World of Chaos

by ugugg93

Chapter 8: Bathing

Rainbow Dash had been through much in the last two days. Corrupted by Discord, fighting the Chaos God twice, apparently traveling through time, flying in scorching heat for hours and hours, fighting an entire city guard, and getting beat up and ponynapped by a dragon. Not to mention that she only ate and used the bathroom twice, once being just an hour ago, for the past two days. Sure she felt for Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight, but a pegasi's metabolism was so much faster than the other two races. With all that had happened, she had never felt more tired in her life, and even with her bed not being made of a cloud.

And yet, here she was, wide awake.

Rainbow wasn't sure why she couldn't sleep. It was either the stresses of the day, the lack of actually having a cloud bed, or maybe even being too tired.. Regardless, here she was, wide awake, with so many thoughts going through her head. 'What are we going to do? What kind of crazy world is this? Are we really that far in the future? What if we can't get back? If we can't, what's the point of even trying?

'What was the reason to continue fighting?'

She wished she had an answer to at least one of those questions, she wished she was smart like Twilight, and she wished that she could just go home. Turning over for what had to be the millionth time tonight, she tried to clear her head of all these thoughts, and just sleep.

“Hey Rainbow... are you awake,” asked a soft voice, breaking the silence.

Rainbow rolled over towards her bed mate. It was completely black in the room, so she couldn't see her, even though she was right next to her. “Yeah Fluttershy,” she whispered back in a monotonous tone.

“Oh... did I wake you? I'm sorry.”

Rainbow rolled over onto her belly, stretching her wings slightly, “Nah, you didn't wake me. Couldn't sleep. What's up, Shy?”

There was pause in the conversation, but then Fluttershy spoke again, “I'm scared.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Fluttershy, you're scared of your own shadow.”

“No. I don't mean scared like we all were in the Everfree forest the day we first met Twilight. I mean... scared scared.”

Rainbow decided against arguing that she didn't get scared of anything. “What about?”

“Well... umm... what's going to happen to us?”

“Don't worry Fluttershy. We'll be ok. Twilight always has a plan. She hasn't failed us yet, right?”

“But you saw her in there... she... didn't know what to do...”

“She's just tired and stressed. Just you wait, Fluttershy. Tomorrow, we'll be on our way to getting back to your animals.” Rainbow's ears picked up when she detected another voice, this one coming from outside. “Did you hear that?”

“Umm... yes... but I don't think...”

“Shhh.” Rainbow listened closer, straining to hear. She noticed that the voice was Sarlaka's, and from what she heard, he was talking to somepony again. However, Rainbow could only hear his side of the conversation, the other was too soft to hear through the door.

“We still don't know if they are the ones. They could be like the others... Its been too long. I don't remember exactly... We could hand them over to him. It would bring much favor to me. I could protect the ponies in my domain for the rest of my lifetime... I cannot save all the ponies... If this fails, then we both die, you know that right?... I worry alright? I can't see you die. Not again... I can't have blind faith in them. There must be an option... That's not an option... Fine, but you know if this doesn't work, I'll have to take care of them myself. They cannot know about it if they are not who they claim to be... I've kept us somewhat alive... I miss her still... Both. The suffering never got better like you promised... Yeah. I just hope this works.”

His voice died down. After a few moments, Rainbow realized that there was also complete silence coming from the yellow pegasus next to her.

“Hey Fluttershy, you still awake?” Waiting a moment, Rainbow thought the answer was no until she heard a soft sobbing next to her. Rainbow scooted closer to her crying friend. “Hey hey hey. What's the matter?”

“I'm... so, so scared Dash. What is he talking about? Take care of us how? I don't want to d... di...” Fluttershy said through the sobs, not able to say the last word.

“Shhh...” the cyan mare placed one of her forehooves on Fluttershy's face, softly stroking the slightly damp fur. “Don't worry Fluttershy. We'll get through this alright? No matter what, I won't let anything happen to you.” Fluttershy scooted closer, pulling the rainbow colored pony into a deep hug. She could feel the scared pegasus burying her face into her chest, her hair starting to get damp with tears. Rainbow flushed slightly for a second, unprepared for the sudden closeness, but she got over it as she rubbed a hoof over Fluttershy's back, attempting to calm her.

