Trapped

by Gylden Glor


Recovery

I sigh in relief as the last cloud is moved into place.
"We're done, ma'am," Thunder Clap announces, flying up to meet me with the rest of his Weather Pony crew.
I nod, and dismiss them, before flying off to the Ponyville/Cloudsdale Weather Pony HQ, or the PC-WP HQ, to clock out.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash," the pony at the reception desk calls out. "You done with the day's work?"
"Yep," I respond, wondering what he looks like behind that newspaper. I've still never actually seen his face, as his paper is perpetually held up before him. Makes me wonder how he sees ponies coming and going...
"'Ight. Go see the boss."
I nod, and bustle off to my boss's office, nodding to my associates as I hurry along, relieved to be able to get back to the hospital...
I finally arrive at the office, and promptly step in.
"Sir," I address him.
"Rainbow Dash," he responds, smiling at me more warmly than usual. "I must admit, I'm impressed. I thought you'd bail halfway through the day."
I smile, and shake my head. "Nope. I've got a job to do, sir."
He nods, and immediately scribbles something down: marking down that I completed my shift. "Well, then, go on; go see your sweetheart," he teases me, undoubtedly expecting me to claim that Peter isn't my sweetheart.
However, over the two days that I've been in Ponyville, I've grown. I've learned that my reputation doesn't matter. What really matters is the ponies I love, especially Peter. And that is why I smile, and respond with: "Thank you, sir."
He blinks in surprise, and, after a moment, dismisses me with a smile of satisfaction. Undoubtedly, he's happy that I've become so much more mature.
I've become so much more mature, because with pain comes maturity. And the pain of almost losing Peter...the pain of almost being bereft of the thing I love the most in the world...it shocked me into maturity.
I occasionally flap my wings as I glide back to the hospital, my flight muscles still somewhat sore from my long-distance flight: from Phillydelphia to Cloudsdale. And all at over five hundred miles per hour.
I finally arrive at the hospital after several minutes, and hurry in, looking forward to being with Peter, no matter how unconscious he is.
As I near the room, I begin to hear voices.
"-and I even managed to do a full flip!"
I pause, waiting for Peter's voice to respond to Scootaloo's excited exclamation. However, it doesn't, and I sigh in disappointment as I lean against the doorway, smiling as Scootaloo, sitting next to Peter on the bed, pushes her hoof into his hand.
"I guess you can't hear me," she mumbles. "But...I hope you can, Peter. I miss you, man. And so does Rainbow Dash. Please...come back?"
I hold my breath, and so does Scootaloo. For a moment, I believe I can see his eyelids twitch, but it's probably just my mind, making it seem like there's hope for a pleasant surprise. I let go of my breath as I approach Scootaloo, and wrap a foreleg around her.
"He'll wake up soon," I say, softly, resting my other hoof on Peter's chest. "Promise."
Scootaloo nods, and looks to the door. "I'd better get going...my mom's bringing me to Canterlot to see a show today. I don't know why, but...it's probably for a good reason."
I nod, and gently see her out of the room per her request. Before she leaves, I pull her into a hug, and give her a quick peck on the cheek.
"Your mother loves you," I remind Scootaloo as she looks up to me, her eyes as wide as dish saucers. "She's probably just trying to make you happy."
Scootaloo nods, and sighs as she begins to walk away. I smile sadly, and return to Peter's side, draping my tail over his chest in a protective manner.
"Today was pretty hectic," I whisper to him. "There were a bunch of idiots on cloud management today..." I chuckle lightly, and flick my tail a bit. "Kept forgetting to merge them, and they all kept falling apart...I had to show them how to do it after a while, 'cus they were all newbies." I laugh again, and lean down to give him a quick peck on the cheek, hoping that he'll respond, hoping that I can see his eyes once more...
Rainbow Dash...
I panic, and look around, trying to place where the familiar voice just came from. I wait for several minutes, knowing that it didn't come from Peter, and yet at the same time, not knowing that it didn't.
After about a half hour of waiting, and straining my ears for sound, I decide that it must've been my mind playing tricks on me, as I've been high-strung since I got back to Ponyville...
I sigh, and lie down, resting my head on Peter's shoulder as I doze off.
About twenty minutes later, I'm awake, and I'm getting pretty jumpy.
I just want to have a conversation with Peter. That's all I really want right now. I would savor a conversation like nothing else in the world...
Lo and behold, the doctor walks in with a clipboard.
"Miss Dash?"
I look up with a small smile. "Yes, doctor?"
"We've looked at the data more closely," he informs me. "He should be awake within a half hour or so. When he is, just press the call button, and we'll take his pulse and whatnot."
I grin. "Really!? He'll be awake soon!?"
The doctor smiles. "And he'll be right as rain."
I grin, and a dark thought passes through my mind. "But whoever did this to him is going to be in the hospital for much longer."
The doctor laughs a bit. "Oh, I have no doubt of that," he remarks. "But you may want to ask him what it is that attacked him."
I frown in confusion, and suddenly get struck by an idea: was he attacked by It? Is It still coming after me, but in a roundabout way?
I push the thought out of my head, and return to waiting for Peter to wake up. I eventually begin to doze off, and I start to think about things that I've never even considered.


