As the sun starts to fall, the sky gets wrapped in a beautiful haze of colours. The clouds around the town of Hoofia are painted to match the wonderful sunset.
"Reminds me of when I was younger, Big Mac and I would watch the sunset and pretend to ourselves that the sun was a magical god that was resting, in hopes that the night could calm the people into deep sleep." Said Applejack while reminiscing in memories of her childhood.
"It really does look gorgeous" said Rarity, as the rest of the gang began to discuss former childhood moments twilight went to search for a hotel to book into for the night. As she entered she was greeted by the hotel receptionist, she started looking at pictures from the towns history. "Is this you" she asked, she looked at the nameplate and was questionable at the names Alina and Kiwi.
"No dear, Alina was an old friend of mine, I think you may have heard the stories about the fabled Alina" replied Kiwi, "Yeah, I was hoping to find out more about her, I'm a big fan of past events". "Do you have any books related to her" asked Twilight as the gang started to enter the hotel. "And could I book some rooms for tonight please" she added. "I do have a book on the history of Hoofia ,there is a page in it written by her daughter and yes we have rooms available on the 3rd floor" replied Kiwi. "Thank you" said Twilight gracefully. While the rest of the ponies went to sleep, Twilight and Spike decided to read the book labelled "The Story Of Hoofia"
I am writing this to tell the world that they were all wrong about my mother, she was a kind, loving person who cared for everyone. She was born in Ponyville and had the loving support of her mother and father, when she was 7 years old she discovered she was very talented at playing the piano and became a great success within the town. Unfortunately she bore no cutie mark and was bullied by all the townsfolk and eventually was labelled a burden by everyone, her parents had been utterly disgusted by everybody's reaction to their daughters "Blank Flank". When she was 23 she could take no it longer and decided to run away from all of the hate, she wrote a note to her mother and father saying how sorry she was and that she is going to live a better life, a life were the ponies wouldn't call her names or hate her because she has no cutie mark.
While I'm unsure of this my mother was found by Kiwi's parents and treat at the hospital, when my mother awoke she was greeted by the doctor who said she had been attacked by something while in the outskirts of the city. My mother thanked the doctor and was released a few days after her treatment, she decided to stay in this town and became friends with the locals very rapidly. She eventually stayed for good and settled into a house with a charming young man named Platinum, when she was 34 she gave birth to two daughters name Starshine and Alina but sadly had to give Starshine up for adoption, I have yet to meet my sister.
My mother would always give me bubbles to play with, she said they were her favourite thing when she was a child, Guess it runs in the family.
She worked at the school teaching children about the History of Equestria, I came in one time and helped her with props and stuff for her play. 3 days after he birthday she fell ill and had to be rushed into hospital, Me and my father gave her regular visits, but they would always end in tears. While in hospital she made me a hand woven portrait of our family to show how much she cared, I kept telling her she was going to be fine and the doctor would make you better, but i knew this wasn't a fairytale...
A few weeks after her 42nd birthday my mother passed away, my father was so upset he had to take a second job just to keep his mind off of it. I've heard there is another town just past the mountain, I am going to visit it and hopefully spread word of how amazing my mother was. I am going to leave this page in an envelope addressed to my father hoping he will understand why I have to do this. This was the story of my mother Alina and how much she cared for her family, I hope this story shows you that my she was more than just a "Blank Flank".
Twilight closes the book and wipes a tear from her eye, "Does that mean Alina is Derpy's sister" Spike asks. "I don't know spike, we should get some rest, we have a long walk through the mountain tomorrow" She replied as she walked to her room. Spike shrugs his shoulders and starts reading more of The History of Hoofia.
While everyone was sleeping Rainbow Dash was thinking back to what happened on the train and what Rarity was talking about. Could this ghost town really exist, she shook her head rapidly to shake off what she was thinking and got out of bed. She decided to take a walk around town and admire the scenery and such, she walked to the town hall and started reading the stories on the news board. "Another pony lost to the city of Valhalla", "Stay away from Valhalla" the board was littered with warnings about a city named Valhalla. "Could this be the city Rarity was talking about" she thought to herself. While reading more of the warnings she was interrupted by the town mayor "Y'all best be careful about going through the mountain to Valhalla, I don't know if the townsfolk decided to stay or if they really did get absorbed by the city but that place just doesn't seem right" Said the mayor, "Did you lose someone too" asked Rainbow Dash. "My daughter Alina went to the city to tell the tale of her mother, but she hasn't returned for years".
Rainbow Dash gave him a look of sympathy "I'm sorry for your loss mister" she said, "It's fine, she did what had to be done, I just hope my other daughter Starshine lived a happy life" he replied, "What is your name" she asked, " My name is Platinum Hooves, I'm the mayor of Hoofia" he replied while gazing at the shocked face of Rainbow Dash "That's weird, we have a friend staying at the hotel with the same last name" she said, still holding the shocked expression. She heard footsteps and turned to see Derpy wandering through the town eating a chocolate muffin, Platinum notices the bubbles cutie mark and tears start to fall from his face. "I have to go" he said sharply and quickly went to his home. "What are you doing Rainbow Dash" asked Derpy while enjoying such a blissful muffin, "Uhhh, nothing... Just taking a walk" she replied.
