//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Old Friend // Story: Shadow Dash // by Wr1tingN3rd //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash bolted straight up. Her forehead was sweating profusely, the cold sweat coating not only her face, but her entire body. She looked around at her surroundings, trying to verify that she was still home. Well, her bed was there. Her room door... and Tank was there. She sighed in relief, thanking Celestia that she wasn't in her horrible dreamscape anymore. "Damn dreams," she muttered to herself as she dragged her body out of bed. Slowly, she approached her tortoise companion, who was still peacefully sleeping. Something I haven't had in a while... Rainbow thought to herself. "Well, at least you're sleeping alright." She yawned loudly and opened her bedroom door, walking over to her clouded kitchen where it was mostly baren, save for a few fruits in a bowl and a couple of drinks in the fridge. You know what would really make this morning? she thought to herself. A nice cup of coffee. With a new goal in mind, she approached her cabinet. It seemed to tower over her, it's shadow looming over her body, carrying the contents she so greatly desired within. She was too tired to fly or to get a stool, so she did the next best thing. Carefully, she looked behind herself, making sure no one was around. Then, when the coast was clear, she started to glow. Actually, glow isn't the right word. Instead of giving off light, she seemed to emit the opposite of light. It was shadows. They seemed to flow around her body, much like an aura, before a slight grunt was heard from Rainbow. Suddenly, all the energy was focused to her hoof, which instantly turned a few shades darker. Satisfied, Rainbow looked up at the ever growing cabinet, and with a swing of her hoof, the door opened. And shortly after, a bag of beans levitated out, held in a dark aura, nearly completely black. Then, with a content smile, she levitated the bag towards her and used her magic to open the bag of soon-to-be-coffee beans. With a wave of her other hoof, a machine on the other side of the counter glided over to her and landed gently. She levitated the beans into the machine. With a press of a button, it started to whirr. Rainbow grabbed a cup from nearby and put it under the nozzle. The soon-to-be-coffee beans were now soon-to-be-coffee dust. Perfect! After a quick dusting, and by dusting I mean levitating the remaining grounds of coffee into a nearby trashcan, she set aside the grinder and grabbed a second machine which sat next to it. It was her coffee brewer, already filled with water, ready to be boiled and sifted through her freshly ground beans, making her a nice cup of hot coffee. She poured the dust into a paper filter that sat within the brewing machine and placed her cup underneath the output. After a few seconds of waiting, sweet, hot liquid poured from the tip into her cup. The aroma of coffee filled the air. Happy with the results, she grabbed the mug in her magical aura and walked towards her coach, where she lazily sat down. She grabbed the cup physically with her hooves and slowly took a sip. The taste was hot and bold. Just the way she liked it. It was a relaxing feeling. The steam would come up from the hot brew and coat her face. She could live like this forever. Just her and her coffee. Nothing could ruin this moment. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Okay, maybe something could. Rainbow groaned loudly and set her cup down on the coffee table in front of her. This better be good she thought to herself. She made her way towards the front door and opened it. When the door creaked open, nothing could've prepared her for what she saw. "Gilda?" Rainbow asked. She blinked several times to make sure she was seeing things correctly. A brown griffon with white fur surrounding her neck and head. Purple fur outlining her eyes and covering the ends of her hair on top. And a very recognizable face. "Hey, Dash," Gilda mumbled. She looked down at the floor, kicking cloud dust into the air. "It's been a while, huh?" "What are you doing here?" Rainbow said irritably. Great, I get interrupted from my perfect morning to this? Gilda, in response, rubbed the back of her neck. She spoke quietly, almost nervous, which was something that Dash usually didn't see. "I, uh, I'm here to say sorry. For, ya know... stuff." Her eyes met with the multicolored mare in front of her. "What kind of stuff?" Rainbow asked. She stared daggers into the griffon's soul. "You know what I'm talking about!" Gilda said defensively, crossing her arms. "No. I actually don't. Please, enlighten me," she growled. "I'm sorry for, ya know, talking to your friends like that," Gilda scoffed when she said the word. "We haven't talked in a while, I was wondering what you were up to." "You're sorry?" Rainbow spat. "Sorry?! Oh really? For verbally assaulting my friends and then asking me to abandon them, you sure seem pretty sorry to me," she snarled, taking a step forwards, entering a defensive position. "It's not my fault that they were being a bunch of bitches!" she also took a step forward, decreasing the distance between the two to only a few inches. Okay, now she really crossed the line. "Excuse me?!" Rainbow yelled. "I wasn't the one who got so overworked over simple pranks! Those weren't even meant for you! You just happened to trigger all of them!" "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Dash!" Gilda fumed. "Your friends are a bunch of good-for-nothings anyways!" she shoved Rainbow forwards, who caught herself on her doorframe. "You've gotten soft, Dash. When will you learn that your friends are just slowing you down?" "My friends are the best