Plight of the Pegasi

‘Memory’

I trot gleefully down a dusty dirt path. I look around for my friends. I venture to the Carousel Boutique and nopony is there; gowns and frocks hang isolated with no pony to buy them. I leave this place and find myself at Sugar Cube Corner. I feel as if I have not travelled at all to reach here, curious. I look through the frosted window but just like before there is no pony to be seen. I knock on the door but nothing happens. Not that no pony answers, I expected that, but my hoof makes not a sound as I tap it against the door. I cup my hooves in front of my eyes to get a better view. I stare into the shop again but instead of the pink flamboyant décor I see books all neatly laid out on shelves. I see an Alicorn in the middle of the room; she hums a tune over and over. I push the door and it breaks from its hinges and flies across the library floor. I follow it in. The Alicorn hums louder as I approach her; it then notices my presence and turns to me.

“…Houses on the treetops… houses on a cloud” the dark lilac Alicorn sings.

“Twi?”

“…You’ll never see them as they go around. They place the silken letters all under our snouts. And they ask so little, there are so many about. They work all night they work all day. They never get any time for play…” she continues to harmonise.

“What are you singing about?” I ask, growing impatient.

“…But never was there a soul so lonely… Celestia bless the mail pony” The shadow of an Alicorn sings.

“Are you ok Twi?”

“Clouds run amuck and you best chance you luck. Little filly don’t be silly, up above clouds to buck… You better be humble, respect; please do miss. Do well to remember your local Pegasus” she begins to sing a different song.

“Twilight why are you ignoring me?”

“Rainbow Dash is the seed of doubt. She will not let us be” it sings still, its voice brims with glee.

“Can you just cut it out?!”

“For she comes around, breaking anything in her way here in my house in a tree”

“You’re really starting to creep me out”

“She cannot remember what she has unleashed. My Queen so supreme, I’ll follow you always. But we will have to wait and see. Here in my house in a tree”

“Ok enough! Twilight? Where have you been?” I ask, as I do Twilight’s eyes and mouth light up with an eerie lilac glow.

“I’ve always been here Rainbow Dash” she says.

“No… No you haven’t”

“You are just too selfish to notice me”

“That’s a lie!” I snap.

“I was just sitting quietly here and you broke into my house”

“That door was...”

“…But never was there a soul so lonely… Celestia bless the mail pony” the Twilight looking creature sings again. This time she reveals a puppet she has on her hoof.

“Derpy?” I choke, feeling vomit rise in my throat.

“I love her, isn’t she just a doll?” it asks, jagged teeth revealed as she smiles widely.

“This can’t be happening”

“Why not little Dashie…? Wouldn’t want to pull the wool over your eyes…”

Twilight turns away from me and hums once more. I prod at her shoulder, she doesn’t budge. She places the Derpy puppet over her shoulder and the humming dulls. Before long she is silent. I look behind me. I’m in sweet apple acres. The whole family is there and they are smiling. Then something turns and one by one they decompose into nothing. Maggots wriggle from the rotting husks as they melt into the soil. Out, alone in the field I can see Applejack. I rush over to her but once again I am there without even taking two steps.

“Appleja…”

“Shhhh. They’re watching us” she warns.

“What i…”

“Shhh” she whispers still, a hoof pressed against my lips.

She turns to face me.  I see a weird bulge in her neck. She smiles to see me and as she does a beak burrows out from her neck. It pecks in-affectionately at her chin.

“Aaa…” I murmur, unable to get a word out.

“Yes RD?”

“Yu…. Your neck Ap…”

“What? I can’t hear you”

I look over my shoulder and when my gaze returns I see two pink hooves on either side of Applejack’s head. I try warning her but she can’t hear a word I say. I then see the glowing grin of the Pinkie Puppet; it grows wider as Applejack’s neck snaps. The disfigured corpse of Pinkie steps around her dead friend and summons a saw from nowhere.  She rests it against the orange rump of Applejack and begins to hack away at it.

“I like ‘em better this way” Applejack laughs from beyond the grave as her cold, dead hoof helps Pinkie saw through her.

