6.1
Blight felt the need to check. Really unnecessary but it didn’t hurt to extend a hoof. Only willing to do this just for Soul until tonight as she walked down the dark hallway with but the moonlight shining in through cracked openings in the few doorways left to illuminate the cloudy surface of the house. Clouds her hooves feel silently on as she liked it. On her black hooves.

Soul was fast asleep from what she could tell, as asleep as she could get after this day ended with the sparse words they had to share to one another. So sparse. Soul’s last words still sitting on her mind hours after they had been said. She thanked me. Thanked me and then went to bed. There really was no need for her to thank me. None at all. All had fallen silent when that pony drifted off next to Blight under those soft blankets as soft as the clouds themselves were. For, still, only I get that privilege.

She continued on, finding curiosity in the strange paintings and portraits left to decorate the walls. All Wonderbolts related, or even a few that looked to do with the sky… such was Dash’s obsession. It was kind of adorable how much that Pegasus loved her passion. So much as to make this house modeled after it. Knowing that this was Blight’s actual first time stepping hoof around this house free of the bedroom. If just for a short jaunt. When she reached her destination, no need to go any further. She had heard it from the bedroom, but… it never hurt to make sure. Just to see, and Blight tapped a hoof on the edge of the door. Giving a little push for her to peek in. Seeing that large bed draped in blue under the yawning gaze of the Moon shining through the open windows.

No real movement, just the slightest she saw from the blankets rising and falling in such a perfect pattern from the pony who breathed slowly underneath them, with only her rainbow tail laying still along her bedside. Just as she liked to see. Best for her to get her rest now. Rest. Some of us have to.

What even is rest in my eyes?

All I feel… is emptiness. I don’t even see how someponies can sleep so well when some of us feel this inside us. Not just me. Soulblight went back, went back and saw that truth.

6.2
Soul… just as she left her. With the Moon shining down on her and beaming along her cheeks, the cheeks of the whimpering mare trembling in her sleep. Oblivious to anything. Everything. That was what made Blight curse the day, for this day meant nothing… nothing for both of us.

You only wanted what was best for me… but all I feel from this day is remorse. I know now, it’s not meant for me. This is all meant for you. No matter what Soul may say. I hate to admit it, but this is all entirely for Soul. Just as I thought from day one. I see that now. Well I guess leaving that snowy prison was worth it. Worth it for you. I know there is only one thing that matters for you here, Soul. We really are similar in so many ways but what few differences we have, so vast. So great. Such as what you want, and what I want. What I want for you.

No longer what I want.

And I see that… you have no idea what happened back at that party. All those happy moments and all I feel in the end is this… pain in me. So much that Blight had to clutch her chest so hard. It’s funny though, even if I cry. Because I’m still happy for you. I know now that you will get what you want. Just you wait, Soul. I keep it all a surprise for you.

Blight had not even told her. Even when she lay in Soul’s caring embrace for so long. She doesn’t need to know anything. Any of what I want for her. Leave it all as it is. As a surprise for her. A gift for her. It’s all I can wish for. Even as she stood before the window and stared out at the vast Moon and that same empty sky, bringing those wishes to life did not calm her.

6.3
Soul doesn’t have a cute title for me, maybe I could use that? She thought it over. If Dash would be so accepting and caring for only Soul, after all the things that Soul attacked herself over, then that chance… I still have it. Even now. As she had garnered at the party. For them all to accept Soul… no matter how much Soul messes up, they will still love her. At least my actions led to that. Told me what I wanted to know.

If it was me, I don’t think they would have.

I’m so happy for Soul, just as she would be happy for me if… if I got that acceptance too. There is no way to turn back time, nothing I can do to see the truth. All ponies are alike. Just some… can be accepted. So I make this decision.

Staring up at the beautiful Moon and how it flickered in the night. She smiled up at it. So many nights I spent looking up at you, and all I felt was sadness. All the times it was different, why, I could count them on my hoof. This night. This one night, unlike any other. It feels like the same. But it will be different for my best friend. Pleasant and peaceful. No more pain for her. She doesn’t need to cry anymore. Because I know for sure now how it is between you and your oldest friend.

There is one last thing to do to stop all this pain. To stop it for… for her. So that I can know I didn’t fail. Fail this one pony who gave me so very much. I refuse to. Even if she would never forgive me for all the harm I’ve done, all the terrible things I wanted, I can at least give her back what she lost. Give a happy life to ponies who deserve it. Such was my vow. And there is another pony I know who can help me there too. Such is my game.

They all don’t know it.

6.4
Blight took one last deep breath, comforted. Softly rubbing her own foreleg and the remainder of that feeling she still had… when another’s touched her own. It was still nice to feel comforted today… if only for a little bit. Starting tonight, Soul will know it too. She will have it back from so many ponies. Those ponies all did such a great job at playing along in this, but… as she blinked at the Moon above her, it was time to end this little game.

This game of mine. Of ours. Of time and chance. This waste of time for me.

I made my decision. I’m sorry, Soul. We promised to do this together, but I’m making my move without you. I hope you can forgive me. It’s all for your own good, and for your dreams. And so I can feel like… I’ve done something.

“Do you remember, Soul” she whispered, knowing Soul would not hear her. Not even knowing if she was talking to Soul or to the thing she stared at. Even as she said that name. It felt too… unreal. “When we stared up at the same Moon together, and all that pain and loneliness we felt. Yet neither of us could feel the other’s. Everything we felt.” Blight closed her eyes. Rubbing her cheeks free of the tears she had. “I remember, and they all do too. Now… the entire world knows it. No longer bottled up. As it had been for so long… looking up at this Moon. At our sky. We both feel it.”

And I hate it.

It hurts but I can’t help but be happy. So happy for you. I want you to cry, cry tears of joy from now on. The ones she saw opening up her eyes. Filming her vision… her vision in blood dripping and piercing… deep into the sky she looked towards. I will always be so happy, no matter what intense pain I feel. If only for you.

“All for you, Soul.” As I borrow it again. One last time. For you. Blight closed her eyes, …and she dreamt.

6.5
Open once more… to see those eyes, those eyes of a dragon… such terror that anypony may see staring back at her. Before they went away with one blink, leaving those yellow Suns behind. Taking one second, just to settle… and to ruffle the soft blankets. To nuzzle the pillow with her cheek, and Blight hopped out of bed. Eager to settle this all.

I just need to do this. Walking on with magenta hooves. Not looking back. No more regrets or doubt. For this will be the only chance I get to make my mistakes right again. She stopped. Setting her hooves down on the cloudy floor before the cracked open door. One last moment. She smiled so deep over it and felt so comfortable. With no more butterflies in her stomach. Just a calm mind and a hollow heart. Nothing left to feel.

I want you to feel love.

She pushed that door open with her magenta wrapped hoof. One word was all that was needed. I know what to do. …Exactly what I always wanted. To change her fate.
“Dashie.”

6.6
Aww just when it was getting good, of course I woke up. Dreams always seemed to end at the wrong time. Just a moment to stare at the dark wall across from her, blinking and yawning and then… yeah, somepony had said something. I could swear I heard my name or something. Like somepony near her.

Dashie… was that it? Wait.

Rainbow lurched out of bed, sitting up against the pillow and holding the blanket up to her chin. Just a dark room and… that light to the side. She found it, it was as she thought. That made her even more confused as to why this was happening. Two yellow eyes looking at her in the doorway, and the dark outline of a mare with them.

A pony for sure. The only pony who that could be.

It actually sent a chill down her spine seeing that… unusual sight this late at night. How long was she staring at me… damn and how late is it?

“Soul…” Dash called out, even she admitted she sounded pretty asleep still. Having to rub her eyes for a moment. Yawning once more and looking back at the pony in the doorway. “What are you doing up? Can’t sleep?” After how great this day had been, can’t blame her. Soul probably wants to stay up or something. She had a lot of energy. She did eat a lot of sweets. But time kept going, too much of it without anything.

Dash just watching that pony staring at her across the room. Just the two of them in this silent night. So silent.

Dash perked her ears up. Looking over to the windows. “You okay, Soul?” Slowly turning away from them and how so very quiet the world outside them was right now… really seeing how not a single breeze blew or a cricket chirped very different to say the least. But Soul was still there, and her eyes dropped for a moment.

She giggled.

Giggled and dashed off out of sight. That tail she still felt being the last thing she saw flipping in the doorway with the last of her words.

“Come outside, you gotta see something.”

6.7
Outside? At this time? What the hell can be outside this late? It was that undying curiosity though. Such a strange thing to happen. Soul really wants me to come see something with her right now. Dash sat there, not sure if she should be annoyed or flattered that Soul needed her for something… in the dead of night that was. When she could have enjoyed whatever it was herself. Rainbow imagined that Soul had been staring out at the sky with all the thoughts of the day on her mind. Just like Dash, which was why it had been so hard to fall asleep. So hard after today. Today, such a great day. I never wanted it to end.

Sure, I’ll see what she wants. Maybe spend a little more time with her… she yawned. Before I pass out again.

Rainbow rolled off the bed, nearly taking the blanket with her as she fell with a thud. The feeling alone did well to wake her up. Along with that chill breezing over her silently when she stepped out from the covers. Shivering for a second.

“Wait up!” Soul went downstairs it looked like, so that’s where Dash went off to. Quickly trotting over to the doorway Soul had been in and looking left, down the dark hallway and beyond to where she saw the outline of the stairs and nothing more. Soul was nowhere to be seen.

She took a quick look in the other direction just to be sure Soul had not pulled something on her. Nope, just an empty hallway. Very dark down there, actually. Even though she saw that Soul’s door was wide open. Almost looked like shadows moving along the walls. Kinda creepy looking. Like Soul could pop out at any time and scare her, sounded like something that pony would do. Especially after today.

6.8
Rainbow made her way down the hallway, setting a hoof on the cloudy wall and guiding herself. Careful not to trip in the dark and being sure she could see the stairs before she could fall down them. Looking all around the stairwell. What the hell? I can’t even see anything. Not a thing a hoof’s length in front of her. It kind of frightened her for a moment. This weird silence and the threat of not knowing where she was going. Didn’t seem like Soul had any issue. She had yet to hear any tumbling.

“Sweet Celestia, Soul, where are you!?” Another chill coming over her, much worse than the last. Damn it’s getting cold. She really wished to go back under the covers. Right in the middle of spring, of course it’ll be cold on the night she decided to roam around the house. So dumb.

She slid a hoof along the floor and caught the first step, carefully feeling her way down it, and then she repeated. Looking all around, she barely made out the railing or the ceiling or anything else. Like she might bump her head if she flew up there or run right into the wall. But this seemed to be working. “Wait for me, I’m coming!”

She took her time. Finding each step and it got a little easier each time. She had to be getting close now. Soul dragging me downstairs, oh she better have something good. I don’t know why she wants to play around this late. That party must have really livened her up. It was actually great. Just as she wanted. Though she had an unusual decision on how to do it. She just hoped that they could both get some sleep tonight despite it. Soul needs it, and I sure as hell need it too.

Dash found her way down the stairs and… she thought she could see the bottom of the floor. That light blue hue of the clouds shining like rain water typical of her floor. Except for one thing… one thing that made her skid to a halt and stare down. Right as her heart plummeted and she gasped. She could see it, but for a reason she could not explain at all.

No way.

6.9
It was all red… her floor was supposed to be as blue as rain water, if only that were the only thing wrong. She could see again, everything… everything was right in front of her at the bottom of the stairs but… she wanted to back away. Looking back up the stairs, and all the darkness up there. Then back down.

What the hell is going on?

The entire room was red! Her sofa to the left, her counter peeking out just at the periphery of the stairwell, and such a silent and dreary terror to it all. That was the best way she could call it. It was terror. That which made heart race now. Her entire body shiver as it got so cold.

Wh… what is going on? “Soul!?”

Rainbow hesitated to take the last steps down there. Even as she stood on the reddened stairs, and all that shade creeping up around and behind her. Like water soaking the floor. All of it shining in. Unfeeling and alike to the sunlight itself. That couldn’t be right. This had to be some sort of dream. It had to be. No way Soul would wake me up in the middle of the night and all this happens. But… there was something about this cold. Her body was so cold. This shivering, it felt as real as she could imagine. The desperation to feel a little warm. Like a real horror she was experiencing.

Deep in the middle of winter. Alone on these bloody steps, over a sea of red clouds that made up her house.

She was scared to take a step. Really taking all of her courage just to make the decision and descend that final step… into the red room below. In the hopes of finding the one pony who led her here. This has to be what she wanted to show me. Something bad is going on. What is all this? This thing she had never seen before. Like somepony was really wanting to mess with the sky tonight. That’s what it seemed like.

6.10
She looked over to her left and all the open windows she left with their drapes softly blowing at their sides. Breaking open and shining in thick rays of bloody light from outside. So thick… it was amazing to even see the dust floating around in that light glossed in white. She stared at it. Not sure what to do. What to say. If anything could even be thought over such a sight.

Slowly turning, looking all over the blood-stained light of her entire house. Her kitchen and walls. All the tables and paintings. Like those rays were being cast everywhere. Not a single thing avoided that red shine.

“What the hell…” Rainbow shuddered. None of this can be real. But… she tapped the floor. It sure as hell felt so real.

“Soul, come on now… where are you?” Rainbow really hated to but she made her way around the room. Slowly walking over to the kitchen and looking back behind her to the stairs expecting to see something by now. Jeez, it was so weird. I’m usually really good about being alone in this house… not tonight. Not with all this. Even with her old friend being in here. Whatever was going on was way too creepy. Way too different.

Yeah, so let’s just hope this is what she wanted to show me and I can go back to bed and forget all of this. Especially this really creepy feeling making her fur stand straight on her back and her entire body spasm. Shaking on her legs. Unless Soul is doing this on purpose just to make me scared. She’s hiding.

Fine, I’ll just go back to bed. Maybe she’ll quit this. Soul did a good job with all this but… this is a bit too much weirdness for me. Worse than anything I’ve seen before. She turned to do just that. Leave and hope Soul would give this up.

“Dashie!”

6.11
Rainbow halted. Turning, she saw that shadow right as it went across the wall. The dark figure and what was left of it of a pony running out… through the front door, and it slammed shut. Making Dash wince. All the way down that reddened hallway where even the light along its length shone of bright red hue. Cast by the many rays of bloody light coming in through the windows down there. So intense, even worse than in here.

What is she doing? She wants me to go outside? Incredible how Soul wasn’t even hesitating to do any of this with her, no matter how eerie and weird this all felt. There really must be something incredible going on. That had to be it. If Soul was so brave, this had to be good. Something worth all this. Maybe then she would figure out what was going on.

Rainbow left the kitchen and went after where she saw Soul go. Running and then slowing down as she went further down the hallway and towards the front door. Looking left and right. Trying to see in her walk through the windows at either side, with all their drapes sent flying in intense wind. Intense yet silent. Everything sounded too calm, and the further she went down the hallway, the weirder it felt. Like goosebumps prickling away at her skin. The light getting even more intense. Such a terrible sense of fear she was starting to get with how it all looked to be getting worse the closer she got to it.

How the hell did Soul even go down this so easily? This whole thing is too freaky. Then she just barged out the door into whatever it was. Something was up. The only thing keeping Dash from breaking down in fear was that drive she had to see it. Thank Celestia nopony can see me; how much she was shaking… even though the others would be afraid too. This was all not right at all. This feeling. Getting worse as she came up to the door. Standing right in front of it, like a rock just hit her in the face. A huge rush.

She was so terrified. Looking up at her door, all the red light peeking through the cracks. Shining in through the windows and breaks in the clouds high above the door. Not a sound was made.

She stood motionless. Nothing moved. All was silent. With only her chattering teeth left.

If I’m feeling this afraid… then Soul, there was no way. Her old friend must be out there. All the terrible things she went through, she shouldn’t be out there alone and afraid of whatever was doing this. She didn’t want to endure it either, that damn door looming down on her. Staring at her. She had to look back down the hallway.

Nothing. Even when it felt like… like it wasn’t nothing.

Dash gulped, she still found herself able to set a hoof on the doorknob. Holding it there. Leaning against the door for a little bit. Just to breathe, with not a thought crossing her mind except for one. What is happening with Soul? Is she safe? She just ran out here. No hesitation. Shit, there was only one reason she could work up the courage to do this. Get Soul back in here where it’s safe. Out of whatever was out there, cuz there has to be something bad going on. Or something not right.

Get her in here. Do it, you idiot.

Stop just standing there and shaking. Dash almost choked on her haggard breath thinking that. Stumbling, she felt the knob turn as her hoof went along it, …and the door clicked open. Her eyes went wide. As that door slowly slid open from her weight, and all the light shining through, like daylight had befallen the land. A sea of red as bright as she could imagine coming in.

She jumped away from the door, leaving it cracked open. Yet nothing happened. Just bright light coming in. Not even a breeze. Not a sound.

Okay, okay that worked. I didn’t want that, but so what… as long as it worked. Nothing bad. Rainbow took a very deep breath. Just wanting to get out of this, really preferring to have Soul by her side right now more than anything. Hope she didn’t fly off. Since nothing happened, let’s get this over with. The sooner, the better… to not feel so afraid of this… being alone in this. She almost screamed putting all that effort into punching that door with the brunt of her hoof, and it creaked open. Swinging right open for her, and the world beyond.

6.12
A whole world wiped away in the flow a silver capped mane tearing through the emptiness, shining bright even in this world that Rainbow stepped into.

“Soul, what are you doing?” She called over to her. That pony she knew… standing at the other side, far across from her atop the clouds. Clouds… wind and skies bleached… bleached in the same color, no different. Like she really had not changed anything by stepping outside as the entirety of it lay deep in that same red.

The same red that made her stop in her tracks.

Staring up at the same thing she caught her old friend looking up at, not even bothering to turn around and face her or even respond. Only her tail left to meet Dash across her balcony. But there was one damn good reason for it. A sight Rainbow had never seen before. One she didn’t think anypony had. And we are seeing this together. Like this all is supposed to be a dream.

Just as the world, as was the Moon.

Rainbow walked forward, almost tripping over her hooves staring up at it, its great sight high over them all. Warped in such red she could call it disgusting. Horrifying. It made her tremble. Dark and scary enough that it stood out so well next to everything else. With not a cloud in the sky to cover it, make it any less scary… draping and blistering the world in its hue… like all the light came from it. Like little lines, rays of it. Everywhere.

This can’t be real. This has to be a dream. Dash looked back down, past Soul… all of Ponyville sitting down below. All of it set in this light. A light that went as far as she could see, to the mountains and the dark world beyond. All lit in this red as dark as the night itself. Like no other sight. This had to be a dream, but if it is… what is it? A dream or some nightmare because she sure couldn’t decide… even if she started trembling.

But to be so real. That was what made this so scary.

Dash knew this was not right, to feel this afraid over something. This pressured. Like a thousand walls crashing down on her under this pressure. Encircling her and not letting her leave. She sat frozen looking at the Moon, at the sky. Silently flowing forever on in a silent breeze that carried this darkness with it. Blinding her own fur in red, and the pools of water around her. The drips of rain from above. All colored to look like something else that made her cringe. Yet Soul was so calm.

6.13
Her fur as burning red as Dash’s, standing. Not even caring and looking out at this world. To the movement of countless trees far ahead swaying elegantly in the breeze, as elegant as her tail and mane. Their hairs softly flowing in a rhythmic dance and mixing with the air. So intent. So settling.

This must be what she wants me to see. Something so very wrong.

I don’t know what to do. What can I say? I don’t want to show her… I’m afraid. This very world we came in from so happy together and enjoyed. What is happening? Does anypony else know about this? Did Twilight? Luna? To feel all alone right now. Rainbow shook her head.

This wasn’t right. These feelings. Soul is here with me, I’m not alone. She must feel so bad as well. Trying to put on a tough face. For nopony could bare to see such beauty turned to horror like this. Escape from this darkness, hope for the best. I’m gonna get her inside. Still, it was hard to hold back that need to know what was going on. And we shouldn’t be out here.

It’s cold. So cold. Dash shivered. But Soul didn’t.

“Don’t run off like that” Rainbow asked of her, really trying her best not to panic. She even thought her voice may crack badly when she spoke. Taking too much effort just to take some steps towards her old friend. Stepping and, she looked down just in time to reel her hoof back up in fright. Remembering, that was just a puddle of water she almost stepped in. This damn light was really messing with her. She still stepped around it. Careful to avoid any more. But she got closer anyways. Getting all the more annoyed when Soul didn’t even react. Really, how is she so calm? You should be afraid… like I am. I hope something isn’t wrong.

6.14
“Soul, answer me” Dash snapped this time. Really not wanting any more games at this point. Just as another strong wind hit her and Soul. Blowing sharply, lasting too long. Finally falling off and she called out again. “Soul. Look this is great and all but I really want to go inside.” That breeze actually gave a good excuse. “It’s getting cold out here.” Yet that stillness went on and her annoyance went on too. That was the only thing keeping her going as she walked forward to the edge of the balcony where that stubborn pony stood.

What’s with her?

“Hey Soul, come on now…” She finally demanded right as she came so close, close enough to avoid her flowing tail and reach out. Out to set a hoof upon Soul’s slender back. To get her attention, that’s what she wanted. Not this. This, as she witnessed it. It making her eyes widen. A need to scream. When what she saw had to prove it, that this was a dream.

