Rainbow Dash stirred a bit, then slowly opened her eyes. The second she opened them, she immediately saw that something seemed very off about the sky. It looked like it was purple, for some reason. She grabbed her slightly aching head as she looked around. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure where she was, but she knew one thing for certain: this wasn’t Ponyville. For one, Ponyville had buildings, and two, Ponyville’s ground wasn’t made of purple crystal. She then looked behind her and saw Ponyville behind her. Ok, so she was in a field close to her home. The question was, what field was she in? There was no field that Rainbow knew of that was made of crystal, especially not one so close to home. Suddenly, Rainbow remembered: Discord was still on the loose, so chances are he was behind this weird crystal. Why he would choose to switch from soap to crystal was beyond her, but she didn’t spend much time thinking about that, as she something in the corner of her eye that caught her attention. She turned her head and saw that Ponyville was… smoking? Was there a fire or something going on? Rainbow raised an eyebrow and flew back to town at top speed to investigate.
When she got back into town, she stared down wide-eyed, as the town appeared to be very badly wrecked. Several buildings were on fire, there were a few dead bodies lying around, and there were several hundred crystal creatures running around, switching between attacking buildings and the inhabitants of Ponyville alike, and spitting lavender onto the ground and buildings, which covered the area in the purple stuff that she’d started out in. It didn’t seem like this was Discord’s doing, unless he’d decided to go with a murderous/arsonist theme for the chaos. Rainbow pondered that for a moment, until she saw a crystalized cat that looked kind of like Opal walk over to Carousel Boutique. Once the cat got in close, it proceeded to break the windows of Carousel Boutique and spit into them! This enraged Rainbow Dash, who glared down at the cat and yelled, “HEY!!! NO ONE DOES THAT TO RARITY’S HOME!!!” The cat didn’t even turn its head toward Rainbow. Rainbow became even more infuriated that this cat was ignoring her. She immediately flew toward the cat, preparing to knock it into next month. When she got in close, she rocketed her hoof toward the cat… and watched as it passed right through the cat, failing to make an impact. Rainbow’s eyes went wide as she continued her forward momentum, rocketing through a few houses in her path, until she flew headfirst into a slightly lifted hill, which stopped her dead in her tracks. She rubbed her head and got back up, then looked backwards to see that none of the buildings she had passed through had any holes in them, almost like she had literally phased through them. She then looked down at her hooves as she put two and two together, determining that she was a ghost of some description. Why that was, she didn’t know. Immediately, she took to the sky, as to see if there was anything worth watching.
After a couple minutes of aimless flying, she spied her friends down near town hall. Apparently, they were in some kind of struggle. What they were fighting against was unknown to Rainbow, as she was too high up to see the opposition clearly. Rainbow got in closer and discovered that they fighting off a large group of crystalized animals! She zoomed down to the ground, and watched as the Mane 5 took the crystals off of the last bear, who ran away after being purified. Once the bear was done, the Mane 5 collapsed onto the ground, and each one immediately started to look at the other 4. Rainbow took this time to look over each of her friends, who sadly appeared to be close to the end of their ropes. All 5 of them had many gashes all over them, they were all at least a little bloodied, and they all appeared to be exhausted, as if they were fighting these things for days straight, and were getting little to no sleep. Rainbow considered shouting out to them, but realized that the cat didn’t even turn its head when she yelled at it, so the chances of her friends hearing her were incredibly low. However, just to make sure, she lowered herself to ground level and lied down right in front of her friends. None of them seemed to notice, which confirmed to Rainbow that she was invisible to everypony. Her friends stared for a few moments, before Fluttershy finally started up a conversation.
“Ummm… do you think that’s all of them?” she quietly asked.
“It had better be! These ruffians are simply wearing me to the bone. I simply must get a spa treatment after this is done!” Rarity replied while she fiddled with her element.
AppleJack rolled her eyes and said, “Rarity, if there was ever anypony who needed to be worn to the bone, it’s you. Although I agree, these critters are really becoming a handful.”
“Yep…” sighed Pinkie, who seemed like she was actually somewhat tired, which was a first.
“I don’t think it’s done. I don’t think it’ll ever be done at this rate.” Said Twilight.
“Why?” asked the other four.
“Simple: We’ve already purified some of these animals before. For example, how many times now have we purified that flying turtle now?”
