Rainbow Dash's hooves echoed through the long hallway as she came upon the flickering torchlight. The sign to the infirmary was obscured by blood and burn marks. Huge gashes lay open in the rock, framed by vicious claw marks and loose dragon teeth. The entrance to the claustrophobic hovel was partially collapsed.
Ducking through, Rainbow got a good sight of the tattered remains of canvas curtains. Beds lay in crumbled splinters and surgical utensils littered the far corners.
“Swirls?!” Rainbow called out, panting, gazing left and right across the smashed chamber. “Swirls, say something! Are you in one piece?!” She trotted down the aisles of crushed beds, eying every square inch of the place. “Please! I just gotta know that you're okay—”
She froze upon hearing a sobbing stallion's voice. Squinting, she rounded a cluster of debris and looked into the corner.
Zetta was lying on all fours, clutching his face as the tears squeezed past the grip of his hooves. His whole body shook as he faced the wall and howled in agony. Strolling past him, Rainbow approached the form of Swirls. The mare was alive, and yet dead-still. She cradled something in her grasp.
“Swirls!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her breath leaving her in a gasp as she smiled briefly. “You're okay! Please, tell me. What happened here—?” There was a crunching sound, and she froze. Rainbow Dash glanced down.
A shattered pair of goggles lay beneath her limbs, burnt and stained in blood.
With quivering lips, Rainbow Dash looked up.
Swirls turned slowly and gazed at her, deadpan, her face plastered with half-dried tears. She lowered her face and nuzzled the limp little body in her forelimbs.
The air kicked up as a set of hooves galloped to a stop beside Rainbow Dash.
“Swirls!” Ember Speak stammered, catching her breath. “What happened? Did you—?” She caught one glance of the colt in Swirls' grasp. Her face contorted in shock, then instantly melted. Something indecipherable came out of her lips as she knelt beside the mare and brushed a hoof across Lime Tech's mane, only for the foal to give no response. She bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut, heaving and hiccuping. Swirls leaned over, and Ember helplessly buried her face in the pony's shoulder, sobbing in muffled little wails, adding to the mournful chorus Zetta had started.
Rainbow Dash stumbled back and fell on her haunches, gazing into the rubble-strewn floor as the echoes of agony formed a dull vibration around her, tugging at her already frayed consciousness in the diseased heart of Sanctuary.
Aww, dang it. I really liked the little guy...
Nooo...poor Limey...
A quite powerful trio of chapters, clever hiding that flashback behind 2 chapters of aftermath.
And it appears to be far from over.
—
Speaking of that chapter:
If any of you had any doubt about Discord, this and Dash's bloody head last chapter (escaping horns) should put those doubts to rest. We can glean from these few sentences that Dash was from "Cloudsdale" only to come upon the ashes of her five friends as they attempted to face Discord the first time, presumably with Spike as "The New Rainbow Dash." Spike's survival I would attribute to being a dragon and thus immune from flame(?)
Ponyville and Discord
This is what leads me to believe the AU this takes place in splits at the point where Twilight attempted to take down Discord without Rainbow Dash. Instead of laughing in their face, Discord decided to remove the threat.
Of course the subtext here is overwhelming as well, 91 words to nearly completely understand Dash's motivations throughout the entire story. Not bad.
Have some blues.
Sloe Gin - Joe Bonamassa
Lime Tech! No!
I... I... AUGH.
So many feels in this triple play.
oh damn it...
dragons needed to die in that place!
Crap. I knew it was gonna happen. Why, Limey, why? Kay, so new plan. Mama Dragon and Discord need to fight to the death, and then the winner gets the really convoluted, drawn out, random death I described in a comment near the start. I'm pretty sure it involved being turned into a statue, crushed into dust and being sent to the moon. And man, you're really churning out the chapters, aren't you?
Might wanna add that "Dark" tag to this story IC.
Buh... Wuh... I... You... Just... Why?!
I literally have tears welling up in my eyes.
Incorrect application of verb "strolled". Seriously. What the hay?
Ahhh, I should have guessed... dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Vinyl_sad.png
Aww hell... Lime Tech...
CC DAMMIT WHY CANT WE BE GRACED WITH YOUR DIALOUGE AT TIMES LIKE THIS!!!
FEELS
IIIIIt's Dashie's Eighth Marathon Evaluation Time!
This chapter...the feels...I may be exaggerating, but the sheer amount of emotion displayed by the Silvadelians in this chapter over Limey is reminiscent of My Little Dashie. It's just so depressing...this arc is seriously dark. Seriously. I mean, killing a colt? A FOAL? Jeez...and yet I find it so beautiful. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. N...no...I've been with this fanfic for so long...I don't want it to end...
IC you bastard. You emotionally invested us with this lovable young boy, then ya kill him. You had to kill him.
"you had to kill him, the boy boy cries you a sweater of tears, and you kill him. how are you going to live with yourself?"
in short... ahem... WHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!
Someone go get Belgarion. He could fix this.
This is Australia...
Fuck this is heavy stuff. I feel bad that all my comments are just sayng the same thing, but there is little else to say.
Fuck this is heavy stuff. I feel bad that all my comments are just suing the same thing, but there is little else to say.
...
...
oh Lime...poor little Lime...
Is it bad I'm not crying right now?
For some odd reason, this didn't really incite feels in me. Maybe I'm just heartless, I'unno.
Rainbow Dash, even you can't save everyone.
Aaand there they go. I'm all out of feels, I used them up. Now there's just the cold detached need to see this to the end. After that... the next story might have to wait a while, I need a breather.
Well, holy crap, I'm 16 just found out my girlfriend is pregnant, and so this really fucking hit me hard, I'm trying my damdest to do good for her and our baby, but I'm just a kid you know, the heck am I supposed to do if shit goes down and I lose her or my kid?
But yea, great chapter, definitely the most memorable for me so far, the tone and mood if exceptionally done,I could literally feel the misery seeping out of the words, such desolation gives me the chills.
~The Dinkster
6876346
The hell are you doing messing around at 16?
But its good that your taking responsibility
Well, shit.
Odd. This isn't really affecting me.
The second I saw lime I went full Mr Popo.
But.
This season.
You.
Heh.
Sometimes... You just know a dead man walking when you see one.
3:03 a.m.
It's too late to be reading something as heartwrenching as this.
But... I...
Must keep reading... For Rainbow... For Lime Tech...
Oh god...
No! Please don't do what I think you're gonna do! Not Limey! He's too young to die!
Damn it, IC! Stahp playing with my emotions!
Rest in peace Lime Tech. You will be missed.
Buck diplomacy, I want the dragons dead. I want 'em fried by Death Water, stat!
10'000'000 credits for certain dragon's head. every minute I'll deduce one credit from the sum.
Wow
Ever closer to the edge, to Chaos, and ever darker the world gets. It's like the
So that's what Axan meant. Of course. It makes sense now. Maybe.
I knew that it was too good to be true. Any creature that just let her children spend the last hundred or so years crucifying and burning ponies for a laugh was never going to give a damn about the opinions of some pony princesses.