The Rainbow Spiral

by TheRainbowDashShow

Chapter 5

"How'd it go?" Raven Flame asked when she heard the hotel door open.

Rainbow Dash didn't answer; she silently treaded to the bed and sat down with a heavy sigh. She looked at the anklet on her foreleg and slid it off for the first time since the day of her wedding. Placing her hoof gently on the apple shaped diamond her heart ached. Applejack wouldn't even give her a chance to explain, that is how little she meant to the pony.

With a heavy sigh she buried her head beneath her pillow and wept shamefully into the cushion. She hated so much to let any pony see her like this, yet it seemed to be happening again and again. She swung her hoof and released her grip on the anklet letting it smash into the wall across the room. Raven Flame and Scootaloo looked at each other nervously and trotted away from the crying Pegasus.

There was a loud knocking on the door, Raven Flame trotted over to it and looked through the peekhole, "It's Applejack!" she squeaked.

Rainbow Dash ripped herself from the bed covers and rushed over to the door, not even bothering to dry her tears or fix her mane. The knocking continued, she took a deep breath and pulled open the door, "Yeah?" she sniffled.

"Why didn't yah tell me who you were?" Applejack shouted still sounding furious.

Rainbow Dash backed away from the door, "I tried too…"

Applejack glared at her, "Ah meant why didn't yah tell me yesterday?"

"I thought you might have been happy here…" Rainbow Dash looked down at the ground, "I wanted you to decide for yourself."

Applejack blinked, she had the Pegasus would have done this for her own selfish reasons. The last thing she had expected was to hear that her reasons were solely based on what she wanted and nothing more. She calmed herself and tried to understand just how Rainbow Dash must have felt and just how unfair she was being.

Noticing the tear-lines that ran down Rainbow Dash's face she ran her hoof down her cheek "Sugarcube… have yah been crying?" she asked sweetly.

"No!" Rainbow Dash sniffled defensively, quickly drying her eyes and face with her foreleg, "How did you find me?" she asked both curious and wanting the subject to be taken off of her emotions.

"Yah have a rainbow mane, yah don't exactly blend in." Applejack smiled and pulled Rainbow Dash in for a hug, "Ah'm sorry…" she whispered.

"So you aren't mad?" Rainbow Dash asked quietly.

"How could ah be mad at yah sugar cube…" Applejack nuzzled her face against Rainbow Dash's cheek, "Yah just wanted me tah be happy."

Rainbow Dash's eyes filled with tears again and her voice broke apart, "I missed you so much." She said looking into the sparkling green eyes, "But what about Ice Ember?"

"That old pony?" Applejack scoffed, "She knew all along and she never breathed a word tah me." She felt a rage returning to her just thinking about the unicorn, "Ah hate her…" when she uttered the words she nearly laughed at how much better it made her feel to say it.

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows and a smile spread across her face, "Awesome!" she shouted, feeling guilty that she was taking joy from what Applejack had just said, "I didn't mean awesome, I meant, uh-"

Applejack chuckled and pressed her lips against the stuttering Pegasus and ran a hoof through the multicolored mane. She stopped abruptly and pulled herself away from Rainbow Dash, "Uh, who are they?" Applejack asked pointing at the two fillies staring at them in adoration from the corner.

Rainbow Dash turned around, she had completely forgotten they weren't alone, "Well err…" she stammered. She had no idea as to how she was going to explain that one of the fillies in the corner was her adopted daughter.

Raven Flame ran over and leaped onto Applejack, hugging her, "I missed you too Applejack!"

"Me three!" Scootaloo shouted still watching in the corner, Rainbow Dash and Raven Flame turned and glared at her, "Just trying to be included…"

"She's your daughter." Rainbow Dash said bluntly, it didn't matter how she said it, the pony would probably react the same way no matter how she put it.

Applejack's head began to burn, an image of a place she didn't recognize popped into her head. There were dozens of fillies surrounding her. A blue Pegasus trotted up to her with a black and gray filly clinging to her neck. "We…" Applejack sat herself down on the bed, her mind felt as if it were on fire as it revealed the single lost memory, "We adopted her…" she said as she clutched her forehead and mane in between her hooves.