Discord

I feel a tingle pass through the world. A tingly tingle, the kind of tingle that warns you of an explosion.
If I were not trapped in stone, I would frown. While I may be an advocate of chaos, I do not condone what is guaranteed to follow this tingle.
I know what is loose upon the world, and I know who has been sucked into it.
And I know that right now, Celestia is about a foot away from my statue.
"Hello, Discord."
I would smile, were it not for this stone prison. It's about time I have a visitor.
"I know you felt what just happened. I know you felt that...It got what it needed to start..." I hear her falter, and I must admit I do not blame her. "To start what we both know will be the end."
I force my mind out of my tomb, and into Celestia's. At first, she blocks me out, but eventually lets me in, albeit cautiously.
The clock is ticking, Celestia. We have to act. You must release me.
"How do I know you won't turn against me?"
You can just think what you want to say, you know.
"I don't want to let you into my mind too much."
Touché. Anyway, you must release me. I will help you stop It.
"When we're done, you'll have to promise not to turn against me, and act like your old self."
...Celestia, you and I both know that I must assist the man that created this world - this simulation - in sealing the Rift. Must we truly speak of treaties now? We can discuss my actions later.
Silence for a few moments. "Unless you give me your word that you won't turn against me, I'm not going to let you out."
Fine! I'll give you my word, dammit! I mean, do you want me to help you save the world or not!?
A light chuckle. "I just want to make sure we can stay friends after all of this is over." Friends? Weird. "So, I'm going to release you early. No strings attached, you can do whatever you want. It will be under the disguise of a reformation attempt. But, in reality, I'll just be letting you stretch for when you have to actually try."
No strings attached?
"I put a spell on the Elements of Harmony to make them invulnerable to your magic, and if you go overboard, I'll have you turned to stone again."
That, or beheaded.
"Quite."
There's a silence for a few moments, and one that neither of us can bridge.
"I'll send you down to Ponyville tomorrow," Celestia announces, finally ending this "conversation." "That way, you'll be reformed by all seven of them."
Okay, then. I'm assuming by seven, you mean the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and Peter?
"Yes." She pauses, and I can feel emotion surging through the cracks of her mind. One of them surprises me, and as soon as she realizes that I know what she feels, she pulls her mind away from mine, and blocks me out entirely.
"Goodbye, Discord," she announces, before trotting away.
As I hear her fade into the distance, all I can think of is how sad and depressed Celestia has been: how sad and depressed she is, and how everything she does is empty and without meaning, because she feels as if she will be alone for the rest of her immortality.
How strange.
Something she and I actually have in common...


Peter

I gradually open my eyes, feeling more confused than anything else.
I mean, I'm afraid. Oh, God, I'm afraid. I remember it all with painful clarity: when It slid its blades of ethereal darkness through my chest and turned, then reached a claw in to grab Grendel and-
I squeeze my eyes shut with a small burp of nausea. I can't think of that...Especially not after what I saw.
Especially not after I learned that it's all part of a plan.
A plan to destroy it all...
Grendel, Spike's darkness, everything down to the smallest things, like choking Vinyl Scratch...it was all orchestrated. Maybe not specific things, but opportunities were found and seized. And Celestia let it all happen, she wanted I tall to happen, because it's all out of our control. That is, it was all out of our control.
But now, now that the cards have been played, and now that the game has truly begun, we can play our own cards, and stop It.
And the terror It is planning.
However, our cards can't be played yet. Right now, we have to wait for It to put Its pawn into play, and we shall play ours.
We're playing both poker and chess at the same time. It's a hectic world we live in, isn't it?
I take a deep breath, and begin to open my eyes again. I see that I'm in the hospital - as I mostly expected - and I try to sit up. As I do, I realize that there's something incredibly heavy on my chest.
I look down, and see that there's a cyan head snoozing away on top of me. I smile, and rest my hand on the side of her head, letting my holding her close to my heart as tufts of rainbow mane spill through my fingers.
She begins to stir, and immediately turns to look at me. We look each other in the eyes and, for a moment, neither of us do anything.
And then, she's throwing her forelegs around me in a vicious hug, sobbing into my shoulder as she whimpers the same thing over and over again: "I thought I'd lost you..."
At first, I'm shocked by her display of raw emotion. I had expected her to say "good morning, asshole," not act like she just won the lottery. However, I don't mind it. Actually, I rather enjoy it.
I smile, and wrap my arms around her, burying my face into her neck and taking deep whiffs of her heavenly aroma. "It's okay," I coo as I stroke her mane, holding her so close to me that I can feel her heartbeat. "It's okay..."
She pulls away, and gazes down at my face, a smile plastered upon her face as she stares into my eyes. "I love you, Peter," she whispers.
"I love you, too."
We smile at each other, and I feel a sudden wave of exhaustion. I take a deep breath, and let my head fall back onto the pillow as I close my eyes with a blissful smile.
"You okay?" She asks, quickly getting concerned as all hell.
"Yeah," I whisper, still holding her close against me. "Just tired..."
Rainbow Dash nuzzles me gently on the neck as she snuggles into me, holding onto me for dear life. As we rest, she sniffles and speaks.
"I was afraid that I could lose you," she informs me. "Afraid that I could...be without you..."
I smile as I rub her foreleg. "Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. That's not going to happen anytime soon..."
Rainbow sighs a happy sigh, and kisses my neck lightly. "I hope not..."
I smile, and feel my entire body relax in exhaustion.


I nod to myself as all the pieces come into play. This plan is elaborate, I'll give It that.
But there's a major flaw in Its plan.
There are bits and pieces here and there that can be taken out to make the rest of it crumble, like a tower of Jenga bricks.
And the first one is quite crucial.
I write one last thing on the laundry list, to make sure Celestia understands. It reads as such:
Spike must die.