone was lulling and full of glee, very Pinkie-like. But that veneer of sarcasm was still visible, as in completely and painfully obvious. Pinkie sighed a bit and giggled. Her little laugh was filled with relief, “Touche, Dashie! Guess I kinda deserved that one”. “You can say that again!”, for once, she felt allowed to totally disregard tact.”Now hold me like your life depends on it!” Pinkie gulped loudly, but she did as she was said and tightened her grip around the cyan Pegasus shoulders, burying her face deep in her fur. Dash felt a strange warmth from Pinkie, while the cold wind of the night began grazing her face. She stirred the muscles in her legs, one of them felt a little dull from the fight but that wouldn’t stop her. “Pinkie, does your Pinkie Sense tells you when something is behind you, right?” “Hu-uhu! But only when they’re reeeeeally close to me! “Good, when you feel it, tell me right away.” Dash bit her lip, mustering the courage to say it, “Oh, and Pinkie…I know you have every reason not to…But, please, trust me” Pinkie just kept staring in her eyes with admiration, those big blue eyes staring right into her made Dash a little nervous but she couldn’t afford it. A silent nod was the only answer she needed. Sometimes, Pinkie’s silences meant a lot more than her torrent of words, it meant that no amount of silly rambling was necessary for her, even though she loved it. That for once the craziest pony she ever met showed her true heart .It meant she really had her trust, even though she was really mean to her. A sign of trust so simple and yet so powerful. To add further irony, now Rainbow Dash was the one who came out with a crazy plan. She hoped that it didn’t end up like Pinkie’s. At least it didn’t have any long-term consequences. Just a light case of a quick but likely painful death. Nothing special, really. At least Pinkie was by her side…If anything, she didn’t want to go out with that regret. Not without at least one friend to her side. That small relief give her the last drop of strenght necessary to do one of the craziest stunt she ever tried. As she spread her wings, ready to take off, she felt Pinkie once again clinging to her. She hoped it was enough. Inhaling loudly, she kicked off the ground , and finally propelled herself forward in the air…right toward one of the shadow pegasi. She quickly passed him by, so fast that the monsters at first didn’t even notice her. Both of the ponies blowing a raspberry at him, that caught its attention. Looking irritated, it started snarling back at them and began chasing Dash and Pinkie. The cyan mare increasingly adjusted her speed, trying to be in sight of the monsters and trying to be careful and distance it too much, playing with the monsters expectation by sometimes let it come closer, within its grasp, to make it feel closer to victory only for one second….Only to accelerate and distance it even further than before . She shouldn’t have enjoyed this sensation of control this much but she rationalized pretty quickly that those things would probably do worse to them if they ever fell into their hooves…Or whatever they had in place of hooves. This continued for a while, until they both heard another familiar snarling. The other Pegasus was still searching patiently for them in the forest looking dumfounded, until those horrible, fiery, red eyes focused rather strongly on them. It stopped for a second before basically launching at two ponies, shrieking more than usual and its maw fully opened. Dash just stopped. In mid air. Completely still. Pinkie started to worry, loosening her grip a bit and opening wide her large blue eyes, looking directly at the monsters heading right toward them. She began to shake her friend beneath who still remained unflappable. “Dashie! What are you doing?! Why you don’t swoosh anymore?! DO the swoosh-thinghy! Wasn’t this your plan?” “Don’t worry, Pinkie. This IS the plan! I’m doing my part, now I’m waiting for your cue!” “My what?” “The Pinkie Sense, silly” she chuckled a bit, nervously. Somehow, she was sure she didn’t thought ahead of all of this. This sensation was becoming almost too familiar right now, so she scoffed the thought. “When you feel something funny, it’s gonna be quite a show!” “If you say so, Dashie…” Even if few second were passing, they seemed like an eternity. Time slowed down, the air in both their lungs seemed heavier than a brick, Dash couldn’t even feel the horrendous slicing sound made by the monster wings nor hear its terrible shriek, as both of them were completely focused on their respective tasks, their muscles more tense than they ever been. No time for worrying or regretting or other complicated words that basically meant “whining” anymore. It was all or nothing. No pressure, honestly. In those final instants, Dash concentration was mildly broken by the familiar voice of a certain pink pony. Only mildly. Was that the signal, already? “Dashie” she sounded nervous, it was natural Dash thought, but there was an hint of…sadness? “If we...If we don’t make it, I wanted to tell you that I like…PINCY KNEE, PINCY TAIL,PINCY EVERYTHING! IT’S HERE!” Rainbow was a bit startled by the pink pony on her back convulsing violently like that, but now it was the time. She didn’t get what she was babbling before, but at least she got the important part. She’ll ask later...If they survive, obviously. Always forgot about that tiny detail. She couldn’t simply turn back to check if one of them was chasing her, precious seconds lost and only a second could mean everything, both monster had to be positioned like that, not a millimeter further. Everything was set, she needed only that one, infallible cue. And with that, she stopped flapping. Her wings went limp and her body plummeted to the ground beneath, with the pink pony still clinging to her. The moment the two mares fell the monster behind realized a terrible thing, that could be read as a moment of dawning comprehension of a being who reached the end of its life: specifically, the moment it realized that it was going to crash at a fairly high speed with his companion heading in the opposite direction. The two shadows collided into each other, exploding into a massive rain of slabs and black smoke. A final agonizing screeching followed them, even after their destruction. Dash felt a bit strained after all of this, Pinkie using her a cushion to stop her fall didn’t help either. She knew there was something funny on having the same pony pining her to the ground two times in the same night. She would also punch anypony in the face who pointed this out and a couple of her ribs would approve. Pinkie just looked stunned, watching at the remains of the shadow still floating in the air like some kind of demented fireworks, with her mouth still wide open. The light of Luna’s moon shining trough the branches surely helped to make them look like more evocative than they were. Stunning enough to make her get up from Dash to look at that. The Pegasus ribs thanked her most graciously but only for a little, as the pink pony embraced Dash enthusiastically. “We did it, Dashie! You’re crazy! And awesome! Crazy Awesome” Her voice was filled with pure joy. Dash didn’t seemed to mind. She was content that they survived and, all things aside, her friend enthusiasm always helped. She couldn’t help to chuckle and returned the hug. “Thank you” she simply said, “Thank you for believing in me” Pinkie cooed and whispered in her ear “Always, Dashie…” Sadly, that rare moment of quiet and relief was shattered: a black, glowing hue paralyzed the two ponies, grapping them, making them difficult to breath for both and slowly lifting them from the ground. Dash body went limp but still tried to hold Pinkie, instinctively protecting her. It’s the bucking unicorn… Everything went dark soon. She still felt the warmth of the pink mare body. Author’s Notes: Yep, another late chapter, sorry. Next one it’s already in the making and maybe you’ll see it a little earlier. Also, before you say anything, once again another cliffhanger. Because I’m evil like that. InterludeThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Interlude The azure unicorn just stood there, looking lost slightly confused.Her gaze lingered on the two pony shaped shadows, which were still unconscious and impotent, as a sigh of annoyance and disappointment escaped her lips. She couldn’t explain how it was possible. She always had quite the confidence in her abilities (some jealous ponies would call this a vulgar understatement, trying to be funny…), and this performance had to be more than perfect. After all, there was no kind of magic she couldn’t fully master and even if those conjurations were a product of an ancient and powerful spell, just maneuvering them required a great force of will, another of her infinite good qualities, there always was an element of unpredictability in her job. Even with stage props of such quality. Sadly she had to admit that not every show could be 100% completely successful.A 99,999999% was inevitable sometimes and she was absolutely sure that none of these peasants of her audience could tell the difference. But this time, it was a complete failure. It was supposed to be so easy. Don’t let those two escape. That was it! Not that she could predict them to be so resourceful and cunning so they could defeat her creations, but she still gave them some credit…After all they were two bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She had to admit with grudging respect that they surely were earning their position. But with that, they challenged her personally, made her look like a foal and to add insult to injury, she tasted once again defeat and humiliation at the hand of Ponyville’s folks…A mistake that she wouldn’t repeat, ever! This time she had to succeed. If not to satisfy her own ego, thenat least to not be constantly nagged AGAIN by the ineffable, inscrutable, incorporeal annoyance, A.K.A her sponsor. She was still wondering what possessed her before trusting that massive pain in the flank, but she rationalized pretty quickly that she needed that job and a pair of incorporeal, floating eyes with an annoying voice was better than nothing as your boss.She didn’t trust her at first (she could infer from the voice that it was a she), how could she, after all? She had to admit that it was quite scary at first (and annoying, never forget how annoying she is) but at the time she was so desperate for having wallowed so much in mediocrity and obscurity for so much that anything, ANYTHING, was preferable to that... She needed this, she needed to show the world what she was made of! She needed to show HERSELF!And this was just the opportunity for it…And most importantly of all, her cause was right.That was the only thing that mattered. Trixie wasn’t a very selfless pony, but when she heard the entity’s offer, she saw past the abrasive exterior.There she found something worth to follow and she didn’t hesitate one minute in helping her and showing her the world and, after all, it was a mutually beneficial relationship.As she learned very quickly, her boss was a pain to deal with but she felt some kind of loyalty towards her. It was like a devotion, that at first she thought that such sentiment couldn’t belong to her, but at the same time she felt it completely natural. The entity made her see great things and gave her power, which Trixie never could’ve imagined, She unlocked her true potential within her and she became the wielder of something so ancient and fearsome and yet so natural for her to control, not that she had doubts about it. She felt like she was part of a higher purpose, for once in her life.She was well and truly convinced of this and dealing with those two was just the tip of a far grander scheme, a scheme in which she was the star! She felt that this power was her birthright, and never cared for an instant of whatever price she had to pay or no matter what orders were. There was no price for a power she felt rightfully hers… At least if the dress-code was somewhat negotiable…What’s wrong with her old, but still elegant purple stage dress? This dark robe was more suited for a villain from a cheap novel, not even some decoration or any other kind of embellishment, just a piece of black cloth.There was something good about it, though. It kept her warm, because the forest was beginning to get awfully cold at an hour this late. Obviously, the hat wasn’t spared. If you really had to fulfill the image of dark lord of bad taste, why sparing the only remainder of a better image?! At least her magnificent mane was still for everyone to behold! Knowing her boss, she would’ve probably made her wear a crude horned helm to fulfill the stereotype. True,things surely weren’t as smooth as she remembered. That little Ursa Minor setback was still haunting her to his very day and the less we say about that “Gabby Gums”, the better. Actually,no. She didn’t mind it so much. She was out of the public eye for so long that even crude gossip was better than nothing. Somewhere in her heart she was sure that those “minor setbacks” mentioned before didn’t hinder her extraordinary ability to gather a legion of admirers, who still loved her and revered her despite or even because of her so-called “flaws”. She always lived by the belief of “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”. After all, The Great and Powerful Trixie deserved praise for whatever she did, whether it’s triumph or failure. Because nopony could fail as triumphantly as her, right? Before she could become aware of certain logical fallacies in the previous statement, she heard that voice once again.Right in front of her. Bad things just can’t come alone… “I can’t believe how much you suck!” the floating pair of eyesenounced quite lively, with her trademark and, quite frankly, forced Trottingham accent. The faceless yellow dots that constituted her being moving quite lively to express her emotions, far more they should be taking into account the lack of a face. It was strangely fascinating and unnerving at the same time. Or just plain hilarious, but she couldn’t say that to her…for the sake of language, we’ll keep using face. “I mean, aren’t you supposed to be “Great and Powerful”?Surely, there wasn’t anything Great and Powerful in that!” “And I suppose stating the obvious is a constructive approach” she was always allowed some sort of sarcasm. At least to keep her sane… “Oh, you’re funny! Funny indeed” , in fact, she looked quite amused at that line, her eyes seemed even half-closed, even if she lacked eyelids, trying not to snicker. “Maybe you should’ve been a comedian. No, no, scratch that. Next time make them die of laughter, that’ll do the trick!” “I thought you said you wanted them alive…” She raised her eyebrow, almost perturbed. “I think you shouldn’t think so much. Listen carefully, I’ll repeat it slowly. Read my lips…” “Is that supposed to be a joke?” she said, without raising her tone. Her face remained frozen like stone, her emotions sapped by a comedic routine that truly started to get old. The worst part is she probably did that on purpose. “Oh, you’re so sweet when you do that! I could eat you with a spoon…Maybe later…But seriously, what I said is this. I didn’t care if they were alive or dead. I just wanted them HERE, even if not in mint condition. Don’t make them leave Ponyville, was this difficult?” During her rant, the entity leaned closer and closer to Trixie’s face, until the unicorn could gaze in the yellow darkness of her being from a particularly privileged position. Trixie didn’t falter, she didn’t avert her gaze, nor did she let her voice tremble.Resolution like pure steel in her eyes. “I will find them, this time!” “Oh.” She looked quite surprised and amused at that statement. Her stern appearance in that moment surely helped but didn’t stop the return of that mocking tune. “And how do you plan to do that, exactly?” A smirk painted her face, “Like this!” Her horn glowed softly in the darkness. A slow, trotting sound was heard. Then a grotesque figure emerged from the woods. That creature had a horn too, although it looked more like a thorn and was slightly bent. It looked more like a mold of shadows, accentuated only by its red glowing eyes. Approaching Trixie, its horn began to glow as well, emanating a purple hue. “Oh, yes” said the entity. “The spell you screwed up like a foolish foal. That again?” “Hush, oh great mistress of nitpicky.” She touched the horn of the creature with her own. A magical spark exploded in between themand Trixie’s mind was opened once more. These creations of shadows were basically extensions of her own mind and body. She could see though their eyes, move their legs as their own, even use their wings as if she had wings with all the grace and speed only a real pegasus could use and finally to cast every spell she knew before and the countless other she learned from her mysterious benefactor. Though she would never admit it, she did “screw up”, for the lack of a less vulgar term. She still needed some time to fully master every one of her conjuration and, sadly, she mixed up a spell. If they weren’t in such redundant and antiquate language that wouldn’t have happened! The intended spell was only meant to paralyze them, nothing more.Instead, they managed to disappear in thin air to a destination unknown. But not for long… She started to delve deeper and deeper into the shadow’s mind, recalling its experiences like they were her own, claiming them back from a separate part of her own being. Step by step, she reviewed every movement the conjuration made, everything she saw in the brief time of his creations, and finally, the spells it casted, the ancient and complex energies she moved, their source and their intended purpose… And there it was... “I know where to find them.” She finally spoke. The smirk was still on her face, only accentuated by a sense of pride and triumph. “Oh,lovely!” the voice enthusiastically replied. “I’ll pack the bags, then. And you can come too, if you like” she giggled awkwardly. The horn glowed once more, infusing one of the fallen shadows with its purplish hue, filling it with newfound energy and taking back into its hooves. Another infusion of power caused it to twitch for a brief moment, as if it could feel some sort of pain, while a pair ofpegasus wings began to emerge from its form. At first only the bone frame for each wing, which Trixie covered with the last spur of magic, making a bloating, black goo to simulate the muscles and skin and every feather. Once completed, the creature flapped its new wings and watched them with admiration, hissing with content at the same time and flashing its pale fangs. “Shall we go then?” asked the unicorn. Once again, the stage was set… They say Manehattan is the city of opportunities.Actually that’s a half-truth,nopony ever said the new road is one you’ll like. Maybe it’s just ponies nature, but even having found happiness in that beautiful town, in which the night’s lights sparkle like a veil of golden dust and you see it for the first time, even if you feel a little oppressed and insignificance by the sheer magnificence of it, when you make it, you truly make it and find success, stability and your very special somepony at the same time, there always a few bumps in the things you fought so hard to achieve. That what the white unicorn though, having just woken up, staring with her red, puffy eyes at her white ceiling. Sleep deprivation always made her philosophic.From the sight of the weak rays of Celestia’ssun passing though her blinds, she deduced she woke up in late afternoon, approaching the evening. Not surprising, since she didn’t spent last night and a great part of the day NOT sleeping. And NOT alone. An immature giggle escaped from her lips at the last one. Not alone until now, according to her hoof, hopelessly searching the other side of the bed, only to find cold sheets. She left even earlier than she thought this time. Again? She hastily got up, still shaky from the lack of real sleep, to open the window so she could see the room better, maybe finding the whereabouts of her lover. She almost got blinded by the weak light, her eyes still sensitive and uncomfortable, even if the sun would make place for Luna’s moon in a couple of hours and she was forced to quickly grab her shades from the bedside. A clear look in the room showed a familiar, yet strange view.The room of a completely careless and messy unicorn, not as she and her significant other left it. If she recalled correctly, (and she wasn’t even drunk last night… not much) the room was completely wrecked. Countless bottles of undetermined liquor haddisappeared,just likethose stains of uncertain nature on the floor and the ceiling. She remembered the dresses they wore last night, which they had promptly ripped off from each other and should be stilllying on the floor somewhere, were folded up and put on her chair. She sighed a bit. She appreciated her consideration but this was basically her way of saying she was a bad housekeeper. She was terrible, of course, but that’s beside the point. The point was, she did all of this work and disappeared in the night, or day as in this case, without waking her up. She left without even saying goodbye… This time she didn’t even bother to leave a stupid note. Not even a “See you tomorrow, with love, Tavi”. The last one was brief, but at least she used her pet name, the one she always said was silly but kept using it and blushed furiously every time while saying it, because it was physically impossible for her to admit that she liked it. At least there was some recognition of their relationship that existed outside their nighttime whispers or the loving marks they left on each other’s bodies. When she was with her, everything was perfect. The time they could spend together was very brief, but not a single moment of them was wasted. Her cold, dignified exterior hid a lover so tender and gentle, a passion so pure and yet so strong, that sometimes she literally couldn’t tell if those moments were just a fugacious dream, granted by Celestia herself in all of her mercy... But sadly those moments, shared only between them and with nopony else. Tavi liked to keep her private life and her public life. As she was part of her life, Vinyl wasn’t part of hers. That’s a pretty big bump, right there. Her lover was part of the so called “high society” and even if sometimes she could be a little snotty, but never to the extent of those refined fillies and gentlecolts that just wanted to make her puke with their faked dignity and hypocrisy. Tavi was so much better than that. When she was in Vinyl’s company, Tavi was genuine…If only she hadn’t chosen another mare to love, maybe she would’ve been much easier to tolerate for those high class wackos she liked so much to hang out with. A part of her couldn’t blame her, though. She was well on her way to become First Cello in the Canterlot Philarmonica and that is not a position anypony could achieve easily. Vinyl was very aware of her talent…even if she never said that to her face. She was snoring half of the time but at least she was aware of it. Octavia had every right to fight for her dream, even if she had to break Vinyl’s heart in the process. If those folks found out she was in such a relationship with another mare, let alone a scruffy, erratic DJ who recently made her entrance in the Canterlot Society thanks to a fabulous exhibition at the Royal Wedding. Well…Let’s just say that everypony would just stop caring about her talent, starting a spiral of gossip and scandals about her personal life which could go out of control, possibly ruining her career and Vinyl’s career as well. As well as hastening the inevitable end of the universe and with that of the entire Pony civil-Yeah, Octavia was very clearly making excuses on that one, but you know what they say: The things you do for love and all that.Nopony said that this had to go on forever, right? Even if her behavior on those occasions deeply hurt her, she still had trust in her. She knew the Octavia she fell in love with and had faith in, they could find a way…Together. Still lost in her thoughts, Vinyl left her apartment, off to see probably the only thing that the world could infer that they were together.She didn’t even grab something to eat along the way.The thought of their crazy little project reinvigorated her. She would probably regret that decision later, but who cares? Tavi couldn’t believe when she proposed to her something so… different from her tastes. A cozy, tiny building, still under redecoration,squished among the other, bigger ones that you almost couldn’t see it was there if you ignored the garish, neon sign, written in a nigh incomprehensible but, for some reason, strangely appealingfont that simply read; “The Dancing Mare”. Both of them thought that the title still needed some work, but once you ordered a custom made sign like that, you can’t exactly get a refund.First of all, there wouldn’t be any dancing in it. It was going to be a night club, their very own personal lounge music type of jazz-club, to be precise. Or one of those fancy words that Tavi always liked to use, most of it still was a work-in-progress. The cellist didn’t know what to think at first of the project, but immediately saw it as an opportunity:Tavi would put to use every talented musician she knew in the field (making them more known to the public and even being known as a supporter of the fine arts,on top of being a well known musician) while Vinyl would use her quite considerable talent of a showmare (and Tavi never admitted this to her face, either)to make it more “endearing” for the public, and who knows? Maybe the whole experience could make the white unicorn…less uncouth. Not to mention Vinyl provided the money for the place, that’s always good. You can’t imagine how many bits you get paid for agig at the Royal Wedding until you’re holding them in your hooves, if you have big enough hooves, that is, since it was a LOT of bits. She remembered her warning, clear as the day. “No vulgar lightshows, Vinyl! For the love of Celestia, no lightshows! Do you want to permanently blind one of our customers? And don’t give me that look, I know that you want to do it. I’m keeping my eye on you.” She knew the unicorn so well. A little too well but nothing that could stop her little fun. In a sudden stroke of clearance, and the lifting of the fumes of alcohol (but she wasn’t drunk last night, honestly…) she suddenly remembered the reason of the absence of her lover.She probably left early to prepare and perform at…Where was that again? Fortunately, last night she must have written the location’s name on her fore leg. Couldn’t find a piece of paper even if Vinyl’s life depended of it and wasn’t quite sure when she did that…And, of course, the ink was completely rubbed off making the note an incomprehensible blue mess. And the worst part of it, she wasn’t quite sure if Tavi gave her a ticket last night or already booked her in for it. Come to think of it she wasn’t even sure if Tavi told her of the event or ifshe just heard it somewhere. One problem at a time. She searched her saddlebag, in which she found some bits but no ticket in sight. This probably meant that she left it in the apartment or there was no ticket in the first place. Fantastic. She still had to try and reach her and right here was only one thing to do now, even-no wait- especially if it was insane.She had to look for her in every concert venue in Manehattan! She whistled to a nearbypegasus cab flyer to make him stop nearby and hopped in, beginning to search. She visited every place Tavi previously performed: Tally-Ho Hall, Celestia Center, Bronkin Academy of Music, Bearin Teather, Farrence Gold Hall… She almost started to give up after all those concert venues, (and the cab didn’t come cheap) when she finally saw the name of Octavia Philarmonica written on the board in front of the Marekin Concert Hall.A much more intimate hall than the ones Tavi normally performed, but that didn’t mean it was a lesser achievement for her. Quite the contrary, in fact it was more focused in showing contemporary musician and dashing new talents, like Tavi, just to have an idea for how far she could get. Her heart leaped at the thought of seeing Tavi again, the concert was already over since she remembered too late and she spent the whole time practically running all over Manehattan, while expectingnot really anything from it. After paying for the cab, she waited on the other side of the street, waiting for her lover who would come out any minute now. She finally saw the familiar figure of a grey mare with a luscious black mane, carrying a cello custody on her back, looking exhausted but at the same time wearing a proud smile on her face. That was a good sign, she only ever smiled after a concert or when she was with Vinyl. The unicorn practically leaped in front of the other mare, shouting with all the grace and subtlety of an enraged dragon. “HI, TAVI!” The cellist was startled, shouting and jumping backward from the unicorn like she really saw a beast from legends. Vinyl was immediately concerned, even if it was hilarious to see the dignified grey mare reacting like that. “V-Vinyl?!But…How? What? How?” “Oh, I love when you use long, fancy words!” she chirped gently.Then she leaned forward to her lover and gently kissed her, softly brushing her lips with her own. Octavia was already blushing furiously. “I miss you, when you do that. It wasn’t nice. Not. At. All.” “Do what?” She looked almost startled by the question. “Leaving me all alone at night. Or day, I don’t reallyremember which