Chapter 10- Betrayal
After a fruitless search around the south side of town, Rainbow and Shadow headed off towards the library while Dash went back to her house. Rainbow found it difficult to sleep. She kept on looking at the watch. Eleven days left until the end of the world. The concept sounded ridiculous. At least, it would if everypony’s life wasn’t in jeopardy.
Unable to lie there any longer, Rainbow rolled off her cot and went downstairs. The book on Ragnarok was still open on the desk. She took the book and began to read. Throughout the night she learned of many theories on Ragnarok and the world’s end. Ragnarok is portrayed as weapons (such as swords or spears) or an entity like a dragon that required summoning. One thing she realized was that Ragnarok was not really an uncontrollable thing. Ragnarok was simply a tool. But, who would want to bring the world to an end?
She fell asleep at the desk and awoke the next morning more tired than she was last night. Her dreams had been of burning lands and the perpetual darkness of the Void. When Shadow came down, he told her to go upstairs and nap whilst he go searching for the day. Rainbow happily obliged.
A loud knocking awoke Rainbow from her sleep. She sluggishly rose from her cot and half stumbled down the stairs. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and opened the door.
“Hello?” she asked, blinking in the noon light.
Before her stood a yellow unicorn with a green mane and red eyes. Rainbow saw that his cutie mark was a clock. He dipped his head in welcome. “Is this Shadow Flare’s library?” he asked.
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, but he’s not here right now. He’s out and about somewhere. Are you looking for a book?”
He seemed to consider before saying, “Yes, I need a book called Relics and Artifacts.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Okay. I’ll see if he has it.”
She went inside and searched the shelves for the book. She assumed it’d be under some reference shelf. However, she couldn’t find the book anywhere. Maybe Shadow didn’t have it. The unicorn peeked inside and said, “May I?”
“Be my guest,” Rainbow replied flatly.
The yellow stallion stepped in and located the book within a few seconds. He nodded and made his way to the exit.
“Wait!” said Rainbow. The unicorn stopped in the doorway and looked back. “Who should I tell Shadow borrowed the book?”
“Chrono,” he said and left, closing the door behind him.
“Chrono, huh?” she said to herself. “The name sounds like something I’ve heard before.” She had no idea why the name struck like that. Maybe it was because she usually recognized the words in a pony’s name, with a couple exceptions.
Rainbow located an enormous dictionary, and flipped through the C’s until she found Chronos, the closest thing to Chrono.
Chronos- n. (origin: Latin) the Greek word for time.
Rainbow was now a tad bit suspicious. It just seemed too coincidental that somepony with ‘time’ written all over him would show up in this time paradox of her own. Either that or she was extremely paranoid. Reluctantly, she admitted that the latter was more likely. She just had to get her mind off time travel and the end of the world for a while. Instinctively, she made her way to the Daring-Do books. She was surprised to find at least twenty new books in the series. This’d keep her occupied for a while. She grabbed a few of the books and took them to her cot.
A few hours passed and she was halfway through the book when the door opened downstairs. She got up and peered over the edge of the balcony to the main room below. Dash was down there searching through the shelves. She obviously didn’t find what she was looking for because she turned around and gave a snort.
The door opened once more and another pony stepped in. It was Chrono. Rainbow resisted the urge to lean in closer to get a better view. But she couldn’t risk being seen. “Who are you?” Dash asked.
“I’m Chrono,” he said, seemingly not surprised that this Rainbow Dash didn’t recognize him. That made Rainbow a bit worried.
Dash shook her head. “Never heard of you. You new here? Has Pinkie Pie thrown you a welcome party yet?”
“Listen. I know you have a problem. And I am here to help you,” he said in a way that made one think of a snake.
“I don’t have a problem! What makes you think that? You don’t even know me!” Dash threw back.
“Oh, I beg to differ,” said the yellow unicorn, “I know you very well indeed.”
“Really? How?” Dash asked. Rainbow was curious, too.
“It matters not how,” he said mischievously. “I came for you. Now, I know you want Rainbow gone.”
“What! I don’t want Rainbow gone! She’s just like me! And how do you even know about her?”
“Come on. There’s only room for one Rainbow Dash here. Am I right? What if she begins to best you at everything? What if your friends begin to like her more than you? Even if you left, they wouldn’t even miss you because they have a different, better you.”
“That’s a lie! My friends would never replace me!”
“Really? What about Shadow Flare? I know how much you care for him. But now he hardly ever sees you because of how busy he is with the Past Rainbow Dash.”
Dash looked down at her hooves. Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Why was Chrono trying to turn Dash against her? She should stop it, but she couldn’t give herself away now.
“What do you suppose I do?” Dash asked.
“Prove yourself. If you show how powerful you can be, others will certainly be drawn to you. Make your mark on the world. But, you have to keep her from going back.”
“What?” asked Dash, a bit confused. “I thought that was the goal.”
“If you have more opportunities to make yourself look better, you will gain in popularity. You may become more sensational than even the Wonderbolts.”
“More sensational than… the Wonderbolts?” she asked.
“Yes! I can help you. And together we will send you to the top!” said Chrono.
Dash looked the yellow unicorn up and down, “What exactly are you getting out of this?”
“Let’s just say I have a few days to pass until I have to leave. Anyways, I’ll meet you at your house tomorrow. We can begin discussing plans.”
Rainbow inched back until she was at her cot again. What was going on? Why was Chrono trying to turn Dash against her? What was Chrono planning?