Bifrost
Chapter 8: Vol. I - Ch. 08: Jet Black
Previous Chapter Next Chapter-PINKIE PIE-
I sat in the waiting room alongside Twilight and explained to Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Soarin, the three pegasi who protected me after my last match, what happened with Fluttershy and Team B-Listers. It was kinda a long story but I think I hit all the high notes and explained it pretty well, I just wished I’d held onto the ransom note instead of letting Applejack take it, in case they didn’t believe me.
“That’s… a pretty serious story…” Spitfire said, giving a groan that sounded as tired as it was baffled.
“You believe me though…” I said desperately and tapped my hoofsies together, “right?”
Fleetfoot and Soarin both looked suspiciously at Spitfire who frowned skeptically and closed her eyes, which put me on pretty serious edge.
“Yeah, I do,” Spitfire finally said, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief and her two friends to react in shock.
“What, really?” Fleetfoot asked curiously. “You don’t think she’s just—“
“Just what, exactly?” Spitfire laughed. “She doesn’t strike me as the ‘win at all cost’ type, her two teammates aren’t here but she’s determined to fight regardless, plus that guy she fought was sketchier than the Take on Me video.”
Fleetfoot and Soarin both backed up and glanced at each other. They didn’t look as convinced as Spitfire seemed to be, but they didn’t seem too skeptical either; I think Spitfire made a better case than I did though.
“Besides,” Spitfire continued, an earnest smirk on her face, “I’d rather investigate this and find out she’s pulling our leg than to ignore it and find out there was really a problem. Taking care of ponies and solving problems are what the Wonderbolts are for and if we can’t do that, then what’s the point of being one?”
“You’re not wrong,” Fleetfoot sighed, Soarin nodding his agreement with a smile.
“Alright, here’s what we’ll do,” Spitfire looked at her two companions before her gaze settled on me, the fiery intensity in her eyes making me jump to my feet, “I’ll go to the bar you mentioned and scope out the scene.
“I’ll call for some of our friends in the reserve or the local authorities as needed when I get there,” Spitfire turned back to Soarin and Fleetfoot, “and you guys stay here to make sure no more shenanigans happen on our watch, deal?”
Soarin and Fleetfoot nodded, both smiling confidently. Spitfire shot them a wry smirk and then bolted out of the waiting room, leaving a blazing stream of color in her wake. Something about her confidence and poise was really inspiring and cool and not only did I feel a lot more comfortable about Fluttershy and the others, I was inspired to kick some serious butt out in the arena!
“Still though,” Fleetfoot said, kicking her front hoof, “there’s one teeeeensy problem we’ve all overlooked.”
“What’s that?” Twilight asked cautiously.
“Pinkie Pie, you’ve already fought one round,” Fleetfoot said. “The Bifrost rules say each team member fights one round per match. Without your two teammates here, your team automatically forfeits.”
“No, that can’t be right!” I recoiled, my ears flattening and a hoof bolting up to my mouth. That’s right I thought Rainbow said as much, that I probably wouldn’t be able to fight all three… HUMPH. That won’t do. That won’t do at all!
“There’s gotta be some way I can fight again!” I stamped a hoof on the ground. “I can’t let Rainbow down!”
“Sorry, kid,” Soarin said, shrugging a hoof and frowning sympathetically. “The rules are—“
“No, no!” I yelled frantically and barreled past the two pegasi and into the arena. “I’ve gotta try something!”
I bandied into the arena, Twilight and the two pegasi following me to watch what I’d do— and to make sure I didn’t cause trouble, no doubt— but they didn’t step into the arena behind me. I looked over the crowd and saw a tempestuous mixture of hype, eagerness, excitement, frustration and impatience.
I could work with that.
“Um, Starlight!?” I yelled to Starlight in her little announcer booth. “Can I talk to you!?”
I felt a little ping in my ears and Starlight said, “You’re on the mic, Pinkie Pie. What can I do for you, and, more importantly, why are you wasting everypony’s time when the next fight is supposed to begin?”
“That’s just it,” I said, a little dumbfounded by how loud my voice suddenly was but I was just rolling with it, “my two teammates aren’t here yet, and I dunno when they’re gonna show up.”
“Then I guess that’s a forfeit for Team Rainboom,” Starlight said dismally, a loud groan sweeping across the audience. Ponies were stomping their hooves and shouting incoherently, some were still bemoaning loudly and others were looking around for things to throw.
Starlight looked seriously ticked staring into the crowd and I couldn’t tell if she was mad at me or them. “I guess we’d better just cance—“
“Hold on!” I yelled defiantly, stamping my hooves into the stone floor of the arena and flashing my winningest of winning smiles! “These ponies have come from all over Equestria to watch the preliminaries of Bifrost! They deserve a good show and I’ve got plenty of steam left!”
“The rules say—“
“I don’t give a fat flank about the rules, Starlight!” I scoffed dismissively and looked out into the crowd, raising my hoof to gesture at them. “What about you guys?! Did you come to see a show!?”
The crowd roared enthusiastically, stomping their feet and raising their hooves into the air, sometimes both at once. Starlight glowered at them and then at me but I just smirked back at her.
“Did you ponies come to see a fight!?” I yelled, the crowd roaring approval in response. “I got a lot of magic left! I can give you ponies one heck of a show! What d’ya say to that!?”
The crowd was going nuts now, throwing stuff into the air and clamoring for another fight.
Starlight looked peeved for a sec but a bright, excited grin started creeping across her face almost eerily. She shot me a glance and there was a chill in her eye, but it gleamed with excitement still. Something about it was weird… something about Starlight was weird.
After a moment of painful silence from Starlight, she suddenly stamped her hoof on her podium and clamored, “THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!” and the ponies in the crowd went completely ballistic for it.
I gotta admit, I was getting hyped as heck too. I was really winded after exerting so much magic in the last fight but now I was charged with adrenaline.
I was ready for this! Bring it on, Team B-Listers!
****
-RARITY-
I stared down the Mane-iac with a glowing blue sword in front of me and poor defenseless and chained up Fluttershy behind me.
