The Secrets of Harmony

by RollingSea

Chapter 2 - Rainbow Dash's Sassy Secret-Part One

Rainbow Dash was running through a pile of leaves. She was running, the sky, with many rainbows following her and her parents flying alongside her. Rainbow Dash was as happy as she could be. The rainbows caught up to her and then created a path ahead of her. The little filly Rainbow Dash ran to the end of this rainbow. Suddenly, she felt so alone. Her parents had vanished, rainbows left in their images that were as hard as stone when the little pony hoof reached out to feel. Rainbow Dash stopped running. She walked down the rainbow.

She finally reached the end. The rainbow behind her exploded into a million drops of scarlet blood. The blood fell all over the blue pony. Suddenly, the filly Rainbow Dash saw that she didn’t have her rainbow. All of the sudden, a red stripe grew on the pony’s mane and tail.

Then Rainbow Dash knew how this dream was going to go. Her mother had always told her that a pony dreamed of them earning their stripes... directly before they died. To Rainbow Dash’s horrible luck, she had six colors on her mane and tail. Despite knowing that she couldn’t wake from the dream, she tried to rouse from the nightmare.

The dream washed before her eyes, and her tiny pupils dilated as they woke. She was only half-awake. Someone in the gray room yelled. Rainbow Dash saw her body... that was ripped open with many doctors probing her leg bones and wings with tools that she had never seen. The surprise and sudden bursts of pain knocked Rainbow Dash straight into the dream again.

Her red stripe was still there. It was on the bottom of her light blue tail, and was also on the top of her spiky mane. She suddenly realized that she was older, no longer a small filly but only a larger version, not quite a teen but not a little girl anymore.

Rainbow Dash could not control her feelings and suddenly felt so happy again. Her friends surrounded her, about her age, too. Her friends let Rainbow Dash go ahead a little. They formed a circle around her.

Rarity’s purple mane flung around as she turned and faced the tail of Applejack.

Applejack was smiling as her nose faced towards where Pinkie Pie was. The little orange horse still had a straw hat on her head, which was adorably big for her little head and golden mane.

Pinkie Pie was smiling and laughing, bouncing, her mane as poofy as ever.

Twilight was in front of Pinkie Pie, and was one pony away from completing the circle, the little filly was smiling happily, too. Much less serious than she usually was now. Twilight wasn’t supposed to be in Ponyville as a filly; she had gone to Ponyville as an adult. Rainbow Dash’s dream decided to put the purple filly in, anyway, and depicted her as what Rainbow Dash would have guessed Twilight would have actually looked like as a filly.

Fluttershy completed the circle and was all the way behind Rarity. She was so happy. If Rainbow Dash could have cried in that dream, she would have. Fluttershy was laughing, smiling, and giggling all at once. Rainbow Dash’s tears would have been from happiness. Fluttershy never looked happy like she did then. Rainbow Dash wished, suddenly, that she could know why the shy pony was so shy. After a while, Fluttershy stopped smiling and looking so carefree with her friends. As a filly, Fluttershy only laughed around her friends, no one else but a few other ponies, too. Now, Fluttershy never smiled too big as she used to to anyone-- or, at least, anyone that Rainbow Dash saw. Not even her friends. It was as though Fluttershy had shut something off in her heart and then piled it up with stone. Rainbow Dash wanted to see the real Fluttershy explain to her why she always seemed so glum. Just a sentence before Rainbow Dash was to die...

Finally, Rainbow Dash was directly in the center.

Her friends began to walk forward, walking at the same rhythm as the pony in front of them and after them. They began to run. They began to go so fast that Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell one pony from another.

Then, surprising the child pony so much, they burst into flames. The fire came closer and closer to Rainbow Dash. The fire devoured her. The pony felt her eyes sizzle and burn as the fire spread. Her wings felt helpless as they fluttered and tried to beat out the fire. The fire seemed to go straight down her esophagus and into her stomach. Like the acid in her stomach was gasoline, the fire lit it. Her organs felt like they were melting. Then, all at once, the fire stopped, and the pain did too.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes through odd tears of pain. An orange stripe grew near that of the red one on her mane and above the other red one on her tail. If that was orange, Rainbow Dash couldn’t imagine what yellow would be.