“You mean Tank? At least 3 times.” Said Pinkie
“Exactly. No matter how many times we purify these animals, they can just get corrupted again. With all of this purple stuff surrounding us, it’s like a never ending cycle. Unless we stop the source, we’ll never win this battle.”
“I suppose you have a point, Twilight.” Said Rarity.
“So then, Twilight, where exactly do ya reckon this source is?” asked AppleJack.
“I…I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find any information on this affliction.” Replied Twilight with her head bowed slightly. Nopony else responded, and instead remained quiet for a moment, until Fluttershy quietly said, “I wonder…”
“What’re ya wondering, Sugarcube?” asked AppleJack
“I wonder… if this purple stuff has anything to do with Rainbow Dash…” she said. The others silenced as they thought back. Fluttershy might be on to something. This haze started almost immediately after Rainbow had disappeared, so thinking that it might have something to do with Rainbow Dash was a fair guess. They then looked up at her, before Pinkie asked, “What do you think this haze has to do with Rainbow, Fluttershy?”
“I don’t know… It just feels like there’s a connection…” said Fluttershy as she looked down for a moment. She then sighed and softly said, “I miss her…”
“We all do, Fluttershy. However, there’s not a lot we can do about that. For all we know, she could be in another universe. Still, I think that Rainbow will find her way back to us sooner or later.” Said Twilight
“Why do you think that?” asked Fluttershy
“Because no matter how hard it rains, there will always be a rainbow.” Said Twilight
“So, the reason you think that our friend will return is a proverb?” asked Rarity with a confused look.
“That, and the fact that she would never leave us hanging. She said so herself.” Said Twilight with a slight grin. The grin spread to everypony’s face, including Rainbow’s. However, that touching moment didn’t last long, as they suddenly heard an odd sound coming from behind them. They spun around and saw something odd rolling right at them. It looked kind of like a large lamp on wheels, complete with two thin crystal arms. It stopped right in front of them, and just stared with a large yellow light that was coming from the center of its face. The mane 5 stared back, trying to comprehend what the thing in front of them is. After a bit, the eye fired a large group of light green crystals right into the center of the Mane 5. Before any of them could react, the crystals shot out a large light green net that ensnared all of them… except for Rainbow Dash, obviously. They tried to get out, but the net was immune to magic, and couldn’t be flown out of or broken through. The rolling thing then fired a spikey red crystal right below each member of the mane 5. Once it placed those, its eye turned red. Once its eye had become red, a beep could be heard from each red crystal, right before they suddenly exploded, launching the Mane 5 sky high. Fluttershy started to flap her wings and tried to grab the others, but before she could do so, the crystal bot thing flew up right next to the Mane 5 and suddenly exploded, launching the Mane 5 a long distance away. Rainbow gasped in horror and flew at top speed after her friends.
After a minute, Rainbow was right next to them. She instinctually tried to grab them, which failed, do to her being a phantom. Immediately after the failed grab, the Mane 6 crashed into a crystal hill, effectively halting their forward momentum. They slowly slid down and lied face down at the bottom for a moment. After a few seconds, Pinkie Pie’s head shot up and she yelled, “Woohoo!!!! That was a really fun ride!” She then rubbed her head slightly and said, “Could’ve stood to have a softer landing, though. Anypony disagree?”
“Pinkie, I’d normally ask you if you’re nuts, but I already know the answer to that. But yes, that could’ve stood to have a softer landing.” Said Twilight as she got up.
“Everypony ok?” asked AppleJack
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” screamed Fluttershy. That scream made everypony jump, since Fluttershy was the last pony anyone expected to scream like that. Everypony else immediately rushed around Fluttershy, to see that she looked pretty bad. She had hit that cliff face first, which had given her a pretty bad nose bleed. Still, it didn’t seem like enough for her to still be switching between yelling and grimacing. Rarity then looked down and gasped in horror. The others looked where Rarity was looking, and had a similar reaction as they saw the purple crystals that were slowly encasing Fluttershy. They immediately started to try to hold it back, break it, or do anything to stop it, but all of their attempts were less than successful, as each one either caused Fluttershy to get more hurt, or make the crystals go faster. After a minute, Fluttershy became fully encased. Her icy blue eyes displayed nothing but pure terror as they quickly switched from one pony’s face to the next. Suddenly, they flashed yellow and shut, causing Fluttershy to start screaming in agony again. After a moment, the screaming stopped. Fluttershy just lied perfectly still while her friends watched over her. After a bit, the remaining four became unbelievably worried, as Fluttershy’s body wasn’t moving in the slightest, and she didn’t appear to be breathing. The four of them got in close and said in unison, “Fluttershy??”
