The Blank Flank Adventurer

by Sapare

Nothing to Fear

Chapter 7: Nothing To Fear

Why do I feel so strange? I do not recall this place and there doesn't seem to be one of the Elements close by either. So why was I led here? And why does it feel like something is missing... Not something, somepony! Where is Rainbow Dash?!

Dream Feather was once again lost in the Everfree Forest. The trance that he fell into while following that guiding light had allowed him to distance himself from the scene of his violence. He couldn't tell how long he been walking or how far he had travelled. Not that it mattered much at this point, as his mind was set on the fact that his only ally seemed to be missing. His surroundings offered no hints to Rainbow Dash's possible location.

Maybe after what I did to Applejack, she decided she didn't want to help me anymore...

A voice that was quickly growing all too familiar to Dream Feather filled his mind, distracting him from his brooding thoughts.

"First you plot to betray me and then you foolishly force my hoof. Did you expect your actions to go unpunished? Do not tell me that you have already forgotten who holds all the cards in this game? You should be glad that I have been generous enough to spare your life in spite of your defiance. It's unfortunate that your companion had to pay the price for you instead."

The poor pegasus gave an involuntary twitch as those words seemed to cut through his mind. Images of a broken and mangled Rainbow Dash danced at the edge of his vision as he shook like a leaf in the wind.

Calm yourself Dream Feather! He must be bluffing. Even if he intends to kill Twilight somehow, he's gone out of his way to capture or neutralize every one of the Elements that he can. There's no way he'd kill Dash now just to get back at me. I am little more than a pawn to him. It is hardly worth upsetting his own plan just to punish a pawn. Following that reasoning she must be more or less safe, even if that means that she has also been captured or whatever it is he's doing with the other Elements. This is the perfect opportunity to find out if he can actually read my mind.

Dream Feather allowed his trembling legs to deposit him on the ground, as tears welled up in his eyes. He screamed loud enough to make his throat feel hoarse, "You horrible monster! We had a deal, and you broke it! Everything I did was to protect her. And now you have stolen her life away, just like that? You are a fool. You have taken away my only reason to do your bidding!"

The pegasus was glad that his tears and anger were real, he was never the best at acting. From what he recalled of similar situations in some of the fantasy books he'd read, his response felt suitably dramatic. He was forced to reasses his assumption when he felt the cold touch of sharp metal against his neck. For a moment, he wondered if he had overplayed his point and the villian no longer considered him useful. But if that was true, then he would already be dead.

"Have you forgotten that you still have one life to protect? She died in your stead and now you seek to throw away the time that her death bought you? Keep in mind that you were mere strangers when this began. Your life will be the same once this is over, her death will have no impact upon you. Do you understand my words? Or are you a fool as well as a coward?"

He will not kill me, he still needs me for... something. Just like he needs the Elements of Harmony. I have to keep going, there is still time to fix this. Dash needs my help now more than ever. And now I know that even if he can read thoughts, he cannot do it all the time.

Dream Feather's tears flowed freely while he lay on the ground. Hopefully some sobbing would be enough to convince the malevolent pony that he was afraid for his life. After a few moments, he took a breath and regained enough of his composure to speak.

"I don't want to die. You are right, there is no use throwing my life away now. But you really shouldn't have... Killed Rainbow Dash, I needed her help. And as long as she was loyal to me that meant she was loyal to you."

Silence filled the forest. Dream Feather couldn't help but wonder if his ruse had been discovered. He found it hard to believe that he would be able to deceive a master of illusions. A distant glimmer shone through the trees, pulling him from his doubts and filling him with relief.

"Your loyalty to me was never greater than your loyalty to her. That could not be allowed. Now go, find the others and take care to remember the price of failure. You only have one life left to lose and I shall not ignore any further foolishness."

It didn't matter to Dream Feather what the voice was saying. The would-be writer now knew for certain that the mysterious villain wasn't actually reading his mind. He had lied to the liar and gotten away with it. Dream Feather's hope now lay solely with the Elements, or more specifically, Twilight Sparkle. If any pony had a chance of defeating this villian then it was the magically gifted unicorn.