The green-haired mare who kidnapped my friend was sitting on a cushion made from her magical tail hair, leaning against the wall opposite me with her front legs crossed, a relaxed smile on her face. She wasn’t taking me seriously as an opponent, which I hoped that I could use to my advantage.
I summoned several needles of glassy light in the air around me and fired them at the Mane-iac as I charged toward her.
She simply swatted my projectiles out of the air with her elongated hair, forming a tendril out of her mane that snuck up on me and wrapped around my hind leg, swiping it out from under me and causing me to fall on my back to the ground with a pained grunt.
With another tendril of hair she sliced through my sword and shattered it, leaving me wide-eyed in despair and shock as I realized the gulf of difference between our power.
That tendril wrapped itself around my foreleg and two more tentacles appeared out of her hair and wrapped themselves around my remaining limbs, the Mane-iac yanking me harshly by my hind legs into the air, leaving me hanging upside-down and glaring at her as a fifth tendril wrapped around my mouth.
“Wow, that was it?” the joker cackled as she sauntered toward me. “All that hype, all that bravado… and this is what it amounted to? Frankly, I’m disgusted,” she said with a smiling sneer before gently tapping me on the nose, my muffled disgusted protests only making her laugh.
I briefly tried to struggle— though I should have known better— and the Mane-iac tightened her grip on my limbs and began crushing them the more I tried to escape. I realized there was no way out of her grasp with my meager abilities and resigned myself to being her helpless captive.
“So what should I do with you?” she pondered, walking around me like a vulture readying itself to devour a carcass, slowly spinning me around so her eyes were always peering into mine. “I can’t just kill you, you’re too valuable a collector’s item. You are quite-” she snickered “-a Rarity, after all.”
My groan was audible even muffled as it was by her hair although I wasn’t sure she could hear it past her own howling laughter. I wasn’t even sure how she knew my name exactly, or how unnerved I should be by that, but it was entirely possible she simply saw me in the pamphlet for Team Destiny.
“Aaaaanyway, enough of me being hilarious and witty,” the pompous windbag said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “If my charming cohort Smudge hasn’t already dealt with your friend… friends? More than one friend? Eh, most likely more than one friend. Anyway, if he hasn’t dealt with them himself I’ll have to do it and I’d rather not—“
Her incessant monologuing was blissfully cut short when she was slammed into the wall by a burst of wind, the blast rattling her concentration enough that her tendrils released me from their grasp.
Unfortunately I was still upside down and a few inches off the stone floor so I fell and only thanks to midair course correction did I not land on my neck, instead sticking the landing right on my dainty hooves.
“You are gonna pay,” Rainbow Dash snarled at the Mane-iac from the entryway to this dungeon room, glowering at her and beating a hoof across the ground.
“I woulda said somethin’ a little more… impressive?” Applejack said bemusedly and motioned her hoof in a forward-circle, Rainbow sighing and rolling her eyes.
“Not really the point,” Rainbow bickered at Applejack.
“Please, Rainbow Dash…” the Mane-iac said, regaining her posture albeit on wobbly legs. “You shouldn’t be so short with your friend,” she said with a cackling sneer, the diminutive pegasus replying with a low growl.
“See?” Applejack laughed, no doubt amused at Rainbow’s obvious irritation. “That was better.”
“Also,” the Mane-iac continued, “I would have said ‘get ready for a bad hair day’.”
“That’s also pretty good,” Applejack said enthusiastically, needling Rainbow in the side.
“I’m really gonna enjoy turning you into a red paste on the wall,” Rainbow sneered at the Mane-iac, ignoring Applejack and her continued snickering.
Fine time for her to be laughing, but I couldn’t deny that I felt a great deal of relief wash over me as the two arrived, even despite my embarrassment at needing to be rescued. Unlike me, they were quite strong. So while I tended to poor Fluttershy and released her from her bonds, I knew they would have no trouble dealing with this ruffian.
At least… that is what I hoped.
****
-PINKIE PIE-
A cream colored unicorn with gorgeous, flowing purple hair dressed in a distractingly form-fitting red bodysuit walked into the arena opposite me, smiling at me with a gleam in her eye. She would’ve been really cute in a different light, under a different set of circumstances.
“That was a brilliant speech,” she said in a breathy tone.
“Thanks,” I said flatly, grimacing at this woman who had worked with the jerks who kidnapped my friend.
I had no kind words for her either so I just stamped a hoof and let the Earth Aura flow through my body, hoping it would rejuvenate me enough to give me the strength to win this, and not have to go into a third match.
The illusion was cast and the arena of choice for this match was that of a dimly lit ruined mansion, with me standing in the center of the foyer, a majestic staircase standing in front of me that led to a balcony that stretched across all the walls around me.
My opponent, known as High Heel, was standing at the very top of the staircase, looking down at me with a haughty sneer. Something about her gaze was very intimidating but I glowered back at her with my best game face. There was way too much riding on this fight for me to lose it.
Just like I had my Party Cannon sitting beside me, High Heel had an item she brought to the fight with her. A sack made from a fancy-looking burgundy silk with a gold string tied around the top.
“What’s in the bag?” I asked tepidly, pointing at it with a hoof and standing firm in place.
High Heel chuckled and untied the string with her telepathy, the sack toppling over and, to my surprise, spilling a stunning collection of expensive shoes!
“Shoes, of course!” High Heel said jovially, dancing in place as she revealed her collection.
“That’s, uh… neat!” I said confusedly, my feelings caught between being perplexed and being worried; she must’ve had some reason to bring those to a fight and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what she would use them for. “It’s pretty impressive, but how’re you gonna fight with ‘em?”
“I’m glad you asked,” the breathy whisper High Heel spoke with send a shiver up my spine.
She grabbed a pair of glass slippers from the bag with her telepathy and threw them with incredible force in my direction. I jumped out of the way of both attacks, not wanting to know what glass shattering against my skull feels like.
I turned a knob on the Party Cannon and hit the button, firing a stream of streamers at blazing speed toward High Heel. She gasped in shock and dived out of the way, abandoning her shoe sack in the process. The streamers were engulfed in a flame that quickly spread across the entire balcony, forcing High Heel to jump down to the ground floor and face me head-on.
