> Her Greatest Desires... Her Darkest Fears > by Raidah > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Void > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darkness. That was all she could see. Plain, black darkness. She stared into the void of nothingness, her mind cloudy and her emotions blank as she remembered the events that brought her here... She had been flying around town, not doing anything of particular value when she saw her friends cleaning up the wreckage of the library. They were uprooting the destroyed trunk so that a new library could be built in it's place. She was bored and, having nothing better to do besides daydream, decided to help. She flew down, offered some assistance, and found herself pulling on one of the major roots of the tree. It was going smoothly, and soon enough the rest of her friends had shown up to help as well. Applejack took to bucking the tree to try and loosen it, Twilight and Rarity used their magic to try and pull the thing out, and everypony was doing their part. In fact, they had almost completely uprooted it... Until the biggest branch left on the tree decided to fall right on top of her, crushing her skull and killing her. From that point on, she was confronted with the darkness. Nopony to talk to. It was just her. Alone. In the void. Then, a door, or at least what looked like a door, opened not far away from her. Through it, she could only see a blinding white light, which shone on her cyan coat like the fires of the sun. "Come on in, Rainbow Dash," she heard a female voice call. It was calm, and somewhat deep. But also sounded very seductive. Rainbow saw no choice but to do as the voice said, and drifted towards the door. She entered, and the blinding light died down to reveal seven ponies standing in a half circle in front of her. In the centre, a dark purple mare with a flowing black mane and lime green eyes. "Welcome, Rainbow Dash," the mare began, "welcome to purgatory." "P-purgatory?" Rainbow asked, her voice shaking. "Yes, purgatory. I am Lust," the mare gave a light bow of her head as she introduced herself, "and these are my brothers," she gestured to the six stallions surrounding her. Three on each side. "Wrath," she gestured to the stallion farthest to her right. A bright red unicorn with a short black mane and tail and firey red eyes that burned with a hatred for everything around him. He gave a light nod as he was introduced. "Gluttony," a larger white earth pony who had next to no mane, but soulless white eyes and an evil grin spread across his face. He simply chuckled. "Pride, one so much more fitting to you than any of us," she said, gesturing to a younger, grey unicorn colt who was sat on his haunches, a very prideful smile plastered onto his features. "I think you'll have a lot to talk to him about," Lust said, a small smirk tugging at the left side of her mouth. "Envy." A thin, green pegasus with a light orange mane and greenish blue eyes nodded his head as he kept eyeing Rainbow Dash's flank. She could see from where she stood that he had no cutie mark, hence his obvious jealousy of hers. "Greed." A light blue unicorn with a two toned blue and purple mane and tail and orange eyes. "And last, and probably least since he doesn't like to do anything, Sloth." A big, heavily muscled orange pegasus with wings that looked like they could propel him ten times faster than Rainbow Dash could ever dream of flying attatched to him. His mane was crimson and his eyes were light blue, but he didn't even acknowledge his introduction, instead he looked like he was ready to fall asleep. "We are known as the Seven Deadly Sins, and it is our job, whenever a pony is sent to purgatory like you were, Ms. Dash, to decide what happens to them. Whether they are sent to Heaven or Hell depends solely on us and us alone," Lust explained. "We will all show you the traits you have shown of us, and Greed and I will be showing you your possible futures, should your death today have not occurred." Lust took a breath and let that sink in. While Rainbow Dash tried to process what she had been told. "It's simple, really," Lust said. "You have sinned, so we need to show you how. It won't hurt... Much," she let out a light giggle with that remark. "Envy, dear. Why don't you take the first go?" "With pleasure, Lust," Envy said, stepping forward. "Now, where should I start?" > Envy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh, Rainbow Dash," Envy began. "Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow." Rainbow Dash simply looked at Envy with fear in her eyes, but determination on her face. She wasn't going to let him break her, if that's what he was going to do. "Where should we go?" he asked rhetorically. "Your past? Your present? I can't decide," he looked at her as if she might have an answer. "Do you have an idea?" Rainbow shook her head, unable to speak. "Well then," Envy said. "I guess we'll go to your past." The darkness was quickly replaced with