Chapter 15: Rainbow Hues
And so I jumped. I dove down into the murky gray clouds beneath me. The same feeling of being immersed in water passed over me, letting my body glide through the roof of the maelstrom. With the clouds in my way, I could no longer see if I was still following Rainbow Dash, but my gut told me I was right. Of course, that could’ve just been my gut telling me I was about to throw up from the pain I was in. No matter what I did, flapping my wing was still going to hurt.
I breached the cloud base and could see the heavy rainfall torment the town. Droplets of water pelted the ground and houses with such ferocity I thought they might pierce through and flood the town. I too felt the rain beat heavily on my back and head. Despite the rushing winds blowing past me, my eyes held open fine. I could see the adamant pegasus flying in front of me, escaping from who knows what.
I tried calling out to her, but the wind blew my words behind us. It was no use trying to talk. So instead, I tried flapping harder, flying faster. I couldn’t. My body was already under so much duress that anything more would cause it to collapse. Rainbow Dash was losing me, and fast. She was far too quick for me to be able to fly at her level. Especially considering she spent her entire life flying and trying to be a professional stunt flyer. I didn’t stand a chance.
I began to feel tired. It was too much for me to fly at any speed, now. My wings slowed themselves, just as they had started themselves, and I came to halt. The cyan speedster was now out of my field of vision. All that remained was the rain. The rain and cackling thunder with their harshly intense bolts of lightning. I hovered there in midair while waiting to catch my breath.
KABOOM!
A loud boom blasted throughout the sky, deafening the ears of anypony still dumb enough to be outside. Shortly after, there was a flash of bright light off in the distance. It wasn’t lightning though, it was something else. Something else entirely. A line of colors painted the blackened sky as it soared through the clouds. With it came an opening, a large enough one to show the setting sun behind it.
Whilst everything here, under the cover of the storm, was dark and hopeless, the real sky behind it was shimmering and bright. The sun could be seen falling softly behind the valleys as the moon and stars took its place. And covering it all was a stream of vivid life. The red that broke the clouds to pieces stood strong as the forefront of its team. Orange followed close behind, mimicking the sunset behind as it calmed the feuding the lands. Yellow appeared after, blessing the sun with a farewell and shaking the hand of the moon as it arrived. The green that came next graced the grass with a friend it could call its own. And the blue, indigo and violet shades that followed blended themselves into one blanket for the new sky of the night. Together they formed the most wondrous of bonds that wisped and intertwined over the entire planet.
Such stupefaction. It was brilliant.
So brilliant in fact, that I halted my efforts simply to watch in singular awe. My wings responded by snapping into an immobile state. I watched as the bastion of lights faded away in front of me.
Wait, they aren’t fading… I’m falling. I snapped back into reality with a painful jolt of my neck. I was careening downwards at an incredible rate. My wings wouldn’t open, I wouldn’t move. I was going to die.
Then again, that’s what I thought last time. Why would this time be any different? Why wouldn’t I simply suffer a terrible maiming again? I could always go visit Twi, she’d fix me up. Right?
The wind blowing through my mane begged to differ. I wanted to close my eyes, but I wouldn’t. No, not again. I can fly. I can fly this time. With all of the energy I had left, I forced my wings to rip themselves from my sides and flap. I swore I heard a few cracks with each upswing they took, but I didn’t care. I had to keep moving.
Well, I tried to at the very least. My vigorous wing beats merely managed to soften the inevitable crash landing to the harsh ground below. Again I wanted to close my eyes and pray for the best, but something kept them open. I just had to witness my own disaster.
And I did just that. My hooves touched ground, but I hopped and skidded as they did, still trying to keep aloft. They got pretty scuffed up, and on one of the mock landing I tripped over and rock and my entire body went tumbling forwards. I felt the ground and its residents bounce off of me one by one as I rolled on. After quite a bit of tossing and turning, I found myself in the air once more. It didn’t last long though, as I had just fallen into a nearby ditch. I hit terra firma for round two, crushing my hip against the dirt.
I coughed a few times, the wind having been taken out of me. Every bone, vein, nerve or anything else inside of me cried out in terrible agony as it accepted the crash.
“It hurrrrrts.” I moaned to the cruel earth.
