//------------------------------// // This is Reality, I'm Afraid // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// “Ooohhhh… my head...” Dotted Easel said as she got up from the carpet. Her hoof rubbed the back of her head until she accidentally rubbed the spot causing her pain and she winced in discomfort. “What happened? Wish?” She was painting with Wish and then… something hit the back of her head. That was all she could remember. Dotty frowned as she felt bits of soil and ceramic fall off her head, the remains of a flowerpot. The flower itself also lied on the ground now, disturbed after she had gotten up. “Ugh, so I’m covered in dirt too...” Dotty frowned, trying to clean off her maid uniform. How long had she been out? She looked around the boudoir and saw that it was empty—no surprise there. A quiver came to her lips and she gulped, thinking she was probably going to be in so much trouble for something. Even though she had no idea what that something was yet she certainly couldn’t shake that feeling. Wish was missing. She was supposed to take care of and watch over Wish. Vox and Master Dreamweaver were going to be so mad… The pounding in the back of her skull hadn’t abated so Dotty leaned up against the comfortable couch and closed her eyes. It was so bright though even with her eyes squeezed shut, she really wanted a pillow. “Huh?” Dotty opened her eyes in confusion and looked out the window. Sunlight. She hadn’t even noticed it at first, but the sun was out. The sky was no longer dark and the tall windows had rays of sunlight beaming through them, filling up and brightening the room. “But… how?” She walked towards the window and looked up at the blue sky. Everything was back to normal. Her breath hitched and she ran to the nearest mirror in the boudoir, checking her neck. And sure enough, the black band around it was gone too. Dotty was happy—but worried at the same time too. “I don’t understand...” Wish. She knew it in her heart that somehow the filly was involved with this. Dotted Easel gulped again, thinking of what she would have to do now. “You… you—guh—you think you can… you think you can do this to me?” Vox said as she pulled herself up, leaning against the wall of the stairway. Blood dripped from her mouth and nose and a few of her teeth still lay scattered on the steps around her. “I’m not… I’m not through with you yet. Kill you… kill you...” She coughed heavily and more blood splattered from her mouth onto the steps. “Rainbow Dash… Wish… Dreamweaver. All three of you, kill you all...” Vox muttered as she tried to get steady and took another step up the tower. “Don’t care… don’t care...” Her mane was messy and her eyes were bloodshot, pupils shrunk down to pinpricks as all she saw was rage in front of her. The pain and broken nose were nothing. The blood and her lost teeth were nothing. Rage was a good way to force herself onward. She didn’t care about what else was going on in this castle or what would happen to her by the end of this revolution, as long as she was able to get up there and kill those three she would be happy. Vox was able to keep slowly moving just thinking about that. “Hehehehe… I can’t wait to see it… I can’t wait to see the looks on your faces...” Vox grinned manically. “Which one should be first? Who should it be?” She licked her broken and bloody lips. “Yes… hehehehe… I’ll get you all for this.” Heartless walked by her and tapped her on the shoulder as she went. Vox shuddered and fell over onto the stairs, limp and quiet. “It’s taken a long time, and I know it hasn’t always been the most fun for you here in the castle, but it’s finally over. Everything I’ve been working towards has now finally come to a head.” Dreamweaver said to Wish as they held hooves, him looking deeply into her eyes. “My dream is coming true. And the promise I kept to you is going to be fulfilled.” “Promise?” Wish asked, curiously. Dreamweaver nodded. “That’s right. I promised to make you the happiest pony in the world. It’s been a lot of effort… but that’s what I’ve always been working towards.” Wish found herself smiling as a warm feeling filled up her chest. She knew it. There was a good reason for all of it. There had to have been one. She let herself be led along by him as they stepped over to the large glass sphere. There, Dreamweaver stood before it and placed a hoof on her shoulders. “Do you know what this is?” He asked. “I...” Wish looked at the intense dark liquid swirling inside the sphere. “Yes. It’s… despair. I saw Vox take it from Rainbow Dash in the dungeon.” “She was the last bit. The catalyst that gave me the purest, darkest despair. You see, the greatest despair can only be born from the greatest hope and happiness. And Rainbow Dash had hope in abundance. All the other liquid despair you see gathered in the sphere? That’s