The Heart's Shell

It was cold and dark in the dungeons. That’s where the rest of the mane 6 up, all in one big cell. Tenebris was nearby contemplating her next move. She knew exactly what she was going to do, but she had to get rid of Rainbow’s friends to do so.

“I have all of this power that I didn’t have before. I could do anything. Maybe with this pathetic Pegasus’ plan, I can finally get my revenge on Princess Celestia. After all, I was only trying to help her. I was practically doing her a favor” she stopped in her words and looked up at her head, then she thought of something. “Are you paying attention to any of this?”

She used her magic to project the real Rainbow Dash as a hologram. At the moment, she was trapped in the psyche, unable to control it.

“Where am I?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, I see you’ve just woken up. You are trapped in my mind and there is no way you can take control. For I am more powerful than you remember?” Rainbow’s anger only grew. “What’s this? Are you still mad at me for taking over your body?”

“Give my body back! Sure it would be nice to mold into clouds but this is not funny! I won’t let you get rid of winter! My friends will stop you!”

“Oh really? You mean these friends?” Tenebris replied as she projected the ponies in the cell. “They’re bound by powerful bars that not even a fully grown alicorn can break”

“Let my friends go! They have nothing to do with this!”

“You are feisty. You definitely demonstrate your element, element of anger!” Tenebris just laughed in her words. This only made Rainbow even madder. “Sure, I’ll let them go, on one condition. Let my plan succeed and I will”

“You can’t be serious. Even if you don’t set my friends free, you are still powerful enough to succeed with your plan. That compromise won’t change a thing”

“Let me remind you that it was your plan?” Rainbow froze in fear again. “And it was you who almost succeeded, not caring who it would effect. All you cared about was your pathetic excuse of a pet. What happened if he couldn’t fly? Would he still have been worth it? Why did you choose him anyway? Any of your other pets like the falcon and the eagle would have done much better to match your coolness. And what’s even better? They don’t hibernate, so you didn’t have to feel the sadness you had last month and this whole problem could have been avoided altogether! A tortoise? Seriously? That’s so lame. That doesn’t even match up to the level of awesome you have”

“Enough!” Rainbow shouted. “You want to know why I chose him? I chose him because he was loyal to me. I chose him because he had saved my life. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even be here, and neither would you! Sure, an eagle or a falcon would have been cool or awesome, but they definitely aren’t loyal, they abandoned me! They were useless! And they didn’t follow my rule; the pet who crosses the finish line with me gets to be my pet. All they cared about was winning. Just like how I used to be. But Tank taught me so many new things when he was my pet, that I can have responsibilities and be sensitive sometimes, sometimes. Even if you try your best to persuade me that having Tank as a pet was a mistake, you are wrong! He isn’t just my pet, he’s also my best friend, and I was trying to look out for him! And nothing you say can make me change my mind!”

Tenebris just stood there, not moving a muscle, until she gave an evil smirk.

“I see your point, but there is no way you’re going to get to me. You aren’t useful enough for that I’m afraid. Nice try though” Tenebris responded as she turned her back on Rainbow Dash who looked sadly down at the floor and sighed.

“Tenebris, why are you using me for your plan?” she asked. Tenebris face palmed.

“I thought I had already told you, I picked a random demon foal which turned out to be yours, remember?”

“But there has to be more to it than that” Tenebris froze.

“What do you mean by ‘more to it’? I gave you all of the relevant information”

“I don’t feel you have. The story you told had so many plot holes, come on. Randomly choosing one? If there are demon foals made from every pony in Equestria who is alive, how come you didn’t use a more powerful being like Princess Celestia? Why did it have to be me? I’m just a regular Pegasus from Ponyville with speed and awesomeness, I don’t have any magical powers like the princesses. I did, but we gave up the elements of harmony 6 months ago so…”

“But you do have a magical power though, the one thing that can fully defeat me”

“What is that?”

“Your Sonic Rainboom”

Rainbow gave a look of confusion.

“My Sonic Rainboom?”

“Back about 1000 or more years ago, back when Princess Luna and Celestia were fillies, they created a toy. It was made out of clay but the princesses gave it magical properties. They loved this toy, they called it Tenebris, which was Latin for darkness. The ponies around the princesses didn’t like the look of the toy and said it was evil and cursed. The toy of course was made to make the princesses happy, but it accidentally acquired the power to collect grief from them. The toy liked it so much that it wanted to do that to the other ponies. When the princesses were in their teens, they realized what their childhood toy was doing, destroying Equestria and making the world gloomier. They realized they had created a monster. They read in the books if there was a way to get rid of their creation, if a pony with a rainbow mane could perform the Sonic Rainboom, the chosen one. There was only one who could do it, a rainbow maned stallion who was a fast flier. He performed a Sonic Rainboom which exiled the Tenebris for 1500 years. The Tenebris set revenge for the next pony able to perform such an impossible task and…”

Rainbow looked sadly at the Tenebris, feeling sorry for her almost.

