//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Rainbow Dark // Story: The Rainbow (Dash) of Darkness // by Matthais Unidostres //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Rainbow Dark Ahuizotl stood with the cracking dome in front of him. His tail hand pressed down on Daring Do's back, holding her down to the ground. She bit her limp as she looked over at her broken wing. "I hate you so much right now," she hissed. "The feeling is mutual my dear," Ahuizotl said smoothly, "But don't you worry. In a few more moments, when I gain control of the Rainbow of Darkness, you feel pain that will you make your broken wing look like nothing!" Daring Do looked around at the grinning and hissing cats, her mind working fast as she looked for a way out. As she scanned the area, she noticed the carved writing on the wall behind the empty pedestals. Inspite of her imminent peril, the curiosity and desire for knowledge in her heart caused her to nonchalantly stretch out one of her legs. She made a specific motion with her hoof, and out of sleeve slid a tiny tube shaped camera. It took her weeks of practice to learn how to use the small gadget under pressure. The tiny precise movements needed to operate the device weren't easy to master. She pointed it at the writing, and with three deft twitches, took three quick pictures of it. Ahuizotl's eyes were focused on the cracking dome as more grey light shot out of the cracks. Scopan's Seal of Starswirl was only moments from collapsing. "I AM VICTORIOUS! AH-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!" Ahuizotl declared victoriously. Suddenly a rainbow colored blur zoomed it and uppercutted Ahuizotl in the jaw, tossing him into the far wall. Daring Do looked up in amazement at the dazzling mare above her. "Rainbow Dash?" she gasped in disbelief. The super power mare winked at her hero and landed next to her. "Don't worry, Daring. We'll have that wing fixed for you before long." "We?" Daring asked. Dash smiled and nodded to the entrance. Daring looked to see the rest of the Mane six fly in. Ahuizotl got up and angrily and looked at the intruders. "Who dares!?" he shouted, but then his eyes widened in shock. "You six!? GAH! GET THEM!" Ahuizotl's cats lept at the Mane six, but they were all caught in blue and golden magic in mid-pounce. Celestia and Luna stepped into the chamber. "You will not interfere, foul creature," Luna declared. The alicorn tossed all the cats behind them, out the door, and down the stone hallway. Ahuizotl ground his teeth, "Why you-? Arrrrrrgh!" He balled his tail hand into a fist and brought it down onto the crumbling barrier. The steady collapse, brought on by the dark magic that started it all, was pushed over the edge by the hate driven blow. Ahuizotl was actually knocked back by the huge burst of grey light that surged out of the uncovered hole. "Oh no! We're too late!" Twilight exclaimed as Spike suddenly abandoned pony and ran to hide behind Celestia and Luna. "Ugh! That color is dreadful!" Rarity exclaimed. "Priorities, Rarity!" Applejack remarked. Out of the hole rose the small, pulsating pouch. It looked like a vile, black heart of darkness. Dark energy seeped out of the cloth and surrounded it in a black aura. "AH-HA-HA-HA-HAAA!" Ahuizotl laughed, "You see!? You have no power over me Princesses! And now. . ." Ahuizotl pointed at the ponies, "DESTROY THEM!" Fluttershy shrank back a little and turned to the elder Princesses, "Is it really more powerful than us? Is there nothing we can do?" Celestia pointed urgently and shouted, "NO! Do not give up! Do not loose hope! It may still be weak from it's imprisonment! You must try to recreate Scorpan's Seal of Starswirl! You still have time! Do it now!" "YES! DO IT NOW! MAKE HASTE AND SEAL THE RAINBOW OF DARKNESS AWAY!" Luna shouted in her Royal Canterlot Voice. "Hurry! Everypony!" Twilight shouted as she flew forward towards the Rainbow of Darkness. Rainbow Dash placed a lighting bolt marked hoof on Daring Do's shoulder. "This one's for you, Daring!" she said right before she flew off to the fight. "You can do it. . . .YOU CAN DO IT!" Daring Do shouted strongly. The Mane six were in a circle around the Rainbow of Darkness, and were all pumping