Chapters It was nighttime yet again and Tank had awoken in the middle of the night yet again. He usually woke up at this time, for this was typically the time Rainbow Dash would be awakened by her nightmares as she had been for the past week. Tank was concerned for her, the poor pegasus desperately needed some rest, but only could manage a few hours each night before her night terrors roused her from her sleep. Tank wanted to do anything to help Rainbow, but as a tortoise, there was little he could do except toddle upstairs to comfort his owner.
So that’s what Tank did. Slowly he made his way to Rainbow’s room and plopped himself in the corner. He rested his stubby limbs and cast a wary eye on the sleeping pegasus.
Soon enough, her wings began to rustle, the first sign of a nightmare. Rainbow began to toss and turn in her cloudy bed, eventually throwing the blanket onto the ground. Tank extended his neck, raising his head for a better look as the vocalizations began. Most of the time, they were incoherent grunts, but sometimes Rainbow would say something in her sleep, nothing much that Tank could understand himself.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash bolted awake, violently coughing. She frantically looked with heavy breaths, her eyes locking onto Tank. He could see her physically relax when she noticed him. Her wings lowered, her breathing slowing, Rainbow Dash was glad to see him, just like every other night.
Rainbow Dash rubbed her chest and shook herself awake, “Just another dream,” she murmured to herself, “Just a dream.” Tank waddled up to the bed and placed his head next to Rainbow, who affectionately responded with a rub.
Rainbow picked up the tortoise and held him above her. She looked into his black eyes. “I had another nightmare Tank,” Rainbow said after a sigh, “I guess that’s no surprise to you.”
Tank didn’t answer, because he couldn’t talk, but Rainbow gave him a response anyway. “No, it’s not a surprise, ” Tank said in his imaginary voice, “but don't let that keep you down. I’m sure things will get better. ”
“Yeah,” she answered with an uncertain insufflation. Rainbow couldn’t keep looking directly into his beady eyes, so she put him back down onto the bed. Sitting back up, Rainbow rubbed her neck, it felt like she had a sore throat.
She then patted her mane, feeling it over, before turning back to Tank, who gazed up at her expectedly. “Tonight’s dream was different, Tank,” she explained, “I was underwater, back in Seaquestria. I was a seapony again! Do you remember that?” Rainbow paused, before chuckling softly to herself, “Wait, of course not, you were still in Ponyville during that whole thing. I was a seapony, swimming around, then-” she stopped with a low sigh, “then there was Queen Novo. She was angry again, about the pearl I guess. Next thing I know, no more fins, no more gills, no more breathing.”
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut. She sniffed, wiping a salty tear from her eye. “It- it felt real, Tank. I felt like I was drowning. I could feel the water filling my lungs. The darkness, the coldness, it was horrible .”
Tank nuzzled her leg, making a quiet crooning sound, “It’s okay now, it wasn’t real. You’re safe. ” Tank seemed to say.
Rainbow didn’t seem to notice, “And there was this sound,” she continued, holding up a shaking hoof, “A kinda, ticking noise.” She stopped, her ears suddenly perking up. This made Tank raise his head in alarm, though he didn’t hear anything.
A moment passed, the two sitting in silence.
“Can you hear it?” Rainbow whispered to Tank, “It’s here too. The sound, it's somewhere in here.”
She looked down to Tank, who simply looked at her with a confused expression. “I don’t hear anything Rainbow, ” she assumed he would respond, “Maybe you need to calm down and rest a little. ”
“No!” Rainbow suddenly yelled out loud, causing Tank to jerk upright. Up into the air she flew, spreading her feathered wings. But as quickly as she had jumped up, she froze, “It’s gone,” she whispered, looking around the room cautiously, “The sound’s gone.”
Tank didn’t know what Rainbow was talking about, he was only a tortoise after all. So instead, as the pegasus seemed to relax again, he threw his shelled body into her lap. Rainbow yelped in surprise, but soon relented to rubbing Tank’s shell. “Sorry, I don’t know what that was about,” Rainbow said to her pet, “I guess I really am just tired.”
She yawned. “You don’t need to apologize for anything, ” Rainbow’s imaginary voice for Tank replied, “I understand what you’re going through. But you don’t need to worry, I’ll always be here for you. ”
“Thanks buddy,” Rainbow mumbled tiredly to the silence of the tortoise, before she collapsed down onto the bed.
Tank took the opportunity to stretch out his legs and make himself comfortable on the feathered lap of the pegasus. He knew that she would likely wake up again as the night continued, but for now, Tank took respite in the dark silence of the cloudominium, nestling himself down for a silent slumber.
“I’m so glad you decided to visit darling!” Rarity chimed as Rainbow Dash sat herself down in the Carousel Boutique.
Rainbow stretched out her weary limbs on a chair with a heavy yawn, “Well Pinkie’s out of town doing that thing with Cheese Sandwich, so I had to go with my second option for the day.”
Rarity laughed, “Well I’m glad that I’m your Plan B!”
“I just needed somepony to talk to,” Rainbow replied, “To keep my mind off things that’s been going on recently.”
Rarity stopped what she was doing and gave a remorseful look at Rainbow, “Oh, this is about the whole Twilight thing isn’t it? I heard about it, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess, she gave me this enchanted mirror so I can contact her at any time.” Rainbow looked down, she had brought the silver mirror with her to the boutique, but she had yet to use the mirror.
“Well, wasn't that thoughtful! I feel like I’d do the same thing, if I wasn’t so preoccupied with my work. Not that you're not busy! I mean that since you're the fastest pony in Equestria, you finish things faster and therefore have more free time.”
Rainbow smiled at the unicorn’s clumsily worded complement, “I am the best,” she paused, taking notice of the things Rarity had taken out and strewn about the boutique. “About your work,” Rainbow asked, attempting to change the topic of conversation, “Just what exactly are you doing?”
“This?” Rarity looked down at a large map of Equestria laid out upon a table, “I’m just doing a bit of planning darling,” with her magic, she held up a long scroll with various scribblings that Rainbow couldn’t read, “This is my first ‘slow’ day since the coronation, so I’m taking the opportunity to plan future expansions for my enterprises. I already have locations in Canterlot and Manehattan, but I have yet to narrow down the location for the next boutique. What do you think Rainbow? Mount Aris or Yakyakistan?”
Rainbow didn’t waste before responding with an uncertain shrug, “Eh, I don’t think you should ask me. You know I’m not a fashion or business pony.”
Rarity sighed, “True, I guess I have to narrow it down myself.”
Rainbow watched as Rarity did accordingly, humming to herself as she checked her notes, comparing markets, and other business stuff that Rainbow herself didn’t know much about. Instead, she shifted her focus to the silver mirror, which she twiddled with her hooves.
Staring at her reflection, Rainbow saw that the bags under her eyes were still there. She shut her eyes and let out a low breath, she had to use the mirror later on. After her sudden, and frankly rude, departure from Canterlot, it was the least she could do. Maybe she could even finally be honest and tell a friend what was really going on.
Rainbow thought about the events in Canterlot. Of all the things in that secret archive, why was it the section on the rainbow plague that made her freeze up? Her dreams had been focusing on all sorts of events from her past, but what was it about the rainbow plague that made it keep coming up? Why was it of particular interest to her?
She shook her head, trying to get these questions out of her mind, but the more she tried to resist, the more the memories of plague took hold. Mere weeks ago, the plague was nothing more than a memory Rainbow preferred to not recollect, but since the coronation, it had gained prominence in her brain. Now Rainbow couldn’t help but notice the little signs and impacts that the rainbow plague had left on Equestria.
Even here in the Carousel Boutique, Rainbow couldn’t help but notice things that remained. The so-called “rainbow stain”, a section of the floor that had a seemingly permanent stain left by the rainbow goo that Rarity couldn’t wash out, the scar on Sweetie Belle’s ear, left over from when an infected Fluttershy bit her, even a small splinter in the woodwork, difficult to even notice, created from when the door was broken down during the first few days of the plague.
But Rainbow didn’t want to focus on these. So she straightened herself out and turned back to Rarity, who was still working on her business plans.
The unicorn quickly took notice of her friend, turning up from her work. “Oh goodness!” Rarity cried, flushing red with embarrassment, “How rude of me! I forgot to ask if you need anything! Ahem, well darling, do you need anything? Refreshments perhaps?”
Rainbow didn’t answer but gave a slow nod. She wasn’t actually hungry or thirsty, but it had been several days since she had eaten anything, and Rainbow assumed this was having an impact on her body.
After a minute, Rarity came trotting out of the kitchen, floating a tray of tea behind her. “Here you go darling, a nice cup of tea.”
Rainbow thanked Rarity and took the cup of tea. She rubbed her throat as she looked down at the cup, “Sorry if I don’t drink this right away, I have a sore throat.”
Rarity waved off the pegasi’s apology, “Nonsense Rainbow! You don’t need to apologize for anything! We all know what you’re going through, and we’re here to help.”
Rainbow couldn’t look Rarity in the eyes. She didn’t actually know. Noone else did. But Rainbow knew it was a thing for her and her only, not something to hinder her friends.
Rainbow sipped the tea. The tea almost tasted nice, but an unpleasant sensation swept through her body as she could feel the liquid sliding down her throat. The sudden pain that clamped her throat made Rainbow cringe, but not enough for it to be visible. Instead, she gave Rarity a paltry smile, “The tea’s nice, thanks.”
Rarity nodded with a smile before turning back to her work at the table, leaving Rainbow with her tea. She narrowed her eyes at the cup before placing it down beside her. Refreshments weren’t going to work. Maybe something else could work.
A sudden clatter behind her snapped Rainbow back to reality. She twisted around, seeing that Rarity had dropped the tea tray onto the ground, spilling cups and tea across the floor. Rarity harrumphed at the mess, then laughed to herself, “It seems I dropped the tray, how clumsy of me!”
“Could I ask you something?” Rainbow called out to Rarity.
“What is it Rainbow Dash? Oh, would you like me to give you a little touch up?” She paused picking up the tray and turned around to look at Rainbow, “Because, if I’m being honest darling, you look um-”
“Terrible?”
Rarity reluctantly nodded, “Yes. You look like a mess.”
Rainbow shook her head, “I appreciate the offer, but no, what I want to ask for is, well, do you remember that whole rainbow plague thing?”
Rarity raised an eyebrow at the question, but nodded, “I’m afraid I do. Though it's not much, for if you remember, I was infected the whole while, so there isn’t much that I can recall I’m afraid.”
“Well, I’ve been reading about it lately,” Rainbow said, though really, she had only just begun The Iris Infestation the previous night.
Rarity tilted her head in curiosity, “Why?”
Rainbow gulped, “I’ve just been, remembering it,” she replied, “Just interested in it and all, it just, sticks out the most to me.”
Rarity seemed confused, but nodded, “Of course, anything at all.”
The cloudominium. It was Rainbow’s home, it was the place she had lived in for moons, yet it was becoming the place she had begun to dread. Each evening, Rainbow returned home, and each evening, she had to try to sleep. This usually resulted in more nightmares and sleepless nights. Thankfully, Tank was always there with her, a welcome respite from each night's terror.
Pushing open the fluffy front door, Rainbow Dash stepped inside. The house looked the same as it ever was. Though things had certainly changed, Rainbow herself had earned multiple sporting awards that signified her achievements as a member of the wonderbolts and these wonderbolt miscellanea adorned the cloudominium’s interior, the house’s cloud base remained the same.
Stopping in the front entrance, Rainbow knocked a hoof on the wall. A sound that resounded through the entire structure. The house had wooden supports installed when Applejack rebuilt it following its collapse during the rainbow plague. The supports prevented the structure from collapsing again, but also created a hollow, wooden sound that echoed throughout the house, a thing Rainbow had come to appreciate.
The familiar sound of whirring grew louder as Tank came whizzing through the air to meet his owner. The tortoise had on his magically powered propeller, allowing him to fly at speeds capable of matching Rainbow. Tank flew right into Rainbow’s hooves, and the pegasus embraced her pet.
“Yeah yeah, I know you missed me.” Rainbow chuckled. Letting go of the tortoise, she walked up a nearby shelf, pulling down the large book on the rainbow plague. She turned to Rainbow, “Ready for a little more late-night reading?”
Tank nodded before plopping himself next to a cushiony cloud couch. Rainbow followed, sitting down and opening the book.
She wasn’t much of an avid reader beyond Daring Do books, in fact, Rainbow had difficulty staying still and reading for any longer amount of time. That’s why Tank was there, a companion to both keep her awake and focused.
And so, Rainbow Dash began her dive into the accounts and speculation of the rainbow plague once again. Though there weren't any physical objects relating to the plague, simply seeing pictures and reading about it hauled up memories. Unpleasant memories.
She didn’t want to live through these memories, but she had to learn everything she could about the plague and its grubs. It was a slow process, requiring more willpower than she would have expected, but Tank helped her to persevere, flipping a page when Rainbow found herself fixated, and nuzzling her when she came upon a particularly detailed illustration.
After two hours of reading, Rainbow let out a large sigh, slamming the book shut. Spreading her wings, the pegasus shook out her shaking hooves. “That’s enough for today, isn’t it Tank?” Rainbow said to the tortoise, trying to still sound as chipper as when she entered.
He nodded, crawling over to clasp Rainbow Dash’s saddlebag with his mouth. Looking at the bag, Rainbow realized she had forgotten to unpack after coming home. “Oh yeah! I had totally forgotten about this!” She reached into the bag and pulled out the things she had borrowed from Rarity earlier.
She held up the tinted bottle, “Bath salts!”
The previous night, Rainbow had read an account in The Iris Infestation . Particularly, the personal account of a pony named Bubbly Springs, who claimed the smell of bath salts prompted the grubs to be ejected from their host bodies, helping him to escape the infection. Rainbow had taken interest in this and planned to acquire some bath salts of her own.
“Why would you get bath salts? ” Tank seemed to ask with his quizzical expression, “The iris grubs are a thing of the past. You don’t have to worry about them. ”
Rainbow rubbed her sore throat, “I know Tank, but I just have a feeling . With the dreams and all, I guess I’d like some precautions and all.”
Tank didn’t answer, because he was a tortoise, merely slowly nodding with that sage default look of his. Rainbow knew he understood, so she left, going upstairs with the salts and Tank in hoof.
As she creaked open the door to her room, Rainbow let out a large sigh. It was time for her to sleep, or at least try. She placed Tank in his spot and nestled herself on the bed. The room quickly darkened, a sign that Twilight had lowered the sun and raised the moon. A sign that it was time for ponies to go to sleep.
But Rainbow couldn’t sleep. Whether due to the tiredness of her body keeping her restless, or the imminent dread of having another nightmare, she remained awake. Her lids felt heavy, but she just couldn’t close them.
After what seemed like an eternity, Rainbow sat up. She glanced over to Tank. He seemed to be asleep already.
Rainbow looked around. Nothing moved.
Then she heard it.
The sound. It was back. It was the thing keeping her awake. The tch tch tch that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Rainbow could feel her ears flick about, trying to find the source of the sound to no avail. Rainbow breathed in and out, trying to calm down. She recalled her freakout the previous night, the way she had leapt into the air.
“It’s not real, it’s just a sound,” Rainbow said to herself, “I’m probably already asleep, and this is just a dream. Yeah, just a dream.”
Was it a dream?
Rainbow wasn’t sure. Everything around her seemed blurry and unclear, as if she was half-awake and half-asleep. Then she froze as a new sound echoed out.
It was faint, but unmistakable. The quiet sound of knocking, coming from downstairs.
Rainbow let out a guttural gasp, immediately taking to the air. In a flash she flew downstairs, flinging herself into the middle of the entrance. “Aha!” Rainbow loudly proclaimed. The sounds seemed to react, both of them ceasing in an instant.
Rainbow looked around in desperation. There was nothing, nothing knocking, nothing making the ticking sound. Just a pegasus flying in the middle of the room.
Flying back up to her room, Rainbow entered to see that Tank was awake and looking right at her. She must have awoken him when she flew out. “It was the sound again,” Rainbow said defensively to her pet’s silence, “I heard it! It was downstairs!”