“Nooo!” I scream, I open my wings and try to move but something has me anchored to the ground.

I look over my shoulder again and this time I see Fluttershy with a sad look in her eyes. I pull my hooves up with all my might but no matter what I try I cannot move.

“What’s the matter Rainbow Daaaaaaash? Not the same pony without flying?” the yellow one sneers.

“Please! You’re kind. Help me out of…”

A blade appears in my hoof and it feels like I have no control over myself. I use whatever will I have left to pull my hoof away but I could not stop it. I plant the blade at the base of Fluttershy’s wing and hold it steady with my jaw. I saw through her wing before regaining control and dropping the knife. I convulse, I want to be sick. I am not. The Fluttershy fades away, leaving me with the two half pony puppets. They both rise and start talking.

“What do you care?!” They demand in unison”

“I do…”

“You only look out for yourself” the Applejack puppet screams.

“Call yourself loyal?” The Pinkie puppet adds.

“We’d all be better off without you”

I return from my nightmare to only find myself in another one. I paw a hoof over my face and coat and feel scars all over me. I get shakily to my hooves and examine where I had been sleeping. I’m in a small cardboard box, I have only just slept but I am still tired. I look up and then wince at the blinding sunshine. I consider going back to sleep but dread to lie on my cardboard sheets again. I am in-between two buildings; I walk from the alleyway and look up and down the path. There are ponies working and fillies and colts playing. But not a single one of them is a Pegasus. I scratch my pasterns as it seems they have been irritated by something. On further inspection I notice indentations, small marks dug into my legs. I try to ignore it for now.

A feel a warm sensation on the nape of my neck, I peer behind me and discover a huge slobbering mutt. I try to back down the alley but get blocked by the dog’s leg.

“What do you want from me?” I ask. I feel some animosity towards the dog but have no inclination why.

“Weekly inspection, are you okay Dasher?” the mutt asks of me.

“Inspection for what? I’m no lab rat” I argue.

“Course not, that’d be a job now wouldn’t it” he says, fighting back a chuckle.

“So why are…”

“Ah you’re just stalling. What’ve you got back there?” he interrogates, trying to look around me.

“I don’t have the faintest…”

“I’m gonna be blunt with you Dasher. You’ll have another strike against your name” he says while pointing to a quill in behind his ear.

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, have you…” he begins, his eyebrow raised.

“What? What is your problem?” I ask, trying my best to hide me weary eyes.

“Have you been taking illegal substances?”

“Excuse me! My body is a temple” I say, my arms folded.

“Just let me take a butchers’ down to your board and then I can mark you as passed”

“Fine” I yield, moving out of the mouth of the alley.

He blunders down to the small cardboard box and the moist cardboard sheet and begins throwing things around. I turn to see what he is doing and poke my head with trepidation around the corner. He patters back to me and takes one last glance at the tattered cardboard strips he has made of my ‘home’ before clearing some phlegm from his throat.

“You’ve had the rats in again” he informs, shaking some substance off of his leg.

“RATS?” I shriek in terror.

“Yeah, found some leavings as well as plentiful supplies of their piss all over the shop”

“Can I get a new cardboard box then?”

“If you can find one… I’ll mark you as passed for this week” he generously proclaims before disappearing down the street.

What appalling conditions I put up with. But where exactly am I? I trot towards a hail of voices which argue and converse down the lane. I start to see the makers of the noise and immediately wish to return to the rat-infested hole I crawled from. One elegantly dressed unicorn notices me and ushers their fillies to play elsewhere. A fine art merchant shoes his crowd and closes the shutters on his stall. I look into a puddle below me and see I am filthy, I see I am nothing. I approach another step and more stalls close for the day and more ponies back away from me. I ignore the behest of the town folk, and then I march confidently into the market. An apple peddler remains; they might not have as high standards as the rest. He gives me a dirty look and points his hoof to where I came from.

“We don’t serve you here. Back to your pit” he says.

I single him out as an easy target and head for his little apple selling business. I read a sign above the stall.