"What?" Rainbow Dash shouted in disbelief, "You can remember THAT but you can't remember anything about me?"

Applejack opened her mouth to say something but there was a loud knocking at the door that silenced her.

"Oh for the love of… Who is it now?" Rainbow Dash said trotting back over to the door, "It's Ice Ember…" she said pulling herself away from the peek hole.

"Applejack! I know you're in there!" Ice Ember's voice called out from behind the door, "I can explain!"

"How in the hay did you find us?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You have a rainbow mane, it wasn't exactly hard." Ice Ember said, "Please let me in!"

Rainbow Dash muttered a set of incomprehensible words before grumbling "Stupid mane…"

Applejack joined Rainbow Dash by the door, "Go away!" she shouted.

Ice Ember couldn't take it anymore and she finally lost her temper. The door suddenly burst into a dazzling blue flame and after a few seconds only dust and ash was left of it. The red unicorn trotted through the scorched door way, most of her body engulfed with the same blue fire.

"Just let me explain." Ice Ember said her voice crackled and dark as she slipped further and further into a growing fury. Rainbow Dash blocked her path but with a flick of her neck the Pegasus was tossed across the room into the wall and she kept on toward Applejack.

"There aint nothin' tah explain!" Applejack hissed, "Yah knew ah had a family this whole time and yah didn't say anything!"

The flame that encased Ice Ember started to dwindle away, "I only did it because I love you…" she said her voice sounding more normal.

"What in the hay is wrong with yah?" Applejack asked in disgust, "How could yah possibly say yah love me after everything yah have done tah me? Ah hate yah…"

Her mind was blinded with white rage as her heart shattered hearing the words. The blue flame re-ignited itself as the words pierced into Ice Ember's ears. The entire room began to shake and the walls started to burn. She focused her horn, lifting every pony in the room and pressing them against the wall, squeezing against their throats. The ponies struggled, grasping at the nothingness that suspended them in air and blocked off the much needed air. The fires spread closer and closer toward them as they squirmed.

"I just wanted us to be happy…" Ice Ember said, "I just wanted you to love me."

Applejack gasped for air, "Ah'll never love yah…"

The flames grew brighter and the grip against their throats tighter and tighter. Ice Ember trotted closer and whispered into Applejack's ear, "No, I guess you won't."

Ice Ember focused her magic even more, squeezing the four ponies' necks tighter. The blue flames just inches from reaching them now. Raven Flame squeezed the word 'please' out of her mouth with a desperate gasp as she pried at her own neck. Ice Ember turned to look at the struggling filly, her eyes locking with the frightened purple eyes she was squeezing the life from.

The fear in the pony's sapphire eyes brought a single moment of clarity into her mind; everything her father had been. He was everything she had hated and never wanted to be, yet here she was lost in a flurry of anger, loneliness, and hatred as she destroyed everything around her. She wanted desperately to stop, but something else outside her felt as if it were pushing her to keep going.

There was a loud a loud smashing noise and the flames in the room started to dissipate and the grip on the four squirming ponies vanished. Ice Ember collapsed to her knees and dropped her head to the floor. Behind her was an orange Pegasus standing over her.

"Dad?" Scootaloo squeaked as she fell to the ground.

The fat Pegasus didn't answer; the charred walls around them were starting to crumble. He dragged the unconscious unicorn towards the window, opened it and pulled her through it. The other four ponies followed quickly the ceiling caving in just as they passed through it. The group of ponies sat there on the cold sidewalk allowing themselves some time to catch their breath.

Rainbow Dash turned towards the fat pony, "What are you doing here?" she asked, not sure whether to be grateful to see him or not.

"I saw you get on the train with Scootaloo…" he answered quietly as he wheezed for breath.

"How did you find us?" Scootaloo asked still squeaking.

"You're traveling with a Pegasus with a rainbow mane. It's not exactly hard to track down a pony like that." The fat Pegasus answered.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow Dash screamed.

Scootaloo blinked, "What are you doing here dad?"

