Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests

by B_25

81 – "What Are You?"

~ 81 ~

“What Are You?”

Rainbow Dash took a few steps backward on the thinly made path of faint blue light, her eyelids opening fully and settling that which slowly descended from the black sky. Darkness enshrouded her world; endless blackness where the platform and everyone else was supposed to be.

“Who...who are you?” Rainbow couldn’t stop the question from tumbling out of her lips, giving a soft sigh at hearing the squeak of her voice. She rephrased it in a much cooler fashion. “What are you!?”

The white body made possible with semi-transparent white lines continued to float downward from the sky, a line from one of its parts streaking to what Dash assumed was its face, and stretched itself into a terrifying yet simple smile.

Rainbow felt something like spider legs tapping from inside her throat, forcing her to swallow the saliva that had gathered in her mouth to wash away the disgustingly furry sensation. She took a few steps backward, away from that smile, which then split apart, and became a pair of lips.

“Why!” The lines of the body began to slowly vibrate, slowly starting to swirl around and around, until reaching the speeds of a small tornado which whiplash struck the side of Rainbow’s face. She recovered immediately, looking back to the thing, only to see herself instead. “I can be whoever you want me to be!

Dash was frozen into place. Her mouth was agape; her eyes unable to move away.

“So whaddya think, twin sister!?” The Mirage hovered in the air with her chest stuck out and her small wings keeping her afloat, despite the form before not requiring any aerial assistance. A grin stretched across its muzzle upon seeing its original, bewildered face. “Pretty cool, huh?”

The fake leaned backward, resting her back on the air and slowly hovering in a circle above the original. “Though ya gotta admit, my body is about twenty percent cooler, doncha think?”

Rainbow Dash eyes trailed from her double floating around like she was on a cloud lazing about Ponyville, down to the darkness which she somehow stood upon; the blue light that had supported her so far beginning to dim.

“I mean sure.” The fake had rested her forehooves to the back of her head, keeping it propped up as she spoke. “Everypony knows that you’re cool. Even those who say otherwise concede to themselves late at night of your awesomeness…”

“...after all, isn’t that what make you unique?” Her lips almost turned feral as they grinned, casting a glance downward to see the pony with her head barely held up. “All of those screw-ups are forgotten when you pull your awesome stunt. All of those times you broke your friend’s boundaries are forgiven when you epically save them.”

The real Rainbow Dash finally looked up, head slightly tilted in some vague emotion as her eyes glinted.

The feral grin stretched across the line that constituted the fake Dash’s face, though she could not bring herself to care, as she now had the attention she needed to lay out her traps. “That’s why everypony puts up with you, with the words you just blurt out and the things you just do. Because at the end of the day, you really are awesome, and those who bear with your flaws only do so because of it.”

The Mirage felt a fire stir within the pits of her stomach, blowing through her veins and filling her body with its fiery passion. Ponies usually talked, denied the possible and spoke words they knew were transparent.

But this pony was different.

Dash had kept quiet. This must have meant that all the words being spoken held too much of a poignant truth to be denied, that all of her deepest fears were being exposed, and the part of her she tried to hide desperately was now being shunned by herself.

This was all too easy.

The Mirage stood from the invisible cloud, still floating slightly around the mare below her, knowing full well she still had her attention. So, she decided to enact the next part of her plan, and contorted her face in an effort.

Rainbow saw all that was happening, but keeping silent and frozen all the same, the words of before still ringing and playing back in her mind. They bugged her conciseness to no end because she was not aware of the fact, the fact that apparently had followed her throughout her life.

Then, a groan shot through the void, and the fake began to grow bigger. Her body was an replica of Dash, only her colors more vibrant as if they were made solely to contrast greatly against the darkness.

The strands of her mane grew to their optimal length, so that they were neither too long nor too short: just the perfect balance in between. The colors of the rainbow grew more vibrant in her mane, as if it were a replica of the real thing.

Her wings began to ache, growing in size and attaining more beautiful cyan feathers. These wings were not ones made in the gym and through practice, but of ones created in perfect evolution that had yet ever to attain yet by mortal kind. No pegasi alive could ever hope to match the beast, nor to outrun their mistress.

Then her body became sleek. Her muscles bulged underneath her darker cyan coat, giving her the strength she needed while not sacrificing her agility to scrawniness. Overall, the pegasi became the absolute of its species, setting before her a form that Dash could never hope to attain – no matter her years of life or time spent in training.

The perfect fake struck a pose, laughing all the while, then shouting at the top of her lungs. “I have become the perfect you’ll never become! I have taken your form, original it may be, and developed it to its fullest potential, making your journey of tangible improvement forever inferior. I have become perfection, while still being you!”

She laughed and laughed.

Though when her eyes flitted down to catch the despair, she found only disappointment. Dash had her head tilted still, but instead of sadness or anything akin on her face, there was only petty irritation.

“What!” The other yelled, breaking her pose and leaning entirely down from the cloud.”I have ruined your dreams and become the best you can be! Don’t you realize what this means? Do I have to list out all the reasons you should be afraid?!”

Dash kept silent, tugging at her bottom lip with her teeth. She looked conflicted, like her mouth wanted to speak, but her ears were cringing at the fact.

“What is it!” The other flared her perfect wings, beginning to flap and raise their owner into the air, as she slowly descended to where Dash stood. The kept looking down, waiting and waiting. “What’s on your mind! What has your meeting with despair done to ravage your mind like this.”

Finally, Dash could keep quiet no longer. She lowered her head, gave a sigh, before looking up, and into the eyes of her other. Then she tilted her head, and posed the question that had been haunting her through the entire exchange, nonetheless, her entire life.

“Is my voice really that squeaky?”

Comments

[B_25]

Whew!

Chapter 81. TBH, I never meant for this despair thing to happen, but for the time being, I don’t mind him so much.

But I wanna meet Spike again real soon.

When would you, dear reader, like to meet Spike again?
~B_25

[He23t]

I want SPIKE! but first the let the story flow.

[AvexedAuthor]

8220952
Next chapter. Slightly aged and drinking hard while reflecting on his cringy departure..

[B_25]

8221401
Yeah, i gotta re-write like half of this damn story to eliminate the cringe.

lola.