“That pony was me, right?” she asked. Tenebris nodded. “But I’ve performed the Sonic Rainboom multiple times, how come you weren’t seeking revenge then?”

“Because I didn’t know about it until recently. I was plotting my revenge of course, but I didn’t simply want to get rid of you, I wanted to make you suffer. And unlike the last time, I was protected in the caves. I only got stronger”

“Maybe I can help you, help you find your way again. Revenge is never the answer to anything”

“I find that very hard to believe. Your plan has already begun, so I’m not going to stop now. In the end, everything is blamed on you. You claim to be the element of Loyalty, but are your friends loyal to you back? Are your friends really there for you?”

“Now what are you talking about?”

“Your friends haven’t always been there for you. Remember the time when they all pretended to be Mysterious Mare Do Well?”

“That was a long way back. And my friends have been there for me, they comforted me when I was crying about Tank. They cried with me”

“No they weren’t. Why do you lie to yourself? Fluttershy said those things to make you cry and ‘let it all out’. She was cruel to you. As for Rarity and Pinkie Pie, they were only crying because Fluttershy was. They even said so themselves. I guess they only realized their mistakes when you had to go away to fight me. Then they realized the meaning of the saying ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone’. Kind of like you with your pathetic tortoise”

“You’re wrong! You’re only saying that stuff to turn against my friends! I always looked out for them and they have always looked out for me! Fluttershy only said those things to help me. We’ve always helped each other, ever since we were fillies. Any obstacle we face, we faced them together. Applejack and I have also been really close, we were always having competitions to see who was most athletic, because we both were. She even forfeited as daring pony when she found out I was going into the demon caves. Even though Rarity could be a bit strange with her fashion choices on me, we still got along fantastically. Even though I thought Twilight was an Egghead, she introduced me to the Daring Do series because she believed I would like them which I do. And Pinkie Pie…Pinkie Pie has been my best friend for a couple of years now, even when I first met her I called her random, but then I discovered her love for pranking was just as strong as mine. And we’ve been best friends ever since” Rainbow was starting to tear up a little. “Please don’t hurt them because of me”

“Oh, I’ll try not to, but I have to do something, they’re going to interfere with my plan if I don’t” Tenebris used her magic to zap Rainbow back into her head. “And there is nothing you can do to stop me; you can just enjoy the show”

She then walked over to the cell where the others were. Twilight tried to break the spell set on the gate. She tried teleporting out, but she just ended up back in the cell again.

“What happened Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know. I think this gate is enchanted. Somehow, I can’t escape with my magic” Twilight replied.

“Oh, this is a special gate that not even alicorn magic can break. It’s only temporary. I don’t want you ponies interfering with my plan is all” Tenebris said as she magically appeared in front of the ponies, looking like an evil version of Rainbow Dash.

“Why did you lock us up?” Rarity complained. “Everything is so filthy here”

“Poor Rarity, I feel so sorry for you. Too bad you didn’t feel sorry for Rainbow in return. All you cared about was Fluttershy, the one who broke Rainbow in the first place”

“How dare you! You, you cretin! When I get my hooves on you I’ll…”

“Enough Rarity. Hurting the Tenebris with brute force is not going to get us out of ‘ere” Applejack interrupted. Tenebris just laughed.

“Oh you ponies are not prepared for what is next” she responded as she stamped her hoof on the ground. Suddenly the rest of the ponies were gassed with magic and the light of the cell disappeared.

The attention went back to Tenebris with Rainbow Dash, she was angrier than ever.

“You sick jerk! What are you doing to my friends?” she yelled as she charged towards Tenebris. But she was tossed back with dark magic and tied to a chair. The more she struggled the tighter it got.

“You’ll be able to get a front row seat of what your plan could do to the ponies you love!” she laughed maniacally and left Rainbow alone, trapped in the chair.

The rest of the mane 6 woke up. They were all tied up to various chairs that made a pentagon shape. They immediately freaked out when they discovered where they were. Rarity and Applejack were worried that the CMC weren’t with them, and Fluttershy was worried about Blue Streak. The room was pitch black, and the only light was surrounding the chairs that they were tied to.

“Hello, fellow ponies” Tenebris greeted the captured mane 5 coming out of the darkness. Applejack was the angriest of all of the mane 5, followed by Rarity and Twilight. The others were just concerned.

“Let Rainbow Dash go!” she yelled, trying to get out of her chair, but it was unsuccessful.

“It’s no use trying to escape, besides, you don’t want to miss the fun and excitement I’m about to show you all” Tenebris replied.

