My World Is Empty Without You

by McPoodle

Chapter 6A

My World Is Empty Without You

Chapter 6

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The dreamers found themselves in a small round chamber constructed out of large square gray stones, joined without any visible mortar. The space was illuminated by magical torches in sconces.

Fluttershy didn’t think their shared dream was over yet, but she wasn’t sure, so she asked, “Did we wake up?” After all, she considered “saying the wrong thing” to sort of be her specialty among the Bearers.

“No, this is sort of a waystation between dreams,” Twilight explained as she approached Fluttershy. After a moment of concentration, Dream Spike popped into existence sitting on her back.

Fluttershy winced as Twilight approached, dreading the moment when the unicorn would bring up the pegasus’ humiliating behavior earlier. When several moments of nothing happened instead, she nerved herself to continue speaking. “Oh... OK. This looks like the room that teleported us into the Dragon Emperor’s meeting spot. Where this whole dream business started.”

“It’s a dream copy of that room,” Vinyl explained, resting a hoof on the surface of a wall rock, the only rock in the whole room that was colored blue instead of gray. “I’ve been using it to pick the order of the dreams we visit.”

“Rawr!” the blue stone exclaimed in a sexy voice.

“Cecil!” Vinyl exclaimed, yanking the hoof away.

“What is it, my pink softstone?” Cecil purred.

The others had a good laugh at Vinyl’s flushed expression.

“Why did you make him like that?” Applejack asked Vinyl.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re the one that summoned up this room, so you must have created a Dream Cecil just like Twilight here created herself a Dream Spike.”

“I... I dunno! Maybe he had the hots for me the whole time!”

Twilight took this moment to turn back to Fluttershy. “Now before anything else happens,” she asked, “could you tell me how your dream ended? I don’t remember anything after Applejack and I entered the Royal Plaza.”

“You... you don’t remember?” Fluttershy asked hopefully. “What about the rest of you?”

“Nope,” said Applejack.

“That’s where my memories end as well,” admitted Pinkamena.

“Don’t look at me,” Spike said when Fluttershy looked his way. “I don’t know anything Twilight doesn’t.”

“My experience of the dream effectively ended shortly after I was brainwashed into pushing Rainbow Dash down the elevator shaft,” Vinyl said, shocking most of the others. “I... got better.”

“Glad to hear it, buddy,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering into the air so she could pat Vinyl on the back. She then flew over to land beside Fluttershy.

Fluttershy struggled to hold in a smile of relief so wide it could split her face open.

“Well I hope you remember what happened, Fluttershy,” Twilight told her with some concern. “An edge we can use against the Dragon Emperor could mean the difference between life and death.”

“Oh, well Pinkamena used the Cruciform to stop Oars’ evil plan. And Oars admitted that he was the Dragon Emperor all along. Or at least since after the first dream trap spell.”

“That Etheric fellow is the Emperor?!” Applejack asked in shock. “Why would he want to turn on his own kind?”

“Pinkamena knocked him out before he got to that part of his villain rant.” Fluttershy turned to the magenta mare. “Sorry.”

“I... I actually got to be the hero for once?” Pinkamena asked in awe. “Too bad I don’t remember it.”

“Sorry.” Fluttershy turned her head away from Pinkamena, which brought her face-to-face with Rainbow Dash, who was looking at her in a very salacious manner.

Rainbow leaned in to whisper in Fluttershy’s ear. “You never asked Mrs. Fluffykins how much she remembers from the end of your dream. The answer is: all of it.”

Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks as she backed away. Suddenly, the stone that she tried to rest her hoof upon dropped away, causing her to stumble.

Rainbow Dash rushed forward, effortlessly lifting her into the air until Fluttershy remembered to start using her wings. They looked down at the hole and through it, to the image of the loose stone tumbling downwards into a blue sky. As they watched, another stone suddenly dropped out, followed by another, and another.

“Those who can’t fly, gather around!” Twilight ordered. When the others got close enough, she levitated into the air and summoned a force field bubble around them.

After the floor had completely fallen away, it was followed by the stones of the walls, falling faster and faster. When it came to be Cecil’s turn, he cried out. “I’m afraid of heights!” A few seconds later, he disappeared mid-fall.

