Chapter 1: The Nightmare
Rainbow Dash was in absolute misery as she laid on the cloud that matched her mood thanks to a few stray wisps of her pegasus magic charging it with thunder and rain. She wanted to cry. She wanted to shout. She wanted to smash something!
“All anypony talks about is Mare Do Well this and Mare Do Well that!” she grumbled before looking over the side of her cloud and seeing three fillies playing in the grass below with that hated costume. It irked the Pegasus to no end that Rarity was actually making those things for the kids to play in. She was probably making a killing from the sales.
It also brought back the memories of her friends from the previous few days. Even they had been gushing over the town’s new hero.
“Gotta hand it to the girl, that Mare Do Well can pull off some pretty amazing feats,” Applejack’s voice resounded in her memory.
“Like everything I’ve done wasn’t?” Dash mumbled.
“I was really impressed with that spell she used to fix the dam, seems like something like would take quite a bit of study,” the memory of Twilight said.
“Yeah, and the strength and speed I worked for my whole life for means nothing to you,” Rainbow grumbled. “But of course, you only care about something you can gain sitting around on your plot with your muzzle in a book.”
“She really cares about everypony’s safety,” Fluttershy said inside Dash’s head; in truth, her oldest friend’s abandonment hurt worst of all.
“And I don’t?” the Rainbow mare grumbled. “How many times did I stick up for you in school! In town? Twilight drags you up a mountain to face a bucking dragon and I’m tossed aside for trying to leave you at home where its safe?”
“Have you seen her costume? If you ask me, she’s a hero in fashion,” Rarity’s voice echoed in Dash’s head.
The pegasus grit her teeth. “A hero to you, you bit-loving mule,” Rainbow grumbled.
“And she’s modest and humble, she let’s her actions speak for themselves,” Applejack’s voice continued before the memory sifted to all her friends laughing at her.
Correction my former friends, the pegasus thought to herself.
“Rainbow Dash, hey Rainbow Dash!”
The sound of her number one fan drew the pegasus’s attention, and she looked down at the orange filly standing on the ground. A second later, Rainbow joined her on terra firma and patted the kid’s head. “Hey Scoots, what’s going on?”
“We’re heading off to the thank-you parade for Ponyville’s greatest hero, Mare Do Well!”
“Modest and humble and she gets a BUCKING PARADE,” the chromatic pegasus shouted before she glared at the orange filly. “Scootaloo, the next time you want tips on how to fly, go ask your precious Mare Do Well cause we’re through.”
After telling off her former fan, Rainbow Dash took to the air and looked at the large platform with the heroine’s face painted on the front in what had to be Pinkie Pie’s artwork, constituting in the last betrayal from the last of her former friends. And why am I not surprised.
For a moment she thought about flying over there and unmasking Mare Do Well, but…if she did, then what would that prove? Sure, Rainbow Dash would finally know the pony who had set out to ruin her life but…then what? So what if they knew who the phony actually was, that would just lead to the town being more thankful.
“Fine Ponyville, you want that hero, you can have her,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “I’m through with all of you.” A mare as awesome as Dash could find weather work in a town of her choosing. She didn’t need a bunch of sycophants who had the attention span of goldfish.
She didn’t need friends who laughed at her.
She DIDN'T NEED ANYPONY!
With a flap of her wings, the blue pegasus sped off in a prismatic blur, her letter of resignation to the Ponyville Weather Team already being drafted in her head.
Fluttershy sat in the booth she usually shared Sugarcube Corner, her closest friends minus one. Instead, the other member of their lesson conspiracy sat with them. For some reason, it just felt so wrong to see the other mare there, sitting beside her in what was once Rainbow Dash’s seat. But there she was, the mayor of Ponyville in all her glory.
Without her help, none of what they had planned could have been accomplished. She had been the one to name Mare Do Well in public, insure the local law enforcement stayed away from vigilante activities, and set up the parade.
Thanks to the mayor’s authority, the building was completely emptied of customers and the Cakes were off doing…whatever married couples did on a walk through Ponyville, Fluttershy really didn’t know, or want to. Everything she could think of brought a blush to her cheeks.
