//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: // Story: Don't Stop Believing // by R_O_Y_G_B_I_V //------------------------------// "Speaking of which, how in the hell did you manage to get snatched up by them?" Florence questioned, raising her voice in frustration. Rainbow Dash looked to the ground with a shameful expression, and Ray tried to help the situation by saying "It wasn't her fault. You know how those thugs are, they see a pretty piece of meat and they take what they think is theirs." But his words fell on deaf ears it seemed, as the Florence held her stern gaze fixed on the rainbow-haired girl in front of her. The tension in the room was palpable, and only got worse when Florence reiterated the severity of what had happened. "Jesse, do you know who those guys are? They practically run the underworld of not only Toronto, but the entirety of Ontario. They aren't petty thugs, they're legitimized and they know how to 'play the game'. Not only that, but Ray has history with them. Do you think that they'll just turn the other cheek to having one of their members hospitalized? And by a Frenchman no less?" Rainbow Dash held her eyes firmly on the ground, wincing as the woman before her drilled it into her how serious this was. Flo's expression softened as she watched Rainbow's quivering form. Her hair covered her eyes, but the light betrayed her and one could clearly make out the glistening tear stains marking her roughed up, tan cheeks. It was evident through her body language that the girl felt tremendously guilty for what had transpired. Anyone could see it was tearing her up inside. Florence knew this but she needed her to know just how serious getting involved with the wrong crowd is. "Look, just understand that you need to be very careful when moving about a city with over three million people living in it" Florence explained in a much softer tone. "I get that what happened wasn't your fault, but try harder next time to avoid contact with the less... friendly looking people." Florence pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a large sigh. Florence was about to speak again, but Rainbow Dash beat her before she could, saying through choked breath "I'm sorry..." This caused Florence to look back up at the strange girl, and caused a curious eyebrow to quirk on Ray's face when they saw Rainbow Dash raise her head to meet Flo's stern -but wavering- hazel eyes with a melancholic expression of her own. She saw the rainbow-haired girl grab at where her heart was and grip the fabrics of the sweater she'd borrowed from her tightly in her hands. All the while the subtle flow of tears from those rare ruby eyes of hers continued to gently roll down her face and onto the floor below. Rainbow continued on, saying "I still have no clue why you decided to help me of all people; even if I do look like this 'Rose' person Ray was talking about-" aforementioned man flinched when Rainbow Dash mentioned Rose. "-But since I got here almost a day ago; you've done but show me kindness and helped me when I had no idea where I was. I still don't really know though..." she went off on a tangent briefly. "But in return, all I've done is be a burden on you. I made you both worry about a complete stranger and I even got Ray hurt." She glanced over at the injured young man, his eyes avoiding her gaze. Rainbow's felt a twinge of pain at the act. But with a new-found determination, she faced both Ray and Florence with a sharp look in her eyes, and said "So please, if you can find it in you to forgive a crazy girl and her delusions, let me make it all up to you. In any way I can!" Ray and Florence simply stared at the rainbow-haired girl wide-eyed. Neither of them knew exactly what to do, and Florence looked to Ray searching for some hint for as what to do. When she looked to Ray however, she noticed a subtle smirk playing at the sides of his lips, soon beaming across the boy's face. When she was about to ask about his unexpected reaction, Ray spoke directly to Rainbow Dash, ignoring the incredulous look he was getting from his sister. "Well for starters; bravo. That was quite the performance" Ray said, clapping his hands together mockingly, still with that goofy grin on his face. Rainbow blushed a little, puffing out her cheeks in a vein attempt at showing her disdain, and exclaimed "H-hey, that was from the heart you jerk! Last time I'm sincere with you..." she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. Ray simply laughed at Rainbow's befuddlement, and spoke once again; "Secondly, don't run off like that again" Ray stated in a serious tone. Rainbow winced a little, but Ray continued in a much more lighthearted manner, winking at the girl, "I wouldn't want to have to rough up another red-coat wannabe." A smile made its way across the Rainbow-haired girl's face. She liked that Ray could make light of something like that. "You're so lame" she teased lightheartedly. "Done, and done" Rainbow added, dusting off her shoulders. The strange girl who had put her through so much stress in only one day turned to Florence, another guilty glint flashed in her eyes and the two girls simply stood at about an arms breadth away from each other. Rainbow looked into Flo's own wavering eyes, tears glistening in those hazel orbs, threatening to