Chapters Holding her cloak a bit tighter around here than she normally would Rainbow carefully made her way down the dim streets of Canterlot to the train station. She wanted to fly, stretch her wings and let the cool night air flow through her mane and fur as she soared through the sky. The twinkling stars called to her but she resisted. She didn't want to be seen at the moment and while she normally loved her bright mane and tail she would be the first to admit that they were not the best suited for stealth.
Why did Rainbow Dash, wielder to the element of Loyalty, vanquisher of Nightmare Moon, the bane of Discord, bombastic defender of Equestria (She had to admit, the press came up with some amazing titles for her and her friends) not want to be seen? To anyone else, it would seem trivial but to Rainbow, who cared about her image just about as much as Rarity did though she'd never admitted it, it was a legit reason not to be seen. She was heading home after a long night of D&D campaigning.
She'd overheard Spike talking about it to the CMC when she was resting on a cloud one day and it sounded interesting to her. Getting to create a cool character, play as them while storming through dungeons, slaying monsters and getting rich while doing it? Count her in. She'd later learned that there was a good amount of math involved, much to her annoyance, but she sucked it up and found herself a small, out of the way place in Canterlot that sold D&D merchandise.
There she met and bonded with a few other ponies that enjoyed the game and were willing to show her the ropes as it were. After her first play, she was hooked and didn't want to let go. It was an amazing feeling too, basically, play pretend and become somepony else. To create her character's backstory, flesh them out as a real pony, give them experiences, hopes, dreams, loves, heartbreaks and then to become them. It was a heady feeling to her.
Sadly it couldn't last and was why she was slinking towards the train station. She'd kept this part of her life successfully hidden away but now it was done. She and her party had finished their campaign that night. She was excited to plan for another but the other players had plans for a good amount of time in the future. So with a heavy heart, and her well-used dice set in her saddlebags she made her way home.
The train ride which had been full of excitement and anticipation when going to her little secret meetings now seemed sullen and dreary. It could have been the late-night rain clouds that were being moved into place overhead by the wheater teams but Rainbow didn't really care. As the train made its final stop of the night at her hometown of Ponyville Rainbow slowly walked off with the few other passengers. One of them bumped into her and didn't apologize but she was to depressed out to really care.
A rumble of thunder brought her out of her broodings. She looked up and felt a few drops of rain strike her nose making her snort. She quickened her pace and chuckled at how the weather team seemed to know her mood. The rain had just really started to fall when she landed on the porch of her cloud house. Quickly getting inside and locking out the cold wind and rain she threw her, now no longer needed, cloak onto the cloak wrack which was followed by her saddlebags.
With a small but heavy sigh, Rainbow stretched and made her way into the kitchen, flicking her wing against the glow stone on the wall to activate it and give the room some light. Reaching the fridge she removed a large jug, then retrieving a cup from the cupboard she poured her self a tall glass of cider and took a seat at the table.
"What do I do now?" She asked out loud to her self. With the campaign over there was this huge hole now filled with nothing but free time and for the love of pin feathers, she couldn't think of what to fill it with. She took a large swig of cider and felt the familiar burn in her throat followed by the comforting bloom of warmth in her belly. It was a small comfort but a comfort none the less.
As she set the glass down her hoof brushed up against something on the table. Giving it a glance she was slightly surprised when her eyes fell on a blank D&D character sheet. She didn't remember getting an extra sheet when she started but then again, she had a decent case of tunnel vision at that time so she could have just missed it.
Looking closer she saw the standard places for the name, her class, race, traits, skills and so on. One odd thing she noticed was that right next to the name box, in bright red letters, was written: "Do not loose, you only get one". A bit redundant in her mind because she knew if you lost your character sheet during a campaign you were screwed big time.
She was about to just brush it aside when a thought popped into her head. She wasn't planning on giving up campaigning so why not get a head start for the next one. It niggled and grew in her mind till she just decided to go with it. Not like she had anything else to do at the moment and while it was late she wasn't ready to go to bed just yet. Rainbow rummaged through a nearby drawer until she found a decently sharpened pencil before sitting back down to create her new character.
She wanted to try something different than her last one. She had been a barbarian this past time and the parties heavy hitter, dealing tons of damage to monsters in the dungeons. While she liked that way of playing she wanted to try something different this time, but what?
Oh! Isn't this a twist. I had thought it might be the same. No matter, this just makes it more interesting.
She decided to go the opposite of heavy hitter and chose to be the rouge class this time. She had to admit the thought of sneaking in the shadows to grab what you want before sneaking away appealed to that somewhat darker part of her mind.
She chose pegasus from the list of races as her characters this time wanting to be closer to the character but also for the +2 DEX bonus. Her barbarian had been a Minotaur before and it had worked so why mess with a proven formula. Looking at the passives for her race choice she couldn't keep a grin of amusement from splitting her lips. While D&D was a fantasy game it had many footholds in real life. Like the Pegasus racial passive, called Darkvision, was based on Pegasai having very good eyesight, both in light and dark environments. Another one was the resistance to lightning, thunder and cold damage, because what good was a pegasus who couldn't handle a little zap now and then.
Done with race choice she looked at her stat boxes and pondered what points should go where. Here stats started at a base of 8, a max cap of 15 for level 1 and she had 27 points to spend and had learned from her last character build that you should be very careful where you put them. All her points into STR, CON, and CHA had made her the strongest, toughest and approachable of the party but her character was as dumb as a bag of rocks and couldn't dodge for crap. She learned the best way for new players, as the other players had told her, by making their bed and having to lay in it.
