The two were at it, again. Twilight and Chrysalis had gotten into a fight after the six of us decided to go all rogue and take the Elements for ourselves. We believed that it would give us power, like that bug told us. I didn’t really care, I just wanted to lay on a cloud and do nothing. I didn’t really have a hoof in Twilight’s plan, I just went with it since it seemed like the easier solution. Now, after she’d discovered that we didn’t plan to obey her rules, she went all out to try and erase us from this world. And, like always, I didn’t care.
By now, Twilight and Chrysalis had shot a beam at each other. The spot where they met bounced back and forth between the two when I saw the strain slowly creep into Twilight’s face, yet I didn’t mind as I closed my eyes for a nap. The others didn’t care either. Pinkie was being a downer, Fluttershy was teasing Rarity, Applejack was doing.... something. None of them were focused on the battle in front of them.
Then, I felt something go out in everyone, in me. It was like a flame, a passion, a desire that just went out. Then, I started to worry. I creaked open an eye just in time to see the beam reach Twilight and she let out a shriek. Everyone’s attention snapped towards her as the former changeling queen cackled evilly. All of us crept to Twilight’s body, her chest rose and fell signaling that she was still alive. We were too shocked to move.
The queen laughed again. “How cute, six of you huddled together as I come and destroy you all. A sight I would love to see happen to the real element bearers and a specific pink unicorn.” The queen began to charge her horn, presumably a spell that would harm us.
I don’t know what was happening when I felt a feeling wash over me. I didn’t know what it was, but it had something to do with my friends. I felt a need to protect them somehow. The feeling to sacrifice anything so they could come out unharmed. Out of nowhere, I felt the red gemstone that sat on the highest branch of the tree behind us emit a red glow and at that moment, Chrysalis fired her spell.
I didn’t know what happened, but maybe I didn’t need to. All I needed was the information that my friends were safe from the blast. All that happened in slow motion, for me, and everyone else as I jumped in the way of the spell, using myself as a shield and getting hit myself. I heard multiple gasps behind me and all I could do was smile lightly in satisfaction as I was thrown to the other side of the room, wheezing heavily as pain coursed through my body.
I heard the queen growl that her moment had been interrupted but it soon changed into a laugh. “Hah! Stupid litte pegasus, you can only protect them for so long. But, enough stalling, I will get them this time for sure.” She paused as she truned to look at the others, a smug grin on her face. “Unless, another one of you decideds to jump in the way again.”
I couldn’t tell what the others were thinking at that time, but I could see all of them standing proudly with newfound determination. I heard each of them speak, one by one.
“I think it’s time we treated each other like real friends!” Declared a hight pitched voice.
“We should always be there for each other, like true friends.” A pony with a southern accent went on.
“Might I add, friends who’d give anything just for you.” An elegant voice added.
“Friends who’d go through tartarus and back wearing a smile, if it meant you would be happy too.” A surprisingly bold, yet gentle, voiced out.
Dash swore that all of them smiled as Twilight delivered the last sentence. “Friendships aren’t always easy, I’ve learned it the hard way, but there’s no doubt it’s worth fighting for. You may have more magical power against us, but we have a magic that is far greater than any other.” Twilight paused as she looked around her, her friends. They were smiling, and so was I. By now, every gemstone on the Tree of Harmony had glowed brightly as they displayed their friendship. Grinning confidently, Twilight looked back at the baffled, yet angry changeling queen in front of her and finished.
“Because friendship is magic.” A beam shot out from each gem and formed to make a colorful burst of magic that directed itself at Chrysalis. Her reaction was automatic, I noted as Chrysalis fired the same spell to temporarily keep the beam at bay then teleported a few feet away from the place it impacted. But her efforts were in vain as I saw another ray of light headed towards her. This time, she cast a different spell that made a sheild around her and soon made a ring around her that expanded and hit Twilight and the others. Me? I saw safe since I ducked low enough for the ring to miss me completely so I was fine, but I couldn’t say the same for them.
And just when things seemed to be going well, Chrysalis got back the upper hoof. She steadily approached them, her horn glowing in pure rage. “Enough of this play! It’s time we ended this.” When she finished, she wasted no time in firing the spell. I could only watch in horror as the five of them were scattered across the cave and a green flame that engulfed them all until they could no longer see anything that defined them as ponies.