After a few minutes, Rainbow heard a single world, “Promise?”

Rainbow realized right there that she had found her reason to her questions from minutes ago. Even if there was no way to go back to their own timeline, and to the Ponyville they all remembered. Even if this world was completely insane and there was no way to bring back harmony. Even if there was really no way to defeat Discord anymore, and there was nothing the six friends could do but hide until their lives were over.

Rainbow Dash had a reason to continue to fight.

That reason was embraced in her forelegs, now softly sniffling over all the fears that Rainbow was trying to hide. Rainbow realized right there, that no matter what happened, she would not pause to put herself in front of harms way for her friends. But not only that, she would give anything and do everything to protect her oldest and best friend.

“Promise.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow slowly started to come out of her slumber, her muscles aching from yesterday's ordeal. She felt the very unpleasant feeling of her right wing being numb, a result of her sleeping funny on it all night. Shifting her weight, she noticed that for the second time in a row, Fluttershy had fallen asleep cuddled next to Rainbow. Rainbow let a small grin come over her face as she looked at her friend. Even with the repeat of sleeping in an awkward position, Rainbow was glad that she was able to help Fluttershy relax. As much as she wanted to stay right where she was and go back to sleep, for the first time ever since getting thrown into this time, she felt the need to get up on her own accord.

Rainbow slowly pulled herself out of her friends unconscious grasp, somehow managing to not wake up the yellow pegasus. Stepping out onto the floor, she stretched her legs and wings, the pinpricks of feeling coming back to her feathered appendage being only mildly unpleasant. Looking around, she noticed that Rarity and Twilight were still in their bed, Twilight still embraced by Rarity. Rainbow could do nothing but smile at the sight: Rarity's white coat was matted worse than her own by not only the last two days ordeal, but also by Twilight's tears. Her smile lessened, but still remained bright, glad at the fact that Rarity was able to help Twilight in the same way she helped Fluttershy.

Looking over to the third bed, she noticed that only Pinkie was still in bed. The pink pony was laying on her back, her tail laid daintily on the pillows, and her head nearly falling off the hoof of the bed. Pinkie's hooves, which were curled above her, would twitch every so often as drool spilled out from her mouth onto the sheets. Rainbow heard the pony muttering something to herself, and could have sworn to have heard something about sapphire cupcakes, but wasn't certain. Applejack apparently had already gotten up, which Rainbow could only roll her eyes at. 'Leave it to Applejack to wake up at the crack of dawn, even when held prisoner,' she thought to herself.

Rainbow trotted quietly off to the bathroom, finding Applejack standing at the sink, her mane and tail wet and hanging loose after a shower. “Well look at that!” Rainbow smiled as she spoke. “Never thought I'd see AJ let herself loosen up like this!”

Applejack turned towards the cyan pegasus, and smiled at the jab, “Yea? Well ah never thought you an' Fluttershy would git together all romantic like; 'nd in front of all ya friends? Scandalous!” Applejack attempted to imitate Rarity with the last word.

Rainbow's face turned red with embarrassment, “Th... That's not true! I was just comforting her!”

“Oh? Is that what tha fillies and colts are callin' it these days?” Applejack's grin growing even wider.

“I... I mean... we didn't...”

“Ah'm jus' messin' with ya RD. 'Sides, Ah know Fluttershy's probably more scared than a cow in a stampede. Ah'm glad ya got her ta sleep.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow looked down, shuffling her hoof against the ground, “How about you? How're you holding up?”

“Honestly? Ah don' rightly know. Sad about mah family and friends, but gotta stay strong for the others, ya know?” Applejack walked up, and placed her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, a soft smile replacing the wide grin from earlier, “Ah'm jus' glad yall girls are with me. Don' know what Ah'd do without yall.”

“Yeah... me too.”

