Wicked Bliss

The Master had been right: Twilight Sparkle did look sad, although she’d become very good at hiding it. Any meeting or audience, any public speech or outing, she could bring the smile to her face with practised ease now. It was the quiet moments in evenings or early mornings that gave it all away. She’d walk out onto the courtyard at the top of the castle, look out into the valley below, look up at the mountain itself, where no doubt one of the Master’s vantage points was concealed. There was no pretence then. Tear stains like those the Master had so often seen on Rainbow Dash were visible, as were bags under the eyes from losing sleep. It was hard to tell whether this was because one of her best friends had been missing for two months. Perhaps the job was impossible, and Princess Celestia, when she’d had the role, had been equally miserable in her quiet moments.

But their faith that Twilight still nursed a wound for her old friend was vindicated when as Twilight stared wistfully out into the clouds, a guard appeared at the balcony and cleared his throat.

‘Your Highness,’ he said portentously, ‘Rainbow Dash is here to see you.’

Twilight span round, her face aghast, as though she was appalled that he would play such a cruel trick on her. ‘What did you say?’ she demanded.

‘Rainbow Dash, Your Highness. She’s here.’

Twilight didn’t need any further encouragement. She swept over the threshold into the palace and straight for the hallway to the stairs. The guard was trotting to keep up with her. His mouth was open as though he expected Twilight to question him, but she asked him nothing, rattling down the staircase as quickly as her robe would permit her.

The guard hadn’t lied. Rainbow Dash it was indeed, standing lopsidedly at the gate, looking down at her hooves as though she were a filly who’d been caught playing truant. Twilight stopped completely, didn’t even draw in a breath, staring agape. She trotted toward her, her hoofsteps echoing loudly through the lower courtyard. The gate guard, who would under normal circumstances perform a formal announcement, licked his lips and said nothing. The hoofsteps accelerated as she began to believe the evidence of her senses.

‘Rainbow Dash!’ squealed Twilight, charging toward the pony like a mother running to embrace her long-lost child. She threw her hooves around her, pulling her close, tears pouring from her eyes, and she sobbed happily into her coat. ‘We were looking everywhere for you! What happened? Where were you? You look so drawn! Your beautiful coat …’ she said, rubbing the tufts beside patches of baldness, from which the Master had earlier that very day torn an ample quantity.

Rainbow Dash looked about ready to cry herself, eyes shining and fixed rigidly on the floor, as though if she were to look up at Twilight, she would burst into tears. ‘H—hello, Twilight,’ she managed in a dusty voice.

‘You sound terrible,’ said Twilight, trying to catch her eye. ‘Like you’ve been sick …’

‘I h—have been,’ croaked Rainbow Dash.

‘But where were you?’

‘I was … I—I …’ The tears came this time, and Rainbow Dash slumped nearly to the floor, held up by Twilight’s hug. They were low, snivelling, animal sobs. The sound was so alien to Twilight in association with her normally proud and courageous friend that she too fell to her knees, embracing her, holding her, swaying with her, as though to assuage not only the pony who was sobbing but also herself. It was as if the two mares were completely alone, not surrounded by guards in full view, professionally maintaining a respectful silence.

‘What happened, Rainbow Dash?’ she asked again, voice quaking. ‘What could have possibly happened to make you so …?’ She didn’t finished the question. For the first time their eyes met. Tears dripped silently from Twilight’s as she glimpsed the depth of Rainbow Dash’s suffering. To her credit Rainbow Dash hugged her back but pulled away quickly, flinching, shuddering, eyes tightly shut, as though touching her old friend were like imbibing poison.

‘I … I was kidnapped …’ she breathed, still with her eyes shut. ‘I … I …’

‘Kidnapped? Oh, Rainbow Dash! Who by? When? Twilight tried to pull her back into a hug, but Rainbow Dash shrank back, sniffling, covering her face with a hoof.

‘Th—the M—Master!’ she choked.

‘Who? Oh, Rainbow Dash! What did they do to you?’ cried Twilight. She helped Rainbow Dash, snivelling, to her hooves and ushered her friend toward the castle, to a private room. They had to move very slowly as Rainbow Dash seemed to be struggling to walk, and Twilight, with her robe of office, was endeavouring not to trip as she helped her friend along. They reached a small room on the ground floor, once a study. There was a shelf of books here, a window, and a desk with a chair. Twilight eased Rainbow Dash into the seat and stood over her, stroking her mane, rubbing her gently on the back. Rainbow Dash folded her face into her forelegs and slumped over the desk, crying into her hooves.

