//------------------------------// // What It All Takes From You // Story: Yaerfaerda // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// There was no time to even panic. Rainbow Dash hoisted the Slices out of the bag. Doing that caused three of them to burst into ashen dust within seconds. The pegasus hissed under her breath, cradling the dissolving foodstuffs in the crook of her hooves. She gnashed her teeth, fidgeting in place. At last, holding her breath, she dragged a hoof over her pendant. The lightning bolt glowed with brilliant crimson. Rainbow lifted the Heaven Slices up to the pendant, exposing them to the ruby light. She clenched her teeth, brow furrowed as she kept her eyes trained on the breaded bits. Slowly, with more or less grace, the pieces of enchanted food stopped falling apart, stopped crumbling, stopped spitting mist into the air. They soon lay dormant in her grasp, their enchantments preserved by the sudden application of Harmonic energy. Rainbow Dash breathed easier. Her whole body slumped and her wings drooped. Nevertheless, minutes later, she swallowed a lump down her throat and attempted to assess the damage. Ten slices had easily bitten the dust. She was down to eight pieces, and at least half of them were moldy and decrepit at best. There was no telling just how much nourishment they could provide her now, if any. The pegasus bit her lip. With a slight shudder, she wrapped the edible substance back up and sat there for a prolonged time, staring into the desert vistas. Hours—and miles—later... Rainbow Dash sat at the crest of a jagged stone hill. She raised one of the cylinders to her muzzle, twisted the knob, and inhaled some Nebulum. The mare blinked, then examined the item from the side. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but the substance didn't feel all too refreshing that time. She wondered if her supply of Nebulum was starting to get depleted. She was almost certain she had been frugal with her use of it. Then it occurred to her that perhaps the enchantment was starting to fade on the source of liquid as well. If that was the case, then the Heaven Slices would be the least of her worries. If Rainbow Dash couldn't stay hydrated... Rainbow Dash shook the sensation off. Sliding the cylinders back into her backpacks, she took several steps forward and spread her wings in order to resume flying. But, suddenly, she didn't move. She stood dead in place, eyes glazed and mane disheveled. For minutes, she remained there, unmoving and unflinching. Then, with a nervous twitch, she turned around. She faced west. A hazy cloud hung over the dim horizon. Craggy bits of stone rose up and down across the sundered valley. The vanishing line loomed with a cool layer of shadowed blues and grays. It looked terribly calm and welcoming. Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She took one step... then two... the a dozen. Her trot turned into a gallop and her gallop into a spring. Then, just as she reached the crest of the hill she had last scaled, she flexed her muscles in preparation of a massive leap, wings spread. But then... her legs went stiff, as did her wings. Instead of taking off for the west, she skidded to a stop, dragging tiny lines in the dusty earth. She slumped back on her flanks, panting, sweating. Her pained eyes fogged over as she slowly, gradually recoiled from the west. Then, fighting deep quivers, she slid her goggles back on, turned around, and faced Yaerfaerda. Rainbow Dash held her breath. She trotted slowly, gradually building up speed. When she finally lifted off, it was like a loose leaf falling in reverse. She ascended skyward in jagged motions, eventually climbing altitude just to scale the mountains—but nothing more. Rainbow Dash flew east. There was no joy in the action. No rhyme or reason. Only movement. And she moved east, scaling dead landscape after dead landscape. Her dead eyes gazed down at the serrated hilltops and summits slicing the atmosphere. She occasionally bobbed and weaved around tall peaks, but otherwise invested no flare into her flight. As the sun set behind her, Yaerfaerda appeared to grow brighter in contrast. Rainbow Dash had no choice but to stare at it. She was looking at the beacon, and yet she wasn't. It didn't matter; her body was being propelled in the lavender shine's direction whether she desired it or not. There was no simple way to explain it, and she had nopony to explain it to. As the lights above the world went out, the world blurred on beneath her. She knew it without looking at it. She saw it in her dreams: brown and arid lengths of stone rolling and undulating and shifting. Maybe she was moving several dozen miles per hour, or maybe the Plane was just shifting below. It mattered little. Nothing mattered—nothing but the movement. Eyes open, eyes closed, in her waking sighs, in her sleeping shudders—Yaerfaerda persisted. Yaerfaerda loomed. Yaerfaerda would never go away. That night, Rainbow Dash suffered another dizzy spell. She had retired on a hillside to eat another Heaven's Slice when the shivers overwhelmed her. They weren't quite so violent this time, but they did manage to incapacitate her. Rainbow seethed, rolling onto her side as she battled a world spinning wildly around her. Something howled in the distance, like a coyote or a falcon. Rainbow knew better: it was simply her squealing voice echoing off the edges of the valley. Refusing to register the haunting noise, she clamped her hooves over her muzzle and surrendered to the waves of nausea overwhelming her figure. Eventually, the shivers faded, but Rainbow Dash wished they hadn't. No longer dizzy or afflicted, Rainbow Dash was cognizant enough to dwell on where she was... and where she wasn't. She didn't even fight the tears this time. They overcame her, ripping straight through her gut and coming out through her limbs with massive trembles. She sobbed. She wailed. She bawled harder than she ever did as a little foal. And no amount of clenching her eyes shut or hugging herself could chase the tears away. So, she didn't bother. When morning came, she lay limp, exhausted by her own sobs, but tortuously incapable of sleep.