Bloodline

by Haseo

Chapter 9 - The Everfree

Bloodline
Chapter 9 – The Everfree

Twilight mind became obsessed with the dark idea inside her head. She turned around to Light Chaser and shot him an mischievous but emotionless glare. Her eyes rocketed back and forth between Pinkie Pie and the crystal pegasus. For a second she closed her eyes. After a short breath, they snapped back open. “Alright. Luna might be right, so I have to make some preparations. Light Chaser? Would you be so kind and bring Pinkie home?”

Light Chaser shot her a questioning glare. “Do you really think it is a good idea to let me run around alone in the darkness? Together with an earth pony that couldn't defend me against this cult?”

The alicorn groaned and rolled with her eyes. “I guess you're right. Stay still...”

Twilight charged her horn and released a bolt of her magic towards Light. Her magic flooded his body and sank into every fiber of his flesh. He stayed still, stunned from the shock. Twilight turned away and explained her action while he walked away. “I've connected your neural system with mine. When you're extremely nervous or frightened I will notice and come immediately to your aid. They won't be able to defeat me with pure magic since I have become an alicorn. That's for sure. They know I'm angry. I think none of them would be foolish enough to battle me now. It should be safe for now.”

Light Chaser sighed, but his sight went to the still shaking pink mare next to them. “Fine. I will accompany her until she reaches her home.”

Twilight didn't even hear him anymore. Sometimes Light Chaser didn't understand this mare. He guessed that it was pointless to try to understand a mare at all. He stretched his hoof towards Pinkie and tried to help her get up.

When Pinkie grabbed his hoof, a cold shiver raced over his spine, but he didn't flinch at all. Slowly, it had become normal to get touched by another pony. Light went over to the door and held it upon for the terrified mare. While Pinkie passed him, he let his eyes wander over her coat. A thought raced through his mind. If a pony that witnessed a murder will become gloomy like that, how does a pony that had murdered feel and look like? Light quickly shook his head and banished these kinds of thoughts out of his mind.

Light closed the door behind him and caught up to Pinkie. For some time they didn't talk to each other and just quietly walked down the dirt road to Sugar Cube Corner. No one would have guessed who eventually started the conversation. Pinkie remained silent until Light Chaser broke the ice. “So you are Pinkie Pie? I think Twilight mentioned you a few times. It's really sad that we have to meet under this circumstances.”

Pinkie Pie remained silent. This was probably the longest time-span since she’d lived in Ponyville that her mouth hadn't been constantly moving. She opened the door as they reached Sugar Cube Corner and stepped inside. Before she vanished into the room, she turned around to face Light Chaser.

The crystal pegasus cocked an eye on her. Nopony would even suspect Pinkie to have an evil glare. But her expression was the pure impression of grief and sorrow. “Spike's death is your fault! Nothing like this would have happened if you hadn't shown up!”

These were the first words Pinkie spoke on their way. She slammed the door shut. The lights inside the sweet shop turned on but Light Chaser remained outside the wooden door, left alone in the coldness of the night. Her words sank deep into his mind. Never before had he felt hurt just from words. He didn't know what to do or to say. The only thing that calmed the uproar w in his heart as the quiet whistling of leaves that were dancing along with the wind.

Still shocked, he turned around and began his way back to the Golden Oak library. But of course, he wasn't alone out there. Another pony watched him from far above his head, jumping from cloud to cloud, carefully following his steps. The pony quickly shot down from the sky and headed almost with the speed of sound towards Light Chaser. At the last moment, she pulled upwards and shot above his head. She flew in a curve, only to end up right in front of Light Chaser, who watched the cyan blur with surprise.

Rainbow Dash came slowly to a halt in front of him and finally set her hooves at the ground. She gave him a smug smile and nudged his shoulder. “Hey! What are you doing out here, in the middle of the night? Couldn't it be dangerous for you alone out here?”

Light Chaser lowered his head and continued slowly his path. Rainbow Dash walked along but kept an eye on him. He didn't pay much attention to the multi-colored mare at all. However, he did answer her question. “Twilight cast a spell upon me, so every time I'm in fright or distress she will notice and come to my aid. At least, this is what she told me.”

