//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: Hell Bent // Story: To Serve In Hell // by CoffeeMinion //------------------------------// The mare-marked moon shone bright in Rainbow Dash’s eyes as she stood waiting on a battlement, keeping her gaze fixed to the northwest. Behind her stood a small group of fellow guards who hadn’t been ordered to join her, but who’d drifted her way gradually as she’d kept watch. Their presence was silent but unnerving, and Dash tried not to think of the million things that could yet go wrong with her haphazard plan, or that had already gone wrong in the short time since formulating it—lives depended on her playing it cool with whomever came back from the expeditionary force. “There, ma’am,” said one of the guards, gesturing toward the horizon. “I think that’s Sergeant Wind Rider.” Dash straightened the front of her armor and tried to keep her breathing steady as Wind Rider approached, descended, and came in for a landing next to the group. He shook his wings out, then furled them back against his side and ran a hoof through his windblown gray hair. “Sir,” the guards said. “At ease,” he said. “Sergeant Dash, I’m glad you’re here. You’re just the pony I wanted to talk to. I heard from a scout that you were out in the ruins when that building went up, and that you might’ve brought some others with you?” “Uh… how ’bout if we take a walk,” Dash said, pointing back toward one of the doors to the inside. Wind Rider nodded, and the two set off together, leaving the other guards behind. “Did you see something out there that would be sensitive information?” “Yeah, it was super weird, I ran into something like a workshop, or some kind of lab. And whoever set it up went to a lot of trouble to make sure you'd hardly notice the thing unless you were right on top of it.” “I see. So then why, if I might ask, did you happen to end up on top of it?” Dash swallowed. “All right, I guess I oughtta come clean: I stole Redheart back to look at the kid, even though you told me not to. And we ended up out there while I was trying to bring her back.” He smiled at her. “Good. I mean, I figured. Of course it doesn’t reflect well on you that you’d do that in the first place, but it does mean something that you’re willing to come clean without hesitation.” “Heh, yeah.” She tried to mask her fear with a look of grief. “So we were heading back, but then I saw something suspicious out in Ponyville, and before I knew what was happening… BANG. Redheart was right there in the middle of it… and there wasn’t much of her left to bring back.” Wind Rider shook his head. “That’s a pity. She was good at what she did, and we could’ve used her to deal with the injuries we’re facing out in the expeditionary force.” Dash’s thoughts returned to the map she’d seen in the mysterious building. She’d already formed an idea of what the answer to her question might be, but she couldn’t resist voicing it: “Yeah, how's that all going?” He frowned. “We still don’t have a solid lead on the Alicorn and dragon, but the ambushes I told you about are getting more elaborate, and their unicorns are using higher-level destruction magic. The Mistress is working overtime trying to ferret them out, but even she’s getting frustrated. Weird thing is, we’re not having much luck recovering bodies… whoever’s out there isn’t getting picked up by detection spells, and they never stick around long enough for us to capture them. The Mistress keeps threatening to conjure shadow-forms of herself to hunt them down… and even though I’d follow her into Tartarus, I don’t want it to come to that. You’ve seen how indiscriminate those things are.” The mention of Nightmare Moon’s shadow-forms brought unwelcome memories of the Longest Night’s beginning. Of aimless, panic-fueled galloping through the Everfree, striving vainly to keep her group of ponies safe from the horrible, clawed specters that struck from everywhere and nowhere in the darkness. Of Zecora, many times their savior, holding the creatures at bay with her strange alchemies… until they became separated— Dash shook herself, fighting her hammering heartbeat and trying to stay in the moment. “So, uh, there must be something out there after all?” She felt a jolt of satisfaction at guessing that what she’d blundered into was an outpost of whomever was leading the Mistress’ forces off-track. It didn’t answer why, of course; just that somepony else was out there, making moves. “Yeah, seems like it. Though if it wasn’t for the scale they’re doing it on, I’d still be worried that what we’re dealing with isn’t the real Resistance trying to capture the Alicorn and dragon before we can, but the work of somepony just trying to lead us away from the castle. Almost like a distraction…” He gave her a tight-lipped, inquisitive glance. “Do you need us to send some ponies back to support you? Hopefully you haven’t been too preoccupied by your little pet to stay sharp. Where is she, anyway?” “No, I think we’re good,” Dash said quickly. Adrenaline pumped through her as she leaned into her mix of lies and truth. “And uh, she’s resting. She’s been through a lot. And yeah, I’m kinda partial to her… there’s not much point in hiding that. But, y’know…” She flexed a wing, catching Wind Rider’s attention with