When the Everfree Burns

by SpiritDutch

Chapter 22: Writhe by Night

Spike was shaken awake. At first he thought the pony over him was Rarity, for through half lidded eyes it seemed like the dressmaker’s mannerisms and general aura.

“It all makes perfect sense now! I thought the magic survey I took last month was a waste of time, but now I see that it revealed exactly what I wanted.” Twilight pounded her hoof against the map she had made, sending her cartography supplies into the air. "I'm homing in on it. I'll find the altar, then..."

“Uh what?” Spike rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Twilight, what time is it?"

“Spike, darling, it's only mid-afternoon. Sleeping now is going to mess up your sleep cycle.” Twilight beamed. “Do you remember those curious old scrolls we found in the town hall? The ones that mayor of 'Dneighper Crypt', Solemn?”

“Uh, yeah.” Spike rubbed the rheum from the corners of his eyes. "We asked Applejack about them. It was kinda pointless."

“Desperation has turned that lemon into juice, Spike! I read them more closely, and mercy me if there wasn't a detailed description of the village that stood on this spot two-hundred years ago! It was really interesting, figuring out how things lined up between then and now. Rarity's parents house was in the same place, the Golden Oak was once known as Valor's House, and the spot of Fluttershy's cottage was called the Sanctuary. Cool, right?"

"Is this what you woke me up from my nap for?" Spike grumbled.

"No no no. It's when I went hunting for more clues." Twilight grinned. "I'm just back from Fluttershy's! I was going to ask her what she knew about the spot of her house, but unbelievably, she had this map out on her coffee table when I arrived! Like, a two-hundred year old map with everything I was looking for, right in front of me." She tapped the map in front of her. "And look! It has angles and distances for a point inside the Everfree Forest."

Spike peered over her shoulder. "I don't get it. Why does this matter." He asked. "And would Fluttershy be happy about you writing on her map?"

"Err, probably not, but I can magically reverse my alterations when I'm done." Twilight said."Fluttershy wouldn't mind anyway." She didn't feel the need to mention that Fluttershy was hunted and knocked out, according to Rarity. Twilight couldn't remember what she'd done, just the feelings of triumph that had come with finding the map.
She looked over at the box of horseshoes she'd taken from Rarity's house. It was like fate was delivering her the tools to escape her cured infection. If only she could keep it together a little longer.

"Does that mean you can solve this plague, Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Yes. I'm going to solve the problem so thoroughly, we'll never have to worry about it again." Twilight tapped the map. "Tonight. Right now.

"But Twilight," Spike stood up and skipped to the window. "It's getting dark! A- And you're talking about going into the Everfree!"

"That's right." Twilight nodded. "You've trusted me so far, and look how come I've come to making the problem go away. You can trust me a little farther, Spike."

"I..." Spike balled his claws into fists. "You can't keep telling me lies Twilight!"

"S- Spike!" Twilight gasped.

"You tell me everything except what's really been going on." He accused, tears forming at the edges of his eyes. "If t- this is your fault, you can tell me! I just want to help you Twilight. Please! Please Twilight! I don't want to feel like I can't help you!"

Twilight ground her teeth, paralyzed. What could she say that Spike would accept?

Spike watched her, and she him, in silence. Neither was going to budge, they realized.

"Hurting you is going to break my heart, Spike. But you don't understand the power of the Dark. I must go alone." She stood up. "I'm going to erase nightmare from our Bright World forever. Are you going to let me go?"

Spike bared his nubby teeth. "It does have to be you, Twilight." He said, pleading more than he was demanding. "It doesn't have to be you!"

"I'm sorry, Spike. It's the duty of the well born to protect the commoners. I have had my doubts in moments of weakness, and maybe that's why I'm so determined to do it alone now." She said, looming over him. "I'm not a bad pony. I can be a force for good, despite the means I've had to resort to!"

Spike closed his eyes. His sighed turned into a little sob. "You're a good pony by just being Twilight."

