//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Coming Back // by bats //------------------------------// A low groan echoed through the tiny cell. Rainbow Dash’s scattered mind eventually registered that the noise had come from her own mouth. Bleary rose eyes slid open the barest amount, attempting to focus on the cold stone wall in front of her. She slowly pushed herself to a sitting position, her eyes wincing shut again as she applied pressure to her right foreleg. She glanced at her wound, finding the whole limb wrapped in white cloths, stained a rusty brown around her knee. The pegasus inhaled sharply and nearly fell back to the pallet. Pain shot like bottle rockets along her left side. The mare instinctively wrapped her forehooves around her middle, finding cloth bandages circling her entire chest. Teeth clenched in a grimace, Rainbow struggled to breathe in shallow, slow oscillations. She tentatively felt around her neck, finding the small, smooth curve of a new stone collar. The hollow echo of hoof to stone reverberated around the cell. The mare’s eyes snapped open and she turned to her cage’s barred passageway. Agmundr Vilmar sat on his haunches just outside the bars, his left forehoof rising and falling to the floor in a slow applause. The sudden turn of Rainbow’s head proved unwise and she collapsed back to her cot as the room spun. The soft impact sent sparks of electricity racing through her rib cage. Another groan escaped her muzzle. She pushed herself back up on shaking hooves. “Speaking is unnecessary.” His gruff voice was icy, but had lost the avarice from their previous conversation. “You have impressed me, warrior, and I did not give you enough credit.” He lowered his head closer to the bars. His blue eyes were wide, staring, boring into Rainbow Dash’s pain-dulled gaze. The sky blue mare wished wildly that she couldn’t read ponies so well. Her captor’s sapphire pools danced with unchecked excitement. The excitement was tinged with oceans of unrealized rage, endless regret, and a complete disconnect from self-analysis. The mare shuddered; she had seen eyes like that before in the face of Nightmare Moon. They were the glittering gems of sadistic insanity. A grin tore its way across his twisted face, the scar tissue marring his cheeks bunching together in pocked clumps. “The gladiator pit feeds my army the strength of those who battle within it. I’ve been waiting for centuries to feed them the fighting spirit of a true warrior.” Rainbow Dash’s raspy, drained voice floated weakly through the bars. “I’m not a warrior.” A flash raced across Agmundr’s face. For the briefest moment the weakened mare saw the colt her captor once was rise to the surface of his eyes; fear, confusion, self-loathing, pain. The light fled from the twin orbs as they narrowed to a glare, shrouding them in dulled animosity once again. “How dare you continue to lie to me?” he hissed. The stallion rose to his hooves and paced in front of the cell. “It is one thing to have bested a number of my horde out on the mountain, but it is quite another to face one of my left hooves in an arena. You are clearly a seasoned warrior with military training.” “I’m not. I’m just a—” an angry haze of red light flooded the cell from around her neck. Her throat bunching and seizing, she croaked out, “Weather pegasus.” Unable to continue verbalizing, the mare shook her head from side to side, her expression set and determined. Vocal chords dancing and body aching, her mind sought relief away from her form and she tentatively extended her second sight outward. She could feel, through the haze of glowing red magic, that the dampening was still in effect, blocking her off close to the very outside of her physical form. She pressed at the filament connecting her to Twilight. The previous work of extending the field had held and the barrier gave way easily, expanding her extrasensory sight up and out in a widening cone. As the space grew, she hammered on the barrier around her body. The block receded further away with little effort, seeking an equilibrium of space surrounding the mare. She pushed it out into the surrounding room and soon His Majesty Agmundr Vilmar was in her magical vision. The stallion was like a beacon in a night storm. Undulating torrents of power exploded all around him, the brightest white the mare had ever beheld. No pony shape was discernible through the ebbs of magic; he was simply a vibrating ball of pure, impossible power. Rainbow could place a single physical feature; the stone ringlet circling his right hoof held a steady, constant red glow. Its crimson power bled into the pegasus’ aura, staining it pink in angry streaking bolts that raced through the jittering mass. From the undulating barrier of his might, thousands of threads erupted from his form, streaming out in a fan, growing indistinct before reaching the edge of Rainbow’s preternatural senses. The sight was impossible to behold for long. Rainbow’s mind raced away from the vision, seared and burned by its ferocity. The emphatic look slid from her face and she fell to her pallet. The mare wrapped her forelimbs around her head, hindlegs curling into her belly. Ignoring the distant twinges in her leg and side, she shivered violently. Tears streaked her azure cheeks; a useless autonomic response from her body attempting to clear her mind’s eye. A small scream escaped through chattering teeth. To the daredevil’s