Into the Void

by TF141Soldier

Chapter 6: The Colors Bleed In

Chapter Six
Into the Void - An MLP Fanfiction by TF141Soldier
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It seemed almost unnatural to look at her now. Almost unreal. Although the dynamic certainly was Rarity - the identical mane style, the poise, the cutie mark that Dash did finally see amongst the barren flanks of the other fake creations: three diamonds, accurately positioned in the haze of dreams. But she was nothing more than a memory - waiting to be brought back to life by Dash's own. An image generated by pure magic. Dash had already acknowledged her secret crush - still amazed at how this worked - but had almost stopped when she saw the eyes: two black holes of unfaltering, indifferent sickness. It killed Dash on the inside to see anything so devoid of emotion. It really, truly did.

"...Hi, R-rarity. Remember me?" Dash began oddly, stuttering. Now was not the time to screw up. "R-rainbow Dash?"

Dash thought she saw a flicker of memory, some flicker of light in the bottomless black that Rarity now was, but it was faint. She was only reacting to the sound of a pony. "....No. No, I don't think so. Hello, then."

The pegasi felt her stomach drop - she could almost smell the nervous sweat coming off herself, like something left too long in a crisper. Though not nearly as rancid, it was the best analogy Dash could come up with. "No! Come on, Rarity!"

"Rar-a-tee?" she asked, incredulous. They didn't even know their own names. "Are you referring to something?"

"You! That's your name!" Dash asked, her voice rising.
Don't be angry with her. Focus.

And there Dreamkeeper was again: Dash had already had enough of this. But it was nice to have a little mental note - pardon the pun - about having to chastise herself and steady herself. "You. That's what ponies would call you. Rarity."

"Hmmm...." This seemed like news to the anti-Rarity. Her eyes were cast down, eyes cinched deep in thought. "Are you certain? And why are you so... different? You look so.... so...."

"Colorful?" Dash answered, annoyed. The memory of Rarity nodded - probably still not knowing what the word meant. Rainbow wondered: what would it take for this memory to remember her - as dumb as that sounded in her head. It would have to of been something Rarity had remembered Dash by. Could it of been a memory of the one night near the bridge, when Dash had stood against Nightmare Moon's Shadowbolts and tied the bridge together, solidifying her title as the Spirit of Loyalty? No, that'd be a one in a million chance, Rainbow Dash thought to herself, then wondered for a halting moment if the Dreamkeeper could read her brain's processing thoughts. Not possible. Her head was afloat in agony - not physical.

And the gray. The bleakness seemed almost unbearable. The clouds were sponging up all the light, thunderheads hunched overhead but not truly doing anything. A voracious appetite suddenly seized her stomach, and her mouth began to water.

"Well you're certainly different. Maybe special. A fair bit spooky, if you don't mind my opinion." Rarity continued, clearly showing some effortful strength. So somewhere in that ruined mind, there was still life here trying to fight its way back, which always reminded Dash of the spirit Discord fighting his way out of stone. And spooky. The not-Rarity didn't know the half of it.

"But I don't know you." Rarity finished, shifting her gaze back to an unknown space somewhere else. Dash felt a nasty wind blowing, though she knew it was fake. Her heart had sped up to rattling thumps in her breastbone.

The whole thing had locked up like a bad transmission - Rarity was still dead to the world. Dash felt infuriated, but then suddenly had a jolt of memory - her heart had finally bucked into gear. Nothing more than a wiry lash to her mind, but it definitely was one. That dramatic day during the Young Fliers' competition - feelign herself slam past the sound barrier, the light that spiraled along behind her, the rush of speed when she had bucked along, and the pillowing clouds of stars alongside the rainbow - snatching Rarity and the Wonderbolts up as if they were paper. The Sonic Rainboom. Of course. With a slight buck, Dash rose into the air, now noticing just how unaffected everything was by her ascent - there was no change in breathable air, it stayed the same: miles and miles upward. Going through the clouds was murderous - when she went into it, she felt a complete feeling of disorientation: everything here just wasn't natural - the rolling interior of it was dead. Dash made a halfhearted, one hundred and eighty degree angular turn and peered down at the dream land: it was so small Dash could very well be staring at it from space. But the air hadn't changed. Dash descended, rolling through the ash gray cloud masses that had asphyxiated the blue sky. She tucked in her forelegs just slightly, feeling the strain already: intense. But she was willing to go through the danger just to restore a memory - nothing more than a guess. Once the purpling mountains came into view, the sound barrier's white exterior was floating alongside her. Come on, come on! Dash shouted at herself. She gave it one last, furious drive to home before eventually it all blew apart, the air tore, and Dash was blown to unfathomable speeds as the Sonic Rainboom erupted, and she shot upward: the source of the radiance was far behidn her.

