Maretrix: Unleashed

Rainbow Dash was used to surprises. Of course, being Equestria’s fastest flier and all meant that she had to be. Some days, she had to deal with the surprise of crash-landing in Twilight’s library. Other days, she had to deal with Pinkie somehow managing to keep up with her sonic speed strut. Once, she even had to deal with the surprise of her own sheer awesomeness.

But still, THIS was surprise to her.

“We meet at last, Miss Dash. Welcome.”

That wasn’t what Rainbow Dash was expecting when she jerked awake. Nor was she expecting the massive headache... or being tied up to a chair in a dark room. She was in trouble, wasn’t she?

“I imagine that right now you’re feeling a little lost.” The voice was deep and rumbling, like from one of those bullies at her school that had gorged themselves on too much testosterone candy. “You are feeling a touch uncertain, and perhaps a little... scared.”

No, Rainbow Dash wasn’t afraid of this wimp in the dark. No, of course not. She was the bravest pony in the whole of Equestria, and she was just about to prove it.

“D-DON’T HURT ME!” she yelped, her voice filled with pure terror.

“You must relax, Miss Dash,” the deep voice continued from the likely-to-be-super-big-and-tough stallion in the dark. “Although I come from another world, I am not here to harm you.”

Wait... what did he just say? Who WAS this strange pony? There was something about his voice that made it sound a little familiar, but she couldn’t nail it down. It was too dark.

“Turn on the lights so I can see you,” she demanded.

“Patience, Miss Dash. The light would hurt your eyes. You need to let your body recover, and it should not take long.”

Rainbow rubbed her eyes. She felt anything but well. Her head was spinning badly, like the first time she had tried to pull off that ‘BLAZING CORKSCREW OF NEVER-ENDING DEATH!’ trick, which had ended with her crashing into Twilight’s library and almost giving the poor egghead a heart attack. It was regrettable, but fun was not without its consequences.

“So, how long are you going to keep me here?” she asked.

There was a moment of silence, and then the deep voice spoke. “You will not be here for long. I am only waiting until you are ready. I am here to offer you a chance to come to my world, where I will open your eyes to a whole new range of possibilities. You will learn many unimaginable things, and in return, you will lend me your help.”

Not liking the sound of it, Rainbow Dash looked down and realised that she was, in fact, not tied to the chair. She could fly straight out of the room as soon as she had the chance! Yes, there must be a door at the end of the room. It was such a simple, easy plan. She just needed the right opportunity...

“I know what is going through your mind, and I will not stop you.”

Horseapples... Wait, what?

“Let me tell you why you’re here, Rainbow Dash. You’re here because you know something special. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it everytime you’ve broken the sound barrier, every moment you’ve spent zipping across the sky.”

“How do you know all these things? Are you a spy?” Rainbow peered around at the darkness, trying to focus on the shape in front of her.

“There is a force stopping you from going any faster,” the voice continued. “You don’t know what it is but it’s there, like a barrier in your mind, holding you back.”

“You mean I can’t fly as fast as I want because of this? You mean it’s all in my mind?”

“There are many questions that need to be answered. But first, you must decide. I am giving you a single chance to break free of that barrier, to unleash your full speed and strength. And when that happens, you will be able to achieve anything that you’ve ever wanted. It can be done, Rainbow Dash. It has already been done. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever noticed a certain... pink friend of yours move impossibly fast before? It would seem almost as if she can teleport.”

“...Pinkie Pie?”

“Yes. If that is what you know her by.”

“But Pinkie... Pinkie...” Rainbow groaned, raising a hoof to her temple. She hated all this thinking. It drove her nuts.

“The world you live in is restricted. It is built upon fundamental rules and laws,” the voice said. “All your life, you have been enslaved, forced to live within these rules. Now is the time to break free. Please, look in front of you.”

She looked down. A small table was in front of her, a glass of water and two cupcakes placed neatly within her reach. Both cupcakes were identical in every way except in colour: one being completely red, and the other completely blue.

“If you take the blue cupcake, I will leave and never return. You will wake up in your bed and do whatever you want to do, and carry on believing whatever you want to believe in. Choose the red one, and you will follow me into a new world, where I will show you how fast you can truly be.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the cupcakes for about three seconds.

Whatever.

She grabbed the red cupcake and jammed it into her maw, her molars breaking it down quickly. It tasted funny, like there was glue added to it. She swallowed it down with several gulps of water and stuck her tongue out in disgust.

“That felt weird,” she muttered to herself.

“Very good.”

A flick of a switch, and the room filled with light. Rainbow gasped and shielded her eyes from the burning white brightness. Her head throbbed in pain.

“It takes a while to get used to the light.”

Rainbow grumbled, slowly lowering her hooves and squinting at the pony in front as he came into focus. Her vision was blurry, and she didn’t feel very good after eating that cupcake. It took a few minutes for her to make out his gray coat, and butter-yellow mane.

Then her eyes flew open at the gray pegasus.

“DERPY?! Why the hay are you a stallion?” Rainbow Dash shouted, reeling from shock. Her mind began to crack under the pressure. A handful of brain cells suddenly committed suicide there and then. “I... I... can’t even...”

“Give yourself time, Miss Dash.” Derpy the stallion was wearing a pair of shades.

It was too much. She couldn’t take it. Her mind was popping. A fragment of thought floated up as the world swam before her. Twilight... this has something to do with that wacko egghead and her spells...

She looked up one last time, struggling to remain conscious, her voice coming out as a strained whisper. “Are... are you really Derpy?”

The pegasus slowly pulled off his shades and smiled, an eye slowly began to lose focus and trailed up to the ceiling.

“You may call me... Derpheus.”

And then Rainbow Dash passed out.