What Came Before

by Rocket Blaze

Something Greater

Pinkie somehow found the courage to canter away the miles, following the grim procession of lifeless marionettes that seemed to blaze the trail ahead of her. It was as though Malice had known all along that they would be there.

It made sense, she realized. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight were the only bearers who hadn't fallen to his suggestive influence; the only ones yet to be given to enough fear and doubt to unwillingly surrender their Elements to Malice. If Pinkie was right, though, how much resistance would Fluttershy be able to offer? Kind as she was, Pinkie didn't doubt that an evil as pervasive as Malice could sway her as well.

The thought pushed Pinkie to run ever harder into the night. The sun was now completely gone below the horizon, yet the cloudy sky overhead glowed an unnatural orange. The very air itself grew warm and heavy as she approached Fluttershy's vale.

It wasn't until she'd rounded the next bend that she caught sight of the inferno - one that towered overhead. Its roar shook the trees, drowning out all else. It was as though the sun had visited the earth, bathing everything in a sickly orange-yellow light; casting harsh shadows over the land that it consumed so hungrily.

Groups of animals were still fleeing to escape the blaze, but Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. She would undoubtedly be trying to help by any means necessary, but with so much destruction blanketing the vale, where would she begin?

The house! she quickly realized.

Fluttershy's house was well clear of the burning trees, but the grass surrounding it was giving way to the flame; it would only be a matter of time before it, too, was engulfed.

Her tail quivered violently as an explosive crack brought Pinkie's attention to her immediate surroundings. An instinctive leap forward was followed by a cataclysmic bang that rattled her to the core. Dazed from the shock, she stumbled around to see the way behind her had been blocked by a burning oak tree twice as thick as she was tall.

No going back now!

She shook the stars from her head and galloped for the house, swerving to avoid the patches of flame which peppered the way. Clutching tightly to the hilt of her wing blade, she barreled through any impasse she came across. The pain in her hooves was great by that point, but a few more singes would not stand between her and her friend.

The bridge across the brook surrounding the house had collapsed, its unsubmerged portions still glowing red hot. Pinkie leaped over the shallow gully in a single bound, her momentum swiftly carrying her up the hill to the house itself. The fire had ascended the hill by the time she got there, licking the upper tiers with a fiery tongue.

Pinkie braced herself before slamming into the door with all of her strength. Its hinges gave as the flimsy wooden door splintered into several smaller pieces. Pinkie tumbled end-over-end into Fluttershy's living room, covered in scratches and scorch marks from the run.

The blade she'd held on to for the duration of her run skittered off, but she took no notice. Battered and weary as she was, she refused to rest. With a jolt, she climbed to her hooves and scanned the room quickly. Fluttershy was nowhere to be found. Perhaps she was upstairs, or had yet to arrive at the vale altogether. Pinkie silently hoped for the latter, but she wouldn't leave until she knew Fluttershy was safe.

She ascended the stair in leaps and bounds. Before she could reach the top, a pink tuft of hair peeking around the corner caught her eye. "Fluttershy!?" Pinkie gasped, just as her friend fell head-first against the wall of the stairwell.

Fluttershy rebounded, twirling perilously in place before falling on top of Pinkie. The two ponies entangled as they jounced from step to painful step. Pinkie retained the wherewithal to keep either of them from hitting their head too hard against the stairs or bannister, but Fluttershy was nearly unconscious when they reached the ground floor.

"P-Pink..." she mumbled wearily, unfurling her forelegs to reveal an equally dazed white rabbit. "T-take... Angel... G-Go... Go now..." her eyes closed and her head fell back against the wood floor.

Pinkie checked that she was still breathing. She was. "I'm not leaving without you," she declared to the unconscious Fluttershy.

Moving quickly but carefully, Pinkie shifted Fluttershy onto her back. She folded her own forelegs around Fluttershy, holding onto Angel even as he squirmed with discomfort. With a heave, she shifted her own weight onto her hind legs, getting just enough traction to pull Fluttershy backwards.

