Silent Ponyville: Duet Of Sorrow

by KillerSteel

Chapter 9: The Endless Path

An hour had passed since her ghost had appeared before Rainbow, and she kept the memory strong in her mind to give herself fuel for the long trek ahead. Worry still pervaded her mind. “Why was she here…? It’s been a while now and I still haven’t answered that…” Rainbow thinks to herself, nothing but the light of her lantern reminding her that she was still locked in that other world.

The squelching of flesh and spewing of blood under her steps would continue for quite a while, but the rhythmic sounds helped her think. Why would Fluttershy suddenly appear here? Guessing the right path was obviously good…but this world had a tendency to mess with your head. Was it some illusion? Rainbow shakes her head, casting aside her doubts that the ghost was just the world trying to disorient her. It had to be a sign for something, but what?

She closes her eyes, allowing her body to continue automatically forward, as she thinks back to the choice she made. What did cause her to pick the path on the right? That…pull she felt may have just been the world doing something. Correct place in time…Rainbow stops her walk, looking behind herself. Off in the darkness, a very faint silhouette can be made out, covering the hall. She starts walking towards it before it reveals itself.

“Well, I’ve made my choice…seems I can’t take it back.” Rainbow says to the iron fence blocking her way. “Just have to hope it was right.” She sighs, whipping some blood off her leg, now used to the smell of the dead hallway. She turns and begins heading forward once more, soon leaving the fence behind. More walking, more of the splatter of flesh and blood, more of that disgusting smell of a graveyard with all the bodies dug up and left out in the sun, and the hallway was still plunged in that eternal darkness.

“Am I actually getting anywhere here?” Rainbow wonders, raising an eyebrow. She could feel her ankles growing stiff from all the blood caking on her legs. Her hind legs give out from under her, and she lands with a thud into a sitting position, tired. “Awww, that doesn’t feel right at all…” She remarks, the wet flesh under her still moving. She shivers slightly before turning to her bag, suddenly feeling thirsty, and pops it open. Two notes, the medkit and the empty Health Drink are all that’s present.

“Shoot…should’ve grabbed an empty bottle and filled it up back at Sugar Cube Corner…” She mumbles, placing the lantern on the ground, and yawns. She figured she’s been walking for hours without any notable progress, and simply stares off into the darkness. “…Fluttershy…” She whispers to herself, looking down. What if she really is here? That she wasn’t just some hallucination? “No…I can’t start thinking that. It’s not…it’s not possible for her to be here without Twilight bringing her in as well!” She shouts into the darkness, trying to bolster her confidence.

“Are you so sure about that?” The darkness answers back. Rainbow jumps, looking around herself, staring out into the darkness beyond the fencing and flesh, the voice seeming to come from all directions. “Are you really sure it wasn’t her…?” The voice asks again, deep and demonic, completely unlike the twin who fought her.

“I’m sure of it! It…it was just…just this place messing with me!” She shouts back, grabbing the lantern again, the adrenaline in her system fueling her. She closes her bag and starts back down the hall. This world was just trying to confuse her, she was thirsty and fighting against whatever was trying to get into her mind. “Fluttershy can’t be here. She can’t be. Whatever I saw…what I saw was a ghost.” She mumbles through the handle of the lantern.

The voice in the darkness chuckles, “Oh, child…if only you knew.” It mocks, a flow of wind brushing past Rainbow as she continues her march down the hall. “Do you even know where you’re going? Or are you simply following this like a sheep follows her shepherd?”

“Of course I know where I’m going! I’m going to the end of this tunnel!” She shouts back, focusing forward. The darkness bends in front of her, something moving through it, and a laugh echoes from the black.

“Hahahahaha! To the end of the tunnel, eh? Are you so certain it has one?!” The laugh returns, the echo like a bomb going off next to her ear.

“Shut up! This tunnel has to end eventually!” Rainbow grits her teeth, shouting through the handle, her ankles becoming more stiff.

“This world has already made it known it’s more than just your reality can bear, child. Even now it lives, breathes, bleeds and feels pain…a living organism, and you’re just a little bacteria in the system. This tunnel, like this world, is endless…a vast path leading into the heart of Oblivion. You chose your path, trusting that ‘ghost’, whatever it was, and now look where it brought you!” The voice shouts, laughing again, seeming to enjoy toying with Rainbow.