the scene of a bright, sunny day. Next to no clouds in the sky and a gentle summer breeze swept through the meadow. Rainbow could see herself laying in the middle of the field, looking up at the sky and smiling. She then saw Applejack and some stallion walking into the meadow. Rainbow recognized him as Caramel, another farmer who lived in Ponyville. But what we're they doing together? It didn't take her long to realize what was going on, and it crushed her inside. Applejack and Caramel were together. It broke her heart to see this, for she had had a crush on the orange farmpony ever since she moved to Ponyville, and seeing her with somepony else drove her mad. "What are we doing here?" Rainbow asked Envy, who was watching her with an evil smirk. "You know exactly why," he replied, "this is when I came into play the most in your life. You seeing the mare you loved with another pony. Crushing, isn't it?" he kept watching her, waiting for a reaction. "That was years ago," Rainbow protested, "they broke up after a while. So it's not really bugging me anymore. Nice try, though." Envy simply dropped his smirk and eyed her devilishly. "Hmm..." he mumbled, "you are a tough nut to crack," his ears perked up as he thought of something new for her. "Don't worry, I can fix that." The scene quickly changed to a fairly cloudy day, a light rain fell on the town below as the ponies went about their daily buisness. She could see that the library was destroyed, so this was within her very recent past. "Where are we now?" she asked. "Today," Envy replied. "Why today?" "Because there's something here that I know you'll want to see." Rainbow looked uncertainly at Envy as the scene played out. It was obviously after the branch had fallen on her, since the many ponies working on the library were crowded around a single spot. She could see her body, and the bleeding mush that used to be her head. But what surprised her more than the damage to her skull, was the pony holding her lifeless corpse. It was Applejack, crying a river as she shook Rainbow Dash's body, trying to wake her up. "See, Rainbow Dash? They're alive and you're dead. How does that make you feel?" Envy teased. Rainbow Dash, however, didn't even pay attention to him. She was too busy watching Applejack sob over her body. Twilight then walked up behind Applejack and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Applejack... Really, I am," she said. "I didn't even get to say goodbye..." Applejack sobbed. "I never got to tell her how I felt." "I know," Twilight said, tears already pouring down her face, "I know." That's what set Rainbow off. What broke her heart into a million pieces before shattering the pieces all over again. That small revalation that meant the world to her. One tear made it's way down her face, then another. After several seconds she was downright sobbing into her hooves, broken by the fact that she and Applejack could have been together, but never got the chance. She looked at Envy with bloodshot eyes, a pleading look found it's way to her face as he just smiled at her dispair. "Please," she said, "stop this." "As you wish," Envy replied, and the scene faded away to the darkness again. > Greed > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Envy looked at the sobbing form of Rainbow Dash and smiled, pleased that he had managed to break her... Even if it wasn't how he intended to. He went back and joined the other Sins, waiting for the next to have their way with her. He looked at Lust, who nodded in approval at his performance. She then went to Rainbow Dash and put a hoof on her shoulder, not to comfort her, but to keep her from ignoring the rest of them. "Rainbow Dash, we still have a long way to go," she said. "Come on, I think Greed would like to share his little lesson." Rainbow nodded and got to her hooves, shakily standing while Lust went back to her brothers. Greed then stepped forward, knowing he would be next, and tried to think of something to give her. His face lit up as something came to mind, and he smiled devilishly at it. "Well, Rainbow Dash," he began, "I have something that won't hurt nearly as much as what Envy showed you... But it'll still be painful to watch." "Just get on with it," Rainbow spat out. "Hmm, a little eager to get started, are we? Well, as you wish," Greed said, the scene quickly changing around them. It was a very stormy day, one that Rainbow remembered well. She saw the barn house of Sweet Apple Acres, covered in snow and ice. Rainbow could see through the window herself and Applejack sitting in the living room, trying to keep warm against the cold. Rainbow had a wool blanket wrapped around herself while Applejack had a thick winter jacket. They made small talk while they tried not to freeze to death. "Hmm... Looks like this one will also involve my sister..." Greed said nonchalantly, teasingly nudging Rainbow Dash. "Shut up," she replied. "Okay, not all of us are assholes, Dash. Just the worst