Lost for Life

by ShadowCrystal

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Soarin, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Sad, Romance, King Sombra
Length: 11428

The Crystal War is at its peak, the battles getting more fierce and bloody. Rainbow isn't about to give up, but the world is about to crumble down on her.

The Crystal War is getting more dangerous day by day, the fights becoming bloodier and more fierce. Rainbow isn't one to give up, even in the most hopeless situations, but she doesn't know, the world is about to crumble down on her.

Inspired by the cover art and written for Dragonfoxgirl's SoarinDash/QuibbleDash Contest

Published 2016-09-04 18:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-09-04 18:30:01 UTC

The First and Last Chapter

Lost for Life

Rainbow Dash watched the busy scene with bored eyes. Ponies were running around, tending to the weak and injured, fixing up broken armor, swords, or shields, and forging new weapons for the soldiers.

As much she wouldn't admit it, Rainbow would rather be fighting at the battle grounds then just sitting around and doing nothing. This was the exact opposite of what the other soldiers wanted to do.

But after all, Rainbow wasn't like the other soldiers. She had qualities that none of them had. In the history of soldiers, there had never been one quite like her.

She would never give up, even if she was in the most hopeless of situations. She was strong, and was like a killing machine. But the part that shone most from her was her loyalty. Rainbow refused to abandon her friends and family, even if it was the only way to save herself. She would risk her own life to save a pony.

Rainbow's eyes became glassy, staring, but not focusing on the scene. She was thinking about the shocking event that had happened today.

When the soldiers had woken up, they had discovered many tents were deserted. After a few minutes, it soon became clear that fifteen to twenty soldiers had fled in the night, scared for their own lives. There was no reason to be angry. It was obvious that there would be ponies who would leave, especially after-

" Hey, Dashieeee!!!" A high-pitched voice shouted into Rainbow's left ear, breaking her from her train of thought.

Wincing from the sound, she turned her head to see a pink pony with a straight hot-pink (which was once upon another Equestria fluffy and puffy) mane.

"Hi, Pinkie," Rainbow replied, to the pony's screech. Pinkie was one of Rainbow's few friend's, and she was one of the best soldiers. Pinkie's sister, Maud, was soldier in the war, and she was also RD's friend.

Speaking of Maud, she was right behind Pinkie, immersed in a small and boring book, which read, "Rocks are Friends."

"Hi, Maud."

Maud barely even looked up. "Hello, Rainbow Dash."

Pinkie took a seat next to Rainbow and wrapped a hoof around her neck. "How are you holding up, Dashie?" Pinkie asked, using Dash's pet name, which she hated.

Dash pushed Pinkie's hoof off her neck, staring out at the battle place where they would be fighting soon, and sighed.

"I'm fine," she lied immediately. She was actually worried, tired, annoyed, and angry. Those were a lot of emotions to keep in, and they weren't the best mix.

Pinkie furrowed her brow, as she could sense that Rainbow wasn't letting out the truth. "Are you sure? You don't seem like it."

"What? Of course, I'm fine!"

Pinkie gave her a look before shrugging and dropping the subject.

Rainbow stood up, and then said, "Well... I'm just going to go... and you know....." she didn't finish her sentence and dashed off, leaving the two Pie sisters to do whatever they were doing.

As she neared the place she slept, she slowed down and opened the door.

She didn't expect to run face-first into a mass of ice blue fur.

"Hey, Dash."

Rainbow immediately recognized the voice.

She backed up, and then her face lit up. "Soarin! You're okay!" she threw her hooves around his neck and hugged him. Soarin chuckled and hugged her back, and then they broke apart.

"Of course I'm okay. Did you think I would die and leave you alone in this world?"

Rainbow smiled and blushed slightly, but either Soarin didn't notice, or decided to be nice and not point it out.

"So, your wing, is it-" she stopped and glanced at his left side, and then left out a sigh of relief.

His wing was wrapped up with white bandages, but nothing bad had happened, like....

"It's fine!!" she said happily.

He nodded, "Unlike...." he stopped, because Rainbow's wing was tricky subject to tread on. Last time, a new recruit had asked Rainbow what had happened to her wing, he had ended up at the infirmary.

However, for a reason that no one knew, Rainbow didn't mind talking to Soarin about her wing and other injuries that she had suffered from.

"It's okay." Dash said.

Soarin nodded awkwardly, shuffling around and fidgeting with his hooves as if he didn't really know what to do or say.

The situation was only getting more awkward, and finally, Dash couldn't stand it anymore and broke the silence. "So.... You heard about the runaway soldiers?"

Soarin nodded, glum. "Some crazy pony barged into the room the patients were staying in, started screaming about ponies running away and started sobbing that we were going to so lose."

"We are NOT going to lose!!" Rainbow said, enraged at the lack of faith.

"Yes," Soarin agreed, "We aren't going to lose. But...."

Rainbow looked at him. "But, what?"

Soarin hoof went to the back of his neck as he tried to get out what he wanted to say. But it was hard, especially when the most beautiful mare of Equestria was staring at him with her large rose eyes.

"Well.... You see... He started shakily.

Rainbow was still staring at him intently, which wasn't helping.

"I.. Wanted... To..."

Dash gave an exasperated sigh. "Come on, Soarin. Just spit it out!"

"I'm trying to, but you staring at me isn't helping, it's just making me more nervous!"

Rainbow's mouth became a round "O" and Soarin realized what he said.

"Eeep!!" he squeaked, hoping he hadn't made himself look like a loser.

Surprisingly, Rainbow had a smile on her face, and she had a small blush on her. "Fine, I'll stop staring at you, so I don't make you nervous." she teased him, making his face flush.

"Now what did you want to say?"

Right, now he could concentrate and not say anything stupid.

"I wanted to say, I know we won't lose the war, but in case...." he frantically searched for the right thing to say. "In case... Anything happens... I don't want to... Lose you..."

Rainbow's eyes widened, the blush on her was very visible.

"I-I-I," she stuttered, trying to get herself together. Outside, she looked like a stuttering mess, but inside, she was mentally slapping and scolding herself.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Dash! Say something before he thinks you're some type of weirdo!

She took a deep breath, and then continued, hoping whatever she was going say wasn't going sound creepy or sappy.

"I-I don't want to lose you either, Soarin, and I just wanted to say, even if this sounds creepy or sappy, that you are what has kept me going in this war, and I would do anything to protect you." she stopped here, letting Soarin register everything she had said.

A slow smile crept onto Soarin's face and he chuckled softly, not bothering to hide the pink flush on him. "Well, I guess we have similar..." he searched for a word other than "feelings."

"....Views in each other."

Rainbow decided that she wanted to go as far as possible from this conversation, so she brought up the latest battle, which was when Soarin had injured his wing.

"So.. What did you think of Sombra's little... Proclamation?" she asked him.

"Well, I didn't record his speech into my mind, as I was busy trying not to die, but why don't you grind it into my head again?"

"Okay!! I can FEEL the sarcasm from here!" she joked, before her face turning serious.

"It was actually really frightening the way he, well..." she started to tell the entire scene to Soarin, who hadn't been joking about trying not to die.

3 days ago

Rainbow coughed, trying to clear the dust from her throat and nose. All she could hear around her was the clanging and screeching of armor and the ear-splitting battle cries of "FOR EQUESTRIA!" and "FOR CELESTIA!".