“I said SHUT UP! I know this was the right path! Now are you going to leave me alone, or continue ticking me off with that stupid laugh of yours?!” Rainbow shouts back, growing aggravated. Something about this voice took her way beyond any manner of anger she's felt before.

“Ohhh, the poor newborn wants me to leave! I’m so hurt! My tears flow like waterfalls and my heart feels like it’s been run through!” The voice sounds solemn and sarcastic.

“Buzz off and stop bugging me!” Rainbow shouts back, starting to feel a change within her.

“Please, as if I’d leave you alone NOW! I’m having fun with this, it’s rare I get to play with someone like you!” The darkness bends again, and the gust of wind returns. Rainbow feels the flat of a blade pass on her flank, and she jumps to the side, looking behind her. She sees the silhouette of the fence, and her eyes widen.

“Now is it sinking in?” The voice asks, laughing in triumph. Rainbow simply stares behind her, dumbstruck. Has the fence been following her…? Or was she really going nowhere? “What the…?” She mumbles.

“Stupid girl, you really have been going in ‘circles’! Well, more a straight line…hmm, more like walking on a bit. Maybe it really is walking in a straight line…?” The voice says in thought. Rainbow focuses in front of her, noting the movement of the flesh under her. Was it pushing her back? She checks the walls and ceiling, seeing if she has enough room to fly. This was going to burn the rest of her already waning strength, but it was worth a shot if it meant getting to the end of this tunnel…

Rainbow makes a short jump into the air, trying to open her wings. She quickly hits her head on the flesh above her, and her wings barely open half way before slamming into the walls. She flops down onto her belly, her legs now completely out of strength.

“Did you really just try to fly in there? I figured you knew just how big you were!” The voice echoes. “Well, how fat you were…” The shadows bend again, a body stopping in front of Rainbow’s weary face, and two eyes open in the body. Yellow irises and white pupils, surrounded by red and built like Sehn’s own eyes, stare down at her. “Hm…perhaps I was wrong. The figure is rather proportional…” The eyes float around her, looking up and down at her body. She can feel the eyes moving across her. “Hm, yes…I do believe I was wrong. Very nice.” The voice chuckles, coming back around to her face.

“Like what you see, weirdo?” Rainbow hisses at the eyes, getting saliva into her mouth before spitting it meekly at them, the spit passing through the shadow.

“I do, actually. I can see the attraction…heheheh.” The voice chuckles, now inside her head. “It’s too bad we don’t get to play right now.” Rainbow feels a body nudge up beside her, and looks over, seeing those same eyes in a body. The body is covered completely in black armor, the spines leading off of it ending in red blood, the body lying on its back in a relaxed position. It smiles.

“If I had enough strength, I’d beat you to a pulp right now…” Rainbow thinks to herself, simply staring at the hedgehog beside her with as much venom as she can muster.

“Goodness, child, don’t you know staring is bad? Perhaps you need a proper lesson.” The body floats up, carried on a bed of black flame, and the drawing of a blade from its sheath can be heard. Panic quickly enters Rainbow’s mind, and she leaps to her hooves and starts running down the tunnel. She was definitely going somewhere, the fence blurring past her, the laugh behind her growing quieter.

“Keep running keep running keep running!” She repeats in her mind, now in a full sprint down the hall. Whatever was talking to her is now trying to kill her, probably chasing her down the hall right now. She looks behind herself, still sprinting in full panic.

Nothing. Not even the clanking of armor or the echo of that voice. Rainbow continues running, still worried but slightly relieved. She was the fastest Pegasus around, no way that monster could keep up with her. She smiles to herself, using the last of her strength to press on down the hall.

Two pairs of eyes appear in the void, watching the small light pass through the fenced in tunnel extending in two directions infinitely, the wall of fence chasing it.

“She fell for it…?” A young voice asks, coming from the lower pair of eyes.

“Like a child hearing a ghost story.” An older voice answers, chuckling. “She doesn’t realize what that ghost meant…now with my intervention, she’s panicking. Probably full of herself for losing me.”

The younger voice giggles, looking up at the other shadow. “She is rather gullible…though I didn’t expect her to fall for it. Seemed too easy…you’re certain it worked?”

“I saw right into her mind when I drew my sword. She flipped out, started running like a maniac. If only she didn’t pick the right path though…” The older voice answers, disappointed.

