The Heart's Shell

This third realm was covered in giant dresses on coat hangers. The sky was a dark red this time. It was the realm of Disappointment.

‘This is definitely where Rarity’s demon foal should be, just by looking at all these dresses with rips and holes in them’ Rainbow thought. Yet another demon foal was crying. Rainbow just rolled her eyes, she felt that this was going to be the same for all of the gems she needed to find. This demon foal was a smokey dark grey unicorn with a curled mane style.

“Hi Rarity” Rainbow Dash said. The filly just screamed and hid behind the rock.

“What are you? A stalker pony?” Rarity asked.

“No, actually I’m one of your best friends” Rainbow replied.

“Is that so?” Rarity loosened her expression.

“Yeah. Why are you crying when you’re surrounded by dresses?” Rarity wiped her tears away and she cleared her throat.

“It happened after I got my cutiemark. I knew I was determined to be in the fashion business. I was busy making clothes for fillies. But then I decided I should make clothes for full grown mares too. I made a couple of designs using the mannequins my parents got for me. When it came to the grand opening, I was super excited about it. Then the ponies came rushing in and I made my grand entrance.

‘Mares and Gentlecolts!’ I began. ‘I may be just a small filly, but I have big dreams and those dreams are to become a world-famous fashion designer. I present…my line’ I showed my line of clothes to the rest of the ponies. But, then they found out they were not very good.

‘These are terrible!’ one pony said.

‘They have rips and holes all over them’ another pony said.

‘You should not be a fashion designer’ the last pony said at my face. And then I ran up to my room and cried. That’s all I remember”

“That’s quite the story, not as long as the last one I heard from Applejack. By the way, you have a sister” Rainbow Dash replied. Rarity gasped.

“I do have a sister! Ha, I win the bet!” Rainbow Dash’s expression turned to confusion.

“What bet?” she asked.

“I bet with applejack if I would have a brother or sister. I said sister and she said brother!”

“Uh huh. Her name is Sweetie Belle. She’s best friends with Applebloom. And now, they have their cutiemarks, they’re the same mark”

“That’s absolutely magnificent!”

“And also. Don’t give up just because some ponies told you your outfits were awful. The Rarity I know is very successful. She made dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala for us. You continue your dream, and some day, you might open stores all over Equestria too”

“That’s…” Rarity started to tear up again “That’s very nice of you to say darling!”

Like the others, she transformed into her adult self.

“I am the diamond of disappointment, or generosity. You are so close to defeating your demon foal darling. Just two more lovely gems left!” She shined again and transformed into a white shaped diamond on the right of the amethyst. Rainbow now had three gems; she still needed to find the Opal of Cruelty and the Sapphire of Harshness.

“Blood. Blood everywhere” Rainbow Dash said to herself. “Forget what I said about the ‘Loss Realm’, this realm is way creepier. Could this be Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie?” The sky of this realm was dark purple this time and the realm was littered with blood. She read the sign on the archway; the Realm of Cruelty. Another demon foal was crying now. As soon as Rainbow turned around, she saw lots of bunny corpses. This demon foal was a dark smoky yellow. She was taller than the other demon foals she talked to, almost her own height. Rainbow Dash approached her trying to avoid stepping on the rabbit corpses that lay before her, she felt sick just by looking at them.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow uttered. A young Fluttershy noticed Rainbow Dash, but she didn’t freak out like the others did.

“Rainbow Dash?” she replied. Rainbow just gasped in shock. But then she remembered that Fluttershy would know her from back then. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. What is with all of the bunny corpses?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy looked around her and started to cry again. “Fluttershy, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just want to know what happened” Fluttershy did stop crying and wiped her tears away. She tried to find her voice.

“Well, it was very soon after I got my cutiemark in communicating to animals. I was looking after two rabbits. After a while, they had a son. He was white like the clouds not brown like his parents. I decided to call him “Angel”. I was very excited to be taking care of three bunnies. One night however, I forgot to close the rabbit enclosure. It was about midnight; I was busy sleeping in my bed when Angel suddenly came on top of me. When I opened my eyes, he was covered in blood.