“Well Ah know tha' yall be fine wit' Fluttershy bein' here. Just don' try walkin' through doors wit' ya wings like that” Applejack grinned again like a mad pony, flicked the tip of one of Rainbow's outstretched wings with her hoof, and walked out of the bathroom chuckling to herself, leaving the now heavily blushing Rainbow alone.

Rainbow cursed her wings as she forced them down with her forehooves. Sighing, her mood changed as she nearly started to jump for joy when she saw the two showers. Never before had she wanted to take a shower so much, the stench that she was emanating was starting to become apparent even to herself. She stepped into one, and turned on the hot water, and stood under the water as it washed away all the grime that had built up over the past couple of days. If there was one thing she was glad about, it was that she did not look at the the mirror before walking in.

She stood under the water for a long while, thinking about what was going to happen. 'What if Sarlaka really does try to kill us? Can we really have a chance against him? I'm fast and AJ is strong, but Twilight would probably be the only one able to do anything worth a hay.' Rainbow sighed, 'Guess the best thing to do is pray to Celestia... wherever she is now, that things go well. And what was up with AJ about me and Fluttershy anyways?'

Rainbow felt her wings raising again at the thought, 'And Luna help me I'm going to clip these things if they don't start behaving!'

After washing for much longer than necessary, she finally turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower. Drying herself somewhat with a fresh towel, she decided to style her mane by giving it the Rainbow Dash usual: a violent shaking, and letting everything fall wherever it decided to go. This tended to make her rainbow mane and tail look vibrant enough, if not a little rough on the edges. Looking into the mirror, she inspected her appearance, and finally got a good look at the damage Sarlaka and those guards had dealt to her. From the looks of it, the swelling wasn't really that bad, or at least it had begun to go down. Her face was still cut a little, but her fur mostly covered it up. As for the patches of torn off fur on her sides, fortunately, it wasn't that noticeable unless you were looking for it.

Satisfied, Rainbow trotted back into the bedroom, noticing that the rest of the girls were awake, and, especially in the case of Twilight, looking at lot better. An extremely dirty and matted Rarity passed her by as she went to take her turn in the bathroom. Rainbow turned to Pinkie, and they grinned at each other.

'Three... two... one...'

“IEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

Rainbow and Pinkie fell over laughing at Rarity's panicked yell, and Applejack quickly joined in with the uncontrolled laughter. Even Twilight cracked a smile, and started to chuckle. Fluttershy smiled, and while giggling to herself, trotted into the bathroom to see if she could do anything to help. The other four continued to hear the frantic wailing of the currently light-gray unicorn from the bathroom. After a minute, the shower was heard turning on, and the screaming either stopped, or was drowned out.

The laughing continued for several minutes afterward, but Rainbow knew she had to tell them what she heard last night. Sooner would be better than later, so she decided to just say it quick. “Hey girls, I don't want to worry you all or put a downer on the mood, but I heard Sarlaka talking last night... and it wasn't good.”

The laughing had died down, and the other three girls looked at Rainbow. “Who was he talking to? And what was it about?” Twilight asked.

“Absolutely no idea who he was talking to. I didn't hear the other voice. But I heard what he was saying. I'm not entirely sure, but I think he was saying that if he's not convinced we are who we say we are, he's going to kill us.”

“Now why in tarnation would he to that?” Applejack's ears perked up at the cyan mare's statement. “Ah heard 'im promise he'd let us go if we didn' want any part of his plan.”

Rainbow shrugged, “Well... he isn't the Element of Honesty.”

“And he's been lying for his entire life from the sounds of it. In his eyes, what's one more white lie?” Twilight finished the thought.

Rainbow sighed, “Well... even if he wasn't planning on killing us, he also said that he was debating giving us over to Discord if we WERE who we are.”

“Danged if we are, danged if we ain't” Applejack shook her head slowly.

“Aw don't be so saddie waddie! I'm sure he'll do the right thing!” Pinkie smiled, still lying on her back, “I mean, he told us he's been waiting for us, like, for-EV-er! If he waiting so long just to turn us into pony soup, then he's crazier than me!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Pinkie, do you ever get sad?”