I quickly turned the Party Cannon around toward her, firing another streamer blast in her direction. She jumped toward me in order to dodge and slid on her hooves, closing the distance between us and hitting me in the side with a powerful kick that launched me toward the stairs.
She kicked the Party Cannon into the eastern wall so it wouldn’t be easy for me to reach, at least not without busting out my Blink spell, which I didn’t think I had the energy for. But that was fine, I’d gotten enough use out of the Cannon for now. This girl had a pretty strong kick but with my earth magic I still had the advantage at close range.
I stared High Heel down, the woman just smiling smugly at me in return, and I channeled the Earth Aura through my legs.
I pounced toward her, my magic giving me an extra spring in my step, but instead of attacking her head on like she expected I bounced right behind her, forcing her to quickly spin on her heels to face me but she was too slow and I managed to kick her right in the head, launching her into the stairs.
“Not bad,” she said, wiping the blood from her mouth with her hoof. “But I’ve already won this.”
“That’s alotta guff comin’ from somepony who’s already bleeding!” I said sharply, readying another pouncing attack.
“You don’t see it, do you?” she clicked her tongue and laughed softly, shaking her head. “I’ve led you right into my victory,” she pointed a hoof behind me and I looked with my peripheral vision.
My eyes widened as I realized what her game was.
The shoes.
I hadn’t been paying attention to where they landed after I dodged them, I just figured she was using them as basic projectiles, which was a really stupid mistake for me to make that would soon prove costly.
The two glass slippers sitting barely more than a foot away from me began to glow with a red aura and they jumped out to hit me. I jumped back to avoid them but one of them changed direction mid-flight and hit me right in the neck. I grunted in pain but before I could react any more than that, the shoe began to change!
It glowed with a red light and melted into a paste that creeped around my neck, solidifying into a black collar that forced itself tightly around my neck and yanked me headfirst to the ground. I tried to pull myself back up but despite my best efforts my neck and head were stuck to the ground even as the rest of me flailed about to escape.
“I really shouldn’t be revealing my tricks, buuuut…” High Heel sauntered toward me haughtily, chuckling to herself, “What can I say? I do love to show off. Nopony ever takes my collection of shoes terribly seriously, so they never think until it’s too late that I can simply use my transmutation spells to turn them into whatever I like.”
“Yeah, well…” I coughed, struggling to speak with this collar around my neck, “…you’ve kinda shown off your whole shtick to everyone in the crowd now, right? You don’t think that’ll bite you in the butt later?”
“Oh honey,” she grinned wickedly, the second glass slipper hovering around her head and inching toward me, “I haven’t even begun to show you what I’m capable of.”
There was no other way out of this mess except to Blink. If I tried my rubbery bouncy trick I was liable to tear my own head off and that would probably be bad. It took everything I had the first time and I didn’t know if I could do it again, I’d only ever managed it once per day before now, but Rainbow needed me to win this! I had to find some measure of strength and…
BLINK.
In the blink of an eye I was gone, High Heel’s magic collar clattering to the ground as she gasped dramatically in shock. She looked around for me for half a second before finding my hind hooves colliding with her face and sending her flying into the eastern wall.
I was charged up with adrenaline and magic, bouncing this way and that to build momentum, slamming into High Heel and sending her crashing into the eastern wall, then into the northern wall, then onto the ground in the middle of the room, knocking the wind out of her over and over in the course of my mad bouncing spree.
I finally ran out of steam and planted myself right next to my Party Cannon, backed up against the eastern wall and leaning on a support beam underneath the balcony, High Heel standing dead center in the middle of the foyer where this fight began.
I slammed the button on the Party Cannon, blasting a spray of blazing streamers in her direction, then tilting the Cannon upwards and twisting the knob, smashing the button a second time to rain down a cascade of cursed confetti!
No holding back! I needed to end this now, if I could win this then that would be a win for Team Rainboom and I didn’t know if I had the strength for a third fight!
This ends right here!
High Heel was engulfed in the fire of the streamers and the electrical charge of the confetti, completely absorbed by my elemental attacks. After the flames died down a couple seconds later all that remained was a pale red sphere that had been badly singed until it was nearly soot black, sitting in the space where High Heel had been.
I arched an eyebrow but quickly grit my teeth in anger and fear as the sphere cracked and fell apart, revealing High Heel to be safe. She looked winded and bedraggled, but mostly unharmed. I slammed on the Cannon again to attack with another streamer assault but as the streamers flied toward High Heel they were absorbed in a red light and transmuted into a harmless array of red flower petals.
“You’re stronger than I thought,” High Heel said grimly, the first time during this match she wore a serious cold frown on her face instead of her usual smug grin. “But not strong enough.”
The support pillars on either side of me were enveloped by red light and became small flowers, my eyes widening in despair as the balcony that they held up crumbled from the wall and fell down on top of me.
I didn’t have the energy to move out of the way so I just shut my eyes tight, grit my teeth and braced myself as the falling sections of the balcony hit me right on my back, knocking the wind out of me and buckling my legs out from under me, planting me flat on the ground before I was quickly covered in debris.
I was still breathing and the illusion was still holding. My Party Cannon was equally covered in rubble but if I could just get to it, I had one more trick up my sleeve… but then the debris was bathed in red light and I bit my lip, a painfully whimpered “No” squeaking out of my lips. Whatever happened next was about to be much worse than just being hit with the falling rubble.
There was more than enough material among the shattered remains of the balcony for High Heel to turn them into whatever she wanted, and what she wanted was to transmute them into leather belts that bound my legs together, along with a black leather collar and matching leash around my neck that she used to slowly drag me toward her, and to top it all off, another strip of leather wrapped over my muzzle and around my mouth with a little rubber nozzle on the inside to keep me quiet.
I was exhausted, I was badly hurting and at this point I was feeling pretty embarrassed to be seen like this in front of an entire crowd. I needed to do something to win for Rainbow’s sake but I… just…
“So sad, so sad,” High Heel said as she dragged me in front of her, stomping her front heel onto my neck and yanking the leash into the air to choke me. “I was hoping to be able to play with you longer but you’re half-dead already. Pathetic.”
She spat right on my face and stomped hard on my ribs, me just grunting in pain and sinking my teeth into the rubber nozzle.