Pinkie could hear the roar of the fire up on the second floor. Before long, its flickering tendrils were peeking down through the ceiling above. She shuffled faster, hoping to make it to the door before the structure collapsed.

Then she ran up against something blocking the doorway.

"Where ya goin', sugarcube?"

"What!?" Pinkie had barely glimpsed Applejack before she found herself being thrust forcibly back into the center of the room. She carried Fluttershy with her, though when she looked back she saw that Angel had managed to extricate himself and flee through the gap between Applejack's hooves.

"Don't worry," she tauned. "I ain't gonna kill Fluttershy or her precious little bunny. You're gonna be far more entertainin'."

"W-What?" Pinkie snapped desperately. She'd barely managed to stand when something slammed into her flank with what felt like all the force of a freight train. "-ACK!"

She rolled along the ground before hitting the far wall. A picture fell off its hook before shattering against the back of her head. Her eyes clamped shut on instinct, though the thundering patter of hooves against the floor warned her to open them quickly.

No sooner had she done so did she witness Rainbow Dash - a hateful smirk spread across her face - lunging towards her for a second strike.

Diving quickly to the side in the last second before impact should have sent Rainbow Dash plowing into the wall. Being an adept athlete, however, Dash was able to slow her charge with a pair of outstretched hooves. She twisted her lithe body in the air as she rebounded, just swiftly enough to catch Pinkie's tail firmly in her strong jaw.

Blinding pain shot up along Pinkie's spine, filling her eyes tears of agony. Crying out, she tried to pull away, but that only made the pain so bad that her tired legs could not hold her up it. It was all she could do to clamber away from her assailant, but Dash's grip was just too strong.

She was being dragged back towards the center of the room, and there was nothing she could do. Splinters and shards of broken glass littered the floor, and every piece dug hard into her soft underbelly.

"OUCH! Please-OW-Pl-Please st-AH! Dashie, it's me!"

Applejack saunered calmly towards her as the surrounding blaze spread to the upper half of the staircase. "We gotta get outta here, Rainbow. Kill'er quick so we can bring Fluttershy back to master in one piece."

"In one piece?" chuckled Rainbow Dash.

"Well," Applejack surmised, "I s'pose he did say he only needs her alive." She pressed her hoof down against Fluttershy's leg, which bowed against the pressure.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Pinkie screamed, suddenly numb against her own agony. She twisted about, lashing out with her foreleg. The hoof caught Rainbow Dash off guard against the side of her head, sending her crumpling to the ground.

Applejack took her hoof off of Fluttershy and laughed hard. "Oho! We got ourselves a fighter, R.D.. this'll be more fun'n I thought!"

Pinkie rose to her hooves, teeth bared and ready for a fight.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the side of head. "Nopony gets the drop on me like that..."

Applejack grinned. "Looks like somepony just did. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

Without another word, Rainbow Dash lunged at Pinkie once more. This time, Pinkie lunged back. The two met at the center with a crash, just before Pinkie locked her hooves around Rainbow's chest and brought her down to the floor.

Pinkie wasn't trying to hurt Rainbow Dash, but she wanted to keep Rainbow Dash from hurting her. She pressed herself in tightly so as to not give any room for Dash to hit her with a body blow, but her flailing head caught Pinkie's at the temple, and the shock was enough that both ponies briefly let go of one another.

Falling to the ground, Pinkie rolled away just as Rainbow Dash stomped down hard on where her head had been moments before. Springing off the ground, Pinkie leaped on top of Rainbow Dash, sinking her teeth into the nape of her neck.

Both ponies fell hard against the ground, grunting and groaning as each fought to gain control over the other. Somehow - between their own vocalizations, the thunderous clatter of their wrestling frames smashing into walls and furniture alike, and the roar of the inferno rapidly spreading into the living room - Pinkie could hear herself being egged on, even encouraged, by Applejack's maniacal guffaw.

Enraged, Pinkie managed to heave Rainbow Dash hard aginst a wooden door to some other room, splintering its veneer on impact. For a fraction of a second, the fiery glow on the other side glimmered through the cracks, and then the door exploded with an ear-splitting BANG.