Her old friend… turned to mist.

Carried away in the sky. Until it disappeared. That darkness joining the rest, and she was all alone.

Hoof out to nothing, staring away at where she once stood. Rainbow backed off. Her chest twitching and her wings bucked up. Not even able to get a word out except in little gasps. As she wanted to run. What…?

“I’d say the weather is perfect, perfect enough to sleep in.”

6.15
Rainbow stopped. Gasping loudly. Not Soul. Not… who? What?

Everything that happened, happened so fast. First all this, now… there’s somepony… behind me. And I don’t know who it is.

Deep, and so strong. Like it even could be commanding, so why so… happy? I’m here, alone, with somepony else. In this terrible world. This nightmare. Can anything more happen? “Oh, what now?” Dash whispered. Gulping harder than before.

She turned to see. Right where she heard that voice. Turning and she saw… those yellow eyes looking back at her. If only, if only they were what she thought. She really thought they were Soul’s. But those were the eyes… the eyes of something else. As dark as the shadow cast around them standing over Dash at the top of the steps to the sealed door. So dark that it looked like the door itself was just a shadow. Except for the wings fluttering at the sides… and the legs. All with a smile greeting her beneath those frighteningly empty eyes. Standing tall over…

“Soul!” Dash cried out. Seeing her old friend there. Right with it. Huddled up on the steps, with only her breaths to break her stillness. All that darkness rose over her. Rising… as a leg rose up and then another. Four legs… when Dash knew she was looking at… a pony.

As black as darkness itself. Blaring out from all this red and shrouding it all in darkness. Casting itself over Soul, the pony this dark pony stood over with its legs covering her. Not even moving. Just staring down at Dash with those horrible eyes. Four legs, hooves… the ears and Dash wanted to make out a long, dark mane and a dark tail flipping behind it. Was this really a pony? Sure looked like one. As scary as it was, and… there with her beloved old friend. Rainbow was scared, so very scared… and to see Soul there, all alone with that thing. The only pony she could rely on right now, and she was laying still. Almost under the hooves of that thing, and its mouth opened.

“See?” it glanced down to the pony under it. “Fast asleep.” It spoke out through a jagged mouth. Smiling. Smiling back at Dash. All alone with her, and… talking like that, like nothing was wrong. How… how…

6.16
“How dare you!” Dash yelled at it. Terrified to yell but, she couldn’t stop. I can’t let it get away with that. With whatever it did. What all of this is. “What the hell did you do to her?!” Really not sure if… if she should even do anything. If she could do anything. To this… this thing, with nothing but mocking fear in its eyes and… fangs? Damn knives it looked like making up its mouth. Like it really was supposed to be what those eyes made it out to be.

Oh man, what do I do, now that I said that? What am I even supposed to do?

She was so scared. Couldn’t move, like a damn stump. Fearing her shaking hind legs betrayed how much of a show she was trying to put on to protect Soul from this. For it to come down and do… something. Something to make this nightmare even worse. A nightmare like this, there was no way I can be this scared. She felt herself slipping. Ready to break down in panic.

But… the thing sighed. Softly. Closing her mouth and hiding away those terribly scary teeth of its, and it blinked. Right as another breeze came over… and its extraordinarily long mane flipped and flowed. Like a wave of black cast off from its head and settling back down against its… her long lashes that draped over her eyes with a gentle blink. Just knowing that… Dash actually was surprised. She felt a little better all of a sudden. To see this thing so calm for even a moment. It’s almost… elegant.

This thing… a mare.

That’s sure as hell what it looked like. Some mare like this? What even is wrong with her, what the hell is it doing here? Rainbow had too many questions. But she wanted to know one thing.

“What did you do to her?” The mare looked at her and then down to Soul. She really did speak softly now. “She’s just asleep. She did have a long day anyways… as did you.”

6.17
“What did you say?” Dash asked. I think I misheard that.

“Shopping and exploring and hauling heavy barrels along” the mare spoke with a slight bob of her head with everything she said. “All the while she’s so terrified that somepony may ruin it all. And it could be anypony that could do that. Just the fear alone, the taste of possible ruin to all she wants on top of all that sense of betrayal that festers for so long…” she spoke softer and softer as her eyes sank. Until she shook her head down at Dash. “Really runs one up a wall. Wouldn’t you say?”

Rainbow hesitated to breath. Like all that made her heart stop, her gut jump. H-how does she… Rainbow took a step back, stopping herself. No. I can’t run. This has to be some terrible joke, somepony has to be pulling one over on me, and I admit they are doing a good job at it.

All of this. This pony, she knows… way too much. It all sounded so bad to her. Like a mockery of what has happened. And for her to ask me what it feels like. How dare her? How dare she pretend to know me. To know us. A joke. A cruel joke. One that has to end now. I want that damn thing away from Soul.

“Get away from her” Dash whispered. Butterflies going in her heart as she said that. “Leave Soul alone. …I’m supposed to be there for her, so get away…” She couldn’t say anymore. Not sure what else to say because she came very close to breaking down in terror. The fear that this pony could hurt her for even trying to challenge her. But… she couldn’t allow this. Couldn’t allow something so scary to be near her old friend, not while she slept. Not while so defenseless, and if this pony decided not to, she had nothing more. There was nothing more.

Every word she spoke made Dash afraid.

This reddened world and this unbelievable night, nopony could handle this alone. If only the others were here. I’m all alone with this and I’m so afraid. I just don’t know what to do. Maybe I should charge and fight? I… I don’t want to leave Soul alone up there. So close, I have to protect her. But I’m so scared to do anything.

6.18
“Fine…” the mare scoffed. Though she didn’t hesitate, not at all what Dash expected. Not at all, as the black mare stepped silently past her leaving so many wisps of silvery gusts in her wake, and Dash kept her eyes on her. Stepping back a bit as she went by but nothing happened.

That mare just went on and left her lengthy tail to sway at Rainbow on her way to the same edge that she had seen Soul stand. Now… Soul was alone. Rainbow ran off only when she felt sure that the pony was well away, though she still held a fear that she may come after her when she had her back turned. There was a nagging feeling crawling up her spine that that may happen. It never did no matter how much distance she put between herself and that pony until she scaled the steps and joined with Soul.

Dash looked back one more time. The black mare… one glistening yellow eye with a slow blink beaming at her from the side until it turned away and she looked up at the Moon. No other move. Stay that way. A red Moon with this… creature-pony and Soul laying here. I don’t know what to do now. Dash leaned in closer to Soul.

“You really were much nicer at the party… does my appearance alone really change your feelings that much? I should have guessed.”

Dash shot that black mare a look, finding she had decided to turn and look while Dash had not been paying attention… with a small smile on her face. But that wasn’t the bad part. Really, what is going on? Dash shook her head, finding it too hard to keep her eyes from trembling in fear looking down at her old friend. Though it was not Soul that made her afraid. It was whatever it was that pony meant.

She knows about the party?

How would she know how… damn, that’s not important. No matter how terrifying it was. Whatever that pony was, clearly there was something wrong with it. Something that made Rainbow want to scream inside thinking of the idea of exactly what could be going on and all the terrifying conclusions she was coming to that… that she really wished were not the case. Whoever this was knew about the party, and what happened?

Is she a spy?

She was watching us? The fears alone of what that may lead to, almost too much. But everything that pony said, that sense of calm in her voice. Like this was amusing or… there was nothing to be calm about.

6.19
Just have to get Soul out of here. The fact she was still moving was a good sign, as well as... that same terrible sight. So terrible though that it made her spirits soar. Soul was crying and trembling.

So she really is asleep. That was good. Here she feared for so much of what may be wrong with her, to be so close to that other pony. Screw how cold it is, I need to get her out of here. Away from all this. All this crap. Maybe being able to grab Soul and fly her out of here, far away. Get the others to help. Anything to protect her. Or to get her up, though all her pleas to Soul to wake up and rubbing her mane did nothing. This isn’t the time to be a heavy sleeper. But she kept going, begging her to wake up.

“Come on, Soul. Get up.” Yet nothing worked. This couldn’t be right. Soul never slept this heavily. “Oh, what did she do to you? Get up!” Going and going up till she shook her more violently. Despite how terribly she slept now, it seemed so peaceful.

“I didn’t do anything…” the black mare paused back where she stood. Raising a hoof to her chin and staring down to the balcony clouds. For a second, until she and Dash locked eyes across this distance. “Though I regret leaving her with you. Pretty irresponsible on my part, so looks like I did do somethi…”

“Shut the hell up!” Dash yelled. Pulling Soul up between her forelegs and holding her close. Looking once more into her old friend’s sealed eyes… and all the tears streaming down beneath them. Barely masked under her messy mane which Dash pushed away. Tightening her grip. Readying her wings. I have no other choice. I gotta fly her out.

The black mare groaned. “Soul would be better off with me.”

6.20
Dash stopped her wings. Right before they got the chance to make the first flap.

She held Soul closer, almost instinctively. With how feint courage masking fear turned to something else. The thing that pony said, how dare she? This monster has no right to Soul, no right to be anywhere near her and she thinks Soul is better off with her… hahaha. I almost forgot to laugh. Dash just stared at the pony. Blindly set upon the few little steps the black pony made towards her and the smile returning to her face. How unfitting of a smile. Rainbow could claim it to be able to be worn by Soul herself.

“Forgive me for saying that” the pony said. “But there’s no better way to keep your attention. But it’s still not right for me to say for our first face to face.” And she snapped up and came a little closer to Dash with the most subtle of steps. Each one still made Dash flinch, an undying urge to fly off. Then she reeled back in fear when she saw a hoof come at her.

“Nice to talk to you, I’m so glad we get the chance to do this.”

Rainbow opened her eyes, not sure if she heard that right. But finding that black hoof staying still, hanging up to her from the bottom of the steps where the pony stood, waiting. Like she offered her hoof. There was no way she could be, or to say what she said. Rainbow did nothing. Not wanting to do anything other than stay close to Soul. Even as she wondered if this really was a greeting. That pony not even changing when so much time passed as the wind breezed by and neither of them made a move.

I’m afraid to take her hoof. So afraid of this pony. Can’t even stop staring at those swirling blots of gold within that pony’s lizard-like eyes. Dragon more like it now that she had time to see them up close. They did look familiar.

The pony lent her hoof a little closer. “Really, I apologize for what I said, but please understand me, I just don’t know if I could leave her with you. Not yet, that is.”

6.21
Leave Soul with me?

Rainbow looked between the two. Even when looking away, that black pony did nothing. Not a single move. Even when so much said this was a trick, she felt it in her that something was off. That they were in danger. So why, why can’t I resist the urge? With everything this pony is saying, it’s impossible.

“Who are you? What are you talking about.”

Dash even felt her own shoulders loosen. “You… you talk like you know her. Like you know…” Interrupted by the pony’s sigh, she slowly lowered her hoof a little. Just a little to keep it up towards Dash.

“You and I did meet, recently” she said. “But there was no way you could know. Not when Soul gave up so much to give me that moment.”

Dash blinked. Not a thought went through her skull. Her eyes began to water from staring so much. Just one problem right now. This pony is crazy. “Words really don’t matter when it comes to this. Let me show you something pretty cool” the pony said and she lifted that hoof back up. Taking a few steps, she crept up the stairs as butterflies went all within Dash with that urge to back off. Run away. She tried. Tried to lift Soul into her legs, tried to back away with her but almost tripped. Almost fell right on her back and only caught herself with a quick burst of her wings, sending her back up and… finding the hoof right in her face, with that pony towering over her.

So close. So close that Dash almost felt her heart stop and her entire fears went wild. I gotta get out of here. I can’t leave her. Dash tightened her grip. Soul, I will protect you. If she can carry me, then I can carry her. Ready to just toss her on her back and fly off. A magenta hoof flashed up in front of her.

“Soul…” she almost turned to see. But that… that wasn’t Soul.

Soul’s hoof, it didn’t turn black at the joint. A hoof tapped in so much thick magenta fur swirling up to mix with black until only darkness remained going up and up… Dash looked up.

6.22
Soul’s eyes. Staring down at her.

Yellow orbs wrapped in golden fire… of the same elegance and beauty that Dash did see when… when she stared at those eyes every time before. With this black mare who wore them. Her terrifying demeanor, merged with that gorgeous look. Like it melted Dash’s heart, and her grip on Soul eased a little. It took a while to realize that, this pony, she was wearing Soul’s colors.

Soul’s hoof reaching for her, waiting. The same eyes. It was… Soul, even with Soul in her legs laying against her chest asleep.

“May you tap my hoof, like you did before?” the pony asked. Inching her hoof closer. Revealing the flat bottom for Dash to see, right when she lowered it. Watching it go down and stop just short of her cyan hoof. Holding there. “There’s no need to be afraid. Just like what you did before. One touch.”

Is it weird that I’m not afraid right now? Right as something else took over. For this to not be right at all, but… she saw the motion. The gentle inflection in this pony’s movement, how gentle her magenta fur swayed in the light breeze along a hoof that wasn’t her own. A hoof that she knew. To see this pony offer it to her, say all these things. Rainbow looked back up at her eyes, trembling no more. To look into them once more even as another set of those eyes cried. All the sadness gone, these eyes… they were like… exactly like before. Sweet and kind. Like her smile. Like no more wind existed. She stopped feeling it for a moment. Just a moment, when the motion went on and Dash leaned in. Lifting. Now… a new feeling. Along her hoof.

She looked down, in time to hear the tap. A clank. With her hoof and this pony’s together as one. So natural. Dash… she didn’t regret it, as nothing happened. She felt nothing bad. This creature looked so terrifying, but she felt… so normal. So soft, with her furry leg coming down as Dash commanded her own leg to do, and both their legs touched. Crossed together… like a dance.

Rainbow did not flinch this time, this time when the pony leaned forward on quick legs. Till their eyes met and their noses almost touched. Just short. Rainbow watched her. Not even blinking, her mouth wide open as she beheld it. The great wings of a Pegasus shooting up in black feathers. Arcing high over the pony, curling in on themselves. They almost touched together. Towering so high, such beautiful wings. Just like ones of another she knew. Tended well. Gleaming in the red of the Moon. As majestic as ever. Only tipped in the color of the night itself. An endless void. One of beauty. Set in the same beautiful feeling that Dash got when she saw the same thing done with wings of magenta. The exact feeling, the exact look she got from this pony. Like a fluid dance. So perfect.

One that we did together.

6.23
“The…” Rainbow curled her tongue.

…Dance.

She did it perfectly, on time and… like it was something we were meant to do. Something we should do. Dash even felt like she needed to raise her own wings to mimic her. The same feeling to enjoy one another’s company. So brief. But I felt it. …Like we did this. Crossing legs with the same magenta leg, and time went on. Even though it stood still. Until that pony left her, backing away with a serene drop of her beautiful wings… wings so gorgeous, Dash admired them for every second she saw them. Right up till they blended into her black fur. The pony rubbed her own foreleg and looked away.

“I’m so sorry, I… Soul allowed me to do that with you. To be with you and the others. But… that really was the only way I had to even interact with you all. Can you forgive me?”

“You and I…” Rainbow looked back down at the pony she held in all that pony’s sadness. So different from what she remembered. Not at all the feeling she got when she did that… with this pony. All of that fun. “We danced?” That pony nodded. I can’t believe it. How can anypony expect me to believe that? For… this pony… we danced so well together. We had the same feeling. When I thought it was… so... that’s how it is?

“Who are you? What are you?” Rainbow whispered. Surprising herself with how calm she sounded no matter how much pain she began to feel. “It’s a shame you and I never got to meet before, now we get to in this way. Well, one can’t really choose. I really would have liked to meet you long ago back when things were different” the black pony paused. Looking up at the sky and rocking her head back down with a heavy sigh. Heavy and long, it lasted and then she turned to look at Dash. Not with Soul’s eyes this time. No longer gentle.

“My name is Soulblight. I’m…” she hesitated. Leaving Dash with that name… and so many curiosities. “I can’t lie to you” she continued longingly. “I’m the closest thing that Soul has… to a family. I guess you could consider me… what it is she sometimes sees me as. As her… sister.” The pony named Soulblight grunted and grimaced. Clearly pained over something as she turned back and descended the stairs. Dash almost inclined to yell out to her to not leave… she didn’t have to. When that pony stopped at the foot of the steps. Silent.

The closest thing to her sister? But… they both looked almost alike just moments ago. They were alike. Unless my eyes are messing with me. But… how on earth did she do that? She’s just like a… a Changeling. So why so different? Why feel so different looking into her eyes? To think that she could not be that. There was something else. With nothing to work with on what.

This really is a job for Twilight. I can’t even think.

6.24
“Soul doesn’t have a sister” that’s the best that Dash could think of. Though Soul never mentioned such a thing. For another pony to be out there for her. “Who are you? Soul never said a word about you.”

“She never said anything about me before your incident.” Rainbow shut her jaw. Her heart leapt. To be reminded of that… by this pony. Wh-what? How could she know? This… this pony, this Soulblight really knows too much. Too much for it to be terrifying. She knows our incident. Everything that happened. But I… she hated seeing what this pony was. What she did and what she knew. Dash had to look down at her old friend still cradled in her legs. She shook her head. Thinking over it all. Soul’s sister being with all of us. Being with me. Just like she said, just like she proved.

“Is this… is she even my Soul Serenity? Or are…” Rainbow looked up tearfully at this pony. Fearing the worst. That it was all stolen. All a lie.

“She is Soul Serenity. The pony you met and befriended. Sent away for years for a thing she didn’t even do. One carried out by another. For ponies actually think a filly is capable of such things. No, she suffered…” Soulblight whispered. No longer looking at Dash. Not even visible, as she stared back up at that Moon. “Twelve long years fearing what happens next. Terrified of what she did. What she didn’t do. Left alone at night within walls of snow, worrying… for you. And she could never know. Months and years passing by her, not even sure if she could ever get the chance to make things right with you. It almost destroyed her. She spent so much time thinking about her Dashie… she hated herself for it. She hated herself because of you… and because of me. For the things we did to her.”

The things we did to her? I did to her?

Soulblight stamped. Turning around with such speed to overcome her shouting that came. “She was wronged so much!” And the pony took a breath. Her head collapsing down. To whisper to the stairs. Dash watched over her. Silent.

6.25
“It was only right for me to come to her after so long of her being alone. Without you, she had nopony else to rely on. I guess, I guess I was the last resort. The one thing left to give her a chance at life. With everything that tried to take it from her, as I watched her happiness fall apart before my very eyes, and I had to do so much just to keep the chance for you two to meet once again. It almost destroyed me.”

She held her tongue. Rainbow Dash felt it. The need… the need to cry. She knew exactly what this was. This pony knew it so well. The feeling. The way she yelled at me. Soulblight does know.

“You all overestimate her” Soulblight whispered. “Soul needed me. I gave myself to her, to protect her. Under the last hope I had for her to be happy again. No matter what I felt…” words that trickled so softly. Right into Dash’s ears and into her heart. Another pony… to do the same thing Dash committed herself to do. Back when times were fun. When there were no tears. This pony knows it too. “Soul was just a filly lost in a snowy wasteland. There was no way she could have survived, but she did… I made sure of it. But… we did not come out unscathed.”

Dash was startled to see the Pegasus climb up the steps so quick and almost throw herself in front of her. Stumbling over the last step in a panicked hurry. Right as her head thudded against the clouds. She still looked up. So close, Dash could see her tears. Burning of red in the light and trickling down her cheeks. This Soulblight, watching her fall apart in front of her. No matter how tough she made herself sound, or how scary she looked. Dash felt terrible for her. She felt… close.

“So please!” Soulblight asked of her. “I can’t protect her. I did everything I could, I wanted so desperately to see if it was possible. That’s why I impersonated her. Because I need somepony else. She needs somepony else. I was just so scared to ask you.”

Scared? But I thought this pony was so cheerful at the party. …Not at all like Soul, like Soul from before. How can there be anything wrong if this pony was right? I should be the one thanking her. If it was all true. For one pony like this to be able to do all that. No matter what she was. This pony who could change to her old friend beneath the blood of the Moon, she was not afraid of her. Rainbow even calmed her… with a touch.

6.26
As Rainbow Dash set the tip of her hoof against that of Soulblight’s. So close to how they did their dance, but the same feeling. More than happy to do this… with the pony who protected Soul Serenity. She is right. Even I doubt I could survive what it was that Soul went through. Remembering the party… what it was like to be away from the ponies most precious to her. Left with nothing. Left to die.

“You really want my help?” Dash asked. “After all you did for her, I think you are the better choice to care for her.” Especially after all that I did. There was no going around it. But Soulblight shook her head.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work.”

Rainbow did nothing when she watched Soulblight reach out to her and then past her to touch Soul’s head. To stroke her mane. Stroke it and smile. “This is our Soul Serenity, the pony you knew… but you were right to wonder if she really was Soul Serenity. It’s her… but… not the Soul Serenity you remember.” Not her? …She’s right.

It was all a lie. The party, that wasn’t Soul. That could never be Soul.

That could never be Soul after how much pain I saw her in. After all she went through. What happened.

