The Dark Side

by Lord Xaos

Chapter 8: Reciprocation!

The Dark Side

A my little pony fanfic by Lord Xaos

Chapter 8

As if they were synchronized, the rain had finally started to let up just as Pinkie Pie had stopped crying. She had somehow found herself in a very familiar playground, and had hidden from the rain under a giant horseshoe (she had lost her pursuer in a crowd of ponies….er…and hopefully her pursuer had lost her in that same crowd. Pinkie just knew she was surrounded by ponies and not being murdered at the time, she wasn't really thinking about anything else.)

She wasn’t sure how she got all the way to Ponyville, but she wasn’t complaining.

She struggled to get up, and tried to walk, but she felt dizzy. She was famished. She still wasn’t sure how she got her cutie marks back, but apparently her miraculous resurrection didn’t think to feed her as well. She needed some food…and a warm bath.

As we walked through the town, she surveyed a source of real food. All the grass was wet and soggy now. And she wanted something with a little more taste. But…still nothing sweet. Maybe something salty or…

Pinkie's back was itchy. Furthermore, it was from a side that was facing a nearby dinner. Pinkie decided to turn a little bit, and noticed the itch kept facing the dinner, moving along her back a little..

Pinkie went to investigate, noticed something amazing. Outside the dinner, and under a big umbrella was an outdoor table with a plate that contained a completely untouched Dandelion sandwich. Whoever ordered this had left. And what’s more, they had left their money with the check.

The price was right. Especially since Pinkie realized she left all her bits at home, and depending on where she was, home may or may not be inhabited by a psychotic murdering Pinkie.

---

(Granted, that Sugar Cube corner was in the woods, but…would YOU take that chance? Don’t answer right away; think about it for a second….)

(She’d love to meet you. Think how happy you’d make her.)

---

Actually…if this WAS the other Pinkie’s world, and I took bits from her, would that be considered stealing?

Pinkie immediately came to a conclusion almost as soon as her mind started to wonder on that point. Yes. Those were in fact, NOT her bits because she wasn’t that monster.

….Actually, she was just going to spend the next ten minutes pretending that that ...HORRORTERROR didn’t exist and never had. She had a sammich to eat.

Pinkie felt a little strange taking another Pony’s lunch, but she hated the way ponies wasted food. And if there was ever a way to not waste this food, it was a pony named Pinkie Pie!

Pinkie decided to wrap her sandwich in a fresh napkin from the dispenser, and take it to the playground, where there were fewer ponies. She felt the need to be by herself.

---

Rainbow Dash was fuming. She had been trying to get somepony’s – ANYPONY’S- attention for the past five minutes. But they all ignored her. She wasn’t going to stand for this any longer.

Rainbow flew above the most crowded street in Ponyville (?) and was about to scream at the top of her lungs-when suddenly she couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to look foolish in front of an entire town of ponies….no. I need find Pinkie Pie. Now.

“HEY! HEEEEEEEEEYY! STOP IGNORING ME!” Dash’s voice echoed across the landscape. ….and was completely ignored. Nopony even Flinched. Not even Fluttershy (?).

“…….RARRRR!” Dash dive bombed the crowd, hoping to get some kind of reaction as she flew over menacingly.

No reaction. Rainbow decided to get even closer. She approached a gray pony with crossed eyes….okay, that one might not do.

She spotted Lily instead and waved her hoof in front of her eyes. She completely ignored Rainbow. And then…she walked through one very confused pegasus.

Rainbow was stunned. It took her brain a second to process what happened. “AH!” Rainbow fell backwards.

“D-did she just walk through me?” Rainbow asked nopony in particular. Suddenly, a crowd of ponies came by and trampled her while she was on the ground….only they totally didn’t.

Rainbow stood up, and tried to piece this strangeness together. “Am I a ghost? Can I go through solid objects?”

Rainbow took a look at a nearby building. She decided she was going to try phasing through the walls.

Rainbow stepped back a few paces…and took a running start.

She felt the wind in her mane, and she flapped her wings. She felt giddy.

This is going to be. So. Awesome!

She lifted off the ground and charged right at the wall, throwing all caution to the wind. She was so excited about this working, she couldn’t contain it any longer…

Here it comes….

With a mighty CRASH! That would make a certain Mask proud, Rainbow Dash’s world was transformed into a ginormous headache singularity.

---

As she ate, Pinkie remembered that she couldn’t forget entirely about….her. Specifically, she remembered that the Evil One had mentioned something about using the cloud walking technique to surprise Dashie.

Pinkie had sped up her eating considerably. Hopefully, the Evil One was still looking for her. In any case, she was about to pass out from hunger.

But now that her tummy was getting full, she started to worry more and more about Dashie and all her other friends.

