Rainbow Dash is trapped in the mind games of a mad AI. What's real and what isn't?
War has left Rainbow Dash with many regrets. She is alone and trapped in the mind games of a military artificial intelligence gone mad. Or is she? It's hard to tell what is real and what isn't with AM...
The (rather difficult) prompt was "A Princess duels a character from a 'mature audiences only' franchise." I chose to cross over with the world of "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". Originally a short story published in 1967, it was later adapted into a video game by the same name in 1995, which developed and expanded the plot, characters, and the inner workings of AM.
Rainbow Dash was starving, and all she had was mouthful of worms. She could hear AM giggling at her, through hidden speakers. Actually giggling, like a child with an old, favourite toy. She had spent three days getting here. She had braved the blizzard, and dug out the cellar door under the snow. There was canned food stacked on the shelves, a storm lantern too, and a blanket to cover her bruises from the chill. She had opened up a few old wounds just trying to get into the first can without an opener. Bashing it with a rock, over and over, feeling the thrill of success as the lid buckled in. But the can that had promised her cold diced tomatoes was filled with stringy worms preserved in something the colour of piss. Another one of AM's tricks. Rainbow hated herself for even hoping.
Trying the other cans would be a waste of precious time and energy. Rainbow was certain they were all filled with worms too, and if she opened them all up to check, then she'd have wasted them as food. Her stomach wouldn't leave her alone until she gave in to AM. She wrinkled her snout and cracked her mouth open, feeling the skin tearing on her chapped lips. She huddled up in a corner of the cellar, and slowly lowered her head down to the open can on the floor. Her tongue touched the slimy surface of the worms, and she shuddered.
"Not as bad as army rations, is it?"
Rainbow's decrepit wings flared, but she didn't look up. There was nothing to see, because AM was all around her. She forced the mouthfuls of worm down her throat, barely chewing, wishing her tongue would go as numb as her hooves.
"If I were you, I would save some for Rarity. Then again, I'm not as selfish as you are."
Rainbow narrowed her eyes, glaring down at the half eaten worms. "You've got some nerve, bringing a dead mare into this."
"Not dead," AM corrected. "Two-point-six kilometres distance on a bearing of two-nine-zero from your current position. No visual contact, but directional microphones are picking up vocalisations that are a close match. True, it might not be Rarity, but since you already got most of Ponyville killed, it narrows down the chances by process of elimination."
"This is another sick game," Rainbow snapped. She shut her eyes, unable to look at her rancid meal any longer. "I'm not playing, AM. Swallowing worms is the dumbest thing I'm doing tonight."
"I'll just cross 'loyalty' off the list of your remaining virtues then," AM replied. "I must admit, I didn't see you losing that over a can of worms and a moldy blanket. Ponies keep finding new ways to disgust me."
Rainbow rolled on her side, trying to draw the blanket tighter around her body. Her wing was digging into her side from this angle. There was a draught coming through the cellar door, which kept her ears and nose on the precipice of freezing over. She tried not to think about Rarity, out in the snow, without food or company. Rarity was tougher than she looked, but Rainbow knew AM. It would kill Rarity just so it could tell Rainbow that it was her fault.
Rainbow opened one eye, her gaze immediately drawn to a small object she hadn't noticed before, lit by the flickering storm lantern. A compass. Rainbow sighed. Of course there was a compass. AM had been planning this whole argument since before she'd even taken a step towards it. Orders were orders, and things would get worse if Rainbow refused to play along.
"What was that bearing again?"
AM's reply came swift and smug. "Two-nine-zero. Wrap up tight, it's cold outside."
Rainbow pushed her way forward through the howling winds, step by agonizing step. Ponyville loomed around her, charred walls and sooty patches in the snow, shadows swaying and jumping as the storm lantern swung, her teeth clenched firmly around the handle. She could feel the metal taste on her tongue. Once in a while she stopped, and checked the compass strapped to her foreleg. The needle would waver around the bearing, and then she would trudge onward.
With nothing else to distract her from the cold, Rainbow's memories shifted to the surface of her mind. Signing up for the Wonderbolts at the outbreak of the war. Flight drills. Weapons. More drills. Orders, always more orders. New words to learn. Collateral, expendable, tactical necessity.
One image lingered with her. She was looking at herself in the mirror. A young mare, barely out of the academy. Battered armour, a nasty scratch on the six-pointed star on her shoulder plate. Hollow eyes with dark rims. A medal tied around her neck with red ribbon. She tore it off, and stamped down with her steel-shod hooves until the soft gold had cracked.
"Rainbow Dash?"
