Part 24: Insert Obligatory Bob Dylan Joke Here
Rainbow Dash groaned to herself as she awoke. She let out a noise of disgust as she found herself covered in this form of icky green substance, almost like she was being… Rainbow let out a squeak of realization.
“Of course you dumb-dumb, they’re insects. Should you really be surprised this is what they do to their…” Rainbow asked herself and barely managed to get the next word out. “Prey? Oh Hell no, this is not how Rainbow Danger Dash dies!”
If she got out of this, she would look back in hindsight and agree wholeheartedly with anyone who asked her that this was probably the most bucking stupid, flank-headed, Hell-cursed choice in her life she’d probably ever made. Excluding befriending Gilda of course. And saying in a drunken swagger she’d once had a crush on the founder of the Wonderbolts Spitfire herself as a filly over a couple of drinks. So yeah, this was pretty high up there on the list of stupid choices she’d made in her life.
She struggled, flailing her hooves about like a madmare, but try as she might it was fairly evident she was never going to get herself free. All the while, those insectoid pony things just keep sniggering all the while. Rainbow took note of her location, she was somewhere deep underground, that much was evident if the jagged stalactites hanging from the ceiling were any indication. From somewhere above, there was the faint sound of a rushing river. Hoofsteps as well, so she had to be somewhere near civilization.
Rainbow had long ago become acutely hyper-aware to some extent of her surroundings. This was something she’d trained herself to do, as part of her dream to join the Wonderbolts. It was necessary to be aware of anything and everything around you, simply because of the close formation flying and the tricks the Wonderbolts sometimes pulled. One simple mistake, one error in judgement, one miscalculation could spell disaster and one bloody mess for ponies to clean up on the ground below. Rainbow Crash indeed.
I suppose it’s now time to sorta elabortate on Rainbow Dash really. See, the thing is, she came from this fairly rich family in Cloudsdale. Never told anyone, not even her best friends about where she came from as Celestia knew they’d probably hound her for information about it. Well, not all of them. Applejack probably wouldn’t give a damn, and neither would Fluttershy but the ones like Rarity and Twilight? The ones who loved information and gossip so much? They’d really love to get their little hooves on who exactly she was related to. Maybe she was being overtly paranoid, maybe they weren’t like that and she should put more trust in her friends really but it was never a bad idea to be more safe than sorry. So she kept those particular cards close to her chest.
And who exactly was Rainbow related to anyhow? Well, aside from her family being very and I mean very filthy rich -Like Canterlot Noble filthy rich- they were exceedingly famous if you knew their names. Her mother, Firefly Stormcharger. Her father, Rainbow Blaze. Rainbow was honestly surprised nobody had put it together sooner, given she had her mother’s personality, and her father’s looks. But as for why they were famous? They pretty much handled and by that I meant owned Cloudsdale’s exceedingly successful Hoofball team, the Cloudsdale Treetrimmers. The only all-female team in the league, and the subject of quite a few pin-up posters and calendars on a colt or mare’s bedroom walls for varying reasons. Quite a few of which Rainbow would have preferred not think about. But in any case, the reason Rainbow never told her friends about who exactly she was related to was understandable. She’d never hear the end of it, and never get any privacy. Like I said, maybe she wasn’t trusting her friends enough but she still believed in that old adage better safe than sorry.
But back to her current situation.
Chances are, she hadn’t left the island which from her late-night fly-by was a fairly small place so if the Doctor and Twilight -And this was a very big if- knew she was missing, they’d be out searching for her. Rainbow took a look at the odd insect things once more, and then thought back.
“But what about our myth, the Sonic Rainboom?” Rainbow protested. “How do you explain that?” she exclaimed, throwing a hoof up in the air in frustration.
“Rainbow,” the Doctor put in, stepping away from the balcony window where he’d been watching the stars. “I think we’ve got bigger problems then some myth. Can’t you feel it, the anxiety in the air?’
“Well, of course, there’s going to be anxiety in the air!” Rainbow shouted. “I mean, there’s this huggggggeee wedding between Roam’s prized fighter and the Queen of Baladi coming up or haven’t you heard? Plus, now the Emperor himself has just shown up out of the blue!”
