Chapters "Ugh! I'm so bored! It doesn't help that Pinkie is away helping Canterlot smile more!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as the mane 6 sat in the new castle in Ponyville. It has been two months since they defeated Tirek, and Equestria was filled with harmony once again. "Sorry to break it to you Rainbow, but we have to stay in the castle in case there is trouble." Said Twilight. Rainbow scoffed and rolled her eyes. "There hasn't been trouble in two months!"
"Well Princess Celestia said that we have--" Applejack started, but was cut off by Rainbow. "I know what she said I was there the entire time!" Fluttershy quickly turned to the rainbow- maned tomboy. "Rainbow! I understand you're bored and quite irritated, but that is no way to speak to somepony, ESPECIALLY a friend!"
"Whatever, I'm just going to fly around a bit, anypony wanna come?" No one spoke, knowing that they have to stick around.
Twilight knew, however, that taking a break is okay. "You guys go on ahead, I have to catch up on reading anyway, and I'll let you know if something happens." The others nodded, as Spike left with them to. Twilight began reading the rest of the latest Daring Do novel when she heard her friends yelling for help.
Twilight rushed out of the door, only to see nothing. "Spike! Rainbow! Rarity! Fluttershy? A-Applejack?" She looked around frantically, and flew up, and still didn't see her friends.
"What Happened to Them?"
Twilight was freaking out. What happened? Was someone behind this? She thought long and hard, and then it hit her; she will need some backup.
~ At the Ponyville train station ~
"Hey Twilight! Didn't think I would hear from you in a while!" Said a purple coated, blue maned pegasus mare as she stepped off the train. "Hey Sapphire!" Said Twilight, waving. Sapphire Harmony used to be neighbors with Twilight before she moved to Fillydelphia She used to be a very timid, quiet filly and used to play with Twilight or read with her.
All of a sudden, another pegasus step- well, ran, off the train. "Oh my gosh! My own sister is missing! We have to find her! If something happened to her, I'll go insane!" This came from the one and only Paint Splash, Rainbow's twin sister. They looked alike, except Paint's coat was a light teal and her mane was red, yellow, and blue.
"Thanks for coming on a short notice. I wanted to get the word around, and I was wondering if you two knew anything." Twilight said as they began flying to the castle. The two pegasi thought for a while, until Paint, a little more relaxed, spoke up. "Well, thinking back to the letters Rainbow wrote to me in the past few weeks, she did mention that guy Tirek. She said that she had a feeling that he would escape, but she didn't want to say anything in case she was just saying that."
Something then hit Twilight's mind. "Tirek must've escaped, and kidnapped the girls! Come on, we have to hurry and get Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's help. Who knows what power he now has if he escaped?" The three mares quickly flew to the castle, and began the search.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The kidnapped friends and Spike all fell on cold metal as Tirek threw them in a cell, and tightly sealed it. "What's the big deal?!" Yelled Rainbow. Tirek laughed. "I finally get my revenge by making your lives living nightmares. After I'm done with you all, you will wish you were never even born!" This made all the girls terrified, and made fluttershy squeak. Of course, Rainbow didn't back down. "Yeah, right!"
Tirek then turned back to her, and smirked. "I see, you're going to be the loud mouth. Fine, I can work with that." He then opened the gate, quickly took Rainbow, slammed and locked the gate, and tied her wings to her back. Tirek called out two guards, muscular stallions, and they walked up to Rainbow.
They first punched her in the gut, but she refused to cry or groan. One guard pulled her mane back as the other punched her straight in the muzzle, causing blood to trickle. Tears began to form as they continued to punch her, but she blinked them away. If she could deal with this for enough time, her friends wouldn't get hurt. After hours of being beaten by the stallions, Rainbow, now unconscious, was thrown back into the cell, with a bloody, broken muzzle, black eye, messed up mane, little tear in her left ear, and bruises all over her body. The others looked at Rainbow with a mix of being shocked, terrified, and sad for her. They all knew she doesn't back down easily, no matter how many bruises she will have.
