Chapter 1: A Dash Of Madness
The cloud mansion belonging to Rainbow Dash was perhaps the most spectacular building in the entirety of the small town of Ponyville. With a surplus of building material, the cyan Pegasus has really gone all out with the construction, even adding a rainbow colored waterfall coming down out of the sides, it was the perfect place to come back to after a long day.
And a long day it had been, the small Pegasus Scootaloo had been a thorn in her flank all day long. She was used to her fan girl tendencies by now but she had never been this bad, just that little voice that would not stop talking.
Rainbow snuggled into her bed of clouds to finish the day, taking a cupcake from the side table which she had failed to eat up until this point, the day seemed well ready for a close, but suddenly.
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” came that oh so familiar high pitched voice.
“Scootaloo…” Rainbow said with a cold malignant tone “How did you even get up here?”
The little orange filly was standing on the windowsill, beaming for the world to see, tiny wings fluttering like mad “Cutie Mark Crusaders pony cannonballs!” she declared.
She might have guessed “Well go launch somewhere else, somewhere you won’t disturb sleeping ponies!”
“It was an accident…” said Scootaloo “We were aimed over your house and I went through the roof, I came down here because I need some help getting down…”
Rainbow walked over, she was well tired of this kind of behavior, “Look,” she said “I know a really quick way down…” and without another word, she turned around and bucked the poor little filly out the window. She fell for about twenty yards before landing squarely onto Applebloom, who was waiting below. She ran away, sobbing.
Rainbow couldn’t help feeling a touch of guilt, but she had deserved it, thinking she could just buzz in with no warning after annoying her all day long? She had got off easy. She finished the cupcake and slowly drifted off to sleep.
She was awoken by the cold first, opening her eyes slowly and seeing nothing. The scenery was pure white, there was no way at all to tell if there were walls or floor in this strange place. She sat up, looking around. There was only one feature, a small black door that looked too small for even a filly to walk through.
She got up and walked up to the door, reaching out to feel the wall that had to be there, but there was nothing, just more empty space. She walked all the way around it, it was a door leading to nothing and coming from the same thing. How had she come here? The last thing she remembered was falling asleep, had some pony taken her here?
Suddenly, the door opened, and Rainbow gasped. There was a dark space in the doorway, pure pitch black. And from the space, emerged a pony. But no ordinary pony, this pony had no face.
Rainbow took a step back as the tiny pony walked through the door, it had no wings, no horn, it didn’t even have a mane or tail. It was just a white outline, barely different from the room around it. It was vaguely reminiscent of the busts in Rarity’s store.
And then it grew, it was tiny to have fit through the door but once it was out, it was just taller than Dash herself. It didn’t seem to grow, it was simply small and then it was large. Or was it both at the same time? It turned it’s featureless face to look at Dash.
“Rainbow Dash,” came a voice, it seemed to come from the pony, but there was no facial movement of any kind, it didn’t have a face, “It is a pleasure to meet you.” There was literally no way of telling where the voice came from but the eerie sense of purpose.
“Why do you want to meet me…?” asked Rainbow Dash slowly “I don’t give autographs to ponies who drag me into weird white rooms. Where is this anyway?”
The strange figure didn’t even seem to hear her “You are a terrible person Rainbow…” it spoke “Your stubborn pride has risked the lives of so many ponies…”
“Are you kidding?” asked Rainbow, throwing her mane into a non-existent breeze “I’m the greatest pony around!”
“Perhaps you don’t remember,” said the figure “when you nearly neglected your home city, the night of Nightmare’s return. You failed miserably at your only job, and when the time came for action, you were held back.”
“How do you know about that?” asked Rainbow “And Twilight was there, she got me working!”
“Cast your mind back to your foal days,” the figure continued, it didn’t seem to hear Rainbow at all, “flight camp perhaps? Your young friend Fluttershy, you backed her up countless times. However all she wanted was to keep to herself. You were the one who pushed her onto the stage time and time again, and you nearly sent her falling to her death, and for what? A measly grudge race because you can’t allow your pride to become injured.”
“It was defending her honor!” said Rainbow, her voice was cracking slightly “I mean, those guys were picking on her!”
“Must I even mention the day of Discord’s return?” the figure seemed to be larger now somehow “you not only let your stubborn pride get away with you, it nearly destroyed the world, and all this because you couldn’t part with your wings.”
Rainbow Dash sat in silence, contemplating this.
“You’ve had countless crashes, instants of pride management, dozens of times your brashness has almost murdered ponies. If it weren’t for your friends, your ‘heroism’ would’ve resulted in the death of a cartful of ponies, dozens of construction workers and anyone in the path of the dam’s flooding.” The figure was towering over Rainbow “You call yourself loyalty? The only thing you have ever been loyal to is yourself.”
“I…I…” Rainbow was stuttering, “I’m…loyal…aren’t I?”
“And finally the young filly,” the figure, now three times her size nearly screamed “the poor Scootaloo, she adores you as an idol, you are her perfect role model, she sees you as a sister Rainbow, did you know that?”
“N…n…no…” Rainbow stuttered, tears starting to fall.
“Or perhaps something else you didn’t know,” the figure elaborated “that the little filly who sees you as a sister, who loves you from the bottom of her young heart, is living on the streets? Her parents are long dead, she has no one to support her and doesn’t eat anything that isn’t provided by a friend. Yet how many times have you brought her in? Even allowed her one day off the street out of pity’s sake? You have not, you are truly heartless Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow burst out sobbing “Who are you?” she screamed “Why are you doing this to me?”
The figure stood on it’s hind legs in a terribly frightening figure, it seemed like it was about to crush Rainbow, “Who am I?” it repeated, finally seeming to hear her “I am the stars and the galaxies they create, I am the planet that falls out of the sky, I am the talents each and every one of you posses, I am power and weakness, light and darkness, I am god. I am Truth, and I am also, you.”
Rainbow cowered “Just please…” she pleaded “before you kill me just let me go and apologize, let me talk to my friends…” she sobbed “and let me tell Scootaloo…I love her…”
“Oh I don’t think you’re going to die…” said Truth “Oh no, but when I’m done with you, death will be a true mercy…”
Meanwhile, deep within the Everfree forest, a black stallion who was deep in meditation, startled awake.