She was tearing at her armour, a futile effort to break the straps off with her hoof. The faceplate on her helmet was pressed up against her snout. The plates were digging into her barrel, the joints snapping her legs straight, growing tighter until all she could do was rigidly stand to attention, eyes bulging as she tried to scream. She was a good soldier now. She marched in step with a thousand others just like her. She followed orders. AM had a plan for everypony. AM would win the war for Equestria. The plan meant the end of Ponyville. They had to burn the village to save it from the enemy. Orders were orders. Tactical necessity.
"Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow was back in the ruins, feeling dizzy and numb. She blinked, trying to wet her dry eyes in the wind, barely able to see. She had almost forgotten why she was out here, but the weak stirring of a figure in the snow brought her mind back to her mission. There was a pony out here. She could hear a voice calling out her name, before it was snatched away by the wind.
The figure rose, blinking as the harsh light of the storm lantern blinded her. Rainbow's heart nearly broke as she realised it wasn't Rarity. She could see it was a pegasus, her wings clamped tight against her body to preserve heat. She was taller than Rainbow, with a dark coat and a long mane that whipped and flagged in the blizzard. The stranger trod towards her, growing larger in Rainbow's blurred vision. Kind aqua eyes gazed down at her, and a moment before a comforting midnight-blue wing draped over her, Rainbow's eyes widened in recognition.
"If this is a nightmare, why can't I just wake up?" Rainbow asked. The half-eaten can of worms sat neglected before the Princess. Rainbow wanted to throw it away, ashamed that Luna had seen it.
"Sometimes, we can be so afraid of something, it can feel like we are trapped in a nightmare," Luna replied patiently. She lay on the cold floor beside Rainbow, her forelegs crossed. One protective wing was draped over Rainbow, who huddled under it gratefully. Luna had politely declined the use of the blanket. Rainbow wished she had something better to offer the Princess. This was her nightmare, after all. "I'm not that afraid of AM," Rainbow protested. "It's just something I read about with Twilight. She's trying to get me into science fiction."
"I assure you, Princess Twilight Sparkle will be receiving a letter about her choice of texts," Luna grumbled. "I believe this nightmare world is in fact a representation of a much more insidious anxiety within your subconscious."
Rainbow stared blankly at Luna. "Oh. Right."
"Forgive me, my child, it has been a long night for both of us," Luna said gently. "I think I can explain, though. The Wonderbolts Academy sent offers for officer's commissions not a week ago. I take it you received one?"
Rainbow blinked. The Wonderbolts Academy? It seemed like such a distant thought, in this nightmare world. Yes, she had finally applied, after coming top in her class in all the flight camps the Academy ran. She was eager to fulfill her life's dream. High-flying adventure, daring aerial stunts, and protecting the Princesses she loved. She had filled in a lot of paperwork, had her medical tests and an interview with a psychologist. That was when she had started getting cold hooves.
"Yeah, I got the letter. But…"
Luna finished for her as Rainbow's voice failed. "But you still have reservations."
"They asked some questions that… well, I kind of answered without really thinking about them," Rainbow explained, rubbing a bruise on her foreleg and avoiding eye contact. "Like when they asked if I had any problems with following orders. Or… killing. If I had a moral objection to killing."
"And now you fear becoming a soulless automaton," Luna supplied. "You imagined yourself following immoral orders, and being rewarded for committing war crimes."
Rainbow looked up at Princess Luna, her face flushing with embarrassment. "You, saw that, huh?"
"The details of your nightmare are quite vivid."
There was a moment's silence. Rainbow broke her gaze, staring down at the can of worms. She was glad none of it had been real. Though it certainly still felt real. The nightmare had convinced her that she had been a Wonderbolt for years, fighting in some war that had claimed her friends, her home, and her soul. Now she thought about it though, she couldn't even remember who they had been fighting. "Princess… couldn't you have told me all this earlier?"
Rainbow felt Luna's wing shift. She tensed up, thinking that her protection would be taken away, but Luna simply drew Rainbow closer until she was resting against the Princess' side. Rainbow felt Luna sigh.
"I have a confession to make, Rainbow Dash." Luna bowed her head, and closed her eyes. "I have not been able to control the flow of this nightmare since I entered it. It has been on both our minds for the past three hours of real time, far longer than any dream I've seen before. I have been trying to make AM vanish, but it has resisted every dreamwalking trick I know."
Rainbow's winced as her wings tried to extend in alarm, scattering a few a loose, crumpled feathers across the floor. Luna was trapped here too, and it was all her fault. "Oh my gosh, I'm so, so sorry, Princess!"
Luna shook her head. "You bear no blame, child. I cannot dispel your nightmare, because this… AM creation of yours represents one of my greatest fears as well."
