Chapter Five
Chapter Five – As the Dust Settles
There was nothing but the sound of silence.
That wasn’t a bad thing. It was peaceful. Absolute nothingness… No confusion, no pain, no crazy stunts devised just to hide from the truth… Rainbow Dash could live with this. The silence didn’t scare her, nothing scared her. It was just like sleeping. In fact, it was probably the best sleep she’d ever gotten. Sans, perhaps, that night curled up in Twilight’s library with Pinkie Pie for warmth.
And then the thoughts came.
‘Where am I? What’s going on? Who turned out the lights? What’s that… tingling feeling? Ah! I, I can’t move! I can’t see! Horse apples, what the hay is going on here?!’ And then, the question that sliced through every other thought she was feeling, ‘What is that humming noise?'
It sounded like somepony’s voice. They were letting out light, beautiful notes, moving up and down the musical scale, showing off their great range. “Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!” And then, as if answering the call, a bird chortled back.
Rainbow opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the glaring sun and she shut her eyes again, which were now searing in pain. Carefully, she blinked. Then her eyes slowly fluttered open. Everything was bright and blurry and colorful. And then everything came into focus and Rainbow Dash could see exactly where she was.
It was a meadow. With grass that was a rich, deep green and a clear, blue sky. The sun shone prominently and Rainbow Dash glanced at it bitterly. ‘Needs more clouds,’ she thought to herself, refusing to enjoy the idyllic location she had somehow managed to find herself in. And how she got here, she had no clue. Her mind was all jumbled, and conjuring up memories of what she did leading up to waking up in the meadow seemed to come out as a half-dreamt, long ago fantasy.
Rainbow Dash’s fur bristled. Whatever happened, it wasn’t right. That much she knew. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She didn’t even know where here was, not really. Whatever she had been doing before, it couldn’t have landed her in this strange location. It may have been beautiful and bright, but that didn’t make it any less suspicious. ‘Illusion,’ Rainbow thought, snorting impatiently. She didn’t know what evil plan this was supposed to be a part of, but she was sure that it all connected to those notes somehow.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!” A bird whizzed past Rainbow Dash’s head. Her ear twitched as it returned the melody back at whoever was singing. Rainbow glanced in the direction of the voice. It was coming a little ways away, past the clearing that Rainbow found herself in and into the vibrant forest. She watched as a couple more birds flew out of their nests and past Rainbow Dash without a second thought. They tweeted the same tune as they went.
Rainbow edged closer to the forest, curious now. She could see the outline of somepony as they sang the song of the birds. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash had an idea. She was sure Illusion was manipulating her and her friends somehow. Either with hollow riddles or plucking her from her Ponyville home and plopping her down in some meadow, she wasn’t completely sure. But there was some sort of evil plot going on, and the singing pony that was inching towards her had to have something to do with it, she realized as her concussed head throbbed.
Silently, with years of practice, Rainbow Dash flew up into the sky and darted towards a nearby tree. Without shaking a single branch, she nestled into her temporary home, slinking back into the shadows. Between a break in the leaves, she could peer out and just barely see the outline to the forest.
“Heh, gotcha now,” she whispered, grinning mischievously. As soon as she could see the tip of the nose of whoever was walking through the forest, Rainbow Dash would jump them and pin them down. She was sure that’d she’d finally get a good look at Spike’s captor, Illusion. And not only that, but she’d have the upperhoof. Wasn’t this exactly the type of thing Illusion would do, anyway? Ponynap her, then show their face and give some sardonic laugh, along with a rhyming speech about misinterpreting lines and… paying fines… Whatever! Rainbow Dash wasn’t big on the whole rhyming thing, but she was piecing this puzzle together.
Just listening to Illusion’s whistling made Rainbow Dash sick. Or maybe that was from the overbearing pain that was now in her head. No, it was definitely Illusion… ‘Being all cocky… Dangling me in the open meadows like some sort of bait… Capturing me and bringing me here! Messing with our minds… Messing with Twilight’s mind! As soon as I get my hoof on a single strand of that grimy hide, I swear…’
A nose, light and cream-colored, poked out of the forest. Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate. As soon as she saw the snout her mind cleared and her hind legs took over as she pushed off against the branch and hurdled towards her foe.
