//------------------------------// // Behind the wall // Story: Nightdreams and Daymares // by mareinthemoon //------------------------------// Twilight rushed into sugar cube corner along with Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity. They were all deeply concerned about Rainbows mental condition, after what Fluttershy had told Twilight she knew that their friend was in need of an intervention. The purple unicorn closed the door behind them with her magic and took a seat in front of Rainbow Dash, the others each taking a seat, forming a circle. " Rainbow Dash, we came here to talk to you." The cyan mare looked around, The scene looking more and more like a drug intervention by the moment, Her rose colored eyes looking upon the concerned faces of her friends. The way they looked at her was filled with pure pity and grief 'Poor Rainbow' she snorted knowing that was what they were all thinking as they gazed upon her. " Whats this about guys? I already said I am fine!" Rainbow said with a disinterested look upon her face, she wanted nothing to do with this stupidity. At that moment she caught herself mid thought, was she actually being this hostile to her best friends? They only wanted to help her yet..All she could think of was how she would wish they would leave her be. Fluttershy proceeded to take out a small piece of paper.'Oh god,' Rainbow Dash thought to herself, 'This IS an intervention!' The yellow Pegasus looked over to Rainbow and began to read from the prepared letter. " Ahem, Dear Rainbow Dash, You have been acting not very nice and we are concerned for your well being. I think we should take you back to the hospital, not only were you very scary. But your voice was very strange.." Fluttershy looked down sadly and folded the paper back up, not wanting to continue reading from some letter. "Please Dash, tell us whats wrong." The yellow Pegasus whimpered to her beloved childhood friend, she wanted to know what was causing Dash to be so aggressive. 'Go ahead..Tell them... Giggle at the ghastly... Snicker at the spooky.. HEEE HEEE HAAA HAAA HOOOOO HOOO.' Rainbow Dash shuddered and shook her head side to side." I am perfectly fine guys, You have nothing to worry about, I am just fine." She spoke with a forced smile and a trembling in her voice, She did not want them to know about such things.. Poor Fluttershy and Rarity would most likely faint from the truth that all of the fears every pony has in Equestria are justified. Rainbow was positive that they, nor any other pony, would be able to handle the truth about the every lurking darkness that threatens to consume their very souls. Besides, What would she tell them? How could she come across as sane? She did not even know its name even tho she had a good idea that he may be the Devil but this experience has taught her one thing. Not all things are as they seem. Twilight sighed and looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes, She did not want to do this but Rainbow had left her no choice. " Rainbow, I did not want to use this method but if you never come to terms with it....You will never be able to go back to normal." Rainbows smile turned to a scowl as she saw her supposed friend pulling out her sketchbook from her bag. 'That sneaky unicorn!' She growled internally, This was not good at all soon enough everyone would think she was insane and it was all Twilight's fault for being so damned nosy! 'Lookie there...Oh my Dashie, you're in trouble now~~' That irritated voice chimed in with a sing song tone in its voice, Boy it knew just how to push Rainbow Dash's buttons with deadly accuracy. "Dash," The purple unicorn continued as she flipped through the pages, opening it to the one of the black and red world she had seen far too often. The ponies all gasped looking at the sight, It was absolutely depressing and so very Grim. " Is this whats been bothering you Dash? Are you scared of this?" It took Rainbow everything she had not to lash out in a fit like the voice was urging her on to do. Great, she was under their scrutiny,again and it infuriated her. "Put that away Twilight! You have no Idea what your messing with! I am serious!!" The cyan mare gave her friend fair warning, She knew that it liked to taunt her but she was unsure as to how it would react to them. Twilight looked upon her , a serious and determined look upon her face. " So am I!" Twilight said as she flipped the page to the being on the other page, and as Rainbow predicted Rarity and Fluttershy fainted on the spot from the sight of it. " What is this then!?" Rainbow took a shaky breath as she heard it singing Pinkies 'giggle at the ghostly' song in the back of her head as if it was bored from what was going on. " I....I don't know its name alright!," Rainbow said as she begun to breakdown and cry, This was getting to difficult to handle on her own. " But it says horrible things to me!..and it made me yell at Fluttershy....and....and I'm so scared Twilight. Every time I ask what it wants from me it keeps saying 'just me'..." She had reached the breaking point, the voice chuckling in the back of her head loudly. It was now entertained by her misery. " What does it tell you?" Twilight asked with concern and anger, this was getting out of hand in her eyes. " And what does this mean!?" The purple unicorn said as she pointed to the words 'My little Dashie' upon the page. Rainbow gasped as she looked at those words. " I ...I did not write that...I..Its