Tank looked at her with an expression of concern but drew a blank when she referred to the sound. He must have not heard it, again . Or did he?
Rainbow thought to herself as she plopped herself back on the bed. Maybe Tank did hear the sound. Maybe he was lying to her. Maybe he thought she was crazy.
“I’m no liar Rainbow, ” she assumed he would respond, “Maybe that book is getting in your head, maybe you should rest. ”
Rainbow sneered at his imaginary response, “I’m not going to stop reading now Tank! I’m this close to finding out the reason for my dreams. I’m not going to stop for some of your, fake concerns!”
The tortoise tilted his head, his eyes gazing at her with a look of worry. But his imaginary voice disagreed, “Don’t you see it Rainbow? It’s not my concerns, it's your concerns that are fake. There’s a reason nopony takes you seriously, because you’re really just a filly with an overactive imagination. ”
Rainbow stomped off the bed, pointing a hoof at the confused tortoise, “Don’t say that Tank! You can’t say that! You can’t even talk! You’re just my imagination trying to play a trick on me!”
“Maybe I am your imagination, ” said Tank’s voice, “Go ahead and prove me right. Show me that you're delusional, a stupid filly playing make believe. A yearling who can’t move on from the past and trying to live out a fantasy that she is special. That she is valued. That she is wanted. That she isn’t a failure. Go ahead, say it. ”
Rainbow clenched her eyes shut, “Shut up! ” She kicked out a leg, striking something hard.
A cry of pain made Rainbow open her eyes again. She looked down and let out a cry of peril. The tortoise was on his side, his legs flailing in the air.
She had kicked Tank. She had hurt him.
“Tank!” Rainbow cried, kneeling down to her pet, “I’m so so sorry! I don’t know what came over me!” She helped Tank right himself up. She hugged his shell, her cries for forgiveness going unanswered.
Tank didn’t return the affection, turning his head and looking right into her eyes. His beady, black eyes held an expression of sadness.
“It wasn’t your fault, I know, ” his eyes seemed to say, “But I just need some space Rainbow, just for tonight. ”
Rainbow didn’t need an imaginary voice to understand him. She knew he understood. She also knew he was hurt and needed space. So Rainbow let go of his shell and retreated to her bed. Tank watched as Rainbow covered herself in the cover before he recoiled into his shell and fell into a dreamless sleep.
The early morning rays of the sun had always had a mesmerizing effect on the cloudominium. Because of its structure, the light of day would pierce through the vapor-based walls of the house, making it seem like it was glowing. This was especially evident in the morning, where the rising sun hit the house at just the right angle.
On this particular morning, sunbeams shone through the window in Rainbow Dash’s bedroom, gently stirring the pegasus from her sleep. Rainbow groaned as she rolled over in bed, eventually sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She eased her eyes open, looking out the window to the clear blue sky of Equestria.
It was then Rainbow realized that it was morning. Her eyes widened. It was morning time.
She had managed to sleep for the entire night. No waking up in the middle of the night. No nightmares. No sounds. Just a single, prolonged, dreamless sleep.
Rainbow almost let out a cheer, stopping short because of her sore throat. Instead, she began to laugh. The first heartfelt, genuine laugh she had made in a while. A joyful laugh that came from a place of disbelief.
Was it over? Was it finally over?
Whether it was just for a moment or if it was forever, Rainbow didn’t care. She hugged herself, she could rest, she could forget about the whole thing.
“Tank!” Rainbow yelled out, climbing over the bed banister, “I didn’t have any nightmares! I think it's finally over!” She stopped. The place where he usually sat in her room was empty. The tortoise was nowhere to be seen.
Rainbow paused for only a moment. Tank had probably gone back downstairs as the preceding night went on.
Her body rejuvenated and her wings renewed, Rainbow took no time to speed downstairs, taking extra time to perform a series of loops in the front entrance, before dashing over to Tank’s little nook.
However, it was empty too. Rainbow’s jovial attitude began to fade away as quickly as it came as the realization began to hit her. Tank’s blanket lay crumpled on the ground. The lettuce Rainbow had placed the previous night remained untouched in his food bowl. Even his little propeller remained untouched, leaning against the cloudy wall.
Rainbow looked around the nook, “Tank? You here buddy?” She looked underneath the blanket, underneath the food bowl, but still nothing. “Is this about the other night?” Rainbow asked, her voice getting a bit shakier.
Was he holding a grudge? She had assumed he had forgiven her; he had even remained at her bedside that entire night. And in the ensuing day, Rainbow had made sure to give him extra treats, even one of the pies that he loved to munch on.
“Tank?” Rainbow called out again, sweeping into the front entrance. There was, of course, no response.
A growing sense of unease began to flutter in Rainbow’s stomach as her casual concern began to steadily grow. She flew through every room of the cloudominium, looked under every chair, sofa, and trophy. Slowly but surely, her search became more desperate as Rainbow began to errantly knock over objects, looking for her beloved pet.
Soon whatever happiness Rainbow might have held was gone. The cloudy walls of the house, which glowed in the morning sunlight, which mere minutes ago had been a sign of brighter days ahead now seemed to mock her.
Tank. Who had remained a steadfast presence for Rainbow’s entire plight, the loyal tortoise who was Rainbow’s source of companionship.
Tank was gone.
Like with the other occasions when Rainbow had visited a friend, she remained still, spread out on the couch in the living area. She glanced up at Fluttershy, who, like the others previously, was preparing a spot of refreshments for their rainbow maned guest.
Rainbow had gone out to Fluttershy’s cottage for multiple reasons, to inform her friend about Tank’s disappearance, to find comfort in someone familiar, but mainly just to cope with the sudden lurch in her life.
“Don’t worry Rainbow,” Fluttershy said reassuringly as she gently flew up to Rainbow’s side, “I’m sure Tank is fine. The others are out looking for him right now, we’ll find him in no time!”
Rainbow grumbled, looking away from Fluttershy. The others were helping to look for Tank outside. Fluttershy had also offered to have Discord come and help, but Rainbow refused.
“What if he doesn’t want to be found?” she said.
“Pardon?”
“You know!” Rainbow waved her front hooves in the air, “That whole thing! Where I- ugh. I mean that- what if he didn’t forgive me for it? What if he ran away on purpose?”
“Hibernate? ” Rainbow suddenly blurted out, “Do you even know what time of the year it is? He would not be hibernating now!”
Taken aback, but remaining collected, Fluttershy brushed aside her mane, “I know, I was just trying to make you feel better.”
Rainbow sighed, rubbing her sore throat, “I know I know, I just- It’s just that I’m a freaking mess right now.”
“Oh Rainbow,” Fluttershy cooed, ”You’re not a mess, you’re just going through a difficult time right now. Everypony has one sometimes.”
“Yeah, but you seem fine now,” Rainbow responded, “And I don’t see anypony else freaking out or having nightmares or any of the other crap I’ve been dealing with!”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, “Rainbow, you of all ponies should know that I’ve been through some emotional times as well. And you know that I ‘freaked out’ as well,” she paused, taking hold of Rainbow’s hoof, “I seem fine now because I had my friends to help me, and that's what I’m asking you now. We’re your friends Rainbow, we’re here for you, no matter what.”
Rainbow straightened up. She blinked, contemplating for a moment, “Yeah, you’re right Flutters. You all keep saying I should accept your help, that you're here for me. But I keep ignoring you, and I don’t even know why! It's time I stop putting it off and tell Twilight myself.”
Fluttershy gave Rainbow a confused look, “Um, I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“I mean this ,” Rainbow corrected, pulling out the silver mirror, “Twilight gave this to me, and I told her I would use it, but I just haven’t. And with the way things are going now, and with what you said, I realized I should actually use this.”
“So, what does it do?” Fluttershy asked, sitting down next to Rainbow.
A weak precursory smile crossed Rainbow’s lips, “It can contact Twilight,” she pressed the large, purple gem embedded in the handle, “Like this.” The purple gem began to glow in a faint pink color much like Twilight’s. The glow then spread across the whole body of the mirror.
Fluttershy reacted with intrigue as the glassy face of the mirror began to glow and shake. The shaking made Rainbow unwittingly retract her snout, in case the mirror would explode. But it didn’t explode, instead the pegasus saw her reflection disappear from the glass, replaced with the image of a room in Canterlot castle.
Both pegasi leaned in to get a better view through the magical mirror. It was like looking through a window, where the view was into another place. And in that place was Twilight, who was, of course, busy doing more princess work, sitting in a chair, huddled over a large, ornate book.
Twilight didn’t seem to notice them in whatever method the mirror was contacting the castle with, leaving Fluttershy and Rainbow looking through the mirror in silence for a few moments, the only sound being the princess’s rummaging through the book. It was an odd situation, for the sound was slightly muffled, further reinforcing the sensation of watching someone through a glass window.
Eventually, Spike walked into view, entering the room from the side. He took immediate notice of the mirror.
“Uh Twilight?” He leaned in close to the mirror, tapping a claw on the glass, “Somepony’s here to see you.”
“Hm?” Twilight slightly turned to look behind her. Her eyes widened as she noticed the mirror, or more specifically, the ponies behind it. Twilight jumped out the chair to attention, “Oh! Rainbow! How long have you been there?”
Rainbow snickered, “Long enough to know that you’re not used to magical communication.”
“Well, I didn’t know you’d contact me at this time!” The flustered alicorn answered, spreading her wings. She stopped and turned away for a second, “I really should have added some kind of warning mechanism for it.”
“Like stomach gas!” Spike suggested.
Pretending she didn’t hear him, Twilight turned back around, flattening her wings to regain her composure, “Anyways. Hello Rainbow Dash. Hello Fluttershy. How are you two doing?”
Fluttershy gave a timid wave. “Hi.”
“First of all, I’m sorry I didn’t contact you earlier, I just- I’ve just been having a hard time and all. And secondly Twilight, I have both good news and bad news.”
Twilight’s expression shifted to one of concern, “Bad news? Did you have another dream?”
“Actually no,” Rainbow corrected, “that’s the good news. Last night I had no bad dreams. I think nightmares won’t be a problem any longer!”
“That’s great Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed with a series of hooftaps, “I’m happy that you’re okay.”
“I’m not entirely okay,” interjected Rainbow, “That’s the bad news. You see,” she stopped, pausing to force the words out of her throat, “Tank’s missing.”
“What? Tank’s missing?” asked Spike, who was crouched on the ground and leaning into the mirror, for wherever the mirror led, it seemed to be close to the floor.
Meanwhile Twilight took a step closer to the mirror, “That’s terrible! Do you need help? I can come over to Ponyville if you want- I’m sure I have a spell that can help.”
“No, no,” Rainbow politely declined, rubbing the bridge of her snout with her wing, “You have important princess stuff to do, and the others are already helping.”
Fluttershy snapped to attention, “Oh yes! The others are already looking for him. Applejack’s looking all over Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity’s combing the edge of the Everfree Forest, and Pinkies covering everywhere else in Ponyville! I’m certain we’ll find Tank in no time!”
“See? It’s all handled here, nothing to worry about. It’s just unfortunate timing. That’s all.”
“If you say so,” Twilight answered with uncertainty, “I just hope that this combined with your dreams isn’t having a negative effect on you.”
“Nah!” Rainbow scoffed, plastering a nonchalant smirk on her face, “I already told you, the dreams are over . In fact, I’m already feeling better! Better than ever! I’m the calmest pony ever!” Rainbow spread her wings, blocking out Fluttershy’s face.
Fluttershy pushed the wing out of the way, “Relax Rainbow, you don’t need to prove anything to anypony.”
“I know that!” Rainbow declared, “I’m just saying that I’m like- super chill. Chilled out. The chillest I’ve ever been.” As she said this she leaned back on the couch, crossing her legs in a smooth motion. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes, uncertain of what to think about the pegasus’s sudden mood change, before turning back to the mirror.
“So uh, Twilight, how’s it going? Doing anything interesting?”
Twilight sighed, “Not much. Unless you find adjusting the tax rates of subsections of Whinnyapolis interesting.” She magically floated a paper document full of tables off the pile on her desk and through the air.
Spike grabbed the paper, adding it to another identical pile of papers, “Spoiler, it isn’t.”
Fluttershy smiled, “Well aside from the whole Tank business, nothing much is happening back here. So um, I guess we can call you if something more important happens.”
Twilight nodded, “Yes, contact me if you find Tank!”
Fluttershy nodded as well before she turned to Rainbow, who had spread herself across the couch like a spilled drink, “Um, Rainbow, how do you turn off the mirror?”
“You simply just press the gemstone again,” answered Twilight, pointing a hoof indirectly at the mirror.
“Wait!” Rainbow bolted up, making Fluttershy leap back in alarm, “Before you go Twilight, I have something else I want to say.”
Twilight looked at Rainbow through the mirror expectedly.
Rainbow sighed, her mood shifting to that of shame, “So Twilight, I would like to apologize.”
“Apologize for what?”
“How I acted the other day. In the castle I mean. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that and left so suddenly. I just- I don’t know.”
Twilight nodded, “It’s okay Rainbow, I didn’t know the rainbow plague made you feel that way. I wouldn’t have taken you down there if I knew it would cause you distress.”
Rainbow waved a hoof, “Well I’m the one who insisted on going down there. So let me take the blame for that whole thing and forgive each other.”
After a moment, Twilight let out a reassuring breath, giving Rainbow a sympathetic smile, “If that’s what you want Rainbow. Well, me and Spike have things to do, so I guess this is goodbye. But be sure to update me if anything happens!”
Rainbow pressed the gem, making the mirror shimmer and shake yet again. The image of Twilight and Spike waving goodbye vanished, replaced by the silvery reflections of the two pegasi once more.
Fluttershy leaned over to Rainbow, “So, are you feeling okay Rainbow?”
Rainbow blew a raspberry as she collapsed back on the couch again, “Yeah. I’m feeling a lot better than before.” Rainbow thought to herself. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel.
Better? Worse?
The mixed emotions clogged up her already backed up brain. Eventually she sat up, flapping her wings affirmatively, “Speaking of feeling better, I should get going back to my place. Catch up on some shuteye and all that.”
“If you want to,” agreed Fluttershy as she flew back over to the kitchen area of the cottage, “I’m not going to stop you.”
Rainbow looked back as she walked to the door, “Thanks Flutters. Don’t forget to tell me if anything comes around with Tank.”
“Certainly. And Rainbow?”
Rainbow stopped and looked back again. Fluttershy glanced over with an almost embarrassed expression, “The next time you call Twilight, could you ask her if she could make some more mirrors. It was nice being able to talk to her.”
Rainbow replied with an appreciative smile, “Sure thing.”
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes.
She was on the ground. The familiar feeling of soreness in her body had returned. And looking around, she saw that she had returned to the place she had never wanted to go to again. All around her was a darkness, a black void like in many of the other previous dreams. The landscape of her mind.
A numbness trickled up her legs as Rainbow began to fret. The last thing she remembered; she had sat down to read more of the The Iris Infestation . When had she fallen asleep?
Rainbow looked around. “Tank? You around here somewhere buddy?” She was in denial. She thought it was over. It was over. She was sure of it.
But these ideas were quickly disproven when a sound rang out through the inky void. A raspy, cold laugh that sent chills down Rainbow’s spine.
It was the voice. It didn’t sound quite the same as before, but Rainbow had no doubt of who it belonged to. The queen, the thing who plagued her dreams previously.
Rainbow whirled around, looking for the queen’s presence in the darkness, where she usually lurked in these dreams. “You . Where are you?”
“You didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you? ” declared the queen, “That a few friendly talks and turtle cuddles would get rid of us? ”
Rainbow glared into the void, “Well yeah, I don’t even know what this is, what did you expect me to do?”