“Well sure! Lets see,” Pinkie held her hooves in the air, gesturing as she spoke, “there's that one time I thought you all hated me on my last birthday. Then there was when I saw Gilda made Fluttershy cry, though that was more mad than sad. Then there...”

Pinkie continued, but Twilight ignored her, “There's not much we can do. Lets just hear him out. Most likely he just looked us up in one of his books or something, and knows who we are, so all we have to worry about is being turned over to Discord. Not only that, but, as much as I never thought I'd ever say this, Pinkie's thought makes sense. Why do all the cloak and dagger sort of thing just on the slim chance we six specifically show up on his doorstep?”

Rainbow smiled, “Now that's the Egghead I know,” to which was replied by the unicorn only with a grimaced smile.

“... then there was that one time I was drunk with Luna, when... oh! Lookie who's done!!!” Rainbow looked over to see a now very white unicorn. Rarity trotted by with her mane and tail nearly straight, both not being styled yet with her signature curls, and a smile on her face. Behind her, Fluttershy looked in a similar state, the sole exception being the color scheme.

“Well, I must say that I apologize for my quite brash outburst earlier,” Rarity said as she levitated a brush over to her hair, “I admit that I was a little... taken aback at the state of my appearances.”

“Ah little?” Applejack smirked.

“Sounded more like you found out that somepony stole all of your tailoring gems! Weee!” Pinkie giggled as she popped up, from where she was laying down, and seemed to nearly teleport into the bathroom.

“Pah-leeze! If that happened, I might have done something drastic to somepony,” Rarity giggled. “Though considering his hoard, that might have solved our dragon dilemma.”

“I don't know Rarity, I don't think that he's a teEEP!” Twilight was interrupted by Pinkie jumping right in front of her face.

“Get in here silly filly! You're icky, and Auntie Pinkie is going to get your whole little body so squeaky clean! Pinkie style!!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight's tail, and pulled her into the bathroom with unheard of strength, the door slamming behind the two.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“... I'm sure she didn't mean that how it sounded...”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Pinkie and Twilight had finally gotten out of their showers, and for the first time in a while, the six were sitting together around the fireplace eating some hay and oats for breakfast. Apparently at some point, Sarlaka had delivered it to the door, though none of them had noticed him physically delivering it, so they couldn't be certain. And while it was not like the dinner before, Rainbow still had thirds.

“Woah there partner! Leave some for tha rest of Equestria!” Applejack snickered.

“Hey, Pegasi need to eat a lot compared to earth ponies and unicorns! And considering I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria, I gotta eat even more, which means...” Rainbow dove her face back into her bowl, continuing to devour her meal. She didn't need to look up to know Applejack was rolling her eyes.

There was a knocking at the door, “Hope everypony is decent,” came a familiar booming voice.

“Please. No. We are all naked. Don't look.” Rarity said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, getting a giggle from Pinkie.

There was a pause, “Yeah... I should've seen that one coming. Anyways, I need you all to come with me.”

“Can you give us five minutes? I can't find my dress,” Rainbow yelled out, snickering.

“Do you want to find out why they call me 'The Butcher'?”

“Fine,” Twilight called, ending the back and forth. Putting down their food, they opened the door, coming face to face with Sarlaka, who was laying right in front of the now open door. The large scars that crisscrossed his face were much more obvious up close, with the deepest cutting vertically across his left eye.

Rainbow blinked, “Wow... that must have hurt.”

Sarlaka blinked, “I wasn't popular in dragon school.”

“Oh you poor thing,” Fluttershy spoke in a whisper, much to Sarlaka's surprise. All the while, she hid behind the other ponies, “That must have hurt so much. Why would anypony do such mean things.”

The dragon paused before closing his two eyes, and answering, “Have you ever heard of the magical properties of a dragon's eye?”

“Umm... no. I'm sorry. Should I?”

Sarlaka picked himself up onto all fours, “Its not important. I'll tell you later. For now, I need you to come with me.” He turned, and walked slowly towards the main hall, with the rest of the girls warily following. Reaching the overly extravagant room, Sarlaka turned.

