//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Stone Cold // by M_D_Quill //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash flew over the hedges of the Canterlot Statue Garden. There was plenty of room to stretch her wings out here, which is what she desperately needed after being cramped up in a tiny train cabin for forever. Not that the train cabins were small or anything, or that the streets of Canterlot tended to be a little too narrow or crowded, but she never felt like she could work out the kinks in her wings unless she had plenty of open space to fly around in and practice some tricks. She and Twilight decided to come to Canterlot to pick up a few old books in the Royal Archives. Well… to be more specific, Twilight decided to grab a lot of old books and needed Rainbow Dash to help her carry all of them back to Ponyville. As a good friend, Rainbow couldn’t say no to an opportunity to help out one of her best friends in her time of need (Twilight's promise to give me VIP tickets to the next Wonderbolt show didn’t hurt things either). Today was the easy day. We will settle into the apartments that Princess Celestia gracefully supplied for us, and then are able to relax from their trip from Ponyville. Tomorrow will be the day we start… ugh, digging through those dusty archives for those old books. Twilight said we should be able to gather all the books within a few days... But those tickets will be worth it. After doing a couple of corkscrews and quite a number of flips, she decided it was time to rest. She settled into a small puffy cloud that was lazily floating over the gardens and began one of her favorite pastimes: Pony watching. Gazing down at the snow covered ground; she noticed two ponies strolling through the garden. One was easily recognizable to the cyan Pegasus; her the purple coat and the pink stripe through her mane shouted out that it was her friend Twilight. The other was a white mare with bright blue spiked hair. She seemed vaguely familiar... but Rainbow couldn't place where... She watched as the two ponies make their way through the garden and stop before a statue. Rainbow Dash was too high up to be sure which statue it was, but it was probably some old unicorn that helped Princess Celestia something hundred years ago doing who knows what that. Twilight was probably the only one who remembered that unicorn’s name, much less what they did. The white mare, Rainbow concluded, was probably an old fellow student that Twilight knew when she still attended school up here and they were chatting over some boring stuff that they were taught back in the day. Rolling over and watching Twilight circle the statue like a vulture, Rainbow got an idea. A smile spread across her face as she burrowed into the cloud began her decent. Twilight was way too busy paying attention to the statue to notice if a lonely cloud that just happened to lower itself into the garden… and would never suspect a single blue pegasus to appear out of thin air and tackle her. If the great Rainbow Dash was going to suffer in a library looking for some old boring books for the next few days, she might as well have a little fun before then. Today was about relaxation, and pranking a good friend was always relaxing. Rainbow Dash was so focused on Twilight that she didn’t notice a small pink cloud rising up beneath her until it was too late. The sticky substance engulfed one of her wings and stiffening her feathers, causing her to loose control. As soon as Rainbow realized that her smooth decent changed into a plummet, she attempted regain control with her free wing. Unable to gain control, she looked down at the quickly approaching ground. The single thought ran through Rainbow's head before she crashed. "At least bushes are soft". Then world to burst into a painful white haze. x.X.x The ground is a lot less exciting to look that I expected… Let’s see… there is some dirt, some snow, more dirt, dead grass, and more dirt… Ya know, I think I prefer standing up… it’s a little more exciting than this… why am I down here again? *groan* Oh yeah, that blue blur hit me. Seriously, how can you hit a statue? It is not like I was moving or anything. You really need to watch where you were going. “Ow… what hit me?” the Pegasus asked. Me? Hit you? No no no… I think you have something switched there. The Pegasus looked at me, her pupils shrank down to pinpricks (I wish I could do that). She jumped up and her breathing quickened. “You…” she gasped. We stared at each other for a few seconds before she relaxed slightly. A nervous giggle bubbled out of her as she took a careful step to me. “Heh… Looks like I got you good.” She chuckled, “Not like there was any doubt, I am pretty awesome.” … I beg to differ. If I remember correctly, awesome things don’t crash into stationary objects. Actually, now that I think about it, they tend not to crash at all. “Ya know Discord; you’re not so tough, are ya?” The pegasus was holding herself a little higher now (she was