Rainbow Dash was having a good day.
It all began with a quick shower in the morning before doing her part in helping the weather team. It was a good kind of work in her eyes. She could easily clear the skies for everypony to enjoy, and she had more than enough time after to nap. Even more conveniently, it was the kind of work that didn’t need too much thinking, giving her more time to think of what stunts she could practice in the afternoon.
”Maybe Pinkie would want to watch me today?” she wondered. Currently, she was taking the time to nap on her favourite cloud spot above Sweet Apple Acres. Most of the sky was already clear and when given the chance, Rainbow Dash gladly took her break. She enjoyed this spot a lot. Not only was it close to her friend Applejack’s home, but it was also the perfect spot to sleep in peace. Not only that but when the sun would begin to set, it was the perfect place to watch.
Rainbow felt an ache in her stomach as she looked down over the orchard. The Apple family had always taken such good care of their apple trees, the red fruits shining in the sunlight on the tree branches. They were never too ripe and not a single one had ever gone bad. Stretching her limbs, Rainbow flew down and swiped an apple from one of the branches. She was about to finish her break, however, it was only fair that she had something to eat first.
Finishing the apple, Rainbow Dash returned to work, the clouds dispersing beneath her trained hooves. Only an hour later and the skies were cleared. With the rest of the day to relax, she flew to her usual practice area. Thinking back to her friends, Rainbow Dash could only smile as she began to fly and do loops. Her friends were a unique bunch, she knew. Who would think an athlete and a seamstress would ever be friends after all.
Rarity was very different compared to Rainbow Dash. While she was happy to get dirty, Rarity would sooner faint if any dirt was caught in her fur. While she enjoyed competing, Rarity would prefer to take things slow. Rarity was always refined and tried to look as fabulous as possible, Rainbow Dash would rather gag. And yet, They still enjoyed each others company. While Rainbow would rather be flying, she admired Rarities patience and attention to detail, always seeing the little things and working on her dresses to make them better as a whole.
Rarity was a complete contrast to Applejack. A hard worker, Applejack would go day-in-day-out to help her farm, making sure her crops grew the best they could. Rainbow dash enjoyed hanging out with Applejack, and they both had fun competing. From hoof wrestling to drinking, they could both be very stubborn competitors and loved trying to one-up each other. That’s not to say there were other things she liked about Applejack. For example, she was much more down-to-earth and would always stop her from running straight into danger.
Not like Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie was weird, in a good way. Pinkie was Ponyville’s resident party planner and was a baker at Sugarcube Corner. When she wasn’t baking amazing desserts or planning birthdays, you could find Pinkie going around town, making everyone’s day better. She always had the best jokes and Rainbow liked coming up with awesome pranks with her. She always knew just what to do to make a pony smile.
That included Fluttershy too. Fluttershy was a childhood friend and while she was rather timid, Rainbow dash still liked spending time with her. Fluttershy was an animal caretaker and always knew how to talk things out. She even reformed the spirit of chaos, Discord. She was always so kind and loved to spend time with her friends. While she wouldn’t admit it openly, Rainbow Dash admired how brave Fluttershy could be. She always tried to do the right thing, even when she was scared.
That left the pony who brought them all together in the first place, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle was an egghead who would try to find a solution to any problem in her books. She’d certainly begun to relax more in stressful situations, but Twilight would still freak out if she didn’t have an immediate solution. She was also kind of cool, being able to handle herself in a fight with her magic, and she was the one to introduce Rainbow Dash to Daring Do, one of the best book series ever!
Rainbow frowned. Twilight had holed up in her castle yesterday and when she tried to find out what was going on, she found twilight panicking in her study with books littering the floor.
“what’s going on in here, Twilight!?” Rainbow gawked.
The floor was littered with dusty books and scrolls, stacks of old tomes stood tall in a corner of the room, swaying as though a single touch could bring them toppling down. Twilight sat at her desk, four books open in front her as a quill scribbled notes beside her in her magic.Twilight turned suddenly, her mouth hanging open as her bloodshot eyes widened to look at her. “Something’s very wrong, Rainbow Dash, and I don’t know what it is!” she exclaimed. Twilight brought her attention back to the books, her eyes moving rapidly between them as she flipped the pages in her magic.