"I was looking for you…" The fat Pegasus trotted over towards the orange filly, "I want my daughter back…" he said gently placing his hoof on her shoulder.

Scootaloo knocked the hoof off of her, "Don't touch me…"

The pony frowned, "I'm sorry."

"Well I guess that just makes everything fine then." Scootaloo snarled, "Just go away. I don't need you."

"If that's what you want…" The fat Pegasus began trotting away down the street, he stopped and turned, "Scootaloo, I love you…" he said before starting off again.

Scootaloo stared as the pony walked away. He had never once said to her that he loved her before. It didn't matter though; he was far too late to change how she felt about him. "I don't want to see you ever again!" she screamed out as he trotted away.

The sound of a pony weeping softly travelled through the air. The four shifted their glance to the red unicorn that lay on the cold roads. "I'm sorry…" Ice Ember whispered into her hooves, "I'm so sorry."

"You tried to kill us!" Applejack shouted.

"I didn't mean too…" Ice Ember whimpered looking up at the orange pony.

"What do we do with her?" Raven Flame asked as she stepped away from the red unicorn.

Rainbow Dash shrugged, "I don't know… there isn't any reason she won't turn into psycho pony and come after us again…"

"I swear I won't!" Ice Ember cried.

Applejack scoffed, "An' what good is yer word? Yah've been lying tah me fer a month now."

The air suddenly grew cold in the unnatural way Rainbow Dash had been continuing to experience for the past week. Despite the blaze of the burning hotel and the street lamps the roads blackened. Once again she felt as if a pair of lingering eyes were watching her yet she couldn't quite place where.The ground started to shake once more, the concrete cracking and pulling apart. A cloud of crimson smoke began to surround the group of ponies, swarming in closer and closer towards them.

"What are you doing now!" Rainbow Dash screamed backing into the center of the slowly shrinking circle of smoke.

"It isn't me!" Ice Ember shouted back sounding just as afraid as the others.

The cloud drew closer until it enveloped the five of them. There was a short sensation that they were falling before the red dust parted and their hooves touched back down softly. The cold stone roads and the crumbling hotel building vanished. The air remained frigid and stung the ponies but the stench it had carried was no longer present.

Rainbow Dash shook off the dizziness that had been induced from the strange smoke that had just approached them. She looked down to see she was now standing on snow-covered grass in a field filled with glimmering stones. One particular stone captured her attention.

"Where are we?" Applejack asked weakly, gripping at her sore head.

The same stone caught Scootaloo's attention as well, she trotted closer, "How did we…"

Raven Flame's stomach lurched at the sight, "Is that…"

"Your grave…" Rainbow Dash said eying at the marble stone behind the still unburied hole that held the wooden casket.

Ice Ember and Applejack stared confused at Rainbow Dash, "What in the hay do you mean 'your grave'?" they both cried out together.

"Do tell them, I love a good story!" a foreign voice echoed from inside the hole, "Well, go on Scootaloo tell them."

Scootaloo stepped closer towards the hole, "Wh-who are you?"

There was another eruption of red smoke that vanished just as quickly revealing a pure black unicorn. The light that beamed down in her direction seemed to bend itself just to avoid touching the pony. Her horn was jagged and filed to a point, a trail of red liquid flowing through its spiral. Her mane was a deep blood red that swayed softly in the wind.

The ground beneath her hooves froze and crackled beneath her weight. Her pitch black eyes shot fear through the filly as she stared at her, "Shadow Scorn if you must know, but this isn't about me, it's about you."

Scootaloo began to trot away from the pony, "I don't understand."

"I had been sealed away for years." Shadow Scorn spoke, her words grated against their ears like the scratching of glass, "until almost five days ago that is." She said slyly.

"That was the day of Raven's funeral." Rainbow Dash turned towards Scootaloo, "What did you do Scootaloo?"

"I didn't do anything!" Scootaloo cried out.

Shadow Scorn sighed, "Simple minded foals, always meddling with magic they don't understand."

"The pendant…" Raven Flame said softly. "You were sealed away in the pendant…"

Shadow Scorn turned to her and nodded. "There was a slight complication though. I didn't have my own body when I was re-awoken. I had to hide away in the shadows, feeding until I had strength to create my own."