This goes there! This one goes here and that one goes right there! Oh this is going to be very good
That teaching method worked well as she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. She put 5 points into STR and CHA, 3 points into INT and WIS, 4 into DEX and a whopping 7 into CON. All tallied up with her race bonuses it gave her 13 STR, 14 DEX, 14 CON, 11 INT, 12 WIS, 13 CHA. It was a more flexible set up. While she wasn't amazing in certain stats she didn't have any negatives so it balanced out well.
Rainbow was pleased with her stats and went on to create her characters back story. Her DM had stressed that her character had to have a good backstory, it didn't have to be big or complicated but it had to be good. He'd explained to her that D&D was just an extremely interactive story and who wants to read a story about a bland, basic, nondescript character? no pony.
So she paused and gave it some thought. Another idea sprouted in her mind and she followed it while adding some more details that would fit with her class and how she intended to play. Making a mental checklist, she snorted in amusement as an image of Twilight's shocked face came to mind, on plot points she wanted for the backstory and she verbally checked them off.
Wait!? Is that... HAHAHAHAHA!!! Fate you are a cruel bitch and I LOVE you for it!! HAHAHA! Oh, this is just too amazing to pass up! It's just... peeeerrrrfect. heh heh heh heh!
"Framed for a crime and wrongfully accused? Check. On the run from the law? Check. Betrayed by the closest friend? Check. Finally, becomes a world-renowned thief to find who framed her and clear her name? Check." Rainbow smiled widely as she wrote down the backstory of her character in the box provided on the sheet. She was very pleased with the character she had created.
When thinking about what to name her character she decided to add another detail to the backstory. To go with the whole wrongfully accused and on the run thief story, she added that the name she was known as wasn't her real one and that certain features, such as her character's mane tail and eyes, had been changed so she could better hide from the law. She based her character off of herself with her mane and tail changed to silverish grey and have her eyes spell changed into a gold color.
That small detail gave her character the name Silver Stream, the slickest and most renowned thief in all of Equestria. A large yawn demolished her grin as the fatigue of the day finally hit her. Rubbing her tired eyes clear she gave her sheet one more look over. It wasn't complete since she had a few other bits to finish like items, equipment and such but for the most part, it was done. She nodded her head in satisfaction and left it on the table to head to bed. She'd finish the smaller detail sometime later, right now her cloud bed was calling her name and she needed to answer it.
As she stumbled to her bedroom she completely missed the character sheet glow for the briefest of seconds before it went back to normal. She fell asleep that night never knowing just what she had gotten herself into.
Let us see if your luck will hold, my little rogue. After all, it's all just The Luck of the Dice. HAHAHAHA!
Author's Note
So, my readers, this is in hopes you will understand why. This story is why I haven't been updating my other two stories. This idea has been bouncing around in my head so much that I haven't been able to focus on anything else.
I plan to write this out as much as I can and hopefully, I'll be able to focus on my other works after and you all will have another story to enjoy as well. I hope you all enjoy these Ideas from my twisted mind.
BANG BANG BANG
Rainbow jerked awake sending the bed sheets flying into the air. Her head snapping upright, ears swiveling to locate the loud hammering.
BANG BANG BANG
"Rainbow!? If you're in there you need to answer the door!" Twilight's muffled voice yelled through the dense clouds of her home. Knowing Twilight wouldn't demand her to get up unless it was urgent Rainbow sprang out of bed and quickly ran to answer the door not taking care how tired she looked. Opening the door she found a very panicky looking twilight nervously trotting in place so fast her legs were a blur.
"Twilight? What's wrong?" She asked rubbing her eye to get the gunk and sleep out. Twilight's ears splayed back as she spoke.
"It's terrible Rainbow! The royal vault at the palace has been broken into and a dangerous artifact was stolen!" Twilight yelled in a panic before pacing back and forth muttering and mumbling something to her self. Rainbow blinked in confusion. The royal vault was robbed? How the hell did they pull that off? Canterlot castle, while not impregnable was just about the hardest place in Equestria to get into, let alone rob.
"The princesses have called us to Canterlot to help investigate so Spike and I have been rounding up the rest of the girls and getting them ready. The train leaves in less than 20 minutes." Twilight explained. Rainbow, while understanding this was important, was still very tired from her late night. As quickly as she could she scarfed down some bread and grabbed her saddlebags out of habit.
Gliding down from her cloud house she landed on the ground and with a flash Twilight teleported beside her. At Twilight's constant nagging, urging she meant urging, Rainbow quickly trotted after her as they made their way to the train station. Rainbow sighed as the train station came into view.
A ten. tch tch tch, I'm sorry my dear rogue but that's not high enough. To bad! HAHAHA!
"Here I am again." She commented to herself, not realizing she said it out loud. Twilight gave her a strange look and made to say something but she was cut off by the shout of greeting from Spike and the rest of the girls standing on the platform. Twilight explained the others what was going on as they filled onto a train car. It was extremely early so not many ponies if any were on board leaving them with an entire car to themselves.
"It's shocking to think that some ruffian was able to make off with some of the crown jewels of the Princesses," Rarity commented hotly. They were all close by so they could talk to each other without having to raise their voices. Applejack raised a single eyebrow.
"What makes you think it' was the crown jewels they stole?" She asked. Rarity gave her a 'are you serious' look.
"Darling, it's the crown jewels. It's always the crown jewels." She said it like it was the most well-known truth of all time. Rainbow Yawned again the haze of sleep still not yet fleeing from her mind.
"Why do you have a pair of saddlebags with you Rainbow?" Rainbow turned her head and saw Fluttershy on her left giving her a curious look. Looking down Rainbow noticed she had her D&D saddlebags slung over her back. Instantly the haze of sleepiness was lifted by the shot of adrenaline to her system. She didn't even remember grabbing them. She gave a nervous gulp and gave Fluttershy what she thought was an innocent smile, but it was more of a sheepish grimace.