“Twilight relax, you know I’ll help you with whatever’s going on but you need to tell me what’s happening first,” Rainbow placated.
With reluctance, Twilight placed the books on her desk and organized her notes. She took a breath, practising her sister-in-law’s relaxation technique, before taking a sigh. “I don’t think this is something any of the girls can help with, you included, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight spoke softly.
“What do you mean, Twilight? Haven’t we always come on top by working together?” Rainbow asked, “Look, just explain what’s going on and I’ll help.”
Twilight’s eyes darted to the books on the desk before she looked to Rainbow Dash. With a sigh, Twilight explained, “Yesterday afternoon, something happened, and it gave me a sense of unease. I’m not sure what it was, but I sent a letter to Celestia about it and she sent a letter back saying she felt it too. Cadance and Luna also felt it but none of us knows what happened.” Twilight frowned. Her wings sagged as she continued to speak, bringing her notes from her desk as she continued to explain. “I’ve been researching for any information on what happened, but I’ve found nothing on what it could be. Cadance thinks it might not be anything to worry about, maybe it was just a weird alicorn thing, but I can’t just let it go like that,” Twilight expressed.
“I think Luna has been trying to see if anything happened in the dream realm, but I don’t know if that has been fruitful yet. Celestia seemed worried in her letter, I think she’s trusting me to find out what’s happening. She already has to do her part as leader of Equestria to keep everypony safe, but she can’t do everything. I just hope I can find out what this is before anypony gets hurt.”
Rainbow Dash was quiet, her wings slowing as she stopped flying. Putting a hoof to her mouth, Rainbow sat down. “I don’t know twilight, this is very confusing,” she finally answered. “Maybe you’re right, this seems like something way tougher than what we’ve dealt with.” Pausing, Rainbow Dash took some time to think. Twilight sat down in front of her, notes in her hooves as they both thought quietly.
Twilight was the first to speak, putting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “I know you want to help, Rainbow Dash, but I think this might be something far beyond us.” standing up and walking to her desk, twilight placed her notes back before stopping. “How about this?” Twilight considered. “I will keep looking for a solution while you keep an eye out on everypony. If you notice anything strange happen, just come talk to me and I’ll see what I can find out,” she concluded.
Getting back to her hooves, Rainbow Dash’s brow furrowed before she beamed at Twilight. “I can totally do that! Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll make sure no one gets hurt. If anyone gets in danger, I’ll save them no matter what!”
Twilight gave a warm smile before speaking, “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. I know I can count on you”.
Since their talk, Twilight had still been looking through those old tomes while Rainbow would occasionally fly over Ponyville to see if anything happened. She hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary yet, but she trusted Twilight, and when Twilight Sparkle said something was wrong, ponies knew something had to be wrong.
As she finished her practice for the day, Rainbow took another flight around Ponyville. It was about time for another, and as much as she wanted to lie down, she knew it would be better to be safe than sorry. As she finished her final circle around the area, Rainbow Dash stopped at Sugarcube corner. An intoxicating aroma escaped the inside of the bakery, and smelling the delectable treats within, Rainbow Dash flew down and opened the doors. Something washed over her as the doors opened, and soon, Rainbow Dash had disappeared.
~א~
Angela was unsure of what had happened. Her plan had worked almost perfectly. She still lost half of the light she had needed, and the Sephirah had required some persuasion in being put to sleep again, but that was to be expected. She knew they wouldn’t let her disrupt their plans without a fight, but she was able to make a compromise with them eventually.
What she had not expected was to find herself outside of the city.
She had very little knowledge yet of this new world, though she knew that it functioned by a different set of rules to what she was used to. An example was that the sun, rather than being in the centre of the solar system, instead orbited the planet she now inhabited. Similarly, the stars acted as a background to the night sky and moved as though they were controlled by a puppeteer.