‘What happened to you?’ I asked him. He pointed outside. I followed him out to where the enclosure was, and what did I see? Angel’s parents had been mysteriously murdered by a creature from the Everfree forest. I was very close to passing out. Instead I collapsed on top of the enclosure and sobbed. Angel comforted me, he was also sad about the loss and I was lucky he was not hurt. But, I don’t think I was made to take care of animals after all”

Rainbow Dash took a moment to take the new information in. She sighed and smiled and came closer to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, don’t think that you can quit just because you let two bunnies die. That doesn’t make you a terrible caretaker. Besides, only the best suffer through mistakes they’ve made in the past so they learn from their mistakes and help others. When I was sad about Tank hibernating, you gave me a push in the right direction to fully accept his hibernation. I was mad at you before for saying all of those things to me, but for everything you had gone through, I finally understand what you were trying to accomplish. You’ve made me become a better mare through your experiences with animals, and I’d like to thank you for that”

“Y-you’re welcome, Rainbow Dash. Maybe I should continue to look after animals” Fluttershy replied tearing up. She transformed into a hologram version of her mare self just like the others.

“I am the Opal of Cruelty, rather the Opal of Kindness now. You just have one more gem to find and then you will be able to defeat your demon foal” Fluttershy said. She transformed into a pink gem the shape of a triangle on the far left of the bracelet. Rainbow only had one more gem to find, and she knew it would be Pinkie Pie.

This was the last realm Rainbow came across before she would approach the realm of her demon foal. This realm had a dark green background; the Realm of Harshness. There were balloons with creepy faces all over them, similar to the balloons that discord had in the labyrinth the day he corrupted the mane 6. To make it more eerie, creepy music was playing in the background.

She spotted Pinkie Pie’s demon foal sitting by herself out in the open, in the centre of the creepy balloons. She wasn’t her usual bubbly self. She was a dark pink foal with straight hair instead of poufy. This was how she looked before she discovered her cutiemark. Rainbow Dash ran up to Pinkie Pie and smiled. Even if it was her demon foal, she was still happy to see her pranking buddy again.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow cried. She ran over to give Pinkie a hug, but Pinkie tried to resist.

“How do you know who I am?” she asked. She seemed mad.

“I just want to find out what’s wrong. My name is Rainbow Dash. Back where I come from, we’re really good friends”

“Huh, friends. I find that very hard to believe! I have no friends” Rainbow’s eyes widened.

“But your talent is making other ponies smile, isn’t it?”

“Not anymore. It used to be, until the first party I ever threw”

“What happened at that party?” Pinkie Pie just sighed.

“Well, when I discovered my love for planning parties. I moved to Ponyville where I could make lots of friends. My first party was going pretty well, until my clumsiness ruined everything. I wrecked everything. Ponies came up to me and laughed in my face and told me that I wasn’t fit to plan parties. My mane deflated and my coat turned darker, I looked just how I was before I learned how to smile in the first place. There was this one colt with glasses and a poufy mane like mine who looked sadly at me. ‘I’m sorry’ he said then he walked off. I was all by myself, surrounded by balloons”

‘Her story sounds similar to Rarity’s’ Rainbow Thought.

“I’m sorry I’ve wasted your time” Pinkie said as she turned her back on Rainbow. Rainbow just smiled.

“You haven’t actually. I’ve said this to the other demon foals I’ve talked to, but don’t give up on your passion because of one fault. Learn from your mistakes and get better. The Pinkie Pie I know is always happy and makes other ponies laugh successfully. Not only that, but she plans the best parties. I remember when you were planning my birthday party, you let a young stallion called Cheese Sandwich help you and it was the best party ever. That colt you mentioned before, that was Cheese Sandwich, he was inspired by you”

“He was?” Pinkie Pie smiled.

“He was. And you are the best party pony I know”

“That’s so nice of you to say” Pinkie’s mane puffed back to its normal state “I won’t give up, not just yet!” Pinkie transformed into a hologram version of her older self. This time, Rainbow Dash started to tear up a little, she remembered she missed Pinkie Pie the most.

“I’m the Sapphire of Harshness, now laughter! Congrats! You have found all five of the gems. Good luck on your journey!” Pinkie turned into a square shaped sapphire on the far right of the bracelet.

“I have all of the gems now!” Rainbow said to herself. “Next stop, my demon foal”. Rainbow Dash was nervous. She didn’t know how powerful her demon foal was going to be. But with the gems obtained now, she had confidence she would succeed.