ones," Greed defended himself. "You should see Pride when he gets pissed off." "Whatever. Just hurry up and tell me what this has to do with you already," Rainbow demanded. Her heart already so broken that she didn't need any more memories of Applejack. "Okay, okay. Jeez," Greed said. The scene before them played out as Rainbow and Applejack quickly went from making small talk to hugging to share body heat. The power had gone out, which is why the pair were forced to use conventional methods of staying warm. "A-aj?" the memory Rainbow Dash asked. "Yeah?" Applejack replied. "Y-you should g-give me that jacket," Rainbow said. "W-what? No," Applejack protested. "Please, AJ. I'm f-freezing here and you've got a thicker coat than I do," Rainbow tried to reason with her. "I said no, Rainbow. But I'll look f'r one for ya if that makes ya feel any better," Applejack offered. "Please," Rainbow pleaded, her voice getting quieter. "What does this have to do with greed?" the real Rainbow Dash inquired. "Trying to get Applejack's jacket so you could stay warm and she could freeze," Greed explained as if it was obvious. "I mean, sure you did the right thing in the end, but you still were greedy nonetheless." Rainbow simply watched the memory fade, tears starting to pour from her eyes again. Greed saw this and decided to do something he normally wouldn't. "Look, Rainbow Dash," he began. "I'm going to show you something that you would want to see. No pain, no guilt, it's not even a memory." Rainbow looked at him questioningly, and saw kindness in his eyes, something she would never expect from someone like him. "What is it?" she asked, and the scene quickly changed to a bright summer's day, birds flying around, bright blue sky, the works. Rainbow looked around the peaceful scenery, but turned back to Greed with an unconvinced look. "How do I know you're not just toying with me?" "Because this is the future, or at least a possible future. Had you not been killed today, this might have happened about two years from now," Greed explained. "So, what? You guys can see the future?" Rainbow asked incredulously. "Actually, yes. We have tabs on every pony in the world. Even the princesses. We know everything everypony has ever wanted, and we know something that would have worked had you been willing to try it," he said. Rainbow gave him another confused look, then turned back to the possible future. She could see a huge green field, rolling hills, the Canterlot mountain in the distance. She could smell the scents that came with summer, despite it being an illusion. In the field, she could see two young fillies running around playing. One light blue with a blonde mane, the other yellow with orange. She saw fierce joy in both of their eyes, young and energetic spirits ready to take on the world. One of the fillies looked behind her and yelled; "C'mon mom!" Rainbow then saw two mares come up behind the fillies, one an orange earth mare with a straw blonde mane, the other an cyan pegasus with a multicoloured mane and tail. Applejack and herself. She smiled, tears of joy starting to form at her eyes. Greed simply watched silently as Rainbow stared in amazement. "We... we'd have a family?" she asked. "If I didn't die we'd have a family?" she looked at Greed hopefully. "In several possible futures, yes," he said. She smiled, not knowing what else to say, and cried her tears of joy. She quickly realized that this was not going to happen, that it was only a possible future, and one that would never come. If fate hadn't been so cruel as to end her life before she got the chance to confess her feelings. Her tears of joy quickly turned into sobs, which led to her eventually lying face down, crying into her hooves. Greed realized what was happening, and the scene faded away to the blackness of the void once again. Leaving the sobbing Rainbow Dash and the Seven Sins in the dark. > Wrath > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greed looked at the sobbing pegasus before him and his brethren with sympathy in his eyes, an apologetic frown hung on his face. Lust approached Rainbow Dash again and nudged her with a hoof, signalling that it wasn't over yet, and returned to her brothers. Rainbow Dash stood up and faced the Sins, tears pouring from her bloodshot eyes and staining the fur on her cheeks. She could feel anger rising in her, more for Lust than any of the others. She looked at the purple mare with hate in her eyes, ready to tear into her if need be. Lust moved to speak before Wrath stepped forward and interrupted her. "I'll go next, sister," he said in a low growl. "Alright," Lust replied. Wrath walked up to Rainbow and looked her in the eyes, staring into her magenta eyes which used to glow with energy and excitement, but now were filled with sorrow and anger. "What do you have to say to me? I've never gotten overly mad at anyone," Rainbow said. "Well I know what you're thinking right now," Wrath replied. "Remember, we can read your