“Well I must say that was certainly exciting, and good for town morale,” the mayor told them. “When you approached me with this whole Mare Do Well idea Ms Sparkle, I thought it was a little…alright quite insane, but I can see that it is certainly fulfilling it’s purpose.”
Twilight Sparkle nodded. “Yes, thank you for your help Mayor Mare. And don’t worry, it should only take a few more days, then we can hang this Mare Do Well thing up for good.”
The mayor tilted her head in confusion. “Why would you do that?”
“Oh, well by then Rainbow Dash should have learned her lesson,” Twilight explained.
And I for one will be glad to just put this all behind us, Fluttershy thought to herself. Everypony said Dash needed this, but…Fluttershy was finding those words ringing more and more hollow every time she thought of their last encounter in the very building they were in.
If anything, the mayor’s confusion only increased. “Rainbow Dash? What does this have to do with her?”
“We’re just trying to teach her a little lesson in humility mayor,” Applejack explained.
The mayor quirked an eyebrow. “By…wait, I’m afraid I’m not following your logic, I thought Rainbow Dash was in on this. She is one of your friends after all.”
Rarity’s eyebrow quirked, “You thought Rainbow Dash was co-operating with us? How… Why ever would you think that dear? Just what did you think we were doing?”
“I thought this whole mess of stunts was to drum up business for the town and gain tax revenue!” the mayor said. “Rainbow Dash’s heroics doubled the sales of every vendor who made merchandise for her, and since sales were dipping, I thought you ponies invented this Mare Do Well in order to take all the attention off Rainbow so she could get back to living her life. What the buck were you really doing?!”
The five Bearers traded looks before all of them looked to Twilight Sparkle, who was left to answer. “Well, she wasn’t acting like a hero, so-”
“But she is a hero,” the mayor interrupted. “You all saved the world twice now. Not to mention all the other things she’s done in the past few weeks. How can she not be acting like herself?”
Applejack interrupted. “Yeah, but she wouldn’t be quiet about it, so we thought we’d knock her down a few pegs.”
The farm pony’s comment drew Fluttershy’s attention. “ What do you mean knock her down? I thought we were trying to provide Rainbow with an example to follow.”
“What?” Applejack asked back. “Look Fluttershy, you know how that girl is. She was being insufferable and needed to be taught a lesson.”
The mayor held up her foreleg. “Excuse me, but…what do you mean by that?”
Applejack sighed and turned her attention to the mayor. “Rainbow was being insufferable over all them heroics for a bit long-”
“Long?” the mayor asked, some annoyance creeping into her voice. “What do you mean long?”
“Well you know, she did a few good things around town, but she was kinda milking the attention for a week after everything was done and it was getting a bit of a pain in the patootie,” Applejack began to explain. “So we all got together than cooked up Mare Do Well to take all the attention away from Rainbow.”
Fluttershy looked at the farm pony sideways with a frown to avoid their gazes meeting. “And give an example to her about how a hero should behave, right?”
“R-Right,” Twilight agreed hesitantly.
The mayor’s face darkened. “Are you telling me you stabbed your friend in the back, purposely sought to undermine her popularity, while building up your own through connections to me because you thought all the attention she was getting was ANNOYING YOU?”
Applejack frowned at the mayor. “Hey now it ain’t like that.”
“Then tell us how it is Applejack,” Fluttershy said, not nearly as soft as she usually was.
“Look, all she did was save a couple of folks. Hay! I did that to them tourists!” Applejack exclaimed. “It ain’t nothing for ponies to be getting all-”
“I’ll admit that the foal who fell down the well isn’t that much of a rescue,” the mayor interrupted. “But I please tell me how many days of getting a pat on the back a baby’s life is worth, how much gratitude should the children and grandchildren of those elderly ponies Rainbow saved should have.” She reared up and placed her hooves on the table to glare at the orange pony sitting across from her. “Please tell me how grateful I should be for Rainbow Dash saving the life of my aunt!”
Twilight cleared her throat to get everypony’s attention. “Look mayor-”
The older mare turned to look at the purple unicorn. “No! You look Ms Sparkle! I don’t know what you think you were doing. But what I think is that five very petty mares got tired of seeing their friend in the limelight, and decided to do something about it by doing their best to hurt her!”