Celestia's army was suffering. They had lost some of their best ponies, and they were close to retreating. Most ponies wanted to retreat, but Rainbow wasn't going to look like a pathetic pony.

She still had faith that they could win. There four best soldiers were still on their hooves. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Maud, and Soarin.

Her mind had a strategy; but in order to pull it off, she would have to leave the front line, which meant she would have to leave her friends...

But they had to win! And a small abandonment of her loyalty wouldn't do affect anything, right?

She gave a quick glance around her, looking for an easy route to get to Sombra.

Ha!!! There!!!

Rainbow was about to run for it, when she felt a hoof on her shoulder.

Spinning round, ready to punch the pony in the face, she immediately stopped when she saw that the pony was Soarin.

His face was covered in small scratches, nothing too major, but his left leg and chest weren't looking too good. He was limping, which meant he had possibly broken a bone.

His chest had a gash on it and blood was spewing out. Rainbow winced. That looked bad.

Soarin didn't seem to be caring about the wound on his chest. He squinted at Rainbow, before asking, "Where are you going?"

"Well...." In a minute (while punching ponies in the face), she had explained her plan.

Shocked, Soarin shook his head. "You can't do that, it's too dangerous!!"

"It's the only choice I have," Rainbow said grimly. "Otherwise...."

".....We're going to have to retreat." Soarin finished for her.

He bucked a pony that was about to swing at him and turned back to Rainbow. "So what's the plan?"

That took Rainbow aback. "I'm the only one who's going to-" she was cut off by Soarin who had covered her mouth with his hoof.

"No protests. I'm going to help you no matter what."

"Fine. Come one!!" in a second, Rainbow had flown up into the sky, leaving Soarin in her dust. He coughed from the dirt, before zooming after her.

Once she was up high enough, she stopped and looked at the ground. From here, the ponies looked like a dots.

"Are... We... High enough?" Soarin asked as he hovered next to her, wheezing.

She nodded and then quickly did her calculations. From here, if she could position herself perfectly, she would be able to a sonic boom, which could knock all the enemies back to their base, which would keep Sombra's army at bay for at least two days.

Where is Sombra?

As if he had read her mind, Soarin said, "He's right over there."

Looking toward the direction he was pointing, Rainbow caught sight of the wicked king. Sombra was all the way in the back, shooting his evil magic, crystallizing ponies, and if they were still alive, he would capture them, and turn them evil.

Watching from above, Rainbow felt a surge of anger and urge to go and hurt him as much as she could.

What a coward! Rainbow thought angrily. All the way at the back, using ponies as shields!

"Are you okay, RD?" Soarin asked Rainbow, who had been staring at Sombra with an expression that could kill for an entire minute without blinking.

She snapped out of her trance and looked at Soarin with an expression of pure determination.

"Let's do this."

Without another word, she dove down, heading straight at Sombra. Soarin took off after her, dodging arrows that came after him as he neared the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that a air cone was forming around Rainbow as she kept on going faster. The only problem was, if Sombra looked up, he would see her coming at him, and he could easily kill her. Which was what Soarin wasn't going to let happen.

He dived straight in front of Sombra, wincing as he crystallized a pony into a black, jagged, crystal.

Sombra caught sight of Soarin hovering in front of him, and a sly smile made its way across his face.

One of the best soldiers was right in front of him carelessly, he must've been an idiot.

A plan ran through Sombra's black mind, a completely sinister, Sombra-level plan.

He could see, right next to Soarin, was large boulders piled on top of each other. If he took out one tiny rock..... Soarin would be crushed.

His horn lit up black, and a strand of magic floated toward a small stone in the middle of the large rocks. Just as the magic was about to pull out the pebble, he felt something above him and looked up.

What he saw made his eyes widen.

Above him, in a speed he had never seen in his immortal life, a pony was diving right down him. Too late, Sombra realized what was going on, the pony crashed past the sound barrier, and right into him.

The shockwaves knocked him back, and to Sombra's dismay, his entire army was pushed back by the force.

But something was different. This didn't seem like a sonic boom. Sombra looked up, and his unspoken question was answered.

The pegasus was still flying, and shooting behind her was a glittering rainbow. The sight of the horrid thing blinded him, and he staggered. Without another word or command, he turned swiftly turned and galloped out of the battleground but not before using his true voice, one made of darkness, boomed over the entire ground.

"SSSSILLY PONIES, THINKING YOU CAN WIN. THE NEXT TIME WE MEET, I PROMISSSE YOU THAT IT WILL BE THE WORST DAY OF YOU PUNY LIVES, AND I PROMISSSE ALL THOSE YOU LOVE WILL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU."

A simple speech with a deadly meaning.

His earlier target, Soarin, after going over the shock of both the rainboom and Sombra's speech (which he couldn't hear because of the ringing in his ears), was jumping and whooping. "It worked!!! It worked!!! It worked even better than we thought!!! SHE MADE A SONIC RAINBOOM!!!"

Amid all his cheering, he suddenly froze, because of two things.

The rainboom had obviously taken all of Rainbow's energy, which meant she would crash down onto the ground and... Die...

Behind Soarin, he could hear a faint rumbling that was getting louder. Which could only mean...

He slowly turned, and was met with a pile of rocks. More like boulders. And they were shaking which meant that they would crash down and crush him. He had to get out of here, NOW!

He flapped his wings as hard as he could and sped as fast as he could. His eyes, though, were at the sky, watching Rainbow. Sure enough, he could see that her wing flaps were getting slower and slower, until they completely wore out, and she fainted.

He started to go even faster, but deep inside, he knew it wasn't enough. He couldn't save Rainbow and himself. But he had to try. Putting on an extra burst of speed, Soarin zoomed through the falling rocks, zig-zagging and dodging as they tried to crush him.

Almost... There!

With another burst of speed, he stretched out his forelegs....

...And caught Rainbow.

Yes!

Before he could even congratulate himself, two boulders fell, one on top of his wing, crashing him to the ground, another landed on his front leg, and he cried out in pain. Right before he blacked out, he protectively wrapped his free legs around Rainbow, shielding her from anything that could hurt her.

Then everything went black.

Flashback from battle over

"...And then I woke up and found myself being hugged by you," Rainbow finished, her face slightly red from the last part.

Soarin cracked a smile, not at all embarrassed. "In case I died, I had to hug you for the last time"

"Shut up, Skies."

"If you say so, Captain!" Soarin saluted, earning a punch from Rainbow.

"So..." Rainbow stared out at the place that she would be soon be fighting at. "Today's battle is going to be especially hard, with the decrease of ponies..."

"Yes, it will be. Which is why both of will have to fight extra hard."

Rainbow nodded wordlessly and for a few minutes just stared out at the sky, before something in her mind clicked.

"Wait... Both of us?" She turned to face Soarin. "You're... You're not... You're not fighting!"

Soarin avoided her gaze and stared straight ahead. "I never said I wasn't going to."

"But-but-but your wing and leg are injured! You can't fight! You'll die!"Rainbow quickly covered her mouth as she realized what she said at the end.

Soarin sighed deeply. "It's okay. But we're going to need all the ponies we can get, and I have to go out there."

"No, you don't!" Rainbow said furiously. "You're going to stay here, and-and." Rainbow flung her hooves around Soarin, catching him off guard.

"Please, Soarin, don't go out there! I don't want to lose you!" Rainbow broke down completely, crying into Soarin's chest. He overcame his shock and gently hugged her back.

