//------------------------------// // Slow Motion, Part 1 // Story: Dashing Through Paranormalities // by gapty //------------------------------// Rainbow gripped the handlebars tight as her motorcycle accelerated at top speed out of the turn. Head down, body leaned forward, the engine roaring beneath her. Her eyes were fixated on the street, and any object rushed towards the corners of her eye, as the needle of the tacho crept to the right. She could scream with excitement; it felt like she was flying over the road. Once she saw a flash, she braked, turned around and rode to Twilight, who was sitting next to a self made speed trap. “And?” Rainbow asked excitedly, as she took off her helmet. “Not your record.” Twilight shrugged. “Oh, come on! Why?” Twilight shrugged in response. They turned their view back to the street. Not long after, a single headlight came nearer, which also passed them and activated the speed trap. Rainbow bent over Twilight to see the screen. “Not bad,” Twilight commented. “Sunset is getting faster.” Rainbow nodded in agreement, and when Sunset rode towards them, gave the rider a thumbs up. “Nice,” Sunset said. “Did you break yours?” “No. Somehow I keep making mistakes.” “Don’t worry, next time you’ll get your record.” “I hope so.” “Alright, now the Night Hauler,” Twilight said, pressing a button on her device. “He should be here anytime soon.” “We should get further away from the road.” Rainbow took her motorcycle and pushed it out into the field. “You really don’t want to risk a stone flying at you. Speaking from experience.” “I agree,” Sunset replied. “That truck is a beast on the road.” As they were waiting for the Night Hauler to appear, Rainbow glanced several times over at Twilight to see her, for now, neutral expression. As eager for knowledge as the girl was, she’d wanted to measure the speed of the truck for a while now, and at last they’d found the time to do it. The Night Hauler just had to finish the lap around Everfree Street. “He sure takes his time.” Sunset took out her phone in boredom. “Everfree Street is a long road, Sunset,” Rainbow said. “But yeah, I thought that by now he would appear.” “Maybe the organisation contained him?” Twilight suggested. “After all, he is one of the anomalies.” “I doubt that,” Rainbow replied. “I raced with him several times. Either they don’t care or they can’t catch him. He can teleport after all.” “Guess you’re right.” They kept glancing at the road, but no headlights appeared. Rainbow tapped her foot impatiently. “How’s Fluttershy?” Sunset suddenly asked. “Huh?” Rainbow turned her face to her. “Did she open up by now? She was the one dealing with our… ‘revelation’ the worst.” “It’s a lot better. I talked to her during math.” “And Rarity?” “She calmed down for a while already,” Twilight replied. “Why do you ask?” “It’s just…” Sunset sighed. “It feels like it’s my fault.” “Your fault?” Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “Why do you think it’s your fault?” “Well, if I didn’t brought over that stupid crown—” “Sunset, stop it. It’s not your fault.” “It is. Without me, you’d be free.” “But if you didn’t, I wouldn’t have become friends with any of you,” Twilight said. “Or you would anyway. In the other world you’re all friends with each other.” “Listen to me.” Rainbow put her hands on Sunset’s shoulders. “I would never trade our friendship for anything, and I can assure you that I can speak the same for any of us. It’s not you who should feel guilty, but them. They have absolutely no business doing with us and the whole city what they do, and if anyone should feel ashamed for their actions, it’s them.” Sunset looked away to the ground. “I agree with Rainbow,” Twilight said. “They’re the one in the wrong. Sure, it could have been worse, like kidnapping and bringing us into some governmental lab for research as one would—” “Not. Helping.” Rainbow interrupted. “Oops, sorry.” “Anyway, Sunset, know that no one of us blames you for what is going on right now. Luckily we kept our memories and are prepared for any other anomalies coming from any space rifts.” “I wouldn’t say prepared,” Twilight said. “We don’t have any files of anything coming here.” “But we know it might happen, which is more than nothing.” “I guess.” Rainbow looked at Sunset, who still had her view towards the ground. “Sunset?” “I’m fine,” Sunset replied, but sighed. “I didn’t expect that making magic known would have these big consequences, and not just for me.” “Making magic known?” Twilight asked. “Well, Equestrian magic—” “Look!” Rainbow pointed to the street. The familiar headlights of the truck appeared, which came very quickly. Rainbow turned to Twilight and watched her friend’s eyes getting wider every second. Suddenly a wave of wind was blowing at them. Twilight’s head turned, following the truck and her mouth being wide open. “And?” Rainbow grinned. “You weren’t exaggerating,” Twilight muttered. When they returned to the speed trap and looked at the screen, Rainbow whistled in amazement, as the number 261 mph was shown on the screen. It was no wonder that she had no chance even with her new motorcycle against the truck. “That’s impressive,” Sunset said. “Yep,” Twilight replied. “I wanted to see it teleport, too, but we can’t just ask it apparently. Right, Rainbow?” She raised her eyebrow at her. “Don’t look at me like that! I told you that whenever we talk, my mind goes into racing mode.” Twilight didn’t respond. She pressed a few buttons on the device, which showed all kinds of different numbers and pictures. Rainbow had no idea what they meant, and