“Okay, I may admit that we might have gotten a bit out of hand,” Twilight said. “But Rainbow Dash needed a lesson in humility. Remember what happened when Trixie came to town? If it wasn’t for her, then the Ursa Minor would have never endangered everypony.”
Mayor Mare frowned. “I was under the assumption that two young colts were to blame for that incident, and they were given two months of community service for their actions. How was she responsible?”
“She told them colts about it!” Applejack declared. “If it wasn’t for her being all bigheaded, then nothing would have happened.”
Pinkie Pie raised a hoof, finally joining the conversation. “Um…excuse me but…I’m lost everypony. Why are we doing this again?”
“To teach Rainbow a lesson,” Twilight explained simply.
“What lesson?” the pink pony asked.
“That heroes are humble,” Applejack told her. “They don’t need thanks.”
“You mean thanks, like a town sponsored parade you all had a hand in setting up for yourselves?” the mayor asked.
“And why are heroes supposed to be humble?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Pinkie, look at us. We’re heroes and we’re humble.”
It was then that Pinkie dove into the conversation. “Um…I’m not. I’m the best party pony in town, and I make sure everypony knows it.”
“Ummm...neither am I for that matter,” Rarity added with a frown as she looked down at the table. “Does this mean you’re going to drive me out of business next, darlings?”
Twilight’s muzzle bent in a confused frown and she looked over to Rarity. “I…what?” she asked. “Rarity, would you start talking sense? And why are you taking Pinkie’s side now?”
“I think I’m talking sense for the first time in several days,” she muttered before she shifted her gaze between Twilight and Applejack. “And when Pinkie Pie starts beating Twilight Sparkle in a logical argument, I think it’s time to start listening to her side! Now to rephrase an earlier question, I want to know why you two talked me into helping you undermine Rainbow’s image because she decided to act a little differently that the two of you!”
Pinkie leaned forward with a frown. “Was it because she was annoying you? Because if it was then…I better start looking out for an apple party pony trying to ruin me and...and…oh Dashie, what have I done?” the pony said as she became noticeably less pink and poofy.
“Hey now hold on just a darn minute Pinkie, you saved that balloonist when Dash missed her, not to mention that construction crew, and I saved them tourists, and Twilight saved the whole town!” Applejack exclaimed. “Mare Do Well did a lot of good!”
Surprisingly, it was Twilight who responded to Applejack. “But…umm, the correlation between our actions as Mare Do Well and our purpose for those actions isn’t part of this argument,” she said. “We made the costumes before the balloon happened after all.”
Then she looked over to Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity. “I just…I…I wanted a reaffirmation of my own views because…her heroic archetype didn’t correspond to the viewpoint I had,” she looked down at the table with wide eyes. “Sweet Celestia, when I actually say it out loud…”
“Would someone please translate that into normal Equine?” the mayor asked.
“Twilight was mean to Dashie because Dashie enjoyed getting patted on the back for doing good deeds,” Pinkie explained simply.
Suddenly alone in her argument, Applejack looked at the other ponies, who turned their attentions towards her. “Hey now wait a cotton-picking minute here! Don’t ya’ll be standing like a bunch of high horses, looking down on me! Rainbow had it coming!”
“Because she was different than you?” Rarity asked as she stepped away from the table and frowned at the farm pony. “Like I am? I thought we were able to get past things like that Applejack.”
Applejack shot a glare at Rarity. “This ain’t about your stupid frou-frou-ness Rarity!”
The white unicorn frowned. “And now the thing I’ve built my life around is stupid again,” she said before heading towards the door. Before leaving, she turned back and glared at the farmer. “You know, I find it quite ironic that it turns out the Element of Honesty is the one we can trust the least not to stab us in the back.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go rip the stitching out of several yards of purple fabric and write a letter to Princess Celestia explaining what I feels like when you betray a friend.”
Applejack practically seethed at the comment. “Rarity! Get your prissy plot back here and-hey! Let go of me Twilight!”
“Why? So you can take this outside, and let the whole town see us like this?” the unicorn asked absently before she looked up. “I…I think we need to all go cool off.”
Fluttershy looked over to Twilight. “What about Rainbow Dash?”
The unicorn thought for a moment. “Has anypony even seen her today?”
“I did,” the farm pony grumbled. “She was just pouting on one of her stupid thunderclouds.”