"Rainbow, I'm going to be fine, nothing will happen to me." he tried to reassure her and failed. Rainbow didn't answer him, still crying.

"Dashie, don't cry," Soarin put a hoof under her chin and lifted her head up. "Please?"

Rainbow's eyes were swimming with tears, and streams of them were still pouring down her face and onto him.

"I'm sorry, Soarin."

The apology took Soarin aback. "Sorry? Rainbow-what for?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe for bringing you to help me with my plan, Sombra almost killed you and you didn't realize, also, my dumb sonic rainboom caused an avalanche?" she said bitterly.

Soarin frowned. "Those were not your fault, Rainbow. It had to be done. Sombra's army would have slaughtered us alive if you didn't. And none of us even knew you could do a rainboom."

Now, Rainbow sighed. "I know, it's just... Sometimes I feel like... It's because of me that we lose or fail. Like... I should be trying harder, I'm not giving it my best."

"What? You are our best warrior! Without you..." Soarin reached out and pushed a strand of hair on her face behind her ear, causing her to blush. "...We wouldn't be here."

A small smile was visible on Rainbow's tear-stained face. "Well, if you weren't with me, I would have been dead by now, the number of times you had to save my skin."

"That's because you're really reckless. I mean, is running straight at Sombra a good idea?" Soarin joked, recalling the event that had happened during the seventh battle.

Rainbow chuckled weakly. "I guess not, but it seemed pretty brilliant then, not straight down stupid like it does now."

Soarin had to laugh at that.

From somewhere, a voice shouted out. At first, the voice was muffled, and then it kept on getting louder as the pony drew nearer to them. Finally, the pony came close enough for them to hear what he (or she?) was saying. "ATTENTION! OUR WARRIORS, GET ARMORED! WE WILL BE THE BATTLEGROUND IN NO LESS THAN 36.4567 MINUTES!"

The pony kept on running, and soon they couldn't hear him/her. Soarin and Rainbow looked at each other, without saying anything, making the situation awkward.

"So..." Soarin kicked dust-up with his hoof. "I'm going to go... Get armored up. Meet ya!"

He ran to the armory, behind him, he heard Rainbow call, "Wait, Soarin!" He decided to pretend that he hadn't heard her and ran into the storage.

His feelings for Rainbow had always been of love, even when he tried to convince himself that it was just friendly feelings.

Whenever he would talk with her, when she would smile at him, he would feel his heart racing. He loved her amethyst eyes, vivid rainbow hair, and her tough personality. He admired her loyalty, loved and adored every aspect of her. But no one would be able to tell that they hated each other at first. The first time they had met wasn't smooth.

Flashback

Soarin edged his way carefully out of the room, he didn't like this place at ALL. It was full of hostile ponies who glared at him when he passed them.

Almost there!

If he could just go little bit more-

Thump!

Thunk!

Of course, he had ran straight into another pony.

“Ow…” Soarin got up, rubbing his head, before looking around. Who did he run into?

“You know,” a voice came from under him, “It would be nice if you could, GET OFF ME?”

Soarin immediately jumped off of the pony he had been on top of.

The pony, who was a pegasus mare,, got up in a flash and turned toward Soarin. He shrunk back slightly, namely because her glare was ten times worse than the other’s.

She had short but vivid rainbow hair, a cyan coat, and striking amethyst eyes. Her body had many injuries, starting from a metal wing to a slash on top and under one of her eyes.

“S-s-s-sorry! I didn’t mean to-I was trying to-“

The rainbow-maned mare seemed to become even more annoyed and ignored his stuttering apologies.

“Shut it, you’re annoying. If you were any smarter, I’d advise you to stay away from me, unless you want to get beaten up, newbie.” With that, she turned and walked away from him, toward a pink earth pony.

“Who was that?” Soarin whispered to himself, when somepony next to him answered,

“Well, looks like you’ve met Rainbow Dash.”

Soarin yelped and for the second time, jumped from surprise. Next to him, there was another pegasus, this one was a stallion, and he had a black coat and his hair was styled in a mohawk.

Soarin decided to ignore that fact that this pony had eavesdropped on him, and asked, “Rainbow Dash? Her name is Rainbow Dash?”

The stallion rolled his eyes. “No, it’s the name of that pony.” He pointed at an earth pony with a very drab and dull mane and coat. “Of course, I meant her.”

Soarin glanced at the pony whose name was Rainbow Dash. “She’s really….Scary?”

The other pony laughed bitterly. “You could say that.” He stuck out his hoof to Soarin. “Name’s Thunderlane. Yours?”

Soarin reached out and shook Thunderlane’s hoof. “Soarin Skies.”

“New recruit here I presume?” Thunderlane asked, and Soarin nodded. “Well, you’re in for a wild ride.”

Thunderlane directed his attention back to Rainbow. “I would advise you to keep out of her way. She’s…. Well, you saw how she acts when ponies get in her way.

“Yeah.”

Both of them were quiet for a minute when Thunderlane broke the silence by asking a very random and blunt question.

“She’s pretty isn’t she?” he asked Soarin.

“Who? Rainbow Dash?”

He was given a nod.

“Well….” Soarin cocked his head Dash, observing her.

“In a super intimidating I’m-going-to-kill-you-way, yeah.” He told Thunderlane, making him chuckle.

As they watched Rainbow, she trotted away from the earth pony, and then a pony accidently slipped in front of her.

The pony was rewarded by a punch on the nose, making Thunderlane and Soarin flinch.

“Was she… Always like this?” Soarin asked.

“Well, yes, but…” he hesitated for a second, but then continued. “We used to be friends way back, before the Crystal War.” he said, and Soarin raised his eyebrow.

“Just friends!” Thunderlane hastily added. “Nothing more.”

“Uh-huh, and I’m supposed to believe that you never wanted to be something more?”

“Okay, maybe I did a teensy bit, but that’s not important,” Thunderlane admitted.

“Anyways, she was still hardcore then, but not like this,” he gestured to Dash, who had just punched another pony in the face. “Ouch.”

“And then… The Crystal War started, and we… Broke apart. We were separated, and when we did meet again, she had changed too much. As she said, it was better off without us being friends.”

Soarin could see the pain on Thunderlane’s face as he said the last part, and he felt bad for him.

“So that was the end of your friendship? You two never talked again?”

“No, we never talked again,” Thunderlane said sadly. “But… I still, well,” he shuffled his hooves nervously. “I hoped that she still cared for me."

Soarin didn't say anything.

Thunderlane looked around a bit, before turning back to Soarin.

“So see you around?”

“Sure!”

Both of them wing-slapped, and Thunderlane flew away. Soarin sighed. A new friend on his first day, good! A super hot enemy on his first day? Not good!

He turned and left the place, deciding to get some rest.

Flashback over

Soarin slipped into his armor with a bit of difficulty, and took his helmet in his hooves. His eyes had watered from thinking about Thunderlane, as he was no more. In the same battle that he had died, Soarin had saved Rainbow's life, thus earning her friendship.

Flashback

Soarin squinted, not being able to see clearly from all the dust. He could hear the clanging of ponies bashing their heads together, trying to kill the other ponies. From somewhere above him, he heard a raspy feminine voice yell, "PONIES! GO DOWN! ATAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!"

He looked up to see who it was even though he already knew it was Rainbow Dash.

He dived down sharply, following her orders, as she was his commander. He narrowly dodged an arrow aimed at his heart, and it grazed past his leg.