ears it sounded foreign; there was no way the Rainbow Dash could sound that terrified. The grayed stallion smirked at his quaking captive. “Resisting the magic of Tyr can be painful, foolish warrior.” Lilting cruelty reentered his graveled voice. “Tyr can also speed up the process of healing. Soon you will be ready to reenter the pit and feed my army.” Despite her mental pain and horror, when Rainbow focused on her left side she could feel the bones knitting, could almost hear the sound of new skeletal tissue lacing together at a rapid pace. The itch she felt through the bandage around her forehoof gained new meaning. The pegasus king turned and strutted away from the cell, his proud hoofsteps echoing sharply. A tiny voice stopped his momentum, drifting to his notched ears as if from a great expanse. “…I-I’m really not a warrior. I’m just a weather pegasus and amateur athlete. I-I know some martial arts and…and I’ve fought to protect my friends, but...” A slow shuddering gasp floated through the bars. “I’m a stunt flier t-trying to get home…and you’re not going to help me. I saw what you are. You’re n-not a pony. You’re a m-monster...” His ears flicked in surprise. She had continued her stream of falsehoods and insults, despite the magic, despite the promise of further violence. Before anger broke over his mind again, a small dissenting opinion tugged at his thoughts. The broken, naked fear and pain in the mare’s voice was not the sound of a warrior. Ancient, atrophied memories passed through his consciousness. Each a different instance of a civilian being interrogated, the pool of memories numbering in the thousands, all carried that same tone. As he slowly cantered out of the room, Rainbow Dash could not see the fright and confusion playing in his eyes. As his hoof falls grew distant, the echoes lower and further apart, the mare’s scarred mind fled her pain and fear-addled body. Digging along the purple strand of magic at a fevered pace, she abandoned her physical form. The stone band continued its work, healing flesh and fusing bone. Discord flung the hard rubber ball. A quick snap of his wrist released the sphere from his paw with a spin, sending the ball in a predictable direction after rebounding off the sod with a solid thump. Sodstrosity smacked the ball back with his tail, aimed perfectly for the demigod to snatch it from the air. He rotated his lion arm at the elbow, a chain of light pinning the rest of the limb across his bicep. He cleaned the hard rubber on his chest fur, quirking a lopsided eyebrow at Sodstrosity. A tangle of tree roots and clods of earth formed the abomination’s legs and neck. It’s wide, flat head, body, and tail were made up of squared chunks of sod torn from the field and given a cruel mockery of life. The flora-golem wagged his tail high, low on his forelegs, begging like a dog. Discord listened sympathetically to his creation’s trace psychic thought patterns, all of which were emphatically pleading for death. A snaggle-toothed smirk leering out of his mouth, the deity lobbed the ball again. Sodstrosity snapped his tail to return the serve. A slow, steady vibration began to build in the chimera’s prison. The glow from the chains growing in strength around him, Discord winked at Sodstrosity. The golem’s proto-brain sighed in relief as it crumbled to a lifeless husk of plant matter. The demigod snorted through his snout and spat, putting on a ‘game time’ expression and closing his eyes. The vibrations of the chains grew in intensity until Discord was pulled through nothingness, his consciousness realigning itself in a dull, featureless void. He popped a kink in his neck, watching the golden motes of light lining the vacuum coalesce in front of him with bored eyes. The disapproving face of Princess Celestia glared from the darkness. As the last glinting specks of dancing yellow formed the tips of her flared wings and the ends of her golden hoofwear, her commanding voice broke the silence and echoed through the void. “Discord, what is your game?” Her horn was lowered menacingly at Discord’s chest, her ethereal mane flowing fast with barely suppressed righteous fury. His red eyes rolled heavily in yellowed corneas, a lizard nail tapping the non-existent ground impatiently. “My game? What makes you think I have anything to do with this, you royal pain?” The monarch stamped a hoof, contempt bleeding from her features. “You have sent Rainbow Dash on a fool’s errand, risking her very existence for your own gain. You will explain your actions.” The tip of her long horn was prepared to gore. Flared wings framed her regal torso. Few beheld Princess Celestia in such a state of anger and those who had did not have the opportunity to relate the tale. Discord’s face never shifted from tight lipped, passive boredom as a barking laugh filled the barren pocket dimension. Amusement shifted to contempt which shifted to rage, a cacophonous thunder roiling through the air. As the cackling subsided to rebounding echoes, the demi-god raised to his full height, looming over the alicorn. “I will do nothing, you contemptible shrew. I am not yours to command, not yours to imprison, either,” as he spoke his voice grew in volume, lilting dramatism replaced by speed and rage, “That silly little pegasus holds more power over me than you, you usurper, you false prophet, you unwitting disciple of Appaloo!” His composite face was twisted and contorted