one. Could’ve told me about the concert! How did it go? Oh, and I’m sorry if I’m late.” “Late?” the more the conversation went on, the more Octavia looked uncomfortable. “And they call you the smart one!” she snorted in laughter.”You didn’t even tell me the time and neither left a ticket or a note or something. At least I got the address but as you can see…” she lifted her ink smudged foreleg for the other mare to see, “Guess you’re right, I really make such a mess of everything!” “Yes, you make such a mess, eheheh…” She sounded almost monotone in repeating that, her forced giggle didn’t help much. At that Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “And that’s it?” she said, sounding almost disappointed. “I’m not sure what you mean by this.” “Aren’t going to ask how I found you, with no directions whatsoever?” She sighed, resigned “How did you find me, then?” “Oh. That’s easy! I was looking for you in every place you ever performed! You can’t escape the awesome stubbornness of DJ PON-3!” She was still aware of how insane and how late the chances of success were but she sounded so boastful and proud in that statement. Octavia didn’t react at all, only lowering her eyes and just muttering, “Uh-huh”. Vinyl shed her exuberant mask and sounded legitimately irritated. How could she be so indifferent? Wasn’t she… happy to see her? Like, at all? “Is there something wrong?” she asked. “No, it’s just that…um…” Another hesitation. In Vinyl’s eyes she wasn’t helping her case. “Then what? Did something go wrong? Did you hit a wrong note or something?” “No, it’s that…” She bit her lip. “Did somepony else hit a wrong note?” “No!” “Did the note hit somepony?” She was messing with her just to incite a reaction. “NO!” Finally a real emotion, even if she almost shouted Vinyl’s shades off. “Then what happened? Why are you’re so upset? Aren’t you happy to see me?” “No, it’s that…” “What is that? Just tell me already!” “You weren’t supposed to be here, that’s why!” she sternly answered her question, finally meeting her gaze. Vinyl gasped in horror “Oh, yes? And how did you explain this?” she held up the ink stained foreleg in front of Octavia’s face once more. “Who could’ve possibly told me where you performed tonight? Unless I happened to eavesdrop or something…” “Oh, you were so drunk that you didn’t even remember that tiny detail?” she interrupted her, quite rudely. “Oh, I would’ve known that! I mean, who was with me last night and was really into it?” she wiggled her eyebrows seductively at the question, making the cellist blush once more. “And even if I did eavesdrop, you should’ve told me anyway and…” A terrible thought just crossed her mind, or maybe it was already there but she didn’t want to accept it. “You didn’t want me to know in the first place…” she finally said, defeated, enunciating every word weakly. “Vinyl, I…” she tried to reach for the white unicorn, only to have her retreat in shock. She looked once more at the improvised note on her leg. Her mind finally focused, she noticed that if she had rubbed off the ink while sleeping, she would havefound some on her sheets, with the streetlight nearby making her realize that the note looked blurred… almost like… By a hoof… “It was you…” The unicorn had tears in her eyes, but the shades covered them, along with the deeply hurt expression. “Vinyl, listen to me, please! Tonight was here…” “I don’t want to know. There was some big name here, which I don’t even want to know, and you were too ashamed of your filly friend showing up. I know that now.” She turned around so that she didn’t have to look at her anymore “If it was the first time that this happened, I could’ve understood but…But, it seems like it wasn’t…Will this ever change? How many times have you done this to me?” She couldn’t bear it anymore. The unicorn ran away in the night, not even wanting to listen to Octavia’s pleas. Not that she heard some. No, the silence behind was the worst part. If you care for me, if you ever cared for me…come after me! Catch me, you stupid filly… Just catch me… She didn’t catch her. She didn’t even hear the sound of one hoof step. If she turned it would be pathetic, not to mention she could’ve just went back inside, to rub salt in the wound. Vinyl didn’t want to go back to the apartment. Not that it was too distant. She realized that going to the Marekin was basically going in circles. A sign of destiny maybe?A superior force that told her not to bother going from the start? At that crossroad she came across after running for an unknown time, she could feel some kind of peace, just being by herself. She just wanted those minutes to try to calm herself down, maybe just some more time to think, knowing that everything would be back to normal the next day, going on with the same routine of two ponies that couldn’t be together except in their hearts… And even that belief was starting to fall apart. This time she wouldn’t be there to listen to an endless stream of half-baked excuses, only to return and continuing this silly charade of half-truths and cheap stratagems like the last one. Something had to change. She noticed the irony of that: Vinyl was too making excuses, but with herself. Since the start of that day and every day like that one. Vinyl thought once again of their little project, still clinging to the tiny hope that maybe that could be the one thing bringing them back together.But at that time,she couldn’t bargain with herself about their relationship like she used to. She didn’t want to think anymore. She just wanted to drown everything in the sweet, sweet taste of gin, just like the night before… Maybe a part of her didn’t want to remember that the only way she had to force herself in Octavia’s life, was only though tricks. A knowledge that she wanted to forget but always came back to haunt her when something like this happened… After all that was said and done, she couldn’t delude herself further. But to her surprise, she wasn’t the only pony there. An erratic sound of hoof steps broke the silence of the lonely crossroad, startling her a bit. She looked in the direction of the noise, looking for a silhouette in the night. The pony in question was in fact walking like he or she was badly injured or maybe completely smashed, even walking backwards or sideways without a goal. Eventually, the figure just stopped and tried to support itself on a nearby wall. Vinyl decided to checkon it, after all there was somepony right there who was having an even worst evening than her… “Hey, you okay?“ she said to the figure. No answer. She decided to approach it and helped it to support, placing her hoof around the shoulders of the other pony, to help it to not fall. As she finally took a look of that face, she was quite surprised to see a familiar visage. A poofy, bright pink mane and coat, bright blue eyes, reminder of that night at Canterlot and the pony who got her the biggest gig in a long time. Not a pony that she could forgot easily. That was indeed Pinkie Pie, probably the last pony she expected to come across but she had to ask questions later. She deduced correctly that she was in bad shape. She remembered a much more…exuberant pony back then, while the one in front of her was barely capable to keep herself on her legs.Pinkie had a drowsy look on her face, which already was quite pale. She tried to talk to her, at least to not let her faint. “Whoah, Pinkie Pie! Look at you! Remember me? It’s Scratch! Vinyl Scratch. We haven’t seen like…ages! What happened to you? Do you want me to call for help?” Her words had a mixture of concern and disbelief. It was all happening too fast. Only a weak word came out of the pink mare’s lips. “Please…” Vinyl leaned closer to hear better. Even her voice was so feeble, compared to back then. “My friend… Help my friend first…” Author's Notes: Many thanks to TheShadow for proofreading for me this chapter and the future ones to came. You rock! Chapter 6: Contrived CoincidencesThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 6: Contrived Coincidences I love you. In that suffocating darkness, that was the only thing she could think of. Come to think of it, she always thought these three little words whenever she found herself in dark place.Be it in her bedroom in a cold, lonely night when she couldn’t sleep even saying them out loud a lot of times before realizing she was making out with her pillow or kept in the embrace of the pegasus she wanted to say these words, while being enveloped in a dark purple hue by Celestia knows what . Now she was really sure of that. Everything that was between them was put to a test. Dash wasn’t perfect (and those little outbursts of her kinda proved it) but she was still the bravest, coolest,awesomest pegasus she ever knew. Still the hero for everypony, or at least for Pinkie. All of the petty, hateful, silly things they said to each other seemed insignificant by the virtue of one of the few things that truly reminded them of their friendship and,time and time again, always did; a big pack of scary monsters from out of nowhere. That sounded surreal even for her but that’s how it was. She noted to herself that she and Dash should have a little talk about the whole “Going to the Everfree Forest to hide” thing. Nevertheless they made it (for a while at least, but that’s beside the point)…and more importantly, together! At the end of the day Dashie trusted her, she really trusted her as she always had and that meant the world to Pinkie, even if in that faithful night that trust was stupendously misplaced. And in such an awesome way, we might add. Not only their teamwork saved the both of them, but she felt part of Dash’s life like never before.That was probably because it was the first time Rainbow ever let her fly on her back, or anypony else for that matter. Rarity always said that this was the most romantic thing another pegasus could do for a partner of another pony race. The sensation of flying was so something so beautiful and sublime that pegasioften overlooked it by the virtue of it being such a common occurrence, so having your special somepony with you could help both of them to fully realize the magnificence of soaring through the sky, feeling the wind caressing your coat… She only found the time to think about it in those interminable seconds of darkness. In fact, whenever something happened or was going to happen to both of them time seemed to slow down, allowing her to go down of a tangent. Kinda sad, too, since most of her thoughts lately were starting to become really contorted and depressing. But this had stopped!Something changed and for the better…Well, shadow monsters aside. Even in their darkest hour,Dash trusted Pinkie until the end of the world…Or theirs, which could approximately be in five seconds. She promised to herself, Pinkie Promised even, that if they make she wouldn’t be a burden for Rainbow, ever again. Scratch that “if”. They will make it. And when they will make it, because they totally will, she’ll live up to the name of Pinkamena Diane Responsibility Pie. The responsibility part, duh. She changed it legally after the first time she babysitted the twins, just to make a statement. Oh, was that day hilarious and strangely prophetic, too! It was her fault that they ended up in this mess, deluding herself further with all this “partners in crime” thing was just silly. For the sake of the friend she loved and admired so dearly and for the trust Dash put in her,she’d do anything in her power to not make her regret the choice of staying with Pinkie again. She pretty much got that even if Dash’s words were twisted by rage at that point but she didn’t care. In that moment, she loved Rainbow Dash. Not that just a simple, foalish crush as it started. Something that started from the little thingsan infatuation Pinkie always saw as natural, a little crush that could be more than justified if the object of that was somepony as popular and wonderful as Rainbow Dash, but love, real love that she never felt for anything or anypony in her life and the best part of it that for that love she could really pull it off. Pinkie knew that she couldn’t give Dash her old life back but she would’ve given her the rest of the world if she asked, or whatever she may ask. She wanted to take care of Dash as she wanted to do for her. Pinkie couldn’t pretend that Dash could feel the same about her,not even for a second but she, once again, didn’t care! If she could make at least one pony happy, let alone the one she loved, that was enough for her. And, after all, since when did love need something in return? Just thinking at the pegasus’ warm smile made Pinkie melt with joy… Only to see her smiling,it was all worthy. A reward in itself, like it always was. Rainbow was really cute while doing that but Pinkie never had the courage to tell that to her face. Come to think of it, she never even had the courage to never ever speak about her true feelings, until it was too late…Her only regret was having this kind of determination now instead of mustering up the courage to confess without resorting to that stupid prank of which she couldn’t even remember how it worked, expect for the fact that Pinkie surely didn’t expect to have such a disastrous outcome. Which part of stop thinking back on that do you not understand, Pinkie Pie? She finally prepared herself to face their destiny, as the darkness enveloped both ponies fully, painting itself on the starry night sky. Then silence fell over them. There was only silence.An unnerving, unnatural silence that muted even the sound of her thoughts, heart and breathing. The only thing that reminded Pinkie she still existed was Dash’s tight, protective embrace. The strength of those forelegs, and the warmth of the pegasus’ fur were so lulling and comforting. She hoped to feel that embrace once again, even if for a brief moment.Her eyes were shut tight, mostly because of the overwhelming tension on her body and the fact she wasn’t even sure to have eyes in that place. She didn’t panic, though. Pinkie couldn’t afford it. If it was true there was nothing out there, how could nothing hurt her? After uncountable seconds and a bright flash of white that she could even see through her closed eyelids, the pressure subsided. As she reopened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Rainbow’s face. She didn’t look hurt or anything but was unmistakably unconscious. Her eyes closed and her mouth half open, with a trail of drool at the side of her mouth. She was still breathing as Pinkie could notice as she was still locked in Rainbow’s forelegs and felt the other mare’s chest rhythmic movement. Her wings were limp and instead of being naturally folded, lying horizontally on the ground. The ground was the second of her concerns, trying to understand where they were- From a first look it looked a street…Asphalt…, maybe? Also, she noticed beneath her, cramped against her spine was a saddlebag. Her saddlebag!The one for which she fought those frustrating creatures. How could she not? She brought the most important thing for her, the one she truly couldn’t give up, not even for those monsters. Especially not for those monsters! Once again, it was dark only this time the light of the stars were replaced by a gloom streetlight.As her eyes adjusted to the new environment she recognized the sight of an alley…A filthy, dark alley…Great, she thought, is this night getting worse by the HOUR?! She gently removed the pegasus forelegs from her neck and tried to get back onto her hooves. She tried to stand on all fours as she found herself deprived of all energy, her legs trembling like a jelly. She attempted to make a few steps in a straight line but to no avail, eventually she hopedto wakeher friend by trying to shaking her a bit with a hoof. Rainbow wasunfazed, still out cold. She started to shake Dash faster, proportional to her worry until the pegasus emitted a too familiar and alarming sound. A snore. A loud, inelegant snore. Celestia bless her for thinking that now was a good moment for dozing off. Pinkie sighed in relief, with a weak smile to accompany the sentiment. She tried to walk once again, this time trying to find something or somepony to help. Easier said than done; she felt so weak and confused that she couldn’t even walk like a normal pony, every step was as challenging as dancing the Marigold underwater while playing the tuba…On fire! And Pinkie surely didn’t practice the last part. Not enough time. She wandered off in that strange posture for a while until she heard a voice in the dark coming froma nearby crossroad. “Hey, you okay?” the voice asked. Pinkie tried to answer but the sapping of her natural energies wasn’t limited to her legs but also her vocal chords. She hated those things in the forest more and more!It was like they were targeting one by one the things she needed the most. She had to check her Cutie Mark, Celestia forbid they took that too. Trying to catch some breath she leaned toward a nearby wall. Just a few seconds, only to gather some strength. Just a few moments, don’t look suspicious, it’s not like she’s coming here to check out a pony who looks like she had a beating… She heard a sound of hoofsteps leaning closer to her. Rats. The other pony put her forelegs around her shoulders to help Pinkie support herself. She took a glance at her face, hoping for a friendly face.What she saw in front of herwas a white unicorn with a messy blue-electric mane and a pair of pale shades, from behind of which she could assume a pair of eyes curiously looking at her. She was sure she already saw that face somewhere, but she couldn’t just focus properly, until the unicorn spoke. “Whoah, Pinkie Pie! Look at you! Remember me? It’s Scratch! Vinyl Scratch. We haven’t seen like…ages! What happened to you? Do you want me to call for help?” Of course, the DJ! Now she remembered. Pinkie met her when she came to Ponyville for providing the music for Rarity’s fashion show (the bad one). She really liked her style and Vinyl was probably the only pony, except for Pinkie herself, that liked her dress. She said that it made the pink pony look like an awesome cake and to be careful for birds wanting to take a peck.She always liked that sense of humor. In that brief time they became friends and managed to contact her in time for the great wedding, thinking she was the best mare for the job, before she moved to…Wherever they were at the moment.An unexpected stroke of luck. Pinkie thoughts immediately went to Dash, who was still in the alley. Her voice still hadn’t returned to its usual tone but at least managed to blurt out something that mattered. “My friend…Help my friend first…” “Friend?she replied “Who?Where?” “Alley…” Pinkie answered, her voice faint. Vinyl glanced to where Pinkie came from and went down the alley, before assuring that Pinkie could still stand on her own. Pinkie then heard a gasp coming from the unicorn behind her. “What the hay happened to her?!” She managed to take a few normal steps, towards the alley, beginning to regain her strength.About time, too. “They tried to rob us! Yes, rob us blind! And they hit her, too!” She had to lie. She reminded herself they technically still were on the run. And the true explanation was, quite frankly, really hard to believe. Well, Pinkie would’ve believed it but she couldn’t say the same for Scratch. The word “Manehattan” hit Pinkie like a brick for the stupor. They planned to go there to hide but being transported right there via some crazy magic monster of the Everfree Forest was almost too convenient. But you know how they say, never look into a horse’s mouth. “She isn’t waking up soon” said Scratch, “unless…” Pinkie heard a loud thud, then a rough voice that cracked almost to the point of straining itself. A very familiar voice… “Ouch! What the hay was that for? And…Hey! Who are you?!” “Rise and shine, filly! It’s not a…Grooorgh!” In response to the horrifying noise, Pinkie precipitated herself to separate the two before Dash strangled the unicorn. She immediately launched between them, keeping Dash and Vinyl from each other with her forelegs on the chests of both. It seemed to her like pushing back an advancing wall. Pinkie’s voice volume went from zero to a gazillion in a second, in a frantic attempt to control the situation. “OHMYGOSHDASHIEWAITWAIT!” “This joker hit me, Pinkie! Who the hay is that?!” “Should’ve woken you up with a kiss, maybe?” Vinyl flashed a mischievous grin. “Why, you little…” She almost ran over Pinkie like one of those raging buffalos from that one time. Vinyl sticking her tongue out at the pegasus didn’t help. “Please, Dashie! It’s a friend! Calm down!” “Well, your friends are jerks!” she interrupted, leaning even further toward Vinyl to the point that she saw her reflection in her shades. “Yes, they totally are”, replied the unicorn, still flashing that grin. Pinkie rolled her eyes and, still trapped between the two even though only Dash was pushing, silently counted down the seconds before Rainbow realized the extent of how much Vinyl was screwing with her. In fact, Rainbow stopped for a second, her gaze wandering around a bit and her hoof under her chin to think. Then, the realization arrived. And with that… “You take that back or…” before finishing the phrase she tried to fly of some inches upwards but she only managed to flap her wings awkwardly and weakly before falling flatly onto her haunches.After a moment of pure disbelief, her eyes staring in the void in front of her, she took a look at her wings.They were limp. She sighed. “Spectacular…”, she sounded almost…disappointed rather than worried.As if she was expecting this and was supremely annoyed. “Woah. Those muggers surely were something.” said Vinyl impressed, lowering her shades a bit and showing her magenta eyes. “Muggers? What muggers?” “Is she always like that or is it way worse than it looks?” The snappy response elicited an angry glare from Dash. “Thoooose muggers, Dashie!” she unsubtly blinked at Rainbow Dash, signaling her to support the story. “Remember those meanymeanbags who tried to steal your stuff and hit you because Manehattan is dangerous at night? It happens because this is Manehattan!” She emphasized every word carefully and slowly, particularly ‘Manehattan’, trying to explain everything on the moment hoping that Dash would get it. Fortunately, even if she was still needed time to digest all the new info, she played along. “Oooooooohhhhooo”, equal amounts of surprise and anguish could be heard in the exclamation, with just a bit of a whimper near the end. She put on the best fake smile she could muster to continue the charade. “Yeah, big trouble in here.Luckily for them they caught me by surprise but otherwise…Bam!” “Yeah, lucky them…Anyway, Pinkie Pie!” she took the pink pony aside, putting her foreleg around her shoulders in a friendly way. “You know I’m happy to see you again and from what I can gather, the two of you feel a lot better than before.” “Yuppers!” Pinkie was smiling again. In fact she felt a lot of better after being exposed to that…Bizarre mean of travel. She had tried before Twilight teleportation spell (with or without Twilight realizing it, actually) but, even if not a magic expert, that was surely a different kind of magic and never with such a distance. “Like I said, a lot better. Well, I’d be careful with your friend right there, she still has that big case of jerkiness…And that tail doesn’t look good either.” “Hey!” The angry reaction of the Pegasus was answered by Vinyl with a smarmy giggle. Even though Vinyl had a point; Dash quickly turned to see the point of her tail looking noticeably shorter and crispier. They almost forgot of that one, mostly because the details were still fuzzy. A point of sadness touched Pinkie’s heart thinking that that too was her fault. “Anyway”, Vinyl continued. ”I can’t stand to see somepony suffering, especially the one who got me the biggest gig of my life!” “Oh, you’re too kind!” “Yes, you are.” Dash answered from behind the two mares. Vinyl blew a raspberry at her. “Anyway, do you have a place to stay for the night?” “Hmmm…Actually no.Nothing at all. We just got here!” “Then, you can stay at my place,even if you feel better I don’t want any risk.And your friend too, of course.” “Oh, we don’t want to cause you troub…” “Yes, we do! We totally do! We like trouble!” Dash butted in, interrupting Pinkie. “See? Your friend, even if a jerk, agrees. It’s a favor from a friend. C’mon, I don’t bite and it’s not that far. Maybe along the way you can tell me what brings you to the Big Apple itself.” “Oh, thank you! Thankyouthankyou! Thanks a ton! I mean, I know we just saw each other again for such a long time and then we show up and you’re so kind! Thank you!” Pinkie pulled the unicorn in a bone crushing hug, making a little squeaky sound. “Yes, go on. I had so many hooves on me lately. I’m kind of used to it. And I didn’t need those ribs.” Even if out of breath, the sarcasm was still intact. “Whoopsie, sorry!” she let go Vinyl as swiftly as she jumped on her. The three of them went through the streets of Manehattan, with Dash and Pinkie following the unicorn. Pinkie looked with wonder at the Big City just starting its night life, hundreds of ponies walking down the streets enjoying the endless opportunities and entertainment offered to them. Even the looming architectures of the buildings inspired that feeling, much more crowded than Ponyville and looking much moreopulent. She noticed the lack of grass and trees, replaced by streets and houses of stones, a startling chance after living firstin a rock farm and a rural settlement after for so many years.Dash couldn’t care less since she was far more worried about her wings, looking at them nervously and even trying to flap a bitbut to no avail, even making some little jumps to move in a similar way to Pinkie’s. Again, the supremely annoyed look. Pinkie was far more worried with this than Dash who looked at it more like a stain on a carpet than a serious disability. Pinkie was trying to cheer her up but simply couldn’t think what to say. Luckily the silence was broken by Scratch. “So, what is it? Business, pleasure, on the run from the law?” The two were immensely startled by that statement. Pinkie froze into place, looking she was going to cry, while Dash started to weakly flap in an attempt to fly away. “Just joking, girls! Sheesh…” The two sighed in relief. For a second Pinkie thought that the news traveled faster than Rainbow Dash. As far as they knew not even a day had passed.Unless the princess was already on their tracks, ready to zap them to the moon with solar powered vengeance. “Oh, you know…” Pinkie chirped. “Actually I don’t” said Vinyl bluntly. Pinkie bit her lip, not even trying to stall. “It’s just that boring old village wasn’t enough for the bestest mares in the world so we decided: Hey, where’s that place where everypony who is somepony goes?” “Trottingham?” Vinyl’s sarcasm reached critical level. Pinkie didn’t get it but she still looked happy. “No silly, Manehattan.” That’s why we’re here!” “That’s right!” Dash intervened. “Just some small town isn’t enough for the Dash!” “They must be weeping at home for your loss…” Pinkie snorted a laugh for that remark but inside was still sad at the thought of home, gnawing on her…She had to know as soon as possible, sure, but she still didn’t know if it was right calling it “home” again… “But anyway” Vinyl continued. “I think you made a smart choice. I mean, last time I saw you; you were working for the Princess! Well, the one that counts I mean. You’ve got a bright future ahead, I tell you. I’m just sorry that it had to start that badly for you two.“She pointed at Dash. “Tomorrow morning we’re gonna see a doctor for those wings. And no buts. Don’t even think of saying ‘but’.” “For once, we agree on something.” Dash sneered. They finally arrived at the location of Vinyl’s flat. She roughly opened the door to reveal a surprisingly neat apartment, left untouched since Vinyl went out a few hours before. Pinkie snooped around a bit, fairly surprised to see such a clinically clean house. As far as she knew Vinyl never gave her the impression of a control freak. She was immediately attracted by a photo on her table. It depicted Vinyl, hugging tightly another grey mare with a big grin on her face, while the other pony looked the other way blushing. It was made on a bright summer day and you could see a beach on the background. “Uh! Is this your…” Pinkie picked up the photo. “Somepony we’re going to talk about never.” She quickly snatched the photo from Pinkie’s hooves to hide it in a drawer which she slammed closed. Pinkie decided not to press further on the subject. Better not get the only friend she had in Manehattan angry. She eerily returned to her cheerful attitude from before, though. “Now,” Vinyl said “with the magic of furniture I’ll turn this sofa into a bed for the two of you.”The unicorn used a bit of magic to open it underneath the cushions to whip out its metal frame and a thin mattress.