“PonyVille finest apples FFB”

I then confront the clerk.

“Lotta ponies seem to be afraid of me… What gives?” I say, leaning an arm on his stall.

“Your kind aint welcome here” he says, he flicks at my hoof.

“Yeah? Well you’re not welcome here either” I antagonise, my hooves now grip to the posts on either side of his stall.

“You got a screw loose honey?” he asks, straightening his sign.

“No. Why are you selling apples and not swee…?”

“Let me stop you there. They haven’t sold apples here for nearly a year now”

“What about the…?”

“The acres are run by the owner and proprietors Ernest Flim and Daniel Flam”

“Those creeps?!” I say. Facehoofing.

“Look can you just clear off, your stank is making my apples overripe”

“You are picking on the wrong Pega…” I begin as a rope loops over the superstructure of the stall and pulls it down.

I hear a dull click and though the clearing dust I see the glint of a muzzle. More of the piece comes into view; the revolver churns to select another bullet. A hoof reaches from the dust cloak and takes the stall owner by the scruff of his shirt.

“Now don’t you be calling any guards” a thick country accent addresses.

“I won’t honest” the weak stallion pleads.

“Heh, you can play that song all day dirt bag” she says, pushing the tip of her hat with the gun she has in her hoof.

“Just take what I have, there’s a dozen or so left… I can…” he says, shivering and gesturing to the boxes of apples behind the stall.

“You can call yourself a lucky motherfucker now keep you bit grabbin’ hooves behind your head”

“AJ?”

“Oh my… Rainbow Dash is that you?”

“Shut the fuck up” she orders the stall clerk, the gun now pointed at his head.

“What the hell happened here AJ?”

“I’ve not time to explain now RD. Follow me” she advises.

Applejack gathers a clutch of apples as do I, before we both take our leave from the market. She leads me from the callas streets and into the forest beyond. We trek through the woods a while until she stops in a clearing. She props up a stick to open the entrance to a tent she has built under a large willow tree. She enters but turns to stop my progress.

“Not enough room for two” she explains.

“Oh, okay, it’s nicer out here than in the town anyway” I say, padding at the soft soil.

“Not even RD. No I’ll fix you somethin’ up”

“Okay thanks pal”

Applejack leaves the tent and calls for me to follow after her again. I dutifully walk in tow of her before she tells me.

“We’re here”

I look around us and see nothing special. Regardless, my hooves are worn and my eyes grow heavy so I sit back on my rump.

“You wanna know what happened?” She says, kicking some loose scree off of the cliff.

“Why not? Right”

“After PonyVille was rebuilt, built much larger than before, there were many laws introduced. They shut down my farm, they robbed many a pony of their livelihoods”

“And why am I…? You know…”

“You have been homeless for some years now. But I’ve said this all before”

“What?”

“I have told you this all not four months ago RD. You just refuse to remember”

“Why would I lie to myself?”

“My guessin’ is something happened to you in Canterlot”

“Canterlot? I went there?”

“It’s too hard to explain this to you RD, you will just forget again”

“I promise I won’t. I won’t forget”

“Only if you’re sure” she concedes, calming her tone.

“I’m sure”

“The skies screamed with the pain of a hundred Griffins. You made them scream RD”

“What because they were happy?”

“Yes RD, they were ecstatic”

“Oh phew, for a second there I thought…” I begin, wiping the sweat from my brow.

“You murdered them. You lead a rebellion against the Queen” she says, she looks longingly over the edge.

“The Queen?”

“I am not going through this again”

“But you sai…”

“Four months ago… When you still had some self-respect left”

“But AJ I don’t remember”

“Then for Luna’s sake just go back in to hiding. Go back to your hole”

She draws the revolver and squares it at me.

“Stay the fuck away from me cyan!”