"Those aren't mine." She denied, not realizing she had drawn the attention of all the others when she answered. Fluttershy just gave her friend a flat stare.
"It has your initials in red and blue on the side Dash," Fluttershy said flatly. Rainbow's brain panicked, Curse rarity for making sure all their bags had their initials sewn on.
It's an 8. These dice don't seem to like you much. I should give them a raise.
"I always take them with me when I go to Canterlot. Never know what you'll find and need to carry back." She defended.
14. just enough. You're safe... for now.
The other girls didn't seem totally convinced but they excepted her answer for now. Rainbow gave a quiet sigh of relief as the subject was dropped. She kicked her self mentally for bringing her saddlebags along. It had become a habit since every time she went to Canterlot it was for the campaign and she never left without her bags in tow. She wouldn't be able to handle the amount of embarrassment she'd feel if her friends found out so she counted herself lucky they didn't press the matter.
As the train steamed its way toward Canterlot the girls talked about what the Princesses might have called them for. Twilight had barely sat down the entire ride, choosing to pace up and down the isles mumbling to herself. After an hour the train pulled into Canterlot station. Usually, it would have taken longer but the engineer had been told to not spare the coal and that had shortened the wait time by a good amount.
Rainbow and the others were met and quickly rushed into two carriages by the waiting royal guards and very quickly brought up to the palace. The guards didn't waste any time hauling them to the throne room, to Rainbow it was almost as bad as when she was being dragged around by Pinkie Pie. Just as quickly as the guards brought them they left and the doors closed with a solid bang.
Looking at her friends she could see the looks of concern, uncertainty, and nervousness that she didn't doubt were plastered on her face as well.
"I apologize for calling you on such short notice but this is a matter of utmost importance." Rainbow heard a very familiar voice say. Rainbow turned toward the dais and watched Princess Celestia and Luna approaching them.
"Celestia!" Twilight cried galloping up to quickly embrace her mentor which Celestia returned in kind. Rainbow quickly followed the others to catch up. Twilight uncoupled from the hug and looked at her mentor worriedly.
"What's happened?! If it's about that portal spell I was testing that ripped a hole between dimensions above Ponyville that the Folorgaks of the Sludgemudgony Empire tried to use to invade Equestria through I can totally explain!" She started to babble and was only stopped when Celestia's hoof clamped over her mouth.
"While I would very much like to hear about that," Celestia gave Twilight a stern and pointed look making Twilights ears splay back and gulp in nervousness as Celestia removed her hoof.
"That is not why I've called you all here today." Celestia glanced toward her sister who gave her a firm nod. Rainbow was particularly intrigued by this supposed invasion. Why hadn't she heard about it? She didn't get to ponder this for long as Celestia began her explanation.
"As Twilight no doubt informed you, the royal vault has been broken into and been stolen from." She began, her face becoming a stern and thin mask barely holding back her anger. Rainbow gulped, she'd never seen the princess like this before. Celestia had been angry before that's for sure but this wasn't anger. This was... rage, barely contained rage. Princess Luna placed a hoof on her sister's withers in comfort and continued for her.
"What you must understand is this vault was set aside from the main one that contains the treasury and crown jewels," Out of the corner of her eye Rainbow saw Applejack give a slightly smug smirk in Rarity's direction.
"This hidden vault is, or I should say, was only known to myself, Celestia and two other trusted ponies as it held the more, dangerous objects that we wanted to keep out of the wrong hooves." Luna's face looked grim and Celestia snorted.
"Some of the most deadly items in existence were kept there but only one item was taken from the vault, excluding all others and that is why Luna and I are so worried," Celestia explained. Her horn glowed with magic and an image of a delicate glass ball appeared. It didn't look like much if you looked over the ever-shifting and screaming skulls and shadows that twisted and broiled around on the inside.
Just looking at the image made Rainbow feel like the temperature of the room dropped a few degrees making her shiver. She wasn't the only one affected by it as Fluttershy ducked behind a shocked Twilight in fear, Applejack actually growled at it, Rarity became paler, somehow, and Pinkie's mane lost some of its poofiness and she started trembling slightly. Celestia glared at the image as she spoke.
"This is the 'Prison of Eternal Torment' it contains in it some of the vilest and darkest things imaginable. Not only creatures and monsters but desires and thoughts as well. While this thing is pure evil, it is also why Equestria is as prosperous as it is." She said as the image vanished and a weight that none had even noticed was there lifted off their shoulders and they breathed a little easier. Twilight, as always, was the first to ask a question.
"How is that possible? How could something so evil help Equestria prosper, let alone help at all?" She asked, clearly confused with what she'd heard.
Oh! this is interesting. A 17 is a good role, or maybe not depending on how you look at it.
Rainbow snorted in amusement that she understood something her egghead friend didn't.
"Care to share with the rest of us miss Dash?" Rainbows amusement disappeared faster than apple fritters at Applejack's family reunion at the surprisingly cold voice of Celestia. Her eyes locked onto Celestia's narrowed ones and she found something there that made her very nervous and confused. Suspicion and scrutiny. Still, she had been called out and never let it be said she backed down when somepony challenged her.
"It's obvious Egghead. Celestia said is contained evil thoughts and desires as well as monsters. If there are no more evil thoughts then there can't be any evil deeds or at least non-worth mentioning like a filly taking a cookie from a cookie jar and such." Rainbow explained. She looked at the shocked and surprised faces of her friends. rainbow huff and started hovering in the air.