Of course, she was also worried that the Evil One might be waiting for her there. It was the obvious choice...if she was still trying to catch Pinkie. But now that she wasn’t starving, she couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t just being cowardly.

No…she should’ve gone to Dashie’s first thing!

Well, Pinkie thought to herself, I guess I had better get to work. No use crying over spilled time and therefore wasting more. I'm going to head right for Dashie's cloud and warn her about that evil Pinkie. She’s fast, so she can warn Everypony else, but I need to check up on her fir…

Wait…pinchy knee? PINCHY KNEE! Oh no ohnoohnoohno… Pinkie looked in all directions

---

"There she is." The assailant saw her target for the sky above the empty playground. She dove and landed with great speed, and stared at her nemesis right in the eyes.

---

“NOOOOOO!!!!!” Pinkie shrieked as the form of pony suddenly appeared right in front of her! She covered her head with her hooves, and cowered. But…something was off.

Bravely, she opened her eyes and looked into the face of the attacker.

It was a sky blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane that was wearing what looked like her tail around her neck like a scarf. She also had a pouch strapped to her chest.

Pinkie however, just reasoned that she got the Tail back from the evil Pinkie.

“Dashie!" Pinkie smiled and wept just a little bit to see her friend once more, and so suddenly! She would’ve jumped up and hugged Rainbow, but she was feeling another dizzy spell from having retreated so quickly just now.

“Oh Dashie, I thought you were…h-h-her! You won’t believe the day I’ve had, and it’s been so horrible, and absolutely all of it is CRAZY. Even by my standards! I mean, I don’t even know which world I’m in now…Oh yeah!” Pinkie looked conspiratorially “The first thing I have to tell you...whichever Dashie you are…”

Pinkie hesitated. “There’s a killer, a monster in pony form! But…maybe you’ve already met her. You got my tail back from her!” Pinkie couldn’t really stay on any particular emotion for more than two seconds as she spoke this bit of exposition.

Rainbow didn’t answer.

“….Or maybe she just left it behind and you picked it up when you were looking for me? You don’t seem to be registering. And, well, maybe it’s for the best you don’t confront her personally. You’re my very best friend, Dashie! I don’t know what I would do if she got you! She’s already tricked and murdered several ponies, including…including…” Pinkie started sobbing all over again…but she was trying to not rattle on and be understood “Mis…Mr. and Mrs. Cake…at least in her world. And…it’s the worse thing in the world , Dashie!”

She successfully held her voice steady…but the actual content of what she was saying was becoming disjointed.

“Oh Dashie, I’m worried what she do to anypony, but I’m so glad I found you first so we can stop her. She’s....me. An evil twin, Dashie. I’m so worried everypony will confuse me for her and then she’ll get away!”

Pinkie felt a hopeful smile dawn on her face. “But now that we’re togeth-”

"LIAR!"

Rainbow Dash, who had starting shaking sometime around the mention of an "evil twin", bellowed so loudly Pinkie almost went into shock. The happy little smile dissolved off her face faster than if it had been fully submerged in acid.

Pinkie lay on the ground, trembling at what she saw. The pupils of Rainbow’s eyes had shrunk into snake-like slits, reminiscent of Nightmare Moon, but the black alicorn’s eyes weren’t quite so scary.

This wasn’t cocky “I’m going to casually and nonchalantly crush you beneath my royal heel while condemning the world to eternal night” scary or even “I’m going to skin you alive while wearing Mrs. Cake’s face as a mask, but just so you know, I have no hatred of you or any good reason to do this, really” scary.

Somehow the loathing in Dashie’s eyes, her friend’s eyes, was even more horrifying. As if her heart broke in two, but it was done so fast and violently that the rest of Pinkie that was left couldn’t properly process the damage and completely bypassed the despair to make way for bucket loads of fear, as if the floor just gave way when you’ve been told from birth, and could feel in your ancestral instincts that all threats that could ever appear in the world will come from around you or from the ceiling, and the floor was something you would never sink through so you could always trust it.

And worse of all…somehow, it was the floor who looked betrayed.

Of course, Pinkie didn’t think in quite that much detail. She mostly got stuck over one point.

What is wrong with Dashie’s eyes? The eeeeeeyesss.

“D-dashie…please.” Pinkie pleaded. Suddenly, Pinkie froze up.

She remembered something from her first visit with the other Pinkie. She couldn’t believe she forgot what her evil clone said:

"Ooooh! Oh! Oh wow! That explains it! I woke in your world with Dashie hugging me…it was confusing, but it was where I wanted to go anyway. I happened to have brought along some harvesting supplies, and not just that, but MY dream about being 'you' taught me that neat cloud-walking trick you know."

Oh no…I’m such an idiot. Of course she won’t believe me. How could I forgotten about that? Forgotten how…how… Pinkie was running low on tears to shed, but she sobbed a little. What can I do to get Dashie to ever trust me again?

