//------------------------------// // The Saddest Pony in the World // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// “You see-” Dreamweaver started. “All of this has been for the purpose of making a dream come true. Many things had to happen for this day—this very moment—to come to pass. Many ponies, many desires have made this possible. But at the heart of it all is one thing. One dream born from one pony’s life.” He took a deep breath while Rainbow Dash and Wish listened to him (Heartless wasn’t paying attention at all) and looked with pride at the glass sphere full of the black liquid despair. “So much was done, as you both know, for this. And throughout it all I haven’t told a single, solitary pony what its purpose is. Not the Queen, not Vox, and not you, Wish. But what I am telling you now is the absolute truth.” He straightened up a bit, trying to fix his clothes and wipe some of the blood off his face. “The reason all of this started is very simple. The reason we came to Hoofica Castle, the reason I formed the Inquisitors, gathered all of this despair, the reason for everything.” Dreamweaver looked at his daughter and smiled warmly. Wish smiled back. “The reason is because ever since I was a child, I’ve only ever been able to feel happiness when others are suffering.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. Wish’s smile froze on her face. She couldn’t have heard right. Her father didn’t just say that. “Huh?” She tilted her head. “You heard me correctly, Wish. It’s something I’ve known about myself since I was younger than you are now,” Dreamweaver said. “I… I don’t understand,” Wish shook her head. Dreamweaver hummed, a patient grin on his face as he stroked his bruised chin. “I suppose you’ll both need an explanation or two then. I was born to normal parents, living a normal life in Hoofica, but when I was a child I noticed that I was different than my fellow ponies.” He started to explain his life to the two of them with a wistful expression on his face, the bright sky in the window framed behind him. “I didn’t feel happiness the same way they did, running around with a soccer ball gave me no joy. For a while I was quite miserable because of this. But when my neighbor’s house burned down I finally realized what made me tick. When I saw my colt classmate crying in the night, I felt true happiness for the first time… funny, I don’t even remember his name.” “F-Father, what are you talking about?” Wish asked him. “You want to know why this has all transpired don’t you? It means needing to know the truth about me, Wish. I think you should be happy since for the first time in your life I’m being honest with you,” Dreamweaver said. Wish looked at him with a shaken up expression on her face, not sure what to say. “Anyways… I quickly realized as well that despite my desire to see the suffering and misery of others that I simply couldn’t go out and do whatever I wanted. I’d get caught obviously. Imprisoned, taken away, any number of things,” Dreamweaver continued. “So for a while I resigned myself to living a more or less normal life and trying to find contentment there. It was awful. I put my safety above my happiness for years, what a miserable and wretchedly depressing life that was. That’s why I ended up getting married and having a child in the first place. I tried to force myself to be happy like a normal pony.” “You… you what?” Wish spoke barely above a whisper. Rainbow Dash looked over at her and saw her lip quivering, her mind still not fully processing what Dreamweaver was saying, “Kid...” Rainbow Dash grimaced. “It’s what I said. Your mother, I married as an experiment. And you I fathered as an experiment. Unfortunately neither thing helped me at all, you were both failures. Even my own daughter I couldn’t relate to or feel anything towards. I ended up putting myself to work harder, using my profession to give bad advice to ponies, tear apart marriages, enable poor behavior, all just simple and petty acts to make myself feel some joy. And when you were very young… your mother actually realized just who it was that she had married. But I’ll get back to that later. Either way, at that point in my life I had resigned myself to a life of unfulfilled dreams, despair, and the occasional joy of ruining the life of another.” His eyes glanced up at the ceiling in thought. “I had originally intended to tell you all of this on my death bed, the look on your face would’ve given me one last moment of pure happiness before I died. But that all changed one day, about a year ago now.” Dreamweaver smiled, looking at Rainbow Dash and Wish. “That day that led to everything else that’s happened in Hoofica.” Rainbow Dash glared at him, checking up on Wish but seeing that the filly seemed to be in a state of shock. “What happened on that day?” “I’ll tell you,” Dreamweaver took in a deep breath, still happily smiling. “It was raining one night and there was a knock on the front door...” A rather peculiar pony was standing on the front porch. I couldn’t make out much of him, he was wearing a cloak that completely obscured his features, all I knew for sure was that it was indeed a he. Besides that, he had a box sitting beside him. I was rather confused, it was the middle of the night and with how hard it was raining I really didn’t expect any visitors. When I saw the box I admit that I first thought he was selling something and told him we weren’t interested. Well, he wasn’t