//------------------------------//
// Life's Lease 
// Story: Eljunbyro 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"Don't... d-don't leave me..."  I murmured.  "Don't leave me.  Please.  Don't..."  My eyes flew open.

An alabaster ceiling of marble hung over me.

I shot up with a shout, my wings spreading.  Instantly, a cloud of dark blue magic fell over my body, pressing me gently back into a plush bed.  I panted, gazing sweatily out through carved marble arches laced with midnight velvet curtains.  Mountains loomed, along with crashing waterfalls that glistened with moonlight.  Beyond, the stars hung over the wide expanse of Equestria as a deep mist drifted over the land.

"We giveth thee our assurance, thou art not alone."

Gulping, I glanced weakly up at the source of the magic.

Princess Luna stood above me, her royal features calm and wise.  There was a tranquility to her eyes, something that reflected my exhausted features with no ambitious attempt at sympathy.

"Thou hast been unconscious for quite some time, Rainbow Dash," Princess Luna said.  "For a moment there, we feared that thou may never have woken up."

"How long has it been?" I asked, rubbing my head.

With a straight face, Luna icily declared, "Nine days."

I felt my eyes twitching.  I squinted up at her.  "Nine days?"

"Indeed."

"But... how..."  I glanced at my hooves.  "How am I even alive?"

"Through great difficulty hath we brought thee to this place of waking," Luna said as she slowly paced around the bed.  The midnight winds blew at her mane.  "I took the greater part of our powers to keep thy body within this realm, and our magics have been taxed enough as it is..."

"Where am I?"  I asked.

"Canterlot," she replied.  "The Midnight Wing of the Royal Palace."

"You mean this is your room?"  I inquired, squinting.  I tried sitting up.  "Why am I not in Ponyville?  Where is..."  My breath left me with a guilty grimace.  Gulping, I murmured, "Celestia..."

"She is... preoccupied at the moment," Luna said, and her face gazed aside.

I noticed it.  As I turned to get a better look, I felt an incredible weight tugging on my skull.  "Unnngh... Huh?"  My hooves reached up and fumbled over a golden band.  I glanced down to see the edges of the Element of Loyalty hanging from my neck.  "The hay is this still doing on me?"

"Rainbow Dash..."

"I... I-I gotta get back to Ponyville!" my voice cracked.  I flapped my wings and tugged at my pendant in one movement.  "I left the place in pieces!  I—"

Suddenly, Luna's hoof was holding me in place, positioned directly over my pendant.  "It wouldst not benefit you to remove that now," Luna said.  "As a matter of fact, we'd strongly advise thee not to remove it ever."

"What are you talking about?"  I exclaimed.  I frowned in frustration.  "What's happened since I was under?  Where is Celestia?"

"Our beloved sister is in Ponyville, and before thou asks, thou cannot see her."

"Yeah?  Why not?!"

"For the same reason thou canst remove the Element of Loyalty from thy neck."  Luna narrowed her eyes.  "Doth thou not feel it?  Is there not an apparent change to your senses?"

"I..."  I bit her lip, flying in place.  I tilted my head around, reeling from a slight dizziness.  "Everything's kind of... I dunno... fuzzy.  But that doesn't matter!"  I shook my head and pointed out the window.  "I gotta get back home!"

"Rainbow Dash," Luna spoke gravely, her tone cold yet gentle.  "Thou canst return to Ponyville, not now, not ever."

"Can I ask why?"

Luna stared into my face.  "Because thou art dying."

My wings stopped flapping.  I fell onto the bed, gazing up at Luna in a numb stupor.  Eventually, I stammered, "Dying?  As in... as in 'no longer gonna be alive' dying?"

Luna merely stared at me.

"But.. But I feel..." I looked at my limbs.  I didn't tremble, nor did I shiver.  Nevertheless, my voice wavered, "What happened to me?  Is it the Element?"

"On the contary, the Element is the one thing that is keeping thee alive currently," Luna said.  "It is bringing balance to your body, through no small feat of its own.  We had to spend four solid days of deep meditation in order to come up with an enchantment that would make the Element ten times as resistant to the forces of chaos.  However, even our powers aren't enough to hold chaos at bay."

"Chaos?"  I murmured.  My ruby eyes blinked, and I gazed down at the bed.  "That... that stuff that flew into me..."

"We shalt not pretend to cast judgment on thy decision to eradicate Discord; his presence was an absolute bane to Equestria.  However, when his body was destroyed, his essence remained.  What's more, it sought a host.  We taketh no joy in informing thee that thou art now the vessel of Discord's chaos, and as soon as thou fell unconscious, it started to... manifest itself in thy body and mind.  The only solution we had to ward off the effects of chaos was to seal it away with the one device that thou didst use to defeat Discord in the first place:  thy Element.  With our enchantment, the power of the Element hath been magnified, but it is still only a temporary salve."

"How..."  I gulped.  I looked up at the Princess.  "How long do I have to... to...?"

"Without thy pendant, less than a day," Luna said calmly.  "With the Element protecting thee, it is difficult to predict.  Several months, a year at best."

I held my pendant, breathing calmly as my brow furrowed in contemplation.  "Gone... J-Just like the rest of them..."

I heard what sounded like thunder.

Blinking, I gazed out beyond the windows.  To the far west, in the middle of the valley, a beam of dark energy shot randomly towards the sky, like onyx lightning.

"Ponyville..."

"It still standeth," Luna said.  "Our sister doth see to that."

I took a deep breath.  Eventually, I wrenched my eyes bravely from the shimmering sight in the distance and gazed up at Luna.  "Your Highness, tell me everything..."