I retreat a few steps before cantering away, how can I take in all this information at once? It doesn’t take long for me to find myself lost in the everfree forest. This place plays by a different set of rules. However something seems awry here.  Small tropical birds fly upside down, they fall asleep mid-flight and drop out of the sky. Owls hoot out of tune and grip onto the bark of the tree with their beaks. I walk a little further and see a mole burrow from the ground; in broad daylight. The owl sees the feast and swoops down to feed. I close my eyes as to not see the natural ritual. Through my curiosity I peek with one eye open to a strange discovery. The mole is partially visible as it digs back underground; it has not been eaten by the upper link in the food chain. I thrash my head from my side to side, looking for the owl until I see it gnawing on a fern. I take a glance up at the sky, the sun has not moved since I woke. I delve deeper into the web of timber and shrubs until even the lights so bright far above does not pierce the thickest of the canopy. Here I see a tiny spec of normality; carrion attracts a young fox that has strayed from its mother. I walk past the banquet and realise the young cub feasts upon its own mother. I see her sleeping eyes, her cold dead eyes and spur myself to push onwards. The terrain rises up again and as I leave the protection of the canopy the world flips over on itself again and animals again act strangely. Some comfort is gleaned from the shades and hues that mark my path into the dark and lonely streets I see afar. But they fade quite instantly as I see the smoke billowing from tall oppressive chimneys.

I reach PonyVille and remember how I was shunned. It isn’t through my impeccable memory that I recall this, but through the repeat of the same events. More families, not a Pegasus in sight I might add, avoid me like the plague. I see ponies actively changing their plans in order to stave off having to face the reality that I apparently have lived every day. I wonder back to my empty alleyway, I at least won’t be judged there. I feel as if I am walking along an adverse camber but I am mistaken. I fall onto my side and cough violently. My throat feels like a vessel for a bountiful flow of lava. It spills from my muzzle and melts into the ground before me. I’m in my ‘home’ now, I must’ve crawled here. Through the small gap in my closing eyes I watch the sun sit there in stasis before I fall to sleep.

‘Lost’

Morning lands on me like a tonne of bricks. I heave myself upwards and again approach the alienating streets. I this time head up the opposite direction, maybe I’ll find something better. I walk a while before I am startled by my growling stomach. In my haste to find out details from Applejack I had neglected my hunger. I glance briefly at a passing filly; she has a toffee apple on a stick held loosely in her food. I wouldn’t steel from a child, I however have sustained my stair for too long. A disgruntled parent makes a wall between me and the filly.

“Don’t infect my filly!” He shouts at me.

“I I I’m so sorry” I stutter.

“Keep on walking pegashit! Ruin somepony else’s week”

I hide within myself, his words cut me deep. I raise a hoof to ask for some food from a burdened mother retuning home with some groceries. She quickens her gait and doesn’t even bless me with a fake sorrowful look. My breathing becomes erratic, must be panic setting in. I shy away from the bouts of insulting ponies and put myself back in my place. I head through another alley, only this one is home to another Pegasus. I put a hoof on their withers to garner some attention. She doesn’t stir.

“Umm hello?” I ask, in the same manner as Fluttershy would.

Again, not a sound does she make. I then start to put pieces to together in my head, the puzzle all fits neatly into place. This soot covered, waif of a mare can be no pony other than…

“Fluttershy?”

“…”

Still nothing, I then try something underhoofed.

“I don’t see an angel anymore” I say, tapping a hoof on the concrete.

“Angel?” Fluttershy whispers.

“Oh so you do talk” I scold, moving round to where I can see her face.

“Who are you? I don’t want any trouble”

“It’s me…”

“Brutus…? No I don’t want to do that anymore” she cries, retreating further into herself.

“No it’s me, Rainbow Dash” I say, pointing to myself proudly.

“Do you remember?”

“I can’t” I begin, tears streaming down my face.

“You made promises”

“I didn’t…”

“Empty promises!” she says, spitting something out onto the floor.

“I ca… I can’t remem…”

“Just! Just forget it… its fine” she quietly accepts.

She slumps away and shrugs off the conversation. I pursue her but then cannot follow as she glides up above the thatched rooftops. I try to fly as well but something stops me. I don’t know what. I almost collapse back to an inconvenient slumber when a procession of cornets plays in the town square. I sneak into the background where I am accompanied by the shadows. The assembly all stand with eager ears, something is happening on the stage up front. Two stallions stroll onto the stage… they start…

…Singing.