“Perhaps he woke up,” Pinkamena speculated. “Assuming Vinyl didn’t create him.”

Through the open floor, the ponies (and imaginary dragon) could see the city of Canterlot far below, with the Royal Plaza directly downwards. The stones were smashing into the cobblestones of the plaza one after the other.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy directed themselves down the two-hundred or so ponyheights to set hoof upon the remains of the Plaza.

& & &

The moment Twilight dispelled her force field, the ground began to shake violently.

“Prepare yourselves,” Applejack yelled. “That Oars snake is making his move!”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took once more to the air. Rainbow guided Fluttershy a full story above the ground, and off to one side significantly separated from the others. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” Rainbow assured Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry about me, Rainbow,” Fluttershy insisted. “Go help the others.”

“No can do,” Rainbow retorted with a wink.

Fluttershy crossed her arms and snorted in resentment, but said no more for now.

Meanwhile, the shaking had increased to the point where the trees that lined the plaza were falling over, and some of the buildings were crumbling.

Twilight was unable to summon the concentration to bring back her bubble shield. Then she saw the third floor of the Annex break completely off and begin to fall, right towards the two pegasi. “Look out!” she exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash looked up, and positioned herself to take the brunt of the damage.

As the others watched in horror, the separated floor smashed into the ground, mostly intact.

“Fluttershy?! Rainbow!” Applejack cried out.

“...We’re OK,” the muffled voice of Rainbow Dash re-assured them from within the wreckage. “My wing is pinned down by some rocks, but no other damage. Go on without me.”

& & &

Inside the building fragment, Fluttershy found herself in a space not much bigger than the stone chamber from earlier. Seeing Rainbow Dash, she went over and tried in vain to move the big rocks that did indeed pin Rainbow’s right wing to the ground. “I’ll go and get help,” she said.

“No!” Rainbow insisted, reading out and grabbing Fluttershy’s hoof. “Stay with me!” She looked scared.

No... that’s not right, Fluttershy thought to herself. Rainbow was a very good actress, but Fluttershy could always see through her act, and Rainbow knew it. And she was only pretending to be afraid now. But who is she pretending for? Fluttershy didn’t have to look up, she knew that the two of them were being watched right now, watched by the mad unicorn behind all of this. She thought back to when Rainbow Dash took her aside from the others in the Plaza, as if that would make them any safer in a dream. And, when the building had been falling, Rainbow could have easily pushed both of them out of the way, but instead she deliberately positioned them so they would end up safely isolated from the others. This was all an act. And, most importantly, Rainbow had a plan.

“OK,” Fluttershy said simply, sitting down beside Rainbow Dash and squeezing her hoof.

& & &

The remaining ponies formed themselves into the points of a square, facing outwards. At a signal from Twilight, Spike hopped off of her back and made for the edge of the plaza.

Twilight looked up to the sky. “Alright, show yourself!” she yelled. “We don’t have all day.”

“THE DAY IS PRECISELY AS LONG AS I SAY IT IS.” The voice of Oars in Wells boomed around them. Simultaneously, a blinding light caused the ponies to all look down and rub their eyes. They recovered to see Oars in Wells standing before them. But he was no longer the short fat unicorn they knew. Instead, He was wearing a masculine, muscled-up version of Princess Celestia’s body, complete with flowing mane. And He was wreathed in celestial flame. “AND YOU SHALL KNEEL BEFORE YOUR NEW GOD!”

The shaking had stopped.

By this time, all four ponies out in the open had turned to face Alicorn Oars, and it was with a visible effort that three of them resisted the automatic impulse to do as He had commanded. After all, Celestia and Luna had created the entire pony race and no matter how humble the two acted, it was almost impossible not to see the Sisters as Them (with a capital ‘T’) instead of as them. Twilight in particular was shaking as a result of her internal struggle.

The one pony who didn’t show any sign of obedience was Vinyl Scratch, and she was seething. “And what have You ever done to deserve a speck of respect from us?” she demanded, pointing a hoof accusingly at Oars.

