3. Internal Inferno
The Break of dawn
Chapter 3
Internal Inferno
“Luna! Luna stop!” Twilight yelled, frozen on the spot. “She hasn't turned yet!”
The princess didn't remove her eyes from Rainbow's own. “It matters not; once their eyes have turned colour they lose themselves to the curse. I'm sorry, Twilight; the Rainbow Dash you once knew is dead.”
“Uh... well, I dunno about other ponies, but I feel fine,” Rainbow said, taking a cautious step back. Luna's sword followed, still pressed to her throat. “I don't feel like killing anypony, if that's what you're worried about.”
Luna's eyes widened. “Nopony has kept their mind after the curse has taken them; you should be a mindless vampire by now!”
Rainbow blinked. “Well... I'm not, so if you wouldn't mind...” she motioned to the sword, which was hesitantly lowered. Breathing a sigh of relief she lifted a hoof to her neck, rubbing gently and taking taking a few steps back.
“What is this? Some kind of trick?” Luna demanded, whirling around and glaring at Twilight. “I do not appreciate petty pranks! Your letter led me to believe she had been bitten, when clearly she's-”
“She was!” Twilight protested. “I saw it with my own eyes. Look,” she prompted, pointing back at Rainbow. “Look at her back; that's just from being outside in the sun.”
Luna held a pensive frown as she circled the pegasus, her sword remaining close by, humming with an ethereal energy that kept Rainbow's mind locked on the blade even as the Night Princess touched her wing. Completing a full circle, Luna leaned down, putting herself muzzle to muzzle with Rainbow. “Open,” she commanded blandly.
Blinking, Rainbow took a moment to figure out what she meant, but took too long as Luna's magic forced her mouth open and peeled her upper lip back uncomfortably. “I hon't tink tis is-”
“You have all the signs of vampirism... but...” Luna's eyes narrowed as she released Rainbow's muzzle and stared into her eyes, slowly moving her left and right, watching as Rainbow's eyes tracked her movement. “You have remained immune to the hunger...”
Twilight stepped forward hesitantly, standing next to Luna. “What do you mean? I thought it took two days for vampires to change fully?”
Luna leaned back, returning to Rainbow Dash her much missed personal space. “It takes roughly two days for a vampire to turn fully, yes, but the curse takes their mind within minutes of the bite. Otherwise it's likely they'd walk out into sunlight and die instantly. Somehow her mind has remained whole, even as her body changes.”
“Are we gonna keep talking like I'm not in the room or-”
“Is it possible she's immune?” Twilight asked, cutting off Rainbow's question and eliciting a groan from the pegasus. “Like any other disease; some ponies are just naturally immune to the disease all together.”
Shaking her head, Princess Luna sighed thoughtfully. “If that were true, then why has she changed at all? No... it's almost like...” she trailed off, eyes suddenly growing wide.
“Princess?” Twilight ventured slowly, frowning at the extended silence.
Luna lifted her fore hooves, placing them against Rainbow's temples and closing her eyes, horn lighting with a deep blue glow. Rainbow's eyes shot open wide, though she no longer saw the world around her. Instead her vision was filled with a bright, nearly blinding white light, slowly dimming to blackness as her eyes rolled back into her skull and she passed out, her body being caught in Luna's magic glow.
“Rainbow!” Twilight darted forward, but was held back by a single midnight-blue hoof as the limp pegasus was levitated over and placed atop the bed gently, laying with her burned back facing the ceiling. “What did you do to her!?”
“Relax, Twilight,” Luna urged gently, sitting at the side of the bed. “She is merely asleep; I wish to see inside her mind, and to do so she herself cannot interfere.”
Twilight shifted, still worried as she watched her friend sleep seemingly peacefully. “Do you have an idea?”
“I do.” Luna confirmed, a slight smile gracing her lips. “If I'm right, we may be able to cure her, or at the very least prevent the curse from taking her mind.” With that she lowered her head until her horn was resting against Rainbow's forehead. Her eyes closed and her horn glowed, leaving Twilight alone in the room as she shifted her weight from hoof to hoof anxiously. Just as she was about to find a chair, Luna's head snapped up and she jumped back, panting raggedly.
“Well?” Twilight leaned forward eagerly. “Can we cure it? Is she going to be okay?”
Luna jumped back at the voice, head snapping around and taking in her surroundings. “I... I don't know...” she walked back up to the bed, examining Rainbow's sleeping form. “She... something stopped me before I could fully enter her mind... which means I might be right, but it also means we have a problem.”
“Problem? Isn't it a good thing that you're right?”