Rainbow Dash let out a loud yawn, "Look, that's great and all but I think we all have better things to do then talk about your creepy face."

Shadow Scorn laughed, "I thought you'd be the most interested. Who better to try and drive into madness with visions and nightmares while I feed off them from the daughter of the very pony who sealed me back inside in the first place?"

Rainbow Dash blinked, the nightmares, the hallucinations of Raven Flame, the strange sensation she was being watched constantly. All of these things had all started shortly after the funeral. Anger flooded through her and she started to charge at the unicorn. A few feet away from Shadow Scorn her entire body froze in place and she was batted back with the others.

Applejack ran over to Rainbow Dash, "Why are yah doing this, what do yah want with us?" she asked as she tended the Pegasus."

"Rainbow Dash's emotions are so easy to manipulate.Her hatred, anger, fear and sorrow were almost enough to give me a physical form in just a few short days. Then things started to go her way and her life was pulling itself back together. Fortunately that was enough to send another pony over the edge." Shadow Scorn said with a smirk as she looked at Ice Ember, "Still, I can only imagine what Rainbow Dash would feel if I took everything from her, right in front of her eyes."

"So yer gonna kill us then?" Applejack said fearfully.

Shadow Scorn thought for a moment, "You don't have to make it sound so petty."

Shadow Scorn's horn illuminated into a blood red light. The sky let out a booming roar, the clouds starting to press together. The wind let out a piercing howl as it picked up its pace, dropping the temperature drastically. Thick roots of ice emerged from the ground and bound the ponies' hooves, completely immobilizing them.

Applejack struggled as another chain of ice pushed out of the ground, slowly wrapping itself around her body working its way towards her neck. She gasped and shivered as the frost scraped at her, slowly growing tighter. The ice had now completely encased her, a look of fear and pain in her eyes as the last of the air vanished from her icy tomb.

"Let her go!" Rainbow Dash screamed, trying to free her hooves from the bindings.

Shadow Scorn only laughed, she seemed to be experiencing a form of high the more the Pegasus struggled. She turned to the two fillies and waves of ice revealed themselves from the ground beneath them as well. Within seconds they too were concealed beneath a layer of frost.

Rainbow Dash's knees collapsed beneath her and she dropped to the ground. She tried gnawing at her chains, but they were far too strong and when she managed to make even a dent in them they reformed. She looked up towards the pitch black unicorn, "Please!" she begged but her cries were ignored.

Ice Ember stared helplessly, watching as Applejack slowly started to suffocate and freeze. She shifted her glance towards the defeated Rainbow Dash crying hysterically as she tried tearing her limbs from the ground. She stood there, just as incapacitated as the Pegasus was and at this rate she might as well have been encased in ice as well.

A realization came to Ice Ember as she looked down at her own hooves. She wasn't completely helpless and everything became perfectly clear to her. Everything seemed like her life had been leading up to this one moment. Even her special talent seemed to have been pointing towards this, the image of blue flame imprinted on her flank.

"Rainbow Dash!" Ice Ember shouted out, "I'm sorry!" Her entire body ignited itself in the dazzling blue fire as it had back in the hotel. The icy chains melted away, freeing her to move about once again. This was her moment, the one chance to do something right. She charged at the unsuspecting black unicorn.

Shadow Scorn saw her movement at just the last second, and twisted her neck impaling the flaming unicorn on her jagged sharp horn. Ice Ember gasped in pain as the horn pierced through her chest. Still stuck on the horn she turned and looked at Applejack. Everything wrong she had done to her. All the pain and suffering she caused to the pony, her friends and family. This would be for her, she had to set aside the pain, this was her last chance.

Pouring every bit of life she could muster into her own magic, Ice Ember's flames started to grow and grow. Soon the flames burned so vast they started to lick at Shadow Scorn but it barely even fazed her. She pushed herself harder; the flames erupted into a blinding explosion that spread throughout the field enveloping every pony except Rainbow Dash where the radius faded just prior to reaching her.

