Chapter 4
Rainbow Dash
Be patient. Rainbow Dash just barely heard what the Celestia-voice had said before something smacked her against the face. She flew back a few feet, shaking her head. Her eyes hadn't adjusted yet from the bright light. She couldn't see where she was, or what had hit her. She hadn't even fully realized that she was flying. There was no ground beneath her; could she be in Cloudsdale?
Something whooshed by her left ear, narrowly missing her head. Slowly her eyes began to adjust to the dark sky. Yes, she was in Cloudsdale, she could see that now. Various figures of different colors were all around her. Most of them were black. There were screams, grunts and groans coming from all directions. Cloudsdale was under attack.
Changelings and pegasi everywhere were fighting. Cloudsdale hadn't yet fallen to the changelings. The pegasi were still fighting. How long had this been going on? How much longer could the pegasi hold out? She could see a few pods hanging from various awnings; clearly, although they weren't giving up, the pegasi were slowly falling. She couldn't let this happen to Cloudsdale.
The changeling that had pummeled her rammed into her side. Rainbow Dash wasn't prepared; the hit was hard and her left wing cracked unnaturally from the impact. It was from that damned horn on the changeling's head. Rainbow Dash cried out in pain. She tried to keep steady, but she was starting to go down. She could still flap her wing, but it was too painful, and too weak to fully support her.
She couldn't believe this was happening. She was Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus there was, the coolest in all of Cloudsdale and Ponyville. And she was going down after one hit?
She tried to stay up, but was failing miserably. She sensed the ground beneath her coming closer, faster and faster. And what was worse was that the changeling that took her down was charging at her again from above. It was going to finish her off once she hit the ground. Well, she wasn't going to let that happen. She wasn't going back into one of those life-sucking pods.
Trying as hard as she could to ignore the pain, Rainbow Dash did a barrel turn and began to fly in the opposite direction the changeling was heading. Normally she would have charged right back at it, and she felt like a coward trying to get away, but she had to be sensible. Sensibility was something she was slowly trying to work on. Ever since that whole Mare Do Well stint her friends had pulled, she had been trying to improve herself and her enormous ego. It was easier to do the right thing and not show off and act tough when her friends and others weren't watching. And right now the right thing to do was get away to a safe spot and figure out how to fix her wing. And then go back and save Cloudsdale.
She knew her little stunt wouldn't deter the changeling for long, just give her a little bit of a head start, while the changeling turned around and chased her again.
Even though she was flying as fast and hard as she could, she was still slowly descending. She could hear the changeling catching up behind her. Stumbling slightly, she made the transition onto the ground and began running as fast as her hooves could carry her. But the changeling was still faster in the air. It dive-bombed onto her, tackling her to the ground.
Rainbow Dash kicked it off her and began to run again. There was a cave up ahead. Surely she could lose it in there and hide.
As she ran towards the cave, she noticed the eerie green glow of the sky above her. Ponies must be encased in pods everywhere. It wasn't just Canterlot—obvious from the attack on Cloudsdale—but she didn't want to believe that it was really happening all over Equestria. But it was. Everywhere she looked, the sky had at least a small stream of green growing from it.
The changeling cut her off from her thoughts and the path towards the cave. It dragged her down from behind and pinned her to the ground. It smirked devilishly down at her, its bright green eyes boring down into hers.
Slowly, it lowered its horn down to Rainbow Dash's forehead. She began to feel dizzy, her eyes losing focus. She began to feel sleepy.
No... I can't fall asleep... I can't go back into one of... those cocoons...
Her body began to tingle. She couldn't move. Her wing didn't even really hurt any more. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad in one of these pods. There, she could dream and fly. Cloudsdale wouldn't be under attack. She'd be with her friends. But it would be fake.
She hadn't even realized her eyes were closed when the tingling sensation stopped and she opened them. The changeling was off of her and preoccupied with something else. Sound began to return to her ears. It sounded like someone was struggling with the changeling. Someone was saving her.
Her eyes were still out of focus and she still felt dizzy. Her body was still immobilized. The sounds of the struggle stopped, and someone began to drag Rainbow Dash away.