thoughts and memories, so we all know what's going on under that multicoloured mane of yours." "Is there anything you can't do?" she asked sarcastically. "Probably, not that we know of though," he said. "Do you have any other dirt on me other than wanting to rip your sister to shreds? Or are you just gonna keep patronizing me?" Rainbow asked, spite clear in her voice. Wrath looked her over as though he was trying to figure something out about her, but nothing popped up. "No, I guess not," he said. "But I do know that Envy left something out, and I think I can use that since you seemed pretty pissed back then." "What?" she asked. "Remember the Mare Do-Well?" Wrath looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "What about her? I found out she was my best friends. So what?" she asked. "Well weren't you a bit mad?" Wrath asked. "In the beginning, sure. But that's just because she was stealing my spotlight," Rainbow said. Wrath sighed. "God damn you're a tough one to break. Even though Envy and Greed managed to earlier." "Well you don't have as much to throw at me," Rainbow retaliated. Wrath sighed again, and smacked Rainbow across the face, sick of her attitude. He then grabbed her by the throat and tossed her to the side. He started walking towards her. "Wrath!" Lust yelled, stopping him in his tracks. "Enough." He shot a hateful glance at Rainbow Dash before returning to his fellow Sins. "Greed," Lust said. Greed then went to Rainbow and helped her to her feet. She looked at him, hurt clear in her eyes but thankfulness was there as well. Greed had been the most generous and caring towards her since her arrival here and she appreciated that greatly. But she knew deep down that all they would ever try to do is break her into a hollow shell of her former self. > Gluttony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greed escorted Rainbow Dash back to his siblings, sitting her down in front of them before returning to his place. Lust shot an accusing glance at Wrath, who simply shrugged in annoyance. Lust then looked back to Rainbow and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry about my brother," she said. "He sometimes gets... Well, he's not called Wrath for nothing." Rainbow nodded, rubbing a hoof on her neck gently. Lust looked at her sympathetically, not sure what to do. "Umm, Gluttony?" she said. "Would you like to take a shot at her?" "Can I eat her?" Gluttony asked, his voice high pitched and slightly raspy. "No. We aren't finished with her yet," Lust said. Gluttony's ears drooped with disappointment. "Fine," he said. He then walked over to Rainbow Dash and looked her over. Searching her mind for some kind of leverage he could use against her. To his displeasure, there wasn't really anything to go on. She had never really been one for eating a lot. Seeing that he wouldn't be able to get anything, Gluttony drooped his head down and returned to stand with his bretheren. "I got nothing..." He said, defeated. "Pity," Lust said. "Though I don't fault you for it, there isn't much to go on, so it's understandable." Gluttony nodded slowly, still a little saddened by his inability to break Rainbow like his brothers had. Hopefully Sloth would have better luck. > Sloth > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knowing that Pride and Lust would probably want to go last, Sloth stepped forward. His wings resting at his sides as he approached Rainbow Dash. He looked her over, small smirk forming on his face as he figured out what to do. "Well, look at you," he said. "You know, out of all your friends, you're probably the most lazy. Waiting until the last second before actually doing your job." "Not like I can't do it in ten seconds," she muttered. "Oh I know you can do it, it's just that you put it off." "So what?" she asked. Sloth grunted, knowing that she was winning. He seriously considered just leaving it at that and giving up, and in another circumstance he might, but he had to break her. A smile quickly formed on his face as he realized something he could punish her with. "Do you know how many times someone has gotten hurt because of you putting something off?" he asked. Rainbow was taken aback by that one. "What do you mean?" She asked. "Well, it's just that whenever somepony had been in imminent danger, you'd always wait until the last second to save them. And as you may recall, this hasn't always worked out." He quickly brought up a scene from Rainbow's recent past. A dark, stormy day in the middle of summer. Wind stronger than was probably safe for even the most skilled fliers, knocking trees and even houses over. Rainbow remembered this day, for it was one she tried to forget for months after it had passed. "Please, no," she pleaded. "I can't go back there, please!" Sloth only smirked and let the scene play out. Sweet Apple Acres appeared on the horizon as they flew over the memory version of Ponyville. Seemed to be a common place for these. Applejack was in the field, a stupid decision and she knew it, but she had to do something. Rainbow wasn't sure what, but she saw the tree coming and did her best to try and knock Applejack out of its path. Sadly, she was too late. The tree smashed into her friend and threw her across the field into another tree. She survived, barely. And Rainbow couldn't stop blaming herself for it. "Stop. Just stop!" She yelled at Sloth, tears again starting to form at her eyes. Sloth smiled widely and the scene faded away into blackness. He went back to his siblings and took his place to the far left of Lust. Rainbow looked at them all, one by one, hatred in her eyes. "Why?" She spat out. "Why do you have to torture me like this?" "Because it's our job," Lust said. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, there are only two of us left. Pride?" The young unicorn smirked devilishly and stepped forward. Eyeing Rainbow Dash like a predator would his prey. "Oh, Rainbow Dash," he started, "am I going to have fun with you..." > Pride > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pride circled around Rainbow Dash, ripping her apart piece by piece in his mind while he contemplated anything and everything he could use against her. His thoughts were all over the place, finding each and every point in her past where her pride got the best of her. He stopped to look Rainbow in the face and smiled a devilish smile. "You sure have a lot of me, don't you?" He said sarcastically. "It's only been two minutes and already I've got at least two dozen memories." He smirked even wider. "And I plan to use most of them against you." Rainbow only stared him down, not willing to let him break her. But she knew all to well that he was going to succeed, for she had more pride than any of her friends and she showed it off many times. Often annoying others but sometimes their recognition, if only for not being willing to accept defeat even when it's staring her in the face. Pride stood in front of her, and snickered under his breath. "Well, Rainbow Dash, I think we can get started." The scene changed to a sunny day, mid summer by the looks of it, and once Rainbow saw Twilight she knew it was definitely a long time ago, since she was still a unicorn. She, Applejack and Rarity were standing a few yards from the crowd surrounding a bragging Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow instantly remembered what would happen later that day. "The Mare Do-Well incident? Again?" she questioned. "Shortly before," Pride corrected. "Look at yourself, still so immature and full of yourself." "But... I've changed since then," Rainbow defended herself. "Are you sure?" The scene jumped forward a few months to when Rainbow had force herself to read for the first time. Or, again, shortly before then. Worrying about her pride of she were to start reading books like Twilight. And back a while to the running of the leaves and the constant competitions she and Applejack were having before that. More and more memories flashed by as Pride threw everything he--or rather, Rainbow herself--had at her. It drove her to the point where she was curled up in a ball on the ground covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she could. Pride only watched on happily at the damage he was doing to her. "Pride is the inescapable sin, Rainbow Dash," he said as the last scene faded to black, having exhausted all his resources. "No matter what you do, it cannot be cleansed. You were by far the worst offender." With that, Pride turned and walked back to his siblings. Proud of himself for managing to drive the mare to tears yet again. Lust gave him an approving nod before stepping forward herself to finish off what was left of Rainbow Dash. She nudged the sobbing pegasus with a hoof, but earned no response. She nudged her again, knocking her into her side, but still Rainbow wouldn't acknowledge her. She reared a hoof back, ready to strike Rainbow when Greed stepped in front of her. "Come on, Lust. Leave the poor girl alone," he said. "I think she's been abused enough." "You don't have any say in this, Greed. Now stand aside before I have to scrape you off the floor," Lust said, a long blade forming from her hoof which was still reared back. "At least give her some time to recover before you do what you're going to." "I'm not just going to show her the bad stuff, you know," Lust said, which surprised Greed. "I'm going to do what you did, show her the bad but also the benefits had she not been killed like she was." Greed didn't buy it, he only did that because he felt sympathetic towards her, dying before her time. He stood his ground before looking back at Rainbow Dash, who was staring at the mare who would destroy her and the stallion who got in the way. Greed turned back to Lust, and the two stared each other down for what seemed like hours before he finally dropped his guard. "Alright," Greed said, stepping aside to let Lust have her fun with Rainbow Dash. "But if you break her too