selling anything, that was for sure. “This is a gift for you,” the cloaked pony said, gesturing to the box. “I’m giving it to you because I believe it can make your dreams come true. Your true dreams that you keep inside yourself, hidden from other ponies.” Naturally I was wary, but he seemed to be speaking with such truth and conviction that I was intrigued. “What do you think you know about me?” I asked him. “Everything. You are a capable pony, Dreamweaver. And I came here to help you because I believe you can also help me,” he said. I regarded him suspiciously of course, I mean who wouldn’t when a strange pony on a dark and stormy night comes saying and offering things like this. “Excuse me?” “Let me tell you about what’s inside this box. You can become happy, at the cost of others and Hoofica becoming a much quieter place. I see it as a good trade for the both of us so long as you use the Device inside correctly.” This sudden encounter was strange, I admit. I didn’t fully believe him but when he said that… it was like a spark had been lit inside me. I felt excited, like there was a true opportunity in front of me again. For the first time in ages I felt a great sensation welling in my chest that perhaps my dreams could come true. It was something like pure instinct or hope even though logically I knew I probably shouldn’t outright believe what he was saying. “Alright… show this “Device” to me.” “Of course,” the pony said and opened up the box. “You will not be disappointed...” He told me everything about how the Device worked after showing it to me, and just what I could do with it. Although admittedly I changed and modified it to better fit my own uses and desires later on, but that’s not really important to the two of you. I can safely say though that I was quite happy at the end of the night. Oh how excited I was to make my dream come true, my dream that I abandoned, thanks to this pony I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. That wasn’t all either of course, we talked for quite a bit and he told me about some very interesting things that had to do with the capitol and the royal family. I truly don’t know how he knew all of this. He must have had some unnatural means. In the end, most of what happened in Hoofica was largely the result of his ideas and advice, though I did plenty of my own too. I am curious though, he said I—and what I would be doing—would help him but he never elaborated on what he actually got out of it. Oh well. There was something else he showed me too, a special crystal that I’m sure the both of you must know well about at this point. It was responsible for the barrier that went up around the entire kingdom. I can’t even fathom how or where he would’ve gotten or created such things, but he had them. Either way, the crystal allowed all of this to go much smoother. Nopony could escape from the experiment and it helped foster more and more despair throughout Hoofica. And Wish, you of course know what happened soon after this. The two of us went to Hoofica Castle. The stranger had told me that the Queen’s physician was about to pass away and I should take his place and ingratiate myself with the royal. A good idea. That made everything possible from the start. Really our trip to the castle went better than I had ever expected it to. The Queen was lonely and easily plied and convinced of anything I said once I showed her a little love. Ponies like that are the easiest—anypony starved for love is easy to manipulate. She hated her husband enough to be quite open to using mind-control spells on him as well. It’s amazing how well things went, almost like fate was on my side. Of course I realized that for things to proceed smoothly without trouble I’d need some allies or ponies that directly responded to me and carried out my orders. My idea for the Inquisitors of course. That’s why I came up with the idea for psyche evaluations to give to the Royal Guards and other ponies in the castle. When truly I was just looking for appropriate ponies. And of course it wasn’t soon after first coming to the castle that I met a certain violent thug who the both of you also know well… “Vox!” Captain Red Wing yelled at the white unicorn. I paused while walking through the halls of the castle, startled at the loud yelling and looked to see what was going on. The Captain of the Royal Guards, who I had met for the first time upon proposing to the King and Queen to replace the old physician, seemed to be having an altercation with another Royal Guard. “This is the third time, Vox! The third time you’ve done something like this! What do you have to say for yourself?” Red Wing angrily yelled at her. “Like I said,” Vox rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I thought those two ponies were intruders who had broken into the castle. How was I supposed to know they were just tourists who had gotten lost?” “Don’t lie to me! If you do anything, anything at all like this again, you won’t just be dismissed, I’ll have you imprisoned!” Red Wing threatened her. Vox angrily bit her lip and ground her teeth, it looked like she really wanted to say something but she wasn’t stupid enough to actually do so. “Excuse me,” I said, walking up to the two of them. They both looked at me in surprise, Red Wing raising an eyebrow and Vox narrowing her eyes. And when I looked into Vox’s eyes for the first time I realized immediately that she was exactly the pony I was looking for. I