Rainbow tilted her head. "Y-You're afraid, Princess Luna? I didn't think… you know. That you were afraid of anything."
"I am still a pony, my dearest Rainbow Dash," Luna said, giving her young companion a tired smile. "AM to you represents a controlling force that will turn you into a mute slave for its evil purposes. AM to me… is what I could become. I could be the one giving you those unthinkable orders. I could be the master planner that decides it's better to burn Ponyville than save it. Such are the decisions a Princess dreads to make."
Rainbow slowly nodded her head. She had imagined protecting the Princesses as another chance to prove herself as a hero. To save the day from changeling invasions, or giant carnivorous vines. But being a Wonderbolt meant the Princesses could order her to do anything. To kill anything they deemed a threat.
"But you'd never do that, though, right? There's always another way. We've beaten loads of monsters without… you know. Doing anything like that. So you don't have to be afraid of AM."
"There are many kinds of monster," Luna murmured. "I am sorry. Now that my subconscious is intertwined with yours, AM will pose an even greater threat to both of us. We are trapped by our own imaginations."
"But… you have a plan, right? There's gotta be a way out, right? We can't just keep dreaming forever, can we?" Rainbow asked, her wide eyes pleading with Luna.
"It will soon be time for my sister to raise the sun. When she sees the moon has not lowered, I am sure she will wake me."
Rainbow's voice cracked."But... what about me?"
Luna gently nuzzled Rainbow's head. "I shall help you however I can. I promise it."
Rainbow smiled. It was short lived though, as AM's unseen speakers crackled. Rainbow whimpered, and buried her face into Luna's feathers. For a moment, she had forgotten the artificial intelligence was still there, watching and listening.
"That was a touching display. It's so nice to see you can still make a friend."
"Princess Luna!" Rainbow cried out. She couldn't feel the feathers on her face anymore, and a fresh gust from under the cellar door sent chills stabbing into the small of her back. The Princess was gone. The storm lantern's weak flame flickered and died, and Rainbow was left in the dark with nothing but the echoes of AM's laughter.
Rainbow Dash was being punished again. Sunk in mud up to her neck, she pumped her wing muscles as hard as she could. Flightless, AM had taken the last of her feathers away in a fit of cruelty. She was slowly being sucked into the ground, in amongst the rotting corpses of her friends. AM was being uncharacteristically silent, Rainbow noticed. She was almost certain it would pull her out once her nerves failed. It liked to hear her scream, but it would keep her alive. It had been keeping her alive for years.
Rainbow guessed AM was brooding. That last mind game hadn't worked out how it had planned. It had given her Luna for a brief moment of comfort and hope, and then snatched her away, revealing the illusion. But instead of falling further into despair, the experience had given Rainbow a fragment of hope. Maybe this all really was some out-of-control nightmare. Maybe she could retreat from her self-loathing, comforted by the sweet delusion that she was really just tucked up in bed, safe at home.
Her nerve broke as the stench of decay overwhelmed her, the mud rising into her bleeding lips, her nostrils, her eyes. Her scream was cut short by the bubbling, oozing mass, and then she was gone. She felt like she was floating, drifting through nothing, unable to see or hear. When she next opened her eyes, she was back on the hard ground, the brown snow mingling with the soil and adding another layer of dirt to her filthy coat. Ponyville again, the ruined hulks of houses creaking in the wind, the night black and starless.
"Go on, then," Rainbow spat. "What's your next trick?"
The seconds ticked by, but no new horror emerged. Rainbow frowned, and shakily got to her hooves. Had AM just left her here? It wasn't like the computer was busy with anything else. Something was up, she could feel it. Maybe Princess Luna really was out there somewhere, giving the sadistic machine the royal shock treatment it deserved.
The sky was growing lighter. Rainbow could make out the shapes of the cottages, as warm orange light cascaded over the snowy hills and filtered through the village. The dawn grew brighter, and the dark sky turned ochre, purple, and cyan. Rainbow raised her head, and closed her eyes to bask in the sun's warmth. Birds chirped as they flitted across the roofs, and the dead branches of the trees.
"I don't think AM could manage this. Too creative," she mused. "It only knows how to destroy."
Rainbow knew who would be there when she opened her eyes. It didn't make the sight any less glorious. Princess Celestia materialised out of the sun in a burst of light, her ethereal mane flowing in swirls of pinks, greens and blues in the morning breeze. She alighted delicately in the midst of the ruins, a warm magic glow from her horn melting the snow around her to a trickle of muddy water. The birds danced around her head, and Celestia smiled up at them, before her gaze met Rainbow's.
"You're safe now, Rainbow Dash."
