Dragonstruck
Equestria, the land of ponies and sunshine, was normally recognized by the species of the world for both its pony inhabitants and its blessed scenery. On this day, though, Equestria had plenty of ponies, but lacked a clear amount of sunshine. That is, except for the area surrounding the Everfree Forest, where attempts at terraforming and weather control by the ponies of Equestria never seemed to take hold. As such, Ponyville stood covered in the darkest bank of clouds any resident of the 'ville had ever seen, and in their homes everypony silently wished that it would stay like that. No pony wanted that more than Rainbow Dash as she zoomed around the thunderclouds’s edge, above the Everfree Forest. The lives of everypony depended on her and she would not be the one to let them down.
“Rainbow Dash!” a voice called to Rainbow Dash as she bucked a cloud back into place; it had begun to drift toward the Everfree Forest. She spared a glance along the edge of the massive thundercloud. Satisfied that no more pieces of the cloud were drifting, she flew to the top of the thundercloud.
Rainbow Dash landed softly on the cloud and ignored a slight static shock before she smiled to her closest friend. “How’s the eggheading going, Twilight?”
“Nergh, it could go a little better without the degrading the name of thousands of years of Unicorn Magic,” Twilight responded, between glaring at Rainbow Dash and concentrating on her magic. Her horn was brightly lit as several balls of shifting energy floated around her.
“Hey! We’re practically on a suicide mission here. Please, excuuuuuse me if I try and pull a Pinkie Pie and lighten things up,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, tilting her head away as she crossed her chest with her hooves. Rainbow Dash only held up the fake anger for a moment before she sagged, her eyes swiveling to Twilight with a worried look. “I’m the fastest flier in all of Equestria. I’m the head of the weather team. I’m the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. You don’t have to be here Twilight, I do. I…I don’t want you to be hurt.”
“Rainbow…” Twilight said softly, looking away from the balls of magic to lock eyes with her closest friend. “I’m the Element of Magic. With Celestia and Luna in the Griffon Kingdoms and Shining Armor protecting Canterlot, I’m the only pony who could do a spell like…this. Though, it's not just that….” Twilight moved over to place a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Ponyville is my home too, ever since I met you and the others. It is the place where the ponies I care for the most live and I could never live with myself if I just sat to the side while some dragon hurt my friends.”
“Heh…” Rainbow Dash chuckled, brushing a tear from her eye while placing her other hoof on Twilight’s. “Whatta day for Equestria’s most powerful ponies to not be home, am I right? So sorry, the only two ponies capable of opening the magical vault where the Elements of Harmony are kept are not in right now. Please leave a message after the beep while you fend for yourselves against the most scariest dragon in existence!”
“A little too coincidental if you ask me…” Twilight replied grimly.
Responding to the invitation of the Griffin Empress, Hildr the Honorable (or Horrible), the two Princesses had left for the Griffon Kingdoms to renew diplomatic ties. No sooner had they left than a great evil had literally descended onto Equestria. From the Mare Nostrum a great, dark dragon arrived at the port of Baltimare and burnt half the city to the ground before continuing inland. The dragon quickly earned the nickname ‘Dark Claws’ from his distinctive black claws and cruel nature. A general alarm had gone out across Equestria, with the pegasi in Cloudsdale working like mad to produce thunderclouds for all of Equestria.
After the Wonderbolts had been so very ineffective against a rampaging Spike, Equestria’s movers and shakers had decided that a more defensive strategy had to be undertaken should another dragon go on a rampage. Every city and town would be covered in an impenetrable shield of thunderclouds, but Ponyville had a unique problem due to the Everfree Forest. The Thundercloud Shield had to be perfect in surrounding Ponyville to work. The wild nature of the Everfree Forest, though, caused the weather surrounding the forest to be hard to control, and clouds wandered out of formation. It was a chink in Ponyville’s armor that, if not maintained by an expert member of the weather team, could lead the entire thundercloud shield to shatter.
