Death of Friendship

Twilight slowly walked through the rattling train, the soft carpet dampened the sound of her hooves.

Twilight's mind was still racing, still screaming. She told herself that it was impossible for Rainbow to be here, that it had to be something else.

A jolt went through the entire train as the high screaming of the brakes assaulted Twilight's ears. Flattening them she continued her walk through the empty train. So far the only things she had seen were empty cages and the velvet walls. A few moments later the train stopped, a soft tremor going through it as the engine stopped with a loud hiss.

The high train whistle announced the end of the ride.

The sound of a opening door made Twilight peak her ears.

Running through the carts she quickly found the door leading out.

Twilight stopped in her tracks.

In the doorway was another feather.

Picking up the feather she noticed it's pristine condition. The feather came from a very well groomed wing.

Twilight gulped.

Dropping the feather, she looked out of the train. The train had ended inside a large building, dark brick floors and walls were surrounding it. Stepping out of the train and looking around she saw a dead-end to her left. To her right the way widened leading up to a massive pipe and a small platform with a cablecar. Beneath the pipe and the cablecar was just one giant coalpit, it's orange light and heat filled the entire room.

Something bothered Twilight. She was inside what seemed to be the tower again but there was no one here. No guards or anything else. This place was void of any life.

Twilight walked around the train, her eyes taking in more details. The right side of the room had a large closed door leading deeper into the building. A little bit into the room, over the pit, was a balcony. A small door could be seen.

Twilight furrowed her brows at the weird architecture. But she quickly stopped thinking about the how and why. Nothing would answer her questions.

Turning around she looked over the pit and saw that the pipe connected the platform she was standing on and another smaller platform on the other side of the room. A closed door marked the end of the room.

Twilight walked towards the cablecar, it's gaping door was inviting her. Looking inside she saw that the cart was a replica of the one she had been in before, on their way to the cathedral. Walking inside she saw the small lever. It was pulled down, resting on 'Cageways', the other side had 'Engine Block' engraved. And inside the small hollow slit of the lever, right below the engine block engraving was another feather.

Twilight understood. Someone was leading her around. That someone used something she would react to, something he or she knew was important to her.

The question now was, should she follow?

'It could be a trap.' Twilight mind replied. 'On the other side... it could show me the way out.'

Twilight was weighing her options. She could either follow the obvious trail or ignore it.

Pushing the lever up, bending the feather inside the machine, she felt the door close behind her. A soft humming began to fill her ears.

She simply had to check.

Twilight looked out of the window. She saw the dark path of the cablecar, illuminated by the orange glow of the coals beneath.

'What if...' She interrupted herself for a second, gathering her thoughts.

'What if it is Rainbow?'

She shook her head. 'Can't be.' She reassured herself. 'There is simply no way!'

'But what if?'

'NO! No if's, no buts, no nothing!' She argued with herself, denying the obvious answers. 'It's not Rainbow!'
She felt a weak tremor go through the cart. Looking up she saw that the orange glow of the coals was missing, replaced by soft yellow lights as the cart began to slow down.

There were answers. And she would find them, no matter what it meant.

Twilight took a deep breath, reassuring herself.

The cart stopped.

The door was opening, revealing...

A riveted iron wall and a ramp leading down. Stepping out of the cart she looked around. She was in the middle of a big room, the walls, the floor, even the ceiling were riveted. Her hooves created soft sounds that echoed through the darkness. Walking down the ramp, her view no longer obstructed by the cable car, she saw another ramp on the other side leading up to a broad corridor.

Twilight shuddered. For an engine block it seemed pretty quiet and cold.

Walking up the other ramp she stopped at the end.

On the floor was a book, it's green cover had small splatters of red all over it. Twilight recognized the book, walking closer and picking it up she saw that the pages were torn and sprinkled with red.

Twilight gulped.

Dropping the book she turned around, looking into the corridor. And to her shock she saw another set of feathers lying on the ground, torn pages next to them.