what....It says to me....he keeps saying..Its time to come home.." She sniffled in fear, looking to her friend horrified and broken. ' I told you to play pretend...' " Oh no, Its talking again..." She whimpered covering her ears in an attempt to block it out. ' I told you to smile.....' The voice was now gurgling, her ears beginning to bleed as the noise became louder and louder, the red liquid trailing down the side of her face. Twilight gasped and ran over, her horn glowing as she tried to heal her friend. Whatever was happening to Rainbow she had to stop no matter what! Apple Jack and Pinkie ran over in an attempt to see what had caused the bleeding. The concern evident on their faces. " What is it saying Rainbow!? you have to fight it!!" Twilight cried out as her horn glowed brighter and brighter. " Show yourself monster!!! Get out of my friend!!!" The the room filled with a burst of purple light for a moment and then... There was total darkness. 'Now is their end...' Rainbow heard those words and the bleeding stopped as did that horrible noise, She thought maybe it was over but the all too familiar scent of blood and rusted metal that hit her noose, Told her otherwise. My little Dashie, Silly filly.....I told you not to be too obvious... The voice was now free from her head and in the room, Twilight's eyes wide in terror as it sent chills up her spine. " Rainbow....is....that him?" The purple unicorn asked, her voice trembling with fear as the temperature in the room began to drop at a break neck pace. Rainbow Dash could barley see in this darkness, her breath becoming a fog from the frigid cold. " Yes...that's it... That's Him..." Twilight took a deep breath and stood still, her horn beginning to glow again in the darkness. " Are you the Devil? Be gone from our homes and our friend evil demon from hell!" The began to cast a spell that would Teleport anything To Tarturus , She only needed its name to cast and that was more than clear. The light filled the room and Twilight breathed in relief, It had worked and the nightmare was over. She turned to Rainbow with a tired smile, Her friend was finally safe. "It's gone Rainbow, there is no need to be afraid anymore." But instead of the delighted and thankful smile she had expected to see, She was met with Dash's face drained nearly of all color and her eyes widened in terror like something was right behind her. " It's Laughing.....Laughing for real....Its terrifying." Rainbow muttered sheepishly as the shadow lurked on the wall behind Twilight, Its smile wider than ever before. The sight panicked the Cyan mare, If not the Devil then what in the name of princess Celestia is this thing!? The lights went out... A scream was heard... And Twilight was face to face with those red eyes and twisted fanged grin. Nice try silly filly.... I assure if you, you know not my name... for if you did.... We would have met long ago little one. Twilight was at a loss for words or answers, This thing was not in any book, Nor in any documents she could find but here it was in her face, the purple mare accidentally peeing herself as she attempted to back away.The smell of blood and rusted metal filling her nose as it approached. The being crept closer and closer, the smile on its face wide. ' Hush now....the darkness is rising again on our nightmare night.' The eyes and teeth vanished suddenly, an old melody playing on a forgotten piano that resided in the cakes den room. The eerie tune filling the room as Rainbow looked at Twilight,mouthing clearly 'Run now, Its coming...' Twilight could hear a static noise as a dim light shown from a newly appeared narrow hallway, the was house warping and it was as if they were in a different world all together. Pinkie looked down the newly formed hallway in confusion and horror, singing her song under her breath. She had lived here for a long time and had never seen this hall before in her life. The wall paper was torn at the edges and peeling from the floor, The print upon it was of blacks and whites with red flowers dotted down it. The floor beneath them was now a black and white tiles floor that was reminiscent of a checker board, The feel had changed from the happy cake shop to a now disturbing mortuary. At the far end, playing the black baby grand piano sat a pure white alicorn, the cutie marks upon its flanks where that of bloody hoof prints. He looked like a majestic stallion, His hair a flurry of spiked black and brilliant yellow and his eyes without pupils, only the yellow color resided there. Rainbow looked upon him in confusion for a moment as Twilight was the brave pony who began to venture down the hall. " Who are you?" She asked the stallion who continued to play elegantly. He looked up at Twilight who unlike Rainbow was blissfully unaware. Rainbow saw those eyes and knew for sure...it was him alright, Her personal Devil in the flesh. " How doth the little crocodile improve its shining tail..,," He mused as he continued to play the piano, A smug grin crossing his face as the wallpaper began to bubble from behind it from the wall. Pinkie backed away with her ears down as the red flowers began to bleed and crack, the eyes of ponies now taking the place of the innocent flowers as bloody hoof prints began to appear on the walls. " pouring the waters of the Nile on every golden scale, See how he grins..He neatly spreads his claws..And welcomes little fishies in with gently smiling jaws." The stallion finished