thing that could ever have happened to me! They took me in when I didn't have a home! They cared for me!" Rainbow raged. "If anything, you were the one who slowed me down!" She shoved back. The griffon stumbled back a couple of steps. "So I slow you down, huh? Dash, most of your friends can't even fly! The only one that can is Fluttershy! And, let's face it, she's a wimp!" Gilda argued. Somewhere deep inside her, a fire started brewing. "Say one more thing about my friends. See what happens," Dash threatened. "Is that a threat? What'll you do, huh? Shove me off your house? I can fly, you know," she shouted. "You should've come with me, Dash. You can still come with me! Join me, Dash. Leave those losers behind!" Then, all of a sudden, the world started to grow dark. Rainbow growled as Gilda's sentence rang through her mind like a mantra. Join me, Dash. Join me. Join me. "Uh, Dash? Anyone home? Helloooooo?" Gilda waved her claw in front of Dash's face. She was unresponsive. Instead, the air suddenly dropped in temperature. Rainbow's eyes turned dark, her shadow aura flowing out from the sides. An energy built within her, almost like a bolt of lightning. Unstable and ready to burst. No... The mantra kept repeating in her mind. The words 'Join me' repeating for what seemed like an eternity. No! She couldn't do it. She would never. Her aura enveloped her body. She started to shake uncontrollably. "NOOOOO!!" she screamed. Without warning, the energy surged through her entire body and shot out with incredible force. It was made of pure energy, and that energy just so happened to ram straight into the unsuspecting griffon standing in front of her. With a loud BANG! she was flung away like an insect, flying away multiple meters away, having a trail of smoke follow behind her before she, inevitably, dropped. Rainbow's mind was cloudy. The shadows that previously enveloped her vision started to creep away, letting her see the damage that she had done. Realizing what she had just done, the shadow aura around her quickly returned to its owner, hiding itself away as Rainbow started to freak out. "Gilda?!" she shouted before diving after her at full speed. She sliced through the air like a bullet, tears filling her eyes. I lost control again. Damn it, Dash, you just had to lose control, didn't you?! she mentally scolded herself. But scolding herself would get her nowhere. Gilda had nearly reached the ground. Not wanting to lose her old friend, she zipped through the air with ferocious speed, positioning herself atop Gilda to firmly grip her before setting her down on the floor. When she got up again, she inspected the damage she had caused. The griffon's chest was completely scorched, blood pouring out of a large cut that scraped across her body. She was still unconscious. "Gilda! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm so, so, sorry!" she hugged her tightly around the chest, shaking her to try and wake her up. Then, wisps of energy expelled itself from Rainbow and into Gilda's body. The griffon's body shuddered. Slowly, her eyes opened. "G-Gilda?" Rainbow asked through sniffs. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked down at the feathery mess. But she did not see Dash anymore. She only saw darkness. One that had consumed a pony to become a monster. One that had come to finish what they had started. Her eyes were overcome with fear. She scrambled backwards to get away from that... that thing! "Stay away from me!" she shouted as she struggled to come to her feet. "W-wait! I'm sorry, Gilda! Come back!" the monster tried to lure her back. It stood up on its feet, motioning slowly for Gilda to come over. "Listen, I'm so sorry! I'll leave you alone! I wont tell anyone I-I swear!" Gilda tried to plead with the thing, but it didn't seem to care. It started to approach her. "Gilda, listen to me! Please!" it took another step towards its prey. Nothing were to stop it now. It was going to kill her. And Gilda was not about to let that happen. "Stay away from me, y-you MONSTER!" she shrieked. And with all of her energy, she used her legs to kick the monster in the stomach, to which it stumbled backwards. It seemed to do the trick, as the monster had completely stopped. It seemed to be in deep thought. Rainbow struggled to stand properly. Thoughts flooded her mind. Was that really what she thought of her? A monster? She wasn't a monster. She just was just a pegasus! She's saved Equestria before! She was no monster! Or... was she? I attacked her... Rainbow started to cry. I lost control. I tried to kill her! She collapsed onto her knees. Maybe I am a monster. Just a stupid MONSTER that hurts others! Through her tears she managed to see Gilda managing to get to her feet before flying away as fast as she could, quickly disappearing in the distance. Rainbow fell to the floor, sobbing loudly. No! I can't let anypony see me like this... She flew back up to her cloud house sloppily. She swayed to her sides as she flew. When she reached her doorstep, she slammed the door behind her and fell onto the floor again, all her energy sapped out of her. "Dad, it was one time!" "Well, Shadow, that one time was one time too many! You will learn to control yourself, daughter!" Little Shadow walked besides her angry father figure. They went through the long halls of the castle which seemed to go on endlessly. Rooms passed by them as they continued to walk. "Dad, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt Midnight! I was just overworked, that's all!" she pleaded. He did not respond. They just kept walking forwards, to an unknown destination. Eventually, they arrived at a staircase. "Down here," her father said sternly and motioned Shadow to follow him. They walked