"Pinkie, why must you work for, for that monster!" Asked Rarity in disbelief. Pinkie turned her head to see if anyone was listening in, then whispered towards her captured friends. "Listen to me okay? This time I'm being serious. My Pinkie sense told me that something like this was going to happen, but it happened too soon that I couldn't tell you. I pretended to work for Tirek after I found out he kidnapped you guys, so I could help you escape. Of course, I didn't know he would do such a thing to Dashie..." She trailed off and flopped her ears as she looked at the cyan Pegasus barely clinging to life.
Then, they all heard a noise coming from the hall, which belonged to Tirek and a guard. "Okay, just pretend to be betrayed, and act as if I just hurt Dashie."
They all nodded as Pinkie mixed around the tools, and turned to Tirek. The hostages cried and yelled at Pinkie, as if they were really betrayed. "Very good, Pinkamena. You showed no mercy on Rainbow here. You may carry on with what you were doing." Tirek untied the rope and threw Rainbow Dash into the cell, making a loud thud and making Rainbow make a slight groan, as she was just starting to wake up.
/minutes later/
"-- So just know, Pinkie is on our side, no matter what she says or does." Applejack finished telling Rainbow what happened while she was knocked out. "Now, with that out of the way, what is wrong with you, Rainbow?! Why would you put your life out on the line, not just once, but twice?!"
Rainbow, still lying on the ground, tried to speak through her rasp voice, coughing between each word"I... tried to.... save you..... guys."
Spike, who has been quieter than Fluttershy, finally spoke up. "What do you mean by saving us?"
Rainbow tried to speak again, but still coughing "If I put my life on the line..... he couldn't....he couldn't.... be able.... to hurt you guys.... and you all would..... be able... to escape...." She ended up passing out, which they all expected to happen. Fluttershy and Rarity tried to wake her up by waving their hooves in front of her face, but she didn't budge. They ended up lying her down to let her rest. This was going to be a long night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"-and then I saw Pinkie standing in the room with tools and weapons so I just had to bolt!" Sapphire finished. Twilight looked shocked, but Paint looked unsurprised by this news. "I knew it! Dash always said she was random like that, and I knew that at some point she would snap! But, my own sister.... could be gone? That can't happen! We have to save them all!" Paint tried to fly away, but Twilight held her down with her magic.
"I understand you want your sister, I really do! But we can't just march in there and ask for them back, we'll have to fight! You girls have the weapons and spells?" Paint and Sapphire nodded as they held the tools they brought for the right time, and this couldn't be a better time to use them!
"Now remember, Paint, you take care of any guards who get in our way, Sapphire, you try to free the others, and I'll take on Tirek." The purple alicorn said as she was looking out for any guards. "Ready? In three, two, one, GO!"
As they snuck in, Paint flew on the lookout for any trouble in their way. As they reached the hallways they all stopped. Twilight turned to Sapphire. "Do you know where Tirek may be?" Sapphire pointed down a hallway on their left. "This is where the girls were, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was in there with them." Twilight then turned to Paint. "You make sure there are no guards. Can you do that?"
Paint saluted. "Anything to save my sister, her friends, and the fate of Equestria!"
Twilight smiled at this. "Then let's do this!"
Twilight and Sapphire left Paint as they charged down the hall, looking for the room where the missing friends were, but as soon as they got there, they were in for a surprise.
"Well, well, well, isn't it my old friend Twilight Sparkle! How lovely it is to see you here to witness the end of the Elements of Harmony AND Equestria! Too bad one of your annoying friends wouldn't shut up, and she suffered the most." He moved out of the way to show the passed out daredevil. Twilight gasped, but Sapphire didn't, mostly because she already seen her state. "You won't get away with this, Tirek! I will save my friends and the Elements of Harmony! You will never take over Equestria! No matter what! As long as the magic of friendship lives on, you are powerless against us!"
Tirek laughed his evil laugh. Twilight was used to this, fighting evil before, so she shot magical blast, which knocked him right off his feet. "Ha, ha, ha! You are one little fierce princess, Twilight Sparkle. But, you will never defeat me!" He shot a fireball towards her. She dodged it, and the ball went right through the wall, setting off an explosion. She lead the fight away from her friends, as Sapphire looked quickly for the key.