Rainbow nodded. I get it, I get it now. “I can’t be the one to save her” Soulblight said. “That needs to be done by the one who hurt her the most.” Hurt her? Rainbow wanted to cry when she heard that.

…She did… she got this way because of me. Just as I always feared. Everything else was useless. This whole day… I never saw the problem. I-I can never know what she felt. What she went through. All because of me. So selfish of me.

Something touched her. Soulblight’s hoof changing over, coming to touch Dash’s leg. Stroking. “I hate to say it, but… you are right. Even I was afraid to rely on you. I needed to be sure. I’ve done all I can, Soul Serenity needs the pony who she cares for the most. You two split apart, it destroyed her, now there’s only one thing that can fix it. That one thing is you. I no longer fear you helping her, I beg you to help her. I am not the one for her.”

6.27
“I don’t know what to do!” Rainbow cried out feeling all the weight of the world on her shoulders. Burying her face down into Souls’ mane. Everything Soul went through was because of what I said. She suffered for twelve years, she lost so much of her life and all of her happiness. To become something I don’t even know anymore. This was and was not Soul Serenity. How can I fix that?

“A-all she wanted was a friend… she wanted me as a friend. But I drove her away like some bitch! I can’t believe it… I broke her heart…” Rainbow couldn’t hold it anymore. She began to cry. Swiping her face across those hairs soaked in her own tears and cooling her face. As all the desperation fell in. All the knowledge of what she did. What it did.

It’s too much.

There’s nothing I can do. I’m just one stupid Pegasus. I can’t help her. Not when… when she’s like this. Soul never cried like this. I made her cry so much. I can’t even imagine how many tears she shed. What can I even do to make that right? “There’s nothing I can do. To think… when times were better. Do you remember, Soul?” The last time we were truly happy. The last time I saw that happy face of yours. Under the Moon, together. You hugged me. I beg you to remember, because all I remember now… is the feeling of your kiss. I will never forget it. I want it again. Under this bloody Moon much like then, yet all she felt was cold and loneliness. I want her to smile again.

“I want her to smile again.” I don’t know how. Even I wouldn’t forgive me. Why should Soul?

“Rainbow…”

6.28
Dash felt herself move on her own. Not even fighting it. Not caring if Soulblight saw her teary face as that dark pony lifted her chin so gently off of Soul’s mane with such a cold touch of those black hooves. For them both to stare into the other’s eyes. For this pony to be able to smile at this time. That’s the happiness I want from both of us again.

“You protected her for twelve years, she needs you, not me.”

“You gave her happiness for the first time. I can’t ever recreate it” Soulblight said back. “She needs you more than me.”

Damn it, just like back then. When it took all her courage to step in and show Soul something better. A better life. I never regretted it. To do it again. To be so hard, harder. Yet I can’t back out. I wanted today to be our day. After so long. For it to come true. “What can I even do?” Dash asked. Sniffling the last of her tears away.

“Soul Serenity is my friend, and after tonight, perhaps I want to say the same for you. I would never leave my friends alone. So I will help you… like friends do. Even for just one time.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, as did Soulblight. Both ponies stared at one another. Until the sound of the wind was mute. All she saw were those yellow eyes. One voice.

“Best friends help one another.”

6.29
“What kind of dream…?”

Waking up to see none other than her own ceiling draped in clouds hanging over her, and that ceaseless comfort. Dash turned around, and looked all over, finding herself back in bed. Her blanket tossed casually to the floor and only held up by the corner on her hoof.

Still night. Actual night. As she still remembered the sight of everything so red. Whilst everything now… I have to see. Scurrying up and almost falling right onto her chin in her rush to jump out of bed as she tripped over the blanket. But it was a relieving sight. To see the Moon, as blue and brilliant as usual hanging high outside her window with not a breeze to be felt even if she heard the calming sound of wind singing lightly.

“I can’t believe that was a dream.” She rubbed her forehead and then her eyes as she yawned. Looking around her room to be sure. Nothing was wrong. How crazy. She looked down at her hoof. Everything that had happened… a dream. Wow, that was the wildest one I’ve ever had. Everything felt so real. Real enough to… to still feel such a soft touch against that leg. Pinging lightly within, and the last vestiges of that sight she had. Before all of it went away. Just like she had woken up to be exact. Though she couldn’t get it out of her head.

Such a different dream, I still remember it all. Like it happened yesterday. She still felt the pain. A pain unlike any she could describe at knowing just how bad it was that Soul had it. If it was even true. Truth or just another insane concoction of her mind. She really didn’t like those types of dreams or even nightmares if they may be called so. That one sure felt like one of the worst ones. Up until the end. I’ve never had a nightmare like that.

Soulblight?

That was her name. A pony as black as the night itself. How did I even come up with her? Or was that even the case? She felt so real, she… I still remember everything she told me. So much so that it ached in her head. Hurting her eyes, and she felt the need to cry again. But, there was no need to cry over a nightmare like that. Besides, I should be used to them by now. No matter how real they always feel. Of which… this had been the worst.

Guess I did have too much to drink at the party. Still though...

6.30
Clearly remembering those words, it wouldn’t hurt just to check in and make sure Soul is sleeping well. Going on over to her half-open door, leaving behind what was left of her sleepiness back at the bed. Seeing Soul cry was the most painful thing to ever see, and she hated that nightmare for it. Whoever that Soulblight was didn’t seem to like it either. I still hate that I saw it. Any chance to see it, though she regretted the idea of going to see if she was alright now. Crying out those same tears as the night before. I never want to see it again.

Soul shouldn’t be sad. We had a great day together and enjoyed so much that we missed in all these years apart. Our party and we even danced together. I loved it so much, how we could finally be together again. At least, I hope so. That damn nightmare, sure as hell messed with my head. She didn’t want to doubt the precious moment they had at the party. If it was meaningless. If everything is meaningless. Because… there was one horrible idea to cope with.

That was what Soulblight said.

All those words that sent chills down Dash’s spine. Please may that have been Soul. It was supposed to be her party. Because I really don’t know what else I could do if… if everything else was true. If Soul really is that hurt. To still cry over it all. Since I really have no right to be the one to help her. I can’t do it anyways. Even if I just keep trying to be there for her, I doubt she will forgive me. That Soulblight sounds like a better pony for her.

She’s the pony I should have been.

Dash just kept walking. Going on, not even running into anything in the pitch-dark confines of the hallway as she made her way down to where she believed the door to be. Feeling her way along the cloudy floor and eyeing the walls till she could see the faintest light of the night shining in from under a crack to Soul’s room. It sounds pretty quiet in there. Though that did not mean anything, not with how worried Dash was. I can’t get it out of my head. Those damn words. Everything I heard. It’s like that nightmare was real. It just couldn’t get out of her head.

Maybe… maybe I should check in on Soul from now on, make sure she is sleeping well every night. I’ll keep watch over her. Yeah, she’ll be alright. Just sleeping and dreaming about how nice our day was together. Yeah! That’s right.

6.31
Rainbow took great care to open the door as quietly as she could. Satisfied she didn’t wake her old friend up. She peeked in, to find a room as calm as her own. With all the windows left open for a refreshing night just as Dash had left them for Soul. Checking again one last time to see the Moon still out there as perfect as usual. Shining brightly on the bed where she was more than happy to see it. Soul fast asleep underneath the blankets with not even a peep under that large bulge in the blankets.

Dash breathed a sigh of relief. Wiping away the sweat that she just now knew she had drenching the fur under her mane. Not a sound at all. Maybe, did that mean…? I gotta see. More than happy at this point to know things weren’t as bad as she thought. There was still something though. It droned in her mind and left her with a little bit of worry under all that joy of seeing her old friend perfectly alright here in her home. For everything to be as normal as she could hope for. Everything to be as she left it, that remained to be seen.

Rainbow Dash walked on the tips of her hooves, careful not to trip over anything and more than willing to actually give a smile now. Without needing to feel like anything she had heard or saw may be real. At least, she wanted so. After today, Soul must be the happiest mare around. She has new friends to rely on no matter what it was that Dash did to her. She could be here knowing she had something to look forward to everyday. Maybe they could have parties more often. I should consider it good enough that she wants to be around me anyways. At least some things are going back to normal. I just hope I can be her friend again. Right now, all I can really do is tuck her in.

The silly mare probably tosses in her sleep. That blanket is all messed up. Plus, there was something else she wanted to do. Not at all something she could do when Soul was awake but it felt like a good way to send her old friend off to sleep. If Soul could feel the moment on her cheek when she did it.

Rainbow came up to her bedside. Rearing up and settling her forehooves down upon the soft mattress and she swiped at the edge of the blanket. Gently gliding her hooves along it and then over to where that pony slept beneath. Taking a moment, she smiled deeper. With how silent it was under there… not even a single sound of that pain. I really wish you would be happy with me doing things like this for you. Just things I get to do on my own, without you knowing how much I do care for you. But… she could never upset her. Never again.

“Sweet dreams” she whispered down to her. There could never be a limit on how much Dash wished that upon her. Again and again. As I send you off to those dreams. I promise to do all I can to fix whatever problems you may have. Anything for you. Until you actually want me to do this for you, as I dreamed of.

Rainbow leaned in. Running her hoof along the blanket and catching it, to pull it away and come down on the cheek beneath.

When the blanket fell. It falling out from her hoof. Leaving nothing behind. Nothing but an empty bed with Rainbow leaning over nothing. To stare down in shock at the barren pillow.

“Oh no…”

6.32
Dash wasted no time rushing out against the door and sending it off to slam against the wall behind her. Galloping on through the dark. No care this time. She couldn’t bother. Not with what was going on. What she feared. After all she had seen in her nightmare, like it was coming true.

Soul is gone. Gone. No! Is this all some trick? I wake up from that and into this? Oh no, no, no. This can not be happening. Not more of this. Like this night was meant to be torment. Please may she be just getting a snack. If she’s gone… Dash didn’t want to imagine it. She needed to see Soul. She needed to know if everything was okay. If her efforts mattered. Please don’t be like the nightmare.

She could see them better than she did before in that nightmare, scaling down the steps in a hurry. Eager just to get down there and find the Soul snooping around the kitchen. Hell, she’d even take her sleeping on the sofa as long as it meant Soul was still here. Not out on the balcony in that terrible world again. Or gone… No!

Rainbow leapt down several steps, twisting around the staircase and stepping hoof down on the cloudy surface below. Her hoof hit hard, and the clouds parted. Before her very eyes. As she blinked.

6.33
“…No…” Rainbow sat her butt down, not on clouds… Beyond into it all. Into the dead of night. The darkness beyond. There was no kitchen or living room. No house, nothing. When it all rushed into her again.

…It was no nightmare. I can feel it. This… this is all real.

She couldn’t even panic. For there was nothing she could do, staring out at the rocky surface she sat on that went on into the night ahead of her. Endlessly.

She turned around, hopeful. Not knowing what to expect. Not that. Not the fact that the stairs were all gone. Her house was gone, surrounded by the night. All alone on this land, this little strip she found herself on.

Of all the times I spent… with the others, everything I’ve done. I’ve never seen anything like this. What she found herself in. Looking all around her. Her delusions broken by the crash of water, far below. So it confirmed what she thought she was seeing. An endless ocean, far below her.

Rainbow pulled herself along, creeping up to the ledge. To peer down at what was below. At that dark ocean lit in the color of the sky. Far down there where only shadows crept along in an endless dance under the starry sky where not even a Moon was left. This big, empty sky. That was all it was. For no Moon to hide or exist. Just the stars twinkling their light upon the water. As another wave crashed against the rocks. She almost felt the vibration. Like this perch she sat on may fall at any time. A fear that was so very real as her heart pounded.

“No, …Soul…” Rainbow shook her head. Who could she call for? She literally woke up from one nightmare into another. With all these fears hitting her so hard. Terrorized by the sight. Like all that ocean down below morphed to become the sky itself, there was no difference. Just the shadows of pillars she could pick out sticking out from the water like rocks. Structures all around that crumbled and fell into the abyss. So dark, all she could see was their silhouettes in the starlight. As far as she could see along that wind-swept ocean spreading its thunderous waves all around and swallowing more structures up, never to be seen again. All alone in this.

Luna? Where is the princess? This is a nightmare, right? So please wake me up. Please help me. I don’t want this anymore. I just want my friend back. I just want to be happy. To think she would have to deal with all this, it made her want to cry. Until it happened. With tears coming out, she pushed away from it all. Wanting to run away, get out of here, and she jumped to her hooves.

Galloping away, the same way she came to all of this. Out of this world that was not her home. Out of this painful knowledge that she was without her friends. Without the pony she cared for so much. If only things could ever be so easy. In this endless nightmare.

6.34
Skidding to a halt just short of falling off the ledge, a ledge that popped up in an instant. Her hoof being the one thing to fling off the side, and she pulled it back. Leaving just rocks to fall in front of her and plummet deep into the darkness below. Fear was all it was now. How close she had come to falling, it took so long for her to hear the eventual splashes below before they were drowned out by another wave.

So that is it, huh? Rainbow looked up. Nothing. Nothingness. Where she thought to go back to her home, was nothing but the void. A chasm of dark spilled over by water with no light to be seen. Just her, alone, on this trap.

This is impossible. What’s causing this? I’ve never seen anything like this. Like reliving the worst thing she could. Not wanting it back, not with all this worry. All this fear. For she was not afraid for herself. She was terrified of what may be happening to somepony else. What all this may mean. As she continued to feel it… it is real.

Luna was not coming. Nopony was. Not in this, where the dark was all and all her fears came to light. With only one sensation rubbing off on her.

“Soulblight.” She looked around. Seconds passed, even she felt it stupid to wonder. Why even come to that decision? Why did I even call out her name? What is wrong with me? Rainbow almost wanted to just curl up in a ball and give up. Wait till it ended. Till something made it end. If it ever would. For she actually began to think one thing, now that she felt that tingle again on her leg, that she was trapped. That this was all real. It was too real. And I have only myself to rely on.

Rainbow stepped out to the ledge. Just shy of touching the very edge. Looking down again at how great of a drop it was. Nopony is coming for me, I need to do this myself. Like any other problem, …like that problem. The biggest one to ever deal with, yet she did. I can’t let this get me down.

Dash tried to look far and wide out to the depths of the darkness. Hopeful to pick something out. Whatever was going on, if she had been teleported or somepony was playing a trick, she had one means of finding out. She glanced back at her wings. Those buildings down in the water looked like something she could rely on too. Maybe find out what was going on, it was her only chance. Literally. Otherwise… to fly forever over this ocean.

She gulped. I’ve got to try. Try she did.

6.35
And again. And again. It still feels like… like my hooves are on the ground. Well that can’t be right, she grinned frightfully. Trying again. Nothing changed. Okay, so what’s wrong now? What’s going on? She thought in terror as she tried really hard not to break down. Staring back down below her.

Yeah, there was the ground. I’m still standing on it. So why was it not changing, even when she wanted it to? Putting all her strength into her wings.

She looked over her shoulders. There were her wings, both of them, still set upon her sides. Then they flexed. Barely lifting off, let alone unfolding. So much so that she could even see the muscles trembling within the spans. Fighting hard to comply with what she wanted them to do. But they kept failing. Failing and failing until she giggled faintly. Just for a second before she had to shake violently. Chills going down her spine, well aware of what was happening. What it was, though, was impossible.

It had literally felt like forever since this last happened, and it kind of did feel like somepony was pushing down on them, no matter how hard she tried. Sticking forever to her sides. Just perfect.

“So I’m all alone in the middle of an ocean and nopony’s coming to help me. Now… now my wings are locked.” Rainbow actually managed a giggle and her legs wanted to buckle beneath her. My wings are locked, am I some sort of filly?! They’re locked now of all times!

“Somepony help me!” Roaring out and dying off with the sound of that cry echoing forever in that void. “Anypony?” Rainbow glanced around. Reeling back on her hind legs, trembling so terribly. Her breath coming out so haggard now, no longer able to keep it together. For there can be no way to do it now. Looking left and right. Much of the same. As this world was true and as were her fears. All her feelings, with nothing left… except what Soulblight had given. To tingle along her leg. She held it close to her. The last feeling she had left of calm.

6.36
Until it all came back. When she saw something else. Something that had not been there before, she was sure of it. There would have been no way she could have missed that, as she turned around pleadingly looking for an escape. She got one. One that… was not what she wanted. Just like how everything else had disappeared… this, this was here now.

She turned around on all fours. Beckoning in the sight of the great thing to appear before her. Leading away from her and spreading all around. Rising out from the ocean to become more than just an island like this one. Far larger. That was why she could not have missed it. Somepony was definitely doing something here. Something was certainly happening. For none other than… than a forest to appear before her. Rising out from the horizon and blanketing the skies ahead of her in the tall embrace of tightly packed trees spanning far and wide. Rising high, to blot out the sky in their masts.

At this point, I’m not gonna question anything. Maybe it will all change. Even when she looked all around her again, hopeful for something else to change. Yet that forest remained. It remained the only thing she had left with her island spanning forward to join with it far ahead. Quite a distance.

So that’s my only choice. My only way to get out of here. Get out or… maybe I’ll find somepony. Anything to help her. Maybe even Soul, …or Soulblight. If anypony may know what was happening, it had to be her. With what she could do, Dash didn’t doubt that. I bet that pony is the one whose doing all of this. Even after what we talked about. What we did together… at the party. I only hope I can find her.

6.37
Amazing that nothing did happen during the trek along this long expanse of rocky nothing that this land bridge was. More and more waves slamming violently down below and the occasional shake from such impacts making it all the more startling that it did not collapse and take her with it. That could have easily happened.

Not one thing Rainbow did could get her wings to move. Like they really were glued to her sides now. No longer able to fly but to walk along in the eerie silence of this world. Where not a thing in front of her moved. Not a treetop left its place. Not a shadow did stir. Coming in closer, she couldn’t look away from the thickness of this forest. Like no entrance did lead into it besides the partition in the wall of bark and leaves just ahead. Yet nothing else remained for her to fall back on. Nothing changed. Only this forest stood as a real path for her and that made her all the more uneasy. For the most part. Because, as she got closer, she could start to see something more that did intrigue her and sort of ease her mind. Simply from how curious it was to witness such colors if they were what she thought they may be.

Sheets of white, it looked like, walling around the break in the trees. The only path for her, preceded by these colors. They couldn’t be what she thought them to look like from here. From what she could tell, didn’t look like anything here could be taken with a grain of salt. Like anything could happen. With whatever horrible magic was at work. This place has to be magic. I don’t even think ponies can do this magic. She had heard stories of the wildest illusions where ponies did see such unimaginable things that it sent them into a flurry. Are those illusions anything like this? She really could have sworn that she was home and everything was fine, until all this happened.

She could only walk alone with nothing but the sound of her hooves crunching the stone beneath her. Echoing. Running along the entire length of this span of rock and back again until it disappeared into the forest beyond. Careful she was as she approached them. Anything could happen, as terrifying the prospect was. But they didn’t seem to be a joke, as she came in to stand before the hole in the tree line where she saw deep in the shadows an even longer path going ahead. Like it transitioned from rock to… none other than grass and soil. Much like what patches sprouted around the entrance.

She stood still. Held still, when she did get a close look at them all and swore something was wrong. Not the obvious. The fact that these shouldn’t even be able to be here. Like a dull ache pounding in her head just looking at them, yet she was intrigued all the more. Driven to try and find out what they were. When all they should be was just patches of brilliant white flowers arranged so wonderfully like a true act of nature. A blessing even, were she so naïve to believe they meant something more.

6.38
But they drew her to them. Rainbow knelt before them, straying from the path just to do so and stood in wonder of them. Their lovely petals not even moving in the still air, circling a budding cup rising up to her. Just to give her the chance and she took it, sniffing one.

There really was something strange about them. Just the smell alone, it was near intoxicating. So much so for her to drive her nose deeper in and sniff for longer than she wanted before she did realize what she was doing. It took a lot just to pull free; she stared at it and all of them. Guiding her eyes along and then back to the forest before her where the trees waited for her to enter. Even with the allure of sniffing them even more. Something about them, she glanced back. They really were beautiful but that wasn’t it. No answer to it. Just the trail ahead and nopony with her. No other options. Fearful all the more of what may happen. For what could any pony do in this world?

It took so much just to try and move a leg. She stepped towards the trees. Stopping, looking upon the hanging branches high over her as they arched overhead. Like they welcomed her.

I can’t believe I have to do this. Forests like these never were good to be in without a friend. Looking around one last time to hope to find something. Just the flowers and the empty trail behind her. Her only companions at this point. No reason left to stay. As she looked upon those flowers one last time, she sighed. Not wanting to leave them.

She took the first step. Going forth as the branches opened up for her.

6.39
Rainbow looked back. Darkness. She could no longer see the path she had taken to get in here. Gone with those flowers and even any sound of the ocean. Like she really had stepped into a whole other world in an instant where not even the sky remained. She craned her head. No, it wasn’t. Not a cloud in the sky, not a star or Moon. Not even a sky at all. The only thing above her, like a ceiling. Nothing but trees and sheets of thick leaves. Like walls had formed around her with how thick the forest was even in this path.

But… she wasn’t afraid.