To her worst fears, the Wonderbolts appeared above her. They flew down and took her hoof. Rainbow Dash was now a only a few months to being a teen. They flew with her into the sky. The sun was so full and bright. Then Rainbow Dash knew what was going to happen. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t lose the grip of the Wonderbolts. When they looked to her, their smiles were now mutated mouths with no teeth. Their faces were slowly deteriorating. The usual blue of their faces were now black and looked sticky and gooey. Like something out of a nightmare-- which this humongous dream was in a nutshell.

The sun scorched the hairs on Rainbow Dash’s mane. It felt like a thousand needles penetrating her skin and face. Into her eyes, the burn went. Down her throat, the fire spread. It was so much like what the orange stripe had presented. This time, though, it felt thousands of times worse.

Her wings burnt like paper did to an open flame. She fell towards the ground. The Wonderbolts in front of her flew straight into the sun and sizzled up. Piles of ash and a gooey substance fell to the ground unrealistically as Rainbow Dash finally hit the ground hard. Her ribs cracked and her spine shattered. Though, a second later, her bones were reformed and in perfect alignment. She was fine and felt no pain again.

A yellow stripe appeared next to the orange stripe on her mane, and another yellow one on her tail above the orange one. Half of the way done. What could green possibly be?

She was now a teen pony. This was when her fascination for the Wonderbolts grew like a large bump on her head.

When she was a small filly, she had lived up in the clouds with Fluttershy. The ponies up there were meaner and “cooler” than the ponies that lived in Ponyville. They made fun of Fluttershy for the fact that she didn’t have the skills with her wings that they did. Rainbow Dash stuck up for Fluttershy.

There they were. Some of the “cool” ponies from the clouds. About her age, they were.

Light Breeze, Yellow Ray, and Ringing Bell were all right in front of her, flapping their large wings.

Light Breeze had always been one of the best fliers when Rainbow Dash had lived in the clouds. He was able to fly with so much stamina that he could be considered better at flying than Rainbow Dash. Light Breeze was not the fastest flier, hence his name, but could fly for hours at once. The pony was also green all over, just like grass.

Yellow Ray was as yellow as the sun. He had a green mane and tail, too. He was also a good flier. He was only a tad slower than Rainbow Dash, who had been tied for fastest flier when she had lived up in the clouds. Yellow Ray loved the sun, too, which was the reason for his name, adding to his golden hair.

Ringing Bell always had a bell tied to her tail. When the entirely green pony flew, the bell would ring fiercely. She wasn’t the fastest or wasn’t able to fly for long, but the bell sounded just like Ringing Bell, beautiful, graceful, and pretty overall.

Then Rainbow Dash knew what was going to happen. The ponies that she disliked the most out of everypony in Equestria were going to deliver her green stripe. This was going to hurt, then.

The three ponies laughed harshly as they took the teen Rainbow Dash by her hoof. Rainbow Dash fought their grasp but was unable to shake Ringing Bell’s hard grip and Light Breeze’s hoof. Yellow Ray flashed in front of Rainbow Dash and his friends. They laughed as the pegasus flew quickly in front of their gaze.

Ringing Bell grasped Rainbow Dash’s left wing and nodded to Light Breeze, who, a second later, did the same with a cold hoof. Then, they nodded three times.

Pain as white as snow ripped through Rainbow Dash’s body as the helpless pony saw them rip her wings off her body. They giggled at the blood that splattered to the ground that was so far away. They took Rainbow Dash’s hoof again as the pony screamed when she saw the blood and useless wings hit the ground. The poor pegasus screamed as the pain continued to zap through where her wings used to be and then sparked through the rest of her body.

Ringing Bell swung the bloody pony back and forth three times. Then she threw her into the air, Light Breeze doing the same at the exact time. Rainbow Dash was now falling so fast. To her relief, a pony caught her. To her fear, it was Yellow Ray. The yellow pony brought her up to the sun. Instead of dieing from the heat or spontaneous combustion, Rainbow Dash screamed as Yellow Ray took hold of her waist with one of his forelegs and then dove towards the ground.