Rainbow Dash was on the windward side of the blowback, and was hit the hardest by the expanding shockwave. Crashing into Pinkie, the two ponies tumbled end over end across the wrecked living room.

It was by sheer happenstance that Pinkie came out on top. Rainbow Dash appeared dazed, and for a moment Pinkie considered mercy...

But what Dash had done deserved no mercy, and Pinkie knew that if the situation were reversed she would receive none in return. She hammered her hoof hard against the side of Rainbow's face, growling through bared teeth as she did.

"YOU WILL NOT!"

Then her other hoof came down.

"HURT!"

Then another.

"MY FRIENDS!"

Then another after that.

"EVER AGAIN!"

The pounding in her ears drowned out all else, as she hit Rainbow Dash harder, and harder. No longer stopping to consider where her blows might fall, she watched the blood pour from the open wounds in Rainbow's face.

And then she saw it out of the corner of her eye: the red light of the blaze glinting off of nearby steel.

Rainbow Dash was down, her eyes clamped shut. She wasn't going anywhere.

Pinkie stood and wandered over to the discarded wing blade, reclaiming it with vigor before returning to her fallen former friend. Steadying herself, her eyes met with Applejack's as she lowered the blade to Rainbow's throat.

Applejack was no longer laughing, but she bore a proud grin across her face.

"Do it, Pinkie," she urged sweetly.

Pinkie returned her gaze to the helpless Rainbow Dash, pressing down with ever more force. As Rainbow's flesh puckered around the thin edge of the blade, she knew it wouldn't take much more effort to break the surface, and end their fight once and for all.

"Just one slice, and it'll be done," Applejack hissed, treading carefully towards Pinkie, not once breaking eye contact. "Don't ya know what that means?"

The skin sighed as it gave, parting just enough to permit an enticing trickle of blood. The faintest drop managed to find a path to ground, tracing a slow curve down the side of Rainbow's neck.

Despite the choking blanket of smoke which filled that burning room, Pinkie's heightened senses registered its faint, cloying aroma. It was enough to trigger something visceral - yet oddly cathartic - deep within her conscious mind.

She could almost feel Rainbow's heartbeat pulsating through the blade at her neck, and it beat in unison with her own. Knowing how easy it would be to silence one forever reminded her just how easily it could have been her pressed against the razor's edge.

She wouldn't have to give Rainbow that chance. Not if she killed first.

Applejack extended her hoof towards Pinkie. "If you do it, you'll be one of us. Our master is forgiving; he'd surely welcome you back with open arms." She smiled. "Haven't you always wanted to belong to something greater?"

Something greater, she thought. It was true that Pinkie had always wanted to belong: from her days on the rock farm, wishing to find her place outside of the dirt she worked so dutifully; or in Ponyville, when all she wished was to throw the very best parties for the very best ponies; and then when she met her friends.

She remembered what Twilight had said the night before: "We have each other. Each one of us would fight for the other, and that's exactly what we're doing. Malice thinks we're his playthings... But he's going to discover that he's dead wrong."

That's right, she realized. In spite of everything Malice had done, or could ever possibly do, it was - and would always be - her friends that lived, loved, and laughed with her. Her friends were the ones she belonged to, and Rainbow Dash was still her friend.

"No..." she muttered, pulling the blade away from Rainbow's throat and chucking it into the spreading fire. "You think you understand us, Malice," she growled. "You think that you can control us like we're just your toys! But we're not, and we will NEVER! BE!"

"How disappointing," Applejack sighed, though it was with Malice's baritone voice.

Rainbow's eyes shot open, and with a snarl she leaped up and tackled the unsuspecting Pinkie, pushing her onto her back. Mounting her with vengeful fury, Rainbow Dash spat into Pinkie's face. "You made a big mistake, Pinkie Pie! YOU'LL PAY FOR IT WITH YOUR LIFE!"

THWOOOM

A flash of pink light caught Rainbow Dash against her left flank, sending her hurtling across the room. Bouncing once, then twice, she came to rest next to the still motionless Fluttershy.

