> Color to the Gray. > by SingingSeaSerpent > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You got all that, Dash?", Twilight asked. "Yeah, yeah, whatever.", Rainbow Dash replied with a bored tone as she stretched on the couch. She had been invited over by Twilight to discover another distant planet called, "Earth". Twilight told Dash how she didn't need to write any notes, since Twilight knew a spell that could go back into Dash's memories and see what she saw. Twilight had warned her about how different it was compared to Equestria. Dash's overconfidence made Twilight's concern worsen even more. "Rainbow Dash, this is serious!", Twilight barked as Rainbow Dash yawned on Twilight's couch. "Look look, I got it. I just need to hang out on Earth and take a look around. Now you were going on about this.. watch?", Dash asked holding up a watch that Twilight had given her earlier. Twilight calmed down, knowing her friend was at least asking questions instead of going there blind. "Ah yes, the watch. This is very important, since it wi- Are you paying attention??", Twilight stopped after noticing Rainbow Dash playing with the watch on her couch. "What? Oh yeah, of course.", Rainbow Dash had been spinning the watch and looking at her reflection on the watch. Twilight got annoyed and snatched the watch. "This is the watch that is guaranteeing your safety home!", Twilight said pointing at the watch and slamming it onto Rainbow Dash's stomach. Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion, "How is this thing going to bring me back? It's just a watch.", Dash replied, holding it back up to her face. "If you payed attention, then you would know.", Twilight hoof faced. "I imbued this watch with magic that will teleport you back here, after you've spent a month on Earth." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but what's so important about keeping hold of it, can't I just drop it once I get there? It'll be annoy-" Rainbow Dash continued before Twilight got up into her face. "NO, It has to be on you or else it won't detect you, and you'll be stuck there! That's why this is so important for you to pay attention!" Twilight said in Rainbow Dash's face, before walking back with her head down. "You're risking your life out there, and I don't want to lose a friend...", Twilight said nearly in tears. Rainbow dash got up from her couch and wrapped a hoof around Twilight. "It's all in the bag, cheer up Twilight. I promise I will keep the watch on me and will be as cautious as possible.", Dash said as she looked in Twilight's eyes. "You promise?", Twilight said looking up to meet Dash's eyes. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!", Dash said giving a cheerful smile while sticking a hoof against one of her eyes. Twilight smiled and gave her friend a goodbye hug. Twilight walked back and turned to dash, kneeling and preparing her magic. "Ready?", Twilight asked. "Ready!", Rainbow dash replied with a grin Twilight concentrated on her magic as she prepared to send Rainbow Dash to Earth, when suddenly out of the cushions from the couch Rainbow Dash was sitting on, Pinkie Pie jumped out spreading party confetti everywhere. "TA-DA!" Pinkie cheered. She looked around confused, "Wait... This isn't Rarities house...", she looked around and saw the glow at Twilight's horn tip. Pinkies eyes grew with curiosity. Pinkie ran over next to Twilight. "Is that a new a spell?? Huh? huh? huh? Can I see? Will it turn me into a cake!?", Pinkie asked with much excitement hoping around Twilight, until she noticed Rainbow Dash bracing herself for the spell. Pinkie hoped over to Rainbow Dash. Twilight's eyes shot open as she just realized who was just speaking. "-GASP!- Pinkie, move out of the way!", Twilight yelled. "Huh? Hoof out the hay? Why would I do that?", Pinkie responded, as turned around. The light of Twilight's horn grew blindingly bright until... it faded... Twilight slowly looked up, exhausted from the powerful spell, and saw nopony in front of her.. Just the bookshelves.. No Rainbow Dash.. No Pinkie Pie... Twilight knew what she had just done, and there was no way of reversing it.. She slowly sat down and placed her hoofs over her eyes, covering her tears. "What have I done.." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Berlin, May 19th, 1943. 