“Tsk tsk tsk, ” clucked the queen, “Foolish Rainbow. It isn’t time for you to know what I am. You have to accept help first. Help from us. ”
Rainbow didn’t know where the queen was, not this time. Now the voice seemed to mockingly swirl around her head. But Rainbow ignored this. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow sneered at the shadows, “Why do I even bother talking to you? You’re not even real! You’re just a thing in my head! My imagination! I don’t care what you do! Throw your stupid hallucinations at me! I can take them!”
“Maybe. But you know that I know that you can’t handle them. Even though they’re just your own memories. Nothing real, all in your mind, including me. After all, I am a memory myself, wouldn't you agree? ”
Rainbow scrunched her nose, “What are you talking about?”
“My dear Rainbow; don’t be dense. If you accept that I’m not real, you do realize what that means about Tank. ”
“What? He’s gone on his own. He’s just lost or something. Unless- you. What did you do to Tank?” Rainbow’s words filled with fervor as she looked around into the unchanging void.
“I know deep down you know it as well, ” the queen’s voice got close, hissing right into Rainbow’s ear, “If I am not real, then that means it’s your fault. It’s all you. You’re the one in charge, but you’re out of control. Tank is gone because of you. ”
Because of you.
You .
It was her fault.
Rainbow gasped, hitting her head on the chair as she bolted awake. Wiping away the drool from her mouth, she looked down. On her lap was the book, it was open to a page depicting a diagram of an iris grub queen.
Rainbow sniffed, beginning to breath heavily as the what the queen said cemented itself in her brain.
Her breathing was the only sound in the silent house. Tank was still gone. Rainbow was alone, alone with her thoughts, or memories, or whatever was in her dreams.
And whatever it was, whatever the queen was or doing, she was right. Rainbow knew, deep in her gut, that the queen was right. That’s how she felt .
And this made Rainbow angry.
She was angry that her dreams weren’t over, angry at the queen for being right, angry at herself for being a complete fool this past week, angry at Tank for leaving, angry at her friends for reasons she couldn’t even say. Rainbow was tired, tired of dreaming and definitely tired of the rainbow plague.
The stupid plague that she’d been obsessing over for no reason, that she had let herself dream about constantly. Rainbow looked down at the book. “Why did I even get you?” Rainbow muttered to herself as she looked over the page once more.
The illustrated queen on the page looked out at her. It seemed to mock her. Rainbow narrowed her eyes in disgust at the queen, “Why’d I do any of this?” With a swift motion, Rainbow clenched a hoof on the page, tearing it out and crumpling it.
She tossed it across the room onto the floor. “Why?” Rainbow snarled as she tore out another page. And another. And another. “Why?” Rainbow repeated as she tore out more and more pages from the book. The yellowed papers flew into the air as Rainbow attacked the book.
Why did she get it? What was she doing?
A flurry of emotions came out of Rainbow’s mouth as she let out a final scream of rage, hoisting the book over her head and heaving it across the room. The leather-bound book split down the middle as it collided with the floor, setting loose all the remaining pages within in an explosion of paper.
“Why?” Rainbow asked herself one last time, her blinking eyes stinging with tears as she looked vacantly at the book pages that slowly fell down and settled on the cloudy floor like freshly fallen snow. Breathing heavily, she collapsed on the ground, surrounded by the yellowed pages of the book she’d destroyed.
Rainbow felt dejected, tired, and refused to move her body. As papers began to rest on her back, Rainbow had no other option except to fall asleep once more.
And that night, she dreamed of the void, of the voice, of her memories, and the sound that went tch tch tch.
There were many words one could use to describe the pony Applejack; honest, hardworking, dirty, but one specific phrase that fit her would be steadfast. Though not as stubborn as a mule like she was when she was younger, Applejack was a pony who would become, and remain, committed until the task was done.
And for now, this particular task was the locating of Rainbow Dash’s pet, Tank. The tortoise had gone missing, and though her searching had turned up nothing so far, Applejack had a feeling that would change this particular day.
Waking up early in the morning, Applejack trotted downstairs through the farmhouse, making sure not to rouse any of the other sleeping members of the Apple family, most notably the sleeping Granny Smith, who had collapsed onto her rocking chair in front of the staircase for a prolonged nap the night prior.
Having already put on her trademark hat, the earth pony only needed to do a few hoof-stretches before she left. Opening the door, Applejack left. And she bumped her snout right into that of Rainbow Dash.
Applejack nearly let out a cry of alarm, due to the surprise appearance of her friend, but managed to keep her mouth shut, at least until she carefully shut the door to block off the noise.
She turned to Rainbow, who looked at her with a dumbfounded expression, “What in tarnation are you doin’ here Rainbow?” Applejack whispered with surprise, “Do you have any idea how early it is? The sun rose literally a minute ago!”
Rainbow smacked her lips, tiredly blinking at Applejack, “No, I don’t know how early it is, I kinda lost track of the time here after the first hour or so.”
“Hour ?” Applejack made an expression of confusion, ”Ya know you coulda just knocked.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t respond, instead looking at Applejack with a child-like look of innocence. Applejack, however, narrowed her eyes, her eyesight having adjusted to the early morning sunlight. She hadn’t seen Rainbow in person for a few days and now she could notice that Rainbow Dash looked terrible . The pegasus’s mane was disheveled, dark bags were under her eyes, and her coat was uneven, with patches of fur and feathers sticking out erratically.
Applejack only needed a moment to realize why Rainbow stood before her, and she didn’t hesitate to say it. “Oh, I know why you’re here,” Applejack stated in a calm tone, “You’re here to see me, wonderin’ ‘bout Tank and all that.”
Rainbow tilted her head, “I mean- that’s partially the reason.”
Rainbow sighed with a shrug, “Why not, I got nothing better to do.”
Applejack nodded, “Glad to hear it partner. Well, I was plannin’ to search the left acres of the orchards. Come on! This way!”
Applejack trotted away, heading up a grassy green hill to the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow almost began to run after her, but paused. Trying to fight the vestiges of sleep, Rainbow shook her head and looked up into the bright sunlight. She exhaled, having kept awake for now, and ran to catch up to Applejack.
As the two ponies began their search, Applejack tried to strike up small talk with Rainbow, but she seemed easily distractible, nothing surprising, Applejack assumed, based on Rainbow’s condition and situation.
But even as the search continued, she couldn’t help but take note of Rainbow’s behavior. She was practically the opposite of her usual self, more reserved and nervous. She also noticed Rainbow’s flying, or lack of. In fact, Applejack had yet to see Rainbow spread her wings and fly once. Nonetheless, Applejack had resolved to find Tank, and diligently continued her search.
Two hours later, Rainbow loudly sighed as she leaned her body against one of the many apple trees. Unsurprisingly, they had so far turned up nothing.
“This is pointless!” Rainbow groaned exasperatedly, “He’s nowhere!”
“Don’t be so sure sugarcube,” said Applejack as she searched the roots of another apple tree, just in case Tank took an early and impromptu hibernation at Sweet Apple Acres, “There’s still plenty left of the farm to look over. We’ll find him, I know it.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” mumbled Rainbow, “You’re all fine! You have somepony at home to rely on! Me? I’m all alone.”
Applejack stopped, “Oh Rainbow, you know you’re not alone. You have me, you have all of us. In fact, why don’t I take you back to the homestead right now? You can rest up, and I can even have Big Mac pull out some of our secret stash of apple cider for ya.”
Rainbow walked up to her friend, “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to pass up on the cider, I have a sore throat,” She swallowed, trying to hide that the act of doing so made her cringe in pain, “But I’ll take up the offer for going back to the farmhouse. You see, the thing is,” Rainbow shuddered, almost having trouble getting the words out, “What I said about having somepony at home, I meant it literally . Without Tank, all by myself- Applejack, I can’t take it anymore. I can’t spend another night with these dreams of mine all alone. So, what I’m asking is if I could possibly spend the night at your place?”
Applejack looked at Rainbow with a kind smile, “Of course Rainbow, you can stay as long as you like.” She patted Rainbow on the back and the two began to go back to the farmhouse for a break from searching.
As they walked, Rainbow lowered her ears, slowly losing the paranoia that had been plaguing her the entire morning. In fact, she had nearly forgotten what she was so worked up about. Of course, this feeling was short-lived.
Applejack noticed Rainbow’s ears twitch up, moving erratically as if they were searching for something, but her eyes were closed, her expression unchanging.
To Applejack, things were fine, Rainbow assumed, she didn’t notice it. She couldn’t hear it either. In fact, Rainbow assumed she was the only one who could hear the sounds.
For hours Applejack had searched, checking the roots and branches of every apple tree in Sweet Apple Acres. Unfortunately, she had found nothing and by now, she had begun to doubt she would ever find the lost tortoise. Resided to ending for the day, Applejack took the path back to the Apple farmhouse.
Walking up to the farm, she noticed Big McIntosh walking nearby. He looked just as tired as Applejack felt, him having taken care of the daily farmwork while Applejack herself spent the day combing the acres. Walking up to the large stallion, Applejack exchanged a worried look to her brother, “So Big Mac, I know you’ve been busy an’ all, but has Rainbow improved since I brought her over?”
He shook his head sadly, “Nope.”
“Is she worse?”
Big Mac squirmed uncertainly in place, “Um, yep?”
Applejack sighed, resuming her walk to the farmhouse. Big Mac followed, and the two entered together.
Inside, Applejack noticed that Rainbow remained in the same place she had left her. The pegasus was still seated in a large high-back chair next to the staircase. She looked sickly, with her hooves rather aggressively grasping the arms of the chair. Applejack walked up to her, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “Hey Rainbow.”
Rainbow yelped, nearly jumping out of her seat, and spun around to face Applejack. “Oh,” she sighed with relief, “It’s you.”
“So,” Applejack asked gently, “How ya doin’ sugarcube?”
“I’m fine!” Rainbow stated affirmatively with a hoof wave. She sniffed, wiping away a dribble from her nose. “Just nervous about Tank, that's all.”
Applejack didn’t believe her. “Right,” she said, “If you’ll excuse me, I have something to attend to in the kitchen.” Rainbow didn’t answer, instead turning away again as she slouched down in the chair more.
Applejack slowly walked away to the kitchen, not looking away from the distressing state of her friend. Entering the kitchen, Applejack turned to the rest of the local Apples, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and Sugar Belle, who had all anxiously watched her brief conversation with Rainbow.
“So, she ain’t doin’ too good,” stated Applejack, lowering her voice in a meak attempt to prevent Rainbow from overhearing, “Has Rainbow been like this all day?”
“Eeyup,” affirmed Big Mac.
“She refuses to sleep,” Apple Bloom explained, “I don’t know why, and she won’t let me help her with it!”
“And she still refuses to eat anything,” Sugar Belle added, “She hasn’t eaten or drunk anything all day, even when I made food for her.”
Granny Smith grumbled, “She’s bein’ as stubborn as a dragon! The fellers refused to do anythin’ all day!”
“Yep,” contributed Big Mac, pausing to cast a glance to Rainbow, who didn’t seem to notice the Apple family huddling in the kitchen, “She hasn’t moved all day, or fly either. I think she’s sick with something.”
Applejack nodded, “She’s down with somethin’ fierce alright, but she won’t admit it, that's fer sure.”
They all froze as Rainbow coughed. They looked over to see if she moved, but the pegasus remained still. “So what should we do?” Sugar Belle asked as she looked back.
“I say we let her stay the night, see if a good night’s rest will help her feel better.”
“And if that don’t work,” piped in Granny, “I gots some ol’ fashioned Apple family remedies that ought to do the trick!”
Apple Bloom looked up at Granny Smith, “Okay okay, but if that doesn’t do anything, we take Rainbow Dash straight to the hospital.”
Applejack nodded once more, “So it’s settled then, we let Rainbow rest, help her, but if she doesn’t improve, we contact the Ponyville Hospital.”
The rest of the Apples nodded along as well, Big Mac adding in an affirmative “Eeyup”.
Applejack straightened her hat, looking back at their rainbow maned guest, “But for now, the first thing I have to do is help Rainbow with her sleep.”
Meanwhile, Rainbow had remained unmoving, and though she pretended not to, she had heard everything the Apples had discussed in the kitchen. Rainbow sniffed to herself, furrowing her brow as she tried to ignore the sounds. They had begun when she woke up earlier in the morning. It was mostly just an obnoxious ringing in her ears, but sometimes it was something else, the ticking, a rustling sound like the tearing of wing feathers, and most notably of all, the voice.
The voice of the queen from her dreams Rainbow presumed. She tried to ignore it, but it always said just the right thing to get under her skin. And now, the voice spoke up again.
“Those friends of yours, those Apple ponies, they think you’re sick, ” the voice dryly commented, “Whether you are or not is up to you, but more importantly, they think so very little of you. ”
“What do you know?” Rainbow wanted to mumble through her gritted teeth, even though she knew it was pointless.
“Oh, I know everything about you. You say I’m not real, remember? Still, the Apples think you can’t hear them, they drastically underestimate your intelligence, Rainbow. Of course, that's what everypony does, you’ve always been the dumb one to them. ”
Rainbow grunted, not wanting to hear the voice. But a feeling fluttered in her gut, the feeling that the voice was right. Rainbow didn’t want to agree with it, but it usually was, through the bluntest and rudest terms, but correct, nonetheless. Or at least that’s how Rainbow felt.
“Rainbow Dash? Could I help you with somethin’?” asked a new voice. Rainbow turned with surprise to see Applejack, who had walked up to her while she wasn’t paying attention.
“Like I’ve said a million times already,” Rainbow answered absentmindedly while rubbing her throat, “I’m not going to eat any of your pies or apples, I have a sore throat.”
“It’s not about that,” retorted Applejack, “I’m here to help you out.” She paused, examining Rainbow’s tired look of confusion, “Rainbow, you need rest. I know you don’t want to, but you need to sleep. We’re concerned- I’m concerned. We’re worried about you.”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes, straightening her shaking body, “I know I need sleep, it’s just- you don’t know what it's like, the dreams, the sounds .” She let out a heavy sigh, rubbing her temples with her wings, “I just don’t think I can do it alone again. Not like last night.”
“Okay.” Applejack lowered her hat, “How ‘bout this? You miss Tank, he gave company and all. So how about somepony stays by yer side the entire night. Hay! I’ll do it! I’ll make sure nothin’ bad happens to you!”
Rainbow sniffed, stifling back a tear, “Sure. I think I’d like that.”
Applejack held out a hoof, letting Rainbow grasp it as she stood up. Her legs were shaking, weak from remaining still for hours. But Rainbow was quickly back on her hooves. Together, the two ponies made their way upstairs, Applejack following Rainbow into the farmhouse’s guest room.
It wasn’t large, it was rather cozy even. The soft candle glow filled the room with a gentle light, providing a soft atmosphere to the large, padded bed.
Rainbow immediately took advantage of the bed, flinging herself on the mattress and spreading her body across. The pegasus loudly sighed with relief as she stretched her limbs with a loud crack, and with her already tired state, had fallen fast asleep under the blanket in a few seconds.
Applejack smiled to herself. Rainbow really did want to sleep; she just needed a companion to help her.
Then Applejack, the earth pony of firm resolve, sat down on a wooden chair by the window, preparing to keep a watch over her friend in need for the remainder of the night.
As the night trickled onward, Applejack soon found herself fighting the creeping sensation of slumber herself. But awake she remained, keeping an eye on the sleeping Rainbow bustled up in the bed.
Applejack wasn’t exactly sure why Rainbow was so hesitant to sleep. Sure, Rainbow was never a sound sleeper, but even now, aside from occasional rolling over or soft grumble, Rainbow’s sleep was peaceful.
Peaceful enough that it was uneventful. Uneventful enough that Applejack was bored. And bored enough that she was tired.
Despite all this, the weariness returned. Applejack stopped her head from nodding, “Ugh, I need somethin’ to keep me awake,” she asked to herself. She looked over at Rainbow, who remained still, “Right, I’ll step out, but just for a moment.”
Standing up, Applejack tip-hoofed her way quietly out the guestroom, making sure to not stir Rainbow Dash. Applejack quietly walked to the bathroom. The bathroom wasn’t large, as most pony bathrooms were, but it did have a sink.