“No, it’s not that kind of anxiety, not the excited kind or the kind where everyone’s afraid something might go wrong. No, it’s fear, paranoia. I heard ponies in the streets whispering not to trust your neighbors, that something’s off about a few of them. Yes, fear. That’s what it is. Fear covers this city, and I have a feeling that whatever people are afraid of we’re going to meet it, and soon. Yes Rainbow, something’s about to happen and more than likely we’re about to be caught up in the middle of it. So I’d advise you and Twilight to get some rest,” the Doctor said, going for the door.
Yeah, she knew what he meant now, that heightened sense of fear. Pity she wasn’t aware of her surroundings back then. But with creatures that could take the form of anything ponyish, including but not limited to your loved ones she could see why everyone in Roam was so anxious really. She would be as well.
“Caught up in the middle of it indeed…” Rainbow thought to herself with a dark little chuckle.
She then heard the sound of hoofsteps marching her way, and the guards holding spears parted to reveal a massive pony bug thing, almost equal in size to an alicorn. It was feminine in shape, and covered in more holes than a pack of swiss cheese. It bore an unsightly jagged horn, and a burnt orange mane the color of fire itself.
“Well now,” the pony bug thing asked in a voice as sweet as syrup, yet dripping with menace at the very same time. “So this is our little eavesdropper eh?” she asked, as she stroked Rainbow’s chin with a hoof, making the prismatic pegasus shudder in disgust. She was sorely reminded of all those fillynappers her parents had warned her about as a kid, this creature practically oozed pedophile.
“Yes milady Arthropod,” one of the bug things said with a very quick salute, as the others stamped their spears. She recognized that voice, it was one of those two creatures she’d followed, the ones that had jumped her. Rainbow struggled once more, trying to free herself only to great amusement from the creatures. It was a horrific sound, their laughter, like a thousand bees buzzing angrily at once. “Caught her up above trying to figure out our plans.”
“Arthropod… So that’s her name huh?” Rainbow thought. “Huh, fitting I suppose.”
“Fool!” Arthropod shouted, as she slapped her subject across the face, knocking him to the cave floor. “You should have been more vigilant! Constant Vigilance, isn’t that what I always preach? Isn’t that why us Changelings have stayed hidden for so long?”
In the back of Rainbow’s, that little switch of hers, the one that always let her know something very, very wrong indeed was going on, quietly and subtly switched itself on as the penny finally dropped.
“C-Changelings?” Rainbow thought to herself and her eyes widened in fear. She’d heard the stories, just like everyone else. Of creatures lurking in the dark waiting to suck you dry and then steal your form with nopony else the wiser as to your disappearance. She’d always had nightmares of the creatures when she was just a little filly, and it never helped matters much whenever someone got scared out of their wits whenever they thought someone they knew was a Changeling and all of Cloudsdale went on lockdown. She’d always asked her mom to check under her bed just to make sure Changelings were never there. There was a reason the phrase don’t let the bedbugs bite existed really. And now she was in the clutches of what looked to be a whole hive of ‘em.
“Welp Rainbow, I think it’s officially safe to say you’ve bucked up big-time really. You and your little taste for adventure, got you stuck in this mess. Quite literally…” she groaned out in disgust as she tried to free herself, only for the slime encasing her to stick to her like salt-water taffy.
“So…” Rainbow Dash asked, trying to put on a brave face. “What are you p-planning to do to me? I mean, aside from sucking me dry?”
More of that horrific buzzing laughter came from all around her.
“Would you like the condensed truth version?” Arthropod asked in a sassy, rather sarcastic tone as she tilted her head in a rather disturbing manner that no pony should have been able to pull off. “Or the me-to-lie-to-you-and-tell-you-everything-is-going-to-be-alright manner? But really little pony, I think you know the answer to that question.”
“Oh, go buzz off!” Rainbow snapped, showing bravery in the face of a real monster.
Arthropod laughed, and if anything her laughter was even more horrific than her subjects own.
“Oh, how clever,” she replied in a mocking way, faining being hurt. “You have wounded me! Buzz off, how clever of you! Isn’t she a clever little pony?” she asked her subjects, who laughed again. That sound was really starting to get on Rainbow’s nerves.