“Now, I have a confession. I admit that last night, for a moment, I debated giving you six up to Discord. Considering you are all here still, I obviously decided against it, but I would like to apologize anyways.”

“Well thank you... I think. Though I would most certainly wish to meet the friend you were talking to last night that helped with that decision.” Rarity flipped her hair to the other side of her head.

Sarlaka blinked, “You heard?”

“He he he... well yeah.” Rainbow shrugged, “You weren't that quiet.”

“No matter. And no, you may not meet her.”

“Oh? Does Scaley have a lady friend?” Rainbow smirked, attempting to push the dragon's buttons once again.

Sarlaka actually let out a genuine laugh, “Oh sweet Discord no. I am not THAT lucky of a dragon. Besides, if we were together, it would be an awkward relationship to say the least. But we are getting sidetracked. If you heard what I was talking about last night, then you know that I need to make sure that you six are what you claim to be.” The dragon turned towards Twilight, “Magic, please step forward.”

Rainbow saw Twilight look back at her friends. Rainbow did her best to give her a reassuring smile to her, which apparently was helpful enough to have her step towards the dragon. Rainbow lowered herself to the ground, and saw the slight tremble in Twilight's step. She didn't know what the dragon had planned, but from the looks of it, his way of identifying the six of them didn't involve books as Twilight said she had hoped. She gave her wings another flap to make sure she was ready to act if needed.

“Now before we go on,” Sarlaka spoke to the six ponies with a serious tone, “I want to make absolutely sure that you all are willing to go along with this. Remember: once you start going down this path, the only way out is the end of the tunnel. And frankly my little ponies, for some of you, that tunnel might end in tragedy, but it is the only way I know to defeat Discord.”

Rainbow looked on as Twilight looked behind her, gazing at the other five ponies, who gave her no reaction. Rainbow looked at the five, who seemed to be thinking. Instead of leaving her hanging, the rainbow maned pegasus gave a smile, and nodded. Fortunately, the others noticed, and copied her affirmation message, to which Twilight turned back to the dragon, and nodded as well.

Nodding once, Sarlaka pushed away a massive pile of gems in his hoard, until a box large enough to fit a pony inside appeared before him. Taking it into his foreclaw, he spoke softer, addressing only the mare in front of him, “Magic, what I am about to show you is one of the world's most guarded secrets, and nopony outside of this chamber may know of its existence.” Sarlaka looked up, “That goes for all of you. Do you understand?”

The six ponies nodded, and Sarlaka opened the box. Twilight gasped at what was inside and fell onto her flank. Rainbow tried to see what was in the box, but couldn't make it out.

Twilight's quivering voice cut through the hall, “Is... is that...”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

Comments

[NecromancerX69]

Excellent!

keep up the good work my good sir.

[TheManWithTwoNames]

I love every chapter of this, and I've never been so angry at a cliffhanger. Keep up the great work!

[ugugg93]

202060 That seems to be a common theme here, but am I that predictable?

202600 If you wanna make a story out of this one, I'd suggest waiting a few chapters until more of the mysteries come to light, so that I don't accidentally trample all over your story. Regardless, I'm touched that you would wanna do that

205693 Sorry, but this story doesn't come equipped with tissues. However, it does come equipped with Pinkie Pie, so she's do her best

214577 I'm glad you like it, though I don't think Discord would use human skulls for his throne...

214670 I was going to say something witty in response, but I couldn't do so without spoiling something accidently, so here's a picture of Rarity

214732 ... u mad?

Also, this is more for me than anyone else, but a quick shout out to my older brother (my pre-reader), who is forced to read through these chapters half a dozen times each until I either get it just how we both like it, or until he hits me with a stick hard enough to make me realize its good

[cs95]

either the elements or something else from ponyville. anyways nice writing

[Souldin]

I do not know why it bothers me but the cliff-hanger in this here chapter feels cruel, crueller than your previous cliff-hangers. Maybe it’s because I could guess at the events in the following chapter with ease but for the next chapter, all I can think of to be inside the box is either an element of Harmony (which would be rather predictable) or something that I cannot even phantom. As I was saying, ending the chapter like that feels very cruel.