The mayor frowned. “Thundercloud? There’s no rain scheduled for today,” she mumbled.
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. “But that mean’s she…she made a thundercloud?” the pegasus asked in a slightly panicky voice. “Oh…oh no. She…are you sure?” From the way her head was darting back and forth, neither pony knew who she was asking.
“Yes,” both the farmer and the mayor said at the same time.
Next to Fluttershy, Pinkie’s main deflated fully and she hung her head. “Dashie made it herself, didn’t she?”
The last unicorn at the table raised an eyebrow. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong? What do you mean Rainbow made a thundercloud herself? What’s so special about that? Pegasi make weather all the time.”
Fluttershy stared at Twilight for a few minutes, then shook her head. “No its…forget about it. Just…I’m going home.”
“What?” Twilight asked. “I…I don’t understand. What’s going on? What‘s so important that Rainbow Dash made a thundercloud?”
“It means your stupid plan worked,” Pinkie told them. “Now get the buck outta my house. I’ve got to plan a sorry party to cheer Dashie up, and ask for her forgiveness at the same time. Ones like that are always tricky.”
“Pinkie Pie-”
“That’s what my friends call me,” the pink pony told Twilight, “and if you want to keep doing that. You’ll go to Dashe’s house tomorrow with me to explain everything before we get down on our knees and beg her not to hate us for what we did!”
Rainbow Dash dreamed, or as close as what you can call dreaming when one was enveloped by a nightmare. It was a strange nightmare, different from the others. Her usual ones involved being laid on the ground with broken wings, although in the recent weeks a few of those switched to Discord simply taking them from her in the hedge maze and never giving them back.
But this time she could fly just fine. She could do all forms of acrobatics, death defying feats, close call saves, and even a Double Rainboom. But no matter what she did, nopony in town would look her way, they all had eyes for a stage in the center of town. It was the stage where Mare Do Well stood.
She hated that stage, and the pony who stood upon it.
But what drew her full ire was the five ponies who stood around her, the other Elements of Harmony. The mayor was making some speech that Rainbow did care to listen to, and then Twilight Sparkle held up a medal to pin to the costumed super heroine’s chest. It was a red jewel shaped like a lightning bolt.
It was the Element of Loyalty.
Well why not? Rainbow asked herself. You guys are already drooling all over yourselves for Mare Do Well. Laughing at me! Just go ahead and replace me with her then! YOU TRAITORS!
“My, such anger, such rage. It’s no wonder I could hear you from the depths of the forest.”
Rainbow Dash gulped and looked around wildly for the voice before something she’d heard Twilight talking about a few times before came to mind. “Wait…is that you, Princess Luna?”
She had remembered Twilight telling her once about how Princess Luna was supposed to go into the mind of sleeping ponies and help with their nightmares.
“Luna? Oh no my little pony. Luna was merely the skin I wore for a time. I am not she who summons the moon and stars. I am darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night. I am the Lord of Nightmares, I am what brings fear into the minds of all those who exist.”
A shudder passed through Rainbow’s body as it downed on her just what she was speaking to. “ Y-You’re the Nightmare thing we beat in the Everfree Forest when Luna first came back? But that‘s impossible! We beat you!”
“And here I thought you’d be slower on the uptake,” the golden voice told her before the darkness seemed to take a form. It still surrounded Rainbow, but she could just barely make out what looked like an outline of a pony. “And yes, I am what the sisters referred to as, the Nightmare. And you cannot beat me Rainbow Dash, like Chaos and Harmony, I am one of the forces that drive creation. To remove me from existence would be like removing a part of the soul of every pony. I have always been, and so I shall always be.”
Rainbow Dash found herself slowly backing away from the creature, but no matter how she moved, the pony of darkness was always in front of her. “W-What’re you doing here?”
“Why, answering your call of course,” it replied.
“What?” Rainbow whispered.
“Your dream. Your loneness and despair, your rage…it called out to me. So here I am.”
“Hey! I’m not lonely!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “I got plenty of friends!”
