//------------------------------//
// Chapter 36: Shooting Star 
// Story: The Dalek Invasion 
// by the ghost 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 36: Shooting Star

Rainbow fell…
And fell…
Fell…
It felt like she was falling through the planet.  All of her attempts to fly were in vain.  Her senses were almost useless.  There was no light to see.  There was nothing to touch.  Nothing to taste and nothing to smell.  
Nothing to hear, but a silence that bounced around the sides of her skull like she had headphones on full blast and suddenly took them off.  
There was nothing for Rainbow Dash to do, but think.  

When she first started to fall, after the initial shock of her not being able to fly, she felt angry at Pinkie Pie.  Why the hay would she do something like that?  She’s my friend isn’t she?  
She stayed angry at Pinkie for a long time.  But after a long while he decided that she must have had a good reason for it.  At least she hoped so…
How deep is this hole anyway?  
Apparently pretty deep.  She fell for several hours.  Out of the boredom she decided to try to name as many of her friends as she could.  
“Let’s see we have AJ, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Gilda…” Wait not Gilda.  …Schootaloo…”  Well not exactly a friend.  She was more like a little sister to Dash.  “…Derpy, Zek. and last but not least Shooting Star…”
Dash blinked, wait a second, Shooting Star?  Who was that?  Dash didn’t know anypony named Shooting Star.  Did she? 
She thought about it for a long time and then remembered…
***
In the past,
About two months before the flying exam.  
Cloudsdale

“You ready Dash?”  Asked Shooting Star holding a stopwatch.   She was adolescent female Pegasus with a Shooting Star for a cutie mark.  Her coat was white and her hair was a golden yellow.   It was styled in a messy style similar to Rainbow Dash.  
“You bet.”  Said an adolescent Dash, getting ready to do the course.  “I’m going to smash you record Starie.”  
“Yeah right.”  Said Gilda.  “Shooting Star is the fastest Pegasis in our class.  You’re fast Dash, but not as fast as her.  Not even I’m that fast.”
“We’ll see about that.”  Said Dash.  
“That’s not true.  I’m not the fastest.”  Said Shooting Star.  “The gray Pegasus with the funny eye is the fastest.”
Yeah, but that dweeb couldn’t fly in a strait line.”  Said Gilda
“Good luck Dash!”  Encouraged Shooting Star.  
“Thanks but I don’t need luck.”  Said Dash.
“Ready?  Set… GO!”
Dash flew ahead at her full speed the wind rushing through her rainbow color hair.   
She came close to doing the Sonic Rainboom, but didn’t quite get there.  She crossed the finish line.  
She huffed for air.  “What was” She took a breath of air.  “my time?”  
“20.12 seconds.  Congrats you beat my old record.”  Said Shooting Star.
She and Rainbow Dash exchanged their secret hoofshake.
“Wow you actually did it, I knew you could.”   Said Gilda.
“You did not.”  Said Rainbow
“Alright you win.  Want a smoke to celebrate?”  Said Gilda offering Dash a cigarette.  
“Sure.”   Said Dash eagerly taking the cigarette and preparing to light it. 
“Ahem.”  Said Shooting Star.   “Dash I thought you said you were quitting.”
“Well I will… after one last cigarette.”  Said Dash.
“Dash if you don’t stop smoking now, you’re never going to get in shape to join the Wonderbolts.  
This gave Rainbow Dash a moments pause.  She looked at the cigarette longingly.  It was true.  Ever since she started smoking she had been getting slower and slower.   
“Fine alright I won’t… thanks Gilda, but I don’t smoke anymore.”  Said Rainbow Dash.
“Fine then party pooper.  More for me.” Said Gilda lighting up her cigarette.  
“Anyway it’s my turn to run the track.”  Said Shooting Start gracefully gliding up to the track.  
“Why bother?” Said Rainbow Dash.  “I just beat your all time record.”  
“Dash you can be such a block head sometimes.”  Said Shooting Star.  “I set that record a long time ago before I learned how to do a Sonic Star Burst.  
“Yeah you keep talking about that, but until I see it it’s about as phony as Dash’s fabled Sonic Rainboom.”  Snickered Gilda.  
“Just stand there and watch.  You girls ready?”
“Yep.”  They said getting the stopwatch ready.
“Alright on your mark, get set… go!”
Shooting Star took off in a yellow and white blur.  A mock cone forming around her body until finally there was a loud boom that shook the earth below them.  Shimmering stars trailed her body as she doubled her speed in about a second.  
Shooting Star crossed the finish line.  Huffing and Puffing.  
When she caught her breath Shooting Star asked “So how did I do?”
Rainbow Dash and Gilda picked their jaws off the floor.
“E-eight seconds.” Said Rainbow Dash in disbelief.  Gilda seemed to have lost the ability to speak.
Knowing how completive Rainbow Dash was Shooting Star tried to “play down” her accomplishment.  
“Oops, I didn’t mean to show off so much.  Uh, it was probably just the strong tail wind.”  Said Shooting Star.
“Naa, you’re just fast.  I wouldn’t expect anything less from my best friend.”  Said Rainbow Dash.  “We are going to rock that flight test.  Probably even get first place.”  
“Well you have to see about that.”  Said Shooting Star nervously.
***
Present day,
Silent Hill

