Author's Note
This.
This is exactly why I should never be allowed anywhere near a mix of candy and caffiene.
Ever!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
(I regret nothing)
The Only Chapter
"Aw, come on, Dashie! Go get your games!"
Pinkie looked up at me, blue eyes wide and pleading. I sighed.
"You don't want to play those old things, do you?" I asked. "Why don't we just make up new ones."
I wasn't going into the game room. Not now. Not ever. But I refused to tell them why.
"Oh, go on, Dash." Applejack smirked. "Go get em. Why make up new ones when the old ones will work fine?"
I cringed. "But they're boring!" I protested.
"Really?" Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Because you were thrilled to play them last week at our slumber party."
I resisted the urge to swear. She was right.
"Well, maybe, but they're boring now!" I announced.
"Ha! Ah don't believe it!" Applejack snorted. "There some reason you don't want to go get em, sugarcube?"
"What?? No! Of course not!" I burst out.
Fluttershy eyed me skeptically, and I sighed.
"I'll go get them."
I rose and made my way to the game room.
***********************************
I ran into the room pell-mell, and stood by the game cabinet, chest pounding. And then, every muscle tensed in alert fear.
There was not much to see in the semi dark room, but the hairs on my neck stood up, and the games were forgotten.
It was here.
It was waiting.
I knew it was, and it knew that I knew. It was hiding now, probably laughing at me, mocking me......waiting to pounce when I least expected it.
Oh, the horror of it!
I had felt this hideous and sinister presence quite frequently over the past day or two, but had yet to find and remove it. Even if I could find it, I wouldn't want to mess with it. I was deathly afraid of it.
Yes. I, Rainbow Dash, was afraid.
This was no time for bluster, false pride, or fake courage. And I knew it. Better to admit I was scared out of my mind.
A shudder went through me. There was only one way to escape, and it lay across the dim room, untouchable. Unreachable. There was me, and over there, the escape way.
In between.....a foreign land. And enemy territory no one should dare cross.
Maybe I could pick my way to it. I moved, slowly. My hair stood up straighter, my legs wobbled, my heart hammered against my chest.
It was definitely here.
A surge of raw fear raced through my body. I took another step without consequences. Then another. Maybe I could make it. I put my hand out to steady myself against something....table, chair, I didn't know....and then......my worst fear happened. Something brushed over my hand. My whole body froze. I felt something sinister creeping up my bare arm.....it stopped at my short sleeve tshirt. I knew then......it had me.
I was in the clutches of a dreadful evil.
I tilted my head back slightly, opened my mouth, and screamed for all I was worth. I started fighting the thing, smacking, hitting, pummeling, stomping. I connected with something, and screamed louder. I swung my hands, I stomped, I slapped.
Then, feeling freedom, I ran and turned on the light before turning back. With dread I crept to my attacker. I looked down at the floor........and the spider was dead.
I nearly fainted in relief.
My relief was short lived, replaced by another thought. I had killed a spider. With my friends in the next room.
With FLUTTERSHY in the next room.
It made no difference that it was in self defense. Fluttershy was going to be very, very angry.
I heard their voices. Concerned.
"Rainbow Dash! Are ya ok??"
Well, crap.
Six figures crowded up to the doorway.
"Rainbow Dash, what happened? We heard you scream!" Sunset said worriedly.
I gulped, wondering how best to explain this...at least to Fluttershy.
"I...I'm fine." I said. "I just...um...was trying to prank you! Yeah. Pranks. Haha. Gotcha."
"Yeah, Ah hate to break it to ya, sugarcube, but we don't believe ya." Applejack said.
I gulped, hoping none of them...especially Fluttershy...would look at the ground in front of me.
"Yeah, you screamed like somebody grabbed you and scared you to death!" Pinkie supplied.
"Well...well...yeah." I floundered. "Had to make it good, didn't I?"
"Still not buying it, Dash." Sunset said drily. "Nobody screams like that without good reason."
"I...um...saw a ghost?" I offered lamely.
Their expressions clearly indicated they didn't believe that one, either. And why would they? We had faced down she-demons and sirens and I had shone no fear. Likely I was not going to scream at the sight of a ghost.
"Well...I, um...saw...something." I stammered, trying to salvage the situation before Fluttershy could notice my crime against creatures everywhere.
Those would be her exact words, I just knew it.
"What?" Sunset asked. "Was it deadly?"
"Super scary?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Enough to make you scream like you were facing death itself?" Twilight put in.
Without thinking, I looked down at the hideous creature.
"Oh yeah." I said.
Then realised my mistake and paled. My head snapped up at a sudden chilling breeze. Or maybe I had imagined that part. I looked to my friends and my stomach knotted.
Or maybe I hadn't imagined it.
Fluttershy had advanced and was standing close to me. Too close. Her gaze landed on the creature in front of me, then lifted back up to my face. Her usually clear, calm eyes now held a look of cold steel, boring into me and rooting me to the spot.
"Rainbow Dash." That voice was so terrifyingly icy. "You killed an innocent creature."
"No...I...I...it tried to...and I was.." I had a good defense, in my opinion, but couldn't get it out.
"You. Killed. An. Innocent. Creature."
Every word was delivered slowly and deliberately, as she leaned closer to me, her gaze intensifying til I swore she was looking into the very depth of my soul.
"How dare you, Rainbow Dash! How dare you!"
That terrible gaze intensified further, and I was overwhelmed by nervousness and fear.
She was gonna kill me for killing an innocent creature. I just knew it.
Whereas previously, I nearly fainted from relief at the menace being gone, I now could not handle the thought of Fluttershy's wrath. It was too much.
My fear overcame me, and I fainted dead away under her paralyzing gaze.
