Equestria's Doom

The world had gone away from her and Celestia curled into a ball within her prison.

Anguish streamed over her mind as a barrage of sensory information psychically assaulted her from the world outside. Her body was in another place, though she could walk around and move inside the chamber she found herself in. From her magical experience, she recognized it for the mental prison that it was, a form of hallucination brought on by demonic possession.

When a pony was possessed by an evil force, their consciousness and sense of autonomy would be compressed into a tiny region of their mind that resembled a prison that they could experience a false sensation of bodily movement within. She found herself, much to her terror and disappointment, within such a vile and terrifying prison.

Words coming from her mouth that she would never say herself flowed over her lips and her face twisted into an evil smile. Her body contorted into a stream of condescending gestures that she knew she would never make before her subjects, if only she was in control. Her heart revolted at the evils that poured from a mouth she had no authority over.

“Deag Grav…” Celestia thought to herself. “I thought I could trust you.”

The sights at Zecora’s hut were no better than those from the journey there.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both felt their heart sink to see a writhing ball of dark energy consuming the hut itself. Several ponies banged on the magical walls, but it was impossible to see within to determine the response from those inside the magical contraption, if they had any to begin with. Every now and then, ponies in white gowns would dash in and out of the magical walls surrounding the hut.

Besides that, rows and rows of wounded ponies and other creatures stretched around the hut like the moons of some colossal planet. Many of them looked as if they had been tended to and some even seemed to be recovering from their wounds. Rainbow Dash watched as a pony ran from the walls around the hut with a potion in her saddlebags. The pony then looked around before running to a filly nearby and fed her the potion after a moment of brief conversation. The filly gasped and smiled, thanking her caretaker.

The smell was overwhelming even if Dash was beginning to become used to it. Blood and a thousand other things invaded her nostrils and she felt dizzy from the sensual onslaught of the makeshift hospital she found herself in. Despite the seeming chaos of the scene, many of the ponies did look as if they had received some kind of treatment. Many of them rested with small smiles on their faces and others were peacefully sleeping underneath the shade of what trees hadn’t yet been cut down for the firewood of the encampment.

“I need...I need to do something.” said Fluttershy with a start.

Rainbow Dash wordlessly turned to Fluttershy. “What’s wrong?”

“Some of these bandages haven’t been tended to and need to be changed or rewrapped.” explained Fluttershy quickly.

She moved away from Dash and began to step her way through the rows of injured and disabled, occasionally making adjustments to bandages and wrappings as she went. Dash asked if she could help, only for Fluttershy to explain that she would be useless without medical experience.

“What about Twilight on my back?” called out Dash.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she scampered back to Rainbow Dash. She helped her lower herself and untied the riggings holding the comatose unicorn to her back. The unicorn was lowered onto the ground and the drool wiped from her face. They found an empty spot between two more injured for the unicorn to lay in and set her there gently. Fluttershy began to tend to her as Dash stretched in her relaxation from being free of that heavy burden.

Then Rainbow Dash turned her attention towards the swirling walls of energy enshrouding the hut with a quizzical expression. She looked to her lover, only to find her busy helping both Twilight and a family that had just trotted up to her, mistaking her for a nurse. She helped lay their filly beside Twilight and began to take its vitals. Then she compressed a wound and started calling for a bandage, for one of the white-gowned ponies to trot over.

“Are you one of the nurses Zecora assigned?” asked the pony in white.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Me, my purple friend on the ground and my marefriend just got here.”

“Well, you should be. And that’s your marefriend?” asked the pony in white.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, we’re together.”

“Okay, my name is Healing Hoof. I was an army medic before I defected.” explained Healing Hoof.

Dash’s eyes flickered to her side and saw that her cutie mark was a young filly’s leg halfway wrapped in a bandage.

“That’s neat. What made you defect?” asked Dash.

An incredibly dark expression came over Healing Hoof’s face and Dash stepped back. Tears formed in her eyes and streamed down her face and her lip began to tremble.

“They wanted to...they wanted to pull us out. Said we needed to recall all forces to Canterlot for a final stand.” said Healing Hoof with incredible pain in her voice.

“What about all these ponies?” asked Fluttershy in a low voice.

Healing Hoof’s lips had been pulled into a tight frown and her eyes had narrowed to a squint.

“Exactly.” Healing Hoof took in a deep breath and turned away from Rainbow Dash. “I! HATE! CELESTIA!” she screamed in a booming yell so loud it seemed to bounce off of the sky itself.

Whoops and hollers erupted from the injured on the ground as well as those beside them who were lucky enough to escape injuries.

“Yeah, I’m gonna cut her head off and…” started one stallion, the rest of his statement so perverse that Rainbow Dash just chose not to hear it.

