Rainbow Dash
Chapter 7
The morning sunlight shone down on the two loving mares as they worked their way through the tree’s yet again. A cool, steady breeze washed over them, keeping the temperature comfortable. They hardly shared a word as they walked, but every so often Fluttershy would glance back from her leading position, and grace the blue mare with a smile. They moved at a steady pace, having nowhere to go now but home. Rainbow felt good, she felt great, but she couldn’t quite tell why. The pain in her side had diminished substantially since the day before, and Fluttershy finally seemed to have stopped worrying.
With each passing minute she found more and more admiration towards her surroundings. There was so much life, it was almost tangible. Colourful flowers and little animals hid in the shrubbery, peering out with little eyes. The scents, the sounds, even the taste in the air, it all seemed alive. As they moved, the tree trunks changed from a mossy brown, to bone white. The leaves fluttered and rustled above as the wind passed through them. The tall grass and thin shrubbery began to wane, shrinking away with each step, until nothing remained but dry soil. Suddenly she wasn’t enjoying it so much.
The wind picked up hard, from a light breeze to a whistling gale. The sun had ducked behind the clouds, and was blotted out further by the thick canopy of leaves above them. Her new found admiration for the forest was very short lived, replaced by profound discomfort. The life in the air had left them completely.
“Um, Fluttershy do you feel that?” she asked timidly. “I really don’t like it here.”
Her yellow angel turned, a warm smile on her lips, her eyes shining bright.
“Rainbow, relax, everything will be fine.”
Calm overcame Dash like a wave, and while the discomfort didn’t leave, she found it easier to ignore. She stepped forward and planted a kiss on Fluttershy’s cheek. The one thing she loved more than hearing her say “I love you” was the kiss that came afterward. The wind picked up once more and she squeezed her eyes shut as her teeth chattered. When she opened them again, Fluttershy’s beaming face remained but something else drew her eye away.
A pair of green lights. And another. And another. The shaded forest behind the yellow mare suddenly illuminated with eerie light, casting long, distorted shadows upon the ground. The clacking and creaking of wooden joints, once muffled by the wind became all too apparent.
“No.” She turned to bolt, but to her horror, the green eyes of the Timberwolves had surrounded them. She spun back around to face Fluttershy, whose smile had faded completely. In its stead, her mouth just hung open, and her eyes were wide in terror. Rainbow grasped her hoof, locking it tightly with her own. They held each other’s gaze for only a moment, before the cyan athlete felt a pair of jaws clamp down on her hind leg. Then they were on her, too many to fight. Her love was wrenched from her grasp as half a dozen Timberwolves tackled her to the ground.
They snapped and bit. Rainbow tried with all her strength to fight back, but her efforts were futile. A piercing scream reached her ears.
“Fluttershy!” she yelled as loud as she could. The wolves continued to bite and nip, locking their teeth around her limbs. They weren’t trying to kill her. They were forcing her to submit. Each of her legs was being torn at, and one jumped on her back. Finally defeated, Rainbow collapsed to her front, hitting the brown earth hard. The Timberwolves stopped attacking, but they maintained their grip on her. A rough paw pressed hard into her mane, keeping her head up forcing her to watch the horrible spectacle in front of her.
“NO!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Countless wolves descended upon Fluttershy without mercy. They didn’t bite and nip as they did for the blue mare. They tore at her skin, they sank their teeth and their claws deep. Rainbow cried and pleaded, but both her voice and the growling of the Timberwolves were drowned out by the screams. The tortured screams of the pony she loved. Rainbow tried to fight, but her limbs wouldn’t respond to her commands, all she could do was watch, as the delicate pony was torn at.
Finally a loud howl cut through it all, and the wolves sank away from the pony. Her yellow coat was stained everywhere with blood. Her screams subsided to whimpering , tearful crying. Dash watched helplessly, as Fluttershy tried to stand. Her forelegs, stained red, pushed and trembled as she tried to rise.
The largest of the wolves, the one who had released the commanding howl, stepped up the small, delicate mare.
“No! You stay away from her!” she shouted, exhausting her options. Each step the beast took was slow, and deliberate. Still Fluttershy tried to rise. She had turned to face Rainbow Dash once again.
Her tearful face had been clawed and scratched; her stare conveyed only one thing: Fear. Droplet’s of blood rolled down her body an pattered down to the ground.