It did not respond. I didn’t expect it to. The earth and I weren’t on apparently great terms today as it was. Still, being the fool that I am, I tried standing up. Needless to say, it did not start nor end well, and I finished off by finding myself on my back.
There was one benefit, however, to such a position. I was able to gaze up into the bedlam of a sky that I soared about only moments before. The swirling winds of the storm never ceased to go about their duty of bringing the flood into Ponyville. No they did indeed manage to keep that much to their name, save for one small spot. This spot has just been carved out by the blue speedster, whose colorful trail’s remnants still remained.
I looked up through the hole in the sky. I looked. And I kept looking. For nothing really, just to see. That’s all I ever did. I watched and adored. I listened and smelled and felt and tasted. I sensed this world. I understood the intricacies behind it and the simplicities in front of it. I believed in its structure and trusted its design. But that’s all I ever did. I had yet to live in this world. I still had much to do before I could ever be a part of it.
“Oh sky, don’t you see what I see? Because I see….” I began ranting, only to be stopped by something floating in front of my eye space.
A large mansion. Floating in the sky. It was made of clouds too, even a few rainbows. There were columns and domes and Celestia, it was an architectural masterpiece. What’s more, it was familiar. All too familiar in fact.
“Rainbow Dash!” I called out to the home in the sky, through the hole in the clouds.
“Rainbow Dash! Are you up there?”
Silence. Pure verbal silence, as the popping of the rain droplets could be heard all around.
“Rainbow Dash please help me! Somepony, please help me.” I tried yelling, but my lungs couldn’t withstand the strain.
“Given up hope yet, colt?” laughed a voice.
I knew the voice. It was such a distinct and planned tone. The sarcastic air to its devilish tricks. The slight hint of supremacy and mockery. The brief note that was befitting of an aged mind with the wisdom of eons. It was a voice I had been hearing all too often lately, and only now could I understand who the voice belonged to.
“I’ll take the silence as a yes.” He continued “Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I WANT you to give up; I just knew you would.”
“Who, cough, said I gave up?” I spat back, with whatever tone of anger I could muster.
“No one had to Say it, boy. Your broken body and shattered heart say it all. Still, even with you out of the picture, you’re not yet out of the frame. Just hidden behind it for now.”
I tried asking a question, but my voice was low and he didn’t plan on waiting up to hear me “What do you –”
“Of course, it won’t be long till you take center stage. Oh who am I kidding, I’ll be center stage, I always am. It’ll all just be a matter of putting down the puppets and commencing the Real comedy act.”
“What are you going to do?” I breathed.
“Oh wouldn’t you like to know. Wouldn’t you like to tell them?” he cackled “But you’re not that important, Drumroll. You’re the simple pawn to this game. I’ve already got the rooks incapacitated. The knight is under my control. The bishop will forever be stuck in my trap. And the sist- I mean the king and queen and nice and safe beneath my wing.”
“I hate you.” I cursed at him.
“I’m sure you do. But that’s of no concern to me. I don’t need the love or toleration from others. This is my world and I shall do as I please. And plenty pleases me. I’ve got quite the sense of humor you see.” He sighed, and I heard two varying footsteps pace back and forth over the dirt. “But here we are, back where we began. Well, you are at least. I must be on my way. I’ve got some royal duties to attend to, you know, seeing as how I AM the ruler of this pathetic country.”
And he was gone. Just like that. The right voice in my head had disappeared. Never to return again, or so I hoped. No sooner had he left though, that I saw the silhouette of a pony flying down from the hole.
“Mystery Stallion! Mystery Stallion is that you?!” called the silhouette. It was Rainbow Dash.
“Yes!” I called back, as loud as I could muster.
“Oh thank Celestia you’re ok.” she started to say as she landed, but as she assessed my situation she shot back “Oh no, that doesn’t look good.”
“Thanks,” I coughed “Just what I wanted to hear.”
“No here, look, I’ve got just the thing!” she said, her voice brimming with excitement instead of worry. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small vile. She popped the cork form the top and a purplish gas smoked out.
“Drink this.” She instructed, holding it to my lips.
Figuring there was nothing left to lose, I drank it. it sent shivers down my spine, the taste was so bitter.
“Blecugh!” I spat, standing up and shaking from the awful taste. “What is that stuff?”