Rainbow looked around and tried as hard as she could to find anything suspicious, but nothing was visible in the dark around them. “Twilight could have asked me to keep an eye on you instead! I kinda took a favor in you. We would be great flying buddies! I hope Twilight will find a way to let you fly again. That would be awesome! Anyway... Why did you bring Pinkie home at all? She usually wanders around at night as well. She would never be afraid to go alone.”

Light Chaser sighed slightly, his head still pointed towards the ground. Quietly, he revealed the truth to the uninformed mare. “After Twilight and I got home, we learned that somepony broke into the library. Pinkie Pie was setting up a party for me secretly. She had to witness all the bad things that happened. I'm not surprised that her entire body was shaking when we found her.”

For the first time in minutes, Rainbow began to flap her wings again and hovered in front of him, shooting Light a smug smile. “Hey! That's not a reason to become all sad and stuff! I'm sure that there was nothing important in the library, since... well it’s a library. There are only books and stuff like that. Nothing with real value, right?”

Light Chaser elevated his head and stared directly into her eyes. Coldly, he told her what Pinkie Pie had to see. “Maybe the books weren't valuable. They weren't after the books. They came after me! This makes the whole thing even worse. Spike had to die because of me! Pinkie just said it! It is all my fault!”

Rainbow's wings clipped to her body in shock and let her fall a foot to the ground. With a loud thud, she landed right in front of him. There were already little dots of tears in the corners of his eyes. She didn't know what to say. Never before had she had to comprehend the death of somepony close to her. Only one thing was clear to Rainbow; it wasn't Light Chaser's fault. She stepped next to him and laid a supporting hoof at his shoulder. “Hey, hey, listen to me. It is not your fault that these sickos killed Spike. No sane pony would do something like that to another living creature. It’s their fault for being such monsters!”

The tension inside his body rose. Even though it was dark around them, Rainbow thought she noticed that Light Chaser's crystal coat got even darker than before. “Only because the same blood as King Sombra's flows through my veins, they want to hunt me down. What shall I do? I can't hide, nor could I run away! They will find me, no matter where I go! I can't even fly! The only purpose I have is to sacrifice my body to this cult. I'm worthless!”

Rainbow was losing him. She had to think of something to calm him very quickly before he finally decided to do something stupid. “The Princesses wouldn't have saved you if you were worthless! Many ponies would be really sad if you vanished! Fluttershy and Twilight would miss you! I would miss you! You would be surprised how much you mean to me after such a short time! Gosh! We even turned Discord into one of our friends! Nopony is truly worthless. As long as you have friends that care for you, you are not worthless!”

Light Chaser's look told more than more could possibly do right now. He simply stared at the cyan mare in the twilight in disbelief. His mouth stood fully agape. “I would have never thought that you were such a sensitive mare. You seemed to be quite a boyish pegasus. But now I'm kinda looking at you with different eyes, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow blushed slightly while she turned her head away from him. She hissed at his disrespectful comment and slowly trotted on. Of course, the crystal pegasus followed her. His steps were audible to her in the stillness of the night. She tried to hold a few steps distance between them. “Nopony calls me boyish! I'm just very athletic! It’s true that I hate to get all sappy and stuff, but I'm still an awesome mare! I just care about my friends. So deal with it.”

He couldn't act different than flashing her a wide smile. “I really appreciate such company as yours, Rainbow. I think you are really cool. Do you want to hang out for a while? I don't think Twilight awaits me back this soon.”

Rainbow didn't have to think long about his offer. She took his hoof and pointed it towards her. Rainbow withdrew her hooves and slammed into a hoof-bump. “Of course, buddy! I think I know just the spot to chill out!”

The cyan mare wanted to elevate into the air and brush off but she quickly remembered Light's disability and clipped her wings in. They walked past the darkened homes of the citizens of Ponyville. Most of them were already soundly sleeping inside their beds. Rainbow and Light walked towards the alley that led into the Everfree Forest.

The houses became fewer and fewer before disappearing, while more trees began to surround them. Only a little bit of the moonlight could pierce through the thick layer of leaves. Strange shadows stretched over the ground and crossed their path. Startled by the unknown, Light Chaser moved closer to Rainbow Dash.

She noticed the upcoming warmth of his body, but didn't care. Secretly, she was uncomfortable as well in this spooky environment. Light Chaser looked nervously around the shades of the trees. “Where are we heading to? Something here feels wrong to me.”