He managed to kick a few enemies in the head, leaving them bleeding and dying. He heard a voice screaming insults at Sombra, many which made him cringe. Of course, the pony who was cursing at Sombra was none other than Rainbow Dash.

She was fighting three ponies all at the same time, all of which were bigger and stronger than her. Soarin, even in the midst of battle couldn't help but wonder how she fought and yelled at Sombra at the same time.

Gripping the small but deadly blade he had managed to secure from a pony, he stabbed a pony in the chest, and he fell to the ground bleeding and writhing in pain. Soarin didn't even wince. He had seen far gruesome things.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. A few twenty feet away from him, he could see Thunderlane fighting, but he wasn't looking so good. He was still up, but Soarin could see that his body was weakening from all the blows, and soon, he would lose his guard.

He HAD to help Thunderlane. Without a second thought, he zoomed off toward Thunderlane, but just as he was about to get to him, he heard a bloodcurdling shout.

"GET... AWAY... FROM... ME!!" Soarin whipped his head at the direction of the scream, and he immediately spotted the pony who had screamed.

Rainbow Dash, the pony who wouldn't let anyone beat her in something, looked horrible. Her body had large wounds and slashes like someone had swiped at her with a sword over and over again, and her rainbow mane and cyan coat was dripping with scarlet blood. Her face had the feeling that he had never seen on her:

Pain.

She was trying to fight, but her efforts were not helping herself. Somehow, her eyes turned at his direction and locked eyes with him. Soarin didn't know what to do. At his right, his best friend was going to be killed, and on his left, the army's best warrior was getting slaughtered alive. Not to mention, he always had a sort of crush on her, but he had never admitted it.

Rainbow's eyes were still locked with his, and he knew what she was trying to tell him. She was pleading. Pleading for him to save her. And then Rainbow collapsed. She was a goner.

Soarin didn't have any time. Without a thought on what he was doing, he flew as fast as his wings could carry him to Rainbow.

He barely made it.

Just as he approached her, a pony was holding up a dagger, and thrust it down, stabbing Rainbow.

Or would have, if it wasn't for someone behind him stabbed him before. The other attackers barely had time to be confused when all of them were sliced up by a certain blue stallion.

Soarin rushed over to Rainbow, who was crumpled on the ground, and scooped her up. Rainbow seemed to be in the middle of consciousness and unconsciousness, because she it her hooves around Soarin's neck and held onto him firmly.

Soarin felt heat rush into his face and started scolding himself in his head. Stupid Soarin! Why are you blushing in the middle of a battle?!

He needed to get out of here, before Rainbow could get even more hurt. As she was the commander, the enemy would try to kill her, and that wouldn't be good.

Wait, Thunderlane!

He looked around, but his friend was nowhere to be seen.

No. he can’t be…

Tears welled up and threatened to fall, but Soarin didn’t have time to cry. He had to get Rainbow safety. He barreled off, Rainbow clutching on to his neck.

A day after the battle

Soarin sat watching the sunset. He was still in shock from what had happened yesterday. His best and only friend, had died.

He couldn’t believe it. He had even thought a few times that it would have been better if he had saved Thunderlane instead of Rainbow.

Rainbow…

He hadn’t seen her since he had taken her to the infirmary. The doctors had been devastated about the state she was in. They had even thought that they might’ve need to bring Celestia to heal her, but they weren’t sure.

A voice broke Soarin from his thoughts. “Hey.”

Soarin spun round, and he was met by a certain rainbow-maned pegasus.

“Rainbow!!! You’re fine!” without thinking, he had gotten up and was hugging her.

He expected Rainbow to punch him or push him away, but to his immense surprise, a pair of arms wrap around him and hugged him tight.

He felt Rainbow’s head press against his chest, and he was surprised to feel a tear slide onto his chest.

“Rainbow?” he gently peeled himself away from of her. Now he could see her face clearly. Her eyes were puffy and red, as if she had been crying.

“Are you okay?”

Rainbow didn’t answer, and instead silently trotted to the place Soarin had be sitting at before she had arrived and sat down. Soarin went over to her and sat down next to her, both of them silent, until Rainbow said,

“Thunderlane…. Is dead?”

Soarin took in a deep breath. Of course, this was what Rainbow wanted to talk about.

“Yes… I’m sorry… This is all my fault.” Soarin looked away, not wanting her to see that he had gotten teary-eyed. He felt a hoof on his shoulder, and faced Rainbow.

“What do you mean… Your fault?”

“Well… Both of you were about to be killed…. And… I saved… You…”

The loudest silence ever followed his statement.

“I can’t believe it.” He heard Rainbow say, her voice cracking. “He’s…. Gone.”

Soarin couldn’t help but ask, “Was there…” before, he could finish his sentence, Rainbow interrupted him.

“No! There was absolutely NOTHING between us, thank you very much!”

Soarin backed up slightly, putting his hooves in the up. “Sheesh! No need to get hostile on me! Just asking!”

Rainbow glared at him, but then looked down. She sighed, and looked down at her hooves. “It’s just… Even though we both stopped being friends… I still cared for him. I didn’t want him to…” a tear rolled down her cheek. “Die…”

Before he knew what he was doing, for the second time that day, he wrapped not only his hooves around her, but also his wings.

Rainbow’s widened at this sudden movement, and she struggled in his grip for a second, but then she gave in and leaned against his fur. Both of the sat in silence, watching the sun set and the moon and stars, until Rainbow spoke up.

“Soarin, I just wanted to say… Thanksforsavingme.” She said, speeding up the last part.

“What was that?”

“I said, Thanks-for-saving-me.”

“Could you say that a bit louder?”

“THANKS FOR SAVING ME!!!” Rainbow’s voice reached to a shout, and she was steaming, which made Soarin laugh.

“WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?” Rainbow shouted furiously, making Soarin only laugh harder.

“You’re cute. Especially when you’re screaming with that adorable voice of yours.” teased Soarin.

Rainbow face flushed, from both embarrassment and anger. Before she could yell at him again, he pressed a feather onto her mouth to stop her from talking.

“I would love to hear your voice, but I’m afraid my ears are going to blow up.”

Rainbow glared at Soarin, before leaning against Soarin again.

Again, after a few minutes, Rainbow said, “Soarin?”

Soarin looked down at the mare in his wings and arms. “Yes?”

Rainbow was squirming nervously in his grip, but she wasn’t trying to get out.

“I was thinking…” she squirmed a bit more, before continuing. “Maybe… We could…”

Soarin, suddenly alert, looked into her eyes. “We could?”

“…Start again? Become… Friends?”

“Friends?” he looked at her seriously, that Rainbow hurriedly said, “I mean, I know I’ve been really rude to you and-” She quieted by Soarin again, who was smiling widely at her.

“I’d love to be friends.”

“Yay!!! I mean great! I mean, good!” Rainbow was trying to hide her happiness, but was failing miserably in the process.

Soarin chuckled, and opened his wings and released her from his embrace. “Nice talking to you, but I’ve got to go,” he gestured to the night sky. “Need sleep.”

Rainbow nodded wordlessly, and shivered slightly, since Soarin had been keeping her warm.

“See you.”

“Bye, Soarin.”

Flashback over

Soarin finally finished putting on all his armor correctly, and was about to put on his helmet, but stopped. He’d wear it before they started fighting.

He trotted out of the changing room, and bumped into a pony. The pony punched him, but luckily on the chest, not on his face.

