Ashes and Dust

Sleeping in the Ice Cellar was an experience in a frozen hell. The ice didn't melt no matter how long you laid on it, and was in uneven sheets that formed sharp cracks at the edges. The scraps of clothing, which were more like dirty rags, were my only bedding. They stank of the sweat, urine, and even blood of whatever poor soul had been here before me. But as horrible as trying to fall asleep was, waking up was worse. The aches and pains in my back, neck, and wings were awful - I'd felt better after sleeping on a pile of rocks. I stretched for a bit, hearing cracks at every turn of my back or extension of my wings. I wanted more than anything to take to the air to give my wings a proper work out, but the cellar was cramped, I couldn't get more than three feet off the ground before I hit the ceiling.

How did I get myself into this mess? I was stuck in tight quarters with a bunch of ponies that wanted me dead as we all slowly froze to death underground, I likely had several broken ribs after being kicked in the chest by Braeburn, and to top it all off I'm hearing the voice of a dead goddess in my head making me question my sanity. If Discord did survive Canterlot, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was the cause of all this. Maybe the bastard found it funny to torture me after I took away the only friend he ever had. It sounded just like him to separate me from my friends, putting me in a hopeless situation while the world burns around me, and then mess with my mind as he watches every second with that smug grin on his stupid face. No, these thoughts aren't getting me anywhere, I'm just being paranoid. It's a new day and I’m not just going to sit around doing nothing, but first I need something to eat.

I walked over towards the grate in the ceiling and joined a cue. Braeburn and his two cronies were in front giving me dirty glares as they took their shares of food. Once my turn finally arrived I witnessed the grate slide open to lower a small bucket with a few cardboard boxes within. I took one and stepped aside. Lucky proceeded to get his share and walked over to me before gesturing back to his area. The two of us walked back to where his bedding was and I slowly sat down to eat, careful not to reopen the wound that the doc had just stitched up the night before.

As I was about to start eating I noticed Lucky had remained standing and was staring at me expectantly. I scrunched my face, but handed him the box containing my meal nonetheless. He opened the box of food and pulled out one of the three pieces of bread, then gave the rest back. His share.

I certainly wasn’t happy about him taking my food, but it earned me his friendship and I needed that above all else.

I had spent all of last night after our previous conversation thinking about what he said. How are we going to get out of here? Like Lucky mentioned, I had a mission and there was no way I was staying down here any longer than necessary. The sad truth was there were only two possible exits, the locked hatch we came in from, and the hole in the corner of the room that leads to who knows where. The latter of which was only a theoretical exit, but if it did end up leading out of this place it would be the last thing the “princess” or her guards would be expecting.

I tried asking the doctor, Stitches, to give me some more info about the Ice Cellar; but he generally avoided the subject all together. Instead he only commented on his sewing capabilities and at one point trying to give me a lesson on conceptual thermodynamics. He was completely, and possibly intentionally, unhelpful. I tried to get back on the topic of possible escape only for him to go into detail on how to sew together an airtight suit and how heat can be conserved. He then went off on some tangent about his life before he was captured which I wasn't really listening to. The old stallion would randomly start up a conversation on some completely irrelevant topic whenever we talked for any extended period of time, which annoyed me to no end.

I started to ask why he wouldn't just be straight with me and help us form a plan to escape when he suddenly interrupted me with a frightened look in his eyes.

“Quiet child! They are always listening to us. You are never alone.” He croaked quietly and uncertainly, eyes darting about.

I nodded and walked away, unsure whether he was paranoid or right, but regardless he had given me an idea. Piecing together the information from our previous conversation I realized that the old stallion had a plan all along, but he needed my help to achieve it. I went over to Lucky, wanting to be certain of a few things.

"How does a pony become number one around here? Has Braeburn just been here longer than anyone else?"

He looked back at me curiously. "Well, with ol' applebutt over there, they don't. He could crush a pony’s spine in two if he had the inclination to. But hypothetically, you get it by killing him or forcing him to give it to you. Pretty shit system if you ask me, no democracy. The strongest on top instead of the smartest. Braeburn choked out Gorge the day he got in here from what I’ve been told. Since then nobody's been stupid enough to try to take the position from him."

Lucky recoiled a bit and put his hooves to his head.

“Uuggh ”

I stood in front of him concernedly. “Lucky? What’s wrong?”

He rolled over. “It's nothing you need to worry about, just a headache, I'll be fine.”

I gave an unamused glare before continuing. “Well you don't look fine, what are you not telling me?”

He groaned. “None of your concern, just get this conversation over with.”

"Fine, whatever. I’ll cut to the chase. If someone new became number one, what would happen to the number two and three?"