“You mean all those ponies who turned away from you when this Mare Do Well appeared? Even the little orange one abandoned you from what I can see. Oh, you mean Twilight and her friends! The friends that mocked you, the ones that embarrassed you, the ponies that told you not to brag while…well, do you need to be reminded of all the times they shouted their own praises? Awards? Fashion shows? And let’s not forget the super party pony Pinkie Pie. Why do they get to sing their praises, and not you?”
“I…” Rainbow grit her teeth and shook her head. “Fine! They made a mistake! And yeah I’m angry about it! But you know what? FRIENDS FORGIVE EACHOTHER!”
For a moment it seemed as if the darkness recoiled at Dash’s voice, but it was back a moment later with a voice that Dash could almost hear smiling. “Forgiveness? They toss you away like trash, and you forgive them.”
“Yes!”
“And what happens the next time they decide to step on you?”
The question gave Rainbow Dash pause. “What?”
“Look at them,” the voice told her before the image of her friends appeared. They were smiling and laughing like they had been earlier that day when Dash walked into Sugar Cube Corner. Twilight invited her over, and Dash went and sat. “No regret, no remorse. Did they even care they hurt you?”
“Well-”
“Did they even know?”
Rainbow shook her head quickly, trying to clear away the doubts starting to cloud her mind. “I… That’s cause I just didn’t tell them!”
“But shouldn’t they have known without that?” the voice accused. “Isn’t that what friends are supposed to do? Understand each other? Feel pain for one another? They just laugh and go on, not even a glance for your pain, nor an apology, or a single word.”
Rainbow gulped. She tried to deny it but… How many times had she seen Fluttershy in trouble over the years and needed to coax what was wrong out of her? How many times did some other pony in pain not admitting her problem stop Dash or one of the others from offering help like with AJ’s apple harvest?
Rainbow Dash looked back to the image of her friends laughing and talking, and Rarity going on about her upcoming trip to Canterlot for some fashion thing. A newspaper on the table caught the projected Dash’s attention, and she read the small article about Mare Do Well before becoming depressed while everyone else just went on smiling.
Unable to take it anymore, Rainbow turned away from the image before it could continue. “Why’re you here?”
“To grant the thing you desire of course.”
“…You’re going to make me a Wonderbolt?” Dash asked with a skeptical eyebrow raised.
“Oh come Rainbow Dash, we both know that’s impossible now. Look at what they’ve done to you. Look at the image. The Wonderbolts are heroes with spotless records. They’ll never let a pony like you join their ranks. Not after the fool that this Mare Do Well turned you into.”
“THAT’S NOT-” Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and cut herself off, unable to finish the sentence. She wanted to say it wasn't true but...that was exactly what happened.
“Yes?” it asked.
Rainbow found herself shaking as she looked at the ground. Who was she kidding? The Ponyville Gazette had already run a piece on Mare Do Well and how she was the greatest hero ever, ending it with a question about Rainbow Dash and what had happened to her.
The thoughts made her grit her teeth in anger. Then there was Scootaloo…
“I don’t think you need to worry about that anymore, she’s into Mare Do Well now. And the rest of your friends…well, can you even call them that? Were you ever friends in the first place? They abandoned you so easily.”
Rainbow shrunk in on herself. “I…”
“Did they ever really care about you?”
“Fluttershy,” Dash whispered to the darkness.
“The one who used you for protection? Doesn’t she sing Mare Do Well’s praises now?”
“…why are you doing this?” she whined as the truth hit her like a hammer.
“Because you called to me. Because you were alone, and asked for my help.”
“What help?” the blue pegasus asked.
“To grant you your greatest desire. You want to be a hero, I can make it so.”
A small spark of hope ignited in Rainbow Dash’s mind. “How?”
“Power. I can change things so not even Princess Celestia will be able to compare to you.”
The thought struck a cord with the blue pegasus. “I…” Being as powerful as Celestia? The thought was more than just a little appealing. “That’d be pretty cool.”
"And some little pony in a costume…well, she would be nothing to you. And as for your friends…”
Images flashed through Rainbow Dash’s mind: Applejack loosing her farm, Rarity’s boutique in flames, all of Twilight’s books being shredded. She saw them all being depressed and crying like she had almost been just two days ago.
“I…no…I can’t hurt my friends like that!” Rainbow shouted.
“But they aren’t really your friends, are they?”
