The Messenger

Chapter One-

Rainbow Dash's eyes opened. She was laying on her side. A mist the colour of blood was all around her. She couldn't see or make out anything around her. Dash slowly rose to her feet, and as she did the mist suddenly closed tight around her body, as if it was sentient, and didn't want her to stand up. Dash retracted a little from the sudden movement of the swirling mass. There wasn't any wind, right? How in Equestria did the mist do that? Where the hell was she?

Try as she might, she was unable to recall any memory's of how she got to this place. The only thing she could remember was her name, yet even this was a shaky fact. It brought with it no memory's, no emotions. It was a flat word, nothing special. Yet for some reason, this was the only thing she knew about herself.

She could remember things like where she lived, what type of pony she was, and that she was cyan blue with a vibrant mane and tail. But whenever she tried to recall something personal, her mind fogged over, as if something was blocking her brain from accessing those memory's. It was like she was looking at someone else's memory's through an old photo album, like she was an intruder in her own mind.

As Dash was lost in her thoughts, she failed to notice that the swirling mass of crimson mist that had previously been around her had completely retreated from her shivering form, leaving her standing alone, In what appeared to be a large, empty plain. The ground beneath her looked exactly like grass, but it was the colour of ash, and felt almost slippery on her hooves. There was no apparent light source to be found, but, in a way that rainbow could not fathom, there was light. It was like the light was filling up the space that she existed in. The sky over head was dark and smooth. She could make out no edges or curves of what should of been clouds. It was as if the sky, or what she thought was the sky, was flat and two dimensional, like a ceiling.

'What is this place'? Dash wondered as she took in her surroundings. As she turned her head, she saw what appeared to be a building of some description. It was a dark grey colour, much like that of the sky. She could tell from first glance that the building that had now materialised was a church. Had it been there the last time she looked? Dash couldn't remember. She knew that she would of noticed something like that. It was the only thing that she could see in this whole place.

The church in question wasn't very large. It was more of a small chapel than anything else. The spire at the far end rose sharply up into the air, where it was engulfed by the crimson mist that had been clinging to dash earlier. The mist slowly circled the spire, like a slow moving whirlpool. The spire was the same colour and material as the rest of the building; dark grey with small lines which looked to be where the bricks separated from each other. Absolutely NOTHING about this building was inviting to Dash, yet, as if by some force unknown to science, she found herself drawn to it.

As she got closer to the church, she was able to finally get a good, close up look at the building. It was made of stone blocks that where almost the same size as her. They looked dusty, as if they hadn't been touched in century's. The doorway was made of more intricate stonework. It was carved into a rectangle shape, with a semi-circular top. There was two ridges running the entire way from one side to another. The door looked to be made of some dark, aged oak wood. There was black, metal studs embedded into the door in vertical lines, and the handle was a simple black metal ring on a hinge. There was a knocker above the handle. This is what caught Dash's eye the most out of all the features. It was painted black, just like the handle, but instead of something simple like said handle, the knocker looked just like a pony's head.

That wasn't the disturbing part about it though. The face of the knocker looked as if it was twisted in pain. It's eyes where slammed shut, and the face making an expression that Dash could only explain as pure terror, mixed in with unthinkable pain. 'What the hell'!? Dash thought to herself as she recoiled from the sight. 'What pony in their right mind would have something like that on their door'?!

'What the hell is this place? Where am I'?

Dash shuddered in pure horror from the sight of the door knocker, and the implications that it could have, yet, She couldn't drag herself away from the door step. She stayed still for what seemed like an eternity, wondering what was behind the heavy, oak door, and why she was in this strange land in the first place. Was she being punished? Was she dead? She didn't feel dead. She was breathing. She could move. To move was to live, wasn't it?

As these thoughts where running through her head, she found that her hoof had unconsciously moved to the door handle, and was now in the process of lifting up the hinge. The handle turned easily, despite looking like it had never been used, and the door swung open slowly. Inside the church, she could make out a long hallway which was flanked at all sides by 4 rows of wooden pews. At the front of the church, there was an alter, which had a long, rectangular box upon it.

Dash already knew what was inside. With dread in her heart, and shaky steps she slowly made her way into the church, to see what, or more likely who, was in the coffin. As she made her way slowly up the isle, she glanced up to find that the crimson fog was in the church also. It hung about the rafters, high up in the ceiling, and seemed to react to her presence in the building by swirling in between the large wooden roof supports. The windows of the church where elongated, and they almost reached the ceiling in height. They had green stained glass in them, like a deep emerald green. Dash thought she recognised that colour, and the felt slightly better when she saw it.

Before she realised it, Dash had made her way to the front of the church. She stood directly beneath the alter, praying to Celestia, Luna, Any pony that the body she was bound to find in the coffin was not her own, yet, even as she prayed, She knew that it was hopeless. Dash took a deep breath, steadied herself, and slowly walked up the steps to the coffin. Her eyes desperately wanted to shed tears but Dash refused to let them. She would face this head on, and would not let her emotions get the better of her.

Dash took a step. Then another. And she looked down into the coffin.

'What'? Rainbow thought out loud in pure confusion. She was not in the coffin. No pony was. Instead, there was a single rose. It was white, with a slightly pinkish purple tint to it. Why was there a rose in the coffin? Was this some sort of sick mind game? Why was there a rose there?

' Well, what where you expecting to find'?...

A voice.

Dash spun around, hooves raised up into a defensive stance and hovered slightly in the air. There, stood a few paces away from her, at the start of the central isle of the building was another pony.

He was tall and thin. His body was a pale, almost translucent blue, and made a stark contrast to his black mane and tail, which hung limply to the sides.. His mane fell down to about his shoulders, and his eyes where a deep green colour, almost like emeralds. He has an angular face, and Dash could make out two silver bands around his front hooves. He looked to be about the same age as dash, but his face looked worn down, and tired,despite his youthful appearance.

She had a whole array of questions that she wanted to ask the stallion, but that would make her seem vulnerable, and nothing she saw about the stallion made Dash think that He was trustworthy.  So instead, She asked the question that was inevitable.

'Who are you'?

The stallion looked at Dash, and as he did, she had to fight back the terrible urge to squirm, and run away. It was as if when he looked at her, he could see things. Things that Dash showed no one. Despite feeling quite exposed by the young stallion, Dash stayed where she was, but she lowered back down on to four hooves again, and tried to avert her eyes from the stallion's gaze.

'That's not the question that you want answered first' he said.

The stallion had a strange voice. It was as if he was whispering in her ear, so that she could hear every syllable of each word, each inhalation and exhalation. Dash recoiled a little from the voice's intimacy, not expecting it. She looked back up at the stallion, but she could form no words to reply.

It was true, that wasn't the most important question that dash wanted answered.

'The question that you want angered is whether you are dead or alive'.

Dash's lips felt dry, as if she hadn't had a drink in weeks.

'yes' she replied weakly.

'Yes. you live' he put plainly. 'He does not'...