Scraping.
Jostling.
Feathers and gold.
Moisture and stone.
A headcrest shifted... shifted again.
One eye opened. Dull. Charcoal brown.
A second eye opened.
Blinking.
A dead, flat horizon shook and shifted. Black on black.
Another blink.
The eyes darted upwards at an angle.
Another horizon—this one bent, stretching upward and blotting out the stars.
A body loomed in the foreground, hitched to a shed crafted by metal planks tied together. Dark black feathers and a midnight coat flexed with bruised muscles. Bandages seeped with glowing blood, and a lion's tail flicked through the twilight.
She inhaled. Exhaled.
She moved her muscles—
—but she did not budge.
A horrible weight was pressing upon her from multiple angles.
She tried moving again. Claws wriggling. Tail snaking.
It was no use. She was one with the sled. Inch by inch, the aches and pains of combat screamed back into her limbs—but that wasn't what tore the breath out of her lungs.
"Rrrrrrrrrr..."
Darkness and twilight. Bodies shifting. Voices.
And off in the distance...
"Rrrghhhh—"
A flounce of color. Like the living manifestation of a prism. It stood out like a beacon amidst the shadows.
"Rrrrrrrrrrgh—Aaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"
She shook and twisted and spat from where she was bound. An angry beak bit and clattered at the air—nearly frothing.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!" She hissed and snarled and hyperventilated, causing the entire sled to rock and rattled from where it was being dragged. "Damn... d-damn you...!"
The body dragging her twisted about. A pair of black goggles reflected a possessed griffon's yelling maw.
"JORDAN!" she seethed, eyes twitching with impenetrable madness. "Curse you! Curse you to blighted oblivion you... rnnnngh—Godless coward! FOOL!"
"My starrs and garrterrs!" a voice rolled from the distance.
"The Hell is that noise...?!" another voice blurted.
Wildcard whistled. She could see the claws of one talon motioning high in the air.
An obese shape hobbled over. "Huh?" A dull sigh. "Awwww for Pete's sake..."
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"
"Say Dashie?" Pinkie chirped.
"Hmmm?" Rainbow Dash blinked tiredly as she flew alongside Ariel.
"You're looking really healthy!" she exclaimed.
Rainbow's face turned, carrying a deathly deadpan expression.
Even Ariel noticed it. She looked aside with an anxious squint.
"I am?" Rainbow droned.
"Hee-hee-hee!" Pinkie nodded briskly. "Uh huhhhhhhhh..."
"Well, cool... I guess..." Rainbow slurred.
"I mean it!" Pinkie cooed. "You're strong and level-headed and full of spunk!"
"Pinkie... sugarcube..." Applejack sighed. "Is there a reason for this heap'o'compliments?"
"Yes, darling." Rarity nodded. "Do explain what is so unique about Rainbow's spunk at the moment." The ghostly fashionista instantly blushed. "Erm... you know what I mean."
"I'm only trying to say that Rainbow's been full and wide awake for hours! Days!" Pinkie sing-songed.
"Yeah..." Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "...and?"
"Plblbllblblblb!" Pinkie stuck her tongue out. "No more fainting spells, silly!"
Rainbow blinked.
"Oh gosh..." Fluttershy looked at the other mares. "Pinkie's right!"
"Well I'll be darned..." Applejack lifted her hat to scratch her ghostly head. "That's... that's a thang, ain't it?" She plopped the article back on before looking at the rest of the mares. "Didn't Rainbow suffer from shiverin' spells and faintin' before y'all picked up me at Starkiss?"
"All of my journey, actually..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "Ever since leaving Equestria..."
"What?" Ariel blinked, flying closer to Rainbow. "What about leaving Equestria?"
"Twilight?" Fluttershy looked at the unicorn in question. "Have you noticed Rainbow having one of her chaos-induced fainting spells recently?"
"I... can't say that I have..." Twilight rubbed her chin, squinting in thought. "Funny. I was so focused on our talks with Luna and the situation with Bleak's Plummet to pay much attention..."
"Cuz Dashie's been going on for a longgggggggggggg time without going kerplunk!" Pinkie Pie said. "I'm guessing that she got over it!"
"Pinkie, I'm part chaos," Rainbow Dash said. "There's not 'getting over it.'"
"Still... she's got a point, sugarcube," Applejack said. "From what I hear... you was gettin' close to dyin' on several occasions. Only—on account of the flame—"
"Utaan!" Fluttershy gasped. She looked at the others. "The rune she found at the Last Seed! And the flame within!"
"You think that... cured her?" Rarity stammered.
"Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful?!" Fluttershy gasped.
"I... I don't know..." Twilight murmured.
"Oh Twi..." Pinkie pouted. "Don't be a poopy-saddle."
"No, I mean..." Twilight Sparkle grimaced slightly. "There's got to be something else to it."
"You mean now that we're on the Dark Side?" Applejack said.
"Perhaps."
Rainbow blinked. "Huh... I never... thought much about that."
"Thought about what?" Ariel blurted.
Rainbow looked at her.
Ariel smiled sheepishly. "Can ya blame a girl for being nosy?"
"Pinkie Pie just made an observation," Rainbow explained. "Ariel, do... do you remember the last time I collapsed?"
"You mean because of your chaotic dizzy spells?"
"Right."
"Kinda... but... but I think it was a bit different."
"Huh?"
"Well, remember on our way east from Frostknife?" Ariel spoke. "After we had gotten some distance between ourselves and Starkiss, you... uh... you started having some super freaky nightmares and—"
"I collapsed like a dead brick," Rainbow droned.
"That's right!" Rarity nodded. "You did, darling!"
"You haven't had nightmares since the Utaan rune, though, have you?" Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow looked at her. "I've barely even slept since the Last Seed, Flutters."
"Still... you haven't collapsed either." Fluttershy folded her forelimbs. "I still think there's a reason for that."
"But..." Applejack squinted. "If bein' on the Dark Side... so far away from Harmony and Equestrian magic could have an effect..."
Rainbow's brow furrowed in thought. She looked over at Ariel again. "I'm part chaos, right?"
Ariel nodded. "Right."
"And... and this whole side of the Plane is pretty much dominated by chaos... right?"
Ariel gulped. "It's sure as not harmony."
"So like... what if..." Rainbow fidgeted in mid-glide. "...so long as I'm on the Dark Side... I'm not going to die from the poison of chaos?" She bit her lip. "Or at least not die as fast?"
"I've got an even freakier question," Ariel murmured.
"Yeah...?"
Ariel pointed at Rainbow's pendant. "What happens when that comes off on this side of the Plane?"
Rainbow's marefriends all locked up, stiff and tense.
Rainbow brought a hoof to her Element. The ruby lightning bolt flickered slightly.
"That's... pretty freaky indeed..."
Ariel smirked slightly. "Wanna test it out?"
Rainbow merely squinted at her. She prepared a sarcastic response, but—
Off from the distance: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"
Ariel and Rainbow jolted in place. They both looked down and behind them.
"The Hell...?" Ariel grimaced. "Is someone strangling an infected cat?"
"Rrrggggggh! Verlaxion damn you all to oblivion!"
"Don't tell me..." Rainbow's ears folded. "That's..."
Fluttershy sighed. "It is."