Tears blurred my vision as I clenched my eyes shut, forcing my tears to leak out. I didn’t want to accept the fact that I was alone. Alone with this... this monster. My devastation morphed into anger and hate. Hate for that monster who started all this. If we were never created, I wouldn’t have to feel all this heartache. My poor little soul was slowly tearing me apart as the queen turned to me.
“Five down,” she charged her crooked horn. “one to go.” I knew what was going to happen. Yet somehow, I wouldn’t let her.
Fueled, and blinded by my rage, I looked at her. I wanted to do so many things at that moment. I wanted to drain her of her blood, cut her up piece by piece, anything to get my revenge. As I was lifted into the air, I saw her step back in fear, in fear of me when my eyes glowed red, the same shade as the Element of Loyalty. I felt the power it gave me, but it wasn’t the same as what my friends had used against Chrysalis. No, it was far darker.
Soon enough, a black mist surrounded me as it changed my appearance drastically. I felt my tear tracks stain my fur with a blue substance and the rest of my coat turn into a void of white while the tips of my wings and hooves were painted black like they were dipped in fresh ink.
I didn’t pay attention to the black strings that came from my hooves and feathers that caught Chrysalis by her neck, choking her as looked her in the eye. I’m sure she could see all my hate and despair as clear as day.
Instinctively, the strings brought her up to my eye level then slammed her down back into the dirt. I saw her fall into a coughing fit and violently twitching with every intake of air. I probably broke one of her ribs, but that didn’t make us even. Five lives for a broken bone, even if they were just clones, they were separate ponies with different experiences. They were my friends.
Suddenly, I heard the voices of six ponies. I recognized all of them. They seemed to be arguing about something, saying that they didn’t do whatever the others thought they did. Have we been that much trouble?
My grip on Chrysalis loosened as I slipped away. I can’t let them see me. Probably best for them to deal with Chrysalis in a proper manner, but I’ll get my revenge one day.
Just you wait.
Author's Note
If the way duplicate Dash looks sounds familiar, I based her design on the same concept of my OC. (as shown in my profile picture)
Author's Note
The points of view have changed in this chapter. The story is now being told in 3rd person.
Also, I’m basically going with the flow here. No plan, just me and my stupid mind that’s eventually going to write me into a corner. And, on top of not having a plot line, I have bad logic and memory, which means I have a higher chance that I might not stay true to what I have written in previous chapters. Be warned.
A Deathly Conversation
The pony-turned-entity awoke to a blank, dark expanse with nothing currently in sight. There were no lights, but she could see just fine. There were no solid objects there, not even a floor, she simply floated there without the use of her wings. She couldn’t feel anything other than the cold, lifeless atmosphere that drifted throughout the void, it sent shivers up her spine.
“I see that I was able to establish a connection to you.” A ghastly but soothing voice said out of nowhere. The former pegasus couldn’t locate where the sound had come from, it just seemed to echo around her.
“Who... who are you?” ‘Rainbow Dash’ asked, looking around cautiously.
“You wouldn’t remember me. We met when you were just a filly, during your first ever race. The one where you performed your Sonic Rainboom.”
“Oh yeah? Try me, I might know.” Dash challenged.
“Alright then, let’s talk in person instead, shall we?” The voice was getting closer, Rainbow Dash could feel it.
“Where are you? I can’t see anything!”
“Behind you.” Dash quickly jerked her head to look behind her to see a grey-hooded figure with a murky-white coat and a scythe floating next to them. The figure looked at her with their eyes, if they had any. An empty space similar to the void around them filled the sockets where the eyes were supposed to be. And, with the hood fixed for Dash to see that the figure had no coat at all, just bones. Dash, startled by the appearance of the figure, jumped back while gasping silently.
The figure, seeing Dash’s discomfort, chuckled lightly. “It’s not like I’m going to hurt you. You’ll have to do that all on your own.” That seemed to have calmed Dash a little. “To answer your question, I am Death, Guardian of The Gates and the Judgement Demon of The Afterlife.” Now it was Dash’s turn to laugh. ‘Death’ seemed skeptical.
“Okay, now I know that I’m dreaming.” She said with a crazed smile.
