Second Verse, Same as the First

by Obsidian Chitin

Drowning Through a Mirror

Everything was fading.

Was she in water? She couldn't breathe. Yes, she was underwater.

The water seemed to be rather red. That was probably just her blood.

She could sort of see the moon through the ripples. It was probably a beautiful night.

Her lungs burned. She had to go up for air.

Her legs refused to move at all, let alone paddle.

So this was how she was going to die. Shame.

Well, there were worse ways to go.

She closed her eyes and let everything fade away.

- - -

Her eyes slowly opened. She looked up, and saw the night sky. The moon was overhead. It was midnight.

Her head hurt. What was her name, again? It was... It started with an R, she was sure of that... Rainbow something?

She couldn't feel her wings. Perhaps they were just asleep? It would be best to stay on the ground for now.

Her legs were... Black and full of holes? That weren't her legs, those were the legs of a changeling!

She got to her hooves with a start. Everything flashed green for a second, and she could feel her wings again, though they felt sluggish and unwieldy. She groaned, it would be a while before she could fly.

She took a look at her surroundings. She was in the clearing of a small woods. She didn't recognize this place. On the horizon was a soft glow. She guessed that it was from a town, though why would so many lights be on this late at night?

She put her hoof forward, and noticed it was back to its original cyan color. A sigh of relief escaped her muzzle. Perhaps she was just seeing things before.

Rainbow Dash set off towards the town in the distance.

- - -

The sign she passed told her that this was the town of Crescent. She hadn't heard of a town with that name before, so she wasn't likely to know anypony in town.

But then again, she was the awesomeness that was Rainbow Dash; Everypony would know her!

She walked by a bookstore called “The Thousand Words”, paused, then walked in. Perhaps she could get more information on where she was here. Better yet, she could see if the new Daring Do book was in!

The bell rang as she entered the shop.

“Hello, can I help-” She heard a male voice say before suddenly stopping.

Rainbow noticed the stallion behind the counter. He was an earth pony, and his straight mane, coat, and eyes were all the same dark gray.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash, what brings you here?” He asked with a faulted smile.

“Hey, uh, could you tell me if the new Daring Do book is in?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Er, no, it's not going to be in for another week.” He said. “Feel free to browse. D-don't leave the store, I'm just going to be a moment!”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Uh?”

“I'm just... Getting a friend of yours!” The stallion said. “Don't go anywhere!”

He then bolted out the back.

“Well... That was... Weird.” Rainbow said. “What's his problem?”

She shrugged, and began browsing the shelves.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blue light. Rainbow turned, and saw a very pissed off... Trixie?! The blue mare with the flowing silver mane didn't seem to be wearing her usual trademark purple star-studded wizard hat and cloak for some reason.

“Halt, changeling scum!” Trixie bellowed with an air of authority and a bit of smugness.

“What? Where?” Rainbow said looking around, before realization hit. “ME!? I'm not a-”

She was interrupted by a blast of magic to the face, sending her flying into the bookshelf, knocking over half of the books out.

“OW! What the hay is your problem?!” Rainbow shouted, now pissed as well.

“Don't play dumb!” Trixie shouted back. “I'm going to wipe the floor with you, but first I want you to remove that insulting disguise!”

“What disguise?” Rainbow asked, confused.

Trixie replied with another spell, this one causing Rainbow's vision to green over. Nausea washed over her, and she stumbled a bit and caught the side of a bookshelf. One look at her now black and hole-filled hoof told her enough.

She was a changeling.

Rainbow Dash screamed as she fell to the floor and curled up. Nausea came over her again, and she began to dry-heave. The other two ponies were saying something, but it was drowned out by the loud ringing in her ears.

After 10 minutes, both the screaming and the dry-heaving stopped. She was curled up in the corner, sobbing and saying one sentence over and over.

“I'm Rainbow Dash... I'm Rainbow Dash... I'm Rainbow Dash...”