A place like this exists? It’s kind of beautiful. Nothing she could really tell to anypony. Just the endless questions about this world. Where the greens and browns of the forest lit up well like in reaction to her. Shining bright as she wandered to and fro, eager to see all that she could find. Anything really. But finding more examples of how unbelievable this was turning out to be. With the whole ground lit up like in the warm moonlight where no Moon did shine, plastered in so much sparkling rays from above. Like he leaves themselves that formed the ceiling of this forest were the stars themselves. Their greens and reds blistered in the peaks of a fading blue. Generously sharing this color upon the land below. But only here, that was what made Dash stop with a startle.

Nothing more was lit up, like everything beyond this path… so dark beyond the trees that walled her in. Even if she had no chance of getting through, these holes in the tree line so small that she doubted even a filly could fit through them.

She walked along the sides of the trees. Trying to look through the breaks to try and find something. All the more the same. Under the dull silence of this forest. Where the only sounds were that of herself stepping over twigs and leaves scattered all along the path and beyond to the dark void far ahead. As far as the light could shine. Like a guide, she thought. But it really wasn’t anything like that. Not like I have anywhere else to go. Right as she looked back. The entire world she left was swallowed up and gone. As every moment of this place left her more and more terrified of what could happen. Fear and undying amazement.

6.40
There really was nothing else out here. She looked all over the place. Listening closely. It held in her mind. Taking a moment, she calmed her shaking legs. Waiting till they were good and ready, trying once more with her wings to no result she wanted. But they really would be useless now. With branches so thick that there would be no way for her to fly out of here, let alone go back to that empty expanse of nothing that was the ocean. Something she continued to wonder if she could even go back to now.

Nothing could fly out of here. Probably nothing can even live in here. This incessant silence droning on where not even any critters made a sound. You would think owls would be hooting by now. Never did.

All that could be done is following the path. Keeping her head low to the ground. There has to be something out here. Just trying to spot anything and going on and on, she began to feel something within her that made her stop for a moment. Reel her head back and grimace in despair. Thinking over it, it was awful.

No shadows moved, not a peep nor anything to let her know she was somewhere worth being. I think this is all some trick. Somepony really wants to mess with me. It sure is working. Leaving me all alone. Nopony is here.

I think I know… somepony else who felt this.

I just wish somepony could help me. Wake me up… get me out of this nightmare. None of this can be real.

“Soulblight.” Her voice trailed off into the dark distance. Calling out the name of that pony, huh? Like I really am starting to believe all this more and more. I really am expecting her to come for me. Although not certain if she wanted her to come.

Such a pony like that, is she able to do this to me? Why would she want to? She wanted to help me. How does any of this help? She smacked a hoof against her head. Growling at it all. First that happened and now this. I really am expecting her. Expecting all this to be true. No matter how much she didn’t want any of it to be true. She hung her head low. As beautiful as this place was, I don’t want to be here. Not alone. And I really do wish that Soulblight would be here right now.

6.41
She held her breath. Wait a minute. It took a moment. But those did look like…

Dash scurried her hoof along the ground, sending leaves aflutter and baring the dirt. Are these…? She looked back, all around the ground where the thick piles of leaves did their best to conceal them. Yet she picked them out. These weren’t here before? Were they? Not when they were everywhere.

She looked back down at the packs of them that she revealed. Picking out the shapes, and looking at her own. She smiled. Maybe I’m not alone. She sure as hell did not put these here and they looked fresh. Not even the dirt had a chance to go over them yet. Perfectly planted into the soil. Somepony left hoofprints here. Even better, just by how many of them were twisting around and going off in multiple directions, looked to be multiple sets. Many ponies went through here and looked like it was often. Trails of them going back and forth. Far back where she came from and far forward into the darkness. Gradually lighting it all up as she went.

She couldn’t stop following a trail. Stamping her hooves over them and kicking dirt up in her drive forward. I just need to follow these. Maybe I can find something or somepony out here. Rainbow Dash was so excited now, so much for time to pass on and on. It took way too long before she stopped in her tracks. Halting a hoof down. To notice something was off.

She lifted her hoof again, looking upon what she left behind in the dirt right next to the trail she followed. Different indeed. These were hoofprints. In fact, the exact same shape as her own. They looked completely identical to her except for one glaring issue. Her print was larger. Much larger. Larger than these and… she looked along the ground again. Still surprised to find that trails went all along and circled about the place. Flooding the dirt in them, in these little prints. All of them.

6.42
A child. All these prints. Children went through here? No, that couldn’t be. What kids would be dumb enough to go through here? But that was it. There were no other differences. The long strides and joyous patterns they made. Like foals running about. They were playing out here? Rainbow was astonished of the idea. Who in their right mind would let kids be out here? Or… she dreaded to think what may be the real reason. As she looked on down the long and dreary path where these tracks did lead. Going on and on until they were out of sight.

Kids alone out here. Just like me. Oh man, what should I do? This place can’t be safe for kids. And I don’t think it’s safe for me either. Yet here they all were stuck in the same situation. She felt like a mother now needing to venture out in a panic to try and find her lost child. Wanting to call for that kid, though she had no name to use. No way to know if she would ever find them or anypony else out here. They must be so scared and worried out here. Just like me. As dumb as it was to think, she needed to be the one there for them if she could find them. A task she took up, really nothing more for her to do.

Going on to follow the trail, not sure if it did lead to anywhere but certainly seeing that this path it took her on did seem to go on for eternity with not much changing at all. No way to know where the right way to go. No way to tell if she had any real way to help these kids if she found them. If they were starving at all. What she could tell them if they were scared because she was scared too. But I can’t just forget about them. I have to at least try.

That was all that led her on down these endless trails.

Where these kids looked to have been able to just duck under them, Dash had to swat hanging branches out of her way. Leap over felled, wide logs where she saw them to have ran into their depths and come out the other end. Yet finding no more evidence that they were hear. No sounds or anything. Just her. Stopping to see more trails as they ran around bushes and even into them. Skipping through leaf piles and long breaks in the trails. Almost like they were carefree. Like… they actually were playing. As far as she went, not a difference in the liveliness of those trails. Even as her own fears deepened about being out here all alone.

How did these kids deal with being in this place? How did… huh, Dash looked back at the trails she left behind. All the sense of happiness in their steps she got from them. They really were playing. …How am I dealing with it?

6.43
With another pony with me, when we used to… Rainbow looked high up into the canopy of the trees above. Such innocence and sweetness. To be out in a place like this with no sense of fear or dread. Just the moment of being out with the best pony in your world. That was what kept me going. Should I even be afraid for those kids? Should I be worried? Or maybe, to feel like this right now. Calm. For just a moment, she shook her head free of that thought.

No, I can’t just abandon them no matter what fun they might be having. Even… even mom worried about us when we… Dash looked up.

What was that? That feeling. Like… like nothing. Nothing was here. An unending and dull ache in her stomach that even pinged into her now, and a tear fell. To remember that. I, …we really had such great times. With this forest, she looked back at it. All around her and up along the trees. To the bushes she did see with all their soft petals and leaves branching out. This warm place for her. It was terrifying. Not like before. Because now, she saw something more. Felt something more. Like something was off with this place. But so right. So right… she wasn’t afraid of it. Like those kids out there. She shouldn’t be afraid, because we did stuff like this before.

We weren’t afraid back then. Because we had each other. I feel so warm, remembering that time. It’s so much like it.

She went on with it all. Following that path, where not even the silence could reach her. Like she could hear more to it. Listening closely to it all. The sounds of laughter. Of fillies playing and having so much fun together. Rustling around in the leaves and running through the thickets together. As one chased another, yet both laughed with joy. Following their sounds. Like she could almost see them. Wish to feel what they felt. Running along under the ever-increasing arches in the looming trees high above where every branch did seem to close in on her. Encasing her in this thought. Dropping upon her softly, she brushed those leaves off her. Taking her time to even try to get rid of them. More wanting to remember it all, to feel it all.

A sense that it’s all right. That I should be doing this. With no worries. Like those kids shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t either. No matter how strange and terrifying this world is, how lonely it is. For all of this to just not be what should be happening, and all sense of belief crashed down on her… she shut her eyes, and dreamed.

Walking along, she wanted to run. Follow in the steps of those kids. Smile and laugh. Like a filly, to have those times again before so much terror. I do want them back. All those times. For me to be able to look behind me and see your face right on my tail. No matter how old we get, I’d still love it. Even now. Until you finally catch me and we both could roll along together in the dirt. No wings, right? Hehe, it wasn’t fair for either of us to fly. I half expect to see you.

Dash opened her eyes and looked.

Wishful thinking. But she felt that warmth all the same. Even though she was still alone. To remember it all. It made her want to cry. Holding it in. Looking on with the trail. She walked past it all… stopping just once. Within this forest where only she knew, she didn’t know why she expected to see something there, as she looked upon a dark bush sat out in the middle of it all.

I wonder if… if maybe it’s still there. I don’t know. I don’t even know why I’m looking. I just remember how much I loved seeing it with you. Dash had to set her hoof upon the leaves of that bush. Rustling them out of her way and peeking inside. Finding just more darkness within. Soul looked in a bush just like this. She looked so happy when she did it. And it was so funny seeing how happy she got when she found on in it. Soul will never know how sweet I thought she was when she held it. That bunny. She was like a mother. Just a filly but so damn caring for that little guy. I was speechless when she let me hold him.

I wish she was here to help me look for another one. Like before. In a time when we had no troubles. No. Rainbow leaned away from the bush. It’s just me, alone. Raising her hoof to her face to find just how much she had been crying, all those tears soaking the fur.

“Oh Soul.” Staying like that as the silence went on, with one lone pony to cry in front of this bush. “I miss what we had.”

I am so jealous of these kids.

6.44
The hoofprints stopped here? But how? Rainbow stared at the ground trying desperately to be sure that she wasn’t seeing things. All along, everywhere she looked… they all stopped here. Not one trail dared to venture on past this point. Even she hesitated to lift a hoof forward. To step beyond where these kids did stop. Even though the path went on into the dark. As the forest grew so dark up ahead, like it was wanting for her to make the attempt and go on into the unknown with how its shadows curved and twisted along the bending trees. All of their branches curved inwards to that void. Swallowing them. Swallowing all and leaving not even a path for one to travel upon.

Like nopony should go down there. But… this can’t be it.

Rainbow feared, terrified, that this was where she had to go. If anything did lay beyond; but those kids. She found no more trace of them. She found and heard nothing more throughout the entire venture to try and find something. Maybe they ran off into the forest itself. Leaving the trail and disappearing into that endless maze. I don’t even think I can find my way around in there. With all the vines that snaked down the trunks of these trees, made all the more thicker the further this path went before they too disappeared into that darkness ahead.

She was at a loss now. No kid should be out here. No pony should be. So why am I out here? Fearing for the lives of whatever children ventured out here, fearing for her own. For she was no better than them. No way to know what to do or hope to get out of here, she may as well be a helpless child with not a soul to protect her. All alone as all the trees twisted in on her and the ground felt harder against her hooves. Till she didn’t want to even stay here anymore.

I… I can’t do anything about this. Not alone. How can I help anypony out here when I can’t help myself? Not with the looming threat of being stuck here forever started to creep its way into her mind. That was the least of her worries. Seeing all this like it was, a horrible feeling coming in even more into her. Of thinking of it all. Remembering it all.

She hated the idea of being lost in a forest, one that constantly reminded her what was once so. With the last of those words she had been told before all of this. Now trapped in a dark maze.

“Soulblight! Where the hell are you!?”

6.45
She backed up. Not certain anymore. Just knowing that… she didn’t want to keep going forward. Not even sure what she should do anymore. She was never prepared for this. Nopony could be.

I only wanted to make Soul happy, why remind me of this? Why keep me lost in this? She grumbled. I have to get out of here. There had to be something I missed. A path, maybe. Something hidden under all the debris along this path. Anything, just as long as it meant getting away from the idea of being gone forever in that darkness. Wherever it may lead, she felt only pain. Run away from it. Just leave it behind, don’t deal with it.

I can’t handle it anymore. I only want to go home. That’s all I want. Or wake up from whatever this is!

She stamped her hooves in the dirt, frantically gasping with her wings painfully doing all they could to stretch out until it hurt too much to try and move them. She turned and ran. No longer able to handle the path behind her and all the pain rushing into her. As her eyes almost bled thinking of it all. I don’t want to remember. I don’t. I’m sorry. Please just let me out of here.

“Somepony get me out of here!” Screaming in hopes that whatever kids may be out here could hear her. Anypony, really. But for there to be one pony above all else to show up and save her. If only she would be so kind. Nothing happened, and only her shriveled cries could ring out from her mouth. Echoing loudly across the trees she ran by. Coming close to tripping on one of the logs. She looked back, with the darkness falling away from her. The only relief she got, losing what little sense she had of the pain of remembering all of this. Of seeing it disappear like it did. Never to see it again. Fearful to never experience it again. For all she would do to make it so, yet she felt so helpless.

For one mare alone, this is too much to deal with. Yet I’m the one who’s supposed to? That’s what she said. Not while I’m here, not with no way out of this mayhem. With not a path to deviate from this lonesome trail.

“Soul, …where are you?” She turned back. Running off past the fallen branches and into the shadows beyond. Back where she came, back to anything to free herself of being here. She’d much rather just fall and cry in those flowers. Forget it all. Not have to deal with it until something happened. Because I’m not strong enough.

Until her whole world tumbled.

6.46
The pain of slamming right down into the ground, like the world was adding injury to even more injuries. She didn’t even notice that rock until she felt it smack against her hoof and send her flying. Rolling over and going head on against a log. Enough for such an intense pain to explode across the front of her head and she reeled back yelping. Holding her head tightly. So much pain that she fell back down and rolled over onto her side, refusing to let go of where she felt a bump on her forehead right under her mane.

Wow, this is… exactly what I needed. Like there was no end to the stuff this place was pulling on her. All this stuff trying so hard to make her hurt. Make her angry like right now. Even kicking out against the log she fell into. Not sure what it accomplished but it felt better than to just take it laying down.

“Complete shit!” She smacked the ground she lay on. Sending plumes of dust afloat. “I hate this place.” Yet there was no way to get out of it. Hurting her over and over. Maybe it would just be best to lay here and wait for something instead of taking the path all the way back to the flowers. Though this forest constantly proved to be an increasingly unpleasant place to be in. If any kids were here, they had to have left by now. Maybe found some way out. No way any pony would want to stay here, much less her. Which was why it was stupid to want to stay here.

It was a pain to try and move as her legs wobbled a bit when she tried to stand back up. An aching desire to grab hold of her head and try to calm the pain. She was able to do just that again when her legs gave up and she plummeted back down, holding her head up to keep it from hitting the ground. Grunting when her chin hit down hard and flurrying her legs to try and get a grip. Hell, that really hurt. Agh, it couldn’t go away fast enough with how much that bump pulsated. Like it made her whole vision go hazy, clearing up and… to see a set of hooves come down before her.

Soul?

Yellow fur, until they all stood on the ground before her.

6.47
Yellow? Wait… Flutter…shy?

But Fluttershy didn’t have red eyes when she looked up to face whoever stood before her. Their gaze met her own and… a smile.

Staring up at a mare with wings as golden as the Sun itself amidst her mane set firmly in the colors of a midsummer sky.

She did nothing, said nothing. Nothing to tell Dash anything, as she believed this could not be real. Somepony is out here? There couldn’t be, this has to be a trick. More games of this world or whoever controlled it. Not when this made her quiver in disbelief. Because she felt something deep about seeing this pony meeting her. This pony who stood tall over her with majestic wings so glorious in her purest exemplar of the sky itself. This pony who raised a hoof to her, held it out for Dash. Waiting for her. Her and her voice. Soft and sweet, like the rainfall. That made Dash’s eyes widen.

“You shouldn’t be out here all alone, Rainbow. You’re lucky I found you.”

What? No way. This was too familiar. Like she had experience this before. Like this was not capable of happening, not with what she was beginning to think. “I never expected to find you out here.” The mare leaned in and looked close to Dash’s head. Frowning. “Oh, you hurt yourself! Come on, we need to get you out of here.”

Not one word came out any different in tone, like this pony was so happy to be with her, so excited for the chance to be around her. That… sounds a lot like somepony else… I know. Somepony else…

It can’t be possible.

She sounds just like her. Was everything like the pony she began to remember. Then her fears came crashing down. If this was a trick, or real… she had no idea what to believe anymore. Because one meant she was really starting to lose her mind, while the other meant something even worse. That Soul… she didn’t do anything. She couldn’t have. After what I heard Soul did.

But this pony is here.

Impossible.

So impossible that she was real as… their hooves touched. She is real. Even when she shouldn’t be. There is no way that… this is…

Nimbus.

6.48
“Nimbus…?” Dash whispered. “H…” Dash couldn’t even get the words out. Not sure if she was wasting her breath let alone even have to ability to say anything about this impossible thing.

Nimbus Swiftshot.

But… she died. This can’t be her. Please, please don’t be her. No matter how much she is her. There was nothing different. Even her growing concern. “You’re shaking.” The mare came closer and gently set her other hoof under Dash’s leg and grabbed hold. Pulling her up a bit, even as she grunted in struggle. With Dash not even able to try to get herself up. Shocked completely at what was happening. Her head cleared, and she looked again.

True to be, it was… it was Nimbus.

My instructor. Soul’s… Soul’s guardian. Her mom.

She’s here. With me. Snaking her legs around Dash and putting more effort to get her up, until Dash realized what she was doing. Now that the pain began to subside. She joined in and helped herself up now. Pulled into the legs of the one who helped teach her. Feeling her, how she touched her. Just like a real pony. Like this can’t be a mirage or a shadow. A ghost. She could not get out of her shock.

“You’re… alive?” Dash stuttered, staring at her. Her eyes trembling. Still held in the embrace her old teacher gave her. She still shook her head. Impossible. No matter what Nimbus did to show the opposite. Her smile widening and she giggled. “Of course I am, and you still get yourself into plenty of trouble.”

Who is she to say that about me? How would she know? Why does it make me feel so scared? Like she really was talking to the real Nimbus. Still as cheery as… I remember her. She’s been gone for twelve years, dead. And now she’s here, in this forest with me. Unless, she knows something. Maybe she knows a way out of here. Yes! That was it. Who would’ve guessed this would turn out so well?

If this is Nimbus, I can leave with her. Go back home, Nimbus could explain everything. Soul will be free. Probably knows where her husband is too. Had to, if she was this happy. …And Dash just realized it. I actually think this is her. Oh sweet Celestia. Soul suffered for no reason. She went through all that, and… I had to do the same. I lost my dearest friend for nothing.

We didn’t even get to say goodbye. Get a chance to even make things better. Before she was sent away.

Gone, because of squat. Her spirits fell. One moment of hope and another of pain. This really was turning out to be a truly horrible night. “I can’t believe it” Dash whispered.

“You’re gonna get yourself killed.” In the darkest voice she had heard.

6.49
Dash looked up. Not into the eyes of Nimbus… but into that of a pale sky shining bright in their glare. Bright to light up the gleam she saw of fangs coming at her.

So quick. She saw them go… right for her throat. Then it all hit her.

She gasped. Rainbow pushed hard, falling back. Expecting the worst, but it never came. All she felt was herself falling on her back with a loud thud. Opening her eyes back up. To the sheets of leaves above. She knew she saw them. That fear they gave her that now rushed all along her body when she suddenly knew how close she had come… when she looked up and saw her. The yellow furred pony of Nimbus Swiftshot glaring at her with such hate in her empty eyes. Eyes so deep and made of nothing left but fear going right into Dash’s heart.

That pony came closer, baring her mouth and… lines upon lines of fangs. The same ones as before. I knew it! This is not Nimbus. That was not Nimbus at all. Another trick. Another… it hissed, slithering a coiled tongue about in such anticipation with a grin. Like a monster wearing the skin of somepony that had been so close to her. …Wearing the skin?

“No way!”

A Changeling! She knew she recognized it, and it just tried to… oh my Celestia. I came that close to...

One more second and, she felt a ping in her throat. Like she already anticipated the feeling. Escaping it, but… not anymore. It was just her and this Changeling parading around in her lost friend’s coat. Like it was trying to torture her with remembering. Remember the face of her beloved teacher now so hideously writhed in agony and hatred. A lust for her. Like this forest wasn’t bad enough.

Rainbow screamed. Right as it jumped at her. No time to even think. Just to do. There was only one thing she could do. Seeing those fangs coming closer and closer for her. Dash met them. Turning around and she aimed true. Bucking her hind legs in the hopes they would connect. Until she felt something solid hit them and the cry of a tortured voice.

6.50
The Changeling fell back. Crying out in anger as it held its false nose. Squirming on the ground.

This is my chance. I have to get out of here. Doesn’t matter if my wings are useless. She decided to make one last decision. I have to go to it. That darkness. She can’t go back the way she came into this forest. She couldn’t waste any time, not with this here. Maybe set a trap. I gotta get rid of it somehow. Yeah!

Dash ran off, careful to avoid the rocks and logs she had passed. Only making a hoofful of steps before she skidded to a halt, and she screamed… screamed when she saw the coat of silver. Silver so bright to match that of the fangs it wore. One quick glance and she knew what was facing her.