"I was talking a walk too, but then I saw this muffin just sitting on a table at the hotel and I was like, wow this muffin looks amazing" she squealed in delight. "Hic... Aww now I have the hiccups" she added sadly. "Have fun on your walk" said Rainbow Dash walking back to the hotel "You too hic.. Rainbow Dahic..." she replied while waving to her friend.
"Man can this night get any stranger" said Rainbow Dash to herself, she quickly stopped in her steps and looked to her right to see a door in between to shops, what scared her the most was the door itself. It wasn't attached to a house, it was just a bare door. She approached this door and could hear voices coming from the inside, she opened the door and stepped inside, "Hello" she said loudly, She entered what seemed to be a house of some sort, the door slowly closed behind her as she took further steps into the house.
The house had a family in it that were happily making dinner for their children, Rainbow Dash walked to a room and glanced inside to see two small pony's playing with toys, the house was filled with happy talking and laughter from the children, she decided to walk back to the door and she got there the house fell silent, her body filled with fear and she turned around slowly and realised she was now in an empty burned out home, the laughter of the children was still ringing through the house. She tried the door but it was locked and burnt out like the rest of the house, after calming herself down she walked through the house checking each room for signs of life. She remembered what happened on the train, "What in Celestia is going on" she thought to herself.
While checking through the rooms she hears the something come through the letterbox on the door, she investigates this strange noise and finds a letter on the floor addressed to her. She slowly opens it and reads the short paragraph inside. "Rainbow Dash, I cant believe you did it. The whole town is proud of you but they say you have about 2 months, come back Rainbow Dash... Please". Rainbow Dash begins to hear the laughter of children coming from upstairs, she slowly climbs up to investigate and sees the same door she saw earlier. She walks toward it, the laughter getting louder with every step and opens the door. She is surrounded by a beaming white light and quickly shuts her eyes to avoid it hurting them, the laughter stop and she opens her eyes to be staring at her hotel door. She walks to her bed and tries to get some sleep for tomorrow.
As the sun slowly rises on the land of Equestria, the sound of life begins to erupt.
Rainbow Dash opens her eyes and gazes out of the window at the bright orange ball in the sky, she feels confident about making it through the mountain without having any more strange visions and dreams.
As she pulls herself out of bed and begins to place her feet on the floor. Her head starts to hurt again, her feet keep on going and the room suddenly goes dark. She begins to fall through a tunnel of glistening light, she opens her eyes and can see all of her friends looking down on her. She tries to speak but her eyes become heavy again and she returns to find herself in a heap on the hotel floor, she quickly adjusts herself into a sitting position and looks around, She knows the memories are coming back to haunt her.
The door suddenly opens and she is greeted with the beaming faces of Rarity, Twilight and Derpy. "Come on Rainbow Dash, we are heading through the mountain now" said Rarity as gleefully as her smile, Rainbow Dash simply nodded and headed downstairs.
"She's been acting really weird since we left Ponyville" said Twilight, "I saw her taking a walk last night, she looked kind of upset" replied Derpy.
As they headed downstairs they saw Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack sitting in the lobby. They all said their farewells to Kiwi and left the hotel, "I'll catch up with you guys later, Platinum wanted to talk to me about something" said Derpy to the gang, "Okay, just come through the mountain pass when you're ready" replied Twilight, as they headed toward the mountain Applejack decided this was a good opportunity to ask Rainbow Dash what was going on, but she saw how upset she looked and decided to leave it for another time.
Rainbow Dash looked up at the mountain, it seemed to go on forever and you couldn't see the peak because of all the clouds surrounding it, "Wouldn't it have been easier to send a bunch of Pegasus to do the job" she snarked at herself, "Nah, the cakes wouldn't entrust anybody but us to bring back such a magnificent cake" replied Pinkie Pie happily, as they approached the entrance to the mountain pass Rainbow Dash could hear voices coming from inside. "She's still fighting it", "I know, but... What if she's fighting too hard", "If she doesn't come back soon they say we have to let her go...".
She increases her pace into the mountain, she knows what lies ahead of it could be the key to figuring out why she was having such terrible nightmares. As they entered the mountain they never saw anything as beautiful as this, the floor was polished to perfection and the walls looked like crystal mirrors, everybody was speechless as they continued on.
They approached a curve that bent around a waterfall, the water was so clean and it shined like diamonds as it bounced off the crystal walls and floor. "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life" said Rarity, her eyes filling up with tears of happiness. "I wonder if Valhalla is as beautiful as this" Twilight added, "Me too" said Rainbow Dash thinking again about the past events that had been occurring.
"I brought you some flowers Rainbow Dash, Miss Cheerilee helped me pick them for you, please get better", "Did you say something" Rainbow Dash said to everyone while quickly turning around, "Uhhh... None of us said anything Rainbow Dash, are you sure you're okay" replied Twilight, "Yeah I'm fine" snapped Rainbow Dash while continuing her walk through the mountain. "Looks like we're almost there" Said Pinkie Pie, "By the way, where is Spike" she added. "Oh he was too tired after reading books last night, so I told him to rest up and leave when Derpy does" replied Twilight.