spill over onto her pale cheek. The girl in front of her averted her gaze shortly, but once again locked gazes with her and said in a voice barely audible at all, "and how about you Flo? Can you forgive me?" Rainbow rubbed her arm lightly. There was silence for a few moments, but that silence was quickly filled with Flo's swift movement as she all but tackled Rainbow Dash into a tight hug. Rainbow Dash stood shocked for a moment, but soon wrapped her own arms around the trembling girl embracing her. "Don't ever scare me like that again!" Florence cried out from her death-grip she had on Rainbow Dash. Both girls clearly tearing up. Ray smirked again, showing off his sharp white teeth. He always found it funny how attached his sister could get to people she hardly knew. It warmed his heart that she was so trusting, even after all they'd been through. He smile grew melancholic at the memories, and he was lost in the moment. Not too late afterwards he was broken out of his trance by the odd look the two girls were giving him. "Uh Ray? Why are you just staring at us...?" Florence asked a little awkwardly. "Huh? Oh sorry, my mind wasn't on this planet is all" he replied sheepishly. ` Ray then got off the kitchen chair to make his way to go sit on the couch. But when he made to move, his arm moved and gripped his shoulder as he fell to one knee. Rainbow Dash and Florence both gasped audibly and rushed over to Ray's side, Rainbow wrapping his good arm over her shoulder. Rainbow asked worriedly "Ray! Are you okay?" Ray flinched at the contact and winced as he applied pressure to the now reopened and bleeding wound. He made his way over to the couch -with the assistance of Rainbow Dash and Florence- and collapsed onto it. Florence immediately started to apply fresh bandages to the throbbing wound. It was all Rainbow Dash could do to look on at the scene with worry in her eyes as she held her hand over her mouth to stop her from crying out... ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile in Ponyville, Twilight sparkle and and the other elements of harmony were beyond worried. They had looked all over the town for the rainbow-maned element of loyalty, but the spunky Pegasus was nowhere to be found. Not only had they searched Ponyville, but by now they had nearly searched everything between the Ever-free forest and white-tail woods. But their searches yielded nothing but dead ends and false leads. Everyone's thoughts were concerned about the missing weather-mare, but even more so they were concerned with said pony's disappearance at conceivably the same time as the silver rip in swirling in the sky. The hole in the sky seemed to be pulsing in algorithms, various amounts of magical energy surging out of spice-rip. Celestia was about to approve of an exploration mission to find out more about the strange phenomena. Her quill was hovering just over the dotted line, waiting for its orders when the doors to here personal study were slammed open by an exhausted looking brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie-mark shinning on his flank. The princess of the sun quirked an eyebrow at the act as she saw the strange pony tackled by her royal guard. She moved her quill away from her parchment and made to address the situation, an incredulous expression displayed across her royal features. "And what, pray tell, is this all about?" She spoke calmly to her guards and the pony they had pinned down. The brown pony made to speak, but was cut off by of the Pegasi guards. "As you can see milady, we caught this bugger runnin' 'round the castle. Apparently he was lookin' for ya" the guard spoke and a deep, burly voice. "Yeah, he was running frantically all over the place practically threatening the nobles to tell them where they could find you" the other guard spoke after what appeared to be his commanding officer. Celestia was silent for a moment, a calculating look in her eyes was present as she bore holes into the opposing pony. Said pony didn't cower at her display of dominance, but instead matched the princess' gaze with his own determined glare. A smile crept its way onto Celestia's face, and she spoke lightheartedly. "Well clearly if he made such an effort to gain my audience, he must have something worthwhile to tell me." The two guards were shocked by their princess' reaction and shared a glance at each other. When the looked back to Celestia, they saw make a gesture for them to release their captive. And so reluctantly, they released their hold on the pony. "Make it quick" the burley guard said in a malicious tone. But the pony stallion paid them no mind, and shook his coat to relieve it of the dirt it had accumulated during his visit with the floor. The brown pony them brought his hoof up to his mouth and cleared his throat, and proceeded to say - in a Hoofington accent interestingly enough, "Greetings Princess Celestia, raiser of the sun and ruler of Equestria." "Please, just call me Celestia" the princess of the sun interjected. "Right... Celestia..." the brown stallion repeated indifferently. "My name, is unimportant. But if you wish to address me, feel free to call me 'The Doctor'" The pony now known to the princess as 'The Doctor' said. "Interesting..." Celestia said calculatingly. "Not overly" The Doctor replied. "Well, getting