their Rainbow Power onto it. "Not so fast!" Ahuizotl shouted as he ran towards the nearest pony, which happened to be Applejack. The orange Earth Pony gave a mighty buck, catching the creature in the stomach and tossing him back into the wall. Luna teleported in front of him and held him down with her magic. "I've dealt with far more than you," Luna said contemptuously. Ahuizotl gnashed his teeth as he looked at the battle between Harmony and Darkness that was occurring a few feet away from him. "Hang on, girls! Just a little more!" Twilight shouted as the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony fired their respective color at the pulsating bag in an attempt to push back down into the abyss from which it rose. "Grrr. The Rainbow of Darkness cannot be defeated so easily! Blow them away NOW!" Ahuizotl shouted, as if cheering the Rainbow of Darkness on. Suddenly, the bag containing the dark power disintegrated, and a swirling whirlwind of six shades of grey light whipped around beneath the Rainbow Power beams. "Don't let up! Don't give it a single chance! Don't stop! We can beat this thing!" Twilight shouted. "We will not loose today!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "We'll lock this thing up tighter than a jar of Zap Apple Jam!" Applejack shouted. "We'll destroy this drab crime against fabulousity!" Rarity shouted. "I won't give up!" Fluttershy said assuredly. "We won't loose! Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. The entire chamber shook violently as the swirling Rainbow of Darkness was slowly pushed back down into it's hole, shrinking all the while. Cracks began to form in the ground, and they were headed towards where Ahuizotl lay. "No way! The Rainbow of Darkness. . ." Ahuizotl gasped as he watched in disbelief as the Mane six were slowly triumphing against the dark power. "NO! It cannot be!" He reached out and shouted, "Break through them! Break through! Strike with your dark violation! Smash through at one point with your will of darkness! Throw everything you have at just one of them! You must hear me! Wha-?" the floor beneath him crumbled away, and he fell down along with the stone rubble. "AAAAHHHHHH!" Luna watched him fall. At this moment, something very strange happened with the Rainbow of Darkness. It stopped swirling about, and gathered itself together in a dark sphere. It spun around fast, like a fast moving satellite, and then fired an intense beam straight at Rainbow Dash. The beam overpowered her own, and slammed right into her chest. The force of the attack knocked all of the breath out of the mare, and tossed her away from the group and onto the ground a few feet away, knocking her back to her normal form. Everypony gasped in shock as they also suddenly and abruptly returned to their normal forms, and silence suddenly filled the chamber. "RAINBOW DASH!" they all shouted in worry as they ran over to the down pegasus. To their surprise, Daring Do was the first pony to reach Dash. She put a hoof to Dash's neck and felt her pulse. She then nuzzled the younger mare furiously and desperately, "No, no, no, no, no. Come on, Dash. Come on, Rainbow Dash. You're tougher than that! You're tougher than that! Do you hear me!? Wake up! WAKE UP!" Rainbow Dash gave a few dry sounding coughs and wheezed a bit as she slowly sat up on her haunches. "Oh man. . .what happened?" Daring Do hugged Rainbow Dash tightly. "Don't scare me like that!" she warned, and she nuzzled her in a manner similar to the way she had down after their whole "Ring of Destiny" adventure. Dash smiled warmly and said, "Heh, don't sweat it. It takes more than that to take me down. I'm a lot like you, Daring. I'm unquestionably, undoubtedly, unstoppable!" "And that is exactly why I chose you, Element of Loyalty." The sudden arrival of the cold, harsh voice jolted everypony to attention. "Show yourself!" Celestia demanded. CRASH! Something big and shadowy smashed into the ground in front of Celestia, cracking the ground and knocking the alicorn back onto her back. The interloper landed on all four hooves and shook her grayscale tail out as she stepped in place rapidly. "Ahh. . ." The group all stared in disbelief as the pony opened her deep purple eyes. Her