Hellfire Dash

by Centurion Pike-Wall

Flashback---Death

Author's Note:

Again, a minor spoiler warning. In this case, for the Season 5 premiere 'The Cutie Map PT. 2

Rainbow grinned as she saw the various orbs fly in their direction. She had seen them taken away, so she knew that those were their cutie marks. Her suspicion was confirmed by the blue one flying up to her and slamming into her upper arm. She slid off the shoulder off, seeing the equal sign being replaced by her old tri-colored lightning bolt. Looking down, she saw the others getting theirs back as well.

"Yeehaw!", Applejack yelled, pumping her arms and kicking the air. "Finally, ah can buck like a five-bit snake herder in an Appleouse ranch house again!"

"Oh, and you got your country-isms back", Fluttershy interjected. After the moment of jubilation, they all remembered about who stole them; Starlight Glimmer. Faces turning to determination, they all took off running, while she and Twilight flew towards the pass.

As they got closer, they saw the four townsponies who had come with them; Night Glider, Sugar Belle, Double Diamond, and Party Favor. At some point, Double Diamond had gotten ahold of a helmet and some skies, and was just now pulling up to the others. If she had to guess, he was the cause of the massive pile of snow blocking the pass.

Speaking of said pile, Starlight poked her head out of it. Her muzzle was contorted into a snarl, and after a few quick glances around, her eyes fell on her former citizens. She crawled out of the snowbank, eyes narrowed and horn aglow with magic. They backed up as spirals formed around it, and a burst of magic shot at them.

Before any of them were hit, however, Twilight, who had gotten a bit of a head start on her, landed in front of them and put up a magic barrier. The two forces of magic seemed to play a session of tug-of-war for a minute, before Starlights beam faded and Twilight lowered her shield.

Shock had overcome Starlight's features, before they returned to anger. She said, "I studied that spell for years. How can you-"

"I studied magic for years too. But what I didn't know then was that studying could only take me so far. Each of my friends has taught me something different about myself. It was their unique gifts and passions and personalites that helped bring out the magic inside of me", she said, and Rainbow was certain that she made eye contact with her as she said it. "I never would've learned that I represent the element of magic without these five. And I certainly wouldn't he here to stop you now."

"Spare me your sentimental nonsense! I gave these ponies real friendships they never could've had otherwise", Starlight ranted.

"How could you have known that!?", Double Diamond interjected, pulling off his helmet and holding it in the crook of his arm. "You never even gave us a chance."

Starlight's face further contorted into a snarl, and her horn lit up again. Like before, a bolt of energy shot out of it, this time at Twilight. A smaller shield popped up, but instead of absorbing the bolt like last time, it ricocheted off it, reflecting off it and slamming into Rainbows chest.

She fell back, her wings seemingly unable to flap. As she fell back, she was stopped by the twin auras of Party Favor and Sugar Belle. Her chest ached, almost fully drawing her attention, but was able to keep her sense up just enough to hear the blast of magic, and Starlight yell in alarm, before a thud hit the snow.

The two of them lowered her to the ground, Twilight running up to her. She said, "Rainbow, are you ok!?"

"*Cough, cough*, fine. Just hurts." However, her eyelids felt heavy, and that combined with the pain sent her over the edge. She went limp, falling back in Twilights arms.

++++

Rainbow awoke screaming. As soon as her eyes shot open, pain pulsed through her like somepony lit her blood ablaze. A focal point of this pain was her head and her wings, and she reacted as such. She gripped her head with her head, while her wings flapped erratically, sending her rolling off whatever she was on. All the while, she was still screaming.

Through the pain, she made out a voice say, "She's awake!" It sounded like Twilight, but it was hard to tell. It was confirmed when she saw Twilight, who grabbed her hands and held them in front of her. "Rainbow! Speak to me!"

With the pressure from her hands on her head gone, she then began thrashing her head around. She choked out, "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!"

"Help me get her back onto the bed", Twilight said, and she made out several blurs move up to her. She thought they were her friends, but she couldn't tell. The only form she could make out clearly was Twilight.

She was hoisted up, despite her thrashing, onto a bed. Despite the slight comfort beneath her, the pain that shot through her caused her to roll and scream. She nearly fell off the bed again, but was stopped and held somewhat still by Twilights magic. It didn't stop with the pain, though.

"Can't ya do anythin', Twi?", a voice she recognized as Applejack said.

Twilight said, "I've tried. But, no matter what healing spells I use, nothing happens. I've even tried using some of the unfamiliar spells in Starlight Glimmers house. Nothing."

"D-do you even know what she did to Rainbow?", a terrified Fluttershy said.

"Again, I don't know. There is nothing like what's happening to her in Starlight's Spellbooks."

"Yeah", a saddened Pinkie said. "I looked too. Not a thing."

Another shape came into the room; a light pink one. A feminine voice said, "I've gotten the closest thing we have to a doctor. Remember, with Starlight's control, we didn't have much, so he's sort of out of practice."

"It's fine, Sugar Belle. I don't care. Just, help her. Please", Twilight said.

This time, another blur entered, and made her way over to the thrashing and magically bound Rainbow. "Hold her still", a masculine voice said. A part of her was focused by the magic, held still while other parts of her continued to twitch.

She felt a faint cool feeling against her open chest. It was probably nothing, but it was a massive flare of pain that shot from it. She resisted against the push of magic, but it held her down as best it could. Finally, she stopped pushing against the magic, just laying back, hyperventilating and trying desperately to overcome the pain.

He pulled away, the blur fading out of focus as she hissed in agony and continued breathing heavily. Over her breathing, she made out the conversation between them. "I don't know what's wrong with her", said the stallion. "Nothing appears to be wrong with her, at least on the outside. And, well, even internally, I can't detect anything wrong with her. Some sort of magic must be at play. I'm sorry. I just don't know."

"Please. Double check", she heard Twilight say. "We're close, and.... and I just want her to be ok."

"Ok, I'll do it." He made his way back over to her, the magic once again holding her down as he went over her. Again, pain flared over her chest, and she continued to hiss and groan. He pulled away, and she heard somepony get up next to her. Rolling her head over, she saw a pink blob.

"Please, Dashie. Please be ok", the blob spoke, confirming it to be Pinkie Pie. "I know hurting is bad, but I know you'll get better. You're strong, and you'll come out of it. And I'll throw you a big party. Ok?"

"_{Kill me. Kill me, kill me, kill me}", she sobbed, clenching her eyes shut. She knew she shouldn't say as much, but couldn't help it. It seemed like a decent alternative to all of this.

"What did you say, Dashie?", Pinkie asked.

Another blob came up to her, a white one, said, "Yes, darling. What did you say?"

She didn't care. She roared out, "KILL ME!", and her eyes shot open.

Instead of her pain blurred vision of before, she was greeted with a crystal clear view. And, lookin directly into her eyes, was the stallion from Twilights hospital room. This time, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses, and she saw his eyes. Instead of a normal ponies, she was greeted with a pair of glowing red orbs. He said, "With Pleasure."

She screamed, and felt a pain flare up in her chest. Looking up, she saw FIRE shoot up out of her chest, rippling past her ribs like a lantern. She screamed, and slammed her head back into the headrest of the bed. She managed to look down, and saw a massive burn over her chest. A numbness flared up past the pain, and fell back to the chair. Her eyes lowered, but remained open. That didn't matter.

Everything faded away.

Comments

[Replica Knight]

Woah. Niceness

[Youdidwhat]

Damn, was that starlight or the demon that killed her?

[Centurion Pike-Wall]

9828280
Technically both.