Twilight wished that were true. If she could withdraw into the library and sit out the night, she would. But she could not, and part of her knew that if she did not destroy the nightmare in her head, she would not see the next dawn. "The world won't know that if we die, Spike. If I sit this out, you'll still be able to talk and pretend to love me, but I'll be dead. There will be another creature in my body. I HAVE to do this."

"T-T- Then I'll come with you!" Spike ran to her. "I'm your knight, Twilight! I'll allways-" He doubled over and covered his mouth. "HrrRK!"He belched out a slithering cloud of green fire, which hovered in the air before coalescing into a scroll. The scroll, gravity taking a hold of it, landed on the floor between the two bickering friends.

“That’s Celestia’s seal.” Twilight breathed. "She..." She closed her eyes. "She remembers me. Am I mad to hope its telling me she knows what's happening and has a solution?"

Spike recovered from the transmission and snatched the scroll off the floor. With a worried glance at Twilight took the initiative and retrieved the scroll from the floor. He unrolled it and began to read.

“From her royal highness, Celestia, princess of the sun, empress of Equestria, and blah-di blah-di blah…” He looked up from the scroll. “It literally says, Blah-di blah-di blah.”

“Keep reading.” Twilight urged.

Twilight, do not be alarmed by what I am about to say.

Things have been going wrong in Canterlot. I do not known how much you know of happenings here in the capital, but none of them are good. At length, I have decided to forsake the capital. I know what this represents. I am under no delusions. Our nation is at the edge of chaos.

You see Twilight, A few ponies can turn a million into monsters. They are not even bad ponies, only ambitious and unreasonable. But when conflict stirs in the hearts of a pony, she is driven to unspeakable acts. Canterlot has become the den of conflict between ponies, worldview, and potential futures of Equestria. I have declined to join that fray.

Twilight, I ask that you to set aside whatever feeling you have for me to hear what I have to say next. It’s worthless to say it to you through writing, a clear show of cowardice, but then again most of my actions lately have been driven by a deep, unshakable cowardice. I fear the consequences of taking any action to such a degree than I opted for so long to do anything. Paltry excuse, and surely one that rings hollow. I am not even sure if it is true. I have a difficult time interpreting my own actions.
Despite this, I know you need to know the truth as quickly as I can send it to you.
Twilight, you were right.

There is a supernatural evil lurking in the shadows. What you discovered in the books of prophecy those months ago is only half the truth. The Nightmare trapped in the Moon, who was once my sister, is about to return to Equestria. Already her Dark magic is in Ponyville, seeding the land with its energy. With the help of the wickedness within our own hearts, Nightmare will escape to bring about nighttime eternal.

Do not dispair. You are not alone, Twilight. At the time of me writing this, my airship is five hours from Ponyville. I have called up as many ponies as I could and now bring them for the impending confrontation. Half-a-hundred ponies, ready to fight the nightmares that infest the village will soon be at your side. That is if you join us - I understand if don’t want a part of this. We will be ruthless. It is necessary.

Then with luck, you and I can stop my sister before her second rebellion ever begins. I fear that we will not be so lucky. I feel weak, but gods willing seeing you will rejuvenate me. This fight, critical to the future of not only Equestria but the sun itself, needs us at our best. Pray, Twilight, that we march from this place with a furvor so great we march right back into Canterlot and banish tose whose ambitions harm the harmony of ponykind.

Yet I can not be purely optimistic. As I said I truly am in a bad way at the moment. Apathy and emptiness of heart have worn my connections to magic. I feel I might wither at any moment, and that my pure will to live is the only thing holding me here. This is not inconsequential. I can barely grasp my mother sun anymore. She is slipping out of my control. Sensing my great weakness, she has moved forward the date of the Summer Sun, to give me an opportunity to regenerate. She wants me to participate in the succession, and let a new Celestia take my place.
I will not be taking that opportunity. And while she is well intentioned, I will never be succeeded. I am Celestia, and I live upon this world forevermore. I shall never let my dream leave my home. The consequences of the erratic imminence of the Summer Sun are yet unknown. The even very well may come as battle is joined again Nightmare Moon. Oh, one can imagine a poetic convergence like that will be remembered for eons.