with avarice. All at once his form faded to shadow, expanding through the featureless space in a hazy mist. Princess Celestia stepped back, her jaw slack and eyes wide. A tongue hissed in her ear, causing her to jump and turn. Stumbling back from the sibilation, she swept her head to the side and found empty air. In her retreat, her flank met Discord’s snake-like midsection. A small gasp escaped her throat as she swung around. “Equestria is my world!” he howled, three times his normal size. In a blink his body was gone, replaced by his looming face filling the princess’ entire field of vision. His mismatched horns gleamed with blue light, casting a shadow over his face, highlighting the creased, folded lines of utter animosity. “My safe haven from my brother. An entire world of chaos. Taken from me and corrupted. You have invited him to my doorstep!” Inky claws and talons extended from the darkness, reaching and grasping at Celestia’s ivory coat and flowing mane. The princess staggered back. She had been caught terribly off guard and was reduced to gaping at the fuming chimera. His looming face shrunk back to normal size, his eclectic body returning in a position lowered down on all fours, face muzzle to muzzle with the alicorn’s. His voice, a thick whisper of hate, barely reached her ears. “Those bulls are his. He’s coming to take what’s mine, burn it to ash, burn it to nothing because that’s what his idea of ‘order’ is. I’ve done what I can to save what’s mine and how dare you blame me for this. Go ahead and keep your precious semblance of peace and order to yourself, continue to poison my beautiful haven. But leave whatever stupid, pathetic ideas you have about my motivations here. Now. Get. Out.” A fierce torrent of magic-infused air lifted Princess Celestia from her hooves. In a flash of light she found herself staggering back into the palace’s hedge maze. She regarded the cold marble statue with wide eyes. She suppressed a shudder, clearing her throat and slowing her fluttering heart. Poise restored, she turned from the gardens. Unfurling her large, alabaster wings, the monarch took to the air and headed for the tower of the High Scholars, the name ‘Appaloo’ running through her mind. Discord returned to his chains. His face contorted and quaking, teeth bared and gnashing, the fallen remains of Sodstrosity rose to the air. Strips and chunks of sod tore themselves from the ground with slow, wet ripping noises. Specks and clods of dirt, wormy with roots, joined the floating masses. Teeth grinding hard enough sparks shot from his mouth, Discord glared balefully at his floating amalgamation. A flare of force from his eyes struck the slowly spinning wad of vegetation. In a psychic gasp, it gained partial sentience, screams of suffering echoing through the deity’s mind. The cloud of plant-matter slowly compressed, from ten yards across, down to five, down to one, down to a single foot, a sphere of psychic trauma. His red eyes flared and glittering, his lips curled back from his teeth, Discord screamed through his chains. The mass of roots, soil, and sod exploded to smoke, an amorphous gray haze. The cloud recompressed, leaking spiders, snakes, worms, and beetles to rain on the scoured meadow and bury themselves in the upturned dirt. A single tiny seed floated in front of the demi-god’s eyes. It dropped to the ground and sunk into the disturbed, dark soil. The strength and anger fled Discord’s body. His eyelids drooped and he hung in his brilliant chains, his free arm limp at his side. The demigod rested, his breath growing slow and even, and listened to the torrent of psychic agony emanating below his mismatched feet. The five mares marched through the swirling blizzard bundled tightly in winter wear and blanketed in the soft glow of magenta magic. Twilight, horn glowing continuously, held back the snow and winds with a globe of force around the group. The jackets and scarves around each mare kept the remaining cold at bay and the group was in reasonably high spirits considering the intensity of the whirling tempest. Twilight led the way, divining the direction of the foothill path through magic rather than vision. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack stuck to the middle of the bubble, while Pinkie Pie whipped through the clear space on skis. “Twilight, dear, how much further is it now?” Rarity cut a striking silhouette in her pastel blue, fur-lined coat. The novelty of winter fashion in the height of summer had not worn off for the unicorn, but she eyed the ever-strengthening storm through the protective bubble with a furrowed brow and a worried frown. Her contemplation was joined by Applejack, the orange mare pulling her bright green scarf more tightly around her neck. The trek didn’t bother the athletic work-pony, but she had never been a fan of snow. “I’m not positive,” the lavender mare’s voice was level and even, maintaining magical focus on the barrier with practiced ease, “You see, the ruins are roughly twenty-five miles northwest of the Crystal Empire. There hasn’t been an expedition out this way since the Empire returned and the geography’s changed.” “Changed?” three voices inquired in unison. “Wheeeee!” cried the pink earth pony. “Yes. When the Empire disappeared, it wasn’t replaced by an empty field; the whole land-mass completely vanished. When it reappeared, it altered all the recorded distances. All the maps are wrong now, and