“She left us all to die! All these families!” yelled another mare with a cast on her leg as her bandages were rewrapped.

Various other ponies joined their cries and their roars and cheers sweeped over the refugee camp.

“Um…” said Dash as she nervously pawed the ground. “Well, I don’t know enough about what’s going on to say anything either way.”

“All you need to know is that we need to kill that useless goddamn alicorn.” hissed Healing Hoof with a look of pure rage pouring from her eyes that flowed down to the rest of her face.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and turned away from the radicalized nurse. She gestured to the dome surrounding Zecora's hut. “So what’s going on with that?”

The anger left Healing Hoof’s face as the topic shifted away from Celestia’s apparent shortcomings. “Zecora had to erect a magical barrier around her hut to prevent her supplies from being ransacked by the desperate.”

Dash nodded. “I need to speak with Zecora. How do I get through?”

“She monitors all ponies moving in and out of the portal, you can’t get through without her consent.” explained Healing Hoof.

“Oh, okay.” said Rainbow Dash as she trotted up to the barrier. She heard a few words of protest from Healing Hoof but ignored them as she stepped through the portal, Healing Hoof trotting up behind her to follow her through.

The scene inside was as chaotic as she had ever seen Zecora’s hut. Rows of potions lined the walls and some had fallen to shatter on the floor in neon colors. A few cauldrons attended to by sweating, tired ponies and other creatures bubbled on the floors. Other ponies stood by them, drawing out their essence to capture them within glass flasks. Once the potions had been harvested, the ponies rushed outwards to deliver them to waiting refugees.

Dash looked around in search of Zecora, only to notice that Healing Hoof was standing by her side. “Um, do you need something? Where’s Zecora?”

“I’m just…” said Healing Hoof after briefly locking eyes with Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow but was interrupted before she could continue.

“Throughout the day and throughout the night
I slave away to make this disaster right
And even the sight of friends I thought long gone
Cannot change the balance of right and wrong.”

Rainbow Dash and Healing Hoof both turned around to see a baggy eyed, panting Zecora in front of them.

“Oh, hey Zecora, I was just looking for you.” said Rainbow Dash.

She explained the nature of their current situation while Zecora and Healing Hoof listened with rapt attention. She told of how Twilight had been possessed and her horn destroyed, to elicit shocked gasps from both of her listeners. Her words felt as if they were a waterfall devoid of sense and she spoke without taking any breaths. Then she told of the punishment the World Nymph had inflicted on both Fluttershy and herself.

Zecora shut her eyes and her face wrinkled in contemplation.

While Zecora engaged in her thoughts. Rainbow Dash turned to Healing Hoof, who was still beside her. The unicorn had a light green fur matted with sweat from exhaustion. Her face was sharp and angular and her body was lean, but still quite muscular beneath her feminine complexion. Rainbow Dash noticed she was a unicorn and that her mane was a light, dirty blue that could easily be mistaken for a soft grey. Saddlebags hung from her sides that brimmed with medical equipment and dirty bandages.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Wanna be friends?”

Healing Hoof nodded and a small smile wormed its way across her face. A strand of blue hair fell from her mane across her forehead and dangled over her eyes, which were also a gentle, soft blue.

Dash paused as she felt herself blush.

Even if she was taken, Healing Hoof was...cute.

“I just want to help.” said Healing Hoof.

“Well, if you’re good at healing, um, yeah we could use that.” said Rainbow Dash.

“I can fight, too, believe it or not.” said Healing Hoof.

“Can you fight good enough to, you know, kill a demon?” retorted Rainbow Dash.

Healing Hoof thought for a moment and shook her head. Dash let out a chuckle. “Yeah, me neither. But I’ve gotta be honest about you with something.”

“What’s that?” asked Healing Hoof.

“We’ve got a really, really hard fight ahead of us. I mean, me and Fluttershy. Who’s my marefriend that I love very much, by the way.” explained Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite gauge how Healing Hoof reacted when she emphasized her love for Fluttershy, though she did notice a small change in her face that she couldn’t tell the meaning of.

“Are two mares, who do not know a stallion’s touch
Ready to hear my words, though they may be a bit much?”

“Um...yeah.” said Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow. “‘Do not know a stallion’s touch?’ What-”

Zecora smiled and then her grin fell into a serious glare.

“I now find that the time has come to explain
About the magical artifacts known as the Talismans of Pain.

Your two souls have been intertwined in a dire way by a dark spell,
Though temporarily they can be protected from this hell.

The potion of sacrifice will bind your pain to three artifacts,
That will only shatter by the worst of harmful acts.”