With that thought grapsed tightly, he followed the strange light again. His mind swiftly slipped into the same strange stupor that the villain's spell always seemed to induce. When his awareness returned, he was staring at a very sad looking pink earth pony. Dream Feather could swear that her hair used to be more lively and her depression seemed almost unnatural. The forest looked darker and even the air felt somehow heavier. Making sure not to startle her, he spoke in his softest, calmest voice.

"Pinkie Pie? Are you alright? I finally found-" He stopped speaking when the poor pony let out a pitiful sob. Dream Feather just stood there awkwardly. He had no experience comforting crying mares and the strangely tense atmosphere was seeting his nerves on fire. The silence was broken when Pinkie Pie slowly raised her head and spoke in a broken voice, staring directly the pegasus even though she seemed to take no notice of him.

"All of them are gone. Friends don't abandon each other. Friends don't betray one another. They don't want to be my friends..."

The whole scene gave off an awful, almost sickly feeling vibe. The distressed pony seemed like a completely different mare from the cheery one he had met before. And the things she was saying didn't make much sense either. He couldn't understand why she would make such strange assumptions after being separated from her friends.

"They have not abandoned you Pinkie Pie. All of you were scattered throughout the forest. If you just come with me then I can help-" He tried his best to point out the truth of what happened, but it didn't seem like she was listening to him at all. His suggestion that she accompany him certainly got a reaction though.

"Dashie ran away from us... We were lured into a trap! And she looked so scared. You were there... YOU made her do that!" Pinkie's accusation made him flinch. While he hadn't been intentionally helping the villain when those creatures attacked, it was still likely that he was being used without his knowledge. And after that, he had started working for that awful pony and luring the mares into traps.

Before he could dwell upon his feelings of guilt, the earth pony suddenly leapt forward and tackled him. Her eyes were filled with rage as she pushed him against the ground. Dream Feather's back ached from being shoved against the protruding root of a nearby tree while Pinkie's slammed her forelegs into him repeatedly. Desperate to get her off of himself, the stallion struck out with one of his hooves. While the strike did connect, it didn't seem to faze the seemingly insane pink pony in the slightest. He tried to raise his other hoof to protect himself from her attacks, but she simply changed tactics. She dropped the entirety of her weight upon him, trapping him between her and the ground.

"Trying to hurt me like you hurt Dashie?! You took away my friends! Give them back or I'll take something away from you!"

At this point Dream Feather began to understand the likely cause of her instability. That mysterious pony's mind magics could make him feel and see things that weren't real. That magic made one of the bravest ponies he'd ever met terrified of her best friends. This was what magic like that could do to a lonely pony afraid of losing her friends. The realization did little to help with his current situation. He was having trouble breathing, earth ponies were generally tougher and sturdier than pegasi, and he wasn't exactly the strongest pegasus out there. If he couldn't convince Pinkie to calm down soon, he might actually suffocate under her weight.

"Please don't hurt me! Dash is safe and your friends are unhurt. I am here to help you find them!" Dream Feather would have continued to plead his innocence, but his last shout had taken too much of his air and he was beginning to feel lightheaded. She wasn't listening to his pleas anyway, she just grinned at him maliciously.

"How does it feel to be crushed by your guilt and your fears? I couldn't stop them from being taken away, but I won't let that happen again. Tell me where they are!" With this Pinkie Pie finally rolled off of him, but before he could fully recover she brought her legs down on his wings, pinning them to the forest floor. Dream Feather could see that it might be possible for him to use his now free legs to knock her to the side, but he wasn't sure that his blow would have enough force to do so before she could ruin one of his wings. He decided that it was better to take the time to fill his lungs with air and think things through.

Where in the world is that unicorn? He can't just let me die out here! I mean... he needs me, right? I don't want to get killed, least of all by one of the Elements of Harmony driven mad by the loss of her friends. I have to get my wings free, they are my only advantage.