past introductions, as fun as that was, how's about I tell you why I made a mess of this in your castle eh?" The way this pony spoke, it was far to fluidly. The words seemed to roll off his tongue, and had Celestia been anyone else, she might be swayed by whatever honey came out of his mouth. "Yes indeed, it's not everyday ponies come barging into my office like that" the princess laughed lightly. Though her demeanor was relaxed, she was fully on-guard with this stallion. "No wouldn't think that really. Actually I'm surprised I made it this far" The Doctor scratched his neck with his hoof sheepishly. "Anyways, back on topic. I'm here to stop you from signing that paper and send those ponies to their deaths..." he spoke in a low hushed tone, indicating his seriousness. Celestia could tell this wasn't a petty protest by the way the stallion in front of her had presented his concern. "Oh? And how do you know that they will die should they investigate?" her eyes narrowed slightly as she said this. The two guards at the door looked on, the gruff Pegasus with a suspicious glint in his eyes. "I'll tell you exactly why its a death sentence" he stated casually. "Because that hole up in the sky there radiates a magical energy that unless you were to pass through it quickly, and I mean faster than any pony you command could fly, you would be burnt to a crisp instantly." Again, the way he had presented his case; he sounded so sure of what he was saying. The princess had to hear out what he had to say. "Go on..." the princess said rolling her hoof in a gesture for The Doctor to continue. "Right. So basically, that there tear up in the great blue yonder is exactly that. A tear." The Doctor continued confidently. "I've seen one before. I've experienced one before." If he didn't have Celestias full, undivided attention before, he sure as Tartarus did now. The princess' ears perked up at the strange pony before her. Suddenly she discovered a new-found interest in this pony. So silently, she listened intently to what The Doctor was saying. Even if it was all a mad-pony's delusions it still made for an interesting hypothesis. "That rip in the sky is what's known as a 'trans-dimensional space-time wormhole-vortex interstellar-opening tele-portal'. Or, 'TDSTWVIOTP' for short" the doctor explained as if it was the most elementary concept in the omniverse. But all he succeeded in doing was confusing the princess, who was by now starting to get annoyed with The Doctor's mindless rambling. "Please, simplify your explanation" Celestia stated annoyed, putting her hoof to her face. The Doctor simply sighed, replicating the princess' movements. "Look, basically, that big silver thing in the sky? Yeah not only is it extremely dangerous, but essentially its a doorway to an entirely different dimension. If you your ponies up there, even if they were somehow able to break top supersonic speeds, you still have no idea what awaits o the other side. It could open up into the void of space, it could lead to a peaceful planet of sentient beings. Or it could not. The risk is too great to risk these ponies lives for the unknown." Celestia pondered on what The Doctor had just said. If what he was saying was true, than it would be too great a risk to absentmindedly send in ponies like it was a simple reconnaissance mission. But before she could make a decision, she had some questions to ask the pony before her. He was far too knowledgeable about this foreign subject to not be suspicious. "Can you tell me how you know so much about these occurrences? And also, you said that you've experienced one of these 'TDSTWVIOTPs' before... If what you say about them is true, how did you survive?" Celestia asked carefully, eyeing up the brown stallion for any indication of anything out of the ordinary. Well, using this term loosely with this particular character... "Ah, thought you might be curious on that. Yeah well, to sum it all up nicely, would take centuries. So I'll spare you the boring details, but I will tell you this. I'm no regular pony" "-I could tell on my own" the princess interjected teasingly. The Doctor simply smirked at the remark and continued, "Basically, this isn't the first alternate dimension I've been in. And I doubt that it will be the last" He explained. "And as to how I survived the space rip? Well when you've got a spaceship the likes of mine, these things tend to be trivialities" he gave a wink at that. "Hmm, well you've definitely given me a lot to think about Mr. The Doctor." She said jokingly. "Hows about you stick around for a while until we sort out this mess? You seem to have more experience than even I do on this topic" She offered. The Doctor scratched his head in contemplation, and settled on agreeing to stay in the castle. The princess would need to keep a very close eye on this one however. She knew that whoever this stallion was -she wasn't even sure if pony was his true form- that he would e an asset, or burden. Which one was yet to have been decided... _________________________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: Well, sorry about the short chapter you got for the long wait. But it felt right to end it off there... Anyways, tell me what you think? Next chapter will be much, much longer guaranteed. Oh and happy Nightmare Night!