down the steps, the rooms getting increasingly darker until eventually becoming completely dark. "Where are we going?" Shadow asked. She clung to her father's side. "To the dungeons," he answered. His horn glowed and shot out dark flames, lighting up nearby torches on the wall, illuminating the room. The room was filled with all sorts of torture devices. It had a giant guillotine, a basket laying beneath it. There were chairs strapped with electrical wires and nails. There were two boards with metal chains attached to it, a wheel to the side meant to be turned to stretch the boards apart. Iron cages lined the walls. The lit torches gave off an ominous dark glow. Shadow gulped. "W-why are we here?" she asked. Her father did not respond. Instead, he opened one of the cages on the side and dragged it over towards the two. "Get inside," he demanded. "Now." "W-what?" Shadow asked, cowering away from the cage. "You heard what I said. Or do I have to REPEAT MYSELF?!" he shouted at the filly. Shadow scrambled into the cage and sat inside. The door slammed shut behind her. Her father spoke, "Now you are to remain there until you learn to control your emotions. Understood?" She nodded. "Good. Now I will come back when I see it fit to do so. Enjoy your time here in the dungeons, daughter." And with that, he snuffed out the torches and left the room, heading upstairs to continue his duty. With the only source of light gone, it was completely pitch black. The darkness seemed to close in on Shadow. She tried to back away, but her back came into contact with the back of the cage. She couldn't escape. The cage seemed to get smaller and smaller. The darkness seemed to get thicker and thicker until it broke her. Her hyperventilating turned into cries. And those cries turned into short-lived screams of terror. She rolled up into a ball and closed her eyes shut, trying to escape the darkness. But it never left. It seemed to last for hours. Hours and hours of never ending torture. Until a noise was heard. The sound of hoofsteps walking down a staircase. The walls lit up with orange flames. Was dad back? Shadow looked over to see who was causing all the ruckus. What she saw wasn't her father. It was a grey unicorn. Her mane was colored dark green with strips of midnight blue flowing through. Her cutie mark was a dark blue flower blooming with tiny white stars speckling out of the sides. She spoke aloud, "There you are, Shadow. I was worried for you! Come, before your father realizes I'm gone." The lady opened the cage and picked up Shadow before setting her down besides her. She cringed slightly when she saw the state she was in. "Oh, you're a mess! Well, nothing a warm bath and a good night's sleep won't fix. Come with me, dear." She patted the filly off and started to drag her upstairs. "M-midnight? What are you doing here?" the youngling asked, staring up in confusion. "What does it look like? I'm getting you out of this hell hole," she looked down to the child walking with her. "Y-you're not mad at me?" Shadow quivered. Midnight looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course not, dear. Everyone makes mistakes. Even your dad," Midnight patted Dash on the head. "I brought up a sensitive topic, that's on me. And sure, you may have messed me up a bit, but I'll walk it off. Plus, how could I stay mad at such a cute little filly?" And for the first time that day, Shadow smiled. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Rainbow? Are you in there? It's me, Twilight! It's important!" a voice called through the door. Rainbow groaned as she got up from her living room floor. It had been a few hours. She had stopped crying, at least. "Give me a sec!" she shouted out and went to the bathroom to tidy herself up. She couldn't be looking like this in front of her friend. A few splashes of water later, Dash opened the door, to where a worried looking purple unicorn stood on the other side. "Rainbow! There you are! Listen, I've gathered the girls at the library, something ser- oh!" Twilight stopped when she saw Rainbow. "Rainbow, are you okay? What happened? Do you need any help? Did anything bad happen? You're not hurt are you?" She started to use her magic to grip Rainbow's body to examine for any injuries. Apparently she had not done a good job at hiding her current state. "Twi, I'm not injured or anything. I'm perfectly fine," the rainbow mare said, to which Twilight released her hold on her. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You don't look fine. Have you been crying?" Rainbow hesitated before speaking. "N-no... I mean- No! Why would you ever even think that?" she lied, looking away to try and hide her face. Twilight wasn't buying it. "Hey, it's okay. You can be honest with me. Do you want to talk about it?" she rested a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, giving her an empathetic look. Dash teared up slightly, but quickly wiped the tear away and shrugged her arm off. "It's nothing. Just something stupid. I'll be fine. What is it that you wanted to tell me about? That you've gathered the girls for..?" she said, trying to switch the subject. Twilight sighed. "Yeah, we're going to have a meeting to talk about something important. Get there as soon as you can, alright? But, try to clean yourself up first. You look like a mess." She waved her hoof around Rainbow's body as emphasis before quickly turning away. "You can always talk to me, Dash. If you ever need anything, I'm here for you." And with a bright purple flash, she was gone. Rainbow stood there, tearing up slightly. I want to tell her, but it's just... She fought with herself internally. I can't. It's too risky. She sighed and went back into her cloud house to take a shower.