Rainbow rolled with her eyes. She pressed air through her slightly opened lips to create a whistling sound. “Nowhere special. I only want to show you the most mysterious place all over Equestria! The Everfree Forest is a place where magic is constantly roaming. Strange things are always happening here. There are many legends around this place! Most of the ponies that enter, never return!

Light's eyes widened in fear. Every single muscle in his legs began to itch, and even his wings spread. “Oh! That's fine! Now that I have seen this place we can turn around, right?”

Rainbow couldn't suppress her laughter. Light Chaser blushed at the shame he felt from her mockery. Paralyzed by his own thoughts, Light didn't notice that the dirt road underneath his hooves had vanished. The thorn bushes on both their sides came closer and closer with every step. The whistling of the wind that blew through the tiny gaps between the leaves and branches of the plants around them scared him even more.

The cyan mare was still maniacally laughing before a not really gentle nudge from the crystal pegasus stopped her. She turned to him with still teary eyes. “What's wrong? I wasn't laughing at you, you know?”

Light Chaser simply pointed his hoof towards the sky. Rainbow's eyes followed it, but the cloudy sky of Equestria was nowhere to be found. The branches of the trees around them were thickly intertwined, so no light could fall to the ground beneath. Rainbow quickly shot upwards and pressed against the ceiling of wood and leaves but it wouldn't let her pass. She raced back in the direction they’d come from, but she was welcomed by another wall of plants that tossed her back at the ground in front of Light Chaser's hooves. Rainbow looked hastily at her surroundings. Her sight was limited to a few feet due to the missing light. She began to pant rapidly. “This is not good… this is not good.”

Sweat poured down Light Chaser's forehead. “You are kidding, right? I mean, we are not really trapped in here, are we?”

He got nervous, his wings wanting to flap so badly. However, there was no sense in using them. It was impossible to fly for him. “Please say something, Rainbow!”

Rainbow Dash continued to look around, searching desperately for an exit. Her wings flapped at an insane speed and carried her from one side of their prison to another. “This place isn't called the place of endless magic for nothing. It's common that weird things happen here, but we’ve always had found a way out of here, so far!”

Light Chaser's heart skipped a few beats it almost stopped by the unbelievable amount of fear. He curled up into a little ball. He remembered the enchantment Twilight had casted upon him. His eyes rocketed up to the place where the sky was supposed to be. “Twilight! You promised to save me! No matter what happens! So where are you, foul alicorn! Make use of your magic and save us!”

His scream remained unanswered. Nothing seemed to happen around them. The forest remained dark and silent. Only the sound of the plants crawling over the ground was slightly audible. Rainbow tried to take a step towards Light but something at her rearhoof stopped her from advancing.

Rainbow looked behind her and noticed a tendril of thorns that was wrapped around her ankle. She shook her hoof violently, but the tendril wouldn't let go of her so easily. “Go away, you stupid piece of wood!”

In fear, Light Chaser tried to stretch his hoof towards the immobilized mare, but a bright beam of light blinded them. He opened his eyes a tiny bit in order to catch a glimpse of the light's source. The silhouette of a pony came into view. “Twilight? Is that you? Are you finally here?”

The pony came into view. Rainbow Dash was still blinded from the sudden ray of light and didn't even notice the approaching mare. The blue mare with a white mane was illuminated by the background light. She seemed to be an wingless angel. She looked upon the caught pegasus and the almost weeping form of Light Chaser. She lowered her gaze and stared into his eyes. “If you want your friend to be freed, then you will come with the great... I mean, then you will come with me! We will make sure that your heart’s desires will be fulfilled. Come into the light and finally be able to be become what your heart is craving for.”

The tendrils climbed up Rainbow's back, but Light Chaser's heartbeat slowed down. He calmed down when he opposed the being in front if him. “Everything I want?”

The change in his attitude didn't matter to Twilight, who was already searching for him in the Everfree Forest. The odd magic inside this place was dislocating her teleportation spells over and over again. After a dozens of tries she finally reached the place where he was supposed to be. However, the only thing she saw was Rainbow Dash wrapped in a rope, lying on the ground. The cyan mare looked up with small tears in her eyes. “A pony came here! She took Light Chaser with her!”

Comments

[-Brutus]

Dun dun, cliffhanger!