THE MAGIX:CHAPTER 7:Erased

Pinkie Pie was shut up in her room. She'd been there for days. The normally unchangeably cheerful pony was draped limply on her fluffy yellow bed, mane flat, feeling worse than she ever had in her life. No matter how much she denied it, she knew that everything was hopeless. Rainbow Dash was gone. She'd been missing for 7 days, disappeared without a trace. And there was no telling when she'd return, or if she would never come back.
Pinkie Pie wiped her bloodshot, tearstained eyes with a tissue, blew her nose, and added the crumpled piece of paper to the accumulating pile on her bedroom floor. She missed her Dashie so much. They were best friends, Loyalty and Laughter. After all they'd been through, Pinkie thought they'd be friends forever. And they would be... if only she were still there.
Pinkie sobbed at the thought, and grabbed Gummy, her clueless pet alligator, off the floor, interrupting his activities in the tissue pile. She sniffled and squeezed him, hoping for some consolation. He squeaked in protest and wriggled around in her forelegs, trying to escape.
"I miss my Dashie," Pinkie said to him as he squirmed free and flopped down onto the bed. "I hope she's okay. I wish she was still here...or that I could have gone with her...wherever she is." Her words only created a fresh burst of tears.
Several minutes later, Mrs. Cake knocked on the door of Pinkie's apartment. "Pinkie Pie? Are you in there, dearie?"
"Yeah," Pinkie answered in a scratchy voice, worn out from days of crying. "What do you need?"
"You have some friends here to see you, hon."
"Okay. They can come in. The door's unlocked."
The door opened and in came Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.
"Pinkie Pie, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. "You've been in here for days."
Pinkie dabbed her nose with yet another tissue. "No."
Applejack walked up to stand beside Pinkie's bed. "What's wrong, sugarcube? C'mon, you can tell us," she said, sitting down next to her.
The depressed pink pony lifted her flat-maned head to look at all her friends. "I..." she stuttered unsteadily. "I..." She had to tell them. They were her friends. "I- I miss Rainbow Dash!" She broke down sobbing in Applejack's lap.
Rarity galloped over next to join the mares on the bed. She lifted Pinkie's chin to get a look at her face. "My, sweetheart, look at you!" she sympathized. "You poor thing. You're a mess! Oh, what to do? Maybe a trip to my favorite spa would do you good. That always cheers me up. I'm sure it'll help you, too, won't it?"
Twilight Sparkle Spoke up. "Now isn't the time to be thinking about that, Rarity," she said, trotting over to the bed. "Chin up, Pinkie. We all miss Rainbow Dash." She settled down next to the two mares. Fluttershy flitted across the room to join them, landing on the bed just behind Pinkie. Twilight continued. "I know it's just not the same with only five of the Elements of Harmony here. And she was your best friend. If any of us has a right to feel this way it's you." Applejack helped her lift Pinkie from her depressed sprawl into a sitting position. "But you can't just dwell on these things. The royal guard are doing their best to find her. I've even sent Princess Celestia a special message to notify Canterlot of Rainbow Dash's disappearance. Everypony is trying as hard as they can to bring her back. There's no need to worry about her."
Pinkie Pie blinked some stray tears away. She leaned back against Fluttershy, who put her forelegs around her friend's shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. It didn't seem to help the despairing pink mare. "B-but it's just not the same without her," she sniffled.
"It's okay, Pinkie Pie," Applejack said. "It's just plain fine to feel this way. There's no need to go rushin' back to the way things were so soon. But it's been a week. You can't let one mess bring ya down, sugarcube."
Meanwhile, Rarity was rattling off a list of spa treatments in her effort to get Pinkie back to normal. "Maybe some aromatherapy. That'll be nice and relaxing, a good stress relief blend. A massage should relieve the tension. Oh, and a facial! I'll ask for the energy boost recipe. That's perfect!"
All at once, the three mares surrounding Pinkie shot the beauty-obsessed unicorn a look. "Rarity!"
Rarity blushed. "Sorry. I'm only trying to help." She trotted over to join her friends. She took Pinkie Pie's hoof and gently stroked it. "Oh, Pinkie. I don't know what more I can do. It's just so awful to see you in such a state."
"We all feel that way," Twilight put in.
Pinkie pie sniffed and wiped at her eyes again. "I- I'm sorry. You don't have to feel bad for me. If I'm just making it worse... you guys don't have to... you could just..." she murmured, dangerously close to tearing up all over again.
Fluttershy poked her head over Pinkie Pie's shoulder. "Girls, let me handle this," she said to her friends. The pegasus repositioned herself to face the sniffling pony in her arms. She lovingly stroked her flattened pink mane and cradled her comfortingly. "It's okay, Pinkie Pie," she cooed. "Just let it all out." Pinkie's eyes glossed over. She whimpered pitifully and buried her head in Fluttershy's shoulder. "That's it. It'll all be okay." Fluttershy stayed there for a moment, holding her despairing friend and letting her cry on her shoulder. Eventually, the tears stopped. Fluttershy lifted Pinkie to look her in the eyes. "Cheer up, Pinkie," she said in a soothing, songlike tone. "We all understand. Rainbow Dash was your best friend and this is a really big loss to you. It is for all of us. But that doesn't mean that you have to stay all locked up like this. It's only making things worse." She gave Pinkie a warm, tight hug. "I want you to come outside with us and get some air. Can you do that for me? Will you try, please?"
Pinkie Pie let go of Fluttershy. She sniffled one last time and wiped her tears away. "O-okay."