“You win some, you lose some. I’ll be sure to make up this loss.” The younger voice says, the second pair of eyes growing a body in the form of Rainbow’s twin. The other pair of eyes grows its own body, looking like a carbon copy of Sehn in black armor, a shining silver blade in his hand, resting on his shoulder. They both smile at the light, anticipation and excitement in their eyes, and they both begin sprinting, following the light.

Five minutes, six minutes, seven minutes…every muscle in Rainbow’s body screamed for her to stop, but she continues heading down the hall, the promise of an exit too sweet a prize to give up now. Questions still circled in her mind, but they rested at the back of it, shoved back by the speed and adrenaline.

“The exit’s…going to come…soon!” Rainbow reassures herself once again, her voice once again lonely in her head. Sweat drips down past her face, some getting in her eyes. She forces them closed to try and push the sweat out, when she trips and crashes to the ground. Instead of the splatter of flesh and spreading of blood though, the ground feels soft, easily shoved out of the way by her tumbling body. She hacks and coughs, the exhaustion and pain in her legs hitting her like a freight train.

She grits her teeth, hissing in pain, and wrenches her right eye open to take in the environment.

“That desert again…” she manages to get out past the pain, and she looks up into the sky. The same sun, the same blue, cloudless sky, the same heat beating down, not a soul around. She rolls over onto her stomach and looks around, nothing but sand extending off in all directions. “Gotta find some shade…sleep this off…” she thinks, looking around. The desert extends into infinity however, and each second brings more pain to her already burning limbs. No shade, no clouds...Rainbow looks at her wings.

“Maybe…” Rainbow flexes her wings, that one hope of flying into the sky and getting a bird’s eye view of the area. They extend fine, they even look spotless despite slamming into that flesh-ridden wall. She gives them a flap or two, testing their strength.

“Like they weren’t even used, sweet.” Rainbow smiles, and with one might flap, she launches into the air. Putting all her remaining strength into her wings, her body hangs limp in the air, each shock from the rhythm keeping her aloft sending a shock of pain through her body. “Stings like heck up here though…just ignore the pain and get your surroundings, Rainbow…” She says to herself, looking around.

A patch of shadow, small, can be made out in the distance. “Jackpot!” Rainbow says to herself, and she throws herself through the air towards the shade. Her speed surprises even her as the wind rips past her face and mane, a sweet reminder of life outside this hell. “The wind feels pretty nice when going this fast…forgot what it was like to fly for a second there!” She gleefully talks to herself, enjoying the flight, the freedom of the sky. A twinge of pain brings her back down to earth, reminding her of her body’s condition. “Shoot…ow…” She hisses, now hovering over the shadowy patch of shade about 200 meters up. She slowly lowers herself to the shade, and as soon as she hits the cover from the nearby rock, the difference in temperature is night and day.

“Oh now that’s good…” She smiles, lowering herself to the ground, laying on her side. She sighs in relief at this miracle, and closes her eyes, thinking. “Alright…I’m in a desert. Heat all around, more sand than all of Equestria would know what to do with, no food or water…what to do…?” She thinks to herself, letting the shade ease the pain of her burning limbs. Memories come swirling back in quick flashes, and she furrows her brow, mulling them over.

“…I’ve done this before, haven’t I…?” She mumbles to herself, opening her eyes. “…I’ve lived out here before…that doesn’t make sense. What’s with this place…?” Though confused, her path is clear. “Well…I’ve got the smarts for this. Better put em to use. First, I’ve gotta nail down where to get food and water…now where would they be in a desert like this?” She thinks, rolling onto her stomach. The pain in her limbs is still there, but her wings are as strong as ever. She slowly lifts herself off the ground, looking at the rock behind her.

“Alright, before I head out, I need a way to see this from a distance. Now how do I do that…?” She wonders, cocking her head to the side. The rock was pretty tall, but the desert extended off in all directions with no real landmarks to discern from. “Getting lost out here would be the end of me. I’ll head out until I can barely see the rock, then start heading back. I can see pretty far when I’m high up…so that should help me find a source of water at least.” She says to herself, before flying up into the air, high above the rock. She keeps looking down, making sure the rock stays within view, then, satisfied with her height, she looks around.