much I'm going to have to force you to replace her. "Sounds fair to me," Lust said, eyeing Rainbow Dash evilly. "Now..." She started. "Where should I start?" > Lust (1) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lust stared at Rainbow Dash patiently while the broken pegasus recovered from Pride's onslaught of bad memories. She shakily got up and faced the purple mare before her, looking her in the eyes pleadingly. Lust only looked back at Rainbow unsympathetically and cocked her head. Greed gave Lust a warning look before returning to his brothers. Rainbow Dash looked to her protector of the group worriedly, and he returned the look. "Why the worry?" Lust asked, startling Rainbow and making her jump slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you." "Yeah, right," Rainbow replied sarcastically. "I'm not," Lust tried to reassure the cyan pegasus, but it wasn't working. "You're going to tear my heart out like everyone else did, and yet you're saying that you're not going to hurt me? I know bullshit when I smell it," Rainbow Dash fought back. "You remember what Greed did, don't you? He showed you your past and possible future. And that's what I'm going to do," Lust explained. Rainbow looked at her questioningly as the scene changed. It was many years ago, when Rainbow Dash first moved to Ponyville. She looked at how young everypony in town was, the mayor had only just been elected and Rainbow had just turned nine, her family making the move from Cloudsdale. It was a day she would never forget, the day she met Applejack for the first time. "Why here?" Rainbow asked. "It's where you first learned of my existence, though it was nothing more than a fillyhood crush at the time," Lust said. Rainbow nodded and watched the scene play out. The young Rainbow Dash was running in circles around her father, who was pulling the suitcases full of their belongings with him. He watched happily as the young filly sped around him leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. She eventually sped off in no particular direction and angled herself upward, flying into the sky to avoid a small house. The younger Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder to see her father smiling at her. But when she turned around, she found herself crashing face first into a cloud. She crashed right through it, causing it to disintegrate but the resistance it provided was enough to send her spiralling out of control. She looked ahead to see an orange earth pony filly in front of her, and yelled for her to get out of the way. As soon as the filly turned around, Rainbow crashed into her, both of them landing in a heap on the ground. She got off of the filly and looked at her worriedly. "Are you okay?" she asked. The orange filly groaned and got up, her tied back blonde mane now tangled and dirty. "Yea', I think so," she replied. "Jus' what in th' hay were you doin'?" "I was flying and crashed into a cloud," the young Rainbow Dash replied, blushing slightly. "Uh-huh? Well, next time could ya try not crashin' int'a me? Y'nearly broke ma back!" The filly said. "Sorry about that," Rainbow apologized. "I'm Rainbow Dash." She held out a hoof as she introduced herself. "Applejack," the filly replied, taking Dash's hoof and shaking it. She didn't know what it was, but Rainbow was encaptured by her new friend's eyes. They were like glistening emeralds which shone in the sunlight. Probably the most beautiful eyes Rainbow had ever seen! She instantly knew that they were going to be friends, and so they were. The scene faded to black as Lust let it end. She looked to the rainbow maned pegasus beside her, who was grinning widely at the nostalgia of that memory. Lust frowned, disappointed that she hadn't done what she had intended. Of course, Rainbow probably cherished that memory above all others. So it would be hard to break her with it. She would have to try harder. > Lust (2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The scene changed again into a bright, sunny day, in the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was on the ground, bucking apples from the trees as she usually did while Rainbow Dash was camped on a nearby cloud, eyeing the orange farmer from a distance. Rainbow Dash looked at Lust, who simply stared into the scene before them. That made Dash uneasy. How she could just stand and watch while Rainbow was forced to have every memory she cherished be ripped apart right in front of her. She turned back to the scene, for she had known exactly why Lust had brought them here. The memory version of Rainbow Dash eyed her prey delicately, her eyes trained on Applejack's curved flank. She had seriously considered flying down and pinning her love interest to the ground and confessing to her right then and there, but she knew that that probably wouldn't work out so well. So instead she simply eyed her dear Applejack from afar. She could feel something stirring inside her, but she knew it would be