“You don’t have a problem with sleeping together, right? I only have one.” Pinkie blushed in response, unable to say anything. Dash scoffed at that, thankfully. “Psssh, big deal. I could sleep anywhere or with anypony. I suppose I should thank you, too.” “Yes, you should.” The two stared at each other silently, waiting for something to happen, not even making a move. Dash still had that annoyed glare she reserved for Vinyl remarks. “I’ll go get the blankets”, her voice tone dry. “And it’s done. We’ll talk some more tomorrow. Now I’ve really got to get some sleep… Or get smashed. Don’t make too much noise you two…Or too little, I never remember the right one. Well, nighty-night!” Vinyl left the room, briefly shedding her easy going self to wear a much more exhausted look if only for a brief second, before slamming the door to her bedroom shut. Dash was lying on the bed, with all fourlimbs outstretched, staring at the ceiling. Pinkie waited at the side. “So…Manehattan?” “Yes, Dashie! You said that it was a good place to hide! Kinda crazy, huh?” “It’s just so… Convenient!” “Luckiest coincidence ever!” “More like contrived!” “I think I already heard that one…” “It’s a common saying.” “Nah. I mean earlier earlier. Probably when you passed out.” “The thing is…It’s too convenient!” “Yes, it is!” “It was almost too easy! Well, scary monsters aside!” “Huh-uh!” “Like something or someone out there wanted us to get here as soon as possible!” “That’s nice of him, though.” “He could’ve left out the things in the forest. But I still think it was too…Easy! Like bad writing or something.” Pinkie blinked. “And if we flew here like I said before it would’ve been easier, right?” Pinkie surely sounded sarcastic, not with malice. She only tried to show understanding to Dash. “Ouch. You hurt me with that one” she said chuckling. “But seriously, I made a lot of stupid decisions since this whole mess started.” She stopped for a second, unable to meet Pinkie’s gaze again and looking gloomy. “I’m sorry, Pinkie.” She almost whispered. “Sorry for what?” “Sorry for everything. For being so distant, for leading us into the forest only to be ambushed by those things that still give me the creeps and for saying a lot of awful things to you even if you’re my friend and…” “Oh, that one.” She moved her hoof as if to whisk a fly away. “That’s old news, I don’t really care for it anymore.” “But Pinkie, I…” “Nuh uh, Dashie! Like you said, we’re friends and friends don’t really think those ugly things even if they say it. And to show it to you that it’s behind us…” she moved her hooves as if she was making an imaginary box, placing imaginary duct tape all over it and, literally, throwing it behind her. She patted her hooves together satisfyingly.“And done!Things of the past.” Under the disbelieving, but amused, gaze of Dash Pinkie happily hopped into the bed at her side and with the force of that movement wrapped herself in the blankets. “You know…” Pinkie started. “I should be sorry for something right now. Your wings,are they…?” “Nah, no big no deal.” Dash rested her front hooves under her head. Pinkie looked confused. “I thought that maybe…” “Broken? Are you serious? Remember that time in the Gorge? Stuck under a rock? Not even a graze.” Dash cockily said. “Oh, well this time wasn’t a rock! It was some big great magic mumbo-jumbo! What if…” “Pinkie, I think I know if my wings are broken or not. I don’t feel any pain and all, they’re just… You know when your leg falls asleep or something?” “Yup!” “Just that. They just need time to wake up.” “Oh. Want me to call Scratch? She’s pretty good at waking up things!” “Very funny. Anyway, I’m made of far tougher stuff than you think. Everypony thinks that my wings are going to break or come off or something.” She chuckled, to underline how ridiculous was the thought for her. “Twilight once explained to me that why I can do a Sonic Rainboom without being reduced into a messy pulp. She showed me all of that crazy calculus that she still thinks make some sense for me but according to science: I. AM. AWESOME!” Pinkie looked simply amazed “Well, I already knew that but it’s nice to have it proven by the laws of phis...physc…The stuff that proves how…other stuff works.” “Once I get better, I’ll find a job or something. Maybe the weather team here needs a couple of wings.” She looked distant. “We’ll just have to lay low for a while.” “Oh, well. Until then I’ll just have to take care of you” said Pinkie completely cheerful even though inside she really meant that. Dash laughed a bit. “Oh, yeah. Responsibility is your third name! Even I tried to stop you on that one...Wait, don’t tell me you’re serious?” “Oh, I am serious. Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye.” Pinkie looked indeed serious, almost frowning while making that statement. She wasn’t used to it because she always found natural to always smile, even in serious situations. “I will take care of you until you’re better, Dashie! I Pinkie-Promise you.” Dash blinked, astonished. “Let’s get some sleep. Or at least I should try. I’m still a bit shaken from all of what happened…I mean, it’s bucking Manehattan!” “Oh, speaking of sleeping…” Pinkie remembered thatshe still had that saddlebag. She guessed it was the right moment. Not the optimal one, but at least she hoped it would make Dash happy, if only a little bit. She whipped out a brown, rectangular envelope and put in Rainbow’s hooves.She eagerly opened it revealing something that, from the longing look, she wasn’t expecting at all. It was a book, a book with a luscious illustration of an adventurous mare struggling to defeat a monstrous giant snake that was trying to crush her in its spires. In such a tense situation the brown, scantily clad pegasus only smiled in defiance. And so was Dash. A big wide grin that almost split her face in half and caused her pupils to shink. “This is… Daring Do and the Sanctuary of Sorrow?!” “Yes, indeed-y”Pinkie said proudly. “But…How? Is not even out yet…You got it from…the future?” “Almost, Dashie! You see, Twilight buys books and knows where to find books. And I know ponies who knowhow to find even more books and ponies who knows ponies that write books…And that’s it.” “And…This is for me, right?” Dash sounded incredulous. “Well, duh! I don’t like Daring Do very much, but you like it a lot and you like reading it before sleeping and so…What do you think of it?” “It’s awesome but…Wait a minute. It’s that saddlebag?” Pinkie let a nervous laugh. A mixture of embarrassment and pride in it. “The one that you beat up two monsters for it?The same?” “Well…It was a gift for you.” She lowered her gaze to the floor. “If we really had to run away, you probably wouldn’t see a Daring Do novel for a long time and I didn’t want you to be sad and…” “Thanks, Pinkie.” She cut off the pink pony quickly. “I don’t know what to say…” Her smile got warmer and kinder than ever. A look of tenderness could be seen in her eyes. “You’re always so kind to me and everypony else, even now…” She almost blushed, only to immediately pout to hide that moment of weakness, with her cheeks puffing up awkwardly. Pinkie always found that adorable. “I guess being stuck with you isn’t that bad.” “Wow! And if brought you the author next time?” “I would kiss you so hard, right on those lips!” An awkward silence followed, the two mares looked in each other’s eyes…Only to burst out laughing like crazy, almost suffocating for trying to keep the noise at the bare minimum. Even though Vinyl’s words weren’t particularly clear on the volume but whatever. “Yeah, right.” Dash was kicking her hind legs while keeping her belly. “And then what? Snow in April?!” “Yeah!” Pinkie snorted as well. “But only after a date! I’m not that kind of girl, you know!” While saying those words, she recalled all of her new resolutions, especially the part of staying at Dash’ side not pretending anything romantic in return. Pinkie also wanted to smash her own face against the wall. “You don’t mind if I read a bit before sleeping?” “You don’t even have to ask! And by the way…” she picked a little flashlight from the saddlebag. “I don’t think you can read in the dark! You’re not that awesome.” “Thanks Pinkie. Good Night!” she lighted the flashlight and began reading as Pinkie laid on her side, trying to get some sleep. She thought back on the book. Originally she wanted to give to give it to Dash after their hypothetical first date but that kinda went out the window. Still, it served its original purpose: make Dashie happy, if only for a while- Pinkie woke up after a while, finding herself cramped on her own side, her forelegs curled against her chest,not even thinking to take more space that she deserved from Dash, with her back to the pegasus. Not even wanting to turn or move as not to disturb her sleep in any way. Dash was snoring softly, the book still lying open, carefully put on her chest. Pinkie, trying to not make any sound, not even breathing too loudly, turned to see her sleeping friend. Dash had a peaceful expression on her face,notcaringabout every hardship they had to face until now; her mouth still opened a bit as she usually did, with the usual tray of drool on the side. Pinkie giggled a bit thinking that at least one of them was unfazed by that unending string of hardships. A thought flashed in her head. A crazy little thought, too daring for that situation. She rationalized that it was the first and only thing she would take for herself. But she couldn’t get out of her head all that talking of kissing. Still without making a sound, she leaned slowly towards Dash and planted a quick, soft kiss on her cheek. “Goodnight, Dashie” she whispered. Pinkie then turned back to her side in the exact same position and closed her eyes trying to get some sleep.She wore a satisfied smile with only ahint of regret that the only way she could’ve gotten a kiss form Rainbow,was by stealing it. And she kissed her the way she would’ve kissed her Granny, even, but as small as it was, it was sweet. It had to be enough. “Goodnight, Pinkie” Dash whispered as well, accompanied by a quick brush of her tail against the back of Pinkie’s foreleg. Pinkie was a little startled by this, as her eyes shot open the second she heard her voice but she calmed down, instantly delighted by that at the same time. The sweetness of the moment dwelled in her heart for a while, reaffirming her belief from the forest that, in a way or another, everything would be alright. That ray of hope she felt that time, instantly became brighter. She slipped into a dreamless sleep immediately after. The next day, the first thing she noticed when she woke up was Rainbow Dash sleeping face. She was dangerously close to Rainbow Dash’s face, completely wrapped up in her left wing, using it as a blanket. And for once in her life, Pinkie felt shame for not overwhelming her primal instincts. She could get used to waking up like this, after all a pony could still dream. She rubbed her eyes, after carefully letting go the still sleeping pegasus as she noticed a sudden change in the room.The boring cleanliness of the flat from the night before was replaced by complete and utter chaos. Various multi colored stains that she assumed were food (at least from the smell) appeared on the floor, the walls, even the ceiling. Some half empty bottles of liquor were resting on the floor, their contents spilled, almost making the pink pony slip. The funny part was that Vinyl didn’t even make a noise while producing this mess. How nice of her, Pinkie thought. With no sign of the DJ and Dash still asleep, she decided to clean out. It was the least she could do for Scratch for letting them stay for the night. She quickly searched for a closet door behind which she found a mop and bucket. As Pinkie started to scrub the floor, she improvised a silly song to help her work and raise her spirit, like she always did. Nothing could stop her to do something so fun and familiar. Scrubbing, scrubbing my friend’s home Make it shine just like chrome All night long she made a mess How she did it? I can’t guess! Though she is nice, that can’t be wrong So I’m singing this silly song! Not one of her best, but on the spur of the moment it had to do. And at least it was original this time, so she was still the same old Pinkie. She turned a bit to take care of another side of the room only to find right in front of her Vinyl’s face staring back, only a few inches from her. Which was strange since not only she didn’t hear any hoof steps, singing notwithstanding, nor saw any door opening. She decided not to press further on the matter. “Morning, Scratch!” she chirped. The unicorn yawned.“Morning Pinkie. You always start your day like that?” “Oh, not always.Only when I’m working. Or I’m in a good mood. Or when I have to help out a friend that let me and my best friend stay for the night or…” “Ok, ok, I got it. Still, nice of you helping me out. If you guessed already I‘ve kinda lost control last night…” “You don’t say!” She looked completely sincere in that remark. “Yeah. I had somepony who did that sometimes but…” “Is that the same somepony we were going to talk about never?” “Yep. And today is not never…Anyway, we were talking about that nice set of pipes you got!” “Sorry, I don’t smoke. It’s bad for your voice!” “Yeah, I meant your voice.” “Then why do you want a pipe?” “Forget about the pipes! I think you’re quite good at singing. A bit of uncouth but you got the stuff where it matters. Does anypony else know?” A voice answered from behind of them, still half asleep “Last time she sang she started a parade all on her own…” said Dash, rubbing her eyes. “Your freeloader friend there is still the voice of reason.” She took Pinkie aside, placing her foreleg around her shoulders once again. “Forget what I said earlier!You know what day is today? It’s never! And, you see, I know this filly. Who is also my friend. You could call her a…” “Friend-Filly?” Pinkie replied. “If she wanted to admit it to herself, yes. But you see, we have this little project…” As Vinyl continued to talk, Pinkie couldn’t help that things were getting, really, really convenient… Chapter 3: Not Words but MeaningsThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 3: Not Words but Meanings 12 minutes before the incident Could it be better than this? A few hours after Dash finished gathering the necessary, Luna’s moon stood tall into the night’ sky, everypony slipped into a dreamless sleep, blissfully unaware of everything. And during the day nopony even tried to ask what Pinkie Pie was doing all day. After all, they grew so accustomed to the pink mare unorthodox antics, that she probably could get away with everything. Too accustomed or maybe even too scared to even suspect a thing. It was almost painfully easy. Not even Pinkie could explain how she got away with placing her junk all over Ponyville or even inside their houses but they were so accommodating about everything! Not a question asked, obviously. After all, did she ever asked them for anything for helping them? Being friends with everypony ( and a baby dragon..and a couple of donkeys…and a zebra) will do that for you. Years and years of kindness and goodwill were going to pay off even better than she imagined. For these very reasons, Pinkie felt almost all-powerful. She only lacked a tiara, a horn and a pair of wings to be declared the true Princess of “ Pranks-who-weren’t really-pranks-but just-a-silly-excuse-to-hang-out-with-your-best-friend-and-tell-her-you-have-a-crush-on-her-and-go-out-on-a-a-date-or-something-or-make-out-but-only-if-she-wants-to” … The horn needed too much care and the title was too long to be taken seriously. She didn’t mind a pair of wings, though. A pair of big, fluffy, awesome pink wings so she could fly without balloons or some other silly gimmicks, be all like swoosh and zoom and going so fast that you could fly all over Ponyville before you could say “chimicherrychanga” , sleep on clouds whenever she felt tired or go and visit Dashie without asking Twilight to use that cloud walking spell… And for the umpteenth time her thoughts went to a certain blue pegasus, a blue pegasus who was so brave and cool and the best friend she ever had, somepony who made everything better by just being there, who made the sunny days Pinkie always loved and the rainy days, because she also loved playing in the rain with Gummy, a blue pegasus so awesome and beautiful that it hurt she still had to wait to see her but not for long since the great night was about to start. Their great night, to be precise. She waited for Dash into a old abandoned house with dusty floors ,walls full of cracks, and frameless windows from which they could see Town Hall in all of its glory, a old ,rusty silver chandelier dangled from the ceiling, squeaking at mere breeze of the wind. The house was also spiffy but Pinkie didn’t care one bit. She waited upstairs, walking in circles, leaving a circular trail of hoofprints in the dust, joyously humming a song already hear d before…from herself, obviously, but she couldn’t remember when. All while taking an occasional glance at the white sheet in the center of the room, which covered an unidentified silhouette. She finally heard a familiar voice coming out of the window. Hi, Pinkie Pie!” the pegasus announced loudly. “Hi Dashie ! You came here just in the nick of time. Did ya brought…THE NEXUS!?” a thunder was heard almost immediately, as if to punctuate the last word. Dash was startled because there was indeed a thunder…coming from right behind her…from the rather large stash of rainclouds she brought with her, tightly packed with a long rope. From Dash’ look you could’ve swore she was thinking that the raincloud was indeed trying to punctuate the last word. There are things ponies are not meant to know… “Well, just look at this beauty” Pinkie chirped upon noticing the stash “You just outdid yourself, Dashie! You’re the best!” Dash laughed cockily “Hehehe! You can’t go wrong on the Dash! Now, where should I put this beauty?” Still staring at the pegasus Pinkie said: “Just put them downstairs, on the big red X on the floor!” Struggling a bit to push the big pack of rainclouds trough the small window, all of the while making a squishy sound, and careful not to hit them too hard unless she wanted to unleash another thunder, Dash managed to say a few words during the irritating task. “You’ll never guess…Unngh..who i just saw…Nnngh…just a minute before!” “Who did you see?” “Princess Celestia!” “Whhha….?” “Yup. That’s right. Apparently nopony knew she was coming. Twilight would’ve told us at least a thousand times!” “And what is she doing here?” “I don’t know. Too busy gathering these” Finally, Rainbow managed to squeeze through all the rainclouds to get them into the house. There was so little room that the two ponies were basically forced into the corner after that, Dash still holding on the rope. She looked perplexed before finally stating the obvious: “Maybe I’m stating the obvious, but couldn’t we just…do this some other day? I mean maybe I can gather some other rainclouds, not that I’m running out of space…” She totally was, but that’s beside the point. Before she finished that sentence, Pinkie gasped and interrupted her, with a look on her face that looked like Dash was proposing her to devour a live foal. “Another day? Are you loco? We can’t do it another day this is THE day! If we chose another day, it would be ANOTHER day, not THE day!” “Technically it’s night …and the word “day” just lost its meaning…But the Princess is there and all of those guards. What if something goes wrong?” “It can’t go wrong! It won’t wrong! Why it should go wrong?” Pinkie looked even more frantic and desperate while saying that. Dash quizzically tilted her eyebrow, looking suspicious: “You didn’t explain me anything about the prank! You just said go gather the rainclouds and that it was awesome and stuff! Why do we have to do this now? What is all of this stuff? I want to know!” she stomped a hoof on the floor, raising a small cloud of dust from the floor. Dash meant business. When she adopted that look, everypony had to take her seriously and woe unto them if they did otherwise., no exceptions. Dash was still in that room only because of Pinkie, but with anypony else, especially not her friend, well...Let’s just say she wouldn’t be so kind. Dash had to knew, obviously and she was rightfully worried of annoying the Princess. Pinkie was too, but she didn’t show and that didn’t stop her. She knew she had to tell the truth to the cyan mare but that wasn’t just the right moment. If she told her right now, especially in that mood, everything would be lost. The perfect moment to be with Dash…Lost… She couldn’t allow this and, luckily for her, Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only pony with a killer look. Pinkie looked at her with large, shiny, puppy-dog blue eyes, she even looked like she was going to cry and her lower lip started trembling. Her small whimpers were just the icing on the cake. “Y-you mean you d-d-don’t trust me, Dashie?” she loudly sniffed. And that look stung Rainbow like a bee, making her immediately falter. Not that it stopped the pink pony. “I told you it was a surprise!” she continued “Why you don’t like surprises, Dashie? Why should I ruin your surprise, Dash? You don’t like MY surprises, Dashie Washie? Is that it? You don’t like me? Pinkie was on the verge of tears. Fake, manipulative, convenient tears, spiced with a teaspoon of unrequited love just to make it convincing. The best kind of tears. Rainbow looked absolutely lost and a bit surprised, alright. That “Dashie Washie” made the trick, hit her like an hoof to the jaw. Trying to avoid her friend’s gaze looking for a possible escape, difficult since three quarters of the room were still filled by rainclouds. Summoning some courage she tried to blubber an excuse: “It’s not like that! I mean, it’s not I don’t like you…” “You mean you like me?!” Pinkie’s heart skipped a bit, full of hope. She knew it was too early to celebrate but that choice of word was almost perfect! Dash was even blushing a bit. For embarrassment over this whole surreal conversation but who cares. “ No, you got me all wrong! It’s just…” And then Pinkie just exploded. She burst into tears before she could finish that sentence, startling Dash so much that she jumped backward, even getting a little wet from the tears. The pink pony erupted in a fountain of salty sadness. She cried like she was trying to drown the world. Which is a lot. “YOU DOOOOON’T LIKE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” Somewhere, the ears of a certain marshmallow unicorn where whistling because of the blatant rip-off of her own act. With no way out, her friend crying like a fountain in an old abandoned house filled with junk and rainclouds Rainbow Dash just froze there, dumbfounded, asking herself what went wrong. Pinkie Pie was having the time of her life. Sure, she knew that it was a bit cruel to play with Dash’s feelings like that but… Actually there is no “but”, that was just cruel. And needy. Maybe she went a little too far with this. Scaring Dash by making a scene so over the top and embarrassing was worthy just to go along with the plan? Sacrificing her dignity and her friend’s peace of mind? Continuing a thread of lies that just didn’t want to stop and probably would spiral out of everypony control for the sake of her romantic affection? Yes. Yes, it was. But that didn’t matter for now. Only the plan mattered…Only being with Dash, mattered. If she had to resort to such underhooved methods so be it. She would’ve found new ways to hate herself later. Fortunately Dash managed to utter something to try to calm her down. Exactly as planned. “I’m…I’m sorry, Pinkie. I didn’t want to upset you.” The pegasus fidgeted on her hooves looking at the ground, completely off guard “If it’s so important to you…I’ll just help you out like I said.” The waterworks immediately stopped, precise as a clock. Her expression immediately changed from a watery, blubbering mess to her usual cheery self: “Ok, Dashie! I’m so glad everything turned out to be alright-y! Now go downstairs, the show is about to start!” Rainbow rolled her eyes, and started pulling the rainclouds: “I really hope you know what you’re doing…” Finally, everything was ready. The great night was about to start. The two mares finally found themselves in that dusty room, at the opposite sides of whatever that white sheet was covering, looking at the sleeping village. The pink mare just couldn’t hold her enthusiasm, hopping in her place back to her exuberant self while the pegasus looked completely lost, even though a soft smile was gracing her face. Pinkie finally removed the sheet to reveal an hastily built metal box, covered with duct tape and streamers. Obviously Pinkie’s design. At the top of it a big red button, on which was written with a marker “BIG RED BUTTON”. The sight of this was so silly that Rainbow Dash finally started to relax, and started chuckling a bit, even if there still was a hint of nervousness in that little laugh. “I hope this isn't what I think it is...” “What do you think it is, Dashie?”she giggled “I really gave up on that…Guess you won this time.” “Hhhm?” “You just wouldn’t explain anything about this prank, you even made that scene earlier. I tried to reason with you, I tried asking politely…Heck, I even tried to look angry but nothing worked with you. I guess I’ll finally know now. “ An awkward moment of silence between the two, lasting like a lifetime only to be once again broken by Rainbow. “You’re weird, Pinkie. You know that?” “Yes, indeed-y!” she chirped. Dash’s face immediately went “go figures” “I’ll give you that, Pinkie: you’re weird, random, I can’t understand almost anything about you, I think nopony could. And when you get this stubborn you can be a real pain…But you know how to entertain a mare!” “Really?” she flashed a smile so big that it was a miracle it fit her face. “Yeah! Maybe I’m just too confused about everything, but I really want to see where you’re going with this. You’re not even worried about the Princess being here! It’s strangely…appealing for some reason.” Pinkie nearly swooned. Was this the right moment? Too little and too early, but it was so close… “I saw your preparations for this all over the village. You just worked all day doing…whatever you did and you never stopped. And from what I can see you’re not even tired!” Actually the pink pony was exhausted, completely and totally exhausted, but she didn’t want to show it. Not this close to victory. “Nothing and nopony can stop you, Pinkie. Even you started acting like a crying foal, I’ll have admit that worked out for you” they both started giggling at that part. Pinkie sighed with relief at the end of it. Luckyly, Dash didn’t judged her too harshly for that little, albeit completely faked, outburst. “Just like nothing and nopony can stop the Dash. Guess I never noticed this about you. Well, I kinda figured it out but I never thought about it seriously.” Pinkie was completely silent, staring into the cyan pegasus eyes with profound admiration. “I really like that about you…” And for one brief, perfect moment, Pinkie was part of something greater and beautiful. Her spirit left her body to visit pony heaven itself and she knew about true joy and the meaning of her existence and the universe. It’s cupcakes, by the way, but nopony else had to know. “But…”Rainbow added. And that single “but” brought the pink pony back from the celestial plane the instant it was uttered. Curse you, “but”! Destroyer of happiness! Pinkie swore to get her revenge by destroying all the “buts” in the world. “I can’t help to think that there’s something more on this prank, if you don’t count the part you’re deliberately not telling me” Dash’s smile became a sly one. Pinkie followed that sentence with shifty eyes, looking suspicious at hell: “ W-What makes you think that, Dashie? It’s just a prank, just the way you l…” “Cut it out, Pinks. This time I got you” Pinkie nervously gulped. Dash leaned forward, looking right into Pinkie’s blue eyes, so close that she could feel her breath. “I’m the one being pranked, right?” Rainbow was completely deadpan. This time Pinkie froze, dumfounded. “You sent me fetching all of the rainclouds, so you can place junk all of the village. Then you tell me we have to set up everything in a old abandoned house, in the middle of the night, while the Princess herself comes to visit and none of our friends show up to say anything or search for us…It’s a prank and everypony is involved! Princess included” Dash stood on all fours, her chest swelled with pride for reaching such an awesome conclusion. Pinkie totally didn’t predict about HER be the surprised pony. She figured out her everything, well almost everything. Unless the Princess wasn’t secretly planning this, too. You never know. She couldn’t play along with this, she had to continue with this charade. Thank Celestia, not for long. “What’cha talking about, Dashie? You silly pony, you do the pranking this time! You can’t prank the prankster!” she nervously laughed. “Well, I sure felt pranked, alright! Look if you just keep stalling…” she turned and started to leave, until she felt a strong, pink hoof on her shoulder keeping her. She turned out to see something she never thought she would: Pinkie. Serious. No silly smiles, no nervousness, nothing noticeable. For once she looked like a blank state. SOmething that could only work trough precise instructions. Forze in time, taking her "now-or-never" stance almost too literally. And that's how she felt. One of the very few times she found herself at loss of words and actions. Almost on the verge of tears, true tears this time. Without a single word she delicately placed Dash’ hoof with her own on the big red button, almost mechanically. Then she finally spoke: “Please, have some faith me Rainbow Dash. Only this time” Dash complied, silently. She looked in her eyes with a mixture of compassion and trust and together, without ever leaving the other mare gaze, they pushed the button. And. All. Hell. Broke. Loose. Author’s Notes: Sorry for a whole chapter made of flashback, but I really needed to get rid of this part. I noticed that everytime I write something it turns out a lot darker than it should be. Is that good or bad?