9:44 P.M. "Now, now.. Marie Lee you need your rest and you know it.", The soothing voice cooed as she tucked her daughter in bed. "But.. What if the neighbors are right? What if they do come, and I'm asleep? What if they take you away and I can't find you, what if-", The little girl continued before her mother placed a finger on her lips to hush her. "Ssh.. You'll be alright..", the mother responded with a not so confident smile, but still a smile to calm her daughter down. She stroked her hands over her daughters hair and sang her a lullaby. "Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed.", The mother sang softly to her daughter. She gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead before heading out of the room. "Good night, Marie.", she said before turning off the light in her room, leaving the door cracked for a little light from the hall. "Good night, mom.", The girl whispered, before drifting off to sleep. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Berlin, December 20th, 1943. 5:55 A.M Snow had been covering the streets and homes of Berlin lately, leaving the city a cold and quiet setting at night, with the only sound being the wind blowing the snow around. The darkness soon to be taken over by the light of the sun in a distance. Slowly the sun rose up, after being hidden within the clouds of snow for the past few days. Marie woke up, smiling as the sun's heat started to cover her face. She got up to look outside her window, there she saw it. It had been a while since she saw the sun, it was comforting to finally see it again . She had confidence that today was going to be a good day. She hadn't been able to play with her friends lately since they had been indoors due to the cold and the fact that her parents were afraid that the, "bad people", were going to take her away. Hopefully today, they'll let them play. Marie started to get excited as she put on her winter outfit. All the thoughts of what games they could play just put a huge smile on her face. She put on all her winter clothes and ran downstairs to ask her parents if she could play with her friends. "Mom, Dad, it stopped snowing! Can I-", Marie stopped mid sentence as her eyes grew wide with fear when she saw who was standing at the door, with a gun pointed directly at her parents. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Berlin, December 22nd, 1943. 1:01 A.M. The dark city, lie in ruins, as the bodies of innocent people were cleaned up, leaving nothing but blood behind on the snow... The snow shortly returned on the 21st to cover the sun again.. It was completely silent again. Nothing to be heard but the blowing of the wind... It was nearly pitch black, the only color coming from the snow, and the dark buildings.. When a light appeared in the middle of the street.. The white light suddenly grew, expanding in size, growing larger and larger.. When finally.. -CRACKLE- -BOOM- The light exploded with a blinding light as it finally took shape into not one.. but two forms! The light started to die out, the figures had finally finished taken shape. It was Rainbow Dash laying on top of Pinkie Pie, completely passed out. Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes. "Where am I?..", She grumbled to herself, rubbing her head. "I have no clue, but you sure do make a good blanket!", A voice chirped from underneath Rainbow Dash. Dash's eyes shot open, she jumped to her hoofs and looked at what spoke under her. "Pinkie!? You're not supposed to be here!", Dash said sternly to the pink pony still laying on her back. "I'm not?", Pinkie asked, with her eyes widened. "ooooooh! What's that around your neck?", Pinkie asked jumping to her hoofs and playing with Rainbow Dash's watch. Rainbow Dash, turned making the watch swing around her neck out of Pinkie's reach. "This watch is supposed to bring me back home after a month, it keeps track as to how long I have left, and I need to keep it on at all times so I don't lose it. I have to keep it on to teleport me back.", Dash responded with her eyes closed. She then shot them open when she came to a realization. "But... How will you return back..?", she asked, turning to Pinkie. Pinkie had a confused look on her face, she put a hoof up to her mouth and raised an eyebrow to think of an answer. She then put a relaxed smile on her face, "Twilight's a smart pony! She can think of something. I'm sure of it!" Pinkie said with a cheerful smile. Rainbow Dash wasn't buying it, she felt disgusted. She didn't like the feeling of not knowing how to fix a solution that could leave her friend behind forever, but for now she ignored it, she had time. Who knows? Twilight is a smart pony, she'll probably think of something by then. Pinkie pie started to scratch her right ear, Rainbow Dash looked at her, "You okay?" Pinkie scratched faster, "Of course!", Pinkie pie responded with a cheerful smile. "Why?", she asked. "Then why are you scratching your ear so much? Is it really that itchy?", Rainbow asked, shaking away the snow that had