‘It’s OK,’ whispered Twilight reassuringly, taking slow, calming breaths. ‘You’re safe now.’

Eventually the sobs dissolved into snivels. Eventually the snivels lapsed into long, unsteady breaths. Rainbow Dash was regaining control of herself. When she was sure that she had calmed down enough to be questioned, Twilight touched her on the side of her head and said, ‘Now please will you tell me what happened to you?’

Rainbow Dash lifted her head from her hooves and gave a deep, rattling sigh. She opened her eyes.

‘I was kidnapped by the Master,’ she said thickly in a monotone. ‘He took me to his house, a cottage on the outskirts.’ She took another deep breath, face screwed up. ‘H—he hurt me.’

‘What did he do?’ breathed Twilight, her eyes wide with fear and concern.

‘T—tortured me … abused me …’

Twilight’s mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. She pulled Rainbow Dash’s head close to her chest and stared up at the ceiling, eyes brimming with tears, as though asking the world how it could possibly have been so cruel.

‘I … I …’ Rainbow Dash was struggling to form her words. Twilight shushed her, but Rainbow Dash shook her off desperately, pulling herself back so that Twilight could see the anguish on her face. ‘I killed him!’ she spluttered, eyes wide with fear and panic. ‘Twilight, I k—killed him! I murdered him, Twilight!’ she gasped, eyes popping as though the enormity of the deed was such that her mind could not comprehend it.

Twilight’s mouth was ajar, her eyes, which before had contained only sympathy for her friend, changing subtly to shock and fear. ‘What?’ she breathed. Rainbow Dash gave her a tortured look.

‘I h—had no choice,’ she stammered. ‘I had to, Twilight, I had to. I …’ She gasped, eyes bulging again. ‘I ran away,’ she breathed. ‘He chased me. We fought up there,’ she murmured, tossing her head in the direction of the mountain. ‘I took a rock … hit him …’ She turned away, showing Twilight her back, facing the window.

Twilight was lost for words. Her face read of shock, horror, fear, and pity all at once. Rainbow Dash turned around again, weeping, begging. ‘Don’t make me go to prison for it, Twilight,’ she rattled off like a dog barking tricks. ‘Don’t make me go! Don’t punish me—please! I’ve suffered enough.’

Twilight bit her lip, eyes wide, swallowing. ‘Rainbow Dash …’ she said in a low voice. ‘It’s not … I can’t just …’ She sighed and a definite note of hesitation had entered her voice, gentle and understanding though it still was. ‘Of course I’m not going to punish you. Don’t talk like that, please,’ she said, patting Rainbow Dash’s shoulder encouragingly. ‘Right now, what we need to do is make sure you’re OK. We need to—’

‘No!’ Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves with some of her old speed, shaking her head frantically, violently, eyes filled with emotion. ‘No!’ she yelped.

Twilight flinched, alarmed by the behaviour. Rainbow Dash regained control of herself, panting, falling slowly back into her seat. ‘Twilight, please …’ She took another deep, steadying breath and said quickly, ‘We have to move the body. We have to go now, together, Twilight, and move the body—’

‘Rainbow Dash?’

‘—before anypony else can find out that I—’

‘Rainbow Dash …’

‘—Twilight, now, we have to go, have to leave now, right now, and—’

‘Rainbow Dash!’

The urgency with which Rainbow Dash had made the suggestion, the nature of the suggestion itself, and the keenness and the desperation, were so far out of her given character that Twilight, for the first time, was growing uneasy. A slight frown had creased her forehead. She was looking at Rainbow Dash as she he never looked at her before, not with suspicion or with alarm, but with a very particular, slightly disdainful pity, the kind reserved particularly for those in mental institutions, which says, ‘I like you and trust you, but I probably shouldn’t set much store by what you say anymore.’

Rainbow Dash could see the traces of it on Twilight’s face, and she adjusted accordingly, forcing herself to breathe again, to slow down, to take her time. Her eyes were twitching. Her breaths were all erratic. Her legs were trembling. Her body was shaking. It was fear. It was so plain, so unmistakable, so infectious, that Twilight seemed to find her understanding again. She sighed too, a long exhale, and hugged Rainbow Dash once more.

‘It’s been an ordeal,’ she said softly, ‘but you’re safe now. You’ll be OK, Rainbow Dash; you’ll be OK. I’m going to take care of you myself.’ She said it so earnestly that it would have made up for any prejudgements she’d had about her friend’s state of mind. But Rainbow Dash didn’t see it that way. She was getting angry now, stamping, hitting the table with her hoof.