Shooting Star was my best friend back at flying school?  Thought Dash.  That’s weird, why hadn’t Dash thought about her in a while?  She was the Element of Loyalty for goodness sakes, she should at least be faithful to her old friends.  I wonder what happened to her?
Rainbow Dash focused and tried her best to remember more about Shooting Star, but when she tried to remember, all she got was pain.  A lot of pain.
Suddenly there was a sound.  A pony’s voice breaking the silence.  
“It’s nice to be remembered.  But enough is enough.  Forget about me Dash move on with you life.”  Said the voice.  
“Shooting Star is that you?”  Asked Rainbow Dash softly.
“Some memories are best left forgotten.  They are too painful.” Said the voice. 
“I don’t care if it’s painful you were my best friend I want to remember you.”  Said Dash.  
The voice was silent for a second or an hour or a year.   
“Come to the Brookhaven Hospital if you still want to remember, I’ll be waiting there.  For you.” 
Suddenly Rainbow was no longer falling she was laying down in front of the hospital.  
She stepped though the front doors.

***
A bronze colored unicorn bucked down the door to the control room where door without any warning giving nearly giving Queen Harmony a heart attack.  The doG at the controls didn’t even flinch.  
“Stop what your doin’ missy. “  Said the unicorn.  The unicorn was strange looking.  He’s hair was a mess and his coat was dirty.  He was clearly an adult yet he was small win size for a colt.  He looked rather sickly.  Lastly he had an eye patch covering his right eye.  
“Who in the world are you.”  Demanded Harmony.  She was fascinated how in the world had she found the control room.
“Don’t ya recognize me?”  Said the unicorn.  
“No.  should I?”  
“It be me Caan.  I reckon this accursed place has changed me into a unicorn.  Don’t ye fret.  Ye best be stop doing what ye’re doin, or else I’ll… why are you laughing. 
Queen Harmony had fallen over laughing, she struggled to breath..  
“You’re- you’re accent! It’ ridiculous!  It sounds like someone stuck Shakespeare, a northerner, a southerner and a pirate in a blender!” The Queen struggled to contain her laughter.  “I didn’t think Skaro had a south.”
Caan rolled his eye.  “Plenty of planets have a south, Are ye done?” 
“Sorry give me a sec.”  She took deep breaths.  “Ok… ok I’m ready.”
“As I was sayin thou can’t keep this up Lassie.  Thou shan’t be messin with Zek for what he did his past life.  He doth not remember it.”
At the word “doth” Harmony started to crack up again.  
“I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.” She said, “But it’s so ridiculous.  And to answer you question.  No I’m not going to stop.  I brought him here to have my revenge for what he did to me.  I’m not going to stop now.”  She had calmed down as the thought of revenge filled her mind.  
“All he did was make thou see the truth.  Have ye been locked in the Elements so long that you forgot that?”  Asked Caan.
“No I was not a monster, my land was perfect no fighting no violence,  it was perfect.  I’m going to bring it all back.  The time of G3 will rise again!  As soon as I have my revenge.”  Yelled Queen Harmony madly. 
“You’ve… you’ve been discorded haven’t you.”  Said Caan. “No it’s the opposite you’ve been harmonized.  Is it because of this town or too much of a good thing methinks?  Well it won’t help your revenge to hurt Zek, he can’t even remember what he did to you in the first place.” 
“Well then I’ll have to give him his memories back won’t I?”  She held out a DCR tape.  
“No, thou can’t show him that!  I reckon it’ll break his mind!”  Objected Caan.
“Then revenge will be mine.”  Said the Queen.
“Then you leave me no choice.  EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT!”  Shouted Caan.  He teleported in front of Harmony and grabbed the tape and teleported away.  
“You can’t call it a temporal shift if you’re using magic!”  She complained before she herself teleported away.  
The doG let out a sigh… it’s about time she left.  She had been blocking the monitors ever since she and Zek got here.  Making notes, making suggestions, trying to get him to destroy Zek by giving him too much to handle at once.  Now it was quite.  No one talking at all.   Nice and peaceful
“Ohhhhhhhh what does that big red button do?”  Asked Pyramid Pie leaning over the s‘doG shoulder.  The doG let out a whimper.
Well that was short lived…