The sonic rainboom came quickly, but this time, Yellow Ray turned up sharply. The yellow pony dropped Rainbow Dash and let her barrel to the ground, a rainbow following her and forming in front of her. All she could hear was the raging bell of Ringing Bell.

“Whoops! Sorry!” Yellow Ray screamed in his sharp tone, laughing crudely.

Just like when Rainbow Dash had been practicing in front of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash crashed to the ground.

A green strip flashed upon Rainbow Dash’s tail and mane. Two more, just two more stripes and she would--... she would die...

Shaking Rainbow Dash of her thoughts, a turtle suddenly appeared before her. It was Tank, the tortoise. The flying contraption Rainbow Dash had given him wasn’t with him. Instead, it was just the little animal. He snapped at Rainbow Dash’s back leg, the one he was nearest to. Blood already whipped out of the tiny bite he had left. Apparently tortoises had teeth in Rainbow Dash’s dream, and pretty sharp ones, too.

Tank climbed underneath of the now older Rainbow Dash who was nearly an adult. Rainbow Dash tried to get off of the mean version of her beloved pet, but the animal quickly snapped at her leg. It began to bleed and hurt so much.

After a long while, Tank got to a pond. Tank looked up to Rainbow Dash with surprising red eyes. The tortoise went into the pond, bringing Rainbow Dash, who did not want this at all. The rainbow pony squirmed on the green shell of the animal, but knew she would just get bitten again.

Finally, after Tank was in the center of the pond, he dove underneath the surface.

Rainbow Dash was met by a mouthful of water as she breathed in, not knowing she would be dragged down. She screamed under the surface, sealing her fate of holding her breath and the possibility that she could have a single percent of surviving this.

After a couple seconds, Rainbow Dash decided that she didn’t have a chance of living and allowed herself to breathe in, allowing herself to die faster. She instantly knew she shouldn’t have done that a second later. Like what the orange and yellow stripe presented, it felt like a fire burning down her throat slowly, despite it being water and not fire.

She coughed and struggled on the back of Tank. The tortoise bit her legs rapidly the second she began to swim towards the surface, making an inky surrounding of blood fill the space around them. Rainbow Dash began to struggle with her breathe, and, again, breathed in. She breathed in some of her own blood and a whole lot of water. The water was salty and the blood tasted like iron or metal.

Tank brought her to the surface after a few minutes. Despite breathing in so much water and at least a pint of blood, the pegasus pony was still conscious, unlike how she would be if this weren’t a dream.

Her pet threw Rainbow Dash back onto land. The sand that nestled into her new scars was replaced with grass. The little pony was too busy tearing up and closing her eyes to see that the scenery had changed beneath her. She only felt the change.

The scars on her body were refilled with blood and then piled over with the same flesh and skin as before. They looked like she had never been bit by a turtle before; brand new, flawless, and fresh muscle, flesh, and skin to be torn by the next challenge she was to meet.

She got up and saw a light blue stripe on her mane and tail appear. She was beginning to hate this dream and all of her opposing colors. Why did Rainbow Dash have to have six colors? Why did she have to have so many challenges to face to earn her stripes? Why couldn’t she be like Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, or Fluttershy, with only one color? She would even be fine with three colors, like Twilight.

Here was purple. She had no idea what this could possibly be. What else could this challenge throw at her? She had lost her beloved parents, her best friends, her idols, she had been forced to remember her enemies from long ago, and had lost her favorite pet. What else could she lose or be forced to remember?

Princess Celestia appeared before her. “Your final conclusion will be revealed later, Rainbow Dash. For now, however, you must wake,” her voice was as sweet and as sticky as honey. The pegasus opened her mouth to ask a question, but was interrupted by Princess Celestia. “No questions. You’ll figure out later. You must wake, though.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened slowly. She saw nothing but a blur at first. Someone yelled in the room again, like last time. Someone looked into her eye and put a light to her pupil, making it dilate.

She instantly coughed and felt pain. Her sleepiness had blocked the feeling for a moment, but it was still as hot as a stove. The first thing that popped into her mind when she finally gained actual consciousness surprised her.

