//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: Without A Purpose // by SuchAFoal //------------------------------// "RAINBOW DASH!" Yelled a particularly frustrated purple mare. "You get down here this instant!" Rainbow stared down from her perch high in The Library's limbs. She glared down at Twilight and stuck out her tongue. "Why you?! Wait tell I get my hooves on you." She bellowed up the tree. "I can tolerate your pranks, but now you've gone to far! Look what you did to my mane!" Rainbow looked at her friends mane and fell against the tree roaring with laughter. Twilights hair was a glaring shade of auburn and her coat a milky white. Rainbow wiped a tear from her eye and looked at her infuriated friend. She then sighed and flew from the tree, coming to rest next to the librarian. "I like this color on you. Makes you seem so much more...mature." She giggled. Twilight glared at her and stormed back into her library with the pegasus in tow. The smell of Spike cooking lunch filled the whole house. Rainbow Dash's licked her lips in anticipation, but Twilight grabbed her ear with her teeth. "OW!" She squealed. Twilight released her quickly and grabbed a quill and some parchment with her magical aura. "OK, now that I have your attention, please tell me the dye's you used. I need to know so I can fix all the damage you've caused me." She quipped, agitated. "But...but luuuuunch." The cyan pony moaned pathetically. Twilight just starred, unphased by the wining, and waited. "Fiiine." She sighed. "Some bleach in your soap and some red cake dye I got from Pinkie, in your conditioner." "Ok. That is all." Twilight mumbled as she wrote. "Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike!" The little dragon came running from the kitchen, his apron covered in jelly, and stopped just shy of the two mares. "How soon until dinners ready, Spike?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "Hi to you as well, Rainbow." He laughed. "It will be ready in a little bit. What do you need Twilight?" "I need some baking soda and some compound 35 with citric acid, from the cellar." "What for?" Her glare was more than enough of an answer for the young dragon. He turned on his heel and headed toward the cellar door. As soon as the door clicked Twilight rounded on Rainbow and sighed. "Why do you do this to me...What have I done to deserve this constant torture?" She questioned, her mane askew. "Are you mad at me? Is this some sort of punishment?" Rainbow looked away quickly, her face scarlet with embarrassment. She shifted her hooves in place and her wings fidgeted. Twilight new she had struck a chord, so she pressed the issue. "I'm your friend, okay? You can tell me anything, Rainbow Dash." She implored, placing her hoof over Rainbow's shoulder. The cyan pony jerked away and glared at Twilight, enraged. "You know, for such a smart pony, you sure can be stupid!" Rainbow spat. With that she turned and left the librarian without another word. The door slammed behind her making Twilight flinch. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID!" Rainbow Dash cried as she flew away. " I can't let it happen again, never again! "What's wrong? Miss me already?" Came a voice from nowhere. Rainbow Dash froze in mid-air; the voice all too familiar. Her head whipped around searching for the voice's owner. "Awww, how sweet...Some ones got a cruuuush. So cute I think I may just vomit." The voice mocked. Rainbow gulped and tried to fly as hard as she could away from the heckler. "I JUST love how you dyed her coat to look like mine. Were you hoping it might help?" It continued. "I knew you missed me." She realized, with a shock, that the voice wasn't coming from around her, but from inside her very own head. She tried to scream, but was stopped by a terrible itch from must under her chin. She tried to speak, but the urge to scratch it, with all her might, prevented her. She landed next to a lake and started scratching vigorously. "Go away!" She gasped frightened. The itching just wouldn't stop no matter how hard she tried. She scratched and scratched to no avail. SHHLICK. SHHLICK. SHHLICK. Confused, she pulled her hoof away and it was drenched in blood. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a choked gurgle. Her eye lids dropped and she collapsed to the ground in pain. As she stared at the sky, gasping, a figures shadow came into view. It was a unicorn with auburn hair and a silvery coat . He smiled down at the struggling pegasus, his blood red eyes flashing, and laughed. A terrible vile cackle filled with sadism and malice. "This is the second time I stand over you while you lay there dying. This time, though, I want save you." He smiled, a wicked bloody crack in his shaded face. " You took her from me and for that you shall pay! Her vision swam and faded to nothing. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Screamed Rainbow Dash as she lept from her bed, clutching her neck and gasping for air. The storm still raged outside; matching her scream in volume. "What wrong?" Asked a frightened Twilight. "Did you have another nightmare?" She sat in mid-air as she collected her breath and looked around in terror. Twilight stood up and walked over to her. She then reached up and placed a hand on the pegasus's flank. Rainbow flinched away and looked down at a smiling Twilight. Rainbow Dash sighed and landed, tears in her eyes. She reached and clutched Twilight in the a hug. "I was so scared that-" She gulped. "-he's back." Twilight just held her tighter and stroked her mane; scanning the darkness with her eyes. "It's ok, I'm her, I'll protect you." She murmured, softly. They stayed there awhile and listened to the storm rage until the dawn came. The sun broke through the clouds and it's rays traveled across the room in streaks. As they crossed the room they illuminated the desk next to the bed. On it, next to the bedside lamp, sat three picture frames . The first held a picture of Twilight and Rainbow Dash on there first date. The next held Twilight and her parents on Christmas. The last was new to the table. It had faint burn marks and signs of age. In it was Rainbow Dash laying in a hospital bed with a portion of the picture that had been ripped off. Whoever was there, next too her, was erased. In her arms, plan as day, lay a small new born filly. It's purple mane and bright orange coat; a stark contrast to her mother. A baby Scootaloo rested as her mother stared down at her lovingly. Rainbow Dash starred at the picture, from her spot on the floor, with Twilight. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at her daughter. The guilt and pain making very breath she took ache "Is it to late?" She whispered. "I don't want her to suffer like I did. Growing up without a mother...." ~*~*~*~*~*~