//------------------------------// // I: Dashing Through The Snow // Story: The Neon Skulls // by FS713 //------------------------------// Cold. It was all she could feel. Her senses had almost completely blacked out, the only faint sliver of consciousness she could muster up completely occupied by the feeling of relentless, brutal cold. Eventually, she awoke. She stumbled to sit up and survey her surroundings, but she was weak and it was dark, and she could only make out a few cursory details; some intimidating-looking mountains in the distance, scattered bits and pieces of industrial flair tinged with hints of glowing neon green, pine trees, and snow; lots and lots of snow. A horrifying realization struck her; she had no idea where she was. Before she had the opportunity to breathe in this strange new environment, the poor alicorn began to feel weary; frostbite was getting to her. As the wind began to pick up and ramp up the already unbearable cold, she once again began to lose consciousness, and fell back into the thick, white blanket of snow. But just as she was about to breathe what may have been her last breath, a dark figure jumped in out of nowhere and shocked the freezing pony awake. "GOTCHA!" the mystery pony exclaimed before swiping up the alicorn in her hooves and flying away out of the small forest clearance the pony had nearly frozen to death in. "I found a loner. Color: purple. Species: alicorn. Cutie mark: appears to be a system of stars connected by a large purple six-sided one in the middle. Found her freezing her flank off in a clearance in the Metro area forest. Returning to base now. Over." Her voice sounded strikingly familiar. She tried to catch a glimpse of the pony’s face, but it was too dark to see anything outside of what appeared to be a bandana covering her mouth, bearing a glowing neon-green skull pattern. The Pegasus landed the two of them just outside the forest. "Sure caught a lucky break there, huh, kid? For a second there I thought you were dead. Say, what's your name?" She was too disoriented to properly make out the figure’s face, let alone answer the question. She struggled to speak. "M... my name?" "Uhh, yeah. You do have a name, right?", she responded in a cocky tone of voice. "My... my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I-" "Sparkle, huh? Cool. Name's Rainbow Dash, always nice to meet a potential new recruit”, the Pegasus responded, extending her hoof. The name struck a chord. "Wait... R- Rainbow Dash?" Twilight questioned. She knew that voice was familiar... but why was she talking like this was the first time they had met? And for that matter, what did she mean by "new recruit"? Before Twilight could even start to question Rainbow any further, the conversation was interrupted by a loud wailing sound. "Welp, that's our cue." Rainbow said before pulling out a large snowboard from behind her back. She pressed a small red button on the board's edge that lit it up in a spectrum of fascinating neon colors. “You like it?” In the newfound light, Twilight finally got a full glimpse of Rainbow; she was padded in thermal snow armor with a large black hoodie over it, the hood pulled over her head with a few locks of her prismatic mane sticking out, a thick pair of light blue snow goggles, and that skull bandana, obscuring her nose and mouth. "Oh, hold up! One more thing." Rainbow unzipped her hoodie, pulled out a can of black spray paint that was strapped to the inside, walked over to a nearby metal structure, and marked a giant cloud symbol with a three-striped lightning bolt right in front of her, then writing out the initials “N.S.” with a small skull shape to the lower right of it. She nodded to herself as she put the canister back into her jacket, zipped her hoodie back up, and walked back over to Twilight. Rainbow took the board and set it on the edge of a nearby slope, jumped on in a standing position, strapped herself in and instructed Twilight to get on and hold on tight. Twilight was reluctant, but she figured there was nothing else to do out here, so she followed the pegasus’ instructions. Rainbow moved the board forward to set the board in motion down the hill, and just like that, they were off. The wind whipped violently through Rainbow's hair as she sped through the ice-coated landscape. The freezing cold air on her face, the adrenaline rushing through her veins, the feeling of her heart thumping violently in her chest... this was the kind of rush that Rainbow lived for. She blazed her way through the wasteland, taking every opportunity she could to fly off the nearest slope or outcropping and pull off some utterly insane flips and tricks, weaved her way meticulously between walls and pillars of stone; she flew off the edge of a cliffside and pulled off a triple spin, before landing on a stray steel rail and balancing on it perfectly, accelerating forward before leaping off in a spectacular backflip onto another descending slice of frozen land, moving forward at an extreme momentum, all in the freezing cold with limited sight. It was dangerous, sure, but she didn't care. She loved it. In that moment, Rainbow felt truly alive. Twilight, on the other hand, wasn't quite so enthused; she was so heavily disoriented from her rude awakening, freezing cold, and had no clue where she was or what was going on or who this strange version of Rainbow Dash was that was carrying her rather recklessly through this winter wasteland. Her mind was a hazy blur of questions, looming sleepiness, and now nauseousness as she held on for dear life. The two sped into a dark tunnel; the only bit of sight they had was from the circle of spectral light emitted by the board, and even that was limited. Rocks came falling down from the ceiling all around them, Twilight feared the tunnel may be caving in. Twilight mustered up the energy to speak once again. "Uuh… was this really a good idea?", she asked in a very panicked tone. She had to speak up to the best of her ability; the sound of crumbling rocks and wind in the two mares' ears made communication a difficult task. "What, this ol' place? I ride here all the time, it's awesome!" she responded with a laugh. Rainbow seemed quite sure of herself, keeping up her momentum as she spoke. Rainbow suddenly caught sight of the end of the tunnel; her eyes glinted and her mouth cracked a smile. It was almost time. "All right, kid, ready for the drop?" "The drop!?" "Oh yeah, at the end of this tunnel is a massive downwards slope. Steepest in the region. It feels just like falling down a cliff!" That last detail took Twilight aback. "Isn't this extremely dangerous!?" Rainbow snorted at Twilight and looked ahead; "we don’t fear danger", she responded in a very serious tone. They came upon the end of the tunnel, and then came the drop. As they sped down the steep strip of snow, both ponies' stomachs were in their throats. Rainbow had done this a hundred times, but the thrill of plummeting at such a massive speed with only her physical skills and her board to keep her alive never ceased to send a shiver of pure adrenaline down Rainbow's spine. It was truly incredible. Of course, she probably would have been enjoying it a lot more if Twilight wasn't clutching onto her back crying and repeating "I'm gonna die" ad nauseam. When they finally reached the bottom, the board built off the momentum off the drop and sped straight forward until they reached their destination. They finally stopped in front of a giant, graffiti-coated steel garage door, built into the side of a large, seemingly abandoned warehouse. The building was coated in graffiti, a variety of colors and shapes, but mostly abstract or unintelligible with the exception of a giant neon green skull and crossbones bearing the letters "N.S." right in the center. Rainbow stepped off her board and got back on all fours, and said with a hefty exhale, "we're here". Twilight wasn't well. Whatever there was left, that drop had taken it all out of her; she collapsed off of the board, fell into the snow, and once again faded out of consciousness.