She followed the trail of feathers and pages through the weakly illuminated corridor and a set of doors.

The door closed behind Twilight, a loud click told her that the door had locked, and her eyes widened as the smell of oil assaulted her nostrils.

She was standing in a room, much larger than Canterlot Castle's throneroom. Like the rest of the engine block, the walls, floor and ceiling were riveted and poorly illuminated.

But the most prominent feature of the room-

Were giant pistons.

She wasn't even sure how big they were, since they were resting in the floor, but the small parts she saw told her that they were monstrous. Twilight couldn't even fathom how deep they extended into the ground. She was suddenly happy that the engine wasn't running, a machine this large would probably deafen her.

'Who build this?' She looked around. She had seen some engines, back in Canterlot, but nothing of this scale. 'And what's even fueling this thing?' She furrowed her brows. Something this monstrous would eat up resources in an unfathomable scale. She wasn't even sure she could move one of the pistons with her alicorn powers, since they seemed to be made of solid blocks of steel. Each probably weighed multiple tons.

Shaking her head she stopped her pondering. Again, with most of the things in Deadside, no one would answer her questions. Best to stop thinking about it and continue with her search.

Looking around she noticed more feathers leading towards the first piston. Looking up, Twilight narrowed her eyes, as she tried to look past the machine.

Was there a path behind the machine? And if yes, who-

She stopped her trail of thoughts. There were no answers.

Following the feathers she stepped into the darkness of the engine. Twilight shuddered. It was a weird feeling to walk through an engine block. She never even imagined the possibility of something this large to exist.

Breathing a sigh of relief after stepping out of the engine, she turned around, looking up the whole construction. In the end she had counted four giant pistons. And she was eternally happy that the machine wasn't running. She gulped as that thought crossed her mind.

Shaking her head, she turned around. A narrow ramp lead up to a small, dark corridor.

A massive clunk echoed through the whole engine and Twilight felt the piston right behind her begin to stirr. Panicking, Twilight began to run up the ramp. Another clunk went through the room and Twilight stopped, looking back at the engine.

Her eyes widened.

The last piston had moved, it was now obstructing her way back.

Twilight gulped.

The piston had stopped on it's peak and was now protruding a dozen meters out of the floor.

Twilight took a deep breath, calming her thoughts. She would find a way back, but for now she had to continue.

She turned around and-

Something blue disappeared into the darkness, the sound of heavy steps echoed through the corridor.

"Rainbow?" Twilight shouted into the darkness.

Twilight eyes widened.

"Come on Twilight!" A voice answered. Rainbow's voice answered.

"Wait for me!" Twilight sprinted through the corridor, up another ramp and through the darkness.

"Sheesh Twilight!" Rainbow's voice echoed through the hallway. "You're an alicorn and still so slow?"

Twilight ignored Rainbow's teasing, she felt tears roll down her cheeks as more and more of Rainbow's voice echoed towards her.

"Get it together Twilight." Rainbow snorted. "No need to cry."

Twilight sprinted into a giant room and-

The light in the room went on, illuminating giant boxes with barred fronts.

And a loud screaming growl echoed through the hall as something hit the bars, shaking the whole box.

Twilight fell to her haunches, shocked and scared by the thing right in front of her.

In the box- no, the cage, was a giant version of Shiv's monstrous form. It's dark skin was glistening red in the bright light, it's skull and eye sockets were turned towards Twilight, like it was looking at her. It's giant fist crashed into bars, shaking the box again.

"What is that!?" Twilight scurried away until her back hit the wall. She was breathing heavily.

"Oh those? Just ignore them." Rainbow answered. "They can't do anything to you."

"But what are they?" Twilight shouted back.

"I don't know. All I know is that they can't leave the cages."

Twilight gulped, shaking in fear as the monsters fist hit the bars again.

"Rainbow?" Twilight pleaded. "Where are you?"

"Follow the way." She answered. "You're almost there."