“Oh, there you are Soarin! I’ve been looking for you!” Rainbow’s voice came from inside her helmet. She pulled it off, revealing her rainbow hair, which was probably the brightest thing in the building, as it was always dark and dank there.

"You know, you should really look before you are about to punch someone."

Rainbow smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that."

“When are we going to go out to the battlefield?” Soarin asked Rainbow.

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think in like ten minutes.”

“Oh.”

“I wanted to say,” Rainbow started. “I know I can’t convince you to not fight, but…” for the second time that day, Rainbow’s eyes filled up with tears and they spilled out down her face.

Soarin immediately panicked. Sure, he had seen her cry a few times before, but he never knew what to do when she broke down suddenly, like now.

He quickly hugged her, and she sobbed into his chest.

“Pl-ple-please, Soarin. Please don’t go out there. Please….”

Hearing Rainbow like this broke his heart.

“Please don’t fly…”

“Rainbow…”

“Please… Don’t.”

It took all of Soarin’s strength to push Rainbow away from him.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow, I have to.”

Rainbow was still crying, but her sobs had quieted down. “I… Know…. It’s…. Just… I have a feeling that something will go wrong.”

“Go wrong? What could possibly go wrong with ‘The Great Rainbow Dash around?’?” Soarin said, making Rainbow crack a weak smile that disappeared a second after.

“I guess…”

Soarin lifted Rainbow’s head. “Aww… Come one. Where’s the Rainbow Dash I know?”

Rainbow sighed sadly and didn’t say anything.

“Before… We go… Out to the field,” Rainbow started, “I wanted to give you something.”

“What’s that?” Soarin asked her.

“This.” Rainbow leaned forward and pressed her lips against Soarin’s.

His wings shot out reflexively in surprise, his mind was whirring around, trying to figure out what was going on.

Rainbow Dash was kissing him. Kissing him.

With shock still hovering him, he pushed back, deepening the kiss. Rainbow’s lips were soft, just as he’d imagined. Neither of them wanted this to end, but it would have to. They would have to fight, and they both knew it.

After a time to short for Soarin, Rainbow broke the contact and pulled back, much to his disappoint.

Tears were still pouring down her face but she was smiling.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for months.”

Soarin smiled back at her. “Me too.”

Right then, the moment was broken by someone in the back.

A mare with a white coat and black and white ombre hair, and she was armored up and was holding her helmet with her hoof. She had a sad smile, as if she had been watching them.

Immediately, Rainbow drew away from Soarin, pretending that nothing had happened between them.

“Yes?” Rainbow said in her don’t-mess-with-me-voice. The mare, however, to her credit, looked unfazed.

“Commander Rainbow Dash, we will be marching to the fields now. You must come right this minute. Oh, and you to.” She nodded to Soarin, who was thinking about what had just happened.

“Yes, we will be join the army right this minute.”

The mare nodded, but Soarin could’ve sworn that she gave him a wink, and then looked at Rainbow. She trotted out the place, letting the door close with a loud bang, leaving both of them alone.

“I guess we’ll have to go now…”

Soarin nodded, his insides deflating, but he didn’t show it. “I wish we didn’t.”

Rainbow didn’t say anything, and was about to slip on her helmet, when she stopped and turned toward Soarin.

She pressed her lips onto Soarin’s again, this time she pulled back after a few seconds.

She slipped on her helmet, so all Soarin could see was her magenta eyes. Soarin followed suit, putting on his own helmet.

“Let’s go.”

It didn't take long for Rainbow to take out three of the enemies top soldiers out.

"Ha! Take that! And that! And that!" She shouted, a crazy smile on her face.

Soarin couldn't help but think how attractive Rainbow looked while fighting, especially with her short hair and scratches and flecks of blood on her face (Nopony knew where her helmet had gone).

Since he was distracted, he didn't notice a pony charging at him with a sharp and deadly blade. The pony was about to plunge it into his heart, when a rainbow streak hurtled out of nowhere and killed him with his own sword.

She then turned back pounced on Soarin with a dagger directly a inch above of his chest.

"W-w-wait!" Soarin sputtered. "It's me! Soarin!"

"Oh." Rainbow lowered the dagger. "What do you think you are doing? You almost killed!"

Soarin chuckled nervously. "He he.... I might have gotten distracted..."

"Distracted? What could possibly distract you during a battle?" she demanded.

"Err..."

Luckily, he was saved the embarrassment, because Rainbow huffed and got off him.

“Whatever it is, don’t get distracted again.” She flew off, leaving a rainbow trail that soon faded away.

Rainbow was right, he couldn’t get distracted again, our warriors were outnumbered by such a large number that Rainbow had refused to tell anyone.

Instead, she had said, standing up tall,

“We might be a few, but the bond that we carry is greater than Sombra’s. We have something that he does not have. Friendship and Love, the greatest things in this universe.”

Her proclamation was met by loud cheers.

Soarin cut through a few more ponies wiping the blood off his sword. He could see that Rainbow was-wait a second, what was she doing?

Rainbow was working her way to the back of the enemy's army, slicing and stabbing ponies left and right.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Soarin knew exactly what Rainbow was going to do.

She was trying to get to Sombra, and was going to try to take him out herself. He had to get to her, now.

Soarin started making a mad dash toward, but almost immediately he was thrown off by someone slicing at his wing. Without even concentrating, he simply kicked the pony in the head and started running again.

He was about to open his wings, before remembering that his wing was injured. He cursed under his breath, but he had to get to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash...

Rainbow skewered a few more ponies, ignoring the pain in her wings and forcing them to go faster. This war would never end unless Sombra was gone, and she was the pony who was going to do the deed.

Almost there!

She could see Sombra, he was crystallizing multiple ponies, encasing them in tall, thick, black crystals. Rainbow gritted her teeth.

That jerk's going to taste own medicine soon!

Rainbow landed neatly in front of Sombra, but he didn't seem to notice her, as he was busy with piercing ponies.

Grr...

Sombra heard her. He turned toward her, and a wide smirk appeared on his face.

"Well well.... If it issssssn't... Rrrrrainbow Dash?"

"Yes it is, and I'm going to kick your butt, Sombra!"

"Ha ha. Ha ha. Ha. Ha. HAHAHAHAHAH!!!" Sombra threw his head back and started laughing. "You little-thing, think that you can defeat me? The lord of darkness? That is the silliest joke I have ever heard."

Dash glared at him, infuriated. "We'll see who a little thing after this!" She charged at him, thrusting her blade at him.

Sombra barely lit is horn up, and Dash was thrown back, which made her more angry.

"You are going to die!"

"I would like to sssssee you try..."

Sombra shot a beam of magic at her, but she jumped away.

Where did that thing go?

Sombra felt something sharp dig into his side. He gasped, and immediately acted and blasted everything around him. He only succeeded in killing many of his own soldiers.

That little...

Sombra was interrupted by a warm gooey liquid dripping on him. He realized that it was coming out of him. Rainbow had cut him bad. A big slash was across his chest and side, and blood was gushing out.

The pain seared through his body, but it would take more than that to kill Sombra.

He saw Rainbow, weaving through ponies, stabbing them, and murdering before they knew what was going on. He aimed another bolt of magic at her, but she saw it coming, and grabbed a shield, firing the magic straight back at Sombra.

Sombra eyes widened, but created a magical force to protect him. The magic bounced off, and crashed into his warriors, killing them. He could not believe it. This puny pony had just tricked him to killing his own ponies the second time. She was much more tougher than he had thought.