“MURDERESS!” the Assailant screamed, rising on her hind legs and rearing her forelegs to stomp on Pinkie Pie with her sky blue hooves.

"Wait!" Pinkie squeaked. Pinkie had been lifting herself partially off the floor without even realizing it, and took this opportunity to jump back a step, out of Rainbow Dash's reach. This was lest effective than one might’ve hoped. The pegasus was already flapping her wings when she reared up, and it was a simple matter for her to abort her maneuver to an aerial tackle.

“EEK!” The fight had begun. The first thing Pinkie did was push Dash’s face away from her, as she was clacking her teeth together, trying to bite Pinkie. Rainbow flailed with her hooves, pounding into whatever corner of Pinkie’s body they could find.

Pinkie struggled to get Dash off of her. She had been able to keep Dashie from biting her, but she had to face facts…although earth ponies took pride in their strength and stamina and ability to work hard….there was very little evidence that Earth ponies actually had any more strength than unicorns or pegasi. It was true, Unicorns often relied on their levitation magic to skimp on a lot of potential exercise and generally took bookish jobs, and Pegasi were generally lighter than other ponies….but all ponies still were generally the same equine creature, with much the same potential.

Case in point, a pegasus was beating an earth pony with her bare hooves and winning despite the latter’s desperate attempts to pull her off. Pinkie may have been half-starved and unprepared to fight, and Rainbow may have been actively training for an athletic career, but there still was no shaking this simple fact.

Rainbow was simply stronger than Pinkie. She couldn’t fight her off…she needed to get her to stop. Anything, really.

Then she noticed it.

The Tail.

It was wrapping even tighter around Rainbow’s neck as they struggled.

Pinkie saw an opportunity and bit on a conveniently place segment of loose tail. She used her other hoof to wrap around and grab the other end. She knew that Pony hair was sturdy but could break easily. Perhaps, with this much of it in one place…

She pulled.

It was the only way to survive.

And as she did so, she felt all the hair in her mane, which had been steadily getting droopier over the course of the day, finally collapse into a veil that covered one side of her face.

---

In another part of town, Rainbow Dash had decided that maybe Ponies would notice her if she stole an apple from a nearby cart. Her act of blatant thievery went unnoticed.

Okay…I have a new “power”. I can lift small, unattended objects…and still remain unnoticed. It’s like these ponies have never seen an object floating in mid air without magic before. BECAUSE THEY –STILL- HAVEN’T! whoop de doo. I’ll at this to the list.

The “list”, such as it was, was made up of:

-Ability to walk through Ponies.

-Ability to pass through smaller objects being manipulated by other ponies

-Inability to walk through walls

-Inability to be noticed

-Inability to open doors or windows

-Inability to break windows

There was a lot of “inability.” And now…because she was starving…and had an apple, she decided she was going to try to eat, hoping she would not break her tooth against the apple’s likely invincibility.

She had just begun to chew, which turned out to be possible, when suddenly; something caused her to unexpectedly start choking on the apple!

---

Back at Zecora’s cottage, Rarity was recapping what the Zebra had just told her.

“So, you’re saying that this…Grove….creates a copy of yourself that is, at least most of the time, completely evil.”

Zecora nodded.

“And if you kill your friend’s doppelganger, in self-defense no doubt, your friend could die as well?”

Zecora nodded her head…slowly. She seemed about to speak more on the subject but Rarity immediately continued talking.

“And you DIDN’T tell Rainbow Dash this little detail? Or didn’t get around to it before she ran off, or something, but it was something OTHER than the VERY FIRST THING YOU CHOOSE TO TELL HER?” Rarity was losing control over the volume of her voice.

That wasn’t entirely fair. But how best could Zecora explain?

There was remarkably inconclusive evidence the Grove really worked that way, actually. Its just that from what little Zecora could find out about the cases (from the records of the only tribe that actually kept thorough track on Zebras and other creatures that entered the grove) where groups of Zebras entered Zebrica’s “Darkest Grove”, the failure rate skyrocketed. But…the records were uncertain about a particular point of these failures.

One of a Dark Side’s goals is usually the corruption of a light side, to drive a visitor insane. So, depending on how this might’ve happened…

But yes, more often than not, somebody killed something that closely resembled their companion. Something that was itself trying to kill them. And then they never found their friend again.

So, was that their friend who had been corrupted? Or at that been a Dark Side?

It was impossible to say.

When Zecora had gone in the grove, it was by herself.

She knew everything she could know about the Grove before going in….

And yet, certain bits of misinformation and false connections between records of successful journeys had taught Zecora some very bad habits that had nearly killed her. She was vague Rainbow Dash on purpose, trying to teach her how to avoid the mistakes she had made about the grove as she saw them. To make her a fitter, more flexible contender, not, to pardon the phrase, to make her a one-trick pony.