Chapter 1: The Same Boat In A Stormy SeaThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 1: The Same Boat In A Stormy Sea The present… The sound of frightened hooves roared through the streets of Ponyville, as loud screams of panic and dissent lifted off from the smoke and dust which filled the air with a charred scent. Even from afar the sound of debris from Town Hall falling into splinters once again could be heard, only this time it was another pegasus to blame, while the ashes were scattering around like big, oily, grey snowflakes. In the distance a purple glow could be seen, conjured with haste by a young purple unicorn. It was lighting the darkness and piercing the veil of cinders, while the flames were still biting what was left of Town Hall and a few buildings nearby.Although they were taken care of almost immediately before they could spread further before and the citizens seemed to emerge unscathed from the incident. The Royal Guards, few they may have been for such a simple occasion, acted with the speed and might of a thousand ponies at only the slightest gesture of the Princess of The Sun. Her sheer presence was a literal light in the darkness and still could be felt from any part of the village, setting them immediately on the loose and searching for the culprits of such a terrible act. Even though it may have seemed like a particularly bad Saturday in Ponyville, after all you’re kinda asking for it when you build a village so close to the gate of Tartarus itself that the bucking Cerberus becomes with time a common occurrence. It was in fact a Friday and the guards weren’t searching for a demonic three-headed beast from Heck itself. The true culprit, or culprits as we should say, were still running aimlessly from the site of the incident, just determined to get as far away as possible. One was a pink, curly haired earth pony, even though the brightness of her coat wasn’t the same as always. She was sullied by a thick layer of dust and small pieces of iron were stuck in her mane, making it even messier than it already was as if it exploded from within. She kept running with her tongue lulling out and pure, unadulterated distress in her face, frantically turning her head behind, searching for a, very likely to be formed, angry mob. The second one was a cyan colored, rainbow-maned mare, who was flapping her wings as fast as possible. She was trying not to distance her companion, even though she started to feel a little exhausted. The pink pony,however, was probably so nervous that she couldn’t probably even feel fatigue at this point. Her coat and mane were still relatively bright, the problem was her tail which looked like the end of it was burned and chopped. But it still left a trail of smoke as she flew away. Finally, the two mares felt the need to rest and hid in a nearby alley, trying to catch their breath and hoping the darkness would hide them well. Once they stopped, the pink pony quickly started to pick the pieces of iron from her mane and pat herself to get rid of the dust. All the while, she still had the same distressed look from before, a look of pure desperation. “Oh Dashie! What are we gonna do? Whatarewegonnado?! I don’t think anypony liked that prank!” she said. “I don’t know Pinkie, I just don’t know! Let me think…Oooh, think of what?! It’s over! Finished!“ the pegasus retorted nervously, still flapping her wings furiously. She was circling the pink pony and gesturing like a madmare. Then she grabbed her friend by the shoulders and started shaking her. “There was the princess there! The princess! She probably saw us!She definitely saw us!The explosion, the smoke and the crash! Everything!It’s over, Pinkie! We’re enemies of the crown now, do you have any idea what that means?! MY LIFE IS RUINED!” She paused for a second and stopped shaking Pinkie for a second, pondering what to say, while looking supremely perplexed. “What are we gonna do now?!” Still shaking for a second, Pinkie watched her friend dumbfounded. “Oh, don’t worry Dashie.Maybe the princess won’t be so angry. I mean, remember the Gala? You and Fluttershy destroyed something there too. I thought she liked us wrecking stuff, at least that’s what I’ve figured out…” “But this time it’s different! You can’t expect her to just pop out of nowhere and say,‘I’m so glad you two destroyed Ponyville, that place was so boooring.In fact I hoped somepony would finally do that.’Nonono, this time we’ll be shot to the moon!” After that sentence, Dash could’ve sworn to hear the voice of her bookworm friend in her head, Twilight Sparkle, telling the same rant she launched in whenever somepony mentioned Princess Celestia and the moon in the same sentence. “Will you stop being so inaccurate about the princess? She exiled just one pony to the moon, her own sister! One thousand years ago! And she could only do this by using the Elements of Harmony. I mean, you were there, you lived this story and you’re still making this joke, wheredidthisjokecameoutanywaywhocouldbesocoldheartedtopainttheprincessassomekindoflunaticmoonshootingponybanishinmachine….” As the imaginary voice began to fade out, Dash was fairly creeped out by the realization that Twilight had the power to lecture anypony without even being there. For the duration of the mental rant, which was more or less two minutes, she kept staring at Pinkie with lifeless eyes, only being brought back to reality by her friend as she tapped Rainbow’s nose with her hoof. "Please Dashie, don’t black out like that, it’s already so dark out there!” “Gah,I thought it wouldn’t happen again! ...Where was I?” “The moon…” “Yes! The moon! Worse, THE SUN! Or sent to the moon and then throwing the moon in the sun, and THEN throwing that sun in another bigger sun!” Pinkie gasped loudly of fear, then she abruptly interrupted herself saying,“Waitwaitwait, I have an idea!”while pointing her hoof upwards. “What” Dash retorted, without even trying to make it sound like a question. More like the failure to put together something more articulate. “We should tell the truth, I’m the one to blame for the prank!” She looked sadly at the ground, averting the gaze of her friend. “You just wanted to help me, you’re not to blame. I’m the evil,meanie mastermind!”Pinkie reasoned. Trying to not chuckle after picturing Pinkie dressed as a flamboyant Daring Do villain, complete with a cat on her lap, smiling evilly about her plans of taking over the world with pranks, Rainbow paused unable to say anything. “It’s true Dashie. I came out with the plan. I’m the one to blame. They probably haven’t seen you. That’s because you flew above the smoke, you were so fast! You swooshed up there and I ran down there, we just met at halfway and then we started talking in this alley…” “I think I know this part already…” “Anyhoo, you just helped me with a tiny part.I set up everything, so it’s all my fault! I couldn’t let my besty-bestest best friend take the blame for something she didn’t have any hoof in it, that would be mean!” ________ ________ 12 hours before the incident… “…And that’s what I need for my plan, Dashie! What do you think of it?” Pinkie chirped loudly, suspended in the air by a good deal of balloons tied to her. Rainbow Dash was resting on a cloud with her legs curled beneath her body, looking puzzled and having just woken up from her second siesta, or was it the third? She couldn’t remember things while sleeping, for pony’s sake! “Ya know, I’m always up for a good prank and, don’t get me wrong, this sounds simply AWESOME with capital A, but...doesn’t this seem a bit dangerous to you? I mean, I don’t know how anything from your list could be used together.” Pinkie scratched her chin, looking lost in her thoughts.Her bright blue eyes pointing sideways. “Hhhmm, you could be right, but don’t worry Dashie. Did your buddy Pinkie Pie ever disappoint you when fun is on the line? What if we use noodles instead of that big block of frozen Sarsaparilla?” “I‘m still missing the point of either of them…” muttered Rainbow, saying her thoughts out loud. “But you must admit that the rainclouds are just perfect! No, scratch that, it just can’t be the same without the rainclouds, they are the NEXUS of everything!” The pink mare emphasized the word ‘nexus’ with gusto while flying and gesturing like a particularly bombastic actor from Trottingham. Or a very bad one, theline between the two is very, very thin. Rainbow could’ve swornshe was hearing her voice boomed and distorted while she was saying that, like she was provided her own personal audio editing studio. “And I guess you need me to gather the rainclouds for your N..thinghy, right?” “Well, duh, you’re the coolest, bravest and most importantly, awesomest pegasus I know! And I know I can totally count on you for that” Pinkie said.She was leaning her face closer to Rainbow Dash with a sheepish smile and a certain look in her eyes that. If the pegasus didn’t know better, she would’ve thought Pinkie was going to kiss her, she was that close. The only thing missing was some swelling music in the background for the moment. This was impossible obviously, “Pinkie was cool”,she thought. Really weird and totally unpredictable but her kindness and joy of living was enough for being loved by basically everypony in Ponyville and she couldn’t have asked for a better friend, but that was it. Obviously she was seeing more into Pinkie Pie than her just being Pinkie Pie and scoffed at the thought, instead asking herself how this prank would’ve turned out and why her internal thoughts were suddenly narrated like an embarrassingly cheap romance novel. “You forgot radical!Aaaand the only one in the weather team who’s going to help you with this crazy plan, but I’m in! When exactly do you need this stuff?” “Oh, that’s no hurry, tonight would be perfect. I’ll get the noodles, some saddles, apple jam, six or seven typewriters, streamers, a mast and a jukebox. You’ll just need to gather the rainclouds, ok?” “Are you sure you don’t want to tell me how this is going to work?” “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, silly! No, scratch that, the biggest surprise ever! For you, for me, for everypony, if it goes well!” Pinkie announced with a big smile. “Oookay…”Dash still looked confused, especially when she included herself in the people who should be surprised. “Then I guess I have to start working on your big plan, right? See ya later Pinks!” The pegasus immediately stood on all fours, spread her wings and flew away finding the time to wave goodbye to the pink mare, slowly looking like a tiny dot in the distance. “She’s so random” she thought while flying away. That was the twentieth time she thought that…this week at least. “Bye Dash!” Pinkie shouted while affectionately waving at her friend. After that, she became lost in thoughts again with a soft smile in her face. Sometimes, when we think that our best friend is coming onto us, 25 % of the time she’s indeed coming onto us (statistics obviously provided by a complete quack).Even if she wouldn’t have used such a crude language, in fact her intentions were very pure even if a bit misleading. Pinkie liked Dash. A lot. Though she didn’t show it very often, the affection she felt for the pegasus was deep and abiding, even if not always requited. For the lack of better words, Pinkie always thought of herself just being way out of Dash’s league. She had absolute faith of her dream of being a future Wonderbolt and saw it as an eventuality almost as much as Rainbow. Not to mention her stunts, her speed, her grace, heck even in her brief time as a costumed superhero she needed the assistance of all her other friends to outshine her. Dash obviously had a life outside their little circle and as much as she loved her as a friend like anypony else, the pegasus could get every stallion ormare she wanted. She was just a simple screwball baker,shewould never be enough for the great Rainbow Dash. Talking with the other girls about the topic was a big no-no. After all she was fully aware of how her friends saw her. She was the always hyperactive, fun-loving pony and, with her as the first pony to admit it, not particularly competent with romance. Not as much as, say, Rarity and Fluttershy. Probably they wouldn’t have taken her seriously and she didn’t want to insist, fearing that she may turn into a complete jerk like the other time and Celestia forbid it. The big prank of hers was, in itself, a prank, an excuse to hang out with Dash on that particular night. She wanted to bond over something they both loved independently on the result. She wasn’t even sure if that big pile of things would have worked together, the plan wasn’t even THAT complicated. The true nexus of the thing was simply entertain Dash with some ruckus hastily put together. The kind of thing that she expected from silly-old-Pinkie and…ask her out on a date, waiting for Dash to be in the right mood, just that. She knew that wasn’t enough to confess her true feelings, for once she wanted to act slowly and carefully with her crush. Even if with time she didn’t think of Rainbow as a friend anymore, she surely wasn’t going to ruin everything between them. As ignorant as Pinkie was of that crazy little thing called love, she was pretty sure of one thing. If it doesn’t work out between friends, it’s over. Your relationship we’ll never be the same as before, not even with all the parties in the world… Even if her line of thinking was coherent (for Pinkie’s standard anyway), she forgot a little detail. As she gazed at the horizon, completely alone and still suspended in the air by the balloons, she shouted at top of her lungs. “HELLO?! COULD SOMEPONY HELP ME BACK ON THE GROUND?! DASHIE?!” ________ The present… “So, what are we going to do now?” asked Dash, still pondering about everything and looking very discouraged by her friends offer. “Tell the truth, Dashie. Only the truth.” “And you think that would just solve all of our problems, Pinkie? We went too far, sent to the moon or not, we’re not getting away with this. Not this time…” “Then what should we do?” “We could run away, hide for a few days maybe. We have to disappear, Pinks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally a lame way to solve things but this time it’s too much, it’s just too much!” “You keep saying we.” Pinkie sounded confused. “Isn’t that obvious? I’m coming with you!” remarked the Pegasus, with determination. Pinkie raised quizzically an eyebrow. “Don’t give me that look, I’m serious!” “But…” “No buts, Pinkie!” the tone of her voice was gravely. “BUT!” she practically attacked her with the sheer insistence of the second ‘but’. “I’m not listening andI’m definitely not changing my mind!” She covered her ears with herhooves and closed her eyes to emphasize the fact that her decision was final. And nothing else mattered. “I can’t see my friend taking all the blame for something like that and I can’t let you run away alone. I can’t let you do that! I won’t! And even if you did that, what about me? Do you think I will just stand there and do nothing, while you are on the moon or in some Celestia-Forsaken place still on the run, just because I sat here and did nothing? You’re my friend Pinkie. You’ll always be…And I don’t want to lose you. Ever. End of the story!” Dash felt her ribs strangely compressed all of a sudden. Opening her eyes, she saw the pink pony hugging her with all the strength and warmth that only a Pinkie Pie hug could give. Dash calmed herself down and returned the hug, just not as strongly, that would’ve been impossible. They stood like that for a couple of minutes, still in the alley, far from the worries of the outside world at least for a little while until that moment was broken by Pinkie. "What about the girls?” “Hhhm?” “You know, who I’m talking about…Aren’t they your friends too? Maybe they can forgive us…” “I’m not really sure, Pinkie. Surely not Twilight, she’s furious, I know that. We chose the day of Princess Celestia’s visit. She’ll be disappointed by us. We made her look terrible in front of her mentor.That is not something you can easily forget, especially for her. Applejack will think the same, this responsibility stuff is way too important for her. Rarity is cool once you know her well but she’ll probably be upset of being associated with the two madmares who bucked up everything. Like you always say,‘Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend…‘ ” “…forever” she grimly completed the sentence and also giggled after realizing the part before that. “If we’re gonna be outlaws, that nickname is bit long, don’t you think? And don’t tell me you think the same of Fluttershy! What if Fluttershy is the only pony who can understand…” “And then what? Cowering herself in a corner and asking very politely to let us go?” Dash retorted with a dry look. A look so dry that far at the frontier of Equestria, began another great drought. Pinkie looked at her friend with her jaw dropped. “That was plain mean, Dashie! I know you’re nervous and I’ll pretend you didn’t say it…Buuuut you kinda have a point.” She shrugged. “I hate saying this about ‘Shy, but she’s probably the only one, and only one pony isn’t much of a difference. I love all of them, but after today…” she stared in the distance, toward the zone of the disaster. The flames were still gleaming. “It’s the only way Pinkie…” Still hugging her friend, the pink mare directed her gaze towards the same spot Dash was looking. Sadly, she had to admit that Dash was right. Nopony could have predicted that it would go THAT wrong, but it happened anyway. A part of her was deeply saddened by this turn of events, a big part of her actually. Leaving everything behind, her village, her friends, every single ounce of happiness she gathered in the course of her life had to be forsaken for an uncertain road. But at least she had something or, better, somepony. She still had the will to smile, because the reason she learned to smile was still with her, still willing to protect her, still willing to risk in the difficult journey ahead of them just for her sake without any hesitation. Just like the Rainbow Dash she knew and loved… And she immediately hated herself for that. Everything started because of a selfish desire, innocent though it may have been, that dragged Dash into this mess and worse, she knew that no matter what, every chance of ever confessing her, well, everything was gone, at least for now. Rainbow put everything on the line for her friend’s sake, she didn’t deserve to be used like this and couldn’t pretend more from her, how could she? It would have been really awkward to say: “Hey Dashie, you know that total mess I dragged you into, that made you leave behind your life, your career, your friends and everything? Turns out I did all of that because I like you! Can we make it out now?" No, that had to remain a secret but, after all, she has waited so long for this, waiting some more wasn’t a problem. Preparing for whatever journey laid in front of them, that was a problem. And she didn’t have the slightest idea of what to do. Not even the tiniest bit… Crap… Meanwhile, hidden in a secret cave located in the darkest bowels of the planet, a menacing giant pair of flaming eyes flashed in the darkness, revealing the silhouette of a unicorn. Soon, a cavernous voice spoke, its words making the very earth tremble and weep. “At last, the pieces are moving! The Great Work shall now begin!” The unicorn stood on two legs, into a flamboyant pose and declared: “Yes, and it shall be Great…And Powerful! Muhahahahaha!” “You know, your catchphrase is kinda trite…” “Hey, Trixie doesn’t tell how to do your job!” To be continued… Author’s Notes: Well here it is.The first chapter of probably my first fanfiction ever! Feel free to give me some advice for the things that don’t work and also for the things that do. I had the idea for some time but only recently found a way to wrap up everything(spoiler alert: it’s even more complicated than it seems). And before you even ask.Yes,the title is a quote AND probably the worst pun ever created, lovingly described by my dad as “worse than opening the Ark of Covenant from Raiders”. Hope you enjoy it and stick around for the next chapter. Feel free to ask me anything in the comments, I’ll answer when possible.
Chapter 2: Like Ivy and the WallThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles 23 Chapter 2: Like Ivy and the Wall 6 Hours before the Incident. The day was a blast. She was a blast. Everypony knew she was a blast. The blast was a blast. There was any doubt about it? Rainbow Dash was working non-stop since her little talk about Pinkie’s plan, kicking every cloud out of the sky preparing for the scheduled sunny day, slipping unseen every poor lonely raincloud she happened to see with a mischievous smile, hiding them just about everywhere she could find some room: nooks and crannies in Ghastly Gorge, an abandoned barn her friend Applejack asked to demolish when she had some time (Curiously she noticed that she never seemed to ran out of old barns, even though she rarely saw a new one being built. Maybe she just missed all of them…Or perhaps magic was involved, who cares!),even in her own house. Focused on her task, she spotted Pinkie several times, wandering through the village going through her normal routine and, more importantly, placing every kind of junk she managed to gather in strategic spots over Ponyville, following some kind of bizarre symmetry. She saw large tubes of iron concealed in the rooftops, various kind of strings cleverly placed in deserted alleys and going even though some houses, forming some kind of demented web and even some typewriters, whole carts of typewriters even, which Pinkie provided to move around regularly before somepony could make any question. She could’ve swore to have saw even some fancy calculus scribbled in the ground or hastily drawn with chalk. But the thing that surprised her the most probably was how confident she seemed of her bizarre preparations for pranking. At various occasion she spotted the Pegasus intent on watching her arrangements, only stopping to wave affectionately at her and winking at Dash as if to say: “Don’t worry, everything is going super-duper okay “( if the super-duper wasn’t included she wouldn’t be Pinkie),with absolutely no care in the care in the world In her twisted logic, the pieces of the plan were falling into their places like a symphony, even if the elements were incomprehensible for, saying a normal mind would be cruel…for somepony any other than Pinkie. She still couldn’t figure how the hay all of this was supposed to work, mind you, but one thing she had to admit about the pink pony was this: She never gave up. No matter how weird she seemed to others, how insane the situation was, how unlikely the set-up was, even if the entire world was against her she never backed down. No, not even then. I said no. Which part of “no” you don’t understand? She saw a lot of herself in Pinkie for this reason, nopony could stop them, no matter what. Together they truly were a force to be reckoned with Both careless, headstrong, a bit obsessed about their passions..Fanatically obsessed about their passions. She couldn’t hide the fact that sometimes she could be very annoying for this very reason. Well maybe that’s a strong word, but Pinkie surely wasn’t somepony everyone could handle easily when you didn’t know her well, but then again so was Dash. It didn’t seem but she was very aware of the fact that something her brashness could be seen as bad temper, and her competitiveness was something grating, and the less we talk about her constant fighting to keep her image of tough pony, the better. Before meeting the other girls, she wouldn’t never admitted something so “uncool”, but the time spent with them surely helped to soften the most hard-edged part of her personality, gave her some depth, forging a bond with every single one of her closest friend, as if some kind of all-knowing , even if not always benevolent, distant intelligence carefully planned the recent developments of her life for the purpose of providing her personal growth for obscure purposes…Perhaps a character with hidden depths provided more entertainment than a mere stereotype… Unfortunately, the art of internal monologuing was an ancient and complex tradition and Rainbow Dash wasn’t a master of it since she became so lost in her existential questioning that she didn’t notice that Luna’s Moon was already high in the sky. Dash looked around her, dumbfounded: “What the h…” Now… The skies above Ponyville were almost split half by a cyan meteor, flying so fast that the air itself looked it was almost bisected, like a hot butter knife was passing though. She was flying faster than she ever did, flying so hard that she started to feel the wind in her face like hundreds of tiny needles. Her muscles were so tense that it looked like they were about to snap as little twigs. She was moving so fast, not even trying to slip unseen into the night, that you could’ve mistaken her for a glimmer in your eye, never to be seen again except for a single moment. She summoned to force to slow down only when her destination was near. Her own house, to be precise. Once she settled down her hooves, she slammed the already open door behind her as she entered, and sat on the cloudy floor, keeping her head between her hooves, shouting the vilest epithet her language ever conceived. After a few seconds like that, she calmed her down and began to, once again, ponder. She left Pinkie Pie just a few minutes ago, told her to go to her place and grab everything she could find useful for their journey. Travel light, she said, bring everything necessary, and when I say necessary I mean strictly necessary! Don’t even think of the cannon, we can’t drag that thing down for all of Equestria! She almost regretted of saying her that, after all that cannon had some uses. Just ask those Changelings. Oh, wait, you can’t! They’re gone, so buck them. She started scouring her own house, taking everything she seemed necessary, following her own advice: a couple of saddlebags with her favorite saddle, the one with the Wonderbolts symbol embroided in, for which she did very unkind things to get her hooves on the last one available, every single bit she managed to keep for the emergencies, not much but it was a start, some food, simple stuff which she didn’t count very much on the long term, her shades, because you always need some shades and a towel, she read in a book you always need a towel. Near her bed, she took a glance at a large pile of Daring Do novels she borrowed from Twilight. After all, she read those ones only a couple of times and she probably wouldn’t see a copy for a long time… Near the pile, she noticed a pen and a lone piece of paper. She could leave a message, she thought. Something inspiring, something meaningful, a last message from the great Rainbow Dash so that posterity may not judge her too harshly about the recent events, something of such a great beauty to inspire a generation of poets to write about her as a tragic figure. She grabbed the pen and quickly scribbled the following words, without thinking twice: “Buckbuckbuckbuckbucknuckbuckbuckbuck” And here it is. The last words to the world of a deranged mind cursing her fate, or a diabolical riddle that could be decrypted by a certain orange coated farmer. Dash facehoofed because she couldn’t think of anything better than but that wasn’t important right now. Pinkie was waiting for her at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest…One of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Nopony sane of mind would possibly look for them in there. Yeah…Speaking of Pinkie… Even if she had to keep her cool for her friend’s sake, a part of her was extremely angry because of the pink pony. A kind of wrath that she didn’t know it was in her. This time she crossed the thin line between harmless shenanigans and being downright irresponsible for the sake of everypony. You could’ve called her in fancy terms like “delightfully quirky” but what she did was dangerous. Simple as that. She couldn’t believe how thoughtless Pinkie could get, and for what? For a dumb prank? A prank so dumb that probably even bucking Pinkie didn’t figure out? Something so awesomely retarded and dangerous that forced them to be on the run, like common criminals? And not even THAT common, since there wasn’t anything common about what they did. And she even encouraged her. That was the worst part, the one thing that ticked Dash off the most. Without a second thought she took part of her crazy plan that condemned them both to a life on the run, without even considering the consequences. She was a pony of action but even a speed demon like her had to draw the line…somewhere. Did she even care that Princess Celestia was there? Of course not, good old Pinkie Pie without a care in the world with that big dopey smile on her face wants to have fun? Well, she had her bucking fun, alright! Moon jokes aside, she had at least the sense to believe that their benevolent ruler couldn’t always be benevolent. Even if everypony they met probably didn’t know, didn’t care or just plain forgot, she and Pinkie were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony but after betraying the Princess’ trust in such a spectacular way probably nullified their efforts, as she rationalized before. They basically alienated everypony with their recent antics, even her friends… And obviously Dash had to take the blame as well, after all in her little pink mind they were partners in crime, alone against the world like an extremely cheap adventure novel, and didn’t had anypony else that could help. And neither did Dash…Alone…But together in their loneliness… Who said that it had to be this way? After all even Pinkie said it. She had little hoof in it, nopony could prove otherwise. The pony responsible for all of this was right there and only she knew where to find her, and, more importantly, at the start of this Pinkie was ok with confessing everything. She outright said she didn’t want Dash to take the blame… Her life would’ve continued normally, she had a future ahead, a bright new future, she could’ve entered Princess Celestia’s favor by turning in a dangerous criminal. That meant influence, admiration, respect, fame… Wonderbolts… The Element of Loyalty called: it says that you’re a douchebag, Rainbow Dash, and if it ever sees you hopes it gives you tetanus. She immediately fell on her haunches on that thought. She hated herself more than she could imagine, she felt a disgust so profound that a part of her simply died. For a brief, painful moment, Rainbow Dash forgot all the happy moments she spent with Pinkie, the joy and happiness they gave each other, every single beautiful moment they built their friendship on, the fun she had every single day they spent together, the simple fact that her friend always had time for her if she ever felt sad or simply had a bad day, all for the pettiest reasons… Not, not simply forgotten. Threw them away like trash… After this horrifying betrayal of her own Element, thankfully not very long lasted, Dash had no excuses anymore. She decided to help Pinkie, and that was it. Because she was her friend. Because it was the right thing to do. Because that’s how the Dash rolls. If she was willing to save a filly in a well, she shouldn’t even have thought about helping Pinkie. After taking everything she could from her house, her last thought before flying away from home forever went to Tank, left in the loving care of Fluttershy the day before. She hoped that he could forgive her at least. She still was angry with the pink pony, mind you. Loyalty or not loyalty, they still had to make a long talk about how they made each other’s life a mess because of her silly plan, made by a silly pony, for silly ponies…And a even sillier pony helped her, let’s not forget that. But that wasn’t the time. At least not now. Now, Rainbow Dash had to take care of a friend in big, fat, trouble, because that’s what friends do for each other, right? Don’t answer that… And maybe Pinkie had her reasons for doing that. Silly reasons, obviously, but at least she wanted to hear them. She owed her at least this much. Who knows, maybe that’s just a big misunderstanding and In a few months they’ll laugh about it. She also tasted like cupcakes and Earth spins on its axis to give us day and night. She gazed for the last time at her belongings and with a sigh, parted forever with her old life, once slamming the door. As she flew over Ponyville, she noticed the village was still bearing the scars of the disaster. Town Hall was gone, completely gone. The only thing left was probably the basement. No traces of grass around it, the flames had their way and reached the nearby buildings, although they weren’t in such a bad shape even though most of them looked bent, dangerously leaning toward the ground, oozing what looked like jam from windows and doors. She could even notice a typewriter or two scattered through the rabbles, still wondering how did they get there. No sign of the Princess obviously, although she still could spot some of the guards continuing their search. The commotions also ended, ponies were going back to their daily lives to start rebuilding the village the next day. She noticed a purple unicorn, talking with a couple of guards standing among some rubbles. Twilight, obviously. She saw them, she thought. Or she didn’t saw them. Like that made any difference, their absence was an evidence in itself. Twilight had to say everything she knew, the guards will feel suspicious about those two crazy ponies who notably didn’t show up, they’ll put two plus two and bam! Now they’re officially outlaws. No turning back from that. She took this news surprisingly well. It was only a matter of time. Inevitable. Cliched, even. No signs of her other friends, she hoped that they didn’t hurt them in some other ways. With their rotten luck, even Sweet Apple Acres could be in ruins as far as she knew. She finally reached the designated place, the lonely, brown road that led to the Everfree Forest. She noticed some sick kind of symmetry in this: The road that started their new lives in Ponyville with their friends was also the beginning of the end of their old lives. A detestable pink blot was already waiting for her on the road, waving at her. She had some saddlebags, a couple actually, and a big, dumb smile on her face. “HEY DASHIE! I’M HERE! CAN YOU SEE ME! WOHOOOO!” she shouted. With no description cut whatsoever, Dash found herself immediately silencing her by practically shoving her hoof in her mouth. She was still able to ramble, though. “Cut it out, Pinkie! We’re gonna get busted if you do that again!” she angrily retorted. Removing her friend’s hoof from her mouth she replied: “I’m sorry, Dashie! I’m just ultra-excited for the whole running away stuff! I’m kinda nervous, “ she giggled. I took only the indisp-indispendab-whatever we needed the most, just like you said! I wanted to bring Gummy, but I couldn’t shove him into a boring, gloomy saddlebag. It’s so dark and scary in there, poor dear! I hope Mr. and Mrs. Cake can take care him, and the twins play with him so he wouldn’t feel lonely. Like I said, I’m so excited and scary for this thing, but I trust you Dashie! We can’t go back after that, just like the song says: Run fast for your mother. Run fast for your father. Run for your foals, for your sisters and your brothers. Leave all your love and your longings behind. You can't carry it with you if you want to survive. But I’m not so scared because I still got you, Dash! Let’s go now, partner! In crime I mean, hihihi.” Even if she still was a giggling, fast-talking , randomly singing pink blob she knew, Dash wasn’t fooled by her comedic routine and noticed something that simply didn’t match. During her rant she was shaking on her hooves and her smile cracked more times than she could count and she could’ve swore to hear her voice cracked, too. She was still angry, she repeated herself, but in what she would’ve described as “a moment of weakness” Dash wrapped her wing around Pinkie like a fluffy, blue blanket, to stop the shaking and make her feel warm and cozy, pulling the pink pony closer to her so that their flanks were touching. Dash blushed and felt very conflicted while doing this, but she kept her friend close. She would’ve found new ways to hate herself later. Pinkie instantly calmed down, the shaking finally stopped, and looked in her friend’s eyes with a determined look, giving her an affectionate but unnoticeable nuzzle. Dash nodded and the two ponies walked down the road, with an uncertain future ahead. Author’s Notes: Second chapter already! Thanks for all the favorites, guys. Didn’t have any hope when I started writing this, honestly! I was planning to release chapter earlier but blame the DLC pack for Asura’s Wrath for that. Writing Dash for this chapter was very fun and I know some of might disagree but I noticed this: in fanon , Pinkie is the one who breaks the fourth wall very frequently. In the show Dash has her personal “Dun-dun-Duuuun” and pauses for dramatic effect so I thought that a Dash somehow aware of living in a story was plausible. I’m still thinking she was a geek before the Daring Do episode only much more closeted. And before you even ask, yes. Pinkie listens Florence + The Machine, please forgive me.