‘No!’ she said loudly, her eyes narrowing. ‘Now!’ she shouted. ‘Now! Now! We have to go now!’

Twilight stared, incredulous. What could she do? The options were these: refuse to acknowledge her friend’s emotions and try to handle her, like a carer handling a child who couldn’t know what was best for her, or accept her friend’s judgement on the matter and support her as best she could. Twilight swallowed her doubts. She loved Rainbow Dash, and the idea that after all she’d suffered, she had to come back to a friend who wouldn’t even listen to her chafed so severely that she felt a lump in her throat just thinking about it. She swallowed, nodded, and said, ‘OK. Let’s go.’

The guards outside looked puzzled to see Twilight following in the wake of the stumbling gait of the pony who’d come to her for help. Rainbow Dash was walking as though with a singular purpose, and Twilight, looking worried and a little harried, was following along, pausing when Rainbow Dash paused to catch her breath, following suit when Rainbow Dash upped the pace.

‘Flash,’ said Twilight as they passed the gate, ‘Could you come with us, please?’

The guard, Flash Sentry, saluted. ‘Of course, Your—’

‘No!’ Rainbow Dash was glaring at Flash with loathing, as though the very fact of his existence was an affront to her. Flash Sentry looked taken aback. Twilight was dumbfounded. Rainbow Dash rallied well.

‘Twilight,’ she begged quietly, moving closer to her old friend, placing her snout to her ear. ‘Please,’ she breathed. ‘I’m begging you. We have to be alone. I can’t … not with other ponies … for them to see …’

Twilight seemed to understand, and it was with an iron effort that she sighed and nodded stiffly before turning back to Flash and saying, ‘Stay here. Rainbow Dash and I have something we must do. Alone.’

Flash Sentry looked as though he had other ideas. He’d known Rainbow Dash before, of course, but not as well as Twilight, and he’d only ever seen the bravado of her. The contrast for him, to see this mare who’d once been the most self-confident, self-aggrandising pony in Equestria and to compare her to this shivering, cringing, fearful, angry shadow, was too severe. His gut told him it would be improper to allow their sovereign to go alone with her, whatever she thought about the matter herself. ‘Your Highness,’ he began, ‘I insist—’

‘No!’ Rainbow Dash actually stepped in and took a shot at him, a wild, swinging flap. It wasn’t designed to connect, the sort of move you see ponies make when beating away a particularly annoying fly, but the sight of it, the intensity of it, was enough to deepen Flash’s misgivings even further, to say nothing of Twilight’s, who was once again fighting the look of disfavourable pity she’d managed to throw off before. Rainbow Dash broke again into the sobs that she’d started with, leaning on Twilight, crying into her wings, begging her quietly. Twilight looked miserable; she shook her head at Flash, and said to Rainbow Dash in a strangled voice, ‘Lead the way.’

Rainbow Dash took them to the end of the courtyard, to the royal convenience. ‘We’ll have to fly there,’ said Rainbow Dash, soldiering on toward the smallest single-pony vehicle.

‘Then we should have somepony take us,’ protested Twilight.

‘No,’ said Rainbow Dash. ‘You’ll have to take us. I’m sorry, Twilight. You don’t understand.’

‘You’re right,’ replied Twilight in the quietest voice. ‘I don’t at all. But if this is what you want …’

‘It has to be like this,’ muttered Rainbow Dash more to herself than anypony else. ‘Just the two of us.’

Twilight helped Rainbow Dash climb onto the upholstered seat. She swallowed then shrugged off her robe. It wound itself into a pile on the floor. She walked over to the front of the royal rickshaw, placed herself between the shafts and strapped herself to the harness. With a swift beating of her powerful wings, she took off, Rainbow Dash and the cart lifted easily into the air by the strength of the Alicorn. It must have been a very strange sight for the citizens below, to see their sovereign pulling along the slumped, thin figure of the formerly missing Wonderbolt.

‘Where to now?’ shouted Twilight once they were high in the air and above the peak of the mountain. Rainbow Dash pointed so that Twilight could see.

‘Do you see the cleft in the rock down there?’

‘Yes.’

‘Aim for that.’

Twilight did just that, pulling the cart gracefully in to land. There was a long, reasonably wide natural platform, and, from here, a pony who had managed either to fly or to climb up to it could see down straight into the castle courtyards and even through a few of the windows. The advantage was that, if you wanted not to be seen, three or four steps back from the lip and you’d be invisible, blocked by the rock. The mountain here was like a quarry, big, smooth rocks standing straight, as though they’d been bitten into. It was the perfect place for a cabin or hideout. Once Twilight had detached herself from the harness, she helped Rainbow Dash down from the seat. Rainbow Dash was sweating, blinking nervously, avoiding eye contact.