Turning on the faucet, Applejack splashed cold water on her face, shaking herself awake. The shock snapped away her weariness. She shivered, “Woo! That ought to do it!”
Unbeknownst to Applejack, she had chosen the worst possible time to leave, for as soon as she left, Rainbow began to stir. It was less aggressive than her other night terrors; small movements, wing twitches, barely audible groans, but in her mind, something new was happening. Something entirely unexpected to Rainbow.
In the meanwhile, Applejack finished her business in the bathroom exiting into the hallway and preparing to return to Rainbow. However, as soon as she raised a hoof, a scream emanated out into the hallway. Applejack jumped in alarm, it was Apple Bloom!
Rushing into her sister’s bedroom, Applejack found the filly wide awake, and in a state of distress.
“Apple Bloom! What happened?”
Apple Bloom held up a hoof, pausing to let her quick breathing slow down. “Something,” she stammered, “Something attacked me.”
Applejack squinted in alarm, “Attacked? Now? What was it?”
Apple Bloom shook her head with an expression of disorientation, “I don’t know! It was some kind of- thing!” She held up her right hoof, which had been under the covers the entire while. Applejack stared in alarm as she saw that her sister’s hoof was coated in some kind of viscous, green substance that dripped from the hoof down onto the bed.
“I- I hit it, and I think I squished it?” Apple Bloom stated in a tone of bewilderment, “I think it some kind of bug. Maybe a flyder?”
“Whatever it was, I’m just glad you're okay. You’d best go wash yourself off now, it’s over for now.”
Apple Bloom nodded, hopping off the bed and exiting the room, leaving Applejack alone for a moment. After the filly left, she leaned into the bed, and sniffed the green substance. It had a putrid odor that made Applejack wrinkle her nose in disgust. Looking around, Applejack then noticed that the goo, or whatever it was, was elsewhere in the room. A small, barely visible trail of the stuff went up one wall and through a hole in the ceiling, as if its owner had fled.
A feeling of dread began to build in the pit of Applejack’s stomach as she began to trace the trail. The substance went through a hole in the ceiling and out into the hallway. The drippings continued, crossing the hallway and into the guestroom.
A gasp of horror left Applejack’s mouth as she realized she had left the already vulnerable Rainbow exposed to whatever had attacked Apple Bloom. As quick as a dash, Applejack barged into the guestroom.
The substance seemed to have trickled, with a small amount of it pooling on bed. The bed that was empty. “Rainbow Dash?” Applejack yelled out, her voice quivering with fear, “Rainbow! Where are you!”
It was then Applejack’s gaze twisted across the room, attracted by the gentle sound of blowing wind. The window of the bedroom was open, and Rainbow was gone. Running up to the window and resting her hooves on the sill, Applejack her head out into the shadowy nighttime darkness of the Sweet Apple Acres.
She looked around, there was no sign of Rainbow or the thing that had attacked Apple Bloom, but there were no hoofprints in the mud below either. Wherever she was, Rainbow was gone, having flown off into the night.
It was twilight at Canterlot castle, and Princess Twilight Sparkle was as busy as usual. She was staying up late this particular night. After lowering the sun and raising the moon, she had stayed out on the castle balcony, encircling herself with a ring of books on various magical subjects. The princess busily flipped through the pages of multiple books at once with her magic, bookmarking and marking down pages with the information she desired.
Eventually Spike, Twilight’s ever-present help, fluttered up in the doorway to the balcony, wearing his little nightcap and holding a candle. He gave Twilight’s carefully arranged chaos a lookover. “Twilight, you raised the moon an hour ago,” Spike yawned, “It’s getting late and a princess like you needs her beauty sleep.”
“Wait a moment Spike,” Twilight said, holding up a hoof, “I’m trying out something tonight.”
He frowned, “And that is?”
Twilight paused her reading and stood up, turning around to face Spike, “Spike, do you remember when Rainbow contacted us with the mirror yesterday?”
“Yeah, that was kinda weird, with the floating mirror thing.”
“Well, that whole conversation made me realize I’ve been forgoing one of my core duties as the princess!”
Spike looked even more confused, “Core duty?”
“Rainbow’s whole issue she’s been having is that she’s been having nightmares, yes? And you know that Luna’s job was to travel into ponies’ dreams and stop the nightmares,” she paused, looking over to the dragon’s blank expression, “Don’t you see? The whole thing with Rainbow Dash is my fault. It’s no coincidence that it began right after my coronation, after Luna retired. With no alicorn going and stopping nightmares, the whole issue has gotten out of hand, especially with Rainbow Dash.”
“But isn’t dream traveling a spell only Luna can do?” Spike asked, “And didn’t Rainbow say her issue with the dreams is over?”
“For your first question I assumed the same as well,” Twilight began, “But I’ve been researching dream traveling spells, and its not only limited to Luna!” She magically lifted a book to show to Spike, showcasing a diagram of the moon and ponies, “Though the ability came naturally to Luna, I’ve found out that any other pony who magically interacts with the moon is also capable of doing it! And since I’m the one who raises the moon now, I think I might be able to dreamwalk!”
She paused to catch her breath, “And for your second question,” she looked a bit hesitant, “I suspect Rainbow may be underplaying her condition. I plan on checking up on her, if she’s fine, I won’t interfere any further.”
Spike rubbed his head, “That’s a lot of information to take in, but if you think this’ll help other ponies, I’m not going to stop you.”
Twilight smiled at him, “Thanks for the support, Spike, but I might want you to stop me. I’ve never done this before, so things may go a bit awry.”
Spike nodded his head, “Okay. Keep watch. I’ve done that plenty of times!”
Acknowledging him in return, Twilight cleared the area around her with her magic, sweeping the books aside in a circular motion. “Okay,“ Twilight said out loud to herself, “I can do this.” She breathed in, channeling her energy into her horn, which began to glow with a pink light.
Spike watched in amazement as wind began to blow around him and she began to float in the air. Twilight’s expression strained as she concentrated harder, spreading her wings as the magic pulsed from her horn.
Then, nothing.
Opening her eyes, Twilight found that she was nowhere, a void having encompassed everything around her. After a brief moment of confusion, she realized that it had worked, she had transported herself into the Equestrian dreamscape.
Looking around, Twilight observed an untold number of bright specks floating through the void. Upon closer inspection, she saw that these specks were miniature portals of a kind, a bubble-shaped looking glass into the dreams and minds of every sleeping pony in Equestria.
Twilight let out a single hushed statement of astonishment before calming herself. A younger Twilight Sparkle would have been as giddy as a filly having come here, but Twilight now had a goal, something more important than the thrill of this new experience.
Spreading her wings, Twilight began to walk, or fly, or maybe even float, whatever it was, through the mindscape. Even through quick glances at the dream bubbles, Twilight was relieved to see that most ponies were having good dreams, proof that she wasn’t negatively affecting too many ponies by neglecting the former princess Luna’s prior duty.
In fact, many of the dreams were oddly intriguing to the alicorn; some of them were truly bizarre, making Twilight stifle a giggle to herself. But this was short-lived. She shook her head, no, she had a main goal, Rainbow Dash.
Fortunately, finding the location of Rainbow’s dream wasn’t difficult, as it seemed to be almost dislocated from the rest, hovering along with the rest of her main friends in a spot of all their own. This, Twilight assumed, was due to their connections to and as the elements of harmony.
With a flap of her wings, Twilight floated in the middle of the cluster of dreams. Looking closely, she noted the dreams of her friends. Pinkie Pie was asleep, dreaming of some kind of high energy cooking show, Rarity was dreaming about fashion of course, particularly that of fashion styled after hippogriff seaware, all Twilight could tell of Fluttershy’s dream was that it involved Discord in some degree, and Applejack was absent, she must have still been awake. Last but not least was Twilight’s destination, Rainbow Dash’s dream. Oddly, she couldn’t make out anything, the dream seemed to be completely void of color, the bubble leading only into blackness.
Twilight didn’t exactly know how to enter the dream, so she just used her hooves to snatch the black bubble out of the air. The bubble seemed to react to Twilight’s touch and began to rapidly expand until the alicorn found herself inside the bubble.
Twilight flashed her horn one last time, preparing herself for whatever was inside, before jumping into the darkness.
Twilight Sparkle found herself on a flat expanse with nothing else except darkness. But Twilight could feel that she wasn’t alone .
A sound emanated out from in front of her. It sounded like a heartbeat of some kind, each thump resounding in her ears. Twilight flattened her ears trying to block out the noise and walked forward.
Twilight was confused, having seen nothing since she entered, but eventually she saw something. Out in the inky blackness, all alone, was Rainbow Dash. The familiar rainbow-maned sight of her friend filled Twilight with relief, but Rainbow didn’t seem to notice. She seemed to be curled up on the ground, ignoring anything and everything.
Twilight stepped a hoof forward, calling out to her friend, “Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow reacted violently, swerving around to face the alicorn like she’d been attacked. “Twilight?” Rainbow asked, narrowing her eyes at the purple pony, “Is that you? Are you really you?”
“Yes, it’s me, I’m here to help. I used to spell so I could travel into your dream and help you.”
“I told you I was fine,” she retorted, feeling a mixture of frustration and relief, “Okay, I may have been lying a little back then, but it's nothing to worry about. In the real world I’m at Applejack’s right now, she’s looking over me. It’s all fine.”
“Applejack’s watching you? That’s good.” Twilight stopped to slowly look at the dream around her, “This dream is like how you described it,” she observed, “Though I don’t see any duplicates of me, if that’s how dreams work, I’m not entirely certain how dream traveling works yet.”
Rainbow blinked. Yes, that's what she had said to Twilight on her visit to Canterlot earlier, but none of her friends had actually shown up in a dream before. Not yet anyways.
The heartbeat had grown louder to Twilight, who had begun to feel the flutters of panic begin to settle in her stomach. Meanwhile, Rainbow felt entirely the opposite. Rather than tired and scared like in the other dreams, she felt like her energy had been completely restored, in spite of the ever-present ticking sound in her head.
“Still, you shouldn’t be here Twilight,” Rainbow asked, anticipating something to happen, “You should go before- things begin to happen.” She wasn’t sure what, maybe another memory, maybe the voice would come back, she wasn’t certain.
“Sorry Rainbow, but I’m here to help you. Let me just-” she paused, casting a luminosity spell with her horn. The horn lit up with its familiar pink light, brightening the void around the two ponies. The light revealed a dull gray floor. The floor rumbled, a grumbling sound that coincided with a white flicker that flashed across the sky.
“What are you doing?” Rainbow demanded, her tone of concern for her friend shifting to one of frustration, “You can’t just cast a spell like that!”
“Why?” Twilight shouted, her confusion bubbling out as a yell, “What is this, Rainbow? You can tell me. I- We can help you.”
“Liar. ”
Twilight flattened her ears, looking around worriedly. “Who was that?”
Rainbow seemed less worried, instead glancing around warily, “Her. The voice. And I don’t think she likes you being here.”
“Voice? Who’s voice?”
“Mine’s. ” The voice answered. It came out of the darkness, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. It had a raspy sound to it, “But I don’t matter, I’m not real. Ask Rainbow, she can tell you that. But you, you are real, and you don’t belong here. ”
The voice dripped with venom as it ended the phrase, pausing as the sky flickered again. “What? What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, her voice becoming shaky as the dream shifted around her. She lifted a hoof as the ground beneath her rippled, seeming to dissolve around her.
“This is Rainbow’s place. And being here is a right you don’t have. Not for liars like you. ”
Twilight looked over to Rainbow, who seemed to also be confused. Rainbow furrowed her brow, stomping her hooves down, “Stop it! Leave Twilight alone!” Rainbow shouted up to the voice, “I thought you wanted me! Take me instead!”
“Not now, ” the voice replied almost soothingly, “We will deal with that later. Now, ask Twilight about her lies. How she’s been lying to you. ”
Rainbow looked at Twilight, who’s hooves had now sunk into the ground, “Twilight?” she asked, not knowing what to believe, “Have you been lying to me?”
“No!” Twilight stammered, trying to free her hooves from the quicksand-like ground, “Rainbow, I would never lie to you. Don’t listen to that voice, it's not real. I am.”
“LIAR! ” snarled the voice, “You won’t admit it, but I know! Rainbow also knows, she knows that I’m right! You’ve been lying to her, you’ve all been lying to her for years! ”
“Stop!” Rainbow sobbed, spreading her wings, “She’s not lying! Stop this!”
“Don’t worry, Rainbow, ” the voice stated one last time, speaking over the struggling gasps of Twilight, “This isn’t real. It doesn’t matter. It’s just a dream. You know that right? ”
The flickering of the sky became more erratic as the darkness around them lightened to a dark gray. Rainbow sniffed, “Yes.” She folded her wings, looking sadly at Twilight, her head being the only that remained.
Twilight couldn’t move. She had been completely unprepared for whatever this was. Now she was trapped. She could feel her energy draining.
“Rainbow knows I’m right, I’m always right, ” the voice said to Twilight, seeming to lean in real close to the princess, “And you’re of no use to us any longer, so I will say this only once. ”
Get out.
In an instant, the dream cracked apart, the magic from Twilight’s horn faded, and everything faded to white.
Rather than waking up with a start like with her other dreams, this time Rainbow Dash simply silently opened her eyes. Rolling over in the bed she had been sleeping in at Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow sat up and wiped away the spittle that had gathered around her mouth. The events of the dream were unclear to her this time, the events all blurring together, but some things she could recall.
Twilight was there, maybe. But one thing Rainbow remembered was the queen’s accusation. Was Twilight lying to her? Were the rest of her friends lying to her?
Her ears twitched; she could hear hoofsteps in the hallway outside the guest room. The indistinct voices of Applejack and Apple Bloom talking about something. A mixed feeling of calm and dread caught up in Rainbow’s sore throat, what was happening?
Then the queen’s voice spoke up, “Now’s time for your choice Rainbow. They’ve been lying to you this entire time, ” Rainbow actually doubted this was true, but she couldn’t help but feel an indistinct feeling of doubt to her friends in her gut. “But I haven’t lied, ” the queen continued, “You know I’m right, that I can’t lie to you. So, what will it be? ”
The queen didn’t need to say anything else as Rainbow had already decided. She no longer felt tired or weary, she felt great even. Full of energy, ready for flying, better than she had felt in a long time. Jumping out of the bed, Rainbow flung open the window of the guest room and spread her wings.
And in an instant, Rainbow was gone, leaving the moment Applejack rushed into the guestroom.
Through the Ponyville night sky Rainbow dashed, giddily flying more than she had in days, restraining herself just enough to not set off a sonic rainboom. She knew her destination, the cloudominium, a place to rest, away from everyone else, away from Twilight, and maybe even away from herself.
As quick as flash, Rainbow threw her body through the front door, nearly breaking it in the process. Collapsing down onto the cloudy floor, the reality of the situation set itself in Rainbow’s head. Her smile vanished as it hit her. What was she doing? Why did she come here?
“You made the correct choice, ” said the queen into Rainbow’s ear, “The right choice. ”
“What was my choice?” Rainbow asked in bewilderment to the air, “Why did I listen to you?”
“Yet you’ve decided to let me- let us help you. You knew I was right, about your friends, about everything. You’ve made your choice, there’s no turning back now Rainbow. ”
Rainbow tried to ignore the queen’s voice, pacing about. She paused, turning towards the sitting area, where the remains of the book still lay. Resting against the chair was the silver mirror.
Rainbow eyed the mirror, approaching it cautiously, “I need to call Twilight,” she said to herself, “Talk to her, explain everything. I need help.”
“You can’t call her. You won’t call her. ” This was enough to make Rainbow pause, “Don’t you feel great Rainbow? Listen to me and you can feel like this all the time. Or would you rather run back to Twilight. The pony who has been lying to you. ” The voice paused, it’s tone almost like it was pleading to Rainbow, “Twilight’s never trusted you fully. Oh, she remembers your failures, but she’s never appreciated your success. I do. Because I am you. We are one. ”
Rainbow shut her eyes, trying to ignore the queen’s voice. “Stop!” Rainbow yelled, waving her hooves in the air. As she did, she lost grasp of the mirror. It flew through the air, shattering against a wooden shelf. But Rainbow ignored the flying glass.