Oars’ aura faded as He relaxed from His demanding posture. With a disarming smile, He replied, in words of softer volume but still resonating with power. “Oh, my little pony, the equation is quite simple: My power is orders of magnitude greater than all of yours’ combined. You will bow to me, or you will die. That is the true nature of power.”

“You are wrong!” Vinyl countered. “No tyrant will ever have the satisfaction of enjoying the power he has stolen, not so long as one pony under his enslavement resists! No matter what You do, I will never bend!” Sensing the hesitation of the others, she gathered herself and concentrated.

The sound of cellos began to build around her. Pinkamena turned, and thought she saw a spectral orchestra composed entirely of Octavias, playing a defiant melody.

Vinyl began to sing:

For the daring, and our cause.
To no gods we pray, never waive.
Time has come for us to take charge
And fight the power.

As she continued, Vinyl advanced one step closer to the dread alicorn with each line.

Standing still as You charge
We will hold our ground, not back down.
We will raise our hooves from the ground
And fight the war to end
All the suffering.

She felt the other ponies gaining strength from her words, advancing alongside her.

“You cannot resist me!” Oars cried out, trying His best to be heard over the ever-louder phantom orchestra. “I command the sun itself!” He declared after taking to the sky.

With a gesture, the sun began to drop out of the sky. Growing larger and hotter with every passing moment.

A magical bolt struck Him at the back of His head. He turned to see Spike scurrying out of view. With His head turned, He was stuck in the same spot by another magical bolt, this one from Twilight. He glared up at the sun, which began to approach even faster. The fallen trees simultaneously burst into flames from the intense heat, and the ponies felt like they were about to faint.

“V... Vinyl’s right!” Pinkamena cried, summoning up her courage. She picked up a burnt twig and tossed it into the alicorn’s flowing mane. “And you…” She pointed suddenly at Oars’ cutie mark, no longer a representation of His name, but instead a copy of Princess Celestia’s.

With a flash, Mauve Shadow was standing beside Pinkamena, armed with an unaltered Staff of Sameness.

“You don’t deserve that mark!” Pinkamena and Mauve cried out in unison. And then the beam from the artifact struck Alicorn Oars in the flank.

Oars cried out in agony as the sun was ripped off of Him and replaced by a plain equals sign. At that moment the sun retreated back to its rightful location in the sky.

Twilight, Applejack and Vinyl looked at Pinkamena in surprise—or pointed their ears, in Vinyl’s case.

“What?” Pinkamena asked defensively. “Can’t a mare have two imaginary friends?”

& & &

Under the building, Rainbow and Fluttershy sat and listened to the sounds of the battle.

“I wonder why Oars hasn’t taken us over yet,” Fluttershy asked Rainbow.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Rainbow replied. “In my dream, I had complete control over you, Rarity and Applejack, because none of you had woken up yet. But I could only suggest what to do to Twilight, Vinyl and Pinkie Pie, because they were awake in the dream.”

Rainbow watched with a gentle smile as Fluttershy put the facts together. “So that means... in my dream when I proposed to you, and you accepted, that was you? I wasn’t just playing out my fantasy, that was really you?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “After you opened your heart to me, I just gave up.” She picked up Fluttershy’s hoof, and snuggled her cheek against it. “I’ve loved you for years, Flutters, but I pretended not to because I thought I would just hurt you, like I hurt Gilda at the Academy.”

“I don’t care,” Fluttershy said.

“But I act without thinking. All the time!”

“I still don’t care. Life is pain. And a little sorrow makes the joy all the sweeter.”

Rainbow’s eyes filled with tears, and she impulsively pulled Fluttershy into a hug.

“I just don’t know what you see in me,” Fluttershy muttered into Rainbow’s fur.

Rainbow pushed Fluttershy away until she was at arm’s length, and looked at her sadly. “Flutters, there’s something you need to know.”

“What is it, Rainbow?”

“There’s something wrong with my ears, because every time you tell me something awful about yourself, all I hear is another reason to believe that you’re the most awesome pony to have ever lived.” She grinned and opened her arms wide.

Fluttershy leaped forward and enveloped Rainbow into another hug.

“Not yet,” she whispered into Rainbow’s ear.