I’m rambling now, but it is because I feel I have so much to tell you. I miss you terribly, Twilight. Every tortured night, and with every premonition, I wish for nothing more than to see you, give you my everlasting confidences. I need to hear your voice, feel your comforting hug. I feel that I will strengthen considerably from that.

I have wronged you immensely, Twilight Sparkle. I swear by everything that I am that I shall not do it again.

Celestia

Spike put the letter down, and looked up to see Twilight staring somewhere a million miles away. The little unicorn was hardly breathing.

“Twilight?” Spike hadn’t understood very much of the letter, but if Twilight’s reaction was anything to go off of, things were very bad. “Twilight, what does this mean for you? I-Is Celestia alright?”

“I’m alarmed.” Twilight said. She took a step away from spike, flash a sorrowful smile, then the room was filled with blinding purple light as she teleported away.

"Twilight!" Spike rushed forward and grasped at empty air. "Come back! Take me with with you!” He to the ground. "TWILIGHT! T- TWILIGHT!"
He flung the front door. "Don't worry! I'm coming!" He ran as fast as his little legs would take him towards the Everfree Forest.

---

But unbeknownst to Spike, Twilight had not teleported nearly so far as the Forest. She reappeared on the roof of the town hall, where she had a commanding view of the center of Ponyville.
The village was quiet. The fear of the 'plague' that had been giving ponies fevers, nausia, and comas had kept the sensible ponies indoors. There were a coupld vegtable sellers in the little market square.

"Celestia's coming here. She's really coming. The first time in decades she's leaving Canterlot." Twilight muttered. "And when she realizes what I am, she's going to kill me."

Twilight needed every ounce of control she could muster. She needed every tool and scrap of energy to survive Celestia, Nightmare Moon, and the Dark in her head.
That meant so she needed to take every measure to stay conscious. She had to keep the nightmare in her heat satiated, lest it begin controlling her again. The creeping itch of madness was climbing it’s way into Twilight’s mind. Soon she’d find herself stripped of all inhibition, leaping at the first opportunity to hunt. She’d been lucky so far, The nightmare was clever enough to preserve it’s host and that meant it had taken steps to avoid confrontation. How long would it last if the nightmare legitimately feared Celestia’s arrival, as Twilight now did?

A distant peal of thunder rolled through the valley. Twilight looked to the west, where a dark formation of thunderclouds were massing their forces. With the majority of Ponyville’s pegasi under the weather, there was nopony to even delay the impending storm. It would be raining soon.

"I'm going to need to hunt three, maybe four ponies. That will tide me over until noon tomorrow." Twilight wagered. "Nothing too dramatic." She looked to the eastern skies, where the sun was descending towards the mountains. "Celestia will be here in five hours... It will be well dark by then. Just five hours for me to save myself from this nightmare."

But who to choose?

---

An Hour Earlier.

Applejack hadn't been back to Ponyville since waking up in the hospital and having it explained to her that she'd fell into a coma caused by a mysterious plague. She almost took that claim seriously until the doctor told her that Rarity had suffered the same symptoms.
Applejack had seen very clearly what had made Rarity pass out. She'd been right across the table when Twilight Sparkle had leaned over to Rarity, almost close enough to his the other unicorn, and cast the hunting spell.

That left Applejack with a swirling sea of questions. She'd ended up in the hospital after being found on the road back to the farm, but she knew for sure Twilight was also in the hospital when she'd left. Could Twilight have hunted her from a distance, while also passed out? And how did Twilight end up like that anyway?
It didn't make sense. Applejack would have bared her teeth and chalked it up to unicorn shenanigans, if not for one clear memory: The Tower.

She saw it clearly, every time she closed her eyes. The spire of black stone, in a world of swirling clouds, that welcomed Ponyville's sinners. She saw the faces of the tower's unspeakable denizens, who taunted and jeered at her with other pony's voices. She remember how she'd been wracked by sorrow, her apologies sounding hollow in her own ears, her pleading met only with jeers from the purple manifestations.
She remembered Rarity being there, and what she'd done.