"That's enough of that, Malice!" Twilight declared from the doorway.

Thirteen pitch black arms protruded from Applejack's back, and her pupils disappeared behind a veil of pale white. "Oh, Twilight Sparkle. It really was so thoughtful of you to bring yourself right to me, but I'm afraid I was just about to leave."

Twilight cantered over towards where Pinkie lay splayed out on the ground. "Not this time! We've been preparing to face you!"

"Oh, I do not doubt that you have. In fact, I have been counting on it." Malice grinned through Applejack's face. "You do know, of course, that this isn't over, but I am in no hurry to press things further. You see, soon I will have your pithy little 'Elements of Harmony,' and then no force on this planet will be able to stop me. There is nothing but time on my side, so believe me... when I am ready, I will come to you..."

He turned Applejack's head towards where Rainbow Dash sat, propping herself up onto her side. "Bring the pegasus," he commanded. "I have use for her, and this one here can do nothing to stop me."

Twilight smirked. "I'm afraid that's where you're wrong, Malice!"

Malice laughed. "I'm sorry! Exactly what power is it you think you have over me?"

"Wh-Wha... My head..." Rainbow Dash caught sight of Fluttershy laying next to her. "F-Fluttershy? What's goi-" then she saw the fire. "WHA!?" Jolting to her feet, she saw Applejack and dropped into her fighting stance. "MALICE!"

Malice laughed heartily. "OH! This is so rich. You put her into a little pocket of dead space just to keep her from me!? Well, it matters not. This house is coming down, and all of you will die in it. The remaining Elements of Harmony will find new bearers and I will only have to wait a little longer to make them mine."

"Not today, Malice!" Twilight warned, once more charging her horn for another spell. "We'll be taking Applejack back as well!" She stamped her hooves to the floor as her aether wave shout out at Malice.

All of Malice's hands shot forward as though to block the blast, though Pinkie could see the light in front of them warp perceptibly, as though there were some kind of shield there. Before the spell could connect, it disappeared into the manifold for but an instant before reforming, and reflecting back at the caster.

There simply wasn't enough time for Twilight to dodge, even if she had expected the reversal. The orb hit her full on, knocking her to the ground as her cutie mark vanished.

"Twilight!" Pinkie cried, low crawling to her fallen friend.

"Farewell, you pathetic whelps..." Malice spat. He turned as he passed through the doorway, as though to get one last look at what he had wrought. "This has been most entertaining, but I have an entire world to conquer."

Malice's many hands closed inward, forming a cocoon around Applejack that quickly disappeared beneath her coat. It was now Applejack's own eyes that met Pinkie's, and Applejack's voice which said, "goodbye, old friends..."

One strong buck against the door frame caused the entire structure to buckle. The upper floor collapsed with a raucous clatter, producing an impenetrable wall of flaming debris that barred their only means of escape.

"What do we do now!?" Pinkie yelled over the din of the roaring fire that surrounded them. "Twilight! Can't you teleport us out of here!?"

Twilight concentrated as though to summon a teleportation spell, but it was no use. She shook her head. "No... He must have hit me with my own spell, but... how?"

Pinkie turned her attention to Rainbow Dash, who was trying to jar Fluttershy back to consciousness. The smoke was, by now, so thick that they were barely visible mere yards away. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! cough cough Wake up! cough We gotta go!"

Fluttershy stirred briefly, but her eyes did not open. "'S so... warm..." she muttered.

A crack like thunder shot out of the ceiling, just as the second story floor split open. Pinkie managed one last glimpse of her friends before an uproarious avalanche of burning rubble fell between them.

"NO!" she screamed. "RAINBOW DASH! FLUTTERSHY!" She wanted to run to it, dig down into the debris, and break down the wall. She knew if she did that, she would surely burn away, but that didn't matter to her in that moment. As she braced herself for a charge against the wall, but Twilight held her back.

"Pinkie!" she shouted, straining to be heard over the inferno. "We have to get out of here, right now!"