The second after they said that, Fluttershy’s limbs shot out suddenly, launching all 4 of her friends backwards. Immediately afterwards, Fluttershy fluttered back up onto her feet, and opened her eyes, revealing glowing yellow eyes that were identical to those of the possessed woodland creatures! Her friends stared in shock, and watched as she rubbed a hoof over her busted nose, making the injury vanish. Once that was done, Fluttershy flashed a sadistic grin, and launched herself straight at AppleJack, kicking her right in the cheek. After that, she bounced off of her and headed for Twilight, releasing an uppercut onto her chin before Twilight had a chance to react. This launched Twilight a little distance up before Fluttershy grabbed her in mid-air and spinning her around for a bit. After a bit, she let go of Twilight’s leg, which sent her rocketing toward Rarity. The two unicorns crashed into one another, and landed in a two mare pileup on the ground. Fluttershy then soared after Pinkie Pie, raising up a hoof to try to punch her. Right before Fluttershy could do so however, Pinkie jumped over Fluttershy’s punch, effectively dodging it. Fluttershy wasn’t deterred, and instead reached up and grabbed Pinkie’s leg. Once she had hold of Pinkie, Fluttershy slammed her into the ground a few times and sent her flying right into AppleJack. Before they could collide, Fluttershy zoomed straight at them both. Rainbow was about to fly after Fluttershy, when her stomach suddenly started to cringe up again. She collapsed to the ground, and heard that rhyming voice in her head say, “If something begins, it also must end. That is the fate that’s befallen your friend.” Rainbow grasped her head and watched as her friends and the mountains became increasingly blurry, before dissolving altogether into a random mess of colors…
A couple minutes later…
Blossom and Rainbow Dash reopened their eyes, and saw that they were back in the blue floating void thing. They looked at each other, and said to each other in unison, “How was your world? My world was a disaster!!”
“What?!?! Yours too?” They both said simultaneously. They then nodded and looked up, upon hearing the booming voice say, “So do you two see the threat to your home sweet home, all because you were forced to leave it alone?” Blossom and Rainbow nodded.
“How can we fix this?” Blossom asked.
“You’ll need to be stronger to save everyone. You will find a way to do so back where you’d begun.” Said the voice
“You mean, back in our worlds? How do we get back?” asked Rainbow
“To return to the home from which you were dismissed, you simply need to do all of this: first put on the sunshades, then find the rift, muscle your way through, and in space you shall drift. Once you are both out, floating with the stars, you’ll find both your worlds, they won’t be too far.”
“That’s it? Just find a rift? Seems easy enough.” Said Blossom.
“Finding the rift will be simple, getting through it will not. You’ll need lots of force to escape the spatial clot.”
“That was forced…” thought Rainbow Dash to herself
“I can read minds, you egotistical fool! Try changing your tone, or else you’ll be schooled!” said the voice in a really loud and angry voice that almost broke Rainbow and Blossom’s eardrums.
“Sorry…” Rainbow managed to squeak out. After she finished saying that, the voice immediately said, “I’ll send you back to the land of pure white. Good luck against this crystal parasite.” The second the voice finished speaking, Rainbow and Blossom regained consciousness in the white world. They shook their heads, stood up, and looked at one another for a moment, before Rainbow said, “You ok, Blossom?”
Blossom nodded and said, “I think so. While I was passed out, I heard that we need to find…”
“…the rift?” Said Rainbow, completing her sentence.
“So, you heard that voice too, huh?” asked Blossom
“Sure did. I guess we should try to find this rift, huh?”
“Yeah, let’s go get those glasses and find that rift!” said Blossom in a determined voice. Rainbow returned the determined look and zoomed off to get one of the pairs of sunglasses from the pile of random everything. Blossom and Rainbow Dash put on the sunglasses and immediately saw a bright group of colors that they hadn’t seen without the glasses about 200 yards away. They flew towards it and discovered that it was part of one of the invisible walls in this sector.