"Hey! Applejack!" A voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"Hmm?" She sat up. She was on the front porch of the Apple farmstead, lounging in a rocking chair.

The pony approaching her was a light yellow earth pony with a magenta-red mane. She had green eyes and a friendly smile. "We've been missing you. You haven't been at the market for a week."

"Heya Rose." Applejack nodded to her fellow vender. "Y'all come out to check on me?"

"Just wanted to make sure you're alive." Rose laughed good-naturedly. "I know you think I trend more to Rarity's crowd, but I was really concerned not to see you there for so long. Is everything alright?"

"Yep." Applejack nodded. "Just fine. Gettin plenty of work done clearin the orchards of winter debris. Gunna be a good harvest come Fall."

"That's good to hear." Rose nodded. "I'm curious why you're not at market though? I mean, you still have stock right?"

"I do."

"Then-"

"Ain't felt up for it. I had that spell in the hospital ya know."

"Oh." Rose blinked. "Yes, the plague. I'm sorry. I assumed you'd be fine since Rarity and Lady Sparkle walked it off as soon as they woke up."

"Guess I ain't as resilient." Applejack muttered.

"Well now I feel terrible for hassling a sick mare." Rose smiled awkwardly. "I should leave you to it."

"You don't have to go." Applejack sat up. "I've got some apple brandy brought up from the cellar if you want some."

Rose peaked a brow, amused that a sick mare would be drinking. "You're kind, but I have to pass. Since I know you're realatively okay, I have to check in on my cousin's kids., since she's been bedridden by the nausia that's been going around."

"I get'chya." Applejack nodded. "See ya."

Rose trotted back up the path to Ponyville. Applejack remained in the old chair, rocking it forward and backwards slowly.

The Tower... Had she seen Rose there, clinging to its stones in desperation like the rest of Ponyville? She couldn't remember. The Tower though, she just counldn't get it out of her head.

She stood up.

---

Slightly Less than an Hour Later.

Twilight was scanning the streets from her perch atop the town hall, when she heard a hoofstep. She wasn't sure why she heard it so clearly among the strengthening gusts of wind and the rustle of the trees. It came from somewhere behind one of the cottages, so she teleported to a closer roof to get a look.

Applejack was plodding her way towards the west side of Ponyville, looking nervous. Twilight's head squirmed, urging her to take her strength from the earth pony.

She teleported to street level. Applejack reeled in surprise. "Twilight!"

"Lady Twilight, if you please." Twilight bowed. "I haven't seen you in town."

"Been sick." Applejack said.

Twilight was struck by the realization that she'd never hunted Applejack. Why then had she been in the hospital, and why did she faintly remember the taste of the earth pony's dreams?
"You're better now?"

"Had time to recover and think." Applejack said. "I'm here to see you, actually."

"Really?"

"I've been two-faced with you Lady Sparkle. I ain't treated you right." Applejack said. She Twilight around the shoulder and dragged her into the alley between two cottages. Twilight was too surprised to resist, until Applejack had already let her go. "I- I'm a bad pony! I've been unkind, malicious, downright dishonorable!" She kneeled. "Send me back, I'm beggin ya! Let me purified!"

"W-w-What?!" Twilight ogled, clueless to what Applejack was talking about.

"The Tower." Applejack whimpered. "I gotta go back, don't ya see?! I ain't worthy. Punish me again, Twilight!"

There it was again, the same as Rarity had said. The Tower. It couldn't be a fluke.
"You're asking me to hunt you." Twilight realized. That had been when Rarity had spoken of it.

"I'm weak. I'm yer prey." Applejack sobbed. "Hunt me! Steal my stuff! I deserve it." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'd ask ya to do it in front of everypony, let them see my sufferin, but I know you're a shy pony who'd abhors the spectacle. Just please do it. I don't wanna see this world any longer with my sinful eyes."

"Applejack, do you even know what you're asking of me?" Twilight asked, shaking in anxiety. It felt so odd, having a pony offer herself up. "You're offering me your magic, your dreams, like it's nothing!"