(jack out)

The static of excitement hung in the air of the holodeck. Today was the day, the day everypony had been waiting for. 7 days had passed since Rain's arrival on the Firestar. In that short time, she'd learned incredibly fast. The crew's latest member had been through a lot. Training, simulated combat, tutorial missions, even her first predator attack, having to spend a full three hours with the ship on lockdown, watching the dark, spidery figures crawl swiftly through the tunnels searching for them, the ship's EMP charged to pulse the ship and kill them where they stood. She'd become better, faster, stronger... she'd changed. Rain was one of them now. She was ready to return to the Magix. And today would be her first mission.
The crew was gathered in the holodeck for a mission briefing from Horus. Spiro and Saph were seated at the controls while the remainder of the crew were positioned in the chairs, ready to be jacked in.
"Alright," Horus began. "The mission is rather simple. The basics of it: we are erasing Rain's history from the memory of the Magix. Every online account, every membership, every record of her ever kept must be deleted. We need to make it seem as if she no longer exists. We've downloaded everything, including links, usernames, passwords, and anything else necessary. Every member has been given a personal assignment. Once you have completed it, the crew will be meeting behind the Playhouse for a checkpoint. Things shouldn't be too dangerous, so we're going in unarmed. If you run into trouble, escape will be your only option. We go in as a team, we leave as one. Everyone clear?"
Every head in the holodeck nodded. The Magix feed was hacked, opening a connection into the virtual reality. Six blank POV panels opened on the monitor. One by one, Spiro and Saph jacked them in, sending them into the dream world. Rain was last in line. She lay unsettled in her chair, nerves going haywire with excitement. She took a deep breath and readied herself for the jack-in. The plug went in, and she was off.

Rain opened her eyes. She was back where it had all begun: the abandoned apartments in the outskirts. The 5 avatars of her crewmates stood in before her in the room, the very place where Rain had made her decision to join the resistance. She studied the others. They looked almost exactly as they did in the real world. Almost. There was one difference. The plugs were gone.
The Magix must be causing it, she figured.
The entire crew was clothed completely in black. They wore the ensembles that Rain remembered from their first meeting. Amber with her tank top and cropped jacket, Ash in his black hoodie pulled up to conceal his flame-red mane, and of course Horus in his signature trench coat. The only one she hadn't seen yet was Neon. He sported a leather jacket over a basic black tee, with long slits cut down the back to let his wings free. Suits him, Rain thought.
A thought hit Rain. Wait. Everypony has their own outfit, so... what am I wearing? She looked down at her hooves. Long black sleeves covered her forelegs. Rain looked herself over. She was wearing a fitted black halter underneath a black windbreaker. The fabric of the jacket had a large circle cut over her back, where her wings extended from the rest of her body. She grinned to herself. She loved this. It made her feel sleek and dangerous. She was a force to be reckoned with.
"This," she said, "is over the top. I am getting tingly now."
She heard a lilting giggle from next to her. Amber was looking at the pegasus's reaction to her new look. "You like it?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah! It's awesome. I feel like a ninja pony!"
Amber laughed again. She and Rain then turned their attention to the rest of the crew.
Horus took his black cell phone from a pocket in his trench coat and pressed the call button. "We're in, Spiro," he said. He hung up, stowed the phone back in its place, and nodded to his crew.
"Let's do this."