Shaking her head, Luna took a breath, thinking a moment on how best to phrase her ideas. “While I may be right, it is very important that we make sure, else we risk losing her to the curse. If I can get into her mind, I can put up something like a ward within her, to ensure the curse is locked out permanently. But something’s stopping me from going inside, and it's likely the same thing that has thus far protected her mind.”
“And... what's that?” Twilight asked slowly, nervous about what could be powerful enough to keep the Princess of Dreams out of a pony's dream.
Luna lit her horn, a glowing, misshapen window appearing before them. A blurry, red shape formed in the magic. “I saw this before I was blocked out, and I believe it is what's responsible for protecting her.”
“That...” Twilight squinted as the fuzzy object came into view. “That's... the Element of Loyalty?”
“I believe it is,” Luna said, removing the picture from existence with a quiet pop of magic. “If I'm right, then the Element is protecting her from the curse's mind-altering effects. Unfortunately, the curse has put an enormous amount of stress on the Element's magic, and it cannot tell good from bad, instead blocking anything that tries to enter Rainbow Dash's mind-scape. As strong as the Elements of Harmony are, alone they are relatively weak, and under the constant battering of the curse, I fear we do not have long...”
Twilight swallowed nervously. “How much time do we have?”
Glancing out the window at the sun, then back to Rainbow, Luna shook her head sadly. “She may not last to see the noon-time sun.”
“Okay...” Twilight breathed deeply, beginning to pace. “Okay... I can fix this, we can still save her. If the Element of Loyalty is guarding Rainbow's mind, we need something that can break through that magic, right?”
Luna frowned. “If we break through, so too will the curse. We need to get through without breaking the barrier. Something like...” she trailed off, looking at Twilight's cutie mark.
“What if we... Luna?” Twilight stopped her pacing, noticing the Princess's eyes following her. “Princess Luna?”
“I know what we can do,” Luna announced suddenly. “How familiar are you with mind-magic?”
Twilight blinked. “I've read a few books, but never tried any spells. But what good would me knowing magic like that do if we can't get in?”
“But you can get in; the Element of Loyalty may guard against influences both good and bad, but it won't defend from itself.”
“I... don't follow,” Twilight admitted.
Luna rolled her eyes. “The Element of Loyalty is not the only thing that possesses the magic of the Elements of Harmony.”
“But what else-” Twilight paused, eyes growing wide as Luna's implications dawned on her. “The other Elements of Harmony would be able to slip through without breaking the barrier... you want me to-”
Luna nodded.
“But I can't!” Twilight protested. “What if I mess up? What if I let the curse in? I hardly know any mind-magic, and I'm nowhere near as good at is as you. I couldn't-”
“Calm yourself, Twilight,” Luna instructed forcefully. “It'll be okay; I will be able to guide you once you are inside, linking to you through your own mind once you are in Rainbow Dash's. I'll be able to instruct you on what to do.”
“But what if I-”
“Could you do anything worse than what will happen to her if we don't keep the curse out of her mind?” Luna asked pointedly, sharpening her gaze at Twilight, the alicorn flinching back at the scenario – a scenario that would come to pass if she did not do this.
A few deep breaths later, Twilight nodded. “Okay, I'll do it.”
“Good. Lay down next to Rainbow Dash and we'll begin. You must act quickly; with every passing second the Element's barrier grows weaker. Some of the curse may already be slipping through.”
Twilight nodded firmly, continuing to breath deeply in a feeble attempt to calm her racing heart. Clambering into the relatively small bed, Twilight laid on her back next to the sleeping pegasus, shifting a moment before nodding to Luna. “What do I have to do?”
“For now, nothing. I will link your sleeping minds, and will be able to guide you once inside. Good luck, Twilight Sparkle.” She reached forward, placing one hoof against Twilight's forehead and the other on the back of Rainbow's her eyes drifting shut.
A sudden, vicious falling sensation overtook Twilight's mind as the world melted away and was replaced by a blackened void on all sides. She could still feel Luna's hoof on her forehead, and as she took her first step the world began to form around her. From beneath her hooves soil spread, quickly being covered by bright green grass. Trees sprung up all around her, growing taller and thicker than even those in the Everfree Forest within seconds.
The leaves above rustled in a gentle breeze, and everything stopped as a blue sky faded into existence through the tiny breaks in the canopy.
“Twilight? Can you hear me, Twilight?” Luna's voice called, ringing inside Twilight's head.
“Y-yeah...” Twilight muttered, still shaken from the sudden transition. “I have to admit, this is not what I expected Rainbow's mind to look like.”
“Now is not the time for sightseeing. Can you see Rainbow Dash?”
Twilight glanced around the small clearing she found herself in, shaking her head. “No... though it doesn't exactly look cursed in here.”