the few expeditions that have occurred have been more concerned with the new mountains that appeared.” Twilight shifted her direction slightly to the left, following the gentle sloping path through the foothills. “But as close as I can tell, it should be a day’s hike from our arrival at the base of Mount Everestria, which we will be reaching by nightfall.” She pointed a hoof at the vague outline of a mountain in the distance, mostly hidden from view by the storm and the glow of her protective barrier. Rarity shuddered, her blue eyes still watching the storm battering their thin magical shield. “I hope this storm breaks soon. I’d hate to have to make camp in such a downpour.” Applejack attempted to offer a reassuring smile to the white unicorn, but couldn’t shake her own worry. Fluttershy was even less help, her lower lip trembling violently. Pinkie Pie slipped by, skiing backwards. The wide grin plastered on her face lessened the three mares’ growing nerves. “Don’t worry; this should only last for another hour or so. By the time we’re ready to camp, we should be in the clear.” As the last syllable left her mouth, a familiar pressure settled over her mind. A soft gasp escaped her lips as a grin broke out. “Rainbow’s trying to talk to me!” Twilight paused in her forward momentum. The other’s gathering around her, she felt split in many directions; part of her continuing the protective sphere, part watching the path, part focused on Rainbow Dash’s magical presence, and part trying to organize her thoughts in a communicable way. “Okay girls I’m gonna cast that spell, so that means—” “We know, Twi’.” Applejack’s piercing green eyes found Twilight’s violet. “Ya told us already. You cast your spell, and most of your mind goes off to talk to RD. Your body stays awake and has enough sense to get us where we’re goin’ and keep us dry. If there’s trouble we give you a sharp tap and you’ll feel it, but you’re gonna have a hard time answerin’ any questions. That about cover it?” A smirk had broken out on orange lips. Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Yes, I’d say it does. Well, I’m going to cast the spell now. I guess I’ll…see you in a bit?” She shrugged helplessly at their mystified expressions, and concentrated on her new spell. A sliver of glittering white energy sliced through her mind like glass and her consciousness flew unfettered to her home-away-from-home vacuum. A hazy blue mist hung in front of the unicorn. The cloud was compacting slowly, a gradual gain of opacity matching the slowly diminishing volume. “Rainbow, why do you look like that? Probably this spell I came up with. See, I thought it might be difficult to organize when you were available to talk and I was available to sleep, so I figured out a way to talk and stay awake at the same time!” As Twilight spoke, she began pacing. Were the misty shape of Rainbow Dash to have eyes, she probably would have rolled them. “Twilight.” The pegasus’ voice had no power; the breathless whistle of wind over a wine glass. The unicorn didn’t even hear it. “...It must have interrupted our connection a tiny amount. Well, no matter. So anyway the girls and I are on the way to collect the Element of War. We should be in the ruins sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. That reminds me—” “Twilight.” Her voice strengthened to hollow reads rustling in a breeze. “—I asked the girls to write you a letter each that I could memorize, so you had a chance to talk to them through me. I should be able to relate a reply to each of them from you. Do you want to do that now? Whose letter do you want to hear first?” “Twilight.” The unicorn heard such misery in the hollow, raspy voice of her friend that she stopped her pacing and turned in shock. The misty amalgamation of Rainbow Dash’s mind had coalesced into a roughly solid form. Still indistinct at most edges and especially transparent around her neck, Twilight took in the bandages wrapping the mare, and the utter exhaustion on her face. “That’s great and all, but do you think it could wait?” The unicorn’s throat worked uselessly for a moment, her jaw slack. “…Are you okay, Rainbow? What happened?” The celeste blue mare, still hazy but gradually sharpening in clarity, limped a few steps towards Twilight, her gaze aimed at the imagined floor. Her voice was small and cracked terribly. “…I got captured and I’m being held prisoner.” A pace away from the frozen unicorn, Rainbow slowly sunk to her haunches. “I almost died again in a gladiator match. He said he’s gonna make me fight again and again to feed his army my strength. I don’t know what to do. I’m…” She lifted her head. Where the rest of her form was slightly out of focus, a hazy vibration of indistinction, her magenta eyes were sharp, clear, brilliant, and completely overwhelmed with emotion. “…I’m really scared, Twi’.” Wordlessly, Twilight wrapped her forehooves around chromatic mane and pulled the mare’s head to her chest. Rainbow protested weakly, trying to pull away from the embrace. “N-no, it’s okay. I’m fine, really, I’m—” A soft whisper floated into her slowly sharpening ears. Twilight’s voice, gentle and soothing, paralyzed her struggling hooves. “You don’t have to pretend, Rainbow. Not for me.” After several pregnant moments the pegasus began to spasm in slow hitches and starts. Like a broken levy, she sobbed desperately into a lavender shoulder, her hooves frantically clutching around