He cocked his head. "Well the number one appoints his followers, so I’d imagine the new number one would just pick and choose.”

I smirked. It just might work. "And the top three get the blankets right?"

He nodded.

"The water-proof blankets? That are each almost the size of a pony?"

He deadpanned. "I know what you're thinking, and I just want you to know that you’re completely insane. If you even attempt to try it you'd be dead for sure.”

I stared at him for a moment. "Listen Lucky, over the past week I managed to abandon the only friends I had remaining in this world, one of which is a mare that I’m fairly sure is into me, killed a few million ponies, and have probably doomed Equestria. I don’t really feel like sitting here until I die.” Don’t mind the fact that I'm now ageless, he doesn’t need to know that. “I'm going to try and get out of here. Are you going to help me or not?” I turned around and started to trot away from him.

He stood up slowly, rolling his eyes and muttering, "Fucking mares are always crazy. Why the blankets? Can't we have a sensible way out? Like asking nicely? Maybe we give him an extra loaf of bread?"

“You wanted me to come up with a plan. You didn’t ask for a good one.” Not that I would’ve come up with one of those anyways – that’s Twilight’s department. Twilight…

“I’ll make a note of that for the future.” He followed me for a moment before realizing our destination. "Wait, you're doing this now? Shouldn't you train or something? And your ribs are still fucked up, at least wait until you've healed!"

"That would take too long, I might as well do it right now. The longer we wait, the more of the surface dies waiting for us. I have to stop making the mistake of considering my friends only after I make a decision. Twilight might murder half the country if I’m not there to stop her.”

He groaned miserably. “Well if you want a bit of a pointer, don’t get bucked by his back hooves. This time you likely won't be getting back up.”

We began to walk towards Braeburn, hoping there was some way we could resolve this whole ordeal peacefully. And without me needing to get kicked across the room again. He was sitting quietly in his territory playing cards with a couple of the other inmates, how they managed to get the pack of cards down here was a complete mystery to me. I got my first good look at his face as he turned towards me with a murderous gaze.

"Hey Braeburn."

He stood. And with him stood all the weight of his dead relatives. The vast majority of them were most likely dead, and it was easily visible how it had affected him. His eyes were heavy and dark. His orange coat now suffered from scratches and areas where the fur had matted – either from blood or tears it was impossible to tell. Back when I had first met Braeburn he couldn't be seen without a beaming smile plastered on his face as he talked a million words a minute about the great town of Appleoosa. Now that happy-go-lucky demeanor was nowhere to be found, instead once he noticed my presence he lurched forward with a restrained anger fueled by sadness. A short growl escaped his lips before he spoke.

"Hello you traitorous bitch. What the hell is she doing over here Lucky?"

Lucky shrugged. "Something stupid I'd bet." Nice to know that I had his support.

I would try to appeal to his rational mind first, I owed Applejack that. "Braeburn, I need to get out of here. There are ponies up there who are trying to fight back against the abomination that is destroying our world, and I have to help them. I need to get out of here. In order to do that I need either to get all three blankets from you and your buddies, or to be number one. I'm asking nicely Braeburn, and I’m being perfectly honest with you. Please."

Braeburn's eyes scrutinized my every facet. He searched for some fallacy in my story. It took minutes of dead silence as the rest of the inhabitants of the Ice Cellar gathered around at the sight of me talking to Braeburn.

"No."

I looked at him sadly. “Why?”

He chuckled darkly. “Don’t get me wrong, I believe you. But without anypony left in the Apple family, why should I care about the world. It means nothing to me, so let it burn.”

My eyes lowered. This is definitely not how I wanted this confrontation to go down. Beating the muscly stallion on a good day would be a difficult task, but now I'd be fighting without being able to maneuver through the air and with a broken rib .

I glared at him with every ounce of confidence and bravado I could muster, which in all honesty was a considerable amount. "Then I'll fight you for it."

The silence in the room went from very quiet to a deafening emptiness. Until Lucky spoke.

"Cool. Hoof-to-hoof combat to the death or submission. This ought to end well." He turned to me and smiled. "It was nice meeting you. Shame you had to go and get yourself killed so soon." Then he trotted to the edge of the circle of ponies.

Braeburn simply laughed. "Really? Fine then. Bring your best."

He stretched his legs, muscle evident in the rear legs that he used to buck trees with. Then he grinned maliciously, some of his teeth chipped in such a way that they ended in points. I had several things that I needed to watch out for in my opponent, and quickly concluded one thing.

This was going to be painful.