“Argh!” she screamed as she went, hoping she sounded and looked terrifying. There was a quiet, but terrified scream in return that told Rainbow Dash she had made her point.
A flash of a hoof. A flurry of dust and grass. The two ponies rolled, interlocked, both struggling to maintain some sort of control in the situation. But it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to overpower the other pony. She dug a hoof deep into her opponent’s side and they hit the ground, hard. She was almost disappointed by the easiness of her win, but exhilaration at finally catching Illusion quickly pushed that other emotion aside. Breathing a little heavier, Rainbow waited for the dust of their battle to settle so that she could finally see Illusion’s face. There was a light cough from the pony underneath her, and when she finally managed to look into her face, what she saw made her gasp and jump back.
“Fluttershy?!”
***
Pinkie Pie knew that Rainbow Dash hadn’t been herself lately. It started before crashing into that bell and landing herself in the hospital. For, like, the bajillionth time. Obviously her friend was plagued with no-sleep-itus. She was doing crazy, bell dinging stunts at night and clearing clouds all morning and sleeping whenever she had free time. Or maybe Rainbow Dash had always been like that. Pinkie had to think about it for a second, but then she shook her head resolutely. No, it was different this time. Rainbow Dash wasn’t a lazy pony, she was just an athletic pony. And since she was always on the move, the only chance she had to slow down was when she napped.
But things were different now, and Pinkie Pie could see it as clear as day. It hadn’t started all at once. But slowly Rainbow Dash began napping more and she’d always get all antsy-pantsy when it started getting dark. If Pinkie Pie hadn’t known that Rainbow Dash was the bravest pony around, she might have thought her pegasus friend was afraid of the dark. But the bell incident was ringing proof, in Pinkie’s mind, that not only was Rainbow Dash not sleeping, but she was hurting. And who better to save her from her funk than her Auntie Pinkie Pie?
And she had tried. Maybe she would have succeeded if stupid Illusion hadn’t gotten in the way. Pinkie Pie had decided that if her friend wasn’t going to sleep, she was at least going to stay up doing fun stuff with her bestest friend instead of mushing her face against brass! No, if she was going to mush faces with anything, it was going to be with Pinkie!
That came out wrong. Pinkie let a nervous giggle escape her lips and blushed, even though nopony was around to see her and, as far as she knew, there was yet to be a mind reader to live in Ponyville. And Pinkie Pie knew everyone, so she was sure of that fact.
Skipping over mushy face stuff… Her plan had worked so super-duperly at first. Dashie had chosen to hang out with her over the nighttime sky and her favorite book series. She had even obliged in every critical step of Pinkie’s cake-tastic Candy Land cookery. Pinkie’s eyes sparkled at the memory, where there was nothing but laughter and Rainbow Dash had a silly grin on her face the whole time. Much better than flying into bells. Much, much better.
Her thoughts lingered on Dashie’s smile, but only for a moment before another thought crept into her mind that made her giggle. It was Rainbow Dash’s face again, but this time she wore a scowl. A guilty pleasure of Pinkie’s was turning her best friend’s face into a frown. She knew all she ever wanted was to make her friends smile, but there was something about the scrunched up, annoyed look that Dashie sported every time Pinkie managed to push the right buttons… And Pinkie was an artist at buttons. She loved buttons. Especially Rainbow Dash’s buttons, because they were so fun to press!
Besides, they always ended up laughing in the end. And if Dashie kept coming back, she must have liked it, too, right? But her rainbow-maned friend didn’t always come back, did she?
Illusion had ruined Pinkie’s grand scheme. She had a whole day set up for the two of them, where they would laugh and talk and do all the things best friends do and maybe more. Pinkie wasn’t exactly sure what more entailed, but she liked the words “more” and “Dashie” in the same sentence. Probably because Pinkie always liked to see more of her. And her plan would end with Rainbow Dash being all tuckered out from doing tucker-y out stuff with Pinkie and they’d have another sleepover. And, Pinkie had decided, if she continued with similar plans ending with sleepovers then maybe Rainbow Dash would be cured of her no-sleep-itus and she wouldn’t have to worry about another visit to the hospital and the constant worry that her friend’s face would stay like that.