“I assure you, this is real. We’re in a place commonly referred to as The Void, the place between the mortal realm and the afterlife. This is where souls are judged by me after they pass on. If they’ve been good, they get granted eternal life and live a happy life in paradise. If not, they burn in Tartarus.” The fallen angel explained.
Dash took a while to process the information while nodding slowly.
A question popped into Dash’s head. “Wait, if I’m here, am I dead?” She asked calmly.
“No, as I mentioned before, you have to do that on your own. I merely established a connection to your soul and brought you here. Your body is fine.”
“Okay. But about the whole “me-meeting-you-but-not-remembering” thing..?” Dash asked, dragging the last syllable of her sentence.
Death’s eye sockets widened and smiled rather fondly. “Oh, it was a spectacular sight, your first rainboom. But due to you being exposed to such strong forces of gravity without having the chance to adapt, your blood wasn’t able to flow properly and you passed out which eventually lead to your ‘minor death’.”
“But then how was I-... my counterpart able to survive?” Death, noticing the change of pronouns, decided to play along as well.
“I saw her soul appear in my realm, wondering what she was doing here. Her time was not yet up and her absence in the timeline would throw the whole nation into chaos. I saw her destiny, to become the Element of Loyalty, to serve her country as one of the most powerful means of defence, to meet five, very special ponies who would eventually become her lifelong friends.” As Death brought up the other element bearers, he noted the expression on Dash’s face become more strained. He almost felt sympathetic.
“So, I decided to bring her back.” Death said, as if it were a small feat. Dash seemed surprised.
“Wait, you can do that?”
“Yes, but it comes with a price. I had to use one of the souls to fuel her own. I mostly use the ones that I keep with me.” He answered while holding up an upside-down heart shaped, golden locket around his neck bone. It had a line running down the sides of the locket, as if it could be opened. “Do not worry though, all the souls I keep are the twisted ones. Murderers, psychos, power-crazed maniacs. There are bound to be some amongst all the harmony.”
“Now that I know that, can you answer why I’m here? You already told me that I wasn’t dead.” Dash’s question made any sign of a grin drop from Death’s face.
“I brought you here to warn you about the power you possess. It isn’t normal for the elements to grant mortals this kind of power.” Death explained, eyes shut.
“Then why did I get them? I can feel it, it’s different from friendship.”
“Yes, it is not friendship you felt. Something more... dark. Loyalty had transformed you into this, so you could say that it’s a darker version of Loyalty. You’re still loyal to your friends, but your intentions of revenge had twisted the harmony of the elements, as well as yourself.” Rainbow nodded along.
“So, I imagine there’s a catch?”
Death nodded, almost sadly. “Yes. Since technically, this incident was never supposed to take place. You should have been destroyed along with the rest of your friends and be reunited with your original counterparts. This change caused a shift in the timeline, affecting its outcome. I’ve seen something like this happen before, but this time, it’s slightly more serious.” Dash looked confused, but Death wasn’t finished yet.
“In other situations, the timeline would find a way to create a time paradox and make sure everything is stable. But this time, it can’t. The easiest solution would be to kill you off,” Death paused to look at Rainbow. It wasn’t pleasant, but not exactly a ‘this is all your fault and we want you dead’ look either. This made Dash uncomfortable, but Death looked away eventually. “...but somehow, there’s a glitch preventing you from dying that easily.”
After an uncomfortably long silence, Dash asked. “What happens if I... don’t die or fix this problem?” Death sighed and hesitated before speaking.
“Then eventually, the timeline will collapse and erase itself. There isn’t a specific time when that will happen, if it even happens. It is more about how much you change. There may be a way to prevent the aftermath of this curse, but so far, none has been found in recorded history.” Death looked at Rainbow Dash, pale, dull, unusual look for a pony with eyes that reflected sadness, pain, regret and exhaustion, his own full of sympathy.
“So, if it eventually comes down to that, I can only apologise for everything you’ve been put through.” Death stated, lowering his scythe through the cold air and placed a bony hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. Dash nodded wistfully, looking down with her bangs covering her eyes.
“That is all I needed to tell you. I hope you make your decisions wisely.” Removing his hoof, Death swung his scythe at Dash and, before she knew it, she was laying in the Everfree Forest near the edge of a cliff surrounded by trees.