Dear Diary,

I wish I could wake up. This has to be a bad dream…

Twilight, Zecora and I walked cautiously. The sound of flapping wings dropped in and out at a quite disquieting pace. I thought I saw a shadow from overhead, but if I had, it was long gone by the time I looked closer.

Zecora held up a hand and pointed to tree. It was creaking slightly and leaves were falling from higher up where the branches blocked our view. It looked like something heavier than a bird had landed in it.

Shit, I thought to myself. Whatever it was looked like it had found us already. Or not, I assumed it was a ‘no’, since nothing came down into the green ocean. Was it just resting, or what? My heart skipped a beat when the wings took off again and the sound of flapping died down once more.

“Anyone have any idea of who that is?” I whispered, while not being entirely sure if I wanted an answer or not. It didn’t sound like Changeling wings at all, which buzzed. I assumed it was one of the winged people, or a Changeling in the form of one.

“Could be any Pegasi,” Twilight answered me, barely audible. “But I have a bad feeling tha-“

Twilight cut herself off, holding a finger above her mouth. Whoever it was they were back within earshot. Again I saw a shadow over us. We were lucky there was a sheet of green in between, but it struck me as too thin for comfort.

It struck me that they were searching the area around us. We weren’t that far from the old castle, so maybe-

The realization hit me just as the sun looked down at me between the green above us. A moment later I shared a brief eye contact with Rainbow Dash. Even from here I could see the faint glow of green in her eyes. From the sound of it she landed in a nearby tree and was making her way down the branches.

“What was that?” Twilight asked me, whispering.

“Rainbow Dash. Or a Changeling that looks like her,” I replied bitterly. When she raised an eyebrow I pointed to the small opening above us. “I just saw her see us.”

“What?” Twilight and Zecora both looked like they didn’t believe me. Something landed on the ground not too far from us.

“Think about it,” I said. “If the Royal Guard did not follow us, and now someone is searching a near a location you,” I nodded to Twilight. “And your friends know of that’s not far from Ponyvile…”

“You think… Oh, Dash…”

Zecora took our hands and started to run to our right, away from where we had heard ‘Dash’ land. My heart raced and I felt an odd sense of familiarity in our current situation, but I couldn’t tell from where. Maybe a bad dream I once had?

Suddenly I was pulled to what was now our left; Zecora changed our direction once again. Throwing a glance over my shoulder I saw why: Dash had come up on our right and was now nearly right behind us. She had the knife she carried when we went into the Diamond Tunnels in her hand.

Every few seconds I looked back, and each time I saw Dash getting closer and closer. Sometimes she ran up on our side, forcing us to change direction, but never came at us directly. I was starting to have trouble keeping up with Zecora and so did Twilight form the look of it. I thought I saw a hopeful glimpse in her eyes, behind the cold realization that she was probably not friendly. Probably not even the real Dash.

**

I didn’t know how long we had been running, but I was certain that Dash was steering us towards something. Part of me wanted to just stop and confront her were we were, but I couldn’t ask Twilight to do that. Perhaps I should, but I couldn’t.

“Where… ugh… did she… go…?” I asked between breaths. Sweat was pouring from my forehead. I couldn’t see Dash anywhere. But I did hear the sound of her wings. “Fuck!”

I hadn’t noticed it, but we had stopped on what looked to have once been a road. There were no stones left, that I could see, but the trees stood such that it made a path going far in each direction under the open sky. In a brief moment I could see a figure in the sky.

“That’s not the real Dash, right?” I asked, with a molecule of hope in my stomach. Neither Twilight nor Zecora answered.

“Ugh!” Twilight and I were suddenly pushed aside. We fell over, looking up at Zecora. Why did she pushed us?

The answer came all too soon. I saw a flash of blue hit Zecora before she could even turn back from pushing us. The striped lady landed several meters away from where she had been standing.

I hasted to my feet, dragging Twilight up with me. Zecora didn’t move and I could see the splatter of blood around her body even from here. Tears filled my eyes, but I didn’t acknowledge them. I had to get Twilight out of here. My gut knotted itself painfully at the thought. It was too late for Zecora; I had to focus on Twilight. I-

A sharp pain came from my side. I felt my entire body tremble as it spread and I wanted to scream. Looking down I saw a blade, Dash’s blade in Dash’s hand. The world around me started to go black as I saw myself bleed. I started to fall down, but never saw myself land.