"What? I read a lot of Daring Do books, that's like the most basic theme for dark or evil items as it gets." She crossed her forelegs in annoyance. There was a tense silence that followed for a few moments but thankfully Luna broke it. Rainbow did note Luna looked slightly shocked but that was quickly turned into a thoughtful look.
"While it is surprising, Rainbow Dash is correct. It holds most of the darkest and selfish inclinations of Ponykind. Not only that but it is very, very old. It predates the unification of the tribes by at least 500 years if not more. We don't know who or what created it but we have been ever grateful to them. If they had not, the Equestria we know today would most certainly not exist." Luna explained to the rest of Rainbows friends but she now kept glancing at her with the same eyes that Celestia had yet to break away from Rainbow this whole time. She was getting very antsy.
"But if it is such a dangerous object and as protected as you say then who could have taken it?" Twilight asked, trying to think of an answer. Celestia and Luna shared a look, leaving a relieved Rainbow of their gaze for a moment.
"While we are not absolutely certain of who the thief was, we have a very strong suspicion as well as evidence of who they might be." Luna's voice was hard as steel as her gaze returned to Rainbow masking the pegasus feel a cold sweat start to form.
"The thief left a piece of very telling evidence behind," Celestia said. Her gaze joining her sisters as her horn lit up with magic. There was a small flash and a loud gasp from all the girls as a single primary flight feather floated in front of them. A single, distinct shade of Cyan primary flight feather.
Author's Note
Well... That's interesting, wouldn't you say? Let's see what happens next, shall we?
All she could do was stare at the bright blue feather floating in front of her almost mockingly. Rainbow Dash was not dumb by any means. Slow on the uptake in some areas? Sure, but not dumb. The gears in her head spun at the speed of a sonic rainboom as she pieced things together.
She could see it was the exact same color as her own, while not unheard of, it was highly unlikely a non-family related pony had the same color feather as her. she could also tell it was a feather from a left wing, a side which she lost more feathers from due to the fact she usually twisted to her left side right before she crashes.
A sharp pinch of pain in her wing made her flinch and brought her back to reality. She saw a recently plucked feather float away from here and join the other in front of the princesses. Rainbow was shocked the princesses did that as it was considered very rude and intrusive to yank a pegasus's feather without their permission. They didn't seem to care though as Celestia and Luna both cast spell after spell at the two feathers, Celestia's face growing even angrier by the second.
"The feathers match perfectly." Luna's voice may have been calm but her face showed her shock and disbelief.
"WHAT?!" Rainbow and the others yelled. All head snapped to Rainbow Dash wearing so many different emotions a psychiatrist would have thrown in the towel and retired to a tropical beach. Rainbow's head couldn't decide who to stare in shock at so it just kept going back and forth between them all.
"Rainbow Dash." Celestia's voice was hard as stone and her face matched but her eyes glowed with anger making Rainbow's wings snap closed and she tumbled to the floor. Looking up she saw Celestia towering over her like an all-powerful goddess waiting to burn her to a crisp with just her glare. Rainbow shook with fear and tried to crawl as fast as she could away from the enraged Alicorn. Celestia would not let her get away though and followed her with slow menacing steps.
"You stand accused of the crimes of grand theft against the crown, Treason of the highest order, attempted aggressive actions against Sovern soil with the intent to cause permanent and lasting harm," Each proclamation sounding like the gong of deaths bell to Rainbow's ears as she scrambled to back away. She just managed to get to her hooves when her rump hit the cold stone wall at the front of the throne room. She could go no further. Her veins felt like ice as pure dread filled her soul.
Shaking violently she couldn't break her eyes away from Celestia's slow stalk toward her.
"What say you?" Celestia asked, no, demanded of her. Rainbow couldn't speak, fear had stolen her voice. All that came out past her lips was a pitiful whimper. Luna showed more restraint than her sister and did her best to reign Celestia's rage in. Luna wrapped a wing around her sister drawing the sun raiser gaze. They seemed to have a silent conversation, after which Celestia took many deep breaths.
Rainbow was still terrified but she felt her courage slowly coming back to her, letting her breath and her mind think.
"Rainbow Dash?" Luna's voice was as stern as her sisters but it didn't carry rage like hers. Rainbow was still scared of course but not to the state of not being able to speak. Rainbow's back legs gave out and she slumped against the wall. The flap of her right side saddle bag caught on the stone and her D20 dice fell out. It's clattering on the floor sounded like a boulder falling in a canyon.
It was enough though to draw everyponies attention away, including Rainbows, and they watched as it rolled and stopped on the number 1.
Ooooooooo. I'm glad I'm not you, my dear. Glad indeedy.
The dice was enough to snap Rainbow's mind back into a semblance of order and her wing shot out, grabbing the dice and quickly stuffing it back into the bag. Fear still plagued her mind and so she fell back on an old defense of her's. Get annoyed and try to play it off.
"Okay girls, I don't know who's idea this was but this prank has gone way too far. I nearly soiled myself for pinfeather's sake. I'm all up for a good scare but that was way over the line." She groused, getting back to her hooves, albeit shakily.
"And the whole accusing me of stealing a dangerous artifact from the castle no less? That's some twisted thinking." She glared at the princesses and her friends who had crowded behind them. Celestia returned that glare in kind.
"This is no prank, theif ." Celestia spat out that last word like it was the vilest thing she'd ever said. Rainbow had always hated it when others called her a lier, she probably hated it about as much as Applejack did. Now she was being accused of something she didn't even do? Fear shifted into anger and fueled her words.