“Fluttershy...” Rainbowdash whispered so quietly that many doctors and nurses looked to her.

“What did you say?” A doctor questioned her. He was a gray pony with a blond mane. He, like most ponies here, was a unicorn.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “Fluttershy...” she repeated, still quiet. They heard her this time, and knew she was awake.

The rainbow pony finally had the nerve to look down to her body. It was finished now. Her legs were no longer opened and her wings no longer torn. The cover they had put down on top of Rainbow Dash for the surgery was now removed. She was lying in a pure white bed. The covers were pale blue on top and white on the bottom. She felt comfy and wanted to sleep, but knew that would probably lead to another terrible dream.

She tried to move her right hind leg but felt immense pain once doing so. Her breath was blown through her clenched teeth as she fought back screaming or yelling.

A nurse looked to her. She was a unicorn, of course. She was a dark blue with a lighter mane. “Don’t move the leg, Honey. Were gonna get it on a cast in a few.” She smiled genuinely to the poor pony in pain. “You have any requests, Dear?”

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. She wasn’t hungry, wasn’t thirsty, and was fine with the temperature and all. Then she remembered, wanting to hit herself for being such an idiot and forgetting for about half a second. “Fluttershy... M-my friends...” Rainbow Dash said weakly.

“Well... I’m sure they can say hello... but I don’t want you to yell or anything, okay? Don’t try to move or put too much strain on your body.” Rainbow Dash nodded.

First to enter was a pony that saddened Rainbow Dash so much. Her smile was now a wilted frown implanted onto her face. Her mane and tail were no longer curly and puffy, but were straight and looked as though the rain had smoothed it down a million times. Her lip quivered and her eyes were a little red.

“Pinkie Pie... I’m... I’m okay!” Rainbow Dash said as loud as she could.

Pinkie Pie smiled a little but continued to still look sad. She knew that the athletic pegasus pony would never be the same. She sat on the couch that was right next to Rainbow Dash’s left side.

Following close behind the pink pony were Applejack and Rarity. Applejack looked teary. Her eyes were red and her hat and head were dipped towards the floor. She nodded towards Rainbow Dash and then sat to the left of Pinkie Pie.

Rarity was nothing like her normal self. The eyeshadow that she always wore was now almost smeared. Her eyes were tinted pink, too. Her hair was not well cared for, unlike usual, and had a few clumps of mane and tail that were somewhat ratty. She smiled towards the pony and used her magical horn to wipe a tear off of Rainbow Dash’s cheek. Rainbow Dash nodded and said a small thank you.

Twilight was next. She was fine besides her dead-looking eyes and frown. Her ears were turned down, but instantly straightened as she entered the room. She smiled a little as she sat to the left of Rarity on the couch.

The rainbow pony had this odd feeling inside of her. She was worried that Fluttershy wouldn’t be there. She wanted to see that pony smile. She wanted to see that pony laugh or giggle to the rest of her friends.

Fluttershy finally appeared through the door. She didn’t smile and her face was stuck in a frown, but a deeper one instead of her usual one. Like the rest, Fluttershy smiled towards Rainbow Dash, but, typically, the smile did not reach her eyes. It was another forced smile. It brought tears to Rainbow Dash’s eyes.

“Rainbow Dash, Darling, are you okay?” Rarity asked gently.

Rainbow Dash readied her throat. “I-I’m fine... just can’t move any of my limbs...” She answered with a scratchy voice, knowing that that wasn’t the whole answer that Rarity had asked for.

“Err... may I ask wha’ happened, exactly?” Applejack asked politely as she could manage.

Rainbow Dash nodded, quickly noting that her neck didn’t hurt when she did so. “Fluttershy and me were out in this meadow... and well... I was trying to pull off this stunt that ended with me pulling up, stopping me from crashing to the ground... and... I... sort of failed...” Rainbow Dash smiled a little bit. “If you know what I mean...”

Rarity opened her mouth to speak. “Yes, quite. You aren’t willing to accept the fact that you failed, Darling,” Rarity bit her cheek as she said so.

