Demon Days

by carnivale

Chapter Five: Constantly Falling

Demon Days
Chapter Five: Constantly Falling

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A beaming, luminous stretched ray of light penetrates through ivory cloud, painting the vast clearing in a golden, bright color. The languid wind whistles through the branches and leaves of near trees, and rolling hills shroud the horizon of the glowing cerulean sky. It’s a seemingly cliché kind of day, as far as Rainbow Dash can tell.

She soundlessly slips out of Fluttershy’s cottage, her multihued mane immediately catching the buffeting breeze when her body comes in contact with the atmosphere. She sucks clean, refreshing air into her lungs, her chest inflating momentarily before settling down to its normal extent.

It’s been so long since she’s been outside. Centuries, perhaps, although that seems a bit much of an exaggeration. Fluttershy has gone into town to pick up some more groceries, alongside her velutinous companion, Angel Bunny, who threw a bit of an adorable temper-tantrum before being dragged out of the house by his cotton-like tail. Rainbow Dash is utterly alone, and although she is, she can’t be more excited.

Rainbow Dash flares her wings, deciding to put them to the test. Her being cooped up under heaps of blankets and pillows and swollen with amounts of Fluttershy’s home-made noodle soup has taken its toll of absolute boredom on her, and she genuinely can’t remember the last time she’s soared breathlessly through the sky, nopony to disturb her effortless flights for miles.

The Pegasus pony doesn’t understand what her friends are so worried about; obviously she’s fine, and obviously she doesn’t need to be worried over about her well-being like some sort of weak foal. And actually, she’s never felt more alive. Twilight and Fluttershy’s magic spells and quick medications seem to have helped quite a lot, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t be more grateful, although she still doesn’t feel the need to be babied quite so much.

Her strong wings beat the air, creating wide wind currents the shape of circles to flow easily around her feathers, causing patches of grass to go flat as the currents affect them, too. She feels her hooves lift slowly off the ground, the air around her the only support. Tawny leaves breeze about her head, and it isn’t long until her body is steady in the air and she is zipping along the wind currents, her wings flapping effortlessly on either side of her flank. The lets loose a shrill, joyful cry as she performs a barrel-roll in the air, her slender body sliding easily between the clouds and tawny leaves that flutter in her path.

Her stomach starts to become an inflaming vesicle, but she seems to be able to ignore it as she finds herself lost in the wistful cerulean atmosphere. The muscles in the base of her wings ache slightly, but she continues to flap on, closing her eyes to precisely focus on herself weaving effortlessly through fluffy clouds and high tree tops that kiss the sky.
She is just in the midst of maneuvering a double three-sixty spinout when her stomach gives a mighty jolt, and she’s flung off track from the impact. She barely manages to catch herself before smacking into a tree and quickly regain her balance. She hovers in the air, her mind aloof.

Suddenly, her throat constricts, and her stomach flips violently, causing her to moan as she clutches at her chest.
Then, something unspeakable causes her wings to snap back against her sides, everything able to support her in the air, gone. On a spur of the moment, she tries to extend them again, but something aggravatingly doesn’t let her –

She seems to forget how to scream as she plunges to the earth.

: : : :

Fluttershy hums to herself solicitously as she trots leisurely on the path winding to her cottage, Angel Bunny and her saddlebag full of groceries perched on her withers. The gentle tunes forming on her lips flow in tandem with her dainty steps.

“I wonder how Rainbow Dash is doing,” she wonders aloud, much to Angel’s irascibility.

The cobblestone street broadens as she reaches her destination, and her question is answered much to her chagrin when she spots a familiar cyan speck plummet to the ground, its rainbow-streaked hair swirling up like a tornado as the ground rushes up to meet its strangled body.

Fluttershy doesn’t have time to gasp. She surprises herself as she acts fast, Angel Bunny hopping off her back as she extends her wings in a flash. Her hooves strike the ground in a frenzied tangle of limbs as she pushes herself forward, determined to get to the fallen Pegasus before she hits the dense, unwelcoming land.

She lifts an inch off the ground and dives. The next few moments are a blur. The butter-yellow Pegasus nervously thinks that she hasn’t made it in time, but an unexpected, rough impact that collides with her shoulder muscles proves her wrong, and the air is immediately seized from her lungs. A strangled croak escapes her lips, and she merely lays on the wiry grass until she manages to get her breath back.

Fluttershy cautiously arches her back, and Rainbow Dash’s body inscrutably rolls off of it and onto the ground with a hollow thump.

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy whispers with bated breath as she searches for any sign that the cyan Pegasus is conscious – and finds none.

She tenderly nudges her friend’s shoulder, then gently flicks her ear, then breathes against her skin, but nothing seems to work. Dash is out cold.

Fluttershy feels tears well in her eyes as she thinks of all the ways she could’ve helped her, how she didn’t have to leave her when she was in a time of need and care – how frustrating this all has been for her. For both of them.