“I…”
The voice sighed. “Very well. If that is your wish, you can remain a nopony, constantly being used and abused as she pushes clouds around for the rest of her life while pathetically begging for attention and pity in the guise of friendship.”
Rainbow Dash felt the presence begin to withdraw from the dream as she looked down at herself.
Pathetic? Was that what she was? She had always tried to be cool and awesome, a pony other ponies cold look up to: a hero. For awhile, she had been that. For a long while. Ponyville had been her town, and she had always done amazing stuff. Twilight and the others came along, and they got the Elements of Harmony.
Then, she was regulated to second behind Twilight, the hero. But Dash was willing to go along with it. She had more friends before than she ever did, real friends that did more than just want a few autographs.
Then came Mare Do Well and everything changed. Everypony just forgot about her in favor of the new hero. Even her friends laughed at her.
Correction: her former friends.
“Hey look…”
Rainbow Dash looked up at the images of her friends in the darkness, all of them. She looked at the image of Sugar Cube Corner where she sat in depression while they laughed and smiled, she looked at the images of her friends that showed them in various states of distress, and then she turned her attention to a new image that was simply her five former friends looking at her; looking down at her. Just like they always did…and always would.
“You’ve got a deal.”
Although it possessed no form, Dash could swear she felt the departing darkness turn and face her. “I will say this now. This will not be like my time with Luna. I shall not make that mistake again. You enter into this pact of your own free will and we shall share in all things. Do you accept me into you?”
“Yes,” Rainbow Dash told the Nightmare before she felt the words enter her mind. “Now become one with my mind, become one with my body and let us walk upon the path towards the future together!”
In the waking world, Rainbow Dash awoke with a scream. She felt her bones break, her muscles tear, her wings extend, and her head split. Her legs extended and her body increased in size. The wings on her back became longer and were covered by larger feathers. Her mane and tail grew before busting into a configuration of multicolored fire while the sky blue color of her fur changed to that of an empty sky at night.
But the physical additions paled in comparison to those of the mind. The Nightmare was old, older than Celestia and Luna, older than the nation of Equestria. It was the avatar of the Void, as Discord was of Chaos and the Elements were of Harmony; brought into existence when creation split itself from oblivion at the dawn of time.
It was Fear.
It was the Black.
It was the End.
It was Death.
Rainbow Dash panted as fourteen billion years worth of knowledge and information filled her mind. Her new form, black as night with a burning rainbow main and of equal size with Celestia herself filled the bed as she found her head leaning over the cloud mattress and onto the floor.
Rainbow Dash?
Was that who she was?
“Yes,” the dark pegasus spoke to the empty room before getting to her hooves. “That’s my name.” For some reason, the voice sounded wrong, deeper than what she was used to.
And the name, it seemed…less than what they were.
They needed to choose a new name.
Rainbow shook the thoughts from her head. “No. I’m Rainbow Dash. The greatest…” she stopped and shook her head before she looked over to the setting sun. “Well, guess I’ll figure that out tonight huh? So we going to go pound Mare Do Well? Rip off her mask and show everypony how much a phony she is?”
“This is our first task.”
Rainbow Dash blinked at the involuntary movement of her mouth, then shook her head when the image entered her mind. “Oh that’s…umm…okay I can see how taking him out might make us look cool and all, but…Discord’s a statue. Taking him down when he’s just a hunk of rock is capital L Lame.”
“I have done all I can to enhance your body on my own, weakened as I am. We require his magic”
Rainbow Dash flinched. “Wait, you we’re going to break him out and ask for his help? That’s even worse than kicking him while he’s down!”
“No We shall devour him. We shall take his power and in one stoke, secure guaranteed victory against all who would try to challenge us while removing the greatest threat Equestria has ever faced for all of time. After all, if the creature broke out once, what’s to stop him from doing it again? Will there be anypony around to stop him next time?”
Rainbow Dash blinked as the full explanation of what that meant floated across her mind. “Oh…well…you might have a point there,” Rainbow muttered to herself…or the Nightmare really.
Taking out Discord as he was certainly seemed like a dick move, but…Rainbow could see the wisdom in it. With Chaos out of the way, the powers of Existence would be down to just Harmony, while the Void was still whole. With Discord gone, nothing could hope to stand against them.
“Okay then…let’s go kill an avatar.”