it. “I know where my loyalties really lie.” “Very good,” he said, nodding. “I suppose we’ll have to talk with the Mistress about her ultimate fate eventually. But that can wait, at least until we figure out what’s going on with these attacks.” “Heh.” Dash pinned a smile to her lips, but felt only a chill in her heart. Their walk brought them to a door that led into a guard tower. Dash opened it and held it for him. “Well, if you want to head over and check out what’s left of the town, we can—” “Hold on,” he said, looking down over the battlement. Dash’s heart skipped a beat. She stepped up next to him, following his gaze down at a burly stallion heading out of the castle gates, pulling a mid-sized covered cart. “What’s that?” Wind Rider asked. “Supplies,” Dash said. “Er, I mean… trade. You know, trading supplies. Castle business stuff. Do you have any idea how much stuff Rarity—” “Let’s just take a look,” Wind Rider said, hopping up and over the battlement. Panic welled in Dash’s chest as she watched him open his wings and begin gliding down. She leapt after him, struggling to keep her heart rate even. He alit in front of the cart. The pony pulling it stopped short. “Uh, excuse me, sir,” the pony said. “Easy,” Wind Rider said, holding up a hoof and smiling. “What have you got in the cart, there?” Dash landed between them as the cart-pony opened his mouth. “Look, we kinda needed to get this stuff out of here right away,” Dash said. Wind Rider’s smile deepened. “Well, far be it from me to hold up important business.” He reached into a small bag hanging at his side and pulled out a few bits, which he tossed at the cart-pony’s hooves. “Tell you what, though; you look like you’ve been grabbed without a lot of notice, and you could surely use your strength before you take this wherever it’s going. Why don’t you go give those to one of the maids inside? I have it on good authority that they can dig up a bit of food and drink if properly persuaded.” The cart-pony met Dash’s eyes, then Wind Rider’s. “Yes sir,” he said, unhitching himself, scooping up the bits, and turning to walk off. “Wait, Wind Rider—” He held a hoof up to silence her, then placed that hoof on the side of the cart. “I don’t really need to look in here, do I? We both know what I’m going to find.” Dash swallowed. “Look, you don’t understand—” “Oh, but I do. Come on, fly with me.” He smirked, then jumped up and started flapping, gaining altitude quickly. Dash ascended after him, but found herself glancing back toward the cart again and again—knowing that Scootaloo and Redheart would be watching from within. Her stomach felt hollow as she wondered what they’d think about her flying off with Wind Rider. “You know, you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger,” Wind Rider said as Dash flew up next to him, matching his speed. “Maybe not even that long ago. Did you know that I was one of the last of the Wonderbolts to make my decision? Maybe the last, to make it freely.” Dash furrowed her brow and worked to even out her flight path. From their vantage she could see the whole castle easily, as well as most of Ponyville. “Oh yeah? I didn’t know that.” He nodded, banking gently through the sky. “I thought I’d be a traitor if I switched sides. I believed—I honestly, truly needed to believe—that I could make a difference by helping, and fighting, and resisting the Mistress with tooth and hoof.” He went quiet for a moment. “You remember the early strikes that the Wonderbolts scored against her forces? That was me calling most of the shots.” “I remember,” Dash said, flapping to keep up. “I was scared to death that I would end up getting assigned to fight you guys. You were murder!” He laughed. “Of course we were! The Wonderbolts were the best of the best. I might’ve been close to retirement, but I was proud to go out at the top of my game. Then when the call came to oppose the Mistress, I fought with pride, and I felt like anypony who switched sides was a damn traitor.” Dash flew right up alongside him. “So what changed?” “Reality.” He gestured toward Ponyville with a hoof. “Look at it, Dash. You think that anything ponies tried to do to stop her mattered? It didn’t. And it took me losing a lot of ponies I cared about before I figured out the truth.” “…Yeah?” His eyes hardened as he looked at her. “The truth… the real truth… is that she set us free when she turned us into her True Children. The sun, the clouds, the rutting weather… it all bound us to Celestia.” He grinned. “Yeah, I said her name. ‘Celestia.’ I don’t care; my Mistress knows where my loyalties lie. But now none of us need to care about that. We don’t need sunshine; we can move freely in darkness. We don’t need to preen; our wings are good to go anytime. And we’re not slaves to nature, the wind, or anypony but the Mistress whose image we’re wrought in. We are masters of ponykind.” Dash felt a chill as she took in both his words and the depth of the smile on his face. “I know it isn’t easy to accept that,” he said, looking down at the cart as they passed over the castle again. “It wasn’t easy when I realized what I had to do, or when I saw it done. Truth be told, I took no satisfaction from leading the rest of them into the Mistress’ clutches. It’s a hard thing, and a cruel thing, to face your demons, and to master them by taking on their strength. But I found it was the only way that I had strength enough to survive in this new world. Now it’s your turn to do the same thing, if you still want to have a place in it.” “What do you mean?” Dash looked at him with trepidation. He slowed, and came to a hover. Dash did as well. They flapped slowly above a clearing in the dead Everfree, and Dash felt sweat beading at her brow as she studied the hardness in Wind Rider’s expression. “Take out the keys you’ve been entrusted with,” he said at length. Get a really good look at them.” Dash complied. The ensorcelled keyring felt even heavier than she remembered. The runes carved in them seemed to dance and glimmer in the moonlight. “I figured out at some point that you were one of the first True Children, Dash… maybe even the first. You couldn’t fully know what you were signing up for when you chose to convert.” Wind Rider licked his lips. “Maybe you thought you’d be saving lives by doing it. Maybe you just wanted to save your own skin. Either way… the time’s come decide if you’re loyal enough to be worthy of the gifts you’ve been given. Put down these last remnants of your former life, and take up your power in a way that you’ve never quite managed all these years. Become what you can be—what the Mistress’ gifts can let you be. And do it now, so you can show her that the trust she’s placed in you with the Seneschal’s keys is well-founded.” Dash gulped and pressed the keys to her chest. “Wind Rider, I…” “Do it,” he said softly. “Do it now.” “I…” Her grip tightened, and her eyes hardened, though tears sprung up at their corners. “No,” she said at last—quietly, but firmly. She looked up at him. “No, Wind Rider, I can’t. I won’t. These… they…” She fought down the rising panic in her throat, and groped feebly for words she'd heard Redheart say before: “They are my ponies. They trust me, and I won’t betray them.” A cruel smile crept over his features. “Well then, that might be a problem.” He licked his lips again—then suddenly jerked forward, reaching for the keys. Dash jolted backward. “What are you doing?!” He jabbed at her with one hoof, then came around with the other, grabbing at her again. “You’re unworthy of the trust that those keys represent! I’d be happy to take them from you even if they weren’t enchanted to alert the Mistress when they leave their bearer!” “Let go of me!” Dash shouted, beating his hooves away from her. She drew back several pony-lengths into the air, trying to put distance between them. Wind Rider’s grin turned predatory. “I’m sorry, are you trying to fly away? From me? The fastest Wonderbolt flyer of all time?” He barked a humorless laugh. “End this, Dash. I’ll chase you if I have to… truth be told, it might be good exercise. But it’s pointless. I’m gonna get those keys, and I’m gonna bring the fury of the Mistress Nightmare Moon down on you and your friends. You just get to choose if you die tired.” He darted closer to her, and she pulled away, turning and flapping off. “We’ll see about that!” she called back, putting on a burst of speed and angling herself toward Ponyville. She heard laughter from behind and pumped her wings furiously, pelting through the sky with all the haste she could muster. But she could tell, both by sound and by the occasional graze of a hoof against her hind legs, that Wind Rider was still right behind her. As they flew nearer to Ponyville, she threw herself into a dive, spinning down toward the skeletal remains of the Everfree Forest. Though much was either burned or dead, it still had no shortage of branches reaching out into space. Dash figured they might at least make it harder for Wind Rider to keep up with her. Dash wove through the upper layer of branches at a speed that made her eyes water. She grinned, though, at the sound of a branch snapping behind her, followed by a muffled curse. She flapped harder, putting on as much speed as she dared while darting to and fro through branches and fallen trees alike. “Give it up,” Wind Rider shouted—from slightly farther back this time. “You know you can’t out-fly me!” “We’ll see about that…” Dash corkscrewed down around the trunk of a tall, relatively branchless tree, glancing behind her and spotting Wind Rider following in her path. She grinned and pulled up out of the corkscrew, hoping that he— Suddenly Dash’s vision whited-out with pain. She felt herself falling, fast, and only just managed to put on a bit of lift with her wings before she felt her hind legs slam into the ground. Dash roared with agony from both her forehead and her legs. “What is this, amateur hour?” asked the blurry shape of Wind Rider in front of her, shaking one of his forehooves rapidly—in all likelihood, the one that’d clocked her. “You wouldn’t have lasted a day at the Academy with that kind of flashy but obvious move.” Dash smacked the side of her head a couple times, trying to rattle her vision clear again, despite how her head and hooves ached. “This isn’t over,” she slurred. He laughed. “Come on, that’s gotta be a solid concussion there. I was always the fastest, and I still work out harder than you ever did… come to think of it, do you even work out anymore? Or have you gone soft, pawning off all your actual