(jack in)

Pinkie Pie sat alone in a small, cozy corner of Pixel, her favorite cyber cafe, curled up in a chair, sipping a strawberry cocoa. It was the first time she'd been out of her apartment in a while. Even though she couldn't get her best friend off of her mind, it felt kind of nice. Pinkie looked around at the small, familiar space. There were so many other ponies out there, not just Rainbow Dash, to be her friend and to care about.
But she had been so special...
"No," Pinkie Pie told herself. "You are not going back to that." She took a deep breath and tried to clear her head. She'd only just gotten her mane to curl again. She couldn't let it go flat all over again. Just try not to think about it. Get it out of your head, and you'll be better in no time.
Pinkie stood up and carried her cocoa over to the row of computers that lined a wall of the cafe. A little internet time always got her mind off of things. She had only just logged into her Whinny account when something odd caught her eye at the other end of the row of computers.
Pinkie cast a sideways glance at the suspicious-looking pegasus mare. She wore a black windbreaker that was carefully positioned to cover her cutie mark. Her tail was tucked into the jacket's hem and its hood was pulled up to hide the mare's face. She seemed out of place, like she belonged somewhere else.
Pinkie turned to get a better look at her. A pair of toned, sky-blue wings stuck out of a circle cut in the back of her windbreaker. She'd seen those wings before. They looked almost like... Could it be?
Pinkie Pie looked closer. She thought she saw the very ends of rainbow-colored bangs poking out from of the hood. The pegasus adjusted her windbreaker. The hem shifted up, revealing the very tip of a red, yellow and blue lightning bolt on her flank.
Oh. My. Luna. Pinkie clapped a hoof over her mouth to stop herself from letting out a dramatic gasp. She knew that pegasus. She had disappeared 7 days ago. Pinkie had thought she was gone forever. And now she was back.
It was Rainbow Dash!

(jack out)

Rain closed down the window of her recently-deactivated Whinny page, reloaded the Pixel's internet homepage, and deleted the entire browsing history. She carefully adjusted her windbreaker to keep her face hidden. If anypony recognized her, she was done for. There would be questions, crowds, media interviews, and she would never be left alone again. She would never be able to get back to the real world. Rain took a quick look around, double-checked that nopony had recognized her, stood up and left for the Playhouse. She had to get back to them, and fast. She was completely unaware of a little pink Earth pony silently following her every move.