“Shut up! I’m not listening to you!” Rainbow tried to yell, but the pain in her throat was too great. Her breathing became shallow, and Rainbow collapsed. The breathing changed again, becoming ragged coughs that shattered her throat.
“But you do listen, I know that ” said the voice as Rainbow coughed, “You’ve always listened. You’ve listened since the ringing of the bell. ”
Rainbow continued to cough. But then she stopped, falling on the ground as something flew out of her throat and onto her hooves.
Her breath ragged, her hooves shaking, Rainbow sat down, looking down at her hooves in wide-eyed horror. Her throat no longer hurt as much, the queen’s voice had stopped talking, but now there was irrefutable proof that Rainbow needed to do something.
But for now, she was speechless, gazing down at the sticky slime that she had coughed out onto her hooves. The slime that dripped down onto the cloudy floor and glowed in the luminescent shades of a rainbow.
As the morning arrived, Twilight nearly forgot to raise the sun, having been busy and focused the entire night. After the events in Rainbow’s dream, Twilight had been forcibly knocked out of the dreamscape, snapping her back to reality, much to the distress of Spike.
He wanted her to rest, outwardly expressing concern over her wellbeing. He claimed that she had a seizure of some kind while casting the spell, but unconsciously used magic to prevent anyone from interfering. Twilight, however, refused to rest, wanting to do something immediately about the state of Rainbow Dash.
As soon as she raised the sun, Twilight spread her wings and prepared an immediate excursion down to Ponyville. “Tell the castle staff that I’m going out,” she explained to Spike, “Maintain the peace while I’m gone. I- I hope this won’t take too long.”
He didn’t protest, sharing his worth of worry over Rainbow Dash as well. So Spike waved her goodbye as Twilight left. All Twilight knew at the moment was that Rainbow was staying at Sweet Apple Acres the previous night, so that was her first destination. She flew as fast as she could with her alicorn wings, making quick timing to Ponyville and landing in front of the farmhouse.
Twilight only needed to knock on the door once before Applejack answered. The earth pony looked dejected as she opened the door, but quickly hid away any evidence of that feeling as she noticed the princess on her doorstep. “Oh, hi Twilight, it's a surprise seeing you-”
“Where’s Rainbow Dash?” interjected Twilight, trying to force herself past Applejack through the doorway.
“Oh, um-” Applejack sounded nervous, “Well, she was her last night, but- I can’t really say-”
“Please Applejack,” pleaded Twilight, her voice taking on a serious tone, “This is important. Where is Rainbow Dash?”
“I don’t know!” Applejack yelled, “She was sound asleep the last time I saw her, but then she jumped out the window or somethin’, I was plannin’ to look for today, you just arrived before I could leave!”
Twilight rubbed her chin, furrowing her brow, “She’s gone? And Tank just disappeared too. There’s no way these events aren’t connected.”
Applejack bore an expression of unease, “Well sure they’re connected. Rainbow’s mighty upset ‘bout Tank and all.”
“No Applejack, not like that. Something is gravely wrong with Rainbow Dash, and we need to find her as quickly as possible before things get any worse. Come on, we have to head to Rainbow’s place now.”
Twilight could have teleported straight to the cloudominium, but she owed an explanation to Applejack, who, despite interacting directly with Rainbow the previous day, was completely dumbfounded by Twilight’s regaling of the events in the dream, a reaction Twilight expected the rest of her friend’s would share.
“So what the hay happened in that dream?” A shocked Applejack asked as she approached the floating cloudominium, “Did Rainbow, or that voice, kick you out? Can ponies do that?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight sighed, “I was completely unprepared for any of it. I wish I could have done something, it’s just-”
“Twilight, it’s okay. We’ll find Rainbow and take her to the hospital.”
Twilight sighed, “Hmph, I hope so.” Having reached the floating house, she cast a cloud-walking spell on Applejack and levitated the both of them up to the front door. Applejack pushed open the door, not even bothering to knock, and possibly not wanting to alert the already erratic Rainbow and make her flee again.
But as the door opened, both ponies gasped in horror. The cloudominium was a wreck . The house looked like it had been looted, furniture had been tossed, things torn off the wall and haphazardly tossed onto the floor. In one corner, the books had been ripped up, their pages scattered across the ground alongside the shattered remnants of Twilight’s mirror.
The ponies exchanged a silent glance with each other and gravely nodded, each splitting off to search the house for Rainbow. Applejack slowly trot her way upstairs, pulling out a glimmer light, a glowing magical stick of Twilight’s design, and illuminating the darkened upper floor.
The clouds that made up the walls on the upper floor had darkened to a dark gray color, a sign that they had not been maintained, while also blocking off the natural sunlight outside, giving the sensation that someone had turned off the lights.
Applejack made her way into Rainbow’s bedroom, warily looking for a sign of life, but not a pony or tortoise was to be seen. The room itself wasn’t any better. The cloud mattress had been torn down the middle, the furniture had been visibly bucked, split down the middle by angry hooves, and Rainbow’s prized wonderbolt uniform had been torn off its hanger and shredded into pieces that now lay on the ground.
Applejack grimaced at the state of the room. Was Rainbow hurt? Had she done this?
She didn’t know. But then Applejack heard something, a soft sound, like a low moan. It was quiet, but just loud enough that her ears could trace the source. Walking in the left corner of the bedroom, Applejack looked up. The sound was coming from the walls.
In the meanwhile, Twilight continued her search on the lower level of the house. Tank’s nook was empty, and so was the dining area as well as Rainbow’s training room. Twilight hmphed before pausing, she had a spell she could use.
Quickly and efficiently, Twilight prepared and cast a location spell, specifically a spell that would locate if any living beings, pony or otherwise was in the location. Like a radar, a pulse of magic spread radially from her horn, with dots of knowledge appearing in her mind subconsciously.
The largest dot was her of course, being the most powerful source of magic in the house. Another showed up upstairs, one with the orange glow of honesty, Applejack. But there was no red dot. Twilight sighed, there was no evidence that Rainbow was here, but then she paused.
The spell began to flicker, not enough to vanish, but just enough for Twilight to notice. She looked over the spell’s results again, noticing a small white dot appear at one point in the house, then another, then another. Soon, the white dots were rapidly appearing, all of them being detected by the spell.
She froze, panic growing in her legs, as she heard something new, a knocking sound on the house’s support beams, a sound that came from the walls.
Applejack grunted as she heaved over a shelf to the corner, hoisting herself up so she could reach the ceiling. The sound continued, further growing Applejack’s intrigue. She used her earth pony strength to easily pry apart the clouds and stick her head up through the ceiling of the bedroom.
It led up into the dark attic-like area of the cloudominium, a place of stiffly packed clouds and small columns of wood. She stuck in the glimmer light, shining a light into the darkness, but Applejack quickly realized she wouldn’t need the light.
The place was gently illuminated by dozens of webs of sticky slime, spreading from floor to ceiling, slowly dripping down in irregular patterns. And all of these webs glowed . Glowed in the bright, luminescence hues of a rainbow.
Speechless, Applejack felt dread bubble up to her mouth, making her nearly jump as the sound, the sound that led her there, came out from behind her. Spinning her light around, Applejack shined the light onto a welcome sight.
Tank, the tortoise who had gone missing, had been right there all along, right underneath, or above in this case, Rainbow’s hooves. Tank blinked his weary eyes in the light that revealed his emancipated state. The tortoise was ensnared in one of the webs of rainbow goo. His beady eyes were tired, his face sunken, and his limbs were nearly skeletal. Tank attempted to smile at his rescuer, letting out a feeble moaning sound, but he was too weak for even that.
“Tank!” cried Applejack, climbing further up to pull out the pet. She hugged the injured pet closely, “You look terrible. What did this to you?”
Tank didn’t answer, because he was a tortoise, but an expression of terror crossed his face as he looked over Applejack’s shoulder. A pair of four, white eyes appeared behind Applejack, glistening in the darkness. Soon another appeared. Followed by even more.
Dozens of identical pairs of eyes appeared, looking at Applejack from all angles. Holding the trembling tortoise tightly, Applejack froze. The sound of the eyes chittered out. A sound that sounded like ticking almost. A tch tch tch that came out in unison from the iris swarm.
Applejack slowly turned her head, transfixed by the sight of dozens of glassy eyes staring out at her from the dark recesses of the cloudominium. The creatures that the eyes belonged to seemed to be just as surprised as the intruder to their hive was, making a droning sound of ticking to themselves as they eyed the pony motionlessly.
Applejack hugged Tank, the tortoise having hidden in his shell, closer to her chest, as she took a step backwards, slowly climbing out of the cubby in the ceiling she had opened. “Okay y’all,” she said out loud, trying to not incite the creatures in the ceiling, “I’m just goin’ to take the tortoise and leave. No need to get upset.”
The ticking stopped, the eyes having reacted to Applejack’s rhetorical statement. One set of eyes ticked to itself and began to rapidly approach the pony, climbing out the ceiling and resting its claws on the cloudy walls.
Its head twitched, swiveling as it looked over the pony. The bug resembled a wasp. Four bulbous eyes poked out from its head, shining a faint pink in the light. From its body wired a skinny body, complete with four jagged legs with a large talon, ending with a curved stinger. The abdomen of the bug pulsed and stretched, as if something was trying to escape. The chitin of its body was a ghostly white, almost translucent; but in more clearer areas, spots of light poked out amidst the exoskeleton, shifting through various colors of the rainbow. From its head a spine, light blue in color, curled down the back connecting with a set of four wings that sprouted from its back. The wings had glowing spots matching the colors of a rainbow and as they flexed instinctively, it gave the appearance the creature had a rainbow sprouting from its back. But notable was its mouth, five chitinous fangs curled up in a hexagonal shape, rubbing against one another, leaving an orifice for the neon colored drool to dribble out continually.
The rainbow wasp fluttered it's wings, looking down at the earth pony hungrily. She didn’t move, remaining still in place. The two locked eyes and for a moment, everything seemed still. Then, the wasp attacked.
Its mandibles spread, letting out a hiss that sent rainbow spittle flying out at Applejack’s face. The rainbow wasp lunged in a blur of its wings, spreading its claws for impact, but Applejack, who was remarkably experienced by this point, was able to react faster.
Her back hooves shot out in a blur as well. The two blurs collided, promptly sending the wasp careening into the cloudy walls. The wasp sputtered as it hit the wall, leaving behind a green splatter of slime. But it quickly got up again, ticking at the pony angrily as it shook its head.
Immediately the rest of the bugs above buzzed aggressively as they began to crawl out into the room. Applejack yelled in alarm as the oversized wasps flew at her in a swarm. She began to run out into the hallway, but the rainbow wasps quickly caught up.
The wasps used their claws to latch onto her fur as they made contact. Then, they began to sink their fangs into her flesh. A sear of pain bolted through her body, making her stumble as she rolled out of the hallway and into the main area of the cloudominium.
Applejack tried to swat away the bugs, but lost her footing as a wasp bit her leg, making her trip backwards off and down the staircase to the floor below, where the cloud-based floor luckily cushioned the fall.
Before she could react, the wasps used their claws to pin Applejack to the floor, making sure she was immobilized.
“Twilight!” Applejack called out desperately as one wasp, the original one she had bucked upstairs and who seemed to be larger than the rest, landed squarely on her chest. The wasp inquisitively studied the pony’s chest before raising its stinger. The stinger split down the middle, splitting into three, separate barbs. Unable to move, Applejack watched in horror as rainbow goo dripped out from the exposed opening to the abdomen, along with added gray pellets. The wasp was preparing to lay eggs in her chest.
The ticking drone of the wasps filled Applejack’s ears, but then a welcomed voice spoke up over them. “Back off!” Twilight flew out of a door and above the pony and swarm. Spreading her wings in a showcase of power, Twilight’s horn flashed purple, letting out a pulse of magic that swept away the wasps.
The wasps scattered, leaving a canvas of green innards against the cloudominium’s walls as they were launched back and collided.
Twilight used her magic to quickly right up Applejack, who wearily shook herself off, brushing away rainbow goo that had coalesced around the bite marks scattered across her body.
“What the hay are these things?” Applejack asked, picking up Tank, who had bounced and landed safely next to them, “Some kinda new iris bug?”
Twilight looked over the wasps, who had begun to recover from the blast. “I don’t know, but you need to go. Now .”
All around them, ticking and knocking began to echo out from within the walls. Awakened by Twilight’s blast, thousands of wasps began to poke their heads out through the clouds, looking for the source of magic that had awakened them. Even the wasps that had just been blasted away seemed to have fully recovered, focusing their glassy eyes on Twilight, a new source of food, a source of innumerable magic for them consume.
“Go Applejack!” Twilight repeated, passing Applejack a stern look, “Head to Ponyville, get everypony to safety! Evacuate, herd them into the castle, seal off the School of Friendship; I don’t care what you do, just get everypony away from the swarm!”
Twilight furrowed her brow in determination, “I’m going to hold them off.”
Applejack didn’t take another second, grabbing Tank and making her leave of the overrun cloudominium. She leapt out from the floating house, cushioning her fall in some bushes below.
Inside the cloudominium, only Twilight remained, being the sole obstacle blocking the swarm of thousands of rainbow wasps, which now filled the air around her. The monotonous drone of ticking would have driven any other pony mad, but Twilight ignored it.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to Rainbow,” she said to the wasps as her horn began to glow once more, “But I’m going to stop you.”
She knew that the bugs would siphon away her magic eventually, but for now, she didn’t care. Destroying the wasps was all she could do.
Ponyville was in a panic, the whole place being set off after an injured Applejack ran into yelling about rainbow bugs. Most of the town was heading to the Castle of Friendship or the neighboring School of Friendship hoping their magical protection spells would protect their own hides, but one place that remained untouched was the former Ponyville Day Spa.
The spa, having been rebuilt in another section of town, was for all purposes and measures, abandoned, being condemned shortly after the initial rainbow plague. This was because an iris grub queen had burrowed to nest in the warm waters of the spa’s plumbing, inadvertently causing half of the spa’s interior to cave into a sinkhole. Though the tunnels created by the queens had since been sealed off, the rest of the spa had practically gone undisturbed since the staff relocated, leaving the structure as an eerie reminder of the rainbow plague.
But now, a bit of life stirred in the spa, for someone had intruded on the former day spa. Inside, at the bottom of the sinkhole, lay a stagnant pool of water. The water used to be the warm nesting place of a queen, but now it lay still and dark. But it was somewhere Rainbow wanted, no, needed to be.
The sinkhole stirred up unpleasant memories in her mind, memories she desperately tried to ignore. She wheezed some more, coughing as more bioluminescent rainbow goo got caught in her throat. But Rainbow pressed onward, her hooves feebly emptying out her saddlebag with the things she had gathered before leaving.
“What are you doing Rainbow? ” The voice in her head asked, expressing an unusual amount of mild curiosity.
”Getting rid of you.” Rainbow growled in response.
“It’s your choice, ” the voice answered, seemingly with mild amusement.
Rainbow shook her head, trying to shut up the voice. This was her last chance. Rainbow didn’t want an iris grub in her, she didn’t want the rainbow plague to come back. And despite her mind fighting against itself, she forced herself here as a last-ditch effort. To cleanse her mind and body.
She pulled out the bath salts she had borrowed from Rarity. The salts’ scents were supposed to cause grub regurgitation, which was Rainbow’s preferred outcome.
She stuck a hoof in the water pool, stirring the dirt floating inside in a spiral. It wasn’t warm, but it would be just able to work with the bath salts. With no hesitation, she tossed the salts into the pool, watching as they began to fizz and dissolve.
The chalky, white color of the salts spread in the water, coinciding as the pleasant scent of peach filled the hole. Rainbow made sure to breathe it all in, loudly snorting up the scent of the salt as much as she could.
But nothing happened.