Twilight trembled as she stood up, walking around the cages. Looking around she saw more and more of them, each locked away in cage. Dozens, hundreds of them.

BOOM!

Twilight jumped as one of the barred cages behind her burst open. The creature stepped out of the cage, rubbing it's claws together, growling and salivating.

"NO!" Another voice echoed through the hall.

And Twilight's eyes widened as the monster looked up. A second later it looked back down, a deep guttural growl escaped it.

And it turned away, walking back into it's cage.

"Come on Twilight!" Rainbow teased.

Twilight turned around, sprinting through the darkness. She wanted away, as far as possible from those horrendous monsters. Just away. She wanted back home. She wanted to feel the warmth of Celestia's sun again. The embrace of her friends, their voices.

She just wanted to flee from everything.

A door opened before her, a small ramp lead up to a second door.

The door closed behind Twilight. A massice click locked it behind her.

Twilight's teary eyes widened.

The room was empty. All it had was a large metal throne and nothing else.

"Hey Twi." Rainbow smiled at her, sitting on the throne. "Pretty cool eh?"

"Rainbow?" Twilight's voice was wavering. "What... What are you doing here?"

"Oh you know." Rainbow shrugged. "Being badass and stuff."

"No! What are you doing here in Deadside!?" She shouted at her friend. And then she noticed the small changes. Rainbow's mane was much longer, hanging down and covering the right side of her face. It looked pretty cool, but impractical. She also looked older, her coat and mane had lost some of their brilliance, the colours looked a little paler than they used to.

Rainbow's frowned.

"Oh... that." Rainbow hopped off the throne and began to walk towards Twilight.

She stopped right in front of Twilight, her head hanging low.

"Before I begin..." Her voice was sad, she looked up and Twilight saw tears rolling down her cheeks. "Can I get a hug?"

Twilight was confused. Rainbow never showed much affection, unless it was a group activity. She felt Rainbow wrap her forelegs around her and Twilight returned the hug.

Rainbow began to cry. Soft sobs shook her as she cried into Twilight's coat.

After a minute or two Rainbow let go of Twilight, a giant smile on her face.

"Oh Celestia... you don't even know." She sobbed, wiping her eyes. "I really missed that."

Twilight flattened her ears. "I don't... what?"

Rainbow giggled, a giggle void of any humor.

"Oh right, time and stuff." She took a deep breath as she stood up, turning away she walked back to the throne.

She turned back and her gaze was stern and almost angry.

"Do you know... how long you have been here?" She asked.

"Hours..." Twilight answered. "Maybe a day? I'm not sure."

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah... for you it may have been a day. For us?"

"Seven years Twilight." Rainbow's voice was empty, bare of any feeling.

Twilight eyes widened.

"Sunset Shimmer came back through the portal and told us." Rainbow continued. "She told us of your accident. And we all, Fluttershy, AJ, Rarity, Pinkie... we all were shocked that you were gone." She shook her head as she bit down on her lip and her eyes became watery again. "Do you know what it does to you? To see your friends break? One after another?" She almost shouted at Twilight.

"What do you-"

"Our friends Twilight!" Rainbow interrupted her. After a second of silence she continued. "Pinkie was the first. Barely two days after your death. It was the last party she ever planned. Your 'We will never forget you' Party. The day after she ended up in an asylum. Screaming about how you were suffering and how she had to kill herself to help you."

Rainbow gritted her teeth. After a deep breath she looked up to the ceiling. "Fluttershy disappeared a week after that. Just up and gone into the Everfree Forest. No one saw her since than, even Zecora couldn't find her anymore." Twilight felt how tears began to well and Rainbow took another deep breath. "AJ got hospitalized. She was dehydrated and had managed to destroy her vocal cords by screaming and crying."

A very faint and weak smile grazed Rainbow's face. "She handled it the best... even though she became mute." She whispered. "Rarity lost her touch. After your death she created more and more dresses but no one would buy them. Later on I read that every fashion critique complained how her dresses would only fit one type of coat. Yours."