eyes were wide and unnatural, and they had black slits for pupils. In addition, her teeth were pointed, razor sharp, and jagged. But none of that struck them as hard as the obvious clearly fact. She looked just like Rainbow Dash. Her coat was the same blue color, she was the exact same size and shape, and she even had the exact same Cutie Mark. Her mane was identical as well, except for the fact that all of the colors were gone. Not even Discord's corruption could completely drain that mane of it's color, but this pony's mane was completely shades of grey, and not a shadow of any acutall colors. "Having my own physical form is better than I could have ever imagined," the mare laughed in her voice, a slightly colder version of Rainbow Dash's, "Heh-heh-heh-heh! Ah-ha-ha! I've never felt so strong!" Rainbow Dash got up to her hooves and looked angrily at the doppelganger. "Who, or what is she? Why does she look like me?" she asked in a voice that sounded like a mixture of anger and worry. The other pony bared her teeth at Rainbow Dash and said, "Though I now take this pony form, I'm not truly a pony. I am the power that will destroy this world, and bring eternal darkness." The pony's mane suddenly became ethereal, blowing in a magical breeze like Celestia and Luna's, and dark magic seemed to seep out of her grayscale rainbow mane. Soon, a mighty breeze whirled around the chamber, chilling everypony around to the bone. "I, AM THE RAINBOW OF DARKNESS!" the Mare shouted as she flapped her wings, causing the room to tremble even more. "Beware, my little ponies; for soon, my forces and I will ride over this land, and spread eternal darkness over EVERYTHING! And there is nothing you or your pathetic Rainbow Power can do to stop me!" And with that, the mare suddenly shot up at top speed instantaneously, and smashed straight through the ceiling, cutting through an untold distance of solid rock. This also caused the chamber to to start to fully collapse. "AHHH!" Spike shouted as the floor caved in underneath him. Luckily, Celestia had regained her sense and grabbed the little dragon with her magic. The flightless Daring Do also nearly fell, but she was caught by Luna. "Quick, everypony out!" Twilight called out, and the ponies wasted no time in following her suggestion. The group made it outside just in time. The hidden entrance, which at face value looked like an ordinary cave, collapsed just as they exited. "Safe. . .*Huff*. . .and sound. . .*Puff*. . ." Rarity gasped out in exhaustion. "Yeah, but Rainbow Dark got away," Pinkie pouted. "Rainbow Dark?" Dash asked with a wrinkled nose. "Gotta call her something, right?" Pinkie said with a shrug. Celestia paced around with a grave expression on her face. "This is bad. The physical manifestation of the Rainbow of Darkness. . .a force so dangerous, now able to think for itself. This is most certainly a crisis." "What should we do now?" Twilight asked. Celestia stopped pacing and looked at Twilight and her friends. "You all should return to Ponyville, and attempt to formulate some plan of attack or defense for this new foe. Perhaps do some research to find out where the Rainbow of Light may be. Because as of now, that is the only that can save us. I will have the royal guard search for that mare, and the Canterlot and Crystal Empire archives will most certainly be searched by our top researchers for any information. And please, above all else, keep yourselves safe." Luna focused her attention on Rainbow Dash and said, "And you. I implore you. Stay in Ponyville, and do not leave. We do not need you being mistaken for this force of darkness and taking the blame for whatever it does." Dash nodded, "Sure thing. But the moment you find her and corner her, I'm going there and breaking her myself." "Dash, you need to calm down. We can't defeat that thing yet. Not without its counterpart. The Rainbow of Light," Twilight said. Dash growled, "We'll think of something. I know we will. . ." She then turned to Daring Do, and put a foreleg around her. "Let's get Daring Do to Ponyville Hospital first. She needs to get a cast on that wing." Daring Do cracked a small smile and said, "I promise you. . .I'll help you to stop this. . .in any way I can."