The great wolf now stood next to her. It stopped, made sure Rainbow was watching.
“Please,” her delicate voice scratched, pleading to the helpless Rainbow maned pegasus. “Help.”
The massive monster sunk its teeth into her yellow neck. Her eyes widened, and even from a distance, she could see them glaze over. She didn’t even have time to yell.
Rainbow screamed all her pain, all her furry and anguish escaped her as a single cry. She screamed until her throat went raw and dry. The monsters teeth released her and her limp body hit the ground with an earth-shattering thud. When she could no longer scream she cried. She sobbed uncontrollably. What she just witnessed hurt more than any cut. Her tears fell like spring rain upon the dry lifeless ground. Then the pack leader turned his eyes upon Dash. His bloody maw opened releasing a low growl. The wolves relinquished their grip on her legs. Just as he did before, he slowly, deliberately made his way towards her.
Rainbow stood up, cursing and shouting.
“Do it!” she shouted “Kill me! Just Kill me.” It growled, almost like laughter. Rainbow didn’t have it in her to fight. She stood her ground and waited for release. The last thing she saw was the flash of wooden teeth.
Rainbow Dash woke up breathing heavily and soaked with cols sweat. The disorientation made her dizzy. Dark, everything was so dark. The green lights were gone, replaced by a sky full of stars. The floor was grassy and growing, not dead and bloody. She tossed her head around wildly searching. Eventually her gaze fell upon Fluttershy, sleeping soundly, just a few feet away. She’d never seen a sight more beautiful.
The relief that fell over her was unbelievable. Never before had she dreamt so vividly, the sights, the teeth on her flesh, the way her little yellow body just collapsed, it felt so real. Dash stood up, shivering violently, her stomach turned, she wanted to vomit. Her face felt odd, it took her a moment to realize she was crying. Her face was soaked; she wiped the tears away as best she could. She tried to make her way to the sleeping pony, but a sudden heat enveloped her body.
Oh no.
It was even worse than the first migraine; the pain was no longer blunt, but sharp and focused. It was like hot spikes were being driven into her skull. The high pitched whine blared in her ears. She felt herself falling, she couldn’t see, the whole world was a blur. Her head felt like it was falling apart. Every part of her body cried out in pain, and there was nothing she could do but wait. She pressed her hooves against her head, ran them through her mane. Everything burned.
Finally, gradually, all the unpleasant sensations began to ebb away. When she returned to full awareness she was laying down, still shaking. She fought the urge to retch up what little she had left in her stomach. When she felt well enough to stand, she made her way to Fluttershy. She moved carefully, not making a sound. It was Rainbow’s worst night in recent memory, but that didn’t mean she had to disturb the little pony.
Fluttershy lay on her side, her broken wing up to the air. Rainbow laid down behind her, wrapping her forelegs snuggly around her yellow chest, pressing her muzzle into her pink mane. She needed to feel her, to know she was safe. She breathed in the scent of her body. She was safe, she was alive. All the scorching heat from her head ache left her, exposed to the cool night air. That was quite possibly the worst nightmare she had ever experienced, the vision of that beasts maw clamped on her neck, the way her eyes just... She couldn’t get it out of her head.
She would never let it happen. No matter what, she would never let this pony come to harm. The warmth from Fluttershy’s body soothed Rainbow, and the shivering eventually stopped. It happened again. Water was supposed to help with the migraines but that was much worse than the last one. That could only mean her infected cut was the cause.
She watched the moon drift slowly across the starry sky, and after a couple of minutes she allowed her eyes to close. She wouldn’t tell Fluttershy about what happened, it was a miracle she didn’t wake up anyway. It took so much to get her to calm down, and this would just wind her up again. She opened her eyes. Dash desperately needed some sleep, but she fought it, afraid she might dream again.
She used one hoof to brush some loose strands of Fluttershy’s mane back behind her ear. She wanted to hold her, just lay in her warmth forever. The blue pegasus felt the rise and fall of her love’s chest, and matched her breathing in time. The sleeping pony mumbled quietly, bringing a small smile to Dash's face. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks again. She pressed her lips gently to the head of the sleeping pegasus. The forest remained dark, and Rainbow Dash held her yellow angel in a tight embrace until the sun began to rise.