Of course Rainbow Dash had volunteered immediately to cover the thundercloud until the last possible moment before the arrival of Dark Claws. Twilight had gone over the calculations again and again in her head and each time she calculated that Rainbow Dash would have to secure the thunderclouds AFTER the arrival of Dark Claws in TWENTY seconds flat. Twilight believed that there would be no way Rainbow Dash could survive, unless she added a new variable to the equation. Herself.
“Are you sure this spell is going to send that creep dragon away?” Rainbow Dash asked. Her hoof stamped on the cloud and sealed a small crack that had begun to form in the cloudbank. She didn’t want to have the cloud break up under Twilight, who lacked wings and relied entirely on the cloudwalker spell that she had used at the Young Fliers Competition.
“I’m positive it will work, Rainbow. History books say that Starswirl the Bearded’s spell of Mass Teleportation transported away dragons that had attacked Equestria in his time. I just hope the spell is ‘mass’ teleportation in terms of size and not in terms of quantity. That would be bad,” Twilight commented. The balls of magic around her stopped floating around. They swirled to a spot above Twilight’s head and froze. Suddenly, a ring of energy sprang from orb to orb, linking them into one golden ring of magical energy. “There. The spell is ready. Now all you have to do, Rainbow, is outrun the dragon for ten seconds.”
“I haven’t met a dragon yet I couldn’t fly circles around,” Rainbow Dash said as she hoof pumped the air.
“If you had met one you would be dead! Rainbow, please try to be serious about the danger you're in!” Twilight said her voice full of anger and worry as she brushed off Rainbow’s hoof from her shoulder. It stirred something in Rainbow Dash as she realized how much her friend was afraid for her.
“Come on, Twilight. Don’t act like I'm going to die or get hurt. Believe in me, or at least believe in the Twilight that I believe knows how awesome I am!” Rainbow Dash winked at Twilight with her ever-cocky grin.
“Rainbow…” Twilight’s mouth had begun to speak, when the air was split by a thunderous noise.
“RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRR!”
Both ponies looked away from each other to the source of the sound: the Everfree Forest. Without any warning a large area of the forest exploded from within. The blast created a large crater amidst the sea of treetops that billowed smoke and sent flames showering across the forest. Up from the smoking hole, two massive grey wings emerged and began to flap, sending out gusts of air that only caused the smoke and fires to spread. What followed next caused the hearts of the two ponies to skip a beat as the gigantic frame of the dragon known as Dark Claws pulled itself out of the ground. Unlike the noble and sleek-looking dragons they had encountered before, this one was absolutely frightening. Its bulky body was covered with twisted black spikes, its scales were misshapen, and its face was like a craggy mountain with two small caves filled with magma for eyes and a mouth like a large cave full of razor sharp rocks! The ground quaked as it stamped on the ground with its claws, crushing entire trees underneath, as if Equestria itself was afraid of this monster of a dragon. Its red eyes, shimmering with hate, scanned over the thundercloud covering Ponyville, but stopped as it narrowed in on the two insignificant ponies sitting on top of it.
“Oh, buck,” Rainbow whispered.
“GGGRRROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAARGH!” Dark Claws thundered, beginning to stomp his way toward them.
“H-how d-did it p-pop out of the g-ground? W-we're s-supposed t-o know when…” Rainbow asked, cowering down on the thundercloud.
“I don’t k-know I-I-" Twilight mumbled, her eyes scanning the horizon as they seemed to notice something. Gasping, her hoof pointed toward the distant hills that bordered Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, home to the jewel-hungry Diamond Dogs. The hills were smoking. “The Diamond Dogs! Their tunnels! Oh no, it must have found them first and…and…I don’t want to think about it.”