The pegasus looked down at herself, her body felt the same, nothing happened in her stomach or throat. Rainbow shook her head, “No no no! I smelled the salts, why aren’t you leaving?”
She poked her stomach, trying to force out something, anything. “Get out of me you stupid grub!” Picking up a nearby rock, she rammed it into her stomach. This caused her pain, forcing Rainbow to the ground as she coughed up rainbow goo that had dislodged from her throat. “Why won’t you leave? I don’t want you in me.”
The voice spoke up again, speaking with a hint of remorse in her voice, “Don’t you get it Rainbow? I am not leaving. I can’t leave. ”
“I don’t get it,” Rainbow sniffed, “I thought- I thought there was rainbow grub inside me. That’s what you are, isn’t it?”
“I’ve said it before, I am all inside your head. Rainbow Dash, I am you. ”
Rainbow didn’t know how or why, but knew that it, that she was speaking the truth. The raspy voice that had filled her dreams, been speaking in her head, it was her voice.
“You are special Rainbow, I know, you know it, we both know it. For I was the last queen’s voice, but now I am the new queen’s voice. Because you, Rainbow, are the new queen. ”
This should have come as a shock to Rainbow, and it did, slightly, but this wasn’t as groundbreaking as she would have assumed. Because inside, since the start of the dreams, she had always known, somehow.
“When you destroyed the original queen all those moons ago, I was passed onto you, by going inside the old queen, you were chosen to become the new queen. ”
Rainbow sat up from off the dirt floor, “So the dreams were all you- uh, me?”
“That was the old queen and me, your mind, mixing. The old and the new. The queen’s instincts and our own fighting for dominance. The battle is far from over, but now, because of your element, we’ve changed. I have changed you and you have changed me. It isn’t over, for I am merely your instinct, the choice is still yours to make. ”
Rainbow didn’t have any patience for her inner voice, “Choice ? What do you mean by choice? You, or the queen, or whatever has put me through Tartarus and back! What do you think I’ll choose? You think I want to lead an army of maggots and eat my friends’ magic?”
“Unfortunately, despite what I said, I don’t think you have a choice. When your friends came looking for you, they unwittingly awakened the wasps. Don’t hesitate; I know you can feel it too. ”
Rainbow didn’t, she could feel it. The ticking of thousands of rainbow bugs. But this only made her confused, “Wasps? I thought, your- our- the queen’s whole thing was those grubs!”
“That’s the thing about the rainbow plague. It evolves and grows. That was how it was designed, as one last trick if the queen was destroyed. After the queen’s essence was first awakened, she took your own magical essence to create new iris bugs and improve upon their flaws. And now that they are awakened, they shall surely take over Ponyville soon. ”
Rainbow hopped to her hooves, looking up in alarm, “What? No! If I’m the queen or something, can’t I make them stop?”
Her inner voice seemed to nod,“To do that, you need to accept it. All of it. Use the thing that awakened the queen, ring the bell and the decision will be final. ”
Rainbow paused, “The bell?” Then she realized.
Grogar’s bell.
The bell was utilized by the trio of villains weeks prior when they tried to take over Equestria. The queen’s essence, her essence had been lying dormant for years until they were awakened when the bell was rung. That was why it hadn’t happened until now, that was why the dreams didn’t start until now, it was all caused by Grogar’s bell.
And now, Rainbow needed that bell.
The swarm of rainbow wasps swirled about angrily in the air. They were hungry, having been awakened prematurely, and they wanted to feed. But for now, a single pony kept the swarm at bay.
Twilight Sparkle, having retreated from the cramped interior of cloudominium, flashed out another magic spell, creating a purple barrier that blocked another regiment of wasps from flying forward. Though they spewed out their innards when they were injured, the wasps would quickly recover. They were much hardier than the iris grubs of previous, having withstood Twilight’s most powerful attacks.
Beads of sweat trickled down her face. She knew that she couldn’t hold them back forever, as the wasps could siphon her magic, and eventually would wear her out. But for now, she just needed to buy Ponyville some time.
Her forcefield flickered, it was weakening. One of the larger wasps took the opportunity to directly assault the shield, prying open a hole in the shield with its claws, its maw opening to hiss out technicolor spit at the alicorn. But it was quickly silenced as Twilight thrust her head forward, her horn stabbing the wasp through the mouth. It fell limp to the ground, its body splattering in the dirt next to her hooves.
Twilight could only momentarily pass a glance to the corpse of the wasp joining multiple other grimy bodies that lay in the dirt as she strained her rapidly weakening spells.
Twilight twisted her head around, noticing her friends galloping up behind her.
“Get back! These things are dangerous!” Twilight yelled out, making the group of ponies stop in their tracks, “It's too dangerous for you all to help!”
Applejack, who was leading the group, stood firm, “Twilight, everypony else has taken cover, all of us here are willing to help ya!” The rest of the ponies, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Starlight, nodded.
“It’s not like that,” Twilight exclaimed as she cast another spell, “It’s like the rainbow plague again! These things eat magic! Only now they’re highly aggressive!”
Rarity eyed the wasps before returning her look to Twilight, “Nonsense Twilight! We don’t care if it's dangerous or if we get hurt! We’re here to save Ponyville and Rainbow Dash!”
Twilight would have objected, not wanting more of her friends to get in dire danger, but she wasn’t in a position to argue at the moment.
“Oh my, those are some- uh, angry wasps,” Fluttershy commented, staring up at the swirling mass of bugs behind the glowing purple barrier that crossed the sky above, “I’m not sure what we can do to help Twilight.”
“We’re gonna need lots of bug spray,” agreed Pinkie Pie. She jumped back as another wave of wasps splattered on a purple barrier above.
Rarity looked perturbed as the wasps’ excrements dripped down the shield. “So those things were in Rainbow’s house? Well, it’s certainly no surprise that she wasn’t getting any sleep!”
“Come on y’all!” said Applejack, “We need to do somethin’! Twilight can’t hold ‘em off forever!”
Pinkie Pie raised a hoof excitedly, “Ooh! We can use the elements of harmony! We can use them whenever, can't we?” As she finished talking, Pinkie Pie rubbed her hooves together and began to concentrate. Her mane began to glow, but this quickly faded as the pony fell down to the ground.
Applejack shook her head, “That won’t work Pinkie, we need all of us to do that, and I don’t know where the hay Rainbow went off to.”
“Speaking of Rainbow Dash, did she do this?” the concerned Starlight asked, “You know, with her sudden interest in the rainbow plague again, and then these- rainbow bugs came out. I’m not accusing her or anything, but there’s got to be a connection, right?”
Applejack looked uncertain, “I don’t know sugarcube, I just don’t know.”
“Hey!” Twilight yelled, recapturing the ponies’ attention, “If you’re not going to do anything, I’d advise you all to get out of here! I can’t hold them back much longer!”
As if they were waiting for the opportunity, the entire swarm surged forward at the shields while the alicorn was momentarily turned away.
Twilight grimaced with pain, the magical walls bending against the force of thousands of magic-eating bugs pushing their bodies against the magic. Her horn flickered with magic, but it was too much. Twilight fell over, the magic from her horn fading as the shields cracked down the middle and rapidly disapparated.
The ponies ran forward to help Twilight. At this point there was nothing they could do. The swirling swarm of wasps didn’t move at first, seeming unsure of what to do. But before the rainbow wasps could redirect their aim at the ponies beneath them, they all froze.
“Wha- what are they doing?” Twilight asked weakly, squinting open her eyes as Applejack helped her up. The rest of the ponies looked up as well, looking in the same direction as the wasps.
A thunderous boom split the air, making a ring of color crack across the sky.
It was a sonic rainboom!
And out from the rainboom sped away the familiar sight of a rainbow trail, the telltale sign of Rainbow Dash. The ponies breathlessly watched as the rainboom spread across the sky, with Rainbow’s flying trail speeding far away in the direction of Canterlot.
Transfixed, the wasps watched as well, soon leaving in the same direction, following Rainbow’s trail like moths to the flame.
Twilight's head was fuzzy, her magic having been drastically weakened, but she was certain of what this meant. Rainbow Dash, for whatever reason, was heading to Canterlot, and the rainbow swarm was following.
Rainbow Dash’s ears popped as she broke through the sound barrier. The rainboom spread behind her in an explosion of color as she flew as fast as she could, straight to Canterlot. Her body wasn’t necessarily at its full capability, but the adrenaline willed her through anyways. This was her last chance to stop the rainbow plague from returning and hurting her friends. Rainbow needed to get Grogar’s Bell.
After mere minutes, the pegasus arrived at Canterlot Castle, kicking up a cloud of dust as she slid to a halt in front of the castle gate. The two guards at the gate, the ones she had accosted on her previous visit, stared at the new arrival in surprise.
The out-of-breath Rainbow looked up, “Open the gate!”
“You don’t need to get all angry,” the right guard stated, holding up a hoof, “The new entry list is all approved, so you’re free to enter if you wan-”
“Open the damn gate! ”
The left guard lowered his ears, “Sweet Celestia! Okay, okay!”
But Rainbow scarcely waited for the guards, pushing her body through as soon as it opened a crack. The pegasus swerved around the dirt path, nearly knocking over Spike, who had gone down to the gardens earlier, in the process.
The dragon began furiously flapping his wings, attempting to keep up with Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash?” he asked, looking at her with confusion, “What happened? And where’s Twilight?”
Rainbow brushed him aside, continued her gallop to the archival tower across the castle grounds. “I don’t have the time for answering questions Spike! There’s no time! They’re coming and I have to stop them!”
“Who? Twilight?”
Rainbow didn’t answer, as she reached the archival tower. She slammed open the door and began to rapidly search for a specific torch. She quickly found it, a golden torch on the wall, in a remote corner behind a bookshelf, with the sun, the symbol of Celestia, engraved on the handle. It was the place she had gone with Twilight to access the secret Canterlot archives previously.
Rainbow pulled the torch with no hesitation, immediately throwing herself down the stone staircase that unveiled itself.
In the secret tunnel underneath Canterlot, where all the secret things were stored and secured, a rainbow of light sped down the tunnel, kicking up a flurry of papers as she sped past the arches.
Rainbow skidded to a halt as she reached the end of the tunnel. She was exhausted, having been going faster than her weary body would allow, but Rainbow continued to persist. She glanced around, spotting the newest section of the archive.
It was little over a week old, containing items and scripts from the attempted takeover of Equestria right before Twilight became princess. There was nothing much of note to Rainbow, except at the end of the tunnel.
Resting on a stone pillar, underneath a glass cover that shimmered with a protective spell, was the Bewitching Bell. The ancient copper bell had long ago turned a shade of green, and cracks ran along its surface, another sign of its age. And it was powerful, capable of containing the magic of even an all-powerful like Discord, but apparently that wasn’t all it could do.
Rainbow slowed to a halt in front of the bell. Her exhaustion vanished immediately as she felt her body absorb the magic spell protecting the bell. The purple shimmer of the protective spell flickered and vanished, leaving the bell open for her taking.
“Go ahead, take it, ” her inner instinct whispered in her ear, “You know you want to. You know you need to. ”
“Yes,” Rainbow whispered to herself, “I need to take it.”
She flung a hoof forward, easily shattering the glass that covered the bell. Rainbow didn’t care about the pain, for the bell was in her grasp. It called out to her, beckoning for her to ring it.
“Rainbow? What are you doing?”
Rainbow Dash spun around, turning to face Spike, who looked at her with shock.
“Is- is that the Bewitching Bell ? Why in Equestria would you want to steal it?”
She froze, looking down to the copper bell in her hooves. “It’s hard for me to explain-” she stammered, “but I need to take this bell. The rainbow plague. It’s back and I need to take control of it all.” She knew the rainbow bugs were out and about, she didn’t know where, but she felt it.
Spike didn’t respond, simply looking at her with an unclear expression.
“He doesn’t believe you, ” her inner voice hissed at the dragon, “He doesn’t trust you. None of them do. ” Rainbow wanted to yell at her voice to shut up, but she remained still.
Spike noticed her thinking, “Rainbow, I don't know what's going on with you, but I won’t let you steal from the archives.”
“He doesn't know anything, ” said Rainbow’s instinct, “Take the bell. Leave. He couldn’t stop you if he tried. And if you ring the bell, nopony can. ”
Spike watched as Rainbow quivered, her face strife with inner turmoil. But then, she was gone.
Spreading her wings, Rainbow knocked him aside, and flew down the hall in an instant. Spike watched in disbelief as her rainbow trail shimmered for a moment before disappearing, leaving him in the darkness.
In the castle grounds of Canterlot, worker ponies went about their business, not noticing as a spot in the grass began to shimmer. There was a flash of light, and Twilight Sparkle appeared with the rest of her group. Having used up the remainder of her energy teleporting them all to Canterlot, the worn-out princess collapsed to the ground.
Twilight grasped Applejack’s hoof as she lay on the ground, “Get- everypony- to safety,” she gasped.
“Too late!” Pinkie Pie screamed, pointing a hoof to the sky.
They were too late; the wasps had arrived. Around them, ponies panicked and fled from the swirling cloud of blue and rainbow spread through the skies above Canterlot. The wasps snapped their maws, dribbling out their rainbow goo as they hungrily eyed the many defenseless ponies below, ripe for incubation.
The ponies gasped, bracing for the worst as the wasps swooped in. But suddenly, they froze. Their heads twitched, whipping to stare the nearby archival tower.
Twilight shuddered, struggling to lift her head up to see what had caught rainbow wasps’ attention. Out of the archival tower walked Rainbow Dash. And in her hooves, she held a bell. Grogar’s bell.
The wasps eyed her curiously, slowly closing in around the pegasus. Rainbow knew wouldn’t attack her, so she silently lifted the bell over her head.
The bell rang once.
The ding of the bell echoed in her ears, dimming to a silence that covered all everything else she could hear.
And then; then Rainbow Dash could hear everything .
The sudden influx of sensory sensations, much like when she had flown into the stomach of the original queen long ago, nearly overwhelmed her. Her mind suddenly cleared up, like she could now handle everything. The colors around her seemed to brighten, and she could feel all of the magic of Equestria flowing around her, filling her with energy.
And Rainbow could hear the bugs. She didn’t know exactly what they were, but she knew they were now hers .
The tinny voices of the bugs were now audible to her and her mind, and they trilled together as a cacophony of voices, “The bell, the bell. Our Queen. Queen of the hive. ”
Rainbow heard the heartbeat. A new heartbeat, her heartbeat. The rhythmic thump that was now shared with her and the rest of them. The entire hive.
“You did it! ” Rainbow’s queen voice exclaimed with joyous enthusiasm, “You made the choice. We are now one. ”
“So how do I make them stop? How do I put an end to all of this?” Rainbow asked out loud, knowing that no one else could hear her inner voice.
“They already know, ” her inner voice explained, “The rainbow plague follows the bug. And they follow you. ”
As the voice finished speaking, the wasps lifted in unison, synchronously fluttering their wings and lifting their bodies above. Rainbow looked up, watching as the wasps rested in a stationary cloud of glowing colors in the air high above the castle. Then she looked down, noticing her friends, staring at her silently.
An expression of sadness filled Rainbow’s face. She needed to tell them. Tell them everything .
Slowly Rainbow walked up to the group of ponies, approaching Twilight, who tiredly laid on the ground. She stared with a look of concern, “Rainbow, what’s going on?”
Rainbow sniffed, “All of this, this is all my fault,” she lowered her head as tears began flowing her eyes. She tried to stifle back a sob, but it came through, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know any of this would happen. But if I did- I wouldn’t have- I wouldn’t have lied, lied to you all.” She hung her head in shame as loudly cried, louder than any other time since the queen inside her was awakened.
Rainbow blinked, her eyes stinging with tears. She glanced over at her friends with a look of shame. “When I first destroyed that queen, during the last rainbow plague, I was chosen to be the next queen. I am the new queen. And- and when Cozy Glow used this bell, it activated the plague inside me. But I didn’t tell anypony about it. I lied to you, about the dreams, about the voice, about the bugs, I just- I don’t know why I did it!”
