//------------------------------// // Creation // Story: Equine Fall // by ModMCdl //------------------------------// --- "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." -Albert Camus --- Falling In Reverse Location Unkown Rainbow Dash felt an incredibly painful snap in her back just as she saw Twilight lean over the edge of the cliff. Her gaze was quickly swallowed up by lush, green leaves, before she felt a strong impact on her head. However, she did not feel the rest of her body fall with her. As a matter of fact, as she was staring up, she saw the end of her tail slowly swaying in the breeze. She darted her eyes around, taking in everything around her. The branches of the trees around her softly rustled about in the low wind. A cloud of dirt lay suspended a few inches in the air around her, frozen. She could hear the gentle gurgle of a nearby brook, flowing over rocks and sand. The entire scene was quite picturesque. Peaceful. Calm. Beautiful. She closed her eyes, and let all other senses absorb into her, letting herself relax. This was quite nice. Then, a low, buzzing hum interrupted her rest, and she opened her eyes, annoyed. Everything around her was slowly being encased within a dark, navy blue hue. Dash darted her eyes around, watching as she heard the hum grow louder and stronger. She watched in awe as the dirt around her suddenly drifted back to the ground, and her body began to lift upwards. The action around her quickly began to speed up, until it was moving in a manner much to fast to be normal time. Rainbow was back at the top of the cliff in no time, watching in awe as a sorrowful Twilight clutching a sobbing Spike. Time began to flow backwards even faster, to Discord's return. Faster, to the night when Twilight had died. Faster, to when she first saw Twilight in the Changeling's caves. Faster, to the last day the six of them stood together to defeat Queen Chrysalis. Faster, to when she first met Twilight all those years ago. Faster. Faster. FASTER. The world around her became a rapid blur, key events popping out to her among the countless others. Her twelfth birthday. Her first Wonderbolt's show. Her birth. A myriad of time taking place in a mere matter of seconds. Then, it froze. Rainbow Dash was staring a a single scene frozen in time. Bolts and beams of pure, molten magic hung like sizzling rockets in the sky. Giant, equine creatures of mass proportion stood frozen, gazes of pure wrath directed at each other, and their ethereal manes as still as statues. She gazed at the battle in awe, amazed by the power and scale of what was... what had taken place. "Amazing, isn't it?" came a regal voice from behind her. Rainbow turned around to see Princess Luna slowly walking up behind her. "P-princess!" she said, hastily bowing. A soft smile graced the old alicorn's face. "You need not bow, Rainbow Dash," she said. "For I am no longer a ruler of Equestria. Please, address me as Luna." The pegasus straightened herself upwards, still taking in the massive warzone around her. "What is this?" she asked in a breathless whisper. Luna too gazed at the expanse around them. "This is the first and final battle of the patriarchs." She gently floated off of the ground. "The battle for the universe." Rainbow began to float as well. "A war to determine whether chaos or harmony would rule the times to come." The two were a safe distance above the battlefield, and with a flash of Luna's horn, time once again resumed. Massive explosions of raw energy exploded in Dash's magenta eyes as watched the scene unfold before her. "A Pyrrhic Victory that would see to set the natural laws of the known universe." The mare focused her attention once again on the rainbow pegasus next to her. "What you are witnessing is the creation of the universe." Rainbow focused her eyes more closely, and she realized with awe that Luna was right. Each time two of the bolts collided with one another, thousands of spiraling galaxies burst outwards, flinging off into infinite directions. These ponies before here were literally creating the universe right before her eyes. Suddenly, her attention was grabbed by a trio of equines in the middle of the battlefield. They looked as if they were teamed together; their flanks to each other, firing blast after blast of radiant magic outwards. A cloud of galaxies lay around their hooves, rising up like a mist around them. "Wow..." whispered Dash to herself. "Who are they?" Luna smiled softly as she turned her attention to the trio to whom Rainbow referred. "Those are the winners. Andromeda and Milky Way." Andromeda was a beautiful mare, with a sleek, dark violet coat, and an ethereal mane which glittered with stars. Milky Way was a pure white stallion, his face locked in a rigid grimace of determination. His deep, blue eyes gazed hardly at his current opponent, sending a chill up Dash's spine. Then, she looked at the third remaining pony. His figure was shrouded in a dark cloak. Only a glimpse of his pitch black mane was present, illuminated by the glow of his blue aura. "But who is he?" Luna looked back at the trio of ponies. "It is unknown who he is. He had never been seen before, and has not spoken a word since." Rainbow Dash lifted a skeptical eye to gaze at the former princess. "How do you know all this?" she asked. The mare smiled down upon the pegasus, mirth filling her voice. "I just spoke to them recently." Before Dash could question what she meant, a strong wind swirled about, the setting around them disintegrating as if it were made of dust. Soon, the two were in a vortex of swirling, colorful sand. Rainbow began to rise up, with Luna likewise. With the roar of the wind in her ears, Luna shouted one last thing to the pegasus. "Tell Twilight: Ad Rimula et Ultra!" Then, with a grand sweep of her wings, she backed out of the spiraling column, and got swept away in the sand. "WHAT?!" cried Dash into the myriad. Then she too, was lifted away into the vortex and was gone.