hovering over me. Not to self: I have recently learned I don’t like being looked down upon). “Yeah, how can a big bad ‘spirit of disharmony’ lose to a bunch of young ponies? Not that there was any doubt you would lose to me and my friends, but how uncool is it that?” She landed on my stomach and glared into my eyes. "Oh, don't think I don't see you shaking in fear and awe." She cast a pose, "I know I know, I am rather intimidating. You should of seen me when..." I'm sorry... I can't keep narrating what this creature is spewing out... I mean, holy molly. I have seen people with big egos, but this pegasus is starting to make a Hollywood movie star look humble. Seriously, look at her? Her hair is literally every color of the rainbow? How much does she have to pay to dye it like that? If that isn't someone screaming for attention, then I don't know what is... I she still talking... "And then I was like VOOSH! The crowd was going-" Yeah, she still is. Man, talk about long winded... Heh... Get it? Winded? She is a pegasus? Nevermind... Now what was I doing before I was rudely interrupted by this multi-colored horse...Twilight visited, got scared, then ran... Freedom Oh yeah! I was trying to break free. Duh. How silly of me. Lets see, lets review. The dog-pile on me has been getting lighter slowly. I can breath easier now (I really can't breath, but it is kind of the same feeling) and I can curl my fingers and wiggle my toes. You can move Of course I can move you moron! What else did you think I meant when I said I could curl my fingers and- "Well, lets set you back up. We don't want any ponies to get the idea your breaking free again do we?" the blue pegasus announced. I could feel her hands... hooves grab hold of me and began pushing. "Umph... you are heavier than you look..." she growled. I guess I have gained weight... note to self, Twilight is not a chubby chaser. Maybe I should lose a few pounds. *crack* Hey, It's that crack again! "uh... I hope that was not what I thought it was..." *crackle* Hey, that sounded different! Ooomph! That pegasus just dropped me... Young lady, don't you know how rude it is to drop someon- "Oh Sweet Celestia this isn't good!" she cried out as she flew onto my stomach. Her hooves started to put pressure on me as if she was trying hold something down. At first she was just muttering to herself 'stop oh gosh stop' but soon she was yelling it in my ear... ouch... Ok miss, I don't know who you think you are, but... hold on... This is different. I'm getting a strange feeling... It is somewhat familiar... What was it called... Pain Yes! This is what they call pain! I can feel pain again! The wonderful joyous beautiful... PAINFUL PAIN!!! OH MY GOD IT HURTS! HA HA IT HURTS! The pain is coming from my back! I don't bend this way! I struggle to straiten my back. Being forced into a statue that curves into unnatural angles for someone like me is nowhere near what you would call comfortable. With a very loud crack the pain dulled down to a tolerable level. From a rating from one through ten, ten being "oh my god I am dying," it went from a 9.9 down to a 6.7. I was lying in the snow gasping for breath... I CAN BREATH!!! I began to laugh! I stood up and began to dance! I could feel the grass in between my toes, I could feel the wind on my skin, I could smell the chill in the air! I looked over and saw that wonderful blue pegasus sitting by a pile of rubble. I ran over to my savior and gave her a huge hug! "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" I shouted. She was stiff as a board, but her wings were as soft as a cloud and it was as if she radiated warmth from her body. Oh god it has been so long since I felt something as soft and warm as her! The pegasus began to scream I felt something hit me in the stomach, knocking me back a few feet. That hurt! Wonderful painful hurt! I laughed at the joy of feeling pain again! It was also cold... the snow and ground were very very cold... I have had enough of the cold as a statue. I glanced over at the nice, soft, warm pegasus... I knew what I wanted for Christmas! x.X.x Rainbow Dash stared at the recently released Discord. He had a different form than before. It was not nearly as big as he once was, but it was still almost twice as tall as her. He laughing and began to sit up. She bucked him as hard as she could and it didn't seem to even faze him. She was certain of only one thing, she needed to get Twilight and Princess Celestia. Rainbow attempted a takeoff, only to realize that the pink cloud was still stuck to her wing. She felt a stab of terror when she realized that she was grounded next to the Terror of Chaos... And he was looking straight at her. Her heart raced and her breathing quickened as soon as he spoke... "Here pony pony pony... Daddy wants some warmth..." [A.N. And we now have freedom! This chapter was really hard for me to write... but now that it is done we get to have some fun with our new favorite human in Equestria: Paradox! See you next update!]