She knew that it was a lot easier here: it was a dreaming world, after all. The impossible happened here. But then again, she WAS Rainbow Dash. She was about to make the impossible happen in, hopefully enough, a few hours. She shot over the mountains, the fake trees, the fake ponies, the fake everything. The mist had seemed to clear a way: all it took was a little wit. And it really seemed to brighten up the place: all the colors! A rich red, vibrant orange, shrieking yellow, humble green, fiery blue, and a dark purple. All brought together by arcing across the land, some water just grazing the surface of the rainbow.

She eventually swiveled down to where she saw a figure now start to shine brightly: a line of magic that shot out in a sword-like arc for a nanosecond, then Dash saw it: the color totally changed in a pony down below. A streak of purple on top, just bent slightly at the sides: and then the side of her flank turned into three blue gems. But that was just for a few halting seconds, but Dash knew that she had gotten somewhere - had dug through that haze of amnesia. Success.

Not bad, Rainbow Dash. A little flashy, and really cliche. But I think you did it.

More of that voice. Dreamkeeper would have to learn when Dash wanted him inside her mind, and when she didn't. She really wanted to get inside his head - not literally, pun not intended - and see what his real thoughts were, how he was helping orchestrate everything. Was he the Keeper of Memory, and Paranoia the Taker?

And as Dash finally landed to the ground, her body full of pumping blood, the new addition had ignored whatever schedule Paranoia had planned, and the lifeless memories had snapped out of their stupor and all starting rambling at once. Sentence after sentence, indifference turned to surprise, it all melded into one big roar of discovery and confusion. Dash leaned back and collapsed on the floor, and squeezed her eyes shut for the briefest moment. Then she was disturbed by a shadow lurking over her: Rarity, with her still-gray eyes looking over her. The mane was the exact same as everypony else's, but Dash could tell: the cutie mark was there, as dead as it looked. Dash could only image the anti-Rarity trying to process all the information.

"What is that? That was incredible!", Rarity exclaimed. It sounded like emotion had finally returned to her voice. Dash looked up, and noticed the almost fake rainboom above her. It wasn't a real one, and wasn't nearly twice as difficult as it should have been. But it was, no less, color. A deep thrumming emitted from it.

"A rainbow. That's a rainbow, Rarity. Like my name.", Dash continued, now feeling much more patient with the unicorn. Something in the sky had gotten to her head, and now she was afloat in dizziness. "It's full of all kinds of color."

"Color?"

"Like... something... uh, visually different than the gray you're around." It now felt like she was talking to a child. Amusement now seized her body - it was almost entertaining. Another flicker of light in Rarity's eyes, a crack in the stone of awe and amazement that was her face. A memory? No idea.

Keep at it in case she keeps asking. Dreamkeeper spoke telepathically. Dash almost shook her head, but was too dizzy to concentrate. She got up with a groan and saw another pony approaching her. Her perspective then deceived her again, and the mane changed to something straighter and sharper - Twilight, or at least the distorted version of her. The constellation on her flank proved it. Had Dash saved her? She could save multiple minds? The thought provided her with confidence. Dash opened her mouth to speak, when a rush of words came out.

"What the hay is this? This is unfathomable!" the usually indifferent clone - why not? - suddenly sounded shrill. "I want to know what this is, and why! Now!"

Just the look on Twilight's face made Rainbow's fillings tingle. Her adam's apple bobbed against her throat. "It's a rainbow. Rainboom, to be precise. It's full of multiple colors. Made from either me or after a rainstorm."

"Are you just a figment of my imagination?" But when Dash still heard the constant chatter of voices, she saw that reality registered on the anti Twilight's face. Dash wanted nothing more now than the Dreamkeeper to talk to her. As if reading her mind - could he? - the audible-yet-not-audible voice returned.

Something's wrong. Get away from her. Get away from the crowd.