“Guess there’s no point in dragging this out too much, but I still want everyone to see how pitiful you look.”
Using her magic she raised the leash into the air. I tried to protest but my muffled squeals weren’t exactly getting through and I barely had enough energy to limply protest against the bonds on my legs.
The leash rose higher into the air, bringing my fat, limp and pathetic meat prison with it as the collar tightened around my neck until she was suspending me in mid-air, the oxygen slowly being choked out of my body.
I coughed and tried to squirm and started crying as I just waited for the ordeal to end already, completely humiliated in front of everyone. For the first time since the fight began I was really glad Rainbow wasn’t here to see this.
I was hanging in the air for roughly, maybe a minute? Less? More? I had no way to tell and it all felt so slowed down anyway that it didn’t matter. Point is, I eventually blacked out and when I came to, the illusion was dispelled and Starlight was announcing High Heel’s victory, but I was barely able to process that through my ringing ears.
I wobbled backward and tried to stumble to the waiting room but I fell almost immediately and couldn’t get myself back up. I felt two ponies put their hooves on me and lift me up but I was still too disoriented to notice that it was Fleetfoot and Soarin, who had still been watching my match from just outside the arena alongside Twilight.
The two pegasi hoisted me onto Twilight’s back and, although she struggled due to my weight and her tiny stature and skeleton thin frame, she carried me back into the waiting room in my dazed stupor.
****
-RAINBOW DASH-
I didn’t waste any time charging at the Mane-iac; if this idiot thought she could just kidnap my teammate and sabotage my chances of succeeding in Bifrost without getting ground into a bloody pulp, she was about to be badly shocked.
I was pretty much ready to throw myself into a berserker rage as I charged, taking flight and kicking her right in the head with a hind leg, moving way too fast for her to even hope to react or defend my attack.
She definitely felt the hit, reeling back and putting on her game face, but I was ready and slammed down on her head with a front leg before kicking her in the face and knocking her back with a hind leg then billowing a gust of bladed wind at her that she threw her hair up to defend but it still tore up her hair and face, leaving bloody scratches all over her face.
While my pre-emptive strike was pretty effective, the Mane-iac was now on her guard and jumped back, using the tendrils from her tail to balance herself and keeping three tentacles from her mane between me and her.
Applejack took a defensive stance between the Mane-iac in front of her and Rarity and Fluttershy behind her, the yellow pegasus now free from her shackles thanks to—wait, RARITY?!
I shook my head and retrained my eyes on the Mane-iac, filing away the shock at seeing Rarity of all ponies as something to deal with later.
“You’re a lot stronger than your friend,” the Mane-iac said with a chuckle.
“I’m a lot stronger than most ponies,” I laughed back, pretending to be oblivious to the looked of shame that burned Rarity’s face.
“You’re certainly quick to boast about yourself!” the Mane-iac said with an awful cackle and grinned at me.
“That one was pretty weak!” Applejack shouted from the side, making me smirk.
“No one asked the peanut gallery,” Mane-iac pouted angrily. She shrugged her shoulders and suddenly wore a wicked beaming smile as she launched three hair tendrils in my direction.
Dodging her attacks was too easy; compared to flitting between those swinging tree branches in my fight with Sweetie Drops, this was child’s play. I was inches from landing another hit on her smug face when I suddenly got yanked from behind, looking back to see a tendril had branched out from one of the attacking tendrils and wrapped around my leg.
I billowed my wings and surrounded myself with a gale, Mane-iac forced to retract most of her tendrils in order to defend herself and allowing me to slip away. I threw another burst of wind toward her but she easily deflected it with her hair, but it was more a diversionary tactic regardless.
Right on cue, Applejack took advantage of Mane-iac’s distraction and slammed right into the Mane-iac’s head with her forehooves, then planting a massive kick against her chest that sent the green haired freak flying toward the wall.
Mane-iac peeled herself off the wall with a glove of hair and gently placed herself back on the ground, her serious game face back on for only a second before her cackling grin returned.
“Wow, you really jacked me up good there!” she let out a wheezing laugh and Applejack just groaned and rolled her eyes.
“That stuff was really only funny when Rainbow was gettin’ annoyed by it,” Applejack said.
“No need to be sour about it, Applejack,” Mane-iac said with a grin.
“Apples are sweet,” AJ replied tersely, narrowing her eyes.
“Wh—they can be sour!” Mane-iac responded irritably.
“Eh, sounds like you got some second-rate apples,” AJ shrugged, and I couldn’t help but snicker at how masterfully Applejack turned Mane-iac’s pun game against her.
“The only thing second-rate here-” Mane-iac’s grin widened as she sent out several spiky tendrils of hair toward me and Applejack, forcing both of us to weave and jump between needles of hair “-is you two!”
“Your banter could use some work!” I grunted as I flew into melee range and slammed a kick right into her… hair. She threw a hair barrier, a hairrier, in front of her face to guard my attack and my eyes widened and I cringed as the hair started wrapping around my leg.
With a solid grasp on my leg, Mane-iac slammed me against the wall, causing me to get really disoriented. My ears were ringing and I was certain my head was bleeding but I couldn’t tell where. I tried to refocus my vision but I felt myself being lifted into the air as she prepared another slam attack.
“I gotcha!” Applejack said as she jumped up and threw her front hooves into the tendril of hair grabbing me, sure enough dispelling the magic around it and loosening its grip on me.
Unfortunately AJ rushed to free me without properly taking her surroundings into account and now we were both freefalling, with me still a little too woozy to right myself in the air, with several tendrils surrounding us both.
“Now I’ve got you!” Mane-iac shrieked, wrapping hair around Applejack and myself and slamming us against each other back to back with our forelegs bound in front of us. She wrapped us up together and covered our mouths with her hair, which was really disgusting.
Applejack and I struggled furiously but that only made our bonds tighter, nearly crushing our bones and this wasn’t an illusion that we could just bounce back from with a headache so we both realized we needed to stop struggling, at least to wait for an opening… provided one ever came.
“You know, I like you both better like this,” Mane-iac said casually. “You’re quieter, and you both look so cute trussed up together.”
I felt my cheeks burning up and I’m not sure if it made it better or worse to see the blush on Applejack’s face as well. In a lifetime of continuous disgraces and disappointments, this was definitely among my top ten most embarrassing moments.