Nimbus Swiftshot and now… Starry Veil.

Wife and husband together here. Still with his same wild mane of blue flames. Both so different, but both the same. Rainbow knew when he hissed. Clamping his jaws wildly for her.

She had no time to even react. No way to get away from him, and she felt it behind her. She didn’t need to look. Nimbus was right there. Growling her anger.

Two of them?! I can’t deal with this. And… she looked around at both of them that surrounded her. Blocking off her only ways out of here. They both want to… to kill me!? Since when do Changelings… she shook her head. How is this happening?

“Leave me alone!”

They were too quick. Rainbow fell over. With so much weight on her. She hit the ground. Almost losing all her breath from the impact. Reeling back and looking up to see… Starry standing over her. Towering tall and glaring upon her with such greed in his blank eyes. Rainbow flinched. Struggling. Yet her legs did not move. Not with how they hurt, the pain getting worse and worse. A huge stallion like this standing on her legs. It felt like they may be crushed. It made her scream again. Only able to whip around the rainbow tail that was still free.

6.51
Tears drenching down her face. She had nothing left to think of. This has never happened. What am I supposed to do? Bucking her head up and down. Wriggling and shaking. Nothing changed. Nothing could stop this Changeling from leaning close to her and baring his endless rows of razor thin teeth. She couldn’t care about the saliva pouring onto her. She only tried to lean back as far as possible, even trying more and more no matter how solid the surface she lay on was. Anything to keep away from him.

“Please don’t.” I only wanted to help Soul. I only wanted to make her smile. Is this my punishment? My punishment for what I did to her? I’m so sorry. I don’t want this, I just want Soul. Yet all that chance was gone now. Gone in the laughter of this evil beast on her. These monsters going around as her old instructors. Out to kill her. Take away any hope she had of having a great life with her best friend again.

That life we lost so long ago.

All because of me, because I was mean to her and didn’t listen. Now it’s my turn. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. Forgive me for… for not listening to her? When she said… she said those things. Now here I am. Soul had said that. She did. And I didn’t listen. Now the proof… it was right in her face. …What the hell?

Dash stopped struggling. Her eyes widened. Not even trying to hide her throat from it.

I can’t believe it. …I ignored her. When she was… No. Please no. Please, may it not be true. Because then that means that I really am a terrible friend. No! Please. I may deserve this but I don’t want to die. I want to make everypony happy again. Time slowed down, but the growling did not… and one last tear ran down her cheek.

I’m so sorry.

6.52
All she could see anymore was the roar of light.

A blast of light. Cast raw in the red of the Moon she last held Soul under. With a hail of red.

She didn’t even flinch. Couldn’t even say a thing and have a thought. It all happened so fast.

A warm feeling rushed over her face. Splashing her. As quick as she blinked, and Starry came down on her. Still. His legs sliding off of her. Rainbow didn’t move. Did… did it happen? W-what is all this? Is this all mine? Though no pain came. Nothing happened.

She took a breath. Twitched her leg. Still felt her tail begin to run along the ground once more. She looked down, not sure what to expect. Certainly not that. That thing that made her heart beat so hard. Starry Veil laying on her, motionless. Facing her with his gorgeous mane, made gorgeous no more while he lay huddled against her chest. Her chest soaked in the red that matched that which drenched all his mane. Darkening it.

Spilling out through the gaping hole in his head.

It took her a while. But she saw what it was. Blackened and searing… torn through his mane. With all this warmth over her face. She looked up, gasping. Tasting it in her mouth. Dripping into her nose. He’s… he’s… Rainbow screamed. Flailing her legs and catching hold of the body on her own. Grabbing tightly, enough to toss it off her. Baring her chest, where she saw so much blood. Seeping into her fur and draining down along her sides.

“Holy shit!” she screamed on. Leaping to her hooves and backing away from the corpse that had been on her. What was left of her old instructor. With nothing but pain left in his vacant stare. Looking at her. It made her sick. Rumbled her stomach and churning it. She almost felt the need to vomit. Made worse when she saw just how much of this blood covered her. This blood that was not her own. It made her panic. Sending it flying off her in a hurried shake of her body. Desperate to stop all of it from flowing even more along her. She gasped and cried. Nimbus gasped.

6.53
Dash looked over to what was left of the mare, no way that mare was angry anymore. Light on her hooves, she knelt back… in fear. Hiding all those fangs she had.

Rainbow couldn’t react. It happened even faster. When a burst of light came out, faster than Nimbus could turn to run. Dash witnessed it. Something so horrid. Pluming the ground in blood, and the mare collapsed. With no legs to hold her up. Those limbs left to roll away to a standstill next to the crying Changeling. Shrieking in such unimaginable pain the likes of which Rainbow had never heard before. Not even sure it to be possible for anypony to scream that loud. Not even sure if a pony could watch this sight.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

I got to get away from this. From whatever… whatever this is. Rainbow turned tail… to see another pony.

Oh no. Please no! Not another. As dark as a Changeling but, …wait. Rainbow Dash stared at her. This pony… before her. Standing over the body that was Starry. Running a black hoof down his side and under his stomach. Pushing and prodding, shifting the body around until she stopped. Still glaring down at the body with piercing yellow eyes. The same eyes she knew from before. For only one pony had them, only one pony she knew looked like this.

“Soulblight!”

She’s here! Oh thank Celestia. She couldn’t ask for any better pony to be here. No matter how cold and unfeeling that pony looked… even when she crunched a hoof down into the body of Starry. Making Dash cringe when she heard the cracking and grinding. As sick as it was, like Soulblight really was too invested in it, Dash was so happy.

“And they die like any other” the dark Pegasus said. “How pathetic.” And she turned to look ahead. Not even bothering to look at Dash, no matter how much Rainbow wanted her to be with her. Dash even ran closer to her.

Did she kill the Changeling? How? Oh who cares? I’m just so glad somepony is out here. Thought I’d be out here alone forever. And… she saved me. She’ll know what is going on. She’ll know where to go.

6.54
“Soulblight, I’m so happy to see you. Thank you so much!” Rainbow came close to start crying again with how unbelievably happy she was. She could just hug this pony if she didn’t look so upset standing on top of that bloodied body. One she stepped off of.

“You made the right decision, Soul” that pony said blankly. Leaving the body of Starry behind and… Rainbow watched her walk softly. Her massive black wings hanging high over her. Walking and… nothing more. As she left Dash behind without a word, and their eyes never met.

“Wait, Soulblight.”

“I’m doing this for Dashie.”

She heard a small voice speak behind her. Small and frail. Tinged in the hint of such inexorable youth no matter how frightened it sounded. How sad it was. None other than a filly’s voice. None other than… looking behind her, the small pony wrapped in magenta fur with a mane that only one pony could have. With eyes so beautiful that Dash found them unmistakable. Wandering along the ground so close to her tiny hooves. That was why, she couldn’t believe this to be Soul.

But she’s… exactly how I remember.

The same pony who slept with me, who kissed me, and played with me. That’s the pony I… abandoned.

The exact same pony. The same filly. A filly that Dash stood high above, small enough for her to even walk between Dash’s legs if she wanted. “Soul, is that you? W-what happened?” What is going on here? Soul is a child. The same kid she remembered. No difference. Even had the same absolutely wild strands of her mane that had disappeared with time, and a flank… Dash looked over to it, barren. Nothing but magenta. Soul trembled just as the splitting sound of bones breaking and the last sounds of a crying mare broke out before silence fell behind Dash. The only thing she did. Not even looking up at her old friend that stood with her.

Rainbow shook her head. This place… what is this place. Changelings and… our instructors. Why is Soul a kid? What kind of magic is this place? I don’t even think this can exist. Never even thought possible. Like she really was seeing things. Rainbow Dash touched the still warm blood on her chest. All so real. Everything was so real.

6.55
“Explain yourself, Blight!” She yelled to the black pony behind her. Not even moved when she saw that pony kick the bloodied and broken body of Nimbus aside. Her anger raw now. This can’t go on. That damn pony better stop whatever she was doing to cause this and fix everything. I’m not dealing with this anymore. Coming close to death and every moment in this world was an absolute pain, a drain on her. Terrorizing her to no end, because… one fact remained.

This all was so real.

But none of this could be real. Yet Blight didn’t answer. Why isn’t she answering me? Why is this happening? Just over there, proud of what she did. Whatever she did. Some Pegasus, Soul’s sister, that could cast magic like this?! Kill Changelings. She said she was supposed to help me. “How does any of this help!?” she screamed at her.

Nothing. “Stop ignoring me!” Rainbow stomped her hoof. Until the pain became too great to bear when Soublight did something that could not be expected.

She started laughing. Standing on the corpse of Nimbus and laughing to the sky. Her wings set out and flailing in synch with that laugh. Making Dash shy away. Without anything left on what to do.

I’m just a Pegasus. How… how can I do anything here? I feel like I just want to cry and beg for somepony. Oh man. For there to be so much death in this place. To see Soulblight kill these Changelings. Nopony can handle… she killed…

Rainbow widened her eyes. Slumping her shoulders. As the whole world collapsed around her. Not even Soul cared. Dash couldn’t care either. Not with something running through her head and the pain she felt going all along her body. The tingling and trembling. She couldn’t admit it. Not with a held tongue curling against the roof of her mouth.

Soul you… that filly walked past her. Not batting an eye, and neither pony could be close no matter how close they were. The filly stepping along with the shadows roiling past her, creeping along the ground under her hooves and pulling her in. As dark as Blight was, and that pony vanished within. Roaring, howling… with so much laughter ringing in her ears. Rainbow closed her eyes. I can’t… believe it.

Soul Serenity.

“Now you’re safe, Dashie.”

Blacking it all out and lost forever in the blinding bursts of the Sun rushing over her and tearing Soul, all of it away. Till there was nothing left.

6.56
I just saw that. I just felt that. I just heard that. But for all it was worth, all it did was break Dash’s heart. Break it into thousands of tiny pieces and crush them like a black hoof upon bones. The cackles of pain roaring out all around her, letting her know just what it was that she just experienced. What it all told her. Yet… it was not over. Like it would never be over. For nothing was right. This was not home. This was not reality.

And yet, this is Equestria.

It was all wrong. It was all terrifying. Not a single moment passed. Not without the pain of knowing what it was she just saw and all the countless voices shouting at her now. So much so that it ached and forced her to clasp her hooves to her head. Not wanting to see anymore. The writhing horror of it all slithering all along her muscles and up to her head, tingling and shivering.

Soulblight, you are doing this to me. What have you done? Could you have just told me instead of doing it this way. I asked for help yet you give me nothing but the painful images of what it was I did. Just how painful the truth was. As it became part of her own. Telling me would have been better. Much better than almost having me die and… and showing me all that.

I felt it all. It was all warm. That was… blood. And Soul… she sounded so sad. I never thought a kid could sound so sad.

Yet Soul did.

Looking down to the ground. Rainbow opened her eyes. Staring upon the dying soil of a forest birthed in white. Listening and knowing that she was alone, not at all wanting to look up to be completely certain if it meant seeing that cursed forest any longer. Being amongst this place where nothing good came to pass. Nothing good at all and only the cries of the tortured could ring out in this place, wrapping around her mind like the sound of her best friend.

6.57
Rainbow Dash actually started to cry now. Harder than she could care to. Watching all her tears fall between her legs and soaking right through that white layer beneath her. Burning holes right into it as water took their place.

I know. Soulblight, if this is your way of telling me, …why do you have to make it this way? How can you make it this way? I never ever want to see Soul that way. …But… she hated to know it was true. It was all true. A kid, one as sweet and innocent as her dearest friend, able to be so deeply sad. Sad while another pony slaughtered in front of her. Without even batting an eye, without even caring for anything else. With only one thing for her to say.

I hate myself a lot more now.

This was not helping, it was only making me worse. I know. I know already. You don’t need to rub it in. I never want to see her like that. …But she already had been that way. To not even care about me being there, like she really didn’t want me. Soul only seemed to care about being there to watch that horrible thing happen. That thing that no pony should ever see. So brutal and merciless… all for me.

She made the right choice? Is that what Blight said?

I knew it from the start, the start that Soul didn’t do it. I trusted that. But did I have to see just how painful it was to her?! Just to do something for me. Why did she do that for me? Why even try to do anything for me after all I did to her? She should have just let me die. At least then she wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore. I could have died and everything would have been fine.

Are these the thoughts you want me to have?!

All I can think is that. Get me out of here.

Rainbow had no way out, not with the cold coming upon her and her shivers of fear joined with those of chill. I don’t want to see any more. “No more” she whispered. “I’ll tell the world. It was all just like I thought, I’ll make everypony believe me if it means she can be happy here again. I’d rather she just forgets me… and live life like she was supposed to.” She doesn’t need me because I’m the pony who made this happen to her.

And Soul was right the entire time.

I messed up so badly. I didn’t stand with you, and you suffered because of it. I understand that. Just as I thought. Just as I thought. And like I have been my whole life “I’m so sorry, Soul.”

6.58
“Why are you sorry for me?”

Rainbow looked up. Eyes blistering for a moment, like sunspots shone deeply into her eyes. Dissipating and warping with the turning of the world as she sat amidst a flurry of snow, one that broke and tore away for the one who still was with her. This whole time… The little filly, Soul Serenity holding herself and shivering in the cold.

The filly smiled.

Soul? Soul Serenity? Rainbow Dash all alone… with that little filly. Sitting here together. Only them. Just a little filly staring up at her. No more pain on her face.

Soul. Is that you? Are you really here for me? And why are you smiling at me? It was like that filly just did it to tell her everything will be okay. Just like before. Before when that smile was the warmest thing of her world, like it warmed her up even now. Even before Soul, Rainbow couldn’t stop crying. Not when she remembered. Not when she saw the last moments of this filly as she had been before all that Dash had done to ruin her. I did ruin her, she should not question me being sorry.

I don’t care. We are together now.

Mare and filly. No matter how little she is, this is my Soul Serenity. The same pony I left behind twelve years ago. To see her so close and with that smile made her want to keep crying. Dash still tried to wipe them away to no avail. Quickly coming back. Trying so very hard to smile for her. Smile just like the filly.

“Soul…” Rainbow sniffled. Coming down closer for the filly. Getting so close to her, refusing to let themselves be apart any longer. She wanted to hug her so much but didn’t. Not with Soul holding herself like that. Closing herself off with her legs and even her wings. Still so large even for a little one. It was so nice to see her like she remembered. Her smile became purer.

6.59
“Soul, sweet Soul” Dash said in the tiniest voice she ever heard herself speak in. Almost breaking down hearing how so very happy she was to see this pony again. Like we are reunited. Together forever. Even if this isn’t true, I can’t help but see you how you used to be.

It’s like I finally get to see you happy again.

She reached a hoof closer to her. Setting it on the snow before the little pony. “I’m so sorry for not believing you. I should have never left you, not when you were doing so much just for me. I…” she wiped the tears off her cheeks. “I will always be there for you. No matter what.” Like all the times I should have been there for her.

I told her that I hated her. Hated her! And she sacrificed everything just to keep me safe, just to keep me happy. She said I was in danger. How selfish of me to write her off when she did all that… just to give me the life I have now. I can’t even imagine what would have happened without her. This filly… she means the world to me, just like she always did. You always were my world, Soul Serenity. I want it to be that way again… even if I don’t deserve it. I will always be here for you.

Like what I should have done so many times.

I should have gone to find you. I should have spent my whole life trying to find you just for the chance to get back the pony I missed. The one I still miss. The one who doesn’t need to cry anymore. When I feel like there’s nothing I can do to make you happy, yet you still find a way to smile even now. When you shouldn’t. No pony like her, who went through what she did, could smile and should never have to deal with the one who made it all so terrible.

And you manage to smile for me. Like a sweet filly again. Like my Soul Serenity.

“I don’t want to be a burden on you” that filly said.

Rainbow shook her head. Not wanting to hear anything like that from the filly, let alone how saying that made the filly sound a little sad. No, no. No more sadness. Not while I’m here. I’ll be the beloved friend you remembered, now that I’m here, nothing more can harm you. I will be there for you.

6.70
Rainbow came in closer. Wanting to hug the pony. I’ll hold her like we used to do. I’ll put my wings around her and tell her just how much she means to me. Keep her safe from the cold. From anything that could hurt her. From all the memories of the terrible things that happened. You don’t need to fear anymore. I’m that friend who always loved you. I will hug her. It’s what this filly deserves.

Even when Soul leaned back a little, because Dash saw that she herself had been getting closer, opening her large cyan wings to the filly. Like she was afraid. She had every right to be. I’ve been a terrible friend. Maybe I deserve it. But, …I can’t help… help but want to make it right. No matter how much she may hate me for what I did, I can’t let her go on feeling like there can never be any more.

Soul. I’m always going to be there for you. You will never be a burden.

“I’ll do anything for you, Soul. Because that’s what we always did for each other.” Before the time when I broke that beautiful friendship we had. And I lost…

The only pony I’ve ever loved.

I’m here for you now. No matter how young or old you are, I’ll be there to make you happy.

“I’ll do anything for you too, Dashie.” Soul said… as she lowered the legs and wings she held around herself. “Anything…”

Rainbow stopped, and her eyes widened. Widened when she saw the red… all the red. Flowing down that gorgeous fur.

Soul?

Dash shivered. Watching her dearest friend drop her wings and expose herself. Expose the pain that made it even worse with the last words she uttered… and the clang of glass shattering among the ground. Lost in the shard that disappeared forever, Rainbow Dash saw herself cry.

It all flowed out… from that beautiful filly, along with those words. “Anything to keep you happy.”

Soul Serenity collapsed, …and her eyes closed. Leaving Dash alone. Alone amidst the snow. Left to watch her dearest friend bleed before her. Nothing but silence.

6.71
Rainbow screamed. Scurrying over to the body of Soul Serenity. Crying out harder than ever before. Leaving all restraints behind. Seeing this, the worst thing she could ever see. No! No!

“Soul!” Rainbow reached a hoof for her… almost touching her still body. But it came back. Came back to slam against Dash’s cheek. “Soul!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. Echoing across the treetops and lost in the swaying hail of the snow.

She just killed… No! Soul, please wake up. I can’t believe this. Rainbow took all the strength she had left to crawl over to her friend. Falling into the snow. Just enough to be among her oldest and most cherished friend. What was left of her. As the last breaths escaped from that pony’s mouth.

What have I done? What has she done?! Keep me happy? How does this keep me… ugh no… Rainbow shook her head. No. I have to save her. I’ll get her out of here. Bring her back home. Anything to keep her alive. Keep her with me. That’s the only way… this can’t make me happy. You have no idea what these twelve years were like. I can’t go on anymore. Especially after seeing all this. After seeing just how broken you were. I will save you, Soul. You’ll be happy again, and so will I. Right?

We can live together now. We can always be there for each other. I’ll wake up everyday to see you there rubbing my shoulder to wake me up and I’ll do the same for you. So we can do all the things we lost out on doing. More than that. We’ll have it all back.

So please, please don’t leave me.

I don’t want to see you go. Not when I have so much to say to you. So much to last a lifetime. To hold you in my wings. To be held in yours. Don’t go. Rainbow reached for her. Her tears soaking the fur so much that all the blood upon them washed away in their torrent. Pick her up and hold her. Like best friends.

It never happened, when her back was sent slamming into the ground from the force of the wind smacking into her. Shrouding her in the dark, and Dash looked back. In time to see her. Not Rainbow who picked her up. For Soul to be held in the forelegs of a pony so dark, and Soulblight lifted her wings. Wrapping and coiling until Soul disappeared in them… with those yellow eyes staring down at the pony she cradled amidst dark feathers.

How dare she. I’ll help her. Rainbow struggled to get back up. Yelling as she did, casting her wings upon the black pony and her hind legs itched. “Get away from her, you bitch!” She’s my friend. I’ll protect her… like I always should have. Even if she’s like that. I’ll still do it. It’s all I can do. But Soulblight didn’t do anything. She did nothing more than glance over with vacant eyes upon the magenta eyes that met her. Wrapped in the voice of pain that governed this world.

“She still loves you, my dearest Soul.” And her wings enclosed. Until even Blight herself disappeared inside of their black embrace. Until the world itself disappeared in it. Rainbow Dash fell back, screaming.

6.72
Plummeting right into the snow. So much snow, even more than she thought there was until… it was obvious as she leaned back up with a shot and the drain on her throat. They drain on her mind that this world was doing to her as everything was so dizzy until she could see straight enough to find herself no longer within that terrible forest anymore. Gone with that world but not gone with the fear of what was going on as this nightmare proved to never end. Not now, not with how this was not home.

This was not Equestria, and that meant this was not going to be over anytime soon which made her panic even more with the thoughts of seeing her dearest friend dying before her. Looking around immediately. She could not find Soul. Or Soulblight. Alone again. Alone with the creeping feeling that took her so quickly and so suddenly like a knife to her back. Sending shivers all along her body and forcing Dash to cover up using her own wings to shield against what she could see coming in at her. Just in time to prevent a hail of snow and wind from blasting her face, well protected under the layers of feathers even if wind did pierce through enough to make her seal her eyes and cry. The tears she could feel already starting to freeze on her fur from a cold unlike any she knew.