The Firestar crew met up behind the Ponyville Playhouse, just as they had planned. At the sight of her crewmates, Rain readjusted her windbreaker, no longer caring about staying hidden, and raced forward to join them.
Neon spoke first. "Everything's gone, right?"
"I think so," Misty answered. "The Archive page on Rainbow Dash was almost impossible to get to, though. I had to hack in and pose as an operator to erase everything."
"Good thing you did," Amber added. "Archive knows all, and it will tell all."
Horus looked over the details over on his phone. Rainbow Dash's Whinny account? Her Ponyville residence records? Her official Wonderbolts fan club web page? Her Pmusic account? Her Archive information page? Even her Cloudsdale Flight School records? Everything had been successfully deleted. "Everything's been erased," he said, closing out of the checkpoint on his phone. "The mission's been completed. Everypony agrees?"
"Seems finished to me," Rain said.
"I've completed my part."
"So did I."
"I'd say it's finished."
"Yeah, unless we want to go to memory wipe."
Everypony looked to the source of the comment. It was Ash. He was standing alone, once again staring aimlessly at Rain.
Horus looked quizzically at his apprentice. "Memory wipe?"
The entranced unicorn nodded. "She had friends, remember? They might see her. They'll know she's disappeared. If they recognize her, she's gone." His gaze on Rain intensified. Something told her that he really didn't want this to happen.
"That won't be necessary," Horus said, interrupting Ash's moment. "Memory wipe is needed in extreme cases only." He flipped his phone open again. "Saph, we're headed back to HQ. Set up a jackout connection there." He shut the phone and slid it back into his pocket.
Misty looked around the parking lot. "I hope we don't jinx this."
"Jinx what?" Amber asked.
"You haven't noticed? I haven't seen a single agent today. Usually they're chasing us all over...the...place..." Misty's voice trailed off as she took in the horrified expression on Rain's face.
Everypony else had noticed, too. The pegasus was frozen stiff, staring blankly forward, mouth open in fear and shock. The rest of the crew looked at the dumbstruck mare.
"Rain?" Neon asked. "Are you alright?"
Amber looked in the same direction as Rain was. Her face quickly darkened with fear as well. "We're in trouble," she whispered.
The remaining crew spun to face the unseen danger.
Five agents stood in formation, stone-faced and armed, the barrels of their guns all trained on their surprised prey. Agent Steel materialized from behind his accomplices. He stared coldly at the frozen ponies on the other side of the parking lot.
"Destroy them," he said.
"Run!" Horus shouted. "Everypony, run!"
They had barely begun their escape when the bullets started flying, shattering the brick and cement of the Playhouse, spraying shards in all directions. The crew scattered out of the parking lot, the agents quickly following.
Rain zipped into an alley between two shops and hid behind some trash cans. The agent who had been chasing her stopped at the alley's edge and looked around, confused. His target seemed to have evaded him. He wandered off to find her again.
Rain let out a breath of relief. Her heart was hammering and she could scarcely breathe. She quickly repositioned into a crouch, prepared to bolt if anyone found her. Suddenly, somepony grabbed her foreleg.
"AH!" Rain screeched. She whirled around to face her assailant. The last thing she expected was to see a pink, blue-eyed Earth mare looking up at her like a lost puppy. "Pinkie Pie?"
"Rainbow Dash!" she squealed, throwing herself at her startled friend.
Rain abruptly pushed her away. "As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I can't," she stammered. "I have to get out of here. Right now! I'm in danger and if I stay too long, you will be too!"
PInkie Pie looked hurt. "But Dashie," she whimpered, "we haven't seen each other in so long. I have so many questions. Where have you been?"
"I can't explain now. There's no time." Rain wrenched her leg out of Pinkie's death grip.
"I'm sorry," she breathed. Then she turned, spread her wings, and shot away into the sky.
"Dashie, wait!" Pinkie cried as she watched her friend disappear. She sat down dejectedly on the ground, a few tears running down her cheeks. Rainbow Dash had finally come back, and she didn't even want to speak to her. What had she done? Why did she deserve this?
She looked up to see a brown stallion dressed in a black suit and opaque sunglasses standing at the edge of the alley. Maybe he knew where Rainbow went.
Pinkie trotted out of the alley and up behind him. She tapped the stranger on the shoulder. "Um... mister? Can I ask you a question, sir?"
He turned around and shot her a confused and disgusted look.
"Hello," Pinkie Pie began nervously.
"Who are you?" he snidely retorted.
"Um, I- I just wanted to ask you something," the shaky pink mare continued. "I'm looking for my friend Rainbow Dash. Have you seen her? She's a pegasus. She's bright blue, with rainbow hair-"
"Yes, I have seen her," the stranger cut in. "I'm sorry. You just missed her."