"I'm not a thief princess! I didn't steal anything from your stupid vault." Rainbow yelled at Celestia, crouching slightly her wings flared at her sides in a defensive manner, trying to make herself seem bigger than she was for intimidation, a natural response to threats for a pegasus. Celestia was not fazed in the slightest. Celestia's mane started to flicker with small flames as her anger started to rise. Twilights voice snagged both their attention, still their anger for a moment.
"What's in your saddlebags Rainbow?" She asked. Her eyes flashed with so many emotions, fear, concern, uncertainty, hope, and most prevalent, hurt. It made Rainbow flinch seeing the hurt in Twilights eyes, hurt that Rainbow could have possibly done this.
AN 8! That's not anywhere near enough. HAHA!
Rainbow's anger rekindled at that. How could her friend actually think that she'd done this? Rainbow was the element of Loyalty for fuck's sake! Does their friendship mean nothing to Twilight if Celestia just accuses her of something? Rainbow's feelings of betrayal and anger fueled her words.
"None of your business Egghead!" She hissed at Her. What had once had been an endearing nickname between them was launched at Twilight with such venom and hate that Twilight reeled back and fell to her haunches like she had been struck. Rainbow instantly felt guilty for that but she couldn't apologize for it, Twilight's seeming betrayal still stung harshly.
"I think it is our business Rainbow Dash." Luna's firm voice cut in.
"What is in your saddlebags?" She asked.
3!!!! Oh, this is just a lovely day.
Rainbow looked to her other friends for support, any kind of help.
"Are you all seriously believing this load of manure?!" She asked them hoping to one of her friends would help. She was only met with nervous, and in Applejack case, cold stares.
"If you got nothing to hide then you shouldn't mind letting us see what you got in them saddlebags of yours." was Applejacks reply. Rainbow's mouth dropped in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The very friends she cared more about than just about anything, we're actually buying into this and considering she wasn't innocent.
2... and so the final nail is hammered into place. Let the walls come crumbling down!
Anger, sadness, and pain burned like a hot knife in rainbows gut. She glared at her supposed friends before twisting her neck around, grabbing her bags with her teeth and whipping them in front of her. Taking them between her hooves she ripped open the flaps before glaring at the princesses.
"Fine! If you all won't believe me when I say I didn't do it... I'LL PROVE IT!" She snarled at them and raised her bags up and shook them violently to dislodge their contents. A look of pure horror shot onto Celestia and Luna's faces as time seemed to slow down to a crawl.
All of them watched in varying grades of shock, horror, and surprise as Rainbow shook her saddlebags. None were more shocked than Rainbow when from out of her bag came a glass sphere she'd never put in it. Inside the ball was a roiling and writhing mass of darkness and shadows.
Rainbow was too shocked at it being there to catch it. Celestia and Luna were too stunned at Rainbow's angry actions to stop its fall. Twilight was too lost in her own hurt by her friend's words to halt its descent. Applejack was too blinded by anger to think straight. Fluttershy was too scared to even move. Pinkie Pie was too broken-hearted and crying buckets at her best friends fighting to even care and Rarity along with Spike were trying to comfort Twilight.
Only Celestia, Luna and Rainbow dash saw and watched the fulcrum of all their current problems, slowly, almost contemptuously, fall to the stone floor where it shattered into millions of tiny pieces.
The tinkling sound of shattering glass drew all heads toward it. The once small ball of darkness quickly grew and spread around the throne room, shooting to the ceiling, twisting and turning through the arches above before being seemingly pulled back to the point where it all started. It condensed down to a pinprick and for one small, precious second there was complete, silence.
The darkness exploded upwards in an ever-expanding funnel smashing through the roof of the palace and into the sky throwing Celestia, Luna and the girls behind them tumbling backward. Rainbow was slammed into the wall hard enough to crack it and held there like by some giant hoof. Screams like that of banshees, wailing of babes, cries of pain and agony pure, pierced the ears and chilled the hearts of anypony for miles around, drawing their eyes toward the towering pillar of darkness.
Even if it was just small a mercy, it only lasted a few moments before it ended, but the damage had already been done. Rainbow crumpled to the ground in pain and shock, doing her best to force air back into her lungs. Forcing herself to stand, her legs wobbled harshly, feeling more like limp pasta than limbs. She tried to wrap her head around what had just happened but sadly life no longer felt merciful to her.
"What have you done?" Celestia's voice called from further across the throne room and drawing Rainbows attention. Rainbow sees all her friends, looking quite roughed up, but none of them appear to hurt too much. Rainbow was not able to focus on her relief as a wave of pure heat cashed over her like a tidal wave. Her eyes snapped to a blazing Celestia, wreathed in fire, her eyes glowing white in pure rage.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!" She screamed, whipping her head forward and from her horn, a pillar of pure fire roared its way toward a terrified Rainbow. Acting on pure fight or flight instinct, Rainbow tried to fling her self out of the way of the deadly attack from Celestia.
Oh, a skill check, you're lucky it's your DEX. but I'm sad to say, not really, that an 11, even with your +2... isn't as good as you'd hope.
Rainbows legs got caught up in the straps of her dropped saddle bags making her trip and stumble. While she dodged the attack, she didn't dodge it completely.
"AAARRRRRRRGGGHHH!!!" Rainbow screamed in pain as a slightly concave furrow was carved out of part of her barrel, flank, and hip. The smell of burning flesh, hair and blood assaulted her nose and the pain that wracked her body and mind made a two-pronged assault on her senses. Her burnt flesh cracked and split as she scrambled to get away, causing fresh blood to ooze and flow from new wounds.
Fighting through the near blinding pain and looking through tear filled eyes she looked back in horror at where she once sat. The wall was gone. Just gone. There was no ash, no rubble, just a perfect hole in the wall with glowing and quickly cooling orange and yellow edges.
