• Published 30th Dec 2016
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The Paladin of Prismatic Light - Keeper of time RD



Rainbow Dash finds herself trapped in another world. Just what will it take to find a way home?

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Chapter 10: The Tormenter

Few things broke the darkness of the mare’s dormitory, glints of moonlight from the windows here, candles far and wide over there. But for the most part the room was darkness as mares and fillies slept in the barracks-style arrangement that the castle dwellers had grown accustom to.

Two recent additions were the two mares who wore the silver armor of the Sky Knights and were standing guard at the foot of Rainbow Dash’s bed. The two had been posted there ever since Rainbow Dash had been given the sacred wing blades.

Actually, once Dash had received the wing blades, she had been offered one of the rooms in the castle keep. But in her attempts to resist her hero complex she’d turned the offer down. And maybe also in a small way because staying in the mare’s dorm allowed her the chance to keep in touch with Storm Gale easily. After all she wasn’t done rescuing Gale until she got her back to Equestria.

All of these concerns currently eluded Rainbow Dash, as she was dead asleep.

“LOOK OUT!”

Between the shout, the clang of metal on metal, and the pony pile right on top of her, Dash opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the blade thrust deep into her pillow just in front of her face. And second thing she saw was that the only reason the blade wasn’t through her skull right now was because of the spear that had been used to parry it.

The two guards and the would-be assassin rolled off of the paladin and her bed one way. As soon as she wasn’t pinned under those three, Dash rolled off the bed the other way, away from the blade right as it was yanked up and fell away with the three brawlers.

As soon as she hit the floor between the beds Rainbow Dash scrambled to her hooves. And even as she did so, she could hear the punching and kicking on the other side of her bed. More screaming and scrambling was heard through the room as other ponies were waking up and realizing that there was a fight going on.

The intruder’s sword came lose, being knocked away by one of the Sky Knight’s spears. More screams came, most from those trying to dodge the flung blade. In the confusion Dash could only hope that the pained yip had come from one of three ponies in the actual melee.

Now that her eyes had attuned to the low light of the room the paladin could more clearly see that the two Sky Knights were tangling with a shadow pegasus. Opening her wings, and crouching into a pounce-ready stance she gave a soft whistle.

On hearing the sound that didn’t belong in a brawl the two Sky Knights spared a glance. Wordlessly they understood what needed to happen. And the first chance they got, they each grabbed a leg of their foe and moved in opposite directions.

With the shadow pegasus held firm and friendly targets now out of the way, Rainbow Dash leapt into the air and swung a bladed wing low as she sailed over the intruder. Sure enough, even though she had only delivered a shallow cut to the intruder’s shoulder, it began to dissolve into specs of light.

While others were still in a commotion Dash and the two Sky Knights huddled together.

“Is that it? Just the one?” the paladin asked.

“I think so.”

“That’s usually how it goes.”

With a raised eyebrow Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but ask, “Wait! This is a normal thing?”

“Assassination attempts on the paladin? Yeah, they do that from time to time. Guess that means we need to get the unicorns to find the new hole in the perimeter alarm spell, again.”

Before Dash could respond to the sudden revelation as to why the paladin had to sleep under guard, more shouts came from across the room.

“Somepony call the healer!”

“And fetch the water!”

Drawn to the new cries, the three ponies in silver armor rushed over.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked.

No pony bothered to answer the paladin, nor did they need to. The blade that had been meant for her had found its way into the side of a random mare when it had been knocked away from the actual fight. By now the bloody blade had been removed and was laying on the ground beside the injured pegasus’ bed.

“Keep pressure on the wound until the healer gets here!” Somepony shouted, as others ran out the door.

One of the Sky Knights turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Paladin, press the flat of the wing blades to the wound, and stay close to her until the healer gets here.” Even as she obeyed, the knight answered the questioning look on Dash’s face. “Even though the wing blades healing magics mostly effect the pony wearing them, those who remain near the paladin have also healed from their wounds more quickly. It might not be a substitute for a proper healing spell but we have to work with what we’ve got.”

It wasn’t long before Sweet Chime, Scooter, and a mare carrying a bucket of the waters of night and day came running into the room. Well, the two fillies ran. The mare flew.

The mare quickly set the bucket down beside the injured pony’s bed and stepped back to allow the fillies room.

Rearing up, Scooter then slammed her front hooves down in the bucket. With that the waters flared to life with a radiant, mostly-silver glow, with bits of gold and blue light about. As soon as she had the waters shining, the young pegasus stepped back, allowing her unicorn friend to step up.