"I don't deserve 'em. Take it all from me and don't give it back 'till I'm a good girl." Applejack mewled. "I ain't decivin ya. I'm a petitioner, asking the only pony who can help me."

"You're mad. You're absolutely mad." Twilight muttered, wide-eyed.
But she couldn't turn an honest supplicant down. She knelt by Applejack and charged her horn. "Last change to back down."

Applejack closed her eyes and began whispering prayers.

"Goodness gracious." Twilight sighed. She cast the spell and relished in the rush of emotion and energy that swept over her.

Applejack crumpled.
The wind before the approaching storm front picked up, tussling the grass and fur. It was promising to be a heck of a night.

"Well god dang. Yer dreams got a mighty fine taste, Applejack." Twilight straightened up. "Got one in me. Two more will do it."
She screamed into the air to attract the attention of somepony to find the comatose Applejack. Then, she teleported away. She knew where the next hunt would come from.

---

When Rarity work up, she felt disappointment. Not only in her inability exact her revenge on Twilight Sparkle, but for her failure to surmount the tower for yet another go. The visit had been so short! It had been mid-morning when she'd been hunted, and now waking up it was barely evening! Was the Tower getting tired of her?
But she felt close to a breakthrough. Just one more visit, and she would be sitting pretty atop that indomitable spire of black stone.

So when she herd the crackle of dissipating magical energy from outside the room she was in, she was pleased.

"Lady Sparkle, is that you?" She called out.

Twilight's shadow proceded her into the humble workroom. "Yes, and more."
Project garments were strewn about the room, alongside sketches, lengths of ribbon, and spools of thread. Fashion disasters and recent successes were all mixed together in different corners.
"I'm shocked you're awake. I tore enough magic from you to keep you in bed for a week."

"As I deserved." Rarity purred. "It was so unkind of me to harm you how I did. Mere commoner that I am, I would get the death penalty for that in any court in the land."

Twilight sucked in a breath. Rarity was asking strange too? Just perfect. "I'm not blameless myself. My heresy will get me scoured from existance if Celestia ever learns what I've done. But you don't even think to blackmail me."

"Why that would be downright uncouth!" Rarity tittered. "It's the prerogative of we commoners to suffer whatever objectionable things our well born lord saddle us with."

"You should visit a Canterlot coffee house some time, and hear all about the latest theories about class consciousness and sovereignty." Twilight advanced into the middle of the room. "But one thing all the political theorists agree on is the concept of sacrificing for the good of the body civic. Is that what you think your doing? It was your reasoning before: Letting me take from you so I don't hurt others. That didn't stop me."

"And you wonder why I welcome you." Rarity observed. "You must think me neurotic, trying to kill you this morning and beckoning you here in the evening. I shall say I learned the error of my ways."

"So you're going to forgive me for hunting Fluttershy and your sister." Twilight frowned.

"I'm going to look past it. We all make mistakes." Rarity flashed an affable smile. "So let's not dawdle like naive schoolfillies. To the main event."

Twilight could detect absolutely no hostile intent, so she cautiously joined Rarity by the window. "Princess Celestia is coming. She will be here in four hours. That's how long I have to gather as much energy as I can and strike out to the Everfree to solve this problem inside me."

"Good luck with that." Rarity's smile twisted. "There are nasty things in that forest. You are a powerful pony Lady Sparkle, but I don't expect you to survive."

"Then I guess my fight again this cursed fate will have been for nothing." Twilight grunted. "I apreciate you letting me get this done quick. Another fight would have wasted time."

"And I am not yet strong enough to even think about resisting you." Rarity bowed her head. "Go on then. Send me to the tower."

"Hmm." Rumbled in displeasure. "Why is everypony saying that. What does that mean?"

"The tower is where ponykind fight again the shackles that hold them down. It wears the mask of a prison, a curse, but it is actually there to let us strive upward, to reach god and plunder her secrets." Rarity said reverently. "Poetic, isn't-"
She collapsed, as the hunting spell stole her consciousness away. Twilight gently held her shoulder to keep her falling off the chair.