Chapter 4: No matter where…Trough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 4: No matter where… There was mostly silence. The only thing that reigned supreme in the Everfree Forest that night, a powerful and eerie silence, only broken by the sound of two ponies trotting along the dark, brown road. No more their great night, as Pinkie thought. That ship has sailed a long time ago. At the beginning she started to think adjectives far more appropriate: there was “the dumbest night ever”, the always classic “worst night ever” surely works for any situation like a little black dress, or the newest one she came up , lovely described as “The night I bucked up”. That will do. For once she tried to be as straightforward as possible. She had enough time to think, to keep her mind occupied in the dull, unbearable moments in the forest, knowing well that it was just the start, to think of what went wrong ,what to do now…Her companion surely wasn’t helping. Even if she hated the pettiness of such thoughts, the cyan Pegasus wasn’t friendly at all, it would’ve been better to just go alone, but sadly she knew she couldn’t expect more from her. Rainbow Dash was silent as those dark and twisted tree branches that surrounded them unless you didn’t count the brief, monosyllabic answers she gave to Pinkie. “Where are we going, Rainbow Dash?” “Away” “We can’t go back, right?” “No.” “Any ideas?” “Nope” Longest conversation they had since having left Ponyville. Her usual routine of silly, old Pinkie Pie surely didn’t help to…well, it didn’t help at all. She had to show her that everything was alright, that she wasn’t distressed as it looked, to make her feel at home with a pantomime of normalcy, at least she had to lift this one burden from her heart. At least Pinkie Pie was the same… She saw trough it, obviously. Maybe she wanted to show some kindness to her “partner in crime” or maybe because she sounded so pathetic that that gesture of affection was everything she could aspire for at the moment. Nevertheless her heart melted like chocolate when she did that, even though it was just compassion. A step in the right direction, maybe? Yeah, right…Look pathetic in front of your crush, that is so gonna work, she’ll love you back in a tick. Why whenever somepony made some gesture to made her feel closer to somepony always looked like that, deeply, they wanted to baby her? Old, random Pinkie Pie doesn’t know what to do except being a fool even when she has to fight with teeths and hooves to show ponies she was responsible (even if in that particular night, that statement kinda went out the window), so you have to tolerate her, to guide her, to hold the bridge of your nose and going “Oooooww” whenever she does something silly, too simple to even understand the basics of love…. And to think it all started for her…During that train of thought she noticed several locks of her mane just didn’t curl properly, so she stopped with the negativity. Turning back into Pinkamena right there would be a giant pain in the plot, quite frankly. And for making it even more cheesy, not even using an original song…The lack of inspiration was the last of her concerns, though. Completely lacking any hope or motivation except the desire to run away, wandering aimlessly in one the most dangerous places of Equestria, with little food and resources, now, that was at least in the top five. On top of that they didn’t know long they had to stay there and where they should’ve gone from there. The two big choices where obviously Manehattan or Fillydelphia, especially the former since they knew something about the city from Applejack. Sure, her time in it was brief but better than nothing. Cities full of life, relatively close with emphasis on relatively since Rainbow Dash could fly even to Las Pegasus in a few days…without having to carry a rather abundant pink earth pony which could seriously hinder her fliying speed, not to mention her stamina, big enough to disappear among the crowd with nopony to recognize them so they could try to rebuild something akin to a life. Canterlot could’ve been a possibility but with their luck even though nopony ever seemed to remember that the Princess herself held them in high regard, in that particular occasion the universe would finally find somepony that remembered them, just to screw with them and their little..involment with the Princess that fated night, made that choice even worse. Cloudsdale could’ve been an option if Rainbow Dash hadn’t to take care of ,once again, a certain pink earth pony who couldn’t live on the clouds and shall not be named to protect the innocents (in the loosest sense of the word), to lessen the guilt of the aforementioned pink pony and avoid confusions with a certain type of sweet. Everywhere but Ponyville was fine… Somehow, Pinkie thought that neither of them had planned this as they should have. The fact that it was the third time they saw that creepy, almost pony looking bush was the icing of the cake. If she had the courage to say another word to her she’d say that they were lost. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash noticed. Unless looking around you looking lost and irritated then immediately facehoof with a long, drawn out lament was a new way to express happiness. If it was, it’d never be popular. “Are you alright, Dashie?” asked Pinkie gently, trying her best to not sound like an idiot. The question didn’t help. Immediately Dash calmed herself down, breathing slowly and regaining her composure. Still with her back turned to Pinkie spoke the usual few words, with a cold, distant tone: “Tired. Let’s rest a few minutes. Need to think” “Okie-Dokie-Loki…”said Pinkie, without a hint of happiness in it, almost like a reflex. The two strolled a bit away from the path to the side, to lay on the ground for a few minutes as they did a couple of times already, sharing quietly a daffodil sandwich, one of the few they could bring with them. Not that they hoped to sustain themselves on them for much time, and for how much time? As always, Dash didn’t want to speak and Pinkie was too scared to ask her anything. The, frankly unnatural, silence of the forest really helped to create a mood of awkwardness and distress still unrivaled by anything else in Equestria. This almost supernatural quiet was strange, sure, but neither of the two still couldn’t find anything weird about that, what, being so paralyzed by your own self doubts will do that to you; after all, the darkness and fear in the heart of a pony is far more dangerous and cruel than anything the forest could conjure…Except maybe a cockatrice, those are vicious bastards. After some minutes, even though Dash was doing her best to avoid the other mare gaze instead staring blankly at the contorted mess that surrounded them ,finally, Pinkie decided to broke that silence, looking at her with the same puppy dog eyes she used a few hours ago, only this time there wasn’t any ulterior motive in them. Pinkie probably didn’t notice to having had them. They weren’t helping, though. “Dashie?” “What?” the question stroke her like a whip, so sudden and cold. “I think we’re lost…” “Duh.” “Why don’t you…you know…fly around a tiny bit? Maybe you can see the way out?” “And leaving you alone? Who knows what kind of monsters are around here?” “Oh, don’t worry, Dashie! Maybe if you do that for just a minute…” “I said no. “ said Dash immediately interrupting her. “But…” “What part of no do you not understand? I’m not risking it…” Longer sentences now, that’s a record. She shrugged silently, visibly unease at the word of her friend, for once not knowing what to say. She had to measure every word carefully, unless she wanted in front of her to explode because of her very visible tension, dripping from her mannerism. That pantomime couldn’t continue, though. Angry or not, at least if she hadn’t to be so…nebulous about everything it would've been better for both of them. The fact she was also leading the way and probably going into circles, endangering them both was something to be taken care of. She trusted her, sure but she began regretting that decision after noticing how distressed and distant she was. And whose pony could be the fault? Don’t answer that… As a matter of fact everything had to be clear between them, they were friends, right? “Why are you doing this?” she asked with a concerned tone. Dash eyed her intensely, as if she Pinkie was some kind of bizarre natural phenomenon. “I know we are friends and all, but you’re risking everything for me. If you say we have to go, we have to go, no questions, I know it’s super duper dangerous and everything and now you’re acting all kind of cranky and you’re not talking to me but…” her rant interrupted by itself “…you were so nice to me before but not now…And now you look so angry and sad…” “Your point being?” “I don’t get you, that’s the point!” “Oh, YOU don’t get ME! That’s bucking new!”She immediately lashed out, finally regaining her full grammar. “AHA! You did notice that we’re lost, aren’t you?” “What gave you that impression? The whining? Or maybe the fact that it’s the third time I saw that bush?” “YOU noticed it?” Pinkie looked appalled. “I can’t believe it…” she muttered aside “You noticed it, too? Why didn’t you say anything?!” Pinkie shrugged and looked tinier but still managing to look indignant and pouty: “You didn’t seem in the mood…” Dash just froze for a second, looking stung by some kind of exotic parasite, with a look of pure disbelief on her face: “Mood? What kind of answer is that? “You didn’t seem in the mood?” she said that even mocking Pinkie’s tone of voice, a nearly flawless imitation, we might add. “Do you think this is a date? Is that it?” “Are you coming onto me, Dashie? I’m flattered!” Pinkie managed to sound both sarcastic AND hopeful with that sentence. Dash blinked, incredulous, “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that, for the sake of my sanity…” “You know, I didn’t think the Everfree Forest could be a good place for a date, but I guess you’ve proven me wrong!” said Pinkie with a sly smile, as a little payback for Dash indifference before. “Stop stalling! What’s the point of all this?!” Rainbow Dash practically jumped in the air and started flapping furiously her wings to keep herself in the air, to glare at the pink mare from high. Pinkie giggled “I’m not a pencil, Dash! I don’t have a point!” the giggling turned into a bitter and mocking laugh. Dash was furious, the glaring was far more fierce and intimidating than ever, directed right at the pink pony who was mocking her. Her nostrils flared. “You’re…You can’t be real! If you knew we were lost, why you didn’t tell me anything? No, scratch that, why you didn’t tell me anything about that dumb prank, those dumb raincloud and whatever was in your motherbucking head when you thought all of this!” Just you, you big stupid jock she thought, but kept it for herself. Pinkie stood there silently for a few seconds, looking remarkably calm and collected, more collected she ever looked in her entire life, still eyeing the angry Pegasus in front of her, with her eyelids half closed and a hint of a sneer. “You’re such a flip-flop.” She said slowly, her face not even breaking a sweat. “Say that again.” Rainbow practically smashed her face closer to the other mare face making a squishy sound, glaring at her closer than ever, looking directly in her . Again, Pinkie wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. “Oh, now you want me to speak! Total flip-flop!” the Pegasus’ glare was starting to get intense and piercing. Nevertheless Pinkie continued to lash at her. “We’re in this together, Dashie. Whether you like it or not.” She stood to the other pony and started pushing as well, this time looking much less dignified: “Just what do you want from me? Ok, it’s my fault! Are you happy now? It’s that what you wanted to hear, you stupid, stupid pegasusus? “The hay are you talking about?” “I know you’re angry with me, Rainbow Dash! I’m not THAT stupid!” Dash rolled her eyes and muttered sotto voce, “That’s the least of our problems…” “Quit bucking around!”, she started shouting at this point. “If I am soooo much of a pain to you, why are still with me?” “Please Celestia, not again”, Rainbow facehoofed. “Answer me, you dumb…Dumb-meany-head!” “BECAUSE I HAVE TO! THAT’S WHY!” Rainbow screamed so hard that Pinkie’s mane was even more messed up than it was before, her curls exploded in a even more chaotic patter in all direction. Even down that undignified mess, the pink pony looked deeply hurt by that statement. But mostly enraged… “What do you mean by that?” she asked. Maybe it wasn’t as she imagined… “Because I’m the element of loyalty, the one everypony goes when they’re in a mess! The only one who has the guts and the speed and the nerve to do what they have to do, I may not like it but that’s how it is! Do you think you have any chance out there without me? ” “It’s just because…YOU HAVE TO? Not because we are, you know, friends?” “Oh, don’t give me this…Don’t you dare! It’s totally not cool to play the friend card, here!” “And by the way, great job with leading the way. Maybe that bush is the other bush twin brother so we’re making progress, who knows!” “Oh, like you’re any better. Let me spell this out: we’re in this mess because of you! You even admitted it!” Dash stopped to flap and lowered herself on the ground, so that she could speak with her at the same level this time. She silently prepared to say her next sentence, looking like she was gathering the energy to actually say it. “I wish I never met you” … “Stop that, please!” Pinkie was looking at the ground, her voice eerily monotone, tender tears were hitting the ground. “What are you going to do now?” Her voice cracked a little, obviously distressed and surprised, even a bit shamed of her words but still feigning indifference” Cry and convince me to stay? It worked so well last time!” And that was the proverbial breaking point. Since that moment, Pinkie wasn’t a paragon of rationality and self-control since…never, but sometimes a pony is pushed to the point that they forget everything only to be replaced by the most primordial emotions, in this case, anger. Anger she thought to never feel since before, anger she couldn’t believe she could feel toward Rainbow Dash, but the Pegasus surely did a good job provoking. Sure, she truly was responsible for all of this and those cruel attempts of humor were mean, plain and simple, a product of their difficult circumstances but mean, nevertheless; but being faced with such awful truths and ,let’s face it, her feelings for Dash were so much of a mess that a messy response was the only possible response and her grief translated in a form far more primordial. Before Dash could even say a word she found herself enveloped in a big ball of pink-colored violence, finding herself repeatedly slapped, pulled, shaken and even bitten by a screaming thing that looked like Pinkie Pie. To her surprise, she found surprisingly difficult to retaliate, after all she the attack was so sudden and Pinkie’s moves were so unpredictable and feral that doing anything, even in the heat of the moment, was fairly difficult. Her rabid and quick blows were even well-placed and hurt more than she intended, or perhaps exactly as she intended like an angry pony-sized wasp. The two mares were rolling up and down in that same spot, without a clear winner for a while, evenly matched in that clumsy dance, finally, to Dash surprise evidenced by her comically enlarged pupils, Pinkie stood proudly on the Pegasus, pining her to the ground. There wasn’t any trace of anger in her eyes or face this time, though. There was something different entirely but not easily recognizable. She gazed so hard into the Pegasus lavender eyes that she almost looked lost in them, breathing slowly and blushing lightly. In that moment she didn’t know how to feel and what to think, her troubles forgot, Dash’s hateful statement forgot, like it never existed in the first place. The only thing that mattered was her…It all started from her… Even though it was completely illogical, dangerous, degrading, non sequitur and almost demeaning for everypony involved Pinkie started to lean closer to Dash, eyeing hungrily her lips. After all, she won their little skirmish and the Pegasus was unnecessarily cruel to her not a long ago. Now it was time for a little payback… To her surprise Dash wasn’t struggling at all, but instead started to lean her head towards Pinkie’s as well and even started a little blush. Maybe it was a date after all, Pinkie thought. In the worst possible moment and under the most embarrassing conditions Equestria ever saw but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. Perhaps everything could still be fixed and that was a brief ray of hope if she ever saw one. Sadly, that perfect magical moment was broken by the sudden look of horror in Rainbow Dash eyes. Pinkie instantly broke the silence. “What it is, Dashie? You look like you saw a ghost!” "Remember that bush we made such a big deal about it?” “Yes?” “It’s gone…” Pinkie, incredulous, immediately turned her head and noticed that that creepy pony looking bush was, in fact, gone and to her horror, she noticed that they weren't alone anymore. The two mare were surrounded by something not of this world. Big, black piles of oily smoke in the shape of ponies stood silently around them, glaring at them with eyes that looked like made of the fire of Tartarus itself, glaring and to their surprise, smiling maliciously with what looked like, black, sharp, pointy fangs. They both uttered the same word,in fear and disbelief: “Crap…” Author's Notes: Sorry for the long hiatus i took without a warning guys, but i'm having a lot of health problems lately but i promise i'll update the fic regularly. After the next chapter, we'll be having a little interlude, to introduce some new players in this story, shift the focus a bit and make some new developments , so stay tuned.
Chapter 5: And then the world turns...Through Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 5: And then the world turns... The great writer Appal Moore once said that life is made of different genres: It's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're luck. Rainbow Dash knew him from a couple of Daring Do short stories and a novel he penned, which she enjoyed of course but she deemed too dark and cerebral for her taste. Also, that huge amount of obscure references from Trottingham literature, which she could identify only half of it and only with the help of Twilight, was too much. What did he wanted from his readers ,anyway. To read MORE books? Nevertheless that quote seemed to describe that last portion of her life pretty well: Since she ever heard of that dumb excuse for a prank, everything was so crazy and a bit surreal, it had to be a comedy. Pinkie Pie role in it was just too perfect to be a coincidence. Every comedy requires a wacky trickster to set the plot in motion. The fact that she managed to keep the mystery of everything until the very end and the general enigmatic nature of that dirty affair made it a mystery novel, with the added twist of the detective unable to piece together the clues until it was too late. A pretty good twist in the land of fiction, she had to admit but unfortunately she lived in reality… At least she still thought there were some clues, but you know how they say: if you look back on it everything seems easier. The main event of the night was surely an epic chronicle of some earth-shattering disaster ,and let’s leave it at that, and the part in the forest…Yeah, Moore said that nothing is definite. In the beginning Dash saw herself as the heroine of a tragedy: a moving, powerful story with a noble, selfless, beautiful and brave heroine (no applauses, please) willing to sacrifice everything for her well-intentioned but dangerously reckless friend, who honestly could not face the hardships of the life of a fugitive alone. Of course, the heroic virtues of every protagonist of a tragedy had to be her downfall and greatest weakness, with the cruel forces of Fate making the “friend” in question a total jerk, who really had to test her kindness and patience by making the both of them lost in one of the dangerous places of Equestria and surrounded by Celestia knows what (although she’d had to analyze that later), insulting her, being a general pain in the plot and making her remember past events that still made her suffer even if she didn’t show and being totally disrespectful of her sacrifice and good will and making her very confused about a lot of things because she pinned her to the ground (She didn’t saw it coming…Since when she could do that? Well, surely all those sweets she eats helped, she weighs far more than she appears...) and could’ve swore she was trying to kiss her, no question about that. Well actually there was one: why did Dash didn’t seem to mind that one thing? Even if the idea was preposterous (Where did that word even came from?!), she guessed the romantic part of the story was filled…Until the hero fell from the light and became just one of the villains… “I wish I never met you”… She really earned those bites. Rainbow Dash didn’t know where those words came from, probably from the same twisted, nefarious, hidden part of her that considered abandoning Pinkie before earlier. Neither of them was in their right mind that night, alright, but it had to be something else, that didn’t came from her, it couldn’t be, it…just…couldn’t… … She didn’t believe her own crap for a minute, It was too easy to blame an unknown nameless force who lived inside her head. That is the stuff for the looney bin. At least Pinkie had the courage to talk to her face, while Dash ,in her own mind before and those five little words who shall never mention again after, proved to be worse. Even though she couldn’t fully justify, and most of the time even understand, Pinkie for her actions before and after, at least she wasn’t THAT cruel to her friend until now. There were some lines that even in anger and shock couldn’t be crossed. She did start all of this for her sake and, whatever degree of responsibility Pinkie had in all of this didn’t changed it. Not one bit. Now that she mentioned it was this difficult to actually understand each other until this moment? Well, yeah…But most of the time it was in good fun. Pinkie Pie’s silliness amused her, until it became criminally dangerous , but this time, as her mind was focused she knew something just wasn’t right this time. Her big, scintillating eyes of hers right before the incident only confirmed this, there was a hint of something different in it, something that didn’t belong to the Pinkie she knew, not something that could be alien to her, but surely something that saw her totally unprepared once it was there. One more reason to help her, she thought. What happened to them in all this time they knew each other? What changed between the two friends that made Pinkie’s behavior even more erratic than it was before? And why, for the love of Celestia, why Rainbow Dash has become such a JERK? Her motivation for helping Pinkie faltered THIS soon? And for what, for something that could’ve been fixed easily if they just took flight like she suggested to? She was better than that, she had to be. She needed to apologize to her, to earn redemption, to be for Pinkie the friend she could always rely on as it should have been from the start. And, sadly, that too could be part of an interesting story… And now, the horrifying part. Everything happened so fast she almost forgot of that one. Sometimes in life, things can and will just go wrong. The shadows were still surrounding the two ponies, extremely polite she had to admit since they waited until she finished her internal monologue, still snarling and staring at them, with a gaze that could pierce lesser hearts. As Pinkie and Dash looked at these monstrosities, they noticed something completely wrong with them: their appearance wasn’t full, they seemed to lack consistence, almost translucent, looking big piles of smoke with several fragments of their anatomy disappearing leaving square shaped holes in their bodies only for reappearing on different, equally empty places of them, as if they were constantly rearranging themselves to continue existing in a reality that just didn’t tolerate their very existence, shaped to look like a pony, several of them had even wings and she spotted one with an horn , although broken and incomplete, looking more like fleshy appendages than real body parts which she couldn’t figure if they were actually functional or not, as a mockery of pony races. Maybe Changelings? No, those monsters looked very real, these beings instead…they looked like a nightmare penetrating the world of the wake and struggling to continue this unnatural existence. Pinkie immediately let Dash get up by basically jumping off from her friend, visibly disturbed by that sight. With a nod she signaled for Pinkie to go behind her, trying to appear fierce and confident, as always. To keep her cool, for Pinkie’ sake of course, she even wore a smirk and a look in her eyes that just screamed: “Come at me, you ugly jerks; you’re looking for trouble, well you got it. You don’t mess with the Dash”. Yes, she could say a lot of things with look. So, what? The two ponies stood opposite of each other, guarding each other’s plot while being circled silently by those…whatever the hell they were. Both of them had a determined look in their eyes, not even flinching. She didn’t know about Pinkie but , even though she needed the assistance of demonic creatures, she felt invigorated by this. The Pegasus she had to be: stronger than ever and faster than lightning. A bit of unnerved by her still silent opponents, Dash started to use the old and always useful art of quipping: “Looks like some…whatever showed up at our date. Friends of yours, Pinks?” “Nu-huh. My friends are much more colorful than that.” “ Even that black unicorn?” “Especially that black unicorn! And he’s named Graphite by the way. He’s nice!” Dash rolled her eyes “Whatever. So if you guys don’t have anything better to do, why don’t you just go f…” Before she could finish the sentence, one of them immediately lunged at Dash, screeching loudly with her maw fully opened. Dash immediately, turned herself and gave to the shadow a well-deserved kick to the jaw, right into its hellish mouth, who flung it backwards and pummeled on the ground with all fours flailing the air, spitting a couple of their teeth who immediately disappeared in a puff of smoke as they left its mouth. Exactly as planned. If she knew something about monsters, is that they weren’t so smart. Dash felt the impact of her own blow resonating trough all of her hind-leg as if she just kicked a wall of bricks. Their appearance suggested otherwise but she didn’t expect them to be this tough. It didn’t matter. The others started their assault too, focusing more on Dash than Pinkie, who managed to clumsily avoid the shadows, by jumping and moving seemingly at random, viciously lunging and jumping at her, trying to bite her as they tried with Dash. The Pegasus already started to flutter weakly, hitting some of them with her hooves as they tried to reach her to keep them at bay, with much less force than before obviously, she still needed all of her legs .She’ll have to bother with the pain later. Sadly, she couldn’t discern their exact number, six or seven where there but it was absolutely possible that a whole army of them was waiting patiently in the darkness of the forest. With their luck, it could be even more… A couple of them had Pegasus wings and tried to attack her with the very same appendages, holding them horizontal and fully stretched. If their wings were just as hard as their ugly faces, that was a feasible strategy. For all she knew, at that speed they could slice her in half. Ouch. Luckily for Dash they were too clumsy too use their speed effectively and their attack pattern resulted painfully predictable. She only had to keep her momentum and just keep dodging. Piece of Cake. The deadly dance continued, until finally the twisted pegasi were far enough from them after Dash avoided their latest assault and were trying to reassert themselves. She tried to look for Pinkie, but in the chaos she somehow lost the sight of her. She frantically turned her head searching for her friend. A lot of brown, some black and some green but not a trace of pink. She started to worry, it’s not she was that distant from her. How could she…? She had an horrible feeling. From the start of everything she had the feeling that those creatures were capable of far more than they let out, and she had seen her fair share of crazy magic, enough for a lifetime, and it wasn’t over yet. A lot of horrible thoughts began to invade her head, her eyesight started to falter. She was already tired, maybe? A scream behind her. Pinkie’s scream. Was it too late? She quickly turned and swooped toward the voice a top speed, ready to do battle, only to see… Pinkie gasping and raging, holding a saddlebag in her teeth, looking semi-opened, in which she barely see a big brown envelope in it and more scarily the earth ponies version of the shadows looked unconscious, at least for a few moments, a couple of them thanks to Pinkie of all ponies, who, when she wasn’t looking managed to brutally subdue the two and were lying on the ground with their forelegs at each other’s side of their neck, laying on their shoulders, as in some kind of clumsy embrace. She tried to not snicker at that grotesque image. But that wasn’t the time to laugh, even if beating those monsters seemed strangely cathartic. With a quick nod she signaled to Pinkie to follow her and both ponies began to run deeper in the forest, possibly away from whoever it may be hiding in there. Fortunately the only shrieking she heard came from the opposite direction. A shrieking so horrible to be almost painful. Just what the hay are those things? While leading the way, Dash needed to know one thing, an idea was slowly forming in her mind that could be the key for saving their lives: “Pinkie, how did you do that?” “Do what?” she retorted, confused. “That! That…I don’t know how you did that! ” “Oh, you mean that? I just kicked their plot. Wasn’t that difficult, honestly. Those ugly things wanted to hurt us, right? They had it coming!” Dash was frankly scared by that sentence. She honestly never knew that side of Pinkie and hoped to never see it again…At least not directed at her as her little tantrum before proved. In a truly bizarre turn of events, the arrival of those things actually spared her sorry plot from the rage of something she would began to call “Angry Pie”. And the award of “Strangest Bucking Day of Her Entire Life” goes to… “Can’t you just tell me how?” Dash meekly asked. Pinkie smirked and giggled: “It’s Pinkie Sense, silly! Those meanies can’t touch me if I don’t want to! I just know if they want to hurt me!” Gotta love Pinkie Sense. Nopony knows how that works but it works and frankly she didn’t care. And with that the last piece of the puzzle feel right into her hooves. At least she had to try. In a clever twist of irony of the most unexplainable things ever , could be the most logical approach. Too bad Twilight wasn’t there. For once she would shut up about her being too reckless to think logically. Then she realized that it was for the best, because if she really was there she still had a lot of explaining to do for that little shenanigan…Best not think about that for now. With new resolution, Dash suddenly stopped, trying not to make Pinkie crash into her. Then she quickly offered her rump to the pink mare. Yes, for an outside observer the gesture could seem very ambiguous. So ambiguous that even Pinkie stopped abruptly and started blushing furiously, looking extremely embarrassed and totally caught off guard. Surely that wasn’t Dash’ intended reaction… “Hop in.” Dash said sternly, turning her head toward her friend and looking right in her eyes with her serious tone. And that choice of word wasn’t helping. A lot of stories need an awkward misunderstanding…She always hated that cliché! “D-Dashie? You know, I was joking about the date thing…Maybe later if you want…” Pinkie covered her eyes with her fore-leg. The blushing was only aggravated by her own comment . Dash just rolled her eyes, “Please, don’t start this again! Hop on my back, I have a plan!” “Oh…” she sounded a bit disappointed by this. But she complied quickly, jumping on her friends’ back and locking her forelegs tightly around her neck. “Now what?” she asked. “ Hold me tight and tell me if you feel something funny! I have a plan.” “Is it safe, Dashie?” “No, in fact it’s completely insane.”Even Dash was surprised by this bout of brutal honesty, but the plan really was insane. “Are you sure it’s a good idea?” “Not at all!”, she sounded almost enthusiastic, like masochistically enthusiastic. “You don’t want to tell me what’s in your mind, right?” “If I did that, you’d miss the surprise!” . Her tone was lulling and full of glee, very Pinkie-like. But that veneer of sarcasm was still visible, as in completely and painfully obvious. Pinkie sighed a bit and giggled. Her little laugh was filled with relief, “Touche, Dashie! Guess I kinda deserved that one”. “You can say that again!”, for once, she felt allowed to totally disregard tact.”Now hold me like your life depends on it!” Pinkie gulped loudly, but she did as she was said and tightened her grip around the cyan Pegasus shoulders, burying her face deep in her fur. Dash felt a strange warmth from Pinkie, while the cold wind of the night began grazing her face. She stirred the muscles in her legs, one of them felt a little dull from the fight but that wouldn’t stop her. “Pinkie, does your Pinkie Sense tells you when something is behind you, right?” “Hu-uhu! But only when they’re reeeeeally close to me! “Good, when you feel it, tell me right away.” Dash bit her lip, mustering the courage to say it, “Oh, and Pinkie…I know you have every reason not to…But, please, trust me” Pinkie just kept staring in her eyes with admiration, those big blue eyes staring right into her made Dash a little nervous but she couldn’t afford it. A silent nod was the only answer she needed. Sometimes, Pinkie’s silences meant a lot more than her torrent of words, it meant that no amount of silly rambling was necessary for her, even though she loved it. That for once the craziest pony she ever met showed her true heart .It meant she really had her trust, even though she was really mean to her. A sign of trust so simple and yet so powerful. To add further irony, now Rainbow Dash was the one who came out with a crazy plan. She hoped that it didn’t end up like Pinkie’s. At least it didn’t have any long-term consequences. Just a light case of a quick but likely painful death. Nothing special, really. At least Pinkie was by her side…If anything, she didn’t want to go out with that regret. Not without at least one friend to her side. That small relief give her the last drop of strenght necessary to do one of the craziest stunt she ever tried. As she spread her wings, ready to take off, she felt Pinkie once again clinging to her. She hoped it was enough. Inhaling loudly, she kicked off the ground , and