all been gathered over the past months by ponies in Hoofica. That’s what I’ve been doing, Wish.” He told her before wistfully staring at the sphere. Wish didn’t know what to say, she ended up just staring with him. “But over time… the quality went down. It became degraded. Ponies had lived in despair for too long, the despair I had gathered wouldn’t grow, wouldn’t become stronger. I was stuck until Rainbow Dash came here. Well… you more or less know the important parts concerning that, and I don’t want to bore or bother you. It’s why I kept you in the dark about most everything while we were here. Why I wanted you living a normal life, and not come in to this lab, why I’ve kept this all a secret from most everypony. All so you could remain ignorant and happy. You see, it had to be that way. You couldn’t know about what was going on if I wanted you to be the happiest pony in the world.” Wish looked at the darkness, thinking about how all of this had been gained—how many ponies had gone through what Rainbow Dash did—and then at her father. “Um… d-does that mean it can stop? It’s finally over now. C-Can things go back to normal? The ponies in the castle… in all of Hoofica… they can be happy again, right?” “There’s certainly no reason for things to keep going the way they have been. I have no use anymore for the Inquisitors or anything else that has been done,” Dreamweaver said, rubbing his chin. Wish felt a wave of relief. It was okay. Everything was going to be okay. She was wrong to have been worried. Her father was still her father. “S-So what happens now? I mean… why did you need to do all of this?” Wish asked him. She looked at the sphere and the black liquid that seemed to churn about more ferociously the more she looked at it. “What’s all of the despair actually for? What does it do?” Dreamweaver smiled and looked down at her. “It will help mark a new day in the world. But to put it simply—the despair will be used for you.” “For me?” Wish didn’t understand. “Yes,” he said and knelt down to meet her at eye level. “I need to ask you something. Are you happy right now? I’ve been sure to make you the happiest pony as can be. Everything has been for that purpose. You’re here right now with me, you know how much I love you, how I’d do anything for you. You truly do feel happy don’t you? A perfect ten out of ten like always?” Wish looked at him, looked into his eyes. Her memories flashed back through her mind. Memories of what she had seen in the castle. Memories of living at home with him. Memories of her mother. Everything she had been through. Everything Rainbow Dash had told her. Everything he was telling her now. She could feel the love from him. “Yes, father. I’m happy,” Wish smiled. He let out a deep breath and hugged her. “And I’m so happy to hear that.” He released her from the hug and stood up, bringing her over to the pipe that came out from the sphere. “Wish, this is important, would you please stand here?” She looked at it—slightly worried, but did as he asked. The pipe was right above her head and she could see into the dark hole that went all the way back and into the glass sphere. “Like this?” “Just like that,” he reached down and patted her on the head. His eyes held affectionately on her for a moment before he stepped back. “I have another thing I need to ask you, Wish.” He smiled. “You know how much I love you, don’t you? And how much your mother loved you? You know that’s all true no matter what and you can always trust me?” “Yes,” Wish nodded honestly. “I know how much you love me… and I know mom loved me too, and she’s watching over me right now, just like you said.” Dreamweaver smiled wider at her before closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them back up. “That’s great, my darling daughter. My Wish. Now, I have something very important to tell you.” He took a deep breath- -and the door to the lab was loudly thrown open. Both Wish and Dreamweaver looked over in shock at the intruder. A blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, her body thin and disheveled, her breathing heavy. As soon as Rainbow Dash’s eyes locked onto Dreamweaver, they narrowed while his widened in fright. She flew with a scream across the laboratory in an instant—before Wish could speak or Dreamweaver could react at all. Rainbow Dash crashed into Dreamweaver and grabbed him by the lapel of his suit, throwing him across the stone floor to the window that looked south over the capitol. She was hardly finished either, flying right back to him and slamming his shoulders to the floor so he couldn’t get up. All Dreamweaver saw standing over him now was the furious face of the blue pegasus. “Rainbow Dash!” Wish yelled from in front of the sphere. If Rainbow Dash heard her she didn’t seem to care. Without any hesitation she lifted her hoof