"NO!" Pinkie cried again. "I CAN STILL SAVE THEM!"

"No you can't, Pinkie! LOOK!" Twilight twisted Pinkie's head upwards. A spider-webbed pattern of fissures and cracks spread across the ceiling, as bits of wood and luminous embers showered down on them from above. It was as though the house were intending to swallow them whole. "This whole structure's going to collapse! We have to get out of here!"

In that moment, Pinkie didn't care if she lived or died. She studied the ceiling blankly, instead wondering how much it would hurt, and whether or not she'd be reunited with her friends in the afterlife.

"Pinkie! That window! We have to jump through that window!" Pinkie stared blankly at the wall, but Twilight shook her violently. "DO YOU SEE THE WINDOW!?"

That jarred Pinkie from her trance. The window seemed high, but Pinkie was a good jumper. She glanced over at the burning wall of wreckage one last time, but Twilight smacked her just hard enough to snap her out of it. "NOW, Pinkie!"

The flames were now closing in from all directions. In seconds, it would engulf them both. Grounding her attention, Pinkie shifted all of her weight onto her hind legs and jumped as hard as she could. With so much adrenaline coursing through her veins, she hadn't taken any time to predict the arc of her jump - she just let her body guide itself.

At least her body seemed to know where it was going. Pinkie's head reflexively cocked to the side as she crashed into the window, hitting it square on with her shoulder. The pane burst into a million tiny fragments that settled into her coat like sand, but left her otherwise unscathed.

Thudding to the ground on all fours with Twilight close in tow, the two of them scrambled away from the burning house. The horizon was consumed by a raging forest fire that transformed the night into a hellish day, though at least one part of the tree line appeared safe for the time being.

Twilight kept running even after they'd made it relative safety, but Pinkie simply couldn't bring herself to keep moving so far away from her friends. "Wait!" she cried.

"We can't! We have to get out of here!"

Pinkie leaped onto Twilight, tackling her to the ground. "NO! We can't just leave! They might still be in there!"

"UGH! No, Pinkie! I know you want them to be, but-"

"-DON'T SAY THAT!" Pinkie's eyes swelled with tears, and she didn't care that she was screaming at the top of her lungs. "THEY WOULDN'T GIVE UP ON US!"

"THEY'RE GONE!" Twilight shouted back. "It won't do anypony any good if we died with them! We have to get back to Canterlot and tell the Princess what happened, or all of this will be for nothing!"

"You're wrong, Twilight! They're both still in there! We have to save them! We need to stick together - all of us - or Malice is gonna win!"

Twilight climbed to her hooves. "Pinkie! Look around you! There's nothing there!"

Pinkie turned in place. Fluttershy's home had been completely engulfed by flame along with all of the once lush landscape surrounding it. "No!" she sobbed. "No! It's not... It's just not possible!"

She crashed to the ground. "NO!" she screamed, over and over again, pounding at the ground with her hooves. "Please don't let them be... There's already been too much of that! Please let them be okay!"

The hill groaned as though it were some living beast, just before the blazing heap at the top collapsed in on itself. That was the tipping point where Pinkie could no longer bear witness. She crossed her forelegs and buried her face deep inside it, sobbing relentlessly.

All she could do was listen as the roar of the flames reached a crescendo, then burst with a mighty KABOOM. A wave of warmth washed over her, but it provided no solace.

"Oh!" Twilight gasped. "Pinkie! Look!"

"I can't, Twilight," she sobbed. "I just can't!"

"You'll want to!"

Pinkie allowed herself one last glimpse, but where there had once been a great pyre marking the final resting spot of two of her closest friends, there now sat a large pit dug into the landscape. The remnants of a rainbow light faded into the night, along with the last bits of flaming debris that arced through the chilly night time air.

Although they were distant, it was unmistakable to Pinkie Pie: At the bottom of the crater, Rainbow Dash stood there in stunned silence, guarding over the unconscious - yet still alive - Fluttershy.

Somehow, Rainbow Dash had done it again.

Somehow, they were safe.