Rainbow stuck her head through and immediately yelled, “Hey Blossom, check it out!!” Blossom complied, and stuck her head through. The second she saw the other side, she also gasped in wonder. The other side was indeed space, complete with stars, asteroids, and several planets. The two of them looked around for a moment, and quickly found their respective worlds weren’t too far away from one another! They were maybe a few hundred thousand miles away!
Suddenly, Blossom said, “Wait a minute. Something’s weird about this.”
“What’s so weird about it, Blossom?” asked Rainbow
“Think about it. If our worlds were really that close to one another, why hasn’t anyone on my world heard about yours yet? I mean, we have a space program, and your planet is unbelievable close, so why has it not been announced that there’s nearby sentient life?”
“…I think you may be onto something there, Blossom. Our worlds being this close together doesn’t really make any sense. Unless…”
“Unless?”
“Unless this crystalizing force is pulling worlds toward it…” said Rainbow Dash
“Does that mean… this thing is hoarding our worlds?” asked Blossom
“I don’t know, but I don’t wanna wait around and find out! Let’s get out of this rift!” yelled Rainbow, to which Blossom nodded in agreement. The duo tried to push through the rift, but quickly found that they were unable to do so. It felt like the rift was made of rubber, to the point where it was stretching and bouncing them back into purgatory when they tried to get a flying start. After several minutes of failed attempts, Blossom turned her head towards Rainbow and said, “Any ideas, Rainbow?”
“Umm… I’ve got nothing.”
Blossom sighed and said, “I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.”
Rainbow nodded, then continued to go into deep thought. After a couple minutes of this, Rainbow said, “There’s only one thing I can think of that we haven’t tried yet…”
“And what might that be?”
“Well… I could try to do a Sonic Rainboom to blast through the rift…”
“A Sonic Rainboom? What’s that?”
“It’s my fastest move. If I did that, I might be able to muscle through…”
“Wait, why didn’t you try this earlier?”
“Well, if I failed to burst through the rift, then I’d be launched toward the wall at a speed so high that it could potentially kill me… That’s the main reason I was reluctant to trying it.” Said Rainbow in a voice that sounded just the tiniest bit nervous.
“Don’t worry Rainbow, you’re not going to be alone on that one. I’ll be with you. There’s no doubt that this Rainboom will cause this rift to stretch a lot, but if it starts to recoil, I’ll add in my strength to the spot you’re at. If we combine the two, it should be enough to burst through.” Said Blossom in a reassuring voice.
Rainbow looked at Blossom and nodded, saying, “Got it. All or nothing, right?”
“Right!” said Blossom, hopping on Rainbow’s back. Rainbow immediately launched up as high as she could go, eventually hitting her head on the ceiling. Upon doing that, she zoomed down as fast as she could go, got in the mach cone, and unleashed the Rainboom just before hitting the rift. The impact stretched the rift really far, but it still held strong as it started to slow Rainbow’s speed down. Blossom gasped and hopped off Rainbow’s back and zoomed backwards a little distance. She then spun around and rocketed right at Rainbow before bodychecking her. The increased momentum was enough to push them through, as they broke through the rift, arriving in space. They took a look behind them, and watched as the space behind them warbled in and out for a moment before it settled back to normal, blending in perfectly with the rest of the sky. After that little detour, Blossom and Rainbow shouted a triumphant yes, and gave each other a high five, both with smiles that were extending from ear to ear. After a moment, they lowered their grins and looked out at their worlds. They both seemed to be inching closer to a purple crystal thing that was really high in the sky, almost as if the crystal thing was a black hole.
“So, now what?” asked Rainbow
“I guess now we go home and get stronger. At least, that’s what that voice wants us to do.” Said Blossom
Rainbow nodded and said, “I guess so. Should we meet up here after we strengthen up?”
Blossom nodded her head and said, “Sure. However, just in case push comes to shove, I would like to know where you live on your planet. Would you mind pointing it out?”
“Sure thing. It’s on that big land mass that’s shaped kind of like a chip, near the center. When you get in close enough to see a city in the sky, just take a look south from there and you should be able to see my home.”
“Understood. If you need to find me, I can be found on the eastern end of that continent.” Said Blossom, pointing out the spot to Rainbow Dash.
“Got it. Meetcha when I’m stronger!” said Rainbow Dash in a determined voice
“Same here!” replied Blossom in a voice that sounded no less determined. The duo nodded, then rushed back to their worlds, which were becoming less and less welcoming with every passing second…
To Be Continued…