“Hot dogs…” Rainbow Dash mumbled and pressed herself down on the thundercloud next to Twilight. Dark Claws roared again; it made Rainbow’s ears hurt just listening to it. It felt like the sky was going to fall. Rainbow looked down at the protective thundercloud and noticed that the sky just might be falling as dozens of cracks appeared in the cloud. The entire edge began to float out toward the Everfree. Toward the dragon. Ponyville’s hope for survival was floating away on her watch. “Twilight! Get that spell ready to fire. I’ll keep ‘Big Ugly’ here distracted,” she said
“Rainbow, you can’t outfly that thing! My calculations were all wrong. You will die if you try and outfly it,” Twilight cried, her heart skipping a beat for the second time today. A part of her just wanted to grab Rainbow Dash and not let her go. Teleport somewhere safe, or distract the dragon with her horn while finishing the final algorithms on the spell. “Rainbow-"
“No. Twilight. I have to. I’m the only one and deep down you know it,” Rainbow cut Twilight off as she stared into the beautiful eyes of her friend. There was something else just on the tip of her tongue she wanted to say, but she just couldn’t get the words out. She was always the type of pony who preferred action over words. Instead of speaking, she saluted Twilight and began to flap her wings. “Don’t worry, Twilight. I’ll see you soon!”
Like a multicolored streak of lightning Rainbow Dash was off, flying toward certain doom, leaving Twilight on the thundercloud with one hoof extended outward, as if trying to pull Rainbow Dash back. Tears streaming from her eyes, she thrust her horn into the glowing ring of magic and prepared the spell weave for activation once Rainbow Dash lured Dark Claws close enough to Ponyville. She made up her mind that once this was all said and done, she would have a good, long talk with Rainbow Dash.
"You can do this, Rainbow! You're Equestria’s Number One Flier! You've got the wings, the skills, and the coolness to out fly the dragon that could just fall over and squash Ponyville. You’re doing this for your friends, for Ponyville, for yourself, and for…Twilight," Rainbow thought as she streaked across the sky. Dark Claws noticed her right away and once again roared, sending a shock wave of sound and bad breath crashing into Rainbow Dash and smacking her skyward. Rainbow Dash wasn’t out quite yet, though, as she righted her body and oriented her wings in order to hover in the air. Narrowing her eyes at Dark Claws, she slammed her forehooves together and shouted, “LETS DO THIS!”
Dark Claws’ answer was a gout of dragonfire. Rainbow Dash easily dodged to the side and smacked down on the back of Dark Claws, careful to avoid the twisted spikes that grew out of his scales like weeds. “Hey! Rocks for brains!" Rainbow shouted. "I may not have the space to do my sonic rainboom, but I can still-WOAH!”
Rainbow Dash kicked off from Dark Claws just as the dragon brought back a claw, smacking at his body as if Rainbow Dash were a fly to be brushed away. Moments later, Rainbow Dash kicked her hooves into Dark Claws’ head, then his back, then his shoulder, and then his side. Each kick sent quakes through her hooves. Rainbow Dash mumbled, “Ugh, this guy’s harder than steel!”
Dark Claws again brought up his claw to smash Rainbow Dash, but this time he also raised up his tail from behind. Rainbow Dash noticed it at the last moment and only managed to partially dodge it. Her lower hooves were caught on one of the scales, which caused her to tumble and skin her side against one of the jagged spikes that grew out of his tail. “Ah-!”
Rainbow Dash ignored the pain and blood trickling down her side as she flapped away from Dark Claws, desperate to put some distance between it and her. The distance she gained proved to be a mistake as the dragon opened its mouth wide to spit fire. Rainbow Dash’s mind panicked as she clawed at the air, trying to gain speed, when she was saved by a blast of purple magic that smacked into Dark Claws’ head. The blast distracted it enough for the dragon to misfire, its dragonfire scorching the air away from Rainbow.