‘Right,’ said Twilight, sighing, puffing out of exertion. She swallowed, looking solemnly at her friend. ‘Where to now?’

Rainbow Dash raised a quaking hoof. ‘A little over there …’ she choked, turning away.

Twilight strained her eyes, scanning the stone. ‘I don’t see anyth— ih … ihh …’

She frowned down at the syringe in her shoulder. She looked at Rainbow Dash and blinked slowly. Her eyes weren’t shocked or scared. They were astonished, filled with complete confusion. ‘Wh—?’ she mumbled before her gaze rolled back into her skull and her muscles relaxed. Rainbow Dash whimpered as she struggled to catch her, struggled to keep her from rolling towards the lip of the rock.

‘Excellent!’ The Master was there in his uniform, the black blending well with the dark stone, the mask Rainbow Dash had made for him covering his face completely except for the eyes and mouth, the latter of which was twisted in a triumphant sneer. ‘Well done indeed!’ he said, leering, placing his hooves around Rainbow Dash and giving her a tight squeeze. ‘You really are a special one, Miss Dash!’ he crowed, grinning down at Twilight’s motionless body. Rainbow Dash couldn’t bring herself to look, her eyes fixed firmly on the stone wall opposite the others. The Master snapped his hooves.

‘The bags,’ he said sharply.

Rainbow Dash recovered them for him one by one. They had stored them in a recess. Inside the smallest was a razor, a pair of pliers, and a hammer and chisel. The Master took the latter, aligned the chisel with Twilight’s horn, and brought the hammer down hard. The bone snapped cleanly in two near the base. There was hiss and faint magical discharge, which dissipated, leaving her powerless. The Master worked quickly, cutting bits of fur from across Twilight’s body, from her back, from her legs, from her neck and face. He turned her over and used the pliers like heavy-duty tweezers, plucking purple feathers randomly from her wings. He gave them all to Rainbow Dash, who was stuffing them into the paper bag that already contained her own, cyan contributions. The Master opened the largest bag to reveal a fuse attached to explosives propped up in sand. He snatched the other bag from Rainbow Dash’s hooves, carrying both the feathers and the bomb to the rickshaw. He heaved them into the passenger seat. He struck a match from the rock and held it to the fuse, muttering, ‘Three minutes. One hundred and eighty seconds.’ The fuse hissed into life. ‘Take the back hooves,’ he commanded through the bag clutched between his teeth.

Together he and Rainbow Dash dragged Twilight to the rear of the platform where the cleft was, the Master with the bulk of the weight, Rainbow Dash stabilising. At close quarters it was large enough to walk through unimpeded, with enough space for a pony to sit. It widened out quickly enough, and as they wrestled Twilight to the other side, the bomb exploded. The blast was loud and clear. Shrapnel rained down the mountainside once the fire had faded. The Master grinned.

‘We’re in business,’ he laughed.

They emerged onto a mountain trail. They placed Twilight’s body into a waiting wheelbarrow and covered it with a sheet of tarpaulin. The Master whipped off his uniform and gave it to Rainbow Dash to store and carry in another bag. Then the Master rolled the barrow clumsily down the path. Rainbow Dash followed, stumbling alongside him, her head down. This side of the mountain, though relatively steep, was easily accessible by hoof, and the cart he’d kidnapped Rainbow Dash in was parked at the start of the manageable incline, ten minutes away. It was a trekking site, as the Master well knew, but in his reconnoitring he’d learned how frequently and infrequently ponies used it. He’d chosen the date and time by calculating the average number of ponies per day, per time of day, per weather, per season, per route, and so on. It had rained all morning, and the wet grass and muddy track on the verdant side wasn’t appealing for hill-walkers. At the very worst the chances as he made them expected a lone couple, and even then it wasn’t a crime to wheel a wheelbarrow. On the off-chance that anypony challenged them, however, the Master had his utility belt: a pair of tasers, a knife, the cattle prod, even some homemade explosives. Still it was tiring work, and he was puffing and sweating as he tried to guide the heavy, rattling barrow down the muddy, bumpy road. When they reached the cart, they hauled Twilight’s body from the barrow, covered it with the tarp in the back. The cart had been decked out with knapsacks and assorted climbing equipment. There was even an outfit for Rainbow Dash, with a special safety helmet that could hide her mane. To anyone passing below, it would seem that a pair of enthusiasts had been enjoying themselves.

They arrived at the cottage shortly after nightfall.