It was not ending. No time soon enough for her as her mind went blank. Slipping her wings up a little to let her legs come within their shield and huddle herself. She tried to scream. It didn’t come out in the howling gale.

She fell back, leaning until she could lean no more when her back hit against something hard, and she sat against it. Suffering in the frigid winds blowing over her curled up body and wings. Even with it all howling and all the oncoming pings of frost coming over her, Rainbow Dash could only stare down at the spot between her legs. Down to the snow at her hooves. There where nopony was and she could only remember seeing that same image scarred into her brain of the young and nice filly bleeding before her, and the tragedy of knowing what it was that did it. The tragedy of feeling that she had to be the one to witness it, that she was the one who needed to be punished so much as to see the thing she never wanted to see. With just one burning question lighting her fire within. Like it were the only thing keeping her warm.

Why did Soulblight do this to me?

6.73
The wind finally died down, though it took Dash a little longer to decide to leave from her protective wings. Revealing herself to the world slowly, feeling the still chilly bursts of cold air licking against her face and snow came down in droves to start coating her. Even her wings had a light layer of snow already packed on them. Shining bright with white in the darkness. She looked up, seeing just the faintest hint of light casting a glow over the pitch-black sky above plagued in layers upon layers of thick clouds, clouds so large she doubted she could even break them. That any Pegasus could even control them.

It all shrouded the night veiled world in a sheet of white fresh out of a scene of winter… instead bombarded by blizzards the likes of which she didn’t know possible. So strong that she was scared to move any further, but she had to. It was the only way to get out of here. I have to get out of here, I need to make sure Soul is safe. That that did not just happen to her. Damn it, gotta get moving. As hard as it will be. But she did it anyways.

Took a lot to get on all fours. Feeling the full force of the cold slithering all over her body and making her shake so violently. Staring out into an endless field of white beneath a blackened sky where the snow came down in such blankets that the darkness almost turned to white and the clouds became one with the land.

Now what? Where am I now? First that horrible forest and now this. Where even was this now? In a land so damp in snow and cold. This shouldn’t even be possible. But here she was in it. She backed up away from it all. Trying to figure out what she could do, if there was anything that can be done, until she hit that thing behind her again. Turning around quickly to see. Expecting something much like what all this night had been providing her with. Except it wasn’t.

6.74
A wall. A wooden wall stretching over her and curving up into an angled rooftop, a rooftop not that far above her. When she realized something. That she was standing right next to… the top of a darkened window. Almost entirely submerged in snow.

This house… it was buried? What?

Rainbow looked along it. Trying to find some clue as to what it was that was going on and finding she was not alone with this house. There were more. To the left and right, and she leapt away enough with the help of her wings to… wait! Rainbow looked over her shoulders. Both her wings flapping in tandem and keeping her aloft just over the snowy ground.

They work now?

They did! So why now? She looked all around. Giving her wings another burst of power, before she was forced to hold her place when she almost was flung right out of the sky by a fresh blast of wind. Taking so much of her strength to keep herself aloft. Prevent herself from tumbling away until it died down again and she had to courage to do what she wanted. She took off, not too high… not when the air became so horrid enough to even breath in with so much wind and snow hitting her face the higher she went. Only able to get just above the building she had been standing by and being able to see what it was she was dealing with.

That building and the others she had seen were just few of many. Many of these houses sprawled all along the land under her to where even some of them were hard to see in this snow. But she made them all out. All of them looking almost exactly alike before this assortment of buildings ended abruptly. Centered together in the middle of… a giant land of snow. Scaling far and wide until it could be seen no more in this weather.

The lone monuments of a snowy world… a snowy world?

Rainbow felt her heart begin to race. No. It couldn’t be, as she looked around at it again. Wanting to get rid of that thought. No matter how much it stung into the back of her head.

6.75
Rainbow landed down on the house under her, and she almost slipped upon landing. Curving her hooves and angling her wings to catch the wind enough to stop her from sliding down the roof and she stood up on it. Wow, that was close. She set her hoof down in such deep snow, deep enough for her hoof to dig deep into it and still not even touch the wooden surface of the roof. Waiting to feel comfortable up here under the constant threat of falling off and so much wind coming over to sweep sheets of snow off the rooftops of other houses, proving this place to be so dangerous for her to fly in. For anypony to fly in.

What, so is that why I get my wings back now? Unbelievable. I need them. I want to go home. Even though the prospect of that happening was slowly slipping out of her mind. Not with how imposing this place was and how alone she was. Begging inside for it all to change again when it just kept going and she could no longer stand to be still in this cold. Wandering around the top of the roof just trying to look out and see if she could find anything. Just empty darkness under a shrouded Moon.

The Moon… that’s impossible! Rainbow almost fell back when she saw it. Even covered in clouds… she still could make it out even if she didn’t want to. Couldn’t believe it to be so. To see it like that again with the likeness of a mare cast within its disk. Bursting out in a shine and glaring down upon her.

“The Mare in the Moon” she whispered up to it.

But… there’s no way. It’s been years since… she shook her head. What is going on here? Somepony tell me now. As if she had gone back in time. Gone back in time and travelling to… No! I gotta stop thinking that. That’s not it.

She looked out at the blank and frigid world that froze her to the bone. This can’t be it. None of it can be. Even… as she kept looking… seeing more and more of the nothing until only one thing could be seen in all of it, taking the form of a vast array of mighty mountains tearing out in silhouettes in the darkness. Towering high in the distance. Those mountains that told her one thing. That made it all begin to make sense to her no matter how insane it sounded to her. I can already hear the others laughing at me if I told them this, because it is insane. No amount of smacks to her face could get rid of the idea, just smother it a little to fester inside. Down there with the pain of seeing her best friend so sad and to see her bleed before her. Just another trinket of this world. This world that she began to think was her own.

6.76
Only for a hum to break through the howl of the wind and take her attention. Soft and diligent, it sung out within the emptiness of this world. Like it was all around her. But it made Dash nonetheless curious, looking all about trying to find where it was coming from. To no avail. It was the only thing in this world that she could claim to be anywhere close to something she could follow, so she did.

She waited for a break in the wind to open up her wings and take to the air in long leaps to other rooftops. Running across them and leaping to another and another. Going all around, she looked left and right and the humming did not change. It still sounded like it was everywhere. So she searched everywhere. Leaping towards the front of this village, being careful not to slip like she came close to before. Until she actually did and fell with a thud into the snow-topped roof fresh out of her flight.

“Ow” she stood back up, slowly rubbing her chin. She gasped. Holding still. To hear the hum actually so close now, close enough for her to tell where it was as its tune grew softer and quieter. Wracking her with the sorrow of grief that she now could hear somewhat within the tune.

Rainbow looked over. Over to the house across from the one she stood on. To find another figure over there. One that also was upon a rooftop just like she had been. Perched towards the edge, just short of falling off it. But that pony had no fear as it stared up to the Moon with black slit eyes and wings timidly twitching to her sides as their tips scratched across the snow. Not even caring that Dash was here, even though she should.

Soulblight again.

6.77
The black pony has a lot of nerve showing up again. A lot of nerve though Dash was not at all upset to see her no matter how much she wanted to yell at her. To get this pony to stop all this. Send her home now. She was just about to do that. Leap on over to her house and demand, but one thing stopped Dash. Planting her hooves back down and her jaw dropped.

Like the tears dropping from Soulblight’s face, shimmering in the moonlight.

Each tear shining before they disappeared in the snow. She’s crying? Staring at the Moon and crying. No matter how scary she had seemed, seeing that pony like this… she’s almost unreal. Almost familiar. With the same eyes and fears inside, like she was a real pony that Dash felt for.

Does she always cry like this? All alone here, sitting and staring up to the sky? Not even caring about the cold that didn’t even seem to matter to her. Nothing to break that pony away from her sadness, a sadness so deep that Dash felt… like it did seem so familiar. To see those tears falling from her. I’ve seen those tears before. I’ve felt those tears before. The true sadness that they shone with to pierce the night sky in their glimmer with no others there to see it, and no others there to comfort her.

Nopony there to comfort me.

I can’t watch her. I know the feeling, …and didn’t you… didn’t Soul? Which pony was it who did tell me? Was it you or was it Soul who told me so well what it was like to be all alone like this. Sitting alone… with nothing but the Moon as your only company. Rainbow widened her eyes. “Soul…” the pony disappeared. Gone in an instant. Leaving nothing behind where she had sat, not even the snow did move, and Rainbow Dash was left with the memory of what this all may be. The truth of it all. When she looked back out at this world. One where nopony should ever be forced to be in. Where not even she wanted to be. Something she never wanted to experience.

But somepony did. Somepony close to me.

This is what it was like. This is what it was all like for her. So much that she even did… that to herself. Rainbow lowered her head. Casting aside the last bits of doubt she had left. Realizing what it was that Soulblight had meant about helping her. She was helping. Soulblight, you are showing me what it was like.

With Soul’s memories.

6.78
Nothing had changed and Soulblight never showed up again. Disappeared though the snow did not as it made Rainbow ever more cold to the point where she was begging for a blanket. She hoped one awaited her. Because this was the only house in the village where she could find a door that was not covered up in snow. Made possible since a porch rooftop managed to save the door from the snow to where Dash had slid down to find. Brushing snow off herself and giving her whole body a quick shake to try and send it all off her. To the best of her ability.

She sighed. Accepting that she had to try and find shelter in this wretched looking house where no signs of life was present just like every other house here. She looked back first before anything else. Up to what she could see left of the night sky peeking out from under the porch rooftop, and still no sign of anypony else. Still no Soulblight or even Soul, though she began to expect to find her best friend somewhere around here.

I think I know what this place is. I think I know what this house is. So that might mean…

Is she here? What can I even say to her? Can’t even think right. Not with the cold beginning to numb her head and the tips of her wings felt like they may fall off at any point soon. I have to say something to her. I was the one who sent her here. It was all my fault that she needs to deal with this. That she had to deal with this.

How would Soul even react? Please may it be different than last time. At least a little happy to see me. Because this is the closest I’ve come to… to being able to come and rescue you. I’ll never get that real chance. Another gust of wind hit her butt and made it so that even her tail could not keep her warm enough to stop the coming shivers. Fine, already.

Oh Celestia, please help me. Rainbow came up to the door. Taking a simple turn and a click to make it crack open and she let it wing open before her. Pulled by the wind that made her want to rush right in.

6.79
Running onto a soft carpet that was immediately flaked in snow piling in from the outside, stopped only when Dash kicked the door shut behind her and saved herself from the wind. Though it didn’t do much as the cold still hit her. Not as bad as outside. Not nearly especially because she actually found herself inside of what she could call a house. To the best of the extent.

The entire dirty carpet she stood on lit up… because of the one reason that made this place even a little warm. There was a fire going in a fireplace. Crackling against charred chunks of wood and other things she couldn’t make out. That alone let her know… somepony did live here. Or they had been. Because Dash was alone as she looked around the room. Just a small room with not a thing to make her think that it lacked any sense of space. With only a small table and some chairs perched against it… and even a large bed to her right just under a window almost completely blocked out by the snow. Not even the fact that a blanket and pillows were present on it made her any less infatuated with this place. Not wanting to free herself of the chills still running along her body.

Somepony really did live here if they were able to leave blankets and pillows strewn in such a mess. If this is all true, I think I know who it is.

So this… this is where she had to live for twelve years. Inside this dusty, old house with almost nothing to it. She even got a fire going in here. Not sure how she did that. She needed to keep this thing going for so long. Had to. It’s so cold in here. But there was nopony here. A small relief from the fear. Would Soul ever be here? I just don’t know what to expect anymore. How some world like this may work.

I was brought into her memories… so what now? How do I do this? There was literally nothing that she could think of on what to do. Not even the others would know. Not with this crazy magic… not with this horrible situation where she had to relive moments. Feel what was felt. Like this sense of loneliness that even the walls of this place brimmed in. Seeping down and saturating her. Like no happiness could exist in here.

6.80
Rainbow slinked by the fireplace, looking into it for a moment. Wondering how long one may have to stare at this thing. Like this was the only thing a pony could do out here in this weather. Where only this fire was your company. Lost out here, all alone. This is the only thing you have. So much loneliness in here, how still it all was, and she just walked on. Looking all around the room, just trying to get a sense of what a pony would have to deal with being in here for so long.

This was her home. Even has a mirror in here, one that Dash looked into. One that had blended in so well. Stepping by it softly and staring at herself. How messy her mane looked, with strands of red and orange sticking out wildly and all her fur soaked with water and small splotches of… blood. All that was left of that painful moment that she was reminded off… and even more pain when she saw even more blood that made her stand still and stare at it.

Not on herself, but… on the carpet.

Pools of it. I can’t stop staring. Large pools soaked and dried into the carpet and even smaller ones all around it. Like somepony got hurt here… and Dash didn’t want to think of how. For she had a good idea. It made her skin crawl. Hateful of having to witness all this no matter how good intentioned it was. Now having to just be here and witness all of it, all the things that Soul had to deal with. How miserable. But I’m not upset.

Whatever this place is, it’s supposed to be something. And I can’t leave even if I wanted to.

The wind was so violent out there, slamming hard against the walls of the house. Proving to her even more that she couldn’t even fly out there, and the creeping feeling of cold still hung all over her. Reminding her that there really was nothing she could do now that she was alone here without any guidance on what to do. Sounds a lot like somepony else I know who had to deal with this. Still no sign of that pony or any other around here.

I’m really alone. Alone until… something. Something happens. Whatever it is. All she could do was sit back against the wall and slowly lean against the bed frame. Staring down at the filthy carpet and doing all she could with her wings to keep herself warm.

What am I supposed to do?

Rainbow closed her eyes. Not to rest or hide this world from her sight. Simply to keep herself from crying. Squeezing tightly. Waiting with the wind outside.

6.81
Dash opened her eyes back up right as she heard a slam. Followed quickly by the howling wind blazing into the house, and she saw from over the bed that the door had been forced open. Wide enough for so much snow to fly in in sheets that made her worry that the whole house could be filled with the stuff if she did not close it. Amazing that the wind was so strong to be able to force the door open, and she stood up. But held her ground when she heard the sounded of wings flittering in the air and the tap of hooves upon wood.

The door was being held open.

Alone in here, not anymore, and that fear came back. With everything this place had shown her… Dash was scared. More afraid than she ever wished to be. Not after everything else this world had given her to deal with.

She could only kneel down. Wanting to just hide behind the foot of the bed, in this dark corner of the room until she realized that she could actually fit. So she did.

Rainbow crawled under the bed. Brushing aside the cobwebs and fighting really hard to keep herself from sneezing with all the dust blowing into her face. It took a little effort but she managed to squeeze her hind legs in and crawled in as far as she could go. Snooping along with not a sound. Oh, what is it now? I just want to get out of here. Just leave me alone, whatever it is. Whatever it was… could be as dangerous as anything else she had to deal with in this world. This snowy realm did not seem happy for her to be here. But she stopped with a startle, looking over to the doorway when she heard a rushed exhale wrapped in a shivering voice.

Hooves dragging along the carpet… hooves of reddened fur. So damped in exhaustion that they didn’t even lift off the ground as they walked along, and the door shut behind them. Clearing what was left of the snow to flurry in, and whoever that pony was let out another drawn out exhale. Matching their shivering legs and quaking violet and silver striped tail.

…Wait.

6.82
Rainbow watched that tail drag along the carpet much like those legs, leaving a damp trail of water and snow behind before it twitched and shook off piles of snow. Even more piles falling down all along where this pony walked. That tail, how it looked and how it was kept. It looked exactly like… no way.

Dash dragged herself forward right as that pony stepped by the edge of the bed. Their red legs coming close enough for Dash to even touch if she wanted… but close enough to see even more to them. Such beautifully red fur capped in spiky tips scattered among chunks of blackened dirt and soiled skin that bore open to the air where patches of fur were not even present. Making Dash gasp into her hoof as this pony passed by.

Oh shit.

That pony walked by and showed… how many wounds were all over their legs. Not dirt at all. Scabs. Open scars and bleeding wounds billowing red liquid all upon the fur and dripping a little onto the carpet behind them. Turning small spots of the carpet black and red. Just like what she knew it to be.

Blood.

As much as she didn’t want to believe it, she had an idea of what it was she was actually looking at. That that was not the natural color of that fur. Though she hated to think it wasn’t. Because that would mean one thing just because the tail did belong to her. This pony stopped just short of stepping in front of Dash’s nose, standing close to the bed’s edge. Close enough that Dash couldn’t look away at the horrible sight of the leg closest to her. All the mangled flesh and torn ligaments protruding out from all that fur with deep lashes spread all between them. Like somepony had actually slashed them.

Torn them to shreds.

The closest thing that came to her mind was walking through a thorny patch which made her cringe and shudder. Wanting to look away from the wounded leg but her eyes could not leave it. She could not stand to look away knowing who these legs may belong to and whatever it was that they had to deal with to get this bad. It was a surprise she could even walk on those legs.

Damn it, I already think it is her. Please, no. She didn’t even think of the possibility of this pony looking down and finding her hiding here.

6.83
No matter how long it was, she couldn’t look away. Even watching when the pony finally turned around and trudged off on broken legs towards the fireplace. Shaking as they walked. Swaying that gorgeous tail towards Dash. Gorgeous just like… she smacked herself.

No! Stop it, stop thinking it’s… and those wings came down.

Those wings draped off the pony’s sides so they may drag along the floor. Where the legs were red, these wings were magenta. Wrapped in such brilliant and thick feathers along wings mighty enough to tear the sky in two. Much like the pony Dash didn’t want this one to be though her wishes dwindled, and she accepted the horrible truth that… that this was Soul she was watching.

What on earth happened to her? Why? Dash thought over just how painful it must be to walk on those legs… how horrible it must feel to look like that, and whatever it was that made it happen. What did she go through to look like that? What pain? Was it like the sadness in her young face, the horror in her face when she fell to the ground with a slash to her throat and a bloody shard in her hooves?

How? How can anypony suffer so much?

Rainbow fought back the urge to leap out and cry for her. Smacking her hoof against the floor over and over with tears coming down. “Pffff….” She muttered out of her mouth barely holding in her pained cries. What happened to her? Soul, I can’t… I hate to see you like this. So why are you so calm? The Pegasus making naught a sound as she sat down by the fire… down enough for Dash to see that… it was really her. With her long and beautiful mane draped along her back and ears set down hiding her face as she stared down into the fire. No filly at all.

It was Soul Serenity. Tormented in blood and scars.

6.84
Calm down, Dash. Calm down. I… she looked back at the pony and all the blood spilling out from her legs. Damn it all. She looked away trying to catch her breath. Get those fears out of her mind because she had to be the stronger mare here. Because time was passing and passing and only Soul remained here shivering in front of the fire. Not even moving, as Dash’s only company and her unending desire to just go out there and try to comfort her best friend. Since this really did look to be the most needy time her friend had.

She didn’t even need to see her face to know that Soul was in such sorrow to even display any emotion from herself. Not after all she knew about what it was that Soul had to go through.

Dash couldn’t believe she almost stepped out from under the bed, so hard to stop herself. Damn it, Soulblight. What is it I’m supposed to do? You said you’ll help me, help me find out what I have to do to help her… but… if she’s like this then what can I do? I’m just one pony. One pony who screwed up badly. It was all my fault she got like this. How can you ask me to help? There’s nothing I can do. No. Not after what I did to such a poor mare.

I did this to her.

Just laying here was proving to be more daunting a task to do than trying to get Blight to answer. As an itch ran all down her legs just seeing her best friend in such a state… and all the drive in her to comfort her. Just like when you got hurt. Every time when we were fillies, I always was the one to be there for you when you fell, when you hit a wall or fumbled a landing. Scraping your legs and hurting your wings. Just like I know you’d do for me. I would always hold you until you stopped crying… can… can this even count? With how much pain you must be in.

Am I even good enough anymore? Good enough to be there for you?

Soul sniffed. Breaking Dash out of her trance. Staring over to the sad pony by the fireplace who did all she could to warm herself up. Hiding the obvious from Dash.

I can’t let this go on. No matter what, even if I don’t know what to do, I need to try. I wanted to treat you just like I used to, I want you to feel so welcome in your new life and to leave the old one behind. I guess… this is the best place to start.

Rainbow pulled herself out from under the bed.

6.85
Soul did not turn. Not with quiet steps that Dash took towards her. Leaning her head down with wings drooped upon her sides. All the sadness she felt seeing Soul get closer and closer. I’m getting so close to her. I’m not gonna hurt you or scare you. Just, please, see me as the pony you used to know. Trust me, please. I only want what’s best for you.

You used to be the strong one, it’s my turn now.

Dash hesitated on one last step. Feeling she could just run out the door and leave. Prefer to freeze over dealing with what I’ve done to her? She gulped. No. I can’t run from her. I need to deal with this. It’s the only way I can think of to save her. …Huh, if that was your intention, Soulblight, it sure isn’t easy.

But it’s not like life ever was easy for us, Soul. I see that you really did… have it so bad. Now that I can see it with my own eyes. I can’t help but cry for you inside. I don’t want you to be like this forever. Please, I just want to see you smile again. No matter what you do, I’ll try twice as hard. Listening to Soul crying behind her mane. Try so hard to stop the tears that have been building up for so many years. It’s all I can do. All I can do to get you back. All I can do is be strong.