“RAINBOW! IT'S READY! GET HIM CLOSE TO ME!” Twilight shouted from the cloud bank. A visible aura of magic surrounded her as the spell ring swirled around her body.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t reply, a grunt of pain escaping her lips as the gash in her side widened. Flying had pumped the blood in her body to the wound, and tensing her muscles in flight had made it worse. Rainbow pushed through the pain as her mind worked desperately. "Come on Rainbow…you can do it…just a little bit further and faster…."
“AaaaAAAAAHHHHHGH!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she beat her wings with all her might, moving as fast as she could, not toward Twilight, but toward Dark Claws. Dark Claws swatted at her in midair, but Rainbow Dash dodged his claw and smacked her hooves into his nose with all her might and momentum. No sooner had her hooves sank into his slightly tender flesh than she was off, speeding toward Ponyville. Dark Claws let out a roar of pain and anger, and began to flap his wings. Rainbow Dash felt the gusts of air push against her as Dark Claws spread his gigantic wings and sped after her like a mountain tossed through the air at her. Tears streamed down Rainbow’s face as she flew through the pain, her eyes locked directly on Twilight, but as she looked at Twilight she noticed something was wrong.
Twilight wasn’t looking at her. Twilight was looking behind her with a look of pure terror. Rainbow Dash saw Twilight’s mouth move, but she couldn’t hear what Twilight was saying. She noticed the unicorn point behind her. Rainbow Dash whipped her head behind her and noticed why Twilight was a little worried.
Dark Claws’ mouth was open and ready to blast her and Twilight out of the sky.
“No…nergh, n-not Twi,” Rainbow Dash mouthed. She immediately spread her wings and angled her body to fly away from a direct path to Twilight. It was too late, though. Dark Claws’ mouth erupted, flame heading not for Rainbow Dash anymore, but for Twilight. Her error realized, Rainbow cried to her body, willing herself to fly ahead of the flame and push Twilight out of the way. She tried to, at least, but her body wasn’t moving anymore. Dark Claws was however closing the distance. Rainbow tried to think of something she could do, but a flash of light brushed away her thoughts.
Twilight's spell had hurled itself directly toward Dark Claws, straight through the burning fire. The ring of magic expanded and became misshapen as the dragon's breath seemed to merge with it, before it all exploded.
The last thing Rainbow Dash saw was a wall of magic and dragonfire rushing to engulf her.
When there's lightning. You know it always brings me down. 'Cause it's free and I see that it's me. Who's lost and never found.
“HUH?!?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she snapped her eyes open. She immediately regretted opening her eyes as for the first time in her life a sense of vertigo. “WHERE AM I?”
She was slowly floating down in the middle of pure darkness only surrounded by a swirling vortex of what looked like a mix of dragonfire and Twilight’s spell. Rainbow tried to flap her wings, but nothing happened to her. She neither sped upward nor slowed down her descent into the infinite darkness.
Alone.
“Hey! What about that voice I heard just now and-“
I cry out for magic. I feel it dancing in the light. It was cold, lost my hold. To the shadows of the night.
No sign of the mornin' comin'. You've been left on your own. Like a rainbow in the dark. A rainbow in the dark.
“Gah!” Rainbow Dash jumped in place or at least she would have if she could have moved beyond floating to side to side as she was sucked downward. “Anypony there? How do you know my name? You better answer me or I’ll…l’ll…”
The words died in Rainbow Dash’s throat. What could she do? She didn’t even know where she was. Figuring out things like this was a egghead thing like Twilight. Rainbow Dash gasped and her eyes popped in her head.
“Twilight! TWILIGHT! WHERE ARE YOU?!? ARE YOU SAFE? PLEASE, OH, PLEASE ANSWER ME TWI!” Rainbow Dash shouted into the darkness.
Nothingness answered her.