Mane-iac looked away from us over toward Fluttershy, and Rarity who was standing guard in front of her. The two looked frightened but Rarity tried to put on a brave face, although she knew already that she wasn’t a match for the Mane-iac. Heck, I wasn’t a match for her!
As the Mane-iac silently walked toward Fluttershy, looking to do who knows what to her and Rarity, I felt a torrent of emotions inside me. I tried struggling against my bonds again but they just kept tightening until I heard a concerning cracking sound and felt sharp pain in my front legs.
I was breathing heavy and looked back at Applejack who was staying still as the coils of Mane-iac’s hair wrapped around her neck. Something about Mane-iac’s magic was keeping ours locked down so we couldn’t free ourselves.
She was stepping ever closer to Rarity and Fluttershy and I just… felt so helpless. My teammate needed me and there was nothing I could do. I so badly wanted to save Fluttershy but I was… useless.
But not just that…
As I struggled to get free, the same thoughts echoed in my head, quieter and quieter as I lost myself to the pain and fury.
They need me…
I felt a fire start tearing up the inside of my stomach. It was like something was roaring inside me and scratching at the walls and doors to get out of me.
Fluttershy needs me…
The fire was pouring up into my throat and it was like I felt my teeth getting longer, stronger and sharper. My wings were on fire like the skin was too small for the bones and they wanted to cut themselves loose.
Rarity needs me.
And I won’t… I won’t let her get hurt again!
For an instant I felt absolutely no pain at all, not even in my fractured legs, but instead… pure energy, pure momentum and adrenaline… and rage.
I felt a black flame destroy me from the inside out and consume me. I could move my mouth despite my bonds and opened wide, chomping down on Mane-iac’s hair with razor sharp teeth.
She howled in pain suddenly and looked irritated and confused at me and Applejack. She dropped Applejack as she realized the black flames licking my body were engulfing her hair and completely erasing it.
Mane-iac jumped back and recalled her hair, several of the tendrils having uneven, jagged edges that had been burned away by my flames.
Freed from my bonds I felt the bones in my wings cut themselves out of the skin and grow to their full potential, a cascade of black flame restoring the flesh and feathers around them.
I landed on the ground with a triumphant pound, my legs restored to their true glory and resounding with new muscle as they grew as well.
I was getting bigger and taller and stronger until I eclipsed even Applejack, my frame still thin yet muscular as it always was but my wings when brandished in their full majesty covered the room in darkness like the shadow of the moon.
My rainbow mane and tail shone as bright as ever, but my pale blue fur had been consumed by the dark fire and was now jet black.
“What’s the matter, Mane-iac?”
I heard my own seductive voice as if I was out of my own body, the wicked chuckle I made sending a chill up my own spine, but it was a chill of eager anticipation as I saw the horrified look on Mane-iac’s face as she realized her meager powers were dwarfed by that of my radiant transformed persona.
I walked regally up to her and stared right into her eyes, giving a sharp smile as I said, “You look like you’ve had a terrible nightmare.”
****
-FLUTTERSHY-
I don’t know what was happening to Rainbow Dash but I could feel cold waves of magical energy billowing through the room from her. The Mane-iac was visibly distressed by the power of Rainbow’s aura and stumbled back to take a defensive posture.
Rainbow chuckled, a horrible sound like a bell that only chimes for death. Rainbow blew gently into the air before Mane-iac and a gale force bullet hit the purple mare in the side and sent her flying until she hit the wall with a loud CRACK and THUD.
Rainbow cackled wickedly, “I know you don’t understand the wit of that pun, Mane-iac. But you don’t have to worry about that much longer because,” Rainbow leaned down to stare into the prone mare’s eyes, “I’m going to kill you.”
I wanted to say something, maybe try to reach out to Rainbow and stop her before she did what she was planning, but I was petrified. Whatever that black pony was, it was not the Rainbow Dash that I knew.
The Mane-iac lashed out with several of her hair tendrils but bolts of black lightning rained from Rainbow’s wings and incinerated every particle of hair they touched, leaving Mane-iac a ragged and hopeless mess as her tendrils grew smaller and smaller with each desperate attack.
“So unlike you, Mane-iac.” Rainbow’s soft and airy voice was like a twisted mockery of the woman who had been so kind to me and it terrified and disgusted me to hear it come from this… this monster. “Nothing to say? No sharp-tongued barb to lay at my feet? No smart remark to pinch my nerves? So sad…”
Rainbow— no, that black pony was not rainbow— the Nightmare cornered Mane-iac up against the wall, the normally cocky and jovial kidnapper now cowering helplessly in front of the Nightmare’s crushing strength.
“Too bad,” the Nightmare flicked her ethereal rainbow hair to the side and grinned cruelly. “I would’ve thought your last words to have some measure of wit.”
A bolt of black lightning struck the Mane-iac dead center, her blood-curdling scream piercing through my ears. Rarity and Applejack looked as horrified as I was but none of us could intervene. We couldn’t even defeat Mane-iac, let alone whatever this monster was, and I couldn’t blame Rarity or Applejack for not wanting to endanger themselves for the sake of an enemy.
But still… I couldn’t do nothing. I couldn’t stand by and watch someone be killed right in front of me, not even someone as awful as her! And I couldn’t just let Rainbow fall into whatever pit of darkness was dragging her in!
I had to… I had to do something.
But my legs wouldn’t move.
“I suppose it’s just as well,” the Nightmare’s words were punctuated by another bolt of black lightning that caused Mane-iac to scream in pain. “You were weak from the start.”
Another bolt, another scream.
I was cowering and crying until I couldn’t even see straight, but… I had to do something!
“You were born a pathetic weakling and that’s how you will die. Nothing can change the pony you are.”
Before the Nightmare could tear into Mane-iac with another shot of lightning I stamped my trembling hooves on the ground and screamed, “Rainbow Dash, STOP!!”
The Nightmare slowly turned her head toward me, her violet eyes staring into my soul with a deadly intensity that made my whole body feel weak and heavy… but I stood my ground.
“Please…” I begged, tears falling down my cheeks. “Please stop this.”