her friend’s sides. Twilight rubbed the mare’s back, holding her tight and close. A steady stream of whispers fell from her lips, “It’s okay, shh…It’s gonna be okay…Shh, Rainbow…” Exhaustion and terror bled from Rainbow Dash’s body, bawled out on Twilight’s coat. As her hitching breaths evened out, the pegasus left her sodden, matted face pressed into her friend and focused on the feeling of being held and protected. Eventually she reached an emotional equilibrium. With some reluctance, she pulled away and wiped at her face with a clean part of her bandages. “Th-thanks, Twi’.” The thick wall of emotion and strain of sobs pitched Rainbow’s voice an octave lower than normal, but some of her strength had returned to the tone. She sniffled loudly, a weak smile finding its way onto her face. “If you tell anyone that happened…” Twilight snickered, hiding her mouth behind a purple hoof. “You’d have to kill me. Secret’s safe with me.” The unicorn smirked at her friend, tiffany blue outline sharp everywhere except the space directly around her neck, but concern shone through her eyes. “And you’re welcome, though it was nothing really.” She glanced away from Rainbow’s face, eyes finding only blank emptiness. “I’m not trying to tease you, but I could tell you needed that. Anypony else would have done the same.” “Nah…” Twilight’s attention returned to the mare’s cyan face. The daredevil’s brow was furrowed and a small frown of contemplation tugged at her mouth. The crease on Rainbow’s forehead deepened as their eyes met. “Any of our other friends woulda’ probably tried, but it wouldn’t’ve worked…” Her frown growing deeper and her eyes swimming with confusion, the pegasus sat back on her haunches and sighed. Her gaze grew distant and unfocused, aimed somewhere above and to the right of the unicorn. Twilight was frozen in place, hardly daring to breathe and interrupt her friend’s thoughts. “…I don’t think I’d let anypony else see me like that, Twilight. But…it was okay with you. It felt…,” after a long pause, the mare shook her head forcefully, multicolored hair splaying out and swirling around her face. The intensity left her expression and she smiled, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know what the heck I’m talkin’ about Twi’. Thanks all the same, though.” Twilight cleared her throat. Her voice was very small, willed to smoothness through the cloud of emotions embattling the unicorn’s mind. “You’re welcome, Rainbow.” She did her best to take a deep breath; her head was swimming. Overwhelmed, her mind retreated to the comfort of organization. Sorting and arranging, she began identifying and ranking her emotional responses. The mental exercise transpired in less than five seconds, but left more questions than it answered. “I’m…I’m really touched that you can…be open with me.” She blinked the moisture from her eyes and cleared her throat again. “Anyway, what’s going on? And you’re hurt, let me heal you.” Rainbow shook her head emphatically. “I’m being magically healed already and this guy’s really paranoid. He’s already accused me of having outside help and I kinda do.” The mare flexed her right forelimb under the tight cloth. “…And I’m almost healed anyway.” Twilight detected only reluctance and fear in the mare’s rasping voice. “So who is this he? You said he’s holding you prisoner and you were in a gladiator ring?” The unicorn set a lavender hoof on Rainbow’s left shoulder. A rueful smirk came across her sky blue face. As she spoke, a hoof absent-mindedly found its way around Twilight’s on her shoulder, cupping the appendage and holding it in place. “I tried really, really, hard to pay attention to his name, but it’s really weird and I’m sure I’m gonna mess it up anyway. Agmun? Igman? Ogmander? Ogmander Vilmar. Or something like that.” Twilight giggled, shaking her head. “Very, very close this time. Agmundr Vilmar.” The blue mare grinned, yellow, red, and orange mane framing her eyes. “I thought that’s who it might be; the girls and I are headed to some ruins that was the seat of his empire.” Rainbow’s face grew troubled. “Can you tell me about him? The few times I’ve talked to him…” The pegasus shuddered, her hoof squeezing Twilight’s against her coat. “If it was just that he was crazy or evil it’d be one thing, you know? But he’s not. He’s…lost. And scared. And he’s more powerful than both the princesses put together.” Twilight’s eyes widened, a gagging noise surprised from her throat. “Wh-what?” The daredevil’s brow was fraught with worry. “He was so bright when I looked at him it actually hurt. I…I felt like a bug lookin’ at him. I bet everypony he’s met was a bug to him since before he died. Two thousand years is a long time to be that alone and that powerful.” Rainbow Dash discovered that at some point when she was talking, she had lowered her head to her shoulder and began nuzzling Twilight’s outstretched hoof. She straightened up and released her grip. A pang of disappointment flashed through Twilight’s mind as the warmth and pressure left her appendage. She stepped closer and wrapped her right forehoof around Rainbow’s shoulders, the blue mist haze of her not quite solidified neck making the short hairs of her coat tingle. The act banished the sense of loss, but added an uneasy confusion, her heartbeat rising and her muzzle tingling with the mare’s metallic storm scent. She put it out of mind. “Well, Agmundr Vilmar was one of the most successful dictators in known history. He united most of Equestria under his control, and most accounts say he was a fair ruler. He, uh...” Twilight chewed on her lip, recalling the specifics, “He came to power through a civil war in an older empire, and expanded through brilliant military campaigns and political debates. He lived in a place called Granitekeep, which is close by to the Crystal Empire—there’s some evidence he might have built the Crystal Empire actually—and he was assassinated by his own son.” Magenta eyes shot wide. “His son killed him?” Twilight nodded slowly. “Poisoned him. The empire fell apart afterwards over a matter of years.