“What say what a beautiful day dear ol’ brother of mine?” one says.

“I think I’d have to agree with you, it’s incredibly fine”

“Oh dear brother I’m sure these immaculate ponies will agree”

“To what my brother?”

“That we grow the best darn apples in this reality”

“Absitively posilutely, best darn apple in this entire reality” the crowd joins in…

“Oh come along every pony”

“I don’t think they quite get the gist”

“How about it folks”

“Best darn apples to ever exist”

“Forget the apple family, they never cared for you and me” the crow pipes up

“They were just a bunch of liars”

“They made poison of our cider”

“We’ve innovated, experimented”

“We built the working glider”

“And that’s ingenuity…” Flim explodes.

“Cause we…” The carols of voices stop.

A soot-covered Pegasus lands in the middle of the enthralled crowd. The brother sporting the moustache exits the stage and walks up to the injured creature.

“Ah what a bucking shame, fillies and gentle co…” Flam begins.

“Get you slimy hooves away from her” I defend.

“They positively breed like rabbits! How disgusting” he riles the crowd.

“We’re disgusting…?” I begin.

“This whole display is a joke!” Fluttershy yells to my surprise.

“Oh the little fallen rat speaks” Flam says.

“You undercut my friend! You took her farm away from her” Fluttershy continues to contest.

“The farm burnt down. She couldn’t foot the bill” Flim intervenes having left the stage as well.

“So you two just saunter in…”

“We tried to be nice before, even do business with the lowly earth ponies” Flam says.

“If there’s one thing that Pinkie taught me is that we are all the same” Fluttershy says

“Ah yes we are all the same. But some of us are the same in a better way” Flim adds.

“And Pink…”

“Oh and by the by… Your little candy-coloured pal is no longer buried in Flim Flam fields”

“What are they talking about? Why is she…?” I demand.

“Praise the Queen! The guards are here”

“You didn’t answer my question” I plea.

I turn to the point of a spear; it is fashioned from gold and precious stone. The guard doesn’t utter a word as he presses the spear into my chest. Another guard points to Fluttershy and whispers something to Flim.

“He wants to know if you’ll be taking the trash out with you”

I don’t gift him with an answer. I walk to my fallen friend; disgusted faces turning as I walk past them. I place my hoof atop of hers and nuzzle her forelock. She doesn’t move; she doesn’t look into the disapproving gaze of the public. I push my head under her belly and lift her up on my withers. I skulk away, her frail body slipping off of me as I leave. I take her back to where I found her in the alley and leave her propped against the side of a building. She sniffles and grabs onto my tail as I walk away.

“I shouldn’t have… I should have remembered” she regretfully sobs.

“What happened to you?”

“I usually remember, Pinkie made up a rhyme”

“I… I couldn’t fly earlier”

“Oh hello feathered Pegasi on don’t you scream and don’t you dare cry. For your friends will never have to say good bye, as long as you stay out of the sky”

“We’re not allowed to”

“She’ll see us. She hates us”

“Who?”

“You’re the only one that ever met her, Applejack said”

“I’ve gotta go now. I’m starving”

“Boo hoo, I haven’t eaten in weeks”

I feel bad leaving her, but I lied about why I was leaving anyway. Again my stomach could wait; I wanted to see Flim Flam fields…

‘Prophet’

The acres, they ache. The barn is gone, the sheds are gone. Now all I see are factories. The orchards of trees grow in tall expansive greenhouses. The homely hoof written sign is gone as well. What replaces it is a sterile steel construction. I notice a herd of young earth ponies on a guided tour of the ‘fields’. At first glance they are earth ponies, their backs are carpeted with bandages. Some of the bandages become loose on a passing ‘earth pony’ and reveal rows of little bones; all covered in blood. Were wings once attached here? I shudder at the thought of a young Pegasus being robbed of their identity, their birth rite. I consider a second that I could throw on this false guise… Lose myself. Just to be something.