(jackout)

The Firestar crew raced at a dead sprint for the outskirts. Nopony stopped until they'd reached the apartments. They all met up again in a circle outside the front entrance.
"You guys think they're gone?" Rain asked once she'd caught her breath.
"No, that's impossible," Misty answered. "Once they give chase, they don't stop."
"We may have them confused long enough to escape," Horus added. "But we can only hope."
Amber straightened her mane and dashed for the door. "Then we've got to go, NOW." She slipped a silver bobby pin out of her spiky black hair and set to work picking the lock.
Neon made a beeline for Rain. He made his way past the others and to her. "You're doing pretty well," he said to her. He glanced warily over his shoulder to make sure Ash wasn't watching him, like he had been the entire past week. "How did you know the agents were there? I'm surprised nopony else saw them first."
"Well...I just had a feeling..." Rain laughed nervously and blinked up at Neon. For some strange reason, being around him made her feel strange, like she were floating in space or falling. She wondered what it was.
A loud click sounded, interrupting them. Amber was finished, and the door was open. "It's open. Let's go."
The crew rushed through the empty corridors. Somewhere in the distance, Rain thought she heard a phone ringing. That's weird, she thought, This place is totally abandoned. It wouldn't have any service, would it? Yet, as they traveled, the noise grew louder.
They came to a rusted metal door with a barely-functional lock, which Amber quickly rendered useless. The ringing was right behind it. They broke into the apartment, following the ringing noise. There it was. A landline telephone, outdated by about a decade and shouldn't have even been working, was spewing out the loud, tinny sound over and over again. "Found it!"
Misty stepped forward and picked up the phone. She held it to her ear and closed her eyes.
Rain gasped. Misty's form began to pixelate, then her whole body began to glow a faint, icy blue. Then she flashed, faded and disappeared. Rain was left staring in shock. "How-" she began, unable to finish. "What the- But she-"
"Jacking out," Neon told her. "Not quite as theatrical as the transfer, but still pretty stunning."
Horus's cell phone chirped. He took it from his pocket and answered. "It's me. Is Misty there?"
Spiro's voice answered from the other end. "Yeah. The line is stable."
"We're all headed back, then."
Ash walked over to the phone and put the dangling handset back in its place. It immediately began ringing again. His horn glowed red and lifted the phone off its dock. Before he put the phone to his ear, he took one last look at Rain, the beautiful, strong, amazing mare that he wanted so, so much. And he was crushed by what he saw.
Rain, standing dangerously close to Neon, his traitor of a friend casually inching closer to her. She noticed him and he smiled shyly at her. Neon. His stupid, insolent flirt of a best friend.
"That LIAR," Ash whispered. He held the receiver to his ear. His magic grip on it grew tighter and tighter as his rage burned on. He watched them as he began to glow and blur out from their vision. It was almost over.
"That. Is. IT!" Ash suddenly screamed. His hold on the phone twisted tighter, becoming viselike, constricting over the plastic exterior. The thin plastic shell broke, shattering and falling to the floor in pieces. The metal mechanics underneath snapped under the pressure of Ash's grip. The fragile mechanics broke apart, becoming a crushed, sparking ball of metal and wires. The destroyed phone fell to the floor and shattered as Ash faded from sight.
The four remaining ponies stared in shock at the empty space where Ash had stood, too stunned to react. "What the..." Horus murmured, bewildered.
"This doesn't make any sense. Why would he..." The captain shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and put together an explanation that made sense.
Spiro kept talking on the other end of the cell phone. "Okay, Ash is back now, and... Ash? Are you okay? Ash?" His normally cool voice suddenly morphed into a panicked scream. "Ash, what are you doing? Stop! Let go of me! What the-"
The line went dead. Horus dropped his phone as if it were poisoned. "Oh my Celestia."
"No," Neon murmured, putting a hoof to his forehead. "No. No. This is bad. This is really, really bad."
Amber sat down on the floor, still staring at the phone. "What's wrong with Ash?" she wondered out loud. "He'd never do that. He wouldn't just strand us like that."
Rain simply stayed put, frozen, unable to speak. She couldn't make sense of anything. What just happened?
Neon looked at Horus and took a deep, hesitant breath. "Horus, I have a confession to make."
His captain turned to look at him. "What's that, then?"
"I- I know what's wrong with Ash. Ever since Rain arrived, he's been acting... weird."
Rain's mind raced, all the memories of Ash's strange and dangerous behavior coming back to her.
"Now that you mention it," she quietly added, "He had been acting kind of funny around me. I think he even tried to make a move on me once."
Amber didn't understand. "So what does this have to do with anything? He has a crush on her, so what?"
Neon shook his head. "No," he said. "It's not a crush. It's worse. Way, way worse." He stopped to take another shaking breath before continuing.
"You guys... Ash has been infected. He has Possession Sickness."