No offense to ponies with weird faces, her mind flashed to a certain mail pony, but she really liked Dashie’s face and she never wanted it to change. It was so striking, with those eyes like peppermint candy swirls that could look into the face of anything without fear and a smile that was so confident and warm and inviting and sometimes Pinkie wished they would invite her in…
Pinkie felt her heart a-thump and she bit her lip. Sometimes she did have really nice thoughts about Rainbow Dash that always felt so good, but afterwards she felt so empty. They were just thoughts, after all. They could only last so long before the magic disappeared and the veil was lifted. And after the happiness, there was the fear. Rejection, change, hate, hurt, pain, loss… Pick one. There were so many bad things that came out of how she sometimes felt, much more bad than good. So while sometimes Pinkie would have thoughts, she’d often push them so far back she assumed they went through her stomach and out the other end. And then she’d forget about them, or pretend they never existed. Whenever she spent time with her best friend, she could feel the lingering memories of those thoughts in every smile, every glance, and every touch, but she’d just smile and enjoy the moment, pleading ignorance to wanting anything more.
‘More? Sure I want more!’ she’d think, happily. ‘I want to see my best friend more, because we have so much fun and we’re best friends, silly Pinkie! What more is there in more than that?’ And with a smile, she’d hop after her best friend, sure of this fact.
But after Illusion showed up, everypony was getting grumpy. Twilight took things especially hard, but Pinkie could see the strain Rainbow Dash was under. She had kept giving her strange looks during that first meeting that Pinkie chopped up to stress. And for a moment, Pinkie was sure Rainbow Dash had seen Pinkie’s true thoughts, what really made her undone, and she had to turn away so Rainbow Dash wouldn’t notice her blush. The note made sense to her, after all. It was like a magic trick with those joined rings. There’s that click for a moment when the two rings connect, but then it’s broken as the illusion pulls the rings apart. Deep down, Pinkie understood that note perfectly, but the charade had to continue, and with it came the illusion that nothing made her undone. It certainly wasn’t Dashie. Or her smile, or her eyes, or her coat as blue as the morning sky…
‘More than friends? That’s silly. What’s more than friends? Best friends! And we are best friends. What could be more than that?’ Besides, she had even asked that day if there was anypony that Dashie liked, seeing as her part in the note was all about lust. And Rainbow Dash didn’t like anypony, not like that. Her heart was already taken by the Wonderbolts, consumed by the desire for speed and recognition for her amazing talents. ‘More? I want more for Dashie, of course! I want her to have everything she dreams, cause that’s what best friends wish for, for their best friends. What more could there be that’s more than a friendly wish for more of a future?’
Then, when Rainbow Dash had left Twilight’s looking so broken… Immediately, her heart and thoughts went out to Dashie, and she attempted to redouble her efforts to fix any problems she may have. And when Rainbow Dash had put Twilight’s own problems above her own, Pinkie had frozen, overcome with a sudden wave of an emotion that left her utterly speechless and in Rainbow Dash’s own dust. She had barely managed to come up with words, a first for her, when Dashie had asked her what was wrong. But she managed to come back twice as hard when she regained control of herself again.
‘More…? Like, more, more? But more, more is so much more than what I have and if there’s any more I want it’s the satisfaction of seeing my best friend take more care of herself. And if she won’t do it herself it’s up to me to make sure that more happens! And there’s nothing more to it!’ And so she made sure Dashie slept, even if that meant less sleep for her. Of course, she couldn’t resist the warm flank of her friend’s to curl up next to, and she found herself falling asleep despite her resound plan to not do that. And Illusion had sneaked in after she gave in and left another note… And that just upset Dashie even more…
Dash had run off and Pinkie knew it fell on her to find her best friend and fix things. But when she had finally tracked her down, she was napping on a cloud. Pinkie attempted to get Dashie’s attention, but either she didn’t want it or she really needed the rest. Pinkie slinked away, ears drooped and tail dragging on the ground.
‘More… Like when you’re wanted no more. All I want is to have more than nothing. Even if it’s just that little more, that little more that makes it more than nothing. Best friends is more than enough. That’s more, that’s plenty more. But after Illusion, will I even have that much anymore?’