“That's good; it means the curse has not yet seeped in. Quickly, find Rainbow Dash; she'll be the source of the barrier's power, and from there we should be able to put up more permanent methods of holding the curse at bay.”
“Right...” Twilight trailed off, sighing as she recognized the true scope Rainbow's mind-scape. For all she knew it could be as big as an actual forest, and she didn't have time to be bumbling around for hours. “Got any ideas on how to find her?”
Luna was silent for a moment, presumably thinking. “Look for any kind of activity. She'll be at the heart of the barrier, and the curse will be doing everything it can to get at her.”
Twilight nodded to herself, fanning her wings and taking to the air. With a few shaky flaps she flew above the tops of the trees, gasping as she saw the area around her. “Princess... I think I found the barrier...”
“Is it holding?”
“Not for long it isn't...” Twilight shot off like a rocket towards a large, translucent, reddish dome in the center of the forest, crackling with immense arcane energy. All around its edges smokey crimson tendrils ran through the trees, slithering like snakes across the shield and occasionally poking at its rapidly growing cracks. In the center of the dome a fire raged, smoke wafting up and gathering in the top of the dome poking out high above the trees.
“I need to get in there,” Twilight shouted as she drew near.
“If it is the Element's power, you should be able to pass right through without issue.”
“I don't think the shield’s going to be the problem...” On cue a smokey tendril lashed out from the top of the tree, flying through the air like a spear aimed directly at Twilight's heart. She rolled to the side with a grace that surprised even her. The smoke practically hissed as it switched direction.
“What is it, Twilight? What's going on?” Luna called worriedly.
“I think it's the curse; it's attacking me,” Twilight answered through a grunt as she had to dodge another tendril.
“Listen very carefully, Twilight,” Luna said, voice tense. “You cannot let it so much as touch you. Your mind is vulnerable in there, and it could easily infect you. Your Element may protect you like hers did but we cannot take such chances.”
Apparently realizing Twilight was an easier target than Rainbow, a large blob of smoke snaked away from the shield to focus on the flying alicorn, sending yet more tendrils at her. “Easier said than done...” Twilight muttered as she ducked and dove out of the way. The smokey appendages didn't stop their pursuit when they missed, forming a cloud that chased Twilight through the sky. Lacking the focus to teleport, her only hope was outrunning it.
“Once you've passed through the shield you'll be safe. You must get there at any cost, Twilight.”
Twilight nodded to herself, streamlining her body like she'd seen Rainbow do so many times as she aimed herself down at the cracking, crackling barrier. It was only a few hundred yards away now, but more and more of the curse's strength devoted itself to catching her, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay out of its reach. “You don't have to tell me twice.”
Doubling the speed of her wings, Twilight tucked herself into a ball to avoid a pillar of smoke launching up past her, spike-like tendrils launching from the column and flying at her in a heated race to the dome. Heart beating wildly in her chest, Twilight's eyes narrowed. Just a hundred yards to go.
Tendrils surrounded her, acting like bars to a prison cell as they kept pace, slowly closing in. Fifty yards.
Another smoke pillar rose up, missing the tip of Twilight's wing by barely the breadth of a feather. Twenty yards.
Suddenly, the curse changed tactic, and started climbing up the dome, hoping to block her escape. With only ten yards between her and her goal, Twilight curled herself into as small a ball as possible, cannon balling towards the barrier as the smoke rapidly tried to block her path.
“Princess...”
“Are you okay, Twilight? Did you make it?”
Twilight took a deep breath, her lungs filling with ash a soot. “I'm in... and it's not good in here. If anything it looks more like the curse is in here than out there.”
“The curse is trying to consume her mind, Twilight; the Element's magic may be protecting her but the power still comes from her. She would subconsciously be able to feel the curse trying to take over, and that would manifest in her dreams. Can you see her?”
“No... all I can see is fire... but she should be at the center, right?” Twilight confirmed, already flying towards the middle of the dome where the flames were highest. Looking back, her eyes widened as she saw a large crack forming where she'd passed through the barrier, the smoke angrily pounding against the magical shell.
“The hard part is over, Twilight,” Luna assured, though her voice still carried a heavy edge with it. “We can't let our guard down just yet, but as long as you can find Rainbow Dash you should be able to keep the curse out of her mind permanently.”
“You still haven't told me how exactly I'm going to do that, Princess” Twilight noted.
“I believe the phrase you'd use is 'we'll burn that bridge when we get there', yes?”
Twilight cringed at the oddly appropriate mix up. “Well, you're not entirely wrong...gah!” She rubbed her eyes as the smoke stung at them. “I can't see anything from up here... I have to get down there somehow...”