As for the writing, this chapter does nothing that hasn't been accomplished in previous chapters which is why it impresses me. The quality of the writing remains consistent, and while an increase in quality is always welcomed I know it takes time and usually happens towards the end of one's story. The fact that your writing has remained so brilliant over all nine chapters (though I should probably not count the first one, being a prologue and as such too short to show off your skill) is feat onto itself. Vocabulary is as you put it, a bit mainstream, but it's far from bad and as per usual you have made your choice of words fitting for the characters in the narrative focus. The exploration of character was, in the case of Rainbow Dash, more predictable than the others, but none the less just as interesting and well presented. The FlutterDash is developing nice and slowly, the best way to develop romance, particularly if it's the evolution of a friendship to a romantic relationship, and of course loving the pairing so much the inclusion of it made me grin. Humour was brilliant, and while this chapter may have less mystery, tension, and atmosphere than those before it (prologue excluded) it more than makes up for it by being the funniest one so far.

Now, while well rounded stories are an absolute joy to read they are a right pain to review as it makes it difficult to criticise. Such stories are more or less free of mistakes and weaknesses, though usually sacrifice having any particular strength, a thing you have not done though. There was the odd occasion where a word was missing and a few of the sentences felt like they could have been phrased better but they are faults hardly worth raising, and are errors nearly all writers make from time to time in their writing (it is only after several proof reads that they are ironed out and in the end a few creases are likely to remain anyway). Really, the only weakness this chapter suffers from is that it feels weaker in many areas compared to your other chapters, a weakness that is no fault of yours. It is simply a matter of where we are at in the story, the tension nor atmosphere doesn't feel as strong because they are, for the most part, not in danger, and the more dramatic moments have already occurred. This chapter is unfortunately set in the peaceful moment of the story, the brief rest that the heroes deserve, the moment where one puts the serious stuff aside for a moment and focuses on character interaction and humour. That said there were something’s I was disappointed not to see in this chapter, such as the mane 6 actually debating over whether to help Sarlaka or not, and most of all exploring Twilight's state of mind (which in the previous chapter was definitely the most troubled).

As said earlier though the greater humour makes up for the lesser tension, and it’s only fair that the Mane 6 get a bit of reverie from everything that's occurred to them. This was another brilliant chapter, each character got a word in, were themselves in each part, and this story has to be the best portrayal of Applejack ever. Seriously, in this story she is probably my favourite character (for the actual show it's Twilight), helped by her badass moments in the earlier chapters and her glorious sense of humour in this latest one. Fantastic job, keep up the superb work!

[ugugg93]

215870 We can only wait and see, now can we?

216404 Your comments are always appreciated! First, I hear you in your criticisms about the plot points, but I won't say more on it. Second, I like to think your reasons for hating the cliffhanger is because you love my story so much! Right?... right...?

[Cebollino]

Awesome history.

Now, Will Discord have another badass minions?

[drankito]

Alright, after reading this far I want to throw my Sarlaka prediction into the mix! My personal guess would be that he is Spike's son and actually had to kill his father to prove his servitude to Discord after his family was murdered. This would help to explain why he doesn't immediately recognize the group as the friends he's known since he's never met them and such (though what thousands of years does to one's memory is plenty reason enough).

Also, this is a great read so far and I'm glad I decided to pick it up, ignoring it's daunting length. It's also a good reminder that I'll have to remember to add details and scenery for when I transfer what I've got written down to a word document.

[Csquared08]

So at this point, I'm convinced that Sarlaka is somehow communicating with Celestia and/or Luna. Somehow.

Also, he's clearly about to show them the Elements, which strengthens the "Sarlaka is actually Spike" theory as he was the one who had the best chance to pick up the Elements after the Bearers disappeared.

[Fury of the Tempest]

Hmmmm... nice development. Interested in how the DashShy relationship will grow, as that much is obvious... I also wonder what the dragon just shown them.