She will pay for thissss!!!!!

Sombra ran at Rainbow, his horn black, about to blast her to pieces. Instead of dodging him, she waited there, and at last second, pulled out her sword and held the sword in front of him, so he could run into it and get himself sliced into two.

Sombra realized this last second, and just before running into the sword, turned himself into a shadow, so he passed right through the blade without getting even a scratch.

Rainbow's expression went from shock to confusion and back to hard anger. Her eyes flickered to something to the back and she smiled, as if...

Sombra turned back, expecting to see a pony charging at him, but there was nothing there. "...?"

He felt a burning pain, and his anger flared to it's limit. That pony had tricked him again. His insides bubbling, he turned swiftly and before Rainbow could react sent his magic into her.

It zapped into Rainbow, and her eyes widened as she clutched her chest. In an instant, all of Rainbow's old wounds that had healed opened again. Blood seeped out, mixing in with her cyan fur. She winced and cried out, desperately trying to stay awake and not black out.

Sombra had a triumphant smile, as he approached Rainbow.

"Any last wordssssss?"

Rainbow's eyes flickered, and tears of pain fell slid out. She tried to talk, but only coughed, spitting blood out.

"I"M GOING TO KILL YOU!" yelled Rainbow.

Sombra smiled. "Very brave, but I'm afraid that this will be your resting place."

Something that she had thought had made her angry. Her eyes glared at him with such furiousness, it made even him a little frightend. "You're not going to be the down to kill me." she said calmly.

Oh really? Well you're right. I'm not going to kill you. My magic-"

Sombra was suddenly kicked in the guts and sent sprawling.

Rainbow Dash was up, her amethyst's flashing dangerously. She was still bleeding and limping, but she looked even stronger than when she had first attacked him.

Next to her, was another pony. When Sombra saw him, his jaw clenched. This pony was is earlier target at the last battle, and he was still alive.

Soarin...

Soarin breathed heavily, he was almost there, Rainbow was right- Soarin stopped in his tracks on what he saw.

Rainbow was on the ground, bleeding profusely. Sombra was towering over her, his horn was about to release his death magic. He couldn't hear Sombra, but whatever it was, made Rainbow angry.

Soarin watched in despair as Sombra was about to kill her, but then something happened.

Rainbow suddenly got up, and kicked Sombra, sending him back. She was panting heavily, her eyes flashing. She turned her head toward Soarin, wordlessly beckoning him to come to her.

Without hesitating, he ran to Rainbow’s side, and caught before she fell. She steadied herself, and then pushed herself away from him.

Her attention went to Sombra, who had gotten up, and was looking at Soarin with narrowed eyes.

Well, if it isssn’t….

Rainbow Dash's lover?

Rainbow stood tall, scowling at Sombra. She had lost feathers from her good wing, all her wounds had opened again, but she seemed stronger than ever. Soarin could feel her wing lightly brushing him, but Rainbow didn't notice. She was focused on Sombra, who was slowly healing.

"Give up. You have lost."

"Actually, Sombra, I think you're the one who had lost." she nodded to Soarin, and both of them ran in opposite directions.

Where did they go?

Sombra heard a flurry of feathers next to him, and saw Soarin. He aimed at him, but at that very moment, he heard a screech of metal above him, and looked up, and saw Rainbow. He forgot about Soarin, and tried to blast Rainbow, but she simply put out her metallic wing, causing the magic to bounce off and come at him.

Unlike last time, Sombra wasn't quick enough to protect himself. The dark magic hit him, and immediately he felt himself tire. His magic was strong, but since it was his own, it couldn't kill him, just weaken him considerably.

He gritted his teeth. These ponies were smart, smarter than he could have thought. He would have to trick them, just she had to him.

A perfect plan hatched in his head. From what he had seen from these ponies, they were... In love.

Love. What a feeble thing, it could be broken apart by something as simple as a "No." He could use it to his advantage, and then once these two were out of the way, he would become the supreme ruler. He was getting tired of all this war, because he knew that he would win anyways.

"Hey! Sombra!" he turned and saw Rainbow, just standing there, out in the open. She was vulnerable, and Sombra could kill her easily. He gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to follow their plan again. He knew what they were trying to do.

If they could trick him and make him think that Soarin was going to attack him, Sombra would try looking for him, and then Rainbow would be able to murder him, because he had barely any strength left.

This is not going to happen!

He didn't shoot at Rainbow, nor did he look to where Soarin was. Instead, he gathered the rest of his energy, and willed his crystals to rise.

Black crystals shot out of the ground at his feet, rising higher and higher, carrying him on top.

From down, Rainbow's eyes widened, fear visible in her pupils. She shouted something, and the other pegasus ran beside her.

Yessssss..... Thissss isss power...

Sombra could see much from here, his army was winning, and he would rule over Equestria soon.

But first, he had to take care of these little....

He summoned all his power, and from somewhere down below, the fire erupted. Flames licked up the black crystals sides, trailing up, up to Sombra and creating a wall of blazing light around him.

A sinister grin so big, threatened to split Sombra's face. This is what he was waiting for. The time to prove his actual power.

Cracks started to form at the ground below, flames leapt out from the, ready to burn alive ponies.

Rainbow Dash..

Rainbow inched back, but there was no escape. She would be fried if she stayed there, but even if she moved upwards, left or right, front or back, she would still be killed. Already the fire had singed her hair and tail, making it even shorter than it was. She blinked back tears that were coming because of the heat.

"Rainbow!"

Rainbow heard a voice call out to her. She whipped her head around, trying to see who it was.

S-S-Soarin?

She couldn't see him, but she could hear him.

"R-Rainbow!"

"H-h-here!" her voice croaked as a fresh wave of heat washed over her. The blaze was to close to her. Just a few more inches and she would be a goner.

She heard Soarin's voice again, this time louder.

"W-wait there. I'm coming!"

Rainbow squeezed herself together, curling up into a tiny ball.

Please hurry...

Suddenly, she felt cool water being poured over her. Instantly, her mind cleared, as the fire was diminished by the water.

She ran straight into Soarin, who had large burns and scorch marks over him. Rainbow, who hadn't been able to see the battleground while trapped, gasped in horror.

The entire ground was ablaze, and ponies were running, not bothering to fight. Most ponies were being caught in the flame, while a few lucky ones forgot all about fighting and instead ran as far away.

"Maud!" A shrill shout screamed, and Rainbow and Soarin immediately ran to Pinkie, who was sobbing, not caring about being burned.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow tugged at Pinkie's shoulder, trying to get her moving.

Pinkie pushed back Rainbow, and stood up. Her eyes were hollow, and her face had no emotion.

"Maud..." she said again, this time slowly. "She... Is... GONE!" Pinkie screamed the last part out, her eyes blazing as she unsheathed a knife, which to Soarin's and Rainbow's horror, was stained with blood.

But she wasn't trying to kill them. She looked slowly up at Sombra, who was laughing up on his crystal tower.

"He... He... HE KILLED MAUD!!" Pinkamena howled, and started to streak toward him.

The strangest thing was, as she ran, the fire had no effect on her. She ran straight through it, and not a millimeter of her got burned. The ground she was running in, got covered in blood.

Rainbow desperately said to Soarin, "We need to stop her!" She tried to fly, but her wings were out.