Placing her front hooves in the shimmering waters of night and day, Sweet Chime lit her horn with magic and began to sing. The song she sung had no words, only ‘ah’s and ‘oh’s of varying pitches and tones that turned them into the notes of a song.

And Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but smile when she realized that those notes sounded very much like the notes to a song the crusaders of her world had sung at a school talent show.

As she listened to the filly’s song, a soothing sensation washed over her. And not just her, but everypony nearby the singing filly wore a look of serenity on their face. Every little ache and pain in her body was washed away in the sound of the filly’s voice. Pulling her wing away, she even watched in awe as the gash in the injured pony’s side pulled itself closed. And within seconds the flesh mended, leaving no sign that the mare had been injured at all.

The light coming from the waters of night and day seemed to flow up in ribbons, wrapping themselves around Sweet Chime as she sang, and pulsing off of her to fill the room.

When the light vanished the unicorn filly suddenly stopped singing and quickly pulled her hooves out of the bucket. Also when the silver light vanished, the water in the bucket didn’t just stop glowing but it turned into an aura of darkness that seemed to be consuming what little light was near it.

Although it turned out that Rainbow Dash was alone in taking a startled step, backing away from the suddenly ominous bucket of magic water.

“When a pegasus charges the waters of night and day with light magic, I can use it to sing my healing song,” Sweet Chime explained, on seeing the paladin’s startled reaction. “But unicorn magic makes the waters charge with dark magic. But for a minute or two after a pegasus charges the waters with light magic, it will hold the light alignment no matter what. That’s when I can sing my healing song with it’s light.”

“Right. Just the first time I’ve seen the dark version,” Dash admitted, nodded her head, recalling having heard something like that before.

“Yeah it is kinda creepy!” The comment came from Scooter as she gave the water another jab, causing it to flare back up with light.

By the light of the water checks were made and once it was confirmed that everything in order ponies went back to bed. Whether they got back to sleep or not was debatable, especially in Rainbow Dash’s case.

* * * * * * *

Morning came and went without further incident, or even a normal predawn attack on the castle. For her part, Rainbow Dash had spent the morning learning about the next target in her sights. The overlord that was apparently known as the ‘Tormenter.’

From what she had heard, if the Dark Summoner needed somepony tortured the Tormenter was the one who did it. And apparently, sometimes the Tormenter did her job even when her boss didn’t need anypony in particular tortured.

And although Cloud Sword had openly admitted that he’d only ever fought the Tormenter in fighting retreats, he’d told Rainbow Dash that her fighting style seemed unprofessional at best. And that it was only dangerous because it was erratic, and that she was fast for an earth pony. Of course, now that they knew that the overlords were in fact demon ponies, this one being faster than she looked like she would be hardly seemed odd anymore. Regardless, compared to the rest of the remaining overlords, the Tormenter seemed to be the weakest in his opinion.

Another point of caution that had been given to Dash was the fact that, unlike the Bloodsmith, there was no window of vulnerability to strike at the Tormenter. Things never really seemed to come or go from the Tormenter’s base of operations. They only knew that ponies never went in there willingly, and those that were dragged in never came back out. So obviously whatever the Tormenter needed was always around.

Speaking of that base of operations, it had turned out to be the building with the iron-madden and cat-of-nine-tails decorating the front, the one that stood in this world’s place for Sugar Cube Corner.

Even as she looked out from her hiding place under an abandon market cart, Rainbow Dash had the sneaking suspicion that the demon pony in there was going to look an awful lot like Pinkie Pie. Although, all she knew for certain was that the Tormenter was an earth pony with a red coat, or so she’d been told.

The evidence was all around that this place had once been a market area. But that day had long past. Aside from the cart she was hiding under, several other market carts were around the plaza, many looked like they’d been abandon in a hurry, their former owners having not even bothered to close up the displays or awnings. One even had gold coins sitting on its counter as if it had been abandon mid sale.

A soft gust kicked up some dust and sent a tumbleweed rolling by.

The paladin pegasus didn’t need any further invitation to come out from her hiding place. There obviously weren’t any observers around she needed to avoid. Flapping her wings slowly, she made her way over to the front door.

Perhaps it was because of whom she expected to find that she chose to use the door that no pony in their right mind would use to ‘sneak’ into a building with. Or perhaps it was the fact that the occasional breeze was the only sound to compete with her heartbeat in the last two minutes. This place had been so quiet that her own sigh sounded like thunder. Yes, that was it, if anypony was even here, this place was so quiet that nothing could approach without being heard.