finally propelled herself forward in the air…right toward one of the shadow pegasi. She quickly passed him by, so fast that the monsters at first didn’t even notice her. Both of the ponies blowing a raspberry at him, that caught its attention. Looking irritated, it started snarling back at them and began chasing Dash and Pinkie. The cyan mare increasingly adjusted her speed, trying to be in sight of the monsters and trying to be careful and distance it too much, playing with the monsters expectation by sometimes let it come closer, within its grasp, to make it feel closer to victory only for one second….Only to accelerate and distance it even further than before . She shouldn’t have enjoyed this sensation of control this much but she rationalized pretty quickly that those things would probably do worse to them if they ever fell into their hooves…Or whatever they had in place of hooves. This continued for a while, until they both heard another familiar snarling. The other Pegasus was still searching patiently for them in the forest looking dumfounded, until those horrible, fiery, red eyes focused rather strongly on them. It stopped for a second before basically launching at two ponies, shrieking more than usual and its maw fully opened. Dash just stopped. In mid air. Completely still. Pinkie started to worry, loosening her grip a bit and opening wide her large blue eyes, looking directly at the monsters heading right toward them. She began to shake her friend beneath who still remained unflappable. “Dashie! What are you doing?! Why you don’t swoosh anymore?! DO the swoosh-thinghy! Wasn’t this your plan?” “Don’t worry, Pinkie. This IS the plan! I’m doing my part, now I’m waiting for your cue!” “My what?” “The Pinkie Sense, silly” she chuckled a bit, nervously. Somehow, she was sure she didn’t thought ahead of all of this. This sensation was becoming almost too familiar right now, so she scoffed the thought. “When you feel something funny, it’s gonna be quite a show!” “If you say so, Dashie…” Even if few second were passing, they seemed like an eternity. Time slowed down, the air in both their lungs seemed heavier than a brick, Dash couldn’t even feel the horrendous slicing sound made by the monster wings nor hear its terrible shriek, as both of them were completely focused on their respective tasks, their muscles more tense than they ever been. No time for worrying or regretting or other complicated words that basically meant “whining” anymore. It was all or nothing. No pressure, honestly. In those final instants, Dash concentration was mildly broken by the familiar voice of a certain pink pony. Only mildly. Was that the signal, already? “Dashie” she sounded nervous, it was natural Dash thought, but there was an hint of…sadness? “If we...If we don’t make it, I wanted to tell you that I like…PINCY KNEE, PINCY TAIL,PINCY EVERYTHING! IT’S HERE!” Rainbow was a bit startled by the pink pony on her back convulsing violently like that, but now it was the time. She didn’t get what she was babbling before, but at least she got the important part. She’ll ask later...If they survive, obviously. Always forgot about that tiny detail. She couldn’t simply turn back to check if one of them was chasing her, precious seconds lost and only a second could mean everything, both monster had to be positioned like that, not a millimeter further. Everything was set, she needed only that one, infallible cue. And with that, she stopped flapping. Her wings went limp and her body plummeted to the ground beneath, with the pink pony still clinging to her. The moment the two mares fell the monster behind realized a terrible thing, that could be read as a moment of dawning comprehension of a being who reached the end of its life: specifically, the moment it realized that it was going to crash at a fairly high speed with his companion heading in the opposite direction. The two shadows collided into each other, exploding into a massive rain of slabs and black smoke. A final agonizing screeching followed them, even after their destruction. Dash felt a bit strained after all of this, Pinkie using her a cushion to stop her fall didn’t help either. She knew there was something funny on having the same pony pining her to the ground two times in the same night. She would also punch anypony in the face who pointed this out and a couple of her ribs would approve. Pinkie just looked stunned, watching at the remains of the shadow still floating in the air like some kind of demented fireworks, with her mouth still wide open. The light of Luna’s moon shining trough the branches surely helped to make them look like more evocative than they were. Stunning enough to make her get up from Dash to look at that. The Pegasus ribs thanked her most graciously but only for a little, as the pink pony embraced Dash enthusiastically. “We did it, Dashie! You’re crazy! And awesome! Crazy Awesome” Her voice was filled with pure joy. Dash didn’t seemed to mind. She was content that they survived and, all things aside, her friend enthusiasm always helped. She couldn’t help to chuckle and returned the hug. “Thank you” she simply said, “Thank you for believing in me” Pinkie cooed and whispered in her ear “Always, Dashie…” Sadly, that rare moment of quiet and relief was shattered: a black, glowing hue paralyzed the two ponies, grapping them, making them difficult to breath for both and slowly lifting them from the ground. Dash body went limp but still tried to hold Pinkie, instinctively protecting her. It’s the bucking unicorn… Everything went dark soon. She still felt the warmth of the pink mare body. Author’s Notes: Yep, another late chapter, sorry. Next one it’s already in the making and maybe you’ll see it a little earlier. Also, before you say anything, once again another cliffhanger. Because I’m evil like that.
InterludeThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Interlude The azure unicorn just stood there, looking lost slightly confused.Her gaze lingered on the two pony shaped shadows, which were still unconscious and impotent, as a sigh of annoyance and disappointment escaped her lips. She couldn’t explain how it was possible. She always had quite the confidence in her abilities (some jealous ponies would call this a vulgar understatement, trying to be funny…), and this performance had to be more than perfect. After all, there was no kind of magic she couldn’t fully master and even if those conjurations were a product of an ancient and powerful spell, just maneuvering them required a great force of will, another of her infinite good qualities, there always was an element of unpredictability in her job. Even with stage props of such quality. Sadly she had to admit that not every show could be 100% completely successful.A 99,999999% was inevitable sometimes and she was absolutely sure that none of these peasants of her audience could tell the difference. But this time, it was a complete failure. It was supposed to be so easy. Don’t let those two escape. That was it! Not that she could predict them to be so resourceful and cunning so they could defeat her creations, but she still gave them some credit…After all they were two bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She had to admit with grudging respect that they surely were earning their position. But with that, they challenged her personally, made her look like a foal and to add insult to injury, she tasted once again defeat and humiliation at the hand of Ponyville’s folks…A mistake that she wouldn’t repeat, ever! This time she had to succeed. If not to satisfy her own ego, thenat least to not be constantly nagged AGAIN by the ineffable, inscrutable, incorporeal annoyance, A.K.A her sponsor. She was still wondering what possessed her before trusting that massive pain in the flank, but she rationalized pretty quickly that she needed that job and a pair of incorporeal, floating eyes with an annoying voice was better than nothing as your boss.She didn’t trust her at first (she could infer from the voice that it was a she), how could she, after all? She had to admit that it was quite scary at first (and annoying, never forget how annoying she is) but at the time she was so desperate for having wallowed so much in mediocrity and obscurity for so much that anything, ANYTHING, was preferable to that... She needed this, she needed to show the world what she was made of! She needed to show HERSELF!And this was just the opportunity for it…And most importantly of all, her cause was right.That was the only thing that mattered. Trixie wasn’t a very selfless pony, but when she heard the entity’s offer, she saw past the abrasive exterior.There she found something worth to follow and she didn’t hesitate one minute in helping her and showing her the world and, after all, it was a mutually beneficial relationship.As she learned very quickly, her boss was a pain to deal with but she felt some kind of loyalty towards her. It was like a devotion, that at first she thought that such sentiment couldn’t belong to her, but at the same time she felt it completely natural. The entity made her see great things and gave her power, which Trixie never could’ve imagined, She unlocked her true potential within her and she became the wielder of something so ancient and fearsome and yet so natural for her to control, not that she had doubts about it. She felt like she was part of a higher purpose, for once in her life.She was well and truly convinced of this and dealing with those two was just the tip of a far grander scheme, a scheme in which she was the star! She felt that this power was her birthright, and never cared for an instant of whatever price she had to pay or no matter what orders were. There was no price for a power she felt rightfully hers… At least if the dress-code was somewhat negotiable…What’s wrong with her old, but still elegant purple stage dress? This dark robe was more suited for a villain from a cheap novel, not even some decoration or any other kind of embellishment, just a piece of black cloth.There was something good about it, though. It kept her warm, because the forest was beginning to get awfully cold at an hour this late. Obviously, the hat wasn’t spared. If you really had to fulfill the image of dark lord of bad taste, why sparing the only remainder of a better image?! At least her magnificent mane was still for everyone to behold! Knowing her boss, she would’ve probably made her wear a crude horned helm to fulfill the stereotype. True,things surely weren’t as smooth as she remembered. That little Ursa Minor setback was still haunting her to his very day and the less we say about that “Gabby Gums”, the better. Actually,no. She didn’t mind it so much. She was out of the public eye for so long that even crude gossip was better than nothing. Somewhere in her heart she was sure that those “minor setbacks” mentioned before didn’t hinder her extraordinary ability to gather a legion of admirers, who still loved her and revered her despite or even because of her so-called “flaws”. She always lived by the belief of “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”. After all, The Great and Powerful Trixie deserved praise for whatever she did, whether it’s triumph or failure. Because nopony could fail as triumphantly as her, right? Before she could become aware of certain logical fallacies in the previous statement, she heard that voice once again.Right in front of her. Bad things just can’t come alone… “I can’t believe how much you suck!” the floating pair of eyesenounced quite lively, with her trademark and, quite frankly, forced Trottingham accent. The faceless yellow dots that constituted her being moving quite lively to express her emotions, far more they should be taking into account the lack of a face. It was strangely fascinating and unnerving at the same time. Or just plain hilarious, but she couldn’t say that to her…for the sake of language, we’ll keep using face. “I mean, aren’t you supposed to be “Great and Powerful”?Surely, there wasn’t anything Great and Powerful in that!” “And I suppose stating the obvious is a constructive approach” she was always allowed some sort of sarcasm. At least to keep her sane… “Oh, you’re funny! Funny indeed” , in fact, she looked quite amused at that line, her eyes seemed even half-closed, even if she lacked eyelids, trying not to snicker. “Maybe you should’ve been a comedian. No, no, scratch that. Next time make them die of laughter, that’ll do the trick!” “I thought you said you wanted them alive…” She raised her eyebrow, almost perturbed. “I think you shouldn’t think so much. Listen carefully, I’ll repeat it slowly. Read my lips…” “Is that supposed to be a joke?” she said, without raising her tone. Her face remained frozen like stone, her emotions sapped by a comedic routine that truly started to get old. The worst part is she probably did that on purpose. “Oh, you’re so sweet when you do that! I could eat you with a spoon…Maybe later…But seriously, what I said is this. I didn’t care if they were alive or dead. I just wanted them HERE, even if not in mint condition. Don’t make them leave Ponyville, was this difficult?” During her rant, the entity leaned closer and closer to Trixie’s face, until the unicorn could gaze in the yellow darkness of her being from a particularly privileged position. Trixie didn’t falter, she didn’t avert her gaze, nor did she let her voice tremble.Resolution like pure steel in her eyes. “I will find them, this time!” “Oh.” She looked quite surprised and amused at that statement. Her stern appearance in that moment surely helped but didn’t stop the return of that mocking tune. “And how do you plan to do that, exactly?” A smirk painted her face, “Like this!” Her horn glowed softly in the darkness. A slow, trotting sound was heard. Then a grotesque figure emerged from the woods. That creature had a horn too, although it looked more like a thorn and was slightly bent. It looked more like a mold of shadows, accentuated only by its red glowing eyes. Approaching Trixie, its horn began to glow as well, emanating a purple hue. “Oh, yes” said the entity. “The spell you screwed up like a foolish foal. That again?” “Hush, oh great mistress of nitpicky.” She touched the horn of the creature with her own. A magical spark exploded in between themand Trixie’s mind was opened once more. These creations of shadows were basically extensions of her own mind and body. She could see though their eyes, move their legs as their own, even use their wings as if she had wings with all the grace and speed only a real pegasus could use and finally to cast every spell she knew before and the countless other she learned from her mysterious benefactor. Though she would never admit it, she did “screw up”, for the lack of a less vulgar term. She still needed some time to fully master every one of her conjuration and, sadly, she mixed up a spell. If they weren’t in such redundant and antiquate language that wouldn’t have happened! The intended spell was only meant to paralyze them, nothing more.Instead, they managed to disappear in thin air to a destination unknown. But not for long… She started to delve deeper and deeper into the shadow’s mind, recalling its experiences like they were her own, claiming them back from a separate part of her own being. Step by step, she reviewed every movement the conjuration made, everything she saw in the brief time of his creations, and finally, the spells it casted, the ancient and complex energies she moved, their source and their intended purpose… And there it was... “I know where to find them.” She finally spoke. The smirk was still on her face, only accentuated by a sense of pride and triumph. “Oh,lovely!” the voice enthusiastically replied. “I’ll pack the bags, then. And you can come too, if you like” she giggled awkwardly. The horn glowed once more, infusing one of the fallen shadows with its purplish hue, filling it with newfound energy and taking back into its hooves. Another infusion of power caused it to twitch for a brief moment, as if it could feel some sort of pain, while a pair ofpegasus wings began to emerge from its form. At first only the bone frame for each wing, which Trixie covered with the last spur of magic, making a bloating, black goo to simulate the muscles and skin and every feather. Once completed, the creature flapped its new wings and watched them with admiration, hissing with content at the same time and flashing its pale fangs. “Shall we go then?” asked the unicorn. Once again, the stage was set… They say Manehattan is the city of opportunities.Actually that’s a half-truth,nopony ever said the new road is one you’ll like. Maybe it’s just ponies nature, but even having found happiness in that beautiful town, in which the night’s lights sparkle like a veil of golden dust and you see it for the first time, even if you feel a little oppressed and insignificance by the sheer magnificence of it, when you make it, you truly make it and find success, stability and your very special somepony at the same time, there always a few bumps in the things you fought so hard to achieve. That what the white unicorn though, having just woken up, staring with her red, puffy eyes at her white ceiling. Sleep deprivation always made her philosophic.From the sight of the weak rays of Celestia’ssun passing though her blinds, she deduced she woke up in late afternoon, approaching the evening. Not surprising, since she didn’t spent last night and a great part of the day NOT sleeping. And NOT alone. An immature giggle escaped from her lips at the last one. Not alone until now, according to her hoof, hopelessly searching the other side of the bed, only to find cold sheets. She left even earlier than she thought this time. Again? She hastily got up, still shaky from the lack of real sleep, to open the window so she could see the room better, maybe finding the whereabouts of her lover. She almost got blinded by the weak light, her eyes still sensitive and uncomfortable, even if the sun would make place for Luna’s moon in a couple of hours and she was forced to quickly grab her shades from the bedside. A clear look in the room showed a familiar, yet strange view.The room of a completely careless and messy unicorn, not as she and her significant other left it. If she recalled correctly, (and she wasn’t even drunk last night… not much) the room was completely wrecked. Countless bottles of undetermined liquor haddisappeared,just likethose stains of uncertain nature on the floor and the ceiling. She remembered the dresses they wore last night, which they had promptly ripped off from each other and should be stilllying on the floor somewhere, were folded up and put on her chair. She sighed a bit. She appreciated her consideration but this was basically her way of saying she was a bad housekeeper. She was terrible, of course, but that’s beside the point. The point was, she did all of this work and disappeared in the night, or day as in this case, without waking her up. She left without even saying goodbye… This time she didn’t even bother to leave a stupid note. Not even a “See you tomorrow, with love, Tavi”. The last one was brief, but at least she used her pet name, the one she always said was silly but kept using it and blushed furiously every time while saying it, because it was physically impossible for her to admit that she liked it. At least there was some recognition of their relationship that existed outside their nighttime whispers or the loving marks they left on each other’s bodies. When she was with her, everything was perfect. The time they could spend together was very brief, but not a single moment of them was wasted. Her cold, dignified exterior hid a lover so tender and gentle, a passion so pure and yet so strong, that sometimes she literally couldn’t tell if those moments were just a fugacious dream, granted by Celestia herself in all of her mercy... But sadly those moments, shared only between them and with nopony else. Tavi liked to keep her private life and her public life. As she was part of her life, Vinyl wasn’t part of hers. That’s a pretty big bump, right there. Her lover was part of the so called “high society” and even if sometimes she could be a little snotty, but never to the extent of those refined fillies and gentlecolts that just wanted to make her puke with their faked dignity and hypocrisy. Tavi was so much better than that. When she was in Vinyl’s company, Tavi was genuine…If only she hadn’t chosen another mare to love, maybe she would’ve been much easier to tolerate for those high class wackos she liked so much to hang out with. A part of her couldn’t blame her, though. She was well on her way to become First Cello in the Canterlot Philarmonica and that is not a position anypony could achieve easily. Vinyl was very aware of her talent…even if she never said that to her face. She was snoring half of the time but at least she was aware of it. Octavia had every right to fight for her dream, even if she had to break Vinyl’s heart in the process. If those folks found out she was in such a relationship with another mare, let alone a scruffy, erratic DJ who recently made her entrance in the Canterlot Society thanks to a fabulous exhibition at the Royal Wedding. Well…Let’s just say that everypony would just stop caring about her talent, starting a spiral of gossip and scandals about her personal life which could go out of control, possibly ruining her career and Vinyl’s career as well. As well as hastening the inevitable end of the universe and with that of the entire Pony civil-Yeah, Octavia was very clearly making excuses on that one, but you know what they say: The things you do for love and all that.Nopony said that this had to go on forever, right? Even if her behavior on those occasions deeply hurt her, she still had trust in her. She knew the Octavia she fell in love with and had faith in, they could find a way…Together. Still lost in her thoughts, Vinyl left her apartment, off to see probably the only thing that the world could infer that they were together.She didn’t even grab something to eat along the way.The thought of their crazy little project reinvigorated her. She would probably regret that decision later, but who cares? Tavi couldn’t believe when she proposed to her something so… different from her tastes. A cozy, tiny building, still under redecoration,squished among the other, bigger ones that you almost couldn’t see it was there if you ignored the garish, neon sign, written in a nigh incomprehensible but, for some reason, strangely appealingfont that simply read; “The Dancing Mare”. Both of them thought that the title still needed some work, but once you ordered a custom made sign like that, you can’t exactly get a refund.First of all, there wouldn’t be any dancing in it. It was going to be a night club, their very own personal lounge music type of jazz-club, to be precise. Or one of those fancy words that Tavi always liked to use, most of it still was a work-in-progress. The cellist didn’t know what to think at first of the project, but immediately saw it as an opportunity:Tavi would put to use every talented musician she knew in the field (making them more known to the public and even being known as a supporter of the fine arts,on top of being a well known musician) while Vinyl would use her quite considerable talent of a showmare (and Tavi never admitted this to her face, either)to make it more “endearing” for the public, and who knows? Maybe the whole experience could make the white unicorn…less uncouth. Not to mention Vinyl provided the money for the place, that’s always good. You can’t imagine how many bits you get paid for agig at the Royal Wedding until you’re holding them in your hooves, if you have big enough hooves, that is, since it was a LOT of bits. She remembered her warning, clear as the day. “No vulgar lightshows, Vinyl! For the love of Celestia, no lightshows! Do you want to permanently blind one of our customers? And don’t give me that look, I know that you want to do it. I’m keeping my eye on you.” She knew the unicorn so well. A little too well but nothing that could stop her little fun. In a sudden stroke of clearance, and the lifting of the fumes of alcohol (but she wasn’t drunk last night, honestly…) she suddenly remembered the reason of the absence of her lover.She probably left early to prepare and perform at…Where was that again? Fortunately, last night she must have written the location’s name on her fore leg. Couldn’t find a piece of paper even if Vinyl’s life depended of it and wasn’t quite sure when she did that…And, of course, the ink was completely rubbed off making the note an incomprehensible blue mess. And the worst part of it, she wasn’t quite sure if Tavi gave her a ticket last night or already booked her in for it. Come to think of it she wasn’t even sure if Tavi told her of the event or ifshe just heard it somewhere. One problem at a time. She searched her saddlebag, in which she found some bits but no ticket in sight. This probably meant that she left it in the apartment or there was no ticket in the first place. Fantastic. She still had to try and reach her and right here was only one thing to do now, even-no wait- especially if it was insane.She had to look for her in every concert venue in Manehattan! She whistled to a nearbypegasus cab flyer to make him stop nearby and hopped in, beginning to search. She visited every place Tavi previously performed: Tally-Ho Hall, Celestia Center, Bronkin Academy of Music, Bearin Teather, Farrence Gold Hall… She almost started to give up after all those concert venues, (and the cab didn’t come cheap) when she finally saw the name of Octavia Philarmonica written on the board in front of the Marekin Concert Hall.A much more intimate hall than the ones Tavi normally performed, but that didn’t mean it was a lesser achievement for her. Quite the contrary, in fact it was more focused in showing contemporary musician and dashing new talents, like Tavi, just to have an idea for how far she could get. Her heart leaped at the thought of seeing Tavi again, the concert was already over since she remembered too late and she spent the whole time practically running all over Manehattan, while expectingnot really anything from it. After paying for the cab, she waited on the other side of the street, waiting for her lover who would come out any minute now. She finally saw the familiar figure of a grey mare with a luscious black mane, carrying a cello custody on her back, looking exhausted but at the same time wearing a proud smile on her face. That was a good sign, she only ever smiled after a concert or when she was with Vinyl. The unicorn practically leaped in front of the other mare, shouting with all the grace and subtlety of an enraged dragon. “HI, TAVI!” The cellist was startled, shouting and jumping backward from the unicorn like she really saw a beast from legends. Vinyl was immediately concerned, even if it was hilarious to see the dignified grey mare reacting like that. “V-Vinyl?!But…How? What? How?” “Oh, I love when you use long, fancy words!” she chirped gently.Then she leaned forward to her lover and gently kissed her, softly brushing her lips with her own. Octavia was already blushing furiously. “I miss you, when you do that. It wasn’t nice. Not. At. All.” “Do what?” She looked almost startled by the question. “Leaving me all alone at night. Or day, I don’t reallyremember which one. Could’ve told me about the concert! How did it go? Oh, and I’m sorry if I’m late.” “Late?” the more the conversation went on, the more Octavia looked uncomfortable. “And they call you the smart one!” she snorted in laughter.”You didn’t even tell me the time and neither left a ticket or a note or something. At least I got the address but as you can see…” she lifted her ink smudged foreleg for the other mare to see, “Guess you’re right, I really make such a mess of everything!” “Yes, you make such a mess, eheheh…” She sounded almost monotone in repeating that, her forced giggle didn’t help much. At that Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “And that’s it?” she said, sounding almost disappointed. “I’m not sure what you mean by this.” “Aren’t going to ask how I found you, with no directions whatsoever?” She sighed, resigned “How did you find me, then?” “Oh. That’s easy! I was looking for you in every place you ever performed! You can’t escape the awesome stubbornness of DJ PON-3!” She was still aware of how insane and how late the chances of success were but she sounded so boastful and proud in that statement. Octavia didn’t react at all, only lowering her eyes and just muttering, “Uh-huh”. Vinyl shed her exuberant mask and sounded legitimately irritated. How could she be so indifferent? Wasn’t she… happy to see her? Like, at all? “Is there something wrong?” she asked. “No, it’s just that…um…” Another hesitation. In Vinyl’s eyes she wasn’t helping her case. “Then what? Did something go wrong? Did you hit a wrong note or something?” “No, it’s that…” She bit her lip. “Did somepony else hit a wrong note?” “No!” “Did the note hit somepony?” She was messing with her just to incite a reaction. “NO!” Finally a real emotion, even if she almost shouted Vinyl’s shades off. “Then what happened? Why are you’re so upset? Aren’t you happy to see me?” “No, it’s that…” “What is that? Just tell me already!” “You weren’t supposed to be here, that’s why!” she sternly answered her question, finally meeting her gaze. Vinyl gasped in horror “Oh, yes? And how did you explain this?” she held up the ink stained foreleg in front of Octavia’s face once more. “Who could’ve possibly told me where you performed tonight? Unless I happened to eavesdrop or something…” “Oh, you were so drunk that you didn’t even remember that tiny detail?” she interrupted her, quite rudely. “Oh, I would’ve known that! I mean, who was with me last night and was really into it?” she wiggled her eyebrows seductively at the question, making the cellist blush once more. “And even if I did eavesdrop, you should’ve told me anyway and…” A terrible thought just crossed her mind, or maybe it was already there but she didn’t want to accept it. “You didn’t want me to know in the first place…” she finally said, defeated, enunciating every word weakly. “Vinyl, I…” she tried to reach for the white unicorn, only to have her retreat in shock. She looked once more at the improvised note on her leg. Her mind finally focused, she noticed that if she had rubbed off the ink while sleeping, she would havefound some on her sheets, with the streetlight nearby making her realize that the note looked blurred… almost like… By a hoof… “It was you…” The unicorn had tears in her eyes, but the shades covered them, along with the deeply hurt expression. “Vinyl, listen to me, please! Tonight was here…” “I don’t want to know. There was some big name here, which I don’t even want to know, and you were too ashamed of your filly friend showing up. I know that now.” She turned around so that she didn’t have to look at her anymore “If it was the first time that this happened, I could’ve understood but…But, it seems like it wasn’t…Will this ever change? How many times have you done this to me?” She couldn’t bear it anymore. The unicorn ran away in the night, not even wanting to listen to Octavia’s pleas. Not that she heard some. No, the silence behind was the worst part. If you care for me, if you ever cared for me…come after me! Catch me, you stupid filly… Just catch me… She didn’t catch her. She didn’t even hear the sound of one hoof step. If she turned it would be pathetic, not to mention she could’ve just went back inside, to rub salt in the wound. Vinyl didn’t want to go back to the apartment. Not that it was too distant. She realized that going to the Marekin was basically going in circles. A sign of destiny maybe?A superior force that told her not to bother going from the start? At that crossroad she came across after running for an unknown time, she could feel some kind of peace, just being by herself. She just wanted those minutes to try to calm herself down, maybe just some more time to think, knowing that everything would be back to normal the next day, going on with the same routine of two ponies that couldn’t be together except in their hearts… And even that belief was starting to fall apart. This time she wouldn’t be there to listen to an endless stream of half-baked excuses, only to return and continuing this silly charade of half-truths and cheap stratagems like the last one. Something had to change. She noticed the irony of that: Vinyl was too making excuses, but with herself. Since the start of that day and every day like that one. Vinyl thought once again of their little project, still clinging to the tiny hope that maybe that could be the one thing bringing them back together.But at that time,she couldn’t bargain with herself about their relationship like she used to. She didn’t want to think anymore. She just wanted to drown everything in the sweet, sweet taste of gin, just like the night before… Maybe a part of her didn’t want to remember that the only way she had to force herself in Octavia’s life, was only though tricks. A knowledge that she wanted to forget but always came back to haunt her when something like this happened… After all that was said and done, she couldn’t delude herself further. But to her surprise, she wasn’t the only pony there. An erratic sound of hoof steps broke the silence of the lonely crossroad, startling her a bit. She looked in the direction of the noise, looking for a silhouette in the night. The pony in question was in fact walking like he or she was badly injured or maybe completely smashed, even walking backwards or sideways without a goal. Eventually, the figure just stopped and tried to support itself on a nearby wall. Vinyl decided to checkon it, after all there was somepony right there who was having an even worst evening than her… “Hey, you okay?“ she said to the figure. No answer. She decided to approach it and helped it to support, placing her hoof around the shoulders of the other pony, to help it to not fall. As she finally took a look of that face, she was quite surprised to see a familiar visage. A poofy, bright pink mane and coat, bright blue eyes, reminder of that night at Canterlot and the pony who got her the biggest gig in a long time. Not a pony that she could forgot easily. That was indeed Pinkie Pie, probably the last pony she expected to come across but she had to ask questions later. She deduced correctly that she was in bad shape. She remembered a much more…exuberant pony back then, while the one in front of her was barely capable to keep herself on her legs.Pinkie had a drowsy look on her face, which already was quite pale. She tried to talk to her, at least to not let her faint. “Whoah, Pinkie Pie! Look at you! Remember me? It’s Scratch! Vinyl Scratch. We haven’t seen like…ages! What happened to you? Do you want me to call for help?” Her words had a mixture of concern and disbelief. It was all happening too fast. Only a weak word came out of the pink mare’s lips. “Please…” Vinyl leaned closer to hear better. Even her voice was so feeble, compared to back then. “My friend… Help my friend first…” Author's Notes: Many thanks to TheShadow for proofreading for me this chapter and the future ones to came. You rock!