"Run then!" both of them started to sprint to Pinkamena, but she was fast, even faster than the wind. But they had to get to her. They had to.

Sombra...

He laughed up at the sight, ponies running, dying, burning...

Just like he wanted it to be.

His thought were interrupted by a stab.

"....What?!?!?!?!?"

He started shooting his magic everywhere, but there was no one there.

Sombra felt the knife dig deeper into him, and his blood spewed out.

The pain was horrible, even worse than when Rainbow had cut him.

Who is doing it?!

Sombra clutched his side, which had two long, deep, cuts. The blood ran down his side and into the fire, changing the fire color to red for a second.

"Like the feeling?" a voice whispered softly into his ear.

Sombra jumped up and looked around. Who'sss there?!"

A pony appeared, a pink one with straight dark pink hair. Her face was covered in blood, and scars starting from under her eyes to her neck was on her face. She had an insane grin on her face and her eyes were wide open, never blinking.

Sombra edged back. He had never seen somepony like this, and he was frightened. She was unnatural.

"Who are you!?"

The pony's grin widened, making her ten times more creepier.

"Who am I? More like what I am I. A serial killer. Murder. I am known as Pinkamena Diane Pie." The pony stabbed Sombra again, causing a fresh spurt of blood to spring.

Sombra tried to push her off the side, but it was as if she was immune to him. His magic went right through her, his attempts to kill her were fruitless.

Sombra struggled, as he felt his body be destroyed by Pinkamena.

"No! Stop! Stop it! I will not be destroyed by a mere pony!"

Pinkamena stopped for a second, her hollow eyes staring at Sombra.

"This is how Maud felt. This is how she felt as her body burned away, as she stared at her weak sister, who was just looking at her with horror. She was dying, but she still remembered me and said, I love you. I love you Pinkie, do not forget me. Now Maud is dead! DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!"

The pony suddenly stood stock-still, as if she had just realized that her sister was gone.

"Maud... Is.. Dead..." A single tear slipped out, and the pony disappeared.

Sombra stared at the place she had been.

What has just happened?

Rainbow Dash...

Rainbow and Soarin ran to the base of the black crystal but Pinkie was nowhere to be seen.

But then, Rainbow spotted her, she was sitting and crying.

"Soarin! There!" she shouted to him, and he nodded, understanding.

They ran to her, and Rainbow said, "Pinkie?"

She turned, and to their relief, she was back to normal, there was no unblinking eyes, no creepy knife, and no scars under her eyes.

"Pinkie, we have to go! Now!" Rainbow said urgently.

Pinkie got up, her legs wobbling, but her expression had hardened. "Let's get out of here!"

Rainbow and Soarin agreed.

Sombra...

Now, where was those two who had caused him so much trouble?

He looked down, and his eyes caught sight of a rainbow mane and tail. Next to her was Pinkie and Soarin, fleeing for this lives. Sombra snarled.

"I don't think so!"

He waited, as they kept on running, and just as they were about to escape, crystal came out of the ground, blocking their path. Only Pinkie had managed to cross, and now she was hitting the wall of crystals, yelling at Soarin and Rainbow.

"HELLO?! HELLO?! ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?!"

Rainbow shouted back, "WE'RE FINE! KEEP ON RUNNING, PINKIE! DON'T STOP!"

Pinkie's reply shot back. "NO! I'M NOT GOING TO LEAVE YOU TWO!"

"PINKIE! I SAID FLEE, AND THAT'S AN ORDER!"

That was all she need. Pinkie ran out, following Rainbow's command.

Rainbow looked up at Sombra, disgust on her face.

"Looks like the only way out is through him."

Before Soarin could stop her and make a plan, she was at Sombra's crystal.

"Hey! Hey you!"

Sombra was looking at Rainbow, a gleeful smile on his face.

"Finally! I can get the pleasure of hurting you!"

Soarin appeared next to Rainbow. "Don't you even think of touching her."

Sombra stared at Soarin for a second, before bursting out in laughter.

OH, THIS IS SO FUNNY. HOW SWEET. LOVERS LOOKING OUT FOR EACH OTHER. SUCH A WEAK PATHETIC THING, LOVE.

Rainbow yelled up to him, infuriated, "LOVE IS NOT WEAK! AND WHY DON'T YOU COME DOWN SO WE CAN SLAUGHTER YOU?"

Sombra laughed again. I AM NOT GOING TO BE THE ONE WHO IS GOING TO BE SLAUGHTERED. YOU ARE.

He shot to beams of magic and both of them, but Soarin dodged it, while Rainbow reflected it back to him, which Sombra put up a magic shield.

He was just getting warmed up. The bigger things would soon come.

He started collecting his magic into a orb, which started getting bigger as more magic went into it. He threw it at Rainbow, who ran to the left, but the orb grazed her, sending ripples of pain through her, but that wouldn't get her.

He sent a another orb at Soarin, who ducked down, but his bandaged wing got him slightly. Though he ignored it, he winced slightly.

Sombra could feel himself getting stronger, the dark magic inside of him was about to spill, he could feel it.

He would just have to wait for a few minutes...

He quickly fired a few more shots, another after each one, making it harder for them. Rainbow had already been hit a few times, but she was still on her hooves.

Soarin was very good at dodging, but he was getting weaker.

Suddenly, the magic stopped, and Rainbow and Soarin looked up, confused.

What they saw from Sombra made them gasp.

Around Sombra, the air was cracking, and sparks of light popped. Then the space around Sombra was engulfed in a brilliant black. When the light disappeared, Sombra was still standing there, but the flames that came out of his eyes were now red, and his entire eyes had turned black.

He held out his hoof, and a black flame leaped out, spreading down the crystal, to both of them. Soarin and Rainbow backed away, but the black fire kept on getting closer.

"Yesss... I can feel it... The power within me... THE POWER!"
Lightning flashed down, narrowly not hitting Dash.

"What is happening?!" Rainbow shouted, looking at Soarin.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING? YOU'LL SEE!

Sombra sent a flash at Dash but she blocked it. He did the same with Soarin, but he bolted to the right.

"This is bad."

BAD?! I AM NOT BAD... I AM EVIL!

"What... Is... HE DOING?!?!"

From above, Sombra was summoning every bit of his power, and pushing it into his horn.

His eyes were blazing, his gaze locked on Rainbow.

"GOODBYE."

He fired the entire magic at Rainbow, and her eyes widened. She couldn't do anything. It was too late.

"NO, RAINBOW!" Just as the magic was about to hit Rainbow, Soarin ran in front of her, allowing the magic to zap him instead.

His body fell limp to the ground and Rainbow stared in horror.

"SOARIN!!!!!!!!!"

She galloped to him and put her ear to his chest.

There was no heartbeat.

"NO!!!!" Rainbow howled, wrapping her hooves around him. "PLEASE WAKE UP, SOARIN!!! DON'T LEAVE ME!!!" she sobbed, seas of tears comin down.

"SOARIN!" she screamed again, "DON'T DO THIS TO ME!!! I BEG YOU!!"

From above, Sombra was about to make his final kill, Rainbow, when something stopped him.

What was it? He didn't know. As he watched Rainbow, screaming, howling, and crying, he felt something inside of him. It was nothing like he had ever felt. It was a nagging feeling, a feeling of...

Love and regret...

Regret for destroying such a strong bond of love. Sombra struggled, he had never felt like this.

Something fell on to the crystal.

Sombra looked at it closer, it was water. From his eyes.