Lighting her horn, Twilight flew down into a small clearing, still consumed in fire. She pointed her head down and set off her spell, generating a massive gust of wind. The flames around the clearing burned hotter, but the clearing itself was smothered beneath the onslaught of air. Landing in her small space, Twilight quickly formed a small barrier around herself to protect from the heat and fire, already trying to close back in on her. “I hope she's alright...”
Moving her shield with her, Twilight slowly forced the fire to part as she walked through the burning forest, the crackling flames louder than her own thoughts. Every now and then she'd hear a harsh crack or a thunderous boom, and the red-tinted barrier above, blotted out with smoke and flaming trees, would shimmer as it struggled to hold. The curse's onslaught was relentless, and before long a spiderweb of cracks had formed across the dome.
“Princess...” Twilight asked uneasily, stopping in a clearing and looking up to the dome above her.
“What is it, Twilight? Have you found her?”
“Not yet, but...” Twilight trailed off, glancing around the flames. “If we can keep the curse out of her mind... could we cure it? Could we have saved all the other vampires if we'd taken the time to try?”
“Twilight...”
“Did all those ponies really have to die?”
Luna was silent for a long few moments, leaving Twilight along with the howling flames. After an eternity of silence, Luna answered; “Yes. We cannot cure a pony once they have been infected.”
Twilight nodded to herself slowly, not entirely believing the answer. “Then how can we cure Rainbow Dash? Her mind isn't the only thing being infected, she-”
Suddenly, from the depths of the inferno and louder than the flames came an ear-piercing scream. Twilight's head snapped towards the source, instantly recognizing the voice.
“We'll discuss this later, Twilight; the shield will not hold much longer.”
Begrudgingly, Twilight agreed and took off galloping into the blackened trees, forcing her own personal barrier to keep up with her as she tore through the wall of flames trying to consume her.
“Rainbow!?” She called, skidding to a stop and straining her ears to pick up anything more. All she heard was the blazing flames surrounding her. “Rainbow Dash!? Can you hear me!?”
In the distance, near silent over the flames, came a response. “Twi...light...?”
Twilight whirled on her hooves, ears swivelling trying to track down the voice. “Rainbow?”
“Twilight...?”
The voice came again, its weakened, breathy tone audible through the fire. Twilight took off towards the source, jumping through a wall of flames and coming to a wide open clearing surrounded in angry red flames, the tips of which were licking at the forest's canopy. In the centre, surrounded by blackened grass and scorched earth was Rainbow Dash, her mane a frayed, soot-fill mess. She was laying on her side, chest rising and falling slightly as she struggled to breath through smoke. Her wings, however, were the worst; what little feathers remain were charred beyond recognition, and most of the skin was badly burned.
“Rainbow!” Twilight ran over, expanding her shield to encompass the entire clearing as she knelt by the pegasus's side. “Can you hear me, Rainbow?”
Rainbow's head shifted and her eyes opened blearily. “Twi... what's...” she broke off into a heavy fit of coughing brought on by the smoke, recovering enough to speak after a few seconds of hacking. “What's going on?”
Twilight bit her lip, glancing around the fire. “We're inside your mind right now. Just hang on and we'll get out of this just fine.”
Shifting slowly, Rainbow struggled to sit up, her limbs covered in burns and her coat scorched off in more places than it remained. “This is in my head?”
“Yeah... but it's not supposed to be like this.”
“Have you found her, Twilight?”
“She's right here,” Twilight affirmed. “She's in bad shape though. What's going to happen to her?”
“Nothing, as long as we can stop the curse now,” Luna assured slowly. “The wounds are purely mental; they won't affect her physically in the real world.”
Twilight breathed a small sigh of relief. “Alright... now what do I have to do?”
“Putting up a barrier will not be sufficient; in time, it too will break,” Luna explained slowly. “You must purge the curse from her mind entirely.”
“How exactly am I supposed to do that?” Twilight asked aloud, glaring at the sky as though Luna were looking down at her.
“I... do not know,” she admitted, “But the Elements of Loyalty alone had the power to hold of the curse for almost half a day on its own. The combined strength of your Elements may be enough to defeat the curse. It will free her mind, but not her body.”
Sighing, Twilight stood. “Don't we need all six Elements of Harmony to harness their power?”
“To harness their full power, yes. But as long as there is a connection between at least two Elements, they have some power. Do as you normally would to harness the Elements; it may not be as strong as normal, but you should be able to do something.”
Twilight nodded. “Okay... that kind of makes sense.”