work on other ponies?” Dash felt a stab of guilt as she absorbed his words. He wasn’t wrong, and she feared that the ones who’d suffer because of it were Scootaloo and Redheart. But I’m not gonna let that happen! She hopped up, flapping again, glad to be off her aching hind hooves. “Oh, you’re kidding,” he said. “Aren’t you going to give up yet?” “Kid this,” Dash said, taking off at speed, and angling herself upwards and high. She flapped hard, but this time kept Scootaloo and Redheart fixed at the forefront of her mind as she focused on gaining as much altitude as possible. Not for the first time, she wished her guard uniform had come complete with goggles, because the wind resistance grew nigh-unbearable on her open eyes. But she continued to hold onto their images as she squeezed her eyes shut and flapped harder, harder, propelling herself faster than she could remember flying for years. Dash opened her eyes, suddenly quite aware of something in the air around her as she flew. Her coat prickled with a feeling that defied her ability to name. It was akin to the steady buzz of static electricity, yet it was unlike anything she’d felt while working with thunderclouds during her time in the Cloudsdale Weather Institute. Dash rose ever higher as she tried to place the feeling, with her speed growing ever faster—and she glanced downward, seeing Wind Rider fume below as he tried futilely to match her altitude and velocity. Still, the something eluded her, even as the air around her grew noticeably thinner due to her ascent. She strove to catch it. Her hooftips tingled as she reached out with her senses, hungry to know what it could be. Soon she felt that she was no longer trying to evade Wind Rider, as much she was trying to catch the something. Her eyes went wide as little sparks of color shot back from her wings. The something was almost within reach. But then she looked down, and saw that Wind Rider had changed course. Rather than continuing the chase, he’d set off back toward the castle. Dash swung herself around in an arc and beat her wings, working in tandem with gravity to rocket herself toward him. The distance between them narrowed rapidly, and the curious sparking effect grew more pronounced. Wind Rider glanced back at her, and for the first time she could remember, the expression on his face was one of fear. She knew she should slow down, and knew that he’d expect her to—she was going too fast to fight him effectively. An impact at that speed would likely cause them both serious harm, and he probably didn’t believe she was willing to take that risk. But she didn’t slow down. The something was close now—growing more physical, somehow, and almost close enough to touch. Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes shut, brought her hoof forward, reached for it— —and struck Wind Rider, connecting with a blow that sent a blazing lance of pain all the way down her foreleg and into her spine. She gasped in anguish and spun completely out of control. Her wings had burned with exhaustion before, but now her forehoof felt like a raging inferno. The something she had reached for was completely gone, and she found herself sobbing, but not from the pain—it was from the loss of whatever she’d been so close to catching. But I won the race with Wind Rider… Dash forced her eyes open and tried to correct her spin into something even slightly controlled. One of her wings slapped an outstretching tree branch, though, and she shouted a loud curse as it erupted in agony. Wind Rider went plummeting past her. She caught only a brief glance at him, but recognized he was in free-fall. He’d die if she didn’t do something. But on the flip-side, she realized that they were miles away from the castle, and deep within the Everfree. All she would have to do to be rid of him was… nothing. Dash bit her lip, watching him fall, thinking again of Redheart and Scootaloo—but this time she was unable to suppress the thought of the kind of pony she wanted to be for them. She cursed under her breath before throwing herself into a dive, pumping her wings to try to catch up to him. Her injured wing burned like fire, but she powered through it on adrenaline. Saving him was stupid. She’d have to find somewhere to stick him where he couldn’t cause trouble. She’d have to drag him back herself with a bum leg—maybe three bum legs— and a busted wing. And Redheart was going to freak out about all of that when she got back… …But the thoughts of the ponies she cared about returned, and this time they were accompanied by thoughts about herself as well. She’d killed because she’d had to in the Mistress’ service, but she’d never wanted to become a killer. Even her laziness was, in some ways, just an attempt to keep herself from having to do that. Dash caught up to Wind Rider, gripped him hard with the foreleg that didn’t hurt as much, and flapped for all she was worth. It seemed to be enough, too; after a few more moments of perilous descent, they came to an effective midair halt. The pain from her injured wing seemed to be growing more insistent, though, and so she began a landing approach that was equal parts swift and graceless. “Well, so much for sending them up to Filthy Rich to get them out of harm’s way,” she said through gritted teeth.