"Let's hope, darling, that this is the last time we resort to this barbarism." Twiight whispered to her. She stepped away from the window and shattering it with a bolt of magic. Somepony would come to investigate and see Rarity. Hopefully they would get her to the hospital before the looming storm front collided with Ponyville.
"One last-"

Twilight words died on her toungue. She felt a pulse in the magical auras around Ponyville like she'd never felt before. it was odd, alien. It didn't belong to any pony, and Twilight dared say it didn't even belong to a mortal.

"My word. Has a Star come to Ponyville to head my work off?" Twilight wondered. Taking a deep breath, she teleported away.

---

Embers in the deep dark. Two embers, flittering around above a whirlpool. Two and a half, embers, flickering as they endured the painful cold.
Wherever Rainbow Dash went. She was confident she would have Gilda beside her. They were two souls, fighting together against anything that stood in their way.
That is how it had been, how it once was. Now Rainbow Dash was feeling cold. Her friend's jaw was set and stern. They did not laugh together any more. Anything either of them said or didn't say served as another wedge to drive them apart.
Their fated friendship was doomed to end.

They flew slightly ahead of the east-bound storm, gliding on the winds. Below them, the lush Dneighper Valley was cast in stark colors as the run set on the mountains.

"That's Ponyville." The gruff voice of Gilda pierced Rainbow Dash's wandering thoughts. "It's smaller than I imagined."

"Think Mare is waiting for us?"

"We discussed this Dash. There's no chance she's ahead of us. The farthest she could be is the southern deserts."
Gilda was a griffin, large and brown, a hybrid of a lion and an eagle. Her yellow eyes roamed the skies and land unblinkingly.
"But we didn't come all this way just to meet Mare."

"No, we didn't." Rainbow Dash agreed quietly.

They glided lower and lower, to just above the canopy. They passed acres of apple trees, a farmhouse, until they greached the grassy flatland Ponyville was built on. They hovered above the houses for a minute.

"We can at least check around for her." Rainbow Dash said quietly.

"I'm not hanging around. She's not here." Gilda said gruffly.

"But G..." Dash sighed pathetically.

"No putting it off, Dash." They landed in the square around the circular town all. "This is where we agreed to make our decision."

"Y- Yeah." Rainbow Dash could feel herself tearing up. She'd thought she'd prepared herself enough, but there was no preparing for the wave of sorrow that swelled over her. "Time to say goodbye."

---

Twilight's spell dropped her back on top of the town hall, but it turned out she didn't need the high vantange point. The strange aura she felt was right below her.

"We faced a lot together, and did things that neither of us would have survived doing alone." A squawking voice carried up to Twilight. She crept to the edged and peered over.
Two creatures, a griffin and a teal pegasus mare with a rainbow mane were standing in the square, facing off. The griffin was speaking. "I both grew as individuals. We know the cost of a bit and of a life. It's been hard, and we've always had each other."

"Yeah..." The rainbow pegasus said miserably.

"But how we've grown, we've grown apart. It's nopony's fault, it's just a fact of circumstance. The thing is..." The giffin held up a talon claw. Twilight noticed that there was a strange band around her wrist, made of some shiny metal. She couldn't get a good look because of the angle and distance, but she swore it was in the shape of a winged unicorn. "We're not on the same level anymore. I've grown past my curse, learned it, quenched it, conquered it. I'm not the miserable, suicidal chick who gravitated to you all those years ago. I'm better. I'm more."

"Uh huh." The pegasus said. The longer her griffin companion spoke, the paler the mare became.

"I wanted you to feel the same, Dash. I really did. I wanted you to become a better pony alongside me. But you can't. You won't. You're never going to be able to get past Cloud Creche. It's not your past anymore. It's just you. Your thoughts, your words, your actions, you're always judging them against that moment." The griffin shook her head. "And you're never going to compare."

"It's who I am. I all I am." The pegasus named Dash agreed emptily. She looked to beat to even cry.