awkward to take care of if she was caught. She quickly pushed the cloud away from AJ with her wings, not wanting to be seen by the farmer. Rainbow Dash looked at Lust knowingly, and her ears drooped slightly, understanding why Lust had shown her that completely. The scene changed yet again into a more dreary day, the sky dominated by dark grey clouds and a light rain pouring on the land below. Rainbow looked around, searching for her past self among the scarce few who were out in the rain. As usual, there she was floating on a solitary cloud, with a cloud canopy to keep her dry as she napped. Looking at herself while she slept, Rainbow had to admit that she looked cute when asleep. She looked her sleeping self over until she found why Lust had brought her here. One of her front hooves was lodged between her hind legs. Rainbow's face lit up in embarrassment, turning bright red instead of its usual cyan colour. She was glad that there were very few people around that day, or it could have gone a whole lot worse. "I... I..." Rainbow tried to speak, but found no words. Lust simply looked at her and laughed lightly to herself. "Seems you were enjoying your dreams a little bit too much, my dear," she snickered. "Shut up," Rainbow said defensively. Utterly humiliated by what Lust had shown her. She lowered her head and covered her face with her hooves, too embarrassed to even look at the purple mare next to her. "Oh, come on, Rainbow Dash. It's not that bad. Everypony's had a moment like that at least once," Lust tried to calm her down. "Not in public," Rainbow muttered. Lust sighed and nudged Rainbow Dash to get her attention, changing the scene to something more peaceful. It was bright and sunny, like so many other memories of hers, only this day hadn't happened yet. It was from Dash's future, or, one of them at least. Rainbow looked up from her hooves at the scene before her and watched it play out, not sure what was going on anymore. She could see herself and Applejack chasing after each other through the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, then into the orchard, and back to the fields. Rainbow Dash was running from Applejack. Why, the current Dash never knew, but all that mattered was that they were together and enjoying the flames of young love. It warmed Rainbow's shattered heart to see herself and Applejack being so happy together, but then Applejack caught up to her, tackling her and pinning her to the ground. Rainbow saw it coming before it even happened, Applejack leaned down and kissed her flat out on the lips. She could see their love for each other, and something else, too. Something that was standing right next to her. The scene faded away and Rainbow was left in the darkness with her Sins. She turned to face the six remaining ones as Lust walked back and took her place in the centre. She nodded at Rainbow Dash as one final scene formed behind her. She turned around and saw something that she never thought she would, and never hoped to; Applejack screaming at her in rage. Pissed off about something that Rainbow could only guess at. It was clearly after they had started dating, and it must have been something awful for Applejack to be this mad about it. She turned to Lust, who simply shook her head. She turned back to the scene, which had no audio for once, and her heart broke when she saw what came next. Applejack reared a hoof back and struck Rainbow hard in the face. Sending her to the ground holding a hoof up to her now bruised cheek. Applejack then stormed out of the room and slammed the door, leaving the sobbing form of Rainbow Dash behind and the current Dash wondering what she would have done to upset Applejack so much. And that's when it hit her: clearly Rainbow had cheated on Applejack, and it killed her to even think of doing such a thing. She broke down, crying for the eighth time in the last two hours, her heart destroyed by that last scene. Lust walked towards Rainbow Dash's sobbing form and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Soon the other Sins were surrounding her and they each had their right hoof placed somewhere on Rainbow Dash's body. They all said in unison; "Rainbow Dash, we have decided based on your past to send you to a peaceful afterlife. May your soul find happiness again in the underworld. And if not happiness, then peace." The void then erupted into blinding white light, and the Seven Sins faded away one by one; Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, and finally Greed. Fading away while the white light shone brighter until; nothing. Rainbow was soon surrounded by the souls of past ponies who all seemed to be in peace. So that's exactly what Rainbow Dash was going to do. Be in peace. And even though she would carry the lessons that the Seven Deadly Sins had taught her with her forever, she would be strong and wait for Applejack to join her, so they could be together again, and she could try what she had always wanted to. The End