continued to fall on her mane. "Oh, well it usually means something is watching us.", She said, continuing to scratch her right ear. Dash's heart sank. Who was watching? Are they in danger? What's going to happen? Rainbow Dash spun around in panic, looking around as to who was watching them. She turned back around and didn't see Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie pie?!" Rainbow Dash asked in a squeek. "Yoohoo! Up here!", The voice said from above. Rainbow Dash looked around and looked up a nearby building to see a cheerful Pinkie Pie waving out a window. "Get down from there!", Rainbow said in a loud whisper. "There could be something dangerous up there!" Pinkie giggled, "There's nothing dangerous up here! Plus, I found out what was watching us.", Pinkie said. Rainbow Dash looked up at Pinkie with shock. She opened up her wings and flew up to the window Pinkie was at. She crawled into the window and saw the pile of clothes shift around from the other side of the room. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash leaned in close to see what it was. The clothes stopped shifting. The head popped out of the pile. It was a girl, about 9. She looked around and finally met face to face with the two ponies. END OF CHAPTER 1 > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash jumped back after the girl turned around. "Pinkie! That's a human, we're not supposed to be seen by any of them!", Dash said eyes widened and preparing for what the little girl might do. Pinkie giggled, "Aw come on Dashie, it's not going to hurt you." Pinkie tilted a hoof at Dash. Pinkie turned back to the girl, "What's your name? Mine's Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you!", Pinkie said with a smile and hoof placed in front of her for a hoof bump. The girl just started shaking out of fear and backed away from Pinkie's hoof, she never had seen anything like this. The past few days have been some of the most confusing and terrifying days of her life. She didn't know how to respond. Pinkie's smile started to disappear. "What's wrong?", Pinkie asked with a concerned look, she had never seen anything deny her greeting like this. The girl just backed up against a wall and turned her head clenching her eyes shut. Rainbow Dash started to get annoyed. "We don't have time for this, Pinkie Pie! We're not even supposed to be seen by any human! She could be extremely dangerous for all we know, she-", Dash yelled from the window when the girl finally spoke up. "It's, Marie Lee.", She responded still shaking against the wall. Pinkie smiled again, "Nice to meet ya Marie Lee!", Pinkie said walking up attempting to give her another hoof bump. The girl looked at Pinkie's hoof and slowly put her hand on it, and shook hands/hoofs with her. "Nice.. to meet you too..", She whispered barely being heard by Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, let's go, we can't even be near her! Come on.", Rainbow Dash tugged at Pinkie's mane. Pinkie escaped Dash's tug, and turned around to give the Marie a hug. Pinkie put her head next to Marie's. "Aw come on Dashie, just look at her.", Pinkie said with a frown and puppy eyes. "She doesn't have anyone here, it's completely empty in this neighborhood, where will she go? Who will take care of her? Who will go to her, -Gasp!- Her birthday parties!? There's nobody in this neighborhood! She can't have a birthday party by herself!", Pinkie said, with Marie looking up at her with confusion. Rainbow Dash face hoofed. "I already made a Pinkie promise to Twilight that I wouldn't even encounter her species, Pinkie.", Dash said. Pinkie still continued with her puppy eyed stare. Dash didn't budge. Pinkie finally responded, "Fine, you don't have to. I'll take care of her.", Pinkie said. Rainbow Dash face hoofed again, "Pinkie, seriously this isn't a joke.", Dash said removing her hoof from her face. "We aren't currently in any danger, right? She didn't attack us yet, right? I don't understand why you say her kind is so dangerous? Just look at her.", Pinkie said putting her said face next to Marie's. Rainbow Dash sighed. "Pinkie. If you're so sure.. Then.. Maybe for a littl-", Dash said before being interrupted. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!", Pinkie said giving Rainbow Dash a hug. "You won't regret i-", She said, stopping mid sentence she stopped embracing Rainbow Dash and backed up. Pinkie's smile immediately disappeared as she looked past dash with widened eyes, through the window behind her. Marie ducked under the pile of clothes again. The ground started to violently shake. Rainbow Dash quickly turned around and looked out the window and saw it. An explosion, off in the distance. The sudden light from the explosion, cause the room to light up. It engulfed the darkness of the night. Dash's pupils shrunk. She turned and dove at Pinkie. "GET DOWN!", Rainbow Dash yelled as she dove on top of Pinkie. Both of them landed on the ground as the window glass shattered, throwing pieces of the glasses everywhere. Rainbow Dash's watch flew off from her neck and out the door of the room. The glass shards flew into both of Rainbow Dash's wings. She clenched her teeth trying to prevent herself from screaming from the pain, the stinging pain was unbearable. After a few seconds when all the glass was all over the room, the shaking stopped. Rainbow Dash slowly got up from Pinkie Pie, and looked around with heavy breath. Glass was shattered everywhere. She turned and looked at her wing, as it was slowly leaking blood from the small glass shards that impaled her wings. Dash clenched her teeth again as she tried to flap her wings. She hissed from the pain, flapping only made the pain worse. Great., Dash thought. First day here, and now I can't even fly! Pinkie slowly rose to her hoofs, shaking her head. "That was crazy! What was that all about?", She said shaking her head. Pinkie walked past Rainbow Dash and looked out the now empty window. She looked out to where the explosion was. All that was there now, was a smoke mushroom cloud, looming over. "Woah...", Pinkie said with her eyes widening. The pile of clothes shifted again, as Marie crawled out. Fortunately the glass shards flew into the clothes but didn't manage to reach her underneath all of them. Pinkie immediately turned around and gave Marie a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay! That was crazy, wasn't it! There was an explosion! And Dash dove at me! And everything got shaky! And-", Pinkie stopped when she saw Marie with tears trickling down her face. Marie gave Pinkie Pie a hug back, Pinkie stood there speechless, not knowing how to respond. Rainbow Dash continued to look at her wing and trying to come up with solutions as to how to fly again. Pinkie Pie looked up at Dash, "Dashie, Are you okay?", Pinkie asked. Rainbow Dash tried to play it cool, "Yeah. I'm fine. We need to get out of here as soon as.." Rainbow Dash stopped, and looked around herself again. "Where is it!?", She panicked. Pinkie Pie looked at her, head tilted. "Where is what?", Pinkie asked. Rainbow Dash continued to spin around looking all around her. "My watch! Where did it go??", She looked around in a panic again. Rainbow Dash galloped out of the room. She looked across the hall and saw it laying next to the stair case going down stairs. She sighed a breath of relief as she walked over to get it. She stopped half way across the hall. And saw shadows against the wall. She heard a door open, as many voices came in. Rainbow Dash slowly tip hoofed over to the watch. She opened her mouth to grab the watch back. She got it in her teeth when she suddenly heard yelling. She turned her head and looked downstairs to see 3 men running up it. They hadn't spotted her yet, but they definitely heard something. She galloped back to the room with the watch in her mouth, and shut the door with her chest heaving back in forth. A gunshot could be heard from within the hallway. "We need to get out of here!", Rainbow Dash loudly whispered to her friends, with terror in her eyes.. Pinkie put a hoof to her mouth to think of what to do. Suddenly she pulled her party cannon from behind here, out of nowhere. "Pinkie! This is no time for-", Rainbow Dash whispered before the door behind her was being slammed against. They were trying to kick the door open! Dash tried her best until the door was finally kicked open and she flung across the room. The three men entered the room with guns pointed. -BOOM- Pinkie's cannon exploded and launched party decorations everywhere, and sent the 3 men flying out of the room, slamming against the wall behind them. Pinkie pie grabbed Marie by the shirt and lifted her to her back, "Hang on!", She told her new friend. She galloped to rainbow Dash and put a hoof in front of her, "Get up, you silly goose! This is no time for resting." She said. Dash opened her eyes with the room hazy. She saw Pinkies hoof, and grabbed it to pull herself up. Rainbow Dash slowly got up and shook her head trying to get rid of the haziness. She looked at dash after her eyes correcting themselves and gave her a nod in understanding. Both of them ran out of the room, past the three bodies that were knocked out and ran downstairs. They both looked out the window. Both of their mouths opened as they saw it. The streets swarmed with nazi's. END OF CHAPTER 2