For the first time I detected an emotion in the Nightmare’s eyes that wasn’t rage or self-satisfaction, but honest sympathy. She looked back at the whimpering, cowering mare she had broken underneath her power and silently walked away from her.
She closed her eyes and a black flame slowly began crawling along her body, burning parts of her flesh and bones away to ash until the Nightmare was no more and the petite, pale blue hero I knew was back in our midst, her body battered, bloodied and burned and her eyes closed with a heavy frown on her face.
I breathed a sigh of relief and started sobbing as Rainbow returned to us, my friend opening her eyes and looking at me blankly but I could see just the barest glimpse of a smile on her face.
But the Mane-iac wasn’t done yet. She didn’t have much hair left on her head but her tail was still full and she lashed out with three tendrils, leaving no time for the four of us to react to it…
And just as quickly as they lurched out, the tendrils were drenched in flame and turned to cinders by a golden flame. Rainbow turned to look at the Mane-iac, then followed her gaze westward to the door of this dungeon room, looking upon a golden, fiery-haired pegasus standing triumphantly in the doorframe.
“Mane-iac,” the woman had a raspy voice and spoke with a proud smile adorning her face; I recognized her as Spitfire from Team Wonderbolts, “you look like you’ve been hit by a train, and I’ve been watching competitors fight for three days straight without getting any action of my own. So go ahead and make my day.”
She stamped a hoof on the ground and scraped it, but Mane-iac took the cue and bailed, running past the pegasus and back through the door she came from.
“Yer just lettin’ her go?” Applejack asked indignantly.
“Hardly,” the yellow pegasus scoffed and batted her hoof. “The local cops are waiting just outside to deal with her. They already jailed her two friends. We won’t be seeing much from Team Mane-iac, or their known associates Team B-Listers, anytime soon.”
“Team B-Listers…” Rainbow said distantly, her legs wobbling before her ears suddenly jolted up in realization. “Fluttershy! We gotta go!”
Suddenly she was alert and agitated and my own ears perked up and my legs straightened despite my own fatigue-induced knock-knees.
“R-right!” I yelped. I only had the barest hint of what was going on but I knew Rainbow Dash and I knew how important winning that match was for her. “Let’s head to the arena!” I felt like I was ready to collapse at any moment but I wasn’t going to disappoint my team captain.
“Hold on,” the yellow pegasus said worriedly, “you two need to go to the hospital!”
“Yeah, we can do that later!” Rainbow sneered and defiantly stomped a hoof. “Right now we need to be in that arena alongside Pinkie so we can win our second Bifrost match!”
“Some tournament match isn’t worth your life, kid,” Spitfire said agitatedly.
“Yes, it is,” Rainbow said coldly.
I walked up beside my team captain, struggling to move in a straight line or without falling down, “I’m standing by Rainbow Dash. Miss Spitfire, if you want to take us to a doctor, you’ll have to take us by force.”
“That’s my girl,” Rainbow said with a smile and gently pounded her hoof against my shoulder, making me blush and for the briefest of seconds forget my wounds.
Applejack and Rarity didn’t say much, I’m not sure how much they really wanted to intervene, especially considering we had no idea of knowing how dangerous Rainbow might be if her strange black flame powers reactivated…
Spitfire didn’t say anything and just shook her head with a frown, so Rainbow spread her wings and quickly charged out the door. I spread my own wings and attempted to follow but I was too beaten down… even after getting beaten up by Long Face and Phetlock and dragged into a dungeon, Mane-iac didn’t go easy on me either and left me with some pretty severe bruises, especially on my wings…
Rainbow looked back at me and clicked her tongue. I was worried that I was letting her down and that I was a failure and that she would hate me and abandon me and leave me behind… but instead she charged under me and jumped, knocking me off the ground and onto her back. She struggled, but… she carried me as we flew all the way to the arena.
I didn’t deserve a teammate like her… she was too good to me.
****
-PINKIE PIE-
I was sobbing and wheezing as I stumbled into the waiting room, collapsing onto the couch as a very concerned Twilight approached me hesitantly. Tears were streaming down my face as bloody snot dripped out my nose.
Just because the damage to my body wasn’t real doesn’t mean I didn’t feel it, and that much mental strain is baaaaaaaad for you. I suddenly understood why they only have each fighter do one fight.
“I gotta…” I was breathing haggardly and suddenly coughed “I got one more. One more fight. Gotta get out there.”
“Pinkie, are you nuts?!” Twilight said frantically. She jumped in place and gesticulated something but between the tears and the disorienting pain, she was just kind of a blur. “You’re practically half-dead at this point! If you try to fight again, you might get seriously hurt!”
“So?” I coughed and put up my leg to keep it contained, but I groaned as I saw specks of blood on my hoof. “I have to fight. Rainbow’s counting on me.”
“Pinkie, your life is more important than winning some fight—“
“NO, it ISN’T.”
I threw myself onto the ground and stomped a hoof, wobbling back and forth as I glared at Twilight and desperately tried to maintain my balance and not collapse.
Twilight recoiled from my abrupt change in attitude but she took a step toward me and gingerly raised a hoof, “Pinkie Pie, you can’t—“
“I need to win this for Rainbow,” I growled, my breathing slow and painful. I felt bad for snapping at Twilight but if I let my focus drift for even a second to anything other than ‘fight fight fight fight fight’ I knew I would topple over immediately.
“I need to win for her so she can complete her dream. If I can’t even do that, then what good am I?!” I shrieked, causing Twilight to flinch again and take a step back.
I shook my head and took a single, shaky step forward.
“Rainbow’s counting on me and I… I can’t let her down. I would honesty rather…”
The word ‘die’ got stuck in my throat and threatened to choke me so I just spat blood onto the ground and walked past Twilight, who nervously let me pass.
I felt the weight of the world crushing me with every step into the arena. I hoped that my body would feel lighter after the illusion was cast, though I didn’t think it would.
My opponent was a shadowy looking girl in like a cloak? I couldn’t tell if she was all shadowy looking because she was wearing a shroud or because I couldn’t see straight and everything look blurry. Maybe both?
None of that mattered. I needed to find some reservoir of inner strength so I could win this for Rainbow.