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin with a hoof, leaning into the unicorn’s embrace. The pressure on her knitting ribs was somehow welcoming. “That explains a bit about him. Now I just gotta figure out what the heck I’m gonna do. Here, lemme just give you the whole story.” Twilight listened closely while the pegasus related her first conversation with the conqueror. Her grip tightened around Rainbow’s shoulders when the tale shifted to the death match against the ox. When the story switched to her friend’s second encounter with the dictator and near psychic blinding she found herself holding her breath. The pegasus let out a long, slow exhalation when she was finished, the knotted muscles in her shoulders relaxing under Twilight’s foreleg. The lavender mare released her own held lung-full. “Wow, Rainbow…” Twilight shifted, her arm sliding across her friend’s back as she brought herself muzzle to muzzle with the pegasus. Wrapping both forehooves around Rainbow Dash, she hugged the mare tightly, her face buried in technicolor mane. “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, “You’re so brave, Rainbow. I don’t know what I’d have done if I were in your place.” The pegasus found herself returning the hug gratefully. Smelling the sweet berry perfume of Twilight’s shampoo, the mare grew puzzled. She stroked the unicorn’s back in slow circles and furrowed her brow in thought. She was not a touchy-feely pony. She wasn’t against physical contact or anything, unless you were talking about her hooves, but it always made her a little uncomfortable and she did her best to minimize those situations. ’And here I am…hugging Twilight and…’ she squeezed the mare tightly, eliciting a small squeak of surprise, ’…and I feel so…safe.’ Holding the unicorn fiercely, Rainbow whispered into indigo hair, “I dunno what to do. I can feel my leg and ribs are almost better and then I’m gonna have’ta fight again. What if I die again, Twi’? Sid became ‘one with everything,’ or something, I don’t wanna lose myself…” The pegasus was trembling. Were she with anyone else, she’d be mortified to show such weakness. Wrapped in lavender hooves, her strengths, weaknesses, and reputation didn’t matter. Twilight’s gentle voice was as soothing as her proximity. “Well…I have an idea about that.” Rainbow straightened, catching and holding violet eyes in her gaze. The unicorn frowned in contemplation for a moment, her voice rising and catching the tone of dictation. “You said Agmundr’s army fed on fights in the ring, right?” The pegasus nodded vaguely; Twilight understood that to mean her friend wasn’t sure on all the details. “Well, participating in those fights just helps him. I’m not saying you should let yourself get hurt, or throw a fight or anything…but if you can control time, you can probably avoid fighting entirely.” Rainbow Dash’s brow was furrowed and she tapped her chin with a hoof. “…I guess it’s worth a shot…I mean, even if I have to do some fighting I could be using this power differently.” She smirked at herself, shaking her head. “I mean, when I got the ox slowed down I probably could’ve taken a nap instead of chargin’ in, hooves swinging, huh?” The mare’s smirk resolved into a chuckle. “I told Sid I wasn’t really cut out to bear the Element of Inaction. I can give myself all the time in the world to think and all I use it for is to sucker-punch a ghost.” Twilight couldn’t help but grin at her friend’s rueful look. “Boy, he wasn’t kidding when he said this thing would be a burden.” Rainbow flicked the floating Element gently and stood, stretching out her back. The itching under her hoof bandage had stopped and when she took a deep breath there were no twinges of soreness in her ribs. “I’m either fighting against the leaf for tryin’ to keep me from ever moving again, or myself for trying to smash down all the doors with my face.” Twilight was struck by a giggle fit; the cyan mare sticking out her tongue in retaliation. “Alright, Egghead. I gotta go scope out my cell again. My leg and ribs are healed, and I don’t wanna be here when Igmuh…Agmun…King Vilmar shows up again.” The unicorn’s mirth died away and she nodded solemnly. “Next time we’ll have to do that letter thing for the girls.” “Okay, Rainbow.” The leaf suspended over Rainbow’s head began to glow steadily. Her substance grew indistinct, a wafting haze of celeste blue particles evaporating into mist. Twilight sighed in disappointment as the lingering azure light faded and she begrudgingly returned to her body. Twilight’s eyes shifted back into focus. Half expecting something to have gone terribly wrong without her conscious mind around, the unicorn was pleasantly surprised to find four mares traveling amicably in a bubble of protective magic. The storm had