6.86
“Soul.”

Rainbow’s heart skipped when Soul bucked her head up in surprise. Flailing her silver mane up in a jump and her huge wings rose along her sides. Then she quivered. Huffing behind her mane. Trembling ever so worse than she had been. Keeping Dash away from her in this pitifully frightening display the pony made. Not even from being startled. Dash could tell one thing.

Soul was scared. So scared that she didn’t even turn around. Grabbing hold of one of her wings and pulling it forward, wrapping her face in it and whimpering. Refusing to look away from the fireplace. Drenching her wing in blood and quaking in her wounded legs.

“Soul, it’s me. It’s Dashie” Rainbow stepped a little closer. Opening her wings just a little. Not entirely sure what to expect from how so very scared Soul was now. Like she was just afraid of the fact that Dash was talking to her. …No, I have no right to be here. Not after how long I left her like this. Left her with those last words I gave her. I’m probably the last pony she would ever expect to see here. The last pony she would want to see here. But I can’t leave you like this, Soul.

Dash made the stride towards her old friend. Just short of tapping her on the shoulder, which she almost did but held back. Held back when Soul trembled even worse knowing that Dash had gotten closer. Dash brought her hoof back, whispering. “I… I’m so glad to see you. I…” she really struggled to find what she may say to a pony in this situation. If she should ask about her wounds and tell her how much she missed her. How bad it was for her to see Soul like this. But she had nothing more to let out of her mouth. Nothing at all.

“Please don’t hurt me.”

Dash looked back up. Hearing Soul correctly. It made her heart writhe. To hear her best friend say something like that to her. Why would she? I… “Soul, I…” Dash stepped one hoof closer.

6.87
Then Soul did turn. Turn and showed her eyes as if they weren’t her own. No longer with the beauty of the Sun or the rush of the life that they had once been with. Drained of all happiness… as they sat there plagued in red and cracks around her tiny pupils pulsating at her. Shriveling with the fear so clearly stitched in her face.

All Dash could see of them before Soul fell backwards with a jolt and a scream. Falling on her bloody legs, and… breaking Dash’s heart. When she watched her best friend scurry away from her. Kicking her hind legs against the floor just to push herself away. Shrieking and panicking. Yelling at the top of her lungs without even trying to look at Dash.

No. She’s… running from me?

Just trying to get away. Back away until she could not back anymore when her wings flurried against the wall and she quickly curled up against it. Crying beneath her bloody legs.

Oh Soul… Dash shook her head and trembled watching her friend act like this. Shaking on her legs now in fear. Afraid of what it was that made Soul do this. Act like this. Because this… this was not Soul. I’ve never seen Soul like this. She’s never gotten like this. She’s like… a scared kid now. What happened to you?

“Get away, get away, get away.” Dash’s wings jumping each time that was said. Flailing about and sending feathers scurrying. Sweet Celestia, what has happened to you? She’s… she’s afraid of me? But I… Rainbow backed away, looking down at her own hooves. No longer sure what it was she could do anymore. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to be her friend again, but she’s… Soulblight didn’t think of this. Did she? I can’t do this. I can’t. I’m not the friend I used to be. With every time she heard Soul mutter for her to get away sent even more daggers into her mind, cutting and scalding until she could feel nothing but herself begin to break down. Wanting to hide herself in her own wings, run to a corner of her own and hide from Soul.

That is how we left each other. Just like this. Just like what I wanted from you.

So now I get it. I’m the one who gets the punishment now. The punishment of seeing my best friend so scared and afraid of me. She wants nothing to do with me. Since I was the one who sent her to this world. I was the one who made it so she had to deal with all this. I’m no better than a monster and… that is why…!

Dash stared at Soul. I made you this way… because… you’re afraid of me. After what I did to you.

Soul Serenity is afraid of me.

No better than a monster. A monster who told her the most hurtful words anypony could say to her. So… that is how you see me? That is what I made you think of me. So it’s true. It’s all true. This whole world and everything it was.

…This really is Soul Serenity. A Soul Serenity that Dash did not want.

Soul, I’m so sorry.

6.88
I’m not gonna have any more of it. I’m not your monster. I’m your best friend and I will prove it to you. Just like we used to be.

That is what made Dash walk, on her own… over to the crying form of her best friend. Over to where her pleas for her to leave grew stronger though she never lifted her head. Never showed those eyes gripped in sorrow to her. I don’t wan’t to see those eyes again. All I want is my Soul Serenity back. The one so beautiful and happy. Whatever I can do. And I think I know how. Just like we used to… the last time we did this. Our last night together.

I’ll do it for you again. To let you know there is nothing to cry about. To let you know that I am here for you just like I used to be, and you can rely on me once more.

Soul Serenity, I’m your best friend… and you deserve everything from me. Including this.

Rainbow stood over Soul, taking no second thoughts to walk around her prone body… and she laid down too. Not caring about any blood that got too close to her. Not caring if Soul lashed at her or flailed wildly. Because I trust her. I trust Soul to be that pony I once knew. The one who will love this.

Dash raised her wing. Pulling herself close… until… until their fur touched, and Rainbow did something she missed so deeply. She pulled Soul in, in between her legs and held her tightly. As both pegasi lay there together. Silently, as Rainbow Dash set her wing down upon the shaking body of Soul. Curling it up and covering her entire body in blue feathers so that only her best friend’s head loomed out under her legs… where she cried.

Dash tightened her grip. Planting her nose into Soul’s mane and closing her eyes. Waiting… waiting with the seeping feeling of warm blood covering her wing. I don’t care if her blood is getting on me. I just don’t. I’ll do anything for her. I’ll lay here as long as I have to, with her. I’ll hold her until she feels safe. Until she has nothing left to be afraid of. As we go back to how we were, when you hugged me like this on our last night together. Soul Serenity.

6.89
Holding on for as long as it took. No matter how much it made Dash so very upset to see and feel how Soul was really wanting to get away from her. Tossing and turning under her wing, but Dash would not let go. Not until she saw just how little she had changed and that Dash was wanting her to be happy. Even now. Whatever it was that tormented her. This hug will save her. It will remind her of what used to be. Until Soul would stop. Stop her squealing and pulling. All her fears of who it was that held her.

She has every right to be afraid of me, it was me who ruined her after all. Me who betrayed her when she needed me most. I’m the one who caused all this pain to her. It may as well be all me, me personally who did this to her. Who made her bleed and made her cry all the time. Is that why you cry all the time? I won’t let it go anymore. Until you’re happy again and we can be the best of friends just like we used to be.

It was all that Dash wanted as she kept her eyes sealed against Soul’s mane and struggled with all her might to keep her held. Keep her safe.

I’ll always be there for you. Even now, just like I should have been when you were here by yourself. I’ll make up for it now. Ignoring her cries and screams. Letting herself calm down just enough to lean in and rub her cheek along the back of Soul’s head. Whispering for her to hush in her ear and stroking her side under that wing of hers.

Not letting up with her strokes, when Soul tried again to leap away and Dash held tighter. Not wanting to give up when Soul began to quiet down. Rubbing her stomach the likes of which nopony else would ever receive from her. Only Soul would get it. You’re the only pony I’ll do this for. Only I would.

Don’t you see, Soul… it’s me. The Dashie you loved. The only one who will do this for you.

“I really missed hugging you like this” she whispered to Soul right in the middle of one of her panics. But that would not keep her from saying more. All she knew to do to remind Soul of who they once were, and… all she would do to bring those times back. Just like now, as I suffer this world for you.

“I wanted it so badly… Soul. Didn’t you?” she asked over Soul’s screams. “So much that I… even came all this way to find you. I saw everything you had to deal with, and I went after you so you would not feel all alone anymore. Just like I should have done earlier. I should have come for you, I should never have left you to this. But I won’t leave you anymore. We can go back to this. Just like you used to love, and we can be the greatest of friends again. Isn’t that what you want?”

Dash nudged her face deeper into Soul’s mane, …which lay still now and heavy breathing burst out from the darkness of Soul’s hairs. All she could hear now that she wanted to listen, that and her own tears. Her own sniffles, crying into Soul’s mane. Holding her tighter no matter how much the pony she held struggled to move and escape.

“I miss it so much, Soul. And all I have left is… is the last time you did this for me. It’s all I had left of you, all those years ago. My last memory of you. …Back when we were fillies, do you remember? When we slept together. I was so stupid to not tell you how much that meant to me. Because no other pony ever did that for me. Just like nopony else did it for you. But… you did it. You held me for so long. You kept me safe. You are the only friend I’ve ever known to give me that feeling.”

That feeling. The one deep in my heart, I’m always too afraid to admit it to you. But I will let you know everything else. Everything that you did for me.

Rainbow scooched over, closer to Soul’s poised ear. Close enough for her lips to touch the fur. “I loved it. Every second of it. Not even my own parents gave me that feeling you gave me. …And I hate we left it like that. All I want is to return the favor… so you can feel what it was like when you did this for me. And I’ll do it for as long as you want. So please… please Soul don’t be afraid of me. Because I’ll never hurt you again. I’ll never be that pony you’re afraid of. And I will do everything I can to make you happy again. Because there’s so much I want us to experience.”

And…

“You should know why.”

6.90
The day you left me… it was the worst day of my life… when I heard what had happened to you… I did something nopony else knew I did. I even lied to my parents that I was just studying flight patterns and needed absolute concentration. Anything to keep them from opening my door and seeing me. Anything so nopony else could see what losing you did to me.

I skipped camp… for many, many days. I only left my room to eat or use the bathroom. And my flying got worse with how many weeks I spent alone in there. The days my parents didn’t even know I was skipping. Because I couldn’t bring myself to go there… without you. I would rather stay in my room… and cry.

Cry so much that it… it was like my bed was soaked. Until I couldn’t cry anymore and fell asleep with only one thing on my mind. The one thing that kept me sad. That was the fact that I had lost you, that I would never see you again. Banished just like the princess… I thought it would be the same way. That I really would never see you again. That we would be apart till we both would die.

Me at our home, and you lost forever.

At our home. The home we should have shared. Our town. Our sky. The thought that you were gone from it all and I would not be able to experience it with you was too much for me. Too much… that… I even tried to come find you. All the months I spent outside of flight camp, I spent searching for you as far as I could go. I was just a little filly, and I went so far for you.

To Canterlot and Ponyville. Over Everfree and on to Manehattan. I spent so many months looking for you that… that I even got kicked out of camp for it. And my parents yelled at me when they learned what I had been doing, and I couldn’t do it anymore. They even sent me back to camp… without you. But that didn’t stop me. None of that stopped me.

What stopped me, when I was just a mare right out of her filly years ready to fly as far as Equestria could take me, was myself.

Knowing what I had done to you, that I abandoned you and told you horrible things. I was my own fear that kept me from you. I was such a coward to turn back and never try again, thinking you were better off without me. But being apart from you and thinking you were better off didn’t keep me from being sad all the time, no matter how good I was at hiding it.

Every day I spent training, I looked over my shoulder and wished you were there with me. Every time I went to bed, I wished you could hold me. Everypony I hung out with, it wasn’t the same as when I was with you. Because you were the best pony I ever met. The only pony I could call my truest and greatest friend. One I wanted to share my life with. Even when I moved to Ponyville and met the others, I still regretted not having you there with me. For you to come along and we could start our lives together in a new town fresh out of training and ready for the world with so many new friends we could make. So many new things we could do together. Until the point when we could finally realize our dream together.

All the others thought it was so great, but it wasn’t. That day was the happiest and saddest day of my life when I finally passed the test and could actually call myself a Wonderbolt. I smiled and cheered… until I got home, …and I just cried. I cried holding my new uniform for hours… and hours… that I couldn’t even sleep. Because you weren’t there with me. I didn’t get to see you accomplish your dream, and I hated myself that you wouldn’t be able to. You were lost out there. And there was nothing I could do to help you. Nothing while I did what we both wanted to do.

It’s funny… I kept going for that dream just for you… but it didn’t feel good to do it. I thought I would love it, accomplishing it with you on my mind… but it was the most painful moment of my life. I had nopony there to comfort me. I didn’t have the one pony I trusted to comfort me. All because I am the worst friend ever. When I want you to be so happy, to accomplish everything you ever wanted, to be there for you every step of the way and I just left you. I left you to suffer and lose everything… and I hate myself for it.

Everypony loves me… but I don’t.

I hate myself so much and I don’t think I can ever go back to being the pony you held. And I’m so terrified you will never go back to being the pony I knew. So we can go on to do all we wanted together… without having to be so afraid. There’s so much I want us to do. So much I wish we can do. So many places to go and so many things to experience but I’m so scared it won’t happen all because I am not good enough for you. That nothing I can ever do will ever make it right again.

Soul, …I’m so scared. I’m so sad. And I don’t ever want us to be apart again… but I feel we are always going to be apart.

So what can I do?

What can I do to show you I still am the one you used to know? Please tell me. Because it’s all I’ve ever wanted. I’ll do anything for the chance to see you happy again. I’ll give anything. Just as long as we can go back. So you can forget what it was you suffered from. So we can stop feeling like the past has never left us. Cuz I want to be there for you, forever… without anything holding us back.

So please tell me.

Tell me… so you can trust me again. So we can go back to being what we used to be.

Tell me… so I can finally admit to you… how I really feel…

6.91
A feather touched Dash’s cheek. Rubbing the tears away.

Those soft, magenta feathers running so gently across her cheeks. Even when they came so close to her eyes. But they never did. Gently running along her face… and they fell off with the huge wing that came up and… and locked together with Dash’s own wings. From the pony who looked at her. Glanced over to her from the side… with a huge smile on her tear-filled face that even lit up her horribly reddened eyes. Before she rolled around under Dash’s wing, never letting go of the grip their wings had on one another, and she faced her.

Both pegasi laying there face to face.

Dash was silent… silent as a hoof came up, and magenta fur touched her face. She blinked. Falling calm as that hoof brushed along her even more gently than the wing had, and she felt herself being pulled as well. Slithering over her and knowing the feeling… the feeling that Soul was… was hugging her under their wings. Gone was the feeling of warm blood dripping over her. Nothing but the warmth of her fur and the brilliance of her smile drenched in tears.

Rainbow Dash lay down, holding her tighter right as Soul did the same, and both ponies came closer. Together in the glow of the fire, where not even the cold could be felt anymore. Not in this warmth that made Dash smile… closing her eyes and seeing her dearest friend’s smile in the dark of her sight and a stroke of Soul’s hoof along her face. Comforted by her saying it as happy as she could. Soft and gentle but… she heard how happy she was.

“Dashie.”

6.92
“You were suspended?” Soul giggled over it.

Dash didn’t take that lying down, squeezing a little tighter in her own way of telling her not to laugh at it. Dash was the one who could do what she wanted now, now that she had Soul… and Soul really could have just gone off as she did before in fear over being so close to Dash, but she didn’t. She actually looked so happy as she was down there where Dash kept her head set upon Soul’s mane and both of them stared at the fireplace. Watching it dance and basking them in warmth that Soul surely didn’t need, being completely covered up in Dash’s wings.

Soul probably really likes this. I don’t know if she has an idea how much I’m loving this. “Yeah I sorta messed up on one of our shows and did a lot of damage” Dash said going through with the want of running her chin through Soul’s mane, warming up from her touch. Really just wanting to do this forever. For them never to leave from this moment if they could keep it going till the end of time, and never have to experience anything less. For now they were together.

After so long, and this was the one moment Dash felt so happy doing this again. Dream or not. She didn’t want it to end. Not with how real it did feel, how real her happiness was and hearing Soul actually talk to her like this. Talk like like she had no worries. Like she really was comfortable being around Dash. Not even doing the thing Dash thought she would do upon learning about her time in the Wonderbolts… Soul didn’t even flinch. Not at the fact she was not a member and couldn’t experience these moments herself. But genuinely happy to hear about what Dash did.

It took all this just to get to this moment. When we could do this. We can actually talk like great friends again. Talk about anything and be close like this. Like we never left. If only it was true. Still, this is more than anything I can dream of. After all the terrors and hopelessness she felt… for it to lead to all this. This one small moment that meant more to her than any other. That it could lead to more. She dreamed of it to be so. Wondering if Soul thought the same even as they just talked about other things.

Do you feel the same way I do? Are you afraid? Are you happy?

6.93
“I hope nopony got hurt. Wow, …I can’t believe they actually suspended you.” Soul leaned back to look upon her. “Are you upset that you can’t fly with them?”

Guess she doesn’t want to say. That’s fine, I think I already know the answer. Because I feel it. “It’s only for a little bit. And I guess I deserve it. I did do some pretty risky moves and didn’t really think over it. I was more focused on impressing really.” Rainbow sighed. “Still crashed anyways.”

“Something tells me it was more than a crash” Soul snarked. Oh now that was clever… and great to hear. Dash smiled. Yes! I missed this. “Something tells me you couldn’t pull it off either” Dash said back.

“Maybe I could.” Soul flexed her wings under Dash’s wings. Grazing the spans of them along Dash’s feathers. “It’s not like I spent this whole time sitting around.”

I know. You’ve done so much and I’m so proud of everything you managed to do even when thrown into this world. “You do have very beautiful wings” Dash whispered, getting an immediate response when Soul swooned and budged her head back against Dash’s chin. Such a soft touch.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah” Dash said. “They’re perfect for a future Wonderbolt.” Soul went still. Though Dash couldn’t see her down there, she heard her breathing. Soft and slow, and the slightest kick of her hoof against Dash’s wing. Such a giddy move. Whatever thoughts she may have, Dash hoped they were sweet. Something beautiful to go to bed with and hope for.

“I can see it now, you and I… the greatest flyers in Equestria, impressing everypony with our skills.” Dash giggled. “I bet Scootaloo would be dying to join us.” I’d love to see that filly with us someday. We can actually be together and not have to worry about a thing anymore.

“That’s the second time you mentioned that pony, who is she?” Soul asked. Oh yeah… I didn’t say that. More focused on the story. But that filly really would be somepony Soul should meet… we can totally show her what a pony can become, no matter how difficult it can be. Who better than Soul? Me crashing sure didn’t help that at all. I kinda hope Scoots had fun watching me.

6.94
“I’m sorry…” Dash said. “She’s my little sister.”

“You have a sister!?”

Oh, I did sort of say that bluntly. “Well, kind of. She’s a filly who’s having a bit of a hard time learning how to fly… and she seems to really like me.” She looks up to me yet she, just like every other pony, has no idea that I’m not a pony to be looked up to. Not when I make such bad mistakes that drive others away from me. I hope I can at least come close to being the pony Scootaloo dreams of being. Which seemed so far away when she looked down at the pony she held, the one who was closer than her at being that pony. I can only try. Just like I tried with you.

“She didn’t have anypony to rely on and… she never could find one to teach her. I took her on as my student but…” oh I’ll admit it truthfully. “She really is like my little sister now. I love it when she calls me her sister.”

“She looks up to you?” Soul asked. Dash nodded, and Soul sank a little lower into her. Staring at the fireplace with Dash. “And she wanted to be your sister…?” Soul droned off. Lowering her head a little. That made Dash look down at her. “Something wrong?” Noticing that her friend was indeed a little shaken right now. Does she not like the idea that there’s somepony else in my life that I like to be around? No, that can’t be. Soul is not the jealous type. I hope. Especially after so many years… a lot had changed.

“No” Soul shook her head. Laughing again. “She sounds like such a sweet girl. I’d love to meet her.” Leaning back into Dash again. “Dashie has a sister” she said in a mocking voice. Yeah, I do. She hugged Soul even more. “Too bad I crashed in front of her. It was so embarrassing, and I thought I had it.”

6.95
Both ponies fell silent. Soul didn’t seem to have any thing else to say about it. I wonder why she got all quiet when I told her about Scoots. Is it a shocker I got a sort-of sister? I don’t think I should ask. Soul, she always hides her feelings. I don’t think I’ll get much out of her. I’m not one to talk. I’ve been holding back so much from her and it drove us apart.

I have no regrets telling her everything I’ve had to go through over the years.

“Do you regret skipping all those classes just to look for me?” Soul asked softly. Wow, I didn’t think she’d ask me that. Regret it? Well… even after what it did to my performance; I know I could’ve been a lot better back then if I hadn’t. Still…

“Not at all. I’d do it again… because I really wanted to find you. I’d do anything for you.” Besides, I still managed to improve even if I started sucking at camp. I did it for you, I skipped for you and improved for you. Because I wanted to impress you whenever I found you. “But you have no idea…” Dash hugged her even more. Getting a happy squeak out of her best friend and a little flutter of her wings. Proving more and more to Dash just how much she loved this. To do this again. “How happy I am to finally find you again after so long. I’d do anything just to see you happy again. Even skip class and go through so much crap just to get to you.”

Really now, Soul, you have no idea just how much I had to see tonight just to get to this. And all that training and time spent thinking about you, crying about you, it was all worth it just to see your smile again. Just to get the chance for us to do what we wanted to do when we were fillies. We can finally have a future together. I really think we can. We finally get to hug now. And you seem so happy to be around me again.