I approached him slowly, swaying like a panther. He didn’t wait for my approach however. His legs tensed as he ran at me, full gallop, with his head down. I narrowly dodged his advance, his momentum carrying him another few feet before he skidded to a halt. He turned.

"I'm going to get you sooner or later. If you surrender now I might only break most of your bones." He ran forward, but slower, seeking to get closer and probably kick me into a wall. I backed up and began looking around. There was no way I was beating him like this, maybe I could trick him into running into a wall? No, he would see it coming. Maybe...

Then he was on me. He swung his hoof through the air, and I moved my head to dodge. He swung the other and it made contact. The cut on my lip reopened, and blood spurted outwards. I was pushed backwards on the ice and I almost fell flat on my face as I attempted to regain traction on the icy ground. I swung a hoof, aiming for his nose, when he shoved me again with his head. I went off balance, and before I could reassert my defense, he bit into my side, picked me up with sheer strength, and tossed me across the room. I slid several feet on my side, a long trail of blood following me from the bite, and I even felt the stinging, white hot pain of the broken rib poking through the wound again.

I crawled away, getting slightly dizzy from the pain and loss of blood. I needed something! Maybe if I got in the water it would help? Help me die, maybe. The temperature of the water was surely dozens below the ambient temperature within the room.

Reasoning with him was over. I had quickly picked a fight I could not win, and just as quickly failed. Lucky didn't look like he would be much help. I crawled closer to the water, feeling it almost draw me in. It was the only thing in the Ice Cellar that was different, it was strangely comforting. There must be some way to win. It couldn’t just end like this. The elements always came out on top, no matter the odds.

I was at the edge of the pool.

The dark blue water invited me into its incalculable depths. The ripples around the small hole in the ice gurgled quietly. I almost dove in right then and there, it was just so enticing. The reflection of the water showed a scared filly with blood dripping down her jaw. It showed a failure.

Then there was a hoof pressing down on my side painfully. The pressure caused a spike of agony throughout my body and I groaned in pain. Braeburn pressed harder into my wound until I could feel his hoof inside the cut and I twitched uncontrollably. I tried to think of how to get out of the situation, but all my mind came up with was pain.

"Some fight bitch.” I could hear him jeer. “Shall I give her a watery grave my fellow inbred convicts?"

There was some yelling, and I could see blood dripping off of my body and down into the hole. It tinted the water a light red. The pain receded somewhat before I was pushed into the hole, the water getting closer and closer until I was set on fire.

At least, it felt that way. Immediate contact with the water caused all my nerves to burn ferociously, telling my brain that everything was in severe pain. I had little strength to move. The weightlessness and icy cold paralyzed me for the most part. I twisted my neck slightly in a vain attempt to search for the hole I had fallen from, but everything was just black and blue under the water. I looked around for a way out, but there was nothing. So I sank, my lungs beginning to struggle. I tried to swim, but my wings dragged me down.

The edge of my vision faded to black as I hopelessly raged against the injustice and ill fate. I swore into the darkness before I finally lost consciousness.

It was almost as if I had melted from the real world to my inner thoughts. I thought here there would be peace for a moment before my death, but life wasn't done with me.

The chamber of my memories shook violently as a black aura enveloped the outer walls. I stared with fear as black death fought its way into my soul. A blast of blue light vanquished some of the black, before it returned once more. I turned to the source.

Luna was casting spell after spell to ward off the inevitable. Finally she cast a shield around a few baubles and the two of us before stopping to recover. The black death covered the shield instantly. I trotted next to Luna.

“So this is how it ends.”

Luna silently looked at me. “No, ‘Tia would be most disappointed in me if I gave up now. Nothing will work unless you survive this. I just need to think…”

I sat down. It was strangely calming, being able to sit and realize that you are dying. There was nothing I could do and it was just time to accept it. “Thanks for helping me Luna, but we just aren’t meant to win this one. This isn’t our fight anymore, we lost. I hate losing, but eventually it happens to the best of us. To think that I’ll die a virgin.”

Luna looked as though she wished to smite me. “How can you think about that at a time like this? Why are you giving up now? Just because life has challenged you you're going to roll over? I was told you were one of the finest ponies in all of Equestria, a pony who would never leave behind her friends or country. Was I misinformed?”

I chuckled quietly. “I’d like to say you weren’t, but you probably were. I am pretty great, but I’m just Rainbow Dash. Faster than most pegasi, definitely way cooler, but I'm not really a hero. I wasn’t cut out for this kinda stuff.”

“You have a quality within you that makes you qualified. You are an element of harmony. A paragon of your given virtue.”

I looked down as the shield shrank a bit. “Not anymore. My actions literally cracked the thing.”