Twisting the handle, she was only slightly surprised to find that the front door wasn’t even locked. The door creaked open with a whisper that might as well have been a stamped.

Inside and to the left there was a staircase, just like in Sugar Cube Corner. That’s where the similarities ended.

Instead of tables for customers to sit and enjoy the local confections, the tables here all had thick leather straps positioned to bind a pony to them. The few chairs in the room were also equipped with restraints. Instead of a counter filled with tasty treats near the back wall, the back wall was lined with racks and shelves loaded with whips, pokers, knives, spikes, branding irons, and several things that Rainbow Dash didn’t know what they were. And considering that everything she could identify was a torture tool, she was fairly sure she didn’t want to know what they were.

The one thing she didn’t find in the main room of the torture house was another pony.

That left two options. The stairs up to what in her world would be the bedrooms. Or the saloon-style door at the back of the room that, guessing from this building’s Equestria equivalent, went to the kitchen. The doorway to the only other room on this floor won.

As the lone pegasus in the building drew near the doorway, she heard soft humming. Pushing the door open she found a pony that looked exactly like Pinkie Pie, if pinkie pie’s fur and mane were bright red anyway.

The presumed Tormenter was currently sitting with her back to the paladin, her attention on the counter top adjacent to the oven.

“I’d offer you cupcakes, but you’re going to be dead before they’re ready.”

Despite the red mare’s greeting proving that it was impossible to sneak up on her, the red pony gave no other reaction to the pegasus’ intrusion. She simply continued to stir the bowl of frosting in front of her.

“I’m guessing you’re the Tormenter then?”

“Yep! Or AAAAHHHHGGG! That’s the other thing my toys seem to call me.”

“Toys? You mean ponies, don’t you?”

With a shrug the red pony answered, “Toys, ponies, same difference. Either way I play with them until they break.” Finally looking up, she added, “It’s a pity that I have to play so rough with you paladins. But those blades of yours are just too dangerous to risk playing with you for long.”

Somewhere in the back of Rainbow Dash’s mind, the words she’d heard from her mentor during one of her many training sessions played out.

“A weapon is a tool. And like any inanimate object it does nothing on it’s own. Only the one wielding it can give the tool purpose.”

“You’re wrong,” Dash said. “The sacred wing blades aren’t dangerous. The only thing I’ve seen them do on their own is heal and protect! It’s only when I strike out with them that they destroy.”

“Which is exactly why I have to kill you quickly. Unless you just want to take them off and strap yourself to one of my tables, that is. Then we could play all day!”

The Tormenter’s words came in an oddly childish tone, as if asking somepony to willingly strap themselves to a torture table was a reasonable request.

Rainbow Dash didn’t answer with words. She narrowed her eyes, flared her wings and shifted her hooves outward a bit, putting herself into a combat stance.

“Fine. Have it your way,” the red mare sighed. Then a giggle came from her. “Besides I kind of wanted to play rough. Now that I don’t have to give ol’bloody her take, I can see what all that fuss over pony blood is about. Now be a good little paladin for me, and BLEED!”

With that last word, the Tormenter finally turned around. And in doing so, she revealed that she’d been stirring the bowl of frosting with a large dagger.

Yet, the dagger hardly even registered in Rainbow Dash’s mind. Instead the thing that made her worry the most was the red mare’s long, slightly darker red mane. Or rather the fact that it was now perfectly straight. Very un-Pinkie-Pie like, yet she’d seen Pinkie like that, once.

The unsettling memories of the pink party pony hosting a party attended by bags of flour and buckets of turnips, among other inanimate objects, flashed in Dash’s mind. There was something truly unnerving about seeing the spirit of laughter like that, something that just couldn’t be put to words. That was the one time she’d ever been even slightly afraid of Pinkie Pie.

She shook the thoughts from her mind. The pony before her wasn’t Pinkie Pie. And this pony probably was worth being afraid of.

With a hop, the Tormenter began the fight. Rather, it took two hops before the distance had been closed and she could take a swing at the paladin with the dagger held in her mouth.

The frontal attack was easily parried with one wing blade and with the other, Dash swung a counterattack.

Said counterattack cleaved nothing but air, as the red earth pony bounded up and over it. Quickly darting behind the kitchen’s island counter, the Tormenter disappeared from sight.

With a jump to the right, Rainbow Dash put herself in the largest open area the kitchen had. Allowing herself a full view of the island counter so that nothing could come out from behind it without being seen.

Wings at the ready she waited… and waited.

Suddenly she heard a sound from the left. A glance caught a red blur lunging at her from an impossible direction. How the red mare had gotten out from behind the counter without being seen was beyond the paladin pegasus.

