Rainbow shivered under the cold rain of the land that once was Equestria. She struggled to find another cave, another place to hide.
But why?
What was the point running anymore? She was broken, all her tears shed long ago. She had long stopped turning around, hoping to catch a glimpse of something alive that wasn’t him.
He, who had once been one of her closest friends. No pony could have seen it coming, the day the library assistant would have enough. Not even Twilight Sparkle, a pony that was considered his mother, couldn’t see the rage slowly building up in him.
But that was the plan all along.
~
No pony would have ever guessed that the nightmare attached to Twilight. After its defeat, it targeted the leader of the elements. But it couldn’t find any kinks, any weak spots for the unicorn. She had newly discovered friends, and she’d never been happier. But the dragon. The in-love, different, greedy, and secretly lonely in the world of ponies dragon. Yes, the nightmare took advantage of the young dragon, simply because he was a dragon.
Spikes recent birthday was all it took for the Nightmare to take full control of him. After the incident, Spike had felt guilty, and had been more than once teased and ridiculed for the incident, and for simply being unique.
And then he had enough.
Or, more likely, the nightmare had had enough of the waiting. One day, the small purple dragon had awoken with the ‘brilliant’ idea to confess his love to Rarity. He had arrived earlier than usual, to find the doors locked. The nightmare, which Spike would have passed off as curiosity, had driven him to look into one of the Boutique’s windows, and what he saw, broke him.
The mare of his dreams had found a stallion, and by the looks of it, they had gotten to know each other well.
And then Spike died.
The nightmare reached out and squeezed his consciousness, and Spike finally submitted. He grew, his eyes turning red, his scales popping off, to be replaced with larger, black scales covering his growing body. Now taller than a tree, and still growing by the second, he burst through the carousel, angrily reaching out to the woken stallion, and effortlessly snapping his neck. Tossing his limp body to the side, his arm shot out, picking up the screaming white unicorn. Spike might have felt for this mare, but the nightmare felt nothing. Breaking her windpipe with a flick of his claws, he dropped her gasping, dying body.
But the nightmare doesn’t stop there.
Fluttershy had been going to visit Rarity, but she saw the dragon too late. She had been hit by the dragon full force and flew through the air, hitting the wall of a house with a sickening thud.
And Dash had seen it all.
An hour earlier, Rainbow had landed on a cloud hovering near Rarity’s house for her scheduled nap. Dash had had to of worked the night shift, and she was awfully tired. She had dozed of rather quickly, taken no notice of her surroundings.
She had woken to the sound of roaring, and it wasn’t hard to notice the giant black dragon that was growing to cloud level. She had seen Rarity’s corpse, but she couldn’t bring herself to process what she was seeing. Then came Fluttershy. Rainbow finally realized the danger ‘Shy was walking into, but it was too late. Rainbow heard her crash into the wall, and without another thought, flew to her aid. When she arrived, Fluttershy was bleeding and out cold. Dash wrapped her arms around the yellow mare, and sped off. She remembered catching a glimpse of Twilight, then hearing her scream…
~
Dash shivered under the stinging, non-stop rain. That was 3 hours ago. She hadn’t seen Pinkie or Applejack since then, and assumed the worse. She had seen Sweet Apple Acres burn.
But nothing hit her worst then her best friend’s death. The yellow pegasus had never regained consciousness, and Dash made her a temporary grave, promising to come back. It was the last promise she ever made to Fluttershy, and it was a promise she couldn’t keep.
The monster that had used to be Spike never stopped growing, and eventually overwhelmed Equestria’s forces. Once big enough, a fireball from the monster did damage never seen before. Rainbow had been underground at the time, so she didn’t feel the damage until resurfacing. The burning of the once alive fields and forests had overwhelmed her, and she stopped mid-air, breaking into tears she didn’t think she had left.
She had gone on, having the small, deceitful glimmer of hope that a miracle would happen. Why had she gone on? She knew she had no answer to that question.
Even if the monster had dropped dead right at that moment, Dash wouldn’t have cared. Nothing would have, could have, been the same. She would never get back her friends; never get back that one thing in her day she looked forward to. Her wings ached in protest at her non-stop flying, but she couldn’t care less. This was the end for Rainbow Dash, the once proud cyan pegasus. She flew, and she flew, and she flew. She didn’t think, she didn’t hear, she didn’t feel until she heard the twinge of pain in her left wing. She opened her eyes, and saw the ground spiraling up to meet her.
She didn’t care. Why should she? What is left for her? Why didn’t she die with her friends? Why did she run? She impacted, and the full force of her speed, combined with the dirt, caused shattering in her right and left wing. She got up, ignoring the pain. She knew her wings were twisted in odd angles, she knew she had broken her wings. But she didn’t care.
She just walked, letting the pain of life envelop her body. The pain reminded her, in a way, that she could still feel, and she hated it for that.
She could have walked on forever. She would have, if she didn’t encounter the sea. The wall that kept her from moving, from trying to escape the truth. The truth that everything she knows is dead.
Everything she knows is dead.
A pony can only hold onto hope for so long, until reality hits them. There is no hope, there never was hope, they are alone.
Everything had been absorbed, everything had been processed, but Rainbow Dash just sat there. Empty on the inside. She wished for her heart to stop, wished for everything to just end. She turned around, staring at the towering monster, the only living thing in her eye sight. She brought her hooves to her face, staring at every drop of blood, every speck of dirt.
She sighed emotionlessly. She was just going to sit here. Sit here until the end.
“Dash…”
Rainbow turned around, her expression unreadable as she faced the pink mare that was once her friend. But she didn’t have friends anymore. She didn’t have anything. Pinkie looked back, a sad smile on her face. “It’s alright Dashie, we’re going home.” She said, holding back the tears she experienced every time.
Dash’s expression didn’t change, and her voice remained flat, “I have no home”
“Of course you do, Dashie. Equestria is your home.” Pinkie replied, keeping the sad smile on her face.
“This is Equestria.” Dash stated. She just sat there, looking at the pink mare.
Pinkie shook her head sadly, her smile disappearing, “No Dash, this isn’t. This is fiction. Please, let’s just go home.” Pinkie stepped aside to reveal a white hole behind her. “Now please Rainbow, let’s go home.”
The cyan pegasus just nodded, getting onto her feet, and without another word, disappearing into the white hole. Pinkie followed, her sad smile returning once more. She didn’t even glance back at the destruction behind her, because she knew none of it was real.
Then she went home.