knew everything I needed to in that one moment. “Who are you?” Red Wing asked me. “Ah, I see you don’t recognize me,” I politely said to him. “My name is Dreamweaver, we met briefly in the throne room the other day.” Recognition at last dawned in his eyes and he nodded. “Right, my apologies. What do I owe the occasion? If you would forgive me, I’m in the middle of disciplining a subordinate of mine.” “Yes and I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear what was going on… may I ask what has happened?” I asked. Red Wing regarded me stoically for a second before acquiescing. “I suppose so. You’re a doctor of some sort, aren’t you? The King and Queen did seem to be ready to accept you into their services.” He glanced at Vox. “This one, assaulted a couple of ponies who were lost in the castle. Just one more incident in a pattern of poor behavior from her.” “I had reason to suspect they were up to no good,” Vox shrugged. “You’re a liar, a violent sadist. And I should just get rid of you already,” Red Wing glared at her. “Now, now, I don’t think there’s any reason for that,” I said. “In fact, I believe I can help the both of you.” “How so?” Red Wing regarded me questioningly while Vox just looked disinterested. “Well I’m not just any sort of doctor. I’m a psychiatrist. And I’ve talked with the Queen about this already but I was interested in giving psyche evaluations and free consultations to any and all Royal Guards. I believe Miss… Vox… here would be a perfect first patient if she has these problems you’ve mentioned. I don’t wish to sound so prideful but I am quite good at my job, if I can help Vox deal with her problems and you can keep a Royal Guard on your force it’s a win for everypony. And to be honest, any opportunity I have to help one deal with any issues they might have is good enough reason for me to do something like this,” I told the both of them. Red Wing looked between me and Vox before he accepted the proposal. “Alright, it does seem like it’s supposed to be your job anyways. If Vox can be helped then that’s certainly better than an alternative.” He narrowed his eyes at the white unicorn. “You just be on your best behavior, understand?” “I promise,” she rolled her eyes. “Excellent. Well I’m free right now, would you care to come with me to my lab, Miss Vox?” I asked her. “Fine. Whatever,” she shrugged. “Thank you,” I nodded to her and looked over to Red Wing with a smile. “And thank you as well, Captain.” The two of us then left the Captain behind. It was a long and quiet walk up to here but I was excited on the inside. Vox seemed supremely bored but that was going to change shortly. The moment I closed the door and turned to face her she frowned at me. “Look, I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish with your little therapy session but-” “Oh no, no, no,” I quickly corrected her. “You don’t need to worry about that, one look in your eyes was all it took for me to see that there’s no fixing what’s wrong with you.” Vox’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Then what the hay are we doing up here? Aren’t you a psychiatrist? My parents sent me to others when I was younger and they all tried to “help” me. I think I got pretty decent at lying to them after a while.” She narrowed her eyes. “But none of them ever said what you just said.” “I have an eye for ponies who can’t be fixed. Call it having personal experience,” I shrugged. “So why’d you lie to the Captain then? What do you want with me?” I smiled at her. “Well I was wondering… if perhaps you would like the opportunity to indulge in all those dark desires you keep bottled up in your head. Would that be pleasant for you? If so, I believe the two of us can help each other.” Vox’s eyes darted back and forth, as if she was thinking this might be some kind of trick and weighing the possible options. Slowly though, she grinned and a very familiar manic look came to her eyes. “That sounds wonderful~” “And as far as the history lesson goes that’s pretty much all that needs to be said. Vox of course ended up being just as problematic as she was helpful, a mere sadist without an ounce of intelligence or vision inside that tiny head. The why though I will explain now,” Dreamweaver said to Rainbow Dash and Wish while a bored Heartless kept her eyes locked on the pegasus at all times. “You’re disgusting,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. Wish meanwhile was blankly staring at the floor, blinking every few seconds. Her head felt funny and a pulsing pain was starting to emerge deep behind her forehead. “I… I...” the little filly muttered. “Wish?” Dreamweaver said to get her attention. “Would you like to know the true—the final—reason for why I’ve done all this?” She looked up at him. “Father...” “Wish—just stop! Just stop listening to him!” Rainbow Dash said to her and then glared at Dreamweaver. “She doesn’t need to hear anything else!” “She does. She needs to hear what her purpose is. The part she plays in all of this. How all of this despair has been gathered for her,” Dreamweaver pointed to the glass sphere. “What?” Rainbow Dash spat out. “For me?” Wish asked, still partially in a daze. “Why? What’s going on?” Dreamweaver smiled at her. “Wish. I have never loved you. Not once. Not a single solitary moment in my entire life have I cared about you. You have only been an object to me—and only recently have you become a tool that I could finally use to make my dream come