The words that he spoke were not the ones that he had intended, but something about the mare's stare seemed to force the truth out of him."I do not know where they are. I am as lost and afraid as you are. Look at me! I lost Dash and without her I can't do anything correctly! I can't even talk to the Elements of Harmony without them assaulting me... How am I supposed to save her now?"

His glare contained the strange mixture of frustration and despair that seemed to consume his entire being. Pinkie seemed confused and stunned by his outburst. She lifted one of hooves and for a moment Dream Feather wondered if she was going to let him go, but then she suddenly brought her hoof back down. The loud snapping sound echod throughout the forest, followed shortly by his screams as the pain began to register. He kicked his hooves out as hard as he could, angry and franctic. The strikes connected with Pinkie and threw her back just enough for him to roll out from underneath her. This caused the pain from his wing to intensify as it dragged across the ground. Thankfully, his adrenaline kicked in, allowing him to ignore the pain long enough to stand up.

Dream Feather looked over at the earth pony as she recovered from his attack. He could tell that she was ready and willing to continue the fight. Between the pain from his wing and the complete lack of damage caused by his own attack, it seemed obvious that he didn't stand a chance.

I could always try to run. Even as energetic as she was before, she did not seem like the athletic type, but then again I am hardly a pinnacle of athleticism. And with my wing... Broken... I wish I had more experience with this sort of thing. Well, what would Dash do?

It was no surprise that he looked towards Rainbow Dash as an example. Until recently, she was the only pony he had on his side. He respected her and she had even been dealing with wings that were in much worse condition than his was. So when Pinkie Pie rushed towards him, he did what he thought the brash pegasus would have done. He fought.

Dream Feather jumped and lashed out with his front right hoof, just as the pink mare reared back and kicked out with her own. His attack struck true and made a loud noise as it slammed into the side of her head, but at the same time he felt her hoof collide with his other front leg. The surprising force behind the blow made it clear that he was lucky it had hit his leg, rather than his head. Still, he wasn't lucky enough. Pinkie's attack had done serious damage, as was made evident when he stumbled upon landing and found that trying to support his weight with that hoof caused him almost as much pain as the aching from his ruined wing. As he brought his gaze back to the mare, he found that his luck was even better than he'd expected. There was blood running down her cheek and she looked like she might fall over at any moment.

The pegasus wondered how it was possible that a weakling like him had hurt a pony so much with a single blow, but his musings were interrupted as the rush of adrenaline wore off and the pain from his injuries seemed to triple in intensity. The agony tore a noise from his throat, halfway between a whine and a growl. He peered at Pinkie's shaken form. He knew that this was his best opportunity to end the fight, with how dazed she looked he could probably knock her out with just one more hit. As he considered his options, the voice of his real enemy rang inside his head, doing nothing to lessen the pain he felt.

"Don't tell me you're thinking about sparing her? She's trying to kill you. And we've already discussed the consequences of failure, haven't we?"

Dream Feather gave an involuntary twitch as the words sounded clearly in his mind, inspite of the haze of torment that seemed to obscure everything else. The reminder was enough to stir up his memories of Rainbow Dash. He had to save her. He had to fix everything. The stallion regained his senses just in time to receive a pink hoof to his head. The sudden strike made him black out for just a moment as he collapsed onto the ground. By the time he was aware again, Pinkie was once more towering over his prone form.

I wasted my chance and did not attack her and THIS is how she repays me? That damned monster was right. If I fail now it won't just be my life which is forfeit. I swore I'd protect Dash and I meant it. No holding back or we'll both die. And Twilight Sparkle and the others too probably.

With his resolve steeled, he began flailing all three of his good legs in a desperate attempt to get the mare away from him. It seemed that his earlier luck held true, her head wound was severe enough that she couldn't focus to defend herself. She managed to fight back with her own powerful blows, but she wasn't capable of keeping up with his frenzied attacks. His strikes earned him enough room to breathe, but Dream Feather didn't even consider stopping his assault as the mare backed away from him. He couldn't afford to give her another chance to recover her wits. This time, he followed after her, stumbling to his hooves and slamming her into ground. The pain from his own wounds screamed at him, but it only fueled his anger as he struck her again and again, ceaselessly raining attacks down upon her bloodied body.

