MLP Laboratories- The Outbreak

by NeuPferdfurt

The meadow

Twilight Sparkle didn't scream when she woke up, not this time, but she was trembling all over.
Where was she?
Her bedroom in the library. Her glorious bedroom, in this glorious world of strong colors where even dirt looked cute and pretty- at least, compared to this... other place.

The unicorn pony began to relax. Everything was fine. It was a beautiful summer night and she was laying in her cozy bed, surrounded by thousands of books. She even heard her assistant Spike gently snoring downstairs. How could anything be so perfect?
Twilight drifted back into sleep.
She tried to ignore the voice in her head who insisted she was already dreaming. And that it was the... other place that was real.

-

The next morning, when she had breakfast with Spike, the little dragon pointed out how tired she looked.

"Bad dreams?"

"It's no big deal. Maybe we shouldn't eat dinner so late in the evening."

"I'll keep that in mind."

When Spike did the dish-washing, he asked:
"So... are you ready to help Rainbow Dash with her new performance?"

"Rainb... Gee, I almost forgot. Please don't tell me I've overslept."

"You're golden. Look outside, it's still dawn. You should be there just in time without breaking a sweat."

"Aren't you coming?"

"Maybe later. I still got some things to do around the library."

"That's my little assistant. What would I do without you?"

"Hehe..."

-

"Hey, Twilight! Over here!"

She discovered the light blue pegasus pony levitating on the other side of a blooming meadow.

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash!"

"And excellent morning, to be precise. Perfect flying conditions."

With a few powerful strides, Twilight had crossed the field.

"So... What do you need my help for?"

"Remember the magic floaty thingy you do?"

"You mean psychokinesis?"

"Yeah, the... keen one!"

She pointed to a nearby pile of gymnastic utensils.

"See these loops? It would be great if you could bring them up, and I'll dash through 'm."

"Dash, you know I can only hold things in the air for so long..."

"Long? Who said anything about long! Just focus on getting them up. In fact, the faster they fall, the better! I leave it up to you to come up with patterns. You're the course master!"

"I see what you mean, but that sounds awfully complicated. You sure you're fast enough for something like that?"

"Are you kidding me? They don't..."

"...Call you 'Dash' for nothing, I know. Fine, if you insist. But we'll have to focus- both of us."

"Oh, I'm focused alright. I am PUMPED. Let's DO this!"

Twilight grinned. It was hard not to be affected by her friend's enthusiasm.
She started with something simple: she launched three of the loops about fifty meters into the air and then ordered them to split up so they'd fall down in a scattered formation. In a brink of an eye, Rainbow Dash had passed them all.

"Oh come on! Is that all you've got?"

"You've asked for it!"

This was exhausting, but Twilight had to admit it was also surprisingly captivating, in a very unscientific way. She used all of her imagination to come up with the most unlikely patterns, and even though Rainbow Dash beat them all, she felt that she was doing a better job at challenging her skills. In fact...

"Hey!", Rainbow Dash laughed, "What's up with the flower pot?"

"Catch it before it hits the ground... If you're mare enough, that is. I thought I'd spice this up a little."

"Oh, you're ON..."

-

At first, Twilight had just wanted to do her friend a favour, with the halfhearted generosity of a bookworm who is drawn into a sports event to be the referee. But with every round she felt that something was growing inside her mind, something as alien as it was intriguing. It was like a fever.

Sweat started dripping from the unicorn pony's mane.

First there was interest, then there was joy, but now, it became something completely different. And it wasn't exactly... nice anymore. It was like an itch inside Twilight's brain, an itch that got worse with every minute.
She ceased to be Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's faithful student. The itch had filled her entire being. She was grinding her teeth, the horn on her forehead was glowing like white-hot iron. Somewhere in her head, she thought she heard a noise, like a tiny drill... "Iiiiiiiih..."
Only that she didn't really think anymore.

-

Rainbow Dash didn't notice any of these changes. She was happy. More than that. This was a BLAST- even for someone like her, who never seemed to get enough action. She had chosen Twilight as an assistant knowing that no other unicorn matched her skills, but still, this was something completely unexpected. And Rainbow Dash loved it.
She even forgot what this was all about, her very mind dissolving in the heat of the moment. There was only speed. SPEED.

And it still wasn't fast enough for Twilight. Her voice of reason would have told her long ago that she had to be careful, that she might hurt her friend if she pushed her too hard. But the voice of reason was gone.
FASTER!, the new voice in Twlight's head screamed, SHE HAS TO PUSH THROUGH!

-

Rainbow Dash saw it- the last loop. On the other side of the meadow. Twilight had barely flipped it in the air.