(jackout)

Ash stood up. He tore off the monitors covering his chest and forehead. He dragged himself out of the place where he'd been sleeping, away from the circle, and towards the control panel where Spiro and Saph were waiting. Suddenly an alarm went off.
"Hey, Spir," Saph said, squinting at the monitor, "Something's wrong. I just lost the jackout site."
"Hold on. I think Ash just got back." He turned around in the swivel chair to see the awoken unicorn moving slowly towards him. Spiro adjusted the microphone of his headset back towards his mouth. "Okay, Ash is back now, and-"
The look on Ash's face cut him off. He advanced on the two operators at the controls, stalking closer, moving like a predator towards its prey. Saph's golden eyes widened. Her breath caught in her throat and she instinctively backed away. But Spiro didn't move. He stayed in place, staring straight into Ash's smoldering eyes.
"Ash?" he asked. "Are you okay? Ash?"
Ash sprang forward and grabbed Spiro by the shoulders. "Give me the headset."
Spiro didn't answer. He just sat, paralyzed.
"Did I stutter, Spiro?"
In a sudden flash, Ash jabbed his horn at Spiro's throat. He quickly knocked the strike aside. "Ash, what are you doing?" he screamed. Ash tried to strike again. Spiro fought back, unwilling to give up control. "Stop! Let go of me! What the hay is wrong with you?!"
Ash slammed Spiro's head sideways into the control panel, crunching one side of his headset. He tried to push his attacker away, but he didn't stop. Abandoning all effort not to hurt his friend, Spiro smacked Ash on the side of his head as hard as he could manage. Ash fell over and sprawled flat on the floor. Spiro expected him to grasp the side of his head and roll on the floor, groaning in pain as he always did when he was hurt in the real world.
He didn't. Instead, he got up and kept fighting as if he hadn't even felt the blow. The stallions continued to wrestle for control. Spiro fought bravely, using everything he knew about combat, but no matter how hard he tried, Ash seemed completely numb to his strikes. In seconds, he was on the floor, unconscious and bleeding.
Saph shook herself out of her fear-induced trance. She hissed savagely at the psychotic pony standing over her friend's unmoving form. He turned around at the noise to see Saph, fin raised in a razor-sharp ridge, fangs bared, eyes furious. "What do you think you're doing?" she screeched.
Saph hurled herself at him, hissing, shrieking, biting, and scratching at Ash like an angry cat. But Ash didn't feel a thing. He threw the pint-sized dragon off easily and she crashed into a corner.
A tiny, frightened gasp sounded from the holodeck doorway. Breathing like a rabid dog, Ash looked toward the source of the sound.
Cherrybomb stood there. Her mouth gaped silently open, her eyes were wide and watery. She made a small, choked squeaking noise. "How... how could you?"
Ash moved towards the little filly and she ran. He quickly caught up and lashed out with a swift kick to her ankles. Cherrybomb tripped and tumbled head over heels onto the floor. Before she could even come to her senses, Ash turned to the side and hit her with a forceful kick. She flew across the room and hit the wall. Her tiny, soft body hit the floor with a dull thud. She didn't get up.
Ash stared at the helpless filly on the floor lying perfectly still. Nothing could stop him now.
"Cherrybomb!" a voice screamed.
Something hit Ash from the side with the force of a train. He rolled over onto his back and looked up. Misty stood over him, eyes blazing with hate. "You. Are. INSANE!"
She threw herself at him. She was stronger, more experienced, a better fighter... the victor of this fight seemed obvious. Misty struck over and over, never stopping even when she realized Ash felt no pain. "Give up! Pass out, already!" she screamed at him.
In minutes, Misty had Ash cornered, backed up against the dark metal wall of the holodeck. She stared at him with her piercing gray eyes, trying to will him to give up. Ash lowered his head as if accepting defeat. "Are you done?" Misty hissed.
Ash took a second to breathe. He smiled psychotically. "No."
In one quick movement, he twisted out of Misty's grasp and stabbed his horn into her stomach. Blood gushed from the wound, staining her fur and dripping to the floor. Misty shrieked in pain. Using her last ounce of strength, she shoved Ash away and collapsed.
Ash picked up his bowed head, his horn dripping from Misty's blood. He walked to the control panel and removed Spiro's half-destroyed headset. He slipped it on over his ears. He dialed up Horus's cell phone in the Magix. The other end rang for a long time. Finally, somepony picked up. He laughed. "You know who this is."