What happened next caught Rainbow off guard, as Twilight stood up and embraced the pegasus in a hug. “I- we forgive Rainbow. None of this was your fault. You made a choice, a choice to save us back during the first rainbow plague. But all this, it was beyond your control, and you still made the choice to save us again.”
Rainbow didn’t answer. She just sniffed, before embracing the alicorn. She rested her muzzle in Twilight’s soft, purple fur and cried. The two ponies remained still for a minute, allowing Rainbow to let out her emotions, openly sobbing as all the stress, nightmares, and the turmoil she had suffered through the previous week were all let out at once.
“Twilight!” Spike yelled from nearby, running out of the tower in a panic, “Rainbow Dash broke into the archive and-” he stopped and looked up at the wasps, “Uh, what are those things?”
“Don’t worry Spike,” Twilight said, “It’s over. The rainbow wasps aren’t going to hurt anypony.”
Rainbow sat up, straightening her wings, “Sorry Twilight, but it isn’t over.”
She clutched the bell in her hooves, “I still have the plague inside me, as do all of them.” She wiped her snout before coughing, a glob of rainbow flying out of her mouth and landing in the dirt below. She pointed at the simmering goo, “See?”
“Oh Rainbow,” Fluttershy answered, “It doesn’t matter what’s inside you, we will always accept you. And since the wasps calmed down, I’m sure I could find a spot for them in the sanctuary in Ponyville.”
Rainbow gave a heavy sigh, “I wish it was that simple, but unfortunately, I’m too dangerous to stick around.”
Applejack shook her head, “You’re not dangerous Rainbow.”
“But I am! I have this voice in my head. It’s my queen instinct, but even right now, it’s telling me to feed, to grow the hive, to take you all out,” she paused, looking over her friend’s looks of apprehension, “My element of harmony keeps me from going feral, but what if I snap? What if one day in Ponyville, I go crazy and have eggs implanted in all your stomachs while you’re sleeping? No, keeping me and the wasps around in Ponyville is too dangerous. That’s why- that’s why I have to leave.”
Twilight shook her head in disbelief, “Leave ? Where?”
“I don’t know, I just have to leave until I find a way to get rid of this plague once and for all, get it out of my body.”
Pinkie bounced up, “Then I’m going with you! You’ll need all the help you can get!”
Rainbow looked at her sternly, “No Pinkie, I’m not going to let you, or any of you, leave your friends and family and risk your lives for me.”
“But you’re our friend Rainbow,” Rarity declared, “We’re not leaving anypony behind.”
Rainbow sniffed, turning away, “Please, I need to do this alone,” She took a step forward, away from her friends, stopping to look back and wave a hoof, “Goodbye everypony. I don’t know when I’ll come back, but I’ll be the good ol’ Rainbow Dash when I do.”
Rainbow’s friends sadly watched her turn away again, walking away. Some of them began to cry, while Applejack tipped her hat. Twilight raised a hoof, almost using her magic to stop the pegasus, but she relented. It was Rainbow’s choice, and a choice she had to abide by.
Above, the rainbow wasps began to tick amongst themselves again, their wings buzzing as they flew down to follow Rainbow. The pegasus, the bell in hoof, was surrounded by the swirling cloud of rainbow bugs and then, Rainbow Dash, the new queen of the hive and the new progenitor of the rainbow plague, along with the mass of color that was the hive, was gone.
Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could through the darkness. She could feel her wings straining, the sweat trickling down her brow, the tiredness seeping into her body, but she had to keep flying.
The pegasus glanced behind her, seeing only her rainbow-hued trail sparkle behind as it faded in the inky blackness that surrounded her. But Rainbow knew it was coming, she knew that that thing was still there, coming ever closer and closer.
She tried to keep on flying, but eventually it was too much. Her wings gave out, making her fall out of the air like a broken kite and roll across the ground. Rainbow breathed heavily as she regained her footing and peered out into the darkness. The sound began to emanate out from the void once more, the sound that she hated.
Her breath came out faster and faster as Rainbow felt the presence of the thing envelope her. She could feel it looming over her. Then, Rainbow froze as she heard the voice.
“It’s over, you failed. ”
The sound of the thing became louder as it's raspy voice clawed its way through Rainbow’s ears.
“Everyone you know is gone, will be gone. Nothing more than extra puppets to add to the hive. ”
Rainbow didn’t want to turn around, but she knew it was behind her. She clapped her hooves over her ears, trying to block off the sound, but the rhythmic thumping became louder and louder. The heartbeat of the hive. The heartbeat of the queen.
“And it’s all your fault Rainbow Dash. Because you are a failure. ”
Rainbow couldn’t take it anymore.
“Shut up!” she screamed, spinning around to face the thing. She stared up at the silhouette of the queen, a complete blackness even amidst the darkness. She pointed a shaking hoof at the thing, “You don’t know anything! You’re gone! You’ve been gone!”
The silhouette didn’t move, but the voice gave out a shrill laugh like claws on a chalkboard as the heartbeat became louder.
“But I do know everything, they told me everything. ”
Rainbow gasped with abject terror as a spot of light appeared. But not a spot, two spots. A pair of eyes in the darkness. Blank, white eyes that stared right through her. Rainbow tried to move, but she found her hooves frozen in place. Her quick breaths became raspy as she found it harder to breathe as more pairs of lifeless eyes appeared around her. Dozens, hundreds of eyes staring at her, each belonging to a pony she knew.
“They told me how you weren’t good enough. How you failed them. And now they’re ours. ”
More spots of light appeared, bright neon colors that stood out lightlessness. Rainbow felt her throat clamp shut as she watched as a luminescent goo began oozing from each pony’s mouth. The slime pooled on the ground, gathering in a rainbow of colors in shades that matched those of Rainbow’s own mane. Slowly but surely, the rainbow mockery spread across the ground, closing in around Rainbow’s hooves.
“There’s no point Rainbow, there’s no point to do anything, ” The voice of the queen lowered to guttural hiss, “Because you’re a failure. You’re nothing. ”
The heartbeat of the hive grew even louder, each thump resounding in Rainbow’s ears. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t act, she was stuck. Stuck in place as the rainbow goo pooled around her and began to climb up her legs. Rainbow couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move, all she could do was scream.
“GAH!”
Rainbow screamed as she bolted upright in bed.
The pegasus clutched her chest, taking a moment to catch her breath. She wiped the cold sweat off her brow and looked around. Everything was normal. The cloudominium was normal. The twilight night sky that casted a blue hue across Equestria was normal.
Rainbow let out a loud sigh of relief, relaxing her body in the cloudy bed. She shifted her gaze across the room.
Sitting underneath her assortment of wonderbolt gear was Tank. The tortoise must have been awoken by her shouts. But now, Tank sat still, his neck extended, casting his look of gentle concern at her.
"Did it happen again? Did you have another nightmare? ” Tank seemed to ask with his beady eyes.
Rainbow scoffed at her pet, “No way! I just um- I woke up ‘cause I just needed to use the bathroom!”
“You know very well I know you better than that, ” Tank appeared to answer, “I understand if these things upset you, but it would be best for you if you were honest. You can tell me anything. ”
“Fine!” Rainbow sighed, “Yes! I had another nightmare!” She tossed the covers of the bed aside and hopped off the bed. “But it really isn’t a big deal! I mean, everypony has a bad dream once in a while! Even a wonderbolt as awesome as me can have a bad dream sometimes! So what if I have a few bad dreams! I probably just need to cut down on the sweets or something.” She stopped, noticing she had begun pacing back and forth mid-air.
Flapping back down with a nervous chuckle, Rainbow looked at Tank. “But maybe you should talk to somepony about this, ” Rainbow assumed he would answer, “I’m sure your friends would understand. You don’t need to hide anything from them, not anymore. ”
“You’re right,” Rainbow relented.
Maybe the old Rainbow Dash may have hidden her issues, but that was long ago. She and her friends had been through so much, learned so many things, they had changed and matured since that first day in Ponyville.
“I should talk to somepony about this,” she continued, “I don’t know who specifically, but it should help.” She tapped a light blue hoof on her chin, deciding the proper way for her to calm down later in the day, or “chillax” as she liked to refer.
Ever the quick thinker, Rainbow was quick to reach a decision. But she would have to fit it in later in the day. After all, she had a full schedule of wonderbolt, friendship school, and weather team work to do.
But for now, Rainbow zipped around the room, quickly speeding through her morning routine, however late it was. Rainbow Dash was a busy pony after all, and with all her experience, Rainbow had no shortage of things to prepare for.
Within seconds Rainbow dashed through the air, stopping in front of Tank. He looked up to his owner in her wonderbolt uniform, precariously balancing a stack of papers in her hooves.
“See you later buddy!” Rainbow cheerfully said, patting the tortoise on the head with one of her free legs, “I got a super busy day today you know, better get started bright and early!” Then in a second, she was gone, leaving nothing behind except a few friendship lessons fluttering in the air.
Tank calmly caught the errant papers, placing them in their proper place before he slowly turned his scaly head to the window. The telltale rainbow trail of Rainbow Dash sped across the purple twilight sky. Tank blinked, turning his head to look at a nearby clock; it was three in the morning.
The sun had only just risen in Ponyville by the time Rainbow Dash finished her work. It wasn’t as much as she told Tank; Rainbow really just needed an excuse to get out because she knew she wouldn’t be able to get any more sleep that night. Now, Rainbow had the rest of the day to chill out and relax, maybe actually talk to a friend like she had agreed to herself previously.
She had mentally convinced herself to do this several times before, but Rainbow was never able to go through it. After all, a bad dream wasn’t that much of a problem. Leaving the School of Friendship, Rainbow took her planned detour to the nearby Castle of Friendship.
Pushing open the door, Rainbow stepped into the empty main hall. Her hoofsteps echoed throughout the crystalline castle. It was quiet, no one else could be seen.
Slowly she walked through the halls, simply taking in the castle. She reminisced on all the things that had happened there, the things that had happened in the Golden Oaks Library as well. Fond memories, some not so fond memories, things that Rainbow could never forget.
As she rounded a corner, Rainbow stopped. She let out a quiet exhale, it was the doorway. The doorway to the castle’s lower tunnels. Back during the rainbow plague, it had served as an entrance point for an infected Starlight Glimmer and a host of other zomponies. Twilight had sealed off the entrance and nobody had entered it since.
The sight of the doorway brought back memories in Rainbow’s mind, unpleasant memories. A dullness came over her mind, an ill feeling in her stomach, but Rainbow shook it off, quickly turning tail and walking away from the doorway.
The ill feeling went away as quickly as it arrived as Rainbow trotted back to the main hall.
“Oh hey Rainbow Dash!”
“Huh?” Rainbow snapped out of her mind and looked up. Approaching her was Starlight Glimmer, a reformed magic user and close friend. The pastel unicorn seemingly just awoke, for she still blinked the vestiges of tiredness out of her eyes and was wearing her fluffy, pink bedroom slippers.
“I said hi!” Starlight repeated, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, especially not this early in the day.”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow gave a half-hearted chuckle, “I just wanted to come here- to reminisce and stuff.”
Starlight suddenly gave Rainbow a somber look, “You miss Twilight too huh?”
Rainbow paused then nodded, “I guess, things have just felt different since she left for Canterlot.”
“I know right!” Starlight said with an exaggerated gesture, “This place is so quiet without her and Spike. It’s almost creepy in a way!” She paused, “Say, would you like to come have a morning coffee with me? We could just hang out and chat. It'll be nice!”
Rainbow nodded, “Actually, that’s why I came here. I wanted to talk with you about- something.”
In the kitchen of the castle, Rainbow sat idly by as Starlight used her magic to prepare a pot of coffee.
Rainbow herself wasn't much of a coffee pony, usually having more than enough energy on her own. But she was feeling a bit tired now, having gotten little sleep the previous night.
Looking down into the cup, Rainbow looked at her reflection in the brown liquid. She noticed the large bags under her eyes, how long had those been there?
“Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow looked up, “Wait, did you ask something?”
"So, you've been having dreams?" repeated Starlight as she sat down with her cup of coffee.
“Well not me exactly,” Rainbow began, stopping as she looked at Starlight, “But- actually yes, it's me. I’ve been having these- dreams."
“And how long has this been going on?” Starlight asked as she took a sip of coffee.
“Not that long, it's only been happening for like a week,” Rainbow replied. She stammered as she spoke, as she couldn’t help but shift her focus at Starlight’s horn. A thin, almost indistinguishable serrated line slithered its way around the horn. The part of where her horn had been broken off by Applejack during the rainbow plague. Starlight had her horn reattached shortly afterwards, but that thin scarring would always serve as a reminder of those events, at least it would for Rainbow, for whom the sight of the miniscule line gave her a feeling. A nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach that staved off any feelings of thirst for the coffee generously offered by Starlight.
Of course, Starlight didn’t know this, no one else did.
“A week? It’s been a week since Twilight’s coronation, maybe you’re just having trouble adjusting to the changes?” Starlight pondered, “After all, I’m sure all of us are having trouble getting used to all this change.”
“I guess so,” Rainbow shrugged, offering a quick look of sincerity.
“Now my time as a guidance counselor is over, but maybe your dreams mean something,” Starlight suggested as she finished another sip, “Tell me, what are in the bad dreams you’ve been having?”
“Oh, just stuff about Twilight,” Rainbow lied, she looked down, noticing that the coffee cup was shaking in her hoof. Clasping the cup with her other hoof, Rainbow continued, “Being left alone, everything changing, in retrospect the cause is kinda obvious.” She gulped, putting on the guise of her usual outgoing attitude, “But I’m not sure what I can do about this!”
“You could always just go out to Canterlot and talk to Twilight yourself,” Starlight suggested, “I’m certain she can take time for you! That's what I did when I had the same problem.”
“Wait. You had the same problem?”
Starlight coughed, looking a bit ashamed, “Oh it was a while ago. I’ve never really told anypony except Twilight about it. But yeah, I had some bad dreams as well, things about my, actions , in the past. But I found that opening up about it really helped me deal with it, which I guess is what you’re doing right now with me.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed with a spurious smile, “I really should just plan and go talk to Twilight about this. Not that you’re no help Starlight. Really, thanks.”
“No problem!” Starlight answered as she finished off her coffee.
Rainbow’s coffee cup remained untouched, eventually becoming cold as the two ponies continued conversing about various subjects, wonderbolts, magic, among other things. But Rainbow couldn’t help but think to herself about Starlight.
As she had mentioned her own experience with nightmares, it made Rainbow remember her earliest experiences with Starlight. Yes, they were friends now, but Rainbow couldn’t help but recall some of the events. The mind control, the town, the stripping of her cutie mark. These memories replayed in her mind until Rainbow stopped paying attention and Starlight’s kind voice became white noise that echoed fruitlessly in deaf ears.
Rainbow Dash awoke in a small room. It wasn’t dark, in fact, the room was brightly lit. Sunlight streamed through the two small windows, making Rainbow squint as she opened her eyes. The sunbeams spread through the room, casting light upon the dust particles that drifted lazily in the air. Despite the abundance of light, the room seemed oddly dull, as if the colors were muted.
Rainbow flapped her wings as she stood up, kicking up a storm of dust off the dirt floor. Coughing, the weary pegasus looked around.
The room was empty, the two small windows barred, yet things seemed off . Was this another dream?
Then she heard it, an ominous sound. Not the heartbeat, or the voice, or any of the other things that had plagued her mind in her other dreams. It was a new sound. Low at first, slowly becoming audible.
A tch tch tch.
“What? Who’s there?” Rainbow asked in vain, but of course, there was no answer. The sound didn’t grow any louder, but it did seem to move. Rainbow’s ears unconsciously perked as they followed the sound as it seemed to drift across the room.
Then Rainbow realized, whatever the source of the sound was; it was in the walls.
But why? What was this place? Why did it feel so familiar?
Rainbow thought to herself as she began to frantically pace back and forth. “No,” she said to herself, trying to ignore the sound, “I can’t let it distract me. I won’t let it distract me. I- I’ve got to find a way out of here!”
