//------------------------------// // Rainbow Dash // Story: My little Evil tales // by Yuna Honey //------------------------------// Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Hasbro. My Little Evil Tales V Rainbow Dash: A matter of speed. -0- Rainbow Dash was extremely worried and flying as fast as she could. She knew how dangerous the misty caves in Ghastly Gorge were and could not afford to waste even a second in getting there. In her rush, she had left Fluttershy behind and while that meant not having her medical skills available, she figured it was possible to meet her on the way back to Ponyville. Gritting her teeth, the blue pegasus recalled the moment when Sweetie Belle and Applebloom rushed into Rarity’s store, both covered in dirt, crying and looking as if someone had died in front of them. Rainbow Dash had listened attentively as the girls related how they had tried to get a Cutie Mark of bravery by entering the scariest cave in Ghastly Gorge, and how Scootaloo had ended up trapped in there by a sudden cave-in. The speedster pegasus didn’t wait for any further information and had darted for the gorge the moment the two fillies finished their tale. It didn’t take Dash more than a few minutes to find and land in front of the cave the girls had described, as she had actually passed it by during her frequent flights through this place. The cavern was large and she’d heard it went very deep into the ground. Luckily, and from what the girls had said, they hadn’t gone too far into the cave before the accident. Unfortunately, sunset was coming; soon it would be night and exploring the cave would be almost impossible, which meant she had to find Scootaloo before the moon rose. Frowning at this predicament, the worried pony entered the dark hole in front of her. She called the lost filly a few times but no answer came; her concern rising, Rainbow dared to move faster, but she quickly tripped and fell. Cursing her lack of patience and the lack of a lantern or something similar, the blue pegasus steeled herself and marched further into the cave. She tripped again a few minutes later but this time, as she got back up, she noticed a faint green glow, obviously from a sprite-lantern, not too far ahead. Hope reigniting in her heart, Rainbow Dash rushed to the light. As she had expected, she finally found Scootaloo near the lamp. -0- Rainbow Dash had to fight back her anxiety the moment her eyes landed on the girl. Scootaloo’s lower half was under a heavy rock, and a thick liquid, maybe blood (was it really blood? With the green light it was hard to tell), had splattered all around her. “Scootaloo, can you hear me?” the blue pegasus called. “It’s Rainbow Dash; I’m here to save you!” Rainbow waited for an instant but the filly didn’t even move. Panicking, the pegasus started to push against the rock, trying to get it off the girl. “C’mon squirt, don’t let me down and open your eyes!” Rainbow screamed in despair once she realized the rock was too heavy for her to move. “You gotta help me move this thing!” A cough then, and suddenly a weak voice called. “Ra… Rainbow… Dash?” “Scootaloo?” the blue pegasus looked down to find the little girl had opened her eyes and was trying to speak. “Thank Celestia! Scootaloo, you’re alive! I was so scared!” “I… knew… you… would… come… thanks…” the filly weakly thanked her idol. “I'm Sorry… I couldn't… escape… it hurts…” “Save your strength kid, we’ll get you out of here in a moment, you’re gonna be alright, ok? Trust me, I won’t let you here!” Rainbow Dash promised as she tried to push the rock again. “That filly was already in my hooves. That you managed to bring her back by just calling her is most impressive,” a cold, unearthly voice that seemed to fill the entire cave announced. “Who… w-who’s there?” Rainbow Dash nervously asked. There was something present in that voice that made her coat crawl. “Show yourself!” “Rainbow… what’s going… on?” Scootaloo managed to get out. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing, ok?” Rainbow replied, trying to make her voice sound calm but not really managing it. “Just hang on; you’re going to make it out of this.” “No, she won’t,” the voice insisted. “She’s coming with me.” Before Rainbow Dash could reply to that statement, something happened that froze her blood with fear. -0- The skeleton of a large equine slowly materialized, shining bright as it moved towards the two pegasi. Tendrils of ethereal flesh started forming around the bones and by the time it stood before Rainbow Dash, the skeleton had turned into a massive white stallion with flowing black mane, his flank adorned with a scythe mark. “I-it’s… the… the S-Steed Reaper!” Rainbow stuttered, involuntarily pressing herself against the stone, her wings clutching against her flanks in absolute panic. “I want the soul of that filly. You have no right to keep her from me,” he declared with a raspy breath that was so cold it frosted the air around him. “Stand aside, Rainbow Dash, your time has yet to come.” The blue pegasus was paralyzed. She, like every other pony, had heard the stories about the Steed Reaper: The eternal stallion of death that collected the souls of dead ponies and took them to the other side. A being so relentless he would never let anything stop his grim work. The Steed Reaper was an unstoppable and completely unyielding force that no pony could oppose. Dash glanced at Scootaloo and thought about how much she still had to live for. It wasn't right that someone so young had to die, it simply wasn't! "You… you can't take her!" Rainbow said, standing in front of the wounded filly. "She's just a filly, she still has so many things to see and do! She doesn't even have a Cutie Mark yet!" "She is destined to die today," the grim stallion declared. "Fate dictates a soul must cross to the other side before the sun rises. The girl will come with me and you won't stop me." "I