Rainbow Dash began to giggle a little bit. So did the other ponies. The rainbow pony saw Fluttershy laugh a little too. If Rainbow Dash was going to die, it would all be fine now. She had seen the shy little pony smile and laugh which didn’t happen very often, even it was a soft one, at least it was something. That giggle wasn’t enough for Rainbow Dash, though. She wanted that mare to actually smile.

“Y’all remember when Rainbow Dash busted ‘er wing? That seems like so long ‘go...” Applejack spoke quietly.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah...” Others agreed politely with the white horse.

Pinkie Pie continued to frown, her hair still in a sleek, flat style. She had been the only pony not to laugh at Rarity’s joke.

Rainbow Dash’s expression saddened. “You okay, uh, Pinkie Pie?”

The little candy-like pink pony stared at the floor. “Uh-huh... just a little... stirred up...” Pinkie Pie didn’t smile or even blow a breath of relief as she finished her words. She wouldn’t stop staring at the polished wooden floor, looking back to the reflection of her sad frown.

Rainbow Dash nodded a little.

Twilight looked around. “So... you okay, Rainbow Dash?”

She looked to Twilight, a little surprised. “Yeah, of course! It’s just that... I can’t move... almost anything... in my body...” Rainbow Dash laughed a little at her silly-sounding reply. She hadn’t noticed just how bad and weak she was.

The rest laughed at her comment, too. Pinkie Pie didn’t, though. Her pout lifted a little but remained sewed to her face.

Rarity looked ahead, placing her head back to its regular position after tilting it back slightly in laughter. “Now... don’t mind me, Darling... but... could you tell me what you will be doing in this exasperatingly boring solitude?”

“I-I don’t know... maybe I’ll read some books... they have become twenty percent cooler since my last incident.” Rainbow Dash smiled, remembering good old times.

The rest of them laughed, too, all but a pink pony. Rainbow Dash liked this moment. They were all together and almost all having fun. It was like one of Pinkie Pie’s parties, splendid, great, and with many fond memories that would last, despite the hostess herself being sad.

“I’m really glad to have you guys as friends, you know,” Rainbow Dash spoke. “Even though we are terribly different, we fit like puzzle pieces.”

They all agreed and smiled, except for Pinkie Pie, again. She was, as bad as it sounded, being a buzzkill.

Rarity looked around. “This was unlike how I would have expected. Since we have this time together, may I say something?” About everyone nodded. “Well... I have new dresses for every one of us.”

Applejack looked around, a fond smile on her face. “So we’re usin’ this time as a meetin’?” Rarity nodded, doing so just enough so then her precious mane didn’t fall out of place by a hair. “Whelp...” Applejack blew a small sigh. “Gotta say that this year’s zap apple jam’s gonna be the best. I think y’all will agree when you get a lick a’ that jam,” Applejack said humbly. “Not’ta sound overly confident about it, I mean.”

Most of the ponies’ mouths were practically dripping with droll of the amazing-tasting rainbows. Pinkie Pie was still looking to the ground, but the others noticed a little saliva dropping to the ground. Rarity cringed, but didn’t say anything about the dumb and completely rude manner.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth. “I think you guys can understand why I don’t have any plans at the moment and probably won’t for a while...” Rainbow Dash laughed a little at the occasion she was in, lightening up.

Pinkie Pie looked up to expectant faces. She blew a breath. “I... I can’t really have a... a party... anymore...” Pinkie Pie was acting so emotional. A tear dropped from her eye.

“Pinkie Pie... cryin’ over spilled milk won’t solve nothin’... an’ you know it,” Applejack said, nuzzling the pink party pony comfortingly.

Pinkie Pie waved to Twilight who was two ponies away on the couch.

“So... I don’t exactly have anything planned... though, I would like to ask you some questions, Rainbow Dash! I-if that is... is acceptable?” Twilight smiled a little bit like a child, her shimmering purple irises widening.

Rainbow Dash replied a small yes.

Twilight looked around a bit. “Well... not to sound insensitive or cruel, but... did you have a near-death experience? If so, what was this like?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t overreact, luckily. “I guess I did... and it was like a nightmare... I was unconscious and couldn’t... exactly... wake up. I dreamed of me having my rainbow stripes on my mane and tail earned to me by being put through stages of pain and suffering...”