Looking up, she saw the wooden roof of the room. It looked brittle, a thing that Rainbow and her flying could easily smash right through.
Stretching her legs, Rainbow Dash prepared to fly. This was just a dream, and she wouldn’t be held back like this. Not again.
She began to flap her wings. The dusty floor swirled up and around her body, but Rainbow ignored it. She was a pegasus, a flier, and she would fly free of this place. And so, she blinked the dust out of her eyes and took off.
A feeling of exhilaration filled Rainbow’s chest as she rose off of the ground. A feeling that only lasted a second as the pegasus face planted right into the ground.
She flapped her wings, all their energy was gone, their feathers limply twitching in the dusty air. She twisted her head around to see what was wrong, but then she noticed it.
“No no no, not this .” Rainbow Dash realized what was happening, where she was, as the blunt force of this realization hit her to the ground. Her cutie mark, the symbol of a cloud accompanied with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt, was gone replaced with the dull visage of an equal sign. She was back in Starlight’s village, before the unicorn reformed, trapped in the town’s psychotic propaganda chamber meant to strip a pony away of their individuality.
Rainbow had never wanted to go back here, but yet.
“It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream,” Rainbow repeated to herself. Was it a dream? It certainly felt real to Rainbow. She felt the heat of the dull prison. She felt the dust drifting into her mouth, choking her throat with a dusty dryness. She felt the soul-crushing emptiness where her cutie mark should have been.
Rainbow blinked away her dust-ridden tears. She didn’t want to re-experience this. She had never wanted to think about this place again. But now she was stuck there. Why? She didn’t know.
All through the while, the tch tch sound hadn’t ceased. It wasn’t loud, but it was draining. It slowly chipped away at Rainbow’s mind. The pegasus almost laughed at it. She had already been stripped of her talent, her purpose, why not her mind as well?
So Rainbow gave up. She flattened her body on the ground, letting the dust consume her. Letting the sound destroy what was left of her.
And she remained still until a shrill screech split her mind and ripped apart the darkness.
The blair of the train whistle jerked Rainbow out of her slumber, making her jump up with a loud yelp. Looking around, she saw that it was just a dream. Rainbow was still in the train car, still in her seat. The car rumbled slightly, a sign that the Canterlot express was well on its way to its destination, Canterlot.
Rainbow had quickly prepared for a quick day trip to Canterlot for her visit to Twilight, getting tickets for a midnight express straight to the city. Twilight herself didn’t know about it, rather, the whole thing was spontaneous. Rainbow was sure Starlight was the only pony who knew about this, unless she told Twilight about their conversation beforehand.
Ignoring the curious glances of the other passengers, Rainbow rubbed her eyes and turned to the window. She could see the Canterlot royal castle, sticking out from the mountainside, the ornate spires silhouetted against the auburn sky.
This sight quickly vanished as the train entered a tunnel, casting the car in darkness. Rainbow continued staring out the window, looking at her reflection in the glass. The bags under her eyes were still there, sleeping on the train ride had done her no favors.
She had left home, but the dreams still followed. But , the dream she had was different from the rest. There weren't any iris grubs this time, it instead seemed to be based on her experiences with Starlight in the past. Maybe it was just brought up by her recollections in the Castle of Friendship?
But what about that noise?
She shook her head, it wasn’t important. Just another dream. Like all the rest.
As Rainbow Dash trotted through Canterlot, she almost felt like her usual self. Her wings felt renewed, her body spry, and she couldn’t help but smirk to herself as she attracted the eyes of onlookers. She even stopped to give autographs to a particularly enthralled group of foals in wonderbolt attire. Yes, she was Rainbow Dash, famous wonderbolt and hero of Equestria.
Canterlot as a city was usually too highbrow for the tastes of Rainbow, but the place seemed to have changed ever-so-slightly since the last time she visited. The upper class ponies in the street seemed to be less uptight, paying heed to others rather than sticking up their snouts, though Rainbow wasn’t sure if it was in general or just because of her celebrity status.
The royal castle, which Rainbow had been to only a few days prior for Twilight’s first sunrise, was abuzz with activity. Instead of stoic and formal, the castle resembled an ant hill. Worker ponies milled about, adjusting banners, affixing emblems, making all the necessary adjustments for the new princess of Equestria. Some parts were even still being rebuilt from the magical battle weeks earlier.
Rainbow trotted up to the castle gate with an air of confidence, attracting the attention of the two royal guards who stood at attention. The pegasus guard on the right silently turned his head to Rainbow.
“Yeah, you can open the gate,” Rainbow announced cooly to the guards, “I’ve come here to see Twilight.”
The right guard didn’t blink, “Did you set an appointment?”
Caught off-guard, Rainbow chuckled, “Look at me, do I look like I need an appointment?”
The left guard cleared his throat, “Um, yes, everypony who wants to visit Princess Sparkle needs to set an appointment.”
“I don’t need to do that,” Rainbow snapped back, “I’ve helped save Equestria a whole bunch of times! I probably outrank you both!”
The left guard held up a hoof defensively, “You still need an appointment ma'am. It's not you, it's just the castle is very busy. The princess is swamped at the moment.”
Rainbow felt her cheeks fluster as her anger bubbled out, “I don’t care! I’m Twilight’s friend! I’m going in whether you allow me or not!”
The pegasus stomped forward, only to be stopped by the armored hoof of the right guard, “I’m sorry, but if you’re going to cause a scene, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Meanwhile…
Spike tramped his way across the castle grounds. Balanced in his claws was a large stack of papers, an article typical since he moved back to Canterlot. Right now, the little purple dragon was on his way to deliver various forms and scrolls to their various recipients, mainly Twilight. Spike gave a guard a nod as he turned to the castle entrance, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
Turning around a peering from behind the papers, Spike saw the sight of Rainbow Dash. She was behind the castle gate, yelling as she attempted to fly over the fence. The two guards at the gate vainly tried to hold the pegasus back.
Dropping the stack, Spike ran up to the gate. “Whoa whoa whoa! What's going on here?”
“Spike!” Rainbow exclaimed upon seeing her friend. She dropped down and ran up to the fence, though she was held back by the guards. “I’m so happy to see you! Why don’t you tell these bozos that I’m allowed in the castle and they don’t have to treat me like a criminal!”
“We’re merely preventing you from entering,” the right guard retorted, “No appointment, no entrance.”
“Relax guys,” Spike responded, “Rainbow’s allowed to enter, she doesn’t need an appointment.” In response, the guards let go of Rainbow, who immediately shoved her way through the gate.
“Don’t get angry sir,” the left guard said nervously, “We were just following protocol and all. We didn’t know about her status on the list or anything.”
Spike waved him off, “It’s fine, I can take Rainbow Dash from here.” He waved to Rainbow, and the two left the gate to the castle.
“Sorry about all that,” Spike apologized as Rainbow trotted up to him, “Normally you’d be allowed in, but the new castle entry list hasn’t been formalized yet, so at the moment we’re stuck with appointments only.”
“Oh,” Rainbow said, “I didn’t realize you guys were so busy.”
“That's just the start of it!” Spike answered, stopping to pick up the stack of papers, “Twilight being a princess and all means there’s literal mountains of paperwork! We have treaties to check, forms to sign, and laws to adjust after the previous one thousand plus reign of Celestia.”
“Well, I hope you can still make time for a little visit from me,” Rainbow admitted. She rubbed the back of her head, “I mean, if you're busy, I can just leave.”
“Of course we can make time! What do you need?”
“I just want to talk to Twilight about, something .”
The throne room of Canterlot castle was abuzz with activity, mostly in part due to the entourage of changeling representatives that had gathered for their scheduled meeting with the princess. As the newly crowned princess, Twilight wanted to make sure the alliances she had established with the other races of Equestria remained firm and chartered, and that included the newest kingdom of the changelings.
Twilight Sparkle was talking to the leader of the changelings, Thorax, when the two large doors at the end of the hall opened, and in walked Spike, carrying the stack of papers she had requested. Tailing behind the dragon was a surprise guest, Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow expressed mild surprise at the room full of changelings, but quickly refocused on the throne. She watched as Twilight used her magic and plucked a paper off the top of the stack and quickly read it over. The alicorn then stamped the form, and exchanged a conversation with Thorax, who appeared to nod in approval.
Within a minute, the changelings had filed out, leaving Rainbow standing in the suddenly empty throne room, alone with Twilight and Spike.
The princess gave a loud sigh as she leaned back in the throne and wiped her brow. “Hey Rainbow,” she said, “I didn’t know you would be coming in today. I would have prepared something if I had known, but it's been super busy around here.”
“Thanks Rainbow, but I can spare any amount of time you need. So, why did you come over here anyway?”
Rainbow’s expression darkened, her attitude suddenly glum, “Yeah, I wanted to talk about, well, really just tell you about something.”
Twilight leaned forward, “What is it?”
“Well Twi,” Rainbow sighed, almost embarrassed, “I’ve been having these dreams at night. Nightmares really. I already talked to Starlight about it, and she thinks it's because I miss you. So I just thought I’d come over and talk to you, I guess.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began, “I’m glad you decided to tell me about this. I wouldn’t want any friend of mine to lose sleep over me.”
“I’m just not sure what to do about it, I guess I’m just having trouble adjusting to all the changes recently.”
“I can see why you would feel that way,” Twilight said reassuringly, “Things changed so quickly, but I didn’t it would give you nightmares,” She paused for a moment to think, “Wait, I think I have something for you.” Twilight stood and walked behind the throne. Rainbow tilted her head as she heard the alicorn rummage for something. “Here we go!” Twilight announced as she trotted out from behind the throne, magically hovering a silver mirror. “This enchanted mirror should allow you to contact me anywhere at any time you want. With this, if you miss me, you can just talk to me. Think of it as a more in-pony version of Spike’s letters.”
“Thanks Twilight,” Rainbow said as she grabbed the mirror, “This should help.” She smiled at her friend, “I guess I won’t be so- homesick? Whatever the word is. Anyways, I won’t take up any more of your time, you are a busy princess after all.” She turned, then suddenly paused, “Wait, I have something else to ask.”
“Anything.”
Rainbow turned and cleared her throat, “So Twilight, do you remember that whole rainbow plague thing?”
“You mean that whole zombie thing with those gross bug things?” Spike yecked, “How could I forget it?”
Twilight smirked at the dragon then turned back to Rainbow, “Yes, I remember it too, why are you asking?”
“Well, since you're a princess, I was wondering if you have any, like, secret files on it. Like stuff on the iris grubs or something like that.”
Twilight tapped a hoof on her chin, “Well now that you mention it.”
Rainbow followed Twilight and Spike down a stone staircase underneath Canterlot castle. Twilight in fact did have information on the rainbow plague. Rainbow intended to use this information, though she didn’t want to admit it, to hopefully find out the actual cause of her night terrors. She hated lying to Twilight like that, even though her statements did have some basis of truth, but Rainbow had a deep, guttural feeling about it. She just felt like she had to keep her feelings to herself, she didn’t know why.
Rainbow blinked; she had blanked out again. She looked forward through the strawberry pink light of Twilight’s horn. She gulped, “So where are we going?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” Twilight softly laughed to herself, “Well anyways, when I became princess, I gained access to the secret restricted section of the Canterlot archives. That's where all the stuff from the greatest threats to Equestria are stored. And only the princess had access to it. And now that I’m the princess, I have access to it myself!”
“We’ve only been down here once,” stated Spike.
“And it's fascinating!”
Spike shuddered, “I’d say it's more creepy.”
“Creepy, cool, whatever’s down here, I can handle it,” Rainbow firmly stated.
She wasn’t actually sure if she could handle the restricted section. But the main room at the bottom of the staircase seemed easy enough to handle.
The trio entered into a large stone hallway. Arches at each side led into side passages. These side passages each had wooden shelves with scrolls, biological samples, and various other oddities. Rainbow took a quick look into each side passage as they walked down the hall.
Each passage seemed to be for an individual Equestria-ending event. One had bottles of what appeared to be thousand-year-old samples of contained chaos magic. Another had pressed samples of plunderseed vines. Disturbingly, one shelf seemed to contain the shattered petrified remains of the Storm King.
Eventually, Twilight stopped, folding out a wing to stop the others. “Here it is! The section on the rainbow plague! Spike, you stay here and keep watch.”
The dragon saluted and placed himself at the side of the archway. “Okay, here we go,” Rainbow whispered to herself as she and Twilight turned and entered the side passage.
Rainbow let out a large breath of air as she began to examine the shelves. Illegible scrolls, diagrams of iris grubs, sketches of infected ponies. She stopped and shuddered as she noticed a jar full of the luminescent rainbow goo. Looking around, Rainbow saw that there were dozens, if not hundreds of individual jars, bathing the dark passage with a faint, multicolored light.
The goo made memories flash through the pegasus’s mind. Memories of fighting off her infected friends. The infected Fluttershy tied to a chair, snarling like a rabid dog. Twilight looking at her with those blank, white eyes, talking in a voice that wasn’t hers.
Rainbow breathed again; she could handle this. She needed to handle this. Find out the answer. She rubbed her throat and clenched her eyes shut, turning away from the goo and walking further down, following Twilight.
In the darkness, Twilight unfortunately was unable to see Rainbow’s state. Her sweat that had begun to drip from her forehead, her wings that had clenched together, frozen in place. Instead, Twilight began to say, “So Rainbow, in the time since the rainbow plague, I’ve had time to reflect upon it. At the time, we had no idea how you stopped the queens and plague but based on my recent realizations on the elements and how we’re each embodiment of a specific element, I’ve come to the conclusion that when you flew into the stomach of the queen, you were somehow able to activate your element inside. Isn’t that interesting?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow answered, shaking out her mane, “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
“So why do you want to learn about the plague?” Twilight asked, looking back at Rainbow.
“Oh, you know, given how I was the one who awesomely saved the day that time, with the help of my friends of course, I was curious how it happened.”
“Well, if you're looking for that,” Twilight paused as she hooved through a shelf of books, “This should do the trick.” She magically pulled out a large book, “It includes notes and experiences from all across Equestria by some of the greatest biologists of ponykind, including yours truly of course.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow said as she took the book. She looked at the cover, it read: The Iris Infestation: Recollections of the Rainbow Plague . She placed it with the enchanted mirror.
“Over here Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called from further down the passage.
“What is it?” Rainbow yelled in response. She hurried down the passage, stopping at the end besides Twilight.
“I thought you might be interested in this,” she motioned a hoof up. Rainbow’s hooves began to shake as she noticed what Twilight was talking about. Hanging from the ceiling at the top of the chamber, a large black shape loomed in the darkness.
“It's the pinnacle of the collection, the preserved remnants of an iris grub queen!” Twilight announced almost with a sense of pride, “In fact, it's the very queen you flew into yourself Rainbow!”
Rainbow didn’t answer, she didn’t even want to look up. The queen, that thing was right there. She could hear her breaths getting quicker and raspier, as she looked down at the ground. The queen was dead, she was gone. But that thing and its voice had haunted Rainbow’s dreams.
Rainbow clutched her head as everything around her became blurrier. The dark shape of the queen overhead seemed to grow bigger, enveloped her. Rainbow could almost hear the heartbeat of the queen thump in her ears.
“Rainbow?”
Rainbow shook head, snapping back into reality. She looked over to see Twilight staring at her with a look of concern.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” Rainbow snapped. She sounded angry though she really wasn’t. Twilight stepped back, surprised by Rainbow’s sudden burst of anger.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I didn’t know that you-”
“It’s nothing,” Rainbow interrupted, “I just, I just need to go.”
Twilight held out a hoof to comfort her friend, but Rainbow just pushed it away. “Really Twilight, I don’t need comforting or anything!” She said, now sounding remorseful, “I should just stop wasting your time.”
Twilight didn’t answer. Twilight didn’t get to answer before Rainbow spoke up again. “I’m just going to go,” she sighed, “Thanks for the gifts Twilight.” And without another word Rainbow Dash turned tail and left.