“I heard a screaming as she burned to death…” Applejack confides.

“AJ? What fire?”

“You would not let me save her” she closes her eyes to fight back bouts of tears.

“I already told you…”

“You said we’d have never made it…” she says, looking back up at me.

“What burnt the barn down?” I ask, digging with my hoof in the ashen dirt.

“You really don’t remember this?” she asks, breaking character and crying a little.

“I do…”

“I thought some things might stick in that thick skull of yours”

“I don’t remember anything!”

She allows the revolver to hang from her hoof.

“Take this RD. If you’re going in there kill those bastards”

“I’ve never… I could never…”

“You have and you have to. Please Rainbow Dash. Do me this solid” she begs, thrusting the gun closer than before.

I take the gun and play with the barrel.

“What is this thing?”

“It’s one of the many innovations the brothers have given us”

“But what does it…?”

“One well aimed shot… And all your problems are gone…” she says while imitating the actions required when using it.

I take the gun by the handle and look down the iron sights. When my gaze returns my friend is gone. Was she even there? I look behind me and a leather strap is dangling off of the branch of a tree. I unhook it and wrap the strap around my waist with the buckle it has at one end. The gun fits snugly in the oddly shaped pouch. I spread my wings; they ache as if they have been furled for ages. I leave the ground beneath me and propel myself up above the ‘clean green pastures’ of steel and chrome. As soon as I am airborne a beam of light flashes, only missing my wing by a micrometre. I employ an evasive flying pattern as it becomes clear that something means for us not to fly. I dodge and weave a few more superheated streams until shadows dance above me. A griffin soars above me; it has two great iron contraptions strapped to its back. I hear a whirring cacophony and through some miracle instinct I take cover behind one of the greenhouses. The contraptions start firing heavy rounds of iron through the hydroponics plant that flanks my left. The guns seem to need to time to warm up so I continue my flight path. Soon the griffin overcomes the obstruction but by this point I have hidden myself in one of the intensive trees behind the shattered glass. I see the gormless beak of the fiend sweep past me. I see the yellow of its eyes through the gun sights but wimp out and let it pass. For a moment I thought it had clocked me, maybe it would bring reinforcements. I let myself relax for now. I holster the gun and gently flutter down onto the wire mesh flooring. I hear a thunderous crash and shrapnel flings past me, I duck down in the nick of time as a bumbling bird brain totals a whole line of the Flim Flam Fields production. Its talons narrowly miss digging into the back of my head.

The creature swings around to find me flying upside-down. It rolls back onto its feet and revs up the cannons again. My hoof has snatched the gun from my side before I can tell it to do so. I pull the trigger and a high pitched whistle sounds before a mighty explosion. The griffin drops onto its side, dead. A crater is bored in the tarmac behind me; I flinch as more shadows curse the skies. It flies so close to the ground that the wake throws me towards the freshly made corpse. I drift on my back, staying completely calm I raise my gun to meet another beak. The whistle of steam percolates through the valve system but the explosion does not happen. Another griffin come out of nowhere and sends me into a fit of pirouettes. It is so close that it instead reaches with its talons and grasps at my barrel with them. The gun escapes my grasp in the spin. I see it catapult towards a sea of broken glass and leaving me soon no option but broken bones.  The griffin has me in its clutches. It rams me through what is left of the glass panes. I scream out, for no other reason than shock, it doesn’t feel like anything. I rip a large chunk of glass from my leg and send it gracefully through the griffin’s thigh. I am let go, I forget my own air abilities and hit the ground. The gun tumbles ahead of me; it ricochets across a forecourt full of carts. I ignore the trauma and go after the gun. I feel the warm breath of my pursuer bake my back legs when I finally reach the resting gun. I leap and catch hold of the elevated handle as a squawk sounds behind. I touch back down on my back and fire another steam driven round. I roll to the side to avoid the weighty creature crushing the life out of me. I let the barrel roll until I hear the click before using the fallen griffin as cover. The one legged creature bears down on me. The whirring rings in my ears. Rounds randomly pelt the ground just beyond me but I know he will get an angle on me eventually. I take a peek at the pair of cannons still glued to the back of my ‘living’ sandbag and take note of the thick pressurise canister that rests between the turrets. As the final cretin draws nearer my cover become littered with a hail of bullet. Blood sprays out from the numerous holes but still I hold my ground. I wait; I count down the moments till I am sure he’s close enough. I know the risk but if I do nothing I am most assuredly going to die. I rest the muzzle of the gun over my cover and fire one round into the steam canister. It explodes; the griffin is caught in the explosion.