true. Because your happiness will become my happiness. Because the greatest, purest, darkest despair can only come from true happiness. Just as I told you.” Each word he spoke was a hammer that made Wish shiver in pain and horror, the pure sorrow in her eyes was leaking down her face. “Nghh!” Wish grasped her head and cried in pain. A window of glass inside her mind shattered into a million pieces. The dark liquid inside the sphere became even more violent, so violent that it seemed like it would almost break free. Even Heartless turned her head to look at it. There was a strange spiritual light emanating from it that she could feel. “K-Kid...” Rainbow Dash looked at her in horror. “I wish to spread despair throughout the entire world. That is my dream,” Dreamweaver continued. “That is what all of this has been about. I want to drown the world in despair until I am the only happy pony left and every other creature is suffering and wallowing in misery. That is why, Wish. And your purpose in all of this is to be the core. You will become one with the despair. You will give it ego, a focus, a direction. You will become The Avatar of Despair.” He pointed to the valve on top of the pipe. “All that needs to be done is for you to open up that valve. You’re right there. Become The Avatar of Despair for me.” “Don’t even think about it, Wish!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “I-I know you’re feeling messed up right now, but don’t touch that thing! You don’t want this, Wish! I know you don’t.” “You are the only one. Brought from the greatest happiness to the greatest despair. That is why all of this was done,” Dreamweaver continued to say. Wish’s nose started to bleed and she groaned, her eyes twitching in shock and her jaw clenching up. Waves of nausea and pain radiated through her head and her stomach was twisted in knots. “Ohhhhh...” The filly groaned. “Kid, just stay with me,” Rainbow Dash tried to get Wish’s attention. “I need to tell you the truth about your mother too.” Both Wish and Rainbow Dash looked at Dreamweaver once more. He was smiling. Smiling in great amusement. “I told you that your mother eventually found out about what kind of pony I really am. The kind of pony she married. The kind of pony she had a child with. I dropped all pretense around her out of boredom, and I still remember the sweet look on her face when she realized I was being serious. Obviously she was horrified and she wanted to run away, but I couldn’t have her possibly causing problems for me like that.” He wryly grinned, briefly looking at Rainbow Dash. “Now while I am not the foremost expert on magic, I am an expert on the mind. And mind control spells come fairly easily to me. For the last two years she was alive—your mother was under my mind control. She was a puppet, locked inside her own head, forced to appear normal while screaming on the inside.” Rainbow Dash gaped in horror and disgust at him while Wish’s face was the perfect image of a phantom. “Yes… those days were slightly more enjoyable just with that knowledge. However, my lack of expertise in magic eventually became my folly. You do remember the circumstances around your mother’s death, don’t you, my daughter?” Dreamweaver asked her. Wish of course was in no condition to respond, blankly staring at him as if the entire world had fallen apart around her. She might as well have been staring into a black hole. So he continued. “When I was gone for about a week… that’s what led to it. You see, the mind control spell has to be constantly reapplied or it slips away. And unfortunately I was delayed in coming back home. Eventually it broke completely and your mother—your real mother—became free.” He looked at her deeply. “But Wish, I’m afraid I lied about something else too. Your mother never loved you either.” Wish shook and shivered, nearly convulsing as tears started to fall from her eyes again. “In those days, locked away in her head, she came to hate and despise you. Seeing you as just another thing that brought her despair. A reminder of her horrible, ruined, life. And when she became free? That random day, that random moment while you were at school? She didn’t think about you at all. She didn’t want to talk to you or see you. She didn’t care about leaving you behind alone with me. She didn’t care about you coming home and seeing her dead. She didn’t care about you,” Dreamweaver chuckled, unable to contain himself. “That’s right, Wish. Your mother wasn’t sick. She killed herself! Poisoned herself right from some drain cleaner we had. I kept that hidden from you all this time. Your mother killed herself rather than spend another second alive with you! She-” He couldn’t finish as in the space of a blink Rainbow Dash had shot over and pinned him to the window, cracking it behind him. Her blue foreleg was raised and pressed up roughly against his throat as she stared him in the eye—burning ruby flames penetrating down to his soul. “If you say one more word. I’ll kill you,” Rainbow threatened. Dreamweaver wisely shut up. “Rainbow Dash.” The quiet voice caused Rainbow Dash to look over her shoulder. What she saw made her blood run cold. Wish was standing there. Smiling at her even as a cascade of tears ran down her cheeks. Her hoof was raised to the valve, resting on it. “I think… I think that maybe… if I can at least be useful to my dad. Then maybe I’ll become happy.” “DON’T!” Wish turned the valve and the black despair came pouring out.