Suddenly, she felt as if a black hole had opened up in her stomach, drawing in her heart and her guts. An all too familiar feeling of loss and despair. All enthusiasm was blown away. She was Rainbow Dash, but she couldn't do this. Ultimately, she would fail. Though she was known for "tooting her own horn louder than the brass section of a marching band", as Applejack put it, deep down the pegasus pony was convinced that she was destined to fail. She would never be accepted as a member of the Wonderbolts. She would never go down in history, at least not the way she intended. She would become an anecdote, the patron saint of FAILURE. Rainbow Crash.
She couldn't do it.

But she would!

The bubble of doubt that had built up in her viscera burst the very moment that it had formed.
Before she knew it - arguably, she didn't exactly "know" anything at this point, not anymore - she dashed towards the final loop.
It felt as if her skin peeled off, her eyes became dry like sand paper, her heart stopped beating. It seemed like a miracle that she didn't leave her own guts behind, trailing them like the tail of a kite.

She passed the loop, and all color vanished from the world.

-

Rainbow Dash was propelled high in the air by her own momentum, and then she simply let herself drop, using her wings as a parachute only by reflex.
It was only when she hit the ground and opened her eyes again that she realized how everything had changed. On the other side of the loop, there was no grass. There were no flowers.
There was no sky. Instead, there was a huge white dome with an artificial light at the centre. Smaller lights were blinking on the walls, and there were eyes. Black, glossy robot eyes everywhere. The air was filled with the sound of machinery- and screams.

A hole appeared in the part of the wall closest to Rainbow Dash, and a metallic arm appeared, incredibly long and with a sickening number of joints- more than anything should have. It made horrible, clicking noises as it unfolded, coming closer to the pegasus pony with every new segment. Rainbow Dash had never been so terrified in her entire life. There wasn't even a proper word for what she felt.

The metal arm brought its final segment into position, sprouting one of these ghastly black eyes as well as a long, translucent needle. Rainbow Dash was lying on her back, paralyzed except for her mouth and her throat, which allowed for a deep, constant moan of terror.
The black eye was zooming back and forth and from one side to the other, as if it was examining her.
Then the arm darted forward, and the needle was sunk right into the pony's belly.

Dash felt tears running down her face as she watched the needle sucking up her blood. She started sobbing.

The arm rose up again, and again it seemed to study her.
She though that if there was anything like an emotion in this stare, it was utter disdain. And why not. She was disgusting. She was a failure. She deserved this. She deserved to be chased out of Ponyville, right into the sterile, icy depths of hell. She deserved to be disemboweled and thrown away.
The translucent needle was sucked back into the mechanism, and instead, a new needle appeared, much thinner than the previous one. This time, the arm went for Dash's forehead.

Rainbow Dash screamed.

-

When she regained consciousness, the arm had disappeared. She was still crying, but things were changing once again. At the far ends of the dome, the white tiles were turning green and started sprouting flowers. The meadow returned. The noises of the machinery were slowly replaced by the chirping of birds.

Someone was coming. It was all blurry, but some sort of quadrupedal monstrosity was coming right for her. Dash tried to move, to slide on her back, but of course she was way too slow.

"Dash? Are you alright?"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

She could see it now. It was a four legged freak with purple skin, and a horrible, glowing implant on its forehead. It was glancing at her with its incredibly large eyes.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Dash, what's wrong? It's me, Twilight!"

Rainbow Dash was shaking her head in disbelief. But slowly, she started to understand.

"Twilight...? Is that really you...?"

She looked down at her own body, lifted her stubby hooves to her face. Her horrible, fleshy stumps.
Once again, she fainted.

-

She woke up at Ponyville's little hospital.
Everything was nice and peaceful. Birds were singing outside her window, the sun was shining. It was nice and warm in her room, and her bed was cozy.
A gentle knock on the door, and her friends came in.

They had even brought some cupcakes.

"Hey, guys..."

"Oh Rainbow Dash, I am so sorry..."

"For what? You didn't do anything wrong, Twilight. And besides, I did it, didn't I..."

The pegasus pony was frowning.

"What happened, anyway? I know that I was... scared, it was all so..."

"You crashed into a hedge at the rim of Everfree Forest. It took me some time to find you."
"A hedge, eh... I really freaked out back there, didn't I? You must think I'm a wuss or something..."

"No way!", her friends protested.

"It was probably just the aftershock from the adrenalin", Applejack suggested, "Twilight said you did some fancy flying back there. Probably broke a few records along the way."

Rainbow Dash sniffed.
"You think so?"

"Oh, I'm sure, sugar cube. They don't call you 'Dash' for nothing."

-

Since she had suffered no physical injuries, she was allowed to leave the hospital on the same day, and her friends stayed with her until she felt strong enough to leave her bed on her own.
Most of her fear and her sorrow gently dissolved in the warm embrace of her friends over the following days, but some cracks would never close again.
Deep inside, there was a part of her that was still convinced that all she had seen back in the meadow was real. That it was her punishment. That she was a failure and didn't deserve to live in this beautiful world, together with her friends.

There was a special place for ponies just like her. Sooner or later, she would have to return.

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[Darian Stephens]