A high-pitched tone is all I can hear. The first thing that comes into focus is the open barrel loader of the revolver. I crawl over to it on my belly and grab it and as I do another hoof does as well. I look up; it’s Applejack.

“You got two shells left partner. Make ‘em count”

“AJ! Who am I? What am I?”

I look down to prepare the gun and when I look back she is nowhere to be seen. I climb to my hooves. I cannot bear to stand for more than a few seconds; I cling to my barrel and fall back down. During battle I was numbed to any pain but now it came back to bite me again and again. Where the bird had grabbed me it had torn strips out of me. I force myself up and gallop towards the offices governing the field before I am caught and hoof-cuffed by the ground guards I had run in to earlier. I feel something smack against the back of my head and then...

Darkness…

‘Bad seed’

I wake up and see a blurry figure watching me. A row of bars emerge in the foreground. I am exhausted, I feel a warm iron tasting liquid under my tongue. I drop my head and some blood drips from my muzzle.

“Don’t you just love a good dungeon?” the blurred figure giggles.

“I don’t” I say, clearing some more blood from my mouth.

“Because I do, even the ones that don’t exist” she says, failing at holding back her cute laugh.

“Don’t… Exist?”

“You see what I tell you to see” she says, she brings her head through the seemingly impassable bars.

“But…”

“You think I would waste valuable tax bits to keep your kind in my prison?”

“Then where am I” I ask.

The scenery around me dissolves and it lessens my resolve. I take a step forward and find it stuck in the gaping mouth of a dead Pegasus. There are hundreds of them strewn along a dark canyon. I tread carefully between the bodies; I try my best not to mutilate them any further. I look above and see a small bird unable to leave the grave, a shield has been conjured to stop any who might escape. One of the heads in the sea of extremities turns to me. Unlike the empty eyes and cold skin that the others have it radiates warmth and glows. The body pulls itself out of the mass grave with its head hanging tenuously from its broken neck.

“What’s the matter little Dashie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” the puppet asks.

I recoil, this cannot be real.

“Oh but it is real little Dashie… I like to keep all you little annoyances out of the way”

I back away from it. What other word could describe this monstrosity?

“Now where do you think you’re going?” it demands, the glow draining away from it.

“Get away from me!”

I turn away and gallop along the piles of corpses. I feel I am gaining ground when more bodies reanimate and rise to greet me.

“It doesn’t…” one begins as I hurry past it.

“Matter where you” another thing says.

“Go, I’ll always be there…  I will always…” further dead Pegasi chant in unison before I bump into somepony.

“FIND YOU!” it screams.

I shake my head from the collision and examine the last cadaver to speak to me. The shining golden coat, that ferocious mane, the few shreds of material left attached around her hooves… It’s spitfire.

“I bet you had many the restless night thanks to me” the puppet sneers.

“Whu…?”

“You know? Your fantasies about me” it speaks, dragging itself nearer to me.

“I have no idea…”

“You had such a hard on when you thought you found me in that cage”

“What cage? You’re dead”

“Oh Dash” it says tuning its limp rump to me. “You can take me bloody”

I back away and the body is dropped. I hear a fleshy thump behind me. I spin around and another fleshy thump echoes where I was just looking. I see a hoof poking over the top of the canyon, it jiggles slightly. I feel something grab on to my hoof; it’s cold. I look down and see a lifeless hoof draped over me and it shortly joined by another. The more thuds fill the canyon and then I realise what is happening. From over both sides of the canyon falls an avalanche of dispatched Pegasi. I try to get out of the way but there are too many bodies. Soon the weight adds up and I am entombed under them. One more head glows with a dark omen.