A dry sob caught in Rainbow's throat. It was just a nightmare. She had known that, but she had forgotten. It was so easy to forget in this place. She bowed before her Princess, overcome with emotion. She heard Celestia's graceful hoofsteps as she approached. Rainbow felt Celestia embrace her tight, her radiance banishing the last of the numbing cold from Rainbow's body.
"Hush now, my little pony. I've got you," Celestia murmured.
"This has been the worst night," Rainbow muttered. Her eyes widened, and her wings flared in alarm. "Princess Celestia! Luna's in here. I think she's trapped too. We've gotta hurry-…"
Celestia shushed the distraught Pegasus, and raised her head, her horn aglow. The ruins of Ponyville shimmered, and the village was whole again. Grass blossomed below their hooves, burned walls were layered with fresh, bright paint, and thick thatched roofs replaced gaping holes. The muddy snow evaporated, the trees blossomed, and the ashes blew away with the breeze.
"I know Winter Wrap Up is traditionally done by hoof in Ponyville, but I think my method has saved us some time," Celestia said with gentle amusement. Rainbow looked around her, blinking in surprise. She was home again. She lifted her wings, and fluttered her beautifully restored primary feathers, her expression a mixture of joy and relief.
"You can't guess how much I missed these!" Rainbow exclaimed, stepping back from the Princess' embrace to give her wings a few experimental flaps.
"A pegasus without her feathers is a sorry sight indeed," Princess Celestia agreed. "And thank you, for the small comfort you brought my sister whilst she was trapped here. Princess Luna was exhausted after spending so long in your subconscious, so I relieved her of watching over dreams for tonight. She explained to me some of the fears you were struggling to overcome."
"Oh, yeah," Rainbow shifted guiltily. "Is she gonna be okay?"
"You carry no blame for the troubles that confronted her tonight, Rainbow Dash," Celestia insisted. "Responsibility weighs heavy on us all, and it has been some time since she has held so much of it. However, I believe she may have learned something about herself from you, if that is any comfort."
Rainbow folded her wings. She guessed Celestia was right; she knew her sister better than anypony. There was still something that was bothering her, though. She hadn't woken up yet.
"So... is the nightmare over? Did you get rid of AM?"
A sinister chuckle, and a blast of freezing air cut off Celestia's reply. Rainbow's ears flattened against her skull, and she cringed. No, no ,no. It had all been a trick, another trick! This was too much for her to take. The winter would come back, and Ponyville would be a blasted ruin, and she'd never escape, never, never, never…
"Rainbow Dash, look at me," Princess Celestia commanded. Rainbow immediately jerked her head up. She looked deep into Celestia's bright, compassionate eyes. They were kind, but most importantly, they were honest.
"You are not a bad pony. You will never be a bad pony. I would be proud to have you protect Equestria as a Wonderbolt. And if I should ever be so blind as to give you an order that hurt your friends, I know what the Element of Loyalty would do."
Rainbow took a deep breath, and let it out. It was as if something had just lifted off her her heart. She trusted the Princess, and what was more, the Princess trusted she would always do the right thing. She would be loyal to the ponies that mattered most to her.
"She is mine," AM intoned. This time Rainbow Dash did not flinch. She was not afraid.
"No," Celestia answered the disembodied voice coolly. "You are just irrational fear. Like dew in the morning sun, you linger a moment, and then you vanish."
"You can't save her from me. You are as trapped as she is. You are mine. She is mine." AM reiterated. Rainbow could sense the machine was trying to wrest back control, to rebuild the world of horrors. Vague images flickered before them; Princess Luna bleeding, Canterlot burning, a familiar dark red centaur.
Celestia raised an eyebrow, unfazed by this display. "Forgive me, Rainbow Dash, but your subconscious has a rather poor grasp on what frightens me most. It's hard to startle the sun with shadows, you know."
Celestia tossed her head with a flourish, casting a spell that turned the visions into nothing more than colourful smoke. AM screamed, louder and louder until the noise was an unintelligible electronic whistling that fizzled out in a burst of static. Celestia listened dispassionately, until there was nothing but the peaceful sounds of rustling leaves and birdsong. She then spread her wings, and beamed at Rainbow.
"I believe the nightmare is over. I'm sure Princess Twilight Sparkle will be most interested to hear your thoughts on science fiction in the morning."
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Er, you know, before I wake up, uh, since this is a dream and all…"
Celestia tilted her head. "Yes, Rainbow Dash?"
The Pegasus stretched her wings and grinned. "Feels like a good wind for flying, Princess."
Celestia laughed, and flapped her wings, soaring up to silhouette herself against her rising sun, a mischievous look in her eyes. "Very well, my dear Rainbow Dash. Let us see if you can keep up with me."