Dash only registered this, and took a few seconds to gather a plan. Dash then knelt so that she could find openings, hearing the different clone of Twilight screaming at the crowd like a tyrant. There were a few chain-linked fences, unmoved gray clouds, but Dash spotted in her peripheral vision, a few passages leading to more walkways far beyond. If she did a long run beyond there and take off into the clouds above, she could probably lose them. Although she probably could just fly now, she didn't want to be shot by magic. Hoisting herself to the side, avoiding the gaze of the ponies beyond her, she strode briskly towards the north passage: bracing her forelegs, she went into a slow and easy trot, shuddering from the bumpy feeling. Clouds weren't this bad back at home, and water soaked her coat from water lightly sloshing on her back hooves. She suddenly heard a shout, she exploded into a messy sprint. She clumsily floated across the ground, picking up speed slightly with her wings - she dashed across a stone wall, which shuddered from the impact. Down another cloudway, through a cloud foundation, and back around another rock that inexplicably floated. Once finding a clear opening, she hoisted herself on a cloud. She then braced herself, held her breath, and vaulted straight into the air - past the fluffy cloud colonnade creation from down below, into the endless mass of clouds into the sky. No one would find her, hopefully. She let her breath out, and disappeared into the black layers of clouds. Once the ground was no longer visible, she laughed conspiratorially. She had gotten somewhere!

However, deep inside the clouds, still feeling the buzz from the rainboom deep in the hollows of her bones and the lining of her veins - she could see stars. It was almost random to see them - scintillating like tiny pinpricks of daylight amongst a black sky. Her wings fell to her side in exhaustion, and made her jerking descent on a spare, really fluffy black cloud she found. She wondered if she could speak to the Dreamkeeper physically.

"Hey, Dreamkeeper... is it possible to sleep in a dream realm?"

Suddenly the physical figure of Dreamkeeper's Shadowbolt disguise appeared - he looked exasperated yet proud. "Well, duh. I told you every danger and limit here is as real as it is in real life. Unless you're hurt, of course. That won't leave any physical scars. But yeah, feel free."

"What on Equestria was wrong with Twilight... or whatever became of her? That was totally NOT cool.", Rainbow Dash questioned.

"I saw a wisp of smoke enter her body.", Dreamkeeper explained bluntly. The second he said it, the knowledge registered into Dash's mind. Paranoia. Of course. The whole idea of showing the memory of Twilight was not in the Dreamkeeper's power - it was to distract Dash. Which meant that Paranoia knew very well where Rainbow Dash really was, brought by pure magic.

"My head hurts too much to think or talk 'bout it. Give me four hours...", Dash yawned, sounding impossibly bored. The Dreamkeeper nodded, and with a flash of magic, disappeared into the depths below. It was almost too much to process. Only a day in, and things had begun to fall apart. Dash knew that time was of the essence, but you can't help save the world on a tired body, right? In order to be her regular awesome self, she needed a well-deserved nap. A warm current that was almost elemental and metallic floated in the air, and it took Dash a long time to fall asleep.

She didn't see the wisp of smoke rise in the camouflage of the black sky.
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Something pricked the comfort of sleep. Dash herself was lost in the haze of sleep, not dreaming. However, after the glowing wisp of smoke disappeared into Dash's chest - she suddenly felt like she was floating. It was the single most impossible thing to describe. She knew that she was asleep, but she felt like she was asleep. Her puffy eyes were resting, yet she felt wrapped in a cocoon of sleep and not able to burst out of it. A lucid dream?

But she could see. And her breath was visible in molecules - little purple wisps of visual air that floated, like fog of the early morning. It was the most unbelievable thing she'd seen.... so far. Then came the voice.

Pesky little invader. Trying to ruin my fun.

It sounded so simutaneously tired and angry that Dash's heart rate bucked into gear, and a panic-filled fear went into her body. She thought for a moment that it was just the Dreamkeeper, but this voice was full of menace - not the beautiful, caring heart that Dash had become adjusted to, annoyingly enough. She almost screamed at herself to wake up. Every muscle in her body felt usable, but she felt unconscious.

You comfortable in there, Dash? Those clouds are quite relaxing. How you feeling?

"Shove off.", Dash willed herself to speak. She could even speak in her sleep - it was like imagination in the most twisted form possible. How it happened, Rainbow could never fully comprehend. And Paranoia - Dash had already figured out who the voice was - was just in her mind, like a black stain in her consciousness - the rest a black space like the edges of a lost tooth. And she could feel Paranoia's presence - it was weird.

Do you mind if I ask you a question?

Paranoia had paused for a while, and now he simply sounded neutral. Completely frightening. Dash growled, hoping that Paranoia could feel her as well.