she really didn’t care, so she went back to her motorcycle. “You’re done?” Rainbow asked as she put her helmet back on. “Yes,” Twilight responded. “Then I’ll continue riding. See y’all tomorrow!” Without waiting for a response, Rainbow took off, engine roaring. Beep beep beep. Rainbow took out her hand from under her blanket and blindly tried to stop the alarm clock, but to no success. With a groan she raised her head, pressed on the clock and laid down again. A second later, her eyes shot open and she took another look at the time. She was late! She jumped out of her bed, changed from her pajamas into her normal outfit, ran to the bathroom to quickly brush her teeth — there was no time for a shower — took her school bag and ran down the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she picked out some random food, threw them into her bag and left her house. Shouldn’t have ridden the whole night. She shook her head. No time for guilt trips now! At first, she just ran, but as it was an emergency case, she put her hand over her geode, activated her power and ran with super speed to the school. That one second won’t overpower the geode. When she reached the entrance door, she had one minute left before the school bell rang. Rainbow sighed in relief and was about to enter the building, but a glow from her wristwatch caught her eye. Why was her geode still glowing? It couldn’t have been overpowered already. She shrugged it off and passed the door. No time for theorising. However, after a few steps, she stopped. The students around her were barely moving, and the voices were slowed down. Rainbow touched the top of her head. Pony ears. What was going on? She had always used her geode for short distances and never ponied up before, not even speaking about seeing the world in slow motion already. And most importantly, how could she stop it? Sure, taking off her geode would probably be the easiest option, but she didn’t want to use that one. The geode shouldn’t power her up without her intention after all. She decided to wait it out and walk to her class. As she passed the first students, it got worse. Now, the voices were even deeper, and even a student running down the hallway seemed frozen for her. Suddenly, she felt her wings on her back emerging, as her geode glowed in an even brighter light. Something was wrong. She ran down the hallway, checking each room for any possible explanation. Maybe her friends were fighting something and using their powers, affecting hers? She got the answer when she found Sunset and Twilight sitting casually in their seats. Maybe somewhere else? Also not, as she found each of her friends already in their classrooms. She left the school building and stopped before the portal, looking around. Nothing. Not even checking her phone, which now seemed like taking eternity to process her typings, revealed any messages. In desperation, she ran around the building. Maybe something was going on somewhere else? Her breath got quick when even the cars on the road seemed like just standing in their positions and the birds were frozen in midair. This was wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen! She ran back to her school and sat down in despair on the stairs before the entrance. Suddenly, she saw a shadow moving at normal speed before her. She looked around. The world was still in slow motion, except for the shadow. Curiously, she looked up, and when she saw the source of it, her eyes widened. Looking against the sun, she could only make out what seemed to be a big bird flapping its… Wings? Bones? The creature seemed very thin, but moving at normal speed, or, to be more correct, falling straight at her. Wait, straight at her? As soon as she realised that, she jumped to the side, just in time to avoid the creature’s claws piercing into the ground. Chills ran down her spine as she could see it up close. It was the same size as her, but twice as long, and seemed to be a bird. However, the body was just a skeleton. Its tail reminded her of a scorpion tail and was as long as the rest of the body. It turned its head towards her. It had no eyes, but Rainbow could feel it staring at her. She gulped and took a step back. Suddenly, it let out a shrill roar as the tail struck at her. Rainbow jumped back, dodging it, but by then the bird — or whatever it was — had spread its wings and shot up into the air with a thundering sound, leaving a gust of wind behind it. Rainbow followed it with her eyes, as the realisation hit her. For her, the world moved in slow motion, and yet the creature was moving like normal, which meant that it was fast. Very fast. What was it? The creature flapped its wings one more time and suddenly thrust straight at her, the scorpion tail ready to strike. Rainbow didn’t wait and ran away. When another thundering noise came, Rainbow dared to look behind... It was following her. And it was getting closer. She took a sharp right and sprinted between two buildings, but she could hear it still close behind her. When she did another sharp turn into an alley and looked back, she saw how her chaser slowed slightly down to take the turn, before thrusting back into her. That was it! She ran out of the alley towards a crossing and took another sharp turn, then turned again into another alley. The moment she left this one, she sprinted towards the next crossing, turned left and entered another alley that she found. Her maneuver was working; taking as many turns as possible had helped her gain some distance on the thing. Not much, but at least it wasn’t getting closer. But