6.96
“We can train together to make up for lost time!” Soul said excitedly. “I can show you what I learned and you can show me what you learned. I bet we’ll be the greatest flyers of all time with us working together!” Sweet Celestia, that sounds like an awesome idea. And Soul sounds super excited about it. It’s funny. She’s like this now when she was so distant just days ago. But to become the greatest flyers? Well… that sounded impossible… considering there didn’t seem to be much point to work towards that when they already were. Dash had enough proof for that.

But, still though, why spoil it? She had no reason to… and, looking down at Soul, to the pony who looked up to her, she saw it in her eyes. That was not the real reason she wanted them to fly together. How excited she looked and happy… no, Dash bet it was the same reason they had back when they were kids. The real reason.

“I’ll be your wingpony, anytime” Dash said. “And I’ll be yours” Soul said back. Laughing and just brimming in joy. The likes of which Dash remembered when they used to fly together for the real reason… the real reason of being together. “There’s a bunch of mountains here that I like to train with… maybe we can fly through them together” Soul suggested. Mountains? Wow… the same ones that gave Soul these wings. Out here? Dash loved the idea but… she looked back out to the half-buried window. “I don’t know if I can train when my damn wings are icicles” she joked. But Soul was quick. “It’s just another blizzard tonight. It’s not so bad in the daytime. It’s still pretty cold but you can fly around out there.”

Sheesh… I’m being so gullible. But I have to accept that offer. Even if I’m here for a long time, I’ll still do that with you. Until we can go home together. Go home and be happy. I’ll fly for as long as you wish in this world… so long as I get to do it with you.

6.97
“Alright, you convinced me… I’d love to join you.” And Soul cheered. Happily leaning back into Dash, where Rainbow felt she may topple backwards with Soul but she kept them up and laughed alongside Soul. Laughing like we missed so many opportunities to do, now it’s all back. “Just like we used to” Dash said.

“Yeah! The skies are ours again” Soul kept going with how happy she was. Like a filly again. Carefree and excited for so many things she had no idea what would come to. “Flight buddies forever!” she said out loud in such a shrill voice that really did show that things were really changing.

Is this Soul even real? How can a pony change so much? After all I put her through, and now she’s wanting to be my wingpony again?! I… I never expected this. I never thought it would come to this when I saw that horrifying forest. When I felt all the pain and suffering you went through. Now it ends like this. I may as well say it with pride.

“Like best friends!” Dash said. “We can go home together, get out of this cold and show everypony that we’re the bestest of friends.”

Soul pumped her hoof out from under Dash’s feathers and into the air. “That nopony will ever beat us.” No, none will. Nopony will ever keep us apart. We will be like this forever, as long as I have a say about it. You’ll see, Soul. I’ll never let anything happen between us again. Whatever bad things I did to you in the past are meaningless now. And you never have to be afraid again. Rainbow was beyond happy over the fact that she could think that. Oh, all the things that this can lead to. If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. Not until they could have the life they should have had together.

“We can go home, …and you can live with me. I got…” Screw it. “A big bed we can share just like old times. And we can wake up together and do everything to make everything better. We can get your life back together.”

6.98
Soul looked back at her with a frown. Not the reaction that Dash wanted from her. Hope that didn’t sound too weird to her. I thought that’s the kind of stuff she liked. Or maybe… she probably doesn’t trust me enough for that yet. She’ll trust me. In this dream and then… then in reality. It’ll all be real. As long as we take our time.

“Do you really want to sleep with me?” Soul asked. W-was that it? Dash waited to see if Soul had anything more to say, but the pony stayed silent. Waiting and watching for whatever it was Dash had to say. Sleep with her again. Just like we did on our last night together. The best moment I’ve ever had with her. Then all those years that kept us apart. This miracle that has happened, ...it allowed for it. For Dash to finally be able to think of it again. As close as they were now. For it to go on forever. I’ll hold you forever… be there for you forever… until the end. Just like you did for me. …My bestest friend.

The pony I love.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “I really do.”

“Living together…” Soul slumped back down into Dash’s cradle. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that… for so long. …I missed being home.” “You don’t have to miss it anymore. I’m here for you” Dash said down to her. Reaching one of her own hooves up and wiping a tear she saw on Soul’s cheek. “You never need to be afraid again. Best buds stick together.” Always.

“They stick together?” Soul whispered. Looking up to the wall. Leaning her mane back against Dash’s chin. Clutching her tightly. We’ll always stick together through anything. “Hey Dashie.” “Yeah, buddy?” Both of them locked eyes… and smiles. “There’s somepony I will want you to meet. …Friends stick together… right?” Dash grinned. They do, and I know exactly what you mean, Soul. After tonight… I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I can’t wait to meet her” Dash said. She held her close. “And we can all be best friends.”

6.99
“Maybe if she gets down and begs for it” Rainbow heard herself say even when her mouth did not move.

I would… never say anything like that. No way. And Soul, she’s… shaking.

What?

Soul backed down. Scooching back with a shake as she tried to… to hide.

“That stupid kid has a lot of nerve to think she can have it so easy after what she did.” That made Soul do something that hurt Dash’s heart. She whimpered below her chin, reaching up and coiling her hooves around Dash’s wing and holding her tight with a small “No.”

Rainbow Dash turned her head, over to where those cruel things came from.

Coming out of the mouth of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash standing over there… across from her on top of the bed, with a glare so deep that it did hurt Dash’s own soul to see it. Made her tremble from the chill and the silence that captured the room, turning all into a maelstrom of absolute stillness set between the two cyan furred ponies where the only motion was that of what Dash felt shaking in her wings.

“What… the hell?” Dash blinked again, still… she stood there on the bed shaking her head in disappointment down to her. Scoffing at her. “You really are so pathetic to cave into that bitch so easily. Here I thought you were tough enough not to go crawling back to her.”

Is she saying that… to me? Who the hell does she think she’s calling a bitch!? Dash held Soul closer to her. Keeping her safe under her wings. It was her turn to glare at this other pony, even when she had no idea what was going on. She has my fur, she has my eyes and my mane. Her fluttering wings, the same as Dash’s. With her shadow cast upon the entire wall behind her. Like a looming phantom above the darkness. The darkness of a pony who had everything about Dash… but one thing. I would never say those things to Soul.

6.100
Trick or reality. Nightmare or not. I’ll never let anypony say those things to Soul. Even if this was some sort of thing Soulblight was pulling off… or maybe, …what? Dash had no time to think. All she knew was she was the one getting mad now. Even more startled when… when that Dash took a step forward on the bed. A step… and a jump by the pony Dash held who moved away just as Rainbow walked forward. Moving as one, but Soul squealed. Trying to pull herself away, though Rainbow would not let her go.

She doesn’t need to be afraid. Whatever this is, I’ll deal with it. She doesn’t need to suffer anymore. Just please be happy… even when she felt a cold tear touch down upon her wings.

“Crawl back to her? Okay, …I don’t know who you’re supposed to be but nopony talks to…”

“My friend like that” the other Dash mocked in a shrill and antsy voice that grated on Rainbow’s nerves. “Cut the crap” she went on leaning over the edge of the bed and staring down on Rainbow. “You’re as much a liar as she is” that pony pointed to Soul. “All those lies we lived. They meant nothing all because of that baby who couldn’t even help her friends without hurting them. If she spent the same time treating others right as she does whining all the time, maybe she’d have a better life. If not, then I don’t want her back home ever again!”

That was the thing that finally made Dash cringe thanks to what it did… as Soul began to cry. Holding her hooves up and burying her face in them. Weeping so loudly into her fur, louder than Dash heard from her. Like there was real and genuine pain in her cries. As painful as… the terrifying sight… of blood dripping from her legs in small plops upon Dash’s wings. “Isn’t that right, Soul?” that Dash said to her.

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Dash fell forward when she was pulled along. Soul bursting out from her wings and freed from Dash’s grip with one mighty flap of her wings and a cry of panic. “No!” she screamed. Taking Dash with her until Dash finally let go and tumbled along the floor. Not caring at this point… when she lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling. Listening to the cries of her best friend. Hearing a disappointed groan from her voice, and Rainbow looked over in shock at the one who made Soul cry.

Rainbow Dash stepping down from the bed with a flap of her wings, gently landing with such beauty and grace that fought so much against the hate burning in her eyes. The cruelty in her tongue.

She is me, but not me? And how could she say that stuff to Soul?

Soul already had it so hard after all this time, why torture her more? By telling her these lies.

Rainbow hated that venom dripping out of that pony’s mouth. Seeing that she was coming closer and closer until… no. Dash rolled over and got on her hooves. Lashing out her wings at her sides, burst out to stand before this pony… this pony who was going to where she knew she was heading. Dash glanced over just enough to see the silver tipped tail of her best friend squirming in the corner. But she would not take her eyes off this… thing. That was the best way to describe any pony who dared to be so mean to Soul.

Whatever this is, if its another test, I won’t let Soul down.

“How dare you. Get the hell out of here…”

“Or what?” Rainbow said back. “You’ll protect her, don’t make me laugh. You and I both know you don’t actually care for her. You only want her love” she said squirming her body with a grin. “Really such a stupid thing you expect to get out of her after what she did. Not like she would ever love you anyways, right? Not the way you do for her. Oh no… not at all” she shook her head and still walked along like Dash was not there to threaten her. With every word coming out of her mouth and every despicable motion she made making Dash more and more uneasy. Watching her trot around her with a smile on her wicked face and words that left Dash speechless. Unbelievable words. I can’t listen to this crap.

“Never love her? Soul is my best friend… I would never treat her badly. I came all this way just to find her, and I know she suffered because she wanted to protect me.”

“Protect you? You know that’s not true. After all, you two did make it so clear that there never was anything between you. Soul did it all for herself, cuz she’s so selfish. That’s why she’ll never get anything from anypony.”

Selfish?! How the hell could this fake Dash say that? Rainbow opened her mouth, ready to yell at her. But she shivered… shivered at the voice softly whispering to her in her ear, when that pony tucked a hoof around her neck and held her close for that tongue to make her frightened.

“She made you cry. She made you hurt for so long. You lost friends and you lost confidence in yourself and you lost so much happiness all because of her. She chose to betray your trust and left you behind with how she really feels about you. Don’t worry, I understand… I hate her too for telling me what she said to me.”

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Rainbow almost fell to the floor hearing that. No, don’t say those things to me. None of it is true. I… I didn’t feel that way. I didn’t...

It hurts. One thing that made Dash shake. Make her wings begin to drop when that pony giggled in her ear. Her words writhing around in her head and hurting deeply. It hurts just like every time I used to lay in bed and remember how much that horrible day ruined me. I hated it so much. I never wanted to remember how I felt.

I decided to never feel again.

The only way to forget it… and it took years. So many years to lose that pain… the pain at what we did and what it did to us even when I missed you so much. I lived every day in regret. Gnawing at me until… until I finally saw you again and it burst open once more like a wound. And now I bleed, just like your entire body. Just like you have always bled. Bleeding your pain when you lay in bed just like me. All because we destroyed one another.

Soul… I ruined you. …And… Dash sniffed. You ruined me.

I miss the days when… when I could say she was lying about how I feel. But it’s all true. You made me cry so much, you made me lose so much that day and I suffered for it. There used to be a time when I could be proud of myself. When I thought I could stand tall above all the others and prove myself to be a pony that all can look up to. I loved the idea of the attention and the love I’d get. Because I could never get enough of it. I craved it and couldn’t wait for a time when all could love me.

But… there is one thing that none of those ponies would ever know. If that day ever came. The one reason why I stand up and choose to be the pony for them. Because, Soul, you were the one who showed it to me. I loved the feeling. The feeling that I can make other ponies smile. To give them hope and to… let them know that they have somepony to look up to. Because they would never give up on their dreams, just like I did. Just like I took from you. Took from you when you said that horrible thing to me.

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I hate her?

…It’s the truth. I did hate her. That Rainbow Dash is not lying. Just like she was there with me.

Like she was me.

Me when I told Soul how I felt… when she told me how she felt. When she broke my heart. Tore me apart and destroyed me. To the point where I no longer know if I’m even good enough anymore to ever love a pony. Good enough for anypony all because of what you said to me. And I said the same. And I did the same to you.

Soul Serenity, we hurt each other so badly. When we were supposed to be friends. You betrayed me and I betrayed you. I did hate her, and she hated me. We never were the same again all because of what the other thinks. Soul.

Rainbow fell onto her rear. Letting her mane and wings droop down with her ears. Staring out into empty space, listening to the laughter of herself, the small steps walking away from her and the tears of her best friend that grew worse. When Rainbow looked, managed to see that she had left herself. Stomping over to the pony cowering in the corner. Hiding under her huge wings, pleading her to leave her alone. Crying for her to stop. That she was sorry.

Nothing but laughter.

My own horrible laugh. That’s not who I am. I never was. …Soul, …Dash watched them. Watched when Rainbow Dash… she pulled a chair to her with a clunk. Looming over Soul with it at her side, and all the blood flowing out from that stricken mare. With pain and sadness before an unfeeling Rainbow Dash. Rainbow gasped. Soul Serenity’s thoughts… so this was it.

This is what you meant, Soulblight.

Soul Serenity, this is how you see me.

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After what I said to you, I deserve your fear. Because… I felt the same. I was so afraid that I failed you. That we were never meant to be happy together and that you would never want to be with me again because I was the one who ruined you.

I never knew you felt the same. That you had to deal with this all the time. Deal with the same thing that made me… all those nights.

Soul Serenity… I won’t let you deal with it anymore. Because there is still one thing left between us that nothing can ever say is gone. You proved it by coming back and I proved it by helping you. We both care for one another. That spark, it never left. We may have been separated but our feelings for one another never broke.

Soul, I will be there for you, always. And I know you will do the same. Because we will go back. Back to a time that I miss so much. One you miss too. Where we won’t have to cry anymore.

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I’ll have no more of this!

No more screaming and no more of this shit I’d never say to Soul. Because that pony is not who I am. I’ll save you, Soul.

Dash got back up. Wobbling and sore but never giving up. She didn’t even bat a lash when seeing herself towering over her best friend. Laughing down at her… with a chair held up high over her head, Soul begging for it to stop. But it won’t, not from that. Only I can.

She won’t hurt her anymore. I won’t hurt you anymore.

Dash bared her teeth. Bursting her wings out, no longer afraid, with so much courage in her to do this… the right thing. For the first time in years, I’ll be strong. I’ll do the right thing. The one thing I know to do.

I never would have known what to do if not for all this. You were always so silent, Soul. You always pretended… just like me. But its time we no longer hide from one another. For us to be our true selves. …Thank you, Soulblight. I understand now. What I need to do for her.

Rainbow went at her. Leaping forth with great strides in her legs, her wings flailing… and she took off. Going right for her… herself. Now that pony looked, turning just in time for Rainbow to glare into her eyes. Her now panicked eyes, as both Rainbow Dash’s turned to one another. Look into their eyes and see.

Look at me, I am not you anymore.

Rainbow Dash put her legs out, flying right at that fake. Before anything bad could happen. Doing exactly what she wanted. What she always wanted to prove to Soul. That I will protect her. I will do anything for her. Even destroy myself. “No more…” she whispered… before Dash’s hooves hit home. But not with herself.

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The chair fell. Not upon the crying pony in the corner, but slamming down onto the carpet with such a loud thud. Coming to a rest. Just as Dash landed next to it. Reeling down and bucking her hind legs at it, to send that chair crashing across the room and buckling against the wall. Left there with only herself and Soul as a blue mist sank around her. The last of it swaying and weaving to the floor and dying under Rainbow’s hooves.

Till the two pegasi truly were alone. Alone with the cries of Soul and Dash shaking.

Whatever it was… it was over. It’s gone. No more. No more pain for either of us. Dash looked around one last time. Nothig happened. The entire room fell still. Safe. As the wind died down, and Dash got up.

Time to end this nightmare forever. No more crying. No more crying from either of us. So we will never need to fear what we did. Even if we still feel that scar, we will move past it. It all starts with one last thing. To prove it. That there is nothing left to stand between us. No more tears in the dark over your nightmares. Your nightmares of me.

Rainbow did her best, fighting her flailing best friend. Avoiding her hooves and twitching wings as she desperately tried to keep away from Dash. Begging her to leave her alone. As she should, after all these years. So many years of you crying at night over what I did to you. But it will all be alright. Because… I know what to do.

It’s time to tell you the truth.

Rainbow clamped her hoof down on Soul’s back. Then the other. Tightening her hug, keeping Soul still. No more being afraid of me. A hug is not enough. It will never be enough. Nothing I do will ever be enough except for one thing. The one thing that bonded us so deeply. I’ll do it for you… and more. I’ll do something no other pony has gotten from me.

Dash let her legs give up, laying still on top of her best friend. Keeping her teary-eyed face deep under Soul’s chin. Summoning all the courage she needed to tell her the hardest thing she could ever. I never told anypony. Not even my parents. Not even my friends. None has seen it. Except for the one who caused it… who is in the same boat as me. She will know once and for all. So we can go back.

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“I’m so sorry, Soul. So sorry for making you cry so much.” Dash lifted her head up. Holding herself upright over her trembling friend’s face. Letting her own tears join Soul’s in drenching her cheeks. Her mangled rainbow mane coming down and gliding over Soul’s forehead. Locking with her mane. Coming undone when Dash rn her hoof over Soul’s forehead to see that sweet face hidden underneath. The face of a truly broken mare. Broken no more.

“You don’t deserve to cry anymore. Neither of us do. So we can both have nights without tears and wake up to better days.” Dash leaned down. Covering Soul in her fur. Closing her eyes.

I can feel my heart pounding. This… this is what I want. This is what my heart always wanted. It’s scary. It’s so weird. I’ve never felt this before. But I like it.

This… is what Soul must have felt like when she did it.

“I’m so sorry.” I’ll tell her.

Now… after all these years.

“Soul Serenity, my best friend, …I love you.”

Her lips touched fur… fur and tears.

The tears stopped. The blood stopped. The world stopped. As Rainbow Dash listened to her own heart beat and her passion be made real. Lifting her lips from Soul’s cheek.

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She opened her eyes.

Rainbow looked out… at the moonlit sky. Basked in the blue glory of the orb over the serene and everlasting image of a world she knew cast in the silence of a sleepy night. One where only she stood to witness from here. One where her mind finally stood clear. No more pain.

I can breathe.

The first night in ages. I feel… happy. It’s all so real.

With no Soulblight in sight. She wasn’t alone. Her happiness made possible when she felt the pony behind her. Joining her with this moonlight. Where a pair could experience a friendship long since lost.

What a perfect night… to be with you… with the pony I love.

Rainbow turned around with a smile. To see that pony standing there with her… and her smile. Soul. No more pain, no more fear. Dash could only cry. Leaping forward… she joined with Soul. Hooves came around her. Her hooves went around Soul. Both pegasi cried… hugging one another… till they fell to the clouds. With the moonlight being the one thing to see this. Hiding themselves off from the world, as darkness came upon them.

Wings of magenta, wings of cyan, coming together.

Dash cried on Soul’s shoulder. Just as Soul cried on hers. But she felt one hoof slide up along the back of her neck. Calmly soothing under her mane. She smiled bigger than she ever did. “Dashie… I’m so sorry.” There’s no more need. Because we’re together. I’m here for you. Twelve years apart. So much pain and sadness. All to lead up to this moment, the one moment where Dash actually felt it. Happiness.

“I’m here for you, Soul. I’ll never let you go again.”

“I’ll never leave you either.”

Never leave me. Dash’s heart jumped. Her smile buried itself in Soul’s fur. This is her. Soul Serenity. The Soul Serenity I loved.

We’re back.

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Soul let her eyes wander off in the last moments she had left. Feeling like… she actually wanted to with joy. Without hesitation. Because this was the one time… the only time in twelve years when she was not afraid. Because there would be nothing left. Nothing there to fear. Whatever it was. It made her think back to all those words and those feelings that felt so close to her now. All because of one pony. The only pony on her mind in the dying moments of her time to stare at the dark walls glowing of the moonlight all around her. Where not even the night could keep her cold.

No. She felt so warm. So safe… under the covers. Under the grip of that pony with her. The pony who lay behind her, with her nose buried into Soul’s mane. Breathing softly inside of her quiet sleep. Yet she never let go.

I want to sleep like this. Sleep with you. Under your wings. The ones that kept Soul warm.

…This is what I wanted. This is what I’ve always wanted to go back to. To hear you call me your best friend. To hear you say those things to me. From the pony that I missed all this time. Drift away. Sleep so peacefully. Without any more fear. Just the words you told me. Those words… that still make my heart feel so weird.

Soul placed a hoof to her chest. Rainbow sighed happily against her back.

Rainbow Dash… loves me.

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“I understand.”

Blight touched her chest. Deep in that darkness. She could still see it. I understand and I see. This power.

“My power. This is why I feel it all now. Deep inside me. Hehehe!”

“Rainbow finally told you how she feels. How lucky you are, Soul. The moment comes when both of you will be together…”

And I’ll be alone.

A tear fell. Landing down upon the hoof she held to her chest. Soaking… her magenta fur.

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A moonlit night. Brightly shining. It’s so beautiful but I… I can’t stop crying. I can’t… Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes. Staring out from her bed to that bright orb out there.

“What was that feeling?”

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