Pinkie had fallen asleep that night after a long, tiring battle with her sheets. Twisting and turning, she remembered hitting the pillow a few times and maybe harder than she would have normally. But finally, she drifted off to sleep…
And when she woke up, she was no longer in her bed. In fact, she was laying on a rather hard, cool surface. Pinkie had no idea how she had gotten there or where she was, but she had a fleeting suspicion this was a part of Illusion’s game. She scanned her surroundings, but wherever she was, it was covered in a thick fog. And in the fog, nothingness…
Wait, not nothingness. In the distance stood a black silhouette, with powerful wings and a messy mane, and a broad grin a lot like…
“Dashie!” Pinkie cried out, happier than ever to see a familiar face. She zoomed forward, too fast to be physically possible, and launched herself at Dashie’s shadow. She rammed into somepony solid and immediately snuggled in for the usual, warm hug that always made her heart flutter as she delivered it. But something was different this time and Pinkie’s smile faltered. This flank didn’t feel the same… It was misshapen and was missing the feathery wings that Pinkie always laughed at the tickling touch of.
“Pinkie! What are you doing?!” came the indignant reply of the stranger Pinkie was currently cuddling. Pinkie hastily relinquished her grasp, confusion spreading across her face, and took a couple of steps back. As the fog cleared slightly and Pinkie got a clear look at the purple unicorn in front of her, she gasped.
“Twilight?!”
***
Oh no, oh no, no, no, this was simply not good. Mud! There was mud everywhere. Rarity picked her hooves up, one by one, her teeth gnashing against each other in anxiousness. If she didn’t look so utterly nonplussed, one might assume she had been dancing.
“Where am I?” she wondered aloud. “Why is it so dirty? Why am I not at home in my warm and cozy bed…” She glanced around, biting her lip, sapphire eyes shining like diamonds as tears made their way to the surface.
It was some sort of swamp. Low hanging trees appeared now and again, with mud covering the expanse of land like a vast, old, raggedy, disgusting, smelly, completely perturbing pile of yuck that made Rarity moan in undisguised horror. A couple of brown bubbles drifted up from the muddy surface and Rarity screamed, backing up to avoid being grazed by the slime.
This was not her idea of a good time. And there was no possible way that this swamp could be mistaken for a spa, for the reeking stench alone. Not to mention it was the complete wrong type of mud, the sun was beating down with humidity rather than steamy sauna weather, which was beginning to make her perfect mane all frizzy, and the dirty ground was beginning to seep into her hooves! To top it all off, she had not only never been to this place in her life (it was much, much worse than Foggybottom Pond in her opinion, and she rarely ever ventured in that direction unless forced), but she definitely did not come here of her own accord. The last thing she remembered was falling into a sleep, dreams of her much-loved Spikey-wikey being returned to them all unharmed.
“Of all the worst things to happen,” she began, cowering in a small patch of grassy land that was untouched by the mud, “this is the. Worst. Possible. Thing!” Then she wailed loudly and fell back onto the grass, managing to conjure a pillow to catch her head before it hit the dirty ground.
As she wallowed, Rarity’s mind went back to all the other worst possible things that had happened recently in her life. She grimaced as she realized there were a lot of them. ‘Certainly not good for wrinkles,’ she thought as she frowned. ‘I can’t live in this stress-filled environment! I can’t work like this!’
First, Spike had been dragon-napped. That was horrible in itself, but she reassured herself with the fact that Illusion, or whoever was pulling the strings of this horrid operation, had promised Spike was in a deep sleep, completely unharmed with no worries plaguing his soft little mind. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean the rest of them weren’t slowly breaking down with the pressure of saving their dear little Spikey-wikey.
They all had been fighting more recently. Applejack and her were constantly having spats that left Rarity with her hair all tangled in knots of confused irritation. Certainly she was no monster. And it was enough of a reason to ruin Illusion that the mystery writer would dare even use her Element of Harmony in a rhyme with something so grotesque. Although, how to go about and exactly do that was very difficult to say.
Twilight was a firm believer in following the rules, but she was also a little… not quite herself lately. Still, she was positive that if they followed the notes and did exactly what they were saying, they’d have Spike back in no time at all! The problem with that plan was, well, none of them could quite agree on exactly what Illusion wanted. The notes were vague at best with no clear guide on how to go about following the rules laid out for them.