still, what should she do? How could she stop that bird… skeleton-thing? She couldn’t ask her friends for help, not with the speed it — or even she herself — moved. How did their chase even look from the outside? After another turn behind a building, she saw an open window and jumped through it. She hissed between her teeth when she felt her wings bump on the casing. Right, wings, she had them too. Nonetheless, she quickly closed the window and held her breath. When the creature flew by, she exhaled in relief and caught her breath. At least now she’d figured out why she saw the world in slow motion. Still, did Equestrian magic knew that the creature was going to attack her? Did it pull the being itself to her through a space rift? If so, she wished for it to not do it anymore — she was done being chased every time. But whatever it was, she had no time for thinking about it right now. She had to find out how to defeat the creature, and quickly! Hopefully it didn’t attack anyone else… She pulled out her phone, typed a message to her friends explaining the situation she was in — with multiple groans, as the phone reacted also in slow motion — and sent it. Maybe some of them would figure something out. Or the organisation, she wouldn’t mind their— Suddenly the window exploded and the creature crashed into the room. Before it would hit a wall, it flapped its wings, releasing a wind knocking anything, including the furniture in the room, away from it. Seeing that, Rainbow realised that she couldn’t let it chase after her through the building, as it would be too dangerous for the residents. She spread her own wings and flew back outside through the window. She went high, hoping that in the air she’d be faster than her chaser. Each earsplitting flap told her how close it was, as she flew above the buildings. To her fear, it was getting closer. “Come on! Get away!” she yelled. It screeched at her. Rainbow flew down and maneuvered between the buildings with several shar turns. This time, the noises from the flaps were slowly getting farther away. Still, what should she do now? Just getting rid of it wouldn’t solve the issue. At least it was chasing only after her. Checking her phone, she skimmed through the replies on the lockscreen and flew back to the school. Soon she saw her friends at the entrance door, but all frozen in position. Rainbow sighed and flew past the school, taking several sharp turns to further the distance between her chaser. It would take an eternity until her friends would even leave the building and pony up — not even speaking that they didn’t have any idea on how to help her yet. Maybe the organisation could help her out? She doubted that they had any chance of keeping up with the speed, but there was hope that they knew a weakness of the creature. Whatever it was, she had to survive first, and for a long time — for her. It could be that barely a minute had passed. In desperation, she flew towards the park, or more specifically the forest section of it. Arriving there, she took a deep breath and flew between the trees. It required her full concentration to not accidentally fly into one or get stuck between the branches. Deep in the forest, she slowed down and looked behind, but didn’t see anything. Was the creature gone? She sighed in relief and leaned against a tree. It surely was still searching for her, but— A small movement of a shadow on the ground made her look up, just in time to see her chaser piercing through the branches. She jumped to the side and ran out of the forest. It must have flown above the forest and waited for the right time to strike — too smart for her liking. She flew back to the school. This time, her friends were ponied up and staring at the air. They probably had seen the rainbow coloured trail. As Rainbow couldn’t stay on the same spot, she took huge circles to pass the school building, seeing how each time her friends progressed slowly in their actions. After what felt like an eternity, she flew another time past the school and saw crystals up in the air — all frozen in their position. Rainbow flew between them, taking as many turns and circles as possible in hope of— “Aaah!” She leaned as sharply to the side as possible to miss the creature in front of her. She almost succeeded, but her wings caught its talons and she crashed to the ground. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as she anticipated — her body just hurt slightly — and she was back on her feet in a moment. That creature was way too smart! After doing another — to her dismay several — circles, she saw pastels in the air exploding, and sadly also just in slow motion. Sure, at least the explosions were visibly moving for her, but they were slow and didn’t help her all. How she wished for a break. She already had a stitch and her lungs felt like they were on fire. How she didn’t collapse to the ground was a wonder… Out of options, she searched for another open window and jumped through it. With coughing and catching her breath, she quickly checked her phone for any new messages. When she saw the amount, she groaned as she tried to scroll through all of them. Sure, it was nice to see her friends worrying for her, but with the slow response of her phone it was a pain to catch the important messages. In the middle of that, a screech appeared followed by the being crashing into the room. She groaned and flew out of the building, while it followed closely behind. She had to take several sharp turns again to get a somewhat further distance, but now she had to find another open window. Luckily, she