Chapter 14- The Dark Side of the Rainbow
Rainbow and Dash plummeted from the sky. Dash had her hooves wrapped around Rainbow’s neck, cutting her breath. She struggled in vain to free herself of the black pegasus’ grasp, but the lack of oxygen was draining her strength.
The two pegasi slammed into the ground, Dash landing on Rainbow, driving whatever air was left in her lungs out. Dash scrambled to her hooves. Rainbow took the moment’s delay to take a breath. Dash kicked Rainbow in the face with her hind hooves.
Stars danced in Rainbow’s vision as she landed on her back. She was on the verge of tears. She had never been so relentlessly tortured. Rainbow was so weak from the attacks, she couldn’t defend herself. Her very body shook from the shock of it all.
Dash loomed over her and slammed her hooves into Rainbow’s ribs and stood there with all her weight. Her ribs were cracking under the pressure. She clenched her eyes shut as the tears began to stream down her face.
“Please… stop,” she whimpered weakly. Rain began to spatter around her as if the sky was crying with her.
Dash brought her face down near Rainbow’s. Her red eyes sparked with rage.
“In a mere four days, you have taken everything from me. Because of you, my friends despise me. Everyone I knew thinks you are better. I am supposed to represent loyalty! But what’s the point if no one is loyal to you? Why bother? Chrono was right about my friends. They replaced me with you! But he was wrong about letting you stay here. If I can’t have my friends, you can’t either. In either time!”
Dash raised her hoof in preparation to break Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow knew that she was at her limit. One last blow would be the end of her. The tears now flowed freely down her face. She should’ve accepted Shadow’s offer. No, she should’ve listened to Twilight. If she had just gotten rid of the stone, she wouldn’t even have dreamed of this. Now, she was going to die because of her mistake.
“Stop!” a stallion’s voice called through the rain.
Dash halted. Rainbow tried to breathe a sigh of relief, but Dash’s weight was still crushing her. Had Shadow followed her anyways? Happiness swelled in her heart.
“What are you doing here?” Dash spat.
“To stop you from ruining everything. If you kill her, her spirit will return to her time and our time will resume its normal flow. If that happens, what will become of our master plan?”
Rainbow’s relief quickly fled. That was not Shadow. She didn’t even need to guess who it was. Who else could it be?
“Fine,” Dash grunted and stepped off of her foe. Rainbow instantly inhaled massive gulps of air. When she recovered, she climbed unsteadily to her hooves. Rainbow faced the newcomer. Sure enough, wearing a metal helm and a gold watch around his neck, it was Chrono. He gazed at her with his red gaze.
“Come on,” he said to Dash, “Let’s go. You’ll have all the time in the world to get revenge after I’m done with her.”
Dash didn’t reply, but instead cast a loathing glare at Rainbow. “Your day is coming,” she promised. Chrono cast a teleportation spell and then Rainbow was alone.
The bloodied pegasus didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t move, she could hardly breathe, and she couldn’t think straight. So, she lied down, dimly aware of the rain pouring around her.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. Rainbow wasn’t even sure who she was sorry to. Twilight? Shadow? Maybe even Dash. All she knew for sure was that there was nothing she could do to change her mistakes. For what felt like the millionth time she felt tears welling in her eyes. At least the rain would cover them this time. She closed her eyes and drifted into sleep’s cold, yet gentle embrace.