“Twi’s special ‘Fix-em-up brew. She made it special for me after my wing accident awhile back, in case I ever got into another serious crash.”
I looked at my surroundings. I had just stood up, my legs were working fine. I shook all four of them out. Everything was in working condition. A bit tight, but nowhere near as painful.
“Wow Dash, thanks! But why’d you give it to me? What if you need it?”
“I’m sure you needed it more than I ever would.” She laughed.
I smiled in return, thankful for her help. She smiled too, but then backed away sheepishly. She rubbed her hoof through her mane as she searched for the next thing to say.
“What is it?” I asked, preemptively.
“I uh, I think I kinda forgot to ask what your name was. That’s why I came back, actually.”
“Oh.” I said, slightly shocked. “It’s uh, well it’s Drumroll.”
“Drumroll huh? That’s a nice name. I’m uh, I’m sorry we got off on the wrong hoof. I just haven’t been feeling all too great about things and…” she trailed her voice off as her mind caught up with what she was saying. Almost immediately she snapped back to her senses. “No, you know what, I’m sick of being so thrown off my game because of this. I don’t know if you know, but my friends and I haven’t been on the best terms lately. I’ve been on edge, ok? I’ve been trying to drain it out with Wonderbolt’s practice, but it’s not the same. Something going to happen soon, and I know it. I don’t want it to, but I know it will. And then you showed up.”
“Do you think I was what was going to happen, is that was this is about?” I asked her.
“No, not at all. You’ve just, well, you did take my mind off of it, but look here. I just want to forget about all of those things and just start fresh. Especially with my friends. So right now, I’ll start with you. I’m Rainbow Danger Dash and it’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Drumroll, it’s my pleasure.” I played along.
Rainbow Dash sighed, releasing all of her apparent pent up anger about her situation. She smiled a cheerful grin at me and the two of us laughed at how foolish we seemed to be acting.
“Hmm,” I thought aloud, still playing along “Well if we’re going to be friends, I’ll need a nickname for you. Dashie? No taken. RD? Nope, too common. Oh! I’ve got it. I’ll call you Dange.”
“Dang? Why in the hay would you call me Dang?”
I laughed at her comment. “Not Dang, Dange. Like, Danger, but without the ‘er’ sound.”
“Ohhhh, Dange.” She laughed as well. “Alright, I guess that’s not too bad.”
“So Dange, what can I do for you today? Especially seeing as how you did just save my life.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her deep purple eyes in playful gesture. She finally seemed to be opening up. Of course, she was Rainbow Dash, and opening up might not mean the same as if it was Rarity or some other pony, but still. I was elated to have finally met all six of my favorite characters, and even more so, to know that Rainbow Dash was mad at me. A certain sense of closure washed over me, and it made me feel, complete.
“Well, how’s about a race?” she offered, her tone lined with a competitive spirit.
I flexed my wings. They were still a bit tight, and I knew they weren’t in the best condition, but I couldn’t refuse. A chance to really fly, to truly soar through the open skies of an equally open world. It would be like a dream come true, well, a second dream to be fair.
“You’re on.” I accepted.
We line up next to each other, just outside of the crater. She looked over at me, and I at her. The spirit of the competition could be felt in between us, the challenger’s tension so indescribably thick.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“O- Ow!” I yelled.
“Ah, what!” Dash jumped as a bust of light blew up in my face.
A green ball of fire erupted in front of me, singing my mane slightly. I stepped back in shock, only to have an old scroll of parchment appear before me. Both Dash and I went to investigate it.
“Spike.” We said simultaneously.
Dash picked up the letter and read it inside of her head. Her eyes widened as she neared the end, and she released the paper from her hoof.
“We have to go. Now.” she ordered me.
“Where? What’s going on?” I asked, trying to figure out what the letter had said.
Before the mare could even answer, I knew the answer. My conversation from earlier rang throughout the cavities of my mind, striking every nerve I had.
“We’re going to Canterlot aren’t we?”
My friend nodded and opened her wings. With a quick beat, she launched herself into the sky. I followed behind her quickly, actually able to catch up this time.
“Please hurry.” The left voice, now taking center stage inside of my head begged. Her voice was fading.
“Dange, we’ve got to hurry.”