could quickly find one and hid inside the building. She took out her phone and finished scrolling through the rest of the messages — to her annoyance none being useful for her — as a new one appeared by a suppressed number. It was short and to the point, consistent with just a single address and an instruction. Was it the organisation? She’d take any help at this point, so she jumped out of the window and ran to the other side of the city. It wasn’t easy to find the building by the address alone, considering that she barely knew the region. The building was an unnoticeable concrete structure and the creature was way too close on her tail. Once the timing was right, she ran through the open door, closed it and ran to the nearest window, searching for a specific object. Once she found the neon sign, she froze for a moment. That was literally the same neon sign that Derpy had found! But didn’t she… Hearing the thundering flap from outside, Rainbow came back to her senses and unplugged the sign from a power outlet. However this was supposed to keep her safe, it better work… Suddenly the creature appeared before the window and charged right at her. Rainbow jumped to the side, expecting for the window to break down. When nothing happened, she carefully approached the window. Seeing through it, she saw the being piercing at the window and winced, but to her surprise, it bounced off it and flew back in the air. It repeated several times the attempt to break through, but it couldn’t even leave a scratch on the glass. She stared in surprise at the neon sign. So that’s what it did! Oh, how glad she was to finally get a break… She let herself fall to the ground and took several deep breaths, trying to ease the pain from her stitch and her burning lungs. She must have run a marathon, but no matter how much distance she had passed, she was done. Now even more muscles made themselves heard with their pain. She already feared what stiffness she’d get over the next few days. As she was laying on the ground, she could hear every time the creature flapped its wings or attempted to break through the building, but luckily with no success. When her body was finally in a somewhat acceptable state, she took her phone and checked if there were any new messages. When she didn’t see any, she went to the group chat to write the current stance, until she saw the time and almost let her phone fall in surprise. Six minutes? All of the chase happened in six mere minutes? This couldn’t be it! It felt like hours! She looked at her watch to see if time was going normally for her. “Oh, come on,” she muttered when the seconds were not progressing. Alright, the case was clear. Her Equestrian magic wouldn’t let her out of her state until she’d defeated that creature, but how? All she could do was hide in that building that was protected by just a neon sign. For a moment, she wondered why it did that, until she shrugged it off. There was probably no explanation anyway. After she wrote to her friends that she was safe, she took a glance around the room. It was empty, and seemed to be part of an unoccupied home. With nothing better to do, she stood up and explored further into the building. On the floor, she found a table with a small plastic box and a piece of paper with a written message on it. Curiously, she opened the box and found a small superball inside of it. She scratched her head and took the paper. Sorry for the lack of a better idea. Take that ball, find a building or room with NO windows or anything that is easily breakable. Trap your chaser in it and throw that ball inside. It should kill it. Be very careful! The ball bounces off with double speed, so don’t you dare let it fall! If you think it’s too dangerous, don’t use it. I cannot guarantee that it works, nor that it won’t turn into a disaster. No, the neon sign won’t help trapping anything inside a building. I tested it already. P. S.: Plug the neon sign back in and take it with you before leaving. Return it and this paper to the garden behind the CHS’s parking lot asap. Alone! After reading, Rainbow took another look at the small ball. Curiously, she took it in her hand, raised it and let it fall on the table. “Oh, right,” she muttered when the ball remained in the air. Sadly she couldn’t test it, as much as she wanted to see it herself. She grabbed the ball and looked back at the piece of paper, rereading the message on it. Was there ever a garden behind the school’s parking lot? She couldn’t remember. And who wrote it? Derpy? No, it couldn’t be her, she saw her at her school. Her mind wandered through her memories to recall if anyone was missing back then, but at the end she figured that she wouldn’t find out who it was. No one in her school lived that far away. It didn’t matter anyway for now, as she had to make one decision: Should she use the superball to defeat the creature? It seemed like the only option, as the ball could be fast enough to hit the creature. However, the warning of a disaster coming from it was very reasonable. If it broke through the walls with a high speed, it would be like a bullet flying through the city — with the worst case scenario of not having the creature killed before. She returned back to the window with the neon sign. Immediately the creature appeared and thrusted at her, only to be repelled by the window. Checking her watch, the minute compared to the last time hadn’t even passed yet. She sighed and sat down, watching how the creature kept crashing into the window. All she could do now was to wait and hope that it would tire out.