No? Good then. When you saw Rarity falling from Cloudsdale, did you think of Nightstalker before you saved her? Did you think you would lose her like you lost Night?

Nothing anypony had ever said hurt nearly as much as that did. Complete agony seized her heart, tears welled up and stung her eyes, and she screamed as loudly as she could. Nightstalker. Why did Paranoia have to remind her? "I said... shove.... OFF!" She wouldn't be attacked by another bad memory from another time before. But Paranoia kept at it.

I am truly sorry about Nightstalker. But I guess not everypony can be brave all the time, now can they? Do you want relief of the pain, Rainbow Dash? Because I'm talking about re-liiieeef.

His voice now sounded like spangled notes of music were caught in it. Dash's chest hiccuped, and she felt the presence of Paranoia inside her mind. Then a sharp pain sliced down her spine, and she felt her nerves prick frighteningly.

The best thing about life, after all, is knowing that you put it together. Tick-tock, Rainbow Daaash...

And then the whole world disappeared into another time.
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A golden gleam of sunlight swung across the cloud colonnade that was the school. It was built upon numerous cloud foundations, oddly placed buildings popping up from pieced-together craftsmanship. Numerous ascensions, cloudwalks, and basic ring upon ring of areas collided with the exterior of the school, the rolling interior a meshed-together indoor area. The shadows of the sun were long and like black bars across the ground, pointing out the near-end of a long day.

Dash's mind suddenly came into focus. Her muscles were usable, and she had the knowledge that she felt younger now. Her muscles were weaker, and while sturdy, her wings were not as perceptive and strong as they were in the current time. In a fog of dreams. She had the distinct scent of after a rainstorm, the scent of rain and her frazzled mane to prove it. There was so much detail in this nightmare - or was it a dream? - that it seemed almost otherworldly. A feeling of being caught in a tremendous gravitional force, like whenever she could pull off a dazzling trick.

"Ohmygoshohmygosh..." Dash realized where she was. She was inside the school. Other ponies remained around her, mostly chatting - all of different races, sizes, gender, and varying manes and cutie marks. But there were at least two or three dozen here, and their words were very distant. Rainbow Dash was sitting alone her, her plate full of food that had no physical form. A small flaw in an otherwise perfect creation of a dream. Paranoia's dream realm was really meticulously planned out. Rainbow struggled to remember this scene, and attempted to get out, flaring her wings out and trying to destroy a piece of cloud, but her muscles reacted violently, and shocks ran up and down her body. Nopony else seemed to notice. She was stuck in a dream - she couldn't even try to escape. Defeated, Dash attempted several more times, but to no avail. Like trying to solve an impossible puzzle that had no solution - the cyan pegasus eventually slumped down. At least here there was color - many vibrant ones - lots of blue and yellow.

She sat like that for dozens of seconds, her mind a daze. Suddenly, a pegasus sat down at her table, right in front of her. Rainbow Dash looked up, feeling her huge filly eyes rise in curiosity, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the pony. With a curved back and a weather-beaten, small body: the filly had a long, purple mane - most of it tied back in a professional ponytail - and her body detail was a rich white: like mushy snow. On her flank, a cutie mark shown through, the detailed image looking like two stars circling around a thunderhead. Her eyes were the most brilliant orange Dash had ever seen, like two bright sunsets, behind them two endless skies of white - and black glasses were hooked onto her face: not too big, or too small. They looked professional as her mane.

It was Nightstalker.

"Hey, how come you're sitting alone?" Her voice still carried the age of fillyhood. "Are you feeling okay?"

Although Dash couldn't control it, a feeling of acceptance passed through her body. She felt seen. She wanted to speak, but not even this simple muscle would not allow it. "Huh? Uh, ya, I'm fine. Just... tired..."

"Come on. Don't lie to meee." Her voice was very sweet, like music. "Maybe I should introduce myself. I'm Nightstalker." She held out a foreleg, which Dash shook awkwardly. "And I know you're Rainbow Dash."

"Heh... yeah. Most ponies know me here.", Dash continued, trying to add an air of confidence in this otherworldly dream. She decided to take it easy - allow the dream to progress, and once Nightstalker was gone, Rainbow Dash would make an escape attempt. "Sonic Rainboom and all?" She flashed her cutie mark towards Nightstalker, then feeling awkward.

The filly giggled. "I bet you're not all that." Dash then got up, almost laughing at the memory. Nightstalker had won her over instantly.