Back to where Paint was on the look out, she fought every single guard that charged at her. "Wow, watching Dash doing all those tricks really does pay off." She thought to herself as she did a flip as two guards flew at her from opposite sides, knocking them out. She heard another explosion and rushed to help, while still dodging and fighting guards.
Sapphire eventually found the key, and unlocked the door. As the girls ran out, Sapphire helped Fluttershy pick up Rainbow, and ,see their way towards a window where they could easily escape. "All we have to do is get her out of here, I don't think she can take anymore of this pain, okay Fluttershy?" Fluttershy simply nodded as they made their way out of the castle, and hid her in a shelter. "Listen, you have to stay here and watch over her, don't move unless they find you!" Sapphire left Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and flew to aid the others
Twilight was easily hitting Tirek with her magic, thanks to the spells Sapphire brought. But all this fighting was sucking her energy, and she was slowly falling down. As her exhaustion took her down, Tirek created a really large fireball, but as soon as he launched it, a pink party pony jumped right in front of Twilight.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" The fire ball hit Pinkie, and she fell to the ground, singed with ashes. Tirek was too confused of what just happened, that Paint Splash and Sapphire kicked him right in the face as hard and fast as they could. He flew to the ground, and was knocked out. "Don't worry, Paint, the others made it out, and Fluttershy is with Rainbow." Assured Twilight. A bright light then took up the room, and no one other than the three missing princesses appeared.
"Twilight! Are you okay?" Asked Princess Cadence with much concern.
"We don't have time to worry about me, we need to defeat Tirek's guards and save Pinkie snd Rainbow!"
Princess Celestia walked up to Twilight and looked at Pinkie, who still lied on the ground. "We will take care of Tirek and his remaining guards, but you and your friends need to get Pinkie and Rainbow to the hospital, quickly. You shouldn't waste another minute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight, Paint, Sapphire, Fluttershy, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom all waited for the doctor. Twilight and Fluttershy tried to calm down Scootaloo, Rarity stared into space, Applejack held her hat while holding a crying Apple Bloom in her arms, Paint Splash constantly checked for a doctor, while Sapphire sat with Spike.
"Twilight, Fluttershy? What if Rainbow doesn't make it? What if she never gets to leave the hospital? What if--" Fluttershy put her hoof up to Scootaloo's mouth. "Now, knowing how worried you are, you have to know that the doctors are working as hard as they can. If she makes it, we will be by her side to help her recover. If she doesn't, we will work through it together, all of us. Trust me, you will be okay either way."
Apple Bloom, overhearing Fluttershy, looked over at Applejack. "Will Pinkie make it to?" Applejack sighed. "I honestly don't know, Apple Bloom. But just like Fluttershy said, no matter what, everything will work itself out. You just got to have that faith in her, just like the rest of us do in Pinkie and Rainbow."
Paint was more mad than sad. "I knew I should've saved her! I should've been there when she probably needed me! I should--" Sapphire put her hoof on Paint's back. "Don't say that. If she never moved to Ponyville, she would've never met Twilight, who wouldn't be keeping the harmony throughout Equestria. I know this sucks, and you want to know she's okay, but we just have to wait. For the better or worse."
Paint let a few tears escape before she sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Thanks, Sapphire. I really needed that."
Then the doctor walked out of the door and turned to the worried friends. "I have good news and bad news. Good news is that Pinkie Pie's burns were not as bad as they looked. She suffered a second degree burn and should recover. We just have to run some test on her before you can visit her. Rainbow Dash, however," he sighed as he told the news, "her injuries were too deep and too severe. There's a 99% chance she won't make it, and if she does it will be a miracle. She's hooked onto life support, and you can go in and check on her. I suggest you call any other relatives to tell them the news, and let them decide what happens to her. Again, I'm so sorry, we tried everything we could. Now if you excuse me." And with that he left, letting the girls sink in what they just heard. Rainbow can't die, can she? No, it seemed impossible, she wasn't want just give up!
Paint and Scootaloo were the first to enter Rainbow's room, where stitches and bandages covered most of her body, and many wires hooked up to her. Scootaloo wanted to turn around and cry, but she knew that Rainbow would want to her to stay strong. Paint had tears running down her cheeks as she looked over her twin sister. Rainbow Dash, the one who was her missing half, the one where she missed most of her life, the one who she reunited with after years of being separated. Why did this happen?