slowed to a sullen spattering and Mount Everestria loomed before them, its base tantalizingly close. “You awake, Twi’? How’s Rainbow?” Applejack waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s face. The lavender mare’s smile was strained. “She’s got her hooves full, but she should be okay.” The five continued their trek through the foothills, Twilight hoping she was not mistaken. Rainbow Dash stretched out her back and grabbed the end of her foreleg bandage in her teeth. A sharp snap of her neck sent the blood-stained strip of cloth sailing into the empty bucket. She regarded her right foreleg and winced. Three parallel lines ran diagonally down her leg. From the crook of her knee on the outside of her body to just above the pastern facing inwards, a blistering of shiny pink scar tissue marred her sky blue coat. She ran her left hoof over the marks. There was neither pain nor tenderness to the spot and Rainbow Dash guessed that she’d never grow her coat back over those spots again. A soft sigh escaping her lips, she bent over awkwardly and worked her chest bandage off. As it dropped to the floor, she took a deep breath and smiled. Her eyes trailed back to her right foreleg. Rotating her hoof on the stone ground, she appraised her new scar. An appreciative frown graced her lips and she nodded slightly. ’Ya know,’ she thought, ‘That’s actually pretty rad-looking.’ The mare settled back onto her cot and opened her senses. The collar’s magic seemed feeble now; barely able to suppress her vision within the cell. She practiced pushing it out in different directions until she spotted the peripheral edge of a tremendous light approaching the room’s entrance. She quickly disengaged her extrasensory perception and approached the bars, pouring her will into looking determined and cock-sure, instead of terrified. His Majesty Agmundr Vilmar entered the room in a stately canter. “Feeling better, little warrior?” The dancing insanity had returned to his eyes, a leering puckered grin dispelling any sense of regality from his visage. Rainbow managed to glare, although it was not nearly as withering as she’d hoped for. He stopped short of the bars. “You’re in for a treat today. I have deigned to attend your match and your competitor will be a bit more your…speed. You should feel honored.” He beckoned to the left guard, its creaking hoofsteps growing distant. “If you’re a cooperative little pegasus, you’ll be allowed armor and a weapon for this battle. I would strongly suggest you cooperate.” As he turned to leave, Rainbow called after him, doing the best she could to hide the waver in her voice. “Wait. Can we please just talk?” A red glare emanated from her neck. She felt her voice box tingle, but not quite seize up. “No.” His hoofsteps echoed up the stairs, fading to indistinct clatter that filled the room. The skeletal guard approached the bars carrying pegasus armor across its back. The bars slid aside and the shade tossed its load into the cell. Rainbow Dash fumblingly strapped into the protective gear. Hard sheets of boiled leather attached with steel ringlets ran down her sides and flank, two holes on the upper back leaving her wings free to their full range of movement. Hard leggings and a light, hammered steel helmet completed her ensemble. After pulling on the leggings and maneuvering the helmet over her head with some difficulty to avoid disturbing the Element of Inaction, the mare had to admit; she felt pretty bad-ass. As she slowly stepped through the parted door, she contemplated her luck at making a break for it, until a slim beam of red light expanded from her collar and connected to the stone ring on the guard’s left foreleg. She felt a restrictive force press down on all sides, slowing her movements and dulling her reflexes. She was led sedately through the door and down the stairs. Having more presence of mind than the last trip, she mapped the path down through the spiraling stone staircase. Four flights down, a long straight hallway, three more flights and through a large passageway. The size of the room made sense now; she was deep inside the mountain. The room was different than her previous fight. The hemispheric dome was gone; a framework of dark stone beams covered the rounded pit surface before forming a cage boxing in the spectator stands. The guard that had brought her in left through the door and the wall slid seamlessly closed. Stone bars covered the new surface and began to glow red. A net of red stone encircled the entire arena; she was still in a cage, it just extended all the way to the ceiling. Her collar snapped off and clattered to the floor. Rainbow shielded her eyes from the suspended orbs of light and studied the room. The stands remained completely filled, the only change in spectatorship taking the form of Agmundr Vilmar sitting in his rock throne, silent and grinning. The rounded wall, in addition to being lined with magic dampening bars, was covered in a variety of weapons. To quell her nervous energy she trotted towards the gathered weapons. After some nervous deliberation, she strapped a pitted steel shield to her left foreleg, cinching it in place over her armored legging. She found a short sword with a bit for a handle and took it in her teeth. Wheeling around she caught sight of an approving nod from her captor before a hole opened in the stone floor. The skeleton of a small pony rose from the floor, delicate wing bones