"GUARDS!!" Celestia's bellow shook Rainbow out of her shock and she whipped her head around to find an escape. Her eyes locked onto a window near her. Raising to her hooves, she fought back the scream that wanted to escape her lungs at the pain. Adrenaline poured through her numbing the pain just enough to focus. And she needed it as the throne rooms doors slammed open and the royal guards poured in like an army of angry, golden ants.
"SEIZE HER!" Rainbow didn't even turn around to look, she just charged as fast as she could go and leaped out the window. The shattered glass sliced into her skin but she ignores it as best she could. Pumping her wings hard she screams in pain as her wounds shift but it only fuels her and drives her to fly faster. To get away. She had to get away.
and so it begins.
Pumping her wings as hard as she could, screaming in pain and effort Rainbow tore through the skies above Canterlot. If she had had the ability to focus on anything else she'd have seen the iconic Mach cone starting to form in front of her. Normally she'd never been able to pull it off so close to the ground and without a gravity assist, but a combination of fear, pain, and adrenaline mixed perfectly to help her escape.
With a near ear-shattering bang, Rainbow shot away from Canterlot castle in a blaze of color, a scream of agony tearing its past her lips from the extreme increase of strain on her wounds. But she didn't stop, She didn't think, her mind focused on the ancient enemy of all cognitive thought. Fear. And not just any fear, but a fear she had never experienced before. Rainbow feared she would die.
She'd had close calls before, more than she'd be able to count, but never had the possibility of death even entered into the equation. Now it was all that was driving her to get away. Her primitive instincts over rid everything and told her that if she got caught, she would die, fighting wasn't even an option at this point.
Rainbow started to think for herself again only because she blasted through the wall of her home at full speed, shattering the cloud stone, the experience jarring her back into the world of the thinking. All the pain her mind and adrenaline had been suppressing quickly started to come back in waves, crashing against her thoughts like a raging storm.
She lay on the floor of her home, surrounded by rubble and broken furniture, trying to find some kind of rhyme and reason in the situation to latch onto, but she couldn't. She just continued to flounder in confusion, pain, and despair.
"How did this happen? Why did this happen? What the fuck is going on?!" Screamed out her unanswered questions to the air, hoping, praying, pleading for someone, something to give her answers. All she got back was crushing silence interrupted by her grunts and hisses of pain.
Rainbow gritted her teeth in an angry snarl at the silence, like it was mocking her pain and despair. She pushed herself upright, just barely biting back another scream as a fresh wave of agony washed over her. Taking heavy breaths she paused to try to form some semblance of a plan. As her thoughts rattled around her pain influenced mind all she could deduce at the moment was one fact more painful than she thought at first.
"I can't stay here." That simple truth spoken out loud tore at her heart, tears of pain were reinforced by tears of heartbreak as that horrible truth blared in Rainbows head. It took all her will power to push through the pain and sadness as she took that first step toward her kitchen.
Her hoof fore hoof nudged something on the floor drawing her attention down. There on the ground, leaning on some cloud stone rubble was her saddlebags, the things that had carried her damnation without her knowing to Canterlot with her. Her first thought was to tear the things to shreds but her needing something to carry supplies stayed her hoof.
Picking them up made her wound flare up something fierce, making her first stop be the bathroom where she kept her medical supplies. She'd crashed so many times in her life she'd become an old hoof at patching herself up. Carefully, she poured alcohol and spread antiseptic cream on gauze and started packing and wrapping her wound up. She tightened the wrapping as best she could but it wasn't the best, though to her credit she'd never been hurt this bad before.
Grabbing the spare bandages and medical supplies, not before she swallowed three relatively powerful painkillers, she carefully shuffled her way back into what was left of her living room. Stuffing what she'd gathered into her bags she went to the kitchen. Grabbing a few loaves of bread and anything non-perishable and edible she had which amounted to, including the bread, three cans of soup, a half-opened box of saltine crackers, a small box of instant rice and a bag of oats cereal. She had never been as upset with herself for not going grocery shopping when she needed it as now.
Rainbow grabbed the few fresh carrot and celery sticks she had in the fridge and quickly scarfed them down to try to keep her energy up. Finished eating she took her food supplies and carried them back to her saddlebags. Shoving them all in and painfully pulling them on she took one last look around her home. This would probably be the last time she'd see this old place.
Pushing her feelings of sadness and heartache as far down as she could, she started walking out her self-made door when her hoof stepped on something with a crunch. Looking down her eyes gushed fresh tears as she saw the picture of her and all her friends together. It was the first picture they'd taken as a group, right after they had helped Twilight and stopped Nightmare Moon together. Carefully Rainbow dislodged the slightly crumpled picture from its busted frame and got lost in the smiles and happy memories they had all shared.
Pulling herself out of memory lane she carefully folded the photo and placed it gently into one of the free side pouches. Stealing herself Rainbow slowly extended her wings, dreading but determined to do what she'd have to do to get down from her cloud house.
Not giving herself time to think, she jumped. Pain seared her mind, forcing a small scream from her, barely muffled from her clenched teeth and pursed lips. Landing wasn't much better as her legs buckled when she hit the ground making her trip and land on her wounded side. White enveloped her eyes, and she struggled to gasp in a single breath. The pain not even letting her scream for relief.
The seconds she lay there felt like hours but like all things the pain faded, and she was able, albeit slowly, to get to her hooves. Taking a some deep breaths to clear her head as much as possible forced herself to start walking away from town.
"Those over the counter painkillers aren't gonna cut it. I'll need something stronger." She thought as she moved as quickly as her injured side would allow through the fields outside Ponyville. She racked her brain trying to think of someplace she could get better meds when out of the corner of her eye Fluttershys' house came into view. She quickly made a beeline for her fellow Pegasuses' sod home.
