The Messenger

Chapter Two-

Rainbow was so intent on the stallions face that she at first failed to notice that the light all around her had changed. The church was gone, and had instead been replaced with Someponys bedroom. It was a small room. The walls where painted a bright blue colour, much like that of Rainbow's coat. There was a queen sized bed, with the covers slightly crumpled, and a desk, which had a few books, some paper and quills littered on and around it. There was one bookshelf, which was half filled with books. The higher up sections where crowded with trophy's of all shapes and sizes.

Dash looked around frantically for the stallion, and she found him standing next to her. Feeling very disorientated, Dash put her hoof out as if to steady herself, but there was nothing within reach but the shoulder of the stallion. Dash's front hooves clung to the stallions shoulder, and it tensed at her touch. It was reassuringly solid. He was real, not some figment. How did they get here?

The stallion looked down at Dash, and shook his head.'' I am not to be touched'' he said.

It wasn't angry. It was more of a soft spoken warning. It was said with what may of been regret, but absolute conviction. Dash withdrew her hooves, and mumbled an apology. Then she noticed something that she didn't notice on her first look around the room. There where two doors.

They both looked to be made of wood, and where painted white just like the ceiling of the small room. One was closed, and the other was just slightly ajar. There was a small sliver of light the width of a pencil escaping the room, and it ran along the floor, then up the wall next to the bookshelf.The curtains where open, and as Dash looked out, she could make out a small street of cloud houses. There where other Pegesi flying about the place, and she could see the sun setting just behind the houses across from the one she was in.

Suddenly, Dash found that she wasn't in the small bedroom anymore. She was in what appeared to be a small bathroom, maybe the one that was behind the open door of the room that she was just in.

It was a mess.

There where towels, toiletry's and the like scattered everywhere. It looked like a hurricane had passed through the small room. One cabinet door was hanging open, and in the middle of the mess, lay a pony.

They weren't breathing.

Dash gasped.

The pony was a Pegasus. They had a orange mane, which looked as if it alternated in stripes between darker and lighter shades of the colour, and their fur was turquoise, and they had a lightning bolt with 3 stars on the bottom as a cutie mark. The pony in question was sprawled out on the floor, lying face down. There was a half empty bottle of some type of painkiller by her hooves, with half of the contents scattered on the floor.

Dash knew what had happened here without having to ask.

She staggered backwards, and lent against a wall for support. Why was this happening? This had to be some bad dream, right? Why would I be having a dream about some poor pony killing themselves?

It was at this point the stoic stallion spoke up again.

''Lightning Dust. Dead by her own hand''. He said.

'' I don't like this dream'' Dash said weakly, fighting down her own panic. She looked back up at the stallion, and noticed that his expression had changed. His pale lips trembled. A muscle in his jaw twitched. He looked down at Dash trembling on the floor.

He crossed abruptly-his first sudden movement-to the worktop that was by the sink. There was a tooth brush, an almost empty tube of toothpaste, and a small black notebook. It looked like it had a few pages missing. The stallion looked down at the piece of paper and said nothing. He looked at is for far longer than it would of taken to read the few words that where written there. It read-

I love you all so much. I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore.

-Dust

Dash found that she could not look up from those few words that where scrawled down on the note. If she looked away, she would see the dead mare, and she didn't want to see her. She had still been alive when she wrote these words. Then Rainbow realised that the stallion was looking at her.

''Why is this happening'' Dash asked him. ''Why am I here''? She asked more forcefully.

''The same reason we are all here,'' the stallion said. ''To learn''.Dash looked back to the dead girl. 'This has to be a dream' She thought to herself. 'This isn't happening to me'.

''Rainbow Dash'' he said, though she had not ever mentioned his name. ''This is not a dream''.

'What is it then!' Dash said almost angrily. '' What is this and what are you'?

'' I am..'' He began,, then hesitated. '' I am the messenger''.

''The messenger eh? Whats your message, showing me this poor mare? I never wanted to see that!''.

'' My message?''. The stallion seemed almost amused by Dash's question. '' My message is that a price must be paid. A price paid with terror''.

Dash reached out her hooves to angrily grab him, but he moved easily out of range. She was aiming to grab his throat, but had completely missed and had instead reached for one of his front legs. It wasn't that Dash blamed him for what was happening, she just desperately wanted to hurt someone, to lash out at something because of what she had seen, and what she had felt ever since awakening to find herself in the mist.  Dash wanted to scream, to kick things, to shout and then to cry. To save that poor mare. To wipe the memory of her lifeless corpse from her mind.

"Your the messenger"? She asked in nasty, mocking tone. "And your message is to be afraid?"

The stallion was unmoved by Rainbows emotional outburst. "Yes Dash" he said with finality in his tone of voice. "I am the messenger. The messenger of fear".

Having spent quite a lot of her anger just before hand, Dash took a few deep breaths, being a lot calmer now than she was before, and proceeded to look back towards Lightning Dust, laying lifeless on the floor.

"Why did she do it" Rainbow asked in a quiet whisper.

"We shall see" messenger replied