The winds slowed back to its previous speed. The thunder ceased and the gray storm clouds parted away. When the light cleared a floating sparkling golden pendant dropped down to a vast crater. The heat of the explosion had lasted just brief enough to melt the frozen prisons that held the ponies without harming them.

At the center of the crater lay the red unicorn panting heavily as blood seeped from the wound. Applejack ran towards her, taking the pony's head in her hoof and the other pressing on the gash. Rainbow Dash and the two fillies followed, staring at the mangled unicorn.

"Applejack…" Ice Ember said weakly, "I'm sorry for everything."

"Rainbow Dash, do something!" Applejack's eyes flooded with tears despite everything the pony had done. With all the time that she had spent with Ice Ember she couldn't deny she still cared for her as a friend. Regardless of all that she said to the unicorn this past day, she still had taken care of her, taken care of all of them in the end.

Rainbow Dash stared; the wound was far more severe than the ones Raven Flame had sustained that day a month ago. The blood was rushing out too fast and the nearest hospital was in Canterlot which was too far away for her to make it in time, "I can't."

"I…" Ice Ember let out another cry of pain, her voice growing quieter, "I'm everything I hated in my father…"

"No…" Applejack said nudging the unicorn's cheek, "You aren't anything like your father."

"I loved you so much… I wanted you all to myself; I didn't even care what you wanted." Ice Ember said with a shallow wheeze.

"It's okay…" Applejack said softly.

"I'm scared..." Ice Ember said shakily.

"It'll be okay sugar cube." Applejack said comfortingly.

"It hurts Applejack..." Ice Ember wrapped her hoof around Applejack's and squeezed it, "Will you stay with me?"

Applejack lifted the red hoof and gave it a quick kiss, "Sure ah'll stay with yah sweetie."

"Promise me you'll take me somewhere... beautiful." Ice Ember sniffled as she suppressed her own fearful tears, "Somewhere with trees... somewhere with apples. So I can always be close to you."

Applejack struggled to hold back her tears, "Ah promise sugarcube..."

"I hope you'll remember me as your friend…" Ice Ember whimpered, "And not as a monster…"

"Of course ah will." Applejack gave the unicorn a small kiss on the cheek and ran her hoof through the blue mane.

"I'm sorry… so sorry…" Ice Ember repeated.

Applejack looked into Ice Ember's fading eyes, knowing that she would be gone soon. She held the red hoof tightly and pressed it against her cheek, the tears starting to slip from her eyes and onto the unicorn, "Ah'm so proud of yah…"

"Don't cry for me…" Ice Ember smiled drying the tears from Applejack's face, "I'm finally going to see my friends…" She let out a loud cough, the cut on her chest splitting wider when she did. She tightened her muscles as the pain intensified until finally her eyes closed and her body relaxed itself.

Applejack hugged the red unicorn tightly, her sobs growing louder as she wept into the pony's neck. She began to rock Ice Ember's body back and forth. Her tears streamed down her cheeks and down the unicorn's neck and onto the ground of the blackened crater. She nuzzled her nose against Ice Ember's ear and whispered, "I hope you find your friends and that you'll be happy…"

Rainbow Dash stared in anguish at Applejack clinging to Ice Ember, tears still flooding from her eyes. Trotting up quietly to her, she gently pulled her away. The orange pony resisted at first, refusing to leave the unicorn's side. "Applejack…" Rainbow Dash said softly. Finally she tore herself away from the red unicorn and swung her hooves around the Pegasus squeezing her tightly as she sobbed into her shoulder.

It pained Rainbow Dash to see her so hurt and defeated, "It's okay…" she cooed into the orange pony's ear, softly stroking her mane.

Applejack breathed sharply, "All she wanted was tah hear me say that ah loved her…" she sniffled, "and ah couldn't even do that for her…"

"It's not your fault." Rainbow Dash assured her.

"Ah know but…" The sunlight glinted off the golden pendant nearby in the crater. She broke away from Rainbow Dash and ran towards it.

"Applejack don't!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"But…" Applejack trotted over to Ice Ember's body, "We could save her…"

"We can't." Rainbow Dash said pulling Applejack away.