with a fanged smile, looking to the purple unicorn as his eyes began to bleed black ooze. "Wh..What are you..." Twilight asked, immobilized by fear as she looked upon its face as the skin on the white stallion began to peel back and bleed. Silly Filly.... I think you were far from a fun dream anyway.. Remember Silly, The truth is like the sun. The closer you get, the more you burn. In that instant as it finished speaking Twilight was suddenly engulfed in black flames, Her shrill screams of pain filling the room like a choir of depravity in the symphony of horrors. Her fur burned away quickly and boils began to form on her tender skin, The boils popping and oozing black puss as she was cooked alive. She quickly began to use her magic in a vain attempt to heal herself and put out the flames which only proved to make the pain worse. 'Your in my world now miss Sparkle...My rules apply.' Apple Jack and Pinkie were struggling to get closer to their dying friend, The floor beneath them turning into an odd seeping liquid. The sloshed around in the now black ooze, Pinkie screaming as she was drug under by something. Apple Jack looked around and began to kick and buck into the water, trying to stop whatever was hurting Pinkie. Kick... Kick..... Kick.....Crunch Apple Jack stopped in her tracks, had she got what had Pinkie? She stuck her head under whilst holding her breath and closing her eyes, reaching around for anything. She felt the familiar bounce of Pinkies mane and pulled her up and throwing her onto the solid ground. She gasped for air as she came up onto dry land, the floor returning to normal as she looked to her friend. '' Are you alright Sugar Cube?" She asked as she carefully rolled Pinkie onto her back, Screaming shrilly as she looked upon her friends now caved in skull. One eye was still wide open while the other was hanging out of the socket, her teeth impacted up into her cheek bones leaving her tongue and shattered jaw to hang to one side upon the floor. 'You silly fillies are too predictable....' It spoke as Twilight collapsed dead onto the floor and Apple Jack cried out in horror while holding her dead friend. Rainbow Dash wheeled her way down the hall, making her way to the other side of the piano. "Why are you doing this!? What kind of monster are you!?" Her eyes were shining with hatred and contempt for this horrible being who had taken her life and made it into a living Hell. The being pondered a moment, his hoof tapping upon his chin in contemplation. ' To quote the last being I influenced.... What is the sense in making sense?' Rainbow Dash heard this and suddenly this thing was more dangerous. Discord was involved in this now? This was too weird now. It said it influenced Discord. If not the Devil what in the wide world does that kind of evil!? She took a breath and looked him, Her eyes filled with the determination she was known for. Rainbow was not going to stand for this anymore, she refused to witness any more evil done to her friends by the hands of this depraved monster " Why do you want ' just me'?" Finally the question of questions. The entire time she was too afraid to ask it but now she was way past the point of no return, She could never go back to life the way it was before all this, No she was far too lost in the dark to handle the sun again. ' Finally Dashie Dearest....you finally want to know....' The other stood from the piano and walked towards Rainbow Dash, making sure to trample Twilight's still smoldering body under his hooves, With a well placed step crushing the remnants of the once purple unicorns skull underfoot. 'Behind the wall is where I live, The darkness in every beings heart is my domain...' He who waits behind the wall, Shall one day come to claim us all. Rainbow looked into its empty eyes, matching its gaze with her rose colored eyes. Yes it was everything he wanted to see, He wanted to see her like this. Not a cowering mare but the fierce spirit she was, It had taken a few deaths and un-required but entertaining terror to get this point. It was worth it. " If not the Devil, What is your name....why the obsession with me?" Are we awake? Or is it a dream? But for who is yet to be seen. ' Its time to go back Dash.... The dream is almost over now....' Around her the store became engulfed in flames, her friends Rarity and Fluttershy becoming mere skeletons upon the floor. Everypony was dead, she was all alone...and then it became clear and they were alone in the darkness once again. --------------------------------------------- The beep of the heart monitor was now in a flat line, the doctor frantically using the paddles to attempt to bring back the singed and broken cyan mare that had been brought in. The nurse beside him shook her head and raised a hoof to his shoulders." I'm sorry Doctor, She's gone....Call the time." The sweating doctor looked up to the clock in defeat, the paddles dropping from his hooves. " Time of death, three pm...." The nurse turned off the heart monitor and covered the poor dead mare with the white sheet. " Poor thing she was so young." ------------------------------------- "Why did you want me? Why..show me such things?" 'Like a child wants a toy, I wanted you... Because you bring color and light to the dark place I live..' Until I sing the final song to restart this world, you will remain the light that I will strive to achieve Not all things are as the seem Like the beauty of a nightmare, or the pain of a dream.