Hey! Let me go!
Except the words wouldn't come out of her mouth. She couldn't quite move yet, though slowly her eyes were coming into focus. She couldn't see who was pulling her—they were in front of her, behind her head—but they had brought her into the cave. It was pitch black.
Rainbow Dash's leg twitched. She could almost move it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something flickering. The figure continued to drag her in silence. What if it was a changeling tricking her? What if this changeling wanted to eat her? Forget feeding off of her energy, just feed off of her in general?
Suddenly Rainbow Dash jumped up and pushed away the figure.
"Heeyy..!" the figure said, stumbling. They stumbled into the flickering light of the fire and fell over. "Careful Rain-bow Dash."
Rainbow Dash couldn't believe it. It was Derpy. Derpy had saved her?
"Derpy?"
Derpy wobbled into a standing position, still a little unsteady. She looked at Rainbow Dash with her slightly crooked eyes.
"I've been hiding in this cave ever since those changings attacked," Derpy said. Rainbow Dash sighed.
"They're called changelings," she said. She couldn't believe her luck. Out of all the ponies to save her, it had to be Derpy. She was a nice enough pegasus and all, but just so the opposite of Rainbow Dash. While Rainbow Dash was 20% cooler, Derpy was 20% lamer.
"Oh, whoops. Enn-ee-ways, they haven't found me yet. I just happened to be looking outside when I saw one of them following you. Did you hurt your wing Rain-bow Dash?"
Why in the name of Celestia am I stuck with this pony?
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, stepping into the light of the fire. She tried to get a better look at her wing, see how badly it was bent. It didn't feel broken, just sprained. But jeez did it hurt.
"Oh no. May-bee I can fix it for you? You should, uh, bind it or something," Derpy said. She began to move to the other side of the fire, where she seemed to have a small pile of supplies. She tripped over a rock. "Oops!"
"Ugh." Rainbow Dash hoof-slapped her face. Why. "Listen Derpy, I really appreciate you saving me and all, but I can't stay here. I need to go meet up with my friends and stuff. They're waiting for me. But thanks anyways."
She turned around and began to head back out of the cave.
"Oh, ok! Where are we going Rain-bow Dash? Wait for me, let me grab my bag," Derpy said from behind her. Rainbow Dash sighed.
"No Derpy, you're not—" Be patient. The voice rang through her memory again. Wasn't that what Celestia had said as she walked through the door?
Rainbow Dash turned around and looked at Derpy, who was busy gathering her things. There seemed something... upbeat about Derpy, like she was happy Rainbow Dash was there. She knew Derpy didn't have a lot of friends. She was friendly to every pony she met. It wasn't because she had a lazy eye; it was because she was just too clumsy and accident prone. She hummed to herself quietly as she gathered her small supplies into her bag.
But she saved you. You'd be in a pod—or worse—right now if it weren't for Derpy. She's been hiding in this cave, afraid of the changelings, and yet she ventured out to save you.
But she's so clumsy! It's Derpy! She practically destroyed the Town Hall! She can't fly straight and she's always causing delays. She would just slow you down on your way to Ponyville and be a burden.
But she saved you. Give her a chance. Be patient.
Be patient. There it was again. Celestia said that the doors would lead them to where they needed to be. Was she supposed to find Derpy? Were they supposed to team up together? If so, then why? And how had a pegasus, like Derpy, managed to evade the changeling attack? Surely a pegasus like Derpy would have been one of the first and easiest to put into a pod. But then again, she did just pull one off of Rainbow Dash. One that was in the middle of complicated magic. One that so far, hadn't come into the cave to take on both of them. Maybe there is more to Derpy...
"So Rain-bow Dash, where are we going?" Derpy asked, her bag on her back, the fire safely put out. There was a smile on Derpy's face.
"To Ponyville. We're going to Ponyville," Rainbow Dash said.
"O-K!" Derpy said, falling into step with Rainbow Dash as they headed out of the cave. "Hey Rain-bow Dash, do you wanna muffin?"