Chapter 6: Contrived CoincidencesThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 6: Contrived Coincidences I love you. In that suffocating darkness, that was the only thing she could think of. Come to think of it, she always thought these three little words whenever she found herself in dark place.Be it in her bedroom in a cold, lonely night when she couldn’t sleep even saying them out loud a lot of times before realizing she was making out with her pillow or kept in the embrace of the pegasus she wanted to say these words, while being enveloped in a dark purple hue by Celestia knows what . Now she was really sure of that. Everything that was between them was put to a test. Dash wasn’t perfect (and those little outbursts of her kinda proved it) but she was still the bravest, coolest,awesomest pegasus she ever knew. Still the hero for everypony, or at least for Pinkie. All of the petty, hateful, silly things they said to each other seemed insignificant by the virtue of one of the few things that truly reminded them of their friendship and,time and time again, always did; a big pack of scary monsters from out of nowhere. That sounded surreal even for her but that’s how it was. She noted to herself that she and Dash should have a little talk about the whole “Going to the Everfree Forest to hide” thing. Nevertheless they made it (for a while at least, but that’s beside the point)…and more importantly, together! At the end of the day Dashie trusted her, she really trusted her as she always had and that meant the world to Pinkie, even if in that faithful night that trust was stupendously misplaced. And in such an awesome way, we might add. Not only their teamwork saved the both of them, but she felt part of Dash’s life like never before.That was probably because it was the first time Rainbow ever let her fly on her back, or anypony else for that matter. Rarity always said that this was the most romantic thing another pegasus could do for a partner of another pony race. The sensation of flying was so something so beautiful and sublime that pegasioften overlooked it by the virtue of it being such a common occurrence, so having your special somepony with you could help both of them to fully realize the magnificence of soaring through the sky, feeling the wind caressing your coat… She only found the time to think about it in those interminable seconds of darkness. In fact, whenever something happened or was going to happen to both of them time seemed to slow down, allowing her to go down of a tangent. Kinda sad, too, since most of her thoughts lately were starting to become really contorted and depressing. But this had stopped!Something changed and for the better…Well, shadow monsters aside. Even in their darkest hour,Dash trusted Pinkie until the end of the world…Or theirs, which could approximately be in five seconds. She promised to herself, Pinkie Promised even, that if they make she wouldn’t be a burden for Rainbow, ever again. Scratch that “if”. They will make it. And when they will make it, because they totally will, she’ll live up to the name of Pinkamena Diane Responsibility Pie. The responsibility part, duh. She changed it legally after the first time she babysitted the twins, just to make a statement. Oh, was that day hilarious and strangely prophetic, too! It was her fault that they ended up in this mess, deluding herself further with all this “partners in crime” thing was just silly. For the sake of the friend she loved and admired so dearly and for the trust Dash put in her,she’d do anything in her power to not make her regret the choice of staying with Pinkie again. She pretty much got that even if Dash’s words were twisted by rage at that point but she didn’t care. In that moment, she loved Rainbow Dash. Not that just a simple, foalish crush as it started. Something that started from the little thingsan infatuation Pinkie always saw as natural, a little crush that could be more than justified if the object of that was somepony as popular and wonderful as Rainbow Dash, but love, real love that she never felt for anything or anypony in her life and the best part of it that for that love she could really pull it off. Pinkie knew that she couldn’t give Dash her old life back but she would’ve given her the rest of the world if she asked, or whatever she may ask. She wanted to take care of Dash as she wanted to do for her. Pinkie couldn’t pretend that Dash could feel the same about her,not even for a second but she, once again, didn’t care! If she could make at least one pony happy, let alone the one she loved, that was enough for her. And, after all, since when did love need something in return? Just thinking at the pegasus’ warm smile made Pinkie melt with joy… Only to see her smiling,it was all worthy. A reward in itself, like it always was. Rainbow was really cute while doing that but Pinkie never had the courage to tell that to her face. Come to think of it, she never even had the courage to never ever speak about her true feelings, until it was too late…Her only regret was having this kind of determination now instead of mustering up the courage to confess without resorting to that stupid prank of which she couldn’t even remember how it worked, expect for the fact that Pinkie surely didn’t expect to have such a disastrous outcome. Which part of stop thinking back on that do you not understand, Pinkie Pie? She finally prepared herself to face their destiny, as the darkness enveloped both ponies fully, painting itself on the starry night sky. Then silence fell over them. There was only silence.An unnerving, unnatural silence that muted even the sound of her thoughts, heart and breathing. The only thing that reminded Pinkie she still existed was Dash’s tight, protective embrace. The strength of those forelegs, and the warmth of the pegasus’ fur were so lulling and comforting. She hoped to feel that embrace once again, even if for a brief moment.Her eyes were shut tight, mostly because of the overwhelming tension on her body and the fact she wasn’t even sure to have eyes in that place. She didn’t panic, though. Pinkie couldn’t afford it. If it was true there was nothing out there, how could nothing hurt her? After uncountable seconds and a bright flash of white that she could even see through her closed eyelids, the pressure subsided. As she reopened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Rainbow’s face. She didn’t look hurt or anything but was unmistakably unconscious. Her eyes closed and her mouth half open, with a trail of drool at the side of her mouth. She was still breathing as Pinkie could notice as she was still locked in Rainbow’s forelegs and felt the other mare’s chest rhythmic movement. Her wings were limp and instead of being naturally folded, lying horizontally on the ground. The ground was the second of her concerns, trying to understand where they were- From a first look it looked a street…Asphalt…, maybe? Also, she noticed beneath her, cramped against her spine was a saddlebag. Her saddlebag!The one for which she fought those frustrating creatures. How could she not? She brought the most important thing for her, the one she truly couldn’t give up, not even for those monsters. Especially not for those monsters! Once again, it was dark only this time the light of the stars were replaced by a gloom streetlight.As her eyes adjusted to the new environment she recognized the sight of an alley…A filthy, dark alley…Great, she thought, is this night getting worse by the HOUR?! She gently removed the pegasus forelegs from her neck and tried to get back onto her hooves. She tried to stand on all fours as she found herself deprived of all energy, her legs trembling like a jelly. She attempted to make a few steps in a straight line but to no avail, eventually she hopedto wakeher friend by trying to shaking her a bit with a hoof. Rainbow wasunfazed, still out cold. She started to shake Dash faster, proportional to her worry until the pegasus emitted a too familiar and alarming sound. A snore. A loud, inelegant snore. Celestia bless her for thinking that now was a good moment for dozing off. Pinkie sighed in relief, with a weak smile to accompany the sentiment. She tried to walk once again, this time trying to find something or somepony to help. Easier said than done; she felt so weak and confused that she couldn’t even walk like a normal pony, every step was as challenging as dancing the Marigold underwater while playing the tuba…On fire! And Pinkie surely didn’t practice the last part. Not enough time. She wandered off in that strange posture for a while until she heard a voice in the dark coming froma nearby crossroad. “Hey, you okay?” the voice asked. Pinkie tried to answer but the sapping of her natural energies wasn’t limited to her legs but also her vocal chords. She hated those things in the forest more and more!It was like they were targeting one by one the things she needed the most. She had to check her Cutie Mark, Celestia forbid they took that too. Trying to catch some breath she leaned toward a nearby wall. Just a few seconds, only to gather some strength. Just a few moments, don’t look suspicious, it’s not like she’s coming here to check out a pony who looks like she had a beating… She heard a sound of hoofsteps leaning closer to her. Rats. The other pony put her forelegs around her shoulders to help Pinkie support herself. She took a glance at her face, hoping for a friendly face.What she saw in front of herwas a white unicorn with a messy blue-electric mane and a pair of pale shades, from behind of which she could assume a pair of eyes curiously looking at her. She was sure she already saw that face somewhere, but she couldn’t just focus properly, until the unicorn spoke. “Whoah, Pinkie Pie! Look at you! Remember me? It’s Scratch! Vinyl Scratch. We haven’t seen like…ages! What happened to you? Do you want me to call for help?” Of course, the DJ! Now she remembered. Pinkie met her when she came to Ponyville for providing the music for Rarity’s fashion show (the bad one). She really liked her style and Vinyl was probably the only pony, except for Pinkie herself, that liked her dress. She said that it made the pink pony look like an awesome cake and to be careful for birds wanting to take a peck.She always liked that sense of humor. In that brief time they became friends and managed to contact her in time for the great wedding, thinking she was the best mare for the job, before she moved to…Wherever they were at the moment.An unexpected stroke of luck. Pinkie thoughts immediately went to Dash, who was still in the alley. Her voice still hadn’t returned to its usual tone but at least managed to blurt out something that mattered. “My friend…Help my friend first…” “Friend?she replied “Who?Where?” “Alley…” Pinkie answered, her voice faint. Vinyl glanced to where Pinkie came from and went down the alley, before assuring that Pinkie could still stand on her own. Pinkie then heard a gasp coming from the unicorn behind her. “What the hay happened to her?!” She managed to take a few normal steps, towards the alley, beginning to regain her strength.About time, too. “They tried to rob us! Yes, rob us blind! And they hit her, too!” She had to lie. She reminded herself they technically still were on the run. And the true explanation was, quite frankly, really hard to believe. Well, Pinkie would’ve believed it but she couldn’t say the same for Scratch. The word “Manehattan” hit Pinkie like a brick for the stupor. They planned to go there to hide but being transported right there via some crazy magic monster of the Everfree Forest was almost too convenient. But you know how they say, never look into a horse’s mouth. “She isn’t waking up soon” said Scratch, “unless…” Pinkie heard a loud thud, then a rough voice that cracked almost to the point of straining itself. A very familiar voice… “Ouch! What the hay was that for? And…Hey! Who are you?!” “Rise and shine, filly! It’s not a…Grooorgh!” In response to the horrifying noise, Pinkie precipitated herself to separate the two before Dash strangled the unicorn. She immediately launched between them, keeping Dash and Vinyl from each other with her forelegs on the chests of both. It seemed to her like pushing back an advancing wall. Pinkie’s voice volume went from zero to a gazillion in a second, in a frantic attempt to control the situation. “OHMYGOSHDASHIEWAITWAIT!” “This joker hit me, Pinkie! Who the hay is that?!” “Should’ve woken you up with a kiss, maybe?” Vinyl flashed a mischievous grin. “Why, you little…” She almost ran over Pinkie like one of those raging buffalos from that one time. Vinyl sticking her tongue out at the pegasus didn’t help. “Please, Dashie! It’s a friend! Calm down!” “Well, your friends are jerks!” she interrupted, leaning even further toward Vinyl to the point that she saw her reflection in her shades. “Yes, they totally are”, replied the unicorn, still flashing that grin. Pinkie rolled her eyes and, still trapped between the two even though only Dash was pushing, silently counted down the seconds before Rainbow realized the extent of how much Vinyl was screwing with her. In fact, Rainbow stopped for a second, her gaze wandering around a bit and her hoof under her chin to think. Then, the realization arrived. And with that… “You take that back or…” before finishing the phrase she tried to fly of some inches upwards but she only managed to flap her wings awkwardly and weakly before falling flatly onto her haunches.After a moment of pure disbelief, her eyes staring in the void in front of her, she took a look at her wings.They were limp. She sighed. “Spectacular…”, she sounded almost…disappointed rather than worried.As if she was expecting this and was supremely annoyed. “Woah. Those muggers surely were something.” said Vinyl impressed, lowering her shades a bit and showing her magenta eyes. “Muggers? What muggers?” “Is she always like that or is it way worse than it looks?” The snappy response elicited an angry glare from Dash. “Thoooose muggers, Dashie!” she unsubtly blinked at Rainbow Dash, signaling her to support the story. “Remember those meanymeanbags who tried to steal your stuff and hit you because Manehattan is dangerous at night? It happens because this is Manehattan!” She emphasized every word carefully and slowly, particularly ‘Manehattan’, trying to explain everything on the moment hoping that Dash would get it. Fortunately, even if she was still needed time to digest all the new info, she played along. “Oooooooohhhhooo”, equal amounts of surprise and anguish could be heard in the exclamation, with just a bit of a whimper near the end. She put on the best fake smile she could muster to continue the charade. “Yeah, big trouble in here.Luckily for them they caught me by surprise but otherwise…Bam!” “Yeah, lucky them…Anyway, Pinkie Pie!” she took the pink pony aside, putting her foreleg around her shoulders in a friendly way. “You know I’m happy to see you again and from what I can gather, the two of you feel a lot better than before.” “Yuppers!” Pinkie was smiling again. In fact she felt a lot of better after being exposed to that…Bizarre mean of travel. She had tried before Twilight teleportation spell (with or without Twilight realizing it, actually) but, even if not a magic expert, that was surely a different kind of magic and never with such a distance. “Like I said, a lot better. Well, I’d be careful with your friend right there, she still has that big case of jerkiness…And that tail doesn’t look good either.” “Hey!” The angry reaction of the Pegasus was answered by Vinyl with a smarmy giggle. Even though Vinyl had a point; Dash quickly turned to see the point of her tail looking noticeably shorter and crispier. They almost forgot of that one, mostly because the details were still fuzzy. A point of sadness touched Pinkie’s heart thinking that that too was her fault. “Anyway”, Vinyl continued. ”I can’t stand to see somepony suffering, especially the one who got me the biggest gig of my life!” “Oh, you’re too kind!” “Yes, you are.” Dash answered from behind the two mares. Vinyl blew a raspberry at her. “Anyway, do you have a place to stay for the night?” “Hmmm…Actually no.Nothing at all. We just got here!” “Then, you can stay at my place,even if you feel better I don’t want any risk.And your friend too, of course.” “Oh, we don’t want to cause you troub…” “Yes, we do! We totally do! We like trouble!” Dash butted in, interrupting Pinkie. “See? Your friend, even if a jerk, agrees. It’s a favor from a friend. C’mon, I don’t bite and it’s not that far. Maybe along the way you can tell me what brings you to the Big Apple itself.” “Oh, thank you! Thankyouthankyou! Thanks a ton! I mean, I know we just saw each other again for such a long time and then we show up and you’re so kind! Thank you!” Pinkie pulled the unicorn in a bone crushing hug, making a little squeaky sound. “Yes, go on. I had so many hooves on me lately. I’m kind of used to it. And I didn’t need those ribs.” Even if out of breath, the sarcasm was still intact. “Whoopsie, sorry!” she let go Vinyl as swiftly as she jumped on her. The three of them went through the streets of Manehattan, with Dash and Pinkie following the unicorn. Pinkie looked with wonder at the Big City just starting its night life, hundreds of ponies walking down the streets enjoying the endless opportunities and entertainment offered to them. Even the looming architectures of the buildings inspired that feeling, much more crowded than Ponyville and looking much moreopulent. She noticed the lack of grass and trees, replaced by streets and houses of stones, a startling chance after living firstin a rock farm and a rural settlement after for so many years.Dash couldn’t care less since she was far more worried about her wings, looking at them nervously and even trying to flap a bitbut to no avail, even making some little jumps to move in a similar way to Pinkie’s. Again, the supremely annoyed look. Pinkie was far more worried with this than Dash who looked at it more like a stain on a carpet than a serious disability. Pinkie was trying to cheer her up but simply couldn’t think what to say. Luckily the silence was broken by Scratch. “So, what is it? Business, pleasure, on the run from the law?” The two were immensely startled by that statement. Pinkie froze into place, looking she was going to cry, while Dash started to weakly flap in an attempt to fly away. “Just joking, girls! Sheesh…” The two sighed in relief. For a second Pinkie thought that the news traveled faster than Rainbow Dash. As far as they knew not even a day had passed.Unless the princess was already on their tracks, ready to zap them to the moon with solar powered vengeance. “Oh, you know…” Pinkie chirped. “Actually I don’t” said Vinyl bluntly. Pinkie bit her lip, not even trying to stall. “It’s just that boring old village wasn’t enough for the bestest mares in the world so we decided: Hey, where’s that place where everypony who is somepony goes?” “Trottingham?” Vinyl’s sarcasm reached critical level. Pinkie didn’t get it but she still looked happy. “No silly, Manehattan.” That’s why we’re here!” “That’s right!” Dash intervened. “Just some small town isn’t enough for the Dash!” “They must be weeping at home for your loss…” Pinkie snorted a laugh for that remark but inside was still sad at the thought of home, gnawing on her…She had to know as soon as possible, sure, but she still didn’t know if it was right calling it “home” again… “But anyway” Vinyl continued. “I think you made a smart choice. I mean, last time I saw you; you were working for the Princess! Well, the one that counts I mean. You’ve got a bright future ahead, I tell you. I’m just sorry that it had to start that badly for you two.“She pointed at Dash. “Tomorrow morning we’re gonna see a doctor for those wings. And no buts. Don’t even think of saying ‘but’.” “For once, we agree on something.” Dash sneered. They finally arrived at the location of Vinyl’s flat. She roughly opened the door to reveal a surprisingly neat apartment, left untouched since Vinyl went out a few hours before. Pinkie snooped around a bit, fairly surprised to see such a clinically clean house. As far as she knew Vinyl never gave her the impression of a control freak. She was immediately attracted by a photo on her table. It depicted Vinyl, hugging tightly another grey mare with a big grin on her face, while the other pony looked the other way blushing. It was made on a bright summer day and you could see a beach on the background. “Uh! Is this your…” Pinkie picked up the photo. “Somepony we’re going to talk about never.” She quickly snatched the photo from Pinkie’s hooves to hide it in a drawer which she slammed closed. Pinkie decided not to press further on the subject. Better not get the only friend she had in Manehattan angry. She eerily returned to her cheerful attitude from before, though. “Now,” Vinyl said “with the magic of furniture I’ll turn this sofa into a bed for the two of you.”The unicorn used a bit of magic to open it underneath the cushions to whip out its metal frame and a thin mattress.“You don’t have a problem with sleeping together, right? I only have one.” Pinkie blushed in response, unable to say anything. Dash scoffed at that, thankfully. “Psssh, big deal. I could sleep anywhere or with anypony. I suppose I should thank you, too.” “Yes, you should.” The two stared at each other silently, waiting for something to happen, not even making a move. Dash still had that annoyed glare she reserved for Vinyl remarks. “I’ll go get the blankets”, her voice tone dry. “And it’s done. We’ll talk some more tomorrow. Now I’ve really got to get some sleep… Or get smashed. Don’t make too much noise you two…Or too little, I never remember the right one. Well, nighty-night!” Vinyl left the room, briefly shedding her easy going self to wear a much more exhausted look if only for a brief second, before slamming the door to her bedroom shut. Dash was lying on the bed, with all fourlimbs outstretched, staring at the ceiling. Pinkie waited at the side. “So…Manehattan?” “Yes, Dashie! You said that it was a good place to hide! Kinda crazy, huh?” “It’s just so… Convenient!” “Luckiest coincidence ever!” “More like contrived!” “I think I already heard that one…” “It’s a common saying.” “Nah. I mean earlier earlier. Probably when you passed out.” “The thing is…It’s too convenient!” “Yes, it is!” “It was almost too easy! Well, scary monsters aside!” “Huh-uh!” “Like something or someone out there wanted us to get here as soon as possible!” “That’s nice of him, though.” “He could’ve left out the things in the forest. But I still think it was too…Easy! Like bad writing or something.” Pinkie blinked. “And if we flew here like I said before it would’ve been easier, right?” Pinkie surely sounded sarcastic, not with malice. She only tried to show understanding to Dash. “Ouch. You hurt me with that one” she said chuckling. “But seriously, I made a lot of stupid decisions since this whole mess started.” She stopped for a second, unable to meet Pinkie’s gaze again and looking gloomy. “I’m sorry, Pinkie.” She almost whispered. “Sorry for what?” “Sorry for everything. For being so distant, for leading us into the forest only to be ambushed by those things that still give me the creeps and for saying a lot of awful things to you even if you’re my friend and…” “Oh, that one.” She moved her hoof as if to whisk a fly away. “That’s old news, I don’t really care for it anymore.” “But Pinkie, I…” “Nuh uh, Dashie! Like you said, we’re friends and friends don’t really think those ugly things even if they say it. And to show it to you that it’s behind us…” she moved her hooves as if she was making an imaginary box, placing imaginary duct tape all over it and, literally, throwing it behind her. She patted her hooves together satisfyingly.“And done!Things of the past.” Under the disbelieving, but amused, gaze of Dash Pinkie happily hopped into the bed at her side and with the force of that movement wrapped herself in the blankets. “You know…” Pinkie started. “I should be sorry for something right now. Your wings,are they…?” “Nah, no big no deal.” Dash rested her front hooves under her head. Pinkie looked confused. “I thought that maybe…” “Broken? Are you serious? Remember that time in the Gorge? Stuck under a rock? Not even a graze.” Dash cockily said. “Oh, well this time wasn’t a rock! It was some big great magic mumbo-jumbo! What if…” “Pinkie, I think I know if my wings are broken or not. I don’t feel any pain and all, they’re just… You know when your leg falls asleep or something?” “Yup!” “Just that. They just need time to wake up.” “Oh. Want me to call Scratch? She’s pretty good at waking up things!” “Very funny. Anyway, I’m made of far tougher stuff than you think. Everypony thinks that my wings are going to break or come off or something.” She chuckled, to underline how ridiculous was the thought for her. “Twilight once explained to me that why I can do a Sonic Rainboom without being reduced into a messy pulp. She showed me all of that crazy calculus that she still thinks make some sense for me but according to science: I. AM. AWESOME!” Pinkie looked simply amazed “Well, I already knew that but it’s nice to have it proven by the laws of phis...physc…The stuff that proves how…other stuff works.” “Once I get better, I’ll find a job or something. Maybe the weather team here needs a couple of wings.” She looked distant. “We’ll just have to lay low for a while.” “Oh, well. Until then I’ll just have to take care of you” said Pinkie completely cheerful even though inside she really meant that. Dash laughed a bit. “Oh, yeah. Responsibility is your third name! Even I tried to stop you on that one...Wait, don’t tell me you’re serious?” “Oh, I am serious. Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye.” Pinkie looked indeed serious, almost frowning while making that statement. She wasn’t used to it because she always found natural to always smile, even in serious situations. “I will take care of you until you’re better, Dashie! I Pinkie-Promise you.” Dash blinked, astonished. “Let’s get some sleep. Or at least I should try. I’m still a bit shaken from all of what happened…I mean, it’s bucking Manehattan!” “Oh, speaking of sleeping…” Pinkie remembered thatshe still had that saddlebag. She guessed it was the right moment. Not the optimal one, but at least she hoped it would make Dash happy, if only a little bit. She whipped out a brown, rectangular envelope and put in Rainbow’s hooves.She eagerly opened it revealing something that, from the longing look, she wasn’t expecting at all. It was a book, a book with a luscious illustration of an adventurous mare struggling to defeat a monstrous giant snake that was trying to crush her in its spires. In such a tense situation the brown, scantily clad pegasus only smiled in defiance. And so was Dash. A big wide grin that almost split her face in half and caused her pupils to shink. “This is… Daring Do and the Sanctuary of Sorrow?!” “Yes, indeed-y”Pinkie said proudly. “But…How? Is not even out yet…You got it from…the future?” “Almost, Dashie! You see, Twilight buys books and knows where to find books. And I know ponies who knowhow to find even more books and ponies who knows ponies that write books…And that’s it.” “And…This is for me, right?” Dash sounded incredulous. “Well, duh! I don’t like Daring Do very much, but you like it a lot and you like reading it before sleeping and so…What do you think of it?” “It’s awesome but…Wait a minute. It’s that saddlebag?” Pinkie let a nervous laugh. A mixture of embarrassment and pride in it. “The one that you beat up two monsters for it?The same?” “Well…It was a gift for you.” She lowered her gaze to the floor. “If we really had to run away, you probably wouldn’t see a Daring Do novel for a long time and I didn’t want you to be sad and…” “Thanks, Pinkie.” She cut off the pink pony quickly. “I don’t know what to say…” Her smile got warmer and kinder than ever. A look of tenderness could be seen in her eyes. “You’re always so kind to me and everypony else, even now…” She almost blushed, only to immediately pout to hide that moment of weakness, with her cheeks puffing up awkwardly. Pinkie always found that adorable. “I guess being stuck with you isn’t that bad.” “Wow! And if brought you the author next time?” “I would kiss you so hard, right on those lips!” An awkward silence followed, the two mares looked in each other’s eyes…Only to burst out laughing like crazy, almost suffocating for trying to keep the noise at the bare minimum. Even though Vinyl’s words weren’t particularly clear on the volume but whatever. “Yeah, right.” Dash was kicking her hind legs while keeping her belly. “And then what? Snow in April?!” “Yeah!” Pinkie snorted as well. “But only after a date! I’m not that kind of girl, you know!” While saying those words, she recalled all of her new resolutions, especially the part of staying at Dash’ side not pretending anything romantic in return. Pinkie also wanted to smash her own face against the wall. “You don’t mind if I read a bit before sleeping?” “You don’t even have to ask! And by the way…” she picked a little flashlight from the saddlebag. “I don’t think you can read in the dark! You’re not that awesome.” “Thanks Pinkie. Good Night!” she lighted the flashlight and began reading as Pinkie laid on her side, trying to get some sleep. She thought back on the book. Originally she wanted to give to give it to Dash after their hypothetical first date but that kinda went out the window. Still, it served its original purpose: make Dashie happy, if only for a while- Pinkie woke up after a while, finding herself cramped on her own side, her forelegs curled against her chest,not even thinking to take more space that she deserved from Dash, with her back to the pegasus. Not even wanting to turn or move as not to disturb her sleep in any way. Dash was snoring softly, the book still lying open, carefully put on her chest. Pinkie, trying to not make any sound, not even breathing too loudly, turned to see her sleeping friend. Dash had a peaceful expression on her face,notcaringabout every hardship they had to face until now; her mouth still opened a bit as she usually did, with the usual tray of drool on the side. Pinkie giggled a bit thinking that at least one of them was unfazed by that unending string of hardships. A thought flashed in her head. A crazy little thought, too daring for that situation. She rationalized that it was the first and only thing she would take for herself. But she couldn’t get out of her head all that talking of kissing. Still without making a sound, she leaned slowly towards Dash and planted a quick, soft kiss on her cheek. “Goodnight, Dashie” she whispered. Pinkie then turned back to her side in the exact same position and closed her eyes trying to get some sleep.She wore a satisfied smile with only ahint of regret that the only way she could’ve gotten a kiss form Rainbow,was by stealing it. And she kissed her the way she would’ve kissed her Granny, even, but as small as it was, it was sweet. It had to be enough. “Goodnight, Pinkie” Dash whispered as well, accompanied by a quick brush of her tail against the back of Pinkie’s foreleg. Pinkie was a little startled by this, as her eyes shot open the second she heard her voice but she calmed down, instantly delighted by that at the same time. The sweetness of the moment dwelled in her heart for a while, reaffirming her belief from the forest that, in a way or another, everything would be alright. That ray of hope she felt that time, instantly became brighter. She slipped into a dreamless sleep immediately after. The next day, the first thing she noticed when she woke up was Rainbow Dash sleeping face. She was dangerously close to Rainbow Dash’s face, completely wrapped up in her left wing, using it as a blanket. And for once in her life, Pinkie felt shame for not overwhelming her primal instincts. She could get used to waking up like this, after all a pony could still dream. She rubbed her eyes, after carefully letting go the still sleeping pegasus as she noticed a sudden change in the room.The boring cleanliness of the flat from the night before was replaced by complete and utter chaos. Various multi colored stains that she assumed were food (at least from the smell) appeared on the floor, the walls, even the ceiling. Some half empty bottles of liquor were resting on the floor, their contents spilled, almost making the pink pony slip. The funny part was that Vinyl didn’t even make a noise while producing this mess. How nice of her, Pinkie thought. With no sign of the DJ and Dash still asleep, she decided to clean out. It was the least she could do for Scratch for letting them stay for the night. She quickly searched for a closet door behind which she found a mop and bucket. As Pinkie started to scrub the floor, she improvised a silly song to help her work and raise her spirit, like she always did. Nothing could stop her to do something so fun and familiar. Scrubbing, scrubbing my friend’s home Make it shine just like chrome All night long she made a mess How she did it? I can’t guess! Though she is nice, that can’t be wrong So I’m singing this silly song! Not one of her best, but on the spur of the moment it had to do. And at least it was original this time, so she was still the same old Pinkie. She turned a bit to take care of another side of the room only to find right in front of her Vinyl’s face staring back, only a few inches from her. Which was strange since not only she didn’t hear any hoof steps, singing notwithstanding, nor saw any door opening. She decided not to press further on the matter. “Morning, Scratch!” she chirped. The unicorn yawned.“Morning Pinkie. You always start your day like that?” “Oh, not always.Only when I’m working. Or I’m in a good mood. Or when I have to help out a friend that let me and my best friend stay for the night or…” “Ok, ok, I got it. Still, nice of you helping me out. If you guessed already I‘ve kinda lost control last night…” “You don’t say!” She looked completely sincere in that remark. “Yeah. I had somepony who did that sometimes but…” “Is that the same somepony we were going to talk about never?” “Yep. And today is not never…Anyway, we were talking about that nice set of pipes you got!” “Sorry, I don’t smoke. It’s bad for your voice!” “Yeah, I meant your voice.” “Then why do you want a pipe?” “Forget about the pipes! I think you’re quite good at singing. A bit of uncouth but you got the stuff where it matters. Does anypony else know?” A voice answered from behind of them, still half asleep “Last time she sang she started a parade all on her own…” said Dash, rubbing her eyes. “Your freeloader friend there is still the voice of reason.” She took Pinkie aside, placing her foreleg around her shoulders once again. “Forget what I said earlier!You know what day is today? It’s never! And, you see, I know this filly. Who is also my friend. You could call her a…” “Friend-Filly?” Pinkie replied. “If she wanted to admit it to herself, yes. But you see, we have this little project…” As Vinyl continued to talk, Pinkie couldn’t help that things were getting, really, really convenient…
Chapter 3: Not Words but MeaningsThrough Loyalty and Love By Damocles23 Chapter 3: Not Words but Meanings 12 minutes before the incident Could it be better than this? A few hours after Dash finished gathering the necessary, Luna’s moon stood tall into the night’ sky, everypony slipped into a dreamless sleep, blissfully unaware of everything. And during the day nopony even tried to ask what Pinkie Pie was doing all day. After all, they grew so accustomed to the pink mare unorthodox antics, that she probably could get away with everything. Too accustomed or maybe even too scared to even suspect a thing. It was almost painfully easy. Not even Pinkie could explain how she got away with placing her junk all over Ponyville or even inside their houses but they were so accommodating about everything! Not a question asked, obviously. After all, did she ever asked them for anything for helping them? Being friends with everypony ( and a baby dragon..and a couple of donkeys…and a zebra) will do that for you. Years and years of kindness and goodwill were going to pay off even better than she imagined. For these very reasons, Pinkie felt almost all-powerful. She only lacked a tiara, a horn and a pair of wings to be declared the true Princess of “ Pranks-who-weren’t really-pranks-but just-a-silly-excuse-to-hang-out-with-your-best-friend-and-tell-her-you-have-a-crush-on-her-and-go-out-on-a-a-date-or-something-or-make-out-but-only-if-she-wants-to” … The horn needed too much care and the title was too long to be taken seriously. She didn’t mind a pair of wings, though. A pair of big, fluffy, awesome pink wings so she could fly without balloons or some other silly gimmicks, be all like swoosh and zoom and going so fast that you could fly all over Ponyville before you could say “chimicherrychanga” , sleep on clouds whenever she felt tired or go and visit Dashie without asking Twilight to use that cloud walking spell… And for the umpteenth time her thoughts went to a certain blue pegasus, a blue pegasus who was so brave and cool and the best friend she ever had, somepony who made everything better by just being there, who made the sunny days Pinkie always loved and the rainy days, because she also loved playing in the rain with Gummy, a blue pegasus so awesome and beautiful that it hurt she still had to wait to see her but not for long since the great night was about to start. Their great night, to be precise. She waited for Dash into a old abandoned house with dusty floors ,walls full of cracks, and frameless windows from which they could see Town Hall in all of its glory, a old ,rusty silver chandelier dangled from the ceiling, squeaking at mere breeze of the wind. The house was also spiffy but Pinkie didn’t care one bit. She waited upstairs, walking in circles, leaving a circular trail of hoofprints in the dust, joyously humming a song already hear d before…from herself, obviously, but she couldn’t remember when. All while taking an occasional glance at the white sheet in the center of the room, which covered an unidentified silhouette. She finally heard a familiar voice coming out of the window. Hi, Pinkie Pie!” the pegasus announced loudly. “Hi Dashie ! You came here just in the nick of time. Did ya brought…THE NEXUS!?” a thunder was heard almost immediately, as if to punctuate the last word. Dash was startled because there was indeed a thunder…coming from right behind her…from the rather large stash of rainclouds she brought with her, tightly packed with a long rope. From Dash’ look you could’ve swore she was thinking that the raincloud was indeed trying to punctuate the last word. There are things ponies are not meant to know… “Well, just look at this beauty” Pinkie chirped upon noticing the stash “You just outdid yourself, Dashie! You’re the best!” Dash laughed cockily “Hehehe! You can’t go wrong on the Dash! Now, where should I put this beauty?” Still staring at the pegasus Pinkie said: “Just put them downstairs, on the big red X on the floor!” Struggling a bit to push the big pack of rainclouds trough the small window, all of the while making a squishy sound, and careful not to hit them too hard unless she wanted to unleash another thunder, Dash managed to say a few words during the irritating task. “You’ll never guess…Unngh..who i just saw…Nnngh…just a minute before!” “Who did you see?” “Princess Celestia!” “Whhha….?” “Yup. That’s right. Apparently nopony knew she was coming. Twilight would’ve told us at least a thousand times!” “And what is she doing here?” “I don’t know. Too busy gathering these” Finally, Rainbow managed to squeeze through all the rainclouds to get them into the house. There was so little room that the two ponies were basically forced into the corner after that, Dash still holding on the rope. She looked perplexed before finally stating the obvious: “Maybe I’m stating the obvious, but couldn’t we just…do this some other day? I mean maybe I can gather some other rainclouds, not that I’m running out of space…” She totally was, but that’s beside the point. Before she finished that sentence, Pinkie gasped and interrupted her, with a look on her face that looked like Dash was proposing her to devour a live foal. “Another day? Are you loco? We can’t do it another day this is THE day! If we chose another day, it would be ANOTHER day, not THE day!” “Technically it’s night …and the word “day” just lost its meaning…But the Princess is there and all of those guards. What if something goes wrong?” “It can’t go wrong! It won’t wrong! Why it should go wrong?” Pinkie looked even more frantic and desperate while saying that. Dash quizzically tilted her eyebrow, looking suspicious: “You didn’t explain me anything about the prank! You just said go gather the rainclouds and that it was awesome and stuff! Why do we have to do this now? What is all of this stuff? I want to know!” she stomped a hoof on the floor, raising a small cloud of dust from the floor. Dash meant business. When she adopted that look, everypony had to take her seriously and woe unto them if they did otherwise., no exceptions. Dash was still in that room only because of Pinkie, but with anypony else, especially not her friend, well...Let’s just say she wouldn’t be so kind. Dash had to knew, obviously and she was rightfully worried of annoying the Princess. Pinkie was too, but she didn’t show and that didn’t stop her. She knew she had to tell the truth to the cyan mare but that wasn’t just the right moment. If she told her right now, especially in that mood, everything would be lost. The perfect moment to be with Dash…Lost… She couldn’t allow this and, luckily for her, Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only pony with a killer look. Pinkie looked at her with large, shiny, puppy-dog blue eyes, she even looked like she was going to cry and her lower lip started trembling. Her small whimpers were just the icing on the cake. “Y-you mean you d-d-don’t trust me, Dashie?” she loudly sniffed. And that look stung Rainbow like a bee, making her immediately falter. Not that it stopped the pink pony. “I told you it was a surprise!” she continued “Why you don’t like surprises, Dashie? Why should I ruin your surprise, Dash? You don’t like MY surprises, Dashie Washie? Is that it? You don’t like me? Pinkie was on the verge of tears. Fake, manipulative, convenient tears, spiced with a teaspoon of unrequited love just to make it convincing. The best kind of tears. Rainbow looked absolutely lost and a bit surprised, alright. That “Dashie Washie” made the trick, hit her like an hoof to the jaw. Trying to avoid her friend’s gaze looking for a possible escape, difficult since three quarters of the room were still filled by rainclouds. Summoning some courage she tried to blubber an excuse: “It’s not like that! I mean, it’s not I don’t like you…” “You mean you like me?!” Pinkie’s heart skipped a bit, full of hope. She knew it was too early to celebrate but that choice of word was almost perfect! Dash was even blushing a bit. For embarrassment over this whole surreal conversation but who cares. “ No, you got me all wrong! It’s just…” And then Pinkie just exploded. She burst into tears before she could finish that sentence, startling Dash so much that she jumped backward, even getting a little wet from the tears. The pink pony erupted in a fountain of salty sadness. She cried like she was trying to drown the world. Which is a lot. “YOU DOOOOON’T LIKE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” Somewhere, the ears of a certain marshmallow unicorn where whistling because of the blatant rip-off of her own act. With no way out, her friend crying like a fountain in an old abandoned house filled with junk and rainclouds Rainbow Dash just froze there, dumbfounded, asking herself what went wrong. Pinkie Pie was having the time of her life. Sure, she knew that it was a bit cruel to play with Dash’s feelings like that but… Actually there is no “but”, that was just cruel. And needy. Maybe she went a little too far with this. Scaring Dash by making a scene so over the top and embarrassing was worthy just to go along with the plan? Sacrificing her dignity and her friend’s peace of mind? Continuing a thread of lies that just didn’t want to stop and probably would spiral out of everypony control for the sake of her romantic affection? Yes. Yes, it was. But that didn’t matter for now. Only the plan mattered…Only being with Dash, mattered. If she had to resort to such underhooved methods so be it. She would’ve found new ways to hate herself later. Fortunately Dash managed to utter something to try to calm her down. Exactly as planned. “I’m…I’m sorry, Pinkie. I didn’t want to upset you.” The pegasus fidgeted on her hooves looking at the ground, completely off guard “If it’s so important to you…I’ll just help you out like I said.” The waterworks immediately stopped, precise as a clock. Her expression immediately changed from a watery, blubbering mess to her usual cheery self: “Ok, Dashie! I’m so glad everything turned out to be alright-y! Now go downstairs, the show is about to start!” Rainbow rolled her eyes, and started pulling the rainclouds: “I really hope you know what you’re doing…” Finally, everything was ready. The great night was about to start. The two mares finally found themselves in that dusty room, at the opposite sides of whatever that white sheet was covering, looking at the sleeping village. The pink mare just couldn’t hold her enthusiasm, hopping in her place back to her exuberant self while the pegasus looked completely lost, even though a soft smile was gracing her face. Pinkie finally removed the sheet to reveal an hastily built metal box, covered with duct tape and streamers. Obviously Pinkie’s design. At the top of it a big red button, on which was written with a marker “BIG RED BUTTON”. The sight of this was so silly that Rainbow Dash finally started to relax, and started chuckling a bit, even if there still was a hint of nervousness in that little laugh. “I hope this isn't what I think it is...” “What do you think it is, Dashie?”she giggled “I really gave up on that…Guess you won this time.” “Hhhm?” “You just wouldn’t explain anything about this prank, you even made that scene earlier. I tried to reason with you, I tried asking politely…Heck, I even tried to look angry but nothing worked with you. I guess I’ll finally know now. “ An awkward moment of silence between the two, lasting like a lifetime only to be once again broken by Rainbow. “You’re weird, Pinkie. You know that?” “Yes, indeed-y!” she chirped. Dash’s face immediately went “go figures” “I’ll give you that, Pinkie: you’re weird, random, I can’t understand almost anything about you, I think nopony could. And when you get this stubborn you can be a real pain…But you know how to entertain a mare!” “Really?” she flashed a smile so big that it was a miracle it fit her face. “Yeah! Maybe I’m just too confused about everything, but I really want to see where you’re going with this. You’re not even worried about the Princess being here! It’s strangely…appealing for some reason.” Pinkie nearly swooned. Was this the right moment? Too little and too early, but it was so close… “I saw your preparations for this all over the village. You just worked all day doing…whatever you did and you never stopped. And from what I can see you’re not even tired!” Actually the pink pony was exhausted, completely and totally exhausted, but she didn’t want to show it. Not this close to victory. “Nothing and nopony can stop you, Pinkie. Even you started acting like a crying foal, I’ll have admit that worked out for you” they both started giggling at that part. Pinkie sighed with relief at the end of it. Luckyly, Dash didn’t judged her too harshly for that little, albeit completely faked, outburst. “Just like nothing and nopony can stop the Dash. Guess I never noticed this about you. Well, I kinda figured it out but I never thought about it seriously.” Pinkie was completely silent, staring into the cyan pegasus eyes with profound admiration. “I really like that about you…” And for one brief, perfect moment, Pinkie was part of something greater and beautiful. Her spirit left her body to visit pony heaven itself and she knew about true joy and the meaning of her existence and the universe. It’s cupcakes, by the way, but nopony else had to know. “But…”Rainbow added. And that single “but” brought the pink pony back from the celestial plane the instant it was uttered. Curse you, “but”! Destroyer of happiness! Pinkie swore to get her revenge by destroying all the “buts” in the world. “I can’t help to think that there’s something more on this prank, if you don’t count the part you’re deliberately not telling me” Dash’s smile became a sly one. Pinkie followed that sentence with shifty eyes, looking suspicious at hell: “ W-What makes you think that, Dashie? It’s just a prank, just the way you l…” “Cut it out, Pinks. This time I got you” Pinkie nervously gulped. Dash leaned forward, looking right into Pinkie’s blue eyes, so close that she could feel her breath. “I’m the one being pranked, right?” Rainbow was completely deadpan. This time Pinkie froze, dumfounded. “You sent me fetching all of the rainclouds, so you can place junk all of the village. Then you tell me we have to set up everything in a old abandoned house, in the middle of the night, while the Princess herself comes to visit and none of our friends show up to say anything or search for us…It’s a prank and everypony is involved! Princess included” Dash stood on all fours, her chest swelled with pride for reaching such an awesome conclusion. Pinkie totally didn’t predict about HER be the surprised pony. She figured out her everything, well almost everything. Unless the Princess wasn’t secretly planning this, too. You never know. She couldn’t play along with this, she had to continue with this charade. Thank Celestia, not for long. “What’cha talking about, Dashie? You silly pony, you do the pranking this time! You can’t prank the prankster!” she nervously laughed. “Well, I sure felt pranked, alright! Look if you just keep stalling…” she turned and started to leave, until she felt a strong, pink hoof on her shoulder keeping her. She turned out to see something she never thought she would: Pinkie. Serious. No silly smiles, no nervousness, nothing noticeable. For once she looked like a blank state. SOmething that could only work trough precise instructions. Forze in time, taking her "now-or-never" stance almost too literally. And that's how she felt. One of the very few times she found herself at loss of words and actions. Almost on the verge of tears, true tears this time. Without a single word she delicately placed Dash’ hoof with her own on the big red button, almost mechanically. Then she finally spoke: “Please, have some faith me Rainbow Dash. Only this time” Dash complied, silently. She looked in her eyes with a mixture of compassion and trust and together, without ever leaving the other mare gaze, they pushed the button. And. All. Hell. Broke. Loose. Author’s Notes: Sorry for a whole chapter made of flashback, but I really needed to get rid of this part. I noticed that everytime I write something it turns out a lot darker than it should be. Is that good or bad?