Paint stepped back into reality as Twilight called her and Scootaloo's name.
"I just got done talking to your parents, Paint. They said that her life support plug should be pulled next week, that gives them enough time to say goodbye and give her time to see if she will wake up or not. I'm sorry, guys, but pulling the plug will be better than keeping her on it."
Scootaloo, now crying, looked up at the purple alicorn. "Why is that better? She'll die when that plug is pulled!" Paint knew what Scootaloo needed.
"Listen, when somepony has to be put on life support, that means they're suffering so much that they need a machine to keep them going. What Twilight's trying to say is that, that Rainbow is better off lying peacefully in her coffin than alive, suffering and not being able to do anything. I know it's hard, trust me I barely know my own twin sister and now I'll never know more, but I would rather have what's best for her. Just know, you're not alone, and I'm here for you. As well as Twilight, Apple Bloom, and everypony else here!" She pulled Scootaloo in a hug as the two cried on each other's shoulders.
Twilight sniffed and left the room to leave the two crying. She knew this was hard, for Paint AND Scootaloo! If she was told to pull the plug on Spike or Shining Armor, she would be crying as hard as them to.
The rest of the days following to the day Rainbow's plug would be pulled were dark and rainy, Rainbow's parents visited their dying daughter to say their goodbyes and comfort Paint and Scootaloo, and Sapphire got ready to go home. She wouldn't usually leave at a time like this, but she felt as if everypony would need time to calm down and say goodbye to the fearless Pegasus. Pinkie, who was allowed to leave the hospital, didn't smile since she woke up. Not because of her burns, it was because she knew she was losing one of her best friends, and there was nothing she could do about that.
In fact, the, now called, Mane 5 were acting different. Twilight didn't read any books, Fluttershy was slowly going insane, Applejack didn't have the energy to buck apples, and Rarity closed up shop and stopped making dresses. It wasn't just them, most of Equestria stopped doing what they were doing, thinking it would be rude to continue when the keeper of the Element of Loyalty was slowly drifting away from the world.
Then, something happened. As the Mane 5, Spike, Paint, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Rainbow's parents went into Dash's room, Rainbow began to have a blue aura surrounding her, and the rest of the friends began to light up. A bright, white light, blasted throughout the hospital room, and lifted Rainbow. Her deepest, most severe wounds disappeared, her heart began to beat on its own, and she began to breathe on her own. The light vanished and everypony in the room turned to Rainbow, who was now stirring, slowly waking up. As she opened her eyes for the first time that week, everypony began to cheer, smile, jump, and hug Rainbow. She finally woke up, and she wasn't going to leave any time soon.
After a month of being in a hospital, Rainbow was finally released, and could go home to Ponyville. A huge ceremony was thrown in her survival by, of course, Pinkie Pie. Rainbow was happy to be home at last, with her best friends, her sisters, and everypony in it. She was even happy to see that Discord made a quick appearance. Twilight quickly went to the castle.
"Spike, I need you to write me a letter to Princess Celestia." Spike quickly got ready to write.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
I never knew that friendship could save somepony from having their life taken away, even when the doctors couldn't do anything. You see, the magic of friendship isn't just something to spread across Equestria and defeat the evil or fix the wrong decisions. The magic of friendship is much stronger than that. If we didn't care about Rainbow Dash as much as we do, we would all be at her funeral, crying, and wishing we were there for her. This didn't just happen because we represent an Element of Harmony, no, this is because we still had faith that she would make it, even minutes before her plug would've been pulled. We were all true friends to Rainbow, and to each other. Not just us, but Scootaloo, Sapphire Harmony, and Paint Splash. This is because a true, true friend helps a friend in need, no matter how big that problem is.
From,
Twilight Sparkle"
"Anything yet?" Asked Sapphire. Twilight shook her head. "I wouldn't be surprised if Tirek got the princesses to. Looks like we're going to have to do this on our own. Of course that's going to be hard without the rest of the elements of harmony here."