“Twilight…oh, Twilight please be alright. I…I need you to be alright.” Rainbow Dash cried feeling the sting of tears in her eyes as she cradled herself in the hooves. She felt like she was at the Young Fliers Competition all over again. Instead this time she was not afraid of messing up in front of a few hundred Pegasi and Celestia. Instead she had failed the one pony that had looked out for her when nopony else would. Inside of her head something clicked making her laugh and making the tears only stream faster. “I cry out for magic? Lost in the shadows? A rainbow in the dark? This place has some sick humor.”
Do your demons Do they ever let you go? When you've tried, do they hide deep inside? Is it someone that you know?
“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FLYING FEATHER UP! I…I don’t want to-” Rainbow Dash was cut off by a very familiar sound.
“RRRROOOOAAARGH!” the roar of Dark Claws echoed in the darkness. Frantically, Rainbow Dash looked around for the dragon and it was not long before she saw the demonic dragon. He was climbing up the vortex of energy, but it looked like he had been having a worse time then Rainbow Dash. The mix of dragonfire and magic appeared to be trying to eat him or at least drag him down deeper into the darkness toward something.
“Buck. Buck. Buck. Buck…” Rainbow Dash cursed and again tried her best to fly upwards, in desperation her hoof reached to grip the side of the magical vortex. She was surprised when she found the vortex was more solid and in a moment the space around her began to shift until she fell forward onto her face against the vortex wall. Instead of floating down she was now standing up on the vortex wall as if it was a long tunnel.
“Well, I know which way I’m not gonna go.” Rainbow Dash said before running full speed ‘upward’ or down the tunnel or at least away from the struggling Dark Claws. The dragon roared in frustration, thrashing against the sides of the tunnel, but no matter how much he tried to rip it apart it would just reform and try to wrap around him. Between his struggling the dragon’s two eyes of fiery hatred spotted the familiar, rainbow colored pony making her escape. Somewhere down in his dark mind, where he had easily made the decision to end the lives of hundreds of ponies before, Dark Claws decided that even if he could not get out then that one pony would not either.
“Come on Rainbow. This place isn’t even half as scary or challenging as Ghastly Gorge.” Rainbow Dash up ahead was surprised enough that their actually was a light at the end of the tunnel. She spared a glance back toward Dark Claws and wished that there had only been one light in the tunnel, not the second light made of dragonbreath racing toward her. “Come on Rainbow, just a little further!”
Rainbow Dash sped down though the darkness, to her passing miles in seconds, but she was still only inching toward her only exit. In her mind her resolve began to falter and the rush of dragonbreath seemed to rush faster than even she was. “It might be a clean, quick way to go. I hope it would be.”
As her mind began to falter a single thought appeared. Like a shaft of light piercing her dark thoughts and somehow lead her to the strength to go faster. Rainbow Dash had to go on. She would be so sad if she ever found out Rainbow Dash had just given up. Some Element of Loyalty she would have been. That single word echoed through her mind and body in moments lifting her wings and pushing her closer to the light. Instead of being miles away to her now the exit, a shimmering circle of golden energy, was only a mad dash away. “Almost there. Wait, for me Twilight. Pinkie Pie. Applejack. Fluttershy. Rarity. Scootaloo. Ponyville. Just…a…little…more”
The last few bounds toward freedom and Ponyville were almost done. The last few steps she crouched down low to the ‘ground’ and with all her might leapt forward her forehooves outstretched…
She hit the exit home at the exact same moment Dark Claws’ dragonbreath. Like a leaf caught in a fiery, wind she was tossed through the exit. Rainbow screamed in agony, but nothing came out. It was as if her entire body was burning away to nothing in the space between the light and the darkness. Rainbow Dash’s entire being burned to ashes and tossed into the wind.
The last thing she saw was the darkness.
You're just a picture. You're an image caught in time. We're a lie, you and .I We're words without a rhyme. There's no sign of the mornin' comin'. You've been left on your own. Like a rainbow in the dark. Just a rainbow in the dark. Yeah.
[Author’s Note: Kudos to Dio for writing this awesome song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQzNBTukO0w ]
