//------------------------------//
// Chapter 61: Gaunt Counterpart 
// Story: Daring Do and the Hand of Doom 
// by Unwhole Hole 
//------------------------------//

The world changed and shifted. Distance had no significance, nor did space. Points could be reached without crossing intermediate space. The landscaped changed, from what was outside- -or what Rainbow Dash had perceived as ‘outside’; whether it truly was could not be known- -to a different place. An indoor chamber, one that seemed to have been carved out by a great drill from above. The walls even still bore the marks of some enormous bit, and light could be seen from above. Ash still fell, but dispersed into fog as the alicorn approached. 
Rainbow Dash immediately understood where she was, and knew that it was the right place. There were almost no landmarks of any kind that could even be considered remotely similar, and Rainbow Dash still knew. This room corresponded with the one where the Hand of Doom was housed. 
Ponies became visible, almost as ghosts. Most of them were Pegasi, but not all. Rainbow Dash nearly phased through a large earth-pony, likely Rogue, and across from her could see one white Pegasus sitting beside a badly injured Withers. A Pegasus with eyes like White’s. 
She moved upward. The center of the room consisted of a pyramid. Ascending it, she found Daring Do. She was standing beside Caballeron, but they did not seem to be fighting. Instead, they were facing a different pony. Rainbow Dash concentrated, and resolved the image of the pony who had been introduced to her as Dulcimer. 
“I don’t see the Hand,” she said, looking around, half expecting it to be in the center of the pyramid. All she saw there, though, was a very distant ghost, one that had faded to nearly the point of vanishing entirely. The ghost of something small and gray, weeping. 
“Because there kind do not exist in half-phases,” explained Harvestor, who was standing atop a bent, mangled railing as though it required no balance at all. “Which is unfortunate but necessary for their survival. Dagon would take more than just a passing interest in a being of such power, even if it is infinitesimal compared to His own.”
“Beings? I don’t understand.”
“Then you may not be meant to.” 
Daring Do stared at the distant ghost, but decided it was too far to attempt to see. Instead she turned her attention toward the ponies she could see. The pyramid had no flat spaces to walk on, but her hooves clicked across one regardless. She paused for a moment at Daring Do, then turned her attention toward Dulcimer.
“You know, he really does look like a guy-Lyra. I mean, I’m not crazy, right?”	
“I do not work with Lyra. I would  not know.” 
Rainbow Dash stared at the ghostly image. Then, strangely, it seemed to vibrate. 
“Um, Harvestor? I think- -”
`	Suddenly Dulcimer’s face turned. His eyes, suddenly completely solid, met Rainbow Dash’s
“Hello there,” he said. 
His horn ignited, and before Rainbow Dash could jump, there was a spell wrapped around her neck. The dial in her chest suddenly reacted, turning and sending out a plume of energy. Dulcimer was knocked back, and separated from himself; that is, he was still there, standing still and frozen as a ghost, but also represented as a solid pony in the out-of-phase world. 
“What- -how- -”
“A very complicated spell,” growled Dulcimer. “One I’d rather not have had to use.”
He leapt forward. Rainbow Dash took to the air, expecting to easily outmaneuver him- -only to quickly realize that in this dimension she was completely unable to. 
She was quickly tackled to the ground. Bindings of magic wrapped around her hooves, holding her down, facing up. Dulcimer stood over her, his horn glowing. “Your courage is admirable,” he said, “or your stupidity is prodigious.”
“Let me up and see if you still sound that tough! I’ll smash in your weirdly handsome face!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” His horn glowed brighter. “Nothing in this realm can die. But I can grind you into a pulp so fine that you’ll never be able to make your way back to your own world. I’m so close. I’m sorry, Element of Loyalty. I can’t let you interfere.”
He lowered his horn. As he did, Harvestor lowered hers. They crossed, and hers ignited with hideous blue light.
The resulting explosion was unimaginably powerful. Rainbow Dash screamed and covered her face as the whole world seemed to be torn apart by blue light. She was pushed back, but only lightly- -yet she still kept her eyes closed, if only out of pure instinct.
Dulcimer was not so lucky. The force of the magic instantly overwhelmed his own, sending him flying across the room and into a wall. The alicorn raised her head, and the whole of the explosion seemed to freeze- -and then was retracted to somewhere else. Wherever it went, Rainbow Dash hoped she never needed to go there.
The alicorn approached Dulcimer, who was somehow managing to stand.
“This is not a place of violence,” she said, her voice dripping with hatred as she loomed over Dulcimer, casting a blue shadow onto him. “This is not a place for your petty mortal politics. And this is not a place for YOU.”
“You don’t understand- -”
“Dulcimer Heartstrings. You are not welcome here. You are NOT beloved by Dagon, nor are you beloved by us.” Alicorns suddenly seemed to appear everywhere, all as ghosts but in massive numbers, their horns all lit with sickly blue light. Harvestor glared unblinkingly. “You have willingly scorned the gift that was denied to all of us. You are a hideous abominations in our eyes.”
Dulcimer smiled and looked up at her. “Coming from an alicorn? I must really be grotesque, aren’t I?”
“Indeed.”