Sapphire, from hanging out with Twilight as fillies, began to look and find fighting books, defense spell books, healing spell books, anything that seemed essential. They only had one shot at saving the girls and Spike. Twilight grabbed a few ropes, learning that from Applejack. Paint grabbed a few weapons in case they really needed them, something Rainbow would do.
Right as they were about to leave, Paint stopped and Sapphire turned towards her. "What's wrong, Splash?"
Paint didn't look up. "What if- what if we're too late? What if we get there and they're all lying there, dead? I- I just c-can't" she began to choke on her words. " I can't lose Dash again, it's bad enough I missed half of my own sister's life. I don't want to see her dead." She began to cry, tears pouring out endlessly. Sapphire pulled her into a hug.
"I know how you feel, the thought of losing someone you just got back is the most terrifying idea in the world. But, Splash, you think you're going to lose Rainbow Dash, THE Rainbow Dash. You know she holds on, and all you have to do is have faith in her, in Twilight, and in yourself. Now come on, we have to save them."
~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Tirek walked in to see the friends sleeping, except for Rainbow, who was still badly injured. "Any smart comments for me today?"
Rainbow didn't want to, but she knew that if she didn't take the beating, one of her friends would definitely be hurt next. "You think you can make me back down?" She said, cocking a little attitude. Tirek chuckled. "You're a special mare, Rainbow Dash, you truly are. Too bad that will soon fade away, just like your life." He took her out, tied her wings, and called in his men. It was the same stallions as before, but this time they carried weapons. Pocket knives, baseball bats, and ropes.
She looked terrified, but she gulped it down. As the stallions got Rainbow ready for her next beat down, Each of the friends woke up, with the same reactions as the first one.
They took the ropes and tied her up to a pole tightly, then punched her in the face. As one stallion was punching Rainbow, the other one took the bat and WHACK on the stomach, WHACK on the throat, and an even harder WHACK right on the head, causing her to be knocked out. They continued to beat her, and the longer this lasted, the more her friends thought she wasn't going to be able to escape, even if Tirek was defeated.
Of course, Tirek was laughing about this. He knew that Rainbow was the loud mouth of the group, so he was already prepared for her. He even had a little surprise for ALL of them. Tirek turned to the terrified mares and dragon. "Oh don't worry, she's not dead... Yet. But I do have a surprise, not just for Rainbow here, but for all of you. In fact, here she is!" He pointed to the door, where a pink, deflated-maned pony stood. "Come on Pinkie, it's your turn."
~~~~~~~~~~~
The three flew through Ponyville, asking if anypony knew about Tirek and where he would be. Then, an idea hit Twilight. "I think I know where he is, but we have to hurry!"
They all flew as fast as they could to the Canterlot castle, where they knew Tirek would be. When they arrived, however, the city was torn to bits. Homes and businesses were on fire, many ponies were lying dead, and the survivors were either crying over a dead pony, or trying to get out.
The three looked terrified, but tried to focus. They had to find the others, life in Equestria could be the worst life ever, but Twilight, Paint, and Sapphire WERE going to save Equestria and defeat Tirek once and for all. After flying for a few minutes, they finally reached the castle. "What do we do now? We can't just walk through the gates like nopony's business!" Whispered Paint as they looked at the guards surrounding the castle gates. "Maybe I could pretend to be a guard, and sneak in to see what's going on. It shouldn't be that hard since the armor covers up most of their bodies." Said Sapphire as she shrugged.
"That's a great idea and all, but where are you going to get the arm-" Twilight cut herself off as she heard a noise and two stallions groaning in pain. She looked over to see Paint standing over two guards who were lying on the ground. "Oh, was I not supposed to do that?"
After Twilight and Paint dressed Sapphire in the armor, she flew there the gates holding a piece of paper, acting as if she was giving a message to Tirek. When she reached the doorway to where most of the commotion was coming from, she saw Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, and Applejack watching something in horror. She turned her head to see a unconscious, beaten Rainbow tied to a pole and... Pinkie? This can't be right, why would Pinkie want to hurt Rainbow and her own friends? Sapphire quietly rushed out of the castle, luckily making a clean get away.