When Zecora finished speaking, both Healing Hoof and Rainbow Dash sat on the ground in confusion.

Before Rainbow Dash could ask another question, Fluttershy bumbled into the hut. She wordlessly strode past the trio and began to rummage about. After securing some bandages, she began to make her exit.

“Flutter-” sputtered Dash. She was ignored and Fluttershy rushed out without speaking further.

Rainbow Dash sighed and Healing Hoof reassuringly put a hoof on her shoulder.

She turned her focus to Zecora. “So, I need to drink this potion of sacrifice, and then something will happen with these Talismans of Pain?”

Zecora nodded and moved away from the two. She began to drag a large, empty cauldron to the side to reveal a wooden trapdoor. The zebra vanished beneath, leaving Dash and Healing Hoof alone beside one another.

“Look, I’ll be honest, you really need to think about what you’re getting yourself into.” said Dash to Healing Hoof.

“I know.” said Healing Hoof abruptly. “I’m ready to die, or be raped, or embrace whatever happens next.”

“Well, okay.” said Dash. “Just as long as you know this is going to be crazy. I really don’t expect to live that much longer, you know.”

Healing Hoof nodded and then suddenly took Dash in a hug. “It’s gonna be okay, no matter what happens.” she said into her ear in a low, gentle breath.

Dash’s eyes widened and then shut as she leaned into the embrace. “Yep, totally. I get that.”

Healing Hoof broke off the hug before it got awkward.

Then Zecora appeared before them bearing three talismans.

Rainbow Dash looked at them quizzically. They were fairly small and circular. Each one had a length of thin, black rope that seemed as if it had been cut from some mysterious plant threaded through a small loop above a piece of circular, engraved metal. Each talisman also bore an empty, clear crystal within its center that seemed as if it was waiting to be filled with something.

Zecora then withdrew a tiny, triangular potion bottle from her bag and set it on the ground beside the potions.

“So, let me get this straight. I drink this potion and it protects Fluttershy when I feel pain?” asked Rainbow Dash curiously.

“This potion will inflict suffering enough to drive most ponies insane,
Though if you survive it then into these talismans your suffering will be drained.

After these events take place, every battle will be a race
To defeat the enemy, before you and your lover are erased.

No longer will Fluttershy feel your pain from fighting,
Though if these amulets break then it will come to her like lightning.”

Rainbow Dash bathed in Zecora’s words and waited for a moment while she mulled things over. “Okay, so let me see if I understand what’s going on here. I drink this potion and it hurts me a lot, but then it puts my suffering into these amulets.”

Zecora nodded.

Rainbow Dash continued. “Then, Fluttershy doesn’t feel my pain anymore and I also don’t feel any pain during battle I’m guessing?”

Once again, Zecora smiled and nodded.

“But if I take enough damage from a fight, then the talismans will break and all the suffering that the potion puts into them will come out and hurt or kill me AND Fluttershy.” said Dash slowly, making sure to emphasize each word for Zecora’s understanding.

“As the sky is blue when the time of the afternoon draws near,
Your perception of my explanation is quite clear.”

Zecora gestured to Rainbow Dash and she followed her into the area below the hut that her trapdoor led into. It was a barren room carved out of dirt and stone adorned with no decorations to speak of. Dash noticed that it was mostly empty save for several barrels in the corner. There was nowhere for light to enter the chamber and it was a bit chilly within the chamber.

“Once the potion passes your lips and you sink into your nightmare dreams,
No pony, no zebra and no gods will be able to help you, no matter how loud your screams.

The terror that will enshroud your mind may break you
Though if your will holds strong, you will gain great strength, too.

Either way, the choice is yours to make
And neither drinking it nor abstaining will be a mistake.”

Dash looked at the suspicious black bottle. The liquids inside seemed to swirl with a life of their own and she frowned for a moment at the thought of drinking it.

“You don’t have to do this.” said Fluttershy.

Dash whirled around to see that the pegasus had joined them in the chamber. Healing Hoof turned around in surprise and opened her mouth as if to speak, but then shut it. She turned away from the pair and retreated to a corner of the room with a blank expression.

“Who is she, by the way?” asked Fluttershy.

Dash looked to Healing Hoof in the corner and then turned to Fluttershy. “A friend, I think.”

Fluttershy took Dash in a hug and Dash returned the passion and strength of her embrace.

“It’s gonna be so scary.” said Fluttershy quietly.

Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. “I’m ready for it.”

She turned to the bottle and popped the top off. Making eye contact with Fluttershy the whole time, she raised the bottle to her lips. The potion was surprisingly tasteless and she rapidly swallowed the entire thing in a few gulps.

Then she fell to her hooves and began to shriek.