Fluttershy took care of tons of animals, she'd have dealt with broken bones, cuts, bruises and illnesses all the time. She was certain Fluttershy would have stronger meds and better medical kits. A yucky feeling settled into her stomach as she made her way to Fluttershys' door. She was going to have to just grab the things and run. Stealing things from a friend just made her feel sick.
'Former friend. ' A dark part of Rainbows' mind whispered to her. She forced that thought away, they were still friends in her mind. She'd figure out what the hay had happened and show them she wasn't the element of loyalty for nothing. Pushing open the door, mentally thanking her lucky star that Fluttershy didn't have a lock, Rainbow walked to the back room where Fluttershy kept all the medical stuff. She had to weave around the bodies of different animals to get there, all of them staring at her and making her very nervous.
Something bumping her hoof made her look down. Rainbow felt her heart start to break again as she looked into the worried eyes of her own pet tortoise, Tank. She carefully sat on her haunches and grabbed her beloved reptile in a deep hug. In all the pain and panic, she'd forgotten all about him and that she was supposed to pick him up from his check-up today.
"I-I'm sorry buddy, but... but you're gonna have to stay here for a while." She said, doing her best to sound tough even with tears pouring from her cheeks. Tank still looked worried now mixed with confusion.
"I got dumped into some hot water Tank, some deadly hot water." She looked at the gouge in her side before taking a shaky breath.
"You need to stay here Tank. They'll be coming after me and I can't risk you getting hurt or worse. I'd never be able to forgive myself if that happened." Her eyes shined with determination and sad resignation. Tank wasn't happy about this decision, not one bit and the way his eyes hardened and glared slightly at her made her heart swell with pride for his loyalty and ache because she'd still need to leave him behind.
Oh, a seventeen? A good role. Damn!
"Tank I..." She started but was interrupted by a strong flash of light from the front window followed by familiar voices, causing her blood to turn to ice.
"I'll try and see if I can get my animal friends to look for Rainbow Dash, Twilight."
Fluttershys voice, though soft-spoken, carried well through the air, making Rainbow jump to her hooves in panic, barely keeping quiet from the painful flaring of her side. How had she forgotten Twilight was able to Teleport their whole group back and forth between Ponyvillie and Canterlot?! She wanted to punch herself in the face for being so stupid, but she couldn't afford to waste time. Leaning down, she gave Tank a quick kiss on the head, the tortoise looking even more concerned by the second.
"Be a good boy Tank, don't make too much trouble... I love you." She whispered before she rushed across the room to the back and into Fluttershys' med room, shutting the door behind her as quickly and as quietly as possible. Frantically, Rainbow flitted over all the bottles and packs of meds. Most ponies didn't know it, but she was very knowledgeable about what which meds and pills did, she had to be with how often she got injured.
Grabbing multiple bottles of burns salve, painkillers, antibiotics and anything else that might be useful, she stuffed them into her pouches.
"Hmm, I didn't leave my door open when I left." Hearing Fluttershys' voice say that made Rainbows's blood turn to ice as panic reared its ugly head.
Nat twenty, Damn! You're too lucky if you ask me.
Her eyes whipped back and forth before landing on Fluttershys' back door. Perfect. Her new-found exit calmed her rising panic enough that she could carefully and quietly make her way past all the bags of pet food on the ground. She was careful not to trip, as any noise could alert Fluttershy to her presence.
She breathed a sigh of relief as her hoof landed on the door nob, only to freeze as she heard Fluttershy again.
"Is anyone here hurt?! There's some blood on the carpet?! Oh! I better get my first aid kit just in case!" Followed by a fast trotting hooves. Not wasting any more time, Rainbow opened, exited and closed the back door before crouching down below the doors window to remain hidden. Her heart hammered so hard and fast it felt like it would crack her ribs.
"Oh my, I didn't realize I was so low on supplies! I could've sworn I just had a new delivery of burn salve though. Strange." She heard Fluttershy talking to herself as she rummaged around in her back room. Hearing the steady retreat of hooves, she let out the breath she'd been holding since she closed the door, gulping air to try and steady herself.
She carefully got up, quickly and quietly making her way towards the Everfree forest. Rainbow took one last peak behind her at Fluttershys' hut, desperately wishing this was just a bad nightmare. She never noticed two beady eyes staring at her with anger from the bush in front of her.
A Seven. My, my, my, That won't cut it against the spawn of Caerbannog.
Rainbow turned away, only to get a face full of angry, white bunny clawing at her face. With a yelp, she shook her head trying to dislodge Angel so she could run, but the little rabbit was persistent and hung on. She heard a gasp from behind her, fear and anger swelled in her breast. She'd had the worst day of her life, and now this stupid rat was making it worse!
"GET OFF ME!" She roared, teeth bared in a nasty snarl, before they clamped down hard on something soft.
Sixteen, a good role. Somethings not right here.
With a vicious twist of her neck, she pulled at whatever she had in her teeth, anger clouding her mind to such a degree that she held nothing back. The sickening sound of ripping flesh rent the air, followed by a squealing scream of pain. The coppery taste of fresh blood filled Rainbows' mouth, making her gag in disgust as she spit out what she quickly deduced was a rabbit ear.
A scream of shock and worry snapped her head back toward the cottage where Fluttershy was cradling a blood covered, one eared rabbit and doing what she could to staunch the bleeding. Guilt tore through her already ravaged heart, seeing her oldest friend and her beloved pet hurt adding to the disgusting taste of blood in her mouth, she spat as much out as she could. The noise drew Fluttershys' attention to her. Setting Angel bunny down softly, the look she gave Rainbow was anything but kind.