With not enough time to do anything else, Rainbow Dash parried with her wing. But even that wasn’t enough. The dagger made contact with the skin of her front left leg. Between the blue flash of the wing blade’s protective magic and the parry, the dagger only managed a slight cut before being knocked away completely.

As soon as she’d cartwheeled over Dash’s back, the Tormenter shot out of one of the doors quickly enough to avoid the paladin’s counterattack.

Two doors, one window was the verdict of Rainbow Dash’s search for ways to enter the room. Turning her back to the oven, the only wall that didn’t have a means of entering from outside the room, she kept the two doors in her peripheral vision and the window right in front of her.

The whoosh of something large barreling through the air came from behind. Dash ducked in time to only get her ear nicked as her attacker sailed overhead.

The pattern repeated it self. The demon pony ducking out of sight and then attacking from some place completely different. The paladin dodging and parrying just in time to keep the damage limited to minor nicks and cuts. The attacks were just too erratic, too unconventional to face with the combat training she’d received, too… Pinkie Pie.

The demon ducked behind a counter in front of Dash and to the right. So she abandoned her combat stance, folded one wing, kept her left wing open and angled it back.

A firebomb of pain erupted in Rainbow Dash’s mind as a dagger was plunged into her left flank. But more than that, a sudden weight appeared on, no, around her left wing. And two pained gasps filled the room.

As soon as the shock value of the hit she’d taken wore off, Dash turned her head to look at the other pony.

At first the red pony stood motionless, still holding the dagger in her teeth. Almost as if she took the movement from the paladin as permission to move herself, the Tormenter released the dagger, leaving it embedded in Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. Then the demon pony looked down, almost as if she was only now noticing the wing blade buried in her chest, that she’d impaled herself on while attacking the paladin.

“How?” The demon asked, coughing up bits of black, burning blood. “No pony can predict my attacks-” *Cough “-Not even me!” *Wheeze.

“The way you move is just like my friend Pinkie Pie.”

The demon’s eyes widened, perhaps with a touch of fear or perhaps it was awe. “You really are guided by a destiny…” As weakness appeared on the red mare’s face so did a frown. “Dang, now the cupcakes are going to burn…”

The demon’s burning blood gave Rainbow Dash a reminder what happened to the last demon she’d defeated. With a sudden urgency she pulled her wing free from the demon’s chest and leapt into the air, flaying as fast as she could for the window.

The sound of shattering glass was drown out by the roar of a fiery blast. The cold crisp air on Dash’s face was challenged by the searing hot air blasting her rear end. The blast wave peppered the back of her head with the shattered remains of the window just sundered in her hasty exit.

The searing pain lasted only a second before she’d outpaced the flames licking at her backside. Then the pain of heat was replaced by the pain of cold on her scorched skin. And that was quickly accompanied by the stabbing pain that reminded her that there was still a dagger lodged in her cutie mark.

Coming to a hover, Rainbow Dash paused just long enough to pull the dagger from her flank and let it fall toward the burning torture house before she started to move out. Even with the healing magics of the sacred wing blades doing their best to mend the gash, she would end up leaving a trail of blood all the way from the pyre to the edge of the Liberty Forest. Not that that would last long in the noonday sun.

* * * * * * *

“Are you sure you’re not feeling up to it?” the yellow stallion with an orange mane asked.

“Yeah… sorry…” Pinkie Pie answered in a near lifeless tone truly unbefitting of the prime party planer of Ponyville.

“I hope you feel better soon,” Mr. Cake said. With that he forced a smile and returned to the kitchen of Sugar Cube Corner. As he left, he muttered to himself, “I never realized how much slower things are around here when the town’s in a bad mood.”

Looking around, the double pink pony could count the number of customers in the sweet shop on her hooves. Considering that this was suppose to be the lunch rush, that meant the place was practically dead.

And the gloomy mood of the town could be seen on the few ponies that were scattered about the dinning area. Instead of lively conversations they ate in relative silence. Maybe when they took a bite of their treat they might smile, but those were just moments of contentment, not the big happy smiles of joy that normally infected the visitors to the bakery.

It was all Pinkie Pie’s fault.

And the worst part was she knew it. Ever since they’d called off the search for Rainbow Dash she’d fallen into this funk. And when the spirit of laughter couldn’t laugh Ponyville could maybe last a day or two before they joined her in her melancholy. It killed Pinkie to see the town in such a state. She wanted to spread joy and see them truly smile again. But she couldn’t. How could she spread joy when she couldn’t feel it herself?