As they reached the other side of the pass they heard the exciting cheers and noises coming from the town, "See Rarity, I told you ghost stories aren't real" said Twilight, "Twilight" said Rainbow Dash softly, "Yes" replied Twilight, "Look again" said Rainbow Dash sadly, Twilight looked at the city again, but this time there was no happy cheering and celebration. the town was completely silent, "Well we do have a little bit more to walk, maybe they are just finishing up" said Twilight. They began walking towards the silent town, wondering how such a happy looking place could become so quiet.
Rainbow Dash slowly stopped and began getting a mild headache, the rest of the gang began feeling it too, as her headache became more intense she looked around and saw Rarity, Twilight and Pinkie Pie collapse, Fluttershy and Applejack soon followed.
Rainbow Dash's head was now pounding and she could feel herself going under, she could hear the voices again. "What's going on", "I don't know, her body is rejecting the medication", "Try something else then, you have to save her", "I'm sorry... We've tried everything".
Rainbow Dash slowly falls into a deep sleep and her head is still pounding with the voices and the memories of what has been happening. She is beginning to wonder to herself, "What if I'm not falling asleep... What if I'm waking up".
"Rainbow Dash"... "Rainbow Dash, wake up".
Rainbow Dash slowly opens here eyes and stares into the beaming light, "Am I dreaming" she says to herself, "Rainbow Dash, come to my voice". She rubs her eyes and begins to travel toward the bright light, "You're doing good, keep going", "Wait" replied Rainbow Dash stopping in her steps, "Who are you" she added. "You are so very strong Rainbow Dash, but very soon you will have to make a choice" replied the strange voice, "What choice" shouted Rainbow Dash, the light began to fade. She could feel herself being pulled back toward reality, "A choice of life and death" said the strange voice.
The light was gone completely now, Rainbow Dash was just standing in an empty black space.She looked around everywhere to find a possible exit, to her disappointment she found none, she began running in a single direction, hoping it would lead somewhere.
The darkness became thicker and more sinister, she could feel it closing in on her with every step she took. Finally she saw a small flicker of light in the distance, she started running as fast as she could, the darkness around her grew tighter and tighter. She was so close...
She opened her eyes and quickly shot up to find herself under the overpass, as she looked around the wastes of this horrible place she remembered where she was. Her friends had disappeared and she still had a mild headache.
She began walking through the entrance to the city. The walls had posters on them, "STAY OUT" was written on the majority of the posters. She continued into the city, the streets were littered with rubble and burnt out stalls, all the buildings looked like they had been abandoned for years. She walked up to one of the buildings and wiped the ash from the window, she peered inside and saw the remains of a house.
Her heart sank when she saw the burnt out remains of children's toys and books, "Did they make it out alive" she thought to herself, she backed away from the building and walked further down the street toward another building.
The further she went into the town the more she saw the same poster covering the wall's and windows of every building, "Evacuation in process", "What caused this" she said while wiping away more ask form the window, in the reflection of the window she saw another pony, she slowly turned around and walk toward the pony, she approached her half way and suddenly dropped to the floor. Tears started falling from her chin while she was laying on the floor.
"Mom, you shouldn't be here" said rainbow dash, still lying on the floor wiping tears from her eyes. "I had to bring you here, so that you could make your choice" her mother replied softly "You're not real... None of this is" said Rainbow Dash looking up at her mother, "Tell me dear... Why am I not real" said her mother walking toward Rainbow Dash. "Because that was my old house" replied Rainbow Dash looking to her right, she looked at her mother while more tears dropped from her eyes, "This is the house where we decided to make cakes for dad. But then I accidentally knocked spaghetti in the cake mix" she added, "After I went to the store to get more cake ingredients, I came back and knew something wasn't right. They wouldn't let me near the house, dad told me you would meet me at the hospital" her head dropped and she began crying, "I got to the hospital and you never turned up, dad came up to me and said you had to go out of town to get me a special present, but you never came back", she felt arms wrapping around her, "I'll always come back, I'm so sorry..."
She removed her hoof from the window and saw only the reflection of herself, she could see her face was covered in dirt and ash from the town.
She turned around and began pacing through the rest of the town. She knew her friends had to be somewhere, as she passed the town hall she could hear the voices again, the headache came back and the voices started pounding in her head.
"She's coming back around", "Rainbow Dash, you can do it...". Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky and saw the bright light falling down and slowly wrapping around her, "NO..." she screamed.
Her eyes opened and she quickly shot up and winced in pain, "NO, I HAVE TO FIND THEM" she screamed, she blinked rapidly and looked at the shocked faces of her friends. "Find who Rainbow Dash" said Twilight, Rainbow Dash grabbed Twilight and began hugging her while tears streamed from her eyes, "Don't ever leave me Twilight, promise me" she sobbed, "I promise" replied Twilight softly.