Twilight frowned after Rainbow Dash stopped for a moment. “You don’t have to detail it after that... I have the basics now... maybe I should write this to Princess Celestia... This isn’t about friendship... is it?”

A certain rainbow pony laughed with the rest of the mares in the room. “No, it isn’t, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash responded with a little laughter. “Though, I can go into detail. You see... the first stripe-- the red one was me and my parents running on a rainbow... the rainbow eventually splattered into a long strain of blood afterwards... and a red stripe appeared...” Rainbow Dash blew a breath.

Twilight quietly assembled a clipboard and pen to her lap with her magic.

Rainbow Dash continued with somewhat semi-detail in her stories. The ponies seemed to feel her pain in her nightmare and sometimes breathed heavy breathes or whistled painful ones through their teeth.

Rainbow Dash was done. Twilight had noted it all.

Suddenly, though, something happened.

Twilight’s head fell to her forelegs and Rainbow Dash instantly lost consciousness in her place in the bed. They both lay very still as their friends tried to wake them.

Rainbow Dash was back in her nightmare. She was still in a grassy meadow, exactly like the scene that she had fallen and broken many bones in her body a while ago when Fluttershy had agreed to come along with her.

“You’ve nearly proven yourself for the gate of Pony Heaven, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight’s voice rang out like an angel’s. “The last stripe must be earned by you accepting this. You must say that you are willing to die.”

“W-wait... why are you saying this? Why you, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, not decisive enough to quickly say a simple answer.

“The entire reason you are here is basically because of me. Would you really be friends with Fluttershy or anypony else if Celestia hadn’t sent me here?” Twilight said, her eyes sparkling like they never had before. Rainbow Dash shook her head, thinking. “Now... are you willing to enter the gates of heaven, Rainbow Dash?”

“N... no...” Rainbow Dash said, unsure.

Twilight almost seemed to pout. This was still a nightmare, no matter what. “Wait... did you know that there’s cupcakes up here?! A whole ton of cupcakes! More than Pinkie Pie could ever make or wish for!” Twilight was almost begging.

Rainbow Dash thought. She had plenty of time. It wasn’t like Twilight was giving her a time limit.

If she went to the gates of heaven, she would be forever happy. She would be with her parents, with some ponies she had known and loved that had died. Every day would be filled with happiness, flying, laughter, and cheering.

Although, if she were to stay on the planet, she would... she would still have her friends. She would still have a chance with the Wonderbolts. She would still have Tank. She would be happy, but with her friends. She might have to live with some mean ponies, some enemies, some mistakes, accidents, and embarrassments.

She knew her decision, as it was quite obvious when she thought it over. She was now glad she had so many colors. Without those five stripes, maybe she would have said something else. Perhaps Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, or even Twilight would have said otherwise because they didn’t have as many stripes; didn’t have as much time to think.

“No. I will not go to heaven.”

Twilight’s mouth dropped. “B-but there’s... there’s so many cupcakes and... you’re family members will be there like you remembered the-”

“I do not want to hear it, Twilight!” Rainbowdash’s nostrils flared with confidence. “Read my lips, now, Dearie. I... will... not... go...”

Twilight was still ready to defend. “A-are you sure-”

“I have never been more sure in my life! Twilight, listen! No.”

The purple pony’s face straightened, suddenly very serious. “Okay then, Rainbow Dash... You will have to wake to the real world now.”

Both ponies woke immediately to their friends looking to them worriedly. Rainbow Dash saw Fluttershy’s face smudged up to hers, nearly touching her mouth as though she had been ready to give mouth-to-mouth. It was odd yet hilarious at the same time. It showed Rainbow Dash that Fluttershy cared. Fluttershy suddenly looked as though she were going to throw up or had a bad fever all at once.

Comments

[RollingSea]

Hope all of you like it so far! I plan to publish a chapter every 1-2 days at roughly the same time, so you can have something extra to expect!

[Rainbow87dash]

I have no idea what's oung on *ahifts eyes from side to side*