You see. Joy is like fire. When it burns brightly enough in your heart you can spread that joy to others. But if it burned out and misery took its place, well just like a fire that has died, you needed something outside yourself to re-ignite that spark of joy.

And try as she might, Pinkie Pie couldn’t find anything to break herself out of her funk so she could get back to spreading joy. Not sugar highs from stuffing her face with baked goods, not trading jokes with her toothless pet alligator, Gummy, and not even trying to plan a party did the trick.

Two birthdays and a reunion had come and gone since the depression had set in, and although the parties had gone off without a hitch, they’d left her feeling as empty as before. So much so that Pinkie had done her best to avoid the guests at said parties for fear of infecting them with her lousy mood. What was the world coming to if a party couldn’t cheer up Pinkie Pie? Yeah, the mood around town was that bad.

The bell jingled as somepony opened the front door.

It turned out to be three fillies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders to be exact. Yet more proof that the town was in a bad way. Pinkie had never seen only three school ponies come in during the lunch break. They usually came in larger groups or not at all. Scootaloo seemed to be in the lead today, followed by Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom lagged behind, looking like she was here simply because of the other two crusaders.

Speaking of Scootaloo she looked worried about something as she approached the counter. That was too bad, as far as Pinkie Pie could tell, the orange and purple filly was one of the few ponies in town who had seemed to be in good spirits of late.

“Pinkie Pie, can we hide out here after school today?”

“Rarity had THAT look in her eyes this morning. And she said she would need a pegasus to model for her,” Sweetie Belle explained Scootaloo’s question.

Pinkie gave a deep, understanding, and drawn out “Ooohhhh.” Then a hint of a smile crept onto her face. “Too bad I’m not a pegasus. I wouldn’t mind an excuse to see Rarity if she’s in a good enough mood to be back to designing. Even if all that standing still is super duper boring.”

With a quick look around the room she added, “Things have been slow all day, so I don’t think the Cakes will mind if you hang out after school. Plenty of table space for everypony.”

“Thanks, Pinkie! You’re a life saver!” Scootaloo exclaimed with a happy buzz of her wings. “So what are we going to have, crusaders? My treat today!”

Apple Bloom shrugged. But Sweetie Belle took a deep inhale and a small smile appeared on her face.

“The cinnamon rolls smell really good to me.”

That idea got a round of nods from her fellow crusaders. So Scootaloo put the bits on the counter and Pinkie got them their order, along with three paper bags so they could take them to go. With that the trio of fillies took their sweets and hurried off to get back to school before the lunch break was over.

As she watched them go, Pinkie Pie wanted to smile. She really did. Seeing Scootaloo and the other crusaders had made her feel better. But something still felt missing.

Then a slight pain stabbed in Pinkie’s chest and a tremor made its way up her spine and a vision flashed in her mind. A vision of the most important day in her life, the day she learned to smile. The day she’d first tasted the sweet sweet goodness of joy. A day that she’d since learned she’d owned to none other than Rainbow Dash. That day that she’d seen a prismatic shockwave tear away the gloomy skies over her family’s rock farm had been the original spark of joy in Pinkie Pie’s life.

Remembering that day, the pink pony couldn’t help but smile.

* * * * * * *

Sweet Chime’s song quieted. Then she and her pegasus friend smiled that simple smile of two fillies who’d completed a job well done.

Reaching out and ruffling their manes, Rainbow Dash said, “Thanks, you two. Looks as good as new.”

Brushing a wing over her flank, she examined the skin beneath the fur. Sure enough all signs of the gash were gone, not even a scar remained. Only the memory of pain returned with the touch.

The sacred wing blades had done their best to seal the wound on the way back, but their magic was just too slow for Dash. Hence why she’d asked for Sweet Chime’s healing song. The idea of not being able to sit down without extraordinary pain, for a full day, while she waited for the wing blades to heal her wasn’t something she was going to tolerate. Not when she knew there was a faster solution around anyway.

Cloud Sword thanked the two fillies and sent them on their way. With a more grim expression he turned to the freshly healed paladin.

“What?” she asked, seeing the look on the former paladin’s face.

“Healing magic is nice, but it’s not all powerful.” His words were heavy with concern. “I know you are eager to finish what you started. But I also see the weakness lingering in your eyes. So please, trust me when I say you should give your body time to recover from that wound, even if magic has sealed the flesh. Please, try to rest as much as possible tomorrow.”

Rainbow Dash did a quick back flip and was about to brush off his concern for her. But as soon as she did the flip she was hit by a wave of dizziness. “Fine,” she grumbled. “Rest sounds good.”