"Pfff! I can prove it in ten seconds flat.", the pegasus pony boasted, puffing out her chest. The after-feeling of aerodynamics was still left on her nerves. "You wanna go?"

"You're on, Admiral Dash.", Nightstalker sarcastically replied. "After school."

"Deal." Dash spit on her hoof. After a moment's hesitation and a look of disgust, Nightstalker shook her head and spit on her left foreleg, slamming it into Dash's.
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Rainbow's escape from the dream proved to be horrendous. Once Nightstalker had left, Dash searched around for any sign of Paranoia, then flared out her wings and descended furiously. Her wings felt like deadweight, and she still felt lost in the haze of dreams. She had gotten so close to escaping whatever dream she could, when an unknown force took over her body. Another shock ran up and down her spine, and her wings were painfully rendered useless - then she was falling, and inexplicably landed right next to Nightstalker, who looked worried.

"Oh, dear! Are you alright?" Dash writhed in pain, but nodded.

The race was quick but intense, and Nightstalker to be an annoying but worthy competitior - they raced through the first rings of the outdoor area, soaring past the training grounds, then circling around - the finish line was at the very back of the school. And although Dash had no control of her body now, the pain overtook her and caused strain - so Nightstalker had won. At the last minute, she had flown through a raincloud and it soaked Dash by accident, and chills broke out all over her body.

Dash finally finished several seconds after Nightstalker, sweat already sticking to her body and in rivulets down her neckline. She shook the rain off her neck, ignoring the throbbing pain in her wings. Nightstalker looked somewhat miserable.

"Oh no, my mane! It's all ruined now!" The ponytail had flown off, and it was now a wet mess. Dash laughed, but fought the control that had taken over her body, and spoke a single word from her own mouth, not the memory's.

"It looks great."

Nightstalker smiled sheepishly, like she'd intruded on a private conversation. Dash thought she saw the slightest bubble of a blush, but denounced it. Nightstalker had seemed to note the obvious pain in Dash's ruined body, then a look of sympathy crossed her face.

"Do you... want me to fly you home?", Nightstalker questioned, pulling a wing over her friend. Dash's face, on the other hand, burst crimson. The pegasi nodded painfully, somehow finding a cure in all that physical pain with the very presence of the prissy, yet competitive and courteous pony that accompanied her.

"I feel like a wreck. Can ya? T-that'd be awesome." The pain was so fierce Dash thought she had to of been ill.

Nightstalker nodded, and assisted Dash in getting up. Just doing that sent spikes of fire through her upper torso. Her mind was consumed by a sympathy for this lonely pony - though she didn't show it, Rainbow herself had seen Nightstalker sit alone sometimes. Dash wouldn't have described her as classically pretty, but there was something about her that caught her short. Just a little infatuation. Just the teeniest, tiniest. And she had failed the race, injuring her wings due to the escape. Talk about adding insult to injury. But here Nightstalker was, offering assistance back home.

That was when Dash decided. She'd really get along with this pony. It wasn't until a lot later Dash would really enjoy her company.
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With no calm precision whatsoever, Dash's eyes exploded open, feeling only a buzz of discomfort in her side. The chaotic snarl of clouds had somewhat disappeared, and a faint glow of gray light exuded from the clouds: though there was no sun, there was enough to see by. The high plains and the indifferent, distant mountains popped up, and Dash overlooked the ground from the crisp, almost autumnal sky - though it didn't look so, it smelled like it: very fresh and musky. She unclapsed her wings expectantly, and noticed that the missing featehrs and slight burns from her dream were gone, only a minor scratch - pink as sun-ripened peaches. Dash sighed and emotionally broke down - she cried and cried again, wincingly choking and her soul poured out in those. The tears descended and spiraled towards the ground below until they were no longer visible.

So it was true. There wasn't be a very happy story in this book of dreams.

Somehow burying it all in, she descended to the ground, losing all confidence. And her mind thought about Nightstalker the entire day.

I am all alone this time around
Sometimes on the side I hear a sound
Places parallel I know it's you
Feel the little pieces bleeding through
And on

This goes on
And on
And on

Now that I've decided not to stay
I can feel me start to fade away
Everything is back where it belongs
I will be beside you before long

Ohhhh we will never die
Beside you in time

Ohhhh we will never die
Now that I've decided not to stay
I can feel me start to fade away
Everything is back where it belongs
I will be beside you before long

Ohhhh we will never die
Beside you in time
Ohhhh we will never die
Beside you in time (Trent Reznor)