w-won't let you take her!" the blue pegasus challenged, growing bolder at the same time despair filled her. "A-and if you take her… then Princess Celestia will be angry!" The spectral stallion laughed, amused by Rainbow's comment. "Child, please. I am one of the very few beyond Celestia's power. I even took her predecessor to the other side and I surely will do the same for her and her sister when their time comes. That you know the princess means nothing to me, now move!" "No! You're not taking her!" Rainbow Dash insisted. "I don't know how, but I will stop you!" "Amusing, indeed," the Steed Reaper said, observing how Rainbow's proximity seemed to give the filly behind her the strength to hold on to the world of the living. It had been a while since he had seen something like this. It was an amazing testament of the power love could have, of course, but in the end it meant nothing. The spectral stallion knew quite well he could simply walk through the blue pony and touch the girl in order to end it all but… there was something about Rainbow Dash he found fascinating, and it had been the only reason why he had chosen to let her see him: her speed. She always boasted to be the fastest flier in Equestria, and he wanted to test the veracity of that statement. "I can see that you are quite determined… fine, let's say I offer you a deal that would allow you to save that little filly, would you be interested?" "What type of deal?" "Long ago, before Princess Luna was vanished to the moon, I found myself in a similar situation to this one. I had to take the soul of a pegasus, but her older brother wouldn't let me take her and he challenged me to a race for his sister’s life. He was the fastest pegasus back then and was confident in being fast enough to defeat me," the stallion of death explained. "I won and claimed the soul I wanted, of course… but I must admit victory was not easy. And now you, Rainbow Dash, are supposedly the fastest flier of this era, aren't you? You've even unleashed a Sonic Rainboom with your speed." "You… you want a race?" Rainbow Dash guessed, really hoping that was the case, for after hearing how a pegasus from a thousand years ago had been able to almost defeat the Steed Reaper, she was starting to feel pretty confident that she could give him a run for his money and perhaps even defeating him if she pushed herself to the limit. "Exactly, I’ve been bored for the last couple of centuries and a race against you might prove to be entertaining," the Steed Reaper confirmed. "Beat me and both you and Scootaloo live, be defeated and only one of you will live to see the next sunrise; either way, I’ll change fate for you." Rainbow Dash felt her confidence return at the idea and not just that, this challenge was the chance of a lifetime; the Steed Reaper was supposed to be inescapable, meaning that he was the fastest pony ever… a chance to test herself against him was making her wings itch. “Fine, you’ve got a deal!” Rainbow Dash agreed and then looked at the little pegasus, who was breathing heavily, but appeared to be stable. “It’ll be alright Scootaloo; I swear I’m going to save you.” “Fantastic, let us go to a proper location for our contest, then,” the Steed Reaper smiled and slammed his front hooves on the ground, shaking the cavern and unleashing a flash of yellow light that blinded the blue speedster. When her eyes recovered, Rainbow Dash found herself resting on a cloud high above Ghastly Gorge; at her left, standing on another cloud, was the Steed Reaper. “We race from here to the other side of the gorge,” the ethereal stallion announced. “Is that acceptable?” “Yes, it is. But you’ve got no wings, aren’t you going to materialize a pair or something?” The Steed Reaper did not answer and simply allowed the cloud he stood on to disperse, showing the surprised pegasus that he could actually walk on thin air. “I require no wings; I can run just as fine on the sky as I do on the ground.” Rainbow Dash smiled, she doubted he could go faster than her on the air without any wings. “You’re going to lose; Scootaloo won’t be going with you tonight.” “We shall see when the race is over,” the grim stallion reminded her. “Let’s start on three. Ready?” “Ready!” Rainbow said, preparing herself to fly faster than ever before. “Try not to disappoint me, young pegasus,” the stallion of death requested before he started counting. “One… two… three, let’s go!” And with that, they raced… -0- Scootaloo opened her eyes to find herself quite disoriented, but otherwise healthy and unhurt… but how? Her last memory was of a large rock crushing her? No, not just that, she remembered faintly how Rainbow Dash had come to rescue her. The pegasus filly finally noticed she was still inside the cave, and enough light filtered through the entrance to allow her to see around her. Looking behind her, the little pegasus found something that made her scream in absolute panic and run out of the cave in search for help. She found Applejack, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy not too far away from the cave, the three ponies explaining they had been looking for her all night. When the three asked about Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo pointed at the cave, but she couldn’t muster the courage to walk back in. Leaving the girl behind, the older ponies entered the cavern and yes, they found Rainbow Dash there, crushed under a large boulder. Her blood was splattered all around and her body was already cold to the touch… but strangely enough, a satisfied smile adorned her features, as if she had managed to do something very important before dying. -END- Next and final chapter: Pinkie Pie. Note: This is the only chapter that I had to edit a little due to the show. I changed the original location of the story, a place I invented called Shadow Mountain, to Ghastly Gorge in order to make the story blend better with the series.