(jackin)

"I can't believe I didn't see it." Horus was beside himself with confusion. "I knew that Ash was acting strange. Dangerous, even. But I never..." He trailed off. All was silent for a moment. Then Horus's phone rang, breaking the silence.
Everypony just stared at it, scared to find out what was going on on the ship. Neon finally pulled together the courage to pick up the phone and answer. There was a cold laugh at the other end.
"You know who this is," a familiar voice said.
"Ash," Neon choked out. "What have you done?"
"What have you done is more like it. And I'll tell you what you've done. You didn't listen to me."
Amber shakily spoke up. "What happened? Is anypony hurt?"
"Ash, this isn't you." Neon desperately tried to reason with his former friend. "You've been infected with Possession. This is the sickness talking. You're letting it control you."
"Possession, a crush, a phase, call it whatever you want. I love Rain, and I will never, never let you ruin that for me. I thought we were friends, Neon. I really thought that. I thought that you could give me this, just this one chance to be with her. But no. I guess I thought wrong."
Neon couldn't speak. He stood, paralyzed in fear as he heard Ash moving somewhere. Another sound appeared. The faint mechanical hum of an active jack-in chair.
"I told you to stay away from her, Neon. Why didn't you listen to me?"
"What's happening out there?" Rain asked, her voice nothing but a frightened squeak.
"He- he's going to unplug me..." Neon whispered. He stared blankly into space, paralyzed with fear. On the other end, Ash continued to speak. "Oh, well. Too late to save you now."
"Ash, don't," was all Neon could say.
He laughed. "Watch me."

(jackout)

Saph shook herself awake. She was sprawled on the cold tile of the holodeck floor. Her entire body was in pain, absorbed by a strong, sense-dulling ache. She stretched her arms out in front of her. They were a mess, broken, painful, covered in bruises and scratches. She heard crazed laughter coming from the chairs. It was Ash. He had done this.
Saph struggled to pull herself to her feet. Ash was standing over the still, dreaming form of a dark pegasus. Neon. One hoof gripped the cord connecting the pegasus's mind to the Magix, tense and ready to unplug it, putting Neon to sleep. Forever.
Fighting the painful urge to stay still, Saph slithered across the floor toward Ash. She reached a clawed hand out and grabbed onto his ankle. Ash whipped around and looked down at her.
"Remember... me?" she spat, straining to speak.
With a loud, frigid hiss, blue fire shot out from Saph's open mouth. Ash had no time to react. His eyes grew wide as an ice-cold wind enveloped him. He shivered, then the shaking turned to convulsions. He fell to the floor, frozen stiff. A thin layer of frost covered his coat. He was dead.
Saph peeled the frozen headset off of Ash. She winced as she slipped it on over her battered head.
"Everypony okay in there?" she asked.
"Saph?" Neon's voice answered. "Is that you? We're fine."
"I'll try to open another connection for you. I just hope I'm not too late."