Like Zecora had been.

But…the trouble was, Rarity was right. Rainbow should’ve been told first that she could do everything right, but still have a chance to inexplicably die in the first five minutes if Pinkie met her Dark Side before she did and things spiraled out of control…

Zecora looked out the window.

Sweet Pinkie Pie and Brave Rainbow Dash…

Be safe. Please don’t do anything rash.

---

Dark Dash, who had been on top of Pinkie Pie, gasped at being choked and stopped fighting to lift her right fore leg to try and grab the tail. Pinkie used that moment while Rainbow was off balance to roll in the direction of Dashie’s left fore leg and trip her up, being careful to slacken her hold on the tail she was choking Dash with so she wouldn’t break the filly’s neck.

---

Rainbow Dash spat out the bits of apple she was choking on, and had finished coughing. “Easy there…small bites from now on, Rainbow Dash.”

---

Rainbow Dash rolled to the side. She was shaken, but still trying to fight. Her eyes still held a sort of desperate fury.

Pinkie dropped the bit of her tail in her mouth onto the ground, only to immediately stomp on it with the hoof holding the other part. She pulled herself up, placing her other hoof on the two strings of the tail.

Rainbow was quickly losing her bravado. GAH! Why’d I wear this stupid tail around like a scarf? Oh, right, I was thinking about doing the Rarity-based organ joke from the nightmare, giving Pinkie a taste of her own medicine…but then I lost my temper and forgot I had it! And now Pinkie gets to choke me to death with her own tail! Arg…why didn’t I get the knife first thing? I go to all this trouble to never be without a weapon and now THIS gets me. What a world, what a world…

Pinkie Pie stood up, from Rainbow’s perspective; it was done in horrifying slow motion.

From Pinkie’s perspective, it was done carefully because her body ached all over.

Rainbow tried to kick herself up, but she only managed to choke herself, knocking her back down.

“STOPPIT!” Pinkie cried when Rainbow tried to escape, only hurting herself in the process. She still seemed to be trying to crane her neck to get to that pouch at the base of her neck. Pinkie was worried she was going to break her own windpipe “Please, Dashie…don’t choke yourself!” Pinkie locked tearful eyes with Rainbow.

Pinkie didn’t finish her sentence for a few seconds…she was trying to regain her breath and slacken her death grip on Rainbow just enough so the pegasus could breathe without letting her go.

“I’m not who you think I am. There’s another Pinkie out there. I don’t ever, ever want to hurt you like I just did ever again. I want to let you go…but you really hurt me, Dashie.”

Rainbow’s eyes, which seemed to have started to betray a small shimmer of confusion, suddenly dilated in fear again, and she began to shake.

“No, no, no, no…I don’t mean it like that.” Pinkie said, in the most calming voice she could manage while shaking her head. “It’s okay. I AM going to let you go, but you have to calm down and promise to listen to what I have to say and not fly off the handle first.”

“………” Rainbow wasn’t prepared for that. She took a moment to think. Why? She’d probably think it would be poetic justice to strangle me with the tail I chopped off. …Maybe she just want to take it back so she can stitch it back on and try to hide the fact it was ever gone.

That’s gotta be it! She can’t afford to risk breaking her tail hairs too much killing me with them! …that’s gotta be it. Right?

…why can’t I bring myself to distrust those eyes? And…bah! It’s that stupid hairstyle of hers! She’s probably just wearing it long, but it’s making her seem sadder now that it’s not defying gravity. Is it really another Pinkie Pie? But that’s impossible!

Finally, she came to a decision.

“…..on one condition.” Rainbow said. “When you let me go, you’ve got to stay put while I get what’s out of my pouch.” She saw Pinkie’s gaze shift from rose her voice an octave. “And if you ever want me to trust you again, you won’t even try to take what’s in it for yourself now that you have me at your mercy! Any false moments and I’ll struggle and never stop until one of us is dead!”

Pinkie wanted to answer immediately. But she was worried as to what was in that pouch she was so fascinated about.

“I-if that’s what makes you feel safe, Dashie.” Pinkie was losing power in the situation, she could feel it. Still…she had to do this. “But you still have to promise you aren’t going to do anything unless I actually threaten you.”

Rainbow looked at Pinkie, and nodded.

Hesitantly, Pinkie let go.

Almost immediately, Dark Dash grabbed her knife and Pinkie could barely make out a flash of silver before a reflection of the sun’s gleam off the knife's polished surface blinded her!

Comments

[Nimbus]

... ffffuuuu- cliffhangers.

[littlerobotbird]

1493 Indeed.

I really think she is almost going to the trouble of putting herself in danger to save herself from being killed.

[Aaronmaster2007]

Ok this chapter was a bit more serious then most. I'm liking this story alot.