“Uh... who are you talking to?” Rainbow asked suddenly, her wheezy voice catching Twilight off-guard. The pegasus clambered slowly to her hooves, standing on shaking legs.
“It's a long story,” Twilight muttered, reaching a wing out and wrapping it around Rainbow's waist to aid in balance, and action the pegasus accepted gratefully as she leaned into Twilight's side. “For now, we need to clean your mind of the curse.”
Rainbow blinked. “The curse? Is that what all the fire is about?”
“I think so... but it's not going to be as easy as just putting it out.” Twilight lifted a hoof, pointing out through her barrier towards the cracked, reddish dome in the sky. “Out there is the curse, trying to get in here.”
“So... how exactly are we going to do that?” Rainbow asked, squinting through the smoke towards the barrier outside. “Last time I checked you said there was no way to cure the whole vampire thing.”
Twilight glared out into the flames, hoping Luna picked up on some of her anger. “So I thought, but apparently there's a way.”
“Not a cure, a prevention.” Luna stressed. “Hurry; if you wait too long then-”
The ground beneath them began to shake as a thunderous banging filled the air. Twilight's eyes grew wide as she looked up, losing her balance and falling to the floor as she watched the red dome above them shatter into thousands of shimmering pieces. The shards fell down into the fire, a reddish smoke fallowing behind as it raced towards the ponies huddled in the center of the burning forest.
A furious wind blew through the clearing, stoking the flames and making them grow higher still as they consumed the forest beyond the shield that had once contained them. A howling came from the distance as the curse flew through the scorched underbrush.
“Twilight? Twilight what happened in there? What's going on?”
Swallowing thickly, Twilight took a nervous step back. “The... the shield... it”
“What?”
“The shield broke!” Twilight shouted, instinctively doubling the strength of her own force field. “It's coming for us; the curse is coming!”
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Oh no! The shield! I'm hoping Twily finds a way to save the day (heehee, rhyme... I am such a child...) but with you being the author, I'm really not sure what's going to happen - just that it's going to be amazing. Great. Now I have to wait another week to see what will happen. Couldn't you do what SSaE does and update daily? Pretty please? For me?
At the moment I'm stuck between two emotions.
I can do it! Only 6 more days till the next chapter!
And 13 till our adventure really starts.
L.O.L Cliffhangers
Cmon Twilight! You can do it!
Looking super good! A long time ago you gave us a small snippet of a passage of what happened to Rainbow as the curse was taking over. (Maybe what happened to Rainbow in that dome before Twilight got to her?... I figured this chapter would have been as good as any to fit that in. The forest scene seemed to fit what you showed us.) Are you incorporating that into the next chapter?
Why must I wait 6 more days?
This is such an amazing story
6044168
That snippet was at the very end of the first chapter. I actually left it out of the original publication due to an error when transferring it over from Gdocs. It's there now.
Wooo, Another Chapter! I'm going to read it tomorrow...or before going to bed, I don't know yet.
I just wanted to drop this of:
http://fav.me/d8vmsgp
Contains a spoiler for chapter 2!
6044747
First off, oh my gosh it's amazing think you so much.
Second off, what happened after Rainbow passed out in Chapter 1 will be revealed in a few chapter's time. Guess we'll find out how accurate you were.
6045596
I'm glad you like it.
I hope that I'm not too far away from what actually happened. But I'll wait for the chapter that reveals it.
I've read the new chapter yesterday. I really like the way you choose for saving her. It makes a lot of sense after thinking a bit about it.
6046448
Ya know even if I wanted to say I wouldn't be able to; I haven't written the chapter yet, and this fic has been evolving on me faster than many of my other stories did. Hell, until I wrote it the part where Luna appears I thought I was gonna have the vampires be able to retain their minds.
As for how I dealt with this... I didn't have many options. Once I decided to go down the path I did with my vampire lore, it kinda snowballed to me needing to find a way to make Dash's mind somehow safe from it without her being totally immune (which even I would have called bullshit on). First thought was obvious; element of loyalty, strong enough will to overpower it. But the more I thought that the less I liked how cheesy it was, but it ultimately led me to the idea of having her element protect her.
Also, I'm surprised you managed to surprise me with that picture; I am actually watching you on DA.
6046507 I know what you mean, stories can evolve amazingly fast sometimes. I notice it very often in my comic or when I try to write something.
I just noticed something... Rainbow is going to be a Vampire without going crazy if everything ends well. I be that Twilight wants to find out more about Vampires when she realizes this
I guess you read your fimfiction messages before going to dA. That would be a good explanation.
6007424
A cannon is a big gun that shoots things.
Canon is the works of a particular author or artist that are recognized as genuine, or a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged.
Well don't just stand there, fucking move.