Suddenly his mind and body froze, as the screams of a very familiar voice cut through the shroud of pain, rage, and adrenaline. He was too far out of it to understand what was being said, but something about the voice made him stop. While he was trying to figure out why, he was once again tackled to the ground. The impact was powerful, it seemed that whoever had rammed into him this time was moving much faster than Pinkie had been, but somehow it was less painful. In his current state, he was unable to deduce why that might be and he didn't even try to examine his attacker before lashing out at them desperately. This combatant was much more experienced in fighting than Pinkie was and used his wild flailing as an opportunity to pin down each of his legs. To Dream Feather's surprise, the pony pinning him down didn't seem interested in attacking him at all. She was just holding him in place and talking. It was only after he had taken a few breaths that he was able to recognize the pegasus and understand her words.

"-struggling! I'm trying not to hurt you here, but you're making it hard. Please, just stop already Dream Feather!"

Now that he was beginning to calm down, he was able to process his recent actions without fury he had felt before. He didn't like what he saw. "Dash? Pinkie attacked me and I... Is she alright?"

Rainbow Dash paused at his words, before finally stepping to the side and releasing him. She trotted over to the earth pony's unmoving body as she spoke, but the only thing he could focus on was the blood that he could see running down her neck. "You didn't have to go this far! I understand self-defense, but she wasn't fighting anymore. She wasn't even moving anymore! Is that jerk really getting to you this much?"

Dream Feather didn't know what to say. The guilt he felt was almost overwhelming and it wasn't helped by the knowledge that he'd also managed to hurt Dash while she was trying to stop him. It felt too much like an excuse to blame it all on the evil unicorn for manipulating him. His inner turmoil was interrupted by the arrival of that very same scheming pony.

"Now Dashie, you really shouldn't have done that. It's not very nice to run off and disobey the only pony keeping you safe and alive now, is it?" His voice and appearance were the same as before, but seemed somehow different. There was an almost friendly, affable sort of aura about him now. The deceptively kind visage just made Dream Feather's anger return. And he wasn't alone in that response either.

"This is your fault at least as much as it's his! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't be ripping you apart right now!" While Rainbow Dash's threat sounded serious, it was obvious to all three of them that she stood no chance against the manipulative pony. As such, the unicorn remained unfazed and actually smiled.

"But who is going to help Pinkie Pie if I am torn to pieces? I am the only unicorn around and, while I am no doctor, I might be able to save her from the fate of being eaten by some random monster. Or maybe beaten to death by some crazy pegasus. I only told you to bring them to me, Dream Feather. I didn't realize you were so bloodthirsty."

The ashamed stallion wanted to protest, but he lacked the words and the strength to voice them. He watched, barely clinging to consciousness, as the unicorn picked up Pinkie Pie with his magic and walked away while gesturing for Rainbow Dash to follow. She hesitated and Dream Feather could understand why. With the villain's magic slightly preoccupied holding Pinkie, this would be a perfect chance to attack. But by herself she stood no chance, and he was too injuried to even make himself stand at the moment. Even if she somehow won, she would have to handle being deep inside the Everfree Forest with two badly wounded ponies.

Although Dream Feather knew all these problems, he was too far gone to really comprehend them. To him it seemed that Rainbow Dash was choosing to follow that monster over staying with him while he was in more pain than he had ever been.

Can I blame her? I am the one who allied himself with that villain and forced her to lie to her friends. Now I've nearly beaten two of her friends to death... Maybe she did choose not to follow the monster. Maybe I'm the monster. And he didn't bother getting me back into shape to help him capture the others. Am I of no use to him now? Why didn't he kill me?

He was too exhausted to ponder any further. His pains were the only thing he had to keep him company as he slipped in and out of a restless sleep haunted by nightmares of death and failure.