He had... Shed a tear...

A wind blew, but it wasn't a gentle one. A harsh one, that only Sombra could feel. The wind pulled at his soul and he realized what was happening. The tiny bit of remorse that he felt, the single tear, it was all that was needed to destroy him.

He felt his soul being ripped away from him, and he faded into nothingness.

"NOOOO!!!!!" Sombra cried, his last words echoing out in every direction.

And then there was an eerie silence.

Slowly, the fire slipped back into the earth, the wide cracks closed, and the evilized ponies eye color diminished, and the helmets slipped off of their heads.

"Wh-wha-what happened?"

The ponies looked around, and realized that the entire battleground was silent and peaceful, except for a gentle wind. Their faces lit up with joy, after being trapped for such a long time.

"We're free! We are actually free!! FREEDOM!!!" All the ponies were celebrating, but there was one pony that wasn't.

Rainbow was still clutching Soarin, tears still streaming down her cheeks, and she was hopelessly begging Soarin in a voice not more than a whisper.

"Please.... Soarin... Please I beg you!

The ponies caught sight of them two and immediately stopped dancing and shouting. Mirrored expressions of alarm reflected on their faces, and then one of them spoke up, saying, "Cut the celebration for later, we have to get these two to the infirmary, and now."

2 Days later...

Rainbow sat down on her haunches, shoulders slumped, and tears falling out. She had been just released, as her wing had finished healing and her wounds were closing up.

But she didn't care about herself. The only thing she could think about was Soarin, who was in a life-or-death situation. The magic that Sombra had shot at Rainbow and Soarin had token for her, was more powerful than even Pinkamena's cutting-up rage.

Speaking about Pinkamena...

Pinkie came out, on spotting Rainbow, went and sat next to her.

Hey, Dashie. Her voice was so quiet that Rainbow couldn't even hear her, but she caught Pinkie's words. She didn't answer her, instead staring up at the starry sky.

Both of their ears were flattened against her head, but Pinkie looked a little bit more worse than Rainbow.

After all, she had lost her sister.

Maud... Rainbow couldn't believe it. She was Rainbow's best friend, along with Pinkie. Sure, she had been boring, but there was a beauty inside of her that no one but Pinkie and Rainbow saw.

"She left me a this..." Pinkie said, pulling out a sheet of dog-curled yellow paper. She hoofed it Rainbow, who took it and read it:

Dear Pinkie...

This is Maud, as you know your boring sister who just likes rocks. I'm writing this because my Maud Sense is telling me that this will be my last battle to fight in. I wanted to start by saying that I am sorry. I'm sorry for all the times you tried to get me to smile and I ignored you, leaving a frown on you face. I'm sorry that I was never the sister you wanted me to be. I'm sorry that I'm leaving you, but I can't change the future.

Keep on smiling,

Maud Pie

Pinkie was sobbing into her hooves, Rainbow was about to reach over and tell her that everything would be fine, but she stopped. Everything was not fine.

Maud had died, Soarin was dying, Rainbow almost wished that Sombra had killed her.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and Rainbow turned around to see silver eyes staring into hers. It was the pony who had told Rainbow and Soarin to go to the battlefield, but now she had a black cloak with a hoodie on.

"Could you come with me?"

Rainbow nodded, and after whispering to Pinkie where she was going. she trotted away with the white pony.

When they were a considerable distance away from Pinkie, the pony stopped and looked at Rainbow.

"I'm sorry to inform you that..." She checked a little clipboard with her, "Soarin Skies condition is confirmed a fatal."

Rainbow's heart stopped and shattered in two.

No. This can't be happening!

"But-but-but."

The white mare pulled back her hoodie, letting her black and white ombre hair cascade down, and so Rainbow could see her face better.

"I'm really sorry." The pony said. "There is nothing the doctors can do. I am very sorry." she said this with complete regret, and Rainbow knew that she was being sincere.

"It's... It's.. Okay."

"You should go say your last goodbye to him before it is too late."

Rainbow nodded, and was about to leave, when the pony stopped her.

"In case... You ever need a friend," the pony stuck out her hoof. "Angel Spirit."

Instead of taking the hoof, Rainbow hugged the mare, surprising her.

"Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow shook slightly, her hoof on the doorknob. She wasn't sure if she should open the door, in case something frightened her.

She pushed back her fears and opened the door.

Soarin was lying on the bed, his eyes closed. Rainbow rushed over to him, grabbing his hoof and squeezing it.

He didn't move a centimeter and his eyes remained closed. Tears fell out of Rainbow's eyes, splashing on the sheets.

The tears came more rapidly, soaking Soarin's chest.

"No..."

She threw her forelegs around Soarin, sobbing into his chest. Her ear pressed against his chest, there was no sound. She sobbed harder, and hugged him tighter.

"G-g-g-goodbye Soarin.... I-I-I will never f-f-forgot you...."

She stayed there, hugging him, and refused to leave Soarin, until five ponies had to come and drag her out.

Rainbow was sitting down alone outside, it was the middle of the night and everypony was sleeping. She cried her heart out, pouring all her sadness, remorse, and regret into crying.

The world meant no more to her now. She might as well have thrust a knife into her heart, but Angel Spirit and Pinkie stopped her from doing that.

Soarin was gone... He had died shortly after they had dragged her out the room, her flailing, kicking, and screaming at them to let her go.

She had nothing to do here now, all her happiness had been taken away.

Something Soarin had told her floated into her mind.

"Of course I'm okay. Did you think I would die and leave you alone on this world?"

"But you... did... You left me...." Rainbow said aloud, her voice cracking.

From behind her, a clear voice said,

"No, I didn't."

Rainbow sat stock-still, her mind trying to process who had had just spoken. She slowly turned around, her ameythset eyes meeting with emerald ones.

"I-I-I-" she stuttered, her eyes widening.

"Hey, Dashie," Soarin said holding is hoove open. "Miss me?"

Rainbow snapped. With two quick hits, she forced Soarin to the ground, glaring at him.

"Hey! I'm still fragile!"

Rainbow ignored him, and brought her face a inch above his.

"You... Little..." she growled in a deadly voice. "I can't... Believe... You..."

Soarin acted quickly, grabbed Rainbow's head, pushed her down, and kissed her.

Rainbow eye's popped, but a moment later she closed her eyes and melted into the kiss.

It was only a few minutes, but to Soarin and Rainbow, the kiss felt like days, even weeks.

They broke apart, and Rainbow was smiling.

"Thanks... I needed that..."

Soarin gave a her a half-smile, and then her expression turned hard again. She stood up on Soarin's chest, glaring at him again.

"Don't you... EVER do that again!" Rainbow snarled, her nostrils flailing.

Soarin pushed her off him, and then got up, smiling, and kissed her on the forehead.

"I promise you, I won't."

In the light of the moon, the two lovers embraced, as they began a new life.

The End Is Just the Beggining...

Author's Note

Hey! I have been dead in story writing lately, but I have been working hard on this story. Sorry about making it so long, my original goal was 1,000 words but.... :twilightblush: I had way to many ideas. This is written for the contest that says in the description, and this is my first time in entering a contest! :yay: I originally meant for Soarin to die, but... I thought you people would probably kill me so I changed it up.
A big thank you to Dashie217 for encouraging me that this story was awesome and to finish writing it! Now... I'm going to go and sleep for a week....
Please point out any mistakes I made, and I hope you enjoyed the story!!