"You..."Her voice was soft, but it carried far, making Rainbow all the more terrified.
"I-I..." Rainbow tried to stammer out, but her courage failed her at the absolute hate filled snarl on Fluttershys' face.
"YOU!" She pounced at Rainbow like a starved tiger, teeth bared and eyes a light with such murderous intent, Rainbow was frozen with fear, unable to move.
Eighteen. Okay, something is going on here and I will find out what it is!
Much to Rainbows' shock and relief, Fluttershy didn't get far and face planted hard into the ground. Rainbow blinked, her brain quickly assessing her surroundings and to her shock she found Tank standing behind Fluttershy, her pink tail clamped tightly in his mouth and his feet dug firmly in the ground. Their eyes met and Tank's seemed to smile sadly and his head jerked to the side as if to say, 'I got this, get outta here' .
Pride bloomed and she smiled at him. Fluttershy groaning quickly reminded Rainbow of her priorities, and she Bolted from the clearing as fast she she could. She tore through the bushes and started down the North-east road out of Ponyville. Her plan originally was to disappear into the Everfree but with her getting caught by Fluttershy it'd be the first place her former friends would check, so she had to scrap that plan.
She'd run for maybe a half a minute when a pink blur smashed into her making her yelp in pain and fear. She knew only one pony who could catch her when she was determined to get away. She was afraid. Quickly finding her self pinned to the ground on her back as a pair of bloodshot, pain filled baby blue eyes bored into hers. She Struggled, wiggled, even tried to bite her way to freedom but she couldn't break free.
"Did you do it?" Pinkie demanded, her voice cracking slightly. Panic gripped Rainbows mind, not allowing her to rationally think. Her thoughts going back to Celestias' attack at the castle. She was caught. She was caught and she was going to die. The fear of death is a powerful motivator, it's called 'fight or flight' for a reason. She was trapped. Trapped was death. RUN! ESCAPE! FLEE!
Her struggling increased tenfold and as Rainbow nearly went completely feral in her attempt to escape the iron clutches of Pinkie Pie. Rainbows struggled did more harm than good though, as even more blood seeped from her hasty bandages. The Pain was just more fuel to the fire as she increased her struggles to escape. Above the struggling pegasus, Pinkies' eyes flashed angrily.
"DID YOU DO IT!" Pinkie screamed, pain and despair fully displayed in her voice.
A nineteen... This is NOT according to the Plan! What is going on?!
Something in Rainbow mind snapped. All the pain and trauma, physical, emotional and mental boiled over and using every speck of air in her lungs she screamed.
"NO!"
The world around the two mares seemed to dim and fade into the background. One stared down in anger and desperation, hoping beyond any semblance of reason that the world was mistaken, that it was all a lie and everything would go back to normal if she blinked. The other glared up in rage and pain, her very soul burning in anger, cursing the world for the hell it had made of her existence. But anger cools in the face of reality, and hers was no different. Seconds passed and the world snapped back into focus as Rainbow broke down into quiet sobs beneath Pinkie.
"No." she hiccuped again, her struggles gone as she limply laid on the ground, in her own blood, just wanting it all to stop.
"Pinkie promise?" Pinkies's voice was soft, soothing and caring like a mother embracing her child after they'd been hurt. Without thinking, Rainbow curled into Pinkie slightly, instinctively seeking any comfort she could.
"Pinkie... P-promise." Rainbow said, all fight gone, as she sobbed. She felt two limbs wrap around her and soft fur press against her face. A feeling of love and safty seemed to blanket Rainbow, calming her hesterical fears.
"I believe you." Pinkies firmly said as she held Rainbow to her barrel in a tight but gentle hug. Hearing it shocked Rainbows brain back to working order, her head jerking up and staring at Pinkie is confusion.
"W-wha..." She tried to get out, but a pink hoof pressed against her lips, stopping her.
"No time." Pinkie said. She jammed her snout into Rainbows saddlebags as she quickly pulled Rainbow upright. A pink blur surrounded Rainbow and she felt a harsh sting of her wound, making her look and she was shocked to see fresh bandages covering it.
"I've done what I can for your wound, but you'll have to find a real doctor to see to it soon." Pinkie said calmly, quickly securing Rainbows bags to her back in a way that they wouldn't aggravate her injury as much.
"Go Rainbow, I'll distract them." Pinkie pie said, giving Rainbows' rear a small shove away as she turned and started heading back toward Ponyville.
"Pinkie?" Rainbow was so confused. Pinkie turned her head and smiled. It was a slightly broken smile, one forced, brittle and cracked by pain.
"I won't let my friend be killed if I can help it." Pinkies' smile brightened slightly at her declaration and shook Rainbow back into focus.
"Run Rainbow, go." Pinkie said once more before she tore off like a bat out of Tartarus toward Ponyville.
"I saw her! I saw her! Rainbow Dash went into Whitetail Woods! She went this way!" Rainbow watched in surprise as Pinkie screamed to get any ponies attention on her as she lead pursuers in the wrong direction. Rainbow decided not to wait and see if Pinkies ruse worked so she quickly started to run again. As her hooves pounded the dirt and grass, she swore she'd find some way to make it up to Pinkie. To her only friend that believed her. She'd not let Pinkies' mercy be in vain.
She was going to survive. She was going to live.
Author's Note
I FINALLY FINISHED IT! Took e long enough to get back to writing. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. it was a pain to write, mostly to my heart, as writing these scenes hurt. a lot. Thank you to those who haven't given up on me and to those that did... Glad I could prove you wrong.
Evil, always finds a way.