Alongside this, many creatures humans had thought of as myths seemed to live in this world. She had been lucky to come across a book within the library with information on such monsters when a wyrm had decidedly come too close to the libraries borders. She had since placed it on her favourite desk in case she were to meet any other creatures she knew little about.
Angela stopped as something entered the library.
The library had yet to open its doors, and as such, it should not have been possible for anything to enter.
Noting the location where the unwelcome object had appeared, Angela quickly left. What she found was not expected.
Standing in the vestibule to the library stood a cyan coloured equine with a similarly coloured pair of wings and a technicolour mane.
~☁~
“Woah, where am I?” Rainbow questioned, looking about the room she had found herself.
The building itself definitely wasn’t Sugarcube Corner. In fact, it looked more similar to a library, with large rows of books in shelves made of dark wood. Between the shelves, pillars stood on either side of the room, yellow lights hanging from the tops like fireflies, giving the room a warm atmosphere. The floor was also wooden, with a shiny coating of varnish with not a single imperfection and the ceiling was high enough that Rainbow Dash surmised that she could fly easily and with little discomfort.
Wherever she was though, it was definitely dangerous, and she knew she wasn’t meant to be here.
A loud noise echoed through the room, almost like the snap of Discord’s talons, as a strange, monkey-like creature appeared before her. It wore a dark suit and skirt along with a dark purple long coat, a white flowery design adorning the bottom. Its hair was a light blue and its eyes shone with a golden yellow, staring down upon Rainbow dash as though gazing into her soul.
“I will only say this once,” it exclaimed, its voice like the frigid cold of winter. “I despise roundabout explanations so simply answer my questions. What are you, how did you enter this place and for what purpose?”
“Hey, I’m the one asking questions buddy,” Rainbow argued, quickly lifting from the ground to fly at eye level with the strange creature. “I don’t know who you think you are but you can’t tell me what to do!”
“I will not answer any questions until you have answered mine, fail to do so and there will be punishment,” the creature responded. “I will ask again. What are you, how did you enter this place and for what purpose?”
“No, you answer me. Who are you? Where am- AAAAH!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she felt the muscles in her hindleg begin to tear. Time seemed to crawl as her leg was pulled from her body, her tendons ripping as the limb was removed. If anything was outside she was sure they could hear as her screams drowned out the sound of her skin breaking to show the muscles within snapping. Her wings faltered as she fell to the ground, pain soaring through her flank at where the limb had once been.
Trying to suppress her pain, Rainbow dash faintly felt the sticky wet liquid spurting from her leg begin to pool around her form.
“Fail to answer again and I will remove another leg,” the monster spoke, staring down upon rainbow dash with a frown.
“Why?” Rainbow begged weakly, her voice straining from her throat. Angela simply stared before raising her head, causing Rainbow Dash’s other leg to be torn from her by an invisible force. Rainbow Dash’s howls echoed through the library as the pain throbbed in her head.
“I said I wouldn’t answer any questions until you answered me,” the woman spoke. “You have one more chance until I take your wings. What are you, how have you entered and why?”
Rainbow Dash groaned as her eyes began to dull, her wings spread across the floor as she forced herself to speak. “I’m a pegasus from Ponyville. I was looking to see if anything weird had happened in town recently since Twilight is worried about something, I was going to buy some cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner when-” Rainbow’s eyes shut as her teeth clenched, her voice rising from her throat as she felt one of her wings break under the invisible force the thing in front of her used to torture her. A yell escaped her teeth as she felt the muscles snap from the strain and she felt her coat grow wet as she lost her wing.
With her wing gone, she would never be able to fly again.
“You spoke for too long, stay concise and on topic and you may just survive,” the thing spoke coldly, it’s voice uninterested in what lay before her. “How did you enter?” it asked. Had Rainbow Dash still been conscious, she may have answered. However, as her eyes began to close, the last thoughts that went through her head were whether her friends would ever know what happened to her and what would happen when she was gone.
“Looks like it fainted. No matter, this may be useful.”