Dulcimer stood completely and brushed himself off. He did not seem to be injured, but he did not attack again. Instead he looked directly at Rainbow Dash. 
“Do you even know what they are?” he asked.
“My friends.”
Rainbow Dash said it with such confiction and lack of hesitation that Dulcimer was taken aback, as were most of the alicorns- -save for those who bore Rainbow Manes. They already knew, deep within their modified genomes. 
“You’re not, though,” continued Rainbow Dash. “You pretended to be. But you’re not.”
“No. Perhaps not. But I do suppose we have to be civil, don’t we?”
“Only if ‘civil’ means ‘civil war’, as in the kind where I shove my hoof up you’re fat- -”Dulcimer laughed. Rainbow Dash would have blushed if her blood had not been replaced with polymers. “What’s so funny?” 
“I had a daughter like you once. So impetuous.” He sighed. “Fine.” He bowed. “I apologize for my hasty actions.”
“I don’t care. I’m not accepting an apology like that.”
“Nor do you need to. It may be glib, but it doesn’t affect me in the slightest. The path to the Hand of Doom has already been opened to me. While you could stop me, I doubt you have it in you to do what is necessary.”
“You have no idea what’s in me.”
“But I do. If only by research. You are a fundamentally good pony.”
“Yeah? So?”
“Too good. To noble. To honorable. You are the pony I wish I could have been.”
“Stop trying to flatter me, it won’t work. Even if I am awesome.”
“I’m not flattering you. I’m far too old for it. Just as I am far too old to be purely good. I’ve made too many sacrifices, lost too much.”
“Flock says you can’t control it. If you try to use the Hand, you’re going to blow us all up!”
Dulcimer’s eyes narrowed. “I would avoid trusting what that particular wizard says.”
“What, so I’m supposed to trust you instead?” 
“No, you don’t need to. Nor can we stall here forever. I may not be able to attack you, but you can also not attack me in turn. Meaning we are at a stalemate.”
Rainbow Dash looked to Harvestor. Harvestor just stared back in acknowledgement.
“You aren’t going to stop him or something?” 
“We are aware of his goals. And we have no stake in them. We will be immune and will persist to perform our experiments. Despite our appearance we bear almost no biological similarity to your word’s alicorns.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It means they won’t intervene,” said Dulcimer. “They are neutral either way.”
“I can respect that.”
Dulcimer raised an eyebrow. “You can?”
“Yeah. It’s not their fight. They didn’t ask to get pulled into it. They were just being nice and helping me.” She looked up at Harvestor. “So, yeah. Thanks for that. But if I’m going to wipe the floor with this guy, I need to get back to my own world.”
“I can send you there,” said Harvestor. “But before you go, allow me to extend an offer.” 
Rainbow Dash stared at her, confused but also somewhat intrigued. “What kind of offer?” 
“Stay with us.”
Rainbow Dash took a step back. “Harvestor, you’re cool and all…if a little…well, a lot…freaky, but I can’t.”
“Very few ponies enter our phase completely. It is largely considered impossible, but it happens from time to time. Each time we try to extend this offer. Please consider it.”
“But I’m all weak and stuff here…”	
“We can give you back what we took. We can give you back better things. Make you better. Faster, stronger, smarter, more beautiful. Whatever you desire. And in this world, you will not age. You will not die. We are offering you immortality.” 
“I would suggest you take it,” added Dulcimer. “There is only pain and failure waiting for you back in the real world.”
“Would you take it?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Dulcimer lowered his eyes. “I’ve already made a different deal.” 
“Indeed you have,” said Harvestor, slowly. 
“Havestor,” said Rainbow Dash. “I appreciate the offer. I really do. But I can’t.”
“Even for immortality? Unlimited power?”
“All my friends are there. I can’t leave them behind.”
Harvestor stared at her. “I will not extend this offer a second time. Is this your final decision?”
Rainbow Dash looked into her strange, hideous eyes. “Yes. Yes it is. Take me back home.”
Harvestor continued to stare- -and a smile slowly crossed her face. “Many times have I extended that offer,” she said. “Many times more has it been given. And you are the first to have chosen correctly.” 
Rainbow Dash felt a cold sensation against her chest, and watched as her dial was lifted away. She felt nothing; in this world, it was not required for her survival. 
Harvestor lifted the dial and twisted it. In an instant it exploded into countless millions of tiny, intricate parts, all suspended in the air by her magic. Some of them shifted around, reassembling it in an instant to almost what it had been before. Then she gave it back to Rainbow Dash. 
“I have reconfigured it to return you,” she said. “Consider it a parting gift, as you will likely never see me again. It was a pleasure and honor to meet you.” 
“Thank you,” said Rainbow Dash, adjusting the dial. She looked at Dulcimer. “I’m going to come through.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“I know. I want you to be. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.” 
Dulcimer laughed again. “Ah, what a day this is. You would sacrifice your advantage for the sake of a fair fight? I’m meeting so many ponies who I wish I could accept as brother and sister knights. If only you were all unicorns.” 
“Don’t tell Rarity, but being a Pegasus is way better.”
Rainbow Dash pressed the mechanism of the dial on her chest.