Rarity sighed. Thinking about it was almost as difficult and confusing as living it. Rainbow Dash had been the first of them to actually leave in the middle of a discussion. But soon after Rainbow’s abrupt departure, the rest of them had eventually followed suit. Pinkie Pie first, then Applejack, until Rarity had apologized profusely to Twilight before exiting as well. There was really no point in sticking around while Twilight worked. She had tuned out of most of their conversations, choosing to just reread the notes over and over, because she was so sure the answer was written somewhere between the lines.
While Rarity knew Twilight meant well, she wasn’t completely sure her friend was going about things the right way. But no matter how many of them tried to convince Twilight to go outside and try a different approach, nothing worked. The whole Spike ordeal was hard enough, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the friends to take care of Twilight, who was slowly breaking, as well.
‘Spike-wikey better appreciate the pain and turmoil he is causing us!’ Rarity though with a pointed sniff. And then the fumes of the swamp entered her nostrils and she coughed loudly.
She glanced around, pouting. How had she ended up here? Illusion… Is that what this was, an illusion? Perhaps she was dreaming. Although, and she winced as a mud bubble popped near her face, this swamp seemed uncharacteristically realistic and grosser than any other dream she had ever experienced. But if it was real, then that reflection came with so many more questions, each with less plausible answers than the last. The most likely of which was that Illusion was a very powerful unicorn capable of placing ponies in situations like this without their knowing. But that would make Illusion even more magically inclined than Twilight even, and that was unlikely in itself. The only other threat that was capable of pulling off this type of grand scale scheme was Discord, and he had been one to enjoy riddles and chaos… But Rarity didn’t think that Discord would come back so quickly, and this time under the penname of Illusion…
She looked longingly past the swamp, hoping her eyes would catch sight of something beautiful in the distance. Something, anything, to prove to her she wasn’t stranded in a land of ugliness. But there was nothing besides mud, slime bubbles, and jagged trees that would never be able to bear any fruit. And that annoying shape that was trekking clumsily through the mud.
Wait… what? There was somepony there, in the distance! Rarity jumped up in shock, and then her face broke into a relieved smile. ‘Somepony is here to rescue me! Oh, my colt in shining pelt! I’m so happy I could kiss them on the –’ Her face faltered as the shape came closer. It had a familiar look to it… A cowboy hat, strong back legs, hair in a lazy ponytail… And then they came into full view. The pony was covered in mud, but they smiled as they spotted Rarity standing defensively on her little patch of clean soil.
“Ah thought Ah heard your wailing!” the orange pony said with a chuckle. “And look at ‘chu, findin’ the one spot in this entire place that isn’t all covered in mud!” Rarity gaped at her in shock. But, this wasn’t her usual savior in her dreams… Did that mean…? …What did that mean?
“Applejack?!”
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1093760
1194863>>1093760
Actually, now that I actually pay attention to the song...
Well, maybe you'll notice the connection in a later chapter.
Well, there goes my personal theory. I liked this chapter! Keeps us guessing what's really going on. I really liked Pinkie's thought process here; she clearly has a crush on Rainbow Dash, but she doesn't really see it or know what to make of it (but, at the same time, she's not denying it or refusing to admit it to herself). I was theorizing that it may have been Pinkie, but now that seems less likely. I just hope it's not one of these split personality things... Keep up the good work!
14 likes and 13 comments does not give this story enough credit.
I applaud you author.
1198920
Poor Pinkie. She's always the first pony people go to when something evil is ahoof. I wonder why...
1207807
on the inside.
Haha, thanks, I appreciate it. I'll admit, I'd love hundreds of likes and comments as much as the next author. But as long as one person is reading and enjoying the story, that's enough to make me all
LOVE THE SONG!
1208655 It's the lyrics to "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel...
1207871
Actually, I never went for the whole "fun-loving free thinker" = "secretly evil/psychopathic" thing myself. It's just that it's kind of become cliche among writers. So I'm glad that this seems to be averting that.
1198920 Agreed, high hoof me friend, and I think your talking about Sorrow, the Element of Despair, second in command of the Dark Elements (also known as Disharmony) and the very depressed side of Pinkie Pie, with her mane and tail straight.
Also, I'm loving how Pinkie Pie is falling for Rainbow Dash without even knowing it, I'll be watching this for sure. Though it messed up how she forget's about Spike and the fact that one of her best friends seem to be seriously depressed, wonder how they got knocked out and met up in two's.