She should’ve known Rainbow Dash would come out and try to fly, how foolish she’d been when that particular thought hadn’t crossed her mind. She should’ve bucking known.

Fluttershy paws at the ground with her hooves, throwing up clumps of dirt and grass in the process, choking sobs wracking her body and tears freely streaming down her face. The salty taste invades her senses as they flow into her mouth and nostrils, but she doesn’t care. Her friend is under the control of a monster, and it pierces Fluttershy’s heart like a dagger being thrust into her chest – and she can’t possibly imagine what it’s like for Rainbow Dash herself.

Her sobs cease slightly, and taking in a shuddering breath, lowers her head to rest her chin on Rainbow’s exposed chest, kneading her muzzle firmer into the cyan fur, trying to gather all the warmth that pervades her friend. She can feel the shallow thumping of her heart buried beneath the pallor of her skin, the gentle breaths that escape her lips. The tears that continue to fall silently stain her friend’s coat like wet paint. She closes her eyes. Her breathing slows down and becoming one with Dash’s shallow ones, almost like a song that feels lost in the nature of their surroundings.

Fluttershy swears she can hear the faintest of cackles trembling in Dash’s depths, her ear pressed timidly against her blue coat. She chooses to ignore it, though, albeit it makes her vaguely perilous no matter how hushed it is.

She doesn’t know how long it’s been until she feels movement underneath her chin, startling her out of her daze. Her head shoots up, alarmed, however her wide cerulean eyes relax slightly as she focuses on the meager rustlings of her friend beginning to wake. She considerately nudges Rainbow Dash’s shoulder blade, willing to go that extra mile to show some tender action. To show how much she cares.

Rainbow Dash’s eyelids gingerly begin to flicker open, magenta irises starting to show beneath the expanse of skin slowly lifting upward, greeting the shining sun warily as the light rushes into them. Her head languidly turns towards Fluttershy, and her eyes are immediately shrouded in nostalgia and pain as she peers at one of her closest friends.

She opens her mouth to speak. What comes out is a pathetic croak that causes both ponies to cringe. “Fluttershy… I’m so sorry, I know you said – “

She is promptly silenced when Fluttershy gently rests a supple hoof on her boiling forehead. An understanding grin appears on her face, and Rainbow Dash relaxes, returning the tender gesture.

“I don’t care about that right now. I’m just glad you’re okay,” she says softly, her words merely a graceful leaf in a rushing breeze.

Her hoof trails delicately across Dash’s hairline, sweeping her multihued fringe to the side and leaving an ebbing rush of coolness in its wake. Surprisingly, to the both of them, the cyan Pegasus doesn’t shove her friend away, or roll in a different direction to escape her gentle touch, just accepts it, because she’s honestly too exhausted to move. She doesn’t directly know what caused it, it just suddenly hit her when she woke. All she wants to do is curl up in a cushiony mountain of comfy blankets and feathery pillows, or possibly a flocculent ivory cloud and just sleep.

And she’s nearly out like a light right then and there, but a sudden violent, nauseating churning in her stomach interrupts her desperate call for slumber.

She bolts upright, causing Fluttershy to gasp and scoot back a few inches. Her throat crawls with bile, and she turns away from the other Pegasus to empty her stomach onto the grass. Body quaking, she wipes her mouth with her hoof, feeling two times lighter than before. A groan emits from her throat, and those groans turn into strangled whimpers as she feels an unexplainable pinching pressure inside her body.

Fluttershy cautiously takes a step backwards, her eyebrows scrunched in concern as she watches her friend struggle with herself. She assumes she’s having another one of those horrendous fits, and the throttling screech that expels from Dash’s mouth fails to tell her otherwise.

It relates to the sound between a wicked cackle and a chicken being strangled in electric fencing.

Fluttershy’s heart hammers in her chest when she notices Rainbow Dash’s belly ripple, then start bulging out in several places as she writhes uncontrollably. Her rose-coloured eyes then fade to ugly shades of black, blue, and green, an eerie glow surrounding the sclera on each. Her fur bristles, her hooves seem to have a sharper edge to them, and her teeth lengthen into pointed fangs. A long hiss rolls off her tongue, causing Fluttershy’s ears to ring and her brain to pound.
The terrified Pegasus suddenly finds herself scrambling backwards, her expanded eyes locked on Dash’s glowing ones, meager whimpers escaping her mouth and dirt bunching up around her backside as she continues to clamber through the soil. Rainbow Dash takes menacing steps towards her, swiping at her intimidatingly with her hoof, fangs bared and forked tongue having spasms with every hiss.

Fluttershy knows Dash can’t control herself, but her mind is so petrified that she can’t even think straight. She suddenly feels her hindquarters press against something bulky and hard; no doubt it’s her cottage that looms over the two of them. She winces, trying to make herself smaller as demonic Rainbow Dash casts an eerie shadow over her, the fiery glows emitting from her eyes reflecting in color off the grass.