“Hey, uh, are you okay?” Starlight said nonchalantly through her microphone. “Competitor Pinkie Pie? Are you certain you want to do this? The Bifrost Oversight Committee really does not want to see you die on their watch and none of the ponies in the crowd want to see that either.”
“I’ll be fine!” I snapped at Starlight. There was a part of me that was genuinely grateful for her concern, even if it was just to protect Bifrost’s reputation and avoid a lawsuit or something, but all I could think about was winning this fight.
Nothing. Else. Matters.
“Ehhhh, if you’re sure…” Starlight said, but before she could give the word to begin the illusion, a raspy voice cut through the sky.
“Hold on!”
My heart soared and I looked into the sky with stars in my eyes as I recognized Rainbow’s voice. She flew above the arena holding Fluttershy on her back and gently landed in front of me, Fluttershy stumbling off of her and clattering onto the ground in a heap.
Rainbow confidently pointed to Starlight in her announcing booth. “I’ll be taking over this fight!”
“You don’t look too good yourself, Rainbow Dash!” Starlight said, trying to act like she wasn’t impressed by Rainbow’s entrance. “But let’s see what you’ve got! All non-fighters please leave the arena so we can begin the fight!”
“Good work, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow placed a hoof against my shoulder and smiled at me graciously as tears started to fill my eyes; but these were happy tears this time!
Although…
It wasn’t until Rainbow was looking into my eyes and touching me that I realized the shape she was in. She didn’t look any better than me, with her body all bloody and battered and it looked like she was having trouble seeing straight.
Fluttershy looked even worse, like she was practically catatonic. I was worried about her… but I trusted Rainbow. I knew she would have everything under control.
I tried to say “Thank you” but the words came out a garbled, bloody mess so I just nodded and assisted Fluttershy off the ground and helped her limp out of the arena.
Before we could make it back to the waiting room though we heard a thud and turned around to see Rainbow lying on the ground.
I just didn’t have the energy to scream her name but I tried to run to her side… but I couldn’t do that either. I got halfway to her before collapsing myself, Fluttershy falling to the ground right behind me.
I heard Starlight say… something. I don’t know what, my ears were ringing badly. And then everything went dark.
****
-FLUTTERSHY-
I was really sore when I woke up and my limbs felt really heavy, but it was nothing like the agonizing pain throbbing through my whole body before I lost consciousness. I felt clean sheets wrapped around me and when I opened my eyes I saw a clear white ceiling. My guess was I was in the hospital.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Rarity’s voice said gently and I moved my head to see her sitting on a chair beside my bed.
“I am,” I said weakly and attempted to smile at her. “What happened to Rainbow, and Pinkie?” I asked concernedly, my heart starting to beat faster as my mind raced with all the possible terrible answers to that question.
“They’re both okay,” Rarity said soothingly and delicately put a dainty hoof on my twitching leg as I breathed a sigh of relief. “Pinkie Pie is sleeping off her injuries but the doctors say she’s completely stable and will make a full recovery in due time. And Rainbow…”
Rarity groaned and rolled her eyes and I had a bad feeling that I knew what she was about to say. “She’s also stable, although last I checked she was trying to get out of her bed against doctor’s orders.”
“That sounds like Rainbow,” I said with a weak laugh, relieved that it wasn’t as bad as I thought.
I took a deep breath and let it out as a weary but contented sigh; I couldn’t even begin to explain my relief to hear both of them were safe. My ears perked up and a blush crept across my cheeks though as I suddenly remembered it wasn’t just the three of us who were in danger.
“And what about you and your team, Rarity? You’re not hurt are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Rarity giggled and bat her hoof. “I’m sore in places but I didn’t suffer anything close to what the three of you went through. Twilight didn’t even get involved in the fights and Applejack, well she’s a tank. She was hurt pretty badly and administered to the hospital as well, but the doctors let her go early because her wounds were already healed.”
“That’s great to hear,” I breathed another tired sigh of relief and snuzzled up against my pillow, content to get a little bit more sleep if nopony needed me for anything.
“In fact,” Rarity continued with a chuckle and I opened a sleepy eye to look at her, the soothing sound of her voice making me smile, “I asked Applejack to keep an eye on Rainbow Dash. Applejack’s the only pony I know who could have a chance at keeping that woman in line.”
“Oh, will you please make sure someone’s taking care of Pinkie?” I asked concernedly and lifted my head. “I don’t want her to be alone when she wakes up.”
“Twilight’s already on it, darling,” Rarity said calmly, inspecting her hoof with a dazzling smile.
“Wow, you thought of everything,” I said happily and let myself fall back onto the pillow.
“I try.”
Rarity laughed softly, and seeing her smiling face made me feel at ease for the first time since… this morning? It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that I didn’t know how long I had slept for, and to be honest I wasn’t keen on finding out just yet. Still though, I couldn’t have been happier to see Rarity watching over me when I woke up.
“Thank you, Rarity,” I said gently as the sandpony began to lull me into its dream land. “For being there to rescue me.”
“Ah, it’s…” Rarity looked away and shrugged her shoulders listlessly, concern suddenly washing over me once again. “I just wish I had been able to do more, to do anything really, to help you.”
“Rarity, if you hadn’t been there…” I shuddered as I recalled some of the awful memories of being chained up in that place, but I bit my lip and forced those thoughts away, at least for now.
“I don’t know what I would have done. I was terrified, and seeing you coming to my rescue… made me think there was hope.”
Rarity smiled sadly but I could tell she wasn’t entirely hearing me.
“And when Rainbow turned into that…” I muttered, my breathing becoming quicker and harder as I recalled that… that thing that she turned into, which was almost scarier than the kidnapping and the dungeon.
“…that horrible black pony… that terrified me even more. I was so afraid that something had happened to her and that I would lose her forever, and if you and your friend hadn’t been there… I don’t think I could have called out to her…”
I thought for a second and chuckled, “Of course I couldn’t, I would still have been chained up.”
That made Rarity laugh a little too, which made me happy. I weakly grabbed Rarity’s foreleg and held it in my trembling hooves. “I needed you there, Rarity, and there you were. And I am truly grateful from the bottom of my heart that you were looking out for me.”