and punched the shocked Dreamweaver in the face, quickly drawing it back and punching him again and again. “Do you know what you did to me?! To everypony down there?! To everypony in the whole kingdom!” Rainbow Dash yelled between repeated punches. His face soon became a bloody and bruised mess, his limbs fruitlessly fighting to get away. “You… you!” She punched hard enough across his face to break his nose. “Do you care? Do you even care?!” “Stop it, Rainbow Dash! Stop it!” Wish wailed at seeing her father be beaten bloody, tears pouring down her face. “Please! You said you were going to help!” Rainbow Dash’s hoof paused mid punch. She was still breathing heavily, below her was the swollen face of Dreamweaver. Her right hoof was covered in his blood. “Kid… you don’t… you don’t understand,” Rainbow Dash said, gritting her teeth. “Please...” Wish cried. “He’s my father—h-he’s not, he’s not the pony you think he is! He’s not evil! Stop hurting him… please...” She begged and begged Rainbow Dash. “It’s over, Rainbow Dash. It’s already over… you don’t have to do this!” Rainbow Dash shook, struggling with her emotions, before finally putting her hoof down and stepping off of Dreamweaver. He was wheezing and in pain but still conscious. Rainbow wiped the sweat from her brow with her clean hoof and looked over at Wish. “Kid, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why he did all of this. But your father, he-” The door to the lab opened up once more, much more gently this time, and all eyes turned to look at the pony walking in. “You’re hurt, aren’t you? Or tired? Because your light isn’t as warm as it usually is, Rainbow Dash.” Heartless said as she strode into the lab. Rainbow Dash blinked, heaving heavily as she stared at Heartless. It was already bad enough. She was close to passing out. For once though she didn’t feel just terror at seeing Heartless again, but exhaustion mixed in with worry for Wish. “Hey, Heartless… guess you’ve been walking for a while.” “W-Who’s she?” Wish asked as she looked at the pink pony. “Rainbow Dash, I don’t-” “Just stay back for a second, alright?” Rainbow Dash said to her. Meanwhile Dreamweaver pulled himself up, standing right under the window and leaning against the wall. “This interruption… has gone on long enough.” His eyes looked over to find his daughter. “Wish… I have to tell you something.” “Shut up!” Rainbow Dash growled at him. “I don’t know what you’re doing up here with that thing but I’m not letting it happen.” “Rainbow Dash, he’s not-” Wish started to say. “Allow me to speak,” Dreamweaver said. “Allow me to talk to my daughter. You want to know, don’t you, Rainbow Dash? You want the truth about everything. You want me to enlighten both her and yourself. I can. Besides, it’s my right as her father, I think she would want that. You can allow something so simple, can you not?” Wish blinked, looking back and forth between her father and Rainbow Dash. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say. What was going on? “Nothing good could come from whatever it is you’re planning...” Rainbow Dash said to him. “I don’t like it when you ignore me, Rainbow Dash.” The faces of the other three swung back towards the smiling Heartless. Heartless looked between Wish and Dreamweaver. “Are these ponies important to you? If you want I can take them first.” “No! Don’t you even dare, Heartless!” Rainbow yelled at her. She bit her lip, glancing at the scared Wish. “This time there’s nothing to stop me, and here you are right in front of me,” Heartless said. “Are you going to try running again?” “I’m…” Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw and groaned. “Just wait, okay?!” Heartless tilted her head. “Wait?” “Yeah, you heard me! Right now I’m dealing with something else. If you just sit there and wait for me to finish up my business with these two, I won’t run or anything when we’re done. That sound good to you?” Rainbow Dash said, hoping that Heartless would accept it and give her a brief moment of reprieve. “Hmmm...” Heartless brought a hoof up to her chin and looked at the ceiling, as deep in thought as she ever went. At last she shrugged and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Okay!” She calmly sat down and looked on. “I’m waiting!” Now Rainbow at least had some time to think of how to get her and Wish safely out of this. “If you’re both done then-” Dreamweaver said to get everypony’s attention again. “Wish? Would you like to hear what I have to say?” Wish looked at Rainbow Dash—who was clearly torn on what to do now with this situation—before looking back at her father. “Yes,” she nodded. Rainbow Dash frowned but said nothing for the moment, respecting Wish. Dreamweaver smiled through his swollen and bloody face. “Alright, my darling daughter. I’m going to tell you everything now.”