“First you kidnap us and throw us in a dungeon, then you tie us up? You don’t have very good manners!” Rarity complained.

“Oh, boo hoo. Does it look like I even care?”

“You are just diabolical; you know that? I mean who just takes the form of some pony you love and takes control just like that?” Twilight asked.

“A changeling” Tenebris replied.

“Well, yes a changeling. But you’re worse than a changeling. You’ve trapped our friend and using her own failed attempt of a plan to get your revenge on the princesses?”

“Wait, how did you know that? I didn’t even tell you that story”

“We did over hear you when we trying to escape”

Tenebris got angry.

“Ok fine. But still, I was rejected. You have to understand that it wasn’t very fun being in the position I was in. I had great powers, but no pony acknowledged them!”

“But not only did you capture our friend, but you also went back in time and killed her grandmother? You are more evil than a changeling to do that much damage to somepony’s life!”

The rest of the mane 6, except for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were making their points really clear and yelling over the top of each other.

“ENOUGH!!” Tenebris finally yelled. “God you ponies are so annoying! I don’t even know why that pathetic Pegasus is your friend, after everything she has done to you. She’s hurt you in so many ways you wouldn’t believe, and you hurt her back. Is this what a friendship is? Is friendship really magic?”

“You’re lying! She hasn’t hurt us. Not in a cruel mean way. But you have! No friend of ours would keep us locked up like this tied up to chairs that are giving me splinters right now!” Pinkie complained as she tried to set herself free using her cartoon physics logic. But even that was not enough to break free.

“Why would you want to escape when I can give you your own ticket to see my plan unfold?”

Tenebris stamped her hoof again. With her magic, 10 screens magically appeared in front of the mane 5. They were 10 locations that they were familiar with. Applejack could see Appaloosa and Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity could see her boutique and Manehattan, Pinkie Pie could see Sugarcube Corner and the rock farm, Twilight could see the castle in Ponyville and Canterlot and Fluttershy could see her cottage and Cloudsdale. But there was one problem; all of these locations were in flames. The ponies reacted quickly in shock. So did Rainbow Dash who could see through Tenebris’ eyes. She in particular didn’t think this was good.

“Why are all these locations burning in flames?” Twilight asked.

“Allow me to explain; If Rainbow Dash’s plan succeeded, the weather would be inconsistent. Without the snow and the cold weather, it would be much hotter weather causing the snow to melt. Rainbow would have also cleared all of the clouds and destroyed the weather factory making it not rain or snow ever again. Because of the lack of water, fire would spread, seeing what would happen in these locations. Applejack, the fire would spread to your orchard and all of the trees would die, same with the apple trees in Applaloosa”

Applejack stayed silent. Tears rolled down her eyes.

“How could you? All of the ponies are gonna starve! And no apples means no cider either. Rainbow Dash loves cider” Applejack cried.

“No cider?” Rainbow said as she witnessed the screens. Tenebris ignored that statement and moved onto the next pony.

“Rarity, the fire would spread to your boutique and the flats of Manehattan. I’m afraid your clothes will also be burnt to a crisp”

“But, Tank’s suit is in there! I hadn’t even finished it yet!” Rarity replied.

“No! not Tank’s suit! She promised she would finish it by the next winter wrap up! Tenebris you have to stop this!” Rainbow shouted from inside the psyche. Tenebris still ignored her.

“Pinkie Pie, your precious little Sugarcube corner will be nothing but crisps. And the all of the rocks on the rock farm would be completely destroyed!”

“But, that’s not possible! I learned that rocks can’t be destroyed by fire!” Pinkie objected.

“Oh, but they can now. Because the fire has gotten so strong it can destroy even the toughest of boulders”

Pinkie Pie began to cry a little.

“But my family is down there! All of their hard work…”

“But does it matter? You wanted so desperately to run away from them because they would treat you the way you didn’t want to be treated!” Pinkie looked wide eyed to Tenebris.

“How did you know that?”

“I overheard your conversation with Applejack a while back. As an all-powerful being I am everywhere!”

“But that doesn’t matter, I love my family!”

“Then why did you want to run away? In my opinion, they had what was coming to them”

She walked over to Twilight Sparkle.

“Rainbow Dash would never do something like this!” Pinkie Pie finally said.

“No I wouldn’t!” Rainbow replied even though Pinkie couldn’t hear her. “I would never do such a thing!” Rainbow’s eyes were close to being filled with tears again. She didn’t want to see her friends suffer because of her. She didn’t even know why Tenebris was doing this.

“Twilight, you see Canterlot is already in flames and so is your precious castle. The fire is strong enough to destroy these strong architectures”

“They span many centuries of light and hope in Equestria. I can’t believe any pony would want to destroy them!” Twilight replied, turning her head away from the screens.

“Don’t listen to her. It’s not really me doing all of these things!” Rainbow tried to reply.

