Truth-telling Lies

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Written by: Oneimare

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Dream

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An alarm’s shrill call penetrated Rainbow Dash’s mind, mercilessly yanking the pegasus from the realm of sleep. A hard kick from her hind hoof sent the chiming mechanism rocketing into the wall and beyond; its rousing song faded into the distance.

The night, supposed to let the mare catch on the missed sleep, had left her covered in sweat, tangled in bedsheets and lying with her rear hooves on a pillow. The sense of turmoil lingered in her consciousness like a sordid aftertaste of rotten food, but the visions witnessed at the Dreamscape vanished along with the clock’s hysterics and stubbornly refused to show again.

The cruel warble heralded the start of Rainbow’s training routine; yet minutes had passed and she remained still, her eyes closed—screwed shut as a part of the grimace twisting her face into a grotesque mask of undiluted turmoil.

Anyone who knew Rainbow for at least a week wouldn’t believe in that pegasus being capable of rising before the crack of dawn; yet such was the sacrifice she was willing to commit to. And the altar for the future as a Wonderbolt stayed empty today—not for the first time.

Rolling on her back, she finally opened her eyes—the pools of magenta gazed listlessly at the phlegmatically roiling vaporous ceiling. With no ticking to announce the passage of time, the intelligible echo of her nightmares assaulted her thoughts, becoming unbearable. She glanced at the opened window.

In the deep blue sky, a few lonely clouds floated amidst fading stars, painted in pink and orange pastel hues by the Sun not yet risen; they called for her to join. Her splayed wings twitched with a yearning just as mute and strong, further messing up the bedsheets as they unfurled. A heartbeat later they limped, blue ruffled feathers settling like snow atop mountains of white cloth.

Why bother? I’m going to be stuck in Ponyville until the end of my days, anyhow. A scowl crept back on her face. And for what?

An image of the beautiful violet eyes flashed in Rainbow’s vision—and now she could remember the nightmares.

Her ears flattened against her skull, the pegasus threw the covers away in a violent motion and sat on the edge of the bed, clutching her throbbing head in her hooves; she then dragged them down her face and remained idle for a while, simply breathing in and out the chilly morning air. She flicked her ears and took a deeper breath—something was off.

The humidity… Those slackers didn’t clear all the clouds last night.

Hopping off the mattress, Rainbow let her stiff legs carry her to the window.

Milky wisps had been mutely sneaking through the streets of slumbering Ponyville—the early autumn’s chill touch had knit the moisture in the air into a blanket of mist.

If she were lucky, the blazing sunlight would disperse the fog with the warmth it still brought. Otherwise, it would hide from the incandescence amongst the trees in the Apple family’s orchards, eventually settling on the trunks—rendering them slippery and thus treacherous to buck. And Applejack would be drilling that into Rainbow’s mind every time they met for the following week—if she were to talk to her again after what the pegasus did, or, rather, didn’t do.

With no hope of getting back to sleep, Rainbow could easily spend the rest of the morning sprawled on the bed, watching the Sun rise till it was time to attend the job.

I’m still in charge of the local weather station, she reminded herself. Celestia’s task or not.

An archway led her to the edge of the cloud on which her not-so-modest dwelling had hovered in the vast expanse of the sky. A gust of cold wind tore at her mane, pushing multi-coloured strands into her eyes, but she didn’t even blink. The pegasus took a deep breath and dropped down as if she had been shot.

Rainbow punctured a hole in the cloud, plummeting to the ground below; fluffy tufts clinging to her mane, coat and tail. It looked like she blacked out and was now uncontrollably falling towards the hard, unforgiving earth.

She was taking an improvised shower—the remains of the clouds dispersed on her body leaving drops of cold water behind. The moisture trailed over and after the falling silhouette, creating a very faint rainbow following her in the first rays of the Sun.

As the ground grew closer, the wind flailed at Rainbow stronger and stronger, tossing her mane and ruffling her feathers—drying them. At the very last moment, with a precise flap of her wings, she pulled out of a nose dive, harnessing the turbulence; the tamed momentum sent her zipping above the treetops.

That finally succeeded where the alarm clock had failed. With adrenaline coursing through her veins, a familiar tug pulled on the corner of Rainbow’s lips, stretching them into a smirk. Then the pegasus’ bright wandering gaze fell on the opposite side of the little town, instantly locking on a dark silhouette casting shadow on the somnolent countryside.

A hard sombre expression erased all the traces of her smile and then she, clenching her teeth and laying back her ears, sharply turned to survey the fog coating Ponyville, that sinister shadow remained in her eyes.

The smoky tendrils slithered through the grass and flowers, leaving a trail of dew on the wilted blossoms as if futilely trying to restore the softness of yellowing blades. Rainbow scowled at the amorphous mass that confidently, even if unhurriedly, spread through the quaint quiet morning village.

Foal’s play. She rolled her eyes. It doesn't change the fact that whoever was in charge last night was one huge doofus. Thunderlane, probably—who else is that lazy?

Without hesitation, Rainbow plunged into the maw of thick mist hugging the homes of Ponyville’s denizens. As her nose pierced the veil of moisture, the pegasus sharply twisted, coiling the milky canvas into a miniature tornado trailing behind her. The vapour swallowed the mare, only for her to emerge from the other side of the white wall a few heartbeats later; she then abruptly stopped, spreading her wings wide with a keen snap. Her primaries shredded the fog blindly following her and those vestiges were rapidly dispersed by the Sun’s first golden spears.

Rainbow dashed across the town, hunting down every single hazy wad, mercilessly slicing them with her wings. It wasn’t ten seconds flat, admittedly, yet the incandescent disk hadn’t fully risen over the horizon by the time she paused in mid-air, observing her work.

A few miserable lumps had managed to escape her attention in the deepest of alleys; they sheepishly peeked out as if searching for their fallen kin—those would do no foul.

As soon as the mare approvingly nodded to herself, her mood soured—nothing stood betwixt her and the job anymore. The prospect of meeting a particular pony helped none; it only made things worse—complicated.

And no matter where Rainbow glanced, it always loomed in the corner of her eyes—reminding of her sealed fate with its grotesque design and ominous black colour; the blemish of Ponyville that everybody tried to ignore, yet none had ever prevailed.

Whilst her mind frantically searched for any possible reasons to delay, it was her eyes that brought salvation—they fell onto a more ‘joyous’ sight.

A grimace contorted her already scowling face even further—the idea of visiting Sugarcube Corner depressed her almost as much.

Almost.