Twilight felt more and more tears fall down her face.

"She is working in Manehatten now... for Coco Pommel." Rainbow's expression had turned dark and she stopped.

"What... what about-"

"Me?" Rainbow interrupted her again. She scoffed. "Me? The element of loyalty? I had lost every reason to exist. I couldn't do anything to help my friends. None of them wanted my help and it... it crushed me." She sobbed. "I felt useless and alone. No one cared what I had to deal with. I developed a drinking problem, started fights and after some years I..." She sat down, looking at her hooves as more tears fell. "I never..." She gulped. "I never wanted any of this to happen." Her voice became empty again. "I was thrown into prison after a bar fight... I... I..." She looked away.

She snapped back at Twilight. "It was an accident! I never wanted to kill that stallion!" She screamed.

Twilight gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves.

"I never wanted any of this..." Rainbow hid her face behind her hooves. Heavy sobs echoed through the room. "And then... he showed up."

Something changed. Twilight was suddenly sitting right in front of the throne, looking up to see a man, Rainbow was lying on his lap. He was dressed in a morning coat, a bright orange shirt and purple pin-stripe trouser. His bloodied mouth was twisted into a grin as he petted Rainbow.

Twilight gasped. She remembered him.

"Good day, Twilight." His soft and melancholic voice echoed through the room. "And welcome to your personal nightmare."

"Who.. who are you?"

"'And he asked him, 'What is thy name?' And he replied, 'My name is Legion, for we are many''."

Twilight's eyes widened again. She was too shocked to even think.

Rainbow sat up, jumping off Legion's lap, she began to circle around Twilight. "He came... and safed me. He freed me from the pathetic life I lived, waiting for death in that dark cell. He gave me a reason to exist, something no one, not even Celestia managed to do." Her tears were long gone and she smiled. "Oh and while we're at it. Celestia went missing too. Luna is sitting on the throne right now."

Twilight looked at her friend.

"What happened to you?" She asked, too scared to hear the answer.

"To me?" She raised a brow. "I was freed. Freed from myself."

"I don't recognize you anymore!" Twilight sobbed. "What happened?" She pleaded. "Please..."

Rainbow's hoof crashed into Twilight's face, sending her flying through the room.

"Please?" Rainbow laughed. "There is nothing you can do Twilight. I understand now. Legion showed me another way. No one, not you, not Celestia, not even Tirek can take this away from me anymore."

Twilight sat up, holding her jaw.

"I'm finally free." Rainbow whispered. "Free to do as I please. To live by my own rules."

"Even if it means killing innocent ponies?" Twilight screamed at her.

Rainbow shook her head. "No Twilight. Legion isn't interested in Equestria. He wants Earth or whatever it's name is. I'm just one of his judges. I'm sitting at his side, I'm his left hand, leading the killing blow to the sickness that is humanity, the arc that will blind their eyes and free them from their frail existence." She began to laugh, a laugh Twilight never heard before, high pitched and manic.

"What happened to your loyalty Rainbow?" She shook her head. "You betrayed yourself!"

"I. AM. LOYALTY!" Rainbow shouted. "I was loyal to you and our friends, even to Celestia. And look what happened. They left me to rot the moment you were gone."

Twilight stood up. "You make me sick Rainbow."

Rainbow scoffed. "Suit yourself." She lowered herself to a crawl, ready to pounce. "And now di-"

Legion cleared his throat.

Rainbow flinched, looking at him with an uncomfortable expression. "Do I have to?"

Legion nodded.

"But it's so laaaaaame." She complained.

Legion stared Rainbow down.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Fine! Whatever!" She groaned. "For we are many! There! You happy now?"

Author's Note

Not much to say.

I'm afraid I lost some of my touch, the chapter feels weird again but not as bad as the one before. Maybe you guys can tell me if I'm right or wrong.

Oh and by the way, I will split the ending into two parts, just like the game. So yeah... have fun with that, I guess.

Well...

Whatever...

See ya next chapter.