“When I get out of here…” Rainbow growled to herself. “Only thing that’s going to be waiting for you at the end of your finish line is despair!” she snarled, sounding absolutely venomous.
“Ooh, how threatening, how poetic!” Arthropod laughed. “You could do the great poets of ancient Greece proud Madam Firefly… Or is it Rainbow Dash? I’m not sure…” the Changeling Queen murmured rubbing her chin with a hoof even as Rainbow’s eyes widened.
“Shit!” she thought to herself, she forgot she mentioned her real name just once when she’d arrived in Roam, in that little bout of anger.
“Go on, tell me which is which,” Arthropod chuckled darkly. “I’m honestly curious here. Now why would you lie about your real name? Why, just why I wonder?” she asked with a sneer in her voice already knowing at least part of the truth. “Perhaps, I wonder, you’re lying about your real identity? Oh, a fraud, a fraud!” she mocked childishly jumping and prancing about like a little schoolfilly. It was rather disturbing frankly.
“A fraud, a fraud!” the Changeling hive chorused in unison, at least a hundred light blue eyes peeking out of the darkness of the caverns.
“What, are they your personal chorus-line?” Rainbow mocked. “Because I seriously can’t imagine you dancing about on the Las Pegasus strip!”
“Oh, you’re a funny mare aren’t you?” Arthropod smirked. “I like the defiant ones, I always have, Such strange words from that tongue of yours, but I do like you,” she said in a seductive tone, once again making Rainbow shudder in disgust as Arthropod ran a hoof along her chin.
“You know something?” Arthropod asked. “Every war leaves behind the seed of conflict. In time, it matures into the fruit of sadness. We Changelings, we were borne of war, the love and lust for battle. And we intend to wage war once more, let others feel what we felt when we were created. We don’t have feelings you see, true ones anyways. We can’t feel love, pain, or loss like you can. We try to feel emotion, we really do, but we cannot. It’s a sad state of affairs for us. So we let others feel despair, perhaps one day one Changeling will feel love or something akin to that but for now… Well, you get the idea.” she chuckled darkly. “Shame you’ll never really get to see what we have in store for this little town, we’re going to shake it up a little, rock it till the cows come home!” she laughed even as the cocoon closed up over Rainbow…
Rainbow’s last thought before it did so and she went under?
“Twilight, please… come find me.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.016 seconds
Total duration
758 users online
1,025,163 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Don’t you mean spooky, scary, skeletons?
9261752
Nope, it's a Disney reference.
I see you are going with the fanon parents of Rainbow. No problem here, but the revelation of her wealth was pretty random.
I think if you just had stop at hinting something important about her family and then later on, in another chapter, reveal it at some important moment, it could have been interesting. Here, it just fell flat.
*full stop missing*
9262095
Okay, I admit that could have used more build up. But yeah, going with the fanon parents of Rainbow here. I don't actually mind the canon parents, as evidenced by me using Windy in another story even if they are a little annoying. I just wanted to do something different.
Now, you and 9262340 (I apologize for how short it was by the way, I just didn't think it needed to be any longer.) take note of the name Queen Arthropod. Where in this story have we heard that name mentioned before, hmm?
9262629
Here. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/364424/15/once-a-time-lord-well-actually-still-that-but-now-a-pony-as-well/part-14-the-mourning-tyrant
I figured, why not give her a physical appearance?
9262866
She wasn't actually planned to appear physically, her appearance was a last minute choice. Originally, the hoards here were going to be led by the Ironhead imposter.
9262427
9262629
If I remember correctly, Arthropod is the Changeling Queen that Celestia singe to death when she lost it. This was learnt in an old news paper the fake NIghtmare Moon toss to the Doctor and Twilight.
9264175
Yup, that's the mare(?) herself. Although it was a last minute spur of the moment choice, I decided why not give a slightly younger her (Note the difference in mane color) a physical appearance sometime before her demise? This is a Time-Travel story after all...
I think you me vigilant unless she has a Batman expy under her command.
So we're not dealing with Chrysalis but one of her predecessors interesting and Rainbow's fanon folks instead of her canon ones not a problem but I am curious why?
9307084
Because why not?
9307196
Fair enough