“Sand…sand…sand…shadows…sand…blue…sand…wait!” She snaps her view back to the blue, staring at it. “Is that…?” She mumbles, then starts flying towards the water, looking behind herself to make sure the rock stays within view. “Stay focused, Rainbow…that’s your home now.” She keeps staring at the rock until the blue enters the top of her view. The rock is now a tiny speck in the distance, and she slowly moves down out of the air.

“I’m right above the blue here…so if I just keep going down…oh Celestia, please let it be here…” She prays, hoping for at least one thing to go right for her today. The sand continues to rise in her sight, the rock soon disappearing behind the dunes, and she keeps going down…down…down…

And touches down with a splash. The cold water sends a shock through her body, causing her wings to snap shut and she tumbles into the deep water. Rolling for a second, she quickly rights herself and moves back up through the water, coming up with a gasp. “WATER! Oh thank Celestia!” She gleefully exclaims to the empty sands around her. Treading in the water, she feels something strange, and cocks her head to the side, looking down. Suddenly she feels something crack back into place in her skeleton, causing a massive shock of pain to shoot straight from her chest.

“GAH!!!” She screams into the air, falling back below the surface. The pain quickly disappears, but her chest feels numb. She hits the lake bottom, looking up through the water.

“A good ten feet deep…refreshing…” She thinks, letting the cool water currents sweep over her sore limbs. The sting melts away into the deep blue, but is quickly replaced by a new pain. Her lungs begin to burn.

“Oh shoot!” She panics, quickly launching back up to the surface, exploding out like a dolphin. She takes a quick gasp of air and opens her wings, flapping them hard to keep herself aloft, but the wings are too wet to keep her up. She falls back into the water.

“Gotta get to the beach…!” She thinks, flailing in the water, trying to get some traction. This was easy before, what’s wrong now? Her legs don’t seem capable of moving enough water to push her along. She stares at the sand bank below her, and allows herself to sink far enough to touch down. From there, she starts walking up the bank to the beach, slowly breaking the surface of the water.

“Brrrr…I’ve heard of cold showers, but that’s ridiculous…!” She shivers, shaking off the water. She tries opening her wings to get the water in them flapped off, but they feel glued to her body. She tries again, focusing on moving her muscles one by one, but the wings won’t come off her sides.

“Are you kidding me?!” She shouts at her wings, “Are you really not going to cooperate NOW of all times?!” Her anger hits a fever pitch, but quickly descends into slight depression. “How am I going to get back now?”

The large sand dune at the Northern part of the beach provides a nice view point of the desert, but home seems so far off. A tiny black speck in the distance, one that would likely take days to reach walking. “If only I had my wings…” Rainbow sighs, looking at her two stiff wings, suddenly longing for the sky once more. “Well, there’s water here at least, and I do know where home is now. It’s a start.” She nods to herself, moving back down to the lake. She looks at her clothing and saddle bag, everything drenched to the bone. She grimaces, moving to the edge of the water, and takes off her saddle bag.

Looking inside, everything’s still there, including the empty Health Drink bottle. She takes it out, looking it over. “Not a whole lot to contain water…but any drink is good drink at this point.” She sticks the open bottle back in her mouth, getting whatever remaining drops of that miracle elixir could still be inside, then places it in the water, filling the bottle. After filling it, she puts it to her mouth and drinks away, having walked for hours and flown through the insane heat, no matter how good the wind felt. “Gone in seconds…but it’ll do for a while. Better fill up here while I can.”

After having about six bottlefuls of water, she fills the Health Drink one last time before capping it and placing it in her saddle back, next taking out the medkit and inspecting the contents. “Bandages, disinfectant, needle and string…none of it seems damaged, either.” She mumbles to herself, closing the kit and placing it back in her bag. She looks over her own injuries, lifting up her shirt to check her side, expecting that swollen dent to have gotten worse. To her surprise, it seems to have disappeared.

“No pain either…what the hay did that water do to me?” She thinks to herself, before adjusting her cap. She looks at her leg, now remembering the knife that’s stayed there for who knows how long. “Still sheathed, still there, strap’s still tight…this thing’s stuck with me through thick and thin here.” She smirks, knowing she’s had at least some kind of defense during all this. She looks back at the lake before trying to move her wings one last time, them still refusing to budge.

“Alright…let’s start heading back then.” She says to herself, climbing up the sand dune, and starting her way back to the rock shadow she calls home.