fully extended. Where the previous specters Rainbow had encountered were gray and scarred, spider webs of fractures lining their surface, this pony was immaculate. Gleaming white bones, perfectly smoothed and polished, reflected glints of light from the floating sources of illumination. There were not any shreds of clothing, no broken armor, just ivory-bright bones surrounding gleaming red eye flames. Rainbow Dash’s gaze automatically shifted to the pony specter’s left forehoof, finding the same stone band. The corpse’s only other adornments were directly below the band; glittering blades studded its hoof bones, a cruel mockery of a bear claw rendered in polished steel. As soon as the floor smoothed out, the pegasus shade took to the air. Rainbow was briefly mesmerized, watching the spotless wing bones propel her enemy without muscle or feathers. She snapped to reality quickly, bearing down on the hilt of her blade with a clenched jaw and taking off on rapidly beating wings. The two pegasi circled in the arena. Rainbow watched the dead pony’s movements with keen interest. Where the ox had moved fluidly, the pegasus moved like clockwork; each adjustment of wing and realignment of joint was a precise snap, every articulated joint moving cohesively in a series of short, exact gestures. The celeste mare matched speed with her opponent’s ever increasing velocity, a silent competition of raw celerity occurring seventy-five feet in the air. The two became a blur, then a whirlwind. Rainbow grinned viciously around her weapon when the corpse hit its top speed; they were just beginning to near the sound barrier. Even in death she was the fastest. She was quite surprised when the skelepony sharply changed directions, barreling to meet her with glittering steel claws stretched forward. A powerful flap propelled her beyond range of the attack. The extra burst sent her past the sound barrier and in a few more beats she broke Mach 5. A booming shockwave flashed behind her, a shower of colors flung out. The rainboom trail streaked through the air behind her hooves, highlighting her gently arcing flight path. A delighted gasp from the stands reached her ears and she smirked. It was wiped from her tiffany lips when she glanced back and saw that her enemy had corrected immediately, making up for raw speed with shorter distances along a straight path. A nearly intuitive turn brought the steel blades to bear across her armored side instead of her underbelly. Rainbow Dash whirled around and snapped her neck to the side sharply in retaliation. The dead pegasus ducked around her swing and a bladed hoof shot out. The mare brought her shield up to block, knocking it off its direct course. Inexpert in wielding shields, Rainbow knocked the blow across her body instead of away, the hoof sliding inside the eye-hole of her helmet. Fire erupted from the cyan mare’s face. A hot, sticky wetness trickled down the side of her jaw, angry gashes running from forehead to cheek directly across her right eye. Worst of all was her eye itself; a jagged line of terrible pain blackening her vision and slamming the lid shut. She reeled back, twisting quickly and putting on a burst of prodigious speed to create some distance. ’What am I doing?!’ she screamed at herself. Through the pain, she slammed the full force of her will into manipulating time. Half flying, half crashing, Rainbow chanced a look over her left shoulder with her one good eye. The glittering hoof blades, alarmingly close, fell away as she sped. Flaring her wings wide too late, she sunk to her knees from the forceful impact on the granite floor. Even slowed, the skeleton was gaining ground and Rainbow Dash, trembling on her hooves, nauseous from the splitting pain in her head, had nowhere to run. She slammed her jaw shut tightly and pressed at the fabric of time with all her might. The shade’s movements almost stopped altogether. From roughly 700 miles an hour to less than an inch a minute, the blue mare gave a shaking sigh of relief, letting the short sword clatter to the floor. The threat of imminent death no longer looming over her head, she reached a hoof to gingerly touch her eye. “Oh thank Celestia,” she breathed; her lid had been torn and her cornea was probably wounded, but her eye was still in one piece. She pressed her hoof down to stem the flow from above and below her ravaged eye and took a deep breath, wincing from the pressure. Outside her death match arena, a few hundred skeletons and one extremely powerful pegasus were so completely frozen they could be statues. Above her head, one incredibly skilled, frighteningly deadly corpse descended with impossible slowness. Rainbow Dash took another steadying inhalation, sat on her haunches, crossed her hind legs, and listened. Absolute silence filled the void. The emptiness, mostly darkened sky glittering with distant starlight, was lit with thousands of burning torches. Slowly advancing in rows and columns, rotating balls of liquid fire moved inexorably through space. Five of the orbs broke formation, slowly rising above the others. Other burning spheres advanced forward to close their gaps, the fluidity of a military charge. The five gathered in a loose circle, hanging in the emptiness while the others continued their onward momentum. One by one the chosen bulls lined up in a new formation, blazing past the marching army, speeding towards a small blue planet in the distance.