“It’s…” Rarity eyes lit up and glistened with tears, a shaky smile on her face. She took her hoof back and wiped her eyes before bowing her head and saying sweetly, “It was my pleasure, darling.”
I smiled back at her and closed my eyes, falling into a soft and dreamless sleep.
****
-RAINBOW DASH-
I finally managed to get away from those infuriating, obnoxious doctors trying to keep me chained to the bed and flew up to the roof of the hospital. I slammed my front hooves onto the floor and screamed.
I was so angry. I was angry at Team B-Listers and Team Mane-iac, I was angry at Fluttershy for getting kidnapped, at Pinkie for losing one of her fights, at myself for not being strong enough to do… anything. And just like before, I was even more mad at myself for being mad at my teammates and what a jerk that made me feel like.
I was so full of furious, pained energy and I had no idea what to do with it so I just paced back and forth on the rooftop, snarling and stomping, sometimes kicking the big tin things on the hospital roof or even throwing my whole body into them, which hurt but I didn’t care.
The door leading back into the hospital stairwell opened and I jolted my body around to see who it was.
“Figured I’d find you up here,” Applejack said dismally as she closed the door behind her.
“What do you want?” I said tersely.
“Just wanna make sure you don’t hurt yerself or nothin’,” Applejack shrugged and frowned. “Kinda wonderin’ why yer up here instead of checkin’ on yer teammates.”
“If my teammates weren’t such losers, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” I sneered, and if I could’ve cringed myself to literal death I think I would have instantly but instead I just dug myself deeper by huffily turning away from Applejack.
“Whoa now,” Applejack walked toward me, an angry scowl on her face.
I lowered my head and glared at her, scraping a hoof across the ground to make it clear that if she took another step she’d have a fight on her hooves. She stopped and scowled at me in pure disgust, not that I could blame her.
“Yer not seriously blamin’ Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy for this mess, are ya?”
No. it’s my fault. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t—
“Of course I blame them!” I yelled angrily, more to silence the rampaging thoughts in my head than with any concern for Applejack. “It’s their fault! Fluttershy for being kidnapped and Pinkie for not being strong enough to win two fights. Two! That’s not a very big number, Applejack!”
Never take blame.
“Have you seen the condition Pinkie was in?” Applejack yelled in frustration and stomped a foot on the ground. “She pushed herself to the limit and then some. She ain’t part of the problem, she went above and beyond for you and you repay her with blame? What is wrong with you, Rainbow Dash?”
Never admit fault… but…
“It’s not like I’m letting myself off the hook!” I said desperately, pointing an accusing hoof at Applejack. “I know I’m just as much at fault as they are! I’m a worthless garbage monster, but I already knew that! I’m good at one thing, fighting, and it turns out I’m not even very good at that.”
I turned away and started trembling.
There it was, stated plainly. The truth I’d been trying to deny for so long.
I’m the one at fault, I’m the one to blame, I’m the one who’s worthless.
I wanted so badly to scream or to just break down and cry but there was no way I was going to do that in front of Applejack.
“Rainbow Dash…”
Applejack sighed but then got distracted for a second, and right then I felt a droplet of rain fall on top of my head. It wasn’t long before a steady rainfall was pouring down onto us. Applejack quickly retreated underneath the covering above the doorway but I just let it drench me.
“Rainbow, yer never gonna be strong enough to win every fight,” Applejack said. “No one is.”
“Sombra is,” I said in disgust without thinking.
I looked back at Applejack and she was staring up to the sky. She shook her head and frowned disapprovingly at me, a look that was all too familiar to me.
“Look, I don’t pretend to know what yer beef with Sombra is, but yer teammates, both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, really put themselves out for you today. For you, Rainbow Dash. The very least you could do is repay ‘em with a little kindness.”
With those words Applejack opened the door behind her and went back inside the hospital, leaving me alone in the rain with my thoughts.
“Rainbow, your father is struggling.”
The words of my mom echoed through my head and I felt nauseous.
“We need to be patient with him.”
“Shut up, mom,” I said aloud and spat at the floor.
“My name’s Pinkie Pie!”
I suddenly remembered the first time Pinkie introduced herself to me.
I was a scared kid just starting to grapple with the reality that the adults in my life didn’t really care about me. I was nervous and flighty and fidgety, and every stranger that my dad tried to manipulate made me uncomfortable. I hated strangers and meeting new people, but dad was constantly trying to cozy up to other strong fighters to use them for this or that.
The Pie family was no different at first, but Pinkie… somehow she really squirmed her way into my heart. She understood where I was coming from and the pain that I struggled with, because she was always so nervous too, and we both had the whole… trans… thing, in common.
“Sometimes I just feel like there’s a hole inside me.”
I remembered those words that she said to me when we were kids, clear as day.
She was always so bubbly and happy and friendly, and I finally started warming up to her just a little.
That day I was trying to get away from my parents and just forget about my life for a few hours and I thought of Pinkie Pie and how she always seemed like so much fun. Somehow I worked up the courage to go find her and I was going to ask her to hang out, but she was crying when I found her.
She tried to play it off like it was no big deal but I recognized those tears. She was lonely, I recognized it from seeing it in myself. We didn’t go anywhere or do anything that day, we just sat in her hotel room and talked for hours.
I ended up spending the night in her room and when I woke up she had brought free hotel breakfast up to share with me. It was the very first time I ever really understood that another pony might actually care about me, and it was baffling.
And now here I was, berating her in my mind because she couldn’t do the impossible, despite the fact that I had no lack of shortcomings myself. I sat in the rain cursing myself for being such an idiot. If Pinkie had heard the things I said about her, whether I ‘meant them’ or not, she would be devastated and she didn’t deserve that at all.
I thought about what Applejack said, about showing kindness to her and Fluttershy. For a second I thought maybe I should go check on them and see how they were recovering, but…
They didn’t deserve that…
They didn’t deserve to put up with someone like me.
I climbed up onto the plaster railing along the hospital rooftop and stared down at the ground floor below. It was a long way down and for half a second it seemed really inviting. I shook my head and grit my teeth, refusing to pay those thoughts any mind.
I looked up at the gray clouds as the rain poured down my face, taking the place of tears that I couldn’t shed, no matter how desperately I wanted to.