M.U.C.

"Hmm... a letter from the princess." Rainbow Dash drifted lazily back into her house, scroll between her teeth. The cyan pegasus flopped onto one of the cushion shaped clouds which littered the floor. Rainbow Dash transferred the scroll from her mouth to her hooves. With one hoof she cracked the seal and unrolled the expensive parchment.

"Dearest Rainbow Dash," she read aloud. "My sister and I require your assistance." The pegasus smirked at that; of course they would need her for something. "Please go and drink from the pool marked on the attached map." Below the words was a folded paper, which did indeed turn out to be a map. Rainbow was a bit disappointed.

"I could be off fighting dragons or  saving ponies, and you have me go drink from some pond," the pegasus muttered in the vague direction of Canterlot. But she owed her allegiance to the princess, and if Rainbow Dash was anything she was loyal to a fault. She hauled herself off of the soft cloud, and left her house for the pool marked on the map. Along the way she passed Twilight.

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" the unicorn called up. "I haven't seen you in almost a week."

"Yeah, I've just been kind of laying around," the pegasus said sheepishly. "But now the princess wants me to go drink from some pool or fountain or something. I swear, my talents are wasted."

"Well, you could always do things before somepony asks you to," Twilight suggested. "Maybe then you could put your talents to use in the way you see fit." The pegasus thought this over.

"Nah, too much work," she said. Twilight shrugged. It had been worth a try.

"Well, I hope nothing terrible happens to you while you do this seemingly menial task," Twilight said. "See you!" And with that, the unicorn continued on the way she had been going earlier. Rainbow Dash paused for a second, thinking over her friend's words. With a shrug, the pegasus resumed her flight to the pool.

It wasn't that far away. In only a few minutes she could see the rough stonework surrounding the clear water. As she landed, the pegasus noticed a sign beside the pool.

"Does not contain any hall-u-sin-a-gins," she read. She scratched her head in mild puzzlement. Understanding slowly dawned on her. "Oh, hallucinogens! Well that's nice to know." Rainbow Dash switched her gaze over to the water she was to drink. It looked regular enough, a kind of clear gray. Again a shadow of hesitation presented itself before her. Why this water specifically? What purpose could this possibly serve? And again her sense of loyalty rose to cast out the doubt. The cyan pegasus began to lap up the water.

It tasted... good. Which was a little surprising. After all, water is supposed to have little to no taste besides possibly the container it is in. But this water tasted fresh, vibrant, almost the manifestation of the spring which surrounded the cyan mare. Rainbow kept on drinking, almost gorging herself on the delicious liquid until she couldn't drink anymore. She sat back onto the soft carpet of grass which surrounded the pool, turning her gaze upwards towards the sky.

A sky which failed to appear.

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped open. It's not that there was no sun, or moon, or stars. There wasn't anything.

"Now!" the pegasus could dimly hear as she stared in a stupor at the non-existence which wasn't before her. Her vision softened, the beat of her heart grew loud in her ears. Pink dots appeared in her vision, streaking in mad lines across her eyes. As the pink dots covered more and more of her vision, Rainbow Dash turned back towards the sign.

"Damn false advertising," she muttered before being deconstructed . She felt as if she was falling, piece by piece falling into the pink void before her. Then she hit the ground. She felt flattened, thinned, stretched out like a piece of taffy. Her vision was still obscured by the pink flurry, but the pegasus' hearing was still intact. And she could distinctly hear two voices.

"So what's wrong with them?" the first asked. A mare by the sound of it. The second voice paused before answering.

"Nothing in my mind," it said. It too was female, but this one had a cold, almost static sound to it which sent chills down the pegasus' crushed back.

Rainbow Dash tried to speak, but found that she couldn't. She tried to stretch her wings. Move her hooves. Turn her head. Nothing worked.

"Well, I think this one is cute," the first voice said. "But also rather striking. Not all fluff, but somehow just enough." Metal creaked in response. "How could they not like it?"

"Tradition," the second voice snorted. "They don't think it should look like this at all. They believe it needs to be blockier."

"Blockier?"

"Less curves, more sharp angles." The second voice sighed. "Basically, they want crap, and I refuse to do that for them."

"Why?"

"Because I love this show." And with that, the pegasus was ripped apart.