Applejack burst into another wave of sobs, "Ah know…" she said softly dropping the necklace back to the ground, "Isn't there anything we can do for her?"

Rainbow Dash pulled Applejack back close to her and kissed her forehead, "We give her what she wanted."

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash's eyes, "What's that?" she sniffled.

"We bury her somewhere beautiful, a place where she can always be close to you." Rainbow Dash ran her hoof down Applejack's cheek, "We bring her to Sweet Apple Acres."

"Sweet Apple Acres?" Applejack asked, the words echoing in her mind, bouncing at the walls. There was a slamming sensation in her skull as if something were trying to break free. She grabbed at her head, clenching her jaw and cringing her eyes shut to cope with the pain as dozens of images revealed themselves.

Rainbow Dash grabbed at the orange pony and steadied her, "Applejack, are you okay?"

Memories of a large field filled with hundreds of trees sparkling with ruby shaded fruit that clung to its branches. The orchard was filled with the sound of laughter as a yellow filly with red hair played with a larger red stallion. The trees curtained themselves with white silken laces and she found herself standing in front of a blue Pegasus wearing a white gown. Then the pictures and sounds stopped flooding her mind.

"Ah'm fine…"Applejack said softly.

"Are you sure?" Rainbow Dash asked looking worried.

"Ah remember." Applejack smiled, "Not everything ah think, but ah remember the farm…" She pulled Rainbow Dash in and kissed her, "Ah remember our wedding."

Rainbow Dash trotted towards the golden pendant resting on the charred ground and stared at it. She nudged it with her hoof and thought for a moment. She knew she couldn't risk leaving at around, not with what it was capable of. She positioned her hoof above it and smashed down on it with as much force as she could. The pendant broke beneath the weight of her hoof and as it did the pieces evaporated into the air.

Raven Flame began to feel strange, her eyes grew dizzy. Then a stabbing sensation plunged through her entire body. Her knees started to wobble and her stomach became nauseous, "Dashie…" she whimpered sounding frightened.

Rainbow Dash turned to Raven Flame, the dozens of cuts that she had received a month ago suddenly starting to re-emerge them self. The filly dropped to the ground as blood trickled out of body in the same fashion it had once before. "Help me…" she said weakly.

"No!" Rainbow Dash cried out rushing towards the filly, "Don't you dare." She scooped up the filly and launched off into the air. Not again, she had been given a second chance with the filly and she wouldn't dare stand back idly and lose her all over again.

Rainbow Dash bolted herself through the sky racing towards Canterlot as fast as her wings would let her. Raven Flame let out a cry of pain as the last of the cuts formed on her body, digging deeper inside of her. "I don't want to go back… not again." Raven Flame cried.

"Just hold on." Rainbow Dash pleaded, knowing there wasn't much time left. She wasn't going fast enough. Taking a deep breath she thrust herself faster, her bad wing screaming as it started beating with a blurring speed. "Please, not again…" Rainbow Dash cried. She forced herself faster and faster, her wing feeling as if it were going to shatter at any moment.

There was a sudden explosion of color, the faint sound of glass shattering off in the distance as the ring of light stretched out. A rainbow trail began to form behind the Pegasus as she sped onward. Raven Flame's eyes shut but she was still barely breathing.

The Canterlot hospital only seconds away, her wing finally gave out as she dived through the broken windows of the hospital. She spun herself placing her back towards the floor and covered the small filly she clutched. Her wings and spine smashed hard into the ground, absorbing most of the impact. Her leg crushed into one of the chairs as she slid against the floor.

"Don't leave me, not again." Rainbow Dash begged as she unwrapped her hooves from around Raven Flame, still breathing but only just, her tight grasp had sealed off most of the bleeding buying her just a little more time. The doctors and nurses rushed over to the Pegasus. Rainbow Dash pressed tightly against the filly, stopping as much of the bleeding as she could, "Please help her!"

Comments

[RainingDash]

Damn!

[Dash32]

I know Ice Ember was a Bitch but her death made me cry. This whole story is a barrage of crying for me. *sniff* well done.