Luna frowned at this. “Impossible. The elements are indestructible by any means.”

I matched her expression. “Really? Then… not that it matters anymore. I’m dead.”

“Why are you not seeking ways for you to survive this? You cannot allow yourself to be defeated here when you were meant for such greatness!”

I shook my head. "You're right. It's not fine and I'm fucking pissed. But there isn't anything you or I can do about it. Might as well deal with it.” I sighed.

“Twilight and Lyra will figure it out. I'm honored you would shield me like this, but I don’t have the kind of power you do. I don’t really have anything to contribute here.”

She stood and looked at me intently. "What was that you said?"

"I'm honored..."

"No not that, the later part."

"I have nothing to contribute?"

“No Rainbow, the middle part.”

“I don’t have any power? Where are you going with this?”

Luna’s face dawned in realization. "I...I can do something."

I tried to think of what she had thought of given that prompt but came up with nothing. “What? Are you referring to keeping me from dying or the part where I said I was going to die a virgin, because both seem equally insane at the moment.” I asked hurriedly.

She started to cast a spell. “I am giving you everything you need to survive. A substantial amount of power within your body facilitating the immortal strength within you should allow you to survive. I am giving you all the power I can.”

Her horn began to shine brightly as she stood. Her beautiful mane flowed powerfully behind her. Her smile grew as she turned to the darkness.

The entirety of her body began to glow like her horn. It grew brighter and brighter. Soon flakes of her began to shed into light and pure energy. She grew smaller as the spell continued and the light became too bright for me to see her.

“Wait, Luna! What's going on?”

The energy flowed into the cracked shield around us and it shone with the intensity of the sun. It burst outwards, expunging the darkness from my mind.

"Luna! Luna!" I screamed. My voice grew hoarse and I kept yelling. Eventually my voice gave out and I sat down. Looking up I could see a small bauble float in front of me, one of me talking to Luna in my mind. I looked closely and a few phrases leaped out.

"Only your thoughts and memories, but I am far more attentive to them than you are."

"The answers you seek are ones within you."

"Memories. Enter them and find what you already know."

I moved back as I could feel the chamber collapsing around me. It blurring back into non-existence. I could see a unicorn mare laying upon the ground but before I could see if she was hurt the mindscape collapsed completely.

Then I was submerged in water, but the cold was gone. My strength felt renewed. I swam straight up, finding that I could hold my breath much longer than before, and that swimming upwards was much easier than it had been. The hole had to be there. But I wasn't looking for the hole, not exactly, I was looking for a little bit of green.

I found it, Lucky looking down into the water worriedly before his eyes opened wide as he saw me swimming back up. He moved away.

My injury was gone. Ribs healed. Luna's efforts would not be in vain. I swam higher and higher.

I broke the surface with a resounding splash as my eyes madly latched onto the first appearance of orange. I reached out and pulled him back into the depths with my hooves, Braeburn flailing madly from surprise. I smacked his face under the water, once, twice, three times. My hooves hit him like bricks and caused his jaw to dislocate. We tussled, but he was bleeding and started to breathe in water. I could feel him lessen his efforts.

He tried to grab me and pull me down with him but his grip was weakening by the second and his eyes bulged as he began drowning. I held him for just a moment and his eyes gave me a flash of hope before I shoved him off of me and watched. He reached out with one hoof as his blood became a swirling cloud of red around us. I almost reached out and helped him.

Instead I let him sink. I let him die.

I broke the surface once more. Standing tall I looked over the others of the Ice Cellar. Lucky ran over to me with Braeburn's blanket saying things like, "I believe that Celestia still lives, I really do," and, "You are the most delightful mad person I have ever met." I vomited. It sloshed onto the ice and dripped into the hole. I had just killed someone. I was only gonna make him submit, what made me go all the way? Why shouldn't I have killed him? He fucking deserved it.

Wait, what? I couldn't contemplate that thought long because Lucky was waiting on a response. I faked some bravado and smirked.

"I thought you lost some faith in me back there?"

His facial expression faded from a smile to a smirk like mine. "'Course not. You’re my buddy, eh? Let's get you warmed up. You are fucking crazy." He walked me over to where Braeburn would never sit again.

He laid me down in my new pile of bedding, under the hatch. I looked up at him with smile. "It worked, didn't it?" I was a murderer.

He shook his head. "I thought you‘d died. Scared the living daylights out of me when I saw you swimming right back up. Crazy. Crazy crazy crazy..." He muttered under his breath jokingly as he trotted over to his bedding.

I smiled and tears started streaming down my face. Luna gave me all of her strength, and I used it to murder. Celestia would be proud.