The butter-yellow Pegasus squeezes her eyes shut as she sinks lower towards the ground, her ribs crunching against the tops of her thighs and nearly whisking away the breath from her lungs. Her lips tremble, her body trembles.
But then she realises something.

Rainbow Dash won’t hurt her. She won’t. She would never hurt any of her friends, no matter what kind of situation she’s put in. It’s uncanny for her, as uncanny as for any good friend, and that causes Fluttershy to relax as her mind reels through the facts.

She dares to open her eyes.

Thankfully, Rainbow Dash hasn’t come any closer to her. She just paws at the ground threateningly, as if she’s about to attack. The hissing hasn’t ceased, though, making Fluttershy uneasy.

Although, that’s when she musters all her courage jam-packed in her system, in her heart, and does something that undoubtedly surprises her.

She embraces her.

Fluttershy gathers the other Pegasus close, their hearts press together, beating in tandem with their bated breath. Dash’s coat bristles against her own, tickling her throat and every inch of her skin. She feels a pair of fierce hooves grip her shoulders, compressing her on either side, but she doesn’t care, even though it hurts so much.

But the pain that she can really feel is the fact that Rainbow Dash is too far gone to notice what’s going on. To notice what’s going inside of her. How horrifying it must be for her to convulse in this pain.

Fluttershy’s eyes brim with tears, and within moments they’re spilling onto her cheeks, a glistening flow like a waterfall that stains the other’s fair blue coat. She hugs her friend closer, tighter, clinging onto her like a filly would do to her mother.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy laments, her voice watery and trembling. “Please, please, don’t do this to us…”

Dash hisses again like a furious caged, carnivorous animal, trailing the tips of her hooves down her friend’s sides, almost breaking the skin in the process. Fluttershy has to clench her jaw as to keep herself from screaming in pain. But that only makes the flow of tears increase dramatically.

They stay like that for a while. Although it’s only a matter of time before Rainbow Dash’s hooves loosen their malignant grip on Fluttershy’s shoulders, and the yellow Pegasus can withdraw a slow breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. The boisterous hissing falters, and Rainbow gives a breathless sigh as the unearthly glowing fades from her eyes and a bright magenta color replaces it.

She leans limply against her friend, her enervated gesture earning a small squeak of surprise as her new weight engulfs the other struggling to steady herself. Her eyelids feel like heavy iron weights, and she feels utterly and intoxicatingly exhausted. Her body seems as if all the lingering life has been wiped clean, and all she can do at the moment is drift in and out of consciousness as deep slumber threatens to drag her down into its hold.

“D-Dash?” Fluttershy queries, her soft voice brushing delicately against her companion’s neck. She wants to say more, but no words come to mind.

“Fluttershy?” Dash’s ears perk up at her closest friend’s voice, leaning her head back, her eyes meeting big, swimming, cerulean ones that rest inches from her own. “Wh-what happened? Did I fall asle – “

Her words falter when she notices long, lethal scratch marks running from Fluttershy’s shoulder to her hip bones on either side of her body. They blend into the colors of black, blue, and purple as they begin to bruise. Her eyes go wide.

“What happened – “ Her voice then chokes, throat constricting. “Did… did I…”

Fluttershy shakes her head, dismissing the subject with the simple gesture. Some sort of emotion that Dash can’t read shrouds her eyes, and she turns away towards her cottage, motioning for Dash to follow her. “Come on,” she says sweetly. “I think you need some more rest.”

Rainbow Dash doesn’t complain. She achingly gets up, following in Fluttershy’s hoofsteps, feeling like her legs are twice the size they used to be when she stumbles cumbersomely over every tiny stone or thick weeds jutting out from the ground.

Her mind reels tiringly, causing her brain to pound against her skull, a fresh headache beginning to sprout in her head. All she craves to do is fall asleep as soon as her body hits the flocculent, pinetree-smelling bed sheets sprawled out on the couch, courtesy of Fluttershy, of course. And she does just that as soon as she gets inside. But nagging thoughts and questions prevent her from drifting off, and they go like this –

What exactly is wrong with her? It isn’t like any sickness she’s experienced before. Could it be unknown to ponykind, perhaps? Didn’t Zecora confirm anything when they arrived at her hut in the Everfree Forest? Perhaps she did, so are her friends refraining from telling her exactly what’s happening to her?

What are those scratch marks on Fluttershy from?

And will the nightmares return again once she drifts into unconsciousness?

Author's Note:

I need to really step up my game here. I can't seem to update when I want to update, and I can't seem to make the chapters longer when I want to make them longer. Gah.

I don't really know when the next chapter will be published, probably next week. Or on the weekend, let's pray.

Thank you for all the comments, by the way! I've been getting lots of positive feedback. I'm looking forward to reading your comments for this chapter as well.

Comments

[Slate the Pegasus]

YAY

[I hate you all]

This chapter has definitely shown the reality in what Rainbow is going through.