“And Fluttershy. Yours is a little different. Sure the consequence of your house is the same, but not Cloudsdale. It is not fire that destroyed it, it was something else”

The rest of the ponies gasped. Rainbow looked scared because she knew deep down what it could be.

“What was it?” Fluttershy asked calmly.

“Rainbow Dash tried to destroy the source of the weather making which was the last thing that could create winter. But she accidentally destroyed all of Cloudsdale in the process. But she was still satisfied with how things turned out in the end”

“How could she be? She had destroyed the place we grew up! Would that really make her happy?”

“It would, because she didn’t care at the time”

“That’s not fair!” Rainbow cried out. “Tenebris has to stop this!”

“I can’t believe you would do such a thing, you meanie!” Pinkie yelled.

“You obviously had no consideration for the ponies you would harm!” Rarity complained.

“You had forgotten what had really mattered!” Applejack yelled.

“This is not what Rainbow Dash would do!” Twilight yelled.

Suddenly the ponies were yelling on top of each other again. Tenebris couldn’t take anymore.

“I’m sorry!” Fluttershy sobbed. The attention went directly to the yellow Pegasus who was busy crying. Even Rainbow Dash was amazed.

“Excuse me?” Tenebris objected.

“You heard me! It’s my fault all of this has happened!”

“But it isn’t! it’s Rainbow Dash’s! it was her plan, not yours!”

“Which she wouldn’t have come up with if I didn’t tell her the truth!”

“What truth?” Tenebris scoffed.

“I was the one who told Rainbow that Tank needed to hibernate, I was the one who told her that her winter was going to be petless! I said all of those things and she came up with this whole idea and caused you to use it for your own needs! Because of me, my best friend has turned into a monster!”

Fluttershy continued to sob loudly as the rest of the ponies watched in silence.

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow choked. “You can’t blame yourself”

“Hmph. Of course you would say those things. To defend your friend no less!” Tenebris finally said.

“But, it is the truth!”

“Of course you would lie. None of you would say how you really feel. How it was all Rainbow’s idea not mine”

“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight objected. Tenebris started to grow impatient. Her friends were still defending her. Then she had an idea. She set them free of the chairs.

“Ok, we’ll make a deal. I’ll put all of this back to normal and release your friend, if you touch the fiery orbs above you”

The rest of the mane 6 looked up at the flaming orbs which had the elements of harmony shaped into them.

“If we touch them, you’ll keep your word?” Twilight asked.

“Absolutely” Tenebris replied. The ponies touched the orbs above them, but something bad happened to them in return. They all screamed in pain as the fire surrounded them. Rainbow couldn’t watch. What Tenebris was doing to them was not good. When the fire cleared, the mane 6 were lying on the floor. Rainbow gasped in shock, tears were streaming down her face now.

“What did you do to them?” she yelled, trying to break free.

“Oh you’ll see” Tenebris replied. The mane 5 got up and opened their eyes in unison. They were much angrier than before.

“She destroyed my home and all of the apples. Every pony will starve! I hate Rainbow Dash for that!” Applejack spoke.

“Applejack?” Rainbow was confused. “You hate me?”

“She destroyed all of my clothes and the town of fashion! I will have my revenge!” Rarity said.

“Rarity too?”

“She destroyed my home and my family! I will not forgive her for that, ever!” Pinkie yelled.

“Pinkie Pie!”

“She committed a crime against the machines that bound our land in harmony! She will be punished!” Twilight said in a royal stern tone.

“Twilight!”

“I created a monster! That monster destroyed everything we loved together! She will not get away with this!” Fluttershy finally said.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow turned away from her friends and collapsed on the floor. She began to sob intensely. Tenebris looked at Rainbow Dash with delight.

“Well, I hope you’re proud of yourself. You have finally succeeded with your plan. You have stopped winter from coming! This must be a huge victory for you. Three huge cheers for Rainbow Dash the awesome. I hope you’re happy!”

Tenebris walked away from her as Rainbow tried to get up.

“No, no I’m not” Rainbow replied. Tenebris stopped in her pacing.

“I’m listening”

“I’m not happy because of everything that has happened. You expect me to be happy? After everything that you have done? All I wanted was to spend some time with Tank at Winter. I never wanted to lose my friends! I never wanted them to hate me for my mistakes!” Rainbow sobbed.

“Well that’s what happens when you have a plan. There will always be consequences if it is wrong. Which I demonstrated. You wanted to get rid of winter, and now all of Equestria is destroyed and your friends hate you forever. I see that as a fair consequence. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to take over Equestria and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” Tenebris laughed as she exited the room where Rainbow was trapped. Rainbow collapsed on the ground again and continued to cry her eyes out. There were only a couple of words she could utter:

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! What have I done?”