"I'm sorry Dash. You're my best friend." The griffin flapped her wings and rose into the air a ways. "I'll be up north, around the Embankment. Come by and hang out some time I guess. But please, find your worth and your pride before you even think about visiting."

"G... That's too far." Dash bit her lip. "I- I still need you, even if its only every so often."

Rage overtook GIlda's expression. "No you listen to me you stupid horse. You've done nothing expect writhe in your own misery and self-hatred for months. Not for a single moment did I think you were doing something to improve yourself. All the time, you fished for complements or words of reassurance from anypony, to smooth over your cracking ego for just a moment. We went on an amazing adventure and through it all you earned... NOTHING." She turned her back on Rainbow. "We ran up against foes more determined than us, more clever than us, and more powerful than us. It made me a better person. You're just the same. You're not entitled to my time, Dash. Find a schoolhouse and work your way up. I'm done being your crutch."

"I..." Dash didn't finish her sentence. She trailed off, and stared up at her friend in silence.

"Goodbye, Rainbow." Gilda sighed. She rose high into the air, above the level of the storm, and raced off to the north.

---

Dash felt cold. She stood alone, staring into space. She didn't know what to do, or where to go. It was like every skill and tool for living life had fell out, and she was left hollow.

Why live.
She could never redeem herself to the world if she couldn't even keep the interest of her closest friend.
Any good act she could ever commit was meaningless, in the face of the grand, unthinkable tragedy of Cloud Creche. At best, Dash would claw her way up to zero after a lifetime of tortuous effort.

Dash felt less than zero. She felt deep, deep in the negative. The emptiness in her chest felt like it was going to cause her to implode on herself.

"Hello there!" A voice called out to her.

Dash didn't look. She didn't even really hear it.

"Hello? HelloooOoo?" A purple face popped into her vision. "Are you alright?"

"I think..." Dash blinked. She focused on the unknown mare. "I wanna die."

"Oh, that's unfortunate." The mare frowned. "My condolences."

"Save it for when I get it done." Dash said bitterly. "I'm a waste of skin. I'm a murderer! I- I drag everypony around me down. You should just kill me before I hurt you too."

"Do you introduce yourself like that to everypony you meet?" The purple unicorn laughed.
Twilight was as amused as she was horrified. From what snippets she'd caught of the conversation, the griffin was upset mis rainbow pony was stagnating. Rainbow pony's response was, of course, to decide to kill herself. Brilliant.

"Just the ones I'm trying to befriend." Dash took a step forward. "Please, kill me. I know you can do it, with that horn of yours. It's be real easy."

"What the hell is going on today?! Everypony is acting so strange?" The mare exclaimed. "Like, stranger than would be expected in this strange, strange situation!"

"If you don't, I- I- I'll start attacking you, and you'll be forced to kill me!" Dash said, choking on her words. "But please, I don't wanna be in this world anymore where I have to face my victims!"

"Sheesh! You're nuts. You're asking me to kill, which is what you're all bend up about." The unicorn ran a hoof through her hair. "But I've got a good offer for you. I can send you to another world. An amazing one, that everypony want to be sent to."

"Huh?" Dash asked pitifully.

"It s a place of dreams and, so I'm told, becoming a better pony." The mare nodded. "It's called the Tower, and there will be two ponies there already to welcome you."

"The Tower..." Rainbow Dash tried to place that name in her memory. It sounded very familiar. "Y- You don't mean the Tower of the Bard, do you?"

"Who knows, friendo." The unicorn grinned. She took a step forward and lay a comforting hoof on Dash's shoulder. "Now let that singing wind carry you to your rest."

The cold was not just on her skin now. Dash tried to breath, but her whole body was frozen in place. The unicorn mare was staring directly into her eyes, speaking in a near chant while her burning horn competed with the darkness filling Dash’s vision.

Author's Note:

For Rainbow Dash and Gilda's tale, look forward to the Bridge chapters. They will be getting releases between the Arcs.

Comments

[TheCommunistDog]

Cool