The four ponies returned safely to the real world. They stood awake in the holodeck. Saph was a mess. She was covered in bruises, gashes, and scrapes. Her fin had a huge tear zigzagging down toward her head and her left wrist was bent at an unnatural angle. Amber rushed to her side and lifted her into a jack-in chair. "What happened to you?" she asked.
"I- I was lucky," Saph replied.
A low, pained groan sounded from the floor by the control panel. Spiro was there, struggling to pull himself upright. He was hurt even worse than Saph, one side of his cream-colored face soaked dark red with blood. Neon raced to him. "Spiro! Are you okay?"
"I-I don't know," he answered weakly. "My head kind of hurts..." He was dizzy, barely even conscious, his eyes staring unfocused into space.
"You're bleeding. Really badly. What happened here?"
"I'm not sure. I was just here... talking to you guys... suddenly, the connection was lost, then Ash... he attacked me."
Meanwhile, Horus was with Saph, checking her wounds, trying to figure out how serious the damage was. Saph was completely out of it, hardly able to speak an entire sentence. "Horus," she mumbled to her captain as he examined her. "Horus there's... Horus, I..."
"Stop," he told her. Saph went quiet. "Breathe for a second. What do you need to tell me?"
"Horus, there's... there's something else..."
"What is it?"
"It's... it's Misty..."
"Misty?" Horus's eyes went dark. "Saph, where is she?"
Saph weakly turned her head toward the wall. A still, midnight blue form lay still on the floor, her frizzy purple mane splayed carelessly around her, a pool of blood staining her coat and hair.
"Misty!" Horus cried. He left Saph in her chair and raced over to where his first mate lay unmoving and lifeless on the tiles, surrounded by blood. Her eyes were closed, and a deep wound was torn into her stomach. Horus choked. He gently put the tip of his hoof to her neck, searching desperately for a pulse.
"Misty," he whispered, eyes fogging with sadness. "Oh, Celestia, no..." His head dropped and he knelt down beside her.
The remaining crew made their way towards their captain, kneeling heartbroken over the body of his first mate. Amber placed a hoof on Misty's neck. "No pulse," she breathed, tears clouding her eyes. "She's... gone."
For a few minutes, everything was silent. A small, quiet moan interrupted it. Horus lifted his head and looked towards the sound. It came again. Then it became a word.
"No..."
Cherrybomb was still on the floor where she had landed, hidden in a dark corner by the control panel. She was just barely waking up, stirring gently and struggling to open her eyes. "Horus?" she cried out blindly. "Amber? Who... who's there?"
Amber stood up and walked over to her little friend. "It's okay," she whispered into her ear. "You're okay. You're safe now."
"Ash," she murmured, still in a dream. "He- he tried to-"
Horus was now at Cherrybomb's side, shushing her gently, stroking her mane, stained with blood from her crash. "Don't talk, Cherrybomb. You're hurt," he said quietly to her. "You're safe now. Nopony's going to hurt you. Are you okay? How do you feel?"
"Hurt," Cherrybomb whispered. "Tired."
"Go back to sleep. I'll take you to your room. You just keep dreaming, and when you wake up, everything will be okay. I promise."
Amber helped him lift Cherrybomb onto his back and he carried her off to the dorms. When he returned, his eyes were glassy and red-rimmed. He couldn't hold back the pain forever.
Spiro had regained most of his consciousness. Neon was leading him out of the holodeck to the sickbay. Amber was helping Saph to realign her broken wrist, without much cooperation from the semi-conscious young dragon. Rain was still standing by Misty's lifeless body, her face completely blank. Horus went to stand next to her.
"She was so brave," he said. "Misty was always such a warrior. I knew that this was how she'd want to go, but... it's still such a shock when it happens."
Neon looked over from his place in the doorway. Guilt clawed at his heart. "I'm sorry," he said uncontrollably.
Horus looked at him. "For what?"
Neon felt even worse. He'd kept his mouth shut at the wrong time, and it had cost his mentor a dear friend. "I should have said something. I saw how Ash was acting, and I thought he'd only targeted me." He looked vacantly at Misty's dead body. Dead because of him. "I never thought he'd go this far. I-"
"This wasn't your fault," Horus said. "Once Ash was infected, he'd be impossible to control. Nothing could have stopped him anyway." He fell silent.
Rain was losing her grasp on the situation. As she watched the scene before her, her mind became more and more distant. It seemed that ever since she'd arrived, everything had gone wrong. She didn't belong here. She didn't deserve these ponies' kindness, trust, and friendship. She left the room, misty-eyed. No one followed her. She thought of all the things she'd done wrong since she'd come here. She'd left her friends behind, let others believe she had a gift she wasn't even sure existed, made somepony lose their sanity, put her friends in danger, rejected Pinkie Pie in her time of need, and now somepony was dead. Two someponies. All because of her. She raced back to her dorm, locked herself in and cried.