“Stay with us little Dashie… It’s more comfortable than a dumb cloud. And you are surrounded by your friends” it ominously says.

I then have almost an electrical shock of a flashback. I am in PonyVille. There is a dogfight raging up above me. I see Soarin. He looks down to me; reality begins to bleed into the fantasy but I still see him between the bodies. He is like a guiding light.

“We’ll die fighting and flying! Not cowering and hiding. This is the revolution Rainbow Dash…”

He plunges his hoof into the torrent and reaches down to me.

“…Join us…”

I feel a sudden burst of energy, a new drive which I so desperately need. I climb up through the mounting toll of bodies until I am free. The shield has been lowered in order to dump the new ‘inmates’ into the hole. I do not fly. I know there must be more of the aerial guards up there. I throw myself at the canyon wall and try to gain purchase on the outcrops and alcoves. A body flops down above my head. I push myself close to the wall and wait for it to be clear again. I continue the ascent from madness and finally summit the climb. I keep low but still it’s hard not to be dumbfounded by the scene around me. Griffins drop more and more corpses either side of the canyon before a team of buffalo push massive scoops to send the dead down to the pit. I weave in and out of the rolling Pegasi; I keep low to the ground. I make very slow progress, the effort is fatiguing and the smell most repulsive. I make it to the base of one of the scoops and am stumped. What now? If I break from the volley of Pegasus corpses they’ll see me for sure. I travel along the line of defence until I see where the forest meets the buffalo line. Then a tired bull lets his head drop down, he might be falling to sleep. I attack this window of opportunity and break into a gallop and head into the trees.

‘No going back’

I return to PonyVille, the canyon I was in was Ghastly Gorge. A few ground guard patrols are already alerted to my presence; they all brandish spears of gold and harbour hatred for me. But what concern is it of mine if they want to chase me with their landlocked hooves? What concern at all are these mud ponies to me. I know I can outfly the griffins, I know that the beams of light aren’t fast enough to catch me. I leave for the skies. I quickly tick the miles off to Flim Flam fields and disperse with the negotiations.

I have no plan, I rarely do. I fetch a rock on the way to the skylight and drop it through into the executive office. I catch only one of the brothers. He is getting friendly with some ditsy earth mare. I clear my throat and the bald-faced stallion turns to me, he is not best pleased with my intrusion. He opens the door and shoves the mare out. I reach under the desk as he approaches me. I locate a cold metal object under the table. I grab hold of it and bring it to my shoulder. It is a gun. How convenient. I point it at him…

“Now we had a bit of a misunderstanding. How about we start of on a better hoof” he says, thinking I will chicken out.

I pull the trigger. Only one remains. I vault the desk and land on a peculiar rug. I rush to the window but vomit before I can reach it. The rug on the floor was Applejack. I can’t leave her here. I didn’t even know she was… Wait I was talking to her… She had given me the gun. She had stolen those apples… Why would I…?

Disjointed thoughts curry for favour in my mind. They will have to wait for now for comes a knocking at the office door. I keep the weapon ready. I put my back to the wall and wait.

“I’m glad you see things my way Miss Mare” he chats.

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t burn the bodies… The smell is rather pungent. What if house prices…?”

“Shut up!” I order.

“Flim?” Flam whines.

“Oh gosh, it’s one of those!” the mare cries in fright.

I shoot Flam through the eye and then grab the Mare by the bob of her mane. I take my hostage out into the hallway. In both directions the way is blocked by royal guards.

“Back off! Else this bitch doesn’t walk out of here!”

None of them move a muscle. I put the gun to the Mare’s head and drag her with me to the door. I pick up the mare and shoot back into the sky. In the flick of an ear I am hovering over the spire of town hall. I can see the griffins hurtling towards me. I plant the witch’s jaw on the sharpest point and run her down to the roof of the building below. The spire threads through her head. I look out to the starving members of my race and declare.

“We will return to the sky!”